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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2017 12:47:06 GMT -6
Evelyn let her mouth hang slightly open, as she overcame bewilderment caused by Dean's actions. She didn't understand people who were or seemed that carefree, and that was just the tip of the iceberg that led her to think this man was absolutely out of place in Gatsberry and, honestly, anywhere else in the world.
She didn't think it as an insult. But she recognized someone who was not at ease, but could easily act like it. She was in the same situation as him. She wondered how much he knew about the town, how much he was pretending not to. What was he there for? How long was he going to stay? Would she have to see him much? More importantly, would she tolerate it? Like it, even? She didn't really have anyone she would call a friend around town. Or anywhere. "You really need to stop violating my personal space."
She placed the rest of the books on the table next to him, supporting one hand on the back of one chair and the other on her hip, casually looking down at the newcomer and wondering about the same things she'd have before. "Where are you from?"
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Post by Dean McCoppin on Jun 18, 2017 13:08:11 GMT -6
He was humming softly to himself by now, his eyes focused on the words on paper while taking his fair share of notes. The fact that 'Don Korso Marcello' was hinted to be known as 'Little K' back where he had been born managed to make the Bureau Agent snigger and chuckle to himself at how hilarious it actually felt. He'd have a hard time not laughing next time he heard of the man's name or ever spotted him.
Looking up at Evelyn with an amused stare, he took a deep breath and shook his head before tapping his fingers on the desk again, focusing on what to say. Honesty did not hurt when it came to basic information like this, he had come to suppose. "Rockwell, Maine. It's a nice little town." he mentioned, holding the book up a bit while reading it. "Do I look that foreign over here?"
He supposed he was not the most normal guy in the world. To be honest, he was always a bit of an odd one out, always doing things his way. Evelyn seemed like an oddball in her own way. She had a mind of her own and seemed..snarky and defensive enough. She hid something and he wondered what, but for now...she would ask most the questions. "You can sit, though."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2017 15:22:49 GMT -6
"Well, I have been asked what sort of hole I have came crawling out of, and I am pretty common looking." But was she? She figured, half the town being of Italian descent or, at least, European, she would look a lot like most of the crowd. Maybe she had darker skin, but in features... "Or not really..." She admitted, more to herself than Dean, as she dragged the chair in the same corner of the table the man was seating at, dropping on it and planting her elbows on the hard wood for support.
She wondered how much displaced she really looked in a city like Gatsberry. She had an obvious Western European look to her, which she didn't mind at all, but knew some people despised. She got tired of the enormous wave of skin bleaching propaganda, and since fashion had become such an important issue of society, she had tried to ignore it. But it didn't ignore her. Women were vicious creatures. She'd learned that a long time before she was considered a woman. They were silent, but cruel. Specially in groups. And she had made the decision to avoid that. Until that particular moment in her life, she had succeeded. But somewhere along the way, she'd added men to her private agreement. So she just ignored the general population until it was right in her face. Like Dean.
She leaned a little over the table to see what was on the pages her company for the day was examining. "Are you staying in Gatsberry? Or is it just for... research?"
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Post by Dean McCoppin on Jun 19, 2017 20:42:01 GMT -6
Dean tapped his fingers on the edge of the book, eyeing Evelyn with a slightly apathetic expression, his eyebrows raised at the young woman while she kept asking him these questions. She obviously did not want to give him much when it came to the field of trust and confidence, which he supposed he could understand. He was not the most common of people and had probably shocked her with the requests he had come to throw at her, but he did not find himself to be that out of place. He'd have to tone it down.
Shaking his head and eyeing her with curiosity, he grinned lightly while leaning back on his chair, humming with raised eyebrows before shrugging. "I don't know. I don't think there is much keeping me linked with the outside world. I just really want a place I can feel comfortable with." he admitted, slightly apathetic in the way he said it, even if he was kind of being honest. He did have issues feeling connected to most people he worked in, and Gatsberry was bizarre but...he somehow felt as if he belonged.
Evelyn definitely seemed as if she felt down or disturbed by something in her own little corner of the universe. Maybe it was what motivated her suspicious attitude towards him but...she felt as if she knew something was going on. "You sound as if I should fear staying here..."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2017 6:13:45 GMT -6
Evelyn hummed, thinking about Dean's latter remark. Yes, she would have to admit she did think it was a dangerous place to live if you didn't know how to play by the rules. But she didn't have to admit it right away. She figured if the man really wanted to try and make his life in Gatsberry, he would sooner or later understand what the place was really about. "No, not dangerous. It's just..." She gestured, trying to think of how to put a thought into words and making it seem like it should be obvious to Dean. "...You've been to New York. Los Angeles. Chicago! And you are staying... here?"
She understood why most people stayed. But those people decided to stay after they had been offered a good fighting chance, as one would say. Knowing about the crime rate, or lack there of. People who knew how the people calling the shots had gone from zero to hero in so little time, and what kept them on such a high pedestal. Him. Not them.
Helena knew. And she was resentful, angry and she would claw her way into whoever's home she needed to get him down. Evelyn had chosen to forget. She'd chosen to live her bloodless, mild life, surrounded by books instead of guns. Well... maybe a couple of guns.
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Post by Dean McCoppin on Jun 20, 2017 7:33:21 GMT -6
She had a point when mentioning the confusing reality of him being so adamant about Gatsberry when he could have stayed somewhere much bigger and possibly appealing...not to mention with less crime troubling it. As far as he knew Gatsberry was the new capital of vice and corruption, yet here he was, struggling to make it there. "I guess you could say those cities were too big for me. It's not like I could do something decent in them, you know?" he retorted, his eyebrow raising while he eyed her. Surely enough, he was not lying, even if he felt he had not been completely honest with her about it. He hoped to make it big by diminishing what felt like an empire, but she would not need to know of that in much detail.
There was something about this librarian that reeked of mystery and tension about the entire town. She had been in Gatsberry for a while, as far as he could tell. Maybe the darned place had poisoned her in a way, making her seem so...cautious about something. Perhaps she had a bad run in with the mob and feared he could be one of them? Worst of all, what if she associated him with the police? That would certainly put a nail on his coffin for sure, if she was connected to the Marcello family.
Closing his book, Dean leaned back ever so slightly, his arm around the back of his chair while he eyed her for a bit. "So, uh...Evie? I'm calling you Evie, by the way." he mentioned, now looking much more relaxed about things. "How come you're running a place like this all on your own? You'd think you could use some help keeping it tended to. It's huge." he teased a bit.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2017 8:02:51 GMT -6
Evelyn couldn't help but laugh at the name, but nodding along Dean's words. She really didn't mind, and he seemed like a nice person, despite the secrets he was trying to keep. But let the one without sin cast the first stone, wasn't that how it went? She'd abandoned her religion as soon as she left her past behind. But she had secrets too, how could she point the finger at anyone who kept their life to themselves?
She thought about why she'd never found any help for the Library, but who wanted to work with books? Knowing there were far more important jobs in the city.
Anything to please Don Korso. At least that's how she saw her city now. Before, there were a lot of people the common man could choose from to idolize. Which didn't make things any better, she'd admit, but it also didn't make tyranny a constant. She'd come to hate the city. Surprisingly, she'd rather have the chaotic ruling of the different families, the regular shoot outs and the... drama. No, she couldn't tell anyone she wasn't a sadomasochist idiot, at least not with a straight face. And in her new reality, all she awoke, every morning, with herself, that numb sensation that told her something wasn't right. That quiet, lingering emptiness that she'd learned to live with. It was funny, when a city was all she knew, and even hating it, there was something in her that loved it so. She often blamed hope. And nostalgia.
"Are you offering, Mr. McCoppin?" she smiled, knowing it wasn't an offering but feeling more at ease with his relaxed stance. "As you can see, there isn't much work for one person, let alone two..."
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Post by Dean McCoppin on Jun 20, 2017 8:26:10 GMT -6
He could not help but smile a bit at her with mild amusement, focusing on her with a smile and shaking his head as he raised his hands. "No, no. I think I'm alright being a pedestrian." he assured her with a chuckle, finding her sudden remark fun given the nature of the conversation. "Although if you'd like for me to keep coming, I just might. I like the books." he admitted with a smirk.
Seeing how things had turned out to be in Gatsberry, Dean had come to wish for a place he could relax in without people snooping in on him. Even his hotel room was easily disturbed and a stage for noise and confusion, be it from his neighbors, be it from andom strangers. He was geith the environment he had been graced with in this particular library, and Evelyn seemed like a good company. She was in need of some, too, for what it seemed. The loneliness stamped in her eyes was hard to ignore. Did everyone in this town have some sort of dark secret troubling them? Sure seemed that way.
"If you ever want to go for a drink, I'd be up for it. You look like you need to step out sometime." he advised her as he got up and handed her her book. "Thanks for the help, though."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2017 8:50:55 GMT -6
"Right..." Evelyn was a little taken aback by Dean's question, and was left with not only a book in her hands as she watched him get ready to leave.
She wondered if he'd meant what men usually meant by that casual request, but she knew they weren't usually as nonchalant setting the option on the table. And she wasn't interest in anything but actual alcohol, coming from someone whose alliances she didn't know. If she could avoid being involved with someone playing with fire - and she did mean the mob boss-, and specially not when there was a possibility of it turning into a romantic mess. So, she decided to carry on with the playful act and piled up the books to get up after Dean.
"I'm sure there's a compliment in there somewhere..." She smiled a bit, putting the chair back in its place with a touch of her hip and heading back to the rows of shelves she knew better than she knew herself.
What an odd way to make friends.
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