2019-07-26 - Danger and a Movie

Tyler is in the kitchen finishing cooking dinner. The record player is playing John Denver, Rocky Mountain High. He has just finished mixing the garlic mashed potatoes and put them in a bowl as he warms a large iron skillet on the stove. The small place smells like garlic and a touch of seasoned smoke from the skillet as it slowly begins to get hot. On a plate beside the skillet are two large ribeyes, covered in large ground pink Himalayan sea salt and ground pepper, waiting to be introduced to that skillet. He pulls the pan from the oven featuring simple bacon-wrapped asparagus and glances at the clock on the stove, expecting Elias any moment. Unless he had trouble finding the place.

Elias arrives at exactly the time that he said he would, not seeming to have any trouble finding the place. He knocks on the door and then checks to see if it is open before making his way inside. "Tyler?" he calls out, but then he can smell his way to the delicious scents coming from the kitchen, coming in to lean up against the wall near the entryway. "Damn," he says. Whether that's about the cooking or the man... Maybe both. He wanders over and wraps his arms around Tyler from behind, kissing the back of his shoulder. "Everything looks amazing."

Tyler smiles widely when Elias shows his face around this place. "Hey there, El. Glad you made it." He sets the asparagus on a serving plate and then grabs the steaks. One at a time, he drops them onto the skillet, which smokes and sizzles wildly. "Just a few minutes and it'll all be ready." He makes his way to the fridge, "Want something to drink? I have Diet Coke. Water..." He furrows his brow a little, and glances at Elias with a goofy grin. "I also have water."

Elias takes a step back out of the way so that Tyler can finish cooking, leaning back against the counter a little ways down and sliding his hands into his pockets. Today he's in a pair of plain blue jeans and brown suede shoes with a white t-shirt on. His dark hair is pulled back from his face, though it keeps trying to slide free of the bit of leather holding it at the back of his head. "Water's good," he grins.

Tyler nods, "Sorry. If you tell me what you like, I can have it next time." He grabs a glass and fills it with ice water before taking up a pair of metal tongs and flipping the searing steaks. "How cooked do you like it?" he asks. Tyler is wearing a pair of black jeans with a white Tshirt that is tight enough to leave no curve unnoticed.

"You don't need to get anything special for me," Elias says with a shake of his head, taking the glass of ice water and taking a small sip from it before setting it aside to go with the meal. "I'm happy with water." When asked how he likes his steak: "Rare."

Tyler repeats that with a smile, "Rare." He grabs a pot holder and lifts the skillet off the stove and chucks it into the over, closing the oven door. "Of course he likes it rare." He then walks over to Elias and lays his hand on the man's cheek. "Hi." He smiles. Then he kisses Elias for a few moments. "How are things?"

"Anything more than medium rare and you're ruining a perfectly good steak," Elias opines with a grin from where he stands, watching the whole cooking process with interest. He may not be much of a cook, but he can appreciate Tyler's work. "Hi," he says in return, and then lets that kiss linger, hands lightly resting on Tyler's chest. "Things are.. good, really good, and even better right now."

Tyler nods, "Yeah? Good. I'm glad." He heads back over to the stove, taking up the pot holder once more. "I've had a rough couple days. I dunnow. Just kind of feeling like somethin's wrong but I can't put my finger on it." He opens the oven door, reaching in and grabbing the skillet, lifting it up to the stove top. He closes the oven door with his hip as he sits the skillet on the burner, but just before it's all the way down, he drops the skillet the last inch, yanking his hand back. The pot holders tumble to the floor as he scowls, "Dangit!" He hops back and begins fanning his hand in the air, having clearly burned himself.

Elias tilts his head a little to the side and asks, "Howso? Just.. an off feeling? When did it start?" He regards Tyler curiously, a bit of a furrow to his brow as he winces when Tyler burns himself. "Come here, let me see that.." He reaches out then and gently takes a hold of Tyler's hand, and for a moment, he just holds it, and .. nothing happens. His frown deepens, "Shit.. why isn't it working?" He blinks and then says, "Come run it under cool water. Do you have anything for burns in the house?"

Tyler's thumb has a rather large burn on the inside of it, and it's quickly blistering. He grits his teeth as Elias takes a look at it. "What are you doing...?" he mutters as the man holds it. "Why isn't what working?" He sighs, and heads for the sink. Turning on the water, he holds his thumb under it. "Forget it, I'm fine. Just... Grab those tongs and get the steaks onto the plates. They're gonna keep cooking if they stay in the skillet, and then they won't be rare..."

Elias says, "I can heal.. normally, usually, and pretty well, but for some reason.. nothing happened." He goes over to the stove and carefully gets the tongs, getting the steaks onto the plates and carrying things over to the table while Tyler addresses his burn. "I'm sorry," he adds.

Tyler shrugs, "Honest. It's fine. I'll live. I promise." He continues to run the water on his burn. "I think I'm turning into a klutz, I swear. Yesterday I tripped and fell on the boardwalk while I was jogging and scrapped up my knee."

"Come to think of it.. I've been dropping things a lot lately. I mean, I just figured I wasn't paying attention -- been wrapped up in thought lately, but it's been a little weird.. and now this," Elias says with a vague gesture at whatever he was trying to do that didn't happen.

Tyler nods, "I dunnow. I felt pretty good, then like, couple days ago, I woke up with this feeling in my gut like something wasn't right. It hasn't went away. Maybe it's this stupid town acting up." He finally turns the water off and makes his way to the restroom, fumbling about for a bandage from the medicine cabinet.

"Could be," Elias agrees as he sets the remainder of the stuff out on the table, making himself useful while Tyler tends to his hand. "I've been pretty distracted, so I figured that was what was going on -- just being distracted." Once everything is set out, he asks, "Need any help in there?"

Tyler finally makes his way out with a bandage on his thumb. "I'm good," he responds. He heads to the table, "Thanks," and then takes a seat. "Why have you been so distracted? You said things were good? What's going on that's so great?"

"Oh, I .. well, I ended up in a Dream, and it wasn't unpleasant at all. In fact, it was really interesting, and while I was there I learned some things, things that I want to do some further research on, regarding my family, but also.. I figured out how to do some things I couldn't do before," Elias says, as he settles into a chair at the table.

Tyler tilts his head, "Really?" He smiles, "You end up in a lot of Dreams. That doesn't really happen to me. I mean, maybe it's just that you have a lot more power than I do." He spoons out some mashed potatos and then hands the bowl to Elias. Then he grabs some asparagus and he starts to slice his steak. "So, you learned things, and got to do things. Anything you want to share? I get it if it's weird private stuffs..."

Elias grabs the bowl and spoons some mashed potatoes into his plate, and then sets it down off to one side before taking some of the asparagus as well and setting that on his plate. "It could be that I've been messing around with it since I was a kid, and because I grew up in a family that's pretty into the whole Veil thing." He shrugs his shoulders, "Oh, so .. I ended up in this museum of wishes.. where you can walk around and see things that people wished for, and the date of the wish, and an item associated with the wish. I found the wishes of some of the oldest members of my family. One of them, had a particular amulet that I've seen in the house, and I want to do some more research on it, and the symbols on it." He then says, "And, I figured out that I can open a door in the Veil.. to get in.. and to get out again. I could never do that voluntarily before.."

Tyler leans forward, "Wait." He sits his fork down. "You mean, like, you can actually initiate a Dream then?" he asks, not quite sure that's what Elias is telling him.

Elias shakes his head, "Not so much start a Dream, as I can open a door into the dream-world, the Veil. I haven't really experimented with it much, but I know I was able to open a door out of where I was back to downtown without any problem. And I'm pretty sure that I could go back in if I wanted to."

Tyler purses his lips, thinking. The wheels turn slow on this lug. "So... You can step into the Dream, but you don't know what Dream you'll be stepping into?"

"I haven't experimented with it really, yet. So I'm not sure if I can control where I'd end up when I step in or out again, except for in places where I know the Veil is thin. Then I know where I'll come out.. I think, maybe," Elias says, not sounding altogether certain about that.

Tyler chuckles a little, and he returns to stabbing at his steak with his fork. "So, you learned to do this thing you couldn't do before, but it's a thing you don't actually know how to do now." He smiles, playful at the other man. "Got it." He shoves the steak bite in his mouth and chews it up, swallowing.

Elias frowns a little bit and says, "I know how to do it, just not what all the effects and implications are." He shrugs his shoulders then, and pokes his mashed potatoes, picking up a bite and putting it into his mouth, eating instead of talking for the time being.

Tyler stares at Elias, and he smiles. And he stares. Finally, he teases, "Are you pouting?" He laughs, "You're totally pouting. You have all this amazing stuff that happens to you, and you're pouting because I think you're so freaking adorable when you're excited about all this weird smart stuff you get into." He waves it off, "Look, it's no big deal. Forget it. Just... I dunnow, tell me about the book store or something. How is work?"

Elias glances up from his potatoes when Tyler starts teasing him again, and for a moment he looks a bit upset, but finally he just smirks a little bit and says, "I'm a nerdy freak who runs a bookstore," with a bit of a shrug of his shoulders, the mood having passed. "No, it's fine. I just.. I /was/ excited." Though when Tyler asks about the bookstore he says, "It's okay. Monroe's going to help out around the store a little bit. My older sister. She was there when I went in the other day, flirting with some bartender." He chuckles.

Tyler offers him a mischievous smile. "Hey." He leans forward, deviously. "You and me and Frankie need to get together and just figure it out. We'll go out to the beach or something, where we won't get bothered, and let's just have you mess with the veil. We'll go wherever it pulls us, and see if we can figure it all out!"

Elias studies Tyler for a moment, a little bit surprised, and then asks, "You'd want to do something like that? See what would happen if I opened up a door and we went through it?" He says, "That could.. be really dangerous, you know."

Tyler slowly lifts his chin, those words processing until he finally lets out a quiet, "Oh." He nods a little, and then returns his attention to his steak. As he cuts it, the record ends and the needle quietly lifts off and returns to it's home position, leaving everything in a really awkward silence.

"I mean.. if I'm going to try it, I'd really like having you with me," Elias says as he studies Tyler's expression. "I just want to make sure that you know it could be dangerous, and I don't know what will happen, because I care about you, you know? I know you run into burning buildings and stuff.. and I shouldn't worry, but I do."

Tyler inhales, finishes swallowing, and then leans back in his chair. He wipes his mouth off with a napkin, and he offers Elias a gentle smile. "Danger doesn't get to me, El. You said it yourself. I run into burning buildings." He shrugs a little, "But, I'm not you. And I'm not Frankie. If you two are worried about the danger, then you shouldn't do it. I didn't mean to call you both out like that. I'm sorry. I should have really thought about it first before suggesting it. We can go see a movie or something instead? I kind of want to see that new one with the bad guy superhero. I don't remember what it's called."

Elias looks a little confused and then says, "I haven't even told Frankie yet. I haven't seen her since I figured out I could do it. I've only told you." He continues to make his way through his steak, eating a bite here and there as they talk. "I mean, I have no idea what she's going to think about it. And I mean, I'm not.. I am worried about danger, but only insomuch as I think we need to be cautious and try to be prepared .. as much as we can be, before doing something like that. But I want to try it if you do." He grins a little, then and says, "There's no reason we can't do /both/."

Tyler returns the grin. "Okay then." He laughs, and nods in agreement. "Tell you what. If we go try this new power of yours and we die, I won't make you pay for my movie ticket." That's fair, right?