lastrat | ♠ | 031

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♠ | 031 | Video

[Bond is in the pub, a tumbler in his hand (and no bottle in sight even, this is a semi-healthy indulgence okay) and a fairly clear expression on his face. He takes a sip, licks his lips and smiles a little wryly as he finally settles his attention on the camera.]

Alec's gone.

[He doesn't sound remotely broken up about this. Sorry, Alec.]

That - on top of surviving - seems deserving of a party. I'll open the door for whoever's interested. I might even break out the good food.

[He lifts his glass in a little toast, and downs that's left in one go as he kills the feed.]

[Private to Elena]

Stop by.

[Is he gonna say why? Nope.]

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[She has a way of finding him at bad times. Closing the door behind her, Bond turns to head further into his sitting room, waving a hand dismissively.]

That was a terrible place to have a birthday.

[There's something wrapped in brown paper on his side table: it's simple, taped, not even a string bow. He holds it out to her.]

Here.

[Inside is a new journal, bound in leather: on the cover is an engraved scorpion. On the inside of the cover is Bond's quick scrawl: Start practicing, Salinger.]

[Although he's a little unceremonious in handing the gift to her and he makes it both look and feel more like a pass-off of some kind of package only a select number of people are privy to all the details about, Elena smiles a little. She hadn't been expecting anything and sure as hell didn't expect anything after that port. She was just expecting her nineteenth birthday to pass by without comment or remark.]

[Elena is careful in unwrapping it. It isn't hard to guess what it is from the feel of the package, but the engraved scorpion catches her by surprise and the message inside widens her smile.]

Thank you, [she says as she closes it. Elena doesn't get emotional about it, visibly anyway. She doesn't move in for a hug either. That's just not the way Bond is with her, so she doesn't get that way with him unless it's really warranted. Instead,] I'm still not drinking my own pee though.

[He chuckles in response, mood lighter than it's been in a long while. Not just because of Alec's disappearance, either: the port was hellish to be sure, but besides arguing ad nauseum with Archer, he was able to do some of the things he's good at there.]

I definitely wouldn't want to know if you decided to start. You could have picked Steinbeck as a questionable authorial role model.

Yeah, but the crazy hermits have more character. The weirdest thing about Steinbeck was how many pencils he used to write things.

Plus his novels were kinda dry.

[There's a smile in the corner of his mouth.]

I don't think I ever made it through Grapes of Wrath.

[She grins like they're sharing a secret.]

I don't think there's a high school student in the world who has.

Lord. Did I just put myself in league with students?

At least the illiterate ones, [she teases.]

I'm choosing to blame this on American schooling.

That might be their excuse, but I don't know if it can count for yours.

Obviously I was busy learning British literature.

You're not about to start talking about how much better British literature is to American literature, are you?

No, of course not.

That's a given.

[Elena looks at him with mock offense, folding her arms.]

Oh really? Well, we'll see about that when everyone's reading my writing worldwide.

I'll tell everyone I taught you everything.

Please, like anybody's gonna believe that.

I can be very persuasive.

I don't think indicating that you have a gun and know how to use it is persuasion.

But you'd be surprised how effective it can be.

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♠ | 031 | Video

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