@elliotcnderson
Gabriel never really liked the uppermost level of Bay City, all its bright, shining opulence trying to catch your attention everywhere you turned, all that wealth thrown around so casually. He never really felt at ease here. But there was a job to be done, and often enough that job involved venturing upwards to try and hound corporate suits into saying something more interesting than whatever the company line happened to be this month. A job that, today, hadn’t been terribly successful. He’d managed to get one or two revealing remarks out of the representative, but after a long interview comprised largely of dry corporate talking points, it hardly felt rewarding.
What he really needed, Gabe decided as he left the building, was a drink and maybe something to eat. Something he would usually make his way back to one of his usual haunts in the middle city for. But he wasn’t really in the mood for small talk (not that he ever was, really), and something appealed to him about being where no one knew him, even if it meant tolerating the upper city and its overpriced fare a little longer.
He picked the place more or less at random, it had been a while since he’d been to this part of town for anything other than business, and got a seat at the bar. It was a little trendy for his tastes - most of them were - but it seemed as good a place as he was going to find to unwind a little. He ordered a manhattan from the synthetic bartender, and began to settle in, considered listening over some of the audio while details were still fresh in his mind, when he saw a flash familiar face from across the bar.
For a moment, he thought he must have imagined it. What were the chances, right? But then he flicked his image enhancement on, just to be sure, and there he was, without a doubt. Elliot Anderson. Gabe looked to the door, Elliot probably hadn’t seen him yet. He could just abandon the drink and find some other place to be and save them both the trouble but... he didn’t. The bartender brought him his drink, he thanked her, and tried to just think about work but his eyes keep wandering across the bar.
‘Damn it‘, Gabe thought, and stood, drink in hand. What he and Elliot had was a mess, something he really should have known better than to get involved in the first place, and yet... he cares. He worries. And the rumors he hears the entertainment columnists chattering about in the elevator really haven’t been helping. ‘We’re adults. We can handle a simple hello.’
“Elliot,” he said by way of greeting, sounding stiffer than he meant to. “It’s... it’s been a while. How have you been?”
