Contessa says (deathiskind) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-10-31 20:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, elaine mallory, riddick |
Who: Elaine Mallory and Riddick
What: Off to Afghanistand
When: Evening, October
Where: On ze Plane!
Rating: it's them, so R? Actually this one is pretty tame!
Status: Complete.
Elaine sat in the first class section of the plane. She thumbed the potion she'd whipped together while waiting for take off. A faint circle had been drawn around her and Riddicks seats in chalk, but she knew at any moment the people behind them could accidentally rub it out and break it. Magic was just stupidly touchy.
She had backup plans prepared. Three rings on each hand, two sets of earrings and a bracelet all ready to absorb her magic. She had chalk at hand to redraw a circle..She was as prepared as could be. And Riddick was here. How could she be afraid?
She'd pulled strings to get him cleared to be her bodyguard. She'd refused to go without him. Elaine looked over at him and forced a smile. This man was nothing like she'd expected. She was glad he'd not given up on her. “I'm sorry for dragging you to the desert. I have to do this, but I'm beyond elated you are here.” A wicked, genuine smile curled her lips this time.
***
"Nice to have a reason to use my passport."
Riddick wasn't about to say he was glad she'd insisted on having him with her. It'd made things easier. He was a resourceful creature, but there were things in this world which weren't so easy to work around. His world was simpler even if it was more advanced. Who would have thought a primitive world would be harder to get around in than a more advanced one?
It helped Elaine had connections. She was more than met the eye---while he was more than happy with what met his eyes.
She was beauty incarnate to him.
Elaine was the world on fire to his strange, alien eyes.
Taking her hand in his, Riddick lightly ran his thumb over her rings, "Not such a bad thing to have you dressing up for the trip either. You look good in gold and silver and jewels."
~*~
The blush touched her cheeks high before the smile met her eyes. “Risky gold and silver. They're worth enough I'll be a target the moment we step off the plane. But I need them so it's a risk. “ she squeezed his hand gently, her rings hummed with power.
“If you think this is decked out I'll have to take you to India, I know a lady who loves to get her hand on me for festival times.” His Elaine was worried. She wasn't sure if her mind was ready to face this. They're going to be in the middle of it all once more.
The thought made her blood run cold. One round of torture and abuse was enough for her. She still bore physical scars. She lifted his hand and kissed his knuckles. “You'll protect me won't you?”
***
A part of Riddick wanted to growl at the question while the other part of him? The part which wasn't animal? That part knew Elaine was acting out of fear along with instincts of her own which was why he pushed down the urge to damn her for asking him if he'd protect her when he'd die for her. No one would ever hurt her as long as he was breathing to say something about it. Anything it took to keep her safe?
Riddick would do it.
Guaranteed.
"With my life," Riddick murmured, watching Elaine's lips on his hand, "I'll protect you with my life and we both know my one and only skill is survival."
~*~
She watched him through her lashes and sat up straighter. She closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath then let it out slowly. Too many things could go wrong and she'd been thinking about all of them.
Of course he'd keep her safe. What was she thinking? She kicked herself for letting the fear sink its claws in. He didn't need a woman who let fear take over. It wasn't like her anyways. But part of her brain just couldn't let it go.
She let a wry smile curl her lips upwards. “Oh, you have more skills than survival.” A hint of mischief in her voice, as she tried desperately to refocus. She wanted him here because he'd keep the physical danger away from her. It was up to her to beat down the mental demons.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I'm sorry, that was probably the stupidest question I could have asked.”
~*~
Riddick looked away from her -better than agreeing- as he let his head rest on the back of the seat. They were comfortable in first class. It was a long way from how Riddick was used to traveling. He liked the plane staff hadn't said anything to Elaine's requests to draw on their floor in chalk or mentioned his dark sunglasses. They'd probably seen all kinds of strange things from the people who could afford this kind of travel.
He'd taken the sunglasses where they'd been abandoned on a table at a cafe he also couldn't afford. The goggles which made him more comfortable were packed in his bag; it galled him to admit the sunglasses were safer for Elaine's image than the protective eye wear he usually wore in daylight. No one had ever made him want to do whatever was necessary to protect how they looked with him on their arm.
No one had ever made him want them the way the witch did either.
Elaine was the exception to all Riddick's rules.
"I don't mind. You can't help how you feel. Instinct. I understand instincts."
~*~
Elaine smirked a little - she didn’t mind the fact he didn’t say anything. She knew it was a stupid question to ask. She knew better. But that was alright, she was who she was and he was going to have to handle it. Even if she wanted to be better for him. He didn’t need a weakling. Not that she ever thought she really was a weakling, but she knew she had her moments.
She’d splurged on first class because she knew the last half of the trip wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable. Might as well reserve their energy for the hell that was going to be traveling further into Afghanistan. She never said a word when he’d plucked the glasses off a table, she would not have minded his goggles, but she left his discretion up to him. He could choose how he appeared, she was happy either way.
Elaine leaned over and dared to place a kiss upon his cheek once they were in the air. “But it is an irrational fear, I will eventually get over it.” she laughed softly as she leaned back and got comfortable. She tucked the potion away, she was going to get through this without needing it. “This is going to be an interesting trip, I am unsure of what we’ll run into.” she brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked over to him.
The flight was long, but she was certainly used to them, her usual worries about shorting out the plane didn’t manifest, everything was working just fine. It was a relief, she really didn’t want to be the cause of a plane crash, after all.
~*~
Making a sound of amusement, Riddick murmured to Elaine, "Trust yourself a little more, witchy woman. It's a long flight. You've survived worse."
He knew what her power could do. Elaine was his witch, but she was a witch. There were possibilities within her which no other woman he knew could lay claim to and she was dangerous. Riddick could suffer at her hands. Anyone could if she got out of control. The problem with a predator like Riddick was he didn't care if his mate was also a predator. He couldn't have settled for less. Elaine was perfect for him because she held the same violent potential within her he let loose from himself every chance he got.
Elaine chose not to be violent.
Didn't mean she was some clawless house cat.
"You are going to owe me. I hate deserts. Really fucking hate deserts. They're Hell on my eyes and remind me of the places I been tossed to rot in the past or the future. Depends on how you view these Dreams."
Riddick didn't know whether to consider what he learned of himself to be the life he'd already lived, the life he was living, or the life he was going to live eventually. All he knew was the Dreams were real. Nothing fake had changed him the way he'd been changed. It wasn't in his head. Riddick was a lot of things. Crazy wasn't one of them. No one was ever going to convince him otherwise either.
Riddick was not the type to be easily influenced in any way.
~*~
Elaine snickered a little bit as he murmured. “I trust myself enough, but not nearly as much as you do.” she said wryly. He had more faith in her than she had in herself. It was helpful for her, though, so it wasn’t a bad thing. She didn’t think of herself as a predator, but if she was asked to describe herself she would choose a force of nature. Destructive but fascinating.
She rolled her ankle and amused herself at it’s popping for a moment before she looked back up at him. He was infinitely more dangerous than she was in her eyes, but she knew in the corners of her soul that he’d never turn what made him dangerous on her. She wasn’t entirely sure she could say the same thing, her power could be unpredictable. She still didn’t have complete control. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.
But he took that risk willingly and it made Elaine feel special. No one had seen past her insecurities, her scars and her wounds and swept them aside so easily. She shifted in her seat before she smiled again. A little sheepishly this time. “If it helps a lot of our movements will be at night. Too hot to be out during the day hauling all my shit with me anyways.” she tilted her head at him. “Though, I know some will be in daylight, and for that I am sorry. I wonder if there is something I could do.” she chewed on her lip in thought. “Though, I wouldn’t want to risk what makes you you, maybe I could siphon off the harsher aspects.”
Her nails drummed on the arm rest, her mind turning to ways she could be more useful to him. How she could make this trip easier on him without taking anything away from him. It was an interesting train of thought.
~*~
It was Riddick's turn to take Elaine's hand in his, raise it to his lips to press a soft kiss on her fingertips. She was accommodating in a way which took nothing from him. Anyone else would have considered Riddick's situation to be a weakness. Elaine saw it only as a part of him to accept. She was kind without being condescending; for Riddick, it was hard for anyone to manage that about anyone or anything much less about himself to himself.
"Don't worry about me. I come how I come same as you. We have our strengths. Sometimes those come with weaknesses in hand. It's something to be worked around not pushed aside."
He couldn't run the risk of losing his grip on his abilities. Instinct drove Riddick to become a better predator. If he started pushing aside his abilities to be able to blend more with the humans? How could he ever trust himself to become what he was at heart? There was nothing wrong with being an animal. Some people had poor hearing. Riddick had bad day vision. He could work around it.
Elaine needed to focus on her work. It was a lot more important than whether or not he wound up with a headache. She was trying to put a face to the horrors of war. Riddick knew the face of war, all the faces of war, but he'd never tried to share it with anyone else except those who reveled in it the same as him. Peace was something Riddick wouldn't have been able to ask for or understand how to seek in his life.
His witch was a fucking far cry better than him when it came to being human.
"You worry about putting a face to this war. That's what's important. Your work. That's why we're going. Everything else? Details."
~*~
She watched him with a warm smile curling her lips. The sweet moments were the best - they were sparse, and rarely in public. That’s what made them sweet and perfect. She curled her fingers around his, shaking her head a little bit. “Of course I worry.” she shook off his concern with a shrug and a smile.
“We do have strengths and weaknesses, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try to be helpful.” she wanted him to be happy and without a migraine that sun brought with it. She fretted because it was better than worrying over her own safety. What if’s bounced around her brain like demented jumping beans, but she was trying to ignore them.
He wouldn’t let her get hurt again.
“At least they didn’t ask me to go to Syria, I don’t know if I could have handled that no matter how important my work is. Facing down Afghanistan again is going to be rough, but there is so much people don’t see. I just… this is important to me and I don’t think I can fail. Even if it’s hard.” she smiled faintly. “People need to see this, we’re too cozy in America, we’re too safe. Sure, we have our shit and goodness knows it needs to get fixed, but we did this to these people. We should be held accountable, not just sweep it under a rug.” she frowned softly.
~*~
"Never been to either place. Heard plenty about both. None of it good. Same can be said for me. There's plenty been said about me. None of it good. Except what you've had to say and that? That means you're very talented. You see what other people overlook. The eyes know more than people want sometimes. Making the world open its up to see its own hypocrisy? I'm always in for that party."
Ridick could fight with no problem, but fighting was limited in its scope. A one-man army was still only one man and the battle Elaine was fighting couldn't be won with fists or shivs. She was going to have to take glimpses of the travesty of human suffering, expose the heart and soul of the agony of war, and she was going to have to live through seeing it herself over and over and over again before showing only the worst of the worst to the world in an attempt to exact positive change.
Richard B Ridick had never exacted positive change in his unnatural born life. He was as out of place at her side in first class on a mission trip for peace as a nuclear warhead being stowed as a carry-on.
It was only Elaine who saw he was more than a monster who could take apart whatever came at him with his fists and shivs.
"You're going to make a difference because you know no one's safe. I'm here because you're the exception to all my rules and me? I'm the exception to yours: you're the only one safe on this planet when you're with me. I can't compete with your powers. I can be with you every step of the way to watchdog you to the end. Survival of the fittest I got down to a science."
~*~
Elaine was uniquely qualified for the role. She could face most suffering, photograph it, document it and feel the weight of sorrow and keep going. She'd only broken when she had been at the hands of monsters. It wasn't long, but she didn't have the same skill set as she did now.
She'd been beaten, abused, assaulted but she hadn't caved either. Not then, she only truly fell apart when she'd gotten back to the States and been ‘safe’. She was facing it now, because she knew she had to. Not everyone could face their fears and go on living. She refused to fall.
And certainly not in front of Riddick. Of all the men that had come and gone from her life, he was the only one she was determined to keep around. Only a woman who knew the worst humanity could do to her would bring the biggest, baddest monster with her.
She'd drag humanity kicking and screaming into the light. “You're the exception to every rule of mine. You make me feel important. I'll burn the world for you. Isn't that strange?”
But she was smiling.
~*~
Riddick had been a monster made in the coldest place in America. Alaska had been where they'd found him in this world. He had spent his whole life trying to find a way to get warm again. To him, it felt appropriate he'd found a fiery witch to be his mate. Elaine was the only one who'd ever made him feel warm down to the bone, down inside where the cold cruelty of his birth story could never been warmed up or thawed enough to let him feel anything except instincts.
"No. That's not strange. That's instinct. I understand instinct. You're my mate. I'm yours. That's as important as two people can get to be for each other."
The time was going to crawl if they kept talking. Elaine would only get more and more nervous the longer they talked on the flight. Riddick could feel her relaxing. That was what needed to happen. She lost control when she let her emotions get the better of her. Riddick could understand. Fear made people revert to their baser instincts. Even he could feel fear, but, when he did, everyone around him ought to start praying because it'd take the intervention of a god to save them from him.
"Now, I'm gonna flag down one of these nice flight attendants. Get you pillow and a blanket big enough for two. Then? We're going to sleep and wake up in war country. Nothing to it."
For Riddick, there wasn't.
War was the only life he knew. Elaine was lucky she was on his side. It was everyone else, everyone they were coming in on like Death on his pale horse, who needed to worry about what would happen when their plane landed. Elaine was on a mission of peace. Riddick was on the same mission he was always on: survival of the fittest.
He was the fittest and his mate would not be harmed.
Anyone coming at them had better know that or they would be schooled.
Guaranteed.