[Locked to Elizabeth] Backdated to...I am not sure when. :|

[destroytheother]

I need to talk to you.

As soon as you see this.

Don't go back to the apartment, if you find yourself somewhere else.

Comments

[pplrunincircles]

What's

Are you okay?

I've been here. I mean, I've been at the apartment. Should I not be here?

[destroytheother]

I would rather you be at the Conrad right now.

I can't explain it all to you through the journals but it's--my cousin. He's here. In Chicago.

And he's out for blood. Mine.

[pplrunincircles]

He's

But you

I'm not

I can't.

I'm staying here.

Please. Can you come home? I want to

I want to see you. I want to help even if I can't do anything. Just Are you okay?

[destroytheother]

He is not someone to be trusted. He is not someone to be undermined.

He hates me, and he wants to hurt me.

Nikolas is smart enough to find out the best way to hurt me is through you.

I can't risk it.

I know you never listen but you don't know what I'm dealing with.

You're not safe there.

[pplrunincircles]

What if I'm not with you and he finds out anyway? All my stuff is here, and if he gets in here, he could probably figure it out. He could have looked in the journals already. I have public entries and you responded to them, and he could come after anything he sees that you've even spoken to if he's so determined. Just cause I stay at the Conrad doesn't mean I won't go outside still and then what?

[destroytheother]

I'm good at what I do. I'd leave no trace of anything in the matter of hours. He could easily assume you're just a target I chose to speak to if he stumbled on those public entries. If I play it right.

You wouldn't have to remain locked up in the Conrad.

I don't

I don't know anything

[pplrunincircles]

He could assume but what if he doesn't? Are you taking him here? I mean do you think he knows about this place already?

Please, just

Come home or tell me where you are. I'm worried, and I don't

I just want to see you again.

[destroytheother]

I arranged a few things to cover my tracks and send him on a wild goose chase for a bit. Don't know how long that'll hold.

Don't--don't go anywhere.

I'll be there soon, okay?

I will.

[destroytheother]

He manages to drag himself back. Josef doesn't want to. He doesn't want her to see him like this, rattled bloody knuckles and open wounds.

It takes him back to the night of the final plague, and he feels so similarly right now and he doesn't--he doesn't want to hurt her the way he did that night. He can't. He can't, not when he knows it won't change anything. Not when he knows she won't leave.

Closing the door behind him once he's inside, Josef leans against it. Closing his eyes. Trying to breathe. Nikolas is here. He's here and everything they said it--it's ringing in his ears until those hollow spaces start opening up again.

Josef knew the good couldn't last.

It never does.

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth has been pacing. There'd be a hole in the carpet except her version of pacing involves walking all over in every direction and shape around an apartment, biting her lower lip and staring at her journal which is clutched in her hands.

She drops it at the sight of him, and it lands at her feet and she forgets about it entirely. There is blood. She had a feeling that he'd been hurt but that doesn't stop the heavy weight of pain that floods over her at seeing it in person. Elizabeth makes a soft, pained noise and runs to his side, afraid to wrap her arms around him as much as she wants to, afraid that she'll hurt him more. And she never wants to be an instrument of pain against him even on accident.

"Where are you hurt? Should I-...I can get bandages. I can-" And she stretches her hands toward him, reaching for places that aren't hurt trying to press closer to him.

[destroytheother]

Josef's eyes snap open

There's never been anyone to worry about him before. There hadn't ever been anything to lose. He'd never known how fucking terrifying it could feel to have something to lose, something that can be used against you in the worst of ways.

Hasn't he done that to everyone else he has ever encountered?

It'd be poetic if it didn't hurt so damn much.

"It's okay," he assures her, and he shouldn't because it's not. "Looks messier than it is. We should--"

Talk. They should talk. It's the last thing he wants but he needs her to understand.

[pplrunincircles]

It's not okay. She knows that. Her heart curls up and twists too tight at the sight of him bleeding and in pain. Concern presses against her chest. Her hands start to tremble from the weight of it, and she doesn't know where to touch him that won't hurt him too.

"Okay. We can talk." Yes, she knows what he meant to say even if he didn't say it. "Can you- You should sit down, please."

There's begging in the please. There's a tremble and a crack that she can't suppress. She presses her lips together and swallows, keeping her hands on him.