City of the Truly Dead Dead [Open]

[Lancaster]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Elliot d’Artois> It didn’t make complete sense, no, but Elliot got the gist. What she meant, he assumed, was that because they were the same, they cancelled each other out. That they might see each other more as who they were before; differently to how others might perceive them. The first half, anyway, was a bit hard for his head to wrap around. The second half, however, had him nodding. “Sure, yeah. I made friends easily enough. You kinda learn to communicate with anyone, anywhere, when you never stay in one place longer than a month. You tend to learn to make friends pretty swiftly,” he said with a laugh. The laugh broadened, got deeper and more self-deprecating as he considered her compliment.

“Good looking?” He glanced down at himself. “I think I look a bit like a stick insect. A stick insect with Hugh Grant’s hair,” he said. He wasn’t fishing for compliments. He didn’t care how he looked—never did and never would. And Pi didn’t seem to care, either. That was what mattered, he supposed. “And hey, you’re not so bad yourself. Even the glasses—they add pizzazz,” he said with a grin.


* CharlotteC nodded as he questioned her complement, then as he mentioned his 'Hugh Grant' hair her eyes lifted to his hair and she snickered a little. It really depends on the movie he was in at the time, she thought. Still she hummed and nodded to his words until he mentioned her looks. Her brow lifted and then she laughed a little glad she could no longer blush, still her head lowered a little. "Thanks, though I'm shocked you haven't asked about them. When I meet other vampires that seems to be their first question."


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot frowns and shrugs. I taps his nose twice before gesturing at the glasses. His voice is low, conspiratorial, as he leans on the counter. "Let me guess. Just glass, right? No actual lenses? Fool the herd into believing you're one of them?" he asked. It's what he'd guessed, from the beginning. Didn't bother asking. They all did things to fit in. And luckily for the allurists, it just came a little easier to them. Elliot himself gave off an aura--one day, he'd try to fool a vampire into believing he was human. It would be a nice little trick.


* CharlotteC smiled a bit more and nodded "I never realized just how bad my eyes were until I was changed and put my glasses back on" she laughed a little. "I felt like I was tripping on some bad drugs."


<Elliot d’Artois> "That's got to be cool, though," Elliot said. He kind of wished he'd had some kind of defect, so that upon turning he could have started by looking at the silver linings, rather than delving straight into brooding negativity. He was trying his hardest to pull himself out of the rut. And he liked this, this conversation with Charlie. Even though they were talking about non-normal things, it was nice to just talk without a flurry of emotion getting in the way. "I suppose I do like the... heightened senses thing. Makes for better music. Easier to tune the guitar," he said.


* CharlotteC nodded "I bet it does, though I do miss getting high. My kingdom to feel a caffeine buzz or the sweet bliss of purple haze." She said with a laugh. Then she nodded to the liquor "or even that" she added. "Though, and I don't know if you can tell the same thing but, eating food, it's like I can taste not just what I'm eating but everything that goes into it. Even the soil."


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot shrugged. "I dunno. I avoid eating at all costs. Drinking I got the hang of, but not eating. Probably for that exact same reason. It doesn't taste the same, anyway. Can't indulge in any kind of nostalgia from it, so what's the point?" he said. He remembered the good old days, too - though he was no addict, you don't live mainly in hostels without getting high every now and again.


* CharlotteC frowned a moment but then nodded, it was odd that he didn't eat as well but then, she refused to give up food as well as smoking. And coffee, hell would sooner freeze over. "Well it's the same with drinks to me. How were you with wine when you were human?"


<Elliot d’Artois> "How do you mean, how was I with wine?" he asked. "Did I like it? Sure. I was no conissuer. I could never really afford the expensive stuff. But it was nice to indulge every now and again. It's a good party trick now, though, right? So easy to pick up the 'oakey' taste, right?" he said with a grin.


* CharlotteC smirked "I wouldn't call it so much a party trick, but I can actually get past the 'Oakey' into the heart of the soil now. Same with coffee beans. Do you know the soil in Kona tastes like salt, pineapples and hibiscus?"


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot perked a brow. "No, I didn't know that," he said. He wasn't so sure it mattered, too much. He shrugged. "I've never really had interest in where coffee came from, or how it tasted. The stuff I usually drank - well it was always pretty bad. I suppose. WIth today's standards. Same goes with wine. It was always the outcome I wanted, rather than the experience of the taste."


* CharlotteC nodded again and then gave a little shrug "I was sort of the same way, so long as it kept me up I didn't really care what I was drinking." She glanced around the bar not that she really needed to take another look at his inventory that she could see because she had it all in perfect snap shots but she didn't want to just sit like a statue because she could. "I guess now I savor the tastes now that I can't get anything else from it."


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot nodded. He savoured the burn, rather than the taste. At least the burn was the same. And besides, he used to drink to distract himself from the fact tha the had to consume blood to survive. But now that he had a single, constant source of nourishment, that didn't matter so much. "Can I get you anything else? To... taste?" Elliot asked, gesturing to the wall behind him.


* CharlotteC smiled and shook her head, "no thank you, I think I'm good when it comes to the drinking. But how are you at pool?" She asked as she glanced over at the pool tables.


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot glanced toward the pool tables. He nodded. "I think I'm pretty decent," he said, straightening his shoulders. "Care to take up the challenge?" he asked, flicking the hair from out of his eyes as he gestured toward the pool tables.


* CharlotteC smirked and hopped from her seat, "bring it on!" She said as she headed for the tables, moving to pick out a cue stick that 'fit' her.

[CharlotteC]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot knew exactly which cue he liked best. His staff liked him. Why? On the quiet nights, when there was no one around, this is exactly how they passed their time. Not all the time, of course, but every now and again. He'd had some decent practice. He pulled a coin from his pocket to activate the table, and the pool balls thundered into the base. He pulled them all out, arranging them neatly within the triangle. He rolled the white ball over to Charlie. "You break."


* CharlotteC smirked a bit as she watched him release the balls from their wood and metal trap as she chalked up the tip of her stick. When he rolled the cue to her she took hold of it and tossed it in the air once, catching it with her free hand as she moved slightly off to one side. Her eyes locked on her target as her mind did all the calculations. Leaning over and aiming, with a quick pull back and return, she sent the cue towards the group. With a loud clap, the balls scattered and smacked around until the tall tell sound of two balls going in filled the air. She could tell thanks to her photographic memory that she had hit one of each - one solid, one striped. "I call solids." She said as she smirked at him then moved to take aim for her next shot. That one, however, missed.


<Elliot d’Artois> "Stripes it is," he mumbled, watching as the woman moved, as she eyed the table and the balls with such calculative ferocity--Elliot had the notion that he was about to get his *** kicked. He just took aim and hoped for the best. The beginning was always the easiest, though - with so many balls on the table, and so many close enough to hit, close enough to sink. He managed to sink one, straight away, but missed on the next go around.


* CharlotteC smiled as she leaned against the opposite side of the table that he was on as he took his shot. Besides the fact that there was little else to do in her little island in Maine other than a few things, she was smart and the memory recall always helped. But as he sunk a ball then missed the next she couldn't help but smile like the cat that ate the canary. "The first few shots are always the easy ones huh?" She said as she moved around to take her shot. The first one was pretty straight forward, a nice simple rail shot. However, her next shot wasn't going to be easy, it took time, a little English, and a slight curve to the right to get it to dance around one of his balls to knock hers into a side pocket. She smirked as the sound filled the air and then moved to knock one more in, this one though was just a bit off and cause the ball to stall right up against the cushion. "Damn... You sure this table is level?" She teased as she looked at him.


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, just like a woman to call foul play, when there is none," Elliot said, snorting and laughing under his breath. Although he managed to sink another couple of balls himself, Charlie was still in the lead. He always liked to play these games for the fun of it, not to win. His staff often took advantage of his lax behaviour when it came to competition. And he wasn't any different, now. When it came around to Charlie's turn again, he wandered over to the juke box, fiddling with the thing so that the next song to play would be a little Jimmy Hendrix.


* CharlotteC rolled her eyes in return as he said it was 'just like a woman' but even then she still let out a small laugh. She watched as he took his shots and just like when playing chess, was trying to plan moves several turns ahead. As she looked around for her next shot, she chalked up her cue stick again, it was then she noticed the music choice. "Are you taunting my inability to get high now?" She teased then moved to make her shot. One went in without a hitch then next though stopped just shy of the pocket. She sighed and leaned against the table again. "You know, if I thought it would work, I'd try to distract you." She said with a laugh then started to hum along to the song.


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot levelled his gaze at Charlie. "Now now. No need to cheat when you're clearly going to beat me anyway," he said. And she was right, anyway. It wouldn't work. At least, he hoped he had more willpower than that. And that was assuming, too, that he had the right idea about what she meant. He tried to focus, this time. He got one of his own balls in, but then, while trying to aim a tricky angle to get in another, he ends up sinking one of Charlie's. He snorts again. "Look, I'm even helping you!"


* CharlotteC smirked and nodded as she watched him focus. He was right, she was going to win this one. Especially since he sank her last remaining shot. When it was her turn again she smiled and looked at him, but then her watch beeped. She sighed and shook her head. "Well I was going to make this flashy, but since the sun is coming up soon I'll put you out of your misery." She teased. "Corner pocket." She called, pointing to it with her stick before she took aim and sent it in.


<Elliot d’Artois> Elliot threw up his arms as if he expected something different; as if he were actually disappointed. The grin on his face proved otherwise, however. He was no sore loser. Never had been. "Well, shucks," he said, before returning the cue to the rack. He glanced over the counter, toward the back wall, where there was a large digital clock. He didn't know what time the sun came up, but he could feel it in his bones. "You'll make it home okay?" he asked. It would be easy for him. He had a flashy piece of paper in his pocket that would take him straight to the Den. It mgiht not be so easy for Charlie, however.


* CharlotteC smiled and nodded "yeah, easy peasy. Thanks for the game. You may see me around more often." She said as she moved to pick up her jacket and set some money on the counter for the drinks.


<Elliot d’Artois> "Maybe you'll hear me play next time," he said with a grin, gesturing toward the stage at the other end of the bar. "Safe trip, and see you soon," he said. He didn't notice as she placed the money on the bar - he wouldn't have asked for it. As soon as she'd disappeared out the front door, Elliot left his staff to clean up, and disappeared into the office--in order to disappear home, and to the bed within which he hoped to find Pi.