(no subject)

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth had found the strange stone walking home from a day of classes. She was hurrying along, knowing she was to meet Delsin that night to eat take-out dinner at his place, when she nearly tripped on one of them just laying there in the middle of the road. It was a strange enough thing that she stopped and decided to pick it up (perhaps it was owned by something? But it was quite beautiful), though she was running so late she didn't bother inspecting it.

She arrived at his place a few minutes afterwards, the odd bauble still in her hands. She put it down long enough to fix her hair before knocking on his door with her free hand, hoping she didn't look too terrible from the walk.

She knew this wasn't anything that was meant to be 'dressy', but she did want to be presentable, after all.

Comments

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth immediately felt confusion well up in her. Surely he could understand why what they'd just seen had shaken her. Instead, he seemed more baffled at her than at anything else.

"I - didn't you see me?" she asked, turning her head to look at him, her eyes wide and scared. "I was - where was that? What is this thing?"

[infamousdelsin]

"What d'you mean?" he asks. "I saw both of us. We were old, and— why? What did you see?" He shifts so he can grip her shoulder, rubbing, arm framing her back. He wants to be as reassuring as he can be, because he's pretty sure that they didn't see the same thing.

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth wasn't old at all in what she'd seen, so hearing as much made her even more confused. Confused and honestly scared. She didn't answer at first, trying to collect herself.

She probably didn't do a good job.

"I - I was dead. Killed," she said in a whisper, the words almost "Delsin, I don't - I don't even know where I was. But I was just -"

[infamousdelsin]

Delsin doesn't even let her finish. He just pulls her close, wraps around her, and sort of palms the ball out of Liz's hands and away from them both.

"Okay," he whispers. More loudly, firmly, he says, "Okay, alright, let's think about this, okay? You saw— you saw something pretty awful. But I saw something totally different. Why would we look into the same thing and see two different things?"

[cagedlamb]

"I don't - I don't know. It makes no sense. None of this makes sense," she stammered. She didn't know about anything. She wanted to throw the thing, to get rid of it, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was hard enough putting it down where she'd picked it up, to look away.

But at least it was out of her hands. At least there was that.

[infamousdelsin]

"Because it's not real," he says firmly. "It's some kind of trick. It's giving off a sound, or a smell, or, or, or something, and it's fucking with our heads." He leans back to cup her face, to meet her eyes. "That's all it is, okay? This thing is fucking with us."

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth tried to focus on his words. He must be right, he must be. If she believed otherwise, she did not know how she could bear it.

"Y - yes, of course," she said, biting her lip nervously. She stepped away then, slowly sinking down into the couch. Her hands were still trembling as she took a deep breath. "I wish I never had picked it up..."

[infamousdelsin]

"I know," he murmurs. He sits beside her and takes both of her hands in his, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. "We're okay. You're okay, alright?" He reaches up to rub the back of her neck. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you."