Participants:
Scene Title | Hiding From The Dark |
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Synopsis | Seeking out a friend to hide from the darkness — it's good that Norton knows her so well. |
Date | Apr 8, 2011 |
Skinny Brickfront, Endgame Safehouse
She's spent the better part of several nights sleeping against the wall of her room while he was near the wall on the other side. The nightmares are a direct result of the amount of stress she feels, and for all that Norton's seen her stressed before, this goes beyond anything he's ever witnessed in her. Elisabeth hasn't had many words for anyone, truth be told. She's been thinking, plotting, working out plans, dealing with personal hurts. She hasn't slept yet tonight, but she's seemed just a little more like herself. As if some of the weight of all of this has eased. Finally, since she's not sleeping anyway, she comes around into the room Norton's using for his own. "Hey," she murmurs softly from the door. "You awake?"
There is no movement from the sleeping bag at first, just a sense of something different. After a couple of heart beats he says softly, "Yeah…everything ok?" He moves the edge of his sleeping bag and rolls over on the side to look at her.
She knows better than to approach a man with a gun before he's all the way awake. Elisabeth remains in the doorway until he speaks to her. And then she comes further in, moving to above his head and leaning against that same wall they've been sharing to slide down and sit there. "Eh," she murmurs. "I can't sleep. Not really new," she admits. "I just… needed some company. And interrupting the person keeping watch means they're not keeping watch."
Trask nods and he shifts a little, turning to look at her. "Want to talk about it yet?" He asks the latino is still deep in his voice, old habits and recent exposure keeping the accent strong.
Elisabeth looks down at him. The light she brought in with her is very low, nightlight level. But she walks nowhere without it at night, and it sheds enough that she can see him clearly with her eyes adjusted to the darkness. "Which 'it' should I talk about?" she asks him mildly, one hand reaching out absently to stroke his hair. "The dreams of a future that I wonder if I caused? Or the personal stuff that I'm pretty sure you don't want to know about?" Her tone is rueful.
Trask grins, "You know…it doesn't matter if I want to know or not, if you need to get it off your chest, I am here. Besides It's still early, good chance I won't remember in the morning any way. Some would argue this would be the best time to tell me stuff I don't really want to know." He winks.
The blonde laughs softly, her fingertips continuing the slow stroke through his hair. Almost petting his head. Elisabeth shrugs. "I think my personal shit's mostly dealt with," she admits quietly. "He's still pissed. But that's okay. I can live with pissed. Mostly I'm just… wracking my brain trying to figure out how to … fix what we broke so long ago, Norton. That future wasn't a bad one. And in changing it, we've made a nightmare. This is why no one should know the future."
Trask says, "Well start with what you changed, and then take it one step at a time. There are no big problems Liz, just little ones that stand so close together they begin to blur. But if you look at them closely, and deal with each one as it comes, soon you will find the whole house of cards comes crashing down."
"What we changed was … everything. We killed Arthur Petrelli. A bunch of him," Elisabeth muses. "In retrospect, we've begun to believe that we should have instead let him keep going and addressed it more subtly. Humanis First never got the foothold in the government that our actions allowed." She sighs, stroking his hair. "Of course, there were… bad things in that future too. Things that weren't there that… I'm glad I haven't missed out on."
Trask nods, "Well So we write our own future. We find a way to fix things without worrying abut changing the past. We just do the best we can from here on out."
"Yeah," Elisabeth says quietly. Her hand continues to move absently. She's quiet for a time and then asks, "Tell me something about your last couple of years?" There's a faint smile. "You've pretty much mined for every detail of mine, and I'm guessing you've figured out a few things I didn't really say. But… did you like it down there? Was it… a good life, all in all?"
Trask smiles a little off center. "Living in the woods, moving from camp to camp. A few brief moments of total adreneline as we fought slave camps or drug cartels? Getting handouts from local tribes when you are near starvation? No baths in a month except occasional dunks in the river? Oh yeah it was great."
Elisabeth chuckles. "Well, that answers that dumb question, doesn't it?" she murmurs. "Coming back at least means you don't starve. Nana'd roll over in her grave if I let any of you starve."
Trask grins, "It wasn't all bad…I lost a lot of the fat that being out of work caused me to put on."
"You were never fat, Norton," Elisabeth retorts. "Believe me, I would have noticed." She pauses and then smiles. "Did you let aborigines in the jungle tattoo you?"
Trask raises an eyebrow "Now that is a rather personal question Liz… why? you offering a trade like we did with our powers?"
Both her brows slide upward. Elisabeth smirks. "Well, if it's quid pro quo, I think you already saw mine…. though it's not the only one," she teases.
Trask laughs loudly, hopefully he doesn't wake anyone else up. He then shakes his head. "Liz…liz…liz…" He smiles a little to himself, "Trying to tempt me are you?"
It's the first true laugh she's had in days. "I didn't realize it would be a temptation," Elisabeth retorts, stroking his hair. She realizes in the moment she says it that it's a lie, though.
Trask shakes his head and leans into her hand, "You didn't think it would be a temptation? Liz you should know you will always be a temptation to me."
Elisabeth goes quiet, her hand stilling in his hair. The angle is awkward, but she leans down giving him plenty of time to pull away. "A lot of things haven't changed," she whispers. "I still can't be what you wanted." And then she kisses him oh-so-softly, like she wanted to do when she first saw him.
Trask kisses back, softly, tenderly. when the kiss breaks he opens his eyes, "I know…and I am not asking you to be." He shakes his head, "Look… you always slept better when you had company. Curl up next to me, you'll be safe…I promise…" He chuckles softly, "I won't even try anything." He winks.
She hesitates, and then finally with a sigh Elisabeth scoots. It's still cold at night and slipping into the sleeping bag with him is nice. When she molds herself to him, her hair in a long braid to keep it from tangling, she wraps her arms around him. "And if I don't want to be safe?" she asks in a soft murmur.
Trask smiles softly, "We will discuss that later… when you are feeling more… together. I don't want you to do anything out of weakness you would regret." He smiles softly, "Besides I don't know when you had your last pill being on the run and all. And it is only a month before I was supposed to die."
Elisabeth starts to laugh softly. "You know…. that's been on my mind a lot lately," she admits. And then she admits quietly, "I'm covered for a couple more months. Shots. After I had a scare last year, I took… better precautions because if I'm going to wind up pregnant, I would rather it not be by accident."
Trask nods slowly, "Well as far as I am concerned you only have to make it to May 18th, then the future is unwritten." He sighs softly and nuzzles his head into your hair, holding you close.
"The future is unwritten anyway," Elisabeth points out, her body relaxing slowly in the warmth of him. "I died the same day you evacuated, only I didn't. And then I was supposed to die on November 8th, assassinated by a sniper. And I didn't. Nothing of my future is set in stone, Norton."
Trask smiles softly, "Death is all relative, and apparently surprisingly temporary. And even if the future is set in stone for everyone else, always remember…right this moment…right now…you don't exist. Just like I don't all the time."
As she holds him, Elisabeth thinks about that. And she says softly, "I'm as far from together as I can get." The confession is hard. "The men that I love and the man I'm in love with are all now together, not one of them is safe, and the world is going to hell in a handbasket. I feel helpless, and I'm … sort of ashamed of the fact that I fell back into older behaviors with you just now." She smiles just a little. "And I'm glad you aren't letting me use you."
Trask smiles softly and kisses you again, softly tenderly, "You know I will always be what you need, even when I'm not what you want. I will always be here for you Liz."
"Who said I didn't want you?" Elisabeth asks with a smile. "I never stopped wanting you, you know. I just … felt like I stopped being good for you." Her return kiss holds more than affection, though passion at this moment is missing — she's not out to seduce him. It's more a welcome home, I missed you.
Trask smiles softly, and shakes his head, "Yes well, you were probably right. Not that I was all that good for you either."
Elisabeth chuckles. "Oh, yeah… and I'm doing so well now?" she points out. "God, Norton… I missed you. I'm so glad you're home."
Trask grins, "I'm glad to be back at least. It's been too long, I've missed you, you know that, right?"
She snuggles against him and smiles. Elisabeth agrees in a murmur, "It has been far too long. Thank you… for coming back. For… letting me sleep here." Because he's right. She sleeps better with company sometimes.