Loop Two

[wipeawaythedebt]

When he wakes up it's slowly, his neck screaming and his mouth tasting the wrong end of a horse. It's a familiar, if somewhat disorienting feeling. The kind of feeling he used to have waking up after a night of gambling at the saloon down the street, after passing out on his desk with a bottle in his hand. But that was before Columbia, before her and... wait a minute. Didn't he just do this? Shouldn't he be...

"Elizabeth! Alana!"

Standing up, he fights the urge to sway and maybe lose the contents of his stomach as he heads towards the door. He's not gone completely crazy has he? They were just here, he knows they were just here. Pausing at the edge of his desk, he pulls over the newspaper. Same date, 1912. It doesn't make any sense. None of this does. Has something gone wrong with one of Elizabeth's tears? Have they gone rogue somehow, like she can't control them anymore?

He's got to figure this out, "ELIZABETH!"

Comments

[professionalcuriosity]

This time, Alana knows the lobby when she opens her eyes. It leaves a sick feeling twisting in her stomach, that sense of recognition; she shouldn't have cause to recognize it. She should be upstairs in Booker's office.

That's exactly where she's about to head, catching herself before she starts up the stairs. "Elizabeth?" She's down here too, somewhere. "Are you here?"

[cagedlamb]

There'd been a few brief moments Elizabeth was confused and groggy. She knew where she was, but hadn't she been in Booker's office? That had happened, hadn't it?

Of course it had. If it'd been a dream, she'd have woken up in bed, not here. Not again. She looked up when she heard someone calling for her, realizing Alana was here - again - too.

"I'm here," she said, from the chair she'd been in the first time she awoke. Standing, she looked around, trying to even begin to understand what was going on. She walked over after she gained her bearings, realizing if Alana was here, someone else was, too. "We need to go back to Booker."

It was almost on cue that she realized she faintly heard someone yelling from upstairs somewhere. Without a second thought, she started climbing the stairwell, intent on seeing what was going on.

[wipeawaythedebt]

Opening the door, he heads into the hallway, "Elizabeth!" And almost as an afterthought, "Doc!?" If Elizabeth's looped them, she probably caught the doc up in it, too. Because won't that just figure? He feels for the doc, he really does, the woman isn't cut out for this kind of thing.

To be honest, some days he's not sure he is.

[professionalcuriosity]

Alana heaves a sigh, though she's not sure it's one of relief, exactly. It helps to know they're all here, but it doesn't make it any easier. She still doesn't understand how they're here.

"Booker," she says, more relaxed now. "I don't know what that was. We just woke up downstairs again." And since he doesn't seem too surprised that they're here, she's guessing the same is true for him.

[cagedlamb]

Finding Booker in the exact same place he'd been before - Elizabeth didn't really know what to think. She'd found herself wondering if she was doing it herself, but - but she'd always known when they went into them. It was hard to miss stepping into one of those things.

Still. Still, she felt the need to say it out loud.

"This isn't me," she said as she locked eyes with Booker when they met up upstairs. She said it as much for herself as she did for him. It didn't work this way, not - not that she knew of. "Booker - what's the last thing you remember?"

Was it the same as them? Something had to make sense with this.

[wipeawaythedebt]

"You're absolutely sure?" Not that he thinks she's lying, but it's the only thing that makes sense in the moment. His head's spinning from more than the alcohol he's been drinking and he's about out of patience. Not that he's ever had much to begin with.

"I was leaving with Lutece, to try and..." And what? "...to try and do it right this time." If he's being given second and third chances, he's going to get Elizabeth out of that tower and out of Columbia the right way this time. No more side trips, just get her and get out.

[professionalcuriosity]

"That's what I remember," Alana says, a note of protest in her voice. If anything, it makes sense that they recall the same thing, but that's just a sign of how strange all this is. "We were in this office and that Lutece arrived."

And then Booker was going to leave them there to find Elizabeth who was right here. She understands the importance of the mission to him, so perhaps it's irrational to be frustrated he was just going to leave them, but she is. They're lost enough as it is without separating.

[cagedlamb]

"I'm positive. This isn't how it happens. I don't - I don't know what this is," Elizabeth said, looking worried. What was happening - even if it was, somehow, they wouldn't have all ended up in the same spots as before. It didn't make any sense. They all apparently remembered the same thing, at least, and she glanced at Alana. "That's what I remember, too."

She was about to try to make him stop and stay. Leaving was an awful idea.

[wipeawaythedebt]

"Goddamn." He swears, rubbing his eyes. He's so tired of all this. Jumping through times and spaces, never knowing where the next one goes. He doesn't care much for his life and frankly he's surprised that he's lived this long, but he'd at least like to face whatever kills him knowing why.

And the voice coming from the hallway doesn't help him much. "Well, isn't this quite the surprise. Mr. DeWitt, you have guests."

Lutece. "What the hell have you done?"

[professionalcuriosity]

Alana stands her ground, only turning in place to face Lutece. His being here again makes as much sense as anything else, but it's unsettling all the same. She'd think things were simply repeating, except all of them seem to recall having been here before — except Lutece, perhaps.

She doesn't want to call attention to that, though, not least when Lutece is far from trustworthy. "Hello," she says simply, glancing toward Elizabeth. The situation would be sticky enough without the strange time warp.

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth could only stare at Lutece with a hard, untrusting gaze. His appearance to begin with had been unnerving. To see him show up again was bad enough, but he also appeared to not know who they were. If he had been part of this in the way they were - whatever this was - wouldn't he know them?

Or was he pretending not to know?

Her gaze shifted to Booker, waiting to see what he was going to do. It seemed Lutece was there for him again, after all.

[wipeawaythedebt]

"Mr. DeWitt, we do have a schedule of sorts to keep. Although the timeline does seem to have gotten a bit... confused."

Booker watches as Lutece's eyes glance over to Elizabeth for a moment and he moves to stand between them. He may be shit at everything else, but he'll go to hell before he lets Lutece get his hands on her.

"No." He speaks slowly, not really knowing if this is the right thing to do or a terrible mistake, but he guesses making the same decision over and over again isn't going to help anyone. "Changed my mind. I'm no taking you deal."

"We've been over this, DeWitt, your debt-"

"Is mine, I'll sort it myself."

[professionalcuriosity]

It's an inappropriate time to smile, but Alana can't help it, just a little bit. In spite of all her protests to the contrary, there is a definitely place in her heart where the professional and the personal overlap. Her clients are important to her, genuinely so. As alarming and uncertain as all this may be, Booker's words matter, are significant.

Whether or not they'll get this sorted out and get to talk about it is a different matter altogether.

"You heard him, Mr. Lutece," she says evenly. "I think it's time for you to leave."

[cagedlamb]

She was admittedly surprised to hear Booker more or less shut him down completely. It was a good surprise, one that she was quick to try to help back him up along with Alana.

"Yes, leave," Elizabeth echoed, staring at the man. He was as unsettling as ever, and she was beginning to wonder if he had something to do with all of this somehow.

[wipeawaythedebt]

The man in the suit smiles, almost as if he's heard this all before and with a slight shrug of the shoulders, he replaces his hat and heads for the door. "Very well, Mr. DeWitt, the debt is yours once again. Perhaps we'll meet again." Tipping the hat a bit as he passes Alana and Elizabeth he adds, "Ladies, a pleasure as always. Or will be. Perhaps both."

Booker just watches him leave.