InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Where's the cream filling?"

Lily J. Potter (infieldsofgold) wrote in crownplazaic,
@ 2021-07-18 15:06:00

Entry tags:

!log/thread, elektra natchios, lily potter

Who: Lily Potter & Open
What: A bit of fresh air
Where: Boat dock
When: July 18th
Status: Open/Incomplete
Warnings: tbd

The boat dock, and the structure that loomed over it, were quite beautiful really. There were lots of places like that here, as she had discovered during her explorations. Places full of luxury, intrigue, or just simple beauty. It was as if someone had put them here to try and make them forget that they were prisoners, or whatever they were.

Wrapping her cardigan closer around herself, despite the warm sunshine (a rarity in Scotland, she knew), Lily took a careful step out on the boards. They creaked a little, but otherwise the only sound was the water lapping softly beneath her. A couple of boats moved gently with the waves, but otherwise it was perfectly still. Lily reached the edge, looking out over the water for a moment, as if she might spot the real world waving from the other side. But no, they remained stubbornly exiled.

After a little while here, she'd done her best to collect her thoughts. Or at least, file them away in a little box in the back of her head. It seemed to work for the most part anyway, as long as she kept moving. Doing her upmost to keep them tidily stowed away, Lily finally toed off her worn shoes and rolled up her jeans a fraction, allowing her feet to dangle in the water as she sat down on the edge of the dock. If she tried hard enough, maybe she could convince herself that this was a holiday.

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skyblack
2021-07-18 03:54 pm UTC (link)

Over the past week or so, Elektra had made a habit of spending much of her days by the water. For no particular reason. It was just - quieter there. And there were one or two people inside the hotel she didn't particularly care to run into. And the lake was placid, the dock empty - at least, it was that way most days.

No such luck this time. As Elektra approached, she noticed the figure perched at the end of the dock, feet dangling over the edge. She looked solid enough, but this was a notoriously haunted hotel and it wouldn't be the first time Elektra thought she was walking toward a resident only to have them vanish on her the second she looked away. (No way could that be because no one wanted to be around her; she would've heard them tiptoe out of sight.)

But the redhead on the dock remained where she was even as Elektra set foot onto the water-warped boards. Sunlight caught on her red hair like it was real. Like she was real. Elektra scraped the bottom of her boot against the dock. Then, saying nothing, she dug up her 'borrowed' cigarettes and methodically pried one out of the pack. "Watcha doing?" she asked, figuring that a ghost probably wouldn't answer.

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infieldsofgold
2021-07-19 11:18 am UTC (link)

Lily turned, surprised. She hadn't heard the newcomer approach. "Oh, just..." she waved her hand absently towards the lake. "Wasting time. Trying to pretend I'm somewhere else," she finished, with a slightly self-deprecating smile.

Lily turned a little, leaving one foot in the water but curling the other underneath her as she examined the other woman. She was very beautiful, but had a slightly cold point to her that put Lily a little on edge. She did her best not to show it, offering a wide smile even as she felt the reassuring press of her wand in her pocket.

"This is really lovely," she added, more for something to say than anything else. Lily glanced back out again, bright green gaze focusing on the line of the horizon and the distant shore. "Has anyone ever tried to cross it?"

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skyblack
2021-07-19 12:55 pm UTC (link)

Elektra didn't stir. She sensed the other woman's assessing stare on her but kept her own eyes on the cigarette in her hands, then on the lighter she retrieved from her pocket. "A few people." She flicked the lighter until a wavering flame emerged, immediately bending into the wind. (This time, she didn't flinch away from the flame. This time, she pretended she never had.)

"The only shore they've ever reached is this one." At least that was what Cora had told her and Elektra actually believed her. "It's all a lovely, big prison." She inhaled smoke into her lungs and let it out in a rush. "You're Lily, right? The grandmother?"

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infieldsofgold
2021-07-20 09:34 am UTC (link)

"I suppose that would have been too easy," Lily sighed, narrowing her eyes as the sunlight darted off the surface of the water. She did her best not to feel too disappointed, even as her stomach sank. After all, she was supposed to be happy to be here, wasn't she? The woman's comment, however, did tempt a wry smirk from the redhead, one corner of her mouth twitching. "Some people seem to think it's more a sanctuary. A second chance, and all that."

"Yes," she confirmed, turning to face her properly with a slightly quirked eyebrow. "I suppose so. Weirdly." She was barely in her twenties, after all. Her son was just over a year old. Being a grandmother was something she'd hoped was a long, long way away. She'd expected to be grey and wrinkly by the time that had been an issue, with a practical haircut and an embarrassing dress sense.

"Sorry, I don't think I know your name?" she continued. There was every chance they'd spoken before, but Lily had decided that these new phones weren't really made for making real introductions.

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skyblack
2021-07-20 11:24 am UTC (link)

There were as many interpretations for this place as there were captives within its walls. Elektra agreed with maybe a couple, saw the sense in a handful more, and figured all the rest were just grasping at straws.

Not that it mattered much. Beliefs were personal. Like vices.

She took another pull from her cigarette, then exhaled the smoke into the wind but away from the redhead's pretty face. "I'm Elektra Natchios. Surname optional. And you're Lily." She remembered that much, though not just because of their brief conversation online; there had been many days since in which Elektra had observed the residents from her various high perches. No one had taken her to task for it, which probably meant that most of them still didn't know she was doing it.

That state of affairs suited her just fine. "How does it feel, knowing you have a full grown grandkid? You look like you're barely that yourself." There was something undeniably youthful about Lily, but it was possible she had a hundred years on her and it just didn't show. After all, vampires and gods walked among them.

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infieldsofgold
2021-07-20 09:02 pm UTC (link)

"Nice to meet you." Lily smiled up at Electra, before finally turning away from the water and clambering to her feet. Brushing some imaginary dirt from her jeans, she squinted across at her new companion. Lily liked to think she was quite good at reading people, but this woman was obviously fiercely untouchable. You could feel it, just by looking at her. And there was something about her... Lily would put good money on her not being from her world.

She let out a small, not entirely ladylike snort of laughter. "It's... very odd," she admitted. "My son's only just one and... well, it's a bit to wrap my head around. This whole place is, really." Understatement of the century. Lily scuffed her toe against the wooden boards absently, shrugging. "That's not his fault though. He's been lovely to me. I suppose we're all just working with what we've been given."

Looking up, she eyed Electra with some curiosity. A plume of cigarette smoke was dissolving in the air above her. "Have you got people from home here?"

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skyblack
2021-07-21 05:09 am UTC (link)

When Lily rose, Elektra turned her gaze to the other woman and watched her move. It wasn't a predator's stare, or not entirely, and she went on smoking her cigarette as though at no point did the thought cross her mind that she could oh so easily push Lily into the lake.

Jump in after. Hold her head under.

Just to see what happened.

But Elektra already knew that part.

"Your kid's here, too?" She arched her brow. "Jesus, this is becoming a family affair." Not that it concerned her; families were as perplexing to her as some people's obsession with schooling. At Lily's question, she shrugged. "Acquaintances only." Matt, who had loved her. Foggy, who loved him. Karen, who - was complicated. Elektra had no intention of revealing their identities, even to someone who appeared as sweet and mild as Lily. "Do you like being a mother?" she asked abruptly, curious.

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infieldsofgold
2021-07-21 10:45 am UTC (link)

"Oh, no. He isn't. Sorry, I'm not making any sense." Lily crossed her arms over her middle, glancing back over the water. Her feet were cold and wet, and the faint breeze nipped at her exposed ankles. "Maybe he'll arrive. But then he'll probably be about thirty and then my head will explode. My husband is here, though. And a few others from home."

She turned back to Elektra, red hair tangling in her collar as she examined her. The woman certainly didn't give much away. Maybe she thought Lily talked too much - she'd probably just come for a quiet cigarette, not expecting to hear some random girl's life story. "That's a shame," she finally replied. "But at least you're not on your own, I suppose."

The question surprised her. Lily's eyes widened, before a small chuckle escaped. "Erm..." she tilted her head with a faintly amused frown. "Well, yes. Of course. Don't get me wrong, it's hard work - really hard work, sometimes. But I wouldn't change it for anything... Harry's the most important thing in the world."

It hurt to talk about him a little. Images of wild, untamed dark hair, bright green eyes and bubbling baby laugh bloomed in Lily's minds eye, and she busied herself with fixing her rolled up cuffs to hide the expression on her face. Ankles sufficiently covered, Lily straightened up and cast around for a change of subject.

"Have you been here long?"

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skyblack
2021-07-21 12:19 pm UTC (link)

The most important thing in the world and yet talking about him made her visibly uncomfortable. Elektra didn't drop her stare, as someone more polite would've done. It was rare to meet a person who wore her heart so obviously on her sleeve. Even here.

Especially here.

"A few months," Elektra replied, as though it didn't matter. Because it didn't. And then, with more interest than she had shown in anything since a certain locked door, she heard herself ask, "What's it like?" Motherhood. Being a parent. Having something small and defenseless depend on you not to screw them up.

A cone of ash drooped from the tip of Elektra's cigarette and fell to the wooden dock. She hardly noticed.

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