Old Times (Attn: Simon)

Simon straightened his tie, smoothing it down as he buttoned his jacket's single button. Club E was the same as he had left it - exclusive, rich, and notorious. Its decor changed year by year, but it was a constant reminder that the most exclusive places were hidden in plain sight.

Tacharan provided a substantial amount of its namesake to the upper echelon of Nachton, but he had no stock in the private club. He preferred the Abby on his own territory, but it had been some time since he had seen Alfarinn. He was looking forward to catching up with the only ancient he'd turn his back to without the fear of getting his backside bitten off.

Moving with purpose, he walked in the front door and through the club without hesitation. There was no line out front - either you were in or you weren't. Simon walked slowly, his eye moving left to right, catching bits of skin and racing heartbeats as he easily found Alfarinn in a booth in the back, nursing a crystal tumbler of something undoubtedly smooth on the rocks. Nodding toward a passing waiter, he asked for a dark beer as he stepped up to the booth and held his hand out to his friend.

"Is this seat taken, big boy?" Simon asked with a small grin.

The waitress handed him a number and discretely indicated a blonde seated at the bar. She was not one of the ones he had been keeping an eye on. Alfarinn smiled her way and then told the waitress to let her know that he was waiting for a friend. The woman didn't look like the type that got turned down often and he was sure she'd manage to find someone else to leave with before too long. He watched the blonde's reaction out of the corner of his eye, definitely disbelief. After a few minutes of nursing her drink, the woman found a new target. This time she walked over herself and he noted that her advances were much more welcome. Ah well, his loss, right?

He saw the Tacharan making his way over. Simon was looking as eternally dashing as always and it was easy to follow the man's progress through the room based on the number of people who took note. (including the blonde who now looked like she had made up her mind a little too soon.) Alfarinn had to give it to Ellis; she did know how to pick them.

"Not for you, Handsome." Alfarinn smiled up at Simon and gestured to the seat across from him. "It seems like its been ages. How are things with the Orphans?"

Simon grinned, shaking hands with Alfarinn and then slid into the booth across from him. Raising his eyebrows, he sighed as he unbuttoned his suit and his dark beer appeared in front of him.

"It has been a while. I think that Mayor's Ball? The last time something blew up, but lord knows that happens a lot around us." Taking a long pull from his beer, he licked his lips unconsciously and shrugged. "The clan is doing well. It's been quiet within but a lot has changed. What about you? You disappeared for a little bit. I met your friend," Simon snapped his fingers, "Kem...Kem'Raaisu? Had some interesting questions about the appearance of our furrier friends."

Their initial introduction to the werewolves had been at Nachton Mall with Ellis' reappearance. Simon wondered if Alfarinn would bring her up. He wasn't altogether sure what he'd say about her though. It wasn't like his bond with her was a secret either.

Simon inwardly sighed...they had a lot to catch up on.

"Yeah something like that." He laughed at agreed with Simon's assessment of their trouble attracting nature. "Its amazing the city is still standing."

Alfarinn was glad to hear that things were quiet for the Tacharan. It was certainly about time. Aside from the werewolves, Evenhet's troubles had been minor as well. On a personal level, things were different.

"Yes, I went looking for Megan." He frowned and took a large swallow of his whiskey before adding. "She doesn't want to be found."

He looked up at Simon, intrigued to hear that the Tacharan leader had spoken with Kem about the shifters. "Actually the last time I think I saw you was Christmas...falling through a window, with a dead woman, followed by some aggressive looking company." Smiling over at Simon, he added. "I'm glad you made it out of there in one piece. Its a miracle and probably a damn good story as well."

Raising his eyebrows. "So, did your obviously very resilient companion make it out as well?" If Simon survived then there was a good chance that Ellis managed to cheat death another time. What was the result of that? Simon had said clan drama had been quiet. Huh, perhaps Ellis -hadn't- made it. Alfarinn couldn't imagine anything being calm with that one woman hurricane walking in its midst.

"But we didn't blow anything up at the Mall, then." Simon grinned, despite himself.

Simon wondered about Megan - where she had run off to and if maybe her disappearance hadn't been a clue to the next explosion, as it were. He merely raised his eyebrows - wasn't like he enjoyed that woman's company anyway. Ellis dealt with her more than he did and he was fine with that.

"Ellis is...well only the good die young, she would say. Tacharan is still mine, but she's been rather submissive as of late. She and I got involved with a group of the Kadzait werewolves and really I thought it was the end of it all, and damn that Evenhet trait she passed on to me."

Simon let that sink in as he took another pull of his beer.

"Things with Carol and I ended two years ago as a result of what happened after that incident. I wasn't sure if you hadn't already heard, but Carol has moved on and things with Ellis are different. I bonded with her, more out of desperation, but it's different with Ellis, than it was with Carol. You didn't tell me bonding could vary with each person."

Simon almost snorted at that thought, considering he had bonded with three different women, for three different reasons, in the past five years.

"Really need to teach me how to control it," he laughed uncomfortably. "But Ellis is on a short leash now, so to speak."

Years ago he would have never spoken about Ellis this way. It felt good to be able to express dominance when speaking about her and her role in his life. Simon was clearly in control of everything now and Ellis never seemed to question it, although sometimes her advice was more selfish, for him, than for the clan. Still, her advice wasn't always part of his decision and it felt good to have that type of power over her.

Alfarinn laughed "Well, it wasn't fully constructed yet. Where's the fun in blowing up something only half built? If you're doing to do it, do it right." He took a sip of his drink before asking conversationally, "So, how does this Christmas sound?"

When Simon relayed the state of affairs for Tacharan and called Ellis submissive, Alfarinn chocked on whiskey. He coughed and pounded his chest, wondering what alternate universe he had walked into. At least Simon didn't have a goatee, then Alfarinn would have been really worried. The very idea that Ellis would ever be submissive, especially about their clan...It just didn't seem possible. Simon certainly seemed to believe it though and he knew the woman better than anyone.

She had passed down an Evenhet trait?

"Bonding?"

Alfarinn was a bit confused but Simon had difficulties with that ability in the past so perhaps... Ellis had bonding? That might explain the hold she always seemed to have over Simon over the years. Of course they could be speaking of two different abilities entirely.

He was sorry to hear things hadn't worked out between Carol and Simon. She seemed so bright and happy; a counter to the Tacharan's more brooding nature. Alfarinn wasn't surprised to hear that Ellis was somehow involved in the death of their relationship but from the sounds of it Simon and Carol had both moved on with their lives.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Carol was so...colourful."

Alfarinn considered the occasionally troublesome ability and nodded thoughtfully. "Is it a problem with bonding by accident or the bond being too strong?"

He wasn't sure how much help he could be if it was the latter; Alfarinn had subterfuge and he relied on that ability to block out anyone, bonded or not, when he needed mental space. As Simon said though, each bond was different. Some had more room to keep things to yourself.

"Don't jinx us, Alfarinn. I just got a new car." Simon chuckled unhappily. He was hoping for a holiday that wasn't fraught with explosions or zombies. Just one year.

Simon shrugged off Ellis but grinned at Alfarinn's response. "Oh don't waste good whiskey, that's just not nice." He laughed, waiting for his friend to recover.

"Well, Ellis is Evenhet, after all. Remember, she was your problem once a long time ago. My bond with her is...different. Compared to Carol, it's much more intense. A built in lie detector almost. I had no idea bonding could provide an aura, as well as the ability to send thoughts to each other. I would imagine her submissiveness is out of necessity. As much as I'd like to think she's changed, she might only be telling the truth now because she has no other choice. With me, at least. The bonding does seem to be more for my benefit than for her. Definitely a role reversal.

"Carol's happier without me." That's all Simon said about her. It was a truth he was still trying to live with, but the less said, the better.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to mention his accidental bond with Vivienne. Simon wasn't sure what the Evenhet Elder would think of it - a vampire bonding with a werewolf. It seemed prudent to keep that little nugget of information to himself - for Viv's sake. The less anyone knew of her, especially now that she was pregnant with her idiot...rather her fiance's baby...the better.

"How many people can we bond with at a time? And how does it work? I don't even know what muscle to flex or not flex, as the case might be."

It occurred to Simon that he had not seen Alfarinn's Anantya companion in some time. In some years, actually. "And what of you and your bonds? How is the skittish Thaddeus doing?"

Alfarinn laughed and held up his hands and shook his head. Far be it from him to wish ill on the Nachton Mall if Simon wasn't up for more holiday fun.

He nodded and became serious, after the choking fit was over, as he listened to Simon explain the nature of the bond with Ellis. It would certainly be hard for someone bonded to him to lie to him, but then people had a hard time lying to him anyway. He was not surprised that Simon could send to his Creator or that their bond was more intense. They were tied to each other by blood even before the bond.

He frowned thoughtfully at Simon's question about bonding, taking another, calmer, sip of his whiskey. "Well I don't know that there is a specific limit. Probably depends on how many ties the bonding vampire can handle before going completely insane. I'd imagine too many bonds would be sensory overload. It would be difficult to know which emotions and thoughts were your own after a while."

Alfarinn considered bonding to be very personal and he only did so with great consideration these days. In the beginning it was different; but over time he learned what a mistake a more casual attitude to bonding was.

"I am bonded to Megan." He said quietly and shrugged. 'I know she's alive and in some serious trouble." He drained the last of his whiskey and shook the empty glass with a hopeful look at the waitress as she passed by. With a snort he continued. "Beyond being wanted by her clan for crimes and possibly by yours? I think there are other hunters after her. She moves a lot, is scared, paranoid. Its faint. Our bond is old but she knows how to keep me out when she wants."

"With Thaddeus its more intimate, even though the bond is newer. Near as I can tell our emotional state when we create the bond colours how the bond works with that person. For instance my security chief is not feeling my emotions every second of the day, for which I'm sure he's grateful, but he has a much more refined sense of when I'm in trouble...or as he says, about to do something stupid, because of the bond."

"Do you know what triggers your bond?"

He smiled at the thought of Thaddeus, and sighed.

"He's working for his clan in South Carolina, staying with a friend there at the moment. Thaddeus is much the same as before, a perfectionist in everything. He's being kept very busy. I will be very happy when he's back."

Simon made a face. "The only thing that seems in common is the situation. Carol was almost...a desperation? I realized I was falling in love with her and wanted to protect her, all things considered. With Ellis we were on the verge of being killed. You say things you don't realize. Undying declarations that I'm apparently forced to keep."

He considered for a moment his choice of words for his bond with Ellis. Did he mean what he said to her? Was it his love for Ellis or the dire situation they were in that triggered their bond? It was by far the most intense of the three, but it was so different than his bond with Viv.

Simon again neglected to mention Viv, but their situation was an amalgamation of his two previous bonds, for the most part. Protection and situation - he wasn't in love with Viv, he knew that, just...obsessed, apparently.

He shrugged. "It's all new to me still. I just want to be able to control it, but my bond with Carol faded quicker than I thought it would."

Simon watched as Alfarinn smiled speaking about his companion. He genuinely felt for the Elder - it had to be hard on Alfarinn being away from his bonded partner. Straightening his tie, Simon lifted his beer and said a short toast.

"Here's to his safe and quick return, then."

Finishing his beer, a waitress brought another round: Alfarinn's whiskey and a dark beer for Simon. Nodding politely, he took a short drink and then placed the cold bottle in between his hands, rolling it along the palms of his hands.

"I suppose we should talk about the werewolves." Simon licked his lips, looking down at the bottle. "Have you had any dealings with the two packs?"

Alfarinn nodded sympathetically. "That does tend to be the problem with bonding. Its hard to say, "Oops I didn't mean to tie us together mentally and emotionally, my bad."

Simon's bond breaking with Carol was interesting. Alfarinn had a great deal of trouble getting his bonds to fade; it was one of the main reasons he didn't make quick decisions concerning them even when the reason seemed like a good one. Perhaps the Tacharan had learned something that he personally had yet to. "That's good for you both. Do you think you could do it again? Because I've got to say if so then I'd like to know how."

Telling the waitress 'thank you' Alfarinn took a swallow of his drink. "Ah them. Not much. I was approached by the leader of one of the packs. He said he had heard about Evenhet's beliefs concerning living with humans. He states that he would like to form an alliance. Unfortunately I'm not sure his people will be so...visionary."

Alfarinn swirled the ice around in his glass before taking another swallow. "Kem is the one who has delt with the other pack. I have yet to meet them." Raising his eyes to Simon, he asked. "What about you? Obviously you survived your first encounter. What happened after that?"

Simon found it curious that Alfarinn wasn't able to break a bond. Leaning forward he made a face and considered his faded bond with Carol.

"Maybe Carol just didn't need me anymore? I tried talking with her, using the bond, but after I returned from the werewolf situation, she just stopped using it altogether." Simon shrugged, their bond had been so different. "I didn't quite get the emotional bond like I do with Ellis. There was no real shared aura. Maybe...maybe it faded before it was completely formed, I don't know?"

Simon leaned back in his seat and shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like talking about Carol. He didn't have anyone he could talk to about her, except maybe Vivienne. It was just easier to keep things to himself - the less anyone else knew, the better.

/Simon?/

Simon looked up at Alfarinn and cleared his throat. /Yes, Vivienne./

/Where you at? We're ready here./

Inwardly he sighed, / Really, Viv, your grammar is atrocious sometimes. I am with a friend. Has your other Piper showed up?/

/Yeah. Red had a tawdry two days in bed with a girl he met./

/A simple yes would suffice. Details are not necessary nor wanted. I'll be a moment./

/Blah, blah, blah, Mr. Snotty Pants, dang!/ Viv said, chuckling in his head.

Simon moved the conversation along, now feeling the need to rush. "I've met the Kadzait and only know of one Vyusher R'asa. The Kadzait are...peaceful, to an extent. Their security, I guess you could call them, are hell bent in eating my face, but we're working through that. Campfire songs, holding hands...it's a progress.

"I'd be interested to meet their nomadic brothers. The one VR I've met lives apart from their pack. Doesn't even consider herself one. The werewolf hierarchy is bizarre and their range is wide. At the very least the Kadzait Alpha is an honorable man, from what I've seen. As for their Beta," Simon sighed, "he has one eye. You can't miss him. He's has presence, I'll give him that."

Simon checked his watch. /Where do you need me?/

/Meet outside DI, JT and Red will be there waiting on you./

"What kind of alliance is the VR Alpha interested in?"

Alfarinn frowned thoughtfully musing into his whiskey over the different possibilities concerning their shared gift. Perhaps Simon's took longer to form as something deeper. If that were so then it might explain why Carol's bond faded and the one with Ellis did not. How marvelously handy it would be to allow a bond to fade if you didn't want it.

"I'll have to ask around and see if any other bonders have had that happen. Its interesting."

He listened to the Tacharan's experience with the werewolves, finding that Simon had come across the other pack. Alfarinn would make an educated guess that the ones crashing through the mall that Christmas ages ago were the Kadzait since Simon had said that he had not met the Vyusher.

Chuckling, he shook his head. "Anger management. Realize the emotion, accept the emotion and move past it." Alfarinn smiled and said. "I'm glad they have not managed to eat you yet. I'd miss our chats and creative rearrangement of architecture."

He considered Simon's request and shrugged. "I can certainly tell him. Maybe we'll hear back once the Alpha has broken the idea gently to his pack. It'd be nice to have true peace but who knows about the Anantya. They tend to hold grudges." Alfarinn shrugged and drank a good long swallow of his drink, thinking the oldest clan was likely to cause problems for all of them where the shifters were concerned.

"I think his biggest objective was to make sure we didn't harm his people. He said that some of his wolves had been attacked and killed. He suggested in time perhaps our races could potentially work together. My problem is that if Anantya chooses not to have the weres in the city then an alliance would potentially mean war amongst the clans again. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. No matter how charming our furry friends seem. What about you? You say these Kadzait are peaceful?"

"I have a tenuous peace with the Kadzait for the moment. It's been fairly quiet, so are they peaceful? Only because we both don't want to use our own people as cannon fodder to prove some sort of dominance in the city. As for Anantya...I don't trust them. Period. It's always been a case of 'who's watching the watchers'. Tacharan is better off dealing with skirmishes rather than a full out war."

Simon shrugged about the Vyusher R'asa. Best to burn that bridge when he got to it.

Finishing his beer, he shook his head as a waitress appeared with another. "I hate to cut this short, but I'm off. I have a pesky reporter I need to hunt down and skewer." He took out a bill and put his empty beer bottle in top of it.

"Let's get the kids together and Bar-be-que by the pool soon." Slipping out of the booth, he held his hand out to Alfarinn before turning and leaving.


((OOC - Simon out pending response))

Alfarinn nodded. "We are only slightly more numerous. Sadly the crusty old folks still have us both beat when it comes to numbers. An all out war would be...bad. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

He nodded and wrinkled his nose in disgust at the idea of reporters. "Just don't eat it. They tend to taste like newsprint."

Taking Simon's hand, Alfarinn laughed. "Definitely, give me a call. I'll come to little Jan's birthday. We can talk more shop while the kids make balloon animals with Chuckles the Clown."

He watched the Tacharan leave and then finished his own drink. Looking around the room, Alfarinn found that one of the people he had been keeping an eye on was still in the club. Placing money down on the table, he got up and headed over with his most charming smile in place.

((OOC: Alfarinn Out ))