#conseille

a very merry christmas to the wonderful @conseille ! thank you for spending this hellish year with me girl, i couldn't have made it through without you <3 here's to another year together! and ofc i had to commission vivrin for your gift, OUR BEST GIRLS!! having some nice downtime at seiren :')) hope you have the best day girl!! 🧡💚

@conseille

these days, she's doing better at getting reacquainted with her reflection. there was a time where marina dreaded mirrors and looking at herself - any reminder of her days spent in captivity and what she had endured to survive. it's different now, with the lees. they treat her as family, and while marina may never fully understand it ( or be able to repay them ), she's thankful from the bottom of her heart. she wouldn't still be alive today if it wasn't for them.

yerin's voice startles her. marina hadn't meant to stare at herself, but she couldn't remember the last time she looked this... good? not terrible? she'd been dressed up plenty before, but only to be paraded around, a prize to be gawked at. now, she wears one of yerin's nicer sweaters - dark-green and soft to the touch - and it's more beautiful than any of the gowns she had forced on her. feels cozier, safer.

"it looks better on you," she's quick to retort with a small laugh as she turns to face yerin. everything she had came from the lees, hand-me-downs from yerin she pretends she doesn't wear anymore or old clothes from her grandmother they kept over the years. marina hopes to save up enough money to buy something nice in return soon - the smallest of gestures in comparison to all they do for her, but a heartfelt one nonetheless.

"you should be the one going." marina shakes her head, worrying her bottom lip. "topside makes me nervous." but then, so did the lanes. maybe she'd never feel truly safe anywhere beyond the four walls of the inn.

"good news - the nurse says it's just dislocated, not broken." soomi announces as she returns, gesturing for her shoulder sling with her good arm. the waiting room isn't too crowded, thankfully, but still she feels bad for keeping yerin there while she was under observation. in reality, yerin had already done plenty before they even reached the hospital. she'd been the one to witness soomi's embarrassing fall as she tried to save a cat stuck in a tree - nevermind that the cat was perfectly content perched up there, quizzically looking down as soomi struggled to climb to her rescue.

yerin had helped her off the ground and offered to drive her to the hospital, without so much as a word to scold soomi for her recklessness ( she certainly deserved it ). at that point, the cat had decided to come down on all her own, seemingly interested in the commotion. soomi had wanted to drop her off at the shelter first - the whole point for trying to rescue the cat in the first place - but yerin insisted they go see a doctor first.

-- which accounts for yerin sitting in the waiting room now, with a carrier in her lap. soomi only had to beg every doctor and nurse in sight to let the cat in, claiming it was for an important cause. thankfully, they all knew how much her work at the shelter meant to soomi, so they eventually agreed, so long as the cat didn't come into contact with any patients.

"thanks for keeping her company." soomi smiles small, a little embarrassed. it felt like she was always relying on yerin whenever they crossed paths. soomi couldn't help but feel a certain pull towards her - something she wasn't sure how to explain. all she knew was she felt safe in yerin's company, regardless of the two not being particularly close.

@conseille

although ash is the one lying in bed with a bandaged leg, she feels as though she should be reassuring yerin - not the other way around. she'd been so excited to try out yerin's motorized bike, wanting to look cool, she didn't think the consequences through, how she should've let the expert show her the ropes first or maybe even have yerin drive while ash sat behind her ( she would've liked that ).

she can already hear maddy screeching about her injury when she hears about it, half concern for her coworker, half horror for having no one to cover tomorrow morning's shift. she'll wait until after yerin's gone home to break the news, though; yerin had to deal with maddy enough at the drip already.

"still. i'm sorry," ash insists, repeating the apology for what feels like the tenth time today. her injury had been minor, all things considered. the damage to yerin's bike... not so much. it wasn't anything her family money couldn't easily fix, yet it was the principle of it, breaking something that was precious to yerin, that was eating away at her. "i know how much the bike meant to you." and how vital it was for yerin's job, too. "i'll take it to be fixed tomorrow, and i'll make sure it's ready by the end of the week." surely some pressure by a decorated sheriff would help speed the process along.

her lips tighten with the weight of the other elephant in the room - her very large room in an equally massive house in the richer parts of piltover. it wasn't as though ash ever decided to lie to yerin about it; she just didn't talk about her family much, or their status in the community. it wasn't as though she fit in either. would yerin see her the same way everyone else did now too?

"i didn't mean to hide this from you." ash gestures vaguely for their surroundings, feeling particularly observed now that she's stuck to her bed and unable to move around. "it just never felt like a good time to bring it up - and i don't like... bragging or whatever." she shrugs, fidgeting slightly with her dark-blue blanket, desperate for a distraction. mugi seems to sense her affliction, rising from his spot at the foot of her bed to go lick her hand. it manages to pull ash back from her tunnel vision, even bringing a smile to her lips as she rubs that spot behind his ear that he likes so much, a silent thank you for his constant support.

had those words come from someone else, ash would've thought them sarcasm, a quip to her less-than-stellar people skills - terribly suited for customer service, but her dad was nothing if not relentless about ash keeping this job.

however, when it's yerin who says them, there's no trace of malice or a double-meaning. she means them wholeheartedly. it stuns ash for a moment, only used to such honesty from maddy ( and that was on a completely different level ). she wants to say something just as kind in return, but the words don't come as easily to her.

ash taps her knuckles against the counter in a slow rhythm as she searches for a good reply. she'd come to truly enjoy yerin's company in the past few days, with the other even hanging around for hours at times, just so ash wouldn't have to close up on her own.

she'll never forget the shocked expressions of her family when she arrived home late one night, still in her uniform but with no trace of her usual exhaustion and apathy. 'look who's actually come around on enjoying work,' her father had teased, earning a prompt eyeroll from ash as she stomped away to her room.

she wouldn't go as far as saying she liked working at the café now - but yerin visiting definitely gave her something to look forward to, motivated enough to brave through even the most brutal of rush hours.