How I wish this drink could help (Elliot)

[CharlotteC]

Charlie watched him, watched the way he moved, picking up the subtle changes in posture and position. She was learning that as a vampire, her photographic memory was 100 times better, she seemed to pick up things without consciously knowing that she was doing it. She could tell that he was reading her just as much as she was reading him, though he seemed to be reading more than just the change in her physical appearance. She sighed softly and continued to listen to him as he went on to describe what he had meant. When he said the word faction she actually cringed a little. She had done the faction thing.

For all intents and purposes, she could assume that she was still part of the DoD, but at the same time she hadn't heard from anyone that group in ages. Then there was the Fledgling thing that she joined but given her age in this new world, she didn't even know if she still counted as that, even though there was still tons that she felt she didn't know. Finally there was the whole fiasco that was the 5th that she joined because Killian asked. She shook herself out of her thoughts and continued to listen as he continued to explain what he was offering her.

A soft smile gently lifted the corners of her lips as she thought about it a little more. He would treat her like his own, would teach her things, and in a way, he would offer her a family that she didn't really quite have. Yes, there was her bloodline that she was connected to because of Killian, but Killian had abandoned her. The other things that Elliot was offering her, while definitely would help her out if she needed it, was not something that would have made a difference. Just his offer of taking her in, teaching her, treating her like his own was more than enough for her.

Someone to teach her things, to be there if she needs the help. Not someone who sets her and forgets her for a lack of a better analogy. She shook away her thoughts again, not wanting to make herself feel bad again when she was just starting to have a reason to feel better again. She looked at Elliot, and smiled a little more before finally speaking, her voice soft, "I would like that Elliot. I don't need a faction, hell, the factions I have been apart of have done little for me other than getting me killed and leaving me just as blind about things as Killian did."

[Lancaster]

”Good, excellent,” Elliot beamed, rubbing his palms against the denim of his thighs as he straightened a little. He paused, then, tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth; that was all he needed to do, right? It seemed like it should be a huge thing, adopting someone, as it were, into a ‘family’ line. But as he raked through his memory of things that he knew, the knowledge that he had, he could think of no grand ceremony. There are no rituals involved, no swapping of blood. And he supposed, in the end, these kinds of verbal agreements were far more potent.

Rituals and traditions required the swapping of blood or some kind of other sacrifice in order to keep bonds strong; as if there was no other way to ensure loyalty or care. Sure, some could argue that verbal agreements were weak in comparison, that they could fall apart, that they could be turned on at any second. Elliot, however, choosing to be an honourable and honest man, failed to heed that kind of pessimism. To agree to take Charlie under his wing, and to do so without fuss, was more binding than any ceremony. He was a man who never told a lie, and nor would he ever. And, should anything untoward happen to Charlie under his watch, she could rest assured that he would suffer – guilt was the one thing that could cripple him, entirely and completely. To take her under his wing without demanding anything of her, and she to accept without demanding anything from him, was the only assurance of trust that Elliot required.

He cleared his throat and glanced around. If his eyes glazed, and if for a moment he seemed far away, even if bodily present, it was only because he was tapping into that strange power that he had acquired, near the beginning. The power that allowed him to connect to the internet with his own mind – and thusly the power to allow specific access to Charlie, to the Crownet, and to formally welcome her. Without a fuss. And straight away. Because why not?

When finally he turned his attention back to the woman, it was to nod. And then shake his head.

”Yes… no, I mean, factions never did appeal to me much, either. The majority ruled, when Canidae d’Artois was created. I think… maybe as a way to make the military aspect of it separate from the family,” he said with a frown. He’d never really liked that that is what it seemed to have always boiled down to – they were only family if they had someone to tell them what to do, and to order them around. He shook his head – Charlie didn’t have to have anything to do with that. Elliot himself would choose not to have anything to do with it, if he could, but he still felt as if he had some obligations.

”But anyway. I suppose… first thing I should ask: is there anything you need? Anything I can help with?” he asked, genuinely curious.

[CharlotteC]

The smile that Elliot gave her when she agreed made her smile grow to match his, it was touching to see that there was someone that still wanted to take her under his wing, to actually show her things, should she actually need help. She was sure that Elliot wouldn't fail her in that account like her sire had. With that thought, she stopped for a moment, she knew that it was possible - not to mention expensive as all **** - to do some kind of ceremony to leave a sire but was there one for gaining a new one? One that needed to be paid for or was it just as simple as the two of them agreeing that he would be there and she would ask if and when she needed it, that she would go to him for his problems.

Charlie bit her lip for a moment before noticing Elliot, he seemed to be thinking the same thing and then all of a sudden she could see the change in his eyes, it was a look that Rhett had told her she got ever since she had learned that ability with computers. Now she could be online anytime, any place she wanted to. She could surf the net, check for things, hack, she could even buy things through the the AH, that was something that came in handy when she was working hard on trying to build new traps and things for her other extra-curricular activities. Then again, lately she had also been using it to sell things off too because she had been making too many traps and such. As it was now, if those rat bastards came for her again with their ******** reason, now she was ready, she had enough traps to lay out from lobby and all through her apartment.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts though when Elliot again spoke and pulled her attention back onto him, she smiled a little more, understanding what he was saying before biting her lip and glancing around. Did she need something? She had to really stop and think about that, as far as she could tell she was pretty well set for all things that she needed right now. "So far I think I am set, I'd love a drink but i think it would be wasted on me. I haven't been able to feel the effects of anything since I woke into this life. Not weed, Not sugar, Coffee, even Liquor. And tonight was a night I could only wish for Liquor or weed to work on me, now though, I feel at least one of my problems that was bringing me down you've already helped with. You know, according to my roommate, we have the same look on our face when we do that net trick." She said, doing a little salute to point to her temple. "What were you doing on there anyways?"

[Lancaster]

Elliot wasn’t aware that he had a look. Or well, he assumed that he must have one, given that he noticed it on Reilly more often than not. It’s almost like a daydreaming stare – he’s there, but he’s completely not there at the same time. It was amusing, half the time that Elliot spent with Reilly was spent in silence; the two of them might have been in the same room, but if they communicated it was via the internet. Elliot needed to go see Reilly again, actually – he himself was starting to get back into the hacking, and Reilly was an expert at it. It felt weird, momentarily, to be taking someone under his wing when there were still so many things that he himself did not know.

But that didn’t matter. If Charlie needed something that he couldn’t provide, he would find someone who could. It was as simple as that – not that there were really that many people in the family to call upon. Asteria for rituals, maybe, but he hadn’t seen much of Asteria lately.

Elliot laughed.

”It’s probably the same look I get when writing music in my head. You’ll be able to tell the difference – if musically inclined, I’ve been told I have the habit of tapping my fingers a lot. I’m pretty damned talented at playing air-guitar,” he said. He hadn’t actually written any new songs in a while, and it was sometimes cause for concern and restlessness. It worried him. It meant that inspiration was lacking. And he had no idea how insane he might go if he were to lose it completely.

”I was tapping into the d’Artois Crownet. I’ve given you access – and welcomed you to the ‘family,” he said, making rabbit ears out of his fingers in mid-air to physically quote the word.

”And hey! First mentor-like observation – you’ll meet Jia li at some point. I sired her because I was blind drunk. First time in about two years. Don’t ask me how it happened – I think slowly my body is trying to revert itself to humanity. So you never know! One of these days, you just might re-learn the ability to… get drunk,” he chuckled. Strange, to think that it could become a learned ability. But he knew now that he couldn’t just down the whiskey as much as he liked because he liked the burn in his throat. He knew that he had to pace himself, like any ordinary person should.

”I can get you another drink, if you want one – you’ll never know if you don’t keep trying,” he said with a glint to his sky-blue eyes and a suggestive rise of an eyebrow.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie gave a little laugh as she glanced towards his fingers and then back up at him. They weren't tapping so she had to guess it wasn't music, but then she was pretty sure it hadn't been anyways. The idea of the air guitar amused her though, especially since she had just seen him with a real one. She had always been under the assumption that people did air guitar because they either couldn't afford one, or they thought they could pull it off. She was half way tempted to call him on it but then he continued on and his words made her relax into a gentle smile, one that still spoke of amusement but also that she was happy to see someone really show an interest in her, in wanting her to be a part of the family.

He had been welcoming her, had been allowing her access to the family's net. She was almost tempted to start up the computer that was her mind just to see if what he said was really true, but she could tell that unlike some she had known, when he said he was going to do something, he actually did it. Instead of going into computer mode she smiled a little more brightly at his mentioning a girl she didn't know but apparently he had sired her while he was drunk. That actually made her jaw slacken a little as she heard that.

Charlie noticed the glint in his eyes and suddenly she was willing to give it a shot, if nothing else, she could use it as a source of entertainment, especially if she could get him to join her in a drink... or ten... or 50... she smirked a little, a glint matching his, coming to her eyes as she slapped the arms of her chair and looked at him. "Well then, Let's see if my new mentor can get me drunk as a skunk, or end up under the table himself. That is... if you're up for the challenge." She said with a playful and challenging tone in her voice and standing so that she could head over to the bar. "What do you say Elliot?"

[Lancaster]

A lot of the time, Elliot was in a whole other world to the one he was living in. His mind was always somewhere else; thinking about a song, or a story that he’d read, or a particular philosophy that he’d been pondering. A lot of the time, though he engaged in small talk, he preferred it if he was just one in a crowd; so that he could just sit and sort of drift out the window, metaphorically speaking, eyes half-lidded as he lost himself in his own mind. At least, that was how he was if he was shackled to an ordinary, every-day setting with ordinary, every-day people.

It seemed that this was not one of those times, and Charlotte was not one of those people. It was tempting to accept the challenge, but given the fact that Charlotte seemed to think getting drunk was an impossibility, it meant that she possibly would have already tried. There was a very high change she wasn’t as susceptible to alcohol poisoning as Elliot was, and to accept such a challenge would result in inevitable loss.

He stood alongside Charlie and gestured toward the bar.

”It’s open to you. I’ll have a couple. But I have a feeling you’ll have an unfair advantage over me. I may be a lot more fun as a drunk than when sober, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go ahead and get drunk every other night,” he laughed. Given that the first time he had got drunk in two years resulted in a new childe, it was a thing he tended to avoid. He couldn’t be doing that all the time. Drunkenness coupled with his inability to lie could land him in some very deep water. He was lucky that Jia was as happy and carefree as she was. It could have been an entirely different story.

”Besides, technically I am at work. If we’re gonna go get drunk we should do it in another establishment. I can’t be badly influencing my own staff,” he said with a crooked grin, easing his way out from between the chairs and beginning the small walk toward the bar, his head far taller than the majority of those in the room and his shoulders hunching forward just that tiny bit to accommodate. He collected the dirty glasses that he’d disregarded earlier, figuring he’d better finish the job that he had started.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie smiled despite not being able to get him to agree to her challenge. It was cool though, she wouldn't be able to enjoy the buzz that came with alcohol but at least she could enjoy the flavors of them. She walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools, turning on it so that she could watch as Elliot went back to collecting "You're probably right you know, given how things have been since July with me. You'd be under the counter singing 'Macho man' and I'd probably still be sitting here wondering 'when in the HELL is this drink going to start working?'" She said with a soft laugh, leaning against the bar, resting her chin in her hand. "Before this..." she motioned to herself "... I was actually a feather weight when it came to liquor. But then I was always smart about not drinking to the point of being a sloshed drunk. So a shot, maybe a mixed drink and then I cut myself off." She smirked a little and then sat up and glanced over to were the alcohol was.

What to drink? What to drink? She thought to herself while Elliot continued to work. He had a point, this was his place of business, it would be bad form to get sloshed in front of his staff, though she couldn't help the smirk that danced back to her face at what they would think of seeing their boss at that point, that was assuming he was a happy drunk. He seemed happy as it was, and he said that he had sired a girl that he seemed happy about when he spoke of her when he was drunk. "Well then, if you're working, how about you serve your new childe a drink." She teased as she leaned against the bar again.

It was about that time that a song came on the jute box and she had to stop and listen for a moment. Her eyes closed and she began to hum quietly to the somber notes of The Eagle's 'Hotel California'. It was one of her favorite songs, and now that she really stopped to think about it, it was really very fitting. There was all kinds of crazy going on in this city and the one line that was of course the strongest pull on her 'You can check out any time you like, but you could never leave'. That was her now, she had checked out the moment she entered this city and now... she could never leave. At least now she felt as if she had someone that really wanted her around, welcomed her into a family she had yet to meet the moment she said yes. She smiled as she opened her eyes, scanning for Elliot before she said. "I think I'll start with the Captain..." she said with a smirk. "I could use a little captain in me." She added, there was just no way she could ignore that one moment of perversion.

[Lancaster]

Juggling quite a few glasses expertly—Elliot had worked as a bartender on and off for the majority of his life, to earn money to make it to the next place—he finally weaved his way back around to the business side of the bar. A couple of the other staff drifted back and forth, but none of them bothered Charlie. They could tell that she was a special guest of Mister Lancaster’s, and so they left her to him. Which was fair enough, and Elliot didn’t begrudge them their ethic. They wandered back and forth serving the other customers, and going about the odd jobs that always required doing: cleaning the toilets, restocking the bar, clearing glasses, so on and so forth.

He lined the glasses up near the sink, ready to be loaded into the industrial dishwasher. He’d deal with them soon, if one of the others didn’t beat him to it. His staff were very efficient, and odds were, one of them would swoop in when he wasn’t looking to finish the job that he had started. The good thing about being the boss was that he didn’t have to ask, he didn’t have to apologise; he wasn’t expected to do much of the work at all, and the lackeys would do it all for him in the hope to impress him. He did like to reward them every now and again, if they worked hard.

”Aye, aye,” he said, saluting Charlie as he turned toward the wall of alcohol, retrieving a bottle of Captain Morgan, and pouring her a nice full tumbler. And, while he worked, he hummed – he had a song he called Captain, and it was now circling around in his head. He returned the bottle to the shelf and, feeling a bit fancy, poured himself a very small amount of Cognac into one of the wider glasses. Rather than stay behind the bar, he again sauntered out in front of it, taking the stool beside Charlie.

”I was a bit of a heavyweight,” he said, in reference to her earlier comments. ”Grew up in a drinking culture; started when I was fourteen, or something ridiculous,” he said with a smirk. It made him sound like an alcoholic. But really, he just knew how to have fun; he wouldn’t drink to excess, not often. Just until he was drunk enough, at that point where loss of inhibitions amounted to a bit of fun rather than to idiocy. Stealing street signs, that kind of thing, rather than throwing bags resembling bodies over busy overpasses.

”You don’t really want to get sloshed,” he added, pondering. ”Not to the point where you can’t remember, anyway – that’s just a tiny bit dangerous,” he said, before taking a sip of his own drink.

[CharlotteC]

She snickered as he saluted her, her eyes rolling upwards as she shook her head but then returned her gaze to her new 'sire' for all intents and purposes as he began to hum and she had to wonder if that was something he did all the time. Just started humming or singing out of the blue. Not that she could begrudge him for it, she too could just suddenly burst into song. Of course, when she did it, it was either because she had her iPhone playing or because she was totally baked. Ahhh she missed those days, but at least vampurism hadn't taken music from her, and according to Elliot, there was a very very good chance that out of the blue things like drugs and alcohol could once again play on her system. As it was, she could still enjoy food, their flavors, so she just hoped that one day it would happen.

As he poured her the drink she had requested she glanced around, taking in the rest of the staff as well as the patrons, She wondered if the staff knew what he was, and because of that what she was. She knew it was unlikely that the humans, the rest of the patrons didn't know, but the staff. Did they? As she thought of this, Elliot moved back around the bar to join her on the customer side and smiled to him, noting the glass of liquor in his hands. "I thought you were working?" She said in a teasing tone before she fell silent to listen to his story, or at least, a small part of it as well as his advice about not getting sloshed. It was something that she knew, but she also knew that he didn't know that, especially when her she had so wished she could be that way when she stepped through the door.

Now though, the only thing she missed, was a good buzz. She shook herself out of her thoughts and smiled to him. "I never really did, however the same can't be said for a lot of my dorm mates, I swear some of them had the life mission of being so drunk that they couldn't even remember their years in school." She said with a soft laugh and then raised her glass in a small toasting manner "To new beginnings?"

[Lancaster]

”I was. I am. I mean – I’m the boss! I can do what I want. I’m changeable. You should know this, before you get in too deep with me,” he says, laughing a little. Sure, yes, since coming to Harper Rock and starting his numerous businesses, he’d become a little more sturdy and predictable. More reliable. Not that he’d ever been unreliable, per se, but he used to have the tendency to take off at a moment’s notice. One morning he might wake up and decide he didn’t want to be where he was anymore, so he’d pack his bags with all his worldly belongings – there weren’t many of them – and he’d find the next bus. He’d leave. He’d explore. He’d discover. He’d experience the world and all it had to offer.

There was no chance of that happening anymore. He’d grown roots, and though he sometimes got far too restless and irritated by them, feeling chained down, he had far too much to be happy for to allow the unhappiness to mar his daily experiences. So while the businesses kept him predictable, and he could always be found within one of them, he still used the opportunity as a boss to do as he pleased – to give himself at least the small freedoms that hard work afforded him.

”To new beginnings!” he repeated enthusiastically, clinking the edge of his glass against Charlie’s. Immediately after, he took a small mouthful, swilled the alcohol over his tongue, before swallowing. He nodded.

”I knew people like that. People who’d go buy a really cheap box of goon, nasty stuff, just to get drunk before going out. Because they couldn’t afford the overpriced, watered down crap at the clubs. I didn’t understand – getting drunk just to get drunk? Seems pointless. I like to enjoy my alcohol. The nicely aged stuff – the expensive stuff,” he said. And then he laughed. ”Or maybe I’m just an old man now showing my colours,” he said, thoughtfully. He wasn’t exactly young, by any stretch of the imagination. But nor was he crochety – at least he had that working in his favour. He remembered that one guy Pi had sired, whom he had not seen around in a while. Had to have been in his 70s. Who the hell would want to live eternity in their 70s?! Elliot shook his head, and took another mouthful of his drink.