Fleeter (Ongoing)

1 |✈| Fleeing |✈|

"You're not?"

"Not a chance."

Eve eyed her suspiciously. "You know it's illegal to leave the city. The Treaty says that if I'm captured outside New Ramona, I'll be killed."

She shrugged. "Then don't get caught."

"I'll... try my best, Nana."

Esmeralda discarded her yarn on the chair and stretched. Her knees and elbow joints protested weakly as she stood. A bone in her hip creaked. The years were finally catching up to her. Soon she'd start to look as old as she felt. But for now, Esmeralda was well aware that she was still one of the most beautiful women in the city.

Eve carried an uncanny resemblance to her, beauty and all. Both Esmeralda and her granddaughter had the same round, dimpled face and almond-shaped eyes. Their skin was so pale, it could only be described as translucent.

When they were compared side-by-side, however, a keen observer could pick out the finer differences. At 5'2", Esmeralda was just a hair shorter than her grandchild. Where Esmeralda's eyes and hair were as black as ebony, Eve's were a shade of dark, chocolate brown. 

There was one other physical feature that set them apart, but only members of the Warner household were aware of its existence.

Esmeralda brushed back Eve's bangs to reveal the discolored patch of skin on Eve's forehead. The purplish-blue bruise stood out angrily against its pale surroundings. She traced the outline with a finger.

Eve was like titanium–hard and extremely durable; but not immutable or invulnerable, if the fire was strong enough.

She straightened Eve's bangs back into place and wandered over to the kitchen. "Have a drink with me sweetie."

Eve shuffled her feet. "Nana, I don't think right now is the best time."

"Come on, this can be my early birthday present. I brewed this bottle of wine myself, ya know. One spoon of hollyberry, a pinch of cinnamon, three parts elderbery, a healthy serving of my specially fermented garden-grown grapes..."

When Esmeralda felt like being stubborn, she could outlast even a mule. It was precisely this stubbornness that had attracted Eve's grandfather, the first mayor of New Ramona, when the city was first founded in the early 2600s. Since then, New Ramona had grown to become the largest city in the stratosphere.

Eve sighed, admitted defeat, and accepted a glass. She threw the wine down her throat in one shot, only to gag reflexively. Her face displayed a record-breaking degree of horror mixed with disgust. "Gross! Nana, what is even in here. Coffee with eel sauce? Or mayonaise maybe? Out of all the concoctions you've made me try, this one's your worst."

Esmeralda smirked and handed Eve a glass of water. "Coffee with soy sauce, actually."

Shocked, Eve spat out the water she'd held in her mouth. "Surely, you're joking."

A pindrop silence was observed, followed by giggles from both parties.

"Shhhh," Esmeralda cautioned. Eve tried to smother her laughter, but that only made everything worse.

Hiccup!

Hiccup! Hiccup!

Oh dear. That sounded like trouble.

Eve's hiccups echoed in the silence of the house and resonated throughout the halls of the mayoral mansion. Hiccup!

Esmeralda quickly clapped her palm over Eve's mouth and pressed Eve's head against the closest wall. "Stop it," she hissed, "Your daddy has ears like a hawk. If he wakes up now, it's all over. You'll never escape New Ramona."