Before the Worst, Sofia. Gideon if you wanna ^^

[Genevieve]

Ginny never woke up and found Marcel next to her anymore - or when she did, he was just getting out of bed and getting ready to go out. Go out and do whatever the hell he does. She didn't know. She never asked. That didn't change tonight. She just pulled her knees into her chest and sat her chin atop them, her eyes following his body as he moved about to get dressed. They made love last night. Well...no, not really. It wasn't love anymore, was it? She didn't like to think about it. She could just pretend. So that's what she had done. She'd closed her eyes and pretended. Pretended that he was being so rough out of passion and not angst. Pretended that the only reason his lips barely met her skin was because he was too busy admiring her pretty face. Pretended that the reason he didn't fall asleep with his arm wrapped snugly around her body was because...okay...well, she didn't really have an excuse for him for that one. He left their bedroom without a word, but Ginny didn't go out after him. She just sat there on the bed and played out a little fantasy in her head. Who knew? Maybe tonight would be the night that he came back into their bedroom with a smile on his face and that familiar, playful light in his eyes. And he'd tell her this was all just a test and he wanted to see what she'd put up with. And Ginny would forgive him for all of it because that's what people do when they love each other...they forgive each other. The thought made her smile and her eyes drifted from the door. But her smile fell the moment she received a stark reminder of the reality of things when she saw the frame of her mirror, hanging on the wall, absent of glass.

She no longer thought about how it might be tonight if he came back home like the Marcel she knew in loved. She thought about how it might be if he came home drunk again. She knew exactly how it would be. It would be just like the last time he came home that way. And the time before that. And the time before that. And all the times before that! Ginny hadn't even noticed the grip she had on her legs as she held herself.

She couldn't do this again. Ginny could deal with a hell of a lot of things, but her lover coming home and calling her names and pushing her around...she couldn't handle it. She tried. She gave it her best. Did she really want to live like this anyway? Perhaps she could if she knew what she had to do to fix him, but she didn't have a clue. She didn't know. And Marcel wouldn't tell her. She just knew that she didn't want to be called names anymore. She didn't want to be screamed at and she didn't want to be accused of absurdities. She didn't want to be shoved into walls and she didn't want to be jerked around. She didn't want to see his eyes, drowning in hate and hardened like stone. She didn't want any of it.

She didn't want to be here, sleeping in the same bed as a man who might someday have a mind to kill her. She didn't want to be in this house full of memories of the man he once was. The only solution, then, would be to leave.

She had to leave.

The very thought caused her to cry for a good ten minutes. She didn't know where she'd go. She didn't have a job. She didn't have money. Marcel handled all of those things. He was the one that bought her things or gave her the money to go buy things herself. She couldn't pay for an apartment or a house or even a hotel! The first person that popped into her mind was Jack, but Ginny knew certain things about herself. She knew, for instance, that she became terribly desperate and vulnerable when her heart was aching. That was how she met Marcel, and look at them now. For now, she needed to go somewhere without men. She needed some time to herself. Sofia popped into her head, but Ginny was a tad bit hesitant. She wasn't entirely sure she'd say yes, due to past circumstances, but Ginny could hope, couldn't she? And who knew, maybe she could stay over there until right before dawn broke - then at least by the time Marcel got home, he'd be knocked out and she wouldn't have to worry about him yelling.

It was hard to pull herself out of bed. Her heart and her mind were currently at war with each other. But you love him, says the heart. If you love him, you need to stay with him. Oh, but you can't fix him, says the mind. Things will only get worse from here. Give him a chance! Says the heart. He's already gotten plenty of chances, says the mind. But he really does love you, says the heart. He will destroy you, says the mind.

Back and forth and back and forth, her thoughts went as she took a shower. Eventually her mind quieted and she managed to pick out and pull on a rather nice dress, even as her mind distracted her. The dress made her hurt a little. Not on the outside, but a pain deep in her chest. She could remember when she got this dress. He'd taken her shopping in order to get more color into her wardrobe, and surprisingly, she rather liked it. And she liked floral too. And bows. Color, floral patterns, and bows. That was...a year or so ago. He never bought her things anymore.

Ginny ran a brush through her hair, slipped on some sandals, and was off. Marcel had the car, but that was okay. She could walk. Ginny remembered her way to Sofia's. She'd been there plenty of times. She wasn't going top speed or anything. In fact, she was taking her time. And she tried not to think about exactly what she was doing. Or what she was thinking of doing. Maybe she'd tell Sofia all about it...and maybe Gideon would hear and reassure her that all of this was...that it was just a phase. That he'd get out of it. That he'd stop screaming and start loving her again. A girl could hope, couldn't she?

It took hours, but eventually she reached the porch, and for a moment, she thought about not even doing it after all. Her mind and her heart went at it again, and her mind came out victorious. She stepped up to the door and knocked three times, her arms shoved across her chest, holding herself as she stared down at her feet. She was only a thread from falling apart. But God. She just couldn't do this anymore.

[Sofia Knight]

Well, this was damn strange... Sofia didn't know how it happened. She didn't even understand completely what they were doing. But the kids? They were all getting along. Playing together and no one was being beaten or having their sand castles destroyed. It was positively the strangest and most exciting thing Sofia had ever seen and she was certain that the next time she saw Samuel he would be getting a big, fat, wet kiss on the mouth.

He bought the kids some video came system called the V. We? Whatever. We sort of made more sense since they were playing all together. Whatever. But it was a slim white box that sat on top of Jacob's television in his bedroom and had controllers for the children to hold in their hands and move with. It was wild to watch and Sofia hadn't expected them to figure it out as easily as they did but the brothers and their sister worked together surprisingly well. After Sofia hooked the box up to the television Jacob got all of the parts out of the box Samuel left for them and put it together. And then, just like that... silence.

The only noise in the house came from artificial punches and bowling pins being knocked down and the laughter of the children in Jacob's room. Sofia was in a daze and she sorely wished that Gideon could see this. Impressive... A house almost all to herself.

Well, no reason to waste it! Sofia hadn't been able to get a damn thing done in weeks it seemed. When she wasn't working she was shuffling the kids around. Jacob went to some club once a week where they all sat around and played cards. Not playing cards like for "Poker" or a silly game like that but complex games where each card had a character and statistics. Sofia didn't get it... But when Jacob wasn't at his club Sofia was taking Ruth to karate class or Noah to the British Museum. They were an active bunch of kids and when they didn't have activities they often wanted to go see Samuel at his apartment or be taken to friend's houses where the parents would be very careful not to invite Sofia inside so that she always had to say goodbye to her niece or nephews on the porch. It was nothing personal, some of them said, they just didn't want Sofia to blaze in and murder them all. But her child could play with theirs... Still, nothing personal.

Yeah, right... But no matter. Tonight was hers. Sofia dragged all of the books she'd been meaning to indulge herself in when she had a chance down into the living room and spread them out on the coffee table. She brought Cadence down from Ruth's bedside table and let the rat chew on the corner of her own book - some garbage Sofia bought from a thrift store to keep the rat busy - while Sofia sipped on a hot cup of water, hardly colored by a tea bag. Two years had done a lot to Sofia's ability to once drink a hot cup of tea... But she could still pretend.

It was here with her nose deep in pages upon pages of DNA equations and mathematics and chemical compounds that a knock at the door found her. Sofia blinked, not quite sure that she sound she heard was real, and raised her head. What...? She'd been lost in her book and if it weren't for Jacob suddenly yelling, "Aunty, get the door!" from upstairs Sofia might not have believed it happened. Visitor? Marcel didn't knock... Samuel didn't knock... Gideon sure as hell didn't knock... Huh. Nerves tickled the bottom of Sofia's stomach and she got up from the couch, leaving Cadence on a cushion curled up in the shreddings of her book. Gideon didn't know it was here but as Sofia passed to the doorway she reached behind a side table and withdrew a cricket bat. Just in case...

Approaching the door quietly, Sofia looked through the peep hole. No hunter, no reporter, no stranger... Just Ginny. Ginny? When was the last time Sofia saw Ginny! And she didn't look too hot either. Leaning the bat quickly against the wall, Sofia grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, unable to keep from smiling even if Ginny looked decidedly less than cheerful. It was the bitch that murder Sofia's sister - but also Sofia's friend. What a fucked up world it was.

"Ginny." Sofia greeted her with a hug, just like that. How weird she'd become.

[Genevieve]

She was still debating with herself whether or not this would be the right thing. For Marcel. For Herself. For their relationship, or whatever was left of it. She was working herself up into a tizzy just thinking about it. She needed to get another opinion, although she sort of didn't want to, because she was all too afraid of what that opinion would be. She couldn't ask Jack or Sebastian - both of them were biased and didn't even like Marcel in the first place. Sofia...Sofia was the only other woman that new him better than she did. Hell, who knows, maybe she'd even have a solution for all of this. Yes, she'd know what to do.

So there Ginny was, waiting anxiously on her porch at the door. For a moment, she thought Sofia wasn't going to answer, which would have been ever so slightly surprising. But no, she heard one of the boys yell and then she heard someone shuffling behind the door. She could tell it was Sofia and she opened the door with a smile. Ginny tried to smile back, but combined with her current emotions, it turned out to be more of a grimace. Sofia instantly wrapped her arms around her and Ginny did the same, holding her a bit more tightly than usual. It felt good to be hugged. The last time she'd been held by anyone was when Marcel apologized for saying all of those awful things. And then a couple of days later, he came home and said more awful things before asking her to forgive him again. If she stayed home tonight, she was quite sure that same thing would happen again.

Just thinking about it nearly sent Ginny over the edge. Almost. She was determined to hold herself together at least until she explained things to Sofia. After a few moments, Ginny pulled away and moved her arms to hold herself, her fingers curling into her sides. She looked down for a moment. "I...I need to...to ask you something." She still didn't look up at her. "If...if the need were to arise, do you think I could...stay here?" She paused, biting her tongue for a moment. If Sofia led them into the house, she'd follow and take a seat, otherwise, she'd stand there and rock on her feet. "He's been coming home drunk. I...I don't know how he does it, but he does, and he's not exactly...nice.." Not exactly nice...that was a terribly large understatement. She looked up at Sofia from beneath her brow, redness floating in her amber eyes. She didn't like to cry. She didn't want to cry.

[Sofia Knight]

It had never been like Sofia to hug this way and it certainly hadn't been like Ginny to accept, or return, any sort of kindness from Sofia at all. But it was funny how two vampires could change so much in just a handful of years, wasn't it? Hell, Sofia hadn't even been a vampire all this time. They were strange, constantly changing people, and in this phase of their evolution they were friends... sort of. Ginny hugged Sofia back, with more desperation than Sofia had certainly expected, and stepped away.

Noting that desperation, Sofia tried to smile but observe at the same time. Ginny pulled her hands back in upon herself and averted her eyes. Sofia was terrible at spotting emotions, being just a young thing, but she thought... It seemed like things were just... wrong. Like walking into a familiar room and finding that the furniture's been arranged. Just... inexplicably wrong.

"If... if the need were to arise, do you think I could... stay here?"

Sofia knew well enough to expect almost anything out of these vampires that she called her friends but a request to stay here...? With Sofia? That she hadn't expected in the least. Ginny was in love with Marcel, right? They lived together, right? Though the longer Sofia stood there the more she realized that he didn't talk about Ginny much anymore... He never brought the blonde with him... Nasty, nasty resentment was heavy in Sofia's stomach. Without words, Sofia reached out and took Ginny's wrist, pulling her into the house. Of course Ginny could stay there... Sofia assumed...

"Let's sit." Sofia held Ginny's wrist and brought her over to the sofa in the living room, pulling Ginny down with her while Sofia sat. Ginny looked like a whipped puppy dog, didn't she? Sofia didn't want to think such things of Marcel... But had the fucker been hitting her?

"He's been coming home drunk. I... I don't know how he does it, but he does, and he's not exactly... nice."

Sofia's face had been so calm, trying to believe in Marcel and trying to put on an image of stability for the shaken Ginny... But Marcel was drinking somehow? Getting drunk and... Sofia met Ginny's ees and blinked. Her own turned positively furious. Hitting her? Was that fucker hitting her? Sofia's hand tightened on Ginny's wrist before she quickly let go before she hurt the other woman and made a sound of anger, looking down the sofa where her rat was waking from its nap and blinking at them in irritation. Sofia returned her eyes to Ginny, fight already brewing in them.

"Is that big nosed French son of a bitch hitting you?" Sofia asked in a low, deadly tone of voice, staring at Ginny through her own eyelashes. "You look like you're going to cry... that bastard is making you want to cry... I live every night with a testament to how mean that fucker can be and, I swear to God, if he's hitting you..." Sofia grit her teeth and leaned in with a hand more gently on Ginny's elbow, trying to sound compassionate but mostly she wanted to murder Marcel. "What did that bastard do?"

[Genevieve]

Sofia didn't really answer her question, at least not affirmatively. She just took her by the wrist and pulled her into the house, but already, Ginny could feel Sofia's apparent agitation. And she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with Ginny asking to stay here. She had a feeling it had more to do with the reasons why Ginny wanted to get away from her current place of residence. Not that she said any of that, but Ginny assumed. She sat on the couch where Sofia tugged her down, hardly noticing the animal on the end of the couch. It did get her mind off of things for a moment. Was that...a rat? That was certainly a stranger sort of pet to have.

She snapped back to attention when anger seemed to engulf the younger blonde's entire body. Ginny didn't like it. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. She should have just kept all of this to herself and she should have dealt with it herself. She just didn't know how. God, she didn't know how. She'd never been in this sort of situation before. Carey manipulated her, of course, but...Carey was a walk in the park compared to how Marcel had been treating her lately.

"Is that big nosed French son of a bitch hitting you?"

Ginny's eyes widened immediately and she shook her head, stuttering over several "No"'s while Sofia continued.

"You look like you're going to cry...that bastard is making you want to cry...I live every night with a testament to how mean that fucker can be and, I swear to God, if he's hitting ou..."

She was frozen in her seat. If her heart was beating, it would have been pounding in her head. Sofia had been holding onto Ginny's wrist and her wrist tightened with the emotional tension, but luckily she let go before she did any actual damage. Ginny wouldn't have been surprised if she was able to break her hand. Just because she was old didn't mean she wasn't as fragile as she was when she was human.

But now, she laid her hand on her elbow. Ginny used that as her focal point. She didn't want to look her in the eyes. She didn't want to see anymore hate. She'd already seen too much hate.

"What did the bastard do?"

Ginny flinched slightly. She didn't like the names. But she didn't say anything. For a moment she wondered if she could get away with just...telling her it wasn't a big deal after all. Somehow, she doubted it. Ginny was quiet for a few minutes, trying to gather herself.

"He uhm. He doesn't hit me. He's never hit me." Although she was just waiting for the day that it happened. "He just...screams. A lot. And gets angry. Gets angry if I talk and gets angry if I don't. Sometimes if...if I don't put a wall between us, he grabs me..." Her hands almost subconsciously moved to rub her wrists. "He gets very pushy..." she dipped her head. Her throat hurt and her eyes stung and her cheeks were wet. Her hands moved to knead the hem of her dress. "He shoves me into the walls. And last week he shoved me into my mirror. It was...it was a beautiful mirror. I think it's okay though," she mumbled distractedly, staring hard at her lap. "I think it just needs new glass..." She let out a shuddering breath. Really, she was doing better than she thought. She wasn't even sobbing yet. "But mostly he just yells. Calls me names. He can be terribly creative," she said with a bitterly amused breath. "But he doesn't hit me," she tacked on quickly. "He says he loves me...and he says he's sorry and he doesn't hit me. Is this normal?"

[Sofia Knight]

Sofia didn't mean to curse, but Marcel... The informal uncle of her children? Her occasional babysitter? Someone Sofia wanted to call a friend? If he was hitting Ginny, if he'd ever struck her even by accident, Sofia would have his head on a pike. She was furious with him and even after Ginny told Sofia that Marcel didn't hit her - that he'd never hit her - her rage was merely... subdued. Sofia tried to reel herself in and listen... But Ginny's story didn't actually make it sound any better.

The asshole was yelling. Grabbing her...? Sofia followed Ginny's movement of her hands to the wrists where Marcel must have grabbed her. She took a deep, long breath to keep from growling... Already Sofia could see it. A big, big fire, and Marcel on a long silver stake in the center of it all. Problem was, where did you get that much silver? It would be expensive. But it might be worth it...

"It's okay though, I think it just needs new glass..."

Worrying about her mirror. Directing her attentions from the real problem at hand to an object... Sofia reached out and put her hands, strangely calm when Sofia did not feel so settled within, on each of Ginny's cheeks tenderly. Sofia tugged her so that she could see those beautiful amber eyes that she'd once fallen in love with. Her first love, or a love that almost was at least... And that fucker was destroying her. Destroying her Ginny! No...

Pushing her. Names. He said he loved her... Sofia shook her head even before Ginny asked if it was normal and gave her cheeks a little jerk to be sure that Ginny was looking at her. Sofia's eyes were deadly serious and still ready to murder. If Marcel were here... oh, the fucker.

"It is not. It is not normal. No one can abuse you that way. Pushing, names, breaking your things... It's not alright." Marcel's father? Sofia had heard the stories. Abusive. An asshole. Gideon's? The same sort of way. Sofia's father? God, there were nights she didn't think she'd live! And the children's father too... No, Sofia wasn't going to stand for any more abuse of the people she loved, fuck no. She dropped her hands from Ginny's cheeks and let them fall to Ginny's own hands, giving them a squeeze.

You're not going back to that fucker... Stay here. Stay here with me. Until we figure this out. We're friends, right? I'll take care of you..."

[Genevieve]

Maybe...maybe all of this was okay as long as he didn't hit her. That was the worst thing that could happen right? She could just...stay with him and deal with his mood and the day he'd finally snap and pummel, she could do something about it then. Because maybe this was normal. For Marcel. Maybe this was how things were supposed to go. And maybe if she waited long enough, if she just stuck through it, things would go back to the way they were. Hell, her heart was talking again, but Sofia brought her back to reality.

She took her face in her hands, forcing Ginny's head up to look at her. For a moment she just blinked her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, willing the tightness in her throat and her chest to go away. It didn't. Eventually, she looked back into Sofia's burning green eyes, but only for a moment before her eyes fell. Of course, they popped back onto Sofia's when she jerked her face. For a moment she didn't even say anything. She just stared.

"It is not. It is not normal. No one can abuse you that way. Pushing, names, breaking your things....It's not alright."

Ginny flinched at the word "abuse". She didn't like to think that's what this was. He just got unreasonably angry and sometimes he couldn't keep his hands to himself. And maybe Ginny did something wrong and maybe that's why he called her all of those things. And it's not like he meant it. He said he was sorry.

Sofia dropped her hands to Ginny's and Ginny sunk a little in her seat. She really wanted Sofia to tell her how to fix this. Fix him. Make him stop ruining himself. She wanted to save him. She really did, but she didn't know how. She didn't even know if she could.

"You're not going back to that fucker... Stay here. Stay here with me. Until we figure this out. We're friends, right? I'll take care of you..."

Ginny suddenly was terribly uncertain. She'd never spent a night away from Marcel. Even when he'd come home piss drunk and hurt her, he'd weasle his way back under her skin and somehow she'd wake up beside him the next night. She probably cared too much for her own good...but she couldn't help it.

"I don't...I don't think I can. Not tonight. I need to be there...to make sure he doesn't hurt himself or do something stupid. He'll be angry. He'll be angry if I'm not there. I'm always there." She gulped quietly, her breaths coming a bit more sharply, a bit more quickly. She pressed her hands to her face, her fingers into her eyes, shaking her head. "I love him. I can't abandon him. But I can't stay with him. I don't even kn-know what I did to make him like this. He barely even looks at me anymore and I d-don't - I don't know why." Ginny was crying quietly now. She was still aware of where she was - she didn't want to make a scene. So she tried to be quiet and she held her face like, if nobody could see her crying, then maybe they wouldn't notice.

[Sofia Knight]

If Sofia had any real power over the situation then Ginny wouldn't be going back to that asshole until he'd gotten right down on his knees and positively begged for forgiveness here in front of them both. In front of Gideon too, because Gideon could tell when Marcel was being a lying cheat. She held Ginny's hands like such a grip would keep her there, like Sofia already knew what Ginny was going to say, and sure enough, here it came. Sofia squeezed Ginny's hands and stared at the other vampire with pure determination and not just a small amount of sadness. Ginny wanted to be there for him...?

"If he comes home drunk off his ass and behaving like a goddamn ogre... and you're always there... what do you think that tells him about treating you like shit? That you'll always be there no matter what he does...?"

That's what it taught, damn it! That's what Sofia thought. He voice turned sharp trying to explain that to Ginny and she spoke slowly to keep from shouting. The vampire couldn't be that dumb, could she? She was blonde and French but she was old too, older than Sofia for sure! Sofia used to think Ginny had all the answers. Certainly she was smart enough to see that Marcel needed someone to teach him a real lesson...

"I love him, I can't abandon him."

Sofia let Ginny pull her hands away and press them into her face. Red tears appeared behind her slim, pretty little fingers and Sofia sighed, leaning her own face into her fists propped up by elbows on her knees. "Marcel, you bastard..." She grumbled, promising dozens of oaths in her private thoughts that all involved Marcel mutilated viciously or killed in a long, slow, tortuous sort of way. The stake, he could sit there all night before the sun rose... Yes...

"Stay here," Sofia was trying to issue a command but it sounded more like a request, "With me and the children and Gideon. Marcel will come home and he'll be shocked... He'll be angry. But if he has any smarts in his brain he'll know you've come here..." Actually, he probably didn't have any smarts. Sofia blinked and turned her head to look at Ginny, eyes pleading for her to just do as Sofia said. "We can leave a message on the phone... or make Gideon go straighten him the fuck out. I don't care. But you can't go."

[Genevieve]

Ginny remembered in stark clarity some of the first nights she and Marcel were together. She remembered him telling her about all of the things he had done and would do, about the kind of person he really was - giving her every reason in the book why she shouldn't love him. And she promised him that if he ever did any of those things to her, she would leave. She'd be gone. The only thing was...she didn't think they would actually happen. She thought she'd be different. She thought she'd be the one to change him, or at least make him a better version of himself - and for a while, it was like that. But it didn't last, and now here she was. Crying on the couch of a woman she'd wronged too many times and wanting to go back to a man that had lost all respect for her.

"If he comes home drunk off his ass and behaving like a goddamn ogre...and you're always there...what do you think that tells him about treating you like shit? That you'll always be there no matter what he does...?"

Her tears didn't flow for long. For one, she didn't want to cry, and for two, she wasn't really physically able. She cried every night when he left the house without saying a word to her and she cried whenever he'd come home and either scream at her or ignore her. She was pretty sure she'd run out of tears, but she didn't pull her hands from her face.

Sofia was right. Ginny knew she was right. She just wished there was a different way. She'd tried to talk to him about it, but he either got angry or didn't take her seriously. Really, she'd just given up on trying to do anything...but maybe...they did say that you didn't realize what you had until it was gone. Maybe she should put that little saying into play. Maybe it would knock some sense into him. Sofia was right.

Ginny pulled her hands away from her face and sank back into the couch while Sofia continued to talk. Once more, she told her to stay. She said Marcel should know where Ginny was.

"We can leave a message on the phone...or make Gideon go straighten him the fuck out. I don't care. But you can't go."

Ginny was quiet, her hands folded and thumbs twiddling in her lap. She was making this harder than it should have been, wasn't she? The logical answer here would be to stay with Sofia and do like she said. But it was breaking her heart...or at least shattering the already broken pieces. "Okay," she finally breathed in resignation. "But...I didn't bring anything with me. I don't have any clothes to change into or sleep in," she mumbled, still staring at her lap. "I could...go back, just to get some clothes..." Of course, that probably wasn't the greatest idea. If Marcel came home while she was there...she wouldn't be able to do it. She was so weak when it came to matters of the heart. It was infuriating.

[Sofia Knight]

Ginny had to understand... She wasn't stupid, was she? Sofia had never taken Ginny for stupid so she just had to understand that she couldn't go back to Marcel. Not when he was being like this. It taught him that it was okay to be abusive, that it was alright to act like a goddamn monster, and it was not. After Ginny pulled away and hid behind her hands Sofia twisted her own hands into her hair and gave Ginny the peace to think for a second though if she took too long Sofia was really thinking that she was going to scream... He had to be punished for this. Someone had to punish him.

"Okay," she would stay? Sofia turned her face and looked at Ginny, hearing that resignation in her tone. Thank god! Sofia sighed, sounding relieved already, and sat up straighter to lean over and put her arms around Ginny, clinging to the woman like she were Gideon. Sofia put her face in Ginny's shoulder and breathed slowly and calmly to keep her own rage down. Snuggling up to her sister's murderer... Sofia thought of that every now and then before quietly pushing it to the back of her thoughts. Everything was alright now... but Marcel, he needed taught.

"Don't be a fucking idiot," Sofia's words were nasty but her tone was quiet and kind from its muffled spot in Ginny's shoulder. "We can't wear very different sizes... Just take my things. Funny thing is," Sofia touched Ginny's elbow and sighed, pulling her face away to see the tear stained visage of her friend. Her strange, strange friend. Sofia brushed her fingers to Ginny's face and pulled some blood away with her, looking at it in fascination. "I started wearing some things like you after I was turned. Dresses and pretty shoes that I didn't before... 'cause I admired you. Go figure. Anyway... There's plenty of that... Just take mine. We'll make a bed up for you, or... you can sleep with me. Gideon won't mind..." That much. Sofia hoped... Actually, she should probably warn him. He didn't respond well to surprises...