Make or break [cw/tw]

It couldnt be Tessa if she didnt go all out in some sort of way. Be it that she was wearing something that clearly seperated her from the crowd or some new way she had done her makeup. She was wearing a pair of short overalls in a washed out white that were modified to look rather worn out. She was wearing a pink white striped long sleeved shirt. She wore matching knee socks to the shirt she wore with black long boots. Her hair was flowing wildly as usual and her makeup was a sharp liner in pink with small lines of white framing it.
She showed up with her mother, looking around as she was clearly looking for him. When she saw him, she smiled broadly, but she knew she couldnt just run up to him and hug him close. She had to be professional to a certain degree. Leona seemed a little out of place but she was very good at hiding it, seeing that gatherings were kind of her thing. She went with Tessa around, looking at the different pictures. But Tessa just kept looking for ways to glance at him. “You’re making it obvious,” her mother suddenly said, making her blush a little. “Sorry. It’s just been a while,” she mumbled, looking at a picture next to them.

Eventually they did pass one picture, Leona stopping as she recognized his name. Tessa stopped and looked at it before she at first frowned a little but then her eyes turned soft as she realized what it was. She wanted to linger by it but Leona told her she could have all the time to do that when she had left. She simply nodded and took a last look at the picture, a soft smile spreading on her lips before she moved on with her mother. They were looking at some model pictures when he got to them, Leona greeting him rather profesionally, while Tessa just mumbled a very happy hey you. “Yeah, it’s kinda sad isnt it,” she remarked with a sigh but then she got a bit of a playful smile on her lips in a friendly way. “But so far I’ve actually liked all of what I’ve seen. I’d say it’s his loss,” she remarked with a shrug but still with that smile, taking a sip of the drink he had given her. She had definitely loosened up from the strict motherly attitude she had met him with to a more casual, even rather friendly outshine. She looked at Tessa before looking at him. “I’ll leave you two to it,” she said before she sent Gerard a small smile; she wanted to show that she was willing to trust him. She moved on to go find Mr and Mrs Willow. Tessa then looked up at Gerard and tried to contain how giddy she felt. “I saw your picture,” she said with a small smile. God how she wanted to reach up and just touch his face, ask him to tell her everything about him even if it would take all night. She wanted to know more about him.

She nodded at his question and chuckled softly. “I was looking for it, but my mom was actually the one who found it,” she admitted, because she had been far too busy trying to get glances of him. She then frowned a little as he seemed to think she had any critique to give. “You cant critique pictures such as that one. It’s a picture speaking a thousand words at once,” she said with a shake of her head, sighing in full motion with her shoulders. “It’s not supposed to be perfect, but as imperfect as it can get,” she thought out loud before they went to see her picture.
She had chosen the picture that he had complimented, though she wasnt sure if she was too happy about it anymore. She had a different idea in her head that she rather wanted to capture. Putting down the sparkling water he had given her, she corrected her overalls a little. “I’ve thought of one scene I’d want to capture. But it’s a secret for now,” she said with a teasing smile, looking around before she carefully leaned closer to him, ceasing the opportunity to touch his arm lightly. “I think you’d like it,” she whispered at him with a sweet smile on her lips. She wasnt insinuating anything suggestive, she was just excited.

“I hope so,” she said, leaning back away as she looked at her picture again. She nodded at the things he was pointing out but then his tease made her pull a fake offended expression, giving him a soft slap on his shoulder for teasing her. “You wouldnt have known if you hadnt seen the original!” she protested before she chuckled. She looked at her mother at his words, shrugging. “If I know her well enough and I do, it might be her talking his ear off,” she chuckled and narrowed her eyes at them like she was trying to see whether Mr Willow was getting an earful or not. She looked at him and gave his arm a soft squeeze, “I’ll be right back,” she said before she gave him a warning gaze, “You should save Mr Willow,” she chuckled before she went.

Leona looked to Gerard as he showed up, sighing as she realized she had been talking a lot by the way the old man seemed so relieved to be getting away. She accepted the walk and looked around as she took in the different pictures. She had seen a few paintings and some sculptures, but she wasnt really as interested in it as she was with photography. But that interest was only sparked due to Tessa’s massive interest in doing it. “Well she has seemed a little.... I dont know... different,” she remarked, not sure how else to explain it. His question made her hum as she thought about it, tilting her head a little. “I did see a picture of a bunch of scouts around a fireplace. The angle was rather good, though the lighting could have been dimmed down just a little,” she pondered before she shrugged. Clearly she had picked up on some things that Tessa had told her. “What about you?” She returned the question with curious eyes.

She nodded as he spoke of Mr Weber’s photograph, she hadnt seen the artist’s other work, but she liked the picture she had seen. But she was more interested in hearing what he had to say, listening intently as he explained. “I have noticed those. What are they exactly supposed to look like, you reckon?” She asked curiously.
She noticed how he was looking around, frowning a little at her question. “I havent really seen her since she went with you. Didnt she say where she went?” She asked, thinking that was rather odd. Tessa would always say where she went if she would purposely go for longer than just a moment. She barely noticed that Gerard was using her first name rather than the formal last name. It was safe to say that Leona alsp started to worry rather quickly, pulling her phone out to see if Tessa had left. “I’m gonna check the location app. She must have her phone. Yeah, look. It says she’s still here in the building,” she said, showing him the phone before she concluded that splitting up would be their best bet, suggesting that Gerard took a look outside first. She promised to keep calling the phone so it would ring.
The phone was there alright, but it wasnt in Tessa’s possession or seemingly near her. It had been lodged between the floor and a small decorative drawer, ringing as Leona had promised it would. It was close to the toilets which was were Tessa has gone as she said.

(Tw?)

Everything had happened so fast. She had been checking her phone, texting Maddie to get the last few details in place for her secret plan when some drunken patron had passed her on the way to the toilet. He had slurred some nasty compliment at her but she had just rolled her eyes at him and ignored it. Clearly he wasnt happy about that, but he went on his way either way. Only Tessa noticed that it was the wrong toilet. She sighed deeply and went there to tell him, suggesting that he best be on his way before someone else saw him.

She had to think fast, but her mind felt like it was going at a million directions at once. She went to the door to unlock it, stumbling out in the hallway as she touched around her neck. She had been grabbed rather harshly, she presumed it was definitely someone very strong. Leona came running and wrapped her arms around her daughter, holding her close. The young valkyrie wasnt crying but definitely in shock. The man came out of the bathroom, pointing at her with bloody fingers as he called her a lot of things, right from tease to dirty whore.
Her makeup was smudged around from the tears and fighting, a slight tear in the side of her mouth from his fingers, she looked up at her mother with a sadened look in her eyes. She wanted to go home and she wanted it before people could start to notice what had happened because things spread like wildfire at events like this. Leona simply nodded before she led her to the outside and got her into the car.
She shot Gerard a message, shortly explaining what she thought had happened. Tessa just laid down in the back of the car and stared into the great nothing. She only asked one question the whole time and that was whether Leona believed Gerard would hate her now. Leona didnt know what to say but in her own hopes assured her that he wouldnt.
The young valkyrie wanted to be dropped off at her own home, when Leona seemed to object she got angry. Her mother sighed and ended up doing it, offering to lead her up but the young girl didnt answer and just left the car. Feeling a little lost, she sent Gerard another message, urging him to go check on Tessa as she wouldnt speak to her. She looked up at her daughter’s apartment, feeling her heart break a little as thoughts spiralled about what could have happened to her daughter.

As soon as she had gotten inside, she had gone to bed. She laid down fully clothed and with her makeup on completely smudged before she just pulled her duvet over her and rolled up into a ball. Her lip stung and she could taste her own blood. She heard the door open but she didnt answer, however she did stick her hand out and knocked something off her nightstand that made a loud noise as soon as it hit the floor. She pulled her hand back in under the safety of the duvet as she just seemed to stare her eyes dry. She didnt want to close her eyes and be reminded of it. It was enough that she felt the blood slowly trickle down along her closed lips, eventually staining the the soft linen underneath her.

She didnt answer him, though if she had, she would have definitely told him that it wasnt because of him. She looked at him with sad eyes as he looked at her. Her heart felt like it was torn just like the small corner of her mouth. She just laid there staring with a dreadful expression as she thought of what to say. She didnt even know where to begin. “It was one of the patrons,” she said in a weakened voice, feeling her eyes sting as she looked at him. She looked away a little shameful and grit her teeth a little. “He said he was going to ruin me,” she whispered, looking back at him with sad eyes. The marks after a hand on her neck was rather prominent, but she could only tell because it felt like her skin was burning. “I-I was only lucky, I got away but now I’m scared what he’ll tell people,” she said as she looked at him with broken eyes. She shifted between his eyes for a second before she whimpered and closed her eyes. “All I could think about was you. If you’d believe him and then hate me... I feel so dirty but nothing even happened! I bit him when he tried to touch me and his ring caught a little of my skin,” she said rather frustrated, opening her eyes to look at him. She had tears in them because she thought this would change everything.

She whimpered as he touched her neck, sniffling a little as she shrugged. “I dont know,” she admitted. She had never seen the man before, at least to from what she could try and think of right now. She was only frustrated because she knew how strongly she felt for the nephilim and she hadnt ever experienced something like that. She had no idea how relationships were supposed to work and she had felt once before how much it hurt to not have him by her side. She felt how gently his hands held her face and she placed her hands carefully over his, closing her eyes as she felt her lips on her forehead.
As he crawled into bed with her, she just hid away in his embrace, pressing her head close to his chest as her arms almost clung around him like she was afraid he would disappear. She started sobbing quietly as he whispered to her, she didnt need a dictionary to know what he was saying, just feom the way he said it.
“I love you,” she whimpered in a muffle against his shirt, feeling her lip quiver as she felt a new kind pf fear. What was her mother going to do? Would she see this as him failing to protect her? She listened to his whisper, moving her head away from his chest to look up at him. Maybe it was his words or the fear that her mother would tear them apart that got the best of her. She moved up carefully, grabbing his face gently between her hands before she leaned in to kiss his lips tenderly. Just a small yet rather meaningful kiss. “I want to be yours. I want my mother to give us her blessing so we can finally be together,” she whispered, feeling a few tears run down her cheeks.

She responded to his whimper with a soft one of her own, something about just being near him already made her heart feel like it was slowly returning back to normal, mending the ache and hurt like an effective painkiller. She kept her hands on his face, touching his cheekbone in soft light touches, memorizing how soft his skin could feel on her thumb. His whisper was serious but she didnt seem to change her stance on where she stood. She just kept her eyes on his, stroking his cheek in gentle touches. He was right that she was young and frankly she couldnt tell the future, but she clung onto the belief that she wouldnt suddenly feel different about him. “I dont intend to stop either,” she whispered, grabbing his hand to place it over her beating heart. It was beating faster than normal which was just the effect he had on her whenever he was really close.
She nodded at his whisper, feeling there wasnt anything she wouldnt do for him. And if they got that blessing, they were free to do whatever they wanted. A liberating thought, she had as she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt the lingering sadness inside of her but she also felt happy, happy that she still had him. But then another thought crossed her mind, a rather sad one, or at least it was to her. She looked down with a frown. “If you never stop loving, then you should consider the reality of our situation before you make up your mind,” she said rather seriously, looking at him with sad eyes. “I cant give you children that are your own, at least not with me,” she said, shifting between his eyes. She had remembered how he had spoken of children in the future and even if that was long for now, it was still not something she couldnt leave out.

She knew that he probably had thought about it but she wasnt going to leave it to the unknown and ponder whether he had considered that factor or not. From her understanding, any man pursuing a woman to be with in a serious manner was seeking to start a family at some point. His whisper made her smile softly as she closed her eyes. She didnt really know what to say because it was something sp far fetched that the thought was a little weird for her. She barely knew herself as it was and all that she knew for certain was that she wanted him to be with her despite what she was and wasnt lacking. She opened her eyes as he said he had made up his mind, whimpering softly with a happy smile as she hugged him closer. She just wanted to lay here forever with him, forget the rest of the world and just enjoy this feeling he was making her feel.
She gave him a little space as he pulled out his phone, moving a bit down as she placed her ear to his chest and listened to his heartbeat. “How should we tell them?” She asked, fiddling a bit with his shirt as she thought about it. She could already imagine her mother’s stern expression as she’d just shoot it down without a thought. Leona did send a message back that they could come in the morning or whenever Tessa felt like it. She also asked if Tessa was okay, seeing that she hadnt said anything in the car.

She nodded in agreement, honesty was definitely the way. But to what degree? One thing was going there with the intention to establish a friendship, but a relationship? Was her father going to pull the classic protective father and her momma bear of a mother join him in denying everything? The stream of thoughts alone was making her feel a little out of touch. She just kept listening to the beat of hos heart, calming herself down by trying to think that it would be fine.
She glanced towards his phone just in time to see Xalvador reply with just a thumbs up. Which she didnt know but was a clear indicator that it would just be done, no questions asked. She shook her head as he had gotten rid of his phone and asked if she wanted to sleep. “I cant. I dont want to dream about what he did,” she whispered, though she was feeling a little worn out. She pushed herself up from the bed with a sigh. “I should probably shower. Wash off his hands and then burn these clothes afterwards” she mumbled, though it coud seem like she was trying to be funny, she was dead serious. It was a shame because she really did like this outfit, but she didnt think she could ever wear it again after that.