❛ aren’t you a little YOUNG to be ordering drinks? ❜ loose palm rests atop a splayed hip, dubiety written plainly upon a furrowed brow & the tight line of her mouth. she’s served minors before, whether it had been unknowingly or per the request of a higher - up, but a line had to be drawn. this girl didn’t look old enough to rent a room, let alone be perched up at the blue parrot lounge. ❛ you got an ID, honey ? ❜
❛ how long has it been?❜ the countess will inquire softly as she looks upon her one TRUE friend. she’s asking about her death, liz’s, a saddened look upon her face. though elizabeth was and is honored to have been the one to help the other transition ONE LAST TIME, it does not lift the sorrow that weighs heavy on her shoulders. emerald gaze taking liz in, the countess attempts a smile as she reaches out for the other’s hand to take into one of her own.
the countess’s extended grasp is given into easily, without the hesitation that previously laced fingers. it’s a small act of trust –– a quiet show of friendship: a hopeful prospect that did not stray far from liz’s mind after her death. it lingered, & though she has not yet had the courage to initiate the conversation, she cherishes the little time they spend together. ❛ oh, ❜ the noise slips out on the bough of an exhale, lips pursing into a small smile as she looks to the other, ❛ ––– a few weeks. it’s. . . different, but i’m getting used to it. ❜
At the sound of her SQUEAKING DOOR opening, Columbia sat up on the rickety mattress.The APPREHENSION which had been streaming through her entire being ever since Liz had left her was APPARENT upon pale features. The ENTIRE TIME her dear friend was gone, Columbia’s leg hadn’t stopped shaking, hands hadn’t stopped wringing. She SO HORRIBLY longed to know what was happening.At the sight of the other, she was QUICK push herself off the bed and rush to Liz for her inquiries were answered in an INSTANT. Her arms threw around the other’s frame, naught a word spilled from glossed lips. What WAS there to say ??? The ULTIMATE WRONGDOING had been committed against the other, and Columbia HADN’T BEEN THEREto help her. If it wasn’t for the fact that Liz was SO BROKEN before her, Columbia would runstraight up thereand give this Countess a piece of her mind. Despite the GOOD THINGS her friend had told her, others who were TRAPPED in the Cortez had told her plenty. Enough that she was ABLE to piece together what happened without asking Liz to recount the events.
BLOODstains quaking palms ; his life has leaked into the rivets of her hands, tinging with a touch of permanency not yet washed away by the water bound to grace skin eventually (& she’ll let that liquid clear away the ichor with hesitancy ––– it’s the only part of him she has left). her tears are falling freely &distinctly, shattered gaze wholly unable to meet the younger girl’s heartfelt one. heart is heavy with the weight of inconsolablegrief, discernible by the sobs racking a frail chest. to have her first ––– & perhaps, only ––– love taken so suddenly, without mercy, is a pain sharper than any she’s endured before ; it hurts, in every crevice of her wary bones, with every thud of her still - beating heart. but some comfort is derived from columbia’s tight embrace, & she doesn’t hesitate in returning the gesture, thin arms wrapped securely around the girl’s back ––– as if it’s the last human contact she’s ever going to have, as if she’s afraid to let go. ❛ you can’t –– you can’t confront her, columbia. ❜ voice is breaking, raspy from crying & quiet in a poor effort to conceal such a fact. ❛ please –– promise me. ❜
