Elliot "actual disney princess" Craig (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fiddlestick) wrote2018-09-01 06:55 am
fiddlestick) wrote2018-09-01 06:55 amIC Contact
Elliot Craig
[MUFFLED VIOLIN MUSIC IN THE DISTANCE]
VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION
fiddlestick) wrote2018-09-01 06:55 am
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[He'd normally be up that early to go for a run, but like. Not in this? He's sane-ish.
Rean's got a bit of cream and sugar in his own, but nowhere near enough to match Elliot's. Still, no judgement here. Live your best life, Elliot. Rean will just be blowing on his much more bitter coffee and taking a sip of it.]
But... yeah. [He sighs, glancing out of a nearby window.] It's Crow. I've been talking with him a little the past few days. He's been messaging me the whole time I've been "gone." But he didn't yesterday, and I guess I got worried, so I reacted out to him. Asked if he'd had a good day, just keeping it casual like it has been.
He said he'd had better, then suddenly apologized to me "for everything" and just. Didn't answer me after that.
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[Because that'd be weird and crazy. It just happened today their mutual crazy worked out.
And....ah. this conversation again. The one that kept him up all night. For a moment, Elliot closes his eyes and lets out a sigh, a very tired sigh. Dangit Crow. Why did you do this? ]
Crow... [YOU DUMB BIRD]
Y-Yeah, my lack of sleep has something to do with that too ... [Except from his tone, it's clear he knows Much More than Rean does about what happened.]
How much do you remember about Crow in our other life?
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...Enough that I'm pretty sure I know what he was apologizing for. That's a part of what I wanted to tell you.
[He sighs, closing his eyes as he continues.]
One of the first memories I got back was of Crow in that blue robot, telling me I never had any hope of beating him before knocking me flat. And I tried for months to tell myself it wasn't Crow I'd heard, but...
Then the other things started to click into place. Him wielding that same double saber, the way he sounded back in January when his app went crazy. And even before he remembered Ordine for himself, I remembered some other things – meeting up with him apart from the rest of you, me yelling at him and actually being angry and hurt. Him joking about how if I "joined him," he'd have less work. Me asking him to tell me what drove him to do what he did. But I still don't remember entirely what that was.
[He meets Elliot's gaze, now, serious. But for once, he doesn't look fearful or sad – that fire is back in his eyes, the one that flares up when he's taking action and intends to do something about this.]
From the way you're talking, I'm guessing that he does, and he talked to you about it.
I want to know.
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Different memories than his own, but they all fit into place. Like a puzzle that revealed an unpleasant image that neither wanted to see.
But Elliot knew he couldn't run from reality. Not any longer. This conversation was going to come sooner or later, some part of him already knew that.
He couldn't screw it up like he did with Rean's power.]
The...The other Crow...he was a terrorist. He went by "C" and led a group called the Imperial Liberation Front. They wanted to kill some politician....Chancellor Osborne? I don't know why, but they were willing to go to some drastic lengths to do it. Bad enough that somehow it even...kicked off the civil war.
He did all this while he was in Class VII with us, with none of us knowing.
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...I remember him. We met up with him after helping out in Heimdallr, right?
Admittedly, I don't remember a lot. Just that we met him, that he mentioned there were "turbulent times" in our future... and that being around him made my chest hurt like it did before that thing took over.
[He shakes his head.]
Not that any of that really matters right now, though.
He talked to you about all that?
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Yeah, I remember that too. I remember finding him pretty intimidating but I'm easily intimidated so that's not important. [He gives a worried bite of his lip] Your chest hurting sure isn't a good sign though...
[Still, Rean's right. None of that matters. ]
He did. He wanted to know how much I remembered...guess he finally put enough pieces together himself.
[He pulls his phone out of his pocket]
You can read the messages if you want. Might be easier than me trying to recap while sleep deprived.
1/2
Yeah. Might as well actually get at your pancakes, too, before they get cold. Thanks.
[He reaches out to take the phone, eyes falling on those messages. He could scroll up to see the ones about himself, but he honestly doesn't have it in him to care about those.
He reads through the conversation slowly, alternating between sips of coffee and biting at his lower lip. His brows knit together, and while there's a definite sadness that settles in his eyes, that fire never dies out.
He was missing an illusion, Elliot. A mirage.
Like hell.
My past self hesitated
Rean asked him if it was all a lie, and he hesitated
That makes more sense with the Crow he remembers from afterward, the one in the dark coat, the one who made him lunch and asked him about girls to try to throw him off of serious topics, who fought alongside him at the end, who...]
2/2
...Idiot.
[He hands the phone back.]
He can't really believe that, can he? That it was all a lie.
[Rean sure as hell doesn't, and it's obvious in his voice.]
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Elliot will heed Rean's advice and start digging into the pancakes while Rean reads. Or rather, he forces himself to dig in because there is a temptation to just watch nervously as Rean reads, and he rather distract himself. so by the time he hands the phone back, Elliot's half through with the pancakes and swallowing.
Right good. Food has been taken in. Will survive.]
I don't know. I think he's reeling right now, I've seen it happen before. Someone realizes their past self did bad things and...it colors everything.
Point is, he's not playing with a full deck even if he thinks he is.
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But yes, good. Continue to survive, small squishy mage, your friends need you. After all, you're the lone bastion of sanity.]
...heh. Euphemism he'd use. [It's not a real laugh or smile, it's too bitter for that, but.] He really did get under our skin, huh?
[And that's too fond to be anything but loving.]
It makes sense, though. I mean, I've been reeling myself for the past week.
[A pause, then he bites at his lip again before sighing. He needs to just be out with it to Elliot, as well. He's seen the texts, so he knows: Elliot and Crow both know already. It's just a matter of confirmation, now.]
...It... wasn't all because of whatever that power is. I remembered something, just before it took over.
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...Yeah, he did. Both of you have.
[It was only a few months ago that he wasn't sure if he wanted to meet anyone from his memories. But now...he didn't want to think of having a life without Crow and Rean around in some capacity. They'd entrenched themselves too deeply into his life.]
Mm, case in point. [no denying what Rean did, but Rean talking about what happens catches his attention]
What was it?
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Here goes.]
When Raina attacked Crow, I didn't even see her. I saw another robot, like the ones Crow and I had, but in red.
It stabbed its tail into the ground as Crow, in Ordine, was running towards it to clear a path for me. Then the tail came out of the ground right in front of him, and...
[Unconsciously, he brings a hand up over his heart to mime the spot.]
Right through Ordine.
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So...So t-that's how he got that scar...
[Elliot looks down at the table for a moment, processing it all. Part of him had known since he saw Crow's scar that he'd meet his end somehow. You don't really...walk away with a scar like that. But to hear how it happened is...it's surreal...almost like it's hard to believe it happened.
It also doesn't escape his notice that it happened when he was fighting with Rean. On the same side.
But he'll get to that in a moment. Rean first.]
So...that memory showed up, and you panicked because Crow was in danger again...and that's what set that power off.
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All I remember thinking was "not again."
...I remembered a little more of it later, on my own. I called out to him, and he said he was "fine," that it "barely scratched him."
[He manages a weak smile.]
I wanted to believe it, then, but... even if I hadn't already known deep down in this life, I guess that scar of his proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt, huh?
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[Rean manages a smile, but Elliot doesn't. He looks incredibly sad. Even if he knows all of them had to die somehow in order for their current selves to exist, it's still never easy to hear about any of their deaths. ]
But...it also prove he did care. If he was clearing a path for you, that means he was fighting on our side, right?
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...There are other things that I remember, even from when I remember being angry with him.
He'd come into the room I was staying in because he knew I'd be overthinking my options. He was kind of an ass about it, teasing me about it, but... I think that was just him trying to hide that he was worried, looking back. Still trying to act like the "bad guy."
...he brought me lunch, on that airship. Made it himself, even, even though we had the Noble Alliance's chefs at our disposal.
I remember him chewing me out for almost getting caught up in an explosion, trying to put on that same cold voice like he didn't care even while he was telling me to my face he did.
And I know he was with us at the end. I don't know how we got there, but it doesn't seem nearly as important.
[He shakes his head.]
If anything was a lie, it was him telling us he didn't care. I'm sure of that.
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But no, hearing this? Causes him to relax some. Yeah...his other self was right. Rean's memories prove it. The Crow he knew, the one he missed- he was real. He wasn't a mirage.]
That...all sounds like Crow, alright. He likes to play it cool, but he cares a lot.
I don't know what drove him to become a terrorist, but I get the feeling he didn't join just to cause misery.
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Helpful, I know.
[Another bitter little smile as he finally starts unwrapping his (poor, cold) McMuffin.]
It's funny, in a way. He talked about it then the same way he does about himself now.
"Just your run-of-the-mill sob story."
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[Yes good, eat Rean.]
That's...way more humble than you'd think a terrorist would be. What a weird guy.
You should tell him all this.
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[Rean, that's gay. He takes a bite, chewing and swallowing before responding.]
I'm planning to. I just wanted to talk through things with you, first. I figured you might have some information to fill in some of the holes I have... and besides, I at least talked to him a little. I haven't talked with you in a week.
[...A guilty smile.]
I'm still sorry about that, by the way. I said I'd apologize in person, so.
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[Yeah that's gay, but also very cute so he'll let it pass]
Oh, you...you don't have to apologize. [he pushes a lock of his hair behind his ear] You were pretty freaked out by what happened.
I-I mean, Eren...did the same thing when he first turned into a titan, so... I get it.
[...]
Though okay, leaving the group chat was a little dramatic.
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...h-hey. I just wanted it to be quiet for a little bit, okay? I was always planning on coming back.
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[THOSE ARE THINGS YOU CAN DO REAN]
Just saying, we both got pretty anxious when you left, that's all. It's a good thing Eren contacted us when he did, or who knows what we would've done.
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[He looks a bit like a scolded puppy, but he deserves it.
In no small part because he wasn't planning on coming back before he spoke with Eren at all.]I'm sorry. Ideally, there won't be a next time, but if there is, I'll be sure to do that instead.
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[He'll reach over and pat Rean on the shoulder, comfortingly. It's okay scolded puppy, he still loves you. ]
Yeah, I hope there isn't a next time. Though, if Crow is having a time of it right now, maybe it'll be my turn next to have some nasty surprise come up from the past life?
[He says this as a joke, honestly. Because uh yeah. He's got enough memories to know he's just a music nerd]
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