Participants:
| Scene Title | Loyal to the Very End |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Elle comes to Warren for comfort after her fight with her father. |
| Date | August 30, 2010 |
The trek home from the Company was a long one. Elle, shocked by her father's recent revelations, drove slowly, ignoring the irritable New York drivers that blared their horns at her. All the while, she thought about things. About what her father said to her, about the fact that she's responsible for her Nana's death. The fact that he is still afraid of her, that he had selfish reasons for raising her the horrible way he did.
She's done a remarkably good job at keeping her head on straight the entire way home. Instead of going to her own apartment, she takes the elevator up two more floors, and uses the key to enter. She manages to keep her composure…right up until she closes the door behind herself.
Then, she leans heavily against the door frame, staring across the apartment with sad eyes. Slowly, she sinks down, until she's seated right up against the door, hugging her knees to her chest. Then, she bursts into tears, sobbing into her legs.
"Elle? Is that you? I upgraded the slusho machine." Warren calls out from the kitchen, entering the living room with a plain white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He looks down at her, then heads over and hunches down to his knees to face her. "What's wrong?" he asks, extending his right hand to place it against her cheek.
It takes a moment for Elle to even compose herself enough to answer Warren, sobbing even as her face lifts to look up at him with quite possibly the saddest expression the man has seen on her face yet. Sniffling, she lifts one hand, placing it over the back of his, her eyes leaking tears over the palm of his hand. "I…I had a talk with Daddy…" She lifts one hand, wiping away makeup that is already smeared from her conversation with her father.
She watches Warren for a long moment, before bursting into tears again, scooting forward to bury her face in the crook between his neck and shoulder. "He gave me all the answers I wanted…all of the truth…and I…I hate him."
"It's alright." Warren says as he lifts her up from the floor, patting her back and carrying her to sit in his lap on the couch. "The truth isn't always nice, that's why lies exist." He raises two metallic fingers to gently run along her jawline. "The truth isn't always closure, either. Sometimes the truth makes things worse. After a while, all you can do is find a way to put it behind you. Or develop a moody personality to deal with all the hurt feelings." he says with a little grin, trying to cheer her up.
She holds tight to him as he carries her, keeping her face in his shoulder until he sits down. Then, she pulls back, fixing that teary gaze on Warren, her lower lip trembling. "I killed my own grandmother when I was six. My father put me in the Company, and used me my entire life." She lets out a soft sob, shuddering on the man's lap. Then, she wraps her arms around his shoulders, nuzzling her face into his neck and sniffling. "Can I trust you, Warren? You'd never fuck me over…right?" She squeezes the man. "I'm so tired of being fucked over…"
"You can trust me, you're the most valuable thing in existence to me. You're what I fuck people over to have and protect, my ultimate companion." Warren raises his fleshy hand to wipe her tears on the back of it with a subtle little smile. "I told you, I'm loyal to the very end. I'll even follow you to Cardinal if you choose it. I've been lied too just like you, remember? I had all of my memories dumped, at least seventeen years of them. I don't know if anything I remember is true or my imagination. I wouldn't want to make you hurt more."
Elle peers quietly at Warren for a long moment, reaching up to run her fingers over his cheek. Then, she leans forward, kissing his nose with a soft sigh, accompanied by sweet-smelling breath. "Thank you, Warren…" She places both of her hands on the man's cheeks, peering quietly into his eyes for a long moment. "Would I be crazy if I said that I think I love you a little bit? It's…it's hard to explain. I don't know if it's love, or what, but you make me feel, Warren…"
"I feel, I don't know what love is, I can't define it, it's too abstract. But… I feel something very non-euclidean for you, that's abstract, maybe it's how I love." Warren places a hand just under the back of her head, then leans in to catch her lips into his.
Elle smiles softly, running her fingers through Warren's hair. "I don't think we should try to define love. Maybe…maybe love is what this is." The little blonde meets his kiss, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest and squeezing close to him. Once the kiss breaks, she rests her forehead against his, closing her eyes. "Thank you…"