OOMM: The Crossing Star (Frederick and Alec)

[knightofmercury]

Frederick is leaning against the bar at the Crossing Star, idly watching the colorful bustle going on around him, while the barkeep fetches his drink. It's rather busy tonight, the sort of night when you could think you saw someone you recognized, then quickly lose track of them. Which has happened to Frederick more than once already, as his glance has been darting around—there are always too many faces in a place like this that are at least somewhat familiar to him.

He's here alone tonight. No one at Dawnbright seemed to want to come with him.

Comments

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Colourful bustle gets a bit more colourful as Alec comes into the Crossing Stars. He shuffles in, twisting a walking stick around from right hand to left hand, humming jauntily.

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

Frederick's eyes are drawn to this person-- it's not often you see a Mars astromancer with a walking stick, at least not as often as you do with Saturn astromancers, he thinks with a slight smile. His smile widens when he realizes who it is.

He receives his drink then, and turns to thank the bartender. As soon as he's done that, his eyes go searching for Alec again.

He'll just stay by the bar, and track him for a while.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Walking sticks are AWESOME.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

Rule of cooool going on here. Every Alec tends to run on that. You should be thankful there wasn't a TVtropes link. That's how awesome they are. He doesn't notice Fredrick's eye on him.

He shuffles through the crowd and finds a seat at an empty table. After ordering a drink, he pulls out a penny dreadful and starts to read.

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

Frederick is distracted for a while, chatting politely with two pretty young ladies who happened to accost him-- one is wearing a green, satin dress, the other is in orange and yellow and wearing copious amounts of jewelry. He unfortunately remembers only one of their names, and at the moment he's not even certain which one it belongs to. But he flirts with them an appropriate amount before excusing himself to approach Alec's table, fully aware that their eyes are following him almost jealously.

"Good evening," he greets, leaning over the chair opposite the one occupied by Alec. "What's that you're reading? Is it interesting?"

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Fredrick's question takes him completely by surprise. He was deeply absorbed in the book.

"Oh. Good evening." He sits up from his slouch. "It's the latest Brisco County Jr. Novel."

He doesn't offer any sort of recognition on his part in regards to who Fredrick is.

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

"Hmm," Frederick hums. "I'm not much of a reader, myself. Perhaps you could tell me what it's about?"

Let's be honest-- he isn't even looking at the book.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

"Oh, it's a western, rather ridiculous one at that, the bounty hunter, Brisco is off hunting down Blackbeard LaCutte, a member of the gang that killed his father. There is an all women town involved this time."

He puts the book down and gives Fredrick a smile. It's an invitational one if he wishes to sit.

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

"Might I join you?" Frederick asks, with upward, hopeful inflection, as if he's surprised to discover that someone seems to want him to.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

"If you wish," Alec returns. But the voice is once of 'yes please' as opposed to indifference.

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

He does, of course, leaning on the table with his chin in both hands.

"I apologize... I haven't even asked your name," he practically sings.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

His gesture is mimicked, but his chin is in only one hand, and he keep a slight tilt of his mouth in a smile.

"Alexander," he says. "And yourself?"

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

"Frederick Mayhawk," he replies, liltingly. (He may even be batting his eyelashes a bit.) "It's a pleasure to meet you, Alexander."

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

"Fredrick Mayhawk. I've heard that name from somewhere," he says.

The eyelash batting is duly noted, but not yet returned.

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" Both of Frederick's eyebrows are raised, and his eyes are twinkling. "I hope it's not an unfavorable reputation that precedes me?"

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head. "No, no reputation at all. I've just heard the name mentioned around." And apologetic look. "Sorry. Should I have heard an unfavorable reputation?"

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

Frederick grins wide.

"I suppose that depends on what one would call 'unfavorable,'" he says, with a bit of a smirk. "And also on who you'd been talking to."

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

"I can't say I've been talking to anyone. I've just been listening." He smiles broader. "You learn more that way."

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

Frederick grins again, amused.

"I'm not sure that's one I've heard before, from an astromancer under Mars," he notes. "So tell me-- have you learned anything interesting today?"

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

"I'm all kinds of special."

He then shrugs a little. "No, not much today. Someone's cat attacked someone's little froo froo dog."

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

"Is there something specific you're looking for?"

Frederick's tone isn't suggestive, per se, but it seems to indicate some sort of double meaning.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

"A good time? An interesting evening? The throne of England?" he's mildly joking on the last part.

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

Frederick's still smiling, but he raises an eyebrow.

"You might want to be careful with jokes like that, my friend," he says, adjusting one of his gloves. "The majority of people in this particular establishment are loyal to Her Majesty, you know. I've been told that some of her most trusted soldiers often frequent the place."

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

There's a sigh and a slump, knocking a few years off of his looks, giving him a rawer more innocent and sort of untried look. The way he picks at the edge of his sleeve. His hair flops over his eyes and covering his face.

There's a mumble of "Yes, I know."

[knightofmercury.livejournal.com]

Frederick eyes him for a few moments, still fiddling with his gloves. If this astromancer is one of Blight's followers, he's an incredibly careless one, so that hardly seems likely. Still, he shows a certain lack of regard for what's been happening in England lately, and while Frederick is in no position to lecture anyone about taking these things seriously, he can't help realizing, in the back of his mind, that he's basically agreed to die for the cause-- more of a guarantee than a possibility, at this point.

A brief silence hangs in between them that's almost uncomfortable. Frederick's eyes slide around the rest of the tavern; he's vaguely tempted to excuse himself. But he doesn't.

Instead, he leans forward again, saying lightly, "You never know when one of the Queen's dogs might be lurking around. Of course, if you say something like that loudly enough, you might get yourself that interesting evening you were looking for. Though perhaps not a good time." He grins.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

What he has here is likely a rather sheltered, just out of the house for his first time entering the adult world teenager who has all the grasp on politics that a clam would have on bicycles. That being said, unlike the clam he can learn from his mistakes. IE: an idiot.

The uncomfortable silence makes him squirm and slouch a bit more. There's a brief look of defiance at the mention of the Queen's dogs getting a hand on him, the cocky sort of the young before common sense kicks in.

"Mum would kill me if that happened."