HANNYA
Demon
Posts: 150
Played by:
Julia
"Do you hate that you love me or do you love that you hate me?"
Last seen Apr 8, 2024 21:09:01 GMT
|
Post by HANNYA on Apr 7, 2024 19:55:16 GMT
━ make you beg for it, plead for it, until you feel like you breathe for it ━ IT MIGHT’VE BEEN DIFFICULT FOR A LESSER CREATURE TO BALANCE all the scrumptious things she had going on, but for Hannya, it was like her second nature. She loved being busy with all these souls, especially weary, lost ones, like Joel and Hector. Hector was different, of course, because his mind was all messed up by that darn virus, and all he wanted to do was kill. They’d taken her pretty pookie bear away for good, though━poor baby was trapped in that stone with no way for Hannya to get to him.
Well, at least she had the others. Like Joel, who still wanted to maintain the sham that was his marriage. It took a little while for Hannya to get back into his (their) bed after what’d ‘happened with Manny,’ but he eventually relented. Who wouldn’t?
Hannya hadn’t begged for it. That was beneath her. She went by way of his heart instead, promising Joel that, while she’d been scared before, he always made her feel safe. That she knew he’d never hurt her━that he’d always protect her. Men loved to hear that shit, and Hannya loved to spew it.
They weren’t often together, but they were today. Hannya was aware of the signs and did her own research, too. He left long stretches of time between their text messages━and if he did reply, he didn’t seem very interested━and so she went to see for herself, watching him leave their apartment building together, reusable shopping bags in hand.
She highly doubted they were going to a therapy session together━Jolene didn’t seem to do those, and Hannya had become Joel’s therapy━but it was still jarring to see them side by side. Jarring, but not off-putting. Actually, Hannya quite liked it.
With her sweatpants hanging low━below her belly button but just above where her hips rounded dramatically━she strode into the grocery store ten minutes after the couple, flashing a smile at a man near the rack of herbs. He looked terrified, especially because his wife and kids were with him, and Hannya had seen him at the bar nearly every night for the past five years.
She wasn’t here for him━though, the scowl his wife flashed her was nearly all the fuel she needed. But it wasn’t the big prize.
Hannya caught the eye of more than a few men as she strolled through each aisle, a little basket hanging from the crook of her elbow. She’d tossed a few things in to make this a more believable coincidence, and the “dressed down” look, she thought, sold it perfectly. Her white tank top was small━it hugged her chest, and with the way she’d tied it together in the centre and tucked it into itself, it clung to her hourglass figure and showed a mass of smooth, milky skin.
A cucumber, carrots, hummus, whipped cream━were they suggestive enough? She slipped into the aisle filled with junk food and looked sideways at Joel, waiting until he noticed her before she looked away. Hannya grabbed a bag of Cheetos (for Elio, but also to keep with the theme) and moved on, finding him again (with her) a few aisles down, staring at Joel until he grew enough balls to look at her. He was trying not to━she could tell.
Well, too bad.
Hannya strode up while they seemed to have stopped to linger over a certain product━did they bother with debates these days? Honestly, did it really matter to either of them?━and smiled wide, giving a happy wave with her free hand as she stopped in front of their cart. “Hey, y’all!” She beamed, “Fancy seein’ you here, Joel. Nothin’ for so long and then we start seein’ each other while pickin’ out next week’s dinners!” Hannya laughed, Dolly’s happy twang in her voice, the same accent that coated Joel’s. She wanted to make sure Jolene knew who the fuck she was.
“Oh, where’re my manners? I’m Dolly━you’ve gotta be Jolene. Joel and I usedta be two peas in a pod━I’m sure he toldja ‘bout me.” And if he hadn’t, then that was cause for concern, wasn’t it? Dolly leaned forward to reach out her hand, and if it wasn’t obvious before that she wasn’t wearing a bra, then it certainly was now.
She grinned as the seed was planted, and she watched it begin to fester in his wife’s head. It was already beautiful, but she couldn’t wait ‘til it fully bloomed. Now that would be somethin’. “How ya guys doin’? Gettin’ so nice out lately, huh?” Hannya’s eyes passed over Joel slowly━his face, then his chest, and slowly back up, like she was undressing him with her eyes. That’ll teach ya not to ignore me next time.
JOEL MCGRATH |
|
|
JOEL MCGRATH
Warlock
Posts: 59
Age:
32
Occupation:
Detective
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jolene McGrath
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Apr 30, 2024 17:44:38 GMT
|
Post by JOEL MCGRATH on Apr 29, 2024 20:58:51 GMT
”We’re out of milk?”
”Hmm?” Automatically Joel thumbed off his phone and set it down on the kitchen table. Jolene stood by the fridge, staring at him. An empty plastic carton dangling from her fingers. He squinted at her, then at the carton and let out a sigh. Breakfast. A bowl of honey nut cheerios drowned in milk, the same way he’d always eaten them as a kid. The bowl still in the sink, abandoned when his phone had pinged.
It did again now. Dolly. He knew it without having to look. Guilt churned in the pit of his stomach. Somehow it was easier when Jo was at work, the presence that was already thin as mist in the apartment disappearing entirely. Doll filled that void in a cloud of perfume that smelled as sweet as she had naturally that first time they’d kissed. He was sure that Jo would pick up on it someday, sniffing around the apartment like a bloodhound, but if she had before now, she hadn’t said a word about it.
Her gaze cut to his phone before she hissed out a sigh, probably cursing Ricky’s existence in her head. The job pulled her away constantly, so it had to be the same for him, right? Bullshit. Before Doll had come back into his life, Jolene was the one thing he would’ve left the job for. She couldn’t say the same, she couldn’t even leave the job long enough to work with him to save their marriage.
”We’re out of milk,” she repeated. ”I’ll have to take my coffee black.”
Sheepishly, Joel dragged a hand over his face. ”I can go out later and grab some.”
”You’re not working?” Joel shook his head, about to repeat a rota she hadn’t shown interest in for years, but Jo was smiling at him. Turned out, neither was she.
Even getting the shopping bags out of the drawer felt ridiculously intimate after a couple of years of being lost in the desert of a dying relationship. He couldn’t have named the last time they’d been out together. Groceries were requested by text, or notes on the fridge. The majority of their meals were eaten just as distantly. Plates left in the fridge, or leftovers frozen to be thawed out God only knew when. Walking out of the building, Jo was already going through a list, reeling off things he never woulda thought about til he went to the fridge and found something else empty.
They talked on that brief walk to the store – alright, mostly about her work, but still it was more words than the two of them had spoken to one another in probably a month. Heading into the store, they strolled the aisles the way they’d done when they’d first been married. Tossing things in without having to check with one another. A waggle of a coffee jar enough for a confirmation. It was almost like they knew one another again and maybe that was why he felt his heart slam against his ribs when he caught a familiar roll of hips in the next aisle. In another time, another place, he’d left his handprints on those hips in neon paint. A claim he couldn’t acknowledge now.
Heat tried to rush to his face as Jo called his attention away, but Joel willed it back. ”The barbecue chips,” he confirmed, hoping to hell that was what Jo had meant as she’d held two bags up. He caught up to Jo, settling a hand at her elbow to guide her out of the aisle. There’d been a time when he was willing to take Doll to his wife to make sure had a way out, but that avenue of escape had closed the moment he’d slept with Doll. Now he was a cheating son of a bitch scurrying around the grocery store, trying to avoid the temptation he’d given in to.
In the cereal aisle, he stayed with the cart as Jo drifted halfway down. Muesli, the dusty bastard cousin to the Lucky Charms he’d idly picked up. His fingers dented the box as he felt the weight of Doll’s gaze on him. Was she thinking he was too embarrassed to look at her? Like he was ashamed of her after all this time. Maybe the former was true. After all that’d happened right under Jo’s nose – he couldn’t rub it in now.
As the itch built, Joel looked up. His lips pinched, his gaze burning to twitch away again. Jo drifted up beside him, tsking over the Lucky Charms. She shoved the bag of what looked like they fed the horses under his nose. ”They’ve gotta be better for you than the cheerios,” she murmured, a smile on her lips that he almost didn’t recognise. It froze in place as Doll took that opportunity to walk up to them. Well, shit.
Joel straightened up, painting on a smile, even as he rubbed his knuckles under his nose. ”Hey,” he drawled lightly. A weak chuckle echoed her laugh, a quick glance at Jo showing that she was putting on a friendly smile. Her eyes met his, a question in them, but Doll wasn’t giving her the chance to ask it.
”I meant to tell ya,” he muttered as Jo reached out to take Doll’s hand. ”I ran into Doll a few weeks back. Who woulda thought it, two people turning up here, all this way from Cunningham.” A few weeks was a weak lie. Even if it had been on the day they’d moved to town, there still wouldn’t have been much chance to tell Jo that one of the best parts of his past had turned up right here.
”Dolly, from his childhood?” Jolene let out a light laugh, shaking Hannya’s hand. ”You definitely didn’t mention this.” Her gaze darted away from the obvious wedge of Doll’s cleavage (the one he was desperately trying not to get lost in), and up to him.
Smiling ruefully, Joel dropped the crumpled box of Lucky Charms into the trolley. ”Ain’t a patch on Spring back home, but there ain’t much that can match up to there.” His voice was tight, his shoulders following, bunching, as he felt Doll’s gaze rake over him again. ”I used up the last of the milk. Figured we’d head out and get some while we had the time. Right, darlin’?” His fingers felt numb, but Joel lifted them to touch Jo’s elbow lightly all the same. It was stiff, but she didn’t pull back from him at least.
”Looks like you’ve got a healthier appetite than he does,” Jo muttered, looking down into her basket. ”Can’t get him eating anything like a cucumber.” Joel had to suck in a breath to stop choking on the thought as he followed Jo’s gaze. On the surface it might’ve looked innocent enough, but everything in that damn basket suddenly felt like it was morphing in front of his eyes. This time he didn’t have a damn hope at keeping the heat from his face.
Tagged: HANNYA * Word Count: 1177 (soz)
|
|