Anybodys slowly ran a worn down towel... the only one for cleaning stuff in Doc's shop, now that he thought about it, and just as overused and past its prime as the rest of it despite this... along the counter, trying and mostly failing to not think about the horrific act that guys he had considered to be his brothers had nearly committed here, that he had cowardly done nothing to stop, and the fact that this was Tony's old job he was doing. It had only been a few days since his best friend... former best friend? guy who had never really been his friend at all and had just been pretending to care about him like how he had apparently been pretending to see him as a man? turned betrayer had died to his own stupidity in putting himself in danger for a romantic relationship of all things and then calling out for the guy who he knew wanted to kill him, even if it, like that fateful day, felt more like months. It wasn't even just the fact that he was technically following in Tony's abruptly cut short footsteps now that was strange, having a job at all when most of the Jets had sneered at them and those who had them in the wake of Tony drifting apart from the gang for one felt weird, like he was violating a taboo of a group that would probably no longer exist soon with everything that had been happening lately but that he still cared for the values of... even if said values had nearly lead them straight off the cliff of taking from Anita what could never be given or taken back.
Jet life, or, as it had unfortunately been for him for a lot of the time he had known the others, life on the periphery of the Jets, was all about living day to day, moment to moment, not planning further than where you would be crashing that night or, if you were feeling bold, what you might do at the next fight that broke out, because even in a lifestyle defined and upheld by cockiness and fundamental belief in one's moral superiority and birthright there was still an unspoken understanding between them that assuming one would be able to continue said lifestyle into the near future without facing arrest or grievous injury or even the abstract until recently idea of death was highly presumptuous. Having a job was counter to that, an assertion that you would be able to keep up what you were currently doing long enough to collect that month's paycheck, and maybe even the next, and the next after that, and possibly even do the unspeakable and eventually pull yourself out of this dump while your former brothers without stars in their eyes and long term ambitions were left in your dust. Only Tony and Ice had done it before him, the former after he had drifted apart from the gang entirely and the latter while his growing disillusionment with the gang was obvious to Anybodys but apparently opaque to everyone else.
He... guessed disillusionment with the gang was also a part of why he had joined that club, even if his past self of only a few days ago would have sworn up and down on any grave or potential grave you could think of that he would never stop thinking that the Jets were the greatest... he certainly didn't think that anymore after what they had nearly done to Anita, as painful as that was to admit, as hollow and listless as that made him feel... but there was also the practical matter of distracting himself from the images of Anita's assault and Tony's last moments that invaded his mind's eye every time he closed his eyes and having an excuse to tell those stupid coppers when they came around wanting to hear about that which they would never be able to understand, that they would be more likely to listen to than the rather more honest and satisfying route of telling them where they could shove it. Doc had approached him with a frank honesty he could appreciate at this point, offering him the job because he had been the only one of the Jets who hadn't nearly... done... that... to Anita and because Tony had spoken of him kindly... whether he meant those nice remarks or not Anybodys didn't know anymore, but he hoped he did even as the importance of Tony's opinion to him had dropped severely after the events of his last moments... and he had accepted. Plus getting to have red hots whenever he wanted instead of just whenever he could scrounge up the change for them or when he and Ice hung out and Ice was paying was nice.
As was getting to feel even more superior to his late least favorite member of the... probably late as well Jets, Riff, than he normally did, considering that Riff had never held down a stable job like this and probably never would have been able to with how flighty he was. The rarely heard, rusted bell above the front door of the shop sounded, and Anybodys looked up, doing a double take as he thought for a second that his extremely justified insults levied at Riff had somehow brought him back from the dead and then realized that that thankfully hadn't happened, it was just that one of the two people who had just entered the store looked uncannily like a slightly younger version of him, only with darker hair and a taller, lither stature and a way of carrying himself that gave off more of an uptight, quick on his feet air than an obnoxiously jovial one. The other one did remind Anybodys of Riff in her demeanor, in her relaxed, carefree lounging against the counter and confident, mildly curious gazing around the shop, but she wore it better somehow and didn't throw Anybodys into the first option in fight or flight with her mere presence, maybe partially because she looked much less like him overall, more... pretty, actually, with her angular cheekbones and lighter hair and shorter, stockier stature. ...Right, he was supposed to greet customers, what had Doc told him to say days that felt more like months ago?
"Welcome to Doc's Drugstore, please let me know if you need help with anything!" ...Ugh, he'd had to choke out those last few words, they felt so fake and way too official, no wonder most of the Jets hadn't wanted to get jobs... They'd probably been useless anyway, it didn't seem like what these two were looking for was anything that could be purchased at this store somehow. They looked over at him as if they were just now realizing he was there, the guy nodding curtly but not impolitely before addressing him and the girl flashing him a warm but slightly distant smile. "Hey. Did you know Riff?" ...Well, at least Anybodys probably wouldn't have to talk about the store's current promotions with these two, although he might actually prefer that over this... "Unfortunately, yeah. How did you know 'im?" The girl was paying more attention now, intrigued in a way that made it difficult for Anybodys to guess exactly what her relationship to the late leader of the Jets had been. "Genetically, and sharing a house with him til he ran off with the Jets. How's that going, by the way?" Even despite the apparent sincerity of her tone, Anybodys' old but well worn instincts to never admit to any fault or weakness in the Jets kicked in, and he was just about to make something up about how strong and resilient the gang still was even after everything that had happened when he realized... These were Riff's oft maligned younger twin siblings, who Riff didn't like and had disavowed for similar reasons as Anybodys; they too rejected the circumstances of their birth in favor of living as the gender that suited them.
What were their names... it was hard to remember when Riff had almost exclusively used their birth names, and had only spoken of their current ones in an even more mocking tone... "Are you Michael and Johanna?" Michael paradoxically stiffened slightly while standing a little taller. "So he did know our names. Figures." Johanna was sizing him up now, impressed. "See, I told ya! Now, that leaves the question of who you are. We should be able to recognize some of the names of the Jets; Riff let some slip the last time he accidentally ran into us." ...Riff definitely wouldn't have had anything nice to say about him, just like he didn't for him either, so he kind of hoped that his name hadn't come up even if he felt an odd sense of trust in these two to not have taken any of Riff's inevitable insults towards him seriously. "I'm Anybodys, he prolly didn't... yeah I can tell you already know how well we got along by the looks on your faces. What'd he say about me?" Pained recognition had flashed across Michael's expression and countenance before he answered that question, while Johanna had briefly averted her gaze from his and mouthed something like 'wow,' seemingly in sympathy and almost amused recognition of the gallows humor aspect to this situation that Anybodys could also occasionally bring himself to admit to. "About what he used to say about us. Prolly nothin' that he didn't say to your face. Frankly I was relieved when I heard the news, with how he treated people he hadn't decided were in his inner circle. It'll prolly end up being a good thing overall."
They knew that Riff sucked too?! It was so rare that people recognized that, even Tony really hadn't even after he had drifted apart from the gang partially because of Riff's constant efforts to drag him into trouble that he didn't want anymore for reasons that Anybodys hadn't understood at the time with it, because it was apparently so easy to fall for the trap of his outwardly easygoing, die-hard loyal exterior and not see the depths of flakiness and unjustified cruelty underneath if they didn't impact you directly, if he hadn't royally screwed you over by, say, kicking you out of the gang after the guy that had let you into it had drifted apart from it even though there was a rule that both of them had to agree to anyone getting kicked out and he hadn't agreed, couldn't agree even if he wanted to because he wasn't with the gang anymore. This made sense, now that he thought about it, because clearly they were fellow victims of Riff's screwing over of anyone he didn't personally consider to be his buddy and even sometimes those people. "You can say that again. I'd never admit this to the others, but I started hatin' Bernardo a little less when I found out he'd been the one to finish 'im off." Johanna laughed warmly, charmingly.
"He's one of the Sharks, I presume? The coppers didn't tell us a whole lot when they were questioning us." Anybodys clenched a leg of the stool he had migrated to sitting on slightly, trying to vanquish invasive mental images of the aftermath of the rumble that he should have gotten to before it ended, that he should have been able to prove himself to the Jets by fighting in rather than with his comparatively much less macho and cool sneaking in and out of the shadows skills from his mind and only mostly succeeding after a long moment. "He was the leader of the Sharks, but then Tony finished 'im off for finishin' off Riff. ...And then Chino finished off Tony for finishin' off him, and that's where it's stopped for now, hopefully for good." Wow, Anybodys... would not have been hoping for the cycle of violence they had been caught in for so long to end even a few days ago, he had relished in it, actually, but it seemed to have lost a lot of its luster to him with Anita nearly assaulted and Tony dead, even if his feelings towards the latter were very much complicated now. Michael nodded solemnly, matching his relief but not the surprise resulting from it. "Yes, hopefully. That's too bad about Tony, he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders." Anybodys breathed in sharply, baring his teeth. "...Well..." Johanna's eyes widened, even as what seemed to be her characteristically calm and unaffected demeanor remained about the same. "Not him too! Tell me, are you the only good one outta the Jets? ...Actually, don't tell me here, we should get lunch or something! When do you get off your shift?"
...Wow, this was great! Michael and Johanna seemed so far to have all the coolness that Riff lacked but liked to think he had, and he was hitting it off great with them! ...Plus Johanna was kinda cute... And with them he might hopefully be able to fill the aching void in his life that the Jets and their horrific actions and inevitable disbandment had left, without getting treated terribly like most of them besides Ice and Tony when he had been one of them had treated him, and have another weapon in his arsenal in his battle against the terrible images of the past few days for his attention! He looked at the dingy clock on the even dingier wall, calculating an answer to her question even as the dust that had settled on it over its many years of service made this an arduous task. "...About an hour. See ya then?" Johanna flashed him a genuine grin while standing up to join her brother, who dipped his head to him respectfully. "See ya then." They made their way back out of the shop, with Michael holding the door open for Johanna, and Anybodys looked after them for a moment before matching Johanna's earlier grin and resuming his work on the counter, feeling joy that he was making connections after losing the ones he had had with most of the Jets and Tony and an almost spiteful glee that he was getting along with Riff's siblings better than he had.