there's more than one way to kill someone

who: Synnove and Eli
where: Martens' House
when: morning

It had been a very long night for Eli. He wasn't sure how many hours had passed, or even if it had only been a few minutes, but it felt like eternity. He hadn't moved once since they'd actually arrived last night; he'd made a beeline for his usual room, curled up on top of the covers and laid there staring at the wall ever since. Sleep hadn't come, and he'd teetered just barely on the brink of awareness all night, mind running over and over and over the 'gifts' his mother had left in his head.

He hadn't even moved to take his morphine. Early withdrawal symptoms had kicked in not long ago; the full body tremors and chills wracked him. The fingers of his left hand twitched; there was morphine in his backpack, which lay nearby. He still had enough control over himself to get it. The problem with that? He didn't want to.

Synnove had slept after she'd settled Eli in. She'd slept curled up with her brother in his room, and in the wee hours, she'd talked to him for a long time. Eventually, she knew she had to get up, though, and check on Eli again. It was morning before she went back downstairs, her feelings still a bit tender at the way he'd ignored her when she'd talked to him before. She had paused in the bathroom to get a look at her face, and noticed the dark bruising there. That hadn't helped her disposition out. It made her worry more, because she wasn't entirely sure Seph wouldn't take retribution of some kind out on Eli for it. Shoving thoughts about it away, she headed to Eli's room and knocked softly.

Oh. Shit. It was morning check up time already? Eli shifted and sat up, running his trembling (left) hand through his hair, right hand lying unmoving on the mattress, as though it were dead. Well, to him, it was dead. Either Seph would shatter all the bones in it, or he'd cut the traitorous piece of flesh off himself.

He swallowed heavily, wild eyes locked on the door. Could he even talk? He hadn't managed a single word (that he could remember) since yesterday's break down in the cemetery. "C-Come in," he muttered shakily, voice hoarse and scratchy. Shit, that sounded healthy.

Synnove frowned heavily and opened the door, coming inside. She eyed him. "...you look terrible." she said softly. It wasn't meant to be a dig. Just a worried sort of assessment.

His eyes were drawn immediately to the bruise on her cheek, and his expression immediately changed from just pained to absolutely wrecked. Fuck. He did that to her. That was him. Eli loosed a soft, pained, nearly inaudible sound, left hand coming up to press gingerly into his eye. Fuck.

Sighing, Syn walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. How very much like when she'd first brought him here it felt like to her, and also so vastly different. "What's wrong?" she asked. Her blue eyes were heavy on him, though it didn't have a judgmental sort of feel to it.

"I hurt you," he whispered, voice still hoarse. "I hit you." He couldn't even look at her anymore. Didn't deserve to look at her.

"Yes, you did." Synnove said with a sigh. "You didn't do it on purpose. And it's not the worst I've ever had, by far, you know. I've taken a hell of a lot worse damage than a little hit." And alright, it hadn't been so little a hit, he'd smacked her with everything he had. That wasn't the point in the slightest.

"That doesn't matter to me. I still hit you. Hurt you. Bruised you." Eli shuddered, and it was only made worse by the increasingly violent tremors wracking his body. Fuck, if he'd known she was on her way, he would have taken the damned morphine. He was clairvoyant for fucks sake, why hadn't he seen this coming?

"Yeah, and I'll be fine." Syn continued. "It's not the end of the world. It'll heal, it doesn't even hurt very much. It's nothing. You can't be held accountable for something you did when I wasn't respecting your wishes to be left alone, now can you?" she asked. "Particularly when you weren't in your right mind to begin with."

He shuddered again, staying silent. In his opinion? Hell yes, he was accountable. Everything he'd done yesterday, everything, he'd done so he wouldn't lose Syn to pity or disgust or by hurting her somehow. And then he'd backhanded her, pissed off her brother, and Lydia had taken off in a panic the second it had all been over.

What had been the point?

"Eli, can you not do this?" Syn asked, sounding exhausted. "Please? I really don't think right now after everything that happened, and you finally being free of that monster really warrants you beating yourself up over nothing." She didn't think she had the emotional fortitude to deal with it right now.

It was the tone of her voice that had him finally looking at her, and his heart sank a little more. You did that, his inner voice pointed out gleefully, not just talking about the bruise this time. Apparently, his inner voice was in a sadistic mood today. Eli stared at her for a long moment, eyes going blank. And then he shoved it all down, or at least as much of it as he could, and locked it away to contemplate later. When he was alone sounded good for that. "Okay," he managed to say, adding a jerky nod to go along with it.

"Thank you." she said, rubbing at her temple a little. She had a light headache going on, and she was sure it was just stress and emotional washout that was causing it. She felt like she'd been run through the mill, and she was trying to hold it all together. She had to. There wasn't a choice in the matter. The people around her weren't doing it for themselves, so...yeah. That was it. Obviously she was the only support system in place. Seph had taken care of her when she'd been rocked by feeling Evelyn's death, and now it was her turn again.

He wasn't blocking her thoughts; wasn't stable enough, mentally, to even make the attempt. And he didn't like what he was picking up from her end. At all. "You can't--" Eli's voice cracked, and he licked his dry lips. It didn't help much. "You can't keep going on like this, Syn." He watched her with dark eyes, not having any idea of what he could do. He wasn't Seph. Not even close. He didn't know what to do to make her feel better, no matter how badly he wanted to try.

Syn stilled for a minute, then leveled her eyes on him. "Can't I." she said, voice soft. There might have been a touch of an edge beneath the tone, but it was hard to tell. "And how exactly is that? If I'm not here to pull through for everyone else while they fall apart, who will? You won't. You won't even pull yourself together enough right now and you're free. You don't have to worry about that bitch ever again, and you're acting like the world just shit on you."

Eli winced. Wonderful. "The longer you go on like this, the worse it'll be when you crack," he muttered, lowering his eyes to the mattress. He wasn't going to argue with her about his mother. There wouldn't be a point. Maybe if he could project some of the shit that was still fresh on his mind, but fuck that. He didn't know how, and he would never do such a thing to anyone, anyways. "Get pissed all you want. I'm just worried about you, for fucks sake."

"Yeah, well I'm worried about you too, so fuck you. Don't give me shit when you can't even get it through your thick fucking head that things are going to be better for you from here on out. You're acting like a spoiled fucking child and it's bullshit. She's gone. It's over. You don't have reason to be lying here in a pool of fucking angst or whatever the fuck it is you're doing. You wouldn't even speak to me yesterday. So what exactly am I supposed to do here? You want me to stop shoving everything aside? Give me a good fucking reason to be able to for ten seconds and maybe I will. But it isn't going to happen when you won't do a goddamn thing for yourself." Syn snapped, glaring at him.

He sucked in a breath, pressing his palm into his eye again. He could hear his mother laughing in his head, giddy and gleeful, like she was there. She'd succeeded, though, hadn't she? It'd killed the bitch to do it, but she'd destroyed (or at the very least damaged) the tentative roots he'd begun forming in Marquette. "All right," Eli agreed, his voice quiet, not exactly sure what the hell he was agreeing with.

She sighed, and looked at him. "Alright what, Eli?" she asked. "Don't just...say that then not say anything else. What the hell is going on with you?" she asked. God, as far as she could tell, he was being a selfish son of a bitch, and she couldn't understand why.

"I'm going to give you a good reason to stop shoving every single one of your fucking emotions into a time bomb waiting to happen," he clarified, still rubbing at his eye. Fuck, he had a migraine, and he really needed morphine for this conversation. Fuck. "Maybe I can't pull it off today, but I'm sure as hell gonna try before you kill yourself," he snapped at her, feeling irate.

"Fine, give me a reason. Until then, answer my question. What the hell is going on with you? Why are you behaving like this? What's wrong now?" She continued, because it was damn important to her. "Why can't you just take this all as a good thing, and move forward from there?" This last bit was said softly.

Ughhh, why were they having this conversation!? His right hand twitched, but in the end, he just scrubbed miserably at his eyes one handed. Fuckfuckfuck. "She just... God, her thoughts are like poison," Eli whispered, shuddering. "She fucking raped me, Syn. Maybe not physically, but I've got the images, the memories, her fantasies, whatever the fuck they are in my head. She showed me every last fucking one before she died. I'm sorry, all right?" his voice cracked again as another shudder ran through him. "I'm trying to deal, I am, I'm just going to need a little time."

That clicked things into place for her. "I'm sorry." she said quietly, feeling awful now. "I didn't know that." she added. "I came in...late. I heard the shots, then...I--" she paused. "Doesn't matter." She didn't think he knew what had happened with her. She didn't particularly want him to either. "I wasn't aware." she whispered. A wave of horror really did flood through her, and she shuddered.

"God, don't apologize. I liked it better when you were mad," Eli muttered, shuddering as her horror washed over his own. "Please go back to mad. I like mad. I can handle mad," he pleaded with her. Don't pity me now. Please, for the love of God don't pity me now.

"It's difficult to be pissed off with you when I know why you were behaving like a selfish asshole." Syn told him, looking over at him again. She gave him a rueful little half smile. "If you really want me angry again, you might have to put effort in."

"Selfish asshole, go back to that," Eli encouraged, nodding empathetically. "Just pretend I didn't say anything, and go back to thinking I'm a bratty emo kid."

Syn sighed and laid across the end of the bed on her side, facing him. she propped her head up with her elbow--which was lucky since she could on that side, it was her right cheek that was bruised and swollen. "Well, you're not being a selfish asshole, though. So, if you want that you're going to have to try or something." she added. "You're pale, shaky, and look like hell. Are you out of your morphine?"

His eyes darted away from her, over to his bag. Shit. She'd noticed. "No. I have some. I just... didn't take it last night," he offered lamely. The withdrawal pangs had been something physical for him to focus on, something tangible and not just in his head. They'd been welcome, at the time, but it made talking difficult.

She looked at him for a long, long moment. "Are you finally getting yourself off of it?" she asked carefully. If he was, she would be very happy about it, and she'd sign up to be there to help him through the worst of the withdrawals. She just wasn't sure that's what this was. Hopefully, but who knew.

Eli hesitated. That hadn't really been his goal, but... Well, shit, he wasn't going to lie to her. "That wasn't what I had in mind this morning..." he muttered, his voice trailing off as he eyed his bag uncomfortably.

...but it couldn't hurt... Well, except for the screaming withdrawal pangs he was already starting to go through.

"So why haven't you taken any then?" Syn asked, worried little frown on her features. "If you want to--and I suggest you do--then that's good, and you'll have all the help you need, I promise you that. But if that's not what you're doing, then why?"

A string of curse words flew through his head, but none managed to actually make it out of his mouth. "Because withdrawal hurts," Eli explained, his voice coming out in a near silent mutter. "The pain is enough to keep me focused on the here and now, and not on the things she put in my head." He hoped she would understand, or maybe drop it entirely. Or hell, maybe it would piss her off and she'd go back to being angry. That would be great.

"You realize she just did it to hurt you. Fuck her. Can you try to ignore it? I mean I could project a bunch of shit at you too, and I highly doubt it would effect you nearly as much. Is that actually working for you?" Syn asked. She wasn't sure if it would or not. She definitely knew about having a focus, but hers usually weren't pain based.

He glanced up at her, not really sure how to respond. He knew the best example would be... Well, the day they'd met. Her mother, and that memory, and what it had done to him. Eli pressed hesitantly at his eyes, feeling the beginnings of a pounding headache forming, worsened by the withdrawal. Oh, just peachy keen. "Do you remember... when we were at the lake? That memory you had? The... er... biting one?" he questioned, no longer able to look at her. "And how I reacted? It's... it really depends on the image being sent. How vivid it is, the emotions behind it." And if he was emotionally invested in the people involved, but she didn't need to know that.

"I remember." Syn said. "She was an insane bitch. What might have gone on in her head...whatever. Insane. She can't hurt you anymore, and anything that went on in that brain was a diseased mess. Keep that in mind. Or try to."

Eli nodded absentmindedly. Trying, he could do, though he didn't hold much hopes for success, not this soon. Not without going back to void, and Syn seemed very anti-catatonia on his part. "I'll try," he said quietly. It felt odd to say, not when the vivid... fantasies? had had his body twinging in sympathy from never-existent pain all night.

"You didn't answer me. Is the withdrawal helping you?" she asked. "What about just...doing something simple like watching a movie or reading a book, playing a game, anything that isn't just you sitting around with nothing to do but go through whatever's in your head?" Made sense to her that trying to do something else would at least help some.

"It helps some," he muttered hesitantly. It sure as hell wasn't helping for conversation. He was growing increasingly distracted with the knowledge that hey, there's morphine in that bag right there, free for the taking! "I don't think I could read right now. My head hurts." And he didn't particularly feel like leaving hi--the guest room, either. Seph was out there. If they were going to be around each other, he'd prefer they be alone so Seph could act out on his promise without interference from Syn.

"So do something else." Syn said, sighing. "You realize that the way you behave half the time is like you want to torture yourself as much as possible. Like you shoot down anything that might help you just on principal. Which...fuck that. Knock it the fuck off. That's just stupid, and I think you're smarter than that. So unless you have some deep seeded masochistic bent that borders on sadism because the rest of us that might care about you have to sit there and watch you do it..."

Why did she think he didn't have friends in the first place? The masochistic thing was a good question, though. Something to ponder later, considering he did go out of his way to hurt himself at every possible opportunity. Hell, the only reason he'd even started smoking was because it'd kill him faster.

Eli grabbed his bag with his left hand, pulling it up onto the bed. "Usually when I want to distract myself, I go outside." After a very frustrating moment where he realized he could either make it very obvious he was considering his right hand a traitor (Syn would doubtlessly not take that well) or he could use the bastard appendage to open the bag, he gave up and silently declared a momentary truce. At least for when Syn was around, he'd used the damned thing. All bets were off for when she left.

"Do you just not give a shit about the rest of us?" she asked. "Or how we might feel about the things you do? Because I have news for you. You have people in your life, and it's fucking painful to see you pull this bullshit every time. It is. And you just keep doing it. Not to mention you don't seem to care the effect it has on anyone but you. Are you that self centered that you don't even think about anyone outside of yourself?" Her voice was soft. Quiet.

Eli winced. "No, I..." God, talk was so fucking cheap. Why would she buy anything he said? His hands stilled, and still he couldn't look at her. Fuck, what did he say now? Everything had just been shot all to hell, and... argh. He hoped whatever deity was up there (or down, really, the direction didn't matter) was laughing his/her/its ass off. "I'm just not used to... people. Around. Caring. Hurting over the shit I do." He eyed her warily. "You're the closest anyone's ever been to me... ever. Since Alice." This is all new to me. I'm sorry I'm socially retarded.

"Well, the world consists of more than just you." Syn continued. "And this bullshit tendency you have for 'gee, I think I'm going to make my life as difficult as fucking possible on myself, just so I can be miserable twenty four hours a day' thing is fucking awful. I'm glad I'm close to you. But still. That has got to stop."

He had no idea what to say. Every single time he had agreed with her during this conversation, she'd seemed upset. Like he was agreeing just to appease her (and okay, arguably he had done that a few times as well). He flailed mentally for a long, long moment, trying to think of something, anything to say that wasn't just an agreeing sort of word. Er... "Okay." Shit! "I'll work on it," he added hastily, just to prove that yes he was listening to her. Fuuuck. Talking to Syn was hard.

"You'll work on it." Syn repeated. She sighed, and curled up a little where she was laying on her side, unhappy. "Sounds remarkably like 'whatever, I just want you to shut up' to me." she said. Because it truly did.

He laughed weakly, though it was more a strained, 'oh shit' laugh than a 'haha' laugh. "No, no, that's not what I meant. Really. If it bothers you, then... I'll try." Fuck, he was too dependent on Syn. Insanely so already. Why did that realization have him suddenly terrified? Because she'll leave, or you'll lose her, you moron.

"It really bothers me." Syn said. "A lot of people have worse lives than you do, and you don't have to trash it deliberately. But you keep doing it. It's...very difficult for me to deal with." She said carefully. She thought it was a waste. It was someone deliberately ruining shit just because. She couldn't condone people setting out to make themselves miserable when there was so much misery in the world to begin with. Why do that to yourself when you didn't have to? Why seek it out when there were people out there who were in situations they were never going to get out of? Eli was a rich prettyboy with psychic powers. His life didn't need to be nearly as difficult as he made it.

Eli sighed, bringing up both hands this time to press into his eyes. God, it felt like his brain was going to dribble out of his ears. Conversation, withdrawal and yesterday were kicking his ass. And he didn't know what to say. He wasn't going to make a promise he couldn't keep. He knew he wouldn't be able to become perfectly normal overnight and lose all of his self destructive behaviors. Hell, everything he did was self destructive. He even listened to his music too loud. "I will work on it, then. I'll do the best I can. Just... don't kick my ass to the curb too soon, because I know I'm going to fuck up eventually and have a bad day. I'll do the best I can, Syn." Even if his reasons were completely warped. He'd do the best he could, just so she could stop supporting him so much. The girl needed to take a fucking break herself, and if he had to straighten up just so she'd stop the supporting everyone all the time bullshit, even for just ten minutes? He'd do it.

"I'll accept that." Syn said. "And I'm not going to be kicking you to the curb period, so just...fuck off with that notion." she added, waving negligently at him as if to push the idea away. "I don't know when you're going to get that through your head. You'd think one day I might actually prove something to you. Apparently you're difficult to impress, or you don't find me trustworthy whatsoever."

He rolled his eyes behind his hands, not that she could see it. "Trust you more than anyone else. I just find it baffling that you actually want me around. And yes," Eli sighed. "I know you choose who gets to be in your life, and I'm happy you're keeping me around. It's just really weird for me." Because I suck.

"Well, weird or not, it says something about me that you keep arbitrarily deciding that I'm not worth my word." Syn said. "Think about that next time you go off on one of those tangents." It was that self centered thing creeping up again. Just in a different sort of way. He focused on himself, and didn't think about the implications his actions and feelings on things had on those around him.

What could he say? 'I'm terrified of losing you, so I'm trying to prepare myself for it ahead of time just in case'? Yeah, he really didn't think that would go over well. Eli took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I know you'd never break your word. I guess I'm just imagining some insane alternate universe in a fucked up sense of pre-panic where you would. I lose people I care about, Syn. I push them away, or frighten them off, or just fuck up completely. It's my talent. And I really don't want to screw up this time. I like you. I trust you. I found a family member who doesn't seem completely weirded out by my powers. I have friends, and apparently the world isn't made of complete suck like I thought two weeks ago."

"From what you've told me, you haven't had a chance to lose people, Eli." Syn said. "You didn't have anyone. The pushing away thing, yeah. I see that. You do it to me as often as you can. I just don't scare that easily. I'm hoping eventually you knock it off. I'd have a lot fewer headaches." She gave him a rueful little half smile.

"I hope I knock it off, too, just so we don't have to have this conversation anymore," he muttered, finally dropping his hands. His head still hurt; pressing against his eyes was not helping. "I like it better when we're getting along."

Syn smirked and reached out with a bare toe to push his leg. "Make up your mind. You said earlier you wanted me to be mad at you again, now you want to get along. What's it going to be, sweetie?" she asked.

"Getting along is better than you being mad. You being mad is better than you apologizing," he explained, eyeing her toe thoughtfully.

"I see. So there are varying degrees of acceptable behavior." she said. The light smirk was still in place, it only marred by her bruised cheek. "Who's calling the shots around here again? I believe we covered that with the me being the mistress of the universe thing." she added.

Eli groaned, plopping back onto the bed with a sigh, legs dangling over the edge. "Yes, you're the mistress of the universe. I acknowledge your supreme authority in everything," he sighed, throwing his arm over his eyes. There was a tiny hint of a smile tugging at his lips, the only real clue he was in a good mood.

She grinned. "That's better." she said firmly, slowly reaching out to mess up his hair, trying not to move the bed at all to warn him that she was going to. "See? You're learning! It's all good. And since you've accepted your fate of bowing to my supreme authority, you're all set."

He jumped when her hand touched his hair. "Gah!" Eli yelped, nearly rolling off the bed from shock. He moved his arm away, uncovering one eye to glare at her accusingly. "You have entirely too much fun doing that!" Playing ninja on the psychic wasn't cool! ...well, not for the psychic, at least.

She laughed, resting her head on her arm on the mattress. "It took me a long time to come up with the skills to be stealthy, and I don't get to use them much. Of course I enjoy it. I have to when I can, you know." she said, as if this should have been obvious. She even wiggled her ankle to make the bells on it jingle, which normally they didn't just because.

"I'm a psychic, so you enjoy scaring me like that more, right? Because of the irony that I don't see it coming?" he asked, sighing, shooting a glance down at her ankle. Was it creepy to like ankles..? "Well, I'm glad to entertain anyway I can. Feel free to give me a heart attack at any time, oh mistress of the universe."

Syn was grinning. "I enjoy scaring you just because it's fun to see you jump." she corrected. "It has nothing to do with you being a psychic. Though that is entertaining now that you mention it." she added. "And oh good! So you won't mind me continuing to do it and doing it often. Excellent."

Groan. Eli laughed weakly. "Shit. I should have seen that coming, too."

"Maybe all things me-related are just a mystery to you." Syn said thoughtfully. She was glad he was laughing and smiling now though. That was a plus. "It would make sense, being I'm a higher being and everything." she added wisely. It was difficult to keep a straight face but she tried!

He smirked at her for that. "Yeah, you're completely beyond my mere mortal understanding," he agreed with a solemn nod. Shit, it was true. Syn confused the crap out of him. Even when he was in a good mood, like right now.

She sort of half moved her foot back and forth, making the bells ring. "I am. I know, it's difficult for you to grasp, but for some reason you want to be around me anyhow. Maybe it's to gain higher understanding. Or to bask in my awesome presence. I'm not sure which." she finished. She smirked back at him.

"I think if I achieved higher understanding my brain would leak out of my ears. It's to bask in your awesome presence, for sure." Eli nodded as he spoke, smirk changing to a little half-smile at the sound of the bells.

"Well then." she said. "Bask away. Just know that occasionally you'll be given minor coronaries because I like to scare you." she said. She paused and watched his expression as she jingled the bells once more. "Like the anklet?" she asked.

He blinked at the question, surprised. The half-smile faded to a more wary expression. "Yeah. Why?" Is that creepy? Shit. It probably is.

She looked back at it, reaching out to flick one of the bells. "I've had it since I was a little girl. I can't take it off, actually." she said. "It's some sort of talisman or the like. Permanently fixed on there." She shifted, to sit up and she put her foot on his leg so he could get a better look at it. "Good thing I like it."

Eli sat up, propping himself up on his elbows as he gazed at it, trying not to get distracted with how close she was. "What's it for?" he questioned, eyebrows furrowing. It seemed like more of a hindrance than a help. Bells weren't exactly great for stealth... but then again, he'd never even noticed them before today.

"That was so I'd stop sneaking around all the time and being stealth ninja-girl." Syn answered with an amused sort of expression and tone. "I was hard to keep track of. So my mom had the anklet put on me, so she'd be able to hear me better. Really all it did was make me better at it."

He laughed at that, a full grin on his face. Picturing that? Syn running around as a little girl learning how to be stealthy with bells on? It'd just made his day. "Well, of course. You are the mistress of the universe. You can't be stopped with mere bells."

"Of course not." Syn said, laughing and grinning. "Even if they're magic silver bells. It's drilled in habit now to compensate for them so they don't ring when I walk." she added. "It's ingrained to make sure they don't sound. But they're pretty and I like them, so every now and again I like to let them ring."

"You should do it more often," Eli said, his eyes not moving from the bells. Of course, he immediately regretted saying that, but he didn't let the internal 'what the fuck did you say that for!?' register on his face. It'd lead to awkward questions, probably. "They're nice."

"Yeah?" Syn asked, watching him. "And that wouldn't have anything to do of course with wanting to be able to hear me coming or anything." she added, amused. She gave her foot a little shake to sound the bells again. "But thank you. I think they're nice too. I like them because they're sort of antique bells, instead of jingle ones. They don't have things inside them, they chime when they hit against each other."

He shot her a little smirk. "No, no, my intentions are pure and entirely unselfish. I'd never dream of attempting to thwart your surprise attacks on my person, oh great mistress." Of course, his declaration was completely ruined by the little snicker at the end of it. Oh well.

Synnove shifted to plant her toes on his side to give him a playful push. "Brat." she accused good naturedly. "Don't think you have me fooled. I'm scary smart, you know. Some might call me a super genius." Or not. Some just called her scary smart. She and her brother both had picked up the intelligence thing from their mother, who'd outranked most of the people around her.

He grunted at the push, but didn't make a move to retaliate. The thought of touching her again, with the bruise still fresh on her cheek, made him twitchy. "You're so smart it's terrifying," he agreed easily, smiling very faintly.

"Yeah but that's nothing coming from you. I think I terrify you just breathing." Synnove teased. She tickled his side with her foot though. Just for good measure. He was entirely too serious far too often than was good for him.

Eli snickered quietly, squirming quickly out of range of her toes. "Yeah, you do. You're very scary when you breathe. And talk. And looking at me, that's pretty scary, too. You're very intimidating, you know."

"So I'm told." Syn said, highly amused. Especially with him squirming out of the way. It just made her move to tickle his side with her fingers. "Yes I'm terribly scary in all my small helpless girlness." Okay so 'helpless' really didn't belong in a description of her. Like, ever.

He gasped, glaring at her and grinning at the same time. Yeah, he so wasn't going to laugh. It was a challenge now. He continued to squirm evasively away from her fingers, still not really willing to touch her himself. "You? Helpless? Jesus Christ, woman, you're the least helpless woman I've ever met in my life," he said on a breathless little laugh. Shit, well it wasn't full gut busting laughter yet. Maybe it didn't count.

Syn scrambled up next to him, to tickle both of his sides with both hands. Because he wasn't trying to push her off and therefore that was an opening. No one should ever give Synnove openings. She couldn't help but take them. "Little old me? No, I'm just a helpless little girl-thing! Really! I'm not really kickass awesome and terrifying like Oz the great and terrible! I'm not!" she teased.

Eli laughed breathlessly. Oh crap. So not fair! Instinctively he grabbed her wrists to hold her hands still, trying to calm down. "Shit. That is so not fair," he complained, trying to ignore the nervous, panicky 'you're touching her, stop it!' thoughts in the back of his head.

Since he'd gone back to sitting up to get at her hands, she slid in behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder, still tickling him only now she hooked one leg around him too to immobilize it. Why? Because she knew he'd try to get away. "I excel at unfairness."

Ohshitohshitohshitohshit seemed to be the mantra of choice when her leg wrapped around his waist. Oh shit! His laughter became considerably more strained, because Jesus she was trying to kill him. Really, she was. "Yes... you do. Oh God, stop," Eli laughed again, louder this time, firming his grip on her wrists and trying to get her to stop. "My face is going to break. It's not used to laughing or smiling this much!" he complained.

She grinned, and abruptly stopped, though not before she'd tickled him for a few more moments. "Okay. I wouldn't want your face to break." she said. "I couldn't take pictures of you anymore without scaring small children, and I don't know if I could pass it off as surrealism."

"Oh, yes, think of the children!" He rolled his eyes, trying to keep his screaming panic internalized. She was a pretty girl. Shouldn't she have known being this close was very distracting!? Hell, he was a broken fucked up mess, but he was (apparently) still human!

Syn experimentally tickled him again, just for a second, mostly to see what he'd do. "I am. Ahh the children. Though...really, I don't do children's photography. And people don't buy my prints for their kid's rooms anyways...."

He yelped, squirming around her fingers as best as he could. "Syn," he whined quietly, laughing just a little, trying (and failing) to keep the little creep of petulant out of his voice. Oh, look, he was acting five today. Go him. He wanted to comment on the children's photography thing (namely because it was creepy to think of any picture of himself in a kids' room), but he didn't trust himself to speak right now.

She stopped and looked at him expectantly. "Yeeeeessss?" she asked, pausing tickling him once again so he could speak. And breathe. Breathing was helpful.

He frowned, because he hadn't really had time to plan what he was going to say. Not really. "Stop it?" he asked hopefully, not really believing for a second she would. "And please don't talk about your pictures in kids' rooms. It's weird enough to think that somebody might buy my face. What if I give some kid nightmares?" he complained, mostly joking.

"You wouldn't." Syn said firmly. "You're pretty. Therefore no nightmares. And hm. Stop it?" she asked, tickling him just a second before she stopped again. "What'll you give me?"

Eli made a face at her. Pretty. Great. He was pretty. Because that was his goal in life. "Thanks, I'm pretty. Shit, don't talk about that with my sister, please." He still shuddered when he remembered the phase Alice had gone through when he'd been a kid. And pink? Ugh. "Uh, I don't know. What do you want? I think I might have some lint in my pocket," he offered with a smirk.

Syn gave him a hug from behind since that's where she was. "You can do better than that." She informed him. "You'll have to come up with something." She bounced her foot (which happened to be around his leg) to make the bells ring.

He liked that. It was pleasant. Much more than the tickling thing. She was spoiling him with this affection shit, really, she was. "Well, it's best to start small in negotiations," he explained somberly. "But if you're not going for the lint, I don't suppose you'd be interested in my immortal soul?"

Synnove thought for a moment, humming as she thought that over, blue eyes up on the ceiling as she contemplated. "Oh, alright." she agreed. "Your soul sounds like a good trade. Do I get that in writing?" she asked with a positively wicked smile.

"Sure, in writing's fine," Eli agreed, smirking. "It's not like I'm doing anything with my soul, you might as well have it." In his opinion, she was getting shafted in this deal. His soul was all tattered and gloomy anyways.

"Deal." Syn said, releasing him after she gave him a squeeze. "I'll expect that on my desk by tomorrow morning, signed in blood of course." she said, stretching as she stood. Her back cracked and she made a face, but it didn't last.

He turned around to eye her thoughtfully. "Now, what would you do if you actually woke up to find a piece of paper in the house actually signed in blood giving you rights to my immortal soul?" Because he tended to take things like that literally...

Syn paused and regarded him, head tilted to the side. "I have no idea. Keep the page somewhere safe, I suppose." she said. "Couldn't let something like that going missing." As she eyed him, she seemed to consider. "Do you actually believe in the soul?"

Eli hesitated. "As weird as it is, with all my bitterness and the shit I've gone through... Everybody tends to assume I'd be an atheist. One of those when you're dead, you're dead people... But yeah. I believe in the soul."

"Then maybe you should keep it." Syn said. "You wouldn't want to go giving it away if you believed in it, would you?" she asked. Though now she was really curious about his answer. She tended not to believe in deities of any description. Other things? Certainly. Angels and demons and the like though she'd never met an angel. Demons, yes.

He raised his eyebrows. "Then you just let go of me for nothing," he pointed out, smirking just a little and feeling quite pleased with himself. It was the closest he'd ever come to actually winning when it came to Synnove.

"I could always start again." she pointed out. "Or just extract something else from you later, considering I'd not have been compensated for accommodating you so nicely like that." She added. She crossed her arms over her chest and arched a brow at him.

Well that hadn't lasted long. Of course, he hadn't expected it to. He crossed his own arms defensively, eyeing her warily, half expecting her to pounce him. "Something else like what?" he prodded. Maybe it was the clairvoyant in him, but he hated surprises.

She smiled sweetly at him. "We'll see." she said flippantly. "Until then, I should get up and shower and eat something. Which you should do too." she added. The last bit had a bit of a tone to it that suggested he not argue with her.

Eli cringed. Shower? At her house? That was... far out of his realm of comfort. Far, far out. "Okay," he agreed lamely, eyes dropping to the mattress. "Shower, food. Living people stuff. Gotcha."

"Right." Syn said. "You can use the bathroom down here or upstairs if you want, doesn't matter." she said. "And of course, cereal's available. Or microwave stuff...we've discussed my lack of culinary skills." Her making breakfast would be fatal.

"The more you mention it, the more I want to try your cooking," Eli grumbled. Of course, he could eat anything; he wasn't picky. Surely her food couldn't be that bad.

"It'd kill you. And like, anyone who smelled the fumes. I'd kill the whole household. I bet I could even kill Teddy if I cooked. The world might end. Let's not." Synnove said firmly. "But up! Showering! Eating!" she snapped her fingers. "Hop to!"

He rose to his feet, smirking at her. "You know, logically speaking, you must have cooked before to know you're bad at it... and Seph and Doc and Teddy are still alive. So you can't be that bad, Syn."

"Any time I've tried, it's been like, a five alarm disaster. I have since learned that I need to give it up as a bad job, and never ever try again." she said firmly. "I know when to quit. It's...my one failing to make up for the rest of my awesomeness." she tossed in there for good measure.

Eli continued to smirk at her. He totally wasn't buying how bad she said the food was. "Uh huh," he agreed, obviously humoring her. "Whatever you say, oh grand supreme mistress."

Sticking her tongue out at him she wrinkled her nose. "Fine, don't take my word for it! I'm still not consenting to kill your ass with my awful cooking!" she declared. Then she reached out to snag his wrist, and pull him towards the door. "Shower. Food. These are simple commands I am positive you can fulfill them well."

He let her pull him along, rolling his eyes as she did, because, really, what else was he going to do? It was her house. "Yeah, I'm pretty good at simple stuff like that. Why, I can even shower completely on my own!" he added, voice heavy with sarcasm and a touch of amusement.

Syn paused, and gave him a wide eyed, amazed look. "You can?" she asked. "Well! Here I thought i was going to have to help you. But if you're so confident, we'll just let you do that by yourself then." she teased.

Groaaan. "Oh, God, even I'm not that broken! I can shower on my own!" And of course, the internal panic about the thought of her being around him when he was even the slightest bit naked began immediately. Shit. Emotions sucked! Syn was a pretty, attractive... friend. That was all. And he would be perfectly happy for things to stay this way. Friends. Being friends was good. Very good.

She giggled at him. "Well, just checking!" she teased. "You're the one that forgets all this stuff, so I have to be sure, now don't I?" she asked. "Now shoo. Go. Be clean. It's awesome and makes you smell better." she assured him.

Eli shot her a dark, sulky look for that. What was he, five? He headed into the bathroom alone, grumbling under his breath. Syn was going to kill him, one way or another. And he might just die smiling at this rate.