Checking Up on the Newbie

[Ria Graziano]

July 15, 2012


Fio arrived early, as she'd agreed when Ria had texted her, a little surprised by the quiet of the place when she got there. It wasn't so early as all that. She'd expected preparation activities or something, prior to the tourney.

Ria was only a few moments late, shoving the phone back in the front pocket of her jeans as she pushed through the door. She knew it'd be quiet for another 15-20 minutes - luckily, the tournaments didn't require much prep beyond finding officials to babysit the festivities. Once inside, she let the left of the double doors close behind her as she looked around, to see if Fio had arrived yet. Seeing the lady, she headed on over. The upnod was out of habit, even from the distance, but the verbal greeting was to warn Fio of the presence of someone else without overly surprising her. Who knew what weapons Fio carried. “Yo, Govya. Glad ya came.” Every Crew member had some sort of nickname from Ria; Fio's apparently was that "Govya" she'd used.

She'd been caught staring, rather pensively, at some of the large pennants ringing the perimeter. Some were quite old; she remembered them from some of her earliest visits here after her arrival in the lands (too many years ago), and they had been ancient then. Fionna had heard Ria approaching before she'd stepped into the place, but she didn't turn to face her until she'd spoken. "Hello."

“Howya doin'?” Ria easily made her way to the bar. “Want a beer, or some water, or somethin'?” The second question travelled swiftly on the heels of the first without waiting for an answer. “Dunno if ya got any pre-fight preferences.” Once at the bar, she hopped over it - not for show, of course, but because it was the most efficient option of getting behind it.

"Either is fine... water is easy." She dropped the bag she'd brought on a table en route, and followed her toward the bar with a long-legged stroll. "I'm good. You?"

“'m coo'.” Ria shrugged a little, feigning a casual attitude in response to the query. In reality, she looked more than slightly tired - either a long night, or worries she was keeping quiet had been keeping her up. “Wanteda check in, talkta ya, etc.” Maria was the face of Crew, but Ria tended to lean toward the back-end management and care side of the "business.” “Been a couple weeks since y'all joined Crew, an' I'm kinda ....” She paused, frowning in thought as she grabbed and then passed over a bottle of water. “uhh....” Ria waved a hand with her own bottle of water as she tried to think of the best word. “... concerned?”

Fio paused for a moment, a movie-flicker stop-stutter of motion before she reached for the bottle and took it. "Oh?" Her brows furrowed an arch toward center, and she twisted the cap off with a crackling of plastic seals sundering.

“Yah.” In the quiet, the echoed sound of her own opening bottle filled the space between them, even small sounds enhanced by the quiet of the vast space. “Not cuza ya, I mean. But how ya feelin', how ya fittin' in, etc.” She lifted the bottle to take a healthy drink, ending with a swallow, an ah, and a quick licking of her lips. “Mm. Yah. See, y'all family, an' I don't wanya think ya ain't cool'a 'ear whatever's going on, y'know?” This may have been why Maria was the "face" of Crew; Ria didn't always have the best way with words. It was definitely why she was almost never involved in the press conferences.

Oh. She relaxed into the beginning curl of a smile that just nudged the corners of her mouth and nodded. "Thanks. I am hesitant to put myself in the middle of things sometimes. You've all known each other for so long. I'm not just new to all of this," she gestured around them with her free hand, demonstratively, "but to you, and ... you're such a tight group. I worry that I am. Intruding. Sometimes," she qualified.

As they tend to do, Fio's whisper of a smile caused her own lips to curl upward in unconscious echo, and she eased into a more settled, slumped position against the bar. “I can totally get tha. Parta it prolly is cuz we been 'round tagetha so long. But we don't meanta, we don't wanna. Like, when ya became Crew, tha's it. Ya inviteda alla Thanksgivin' pizzas an' crap.” Ria snickered at that, before she realized she was referencing an inside joke and hastened to explain. “We ain't so good at doin' Thanksgivin' - too often we trya make dinner but it gets ruined. So usually we end up orderin' pizza 'fore we ruin it now. 'specially ...” She paused, looked away, then back at Fio. Her voice was subdued back to seriousness. “Now tha' Mama G's gone. But...” She tried to shake that off. “'s whateva. Ya in, ya ain't intrudin'. An' if ya don't get somethin' .... I'll be 'appya gossip.” Ria managed to muster an overly cheery smile at that offer.

It wasn't hard to put two and two together, but Fio didn't know the story, so she steered around it for now. "I'm a horrible cook. My ... Ali used to do the big dinners like that. Now, I have things brought in. Or we go out. I can make sandwiches, and those noodles with the cheese? My children would starve if Mariyah weren't there during the day." She put more effort into the smile, and it was surprising how it warmed her face.

“See? Ya fit right in. M -- Maria -- she ain't allowed near even boiled water.” There was a bit of healthy exaggeration there, but it made Ria’s point. “My so bad she gotta date Tone's main pizza chef guya get somethin' edible. Me? We can cook. We jus' got destructo C who falls inta tables an' ruins it alla time.” She jumped at Dio’s sudden lightning entrance, and she looked around. It was with a shock she realized the tournament was almost upon them and others were arriving. Several drops of water flew from her mostly-full bottle of water and splattered all over the bartop in the jolt. “Damnit!”

Water can spill up out of a water bottle, if the hand holding it jerks reflexively enough. She managed to tear her startlement from Dioxane, and even nod to Bridgette... and it took her a moment to place her. When she did, it was like another jolt of lightning. A-ha.

There was a lot less recognition on her part with the nod from Bridgette that she returned, politely. “Yo. Then, after, Fio once again was the target of her conversation. “So, yah. Jus' wanteda check in, let ya know where we at.” It seemed Ria had a policy of trying not to discuss what she considered "Crew business" in public and was wrapping up the main object of the talk.

"Thank you," her murmur low for Ria, picking up on the subtle signal that they were done for now as the place began slowly to fill up. She nodded to Jet - she recognized her, though the girl probably didn't know her. Cor got another of those slow, warm smiles, her surprise at seeing him almost as marked.

Cor got a more cordial upnod once she saw him before Ria took another drink. “Ya gonna be busy tha 27th?” She asked Fio. “'s a Friday night.”


(( Adapted from live play. ))