Re: Rooftop.
Even Brielle - who had been kissed only a handful of times in her life - could tell the difference between passion and pity. When Jack drew back, her eyes were open and strongly focused on his expression when he spoke. Even the flecks of green in her eyes seemed only like dimmer versions of tourmaline now, more sand than grasslands. Although she hadn't been entirely aware of Ivy's influence, she could feel the sudden absence of it like a cold, brittle thing striking through her body. That twinge of bewitching and half-disgusted laughter echoing in her head.
She felt strangely exposed, but it had nothing to do with the dress. It was a rising tide of realization, something that should have been sadder than she actually felt. Brielle would never be enough. She was destroyed and broken and nobody selected a doll from the Island of Misfit Toys if they had a choice in the matter. She wasn't entirely sure why she cared in that moment, because the numbness was returning. The vacancy in her expression that didn't allow for anything hurt or disappointed. Her posture remained strong, but there was a difference in the way she held herself that couldn't be pinpointed. People had given her second glances when she walked in, but nobody would notice when she walked out.
"This isn't a city for happiness, Jack.." She looked up at him, eyes at last gone true and dark. It hadn't been about the kiss, not really.. she'd just hoped that he could take the bad things away. The fear, the memories, the flinching, and the shame. But it still remained, and her attention wavered behind him toward the stark evening skyline. Reaching for her neglected wineglass on the ledge, a pair of fingers stroked its crystal idly before she dropped her eyes to its delicacy and simply gave it a small push. The flute and it's bubbly remnants tumbled out of sight(down and down and down), and for a second she wondered what that would feel like... to disappear so flawlessly. ".. we are all too fragile."
And then, without another word, she turned. The lost champagne flute apparently functioning as some solemn goodbye.