ellectrical | (no subject)

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At some point, Elle had wandered outside to practice.

She's pretty much forgotten when that was. Maybe it was because there was little else to do that wouldn't mean leaving again, or more likely, because X had suggested it, but she'd lost track of the hours she'd spent either shooting up sparks toward the sky or the lake, or practicing movements X had taught her.

Until she fell down, and didn't get back up.

Elle totally meant to do that.

Lying in the grass isn't too bad, really. And she can practice sensing for any footsteps coming toward her.

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Elle's scent trail leads in this direction, which is why X is headed her way.

She's frowning a little, not least because --

Seeing Elle on the ground is the point at which X's footsteps speed up.

Go figure.

At which point Elle sits up, her arms moving behind her with her hand still pressed against the grass.

For a brief moment, there's a small smile on her face - after all, she'd been able to tell that someone was coming, and in the second before, that it was X - but it fades when she realizes X is frowning, and that the other woman's steps had sped up.

Oops.

A little uncertainly (like she can't think of anything else to say), "Hi."

X stops moving for a second, reassessing the scenario.

The set of her shoulders drops fractionally, shedding tension.

"Hello."

Beat.

"You are okay?"

"I was practicing."

Falling down was part of that. Really.

She presses her hand a little more into the grass, as though to demonstrate the next point.

"I felt you coming."

"Oh."

X looks startled -- very slightly and just for a moment.

"That is useful."

Beat.

"It is difficult?"

"Yeah."

Elle wouldn't usually have the attention span for it. But at the moment, it likely wasn't X she was thinking about.

After a pause, like she's just thinking of it -

"How was the thing?"

There's a moment or two of silence, then X slips a little closer and sits down cross-legged.

"I danced."

Beat.

"It was okay."

This pause is longer.

"Then mercenaries came. To kidnap Rose. We killed them."

"I don't think that's supposed to happen at prom."

Elle is mildly certain about that.

Still, her manner doesn't change that much when she asks, "You didn't die, right?"

(She wouldn't ask it so easily if she thought it were likely; X is supposed to tell her about these things.)

"No," X says. "It is not supposed to happen."

Beat.

"I did not die. But they thought I did, once. It was part of the plan."

Elle nods, her gaze moving out toward the lake. She can understand it, in any case.

"Why did... they want to kidnap her?"

"She is a gunslinger. It is important."

X pauses, frowning slightly.

"I think many people want to kill her, sometimes."

X had said she was good with guns.

(At home, Elle doesn't know anyone who isn't, in some way.)

That's a different word, and Elle acknowledges, "I don't know what that means."

"They protect people," X says.

"Susannah is one, too."

She would offer a better explanation if she could, but --

The words are not right.

Even the right words probably wouldn't help Elle.

She still has to poke at it, as she asks, "So she's... not normal?"

"She can be," X says. "She is good at it."

Beat.

"But she is good at killing people, too."

Elle's not sure if you can't be both.

And she's silent, her gaze still fixed on the lake, her position unchanged.

Then, her eyes blink down to the grass.

"Maybe it wasn't a good idea, anyway."

X frowns again, perplexed.

"I do not understand."

"To try to do stuff like that."

She looks up to meet X's eyes at this point, though her gaze is mostly searching, with little certainty of her own. "When you're not -"

It's not until now that Elle stops herself, and makes herself say - what is the closest to the right word, in any case.

"- normal."

(Supposed to.)

"I do not -- "

X cuts herself off, taking a moment to study Elle intently.

Then --

"We can. It is okay."

Beat.

"Meg said I should visit an aquarium. And dancing was interesting."

This pause is longer.

"The mercenaries were not coming for me."

It's as much of an explanation as she can offer.

Elle doesn't look that convinced about it. Maybe because being in an enclosed space surrounded by large tanks of water somehow doesn't appeal to her.

She pulls up her legs, bending her knees and folding them over into the grass, though her hands stay in the grass.

"Did you - not like it. That they came."

The answer should be obvious, but Elle can barely form the question.

"No. I did not like it."

Beat.

"But it is good I was there."

It was useful, rather.

"Okay."

Her eyes have fallen again.

"I don't like that you - didn't get to do it, then."

Or, you know. Something like that.

"I do not -- "

X fumbles for a second, looking for the right words.

"It is what I am good at."

That is not what she meant to say.

Elle shakes her head, just slightly.

Sounding out each word carefully, "That's not the point."

Edited 2009-06-03 09:22 (UTC)

X tries to follow, but --

"I do not understand."

It's difficult enough for Elle already. She looks down to the grass again.

"I - liked that you were going to do it." Again, her speech is stilted, like a great amount of thought has to go into each word. "Because it - wasn't supposed to be like what we do. Normally."

X stays quiet and still for a few long moments.

Then she slips closer, carefully, and bumps Elle's shoulder with her own.

She still doesn't say anything, not for a while.

"It was like that for a while."

Beat.

"In the beginning."

That's -- it is not something that bothers X. But it bothered Rose, and clearly Elle is not okay with it.

It is important.

Her own arm doesn't move, either away or toward X in response to the gesture. She also has little idea of what to say at this point; she can't explain why she doesn't like it, or why she liked that X was going in the first place. Because if X could do it, she could do it? Not really.

Because if X - if it made her -

Finally, she asks, "You liked that?"

"I did not mind it," X says eventually. "And I do not -- "

Beat.

"I am glad Rose asked me. To go."

All of that is true.

But Elle -

It's not too hard for her to guess at why it is X is glad she was asked to go.

And she doesn't want to say that.

"That dress is all torn up, isn't it?"

"Yes," X says. Promptly.

And --

"I have a picture. Here. Liz took it before I left."

It is something she can share. Unlike most of the rest of it.

"Okay."

There's a faint nod to go with it.

Then: "You're - okay?"

Her eyes reach X, and drop again at the second word. It's not right, but she can't think of what is.

"Yes," X says again. She sounds very certain.

"I am okay."

She is, of course, much better now that she knows Rose is home.

Even if X could not help keep her safe.

"All right."

It's resigned, and she doesn't do much to hide that.

But she does finally return X's movement, shifting her balance so that she, just slightly, leans against X's shoulder.

X leans back, maybe more than a little.

It is easier than talking.

She does not know the right things to say.

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