pretty-perdita:

There was a flash of blonde hair through the smoke–she thought. She couldn’t be sure. The smoke was billowing black and foul and before Duchess even yelled at her, Perdita was already stumbling away. She reacted on instinct, running from the danger.

Perdita was no hero.

She had only gone a few steps when a sound exploded into the air, knocking Perdita into the nearest wall. Her heart felt like it had exploded in her chest as well, but she didn’t pause. 

She scrambled towards the front door, glad that they were on the first level. 

“Help!” she screeched out into the air, not thinking enough to use her phone, which was still clutched tightly in her hand. “Help!”

It just so happened that Maui was heading back from the lake. He tended to go out there a night these days and swim around, whether as a human, a dolphin, or an eel, he just wanted to swim. It tired him out enough that he could go back to his room and crash and not have to think about the person sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room.

He had hoped it would get better, and it did. Somewhat. 

The water helped. It soothed him. And the walk back to the door always had him shivering, so that he’d crawl right into bed and fall asleep.

Except, tonight, things were going to play out differently.

He heard the explosion–though, it didn’t sound like that to him. It just sounded like a car backfiring. Didn’t really surprise him. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that he heard someone screaming for help and his heart jumped into his throat.

Fuck yeah, he thought and took off at a run in the direction of the voice.

There was a woman stumbling about, covered in soot. He stopped in front of her, grabbing her shoulders.

“Lady, hey–hey! Is there anyone else in that building?”

“Duchess! Duchess!” 

Well, that definitely sounded like the name of a pet and Maui hesitated, watching as smoke billowed out of the front entrance where one of the windows had shattered. The woman looked at him with tear streaks on her face.

“Do something!” she sobbed, which kicked Maui into gear.

He nodded and the next second, he wasn’t a human, but a cheetah, small and sleek, slipping into the building. He moved fast and agile through the front lobby, staying low to the ground. The fire licked up the sides of the building but he raced around it.

It did not take him long to find a woman stumbling about in disorientation. Within a blink, he changed again–this time into an albatross, lifting up into the air, beating his wings hard enough to clear the smoke and flames, so the way to the exist flashed into the woman’s line of vision.

It was irrational the way Duchess struggled to gather what things she could. But she wanted to save everything, to keep her hard work in one piece. It didn’t matter that it was all coming down around her. The thick smoke choked her and made her eyes water but she was determined. Very determined.

She stumbled around, barely able to see and barely able to breathe, grasping at fabrics that were beginning to burn. Soot had turned her blonde hair a dark black and it covered her typically porcelain skin. As she grabbed her fabrics, flames licked at her hands and arms though she didn’t pay much attention to the pain. None of it would matter until she had all her most important pieces tucked away and safe.

The shitty thing about being a designer and having a building full of different flammable fabrics meant that fire spread so quickly. It didn’t take long for the whole bottom half of the building to be engulfed in flames. Didn’t take long for Duchess to begin to feel the effects of her surroundings. Her vision swam and her head ached as she coughed in an attempt to breathe. She was ready to give up, honestly. If this was to be how she went, so be it. Everything else was going up in flames, it was only fitting she did to.

Perdita knew what it was like to want to do something by yourself. To need to process–by yourself. Hell, she’d fled two hours south and attempted to disappear in order to try and do something by herself. She’d left NYC to do something by herself. She had needed to get out from underneath her mother’s thumb. She wanted to prosper–on her own.

So, yeah, she understood and she smiled and she nodded.

Inside, though, she was thinking: dammit.

She took out her phone to text Paul. Duchess got a secret package from Thomas. What do you think it is? Dirty underwear, lol. 

The urge to follow Duchess was entirely too strong. She was glad she wasn’t wearing shoes, so that the clack of her heels didn’t give her away as she snuck towards the door and pressed her ear against it. Of course, she didn’t really think she’d be able to hear anything, but it satisfied the urge. 

So, she heard when Duchess called through the door–screaming her name. 

On instinct, Perdita didn’t leave, she yanked the door open.

“Duchess! What–” 

The smoke stung her eyes and she stumbled backwards coughing. “Duchess!”

Fear was not something that Duchess was ever really acquainted with. She had been taught very young that fear was a weakness. That it could be used and exploited to manipulate. It was for that reason alone that Duchess kept her fear very close to her chest and never displayed it in front of anyone.

But as the flames from whatever this contraption was grew higher and licked hotter with each passing second, that fear was on full display. Her throat was choked with the smoke and sweat beaded on every part of her body. She was scared. Once again her livelihood was in danger. It was going to go up in flames all around her and all she could do was try and grab the things she deemed most important.

Her eyes stung as she darted further into the room, making a grab for her sketchbook first. Perdy’s voice echoed and she coughed as she peered for her friend. “Perdy-- Go! Get help.” Her throat was raw as she yelled, the smoke thick in her throat. All Perdita had to do was go get the fire department, the sheriff, anyone. It wasn’t hard instructions and it would ensure the other woman’s safety.

Blindly she moved to the door, reaching for Perdita. Reaching for anything that would help her navigate without bumping into anything. There was a faint light from the doorway but the smoke threatened to snuff it all out much like it had with everything else in the room. “Go, Perdy. I’ll be right behind you.” 

Perdita trotted after Duchess curiously. She was really into the idea of running something over with a car. It’d been a long time since she’d done something like that. It had been back in high school, actually, during the peak of her wild-child days. She’d set some of her ex’s stuff on fire. She’d helped her friend Alicia run her ex’s stuff over with a car.

Though, she figured that Duchess wasn’t going to do something like that. Because Duchess was like a Real Adult™ and she was responsible and all that good shit. 

Still, entertaining the thought was good enough as they made their way to the lobby. She still had her champagne glass in her hand. 

Her eyebrows rose at the delivery man. The whole thing gave her a–weird vibe. A gut instinct in her stomach. She dismissed it, mostly, since it was just a package. What was the worst that could happen?

Taking a step closer, Perdita tilted her head and shrugged. “Be careful,” she said, and then deadpanned: “it could be a bomb or something.”

Caution was the last thing on Duchess’ mind as she looked at the box. There was no telling what he could have sent her. All she knew was that he had left, he hadn’t said where he was going or what exactly he was doing other than running. It was curiosity that ran rampant through her. Because she wanted to know what it was. Thomas knew her in a way that most never got the chance. 

Whatever was inside the box was more than likely going to be something to be shared between the two of them. Something that was not meant for Perdita’s eyes.

It was a brief moment of that melancholy that made her pause and her eyes mist over. She needed to do this alone. Without Perdita’s influence, though she did adore the girl. She cleared her throat as she tucked the box close and then turned towards Perdy. “Forgive me, darling. It would seem I may need to open this in private. Then we can burn it.” She paused giving a small smile. “Unless it is a bomb.”

The sound of her heels on the floor followed her as she retreated back to her office. And it was there that she let the tears that had been threatening to fall since the man had come over the speaker finally slip down her cheeks. It was a brief moment, gone before it had the chance to turn into something much larger. Brief moments of sadness were all that she would allow herself. If only because a few moments were all she could allot to this emotion. Soon she would be back to the drawing board, creating anything and everything. She would channel those emotions just as she had instructed Marie to do with her indecision and sadness. 

But first...

Nimble fingers undid the tie on the box. Once it was freed, she paused again as uncertainty took over her. Did she want to do this? Was she really willing to let Thomas hold this sway over her after he had broken her heart? In short, the answer was no. But Duchess did not want to let go of him just yet. And with that revelation, her moment was over. The lid came off the box and she stared at the contents in confusion. 

It was... it was ticking? 

Thomas O’Malley?

Perdita’s eyebrows sprang up at once at that. As far as Perdita had known, Thomas had left without a word, and should be as good as dead to Duchess. He was, as Roger and Paul would put it (and Anita, when she was feeling particularly spicy): a right tosser. 

She watched Duchess’ expression closely, but she could not exactly read it. Which didn’t surprise her. Duchess was a successful, wealthy woman. If her face was easy to read, she would not be these things.

Her lip quirked up slightly at Duchess’ suggestion and she rolled her shoulders in an elegant shrug, still lounging on her chair. “Sounds delightful. Could commit a bit of arson. Or run it over with a car.” 

She took a sip of her wine nonchalantly.

“Would you like me to come with you?”

See, if Duchess had been truly angry with Thomas she would have easily agreed to any number of Perdita’s suggestions because it would have been what he deserved. But Duchess was not truly angry. In all actuality she was sad. It was a bone deep feeling that she didn’t think would ever truly go away. Not that she would tell Perdita that. Or anyone, really.

Which was why she offered a sly smirk as she moved towards the door. “I think all three sound thrilling,” she hummed, placing her own wine glass down on the table near the door. “You are more than welcome to come. Especially if we are running whatever it is over with a car.” Another smirk came with that one, this time following her as she left the room.

The man standing behind the large door was odd looking at best. Duchess didn’t know if she should comment on his attire or the fact he looked as if he had been hired to sneak around dark places doing the most nefarious of deeds. It made Duchess keep the door as closed as possible, offering no way for the man to see or intrude in any way.