#hope it...kind of made sense. idk i was overworking it and getting too verbose with it and it kept getting too off topic

[luckyfiona]

“ what are you doing out here by yourself? ”

(Flashback to their first meeting???¿?¿?)

She hasn't stopped thinking about him, not even to sleep. Every inch of her― her brain, her heart, her soul, her dreams― everything is preoccupied with the brave boy who kept her out of harm's way the other night.

It's been one year since Fíona's parents had to give her up, because they couldn't afford to feed her. They couldn't take care of her, so they sent her off with Captain Price to give her a better life in America. In theory, he's her savior, but Fíona doesn't feel very safe with him. Maybe because she knows he only took her because it's profitable for him. The stranger who protected her had nothing to gain in doing so; he only did it out of an extraordinary humanitarianism. He acted more like a loving family member to her since she first emigrated to this place. She didn't know his name.

She's been scavenging for loose change since she started her indentured servitude, to try to slowly create the more beautiful life she was promised in America, as if her savings of pennies would ever afford her the dresses she makes at the boutique, or even a vase of flowers to put in her sad little room. But recent events have her realizing that if she truly wants to beautify her life, she's better off investing in people to keep in it. She thinks she'd be happier as a pauper with a family than a luxurious little orphan in a cold, dark manor. So, she takes her modest savings to the kindly old man on the corner with some kind of popcorn stand. He says he's selling the new all-time favorite American snack. He calls it Cracker-Jack. She's never heard of it, but she hopes her new all-time favorite American boy has.

She counts out her modest savings on the table of the popcorn stand with raw determination in her eyes. She wants to offer the boy something to eat. She wants to take care of him the way he took care of her, so she never had to lose him. She wants to feed him so she never has to give him up.

She takes her offering to the spooky alley where she first saw him, in eager anticipation that he'll slip through again― as if some part of him might be hoping to cross paths with her again, too. As the minutes pass into hours, optimism turns into dread and every noise seems to startle her, and it's the first time in her life that she realizes just how much danger she's willing to put herself in to find someone who will care about her. By the time he spots her, she's so focused on the noise she heard at the other end of the alley, convinced there's someone there with hungry eyes and a knife, she nearly jumps out of her skin at the blunt tap of his fingers on her shoulder. When she whips around to meet his gray eyes, she realizes she should've spent less time convincing herself that there were ghouls floating around her and more time planning what she was going to say.

❝ Hi. Sorry. ❞

She's reminded of what a maladjusted outsider she really is when she finally has a chance to talk to someone her own age and doesn't know how to. She stammers, taking in boyish features: raised eyebrows that don't posit to have seen everything, a mischievous elven nose ready to be thumbed at anyone trying to use their stature to pick on him, wide eyes that haven't lost their humanity even despite the purple crescent moon framing the left one, which paints a scene to her of him earning it while sticking up for a little guy― she wouldn't find out until a bit later that he received it from being too scared to stick up for himself in the face of a volatile commander. Awkward and curt, starstruck and stumbling, she shoves the bag of Cracker-Jack against his chest and insists:

❝ It― It's America's new all-time favorite snack. ❞

In an act of kindness she never anticipated, and maybe one even he didn't know he had in him, he suggests they sit and eat it together. Two underfed strays, they're halfway through wordlessly devouring the box of Cracker-Jack, with rogue kernels flying out of the sides of their mouths and down their shirts when his stomach is finally full enough to collect himself and address the elephant in the alleyway:

(“what are you doing out here by yourself?”)

Fiona fixes her posture and pivots to the persona of a sophisticated woman who has to finish chewing and swallow before she speaks, and it gives her enough time to figure out how to answer that question. He already had to have gathered she was waiting for him with the gift. It was a bit late to play it cool or tough. Her posture sinks back into a more comfortable position, honest with herself and open to him.

❝ I suppose I haven't got any friends to be out here with me. ❞

There was nothing to gain in pretending she wasn't sad and lonely. She couldn't do anything to fix it if she didn't address it. There was productivity in being intimately vulnerable, and if she took the lead in establishing that kind of disarmament, it could encourage him to do the same. It didn't seem like either of them had much to lose, but they could help each other if they dropped their guards.

❝ But it doesn't seem like you have many real friends, either. ❞

She couldn't help but notice, that night she first saw him, how quickly the street urchins he was horsing around with scattered the second he threw himself into harm's way to help Fíona. Hungry, desperate, lost and unloved boys seem to operate more like a wild pack of dogs than a band of brothers who would back each other up if it wouldn't benefit themselves. She decided that she and her favorite boy could be better than typical mutts. She holds out a hand to shake, like a civilized dog― one that people could love.

❝ I'm― ❞ The name Fíona Comascaigh nearly leaves her mouth before she remembers Mrs. Price told her not to say it like that anymore if she wants to be accepted. It's crucial to meet people on their level, to bend herself and acclimate to their culture for them to see her as a member of their tribe. She affects her best American accent before fumbling out: ❝ Fiona Comisky. ❞

When they shake, with their hands caked with nutty caramel and popcorn dust―the bread they've broken together― it feels meaningful to her, like they've sealed a bond she'll hold with her for a long, long time. They're attached now. As both of their disgusting candy residue intermingles, it's like a blood pact ritual. But stickier.

╳ — 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 ! // ACCEPTING.