xp_logs | Thursday afternoon, Lorna's Suite

x-polarisstar.livejournal.com posting in

After receiving Lorna's email, Alison stops by to see Lorna. Not much is said but not much needs to be.

The knock on the door was light and yet firm, the presence standing beyond it not about to be denied in this. And yet, once the door was opened, an oddly reassuring and missed habit, she hesitated for a moment, looking inside as though unsure of what she might see.

Finally though, Alison stepped through the doorway and walked inside the room, watching the other women intently, not saying a word though not a thing was hidden on her face.

Lorna looked back at Alison passively, her posture the unfortunately all too familiar look of when she was just pushed beyond her limits. There was an almost hysterical lack of expression on her face when combined with the muddled fear and upset in her eyes. After a moment, she turned away and went back to the couch to sit down again, leaving Alison to follow or not as she would.

There was nothing to say really, not when Lorna was like this... and so Alison followed really, still not saying a word, breathing in and out evenly through the knot in her throat and the constriction of her chest. And when Lorna sat down, Alison followed the motion seconds later, sitting behind Lorna without a word, curling up her legs on the couch carefully, side leaning against Lorna's - just as they always had done before, when loitering about the room or indulging in girl talk.

One of her hands curled around her throat protectively, chin down as she glanced to the side to look at Alison. "You got my email?" Her voice was harsh and thick like she'd been crying or screaming or both. It was layered with depression so heavy it deadened her whole demeanor. There was no self-pity, no expectation of mercy, hardly even an indication that she cared for anything at all.

"Yes." And with that, once she was settled and in place, Alison leaned to the side, against Lorna, not saying anything more - save for the slow exhalation of someone who had been holding her breath for far too long finally escaping her, shoulders slumping slightly. She lifted one hand up, careful not to dig her elbow in Lorna's side in the process, and held it between them, palm upwards and facing the sky.

Lorna stared at the offered touch, breathing shallowly then slipped her free hand into Alison's tentatively, with the skittish motions of a wild animal daring to creep close to a predator. "And you still came?"

Alison waited until Lorna's hand rested in her own, then shifted it to the side every so slightly - just enough to spider her fingers through Lorna's, loosely so, fingers closing in a light grip. Her vocie was steady enough as she replied, and taking a short, tight breath she leaned a bit further in, watching both their hands. "Yes."

Lorna blinked, looked down at their linked hands. Alison's green polish glimmered against her skin, tanned to a light gold by the Florida sun. Her grip tightened abruptly, going from hesitant to desperate in the space of a breath. "Oh."

It was all that was needed, really, for Alison's own hold to strengthen as well, holding on equally. "Mind if I just stick around here for a little while?" she finally asked, smiling ever so slightly at the words, eyes over bright with far too much emotion. The request was too simple perhaps, too plain, but nonetheless said everything that needed to be said just at that moment, or so she hoped.

Nothing in her expression changed but her eyes fluttered closed and she leaned back into Alison just a tiny bit, unbending slightly as she trusted just a bit more that this wasn't going to go away or turn out to be a lie. "Okay."

"Okay." Repeating the word was enough and Alison let silence take over after that, not releasing her hold on Lorna's hand once.