Topic: Desperation

Erinalle Dunbridge

Date: 2007-02-15 17:58 EST
Erin had been wandering in the snow. She snuck out while Ivy cooked dinner. Sometime before Sebastian had gotten home, and she went out in search of something... though she didn't know what. Dress shoes, no coat, she must have looked a mess. Her hair still pulled into the pigtails from this morning, and half pulled out. A wispy swarm of hair. Her lips were turning blue from the cold. She didn't care. Hands still bandaged from the broken teapot, they were curled at her sides. No pockets to put them in. The tips of fingers still exposed were turning a lovely shade of purple.

Thinking wasn't something she could do quite yet. She hadn't really thought out where she was going. Just wandering. Wetting chapped lips from time to time. The winding streets of the WestEnd slowly getting dark as the sun started to set. She shouldn't be out. It clicked on in her head, finally.

A poster caught her eye. A glint of the setting sun reflecting off of its light. She drew over to it. Drawn to it, perhaps. Eyes, almost glowing green, scanned it. Then again. And again. She had read it so many times now.... why torture herself? But, she grabbed it by a corner, pulling it from the post and shoving it in her pocket. Quickly feet knew where they were going.

Drawing up to the building that held Alain's office, she climbed the stairs and stood in front of his door. Her somewhat bloody and bandaged hand tapped oh-so-gently against the window. "Alain..." Her voice sounded as fragile as glass. A breathy almost whisper. "You in there?"

Alain DeMuer

Date: 2007-02-15 23:36 EST
"It's open! Come in!" Alain calls. He barely registered Erin's voice, and not that it was Erin's, even, as he's on the phone. "Listen, I'm gonna have to call you back. Yes, just keep it refrigerated for me. Okay." He sets the phone down on the hook and drags his feet off the edge of his desk as he looks up curiously, expectantly. Straightening his loosened black tie a little. Another client?

Erinalle Dunbridge

Date: 2007-02-15 23:40 EST
Erin pushes through the door presenting herself. Mess she is. Not a smile, not a lifted brow. A shell of herself, really. Something Alain had never seen, she was sure. But she didn't care.

The bandaged hand reached into her pocket and then held the paper out to him. Without a word. Just an extended arm. Chin quivered, bottom lip bit.

After a long moment. "Can you help?"

Alain DeMuer

Date: 2007-02-16 14:24 EST
He at first moves to leave his seat... but the sight of her sets him back in place, and all he can do is watch her in silence as she approaches his desk, and then holds out the paper. He accepts it, and frowns darkly. Murder used to only get a shrug and maybe a little existential pondering from him, but with high-profile murders on the rise, he takes it all a little more seriously. That, and he knows of this woman. She's obviously a friend of Erin's, and he'd heard tell of her spending time with the Sisters.

He looks up at Erin, watching her closely... then back at the poster, and sighs. "Have you talked to the Guard at all about this?" One large hand, tattooed and scarred, moves to cover hers. Not intimate, just... covering it.

Erinalle Dunbridge

Date: 2007-02-16 14:55 EST
Erin pulls her hand back as if he had hit her. Too insular, too frantic to accept touch quite yet. Her eyes went wide as she looked at him, processing his question.

What had she expected? A knight in shining armor? The complete acceptance of this grim task? For him to say "Sure Erin, whatever you need, Erin!" Who was she to even think such things... how she had overestimated her friendships!

Her face deflated a little, she shuffled her feet. An embarrassed shake of the head as she focused her eyes on the floor boards. There was no one that could save her...

"The posters say they've been there... the gaurd.. and that it's true... but... I don't believe it, Alain. I don't want to believe it... I... if you can't... just... please?" She raised her eyes again. Must have looked so pathetic. The pleading. Her bottom lip bit until it was bloody. She was pale as a ghost, with an unhealthy red in her cheeks. The bandaged hands wringing in front of her. Erin had always prided herself on her dignity. Her refusal to beg.

She never had.

But this was different... in her mind he was the only person who could really help her. And she needed the help.

"Please, help me..."

Alain DeMuer

Date: 2007-02-16 15:11 EST
He sighs quietly, watching her... and finally replies, "Tell you what." He folds his hands together, leaning back in his chair. "I'm going to talk to some people in the Guard about the incident itself... I'll talk to Issy, see if I can find out anything about Storm's background, her past... and badger the Watch about any strange incidents from around that time. I'll do all this, free of charge. And if any leads come up... Well. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Just don't worry about money, for now." He rubs the back of his neck with two fingers. "I've got a little time to kill, anyway. How's that sound to you?"

Erinalle Dunbridge

Date: 2007-02-16 15:18 EST
"Money's not a.... you should know that I don't have..." She just signed, shoulders falling forward. This was the best she was going to get...

Something inside Erin felt a little bit of relief. That she knew now how deep this friendship went. It was an important thing to know... in the end. "Okay, okay... yeah. Just... if you could go over there and look at the house. Just... see if you see anything that suggests she got out... or..." She realized she sounded pathetic and just nodded, starting to back towards the door.

"Yeah, okay, that's good. Thanks." Sure it was curt. But she had just had a host of realizations and explanations. Nothing else to do, really. She wet her lips and turned her back on him completely. "See you later." And there it went.. that last bit of hope.

Alain DeMuer

Date: 2007-02-16 17:23 EST
"I'll poke around. Take care of yourself... all right?" And she's leaving. He sighs, leaning back again in his chair, kicking his feet up. Storm's dead. He's pretty sure... but maybe there's something else to this. Maybe she's alive? Who knows? And if nothing else, he can try to help shed some light on why her house burned down with her in it. He pops his knuckles one by one... then reaches for the little black telephone on the corner of his desk.

Erinalle Dunbridge

Date: 2007-02-16 19:23 EST
Erin left feeling worse than when she went there. That wasn't at all what she needed. It tore at her. Killed little bits. How could he have seemed so... business as usual?

Everything was as it had been. Nothing had changed except for her.

She had a burning desire to see Lydia. Lydia would understand. She would know. She had to know. She'd take her seriously and get the gravity. Of course...

So she set pace for the Marketplace. Why? There was no reason for Lydia to be there, not really. But Erin felt like maybe the store... Feet took the stairs of Alain's building quicker than they had come up them. She wanted out of that place. Out of how it had made her feel. And once she was on the street she walked with a vengeance.