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In the months that followed Lucy’s death, the rooftop of Phalanx had offered Nellie some type of solace. It wasn’t the highest place in New Orleans, but it was the one where she knew she could still be closer to her sister. A familiar numbness had settled over her when she was up here, a tingling from the tips of her ears to the tips of her toes. It had been three months since word had gotten out about Lucy’s death, but for Nellie it still felt like it was yesterday. She often wondered if it would always feel like a fresh wound or if she would be able to one day look at a scab instead. Her emotions remained as tumultuous as ever until she escaped here. In very un-Nellie fashions, she had gotten into fights, she argued, she shrouded herself in a darkness that was creeping into her veins with every passing second.

Glassy eyes stared blankly at the horizon. The sun had set on another day, leaving the shimmering of millions of stars staring down at her. Shadows pulsed around her unbidden, feeding off of the sheer exhaustion that Nellie was left with. Grief was a powerful sort of thing and instead of trying to learn how to deal with it, she had been wallowing in it. It wasn’t what Lucy would have wanted for her, but Lucy wasn’t here. What Lucy wanted didn’t matter anymore because she couldn’t voice it. The words of comfort had quickly fallen on deaf ears. ”I’m sorry for your loss. Lucy was a lovely girl.” It was the phrase that broke the dam holding Nellie back. She’d never spat such venom at someone before, but things were changing.

Drawing her knees up, Nellie wrapped her arms around them and set her head onto her knees, unaware of the moment that the shadows surrounding her began to disperse as another person climbed up on the rooftop. It was the gentle pad of feet that finally drew her attention, turning a blank look towards the one person that she should have known would find her. Somehow Nellie managed a smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes; it rarely reached her eyes these days. Her gaze lingered for a moment before turning back out across the yard and further still. ”Don’t tell me Teddy sent you,” she said dryly. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if the eldest Lovelle also knew that his sister was up here. He had arrived back in New Orleans when they needed him most, but where had he been before that? Where had any of them been that they couldn’t have saved their sister?

Her hands balled into fists at her side and she felt the shadows lurch, responding to her emotions before she forced herself to take a breath, the effort of which blew the hair that had fallen in front of her face. ”What was for dinner?” It was as normal as a conversation could get, but Nellie knew there was nothing normal about this situation, even by their standards.

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Tags:Prudence Victoria Lovelle
Location: Phalanx rooftop
Notes: lemme know if you want any changes! <3