Monday | April 14th 2008 Who: Duncan and Elle Where: His Room When: Insanely late Monday (actually Tuesday morning, 1am) What: Elle hears drunken singing.
The sound of bottles clinking together interrupted the solitary twangs of a tuning guitar from the half-demon's apartment. Drinking to the point of being completely intoxicated had become an expensive activity for him. After a few centuries, one built up an impressive tolerance. Music had been draining out from under his doorway for a few hours now. As the time passed, and the drunker he became, the less he became aware of his ascending volume. Occasionally he sang, bits and pieces of songs he wouldn't remember later. Some of them were his own, but he honestly had no idea.
For example, all of his furniture faced East. He had no idea. He figured it out today. He must have put it that way subconsciously. These alcohol based distractions proved useful in casting shadows on topics you did find yourself thinking about.
He lined up the bottles of rum neatly on his coffee table according to size -- tallest in the middle, then descending in height on both sides -- and stood there, admiring his handwork for a moment before he picked up his guitar again.
With a swimming head he reached over to hit 'play' on the iTunes listing up on his desktop. As the intro to a song blew out of his speakers, he squinted to read the title. Then he laughed. "Huh. Sure. Why not."
His computer chair swiveled away and he pulled the guitar in his lap. He had been singing and playing long enough to sound perfect, even if he couldn't walk a straight line. His voice was sweet, theatrical as expected; a melodic tenor.
``And it starts, sometime around midnight. Or at least that’s when you lose yourself for a minute or two. As you stand, under the bar lights. And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while. And the piano’s this melancholy soundtrack to her smile.``
---
Elle was not one, if ever, to confront someone here. She had been that kind of girl once, because she had been rich and an only child and married to a wealthy powerful man and somewhat spoiled. But since coming to TJS, she had grown subdued, silent, letting people do as they wished and not speaking a word.
But she had just come back from her shift, and it was God only knew how late, and two doors down Duncan was blasting music and singnig loudly and if he wasn't waking half the building, then they were already awake and wishing to kill him. Still in her jumpsuit uniform, Elle decided to take action. She had no need to hide anymore, and frankly this was ridiculous. What in the hell was he being so loud for? Duncan did not normally act like this. Play his music at loud volumes on the weekends, sometimes, yes. Never one in the morning.
Hair in a loose ponytail, Elle pounded on his door, hoping that Hope (whose room was, momentarily, next door) wasn't awake.
---
``And so there’s a change, in your emotions. And all these memories come rushing like feral waves to your mind.``
He paused, voice cracking suddenly at the screeching halt he needed to take, and slammed his hand down on the strings of his guitar to kill vibrations. Was that a knock? Who was knocking?
"Open," he called, cheerfully.
---
Open? He wasn't even going to come to the door? Rolling her eyes but squaring her shoulders, Elle turned the knob and came in, shutting the door behind her. What she saw was... most unexpected. Duncan was sitting in his computer chair in his pajamas, a Spider Man tee shirt, and smelling like rum. If it wasn't so horrifically sad, he'd look adorable.
"....... do you have ANY idea what time it is?" she said finally, hands on her hips. His pitifulness had been jarring. "It's like... well it's late! And you're being extremely loud! And off key, I might add!" Finding the main source of the noise, the iPod, Elle turned the little dial until it was at a volume where she no longer had to yell. "What in the world are you doing??"
---
Duncan looked at her with wide eyes, lined in red. Normally they were hazel, but now they were a lighter green due to being so glassy. "What? Offkey! Lassie yer daft! M'never offkey! Threehundredyearsago,maybe! HAH." He laughed, with a high pitched sort of giggle, putting his guitar down.
"I know you. I've seen you. How're you?" His Scottish accent was more apparent in this state; he sounded almost completely different than usual.
---
Elle was a fast talked- she was from the west coast- but even she had no idea what Duncan had just spat out. Instead she stared at him, getting "key" and "three" out of the deal.
He might have known her, because she used to clean the staff offices. Ever since the "ugliness" with Nox, she had transferred and didn't do that anymore. She had always been second shift, though. But... how was she? How was she? "I'm... yelling at you," she said blankly, as though Duncan had missed the memo.
---
He frowned. "Oh. Sorry." A pause, and he put his guitar down and smiled again, hands on his knees. "Go on. S'cathartic, right? I was singing but y'stopped me. I won't interrupt you, though."
---
Elle stared. For at least ten seconds, just stared at him. She had never... in her whe life, not even the students here... what in the hell was wrong with Duncan? "Um... I was..." her eyes glanced about the room, noticed Duncan's Rum Art. "That is a lot of liquor," she said, pointing to the coffee table. "Are you, like... is everything alright?"
---
"Eeehhh, been better. Sorry t'disturb you." He leaned to the right, looking at his open door, then back to her with bleary eyes. "Ehm. Y'can shut the door, please. I don't want to wake up the whole hallway."
---
He was so... weird. Elle couldn't help but laugh. "Oh sure, now you worry about the hallways?" she teased, nevertheless closing the door. She stayed in the room though, because despite how irked she was that she had to come home to him blaring music, despite it being good music, he seemed completely distressed.
Moving tentatively, she sat at the edge of his couch. "You wanna talk about it? Or, something?"
---
He looked at her as if she'd just materialized on his sofa. "What? What?" He blinked. "Oh, no.. no, I don't want t'bother you. I'm sure you have.. important things to be doing.." he laughed, mostly at himself, and looked down at his joined hands. His elbows rested on his knees.
---
She frowned at him. "You're already bothering me, you know. I come home from work and there's this music blasting through the halls and someone singing in a very beautiful voice but loudly and obnoxiously, so I have to walk all the way down to his room, and knock on his door, and turn down his music..." Elle gestured with each turn of phrase, voice melodic and teasing. "...just so he can sit there in his pajamas and tell me he doesn't want to bother me!" She huffed dramatically, smiling a little. "And now I'm going to wonder if he won't drink himself to death in the middle of the night." Leaning forward, she rested her elbow on her knee, chin in hand. "It's exhausting. Now start talking."
---
"Oh... no." He said, shaking his head with a chipper grin. He leaned in close to her and dipped his face down, then reached up to push auburn waves out of the way. He had horns. "Demon. Half demon. I'd need a shit more of liquor to drink m'self t'death, darlin.'" He leaned back up. "Oh. Language. Apologies."
---
The horns were a surprise. "Oh!" she said, leaning back, startled. Demons and the like were still new to her. Plus, they reminded her of Nox, and the wings and the claws and what a terrifying night that had been. Smoothing a flyaway strand off her face, she cleared her throat. Nothing scary about Duncan whatsoever.
"Well... that's something, at least. I'm sorry, I don't mean to... I'll go." He seemed pretty set in simply being here and doing whatever he had been doing, though now she assumed he'd be doing it without as much drunken singing. Or maybe at just a more reasonable decibal.
---
"No, stay," he said, almost a little too quickly, his frown now less clown-like and silly. "Let me run something by you. Are you... well, are you single?" Then he let out a sputtering laugh. "WOW, if tha'isn't a creepy thing for a drunk fellow to say to a girl he's closed in his apartment! Ignore me, ignore THAT, that is, ehm..." he ran his fingers through his hair, then twisted his mouth around before grinning.
"I'm single too." More laughter bubbled forth, giddy and boyish and.. very drunk. "I'm having single people problems."
--- The words, however meant, were definitely not coming out right. Elle blushed as he asked if she was single, stammering a little. She was, now, but that wasn't really... and his explainations weren't getting any better...
"Ahm.... oh. Um. Okay." Single people problems? Like, in the not getting laid variety? Elle's eyes darted to the door. Maybe she could run... He seemed harmless, but he'd been drinking, and she had no idea what exactly he was getting at.
---
Duncan didn't notice any of these subtle expressions because he was shitfaced. Generally he was an extremely astute individual. Now, no.
"I feel like an idiot," he said, looking down at his floor. "A friend of mine.. well.. not quite a friend, not quite more-than-friend, if you will ..." how to say this delicately? "A succubus friend of mine..." there it was "...has ... well, she had been trying to keep to one food source, mainly me, for personal reasons, and I recently found out she... stopped... that.. and I'm a little confused."
---
Duncan might not have been astute, but right now he was so blatantly obvious. Elle could only sigh in relief. "Oh, so Adora slept with someone else," she said. Everyone knew about Duncan and Adora, everyone assumed their "just friends" thing was total crap. And Elle was one who believed that a friends with benefits never worked out.
"So she slept with someone else and you're... drinking yourself into a drunken mess? Am I right so far?"
---
Duncan gave her a little stare when she used names, but then slumped his shoulders, defeated. Whatever, so she knew. Eh, he was drunk. He didn't care.
"That makes it sound like...." he blew air out through puffed cheeks and turned an intoxicated eyes up to her. "Yes."
---
What it made it sound like was exactly what it was. "You like her." It wasn't a question, but a fact. At least, Elle seemed confident of this. Straightening up, she looked Duncan in the face. "She's been with someone else, you're obviousy taking it badly... you like her. And you're jealous. And hurt."
---
He shook his head hard, which made him a little dizzy. He had to lean back into his sofa to recuperate, slumping down like a teenager until his knees and chest were almost level. "She just.. she was .. I shouldn't discuss this, as it's her.. thing.. but.. she wanted to stay to one food source, and I think .. the someone else.. just showed up at a bad time when she was near starved." He turned his head toward Elle, expression weary. "You know about the miscarriage, I assume?" Since she was so smart.
---
Of course she knew. Everyone knew, and besides that, the custodial staff knew things that no one else did. They were the eyes and ears of the institution. Elle nodded. She was smart, very much so, and aside from that she was a telepath so keeping secrets from her was extremely difficult.
She also knew a lot about lying to herself, and other people lying to themselves. "Do you really think that?" she asked softly, "or are you just telling yourself that?"
---
Elle could probably feel the confusion and conflict roiling off Duncan's sodden brain, then. "I... don't know," he said, quietly, after a long time, not looking at her.
"It went so fast. We were friends, I was food, it worked... then the baby was lost, and I said she could move in.. and it was just a week... and it just.... worked again, differently.."
---
It seemed that, in this case, Duncan was the friend that eventually wanted more. Elle frowned a little, empathizing with him completely. Unrequited want was one of the worst feelings in the world. She knew firsthand.
"These things sneak up on you," she said soothingly. "One day it's just another person, another friend you see and then bam, suddenly you think about them a lot and when you do you smile, and it just hits you that it's more then what you bargained for." Of course, maybe all was not lost. "Have you told her? That you like her, I mean."
---
"She's going on a date with him. And I'm not even positive. I can't ruin this for her. They are well suited to each other, and she owes it to herself to try a relationship with someone. She was so certain she couldn't and.. I guess..." he looked around at nothing. ".. I guess she's.. wanting to try, now."
---
Oh, God, he was breaking her heart! Elle's face fell when he told her, the empathy clear in her eyes. She nodded, knowingly, a meek smile on her face.
"I..." She swallowed. "I'm completely, totally, head over stupid heels in love with Nox." She had never said it before, not out loud, not to someone aside from her bathroom mirror and Nox himself. "And I knew that it would never happen between us, I knew that. But he broke up with Olivia, and then he was just... so determined that no one would ever appreciate him as he was, but I did, I do, and now he's with Belle." She practically spat the woman's name out, her eyes darkening. "Perfect, lovely... irritatingly wonderful Belle. And they are wonderful together, and he's very happy and that's great, but I can't help but wonder... why not me?" She looked up at Duncan, her fingers fidgeting. "Anyway. I know what it's like to have someone who thought they coudn't bother with romance again go off and try with someone else. And you're happy for them, but... only mostly."
---
....Wow. This blew his little dilemma out of the water. Duncan was worried about why seeing Adora with someone else had upset him. Elle was totally sure she was in love with Nox. The first thought that came to Duncan's mind was 'Nox? Really?' but he didn't voice this opinion. Of course, that might not have mattered, what with Elle being a telepath.
"I'm sorry," he said, after a long moment.
---
Generally, that was most peoples' reactions, and even though Elle wasn't listening to his thouhts (she tried not to), she figured he would be thinking it. "It's fine," she said, brushing it off as she had done countless times before. "It's not like I actually ever had a shot with him, so I'm not missing what I never got. But you... I mean, it... it's harder, I think. Because you did have it, and you didn't think about it like that and now that it's not there, you are thinking about it."
Settling back, Elle crossed her arms, lost in thought a second, her plump lips pouting. "I wish I knew what to do," she confessed. "For you, for me... about any of it. I guess though, first thing's first, you should tell her. Or at least, figure out what you want." She gave the The Eye. "What do you want, Mr. Boyard?"
---
Duncan returned a 'look,' but, being so drunk, it was more comical than anything. "I...don't know. I haven't been in love with anyone since my belated wife." He scratched at his hair, flashing more horn.
---
Elle giggled at Duncan's look, sneaking a good look at his horn. It was just interesting, and she didn't get to see them ever- didn't even know he had them- so she was curious. At least, until 'wife' caught her ear.
"You were married?" she asked. "How long ago was that?"
---
"Whoooof...." he pointed right at her face. "No laughing. Few centuries ago."
---
Elle had not promised no laughing before he'd said it, so of course she laughed. "Oh my God!" she gasped, giggling. "Wow! How old are you?? No, wait, I'm sorry, that's none of my business." She covered her face, embarassed. "Centuries?" she asked, peeking out from her fingers. "Really??"
---
Duncan watched her for a moment before a smile spread over his face. "YOU are adorable!"
---
Elle had thought she was blushing before, but she'd been dead wrong. Now she was red as a beet, hiding behind her calloused hands. Her nails were still well manicured, though. You could take the girl out of the country club...
"You... I am not! You shut up! You're drunk!"
---
He giggled, which was a little silly, as he was a rather tall, lanky, yet masculine fellow. "Well... yes, I am, but you're still a cute lil' thing. Hiding behind yer hands like tha.' " He mimicked her, peeking out from behind long piano-hands.
---
Elle was not afraid, when she was comfortable, to reach out and hit someone, And she did, smacking Duncan on the knee. "Jerk," she scolded. "Don't poke fun at me!"
---
He laughed gently, shaking his head. It was clear he was not poking fun at her at all. "I'm three hundred and seventy-seven."
---
Elle gave the best reactions. In this instance, her jaw dropped. "Oh. My. GOD!" she declared, perfectly scandalized. "Three... oh my God! No." She eyed him skeptically. "You're messing with me. No way." Of course, it was very likely he was. Tyrone, the bipolar vampire she shared a shift with, was over five hundred. But that was a vampire. Duncan looked so young!
---
"Yessssss," he slurred, leaning close to her as he poked at the side of his eyeballs. "Seeeeee? Laughlines."
---
God, he was drunk. It was cute. She giggled a little. "Okay, but even so... I'm human, three hundred to me is like... well, dead." She scanned his face, really studied it, looking to see if maybe there was some kind of demon giveway that told their age, like rings on a tree. Of course he didn't have anything of the sort, but he did have pleasing bottle green eyes. Hers were just greyish, kinda hazel, mostly blue-like.
"They make you look distinguished," she told him. "Which might be good because you have such a young face."
---
"Eh, I used to. Now I'm middle aged." He slumped back. That's right. He was middle-aged. He was too old for this ridiculousness.
---
"So... three hundred seventy-seven is the middle of the road?" The was just so hard to imagine. He had been around long before Elle had been born, would be around long after she was dead. It was kind of sad for him, thinking of all the people he must have known, must have left behind.
---
"Unfortunately," he said, confirming her thoughts. He looked over at her with a less cheery smile, his moods up and down thanks to the alcohol and conversation topic.
"How do you know Nox?"
---
Elle was starting to need a drink herself, this conversation was so unexpectedly loopy. She flushed a little when he asked about Nox, as she always did when she thought about him. "I... I guess I don't. Not like..." It was hard to explain, and kind of embarassing. "His office used to be a part of my rounds. And he was always nice to me, really nice. One of the only people who noticed I existed. And when my mind wanders, I hear peoples' thoughts, and his were just... he's just a genuinely nice person. And I always felt safe around him, and I needed that."
Scratching her shoulder, Elle smiled a little sadly. "And then there was... that weird week when everyone went crazy, and he and I... things happened." She kept her eyes down, fingers playing with the zipper at the top of her jumpsuit. "It was scary. But nice, too. In retrospect."
---
"Y-you're a telepath?" he said, stiffening. He hadn't met a telepath in a while, not including those here.
He realized that this was not the point of her story, though, and spoke again before she could answer. "Oh... that week. I understand. No explanation necessary."
---
She did not know he would take her ability so... strangely. And even though he spoke quickly enough to cut off an answer, she gave him one anyway. "I am," she said quietly. "Is that... bad?"
---
"I.. just.. " he chuckled, softly. "They make me nervous. Sometimes... I mean.. when you live so long as I do, your thoughts are all you can hold on to." He reached over to pat her hand. "No offense darlin.' "
---
"No, I understand," she said smoothly. "It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. It's like, the one safe haven people have, I can invade. But I don't," she assured him quickly. "I don't do it unless I need to, or if I think I'm in danger, or if I'm really not paying attention. But I am, and I'm pretty sure you're safe, so... no worries."
---
He looked grateful, too drunk to hide his emotions like usual. "Thanks... and thank you for listening." His face screwed up a moment. "You seem a drunken hallucination, but... you are most obviously... not."
He sat up a little straighter, head spinning. "You are a very good listener. I don't normally blabber this much. I hope we could keep this to myself. Ourselves. Yourself. Keep it to yourself." His smile was crooked. "Heeh."
---
It was weird how drunk he was, considering how much alcohol he;d apparently consumed. He was vleary eyed drunk when he should have been passed out might not wake up tomorrow drunk.
Chuckling a little, Elle nodded. "Of course," she assured him. "If you can even remember this conversation in the morning. I'd say you've had enough to pickle a bull elephant." She was definitely not a hallucination, although him saying so made her wonder a little what it was he was actually seeing when he looked at her. "Maybe you should get to bed. Then you can think about what you're going to do about things tomorrow." Elle was a total sap, and she really hoped that Duncan kept her updated on the Him/Adora circumstance.
---
"I agree. Sorry about the guitar." He eyeballed her. "And my off-key singing."
---
She smiled faintly. "It wasn't off key. It was perfectly pitched. But, than again you knew that."
---
He smirked and shrugged, pretending to be shy. "Why thank you."
---
He wasn't shy. They both knew it. Elle playfully smacked his knee again. "Even if you don't remember this tomorrow, whch is really likely... I'm glad I came in to yell at you." Elle got to her feet, stretching a little. "I hope this all works out for you. With Adora, I mean. She's nice, and you're nice, and... I'm a pisces, we love happy endings and good romances."
---
"If I don't remember this, will you remind me?" he asked, sounding rather earnest -- he generally did. He stood when she stood, because that was polite.... and whooo, dizzy. He stumbled back a little, laughing.
---
Instinctively, Elle reached out to grab his hand, keep him upright. Danny had been a wobbly drunk, so she was used to catching men as they fell over. But unlike Danny, Duncan was as tall as Elle, which seemed unusual nowadays. "Whoa there," she laughed a little. "You gonna make it okay?"
---
"Sure. I'll walk you to the door and then.. collapse elsewhere," he said, with a smirk, gesturing toward his door.
---
"Better idea," she said sternly, tugging him along, "I'll walk you to your room, and you can collapse there. Because I can find the door again. I'm not so positive you'll make it to bed in one piece."
---
"Usually I want the lady to buy me dinner, first," he said, playfully, staggering toward his bedroom.
--- With a short laugh, Elle rolled her eyes, an arm going around Duncan's thin ribcage. Jeez, she was practically twice his width with her boobs alone. "No, see, this is all for selfish reasons," she explained, walking with him. "I'm on custodial staff, and if you die by cracking your head open on the coffee table when you pass out, then I have to clean your blood, and wipe your brains off the floor, and scrub the carpet in my ultra sexy biohazard suit..."
Once in the room, Elle looked around, admiring how much nicer it was then her place. Of course the bed had to be all the way across the room. Still, it was only a few steps, and she unceremoniously flopped him down onto the mattress, giggling a little as she did so. "Well, Mr. Boyard, you're somewhere safe enough that I can feel I've done my civic duty in preventing your death."
---
Duncan sat up on his bed, grinning like an idiot, though his eyes were sad, still. The smile wouldn't reach up.
"Thank you, Elle."
---
Cheeks coloring, the telepath shrugged a little. She wondered what Duncan was thinking, but didnt ask and didn't probe. "Sure," she said, suddenly shy. She twirled a piece of hair from her ponytail. "If, um... if this thing doesn't work out for you... we can go drinking together," she offered. "I don't have a lot going on." Mainly because I don't have any friends...
---
His eyes flickered a little, tired and introspective. "I'd like that," he said, honestly. He would.
---
"Okay." It felt like the end of a date. She didn't know if she should go, or stay a minute longer, or how to take the obvious sincerity in his voice. She wasn't a girl who got noticed much, especially not by men. With a small smile, she put two fingers against his forehead and pushed him backward. "There," she said, satisfied. "Goodnight."
She made sure to shut off the light in his bedroom as she left, closing the door behind her. The bottles were going to bug her just sitting on the coffee table, regardless of how nicely they were arranged, so she grabbed them and placed them in the recycling bin, being as quiet as she could. Guitar went into its case and leaned against the computer desk, iPod was turned off, and before she started doing his dishes Elle demanded to herself she end her compulsion and she left, locking the front door behind her.