~A Canary and a Silent Dog~ (Finished; prisoners!)

(lol Devroux, silly man. xD )

The hug had not wavered in strength, and their heat did not break contact yet. Lily found the hug nice and comforting, even having loosened a touch after a few seconds passed. It was accepted even better when the fact that her natural warmth, which was concentrating in the face, was starting to diminish was established. Starting to smile, the girl welcomed the newfound emotion of happiness and reciprocated kindness manifested in a returned hug. Devroux's own gentle embrace was much appreciated.

Naught a memory served her good. Lily could hardly remember the last time her body got grasped back as lightly. Tired. She almost felt tired because everything felt grand. Teal orbs were drooping, the mind drifting, the heart slowing to the way it was supposed to. She would rather sleep in bliss than stay awake in harmony; that way, the rest could have been reserved for the new day and perhaps forever on.

Both ways - alert or resting - all Lily could see was darkness, not helped by her face being smushed against Devroux's body. Her nose caught an odor of new linen; and, though it was pleasant, the girl closely sneezed from the heavy dosage. Other than that, she could not smell anything off. Nothing out of the ordinary. Lily tried to breathe normally without tickling her nostrils. Because she could not detect a fragrance out of the usual, nothing had much taste, so she read in a book once.

She heard nothing; she saw nothing; she tasted nothing; she smelled nothing - out of the ordinary. All the senses had concentrated to the last key one. Lily had garnered enough calmness to think that she was ready to let go of the hold. Even so much of a twitch, however, left her heart empty, a void. Existing previous cheer, poof. The girl kept latched on, mentally saying to herself the reason for the sudden melancholy to release.

Sensing Devroux lowering himself, Lily stayed still as a doe in headlights. She had blinked her eyes in confusion. Her curiosity was satiated when the girl suddenly felt heavier than usual and the feet were not placed firmly, instead limp. Lily could recognize the sensation as if she were jumping; though, this time, she had no idea of the time she could be coming back down. The balls in their sockets grew, surprised.

Lily restrengthened the grip but pushed her face away, looking up at Devroux, brows knit, appearing scared. The legs dangled a bit, a doll. Footwear - a choice of sandals for outside travel and work - slipped off her feet, landing against the ground with a thud. The tan boy's grip was to secure her safety, yet she could not help but feel she could have dropped anytime. Her reaction was priceless.

"De-Devroux!" Upon saying, Lily hugged tighter than before, a cat gripped on a tree branch. "W-What are you doing?" Though she had ignored the initial fear, replacing it with little bits of joy, Lily could not exactly get the right tones in. It was all so sudden! "You're so strong to be able to lift me like this!"

Such a weird feeling, she thought, to be lifted off the ground without the use of the sky copters the Capitol used to survey Panem, especially District 13. The sensation was dense, heavy. Gravity was at its best point of usage, making the body recognize itself as lead. Her head was crushing - sensation-wise. Panem earth seemed to make certain that its citizens were right at home, since her being was not stabilizing to the new slightly higher altitude.

Lily saw the surroundings going higher, the lights not close, the ceiling gaining distance. Looking down, she had both a sad and relaxed feeling, contorting her face to a half-smile, half-frown expression. Chemical balance in her head had begun, though it had been overall a very minor expression. She hoped that her heart would also level itself out so its emotion could be made clear.

The floor seemed to shift left instead of magnifying, she saw. Suddenly, the easy experience of coming back onto earth vertically abruptly changed to forwards horizontally. The environment blurred, different colors of objects and wall meshing to unknown shades, and the acid juice in the stomach churning. Lily thought she was tumbling, seeing everything in a circular motion. Her newly discovered hatred for random painful moments was ingrained in her brain. Never did want another one so soon.

She did not even notice that her eyes naturally shut during a part of the trip. Dizzy, Lily felt afterwords; but, she realized that quick motion appeared to have ceased. Replacing that was warmth. In a particular spot. Again. The blond cracked her lids, brows curving up, and saw the situation repeated: his eyes level to hers, noses brushing, lips touching. The awkwardness multiplied greatly as the blond found herself on top of Devroux, hair splaying and follicles kissing the boy, the legs stroking his own set. Immediate reddening.

Lily had parted contact this time, gasping. "I'm so sorry! Very, very sorry!" She had slid away a little and sat up, choosing her spot to be below the umbilical region. The previous heat returned in haste; but, this time, she decided to keep her hands near her chest, balled, almost like in prayer. No sign of care for her form or appearance, this was already another embarrassing moment to add to the memory banks. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? I'm so sorry!" A hand touched his stomach, inspecting. "I hope you're not hurt at all, Devroux."

(There's a third awkward thing in there... but that would take a bit of thinking. Don't say a word if you do. x3 )

"Haha... you are falling all over the place, aren't you? First outside and now here with me..." Lily painted an awkward smile on, coy and awfully embarrassed. The coldness of the floor greatly contrasted to the touching body heat. She would not have flushed so badly if the contrast was due to them hugging, not how they were positioned. She wanted to hide her face again like earlier but found herself unable to do to him laying and her sitting up.

Devroux's laugh puzzled her, and she misread. Lily furrowed her brows, frowning. "It's not funny! You could have suffered a concussion! That's the last thing I need from a fr--- ..." The girl shifted her brows from anger to uncertainty. Turning her face to the sides, arms folded themselves loosely. Her mind frazzled, the heart confused.

Her body moved slightly as Devroux went to sit up, gaining Lily's attention through eyes alone. She had kept the same expression when he smiled, as she read, gently. Finding interaction with an Avox hard, Lily only depressed her apparent puzzlement. He had propped his upper body with arms, and she stayed where she was, a question barking at her.

"Devroux, are we friends?" she blurted out. Lily released her folded arms, one hand over the other against her abdomen, her body twisted back to normal. She had let the confusion cool her blushing to a peachy complexion. Solemnness encompassed her persona. Resisting the urge to play with fingers, Lily continued, "To be truthful, I don't remember when I ever had a friend before. Like I believe we're friends, but... I'm not... certain. It's awful, that I can't discern people."

She tried to smile truthfully even if a little one. "I really hope we are. I like you, Devroux. I really do like you, but I don't exactly know friendship." Lily lowered her head down at Devroux's body, a little dog ready for its punishment. The blond did not exactly think she was going to get a beating, but her bluntness could hurt someone. "I'm sorry if I made this awkward." Giving into the urge, Lily started to play with her fingers, brushing a forefinger against the other.

Lily kept looking down even with the answers to the questions and complete honesty - hopefully complete honesty. She had displayed her own dog-like mannerisms: a drooping head, hunched shoulders, curling herself in replacement of a tucked-in tail. Emotions of terribleness and satisfaction broiled; she could not pick which she actually felt. Teals closed themselves, hoping to find the right one. She suddenly remembered her manners and opened them, still tilted to the ground.

Her eyes widened a touch as they saw a tanned finger bring itself under the chin and lightly tilt her head up, much like the string example in her proper etiquette books. Blinking. Lily peered into Devroux's set of orbs - he having leveled their sight. The blond mentally noted on the nice shade they were: a mixture of blues and greens, a ring of auburn around the pupil. She had seen before in the earlier accidents, but Lily did not get a close inspection. Her face remained placid though a curious child.

How big those eyes grew when Lily's lips were invited thrice to tantalizing warmth. Devroux initiated the kissing. Intentionally. Lily batted the lashes rapidly at first then slowed to normalcy. Color draining, blush forming, she was conflicting inside.

It was hurting her. Terribly.

Salty tears rolled down her cheeks in big globs. Lily, however, resisted the temptation to break off. A hand shakily felt the back of Devroux's head and further sunk their lips deeper, intensifying the contradicting thoughts in her head. She wanted to believe one system of thinking, but her subconscious knew better and told her so. Lily tightened her eyes, dripping more liquid sadness. She started to hiccup and having trouble breathing; she pressed on.

One second: one thought. Second second: a different thought. Third second: another contradicting notion. All the conflict, all the mental and emotional fighting, the result was nearly-fatal malaise. The girl swallowed gasping out blunt words. Even if minutes elapsed, Lily had to know the answer. She was tiring herself to death, feeling a myriad of arrows piercing her heart, almost wanting to bite down on the very mechanisms - the lips, this time with intention - that brought out an internal quarrel.

Her heart writhed, twisting, pumping out two forces. She wanted neither; she wanted both. Lily kept on meshing their lips for who-knows-how-long, breathing out the nose if having to. Her mouth started to twitch; her eyes were already ahead of them. The grip on Devroux was slipping, and even the unintentional stroking of his hair killed her. She was not crying droplets or globules anymore; they were full-on streams. Lily dropped the hand to the floor, still kissing. Nothing was going to stop the boy to break their touch now; she was just lingering there, deeming the action of force fruitless.

When Lily reopened her lids, they were glassy and glossy, red definitely. They shot many apologies.

The pain tripled when Devroux backed, whimpering slightly while wiping away tears with a thumb - which, at that point, hurt five times more. The blond twitched at the touch yet stayed still. Almost dying upon seeing the boy's contorted face of worry, Lily cried a little more before taking his hand in both of hers, eyes shut, blurred. With a couple tears spilled, she tried again to open and see his face.

"I'm sorry... I... I-I..." she started, blubbering. "I don't know... I'm confused... Devroux, you said we were friends but... kissing... th-that's more, isn't it? In school I would see that between couples, holding each others' hands and k-k-kissing."

Lily lowered her head, once more like she did wrong, looking away from any gazes. "I... When you kissed me - for real - I... I couldn't... I don't know if I liked it or not. I was so confused, it was hurting me. I-I don't know... My head was thinking so many things like, 'It's out of friendship,' or, 'He likes me'." She let go of Devroux's hand, curving her brows up an increment more, a deep frown etched on. "I'm very sorry, Devroux... I wanted to know how I felt, and I pressed on..." More tears. "I... I couldn't get the answer still."

She looked straight into Devroux's eyes, starting to tear less, then tried to smile even a little one. "I'm confused with myself; but, Devroux, d-do you think... ah..." Lily rubbed her eyes, getting at an itch and lingering tears. Another apology before saying, "If I'm thinking what the meaning of that kiss was true, then... you... I think I need to think about it more. Or... haha, I really don't know. I don't know how to do this. One thing's for certain: I don't want you to worry or be different because I was crying."

Lily's hands went to touch Devroux's cheeks, and she laughed. "I want for us to be friends. I would love for you to be my friend, and me yours. I..." After shaking her head, she continued, "Will you be patient with me? I want to sort this out, too..." Her smile grew wider, more joyful. "Because if I do 'like like' you too, you could be that prince I kept wishing for as a child. That prince to be my friend forever and save me. We would have our happy ending, a 'happily ever after'." The girl flushed now after saying. "Am I being silly?"

Lily smiled wider, feeling the heart beat slower as Devroux reassure her with a grin and the shake of the head, reading with positivity. Her hands placed on his cheeks, notes on the smoothness were made, a heavenly touch. The warmth, the nice tan of his skin, the blond could warrant that the Avox had all these pleasant features to the senses. She could also vouch that he was a good size for her to hug.

A mature cheer entered the eyes. "Thank you very much, Devroux. I really do hope that the time won't be wasted." Rubbing her face red, the blond discovered newborn tiredness from spilling tears. Whilst trying to rid of the heavy drowsiness, ideas penetrated her mind, her innocence filtering out amusing contexts. Again the body's engine pumped harder at the thought. Cheeks flushed slightly at the prospect, and the smile twisted itself to one of secretive amusement, sly.

Lily dropped her hands to the floor, grinning still. "I think this might work out. I'm thinking that if we stay together for tonight, I might have some sort of answer figured out. Perhaps if we did a lot of things together, I can sort of things." Laugh. "I'm not exactly sure if it'll work, but I'll put my best effort. So, what do you think? We could even do something like a slumber party that I've heard some people do. I hear they're fun."

Shifting her feet on the floor, a shot of coldness surged through her body. Goosebumps manifested on her arms, and Lily laughed a little one. "I forgot my shoes fell off when you lifted me." She got off Devroux's body, escaping the welcomed heat, then walked over to the sandals. Her feet suffered three steps of chill before the footwear were slipped on. The girl looked back at Devroux, blinking big eyes.