| Title: Plans for Freedom. Time: Saturday, April 10, 2004 The Thespians: Elijah Cruise and Pascal Curio Location: Scattergood Grounds - Mountain Lake Notes: BAHAHA. Plans! |
| +---[ Scattergood Grounds - Mountain Lake ]----------------------------------+ | | | A crystal-clear mountain lake laps its waters up against its shoreline, | | stretching out in an immense expanse to cover a good portion of land. The | | water's edge holds various terrains, at one point it splashes gently upon | | a sandy beach, another a grassy bank stands a foot above the pool; large | | rocks are scattered here and there to sit upon, including partially | | immersed in the water, as well as large trees of various types that | | provide shading. On the eastern edge of the lake a daunting forest grows | | right up to the tarn's edge, and there visible a small river merges with | | the lake, coming at an odd angle from the north. The dirt path that cuts | | through the area seems to stop about here, becoming so overgrown by | | grasses that it no longer is visible. | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
| Being male was a joyous thing for Elijah. It meant that he could act like himself. Unfortunately, his lucky lighter was now missing, and Eli had the sneaking suspicion that Moriarty had it in for him. The man probably even looked in the boy's files - something that was nerve racking for Eli. History was impossible to erase, and no matter how hard Eli tried, he couldn't run from it, it would always be there. He perches on a rock facing the lake. His eyes are steely, cold even, and he complacently contemplates what to do next in his mission to run the school. His jaw is tight, and he squats on the balls of his feet, knees bent. Eli's hand covers the front of his chin and part of his lips. |
| The ego is a strange thing. Pride even more so. Pascal Curio would never admit it to her proud little heart, but her encounter with Lien last night did not end as she would have hoped; she went to bed that night with a rather disgusting feeling in her gut. Having a taste of your own medicine is a bitch really. As is the case, she doesn't even realize that Elijah's here, she's far too busy with that dark scowl upon her face, and a fierce glare in her eye. Pascal stalks along the shoreline of the lake, pausing only to pick up a rather decent sized rock, to throw it into the lake with an extremely frustrated sigh. |
| The sound of the stone hitting the water is enough to distract Elijah from his contemplation and his perch. He turns to look at Pascal. "Pascal," he says in greeting. A glance is given to her scowl. "You okay?" he stands up on the large rock and turns to face her (his height about eight feet due to the nature of standing on top of something). The boy jumps down to the ground. His own expression is still one of consideration and thought. |
| From the look on Pascal's face it's clear that she could probably commit murder right now and not even feel bad about it at all. "Elijah. I had a rough night last night," she mutters darkly, "Couldn't get to sleep. Too much on my mind." Another sigh, and she scuffs the ground with the toe of her boots. Looking up at Elijah's expression, she decides to change the topic as the boy jumps to the ground. Sliding in casually, "What're you thinking about?" Pascal tilts her head and looks off at the lake. |
| "Didn't sleep?" Elijah asks idly, while staring at the lake. "Why not? What was on your mind?" Yes, he's nosy and he knows it. He takes a step towards her, then thinks better of it. Pascal seemed somewhat independent, chances were likely she wouldn't want him standing to close to her when she was upset. Instead he just sighs, "Oh, I'm just thinking. Trying to come up with some great scheme." He shrugs and tightens his jaw, "I mean, we try to be nice and get reamed out for it by some short Asian kid. Truth be known, Lien needs to quit expecting perfection from herself. She'll snap. Just like the rest of us." He tightens his jaw further. "Then she'll regret snapping and probably have some form of a nervous breakdown." He shrugs again. "I guess it's not our problem." |
| "It's not our problem," Pascal echoes in agreement her own jaw tightening as she looks briefly into Elijah's face, and then downwards slightly to avoid eye-contact. "Do you what you can, and then just leave it at that." She frowns rather visibly and just stops talking for a moment, her fists clenching to the point where they whiten. That's how she got that name from Sukaku. "After you left yesterday, Sukaku came in as Lien's 'knight in shining armour'." That last little phrase is dipped in some sarcasm, but it's not as strong as it usually is. "Apparently he didn't quite approve of the way we were speaking to Lien." She rolls her eyes. "God forbid we say something that she may need to hear." A pause. "Sukaku says I'm weak." Another pause. "The fucking nerve of that... thing," she spits out. If only she weren't sixteen, perhaps she wouldn't be so sensitive to this. |
| "He's an idiot." The observation is something the young man is certain of. "I met him as you at Magical Art Class. He knew I wasn't you, or at least he suspected it. And he refuses to listen to reason, or anyone outside of his own head. Besides, you're not weak dammit. You're not. You're one of the strong ones, one of the ones who won't break down in front of morons like him, no matter how much he gets to you." And if Pascal had lived through anything Eli had and managed to tell the tale, she had to be strong. Or at least that's what the boy thought. Of course, he lived in a shell of who he once was. A complete shell, body the same soul transformed. Elijah picks up a rock of his own and chucks it at the water. The rock skids three times then sinks to the bottom. "He doesn't fucking know what it's like to live life. Not really. From what I can see he watches people rather than actually interacts with them." The boy shrugs again. He frowns as he stares off at the lake, "I think Moriarty has it in for me. Someone was looking at my file. It was open on Kendrickson's desk..." He narrows his eyes, "There are demons that I don't want resurrected..." Somewhat cryptic. |
| "If only I could tell him that I think he's an idiot when I'm actually in /front/ of him," Pascal says wearily, rubbing her face with her hands. "Fucking people like him just, you don't need that sort of shit in the world." She scoffs. "I guess Lien'll be rid of my presence whenever he's around, though I'd like to see him protect her from her own parents." Another scoff and Pascal turns to Elijah, to give him a rather grateful little smile. "Thanks." Another pause and then she looks at Elijah carefully. "So you got my letter underneath your pillow..." she trails off a bit. "Moriarty knew exactly... where you'd be, and what you were up to, when he came up to me to talk. I don't think anyone had even told him about what happened, so he thought you were actually, well, you, instead of me." Getting slightly confusing now and she gives her head a little shake, half-heartedly tossing her own rock into the lake, not even bothering to get it to skip. "How did you know he was looking into your file?" Her question is posed again, very carefully, as Elijah's words seem to make it rather clear to her that she's treading on potentially thin ice. Her curiosity will eventually get the better of her, and she's going to ask him what was in his file. |
| "I was in Kendrickson's office and my file was in his inbox..." Yes, he broke into the headmaster's office. Why and how? He's not prepared to answer these questions. "I suspect it was Moriarty. Although I can't be sure. In any case, I would have lifted it except... well... they'd only get ask for another copy from Connelly's, and the school would comply. As always." Elijah crosses his arms over his chest. "I was actually in the office to retrieve it. I hate the idea of anyone looking at anyone else's information." He sighs, "If I wasn't a transfer student, I would have got it." The boy runs his tongue over his lips and is silent for a few minutes before he adds, "Don't worry about Sukaku, Lien's still an easy target. When her mother pushes her over the edge, and we're right, we can at least celebrate in that." |
| Pascal's hands lace together at the base of her neck and she pulls forward to give her neck a well needed stretch. As her arms fall back to her sides, she sighs, still looking up at Elijah. (Damn, she missed being tall) Her eyebrow raises and she runs both hands through her hair, trying very hard to digest all this information, and trying hard to think of something appropriate to ask him. So many questions, so fragile a topic. Finally, she just decides on, "What makes you think that it'd be Moriarty?" She doesn't know anything else between Elijah and the professor other than the encounter that she had with him, when she was Elijah. The topic of Sukaku and Lien is something that Pascal would be more than happy to avoid right now, and so all she has to say in response to that is really nothing. A sound somewhat resembling a grunt escapes her lips and she shrugs. |
| Elijah Cruise clears his throat. Why Moriarty? Good question. "It makes logical sense... think of it this way, if one of the other professors was interested in my file, they would have looked at it by now. It's not like I haven't given them just cause to look through it. I know there are several new profs on staff. The new art teacher commended me for spray painting a wall - saying that the graffiti was art. The new potions teacher hasn't even expressed an interest in me, and Moriarty goes and busts me for smoking... something pretty much all of the professors know I do and only slap me on the wrist for..." He shrugs a little, "Maybe I'm just paranoid again." He swallows hard. "The past should just die. It's in the past. It shouldn't matter anymore. It's gone." He blinks a few times, then stares out at the water. "Damn. Some days I wish I could just fly away." Today was one of those days. He runs his hand through his dark hair. |
| Elijah /is/ paranoid, and Pascal's already told him that, but he really has good reason to be paranoid. She chews on her lower lip thoughtfully. "Whatever happened in the past... it happened, Elijah." Another sigh and she fiddles with the seam on her robe. "Until you can get your hands on a time-turner to change the past, you can't. It happened, and you just have to move on." She shrugs, having offered her own philosophy for the day. She falls silent again, continuing to stare at Elijah very carefully, until a rather interesting expression takes hold of her face. Her eyes widen to the point where a ring of white can be seen around green, and a faint smile curves her lips lazily. "Elijah," she starts slowly... looking around very carefully to make sure no one is around to hear her. "What if you did? What if you just, turned into the falcon?" Her voice is lowered to an extremely quiet whisper as she moves closer to him. "What if you turned into the falcon, and flew away from here? Be free?" At least then Pascal can live vicariously through Elijah. |
| A sigh escapes the boy's mouth. Yes, the past happened, and unfortunately, Elijah was still picking up the pieces of his life from it. "Indeed. I can't change it. Not now. Likely not ever." He frowns and then tilts his head. "I suppose that is why I am the way I am. I've moved on. Hence I don't want the ghosts awaken." The boy blinks a few times at Pascal's thought. "It actually occurred to me. I've tried to run away in my past, multiple times actually... never successfully. I might be able to pull it off this time if I really tried," his lips curl into a small smile. However, the smile quickly fades, "I'm not sure where I'd go or what I'd do though. Would I just fly around for the rest of my life, remaining a bird? Disappear as if I faked my own death...?" |
| "No, Elijah. No." Pascal's smile grows slightly wider and her eyes start gleaming as she thinks of all the possibilities of being free from this life. "Start a new life, Elijah. Start over again, and then..." she pauses for dramatic effect and to take a big breath, "the past won't have existed. You won't have to let it have even occurred. Just start all over again and build your past the way you want it, the way that you think it should be." Her voice was once hushed, and now grows a little more animated. It's still rather low, and the flush on her face only means that it's going to get louder if she's allowed to continue to rant. "Stop thinking about where you'd go, or what you'd do," the smile falters slightly but she keeps pushing along. "Just think about being free. You could be the falcon forever if you wanted to." Though that's probably not healthy for his mental state of mind. "There wouldn't be any rules. No one to tell you what to do. You'd rule over everything yourself." |
| The possibilities seemed endless. A new name, a new life, escaping the past. He could probably even get a new face with a spell or two. Elijah's lips curl into a smile once again, "Maybe you're right. Course, that /would/ put a dampner on the plans we had for Scattergoods." He winks at her. "Where would I go? I'd probably have to leave Colorado - which I honestly don't mind...hmmm..." He smiles again. "I'll think about it. It's worth thinking about. Not something I should just decide overnight or anything." Then he shrugs, "And what would you do /without/ me?" |
| "Scattergoods is just minor in the grand scheme of things," Pascal's voice has somewhat died down and grows a little somber. She looks away from Elijah again and then back out at the lake, the animated rouge fainting away from her cheeks as they return to their natural colour. "Go wherever your heart takes you, or go wherever the falcon takes you." She quirks a faint smile and looks back at Elijah, rubbing her cheek with one of her hands. She's not quite sure if his question is meant to be a joke or not, but she wasn't looking forward to hearing it. She'd actually hoped that maybe he wouldn't even ask. So with a shrug, and a sigh, she responds rather truthfully, "I don't know." |
| Elijah Cruise bites his lip at the thought of it. "Yes, Scattergood's is just a ripple in the pond of life." He tightens his jaw, "Maybe we could devise a way you could come with me?" He strokes his chin. "I wouldn't want you to live in this hell without company. And truthfully, I like having you around. There are few whose company I can even tolerate..." He pauses and narrows his green eyes, "What about during the summer? I could show up at Diophantus' house... we could leave together..." His eyes twinkle a little. |
| "How would I-- how could I---?" Pascal's actually quite at a loss for words from Elijah's suggestion. She takes a step back, and then forward again, ducking her head as she rubs her face. She hadn't been expecting that. Typical of her personality for her just to expect that he'd leave and never say good-bye actually. She look up at him, her face flushed again, bringing out those freckles splashed over her cheeks once more. A pause, and there's some determination in her voice. "I'm all for it. This summer, during the school year, whenever..." Of course, she hasn't quite thought out all the logistics, but in the heat of the moment, who does? |
| Of course Elijah would suggest something like. He doesn't become attached to people easily, but once he is, he's loyal. Strangely loyal. "Awesome. We'll have to devise a plan or something. I swear we'll do it, and we'll make it work." He nods a little and then strokes his chin. "It'll work." He twitches ever so slightly, "We just need to figure out how..." |
| Pascal stoops down to rest on the balls of her feet as she stares out at the lake. She cranes her neck all the way up to look at Elijah carefully, squinting just a bit before she looks back down again. "It's a lot easier for you to blend in, Elijah, especially since you can turn into the falcon." She purses her lips together and continues to think. She suddenly realizes something and her face becomes stony and she looks up at Elijah. "We could live as Muggles you know. Blend in with them." Her voice becomes quiet again, and even she's not sure what to make of that suggestion. She couldn't have suggested a polyjuice potion, or just slight physical changes, she had think of /that/ first. |
| "Blending is a non-issue. There are a million ways to blend. We could... enlarge our noses, change our eye color... dye our hair..." Elijah suggests. "We have proven capable of creating polyjuice potions... we could concoct tonnes of them. Pascal, it could work, and we wouldn't have to give up our talents." His eyes twinkle again. "Just imagine the possibilities. You would never have to see Diophantus, I wouldn't have to deal with the Hammonds or the Cruises. No school. No Sukaku or Lien or Toby..." |
| At Elijah's last sentence, Pascal can't help but smirk. She pushes herself back up to her full height with another sigh, and presses her lips together in a thin line. Her pragmatic side is slowly pulling her back to earth. "If we did decide to do this, and we needed potions, we really couldn't leave until the summer..." She pauses and runs her tongue over her top lip slowly. "It would take /that/ long." Pascal narrows her eyes just slightly and looks at Elijah. "We can do this." She smiles, her mind getting ahead of herself again. "We can finally be free of this damn place, and of all the people that we want to get rid of..." |
| "It's settled then. We will devise a way to leave. Together we should start collecting the necessary ingredients. Okay. We'll do it. It'll work." Elijah smiles broadly at Pascal. "It'll be wonderful..." He runs his tongue over his lips. "So... what do we need again? This time we don't have to get it all from the crazy potion professor..." |
| "The book's back in my dorm, in my trunk." Pascal looks at Elijah and also adds, "I had a brief look at the book you left in there too," but she says nothing more on the subject than that. "It's a complicated list, but we've got a lot of time to do it, and we've done it before, so it's not like we have to worry about it." She furrows her brow and takes another look around again, leaning closer to Elijah and lowering her voice. "I think there's a place in Boulder where you can buy all the ingredients." She pauses. "If you're in a hurry for them all. But it's all through the black market." |
| "Really? I'll investigate it... I can make a trip there as the falcon at any time." Elijah glances around. "For now we have to lay low." He inhales deeply. "I have to run to class. If you can make a copy of the list, we can figure this out..." He grins. The excitement was intense, Eli hadn't been able to try anything like this in his past, nor had he tried. |
| Pascal's smile is no where near as intense as Elijah's grin, but from the look on her face she's clearly thinking quite hard. She nods at him, waving her hand with a slight smirk. "Go, off to class with you. I'll send you the list between your classes. Let me know how it goes when you go looking for the place. I have no idea where it is, or if you're looking to deal through someone, or anything." She stoops back down on the balls of her feet again, and stares back out at the lake. "At least I can look forward to the summer now, hmm?" She muses quietly. |
| "Right. I will let you know how it goes." Elijah smiles at Pascal. "The summer will yield some interesting things, I guarantee it." He winks at her, and turns down the path. "I will see you later." He waves and disappears out of sight. |
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