#arc 3.

"you made a pro and con list?" cassie shifts, resting on her elbow. her other hand moves higher, splaying across the space her head had occupied. "for our neighbour's barbecue?" she's teasing now, eyes lit up. "i didn't know they were so scary." scarier than vampires and werewolves and demons, and just about anything else that goes bump in the night.

" fuck , where the hell did you come from ?? " it's not as if harriet's really that tall - she's quite short herself , truth be told . yet somehow , fairy godmother's daughter had managed to creep up behind her without her even noticing at all , and harriet's just barely managed to not put a dagger to the poor girl's neck . she releases the breath she had been holding , taking her hand out of her trenchcoat and tucking it over her front awkwardly . " hades' fiery nuts , don't sneak up on people like that ! "

" just what do you expect me to do about that ? " harriet , at her core , does not involve herself with the bullshit that goes on around her . dragons and world domination and revenge are not her priorities at the end of the day , and uma's gang and mal's gang can shove their noses into any mess that's come up to their hearts content . harriet hook just wants to get away from all this shit . " 'cause this sounds a lot like a you problem . "

" i dunno estelle ... it'll start chipping real quick on me . " harriet can't help but warily eye the assortment of tiny glass bottles that the princess has arranged in between them . a variety of different colours , some with fine glitter , some with flaky glitter , some a kaleidoscope of colour with the light hits it . she's never had her nails done ; she recalls memories of little dizzy tremaine practicing nail polish in her grandmother's salon , but her knowledge does not extend further than that . she peers down at her own nails a little self-consciously , noting the redness on the delicate skin framing her nails from hours of anxious picking . " don't want your effort to go to waste n' all that . "

she's never really done this , she realizes with sudden clarity . never really , really done this ; sat down with someone who wasn't her sibling , with an impairing substance that she would actually consume , and just ... relax . gods above , when was the last time she even relaxed while sober ? and now she's here , high as fuck , with her little brother's ex-girlfriend next to her . in the woods . is she feeling ... content ? good ? why does it feel so foreign ?

abruptly , harriet sits up from where she was sprawled in the grass , and stares over at allie with wide , incredulous eyes . " holy shit , i think i had a really fucked up life . "

RED SAID : think you're going to have to go on without me.