WEEK 14 - I have been — and always shall be — your friend.

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (14)

monday (41) survivors You stand with your friends, your family, and your enemies, shoulder to shoulder. The deceased and the living are the same, now, and you've been reunited with the person trapped on the opposite ship. You have four choices. Four options laid before you - five, if you're smart about it. You have the option of staying on the Nuwa, a ship pre-programmed to land somewhere safe, soon, and then it's your's for the taking. You have the option of entering the Nuwa's virtual reality and crafting your own perfect world, but knowing it was a perfect world created by your own hand. Your third option is one of the Cradles, a machine created to bring you bliss, and permit you the dream you've always wanted, without the knowledge it's a virtual reality. Your fourth option lays in front of you, on the bridge of the Nuwa, and it's a tear in the fabric of reality, but you can see your home waiting for you. It looks idyllic, perfect, just the way you'd want it to be. Your fifth option lies in another tear - the tear of a friend. Perhaps their heart is kind enough to take in a stray. The choice is your's to make, and whatever you choose, know that, for the first time in fourteen weeks, it's your choice. taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

[chiseler]

[Elizabeth may be the only other person from the Pygmalion who can get away with holding his hands at all. He allows his fingers to curl into her palms, not at all pulling away and looking at her carefully before laughing under his breath.]

Aren't I supposed to be older than you? [Granted considering Elizabeth's from 1912 that logic goes out the window. But when she continues he sits patiently, waiting for Elizabeth to finish speaking and letting his eyes widen a little bit.

...and also maybe his face grows a little warm and he honestly looks embarrassed, ducking his head.] Aw, come on...[He looks up at her, still sheepish.] Is it really something to be proud of after everything that happened on my watch?

[It must be, seeing how he looks pretty proud of himself and he's still not pulling his hand back.]

[baptizer]

Technicalities.

[ Elizabeth waves off. ]

You couldn't help it. You did your best with all of your heart. You wouldn't have put yourself in harms way for no reason if you were thinking of yourself. Luke, thank you.

[ She's sentimental and a girl, it comes with the territory of getting teary eyed soon after. ]

Thank you... for everything, for showing me kindness and companionship when ... when I never thought I would have it.

[ A brief look at the tear, Elizabeth is concerned. It's Adam's that she's focusing on. ]

Is that the right tear? Where you truly want to be?

[chiseler]

That seems to be the way I do everything these days. All or nothing for people besides myself. Trying to be a hero and trying to be a leader. Guess it counted after all.

[He doesn't quite know what to do with that since a lot of the girls he knows are actually sort of scary and brutal, but he brings his free hand up to wrap over Elizabeth's that are still cupping his other hand.]

You and I are very, very similar in some ways, Elizabeth. I meant what I said. You'll be missed a lot, but maybe someday I'll find a way to find you. Who knows what's possible anymore?

[He's also staring at the tear again before he makes a noise of confirmation.] I've had a lot of time to think about it. Adam and I talked about it weeks ago…about going back to Henrietta. I could have everything there. I was sure that would be the end of it, but then we found the Nuwa. I still think it's the right decision and where I want to be, but…I still kinda feel like I'm abandoning Annabeth. [He won't say it so bluntly to Adam because hurting Adam's feelings isn't something he wants to deal with either. His family's complicated, gods.] But I want to be alive. I know I can have that in Henrietta. I don't know if I can have that as myself back home, especially if the tear's accurate the way things are.

[baptizer]

Think less of a hero and more as a good person.

[ Elizabeth gives him a nudge at the thigh, similarly to the first time she caught him writing his letters. But, she stops her playfulness when he holds her hand, a sentiment she's not too familiar with. Even with Jason - the tenderness was new and almost lost on her.

She listens to him speak, making her smile. ]

I promise we'll meet again. I think I know what's possible. There's an infinite amount of ways this could have happened... we could have been lost in space, crashed into the Nuwa, died weeks ago but - but we made this happen. We controlled our fates. Seeing you is well within my power.

[ She thinks. But, she knows in some odd... way. She looks over her shoulder to Booker when he starts talking about the right decision. It makes her heart heavy and - ]

No, no you're not. You have to make some for you - there's no shame in asking for someone to understand it. You... speak so highly of your friends from home. You have to understand that - no, here.

[ Elizabeth pulls her thimble off her finger, rolling it into his hand softly. Tightly. ]

I don't know what lies ahead in your future yet - in anyone's future - but... I will reach out to you twice a year. I'll rip tears open to find you again and any letter you want to send to Annabeth... give it to me. I'll make sure it's delivered. Keep my thimble as a reminder that I'm still thinking of you even then.

[chiseler]

What's the difference? [He returns the nudge to show he's joking, that he knows she's right. Still, he holds her hand for all of that time, unsure if this is even okay but still feeling like it's important. He's not entirely sure when or how Elizabeth became so dear to him…but she has. Even if he can't properly say so, he can show her in little ways like this. It's what he does with Adam so why the fuck not?]

With the tears somehow I don't doubt that at all. I never even thought that we'd crash into the Nuwa but…the others were absolutely possible, you're right. We still made it though and you're alive and I'm alive and maybe that's what I should focus on instead of "what if this happened instead?" Only promise me that if it's a promise you can keep, Elizabeth. Promises…are very important to me. [He glances as Booker as well when her attention drifts before casting his eyes downward.] The last time I made a decision for myself, I ended up working under Kronos and almost destroying the entirety of western civilization. [Dryly. So dryly.] Maybe it's about if I trust myself to make these choices but…everything worked out in the end. And I've spoken to her, told her why…I. She's the true hero here. Always has been. I know she'll understand in the end but it doesn't make it…["Hurt less." But he doesn't continue and instead shuts up. When the thimble's presented though, he stares at her with wide eyes, looking at the thimble and then back are her before curling his fingers around it to keep it in his palm.

Promises mean a lot. This means even more, it seems.]

…twice a year. [He nods, and he clears his throat because who the fuck authorized him to feel anything???] I think I can handle that. [Wait for it...] No, you know what? No. Twice a year? Elizabeth, do you know how much can happen in just a month? Twice a year isn't gonna cut it. At least once a month, final deal. And…I'll try things on our end, too. With everybody we know there's bound to be a few ways we can stay in touch. It's not too dangerous to keep ripping tears in the universes though, is it? [Because as much as he wants this more than anything, at the end of the day he's still concerned about her.]