All The Power In The World Can't Help You Now (Elsie + Evie)

Unfortunately, due to being a little scrawny and having a bad leg, Elliot was quite used to hypocrisy on that front. It was almost a relief seeing that Elsie either didn't notice or didn't care, judging by her blunt acceptance of his statement. "My brother did," Elliot found himself saying, almost distracted. However, the second he realized what he was saying he blushed a little, surprised and somewhat embarrassed. "N-not that he meant it like that, of course. But he always told me to leave it to him instead. I just think he didn't want me to get hurt, but . . . " Elliot trailed off, not really having a conclusion for his thought. He wasn't even sure what prompted him to air a grievance like Isaac about that, especially one that he didn't even really realize he had. Nevertheless, it left just as quickly as it had come.

Now, names. Remembering which was which shouldn't be too hard, right? Sure, they looked almost identical and had very similar names, for some annoying reason, but at least they made sure to wear different colored contacts. Their personalities and tones of voice were quite distinct too, but they didn't make for nearly as good mnemonics. "Elsie, S, Scarlet. Evie, V, Verdant," Elliot said, noting their eyes as he drew up his conclusion. Now that he had a chance to turn their names over in his head, he didn't think that he'd be forgetting. "See? Not hard at all."

He was just begging for Elsie to lend Evie a pair of colored contacts one day, wasn't he?

Surprisingly enough, Elliot hadn't actually been to the forest yet. Whenever he needed to explore and adventure, he just naturally gravitated towards the Digital World instead. "That sounds fun," he said, even if it left him wondering why Evie was blushing so much. She was just naturally kind of a blushy person, wasn't she? "I could help you guys look for a sturdy one, if you want. I used to climb trees a lot, so I know what the best ones look like." Emphasis on used to. There was a brief flash of pain in Elliot's eyes as they wandered down to his leg for a fraction of a second. He'd never really get over that, would he?

"Yeah. You've got that right," he added as Evie asked about the great outdoors. Sure, he loved to nerd out when he was home, but before and after the injury alike he was a surprisingly active kid. How else would he have such a spring in his step despite the bad leg? "What kind of toy are you talking about? Can't say I've seen any that need trees to work."

Then Elsie shut down and started squealing a little. If it wasn't for the fact that pointing it out would have likely gotten him chokeslammed into the pavement, Elliot would have totally pointed out how adorable it was. Then again, he could totally sympathize. When he and Isaac were studying day and night for their vacation, they got tripped up on remembering words all the time. Only the refusal to be caught carrying around English-Japanese dictionaries like a bunch of tourists gave them the strength to pull through. Now, forgetting to breathe? That one the brothers didn't have any trouble with. Elliot managed to bite his tongue enough to avoid risking a giggle escaping at Elsie's antics.

Until Cheese State. That damn near killed Elliot. He let out a muffled "Sorry, sorry," between giggles as he regained his composure, listening to the two's little dispute. Apparently it was potatoes that Elsie was excited about, not cheese. "Yeah, cheese is Wisconsin," he clarified, figuring he might as well help the two with their US geography. Honestly, with how different their Japanese accents were from his, he should've figured that they weren't from the US either. They were clearly foreigners too, just not the same kind as him. Double foreigners?

Regardless, not like they'd visit anytime soon. Not with the central US apparently being infested with allergy-bearing alligators. Allergigators. "Oh, don't worry. Alligators are usually more down south," Elliot clarified. "Like Florida. But Florida's only got Disney World and retirement, so I don't know if you guys would be interested." And oranges! Because Elsie and Evie understood geography through food, primarily.

Thankfully, Elliot's own eyes didn't seem to have much judgment in them. In fact, if anything, he seemed cheered up by how cutely ridiculous Elsie was. "Yeah, I'm a foreigner too. And if it helps, moving wasn't really my choice either," he added. "Mom told us it was a vacation. In retrospect, we did have to prepare way too hard for that vacation, if it was true . . ." An entire year of Japanese lessons? Overpacking to the point of basically bringing their entire wardrobes? Yeah, Mama Sunderland wasn't exactly the most subtle, was she? "How long've you guys been here?

I'm from California, by the way. Although I don't really know what food that'd be." Wait, did Elliot just tease someone? This is truly unprecedented.

Shit, right. Elliot let his grieving get a little to public there. Maybe for someone like Mitsuko, Alicia, Karin, or Mana, he could let go of any secrecy and cry into their shoulder. Hell, Maia was probably on Isaacwatch more than Elliot was! The twins, on the other hand, were out of the loop, and predictably quite confused by why Elliot was practically writing an obituary in front of them. "Oh," he said, blushing a little at how caught off guard he was by this. "Yeah, he's just sick, thankfully. It's a bad one, but I hope he'll start feeling better soon." Elliot may not have been a very good liar, but for Isaac's sake he had been surprisingly good at pulling it together lately. Even if his words were hilariously vague, there was a surprising conviction to his tone.

That said, dead? A brief, disquieting feeling in Elliot's stomach reminded him that he really had no idea if his brother was in a good state or not. He wanted so badly to blurt that Isaac wasn't, just for his own peace of mind, but he swallowed his tongue. Instead he focused on Elsie's second question. "He always does support me, at least," Elliot added. "But he usually tries to solve the problem himself first. When he sees I'm really, really dead set on helping he usually lets me go, but not before I hear how dangerous it is." Then again, the circumstances Elliot was talking about tended to be deadly excursions into the Digital World, not trips to the grocery store or grumping at bullies. Maybe that context changed a thing or twenty.

Elliot had apparently picked wisely with his choice of mnemonic. "Thank you," he said. "I mean, the red eyes are really cool. Hard not to notice 'em." Maybe the reason why they were on Elliot's mind was because of Isaac's red contact phase when he was 12. It lasted about six months before they were tossed, Isaac mumbling into his pillow something about "looking like a goddamn edgelord." Good times.

He followed after the twins at Evie's motion, even if they continued hotly debating the merits and deadliness of swings. Apparently, by the combined power of Evie's taste in trees and Elsie's carelessness, the redder twin got all tangled up and stuck inside of the swingset. That got another giggle out of Elliot for sure. "How'd you get stuck in the swing?" he asked, really hoping that there would be some story time attached. "I'm pretty sure a tree wouldn't have anything to do with that. Right?" It was time to be proven hilariously wrong, if Elsie didn't just punt him into the swing and demand he see for himself.

Then again, Elsie's enthusiasm was placed in the most interesting of ways. Like the crocodile comment. Elliot cringed a little at the mention, not really wanting to imagine that. "It's probably not a good idea to bring a dog near a crocodile," he said, hoping to shake the subject as soon as possible. "Or to bring most things near a crocodile. Its best to just see them at a zoo or something." It turns out the only thing separating the line of cool to terrifying was distance. And walls. Lots of walls.

Crocodiles were more entertaining than Idaho, at least. "Idaho's got potatoes, at least, so it can't be that bad," he suggested. Yes, the twins picked a state so boring even a US native primarily identified it by its stereotypical food. "I mean, it's gotta be better than North Dakota. What's even in North Dakota?" As far as Elliot knew, North Dakota was just a square of midwestern farm land copy-pasted across the plains.

Needless to say, a very short time spend in Japan would be more exciting than a lifetime in North Dakota. "I've been here, like, a little over a year now," Elliot said, thoughtfully. It felt like two years, but that might've just been the cruel, cruel exchange rate between OOC and IC time tugging at his mind. "It's been really fun! And I'm still finding new stuff each day. I could help show you guys around some, if you ever wanted." Maybe he just needed to explore Japan to get all of this off of his mind, and maybe help some new friends get their footing. He could still do some good even if he wasn't a Digital superman.

Of course Evie's first thought was hipsters. That said, after some very bready options, Elise chimed in with what seemed like a major hit for both twins. Fortune cookies! It even came with an interesting little fact, especially the last part. Elliot immediately brightened a little upon hearing a certain town's name. "Oh! I'm from Oakland!" he chirped. "Thanks for the fact. I'm gonna have to pass that one on when I'm home." Sure, he hadn't even been to Oakland in a while, but he'd probably be back for a vacation any moment now.

Fortune cookies weren't California's hottest export, though. Not considering who else came from there. "No, no, she's right," Elliot said, still mirthfully smiling at Elsie's shocked outburst. "That's Asher. He's a really great friend, too! Nice. Loves helping people out. You guys should totally meet him some day." Wait. Asher hated clingy people, and Elsie seemed like she'd launch herself out of his locker to interrogate him all about being a real Hollywood star. "Just make sure to go easy on the poor guy. He already gets a lot of people asking him about TV, so more questions might give him a migraine. But I bet he'd love to meet you!" he helpfully added. Thank you, Elliot, for this quick crash course in how to approach an Asher.

Asher was also the leading expert on Isaac's thick head. As much as Evie's question hurt to hear, it also got Elliot smiling a little. "Depends how you mean," Elliot said. "He always says I'm the book smart one, but he picks up on stuff way quicker than me. He just has trouble mustering up the effort sometimes. With the right motivation, he leaves me in the dust. And if you mean stubbornness? Oh yeah, he's the king of that. If he wasn't, he probably wouldn't even be so sick right now." A more tactical plan than "bum rush the scary knife monster trying to touch the Maia" might've spared everyone a lot of headache, but with no time to Digivolve Isaac did what he felt was right. Elliot really didn't want to consider the alternate avenues of failure there.

Elliot seriously hadn't counted on anyone actually trying to be helpful today. This was getting really bad. Unfortunately, Evie was either helpful or intent at chipping away at his lie, either way quite the bad sign. Could he just say no without it being suspect? Or would it just make him look like a terrible brother? A brief bit of worry flickered on his features, but before Elliot could even consciously think about it words started pouring out of his mouth. "It's prescription only," he said. "Mom said she's got it covered. But we could probably pick up some vitamins, if you guys were okay with that. Those'd help." In that moment of brain-shutting panic, Elliot had basically finessed his way right out of that trap. Ultra Instinct, achieved!

At least now that awkward water was under a far less awkward bridge. Free of his worry, Elliot laughed a little at Elsie's reason for dying her hair. "Did it stop people from calling Evie Elsie?" he joked, noticing Elsie's statement only went one way. Then again, it was probably far more amusing having your own name be the one people used by mistake.

It only got easier to laugh at Elsie's amazingly bad reflexes. Did she seriously get tangled up in a hammock just by twisting a little? It was equal parts careless and strangely adorable. "Oh man, I can't even think of how many pictures Isaac would've taken if I was in that mess," he said as his laughter finally died down. Nostalgia for the good times helped just as much as it stung, frankly. "I don't think he could pretend to be me at the dinner table, though. We're really, really bad at imitating each other." Now that Isaac was an ~aspiring actor~ things may have changed, but frankly Elliot still wouldn't buy any impressions. And his own Isaac impression was downright dire.

At least one good thing would come out of day for sure; North Dakota would redeem itself. Elliot's eyes lit up eagerly, and more of his old self came pouring out of his shell. He tried to hold back, considering what happened the last time he tried opening up to Mitsuko, but frankly this was far too cool to ignore. "Really?" he asked eagerly. "Oh man, now I actually want to go see it! Maybe after we've had a few years in Japan to make up for the moving costs . . ." At least he managed to stay practical despite now being on a dinosaur quest.

He didn't seem to notice Evie's blush of embarrassment, but Elsie's cough was a lot harder to ignore. Almost without even thinking on it, he said "I know, right? Isn't it cool?" See, Evie? Some people appreciate your nerdiness!

Would Asher appreciate it? He seemed to appreciate everything. Even Isaac, somehow. "No, no. He's, like, the nicest guy," Elliot said. "I don't think he could be snobby if he wanted to be. Like, I've never heard him say a mean word about anyone, and with how much we talk I've had a lot of chances." Sure, Asher tended to randomly go dark for a lot of those moments, but still!

Elliot just shrugged at what Evie was saying. "Yep," he said. Elliot's answer was neither bashful nor overly reverent. He just flat-out said it. "In some way, at least. But I'm better in others. And I wish Isaac'd try more sometimes, so he'd be better at more of those things. But I know he's already doing his best, so I don't want to push him too much.

That's just how people are, right?"

"Later works well for me, if that's okay," Elliot said. "Wouldn't want to interrupt you guys, after all." Also, if he picked up vitamins for Isaac now, then they'd probably offer to drop them off. That would make it way harder to go to a house that contained a grand total of 0 Isaacs, especially if mom was home. It was getting really hard to keep his excuses straight! Why did he even try this whole "lying" thing? At least Evie didn't seem to suspect a thing. It would've gotten a little bit hairy if she started poking at his excuses.

Still, he couldn't mind the questioning too much. The twins were pretty fun to be around. Elliot got a little chuckle out of Evie's hasty reaction to the contact question. "Well, hey. At least I already got my confusion out of the way," he joked.

If he was laughing before, more details about the hammock incident made it hard to let up. The poor boy was left gasping for relief by the time the twins were done describing it for him. "God, I hope you uploaded them to the cloud first," Elliot finally said. "If Isaac's parkour phase was any indication, there's nothing more hilarious than a photo at the right time." Elliot practically had an entire album dedicated to times when Isaac said "check this one out!" They never ended up as cool as Isaac had planned, but they were great to pull out during times when Isaac got huffy.

Unfortunately, he didn't have an album of convenient Isaac voice clips to use for mimicry. "I'm still waiting for my voice to deepen a bit and catch up to his," Elliot admitted. Puberty'd have to get here at some point, right? Maybe he'd luck out once his growth spurt finally came in. "And believe me, I've tried, but there's something in his tone I just can't catch quite yet. I'll let you guys know when I finally get a handle on it." It'd also have more impact if the girls actually met Isaac, too. Otherwise it'd just be Deep Voiced Elliot talking about how much he loved his girlfriend.

The twins went silent for a bit and started talking among themselves, but thankfully Evie broke the silence. "Yeah, you're right," he said, smiling slightly. "It's just hard not to get a little homesick sometimes, you know? But Japan's really starting to feel like home, too. I'll have to look into museums around here." Would they be costly, or would they be on the cheaper sides? Museums were never really super expensive, so that got some of Elliot's hopes up. It was really the travel cost that was hanging over his head on the earlier thought.

Maybe it was better to focus on things besides finance. Like Asher! "Yep!" he said, cheerfully. "Or pretty good friends, at least. And nah, there's no way he hates anyone. I think I've seen him annoyed maybe, like, once? I think even I've been angry more often than he has." And with Elliot being a tiny, happy ball of fluff, that was major!

Then again, Elliot didn't always see things the same way as other people did. Elsie and Evie's reactions showed that they took his innocuous little description really harshly. Were they offended by him, on his own behalf? What? Frankly, with the twins being so close, Elliot figured they already had that kind of judgment about each other all the time! "Well, that's okay," Elliot said, the confusion in his voice somewhat palpable. "I mean, that's just how I always saw it. But I might not be looking at it right.

What do you guys think?"

"Sounds like you and Isaac have a lot in common," Elliot said, grinning cheekily at Elsie as the subject of embarrassment came up. "I swear, the guy's a hurricane of messes most of the time, but as soon as he thinks someone besides me or mom is going to see? It can't get put back away fast enough." Sometimes, Elliot tricked Isaac into cleaning their room by warning him that Maia was coming. It was never the case, but Isaac ended up falling for it hook, line, and sinker every time. "Man, I hope he's going to be okay soon. I kinda miss him . . . like, you know, the him that was all excited rather than hurl-y," Elliot mused, quickly catching himself after a near slip-up. That was close!

"Oh, don't worry. I've done way longer train rides," Elliot said, interest clearly piqued by the animated museum. "Which studio is it? You guys don't think it's Toei, do you?" Elliot seemed a little excited by the possibility of this museum being a way of directly mainlining Dragon Ball into his veins. Evie knew everything, so hopefully she'd know the answer!

That said, he knew how important it was when family came to the phone. Especially when they were clearly doing something wrong. From the innocent tone of her voice as it raised an octave or two, to how Elsie wanted nothing to do with this call, to the fact that they were clearly in a room they weren't supposed to be in, there were clearly shenanigans afoot there. That's why Elliot was all too understanding when Elsie called a rain check on their hangout. "That'd be nice," Elliot said, taking out his adventure journal real quick to jot down his own number. He tore it off in a little strip, then handed it to Elsie. "If it helps, you should totally tell him you were helping people today. That might let his guard down a bit." His voice was totally genuine, but that was still quite the opportunistic idea coming from Elliot! Who knew this kid had a devious side, even if it was borne of good intentions?

He smiled at Evie as she asked to hang again sometime. "I'd love to," he said, wondering if she overheard the little suggestion that he had given Elsie or not. "You guys don't have to walk me home if you're pressed for time. But the company'd be nice, if you're good with it." Maybe he'd have a little bit more time to get to know the duo, or maybe it'd just be a short, quiet walk. In either case, it was definitely a pleasant surprise in the middle of an otherwise rather irritating afternoon.