RP: Homecoming [Elisha & Hastur]

The knock on the door was unexpected, but not unwelcome, and Elisha couldn't help the curiosity as he wondered who it could be. One of Lorelie's friends? A delivery? A neighbor? He smiled as he pulled the large wooden door open on its creaking, heavy hinges, radiating a light and warmth that honestly felt a little out of place in the large creepy home.

Hastur meanwhile did not seem out of place here, with his long dark clothes and serious looking facial features-- a bit sallow, a bit sunken, with waning hair. They didn't match the pleasant smile, which didn't quite reach the man's tired eyes. Almost like looking in a mirror, if the mirror was also a portal 40 years into the future. Elisha felt a small wriggle of uncertainty-- surely if he could sense a kindred spirit, the other man could do just the same.

"Hello, this is the Grimm residence, how can I help you?"

Hastur had expected Lorelie. Or one of her friends, maybe. He didn't recognize this young man, however and he felt a brief flicker of confusion to enter his expression at the unexpected encounter. His eyes narrowed for a moment as he assessed the other man before smoothing that emotion over with another smile.

"Is Lorelie available?" he asked, getting right to the point. Travel through Walpurgis was always a trek in and of itself and the final stretch of his return journey had been tiring. He'd rather unwanted interactions to be kept to a minimum in duration. 

"I haven't seen her all day." Elisha replied smoothly-- not a lie, but not really the answer to the stranger's question blunt question. So, the man knew Lorelie personally enough to ask for her by name? What was he here for? "You can wait for her in the foyer. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you resting your feet for a minute or few."

"She won't," Hastur assured him, though he himself couldn't entirely believe that.

Elisha pulled the door open all the way, making a come in gesture with one hand and stepping over to try to pry the other's travelling case away from him in a thinly veiled gesture of hospitality.

"Would you like tea?"

Hastur held tight to his case, but when Elisha's grip was insistent, a sharp and indignant eek came from the case. It sounded again as the moth clambered over to the side facing Elisha, wings fluttering irritably at the disruption of the case. Hastur smiled thinly at Elisha despite the continued din that his familiar was making.

"Tea would be lovely." He walked inside as gestured, ready to drag Elisha on with him if the younger man refused to let go, but the appearance of the moth was enough to startle him away. Unfortunate that he was doubly curious as to its contents. Elisha took a moment to close the front door, before following Hastur inside. He sure seemed to know where he was going.

"Your name is...?" He asked, stopping at the hall which led to the kitchen.

"Hastur." he asked in turn as his familiar fluttered from the case to his shoulder. He gave a slight roll of his eyes. "Ah. This is Fife."

"Hastur and Fife, how darling!" Elisha grinned at the moth's antics and gave it its own little wave. It was often easier to befriend a witch through their familiar, after all.

"And you are?"

"I'm Elisha, I'm recently apprenticed to Lorelie. Give me just one moment, I'll be back with tea~" He gave a small wave and, trusting the stranger to make himself comfortable there, went off to the kitchen, leaving Hastur to consider Lorelie, taking an apprentice.

Was there the possibility that Hastur and Lorelie were less than amicable? That perhaps Elisha had just let a thief or worse inside? Perhaps. It could be fun! And Lorelie was in the study, just a shout away. For all her charity, she wasn't very forthright and he still hadn't had an opportunity to see what kind of magic she employed if any.

About ten minutes later and he was back with a food and a pot of black tea. Cream, sugar, bread, and cheese rounded off the tray.

"Hopefully this is fine." He set it down on the table, pouring two cups. "You look like you've been on the road for a bit. Are you from out of town...?"

Has didn't respond at first, simply accepting the cup of tea from Elisha before placing it on the side table near where he had decided to sit.

"You seem a little old for apprentice work, Elisha," he stated bluntly, refocusing back on the man's introduction with a smile.  Leaning forward, he picked up a sugar cube and held it to his familiar, which waved front limbs in excited approval at the gesture before nibbling away at it.

"And you seem a little old to still be living, but I suppose that's why you're seeking Lorelie out, hm? Arrangements?" He smiled back and put 5 cubes of sugar in his own cup. Fife was beginning to climb over the man's hand in search of more sugar but Hastur ignored the moth, instead turning his hand over and over to keep the familiar occupied.

"I'm sure she'd be thrilled if that was the case," Hastur replied, cocking his head curiously as he watched Elisha load sugar into his own tea. Elisha's barb rolled right off Hastur's back, and Elisha had the sense that attacking the other's ego probably wouldn't be too productive in the long run. Elisha did laugh-- genuinely chuffed, as the other deflected with self deprecation and a familiarity of Lorelie.

"I was born here. And live here, technically. I work for Lorelie." He shrugged. "In a sense." He wasn't really surprised that Lorelie hadn't mentioned him to her new apprentice. But it still was a bit annoying having to provide such basic information.

 "Hmm I see. Well if we're talking about technicalities, to answer your earlier question, it's more accurate to say that I'm technically in a probationary trial. I have the training-- it's just informal." A dash of cream and he finally stirred his tea, leaning back to take an unflinching sip.

"So, what do you do? I'm an aspiring mortician." He answered his own question before Hastur could turn it back to him again.

"No kidding." He would have been very amused to learn if Lorelie was offering out apprenticeships for trades that weren't her own. He was, however, having difficulty telling if Elisha just lacked social grace or he was actually trying to find a soft spot on Hastur that he could exploit. Either way, how had Lorelie decided on seeing the man as a viable apprentice?

"Some residents die outside of Walpurgis. I bring their remains back to Lorelie so she can preform proper funeral rites."

Elisha couldn't help but cast another, more measuring glance at Hastur's travelling case.

"Oh? That sounds rather thankless." He meant it as praise, but it came out sounding a little dismissive.

"Oh it rather is," Hastur agreed easily, sounding as tired as he looked. He sighed and shrugged again.

"How long before you're off again...?"

"As soon as someone else reports that someone or thing has gone missing, I imagine. It is thankless and unpredictable."

It seemed like Hastur might stay anywhere between only a few days to a few years, when it was put like that. Elisha wasn't worried about it-- on the contrary, the house was large and a little lonely, and he found himself pleased. One more person in easy reach, one new person to get to know. His satisfaction with the arrangement showed in the spilling out of his magic-- a warmth and radiance which manifested in an easing of aches. The change in atmosphere, though far from unpleasant, caused Hastur to narrow his eyes at the man seated across from him.

Elisha continued unaware, more teasing than serious. "How noble. So! Who or what did you bring back this time?"

 Hastur wasn't the most versed or sensitive in regards to magicks, but when it hit you upside the head so obviously like that, he would have had to be dead to not notice it. He tapped two fingers against the arm rest of his seat. 

"First tell me what you are."

"... I guess you'd call it a witch, though in my opinion, half of being a witch is the upbringing, so I'm not sure I count?" Elisha hemmed and hawed. Half truths were sprinkled in to make the lie more convincing. "My father was a priest, my birth mother was dead, so I didn't really realize it until quite a bit later!"

"In Walpurgis it doesn't count either way you spin it," Hastur replied resolutely, as if there was no more left to say on the matter. Elisha wasn't expecting much of a response, and definitely not such a firm one. The matter seemed personal-- was the man one of those who touted the purity of lineages and family? He certainly seemed old enough. Still, that angle didn't quite fit with the rest of the picture he'd gleaned so far-- old blood should have their own house, have their own family... Elisha's musings were very swiftly distracted as Hastur very fairly rewarded Elisha with the answer.

"... A dragon. I've forgotten her name, but she fell in with a bad crowd and eventually was sold out to poachers. A pity, really." Despite that, he didn't sound exceptionally torn up about it.

Elisha's eyes lit up with interest. "A pity." He echoed, likewise sounding intrigued rather than upset. "Do they often come back in parcels...?"

Hastur wasn't surprised that the would-be mortician didn't find the grim reality of Hastur's trade to be jarring. That was good, at least. Has would need all of his emotional energy for soothing the creature's family--it was kind of Elisha to not demand some of that energy with a show of sorrow.

"When they are victims of hunters, yes, usually. Rare for me to find a poached corpse that hasn't been disassembled yet."

"Oof. How do you manage to get them back, usually? Money? Trade? Force?" Killing? If Hastur was a hunter hunter, that was something of note.

Hastur shrugged, picked up his teacup, remembered that he didn't like tea and had only taking Elisha up on the offer to give the peppy man something to do somewhere away from Hastur, and placed it back on its tray next to him. Elisha watched the whole action with amusement rather than offense. The optimist in him wanted to say that Hastur had only accepted out of politeness-- which was too bad. The caffeine and the tannins could probably do a lot for his complexion. Instead, Elisha just radiated more warmth as he sipped his sugar with tea.

"Whatever I need to. They're rarely happy about their business being liquidated."

"I cannot wait to hear all the fun little details over dinner~ Hm. You will be staying evenings for dinner, yes? I know Lorelie doesn't really eat but Alou cooks most nights, so..."

"As it stands, there will be at least one dinner I'll be attending. As I have no intention on setting out again tonight—even if a coven leader went missing." Honestly he'd drag his feet in that situation regardless.  He sighed and leaned his jaw on one hand, smiling tiredly.

"Alou, hm? Has Lorelie in fact started a boarding house while I wasn't looking?" How many more introductions to strangers was he to suffer today?

"One would think so! Still, we cannot blame an old vampire for getting lonely."

Last Hastur checked, solitude was the preferred default of Lorelie-- so yes, he could blame her, if he wanted to. This was such a chatty apprentice to take on.

"I'm sure she simply didn't want to risk the chance of summoning. Speak of the devil and he doth appear and all that."

Elisha grinned, and put his cup down on the saucer. "Well, I don't think there's any others aside from me and my brother, but seeing as I was never told about you, who's to know..." Elisha then paused to take a sugar cube itself to eat. Despite Hastur's exhaustion, he also looked at ease. Relaxation wasn't the sort of state that Elisha was used to getting from people, even if it happened to be a front, and he found himself eager to test it-- to see it continue or see it interrupted.  

"Mr. Hastur, if you'd indulge my curiosity one more time, what kind of magic do you do? Must be something if you're off tracking down the dead and fighting poachers, hah." He tilted his head. "You are a witch too, right? Technically or not?"

Hastur returned the tilt of the head. He had a feeling that Elisha would keep poking if that curiosity wasn't indulged so he complied.

"I'm an exorcist. And that isn't terribly useful in my current position, aside from bringing souls back here for rest along with their bodies."

Elisha hadn't been aware that exorcism was a current and valid practice.

"Ah, so the rest is done the good, old fashioned way. Very enlightening!" He beamed. Having satisfactorily concluded his interrogations, Elisha finally stood, readjusting his skirt.

"I'll go fetch Lorelie then so you can get settled in~"

"So she is home," Hastur said to that, unsurprised but long-suffering in the revelation. Not that Elisha had point-blank said that she had been anything otherwise. Still, it was frustrating to have been caught in this social snare. This young witch was trouble.

"... Tell her there's no rush. Everything I have today can keep."

The exasperation Elisha got in response made him smile and laugh boyishly as he took one more sugar cube and a piece of bread, walking off in the direction of the hall.

"Will do~ My pleasure to meet you, Hastur!" With that, the older man was relieved of Elisha's company.