[ the heart of the village hasn't slowed, by the time she bleeds back into the crowd. if possible, it only seems to have strengthened, beating and bustling with renewed life in the burnished gold of the evening sun. a vendor knocks her elbows as she hustles past, a flurry of knobby limbs folding in on themselves to get past the buzzing crowd.
a merchant sprays a cloud of fragrant perfume as she passes, raining down the scent of petals on innocent passerby — alina included. she fans the air with a cough, but even as it clogs her lungs, the entirety of her senses are trained on aleksander stalking her the rest of the way.
she's too intimately familiar with being tracked not to be hyperaware of the signs. the blur of black she catches in her peripherals as she shifts past loitering couples. the heavy weight of a stare drilling into the back of her head. alina peeks over her shoulder only once to confirm it, before rapidly whipping her head back around as they get nearer to boarding the train.
the soles of her feet must by filthy by now — a lesser concern to alina than the sore ache in the arch of her foot, the hot gravel against her skin, the bumps of rocks and pebbles making her inwardly hiss and wince throughout her journey. but even through it, she clamps her lips together, stubbornly locking her jaw. enduring it just to spite him, exactly as he had accused.
the accuracy only grates on her well-worn nerves. childishly, she counters, ]
how very noble and commendable of you to concern yourself with nothing.
[ but for all her desperation to seem unbothered, hammering in her annoyance only unveils how irritated she is with his deduction. nothing. he's certainly not treating her like she's nothing, if he can take the time to pretend he's concerned over her causing herself unnecessary pain. ]
no subject
a merchant sprays a cloud of fragrant perfume as she passes, raining down the scent of petals on innocent passerby — alina included. she fans the air with a cough, but even as it clogs her lungs, the entirety of her senses are trained on aleksander stalking her the rest of the way.
she's too intimately familiar with being tracked not to be hyperaware of the signs. the blur of black she catches in her peripherals as she shifts past loitering couples. the heavy weight of a stare drilling into the back of her head. alina peeks over her shoulder only once to confirm it, before rapidly whipping her head back around as they get nearer to boarding the train.
the soles of her feet must by filthy by now — a lesser concern to alina than the sore ache in the arch of her foot, the hot gravel against her skin, the bumps of rocks and pebbles making her inwardly hiss and wince throughout her journey. but even through it, she clamps her lips together, stubbornly locking her jaw. enduring it just to spite him, exactly as he had accused.
the accuracy only grates on her well-worn nerves. childishly, she counters, ]
how very noble and commendable of you to concern yourself with nothing.
[ but for all her desperation to seem unbothered, hammering in her annoyance only unveils how irritated she is with his deduction. nothing. he's certainly not treating her like she's nothing, if he can take the time to pretend he's concerned over her causing herself unnecessary pain. ]