punctum

Eve would never say it quite like this, but ... she’d definitely been a little bit of a horse girl as a tween. Growing up in South Carolina, there had been no SHORTAGE of competitive horse riding and people who were involved in it. Of course, she’d never been at that level –– it had been more of a hobby than anything. It started when her parents took her riding horseback for the first time at eleven –– she quickly fell in love with it then and there. And to her luck, her parents had been friends with someone who owned a ranch with plenty of horses, so she had the privilege of getting to come help with tasks in their care and even take them for rides. 

Though after two years or so she grew more disinterested in it, picking up other hobbies and crafts, there always remained a great love for horses deep in her heart. That was why, as successful as the gallery was and the amount of money she made now, some of her charitable donations went to a little horse rescue here in London that worked with neglected and abused horses. Though of course she donated to other, humanitarian causes, this was one that was definitely SPECIAL to the gallerist. 

Often, she visited the rescue, spending some time with the horses and trainers as rehabilitative work was done. Today was one of those particular days, and dressed in clothing much DIFFERENT from her usual office attire ( jeans and flannel, with boots, not heels ), she entered the front office of the place, garnering permission to head out back to check things out. There were a few horses being taken care of by trainers, and Eve waved just as one of them looked in her direction. “Hey!” she greeted Bella, a friendly smile on her face. She waited for the clear to approach, though was still very cautious not to do anything to alarm the creature. “Who’s this guy?” She appraised the horse with warm eyes. “I don’t think I saw him here last time. Is he new?”

“Yeah, that’s one of the few downsides of living in the capital of the country, isn’t it?” Avery huffed, sitting up a bit further when she saw her sister approaching the couch with some snacks. “Ohhh, you truly know me, sis,” she laughed, immediately reaching out to grab herself a few peanuts from the plate when Rayna sat down. When Rayna started talking about Zira and how her stay was going, a smile tugged at Avery’s features. “I’m happy to hear that! Honestly, Ray, you deserve to be happy.” And it seemed like Rayna was truly happy from the way her eyes sparkled when talking about her girlfriend, causing Avery’s smile to brighten a bit more. “So… you just jumped straight back into it, did you?” she asked slightly teasingly, her smile turning into a somewhat mischievous smirk. “Do I get to meet her this week or do I have to wait until you guys figure out how to do this in the long run?” She paused. “I mean… wait, are you thinking long-term with her?”

Rayna couldn’t help the slightest smile at Avery’s ENTHUSIASM for the snack plate –– she always stocked up on Avery’s favourites, just in case she came round. Often she could finish a plate off on her own, which is why she’d filled this one up with things to munch on. “’Course I do,” she agreed heartily, leaning back comfortably. Her eyes warmed at Avery’s support, a slight pink hue coming to her cheeks. “Thank you –– I do feel happy. Happier than I’ve been in a while.” HAPPINESS wasn’t always as easy to come by before Zira. Often it had felt as if Rayna was just going through the motions and that nothing would ever change –– she convinced herself that that was all right, and being a workaholic for the rest of her life would do. But now that she’d tasted certain joy with Zira, she thought she’d like things to finally change. 

At her half-sister’s suggestive question, Rayna rolled her eyes. "Don’t be gross,” she chastised lightly, reaching for some peanuts herself. “Well, I hadn’t asked her yet if she’d like to meet my family ... I did think I’d like her to meet you first, though, when I do mention it." She’d wanted to give Zira some time to settle in first, but, really, was there any use in putting it off much longer? Because, well ... she really was beginning to think of something long-term. “But ... yes. I am. If that’s something she also wants, I mean.” She TOYED with the peanuts in her hand, finally meeting her sister’s gaze to see how she’d react to the reply. In truth, her half-sister was one of the very, very few people in the world whose opinion mattered very much to Rayna. So getting a negative reaction would like be a bit disheartening, even if Rayna often tried not to take other people’s opinions much to heart. 

Hera scoffed, “Maybe she should take a few lessons.” If this had been before, she could have even recommended a few. The moment she spotted that all too familiar glint in Rayna’s eyes, her mood dropped a little. It wasn’t hard to guess what question was going to come next. She shrugged. “Fine. Been spending most of my time outside. I can do that now.” A surface level answer. However she was sure the other knew that was all she was going to get on a first go. Rayna was her person, even if she had difficulty saying it. Despite that though, feelings still weren’t something she was good at going into. Prison hadn’t exactly helped with that.

“Sorry –– stupid question. Don’t know why I asked, I’m never really keen to answer more than superficially myself,” Rayna scoffed at herself. “Guess I just thought a good friend would ask, and, WELL ... I’m trying to make up for how absent I’ve been.” It was more honesty than Rayna often allowed herself to admit aloud, but with Hera –– well, it was safe to say the two had let each other know more about the other than they perhaps did with most people. She didn’t have to keep some of her more honest thoughts to herself all the time around Hera. 

Tonight was a special night for Eve –– or at least, she had done everything in her POWER to make it so for both her and Emory. Lately she’d been hard at work organizing a new exhibition at the gallery, spending weeks reaching out to artists, ensuring proper marketing and advertising strategies were in the works, and all else that needed to be done for it to all come together in just a week’s time from now. It was a very, very important exhibition –– and it had been inspired by the very woman she called her girlfriend, though she hadn’t indulged any of the details to Emory yet because it was meant to be a SURPRISE. Emory herself had also been hard at work lately, spending some late nights cooped up in her office working on cases. 

Needless to say, it had been a MOMENT since the two had been able to have a nice, proper date night –– but Eve had finally worked out an evening with Emory and made all the arrangements. She’d purchased tickets to a play that the lawyer had mentioned a few times in Eve’s presence, as well as making a dinner reservation for after the show. The gallerist was very excited to get to spend dedicated time with Emory tonight –– where once she was just fine blowing off spending time with people for work, nowadays ... she found that Emory was often on her mind when she was busy in the office, and nothing would make her happier than to finish for the day and go straight to see her. 

After dressing herself up a little nicer than her usual sophisticated office garb, Eve took a taxi to Emory’s and, once in the building, knocked CHEERILY on the woman’s front door. “Your favourite person in the whole wide world is here,” she announced through the closed door with a big grin on her face, purposely looking up at the peephole so Emory could see her smile.

In all reality, Brady’s morning hadn’t been all that terrible. It was simply her own generally frenetic nature that had her worked up about the morning. Her head tilted towards the other woman with a half quirked smile, shoulders arching upwards softly. “Kinda. I guess. I uh - I’m just running real late and there’s no food in the house? And I can’t find my keys, so I can’t lock my house…” she explained, head dropping down as she sighed. Talking it through like that made it seem a lot less of a big deal than she’d felt as she ran out the door. “I think…mostly I’m just hungry.” Brady deflated slightly then, relaxing into the seat as she let herself breathe for a moment. Even if there was traffic, she would likely make it to the office with enough time to grab something out of the kitchen before stumbling into her meeting and she just had to remind herself of that fact. “Where are you headed? We can like…drop you off first.”

Eve pressed her lips together with SYMPATHY at the slight misfortunes the woman had had that morning. “We’ve all been there,” she shrugged her shoulders gently. “Could be worse. Your shirt’s not on inside out, and you’ve got the same shoes on both feet. And before you say that no one could do something as stupid as wear two different shoes ... well, you’ve met someone who HAS.” To be fair, the pair of black heels Eve had once mixed up looked very similar, and she’d been a little hungover from the night before. Still, she was amused by the memory.

                             ❛ Nice to meet you, Morgan. ❜ Normally people would introduce themselves when they say their names but Chloe didn’t say anything about her name and she walked by the other’s side. Something about this brunette smelled like trouble, which is funny. Chloe isn’t the sweetest flower either. Troubles always find a way to get on Chloe’s path. ❛ What do you do, Morgan? Do you have a band or something? ❜ The brunette did look like she has a band rock or something. But she’s not judging a book by its cover… This is why conversation is made for.

There was no introduction made in return, but Morgan made no comment on that. Some people didn’t want to be known. Morgan frankly didn’t often care enough to try to know anyway –– unless, of course, it was someone she wanted to expose. When asked what she does and before she can even reply, the blonde asks if she’s in a BAND. Morgan can’t help the chuckle that somewhat violently rips past her lips at this –– what a fucking oddball of a human. 

“It does feel like a dream!” she said, the happiness practically radiating from the smile on her features. God, she had counted the days until she would see this amazing woman again and now the time had finally come. And what made it even better was the fact that Zira knew she would soon not have to leave the other woman anymore. But Rayna was right. Zira was tired of airports, all she wanted now was to savor every minute she had with the other. “Shower sounds great actually,” she said, stretching her neck. “Sitting in an airplane for an entire day is not really the best way to spend your time.” She quickly responded to the peck, watching the other take the handle of her suitcase. “Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she said if only to be polite. The truth was, she appreciated it. My love. Those words lingered in Zira’s mind and there was a certain warmth that immediately spread in her chest. Maybe they were just casual words spoken, but that didn’t take away from the effect it had on the Mexican. “Oh, I doubt you could be anything but the best hostess.”

The Heathrow Express train seemed to be a blessing, quickly getting them into the center of the city. It took them less than an hour to reach Rayna’s place, much to Zira’s relief. While she had tried to prepare herself for the jetlag, the adrenaline and excitement had kept her mostly awake, but now she could slowly feel the exhaustion setting in. “God, I can’t believe it’s this early here, it’s probably about… 4am in LA right now,” she commented as Rayna opened the door to her place. It was a nice area, from what Zira could tell despite her tiredness. And the woman’s home itself was just completely her – one hundred percent Rayna. “It’s so nice here.” Zira let the other woman lead her through her home, a happy smile on her face despite the exhaustion that was slowly settling in. 

“It’s a long journey here from the states, I know,” Rayna sighed, though there was a grateful smile on her face. “But I appreciate that you made it. I promise I’ll make it worth it.” Already dragging the suitcase, she shook her head as if it were nothing. “YES, I do. You’ll not have to lift a finger for the rest of the day.” There was a humorous, sincere glimmer to her eyes as she spoke. She’d do anything in the world for Zira –– that included a long-distance relationship, something she had never before approved of. Now that she had found someone she could say she truly LOVED, she understood why people did it. “Why, thank you.” Rayna put a hand over her heart as if fully flattered by the reply, turning to grin at the other. Already she felt a change had come over her having Zira near her again –– she felt light-hearted, playful, and above all, so happy that nothing could bring her down. 

Pulling her key out of the door to push it open and let Zira in first, Rayna pulled the woman’s suitcase along as she came in behind the other woman and closed the door again. “Jet lag is nasty, I know. But don’t worry, you can sleep as long as you like and you just tell me when you want to get out and explore.” She followed the woman further into Rayna’s nice home, letting her look it over. “Thank you, darling. While you’re here, consider it your home too.” She wanted Zira to feel as COMFORTABLE as possible and feel she could live in the place alongside Rayna without any apprehension. After all ... Rayna would have liked if such a thing could become permanent. Placing a light hand on Zira’s lower back, she guided her towards the master bedroom, where she could shower in the attached bathroom. “It’s simple, I know,” she commented while glancing around at her own room’s decor, which was rather minimalistic and pragmatic. “But it’s comfortable, and that’s all I care about.” Setting the woman’s suitcase to the side near the bed, she STOPPED, sliding her hands in the back pockets of her trousers. “There’s fresh towels in the bathroom and all sorts of products in the shower.” She then walked forward to kiss Zira softly, sighing a little in contentment. “I’m happy you’re here.”

“Lord, I’m so done with constantly having to move out of the way for tourists who end up taking pictures in the middle of the road.” Long day? One could say that. Not only had she had a session with a client who tried telling her what _she’d_ done wrong, but the delays on public transport were also a nightmare today. Letting herself flop on her sister’s couch, she groaned. “Please tell me you have some good news. I could use some right now.”

@pvnctum  //  rayna  //  closed.

Some days, Brady wasn’t even sure how she managed to keep herself alive. After waking up and realizing she had no food in the house, thirty minutes before her first meeting of the day, and a lost pair of keys, Brady knew it was just going to be one of those days. Were it not for the fact that she was hungry, she likely would have called off the meeting and just stayed in bed, but food was a sound motivator for Brady. Rushing out of the house with her hair a mess and various things halfway falling out of her bag, Brady jogged across the street to hop into the first cab she could find. Uber and any other ride apps were a no for Brady, who trusted them very little. Not, of course, that a cab was really any better, but the established history of them made her feel slightly more secure with her decision. Tossing her stuff into the cab and vaulting in, Brady looked up with a groan when she realized that someone had just started to get in from the other side. “Fuck. I’ll pay the fee if we can share it. I’m like. Mad late right now,” she pleaded with the other person, her eyes imploring them to cut her a break on a morning that just wasn’t going her way.

Luckily for this rushed stranger, Eve always gave herself a good head start while heading to work. She didn’t like to be late to anything, not even by a few minutes –– and her desire to be prompt, plus some pity for the HAPHAZARD state of the woman made her decide to go with it. "Fine by me,” Eve agreed as she slid into the seat with ease, buckling up and setting her designer purse pertly on her lap. She glanced over at the other passenger a bit sideways. “You look like you’ve already been through it,” she couldn’t help but remark. It was pretty early in the day, but bad luck always struck at the most inopportune moments ( which was usually when one was rushing to work ). Who knew what she’d already been through before getting into this cab.

Blue eyes flicked up, hand raising to tuck a strand of hair behind her head as she took in the rosary that Rayna had in her hands. A small chuckle left her lips when the other woman commented that she was skeptical if it had really been blessed by the Pope. “I wouldn’t know what do with it.” She admitted honestly. Tegan wasn’t a religious person, even though her mother had been. “You could just keep it for…decoration or something?” 

“I dunno, I feel like my homosexual tendencies might cause the thing to go up in flames,” Rayna clicked her tongue, wrapping the thing up in her hands to stow away. “Last thing I need is to set my place alight.” She tutted. “Well, suppose I’ll just keep it for any of my more religious clients –– might make them more inclined to trust me.” Rayna chuckled. 

Celeste wrinkled her nose. “No thanks. I haven’t been to church in years.” She’d been raised Catholic, but had stopped following the religion after moving to the UK. Largely because she didn’t agree with the church’s stance on homosexuality. “Did she specify which pope? Its not like there’s only ever been one” she joked.’

“THAT, we have in common.” Rayna bunched up the necklace and slid it in her pocket –– she’d pass it on to someone else later. “I imagine the current pope, but who knows? You’d think she’d have charged for one blessed by a deceased Pope –– the value would be much higher, I’d think.”

                   ❛ Maybe get another ice cream, as normal people do?! Or could I save the credit for any time? ❜ That was a good idea if she knew the woman before her. But since she doesn’t know her, perhaps the first options sound great. Chloe licked her ice cream from the cone and forcing an awkward smile.                          ❛ Do you have a name? ❜

Morgan nodded, eyes flickering to the ice cream cone –– “Okay, then. Ice cream it is.” At the idea of a credit, Morgan’s lips curved into the smallest smirk and she licked her lower lip. “I don’t really see our paths crossing again, so cashing it out now is probably your BEST bet.” She definitely wouldn’t go out of her way later to pay her back later –– she tended to avoid indebting herself to others to avoid having to be inconvenienced in that way. “Morgan,” she said in simple reply to the question, eyes trained ahead to watch where she walked. 

A New York accent was an odd thing to focus on, but Natalia wouldn’t fault. It was nice to meet someone from the old neighborhood. “Yeah, Bronx. Fordham, born and raised,” she replied, tossing the item back. It wasn’t a wallet, just a soup can. “You sound like you come from there, too.”

She turned her cellphone flashlight on to get a better look before it rested on the woman’s companion. At times like this, she was thankful she had given up the bar scene. “You’re in better shape than him, at least.” Finally, she spotted something black and held it up. “Is this it?”

“Close,” Morgan replied, her earliest memories of New York flickering behind her eyes. “Inwood, east side. But we moved to the Upper West Side when I was eleven.” Though to any New Yorker it would have sounded like a success story, going from poor to upscale, Morgan would give ANYTHING in the world to turn back time and make sure Jonas had never dragged her and her mother out of Inwood. Glancing at the passed out male as the flashlight shone on him, Morgan grimaced. “No idea why they tossed him out with me –– he wasn’t even in the fight.” 

He probably hadn’t had the money and they’d just decided to get rid of him when the opportunity presented itself in kicking Morgan out for starting a scuffle. She turned a quick hawkeye back on the brunette, however, as the woman held up something in her fingers –– the most inaudible breath of RELIEF escaped her. “That’s it, yeah.” She took it and put it in her pocket, zipping it up for extra safekeeping. “Uh, thanks. For digging through all this shit to help me find it.” She licked her lips before chewing on the bottom one, not sure how else to thank the stranger.