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Who: Oliver Day (

oliverplus) and Sebastian Flyte (

fruitbrandy)
Where: Oliver's favourite pub in Gondolla and presumably a bar in Oxford
When: Sometime after their first conversation
What: Oliver and Sebastian have a surprise (and accidental) meeting off the Plane
Warnings: Alcohol and male bonding

Oliver finished leaving a message for Anna and then slipped his datapad back into his pocket. She'd be expecting him at home, and after the day he'd had, he wasn't ready to go there yet. She'd be worried that he was planning to spend the evening in the pub alone--again--but he knew her well enough to know she wouldn't protest or come after him. And what he really wanted right now was a little time to himself. Anna was always willing to listen to his work woes, but lately his life had become more complicated than refugees who weren't getting their credits. And there was no way he was going to breathe a word about that other place he ran away to--not to Anna or anyone else--so he was much better off alone and away from prying questions for a while.

So it was that, with domestic worries out of his mind, he turned to the bartender. "One pint. Oh, and some chips." Good chips always made a bad day better, after all.

Waiting for his order, he relaxed on the stool, turning around to survey the other occupants of the pub. Even after a year, he hadn't really started to socialise with the other regulars, but people-watching was always a fun way to unwind. And when your life had you tired, it was nice to shift your focus to someone else's.

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Anthony was Sebastian's companion in drinking for evening, and in light of this, Sebastian had left Aloysius at home on the chance of a disreputable detour when they went back to Oxford. Sebastian may not have been one of the most well-behaved Flytes ever born, but he took care of Aloysius as best as he could.

Over his second glass of Brandy Alexander, as Anthony told Sebastian stories about the Princess Royal's marriage last year, Sebastian noticed Oliver Day casually at first, with a brief moment of recognition before his attention slid back to his friend. It then occurred to him how out of place Oliver was - his clothing stood out amongst the other patrons, a perfect little anachronism situated neatly amongst what was ordinary for Oxford living. Sebastian remembered his meeting with Dorian and decided that he had to speak with Oliver. He put his hand on Anthony's arm, asked for their time together to be cut short and picked up at a later date, and waited for Anthony to leave after a goodbye-kiss on the forehead. He wouldn't want Anthony to think Sebastian was abandoning him for an invisible friend. It might hurt Anthony's feelings.

Sebastian had consideration if not self-awareness, discretion if not modesty.

With that done, Sebastian made his way to Oliver with a smile, still holding his drink. "Oliver. How good it is to see you. And what a happy surprise!"

It took Oliver a moment to notice Sebastian, but when he did, he couldn't help doing a double-take. What was he doing--no how was he here? He almost called something to him, but then he realised that Sebastian was engaged in some sort of conversation with...well, the empty seat next to him. Something was very clearly wrong here--an idea that was only made more obvious as Oliver took another glance around the pub. Sebastian couldn't have looked more out-of-place here if he'd tried, with his upper-class appearance and his clothing made of materials that were no longer produced. And yet, not a single person was even glancing in his direction. What was going on here?

But Oliver's attention was momentarily drawn away as the bartender set a pint and a basket of chips in front of him. "Cheers," he muttered. He was just turning back to see what Sebastian was doing when he found the young man in question headed toward him, carrying a drink.

"Sebastian! What are you doing here?" he asked. Never before in his life had he said that with quite such a literal meaning.

"Drinking, mainly." Perhaps against Sebastian's credit, that was what he was doing in most places someone could find him. But he had only had one (and a half) of the odd concoction Anthony had ordered so far, so he was relatively sober.

"You see," Sebastian continued, taking the seat beside Oliver, "Antoine has been raving for for weeks about how delightful he found this new little drink - 'Brandy Alexander' - and how he had it at the wedding of the Princess Royal, and he had promised to take me out to try it and listen to his stories about the marriage. But I had to speak to you when I saw you were here."

As usual, Sebastian didn't bother to explain the imperative that commanded him.

Luckily for Sebastian, Oliver didn't ask for an explanation as he was already too busy being confused by everything else he'd said. "But what do you mean? I mean...how...what..." He gestured vaguely, struggling for words.

Then he decided it was better to stop attempting to ask questions for a second and think about this. He had seen Sebastian talking to an empty seat, after all. If Sebastian was here with a friend, it was a friend Oliver couldn't see, and it definitely wasn't someone he'd heard of around the Plane yet. So what did that mean? "Sebastian, where are you?" he asked instead. "I mean...is this one of those merger things?"

That gave him an idea, and he glanced around the pub again. No one seemed any more bothered about Sebastian than they had before, but there were a few patrons--and one bartender--giving Oliver odd looks now. His eyes widened, and he reached for his ear, pretending to fiddle with a non-existent earpiece. "They can't see you, can they?" he whispered, trying to work out if there was a way to tilt this situation so he wouldn't come out looking crazy.

"Oh, no." Sebastian hastened to assure Oliver that he was quite right and not mad. It did not occur to him that this wouldn't be a comfort for what other people might think of him. "Nor can anyone I know see you. It's why I asked Anthony to leave before I said hello. I'm getting more than a few odd looks presently."

Unlike Oliver, Sebastian did not try to lower his voice and look any less insane. His eccentricities were well-known around campus and they had become well-known precisely because he didn't care to hide them.

"Yeah...I'm definitely getting odd looks." Oliver glanced around again, then put his hand back to his ear and raised his voice for his audience's benefit. "Just a sec, I'm gonna try to get a better connection. How's that? Good? Good." At least two of his observers seemed to lose interest at that, which was reassuring. He turned back to Sebastian. "Sorry about that. So, I take it you've run into somebody like this before? How does it work?" He idly grabbed his pint and took a drink. He had a feeling he was going to need it more than ever now.

"Oh, I don't know." Sebastian didn't seem particularly bothered by this because he wasn't. Perhaps it was a bad habit, but Sebastian had taken up the idea of simply accepting things and refused to complicate his life by worrying too much about anything. This meant that he had never really gotten the calming introductory-information package, as he had never thought to ask for it.

"I bumped into Dorian - Dorian Gray, have you met him? - at the Botanical Gardens in Oxford. Only for him, it was Hyde Park. It was all very peculiar, as it was my summer - still is, actually - and his winter. And when we, or rather I, bumped into Monsignor Bell, Dorian didn't see him at all, and I don't think Monsignor Bell saw Dorian, which I suppose could be very foreboding if one wanted to take things that way, but Dorian seemed convinced it had something to do with the Astral Plane. Which makes sense, as Dorian and I are separated by a few decades, I believe."

He delivered this ramble with the smoothness of a legato piano piece, then punctuated his song with a sip of Brandy Alexander. A few people were still watching him, but most were content to believe him drunk or just odd (someone suggested that Aloysius had turned invisible) and so most of the patrons had chosen to leave him alone. He, of course, didn't pay attention to it either way.

Oliver shook his head. "No, I haven't met Dorian." He grabbed a chip while he listened to Sebastian's explanation, trying to catch any significant details. He also didn't like to worry too much about life, but his curiosity tended to get the better of him about most things anyway. He wanted to know how this worked. Not to mention he was worried about the opinions of the people around him--he didn't have much of a social network on Gondovan as it was--so he figured the more he knew about this phenomenon, the easier it would be to deal with it without looking mad.

"So you were both in a park--or gardens, really--and you ran into each other, even though you were sort of in different places. And we're both in a pub, and the same thing happened," Oliver said, nodding thoughtfully. "That...sort of makes sense, I guess. But I'm sure you're right about the Plane! I mean...we've got millions of miles and plenty of years between us, but we met anyway." He said it without thinking, forgetting for the moment that he'd been keeping quiet about his current location to just about everyone until Tamaki had asked too many earnestly-interested questions and gotten more information out of him.

But he didn't notice his slip, as his attention was immediately pulled away by a glass appearing in Sebastian's hand. "Whoa! Hey, you didn't have that drink until just now."

Sebastian finished the glass and then lifted it up to the light, looking at it from underneath. "Yes. And tragically empty, now. I suppose it's because I'm holding it, or touching it perhaps, though then all the counter should appear to you. I don't know. Still, it would look very peculiar to you if I started drinking from an invisible glass, wouldn't it?"

It had looked odd to Dorian when Sebastian had started apologising to an invisible cleric, but Sebastian hadn't really thought of that. He politely ordered another Brandy Alexander, then glanced at Oliver. "Would you like one?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so. Then again, I don't know if it'd be much weirder than us both being in a different pub but being in the same one!"

Oliver grabbed another chip, but he paused with it halfway to his mouth, suddenly wondering how strange it must look to Sebastian that he was eating chips from an invisible basket. But really, following that train of thought was just going to bring them in circles, so he ate the chip anyway and set the thoughts aside.

Instead, he raised an eyebrow at Sebastian's offer. A new drink, being sent to him across space and time? How could he refuse? "Assuming it doesn't disappear when you let go of it? Sure! I'll give it a go."

Sebastian was not in the slightest disturbed by the magically appearing chips, perhaps because he didn't tend to be quite that attentive, perhaps because he had a talent for accepting the extraordinary. But he did understand the important thing: Oliver wanted a drink.

"Would you like a Brandy Alexander, then? Or something else. They do all sorts here."

Of course, if something was invented after 1923, Oliver would be out of luck. That thought didn't occur to Sebastian.

The thought did occur to Oliver, but really, Sebastian's constant references to the drink had him curious, so why worry about thinking of something else timing-appropriate?

"Yeah, I'll try one! But I'm taking your word for it that it's good." He grinned, starting to feel more relaxed with Sebastian. It helped that some new patrons had distracted the bartender and those already there seemed to slowly be losing interest in him. They were easier to ignore when he couldn't feel their eyes boring into his back.

He also had a feeling this Brandy Alexander would make them even easier to tune out, which sounded like a good idea to him. Not to mention he could blame all this on drunkenness in the end. This situation was sounding better by the moment. He took another drink from his pint. It wouldn't do to get another drink without finishing the first!

"I'd rather you take Antoine on his." Sebastian smiled at Oliver before turning to the bartender to order. He did not notice the amusement in the bartender's smile, but rather picked up on the friendliness and was happy with that. Distracted for the moment from his companion, Sebastian watched the drinks being prepared with some curiosity before accepted the two glasses, holding one out to Oliver.

"May we be very lucky in this exchange."

"What, you haven't tried it yet?" Oliver asked incredulously. After all, Sebastian had arrived here first, hadn't he? But trying something new was often more fun when you were all in it together, so he couldn't complain. "Well, guess we'll take your friend's word for it, then!"

When Sebastian turned toward the bar, Oliver watched curiously, following his gaze, but all he could see was a bartender preparing drinks for other patrons. He focused on downing the rest of his first drink as he waited for an invisible glass to appear in Sebastian's hand. He wanted to be ready to properly appreciate whatever a Brandy Alexander was like.

He couldn't help his look of surprise when two glasses did appear seemingly out of nowhere, but he quickly shifted it to a grin, accepting one of the drinks. "To luck!"

"Oh, no, I have, but it was on Anthony's recommendation. I liked it. I rather think Charles wouldn't. And I don't know your tastes." Sebastian smiled, though, and lifted his glass.

"To luck."

And without a thought about the people who were looking at him, Sebastian tilted back his drink and enjoyed Anthony's suggestion.

"I'm not picky! But it does look awful fancy," Oliver admitted, wondering if he was even going to taste the brandy around all that creme.

But he grinned at Sebastian, tilting back his drink and giving it a try. He swallowed, enjoying the taste of it for a moment before he lowered his glass. "It's not very strong, but it's got good flavour. Not bad," he said with a smile.

"Good!" Oliver's happiness was Sebastian's own, or at least it spurred his on, and he was more generous in his drinking as a result. "I don't know if it was fancy. I wonder. It was supposedly invented at the wedding of the Princess Royal, so perhaps it was, or perhaps it isn't and this is false advertising to excuse unreasonable prices. Oh well. I suppose prices are always unreasonably high."

Sebastian's grasp of economics was weak at best, but this didn't stop him from making general observations on it based on the chatter of his friends.

Oliver took another drink. It wasn't really to his usual tastes, but company was three-fourths of pubbing, so the taste didn't matter that much. He couldn't help a wry smile at Sebastian's comment on economics, mostly because Sebastian struck him as the sort of person who didn't have to pay much attention to prices. Still, he had a point about the drink. "Yeah, I bet just a rumour of that would drive prices up, let alone if it's true. Hey, how'd your friend know about this, anyway? Did you say he was at the wedding?"

He remembered Sebastian making a comment to that effect earlier, but he'd been so distracted by the unexpected meeting that it hadn't really registered until now. He supposed it was just a bit more evidence as to the prestige of Sebastian's social circles, but he couldn't help feeling a little awed anyway. He'd met royal families on other planets, sure, but there was something about the idea of knowing the British Royal Family that struck him with a perhaps-childish wonder.

Sebastian nodded. "Antoine tends to be," he said, because it was the truth. That's just how Anthony Blanche was. He knew anyone and everyone and had affairs with all people one was meant to have affairs with, not to mention quite a few that one wasn't meant to engage. While most greeted this with some fear and admiration, Sebastian took it in along with everything else that Anthony was and accepted it as part of Anthony's 'charm.'

Sebastian's attention shifted and suddenly focused on a question that he felt he must ask. "What is it like in Birmingham in whatever year you're from? I've never been there nor to your year, so I wouldn't know anything of it. It's like a different planet for all the good experience does me."

"Wow," Oliver remarked. He looked curiously at Sebastian. "Hey...do you know the royal family?" It was a silly question, really--it wasn't like it would mean anything if Sebastian said yes. But meeting someone who knew the royal family was somewhere on his unwritten list of "things that will probably never happen to me," and he couldn't help wondering if he'd just blown that one out of the water.

At Sebastian's question, however, Oliver's curiosity faded for the moment. "Uh..." He took another drink, delaying as he tried to scramble to remember what he'd told Sebastian before. Then again, now that he'd started properly explaining himself to people--well, if not properly, then at least a fair bit closer to properly--he should probably go ahead and make the distinction. "I was last in Birmingham in 2006. I live elsewhere now--in the 27th century. So I guess it depends if you wanna know about Birmingham in the future or an actual other planet in the way future. What do you think?" He smiled wryly, trying to cover how awkward the topic made him feel.

"Oh, I like to leave all the London hostesses and high society affairs to mummy and Julia, but Prince George only came for the evening and I escaped to the gardens as soon as I was done with the greeting and eating. I imagine that was a bit cruel of me, as Bridey is such a bore. Poor Prince Henry is about Bridey's age and I was meant to keep Prince George entertained, so perhaps it was kinder of me to have left them at least each other for staving the dullness of it all off. Julia's still so cross she can't marry them. It's all perfect poppy."

The meandering monologue was delivered with disinterested sincerity as Sebastian, ever the child, was preoccupied more with the arrangements of pleasures than possible social prestige. More interesting to him was Oliver's situation, or rather, the opportunities it provided. "Then could you tell me about both? I've never known either of them."

It seemed ridiculous of him to question Oliver's situation when he had been brought to the Astral Plane.

Oliver, admittedly, couldn't quite follow Sebastian's monologue, and his curiosity insisted that he ask at least a couple questions to attempt to clarify it a bit. "Is Julia your sister, then? Who's...uh...Bridey?"

But Sebastian's question to him was, in its own way, even more complicated than working out the social goings-on of a group of people he didn't know. How did you explain the 21st and 27th centuries to someone from Sebastian's time? What would most of it even mean to him? Still, he couldn't avoid the question now--not when he had Sebastian's interest.

"Well..." he began eloquently, fumbling for words and wishing he'd studied modern history half as much as he'd studied classical history. "Birmingham'd probably look huge and very metal in 2006, compared to the 1920's. Cars everywhere. Telly. Microwaves. Lots of new things! Uh..." Oliver trailed off, not really sure how to begin to explain any of the technology. Maybe it was best to leave it at that for now and move on to something else. Maybe things that were uniquely Birmingham? Sebastian had asked about the city specifically, after all, and he didn't want to disappoint.

"The Bull Ring's one of the big attractions--it's a huge shopping centre. Well, for the second time since your time, even. Oh, and we've got Botanical Gardens, too! Not to mention Cadbury World. Are you a fan of chocolate?" He grinned, starting to feel a bit more at ease, though the topic was still very awkward for him. Better not to pause now. "And there's Millenium Point! There's a planetarium there. Not to mention an IMAX theatre! Movies in three dimensions, with colour and sound and about as close to life as you can get. I think you'd find it rather amazing." He continued grinning as he spoke, but he faltered slightly after that, remembering a particular IMAX-viewing experience with one Chloe Elliot, and his smile became fond but sad. "I...don't know what else to say," he said quickly, fumbling for something to pull his mind from those particular memories. "I guess...if you went there, the BT Tower'd stand out, too. It's the tallest building in the city--31 stories, which isn't much in the 21st century, really. The world's very tall and metal all over in 2006. I mean...I'm not saying that in a bad way. It's just...I don't know. Home." He stopped again, wondering briefly how it could have become so hard to describe Birmingham. Had it really been that long? No, it wasn't that. He still remembered it, in complete detail, but those memories weren't easy to share anymore--not with anyone on Gondovan, and certainly not with someone from the 1920's. So much of the meaning was lost.

Then again, he was at even more of a loss as to what to say about Gondovan. "You're gonna have to help me with the 27th century, 'cause I don't even know where to begin," he said, smiling awkwardly. "I guess...I live on a little planet--almost all desert. It's got one sun, a sky like candy floss, and two moons. There's even more technology there than in the 21st century, but they tend to gravitate toward making everything smaller instead of larger and more impressive. Well...I guess that's really just because the settlements on Gondovan are relatively small." He paused again, taking another drink of his Brandy Alexander as he waited for some indication from Sebastian as to what else he might want to know.

"Brideshead. My older brother."

It was harder to grasp at the description of 2006 than the 27th century alien planet, perhaps because there were fewer words foreign to him, but what he couldn't understand he filled in with imagination and extra helpings of jumps of logic. He said, "Are their gardens on Gondovan?"

"Ohhh." Oliver had a feeling he should have been able to work out that relation on his own, but he definitely wasn't used to the workings of nobility. "How's he feel about your nickname? Or does he get that from most people?" he asked, smirking slightly.

Sebastian's question, however, caught him off-guard. "Well...I know they've got food production outside the city, so there are those sorts of gardens. But as far as flower gardens to walk through...I don't know. I haven't heard of any."

"Well, 'Brideshead' is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? We've all been calling him Bridey as far back as I can remember." But the topic of his family was not a point of great interest to Sebastian, so instead he considered what Oliver had said for a moment.

He thought, then said, "Perhaps you could build one."