Stratocaster [Aidan]

[Lancaster]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Aidan> The now warm beer sat before her, untouched of course and more of a sad reminder of the life she used to lead. One that now seemed to haunt her more and more as of late, like a ghost she could not shake no matter how hard she tried. The **** with the storm did little to help her mood either, instead it had caused some strife with Asteria given her rightful concern that Aidan had decided to leave the apartment in the first place. The whole just needing to be alone hurting the other woman and Aidan wished that she could explain herself better but no even she was sure what was up with her.

So, here she sat in the one place she remembered feeling safe. One of the earliest memories she had since she started this new life. When she, Asteria , Reilly and Lan had laughed the night away at their new “family.” Since her capture with her…human kin…the thought of family was one whose meaning she felt she had lost and yearned to know again.


Lancaster d’Artois The night was a little quieter than usual, which was a godsend for Elliot. Although he had physically recovered from his illness, he still sometimes had bouts of fatigue; he couldn’t work at his usual rate, running around the city to attend to all of his businesses, plus some. The others were all running smoothly, however, and he had come back to Lancaster’s to relax a little. Sometimes relaxation was not a thing at the pub. Some nights, everything that could go wrong went wrong, on top of the place being packed to the rafters.

Not tonight, however. There was a lone player on the stage—a woman on the piano, singing soft blues melodies, her voice deep, soothing and husky. Elliot slowly roamed the establishment, clearing up glasses and wiping down tables. Feeling content, in the kind of way one feels when tired but not stressed. Lazy, even. He hadn’t noticed Aidan until he approached her table. He hadn’t seen her for a while.

“Aidan. Long time no see,” he said as he dropped down into the seat opposite her. There were small signs of his previous ailment—the way he clenches and unclenches his fist to nudge away a small cramp, and weary look in his eyes. But that was about it.


<Aidan> The voice cut through her zoning and she jumped slightly, eyes a bit unfocused before she finally seemed to recognize the man before her. “Oh…hey Lan,” she said with a small smile. “Yeah…kind of just been…about. Sorry about that,” she apologized without much thought to the matter. “How have you been?”


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot shrugged. "Don't apologise. You don't have to tell me what you're doing every second of the week," he said with a smile. It felt odd, to not have a drink in front of him. But he didn't get up to go and get one. Instead, he remained sprawled with his legs out in front of him, his palms flat on the wood of the table. "Could have been better," he said, still smiling. "And you?" he asked. It was common courtesy to ask, even though he could feel the swirling eddies of Aidan's dark mood volleying for the space between them.


<Aidan> “Yeah though I feel like I have kind of just been a ghost lately,” she pushed up, off her elbows that had been resting on the table to sit more up right and actually make the effort to look him in the eye. “I’ve been…” words just seemed not there so she finished her sentence with a shrug. “Kind of…alive? Not sure if that counts for us, but…” another shrug, while she leaned back and crossed her arms, almost like she had to hug herself to try and keep herself safe from some unseen force. “Why could you have been better?” she asked to try and deflect the conversation from herself for a bit.


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot watched Aidan carefully - she raised herself to look him in the eye, so he made sure to keep eye contact. His eyes were his usual blue, filled with curious concern. It was hard not to want to fix things when he could feel them. Could feel just how much something hurt, or didn't hurt, or wasn't there. A foreign feeling, but that didn't make it any less potent. He laughed, lightly, and shook his head. "Turns out I got tetanus poison. That storm? I got hit in the head with a flying street sign. I think that was where it came from," he said. He'd had plenty of time in bed to think about it. "Some nights I think I'm more human than human," he said, though there was still a light smile on his face. As if the idea of being able to get sick, even nearly fatally so, was a comfort to him rather than a curse. "You know if you need to talk to me about anything, you can... yeah?"


<Aidan> “So, you almost died?” she said somewhat shamed that she had been so disconnected to even notice or know about it. Since her…sire had made it a habit to spawn more vamps she kind of unplugged from the family a bit. Now, here it was that the one man who might as well be that for her and to her, had nearly died but she had not even noticed. “I’m sorry…” she said her voice legitimately held regret and shame that she had not noticed. Which, helped to ignore his offer for her to talk, she was not sure if she wanted or was ready to talk to him about anything just yet.


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot shook his head. "I don't think it was that bad. I was laid up in bed for a while, is all. I'm not sure it would have killed me..." he said, slowly. He wondered, then, whether it could have. But if there was one thing most people would recognise about Elliot is that, most of the time, he had an unfailing kind of optimism. Death hadn't occurred to him. "Just like I don't expect you to keep me up to date on everything going on in your life, I don't expect you to be keeping constant tabs on mine. It's fine," he said with a shrug. He was aware Aidan hadn't commented on his suggestion to talk. But he doesn't push the matter.


<Aidan> “You are so easy going sometimes, I wonder how your genuine kindness has not been crushed by the world yet,” she said with a small smile and a sigh. “If you ran for office people would vote for you. Just when you give that smile of yours and do that whole, “Everything will be fine”, thing that you do, people would really feel comforted in that and believe it,” she shook her head that the image and smiled some more. “I know I do…or at least…” she shrugged unable to admit she was no longer certain about how life would be anymore. More if she would be safe…or…more importantly, if those she loved would be safe in the future.


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot laughed, then. A genuine laugh because he found her observation to be thoroughly amusing. "Yeah? Sure. Maybe they'd vote for me in the beginning but then they'd realise the whole everything will be fine thing is a farce. And then they'll throw stones. En masse, like a hoarde of villagers with torches, ready to burn my house down," he said, the smile still broad upon his features. But then he shrugged and shook his head. "Not for vampire politics, though. I'm too weak for them," he said with a dallying smirk. He could feel the hesitation in Aidan. It was all well and good telling people everything was going to be fine. But when it turned out not to be fine, then there was something to make up for.


<Aidan> “Yean no; you’re not made for that. Not at all,” she said with smile and felt herself relax a bit more. “You are too nice for that. Too kind. But, you could run for like President or whatever and people would vote for you. Unless you started to play your guitar,” she teased. “People don’t want their ear bleeding you know?” The fun banter was nice and made her feel more at ease and at peace, not much so but it was there. This was like those moments when she and Asteria shared together when they were home alone. Teasing and joking at one another, with the silence that may happen not one that felt heavy or strained. It was more of a comfort than anything else.


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot assumed a faux seriouness. "You're right. No need to torture them with horrible music, right?" he said. Another of the weird and wonderful tics about Elliot's vampiric make-up was the inability to lie. But so modest and sincere, it didn't gag in his throat, the idea that his own music might be horrible. Besides which, he understood that the genre wasn't for anyone. "They'd much prefer a bit of heavy metal. Some wailing, maybe," he said, thoughtful. "Maybe I should change my genre. Work on something a little different. Scream into the microphone every now and again."


<Aidan> “Oh yeah, that scream rock is the ****,” she chuckled then remembered with a sad kind of smile. “I still have to get with you to learn the guitar for that song I want to play…” a slow sigh was done when she realized how long it had been since she had asked him this. So much time had just slipped away from her and she was not even sure how or why that was the case.


Lancaster d’Artois The mood had slowly been thinning. Almost like it was a thick sludge of marshland before, the rains had come and the mud was slipping away. But now, it started to return again, for whatever reason, and Elliot straightened in his seat as if trying to chase after it. To stop it from getting worse again. He flicked his head toward the roof. "There are guitars upstairs. We can go and do it right now if you want," he said. The top floor was supposed to have been a love nest for he and Pi, but they hadn't got around to it yet. At the moment it was all just storage - a place where Elliot kept his extra instruments. Stock leftover from Curlew. Because really, in the end, they had eternity. Lost time wasn't something to mourn anymore.

[Aidan (DELETED 3366)]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

<Aidan> “Re…really?” she asked suddenly hopeful at this prospect. “I’m not keeping you from something or someone more important?” Aidan knew Lan cared, he cared about everyone it was one of his qualities. Something that just innately made him give a **** by people, even if they did not really deserve it or want it from him. However, she knew there were those who might be more important to him, one person especially and she would rather not keep him if that meant losing time with others.


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot shook his head. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there aren't really too many people around these days," he said. "I'll see Pi later," he said with a shrug. He saw Skylar often enough, but knew that she was often busy with Ric. The only other person he could say he saw on a regular basis was Charlie. Maybe Aliyah these days. He stood, the cloth he'd been using to wipe tables half tucked into his pocket. He laughed, then, as he started to lead the way. "You know, I am completely surrounded by women? Why is that?"


<Aidan> “Must be that natural swag you have, or the whole guitar thing. Chicks dig that tortured, kind hearted musician thing,” she teased as she followed behind him. “You know it is the hipster thing to do now,” for the moment what had weighed heavily on her heart was gone. A welcome distraction from the man who had always seemed to popup like some vampric santa, with the gift of patience, kindness and a sympathetic ear; he more than most she felt should have a chance to be human again. Being a vampire just did not seem right for him.


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot laughed and shook his head. No, he didn't believe he had any kind of natural swag; if people were drawn to him he figured it was for other reasons. But he wasn't about to begin a discussion about his own merits. He began to take the stairs up two at a time, but then slowed down when he remembered that Aidan's legs wouldn't be quite as long as his were. "What the hell is a hipster, anyway? Like... is there an actual definition?"


<Aidan> “An upright nerd that tries too hard to be cool,” she said without missing a beat as she jogged up the stairs to keep up. “Not that you try too hard…” the grin on her face said plenty even if she had not bothered to finish the sentence.


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot knew that the conversation was all in jest, so he didn't bother defending anything. The fact that he didn't try to be anything. He just did what he felt like doing, and it was never because he sought some kind of validation from his peers. His hair fell over his eyes as he turned to look at Aidan - they'd reached the second floor, where the Backpacker's was set up - there were a couple of tourists lounging on the couch playing a game. They nodded to Elliot, and he nodded back, but kept going - toward the stairs at the back of the floor, down past the rooms. "Nerd. Okay, now define that one. See, I'd have thought nerds were all into... I don't know, weird nerd things," he said, screwing up his face.


<Aidan> “You mean like collecting instruments and being excited about music and stuff?” she asked while she followed. A polite nod also given to those they passed, though her hunger caused her to look away faster than she would have normally. Though she had fed that night, lately she had been feeling this…need…this…desire to feed more. Like a thirst to kill almost. It was pushed aside, however, as she wanted to just focus on the now and not on anything else. That would be a problem for another night. “Everything is weird to someone, so you can be a nerd even if you don’t realize it,” she explained. “Except for me, as I’m too cool for that ****.”


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot snorted. No, the **** he was referring to were those convention things. People dressing up as their favourite characters. Being all interested in science and technology. But he supposed Aidan had a point. Elliot could be into science too, when he wanted to be. Philosophy. "I am an amalgamation," he said, matter-of-fact. "I am my own definition of a cultural subset," he laughed. "And you.. you're a nerd for Asteria, but I think that's almost pointing out the obvious," he said. The top floor was almost like an attic. There were even small windows looking out onto the street - like a very large studio apartment, with the bulbs hanging from the ceiling, dim but warm. Elliot flicked them on. The floor was clean but a few of the surfaces were dusty; there was a table and some large armchairs, and a mish-mash of different furniture. Discarded things. Things he might want to use later.


<Aidan> She rolled her eyes and openly scoffed, “If I’m a nerd, then you’re a super nerd for Pi. I bet if I lifted your shirt right now, there would be a tattoo of her name over your heart. But, you know you’re hip and ****, so it would just be the Pi symbol and not actually her name. Got to stay hip and be the number one cool guy.” The swears were back and it really did feel like for the time being that things were better…things were like they were before. “This place feels like an escape,” she remarked kind of to herself more than to him.


Lancaster d’Artois "No tattoo over the heart, no," he said, thoroughly amused. He closes the door so that their music playing doesn't disturb the people downstairs, and vice-versa. He glances around the space and nods. There is one corner where the windows are large - floor to ceiling. He could imagine a bed over there, flooded by sunlight. He hasn't put a bed there, because he can't bear the thought of having to cover those windows up. He'd love to be able to see this place by daylight. "It's what it's meant to be. An escape. I mean... well Pi and I haven't finished renovating it yet," he says. They hadn't even started. "Anyway. What's your poison? What kind of guitar do you want to learn this thing on?" he asks. "What was the song again?"


<Aidan> “Don’t you guys have like a billizion of those already?” she teased though she would admit she would love to have a place like this for her and Ast. An escape, a private getaway and a place where they could just be together and be alone, it was doubtful that would happen, but a girl could dream. “Um…an electric one?” she offered with a half-smile and shrug. Then she fished out her phone, “Here, this is the song.” The song was easily queued up, as it was one of that she listened to often enough that it was just about all she listened to most days.
[Song]


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot gave Aidan a crooked grin. "We do," he said. "Kind of. Most places, other people have access to," he said. He supposed this place was no different. Elliot was never entirely a private person, though. He was used to living as a backpacker, in rooms with strangers. Sharing everything he had with strangers. Strangers who started to feel like family. It felt odd to have been in Harper Rock so long, and to not have too much of that. One would think that three years would be plenty of time to gather a large group of people to treat like a family. They were all there, yeah, but they didn't interact with Elliot the same way he was used to interacting. Maybe it was some kind of curse - to watch people come and go. To watch them be able to move on in a way he could not. He pressed play on the song and listened to it for a while, his ears pricked. A nerd, yes - insomuch that he felt he could almost decipher the exact guitar. Almost. He handed the phone back to Aidan and narrowed his eyes at the instruments all lined up, waiting for him. "I think you need a Fender Stratocaster," he said, leaning down to drag one of the cases toward him, opening it to reveal the pearlescent white instrument inside. He picked it up and handed it to Aidan.

[Guitar


<Aidan> “Nerd,” is all she said with a grin, before she took the instrument with some hesitation. It was beautiful and she felt like with her habit of being clumsy and just rough with everything that she would break it. “If I break this am I going to like owe you my first born?” she asked only half joking. “I mean like this did not like belong to some long dead famous musician or anything? Or you used it to tame a crowd of wild hormonal girls?”


Lancaster d’Artois Elliot laughed and shook his head. He could say yes - yes, he wanted her first born. But it would be a lie and the words stuck like glue in his throat. So he just shook his head. "I have more precious babies than that one," he said. At least that was one silver lining about staying in one place - knowing that he wouldn't ever have to move. He'd been able to begin his instrument collection. Before, he'd only just the one - his beloved Curlew. For example - I'd never give you my Silvertone. I don't think I'd give that to anyone," he said. He gazed at the Strat in Aidan's hands. "I don't know who that belonged to. I got it from one of my dealers. He's almost like a headhunter, but for guitars," he said.


<Aidan> “Do you talk to them, like they’re people?” she joked though she felt that she was probably not far off. “How long would it take for me to learn just a bit of what you know about instruments?” she asked, genuinely interested while she placed the strap of the guitar about her neck and pretended to strum the strings like some crazed rock goddess. Something she just could not stop herself from doing, even though she mostly certainly would earn a comment from the lanky kind hearted hipster in her company. “Don’t think you would want some weird *** fadebaby thing anyway,” the remark tossed out almost like an afterthought while she fiddled with the guitar in her hands.

[Lancaster]

Lancaster laughed. And then raked his fingers through his hair in a sheepish way.

"I may or may not talk to them. When I'm not paying attention," he said. He'd been told by the staff at the music store that he talked to himself when he was mending the instruments. He wasn't really talking to himself, in the end. He kind of was. But he kind of wasn't, too. When she asked the next question, Elliot thought about it. How long had he been in this game? Ever since he was... no, it was before he was given his first guitar. He had to prove to his parents that he really wanted one, first, before they would get him one.

"I've been obsessed with music ever since I can remember. It started with piano lessons at the age of six," he said. There'd already been a piano in the house, so that wasn't something he'd had to convince his parents to buy him. Although he'd never really much cared what anyone thought about him, by the time he got to upper primary school, he realised piano wasn't so cool. So he'd moved on to guitars. That's when it had all started in earnest. He grinned, though.

"We have eternity now, though. Right? Soon, today will feel like yesterday and you'll know everything you ever need to know," he said. But that was the glory with these things, wasn't it? They all had a history. And they were evolving every day. Just like people did.

[Aidan (DELETED 3366)]

“Yeah,” she said with a small smirk. The weight of eternity was still not something that fully sank in, not just yet. “If it was a language? I would know it like that,” her fingers snapped with a grin to add emphasis. “Sadly, I’m only artistically talented when it comes to the canvas. Something about recreating or creating something of my own is just well…invigorating? Like I feel alive,” she shrugged in a dismissive manner as if her words were unimportant. Nothing but the ramblings of a lost woman who had yet to find her place in the world.

“I just want to learn more and be more than I was before this life, you know?” she said after a moment of regarding the instrument in her hands. “Like, I was not much of anything before. I was just well…to be honest a ***** and kind of a slut. I wanted nothing out of life but to have fun and enjoy myself. It was just I never saw myself as anything more or capable of anything better. Now,” she looked up from the guitar and gave him a shy smile. “I have a family. I have love in my life and I just want more now. I want myself to be better. I want to be better for them, for you, for Asteria,” a sigh followed by a shrug she looked down at the guitar once more. “I am tired of being the **** up ***** who won’t amount to anything in life. I want to be better.”

The conversation had become suddenly solemn, far more serious than she had planned. It was just hard to express herself more often than not and in the end, she wound up pissing off someone and having to apologize later for her actions. Maybe, if she could just focus on the good in her life, now she could just be that person she wanted and not the person Arin once was.