After the obnoxious conversation with her sister, Marcus was looking forward to spending time with Elle. It wasn’t that they had ever been the best of mates, but with the lot of people he’d encountered from his own world on Atlantis so far, it seemed like she was actually one of the few people who didn’t immediately sneer at his presence. He knew that she likewise didn’t seem to get along with her brethren, although he wasn’t up on the details of why, and wasn’t one to care much anyway. He could certainly empathize with not getting along with family, having only one real relation that he cared about, and they didn’t know each other until much later in life anyway.
Shaking off the musings of family, Marcus headed out into the communal space of his new living quarters, a bit surprised to find Elle already waiting for him. Seeing the other doors in the hall, he correctly surmised that she was likely to be one of his new flatmates. With a slight smirk he greeted her with, “You weren’t talking ‘bout the living room when you said you know a place, were you?”
“As charming as as this couch is, no, this isn’t what I meant,” Elle said with a smirk and stood up to greet him. “There’s a bar not far from here called Dive that I think you’ll like.” Even though she worked at Cava, Elle sometimes stopped in at the different places in town from time to time. She even frequented the Three Broomsticks, but tonight felt more like a dive bar kind of evening.
Grabbing a jacket, they both headed out the door and were on their way. She was in a pleasant mood ever since getting the notification of Marcus’ arrival and was in an even better mood the more frustrated her sister became on the open network. There were so many ways that Elle thought about lashing out at Alicia, but she’d been on her best behavior the past couple of months to appease the powers that be of Atlantis. Her probationary period had expired earlier in the month, and she was no longer being monitored. She hadn’t spoken to either Alicia or Rocco in weeks, and apparently she didn’t even need to speak to them to get under their skin. Just a few short exchanges with an old friend had accomplished more than she probably could have by directly speaking with her. It made no sense why Alicia was so upset that she and Marcus were going out since she never thought the two got along, but the reasons didn’t matter to Elle.
“So, what have you been up to? You mentioned that it had been a few years for you since my death.” The words ‘my death’ were said probably too casually, but she mostly tried not to think about that day too much.
As they walked, it took Marcus a minute to really address her question. He was looking around at the architecture, which seemed to be a hodge-podge of places he’d been before, but something unique as well. The weather was nice, a little hot perhaps, but otherwise clear skies shone above them, making their journey a pleasant one.
He glanced back at Elle, finally thinking about her question to offer an answer. “Well, I stopped fencing the stolen stuff after you… left.” It felt a little strange to talk about her dying since she seemed very alive in front of him. Still, he didn’t dwell on it and simply continued on speaking. “Still importing the illegal stuff as I go, though I took this past year off to just enjoy the traveling. Stan actually came along for a few months-- d’you remember Shunpike?” He didn’t actually let her answer the question, adding, “He’s no good at telling Borgin no though, so we ended up parting ways in Mexico.”
Despite enjoying his friendship with former Hufflepuff, Marcus was actually grateful when they had parted ways. His overly talkative friend had a way of getting him into trouble with his all the stories he liked to tell. He concluded his summary with, “Stan headed back to Britain with the cadejo horns, I continued south, ended up in Peru, and now I’m here.”
As he spoke, Elle gave a nod of recognition. She remembered Shunpike, although, she didn’t know him well and hadn’t dealt with him as much as she had Marcus. Given how much he ran his mouth, she’d never fully trusted working with him as much as she had Marcus and others along the way. She never knew whether or not half the things he said were true, but she didn’t like taking the chance he’d repeat sensitive information involving her or Trent. He hadn’t been her downfall though. No, that had been her own blood.
“And now you’re here,” she repeated. “You know, I was always envious of how much you were able to travel during various jobs,” she admitted. “We ventured out here and there, but rarely for extended periods or too far south.” They most kept to Europe or a handful of places in Asia. Less so after their daughter was born. “Yet we’re much further from home than either of us ever thought we’d be.”
Elle glanced up at him, but turned her eyes forward once they rounded a corner. The bar was just about a block more down the street.
Despite the fact that he’d done most of the talking, Marcus tried to pay attention to the route they were taking as they walked. If the place they were going was as good as Elle suggested, he had a feeling he’d be a frequent patron. He turned one hand upward, shrugging in slight agreement when she said he was here.
“Well,” he offered, referring to Britain, “That island was always a bit too small for me anyhow. Seemed like everyone was always up in each other’s business whether they wanted to be or not.” He looked around, noting that there was something mysterious and yet oddly familiar about the architecture they passed. And then his mind returned to the recent conversations from Elle’s siblings, and Marcus made a face. “S’pose it’s too much to think this place is any different, huh?”
She couldn’t help but let out a scoff at his remark about Britain. “You’re not wrong on that, mate, especially in wizarding circles.” As someone who didn’t have an opinion one way or another on Muggles, Elle found it was sometimes refreshing to venture into their world to escape her own and the people in it for a while every so often. She could appreciate their ingenuity and admire of their advancements and shiny objects that captured her attention. She shook her head in reply to his observation of Atlantis. “Yes and no. There are those here who like to pry into people’s business, but there’s an advantage to having people here from various worlds and timelines. It’s easier to distance yourself from those that may already have made opinions based on… other’s opinions.”
Her words were vague, but the meaning was obvious. Her brother and sister’s friends had already been told Merlin knows what about her, Alicia’s boyfriend had already tried threatening her shortly after her arrival, but Elle was generally happy to ignore the lot of them. For now, at least.
They arrived at Dive and once inside, she ordered herself two shots of whisky and a beer to start. “You know,” she said after taking the first shot. “The Three Broomsticks showed up some time before I arrived, but I thought you might appreciate a place not quite as familiar to home tonight.”
Marcus likewise ordered the same for himself, and was content to sit in silence with her until the drinks arrived. He hadn’t been sure how to respond to the assessment about the inhabitants of Atlantis, figuring it was a good piece of information to know but that it would probably make more sense once he saw more of it firsthand.
After downing his first shot, he shrugged. “I never liked The Three Broomsticks much anyway.” With a glance around the bar, he added, “This place is more my style.” As his eyes met hers once more, he lifted his beer with a conversational gesture in her direction. “So what do you do for fun around here? ‘Sides drink, I mean.”
“I thought you might prefer this place more,” she said about the choice between Dive and Three Broomsticks. Elle visited both, but it normally depended on her mood at the time. She took a sip of her beer and shrugged at his question.
“There are several good trails outside of the city to explore, and it's been warm enough for the beach or to spend a day down by the lake. I've done some minor scouting, but they kept me on a fairly tight leash when I first arrived and decided to stay on, so that's all it's been.” She pointed down to her ankle that was thankfully now free of its special jewelry. “They tracked my location and sent me to see a therapist for the first month or so I was here.”
Rolling her eyes, she downed the second shot. “I've been working at this wine bar across town - Cava. It's fairly nice, and they have a good selection.”
An eyebrow raised when Elle discussed her house arrest. Marcus couldn’t help feeling thankful that he wasn’t given the same treatment with his arrival. He didn’t know that he’d want to stay in a place that had him under lock and key, especially if they wanted him to talk to a shrink about his feelings.
“Seems a little excessive for a thief,” he remarked before taking his own shot.
Elle didn't elaborate on a handful of her other crimes that likely factored into the decision to keep her on a tighter leash, but she still thought the process was ridiculous. She simply shrugged and took another sip of her beer.
“Biased opinions, I suppose,” she said. She really had no idea what some of the officials knew given her name was, thankfully, left out of the narrative her world was based on. She'd done a bit of reading, but overall had found the first couple of books dreadfully boring. She had no interest in reading about Potter and his friends.
“So, what about you? Do you think you may stay on here for a while? You're the best company I've had in weeks, so my vote would of course be yes.”
Marcus smiled at her comment, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table as he cupped his beer in one hand. “Guess it wouldn’t be fair of me to leave you all alone again. Who knows what you’ll get into without someone around to distract you,” he teased, lightly clinking his glass against hers as he added, “And there are worse places to stay.”