LILY VOS

Tattoo Artist. Amatuer Hacker.  “I’m a purple and blue surrealist piece hiding zeros and ones.”

[thislonelylily-blog]

frankielangton:

Frankie looked around at the graffiti taking note of it in the back of his head as he waited on the corner. He could remember when he was younger, how the bricks were clean and nice. Still he wasn’t to bothered by the art. He was however bothered by the man following him. He could see him in the windows and the hyperaware leader looked around and ducked into a shop. Without thinking he turned to the first person he saw.  “Please don’t panic but could you look behind me and see if there is a man in a suit there?” 

         The tattoo parlour was perhaps not the most likely set of workers to actually react to anything sinister. The collective of inked up leather jacket wearing employees looked up with as much reaction to what the man had said as they would had if he’d asked if they served coffee. Most didn’t even look up. Closest to the man and the window however Lily did, her hand raising off the skin of the person seated in front of her. He was bleeding but only slightly and as she searched for an out of place man in a suit her hand casually wiped off the blood and excess ink.

        Outside were a few people in suits, it was a weekday after all and people had work but to Lily none of them stood out because none were looking in the direction of the man. “You might need to be a bit more specific,” Lily responded as her eyes searched the crowd for one of the suited people wandering the streets for someone behaving in a peculiar manner. “Lots of people wear suits.”

[thislonelylily-blog]

I Feel Unsteady || Lily&Vincent

[thislonelylily-blog]

vince-themadcap:

Vincent’s nostrils flared - his own family abandoned her, and hurt her in some way. But Vincent was just like them. A hypocrite and an asshole. He yelled at her and he found himself getting angry at them - it made him laugh at himself. He looked away and exhaled a sickening laugh. “I’m a hypocrite too then. I stopped those guys and then I yelled at you.” Vincent was constantly at war with himself, he constantly had to fight the darkness within him, the part he received from the trauma of his father. He wanted to be a good person, but what was the point? He wasn’t one. 

However, Vince was in no mood to argue with her any further. If only she knew everything he had done - if only she knew how worse he was than those guys he killed, and those brothers of hers. He decided to change the subject for the better. He could feel another surge of anger growing inside of him and he had to control it before he hurt anyone else. If only someone else would have saved her, someone brave and also entirely kind - someone with more light than dark. Vincent saving her was ironic, and twisted. 

He didn’t know what to say, he couldn’t even thank her for her not thinking of him as a monster - because what if she had witnessed what he had done that night? The part of his father at its greatest peak, combined with the eccentric, erratic behaviour, which made him an extremely dangerous man, dangerous for her, for anyone. Dangerous for the house War, what if he truly lost control and killed someone in the pit, or one of his own brother or sisters? He could hurt someone else - what if he hurt one of her brothers? He couldn’t control himself, and since that night, he was afraid of himself more than ever before. Vincent couldn’t trust himself. He couldn’t explain why she was better off without him, because he didn’t want to traumatise her with what he had done to those men. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth.

Vincent wanted to utter the words I killed someone, I killed them. I smashed his face right in, I raped him - and I can’t remember what I did to the other one or where I put the bodies, do you still refuse to see me as awful? Instead he said, after a long pause and a lick of his lips, “Can I ask why they left you?”

Maybe he should have left that question for another time. Vincent would understand if she didn’t want to tell her, quite frankly he wasn’t quite in the right mindset to hear the answer most likely - but he was curious.

        He was right but it was hard for her to consider it hypocrisy when she didn’t imagine he was actively trying to hurt her. Besides there was multiple reasons he didn’t need to be held to the standard of her brothers. Isaac - Matty - and Jack owed Lily far more than he did which was why as Lily moved her drink about in her fingers she shrugged a little. “You’re also not my brother, you didn’t owe being kind to me,” Lily pointed out. He’d yelled at her but there was no way in her mind he was a hypocrite the way they would have been if they’d tried to yell at him for not being one hundred percent kind to her.

         Vincent’s mind seemed to wander so Lily merely picked up her drink and took gentle sips while she watched him. Perhaps she could have interrupted his thoughts with something mindless of her own but she figured she’d rather interrupted him enough at this point and wasn’t entirely convinced it had been worth it. As much as she had attempted to get him to like her, as she had attempted to get many people in the city to like her, she didn’t think it was working. Maybe, now in a place where her brother resided, she couldn’t be friends with anyone without them first acknowledging how wonderful Isaac was. Friends by association because Isaac was the interesting, talented and charismatic one and Lily was just the weird girl that stared at people and never asked the right questions.

      Without even realising her fingers had started to scratch at the side of the cup, a quiet grating sound that wasn’t noticeable with other people making their own sounds in the place. Still she attempted to stop herself. Vincent didn’t know Isaac so whether or not he liked her could not have been dependent on the quality of her brother. Or rather she thought he didn’t. She’d asked him if he knew an Isaac Vos, too distracted by the bruises and blood to show him the image. No one here knew an Isaac Vos, Matty...god she didn’t even know his new pretend last name...Matty he might have known though.

       “Huh?” she let out when he spoke, blinking a few times and placing her cup on the table. “Oh, I mean, only one did. I left the other when it didn’t really feel like he was there anymore,” Lily half answered, looking down at her cup. She wasn’t meant to tell people why Isaac had left because telling them meant she was forcing her view of things onto them and sharing Isaac’s secrets he clearly did not want known but it was difficult. She hated feeling like she wasn’t being honest with people. Once more her fingers began to scratch at the cup, now on the table causing it to spin against the wood.

        “Isaac left because his fiance died, he said my other brother Jack killed him. He just came to the house one day and...the next thing we all know Isaac is gone and Jack’s almost dead on the ground. There was...so much blood and my mother just kept screaming. I suppose I don’t totally know why Isaac left....not to go to jail? Because everywhere reminded him of her? Because he hated seeing my brother? I never a hundred percent understood. But afterwards Jack wasn’t like how he had been and I didn’t see much point in remaining with people who didn’t actually want me around. So Jack didn’t leave, maybe I’m the bad sibling for abandoning him,” Lily said, all the while staring at her cup. She did feel like the truly awful sibling. First for not being closer with Isaac, close enough that he could come to her and let her know what was going on, and second, for not forming a solid enough relationship with Jack that he wouldn’t need to lash out. Deep down she did feel bad for abandoning him, at one point she had been all he had and then she was just gone.

         Lily lifted her head, eyes wet but not yet full enough to allow tears to fall. “Enough about me. I know nothing about you, other than your name really. What were you doing out that night?”

[thislonelylily-blog]

demetriadeluca:

Demetria had never thought about tattoos like that but once she did, she could understand where Lily was coming from.  “I got a tree on my ribs.  It’s one of those pretty watercolor style ones.  I was thinking of maybe getting another one in the near future, but I’m not sure yet.”

        “What does the tree mean?” Lily asked presuming a woman like herself wasn’t one to just walk into a tattoo parlour and get something she merely liked. There were lots of people who did litter themselves with things they liked or thought looked cool and for the most part it did and Lily wasn’t bothered, it was their body but she couldn’t imagine a woman with a child who had become a nurse was the kind to do that. “Well you’ll be able to find someone great, someone who can do a style you like, everyone’s got their own.”

[thislonelylily-blog]

thesccrned:

                                              @thislonelylily​

              there wasn’t much to boast about matty’s second-level studio apartment. it was sparsely decorated, matty not really being one for interior decorating, and he still had difficulty locking the front door after vi busted it down on new year’s eve ( the issue would probably be resolved if he called someone to fix it, but that required money. ) sometimes ( often ) he forgot to pay the water bill, or the electricity bill, and had to make do with the candles he kept in one of his kitchen cupboards. the one nice thing about the place was its extraordinarily large windows. they opened out onto a fire escape on which matty sometimes lounged during lazy evenings, cigarette and paperback novel in hand.

       it wasn’t a great neighbourhood, either, the apartment being located in one of the more run-down areas of bucharest. the silver lining came in the form of the shop located directly across the street, which was open at all hours and therefore allowed him to obtain fries or a box of noodles at 3AM whenever he wanted. matty hardly, if ever, brought anyone back to his apartment. he preferred crashing on other people’s couches ( and occasionally, in their beds ). so it was with a note of nervousness that he led lily up the stairs to his home, already feeling self-conscious about the peeling wallpaper and cracked flooring. he hadn’t been lying when he had said that the place wasn’t much. 

      now that he was certain lily was here, in the flesh, and not just an apparition, he had stopped staring at her. rather, he was doing the opposite, finding it difficult to look at her and instead looking for reasons to keep his gaze elsewhere.

      ❛ so… this is me. apartment 210. ❜ matty feigned a smile before pushing the door open. and he was immediately set upon by a shaggy, cream-coloured blur. ❛ felix! felix… down, buddy! relax! ❜ felix quickly took interest in lily, but matty caught him gently by the collar and pulled him aside before he could do much more than nose at her legs. ❛ sorry; he’s friendly, promise. ❜ matty ran a soothing hand over felix’s back before straightening and moving to pull the front door closed. 

       he gestured to their surroundings, still unsure of how to act, what to say. ❛ this is basically it; kitchen’s over in the corner, bed’s right there, couch over there. door on the left leads t’ the bathroom, but yeah. everythin’s in this one room, really. ❜ for someone who looked the way he did, matty’s apartment was surprisingly neat. then again, he didn’t own much. 

       matty forced himself to make eye contact with his sister. ❛ you, um… y’ hungry? we can order chinese food, pizza - whatever y'r feelin’. ❜ 

      Since leaving their home in Holland Lily had not lived in the best of places. Her van was as safe as any of the couches or bed she had laid her head. Mostly she’d lived with ‘boyfriends.’ Labels had never much suited the men Lily found herself attracted to. They would tell her all these lovely things but were mostly just dropkicks who like the fact she would do laundry and sleep with them while Lily liked to think she was helping them cope with whoever in their past had made them feel so badly. In her mind it was her job to help these men, men that had been convinced they needed to act this way. The way Isaac and Jack acted. Still Lilys’ myriad of futons, fold out beds and lumpy mattresses left her with little expectation of much better. She only vaguely had a kind of hope because of Isaac’s past, perhaps if he was so terribly smart he would have found a way to live lavishly.

        “Cool,” was all she responded with as he announced his apartments number. The building itself was giving her less of a thought that he had made more of himself. She had hoped but the way his eyes and hands looked she was not really surprised and certainly didn’t intend to make him feel badly. This was partially why she only brought up one plastic bag of her clothing. Her pile of laptops and computers, her art supplies, and the rest of her clothing could be brought up later if things went well. Right now Isaac didn’t need to know she hacked into people’s...well anything and he didn’t need to know how little she actually owned. Really other than the computers there would have been another two bags of stuff maximum and one would have been filled with two minute noodle bags.

        Lily saw the dog and froze. They’d never been allowed pets and Lily had obviously - living in a van - never owned one. A few of her boyfriends had but they’d been kept in cages because they’d mostly been used for dog fights. Isaac’s dog didn’t look like them though, no scars on him the way they were on Isaac, not that she could see anyway so she relaxed and walked inside. It was l,ess filled with crap than her exes but seemed to have the same level of care. Lily wasn’t phased and like her brother actually was drawn to the oversized windows. It wasn’t just people she could admire for their ever changing expressions but the landscape and the sky that was never exactly the same on any one day. Immediately she forgot the dog and an oversized grin crossed her face, top row of teeth showing white and bright.

       Everything he said about the rest of the apartment went in one ear and right out the other as she breathed in the landscape of Bucharest. No view she had come across so far in the city was so wonderful. Why had she remained glued to the city’s streets when she could have been sitting on roofs and watching the world go on as though she were not even there. “It’s beautiful, Isaac,” she let out calmly, allowing the smile to fall and turning back to face him. For Lily it wasn’t so hard, it was actually harder for her to look away from him. The moment she had gazed at that skyline she had been in awe but part of her imagined when she turned back around Isaac would be gone. Fortunately he wasn’t.

        “If you have some food I could make you your favourite, I stole the recipe,” Lily answered, unaware her brother wouldn’t have groceries. Lily didn’t but in a van she couldn’t realistically cook even though she liked it. Isaac’s favourite had been something she taught herself because she knew she would find him again and she wanted him to know she hadn’t forgotten a single detail even if her mother had tried. Each thing Isaac, or now Matty, had liked their mother had thrown away and what remained were their father’s and Jack’s - it was only fortunate for Lily she liked most anything Jack did. 

         “Besides, I just got here, I don’t want to go and order food around a bunch of other people. I want to just stay with you.” Lily moved gently, letting her weight settle on her right foot. All she had been dreaming about was being able to be beside her brother again and she didn’t want to spend their first day standing in a Chinese restaurant waiting to pick up their take away. “I missed you, Isaac.” ‘Didn’t you miss me too?’ she resisted asking.

[thislonelylily-blog]

thexhunterx:

“What were you doing out here anyway?” now he seemed interested, for the sake of prying, and wanting to know certain information. He could easily give a description of her, and have a report in his hand in no less than a few hours if he wanted. However, he’d rather go the casual route, strike a conversation, and see exactly where it would lead. Might as well give this one a time of day, he certainly wasn’t in a rush to be anywhere else.

“The question would be as to why?” why would she be attacking anyone or him for that matter, but he answered his own question. She either knew exactly who he is, or someone hired her to do the biding her boss could not. But, he was sure it was not the case. He’d defend himself against anyone, woman or male, it did not matter.  Dorian looked at her, almost as if he was studying her reaction “What would make you want for me to react?” his voice firm, a usual cool tone that can be interpreted in more than one way, however it was on the lines of caution in what she is to ask. She asked her next question and then she was bumped into, as if the person hadn’t seen her and walked on through. If anything, he would of simply walked away , for there was no other reason for him to stay, if he was planning to go in the first place.

        “Eating, I mean, I intended to eat, it’s my first night off in a while that I’ve given myself. Normally my diet consists of coca-cola, coffee and the occasional two-minute noodles. I don’t know why I came here, I know I get distracted and I came somewhere that would take twenty-minutes to make my food,” she rambled, scolding herself more than telling him. “So I intended to come here and eat but got distracted. For someone who looks like any blonde guy you’re actually rather intriguing,” she noted. “And I say that as an artist and not as a pervert. I mean, what a pathetic sort of move would that be...staring.” Lily blinked long and hard as she felt herself grow dizzy with how fast she was speaking.

         Lily slowly opened her eyes and nodded, she didn’t have any sort of reason to attack a stranger. If she was going to attack him anyway it would have been through his phone since that was the only way she could. “I don’t know, why would I want to hurt you?” she questioned back. As he stared at her she stared back with a glassy kind of gaze, each one of her blinks was now slower than they naturally should have been. When he proceeded she smiled genuinely. “Just to see how you would. It’s exceptionally beautiful to see how people...move. If I made you angry it would be new to see how different your anger was from anyone else’s. It’s interesting enough watching you now in contrast to when you were merely ignoring me.” Lily looked away, eyes falling to the table and his food. Perhaps she needed to return to her table and order more before she really did pass out but he was kind of interesting and Lily didn’t know many people that weren’t associated with her brother. “I mean, what were you thinking? If you didn’t think I was a threat what did you assume?” she asked, raising her hand gently to flag down another waiter. She certainly couldn’t eat food standing but she could order another drink.

[thislonelylily-blog]

thexhunterx:

It wasn’t like him to speak with anyone down in this part of town, mostly because when he was speaking with others, it’s usually because there was a deal to be made. He wasn’t gaining anything out of this conversation except that maybe the fact she dropped glass, a bit out of it, and somewhat providing an amusing night. “You might want to work on that.” he made a clicking sound with his tongue. 

She was right about that, she wouldn’t have gone far if she attempted to inflict any damage, but he still kept his guard up. Pretty lil things with cute faces, still can carve you inside out. He’s met his fair share of them. “Smart gal.” he stated before chuckling as she went on. “Probably not, kinda rude of you to give that kind of attention only to cut me up, how unlady like.” he smirked, if he was to be attacked, he’d rather stare at his attacker straight on, just so he could see the light fade from their eyes. Of course, she wouldn’t know if he was telling the truth or joking.

        He was right, perhaps she’d have done better going through a drive-thru or something faster than a place where she had to sit down and wait for the food. In the time it took for the food to come she’d normally become distracted by either drawing or someone in the crowd. “Occasionally,” she said of her intelligence since clearly she wasn’t smart enough that she’d had more of her meal.

        “And what would you have actually done? I mean, we’re somewhere pretty crowded and in my experience while men can get away with a lot when it comes to women, even in public, I can’t imagine you could have physically harmed me without at least one person here stepping in,” Lily responded in a rather invasive tone. If she had tried to harm him first, sure, people would have been less likely to stop him hurting her but if she stared threatening she couldn’t imagine that would be enough for people to let him physically do anything about it. “What could you have done other than just let me keep staring?” As she finished she felt someone bump her, moving her forward and reminding her that not only was she still in the crowded place she was speaking of but she was standing in a walkway. It didn’t bother her too much, people thought she was weird already - he certainly had to -, it just annoyed her she was now getting bumped when she was already feeling rather light-headed.

[thislonelylily-blog]

thexhunterx:

Dorian was beginning to think that she wasn’t in a right state of mind, maybe lack of sleep, or lack of food. Mostly because he was watching her answer him in slow motion, like it was taking her a while to process what just happened. The waiter had cleaned up the mess she had made, and Dorian proceeded to stand, now that he was finished. “Are you alright?” he asked, not concerned, mostly just out of curiosity, it wasn’t like he came across people who looked out of it and still managed to hold a conversation. Different, but interesting nonetheless.

She moved her hand away from him and he let go. Anyone in their right mind would have assumed she was a creeper, stalker, whichever the case may be. But Dorian wasn’t in the right mind, he killed for a living in all ways imaginable, he lived off to watch others suffer, especially if it was caused by him. He had a job and he did it. A bit a of a sadist then again a Sociopath, Devil child, he could almost hear it all over again. He smiled, an unaffected expression. “Not like you had any intention of inflicting harm, right?” he tilted his head. Staring, was something he grew used to, be looked down by others, as the odd one out, it stopped bothering him a long time ago.

       “Yeah, I get distracted easily, I think I forgot to eat my food,” she admitted. Looking back at her table but it had already been cleared so she actually couldn’t tell whether she’d touched any of the food or not. Shit. Trying to think on it now Lily was realising she’d only had bottles of coca cola or long blacks the past few days to keep herself awake while she was working. She’d get home, crash and then go to work. This was her first night off in a while and perhaps she shouldn’t have allowed herself to get in her head about things and actually just focused on her food.

        As she turned back she shook her head, one corner of her mouth lifting into an amused smile. Lily had never physically hurt anyone, well against their will, and she didn’t think she had it in her the way her brothers did. “Even if I did I don’t imagine I’d get very far,” she said. The guy wasn’t exactly the biggest she’d come across but with her two brothers as slender as she was able to inflict harm she was sure this guy could. Mostly because he shared the kind of darkness in his face that they had as so many in this town did. “And even if I did you’d have let me keep staring, right?” she asked him.

[thislonelylily-blog]

thexhunterx:

Dorian already could tell the petite brunette had been staring at him for a good hour now. Not that he minded, it meant she was interested in him, or she didn’t have anything better to do. He was going to go with the first thought. Whether she was genuinely curious or simply liked to stare at others from a distance, if she wanted to say something she would have. That was the interesting thing about this place, there would always be someone out there, that didn’t necessarily fit the mold. She looked, out of place, like a lost puppy seeking to fit in somewhere. Still, Dorian pretended as if he was busy, or occupied, though he could observe as well.

Like a deer in headlights, he could almost say he was watching this in slow motion. From the light movement in her body, causing her to react the way she did, to the glass slipping from her grasp and crashing onto the ground. All of this because she was startled? she did approach him. Dorian signaled his hand in the air “Waiter.” he stated as he indicated for the server to clean the mess up, he gestured out his hand for her to take, so that he could move her around the broken glass. “You still are” he chuckled. “Staring, and now conversing.” he said as he looked at her “To what do I owe the pleasure of such an entrance?” 

        “Oh,” Lily let out as a waiter came to clean up the mess she’d made. The polite and mannered nature of her made her want to clean it up but she knew technically it was the man’s job. Gently she placed her hand on his and awkwardly she stepped aside so he could come and pick up the glass and mop up her drink. When he insisted she was still staring she realised she actually was. Her eyes had momentarily gone to what she’d spilt but had quickly returned to his and proceeded to stare. “If I can get my mouth to work,” she said aloud before blinking a few times as she realised that wasn’t just a thought in her head. “I mean, yes, conversing, not just staring like a...,” she tried to think of something to compare herself to but in her head the word ‘stalker’ just kept repeating itself. 

      “Weirdo,” she merely said. It was then that she pulled her fingers from his hand. God, was she malnourished or something? She’d literally just been eating...or had she actually even taken a bite of her meal? Whatever the reasoning her cheeks grew red the more she realised she was acting exactly how she had always acted in high school. Perhaps it wasn’t even her fault. Maybe with Matty back she was quickly reverting back to being the ever invisible sister. “I’m not sure that entrance was a pleasure so much as punishment,” she admitted, looking down at the waiter cleaning it before back at him. “You um...you have a very - this is going to sound strange - a very unaffected kind of expression about you. I mean, I’ve been staring at you a while and normally people start to kind of get...mad about it. You don’t seem very annoyed even now that I’ve completely disrupted your time.”

[thislonelylily-blog]

Fistful of Lies || Lily&Evie

[thislonelylily-blog]

of-vixens:

                       She’d been spending more time in the pits to practice the art of pummelling people to the ground. Admittedly, it was a challenge       —-      Harder than most, at least for the 5″4 brunette who’d made a name for herself with knives and with fire and with torture. She was less of a fighter and more of a manipulator, but that was something Evie had every intention of fixing. So here she was, in the pit, dressed in workout leggings and a spaghetti-strap tank-top, having just finished her fights for the day, and         —–      The soreness from her workout was already settling in, and she was about to leave the pit for the day and attend to normal Death things when she heard someone inquire about a man named Matty.

                       Now, Aveline knew a Matty, and she also knew that going around asking about somebody to men twice your size in a place where all people participate in is underground fighting was not quite the brightest idea, and she was about to turn away when she noticed the man grab her, and it dawned on her suddenly that if this girl had something to do with Matty       —–      VI’S Matty       —–   The best thing Evie could do was get on her good side. 

                                                               So she did.

                       Pushing tattered locks from her face, the mercenary approached the two, eager to break the scene up quick lest it turn into a whole brawl, which she wouldn’t have minded, per se, but she also wasn’t stupid, and common sense rationalized that people here had connections with OTHER people here, and eventually the scales would tip in her favour. So she kept it low key. For now.        ❛         Back off, dirtbag, she’s with ME.       ❜       Her voice was raspy, tone threatening, almost a growl, and she dug her fingers into the pressure point on his neck until he was bordering unconsciousness and was forced to release her. 

                                          ❛        You can thank me later, pipsqueak,                                                       but for now, we have to GO.      ❜      

       Lily knew she wasn’t getting out of this situation unharmed, likely she was already getting a bruise the size of half her arm from the guys large hand. However in Lily’s experience she wasn’t going to die either. For all the times she’d been in the hands of another she’d never died. She never really fought back so most never saw much of a reason to kill her, without being threatening or a big sort of personality no one thought she’d do much more than simper away. Which was all she did.

       However the brute holding her was interrupted before he could do much and Lily saw a girl only relatively bigger than herself but still far smaller than the male holding her intervene. For as bad as Bucharest was she’d been saved far more times here than she ever had anywhere else. Criminals in groups must have had much better ethics than just street thugs. Least that was what she thought, unaware of who Evie was. Hell, at this point she didn’t even know who Vi was. Matty and Lily hadn’t got to spend much time with one another. She worked and slept and he did pretty much the same. Occasionally she’d attempt to follow him places and usually she’d end up somewhere completely different.

       Slowly, as the red head grasped the man, he began to release Lily. The large hand wrapped around her arm grew loose and once enough so she slipped from his hand and stepped back. Instinct was to wipe his germs off her but as she began to brush her arm with her opposing hand she heard the woman said they needed to go. Lily did not completely understand but nodded, trying to recall the way out but the place was crowded and she now couldn’t tell which direction she’d come from. “Okay,” she said instead, hoping the girl would be as helpful in this area as the other.

[thislonelylily-blog]

thexhunterx:

He was sitting at one of the more popular restaurants in Romania. He had just finished an excellent course meal, and he checked his phone for any particular interest in business. Be as it may be getting rid of someone who may awfully be annoying, to wiping the streets clean of an unfortunate soul. Or maybe he’ll take his chances, and head towards the Casino, a game of win or lose.

    He smirked as he glanced through some of the ranges of money that people were willing to hire, of course, he decided which he’d go for. When he heard the sound of another, he placed his phone back in his pocket before his dark hues settled on the figure before him.

      Lily tended to stare at people far more intently than they’d like. In this city people took the kind of intense gaze she had as something threatening because they had established themselves in a threatening situation. It only made Lily want to watch them more, the way their anger or irritation with her took hold of their faces. Yet she’d been staring at the same person for a good hour now and he seemed not to have noticed. Perhaps it was how crowded the place was, or perhaps he really was so self involved that those around him were oblivious, it didn’t matter to Lily because it merely meant she could observe him as he naturally was. To her he didn’t seem exceptionally interesting looking. With his blonde hair and basic features he looked like any guy in a CW show but it was hard for her not to be enamoured by the way he fit himself into the place oblivious to her gaze.

     Without much thought she abandoned her table and the meal there, taking only her drink and wandered over, condensation making the grip she had on the glass weak. Pushing her way through the tables and chairs she came up to him, watching just as intently as she had the past hour while he looked down at his phone. Reaching his table her kitten heels stopped and she stood with perfect posture which somehow made her look even smaller. When he finally looked up she felt his dark eyes on her and dropped her drink. She’d expected him to keep focused on himself like there was a two way mirror seperating them and she could see him but he couldn’t see her. His sudden looked almost causing her to jump out of her skin and quite literally causing her to flinch, making her drop her glass. When she felt the cold coca-cola on her ankles as the glass shattered beside her she immediately looked away “I’m so sorry,” she let out, embarrassed that she had been caught not just staring but actively doing so within a metre of him. “I didn’t - I was just -,” Lily tried but she hated lying, and actually found it difficult to do physically, feeling her stomach churn as she attempted to come up with one. “Staring at you,” she admitted, feeling the stomach pains mildly dissipate. There was still the stomach pains that came from nerves when she knew she’d messed up.

[thislonelylily-blog]

I Feel Unsteady || Lily&Vincent

[thislonelylily-blog]

vince-themadcap:

Vincent merely nodded as he listened, taking a sip of his coffee as he did so. He figured he should give up trying to scare her away, none of it was working. The thought crossed his mind that maybe he should just tell her he brutally killed those men that night, in grave detail, that would make her run - but part of him didn’t want to. Not just because they were in a public cafe, but because… he’d never really had anyone look at him as if he wasn’t a monster. He couldn’t bring himself to truly try and push this one away. Not yet. It was just coffee. After this, he would leave - he’ll never see her again. At least that’s what he told himself.

He looked around making sure no one was listening in and leaned in toward her, part of him wanted to tell her that his house didn’t even trust him - but he couldn’t, he couldn’t tell anyone that. He couldn’t tell her about his father, his mother, the fact he has dark secrets and nobody knows him, the war he belonged to was the one in his head. After hesitating, he added instead with a lick of his lips “One day - there may be a time where you may have to get involved. And there will be nothing you can do about it.” He spoke from experience.  

Vince leaned back in his hair and took another sip of his coffee. “Forgive me if I’m wrong… you seemed to talk about your brother as if he harmed you.” He was confused at that, and even more confused that she desperately wanted to find this guy and protect him despite that. Her brother left her. Then he remembered his own mother walking out on him… his fists clenched along with his jaw. If he hurt her… There it was, that strange desire to cause harm to anyone that hurt this woman. This stranger. Did she remind him that much of her? His mother was nothing special to protect. 

      Taking a sip of her drink she felt a kind of pride that he wasn’t going to fight her once more on his dastardly self. Perhaps he was growing tired of it or perhaps she’d gotten through to him, either way it would likely remove a partially arduous part of their conversation and save them a lot of time. It wasn’t like she had anywhere to be but Lily didn’t see much point in wasting what they did have repeating themselves. You couldn’t truly get to know anyone that way. However when he leaned in she began to assume that she’d spoken too soon. With a disappointed expression she leaned in as well to close the distance a little more, leaning down to her height was likely irritating for him.

     When he did speak however it was clear that was more he had intended to say. What had come out wasn’t exactly something that needed to be whispered, it could be openly said with people not totally understanding. No one could prove from what he said that anything was going on. Lily pulled away from him and sighed a little. “I don’t think you needed to whisper that,” she informed him. “I don’t think that’s even what you wanted to tell me.” Like him she took another sip of her coffee, looking at him with a kind of scolding gaze, mixed with a little disappointment.

      “Brothers, I came looking for one but I have two,” she responded because it was the easiest way to respond without actually answering the question. Lily’s intentions when coming here had been to find Isaac, instead she found Matty and saying too much about his past meant that she could ruin his connections here and she didn’t that that was her place. However, as she recalled, when she met Vincent he only knew she was looking for an Isaac and no one here knew an Isaac, so perhaps there was no harm in actually speaking about her past with someone. "Neither one of them could do anything about you yelling at me without being a hypocrite and an arsehole. Neither ever did anything for me. It was always about them. Even when Jack...yeah, hurt me, it was about Isaac.” 

       In her head all she could think was how stupid she probably sounded to him. She was chasing after her brother who hadn’t been kind to her but Lily knew deep down it was her fault. If she had been a better sister when they were younger, stopped the two of them from fighting and made them be close with one another instead of taking sides then none of it would have happened. In the end Lily believed truly that when her brother had hit her it was subtle punishment for his failure as a young girl. “So as much as you want to tell me you’re the big bad guy I don’t care, no one has ever stopped someone hitting me before so whatever, I’m pathetic...,” Lily rambled, staring at her coffee. She never really talked with anyone except doctors about being hit and with them she was merely factual and unfeeling. No need for names or reasons. “But I’m never going to think you’re awful.” Her hands squeezed her cup gently as she recalled the pain swelling in her form while he pulled people off her so fluidly. Whatever his reasoning for doing it he had and she wasn’t going to forget it.

[thislonelylily-blog]

dcngerousfates:

Ophelia’s eyes didn’t often veer from the screen of the tablet in front of her, row after row of words flashing before her eyes as she attempted to keep her train of thought. Translations, some she was determined to get finished before morning arrived. The corner of the bar she occupied was dim, preferable for the girl as all she wished to do for the moment, was  b l e n d.

She sipped idly at the water she held, three untouched drinks at the end of her table, where they would remain untouched. Ophelia trusted little, especially the likes of drinks sent from the oversized leering men down over at the bar top. She smiled that patented smile, mouthed an easy ‘thanks’ and returned to her fun. A shadow crossed into the light above her, before a body sat in the chair across from her and startled the brunette from her thoughts.

“дерьмо” she cursed, only relaxing back into her seat after no immediate threat.

 Ophelia glanced up again then, noting how while the bar was crowded, either this person felt a need to join them or just–hadn’t noticed her? Either seemed plausible.

“…can I HELP you? Actually–doesn’t matter. You’re welcome to those, if you’d like. Can’t guarantee their lack of substance though.”

       Lily had noticed the girl with perhaps the same intensity as her male admirers. While the level to which she impacted Lily could be equal the way Lily looked at her was far different. Lily gazed as people like art, as though in a gallery surrounded by paintings because there were so many people with beauty worthy of hanging in one. This girl seemed one but everyone had a feature that Lily found most unique about them and in a day and age where brows were one of the most important things a girl could think about before leaving the house Lily saw this woman’s and felt compelled to stare at how they shaped every other part of her face.

       When she finally decided to approach the girl she didn’t realise that her presence would be so unwelcome. Taking a seat beside her Lily tried to ignore the curse - it was hard because when she didn’t know what one meant she’d worry even more about what it could - and instead focus on the girls features for later recollection. 

       Tone was important for any artistic piece and clearly the girl was ready to set hers as she addressed Lily. “You can,” she responded though the girl rather immediately took it back and Lily leaned against the hardwood of the bar as she waited to understand. “Thanks? I mean, if they were ordered for you I don’t imagine they’re too unsafe unless you’ve never seen this particular bartender before, perhaps they bribed him but I haven’t ever been too unlucky here,” Lily stated, picking up one of the many drinks and taking a sip. “Perhaps you shouldn’t be so defensive.”

[thislonelylily-blog]

I Feel Unsteady || Lily&Vincent

[thislonelylily-blog]

vince-themadcap:

“Used to. Joining War changed things. Now, I fight for greed. Pretty fucking awful, right? I beat people to near death for selfishness - money I don’t need.” It gave him the thrill now, before it was survival but it was not the main reason; it kept is hunger at bay. Flashbacks to his fights: that smile, the manic laughter at every kick, every hit he gave and received. It stopped him losing control and hurting someone else that didn’t deserve it, that didn’t agree to it. The fights were consent, and he didn’t need to hold back and feel guilty for it after ward. At least he still felt a sense of guilt - it reminds him that he is still human. “War gave me a new life.” Vince reminded himself every day of that fact, he would have died that night his recruiter took him in, either that or in jail for a few years. He owed them.

Vincent grabbed the drinks and led her over to a vacant seat by the window. “There. We can call it even now.” Despite the fact he paid; but he wasn’t going to allow himself to be so low as to allow her to pay him coffee for shouting abuse at her earlier. Sitting with her was enough. A sudden thought rushed over him and he asked a question without thinking it through. “Are you really a hacker?”  He had accused her of being one of those earlier, out of angry assumption.

All he knew was she hacked a computer, or something, to help track down these men who may hold clue as to her brother’s whereabouts. He guessed what he was asking, was if she was with - what did they call them - he knew that there was one of the rival houses that specialised in gathering information. Pestilence. Maybe she wasn’t in a house, maybe she barely knew how to hack and got someone else to do it for her. Maybe she was smart and simply avoided joining any criminal houses - something he wished he would have done, but he never had the choice to refuse. He shouldn’t have assumed and snapped at her. If she was, or even if she wasn’t, here he was blurting out he was in a crime house - but for some reason, he trusted her with the information despite everything. Maybe because when she was out of it in hospital she told him briefly why those men attacked her, and again she told him more about his brother several minutes ago - there was a level of trust she had of him despite the fact they were strangers. The least he could do was open up somewhat.

        Lily followed behind him as he held their drinks, a kind of frown on her face. Despite all she had said he was still determined beyond anything it seemed to convince her that he was ‘awful.’ It was sad, Lily didn’t want him to keep thinking that way but she knew, at least currently, there was literally nothing she could do to stop the thought process. “I don’t think being selfish is awful, being selfish is survival. If I wasn’t selfish...,” she rolled off. If she wasn’t selfish she’d still be at home under the thumb of her parents and the fist of her brother. “If I wasn’t selfish I never would have found my brother. We also wouldn’t be getting coffee.”

        Taking a seat Lily picked her drink up off the table where he sat it and looked him over once more. Despite his insistence that he was awful he’d at least calmed himself down. “You told me it wasn’t important to you that I paid my life debt, I doubt it’s important to you that you’ve exchanged coffee for yelling at me,” she told him before blowing on her drink gently to cool it down before she would take a sip. “So you can stop saying we’re even or that you’re awful, you get that it’s not making a difference and since I am thoroughly aware I’m the only one to blame if you prove yourself right.” Now she took a sip of her drink, corners of her mouth turned up in a subtle smile.

       As she placed the drink down she nodded. “Hacker second, artist first but yes, I am,” Lily told him, spinning the glass in her fingers. “I’ve been looking for my brother a long time and, as you can hear from my accent, I’m not exactly from here. Hacking has always been the best way to try and find him, and to make sure I was never...under funded. If however you’re not asking if I’m a hacker but if I’m part of another syndicate then no, I am not. I know of the one you’re asking about and I couldn’t - I couldn’t do that to my brother, endanger him like that, and those people haven’t helped me the way people in your own group have. Why would I side against people who help me?” she asked him, eyes remaining on his own.

[thislonelylily-blog]

tommykingston:

“Mostly arseholes, huh? Someone’s a ray of sunshine.” He was aware of how her eyes scanned over him, and he couldn’t exactly blame her. A lot of people, even other hackers themselves, bought way too much into that picture of a stereotypical hacker with acne-laden skin, clothes that hadn’t been washed in a week, a small room in their mother’s basement and a panic attack at the mere sight of a member of the female species. Tommy wasn’t any of these things, he was as handsome as a young god, his clothes -almost all name-brand- carrying the subtle fresh scent of fabric softener with a dab of Hugo Boss, his place a small villa that left no doubt about the prosperous state of his bank accounts.

“Sorry I didn’t have that kind of reaction to you.” A grin was plastered over his entire face now. “It’s not that you’re not attractive, it’s just that I was too busy freaking out at the prospect of losing the life I’ve built for myself here.” He was entirely aware that she wasn’t upset at the lack of a boner from his side, but hell, maybe this was going to lighten the mood a little. Because strangely enough, now that he’d gotten over the initial shock, she seemed to be the one who was overly tense, almost as if she was scared of him or something. Was she scared of him? Her next words and her body language seemed to hint at it. “Wasn’t trying to make it sound threatening, I merely meant to remind you of hacker ethics. Hackers don’t rat out other hackers,” he pointed out, perhaps rather desperately.

His coffee machine -as expensive as everything else in his kitchen- brewed two cups of coffee with a gentle humming noise, one black for her, one with milk and sugar for him. He set them down at the table, inviting her to sit. “Do you really think if I’d actually found your elusive brother I wouldn’t have taken bloody credit for doing so?” What was the point in doing something amazing for someone else if you didn’t do it to brag about it? Tommy observed her quietly, not really bothered that she’d jumped to the conclusion that some anonymous email had come from him. Hell, it probably would have made sense, even if only due to the fact that he was in Bucharest and apparently that’s where her brother was too. Still, he didn’t have anything to do with it.

“Tommy Kingston,” he introduced himself when she did. Not much additional damage done, if she was going to tell someone where he lived, he was fucked no matter what.

       “I think I’ll live and so will you,” Lily responded. Heart attack, god he was being rather dramatic. Still it was sort of suspicious that he would bail on his home after one hack. Lily wasn’t one to insert herself into other people’s drama without them opening speaking about it with her or exposing her to it but she realised that if he would just run off like that he had more going on in his life than she had in her own, especially since she now had Isaac back. “One person finding your location and your whole life is ruined? Come on, unlikely,” Lily said, partially a leading question. After all she knew little about him beyond his coding abilities and yet he knew a fair amount about what was going on in her life - well vaguely, no specifics. 

        “I sincerely promise I’m not going to rat you out, I sort of thought we were friends...until the anonymous message,” she admitted. A friendship built on anonymity and skill but a friendship Lily had nonetheless. To her those were few and far between with how often she’d moved and the online community had been the closest she’d come to friends even if they knew nothing about her homelife. Shadowlion might not have known about her other brother but he did know about how hard she tried at what they did even if she wasn’t as skilled as he was.

       As he placed the drink on the table she sat, hands resting gently on the wood before pushing over it and taking hold of the warm cup, immediately heating her cool fingers. “My brother is in a criminal group, giving away his location could get whoever it was hurt,” she admitted, blowing gently on the coffee as she stared down at it. “Besides, it’s not like you knew I was a girl, in most of my experiences people think I’m like a twelve year old boy. It’s not like you’d want to deal with a snot nosed kid,” Lily followed up. With her level of skill and the way she spoke it was the assumption most made when interacting with her but she never corrected them, it didn’t matter to her what they thought as long as they helped.

         “Nice to meet you, Tommy,” Lily said, looking up and giving him a soft and apologetic smile. “I am sorry, I just...I don’t know who else could have sent it to me and I thought - I thought it made sense you’d do it. That you’d want me to know but wouldn’t want to deal with actually helping me find him once I got here. I don’t - I don’t want to think someone bad is watching him, if it was you...then I wouldn’t be so concerned.”

[thislonelylily-blog]

tommykingston:

“That’s how normal people make plans to meet up, yes,” Tommy insisted stubbornly, ignoring the fact that he may very well have said no to a request like that. After all, one of the best and most wanted hackers of the current time couldn’t just go outside and reveal his identity to anyone who asked nicely, even if he’d known them online for a bit. “It would have worked out nicely without one of us nearly getting a heart attack.” 

The part about the anonymous message confused him, because he hadn’t heard from th3l3ftb3hind in a while, and he certainly hadn’t sent out anything to her anonymously. Now that he’d made sure he had enough money to last him a small lifetime, he’d focused mainly on his job at the restaurant, meaning Shadowlion hadn’t been as active lately in the forums. Was that what made her suspicious of him, prompting her to reach out? 

“I mean it. You can’t tell anyone.” He acknowledged her appreciation of his place with a curt nod, but was unable to let the matter of her finding him go without making it perfectly clear that she understood that he really did need her to keep quiet about his online identity. “I’m asking you from hacker to hacker.” Sure, she wasn’t nearly as good as he was, but he still considered her a hacker. 

“Now, what’s this anonymous message you’re so upset about?” Tommy briefly glanced at the girl before leading her into the kitchen. “Tea? Coffee?” Even though all of this was giving him a headache, he didn’t completely forget his manners. “Because I didn’t send you anything - sorry.” 

      “Normal people also know each others names, have each others phone numbers and are mostly arseholes,” Lily pointed out. The concept of normal one that rose a kind of angry fire inside her. Normal people were the ones that cast aside people like her brother when they’d done nothing wrong, made cruel assumptions. The fact Lily had made the assumption that this man, whose name she didn’t even know, had sent her the anonymous message was currently lost on her. Just like everyone else she was jumping to things without actual evidence. “You’re like...twenty-eight? I doubt you were in any kind of danger, and my experience meeting other hackers shows I’d have been more likely to illicit an instant boners than a heart attack, hacker dudes are usually far less...clean and put together,” she said, eyes scanning him over. Lily’s only other encounters were with low level hackers. The kinds of guys who only got into hacking because they fit the type. People that were actually skilled tended to not actually be so...unpleasant. Unfortunately Shadowlion was probably the most advanced hacker willing to interact with her.

        Lily frowned at him, arms over her chest. “I just said I wouldn’t, you don’t need to add ‘can’t’ in there like it’s actually threatening,” she said but from the way her shoulders curled around it was clear she actually did feel vaguely threatened. She didn’t know Shadowlion and considering the kinds of people in this town, one specifically that had hackers under their employ, Lily knew he could retaliate if she did something wrong. Now that she had Matty there was some protection but without actually joining anyone she was...alone. Especially now. If she pushed too hard to imply she was strong he could push back easily and she’d never leave that room.

         “Coffee, black,” she said as she followed him into the kitchen, arms still across her chest and body still in a protective position. Really she wasn’t thinking about the coffee she was thinking about what he said. Unlike her, a lot of people tended to lie rather easily, and he could very well be lying. Yet it seemed a bit confusing. She’d got into his phone to find him, it hadn’t been easy but it had been doable. Tracing that email had felt like she was pushing a giant rock up a mountain at a 90 degree angle - impossible. “Someone told me where my brother was, here,” she answered. “You’re here, not exactly difficult to assume you were the one that told me. Maybe you’ve known for ages,” Lily pressed but her words were becoming less believable to her and the way her voice grew quiet that was clear.

         Walking a little closer to him she let her arms fall gently. “I’m Lily, by the way,” she said, feeling a little less afraid the more it seemed to her mind he hadn’t really been the one to email her. Obviously finding Isaac had been her goal but someone mailing her in such a secretive way had to imply they meant to cause harm rather than good. “Lily Vos since once I leave I’m sure you could just hack me back and find that all out. I wasn’t exactly thinking about covering my tracks so much as...finding you.” Lily pushed her hair behind her ear so she didn’t have to look at him as she admitted an easily avoided act. She should have been smarter but she had become desperate.

[thislonelylily-blog]

I Feel Unsteady || Lily&Vincent

[thislonelylily-blog]

vince-themadcap:

“I’ve had much worse. Those men that you messed with were inexperienced compared to me; several years in the fights every other day bartering my life for extra cash. Don’t sweat it.” They didn’t have the murdering intent or the - he did not know what to call it. Insanity. Vincent had lost it that night, and deep down he knew it. The bruises were hidden under his clothes, the marks on his face from the incident had nearly healed - but he had received more due to recent fights in the underground though faded. For the most part, it was hidden under makeup. 

Vince opened the door and made his way immediately to the counter. There was a couple in front of them waiting to be served.  The madcap reached into his pocket for the note he attempted to give the girl earlier, and held it between two fingers. As soon as the customers had moved away from the till he immediately passed the note over to the cashier. “Don’t let the girl pay. I’ll have a large Americano - and she will have…” he turned to look at her to finish the sentence. 

         He actually did sound sort of like her brother. So far Isaac, or Matty as he wanted her to refer to him as with others, didn’t really brag about his work within the crime syndicate but she could still easily recall what he had been like in their youth. No one was as good as him and it was an easy thing for the middle Vos child to say. Likely this was still true since...well, he wasn’t dead. “You would fight people for money to survive?” she asked him, a little astonished. He seemed...far more put together than that physically. Maybe it was her own bias but he didn’t exactly seem like a street kid who needed money that way. She supposed she also didn’t look like a tattooing hacker though so who was she to say anything?

         Following Vincent inside she stayed behind him, looking at everyone as she entered. No one seemed particularly suspicious and eventually she moved closer to his side. “Long black,” she requested. She still had a long and full evening of drunk people to tattoo no doubt so coffee, especially a double shot of it was going to do her some good. “Thank you,” she said out of habit before looking away. He couldn’t very well scold her for saying thank you for a drink.

[thislonelylily-blog]

demetriadeluca:

“You design tattoos?” Demi replied with a bright smile.  Honestly, the whole thing sounded amazing.  “I have one and it took such a long time for me to find a design I liked.  It’s really amazing that you design things that could be one someone’s body forever.  That is even more professional than designing banners or whatnot,” Demi told her.  She twisted a lock of hair around her finger.  You are having fun and that’s all that matters.”

         “Yeah, I mean, sometimes people come in with their own but for the most part I will work with the customer for what they want. It’s kind of a let down when someone comes in and is like ‘I want this’ and you feel sort of like you’re doing more of a colouring in project than actual art,” she admitted. So many people came in that way but generally Lily could convince them to get something more unique. After all, why get what everyone else had? “What did you end up getting?” Lily asked her.