[Open] Tipping Points

[Derek (DELETED 8130)]

The Stanley Cup rerun of yesterday’s Predators-Sharks game had come to an end, barely holding his interest since he’d watched it the night prior off the DVR. The news segment that followed after caught his attention. His brow furrowed as he bit the hardened ridge along his thumbnail, eyes fixated on the television overhead. The untouched pint of lager grew warm in his opposite hand as news of the wildfires in Alberta chilled him to the bone.

In no way is this fire under control, Alberta’s PM announced on the screen, the marquee below suggesting Saskatchewan and Northwest Territory were now under threat. Derek found it reprehensible to be sitting here when he could be of use elsewhere. He could be serving alongside the rest of the reservists. He unconsciously lowered his hand to grip his wrist, where beneath the merino wool sweater burn scars covered his forearm. He’d received the third degree burns while deployed in Saskatchewan and British Columbia the year prior, assisting the firefighting efforts.

If there was something Derek Marcks was more loyal to than his country, it was his family. Life hadn’t handed the Marcks many wins as of late, so when he’d heard his father was well enough for the trip he’d been planning for the two of them, he hadn’t hesitated to ask for time off. Considering his father’s condition, this might be the last opportunity he got to fulfil the man’s dying wish. And yet, he still grew restless at the thought of not being in Alberta, or wherever the reserve would be deployed to next.

I need fresh air, he decided, pulling his gaze away from the screen. In his haste to get up, he knocked over the pint of lager in its entirety, the splash attaining both him, the person sitting next to him, and spilling over the counter to the floor. Stumbling backwards, his hand darted for the spilled glassware, but it was much too late.

“I’m sorry!” he gasped, righting the glass away from the mess. His gaze darted across the bar for a helping hand, and in the absence of a bartender, he scanned the ledge behind the counter for a rag. His ridiculous height made the extraction easy, though the raggedy rag would do little to soak up the beer. As he pressed the cloth to the counter’s edge to keep the liquid from spilling any further, he glanced up at the unfortunate victim of his clumsiness.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t—I’m really sorry.”

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa was sitting at the bar, a glass of whiskey in her hand. She was on her way home when she walked by the bar, and after some quick deliberation she decided to stop for a bit. After all, it had been awhile since she last enjoyed a drink, and one of the benefits of being an Allurist was that she was able to have normal food and drink. It didn't benefit her any except for being able to enjoy her favorite drink now and then, and it was nice to not have to deal with shady shopkeepers and eat from something that was still alive.

She was lost in her own little world as she drank from her glass, wondering what she was going to do when she got home. Maybe work on her hacking skills? Or maybe make some tools to sell or use later. Her thoughts were interrupted when the man sitting next to her knocked his drink over and it spilled all over her lap. Immediately she jumped up and looked at the new stain on her jeans that now reeked of alcohol. Scowling she looked up at the man who was now trying to clean up his mess and tried to keep control of her anger.

"If you didn't want your drink then you should have left it on the counter instead of throwing it everywhere!" She pulled out a handkerchief that she had acquired earlier and started to soak up as much of the lager as she could, still scowling.

[Derek (DELETED 8130)]

Of all the alcohols to have had spilled on oneself, beer was perhaps the worst; the smell lingered unpleasantly. Derek cringed as the bartender caught sight of the commotion, her gaze doing a three-point dart before she gathered a roll of paper towels in quick understanding. It wouldn’t be the first time a drink had been spilled at a bar, but the frequency of such accidents did nothing to curb the embarrassment one felt when being the cause of it.

“I’m sorry,” he reiterated, meekly adding that he hadn’t done it on purpose. Of course he hadn’t, but there was no point in adding fuel to the fire by being self-righteous about it. Her anger was understandable, after all. Though short of offering her a change of clothes he did not have and wouldn’t be able to purchase anywhere at this hour, there was little he could do but verbally appease her. So that’s what he did.

It had been his drink he’d spilled, not hers. To offer to buy her a drink seemed, well, Derek was at a loss of what to else to do, really. Reaching for the roll of paper towels offered, he tore half a dozen sheets off and offered them as an olive branch, “Please allow me to buy you a drink to make up for this.”

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa kept scowling as she took some of the paper towels from the human. She was able to get a lot of the beer out of her pants, but the smell was still very potent. This was another reason on the list of many as to why she avoided bars, and now she's going to get home smelling like a drunk. The only upside to this whole thing was that these pant's were old, so it wasn't a huge loss. After tossing the towels and the used handkerchief back onto the counter she pondered on his offer. Her half-finished drink still sat on the counter, but having another one didn't sound too bad. She swallowed her anger and forced a smile. "I guess I could use another drink, since you're offering."

She sat back down in her seat and quickly finished her drink, then looked over at the human. She could barely see his hair under his hat, but she could see the scruff on his face. She also noticed from the look on his face that he was really sorry about what happened, which made her feel a bit guilty about her comment, but there really wasn't any other way she would have reacted so she squashed the guilt. "So, do you have a name?" She doubted she would ever see him again, but she figured she should be somewhat polite.

[Derek (DELETED 8130)]

Derek’s trepidation was apparent, as was his relief when she took him up on his offer. Gathering the soppy paper towels in a layer of dry ones, he tossed the whole handful of them into a bin across the way behind the bar counter. The bartender shot him an annoyed look, which he had enough mind to look sheepish about before gesturing to the stranger’s drink and indicating he wanted two. He had no idea what she was drinking, but it couldn’t be worse than his warmed ale. Not that he’d tried it, really.

Derek folded himself back onto his stool, taking stock of his jeans, and deciding to overlook the light splatter across dark denim. There were worse things that could happen, like—a quick glance to the television jolted him. He still needed fresh air, still wanted to escape from the fiery reality flickering across the screen.

The bartender wiped the surface down with a damp cloth before placing two new coasters before them. He reached for his wallet and shifted his weight further onto the stool, plucking out a $20 bill. He slid it over as the bartender prepared their drinks. The question was a welcome distraction.

“Of course I do,” he replied with a singular huff, his expression unreadable. “Derek,” he added, sobering from the effect of the news report. He broke eye contact to subtly shake his head at the bartender when she returned his change. It was a well-deserved tip.

“Yourself?”

[Nerissa Clemming]

"Derek? interesting." To herself she thought how ordinary. "I'm Nerissa." She noticed his reaction and looked up at the TV she had previously ignored. An out of control wildfire, something of little importance to her. She gave him a quizzical look and asked "Are you from Alberta or something?" Him worrying about his hometown was the only thing that made sense to her as to why he would have been distressed.

The bartender set down their drinks and Nerissa drank some of hers with a satisfied grin. She made a mental note to come back to this bar, the drink quality was more than decent compared to the others she had been to. The anger from getting a beer spilled on her was quickly evaporating as she enjoyed her new, free drink.

[Derek (DELETED 8130)]

Derek was taken aback by her comment. It was not the most common of names, but it surely wasn’t interesting. Nerissa, on the other hand, sounded like a Harry Potter character, though he refrained from saying as much, briefly considering the possibility that it wasn’t her real name at all.

The question caught him off guard. Derek hadn’t noticed his gaze drifting back to the television. Shifting his weight more fully onto his stool, succumbing to the weight of his worries, he replied with a ghost shake of his head.

“No, but I got friends out west. It’s pretty scary stuff, fire.”

He hunched over the countertop and anxiously nursed the drink between his hands, the tumbler comically small in comparison. Liquid courage stared back at him, amber and translucent. It reminded him of flickering flames somehow. Without a second thought, he lifted it to his mouth and tipped his head back. The alcohol was smoky and rough, leaving a gritty feeling in his throat. He coughed, unprepared after its smooth descent. This wasn’t we’d he’d typically order for himself, but he pushed the empty glass away from himself anyway, tapping on its edge for a second.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa nodded, "I know I've had my fair share of it." She briefly remembered when some humans blew up an old theater near where she was staying and how much she had to go through just to survive the sunlight, let alone the flames. She shook her head slightly, not wanting to dwell on memories unimportant to the current situation.

She downed the rest of her drink and motioned the bartender to fill it again. "So what brings you to Harper Rock?" she asked curiously, "Passing through? Visiting someone? checking out the sights?" She smirked slightly, "Or maybe you're here to investigate the rumors of the 'strange' things going on here?"

[Derek (DELETED 8130)]

Harper Rock was no mystery to Derek. The family mausoleum on the outskirts of the city was testament to the Marcks presence in this city for centuries. He certainly hadn’t been raised here, but he spent enough time visiting, both as a child and adult, to be familiar with its timeless facets. There were many things he genuinely believed to be rumours, though he had always felt the shadows staring back at him, and determinedly never stepped into them to find out what. Nerissa’s tone was undecipherable, and so he simply rose his eyebrows at her speculatively, allowing his expression give as much away as her tone did.

The corners of his mouth dipped, and he found himself reaching for his glass, finishing it in one fell swoop, long before the bartender had finished pouring the others’ refill. He tapped on the edge of the glass once more, reaching for a crisp bill and sliding it over. Keep ‘em coming, his actions said.

Derek replied while the liquor was still smooth on his tongue, helping the words out: “I came to bury my father.”

It was bleaker than strictly necessary. His father was not dead yet, but after three strokes in the span of eighteen months, there was no need to be optimistic. Derek felt a wave of shame wash over him at speaking of the old man in such a fashion, but he had no illusions. If anything, he knew that tomorrow’s promised trip to the cemetery to see mom would likely be his father’s last venture into the world.

“—next to,” he cleared his throat.
“Next to my mother. My family’s from around here,” he added as he pulled the refilled glass towards him. At this rate he’d be drunk within the hour. He made a point of nursing the third drink, turning his gaze onto her, a smile so practiced his embarrassment at being so frank didn’t pierce through. “What about you?”

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa stared down at her drink and frowned the moment Derek mentioned his father. She didn't know about her own father's whereabouts, and after what he did to her and her mother, she didn't care. It was a little strange for her to not hear any bitterness in Derek's voice and it threw her a bit off guard. Then he mentioned his mother, and she downed her drink a little too quickly and coughed slightly. Inwardly cursing herself she regained her composure and grinned back at Derek. "I've been traveling the continent for a few years and ended up here. Haven't had a reason to move yet."

After what happened to he here she highly doubted she would ever leave, but there was no reason for her to mention that. This man was human after all and she didn't want to accidentally give away too much information. She learned her lesson already.