Isobel Hughes ➤ Rapunzel (sanslumieres) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-03-31 23:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | elizabeth bennet, rapunzel |
Who: Eli Pride & Isobel Hughes
What: Retrieving the missing
Where: Hotel → Bathos
When: Wednesday evening
Warnings: None to be expected
The phone was settled back on the receiver, Eli’s voice echoing in her head long after their conversation had ended. Calling him had been difficult, partly because she had gotten sixteen wrong numbers before she finally got the correct combination for his cell, and partly because she wasn’t sure what to say. ‘Hi. I’m in a hotel with no idea how I got here? I seem to think I might have been on a trip to Hawaii. No, I don’t know who I was with. No, none it makes sense. Can you come pick me up?’
But somehow, she had gotten up the courage to finally talk to him, and now, she was waiting. Part of her hoped that maybe he’d get distracted, leave her here, because maybe that’d be easy. The room was comforting in a strange way, a small, confined world that had definite boundaries and limitations. Nothing in here bit if you touched it, nothing in here would cut you if you weren’t careful. Isobel was starting to find that she missed the boundaries she had lived with in Musings; the real world, living on your own, and everything that went with it, well. It wasn’t quite what she had ever imagined.
Changing out of her bathrobe and into the clothes she had found on the floor when she woke up two days ago (sent out to be cleaned, underwear and all. She wasn’t desperate enough to wear dirty things), Isobel settled herself on the bed, legs pulled up beneath her. The television was off, the room in silence and the muted tones of the evening starting to settle on the city. Sighing, she glanced towards the window, a large pane of glass that took up most of one wall and overlook the city, letting her thoughts drift as she waited for Eli.
Eli left messages for the men he’d been talking to about Isobel’s disappearance, and he didn’t make any stops before getting into his car and driving toward the direction he’d given her. He’d been able to hear her confusion in her voice, the fact that she didn’t have answers. Isobel tended to tell him things unequivocally. She voiced her opinions passionately and loudly, and she was not one for subterfuge. The fact that she had not immediately offered information meant, in his opinion, that she had none to give. That was worrisome. He wondered if it was a result of the experimentation, of the testing. He wondered if she could be trusted when she returned. He had no way of knowing, and enough experience with Creations crime to know it was a true risk, her being returned. He’d tried not to let that slip into his voice when he discussed it with her, not wanting to frighten her further.
First, he would bring her home. Then he would worry about the rest.
The hotel was unknown to him, but he found it easily enough, and he only hesitated a moment at her door before knocking.
The knock at the door came far too soon, Isobel thought, pulling her out of her thoughts, whisking her back to this uncertain present. Turning, she looked at the door, wondering if she simply ignored it, would he just go home? The little world she had settled in here was comfortable, and Isobel thought it wouldn’t be bad to simply stay.
But it was Eli. She couldn’t ignore Eli, so moments after the initial knock, the lock was released and the door pulled open slowly, peeking out the crack she created. Once she was sure that it was Eli and not some other strange person come tapping at her door, Isobel pulled it further open, head ducked, eyes on the ground, silently inviting him in.
He grabbed her to him, wrapping her in a hug without thought or hesitation. He wanted to shake her, but he didn’t. He managed to control the desire, but only just, and he wrapped one arm around her back and the other behind her head. “Did they harm you?” he asked, forgetting that she seemed to have no memory of whatever happened.
The hug took her by surprise, her eyes widening as she was pulled in close, eventually relaxing, not fighting the hug as she let her head come to a rest against his shoulder. The hug was slowly returned, arms coming up around his shoulders, and she let out a breath, fighting to keep herself under some semblance of control. “They?” Her brow furrowed down then, fingers curling just a bit in his shirtsleeve.
“Who are you talking about? I don’t think anyone hurt me.” A pause. “At least... that I can remember. I don’t think I remember it well, though. Everything in my head feels...” Isobel shook her head before closing her eyes tightly, trying to shake off the tension, the anxiety. “Torn up. It feels torn up.”
He didn’t know if she’d experienced memories or feelings, but it wasn’t like him to hold back information. “There was a memory phenomenon recently. I believe you were being held in a laboratory for experimentation, perhaps with another man. You have no memory of that whatsoever?” he asked plainly, pulling back just enough to see her face.
Whatever she had been imagining Eli would say, the words that tumbled out of his mouth were not what she had expected. The little bit of colour that had resided in her cheeks drained away as she slowly shook her head, and the fact that what he said so grossly contrasted with her fractured memories... The thought made her ill. “I thought I was in Hawaii,” Isobel squeaked out, gripping his arm tighter, her breath coming faster. “That’s... that’s what I remember. Hawaii... I think I’m going to be sick...” She swayed, and it was only her grip on Eli’s arms that kept her upright.
“Sit down,” he said, even as he walked her backward toward he bed and guided her until she was sitting on the edge. He crouched in front of her, then, looking up at her face with a worried look. “You truly remember nothing? Where were you in Hawaii? We can verify. Perhaps I’m mistaken,” he said, though he knew he wasn’t.
The moment the bed hit the back of her knees, Isobel was sitting, that heady feeling of lightheadedness starting to ease bit by careful bit. “I don’t... remember what happened. It’s...” Isobel trailed off with a shake of her head, pressing the heel of one hand against her eye, rubbing. “I remember Hawaii. With a guy. And then he brought me here. And that’s it.” Pulling her hand back, she looked down towards Eli, seeking his gaze and holding it.
“It’s kind of odd to be dropped off in a hotel without any luggage, isn’t it? Not... even your purse?” She tried to laugh at it, but that had been something that was bothering her.
He sighed, and he looked up at her a moment longer, feeling a world of responsibility for this girl on his shoulders. In the end, he stood and sat beside her, his arm stretching across her to hold one of her hands in his own. “I went to your apartment when you didn’t return,” he explained. “And I saw a memory of the room. You were speaking to someone named Gwen, and I believe she asked you to come somewhere. And then a man came, and he took you. That doesn’t sound like a vacation to Hawaii, Iso.”
For a long while, Isobel said nothing, trying to rationalize Eli’s explanation with her own memories and ideas, and the two were not meshing in the slightest. “I know Gwen. But I don’t remember talking to her or her... asking me anywhere. She just came to my apartment once. She asked me to help her, but that was a while ago.” Slowly, she let out a breath, giving Eli’s hand a squeeze. “It doesn’t sound like Hawaii. I don’t look like I’ve been to Hawaii.” She stretched her other hand out in front of her, all pale skin, not sun-kissed like someone who’d been laying on a beach.
“No,” he agreed, because she didn’t. He cleared his voice, then, and pulled her against his side. “There are men searching for whoever did this. In the meantime, you should remain with me. It is safer, Iso. You may have the bedroom. The couch is quite roomy when it opens out.”
She allowed herself to be pulled against his side, dropping her head to rest against his shoulder, her eyes falling shut. “I don’t want to impose on you, Eli. I have my own place. Just a couple floors away from yours.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” Eli said. “We can argue about it until I win, or you can simply agree that, for the time being, it is for the best.” He ran a hand over her back soothingly. “We’ll drive each other mad, but it will be well worth it. Especially as we’ve no notion if this will happen again. I would say Finnegan could remain with you, but he is in prison.” Said as if it was something entirely common, being in prison.
Isobel let out a sigh then, nodding her head and bypassing the inevitable argument that would come. They were both stubborn, but he was right; Eli would win this bout. And she simply didn’t have the energy to banter on right then. “Fine. But I’ll take the couch. And I’m not taking no for an answer,” she said, echoing his words as she released the breath she had been holding, just starting to relax against his side when his next words came.
“Ray’s in prison??” Isobel sat straight up then, half-turning where she sat to look at him, the tension creeping right back over her.
“You’re taking the bedroom. I have a very close friend that lives next door. I spend quite a bit of time there anyway,” he said, leaving it as vague as he could manage, while letting her know that she really wouldn’t be causing much trouble at all. When she asked about Ray, he sighed. “For robbery. He called me from prison. He’s quite sorry he was there, and unable to help you, but I don’t think a thief is a very good choice, Iso.”
She wanted to argue a bit more, but something told her to just let things be for now. It’d be nice not to be alone, anyways. As the news of Ray went on, Isobel found herself shaking her head. “He told me that he came to Humanity to keep straight, that... he left that behind in Musings.” She gave one sharp pull of her hair before her hand fell to her lap.
“Anyways. I shouldn’t care. We broke up. So...” Isobel trailed off, growing silent for a long while, leaning back against her cousin, head on his shoulder. “You going to let me go back to work? If I even still have a job after upping and disappearing for... how long? I don’t even know how long I was really gone.”
“You may work, yes,” Eli said, because he didn’t want to force her into a prison. “But we shall be careful, Isobel, at least for the present. As for Finnegan, if he gets out of jail, I shall personally guilt him into walking you to and from your place of work.” He would have liked to keep her somewhere safer, but he had no means to, and he would certainly use Finnegan to ensure her safety, if he could. “And we are actively seeking whoever did this. Gwen is missing also.”
She gave a nod of her head, not wanting to fight with his precautions because, in a way, she could understand where he was coming from. There was no inclination to go off and do anything stupid (for once). When the news that Gwen was missing as well, Isobel slumped just a little, feeling her stomach bottom out. “Even her.” There was a pause and she looked up towards Eli. “The world feels like it’s going out of control, and for once, I just want to settle back in a corner and just try to weather the storm.”
“We can sit here as long as you like,” he told her reassuringly. “And then we’ll go home.”