ellectrical | (no subject)

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This time, Elle stopped running before she collapsed.

As she’d started about noon, it was now nearing dusk. The sky was a deep blue slipping further into black, and Elle had dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged in the grass near the shoreline of the lake, watching the sunlight along it dissipate as the evening deepened.

Her breathing, which not so long ago had been harsh and ragged, had evened out by now, deep and slow, so that she barely seemed to move. She didn’t flinch or even glance away at the sounds of others on the grounds, or to any sudden ripples in the water. Though her eyes on the water, she seemed to follow nothing at all, her expression not closed, but empty.

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X shifts a little, just enough so that her hand brushes against Elle's arm, just for a second.

"Okay."

She can wait, too.

It is all right.

Elle doesn't seem to mind the silence, though after a moment, her shoulders slip straighter once more.

Then -

"What were you doing?"

"Meditating."

Her answer is prompt.

"It is more difficult when there are no walls."

But she --

She might like the challenge. A little.

Or something.

Elle's shoulders stay straight this time.

With no particular inflection in her voice, "Why?"

"I -- "

X hesitates, gaze flicking toward Elle and then away again.

"I do not know."

Elle goes quiet again, though she doesn't immediately look away from X.

However, as the silence lengthens, she does look away - up, toward the increasingly dark sky.

"Sometimes it was a while before I saw it."

X tilts her head very slightly, studying Elle.

"I am allowed to ask?"

She tries hard not to look confused.

She looks down to X again.

After a pause -

"A place without walls."

"Oh."

X shifts her weight again, pressing the palms of her hands hard against the ground.

"I -- yes."

Elle's shoulders slump again, and she pulls her knees into her chest.

"I was running."

Beat. "Around the lake."

X does not frown.

"Laps?"

It sort of makes sense. For training.

"Yeah."

She leans forward to rest her chin on her knees, though she's still watching X.

"But I had to stop."

X's eyes narrow.

"You did not get hurt?"

Did she?

"Or someone made you? Stop."

She shakes her head, and after a short delay there's a small, amused smile.

"I did it for too long. I couldn't anymore."

Some people actually have that problem, X.

Edited 2011-06-29 07:42 (UTC)

"Oh."

X absorbs that for a moment or two.

Then --

"You are resting? Now."

That is what people call it, right?

There's a pause, during which Elle's smile doesn't dissipate.

Then, she reaches over, and (playfully) shoves at X's shoulder.

X neither laughs nor smiles, but a vast amount of tension leaks out of her shoulders.

Then, very carefully, she reaches out and shoves back.

Elle does let out a swift peel of laughter when X returns the gesture.

But still, if delayed, she answers X's question -

"Not anymore."

"Good," X says.

Just in case there is a need for running.

Or, you know.

Practicing.

Soon.

She doesn't reply at once. Her gaze falls back to the water (the sky has dipped into twilight, and much less light flickers across the lake's surface now), and her smile casually dissipates.

Once it's gone, she shifts, leaning back with one hand on the ground as though to prepare to push herself up.

The other hand, however, she offers to X.

X, head tilting in curiosity but not uncertainty, reaches out to take Elle's proffered hand.

Elle pushes herself up to stand, likely pulling X along up with her.

She hesitates a moment, as though unsure whether or not is already clear, but then seems to decide to say, "I can practice now."

"Okay," X says, holding on to Elle's hand for a few moments longer than she needs to.

"You will be able to see?"

She shrugs, and answers simply:

"Can't have everything."

She does not look dubious, just studies Elle a little more carefully.

And for a much longer time.

Then --

"Okay."