Part 1.
Fall 2014
Erinalle Dunbridge hadn't left RhyDin in 5 years. Though, you'd never be able to tell from her public appearances. It had been five years now of popping in and out of rooms and lives and never committing to anything. And for most of that, she had liked it.
Everyone had left her in the end. Those she had known and loved and expected. When Everett hadn't returned, it had all gone downhill for her, really. Well, him and the whole Governor debacle. So, she hid away.
Her bedroom at the inn was a mess, mud and dirt everywhere. Bones on the tables, and cages with small birds by the window. Black shirts and black pants and black boots hung on every chair or bedpost, just suspended where she had left them. Her work had consumed her, and eventually her room. And it was that way when Ivy, her old housekeeper and single constant friend, had stopped by.
"I don't know what you're up to, Erin, but it has to stop." Ivy said as she propped open the window and let the birds into the city. She pulled her blonde hair back, and placed her hands on her hips. She was taller, bigger than Erin in every way. She was the kind of woman that would have been a milkmaid or a cook in the past. Moving with force, she started pulling clothes off of posts and tossing them together on the bed.
"This is just unacceptable." Ivy continued to lecture her the way that she would, cleaning and letting in air as she rambled on about responsibility and aging and getting on with things.
"I'm just experimenting," Erin retorted, finally as she came further into the room. "I'll figure it out." The discussion felt rehearsed, almost, like a dance.
"Erin. Seriously. You have more to offer than half the people in this city, and you've spent the last, what? Five years" Six years" In this room. It's done."
"Done?" Erin rubbed her temple as she dropped on the bed, her shoulders rounding.
"You're going to get a hobby, buy an apartment, and start living again. In some manner, I don't care. Really. But the trips to the cemetery, and sitting in this room, and any sort of idea that you may be looking for?"
"I'm not," Erin interrupted, her voice short and clipped. "I said I wasn't and I'm not."
"Fine. Just do it."
——
And that was why Erin joined IFL. She used to like it. She tried to like it. But it was hard to come back, it was hard to make friends, and in the end, she wasn't really a part of the team. She was a sub more than anything, a floater and a vagrant.
Fists wasn't her thing, she told herself. She'd figure something out, she promised. And even when a crazy man followed her home one night and tried to kill her because she had been in the cemetery again? she didn't change. Not much, anyway.
—-
February 2015
"I'm having you evicted from the inn." Ivy was sitting on the bed when Erin had opened the door. Her blonde hair sitting around her shoulders and her blue eyes staring out at her. "It's time you found a place to live."
"I live here," Erin pursed her lips and faced down her friend, hands on her hips.
"No, you're parked here. You're waiting, and it's stupid. Who are you even waiting for anymore" Do you remember?"
"I'm not?" her voice trailed off, and then she sighed. "I don't know, Ives, but when I move out of here?"
"Stop feeling so sorry for yourself, Erin. Just go outside. Hang out, get a job, talk to people, just because people have left doesn't mean the entire city is dead?"
"But it's not—-"
"Sweety, it's never going to be the same. Just accept it."
Erin sighed and dropped into her desk chair, pulling her feet up on to the seat as well and grabbing her knees.
"When I got here, I was" fantastic. I walked into a room and people clamored to speak to me. I was in fashion shows, I had boyfriends, I was" I was a princess. Here, I was." Her voice was small, childlike. "And now I'm just...I'm invisible, Ivy, and I don't like it. Even my old friends have new lives, and I don't think I fit in them. In anywhere. I tried to join some stuff and it?"
"Erin," Ivy was still firm, but kind, the usual non-descript side-kick kind of woman. "You can't expect to be the twenty-year-old sensation that waltzed in here nine years ago. You're not the same, the city is not the same" You're almost thirty now. It's time you acted like it."
"But?" She lifted her head to peer at her friend.
"No. I'm clearing your things out of here, I'll put them in the manor for now. And you...divest. Sell the shop, get an apartment, rebuild already."
So, in response" Erin decided to go to the Arena, get cut to ribbons and promptly get laid. But, hey, she left her room.
One step at a time, right?
Fall 2014
Erinalle Dunbridge hadn't left RhyDin in 5 years. Though, you'd never be able to tell from her public appearances. It had been five years now of popping in and out of rooms and lives and never committing to anything. And for most of that, she had liked it.
Everyone had left her in the end. Those she had known and loved and expected. When Everett hadn't returned, it had all gone downhill for her, really. Well, him and the whole Governor debacle. So, she hid away.
Her bedroom at the inn was a mess, mud and dirt everywhere. Bones on the tables, and cages with small birds by the window. Black shirts and black pants and black boots hung on every chair or bedpost, just suspended where she had left them. Her work had consumed her, and eventually her room. And it was that way when Ivy, her old housekeeper and single constant friend, had stopped by.
"I don't know what you're up to, Erin, but it has to stop." Ivy said as she propped open the window and let the birds into the city. She pulled her blonde hair back, and placed her hands on her hips. She was taller, bigger than Erin in every way. She was the kind of woman that would have been a milkmaid or a cook in the past. Moving with force, she started pulling clothes off of posts and tossing them together on the bed.
"This is just unacceptable." Ivy continued to lecture her the way that she would, cleaning and letting in air as she rambled on about responsibility and aging and getting on with things.
"I'm just experimenting," Erin retorted, finally as she came further into the room. "I'll figure it out." The discussion felt rehearsed, almost, like a dance.
"Erin. Seriously. You have more to offer than half the people in this city, and you've spent the last, what? Five years" Six years" In this room. It's done."
"Done?" Erin rubbed her temple as she dropped on the bed, her shoulders rounding.
"You're going to get a hobby, buy an apartment, and start living again. In some manner, I don't care. Really. But the trips to the cemetery, and sitting in this room, and any sort of idea that you may be looking for?"
"I'm not," Erin interrupted, her voice short and clipped. "I said I wasn't and I'm not."
"Fine. Just do it."
——
And that was why Erin joined IFL. She used to like it. She tried to like it. But it was hard to come back, it was hard to make friends, and in the end, she wasn't really a part of the team. She was a sub more than anything, a floater and a vagrant.
Fists wasn't her thing, she told herself. She'd figure something out, she promised. And even when a crazy man followed her home one night and tried to kill her because she had been in the cemetery again? she didn't change. Not much, anyway.
—-
February 2015
"I'm having you evicted from the inn." Ivy was sitting on the bed when Erin had opened the door. Her blonde hair sitting around her shoulders and her blue eyes staring out at her. "It's time you found a place to live."
"I live here," Erin pursed her lips and faced down her friend, hands on her hips.
"No, you're parked here. You're waiting, and it's stupid. Who are you even waiting for anymore" Do you remember?"
"I'm not?" her voice trailed off, and then she sighed. "I don't know, Ives, but when I move out of here?"
"Stop feeling so sorry for yourself, Erin. Just go outside. Hang out, get a job, talk to people, just because people have left doesn't mean the entire city is dead?"
"But it's not—-"
"Sweety, it's never going to be the same. Just accept it."
Erin sighed and dropped into her desk chair, pulling her feet up on to the seat as well and grabbing her knees.
"When I got here, I was" fantastic. I walked into a room and people clamored to speak to me. I was in fashion shows, I had boyfriends, I was" I was a princess. Here, I was." Her voice was small, childlike. "And now I'm just...I'm invisible, Ivy, and I don't like it. Even my old friends have new lives, and I don't think I fit in them. In anywhere. I tried to join some stuff and it?"
"Erin," Ivy was still firm, but kind, the usual non-descript side-kick kind of woman. "You can't expect to be the twenty-year-old sensation that waltzed in here nine years ago. You're not the same, the city is not the same" You're almost thirty now. It's time you acted like it."
"But?" She lifted her head to peer at her friend.
"No. I'm clearing your things out of here, I'll put them in the manor for now. And you...divest. Sell the shop, get an apartment, rebuild already."
So, in response" Erin decided to go to the Arena, get cut to ribbons and promptly get laid. But, hey, she left her room.
One step at a time, right?