𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇 𖤓 - 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧.

DÉKA.

VENICE
noun [ C ]
UK /ˈven.ɪs/ US /ˈven.ɪs/
"A CITY IN NORTHEASTERN ITALY - THE CAPITAL OF THE VENETO REGION."
• • •
"the sinking city"

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Venice - when translated into Italian - is Venezia.
Venice has been sinking, slowly but surely, approximately one to two millimetres underwater every year.

If this is to continue due to the rising water levels, it is likely Venezia will sink - succumbing to it's unstable foundations, falling below water level.

Lyssa had read that in a newspaper article in the college library.

But she couldn't help but remind herself of it as she watched Venetia's head remain afloat out of the water, but barely, as she'd jumped into the lake to swim with Farleigh and Felix.

The city of Venice wasn't the only thing that was sinking.

So had the blonde girl who bared it's glamourised name - not just physically, but mentally also.

Lyssa figured that the girl's malevolence had to be rooted from somewhere - a place within her that has poisoned her, turned into a hateful gall that leaks out into her words - twisting them into malice words meant to warn others.

The self-loathing that the girl projected was painstakingly translucent.

Despite Venetia making it rather glaringly obvious that she wanted little to nothing to do with Lyssa and had zero trust in her motives,

Lyssa simply couldn't be fucked to burn any more bridges around her heart, and thought she'd make a singular attempt to rebuild the structure that Venetia had sabotaged between their personalities before she'd even spoken to her.

If Venetia was incurious and dejected her cordial advance, then Lyssa would bring their fractured, vague relationship to a close for good, she decided.

There is no point in trying to burrow your way into the likes of someone who's heart was made of spoiled soil - unwelcoming to any new sprouts of friendship - too paranoid to feed them with their trust and stick around for it to flourish into something new.

For Venetia was already sinking herself, and she certainly didn't need the burden of weeds trying to coerce her into letting them under her surface.

Lyssa, once she'd detected that she'd consumed enough sun - due to the sore, salmon-coloured irritation that had reddened her shoulders and entire back from where she'd been laying down on the grass - she thought it'd be best to shelter inside, and find some aloe vera gel while she was doing so.

She declined Felix's offer to join her in an attempt to aid to her burns, however she enforced that she was capable of taking care of herself.

She'd was certainly overfamiliar with having to safeguard herself, basically since she was deemed old enough to escape the hired nannies.

Not just her own well-being to fortify, but Alistairs too - their mother becomingincreasingly negligent once she'd learned that they were capable enough to clothe, bathe, and feed themselves.

Lyssa had invented a friend within her shadowing loneliness that perused her almost everywhere she went.

She also had a feeling that Venetia was also undergoing this interconnectivle affinity which was the undying companionship of isolation.

Lyssa believed that from this, they could commence a relatable confidence in each-other.

If Venetia was open-minded enough.