graves, lily. (immolations) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2015-10-06 23:45:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | # 2018 [10] october, lily graves, persephone forrester |
Who. Lily & Persephone.
What. Lily breaks the news that she's got a bun in the oven.
When. October 1st.
Where. Fox Grove.
Lily was nervous, and it wasn’t like Lily to be this nervous. She was the “chill” girl, the one you went to when you needed a calm, collected voice to tell you to chill right the fuck out, but she wasn’t just nervous. She was pacing, her hands shoved deep into the fraying pockets of her cutoff shorts. Not even the familiar surroundings of the science lab, a place she spent a startling amount of time, could ease her nerves. Should I even be around all these chemicals with the baby? she thought to herself, fingertips trailing over a beaker of her latest experiment, and the thought was so foreign and new to her that it very nearly made her double over. Or maybe that was the morning sickness that couldn’t seem to fucking tell time. If she thought the apocalypse sucked a giant dick, being pregnant in the middle of one sucked a mammoth, hairy one. But it wasn’t all bad, was it? Her dad was alive and as well as anyone else, and he found her. She wasn’t Lily, the possible orphan, any longer. She was Lily Graves, proud daughter of Jacob Graves, and they were going to figure this out, whatever the fuck that meant. Lily still didn’t know if she was doing the right thing by leaving, but it wasn’t like she’d never get to see her friends again. If Danny wanted to be a part of the baby’s life, then they’d figure it out from there. If not, well, then to hell with him. Still, the thought of leaving Fox Grove behind, even if she was just leaving for a little while at a time, was hard to stomach. Or, again, maybe that was the nausea. -- Sepphy was having one hell of a day, and she knew that the natives were restless. But only one so far had called her out for a private meeting so she headed straight to the science lab after replying a few more times on the boards, juggling Isaac and the rest of the students chiming in. The idea of firearms was weighing heavy on her mind, and she knew she was going to have to discuss it with the council soon. She wasn't looking forward to it. When she got to the science lab though, she put on a smile for Lily, and walked right in. “Hey, Lily,” she greeted, as if it were an average day. “What's going on? Everything okay?” she asked, shutting the door behind herself. -- No, everything wasn’t okay, but she managed a return smile for her friend-turned-leader as she leaned up against the nearest counter. Because of her height, or lack thereof, it came up nearly to her upper back. “There’s just … a lot.” Where to start? That her dad was back? That she was going to be leaving Fox Grove for a while? That she was pregnant with Danny’s baby? “Honestly, I don’t even know where to start. Why don’t we sit down? That’s what they always say, right? I guess it’s supposed to help or something. Fuck if I know.” Either way, she pulled up a nearby stool and half-climbed, half-hopped onto it as she waited for Sepphy to do the same. -- Also being a short little thing, Sepphy hopped up too, and propped her chin on her hands as she eyed Lily, light worry in her features. But she didn't try to rush her or anything, giving the other girl a minute to collect herself. “Whatever you've got to say, you know you're in a safe place. Whatever it is, I'll listen,” she said, wanting to be reassuring. She didn't know what was going on yet, but there was a seriousness in the air she couldn't ignore. Whatever Lily had to share, it was going to be big. -- Safe was quite the subjective word these days, wasn’t it? They had public hangings, for fuck’s sake, though always for a good reason. Or what they deemed a good reason. Lily had never spoken out about them, at least not with Sepphy, because it wasn’t her call to make. She was just the neighborhood greeter; her opinion didn’t carry as much weight, in her own opinion. “My dad’s back, Sepphy.” That seemed as good of a place to start as any. “He contacted me on the Freenet, and at first I thought it was some kind of joke or something, but it’s him. I saw him in person.” There was a lump of emotion in her throat, and she swallowed it down somehow despite the pain. “Two years, and he’s finally back.” -- Sepphy's eyes widened. “He is?” she asked, shocked. She saw the swell of emotion in Lily's features, and she reached over to put a hand over hers. “That's great! I'm so happy for you,” she said, tone genuine. She was happy for her. Family was scarce. One showing up out of the blue when assumed dead was a good thing. And she did know that losing her father had been the hardest thing for Lily to swallow back in the early days. That had caused a lot of turmoil. -- Lily nodded, hand turning over so she could hold her friend’s hand proper. “He wants me to come with him, and … and I want to, Sepphy. He’s at the library. I want to go with him, but at the same time, I want to stay here.” She felt like an ungrateful wretch of a daughter even admitting that aloud, but she knew her truths were safe with Sepphy. “All I’ve wanted for the past two years was to see my parents one more time, and now he’s back, and I want to go with him, but …” But the rest of her family was here. She’d built a life here. She had friends and duties and relationships. And a baby daddy. -- Sepphy looked surprised, then sad, but she nodded, and she smiled. Because smiling was the best way to set people at ease, especially when they were having a hard time. So, she looked Lily in the eyes. “What do you want to do? Remember, Lily, what we built here – it's ours. And if you want to stay, then he'll need to understand. And if you want to go, you can always come back to us, any time you want. This is your home, and you will always have a place here,” she promised. She squeezed Lily's hand, trying to be as open and caring a presence as she could. She didn't like where her head was at, though. That was rough. Knowing that spies were apparently a thing again was just so stupid it hurt her brain, and the idea of one of hers going off to live somewhere else...she didn't feel like it was safe. Right now the only place she trusted was the building they were in right this second. -- That was why Sepphy was a leader, right there. Because she knew people. She knew and cared about her own, and she knew that, in the moment, Lily needed a smile. She needed to hear that, no matter whether she stayed or if she went, she could always come back. This wasn’t a banishing; she was leaving for a while to reconnect with her father, and then they’d figure it out from there. Hell, maybe she could go back and forth. A week at the school, a week at the library. Fuck, she didn’t know. “Thank you, Sepphy. You … that means a lot.” She took a deep breath, then. “That’s not all,” she admitted, eyes cast downward at the joining of their hands. -- “Of course. Whatever you need,” Sepphy assured her. And she meant it, that sentiment coming through clearly in her voice. She nodded when Lily said there was more. Though she couldn't guess at what it might be. “What is it?” she asked, still affecting the entire posture of supportive and listening. -- “A few months ago, Danny and I … we were both having a shitty day, and we got drunk.” She worried at her bottom lip just before she glanced upward at Sepphy’s face. Lily had always been quietly, secretly jealous of Sepphy. She was so lovely, all blonde curls and a cherubic face, where Lily had always been seen as one of the guys. She didn’t hold it against Sepphy, but the jealousy was there all the same. “Things got a little heated, you know, and we ended up in a utility closet. Real romantic stuff. The stuff of novels, really,” she half-snorted, her defense mechanism showing through loud and clear. Sarcasm was so comfortable on her. “We didn’t worry about protection.” Lily sighed. “I haven’t had a period in three months, Seph.” -- Sepphy remembered Lily's crush on their head of security. She'd never figured it wasn't quite mutual, even if she'd never brought it up with Danny before. She wound up blinking, unable to hide the surprise. Not that they slept together, but that Danny had failed to mention it. “He never said anything about it,” Sepphy said. “Congratulations though, even if you seem to be a little on the fence here with living situations, and everything else...” she trailed off. “Are you okay? We're going to need to get you to the doctor,” she added, already making a mental note that Danny should escort her there. She could get checked out, they could make sure that she was doing alright, and go from there. “Danny can take you, I'll shoot him a message as soon as I can so we can get it done sooner than later.” -- When she said that Danny had never mentioned it, Lily couldn’t help the tiniest of winces, even if she wasn’t even in the least bit surprised. Maybe he was ashamed of their tryst. He wouldn’t want anyone to know, of course. “Not surprised there,” she murmured, sure to try and hide the ounce of injury. At the suggestion that Danny take her to the doctor, she quickly shook her head. “No, no, no. Don’t text him, Seph. I haven’t even told him. The only person that knows other than you is my dad. I-I’ve been planning on telling him for a while, but …” But she was a coward. She didn’t know how he’d react. If he was ashamed of fucking her, how would he feel when he found out he got her pregnant? -- “Not surprised...” she trailed off, confused. “Wait you haven't told him? That's what I meant – he hadn't mentioned you were pregnant, I--” she paused, to stop tripping on her words. “Okay,” she said, regrounding herself. “You still need to see the doctor. And you do need to tell Danny about it. He's a stand up guy, I know he is. Sooner than later, I think, and probably before you make your decision to leave. I'm sure he'll have an opinion on that,” or at least he should “So you can figure things out together.” Sepphy squeezed Lily's hand in both of hers. “You'll be okay, Lily,” she told her with the utmost confidence. She said it with conviction, like she knew it was true without having to think about it. -- “I should’ve done it before now, even. I know that. I know it was shitty of me to wait to tell him, but I … I don’t know. I guess I’m just a big scaredy-cat with badass boots.” Lily shrugged a shoulder, thankful for the grounding presence of Sepphy’s hands that held her own. In this world, something so simple as having her hand held could feel like a breath of air after being held beneath water. When she told her that she’d be okay, Lily nodded. “We all will. I mean, we made it this far, right?” There weren’t many people left who could say they survived the apocalypse, but a high school full of teenagers did. They were still there, standing strong. And she’d be leaving them. Not for good, but still. “You’re kind of sort of amazeballs, you know that?” -- Sepphy laughed. “I am, huh? Well, thank you,” she said, having to grin at that. She didn't feel so amaze-anything lately, but she'd take it. “And yes, we made it this far and we're going to be fine. As for being scared, I'm pretty sure that's normal. But I'm sure he'll be okay, Lily. Unless you want me to break the news, if you feel like that would work better for you. Whatever you want, I'll back you up.” And she did have the utmost faith in Danny. She would be lying if she said that she hadn't ever gazed at him and given a girly sigh of her own – she just did it where no one could spot that. But he was a good person and he'd be good with this. He would have to be. -- At the offer to break the news for her, Lily shook her head but offered a thankful smile, soft as it was. “No, I think I’d better just put on my big girl panties and do it myself. I think it’ll be better that way, hearing it from me.” She knew that Danny and Persephone were close, but she also thought it would be the mature thing to tell him herself that their drunken night of fumbling in the utility closet resulted in … well, this. “I’m going to do it today. Just wish me luck, I guess.” Danny was a good guy. They weren’t close, really, but she knew enough about him to know that he wasn’t some asshole. Still, finding out you would be a father during the end of the world couldn’t be easy news to take in. She still hadn’t really come to terms with it, herself. -- “You won't need it, but good luck,” Sepphy said, and she gave Lily's hand one more squeeze before letting go. “If you need anything, let me know. And keep me posted anyway, okay?” she said, definitely wanting to be kept in the loop for this situation. Especially with the possibility of Lily leaving them. “I should probably get back to things and you've got a conversation to have. So, I'll talk to you soon. And it'll be okay.” -- “Of course I will,” she said. She had every intention of keeping Sepphy in the loop on everything. Sepphy wasn’t just her leader; she was her friend, and Lily thought the world of her and then some. It took a special kind of person to do with Sepphy did and stay as bright and cheerful as she did. She was always a breath of fresh air, which was exactly what they needed a whole lot of the time. “Thanks, Seph,” Lily told her, shifting off the stool. “I’m gonna hang out in here for a little while, try to clear my head with some good old fashioned chemistry. Be safe, okay?” With that, the tiny brunette turned on her heels and headed for one of the shelves that housed all the chemistry supplies. |