failed escape attempt

who: eli and syn
where: eli's
when: late

"Hush little baby, don't say a word... Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird..."

Eli's eyes opened wide as the first strains of the song filtered through his head. Mama. He sat up immediately, looking around the room in confusion. Where was this? This wasn't home. This wasn't the attic. Where was his mother?

"Climb out the window, Eli," his mother whispered in his head, her tone sweet-gentle. "I'm near. Come to me, sweetheart."

He swung his legs over the bed, looking down in confusion. Were his legs longer? When had that happened? And where was he, anyways?

"Eli," she crooned, beginning to sound impatient. "Why aren't you with me yet?"

Right. Mama. She was waiting, and she hated to be kept waiting. He stood up, absently why that made him so dizzy, and headed for the window. He pushed it open, but hesitated.

Wasn't there something... important? Somewhere in this house? Something he didn't want to leave...

"Eli."

He shivered from her tone; she was angry now. He'd waited too long. "'msorry," he mumbled instinctively, even though she couldn't hear, and dropped out the window, ignoring the fact he didn't have socks or shoes or anything on to cover his feet. He headed towards his mother again as she resumed her gentle singing.

The nagging feeling that he'd forgotten something didn't entirely go away, however.

Syn had been lightly dozing in the living room, and she frowned as something woke her. She noticed after a moment that it was her phone. She picked it up. "h'lo?" she asked.

"You've got a runner." Teddy said. "Out the window. Might wanna go head that one off, dear." he said soothingly.

Syn sighed. "Thanks, T." she said, then hung up and got up, heading outside. She looked around, and then reached out with her abilities, latching onto Eli's spirit so she could get bearings on him. She turned in that direction instead of pulling him back forcibly. She didn't know where she was going, but she kind of wanted to find out. Because the fuck? Yeah. It didn't take long to catch sight of him, of course, she saw him walking, and he had that glazed over sort of look again. Damnit, Eli.

Eli froze, picking up on the thought. He tilted his head curiously back. Someone else knew who he was. Someone close. Who...?

"Come to the park," his mother urged.

So he started walking again, walking mindlessly towards where he thought his mother was. It's not like he knew where the park was anyways. This place was very unfamiliar. And cold. Was he even still in California?

Synnove followed along, sure that he was being manipulated. She just wanted to follow it back so she could put a stop to it. Or her. It wasn't like she didn't already know who was pulling the strings. Eli, hon, can you hear me?

He stopped again, shaking his head in confusion. "Who's that?" he questioned softly, looking around warily. He was used to voices in his head, but voices specifically talking to him? Aside from his mother? That didn't happen. Ever.

Syn kept walking closer when he stopped. When she was close enough, she ghosted her hand down his arm. "It's Syn." she answered softly. "Where're you going?" she asked. She of course had some guesses to who, but she didn't really know where.

He gazed at her with eyes almost childishly wide. "I'm not sure," he murmured softly, drawing away from her touch and eyeing her warily. "You're not supposed to touch monsters," Eli explained to her patiently.

"And I told you that you're not one. Repeatedly, actually." She said, in just as patient a tone. "So what we're going to do now, is get you back to where you remember that." She stepped closer. "Look here." she said, and she motioned to her eyes. Reaching out with her power, she took tighter hold of his spirit. "Sure you don't want to come back on your own?" she asked to give him a shot at it at least.

Eli gazed at her, into her eyes, still very obviously confused. "What're you talking about?" he questioned, his tone of voice still quietly polite.

She sighed. "Don't say I didn't give you a shot." Syn said, then pulled. She pulled as hard as she had the first time, a sharp abrupt jerk on his spirit towards her, and she hoped to hell it worked again. Of course if it didn't, there were alternatives, but she was willing to bet all of those ended in blood and tears.

His eyes flickered from confused to surprised, and he practically fell against her, hugging her tightly, swearing all the while. "Oh, fuck!" Eli hissed, unable to get himself to let her go. Yeah, that wasn't an option. At all. Every fiber of his being demanded his hold her, so he was going to do that. "Why am I outside!?"

Syn didn't mind, she hugged him back, and rubbed at his back a little. "Trying to escape? Though I think you were following something." She said. "You did that thing where you didn't recognize me or remember me again. Sorry I had to pull you back so hard, I just don't like to take any chances." she informed him. At least it had worked. That was a major plus.

"What?" he asked, obviously confused. "I did that shit again? I was asleep, last I knew." Well, crap, if this didn't put a horrible damper on his real escape plan. It just sort of proved how impossibly hard it would be to get away from Syn.

And why hadn't she let him go yet? Not that holding her was bad, but... Eli sighed and rested his chin atop her head. "You can let go now. I'm not going to make a run for it," he assured her, voice heavy with sarcasm. "Especially because I don't have shoes on." He fucking hated being barefoot. Now he was all cranky. Okay, crankier than usual.

She smiled a touch, slightly amused. "So am I. I didn't bother stopping to put my sandals on." she said. "But I like being barefoot." she added. She also hadn't let him go yet, because he hadn't moved either. "Promise you're not going to run?" she asked, though there was a thread of teasing beneath it.

"I don't run," Eli grumbled, relaxing his hold on her slightly. But she was still pulling on him, and stepping away entirely was absolutely not an option. "And I'm definitely not going to make a run for... her."

Not yet, anyways. Not when he still had a day left.

Belatedly, Syn eased up on his spirit, letting go a little at a time. She'd kind of forgot she had hold of it. "Good." she said. "I don't suppose you know where you were going, huh?" she asked, looking around as she stepped a little away, but she kept her fingers lit on his arm. She frowned around, not seeing her anywhere, but still. Meant she had range on him. Which wasn't good.

"No. She could be anywhere within at least three miles from here. Probably more than that if she was putting effort into it," Eli explained dismissively, drawing away more and more as she let go of her hold. Much safer that way. Much, much safer.

Syn looked perturbed at that. "Well that's not good." she said. "Bitch." she spat. Then she sighed and looked back to Eli. "C'mon, let's go back." she said. "You awake now, or are you going to go back to sleep?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder at him and waiting for him to catch up.

He followed after her carefully, expression growing more irritated with every pebble he stepped on. Stupid fucking rocks. "Pretty sure I'm awake for awhile. It's a little hard to go back to sleep when you're paranoid you'll wake up some place different," he pointed out. "I should probably eat again, too," he admitted.

"Okay, well, let's go get something to eat then." Syn said, stretching and rolling her neck to crack it. She had a crick in her back from having been laying on the couch, but eh. She'd deal. She'd slept in worse places. Though generally speaking when she was sleeping in worse places, she had her brother to sleep with, which was much more comfortable.

Eli watched her curiously, still following (slowly) and still grimacing at every pebble he stepped on. "Your--ow, fuck--neck hurting?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, a little. I kind of was half sleeping on the couch. I prefer beds." Synnove said. She shrugged. "It's fine. I'm just wondering where she is, and if she's going to make another try." It would be so much easier if she could just have the woman killed. Seriously.

"I told you we had an empty bed," Eli pointed out, frowning at her. "Hell, I'd offer mine over you sleeping on the couch." He slid his hands into his pockets, fingers twitching. Yeah, her doing that stuff was like an open invitation to give her a neck rub. So not gonna happen. He'd probably fuck it up and hurt her, anyways.

"I didn't actually mean to fall asleep." Syn said. She smiled, though. She had because she'd been talking back and forth with her brother, and he'd wound up relaxing her and lulling her into such a state where she felt comfortable enough with his mental and emotional presence that she had crashed. Only he could manage that one.

He eyed her curiously, wondering what she was thinking about, but keeping up the block. Uh, yeah, not invading her privacy to satisfy his own curiosity. Tempting as it was... "Oh," he said lamely. "Well, at least I didn't get too far," he noted after a moment, glad they were almost back to his house. Stupid rocks. He didn't even have socks on, for Christ's sakes!

Syn was walking along in the grass, so she was avoiding rocks. "You didn't. Teddy called to warn me." she said. "I figured at some point you'd be pulled, or try to bail." she added nonchalantly. Yeah, like it was an everyday thing, keeping friends from running off into their psycho mother's clutches.

"Oh." Shit. Of course, Teddy. ...and he was planning to escape again how? He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You think I'm gonna bail?" he queried, curious. And secretly terrified. How the hell was she not psychic again?

"Yeah, you walked over to her and I don't know. You could have avoided her entirely and you didn't." Syn shrugged. "Just a precaution." she added. Because it was, really. "I'm just trying to figure out how to keep you safe as best as I can."

"Ah," Eli said agreeably, somewhat relieved. Yeah, not arguing with her there. At all. He could have fought his mother on that harder... He could probably fight her on this, actually. This whole ultimatum thing. The blackmail thing. But even the slightest chance of losing Syn to... pity... or disgust... or horror...

He'd rather lose her in anger any day of the week. Let her be pissed he ran back to his mother like a fool.

"Sorry if you feel creeped out or something." Syn said."I just don't like leaving anything to chance, and that's it. I don't want her anywhere near you, so...I'm making sure it doesn't happen." she finished. "What are you hungry for?"

"You didn't," Eli said quickly. "I was kind of expecting Teddy to be involved in this eventually. I just didn't know he was so... versatile." He'd actually figured the familiar would be stuck to the Martens house. Okay, all the plans he had were now officially scrap. "I don't really care, I'll eat anything. I just know I should eat, so... yeah..." he finished lamely, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hopefully you have cereal. I think you do. Lydia shopped, so..." she trailed off. "I stand by my whole point that I can't cook and therefore suck at this portion of helping you out." Killing him would be bad. Bad bad badness. With the bad.

"That's fine, I really don't care." He wasn't even hungry, but... he probably should eat. Considering by the time he usually did get hungry, it was way past the time he should have eaten in the first place. "Food's food. I'm not spoiled for it. I'll eat whatever. Probably wouldn't even mind your cooking." Eli opened the door to the house and waited for her to go inside before following.

"That'd be scary. And fatal." Syn said, smiling a touch at his opening the door for her. It was always a little strange for her to come across people who did that. But she went in and headed for the kitchen, looking around.

Eli followed after her, grumbling in relief when his feet hit carpet. Blessed carpet. Best invention ever, in his opinion. He stopped in the entry way to the kitchen, eyeing it warily. "Kitchens scare me lately."

"My kitchen isn't evil." Syn said. "I don't know what you're worried about, I know my family can be a little...intimidating, but they're both just worried about me. And they try to make sure no one gets any stupid ideas. I do the same thing when it comes to them."

"Sure, we'll just go with that," Eli agreed, nodding his head and not believing a word of it. Maybe Doc was just intimidating and worried about her, but Seph? Yeah, something about that conversation in the kitchen just made him think her brother had gotten a little too much pleasure out of his panic.

"They wouldn't do anything if I said the word anyways, and they wouldn't unless you did something to me in the first place." Syn continued. "And I don't think you're going to be doing anything to me. So, relax. Honestly, nothing's going to happen to you."

"I know that," he grumbled, finally heading into the kitchen with a frown on his face. "They're not going to shoot me unless I hurt you first." But complete and total humiliation was now a possibility when it concerned Seph.

"They wouldn't shoot you if I said not to anyways." Syn said. "There's a reason my ex is still wandering around somewhere." Even if she personally had days where she wished she would have given the go ahead to take the motherfucker out. But she hadn't. She really couldn't picture Eli doing anything that was going to make her want him dead. And she didn't think Doc or Seph would do anything like that against her wishes. They hadn't so far, she didn't know why they'd pick it up now.

Eli stared at her incredulously. "You're the reason Seph didn't kill him?" He hesitated, before admitting, "I'd been wondering about that, actually..." I probably would have shot him, anyways.

"Killing him would be easy." Syn said. "He deserves worse than that. But whatever, can we not talk about him?" she asked. "You need to eat." She turned and looked through one of the cupboards, sighing.

He winced the moment she turned her back. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." Idiot. It's none of your business anyways. Eli began to search through cabinets with her, just for something to do.

"No, it's fine. I just...don't really like talking about him. I brought him up, so don't fret about it." Syn assured him, dropping the subject from her mind and moving on with things. She didn't particularly like thinking about her ex at all. So, the less she had to talk about him the better.

Yeah, her ex definitely needed to die. Preferably by torture. "I found cereal," Eli said, going with her wishes to change the subject. He dropped two boxes on the counter and poked at them suspiciously. How long had they been in the cabinet? "Do you want extra sugary or extra healthy?"

"I don't really care." Syn said, taking milk out of the fridge, then she went to hunt up bowls. "Anything works for me." She then looked through drawers for spoons. "So, what're we doing now after we eat?" she asked. "Can we go back to my house soon?"

He hesitated, frowning at the counter. "...I want to talk to Lydia before I leave." He wasn't entirely sure he'd ever see her again, and it was too fucked up to just leave her when the last time they'd spoken had been with him bleeding everywhere.

"Alright." she said. "You need me to go away for a while while you do?" she asked. Family discussions and the like she didn't want to tread on. She knew she and her family had enough private discussions. So while she didn't want to leave him alone, she could for that.

"If you could," he agreed reluctantly. It's not like he planned to bail on her like that anyways, right? And Lydia would be around to slap the shit out of him if he went into another trance.

She nodded. "I can." she said. "Okay. I'll just...trust you, and you come back to my house when you're finished?" she suggested. "Lydia has my number if anything happens too, so..." she trailed off.

Eli nodded. "Yeah, I can do that." Shit, why did she have to trust him not to run? Why did she have to tell him? Now he couldn't run, and it was probably the best chance he'd have to get away. Fuck.

"Okay then." Syn said. She sighed, then noticed he hadn't poured the cereal yet. So she grabbed a bowl and poured some in, then added the milk and a spoon. "Eat." she said. "I'll grab something on the way home. Any idea how long you'll be?"

"Well, I'm not going to wake her up or anything... It might be awhile." He eyed her uncertainly. "It's late. Why don't you just leave in the morning? Go sleep in my room or the guest room or something, Syn."

"So why don't we both go back to my house, and you can come back in the morning?" she suggested. "Sorry, I can't sleep here." For a lot of different reasons, really. But she knew it probably wouldn't happen, and then there was Seph to think about. He'd just be worried sick all night if she wasn't home.

"Like I can't sleep at your house?" he asked, smirking with amusement. "Yeah, okay, we can do that." And it'd give him a little more alone time tomorrow. He'd probably just brood in his room, but it was better than brooding in Syn's guest room, right?

"Well, part of why I can't sleep here is I have family members that would be up all night worrying about me." Syn said. "Namely Seph. And I know I'm not far, and all that stuff, but if he was somewhere else I'd be climbing the walls too." she admitted.

He finally began to eat, leaning back against the counter and frowning at the cabinets. How fucked up was it that he was jealous of her brother? Probably very. He was her brother, not her lover. "Okay," Eli nodded.

Syn looked over and arched an eyebrow. "...you okay?" he asked.

After a moment, he rolled his eyes, managing a self deprecating smirk. "Am I ever okay, Syn?" he asked, focusing his gaze on his cereal. Food was good. Yeah, eating. He could do that. He needed to eat more anyways. Weren't people always saying/thinking that around him?

"Soooo not what I asked." Syn pointed out, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall as she eyed him with an amused little expression. She wasn't that easy to get rid of!

Sigh. "I'm the same as always. I'm fine." And he even managed a little laugh on the end. Okay, there was a bitter undertone to it, but that was his normal laugh! Really, it was.

She continued to stare. Because she was good at that. That light amusement beneath it, but that utterly immobile Syn-ness that didn't get shoved aside for anything. Then she reached out to mess up his hair playfully.

He glared at her, frowning. And it would have been intimidating, except for the playful undertone to his eyes, the way his lips twitched with an amused smirk.

She gave him a little grin. That was better. The lightness beneath everything. "You know." she said, drawing out the word. "Glaring is so much more effective when you don't look like you're enjoying it." she teased.

"Psh, says you," Eli smirked, taking another bite of cereal, and keeping the thoughts that he'd most likely be in California by Saturday out of his mind. No, he was going to enjoy the moment, his mother be damned.

"I speak the truth." Syn said loftily. "Because I know everything." she added. Yeah right. But she was saying so. "And I've been glared at a lot in my time, therefore I of course know how to do it effectively."

"Yes, of course. Mistress of Everything," Eli said dryly, now grinning. "You know all, and see all, and somehow you aren't the slightest bit psychic."

"Exactly!" Syn said, just barely keeping in a laugh. "See? Your learning." She leaned back again. "No, I don't at all have any psychic powers. I'm just that good."

"I am occasionally a fast learner. Sometimes," he amended. Well, only when it involved Syn, apparently, because in the last week he felt like he'd made much progress when it came to his social retardism. And it was (mostly) thanks to her.

He settled his now empty bowl in the sink, awkwardly wondering if there was something else he was supposed to do with it. Kitchens confused the hell out of him.

Syn put everything away, then looked over. "Got anything to take with you before we go?" she asked. She didn't. But then she only needed to get her sandals on and she'd be all good. Eli seemed to look better to her though. Rested, fed, yes. All in all, much better.

He checked his pockets and verified he had his mp3 player on him. That would get him through a night of utter and complete boredom while she did normal sleeping things. "Yeah, just shoes. I'm not walking to your house barefoot. I'd be swearing with every step by the time we made it."

"Baby." Syn accused affectionately, then she headed towards the door, to get her own sandals. "By the way you need more books in your house." she added. "Reading is good for you. And I couldn't find much."

"I like books," Eli agreed. "That's usually what I do when it's raining or snowing and I can't go outside. But it hasn't, so I haven't had much need for books lately. I did just move here, you know. Most of this crap my sister bought, I think..."

"Well, you need to go shopping for a shit load of books. There's gotta be better things to do." Syn said. She of course, had a ton of books, though. She was a reader. She just hadn't gotten to do it in a while. She'd been busy.

He shrugged. "Maybe this weekend, then." Yeah, if he was still here... "I like outside. I didn't get to go out at all when I was a kid, so I'm making up for it now."

"Well, around here, winter'll hit before too long then you're going to want to hibernate for a long time. Having something to read'll be a good thing." She assured him.

"Yeah, makes sense." Because he hated snow. With a passion. He made a face, thinking about the snow in Detroit. Grey and slushy and gross... ugh.

"Let me get my shoes," Eli muttered, heading back to his room to grab his well worn sneakers and a pair of socks. He settled down on the edge of his bed and slipped them on before toeing on his shoes, then stood up to rejoin Syn in the living room. "I'm ready when you are, Mistress of Everything," he said somberly, managing to keep a straight face.

Syn laughed, then headed out the door. "Definitely learning." she said, sounding far too pleased with herself. Maybe this would all be okay. She could hope.