Of Cabbages And Kings

Participants:

elisabeth_icon.gif eve3_icon.gif

Scene Title Of Cabbages and Kings
Synopsis As they leave the Institute, … what does it take to make the Red King a monster?
Date Jan 30, 2011

Car, en route back to Manhattan


Their return to the car was a subdued affair. Neither woman seemed to have much to say, too caught up in their own thoughts, their own personal griefs, to interact. Elisabeth drives with competent hands, her mind a thousand miles…. and perhaps some years… away. Finally, she says into the silence, "I think I died when my son was born." The words are bald, some amount of worry in them. As it once was when Norton Trask came back from a future in which she had a child, the boy is an abstract to her. But at the same time… she has already put plans in motion to have such a child — she has asked the man she loves to be the child's father. And now, from yet another future that won't exist the way it has already been seen, another father of her child has come back. This one hoping to make sure that the child comes into existence — or so he claims — whereas the last time, the boy's father merely accepted that by coming back at all, the child would never be.

Elisabeth isn't sure which man is the stronger in this instance. All she knows is that she didn't name her child this time. Someone else did. And there could be no explanation for that, to her mind, except that she was not there. That she died and the child was somehow saved from that fate. Right now, she's not clear enough on the timeline to figure out the muddle of information she has in her head…

"The future has inertia," Elisabeth murmurs softly. There is a sense of …. horrible, horrible defeat tying her stomach in knots.

The sound of a sigh following Lizzy's statement can be heard as Eve's head is pressed against the window, staring out with light grey eyes. Her fingers trace faint lines on the surface of the glass before she gives the driver a look over her shoulder through the dark veil of her hair.

"I'm sorry." She says softly and reaches a hand to rub Lizzy's arm softly. A slight frown comes to her face as the oracle regards her friend. "Even though.. you didn't get all the answers you wanted, do you still think the trip was worth it?" The dark haired woman asks. "Because.. I just don't know.. well I do know.. but I don't know." Eve rambles and waves her hands around.

"Simon was worried about me.. he still cares." That much Eve can see, "But I could see it in his eyes. The doubt he is beginning to have for this other Richard." Eve practically hisses the last part out.

That brings Elisabeth's head around to look at her passenger. "Tell me what you can," she says to the precog quietly. "Because I don't know if I believe him. I've never known whether to believe him, Eve. Right now, he's claiming…. some things that I'm….. " She pauses and looks back out the windshield to drive carefully. "I don't doubt Richard's love. But I never thought… not ever in a million years… that I would see him willing to put the entire world on the line for me. Or for our son. No matter how hard the choice is, ….. I expected him to…. " She bites her lip. Did she expect him to do that? Really?

A half-formed dream of a memory drifts across her mind's eye. The tortured expression barely eased in sleep, the tracks of tears on his face, as he sat on the floor next to the cot. The rage in his eyes when she hyperventilated before stepping out into the open for the first time.

Elisabeth is silent suddenly. "Tell me why Simon doubts," she says, neglecting to finish her thought.

"I don't know much.. the future has been.. hazy, lately." Eve admits with a sigh as she looks out ahead of them at the road. "He.. You'd be surprised what someone would do for their child or the person they love more than anything in the world." She comments quietly with a sad look in her eyes.

"I'm not sure how I know, but there's something there. I can't remember clearly." Her eyebrow furrows and she rubs it. Squinting and shaking her head, she whispers something softly to herself. "I don't like when it's all hazy." Eve states with a bit of a whine in the back of her throat.

"Yeah…. I don't like it when you're seeing things all hazy either," Elisabeth says quietly. "Eve. I don't know what to do," she admits softly.

"Think about it all, wine." Eve says with a tilt of her head and her eyebrows perk at the statement to the woman. "Watch your step though, plunge and get stuck." The woman says with a gentle smile and a hum before she's sitting up straighter.

"We all deal. What we're supposed to do." She says softly with a frown, Eve's just as down as Lizzy is and she can't seem to make herself happy. Or Lizzy happy. With yelp of excitement, Eve sits up on taps something out on her phone. Moments later, she's looking over at Elisabeth. "Get off on the next exit."

A light grin crosses her lips.

Elisabeth looks startled, but her hands automatically follow that direction. The woman grew up in Manhattan and learned to dodge friggin' TAXI DRIVERS. Eve should know better than to surprise a combat driver! But across three lanes and down the exit ramp that was less than a quarter mile ahead the blonde goes. "What the hell, Eve?" she demands as people honk.

As Liz follows her instructions, Eve looks excited and looks over to the side. "Turn to the left." She says in a singsong voice, she taps her legs as they drive. Practically bouncing in her seat, Eve reaches down at her feet to pull her messenger bag into her lap.

"Trust me.. we need it." Is all she says in answer to the blonde.

Elisabeth continues to follow directions, slowing down now that they're off the freeway. "Tell me what's going on with Broome, Eve," she directs calmly. "I need to know." She needs to know if, possibly, when push comes to shove she might be able to turn the man into an asset instead of a detriment.

"Lizzy,"

Eve's expression turns sour and contemplative. "I can't remember, you just have to see him." The oracle says softly before she looks out the window and shouts. "There!" And there.. would be a dive bar and right across the street.. a motel. "Let's do it."

She can barely contain herself. "Stay the night, leave in the morning. You shouldn't be driving right now anyway. Too much on your mind can cause you to crash." She looks at Lizzy with glee and nods her head towards her. "And.. just have a meeting with Simon. He'll come and see you in the city." She sounds confident about this.

Elisabeth is…. shocked, to put it mildly. Because…. seriously. A dive bar?! She rolls her eyes at her friend. "You want to get drunk?? Now??" With a roll of her eyes, the blonde pulls into the parking lot of the bar. "You know, Eve…. most nights I would say let's go right ahead. But …. " She bites her lip and admits softly, "I need my haven."

It's a tough admission. She needs to go into her apartment, lock the massive locks, and hide from the world. This motel thing just won't cut it. She doesn't feel safe enough, even now, to let her guard down enough to cry. And she needs to cry. And maybe scream and rail at Fate a little.

Evie waits for Lizzy to stop the car before she turns to face Elisabeth. "It's okay." She says deflated obviously, heart in the right place. A soft smile is what she has for her friend and she leans forward to hug Lizzy. "You need rest and a cry."

The musician sighs softly before moving back to her seat. "I just want.. I need you to be okay." The way she says this, has Eve looking out the window and away from Elisabeth. "Okay." She repeats in a whisper.

That, at least, Elisabeth can reassure her friend about. "I want nothing more than to walk in there, get drunk off my ass, and maybe find the cutest guy in the place to help me absolutely forget what's going on out here…. some things just have to be dealt with in other ways." She grimaces a little and looks out the windshield as they idle.

"I hate it when what I really need right now is just … to scream and break things. I'm so damn mad at him. He made me doubt myself again — he told me that trusting me was his biggest mistake. Made me wonder if everything I've said to Richard or done for all of us….. is just the one thing making it all worse. Maybe I should have just died, Eve." Elisabeth tears can't be held in, the vague sense of panic welling in her chest again. "I like to think that … I matter in his life. That I make him a better person, the way he makes me one. But I don't know if that's true anymore. Maybe I just make him a monster."

"It's not your fault."

Eve turns to her friend and looks at her with a frown. The dark haired woman taps her fingers on her leg before leaning forward to peer into Elisabeth's eyes. "You won't turn anyone into a monster."

"The choices we make.. are nobodies fault but our own. If he's a monster, it's because of what he chose. Not you." Eve pats Elisabeth's arm to comfort and raises a finger to lift Lizzy's chin. "You make us better.." she trails off and smiles softly at Liz.

Sucking in a deep breath, Elisabeth smiles shakily. "C'mon, lady. I need to get back. We're already going to be after curfew as it is." Reaching up to wipe those tears away, she shoves everything that's been said back into the box where it lives. No one needs to hear her stupid nightmares. And no one assuredly needs to know how very deeply his words cut — that trusting her was what ruined it all somehow is the thing she's feared since Hokuto. But did she ruin it all? Or was it her very death that made him realize how wrong the path he was on was? And does she even want to know those answers?

Elisabeth sighs heavily and puts the car in gear. It's going to be a long night. "Guess we'll see what Broome has to say when he comes to see me," she tells Eve with a small smile.

Nodding her head, Eve buckles herself up again and looks over at Liz briefly, "I'll be there if you want me to be." She says with a nod of her head towards Lizzy. "There's nothing wrong with what you've done." She takes the time to reassure her friend and then she's off to Eve land. Thinking of what she's thinking inside her head.

Head lolling as she seems to begin to wander off into daydream land. A faint hum emits from the woman along with a gentle tapping of her fingers on the door.

Glancing at Eve, Elisabeth says softly, "I'll be okay." Just every once in a while, a person has their doubts and she's got nowhere to release those easily. "Everything'll be okay, Eve." It has to be. She refuses — just out and out refuses to believe that her Richard Cardinal will become that. There must be a way to change it.


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