The end of William's date?

Will and Chris arrived at the cabin. Chris was the first to speak up. “Hey, they added a bookshelf here as well. What does it hold?” He looked at a bunch of blank spines, already having forgotten that this was supposed to be a date with William.

William, on the other hand, tried to leave but was unable to. [Chris, your guest wants to leave. Could you remind them they are only able to after eight?] Ember’s suggestion pulled the man distracted by the new feature of his cabin back to the here and now.

“William, you can only leave after eight, remember? There is a shower should you want to take one.” Chris said with a smile. “Or we could both read a book we like. Or something else?” He stammered. He had yet to figure out what path he could take with William to put him at ease and for both of them to gain trust in one another.

“Sure, how about we talk over drinks after we both have had another shower? You are welcome to join me. It isn’t like you haven’t seen me naked.” William said calmly, with little to no awkwardness. Chris joined him, and with the unspoken tension between them, neither dared speak as they rinsed off the afternoon's sweat.

The resident of the cabin went to the kitchen to get drinks. “So do you want to talk about beer or just over it? I see I can grab a whole spectrum of flavours in lambics, amber, doubles, tripples, you name it; the fridge seems to give it to me.”

“Why would I talk about beer?” The fellow victim of Missy asked.

“Okay, not a person who likes to taste what he drinks. Sure, I will get you a ‘random’ drink in the appropriate glass.” Chris said with a chuckle in his voice. For himself, he grabbed a beer in a wide glass in a deep amber colour; the glass read ‘La Trappe’. The other glass placed before William was tall, with a ball on the bottom in a wooden holder; this glass read ‘Pauwel Kwak’. “Here you go, a special beer from my time in the Benelux.”

“What is so special about it?” A question laced with suspicion when compared to the almost dessert-glass style Chris had.

As Chris sipped his beer, he said, “That is for you to find out. I will tell you I advise sips over big gulps.” Which William, almost as if to be defiant, started doing so after the second large gulp; he suddenly got a large splash of the beer in his face instead of his mouth. Chris chuckled. “Hey, it isn’t called Kwak for nothing.”

“You knew this would happen, didn’t you?” The greedy man stated with an angry glare. He clearly hadn’t appreciated the drink as much as the one who gave it to him had.

“Yep, being greedy gets you punished with that type of design. At some point, the tip you make will be so large there is more liquid that wants to come out than you can drink or is reasonable.” The one who laid a trap responded calmly.

“That is unfair!” William shouted in a fit of rage.

“It is one of the official glasses; the other isn’t much fairer,” Chris stated matter-of-factly. “Want to try it with the other one?”

“No. Get me a normal one in a bottle.” The man covered in beer snapped back, angry at the idea of getting more soaked in beer. Chris nodded and came back with three pilsners in a wine cooler. “Why three?”

“Different brands, in case you had a preference. I am not much of a pilsner fan, but I know enough Dutch who do like them. Heineken is a relatively international brand, Hertog Jan is a brand I have seen some people swear by, and Bavaria is a brand that has a stake in the brewer of my beer. Pick your poison.” Chris said, looking them over.

“Did you ever taste them?” William asked, getting a nod in response. “Which one do you prefer?”

“All of them have little taste; they do taste better if they have had some time to age more… AKA are over the expiration date. Same goes for this one.” Chris said, raising his glass. “The guy giving me the tour in the monastery said so, and he isn’t wrong. I asked Noel- one of the resident monks- he said he never had any of it, so that is something to write about when I get back. One thing on the list of things that is quickly growing.” Chris took another sip.

The coach looked surprised. “Would a monk still want to associate with you now that you are out as Bi?”

Chris chuckled. “You think Noel is against homosexuality or Bisexuality? Nahh, man, being in the Netherlands, he had many conversations with people and had put a lot of thought into it. I think it helps that he is Belgian, but when I asked him about sexuality, he said, ‘He loves all his children who love others.’ A wonderful thought, I suppose. It just shows that the idea of love and compassion is central in his vision of Christianity, not all of the other rules. Like, for instance, not eating shellfish is a rule not too far from the not sleeping with men part.” William looked conflicted at this. “You know you need to act according to what you think is best for you morally and ethically. Stand for what you want. Stand for what you think. Let it lead you!”

Chris paused before adding. “Being frozen is worse than doing the wrong thing. People can forgive you. You can forgive yourself for the things you did a lot easier than the things you didn’t do…… One of the reasons I am really happy Jessie showed up as if to give me a second chance for a shot I never took. The reason why I talked them into getting that transformation. They know what I felt at the time… I don’t know what they felt, but the results speak louder than words, I suppose.”

“Do you honestly believe that?” William asked after opening the Heineken bottle with its signature pop. Chris nodded before sipping. “Why?”

“Experience, I suppose… My inaction has caused me more harm than good. Not asking Jessie out when we were young- then again, it might not have been the time. Not breaking up with Missy when I had the opportunity. Not looking for a partner afterwards. I don’t know if I was as lonely as Syl pretends I am… But I am sure that I missed a bunch of opportunities because I didn’t do stuff. I know Ryan picked up the slack a lot for our company on that part. He built us a network quickly, but it would have been better if I had participated. I joined in after a year; had I been sooner, the connections would have been deeper and better. We could have split the load better. The non-profits like me, companies and governments prefer Ryan.” Chris looked at William, evaluating his response. It wasn’t like he was giving him a lot of trust, but it was something. It was more than he believed William had given him.

“Do any of them know?”

“The Jessies do. Missy, I told her in an obtuse way, I think… Ryan doesn’t.” Chris responded between sips. William was finishing off the bottle already.

“Why?” William bent forward and grabbed the other beer.

A long pause followed. Chris considered his response longer than he had for the past two days. “Ryan wouldn’t want me to beat myself up over it. He knows I hate socialising, talking about nothing. Now most of the non-profits are clients, and I can talk about jobs we did and stuff. What do you want to do for this date? Just ask me questions.” Chris decided to go back to pushing.

“I thought I would get to know you.” William defended himself.

“That is fine. I do think that is a good thing, but if it becomes a way to not talk about you, it is a problem. We need to get to know EACH OTHER, not me you or you me, EACH OTHER. That is why I asked if you were just going to be asking me questions. I understand that opening up might be hard, but what was your life like before here? To be clear, I am not talking about work. How were your relationships, your regrets?” The person who had been making an honest effort to answer somewhat personal questions said, with frustration in his voice.

“Isn’t that going a bit too fast?” Another one of the coach’s deflections that Chris wasn’t having.

“Did I not talk about that stuff because you asked?” The master pointed out.

William looked at the bottle in his hand and started peeling the label. He didn’t answer. He knew that Chris was correct. The person he had slighted had been honestly responding to his questions. Questions that might have been more prying than he had realised. Questions that, if Chris had asked, he wouldn’t have answered. He couldn’t answer the question, instead standing up. “I am going to take a shower and go to bed. I think I need to think.” He left, leaving Chris alone or as alone as Chris could be- with Ember never hovering far.

Chris cupped his face in his hands as he mumbled to Ember. “So how badly did I push him there?”

[Not that badly. If I am honest, you answered more prying questions than I would have expected with your earlier spat. You did what you could. You asked him to open up in an open-ended way. You told him Tell me something about yourself, about relationships. He could have just talked about family.] The ball of fire crackled.

“Talking about family, do you have any? How does that work for elementals? This is one of the few moments we will have to us during the week, I am guessing.” Chris strained to smile, glad to be able to shift from the frustration that was William to Ember. The ball of fire moved closer to the fireplace before continuing to speak. “Do I need to get you something before we continue?” Chris added, but Ember's flames twisted in the familiar no gesture.

[Well, elementals don’t have an idea of family; we are born from a phenomenon, not another elemental. I am, however, a child of sorts… You can’t exactly have a forge without a human's help. I don’t remember who they were or what they looked like; all I remember is that what was supposed to be a grill was filled with charcoal, and air was added in a way that made it reach forging temperatures. They made a steak which was called a masterpiece.] The camera person chuckled for a moment, focused on Chris’s face. He was having fun with the story as well, with how silly it was. [Whoever they were, they had passion for cooking but no skill in setting up a grill. Or something went wrong; I have no idea beyond my initial conception. I am grateful, but that doesn’t mean I remember whoever did it.]

“I think I did something like that once or twice… I wonder if I ever created elementals?” Chris mused out loud.

[You just might have. Even if it isn’t a fire elemental like me, you might have made sure that air elementals like First-Flap-of-a-Butterfly’s-wings were born. You can’t have them without butterflies, and you protected a whole lot of butterflies.] Ember responded to the musing.

“Good point… Good point, I hadn’t thought about it like that. If it is like that, do you think I would run into some of my ‘offspring’ here?” The ecologist asked.

[Not likely; Syl has a minimum age requirement of 100 years, as well as the capability to understand English, Common, and at least one other humanoid language as a requirement for elementals. Then again, time shenanigans are always an option in Harem Hotel, so who knows.] The ball of fire replied in a blase tone.

“Why those requirements?” The question was faster than Chris’s actual thoughts.

[Sense of maturity for the age, I presume. The language one I can explain easier. You need to understand what people say in order to respond to what they are saying. It makes it easier for you to film, keep up with the audio, and do any other tasks not given in primordial.] Ember explained, and Chris nodded along.

“I understand. I remember my struggle with Dutch, French and German during my time in the Benelux. I picked up a decent amount, I think, or were they all just curse words? More the German and Dutch, to be honest. Even if the average Walloon is, well, a stubborn Frenchman at heart. Luckily, the Dutch and Flemish will try their best to speak English one-on-one.” Chris said, relating to the struggle. “I have a weird question, maybe, but did my free ‘upgrade’ to my transformation make it easier for you to understand me?”

[Kind of; it is best to say that the effort of needing to translate the language is gone… So in a sense yes, it is easier, but not by a lot. The biggest difference was after naming, though… I have a vague sense of your emotions.] Ember admitted.

“Is that normal?” Chris asked.

[Frankly, no clue. It is the first time I have bonded with anyone. Should I check?] Chris’s concern was noticeable before he spoke. Ember responded. [I will check with First-Melt-of-the-Laurentide. They are the oldest elemental on the crew; if anyone knows, they likely do.]

Ember relayed the question before answering that both of them agreed to it and that the recording should show that as well. Moving on with a thumbs-up from [First-Melt-of-the-Laurentide].