What?
Lana giggled at Elijah’s comment, slowing down just the same. It was better for her leg anyway. They’d take the day slow, just enjoying the environment. There was no reason to be in a rush. She shrugged at his question. To be honest, she had no idea what she’d get first. “I dunno. Food maybe?” She suggested, walking into the market. She wandered past the stalls, weaving through the cramped aisles and women carrying platters full of grasshoppers. She’d never seen anything like that. She stopped one of the women and asked her in broken spanish what they were. Before this, Lana felt like she knew much more spanish than she actually did. But now she was painfully aware that all of her knowledge was limited to elementary phrases.
The woman explained they were to eat. Grasshoppers? To eat? Interesting! Lana grinned and bought a bag full from the woman, plucking one out and popping it in her mouth like it was popcorn. The flavor was new, and the texture…crunchy for sure. She laughed, pulling one out and holding it out to Elijah. “Try one! It’s good!”
Elijah listened to the woman speak in Spanish, completely confused to what was going on. He didn’t know any Spanish. He didn’t ever feel the need to actually learn it. Why would he? He lived in England. English. German was what he wanted to do, not Spanish. And he could already feel himself forgetting most of it. They never went anywhere in Germany or places that spoke the German language. No one really cared about his knowledge, so he just started to let it go. He didn’t have a future in it, anyways. He probably didn’t have a future at all.
He faked a smile for Lana, though, cringing the second that she put that grasshopper in her mouth. That looked terrible. And she wanted him to have some. God, no. But Elijah just couldn’t say no to Lana. He just couldn’t. So, reluctantly, he took the grasshopper from her and just looked at it. “Are…you sure?” he asked, just making sure. No, she wouldn’t lie to him. But this didn’t look good at all.
Lana was excited to get to spend time with Elijah again. Even though they had stopped fighting, it was difficult to find time to spend with Elijah, both because of her leg injury, and because of not “showing up” as often as she used to. She wanted to be conscious, and she wanted to spend time with Elijah like a real girlfriend would. However, it was nearly impossible when she had to share this body with three other people. So, now that she as at least able to hobble around with a cane, she was going to take advantage of the little time she got.
So she dragged Elijah to the Benito Juarez Market, hoping to buy some food and clothes to take back with her to remember time there, or rather, to remember she went. Things about her were becoming fuzzier and fuzzier, and she wanted to document every moment she was conscious, before she couldn’t remember any of it. She leaned on her cane as she walked, reaching out for Elijah’s hand as they approached the building it was housed in. “C’mon, Camel!”
Elijah had been hating his life ever since he got out of that hospital. Well, he was before, but now he was really hating it. In order for him to recover, he had to keep moving. But moving hurt. He would refuse moving around places. The one time he did go somewhere, it ended up with his older brother puking into his own lap and being stuck at the top of a ferris wheel. Completely miserable. So why would he really want to go anywhere? Dying in his bed sounded better than going anywhere. But…this was Lana. And he couldn’t say no to her. Lana was the reason why he was in pain in the first place. He couldn’t say no to her wanting him to get the surgery.
When Lana reached out for his hand, he took it. Elijah knew that they were getting looks, since it was pretty weird to see a younger male hold hands with a much older…crippled male. Some people were just judgmental like that. Of course those looks bothered him, but he wasn’t going to really say anything or show that it bothered him. Or at least try not to show it. “I can’t…keep up with you…speed demon,” he said, trying his best to make a joke. Walking hurt, keeping up with his girlfriend hurt, talking hurt too. So going out with her was a painful experience. He couldn’t do much about it, though. Just had to attempt to get through the day without passing out or even crying. “What…are you gonna…buy first?”
A flying house…I could lock Collin inside.
The trip towards the ferris wheel was brutal. Just the anticipation of it was making him lightheaded and weak in the knees. He was lucky he made it there without passing out. When they were seated and the ride started moving, he gripped the bar tightly, shutting his eyes tight. “I-I’ll try…” Yeah. He’d try. But there was no guarantee he’d make it. If anything, he’d fall off this thing first. They were going to die for sure.
Elijah sat down beside Collin, glad to be off of his feet. He could finally just focus on breathing, no matter how painful it was. He watched his older brother as they went up higher and higher, pretty much enjoying the panic that was apparent on Collin’s face. But all of a sudden his fun stopped - the ferris wheel was stopped. And they were at the top. Elijah wasn’t exactly excited to be at the top, but oh well. He swung his legs back and forth, hoping to make the situation for his big brother a bit worse. “We’re stuck,” Elijah said, just shrugging.
Well, how was Collin supposed to turn that down? Elijah was right. He couldn’t spend time with Elijah if he was down here while he was up there. It was defeating the entire purpose of the trip. But did Eli really need to go on that ride? He knew about his fear of heights. He knew he’d have a panic attack. So why? He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was already panicking a bit, and they hadn’t even gotten up off the bench. Just the anticipation of it was enough to set him off. “Fine. Fine,” he muttered before standing. “C’mon.”
Elijah tried not to look smug when Collin admitted his defeat. Of course he was going to win this battle, especially when he guilt tripped him into it. Elijah had limited time left, most likely, so Collin would just look like a jerk that didn’t want to spend time with him. Pushing himself up from his seat, he was already out of breath. The walk was a hassle over there, but he managed. “Don’t…cry,” Elijah wheezed, grinning up at his brother.
Collin felt bad for not being around his brother enough. He knew he forced Elijah to go through all this pain when he didn’t want to, and now he rarely even had the time to spend with him. But there was just so much going on in his life that it was hard to find time for everyone. One would think it was the wedding planning that was keeping him away from his brother, but that wasn’t it at all. Collin had spent a lot of time on his own, meditating. Or at least trying to. And when that didn’t work, he would just cry. There was a lot in his life that still didn’t get resolved. His daughter was still dead. His brother was still dying. The scars from Mercy were still on his face. The trauma from all those things at once were piling up on him, and he was terrified that the little light of the upcoming wedding wouldn’t be enough to soothe him. He’d be broken forever.
But here he was with his brother, trying to forget it all, trying to bond with him again. He had a deep desire to go back to when his brother was young. Back to when he was a hero and not the person Elijah hated most in the world. He wanted them to be close again. But even now, as they sat on that bench, he never felt more disconnected from him. He wondered if they’d ever be close again, or if his brother would always have that disdain for him.
When Elijah pointed out the ferris wheel, Collin tensed up, staring at the monster of a machine apprehensively. “Okay…I’ll wait here.”
Elijah frowned when Collin said that he was going to wait. Why was he going to wait? This was for Elijah. Elijah got to pick where they went, what they did. And he wanted to go on that ferris wheel. With his brother. Mostly for the so-called ‘torture’ he was going to put Collin through, but still. It wasn’t going to be fun if he was sitting up there alone for however long.
Crossing his arms, Elijah winced a bit. His chest was still sore from the surgery. Just having Mercy attacking his stitches put him back weeks in recovery. “C’mon,” he said, pouting. “I just want…to go with my big… brother.” Hopefully that would somehow inspire Collin to go with him. “I thought…you wanted to spend time…with me. I can’t..spend time with…you if you’re down here while…I’m up there.”
