|
The little intimate tavern was looking extra cozy tonight with a warm glow falling out of its many windows against the chilly Philadelphia evening. Music was playing loudly, buffered only by the heavy door one went through to step inside. The place wasn't quite as busy as it was last night -- blame it on a Sunday. It was just Vic tonight, chatting with two men at the end of the bar as she refilled their beers. The smell of food wafting around the counter, they'd just been made a fresh pizza and were splitting it.
She's in a black button down tonight, though it's tied at the waist and left open, revealing a sparkly black sequin number underneath with cherries on it. Her hair up in a messy bun. Black lipstick caused her big toothy grin to be even more of a friendly broadcast.
Floretta passes the door of the record store: large sunglasses, dark red lips and heavy eyeshadow, her long hair hanging loose and free, jeans and warm boots with a hoodie with a pirate flag skull on it. She's scrolling a phone with a case with pink, blue and white stripes. She's humming the Wellerman tune as she begin to browse the various merchandise, clearly looking for something in particular there.
From the bar, Vic would give a bright smile and a wave with a clean cup. "Hey!" A greeting that made people wonder if she'd met you before and you'd somehow forgotten you were best friends. "Welcome in! Let me know if I can help you over there! Just me tonight."
Floretta would find a very lazy and gigantic brown Great Dane sleeping right in the middle of the floor among the records. She'd have to step around it to do her browsing. A line of drool hung from its lips.
Shortly after Floretta, Ziv slips in, catching the door just before it hits the frame. They're wearing a baby pink leather biker jacket, slim black jeans, and their shaggy hair is held out of their face with a couple of sparkly barrettes. A phone in a sparkly genderfluid pride case is held to their ear and they're yammering in a foreign language. Might be German to the untrained ear? But then again if someone speaks German, it's clearly not. They finish their phone call right as they come to the Great Dane, trilling "!קוש קוש" (kush kush) to whoever's on the other end of the phone and then, after hanging up, they crouch down to pet the puppy and trill at it, harmonizing with the Wellermen as Floretta hums it as if they're not paying attention really at all.(edited)
It takes a bit for Floretta to register someone else is making the same sound as her in a musical way, her attention turns to the source of that sound, smiling toward Ziv, then steps around the Great Dane. "Oh what a big dog!" to reach a section of her browsing.
Only then does the sound of Vic calling out to her seem to register "Oh, I'm looking for stuff relating to sea shanties, for obvious reasons." she put the phone into her purse.
catching the genderfluid case she grins at Ziv and points at it. "Love the case!"
The dog doesn't even open its eyes, content to roll on its back and offer its belly, stretching out its back legs for maximum comfort.
"Oooh, Wellerman? Ah the sway of Tik Tok," she'd chuckle and come around the bar, only to round the corner of records and laugh, a deep throaty laugh at her dog, "Oh come on Cohen, you lazy bastard, get up!" swatting him lightly to urge he move and give them room to browse. "Okay, let me see what I've got here..." going for a box under the shelves for more obscure stuff.
Laughter rolls out from Ziv when they hear the dog's name, scratching its belly before rising up to their feet. Their laughter sounds like bubbles shimmering up through the water, somehow. The heels of their boots click on the floor as they bounce absently. "Oh, Cohen. That's funny. One of my partners would find that delightful." Their eyes glitter in amusement. "Thank you! I designed it."
"Oooh, sea chanties. What century, and which ocean?"
"Probably Antlanic and maybe a recent one, 20th and 19th." Floretta ponders for a moment. "It's mostly a gentle preference rather than a full on search parameter though."
Floretta smiles brightly at the mention of Ziv designing the case. "Oh, do you take commission, or do you have a shop of some kind?"
"Yeah, Tik tok brought them in vogue and I realized it was a really good way to make some people I know smile a bit." she replies to Vic
"Yeah?" glancing back to Ziv. "Bowie's around here somewhere. Probably stealing food from the guys at the bar with his big pretty eyelashes." she grinned, looking through the box. "Okay, I don't have toooo much in this but I have a few albums that are in that genre. We've got ... The Parting Glass, The Ramparts, The High Kings, and Sean Dagher. And then I also have this weird old assorted stuff, but that's more Irish fae type background music. Isle of Avalon.."
She was sitting on her ass now, looking up to the two.(edited)
"Ummmm... you know, I don't have a shop, but ... I could, I guess! This was just a fun thing that I decided to do one day, but I could do a commission, sure!" Ziv skates their dark-eyed gaze back toward Vic. "... who's your dog named after? Not Bowie, I mean. I'm guessing Leonard Cohen, but, like... it's... a common Jewish surname." One hand absently fishes for and then toys with their silver-and-opal Star of David briefly, as if making sure it's still there. "Thus, Rabbi Aaron Cohen would probably get a kick out of it." For locals, that's not an unknown name -- even for non-Jews, on account of the fact that he followed up having charges dropped when he intervened in a riot on Independence Mall by the Independence center when cops beat an imam nearly to death with a second-place showing on the season of American Ninja Warrior taped in Philly. What a weird 2020 that guy had.
"I think I met him or at least heard of him." Floretta makes a face that indicate trying to remember the details of an encounter, scratching the back of her hand.
She present her hand for inspection by the dog, scratching the side of the dog's head whenever. "You'll probably smell Herbert, hopefully you won't hate it."
Floretta pulls an old looking bic inkpen and scribbles a number on the back of an old receipt from a local Sheetz. "There's my number, if you want to give me yours." blink "Or we could just like... put it in our phone. Sorry, brain lag."
"And I'll take a look at those bands, I don't know about the Irish one, but hey, you never know."
"Ooh, yeah. It's just Leonard. But hey, any and all Cohen's are welcome here!" she gestured welcomingly with an open arm. The dog, now rolled over at Vic's urging had turned to yawn lazily and sniff at the two, taking pets and giving sniffs as they were offered. Vic nodded happily and set the stack of records on the shelf, pushing the crate back in below the table and getting herself back to standing. "Perfect, here you go. I've gotta get back over to the bar, so if you two need anything else, just let me know!
"Oh, probably. Lots of people have heard of him." Ziv smiles a sunny and besotted little smile. "Oooh, yes, give me your number, I'll text you." They unlock their phone and open up Signal, then look up from it to smile at Vic. "Okay, bye! Thank you for your help!"
Ziv leans their weight on one foot, absently gnawing on their lower lip as they wait for the number.
Floretta gives her the number, her gaze catching on the signal app for a moment. "Oh, I'm on there too, cooperated with a few people a few months back."
"Thanks for the help, you have lovely dogs!" The Gangrel compliments as she then turn her attention to the various albums laid before her, studying closer.
"It's useful. I got into the habit of using it instead of plain text messages when all the nonsense was going on with Aaron a few months ago." Well, that's one way to put it. 'All the nonsense.' A second later, a message pops up on Floretta's phone from Ziv's number, with no text and just a selfie in which Ziv is wrinkling up their nose and sticking out their tongue.
They tuck their phone away and peek over at the albums too, curiously.
Floretta nods "Yeah I imagine there was a couple of pile of nonsense around that." Then she returns a text, which is a picture of her dog, Herbert, carrying a stick.
"Were you looking for anything in particular in here?"
They laugh out loud at the picture of Herbert. "Awww. He's cute. What's his name?" Ziv queries, and then shrugs their shoulders. "Oh, no, I was just walking home from the train station and realized I hadn't been in here for a while, so I figured I'd stop and see if I could find something cool for one of my sweethearts."
"Oooh, have you heard the electroshanty remix of Wellerman?"
"Not quite, the 'audience' is not a fan of newer sounds like that, but I'd like to hear it!" Floretta seems excited about it, though what she means by The Audience seems a little vague.
"And his name is Herbert!"
Their forehead wrinkles up in confusion. "The Audience? Man, whoever they are needs to hear it because... heck. It's such a cool remix. The bass drop is aaaaaaaabsolutely sick." A big breath pulled in and then a slow sigh as Ziv fans themself. "And there's a three hour remix, too, if you just wanna put it on and listen to the super addictive song for... ever." A soft smile at the last bit. "Herbert is a great name."
"I'm working on them being willing to hear it, but they're old and odd fashioned a bit. So, it's why I'm here buying these records, to ease the min other song, other sound and then, I can drop the remix when they ask more question, or when they're more receptive." Floretta explains of the audience.
"He's such a good companion too! Knows when I need a hug, or get out of the house."
Ziv's bubbling laughter curls up from their throat again. "Ah, well, I can understand that, I suppose. One of my sweethearts is rather old-fashioned in some senses, but Renault makes it worthwhile." They wink, and lean against the display counter, tucking their phone away again. "Oh, that's lovely. Aaron's got a cute little dog named Chewy. Well, Chewda Macabee, really, but Chewy for people who don't get deep-cut Jewish puns. I think that Chewy's Instagram -- of course he has one -- actually gained more followers than Aaron did after his Ninja Warrior run."
"I imagine it's a familiar feeling for a lot of people yeah." A beat and a stretch of her arms, she gather the album she seems interested in and looks toward the register for a brief moment. "Sometimes it provides a unique challenge to bring someone old into something new."
"Chewie sounds like a delight and maybe I'll get to introduce Herbert to him" A smile and a pleasant shrug. "I follow a few people on IG, but I don't really post anything, not entirely wise to sometimes."
"You really do need to curate your online presence, whether that's for safety or for your own personal aesthetic," agrees Ziv, "But if you search for Chewda Macabee, you'll find him. He's an adorable little Muppet of a dog and I love him."
Ziv's phone pings and they blink. "Oh! That's me." Digging it out, they squint at the screen. "I've got to take off, I'm expected at home. Lovely to meet you!" And then they pause, laughing. "My name's Ziv, by the way. Ziv Altshul."
"Floretta Williams! I'll contact you soon about the phone case!" She waves and steps out of Ziv's way to let them leave the room. "Have a great night!" (thanks for the RP! )
|