Darker London

Although there were clouds hiding the sun, the early morning was already getting warm and the breeze was light. Summer had arrived and everyone in Izmaylov seemed to be feeling the sense of freedom of it. Spring had brought with it newborn chicks at the convent, and baby bears and deer that passed through the grounds, but it had not brought back Lucine.

( I'm not afraid of god, I am afraid of man )

"Dasha."

The growl of a voice behind her in the corridor belonged to Takahiro, because of course it did, because he was practically her stalker, because she couldn't shake the jerk even if she tried and it was deeply irritating. With a frustrated exhale and a roll of her eyes, Dasha turned around to look at him with her arms already crossed.

"What this time?" she demanded. "Am I breathing too loud out here while you're trying to teach? Did I not fold the sheets into the right tiny little squares?"

( after the fire, between the wars, inside the mind that still keeps score )

When Ailbhe woke it was in her own bed and with a splitting headache. She tried to sit up but that turned out to be a mistake and she just groaned instead. At the desk on the other side of the room, Irena turned to look at her and said, "thought you might sleep forever."

Ailbhe reached for the bottle of water on the bedside and found that Irena had put a vial of painkillers beside it. She took three and half drained the bottle. "How long was I asleep?"

( Read more... )

Outside the snow of yesterday had stopped falling and it was only just below zero. It was, for the middle of winter, a very nice day. Even Dasha was almost feeling it, having gone for a long walk that morning around the grounds of the convent. It felt good to be outside and in the open, even if it was cold. It meant not being so close to all the other, especially to certain arseholes she'd avoided very hard for the last few weeks.

Avoidance was good. Avoidance was Dasha's best bet.

( I fear and hope. I burn and freeze like ice. )

Irena's cheek vibrated with a steady hum and she stirred, reaching under her pillow to pull out the mobile phone that rarely worked as a phone but instead served as an alarm clock. The bedroom was steel vault-dark, sunrise not for another handful of hours and even then it would be weak and cloudy - at least, that was what the weather last night had suggested.

( There were signs all around )