tearmeanewone | SEIZE + [Action/Audio]

SEIZE + [Action/Audio]

[September 22nd - 24th]

[Locked to BioShock Infinitely Guilty House]

[Just by looking at the network, anyone would be able to tell that the anomalies in Luceti are coming faster and are starting to affect residents in stranger ways. Somehow, Elizabeth, Gai, Booker, Robert, and Rosalind's house has escaped unscathed. Until now.]

[One quiet, lazy morning, Elizabeth wakes up her husband by wrapping her arms around him from behind. Only as far as she's concerned, they aren't married. Very close, yes, she sings nearly every song he writes-- sometimes even the ones he doesn't write for her to sing. But more importantly, there are some serious-looking crystals growing from her severed pinky all the way up to her shoulder.]

Good morning, darling~

((OOC: If anyone wants to spot Elizabeth running around town with a half-crystalized arm and way longer hair, FEEL FREE. 8Db She'll be at her AU-self's usual haunts: Good Spirits, the library, and doing various gunbattle simulations in the Battle Dome.))

[September 25th - 28th]

[Locked to BioShock Infinitely Guilty House]

[Nobody gets a break. On the morning of the 25th, Elizabeth isn't in her bed. Though there's some smears of blood left on her pillow. She's standing in Booker's room, watching him sleep almost as though she can't believe he's there. She's absolutely still, as though saying something would break the illusion.]

[Wherever she's come from, she looks like she's been through hell. Blood all down one side of her face, bruising and blood at the inner corner of her left eye, her clothes have been practically shredded. Standing and watching Booker looking like this probably isn't the best plan, but...]

[Action]

[The last time this version of Elizabeth had been in Luceti, there was definitely more firm purpose to her step. This time, after cleaning herself up, Elizabeth wanders around the village as though she barely recognizes where she is. Or she's in awe of it. Or afraid that it's going to suddenly start storming and the entire village is going to catch fire. Over and over again, she bends and pulls at her fully-formed pinky. Maybe she shouldn't be making excursions into the village like this, but... it would no doubt be the last time she saw it.]

[Audio - Locked to Eleanor]

I'm sorry Eleanor, I need to talk to you one more time.

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[Booker hasn't ever stopped sleeping with a weapon since coming to Luceti. The place has made it clear that it's just as bad as the real world. He's gone from keeping a pistol or knife under his pillow to just hanging his holster behind the headboard in a way he can easily reach it.

It's more comfortable at least.

He's completely unaware that Elizabeth is standing over him, bloodied and bruised as she is. It appears that the now all too customary nightmares he's suffered from for months now begin to wake him up after thirty or so minutes of her standing over him.

All he remembers as he wakes is the sound of wings beating against the air and that mechanical screech coming from somewhere too close. He should have seen Songbird but all he could see was red....

it was strange enough to make him wake with a quiet jerk of motion.

He lays there for a few seconds before even noticing her there and when he does, he half reaches for the gun before registering who it is...]

Elizabeth?

[His voice scratches out as he squints at her, trying to make her out in the dark is stupid so he turns on the light by his bed and:]

Jesus Christ, what happened to you?!

[It gets him leaping out of bed and has his hands hovering close to her face - like he's not sure if he could touch her without something horrible happening. God, there was so much blood.]

[Elizabeth looks almost startled by how quickly Booker moves, and how he doesn't know what's going on or where she's been. He'd always had the answers in Rapture, he'd led her where she needed to go and told her what she had to hear. The fact that this Booker looked bewildered and scared was different. That could mean...]

[Her hand hovers over his hovering hand, and it starts to shake. What if she can't feel his hand when she goes to take it?] Are you real?

[His panic softens as she speaks but he's still worried. Just yesterday she had crystals covering her arm and was acting strange and now this...

He wishes he knew who ran this place because he was ready to punch someone in the face for doing this to her.

Still, just because he knew that shifts were happening didn't mean he knew this was a shift.

Her question catches him off guard - throws him back to their first meeting when she was throwing books at him and looked so vibrant. In retrospect, she looked just like her mother but he hadn't made the connection at the time.]

Yes! [He blurts out, like he'd meant to answer her sooner but was too caught up in his own thoughts. It seems to break the spell on them both and his hands cradle the sides of her head - his fingers tangle through the matted blood in her hair and he winces. There's gotta be a nasty head wound to go with that, maybe that's why she's asking.]

Yes, I'm real just -- what happened to you?

[Elizabeth jumps when she feels Booker's hands make contact with her face, but her own hand follows his to clasp it there. There should be a head wound, there should be a lot of wounds, but she's fine and healed-- just covered in her own blood.]

[So many things she could say in response to that question. So many things had happened to her since the river, things that she'd wished Booker could have been there for. She'd wished so hard, she'd driven herself crazy. But he was real, he wasn't telling her he was a projection of her mind. He was real.]

I died. [She reaches up and puts her free hand on Booker's cheek. Stubble and bewilderment, it made her smile in disbelief.] I missed you, I missed you so much. I wanted to see you every day.

[Fear leaps up into his throat at hearing words that he dreaded. For a second, he thinks he might still be dreaming - that his mind is still keen on punishing him and showing him what he never wanted to see. But the need to comfort her overrides the paranoia and - if asked about it later, he'll blame being tired - pulls her close in a hug that is attempting to be gentle, as if handling a fragile thing. It seems most of his hugs are that way.]

Oh, Elizabeth...baby-girl, you're - you're okay now.

[It's the most he knows to do. Telling her she's safe and he's here when she's missed him so much apparently is the best he can do right now.]

I gotcha.

I'm okay now... I'm okay. [She repeats it only because there's nothing else she can say right now. The whys and hows and whos can't be said now, because she's too full from seeing Booker again. She'd wanted to see him at the end, she'd wanted to slip away with him holding her hand and telling her she did the right thing, that he was proud of her. But she'd made it through, smiling at Sally until everything had gone dark, and feeling so sure of her choice as she slipped away.]

All of my injuries are gone, I'm just still-- I'm still filthy, that's all. Don't worry, I'm okay.

[She fists her hands in the back of Booker's shirt and continues to shake.]

[Booker doesn't want to do much else beside hold her as she continues to tremble. He does his best not to join her, it's much easier to be a solid thing for her. Someone she can lean on when she needs to.]

Let's get you cleaned up then.

[It's nice when he can actually help.]

[She nods and pulls away from Booker. Elizabeth remembers the way to the bathroom, but the rest is a little murky right now. Like who she woke up next to, why there was a puppy wandering around the house...]

[Once she gets there, she strips off her shirt, stockings, and skirt and leaves them in a ball on the floor. All of it is ruined anyway. Her slip and underwear is at least cleaner and undamaged.]

[Booker lets her go, only to rush into the kitchen and grab the first aid kit - he can't actually believe that she's not still injured. There's just so much blood...

After they separate, it gives Booker a moment to actually think about what has happened. And whether or not this is permanent - like those goddamn nightmares.

It's a series of thoughts left unfinished as he follows her path to the bathroom and opens the door...only to hesitate and pull it back closed enough for him to speak through a crack.]

Uh... can I come in?

[Ever a product of his time, Booker doesn't actually come inside the bathroom before hearing an answer.

He has a bathrobe he knows Elizabeth uses - used? - tucked over his arm.]

[Elizabeth looks up when the door opens, and she smiles when Booker closes it again except for the crack he talks through. Booker could be so clumsy with his feelings and expressing them, she'd missed it.]

[She goes to the door and opens it further again, smiling encouragingly.] I'm not exactly decent, but I think I can stand to be in front of you.

[She sits herself up on the sink after noticing the first aid kit. Maybe she still had some scratches, she wasn't sure.]

[He somehow manages not to explode when she opens the door. If anything he just looks concerned. And tired, very tired.]

Here. If you want it.

[He holds up the fluffy robe for her to slip her arms into. Amazingly enough, he manages not looking in the other direction until she puts it on. Preserving her modesty seems stupid, especially now.]

[Elizabeth stares at the robe for a beat, almost as though she's trying to remember what it is and what its purpose is. Eventually she slides into it, pulls it around her and belts it. It's so soft, and so warm.]

[And it hits her, hard-- she's been cold and in pain for days.]

[She starts crying as she holds the robe around her.]

[To say that Booker panics is a...well, it's pretty accurate actually. As Elizabeth begins to cry Booker pulls some pretty impressive aneurysm faces - thinking for a moment (a long moment) that he screwed up and did something wrong. Robes weren't supposed to make people cry!

But then his actual brain catches up with him and he thinks about how she looked when he woke up.]

You don't... have to tell me what happened... [I'm not sure if I want to know.]

But you can when you want to...

[The most tentative hug ever is being executed. And he doesn't care about tears soaking into his shirt.]

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SEIZE + [Action/Audio]

Action part duex

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do you still wanna finish dis one?

my little kokoro

is it brokoro?