#ileviathan

        ❛   i don’t know . . . things have been pretty weird lately.    ❜    hair is smoothed from her flushed face, tucked precariously behind her ears. and she’s thinking, it’s unbearably warm today and the temperature would only climb, knowing bon temps as well as she does now.    ❛    as in, scary weird. just last week, there was a woman found in the back of a car with her heart cut out. can y’believe it - i mean, who would do somethin’ like that?    ❜

She strolls at a leisurely pace, damned well aware that some jack-off’s been trailing her ever since she left the damn gas-station. Tulip O’Hare utters a world-weary s i g h as she flicks her cigarette to the ground, stamps it out with her boot. The small woman whips around, brows already lifted in what’s bound to be sass. 

▛  ⚜  ▜

The press of fingers into her shoulders draws a quiet whimper from her, head spinning with more questions than answers. Her usual sureness of self has been worn down TREMENDOUSLY and green eyes stare warily upward, searching for any bit of humanity within her captors. 

Was this punishment for all the awful things she’d done while running the streets? Her father might think so; chalking it up to divine retribution or some shit like that. 

“Por favor, please-- I- I’m tired. I can’t take much more of this.” 

PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE was never something she was built to endure, as strong willed as she was the line was thin and stressed between sanity and breaking point. 

        ❛    … you do?    ❜    voice uncertain, quieter than normal. worried than he may think as the rest, too paranoid for her own good after her grandmother’s violent passing.     ❛    so you’ll wait for me then? i know it’s a lot to ask since i don’t get off ‘til twelve, but … it’d mean a lot t’me.    ❜

        ❛    i guess i just don’t wanna be alone tonight.     ❜

        a hug + kiss combo !

         he’s a gentleman, if she’s ever known one. holds open doors and pulls out seats, takes her hands when she needs help, talks with her and actually looks her in the eyes when he does. it seems as if she’s the one talking most of the time between them, and he’s only watching and listening to her ( in the future, it’ll take some time for her to realize she knows next to nothing about him and he knows close to everything about her ). pointedly, she’s been going out of her way to keep out of his head, to just keep a steady gaze with his and hope it won’t trail. 

         she’s been doing pretty alright so far. that’s why for tonight, she feels as if he deserves a reward.

         a quiet thank you for walking her home and for treating her to such a fine night. at first, it was simply supposed to be a squeeze to his hand, and then, she lingers for far too long and before she knows it, she’s taking him into her arms. he’s warm, ear rests flat to his chest - just below his skin, past his ribcage, she can hear his heartbeat. for a moment, the blonde thinks of just staying there, in his embrace. but his fingers trail beneath the curtain of her hair, up her back and to the blush-warmed skin of her nape. unsure of just who kisses who first, she pays no mind, because his mouth is soft and sure and she’s pliant beneath him. 

         gentle and open is the only way she knows how to be, her kiss is no different. 

        ❛    ain’t everybody ‘fraid of somethin’?    ❜     she’s avoiding the question, because there’s many things she could list off. you know, stuff that give the kinds of people nightmares, but she’s stared each and every one in the face and never even flinched.    ❛    what kind of question is that to ask a lady, hm?    ❜    teasing in her voice as she turns to face him ( always keeping her eyes to him ), a stray lock of wheat-blonde hair catches to her cheek. 

        they’re sitting awfully close together, shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh. she cannot help it, her chin lifts at the sound of his voice.    ❛     is that what you think? what’s there not to be happy about?    ❜    subtly, eyebrows lift - as if demanding an answer from him in a way. but there is plenty ( she knows that, she isn’t as stupid as others think her to be ).    ❛    maybe y’just make assumptions about me that ain’t right.    ❜