It is a known fact that you were given a hundred thousand words from the moment you were born. It is also known that that's how long you have to find your soulmate. Your soulmate is the only person who can increase your word count and subsequently, prolong your life.
A counter is seared on your wrist. When it gets to five hundred, it burns your arm. When it gets under one hundred, you start feeling lightheaded and unsteady. If your counter reaches zero, you were dead.
Needless to say, each word is precious.
Lily Evans has approximately thirty thousand words left on her counter when she meets her soulmate. She's sixteen, works at a tattoo shop, and is efficient when it comes to conserving her word usage. She knows she has to find her soulmate to recharge, so she's holding onto her words for as long as possible, even though she has plenty to spare.
A woman walks in, her heels clicking and her face hooded, her gloved hand clasped around the handle of a black umbrella. Locks of white-blonde hair stick out from under her black hood and ice-blue eyes peek out furtively, darting around the shop. Lily stands, and as she does, feels a slight tingling in her arm.
Her counter goes up by one, now at 30,107, and Lily's excitement increases. Could this possibly be…?
"Hullo," she says cheerfully. "Welcome to the Flower Designs!"
"Hello." A delicate, slightly trembling voice escapes the woman's mouth and she pulls back her hood, and Lily's floored.
She looks like she's made of china. Fair, smooth skin, silky blonde hair framing her face, and sharp azure eyes, like chips of ice. She is slender and elegant, yet looks so fragile, like she can be broken with a single touch.
"I...need a tattoo," she says warily. Lily side-eyes her counter. 30,112. There's no doubt now. She's met her soulmate. This has to be her.
She would bet all of the breaths left in her body that this is her soulmate.
"What kind?" she asks, eying the woman's arm, but her sleeve is concealing her arm.
"I need a lily," she replies, her eyes locking with Lily's. Her breath hitches.
"A...lily?" she queries tentatively. "Why…?
"It represents my soulmate, you see," the woman continues, a small smile appearing on her bright-red lips. "Lily is her name, I believe."
Oh. Oh.
"Funny, my name happens to be Lily," she drawls, a matching smile growing on her face. This exchange is really quite exhilarating.
"How coincidental," the woman replies coyly, extending her hand. "I'm Narcissa. Looks like we were both named after flowers."
Lily takes her hand and it's like a bolt of electricity races through her arm, setting fire to every nerve, and she knows Narcissa feels it too. The two women don't break their eye contact.
Lily opens her mouth to ask her soulmate something, but she is beaten to the punch.
"Lily, I would honored to court you," Narcissa says, a tiny glint in her eye.
"Of course," she replies, beaming with pride, her heart filling with warmth and hope. "I accept."
Romance Awareness - You have a limited number of words, and you can only recharge when you're with your soulmate (when you use up your word count, you die)
Amazing Women - (sound) the click of high heels on hard floor
Writing Club
Disney - C1. Mary Poppins
Amber's Attic - G4. Write a tattoo artist!au (5 bonus points)
Em's Emporium - Gabby (teddylupin-snape): Write femslash.
525 words
