700 words.
####The unhappy look on her partner’s face went unnoticed by her, but she leaned into his touch instead, welcoming it. It had been so long since anyone had touched her in any way, positive or negative, and she so craved physical contact with anyone. It did not matter what kind of touch it was, but just feeling someone near her was good enough. It made her feel less alone, as if she belonged with someone else, even if they were practically strangers. “You’ve got one right next to you,” she whispered sadly, before sighing loudly, shaking her head briskly. This was not a time to be sad, not with the warmth of the liquor running through her veins and her mind clouded by the lovely, fruit-flavored smoke. Emerald eyes glimmered as she turned to look at him once more, straightening out her torso so that she was no longer leaning into him. There was no need for her to bring him down now, when they were in such high spirits. It was a dangerous game she played, though, flirting and dancing with the loneliness that followed her. She did not want to be sad now, though, when she was having such a good time with the Russian pirate, and she certainly did not want to bring him down along with her.
####If there was anything to be said about her family, it was that they had always been emotionally separated. No one had ever been close to one another that Lolita had ever noticed, with the exception of her passionate relationship with Pippa. She did not know what it felt like to be a part of a large family, and she did not know what would have been expected of her. “I have one brother, two sisters, and that is the extent of my family,” she said shortly, leaving out her deceased mother, unknown father, and living-but-estranged uncle. She hated him, anyway, so it certainly was not as if he counted for anything. She hated her brother, too, but that was different. By killing her, he’d created a bond she could not ignore. “Back at home, no one ever really used their shifted forms, unless it was for special circumstances,” she said, stressing the last two words in an almost mocking manner as she thought of the Elders and her uncle. As far as she knew, those were the only ones who had been granted frequent use of their two-legged form. She and Pippa had done it on many occasions, preferring their encounters to be in that form. It had been the form she had been in when she had died, and now she was stuck in it. “Now, I have no choice, but it is not so bad. I prefer it, too,” she added, very much a fan of the hands she had in this form. They allowed her to do so much more than her four-legged form could offer her.
####He spoke of a place she had never heard of, which was not surprising in the least, but as he continued, he spoke of other things she was unfamiliar with. “I have only drank and smoked this herb,” she mused, curious to know what these other drugs were like. Drugs had never been a part of her life in her old pack, but had simply become a part of her death when she picked up the habit from a passerby who had helped her get started. Because of this, it was unsurprising that she had not heard of the drugs he spoke of, never having found many others who smoked, let alone did other things. If they gave her the same feelings that marijuana did, then Lolita was most definitely interested in them. “Can you find the others here?” If she could try them, then she would do it in a heartbeat, more out of curiosity than anything else. She had started smoking because she felt that she needed to pump life back into her, and though it was not completely life-giving, it was good enough. If she tried anything else, it would be to see what it was like, and nothing else. What other reason was there?