Participants:
| Scene Title | Tattoos Have Meanings |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | He asked. |
| Date | June 16, 2011 |
And may find himself surprised (or not) by the fact that she's not in the bedroll that early. Matter of fact, she opens the door behind him and comes back in carrying a cup of coffee. "Yeah, I'm awake," she replies softly. "Couldn't get back to sleep when Ygraine slipped out." She slides her free arm around him and rests her head against his shoulder. "You getting ready to head out again?"
"Yeah, you know it. Five drop points, five safe places to go in case this safe place isn't anymore." Jaiden's arm goes around her waist, squeezing her tightly, then just holding her against him, his eyes closing as he rests against her. "you sleep okay?"
"I did," Elisabeth murmurs. "Probably the best I've slept in a while," she admits. She seems finally to be bouncing back from the hellish incident with Phillip. Or if she's not, she's hiding it far better. "Devon and Melissa are the ones I worry about now. He found her — or a friend found her and brought her to him." She moves to look up at him and says softly, "Melissa's son." It'll have meaning to him, though it sounds innocuous enough. Melissa doesn't have kids aside from the baby that was killed by Heller. Except she does.
Jaiden's eyes widen, although Elisabeth may not see it, and his entire form gives a shiver.
There was a TV show that Jaiden caught, now and again, during his time in the states before he was a permanent resident. A tall ginger-haired man and his fat sidekick talking about the future for comedic effect with cheesy sci-fi effects. "From the future, Elisabeth?" Jaiden asks softly. "Another one came back?"
Elisabeth is quiet for a long moment. She uses the time to slide out of his arms and put the coffee cup on the floor. When she comes back to him, she stands in front of him and tells him quietly, "I've been sitting on this bit. There are fourteen of them." Her tone holds equal parts quiet pride and concern. "They brought an entire squad." There's a soft sigh and she reaches up to stroke his chest lightly.
"A little more than." Jaiden murmurs after a moment, nodding. "Almost a platoon worth of future kids made the trip back….christ, Lizzie….it's going to get bad enough that they're risking their own existences to come back here and stop it from happening." He pauses. "That's so fucking brave."
And it makes her laugh when he says it. "Or, depending on how you look at it, so fucking stupid." Elisabeth's tone doesn't sound like she thinks so, though. "They're…. pretty amazing people, Jaiden. All of them." She leans forward and rests her forehead on his chest. "They had to have had a particular plan in mind, but … so far, they're not sharing," she says softly. "So…. they planted one close to Russo, and that may help our plans out. Other than that, I don't really know what else we'll do. I'm going to see Warren this week, though, and get hold of the armor for the people we have here. And we'll need to decide then whether we're going to start going active on the street level or if we're going to … keep doing as we're doing and primarily being a resistance rather than a rebellion. But I'd like to get feedback on this plan from the young man Devon knows. See if he can talk to me about what avenues have already been tried and failed."
Stupid, yeah, if you think of the individual, but for the good of the whole group? Perhaps now. "I've never run an insurgency, but I've covered them for a few years." Jaiden's arms come up, giving Elisabeth a tight squeeze. "Any intel we can get on what's worked and what hasn't will keep us from spinning our wheels and keep from exposing more than we need to. The armour that Warren's working on - that's big. It'll put us toe-to-toe with FRONTLINE….the longer we can keep it from escalating, the better."
"Yeah… I'm not liking the idea of escalating matters. I still…." Elisabeth pauses and then huffs a resigned laugh into his chest. "I'm still an optimist. I keep hoping and praying that by getting all of the information out there, it will become a catalyst. A place for the people who do give a damn to rally around." The last is a whisper, "Bubble gum and roses." And then she just hugs him tightly.
"That's what I'm here for, Lizzie. Pray for the best, plan for the worst." Jaiden's head lowers minutely, his lips brushing against her forehead, his nose in the fragrant tangle of her multicolored hair. "One person makes a lot of difference, Lizzie. If you truly believe in your goodness, in what you are doing, you will influence other people. You can have your bubblegum and roses."
She chuckles softly. "In two years Richard has still not cured me of being an optimist. So I guess we're safe," Elisabeth says. "I don't want bubble gum and roses. I want my son," she whispers. And when she looks up, there is a small smile. "And I want you to have yours. He's a good man. You and Monica were clearly outstanding parents."
Now she's got Jaiden blushing. The man chuckles, looking away toward the peeling wallpaper and smiling sheepishly. "I always told myself, if I have a son, I'll treat him exactly as I wanted to be treated when I was his age - firm, but friendly. I want my kids to be happy. To be better off. I…." he trails off, looking back down at her, giving her a light kiss on the tip of her nose. "I want you to have your son too."
Elisabeth stands on her toes and seals her lips to his, lingering in that kiss for a long time. Maybe as a way to not talk about things any more. There are just too many hard things in their lives. This is not one of them.
Elisabeth's kiss lingered and led into other, more pleasureable pursuits. These pursuits lasted a good part of the morning, climaxing with a small shuddering sound-based quake that shook the walls of the safehouse, much like a passing truck would, and sent a few sprinkles of plaster dust to the floor. Reclining on Elisabeth's 'bed,' an old futon mattress that Jaiden found somewhere, a large sleeping bag on top, the pair hold each other, Jaiden on his back, Elisabeth curled against his chest, his fingers stroking lazily through her hair. It's silent, now, thanks to Elisabeth's dampening field, and Jaiden's chuckle is soft, but goes no further than the walls of the room. "So….have you and Ygraine decided on my hair color yet?"
With a gentle laugh, Elisabeth admits, "Nope. Haven't really thought about it." She has her ear pressed to his chest, the steady beat of his heart as always a balm to her psyche. "I think you should pick a color, not me," she murmurs with a small smile, a kiss pressed to his breastbone. The hand on top strokes his belly lazily. "It's like tattoos. It has a meaning to you. Although hair, unlike ink, isn't permanent."
"Thinking on getting one of those too….to commemorate all the changes in my life. It'd be like a scar, but more artistic." Jaiden's fingers trace over the broken-winged angel on Elisabeth's back, light, almost ethereal strokes. His voice is a little deeper when heard through his chest. "I was thinking a combination of you two, to be honest. Ygraine and you. Blue, red, and purple."
She shifts to look up at him, her chin resting atop her hand to keep it from digging into him too hard. "That's what mine are," Elisabeth says softly. "The angel was … the way I felt about what I was doing. She didn't look quite like she does know when I first got her." She goes quiet and then admits, "After I was shot, I asked Xiulan to change her. She was… broken. I was broken. And she became my reminder that it doesn't matter how broken you are. Giving up means they win. A guardian's job is never done." Her other hand comes up to toy with his hair a moment and she smiles. "That'd be somewhat appropriate. The red, especially."
And Jaiden guards the guardians. An appropriate place for one who has spent his life wanting to keep people safe, wanting to plan for the worst occasions to help people through the worst times, who opened his home during the blizzard to keep people from freezing to death. "The angel on your shoulder shifted to become a reflection of who you saw yourself to be." A breath. "When this is all over, you may change it again. I'll help you fly, Lizzie, and I will never let you fall."
Elisabeth smiles slightly. "I may. But only if Xiulan resurfaces. Otherwise, I'll leave her as is and she'll be my reminder that they didn't win. They hurt me and broke things in me, but they didn't win." She kisses his chest, and she's quiet a long while. "You never asked me about them before."
"They're personal to you, Lizzie. It'd be like me going into your house, finding your high-school yearbook, and asking who this guy was who signed 'have a great summer' was. When it's important enough to carry in your skin, it's got a story. And those stories come out when the time is right." Jaiden's hand rests on top of the angel, her eyes peeking out from between his splayed fingers. "Did Xiulan do the cross also?"
The sadness is piercing. "She did." Elisabeth considers the appropriateness of telling him, laying here as they are, and then says softly, "When we went to Antarctica and Richard absorbed the nuclear explosion in the shadows…." The sound of that scream on the wind will haunt her to her dying day. It doesn't hurt as much now because he isn't dead. She swallows and then continues. "I buried him in a Catholic service though we didn't have a body. He has a headstone next to my mother, and the same image is carved on it. I had Xiulan do the design for both." She rests her head on his chest again, still looking at him. "It was a tough year."
"No rest for the weary." Jaiden murmurs softly. "Thank you for sharing that with me."
Elisabeth laughs quietly. "Ain't it the truth?" she asks, amusement lighting her features. "You're welcome. Thank you for… not being wierded out by it. Or… by me." She leans up to kiss him softly.