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[cagedlamb]

All things considered, Elizabeth knew she had been lucky. With only minor cuts and scrapes from fighting off panicked runners. With how insistent she had been about helping people, he should have been a lot worse. Booker was upset at her, but he also wasn't seriously injured. She didn't regret her actions in the least, though the more she thought about it, the more she realized the general consequences of her actions.

She had no idea who had seen Booker. A part of her hoped everyone was too panicked to see what the vigor did to his arm every time he used his ability, but she knew it would be hard to miss had they been paying any attention. All she could think to do was to continue on normally, and hope for the best. The morning was cool and cloudy, with some flurries falling here and there. She had work later on that day, but for now, she was out taking a walk with Oliver, the pit bull trotting alongside her obediently as she sipped her morning tea from the thermos she'd bought herself recently. As she rounded the corner, she nearly bumped into someone coming the opposite way.

"Oh, sorry! Are you okay?" The apology was almost reflexive, said before she even realized she recognized who it was she had just bumped into.

[OOC: Dated the 2nd!]

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[cagedlamb]

Oliver was, as always, gentle. He seemed more interested in inspecting her than anything else. Which was what she was going to mention, until Faye asked her a question that made her pause. She had a strange look on her face, almost expectant, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

Did she know? She wasn't sure.

"What do you mean? The fires?" she asked, gauging her reaction to the question. She had a feeling she knew, but she wasn't going to be the first one to say it. She didn't know what she was going to do if she had seen something, but she'd figure that out when she had to.

[attitude]

Faye shook her head slightly, reaching down to briefly scratch the dog behind its ears, more to buy a couple more seconds than anything else. Elizabeth wasn't slow on the uptake. She adjusted remarkably quickly, even, to things that she apparently had never been exposed to before, so for her not to immediately take to the topic felt like a red flag.

"I met that guy you were with, hilariously enough," she said, tilting her head. "Both of us chasing after the same bounty head. I had no idea that he was capable of something like that, though. Might have been a more effective threat than a gun."

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth knew, deep down, what Faye was talking about. From the moment she brought it up, honestly. She had hoped, bur she knew better. The crows had been so easy to spot, even in the darkness, that the chances of someone seeing them were high enough.

She didn't quite meet her friend's gaze. This was honestly as bad as when she had to talk to Sybil, except at least then she had a little time to prepare herself to talk to her.

"I -" she begins, then pauses to bite her lip. Where could she even start. "I know you have a lot of questions. It's - complicated. I know I have no right to ask you to not tell people what you saw, but please, keep it quiet. It's important to both of us that as little people as possible know about it."

[attitude]

While Faye had no immediate plans to go telling the entire city of what Elizabeth's friend was capable of, especially because the potential of him using those powers against her was high, it didn't mean she was willing to concede that threat without using it for her own means.

"You're right. I should be able to tell people if I want," Faye pointed out, wondering what else Elizabeth was probably hiding from her. Wondering what it was about Elizabeth's world that made it stand out beyond time. All those little remarks, all of the things that she had no prior knowledge of — it was starting to make sense. Elizabeth's world differed from Faye's in more than just era.

"So why exactly should I trust something like that? Your friend isn't exactly shooting for person of the year."

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth knew it was only a matter of time. That eventually someone would find out, and she was going to have a lot of questions to answer from a lot of people. She supposed she should be grateful for the little time sh had being normal.

"I can tell you what my life was like before here, what happened, but I have nothing to prove anything I can tell you to explain my actions. If you're not willing to believe me just based on my story, I won't blame you for telling people if you want to. You're right, I can only ask for your discretion, and I know that," she replied with an even, quiet tone. She didn't have a right to sound hurt, because no matter how much she was herself around people, the secrets clouded that. Made everything questionable. She understood that, even if being around people was still new to her. What she continued with, however, was stated more firmly, because she needed her to at least understand one thing. "But Booker has never hurt anyone in this city and he wouldn't start now or ever, if he can even use them at all anymore thanks to my decision to stay that night and help someone in the crowd. If this is anyone's fault, it's mine, not his. If you believe anything, I hope you can find it in you to believe that."

[attitude]

"Proof isn't what I'm asking for," Faye said quickly, holding up a hand, her expression intent and unyielding. Circumstances were often beyond the realm of imagination, and a passed moment was often difficult to recover. That was nothing new to Faye, and nothing that she would hold Elizabeth to. Had she tried to convince anyone of her own background, it would have been hard, even in a city like Darrow.

"And even honesty is overrated," she added, folding her hands loosely over her chest. "But the idea that your Booker person wouldn't hurt anyone in the city... I'm not seeing that. I'm not seeing some chivalrous knight. I'm seeing someone who'll put up a better image in front of you while he skulks around the back alleys. He didn't shoot me when I ran into him. But I sure felt like he could have."

She raised a brow, wondering if Elizabeth really had that strong of faith. It was almost enviable. Faye hadn't felt that kind of trust in someone since she woke up. Or maybe since Whitney.

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth had never used the word knight. She knew what knights were, and he was very far from that. He drank too much, he had a temper and a tendency to be stubborn and bull-headed. But at the same time, he saw a kindness in him that felt genuine, under the layers and layers of gruffness. Even that night, he could have easily grabbed her and forced her to keep going, but he didn't. He helped her. That meant something to her.

"I spent my entire life imprisoned from...everything. Everyone. If you have ever wondered how I don't know things - that's why. Before I was nineteen, I couldn't even remember stepping outside the few rooms I was given to live in, nevermind all this. He was the one who got me out," she said, motioning around them. She was glad the roads were mostly devoid of people right then, between the early hour and the cold. It made it easier to talk. "I've never called him a knight. He isn't one, he'll never be one, I know that. Even saving me - I was a job to him when he first got me out of there. He's told me that."

She paused then, unsure if being truthful hurt or helped her. She supposed it was too late to worry.

"But things are different here. There's no reason for him to keep helping me the second we ended up here. There's no way to collect on the bounty, even if people showed up here, since there's no way to take me anywhere. He's honestly putting himself in danger more helping me than not," she continued. She had never really even thought about why she put so much faith in someone who could drive her crazy sometimes, but the more she thought about it, the more important it was to convey exactly why she wanted to protect him, too. Whether or not it convinced anyone, she couldn't guess, but it felt important to try. "When this place, this city brought us to - I don't know, something out of a nightmare, with monsters trying to kill us - he didn't just protect me, he protected two other people he had no reason to help. If he's that selfish and underhanded, if he only cared about money and himself, why would he have bothered with anyone else but me? He got nothing out of it. Those abilities you saw - they aren't infinite. He wasted them on protecting us when that happened, and he wasted them to the point I don't even know if he can use them anymore the night you saw him use it to protect me. There was never a moment he tried to stop me when he saw I wanted to help that person, when honestly it would have been better if he had for him. So no, I don't think it's an act. Or at least I don't think he'd ever do anything to anyone unless he had to."

And beyond all that, beyond the proof she saw, she always had a gut feeling he wasn't a bad person, just lost. A feeling she never could explain, but still somehow attached her to him in a way she couldn't understand and never tried to put words to.

[attitude]

The Rapunzel-like story made sense, where Elizabeth was concerned. Because there really wasn't any place with perfect weather, save for perhaps something man-made. Something constructed. The reasons why Elizabeth was imprisoned, though, that Faye can't even begin to understand. And it's worth exploring.

Just probably not as worth exploring as the talk of that man. Faye's eyes narrow, still trying to find fault in the story. For a girl imprisoned, Faye has to think that Elizabeth's missed out on a lot of red flags. She'd been quick enough to trust Faye as a friend, after all; some might argue that she shouldn't have been so quick for that.

"So you're saying that he went out of your way to help you. And went out of the way to help people you were around. All I'm seeing... is talk about how he's been like around you. You sure you aren't his sole interest? I mean, if you are, fine. You seem intent on staying by his side anyhow," Faye says with a shrug. Whatever the outcome of this conversation, Faye doesn't see herself behaving differently. Doesn't see herself changing jobs. Just keeping an eye out for that guy, and knowing better when to bow out.

"You sure he isn't doing all of this because he wants something from you? You're a very pretty girl."

Crude, but still a thought.

[cagedlamb]

"He would never," she said, with a sharpness in her voice she didn't have before. It was one thing to question if he would use his gun or his abilities against people. It was entirely another to suggest he was attempting something that improper. "I can't read his mind, but all I've seen, all we've been through together - I trust him. Whether or not you believe otherwise and think badly of him is your own choice, but it doesn't change my own about him. I don't know what else you want from me."

Was she purposely antagonizing her at that point? It certainly felt that way. There was a tremble in her hands that were thankfully hidden by her dog's leash. Oliver seemed to be uneasy himself, though continued walking. She had rarely ever raised a voice around him.

"We hid things to keep me safe and let me have a normal life here that I could have never had back where I came from. That's all. It was my choice to save that woman, and I will live with those consequences," she continued, figuring now she honestly would be spreading things far and wide the way she kept trying to drag Booker through the mud. She might have deserved this suspicion, but it didn't mean she was going to like it. Especially not about a friend. "I knew it would come out eventually. For as long as I have been here, I've been waiting for it. So do what you want, I've survived worse than anything this city can do to ether one of us. If this conversation is over, I have things to do today."

[attitude]

Faye observed Elizabeth without much difficulty. She'd broken up with people for lesser arguments than this; in fact, still hadn't gotten used to the idea of having lasting friendships in the city. As much as she liked Elizabeth, losing her wouldn't shake her to the core. Keeping a stance of suspicion against Booker was more important.

The whole situation reminded her too much of Whitney, and Faye had to wonder if she would defend him with as much fervor in an argument like this. She hoped not, but it was probably a moot point anyway.

She snorted. "I'm almost offended that you think I'd spread information like that for no good reason," she said, arching a brow. "But go ahead and run your errands, Elizabeth. I don't think either of us really knows what this city can do in time."

[cagedlamb]

The trust she had in people here was thin and easy to tear. She had always assumed the worst if people were to find out to them, and it felt like the worst was actually happening as they spoke. If there was anything to probe her assumptions about people were correct, it was the conversation she had right then. She would remember it if she ever thought being completely honest with people she thought well of was a good idea.

"But you said -' she began, then faltered. She had outright been contrary when she asked her to keep it quiet, she had every reason to assume what she had assumed. It didn't matter how well she thought she knew her, hearing that was more than enough to put the wall way back up. Regardless, none of it felt worth arguing anymore. It was as she said - she could do what she wanted. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. "Nevermind. Goodbye, Faye."

They had come to a crossing intersection of the street. Even though she hadn't needed to turn off the street they were walking on, she did anyway. She just had to get away.