#dmsstarter

given  she’s  loitering  in  a  place  where  people  are  apt  to  recognize  her,  it  comes  to  no  surprise  that  she  feels  heat  against  the  back  of  her  neck.   someone’s  staring.  she  turns  slowly,  smile  stretching  playfully  as  she  wiggles  her  fingers  in  their  direction.   “  fancy  meeting  you  here. ”   she  drawls,  casual  as  ever.   “  miss  me ? ”

after sending a quick text to his siblings asking if they wanted anything from the coffee house a few blocks from the academy, he left and had already made his mind up that if they didn’t reply by the time he got there, they weren’t getting anything. 

or at least, he tried to be firm in his resolve. waiting for a reply from everyone, he stepped off to the side, watching his phone anxiously. feeling someone else standing near him, he didn’t look up. “you can go ahead, i’m not in line.”

“Oh, hi,” she said.

avery decidedly had not.

it was with the help of alcohol that he found relief from his frustration, drowning his anger at the bottom of the bottle and allowing himself to be numb. that was one he hadn’t practiced in for years, since his father died. if he was numb emotionally, he wouldn’t cause pain physically. and why would he stop himself from hurting others when he so enjoyed it. 

the news report kept playing on tv, bringing them live updates of the eiffel tower coming to life as a robot to destroy them or something—he wasn’t paying attention— and he scoffed. “i thought the briefcase was the weirdest shit i’d see this week.” he punctuated his sentence with a drink, less concerned with the actual crisis being shown on television than he was with getting himself well and truly drunk.

Fancy pulled her body upwards out of the bed she had been given upon arriving. The day she came here was all a blur, especially considering she showed up with a gunshot wound to her shoulder that left her collapsing on their doorstep.

Two weeks. It had taken her almost two weeks to partly heal and never once had she left the room. Food and other needed necessities had been left at her door until now without the need to socialize with anyone. Yet it seemed whoever it was that resided here and cared for her in her time of need knew she was no longer ill. The room service provided had finally been used up. Now she had to go outside and socialize.

After washing up and tearing off her bandages, she hesitantly opened her room door all the more carefully. Her head peered out to look down both ends of the hallway. It was empty, as if whoever lived here didn’t at all find this noise to be alarming. Trying to be discreet and somehow tiptoe right out of here, Fancy had made it only so far before she could make out the shape of someone coming down the opposite end of the hallway.

With panic on her face, she flung open the first door she could get her hands on and forced her way into it. Her hand came up to grip her beating heart through her chest, not even acknowledging the other soul in the room until her breathing had slowed down. “Do you not hear that?” She asked, trying to remain nonchalant “Because I know I do… also, where exactly am I?”