Path of the Vampire forum

Perhaps one of the reasons why Elliot had never gained any fame was due to his modesty. He played music just because he liked it. He played music because it allowed him creative freedom. It wasn’t just a way to make money – obviously, as he made hardly any money from his music. It was a way of life. Rarely was he not thinking about what he could or could not turn into a song; he was always trying to think of stories, and more often trying somehow to translate his emotions to song, so at least if it all got to be a bit too much he could just get up on stage and belt a few songs out. And then he’d be alright for a while.

And whenever he was at home or in the office or somewhere, he’d always have the radio playing. The radio, or a mix of his own songs blasting from his phone, through speakers or headphones.

Pi had asked whether Wrecking Ball was part of how Charlie and he had met, and he remained silent as Charlie told the story. He didn’t feel the need to interject; he couldn’t lie, so there was no way he would be able to step in and say that she hadn’t been getting her *** handed to her. It was the pure and honest truth. But he knew—and he was certain Charlie knew, too—they all got stronger. Sooner or later she’d be able to take on those wolves just as he had been able to. Without a misstep or even breaking a sweat.

Regardless of the story, however, the conversation came back around to music, and to Elliot’s particular rendition. Although he took the compliments on board, he was awkward around them. Quite ready to change the subject completely.

”If you two aren’t careful that’s exactly where I’ll end up. That stage is my home and I’ll just mosey on away while you get to know each other,” he said, bright gaze levelled mainly at Pi. He knew how she could be. If he went away, he’d be leaving her here by herself to socialise. He believed she could do it. He had faith.

“Well.” Pi said to Elliot before he did that moseying he was talking about. “If you find your way up to the stage.. I’d like to hear it. Your Wrecking Ball. I might even sing along.” She added before turning back to Charlie with a small smile, although her eyes narrowed at the girls going goo goo eyed at Elliot, comment. She wasn't very gracious when it came to sharing Elliot's attention. It was too easy for her to slip into something ugly and unwelcoming when she was faced with the thought of another woman... goo goo eying the man she loved. Not Charlie, and because it wasn't Charlie Pi made a concerted effort not to react negatively to the insinuation. At her side her hands clenched, then let go as she pushed aside her narrow annoyance.

No, it wasn't Charlie. If it was. Pi would have to kill her. And Pi didn't want to kill anyone else for Elliot. But she would. She really would. And what was ... terrifying, was the fact she'd keep doing it. Over and over and over again. And this, was why it wasn't a good idea she be the one to come up with small talk.

Ever.

Usually Elliot babysat her. Usually he hung around and helped bolster her lagging conversational skills. She wasn’t really sure how she felt about him leaving. It could either mean he had got to a point of trust in her skills not to completely alienate his new protégé or … actually there was no or. She figured he trusted her to suck it up and just be… normal.

Good god, she was in trouble.

People have varying ideas of what constituted normal and Pi had never really aligned her efforts with others. She was sometimes good at pretending, a facsimile that was so like the real deal that she passed quite nicely, but she often thought that any day someone would turn to her and tell her that she was just… not quite right. And they would be right. She wasn’t.

But she was determined that tonight wouldn’t be that night and as she grew and developed, she hoped like hell she’d get used to the idea of being more than the thing that was created from her former life experiences.

“Ahh the wolves.. yes, they can be… problematic.” Pi said to Charlie, her voice commiserating. Not that she had a problem with the zombied wolves. For Pi they were as negligible as zombies themselves, rarely breaking a sweat to mow through them. Time and experience will make her stronger and Charlie, with that time would find that ease against those creatures like Pi. For a moment Pi considered telling her just that, because it seemed the kind of thing a mentor or older person would tell. Although she didn’t want to come across as pretentious either. Gah, this conversation thing was a maze and Pi, ducked her head around the corner she was about to turn, rolling it around in her mind to make sure the direction she was planning to take their discussion wasn’t going to wind her up in the drink.

“It will come … getting more experience killing the wolves. And before you know it, you will be helping someone with their kill as well. It just takes time.” Pi finished, thinking maybe that was exactly what was right.

She also thought she needed to stop thinking about talking before she was talking because she was about to do her own head in dissecting everything she may or may not say.

Next time, next time she wouldn’t worry over the words so much and go with her gut.

Next time.

Elliot isn’t asked, and he doesn’t have to be asked. The slight hint that neither of the women cared whether he walked away to take the stage was enough for him to do just that. It would do them good to get to know each other, anyway; they didn’t need him there getting in the way. They could talk about… whatever it is that women like to talk about when men aren’t around.

Elliot skirted the room, smiling at a couple of the regular customers as he went, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows. A couple of those regulars knew what it meant, when they saw him striding toward the stage at such a pace as he was. Someone, somewhere, let loose a wolf whistle. It didn’t make him nervous. It didn’t encourage him. He merely cleared his throat as the whistle went through one ear and out the other, as if it were meant for someone else; someone’s friend had just walked in, for example. Attention needed to be gained, somehow.

Up on the stage, Elliot retrieved the battered old acoustic guitar from its equally battered case. Before he switched off the juke box music, he made sure that the guitar was tuned, the leather strap snug over his shoulder and the broad expanse of his back. He plugged the guitar into the speaker, and only then did he approach the sound deck near the wall to flick the main music off. This was usually greeted with hushed silence – the same way a hoard of crickets will go silent as soon as you turn the porch lights off. They react to the sudden difference in atmosphere. At the same place, Elliot flicked on the lights that surrounded the stage, to illuminate it a bit.

He tapped on the microphone to test it. The sound boomed. He cleared his throat and adjusted the height; he flicked his hair from his eyes before:

”This one’s just for you, Pi,” he said, and then bowed his head, as if about to start. Instead, he smiled and added: ”You’re my wrecking ball. Or am I yours? I dunno. Anyway,” he rumbles into the microphone, before starting as Pi requested – with Wrecking Ball, originally by Miley Cyrus. Because he could. Because he didn’t care. Because, in the end, the lyrics weren’t bad. The sentiment was one that Elliot could cling to; one that he knew, that he had felt. Though, he and Pi were both wrecking balls in their own right. Maybe they would wreck each other one day, but that didn’t mean they’d fall apart. Or that either of them would walk away. At least, he could speak for himself – in this moment, he would always want her. Always.

He was singing for her, and for Charlie and because of that Pi gave him her full attention. She had told the truth, she really did like this song. She enjoyed the lyrics and the poignant meaning behind the words. Love had the edge of desperation to it and whoever wrote this song understood that. You didn’t always say or do the right things but the place those feelings and actions came from was a good one, one that you sometimes did silly things to protect. It was also a place of desperation.

She didn’t ignore Charlie’s question and she would answer as soon as Elliot was done. She figured he’d stay up there once he’d got there and figured she’d have time to talk to Charlie once the song was done. It was only polite to give the man her attention given he’d just dedicated the song to her. His version was grittier, more in his style as if he too had seen something in the lyrics she had. The raspy nature of his voice, paired with the guitar was what the song needed to take it from pop to something more. Her eyes glittered, sliding first to Charlie then to the man in stage as she stayed leaned against the bar, humming along to the chorus.

When the song was finished she looked over the crowd, met Elliot’s eye and blew him a kiss. Yeah, she like Elliot’s version better. It came without the heavy makeup, fake tears and half naked female on a swinging ball. It came with a man she loved, who loved her in return and if that wasn’t enough to choke a woman up, she didn’t know what could.

But there were questions Pi needed to answer and the reason for this season was for Pi to hone her social skills and get out there and meet some people. She was done planning and plotting and trying to fit her square peg self into this round world. It was time for her to take it easy, and let be, what will be. Pi was determined to be present, to be available. Starting. Right now.

“The Fledgling Foundation does good work… I used to spend a bit of time there a couple years ago. Mentoring is a the right next step if you like helping others.” Pi gave Charlie a look then. “I love the guns you make. Elliot used to own a weapons store, which he sold.. and used to be the guy who supplied the family with those things. I think he’d be glad that someone can do that. I’m not sure he was comfortable… doing that.” She offered at the end. And it was true. Weapons, while he was good at business, just wasn’t his thing. Elliot wasn’t exactly a peacekeeper sort (she could testify to his inner darkness) but to make a living out of selling items to hurt and maim, no that was a step too far for him. “If you could help supply our new family members that would help… a lot.”

“Thank you Charlie… for doing that.”

Pi realised then that she didn’t know too much about the woman in front of her. Wondered too, how much Elliot had shared about herself. Probably not much there either. Despite their connection and ‘knowing’ one another the real details of what they were before they became a vampire were vague at best. Some didn’t like to share. Like herself. Her own personal history was rife with ‘don’t ask any questions, not get lied to.’. Her recent past was a murky thing she invariably washed over with general details. But in order to get to know one another, those details, even just the surface ones should be shared. Friendship didn’t develop in a vacuum. So Pi asked.

“How did you come here?” Pi asked politely. “Do you have family? Friends?”

Pi smiled at Charlie, her expression open although there was a question there about the mine field the other woman opened up with her statement. Yes, there was a story there and Pi wondered if that was an invitation to ask about it. She wasn’t sure if it was her place to pry, but if someone referred to it specifically, didn’t that mean they wanted you to ask? Pi deliberated on it for a couple seconds and decided she wasn’t sure she wanted to step into the breach.

She nodded then, before realizing that it was actually what she was meant to do, ask. She was meant to inquire and care and pull out all of those nitty gritty details people wanted to share with others. Unlike herself, who generally kept herself to herself, Charlie was giving Pi the perfect opportunity to learn more (as she’d just asked) so she needed to take advantage of it, irrespective of whether she was entirely comfortable knowing the reasons why the other woman felt the need to beat her friends to a pulp.

“Sounds like a long story that got you to this place?” she finally said, hoping she hadn’t taken too long to answer but realizing she probably did. Like that pregnant pause before and tragic event you can only watch but not intervene and staring at it disbelievingly while it happened. Yeah, she probably took too long to answer but she could comfort herself with the fact that she could blame a good portion of that on the fact she didn’t speak English as a first language.

“What would they do if they found you?” she asked, this time genuinely curious about the answer.

There were people looking for Pi too, or there had been. None of them had thought to look here in this tiny nondescript corner of Nowhere-Special-Canada and she was happy with that. She understood how that felt.

Pi tried to put herself in Charlie’s place. How would she feel if she found out Elliot had fallen for someone else? Slept with someone else. Her chest seized up at the idea. How would she react? Pi’s expression narrowed and her lips thinned at the thoughts that spun through her mind. It wouldn’t be good, her reaction. She’d… implode, or explode. Her expression hardened and she glared into space beyond Charlie’s head imagining the damage she could do to Elliot in retaliation and damage she could inflict on herself as a personal castigation for whatever blame she’d take on board for not being enough for him.

In fact the very thought of him finding someone else filled her with so much overwhelming anger she had to gulp past the hard ball wedged firmly in her throat. It wasn’t even true, it wasn’t even likely, that scenario, but the very thought of it hauled Pi’s attention to a standstill and made her whole body clench in terror and rage. Mostly rage but also fear and loathing and an immediate sense of doom.

Slowly, as slowly as she could she let out a redundant breath and gave Charlie a sympathetic look. “I… can imagine. Exactly how you would feel and I’m sure… I understand why you would… react in that way..” Pi’s gaze slid to Elliot and tried to smile at him, but wondered if it was as brittle as she felt it was. She was not thinking happy thoughts.

He hadn’t done anything. She had no expectation he would, but … woah, but… if it ever happened. Swallowing hard, she extended the smile she gave Charlie until teeth showed, trying to take the edge off the thoughts she’d been thinking. Obviously, thinking in ‘what ifs’ wasn’t such a good idea when the ‘what if’ was something so… potentially explosive.

Redirecting the conversation she brought it back again, aiming for something less… abrasive. “They could try to take you back.” Pi said with a smirk, giving Charlie an amused wink. “I think you have some people on this side of the equation who would oppose you being taken anywhere you didn’t wish to go.”

Folding her arms Pi leaned against the bar, getting comfortable, wondering if she was right earlier and Elliot would stay up there on the stage for a few more songs, or whether he’d leave it at one and head back. “If anything happens… or you feel like… something might. Come see us, we’ll do what we can to … help.” She offered.