Back to Work (open)

"Between your father, Miyu and Audrina, I find myself constantly outnumbered in my own home. I've simply elected to give up and go with the flow. I think I'm becoming middle aged..."

She giggled.

"I don't think you have it in you to just 'go with the flow'."

Victor pouted. "I... I... I wave my finger really annoyingly at your dad sometimes. And Audrina threw a piece of popcorn at me the other night. Mmmph. No I don't have it in me to go with the flow. Actually I'm glad he pointed me to Audrina and agreed to stick around to help raise her. It's several blessings at once. I... this concept of actually being happy and full of things to be joyful about stuff is strange. I like it."

She laughed again.

"Well, if you're like me, you're just waiting for it to go to shit."

Victor looked all shifty eyed and sipped at his Scotch.

"Yes. That's why I surround myself with good men like Joseph and people like Miyu so when it goes to ahh shit, nobody has to bear the burden alone."

She shook her head.

"They don't help. People. They don't help."

"Being alone doesn't help either. That's the only way I've ever succeeded. I'm not a subtle man, which is not a good thing for this world of ours. But I've always had good people and together we've made some sort of headway and weathered some nasty storms. I'd be dead a dozen times over without Miyu or the Brujah I used to hire, and I'd still be pushing paper in London without having people to bounce crazy ideas off of and refine down to something better. I'll take whatever comes with friends and family rather than pull a Chase and be all alone and bitter."

Her nose wrinkled again, as though she had smelled something bad.

"Can we not talk about Captain Asshole, please?"

Victor laughed "Ok. Also that was funny."

She stared at him blankly.

"What was?"

"Captain Asshole. I laughed. It was funny."

She grinned.

"Well, he is."

Victor sipped his drink and smiled. "True. Ok. Oh, I got you and Erik a Christmas present." He reached into his briefcase and pulled out an antique cut crystal decanter

Both hands went to her mouth to cover it.

"Oh, Victor, you shouldn't have!"

"You sound like Miyu now" he said dryly

She looked up at him, confused.

"Huh?" Then she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Victor. It's lovely."

The Ventrue chuckled and smiled

"She says the same thing every time I give her a gift. Glad you like it."

She smiled.

"It's beautiful. I'll be sure to let you know what Erik says, too."

"Thanks" he smiled. "It's Bavarian by the way"

She smiled.

"You're entirely too generous."

"You know how hard it is to shop for Kindred?"

She smirked.

"You know how hard it is to shop for mages?"

Victor laughed "Not my problem there." He fought the urge to suggest a swamp boat, a case of Coors Lite and some chewing tobacco for Tisa.

She grinned and flipped him the bird.

"You couldn't handle me" he chuckled