DAYLIGHT. *

     what happened ?   the last thing éloïse recalls was standing beside beau when she had felt the rumble beneath her feet.   after that,   everything had gone dark and her eyes could only scarcely recognize the scatter of debris she had found herself covered in as she lay in the dirt.     “   beau ?  ”     she coughs through her whimper,   a twinge of dread sullying her tone.     “   louise ?   ”     eyes blinking wildly as she tries to see through the murkiness,   the foliage makes for sparse breaks of light,   a hand pushes herself up   ;   mustering whatever strength she could when all she feels is the strike of pain shooting up her arm as she forces her entire weight onto her wrist.   she hisses,   not sure what to make of the pain there or the now dull ache clinging to her temple.   a hand swipes at her forehead,   holding it there,   hoping the pressure would lessen it only to feel something wet beneath her fingertips.    she withdraws her hand,   only for her eyes to zero in on what appears to be a red twinge coating her fingers   –   before long,   the blood-curdling scream was heard before she once more loses consciousness. 

     - AS THEY started running to safety, leonid’s worry was placed in finding somewhere they could stay until help arrived but that changed the second he heard someone screaming not too far to his left. probably someone from his group. giving his niece a look that said he had to go and help whoever that was the male wasted no time before changing his course of action and running towards the scream. finding an unconscious girl only made his worry grow. ‘ goddammit. ’ he had no other choice but picking the girl up. if she woke up, she woke up and he’d explain but there was little he could do to help her there and it wasn’t safe to stay there either. ‘ now we move again, come on. ’ it was redirected to celeste, of course, but god would he be helpful if the girl woke up. with a bleeding head it was hard to be sure she had only passed out.·

andrew motioned towards the pack on his back. “i think i’m covered but i do appreciate the offer.” oddly enough, camping had been one of the things he’d enjoyed growing up. despite the posh upbringing and penchant for the finer things in life, his grandfather had instilled in him a love for the outdoors and general preparedness should he ever find himself in a survival scenario. “i’m sure someone has. you can’t have a weekend of camping without someone finding a way to include a few fun beverages.”

❝An independent woman.❞ His little chivalrous offer might not work. He would have to rethink his approach. ❝ Your uncle ?  ❞ That could be a second obstacle. ❝ And who would that be ? ❞ Tajiri glanced at their group, trying to guess who could be Celeste’s uncle. 

     - THE HIKE had been nice, at least up until the moment the earth literally started shaking underneath their feet. he got up from the terrible fall caused by the landslide already looking for the one person in that group he actually gave a fuck about, running in celeste’s direction the second he clocked her. the guide’s instructions, even if mere background noise, stuck in his head. ‘ are you hurt ? we need to go, come on, we have to get out of here right now. can you walk ? ’ / @cvlcstvs

“ while i love how people are healthier and make good life decisions… i hate it when i feel the need to stand 10 feet away from everyone just because i want to take a smoke. ”

❝ Do you need help with your backpack ? ❞ He should have asked Natasja first but he was more interested in playing white knight for Celeste. ❝ If you get tired at some point during the hike, I can carry it. ❞

“I do but my experience isn’t necessarily going to be the same as yours. I hope it won’t be, and thank you.” Thank you? Was that really the best thing to respond to an apology with? Luciana did not think so but she wasn’t the best at dealing with other people’s empathy at the moment. “So you are a reader. It’s on the 6th floor. It’s not that big but I doubt you’ll miss it. Do let me know what you think if you pay it a visit.” 

        “    that’s  kind  of  you.    you’re  welcome.    ”    the  girl  clearly  doesn’t  want  to  pursue  the  subject,  and  the  last  thing  celeste  wants  to  do  is  make  her  feel  uncomfortable  so  instead  of  continuing  that  point  of  the  conversation,  she  smiles  and  clings  to  the  next.    “    reading  takes  up,  like  seventy  percent  of  my  day.    are  there  any  books  there  that  you  would  recommend  ?    you  seem  well-read  enough  to  know.    ”

“I still think that mistake was a blessing in disguise! Short hair looked amazing on you so I will support it if you decide to cut it again.” Upon hearing her best friend agree, Arabella’s smile grew and she quickly took her phone out to make an appointment for the both of them. At the rate that her life was going, a sense of normalcy was what she needed more than anything, and taking a day off to get pampered with Celeste will give her exactly that. It’ll be temporary, sure, but it was better than never having it again. “Of course! I thought it will be the perfect welcome gift for you.” Walking towards her closet, she took the paper bag out and handed it to the other woman. “That is true. We should prevent that from happening. Do you need help with anything? And oh, I’m happy to hear that!”

        “    i  don’t  know,  i  quite  prefer  the  long  hair.    you  can  do  so  much  with  it  !    curls,  pony  tails,  pig  tails.    having  short  hair  is  cute  but  so  unmanageable.    ”    god,  she  hasn’t  had  short  hair  in  forever.    it  feels  like  a  lifetime  ago  and  perhaps  it  was.    her  hair  has  grown  almost  half  the  length  now  and  although  she  didn’t  have  it  cut  too  short    (  she  would  never  sacrifice  that  much  hair  ),  she  cut  enough  that  she  felt  her  heart  fall  with  the  hair  that  fell  to  the  ground.    she  takes  the  bag  with  gentle  fingers  and  opens  it,  plucking  out  the  box.    once  she  lifts  the  lid,  celeste’s  lets  out  a  gopsmacked  gasp  and  her  face  lights  up  once  again  at  the  christian  louboutin  pumps  she’s  now  acquainted  with.    “    belle  !    these  are  beautiful,  oh  my  god  !    ”    she  takes  them  out  to  try  on,  still  smiling.    “    maybe  show  me  the  best  spots  in  town.    i  trust  your  opinion  more  than  anyone  else’s.    ”

     - ‘ I KNOW a couple, i’ll let you be the judge on whether they’re good or not. ’ because he supposed he wasn’t as much of a connoisseur as she could be. at least he knew a place, it was less embarrassing than quickly googling something and it leading him to a place she wouldn’t like very much. ‘ so you think you’re funny, huh. you know he’s not, little bastard loves to make his presence known, you would’ve heard about it if he were here. maybe it is about time he joins us. maybe you casually mention it when you give the guy a call to thank for the present ? kill two birds with a stone and whatnot. ’

“i’ve been to disneyland before - ” he pointed, a finger raised in the air and lips slightly parted in a feigned show of offense to her statement. "even the one in pairs.” gabriel adds, with a chuckle at the end as he lifted his eyes to watch the floor of the number passing by, getting closer his destiny. “besides, i grew up with two sisters and one of them has three offsprings that keep me on the loop of what is up on the kids’ world. and, belle used to make me watch the classics with her.” at the last part he let slide without even thinking, suddenly wishing the pace of the numbers started to move faster on the monitor.

        “    but  have  you  been  to  the  one  in  hong  kong  ?    ”    she  hasn’t,  but  she’s  heard  it’s  just  as  good.    her  time  in  paris  meant  that  multiple  trips  were  made  to  disneyland  with  ariel  during  her  college  years,  so  she’s  completely  familiar  with  the  atmosphere.    the  mention  of  arabella,  however,  leaves  a  stagnant  heaviness  in  the  small,  enclosed  space.    she’s  sure  gabriel  wants  to  talk  about  as  much  as  she  does,  which  is  not  at  all,  so  celeste  clears  her  throat  and  searches  for  a  change  of  subject.    “    so,  i  heard  a  lot  of  your  family  is  here.    ”

     “   i do.   i  love  the warmer weather.   something about it always puts me in a better mood.   must be because it makes me think of fun memories,   i suppose.   ”     éloïse shakes her head,     “   i can’t say i have.   i would love to go,   though.   one of my cousins is from there.   ”     her fingertips tinker with the ring on her index finger,   a trinket of her mother’s from long ago,   rolling the band absently.     “   oh yes,   but of course.   definitely a must.   ”     her grin continues to tease,     “   mm,   i’m not sure yet.   ”     her brow furrows as she tries to recall what lotte had planned for her this weekend,   there was nothing too terribly pressing.   and it wasn’t like éloïse was entirely needed for anything dire.     “   if this is your way of inviting,   i’d love to go.   i haven’t had done much exploring yet,   myself.   ”     if it let her make her own friends,   without her sister’s interference,  éloïse was going to take all the chances she could get. 

The look on Celeste’s face made Luciana realize how much of a Debbie Downer she was being. It was the first time it happened in a while and she felt guilty about making the brunette deal with it which is why she decided to say sorry. “I apologize for not being the best welcoming committee. I promise I’m not usually like this. It’s just been a rough couple of days.” More.  like months. “That is a good point. I hope that it does soon.” She smiled. “Definitely the beach before the sun comes up. It’s a beautiful experience, calming as well. If you’re a reader, the library here is good. I checked out a couple of books myself.”

        she  worries,  for  a  moment,  that  perhaps  she  had  been  a  little  bit  too  enthusiastic  and  realises  that  perhaps  luciana  is  only  trying  to  prepare  her  for  she  might  feel  in  a  few  months  time.    for  that,  celeste  can’t  help  but  feel  grateful,  and  so  starts  floundering  for  some  sort  of  reconciliation.    “    that’s  okay.    you  have  more  experience  here  than  me,  right  ?    but  i’m  sorry  to  hear  that  things  have  been  bad  for  you.    ”    the  empath  in  her  feels  a  wave  of  sadness  for  the  italian,  wanting  to  offer  comfort  but  knowing  that  it  shouldn’t  be  given  by  a  complete  stranger.    “    hold  on,  library  ?    where  is  it  ?    ”

“ah! i’m so glad that you’re here-” she all but hugged her friend’s arm. ariel didn’t like to advertise it, but to only be able to run to family could be exhausting at some point, she really did miss her friend circles in paris. celeste came into the program just in time. “yes please! and i’m actually very excited because there’s one little surprise for you at the store-” nothing she had prepared, of course, but a detail that was purposefully omitted. when they rounded the corner to their destination was when ariel squealed and grabbed both of celeste’s hands to pull her forward. “it’s a puppy cafe!” 

“No. Trouble seems to find me. If it’s not professionally, then personally.” He offered up. “A tale of two cities? You can never go wrong with a classic, although I will say that I prefer Thackeray to Dickens.”