Miss Sunshine [Elliot]

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

Beaming at the guy next to her, she winked at him and took the free drink he had bought for her. There was no way he was gonna end up in her bed like he hoped, but that didn't mean she had to be rude and refuse his offerings.

Mama had always taught her to be happy, smile and the world would smile with you. Sometimes it took a whole lot of determination and smiling, but she had always been Miss sunshine as her sister had called her.

She hadn't met a person she couldn't charm and the pageant crowns in her trophy case back home proved that.

"So beautiful, you wanna go home with me?"

She giggled. Had to really, the guy was 50 if a day and was definitely world weary, but he had such a sweet hopeful look, she decided to give him a thrill.

"I wish I could handsome, but you are just too much for a girl like me. But you are sweet. Maybe we can hook up down the road when I'm not so fresh off the farm ok?"

The smile she gave was genuine, as was the kiss on his cheek. That done she blew him one more kiss and then walked out the bar not wanting to keep his hopes up.

Hoping to find a more low key place, she went to one of the places off the beaten path. She probably should have been getting ready to do her judging for the Miss All Canadian contest, but she liked to be more surprised by what the girls would do rather then read her notes for the various girls activities.

She had been surprised in fact to be invited to be a judge, but once again it seemed she was blessed with good luck. This wasn't one of the big contests, in fact it was one in the kiddies league, but no pageant was too small or big for her. She had plans and a passion for this. Her friends, parents and even a few pageant people had never understood how she could see the best in a field where admittedly a good portion of the contest depended on superficialness. But to her, it wasn't about the outer beauty so much, it was about the hard work the girls put into showing off their talents and giving a young woman a chance to win a future for herself. Was the contest blood thirsty, of course. But then it surprised her that people looked down on competitiveness in pageants but give them a soft football coach and they would be the first to demand that coaches blood.

To her it was no different. You competed to show that not only were you good on the outside, but that inside, you weren't pocket change.

A grin covered her face as she thought of all those young girls, having worked hard, anticipating this contest nervously. She remembered her days from before, the excitement, last minute practices and pushing your body to the limit so not only could you fit into the perfect dress, but that you wouldn't flop at the talent either.

Ordering a light drink, she pulled out her Iphone, texting a few friends and sending the pictures she had taken here for them to ooh and ahh over. It was quite lovely in this city.

[Lancaster]

It started at Lancaster’s. Every night, Elliot had maybe one or two drinks. One or two drinks was never enough to affect him, not overly much. And any affects that he did feel, he put down to imagination—like the kind of feeling one might get when they lose a limb, but think that it’s still there, that they can still feel it as they wriggle their fingers. So, too, must it be with that centre of the brain that believed the alcohol was far more soothing than it could be. Maybe it was just the taste, the burn of it as it slid down his throat—that was enough of nostalgic trip to bring him back to his humanity, and thus soothe the worries from his limbs.

It was only when the place was filled to the brim with college students—some kind of fraternity thing that had ended up at Lancaster’s somehow, for some reason or other, Elliot didn’t know the full details—that he discovered something quite new, quite different, and very unexpected. A game was conducted, via which Elliot—the bartender—was roped in. It was nearing the end of the shift anyway, and Elliot didn’t see the harm in indulging his customers, just for a little while. He participated in their game, thinking that the constant shots of premium vodka were not going to send him off the edge, anyway.

How wrong he was.

After the fifth shot—it had been at least two years since he’d drunk this much alcohol in such a short period of time, his body had lost the advantage—he felt himself begin to sway. His vision swam. A lopsided grin plastered itself upon his lips. He found himself staggering outside to the street. He wasn’t completely drunk, not quite yet, but he was fascinated by the process.

Never had he thought that alcohol had any affect upon him. He thought that he could drink it, but that it wasn’t absorbed into his blood. That even if it was, the poison of the alcohol wouldn’t kill his brain cells, and had never diminished him to a drunk fool. And yet, tonight, right there and then…

He couldn’t test his theory at his own pub. That would be unprofessional. And he wanted to figure it out on his own, anyway, just in case it could be seen as a weakness. Or as… he didn’t even know. He wasn’t thinking straight as he jumped on the transit and headed for a random place, for a random bar, a smaller one where he had never been, and where he was less likely to be recognised.

He loped toward the bar, leaning heavily against it as he waited for the bartender. Once the bartender game to him, Elliot grinned.

”Bottle of Whiskey,” the bartender started to question him, Elliot cut him off, though. ”Nah, I mean it. Whole bottle o’whiskey. And a glass. No ice. Just the whiskey,” Elliot said. The bartender was confused. Probably wasn’t used to a happy man asking for a bottle of whiskey. Normally it was the sad men, the morose ones who wanted to drown their sorrows, asking for a whole bottle. The bartender turned away to retrieved the order, and Elliot shouted after him:

”Make it a good bottle! None of the cheap ****!” he said.

[Attire]

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

Glancing up at a sudden shout at the bartender, she blinked, realizing she had been buried in her phone. Tucking her phone in her purse, she looked around, enjoying how peaceful this place was. Well minus the loud guy smiling and yelling for whiskey.

She had to giggle at him. Most people asking for a full bottle of whiskey weren't the happy, overjoyed types. Maybe he had some great event happen and was celebrating. There was obviously a story here, and she felt the need to procrastinate going back to her hotel and reading up on the girls for tomorrow.

Moving a seat closer, she gave the guy a cheerful smile and after settling her lemon drop on the table, she leaned closer to what she could see now was a handsome guy. "Sounds like you had good news?"

[Lancaster]

The girl might have always been there. It could have been Elliot who invaded her space in his haste to find an answer. In fact, he assumed that that was the case, and that she hadn’t actually sidled closer to him. Although heat radiated from her very-human body, it did nothing to arouse any kind of thirst in Elliot—and thank god, too. He would be eternally grateful to Pi for what she had done for him. That he never again had to feed from humans, because their blood repelled him, rather than inflicting an unquenchable thirst upon him.

No, right now, the only thing he had any thirst for was alcohol. Not because he wanted to drown away any sorrows, but because he missed it. He missed the way that drunkenness stole away all his inhibitions, and generally made him a happier, more robust person. He hated being social, a lot of the time, even though he was terribly good at it. With alcohol, he didn’t mind it so much, though he did tend to get a bit cheeky.

”Nope,” he said, instantly honest. He’d got no news at all. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. No one had told him anything. No one had revealed anything to him. This was just a hunch, a thing that he was following through and then he realised…

”Yes!” this was good news. Somehow, this made him feel more human, less monster. This made him feel… this unfamiliar pub with this unfamiliar woman, he felt like himself again. Lost, and willingly so. Lost, so that he could discover new things. All because of that wonderful elixir called alcohol. The good news? That, for some reason, he could get drunk again. Of course, in his current state of mind, he didn’t stop to wonder why, or what it might mean. He only revelled in the feeling.

”I…” the bartender returned with the bottle and the glass. Elliot pushed over some cash and bowed in thanks, before turning his attention back to his new friend. ”Can apparently get drunk. And you! You get to witness a miracle,” he said as he poured the whiskey into the tumbler, filling halfway. He lifted the glass to the woman in salute, before downing the whole thing.

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

She couldn't help but laugh when the guy said No then said yes, his body almost seeming to light up with that yes.

She knew there was a story here and waited a bit impatiently for what the good news was. Seeing the bartender, she pushed her glass forward for a refill after he was done pouring the whiskey and tapped her fingers on the glass, wanting to know this good news. She had never been the patient type, whether it came to life, fun or interesting people.

Having taken a drink of the second lemon drop, she snorted a bit out in laughter when she heard the good news. Grinning she patted the guy on the shoulder and saluted with him as she drank her lemon drop.

"Well congrats then. Have you had problems getting drunk before?" Signaling the bartender, she leaned into him and whispered "this guy obviously needs more drinks, line them up for us would you? and I'll pay."

That said she waited for his response.

[Lancaster]

Elliot frowned. Lying was not a thing that he could do, not that he’d ever made a habit of it before. Especially now, to tell a lie seemed to be a gross slip in conduct. He nodded, in answer to the question, the dark hair falling over his eyes as he took the bottle of whiskey that he’d asked for and poured yet another half glass. The scent was hard, musky, with a hint of spice. Was it spice? He didn’t know, nor did he really care what was in the whiskey. Just that it was whiskey, and it was bloody good.

”You could say that maybe lately in the past year or two…” he stopped, frowned some more, narrowed his eyes as he stared off into space, sluggishly trawling through his memory, before finally hitting upon the thing that he needed, ”…yeah, two, nearly. Not quite two. Nearly two? Let’s just say two. For the past two years my ability to get drunk had gone on a sabbatical. Right? Just poof! Went on holiday. And now it’s returned! You can’t…” he lifted the glass to his lips and took another long gulp of the whiskey. ”….imagine the kinda **** I’d have loved to get drunk to get through,” he said, hardly caring that he probably wasn’t making any sense. That he was probably babbling like a lunatic, the filter between brain and mouth having turned itself off.

”Seriously. When life gives you lemons you have to drink ******* lemon drops,” he said, gesturing to the drink in the woman’s hand. He’d watched the bartender. Being a bartender himself, he knew exactly what it was she was drinking. ”Not lemonade. That **** is for the weak,” he said with a broad grin. A grin that soon dropped. He put the glass of whiskey down and straightened his shoulders. He thrust his hand at the woman.

”Where the **** are my manners, eh? Elliot Lancaster, pleasure to meet you,” he said, wiggling his fingers for her to take. He was taking a big fat nostalgic trip down memory lane, and the newly installed d’Artois part of his name had fallen by the wayside.

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

Awww. The word was said mentally as she didn't know this guy better and wasn't sure he wouldn't get huffy like other guys she had known with egos the size of florida. She wasn't much of a party girl but she was also a good hostess and she couldn't help get this nice guy drunk without going along with it. Especially now that he had revealed what was obviously the tip of an iceberg in regards to his problems.

The smile was still wide on her face as she drank from her glass and quietly listened. In this world, she had found that so many people didn't really listen, they just pretended to while planning their perfect response to anything you had to say. She prided herself on being a better listener then that.

She nodded at his last remark, having been through a few bad times herself, there were those quintessential times where a drink was needed to make the ******** life through at you go by faster. She grinned at him knowing what her drink was and wondered if the sweet guy was gay or just experienced in bar tending. She had to laugh at his carefree wiggling of fingers and extended her hand to shake his.

"Lemonade is definitely for the weak, and its a pleasure to meet you Elliot, the names Jia li Blake. I'm visiting from Virgina for the pageant. Do you live around here Elliot or are you visiting too? And honey the manners are just fine, so don't worry about it. "

[Lancaster]

Pageant. Elliot had heard about pageants. He’d never been to one. He had assumptions he knew he shouldn’t have until he witnessed one for himself. He couldn’t see every facet of the equation, and thus should reserve judgement. As it was, he’d never been to a pageant, and had only caught snippets of those godawful reality TV shows. He’d never sat down to watch one, of course. He couldn’t stomach it.

”Nah. Originally hail from Down Under. Y’know? The Great Out Back. No, not really. Local now, though!” he said, saluting as if it were something to celebrate, his now having roots in Harper Rock. He couldn’t say he was unhappy about it. He’d be lying if he said he loathed it, if he said the only thing he wanted was to get out. His face twisted into an incomprehensible expression; twisted, because his thoughts on the matter were twisted, too. He couldn’t quite figure them out.

He had come to terms with his lot. He was here, now. He would be staying. There were people here he cared about, who’d hate him if he left. There was Pi. There was his businesses—never did he think he’d own and run one business, let alone three. And he enjoyed them, more than he ever guessed he would. But deep down, he was still a traveller at heart. Every now and again he succumbed to a deep and foreboding restlessness that he could not satiate.

But, as if his mind had never strayed from the topic, he latched onto Jia li’s statement.

”…what kind of pageant? Not one of those with all those little girls?” he asked, obviously displeased if that were the case. He didn’t particularly like the culture surrounding image, these days. That they all have to look their absolute best or they’re not worth anyone’s salt. He especially disliked the idea of instilling in girls younger than fifteen the idea that they had to have big boobs, wear a shitload of make-up, and dress scantily to get anywhere in life.

[Jia li (DELETED 4950)]

She had thought she detected an accent but hadn't been sure. Considering she wasn't that familiar with this area and the natives yet. Taking a long drink, she studied the tall drink of water in front of her.

"Ooh an aussie? How awesome!" She had traveled quite a bit, but hadn't really been out of country too many times yet. So she was always ecstatic to meet people from other countries. And she was curious to know what had drawn him to this city. She was here for a pageant but overall it seemed like a quiet place to kick back and maybe vacation but not for much else.

While these thoughts idled through her head, she grinned a bit at his dislike of pageants. It really didn't phase her anymore, being that so many people felt like they could judge a contest from a complicated history and a lack of facts. Instead she viewed the dislike as a challenge for her to change their minds and force them to open up a bit.

"You know pageants are not that bad!" She was effusive in her cheerful tone as she continued. "I know a lot of people see those stage moms or horrid reality shows all based around poor girls forced to parade around and act out their parents unfulfilled desires of being a queen or something. BUT that's not all there is to pageants! A lot of times, the girls want to do it, and why not? Boys get to go out and break bones for football and nobody stops them with a -now honeypop that's to dangerous and competitive for you-. But a girl tries to use her inner beauty and brains to get somewhere and somehow its a horrid thang."

She paused and took a deep break before laughing. "Well great now I sound like my mama. Hope you forgive me Elliot. I just see so many girls who WANT to do pageants but are afraid to because of what their friends and family say. Don't get me wrong, pageants are a bit shallow, but so is any event really. Football is shallow with muscled bound guys to parade around and chase balls with girls cheering them on. Politics is shallow because lets face it darlin, we elect them half on their ability to lie to us and look cute doing it. And that doesn't even touch most other major life events."

She grinned and sipped her drink. "But I better hush, I don't want to irritate you. Especially since I want to hear all about Australia what drew you to this little ole town."

[Lancaster]

Elliot laughed. She compared pageants to football. ******* football. Elliot continued to laugh; he almost couldn’t stop himself—finally, after about a minute, he hiccupped. Somehow, the hiccup slapped the laughter right out of his throat. He took a breath to calm himself—he actually really had no idea what he found to be so funny, except that in the end, all he had to say was:

”I never liked football, either. American, or Australian,” he said. Yeah, he hadn’t fit in much growing up. All his family and friends had this cult formed around the idea of sport. Football, especially. ******* State of Origin seemed to stop half the country in their tracks; you couldn’t go out anywhere without hearing about it. Though Elliot wasn’t disdainful of ALL sport. He liked Soccer. He liked Cricket. Maybe they were the tamer kind. Less violence. Less emphasis on how much of a man one could be. At least Cricket players and Soccer players seemed to have a more lofty allure. They weren’t all lumbering jackasses who liked to lure unsuspecting women into their hotel rooms.

Christ, he was generalising now. He wasn’t quite in the state of mind to hold a good debate.

And then he realised why he had laughed so hard. That’s right! Politics.

”Clearly you haven’t been to Australia. Have you seen the politicians there? Cute? Goddamn, if you think so, I might question your taste,” he said with a snort, and then another hiccup; he grimaced, imagining the current Prime Minister acting promiscuous in order to get his way. Gross.

”Maybe I left Australia to get away from them,” another hiccup. ”The politicians. And the football players,” he said, grinning. It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t the truth. It was just a statement. ”Nothing drew me here. I just landed here. And got stuck,” he said. Now THAT was the truth. He downed another very large gulp of alcohol.