Isobel Hughes ➤ Rapunzel (sanslumieres) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-02-21 13:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | elizabeth bennet, rapunzel |
Who: Eli and Isobel
What: Family bonding over healing
Where: Bathos lobby, Bathos 203
When: Late morning, after this.
Warnings: None
The morning was relatively quiet, something she was beginning to relish as life became more and more complicated as the days drifted by. She had rolled out of bed only half an hour earlier, the day to herself, when her cell phone on the end table in her living room rang. Without glancing at the caller ID, Isobel pressed the receive button and flopped down on the couch to answer. “This is Isobel.”
Eli was in Bathos, but he hadn’t gone up to his own apartment once Preston dropped him off. Instead, he pulled his phone out in the building lobby and he dialed Isobel. When she answered, he hesitated a moment before speaking, a little waver of uncertainty in the silence. “Iso, it’s Eli. About that healing you can do,” he said, the sound of his feet on the floor of the lobby echoing in the phone. “Are you home? Might I come over a moment?”
The sound of Eli’s voice, particularly the tone that she hadn’t heard from him before had her alert instantly. “Yeah, I’m home, and of course you came come over. Are you all right? You don’t sound all right.” She paused, lips pursing into a frown before she got to her feet. “Where are you at right now? I’ll meet you.” There was definite worry threading its way into her words now.
“In the Bathos lobby,” and admitted, Eli’s voice didn’t sound very good. Not his voice, precisely, but the way he rounded out his words. “I’m afraid I got in a bit of a fight. I’ve been to the dentist, but stitches and teeth take time, and I’d much rather avoid the delay, if you don’t mind helping?”
It took her a moment to digest what Eli had just said, going so far as to pull the phone back from her ear to stare at it, disbelief written over her features. Finally, she responded with a shake of her head. “A fight? Teeth? I’ll meet you downstairs.” Hanging up, she tossed her phone back on the table, grabbed her keys, and made her way out.
Only on the second floor, it took just a matter of moments before she was in the lobby and rushing across to meet Eli. One look at him had her crossing her arms over her chest as she gave him a look. She didn’t really imagine how Eli of all people could get into a fight, but it turned out there were things about a lot of people that she was just starting to realise. “I was hoping you were joking,” she said after a moment, shoulders sinking down. She wasn’t mad, just concerned. He was family after all.
Holding her hand out to him, she inclined her head towards the stairs. “Come on. I don’t want to do this down here where everyone and their cousin can see. Let’s go back up to my place.”
Eli was going to caution her not to come down. That this was best done in her apartment, but then she was hanging up and coming downstairs. It was so very Isobel that it made him smile for the first time since the evening before, and then he had to try very hard not to laugh at her cross-armed, disapproving stance. “I was not, as you see, joking,” he said, the words more slurred as the numbing began to wear off.
He took her hand, and once he was close enough he put his hand on her lower back to nudge her forward. “Even for family, no doing this in public,” he cautioned. “I’m afraid I informed the person who drove me that my cousin was a healer, and though I trust him immensely, I should not have done as much. You must be careful,” and all that talking made his lower lip bleed again, and he decided it was probably best to continue to lecture her after she had healed him - assuming she could, assuming it was permanent.
“Yes, sir,” Isobel said, her tone mostly joking as she allowed herself to be led forward, taking the stairs up to the second floor. One glance over towards him, however, had her digging in her pocket for a napkin, reaching over to press it to the corner of his mouth. “What am I going to do with you?” she asked as they reached her door, pushing it open as she had left it unlocked during that short time out.
“Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t need blood all over the carpeting.” The apartment was cool, the broken window in the living room still not replaced, instead with just plastic sheeting duct-taped to the wall as a temporary fix. “Now. Sit. I’m getting some towels and some water and... other things. But you sit. You look like shit, Eli.” It was brutally honest, as were most things that Isobel said when she was comfortable around people. It was her turn to nudge him in a direction, this one towards the living room, while she disappeared down the hall to the bathroom to get what she needed.
He wanted to caution her against unlocked doors, and he wanted to ask why her boyfriend hadn’t yet fixed that window (he lost points for that, did the boyfriend), and he sat easily on the couch, comfortable in her space. He missed family, and being around Isobel always reminded him as much. There was that sense that whatever fights they had would always be repairable, and that they would accept each other’s idiosyncrasies with an exasperated look and a fond smile. And he suspected that he did, in fact, look like shit. It was probably the main reason Preston looked shell-shocked whenever he looked at him - memories, and not good ones.
He leaned his head back against the couch cushions and he closed his eyes, and he waited silently.
His answer of silence pleased her; at least he could listen to common sense even after getting into god-knows-what kind of fight. But Isobel emerged only minutes later, several damp towels and a couple of clean ones in her hands. “I must admit,” she started as she sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch, “that I was kind of eager to show you what I can do. But this isn’t really the best way, is it?” There was a hint of a smile, and she gave his chin a tap.
“Open up. Is it your lip? Cheek? Helps me to know where you’re still messed up at so I know what I’m doing. Not that I really know what I’m doing, but I’m pretending pretty damned well, aren’t I?”
“Two teeth and inside my lip,” he said, before following her instructions and opening his mouth. He almost closed it again when she mentioned pretending, but he ended up just making a resigned, accepting sound. It was like he had other options, not that didn’t involve looking like arse for a month, so he had very little to lose.
To her credit, she didn’t say anything more, instead moving silently as she touched his lip ever so lightly, hands clean and smelling of soap. Confident that she knew what she needed to do, she let her hand rest against his cheek as she closed her eyes, falling still and quiet as she worked.
It didn’t happen quickly, instead coming as a warmth that spread over injured tissue, easing the pain, urging the healing on to state that would take weeks to reach if left to the normal devices. Isobel let out a breath, shoulders sinking down slightly, her hand moving on his cheek a small bit, repositioning, then another flood of warmth that came less as heat and more as energy.
The process took perhaps five minutes to complete, spurred on by the work the dentist had already done, and finally she was opening her eyes and pulling her hand away, head tilted slightly to the side. “Any better?”
He touched his hand to his cheek, opened and closed his mouth, tested his jaw, and then ran his tongue along where the sutures had been. Had been. He did the same with the teeth, and the look he gave her a moment later was something like disbelieving awe. Yes, he’d known she could heal - or that she said she could. But hearing and knowing was not the same as experiencing.
He was so grateful he didn’t answer her immediately, and then the importance of all of this rushed in. “Iso,” he said, taking her hands, his expression deadly serious. “You must be careful not to allow anyone to know you can do this.”
The look on his face was unexpected, but it was thanks enough, even without words to go with it. She was getting ready to wipe her hands off, to get up, when Eli took her hands in his own. His tone had her looking back towards him, eyes wide, not understanding for the first few moments. “Eli...” Isobel started, then promptly reconsidered, gaze shifting off to the side. Telling him about her trip to the hospital would likely not be a good thing. “I told Ray already. But I’m not advertising it... but...”
She gave his hands a squeeze, meeting his gaze once more. “Why should I hide it if I can help people?”
“Because they will lock you in a cage and make you heal all the rich socialites in this country, Iso,” Eli hissed, his grip tightening. He dragged his hands through his hair a moment later, and he stood, touching his jaw again. “We’re having dinner to discuss, you and I. Tomorrow evening. I won’t take no for an answer.”
Nothing was said as she watched Eli get to his feet, his words echoing in her head. It was a viewpoint that she hadn’t had. People seemed eager for her to help, the few that were privy to the information, and to hear such a dissenting voice... Well, it brought some serious things to consider. “Tomorrow evening,” Isobel said with a nod of her head, rising with Eli, fingers laced behind her back.
“Don’t get into any more fights before then, hmm?”
“I will do my best.” He gave her another worried look, a long one that said he would sit there and argue with her if he wasn’t so worried about Reliquary and the damage there. “Tomorrow evening, Iso,” he reminded her, giving her a quick hug and a kiss to her cheek, and then turning for the door.