Sofia Valdez

though she wasn't looking for the others approval, it made ophelia feel better to hear that sofia thought she should for looking for what she wanted - be that a job, or a new opportunity. the blonde smiled and laughed when the other admitted she only knew scrubs, and that more wealthy women seemed to exist in opulence than men. that was probably true, however every seemingly wealthy woman ophelia got to know seemed to leave before she could unleash a plan of sorts.

"i'll just hang around high-end bars, even if i don't bag anyone for something long term they can still buy me drinks and pay for a nice evening," she replied, pushing a little hair behind her ear. "reckless spenders but, not on us,"

⌝ This time Sofia fully shrugged. "I don't really mind, it's sort of fun so long as I'm not paying their rent and that sort of thing. I enjoy it with Roman, he makes it fun, pushing the bill towards me so they see," she smiled a little in thought of it. "Besides, he still buys me things, he did a whole date night for us recently. It was cute," though she was sure Ophelia couldn't match Roman to the term 'cute.'

A labored grunt sounded from his throat as Maria Elena was settled against his lap, her little feet pressing against hip bones and lower abdomen, her hands against his chest, wriggling little fingers like inching caterpillars seeking out colored ink against skin and rubbing like she was trying to wipe the ink away, unsuccessfully. His own hands rested lightly on either side of her, supporting her wobbly position so she wouldn't sway too dangerously to one side or the other. Face to face, her expression bright and cheery, grin wide with little pearls of teeth growing in. It was impossible to look at her and not smile back, no matter how tired he was feeling, no matter how sick he felt, hers was a smile that was utterly contagious and he was so easily infected, leaning his head closer to press his lips to her rosy cheek to give her a very loud and affectionate kiss.

Then came the hat, plopped on his head, damp and dripping wet, "Ah, that's cold," shoulders rising up to his ears as the cool water dripped down the sides of his head and neck. Droplets fell onto Maria Elena's face and he wiped them away, her caterpillar fingers found their way to the chain lock necklace he always wore, she always ended up grabbing it, trying to pull the lock into her mouth. It was basically a game of tug of war now, careful not to pinch her fingers as he worked it away from her.

⌝ Watching the way the young girl's fingers tugged at his chain Sofia tried to make sure she wasn't pulling too hard on the obviously exhausted male without prematurely intervening. "Well usually you're so chipper," she responded to his sarcasm with her own having the same tone, though her own was not actually sarcasm. Mars was sort of a chipper guy, even if that wouldn't be the specific word one might use.

ophelia couldn't think of what to say in response, so simply nodded in acknowledgement. easier than saying something wrong and putting her foot in it.

"i'm sticking to the club for now," the blonde agreed. "i think i might move on in the summer, or after maybe. find something that pays a little more, or someone," ophelia wasn't opposed to the idea of a sugar daddy after all. all she needed was money, happiness was a secondary aspect after all.

⌝ "You should look for it," she nodded, if that was what Ophelia wanted anyway. "Wish I had a suggestion but I mostly know fucking scrubs. Feels like there's more wealthy women in this town than men though, so I wouldn't waste your time on boys. You'd think with fucking super powers they'd use the privilege they already have to push that fucking cash but I don't know a single dude who has more in his bank account than me. Reckless fucking spenders." Of course, Sofia was unaware of how wealthy Mars was but he wasn't on the market anyway.

He opened his eyes then, hearing little grunts from his daughter, looking over in time to see her clumsy fingers grasping the edge of the hat and tugging it awkwardly off her head, holding it up as high as she could while it trailed down, then he snorted out a chuckle when Sofia tried to hold the hat over her head in a makeshift sunshade, "Yer gonna get tired holdin' dat up. Bring her here," he gestured with his hand as he sat up more fully and then positioned himself so his back would be facing the sun and casting a shadow on anything in front of him, the intention being to have Maria Elena rest on tops of his knees and thighs which he had bent so they stuck out of the water and she could stand with her feet submerged but on his hips. "Gimme da jelly baby," waiting for Sofia to pass the toddler over or keep her for herself.

⌝ When his eyes opened, the little girls grunts and giggles drawing his attention Sofia was unsure about handing the child to him. Mars was a great dad, she wasn't worried that he'd do anything bad, more worried Marie Elena would be the one to exhaust him. Kids were so excitable, with so much energy. Still Sofia helped move the young girl in the way he had requested, getting the hat she held for the girl wet in the cold water of the blow up bath before placing it on Mars head. That might cool him.

⌝ "I don't know exactly, about twelve I think Roman said," she offered, trying to recall if Roman had said twelve as an exact or as a generalisation. "Uh...I don't know, it's all a lot. I was thinking about things, considering if I wanted to stick around and then Micah left town and it's not like an option was ripped away or anything but Roman was so good about it and I like having someone treating me good, it's different," she explained a little. "I told him I'm getting exhausted by it all though and can't take much more of shit just being wild. I stayed with him because I thought things would be easy, that there weren't any expectations. If I wanted a wild life I could have gone with Micah and it would have been a fun sort of wild but I just wanted something easy. Shit doesn't feel easy." Life didn't always go the way you wanted it to but, as she had told Roman in her distress of Micah leaving, why did she feel like she was the one suffering for his misdeeds?

He followed alongside her, a small embarrassed laugh escaping him as he mentally kicked himself for blurting out his thoughts earlier. "I mean, yeah, I kinda did. I thought about everyone, it was pretty lonely out there. Funny thing, I actually lost my phone at one point and it turns out it was under the seat in my car! I went 26 days without my phone but I still had my switch with me so I didn't get bored."

He wasn't expecting the door to open on Sofia instead, his dad's girlfriend. He thought he liked her, she was a nice person and always seemed to be in a good mood. As if everything was amusing to her. He really liked that energy, which is what pushed him into trying to spend more time together when they would be at the same event, he just didn’t know if she would want to spend some time with him randomly. It could be weird for her to suddenly be stuck with a bunch of grown kids. It was a pretty unique situation, but maybe not in this town. "I was hoping my dad would be here...I guess since he isn't I should let you go back to what you were doing…It was nice to see you!" He said with a little smile on his face.

⌝ Maybe it was a bit blind on Sofia's part but she actually thought she and Theo got on pretty well, certainly better than she did with the others. Matty was fine enough when they were both high but they had differences of opinion, and while Sofia knew Layne was trying she could tell it was still hard for the woman to see Roman with someone so different to their mother. Theo though seemed simply happy to have the chance to get to know his dad, to know his Dad was trying, and didn't seem to hold anything against her.

⌝ "No, you can wait for him if you want," she insisted as she slipped past him, throwing a large beach down over the edge of the fence for the porch leading up to the trailer, taking the steps down towards the pool simply sat up in the middle of the forest in front of the trailer itself. "He should be home from work soon, he's grabbing food, text him to grab some for you too, we can blow up one of those like lounges and sit it in the pool so you don't get your cast wet. I still have to sign it," she told him as she adjusting the hose, only having filled the pool half way.

“You’ve got a fucked step-family, Step-Mommy,” the corner of his lips turned up in a weak slanted smirk, “Make sure ya send me a Christmas card photo collage with all da new additions, maggots decoratin’ da edges instead of –,” he paused, forgetting the word, fatigue making his brain work slower than he was used to so all his natural wit felt like it was failing him.

He ended up just dismissing it, “Yanno," too tired to try and remember the word he was thinking of. He shifted again with a sigh, brought his elbows down to the bottom of the pool and propped himself up, lifting his head up from his reclined position, eyes open behind the shade of his sunglasses to look at Sofia, “Didja meet dis new kid yet?” His hand raked over his black hair, slicked back from the damp of the water, tousling it a bit so it wasn't clinging, droplets of water collecting and dripping from the ends of the longer strands of his hair.

⌝ "Pretty fucked up," she agreed, drawing her legs into the water once more and adjusting herself so she was closer to Mars, false nails reaching out to push back some of his hair in it's mixed shades, trying to hide that she was checking his temperature with the pads of her finger prints. "I'll send you one and it'll be just me, Seymour, and Nibbler, no one else will agree to pose," she joked, unsure exactly where Roman was with all of his kids.

⌝ Soft gave a gentle shake of her head, still touching his hair as she did, observing his daughter being as disinclined to the hat as Mars had likely suspected she'd be. "Nope, from what I can tell he's barely getting the kid himself so I'm a whole secondary issue that will come once he's sorted things out which I don't mind. If shit goes sideways I won't have got attached. Jelly Legs will be the only tiny one I love," Sofia insisted, taking the hat with her free hand and trying to hold it above the child's head so she still wasn't being directly hit by the sun. "Auntie Sofia only love you? Yes?"

Roman shook his head, “nah, I am sure I am long forgotten.”  It has been nearly six months since Boss Lady fired him and banned him from the club.  “You just take some up there for everyone and tell them I say hi.”  Although it would be nice to catch up and see familiar faces, Roman was trying to move past that time in his life and he knew if he went up, he would be upset he wasn’t there anymore.  

“Glad you are feeling good,” he told her as he headed over towards the table with their food to enjoy.  “Wow, well you look wonderful and your skin looks amazing.”  It really was not something Roman noticed, he often didn’t notice these little things like nails, hair and skin.  But, he wanted to compliment her and let her know he was listening about her day.  “Lyn,” he thought for a moment then nodded.  “Oh yeah, I remember Lyn.”  The man left it there, if it was the Lyn he was thinking about the two had a few hookups, but nothing beyond sex.  “What?  A job at the country club?”  There was some confusion in his tone.  “Is that something you want to do?”  It surprised him to hear it was something she was considering.  The country club did not seem like their kind ideal job, but he of course was not going to say anything negative if it meant he got to spend more time with his love.  “Um, if it is something you think you might like I will support you.  I just don’t want you to feel obligated because right now our job schedules are conflicting.”  He commented as he brought a spoonful of gumbo up to his lips.

⌝ Sofia hated that he felt as though he was forgotten and unwanted, the woman sure if she told Yashica that he was sober that Yashica would be happy to see him, to have him come by. Not that Sofia had been asked directly about him by her boss but the other dancers had and so she knew Yash would obviously want to as well. "I'll take it and tell them."

⌝ Few would have messed with Sofia a little. More than once. Fortunately the woman didn't mention it in their conversation which allowed Sofia to assume once. "I want to see you more," but as Sofia said it she wondered if Roman wanted that. His shock about it hit her firmly in the chest as an indication perhaps he did not. Even as Roman went on to say he would support her his hesitation in resolving their conflicting schedules surprised her. "If you want to be supportive say you're excited," she asserted, not nudging him because he had hot gumbo in a spoon in front of him but staring firmly at him. "You planned a whole romantic evening, just say you want to see me more too, that you know I'll make crazy good tips of dumb rich old men like I do at the club. Unless there's some reason you like going to bed without me?" Sofia questioned, ready to see if she could find a wolf willing to sniff the man's sheets and tell her if there was another woman on them - unaware there would be another scent they'd find.

it was surprising to hear that sofia was thinking of going part time and getting a day job. there was nobody else in the club that was as confident as her, in ophelia's eyes, walking around like she owned the place with the sex appeal to command it. "really?" the other woman questioned her, that surprise clear in her voice and eyes. "i think if it's what you want, go for it. you can only come back to the club if it doesn't work out," ophelia realised it felt good to hear sofia admit that she was considering part-time, especially since she was considering getting a new job to.

He couldn't fight back the eager grin as he spoke without thinking again, "I thought about you a lot when I was away y'know." As soon as he finished what he was saying he felt that he was being too obvious. "I mean - like - like a totally normal amount! Every night but I also thought about Tony every night too so... what's going on with you?"

⌝ Turning she gave Gabe a gentle nudge with her side and started to head in the direction of what smelled like burgers, surely that was where a dog would have run off to. "A totally normal amount?" she asked him, raising a brow as she glanced back at her smiling green haired friend, so much vibrancy to it. "You think about Tony and I every night? You could just text me, I'm usually up, unless you can't think about me and talk to me?"

Status: open

Compared to his usual cave dwelling anxious goblin vibe, Gabriel’s skin was glowing with his new tan, his roots were freshly dyed and the green hair sprouting from his head looked more natural than ever. The only thing about him that hadn’t changed was the worried look he wore on his face. He was wandering around, obviously looking for something, his eyes scanning his surroundings with eyes squinting against the midday sun.

⌝ "You don't need to show me what your dog looks like, Gabe," Sofia told him before taking another sip from the bending straw of her ridiculously sized water bottle. "I did not see him, sorry," she offered, pretty focused on her own stuff right now. "How did you lose him?"

He was trying to act like nothing was wrong but try was the indication that something was wrong and when he smiled at her, it probably looked as forced as it felt, a hollow action that was just a lifting of the edges of his lips, no genuine emotion behind it and just a mechanical use of facial muscles to convey a practiced expression that soon fell as quickly as it had been made. “What about his first tattoo?” Mars asked, his voice lower than usual, a bit gravelly from disuse, lacking the same vivacity that it used to have. He was exhausted. Getting up to the rooftop to relax in the pool with Sofia had taken a lot out of him and his nostrils flared from trying to temper his breathing so he didn’t look like he was struggling when he was, chest rising and falling from his heavy breath, he was just lucky that she didn’t have enhanced hearing so she couldn’t hear the way his heart was hammering against his ribcage. “Is Matty a corpse fucker?” He asked, now closing his eyes behind his sunglasses so he wasn’t squinting.