© cami o'connell | the originals

[bravebartender]

	✔ Cʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs/AU ✔ Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ✔ Pʀᴏsᴇ	✔ Pɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ✔ Oᴛʜᴇʀᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ✔ Sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀs	♥ F/M, F/F ⏰ Uᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ

Comments

[aworldonfire]

[he winces on her behalf. he didn't mean to bring up bad memories and he has the suspicion he managed just that]

Sorry I asked.

[bravebartender]

Don't worry about it. Just mentioning it isn't going to give me PTSD flash backs.

[She doesn't want to go more into it than that, but she can at least explain her move to New York.]

So what do you do?

[aworldonfire]

[he shrugs faintly (fair enough), even if he still feels a little guilty, and takes another sip of his drink. when he lowers it, he answers] Defense attorney. [a beat] Me and a friend have our own firm a few blocks from here. Nelson & Murdock.

[they're also the only people here at Josie's who are allowed to and do have a running tab, in spite of what all the signs say. Josie knows they're good for it -- or will be eventually. it probably doesn't hurt that they've given her legal advice on occasion and that she knew his father, either]

[bravebartender]

Ahhhh. I've heard of you. Josie's ... I'm not sure fond is the right word, but I'm getting the impression that it's as close as Josie gets.

[aworldonfire]

Sounds about right.

[he flashes her a smile and, after a beat, holds out a hand in her general direction] I'm Murdock. [another pause] Matt.

[bravebartender]

[Cami smiles before reaching forward to shake his hand.]

Cami. O'Connell. Nice to meet you.

[aworldonfire]

[he takes his hand back after a firm handshake, fingers trailing the counter in front of him idly] You, too, Miss O'Connell.

[bravebartender]

Cami. Please. Unless you want me to be all formal and call you Mr. Murdock.

[aworldonfire]

[and he lets out a breath of a laugh at that]

Yeah, no, not so much. [Mister Murdock is only really reserved for his clients, when they have them] So, Cami it is, then.

[bravebartender]

Matt.

[She nods in agreement.]

It's nice to meet you.

[aworldonfire]

[still smiling, he hums, amused, and not unkindly:] I think we did this part already. [or else he would have said you, too back]

[bravebartender]

Right.

[She shakes her head.]

Sorry. I should probably stick with serving the booze and not drinking it.

[Not that she's been drinking on the job, but again, more jokes.]

[aworldonfire]

[he waves a hand at her]

You're fine. [a beat] Guess I should leave the jokes to my partner. [which is to say: he was kidding in pointing that out in the first place]

[bravebartender]

[She shakes her head.]

New girl nerves, I guess. It's been a while since I've lived in a new city.

[aworldonfire]

I'll try and keep that in mind. [he'll try and be gentle with her] I've kind of lived in Hell's Kitchen all my life, so ... [he's pretty sure she's doing better than he would, if he decided to skip town]

[bravebartender]

[She nods in agreement.]

It's just ... a different kind of city, I guess. Different kinds of worries.

[aworldonfire]

[he's silent for a moment, taking another sip of his drink]

If it makes you feel any better, from what I understand, you get used to it?

[bravebartender]

[She nods a bit in agreement.]

I'm sure I will. It's just right now it feels more complicated than it should be. And a lot like I'm running away.

[aworldonfire]

Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor.

[says the guy who doesn't know when to run away or stay down even when it's in his best interests]

[bravebartender]

[She nods in agreement.]

Sometimes it is. And sometimes walking away from a problem is exactly what you need to get perspective.

[aworldonfire]

[and now it's his turn to nod]

So, you weren't running away. [she was, as she said, getting perspective]

[bravebartender]

[She considers, before giving a small shrug.]

I was ... half running away.

[aworldonfire]

[he offers her a teasing smile]

And we're back to running in circles again.

[because his argument would be, again, discretion is the better part of valor and all that]

[bravebartender]

[She laughs.]

Which is probably a good sign I should let you go back to drinking in peace.

[aworldonfire]

You're fine. [he waves her off] Just, ah -- [subject change, subject change. what can he do for a subject change?] -- tell me about New Orleans? [he's not trying to pry into whatever made her run and to try and demonstrate that, he adds:] I've never actually been outside of New York.