Adoption Agency [[Elliot]]

[Aliyah]

"She's my sister."

The words had collided against Aliyah's skull for two days now, leaving her unable to focus on little else. They had come out of Skylar's mouth so easily it as if she honestly believed them. While surrounded by other people, the explanation the woman had to offer in terms of who the hell Ali was, that was what she had come up with. There was no mention of being a member of her lineage. There was no talk about her relation to Ric. No, Skylar had made a rather loud claim of sisterhood. One that she was having a hard time coming to grips with. Learning of one biological sibling was hard enough, but two? Even if Sky wasn't biological, it was wrong to throw around the word so lightly.

Aliyah's phone lay out on her bed, Elliot's number in a text message. If anyone could have put such a crazy idea in Skylar's head, it had to have been her sire. What reasons he would have for doing so were completely unknown to the blonde, which only made her head throb in confusion. Her interactions with the co-leader of the lineage had been limited, at best, as she tended to do all she could to stay out of his way. The weight on his shoulders, as well Pi's, had to be endless. And caring for so many other vampires that came beneath them had to make everything that much harder. So, she made herself scarce, hoping to remain a silent shadow. Pun intended.

Of course, that did not mean that she disliked Elliot or Pi. In fact, she rather enjoyed the few times she had been around Elliot. He was a rather solid calm in a neverending sea of anxiety. He was easy-going, relaxed. While Pi was a wonderful woman and one worth looking up to, and an endless source of information...she was more the type to get down to business and make sure it got done right. It came in handy when it was time to complete a task, but she enjoyed a good conversation, too. That was what Elliot was really for.

She lifted her phone in her hands for the third time and typed out a brief message, only to re-read it and scowl. "Too whiny..." she muttered, hitting the backspace to rid the screen of the written words. With a groan, she dropped the phone to the mattress once more and turned toward the window. Dhara had began to open the window every so often to allow in fresh air, and the cool breeze eased away the stress she felt building in the pit of her stomach.

"She's my sister."

Resisting the urge to scream, Aliyah turned her back to the window. Maybe the best thing to do would be to go and see Elliot in person. If she knew anything about the man, and she knew very little, her best bet would be to check Lancaster's. Though he owned multiple businesses, it seemed that was his main priority. Not that she could blame him...it was one of the best in the city.

Hoping that he wouldn't be too busy, she grabbed her coat from the hook and left the room. Stopping in the kitchen, she left a quick note for Dhara in case she happened to come home tonight. Satisfied that the human wouldn't worry, she slipped on her shoes and head out for the Irish pub. The streets were fairly quiet this late at night, most of the humans choosing to stay in. It was rather cold, and though she had no body heat of her own, it was still enough to make Aliyah shiver.

She stopped suddenly, slapping a hand to forehead. She had the Tome to the Den! Laughing at her own stupidity, she took the book from her bag and concentrated on the magic pull the object possessed. Within a moment, she stood before the elevator that would take her down into the Den. She stepped inside it, letting the doors clang and carry her downward. Once they opened, she practically skipped across the room the Portal that would take her to Lancaster's. As usual, she looked at the Portal wish dismay, her nose wrinkling.

Taking a deep and unnecessary breath, she jumped through, practically stumbling across the floor. She looked over her shoulder with a narrowed gaze. The wall was empty, the one way portal leaving no signs it was even there. "I hate those things..." she snapped, brushing herself off as if covered in dust.

Only then did she freeze, recalling where she was. It wasn't just Lancaster's. No, she stood in the office right in front of Elliot's desk. And she was a very unwelcome and unexpected guest.

[Lancaster]

There were certain things that Elliot didn’t like about owning his own businesses. There were plenty of perks, yes, but plenty of downsides too. Like dealing with incompetent suppliers. Across all four businesses, he didn’t know how he had to deal with stock discrepancies. It seemed to happen on a weekly basis – either they sent him too much or they sent him too little. Sometimes they demanded he pay too much for stock that he hadn’t received, or sometimes they were doing themselves out of a job by charging him far too little for too much. He could have kept the stock, of course, but he wasn’t that kind of guy. And besides which, there was no room. He ordered the amount he did for more reasons than one. It wasn’t just because he had a budget, but because there were space issues, and the food or the milk would go bad.

Worse, still, was when his staff weren’t savvy. It wasn’t really their fault. They shouldn’t expect the suppliers to be incompetent. Or the delivery people, as it was. Sometimes his staff were busy and didn’t have time to go upstairs and count all the boxes to make sure everything was in order. Sometimes they just signed the little slip of paper and got on with their day, not noticing anything was wrong, and it was Elliot who would have to deal with the fallout when he got there just after sunset. By then, it was usually too late to talk to anyone himself. They’d all shut up for the day.

He sat at his desk grumbling, calculator to one side and bills spread out in front of him. He was trying to make the week balance – and the week before that, and the one before that. They were accounts issues that he’d let build up. On the other side, he had open a notebook, within which he was writing dot-point notes for Roxette. At least she did as she was told and if she questioned the boss, she was never afraid to say it to his face. She didn’t gossip, and she was loyal. She’d been working for and with him long enough to take up the responsibility of managing the place during the day, while he was sleeping.

The slight disturbance in the air first alerted Elliot that someone else had arrived in the office. It didn’t surprise him anymore. Skylar often used the portal to get to Lancaster’s, too. The person he was most often greeted with, however, was Pi.

”I need to tell Roxette to count everything that arrives. All of the time,” Elliot said. His mouth was open when he looked up, as if he were about to explain why. Except that he didn’t see Pi, like he had expected to. Instead, it was Aliyah. For a second, he was confused – before he smiled and straightened.

”Hey, sorry. Thought you were Pi…” he said. Elliot wasn’t particularly a private person and he wasn’t concerned about family traipsing in and out of the office. The office door was even half ajar, the busy sound of the crowd and of the juke box and of glasses chinking filtering in to the small space.

He didn’t say anything else. Just assumed that Aliyah was using the portal to Lancaster’s as a gateway to this part of the city, rather than to specifically come to see him. He was expecting her to say a quick hello and leave.

[Aliyah]

He looked busy. The papers spread out around him on the desk and the calculator only proved her assumption, creating a sudden pit of guilt in her stomach for interrupting him. When someone owned more than one business, it had to be hard to maintain all their books. How Elliot managed to keep everything in check and working was a wonder. If there was one thing that Aliyah knew she would never be capable of, it would be running a business. Not only was it more work than she would ever want to do, she also happened to be terrible at math.

The blonde quickly smiled, moved over to stand in front of the desk. "No worries...we do like incredibly alike," she teased. Pi was practically the opposite in the looks department, being the dark side to Ali's light. Brunette and blonde, how adorable. Pi was a beautiful woman, and Elliot was truly lucky to have her. That much was for certain.

She brushed a hand through her hair and shook her head. "I am sorry for barging in like that. I really do hate those Portals...they make me unease," she admitted for the first time, wrinkling her nose. Pi had known she was wary of them the first time she ever explained their purpose, but the feeling had never gone away. Every time she went to use one, that same lump of anxiety formed. That black hole never seemed to get any smaller.

"I'm actually glad you are here. I was hoping to talk to you," she continued on, looking at him with a little cant of her head. "You look really busy, though...I can come back? Or wait out at the bar?" She jerked her thumb in the direction of the door. The noise of the bar indicated that he had quite a full house. She would find some way to entertain herself. Maybe she would be able to find a nice guy to chat up, with no intention of ever calling him the next day. Girls did that kind of thing, didn't they?

She took a few steps back from the desk toward the door, giving him a chance to either confirm or deny her offer to wait. Sometimes, she hated her need to be polite. Especially when it came to the man who had saved her from living on the dirt floor of the QZ.

[Lancaster]

At first Elliot thought Aliyah was being serious; that she and Pi looked alike. Elliot sure didn’t think so. Aliyah had an air of youth, whereas Pi had the grace of maturity. Not that Aliyah didn’t have her own brand of grace. It was hard to define, but maybe it came down to confidence. Here, Aliyah was apologising, and seemed unsure of herself. Whereas he had rarely had the opportunity to see Pi in a similar state of mild distress. Every now and again, yes, but not very often. Her knew her best as the woman who knew exactly what she wanted and would stop at nothing to get it.

Elliot shook his head and pushed the papers away. He dropped the pen into the nearby holder, and gestured to the chair on the other side of the table. Distractions were always welcome. Well, at least when he was doing the paperwork. If he was in the middle of writing a song, distractions might not be so welcome—but when creativity struck, he usually made sure to be out of distraction’s way, holed up in his mausoleum chamber the door to the music room tightly closed.

”It’s probably too loud out there to talk much, if it’s serious,” he said. ”You can interrupt me whenever I’m around to be found,” he said, smiling up at Aliyah graciously, generously. At least he wasn’t looming over her, as was normally the case with… well, almost everyone.

”The portals take some getting used to. I remember the first few times I used them, I wanted to throw up,” Elliot said. It was the sensation of it—because he didn’t understand the way they worked. He didn’t really believe it was magic. He believed it was all just science that no one had explained yet. Which had him believing that every time he stepped into one of those portals, or tomed back to the den, his body was being split into ten million tiny little particles to reform again at the other end. He’d always been afraid that he’d end up with his arms and legs swapped around, or a few extra fingers. But nothing untoward ever happiness, and the queasiness soon went away.

”What’s up?”

[Aliyah]

His easy-going smile only made Aliyah feel more anxious as she stood there before him. Somehow, he was able to stay so calm and collected, even while surrounded by busy work. She had interrupted him, and he was still willing to put it all aside in order to make sure that what ever she had come for was taken care of. His willingness to put others first actually managed to make her feel like a rather awful human being, like she had a lot to learn on how to be selfless. And standing next to him, she really did. But, then again, her ability to be selfless had been tested years ago by her parents, and she had failed back then, too.

She couldn't rightfully disagree with his assessment of the noise level outside at the bar, so she lowered herself down into the chair opposite him. As nervous as she was for the conversation, she couldn't help but smile at his own story when it came to the Portals. Pi had seemed less than bothered by them when they had first discussed their purpose, and it was nice to know that she was not the only one of the lineage to struggle. Especially when it came to someone like Elliot, who had a clear air about him. He was also the type of man to put anyone at ease any way that he knew how, that much was obvious.

"Can we even throw up?" she replied, raising up an eyebrow in question. During their first conversation, he had explained to her the downside of eating or drinking food, but it only just occurred to her that there would be nothing in her stomach to throw up if she never ate. That only left violently heaving, which was far from better. In fact, it might have even been worse.

She let the silence hang between them for a moment, fidgeting in her seat. Now that she was here, she was finding it hard to explain to him the reason. The words just weren't forming in her head to make a coherent story, and one that he would be able to easily follow. IF she was putting that little faith in his reasoning ability, anyway. But, the longer she delayed the conversation, the more it would eat at her in the worst way, building up until it just burst. Bursting was bad, especially for her.

"Okay, so..." she began, letting out a rush of air. "The other night, I was at a get together with Sky and Ric. There was a family gathering or something, and they invited me to go. I'm pretty sure they were both drunk, but...that isn't the point..." She was rambling. She knew she was rambling. But, she wanted to provide him with the appropriate background instead of just dropping the bomb.

"While we were there...when Ric introduced me, Skylar caled me...well, she called me her sister...multiple times," she admitted, diverting her gaze to her lap. It sounded so pathetic now that there words were out in the open. This was her urgent issue that needed to be discussed with him? "I was...wondering if you might have known where she would get that idea from..?"

It was only then that she looked back up to meet his steady gaze, chewing absently on her lip. She didn't outright say that she thought Elliot might be to blame for Skylar's assumptions, or that Sky was potentially delusional. Somehow, someway...there had to be a reason behind those words. And Aliyah needed to know that reason...she needed in on the joke.

[Lancaster]

Elliot shrugged. It had been a long time since he had thrown anything up, but he assumed vampires could throw up just as much as humans could. Except, well, they’d probably throw up just weird bile and blood. Elliot himself could still eat and drink, so there was a possibility that his vomit would be semi-solid, depending on the day and who he may have been entertaining – he didn’t have a penchant for eating if not in the company of other people who could eat. In that respect he functioned the same as any other human might—he still had to use the toilet, even if what came out the other end was a little different these days, depending on what his body chose to keep and discard.

But he wasn’t about to discuss his bowel movements with Aliyah. That seemed uncouth. So he let the subject slide with just that one shrug.

Anyway, he was quite certain that Aliyah wasn’t here to talk about a vampire’s bodily functions. The nervousness rolled from her in heady waves, and Elliot wondered whether he should be concerned. He remembered a similar scene not too long ago, except it was Skylar and Roderic sitting opposite him; Elliot had found out that Roderic was in Tytonidae, and he hadn’t reacted well. In fact, he’d lost his temper entirely. The man who was usually reasonable, cool, and calm and been none of the above.

If anything, Aliyah’s story only grated Elliot’s nerves because Roderic was involved in it. Some family gathering that normally Elliot wouldn’t give two shits about, except for the fact that it’s Altaire, and he’s not too fond of the bloodline’s matriarch. The mild irritation settled somewhere in the back of Elliot’s mind, however, and he put it aside. It had been some time since Skylar’s revelation, and he’d settled into an uneasy kind of acceptance. He couldn’t dictate who she could or could not date, so he had to let it go. Somehow.

Instead of focusing on those details, Elliot instead focused on the question that Aliyah had come to ask. It seemed an odd thing to be nervous about, and he arched a brow as if waiting for more. When no more was forthcoming, he shook his head.

”I have no idea,” he said, before his brow furrowed. ”Have you guys been hanging out a lot? Maybe she just… considers you a really close friend. Women do that, don’t they? Call each other sisters even if they’re not?” he said. ”Have you asked Skylar about it? Does it bother you?” he asked, trying to get to the bottom of Aliyah’s nerves or her concern.

[Aliyah]

When it came to reading facial expressions and subtle body language, there was a pretty high probability that Aliyah would completely miss it. She was an observant enough woman, but her ability to read people was lacking. It had always been that way. There was little chance of her catching lie in mid-lie, and when someone was upset and attempting to hide it, she was happy enough to brush it off and go on with her day. She took people at their word, and that made her an easy target for manipulation. She knew it, and embraced it. But every once and a while, she would notice. Those slight tensions in the facial muscles, the slumping of the shoulders. Those almost invisible signs of irritation.

It was those signs that let Aliyah in on Elliot's feelings about her story. She quickly eliminated Skylar as the reason for his annoyance, leaving only Ric and the Altaires. He moved on quickly enough, but her mind buzzed with this new information. For some reason, Elliot was not a fan, but she was unwilling to pry. That not her business, nor her place. She didn't know him like that. But, in the back of her mind, she felt the need to defend Ric. And only Ric. The rest of the Altaires were none of her concern, Ric on the other hand, was. "Elliot..." she paused, pursing her lips. "Ric is my brother. My biological brother. I can see it in your eyes, your dislike. I just want it to be clear that I will stand by him...even if he is an ungrateful asshat with a superiority complex."

With that out in the open, she sighed and shook away any remaining thoughts of her brother. This wasn't about him. It was about Elliot and Skylar and how she was an orphan in a city where family ties meant everything. Sure, she had Ric, who she might be able to count on, but it was not promised. When her parents were so far away, and unable to know the truth about their daughter, she needed someone else on her side. And maybe Elliot was that person.

"I haven't asked Skylar, no. And I wouldn't say we are incredibly close, certainly not 'sisters' close. But, you are known for taking in...strays, I guess. So, I was just wondering if that was something I might be..." she explained, twisting a string around her finger while managing to keep her gaze on his own. "Or, as the orphan of the family...if that is something I...could...be..."

She froze, aware that she had just asked him to adopt her, in not so many words. It was a moment to go down in the history books, or her history book at least. No matter the way the conversation went from here, it was a sort of turning point. One that she wanted to remember.

[Lancaster]

There was a tension in Elliot’s body that hardened into straight lines as Aliyah brought up Ric again. Biological brother? These kinds of coincidences sometimes had Elliot wondering whether all his scientific beliefs should be thrown entirely out the window; whether he should agree and accept that there was some outside force pushing people together and deciding on the paths that they should take. That no one ever had free will. Everything was preordained. What were the chances that a brother and sister would both come to this city separate from each other, of their own accord, and that both should be turned into creatures of the night?

But then of course, Elliot didn’t know the whole story. Maybe it was Roderic who had lured Aliyah here to begin with. In the end, Elliot didn’t know anything about why Aliyah was here, did he? Maybe it was all just really bad ******* luck.

The reply perched on the tip of Elliot’s tongue. The exact same argument he gave to Skylar. That Roderic belonged to a faction filled with ungrateful asshats with superiority complexes, and who sought to control the city. At least, in Elliot’s opinion, that’s what they did. They tried to be a governing force, and via their violence and their penchant for attacking without asking questions first, they pushed this city into submission. They were a controlling force simply due to their hefty numbers and their cohesion.

But what would be the point? Though he wanted to argue with Aliyah, he didn’t. Instead, he tried placing himself in her shoes; to find a familial connection in this dark chaos had to be a comfort. And, if the two had not ever had a dysfunctional relationship, what reason would there be that she wouldn’t be loyal to her own legitimate actual family? For a long moment, whilst standing in Aliyah’s shoes, Elliot longed to see his own brother. His half-brother. The one whose existence he had dismissed, almost, and taken for granted. They had got along. They hadn’t got to know each other as well as they could have. And now there would be no chance.

If Elliot dwelled, the melancholy could crush him. But, it had least softened his features as he pretended the topic didn’t exist, and brushed past it in order to focus on the other. Aliyah had moved on, and so would Elliot.

He leaned forward and rested his elbows upon the desk. He took a deep breath as he considered his answer. He didn’t want to offend Aliyah, but he could read via the thrum of the emotion in the atmosphere that this was somehow momentous—he had to be careful with how he answered. He couldn’t detect whether this was something she liked or something she didn’t.

”Skylar is very well aware that I do not ever want to be called ‘Dad’ or ‘Father’. When she does call me that, she’s teasing me. She does it relentlessly, simply because she knows I don’t like it,” he explained with a lopsided grin. He took her teasing gracefully.

”I am not old enough to be her father, nor am I old enough to be yours. Maybe it was something I may have wanted, but I’m not about to project some nostalgic longing onto people who are too old to need me in that way. Besides, there’s no fuckin’ way I’m ever going to call Pi my mother, because that would be wrong. In so many ways, that would be wrong,” he said. It was why the distinctions annoyed him so much. It was why he hated it when people called their sires their parents. He sighed.

”I suppose no one’s thought of trying to change the terminology. But the terminology is loose. We call d’Artois a ‘family’ because really, people don’t have to be connected by blood to be considered a family. I am… a sire. A mentor. To me, from my perspective, that is what Skylar is to me. She is… my progeny. Vaguely in the sense that she is a kind-of descendant but mainly in the way that she is a kind-of student. Loosely speaking. She is mine to be responsible for,” he explained. He kept his eyes steadfast on Aliyah’s face, knowing that she had asked more, and that she was waiting for more.

”If you’re asking whether I have taken you under my wing in lieu of your sire’s complete inadequacy, then yes. I suppose that is what I have done. Much the same as I had done for Aidan, and for Charlie. In that way you are all connected. You have that much in common. But you’re not sisters, for crying out loud. To say that would be calling Doc my brother and this whole relationship with Pi an incestual fallacy,” he said, and slumped back in his chair with a real and obvious shudder.

[Aliyah]

Whatever she had said to completely throw Elliot into a tailspin was lost on her, and she listened to him rant the whole time with only an occasional blink. It was obvious that this was a touchy topic for him, and one that he could go on and on about if someone didn't stop him. Her head canted as she watched him, following the lines of tension in his body. It was entirely possible that she resembled a curious cat, her eyes wide with head to the side. It was the kind of look that their owners seemed to fawn over, but she wasn't going for that effect. No, she was just curious. Curious to know what had him so upset.

She mentally recapped her words, going through what she had said with a fine tooth comb. If she recalled properly, she hadn't used the word 'father' in any case. Yes, she had mentioned Skylar's usage of the term 'sister,' but that by no means meant she was asking to call him something as strong as 'father.' She happened to have a father that she loved very much in Pennsylvania. Even if he wasn't her biological father, he was the man that raised her believing she was his. And in matters of the heart, she was. Her Daddy was the only father she needed, no matter what role Elliot took on in this city.

"Elliot, you don't have to worry," she finally answered softly, fighting off the urge to giggle at the absurdity she found in the situation. He was the equivalent of an older and wiser friend, almost a big brother in the way he took her under his wing and helped her gain her feet. "I didn't mean to come here and make you think I was looking for a father figure, at all. I only meant to come here and ask if I could look to you as a sire, since I don't have one. You have already done so much, and proven to me that you care enough to keep me out of trouble and off the streets. You've been the sire I don't have," she managed to explain, finally managing to smile up at him with a cant of her head.

The nervousness that she had felt when she first arrived was gone, thanks to his quick and sudden change in attitude over the matter. Had that been what she had come looking for, she might have continued with her anxious rants, but now, she felt calm and relaxed. The concept of 'family' would forever be ruined thanks to Ric's involvement in her life, but in time, she could consider these people family. In their own way, they already were. They looked out for their own, and proved it every day. They weren't really the family that Elliot and she craved, no, but they were enough.

They were enough. And it took a mad rant on fatherhood to show her that. How ironic.

[Lancaster]

In the grand scheme of things, Elliot was not stressed. The topic was not the usual topic that one would employ themselves in of a night time, but it didn’t stress him out more than it should. There were some residual feelings attached to the idea of family, and yes, Elliot was perhaps a little bit too passionate about how familiar terms were so loosely used by those around them. He had ranted as he had, and had made his views and emotions so well known to Aliyah only because of the way she had instigated the conversation. How nervous she had been. Even now, he wondered to what part of their conversation so far he could attribute her anxiety.

Whatever the case, the anxiety was gone, now. Across the space that divided them, Elliot could only feel a serene calm exuding from the woman. As Aliyah explained herself, he began to understand that perhaps she had been nervous because she didn’t know what his reaction would be to her request. He scoffed, and laughed lightly, the dark hair falling over his eyes in a haphazard manner. In the habitual way that Elliot had, he pushed his long fingers through his hair, pushing it back enough to keep it out of his face for at least five, maybe ten seconds. One of the curses (could it really be considered a curse?) that he had been landed with was the fact that no matter what he may have done to change his appearance, a few hours later, or even the next night, he would physically revert back to the exact way he had looked the night he was sired—right down to the length of the stubble on his jaw.

”That’s… well. Ever since I met you in that lobby at Corvidae and realised you were sleeping on dirt floors, I’ve been your sire. For lack of a better explanation. You never had to ask,” he said. He remained where he was, slumped back in his chair, his smile magnanimous and severely relaxed, in comparison to how he had been only minutes beforehand.

Though, there was something in the way Aliyah looked at him that had Elliot shifting uncomfortably in his chair; not because he was not appreciative of her appreciation but because that kind of scrutiny embarrassed him. He didn’t do what he did for applause. He just did what came natural to him, and required no thanks. He leaned forward, now, with his elbows against the desk.

”Though, you know Pi’s always around too, if I’m ever… out for the count. I think we’re all a bit too dysfunctional to imitate a real family but we do try. And isn’t that how families are supposed to work? Each member contributing something?” he asked, trying to ease the embarrassment just a little.