Eliot the Spectacular (highkingeliot) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-05-23 16:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | eliot waugh, fray |
Who: Eliot & Fray Waugh
What: Eliot takes Fray to NYC so they can discuss her frustrations and why Eliot was so upset about the car situation.
When: Directly after this on May 16th
Where: The Cottage ----> Central Park, NYC
Warnings: Brief Language?
Status: Complete in gdocs
Fray was annoyed. It wasn’t exactly a surprising thing. She seemed to be annoyed most of the time when she wasn’t quietly pleased with the things she got to do. There was also trying to navigate being part of Eliot’s family and the flares of anger that she felt any time Pixie was mentioned. But today was one of those quietly annoyed sort of days where she was frustrated with more rules she was supposed to follow without knowing. Eliot could steal fairy babies and it was supposedly fine, but she took a car that she fully intended to return and she was supposed to know better. She was sitting quietly in her room - more because she wanted to than because she had been told to. Her arms wrapped around Humbledrum and she frowned at the tablet a little. Anakin had invited her to ride a motorcycle, which was apparently a vehicle that only had two wheels and required balancing to maneuver. She still didn’t fully understand. She hummed quietly to herself. She didn’t remember what the song was called, but she remembered liking it. It wasn’t whatever the Murder Squash Song was. She didn’t get that one. She just wanted to stop finding new rules to break and get in trouble for breaking. The way they'd left the prior evening, Eliot had felt largely good about. It had been an aggravating night, with him trying to keep himself from being too outwardly frustrated when they collected Fray, but he'd thought he'd managed to convey the real reason Fray was in trouble. While her driving without a license was definitely an issue, she hadn't actually known it would be a problem. And Eliot hadn't thought to tell her because he didn't know she was wanting to drive. Now that he knew the interest was there, and evidently quite loud of an interest, he was intending to correct that mistake. Instead of grounding her, he said they'd get her lessons and he actually catered her punishment for the main issue around this interest in vehicles. Sure, it also meant she was going to be spending time with Kylo, but it would be good for them both. Maybe. Hopefully. But the real reason he was angry was that she'd taken something without asking. Even with her lack of societal education, he knew she knew this was wrong, because he had been told about how the faerie egg plot had gone down. She knew the basics of right and wrong and yet she'd still done this. He tried to emphasize that this was what he was upset, no 'disappointed', about but evidently he hadn't succeeded well, at least according to Damon. Stuffing his phone in his pocket, he stepped up to her door and gave a knock. He waited a fraction of a second before pushing it open. He nudged his head towards the door. "Come on." Fray didn’t really want to be stuck with lessons or more time with Kylo when she was sure that he was only doing this because Eliot asked. But she would apparently have to deal with various learning aspects. All of which she’d have preferred to learn from Ronan, but she’d noticed Eliot’s face last night, so she didn’t say anything. She heard the knock, but didn’t bother moving. She put the bear down all the same, knowing that Eliot was probably coming in anyway. And he did. She stared up at Eliot after a moment, still not moving. “Hello,” she said after a moment, finally making a move to get off the bed. “Where are we going?” Because ‘come on’ really didn’t seem like something that he’d say if they were staying in place. So she walked over to the door and looked up at him. "We're going for a walk," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He glanced down at her once she was by his side, gave the smallest look of encouragement, before taking a step back and out of her bedroom door. "Grab comfortable shoes," he then added as he moved away from her door and down the hallway in the direction of the stairs. He headed down them without turning around to look at her, but once he was at the floor, he turned and waited. Fray was confused. Mostly because Eliot was acting in a way that she couldn’t really figure out. That happened sometimes, but it was usually not like this. So she wasn’t sure what it meant. She sighed, but grabbed what Eliot had called ‘tennis shoes’. She hadn’t understood why, but he said they were good shoes. She wasn’t sure it fit with her clothes, but then she wasn’t terribly concerned. As long as she didn’t have to wear the pants that tried to suffocate her legs. Once she was ready, she walked down the stairs and stopped at the bottom, looking at Eliot curiously for a moment before moving forward. Once she was downstairs, he moved for the next set of stairs that led into the basement where they kept the kitchen. However, also down there was the main portal to New York. He hadn't taken Fray through that one before but once he stepped up to it, he nudged his head in its direction, "Stay right beside me," he told her as they approached. And making sure to keep pace with her in the event she hung back, he eventually made his way through, and they were standing at the edge of an alley in a bustle of traffic. He looked to her. "Alright, let's walk," he told her, immediately stepping into the whirlwind of people as though it were nothing. It was a few minutes before he turned his gaze in her direction. "So, three annoying parents?" Fray stared at the traffic and the people, feeling a little unsettled. She moved forward and tried to keep up with Eliot and not get caught up in the sea of people that were around them. She didn’t like so many people. It was part of the problem with New York. So many people. Fray felt her ears heat up once Eliot spoke. Someone had told him. She didn’t know who, but she’d have to be more careful to filter things so that people who’d tell Eliot wouldn’t be able to see it either. Her arms crossed over her chest and she looked off to the side and away from him. “It’s a lot of parents for one person.” Which wasn’t really the problem.The problem was that she was tired of finding more things to trip over and get in trouble over and then everyone made new rules and annoying punishments. Eliot, however, flourished in this setting. While he was capable of looking comfortable in most places, and had even managed to do so while in Texas of all places, it was this City that he truly came alive. There was the smallest flash of a smirk when she crossed her arms over her chest. Not because she was upset, because he didn't actually enjoy that at all, but because it had caught her off guard. "It is," he agreed without pause. She wasn't wrong on that account. "Mind telling me what precisely it is that is annoying?" He asked, as he reached out to nudge her arm before motioning off to the right so she'd know they were making a turn. As soon as they did so, they broke off from the larger crowd and were entering through a park entrance. It was at least a little quieter. She didn’t really want to tell him what it was that was annoying about it because she hadn’t meant to talk to him about it in the first place, but now she was. She turned, following Eliot as he went off in another direction. She looked around at the park and continued walking for a little while longer without speaking. There was a slight shrug in response initially. It was hard to explain. More in that it was perhaps more about her than it was about them. She wanted it to be about them because it was easier to be annoyed with them. “He doesn’t even like me,” she said quietly. “And I’m tired of being in trouble all the time.” Because it was exhausting. She was also tired of school being part of everything, but that wasn’t really part of what was going on here. That was just another part of a larger frustration. “Ronan could teach me. He kept us from crashing and everything.” He didn't push. He had nothing else on his slate that afternoon since his entire week was effectively cancelled with the powers all array. He couldn't very well test Megan on her magical skills when she didn't have magic, could he? So he had effectively all the time in the world to wait until Fray finally decided to open up. And as he waited, he looked around the park, hands moving into his pockets as he tried not to appear longing in his gaze. But his attention shifted back to her when she spoke and he made sure that it was clear he was actively listening. He waited until there was a break, a clear indicator that she'd said what she wanted to say for now, before he began. But his gaze moved away to back in front of him as he started. "You are making assumptions. If you want to stop being in trouble, you might want to stop making those," he began, with a shrug of his shoulders. "If anything were to happen to you? Kylo would do everything he could to help you." He didn't come out and say that Kylo liked Fray. He knew it was still an adjustment and that it was tense between them. But he knew, without any doubt, that Kylo didn't not like her. He just didn't know her well and she was making it difficult. "I don't enjoy you being in trouble, either, for the record." He pulled in a breath. "But it does you no good to not talk to Fen or I about how you are feeling. If we aren't communicating, things won't change, will they?" He turned his gaze back to her, raising an eyebrow. "And, besides, do you understand why you were in trouble?" Then he shook his head. "Ronan will not be teaching you," he said, very firmly. Fray frowned. “Only because he likes you.” Which didn’t count. She could have been wrong about it, but she felt like it wasn’t something that was going to shift. Fen was confusing to her in her own way. She was still trying to figure her out. She’d gotten to a point where she understood Eliot’s reasoning more. Or at least she knew he meant what he said and she didn’t doubt him anymore. It didn’t stop the feelings related to Pixie, but there was only so much that she could do about that and she didn’t want to go into that either. “I don’t have to talk to you about everything,” she said after a moment. “Because I took the car.” She knew why. She was annoyed because apparently stealing babies was fine, but stealing cars was frowned upon. “Nothing happened to the car and I was bringing it back.” Her expression darkened and her arms were pulled tighter against her chest. “Are you going to tell me I can’t go over to his farm anymore too? I will be in trouble more.” "He loves me," he said, as a correction, though it seemed like it was an irrelevant one at face value, "and because he loves me, he's going to care about you because I do. You have to give him time to get to know you." "You don't," he agreed. He didn't want her to, either. "But if you have things you want to say, or that you think are unfair, it's more productive to talk to me and Fen. We're the ones who have any say over it, after all." He paused for a moment, glancing her way. "Even if you have to come back and say it later. It doesn't have to be immediate." He softened with his next words, "I want us to be able to discuss things, especially if you think we aren't being fair." Then he shook his head. "That wasn't the point, Fray. The point is you need to ask." He sighed heavily and glanced back out ahead of him. "We're going to try to outline our expectations. We need to stop assuming you know things, too. So...we're going to work on that," he offered up, hoping it was viewed as a compromise. He cast a sideways glance towards her. "Did I say I would?" He asked, calmly. “That’s not the same as caring because he wants to.” Even if it was because he wanted to technically for Eliot’s sake. The point was that it was for Eliot’s sake. “Every time he talks to me, he looks like he’s not happy to be there.” Not that she was really any better. She didn’t know what to do with him, so she just avoided it except for when he inserted himself into things. Then she felt annoyed because he was putting himself into a role she didn’t see him actually having. She looked over at him after a moment. Part of her wanted to tell him that she didn’t want to learn from Kylo because she had someone who could show her or even people he knew that could teach her. She felt like it was a set up to force them to interact and get to know each other. She supposed it wasn’t the worst thing, but she didn’t like that she felt like she was being cut off from other ways of learning either. “You don’t like him.” She frowned. “He’s my friend.” She looked up at Eliot. “He makes me feel like I’m not so...unusual. Different. Something like that.” "It's a start," he pointed out. Then he cast a sideways glance at her, "Why don't you tell him that?" It would better help them both if they spoke more to one another. He didn't know if that was going to happen or not though. He shook his head at that statement and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He liked Ronan a lot more before Fray had shown up and become friends with him, that was for sure. "I'm Adam's friend," he replied, "And you are assuming again," he added, even if he could see where that assumption came from. "And I appreciate that he is your friend and he helps you feel like you fit in. Doesn't mean I trust him now to teach you." She shrugged. “I don’t think telling him will do anything but make him more frustrated.” She waited for Eliot to tell her whether or not she was wrong. He knew Kylo better than she did, but she was also aware that he was meant to play some role as another parent. Even if she didn’t fully comprehend how he fit in there. Fray knew Adam a little, but Ronan was the one that she knew best from the group. Noah was usually a ghost. He was very unusual, but she didn’t mind him. He usually just hovered close by and looked nervous unless Ronan was talking to him and they were going back and forth. Gansey was...Gansey as far as she could tell. Marceline was okay, though. “He didn’t do anything.” She wondered if that was part of the problem, but also he couldn’t have. Well, he could have, but she figured probably not. “He’s a ghost. What was he going to do? Grab the wheel?” He would have suggested that she try it and see what happens, but they were moving on. He came to a stop in the middle of the walkway of the park and stared at her. "Exactly. He didn't do anything," he reiterated. While Eliot didn't necessarily care what Ronan did on his own when Fray wasn't around, he very much cared when it involved her, especially in this situation. "Ronan knows the laws. He shouldn't have encouraged you." Then he blinked and his expression, which had largely been neutral this whole time, shifted to one that was certainly heated. "He was a fucking ghost?" Fray rolled her eyes. “I made the decision. He’s why nothing happened. And he didn’t encourage me.” He just also didn’t discourage her. He told her what the rules were and how to change lanes and that green meant go and red meant stop and yellow meant slow down. She could remember those things. She didn’t see how it was a problem. Startling slightly, Fray stepped back and stared at Eliot. “He and Noah changed places.” She didn’t know why he was so upset about that. He couldn’t help that he was a ghost. He brought his hand up to his hairline, pushing the curls back, eyes shutting for a moment. Then the hand dropped dramatically by his side as he opened his eyes. "He wouldn't have been able to grab the wheel," he repeated her earlier statement, sounding less angry now but something akin to alarmed and distressed. Not only had he not discouraged her but he'd have been useless if she needed to swerve and didn't know. He looked to her. "Do you realize how many people die every day because of car accidents?" Fray probably should have mentioned that he was a solid enough ghost that they could punch him, but she decided not to do that. She also wasn’t sure how much Eliot would like it if he knew that Fray had been taught how to punch people. The swearing could have come from anywhere, so she knew that Ronan couldn’t get into trouble for that. “I don’t know a lot about driving,” she said after a moment, carefully aware of it now. People had tried to tell her, but she was busy being annoyed that she had so many rules to follow here. “But I’d have figured it out eventually.” But she was starting to understand the ‘why’ behind Eliot’s reaction. Not that she agreed with his reaction to Ronan, but she was gathering that he was concerned about her...even when she wasn’t even considering it as a problem. Nothing had happened, but it could have. She made a face, letting her gaze drop. Her body relaxed slightly and she let her arms slowly uncross. She didn’t reach for Eliot, but the urge to do so was there. He watched the shift in her posture and sighed with his own gaze dropping down. The aggravation was still present but it wasn't directed at her or caused by her. He didn't say anything more and instead shook his head, before looking up again. "Come on," he said quietly, so she'd know to follow. Once they'd started walking again, Eliot remained quiet for some time, where the only noise around them was the city itself. "I don't want you to get hurt," finally was offered up without looking to her, his eyes remaining ahead of him. Former High King Eliot didn't handle loss well. Fray followed him quietly, looking off to the side as they walked. She didn’t say anything because Eliot wasn’t saying anything. The thing that seemed more complicated than everything else - even the rules - was coming to terms with all of the emotionally driven things. She felt a lot of confusion when it came to the emotions. She was getting used to caring for Eliot, knowing that she did. She cared for Fen in a way as well. She glanced up at him when he spoke, frowning a little bit. He didn’t look at her when he spoke and she hoped that it didn’t mean anything negative. “I wasn’t hurt,” she said quietly in response, with none of the previous annoyance that she’d been exhibiting. She reached out and put her hand on his arm. His gaze shifted when her hand touched his arm and for a moment he just focused on it. Then his eyes lifted to gaze into her eyes and he gave her the smallest smile, before shifting to lean in towards her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. For a moment, he tilted his head to the side, pressing it against hers. "And I am grateful for that," he reassured her before straightening up some. "Got to say it is the only time I can recall being happy a cop was talking to me, too," he offered, with a little bit of levity. "A real driving instructor won't be bad, you know. You won't have to wait for them to be free like you would with someone else." She made a face as she was pulled close. It was an immediate reaction, but she didn’t pull away from him either. “I didn’t know police existed,” she said quietly. They didn’t run into any in New York before. The Fairies were able to keep an eye on things that they wanted to without the need for outside people. Except for her. Did that make her a police officer or just a spy? “But then I would have to put up with someone I didn’t know.” She frowned a little. “Anakin said he could teach me how to drive.” Yes. Anakin was probably safe, right? Eliot wasn’t angry at Anakin. “And he said he could take me out on his motorcycle.” Which she still didn’t understand. "We try to avoid running into them," he said in response because it was certainly true for him. He didn't much care for legality and laws, even though he was trying to stress to her the importance of learning them. "Anakin has a motorcycle?" He blinked, thinking to Anakin Skywalker. When did that happen? And when did Fray start talking to him? He then shook his head. "I don't know," he said. He was already aware that Kylo was unhappy about his friendly talks to Aphra. He didn't mind talking to Anakin himself, and had done so on occasion, but he didn't think Kylo would appreciate having him as a teacher for Fray. “He said he did. And something about it being like a speeder bikes or something.” When he shook his head, Fray felt the frustration build up again. Maybe she should have let him ask after all. He said he was good with parents. She was clearly not doing very good, but then she’d sort of assumed Eliot wasn’t going to say yes from the beginning. “But I…” She sighed. “He’s…” Her shoulders sagged a little and she crossed her hands over her chest again. “He said he was going to ask if it was okay to take me out on his motorcycle, but I’ll tell him it’s not a good idea, I guess.” Since apparently none of her friends were going to be trusted. She hadn’t been aware of there being more than one Anakin, however. She only knew of the one and he wasn’t very far from her age. "I didn't say you couldn't ride with him. I just don't know. Things are complicated with Anakin and Kylo," he told her, almost as soon as he saw felt her shoulder slump. He didn't want to constantly be saying 'no.' "But if he's willing to help you, maybe he can give you pointers? It is still probably better to have a real teacher," he explained. "As for them being like speeder bikes? Yeah. I can see that." “What happened? Anakin seems very nice. He said he was good with dads. Is it because Kylo isn’t good with his dad or something?” She frowned a little more. How could family be so complicated? Didn’t they have the same Dad? Did that matter? “Fine. But I don’t have to be happy about it.” She thought it was stupid that Kylo not getting along with his maybe brother meant that she wasn’t allowed to get along with him. Everyone else’s feelings on the matter seemed to affect what she was and wasn’t allowed to do. “What are speeder bikes even?” Eliot's attention shifted back down to Fray. "Anakin said he's good with Dad's?" He repeated as an eyebrow rose and then he shook his head back and forth. "Wait," he began as he pulled his arm away from her shoulders now and turned, so he was walking backwards and able to look at her. "Are we talking about Anakin Skywalker or Anakin Solo?" He suppose Solo made just about as much sense as Skywalker did but he never thought about Anakin Solo. “There’s more than one Anakin?” She stared at Eliot for a minute in confusion, brows knitting together. She hadn’t ever met another one. She just knew about Anakin from the teen party. “I met him at the teen party that they had that day when you guys were busy.” She couldn’t remember what party it was that they were involved with that day. She just knew that she was at the teen party that day. "That's Solo." Which, honestly, made more sense now that he thought about it. He was having a hard time trying to imagine why Anakin Skywalker was speaking with Fray. He took in a breath. "He and Kylo don't have a relationship. I was talking about Anakin Skywalker when I said that, but no matter. You can ask Anakin for help but I want you to have a real teacher. He's barely older than you, Anakin, you know." Thinking back to her earlier question, he shrugged. "It's a bike that can fly, basically." Her expression shifted a little and she felt frustrated again. Why was age such a factor in everything? “Why does that matter? It’s not like you’re really that much older than I am.” She looked up at him at that moment. “But fine. Whatever.” “I don’t know if I’ve seen a bike.” So one that flew seemed just as mysterious to her. He stopped walking for a moment, delaying his steps, so that he could let her catch back up to him and walk by her side. "I'm over 90 years old," he told her before shaking his head. "Don't do that, please?" He asked with his gaze turning back in her direction. "I don't actually like telling you 'no,' for the record. But I don't know what the laws are for driving but I'm fairly certain you have to have a real teacher and Anakin isn't one. It isn't me saying 'no' for the hell of it." Then he turned, his eyes scanning the park for a moment. It wasn't hard to find a bicyclist in New York City. Pointing, he nudged her. "There. That's a bicycle." Fray rolled her eyes. “You say no a lot for someone that doesn’t seem to like it.” She crossed her arms over her stomach. She didn’t like to be told no. She didn’t like not being able to have options she was given because they weren’t trusted or because they weren’t old enough. It was tiring and now she had to deal with people she didn’t know and didn’t want to know. Was learning to drive even worth all of this? She sighed, looking at the thing that he pointed at. A bicycle. “How does it stay upright? It doesn’t look very sturdy.” "You ask for a lot of things I can't say 'yes' to," he countered as his hands shuffled to move back into his slack pockets. "You have to balance." He nearly considered offering to show her one day but it occurred to him that they didn't actually have a bicycle back at the Cottage and it'd been a very long time since he'd ridden one. He refrained and instead glanced back to her. "We're here now so how about we go find something to do?" She made a face at that. She didn’t consider things she asked for to be difficult to agree to. She just thought they were things that Eliot didn’t want to agree to. She decided not to say so, however. She figured that as long as it didn’t involve Kylo’s car, probably she could still learn from other people. She just wouldn’t get caught this time. And she could still do things the way Eliot said she needed to so that she could continue to get lessons from other people. Even if she was sure this would annoy Eliot. She just refused to not learn from Ronan if she could and she figured Eliot wasn’t going to stop her from going over there. Fray wanted to ask, but she decided not to. Instead, she focused on what he said after. “Okay. Just not Cats.” |