The whole 'sleep' command thing, of course, unfortunately, lasted for just as long as last time. And a few hours in the lake wouldn't have sat well with anybody, never mind a certain psychopath who'd just been pushed to the edge by someone he should have taken down days ago. Add to the situation some duct tape and... well. There was a very unhappy man clambering out of the lake right now.
It was lucky this was at Hogwarts... that there was The Rule. Because otherwise, he'd have died about nine times over.
At least getting out of the duct tape had been damned easy enough. to get out of. Kind of so much as a flick of the finger with that, really. And then it was climbing out of the lake, soaking from head to toe, hair dripping from its regular spikes into his eyes... His fingers clawed into the mud as he dragged himself up, and there was at least one thing that he was absolutely certain of: Susan Sto-Helit? Was definitely going to die.
How did she do things like that? She just pulled things out of nowhere. Unless there was some kind of superhuman power that generated ice cream out of thin air? Which would be cool, but the most useless power ever. But then there was everything with the bees and the butterflies and the fish and this world they were in right now... She was like the embodiment of magic. He didn't know what to think of her. He just... accepted it, and it was a dangerous sort of emotion working on him, especially when he tended to be so impressionable in the first place
( ... )
Delirium looked at her feet, encased in mismatched stockings but sans actual shoes. She had a tendency to lose her shoes if she didn't concentrate on them.
She looked at him curiously, the butterflies fluttering and landing on her hair. "Why did she do that?" she asked. "It's really not very nice." It would have been fun for her, but then again things like gravity and oxygen were more or less optional.
Why did she do it? ...Because he'd tried to steal her brain? ...Again? Maybe because he'd smashed that other man over the head with a cricket bat. Or it might have had something to do with his freezing Susan's poker and cracking the thing in two. Who knew?
"She..." He could have explained, and told the truth, but... he liked Delirium. There was a strange part of him that almost wanted to protect her from himself, like he'd tried so hard to do with his mother. It hadn't ended well, when he'd tried to show Virginia Gray just what he could do. How would it have ended if he told Delirium what he was capable of? He looked down at the ice cream again, pausing for a few long seconds, before he finally decided on three simple words that could answer most of any question.
'Struggling with something' was definitely one way to put it. 'Full out lying to Delirium so she didn't run, fast, in the other direction' was probably better. It had completely destroyed him, his mother locking herself in her room after he'd showed her what he could do. Delirium freaking out would not help matters at all.
His eyes flickered back to hers as she spoke, and he swirled his spoon around in the ice cream for a few long seconds, clearing his throat. She had no idea how true that was right now. "Yeah, they do. People are... strange."
Delirium sometimes knew when she was being lied to, but now was not one of those times. "Sometimes I'm glad I'm not a person," she said gravely. People were strange--granted, she made a lot of them that way. She hadn't made Sylar strange, though--something else had done that, and she was trying to kick that strangeness in a happier direction. One with sprinkles.
Glad she wasn't a person... Huh. Even with the butterflies, the mix-matched clothing, the ... strangeness, he'd never thought of her as inhuman before. Did that mean she was something else? An angel? ...A demon? She couldn't have been a demon. She was too nice to be a demon. Demons didn't give people ice cream and soothing. "People are an infection," he replied in a slow sort of voice, finally lifting his spoon and studying the ice cream on the end with narrowed eyes. "They need to be cured."
Delirium wasn't fully up on just what an 'infection' was, but it didn't sound like a good thing at all.
"What do you mean?" she asked, curious. The butterflies, equally curious, landed all around the rim of her bowl, their wings taking on all the hues of the sprinkles.
"An infection," he repeated, and nodded once, swirling his spoon around. "A disease." He finally took a bite of the ice cream, savoring the sweet flavor in his mouth for a few long seconds before he allowed himself to speak again. "People who do..." He let his eyes flicker back up to Delirium for a moment, furrowing in on the woman with... almost a question lurking in his eyes. "Bad things. People who ruin it for everyone else."
Disease was a little easier to understand--many of those who moved through her Realm had mental diseases. "Lots of people do bad things," she said, offering some ice cream to the butterflies. "I think it's because they're people."
People did bad things because they were people? It made sense but... Sylar was frowning, another scoop of ice cream lifting halfway to his mouth and just kind of stuttering to a stop right there. Lazy, melting drips plopped into the ice cream bowl below, as he contemplated. "Well, that's no explanation," he finally decided on, pushing the spoon back into the ice cream and swirling it around in the sprinkles. "They shouldn't use that as their excuse. It's a cheap way out." Ruined it for the rest of everybody.
Delirium was not good at explaining things. It was kind of part of who and what she was. "Um. You remember how I said that not knowing is sometimes the only thing that makes it okay?" she asked, as the butterflies landed on her toes. The butterflies didn't know too much. She herself did, and so could speak from experience.
Sylar paused for a few long seconds, letting his eyes flicker to Delirium's, darkly, for a moment. "You said to be careful what to put in my head," he replied in a slightly edgy voice, lifting the spoon and studying it. "Because I can't get it back out again." And shoved the ice cream in his mouth, raising an eyebrow at the woman with a question lingering on his features. Why?
Delirium's mismatched eyes regarded him, almost sadly. "Knowing too much can hurt you," she said. "It hurt me, a long long time ago." She had been Delight, once, long before humanity, before some now-forgotten hurt had turned her into Delirium.
The ice cream was almost forgotten, in his hands. Delirium had so much to offer, and he was just absolutely infatuated with her. Nothing sexual, obviously, but, God. "Hurt you," he repeated in a slow voice, picking up another spoonful of ice cream. The stuff was practically soup now. "Why? What happened to you?" The look in his eyes was all too intrigued with this conversation to not be creepy.
It was lucky this was at Hogwarts... that there was The Rule. Because otherwise, he'd have died about nine times over.
At least getting out of the duct tape had been damned easy enough. to get out of. Kind of so much as a flick of the finger with that, really. And then it was climbing out of the lake, soaking from head to toe, hair dripping from its regular spikes into his eyes... His fingers clawed into the mud as he dragged himself up, and there was at least one thing that he was absolutely certain of: Susan Sto-Helit? Was definitely going to die.
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She looked at him curiously, the butterflies fluttering and landing on her hair. "Why did she do that?" she asked. "It's really not very nice." It would have been fun for her, but then again things like gravity and oxygen were more or less optional.
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"She..." He could have explained, and told the truth, but... he liked Delirium. There was a strange part of him that almost wanted to protect her from himself, like he'd tried so hard to do with his mother. It hadn't ended well, when he'd tried to show Virginia Gray just what he could do. How would it have ended if he told Delirium what he was capable of? He looked down at the ice cream again, pausing for a few long seconds, before he finally decided on three simple words that could answer most of any question.
"I don't know."
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"Maybe she was angry," she said. "People do funny things when they're angry."
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His eyes flickered back to hers as she spoke, and he swirled his spoon around in the ice cream for a few long seconds, clearing his throat. She had no idea how true that was right now. "Yeah, they do. People are... strange."
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"What do you mean?" she asked, curious. The butterflies, equally curious, landed all around the rim of her bowl, their wings taking on all the hues of the sprinkles.
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"An infection," he repeated, and nodded once, swirling his spoon around. "A disease." He finally took a bite of the ice cream, savoring the sweet flavor in his mouth for a few long seconds before he allowed himself to speak again. "People who do..." He let his eyes flicker back up to Delirium for a moment, furrowing in on the woman with... almost a question lurking in his eyes. "Bad things. People who ruin it for everyone else."
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