What about now?

[abadidea]

WHO: Isaac Clarke (abadidea) and Ellie Langford (youbastard)
WHERE: Heropa, FL; Starting at a coffee shop downtown, then various places for a walk
WHEN: March 21; 1 o'clock in the afternoon
WHAT: A date! A real one!
WARNINGS: Potential discussion of violence, language, HEAVY STUFF



Isaac disconnected the audio feed with Ellie and checked the time to see how long he had before he needed to meet her. The blinking digital readout told him it was either noon or the clock had lost power somehow. He glared at it before rushing off to take a shower and get ready. He was deadest on not being late, and luck was on his side since he already knew where the coffee shop was. He didn't have to go hunting for it, which meant less time needed to be spent looking for it. After cleaning up and shaving, something he didn't do with near enough frequency lately, he dressed casually and headed out, only trying to take a wrong turn once before setting himself straight.

He arrived at the coffee shop with seconds to spare but he wasn't late, damn it! He considered that something worth celebrating, then he busied himself looking around for Ellie, who was most likely already there ahead of him.

Comments

[youbastard]

At this point Ellie knew Isaac well enough to just assume that he might be late, either because he got lost track of time or got distracted. Which meant that the fact that he wasn't late was actually a pleasant surprise. When he walked up she was holding a drink in each hand, one for him and one for herself.

"I hope your tastes haven't changed too much," she said with a weak smile. Despite the fact that she had gotten a lot more rest recently she still looked pretty tired. "It's just boring coffee with cream and sugar," she held the cup out for him to take.

[abadidea]

He smiled, even though he was slightly disappointed all his effort to arrive on time was thwarted by her being early. He nodded at the comment. "That's right, I'm boring. But you know what? I like coffee for coffee's sake." He accepted the cup with a nod. "Thanks. Shall we?" And he motioned toward the door.

[youbastard]

"You like coffee for coffee's sake?" She chuckled and nodded. "Sure. Did you have anywhere specific you wanted to head?"

[abadidea]

He grinned. "You got a problem with that?" But he shook his head at her question. He hadn't really thought about where they'd end up during their walk. He just enjoyed the time he spent with her. Anywhere was fine, really. "Not really. I figured we'd just see where we ended up."

[youbastard]

She smirked. "What if I did?" There was something strange about joking with him like this. She'd almost forgotten what it felt like. She took a sip of her coffee and continued to smile. "You never have been known for your elaborate plans."

[abadidea]

"Then I guess we'd have a problem." He smiled as he opened the door for her. "And I like exploring."

[youbastard]

"I think we have enough of those, so I'll say I don't mind your boring coffee." She walked outside and took another sip of the coffee. "You don't say. I never noticed before."

[abadidea]

He chuckled at her reference, even though the point wasn't lost on him. They did have a lot of problems that needed to be sorted out. "So how about we see where we end up?"

[youbastard]

"Sounds good to me," she said with a nod as she started to walk off to the right of the coffee shop. She didn't say anything for a few seconds and then she looked over at him. "It's weird, I think I can sort of feel you." He was nervous and tense. Actually, she was starting to think that was just how he always felt. Which was slightly unsettling to realize.

[abadidea]

He looked over at her comment. The idea of someone, anyone "feeling" him was pretty weird, he had to admit, and there was something even more weird about it being Ellie. Still, he couldn't help his curiosity.

"So...what do I feel like?"

[youbastard]

That was not a question she wanted to answer. She looked down and ran a hand through her hair. "Tense and sorta apprehensive all the time. I guess...anxious really."

[abadidea]

He swallowed. He wasn't surprised to hear that. After all that had happened, Isaac still found himself jumping at sounds, reaching for his plasma cutter, waiting for something to swoop down and stab him in the face. Her leaving had simply added to his tension, and her agreeing to give them another chance even more so. There was a part of him, albeit a small part, that was waiting for her to leave again, for him to give her some reason to.

"Uh, well...a lot's happened." He looked over to her, reached out to touch her arm. "I doubt I'm the only one."

[youbastard]

"I think a lot's happened is putting it nicely," she said with a small smile. It wasn't surprising he felt that way, it was just unsettling to know first hand that he did. There was definitely a part of her saddened by the fact that he felt that way and she found herself feeling partially responsible, even if she knew that was ridiculous. She swallowed and looked down. "No, I'm sure you're not the only one." Honestly, Ellie didn't even want to think about what she might feel like to another person with her same abilities. Probably a lot like a wreck.

[abadidea]

He reached out and took her hand. "I know I'm not." And that's what this date was really about, wasn't it? She hadn't talked, not since they'd decided to do this, and that needed to change. Not talking, pushing everything away, had nearly ruined him, and he could only imagine what it had been doing to Ellie all this time. "And I don't even have to be an empath to know that."

[youbastard]

She squeezed his hand gently and gave him a small smile. "Impressive. What makes you so sure about that?"

[abadidea]

"Ellie," he looked over to her, a meaningful look in his eyes, "Nobody made it out of everything you have without some scars." And he didn't mean the physical kind.

[youbastard]

She met his eyes for a second and then gave a weak smile. "You're telling me, acid scars don't heal well at all." Which was part of the reason she'd stuck to wearing jackets, not that she was ready to admit that to anyone. Instead, she was just going to attempt a very bad joke to deflect the situation.

[abadidea]

He chuckled, missing her point. "I'm not talking about those kinds of scars, Ellie." He gave her hand a squeeze, though. "You're beautiful, Ellie. You know that, right?"

[youbastard]

"I figured." Sometimes Isaac was dense, but it'd been silly to hope he'd be that dense. She gave him a halfhearted smile. "You're sweet to say that." Lately she felt about the opposite of beautiful, but she wasn't going to actually admit that.

[abadidea]

"Sweet?" That hadn't been his point. Quite the opposite, really. Ellie was one of the most beautiful woman he'd ever met, and he never even noticed the scars. "I mean it, Ellie."

[youbastard]

"I know you do. I can tell you're being sincere." Not just because of the power this place had given her. Isaac wasn't hard to read, at least not after all they'd gone through together. "Thank you. I really do appreciate you saying that. It's strange, I've never had a problem with how I looked until all of this happened."

[abadidea]

He squeezed her hand again, smiling slightly as he looked over to her. It was true, of course. He never looked at Ellie and saw a woman with a lot of scars and two different colored eyes. He just...saw Ellie. "I get it. It's probably harder when the person in the mirror isn't the one you remember. It's...easy to be self-conscious about what other people think when who you are has changed so much so fast."

[youbastard]

She frowned slightly. "I never said I was self-conscious about it." It really wasn't a conversation she wanted to have with him or anyone. She felt awkward enough just having him mention it. "We're not here to talk about that htough, are we?"

[abadidea]

He frowned in response but didn't press her further. She'd talk about that when she was ready to, and she was right. That wasn't why they were here.

"Right. So, tell me about your powers."

[youbastard]

"It's empathy. I can feel the emotions of everyone around me. If I get closer and focus it's clearer. I think I've gotten better at that part." It wasn't the part that they were here to discuss, but it was a start and a start was better than nothing at all. Right?