Candy Canes and Cocoa (Elliot)

[Dhara]

She couldn't help the small chuckle when he mentioned how turning twenty one was an inescapable fate. She, if she were truly honest, didn't know how old she actually was. But she wouldn't tell Elliot that. She listened intently to what he said, about how he really wasn't trapped. A slow breath drawn in, she felt her lungs inflate and she held it there for a moment or three longer than needed. She felt the oxygen turn, her lungs slowly beginning to burn with the need for a fresh supply of air. Slowly the stale air in her lungs was expelled and fresh air drawn in. Slow, measured breathing as she thought about what he said.

If Elliot didn't feel trapped, and he was a vampire sentenced to darkness, then why did the mere mention of settling down freak her out so badly? She honestly had no answer for the question. She should be like Elliot. She should realize that she would never be trapped, even if her time on this earth was finite where as his was infinite. She nibbled on the inside of her cheek for a moment, drawing in another breath so she could finally speak.

"Would you ever consider it? Settling down for a time, then scrapping it all and taking off?" She paused a moment and canted her head, "Well not now, but before you got married I mean." She took it as simple fact that his marriage was as eternal as he was. That was simply how she operated. Married was forever, human or vampire, death was the only way marriage ended in her world. "I'm sure now you'd take your wife along. But would you have ever considered a temporary relationship so that you could easily move on?"

[Lancaster]

There were some lyrics that Elliot had written that struck him, now, as he heard Dhara’s questions. A melancholy piece, as he reflected his past. A past that he missed, but at the same time he always knew it would have to come to an end. Dhara was younger than he was. Maybe he was getting nearer to the age where he would settle. I can be somebody you can give up on.. That’s who he used to be. Never static. A man who never knew whether he was kidding anymore, but played along anyway. A man who made every short story long. A man who tried to forget who his friends were.

No, not really. He never forgot anyone. He remembered, but the faces were all blurred, now, and the faces interchangeable. All those people he had met were one large entity. A conglomerate of personalities that added up to a past that he wouldn’t have back. To them, he was just a man standing around in their old photographs. And vice versa. He could look at old photos and he could remember, vaguely, that festival or that bonfire. That party on the roof on that particular New Years’ Eve. Was it 1999, or 2001?

The past was the sound of clinking beer bottles, of boat propellers and laughter. The present was this city with its cold cold winter and its constant darkness. But it was also Lancaster’s. It was Pi. It was d’Artois. It wasn’t all bad. In fact, it was mostly good, if he chose to focus on the good. His bright eyes focused on Dhara and he nodded.

”It was always there in the back of my mind. I knew one day I’d settle down. It was just never… directly in front of me, you know? I first started travelling not as a lifelong occupation but because I felt like I should explore the world before I settled. I just… didn’t stop travelling until I was forced to,” he said. Which was the truth. Death had been thrown into his path like a crooked slab of concrete, and he’d face-planted. Now he was recovering. Like waking up from a coma.

”I never really thought about relationships that much. My relationships were mainly with other travellers and they knew as well as I did that we’d probably part ways, sooner or later. Or, we travelled together. Nothing was ever too serious,” he said. Irene was probably the more serious of all his relationships, before Pi. He’d met Irene back in Paris. And Irene was gone, now. She’d given this city up, after Elliot had ruined her life. A frown passed over his features, barely contained.

[Dhara]

"I didn't have relationships with other Travelers. I honestly didn't stay any where long enough. Three days was usually my max." She sighed and rubbed her hand over her face, leaning back against the sofa, her head turned to look over at him. "I don't know why I stay." She said honestly, and her talk with Elliot hadn't helped her figure it out. Every thing he said, every thing she knew, every thing that went on in this town encouraged her to take the first plane, train or bus out of here and never look back. But she didn't and she couldn't figure out why.

It wasn't for lack of trying. She had packed her bags a few times, bought a bus ticket to the States. A plane ticket to Tokyo, and yet, when the time came, she was never there. She missed her bus, missed her flight and always seemed to find herself back here. It was as much a mystery to her as Stonehenge was to modern man. Twisting a lock of hair around one finger, she looked over at her friend and landlord, then gave a small, half shrug. She didn't have the answers, and at this point, she doubted she'd ever be able to figure things out.

"So what happens now?"

[Lancaster]

The time for discussing it was over. Dhara’s admission that she didn’t know why she stayed didn’t seem to be an enquiry. She wasn’t looking to Elliot for answers. It was a rhetorical statement, one that Elliot could only shrug his shoulders at. It was something that only Dhara herself would be able to answer, in the end. As much as Elliot could wax lyrical about the mysterious allure of the city, it would all be ********. He’d never tested the theory himself. He’d never tried to leave, even though he knew he could, if he wanted to. One day he would. One day he would have to go back and see his mother, at least one time before she died. But that was something he would do in the future. Not right now. Some distant event that he hadn’t tried to think about yet. How exactly to coordinate such a trip and avoid any kind of sunlight?

For someone who only stayed places for three days before moving on, there had to be something else going on emotionally or psychologically for her to stay in this place for… well, long enough to move into a place and get settled. Elliot didn’t know Dhara well enough to comment. He wasn’t a psychologist. Maybe it was just her time to settle and she hadn’t even realised it.

The next question came and Elliot blinked. What happened next? He shrugged his shoulders again and stood. ”I should probably get going,” he said. He had businesses to attend to, after all, and the minutes were slowly ticking onward. That was what was going to happen next that night.

”Generally, though? Nothing has changed. What happens next is what happens next. You keep doing what you were doing and I keep doing what I was doing. Unless you were referring to something more specific?” he asked.

[Dhara]

She rose to her feet and followed him to the door, listening to what he had to say. And he was right, nothing had changed. His admission didn't change how she saw him, or the fact that she would continue to rent (if one could call it that) from him. He was Elliot and she was Dhara, and if she could remember too, she'd stop by the pub for dinner and a chat with him. She smiled faintly at herself, she was terrible about remembering to eat. Standing by the door, she pulled it open and finally answered his question.

"No, nothing specific. And you're right, nothing has changed. You are you and no different to me than you were when you walked in the door earlier." She smiled up at him, tilting her head to the side to help ease the strain on her neck from having to lean her head back so far. "Thank you for coming by, I really appreciate it. And your honesty. I'm sure you've got more pressing things to do than sit around sipping cocoa." She smiled up at him, leaning on the door, far more relaxed now that she was when he'd first shown up. "Have a good night, and stay safe."