InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "bob! i cant keep you anymore!!"

Elijah Clément (priceoffreedom) wrote in nosuchplace,
@ 2009-01-18 11:15:00

Entry tags:

constance alexie, elijah clément

Tuesday: November 6, 2007
Who: Elijah and Constance
When: Afternoon
Where: Van'taurë Lake
What: An unexpected reunion

Elijah hadn't ventured toward the saltwater lake in his entire time in Elysium. He was naturally drawn towards water, but the freshwater lake suited his needs just fine and he didn't feel inclined to venture further. But the elemental felt his needs growing, and his sense of adventure had been tugging him toward the other large body of water in the haven.

He had procured a horse from the stables, and set out for the lake at a leisurely pace. Elijah wasn't in a hurry to get there, and though the sky was overcast and the land was turning browner by the day, Elysium's countryside was still a beautiful sight to behold. The horse that carried him whinnied in content, trotting along the paths that had been made by previous travelers. Elijah pulled on the reigns gently, bringing the horse to a stop when they reached the lake.

"You've got to stay here," he spoke to the horse, tying the animal to a nearby tree. Elijah immediately turned toward the lake and began to walk out upon the surface of the water. He continued out over the body of water, looking down at the creatures that started to approach the surface due to his presence. They were curious, as animals normally were, but that was the extent of the interaction. Elijah could talk to them, of course, and he was having interesting conversations with the marine life that came to the surface. He stood atop the water, arms held out to his sides in a manner that suggested he was balancing upon something. He wasn't, and he was merely being playful as he spoke with the animals.

"You don't say..." he said with a grin. "The squid ate the entire thing!" He laughed, not noticing that someone had appeared on the shore and was staring right at him.

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

(Post a new comment)

constantguard
2009-01-18 08:49 pm UTC (link)

Normally, Constance didn't venture too much beyond her own home or office. The last few months felt like age was slowly creeping up on her somehow. It was almost like she was forgetting to take her carmot, and she couldn't remember if she had or not. With it having been a ritual for so long, she couldn't have just forgotten it. It wasn't if her memory was going down the drain. It was just a feeling, nagging at the corner of her mind. She knew she had taken her carmot; she did it every evening without fail. Carmot was a burden at times, though. Constance couldn't go to sleep without it, and the substance was a force in her life she couldn't ignore despite her wishes to do just that.

Carmot controlled her existence. There were days when Constance wanted to throw away what she had left and stop making it, but she remembered she still had duties to take care of here. Any responsible person wouldn't throw everything away in a moment that lasted no longer than a heartbeat. Constance put thought into her actions before she did things, and it wasn't like her to do something so selfish at the spur of the moment. Aside from her weary thoughts, there were physical pains as well clouding her judgment. The arthritis in her joints was acting up and causing her pain, and she hoped this walk would cure her of that.

The path her feet took landed her near the saltwater lake, a place housing many creatures and beings. What it didn't usually have was a man walking across the surface of the water like Jesus. Constance crossed her arms as she stared in his direction, amazed at what he was doing. It actually brought the first smile to her face today, and Constance called out to him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Constance yelled, holding back the urge to laugh at the same time.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

priceoffreedom
2009-01-18 09:07 pm UTC (link)

The voice that rang out of nowhere startled the elemental, so much so that he stumbled on the surface of the water and fell right in. A small splash accompanied him, and he didn't come up for a breath for a very long time. The elemental remained beneath the water, wondering just who in the world had come upon him so suddenly. He had already turned into his purest form by this time, becoming one with his surroundings. He could see the woman on the shore, an older woman that he did not recognize immediately.

He could scare her the way she scared - no, startled - him. But he didn't want to give her a heart attack or anything; that was something he definitely didn't need on his conscience. Elijah settled on rising straight out of the water, fully clothed. Black pants, white shirt, black jacket and a black tie that was loose around his neck. His hair was wet and dripping, but his clothes were dry.

"Well that wasn't very nice," he said while raking a hand through his hair. "What if I couldn't swim?" He smirked and started walking toward the woman on the shore. Elijah felt an odd sense of kinship with her, which was unexpected considering he didn't know her at all. Or at least he didn't think he did. She seemed familiar, too, but he had an excellent memory and he would have remembered meeting her. As he drew closer he tilted his head to the side, eying her carefully. It was her eyes that tugged on some distant memory, but he couldn't be sure.

He stopped in front of her, his feet still on the water's surface. "What if a shark ate me?" He added finally, waiting to see what the woman would say.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

constantguard
2009-01-21 03:26 pm UTC (link)

Constance couldn't help it. She roared with laughter once he hit the water, and even had to bend over to catch her breath. She laughed so hard until her mouth was wide open and not a single sound was coming out. Startling the young man was too much fun for the older woman, and she felt tears forming at the corner of her eyes because she was laughing so hard. Constance placed a hand to her chest to quiet the thudding of her heart and took a deep breath, but broke out into giggles once more as she grinned at him.

"If you can walk on water, then you can swim," she announced. The kinship he felt with her was mutual, as she oddly felt the same. Normally, Constance might encounter just a little remorse for her actions, but this time she didn't feel any. Some part of her knew the younger man could take it, and he wouldn't react badly because of what she had done. Not many people did react badly to her, save for a small few. People cut a grandma some slack. After all, she had been around for a while and someone her age had to have some fun.

As he drew closer, Constance noticed that his face looked oddly familiar. The first thought that came into her head wasn't the correct one, though. "You look like Keanu Reeves," she suddenly said with awe, her eyes wide with surprise at the resemblance. Constance just happened to have a huge crush on Keanu Reeves ever since he made his debut onto the silver screen. It was a longtime crush of hers, and she had to admit this man looked just as handsome — if not better.

She began to laugh again. "I'm sure you know how to avoid sharks, Jesus," she joked with him, the smile reaching her eyes and causing them to glitter.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

priceoffreedom
2009-01-22 07:29 pm UTC (link)

"If I could swim, would I need to walk on water?" He retorted with a grin. Of course the woman's argument made sense; anyone who had enough power to walk on water would be able to swim through it. But sometimes it was just more fun to walk upon the surface, looking down into the depths.

Elijah didn't take what she did seriously. In fact, it was welcomed. It had been a while since his last good laugh, and he appreciated the fact that this woman was the one to give it to him. He was chuckling heartily and only moved onto the ground next to her after her comment. He rolled his eyes. Ever since Keanu Reeves became popular on the silver screen everyone who had met him told him that he looked like him. It was cute at first, but after hearing it for the millionth time (yes, it felt like he had heard it that much), it was getting a little old. But he didn't mind hearing it from this woman.

"How do you know that Keanu doesn't look like me?" He asked with an arch of his brow. He crossed his arms over his chest, and began to walk around the older woman who felt familiar. He wasn't sure what it was about her that made it feel like he knew her. Maybe it was because she looked like a grandma, or maybe it was that glitter in her eyes that brought forth a long-forgotten memory.

He stopped on the other side of her, and laughed at her comment about sharks. "The name's Elijah," he said. "Not Jesus, but I can see how I confused you with the whole walking on water trick. But, if I part the waters will you start calling me Moses?" He laughed a little bit more and turned his head to the side to glance at the woman, a smirk curling upon the corners of his lips.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

constantguard
2009-01-26 04:21 pm UTC (link)

"I don't know," Constance shot back with a grin on her face. "Because you're lazy? Walking's a whole lot less stressful than swimming, I can tell you that much." She knew if she could walk on water instead of having to swim through it, she'd pick walking over swimming any day of the week. It was less strain on the body, and the last thing Constance needed was more strain on her body. She avoided swimming whenever she could, and it had nothing to do with the bathing suits since shame wasn't even a word in her vocabulary. The only thing the grandma worried about was aggravating the parts of her body which had already suffered from age.

Constance crossed her arms and hummed at the back of her throat. "Well," she said slowly, seeming to think about it, "that depends on how old you are. Whoever's the oldest gets to claim first dibs on the looks." While he looked familiar to her, the first face that came to mind was Keanu and not the distant memory of a young man accompanying an alchemist to Alaska. It was over sixty years ago, and Constance's memory wasn't what it used to be.

"I guess I have to be disappointed that you aren't really Keanu Reeves," she said with mock disappointment in her voice. "I don't get to tell you how much I love your movies, which I have to say is a real bummer."

Constance smiled at him. "Elijah, huh?" She burst out laughing at the joke about Moses and shook her head. "I think Elijah's good enough," she told him. Constance smirked at him, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "The name's Constance."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

priceoffreedom
2009-01-27 11:54 pm UTC (link)

"That's right, I'm just a lazy bastard," he said in reply, a shrug of his shoulders accompanying his remark. "It's probably why I'm not married yet." That was the furthest thing from the truth since it was Elijah's own fear of committing to someone that kept him from settling down. Besides, how was he supposed to explain to someone that he was really just water bound to a human body?

Elijah chuckled a bit when the question of age came up. No one ever believed him when he said he was 135. He certainly didn't look it since he had just been freed a little over twenty years ago and had only been aging for that amount of time. "I'm over a hundred years old," he said, leaving off the extra 35 years. "So I think that means I win." He let out a short laugh only to have it grow when she said she was disappointed that he wasn't Keanu.

Once formal introductions were exchanged a memory crawled its way to the forefront of the elemental's mind. He had a better memory than most of the people he met, and he could recall facts, events, even people from the moment he was created. "Constance, huh?" It wasn't a common name, and in fact he had only met one person with that name. "I met a girl named Constance once, but that was ages ago in a place far away from here."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

constantguard
2009-01-28 06:57 pm UTC (link)

"Eh, I might have to disagree with you there. Lazy bastards get married more quickly than you might think. It's those other bastards that never settle down," she said, recalling plenty of instances to go along with her statement. Of course, being water bound to a human body further complicated things in a relationship.

However, Constance had a completely different reply than most people would have had when it came to his true age. She knew better than to believe that sort of thing at this point, and it both awed and amused her to discover his real age. "Well, ain't that a kicker," she jested with a smile. "I'm younger than that, but you sure have aged better than me." With the knowledge of his age, she began to wonder what else he was hiding. "If you're over a hundred years old, you sure aren't human," Constance reasoned, leaving it up to him to tell her the rest. She nodded her head at him. "Especially with all of that other fancy stuff you can do." He was beginning to rekindle her memory and that single event trapped somewhere in the back of her mind, irritating her underneath the surface like a tiny grain of sand in her eye.

She was definitely amused to hear he had met someone with her name before, and his face was becoming more and more familiar by the minute. Only it had been younger then, if it were even possible. "Oh yeah?" she asked, curiosity creeping forward into her voice. "Where was that?" A part of her felt like she already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear him say it first.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

priceoffreedom
2009-01-28 11:42 pm UTC (link)

Her reaction to his age brought forth a chuckle, and he wagged a finger at her. "Hey now, you don't look half bad for your age. Granted, I don't know what that is exactly, but you can't be more than what? 50? 55?" Elijah wasn't trying to get on her good side through flattery; he really didn't think that Constance looked any older than the ages he blurted out. He shrugged when she said he wasn't human, not really knowing how to answer that. He had the mortality of a human, but the powers of an elemental, but as far as he knew there was no in between.

"Water elemental," he said in response. "And I'm really 135 years old," he admitted in a whisper. Eli laughed a little afterwards, plunging his hands into the pockets of the jacket he wore. He looked out over the water, and then back over his shoulder at her. She was getting to something, though what it was exactly he didn't know. There was no harm in answering her, though. It wasn't as if she could do anything with the information anyway.

"Alaska, 1940," he said easily, but he didn't say more than that. There wasn't a need to in his mind. He recalled the time vividly, and the little girl who had a secret.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

constantguard
2009-01-29 08:50 pm UTC (link)

Constance laughed at his assumptions of her age. "Well, you definitely know how to flatter a girl. I'm seventy-seven years old," she revealed to him. There used to be days where she could say she didn't feel it, but none of those days had been very recent ones. She felt like the years were slowly catching up with her, and she knew she wasn't getting any younger — even with the help of carmot. Carmot could only do so much, and its uses started to feel few and far in between the hours of her days. Maybe this whole leadership thing wasn't really working out for her, and she needed to take a step back and do what she did best. Constance always had been a family woman, a business woman. She didn't want to have to answer to a whole haven of people.

When he said he was a water elemental, her eyes began to light up with recognition. An old memory came to the forefront of her mind from when she was ten years old, and it became all the more likely with the admittance of his age. Her own face displayed her surprise to hear such a thing as all the lines connected to make a clear picture in her head.

"Well, I'll be damn," Constance murmured, staring straight at his face. The story was plain on her face, even though she hadn't said it out loud yet. "Alaska, 1940. You didn't happen to meet a little girl then, did you? A little girl with a secret that she was an alchemist?" The memory was coming up from the depths of her mind, becoming more and more apparent as she was standing there with him. "I would have been ten years old."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

priceoffreedom
2009-01-29 09:38 pm UTC (link)

Talk about aging well. This woman was seventy-seven years old when she really only looked to be in her mid-fifties. He had to smile a bit, wondering what exactly her secret was. He didn't automatically attribute slow aging with carmot, though maybe he should have considering his long history with alchemy.

The more Elijah spoke with Constance about his past, the more the memory came to the surface. He was beginning to think that this Constance, and the Constance from his memories were one in the same, but he dismissed it. Surely, the world wasn't that small, but apparently he was wrong. Her words surprised him, and it showed upon his face. As Constance spoke of a little girl, his shock expression turned into a happy one. His lips curled into a smile, and his head began to shake in disbelief.

"It can't be," he said, though it was obvious that he knew the truth. He stepped closer to her, his eyes looking into hers. "Constance?" His hands reached up to touch her shoulders. "Is it really you?" It was like being reunited with a long, lost friend despite the fact that they had met only once. The elemental was beaming now, his happiness apparent. His hands slipped from her shoulders, and he reached one hand up to clasp over his mouth.

"My god," he said. "Look at you... all grown up." He sounded proud, and in truth he was. Elijah had thought about Constance from time to time during his life, wondering what the young alchemist was up to. And now she was right in front of him, and he could barely believe it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

constantguard
2009-01-29 09:56 pm UTC (link)

She had to admit she was amused when he took her by the shoulders to look her in the eyes. "Now, I know I was a kid back then, but I look old enough to be your mother," Constance asserted with a twinkle in her eyes. Despite his obvious age over her with him old enough to be her father, Constance still felt like the elder in this situation if only because she had the physical looks to go along with it. "You still look like a young squirt in my eyes," she told him sternly, but there was an clear hint of a smile on her face. It hadn't went away yet.

"Yep, it's me in the flesh," she announced. It had been decades since they had last seen each other, and Constance had lived out her life in between that time. She had grown up, gotten married, had children, ran a business, and lost some of the ones she loved along the way. She was an old woman with the scars of the world on her back and the experience to prove it, but in some way it felt like she lost something amidst it all. She could have known him, Elijah, somewhere in between all of that, but she had only met him once in her entire life. Now was the second time, and she was nearing her end.

"I always thought fate was funny this way." Her voice had taken on a more serious quality. Constance placed a hand on her hip when Elijah talked about her being all grown up. "Now, that's the last thing you say to a grandma." It was meant to be a joke, the laughter coming easily afterwards. "Time sure does fly by in the oddest of ways."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

priceoffreedom
2009-01-29 10:25 pm UTC (link)

Elijah laughed out loud when Constance called him a young squirt, though he understood why she did. She looked older than he did, and a part of him knew that she felt it, too. Late in Aubert's very long life the alchemist complained about the aches and pains of old age. Elijah didn't understand it then since he didn't age, but he was beginning to. He was growing old like Aubert, and like Constance.

It seemed like fate was more cruel than funny at times. It could have brought Elijah and Constance together before this time, but for some reason their paths never crossed. It would have only confirmed Elijah's belief to not become close with anyone around him if he thought about it, but the fact was that his happiness blocked out all other thoughts.

"Your a grandmother now?" It just added more disbelief on top of that. He should have expected that, of course, since it had been over sixty years since he had seen her. She had lived her life in that time and experienced life more fully than Elijah had. Still, the questions and comments started flowing out of Elijah's mouth and he began to pace. "Are there any other alchemists in your family? Your grandchildren perhaps? Aubert always believed that the alchemy gene skipped a generation or two. I can only assume that you've created carmot since you look really good for your age. And elementals?" He paused and looked at her, and then shook his head. "What am I asking, of course you've created an elemental already. I always knew you'd be a great alchemist one day."

This was a completely different Elijah than what others normally saw. He was usually sarcastic, and jaded. Quick to push people away, or quick to tease. But here, in this moment, he was happy, and it could be said that Elijah was truly happy when he was with an alchemist. Most of his life had been dedicated to that craft, after all, and a part of him felt lost without it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

constantguard
2009-01-29 11:13 pm UTC (link)

The joy wasn't all for Elijah since Constance was happy to see him again, too. Fate was a very strange thing, and she never knew quite what to expect from it. "Yeah, I'm a grandmother already. I've got me a bunch of grandchildren and great-grandchildren out of my eight kids." There had been eight children total, but one of them had already passed away. It was a soft spot for Constance, and she didn't like to talk about it with anyone. Burying one of your own children was one of those things that was too much for any parent to bear, and to that day Constance hadn't ever really dealt with it.

She laughed at Elijah's slew of questions, shaking her head at him. "Hold your horses. I can only answer one thing at time." A soft smirk decorated her face as Elijah said he was sure she had already created an elemental. "I did," she answered him. "His name's Adam, and he's my ninth child. I created him twenty-six years ago. Luckily, he didn't end up looking like anyone I know. He just looks like himself." She had to recall what Elijah's previous questions were before she could answer those, too. He had been talking so fast. "There's one alchemist. My grandson, Zach. The talent showed up in him."

As she mentioned Zach's name, a reverent tone appeared in her voice. It was as if she was speaking of something vastly important beyond all other things in the world. She loved all of her family equally, but Zach was the next alchemist in the line and she had to devote herself to him. It felt like so much time was wasted along the way because of his parents, but it wasn't time she could get back.

"I still have Aubert's journals," Constance told Elijah, and the humor seemed to have gone away for now. It was replaced with realization once more that her time was running out, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could be around for Zach.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

priceoffreedom
2009-01-29 11:41 pm UTC (link)

"Jeeeesus," he said, stretching out the word. "Eight kids." He shook his head and chuckled a bit. "That's... a lot. I might have to start calling you a wildcat because of it now," he teased. He wouldn't disrespect her like that, but he felt he could be playful even if it was a little bit. He was attentive when she spoke, careful to take in every word she said. It was important if only because he wanted to know about Constance's life.

"Adam," he said slowly. He understood what she meant saying that the elemental was like a child. Elijah himself felt like he was Aubert's child, and there were times when Aubert treated him like a son. He wanted to meet Adam and everyone else in Constance's family, especially Zach, the other alchemist in her bloodline. He would have continued on in a happy manner if he hadn't noticed the sudden downturn in Constance's tone. Despite all his time living, and all the people he met in his life, Elijah couldn't tell what had made the woman sad. He left it alone, for now, a soft smile appearing on his face when she mentioned Aubert's journals.

"I think that was the happiest day of his life," he said softly. "Being able to pass some of his knowledge onto another alchemist." Elijah took a step closer to Constance. "I still have all of his journals, too. They're the only things I have left of him," he said in a somber tone that was temporary. "I think he would want me to share them with you, and your grandson." It was the late alchemist's wish for his knowledge to be passed on to the next generation. It was useless to the elemental though he knew all of the information in those journals by heart. No amount of work he did in an alchemy lab would ever bear results, but in the hands of other alchemists Aubert's legacy would live on.

The water elemental held his hand out for her, his palm turned upward as he waited for her to take it. "Shall we?" It was an invitation to retrieve the journals from his bungalow, one he hoped she would accept.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Fin.

constantguard
2009-01-31 01:57 am UTC (link)

Constance didn’t find it disrespectful in the slightest, and it ushered a hearty laugh out of her lungs. She was a bit of a wildcat when she was younger, but age tempered most of that down to a much more subdued attitude in her older years. The cheerful atmosphere only lasted for so long, though. Many of her thoughts became clouded as of late, and holding a singular train of thought was growing harder and harder for her to do.

She smiled as Elijah spoke of Aubert, and it touched her to hear how much passing on his journals had meant to the older alchemist. She was only a baby at the time, not ten years into her life, and Aubert was already at the end of his. It seemed this was the fate of alchemists and elementals: never were they to meet but at the very beginning and the very ends of their lives. “It was a big day in my life, too,” she said quietly as the wind blew by and ruffled her hair somewhat. It was the truth. That day had opened Constance’s eyes to things she had never known before, for she had met a person who would change her life forever.

“That would be wonderful,” Constance agreed, nodding her head. A part of her wanted to see the rest of Aubert’s journals and to find use of them before her time was up. She could still pass things onto Zach before all was said and done, and maybe Elijah could help her with that. She grinned at him when he made his offer. “We sure should,” she answered plainly, and Constance fell into step beside him as they departed from the lake to head back South. It would be a long walk, and they would have plenty of time to catch up along the way.

(Reply to this) (Parent)