The Masterpiece of Nature (Ben and Sean)

[Joshua Bernstein]

(backdating this to last weekend)

The door to Honest Abe's flung open, allowing in a burst of cold air, followed by two middle aged men. The darker haired of the pair shivered despite the heavy coat he wore, stomping snow off his boots and onto the already muddy and wet welcome mat. He craned his neck in the direction of the bar, scanning for any sight of the man they were joining today. A few other patrons (mostly, but not all, male) could be seen leaning against the counter or nursing beers. There was no sign of Ben, however.

"Is he here yet?" Josh turned to look up at his companion. If anyone would know it would be Sean; whether Ben was in the bathroom, or just pulled into the parking lot, his partner's telepathy proved useful for alerting them to the presence of their friends.

Josh had to admit that his own senses weren't always that useful; he'd managed to miss people before, even when he had walked right past them.

A hostess trotted into view, long hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. "Sorry for the wait!" She chirped, eyeing the two men and then reaching for the menus. "Two? Booth or table?"

"Actually, there's one more in our party," Josh spoke quickly, perusing the restaurant again for any sign of Ben.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean enjoyed Honest Abe’s, and he had since he had first discovered the restaurant. As with several places around Pilot Ridge, he had yet to eat a bad meal at Honest Abe’s. While he didn’t enjoy sandwiches quite as heartily as Josh did (which was to say that he hadn’t relied on them as his primary source of food for decades), he still enjoyed them, and casual cuisine generally.

He also enjoyed every opportunity to spend time with his partner.

However, today they were not sharing a meal with only one another for company. A friend, and one of Sean’s coworkers, was joining them. However, he didn’t sense Ben inside the restaurant, not yet. That happened; the telepath had a habit of being early, because he preferred waiting to making other people wait for him. “I don’t sense him here,” he murmured to the younger man, before he indicated that they would take a four-person booth, if one was available.

The booth would be easier on his back, and he was sure that Josh wouldn’t mind the close quarters. Even on their best behavior, it was still nice to get close.

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” The weather was cold and snowy, but that was to be expected during January in Vermont. The residents all knew how to cope, or else they learned quickly through exposure.

[Joshua Bernstein]

The hostess scanned her seating chart, then smiled. "Follow me!"

She led them to the back of the restaurant, to a booth that, while spacious, was somewhat out of the way. The doors to the kitchen swung open and shut, allowing servers to scurry past with delicious smelling trays of food.

Josh shimmied out of his coat once they'd been escorted to their booth. He tossed it rather unelegantly into the corner, sliding in beside it.

"I don't think we'll be able to see Ben from here," He commented, half-standing in order to see over the top of the booth toward the door. "I hope he can find us."

[Norman "Ben" Gerst]

Ben had no idea how to drive in this sort of weather. He should've expected it, given that he moved to New England just as winter started. He wish he invested in four wheel drive, or bought some of that anti-freeze liquid for his windshield, or something. Something to make driving easier so he wasn't crawling along twenty miles below the speed limit to make sure his car didn't slide off the road. A few cars honked as they sped by him and Ben stared at their Vermont license plates with something just short of jealousy.

Finally, he pulled into the lot of the restaurant. He looked around at the parked cars as if he would recognize one of them, then gave up and stepped out into the cold. "Incredible," he muttered, making sure to shake the snow off his boots and brush it off his coat just before walking into the building. Absolutely incredible.

"Uh, hey- hello," he said with a weak smile at the hostess. "I'm meeting some people and they're probably already here? Two guys, uh... one wears glasses?" Ben fumbled for a more detailed description, but the hostess seemed to get it from that alone and pointed toward the back of the restaurant. Ben thanked her and moved cautiously in the direction she pointed, not gaining confidence in his step until he saw Josh and Sean in the booth.

"Hope I didn't keep y'all waiting too long," he said with a sheepish smile. "Still getting used to driving in this weather."

[oh my gosh sorry for being super super late i missed the thread somehow ;;]

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean followed the hostess, remaining in step with his partner as they walked to the table. He kept his attention focused for Ben, since he wanted to help their friend locate them as soon as he entered the restaurant. Once at the table, he took the moment to remove his coat as well, and then slid in beside his partner. When out with other people, they always sat beside one another.

“We’ll be able to have him find us,” the telepath assured Josh, as he reached up to tap his temple lightly with two fingers. It would be fine.

Sure enough, not too longer afterward, he sensed Ben’s arrival, and he raised one hand to try to catch their friend’s attention. A few moments later and the other man slid into the booth across from them.

“Not at all,” the older man said with a smile. “Vermont weather takes some getting used to.” Snow storms throughout the winter, residual ice that wouldn’t melt until spring, and a winter that lasted fully half the year. Sean didn’t mind, since he was originally from New York, which also suffered from snow and winter, albeit less of it Downstate than Upstate.

“The important thing is that you’re here and safe.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh smiled in greeting when Ben appeared, extending a hand across the table.

"We just got here." He assured their friend after Sean had spoken. "Maybe a few minutes ago."

The terrain differences between The City and Vermont had been a far larger difficulty for Josh than the weather, but he thought that he understood regardless. After all, several of his friends had migrated from sunnier states, and he bore witness to the adjustment and the scrambling for necessities (snow tires, ice scrapers, even on occasion warm enough clothing) that those used to wintry climes took for granted.

"But you're here now! Want to try an appetizer? The flat bread with spinach looks good."

[Norman "Ben" Gerst]

"I taught in Albany before coming here," Ben said as he got comfortable, which meant a lot of shifting against the cushions. "So, you know, you'd think a guy'd learn how to deal with the snow when he's in New York." He paused to look at the menu in front of him without taking in any real information about the food. "It just didn't snow as much as it needed to for me to actually learn from it." A smile, mostly out of embarrassment, as it was his fault for not adapting to colder environments. He could have at least gotten a car that could handle it.

"That sounds great." Anything warm sounded great, really. "I'm guessing y'all are from here up north? It kinda feels like you're, uh, staples in the community, like you've been here for a while."

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean nodded, backing up his partner’s assurances that they had not waited long at the restaurant. It had only been a few minutes, and the telepath was used to waiting. He firmly held to the idea that he would rather be early and wait for a while than arrive late and make others wait for him.

The telepath nodded his consent at his partner’s suggestion for an appetizer. He enjoyed spinach, and he enjoyed flatbread pizzas, and so he was sure that the two would go together well.

“Albany doesn’t get the same amount of snow as Syracuse or Buffalo,” Sean agreed. Albany, while upstate from Manhattan and its suburbs, was not in the snow belt, nor was it far west enough to suffer from Lake Effect snow.

“We’re both from New York originally,” the telepath explained. While he wouldn’t describe himself as a staple of the community, he did readily acknowledge that he had many connections throughout Pilot Ridge. “But I’ve lived in Pilot Ridge for half my life.” For the six years when he had attended Hammel, and then for the past twenty-three since he first took the staff psychiatrist position.

Sean would let Josh explain his backstory for himself. It wasn’t as though his partner was shy about his origins, and the younger man had retained his accent.

[Joshua Bernstein]

While Sean and Ben discussed origins, Josh flagged down the waitress for the appetizer. She promised to return with it shortly, scurrying off dutifully.

"I only moved up here a few years ago." The attorney explained once he his attention had returned to the conversation. "My parent are getting on up there in years, and the retirement center in Burlington is so nice. Mom was reluctant to move until I promised I would be close to her, and they have a great Alzheimer's ward. What made you decide to move from Albany?"