* BEAUTY FISH.

❛congratulations, kiddo. you tied the knot.❜ during a riot, of all times. ❛i have a little somethin’ for the two’a you.❜

I.  STRENGTHS :

caring  |  merciful  |  brave  |  determined  |  forward  |  flexible  |  cheerful  |  wise  |  clever  |  humorous  |  spirited  |  lighthearted  |  mature  |  strong  |  sentient  |  generous  |  loving  |  calm |  calculating  |  rational  |  unselfish  |  controlled  |  tactful  |  nurturing  |  protective  |  independent

II.  WEAKNESSES :

‘ just because YOUR love life isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean mine is always going to be shit !! i denied nicky because i’m trying to be a good wife, it doesn’t mean i don’t love her — and what’d you do to alex ?? tattle tale on her having a gun !! ’

there’s too much running through her mind;   a whirlwind of thoughts inside her brain that she doesn’t know what to deal with first   —   what to let sink in,   and so all she feels besides the brittle new york air is a numbness.   a numbness that has her bones aching inside and threatening to shatter beneath her flesh.   she has to deal with larry and the fact that he’d slept with somebody else and the fact that she couldn’t even really be mad at him considering she’d done so much worse.   so much worse with the one person who fucked her over not too long ago,   and she can’t help but be bitter inside over the fact that alex is running free for good whereas she’s only got a few more hours left before she has to return to her new sanctuary.   she also has to deal with the fact that her roommate’s former business has failed,   and how do you even deliver such news to a woman who’s so strong held and has hope burning in her eyes and could also tear you apart within an instant?

her head leans back against the bars of the bridge she’s sitting on,   her feet covered by tights pressing into the damp ground.   her hair blows in the wind,   water beginning to rim the lids of her eyes from how cold the air is tonight.   she’d forgotten just how cold new york nights were,   how much colder they were than the dormitories inside litchfield.   her fingertips are gripping the bottle of alcohol as she lets the gold liquid run down her throat and it tastes like heaven;   like she’s home,   and she can’t contain the smile that spreads against her face.   she may feel lost    (   although she always has.   )    but for now,   at least she’s met with the dancing city lights and the kisses from the wind while she downs the liquid courage she won’t get to taste till next year and the burger that’s been making her mouth water since she entered litchfield.

❛    LONG ENOUGH.    ❜   too long,   truthfully.    days feel like months.    months feel like years.    and the current chaos in play around them ?    the hours that have reduced these confines to shambles have felt like an eternity.    

her gaze follows that of her company,    squinting against the brightness of the afternoon sun.    she breathes in,   holds it,    and breathes out.    at least within this solidarity have they found some semblance of peace.    ❛    ——-  what about you ?    ❜   prison small talk isn’t her forte.    ❛    how long have you been here ?    ❜

her head tilts to the side,   face softening in the slightest despite the sun blaring into her gaze.   she agrees with the other   —   it’s been long enough since she’s been here as well.   long enough to see inmates come and go and for prison guards to change like there’s no tomorrow.   too many names in this place,   and yet she seems to know the majority of them all.      “   i think eight or so months?   honestly   ——   feels like years.   ”      the outside world seemed to be nothing more than a myth;   a cruel figment of her imagination.

“   …  no.   ”      it’s said with such a softness,   such overwrought and a hint of hesitance.   pearly whites slowly expose themselves and sink into the dusted rose gloss covering piper’s lips as she does her best to suppress the small smirk beginning to form across her face.   she hasn’t known alex that long,   isn’t used to people being so bold with her.   it makes her nervous,   but also excited and curious.   the raven haired woman causes her heart to flutter with each gaze and word that falls from the lips plastered across her face.   alex had,   had her hooked from the night they met in that bar.   her being the bold and beautiful,   while piper falls into the nervous damsel in distress.   but oh does she want to be so much more for the beauty before her.

there’s an ache tugging inside of her;   one that causes her ribs to feel heavy upon the beating of her heart.   blue irises slowly drift over the raven haired woman as a small lump begins to form in the middle of her throat,   tears slowly surfacing around the rims of piper’s eyes.   her hand carefully lifts,   slender digits lightly cupping alex’s cheek.   slowly her thumb brushes back and forth against the soft skin as the edges of piper’s lips curl upwards,   eyes falling shut as she sucks in a breath and leans forwards,   forehead pressing into alex’s temple.

“   you don’t get to throw that in my face any time you feel like it,   alex!   ”      her voice can’t help but roar,   jaw tightening and tears beginning to flood the rims of her lids.   her pulse pounds beneath the cage of her ribs,   the sound starting to travel up and cause a deafening ringing in her ears.      “   where were you when i needed you,   huh?   you were too busy being a damn drug dealer to even give me the time of day!   and the second i realised i’m more important than being your damn drug mule suddenly i’m the bad guy?!   ”

“   …  thanks.   ”      her brows pull together,   lids squinting from the sun and half from the others comment.   she’ll admit that she hasn’t been taking the proper care in hygiene and looking somewhat decent like she usually would.   but they were in the middle of a riot and sleeping outside.   all her necessities were inside and she knew if she were to head off into the madness by herself she’d get lost in it,   and she was trying for once in her life to stay out of people’s shit.

her gaze slowly shifts to land on the latina woman,   brows pulling together slowly and lips shrewing to the side.      “   i never   —   what?   ”      she pauses momentarily,   blue irises glancing up and down the smaller woman as confusion begins to sweep across piper’s face.      “   i’m just here to collect your cheeto’s.   ”      she holds up the garbage bag in front of the other,   brows pulling together tighter.

If someone told Alex that in five years, she’d be happily engaged to Piper and own a loft in New York, she would’ve asked what drugs you were on. Clad in an oversized shirt, she came out from the bathroom and plopped onto the bed beside her fiancee who was sat on their king sized bed. After a fuck ton of years in prison, she was just so happy to wear her own clothes for once – to be comfortable and ridiculously happy. “Pipes, I should’ve never introduced you to Instagram and Snapchat. You’re addicted.”

she’s propped up against the leather headboard,   chin pressed into the skin covering her chest as she wears a black singlet.   her index finger flicks up and down against the screen of her phone,   eyes following the words and images that prop up on the screen.   she’s mindlessly scrolling;   something she does every so often,   or when she’s bored.   she’s still trying her best to get used to everything and how much its all changed.   before she went into prison she’d had her own blog   —   her own website,   and now it seemed like there were a million and one new apps and websites that she had to catch up on or she’d be out of the loop.

                      gaze  dropped  for  the  BRIEFEST  of  moments,  for  whilst  it  was  something  she’d  NEVER  come  to  forget  —–  never  be  able  to  FORGET,  it  was  one  she  was  refusing  to  DWELL  'pon,  a  notion  she  couldn’t  quite  come  to  afford.  NOT  RIGHT  NOW.  a  hand,  however,  rose,  tilting  piper’s  chin  upward  to  face  her.    ❛   thank  you,  honey,   ❜  &&  she  MEANT  IT,  just  as  she  was  certain  that  the  other  did. 

feeling the cool fingertips of the woman’s hand against the flesh of her chin causes the edges of piper’s lips to curl upwards ever so slightly.   she swallows the small lump that’s formed in the middle of her throat as her own hand rises,   fingertips gently curling round the redheaded’s wrist.   she’ll never forget the look that washed red’s face   —   the pure horror and terror that made piper’s skin crawl.   she wouldn’t use the word weak,   no   —   regardless of the situation they were in,   she didn’t think of red as weak.