He felt the urge to glance around with her, basking in his overtime. Perhaps if he could cut down on this time he could still make his date. It was all wishful thinking, anyway.

Lottie's eyes went wide.

"What..? How is that possible? How could you know this much? Who are you?" She was full of so many questions, and to be quite frank, they were questions that he didn't care much to answer in detail.

Ronald held out a hand, counting off his answers to the many questions she had asked.

"You were paused in time by some dim-wit who perhaps fancied you just a bit too much; I know this because it's my job to make up for his shit mistake; I'm Ronald, Ronald Knox. But you can call me Ron, sweetheart. Alright, that just about wraps this up. Can we go now?" He lowered his hand, eyes narrowing to her in boredom. Sure, she was pretty, but not someone he could see someone breaking the rules for.
Lottie took a step back.

"Go where?"

God damn it. Ronald exhaled heavily.

"You sure love questions don't you, sweetheart? Where do you suppose we're going? You were supposed to die so many years ago, and it's my job to make up for the mistake someone else made. In other words-"

"You're going to kill me." Lottie finished, her expression of shock never fading.

Ronald snapped at her, pointing with his long index finger.

"Exactly. Now if you'll just make my job eas-"

"Wait."

The machinery this shinigami had pulled out was being eyed quite heavily by Lottie. She stared at it with a certain discomfort.

"Is that... Your Death Scythe?" She had to ask.

Ronald widened his eyes just a bit in her guess.

"Yes, love. Now where did you hear that bit of info fro-"

"I have one request before you.. Before you kill me." She interrupted him quite hastily, ignoring his sharpening concentration. She was just another job to him, wasn't she? Didn't he at all think it was unfair what happened to her? Not in the slightest?

Ron leaned against his scythe, eyes narrowing in the summer heat.

"A request? You do realize we're not exactly up to suggestions, right? Alright, I'll hear it, I guess." Did she actually think she could cheat the death she should have had? He was just doing his job, and who was she to stop him?

Lotttie gathered a few strips of tattered cloth from her dress. She played with the pieces, not touching Ronald with her sad gaze.

"I was... The life I could have lived was taken from me. I never had my chance to... To get married, to raise a family, or to even see Liam again. I don't think that's.. I don't think that's fair..." A liquid so usual to this job trailed down Lottie's cheeks. Ronald simply watched on with the same indifference to his eyes.

Lotttie wiped her cheeks, clearing some dirt from the porcelain-like whiteness.

"I know you'll never let me keep living my life. A rule is a rule, and I should have died so many years ago, but I didn't. I'm still alive, but everyone else I knew is dead. I only want one thing.." She looked up, a smile touching her pink lips.

"One day. I only want you to give me one day of the life I could have lived. That's all. It can even be just the rest of this day. It's not long, I know, and it wouldn't make a difference to anything, but please..." She sniffed, lowering her head once again.

"Everything was taken from me because of what he did, so I think I deserve at least... At least one day to live my stolen life..." Hazel eyes looked down to the dirt ground that loomed heavily in her near future. Was it cold? What was death like? Could he explain it? Or did he just collect the souls, no questions asked? Perhaps it would be better to stop asking him of anything.

Ronald let out a small sigh, reflecting on how he seemed to be doing so quite often. He once again glanced around the countryside, marveling in the fact that in her perspective, perhaps it felt like only yesterday that she was hand-washing clothes or tending the fields. Then again, she didn't seem like a girl accustomed to manual labor. Maybe the Liam person she kept talking of took care of her, only seeing her compassionate hazel eyes or her silky brown hair.

"Rules are rules, love. Even if your life hadn't been paused, you would have died that day, no talking, no bargaining."

These words had Lottie's head snapping up in confusion.

"I... What?"

Ronald nodded in agreement. He straightened his glasses, focusing on the woman.

"The men who kidnapped you would have killed you when they finished with you, but that could never happen. In their perspective it did, but you never experienced it. According to the morgue, you have a crumbling grave with your body in it. I suppose it would be empty now because I took out the bookmark in your book. Their lives continued on as if you had still existed, but for you..." He let these words trail off into the wind, watching as the color drained from her eyes.

Lottie Sinnet remained silent for many moments, staring her very indifferent grim reaper in the eyes. She spoke as the billowing of the grass ceased, leaving only a quiet and lonely scene.

"I... Everything kept happening? Does that mean... Does that mean that Liam lived on, thinking I had died? He had thought I was killed in some horrible way?" A certain outrage filled her pupils, yet it seemed different than Ronald had seen it before. He stuided it closely.

It wasn't an emotion burning purely on selfishness. It seemed deeper than that.

"How is that fair!? I don't care about me, or the fact that I didn't get my life, but what about him!? Why did he have to suffer, too!?" Lottie lashed out. She lunged forward, tears streaming from her eyes as if her heart had been torn from her chest.

"He suffered enough! He didn't need me dying on him to add to that! Why do these things always happen to him!? Doesn't he get a break? Doesn't Liam get to smile!? Why is he the one to suffer through the deaths of all those around him!? Why can't it be me!? Why!"

Ronald felt the need to narrow his eyes at her outburst. He stared at her questioningly for a moment, wondering just what job he had been tasked with.

What is with her? Why does she care about this guy, anyway? He's probably just some ass spewing garbage about sympathy and empathy. How did he catch this beauty?

He raised an eyebrow at her.

Perhaps he was the only one able to deal with her sass.

Lottie didn't seem to notice his expression, as she continued with her small outburst.

"All I ever wanted was to see his smile-"

"Calm down, love." Ronald replaced any sour look he had placed on his face with a signature smirk of his. He took a moment to lean back to his scythe. Folding his arms, he spoke to the crying girl.

"God, you whine. You remind me of a pig goin' off to slaughter, Lottie. I'll give you your one day. At sunset, your soul will be reaped, and you will dissolve into the nothing you were always supposed to be in. Of course, I'll be accompanying you on your last day."

Ronald leaned towards her, eyeing his watch.

"You better hurry, Lottie Sinnet. The clock is ticking away on your borrowed time."