"Fancy that." Shots now coming straight from the bottle, Kristia held up one finger, indicating for Emma to hold her thought. Chug. Chug. A couple shots down. How many was that? Who knew, but probably too much to remain sober for too long. Bottle sat down again. "Joe put you up to this? Cause you can go back and tell him I'm not entertained."

Emma shook her head quickly. "Actually... I haven't seen him in... well... ever." She wrinkled her nose at that, then looked back to Kristia. "I um... I was told I could find my mom here... and you have her name, so..." She shrugged as if not sure where to go from there.

Kris managed to morph her features into an expression that stated her thoughts. Unbelievable. Mouth twisted one way, nose cramped the other, brows high and exclaiming. "Really." Her playful manner had dropped instantly, no longer amused with the joke. Stalking out from behind the bar, she approached Emma swiftly and reached to grab the girl's elbow. "Walk with me."

Blinking once more, Emma looks around, almost as if to ask some one to save her. "I um... where're we going?" She looked down at the hand tightly gripping her elbow and nearly tripped over herself as she began to move. " We're walking." With a rough hold on the teen's arm, the Dhampire practically dragged the kid out with her, through the Back Alley door. Knee-high boots leading the path, her solid steps implied that is might not be such a pleasurable adventure outdoors. Nonetheless, Kris didn't give Emma much time to resist, pulling her out. Once yanking through the door, Kris forecefully released Emma's arm, turning then to pat her hand down acros her own pockets. Kristia was looking for a smoke. Why the non-smoker expected to have a cigarette? No clue. Smoking just seemed to be a good habit that she should have picked up five minutes ago. "You're Emma?" Emma nods silently with a white-knuckled grip on the strap of her bag.

"Bullshit." Nostrils flaring, the Dhampire took in the girl's scents. She couldn't quite match it as her daughter because of the time gap. The last time she'd seen her daughter, she was no more then a toddler.. The smell, still, had familiar pieces. Smothering any distance between them, she grabbed ahold of Emma's chin and visually tore her apart, looking for similarities.. "Who're your guardians?"

Emma trembled slightly under the scrutiny and shifted where she stood. "Um... Robert and Melinda Thompson... on Earth." If her hands gripped the strap of her bag any tighter, she would probably have torn it in two.

"Peh". Kris spat off to the side, sneering. "Information you could have picked up anywhere with a little sniffing around." Long fingernails still firmly holding Emma's chin, she turned the girl's head from one side to the other. "Where's some proof?" Emerald pools traveled down Emma with interest. She certainly wasn't expecting her, but even if she had been, this was not the person she had invisioned her child being.

Emma shifted again and raised a hand to push her Prada glasses up her nose where from where they had slipped. Her Seven jeans suddenly seemed too tight, tucked into her knee-high, Steve Madden boots with 4 inch stainless steel spikes for heels. Her white, long-sleeved t-shirt with the word 'Dior' screenprinted in bold letters across her chest wasn't warm enough, the cap on her head itching her scalp and the bag on her shoulder with the DB emblazoned on the flap suddenly seemed so useless. All of it meant something back home, but she wasn't home anymore. With careful movements, she shifted her bag to her side and reached a hand in, fishing around a moment before pulling out a leather bound book, a journal, and handed it over to Kristia. ?They were killed... terrorists had a bomb in the subway... And I um... I found this when I was going through all their stuff... so I came looking...?

Kristia snatched the book from her hands, still looking on with disdain and suspicion. Opening the cover, she flipped through a few pages and scanned over the legible print. Her expression didn't change much but now it was Kristia's turn to play the fool. Letters, stores, narratives about Emma and things strangers wouldn't know. Reality smacked Kristia in the face and she wasn't sure how to respond. Having just manhandled her own child, Kris felt like a goon and her face softened. She closed the book and handed it back to Emma. ?Well.? Long pause. ?You're Emma.? This time the comment was said in a quieter, less hostile tone. ?Wow. I wasn't expecting you.? Emotionally blank Kris didn't exactly give the warm and motherly reaction.

Emma took the book back with both hands, hugging it to her chest. She looked around the alley, then back at her mother. ?Um, I...I um, I never knew about... well, any of this... until Mom and Dad died, so um...? She shrugged once more, unsure of what to say next.

"Oh." Another smack in the face. That wasn't in the originally agreement. Her associates were supposed to keep Emma informed of where she came from and who she was.. That would answer any brooding questions Kristia ever had about any of her letters being shared with her daughter. Annoyed, that little piece of information was enough to make Kris completely dismiss Melinda and Robert's death. Good riddance. She pressed her hand to her forehead and sent her fingers through her hair, trying to keep it all together. ?I'm sorry to hear that.? Lies. ?I guess you have some questions then.. ?? Which really translated to 'Why are you here?

Emma nodded and bounced a little on her toes. Her heels kept sinking into the dirt between the cobblestones, making her gradually shorter, then taller again as she pulled them out. ?I... really had no where else to go. They wanted to put me in foster care, but I'll be 18 in just a couple of months, so they'd kick me out almost as soon as I was settled in... I figured I'd have the best chance here.? She frowned as if reconsidering that figuring she'd done. This place was as foreign to her as foreign could be and it would probably take her a lifetime to figure it all out.

?Eighteen? Christs.? Her head was throbbing but she couldn't place if it was from the whiskey or all the overwhelming sudden thoughts creeping into her head. Probably the thoughts. Life-changing moments like these usually had a way of sobering people up all too quickly. ?Yeah, I can see how that'd be rough.. So ..? More pausing and empty spaces, completely unsure of herself. Strong willed, confident, bad-ass Dhampire couldn't mutter out words to a human teen. Nice. ?You have a place to stay??

Emma shook her head. "No... I kinda figured I make a plan once I got here... seeing as how I didn't have the slightest idea what to expect."She looked up hopefully.

Kristia smiled for a minute but it was a brief and empty sort of smile. "Yeah, Earth isn't anything like this place. But, I mean, you could stay with me.." Throwing the offer out onto the table should have seemed natural, right? Mother and daughter, working on rekindling some bond.. or just exchanging words was worthwhile! However, Kristia quickly shook her head. "Ah, I bet you'd be more comfortable here. Place has some nice rooms."

"Well... alright, but um... I don't have any money... unless they take American dollars..."

"Just grab an empty room up there and if Panther comes knocking, tell him to add it to my tab. It's pretty late as it is. You might want to go grab a room now." Kris need the night to recover in the privacy of her own home. Mostly private, anyhow. "Think we could catch up tomorrow?"

Emma's eyes lit up at the prospect of the next day and she nodded vigorously. "Yeah, absolutely! I'd love that! Where at? At the inn? Or your place? There anything specific I should do or know?" She was babbling like an excited teen, finally coming out of her timidity.

Kristia pointed back towards the exit from the Inn they came from. "Head back inside and to the left, just up those stairs. Feel free to claim any unoccupied room and I'll deal with the cost. I'd invite you to my home but it's in shambles, at the moment." She was down-playing it. With some unwanted, mutant-shifting body eater house guest and corpses sprawled over her floors, it wasn't appropriate to take Emma too. "Should do? Keep the door locked."

"Oh, okay! Um... where do I find keys at? Or does it lock from the inside?"

"There should be a padlock plus some inside the door. Most regulars are pretty harmless but this place can get a bit crazy." Kristia decidedly forgot to mention the spree of random killings that had been happening lately. No need to scare the girl quite yet. "Just lock the door. If you go down to eat in the morning, I'm sure a Tender will be on duty. I'll.. be in touch, okay?"

The teen nodded again and gushed. "I'm so happy! I never would have thought I'd find you on my first day here!? She walked back to the door where they had come out from and placed a hand on the knob, but her gaze never left Kristia.

"So am I." Kristia responded honestly. As much as this might send Kris into a mid-age crisis, it was the first sign in years that her daughter was even alive. That was something to be thankful for. She guestered towards the door, encouraging her inwards.. "Go ahead. I..." Say something, her insides scream. Say something loving. Say I missed you! Say I'm glad you're hear. -Something-. "... Sleep well." Failed.

Emma nodded and didn't even seem to miss a beat at the lack of a loving response. Turning the knob, she sent one last grin back to her mom and went back inside, her grib on her bag loose and comfortable.