cutting_edgex23 | (no subject)

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X slips through the door to her apartment, holding it open so Elle can follow her through.

Then she makes an immediate beeline to her kitchen, pulling fish food out of the freezer and heading over to the fish tank.

Once that is taken care of she will not have any more real responsibilities for at least a few hours.

Unless something horrible happens elsewhere. But it won't.

Probably.

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Elle, on the other hand, moves immediately toward the fish tank.

And stares.

To her credit, she doesn't poke at the glass or... anything else. But her expression suggests that she may not quite understand the concept.

X gives her a sideways look as she drops bloodworms into the tank.

"It was a present from Duo. The fish."

In case that is what Elle was wondering about.

Elle makes a dim, but acknowledging, sound, without looking up from the fish as X feeds it.

After a minute: "So it just... looks nice?"

She doesn't sound judgmental about it. But it could be important to check?

"It swims," X says.

"And sometimes it gets angry. Like when Santo tapped on the glass."

It's not that she sounds bewildered, it's just that X is not exactly aware of why she likes fish-keeping.

So maybe that's a yes?

... and now Elle has to curl her hands into fists at her side to keep herself from doing that, too.

Taking a step back is also helpful.

"I think I'd forget."

Beat. "To feed it."

Her Dad told her that once, and really, it was probably true.

X considers this.

"You could have a cactus."

Beat.

"They are harder to kill than fish. When you forget to water it."

X doesn't do that kind of thing, but X's ability to forget anything at all is not stellar.

"If you wanted something. Some people do not."

She shakes her head, finally looking away from the tank altogether.

"I don't - have anything to do with it."

Elle doesn't know how else to say it.

Maybe X knows what she means anyway.

"Okay."

Then she half turns toward the kitchen, first to put the fish food away and then --

"You are not thirsty?"

Elle shrugs one shoulder, moving over to X's sofa and settling across it in a way that takes up more space than is really necessary.

(She'll move when X comes over. Really.)

"What do you have?"

She might be taking a wild, but silent, guess at the answer to this.

Edited 2009-05-24 05:48 (UTC)

"Milk."

Who is X to disappoint.

"And water. And soda. Cessily asked."

The juice is all gone. Sadly.

After a few seconds, Elle pushes herself up from the couch again, moving toward the kitchen as she decides on, "Water."

Maybe she feels X shouldn't be doing all the work. Or something.

X does not mind. Of course, the closer company is okay, too.

She half-turns, handing Elle a glass of water before pouring milk for herself.

Surprise.

"Cal gave me movies. I have not watched them all."

Not yet, at least. True Lies: The musical is no doubt a masterpiece of modern cinema.

"I probably haven't seen them."

She doesn't hesitate in admitting that to X, anyway, as she begins tracing the rim of her glass instead of drinking the water.

"They are useful," X says, after taking a sip of milk.

"When people visit."

And she likes some of them. Her friends occasionally like very different ones, but X can always retreat to her bedroom and work on the computer.

Or -- she can try.

"It's... what you do."

Her voice wavers, so it's close to sounding more like a question. "When people come over."

"Sometimes."

Beat.

"Talking is okay, too."

And eating.

"And there are places to visit. In San Francisco."

Elle is silent for a moment, before turning back toward the sofa, fingers still playing across the top of her glass.

"I don't know what - you've been doing," she pieces the words together gradually, hopefully hitting the question she'd meant to ask.

"I have been training. Here."

X tries to answer what she thinks Elle is asking.

"There have not been any attacks. I do not know why."

Beat.

"It is suspicious."

"From those... church guys?"

Not aliens?

"Yes. The Purifiers."

Beat.

"They are regrouping. But we do not know where."

The whereabouts of the resurrected dead are even more important -- to some degree.

"But they will be found."

Her head tilts, slightly.

"There aren't very many of them?"

X shrugs.

"Small cells. They spread out. Disperse."

Beat.

"It is difficult to track the movement of decentralized operations."

Elle finally takes a sip from her glass.

"You're going to find them, anyway."

It's not a question, or even an expectation, but said like some obvious, pre-determined answer.

"Yes."

Two guesses on what will likely happen to them then.

The first one doesn't count.

Elle doesn't nod, or really react. She pulls her legs up onto the sofa, folded so as to take up less room this time.

"Is it - just that?"

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