”Words are free. It’s how you use them,
that may cost you.”
Code ~ #0B610B
Lucie’s interruption came with her usual frigid and harsh words, her manner of speaking as cool as ice as per her norm. Althea felt a bit of annoyance twinge in her chest, something that she didn’t feel often as her patience very seldomly was tested due to its immense height. This young woman, however, could try the patience of a saint. As she was distracted, Reese’s spatted insult caught her quite off guard, and Althea jerked her attention back to the other girl, clearly startled by the vulgar words that she was referred to as. Before she could gather herself and react, however, Reese had already left the room and the rest of the women within it moved on, completely disregarding how she had just spoken to Althea.
To say that she was used to being treated as such would be an understatement, as the other girls at the private academy she had attended had not been keen toward niceties by any means. Therefore, she was used to being talked to poorly as well as treated in a similar manner; that didn’t negate the sting of being called a pretentious bitch, though, when all that she had been trying to do was be nice to the other girl, who had clearly been under distress.
Throughout all of this, chattering went on around her, with the girls going back and forth and the Queen and Lilith occasionally chiming in. The audacity that was Lucie’s attitude seemed to set off the Queen, who in turn gave her a good lecture - not that it would probably do her any good - but she felt a bit of gratefulness towards the elder woman nonetheless for it.
Gritting her teeth a bit, Althea blinked back tears that were a mixture of embarrassment, hurt, and anger, before turning her attention back onto Lucie. ”You know what?” she asked, cocking her head to the side ever-so-slightly. ”I will go ahead and admit that it was selfish of me to say that I didn’t care what you all thought of that sentiment,” she said, her words dripping with something that couldn’t quite be detected yet. It took her little time to stride across the room, and she found herself nearly toe-to-toe with the icy girl, her eyes locked onto hers and boring deep within her gaze, unwavering and a bit disconcerting in the intense emotion that she held within them.
”Why am I willing to admit that, you may ask?” she asked, her tone a bit condescending. ”I am willing to admit that because I have lost my patience, and as for you, in particular, I have no desire to become family to.” Althea’s expression darkened, taking on a slightly angry look as she continued to stare the other girl down. ”You are nothing but an arrogant, selfish, prideful, insolent, spoiled little girl who thinks that she is able peter plus haut de son cul*,” she spat the words at her. Lifting her hand, Althea jabbed the girl once in the center of the chest, as though to bring emphasis to her point. ”Well, I have news for you, cher enfant**; your shit stinks too, and there is absolutely no way in hell that you will ever be able to succeed in this mission on your own, or without the trust of your allies, and I, for one, do not trust your, nor do I believe that I can ever work with you because of this. If any of us were to be in danger, you would rather tuck tail and run like a sad little chatte*** instead of helping, and that makes you nothing but a hindrance to our cause. You may as well stay here in your safe little bubble and remain the princess of aigreur****.”
Turning to face Lilith, drew in a deep breath and simply gave her a small nod, unable to bring her usual smile to her face after the treatment that she had received today. ”I will join you, but I want to make it clear that I will not stand for any disrespect amongst our team that we’ve built, because that will signal a lack of trust and I cannot work without trust in my allies. You do, however, have my backing and my support, as well as the support of the Emerald Isles.” Pausing, Althea met the gazes of a few of the girls in the room before striding towards the door. ”I would say that it has been fun, but it has been far from a pleasant experience, as I do not much appreciate being called names and not defended by anyone when my intentions were nothing but good. So, as for right now, I would rather be alone and am going to head home.” With that said, Althea left the room, allowing the door to fall quietly shut behind her.
When she left through the front of the building, she paused as she crossed the threshold of the front door, uncertainty crossing her features as her gaze fell on Reese and Silvia. Shaking off the feeling, Althea steeled herself and strode outside, sidestepping around the two girls without a word and making her way down the steps with ease. It was when she was about halfway down the sidewalk that she paused midstep, however, and turned halfway to face back towards them.
”I apologize if anything that I said upset you, Reese, because I promise you that that was not my intention, but that does not give you the right to call me names when my intentions were nothing but kind. I do hope that we can become friends, or at least trusted allies.” Fishing her keys out of her pocket, Althea turned away without waiting for a response and unlocked her car with a soft beep, glanced both ways before crossing the street, and then made her way to her car.
*To fart higher than one's own ass.
**dear child
***Pussy
****bitchiness