#int: eli

[benitoxherrera]

↦ closed starter  / eli deveaux @carmxchaels ↦ location: lake blackstone

Fishing poles weren't something Benny was frequently keeping on-hand, but he'd managed to borrow some from a friend so that he could meet up with Eli and Cece for a little bit of fun at Lake Blackstone. He was leaning against Penny as he waited for them to arrive, pulling his sunglasses off the second he spotted Eli's vehicle pull up. "There's my favorite girl," he crooned to Cece when she got out. He pulled a bouquet of flowers from his passenger seat and held them out to Cece as soon as they finished their hug. "I got these for the world's best big sister. Think you can make sure they don't get trampled by your dad and me, Princess?" Taking Cece's hand in his, he nodded a greeting to Eli. "How're you holding up, big guy? How's Laurel? I bet two babies at home is a ride."

[waveofstars]

@goxinsane​ 

It felt good to have a fresh start, to finally stay put in one place instead of getting shipped around like some packaged goods. Eli was finally settling on a place to call his home. It was far away from his family, and in a city where he truly felt like he could start this new chapter of his life. He spent the day unloading boxes into his apartment home, cursing at himself at how unprepared he was with it all. Of course every single box was unlabeled and unorganized. For a man who excelled in strategy and logic, he often had no patience to use those skills in his daily life. He tried to unpack, make the place look a little more like home, but he ultimately ran into bad luck instead. A sudden leak from his kitchen’s faucet caused water to come spraying out and soak him. Did he know which box contained his toolbox? No, of course not. Once again, another reason why he always seemed to be his own worst enemy. 

With little choice, he darted towards his neighbor’s door in search for some tools to fix the pesky leak. What a way to introduce himself... He knocked on the door and waited till someone answered. A woman, faintly familiar in the quick glance he gave. “Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m having a bit of a situation here...” But then Eli looked at the woman a bit more, and he realized he knew her. Visions of his earlier days in the Army swarmed his mind and he remembered one thing clearly - god this woman got on his last nerve. “You...” he stated incredulously, never mind the fact he was dripping water as his sink was overflowing. 

[waveofstars]

♬ - 12! (for Eli or any muse, actually, I want all the threads with you!)

all we do by oh wonder.

“I was thinking about what you said that one time,” he mused, cigarette between his lips. He inhaled and breathed out the smoke as he looked forward. “You know, about purgatory.” Eli looked at her and knew he was too lost in his head for his own good. He got like that on some nights, stuck between nightmares he couldn’t get out of it. Strange, considering the man could be bold and whole by the very next day. “I don’t think purgatory is just an airport. All of this feels like it, doesn’t it? Like we’re always stuck somewhere between.” He flicked some ashes away from him and shrugged. “I don’t know. Just feels like you can’t find paradise on the ground.”

[classysnake]

FTF

So, I thought it’d be mean to leave you out of all this fun so come get a strawberry.

Well, I didn't want to interrupt.

You guys were having a cute moment.

[marawitter]

(Mara's been quiet most of the day. A police station. Of course. It's probably fortified and safe, cleared out of any dangers, but there's still an unease in Mara's spine that comes from too many bad memories inside walls like these. Cheaper, dirtier, more poorly funded walls on the wrong side of town, but walls still that held handcuffs, lawyers, and assholes. And Mara can't decide between turning up her lips and wanting to get out, so she settles for the satisfaction of rummaging through some of the desks and drawers, until she's perched in an office with the bounty of handcuffs and a handful of candy bars, parsing through the latter and deciding which to eat first.)

[marawitter]

(Mara's still frustrated. Angry, annoyed, stubborn, something, but she feels like she's in a perpetually bad mood and has been ever since she and the boyfriend ended whatever bullshit they were trying. She isn't sure why she's stuck around into this new location, but at least it's safer while she's still learning the ropes of the new world. Which she's realizing more and more that she needs to do. Mara sighs, curls herself up in a corner in one of the exhibits that's already been looted, and digs out some of the old necklaces she had apparently made before the second end of it all. She floats one -- she's getting better at that, at least -- and then it dissolves. It's almost liquid in midair, silently breaking into particles under her will and streaming itself together, and she puts all her concentration into forming them into the shoddy shape of a knife.)

[marawitter]

(Mara's moved her bed. She and AJ had all of their things, wrapped together, belongings stuffed in each other's bags and blankets laid out together, a small nook slightly away from the group set up for a couple. And she's dismantled it. Her things are back in her own bag, all packed up, and she's setting her blankets down closer to the group now, far away from where they had decided to camp. Mara's looking over everything, aching, because suddenly it looks so lonely and so empty and so unlike the warmth she had a few days ago, and she swallows back a tear.)

[marawitter]

(She needs a new coat. She has the leather one she picked up during the summer from a department store left empty and naked after she woke, but it's feeling lighter as the temperature drops into winter, and she's left cold and shivering when she steps outside. The cool air is bright and calm on Mara's face, and the cigarette in her hand is warm and delicious, but she's snuggling into a coat way too big for her that she snagged from AJ's things, and feeling the cold bite at her fingers.)