resilience

Charlotte had been spending most of the day gathering her thoughts while scanning the isles of the library. Trying to make sense of what was happening. Most would probably start elsewhere, but for Charlotte the library meant she got to spend at least some time in solitude – it meant she could do her own thing without anyone bothering her and without her having to lend extra energy to anyone or anything other than her own thoughts. So, with a backpack filled with books and arms filled with some more, Charlotte made her way back to the town’s square, so that she could sit somewhere in a corner and hopefully get someone to join in her research. However, it didn’t take too long for her journey to the town’s square to be interrupted as she bumped into someone. The second she realised who it was, her gaze dropped down to her books and shook her head. “ I’m pretty sure we’re all a little distracted here, and I think we’re allowed to. ” Her tone calm and her gaze slowly made its way back up to her old friend. “ No need to be so snappy. ”

as soon as her gaze settled on charlotte, henrietta’s face fell and relief instantly flashed across her features--- at least for an instant before the stone-cold expression from before was back. “ charlotte ” charlotte was okay, or at least as okay as one could be in a situation like this. when henrietta first realised what had happened, charlotte was the first person she wanted to check in on, but she decided against it as she figured the other probably wouldn’t want anything to do with her. the tall brunette let out a small sigh at the other’s words... of course charlotte was so fucking calm in all of this mess, and of course she was already collecting books, trying to do something that was going to benefit everyone. “ being distracted doesn’t mean being blind.” she replied, just as snappily as she’d been earlier, though her eyes were carefully examining charlotte’s face. scoffing slightly, she ran a hand through her hair as she threw a glance at the books charlotte were carrying. “ i’m not snappy. this is how i usually am  after having gotten the corner of a giant book rammed into my side. ” 

“Yeah Henrietta I thought this was going to be a fuckin’ walk in the park. I thought to myself ‘Yeah, I’ll join the council because it’s going to be a big ol’ bunch of fun and everyones going to follow my lead’.” Emmie snapped. “I thought our parents were going to appear out of thin air after a few hours and it would all be over.” she rolled her eyes. “Of course I didn’t think it was going to fun and games. Everyones families have disappeared, the whole town is a fuckin’ ghost town, we don’t know how long the food will last, we know nothing. I joined because I knew I would want to see some control around here apposed to somebody who wants to waste every single supply we have within days and just wants to be top dog.”

holding up her hands in defeat, henrietta couldn’t help but chuckle as she shook her head at the other. “ woah --- i sure hope your bark is worse than your bite.” she said, having regained some control of her laughter. sure, she wasn’t expecting the other to take her comments nicely, she wasn’t expecting her to blow like this. though considering the situation, henrietta couldn’t really blame her. “ i get that, i do, so don’t take this the wrong way; but some people think that the council is just a bunch of opportunists who are using this as an excuse to ensure most for themselves --- and for the people who believe that to be unsure and demanding some more answers? that’s really fucking understandable too.” inhaling sharply again, henrietta tucked a stray piece of hair behind her head. “ just make sure not to lose your head like that with one of them... wouldn’t want to give them further reason to mistrust the council now would we ? ”  

              EVEN THOUGH ROCCO tried to stay positive in all of the chaos, he found it hard to disagree with the girl. at this pace – the rate with which the kids were slowly losing their composure due to the lure of freedom and no real authorities – coldridge wasn’t going to make through the week and sooner rather than later, something was going to go terribly wrong. “ i know. “, was rocco’s simple reply, a sigh falling from his lips as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. it was good to know there were others sharing his concerns. “ i agree that something had to happen – someone had to take the lead. but… it’s just not enough. “, he spoke, shaking his head. 

brown eyes widened ever so slightly with surprise as the other simply agreed with her --- henrietta had expected some kind of resistance or denial. after all, it seemed so many people tried too damn hard to stay positive in all this mess. giving a small shrug in response henrietta shook her head. “ yeah it’s definitely not enough...” sure, at least initially people were bound to be letting off steam and for some people, destroying things was probably how they dealt with all their feeling around whatever was happening. “ if this whole... situation is something that’s going to last, there needs to be a lot more organisation and authority. ” she said, although she very much wished to just wake up tomorrow and have everything be back to normal; henrietta had a sickening feeling that this wasn’t going away anytime soon.

          THE GIRL’S REPLY was pretty much the opposite of what stella was hoping for – and instead of her nerves being calmed down, the brunette could feel her heart rate bo back up, her breathing getting heavier and faster. “ erm… i don’t know. “, she said, forcing herself to keep it together. “ there must be an explanation. people don’t just… disappear out of nowhere ? roads don’t get cut off over night ‘ just like that ‘ ? “, stella reasoned out loud, shaking her head as she fixed her gaze on the other.

as henrietta saw the other’s reaction to her words, the other eyebrow shot up as well, and she drew a deep breath before replying. “ of course they don’t. ” she said, a sharp edge following her words as as low sigh fell from her lips. the brunette feeling her own chest tighten slightly as stella’s concern seemed to affect her, and she really didn’t have the energy to join the other in her spiral. " i’m sure they’re going to find some kind of explanation for all of this --- ” henrietta gestured off-handedly at the scene taking place in front of them. “i just don’t think it’ll be a logical one.” ‘and being illogical it would probably be difficult to find a solution’, but she decided to keep those thoughts to herself.

softly closing the door behind her, the brunette drew a deep pinched the skin on her forearm ( which was turning blue at this point ) one last time --- just in case she woke up this time, before going down the steps from the front porch of her house and onto the curbs. her feet taking her back to the chaos that was the town square which she had left merely ten minutes ago. and now it seemed so odd that she’d ever thought that the pressing emptiness and quiet of her home would even be a smidge better than complete and utter chaos. at least in the chaos you couldn’t hear yourself think. 

hands curled into fists as she came closer to the square, her annoyance of how poorly everyone were dealing with this replacing the terrible ache inside of her. though she was quickly pulled out of her train of thoughts as someone slammed into her shoulder. letting out a scoff as she fixed her glare on them, her eyes having gotten a hint of red. “ for fuck’s sake. i’m walking here --- could you try to see where you’re going ?! ” her voice harsher than intended, but maybe it was for the best, because then maybe the other wouldn’t notice the slight quiver in it. 

                  “ OH NO… “, STELLA said, her voice shaking as she let her hands run through her thick, dark locks. frantically, the brunette let her eyes wander around the usually so familiar town square which now seemed so cold and oddly abandoned, despite being a spitting image of the town square she’d grew up around. “ no no no… there has to be a logical explanation for this. “, the girl continued, only to take a couple deep breaths as she tried to keep herself calm. “ right ? there has to be an explanation, hasn’t there ? “, stella asked the person standing closest to her, a desperate look in her eyes as she turned to face them.

 dark brows furrowed as the young woman let her eyes roam the town square --- it looked just like it was supposed to, but somehow everything was so wrong. and it had happened all too fast.  meeting the eye of the person next to her, henrietta gave a small shrug in response. “ bad and unimaginable things happen to people without there being an explanation all the time... why should this be any different ? ” she asked, raising a brow slightly at the other.  “ though this is quite... out of the ordinary, so maybe there actually is an explanation for this. but if there is... i highly doubt it’ll be a logical one. ” 

          ROCCO CROSSED HIS arms in front of his chest as he walked out on to the town square where people were running around, screaming some profanities and behaving like, well, teenagers going wild. only this morning people had realised that something was off, and already half of the yougsters in town seemed to be losing their minds because ‘ woohoo, no one to boss them around any longer ‘. “ i wonder how long it’ll be until things start going terribly wrong. “, rocco sighed, shaking his head. “ i appreciate the initiative – but how are five people going to stop this place from falling apart ? “, he wondered out loud, frowning a bit. 

“ i give it three days... tops.” the brunette muttered as she turned her head to face the other, a small chuckle coming out of her mouth as she shook her head slightly, though she quickly stopped herself. this was no laughing matter. “ sorry --- but you’re right; five people aren’t going to stop this place from falling apart. there are people here who struggled taking orders and following rules when they were coming from their parents and actual authority... i doubt they’re going to just smile and nod and do whatever the council says.” she sighed with a roll of her eyes, leaning back slightly as she rested her head on the wall behind her.

Emmie sat on the wall watching people run riot. Her foot tapping with nerves and her brain going a thousand miles an hour trying to come up with some sort of solution. “People are going to want answers and we don’t have them yet.” a deep huff releasing from her lips. “How are we supposed to have answers yet?” she said in frustration. Emmie had agreed to be a apart of the council and it was only a matter of time before people wanted answers or solutions. “Something needs to happen fast otherwise this place will be burnt to the ground.”

“ hasn’t it already kind of burned to the ground ? ” the brunette asked with a small scoff as she gestured towards the riot taking place in front of them with her head, the way things were going so far it was hard to imagine that anyone would be able to get this under control. “ and if you can’t deal with people asking questions right after something like this happens, maybe you shouldn’t have agreed to being in charge and be one of the people with responsibility in all this ? ” she asked dully with a slight frown on her face as she picked at a piece of skin on her finger “ like don’t get me wrong; i understand that you don’t have the answers, but you agreed to being one of the people who were going to handle this. and that includes knowing how to answer those kinds of questions. ” she continued in the same tone, lifting her eyes for long enough to raise a brow at the other. “ or was that not part of the job description ? were you told it would be all fun and games ? ”

⌜‧ ˔ ✧ʾ the subject is a TWENTY-THREE year old CIS-FEMALE going by the name HENRIETTA WALLIS,. SHE is/are also called THE FALLEN ANGEL around coldridge and is/are often described as ATTENTIVE, as well as MELODRAMATIC. HENRIETTA bears a resemblance to COURTNEY EATON and has taken up the responsibility of A MEMBER OF THE GUARD around coldrigde. apparently, they’re residing at MONTEZ’S HOUSE.⌟ { mel, 22, gmt+1, she/her }