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Lancaster sat in the middle of the recording studio, the one in the apartment that he kept in the catacombs. It was an apartment that he allowed anyone and everyone access to, if they needed somewhere to stay. It was where he used to sleep before he and Pi invested in a bunch of other places that afforded them choices, about where they could go together. They had the crypt. And they had their private apartment in the Den. He used this apartment only when he wanted some alone time, to try to get some music written down, to record some of his ideas.

Except, ever since he’d come back from the Shadow Realm, those ideas were few and far between. He hadn’t written a single thing, and nor had he yet taken to the stage at Lancaster’s. It was frustrating, the way his inspiration seemed to have just… disappeared, dried up like water from a pond in the middle of the scorching summer heat.

Rather than try to force it, Lancaster sighed and pushed away from the bright white Mac. He walked from the small room and into the apartment proper, plucking his phone from the countertop. There was one person he had not seen in a while; one who did not have the d’Artois blood running through her veins, but who he saw as one of his own regardless. Someone who shared his own opinions and thoughts. She disappeared for a while, but that was to be expected. Lancaster himself wanted to disappear once in a while. Get of town. Pretend like everyone was normal when it clearly was not. Maybe he’d succeeded for a while, which was why he hadn’t had any trouble with his music. But now that he had seemingly accepted everything, he was far too focused on what was wrong with this city that it crushed every ounce of optimism he had inside of him. It was almost as if the darkness of the Realm had sunk into his soul and now there was not a single drop of brightness left. He needed to bring that back. And he needed to do so by surrounding himself with people who fought against the same things that he did.

And Charlotte was one of the first.

Scrolling through his contacts, he found Charlotte’s number and hit the little green call button, before lifting the gadget to his ear. He could have course contact her telepathically. But, Lancaster being Lancaster, he preferred to do things normally. As humanly as possible.

Charlie was normally such a social butterfly, loved to be around people. It was why anyone could normally find her in the Den, either hacking away at the computer (not that she needed a computer anymore) or at the crafting table working on gun parts and building guns. However, the last few months she hadn't been feeling like herself, she spent her time in her apartment or at her home with only Morpheus and Tempy as her company, though the latter new better than to bug her a lot of the time when she was in this mood.

So when she got the call, she wasn't expecting it - despite wearing the blutooth receiver on her ear - and gave a shrill little scream and jump that caused her now big Morpheus to jump up and like a guard dog, run to her side and turn away while arching his back. She took a breath to steady herself and hit the button on the side of the receiver before she reached down to pet Morph to let him know that she was ok. "Charlie speaking..." She said in a calm and sweet tone that seemed to work so well with shop keepers, often giving her more than she was asking for from them.

It wasn’t long before Charlie answered the phone, and Lancaster rather awkwardly cleared his throat before speaking; like he’d been on autopilot but had completely forgotten that actual words would be required in this exchange. Although he knew that Charlie couldn’t see him, he still smiled. He believed that smiles could be heard, rather than just seen.

”Hey, Charlie,” he said. Although she would probably know who it was by the baritone voice and the accent, he continued anyway. ”It’s Lancaster. Haven’t seen you in a while. How’s things?” he asked. It wasn’t accusatory; it was as much on his shoulders, that he hadn’t seen her in a while. Communication was a two way street, and he hadn’t done much of it either.

It was a miracle, really, that he got reception down here in the catacombs. Strange, that people should live here without the army up above knowing about it. Unless they did know, but did nothing about it. Regardless, Lancaster didn’t like to sleep in the small apartment. It felt like some kind of prison or camp, guarded by men with guns outside. It didn’t bode well. He was just waiting for them to do a raid one day, pull all the prone, sleeping vampires out into the sunlight. And he didn’t want to be there when it happened.

While he talked to Charlie, he wandered around the room. There were no windows, of course. No fresh air. Regardless of whether Charlie wanted to meet him or not, he knew that he would leave. He needed to get out, wander around in the wide open spaces outside for a while.

Charlie smiled at the voice, it was as if hearing her sire was a balm on a burn she didn't know that she had until it was applied. The only thing that she found odd was that he said that it was 'Lancaster' not that it was 'Elliot'. Granted, both were his name, but the sudden change from going to his first name to his surname was a curiosity that she would have to ask him about, but that would be later on. It didn't have to be right now. Hell, she rarely used 'Charlotte' it was always 'Charlie' or 'Char' with most people. More the former than the latter.

As she had all these thoughts, she replied only moments after he asked his question. "I Know, it has been some time. Things are well here, though kind of funny, the phone ringing actually gave me a bit of a fright." She said with a soft laugh. Now a days, when she was in the Den, people just spoke to her, and every so often, people would speak via the mind, but it was odd that her phone would actually ring. "How are you doing? Everything ok?" She asked, not really worried about anything, but still, when the sire calls on a phone after so long of being silent, thoughts would come. Not that she had done anything wrong or that he had anything wrong, but there was always a chance that something was wrong.

She gave Morpheus another pat and pet before she stood so that she could stretch out a bit and then moved over to pick up a toy so that she could tease her now full grown - though still 'her little' - kitty. She waved the feather on a string back and forth slowly on the floor like a bird walking on the carpet and watched as her little companion hunched down, ready to hunt and pounce.

As was always case with these kinds of phone conversations – where the person on the other end answers without being fully aware of who they were talking to – the voice became more welcoming as soon as recognition stirred. The warmth of Charlie’s tone bled through the phone, and Lancaster regretted not trying to contact the woman earlier. He laughed.

”A vampire, scared by the telephone,” he said. Telephone, like he was eighty years old, and the idea of cell phones or mobiles or blue tooth headsets was completely foreign. It drove Skylar insane, he thought, his lack of interest in technology and its advances. He pushed his hands through his hair and walked back toward the kitchen. His long strides were taking him back and forth between the small kitchen and the lounge room, his fingers soon fiddling with the books on the coffee table, arranging them into a small, neat pile. Keeping his restlessness occupied while he was on the phone.

”Yeah, everything’s fine. Just calling to call. Can I call just to call?” he asked. It made him feel guilty, that Charlotte would assume that he’d only try to call if something wasn’t okay. But it was time to amend.

”Want to meet me somewhere?” he asked. He had no plans. At first he’d probably suggest the pub, or somewhere similar, but he had to keep in mind that not everyone was like him. Not everyone could eat and drink. He’d have to suggest somewhere they could both enjoy themselves. But no point thinking about it until he knew whether Charlie agreed, and didn’t already have plans of her own.

Charlie couldn't help the soft laugh that bubbled up as he put in a nutshell what she said, it was an amusing thought and it kept a smile on her face. She had indeed been a vampire that got scared by the telephone, or at least by it ringing. She shook her head at the thought and then went about concentrating on what else was going on. From what she could hear of the background, he was moving about. A caged animal perhaps? She knew that feeling. She knew it well. There were times when she just needed to get out.

As he spoke again, she smiled a little more, he was the kind of sire that she had wanted, and while he had not turned her himself, he proved every time they talked that she was meant to be his. And his, she was... in her heart. She was his progeny, his 'kid' for lack of a better term. He was just calling to call her. "Of course you can, in fact, I believe you should do it more often. I miss talking to you sometimes but don't want to bother you." She said with her cheery tone still intact. And then he asked about meeting up and she gave a soft chuckle again, "Need to get out and clear your head hmm?" She teased but then added on "Yes, I would like to meet up. Shall I meet you at Lancaster's?" She asked, it was the most common place to see him aside from the Den. Plus she could easily tomb to the Den and take the portal to the bar and be there in nearly an instant.

Though, she could also just run there. Ever since she had learned that nifty Celerity power, she could be in almost any place within a single thought. Running, Tombing, just going about things the old fashioned way would be good too. Then she got an idea. "Or hey, I'm suddenly inspired... how about I pick you up and we can go do something we haven't done yet." She said as she thought of something, something that might be new to the both of them.

Charlotte’s tone was cheery, but still, Lancaster took it to heart. He hated it when people thought they were a bother. An annoyance. He hated it more when they thought that he, of all people, would care. Sometimes he wished they all had the same ability that he did; that they could all detect the emotions of others. That way, they’d know that they were never a bother, or that he never was disappointed, or thought they were mistakes that needed remedy.

”You know you’re never a bother, Charlie,” he said. ”And you know… some people like to be contacted too, yeah? When you don’t want to bother anyone, they soon become the ones who think they’re the bother,” he said. He himself didn’t feel that way; Elliot Lancaster d’Artois was not prone to bouts of depression. If people hated him, they hated him. He didn’t care. He accepted it and moved on. But he was pointing out, still, that it was nice to be contacted every once in a while, regardless. It was nice to feel wanted. Isn’t that what everyone wanted, in the end? To feel some kind of connection? To feel like they couldn’t ever be forgotten, or missed should they suddenly disappear?

”Sure. Swing by the Mausoleum – I’m sure the army folk will let you through, to come collect me,” he said with a snort. His humour was severely lacking, and when he laughed he was laughing mainly at his own failure at humour than he was at the joke itself.

”Something new sounds good, though. I can swing through to Lancaster’s and you can pick me up from there? I love that pub but getting out somewhere different would do me some good, I think,” he said. He was already reaching for his jacket; pushing his keys and his wallet into his pockets, readying himself from the very short whirlwind trip. The tome would take him to the Den, and from there, he’d take the portal to the pub. He could be there within seconds.

His words rung true in her ears, it was true that the communication - or lack there of - was just on her as it was on him. Of course, she was a bit more prone to the self-doubt but that was something that wiped from her mind - or at least pushed to the back of it as his tone picked up. It seemed that her idea, even though he didn't know what it was that she had planned thus far, had brought out his playful side. That was something that made her smile and also made the idea she had in mind seem that much more thrilling. She did snort though as he mentioned that the army guys that had surrounded the Mausoleum would let her in. Of course, she could probably sweet talk her way past one or two of them, but as many as there were surrounding that relatively small area was unlikely, even for her honey coated tongue.

His mentioning of picking up outside of Lancaster's was what brought her back to the idea that she was formulating in her mind and she two was already preparing to leave even before she hung up. "Sounds, good, I won't be too far behind you, after all, I live close." She said before she added on "I'll see you in a bit, this will hopefully be really fun for us both!" She waited for a bit in case he replied before she was ending the call and closing up her apartment and heading for the garage so that she could hop in a car that she didn't use a lot anymore but it was in need of stretching its legs as much as she was of stretching hers.

It didn't take her more than a few minutes to get to her car, and only a minute more before the car was purring to life and she was heading towards the street and out towards Lancaster's. In all, just getting to the pub only took her about six minutes in all. She parked in front and looked around for her sire, the car was kept running, even as she opened her own door and stepped out just enough so that he would see her. She was smiling, taking in the scents of the pub and the places around the area as well as just the fresh air that she had been missing. Her chocolate eyes continued to glance around as she waited for Elliot.

There was nothing else that Lancaster had to say. They were going to be spending the night together, after all. Any conversation that could be had, they could indulge in later. After Charlie hung up, Lancaster did the same. He pushed his phone into his pocket and retrieved his tome; as soon as he was dressed enough and ready for whatever it was that Charlie had in store – he assumed casual attire would be fine – he tomed to the Den, and took the portal to the pub.

Of course it wasn’t as easy as it sounded, getting from the office out to the front door. He was half owner of the pub, after all. There were employees who needed his attention on small matters, questions that they had which they didn’t want to call him about because they weren’t that important, but which could be answered now that he was there with them. Not only were there employees who sought his attention, but regular customers, too – the ones who always wanted to say hello, to ask how he was, to chat like they were all old friends. It was the kind of atmosphere that Lancaster had inadvertently created, and not one that he would complain about.

Finally, he managed to get away. It was lucky that Lancaster was a people person – lucky that he thrived on being around crowds. He never had to try to lie to get away from them. And as far as he knew, people appreciated his honesty. They liked it when they told him he needed to go home to relax, to get some time out. And now, they knew that he was not lying to them when he told them he had planned to meet someone – and that she was probably waiting.

When he exited the pub he immediately saw Charlie waiting. He smiled and waved, making his way across the street. As the car was still idling, he assumed that wherever they were going, they would be driving. After offering Charlie a welcoming hug and kiss on the cheek – it had been a while since he had seen her – he slipped around to the passenger side.

”So where are we going?” he asked, brow arched curiously.

Charlie smiled a bit more as she watched her sire coming from the Pub, she could only guess that what had held him up was the pub itself, or rather the staff and the regulars that all knew him and wished to get a bit of his time. Her smile grew a bit more as she returned his hug, kissing his cheek in return as well. When they were both seated in the car, she smiled at his question and glanced in the general direction of the wilderness. "I was thinking we could visit the wilderness, maybe do a little hunting. I know the fae aren't keen on us in this form, but I have been hearing rumors that they leave us alone if we are in our animal form." If it was true, then as soon as they got out of the car they would probably have to shift, but shifting was easy as pie for her and with him being so much older, she could bet that it was just as simple for him.

"I know that my nature in that form might be a little bit of a struggle, and I don't know about yours..." That stopped her for a moment, even as she began to pull out onto the streets and head towards the hunting ground, or rather an area close to it. "Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever seen you in animal form before." She said, and she was actually pretty certain of it, because she would remember if she had seen him, she remembered everything she had seen. "Still though, my form likes pack hunting, even if we just go after an animal, hell, maybe we'll catch a fae, what do you think?" She said with a smile as she drove through the streets, the buildings, some light, some dark, some new and some old, rushed by the windows.

She glanced over at Elliot, wondering what he would say about the plan. Wondering if he would be up to hunting in animal form with her, despite the fact that her form wasn't the same as his. Neither one were big on fighting other vampires or hunting humans, that much she knew, but she wondered if he was against hunting animals. Charlie had been raised in an area where hunting was just as normal as fishing, so she had no problem with hunting, be it with weapons or as an animal herself.