(no subject)

[cagedlamb]

The longer Elizabeth was in the city, the more she longed to make her life there as normal as possible. She filled her days with things to do, certainly, but she knew there was more to it than that. The responsibility Booker put on his shoulders for the two of them was something he shrugged off for the most part, but it wasn't lost on Elizabeth how much he carried. Never one to sit back, she decided that things were going to change.

Picking up an application at the library had been easy. Trying to navigate the town's schooling system to get information on programs was not. She at least got information on the nursing program - something she'd been interested in studying seriously, honestly - and ways to pay to get into it. All of it she would do alone - she knew she could if she planned properly, she could manage. She knew a lot of people in the city managed.

It didn't mean she wanted to go forward with it all without talking to Booker first. Armed with information all together in her bag, she unlocked the door to their apartment and stepped in.

"Booker?" she called out. From her understanding, he was supposed to be at the apartment still.

Comments

[cagedlamb]

"I don't want to spend all my time here doing nothing," she admitted. For all the years she was locked away, she was never idle. Never idle. The second she was idle she knew it would've driven her mad. She knew it would drive her to madness here, too. "The opportunity is there for me to help and do something worthwhile I'd like to do that. It's an opportunity I don't know if I have anywhere else but here."

Maybe they were would be hunted here one day, too. But for now, everyone simply knew her as a normal girl, misplaced from her home like so many others she'd met. She didn't even know if she could've had that even if they did somehow get off Columbia in any normal way. And maybe if she could start helping the injured here, maybe one day she could feel like she made amends for what she'd done to Daisy - a guilt she knew she'd always hold, no matter how justified the action had been at the time.

"So yes, I'd like to go," she asserted, in case her answer to his question wasn't very clear by how she just answered. It'd mean a lot to her.

[wipeawaythedebt]

Running an hand through his hair, he scratches his scalp. He knows in his gut that he can't keep her locked up any more than Comstock had a right to. But at the same time, he's... reluctant to let her wander too much. He's worried about her. He can't help it. He's seen her fight, seen her kill, and he's seen her soar. He doesn't want to see her crash.

"Yeah, okay, then. And I find a way to help you pay, we'll figure it out. No sense getting into debt, that's a bad road to go down."

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth wanted to protest the idea of him putting his own money into this, but she knew it'd fall on deaf ears. She didn't know why he kept helping her, even when she really wasn't his responsibility any longer. Maybe it was the same reason she never thought twice about moving out, despite knowing there was an apartment out there just for her. It just never was an option.

"Okay. I'll put my job application in tomorrow and we'll see what happens from there," she decided. If she did it right, he wouldn't need to contribute much at all. They'd both win then. Oliver had wandered back over to them, and she grinned. "When was the last time you took him out?"

She didn't know much about puppies, but she was pretty sure they didn't last long when it came to going to the bathroom.

[wipeawaythedebt]

"Right before I brought him up here, so maybe an hour? He's got a little bed and a leash with his other things, I'll get 'em for you." Standing up, he retreats to the bedroom, letting a heavy breath escape when he's alone. That went a lot better than the thought it was going to.

Aside from the school and job thing. He doesn't know how he feels about that. Part of him's mad that he can't make enough to give her everything she wants and needs, part of him gets it. She's new in the world, she's got a right to be her own woman. Pinching the bridge of his nose to relieve the growing ache in his head, he has to fight through his own thoughts. She's not his kid, he's got no right or obligation, but here he is.