party post } { drinks are on me

[bravebartender]

So the thing about wishing for home and accidentally winding up with your place of employment is that that employment can now transfer to Teleios. Cami's had Rousseau's for about six months now, and she's managed to change it into the place that Sophie and Jane Anne loved to something that's a little more something of Teleios, even if she kept a lot of the New Orleans flair. It's something she couldn't bring herself to take away, that memory of home, even if she's far, far away.

The upper floors have been modified into a small loft for her and Hope, something simple and comfortable that's currently loaded with baby toys because when you're being spoiled by your Aunt Cami, you can never have too many. She still doesn't know why Hope came with her when she was brought into Teleios, but she is going to do everything in her power to keep her safe until Klaus our Hayley get here. It's not much power, given the measly human of it all, but that's why she hires attractive, strapping supernatural gentlemen to do her dirty work for her.

Currently she's behind the bar, with Hope in her playpen that she worked in there, just so she can keep an eye on her. She's more than willing to pour you a drink, listen to your troubles and woes and make sure that you leave her bar with your mind feeling a little lighter. After all, there's nothing more dangerous than a bartender who also happens to be a psychologist. She'll get what you're worried about out of you sooner or later.

Comments

[daredtobelieve]

Not all days in the infirmary are good days. Sometimes the patients don't pull through. Helen does everything that she can, but there are events that happen in the city that stack the odds against her sometimes.

Today isn't a good day. Today, she needs a drink much stronger than tea.

She finds a seat at the bar and keeps to herself, which for her is possibly more of an attention grab than if she was saying hello to every person that passed by. Helen being quiet and reclusive isn't at all normal.

[rawly]

It isn't at all normal to see Helen off to herself, clearly not wanting to talk to anyone.

Sonny is a relatively new-ish arrival. He hasn't been around long enough for an agentmas to ask for the Crowbar at least. Not that he thinks he would. The Crowbar is the fucking Crowbar. It's not here, and last time he saw it, it was after half his family had been killed in it, burned in it. If he ran a bar of his own, he'd make a new one from scratch in this city.

As it is, he's here as a patron, and he sits beside Helen on the stool, orders his own drink, and doesn't say anything at first. He can read the emotion coming off of her. He can feel the heaviness.

"Rough fuckin' day?"

[daredtobelieve]

This iteration of Helen doesn't know of the rift, of Chicago and all the wonderful people she'll meet in another life. The people she'll love.

But sometimes fate pulls people together. Sometimes you don't get a say in who you will meet, who will sit next to you at a bar and cause you to choke on a laugh as you sip your drink. Sometimes there's a time and a place for vulgar language and it's right here, right now.

"That's putting it bloody lightly, I'd say." Sighing, she sets her drink back down on the bar, cupping the glass with both hands and staring into the remaining liquid. "Do you ever just play back the day's events and try to think of what you could have done differently? How you could have made it better?"

wails about it ;o;

[rawly]

Sometimes fate is funny like that. Sometimes fate knows what you need even when you're not aware of it at the time, of how a person could change your life. It sets it right down beside you at the bar, drinking and cursing and talking about life.

He looks over at her with a little smirk. There's a darkness in his gaze. It shows understanding. It shows his years. He rests his hand on the outside of his own glass, taking a long drink from it as he stares ahead giving her the moment to look into her glass, to find her words.

His smirk widens at the question though there's no amusement in his expression. "More fucking times than I can count. Usually you drive yourself crazy asking shit like that, over and over."

[daredtobelieve]

She glances up when he speaks, sees that smirk, that darkness lingering in his expression. It's a mirror of what she sees in herself today, not a darkness in her that's long standing, but one that she can relate to in this moment. His comments draw a humorless chuckle from her, a shake of her head.

"If that was true, I'd have lost my mind decades ago." Which is possibly telling of her being older than she looks. She picks up her glass and finishes it in one large gulp. She's not planning on getting drunk, but she doesn't want to be sober.

[rawly]

There's a pause at her statement, and Sonny sends her a curious look. He has a drink of his own in hand, and naturally, he hardly looks his own age. He's in his eighties now, but it's all part of being a demon. Never did understand the purpose of demons and angels living so long except to help them lose themselves to the Calling so they can be more part of the fucking balance.

"You too?"

It's his way of admitting he's older than he looks as well.

[daredtobelieve]

It's such a simple phrase, but it says so much at the very same time. She's quiet, regarding him with a careful gaze. She knows what he's trying to tell her and feels as though maybe she should be a bit more upfront to even the playing field.

"I'll be 175 this August." The admission comes with a small chuckle. "I think you're only the second person here that knows that. Each year feels like a hundred, but like none at all at the same time. I don't know if I'll ever be used to the feeling."

[rawly]

"Here I thought I'd have you beat. Teaches me for fucking assuming. I'm 84, and I won't mention it to anyone else," Sonny says as he looks over at her with a tiny smirk. He means that though. He doesn't take it lightly that he's only the second person to know here, and he's not going to tell anyone. It's hers to tell.

There is sympathy in his gaze even if it comes with the understanding she has lived even longer than he has. He can't really wrap his head around it just yet. Demons can live to be 500. "Maybe there is no gettin' used to it... or maybe it'd mean something dangerous if we ever did. You'd think after a year we'd be so used to them we'd think nothing of it, but... not the case. Hell, one day can feel like a fuckin' lifetime."

Sometimes.

[daredtobelieve]

"84? Well, you don't look a day over 70." She jokes, eyebrows lifting with amusement. "Trust me- no one actually guesses my age correctly. Even those that know more about me can hardly guess that I was born that long ago. And those that know the whole story tell me that they find themselves forgetting from time to time. I think it may just be easier for people to forget that sometimes things aren't part of the norm. Sadly, I could never hope to live in that ignorance."

She sighs and finishes her drink. "Today feels like a lifetime. Today feels like its lasted five lifetimes."

[rawly]

Sonny smirks in light amusement at that. "Thank you. I try," he says, but the sarcasm wrapped around in his voice shows he's joking too. There's quiet understanding. Ignorance would be blissful at times, but it's not something given to everyone. When he as much younger, he was ignorant to a good many of things, and he made a lot of terrible choices but he had a lot more freedom, peace of mind. Nothing weighed on him like it does now. "That kind of ignorance is a freedom, but it's also a danger when you get as old as we do."

It's not-caring that can be even more dangerous, but he can tell that she does. She cares intensely, and it weighs on her. He winces and then waves the bartender over to fill up her glass like the gentleman that he is. "That fuckin bad?"

[daredtobelieve]

"Someone died today while under my care." She says it plainly, voice thick with emotion, trying to keep it at bay. Perhaps it's good to talk about it, perhaps it will help her come to terms with her mistakes.

In truth, she did everything she could. The injuries were too extensive for her to have had a chance to bring him back from the brink.

"I'm a doctor, you see. And a poor excuse for one, at that."

[rawly]

Sonny turns to her when she says it so plainly but his expression doesn't shift. There's darkness in his gaze. There's understanding too. He is no doctor, but people have died because of him multiple times before. They've died, and he was unable to save them no matter how much he may have wanted to be.

"I fucking doubt that poor excuse for one. How many people have you saved over the years being a doctor?"

There's a pause as he swallows.

"Can't save 'em all. Doesn't stop it from fucking weighing on you just the same."

[daredtobelieve]

Saving people is what she feels like she's just meant to do. It isn't an option. All of those lives she's saved aren't tallied up to weigh against the others. She can't feel an better about what happened today because of other successes.

"The weight is good. It keeps me from making the same mistake twice. But sometimes you just need to drink to forget a blood awful day." With that, she'll finish her glass, as if to prove a point.

[rawly]

It's impressive really. There aren't many people in the world who feel like their purpose is to save people, like that is what they're meant to do. Sonny's a demon. His purpose is to manipulate emotions. The universe created him to be evil, to balance with the good that is the angels of the universe. It's not what he does (not anymore

he tried to make Chicago better for as long as he was there, tried to be a force that was more grey, that did what needed doing).

"Sometimes you deserve a fucking drink after an awful day. Yeah," Sonny says quietly in agreement after she's finished her glass as if to prove that point, and he smirks softly. "Or maybe several fucking drinks."

[daredtobelieve]

"Several sounds like a good start right now." At least she feels as though this man understands. She doesn't know much about him, just that he has several decades more under his belt than you might guess from looking at him. Beyond that? Well, it's all instinct. She simply feels like he could understand her.

"Care to spend an evening helping forget a god awful day? Drinks will be on me." She manages a small smile, already waving over the bartender to order herself another drink- and another for him as well.

[rawly]

Sonny hopes she feels that way. He feels an understanding with her too despite the fact they've only just met. He doesn't mean understanding like he has with most people either. As an empath demon, he has a certain innate understanding about people, why they do what they do, what they might be feeling and why-- He picks up on little hints, little signals. With her, it's deeper than that. It's some kind of understanding specifically when it comes to her like maybe she understands him some too. She's beautiful, smart, tough, been through hell, and he's drawn to her.

"Sounds like a fucking good idea. Plenty I wouldn't mind forgetting myself even if my day wasn't half bad."

Just comes with the territory of living as long as the both of them apparently have.

[daredtobelieve]

"Oh? Just what are you hoping to forget?" She asks while they wait for their new drinks. "Maybe not a question you normally ask a stranger, but it seems apt for tonight, I think."

[rawly]

Sonny smirks lightly at the question though it doesn't quite reach his eyes as he looks at her. "A few decades worth of things," he says quietly. "Fuckin' hard to be here when ... I know all the shit I've left behind, all the shit I need to be responsible for back home."

But he's here instead.

"Guess I'm new to Teleios." Especially in comparison to a lot others.

[bravebartender]

Cami's gotten pretty good at reading people over the years, and here is no exception. When she sees Helen, she greets her with a small smile, before making her way closer and already pulling up a glass. Maybe she heard about what happened in the infirmary - as big as the city is, events like that have ripples and they all feel them - or maybe it's just bartenders intuition, but she knows when someone is looking for something to numb the ache a little.

"What can I get you?"

[daredtobelieve]

"Whatever you've got back there that's strong enough to make me forget the next few hours." She flashes an insincere smile, clearly in a bit of a sour mood. It's a defense mechanism, really. She's disappointed in herself for failing at the job she promised to do- keeping the people of this city alive and well.

[bravebartender]

"I think I know just the thing." She pauses for a moment, running her fingers over the bottles before grabbing a particularly strong liquor - one of Marcel's favorites, if she remembers correctly - and pouring her a glass.

"This has been known to knock a person on their ass no matter how strong their healing factor is. Special batch from home."

[daredtobelieve]

"Cheers." She says, taking the shot and tipping it back, choking as the strength of the liquor hits her. Hard.

"Well, you don't disappoint."

[bravebartender]

"I don't hedge about my booze. My customers usually get what they ask for." She shifts to take care of a couple of the empty glasses left on the bar before glancing back with a teasing smirk. "Even if they might not remember asking for it."

[daredtobelieve]

"I'll try to bear that in mind next time." She's glad for it, though. "Helen Magnus." She offers her name since she doesn't recall meeting the woman previously.

[bravebartender]

"Cami O'Connell. Welcome to Rosseau's." It's not the staple experience like it was in New Orleans, but it's still a pretty nice bar. "Have you been in Teleios a while?"