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 Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:46 pm
There was finally a decent pub in downtown Destiny City, a place jokingly called The c**k And Bull. Granted, it was an Irish pub, but it had good pub grub like shepherd's pie and fish and chips (with proper chips!) and even decent curry. And the beer selection was largely import and therefore superior to the swill brewed in America. Rob had found this place within a couple of days of being back in Destiny City, and he had quickly become a fixture, usually commandeering a table and booth near the back and making music on either his busking guitar or, like this almost-evening, a pennywhistle. Even if the jukebox was going with some tune or other, he would be playing along, sometimes singing. Rarely did anyone complain. Sometimes he collected a small audience, other times, like now when the place was close to empty, not so much. Didn't matter to Rob -- he was content and full of curry and beer, and that was all that mattered. The lone waitress (a cute little thing, Rob thought) brought over another beer and moved to take his plate of mostly-eaten curry. Rob, who was tootling away on his pennywhistle, shook his head, and she nodded and left it alone. He stopped playing and took a drink of his beer -- wetting his whistle, literally -- and started again, idly watching the people coming and going while he played.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:23 pm
"What do you mean you can't take her tonight?" Elias rumbled in a low tone that was leagues different from his seconds-earlier attempts at amenable. Which was a struggle enough when he was hearing things that didn't disrupt any plans, and nearly impossible when he heard things that did.
The responding voice over his iPhone's speaker was much quieter, "I'm sorry, Elias. It just... isn't a good time right now? Maybe tomorrow will be better, or-"
But he wasn't in much of a mood to hear any more than that. "I'll take her to my mother's," he informed the other man sharply and hung up without waiting for more than that. Of course he was upset. Of course he was upset! The whole situation was infuriating, and it grew more and more so with each conversation he had with his ex. What, Micah had gotten tired of Elias and left him and was now applying the same principle to their daughter?
It wasn't a good time to take care of her?
Right on the night Elias had specifically set aside to take a break from work, to not have to parent for a couple hours, to not think about being a knight- To just have a breather for a couple hours. He wasn't even asking for much here! But of course if it was an inconvenience to him, Micah would find a way to see it done. He was sure the other man was absolutely living for making everything as terrible as it could be.
He drove his daughter to his mother's house. It was late enough the kiddo wouldn't even be awake but maybe another hour or two. He just couldn't leave her by herself, sleeping or not. And his mother didn't even make Eli come up with some ridiculous excuse to leave her there, just warned him that 'he shouldn't drive if he was going to drink,' and sent him on his way.
He could not possibly be more grateful for the family he'd been dealt in this life.
...But that didn't stop his grumbling complaints about certain others as he pulled up into the back-alley parking lot of a little pub he'd never been in before. He didn't know how many times he'd passed it on the way to his office, but you know. It wasn't like he'd ever had opportunity to stop. So on his way home from work that afternoon, he'd thought why not tonight? Since he would have the whole evening to himself and wanted it to be about exactly that: himself.
Until someone tried to ruin it-
But he wasn't going to think about that. Elias was just going to go inside and have a beer and listen to some music and see what happened. That was all he was going to ask for of the night.
He was sitting at a table, mug in hand and nachos on the way, when he heard music that didn't distinctly sound like it was coming from any speakers. There was a blond guy in the booth next to his, piping on some small instrument Elias didn't know the name of. "Hey, you're pretty good," Eli said by way of greeting. "Know most everything on the jukebox, or just this one?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:40 pm
Rob stopped playing and glanced over at the tall man at the next table over. "Cheers, thanks," he said with a nod and a lopsided smile. "Yeah, I know most everything in the juke, and some others besides." He studied the man; he looked like he was having a first-class Day today. But boozed up as Rob was, he didn't want to actually say that to him, at least not til he talked to him a bit, befriended him (cause he looked like he could really use a friend). The dreadlocked Brit held out his hand. "Rob Attewood," he nodded again. "Lemme buy you a round, mate, you look like you could use it." There, he'd said it anyway. He almost chuckled to himself as he leaned back and brought his pennywhistle up again. "Got any requests?" he asked before launching into the theme song from Time Team.
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:25 pm
"Eli," he responded as he reached across the aisle to shake the other man's hand, an easy almost-smile appearing on his face. It quickly turned strained in the next second. "Do I?" Elias asked, hoping he didn't look too much like he could use another drink, since he was doing his best not to dwell on it. He was successfully out for the night, so...? It wasn't all bad. "Here I was trying not to. Not much success then, huh?" But it wasn't like he was going to refuse.
He settled back in his chair, one arm crooked on the table with fingers curled around the handle of his mug, while the other arm draped over the back of his seat. "Not much a music man, myself," Elias admitted with a small shrug. At least, not to the extent he could actually play anything. He had the car radio on like just about everyone else, but beyond that...
It probably didn't help that his tastes weren't really shared by everyone. He could jam to whatever was new and poppy on the hits radio, but he felt at little more something with the slower, lower tunes. And he said the first thing that came to his mind, "How 'bout No Stranger to the Rain?"
But it had hardly left his mouth before he figured it was a dumb thing to ask for and not even current.
Ron looked... at least a bit younger than him, so he probably wouldn't even know it. Er, what were the kids listening to these days? "Or some, uh, Maroon 5," Elias amended after a beat.
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:58 pm
With a grin, Rob eyed his new companion more thoroughly. Yup, he was tall all right, much taller than Rob was, and he had a look about him that said he wasn't having a good day. Well, he was having a very good day, so why not spread the joy? Regardless of what Eli thought, Rob knew that viewing the world through beer goggles sometimes made things look better than they were. And sometimes they presented solutions to one's problems. The musician signalled to the bar. "Another round of what he's havin'. Put it on my tab. Cheers, love." Then turning back to Eli, he pulled a stinky face. "Maroon 5? Nah, that ain't what the doctor ordered." He leaned back a bit, rubbing his scruffy chin thoughtfully. " No Stranger to the Rain, huh? That's a country tune, innit? I think I heard that one on the juker. Or something. I know I've heard it before though, and if I've heard it I can play it." Thinking for a minute, he nodded a tempo and hummed softly to himself, then brought his pennywhistle to his lips. "Mind you, it's gonna sound more like an Irish two-step…" he added, then he started playing the opening riff, tapping his foot on the floor, before taking off into the melody of the tune itself. He threw in the little finger flourishes and rolls that one did when playing a pennywhistle, so it did indeed sound like an Irish two-step. As he played, he glanced over at Eli and shot him a wink, wondering how the other man was enjoying his take on the song.
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:33 am
"Hey, I appreciate it, man," Eli said as the waitress departed to fill up a couple more glasses. "I'll get next, then. No reason not to spread it around." But since there was more coming, he set the glass to his lips and downed the last few swallows of his drink.
It clunked back down on the table with enough time for Eli to catch the extremely unimpressed look Rob shot him about his band choices. "Oh, they aren't even bad!" He snorted. "I really like Lost Stars. ...Which I guess is more just Adam Levine than Maroon 5, but that's basically arguing semantics." But he couldn't deny being at least a little interested in how his old-timey country song would come out on Rob's doodad. Elias gave a not-quite apologetic shrug as the blond started to ponder over how best to approach the obviously bizarre request.
"Dunno if it'd be in the box here." Given the place was styled after an Irish pub, he had to figure there weren't many non-current country songs in their jukebox. "But I'm sure it's in a couple somewhere."
Elias was leaning forward over the back of his chair as Rob set the pennywhistle to his lips. He couldn't suppress an amused laugh as the tune started, further delighted by the quick wink and exuberant flourishes to the tune. "It's good, it's good!" He chuckled. "Definitely not what I was expecting, but yeah, you got it across." He was smiling a bit now. "I'd say you knew what you were doing. So what is that thing, anyway? Not sure I've ever heard it before. Definitely never seen it before."
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Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 2:02 pm
Rob finished the song with a flourish and bowed in his seat to Eli. "Thank you, thank you and thank you," he grinned as a beer appeared on his table as well. "Cheers, mate." Raising the glass in a toast, he took a long drink before setting the glass down with a thunk. "Needed to wet me whistle there," he chuckled. Holding the instrument up, he immediately went into musician mode. "This," he waggled it between his fingers, "is a pennywhistle. It's a type of fipple flute -- see this plastic bit here that I stick in me mouth? That's called a fipple, don't ask me why 'cause I don't know that. Dunno why they call it a pennywhistle either, it's made of tin. It's from Ireland. You regulate the sound the same way you do on a regular big fancy flute, by how hard you blow into it." Rob put it to his lips again and played a quick little snippet to demonstrate. "You use the same techniques you use to play bagpipes for the fingering." Pausing, he snorted a laugh. "Bet you never thought you'd be learning this much about pennywhistles today, did you?" He reached into his leather jacket on the seat beside him and pulled out another one. "I always carry two, in different keys. Here, you can have a go at it if you like," he said, holding out the other pennywhistle to Eli.
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2025 7:47 am
tatterpixie Eli exit! Thank you, tatter! sweatdrop
It really wasn’t that often that Elias met someone so good-natured and friendly. For whatever reason, the world seemed intent on beating the kindness out of people (Eli included). But Rob? In that moment, Rob coulda been the best friend Eli had ever had- yeah, ******** really. He snorted in amusement at the question. “Definitely wasn’t on my bingo card,” Eli admitted. “But I ain’t mad about it.”
And what did it really hurt to humor his new friend? With a couple swallows of beer running through him, he thought maybe he wouldn’t mind humiliating himself just a little. “I’ll give it a go,” he agreed as he accepted a second pennywhistle from Rob. “But I dunno much about any instruments. I’ve got some decent practice in fingering, but I don’t think that’ll help me here.” Rob would have to forgive his stupid man-brain for latching onto that word in particular, but at least Elias had curbed the worst of it.
Taking the instrument in a way he thought might be similar to a flute, Eli puffed out a single short, high note that was well off from melodious, and another, and another, fingers flicking over the holes as he tried to sort out which (admittedly abrasive) sounds came from where.
But it didn’t take long before, with a shake of his head, he passed it back to Rob. “Think you’re better suited to it than me, I’m afraid. I’d chase anyone off with sounds like that. But you? You’ve done a good job at drawing people in, huh?”
Elias considered himself to be social… but maybe he was a bit more jaded now in that regard than he’d always been. He probably wouldn’t have invited himself to sit with a stranger on most occasions, but this had just felt… right, and he was happier for it. He could sit at this table with Rob, fiddling with an instrument he wasn’t familiar with, trading stories, and getting a few laughs in (and then a few more once they’d had enough to drink).
But he’d said he could only be out for a few hours before he needed to head back. Elias kept a close eye on the time, and once he’d stretched it as far as he could, he had to bid his farewell.
“Really liked meeting you, man. Uh, thanks for showing me your-” A gesture, flapped with a hand, so vague that it literally could’ve meant anything. “-you’re thingy. It was real good talking to you. Oh, and the beer. ‘Preciate that too. Let’s meet up again sometime? Here, even, if you’d like.” Elias stood, gave the blond a sloppy smile and a brisk pat on the shoulder, and headed out. Even though he sincerely doubted that he’d drank enough to impact his driving abilities, since it was the only thing his Ma had asked of him as he’d left her house, he decided to get an Uber. He’d have to come back for his car tomorrow.
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