twenty :: text

[i_got_this]

To anyone who gives a shit, North Dakota is gone.

Filtered to Freelancers and Noble Six

He left letters. They're in his room. Have at it. Someone take the dog, I can't look at it.

[Text because she can't risk talking right now.]

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[i_got_this]

[Noon is fine, because that's just about when South's waking up. She thinks she's probably missed Lucrezia, and wanders by just in case, somewhat surprised to actually find her there.]

[She's a mess, unkempt, looking tired and worn, with a cigarette perched in the corner of her mouth. The thing was, her brother most certainly had gone home to die.

It would be her fault, and there'd been nothing she could do here to stop it.]

Hey, 'morning. You look nice.

[lucre]

[ Lucrezia knows to smile despite the heavy feeling in her stomach at the sight of her. A mess indeed. There was a reason she hid herself when Cesare left, because she couldn't muster the effort to look nice, and the reminder leaves an ache in her chest. But still she moves closer to peck South's cheek in greeting. ]

Whenever I see your face, I remember why my brother was so taken by you.

[i_got_this]

[By now South's a little more accustomed to Lucrezia's greeting, and truth be told it was a needed gesture. Anything to pull her out of herself, even if just for a moment, was something she didn't know she would need right now.]

[She forces out a little chuckle.] I dunno if he quite liked me as much as ... the other me.

[lucre]

[ She reaches to rest her hand on South's arm, trying her best to comfort without saying so. ]

You were always stronger than her. He was only taken by surprise.

[i_got_this]

[It's working. Too, the idea that she was strong. She always tried, always tried too hard, and felt that North or Carolina or everyone else always got the recognition, and she just always got in trouble.]

I was?

[lucre]

Most certainly. [ She smiles, stepping back so she can reach for a pot of chrysanthemums for South to see. ]

How about this one?

[i_got_this]

[That's an encouraging though, and she smiles slightly, before looking at the flowers in slight surprise.]

Oh, they're nice ... for what?

[lucre]

Chrysanthemum is for mourning.

[ Lucrezia turns too to watch how South responds. Perhaps it's cruel, but she never prided herself on being kind. ]

[i_got_this]

[South looks at the flowers, then up at Lucrezia. It was more accurate than she could know.]

Yeah, that'll ... that'll work. [She hunches slightly more into herself, and takes a final drag from her cigarette before dropping it and stomping it out on the ground.]

[lucre]

But the question is, whether you wish to remember or to forget.

[i_got_this]

[She gives a bitter laugh.] Can't I do both?

[Remember him, forget it was her fault.]

[lucre]

[ She chuckles too, as if everything is light and good. ]

They do not always imply the other.

[i_got_this]

Yeah, I guess not.

[She continues to look at the flowers. It was all eating away at her, and she needed a distraction.]

So, what next?

[lucre]

[ She picks out thirteen of the best ones to bring to the register, letting the shopowner to keep the change when she offers them for South to hold. ]

Now you will show me where you have been hiding.

[i_got_this]

[South takes the flowers, still looking at them in a numb fog, and then glances up at Lucrezia. She raises her brows.] Well, uh ... mostly I been staying with people in the city.

[poking lightly at one of the flowers. Yup, sleeping with random strangers to avoid going home.] We could hang out at my place, it's a bit messy, though.

[lucre]

Better a mess than a home without character.

[ Lucrezia moves to link her arm with South's as she starts walking out of the shop. ]

[i_got_this]

Heh, I'd like to tell my mom that. [South ghosts a small, tired smile at her, leaning slightly into the contact.]

[lucre]

Then tell her. She cannot make you do anything against your will.

[i_got_this]

Oh she certainly tried. [Good god the matching outfits. Flashbacks of horror.] At least she's not here, right? That I don't mind.

[lucre]

Do you despise your mother so?

[i_got_this]

Well ... okay, despise is a little strong. But both of my parents were pretty happy pairing North and I together when I just wanted to be myself.

[Frowning, watching her feet for a moment.] You know, everyone tried to pair us together because we were twins. Even within the project. I just wanted to be my own person.

[lucre]

[ Despise is a strong word. Lucrezia wouldn't even use it against her own father, despite it all, but perhaps for Juan, absolutely. ]

But now you are your own person. Again. Does that not please you?

[i_got_this]

Without my parents, yeah, but .. I mean North was never the problem. Everyone else made it that way.

[It's hard to explain, but she misses him. She just wanted to be her own person without having to sacrifice her closest friend.]

[That he goes home to die by her doing just makes it even worse.]

[lucre]

[ She squeezes her arm in reassurance, comfort, if it makes any difference. ]

But you love your brother.

[i_got_this]

[It is something.]

Yeah. I just hated being twins.