ellectrical | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Elle spent a long time in the shower. Or at least, a long time for her, which is about seven minutes. But it's a luxury she hasn't been able to use recently, and now is easy enough, as long as she's careful.

She exits X's bathroom a short while later, in jeans and a white sleeveless shirt, still toweling off her damp hair. It's something else she probably wouldn't do were she anywhere else but this apartment, but in this moment, she simply lowers the towel, and slowly folds it over.

(Her steps are slow, and deliberate, as though she were walking through shallow water, and her eyes are on the floor.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

X's gaze flicks over to Elle, and she speeds up on feeding the fish before quickly returning the bloodworms to the freezer.

She'll wash her hands in a second.

"You are hungry?"

She finishes folding the towel.

Then, her eyes snap up.

"Um -"

Beat. "Maybe."

"Are you?"

"I will eat if you are," X offers.

It's definitely a true statement.

Even if this is not, precisely, the time of day at which X generally chooses to eat.

She looks down, then takes another step forward.

"I just - feel weird."

X washes her hands quickly, then moves in Elle's direction.

"It is bad?"

Beat.

"The -- weird."

She pronounces that last as if it is a foreign word, or at least one she doesn't use often.

"It's not bad."

She starts walking again, toward the kitchen, but her steps are still slow.

"I - I'm feeling something, but I don't know what it is."

X meets Elle just outside of the archway to the kitchen, pausing as if uncertain where to go next.

"You know why?"

Beat.

"Or that is confusing, too."

X has had those months.

She looks down, then lifts her right hand.

"It's like this when I'm - wearing this."

(She probably means the silver cuff on her wrist.)

X flicks a glance at Elle's right hand, frowning slightly as she studies it.

And the indicated silver cuff, of course.

Then, carefully --

"It makes you feel? Different."

Beat.

"Than before."

"Yeah."

She moves her hand carefully through the air, as though experimenting with something.

"Or - how I'm feeling things is different."

X's gaze flicks from Elle's wrist to her face, and holds there.

"It is more? That you are feeling."

Beat.

"Or less."

It seems to matter to most people. X --

Well.

X has never felt 'more'.

"More?"

Slowly, Elle closes her hand into a fist. "I'm not -"

Then, she yanks her fist back toward her chest.

At the same moment, a drawer slams open, forks and knives clattering onto the floor and across the room.

It might be a little startling.

X's reaction is instinctive.

snikt

Her nostrils flare, too, as she checks for the scent of Magneto or Polaris.

But there is only . . . .

Elle?

"You have gained a secondary mutation?"

Elle's eyes are on the floor. She doesn't answer.

After a long moment, however, she slowly opens her hand again, and then sweeps it forward.

The spilled silverware slams back to the other side of the room, and Elle takes two steps back.

X flicks a glance between Elle and the spilled silverware, then decides to move toward the other woman.

Clean-up can happen later.

"You have been practicing?"

"I don't -"

A few of the forks rattle as she moves her hand again, and she keeps still.

"I didn't mean - I didn't know."

"What to do?"

X frowns a little, trying to parse out the sequence of events.

"Or how."

Beat.

"Or how to explain?"

"I didn't - do it before."

Though she stays still, a few sparks begin to snap up over her hand.

X's nostrils flare as she takes in Elle's scent.

Just in case there is fear there.

"You do not -- "

She frowns, looking for the right words.

" -- like it?"

Having it, using it, or having it happen at all? X is not sure.

"I don't -"

She tries lowering her hand again, sparks still crackling over her skin. The silverware stays where it is.

Finally, she looks up to X again.

"It's new."

"But you are -- "

X hesitates, looking for the right word.

" -- okay?"

Very slowly, she takes another step back.

This time, nothing moves.

After glancing around, as though to make sure - "I'll try to not break anything."

"It is okay," X says quietly.

Then, after a longer pause --

"You will want to train?"

Elle glances to the floor, otherwise staying still.

"I think I have to."

X moves another step forward, close enough to nudge her shoulder against Elle's.

Gently.

"You will do it here?"

Beat.

"Or at home."