ellectrical | (no subject)

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It's been more than an hour since the sunset, but Elle hasn't moved since she climbed onto one of the rocks near the lakeshore in the midafternoon.

Really. She has not moved. Other than blink, Elle hasn't moved her eyes, her hands, hasn't resettled on the rock's rough surface or follow the line of the tide. Curled up against the stone, she'd simply laid down, facing the water, too still to be even waiting for something.

Someone with a typical set of senses might not even notice her.

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"I just ran away, X."

No more Company. No teams or initiatives or academies. Like her or not -

"I'm - not with anyone."

"You are with me," X says.

She should probably sound a little more hesitant.

"Even if we are not from the same world."

"I know."

Elle means it to be reassuring, but she's set herself too apart to get the tone right, leaving her voice flat. Perhaps in an effort to make up for it, her fingers move down X's arm to take her hand.

She's no better at trying to force inflection into her voice a second time, but she repeats it anyway. "I know."

"Okay."

X tries very hard not to sound uncertain, and she mostly succeeds.

She also twines her fingers with Elle's, though she keeps her grip loose.

Just in case Elle wants to get away.

She does not think everything is all right.

Then --

"There is something you want me to do?"

Elle stays still - her hand remains entwined in X's, but her eyes are cast down.

The truth is, she doesn't know what to say."

"I - can't take you back to my world."

Beat. "Not right now."

"Okay," X says, after a momentary pause.

"I will not try."

It's something like a promise.

But --

"Other people can be taken? If they are not like us."

She's quiet for another moment.

"I think - right now it's better if I'm not..."

"... noticeable."

Elle's fairly sure that's close to the word she's looking for.

X's attention sharpens.

"They know to be looking for you?"

Beat.

"Because of the Company."

It would be better if this were not the case, but X does not really believe in luck.

Edited 2012-04-11 01:52 (UTC)

"The Company didn't have my records."

Her father had taken care of that. Still, she pauses, and then gives a very small shrug.

"But it might still be hard to hide."

"Yes," X says, very carefully.

"It might be."

Beat.

"There are very many hit squads? Looking for people. Or it is government operatives in vans?"

Edited 2012-04-11 02:18 (UTC)

Elle blinks, expression unchanged.

"I think it's different, in different places. Some places might be safer."

"Okay."

X blinks in her turn.

"You know who will know which places are safe?"

"It's -"

But this time, she amends it.

"- out there, it's only me."

X thinks about that, too. Carefully.

"You think isolated will be better? Or you will be easier to find there."

"I think everyone like me also ran away."

Everyone who knew to run, anyway.

X considers that.

"They are flashier than you? Some of them. With their powers. And the way they behave."

If any of them are, this might at least buy Elle some time.

"Some of them aren't hiding."

Unlike Elle, most people don't feel so comfortable simply ignoring government requirements.

"And a lot of them - won't know how to."

X does not quite bite her lip, but it is close.

"Then it will take them longer? To start looking for you."

"I hope so."

With a small shift, "But I can't hide everything."

"Sometimes," X offers, a little hesitantly, "people forget to look."

It's not that Elle disagrees, exactly.

But with her free hand, Elle reaches up behind her head, pulling back her now short blonde hair. The neckline of her sleeveless shirt is low enough to reveal the base of the back of her neck, where there are two small, but readily visible, parallel scars.

X almost reaches out to touch them, but the movement is quickly aborted. Her free hand barely even leaves the surface of the rock.

Then, carefully --

"People have used tattoos. To hide scars. But that would be memorable, too."

"Yeah," Elle agrees, the thought having occurred to her as well.

"I don't think they know yet, but - the Company did it to almost everyone."

The exact same scars on so many people couldn't remain a secret for too long.

X tilts her head very slightly.

"They did not think people would notice?"

Beat.

"Or they did not care."

"Used to be there wasn't anything anyone could do."

The Company didn't keep most of the people they encountered, and most people wouldn't try to read into waking up with a couple small scars.

In retrospect, it wasn't the best assumption to rely on, but as she wasn't in charge, Elle doesn't think much of it.