Several beers later, Roger’s suspicions about the Brewmaster seemed to have dissipated completely. The Brewmaster and he were chatting happily across the table from one another, discussing the particulars of the concoction called salmon beer, which Elliott still thought sounded disgusting.
“No, I think if you use the right amount of hops it’ll balance it out nicely,” Roger said, nodding, internally measuring the right amount of hops for fishy beer. “Now, would it work better if they were caught in the fresh water or salt..…”
Elliott turned away from that discussion. Shavian’s eyes went wide and she blushed when she saw that Elliott was watching her: she had plucked a single fluffy pancake off the stack, smeared it around her plate to soak up the maple syrup, then rolled it up and bit off half of it in one mouthful.
“The only one who knows what a salad is, huh?” Elliott asked. Shavian shrugged and grinned sheepishly and completely failed to punch him or glare at him. Either the promise of new clothes had cheered her more than he thought or he was growing on her. Regardless of which, he didn’t get punched and he felt that was good progress.
Elliott deliberately didn’t look at Higgins. He’d only dealt with a few girls’ over-protective father figures in the past and he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with one who had access to lots of guns; there was no doubt the older man was taking a fatherly role for them all though and as scary as he was, that made Elliott feel a little safer. Elliott’s own father was a good man, but didn’t understand his strange son at all and they’d never been close.
Meanwhile, the rest of their little party had gone through several pitchers of beer; even Junie had a glass (a mocha porter) and she wasn’t even that big a fan of beer. She had turned her chair to face Fipps and the two of them were engaged in a quiet conversation. Elliott smiled at that: Fipps seemed a decent fellow and though he may never understand Junie he seemed quite inclined to accepting her. For Junie, that would be enough. He caught Junie’s eye and she smiled at him, murmuring something to Fipps as she stood to come talk to him.
Junie laid a friendly hand on his shoulder.
“How are you feeling this morning?” she asked him. “You were pretty trashed last night.” Her voice was as vague as ever but there was a sharpness to her eyes that was rare.
“I’m okay. Kinda hung over,” he admitted. Junie affectionately brushed a lock of his black hair away from his face in a sisterly gesture. Shavian had turned away.
Roger and Higgins finally moved to the other side of the table and had theirs heads together with the Brewmaster’s, talking animatedly and writing down notes. Well, Roger and the Brewmaster were talking animatedly anyway; Higgins was nodding animatedly. Jackson, as he had been for some time, was absent and Elliott didn’t miss him at all. In fact, he rather thought this would have been ruined with him there.
Elliott leaned back in his chair and cradled a glass of beer in his hand. He felt content and strangely happy, given the circumstances. Chaos still no doubt raged outside these walls, but for now, he and his friends were safe and that was enough for him.