From Solid Steel to Broken Glass

[Layla G. Harlow]

You belong to me....

Bound to a city of broken glass, with bitter memories and a hollow past, Layla found herself questioning why she had stayed. The Rot was more likely to swallow them up in this part of what was left of Mexico than probably anywhere else. Prostitutes, heavy drinkers, slobs...they were all going to get infected and the City was going to fall. But there were things worse than the Rot. People worse than the Doomed. And she found that for her, there weren't many places she felt safe enough to stay for fear of one person finding her. That person was exiled from the Axios several years ago, but his face still found its way into Layla's nightmares, his whispered words haunting her thoughts.

The only escape Layla found from her worries was working. Not exactly great with authority, she was surprised when she'd been kindly offered a job as a bartender for Seven Oaks by one of the more kind city dwellers. Mr. Viera had given her a way to support her sister and offered them some kind of protection by doing so. Layla had found a house for her and Cora, away from their childhood home that reeked with the stench of her parents' rotting bodies, stale cigarettes and booze. As soon as they had gone, Layla knew that she needed out of there, in hopes of ridding herself of her nightmares.

She hadn't been so lucky.

With only a few lingering bar attendees at the end of Layla's work shift, she began to clean up all of the empty and half empty glasses that littered the surrounding area. Beer bottles filled with back-wash, she made sure to avoid the tops where lips had touched. With the infection being passed through saliva and other fluids from the body, she had to be careful. As she went to snag an empty glass from one of the lingerers, he grabbed her arm and caused her to drop one of the beer bottles on the hard floor and it shattered. Layla's nostrils flared and she yanked her arm back while the man snickered and snorted.

She could have stabbed him in the neck with a shard of glass if it wouldn't have cost her the job she needed. Her mind then flashed to the bread knife pressed against her throat and she bit down hard on her lower lip, "Mother fucker," She muttered as she started sweeping up the shards.

[Luxanna Viera]

Although she didn't particularly love her job, Luxanna saw very little else she could have been doing with her time. Her uncle had been kind enough to take her in when she had nowhere else to go. The least she could do was pay him back by helping him out in the bar, right? It wasn't like she hated it. It was a decent job with decent people working with her. It just wasn't for her. Then again, any job that involved being around other people usually didn't fit for the generally shy brunette.

Walking down the set of stairs, she froze at the sound of breaking glass. Her brows furrowed and she started moving again, putting more haste to her steps. Rounding the corner from the upper floor to the first, Lux stopped in the door way and took in the scene before her: it seemed as if one of the bartenders, Layla, was having less than an enjoying time at work, from the look of the guy standing next to her, looking all kinds of menacing.

Normally, Lux wasn't the type of person who'd speak up or make herself noticed. Unless of course, she felt as if there was something fundamentally wrong going on. Which, this happened to be.

"I honestly doubt Mr. Viera would like it very much if he knew you were harassing his employees," she said calmly as she walked towards the bar, keeping her eyes locked on the girl instead of the man. "But what do I know... It's not like I'm his niece or anything." She took a seat on the other side of the bar and folded her hands calmly over one another before looking up at the man and giving him a polite and warm smile. "But don't worry. As long as you promise it won't happen again, I won't tell. Cross my heart."

[Layla G. Harlow]

Layla didn't know the bar's owner very well, just that he had a niece who was working for him and that he took pity on a girl with a sixteen year old sister to care for and take care of. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him not to hate him the way she wasn't fond of most other business owners. They were all dipshits for the most part, hardly focusing on what shit was going on in the City which was eventually going to lead to everyone's demise. She'd watched her parents become the result of what lifestyle they led. And she was doing her damnedest to keep Cora from that life, not that she had much to worry about with her little bookworm sister.

Layla's eyes traveled up as she heard footsteps and her head ducked down a bit when she saw Mr. Viera's niece approaching. She knew Luxanna from working with her, the girl was a good few years older than Layla, but she had an air of innocence about her that made Layla see her as someone younger. Her tone said business, but it wasn't the same kind of authoritative voice she was so used to. It was soft, yet she could sense the truth behind her words. She wouldn't really hesitate in telling her uncle about this, would she? It made Layla almost smile, but she kept her eyes down when Lux looked at the man that had been giving her a hard time.

He seemed to take her words and considered them, deciding on leaving Layla alone. Although Layla was pleased that she hadn't done anything to lose her job, she didn't like being saved. The idea of it made her feel weak and at a young age she'd been taught what weakness would do to her. Biting back on her typical reaction of snapping at the girl that had stepped in, Layla offered her half a smile and stood up with most of the larger shards of glass in her hands, some of them biting into her skin, though she didn't take much notice to it.

"Th-thanks, uh, you didn't have to do that though. I coulda taken him," She joked, but she wasn't entirely joking. More times than not, she'd found a way of taking care of things. But she understood that she was younger and in most cases, people took pity on the younger ones. Layla kicked out the trash can from beneath the bar and emptied the glass from her hands before cursing under her breath at the cuts that were now beginning to brim with blood.

Layla laughed shortly and ran her hand under the faucet in the corner, met with ice cold water, "Oops."

[Luxanna Viera]

Nodding once the man started moving away, Luxanna turned her attention fully towards Layla and offered the girl a gentle smile. Although Luxanna had appeared somewhat confident, she could feel her heart hammer in her chest. Confrontation always made her uncomfortable and uneasy even when it was necessarily. Of course, she knew that Layla could handle herself, but that didn't mean she was in any position to put the bar, its reputation or the owner in any kind of bad light.

"I know," she said and shrugged. "But I didn't do it just for you," she added with an apologetic smile. "My uncle has worked too hard for this place to have its reputation ruined by employees beating up the clientele. It's much better to end disputes in a diplomatic and reasonable way." Luxanna fell silent as she watched the other girl work with mild interest. She didn't react much to the cut other than wrinkling her nose. Even in this kind of world, Luxanna didn't care much for blood. It made her feel queasy.

"Are you alright?" she asked and dropped off of the chair. She put the palms of her hands against the bar and leaned forward to get a better look. It didn't look too bad from what she could see, but then again, Luxanna was no doctor. Luxanna turned towards the room and looked over the various tables. She stepped out and started collecting a few of the remaining empty glasses scattered about. She didn't really have much to say. Then again, Lux had never been the talkative type.

[Layla G. Harlow]

Diplomatic and reasonable...in this world? Sometimes Layla wondered if Lux knew the kind of people that resided in this world anymore. She was old enough, she had to see that there were monsters that came into the bar. Monsters that liked to take advantage of innocent girls, of weak people. Layla knew all too well what would happen if she showed weakness to any of the men that gave her a hard time in this place. Luxanna seemed to hold her own just fine, but that was because she was the owner's niece. His only family. Layla didn't hold any significance and she knew that she was expendable to everyone except her sister...and even her brother.

"Fair enough, I guess I just was brought up to fight. Not always the best solution," She shrugged and gave a short laugh. She didn't believe the words that left her mouth, though. Perhaps in a time where diplomacy was common, it wasn't a good solution to fight. But now, in this world, that was the only way she found that she was going to survive. Fighting and not showing weakness to anybody. She may bite her tongue against cruel words, but when someone gets handsy, she didn't stand by and let it happen. What kind of example for Cora would she be if she did?

Layla chewed on her lip and nodded, "Fine. Just a few cuts, nothing major." Nothing like having a knife pressed to her throat, her wrist, and her chest. Lucian had tested her time and time again, scars littering her body at his attempts at 'teaching' her something. "You don't have to worry about cleaning up, I've got it," Layla spoke up as she started collecting the empty glasses. Honestly it wasn't that Layla was trying to get rid of Lux by any means, she just enjoyed the quiet time to herself before she put on a brave face for her sister and went home.