(alright! I was kinda thinking maybe he had disappointed the family in some way so they killed him? idk?)
Liz gave a quick smile. "Sure." she replied. Her hair was still pulled back in a bun, but a few strands had escaped and fallen into her face. "He fought with mother again. I'm not sure what he told you about it, but…" she trailed off, sighing faintly. She was dressed in a simple, cream-toned dress, a dark corset on top of it.
"He told me everything. Honestly, Vic trusts me more than he trusts you. No offense. I guess it's because I'm a werewolf, I don't get to have opinions." she said, "and I don't snitch." Justine added. Her own dress was a simple black one, a few decades behind the current fashion as she couldn't afford better and anyways, the Frankensteins were so gracious to allow her to wear something so nice anyways. Victor on the other hand was simply wearing a waistcoat, a shirt, and slacks, nothing too fancy and certainly not as presentable as Justine always managed to be. Victor still had his glasses on, Justine's were pushed up off her face onto her hair as she could see slightly better than Victor and mostly needed them on the rare occasions she got to read a book.
(That could also work!)
(honestly we could probably combine the ideas; he disappointed the family, so they tipped off vampire hunters about him and he was killed?)
Liz cleared her throat faintly. "I have never snitched on him either, Justine, there's no need to be so passive aggressive about it." she replied, gaze moving to where her brother lay on the werewolf's bed. "I came to take care of him, not to lecture him on anything." she crossed her arms faintly, shaking her head. Henry moved to Victor's side, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching the other young man sleep.
Justine giggled. "I'm not being like that! But you have to admit, I'm the first person he goes to when he's upset, was all I was trying to say!" she said. To some capacity, Justine feared Elizabeth. She could tell her parents everything about Justine, how she'd been helping Victor, how she stole food sometimes when Alphonse and Caroline Frankenstein forgot to allow her food, how Henry had taught her to read poetry, and they'd eat her alive. But to more capacity, she loved Liz, more than she loved herself sometimes. Justine had been taught to keep her head down and under the crowd, and she managed to get by that way. But some days, she yearned for more.
Liz let out a faint breath. "Sorry." she said, flashing a quick smile. "I was just worried. And…he probably does that because you're his friend. I'm his sister." and fiance, but she didn't like to think about that part. "So there is a different dynamic. But is he…is he alright?" her gaze flicked to Victor again, then back to Justine.
Justine placed a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "I'm your friend too, you know. And he's shaken, but fine." she said, Victor snoring softly in the background. He looked almost as dead as their parents, only the rising and falling of his chest and his snores giving any indication that Victor Frankenstein was, indeed, alive. Slight, pale, bespectacled, there wasn't too much conventionally attractive in Victor, but when he spoke about Alchemy his eyes lit up like stars lit the night sky, twinkling and sparking in the black. He was always so electric, so alive, more than anyone in the group, but often hid it. A spark like that was easily extinguished, he knew.
She nodded. "I know." she replied softly. "And I'm glad that he's going to be alright. Thank you for helping him." she gave Justine another little smile, keeping her eyes on the other young woman. Elizabeth looked just a little bit tired, with faint shadows beneath her eyes. She had been staying up late reading and working on her own interests, trying to find a way to perhaps escape her future marriage.
Justine sighed. “Victor will kill me for telling you this, but he’s been thinking of running away. He sees you as more than a sister, so he says, why would he want to marry you?” she paused, looking at Elizabeth, then Henry, then to Victor. “But anyways, he’s been planning a way to escape since Master and Mistress Frankenstein brought up the turning.” that was how she was always to refer to the Frankenstein parents, and she only broke that code in front of Victor, Liz, and Henry. And even then, sometimes she didn’t. “And he doesn’t want either of you to know because he feels like you’d get hurt if you came with him. But he asked me to come along.”
Liz inhaled softly. "He would leave us?" she asked, tucking her arms around herself slightly, her gaze narrowing. "I see him as a brother, and I do not want to marry him either. But to run away…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "Mother and Father would find us. Him. And the end result would not go well."
Justine looked away. "Look, I've actually been thinking… if we had a solid escape plan, we could make this work. It isn't like I have anyone but you three, Ernest is weird and William is… very much a boy. I don't think that I want to stick around much longer after the vampire blessing is placed upon you three. You'll probably kill me out of hunger soon enough, it's a surprise I've lived this long what with your parents." she sighed, and looked to the ceiling. "I don't know what to do."
"If we ran, they would find us and they would kill us." she replied, shaking her head faintly and taking a deep breath. "It would be a long, slow, deeply painful death. If we were not yet vampires, they would drain us all slowly. If we were…" she shook her head again. "Starve us, perhaps."
Justine shrugged. "I don't know. There's room here for fear, but not for cowardice. If we just-" she paused. Victor snored. Justine sat down on the edge of her bed, head in her hands. "I don't want to hurt you, any of you, but if we could just try and find out a way out of this… don't you want a better life?" she asked, suddenly standing and taking Elizabeth's hands in hers.
Elizabeth sighed softly, looking down at their intertwined hands. "This would need a lot of careful planning. We cannot just…leave." her gaze moved to Henry. "And what about you?" she asked him, knowing he had heard the conversation. "Would you come, or would you stay behind?"
Henry looked up at them, clearing his throat softly. "Uh…I don't know."
Justine scowled. "You'd have to come with, they'd pin it on you and kill us all." her ears flicked, tail now swishing in irritation. "Both of your families know that you're friends with us. Your younger brother, and Victor's, won't get hurt because of us." she said. "God! I just want us to be safe together!"
Henry scowled right back. "My parents have already lost two children, Justine." he retorted. "Unlike you, I will not flee them so fast." he crossed his arms, standing up and looking down at the two others.
Elizabeth sighed faintly.
Justine howled in frustration. "You were all taken from your families! This isn't real, Henry. You're my friend…" she let go of Liz's hands, "and I don't want you to destroy yourself for us." she turned, and faced Victor whose eyes were open wide and staring. "How much of this did you hear, Victor?" she said, tone suddenly turning much softer, almost scared. "Enough. It's fair, I would think, to say you were talking behind my back." he said, sleep still hanging onto his voice.
Henry's gaze moved to Victor as soon as he realized the other young man was awake, taking a deep breath. "Sorry, Vic." he said softly, unsure quite what he was apologizing for, but feeling like he should nontheless.
Victor shrugged, laid back. “Justine is right, you know. The sooner we get out of here, the faster we end up not vampires and cured of all the misfortune we’ve had to face. If anything, I’m leaving first chance I get.” he grumbled the last part. “You’re the only people I’ve ever loved or cared for, you three are. And I want better lives for all of you.” he said, voice incredibly gentle in a way it usually wasn’t.
(Sorry for the wait!)
"Leaving isn't going to magically fix everything." Elizabeth pointed out. "Much as we'd all like to, it won't fix everything, and we could be followed."
Victor shook his head. "I never said it was, but what choice do we have? And so what if we're followed?! Better die a human than live a monster." he pointed out. This suicidal mentality was common for Victor, however, it was especially present here.
"I would rather live as a human." she replied, shaking her head a little bit. "We aren't rushing in to anything Victor, and especially not this! I will not have you get us all killed in a half-assed, barely planned runaway scheme."
“Right, well, if you’re so smart then make a plan! It’s not like I have anything better to do than listen to you yammer on!” he growled to Liz. “Honestly, you’re such a fucking ass.”
Liz rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut the fuck up. It's a stupid idea to go running blindly into the woods without even having some kind of plan. Don't make me into the bad guy for pointing it out to you." she snapped back, crossing her arms and glaring at her brother.
Victor sighed. "Fine. Sorry." he looked to Henry. "But you agree, we need to get out of here." he murmured, looking up at the man with a strange hope and adoration in his eyes. "Please, back me up. We can't let them kill us…"