itinere | OPEN | Network or Action | I was a tourist with no story lost in this purgatory

Entry tags:

original character: jill leighton

OPEN | Network or Action | I was a tourist with no story lost in this purgatory

NETWORK

I know I haven't really hopped on here since I got here a couple of days ago but...hi, I'm Cam. I'm going to go get a drink and this is my open invitation for someone or someones to join me, because drinking alone is really, really sad and I really don't wanna be that guy. Don't make me be that guy, okay?

ACTION

Admittedly, Cam can't really complain about the digs here. It's actually a really nice apartment. It's like someone took the loft he and Sophie were sharing in Manhattan and upgraded it into something more spacious and less roach-infested. He likes that part of this whole deal. The part he's not so into is that she's not here, as far as he can tell, and he's lost his door. He looks for it for a couple of hours every day, but the promise that time sort of stops on the "other side" makes him feel less guilty for not really going all out while he's looking. He's not keen on the idea of leaving Soph alone in New York, that's for damn sure, but if time isn't moving forward with out him; if that's really true — and rumor has it, it is — then maybe the fact that he hasn't found his door back yet is a sign that he should take a minute and regroup; enjoy his life for what it is for a second instead of treating every day like a full time job that never really pays and gives no time off.

He loves his sister and he doesn't feel like she's a job all the time, but...well. He's done everything for her since he was eight years old. This feels like a chance to just...take a breather and he deserves one, doesn't he?

So he drops a line on the network and then he heads out. Maybe he'll meet someone; maybe he'll end up drinking alone, but either way...it's getting him out of the apartment for a minute because he's not entirely sure he can resist that golden sphere if he doesn't and something tells him he ought to wait on that until he can find out what's actually in there without having to open it to find out for himself. It's a random magical place that dragged him out of his real life and then closed the door behind him and hid it. He thinks it's fair not to entirely trust the gifts he gets while he's here.

Cam makes his way to the nearest bar and settles on a stool, his feet touching the floor with no problem even when he's sitting because he's so goddamned tall, and he orders himself a beer before pulling out his PDA to check the network again. Why not? He hasn't had a beer in a while. It's hard to enjoy a drink when you're on big brother duty twenty-four seven.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cam looks suddenly caught between confused and super interested. "Wait, you mean like you didn't specifically start this business to be kind of a mirror to the one back home, but the way you just said that, like you didn't expect to open a business…? How's that work?"

He's more of a stout kind of guy when he's the one choosing, but that's mostly because he's not all that well-versed with the lighter or amber beers, at least not like he is with the darker ones. It's why he sometimes likes to let the bartender choose.

She puts the glass in front of him and Cam gives an impressed sort of facial shrug. It always surprises him when a female bartender actually knows what the hell she's talking about because, in his experience, female bartenders are college girls trying to make a little extra buck while they're in school and they don't actually give a shit about anything other than the paycheck and tips. Jill makes for a nice change.

Cam lifts the glass to take a drink, tightening his lips against the edge of the glass to suck the actual beer through the foam head so he can get an accurate taste; he can see that she's curious how he'll like it, because it seems like she's waiting for something. "Oh, yeah...I like that, good balance. I'm not a huge fan of super hoppy beers, so I tend to hang back from the ales, but I like this, good call. See, I had a feeling I could trust your judgement."

"Thanks." Her pale skin might be flushing with a bit of a rose hue. Jill knows beer, wine and mixed drinks really well. "I'm glad you like it. And I agree, there comes a point where the hops can get so over-powering you lose the flavor of the beer itself."

She gets herself a half pint of the Big Wave and sips at it while contemplating how best to explain the way The Houndstooth had just shown up one day, just as it is.

"It was really weird, actually. I had been here for awhile and I was just... I don't know, I guess I was missing this place. The next day my phone lit up with a GPS map of the city with a blinking dot on it. I followed it and found this place here, just as I remembered it back home. Marley was kind of like a dad figure to me so, I guess I feel responsible for this place in his absence."

Jill pauses and shakes her head. "I know it sounds crazy. But I think this place can read your mind sometimes. It'll just give you what you think about, whatever will make you happy, like it's in your brain."

Cam sets the glass down again specifically so that he can point at her with his dominant hand. "Yes! Thank you! See, this is why I don't like IPAs," he says, getting a little excited that there's finally someone to talk to who actually understands what the hell he's saying. It's not like Cam's a big beer connoisseur or anything, but he kind of knows his shit and had spent his college years surrounded by people who thought Bud Lite was God's gift. They wouldn't know an IPA if it bit them in the ass.

His eyebrows rise again, a little, when she explains how she found this place. "Seriously?" he asks. It isn't that he doesn't believe her, it's just...that's kind of crazy to wrap his head around. If his unfamiliar face hadn't been enough to identify him as new, his reaction to that story would've had him pegged.

"I mean, yeah, it does but a lot about this place sounds kind of crazy, so I have a feeling I'm just going to have to learn how to suspend disbelief around here, huh?"

Jill actually smiles at Cam's enthusiasm, which doesn't happen all that often, to be honest. Lucy is the only one who can make Jill smile no matter what. But she too is excited to talk to someone who knows their beers. Not that she gets all judge-y about what people drink, everyone has their thing, but she does have her own preferences. If she's going to drink, it's going to taste good, or have any flavor at all. And that's just for starters.

"I'm glad to meet a fellow good beer lover. And when I say good beer, I mean the ones that actually have flavor. I mean, we'll just start there." Jill says with amusement.

She nods at his 'seriously', wishing she had some more sane news for him than the truth of Itinere. Unfortunately, it is what it is. "I've had to do a lot of accepting weird things since arriving here. And at the same time, I kind of like that magic is real. It's only in movies, books and on TV at home... my home." She's just assuming it's magic, of course. Whatever makes this place do what it does could be anything, really.

He takes another drink and smirks around the edge of the glass. "Jill, you just made this whole weird experience a hundred and ten percent worth it," he replies as he sets the glass down again. "Summer between sophomore and junior years of college, as like a last hurrah because I was transferring schools, a bunch of the guys from the football team all went to this beer festival in Boston before I headed back to Connecticut and, like..." he pauses, shaking his head. "Like how do you go to a legit beer festival and spend the whole weekend drinking Sam Adams Boston Lager? And Budweiser? Excuse my French, but what the fuck, you know? I mean, Sam's isn't bad but you're surrounded by craft beer from local microbrews and breweries around the world and you're drinking it? That's kind of where I discovered how awesome beer can actually be, but my friends were so not on the same wavelength."

He shakes his head and lifts his glass to her. "You complete me, Jill. You had me at Kona, specifically because I've never heard of it before. Where have you been all my life while I've been the only one drinking the good stuff and the guys all thought I was just being pretentious?" he asks, grinning because he's kind of only half joking.

Nodding, Cam takes another drink and sets the glass down on the coaster again. "No, I get you, same where I come from. I'll take magic if everybody's this cool and all the beer is this good, though. I can roll with it."

"Oh I get it. There's this place in Birmingham called World of Beer that my best friend and I sometimes go to. Guess how many beers they have on tap. Over five-hundred at any given time, tons from around the world and micro breweries. I swear, I cringe every time someone orders a Budweiser or Keystone Light." Jill agrees with a nod. "Also, Marley used to brew his own beer and I'm probably not the first to tell you that home brew is a whole other world of fabulous flavors... only usually with a higher alcohol content."

Jill surprises herself by laughing then. Laughing is something else that isn't usually something she gives over to. Lucy is bright and happy. Jill leans toward the darker side of things. But Cam, like Lucy, has somewhat of an infectious personality. Apparently Jill has a hard time combating that or even wanting to combat it. "I feel very Renee Zellweger and you're Tom Cruise, only without all the plastic surgery and cult-sh tendencies. We can form a pretentious drinks club as long as my friend Lucy can come along. I think you'd like her too, although she's less beers and more mint juleps."

Cam lets out a low groan of jealous appreciation. "Five hundred on tap? Seriously would be judging anyone who ordered any of the mass produced brews. I might even be tempted to smack someone's beer right out of their hands if I heard someone ordering a PBR in a setting like that, shit," he laughs.

He gives a nod at the idea of home brew. "I've always wanted to try that. Brewing my own. I feel like I'd be garbage at it and it would be such a disappointing experience for anyone and everyone involved, but that sounds so cool. I've never tried a beer someone brewed on their own. Closest I've ever gotten is small microbreweries with like four or five flavors in their arsenal."

She's prettier still when she laughs, even more than when she smiles. Cam has a feeling this place is going to fast become one of his haunts, just for Jill alone. That's probably not a good thing, really, he'll probably drive her apeshit up a wall, but he likes her. Jill's really cool so far as he can tell. "More beer, less Scientology and terrible romcoms, but that's pretty much where I feel like we're at right now," he says, feigning a seriousness in his tone that doesn't match the grin on his face at all. "Oh, man, really? We have got to get her a beer. There's a beer out there for everyone, we just have to find the right one and she can join the dark side really and truly," he laughs.

She knows it's hard to believe. But it's true. "Yeah, the bar spans the whole length of one wall and behind it the entire wall has like three horizontal rows of taps. It's like a beer heaven. Ciders too. Ciders that aren't mainstream and you've never seen. It's all pretty delicious with a great atmosphere. It'd be cool if this place were that awesome, but also I kind of like The Houndstooth the way it is, I guess."

Jill casts a look around the place, her home away from home. Even without Marley here, it's still that. Then she looks back to Cam and lifts one shoulder in a half shrug. "We could try to brew our own. I've watched Marley do it for years. I kind of know what we need and how to do it. It just depends on what kind of beer you want. Do you have a favorite kind of brew?"

Getting Lucy to drink a beer can be tricky. "One time I had her try a Lindemans Lambic and it tastes like raspberry's. When I told her it was a beer she didn't believe me. But she liked it because it was less bitter and more fruity... but still a beer!"

"That's so crazy," Cam breathes, admittedly a little bit awestruck. "I mean this place is cool, don't get me wrong; I like it. But that place sounds legit, too." He's never been to a bar with more than ten or eleven beers on tap. Five hundred? That's the best kind of insane, if you ask him.

He looks more than a little bit pleasantly surprised when she suggests that they could try to brew their own. "Seriously?" he asks and he's leaning forward a little on the bar because he's so stupidly into this idea, it's like not even funny. "I usually lean toward stouts, but for first timers, if you're really down to do it, I'd suggest we go with whatever might be the easiest and work our way up to the more interesting stuff?" he suggests. Spending time with Hot Bartender making home brewed beer? Aces. Cam wants in on this so bad.

A grin spreads over his lips and Cam nods. "I was just gonna say, we should get her to try a Linderman's Lambric; they come in a lot of different flavors. I'm partial to the Pomme myself, if I'm going that route, but also...uh...Dogfish Head, I think, makes a beer in their Ancient Ale series called Midas Touch; it's kind of like a citrus-y beer meets champagne almost. She might like that, if we can find it around here." He pauses before adding, "assuming they still brew it."

She likes that he thinks this place is cool. She loves The Houndstooth. It's always been a safe haven to her in a world that has so rarely been safe for Jill outside of Lucy. Of course, he's right that World of Beer is a pretty bad ass place too.

Jill nods just a little enthusiastic about the idea too. On the inside she's brimming with excitement at the idea of trying to brew their own beer. But Jill always emotes more on the inside than she does on the outside. "So maybe a regular pale ale and then move on to clones of more exotic beers. Marley did a bourbon vanilla porter one time that was fantastic. It was a good wintery beer, really dark and strong. We might try that once we get the process down with the pale ale."

She would have to start wishing up all the things she'd seen Marley use so they have everything they need. That's the good thing about Itinere, you wish it, within a day or two it's here... mostly.

"I can see if I can get some Midas Touch here to try." She says, once again thinking of the wishing facet of Itinere. "I mean, usually if you want something you only have to think about it for awhile. The city makes it happen... like, sometimes entire buildings." She gestures at The Houndstooth in general. "But also small things."

"Shut up, that sounds amazing," Cam groans, sad that he missed it. But he likes her idea for the process. Starting with something simple like a pale ale is what he's always heard he should do if he's going to try home brewing on his own. Most of the reason he's never actually tried has more to do with the crappy quality of the home brew kits he's been able to find in his price range and how he just sort of assumes they'll churn out subpar beer at best. If Jill has real equipment and the supplies they need to do it, he's a lot more confident that it won't turn out so terrible, even on the first try.

"Yeah, we should definitely start with a pale ale, that sounds like the best course. Maybe brew darker each try? The only thing is that doesn't it take like a month to ferment to taste? This is going to be a very long and incredibly awesome experiment, Jill, are you really ready to take it on?" he asks playfully.

His eyebrows lift a little with interest at that. She mentioned it in passing earlier in the conversation, but he hadn't really thought about it all that much. "...does it work with everything?" he asks tentatively. There's a brief pause before he tacks on to clarify, "...does it work with people...?" He's thinking of his sister.

To be fair, Marley always told her that most starter home brew kits suck. It's best to dive right into it with actual brewing. Home brew kits are like the frozen dinners of actual cooking from scratch. So it's good that Cam didn't go that route. Jill knows that Marley has some of the equipment in the basement of this pub. And she'll research to make sure they have everything they need before they actually start.

"Most home brews take a minimum of two to four weeks to ferment. If you start getting into the meads it can take months to years, the longer the better. The best thing about brewing after doing the first batch, you can drink the old home brew while brewing the new one." Meaning, yes. She's game for a long process, and homefully a long friendship with Cam... as long as he is too. So she asks, "Right?"

"Yeah, most everything. I haven't seen or heard of it working with actual people yet." Because she thinks she would have heard about it if that had happened. That's the thing about being a bartender. You hear about most things through the grapevine. "Is there someone you want here?" She realizes only after she asked it that it's kind of an intrusive conversation. "I mean... you don't have to answer that."

Cam nods. He'd heard all of those things, too. "I feel like meads might be a little ambitious off the bat, don't you?" he asks playfully. He knows she's just saying it to expand on the original point, but he can't resist the urge to tease her a little just then. At her comment in reference to the second brew, Cam laughs a little, lifting his glass to her just slightly. "Hell yes," he agrees before taking a drink.

So...they're doing this. That's awesome: first person he meets here and she's hot, she knows beer, and she's willing to learn to brew homemade alongside him with actual equipment and not that bullshit you can buy from Bed, Bath, and Beyond or whatever. Seriously, A+ for today so far, he thinks.

A soft hum of acknowledgement escapes him and he shrugs it off even though it's probably the only thing he'll ever really want in this place. Of course it's also the one thing he can't have. His eyes shift up from his glass, hovering it over the counter before finally setting it down, to meet her face again at her question and he shakes his head with a little smile. "It's cool. Yeah, just...my baby sister. I pretty much raised her on my own, so I get anxious when we're separated because I can't keep an eye on her." So anxious that he'd given up a full ride football scholarship to be closer to her in case she needed him back when he'd been in college and she'd been starting high school.

Jill thinks this is a pretty awesome meeting too. She doesn't usually do so well beyond hello I'm Jill with new people. But she and Cam seem to have hit it off very well, and it all felt so easy, like she didn't have to awkwardly try to come up with conversation as she does with most people. Surprisingly, she'd even smiled a few times. Smiling and Jill don't usually go hand-in-hand except for very rarely. But Cam brought it out in her with ease.

When he mentions his sister, she knows she's hit a soft spot. "Family's important." To most people. Not all family's are horrible like her own was. Lucy is the family she chose. Lucy is very important to her. So in that way, she can understand Cam's wish for his sister and him to be in the same place.

"In the meantime, you could think of photos and stuff that remind you of her. They'll probably appear here for you." She offers. It's the best she can offer by way of help when it comes to getting people here.

Cam's always kind of been a people person. He was always the peacekeeper in his group of friends back home, from the time he was in elementary school through college. He suspects he always will be. He's always been good at collecting a menagerie of dissimilar people to call his friends and he's always been good at finding ways for all of them to get along even if they don't all run in the same circles. So it makes sense that this is easier for him and he would never have guessed that Jill isn't just like this with everyone she talks to.

Family's important, she says, and Cam hums a succinct and distinctly sarcastic laugh. Yeah. Maybe to other people. To Cam, only Sophie is important. He's been abandoned by the rest, to varying degrees. Sophie's the only one he cares about anymore; Sophie's the only one he ever feels cared about by, anymore. "I guess," he says vaguely. "Soph, yeah. She and I are really, really close," he clarifies without going into too much detail.

Jill's suggestion is a good one, but it makes Cam shrug, uncertain. "I don't know if that would make it better or worse, is the thing. But I'll think about it, thanks for the suggestion."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN | Network or Action | I was a tourist with no story lost in this purgatory

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject