[Scene: The assisted living home. Mamoru and Usagi are going about their duties. They perform their duties admirably, but El is in her element. Usagi thought El was sucking up to Mamoru, but El isn't even paying attention to him. She taken to her tasks like a fish to water. She finished early and is sitting in a chair surrounded a group of wheelchair bound elderly women with oxygen tanks.]
[Usagi drifts over to see what they are up to.]
[Eleanor has been pouring them lukewarm herbal tea and listening to their stories. They've asked her about herself, and she can't very well tell them that she and her brother were spawned from a demonic experiment gone horribly wrong, so she just embellishes on the story Dev has coached her with. (Combined with elements gleaned from the human sacrifice portion to give it that ring of truth.)]
El: [Uncharacteristically cheerful] There you are, Pigtails. You should come talk with these ladies, they have the most fascinating stories. Sabine was actually in Berlin when they opened up the Wall.
[Usagi pulls up a chair and sits down, unnerved at how sweet El is being.]
Rose: [touches one of Usagi's pigtails] You girls have such lovely hair. It's so thick and so strong.
El: [laughs] You should see my mother.
Rose: Your mother must be very beautiful.
El: [Nods] That she is.
Sabine: What does she look like?
[El speaks slowly, choosing her her words carefully, since she'll have to repeat them all to Dev.]
El: My Grandpa tells me I look just like her, but that's a lie. My Daddy keeps pictures of her all over the house and she looks like a movie star. I was named after my Grandpa, you know?
Usagi: Your grandpa's name is Eleanor?
El: [Gives her a dirty look] …Elliot… [Turns back to the elderly ladies] Anyway, you'd all love my Grandpa. He's great. He's always cracking old man jokes and bringing us presents…[wistful]…It's too bad he lives so far away from here. I could fix him up with one of you.
Sabine: Is he really that old?
El: [nods] Oh, yeah. He must be about sixty.
Rose: Sixty's not old, my dear.
[El blinks because she thinks sixty is ancient]
Usagi: [Vaguely recalls that El lives in a single parent household] Aw, that's so sad that your dad keeps pictures of your mother, even though they are divorced.
El: [acid tongued] They aren't divorced. My mother is dead.
Usagi: Oh…um..I'm sorry…that's even sadder…
El: Ya think?
Gina: How old was she when she passed?
El: [her face softens] Twenty-three.
Rose: That's too young.
[El nods]
Sabine: Was it cancer?
El: She died giving birth to us
[Usagi is feeling awkward and uncomfortable, but she starts to soften toward El. She suspects El blames herself, and this might be why she pushes people away.]
El: [smiles at the older women] I guess this is why I love talking to you ladies so much. I grew up surrounded by men, so it's nice being around females who aren't just mean and catty to me all the time.
[Usagi thinks that's the pot calling the kettle black, but she doesn't say so out loud]
Rose: You mentioned your grandpa is single. Is he a widower too?
El: Nuh. He's divorced.
Gina: Oh, where is your grandma?
El: I don't know, and I don't care. She's nothing but a stuck-up bitch with her head up her ass. She refuses to have anything to do us because she blames my daddy for…for..
[El's head droops down and she trembles a bit. She's silent, so it takes a little while for the others to realize she's sobbing.]
Rose: Aw…[gathering El to her bosom and stroking her hair] There, there, you just cry. Cry it out. It will make you feel better, I promise.
[Usagi suddenly feels bad for all the uncharitable thoughts she's had about El]
El: There…there was something wrong with her uterus… It wasn't thick enough to sustain a pregnancy…let alone two at once…they didn't find that out until it was too late…My Daddy wanted her to terminate the pregnancy, but she wouldn't hear of it…she wouldn't let anything happen to us…
[El wipes her tears away]
El: It isn't legal where I'm from, anyway…where I'm from, they don't care if the mother dies or not…She was in terrible agony the entire time she was carrying us, and there was nothing my Daddy could do to help her..they cut us out of her as soon as we were viable…but by then it was too late…she died in my Daddy's arms…
Gina: She must have loved you and your brother very much, to give up her life to bring you into the world.
El: [snarls] No! She was selfish! Why even have us if she wouldn't be around to take care of us? My Daddy lost the love of his life and was stuck raising two unholy brats he never wanted in the first place!
Rose: [pets her hair] I'm sure your Daddy loves you very much.
El: Of course he loves us. But he's unhappy. He talks to her pictures all the time, you know. [Smiles a bittersweet smile] Sometime he yells at her like she's listening in the other room. Whenever we make him mad, he tells her we get it from her side of the family. Which is silly–
[El goes quiet and her smiles fades]
El: We're scared of what he will do when we're a little older, and he doesn't have to take care of us anymore…
[Usagi rubs her back]
Usagi: It wasn't your fault.
[El stops crying in outrage]
El: Of course it's not my fault! I'm not stupid, you know! How can something be my fault when I wasn't even alive when it happened?
Usagi: [backs off] No… I was just…
El: You what? You think I'm only allowed to cry for my Daddy when something is my fault?
Usagi: No…I'm-It's just…I'm going to shut up now.
Sabine: [pats El's shoulder] I think what Usagi is trying to say is that it is normal to hurt when you survive a terrible thing and someone else does not. You need to let go of that pain. None of this was your fault, and there was nothing anyone could have done differently.
El: Oh…But there was. Don't you see?…It was that damned doctor! My Ma could have survived very easily, but the doctor botched the delivery! On purpose!
Usagi: Why would he do that?
El: Why does anyone destroy anything of great beauty? I really don't know! [grins evilly] All I know is that that doctor is going to pay, and pay dearly.
[She sees the concerned looks of the women at the murderous gleam in her eye]
El: …if there is any justice in this world!