elizabeth. (
extrapolating) wrote in
awashlogs2018-06-15 02:03 pm
Entry tags:
we're all learning something today [closed]
Who: Elizabeth + The Waynes (Damian and Bruce)
What: Damian convinced Elizabeth to trying opening a Tear. It goes Places
Where: The outskirts of town
When: Before the woofs event
Warnings: Mentions of character death and spoilers for Bioshock Infinite if you haven't played it!
[ Damian had mentioned trying to open a Tear a while ago, and honestly, Elizabeth had forgotten about it to some extent. Between fasting and seeing the Tower for a week, she'd had other things on her mind. And really, seeing the Tower just made her all the more sure of what she'd told him. She didn't want to go back. Even if this colorless town was strange and sometimes dangerous, she couldn't entertain the idea that she might go back to Columbia.
This reality, whatever it was? This was her home now. It had to be.
But she had promised to look into it.
So after a quick message to Damian that she was ready to try, she had gone to the outskirts of town just to be safe. Her Tears didn't usually cause problems, but she also hadn't tried to actually create one in a very long time. And in a place where there didn't seem to be any... Well, she thought it better to be careful.
Elizabeth is patiently waiting, and as the father-son duo approaches, they'll actually hear her humming before she actually sees them. ]
What: Damian convinced Elizabeth to trying opening a Tear. It goes Places
Where: The outskirts of town
When: Before the woofs event
Warnings: Mentions of character death and spoilers for Bioshock Infinite if you haven't played it!
[ Damian had mentioned trying to open a Tear a while ago, and honestly, Elizabeth had forgotten about it to some extent. Between fasting and seeing the Tower for a week, she'd had other things on her mind. And really, seeing the Tower just made her all the more sure of what she'd told him. She didn't want to go back. Even if this colorless town was strange and sometimes dangerous, she couldn't entertain the idea that she might go back to Columbia.
This reality, whatever it was? This was her home now. It had to be.
But she had promised to look into it.
So after a quick message to Damian that she was ready to try, she had gone to the outskirts of town just to be safe. Her Tears didn't usually cause problems, but she also hadn't tried to actually create one in a very long time. And in a place where there didn't seem to be any... Well, she thought it better to be careful.
Elizabeth is patiently waiting, and as the father-son duo approaches, they'll actually hear her humming before she actually sees them. ]

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But when he gets word she's going to try, he sends his father a message, too, asking to meet at the conjunction of town and outskirts so they could walk together to Elizabeth. Along the way, Damian explains the conversation (very abbreviatedly) they had during the color trials.
Alternate realities, tears, thin space and time, her being able to see and open them.
Damian doesn't wave when he gets there, but he does nod in acknowledgment. Bruce is the more sociable of the two of them, or at least more sociable as Bruce Wayne than Batman. Damian is dumb enough to suck no matter what he's wearing.]
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He follows in step with Damian as Damian leads them to the meeting place, dressed in the clothes Damian has procured for them and his hands tucked loosely in his pockets -- stance lax in the Bruce Wayne way rather than held taut like Batman. Ace is here with them as well, dutifully following behind the Waynes and his tail beginning to wag as he sees Elizabeth. She was always nice to him after all.
And it's true that he's the more sociable of the two, to a given extent, in that when he sees Elizabeth -- he actually gives a greeting. ]
Elizabeth. A pleasure to see you again.
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Oh, Mr. Wayne. Hello.
[ Her expression kind of says "what are you doing here," but she looks to Damian next. ]
...Did you run into him on the way?
[ —Oh, but before she forgets. She also gives a little wave to Ace too. Considering that tail wag, he's a Good Boy that deserves it. ]
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I asked him to come. He's-- [Damian cuts his eyes up at Bruce a second.] --a scientist. Among other things.
[You're welcome, Dad. He gives Ace a brisk pat on the back and side, sending the dog off to go greet Elizabeth as they come up closer to stop.] Have you tried yet?
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Among other things.
[ It's repeated and his tone is a little amused, just to get under Damian's skin before he continues in a light and breezy tone. ]
I assure you, I'm simply an observer and will help if anything gets out of hand. Damian mentioned you haven't tried this for a while now and I wouldn't want either of you to do this alone, in that case.
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Well... I guess that's fine. I did talk to Mr. Wayne about it. [ She crouches a little as Ace trots to her to give him better pets, and she laughs a little. Half at Ace saying hello, and half as she talks to Bruce again. ] I was going to lend you my book, but if this works, it might explain a lot of what I was talking about anyways.
[ She gives Ace a pat on the head as she straightens again with a "good boy", then shakes her head. ]
I haven't tried it yet. Since it's been a long time, I was thinking the same as Mr. Wayne. If other people are around, it might be better, um, just in case.
[ She has a good idea of what to expect, but it's still not without risk. ]
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What book? his eyes ask. Bruce doesn't have it, but he wants to see this book.
He looks again at Elizabeth, down at Ace, then back up to her. She hasn't tried, so at the most, they didn't miss anything. His eyes scour the scenery around and behind her, like he's expecting to see some kind of "Tear," but nothing exists yet.] A magnanimous decision.
Go ahead. Father and I will watch.
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But if it's on Bruce to be the pleasant one here, he supposes he'll try. He's never going to be Dick in any way whatsoever but yes, he'll try. ]
We appreciate you sharing as well, Elizabeth.
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[ Not that she seems overly concerned about it. The vast majority of times, the Tears just show perfectly innocuous things and places. It's only on rare occasions that an ambulance threatens to go through!
Elizabeth turns away from them and takes a deep breath as if steadying herself. It's been a while since she's done this, so part of the difficulty here is she has to remember how to do it. It's like riding a bicycle (so to speak), she thinks, and she holds her hands up, then digs her fingers into the air. How strange this must look doesn't occur to her, because she just grasps as she always does, and her fingers seem to find purchase as she starts to pry something apart. Her posture shifts and she grunts with effort like she's bearing down on something, but there's still nothing there.
This is something that was stolen from her, though she doesn't know it yet. It's been months away from the Siphon at this point. There's a sound like a loud vacuum, and a crack lined with light starts to appear in the air. Her eyes opens, and she gasps in mild surprise, but she pulls harder until it suddenly widens with a loud crack as her arms go wide, and there's a rush of air powerful enough that it would probably knock small things over.
There's a clear portal, and a large one. It shows a monochrome and static-filled view of the same town their in, though the former isn't unexpected. Elizabeth stares in surprise for a moment, but then looks back to them both. ]
I did it! I— I can open them!
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What if she's a quack? Are they actually standing here, ready, prepared, just for her to not be able to do what she claims?
His eyes narrow when the fabric of reality begins to split, and then his face falls into something surprised. The wind from the opening whips his clothes and his hair, but he doesn't budge in his place. It's like he imagined. It's like what opened and sucked him and Jon in, except bigger.
Slowly, he turns and looks up at his father with the same sort of intrigued surprise. She did it. What do they do with it now? A tear opened to the same town, locking them in.]
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So, he wants to know what the guidelines for Elizabeth's tears are. What makes them different from other portals? How can she produce them so easily? Can she choose where they open to at all?
When the tear appears, his eyebrows slowly raise in sincere admiration and he is impressed, truly, by the magic (science?) he's seeing right now. He looks to Damian at the same time he looks to Bruce before he breaks away and starts to move closer. ]
It's... the same town, but different. It's still all grey or is that -- can you usually see color when you look through tears, Elizabeth?
[ He's saying this as he moves closer, holding a hand out to feel the strange sensation of the air around the tear as he circles it. There's a widening of eyes as he goes around the back and sees that it's still there, it just sort of... moves in his vision, to take up the space Elizabeth is holding it open in. Fascinating. ]
Have you ever gone through one?
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Once they're open, no. They're just a colorful as they should be. [ Which in the case of this place, she supposes it makes sense that it'd still be gray. ] I don't see them here, but at least where I'm from, I would see them a lot. Then they were grey. At least until I opened them.
[ She leans closer to peer through too, since she wants to see what's different. There's always a difference, though it's not always obvious. She'd be a little surprised if she could just figure it out from here. ]
I used to go through them. When I could really open them, anyways. It's how... [ —How she learned so much about the world at all. But she trails off and shakes her head. ] I always came back, since if it closed, I don't know if I could go back.
i changed my mind i wanted to give bruce a heart attack
And the most frustrating part is the town on the opposite side. Maybe it is a pocket dimension, this place. Opening a wormhole just means opening it within the same plane of existence. Annoying.
Finally, he picks his way over to the two of them and the Tear. His eyes watch his father make a loop around, and then, like Elizabeth, he peers inside. They're never going to know. Clearly, if Elizabeth could pass through them and return, anyone can. Right? They need to know if this is just a fast means of travel or a whole other reality.
So, after a second or two of thoughtful scowling, Damian steps through the Tear.]
sorry liz sorry so sorry
You could see them -- but no one else could? Were they the same grey like this or is it different here, more similar to the town itself?
[ But her last bit... that's the real catch because what he wants to know is very reliant on what he wants to do next: ]
What if it closed on you?
[ See, Bruce is about to become a really big hypocrite because he's absolutely considering stepping through himself. He's been standing here, observing, wondering the dangers involved here. He wishes he had his batsuit, fuck. That would make testing the stability of the tear so much easier but for now all he can do is bend down to pick up a rock, considering tossing it through.
Except as he's bending down, he looks up to see Damian just stepping right through the tear and he is going to strangle a thirteen year old. ]
Damian, no!
[ He gets up, moving to grab Damian but he's already through the tear so Bruce does exactly one expects an overprotective dad like Bruce to do -- and he steps right through after him. SORRY, ELIZABETH. He's still reaching out to grab Damian's collar in an effort to drag him back, at least. Even if they're... now both... on the other side of the tear. ]
smh (1/2)
[ The way she says it implies a "yet," because she still has a theory that they appear because of her. She has no idea why, but it kind of makes sense. If she's the only person able to create them or open them further, then it seems like she could be the cause. Though she's not sure what to actually think of that. It brings back that question she had briefly asked Booker as they escaped her tower—What am I?
She looks to Bruce with a small frown at his other question, and she shakes her head. ]
You'd be stuck there. Where the Tears go is random. Sometimes, it's like this, where it's almost just like where I am, but other times it's completely different. But once they close, I think the probability that I—
[ She starts to explain something similar to the logical conclusion she'd given Damian in the face of his optimism at her being able to open the Tears, but it quickly cuts off as Damian strides through. ]
Wait— [ ...And then there goes Bruce??? ] Mr. Wayne!
[ And then, something starts to go wrong.
She feels the Tear start to slip under her fingertips (so to speak), because it's like something is trying to close it. Elizabeth can't go after them, because she bears down and tries to tear it back. It's not a matter of strength, but it feels like it as she strains to keep it open.
But she's not able to.
With a snap and a half-heard scream, the Tear closes behind them. ]
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Almost immediately, Bruce and Damian are spit back into the town that they came from. There's really only just enough time to realize this may have been a bad idea before they're promptly returned by something outside of Elizabeth's power. It just so happens to be the town itself, but none of them know that.
But of course, for their trouble, they're promptly rewarded. All of them get to have visions of everyone they know and love, in the town and in canon, dying in a bunch of brutal ways.
So, you know, have fun. Thanks mods!! ]
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Which just makes Ace start barking, too.
Everything is fi-- Unsteadily, he staggers back when Bruce grabs him by the collar, and he can hear a familiar certain voice growled in the space near. Hell--his father had stepped through, too.] It's fine. There's nothing--
[Half turned, he watches as the opening of the Tear is sucked down into nothing despite Elizabeth's struggles. It's gone. He gets exactly one second to glance up at Bruce. The town begins trying to spit them out--in?
The world distorts horrendously, wobbling and unsteady, like looking into a funhouse mirror. There's pressure, building, bubbling from behind and below, and Damian grabs his father by the forearm.] It's going to-- [He wants to say it's unstable enough to vomit them out, and yet...
A part of him worries it's going to crush them by collapsing.] Father! [It's not exactly the scream Bruce heard during the yellow trial, but it's exceptionally worried. He's ready, barely: to be smashed like a can or hurled twenty feet across the ground.
But what he gets is dead eyes and black vision, like he's blind, and then he gets Bruce halfway through a portal before it closes. A guillotine. It cuts Bruce diagonally through the middle. When he "wakes up," it's back in the town with Elizabeth and Ace and Bruce and with a short, sharp scream.
Mistakes.]
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Then he can feel the shift, the way reality seems to bend around them, adjusting and changing and Bruce makes sure to drag Damian even closer, swapping the hand on his collar for an arm around his shoulders as he grips him tight and holds on. Damian's panicking now, he can feel the tenseness of him and when he yells for him, Bruce looks down at where he's holding him and it's -- nothing? He doesn't know why he's yelling, all he knows is reality even gets even stranger, his eyes not quite understanding what they're seeing until --
It's like a vacuum, he feels them squeezed tighter and tighter and then they're spat right back out on the ground in front of Elizabeth and Ace. Ace is still barking erratically, frightened by the disappearance and reappearance of the two Waynes and Bruce is trying desperately to make sense of what he just saw.
Unthinkingly, he drags Damian forward, gets his other arm around him and holds him close. When he looks down again at Damian, his nostrils flare and eyes go wide because something -- something's happened, there's a large pool of blood in the middle of his chest and no, no, no. Not again. Bruce was right here, there was nothing there, how could Damian be hurt right in front of him when he could've protected him, could've saved him --
But then Damian is jerking forward in his arms with a scream and the blood is gone and Bruce's jaw clenches as he tightens his grip on Damian and he hugs him tighter to his chest, pressing his forehead to his hair and holding on for a moment. ]
Damian. You're fine. You're alive. We're both alive.
[ His eyes squeeze shut and just like that, Elizabeth is left with a pile of very distraught Waynes as Ace moves forward to start sniffing and licking at them both. ]
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It feels real when she stands in the town, but the clouds overhead are dark, but they're still colorful in a way that Elizabeth just knows what's beyond those clouds. She's gripped with fear, but it's suddenly not for herself when she hears a familiar screech, and from the clouds comes Songbird. He's coming to fetch her, to take her back, but she runs further into the town, because his trajectory isn't for her. One house is smashed, and she screams for Songbird to stop. But he won't. She's being punished.
One by one, buildings are destroyed, but his arms and talons seem to seek out some people in particular. Minato. Lupin. Maya. Bruce and Damian. Each one of them is torn apart viciously, no matter how much she screams for Songbird to stop, that she's sorry, that she'll go home.
—But there is one vision that's different.
It's of herself. But also not. She seems different, and not just because of the haircut. She looks more tired, more angry, and she's standing in the water with Booker. She sees herself, but then she is herself, and her hands wrap around Booker as she pushes him down. He goes into the water easily, like he's accepting this, but she watches for an agonizingly long time, it feels like. Bubbles of air pop out of his mouth, and he struggles a little, but her hands are stronger. She wants to pull them back, this Elizabeth is screaming for it, but her hands stay until he stops moving.
By then, she's all but collapsed to the ground back in reality. She doesn't really notice the Waynes right away, since she's having a breakdown of her own. Her heart hammers in her chest as her shoulders shake, but she doesn't hold back the feeling that's overwhelming her for long. She sobs openly, but harshly as she hugs her hands close to her chest. Or really, she hides her hands from view. She's afraid if she looks at them again, she'll see Booker underneath the water.
And of course, that sliver of a Tear she started to open shimmers in the air. ]
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The portal was, surprisingly (?), fine up until the town decided it wasn't.
For a moment, he thinks Bruce is smothering him in the squeezing arms, then he realizes he's only partially hyperventilating. Curling his fingers, he sucks air in through his nose and releases it out of his mouth a few times. His father isn't clutching at him from the torso up. Thank God.
He watches Elizabeth over the edge of Bruce's shoulder, unfocused at first, and then paying attention to the distress. It gives him something to sort as he comes down from the harrowing jostle of portal jumping, allowing him to compartmentalize the anxiety, the adrenaline, the fear.
They went in and came back out in one piece. He's not sure if what he had seen was because of the portal destabilizing or... the town. He doesn't say anything to Bruce about it; not right now at least.] Father.
The girl.
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But of course, there's another part of him, the one that looks to Damian when he addresses him and looks back towards Elizabeth where she's collapsed on the ground. It's the part of him that knows he can't just leave her there, that he's the protector and in some way, this was all his responsibility. The pain they're all feeling right now is his fault and he has to quickly make sure the other two are okay, that they're safe. He grits his teeth, slowly letting go of Damian so he can extract himself from their hold and pushing up from the ground to make his way to Elizabeth.
He approaches low, hands outstretched as he sinks to a knee in front of her and slowly takes hold of Elizabeth around her elbows. His voice is gentle, even with his own heart hammering in his chest and the mixture of adrenaline and fear making him want to vomit. ]
Elizabeth, breathe. It's not real, what you're seeing is just a hallucination. It's... [ A pause, he quickly puts a few pieces together. The tear, Elizabeth, what just happened and -- ] The town. It's not real.
[ One hand moves to gently pet Elizabeth's hair, trying to calm her down in any way he can. He glances to Damian who is definitely being whined at by Ace now that Bruce has moved away and then back to Elizabeth. ]
You didn't do anything wrong. I am so sorry, we acted rashly despite your warnings. But it's okay, we're all okay.
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She swallows and bows her head with a sharp shiver as the moment passes. It's just in time for Bruce to pet her hair, and that's the last bit of grounding she needs to remind herself. That wasn't real. It wasn't. She's still here, and she can see the buildings intact, and certainly Bruce and Damian right in front of her. ]
I'm sorry— It just- It closed all of the sudden. [ But she still feels the need to apologize quickly, even though she's not fully aware that they've experienced something similar. She's apologizing for the fact that they had to have felt the same fear—that they were stuck in that reality. She breathes through her nose sharply to stifle the sob that tries to bubble up again. ]
...You're okay. You're both okay.
[ There's such a heavy relief in her voice that it's easy to guess that she had just gone through something similar. But still, she shifts slightly to look up. It's straight up into the sky, and at a passing cloud. The scrutiny is sharper than it should be, but she doesn't explain. ]
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What's worse than knowing he'll get a talking to later is the fact that, now after three years, being self-aware hurts more than any scolding. The difference between fucking up and knowing you fucked up.
Carefully, Damian reaches up to reassure Ace by petting the dog along the neck and shoulder. He's quiet. Going in didn't feel as stupid as not knowing how to react once he did. Clinging to his father like a braindead simpleton. Ridiculous.
He picks himself up to his feet, finding his balance with a hand on Ace's back. He's glad his father is here. He'd be fine, but personally, he's unsure whether or not he could find the right words to say to her after this mess.
Bruce hadn't necessarily acted any more strangely than usual. Damian knows what he saw. He assumes now, by Elizabeth's distress, she may have seen something similar. Then again, she could just have been terrified for their safety.]
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Then Bruce hears a soft thumping nearby, something landing in the grass with them and he looks. He regrets it moments after when he sees Selina's head, and just her head, rolling towards him from the toss and in reaction, his hands clench into fist, his heart hammers in his chest. No. That's not -- it's not real. He closes his eyes again and when he opens them, he realizes it's just an apple that fell off a tree nearby. He frowns before looking back at the other two.
It's sheer luck that he's had so much practice controlling his reaction to hallucinations like this. Thanks, Crane.
Bruce is quiet for a moment, watching the two of them recover and he knows, he's the adult here, they're both just kids. Fuck, he needs to do something, to bring the levity back to them both. It's not something natural for him but it's something he knows is necessary. Damian and him usually handle situations like this their own way, but Elizabeth isn't anything like them. She doesn't deserve this. ]
... Clark. Made some cake. [ He doesn't actually know. He's just assuming because -- well, it's Clark. ] Would you both like to go get some?
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Elizabeth breathes out a shuddering breath as she looks down again, and the weight of Bruce's hand on her shoulder is something she feels acutely grateful for. They may not know each other well yet, but it's still a reminder that she's here. She's still free. She reaches up to wipe at her face with a small frown, but the path her thoughts were heading down where—very much like the two of them—she was about to start beating herself up for not being careful is broken by Bruce's suggestion. ]
...Cake?
[ Also, Clark? She may have met him, but she's also not as good at remembering to ask people for their names as she should be. But the offer of cake seems so at odds with what's just happened that she can't help but laugh, even if it's nervous and incredulous more than happy. ]
How did someone make cake?