doesn't stop me from feeling the loss

[justsookie]

[ continued from here ]


Aidan thought that Sookie was being a bit serious about the whole thing, but he knew that she'd gone through a lot of stuff lately so maybe humor wasn't the best thing to try right now.

"Well, since you're stuck here for the moment would you like something to drink?" he asked.


"I'm fine," Sookie replied in turn, shaking her head slightly and raising her chin in an airy motion, one which tried to emphasize just how perfect things were, bar none. (It was a lie, of course, but one made to herself, and perhaps more forgivable in that sense. If Sookie wasn't feeling fine, she was having trouble recognizing it that night, convinced as she was that everything was better than it'd been in weeks. No need for emotional turmoil.) "I don't want to start downing beer again, at any rate, because we definitely do not need a repeat of that other night."

Resting her chin in her hand, she shrugged. "So, tell me what you've been up to! Your plans for the holidays."

Comments

[likesthestooges]

"Nothing, really," Aidan said with a shrug. He and had some presents to deliver and people to see, but that was it, really. Nothing terribly festive of exciting. Aidan thought it was a good way to ease into the holiday.

"Josh and I will probably exchange gifts Christmas morning and Martha and I will that evening. I have some people to hunt down and deliver gifts to, but that's about it. What about you?"

[justsookie]

"Mmm, well, you've gotta tell me where you live, because I know I've got something planned for you," Sookie replied with a quickly widening smile, reaching over as much as she could to tug over a pitcher resting not far away. A sniff told her, fortunately, that it was ginger ale, and not beer as she'd believed, and a couple of glasses were soon hauled over as well, Sookie pouring a tall glass for either of them. "Although I can't really start working on it until the day off, otherwise it just— you know, it won't be as good. As for me..."

She wrinkled her nose, taking a sip of the ale and exhaling slowly. "I think I'll be spending it with various friends, I guess. Might spend most of it with Neil, I don't know if you've met him, but he's got two little girls, absolute darlings. I always seem to be welcome at their place, sad sack though I sometimes am."

[likesthestooges]

"Alright, I'll be sure to draw a map and bring it by later, but only if you do the same for me. I need to bring yours by," Aidan said. Christmas was not a tradition often celebrated in full force by the vampire community. To be honest, Aidan was happy that he was going to get some presents and be able to partake in the festivities.

"I think I've seen him around," Aidan said with a nod, taking a drink. "And it's good that they take you in. You're always moping around, bringing the rest of us down."

He was teasing, of course. Even when he hadn't seen her in the best spirits, she seemed to try and be cheerful at least for the sake of others.

[justsookie]

"Okay, even if I was a Debbie Downer— which, who knows, maybe I am these days, for all I know— you're the one who decided to stop by here and chat with me, so maybe you're just a glutton for punishment. Either that, or you're secretly moody and broody inside, just misery wanting company," Sookie concluded with a huff, feigning indignation as her nose wrinkled. Truthfully, though, she was starting to wonder if she'd been too much of a burden on people lately. Neil wouldn't have kicked her out even if she was sobbing every single day, but that didn't mean that she was any more positive of an influence, either on his mood, or on the girls.

"Anyway, on the bright side, I'm not drinking about it anymore. That's an improvement, right?" She sighed, resting her cheek in her palm.

[likesthestooges]

"I think that's a pretty good improvement. Plus the fact that you're not being some sort of shut in is a good sign too."

Aidan used to have an issue to drinking his problems away, but that's because it usually meant opening up a vein and possibly leaving behind a corpse or two. A couple of empty bottles seemed minor in comparison but he realized that it could be just as devastating to someone.

"And I am secretly broody. Deep down I'm full of angst and sorrow. I dream of multiple piercings, eyeliner, painting my nails black, and starting a band."

[justsookie]

"I have plenty of people who wouldn't let me be a shut-in if I tried," Sookie earnestly replied, the smile on her lips widening, fleeting, for the thought. Of course, Sookie never wanted to be an undue burden on any of them, but to still know that her thoughts weren't disappearing to the middle of nowhere staved off loneliness in a way that very little could.

Squinting in his direction, Sookie tried to picture Aidan with all that he'd described, and she had to bite back her laugh for it.

"And aww, c'mon, don't make fun of the actual goths. They're making a statement just as much as anyone else, even if I kinda like the whole plaid shirt and Segway thing more."

[likesthestooges]

"And I never understood the name," Aidan said. "Goths were Germanic with beards and converted to Christianity before even the tenth century. I think they would be offended by the modern day Goths."

That had been one of the more interesting things about observing over the centuries, seeing how words evolve. It was gradual and often subtle, but he had to always keep up with it and adapt. It didn't work to sound 70 when you looked 25, that was too suspicious. The same went with fashion as well.

[justsookie]

"Well, don't look at me," snorted Sookie, shaking her head. "I'll be the first person to admit that I'm not exactly the most learned, and when it comes to things that I don't think I'll ever understand, I don't exactly make the biggest effort to go out of my way to learn the history. Which, I know, makes me forever ignorant or something." She waved her hand dismissively, but it held true— in the grand scheme of things, when it came to fashion choices or mentalities that she just couldn't align with, Sookie didn't make a habit of familiarizing herself with them unless it stood the chance of affecting her directly.

In short, outside of politics, Sookie's world view was a bit narrow. It'd improved on the island, but she cared more about living in the day than anything else.

[likesthestooges]

"Trust me, I've seen enough history to know that even people who study it usually end up rather ignorant," he told her. Also, people were always finding new ways to be stupid, so not all of them were filtered out by history.

"And most people get by just fine without knowing a whole lot of history. So unless you want to be a history teacher, you're probably okay. Unless you start serving history themed meals, and then someone wants a Bunker Hill special and you have to remember the short order cook writes it as July 15, 1775."

[justsookie]

"Lord, I'm afraid to ask what a Bunker Hill special even contains," Sookie murmured, nose wrinkling. She didn't know too much about colonial cuisine, but in general, the thought of what they probably had to resort to eating in times of war wasn't one that sat too pleasantly with her. (Maybe she'd watched Gone with the Wind a few too many times over the years, even throughout all of Tara's dismay over being named after the plantation featured in the book and film.) "But well, way to make an argument for never taking history in school ever again, Mister Pessimist. I'd personally like to think that we've still learned something from all those generations that came before us. Technology's gotten better, at least. And we haven't had a World War in a while."

[likesthestooges]

"Whatever it is, it's what was actually the Bree Hill Special and eventually got renamed," he said. "And for the record, we could have held that hill a lot longer if we hadn't run out of ammo."

That had actually been when Aidan was human, one of the earliest battles he had ever fought it. He still remembered almost fondly how shocked the British were that the Colonials were willing and able to stand up to them. It wasn't quite fond though, because the entire war had been a brutal, ugly affair.

"Technology has done some really amazing things. Did you know it was only 66 years between the Wright Brothers' flight and putting a human on the moon?"

[justsookie]

"No, I'd... never really thought to do the math, I guess," marveled Sookie with a tilt of her head, gaze momentarily distancing as she thought to how much her gran might have seen change over the years. "That's a bit terrifying, though. I can't even imagine what else might come up by the time I've reached my eighties. Which I completely plan on living to, if I can, though I'm sure my looks won't have kept half as well as your own, obviously." She threaded her fingers through her hair, massaging her temples.

"But as much as I'd love for certain technologies to become more convenient, a part of me likes living in times that are a bit more quaint. Once everything turns automatic, there's just less time for each other, and more of a push to get things done quick and dirty."