Smiley Specialist
A Fine State of Affairs -- [Lev & Ellie]
Oct 29, 2015 1:49:06 GMT -5
Post by Levenin on Oct 29, 2015 1:49:06 GMT -5
Adapted from an IM RP, I HAD TO CODE THIS THING AFTER THE FACT KILL ME
The Lower Class District greeted him with a breath of fresh air and a steady drizzle of rain as Levenin finally emerged from under the streets. The storm drain was just big enough for him to squeeze through without much issue, though the effort was taxing. He was exhausted, aching, heart heavy with the events of the last hour or so. If the police were still tracking him, he didn't care. They couldn't have known about this escape route anyway.
He trudged through mud and poorly built streets alike as he searched for a familiar home. Lev hoped she wouldn't be angry for showing up this late. Would he even be allowed inside while absolutely drenched and disgusting? It didn't hurt to try. Not like he could go to his own home like this.
Levenin stopped short of a door at the end of the street, the dim porchlight shadowing his face as he gave a few small knocks.
Ellie had been attempting a recalibration of her gloves, despite a fundamental lack of electronic skills. When her left glove had exploded with a frightening pop, however, she'd left them to smoke in her sink. Okay, so she'd take them to the repair shop tomorrow. Even she could admit defeat when it was smoking in her face. And besides, there was a knock at her door. She couldn't work on her gloves AND yell at Lev for showing up at this ass hour. Because honestly other than a few girls, he was the only one that knew where she lived and would show up this late.
”Do you have any idea what—" She stopped short in her pumped up spiel when she actually saw him. "Good god, you look like a drowned rat. C'mon, get in here. I'll get you a towel.” She turned and went to find where towels were stashed.
Even as the door opened and he was greeted with as nice a face as he'd receive for showing up at this hour, Lev couldn't fake a smile for her. He brushed a wet lock of hair away from his eyes, if only so he could look slightly more presentable. None of his usual apologies as he went inside without a word and shrugged off his cloak.
”Umm, where should I put this?” Levenin mumbled as the article of clothing proceeded to spawn puddles all over her barren floor.
"I have a laundry line in that corner, hang up whatever you need to. I probably have some clothes that would fit you, if you don't mind leftover girl clothes.” She returned with a towel that she proceeded to drop on his head and rub at his hair. "I take it the job didn't go well?”
”Umm, okay…” Lev took a couple of reluctant steps, as if going slower would somehow keep from dripping as much, but eventually he trudged over to start hanging his things. The cloak went on first, its weight causing the line to sag just enough to make him feel uncomfortable. ”Sorry, I don't think it can hold everything... Should I, uhh…”
Lev flinched as the towel went on, to which he wrapped it around himself to warm up. ”I almost had it... Well, I did have it but then... I'm sorry…”
"Hey...no, don't. It's fine. Next time we'll both go to get it.” He was clearly taking it hard and it made her worry. She couldn't yell at him when he was already moping. "Accidents....happen?” It was lame and cliched but she was new to the comforting business. She was much better at yelling and shaking. "Put everything that can't fit on the line in the sink, we'll worry about it later.”
"It's not that…” Should he mention what actually happened? But she'd be livid if he did. Lev wasn't sure if he wanted to be kicked out after just being let inside away from the weather, but maybe he deserved that sort of treatment.
He walked away to the bathroom to change out of his wet clothes before returning to place them on the line, which managed to hold just enough. Lev supposed he should sit down and wrap up in something warm, but instead he stood staring at his dripping cloak before asking, ”…Have you ever done a job you regret?”
That caught Ellie's attention away from where she'd been placing a few bowls under where his clothes were dripping on the line. She thought back on her previous missions, many of which she still wore a mark from in the scars that littered her body. "... I don't have time for regret.”
Finally, something that made him laugh and it was the most inappropriate thing to chuckle at. He huddled in the damp towel, pulling it as tight as it could go around his arms. ”I knew you'd say something like that," said Lev, a lingering smile on his words. "I wish I could be half as sure of things as you are…”
"Our lives don't really work with being unsure. It'll get you killed.” She moved, noticing the way he was shivering, to get him a blanket. Things weren't often cold this part of Novus, at least not when winter wasn't in effect, but still. "What happened, Lev? Do you want out?”
Levenin hung his head, his sight still set firmly on the floor where he couldn't see her. ”I… I don't know. Not really. I mean, it's harder than I thought it'd be but... I guess I really screwed up, is all. But I don't think you'd be too happy with me if I told you about it…”
“Did you get caught or tell someone who we are?” She dropped the blanket over his shoulders. ”…Did you kill someone?”
”No! I didn't kill anyone, I swear! I could never do that…” Lev accepted the blanket eagerly, if only so he could try and hide the shame on his face in it. He was in too deep now to change the subject. Lying would only make him feel worse.
”But uhh... It may involve someone who caught me a long time ago... And they're with the police department…”
That caused Ellie's fists to clench instinctively and a panic to crawl up her throat. Police? That could mean very bad things for them. She was not going to jail, no, that would not happen. ”…What?”
”I’m sorry! I-It's not as bad as you think!” He tightened his grip on the blanket, knowing well it would do nothing to stop her if she decided to blow up. ”W-We're friends! Or were friends, but still. It happened a long time ago and he promised not to turn me in so it's fine!”
Ellie took in a deep breath. Okay. So there was a chance she wouldn't have to go with plan 'Fuck This City'. But then again, Lev was an idiot. "I'm not going to hurt you, relax.” She sighed and plopped down next to him on the couch. "Does he know who you are? Out of the hood, I mean? And what do you mean by were?”
"No, I never told him my name. He only knew me as Nineveh. I'm sure he knew that wasn't my actual name but he never questioned it. He just wanted to help out Canaan and get me to quit stealing…”
Ellie said she wouldn't hurt him, but still he held tense while sitting next to her. Lev couldn't believe he was even telling her this. They'd never been too open about personal matters before. The feeling was foreign to him.
”Tonight, I... I betrayed him. I lied to him.”
"Our jobs are about lying, Lev. It's what we do, what keeps us alive. What keeps your patients alive.” She hesitated before setting a hand on his shoulder. She wasn't good at comforting people --she did get paid to punch people, after all-- but Levenin clearly needed something. "You lie to me, I'm sure. And I lie to you. We're still...kinda friends. It's who we are.”
I know but…” The shoulder pat did nothing to set him at ease, and Lev curled up tighter in the blanket to shield himself. By now, the cold dampness of his skin was beginning to lift away. One positive thing to salvage from the situation. ”This time was different.”
The covers fell away as he put his face in his hands, eyes beginning to well up. ”I’m sorry, you probably think I'm being stupid. You're right. This is what I picked and I should know better…”
And yet hearing himself speak those words didn't make him feel any more secure.
Carefully, she took hold of his shoulders and turned him to look at her. She waited till he looked at her, giving a small smile when she saw the tears in his eyes. "You're too good of a guy, you know that?” She shook her head and smoothed her hands to his upper arms. "Listen, I don't...know how you feel, right now. This has been my life for a long time. But I can tell you that, what you do? The work you do? It's important. More important than what I do, I think, sometimes. You're a good guy, Lev. And sometimes, in this city, that means doing bad things. No one here is clean.”
Levenin felt her hands grasp his shoulders, a familiar gesture but this time it was gentle and almost uncertain. The twitch of her fingers cautiously aware of how tight they held him and the absence of any angry shaking would’ve normally taken him out of his stupor. One knew something amiss when that happened, as rare as it was. But all Lev did as he looked up at Ellie was completely fall apart in front of her. There was no sense in trying to hide it or stop himself as his arms stayed firmly at his sides.
“I didn’t… have to drag him… into it, though,” Lev mumbled in between heavy sobs. “He wasn’t… a bad person… It’s me… I didn’t have to do that to keep helping the…”
Lev wasn’t sure what to do from this point. It was much too late to save face. He’d lost that opportunity as soon as the first tear broke the dam. Crying here in front of her without shame was apparently what he was going to do tonight. “I’m sorry I keep disappointing you like this… I-I’m not very good at all of… this.”
"He had to learn this too, Lev. If he wanted to be a cop here, he was going to have to spend some time in the mud.” She tried to justify it all. Because this city was fucked and anyone that wanted to make any sort of difference here had to be at least a little fucked too. She'd been manufactured broken, but Lev...he still had some breaking to do.
She pulled her legs up onto the couch, sitting crosslegged as she faced him. Her instinct was to just tell him to get over it; you can't cry in this line of work. But that might break him worse than what he needed. He needed the small cracks throughout him, ones that would heal stronger and reenforced. This was just the first step. "I'm not disappointed. You just... Your work goes beyond your clinic. We're gonna tear down this city, Lev. Make it so someone like you doesn't have to steal or have a codename to help people that don't pass a stupid test.”
She moved her hands to rest on his knees, giving them a light squeeze. "You can still get out, Lev, if this isn't something that you can handle. But this fucker is going to burn and you can help direct the flames. You just got to harden yourself to it.”
He heard her speaking, but only caught bits and pieces through his own crying. It was hard to pay attention to much of anything when all he wanted to do was argue with her. Lev knew any kind of protest would end up with him as the losing side. Ellie always won, simply because she was Ellie and he was as sturdy as a tree in the wake of a hurricane.
Lev was expecting the yelling at any time but it never came. Whatever he was doing to keep her in a generous mood was something he needed to remember for later. ”I don't know if I wanna tear down anything, though,” he said. ”All I wanted was to help Canaan in the only way I could... If I stop now, what'll happen? We'll go back to pooling together money we don't have for the basic necessities…”
He wiped an eye, feeling distinctly small right then. ”I guess I have to... get used to it, don't I? B-But at least... you'll do it with me, right? I mean, if you leave then…”
“What? And leave you on your own? Please, both our covers would be blown in a week if I ditched you.” She licked her lips and leaned back against the arm of her couch. "I'm gonna tear down this whole thing, turn it belly-side up. And if you stick with me, I'll make sure you don't get crushed.” She didn't know why she wanted to help him, why she continually tried to. It'd be so easy to ditch him and, if she really thought he was a risk to her cover, well... Wouldn't be the first threat she'd snuffed out. ”…Take some time off, Lev. We got enough to hold the clinic over for a bit, and my next job will have a good pay out. Think over who you want Nineveh to be.”
It was a joke, but Lev still felt a sting. Ellie was right, after all. The one time he tried doing something on his own, managed to get caught but mercifully stay out of jail, and it'd all come to end in a disaster of a mission. It was better not to mention he'd actually acquired the item he was after... and then left it back with Dante. Surely anything nice she'd said to him in the past few minutes would be instantly revoked.
”I don't know what place there is in this city for either me or 'him,' really. I don't know what 'he' wants to be or do. I'm not a real doctor or even a decent thief. Would I even be worth anything, even if the system changed…”
His voice still wavered in between sniffling and labored breathing. "Don't you worry about what would happen? I mean, to you personally? ...Are things really that bad for you the way they are now? I know it's probably not the best job in the world but you seem to do, umm, well.”
That caught her a little off guard. No one really seemed to ask about the why. She was strong and capable and full of anger, so to everyone it just seemed natural to do what she did. "I... don't matter,” she said slowly, considering. "It doesn't matter if I'm comfortable or happy. Doesn't matter if I could do better in this system. That's not why I do what I do.”
She thought back to her parents; their plans, their dreams of what she would do, their disappointment when she bombed the test. She wonders if they knew it was on purpose or if they just wrote it off as another failure in her. "I don't think about me, when it comes to all this. Evrika isn't someone I am for myself. Sure, she helps pay my bills and keep me fed, but she's bigger than me. I'm not in this for me. I'm in this for the city.”
It was all so vague. Even after her explanation, Lev still didn't think he really understood her motivations. She'd always been mysterious, but even he knew she couldn't have always been such an angry firecracker of a person. It was probably too much to ask what it was exactly that'd made her this way.
”Y-You're not…” Probably shouldn't try to comfort her, either. No way Ellie was the type of girl to take to motivational talk. "What do you... plan to do? I mean, there's a lot of people who'd get caught in the middle who, umm... Are you going to…”
”Kill” was the word he was searching for, but it made him uncomfortable to say it. He knew she possessed no qualms about death. "I don't know about what it is we're working towards, is all. Or, uhh, about... you.”
Her plans were many and varied and tended to change by the day. She didn't yet know exactly how things were going to be changed, just that they would. And that change rarely came peacefully. "Equality. That's what we're working towards.” She glanced towards her door then back at him. "Why should someone starve while the high class get more food than they could really eat? You run a clinic for the people that society has already given up on.”
She paused for a moment before moving her hands. She traced a finger over a scar on her forearm. "I want to tear this city down and build from the ashes.” She looked up at him, fire in her good eye. "Imagine what you could do if you had access to all the supplies and tools that high class doctors do, without having to steal it. Imagine how many lives you could save. Imagine this city with no classes to separate us. That's what I'm working towards. That's why I'm here.”
A difficult philosophy to think on. Lev wouldn't dare voice his thoughts about the High Class, how many of them played their own important parts as cogs in the machine of Novus. He didn't think she wanted to hear about how many actually deserved to be at the top and those who didn't simply ended up like him. In their brief time together, he came to understand that the High Class in general was a bit of a berserk button for her anger.
”You're right, about the clinic, I mean. Some of the people that come around are questionable, but others... just made the wrong choices somewhere along the way. They shouldn't have been punished so badly.”
Lev had never really dwelled on the politics of classes until now. They were more personal than he wanted them to be, seeing as how he'd lived all over the spectrum. "It's only that... there's a lot of good people in the High Class too. Innocents that are trying to make their way. You know, when you met me all those years ago, I would've been one of them... Unless you still think of me as a High Class socialite or something.”
He chuckled softly, more out of nerves than anything. Oh, how she must've despised him back then.
She thought to several of her contacts in the high class. It was true, not everyone there was as vile as others; there were several vigilantes that she suspected were high class behind their disguises. "I don't want to wipe out them all. Just... make them part of us. If they're good, then they can help rebuild the new world, better than this one.”
She bit her tongue when he mentioned almost being a high class himself. He didn't know about her childhood, about how she was even closer than him to becoming what she hated so much. And she didn't want him to know. That life was gone and she had worded hard to forge a new one. "Some people are going to die, when this happens. But that's why I'm working, fighting, to try and make sure only the ones that deserve it do. Minimize bystander deaths.”
He was still sniffling, the sobbing phase gone but the remnants of events earlier that night heavy on his heart. It'd be something he didn't think would pass for a long time- a daunting prospect he wasn't looking forward to. At least for now, Levenin felt a little better after talking things out with someone he didn't think would ever do so.
”Maybe I still don't understand what you want to do and how you'll do it,” he started, gathering the blanket again. The chill was beginning to set back in. "It... It sort of sounds like our goals are really different from one another. Your aspirations are... kinda scary.”
Thieving jobs were hard enough, let alone the thought of dismantling an entire city from the ground up. Lev could barely handle a weapon. Taking a life seemed so foreign to him. "I dunno if I'll be much help to you in the long run but... I'll do whatever I can. It's the least I can do to repay you for... everything.”
"You'll be fine, Lev. You're.... stronger than you give yourself credit for.” It was awkward to say, but she meant it. He was a hopeless idiot for the most part and she sincerely worried he'd get himself killed or caught without her, but he had a lot of promise. "I wouldn't waste my time with you if I didn't think you could be someone.”
With that she stood, moving to snatch a pillow off of her bed in the small room off of the living room. "You can crash here tonight. Better to lay low for a few days, in case that cop tries to pull some shit.”
"At least I can patch you up... a little bit. I'm good for that.” Levenin smiled at her, averting his eyes from her face almost immediately after out of bashfulness. "I mean, uhh, as long as you don't do anything too severe. Because I'm not... you know... that good.”
A heartfelt conversation quickly turning into a stuttering mess-- his one true specialty. Oh well, not like she wasn't used to that already.
”I dunno if I should stay,” said Lev, looking down at his knees. "You're right , he could come back and bust me but I can't disappear from the clinic like that. And if I don't get home then she'll... I live with someone, you know, they're probably thinking about me right now…”
Though how he'd explain showing up in clothing he didn't own would be even worse than never coming home at all.
"I'm being nice. Whoever you live with can deal.” She dropped the pillow on the couch. "Do they know about what you do?” She'd never heard of Levenin having anyone waiting for him at home. Then again she never asked. She did her best to not get too attached to the people she worked with.
"N-No, of course not. She still thinks I'm spending late hours at the clinic when we're out doing missions. Or at least I hope she does…”
Really, if she'd found out already, Lev would've been informed. A bit too well informed. "I guess me spending another night out wouldn't be too unusual... She doesn't know where I am but what if she went and…”
He gently faceplanted himself into the pillow he'd been given, hiding a quiet groan of frustration. It was too late to be worrying about this.
Ellie watched him in bemusement, frowning softly. Part of her wanted to offer to beat the chick up because that's all she really could do. But a part of her also didn't care. Romantic things weren't really her forte.
So long as it didn't effect their work, she guessed. "If she wants to challenge me for your affections, I could always break her nose,” she deadpanned, moving to get Lev's wet clothes from the clothes line. If he was staying the night, she could just hang the to air dry in her shower.
"N-No!” Lev suddenly gained the energy to wave his hands around defensively, as if anything he did or said would stop her. What was he even so worried about when Ellie had never met her anyway? Of course, that wasn't his first thought.
”She'd be no match for you, you know. Civilian and all,” he stuttered. "She'd probably just get... angry. I don't want her to ever know. I dunno how she feels about Vigilantes but I think there'd be a lot of people who wouldn't like our way of life.”
And yet he'd told Dante, though that was more a discovery instead of show-and-tell.
"It was a joke, Lev.” She rolled her eyes as she finished hanging the clothes over her shower rod. "Honestly, I don't give a fuck who you're screwing. Just make sure they don't put our work at risk.”
Lev's face went red as he quickly shoved the pillow into it. "I-It's n-n-not like that,” he protested, muffled and burning. "S-She doesn't know, I promise. And she won't find out. I don't keep evidence around at home. I've been lying, hopefully good enough, I p-promise.”
He buried both himself and the pillow into his legs, a small groan of frustration and embarrassment slipping through.
That actually made her laugh, snorting as she walked away. "Get some sleep, you dumbass.” She shook her head and moved to switch off the light.
