Watching as the other female detached herself from the tree base, Lucia found a sliver of amusement in her wincing. This did not show, however. She knew better than to display emotions to a stranger. They could use it against her, or perhaps just bully her. Lucia was a paranoid soul, but she would not dwell on it.
Examining the frown on the lighter woman, Lucia half expected her own lips to mimic the expression. They did not. Instead, she remained empty of emotion. She couldn’t decide what was better. To laugh at the fact she had been corrected, or to frown at the fact that her companion had not found the tree hugging comment amusing. It was quickly decided that neither would happen. She would simply reply and be done with it. It was not a day for thoughtful hesitations.
“It looked like a hug to me,” She replied bluntly, not enjoying the fact that she had been corrected by the stranger. “But whatever… hugging or clutching, why would you do such a thing?” Curiosity crept into her tone as eyes studied the woman carefully. Lucia wanted to know what would make someone want to be that close to a tree. There had to be a good reason, right? That or perhaps she was just some crazy lady. For now, Lucia had picked the latter.
In mention of the cigarette, Lucia’s eyes travelled down to look at the stick. She felt a tiny, twisted smile form on her lips. It lasted only a second, but it would reveal that she was not in fact a robotic, hollow creature. She had a soul somewhere it seemed. But how far down into her abyss of dark thoughts and angry memories was this soul… well, that was another thing altogether.
“Oh, sorry...” Slight sarcasm, but she hoped it would allow for her to finish the death stick. Inhaling it once again, she made a note to try and exhale in the other direction. Lucia wasn’t as nice as to stop smoking entirely, but at least she was polite enough to try and get the smoke to go elsewhere. She hoped the female would be grateful. It wasn’t often she went out of her way for others these days.