haleandhorns

[haleandhorns]

faceless series / @

[haleandhorns]

@tiffany-chiba​

Stupid Wife [3/?]

[haleandhorns]

FINS:

         it’s always a very nice surprise to see hale around. he’s seen less of her lately, albeit through no fault of her own. he could never blame anyone but himself. “hale!” he exclaims, chest puffed out in pride. this is certainly out of his comfort zone! and all things considered, fins thinks he’s having a good time. at the very least, nobody has managed to sink his mood down. “i think so,” he says, a wide grin parting his face. “i’m glad you’re here, too.”

“Good! You deserve to have some fun. Especially if you’ve been working as hard as you were last time I saw you.” Hale moves to stand beside Fins, resting her head against him. It’s strange how much a huge, shark man can bring her so much comfort. There’s something so soft about him, though. She knows she could trust him with her life. “Do you want something to drink? They’re doing some fun, Halloween themed cocktails tonight.”

[haleandhorns]

TIFFANY:

Next year, Hale repeats, teasing, and Tiffany holds her breath but then Hale says it sounds perfect, and she can breathe again. “We’ll have to find a party that’ll let goats in, but I bet he’d love to come.” 

She huffs dramatically at the notion of being more than enough for Hale – around her, Tiff finds her more dramatic, playful side comes out. “But you need something to unwrap on your birthday! And don’t say the thing!” She grins, because she knows an argument could be made for unwrapping her. In fact, that’s sort of the point that the secondary gift hinges upon: it’s skimpy enough that none of it is visible around the dress she’s wearing. “And you’re meant to be curious. The anticipation is what makes birthdays fun. Just… use your imagination in the meantime,”

Tiffany sets the tray of drinks down on a side table and begins gathering up cosmetics, which have been rather strewn about the place as she tries to gather everything together. “Are you doing much makeup? I feel like you could look so beautiful as a bare faced angel. That’s…” Tiffany hesitates, because she’s always really shy about saying intimate things. But she’s really trying to be more open, and say the things she thinks. “That’s always when I think you look the most beautiful. When we just wake up and you’ve got no makeup and you’re all sleepy and soft.”

Dammit! She really wants to say the thing. Tiffany knows her too well. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I wasn’t going to say anything,” Hale lies. The smirk tugging at the corner of her lips betrays her, though. She can’t help that she finds the other woman irresistibly charming and beautiful. It’s more than just a sexual attraction, though — she finds herself wanting to be close to Tiff, even if it’s just to rest a hand against the small of her back, or have their legs touching as they sit on the couch watching trashy TV shows. “I can’t believe you’re edging me with my own birthday present,” she laughs. Biting down on her lower lip, she playfully rolls her eyes. “You know what my imagination is like, but alright. For you, I’ll wait until later. I know it’ll be more than worth it.”

Leaning against the doorframe, she watches as Tiff gathers up her makeup. She smiles at the compliment, her heart racing when she hears the second half of it. At first, Hale doesn’t know what to say. Nobody has ever said something so sweet and sincere to her before. “So that’s why I get so many morning kisses,” she finally says, a bright grin lighting up her face. “I’m only going to be wearing eye makeup to make my eyes pop.” She closes the distance between them, pressing her palm against Tiff’s chest. “Take a seat, gorgeous,” she says, gently pushing her down onto the couch. “I think the same about you, by the way. Did you know you have just over four hundred freckles?” she asks, kneeling down in front of her and grabbing the eyeliner.

[haleandhorns]

[haleandhorns]

closed starter // @ascrowesfly​

“Hey, Levi.” Seeing him feels like a knife to the gut. She knows Levi is Samson’s close friend, and he’s all she can think about when she looks at him. Her big brother had never missed any of her birthdays until now. It hurts. “I like your costume,” she says, trying her best to sound upbeat. “Your face looks really good. Did you do it yourself?”

[haleandhorns]

TIFFANY:

“That could be our costume next year! You be the sexy firefighter and I’ll be the soot covered victim you just heroically saved.” Tiff flushes, hoping it’s not weird to talk about next year because that’s a long time away.

The shots are sweet, and Tiffany doesn’t usually have a huge sweet tooth, but they feel right for the moment and she’s glad Hale likes them. Sidling closer to Hale, she reaches out a thumb to gently wipe a little frosting that had gotten smeared across Hale’s lower lip. “This isn’t your gift! That’d be so lame. You do have a proper gift, but I want to give it to you at the party. I…” Tiff hesitates, biting her lip. “I made it, so it’s not perfect, but I really hope you like it. And if you don’t, there’s a super secret second present but I can’t show you that till after the party, or else you’ll not want to go.”

"Next year, huh?” Hale asks. Her tone is teasing but her smile is genuine. Knowing that Tiff is thinking that far ahead fills her chest with a blossoming warmth. “Sounds perfect to me, sunshine. We should definitely do Velma and Daphne one year! We can even dress Vinnie up as Scrappy. He’s a little on the small side to be Scooby.”

Hale glances down as she feels Tiff’s thumb swipe over her lower lip. Her immediate thought is to wrap her lips around it, but she knows they’ll never leave the apartment if she does. Her mind is quickly cleared of inappropriate thoughts when Tiff insults herself, though. “It wouldn’t be lame at all. I’d be more than satisfied with having you and nothing else.” Hale takes the tray from Tiff, carefully setting it down on the coffee table. Holding the other woman’s face in her hands, she shakes her head. “You’re being very hard on my girlfriend, please be nicer. Knowing that you made it is enough for me to know I’ll think it’s perfect. You could give me a rock you found on the ground and I’d keep it forever, so you shouldn’t worry.” She kisses Tiff’s forehead, eyebrow raising at the mention of Hale not wanting to go the party if she knew about the second gift. “Oh, that’s just unfair, babe. Now I’m going to be curious all night.”

[haleandhorns]

EMMELINE​:

      emmeline’s eyes widened as she recognised the familiar face, the one that caused her to cry over the metaphor of the fish in the pond. “oh my goodness, you look marvellous.” she grinned, an extreme contrast to how she had been in their first encounter - emmeline couldn’t remember a name, wasn’t even sure if she heard one, but she remembered fish-pond-person’s kindness. “and it’s your birthday?” her tone was slightly higher pitched. “well, i have to get you a drink, it would only be rude of me.” she placed her hand on the other’s arm.

@haleandhorns​

“Thank you! My girlfriend and I thought it’d be fun to swap roles for the evening. I’m an angel and she’s around here somewhere as the devil. Your costume is cool, too,” Hale says, offering the woman a smile. She vaguely remembers that day they’d first met, and is glad to see that she looks much better now. Her aura still gives off a feeling of sadness, but not as strongly. Maybe things were improving for her, despite the other being so sure that they wouldn’t when they last chatted. “It is! I turned 28 today. A drink would be great, but please don’t feel like you have to.” 

[haleandhorns]

closed starter // @thalassofins​

“Fins! Hey, big guy!” Hale grins, staring up at him. She didn’t think that a public Halloween party would be his thing, but she’s glad that he’s putting himself out there more. “I didn’t expect to see you here! Are you having a good time?”

[haleandhorns]

TIFFANY​:

“Hey, birthday Hale,” Tiff announces her return from the kitchen, nudging the door open with her hip as she’s got a tray in her hand. She’s already partially in costume (the dress and heels), and not feeling terribly confident because it’s a sexy costume and Tiffany doesn’t really dress sexy, but she’s excited anyway because the party should be really fun. Like, statistically there’s got to be zero chance they’ll get taken hostage and almost disembowelled again.

For now she’s pretty steady on her feet, despite the heels. Holding the tray out triumphantly, there’s a little collection of shot glasses each filled with pink liquid (cake flavoured vodka, Baileys, and chocolate liqueur tinted with food colouring), and rimmed with frosting and sprinkles. “I made birthday cake shots, but I couldn’t figure out a way to get candles in them. But I hope you can keep a steady hand when you’ve had a drink because I’ll need your help doing my makeup.” @haleandhorns​

“Birthday cake shots? I don’t think I’ve had those before,” Hale says, giving Tiff a warm smile. She thinks that her girlfriend might be more excited about her birthday than she is — not that she minds. Knowing that someone cares about her enough to want to make her birthday as wonderful as possible makes her love Tiff even more. Taking one of the shots from the tray, she nods. “It’s probably for the best you couldn’t. Alcohol and fire have a rocky relationship, and I don’t have a sexy firefighter costume,” Hale teases.

Bringing the glass to her lips, she downs the shot. The taste of liquor and sickly sweet frosting is heavy on her tongue, but it tastes far better than some of the drinks she’s had at the Veil. “Thank you, baby. This is really cute of you.” Leaning in, she presses a quick kiss to Tiff’s lips. “I promise I won’t fuck up your makeup,” she laughs. “But even if I did, you’d still look hotter than Hell in that dress,” she grins. Hale has silently contemplated blowing off the Satanic Soiree several times since Tiff had changed into her costume. “Best gift I’ve ever gotten.”

[haleandhorns]

HALE IS DRESSED AS AN ANGEL AT THE SATANIC SOIREE.

With the help of her girlfriend, feather wings were secured over her normal ones with comfortable elastic. Her nails have religious art angels painted on them. 

Not pictured is a Birthday Girl badge; it’s fastened to her bra strap. She’s also wearing a flower crown that Tiffany made for her as a halo. 

[haleandhorns]

my dna test came back it says i’m a good girl and deserve lots of kisses

[haleandhorns]

@tiffany-chiba

[haleandhorns]

JACK​:

         it’s a little strange to hear that nobody has passed on the information, particularly knowing how close she and samson are, but jack doesn’t question it. these have been a difficult few months. finding one person that hasn’t been stretched thin would have been impossible. “i got a better deal from a different club. a little more exclusive.” a little easier to manage not being a spectacle. “have you thought about looking for other work?”

“I’m not very well suited for other lines of work. Working at the Veil means I get to feed and... sate my other appetite at the same time.” Hale wishes she could have a normal job and live a normal life, but that will never be on the cards for her. “I don’t think my boss would be too pleased if I started sucking the life force out of my co-workers. Here? Nobody gives a fuck. That’s why I’ve been at the Veil for almost 10 years.”

[haleandhorns]

TIFFANY:

She doesn’t know how Hale does it: expresses herself so openly, so readily. Often Tiff feels guilty, because Hale is always ready to say how important Tiff is to her, but Tiff struggles to say the same. She can say it back when Hale says it first, but then it starts to feel stale, like she ought to be the one to initiate it once in a while. She tries to show it in other ways: sneaking out of bed before Hale wakes up so she can make coffee and bring it to Hale in bed, or making food for her while she recovered from the ordeal in the underground (she’s not a good cook but she can do good comfort food: miso soup, and okayu), giving her massages when she comes back from work and is exhausted.

But she needs to try and be better with her words, too. Hale says Tiff means a lot to her, and Tiffany nods, biting her lip shyly and looking up through her fringe (which is, as always, a frizzy mess sticking in several directions at once).

Her breath catches when she sees the box Hale pulls out. “That’s a jewellery box,” she gasps, although she immediately feels foolish for it. It might not even be jewellery inside! It’s just, nobody’s ever given her any jewellery before – it’s sort of overwhelming, thinking that Hale feels strongly enough about her that she’d buy jewellery. “I… I didn’t get you anything! I should’ve… I’m sorry–” She’s excited about the gift; guilty that she feels so thoughtless, because she doesn’t treat Hale as warmly as Hale treats her. She wants to, so badly, but she gets so shy and anxious about demonstrations of her emotion.

"Yes, it is,” Hale confirms, followed by a breathy laugh. She shakes her head, gives Tiff’s hand a reassuring, gentle squeeze. “You don’t have to get me anything. I bought this for you because I wanted to, not because I wanted a gift in return.” Her love language has always been gift giving, along with physical touch, and she gives Tiff plenty of the latter. The necklace is a tangible declaration of love and affection. It’s more than words and lazy morning kisses — it’s something her girlfriend can hold onto and look at whenever Hale isn’t around. Something that will remind her how much she means to someone whenever she looks down, or in the mirror.

She brings Tiff’s hand to her lips, pressing a sweet kiss to the back of it. “I’m going to show it to you, then you can decide if you want it or not. How does that sound?” She’d love it if Tiff could be more open with her feelings, but she’ll never push her into it. What they currently have is enough for her. More than enough, actually. Were there people out there who would worship the ground Hale walks on and shower her with endless displays of affection? Yes, of course; but she doesn’t want that. She wants something real — a love that blossoms and grows stronger over the months and years. Tiff is giving that to her. There’s no honeymoon period that lasts a few months before everything turns stale. Every moment they spend together means something to them. They cherish each other.

Her hands tremble ever so slightly as she opens the jewellery box. Hale had never struggled with anxiety and being nervous around someone until she met Tiff. It’s not the nicest feeling in the world, but she doesn’t mind it. Inside the box there’s a thin, silver chain threaded through a small, diamond key pendant. “Ever since we met, you’ve pretty much been the key to everything for me — to my happiness, unlocking my true powers, contentment, my heart. I’ve met hundreds of people over the years, but none of them have ever come close to making me feel like you do. You’re special, Tiff. Really special.”

[haleandhorns]

[haleandhorns]