(no subject)

[onceaviking]

Eric Northman is lounging on the couch.
Dressed all in black, with a tall glass of TruBlood within reach.

He looks vaguely bored, but vampires tend to do that.

Also, he isn't really thinking about anything in particular.

For some reason, he tends to get pensive at this time of year. Here, anyway.
And since he doesn't particularly enjoy being pensive, he wouldn't mind distractions.

Comments

[zerocharliexray]

Did someone order a distraction?

Here's Zinda, in full uniform – meaning polished leather boots, a trimly tailored black jacket, and a miniskirt that swings cheerily about her hips as she walks. The black and yellow Blackhawk logo glows on her chest, and she tips her pilot's hat back on her head to wink at him.

"Hey," she says, sunny as a July morning. "Eric the vampire, right? How're you doin', sugar?"

[onceaviking]

"Much better now than a minute ago," he replies, smiling up at her.

"Nice uniform. Very - cheerful."

[zerocharliexray]

"Well, it's your color," she laughs, and sets her pert bottom down in an armchair nearby. She's not nearly as pale as him, even dressed head to – well, upper thigh – in black.

"You looked like you were ponderin' all the mysteries of the universe. Somethin' on your mind?"

[onceaviking]

"Nothing much. Pondering the fickleness of - some - members of the fairest sex. As one does."

He smiles at her.

"What are you up to?"

[zerocharliexray]

"Uh-oh," she says, smiling back. "Gal problems? Who's the lady?"

She takes her cap off and sets it on a small side table, shaking her curls out over her shoulders. "Me? I was just about to take the Aerie One up for a quick flight. Nothin' special."

[onceaviking]

"I wouldn't call it nothing special," Eric says. "Personally, I really enjoy flying. And as for the lady in question -"

He sighs and shakes his head.

"A cocktail waitress from back home. We'd been - I wouldn't go so far as to say going steady, but we'd been seeing each other quite a bit, and now she's shown me the door."

[zerocharliexray]

"It's the best thing there is," she agrees. "'Specially with a bird as sweet as the Aerie One. I just meant I had no plans to go anywhere particular."

She waves down a waitrat and puts in an order for a lemonade, then turns her attention back on him, all sympathy. "I'm sorry to hear that," she tells him, and indeed she looks genuinely sorry about it.

"Maybe she'll come around."

[onceaviking]

"Flying just for the fun of it is the best kind of flying," he agrees.

And then he shakes his head. "I doubt it. She's been quite vocal about her not seeing me in the same light as she did previously."

[zerocharliexray]

"Too bad," says Zinda, who genuinely means it.

"You really like her, huh?"

[have_no_mercy]

"My, it's been a long time." Tess leans against an armchair nearby.

[onceaviking]

He looks over at her and smiles.

"It has. Are you gonna come sit?"

[have_no_mercy]

"Absolutely."

She saunters over and takes a seat beside him.

"How have you been?"

[onceaviking]

He shrugs.

"Ups and downs. I'm good now. You?"

[have_no_mercy]

"I'm alright."

Her life has settled down a bit and she seems content with it.

"Nothing disastrous is happening, so that's always a bonus."

[onceaviking]

"A low bar, but okay," he says, with a small smirk.

"Can I offer to buy you a drink?"

[have_no_mercy]

"A drink would be wonderful."

Yes, she drinks again. Just not as much as before.

"Scotch on the rocks."

[onceaviking]

He flags a rat and passes the order on.

"You haven't been around here much, have you?"

[the_cupbearer]

"Hello, Eric," says a soft voice, coming from a Ganymede dressed in somber, deep blue like the depths of an ocean. He seems calm, hair braided back in a complex series of stacked plaits wound with gold ribbon; there's a wickedly curved talon hung on a thin chain around his neck, gleaming dully in the bar's lights.

"You look thoughtful."

[onceaviking]

"Do I?" Eric replies, as he looks up at him.

The claw gets the ghost of a smile. Eric appreciates defiance. And revenge.

He stretches.

"It's been a busy couple of weeks at home. I thought I'd come here to relax a bit."

[the_cupbearer]

The claw is nice; it's heavy, thudding against Ganymede's chest as he walks, and he lifts it, clutched between two knuckles when he sees Eric smile. "For the places that frown on knives," he explains; they can't do much about jewelry.

Clearly, though, given the knife handle tucked between his calf and boot shank, this is not one of those places. "Oh? What's been keeping you busy?"

[onceaviking]

"It's always nice with a trick or two hidden in plain sight," he agrees.

As for what has been keeping him busy -

"There's been some fallout from my - absence. But in taking care of things."

[the_cupbearer]

"Oh?" Ganymede asks, faintly amused. "And what has the fallout been?"

Other than ill-advised. That he could guess.

[onceaviking]

"Mostly young vampires thinking they could get away with whatever. And witches. And ghosts."

He sighs.

"It's fucking absurd, really."

[the_cupbearer]

"Ah," Ganymede says with a little chuckle. "Thought you trained them better than that? I suppose you have no control over the witches and ghosts."

[onceaviking]

"A surprising number of vampires have no fucking clue when it comes to the responsibilities of a Maker," Eric says with a surprising amount of vitriol.