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Family isn't blood, it's chosen; and those choices can end up pitting you against monsters |
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The sound of crying draws her down an alley; the fit is narrow -the sides of the buildings brushing her shoulders- and the smell of rotting garbage overpowers every other scent. Normally, she wouldn't have given two shits about someone crying (why the fuck should she care?), but she was still riding her high and feeling a little bigger than normal. And then, there, curled up on the nastiest mattress imaginable, was a girl crying. Her hair looked like it hadn't been washed for days and her clothes were filthy. To be fair, Shirley probably didn't look much better -her ratty tank top was covered in dirt, and blood was drying across the thighs of her ripped up jeans. Even her knuckles were still raw and angry, red and swollen where the skin had ripped open. She frowned, stopping dead in her tracks. Why was she here again? The girl probably didn't even know she was there, maybe she could just back out of the alley and- "Hey, there. You alright?" Nope. Because, god dammit all, she couldn't just leave a girl alone to cry on a filthy mattress in an alleyway. She must have startled the girl, though, because she jumped and immediately wiped at her eyes desperately; well, her back was to her, but that's what it looked like. "Yes, I'm... it's... I'm fine." Shifting uncomfortably, she shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't really recommend spending any more time on that mattress, it looks like it's guaranteed to carry some sort of disease. You, uh... you got a place to crash?" The girl gave a big sniff, and shook her head. Gripping the to-go bag in her left hand a little tighter, the paper sack crinkling, her line of sight danced across the narrow alley before she sighed. Oh, Gods, she was going to regret this so bad. "You, maybe, want to stay with me? I mean, it's not the Ritz or anything, but it's clean. And safe." There was a moment when she was sure the younger girl would say no; she could see her muscles tense, but then there was a tremble in her shoulders and a rattling 'yes.' Nodding, despite that the girl wouldn't see it, she cleared her throat. "Good. Let's uh... get going. It's supposed to rain soon." "I'm..." And then she smelt it, as soon as the girl stood up and the wind shifted when she turned. She was pregnant. "... Shirley," she finished, watching the girl more curiously now. "Claire," she said, holding a small creme teddy bear, and Shirley could do little more than search through the lost look in the girl's eyes. |
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