tunes & tattoos

who: bash & open! (3/4)

Alec was out downtown with his dog Hendrix, taking advantage of the lull in the snow fall. It took him a moment to register the question that Sebastian posed. "Definitely nice to be out of the house," he nodded with a shrug.

"Alec, hey!" Chelly greeted her friend, approaching with a smile, hugging him. She hadn't gotten out much to enjoy the winter season as much as she normally did, the holidays coming and going with her parents being in town and spending time with her extended family. But with Merrock still being a winter wonderland of sorts, she convinced Alec to come out to Blades with her. She wasn't about to miss out on the season, after all. "So what are we thinking, skating, sledding? I'm down for either, as long as we can warm up with some hot cocoa after."

"You know, can't say I'm much of a skating or sledding person but I'm here to try and actually enjoy the season. But I'll leave it up to you." Surely Chelly had a preference and he would be more than happy to do whatever she wanted. He would ultimately enjoy whatever they ended up doing, "as long as I get that hot cocoa in the end."

Bryan turned around and grinned, seeing Alec. "Hey, thanks!" he said, shaking his friend's hand. "It's crazy, I know, I finally am settling down. I'm actually a grown up," he laughed. This was something they had been working on for a while now, and things had changed quite a lot. "How've you been enjoying the party? I hear the noodles are so good," he nodded.

"Good for you," Alec grinned, placing his hand on Bryan's shoulder and gently shaking him. He had seen Bryan and Natasha's relationship grow from afar. Alec's personal feeling on marriage aside, it was nice to see people happy together, taking the next step. "It's been a good time. You guys did good with all this. Don't tell me you haven't had a chance to eat."

It was really nice getting to see you! We should actually get together soon. Grab some lunch or something. Update me on all things Alec. What do you say?

I'm free in the mornings or after work, every day, except Wednesdays. I think my lunch time is different from yours.

"Not very trick-or-treat friendly," he chided Alec gently, the smirk on his face giving it away that he was just kidding around. Holidays weren't always his thing, either, sometimes he got a little grumpy and curmudgeonly around Christmas, for his own reasons, so he understood it. "Kind of like… they had to make their own fun somehow?" he asked with a laugh, nodding his head, "could be on to something. The serial killing, I mean, I don't want to judge. But if you wear a mask like that, the girls are going to be absolutely terrified of uncle Alec. Just a heads up." Starting down the aisle a little further, he picked up an old string of lights, with acrylic bats over the light bulbs. "What about something like this?"

"Don't get many of them anyway. Plus, I'll probably be at the shop Halloween night," he shrugged. Alec found it quite amusing though, the idea of being the neighborhood grump, scaring off the kids from his property. After all, Halloween was supposed to be scary. "That's my guess.. Think about it, we had to make our own fun thirty-some years ago. Much less to do a decade, two before that." Partially, their need to come up with fun growing up was due to Alec's socioeconomic upbringing, but also in comparison to modern day the 90s felt quite different. He was sure that prior to, the unconventional lifestyles of the 70s especially had something to do with boredom. "No coming to the house in a mask, got it," he chuckled. More, he didn't want Cordelia to be upset with him. "Maybe for outside? The porch or something?" he looked over at the string of lights, contemplating were he could place them.

"Hopeless," he hefted a dramatic sigh, giving his friend a sidelong glance when he said that he often heated things up in the microwave, "but please tell me that they're good, healthy meals, and not Kid Cuisines? Those brownies were made of something that I'm pretty sure human beings weren't meant to consume," but he was laughing as he said it, because he would still eat it. Gladly. There were some things that were just nostalgically good, no matter what anyone else said. "True, something people put together when they had a little bit too much moonshine, if it was made in a place like this," which he didn't know, but… blueberries. That seemed to mean anything was possible. "True," he said with a nod, glancing from the food tent out to the crowd of people. "They really do hustle to keep everyone fed."

Alec burst out into laughter when Darrius asked if he was eating Kid Cuisines. No, he didn't rely on tv dinners, but every once in a while they were still good. Shaking his head, he answered honestly, "usually more leftovers my mom made or what I picked up from Mack's on the way home from work." Really, Alec survived on take out. It was what it was. "Wouldn't be Maine, otherwise," he shrugged with a laugh. Once their food was ready, Alec stepped back up to the window, thanking the worker when he was handed his food.

"There's plenty to choose from, you know?" which was true -- whether someone was looking for something old, something new, something in between. Something terrifying. "You could probably base your whole decor style around things that would have given kids nightmares back in the day, which…" he trailed off before breaking into a grin, picking up one of the masks on a nearby display, clearly something that waltzed right out of the seventies, and looked like it held on to some ghosts from back then, too. "I really don't understand what it was about wholesome, family friendly holidays that just made people be total creeps. This would be worn unironically… by a serial killer."

"More stay off my lawn energy?" he laughed, picking up a mask. Alec didn't mind kids, it was more so that the lack of decor and location of is home often led to a lack of trick or treaters. Alec picked up a mask to try on, amused by the thought of scaring folks. "Might be some old school way of trolling," he shrugged, adding, "the creepy masks, not the serial killing." He took off the mask with a chuckle, looking toward other displays to see what else could be found to take home.

We got them. Whole shop got to enjoy them. Thanks! Nice getting to see you guys over the weekend.

With things at home a little rocky -- to say the least -- over the past few weeks, Cage had been doing his best to keep his head down, to plow through decorating, straightening up the house, getting the girls the costumes that they wanted all organized, but it was nice to get out and do something with a friend, even if that meant dragging Alec to do something that he could tell that he might not really want to do. But Cage could be persuasive when he wanted to be. He had to be, he had two teenaged boys. "I don't love buying new," he admitted as he pulled a shopping cart loose and starting down the first aisle of Halloween things that had been donated, "besides, some of the older things kinda remind me of being a kid, like all the old decorations that we used to put up? Nostalgia," he laughed, picking up a ceramic pumpkin from the shelf and turning it over in his hands.

"Nostalgia, yeah," Alec nodded, agreeing halfheartedly. It wasn't that Alec didn't enjoy celebrating holidays, Halloween included. It was more so that over the years, he had spent less time at home to be accustomed to celebrating. The whole decorating part being so tedious, in his opinion. So for him, he enjoyed attending celebratory events, more so than bringing it into his own home. But alas, here he was, looking for Halloween decor with Cage. At least it was some time with his best friend. "It's probably worth buying second hand anyway, I'm gonna need to figure out what to do with anything I find here.." Alec's voiced trailed off as he looked over a couple of jack-o-lanterns on display.

"It's true. Meanwhile, I have literally no imagination when it comes to food, so I'll just do the plain ole stuff and call it a day," but then again, most of the time, Darrius probably shouldn't even be allowed in a kitchen. But he was getting better, at least! "That's kinda what I'm thinking, yeah -- then they had this spur of the moment idea, made it, asked their friends to try it... you know how it goes," eventually, someone told them they liked it enough that they should sell it, and the rest was history. Funny how that worked. Ordering his food as he stepped up tot he window, he pulled out his wallet, handing over the bills, and stepped to the side to wait. "I'm basically salivating, I'm that hungry right now."

"Better than me," Alec shrugged. "I usually pick something up or throw something in the microwave. Don't ask me to try and put anything together." Truly, any real culinary skills eluded Alec and all in his life were well aware. "Could also be some sort of late night creation, you know?" he shrugged. People got creative when high, or drunk, and hungry enough. Either way, not something he was up for giving a try in that moment. Once Darrius had put his order in, Alec stepped up to the window to order for himself. With it paid for, he stepped aside and joined Darrius to wait for their food. "Shouldn't be too long."

"You have to admire the ingenuity, if nothing else." Which was true, someone took the time to think up the idea, which... was really saying something. "Or maybe it's just a case of someone getting tired of having blueberry jam, but having too many blueberries on hand," which could be the case -- needed to find a way to use them so they didn't go to waste. "I'd say we've earned it," he said with a grin as they stepped closer to the counter, his eyes moving over the menu items to make sure that he knew exactly what he wanted to order.

"There's always something inventive at these things, gotta give folks their props for every creative creation we see," he shrugged. Really, it was commendable. Alec's creativity was limited to the arts. "You think it's one of those last resort invention when somebody made all the jam, syrup, muffins, pie, or whatever else. Then just, what else can the blueberries go into?" he laughed. That, or it was much more intentional from the start. As the line moved forward, Alec looked over the menu, deciding on what to order for himself. At their turn, he let Darrius go ahead first, still looking over the menu himself.

WHO: Cage & @xalecjacobs

It was that time of year, where everyone around was excited about all things that came with the move into the later half of the year. Kicking off with Creek Fest, the next few months would be busy with seasonal celebrations of all kinds. First up, Halloween. With that came decorating. Something Alec was known to lag on every single year. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the holiday, he put energy into his costumes every year. Truly Alec just wasn't the most enthusiastic about any holiday. However, getting dragged decor shopping, not out of the ordinary for him. As he followed Cage into Treasure Chest, Alec nodded at the plan to stop by Benny's if Treasure Chest was a bust. "We'll see what all's here first."

So your future niece, or nephew, has me going through a really horrible sweet tooth spell and I did a ton of baking today. Know it's pretty late but any chance I could swing by and drop off some baked goods for you tomorrow. I head into work pretty early but I can either drop them off during lunch break or after work before I pick up the girls.

I'm at the shop by noon, so, feel free to just drop by and bring them there. Appreciate the offer.