#freezeher

[goofily-moved]

              ❛❛   I, um, really enjoyed your memoir.   ❜❜     Valeria speaks softly, her lips quirked up at the edges as she absentmindedly fidgets with the leash in her hand. Detecting her owner's growing anxiety, Athena subtly steps closer to Valeria, standing between her and Ethel. Valeria is quick to pet the dog's head, letting her know that Ethel isn't a threat. Valeria's just nervous     ——    Ethel's book really spoke to her and she doesn't want to make a bad impression.  @freezeher

[janedoez]

@freezeher liked for a starter. 💛

she sits on the bench outside motel room number 5 with a cigarette and a lighter that refuses to light. said dilemma no longer holds her interest, though, as she watches something all too familiar go down a few doors away. a man gets in his car and speeds off. a young woman is left to return the key to the front office. as she passes by, calamity speaks. ❝ how much of it do y' get to keep ? ❞    in reference to the money she has stashed away somewhere on her person. not everyone is self - employed like she is. when she grins, it's lopsided. ❝ me, i blow it all on blow. spend it all in one place, just like people tell ya not to do. ❞ 

[frightesa]

carrie's days were like a rosary. she counted the moments to school. she counted down the moments until she left. hours were wasted in her mother's company. until finally she came to the end of all of reciting - behind the closed door of her bedroom she could exhale. some days the deep sigh that emanated from her chest would take her by surprise. it was remarkable just how much she forced herself to choke down any emotion.

joy was stolen whenever possible. carrie would reach out her greedy hands to relish in the quiet of the wind, and the chirp of the birds above. so in the few moments she has to herself on her walk home a gaze, even friendly, felt like an intrusion. carrie licked her lips, wiping her palms on the long skirt. it doesn't matter that it's almost summer, or that carrie can feel the sweat lick the back of her neck, modesty was a requirement. she takes a deep breath before looking up at ethel.

"s-sorry we haven't been at church more." the words feel clunky but she continues, "mama got a little worried about the influence that some of the other members were havin' on me. she didn't approve of their choices." she shrugged and clutched the history book to her chest. "i miss those sundays though. it was nice to talk to you ." @freezeher // s.c.

[publicabsent]

@freezeher: something weird is going on. / accepting.

hair is pinned back tightly, annette's presence seeming to ask to be ignored more so than usual. a letter sits, all but burning the inside of her bag. while usually she takes out any contents to share with ethel, library books & puzzles & happy newspaper clippings, the brunette is guarding the bag closely. (she's opened & read it, sure, but little more rings proper in her mind than the horrible feeling that lingers in her chest.) the medium had hoped that maybe it wouldn't be noticeable, but even the oddball's strange behavior is obvious, apparently. "y-y -- you h-have to ... to s-swear not to p - pan-nic. pl - please?"

delicate hands pull out the envelope, the address facing away from her. the handwriting is spindly & neat, equally as calculated inside. "i - i g-g-got th - this today."

[huntedvideo]

ETHEL CAIN: ▲ ETHEL SAVED FINLEY'S LIFE. FINLEY IS HONORBOUND TO RETURN THE FAVOR. as far as he's concerned, fin owes her big time. he doesn't take this kind of debt lightly. he wasn't going to let her walk away without allowing him to repay that debt - finley was stubborn that way. 'i literally owe you my life,' he says as he catches up with ethel, long legs bringing him to her side. maybe he's being annoying ( it wouldn't be the first time ), but he wasn't leaving until she let him make this up to her. 'seriously - whatever you need, let me know. i'll try and hook you up,' he's not the most connected person in the world, but he knows how to get things when he needs them. @freezeher.

[thclamb]

@freezeher asked ; ❛  are you scared? 'cause i'm scared.  ❜

lips curl as a harsh, humorless laugh scrapes out of her throat. tears glisten like the glint off broken glass, hazel eyes just as FRACTURED. they've left scared way, way behind. HONESTLY? jackie just feels numb at this point. TRAGIC. BORING. INSECURE. words she was never meant to see ricochet around her skull, brand themselves into her eyelids, drain away any will to survive she'd scraped together. her one lifeline has been brutally severed: sliced to bits by her own misguided attempt to stitch it together. she really doesn't give a shit if they're rescued or not anymore. not when the only thing that's ever mattered disintegrates before her.

still, even crumbling, jackie doesn't have it in her to be cruel. her expression softens, resting a hand against ethel's shoulder. "sorry. it's just ... something i try not to think about." mustering a see-through smile. "i think ... i think we're all scared. anyone would be. but we've made it this far, right?"

[consumare]

ETHEL CAIN: MEAL. FOR BOTH MUSES TO PREPARE AND SHARE A MEAL TOGETHER. will was the one who attracted strays, but hannibal wasn't entirely against taking one in, himself. in fact, it seemed as if he already had. though ethel hadn't been in his home long, he could see her relaxing some. not fully, of course - it would be some time for any sort of trust to bloom between them - but now the girl was standing beside hannibal in his kitchen. he hasn't told her, yet. that he knows who she is, what she'd been doing. why he was on her own, so far away from her once home. after stumbling across her, he'd done some research, remembering her face from an article he had read a month prior. missing: ethel cain. wanted: ethel cain. needless to say, it piqued his interest, but hannibal knew that it was too early for questions, for him to pry. so he kept this information to himself, instead opening his home to her. 'hold the knife like this,' he demonstrated, gently pulling the utensil from her grip. knuckles set against the tomato, fingers tucked into his palm, as he slices effortlessly through the vegetable before he offers them both back to her with a small grin. 'we wouldn't want you losing any fingers tonight, would we?' @freezeher.

[curseplay]

@freezeher sent: i know what you'll say, but it helps to hear you say it anyway. [ ACCEPTING. ]

she feels transparent in the best way possible. never too good at getting close to people, it does paris' aching heart well to know that ethel expects this of her. that it's a no - brainer they'll step in and try to ease her pain. at the end of the day, that's one of their main wants . . . as ethel has effortlessly worked her way into the forefront of her brain, beside where her dreams of LA and stardom reside.

they smile, cheeks dusted pink, and fight to keep eye contact without getting too flustered. ❝ am i really that predictable ? damn . . . ❞ this minor dilemma is solved by planting a lingering kiss on ethel's cheek [ where a tear track once was, ]. after that, the words spill out as easily as they always do, said with conviction as the tip of their nose presses gently against her skin . . . still close and with no plans of moving anytime soon. ❝ i mean it, though. there's not a lot i wouldn't do to make you happy. or at least smiley for a few minutes, ❞