<3<3 580 words.
#####It had not even been a full week since her attack on her uncle, and Lolita had yet to return to Dahlia de Mai for more than a few minutes. She had returned to her tree only to get her satchel of supplies, not wanting to allow her body to rot. As much as she wished herself to physically die in the way that everyone else did, especially after her failed attempt at killing her uncle, the cream-colored woman did not want to risk having to walk through her afterlife for eternity with rotting flesh. Smoking would keep her physical body in good enough shape to not bring horrified looks from everyone she passed in her wandering. The risks of the effects of not smoking were absolutely not worth it, so she had returned to her pack long enough to gather her belongings and then return to the city. Lolita had not returned to the house in which she had attacked Vigilante, out of concern that he might still be there, lying in wait to finish her off. He may not have fought back when she had attacked him, but it would all be on even ground if he attacked her first the next time that they were to meet. . . And there would be one.
#####“What the hell!?” she shouted in response to the impact of someone running straight into her in her safe house, her body stumbling forward from the sheer surprise of the hit. Sharply turning around, the flamboyant woman took in the sight of the frazzled girl, oversize shepherd ears taking in her pleas. Her expression softened and the anger in her emerald eyes gone as fast as it had flashed in to begin with. The girl looked so hassled, so terrified, that Lolita could not be angry with her. No matter what her rage had been like just moments before, it was nearly forgotten now as she took in the sight of the girl’s tear-streaked face. She lowered herself to crouch beside the girl, lithe hand reaching out to stroke the girl’s hair. It was a motherly gesture, but the Dahlian’s thoughts were nothing of the sort. First and foremost, she wanted to comfort the girl, and on a selfish level, she wanted to make herself feel better after the past five days. She felt she deserved some way of making herself feel better.
#####Lolita leaned forward, using her other hand to pick up the book that had fallen out of the girl’s bag. It had not been her fault that everything had fallen, and she would have been absolutely livid if the contents of her own bag had been strewn all over the floor. Thankfully, her bag was safely tucked in the corner of the small room. Still, though it was not her fault, Lolita wanted to help the girl feel better, and helping her gather her things might be a good start. “Shhh, shh,” she soothed, her voice quiet as she stroked at the girl’s dark hair. “I’m not going to hurt you, sweetie. . . Tell Lolita what happened,” she said softly, both introducing herself to the much younger girl and also inquiring about the girl’s current state. Something must have happened, and her immediate thoughts fell to her uncle, no matter how illogical it was. Her uncle had only been notorious for harming criminals, and Lolita highly doubted that this young girl could even possibly be one of those types.
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