InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "le sigh"

_eliot_spencer (_eliot_spencer) wrote in omega_reality,
@ 2011-10-22 08:36:00

Entry tags:

*complete, 2011 10, character: eliot spencer, character: savannah monroe

RP: Eliot/Savannah
Who: Eliot/Savannah
Where: Email, Eliot's
When: Saturday, October 22
Summary: Eliot is oddly desperate for some Savannah company. He really must be going insane.

Eliot was fully moved in with Parker and the flat set up with preciseness down to the last spoon. He'd spent Friday night labeling the stock food and cleaning supplies in the kitchen with his braille label maker, with Parker's help. Then, he let her use the label maker she'd been fascinated with to label anything she'd like outside of the kitchen and wouldn't be surprised if today he found labels on everything.

It was early yet, before six, and he had his laptop in the kitchen with him tuned to National Public Radio as he poured a bowl of cereal for himself. When he went to get the milk from the fridge, his fingers brushed over the chocolate he'd put beside it the night before as a reminder that he needed to use it before it went bad.

He was moving to the laptop immediately, set the milk aside, and opened the email program with a few strokes of the braille labeled-keys. The screen reader over-rode the news, telling him what he was doing as he did it. With every stoke of the spacebar, the word he'd typed was read aloud to him, including punctuation.

To: Savannah
From: Eliot
Subject: Chocolate promise

I'm baking and I seem to recall a promise of help. If you want, come over anytime today. I'm in 1C now.

Eliot sent off the email, with the self-admittance that he wanted to see Savannah today. Her polar-opposite nature and view of things may put a balm on the jagged wound of failure Nate's death had caused.

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 04:00 pm UTC (link)

Savannah heard the buzz of the phone. With a groan, she reached on the night stand where it was next to her gun and grabbed it, in case it was something important. It wasn't, at least not important enough to make her get up at this ungodly hours.

To: Eliot
From: Savannah
Subject: Chocolate Promise

Be there when I'm awake

With that, she went back to sleep. When she finally woke up, hours later, she sent a message to John to let him know that she'd be helping Eliot with something but that he could come over for lunch or any time after that. With that out of the way, she went to see Eliot.

Even at ten, the air was cool, down in the low 50s. She actually like this temperature. She had noticed that she was always warm, and she didn't think that it had to do with her power.

She didn't have to go far, smiling at Eliot's direction. Not that she didn't know where she was going anyway. When she got there, she rang the bell and waited for him to open the door. "Good morning, darling," she said, hugging him. "Next time you give someone an address, you might want to include the building number, although there's no way I wouldn't remember where you live," she said, laughing. "Now, what are we making?" she asked as she took her jacket off and put it down on top of a chair.

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_eliot_spencer
2011-10-22 04:28 pm UTC (link)

Eliot had googled three recipes and had lined up all the ingredients and utensils needed on the counter after Savannah had verified coming over. The laptop remained on the kitchen counter, and he padded barefooted over to it sans cane. He could get around the flat without much trouble if everything was in its place by counting steps. He liked to go barefoot, too, as it gave him an additional sense of his location by feel.

"Sorry, forgot about the building thing," Eliot said, hair pulled back with a tie. His sunglasses were, as always, perched on his nose, and he ran his fingers over the keyboard until they'd settled naturally on the correct keys. "Cake, brownies, or cookies? There's ingredients here for all three." He tilted his head in the direction of the prep counter.

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 04:33 pm UTC (link)

Savannah laughed. "It's all right, Eliot. I know where you live and if I didn't, I have the email," she reassured him, putting a hand on his back as she spoke.

She stared at the ingredients, thinking. "Mmmm, we've had plenty of cakes lately. I think brownies should do nicely." She looked up at him, smiling, but not for long. "Why do you keep the glasses on? I mean I get it when you're walking around the streets, we don't want the soldiers to know, but inside, aren't they a bother?"

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_eliot_spencer
2011-10-22 04:55 pm UTC (link)

The screen reader spoke as he alt-tabbed his internet pages until reaching the brownies screen. "I only take them off when I'm in my room, or when Parker steals them. Otherwise, I don't want to surprise anyone with my eyes."

Eliot glanced over at Savannah and the baby. Guilt, anger, and his own personal demons slammed into him again with regard to Nate, and his jaw tightened briefly as he buried the feelings down once more. "I usually do everything by hand, but since I have a willing accomplice, I'd say we brave the electric mixer." He moved in the direction of the lower cabinet where it was placed, using touch more over x-ray sight. "Have you made brownies before?"

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 05:28 pm UTC (link)

"But why?" She understood what he did, it was the reason that escaped her. "You are who you are, and this is part of you know. It doesn't seem right that you need to cover them because of people's sensibilities. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's very nice of you, but you shouldn't have to."

Savannah gasped. "Electric mixer, what kind of Southerner are you?" After a heart beat, she chuckled. "We can do it by hand if you prefer them or with the mixer, I don't care."

At the question, she put her hands on her hips and stared at him. "What kind of question is that? Can you imagine me not making brownies? Of course I have."

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_eliot_spencer
2011-10-22 05:38 pm UTC (link)

Eliot chuckled and left the mixer in the cabinet. "A Southerner who knows things taste better from scratch," he said, straightening. "All of my culinary classes were by hand, too. It's more satisfying that way."

He crossed the kitchen again to the counter where the ingrediets were set out. "Has Callen or Hanna told you what happened to my eyes?" Eliot asked. He'd thought they'd been keeping it a general secret to stave off questions that might reach the wrong ears. Yeah, people knew he was blind, but save for those who'd been there, Vance, and probably Hetty, he hadn't said anything about the state of his eyes.

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 05:43 pm UTC (link)

"Good, then we do it by hand. If I can raise a cheerleader over my head, I can whisk a few eggs," she said, giggling. "We'll leave the mixer for the weaklings, and I agree. The only good food is the one you make, none of those by the jar stuff."

Savannah nodded. "I know what happened. You'll find that there's little that happens that I don't know. I also know what to share and don't share, and while I understand not sharing what happened with the Army, I think people in the team should know. It's one thing if you're doing it because you prefer it that way, but I don't think you should do it because of other people," she said as she got closer to the counter. "Okay so, how do you want to do this? I can just stand here and help if you want the practice. I'll intervene when there's a problem, unless this was really an excuse to make me do the work," she joked.

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_eliot_spencer
2011-10-22 06:08 pm UTC (link)

"Knowing what happened and seeing it aren't the same," Eliot warned. "Even April's breath catches when I first take off my glasses at checkups, and she's seen me several times." Eliot understood what Savannah was saying, but why cause unnecessary discomfort?

"I thought we'd divide the tasks, since there's chocolate to melt and mixing stages. I'll let you preheat the oven, even though the knobs are marked now." Eliot had labeled everything, just as the blind blogs had suggested, even the stove dials. "Hit the tilde key on the laptop. It'll read the page aloud til you press the key again."

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 06:17 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, well, we're all freaks here. Some are more visible than others,' she said without passing judgement. "I think it's easier to accept it and accept each other, but maybe I'm wrong. People keep telling me that I'm not the normal one."

Savannah looked at the changed that had happened around the kitchen. She doubted Parker minded. "Parker doesn't cook, does she?" she asked as she opened the oven to make sure that there was nothing inside. She had so many trays that she left inside when not in use that she didn't want to risk it. "You're one resourceful man, aren't you? I like what you've done."

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_eliot_spencer
2011-10-22 06:39 pm UTC (link)

Eliot laughed at her comment. "No, you're not normal. You're Savannah. Be proud of it." He pointed in the direction of the hall bathroom. "The john's right over there, in case," he said before lowering his Oakleys, exposing his empty eye-sockets. He cocked his brow, waiting to see if she bolted to hurl.

"Parker eats a lot of cereal," he went on, as if nothing had occurred. He washed his hands at the kitchen sink. "I've been listening to the blind blogs and other websites about how to function solo. Neatness and labeling things is a must. Parker's probably gone label-happy after we finished in here last night. I haven't found anything yet, but I'd bet her room is now a fun place."

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 06:54 pm UTC (link)

"I guess so." She wasn't sure that other people meant it as a compliment. Some did; Marty certainly did, and maybe she should embrace it. Positive outcome only, it had always been her motto and she shouldn't stray. It always made her happy.

When he took the glasses off, she stared, refusing to look away. It was weird but then she could turn her arm into a metal shield. "The john? Oh the bathroom, no I'm fine... well not really fine, I pee every five minutes, not that it has anything to do with your glasses, more to do with hormones." She knew she was talking to cover her own discomfort and sighed. "It's not pretty, but you know something? You're alive and you're doing fine. Now, watching Peter's body in the morgue, that was hard." She reached out and squeezed his hand. "You don't have to put them on for me."

She smiled as he went on. "Parker is... Parker, isn't she? She's not normal either, but she sounds like fun."

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_eliot_spencer
2011-10-22 07:06 pm UTC (link)

Eliot hadn't realized he'd needed that comment from Savannah until she said it, because a doctor and Parker weren't exactly a yard stick to measure by when it came to reactions. "Thanks," he said with a smile, though he still nudged the glasses back into place.

"And yeah, Parker is Parker. There's no other way to describe her. I don't think I'll ever get used to her, but I wouldn't want her to be any other way than how she is. Just like you." Eliot got them going on the actual browning making as the talked. "People like her and I, it takes us a long time to trust and we'd managed to get to that point back home, along with Hardison, Sophie, and even Nate. Making friends, helping, protecting people, it's not the same as trusting someone."

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 07:24 pm UTC (link)

"You're welcome." She gave him time to put the glass back on, before hugging him again and kissing his cheek.

She helped with the brownies, although she was really more interested in seeing how well he could move in the kitchen, and he was impressive, for a man, let alone a blind one. "Me and Parker, huh?" She laughed, because they couldn't be more different, but she knew what Eliot meant.

"You know you're not that different than the rest. It takes them a long time to trust, too, and I think that's really the problem. It doesn't come natural to any of you," she said. "I know all the reasons why not trusting is important when you have some jobs, but it's still a sad way to live. You need to believe in people's good nature, otherwise there's no point in anything we do. When people do cruel things, I try to remind myself that it's what they did that is cruel and that they are really good underneath everything, because I don't see how anyone can be cruel for no reason." At least she hoped so, because she really wouldn't know how to act with Sean otherwise.

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_eliot_spencer
2011-10-22 07:48 pm UTC (link)

"Certain experiences can wipe the Darth Vader belief away completely." Eliot couldn't believe he'd just said that. He was going to kill Hardison for rubbing off on him. "But it's people like me who've done their damndest to make sure others can still believe."

Eliot continued on with his browning making. "This group that we're with are decent people for the most part stuck in a crappy situation that makes 'em unhappy. Your faith gives you more strength than most to deal with it. I almost envy it."

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savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 08:12 pm UTC (link)

Savannah bit her lip, trying not to laugh at the Darth Vader reference, and it took a minute before she could speak normally again. "I know, but it's a vicious circle. The more you help, the more you see the dark, the more you isolate yourself, which makes you see the dark even more. I know why people do it, I understand that it's easier to protect oneself this way, but I don't think it's healthy for anyone to live like that and if I can make people see a little light in this crazy life we have, then I'll do it. That's why those barbecues, those meetings are so important to me. It's not the food. It's making people see that there are others here willing to help."

She hummed as she thought. "Faith is a big part of it, yes. I really do believe that God has made people to be good, but I know religious people who see the bad in life. I never liked that. Positive Outcome Only, that's been my motto since I can remember. If you see the best in life, then you're happier, and yes when you get disappointed, it suck, because you're not preparing for the worse, but then you smile and start again."

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	_eliot_spencer 2011-10-22 09:42 pm UTC (link)
	"I think you're doing a great job at trying to make us an... 'Us'," Eliot told her. "Not that we all fit together well, or even want to, but your sunshine has a way of tanning people even when they're not looking." (Reply to this) (Parent)

savannah_monroe
2011-10-22 09:52 pm UTC (link)

Savannah stood there, almost frozen. Maybe, any other day, she'd have simply thanked him and moved on, but after the emails from yesterday, this meant so much more.

She threw her arms around him and this time she didn't let go quite as quickly. "Thank you so much. You don't know how much I needed to hear that." She took a deep breath as she wiped the tears with one hand. "And yes, I'm crying, but they are happy tears, and they weren't joking about those hormones. If it keeps going like this, I'll be crying for the next nine months."

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	_eliot_spencer 2011-10-22 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	Eliot was startled by the hug, even though he shouldn't be. It was Savannah, after all. "You're welcome, I guess. Not about making you cry, but you know..." Eliot trailed off with a shrug and a throat-clearing. "Brownies?" (Reply to this) (Parent)