InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "hmm"

Nathaniel Mauer (the_reverend) wrote in inshadowfalls,
@ 2010-06-09 11:00:00

Entry tags:

elliot stirling, nathaniel mauer

Who ? Nathaniel Mauer and Elliot Stirling
Where ? The Church of Immortality
When ? Wednesday afternoon
What ? Elliot and Nathaniel talk about Elliot leaving the country
Rating ? Low

The Church picnic had been a great success and ever since its conclusion, Nathaniel had been an even better mood than usual. Every day it seemed he got a thank you letter in the mail from a citizen in town for something the church had done and he was expecting an even larger crowd that normal this Sunday at both morning and evening services. While the initial first few weeks had been a little rough for the Church with the vandalism and the harassment, the town seemed to have mellowed and accepted them as something not only permanent but not nearly as nefarious as they had initially suspected.

This afternoon, Nathaniel had met with a contractor who was going to begin adding on a wing to the church that could be used as a halfway house or a homeless shelter. It seemed word had gotten around Shadow Falls that the Church was a place that people who were otherwise lost or homeless could come and stay. It was an opinion he wanted to encourage. Now he was sitting in the Sanctuary, dressed down in jeans and a simple gray t-shirt. He had paint swatches and project boards set up all over, examples of different plans decorators had come up with that he needed to decide on before construction on the addition was completed. He had time, he knew, but Nathaniel was never one to put anything off. Ever.

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elliotstirling
2010-06-09 05:25 pm UTC (link)

Elliot had walked through the church, looking for Nathaniel who was, surprisingly, not in his office for once. Elliot didn't panic, not yet, though he was easily panicked when he didn't know where Nathaniel was. He always liked to know where his human was; Elliot was more than a little overprotective. Still, there were still major points in the church that Elliot hadn't checked yet and it was very likely that Nathaniel was in one of them.

He walked into the Sanctuary a few minutes later, spotting the back of Nathaniel and eagerly walked down the aisle to meet with his most adored human. He always liked when Nathaniel dressed less formally-- he looked much more relaxed, cute even. He placed both hands on the bench on either side of Nathaniel's shoulder, leaning over the slightest bit to speak to his friend. "Ah, this is all plans for the addition, yeah?" Elliot asked with a smile, turning his head a bit to look at Nathaniel's profile. "How are you today, Nathaniel? Well, I hope."

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the_reverend
2010-06-09 05:32 pm UTC (link)

Nathaniel looked up at Elliot when he approached and then smiled, running his fingers over a rich black and white fabric sample that he was sure he loved, just not for current projects, and then back down to all of the colors and swatches. "Yes, Elliot, these are some of the plans for the new addition although it's difficult to decide." He wanted the wing to be welcoming, not gender specific, and not too lavish. He didn't want to keep the people there forever, just give them respite until they found their feet again.

"I am good, thank you. Yourself?" In the time since Elliot had been with Austin if Nathaniel had really been a vampire he probably would have picked up on something, a smell or some other nuance to hint at the fact that his vampire friend had been canoodling with someone from the church. Since he wasn't, in fact, turned at all he went on blissfully unaware. Of course even if he had known he may not have been disapproving or hurt or anything even remotely like that but he definitely would have had something to say.

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elliotstirling
2010-06-09 05:50 pm UTC (link)

Elliot chuckled faintly, looking down at the swatch that Nathaniel was currently fawning over discreetly. "You and your black and white," Elliot said fondly with a grin, looking over some of the other swatches-- some so obnoxious that even Elliot avoided looking at them for more than a fleeting glance. He leaned over more, pointing to a swatch that was a warm peach color. "I like that, it's neutral, yet inviting, yet mature. Pair that with a warm chocolate brown and you'd have quite a happy area... I think," Elliot chuckled again.

"Doing well enough," Elliot responded gently, not quite sure when or even how to bring up his suggestion to go out of the country. Sure, Elliot would have been lying if he'd said he didn't want to take Nathaniel with him-- by all means, he'd love to. But he knew Nathaniel would never go and risk leaving the church alone for more than eight hours. It still was quite a disappointment because Elliot would have loved to spend more time with his friend in a more relaxed atmosphere. He hated that Nathaniel could never relax. It wore him out a lot, Elliot knew and he worried about his human very much. He wasn't sure how even he would handle being away from Nathaniel for that long.

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the_reverend
2010-06-09 05:54 pm UTC (link)

"Peach and chocolate." Nathaniel looked back over the swatches thoughtfully and pushed his way through them, gathering shades around those particular colors and separating them from the others. He didn't particularly have a flair for things like this so he took Elliot's advice very seriously. Peach colored walls. It was inviting.

"Did you have fun at the picnic?" He asked casually, turning to sit down on one of the pews to get a better look at the different types of brown fabrics. "And did you donate the excess to the food pantry like I asked?"

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elliotstirling
2010-06-09 06:23 pm UTC (link)

"Yes, the picnic was a lot of fun," Elliot said with a smile. "I think it was a major success too. Did you enjoy yourself, Reverend?" Elliot asked curiously, eyeing all the different fabrics and smiling faintly as Nathaniel gathered up all of the colors that Elliot had suggested-- it was flattering to say the least and he was more than thrilled inwardly that he had given a suggestion that Nathaniel seemed fond of.

"Of course, Nathaniel. When have I ever not done what you've asked of me?" Elliot said with a chuckle, "You know I love to run your errends more than anything," he said brightly, sighing softly as he realized that for a whole week, he wouldn't be able to do that. Most would think it strange that Elliot loved to be somewhat of a slave to Nathaniel's will, but Elliot really did adore it. "...Nathaniel... there's something I've needed to bring up to you," he said quietly, eyes downcast because he was a little nervous to admit to it.

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the_reverend
2010-06-09 06:37 pm UTC (link)

"I had a great time." Nathaniel admitted. He'd made his rounds, talked to most everyone there, and spent a great deal of time playing games with the children, painting faces and sneaking them extra ping pong balls or beanbags or rings for the games. "I wish we could have a church picnic every weekend." It was difficult for people to be hateful and angry around cotton candy and home baked cookies

He smiled briefly at Elliot when he was assured the extra food had been donated and then went back to his samples, eying a dark brown carpet that had patterned squares of the same color somehow worked into the fabric. "What is it, Elliot?" He didn't feel as if anything was wrong even if the other's voice had a different quality to it than he was used to.

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elliotstirling
2010-06-09 06:48 pm UTC (link)

"It would be fun, sure, but possibly overkill," he laughed. "I don't think we'd ever have enough funding to rent out the cotton candy machine every weekend, no matter how much the town supports us." Elliot giggled, looking at Nathaniel trying to make all of these decisions and looking at every option forever. It was typical Nathaniel and something that Elliot was fond of about Nathaniel.

"I... well... I was thinking about going to Scotland for a week, go back home for a bit since... I haven't gone in quite a long time," he muttered weakly. "I'd be taking the blonde human, Austin with me..." he said quickly, trying to make it as much as an afterthought as he could manage," though he more or less just managed to sound even more nervous about the idea.

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the_reverend
2010-06-09 06:56 pm UTC (link)

Out of all the things that could have left Elliot's mouth, taking a leave of absence from the church for a week to go gallivanting through foreign lands with a human Nathaniel wasn't even aware Elliot knew was the last thing he'd expected to hear. "Excuse me?" He asked because he knew he couldn't have possibly heard that correctly.

It didn't really make sense, the odd sense of panic that sat like a seed in his stomach. Nathaniel was a vampire, an old vampire, older than Elliot. He should be able to continue on just fine without him. What was a week when you'd lived eight hundred years? But for some reason the notion of being without Elliot left him feeling panicked. A steady mantra of 'no, no, no, no' ran like a chorus line in the back of his head. He translated the desperation into need. Elliot couldn't leave, the Church needed him. The timing was wrong. He just didn't realize the timing would always be wrong.

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elliotstirling
2010-06-09 07:13 pm UTC (link)

Elliot looked away nervously when Nathaniel's only response was that of surprise. Elliot immediately translated that as anger or hatred and it made his heart sink. "I uhm... y-yeah. I just... if you'd rather I don't I--" Elliot bit his lip because he didn't want to disappoint Nathaniel at all but he definitely would have felt terrible leading Austin on like that only to tell him that he wouldn't, in fact, be taking the blonde off on a trip.

"Just a week, Nathaniel..." he said weakly, struggling with what he wanted to do. He was always on Nathaniel's side first, all others came second. He walked around to stand beside Nathaniel instead.

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the_reverend
2010-06-09 07:43 pm UTC (link)

"You want to leave for a week?" The way Elliot was stuttering and stammering over his words confirmed that he hadn't been imagining things when he'd said he wanted to go to Scotland. With Austin, one of the people he'd taken in, one of the reasons he was designing this room to begin with.

He shook his head 'no' back and forth, calming the nerves fluttering around like butterflies in his gut. Elliot wanted to leave, he would tell him no and Elliot wouldn't go. That would be the end of it. There was no need to get all worked up about it. "No, Elliot, you can't leave now. There's too much to do here, we're still settling in. We haven't even been here for a month yet."

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elliotstirling
2010-06-09 08:07 pm UTC (link)

Elliot looked over at Nathaniel and his entire posture just slumped sadly, or at least when Nathaniel wasn't paying him any attention. He didn't mind so much that he couldn't go to Scotland, and he certainly didn't mind that Nathaniel was demanding that Elliot stay by him. Of course he'd love that. But still... it sure was a bit of a depressing moment in terms of not being able to go home.

"Alright," he said faintly, steeling himself up immediately. "Of course, Reverend. You're right, much too much to do. It was poorly planned on a whim, you're right. I'll just have to postpone my trip," he said obediently, smiling faintly, but looking away because he didn't feel as commited to the gesture as he'd wanted to be.

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the_reverend
2010-06-09 08:12 pm UTC (link)

Nathaniel wasn't pleased by that response. He'd put out the fire for now but the topic was still smoldering and could burst into flames again at any minutes. He didn't want that. He couldn't have that. It wasn't really dealing with the problem. "Elliot." He said with a note of finality and put the samples down again. "Should we go talk about this in my office?" He didn't want to get into a fight with him here out in the open where anyone from the congregation could show up. It was like a marriage, you couldn't argue in front of the kids.

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elliotstirling
2010-06-09 08:20 pm UTC (link)

Elliot glanced to Nathaniel and ducked his head immediately after. "No. Of course not. There is nothing to talk about," Elliot said gently. "You were right, it's foolish of me to run off when there's still so much to do," he said, moving to obsessively organize the swatches that Nathaniel was looking at, neatly cleaning up anything that was out of line because it was something to do with his hands and that's exactly what he needed right now-- it was normality. "Always the voice of wisdom, I'm lucky to have you Reverend, I most certainly am," he said quickly, swallowing hard. "I'm being careless, I shouldn't be. You're right, I promise you, you're right. I need to be here for the church and leaving you is out of the question," he said without really thinking about what he was saying.