Elijah
It was a little strange for Elijah to ask Ian to go star gazing with him.
Not
that Ian didn't seem the type who wouldn't enjoy going out to Cherry
Creek State Park and absorbing a little nature, but rather because it
was overcast. There was no real reason to actually go out and look at
the stars because, unless the clouds parted just right, it didn't matter
where they went because the sky was not going to yield for them.
Except, of course, Elijah had been insistent that this didn't matter.
That he'd wanted to show Ian something, or perhaps that he just missed
his face (and the rest of him) and he wanted to hang out.
It was a combination of both, really. Ian was enjoyable company, and Elijah wanted to show him something. Leaning more towards Ian being enjoyable company. Whatever, there were stars.
Perhaps
Kalen knew, or perhaps Kalen didn't know, but the stars were one of
Elijah's favorite things to look at once he'd come into being aware of
how magic actually worked. The air was growing colder, and soon the
trappings of winter would be upon them. Soon enough, the weather would
yield and the barest hints of frost not he ground would give way to
something more insistent and the cold would not be a welcome change, but
rather, a reminder of what had been. He'd not experienced an actual,
legitimate winter since he was sixteen, since he'd callen through. Since
he started hearing the Voice and all the woes that came with the
awakened world. The air was cold, and he tried, quietly, to move past
what had happened and be in the now.
A little difficult when every when could be now, when every when is
now. Was now. Would ever be now. Elijah resigned himself to live in the
moment, every moment, and instead of focus on an aspect of now that was
not so blood filled. That didn't leave a gritty, disgusting taste in
his mouth. Something that felt like a comma instead of a period. He'd
agreed to meet Ian in a parking lot bundled up because driving a motor
cycle when it was getting cold was freaking unpleasant and not living with Jenn meant he also didn't have access readily to the Civic. We digress.
So there he was, ready for a cold ride back home with a backpack full of God-knew-what waiting for his companion to arrive.
Ian
There
weren't many stars out that night, and the weather was cold enough to
warrant a jacket. In places outside the city, it was starting to rain,
but as yet so far the area around Cherry Creek Park remained dry. Apart
from Elijah and his motorcycle, the parking lot was vacant. Eventually
Ian pulled up in his Audi to join him.
He was wearing a black
leather jacket. Soft lambskin cut neatly to hug his frame, with zippers
on the sleeves and a turned up collar. He zipped it up as he exited his
car, making his way across the pavement to where Elijah was standing.
When he reached Elijah's side, he glanced up at the dark haze of clouds
in the night sky. And see, he could have said something about the lack
of visible stars. But instead he just tucked his hands into the pockets
of his jacket and said, "Lead the way."
Maybe Ian had more
glamorous things to do on a Friday night than hang out in Cherry Creek
with a college kid, but if so, he didn't mention it.
Elijah
Across
the pavement, off to his side, and Elijah grinned- something lopsided
and please. He reached up to run a hand through his hair. They could
probably both be doing something that was a lot more glamorous than
hanging out in a state park in the middle of the night, especially on a
Friday. Lotus Drops was playing at the Church and her sets were,
generally speaking, pretty sick in terms of woven beats and glorious
melody. He never thought of himself as a DJ enthusiast, but Lena put a
change to all of that.
He thought about Lena sometimes, about
her long hair and how she seemed alive while she was performing. She had
a withering, residual sadness about her. Something that always landed
itself to fading away, odd that this would make her stick so far and
fond in his memory.
But Elijah did, he led the way, headed to
the west and started on what would prove to be a bit of a trek on a
path. The air was cool, crisp, and when he inhaled it tickled his lungs.
Walked towards a sound, the sound of running water moving slow over
rocks, towards the sound of a creek and the rustle of tall grass and
brush. There were rocks, but the ground was all done up in arid desert
colors and had yet to feel the kiss of oncoming rains. He made his way
past trees, purposefully past trees, to places where he knew that stars
would be even though he knew that there were no stars. Or he knew that
there were stars and was planning things none the less.
"Ever see the umbra?" he asks, a little pride in his voice because he knew the word for it now.
Ian
"There was a girl back in Jersey. A Verbena. She showed it to me once."
Ian
walked along beside Elijah, keeping pace with him along the trail. As
they walked, the scenery changed. There was a sound of running water
that presaged their arrival at the creek. As it came into view, Ian
walked to the edge of the bank and crouched down, reaching out to let
his fingers trail in the water. There was something meditative about the
act. He seemed... quiet tonight. Content merely to exist in this place
and this moment in time.
"Is that why you asked me out here?" He looked up, regarding Elijah's shadowed features in the dim ambient light.
Elijah
"Yeah," he said, "it's… It just blows my fucking mind ya know? And you come out here and it's so quiet and there's no cars and no traffic lights and it's so solid out here- you look up and you can see every star in a perfect spiral."
He
sounds happy. Beyond that, he sounds excited, pleased in a way that is
youthful exuberance and passion because he'd seen something beautiful
and finally, finally could share it with someone. That grin gives
way to a smile, a genuine smile. It's strange to think of him as
deceptive sometimes, because there are moments where he is honest. It's
not easy to forget how new all of this is to him, not when Elijah smiles
like that.
"Truthfully, we could have done this in the city,
but it's different there. The buildings are tenuous at best. I didn't
feel like feeling like I was falling through a rooftop."
Ian
Ian
pulled his hand from the creek and stood up. The water was cold as it
dripped down the side of his fingers, and he shook the worst of it off
gently. Elijah talked about the stars and the umbra with this kind of...
passionate, youthful abandon. And Ian looked at him with a subdued,
complicated expression.
"I wouldn't mind seeing it again."
(Especially not like that. The way Elijah saw it.) Ian reached out with
his dry hand and touched the back of Elijah's knuckles, running a
fingertip over them gently. "Show me?"
Elijah
[Spirit 1 - Look across the gauntlet. Diff 4, -1 because it is totally practiced]
Dice: 1 d10 TN4 (3) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Elijah
(crap, if that's diff 3 then it's 2 successes, rolling again!)
Elijah
[extending]
Dice: 1 d10 TN4 (1) ( fail )
Elijah
(screw you paradox! Magic does what it wants -1 WP)
Elijah
[Keeeep going, +1 diff)
Dice: 1 d10 TN5 (2) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Elijah
[Do we tempt fate again?)
Dice: 1 d10 TN5 (6) ( success x 1 )
Elijah
[Why you gotta be so rude? Paradox]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Elijah
[Oww.]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Elijah
He came prepared.
The young man dropped his backpack with an unceremonious thunk,
a little cloud of dirt rising and then falling and he crouched to
rummage through. He spoke while he looked through his things. "Normally,
I just smoke a cigarette to get there, but I figured that since you do
something that, you know, requires your lungs to function I'd have to
try something different."
So he rises with a bundle of herbs.
Actual herbs, something dried and held together with twine. Something
for smudging, something that was born to make smoke, because he didn't
actually need a cigarette, he needed the smoke that came with it. He
wasn't the ritual type. Wasn't the ordered, structured type- odd,
really, given that he was studying with a Hermetic. And a lighter.
Elijah lit the end of the bundle of herbs, letting it smolder and catch
for a moment, lighting up his face for a second before he blew-
Finding
that he didn't quite blow hard enough to put the fire out and, instead,
he shook them to put out the flames. It came to a glowing ember as he
started his approach to rest at Ian's side. He's a city kid. holds the
smudge stick like a cigar and he shook it a little over the water,
watching the smoke come up in lazy coils. His free hand reached
tentatively for Ian's, his fingertips grazing the place where his pulse
could be felt.
And there's a second that the air doesn't feel
calm, that things don't feel quite at rest, but rather, at that moment
where the world feels like it is going to be turned upon itself, there
is upheaval. There is that moment of unrest and something… something
doesn't quite seem right. His grip tightens, his gaze refocuses and he
pins something in the distance, something nobody else can see, as though
his own insistence would make the world fade.
And it does.
The
world does give way, and it is subtle at first. Odd, to think he would
be able to do anything subtle. It fades, because things do fade, and the
clouds don't so much part as they do give way to themselves. Elijah
inhales, and there is a spark, and the difference is notable. The world
seems to be more of itself. The grass, the air, the whispers on the wind
become the wind itself. The creek before them seems tangibly cold. The air has flavor and the stars?
Every
one of them bright and shining. Every one of them twinkling,
whispering. Some blue, some golden, some white, burning white, and the
moon feels as though it has its own consciousness. To say that things
were alive would be to not give it credence. There are things that lurk
there, things that have no physical form and give way to concept. One
could talk to the water, and though they might not be able to hear it
right now, it feels as though the world might talk back.
Ian
Ian stood and watched while Elijah performed his
ritual. It was a glimpse into Elijah's paradigm. Something that, to Ian,
felt as raw and personal as the night he'd pressed Elijah's palm to his
heart and shared his awareness of the living tapestry. Ian's own
rituals, if you could call them that, were often simple, instinctive
things. Blood. Breath. Pleasure. Pain.
He'd only seen the
umbra once before this (unless one wanted to count the dream he'd had - nightmare, really - where he'd encountered Sky being held captive by a
corrupted spirit.) The Verbena who'd shown it to him had also used smoke
from a bundle of sage, and the scent of it played on his memories,
evoking visions of another time and place. She (Cecily) had been a bit
more graceful in her handling of it, but Ian didn't mention that. Only
let his mouth twitch once, softly.
When Elijah reached for his
hand, Ian twined their fingers together, holding the contact so that
their senses could pass from one to the other. There was a long moment
when Ian felt the tumultuous shift of Elijah's Will nearly come crashing
down, but Elijah kept his focus and pushed past it. And then,
finally...
The stars were brighter on the other side of the
gauntlet. Ian looked up and took them in. His eyes swept slowly down to
the creek, which looked silver and glinting in the moonlight. Almost,
the water seemed to sing.
He didn't see these things in quite
the same way that Elijah did. Life was a thing he knew. Vibrant and
beating. This was more like... memory. Pathos. (Those were also things
he understood.)
"Do you see like this often?" he asked softly.
Elijah
Their fingers twined together and he held on,
he held on in ways that were difficult to really describe. He tried and
he held fast and he forced his way through the effect. Magic was hard
when you were inexperienced. Magic was hard in general, but his mind was
pressing forward and his horizons trying desperately to expand. He was
on the edge of something worthwhile. He was on the edge of something
that would change how he looks at the world. He was at the edge of a lot
of things.
The stars were brighter on the other side, and the
world existed in ideas instead of the tangible. Moved to a point where
these two things became less distinguishable.
But there was a
question, did he see like this often. There was a bright smile on his
face, a look of pleasure that came across his features as he turned his
attentions briefly from the swirling spiral of stars and stardust in the
sky to Ian.
"As often as I can," he said, "the city is
different, though. It's… less solid, people aren't as invested, it
doesn't have enough… strength."
Ian
Elijah's
smile was as bright as any of those stars in the sky, and Ian looked at
him as though he was something new and unfamiliar. Beautiful, but
distant. Their hands were locked together. Ian could feel Elijah's pulse
beating beneath the skin.
"It's... impressive," he admitted quietly. A beat later he asked, "Are you doing okay?"
It
wasn't a question about what they were looking at, but something a
little more grounded. The last time Ian had seen Elijah had been at
Victoria's house. At the time, Lucy had been the one to step in and
offer comfort for Elijah. Ian... had been covered in a dead woman's
blood. A woman that Elijah had just seen him decapitate. That's not the
kind of thing that anyone would find comforting.
So Ian had let Elijah be. But now that they were alone, and (relatively speaking) safe, he asked.
Elijah
"I've
never seen anyone die before," he admits. It's strange for him to say,
gets easier to say every time he says it, but it feels alien to him.
He'd talked to Sera about it, he'd discussed a number of things with her
and laid his head in her lap and struggled to piece through some kind
of peace but, instead, he'd just found his comfort with his head in her
lap, looking up at her like she had answers.
He didn't know if
she had answers, but heavens he did try to find them. He tried to find
them anywhere he could. Perhaps that was part of what brought him out
here with Ian tonight, perhaps he had hoped that the stars would have
some kind of answer. That he could commune with them instead of just
being another insignificant body on the face of a mud ball floating in
space.
"It's… I don't dream about it, but I don't really dream about anything anymore- good or bad, it ends up at the same place."
Ian
Ian nodded. The gesture was small and subtle, and he glanced past Elijah into the water.
"I'm sorry you had to."
He let go of Elijah's hand, tucking his fists back into the pockets of his jacket.
"Let's take a walk." He inclined his head in the direction of the trail.
Elijah
"It
had to happen," he told Ian. He inhaled slow and deep, "all things
considered that's… that was quick. It wasn't drawn out and by all means
the actual moment of death wasn't painful. It wasn't suffering."
There
are things he thinks about, that much is clear. There are things he
thinks about that bring him some kind of peace, but that is one of them.
The fact that the actual death hadn't actually been a moment of
suffering. What happened when her spirit left her body, however, was
wrong. Was… was nothing they could have anticipated, he didn't know what
came after that. He didn't know what it was that he would have heard,
but thankfully he hadn't been thinking about what he'd heard the moment
Victoria died, he had bent hinting about the fact that he was going to
be sick.
And a few moments later when he looked in some icebox
and saw too many pieces that he couldn't' quite attribute to an actual
human body intermixed with pieces that he knew were very distinctly
human. He inhaled slow and deep.
"Yeah, let's walk," he said,
and he followed along. The trail was true, things didn't seem different
there. The landscape in a place like this was true beyond true. It was
easier to navigate. So they walked, and he knew that his body would feel
better once they walked.
Ian
There were a lot
of things Ian could say to that. That there were worse things in the
world than physical pain. That he didn't give a fuck whether or not a
serial killer suffered when she died. That a quick death didn't make her
any less dead. Almost, he started to say all of these things, but
before any of the words left his lips he stopped and pressed his mouth
closed.
Instead he said, "I'm just glad we all made it out."
They
were still in the physical realm. Ian could feel it beneath his feet,
hard and familiar. But looking at it through Elijah's eyes made the
landscape altogether different. He watched the park as they moved,
scanning his eyes over the spiritual reflection.
"I saw Sera at a Halloween party last week. She was pretty high. I don't know if that means she's okay or not."
Elijah
What
would he have said in that? What could he have said to that. There were
issues he thought about, things that gnawed at him, a degree of
suffering that he couldn't stomach and perhaps he should harden himself
to such a prospect. They live in a cruel world. They live in a world
where terrible things do happen. His eyes caught the press of his lips
together. He doesn't know what Ian almost said. He doesn't know what
could have happened.
He talked to Sera. Well, saw her at a party, and Sera had been pretty high.
"Sera
is high all the time," he says with a grin, something that doesn't
quite meet his eyes. Elijah dodged some bright-eyed something that
scurried across their path. Something that wasn't quite real, that may
or may not have existed on the physical plane. The leaves rustled, shone
gold and crimson and mocha brown in the dying brilliant starlight.
"Well,
I take that back, I'm sure she's sober sometimes, I've just never seen
it. She… it's different when she does it, though, it's not so much
escaping as it is transcending."
Ian
Ian glanced at the tiny, bright-eyed creature
that dashed across their path, tracking its motion with his eyes. Elijah
offered his assessment of Sera, to which Ian did not immediately
respond. Instead he let his focus shift over the leaves and out onto the
distant horizon. The warmth of his breath made small plumes of steam in
the chill, humid air.
Finally he said, "I don't think it's as simple as one thing or the other."
Elijah
He didn't think it was as simple as one way or the other.
"it's
never as simple as one way or the other. I don't really know her well,"
he said. His eyes went to the sky again, like he could navigate a
minefield without ever laying his eyes on the ground. And he could- he
was more connected to the stars, more aware of this more-real-than-real
landscape than he was the real tangible world. He continued on, hands on
his pockets and thoughts meandering as they were want to do because
this was Elijah we were talking about. His thoughts were never really
truly in one place for too long.
"I mean. We hang out. We talk. We share stuff…. butI think it's a lot harder to know a person than it seems."
Ian
Ian had no cause to disagree with that, so he just tipped his head and nodded.
"I
don't know if anyone ever really knows anyone else. Sometimes you get
lucky and find someone who at least speaks the same language." He
shrugged a little beneath his jacket. "That's what I like about sex,
actually. It surpasses language barriers."
Something about the
way he said it seemed to imply both literal and metaphoric
interpretations. After a moment he glanced at Elijah and smiled a
little. The expression was tepid at best. Ian was less inspired by the
spirit world than Elijah was, and less inclined toward exuberance. But
there was a shadow of memory there in that look. Nostalgia over things
that had passed between them. It didn't mean that Ian was okay, but for
the moment he could think about better things.
"How are things with you and Jenn?"
Elijah
That
is what he likes about sex, and Elijah nods like he was listening
because he was listening. He was paying attention, caught the smile that
was barely tepid, but returned it none-the-less because… did he nee a
reason to smile? Even if he was distracted, and Elijah was always
distracted, he could smile. Enjoy the company.
"She's taking
me home for Thanksgiving. Not that I don't usually go home with her for
holidays, but we've already coordinated a rescue effort so I don't have
to spend the entirety of the break having someone count my damn pills to
make sure I'm taking them."
A beat.
"Seriously, if I come back kind of out-of-it don't freak."
Not
that Ian would freak out. Ian freaking out over anything seemed a
little strange to him. He seemed so cool and collected. He seemed
capable of handling anything, or at least presenting a front like he
could handle anything. It's the best assurance he could offer to a
friend, someone who at least knew what was going on. What could be going
on- someone who at least shared similar experiences, which is something
he couldn't say for Jenn. Not anymore anyway… and why did that thought
feel like pushing on a bruise?
"Jenn thinks I have an asshole
boyfriend or girlfriend but probably boyfriend that I moved in with.
It's kind of awkward, she doesn't… I have no idea what to tell her about
any of this, because I feel like it's things she deserves to know but
things that… I don't think she'd be okay about if she knew."
Ian
"I'm
used to it," Ian offered in response to Elijah's warning, though being
used to something was not necessarily the same as being okay with it.
They
kept walking, and Elijah answered Ian's question honestly, though it
probably wasn't the easiest thing to talk about. Ian let his focus hover
on Elijah, ignoring for a moment the starlit beauty of their
surroundings. But if Elijah hoped for an easy solution, Ian didn't have
any to offer.
"I think you should go with your instinct. You
know what kind of person she is. Tell her the truth and see what
happens, or find a convincing story. I doubt you'll be able to stay
friends if you just shut her out."
As though Ian had any room
to talk when it came to shutting people out. But that was the difference
between him and Elijah. Ian had already said goodbye to his childhood
friends.
Elijah
"You're used to people being out-of-it?" he asked.
He
nodded though, like this was as good of a plan as he could have come up
with. He ran a hand through his hair and squared his attention on Ian.
It was a scary thought- the idea of losing Jenn as a friend. He'd put
her through Hell, what with dying and moving and everything they'd been
through, he did owe her honesty. He did owe her something more than
honesty, but he couldn't exactly offer anything else but honesty.
"Well, we got a long car rid ahead of us, so… I would offer you leftovers or something after break, but it could be disgusting."
Ian
You're used to people being out-of-it?
Ian
gave a delicate breath of laughter in response to this. Sera wasn't the
only Awakened person in Denver who tended to exist in a more...
expansive state. Likely, by Ian's standards of presence, most of the
people he met seemed at least a little bit out of it. There were a few
who had yet to give him that impression. Grace, for one. Kiara, maybe.
It wasn't necessarily a fair interpretation, but it was what it was. He
could have just as easily been speaking of a number of other people from
his past, but Elijah didn't have the background information to know
that.
In any case, they were talking about Jenn. And leftovers.
"That's alright. I don't do Thanksgiving." After a moment he asked, "You guys heading to Louisiana?"
Elijah
"Yeah,
loading up in the Civic and making the long haul. Probably going to
meet up with some people I haven't seen since we left in Baton Rouge,"
we. Because when he talked about Jenn, it was usually a we
situation. Less now than it was before, but it was pretty standard to
think that wherever Jenn was, there was a good chance Elijah would be
there shortly thereafter.
"Probably partying with a lot of
ex-whatevers. We might stop in Texas for a little while, too, but mostly
because we're both kinda shit for long hauls."
Ian
Ian nodded. "Not a bad way to spend a holiday, I suppose."
Of
course if it were up to Ian, he wouldn't have to acknowledge the
holiday at all. But he lived in the world, and for the next few weeks
that world was going to be filled with pumpkin spice everything and ads
for Black Friday sales and people talking about heading home to see
their families.
For Ian, home was a relative term. There was
the place he was born. The place he'd grown up. A place that was rooted
in memory, but that he'd since distanced himself from. There was also
the place he'd lived for four years while attending college. New
Brunswick certainly had a sense of nostalgia to it, but it had never
really been home. More like a place of transition. There was
also New York, of course. But New York was... New York. Vibrant and
alive and full of experience. But he'd never set down roots there. Maybe
he just hadn't been there long enough.
In any case, he had
nowhere to be, and no one to see, over Thanksgiving or Christmas or any
other holiday. Including his birthday, which was less than a week away.
Ian took a turn in the trail that would eventually lead them back to the parking lot. "What's your family like?"
Elijah
[Manip+sub, my family is totally awesome I swear]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
Ian
[Are you about to lie to me? Per+Subterfuge!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 6, 6, 6, 7, 8) ( success x 5 )
Elijah
What was his family like?
That…
that made him pause. He knew they were headed back to the parking lot.
He knew where things were going, and there were things he didn't know.
He knew that there were things about Ian that he didn't know; he didn't
know about Ian's past, the glorious details. He didn't know the roads
he's walked or the experiences he's had. The things that have made him
who he is today, but he does not wish anything different upon him lest
he be a different person. In truth, if one were to be sentimental, he
rather liked the person he was with, though he did not envy his
tragedies.
It felt strange talking about his family, if only because his were still alive and bright and vital and worried.
Or as worried as they could get.
"My mom's from Quebec? She's… she's always been pretty whatever
about most things. She and I always kind of had an understanding that
there were things that we don't tell my dad? Like, she used to come and
pick me up from crazy assed parties and Jenn and I were too trashed to
make it home. Which only happened, like, once because it is crazy
awkward having your mom be your designated driver. My dad's pretty cool,
I guess. I mean, it was always awkward for him because I kinda sucked
at being… you know… typical son material. He runs a construction
company, so he worked a lot before Katrina and then the business got too
big after so he wasn't around much. I always got the impression that he
wanted to be there more."
There are things he doesn't say and
a tone that insists that he's fine with things the way they are, even
if it just barely. Things he doesn't mention, like the awkward car rides
home from the ER when he'd had too much or someone had the presence of
mind to do more than roll him over on his side. He doesn't mention that
things were hard, that they thought he was crazy.
"Anyway, my
mom can't cook for shit, and my dad's family's really superstitious, so…
big holidays pretty much consists of someone getting drunk and telling
stories where they heard ghosts or something btu they kind of do that a
little less on account of thinking I might take bogey man stories a
little too seriously."
Ian
They came from such
different backgrounds, Ian and Elijah. For a moment, Ian let himself
try to imagine what Elijah's childhood might have been like. What life
could have been with a mom who played designated driver and a family
that did things like get drunk and tell ghost stories on holidays. He
didn't know which parts of the story Elijah withheld, but a person
couldn't sum up an entire life in a single conversation. Of course there
were things Elijah left out. Probably less pleasant things. Ian had no
indication of this, but he assumed. Because it's what people did. Either
way, he didn't pry.
If talking about families and holidays
bothered Ian at all, he kept that to himself too. He listened to
Elijah's stories without comment, giving a small, subvocal sound toward
the end.
"I guess family gatherings get more complicated after you Wake Up."
Elijah
"They
were already complicated? Waking Up just makes things… yeah, I guess
complicated is probably the best word for it. I kind of had a break down
a couple years afterward so now everyone's been on egg shells," he
said.
There is an awkward pause with that, and he scratched
the back of his head, sighed and finally, finally let the world fade
back into something more reasonable for him Something less daunting and
something less real and more tangible. They were practically in the
parking lot.
"Yeah, that's not attractive, I should probably… y'know… not…"
The
facade dropped briefly, and perhaps if talking about families and
holidays bothered either of them, only one of them let there be a
glimmer of something there.
"You wanna go camping at some point? I need someone to do outdoor shit with."
Smooth transition there, Elijah.
Ian
Elijah
had mentioned something about that before. The break down. Ian recalled
that moment now as he listened, but he didn't bring it up. There were
other things they'd talked about then that he'd just as soon not
revisit.
Elijah let the world fade back into its physical
reality, and something about Ian's posture relaxed almost imperceptibly.
Like he felt less of that immediate need to be hyper-aware of his
surroundings. There was an awkward pause, and Elijah tried to dismiss
his confession with a self-deprecating remark. Ian glanced at him as
they reached the edge of the parking lot.
"Everyone has their shit, Elijah." (Ian had said this exact thing to Kalen once.) "It's okay to be human."
And for what it was worth, he sounded like he actually meant it. Hypocritical though it may have been.
You wanna go camping at some point?
At this, Ian looked skeptical. "Have you ever been camping in the winter?"
Elijah
"I've never actually been camping."
Ian
Ian laughed, glancing away with a little shake of his head.
"Of course not."
He
started across the parking lot toward his car, pulling a set of keys
out of his pocket. Just when Elijah was likely to suspect that an answer
might not be forthcoming, Ian turned around and said, "Sure. Why not."
There
was an edge to his tone that suggested a sort of perverse curiosity.
(Witness: the urban Southerner in an alien habitat.) A moment later he
added, more seriously, "Thanks. For showing me that."
He unlocked his car and opened the door. "Good luck on the trip."
There
was a pause. Something like thoughtfulness, or maybe hesitance. Then he
got in his car and pulled away. A moment later, it started to rain.
