Elijah

[thisismybar]

He'd hesitated, but he'd actually, eventually, bucked up and called Elijah to see if there was any news about the cave. He wasn't sure why, except that it seemed like such a nice, relatively non-threatening distraction.

Better than alcohol and vampire slaying, anyway.

Then he'd invited Elijah over to his place for a drink and to update him, before maybe (hopefully) going out and getting Elijah in there to look around. He understood that even less. Except... Elijah's company had been really, really easy. Kind of weird! But easy.

He missed easy.

Not that kind of easy. Just... close to comfortable, and pleasant.

He met Elijah with the door, handed him a glass of bourbon and stepped back to let him in.

"Any luck?" he asked, as he gestured Elijah toward the living room.

Comments

[manof_myword]

Elijah looked surprised at the question, then a little touched Ric had asked before his expression smoothed to its usual impassivity. "I'll be all right. If we didn't know what was in there...perhaps not. But I'm prepared."

[thisismybar]

"I probably should have brought a bottle of... tea," he said, with a very slight amount of dry humor. "If you're not, let me know as soon as you can."

Freaking out vampire, especially an Original?

He liked Elijah and he wasn't one to cave to fear or be intimidated, but that doesn't mean he wasn't aware.

[manof_myword]

"Perhaps. But that will just leave us more for later." When he might need it. He was pretty good at staying calm in most situations. It was the aftermath that occasionally did him in.

"But I will." Let him know if it was too much.

[thisismybar]

"I'd say there's no shortage, but...." Elijah was a vampire and an original. Ric had no idea how much alcohol it took to have any kind of effect on him. "It'll be there when we get back."

The rest he just looked deeply dubious about. Elijah with a sense of humor was a bit of a surprise. Elijah with a sex drive had been a bigger one. Elijah actually admitting that he was having an issue? Well, maybe. Surprises did seem to be stacking up.

[manof_myword]

"There's certainly plenty." It took a lot, true, but Alaric had a lot.

He arched an eyebrow at the dubious look. "What?"

[thisismybar]

Ric didn't even try for innocence or ignorance. "I'll believe it when I see it," he said, directly. "Or hear it, in this case."

[manof_myword]

The eyebrow stayed up. "What? Me say I'm not comfortable with something?"

[thisismybar]

"Is that what it would be? Being uncomfortable with it?"

His definition of uncomfortable with something tended to be more a... means of objection. Maybe he just used the phrase wrong.

[manof_myword]

Elijah shrugged a little bit. "Maybe not the best word, but. I'm not really used to using the ones that might be."

Understatement was his particular art. One of them.

[thisismybar]

"It's good to know I got something besides having good hair right."

It was pretty mildly stated for him, though.

[manof_myword]

Elijah shifted away from the topic of his discomfort, and gave Ric a teasing look.

"You think I have good hair? I was thinking about cutting it. Something more...contemporary."

[thisismybar]

"I'm not entirely sure you can 'sell' contemporary, but I'm pretty sure your hair would be good no matter how it was cut..." There was a bit of dry, self-depreciating humor in there, somewhere.

[manof_myword]

"You missed the Middle Ages," Elijah muttered before pulling to a stop as far as the road went near the caves. "But thank you...I think."

He could sell contemporary!

[thisismybar]

"Sweetheart, I missed the seventies." Never mind the middle ages, he was dry and kind of bemused about it, though. He slid out of the car once it came to a stop, and once he'd walked around, said, "You're welcome." Just like Elijah hadn't added thinking so.

[manof_myword]

The "sweetheart" made him startle, internally, but he didn't show much on the outside, just glanced at him as he locked the car.

"You didn't miss much. The seventies were..." He shook his head. "There was polyester. No one looked good in it."

[thisismybar]

Ric waited until the heard the car lock, then started walking. "I've never been much of a fashion icon...." Just ask Klaus. "Wearing plastic doesn't sound comfortable, though."

[manof_myword]

Elijah gave a delicate little shudder. "Believe me," he answered as he fell in step beside him. "It really wasn't."

[thisismybar]

"I'll keep not picturing you in bell bottoms." It was a bit of a tease, but also sort of not. "And stick with my t-shirts and jeans. Any reference to safaris from you, though, and all bets are off."

[manof_myword]

"Please do keep that out of your head, yes." Elijah had burned what few pictures there were from that decade. He glanced over at Ric, smiled slightly. "There's nothing wrong with t-shirts and jeans."

Not when you wore them like Alaric did.

[thisismybar]

"Yeah, well, tell that to your-" He stopped himself and grimaced. "I'm sorry. That... wasn't fair."

[manof_myword]

Elijah, having no idea what Klaus had or hadn't said about Alaric's wardrobe, just looked confused. "...It wasn't?"

[thisismybar]

"Just... go with it," he suggested, with a wry smile. "It was a dick move on my part, even if you don't get the reference. Below the belt, Klaus, not you, don't know where it came from, etc. etc."

[manof_myword]

Elijah gave him a measuring look for a moment, trying to decide if pressing was worth it, but took him at his word and nodded.

"All right."

[thisismybar]

Ric reached out and squeezed Elijah's arm, right above the elbow, before returning his hand to his pocket. "Thank you."

[manof_myword]

The touching was likely to surprise him for a bit, but he just nodded and fell silent until they got to the cave entrance. "The flashlight is really going to be far more helpful than the torches."