<div class="floatleft">(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3op8ql1VS1r7wrq1o1_r2_250.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Lawrence Hawkins<br/><strong>Place within Hierarchy:</strong>Old Timer<br/><strong>Role:</strong>Act<br/><strong>Position:</strong>Fire Handler, Elizabeths Partner<br/><strong>Location:</strong>The Big Tent<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>Black slacks, a white button up, and a black vest with vertical pinstripes.<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Mariana.<br/><hr/><br/>Perhaps what Lawrence was doing wasn’t exactly considered kind in most regards.  But he didn’t really see it as anything malicious, in fact he saw it as quite the opposite.  He had always been relatively good at figuring people out, and he had had a feeling that Mariana may have some sort of feelings for him a few days prior.  That was more or less why he had picked her away from that table, to figure out whether or not his inclination was correct.  Yes, perhaps he was being a bit manipulative, but he genuinely believed that he was only trying to help her.  It was rather remarkable how something like a crush could help to change somebody.  And it depended entirely upon the person who was being crushed upon to decide which way to steer that change.  He hoped to help make her feel more comfortable around people.<br/><br/>He was glad to see that his first experiment seemed to be working.  She did seem to be much more comfortable now that they were alone, enough so to actually compliment herself.  He had always saw her as an incredibly modest person, so to hear her out right gloat made him smile.  And it didn’t hurt that seeing her blush was incredibly cute, he was the type to find peoples embarrassment as something between endearing and amusing.  He allowed her to speak until her heart was content, hoping that him not interrupting her would possibly get a bit of information out of her.  He was very curious about her and her history, after all it wasn’t exactly common place for an attractive girl to be so remarkable with things like carpentry and engineering.  Perhaps that was just him being sexist.<br/><br/>His lips curled into a smile when she said she found it easy to talk to him, then proceeded to offer the notion that it could possibly be the alcohol.  Again he saw that shy nature come out, she almost appeared as though she was flirting with him.  Then she gave a way out…So when she followed it up with correcting her previous statement, and giving him the credit, that small smile grew until it met his eyes.  Finally his silence ended as he thought that it would be incredibly rude to just leave her hanging after such a statement. “What can I say, I’ve always been good at making beautiful women feel relaxed around me.” If she ever had any doubt that he was flirting with her, he intended on making it quite clear with that statement.<br/><br/>He was probably still too fresh in the circus to be doing this type of thing.  He didn’t know the lay of the land as far as the social affairs were concerned, so for all he knew somebody else already had a thing for Mariana.  But he also knew that his past two weeks had been filled with him worrying about those types of things, and he now realized it was only to his detriment.  And beyond that, there was nothing wrong with a bit of flirting.  Especially when alcohol was flowing and the entire point of these affairs was to have a good time.<br/><br/>Her random decision to go about trying to pretty herself up caught him a little off guard.  He did blame that one on the alcohol, but he did not think it was exactly a bad thing.  He took her in for a moment.  Once the suspenders were removed and she began to play with her hair he looked over her upper body.  It wasn’t the type of look that seemed vulgar, if anything it more appeared as though he was simply appreciating what was there to look at.  He wondered if she realized how beautiful she actually was, or if her modesty was more prone to her not realizing that she was something to behold.  And as though she could read his mind, she spoke of him not trying to change her look.  And the fact she commented on how a girl usually couldn’t do her job, he was forced to laugh at his own previous bias.  But he shook his head, she may have saw her words as being awkward but he did not.<br/><br/>“There are so many people that are concerned with how a person is supposed to look, or supposed to act, that it is downright foolish.  So what, you have your own sense of style and a profession that is not typical of a woman?  Hell, I make a living playing with fire when we as humans have an ingrained fear of fire itself.” He gave a shrug and looked down to his glass of scotch.  His words came with an indifference, the entire point of this circus was that things didn’t need to always be what society as a whole thought to be correct.  “They could put you in a dress, cover your face in make up, and you are still going to be the same person.  Not that I judge a single one of them for dressing that way themselves, but to try and change somebody else to match their own ideals of beauty just seems a bit selfish.” He lifted his scotch and took another drink.  He had brought her to the table to make her feel at ease, and here she was making him feel the very same feeling.  So he didn’t simply sip the liquor, instead he took a good solid drink as he no longer worried about needing to keep himself sober.  Not that he planned to get drunk, but what was the point in letting loose if you planned on holding back?<br/><br/>“Elizabeth told me about how she found you.  According to what she believes, she thinks that you may have been homeless before the Spirit decided to bring you in.” Despite the fact that what he said could come off as embarrassing, if not rude, both his tone and the look on his face as his eyes returned to her should have let Mariana know that he held absolutely no judgment. “I imagine that that must have been difficult.  I myself have not really had a home beyond this circus for well over a decade, but I was fortunate enough to have chosen that lifestyle.” Yeah perhaps he was now dipping into incredibly personal details, but he could not be sure when the next time he would have alone time with Mariana would be.  He wanted to learn as much as he could about his Family, and right now she had peeked his attention. “What about you?  Did you choose it?  I know that this is a stark change in subject, but I am curious about what brought you here.  We all have our story, I guess I would just like to know yours.” He flashed her another charming smile before he reached across the table to take the bottle of scotch, refilling his glass before it was set in front of her again. “And you do not have to answer if you do not wish.  We’ve nothing but time ahead of us, we could discuss it now or we could or could not discuss it in the future.”