vacancy

          the “WE” rolls off alice’s tongue a bit too easily for rin’s liking, but she’ll concede that she’s the one who asked for her help to begin with. now they’re standing in a huge pile of lorna’s bone collection in the parking lot, ripped trash bags in each fist. ❝ i thought you’ve dealt with these kind of situations before. ❞  

          she doesn’t miss lorna’s reaction – or rather, it would be a task not to see it, blooms on her pale cheek showing up brighter than pink carnations in snow. and it embarrasses rin a little, she’s not entirely accustomed to being seen as SOFT, especially given her usual flippant behavior at work. but at least with lorna acting so cute and warming up beside her, the callout isn’t too bad. 

❝ hmph. try telling him that, ❞ she pretends to scoff, but she’s smiling, and they both know well that haku is a good kid, always more than appreciative enough. at lorna’s new suggestion, rin brings a hand down upon her head, gently tousling her hair, thumb rubbing. ❝ hey, that’s a pretty great idea. i’ve been craving some of your mushroom pasta lately too. ❞ 

               lorna’s cheeks puff out as she tries to hold in her giggles for this one moment where she must look stern. 

               “ oh, i will be sure to talk to him. v-very sternly. s-so he ... k-knows ... ” 

she makes about three seconds before she’s dissolving into giggles, burying her smiles into rin’s shoulder. from there she feels rin’s hand on her head, gentle, always so gentle. lorna’s heart near bursts & without realizing, she’s clinging to rin with both arms, squeezing like her life depends on staying connected to rin. 

            in the middle of her march away from the meat, lorna’s pausing causes rin to stop too – and actually listen. she can see lorna just wants her to eat something a bit nicer for once ( the last stream had been eating 10 cups of ramen, after all ). so she smiles back at her, nonetheless GLAD to have someone beside her who would care for her like this. rin can’t remember the last time … or if it had ever happened at all. ❝ well – every penny counts.  ❞ no, lorna deserves more explanation than that trite statement. ❝ there’s a trip to okinawa coming up in haku’s class, so i’ve been trying to save up. ❞ damned if her kid brother wouldn’t be the death of her.  

                 at haku’s name lorna perks up -- then deflates just as quickly, but her pout is replaced with a smile, & subconsciously she burrows herself into rin’s side, near nuzzling her cheek into rin’s arm. rin is so kind, it never fails to amaze lorna just how deep her kindness goes. 

❝ TWELVE DOLLARS ? !   ❞ you might as well have just slapped rin in the face with that pricy packaged meat for the shock.  taking the beef from lorna, rin sets it right back down in the case. ❝ we’re not eating with a king. let’s check out the discounted area.  ❞

              “ but you do get so much from that ... & we are planning to make a huge meal for the stream. perhaps ... ”  lorna turns with rin to move on but her gaze remains, reluctant to give up quite yet. in her mind, she’s picturing rin with a huge meal, smiling as she eats, enjoying herself. as she should. 

                  by now she should know better than to try and control aranea … but for the sake of yerin’s heart so constantly in danger by the mere sight of her girlfriend, she thought she would give it a try. she can feel aranea’s smile grow, cheeks warming her palms, and it’s almost too much, too much to hold a girl cool as the moon but burning hot as the stars beneath her too-mortal fingers. 

yerin already knows what’s coming next as aranea echos her, brushing aside her request ( near entreaty ), but she revels in the increasing closeness, a soft, shy giggle falling from her lips as she compliments her. pretty, like she’s the one with so much magnetism. “ah-h, you’re too much,” yerin pretends to scold, but she can’t even hold a pout for half a second, too blissful to be here beside her. though she’s well-trained in deflecting flattery, she’s powerless against aranea, too willing to give her whatever she wants. even as she looms over her, invading her space, yerin’s an eager damsel in distress. 

her hands move from aranea’s face ( blasphemous to cover it for so long, really ), slipping uncertainly and feeling empty as they hover between them, but the bunny kiss has her feeling all cozy inside again. she has to protest when aranea says she kills her, though, finding that accusation completely exaggerated when she feels she can barely breathe in front of aranea sometimes. 

                      ❝ hm? but i don’t do any – ❞  yerin begins, but she’s promptly shut up by a kiss, so stunned she feels almost robbed because by the time she wants to enjoy it, it’s over. blinking afterwards, yerin taps her fist repeatedly at aranea’s shoulder in complaint. ❝ that’s not fair, no surprise attacks. ❞ she retaliates then, fintertips clapping lightly at aranea’s jaw before yerin leans in to kiss her back, longer, deeper than before to make up.

her after-moonstruck smile pops quickly when she remembers she hasn’t seen aranea all day, however, and that means – ❝ oh though! are you hungry? should i fix something for you? ❞ 

              yerin's reactions are a treat & aranea never fails to have fun discovering all sorts of them, like a game she can only win again & again. her favorite kind, to be sure. apparently, yerin's particular reaction to being kissed suddenly in a public place while being lavished with compliments is to pound on her shoulders & give her an even better kiss. the kind that makes aranea’s brows raise at the sheer want of the kiss, affection pouring from yerin in rivers & her heart throbs at how much she wants right back. wants a lot, & more, & more, & she’s chasing after yerin’s lips before she even notices. doesn’t know when she closed her eyes, when their surroundings fell away, the entirety of her reducing to just yerin & her smile. 

              wow, she loves yerin. it might be hours before aranea ever stops grinning.

              “ i think you know what i’m hungry for, gorgeous. ”

& it will be never when she doesn't grasp the opportunity for a lewd joke at her girlfriend, waggling eyebrows & all. & it’s only half a joke. well, a quarter. maybe. if even that. can she have both? yerin is generous. & cute. too fucking cute. c’mon, aranea’s human & attracted & in love, cut her some slack. 

     [ queen 👑] chase?😂 the only thing i’m chasing🏃🏽😈is my dreams💭✊🏽keep grinding 💯RIP grandma👵🏼Romans 8:1🙏🏼

                if he’s being totally honest, he doesn’t fully know what she’s conveying to him. is she turning christian? he would accept & respect her decision, of course, but this is. quite the turn of events.

                  like alice’s reluctance, the flick should come as no surprise –  but she still blinks back a little stunned, unprepared for the swift delivery. “–hey,” she can only pretend to be offended for a second before laughing; punzies bounces back, clarifying, “it wouldn’t! i promise. it’s the corset sewn on the inside that does all the cinching, but we wouldn’t even have to tie that. it really only takes like five minutes to pop into.” she raises and drops her shoulders. sometimes a little more … but on a good day, with extra staff, and before ella eats lunch, it could be kind of five minutes.

punzie wraps her arms around the mannequin and leans closer with a smile, attempting to charm alice over first as she widens her eyes doe-like and starts to simper as lance had taught her. yet after quickly remembering alice is probably long since immune to these kinds of looks – being constantly surrounded by mako and ana and the like – she goes for the bargaining instead, holding out fingers. “ten minutes! five minutes in the dress, and then i promise i’ll nap for fifteen.” she could go for five minutes and up to forty-five, but she’ll have to lowball her first. thank goodness for all those late night crew card games teaching her. 

                  “ compromises, compromises, ”  alice tuts.         “ everyone’s always trying to make fucking compromises. ” 

punzie is downright adorable when she’s not trying & disarming when she does, but alice deals with pretty faces on the regular. punzie must remember this because she switches tactics almost instantly. trying to compromise, she is. as if something so valuable to her well being should be bargained for. as if alice would be so easily swayed. 

but humoring punzie gets more done than arguing with her endlessly. alice levels a flat look back at punzie, so still the wind would stop for her, if it was blowing through the room. for every bit as enthused punzie is, alice will be that more apathetic. 

     ❛ … it’s not your trouble. so please, can you just—don’t. ❜

           alice stares quietly, weighing her options over -- in the end she settles beside chidori, sighing. she never was good at leaving people to their troubles, least of all when she knows they don’t deserve them.

     ❛ now now, not everyone dreads effort like you do. ❜