brushoff | tlv ic contact

Fuck, [ Dorian sighs. ] Dorian Gray was born November 8, 1862—oooh, we're both Scorpios. Anyway, I came from twenty-twenty so that's....

[ pause to do maths! ]

One hundred and fifty eight? I'm assuming your birth name is Jonah Magnus, by the way. I know the pain of having to use aliases depending on the circumstances and due to the whole 'not dead' thing.

[ That...is not entirely the right assumption, but at least it's a reasonable assumption. ]

[ elias smiles into his drink, definitely not about to answer that one truthfully ]

So you see? I have a whole extra half century's worth of young men in my wake. But I shan't provide you a list. None of them made cocktails half as well as you.

[ Dorian visibly preens at that. ]

Careful. You'll give me a bigger head than I already have.

[ wonderful, thinks elias, to see he'd read dorian well enough to suspect this would go according to plan.

(wonderful, thinks elias, to see how delighted the compliments made him) ]

I don't think that's possible. You're quite possibly the biggest narcissist who's ever lived.

One gets that way when they have a novel written by one of the world's most talented writers written about them, [ he grins. ] If you had a novel written about you, I'm sure your ego would be horrifically off the charts.

[ that gets another chuckle ]

I suspect you would be horrified by just how mundane a lot of my life has been. Bringing about the end of the world takes a lot of planning, and a lot of very uninteresting work to get people to do what you want.

To be fair, my life's relatively mundane as well. I'd say ten months of peace and quiet to two cumulative months of nonsense?

[ a pause before he points out, ] The 2010s were different but as far as I'm concerned, that decade's an outlier.

Yes, my dear. But how often in those ten months do you sit down to spreadsheet out the timetables of your various employees?

[ the thought of Dorian doing anything so pedestrian is absolutely amusing, and he makes no attempt to hide it ]

Did I ever tell you about the time I worked as a banker? I'm woefully accomplished at a solid spreadsheet.

If you say any more I'll need to have you right here on this counter and that would waste all the effort you put into our drinks.

Don't threaten me with a good time.

Why don't you tell me what could have brought the Dorian Gray down to a life of miserable spreadsheets while I finish my drink, and I'll weigh up whether I'd still like to fuck you.

[ he can't help himself; this smells like a story and he has to know ]

In that case, our next drinks are going to be extra strong.

That bad? We will need something stronger.

[ Against his better judgement, Elias knocks back the rest of the drink all at once. ]

Bartender's choice.

[ You know what? Fuck it. ]

Shots, [ Dorian grins. ] Vodka shots. Let's get trashy.

[ that finally gets actual laughter out of elias ]

Aren't we lucky it isn't a school night.

[ and just to show that he's on board, he sets about taking off his jacket and rolling up his shirtsleeves. ]

[ That grin gets a little more wide and a little more stupid as Dorian slams down two shotglasses then fills each up with vodka. ]

Shall we?

[ And then he knocks back his shot with the practiced air of an alcoholic party boy. ]

Do remember to go easy on an old man.

[ Elias doesn't knock his back but downs it all in one pull. ]

Now. What was it that possessed you to become a banker of all things?

You're not going to believe this...but simple boredom. I hadn't done it before, I've always had a head for numbers, I thought why the hell not.

Terminally dull, of course. But this was in 2005, before all the financial crises, so I had a lovely time doing absolutely dull nonsense in the day and getting coked out of my mind at night.

Ah. That kind of banker. [ he smiles again as things make sense. ]

You were the terror of the London night scene, I imagine.

I actually dealt cocaine back in the day as well, [ he laughs. ] I was the man to know.

A useful man to know. [ Even for people like Elias who didn't share those vices-- dealers were, generally, excellent sources of information ]

For my part, I fell in with the Fears at about the time I ought to have been exploring the various vices of the world. They've never held quite the same appeal since then. Though--

[ he pauses. adding the original elias bouchard was a druggie before i took his body and it was hell weaning the body off those things is something that might just kill the mood. ]

Like you, over the the years I do like to try new things on occasion.

If the various vices of the world don't hold appeal for you anymore, then I simply need to be the one to re-introduce you to them, [ he laughs. ]

You'll like it if I'm showing you.

I will, will I? Very kind of you to offer to make the introductions for me.

I'm so kind and loving like that, [ he teases. ] A regular Good Samaritan.

(no subject)

extendedbrutalpipemurder - 2022-05-06 21:04 (UTC) - Expand