The sun is working it’s way below the horizon, but the waning daylight doesn’t dampen the activity around a cozy retail spot like where Kirk has settled himself. The small cafe is almost on the beach itself, only the road that parallels it between him and the sand. The patio seating is nice and he is relaxing comfortably in his chair. Down by his feet are a duffle bag and cloth sheathed guitar. On the table, an empty place and a half done glass of what looks like tea. And in his hands is a book. One that he is reading intently, rather than enjoying the look of the sun as it slowly sinks beyond sight.
Joachim was out and about for an evening walk, having just finished up with work for the afternoon. Dressed casually in shorts and a loose t-shirt, he flip flopped happily down the street, hands in his pockets as he whistled the Cliffs of Dover to himself. His black hair was pushed away from his face and fluttered slightly in the evening breeze, and he had a fairly contented look on his face. Spotting Kirk he smiled and diverted his route, stopping at the edge of the patio to wave. "Aloha Kirk! Good seeing you again. Get all settled?"
It's a nice early evening, a quiet and peaceful day for a stroll..But lately, it seems that Muriel constantly travels between the beach and the club, missing everything else. Time to explore the city proper, perhaps grab a cup of iced tea. Or something. As luck would have it, she happens upon the small cafe mostly because it's near the seaside, and she just happens upon a certain ex-musician, and a smile tugs at her lips, searching for that damned guitar of his. Ahh, there it is.
"You drag that guitar around with ye everywhere, and yet, ye refuse to play a single note, not even for a pretty lady.." she muses aloud as she passes his table. "Mind some company, Kirk?" and the gingerhaired musician flashes him a charming smile, inviting herself to his table whether he likes it or not, mostly because he always looks so damn glum.
She doesnt have her harp on her today, and really needed to give her fingers a break after a number of back-to-back concerts. And then another familiar face comes along, and she smiles brightly at Joachim. "Aloha, Joa, fancy meetin' you here.."
Early evening is a great time for a walk along the beach, and it seems that Haruka has decided to take advantage of it tonight. She's just finished dinner at a great oyster bar about a mile down the road, and has decided to walk off the indulgence rather than immediately heading home. The little cafe and the man with the guitar seem to call to her, so she checks for traffic and heads back across the road, sauntering casually up to the patio. Overhearing Muriel's remarks on her approach, she can't help but make her own observation.
"Well," Haruka says, "He doesn't have a hat to put out for tips, that's the problem." She reaches under the light windbreaker she's wearing to produce a rather floppy and worn ball-cap (Cubs, of course) to toss onto the guitarist's table. "There you go, have mine."
Shawn makes his way over towards the patio seating for a cafe setting his board down just outside where he can keep an eye on it and makes an order for some water and a sandwich of some sort as he sits to watch the ocean and keeping an eye on his board.
Kirk rouses from his book in the same way that one does when they’ve ben reading for a while. Quickly, but his attention takes a beat to refocus before he actually looks at Joachim. “Ahh, good evening,” he replies to the other man. A beat before he bobs his head. “I found a simple room for the moment.” Muriel’s arrival draws his attention as well. Her comment on his guitar prompting a slight quirk of his lips. The book is closed, a marker casually slipped into place as he says, “You’re welcome to sit.” He glances towards Joachim. “Both of you.” The comment and the hat from Haruka prompts a lift of his brow. “I don’t really do that kind of thing, but if I did..” He reaches down to where his own hat has slipped between bag and instrument. It’s a dark, wide brimmed number. And he sets it atop his book on the table. The surfer who arrives gets a glance, but being so assaulted by two women? Best be on his toes.
Joachim grinned and hopped up onto the patio, happily taking a seat and stretching his legs out in front of him. "Thanks! Glad to hear it, hope things are going easy for you. Aloha Muriel." He gave the woman a wave, and turned his attention to Haruka, chuckling. "He's got you there. Aloha to you." He smiled at the woman, nodding as Shawn came up to take a seat. "Aloha. Shawn right? We met briefly the other day. How goes it?"
Muriel just chuckles, noting Shawn's surf board and smiles at him, nodding, "Nice board, if ye stick around ye might get to hear some incredible music too!" glancing back at Kirk, she grins and winks, quite amused when he pulls out his own hat.
"..Right, Kirk? You'll play us a song, aye? Annd...If all ye need is the right motivation, I'd be happy to give it to ye." there's an almost..Wicked look in her eye, a look that both Kirk and Joachim just might recognize from certain night club visits as she smiles at him sweetly.
Finally, she looks at Haruka, and flashes her a smile, "Got any spare change? I'm sure he'll play if you do.."
Well, okay, so he -does- have his own hat. That's good.
"Hmm, well, that'll do, I suppose." It's not a -bad- hat. It's just not hers. "And motivation is not exactly in short supply these days." She grins and picks up her cap, tossing it into the air where it twirls about to land on her head.
The matter of hattery settled, she slides into a nearby seat, setting her own bag on the table and leaning back. "Hmm, spare change, spare change, let's see..." She pulls a change purse from her bag and rifles through the contents. "Yen... pesos... shillings... yuan... wait, is that an arcade token?"
Shawn glances over at Joachin and takes a moment before he nods, "Yes you're Joachim right? Met you with Sylvi, Carver and Bjorn right?" He looks over at the folks at the table there, "You look familiar miss."
“Easy enough so far,” Kirk answers Joachim. Then Haruka and Muriel continue to banter back and forth and for a moment he seems irritated. “I’m not a street performer. And I have no interest in performing for anyone. So please..” He pauses, his voice starting to rise towards the end. Which he arrests before continuing in a more even tone. “..forget about the guitar and sit if you would like.” He looks towards Joachim and says, "Excuse me for that."
Joachim shrugged, shaking his head. "No worries. You explained to me when we first met. Though I might suggest taping it up or covering it or something. Might keep people from asking. But I'm good." He smiled at Haruka and Muriel, looking to the former and putting out a hand. "Hello! Name's Joachim. Nice to meet you." He nodded at Shawn. "Yep! That was me. How have you been?" He turned to peek over at the change Haruka had taken out. "Oh hey an arcade token! Not local I assume... pity." He grinned at Muriel and winked.
Muriel smiles and nods to Shawn, tossing her hair. "If ye've visited the Starless Skies, you may recognize me from there.." glancing over at Haruka with mild amusement, she peers at her collection of change, rolling her eyes. "What? No American currency?" finally, looking back at Kirk, she sighs, nodding slowly. "Fiiiinne. Guess it was worth a try." glancing at Joachim, Muriel smiles. "Yes. A pity indeed.." This said softly enough hopefully for Kirk not to hear.
"No, it's from this little place in Keflavik. They have some of the last Battletech sim-pods still in public operation." She grins and tucks it back in her bag. "Pleased to meet you, Joachim. I'm Haruka. Or 'that crazy little brat' if you listen to Uncle George."
So, no, no American change in that little pouch. Ah well. "How's the coffee here? Or maybe tea would be better?" She mulls it for a moment, considering. Then she pauses and raises a hand, one finger (no, not that one) extended. "Hey! Wait, I know I've seen you around before... weren't you at that thing, up in the hills, with those guys and the cactus thingy?"
Shawn shakes his head as Muriel talks about the Starless Skies, "Nope never heard of the place. Maybe I saw you on youtube or somethin." He glances overa t Joachim, "Doing well gotta get myself ready for lessons with Sylvi I think she'll be hard to keep up with even though I'm the one teaching. Although just picked up my first sponsor with Quiksilver. Guess I gotta start wearin their stuff more."
“I understand, but some things you shouldn’t try to force,” Kirk says to Muriel. His tone understanding, but firm. “Good intentions aside.” Then he lets the subject slide and asks the three gathered near his table, “Would you all like something? My treat.”
Joachim grinned at Muriel and shrugged, laughing as Haruka explained the token. "Well shit I remember those. I was terrible at it." He laughed, raising an eyebrow as he looked between Shawn and Haruka. "Cactus... guys on a hill?" He nodded absently to Shawn. "Yeah Sylvi is really cool..." He shook his head. "Now what's this about cactus people on hills? This sounds interesting..." He looked to Kirk and smiled. "Sure. I could go for an iced tea or something... lots of cream and sugar..." His stomach rumbled and he frowned. "And maybe something with meat in it..."
Muriel just...Stares long and hard at Haruka. "Umm let me get this straight. You have visited all these places and collected currency from all of them. But not a single bit 'o American currency? Well, aren't you an interestin' little thing?" and another to add to her 'list'.
Muriel smiles wickedly and literally pulls out a notepad, writing something down, then quickly slipping it away somewhere. "And what is this about a...Thing in the hills, and 'guys' and a 'cactus' thingy? Speak English, miss." she rubs her eyes, trying to figure that one out.
Glancing back at Kirk, she draws a deep breath. She's..Not used to not getting her own way..Or apologizing, or being, well, 'nice'. "I see...Then, I..I apologize." looking at Joachim, she nods, waving down a waitress, ordering an 'extra cold, iced tea', then she falls into quiet thought for a moment or two.
The girl with the multicultural change bag grins and leans back in her seat, holding up a menu card as she looks over what's on offer. "Yes, indeed," she muses. "The world is a wonderful place, and I have every intention of seeing as much of it as I can before I seek 'the next great adventure', if I may be so bold sa to appropriate a line."
Eventually, she picks out a hot mint tea and a cinnamon roll, passing the card back to the passing waitress, and stretches out, hands high above her head. "So, it's English ye're after wanting, is it?" she asks, her voice taking on a rather affected Scots brogue.
"Said England unto Pharaoh," she recites, "I must make a man of you / That will stand upon his feet and play the game; / that will Maxim his oppressor as a Christian ought to do," / And she sent old Pharaoh Sergeant Whatsisname."
She smiles broadly as she continues, the brogue fading into a more Londonesque accent. "It was not a Duke nor Earl, nor yet a Viscount -- / It was not a big brass General that came / But a man in khaki kit, that could handle men a bit / With his bedding labeled Sergeant Whatsisname."
She rises briefly from her seat, taking an overly florid bow, and returns to her seat, still smiling. "There. English."
Shawn shakes his head, "Crazy soundin games..." Then his food arrives and he starts working on his sandwich and water.
“It’s fine, really,” Kirk answers Muriel, a hand lifted slightly towards her for a moment. “It’s done.” As everyone gets their orders in, he tells the waitress, “I’ll cover them.” An easy offer before he’s peering at Haruka. Faintly bemused with her reciting. It’s fairly obvious that he doesn’t know where these lines are from.
Joachim blinked, listening to Haruka recite before laughing aloud. "Hey well done! I used to be able to do If but I've forgotten most of it." He shrugged and smiled at Muriel. "That was something huh? Thanks Kirk." He grinned at the woman who had been reciting a few moments ago. "That was really impressive Haruka. I bet you tell a good story too." He waggled his eyebrows.
Muriel smiles sweetly at Shawn. "Never heard of Starless Skies? It's the best nightclub in town. If ye haven't been, ye need t'go, if only to hear some great music, and perhaps..Being inspired, hmm?" she bats her eyes at him, smiling in that mysterious way of hers, before peering back at Haruka again, staring at her blankly as she starts reciting poetry and what not.
"Umm...Okay? Not exactly what I meant. But I am interested in hearing more about these..Cacti on hills.."
Looking back to Kirk, she just smirks and shakes her head, saying no more on the subject as she awaits her iced tea. "Indeed, I'm sure ye be full o' some good tales, Haruka, if ye been travellin' to so many places. I'm afraid my travels were restricted to a little boring Irish town, and here, alas." she sighs.
"I could," Haruka agrees, "But I save stories for sitting around a fire-pit with marshmallows to roast. Or little children to be put to bed." She winks and settles back in her seat. "My dad's a fiend for Kipling. Bribed me with books and games for each poem I memorized. Let's see..."
She mulls for a moment, then picks another one. "Oh ye who hole the written clue / To all save all unwritten things / And half a league behind, pursue / Th' accomplished fact with flouts and flings / Look! To your knee your baby brings / The oldest tale since Earth began / The answer to your worryings: / Once upon a time, ther was a man."
Shawn finishes up his sandwich and his water before he leans back in his chair to enjoy the poetry, "Pretty amazing you bein able to memorize all that. I struggled with basics in school."
“I never read any high literature,” Kirk comments after it’s reveled where those lines came from. “And now there’s too much else to study.” He looks to Joachim and nods once. “Never hurts to be hospitable.” And again he listens with faint bemusement as Haruka recites once more. “You could probably market that to someone,” he comments afterward.
Joachim chuckled. "Well... Kipling is for everyone I'd say. My parents read all us kids the Jungle Book when we were younger. My dad does a great Baloo." He nodded to Haruka. "Well... sounds like we'll have to have a campfire with marshmallows and chocolate and waffle cones. Smores are great with waffle cones." He nodded to Shawn. "Oh god I had memorizing in school. We had to do the start of the Canterbury Tales in middle english... I think I still remember some of it." He grinned and looked to Muriel. "It looks like we're going to have to have a big party to hear stories and stuff. I don't mind. I like parties and I've got some doozies to tell too.""
Wait, where's Muriel? Looks like she slipped out to use the washroom..And never came back!
Haruka shrugs. "Enh, don't get me on about so-called 'high' literature. Pretentious gits read Dostoevsky and Fancher and go on about pathos and bathos and all that crap. Ol' Rudy wrote for the -people-, and especially the common solder. 'O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an Tommy go away, but it's 'Thank you, Mr Atkins', when the band begins to play.'"
Her tea and roll are delivered, and she salutes Joachim with a lifted cup. "Ahh, a lovely thing, that. Soudns like your father knew what he was after. But Chaucer? Mmm. Not my favorite. Give me Burns, or Yeats. 'Scots wa hae' wi' Wallace bled, Scots wha' Bruce hae aften led...'"
She takes a sip of the tea, and sets the cup down at last.
Shawn listens to the literature quotations as he leans back and watches the waves hit the beach.
Kirk seems faintly uncomfortable for some undefined reason, so he rises after a moment. “Thank you all for the company, but it is getting a bit late and I’ve a few things to do.” He snags up his bag an guitar by the straps, slinging both over one shoulder. He leaves some money on the table. “Enjoy your evening, I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.”
Joachim grinned at Haruka and shook his head. "I admit most of it didn't take. I read a lot of goofy science fiction stuff these days." He chuckled, nodding as Kirk stood. "Well thanks man, I appreciate it. Come by the hostel sometime and I'll introduce you around." He gave the man a wave as he headed off. "I'm sure we will. It's a surprisingly small island."
Haruka offers a wave to Shawn as well, still smiling pleasantly. "And hopefully you'll play something interesting for us, music-man. Have a nice day!" She settles in to enjoy a bite of her cinnamon roll before answering Joachim. "Hmm, sci-fi can be fun. Any particular authors you like to read?"
Shawn finishes up his food and drink puts his money down on the table and waves to the folks he'd been semi talking to earlier, "Good seeing you again Joachim but gotta head out." Making his way towards the beach again he stops to retrieve his board before zipping away.
Joachim nodded as Kirk and Shawn headed off. "Take care you two." He smiled at Haruka and shrugged. "Sure. Depends on what I'm looking for. And I read a lot of fantasy too. David Weber is really good. Charles Stross. I like some of Burrough's stuff, and Howard and so on. Glenn Cook is pretty terrific, and Steven Erikson..." He grinned. "My room is a total mess of books..."
"Hmm, well, Weber is fun, and I love some of Stross' stuff. If you want 'sword and planet' you can't do better than Andre Norton, though." Haruka grins. "I just picked up the latest Pat Hodgell, myself. Wonderful writer."
Joachim nodded. "Haven't heard of Hodgell, but I can look into them. Andre Norton sounds super familiar. I'm sure I've read his stuff before. Maybe a bunch of it. I just can't remember the names of the books." He bonked himself on the side of that. "That'll drive me nuts." He grinned and shrugged.
"Her, actually, but yes. Look for the 'Witch World' series for her early stuff. Excellent reads. As for Hodgell, she brings the myth back into mythic fantasy. Start with 'God Stalk' and go from there, you'll love it." Haruka sips at her tea again and finishes off the cinnamon roll. Ahhh, yummy sweets.
"Oh shit I HAVE read those books. Some of them anyway. I knew that name was familiar." Joachim chuckled. "I'll look into them both thanks." He grinned as the cinnamon roll disappeared, finishing off his own iced tea, having polished off his own sandwich in moments. "I like mythic fantasy a lot. I grew up with all that stuff as a kid."
Haruka nods. "It's a great sort of story," she agrees. "Of course, there are other styles... you ever read David Eddings, for example?" She leans back, tilting her chair a bit, then reaches for her tea to finish that, as well.
Joachim grinned, ticking them off on his fingers. "The Belgeriad, the Malorean, the uh... one... the Tamuli... Redemption of Althalus." He waggled his eyebrows and chuckled.
Haruka smiles and taps her finger on the table at each title. "Mmm-hm. There are a few others... and of course there's the question of do you count 'urban fantasy' stuff, like Hamilton or that lot." She shrugs. "I've found a lot of good indie writers in the Amazon shop, too. I keep all my books on my tablet, these days, so having an electronic edition is really useful."
Joachim nodded, looking a bit bummed. "Yeah... I don't have a lot of luck with those things. I got one once and it pretty much ate itself." He grinned. "I'd prefer it, but I don't mind having books everywhere. It just sucks when you travel." He chuckled. "I've read some of Hamilton, and a bunch of others. It's fun stuff."
Haruka takes the tablet in question from her bag and waves it. "Awww. They're just -so- convenient. It's really so much nicer than having a bunch of books. If something is -really- good, if I know I'm going to want to re-read it, I'll get a real book, but generally only then." She shrugs again. "And some of the authors just aren't available in print, they're only online."
Joachim nodded. "Yeah... tell me about it. It's been driving me nuts. Maybe I can find someone to read me something one day." He snorted. "I'm sure there's some sort of work around. So, with all that traveling, is that what you do for a living Haruka?"
"What, me? I just started college, I'm not hunting a job for a while yet." She waves a hand dismissively. "How about yourself?"" Haruka hmms and waves the waitress over to request another cup of tea.
"Oh wow, so one of those summers touring the world sort of things? Cool! I did that a little while ago actually. Spent a good year or so backpacking around looking at all the famous astronomical sights. I'm an astrophysicist, working up at Oahu Observatory. I teach a bit as well at the university, mostly subbing and stuff."
Haruka ahhhs softly, nodding. "Too bad you don't have a proper class, I'd have to sign up for it just to annoy you." Wait, did she say that out loud? Oops. She did. "That's totally cool, though. You ever looking for interns or the like up there?"
Joachim laughed, shaking his head. "A class implies a schedule, which would interrupt my non-routine of waking up whenever, wandering down to the observatory when it gets dark, peer through a telescope and throw darts for three hours." He laughed. "There's definitely space for interns. If you really, really like staring into space or watching readouts, it's the place to be." He winked. "If you're really interested I'll see what I can do."
A soft chuckle, and Haruka nods once more. "I'll keep it in mind, once I've got a good grasp of my schedule," she agrees. "It's been great meeting you, Joachim."
Joachim smiled, nodding. "Sure. If you call and ask for Joachim Heshmat, they'll connect you through to me." He gave her a wave. "You too Haruka. Take care of yourself and have a good rest of the night."
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