Topic: Broke

Luna Eva

Date: 2007-12-05 21:01 EST
A few days after the second Marketplace explosion, Eva posted a note on the door to her room above the bookstore.

The Doctor is OUT. Go to the hospital. NO EXCEPTIONS.

She was out of supplies. In her head, she?d gone over it a thousand times. Buying off the black market was the same thing as stealing from a hospital. She?d give money to one of her contacts, and then they would go rip off a supply truck, or slip money to a desperate nurse. It was almost the same thing as stealing directly from the supply room. But she still couldn?t bring herself to do it.

So once the hospital had calmed, and she couldn't go back to check on her patients anymore, Eva had nothing to do but hang around her room and worry. She was broke. Come January, she wouldn?t be able to pay for her room. Happy holidays to her.

When she heard the knock on the door, her initial instinct was to shout down ?go away?. But she didn?t. It could be Tucker. She hadn?t seen him since the second explosion in the Marketplace. Her heart lurched at the thought of him. She hadn?t realized how much she wanted to see him until then. That always surprised her.

Eva got up from bed, trotted quickly down the stairs, and pulled open the door. It wasn?t Tucker. Her brother John stood on the doorstep, snow lightly dusting his ginger hair, a big grin at the sight of her. ?Hey Eli.? He called her by her nickname, and before she could react, gathered her into a big strong hug. When he finally let her go, she managed to speak.

?What are you doing here??

?The explosion is all over the net. We were worried about you. You should have called.?

Eva blushed and looked at her brother with a shrug. ?I was busy.?

?Yeah, yeah. Come on, I?ve gotta call Gus and tell him you?re alright. Then I?ll buy you a drink.?

After a few minutes of a phone call, and some changing of clothes, Eva and John were headed to the Inn to get a couple of beers, and to catch up. On the way, Eva told him about the explosions, but she kept her tone relaxed and a little distant, trying not to scare him. And she didn't mention anything about her financial problems. From John, Eva got the home update. John?s wife, Katie, was expecting their first child in April, and Eva had been eager to hear about her progress and their growing excitement.

It wasn?t until they were settled into a booth that Eva got a glimpse of John?s true purpose.

?Eli? Gus thinks you should come home for the holidays.?

?Gus??

?Yeah, Gus and me both. It?s not safe for you here. We don?t like it.?

?Well, look I appreciate your concern, but I?m fine.?

?I brought the truck so there?s plenty of room in the back for your stuff. We can finish up here, and then you can pack.?

?John, are you listening to me? I?m fine here.?

?It?s not safe. Why do you want to be here? Just come home until after New Year?s.?

Eva frowned and looked down at her beer. She could leave now and she wouldn?t have to worry about money or anything. She could spend the winter with her brothers, and then be there for the birth of Katie?s baby, and spring planting. She chewed her lower lip and shook her head.

?There?s? someone here. I don?t want to leave.?

John looked at her across the table. He had such boyish looks usually. A full-cheeked smile. But he looked sad now, and concerned. Eva felt guilty for putting that look there.

?Elinor??

?It?s not just that, John. It?s? well? that?s your life. It?s not mine. I mean? it?s yours and Gus? and Meredith?s and Katie?s? you guys have your families? and I?m not saying I?m not a part of that? I am? but? I want my own. I know? I know it can never be like the family you guys have? or you and Katie are gonna have? but? I can have one of my own. My own kind of family. I don?t always want to be the person alone at the table, or the person who might leave? any day? I mean? that farm is your work. It?s not mine.?

?Eli, the farm is yours just as much as ours.?

?I know, but it?s not my work. It?s not my life. I need to have my own life. And that?s? well that?s here. Okay??

John looked at his beer, then across at her. ?Alright.?

Eva smiled a little, trying to lighten the mood. ?If you want? you can tell Gus that I made you rock-paper-scissors for it.? It was an old joke between the siblings. John always hesitated before throwing and that made him easy to read.

John snorted. ?He?d still beat me up.?

?Yeah but he?ll know why you lost.? Eva laughed, and eventually John joined her.

Luna Eva

Date: 2007-12-12 20:52 EST
The shutters banged against Eva?s closed windows, the wind howling outside making her feel cold even when it was perfectly warm in her bedroom. She sat at the desk, the little lamp shedding a small halo of light around her as she studied the classified ads in the edition of the Oracle. Eva had read them a few times before, but she skimmed them again to see if anything would jump out at her.

Blacksmith?s Apprentice ? no. Carpenter ? no. Defender against evil spirits ? definitely no.

Eva looked up from the paper out the window at the Marketplace. A gypsy caravan had settled in around the fountain, and from her window, she could just see their fires illuminating the bright colors of their painted wagons. For a moment it made her smile. Seeing life again in the Marketplace felt good, even to Eva, who at times still felt like a stranger in Rhy?Din. Then she looked back to the newspaper.

Eva felt like congratulating herself. Only she could manage to marginalize her skill set so that the only jobs she was possibly qualified for were service jobs ? impossible to get just before Christmas.

A few days before, Eva thought of asking Tucker for help. Not for money. Even thinking about asking Tucker for money embarrassed her. But maybe just a place to stay until she got back up on her feet. That embarrassed her too. What would he think of her being in this position? She should have worked this out a long time ago. No, she didn?t want Tucker to know. She?d have to find some other solution.

Of course there was another solution. Eva pushed the newspaper to the floor and rested her forehead on the desk. It wouldn?t be that hard. All she had to do was go down stairs and use the phone. Just pick up the phone and dial. It?s not like she didn?t know the number.

Eva sat up, the chair scraping back across the floor as she stood. Just do it. Move. Go. Her feet stumbled slightly as she moved down the stairs, out the door, and into the book shop. Offering a wave to the clerk as she passed him on her way to the little phone cubby. She picked up the handset, dialed, and waited.

?Ghost.?

?It?s Eva.? There was a moment of silence as Eva pulled at a loose string on the arm of the chair. She felt the thread between her fingers, and listened to silence. Do it. Go. Say it. ?Can you? can you meet sometime soon at the Inn? I need? well I need to ask you something.?

Luna Eva

Date: 2007-12-20 20:42 EST
Snow fell lazily on the Marketplace as crowds weaved through the rows of stalls, their voices loud even in the hush of winter. The explosions of the previous weeks couldn?t dampen the holiday spirit and certainly not the rush of last minute gift purchases in the Marketplace. Eva stood under the minimal protection of a cloth overhang and shook out her hands to get the blood flowing. It was hard to tie bows when you couldn?t feel your fingertips. Before her, a clump of shoppers were waiting to have their gifts wrapped.

Eva had accepted the job in the little jeweler?s stall wrapping gifts for a pittance, but at this point any money was good money, and she was grateful for the work. Days like this one though, she thought she should receive hazard pay for working through the bitter cold. Occasionally she had to turn around and hold her hands out to the brazier that the jeweler used to heat his small stall. It slowed her down though and a line was growing.

Snatching up a sprig of holly, Eva worked her fingers around to tie it to a box with a bow. The resulting package looked both festive and romantic, especially considering the delicate silver earrings she knew were nestled inside. One of the few pleasures of working the job was admiring the beauty of the gifts and the excitement and hopefulness of those giving them. She could see it on their faces when she handed them their wrapped packages.

Eva couldn?t help wishing she could give gifts that were as nice as the ones she was wrapping. Thanks to her brother John?s visit the week before, she?d sent gifts home to her family already. They?d been simple, but thoughtful. She was never the kind to go overboard with gifts.

Still, she hadn?t quite figured out what to give Tucker. Money was so tight for her, and it added a whole secondary pressure to gift shopping. As if selecting a holiday gift for Tucker wasn?t difficult enough.

Eva flushed at the thought of Tucker. What if he saw her working there in the Marketplace, wrapping gifts? How embarrassing. She just lowered her head and kept at it. Ghost would be finished with his job soon enough, and then she could ask him for what she needed. She didn?t feel comfortable asking over the phone.

Eva paused to shake out her hands again. It struck her as funny that she didn?t feel any embarrassment about Ghost seeing her this way, or asking him for what she needed, but of course he?d seen her in much worse positions. Hell, he probably already knew. He always seemed to know everything she was doing.

Eva sighed and looked up. The sky was darkening, and the stalls were starting to light up with lanterns to keep doing their business at night. In spite of everything, Rhy?Din was still beautiful to her. Eva lowered her head and continued working, blissfully unaware that another explosion would come a few hours after she?d gone.

Luna Eva

Date: 2007-12-21 21:34 EST
As Eva climbed the stairs to her bedroom, it occurred to her that she?d never actually had anything to drink at the Inn that night. She?d sat at the bar, looked for Tucker who never showed, watched some guy sit on Santa?s lap, and finally talked to Ghost. Through all that, she?d never had the opportunity to order a drink. Probably better that way.

It was a relief to know that Ghost had already taken care of her supplies. By Christmas she?d have something to work with. She still wouldn?t have any money, but at least she could get her practice, such as it was, back on its feet again. As long as there weren?t any more explosions. Otherwise she?d have to figure something out. Maybe the bookstore owner would let her be a little late with the rent.

Eva unwound her scarf and draped it over a chair. She reached for her gloves from her coat pocket. She?d shoved them in there when she took them off to unlock her front door. Now when she pulled them free, something came with them, clattering to the floor. At her feet, Ghost?s credstick spun in the dim light. She sighed. Of course he?d stuck it in her pocket while she wasn?t paying attention. She should have known better.

Eva bent down and picked up the credstick. She turned it in her hand for a moment, then tugged open a desk drawer and closed the credstick up inside. However much money was on that credstick, she?d never be able to pay Ghost back for it. So she couldn?t accept it. She?d try to return it the next time she saw him. And if he wouldn?t take it back, she?d just never spend it.

For a moment, it occurred to Eva that she should have told Tucker about the problem she was having. Maybe it was dishonest to get help from Ghost instead of being straight with the person she was supposed to be seeing. A wave of guilt passed over her and she shivered. Eva shoved her bare hands in her coat pockets again and lowered her head. She couldn?t do anything right.

Eva pressed her hands deeper into her pockets and closed her eyes. Then she stiffened. At the tips of her fingers in her right coat pocket, Eva felt something. Her fingers wrapped around something papery soft. Like money. She pulled her hand free of her pocket and gasped. There was a wad of bills in her hand, and loose notes spilled out to the floor.

?Oh my god.?

Her voice sounded foreign in the small space of her bedroom. Eva knelt on the carpet and gathered the spilled cash. There must have been almost a thousand dollars there. It was enough to cover at least her rent for January. For a split second she thought that it might be from Ghost again, but he never dealt in cash that way.

Eva settled onto the floor with a thud, her entire body feeling the shock. Who could have given her this? Who could have?? Her mind reeled. She?d bumped into that man outside the bar, the man with the notepad? but? she?d done the bumping, not the other way around. Her mind flipped through the countless familiar faces in the Inn. There were some that she?d never met though she'd seen them many times over. Had any of them come near enough to her? Why would anyone??

Ever since she had returned to Rhy?Din she?d felt like a stranger. Even after the explosions and spending time at the hospital she still felt like she moved about with a certain anonymity. Everyone seemed to know each other at times. She watched their relationships, their little dramas like she was watching a play. Eva looked down at the money in her hands, money from some anonymous donor, from someone she didn?t know, and thought that maybe in some way, it was from everyone. Maybe she wasn?t quite the stranger she thought she was. It was both a frightening thought and a comforting one.

Eva let the money fall back to the floor so she could cover her face and cry.

Perceval Tucker

Date: 2007-12-25 07:04 EST
A young man, probably about 10 years old, found his way to Eva?s front door early Christmas morning. He was a courier of sorts, at least today he was. One could tell by the small package in his hand and the pocketful of jingling coins; not to mention part of his payment, a candy cane that protruded from his mouth, leaving him with a sticky grin.

?I have something for Miss Eva?? he said cautiously as Eva answered the door. In her hand, he placed a small bundle, modestly wrapped in brown package paper and tied with a white string. Inside was a black velvet box and inside that, was a simple, white gold locket. The necklace was of a thick black velvet cord with a matching white gold clasp. The locket was empty however. It was proper for the owner to decide what should belong inside.

The locket had reminded Perceval of an older couple. It reminded him of a couple that loved one another; loved one another for a long, long time.

A small note inside read: ?Merry Christmas, Eva. Please accept this gift. I hope that this Holiday Season has been as special for you as it has been for me. Perceval.?