WHO: Sloan Ryan & Elisa Ryan @elisasryan
WHEN: 7/20
WHERE: Elisa’s Dorm Room
WHAT: The two catch up and hang out.
WARNINGS: None.
Okay, so as Sloan had pointed out, it hadn't been that long since they'd been able to hang out. But Elisa had meant what she said, that it felt like a long time all the same. She'd missed them a lot, and needed some quiet time where she could rest her head on Sloan's shoulder for a while. Fortunately with dinner finished and her room cleaned up as much as possible, she was ready for a visit. The blankets on her bed, as well as her pillows, had been artfully arranged to resemble her room at home, and she eagerly awaited her sibling's arrival. When the knock sounded on the door of room 203, she bounced to her feet and ran to open the door for Sloan. Her hands moved in rapid-fire signs. Hi! Come in, come in! Elisa stepped back to allow them inside, closing the door behind them and gesturing towards her room. The smile on her face was huge, genuine, and not going anywhere anytime soon.
After dinner Sloan had gone for a walk, earbuds in their ears playing their personal playlist put together to help keep them grounded in front. The air felt good and they took their time circling around the campus as they'd been doing to help get more familiar with it. By the time Sloan had gotten back to the dorms, heading up the stairs two by two with their hands in their pockets, the jittery buzz they got from being around all their siblings at once had all but subsided. Then the door swung open nearly seconds after Sloan had knocked on it and the rest of it was snuffed out by Elisa's huge smile and rushed silent greeting. “Hey.” They supplied themselves, pulling a hand from their jeans to pat at their sister’s arm in greeting of their own. Sloan followed Elisa further in. “Wow… you got yourself a lot of pillows now.” With the extra ones supplied and probably the missing ones retrieved, it was impressive.
There were three kinds of people when it came to her silence, Elisa had found over her lifetime. The people who tried to change it, the people who got it but weren't happy about it, and the people who really understood it. Fortunately for her Sloan had always been one of the later. It was true of most of their alters as well, other than Simon - and really, no one got along with Simon. Being silent in a house full of noise and chaos like the Ryan's was had not only been good for Elisa but provided a quiet oasis for their sibling as well. Just like home, she smiled. A recreation of the space she spent so much time in, cocooned away from the world. Gesturing Sloan to sit down beside her, she plopped herself down among the pillows but quickly looked up and tugged at their sleeve when a thought struck her. Not many groceries yet. But there's soda in the fridge if you need a drink.
It was like home. If Sloan didn't pay close attention to the color of the walls or the difference in the furniture, it was exactly like their sisters room in Houston. Something was really settling about that. Like confirmation that Elisa could carry their aurora of quiet comfort anywhere. Sloan smiled and followed suit in getting on the bed among the pillows. Their attention pulled for a moment, Sloan shrugged a shoulder in reply and stretched out on their back among the soft nest Elisa had made. "I'm good." They said and turned their body in a bit more toward Elisa, to be closer and to to see her better incase she wanted to sign something to them. "But I'll grab some if I need it." Sloan took a glance around, now that their focus wasn't fully on the piles of pillows. "Did you get all unpacked with your new bag and everything?"
It felt silly to be emotional over something as simple as having Sloan there in her nest of pillows, but Elisa found she was a little bit, all the same. Florida was a new experience, and even something simple that could help ground her was very much appreciated. Each thing that her sibling did seemed perfectly suited, up to and including the way that they turned just a little so her signs would be visible. I'm okay too, she promised. What Elisa wanted and needed more than anything was just to be there in that moment. I got almost everything put away - just need to find a place for my stuffies. And my shower gel got squished in my bag, so I need to get some more. Elisa smiled ruefully, remembering whose advice it had been to put her toiletries in a plastic bag in case of that exact thing happening.
Sloan's brow furrowed, they had caught all of that except one phrase. What squished? They asked by raising their hand and gave the signs for both words. Sloan wasn't as good at keeping up with Elisa's signing than they were at understanding it but they'd all learned to sign to some degree. It wasn't until after AV had an accident with their hearing and he'd pulled them all into it that they'd realized how useful it was for communicating with Elisa. Who honestly, for someone who didn't speak that often, did always have something to say. "I don't know what that one was."
Elisa took a breath, wanting to slow herself down and glad that Sloan had stopped her to ask. She smiled, reassuring Sloan that it wasn't a big deal. Shower gel, she signed more slowly, waiting to see whether it would help or if she was just using a sign that Sloan didn't recognize. Even as she waited though, she was grateful that Sloan - that all of her siblings - had been willing to embrace signing. Without it, her silence had been a much greater obstacle for all of them whether they admitted it or not.
"Shower gel." Sloan said, getting in. They laughed. "I must have blinked too slow." A joke they used on Elisa all the time when they missed what their sister had been trying to get across to them. "That sucks," They said, though they were still smiling. "was it separate from your other things though?" The winning question. That made more sense, that their soap had spilled rather than Elisa had forgotten it or didn't bring any. They had wondered when she had asked about it in the nearly always moving sibling chat.
No matter how many times she heard the joke, Elisa laughed silently all the same. It felt good to have a sort of inside joke with Sloan, something no one else was privy to but herself and them. Just like you told me, she promised. In a bag. So it didn't wreck any of my other things. Sloan's advice stuck in her head easily, while Sierra's could be too protective even for Elisa to follow. I'm so glad you're here.
Sloan grinned and held out their closed hand for a fist bump. "Cool." Is all they said with a solid nod. They relaxed, sighing "I'm glad too, and everyone else." It'd already been a crazy few days as all their siblings began to trickle in one after the other. Sloan wrinkled their nose, and pushed their fingers through their hair as a grounding motion. "But you know how it is, with everyone all together..." Different siblings triggered different alters. It wasn't technically a bad thing but Sloan hadn't been the only one happy to see some siblings and their excitement had pushed Sloan out repeatedly. "We've been busy." They added by way of explanation.
Elisa's giggle was barely audible huff of air, but it was more noise than she usually made - the fist bump was something simple, but it made her happy. Sloan's behaviors had been something she'd learned over the years, and while she hadn't known what it all meant at first she'd been able to at least know when she was dealing with who she'd first labelled in her head as Sloan Regular and when it was someone else. You're doing okay, though? Elisa reached out gently, brushing some hair back from Sloan's forehead. Not too overwhelmed? We can just sit here, if you want, and you can have some quiet time.
The gentle gesture made Sloan shift a bit closer, pillows sliding around a bit as they rolled over them and adjusted. "Yeah, everything's good." They gave a nod, leaned up on their elbow with their hands folded together. "A lot of change ya know." Sloan seemed to be closely inspecting their cuticles for a moment, not really looking up at Elisa. They didn't really want to tell them about the strip club and Simon, or the hour before the beach they'd apparently lost to a little. Not because Sloan felt badly for it or about it, they just didn't want to cause any worry. And for themself, they didn't want to acknowledge their anxiety over the potential for spinning out of control again. Sloan smiled, raising their gaze. "But that sounds good anyway. Don't gotta twist your arm for it I bet."
It was difficult not to see that Sloan was being a bit evasive. But the thing was, in Elisa's mind, that was okay. They didn't always talk through things. Lots of times at home, her room had become an unofficial sanctuary, where talking wasn't necessary, and she wanted her dorm room to become the same kind of place. I do. It's going to be a lot for us all. It would affect Sloan differently than it affected her, but all of their siblings were likely to find the change jarring in some way or another. Grinning, she lifted her arm towards Sloan and wrapped her other hand around it, pretending to twist. You don't at all, but consider it twisted. Come curl up with me, please.
Sloan pressed their lips together to keep from smiling too big at Elisa's silly antics, or at the immediate invitation to cuddle up close. They agreed without hesitation, laying on their back beside their sister, with their head resting on her arm and hand finding its way into hers. "Do you think Dad is worried about all of us being here at the same time?" They asked, a thought that had been circling their mind as of late. To their Father's repeated distain his children had a way of creating ruckus wherever they teamed up. Though they were adults now, it'd been a very long time since they'd gotten together as frequently as it looked like they were going to be. "Or do you think he's just glad we're out of the house?"
The moment that Sloan was pressed up against her, head resting in its usual spot, Elisa felt her worries disappear. They always made her feel better with their presence, and it was good to know that being in Florida hadn't changed that in the least. In answer to their question she held a finger up, reaching for her bedside table and coming back with her phone. She unlocked it with her thumbprint and turned the screen toward Sloan. It was filled with text messages from their Father, all along the same general theme. Keep me updated If you need to leave just text me and you can be home in a few hours If it's too much... If everyone is too much for you..." Setting it down, she gently took her hand back for a moment to sign. I think he might be a little worried. In his own way.
Leaning up to see the phone better Sloan read the words off the screen, then turned their focus back to Elisa so she could finish her thought. They observed her a few quiet moments, and then "You are doing okay, right?" Sloan knew it'd only been a few days but if Elisa was expecting a less than full campus for the summer semester like they had, she would have unpleasantly surprised to find it to be very busy. "I don't..." They paused, considering their words "I don't want to baby you or anything." Sloan shook their head and squeezed Elisa's hand. "But if it does get too much, you'll let one of us help?" As good as their dad's concerned intention might be, the last thing Sloan thought would be good for Elisa was if she went home on her own just as quickly as she'd arrived.
Sloan's question didn't have an easy answer, which was part of why she hadn't quite figured out how to answer their dad's concerned messages either. I'm not going to lie to you, she finally signed. I never do. It worries me to be around this many people. Especially people who don't know me, people who might not sign at all, wondering if I'll have trouble with teachers or in town. Elisa took a soft breath. But I want to be here. With all of you. And if it's too much, I promise I'll ask. Because you've never babied me, but you've always been there.
Sloan listened—or more accurately, watched as Elisa got out what she needed to. Then moved so they were laying practically across their sister, with their head on a pile of pillows. “Good because we ain’t above babying you if we gotta.” They said, poking lightly at Elisa’s side and taking her hand again. “We want you here too. I don’t think…I don’t think I could be doing any of this alone so, it’s cool that we have each others backs. Like always.”
Elisa cuddled as close as humanly possible, glad to surrender her hand to Sloan and not have to communicate any further. She laughed a silent laugh and squirmed when she was poked in the side, nodding to indicate she'd heard. The little vulnerability in her sibling's voice made Elisa tighten her arm around them a little in support.
Sloan gave Elisa a knowing half smile in response to the tightening of her hold on them but they only shrugged, settling further into the comfortable position. They all had a habit of turning into a pile like puppies half the time and Sloan was relaxed enough that they knew if they closed their eyes they were no doubt falling asleep. They blinked slowly at Elisa a few times, watching for if she had something else to say and then easily drifted to sleep laying half on lumpy stacked pillows and half on their sister.