(no subject)

[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!]

Comments

[cagedlamb]

The only saving grace was Newt didn't seem all that fussed about the actual ability Booker had. If he had been freaked out about that on top of anything she was about to tell him, it'd make things so much harder.

"No, I can't - I can't do what he can do, no. There's...a lot people don't know about us. About before here," she began, already dreading the conversation. She had already gone through it with Sybil, but she didn't think it'd ever get easier. "And I know it's a lot to ask, but I need you to keep quiet about what you saw. For both my safety and Booker's. I'll tell you more, but only if you promise me."

He seemed genuinely curious, which made her hope that that curiosity would translate into him being willing to go along with those terms. She had always felt like he was a good person, so she hoped maybe with the incentive plus hearing her story, their secret would remain safe.

[sciencesaggressively]

"Mmkay, promise." He realizes as soon as he says it that it probably doesn't spark much confidence, but he's managed to keep the whole werewolf thing a secret even from Kate--though a part of him wonders if that's just because it hasn't really come up--so he thinks that's kind of a victory in itself. Still, Elizabeth is being totally earnest here so he probably should be, too, he gets it. It's not really a thing that a person advertises in a city where locals tend to ostracize those who are different; and hell, you never know about anyone in general, so some practicing some caution is probably a good thing. A good thing he's never really done himself.

He draws an X over his heart and holds his pinky out. "Cross my heart and a pinky swear that I won't go report it to the news, then you know it's doubly binding." He doesn't even mean to sound facetious if that's how this is coming across. Elizabeth is his friend, and he has every intention of doing right by her. "You can trust me."

[cagedlamb]

"Pinky swear?" she repeated with a raised eyebrow at his hand, not sure what he wanted her to do. Still, his own earnestness made her think he really could be trusted.

She hoped so. Booker was going to be upset already. She knew it was his fault.

"Thank you," she said, offering him a small smile. She starts to walk again, her gaze more forward than toward him. She wasn't sure if she could look at him as he said it. "Look, I - there are reasons I don't really talk about this. I hope you'll understand it isn't about you or anyone here. It's just where I come from, Booker and I were being hunted...and then I ended up here. We've been trying to keep as invisible as possible since then, in case the ones coming after us end up here, too."

[sciencesaggressively]

He wiggles his pinky at her with a nod. "Yeah, just link your pinky with mine and it's like, making a forever binding promise. Or something, I don't know, I haven't done a lot of pinky swears."

He follows her, keeping in stride as he gives her a sidelong glance, not really sure what to expect out of this. How does one just explain away the ability to have crow hands? Newt's not sure. When she says she and Booker had been hunted where they're from, though, his eyebrows shoot up practically to his hairline. "Hunted? Christ, why? By who? Because of his--" He glances around, making sure to level his voice before returning his gaze to Elizabeth. "Because of his skills?"

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth shook her head. Honestly, recounting what had happened wasn't exactly something she enjoyed, either, but she knew she had made a promise. He seemed intent to keep hers, so she would reply in kind.

"What Booker could do isn't something he was born with, it's manufactured where I came from which is...a whole other subject I'll get to, I promise. But you ingest the Vigor, you get the ability. It's - it's a liquid, a drink, each one giving you something else. The crows, lightning, fire - there were a few," she explained. It was complicated to go into, so she thought that was all she really needed to say about the topic. For now, anyway. "They were coming after me. Booker was only involved because he was with me. I spent most of my life locked away from...everything. Everyone. He was the one who got me out, set me free. The ones who kept me weren't happy."

It hadn't been for noble reasons at first that brought Booker to her, but she had long since forgiven him for the fact he hadn't been upfront about it being a job to break her out. He had long since lost his obligation to help her, and yet he was still there, no matter how infuriating he could be sometimes.

[sciencesaggressively]

Newt blinks. Okay, so what he's understanding is, what Book can do is not a natural-born gift, it's an ingested one. So he guesses attempting to sneak a hair off Booker's brush to take a look at his DNA is out and also maybe would have been frowned upon anyway. Still, even though he's sure that neither Elizabeth nor Booker are carrying around any of those drinks here in Darrow--otherwise wouldn't she have taken? He sure as shit would, if he's honest--he kind of wishes they were because how sweet would it be to be able to start a fire with his hands? He'd like, totally be a hit at barbecues and what not.

But right, getting off track because his friend is telling him something awfully secret and personal here, and he ought to make sure she doesn't think he's not worth telling. "That's-- Okay. Okay, but why would anyone come after you?" he asks, frowning as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Granted, he doesn't know every facet of Elizabeth's life, even her personality, but from what he does know about her, he can't imagine why anyone would want to harm her in any way.

[cagedlamb]

The question was one that she knew would blossom into many more. No matter how many people she'd tell, she doubted she'd figure a way

"My father - who I didn't know was my father until very recently - was a powerful person where I'm from. He controlled the population by convincing everyone he was a Prophet of God. At some point, I came into the picture, and I wasn't a product of his wife," she explained, her expression hardening a little as she started talking of Lady Comstock. If she hated anyone more than her father, it was that woman. "She sent me away, and I spent all my life in what was essentially a prison. I had no contact with the outside world. I had no choice in the matter, I had no freedom. Booker was the one who broke me out. My father...was not pleased. He was willing to do anything to get me back. Kill anyone."

She glanced over at Newt, having a feeling she was probably being stared at at that point. There was a reason why she didn't talk about this. "Before I was let out, I don't even remember the last time I set my feet outside. I didn't have friends until I came here. I barely spoke to anyone at all."

[sciencesaggressively]

"Well, shit." He doesn't really know what else to say just yet, and he adjusts his glasses before shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. He's not sure what to make of all of this, but he has to admit that for someone who's spent a majority of her life in solitary confinement, she's surprisingly well-adjusted. He meets her eyes and offers her a small smile, not sure if that's appropriate but he doesn't want to make her feel like he thinks she's a freak or something because that's hardly the case at all.

He can hardly compare her troubles to his own, he's had a generally great and satisfactory life. But he hadn't had many friends at the 'Dome--he could make a case for two--and even though that hadn't bothered him, considering he'd been way too busy and in his own world to worry about anyone else, the difference between then and now is still sometimes staggering. To find people in Darrow he can truly trust has been such an eye-opener; he hadn't ever realized he was missing anything.

He reaches out to lightly grasp her arm, slowing to a stop and facing her directly. "Thanks for telling me," he finally says, and he knows that's not enough but verbal empathy isn't his strongest suit. "Like I said, I won't spill the beans to anyone else. Your secret's safe with me."

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth wasn't sure what to expect. She knew bad things could come of telling people, but with Newt, she apparently had little to worry about. He looked her in the eye and she believed him.

Trust never came easily. She didn't know if it ever would, but this felt like a step.

"Thank you," she said, earnestly. She didn't know what else she could say besides that. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way instead of me just being honest. I simply want to live a normal life here."

[sciencesaggressively]

His smile widens and he gives a shrug. "Eh, normal's overrated. Besides, I don't think there's every going to be such thing as a normal life in a place where people randomly appear from other worlds. Plus, y'know, killer ice bees."

Newt's never really known what it's like to be normal, if such a thing even does exist. He's lived with extraordinary circumstances his entire life, considering the way his brain works, and that those circumstances had only become more extreme once he'd joined the PPDC in the fight to beat the kaiju. "Gotta say, though, bees? Way easier to dodge than giant toxic monsters, so I guess it totally could have been worse."