You're a Little Late; I'm already torn.

[tehoniongirl]

Who: Jilly Coppercorn & Willow Rosenburg
What: Picking up the pieces
When: Late Monday Night
Where: Their room (1314)
Rating: PG

Comments

[its_worthdoing]

Willow sat on her bed, cross-legged as she attempted to clear her mind as much as possible. Xander was out for the afternoon -- and while there would never be anything less than love for her oldest friend -- the room was much quieter without him inside it.

Jilly was not there either, although her absence was more of the concerning kind. She'd left a note, and had made a point to check in with Willow periodically. But something felt wrote about it. Slightly hollow. Stretched past the point of thin into something transparent. It was classic Buffy territory, in a way. But up until this point, Jilly had seemed unable to share.

So that left Willow. In an empty room other than their odd menagerie of pets. And to her distract herself. Because this wasn't entertainment. This was full on distraction she was currently engaged in.

Paradisa was full of magic. And Willow was going to try and reach out and touch someone. Something. If it was even possible. But magic clearly permeated every aspect of the castle and their life there. What if she

[tehoniongirl]

She stiffened as she was pulled forward, part of her wanting to step back and scream that this was the wrong reaction. She didn't deserve this.

But Willow's arms were warm and she was tired and, after a moment's pause, she melted into the embrace, burying her face against her friend's shoulder as her eyes started to sting.

There were no words at first. Those would come later. Right now there were just the tears, the sobs that shook her small frame, and her fingers that clung to Willow like she might disappear at any moment.

Or, worse, shove her away.

[its_worthdoing]

Willow could feel Jilly's sobs at every single point. They were messy and unapologetic -- not so much about letting something out? As the body simply being unable to keep something in.

It pushes out until you feel yourself break.

She cried that way over Oz.

"Jilly..."

The word is muffled and fractured, lost in her friends hair and the damp air settling between them. Without asking, she guided them both over to her own bed and settled Jilly onto it before sitting beside her.

"What happened?"

[tehoniongirl]

She crumpled bonelessly next to her friend, sticking close, though she turned her face away from Willow's shoulder, embarrassingly conscious of the damp spots she was leaving on the fabric of the other girl's shirt. She reached up with one hand, scrubbing fiercely at tears that refused to stop falling.

"I... I sc-screwed up, Willow. Bad." The words came in fits and starts through sobs that cut them off at ever turn. "And I don't... I don't know wh-what to do."