(Untitled)

[licensed_pro]

Charlie doesn't really have a reaction when he gets asked to bartend. He doesn't overly mind, but at the same time there's a not small part of him that wants to ignore the request and go to sleep, for however long it takes for his Teja to come back

Comments

[asar_suti]

Ahh yes, the Goth's lover! Will be fun chatting to him.

"I guess a Soul Taker would be fitting," Asar-Suti says, walking up to the bar and smiling cheerfully.

[licensed_pro]

"He just is," Charlie says quietly. "They're names of drinks, with different kinds of alcohol in them."

Doing this was supposed to be good for him. To just do something and keep his mind away from Teja. "He doesn't have the cuff. He took it off, in England. So the silver wouldn't get tarnished."

[asar_suti]

"He doesn't have it!" Asar-Suti says, rolling his eyes. "He took it off! You know, you remind me of blokes in the 1990s that bonked without condoms even though they knew one of them was HIV positive! You know what the cuff was for, you went to England, and you took it off!"

He groans.

[ostro_goth]

"What kind of drink is a Bruised Heart?" Teja asks.

Pause.

"And none of these things mean anything to me! Blokes! Bonked! Condoms! HIV! England! The madness of this place knows no bounds."

[licensed_pro]

Charlie closes his eyes with a sigh. Explaining everything...again? He really wasn't sure he should be doing this. "It has raspberry liqueur, peach schnapps, vodka and cranberry juice in it."

He doesn't even try to translate Asar-Suti's words. It wouldn't get very far with it anyway. "You don't like vodka, or overly fruity drinks, Teja." Charlie bites down hard on the tip of his tongue, looking sideways at the purple god. "He took it off for ten minutes, once, to wash out dishes. That was all."

[asar_suti]

Asar-Suti grins. "You're telling him what he doesn't like; that is cute!" he says. "Or would be, if the Goth actually knew who he is. Just putting it aside wouldn't do such a thing -- he'd have to put quite a distance between himself and the cuff. How many days had you been there?"

[ostro_goth]

"You speak too much, purple one!" Teja says. "Do not question Charlie Monroe that rudely; he has lost one he cared for greatly, with my other self's disappearance!"

He turns to Charlie.

"I know not what vodka is, but indeed, I would rather not drink a fruity thing. What do I like?"

[licensed_pro]

"S...seven." He can keep it together, right now, and explain these things to Teja. "We'd been fine the rest of the time, and he ran outside, just playing around, and I went after him, to join him. I caught him up, and he just...faded."

He pours a different shot for Teja, merely pushing it at him silently, voice tight. "Try that. It's called Angel Dust."

[asar_suti]

"Only seven," Asar-Suti says. "Pity, really, that you don't have it any more; there might be some of his life force left in it that could re-mount itself in his morphogenic field. The crystal doesn't just store my magic, it encodes the individual matrix of the wearer. That's why Ihlini lifestones work as they do, actually; the enchantment on that amethyst is the same technology, just scaled down a lot, because the Goth didn't want to accept too much from me."

[ostro_goth]

"I understand none of this," Teja says. "Do you, Charlie Monroe?"

He is, indeed, getting used to not understanding much.

He drinks, then adds, "This is good!"

[licensed_pro]

"You liked it last time," he says very quietly. "The last time I gave it to you, though you won't remember."

[asar_suti]

"This would be cute," Asar-Suti says. "If it wasn't so sad. He's your lover and has no idea about it, and you still tell him what he likes, while he doesn't remember. How moving."

He sips his own drink.

[ostro_goth]

"You seems to watch us as if we were fish in a pond," Teja says, displeased. "And you are rubbing salt on that which hurts Charlie Monroe most, at the moment. That is no true friendship!"

[licensed_pro]

"It's fine, Teja. He just wants to know what happened," Charlie says softly, shaking his head. "It's not a problem."

It hurts more than you know be talking to you and have you not know me.

[asar_suti]

"I hope you'll find yourself again, Teja," Asar-Suti says, "so you two will be happy again. It's sad to see you suffer so much, and that only because you left that cuff bracelet behind."

He finishes his drink, and walks away.

[ostro_goth]

"Can you tell me now why he is purple, Charlie Monroe?" Teja asks, watching the purple one go. "He made the magic that cost you your own version of myself, one assumes?"