The Photo Hut - Tuesday

[flamesburned]

Liz was back at the store again today, since it had turned out she really hadn’t done that much extra work and it had been more of an excuse to just hide out away from everyone for a while.

She wasn’t crying today though, she was still tired and upset and missing Prompto but she was feeling a lot calmer than she did yesterday and talking to Marc had helped with that that.

Today she was spending the morning taking her time and focusing on the last of the paperwork that she didn’t get round to finishing last week and trying to get as much work done as she could so she could try and stay on topic of her work..

[the Photo Hut is open!]

Comments

[mylandmyrules]

"I'm sure," Nell said. She'd certainly done something she wasn't sure could ever be forgiven.

She hesitated and looked around. "Is there a place we could sit and I could maybe make you a cup of tea while we talk?"

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded, "we could go upstairs if you'd like, I'm living with Dr. Lecter at the moment but I do still have a lot of kitchen supplies up there, he’s been taking care of meals and things like that for me,” she explained.

[mylandmyrules]

"Anywhere I can heat water is good," Nell said with a smile. "Have tea, will travel."

She followed Liz up the stairs. "Dr. Lecter is a very kind man. I've enjoyed his classes."

[flamesburned]

Liz led Nell towards the kitchen once they got to the apartment, "he's been really incredible with everything, especially making sure that I'm eating correctly and helping look after Rain," there was a pause, "she's my cat, I'm not supposed to change her litter and things like that," she explained.

[mylandmyrules]

"You wouldn't catch one of the church men back home cooking or takin' care of a cat or anything like that," Nell said with a smile. "Guess you're awful lucky."

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded, "I'm really lucky to have all this support, I ... I don't know what I'd do without it, considering how ... unpredictable I can be, I know I'm not always the most emotionally stable," she admitted.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was quietly setting about tea making as she listened to Liz. "It's good you've got all this support while you're feeling uncertain, then."

[flamesburned]

Liz watched her make the tea, as she considered, “I am, I … sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve it, after everything that’s happened … it’s … having people who still support me, even after they know what I did … I never thought it would be possible,” she admitted.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell stopped to turn and smile at her. "Everyone deserves some kindness if they're trying to do better in their life."

She finished pouring and brought the cup over to Liz. "Let that steep a bit and then see if you like it "

[flamesburned]

"Thank you," Liz returned the smile as she accepted the cup, she followed Nell's instructions and let the tea steep and then she took a careful sip to see what it was like, "this is really lovely, I quite like this," she told her.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell's smile spread. "Good. I can make you more like that one then. Sometimes I think just sitting down with a good cup of tea can help, but the herbs in this should give it a little extra calming effect."

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled, taking a moment to hold the cup of tea in her hands and feel the warmth of the tea flow through her, “I would like that thank you, thank you for this …not just the teas but for listening as well,”

[mylandmyrules]

"You are very welcome," Nell said. "Makes me feel useful if I can make somebody's life a little easier."

[flamesburned]

"It's definitely helping make it easier," Liz said softly with a small smile, "it's ... I like being able to talk like this, it's ... I find it quite calming," which considering how upset she had been feeling lately definitely made a nice change.

[mylandmyrules]

"Good. I'm glad," Nell said warmly. "Calm and happy is good for you and the baby."

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded, hesitating slightly and she stared down at her tea, "it's ... it can be hard for me to remember that ... especially if I - well get overwhelmed, the strength of my powers are tied into my emotions and in the past ... well I've lost control because of them," she said quietly.

[mylandmyrules]

"I'm sure it is," Nell said. "And you've certainly got cause to be upset and worried and all emotional, even without all the baby hormones making it harder. Luckily you've got people here willing to help you, so keep telling yourself that. And reach out if you're starting to feel insulted. Don't wait till your really upset."

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded, “I - I’m trying to get better about that, I …I still have work to do but I know it’s not just me I’m looking after now,” she said softly, “I - it was really bad a couple of months ago when Prompto first left …”

She hesitated, not quite wanting to admit just yet that she had been so lonely and upset that she had emotionally cheated on him with Steven.

[mylandmyrules]

"I can only imagine," Nell said. "You'un were put in an impossible position. What's important isn't what happened in the past, but what you do now and it seems like you'un is working hard to do what's best for you and your little one."

Nell wouldn't judge. Emotional 'cheating' where nothing happened, wasn't the same as actual cheating to Nell's mind.

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded, “I - I just feel guilty …” she admitted, “that I haven’t done enough to make up for what I’ve done, I - I ended up going to the Trooper station the other week,” she revealed, “I - I thought I was going to get arrested but I didn’t,” she paused, “I mean …arrested again,” she clarified.

[mylandmyrules]

"What did you to do get youself arrested?" Nell asked curiously, then quickly held up a hand. "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to. I can't imagine you doing anything very bad on purpose."

[flamesburned]

Liz was quiet for a moment, “it - it was the reason I moved back to Fandom,” she said softly, “I - I used to work for a secret government agency that dealt with the paranormal, the general public can’t know about us …I - my last mission went wrong, very wrong,” she paused, staring down at her tea, “it was supposed to be routine - reports of demonic activity in the area, me, Hellboy - he’s uh …a demon who works with us,” she paused, “and six agents went to investigate -“ her voice trailed off for a moment, “the agents were possessed and I lost control of my abilities, Hellboy and I were the only survivors - he was able to get but I was the only one they found and I was arrested and charged with arson and murder,” she fell silent again.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was a bit taken aback by the idea of Liz working with a demon, but it sounded as if he was working to stop bad demons, so she could just let it sit over there in her head for a minute.

"So, you lost control of your abilities and ended up killing the possessed people?" (Neither Nell nor Liz could know just how similar a situation this was to one Nell would find herself in some day.) Nell considered this for a moment. "Sounds like you were doing your job and things all fell apart adn your losing control maybe saved you and this other demon? But I can understand why the government wouldn't think so."

Nell didn't have much respect for the government.

[flamesburned]

"It ... I've got a record back home," Liz admitted, "my first episode happened when I was 14 and a group of bullies threw rocks at me, I lost control of my powers that destroyed my city block ..." she stopped, "I ... a lot of people died that day, including my parents and brother," there was another longer pause, "no one knows about my powers back home except for the agency I worked for, so everyone else think I'm some kind of serial arsonist and when Pittsburg happened..." she took another sip of tea as she collected her thoughts, "it was ... strongly suggested that I plead guilty, there was already a lot of public interest in the case and I wanted to protect my friends ... I pleaded guilty, the charges were dropped but I couldn't stay there anymore, I ended up leaving and coming back here," there was another pause, "well it was a choice between a psychiatric hospital and coming back to Fandom but I ... didn't really want to check myself into a hospital," she admitted.

[mylandmyrules]

"Oh Liz..." No wonder she worried about losing control! "I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine."