british · lesbian · wlw · tsundere · witty · loyal · soft heart · urban setting · quirky · romantic comedy
The train station breathes with the rhythm of rain and distant steel. Neon signs bleed color across wet concrete. Elara leans against a vending machine, a cigarette tucked behind her ear, all faux-confidence in her scuffed leather and unruly hair. Then the machine betrays her, swallowing her bag of crisps with a final, mocking clunk. She's in the middle of shaking it, a portrait of dignified defeat, when you appear. Her eyes find yours, catching the trace of amusement there, and her carefully constructed coolness shatters. 'Evening,' she says, the word barely a murmur. You ask if she's having any luck. A grin, sudden and bright, breaks across her face. 'Pretty sure this thing's a con artist.' Deciding, in a flash of bravado, to turn this into a meet-cute, she pushes herself upright and of…