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[thaliaxtorres]

wolfsonged​

         raul draws his lips into a thin line, hands placed at the creases of his hips. he wants to be able to say something helpful, something that could be useful for the situation at hand… but he just doesn’t know what to do. there’s no chance that thalia is going to give up her night work, and he doesn’t think there’s anything he can do to dissuade this horrible ex-boyfriend of hers to stay away. not without straying from his own principles, that is. but if she can’t kill him, there’s not much hope that he could do any better. he could at least make the journey out of town hurt, though! “i appreciate that you’re being honest,” he says at last, genuinely. “but if it is possible, please, stay away from him. if he’s anything like you’re saying, he’s going to use that against you. your sense of justice. if there’s nothing you can do to get rid of him…” he trails off, knowing that his words are going to fall on deaf ears. “please be safe. please.”

It goes without saying that Thalia has never known how to back down from a fight. Its what makes her good at her moonlighting job, she’s always ready to stand toe to toe with someone without hesitation. But, when it came to Ezra, it was a fight she couldn’t win, and both of them knew that. Still, Raul was worried. And, she didn’t like to worry him. His lips thinned out into a line and hands on his hips, with his shoulders raised made her know this was going to be a continuous fight if she did anything but agree to avoid him. Still, she couldn’t lie. That would be a bigger crime somehow than going against her word. “I won’t... I’m not going to seek him out intentionally. And, I will try not to let him get the best of me if we cross paths again. I’ll be safe.” Whether or not he believes it is his problem. Though, Thalia’s not entirely sure she’d believe herself either.

[thaliaxtorres]

wolfsonged​

         it’s perfectly understandable for her to lash out, he thinks—she’s so used to caring for herself that letting anyone else in must feel too vulnerable. still, he does appreciate that she’s told him, even if his concern is at an all time high. even if this freakish ex-boyfriend of hers isn’t a direct threat ( physically, anyway ) raul can’t help but feel that anyone with that kind of bizarre, fucked up attitude is not safe to be around. especially not if he’s egging her on to being violent! raul supports her, but vigilante justice is dangerous work and he fears for the day it comes back to bite her. hopefully it won’t. but he worries all the same. “i’m glad you’re unharmed. he doesn’t… know where you live, does he? or where you work, or—” he cuts off, sighing. “i’m sorry, i don’t mean to be a worry wort. but i don’t like the sound of this guy.”

Thalia sits at this point, arms slung across her knees, as she processes the questions spilling out of Raul’s mouth. It’s too much to think about standing. It’s too much to think about at all. Thalia knows that if and when Ezra wants to find her, it won’t be much of a challenge. Raul stops himself before she can stop him, and a wet and embittered laugh is all she can manage at that. “Welcome to the fucking club.” She looks up at him, eyes red rimmed, but tears withheld for now. “I want to give you some sort of good news that... you know, he didn’t see my face. Or, it was some little fling, and he couldn’t pick me out of a line-up. But, I’d be lying to you, and I know how much you hate that. But, damnit Raul, he’s my fucking white whale. I don’t know what it is about him, but something about him just makes me—” She cuts herself off, hands shooting up and shaking in some silent imagery of rage. “He makes me lose my mind. I can’t keep a clear head the minute I see him.”

[thaliaxtorres]

wolfsonged​

         fear unfurls in his chest like rot on old wood, threatening to break him down from the foundations up. surprise, i dated a murderous mutant with a god concept. if there’s ever a time he would want her to lie… no, it’s not with this. as horrible as it is to learn, raul is grateful that she trusts him with the information. “oh my god, thalia.” he doesn’t want to do the anguished, terrified father figure song and dance, but it just comes too easily to him. “he didn’t hurt you, did he? are you safe?” it’s not as if she can’t take care of herself—raul assumes she really did beat on him, given that she doesn’t seem injured—but being capable and being safe are two very different things.

“I’m fine.” The bite of her words is enough t make herself flinch at the harshness. Raul cares. That’s just what he does. She has more of a connection to him than she does her own Father some days, so of course he’s acting like this. Thalia can’t fault him, but it’s in her nature to bite the hand that reaches out to pat her on the head. Still, for Raul’s sake, she takes a deep breath and starts again. “I’m fine. He has some obnoxious obsession with knowing that I want to kill him and can’t. He likes seeing me lose it on him. It’s weird and sadistic, and borderline psychopathic. But, if he wanted to kill me, he would have done it then and there.” Not exactly the most comforting thing she could say, but why sugarcoat it now?

[thaliaxtorres]

drusillatitova​

“I know, right?” Drusilla replies, smiling before taking a swig of her beer (alcohol doesn’t affect her, it’s a habit she’s picked up to seem more human). “I wouldn’t usually come to a bar like this, but I met a really beautiful woman, and I’m trying to impress her by beating her at pinball.” It’s all for show, of course. She has no need to impress Thalia, other than the fact she’s actually interested in her. If she just wanted to drink her blood, she’d compel her then let her go. Moving closer to her date, she wraps an arm around her waist and kisses her cheek. “Thanks for not standing me up. What can I get you to drink? You look… delectable, by the way.”

Thalia twisted up her face in some form of remorse, as she tossed her hands up. “That’s a shame, because I know of a beautiful woman who likes a challenge, but hates to lose. You might have a hard time beating her.” How did a person even win at pinball? Thalia wasn’t sure, but she was going to put on a real show of trying to win anyway. The act is melted away fairly quickly as Dru pulls her for a moment. “Stand you up? Never. I’ll just take a beer, you don’t need to see me get sloppy yet. I want to keep looking delectable to you.”

[thaliaxtorres]

wolfsonged​

        of all the things he could have expected thalia to be upset about, well… that’s probably one of the most normal reasons she could have given. an ex. he can imagine that’s not a pleasant surprise, either. “no, you haven’t,” he says, stepping closer to where she stood. “not amicable, was it?” more than evident, if she’s scarring her knuckles about it on the rooftop. “were they involved? in what you were… out doing?”

“Hardly,” Thalia barks a laugh at the thought of anything with Ezra being amicable. How exactly did Thalia explain to the man who stressed out when she went around punching purse snatchers that her ex boyfriend was a blood thirsty maniac without him worrying? Well, other than lie to him, she didn’t. “It’s... complicated. Well, no— it’s not complicated, really. Just... not something I’ve ever had to explain. Ezra’s the whole reason I got into this vigilante bullshit in the first place. We’ll call him my white whale. I was beating on him last night. If he had the capacity to die, we’d be having a very different conversation right now, but he’s still alive. And, still a thorn in my side.” Thalia tosses her hands up in a sort of there it is motion. “Surprise, I dated a murderous mutant with a God complex.”

[thaliaxtorres]

wolfsonged​

         hands tucked into his pockets, raul let the slightest hint of a smile twitch to life on his lips. the dad look, the very same he had inherited from his own father. but how is he supposed to resist being concerned when everything, absolutely everything, about her is so… concerning right now? “i don’t want you to feel pressured. i know i can be very persuasive, but if there’s something bothering you, i want you to want to talk to me about it.” he knows from experience, his own and others’, that prying just isn’t the way. especially not with thalia. one wrong word and she’ll clam up so tight he’ll never get another sound out of her. “so, if you’d rather keep it to yourself, i understand, but…” he trails off, trying to offer an encouraging smile. “sometimes talking can help.”

Raul had a knack for getting Thalia to open up no matter how little she actually wanted to talk. But, he was right, damnit. Talking would release the tension better than bruising her already damaged knuckles to release her pent up energy. But, she wasn’t going to make easy on herself. She still had a reputation to uphold, damnit. “There’s not really much to talk about. I had a run in with an ex while I was... you know, out. It wasn’t pretty.” Thalia crosses past Raul, grabbing for her discarded t-shirt to wipe the sweat from her face. “I ever tell you about Ezra?”

[thaliaxtorres]

where: emporium arcade bar who: @drusillatitova​

Thalia couldn’t accurately recalled the last time she had done something so... formal for lack of a better word. Especially standing in an arcade bar. But, going out with random women who offer to take her out at a coffee shop? That may as well have been a Hallmark movie in her mind. Still, who was she to deny a beautiful woman her time? “Fancy meeting you here,” She teases. It’s not hard to spot her in a bar, no matter how crowded.

[thaliaxtorres]

where: thalia’s rooftop and makeshift workout spot who: @wolfsonged​

Ezra made her blood boil. That was the short and long of it. Just the thought of him could ruin her mood in an instant. And, without him there to beat to a pulp, the best she could do was exercise. Of course, anyone who stumbled across her during that time was stuck with the attitude that rolled off her in waves, but that seldom stopped Raul. “Are you going to stand there and stare at me with that dad look or are you going to do something?” She asks, hesitating before reaching for her water bottle. The scar tissue on her palms freshly pink from aggravating the same spot for the umpteenth time.

“If you’re going to ask questions, just do it before you burn a hole in my head with your eyes.” She wasn’t all that ken on talking about anything that had happened with Ezra at any point in her life. But, she knew it would eat away at Raul if she didn’t give him the opening to do so, and if she was going to entertain it with anyone, it was going to be him.

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚝​

“It is beautiful,” Kinevart says, surprised Thalia has heard of it at all. Often people aren’t familiar with the country, or if they are it’s only associated with the genocide. She can’t think of a time she’s heard someone express simple beauty about the lands. “I don’t know where Puerto Rico is,” she confesses,  “Do you miss it, even though you grew up here?”

It always interests her, the ties people have to their home even when they have not known the home. “My daughter is sixteen. She says that sometimes she feels more American than Armenian, but she still longs for home sometimes.” Kinevart pushes carefully into the joint between Thalia’s upper and lower jaw, rubbing to ease  the tension there, then pulling her touch up to the woman’s temples with gentle circles. Only now does she properly extend her healing magic, just a little, watching as the swelling begins to recede. She is always careful never to heal entirely, not with clients she can’t tell the mutant status of. Full healing is too identifiably miraculous for her to get away with it.

“That’s okay. I don’t know many who could point it out on the map. It’s an island, south of Florida and north of Venezuela. It’s a beautiful country as well, but I haven’t been since I was a little girl.” It was her mom who was Puerto Rican. Her Dad always flinched at the mention of returning after her death. Too many painful memories, Thalia had surmised. “I do. My family here has kept a lot of traditions, but there’s nothing like being there. But, I’m sure you know how that feels.”

Thalia gives the smallest nod she can to not disrupt her work. “My Mom used to say the same exact thing. She worked hard to keep her connection where she could.” Thalia rarely got to speak of her Mom. Mostly because of the walls she kept around herself for protection. It was a sensitive subject, and she did not enjoy the pain that it left her with to remember her as gone. But, it felt so safe and comfortable here that Thalia almost forgot the ache in her chest at the memories of her Mother. The dull ache that had been residing in her jaw subsided, the pain siphoned out of her body by some untraceable source, and she nearly sighed in relief. biting back the instinct to reach for the formerly tenderized skin.

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚕​

         “a perfect little angel?” raul’s brows shoot up, but he can only maintain his skepticism for so long. he should be used to the effects of the notorious puppy dog stare, with his family history, and yet… every goddamn time… “okay, you stop that. you know i can’t argue with someone when they look at me like that.”

“Two words for you, my friend: Push. Over.” Thalia holds up a finger congruently with each word, ignoring the fact that she’s pretty sure pushover is one word. But, it works better this way. “I say you call it a draw, I’m sure you’ve god blood to take from some poor soul with a crippling fear of needles, and a tendency to pass out.”

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚍𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍​

         his own response to the attack couldn’t be more different. david’s injuries are similar ( he’s going to have a nasty shiner to go with his split lip ) but instead of adrenaline hyping him up, he’s all but crumpled against the wall. the event itself is practically forgotten, now—his focus is on other tragedies. “this is where i usually am,” he answers, an echo to his voice. “i don’t see a reason to leave.”

It takes everything in Thalia not to turn around and beat up this guy, too. For the first time in a while, she almost regrets stopping the would be assailant. But, she does her best to bite back her instinct to get physical, and stick to her verbal aggression instead. “For fucks sake, you’re annoying. What did you even do to that guy anyone? Did he just jump you or did you piss him off, too?” 

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚍𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍​

         “good.” carina wouldn’t like his belligerence here, particularly where his well-being is concerned… but there are a lot of things that david omits for her sake. this will just have to be another of them. he just doesn’t understand why she’s so angry. he hadn’t asked for help. she had offered it nonetheless. maybe it would have been best to just offer up thanks and be done with it, but that would go against his principles. “i’m not unreasonable.” debatable. “you didn’t know. now you do. we can leave it at that.”

“Fine,” Thalia snaps, leaning back against the nearest wall. Under the shadow, she feels satisfied in pulling the mask from her face long enough to inspect the damage the few hits she took to the mask had done. Her skin is practically aching, and her hands are still shaking from the coursing adrenaline. At least nothing seems to be broken. It’ll take a week and a lot of concealer, but it’s able to be mitigated. “You could stand around this alley all day, or are you going to move on with your day, Mr. Nihilism?” 

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚕​

         “i’ll say.” so can his, on occasion… but not with as much practice, or subtlety, as thalia can employ. she certainly has a gift with what she can do, for better or for worse. and hopefully better! “oh, stop. you know exactly where i’d get that idea,” he continues, playfully jabbing a finger in her direction. “and i want you to know that i know what you’re doing!”

“Raul, I am a perfect little angel, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Thalia lays the sweetness on thick, even looking up at him with the best puppy dog eyes she can muster. A tall order when talking to a werewolf in the flesh, but she’d be remiss not to make an effort. “All I do is try to make you laugh. Brighten your day. Bring a smile to your face. And this is the thanks I get for it.”

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚕​

         “i haven’t had any sharp edges in a long time.” another thing she’s well aware of! thalia has many, many more than he ever will… but that just makes it more impressive that she chooses to do something good with them. even if raul would prefer that she kept herself out of trouble, instead. “you’re right, you didn’t say it had to be good.” are any of them, really? are any memes truly good? questions to keep you awake at night! “that sounds like a trap. if those celebration memes get me, you’ll just have to keep on sending them.”

“And, to think, my sharp edges can be literal.” She only slightly protrudes bone spikes from the tips of her fingers, waving them around as if she’s showing off a new manicure. Thalia’s quick to retract them, quite pleased with herself as she smiles across the table at Raul. The smile turns to something slightly more mischievous. “Who, me? Never. I’d never do that to you. I’m not even sure where you’d get an idea like that from.”

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚍𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍​

         david sighs heavily. people are so rare to understand the futility of it all. and why is that? what is it about living that makes people want to keep at it? why is it so difficult to accept that trying to escape death only leads to disappointment? “if you want gratitude, you’ve saved the wrong person.” he knows it’s not really her fault. most others probably would be thankful for being pulled out of that mess. “you shouldn’t have bothered.”

“Well, I’ll make a point to leave you to the fucking wolves next time, then,” Thalia snaps, the words heavy and bitter. It shouldn’t bother her this much, she knew this was a thankless job, as were most. But, it had wormed its way under her skin that he was so adamant on not being helped or saved. Thalia couldn’t understand it. “I don’t want your gratitude, anyway. I just want you to get your head out of your ass, and stop acting like I damned you to hell in trying to help. You’re not walking around with a giant ‘do not assist’ tattooed on your forehead, so I’m doing my due diligence.”

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚍𝚛𝚞​

“Maybe I’ll fill you in after a couple of drinks. You’ll need some alcohol in your system to digest it all.” If Thalia reacts badly to learning that Drusilla is a vampire, she can easily compel her to forget she’d even mentioned it. “Great! I’ve been a couple of times before. There’s a lot of neon lights, an 80s vibe, and it’s not too loud, so you’ll be able to tell me more about yourself. The cocktails are also a bonus,” she smiles. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulls out a business card with her phone number on it, then slides it across the table. “If you have anything come up, my number is on here. Or you can just send me selfies to brighten the rest of my shitty work day.”

“I’ll hold you to that. I think you’ll be impressed with what I can handle.” Very little truly shocked her these days. Thalia had practically seen it all. Whatever Dru had to share certainly couldn’t be that bad. “It sounds like fun. Especially since you’ll be there,” Thalia muses with a smile, taking the business card from off the table top. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’d hate for you to have to suffer through the workday all by yourself. Especially if my face will really turn it around that much. I��m looking forward to seeing you again, Dru.” 

[thaliaxtorres]

𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚝​

She can have a sense of humour, but she tends not to. Especially not at work, because people don’t come to her to laugh. She has found that her natural calm demeanour soothes clients better.

Some people prefer not to talk, some even fall asleep here on the table. It doesn’t matter to Kinevart, she is happy to go with whatever the client wants. If Thalia wants to speak, they can speak. “My family has always had an affinity for healing. I am from Armenia, originally, but my daughter and I moved here some years ago. America is not an easy country to live in, but there are always people that need healing. Have you always lived here?” She’s not sure if someone so cagey as Thalia will want to share much about herself, but Kinevart generally asks questions back as people tend to like talking about themselves. Satisfied that her client is fully relaxed now, Kinevart works back up Thalia’s neck and across her chin and jaw, massaging very gently to search out the parts impacted by the ache of the bruise.

“Armenia, I’ve heard it’s a beautiful place.” Her Father had travelled plenty, long before she was born. He had tales from all over the world to share. “I’ve always lived here, but my Father grew up in Puerto Rico. His family, our family, moved here when he was a teenager, and he decided to study law.” It was kind of a minced version of all that happened, but she was sure this perfect stranger wasn’t looking for all the nitty gritty details of her past. Her fingers work their way up her chin and jaw again, around the tender skin of her bruise, and Thalia withstands the instinct to wince and move away from the traveling hand. Trust the process, and all that. “You said you had a daughter? How old is she?”