Mafia romance thing? (Closed) (rated M)

"Ass. Must you make my job difficult?" She huffed and made a deal out of it, but the small smile on her lips betrayed her relief that Karkota wasn't mad at her for snapping. She let him help her with minimal grumblings—can't be too civil, or that would be suspicious—and waved a hand towards the barn in the back. "I want to visit the horses before going inside. At least I'll be able to do something before I'm banished to sitting on my ass and twiddling my thumbs."

"I've never learned how to ride, so that makes your job easier." She paused dramatically. "Or maybe I'll decide now's the time to learn just to spite you." She sighed and threw her head back, eyes closed as she faced the sun. "But that's still sitting down! I want to do something, move around! Being idle sucks unless I'm either drunk or tired."

"But I've been told I'm a happy drunk," she said, opening an eye to look at him. "Mood swings are at a minimum, and I've got the coordination of a newborn, meaning I won't be able to throw stuff." She paused and tilted her head. "And if I've had enough to drink, I get very…" she waved a hand in an attempt to find the word, "affectionate."

She stuck out her tongue in retaliation, then closed her eyes again. "I wasn't drunk drunk, though. I'm not that dumb. But you stayed," she pointed out, "A bad move on your part as well. You could be sitting on a Hawaiian beach by now, possibly chatting with my brother without even knowing it."

"Hmm," Tessa hummed, not missing the slight change in tone he had when mentioning his sister. She let out a breath and opened her eyes, tipping her head back down to normal as they reached the barn. "Maybe. But I've given you plenty of chances to run. You're sabotaging my attempts at being a good person for once in my life."

She scrunched up her nose. "'Stressful' and 'forced' don't exactly mix well with 'vacation', you know." She shut up, however, when they entered the barn and one of the horses greeted them with a very loud snort. "I'm gonna take a guess and say that's Kaspa."

"Nah, none of them are mine," Tessa said with a shrug, disentangling herself from Karkota's grasp so she could hobble through the barn on her own. She stopped at one stall that was labeled Kaspa and was nearly hit in the face by a white muzzle. She quickly jerked her head back before such a thing happened, then patted the horse's cheek as it stuck his head out, showing off its roan coat. "This rambunctious stallion is Kaspa, Rhydar's boy. He raised him since he was a colt."

((You're good, don't worry about it. I gotta go to sleep anyway))

Tessa rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around Kaspa's face, leaning her head against the stallion's. "I won't, promise." She kissed Kaspa's face and fell silent for a bit, then said, "Do you know a doctor by the name of Koma Kalei? Brain surgeon?"

"Figured, but just wanted to know," Tessa said, patting the stallion's cheek and leaning back to look at Karkota. "He's my brother's father, and the reason he wants to be a doctor. They're the only two doctors that I'll tolerate."

"Hawaii, which is why I asked if you knew him." She stuck her tongue out at Karkota as she left Kaspa and headed further into the barn to visit the other horses. "Rude. I worked very hard for those bullets, y'know."

"You did football?" she asked, sounding genuinely interested as she turned to face him from where she leaned against a pole. "I applaud you. Lots of violence. I'm more of a fan of hockey, though. Knife shoes."

She flashed a wicked grin. "And also shoving people into walls. That's my specialty." Her grin faltered for a fraction of a second as she hobbled over to an inpatient mare. "I never got an opportunity to actually play sports, besides the classic run through the streets like a maniac, as well as the good ol' frantically climb up a building." She cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "I did try out for soccer though, the one year. Never made it past that, though, before I booked it."

She shrugged, patting the mare's neck as she focused on the horse instead of Karkota. "I made it a habit of running from my foster homes and into the streets. I never fit into any of the schools, and I got beat more often than not in my foster homes. I figured it was better to run than stick around long enough to add to the collection of bruises and broken bones. Plus," she shrugged again, "at least in the streets, I had some sort of say of how I would live my life."

She stroked the mare's nose lightly, then backed away and headed over to Karkota. "I had a total of one friend back then, and that's only because we were always being put into the same homes. We just caused more trouble for ourselves than anything." She chuckled just thinking about their shenanigans, then looked up at Karkota. "But I think it would've been nice to have you as a friend. It might've been not so bad."

She nodded and said, "Yeah." She then reached out to him as she pushed off of the wall, using him to steady herself without really thinking about it, now that she wasn't making it a point to be difficult. "But don't you dare think about waiting on me hand and foot just because I'm temporarily and minorly crippled."