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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 1, 2017 11:22:25 GMT -5
Juniper jumped as Elias came forwards, turning her head as if to glance at him. She already knew who it was - the voice was the same. When you live in poverty, and your safety was never secure, voice recognition was a must. "Thought you skipped town," she said, voice slightly hoarse from tears. She rose to her feet in one fluid motion, turning around to see him. She exhaled short and sharp in bitter amusement, shaking her head slightly. "Knew you had brown eyes. Blue didn't suit your skin tone."
She didn't say anything else, looking at the sky as more thunder rolled, the rain pouring down faster and harder. She could barely see the man in front of her now. At least her bag was still inside the chapel, where no one but a janitor was. He was sweeping the floor - Juniper could see movement through the broad window, even as rain flowed down it like a waterfall. The water was bitter cold, almost freezing - it would turn to hail soon, and that would hurt her scars. Even now, the cold was making them ache something fierce. She could barely move without them screaming.
"Your hair, too," she finally said after some silence. "Although it wouldn't take a genius to know it was dyed." She was trying to distract herself, it was obvious. She certainly looked like someone who needed a distraction - the rain was making the black dress cling to her, showing the faint outline of her ribs and the worst of her scars. The rain had completely washed off the concealer - she was tired. Shadows ran under her eyes like ghosts.
"Yeah," she finally agreed with him, turning back towards the topic he brought up. She turned a bit again to look at her step-fathers grave. The view of her side made it all the more obvious she was too skinny, too saddened. "Yeah, it's dangerous to be out here." Another flash flood warning joined the first. A third was close behind as if to mock the girl. "Funny how one stops caring about all of that when something like this happens."
Her scars burned. She reached up, running her chest absently in hopes of keeping them from hurting too much. A few were peeking from the hem of her dress - her hand came away with a few tiny smears of scarlet blood. The cold was beginning to make her scars split, but she didn't seem to care as the rain washed away the blood from her hand in the time it took to blink. "I don't want to go home," she said, sounding - for once - like the child she still was. "Home is where Marin- my mother is. That's where she'll yell at me for Oliver choosing to give me his wealth." Her voice cracked over his name, and she stopped speaking. Her moment as a child was over the moment it began. Depressing.
"Horrible way to do," her lips twisted in a bitter smile, remember the way she found him. "He didn't deserve this. I should have been home," her voice broke again, tears threatening to spill. "I should have been home. I shouldn't have found him like that."
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 1, 2017 12:11:32 GMT -5
Guilt was an ugly thing, but it had never consumed Elias before, not like this, not so completely. It was difficult not to think that the reason for Juniper's current state, tired and worn down and so, so skinny, was the death of Oliver. The death that Elias had facilitated, but Juniper didn't know that. And she won't.
"Then don't go home." He said, his voice almost drowned out of the roaring rain. "I'm staying in a hotel not far from here, I'm sure we can get you a room." Elias was paying for this trip with the money he got from the Danine job. Admittedly, he felt a bit bad about that...but it wasn't like he'd been planning on staying for more than a few days. Three, to be exact.
"Your scars must be killing you right about now. If we stay outside, they're only going to get worse. Let's get inside. I can call for a cab?" Elias reached out for her hand almost instinctively, though he pulled back before they made contact and instead pointed a thumb behind him, towards the chapel. He didn't respond to her remembrance of Oliver, but he was glad that she hadn't been home. If you were there, this would be a joint funeral. And Elias would have spent probably the next two months either drinking himself into an early grave or taking on dangerous missions, being reckless, impulsive, anything that would keep the nightmares at bay.
"And we can order a pizza. This time we'll actually eat it, too." Elias tried for a smile, failing miserably. He turned and headed back towards the chapel, pausing in his step a few feet away to gesture for Juniper to follow. You don't deserve any of this, Elias. You don't deserve to be here and you certainly don't deserve her trust. But he wanted her trust so badly. He wanted to help her. This was him atoning for his sins. Except it's not. It's just selfish self-indulgence. And the voice was right. This was just his way of "proving" to himself that Oliver's death wouldn't change the course of Juniper's life. Yes, she would lose yet another father, but she would be ok, right? You ruined her life, Elias.
"No I didn't." He whispered before he could stop himself. It was then that he was glad for the intense downpour, so loud that he barely even heard himself.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 1, 2017 16:03:05 GMT -5
Juniper lowered her gaze when Elias told her not to go back home, to try for a room at a hotel. Her heart shivered uncontrollably - or was it her body, unable to feel more than the paint of her scars and the freezing cold that was turning her from pale to ghostly. Her lips were tinged blue, but she found herself wanting to stay outside in the rain, in the freezing cold. Don't go, a part of her whispered reasonably. He's the one that skipped town out of the blue, lied about who he was. Bad idea, Juniper, bad bad idea....
"Your scars must be killing you right about now. If we stay outside, they're only going to get worse. Let's get inside. I can call for a cab?"
Juniper was frozen in spot, looking at the man in front of her for a moment and then turning to look at her step-fathers grave. A pang zapped her heart - or was it the pain of her scars again, warning her to get out of the cold, or else? It's okay, a different voice whispered. He came back. Go with him, it's okay. Oliver would want you to be safe. That was the thought that had the girl following Elias silently, towards the church where the janitor saw them coming. He threw open the door, eyes wide. He handed both of them towels and showed them into the bathrooms with a kind, grandfatherly smile. He even produced changes of clothes for each of them - probably from the donation boxes out front by the pews, but he figured that the two could use some warm, dry things in that moment. Juniper came out of the bathroom a few minutes later with her hair loose, still damp. She had on a plain navy blue hoodie that fell to her knuckles and a pair of jeans that hugged her slender frame. Her dress was folded in a bag - at the mention that his granddaughter would love a piece like that, she immediately offered it to him with a pained but kind smile.
The cab wasn't necessary - or even possible, turned out. Taxi services were shut down due to the insurance risks. Instead, Juniper just handed over her car keys to Elias and wrapped her arms around her chest, her scars beginning to ache from being warmed up. Wishing she brought painkillers with her, the girl leaned against her car door and stared outside at the gushing rain. Rising into the storm was her step-fathers skyscraper - her sky scraper, now. By the time they reached the hotel safely, flood alarms were going off all over the place and half the city was without power. Still, thankfully, the hotel wasn't in either zone at the moment.
A little time passed, and Juniper found herself sitting on a chair in Elias's hotel room. She was still shivering - she had a small hand warmer in her palms though, and the heat was slowly spreading through her sweater to help warm her up. She didn't say anything for the moment, just listened to whatever program was running on the TV as she curled her knees to her chest. It was hard to believe that she had lost so much weight in such a short amount of time, but the hair tie around her wrist was far too loose and her stomach was flatter than her rib cage. Her scars ached and her head was throbbing, but she felt as if a single word could cause her barely-contained emotions spilling out. Her bag was on the small table - inside was her cell phone, a book, headphones, and her laptop. Her stomach twisted and she reached out, closing the flap/ Everything in there was from Oliver - it made her heart clench.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 1, 2017 16:33:05 GMT -5
Elias was given a pair of jeans and a new hoodie that surprisingly fit pretty well and the drive back to the hotel was largely uneventful. He was quiet for the whole ride, eyes on the road, his ears filled with the pounding of rain on the hood of this too-expensive car. It was certainly possible for someone in his field to one day buy a car like this, maybe even a better one, but Elias wondered if he ever would. New York wasn't a place for fancy cars.
Once they were safely in the hotel room, Elias placed a call for room service. For Juniper, he ordered french onion soup, new york strip steak, and a pint of haagen daz ice cream. For himself, a bottle of red rock merlot and butterscotch pudding. Juniper needed the calories, he just needed to forget. When the order was placed, he went through the backpack he'd brought on this trip and produced a bottle of pills, shaking two out onto his hand. Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge in the room, he approached Juniper where she sat in a chair in the corner of the room.
"Here. Painkillers. Food will be here soon."
When the room service arrived, Elias was (unsurprisingly) asked to present some form of I.D.. He pulled the fake driver's license from his wallet and gave it to the attendant, who happily rolled the cart of food into the room and bid "Mr. Sinclair" a good evening.
Wordlessly, Elias set the dishes onto their table, taking care to store the ice cream in the fridge for now. He brought the bowl of french onion soup over to Juniper. "Eat. When you're ready, there's more for you on the table and ice cream in the fridge."
He poured himself a glass of merlot, swirled it around for a bit, staring into the red depths. Why did you come here, Elias? You could've taken that 35k job in Brazil but you're here and ******* Parker is down there right now, enjoying the sun, probably hanging on the beach, having the time of his life with the three weeks he got down there. He tossed the drink back in one shot, as if it was whiskey instead of wine, but didn't pour another glass. Instead, he picked up the butterscotch pudding and settled down on one of the beds, poking at the pudding and half-watching the mindless TV program.
Every so often, he snuck a glance at Juniper. But he said nothing. What was there to say? He fixed his eyes back on the pudding, stabbing it with a fork. If she wanted to talk, then she'd have to initiate the conversation. I shouldn't have come back.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 1, 2017 19:51:47 GMT -5
Juniper seemed snapped out of her trance as Elias brought over the food, her blue eyes as sharp as ever but the usual warmth doused with water. Despite the warmth inside, her thick curls were still slightly damp - she pulled them up, tying her hair back into a pony tail with the band around her wrist. "Thank you," she said quietly, putting her feet back on the ground and accepting the pills and bowl. She took both pills at once then ate silently, turning a bit to look out the window as beads of hail the size of marbles struck the screen, sometimes just barely strong enough to graze the glass.
She continued to stare outside the window a few minutes after the bowl was almost empty, resting on the edge of the small stand next to her. The hail was hypnotizing in a strange way as the white orbs passed the reflections from inside. The shock of her red hair, the green from the cash she set next to the bowl to repay Elias, the man himself. The thought made her realize how incredibly annoying this must all be for him - finding her a mess at the graveyard, taking her to a hotel and ordering her food as if she were a child. Then again... she glanced at her own reflection, suddenly shaken by her too-skinny appearance. Probably best he ordered for me.
Almost without thinking, Juniper stood up and went over to the bed that Elias was sitting on, joining him in her odd way. Instead of taking a seat next to him on the mattress itself, she lowered herself painfully onto the floor next to his leg, her legs bent so her knees were halfway to her chest. She unlocked her phone - no passcode - and scrolled through the apps until she got to the pictures, then clicked on the recent folder. She paused by a picture of her and Oliver making stupid faces at what seemed to be the theater, then she scrolled upwards again until she found a picture of herself less than a month previous.
She was wearing a hospital sports bra and scrub bottoms, obviously unconscious from the wires in her body. Her hair was pulled back, and her arms were bent and outstretched to give a clear view of her body laying against the sheets of the bed. If she was skinny there, sitting on the ground next to Elias, she was a wasted human in the picture on her phone. It looked like a breeze would knock her over, she was so tiny - as if she hadn't eaten in a year. Horrifying. Juniper stared at the picture for a moment before shutting down her phone as her mother called her for the first time. The girl tossed her phone onto the other bed as if it burned her.
"Thanks for taking me out of there," she said after a moment of silence, Turning around to glance up at Elias. "It... It means a lot that you noticed." She was clearly unused to heartful speech - she turned back around to face the television, shoulders tense. "So um... So what do I call you? I mean... you're not Leo. You don't have to give me your real name, I just need something to call you."
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 1, 2017 20:20:48 GMT -5
When Juniper stood from her seat after what seemed like hours, Elias expected her to go over to the table where the steak was currently getting cold. Or as she drew closer, he expected her to take a seat on the bed next to him. Certainly by no stretch of the imagination did he expect her to end up on the floor.
"Uh..." He stared down at her, eyebrows knit in confusion. "Do you not want to...?" He gestured helplessly at the space around him on the bed. What is this, an inferiority complex? He certainly hoped not. That'd just add to his guilt. Don't worry, Elias. If there's anything Ivan's taught you, it's that one day you'll stop caring about everything. The guilt won't stay forever.
Yeah, because that was real comforting.
"You don't have to thank me." Elias muttered, eyes turned back to the steak, still on the table, under that metal dome cover. "My name is Elias. You should eat more. I got you a steak. I can get you something else, too, if you'd prefer a different dish."
There it was. Now she had his name. He'd kept right on talking about saying it as though talking more would somehow negate the weight of what he had just done. He couldn't look at her, his fists were clenched but he didn't notice, and though his brows were relaxed now, the tendons in his neck were pulled taught. Names were a powerful thing. Even a first name could be dangerous in Elias' reality, especially when that first name was paired with a face. Granted, he'd taken great care to wipe any trace of Elias Lindholm from the Internet, but there were certainly still ways to get information on him. There were still ways Juniper could get him arrested.
Well here's a genius idea: Stop talking to her. Leave. She had Leo's number but not yours, she can't track you. If you skip town again (permanently this time, thank you), there will be no problem. But even without turning to look at her, Elias could see Juniper's face. Her eyes, her hair, her nose, her lips. He could imagine her facial structure, the skeleton beneath her skin. When he closes his eyes at night, he can see her image as though it had been projected onto his ceiling. It was terrifying. He didn't know what to do about it, but he knew that ignoring it won't work. He's been trying.
And the worst part was that he was very much aware that she didn't have his number. He was very much aware that he didn't have her number, either. Not after Leo's phone had been destroyed. But he wanted her number. He really did. He'd had the opportunity of a lifetime back there in her room, when she told him that he could trust her. Of course, Elias knew that if he told her what his actual purpose was, that statement would be taken back in a second. But in the moment, it had been nice to indulge the thought. He'd wondered a couple times now if he could still take her up on that offer. If they moved their relationship completely to texting, it would be easier to control what he told her, but he would still get to talk about...things. About all those things he's been keeping inside of him all these years. Because she might understand.
"You're really special, you know that?" The whispered words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and more than ever, Elias felt that it was essential to keep his eyes glued to the TV. "I mean I haven't lived very long, but I think it's important that I've never met someone like you."
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 1, 2017 22:15:23 GMT -5
"The floor is more comfortable for me," Juniper said absently, tucking her hands into the large front pocket of the hoodie she wore. It still smelled like Axe body spray, just faintly - it reminded her of her father, who never used cologne but always pretended he did when he went out on work trips. Boosts the confidence, he would joke, then elbow her gently in the ribs and say fake it till you make it, sweetheart.
"Elias," she said aloud, tucking a stray red curl behind her ear. His name rolled off her tongue with a peculiar accent, of sorts - the first hint at her Canadian life style, minus the pale skin (Which really wasn't much of a hint, anyways). She didn't say anything about the food for a moment, still pondering over his name. "It suits you better than Leo. It's unique, just like you." She pulled one knee closer to her chest, looping her arms around her leg as she watched Dean Winchester drive his 1967 Chevy Impala on the television. "No, steak is alright - I just can't eat much in a short time." My body still isn't used to it, she was tempted to say, but it seemed the thought was already hung in the air.
The silence was slightly less uncomfortable than before. After a few moment, Elias spoke again and his words - no matter how quiet - seemed to touch the girl. She glanced downwards at her hands, holding her fathers' ring on the same leather cord. Another ring joined the old silver one - her step-fathers wedding band. The words Elias said made her smile for the first time in days, and it seemed that an old spark of herself returned to her eyes. The girl could practically feel the tension wafting from the mans' pores behind her, could almost taste it in the air. Carefully, trying to keep her stitches from pulling, the girl stood up and sat next to him on the bed. She smelled like the rain - fresh air and cleanliness.
After another moment, she leaned against his side and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she said quietly, almost a whisper. The moment of obvious affection ended gently as Juniper pulled away and stood up again, tucking another stray curl behind her ear. Without another word, she slipped into the bathroom and picked up one of the two still-wrapped toothbrushes that the hotel provided, then shut the door quietly. Even after brushing her teeth, Juniper let the water run - a luxury she wasn't able to afford until a few mere months before. She stared at her reflection, but not her appearance - rather, she wondered what drew Elias back to town. She wasn't insane. She knew even before he told her who he was that he left town. The number labeled "Leo" on her phone only received number unavailable texts back. Calls never went through. Jason and Dan would only shake their heads if she asked. He came back. But why?
Shaking her head, the girl sighed and shut off the water before trying her luck with the hoodie. She hissed in pain as a stitch got caught on the fabric, but she managed to get it off without incident. Left in her loose tank top, Juniper stared at her scars. A few were raw, an effect of the bitter cold. Ugly, she thought, but more from curiosity than resentment. Folding the hoodie, the young girl hesitated before leaving the bathroom, shutting the light off behind her out of habit. Setting the folded hoodie on the back of a chair, she more or less collapsed onto the other bed, face-planting her pillow dramatically. After a moment, she turned carefully and rested her head on her hand, looking over at Elias. She watched him for a moment, her expression softening a bit with a faint smile. She didn't say anything, just seemed to be studying him the way an artist studied their model. Memorizing bone structure, matching colors and blending pigments - she didn't know why, but she wanted to memorize Elias more than anything else.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 2, 2017 9:17:34 GMT -5
He should have known that it would be difficult for Juniper to stomach so much food. Her body was probably in starvation mode at this point. I should have known. It wasn't as if starvation was something he hadn't experienced before. But Elias said nothing, just finished off his butterscotch pudding and went to set the plate, along with the near-empty bowl of french onion soup, outside. While Juniper was in the bathroom, he contemplated the wisdom in leaving the steak on the table (albeit with a metal cover) overnight. He decided not to risk it and somehow managed to fit the dish into the fridge.
He remained sitting on the bed he'd claimed, cradling that bottle of red rock merlot which he for some reason no longer felt like drinking. He could feel Juniper's eyes on him, but made no sign of acknowledgement. The show on the TV was a foreign one to him, but then most shows were. Elias didn't spend a lot of time in front of a TV screen.
When Juniper's gaze started feeling as though it were burning him, Elias hopped off the bed and headed into the bathroom. He took a shower under hot, scalding water, watching his skin turn red before his eyes. He brushed his teeth, splashed water on his face, stared dumbly at his reflection as the red color faded from his cheeks, as the flush slowly disappeared from the skin on his chest, baring white scars for the world to see. The worst one had come from an act of carelessness, a knife wound that spanned a good twelve inches, but he knew the story behind even the little ones. Normally, Elias might have slept without a shirt on, but he wasn't alone tonight.
Elias went to turn on the lamps on the bedside table nestled between the two beds, then went and shut off the main light source. Once he was settled in bed, he didn't want to have to get up again to shut off the lights. Back against the headboard, legs under the covers, Elias took some time to check the messages in his phone.
Princess Ivan 12:37PM Hey get ur *** back here I got a job for u in Sweden
12:38PM U been wanting to go back there right? Decent pay, 25k, regular heist, leave no witnesses
12:45PM I'm giving this to Jackson if u don't respond soon
Jerkson 1:29PM I'm taking the Sweden job (: See you in three weeks I'll bring back som brannvin just for u
He didn't bother to respond to those messages.
Tossing his phone aside, Elias slid down under the covers, reaching over to turn off the lamp on his side. "I'm going to sleep. Wander around if you'd like, this hotel has some nice stuff. There's a game room downstairs and a little indoor garden on the first floor. Don't stay up too late though." With that, he practically hid himself under the blanket and shut his eyes with a sort of grim determination. Insomnia and nightmares weren't going to get him tonight. Mostly because he didn't want to be awkward with Juniper. The flood will let up and you can see her off back home tomorrow. Then you can go home and beat Ivan up for giving away that Sweden job. Yeah. Everything will be back to normal.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 2, 2017 11:26:50 GMT -5
Juniper didn't respond, her thoughts lost in a maze of confusion. She thought about everything that happened the past two weeks - the horribly awkward confrontation with "Leo", the way her step-father died soon after, how long it took to prepare his body for the funeral. He was almost five days dead by the time I saw him in the coffin. Juniper folded back the covered of her bed, hiding under the sheets to try and lose that thought underneath sleep and nightmares.
Nightmares. God, she hoped she didn't have any that night. She didn't want to see her fathers' dead body again, and she certainly didn't want to bother Elias more than she already had. However, as she fell into a surprisingly heavy sleep, she could feel the dreams creeping up to her like a wolf on prey.
It was about five thirty the next morning when Juniper started shifting, her breathing odd and off-track. Her skin flushed with fear a half second before she jolted upright, immediately slamming a hand over her mouth to hide her scream, calling out for her father. Her heart raced like an Olympic sprinter, her entire body shaking as she covered her face with her hands, trying her best to keep her breathing quiet and even. She didn't know if Elias was awake - she didn't dare look over, running her violently shaking hands through her hair and breathing deeply, quietly. Careful and cautious, the girl threw off her sheets and made her way into the bathroom, not bothering to shut the door all the way and her back leaned against the wall, skin pale and clammy as she slid onto the ground, pulling her knees to her chest and hiding her face in them.
She stayed there for a while, trying to manage her breathing. Finally, her head cleared, she stood up and leaned against the marble sink, looking at her reflection in the mirror. She was a mess. There were shadows under her eyes, she was gaunt and far too contoured to be healthy. She wondered why she was still there, still in the hotel room with the man who lied about his entire identity. There was a connection. There's a connection between him and Oliver's death.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 2, 2017 13:21:39 GMT -5
Elias slept for what he would guess was three hours before he woke, jaw clenched, covered in cold sweat. A quick glance at Juniper let him know she was still sleeping. Either that or she was doing a good job of pretending she was. For a while he just lay there, focused on breathing in and out, in and out, feeling the sweat dry on his skin, the muscles in his jaw and neck slowly relaxing.
He didn't know how long he lay there, arms tucked behind his head or on his stomach or by his side, brown eyes searching the ceiling for shapes that didn't exist, ears listening for sounds that would never come. Once or twice he almost dozed off again, but he kept himself awake for fear that the next time he woke, it would not be quite so peaceful. No reason to let Juniper know he had nightmares, no reason to let her know he had any sort of trouble sleeping at all.
He wasn't quite sure what time it was when Juniper started stirring. Judging from the sliver of light Elias could see past the window, Elias might guess sometime between five and six. He said nothing, did nothing, just watched as Juniper tossed and turned a bit before shooting into a sitting position, looking for all the world like she'd just seen a ghost. Still, he did nothing, channeling the stillness of a rock. He watched as she got out of bed and went into the bathroom and that's when he slowly began sitting up in bed. He didn't think it would be a good idea to follow her into the bathroom, but he waited for her to come back out.
Wonder if it was the car accident or Oliver. Or something else that I don't know about. Elias briefly entertained the thought of doing more research on Juniper Smith, but pushed the idea from his mind. Why would I do that if I'm not going to see her again after this? Yes...he had made up his mind at this point that even if her name showed up on a gold card and that card was presented to him, he would decline the offer. It was a selfish move, yes, he was aware enough to admit that, but if a mercenary who didn't know the meaning of self-interest had no place in this line of work.
Never did it cross Elias' mind that Juniper might be suspicious of his involvement in Oliver Danine's death. He recognized that she was smart, that she had an uncanny ability when it came to human recognition, that she had an insanely developed attention for detail. But never did it cross his mind that his re-appearance could trigger suspicion. The human mind had a strange tendency to block out information it didn't want to hear and Elias' biggest fear, arguably, was that he would suffer a fate similar to Wade.
The longer Juniper stayed in the bathroom, the louder the silence became, under it was like thunder in Elias' ears. He felt an uneasiness in the pit of his stomach but he wasn't sure why. This was the one night he hadn't gone to bed with a knife within arms reach -- his weapons were all inside his backpack. But he was skilled enough at hand-to-hand combat to feel safe. Safe, and yet so, so uneasy.
Should I check on her?
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 2, 2017 14:43:54 GMT -5
Juniper didn't leave the bathroom, feeling as if her heart was going to pound its way from her chest. Images of the car wreck that took her father away from her flashed in her eyes, and her hand came to her chest as her scars burned horrifically realistically. They felt like they did when they were first carved into her skin, trapped underneath a totaled car and bleeding out as she cried out for her father.
A violent noise in the bathroom and a quiet hiss of pain followed the harsh sound. Juniper exhaled sharply in shock, her vision suddenly clear from flashbacks, to find that she had rather violently punched the marble tiling on the wall. Her knuckles left a bloody imprint on the wall, and the girl grabbed a few tissues from the box next to the sink. Pressing those tissues against her bleeding fist, she turned her back to the mirror and looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep back her tears. Why are my emotions so wild?
After a moment, the girl found herself opening the door to the bathroom, her expression completely wracked with grief. She had cleaned up her hand as best she could, the wall now blood-free after her quick clean-up. The rain had come back an hour earlier, and the thunder overhead was almost deafening. "Oh," Junipers expression cleared when she saw Elias awake, and she subconsciously hid her bruised and bleeding hand behind her.
"I'm sorry," she said automatically, "did I wake you up?..." She asked, cautiously sitting on the edge of her bed. "I didn't mean to."
She couldn't hold still. She stood up again, moving over to where she put her phone. Turning it on, she saw three missed calls from her mother, and nothing else. She set it to the side again, rubbing her face with her hands.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 2, 2017 15:21:19 GMT -5
"No." Elias answered simply, his eyes following Juniper's movements. "Are you ok?" She had punched the wall, that much Elias was able to deduce. If the sound hadn't been enough, the way she had hid her hand surely was. He supposed that was just normal behavior for people in an anxious, agitated state.
"How..." He paused, eyeing Juniper's phone. Her mother must be wondering where she is. "Do you want to go home today?" His way of pushing her to leave. He had extended his hand in invitation not twenty-four hours before, but now he was regretting it. Every second spent in close proximity to Juniper was another foolish thought in his head, another death wish. Last night you were even wondering if you could get her number! What a joke! Even if he asked, Elias somehow doubted that Juniper would comply.
The storm outside was really getting on Elias' nerves. If it wasn't for the storm, he would be back in New York already, not having to deal with this mess he'd gotten himself into. Alas, the storm showed no sign of letting up. The airport probably remained closed. He was homesick, but not because he missed home, because he was sick of being here. Because he felt restless, as though he always had to be on guard. As if he was in a room with an FBI agent instead of a red-head, teenage girl.
And this is how you know you've gone mad.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 3, 2017 11:13:01 GMT -5
Juniper wearily looked down when Elias asked if she was alright. No, she was definitely not okay - but she didn't admit it out loud, no matter how obvious it was. Instead, she just crossed one leg over the other and gave a small shrug. She didn't answer out loud in any way.
She sighed when he mentioned home, running a hand through her hair. She winced - it was the bruised hand, still sore. "Yeah," she sighed, even though she obviously didn't. She could already see her mother, pacing around in front of her with five hundred dollar heels and a shirt that plunged a little too low for her age. I was his wife! Juniper could already hear the rage in her mother's tone. And he left everything for you, a step-child he's known for three months.
The redhead stood up with a sort of weariness that could only come from pain. "I can take myself home," she intoned dully, walking over to the other side of the room and grabbing her bag. The girl pushed everything she brought with her - which wasn't much - back inside, then flipped the top over and fished the keys to the Maxima from the front pocket. Picking up the dark blue hoodie, she shrugged it on over her tank top and scars - the fabric irritated them, but she didn't seem to care at all. Instead, she felt the irritation helped ground her to reality, instead of floating off into a depressing lalaland.
Sliding the strap over her shoulder, Juniper set a few fifty-dollar bills on the nightstand. Tapping them twice, the girl tossed her keys in her other hands and then went over to Elias, offering a small smile that made her blue eyes glitter like they used to. "Thanks, Elias," she said, suddenly leaning forwards and kissing his cheek softly. "Means a lot," she said, then cuffed his shoulder gently with her non-bruised fist. "See you... well, from what you said before... see you never, eh?"
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 3, 2017 12:42:12 GMT -5
Elias had half a mind to tell her not to lie. It was painfully obvious that no, she did not want to go home, and he wondered if she thought he was pushing her to leave or if she just didn't want to be around him any longer. He wouldn't blame her for the latter. In a similar situation, Elias might've bailed in the middle of the night.
During the funeral, Elias had had an itching suspicion that Mrs. Danine wasn't very fazed by her husband's death. He'd had a feeling that she was...well...Elias has seen his share of gold-diggers. He wouldn't be surprised if Oliver had managed to land himself one. And he could already confirm that Mrs. Danine was a bit of a ***** given the knowledge that she hadn't done a single thing to help out her own daughter when Juniper and her dad had clearly been struggling, hadn't batted an eye on her daughter's condition or acknowledged her existence until she was forced to. He wondered what Juniper's relationship with her mom was like, wondered if by eliminating Oliver, he had somehow made home life so much worse for this girl.
As Juniper went around gathering her things, Elias had eased the covers off of himself and swung his legs over the side of the bed, though he made no move to get up. "Hey...you don't have to pay for anything. Besides, that's already way more than this ****** room is worth, I can--" And then she thanked him.
And then she kissed him. On the cheek, but it was enough to send his mind reeling. $#!^ #%&@$* $#!@ what just... The contact was warm and gentle, yet Elias felt like he had just been stabbed in the gut. Actually, being stabbed in the stomach might've proved to be less painful.
He wasn't thinking when his hand flew up and gripped Juniper's wrist before she could pull away. He wasn't thinking when he stood, eyes filled with a thousand emotions he would never be able to name, never mind express. He wasn't thinking when he leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "I'm so sorry." And voices screamed in his mind telling him to stop but he reached for the pen and pad on the nightstand anyway, releasing his grip on Juniper's wrist to scribble down a number. "Take this."
"If you're ever having trouble at home, if you need...help, call this number, ok?" Elias practically forced the slip of paper into Juniper's hand, closed her fingers around it. "Tell them your grievances when they ask, then say that you know Elias Lindholm, that I owe you a favor." Mercenaries were called upon most of the time to do the dirty work, to kill, to steal, to put themselves in the line of fire so someone else didn't have to. But they were also hired on occasion to threaten, to warn, to be a one-man version of the "Scared Straight" program. While Elias himself had only ever been contracted for heists and assassinations, he knew that in Wade's last few months, he'd taken more than a few contracts that didn't involve any kind of killing or even minor robbery. One girl, Elias remembered vividly, had come to personally thank Wade for getting a stalker to finally leave her alone, had hugged him and called him her "hero." Wade had refused to take a cent of that girl's money.
Elias didn't imagine for a second that Juniper would ask for her mother to "taken care of," but he wanted the option to be there for her to at least get Mrs. Danine straightened out a little. A little fear never hurt anybody. And if Juniper really did call one day, then Elias didn't want her to be discouraged by the price tag; Ivan didn't talk price with someone who was calling in a favor, he left that up to the mercenary in question.
Of course, this was all information Elias didn't dare say out loud, didn't dare to share with Juniper, not so soon after Oliver's passing. So he just squeezed her hand, the one that he'd placed the number in, and smiled. As an afterthought, he picked up the bills on the nightstand and handed them back to her as well.
"Be careful on your way home, yeah?"
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 3, 2017 14:32:39 GMT -5
Juniper had seen a lot of confusing things in her short life, but this may have taken the cake. When she went to leave, to pull away, Elias had held onto her wrist and leaned towards her ear to whisper an apology. She refused to let her eyes spill the tears that began to well up again. Then he was letting her go, scrawling down a phone number and putting the paper in her hand. Help? If I need help?
Still, Juniper just offered another small smile and nodded a bit, finding it impossible to find words. She refused to take back the cash, letting it rest on the table on her way out as she opened the door. However, before she stepped outside, she found it hard not to leave without a few words. "Wherever you go, please be safe," she said quietly, then turn back to the hallway and shut the door behind her.
A few moments later, her Maxima pulled from the parking lot and she was on her way to the house her mother was anxiously waiting, angry and half-drunk, on the front room couch at home.
Time passed. Actually, quite a bit time passed - almost two months. Juniper found herself at home, locked in her room as the door rattled with her mothers dead-beat (but of course, very rich) boyfriend's anger. She was even worse off than before, with her ribs far too prominent and her skin even paler. She was curled up in the corner of her bedroom, hugging her knees to her chest as Newel screamed in half-drunk anger.
The girl jumped as the locks began to rattle again, and her shoulder hit the table next to her. The piece of paper fell from where she taped it to the bottom of her desk, and the cell phone number landed face-up beside her. Without thinking, she turned on her cell phone and dialed the number as her hands shook violently. Her door rattled viciously - the phone on the other side finally stopped ringing.
Click. Hello, who is this? "My... My name is Juniper Sm- Danine. I need help, plea-" What's going on? Tell me what's happening right now and why you need help. "My mom's boyfriend - he's hurting us. Me. He's hurting me." Suddenly, she remembered something that Elias told her to say. "There's a man there - his name is Elias Lindholm. He said that... said that he owed me one-"
The door flew open, the lock broken. Her phone dropped, and a piercing shriek could be heard over the other line before the static blew out the sound.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 3, 2017 15:02:03 GMT -5
Two months passed since Elias watched Juniper leave that hotel room. Two months spent looking at new apartments because his old one had developed some sort of rat infestation and he wasn't very keen on dealing with it. Two months, during which he spent four weeks in Portugal with a team of spies and other mercenaries doing some top-secret operation that he was paid handsomely for. With that money, he planned on getting himself an apartment that was actually nice to look at for once.
He almost forgot that he'd given Juniper the number to Sister Margaret's hotline.
"Lindholm!" Elias looked up from the pool game he was observing, saw Ivan waving him over to the bar. "Some girl just placed a call, mentioned your name. Know of a Juniper Danine?"
Elias nearly dropped the glass in his hand, but managed to land it on the table with a thunk! as Ivan continued.
"Said her mother's boyfriend was hurting her or something and I think she was trying to tell me that you owed her a favor before the call cut out." Ivan shrugged and turned away. The call no longer concerned him -- there was no transaction that needed to be made -- and he busied himself with preparing drinks.
Elias pulled out his phone and placed a call, "Hey, Cleo! Long time no talk, missed you, need a favor now, ok?"
--
There was nothing quite like riding in a private jet. Elias normally avoided taking such a costly mode of transportation, but he felt an indescribable sense of urgency and he just knew that taking a regular ol' plane would take too long, what with those rules about no weapons on planes and all that. Elias hummed to himself as he gazed out the window of the jet, toying with a dagger in his hand. Cleo was an old friend of his, as much of a friend as a mercenary could have. It was in instances like this that Elias truly appreciated what everyone always said about "networking."
It was a two hour flight from New York to the city outside of which the Danines resided. Three hours and about fourteen minutes between the time the call came through and Elias arrived at the Danine mansion. The first time Juniper had invited him here, he'd taken his time, wandered around the house and going up the elevator in the back. This time, he didn't bother with such pleasantries. There was a security system on the front door, Elias wouldn't have expected anything less, but he was trained to deal with these.
He was trained to break into a place with a security system without setting off the alarm, but just for fun, Elias screwed around with the knob for a bit and all but forced the door open. The security system went off, sounding sirens and everything. The mercenary made a face, this was going to give him a headache, and, with a little help from his dagger, pried the security panel off the wall, cutting through wires until the sirens were silenced. "Better."
"Juniper!" Dagger tucked into his belt, Elias located the stairs and started sprinting up them. For all he knew, he was already too late. "Juniper? You still alive? I hope so!"
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 3, 2017 16:56:00 GMT -5
"Who the F-Bomb?!"
A crash was heard from upstairs, and a strangled cry followed shortly. "Who did you call, B****?!" The same man screamed, and the sound of a punch or vicious smack echoed around the top floor. "I didn't-!" "Shut up!"
The girl coughed, holding her stomach after a fist landed there. She was brought to her knees, then she cried out as Newel more or less threw her into the stairway. Catching her fall, Juniper managed to step down until she reached the bottom, then fell onto her knees. The sirens shut off - someone tricked the cables, most likely. Then - a voice. A familiar one, from what seemed to be ages ago. "Elias!?" She called out, then looked up as the man sprinted up the stairs.
Juniper got to her feet, shaking as if she were freezing. "You came," she whispered in surprise, her voice quiet and shaky as she leaned against the wall. There was slurred screaming, and then Newel was coming back - running down the stairs and yelling unintelligibly. He had a shotgun.
Juniper turned her back to Elias, holding onto his arm as she stood in front of him protectively. "Don't!" She yelled defensively, immediately shielding Elias as her mother's boyfriend aimed the barrel. The shot missed embarrassingly - landed at the wall, leaving a hole the side of a fist. Still, the girl flinched - shards of wood flecked against her skin and clothes, her red curls catching a few pieces.
He tripped, fell - the man tumbled downstairs, head hitting the ground and wall several times. By the time he reached the bottom of the flight, he was too stunned and dazed to move. It was silent now - Juniper could barely breathe, her mind going into shock. She turned towards Elias with a stunned expression, wordlessly clinging onto him with a hug. She was shaking like a leaf in the wind, Newel rolling on the ground in a daze. The chaos of the last four hours catching up with her, Juniper thanked him in shock, under her breath, over and over again.
"Juniper, I swear to God, if you don't keep it down I will turn you into the state!" It was her mother from upstairs, shrieking in her ferocity. Juniper ignored it, clinging to Elias's shirt desperately. She was a mess - bruises along her jaw, a bruise under her eye, one of her scars was still healing from a hit that could have only been a week ago. She was favoring her left leg. She didn't dare let go of Elias, feeling that he was her only tie to a decent reality.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 3, 2017 17:19:28 GMT -5
Elias had a pistol aimed and primed the second he saw what he could only assume to be Juniper's mother's boyfriend stumble into the stairway with a shotgun, but he, still being relatively new to life as a mercenary, but thrown off guard when Juniper turned her back to him. Is she insane? The drunk man made an embarrassing attempt at shooting and Elias saw Juniper flinch. She was seriously trying to shield me. She really is insane.
Watching the man tumble down the steps was probably one of the funniest things Elias had ever seen. He was still conscious at the bottom of the stairwell, Elias could see that much, but at least the guy was too dazed to move. And hopefully between the fall and the drinking, the guy wouldn't be able to do anything for the next couple hours. "Well...wow. Wow. That was...the most embarrassing thing I have ever seen. And trust me, I have seen plenty of embarrassing things in my life." What with his dad being a perpetual and abusive drunk and his mother being high out of her mind 90% of the time, Elias had seen some weird stuff go down at home. Some weird stuff and also just some...stuff that he didn't care to remember. Marja had also become a bit of a character as they grew older. Though she and Elias tried to stick together, they were both individualists at heart. Or maybe it was the circumstances that forced them to become selfish. Marja was just the first of them to show that self-preservation was more important a sibling's life.
He was about to address Juniper, maybe even contemplate hugging her back, when something that sounded suspiciously like a banshee started screeching from upstairs. "That your mother?" He stage whispered, the pistol having fell to his side. "Does she know about this?" He made a vague gesture to the injuries on Juniper's body (which, to his surprise and growing anger, were everywhere). She looks worse than I did after that job in Cairo.
Juniper looked as though she had been through a concentration camp. She was even skinnier than Elias remembered her to be and that shouldn't even be possible. On top of that, she was sporting bruises all over her face and he could only imagine the pain she must be in between that and her still-healing scars. There also seemed to be something wrong with her left leg. "God, Juju...what did that ******* do to you?" A pause. "Can I pick you up? We can't have you standing here forever." And after we get you situated, I'm going to have a stern talking to with your mother and her bumbling buffoon of a boyfriend.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 3, 2017 19:31:24 GMT -5
Juniper nodded when Elias asked if it was her mother shrieking from upstairs, her heart still pounding painfully hard in her chest. It was almost unbearably hard to let go of Elias and turn to look at Newel Sison, the man with a thousand dollar shoes and alcohol on his breath as he gazed drunkenly at the ceiling. "She doesn't know about it," she said tiredly, her arms wrapping around herself. "I haven't seen her face to face in a few weeks...." she trailed off, touching the side of her face cautiously - dark blue and black bruises blotted her skin, making her seem even paler than before. That, or she was just horribly unhealthy. Probably both.
The red-head tucked a wild curl behind her ear, hand shaking slightly when Elias asked her what the man had done to her. "Nothing I couldn't deal with," she said nervously, her entire body shaking from the sudden drop of adrenaline and shock of seeing Elias out of the blue. She was wearing her biological fathers flannel again, buttoned all the way up - the two rings still hung around her neck, but they looked more worn than before - as if she spent hours a day rolling them in her hands, trying to feel some sort of connection to her father and what had become her father figure in life. She felt dizziness slam into her - she reached out, holding onto Elias as she almost collapsed.
"Juniper!" Her mother screeched again, and the girl visibly flinched at the sound. She knew her mother was still sitting on her couch, with a glass of five-hundred dollar wine, wasting away the three million dollars her dead husband had left. She had no access to Junipers new accounts - which was good, seeing as she had shipments and shipments of clothing, shoes, alcohol, makeup coming in every day. Juniper had ordered one thing with her step fathers money - a few flower bulbs, tulips to be precise. She had them in her room, ready to be planted in front by her step-fathers grave.
The teen ignored her mother and nodded shakily to Elias when he asked if he could pick her up, her entire body shaking with exhaustion and malnutrition. She had been far too scared to leave her private rooms - it was obvious why, now. The lightheadedness hit the poor girl again as Elias scooped her barely-there form up, and she clung onto him desperately, hiding her face in his shoulder. Her ribs and spine were eerily obvious under her clothing - her scars pulled, making her wince. Still, she didn't make a sound, just clung onto Elias as even more color drained from her skin, exhaustion slamming into her.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 3, 2017 20:00:27 GMT -5
Elias had to tuck the pistol away before he could pick Juniper up, but he figured that he wouldn't need it anyways. Not until he figured out what to do about Juniper's mother and the boyfriend (or, he supposed, not until he figured out what Juniper wanted him to do; she was the client, after all). He could feel the girl trembling minutely against his chest and he did his best to support her form, to not jostle her much as he headed up the stairs to her room. What scared him most was how light she was. Has she been eating anything at all?
He laid her down in her bed as gently as he could manage, looking around the room and spotting several signs that there had been some kind of violence going on. Probably the reason why she had called. Elias headed over to the vanity, opened a few drawers, dug around a bit before he found some painkillers. He set them on Juniper's nightstand and mumbled something about going to get her water before disappearing from the room, taking care to close the door behind him. From all his time checking out the mansion, Elias had a pretty good mental map of the place and found the kitchen without too much struggle. It took him no more than five minutes before he was back to Juniper with a glass of water.
"You look horrible, honestly." His voice was quiet, empty, laced with some kind of guilt, or was it regret? Whatever the case, he set the water on her nightstand and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, looking down at her. "I got your painkillers here...do you think you can stomach food right now? I can get you something. Or make you something. I think I make pretty good pancakes." Every second spent here was another second that buffoon downstairs had to recover, but Elias did his best not to think about it. He didn't even know what Juniper wanted him to do yet. The call had cut out.
"Yeah...also, Ivan said that your call cut out before he could get the details. What do you want me to do to your mother's boyfriend? All I was told was that you said something about him." Elias wasn't exactly under the impression that Juniper understood fully what his services included, but he wasn't about to hand her a pamphlet. He wondered if she could guess his occupation by now, she had seen the gun that first time he was in this room, he'd broken into her house, he'd had a pistol in the stairwell. No...she's smart, but no normal person jumps to the conclusion that a person who carries weapons is automatically a gun-for-hire. Hell, it had taken a month at least for Elias to understand what Wade did for a living.
It was stupid now, looking back on it, but Elias had always just assumed that Wade was a guy who liked his guns. The man's apartment had been littered with guns of all shapes and sizes, every nook and cranny held either a gun or ammo and those that didn't were hiding blades. Even knowing how skilled Wade was with the weaponry, Elias' first instinct was to chalk it up to military training. And then when Wade had outright explained what he did, Elias had still had a hard time accepting it.
And look at you now... He didn't know if he should be proud or disappointed at how his life had turned out. Probably the latter.
"And while I'm here, I can also have a stern chat with your mother. I'll count it as part of the favor."
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 3, 2017 23:38:37 GMT -5
The bed underneath her was a welcome change to the corner she had been hiding in before. Juniper carefully pushed herself up so she was leaning against the headboard, her arm wrapped around her barely-there stomach as it throbbed painfully from bruises and starvation. She was so exhausted - long sleepless nights of fear bled into equally exhaustive days of hiding. She couldn't go to school, she was so scared of leaving her room - she should have been a Senior, having skipped the ninth grade. Elias left her room, and Juniper leaned back on the pillows behind her, eyes shutting from the weariness. She missed her father. She missed Oliver. As for her mother - well, Juniper wished she had a decent one.
You look horrible, honestly. She forced open her tired blue eyes, looking over at Elias in a sort of haze. Still, she offered one of her eye-glittering smiles and managed a joke. "It's my fall fashion line - for every high school student." There was no way she could put two and two together in that state - she was too worn, too trapped in "survival mode". "Thank you..." She reached out, cracking open the pills with one hand and tossing two capsules - a risky double-dose on her malnourished body - into her mouth before chasing them with a drink of the water. "But I don't think I can eat anything," she said quietly, leaning her head back and grimacing as the bruises on her body throbbed.
She lapsed quiet, thinking about that Elias asked her. What she wanted him to do to Newel? She wanted the man contained away, forever locked away from anyone he could hurt... but with a man that rich? Even with her bruises and a witness, it would be tricky. Honestly, the thought of killing him didn't even cross her mind - an innocent girl, all too used to violence and mayhem but not allowing such bitterness inside herself. "I just want him locked away," she said quietly, her exhaustion finally kicking her while she was down. "I just want him somewhere he can't hurt anyone again."
And while I'm here, I can also have a stern chat with your mother. I'll count it as part of the favor. "No," she automatically said, shaking her head. "She didn't know, and she doesn't have to. I haven't even seen her since he came into her life." As if on cue, the man groaned from down the stairs. Juniper flinched just at the sound, her malnourished body tensing at the sound of the man's voice. She was fading, her eyes hazier and hazier as her body finally realized that as long as Elias was there, she would be safe.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 4, 2017 8:10:15 GMT -5
Elias frowned. Locked away? He didn't do "locked away." "Locked away" meant that the authorities had to be involved, which would mean that Elias would have to come in some form of contact with them which made Elias nervous. No. Even a phone call to the police would be dangerous for someone like him. Besides, who was to say that they could even get the guy locked up and away for any amount of time? Seemed like a rich ******* to Elias and rich ******** never stayed away for long.
"I just want him somewhere he can't hurt anyone again." Now that, Elias could do. He figured that Juniper wasn't really on the same page as him, but that couldn't be helped. He was here to help, to be for once not the bad guy but just a bad guy taking out an even worse one, and this was the only thing Elias could think of to do.
"Alright. I won't talk to your mother." Elias stood, offering Juniper a small smile. "You stay here, ok? I'll be right back."
Descending the stairs again, Elias felt a strange sense of confidence. The first time he had snuck into this mansion fully armed, he had been filled with dread and every step took an immense amount of willpower to make. This time, he was practically buzzing on the inside, practically skipping down the steps to meet his newest victim.
Elias got to the man's side just as he was attempting to sit up and with a tsk tsk of his tongue, Elias planted his foot on the man's chest and pushed him back down, which wasn't very hard considering how disoriented the guy still was. Letting out a small sigh, Elias crouched down so that he could look directly down into the man's eyes.
"Don't overexert yourself, my friend. It'll only make this all so much worse for you. Trust me, I know." The boy smiled good-naturedly, looking for all the world like the nice college student he might've been in a different life. "Now, what's your name?" He released his hold on the man's chest so that he could locate a wallet. Once he did, Elias flipped it open to view the I.D. "Newel...?" He made a face, tossing the wallet over his shoulder and frowning. "Isn't that something you can get at Home Depot? Man...I almost feel sorry for you now."
"Whatever, ok Newel. Listen to me." He patted Newel's cheek, as though worried that the man's mind might be wandering. "Juniper is a real nice girl and you've been a real mean person, and yet all she wants is to have you locked away. Now..." Elias shrugged, pursing his lips. "Unfortunately for you, you're not going to jail. That'd be too easy, wouldn't it? Drop a couple thousand dollars and you'd never have to see what life is like behind bars. No...she wants you somewhere where you can't hurt people ever again and I think...I think if we keep you alive, you'll find a way to come back."
"No! Don't talk! Juniper doesn't want her mother to know anything about this either so be quiet, thanks." He planted a hand on Newel's throat just in case. People who couldn't breathe couldn't talk, after all. There was a moment of silence, then Elias sighed. "Yeah...strangling you would be perfect. But no, would leave too many clues. And I can't shoot you either, as much as I would love to teach you a thing or two about gunman-ship, but that would make too much noise. Think we'll just have to stick with the ol' dagger. You good with that?"
The job was done quickly after that, a quick stab through the ribs, targeted at the heart. Elias stared at the bleeding man for a few moments, wondering if he could just leave him bleeding out on the hardwood floor. No... With a grunt, Elias hoisted the man up as best he could, feeling the man struggle and letting out an annoyed huff. He began climbing the stairs. He ended up dropping Newel off in front of the door to the master bedroom, or where he remembered Oliver's bedroom to be. Hopefully Mrs. Danine was in there. This would be a nice surprise for her.
Elias removed his dagger, wiped it clean, and headed up to Juniper's room.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 4, 2017 12:33:44 GMT -5
Juniper had only given Elias a short nod of agreement before he left, hearing his footsteps patter from her room and down the stairs. The sudden, sharp feeling of dread started clawing at her stomach, and she let her head fall back and her eyes close. She heard muttering from down the stairs - she knew it was Elias from the sound, but the words were undecipherable. Still, the sharp feeling of dread didn't relent - something bad was happening, something really bad.
Then, the silence returned - deathly silence, a silence that had goosebumps parading up over her spine and down her arms. They went away after a little bit, just in time for the red-ead to hear a quiet thud, like something heavy hitting the ground. She didn't even feel her sense of curiosity as strongly as she normally would have - instead, her exhaustion dragged her further and further down until she was practically unconscious, brilliant blue eyes closed as her chest rose and fell with her breathing.
Even the howling after a few minutes didn't wake her. "Juniper! Get over here!" It was her mother, still inside the master bedroom without moving an inch. She was half-way through a bottle of wine - a rich red wine, far overpriced. A few moments passed in irritated silence. "Juniper! Oh, you stupid girl!" Her mother screeched, finally getting to her feet and heading towards the door of the bedroom.
Opening the door, the woman was taking another drink of her wine when she tripped over the dead body of her boyfriend, almost falling to the ground but catching herself on the wall. Confused and slightly drunk, the woman looked backwards and glared - only to give a high, piercing shriek when she saw the bloody body of her boyfriend. The dollar signs practically drained from her eyes, glaring viciously at the body before scrambling for her cell phone, dialing Nine One One.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 4, 2017 13:30:59 GMT -5
When Elias got back to Juniper's room, she was already asleep. So he set up camp in the chair by the vanity and messed around on his phone. He wanted to speak to Juniper again before he left, it wouldn't be fair to let her wake up alone and most probably confused as to why her mother's boyfriend was suddenly dead. Not much time had passed before the banshee shrieked again. Looking over at Juniper, he could see that she was still out like a light. And who can blame her? Wonder when the last time she had a proper night's sleep was.
There was a moment of blissful silence before Juniper's mother screeched again and Elias heard the door open. Ah...here we go. Another high pitched shriek and he knew Mrs. Danine had seen (hopefully tripped over) the body. The boy stood and went over to the bed. He frowned down at Juniper's sleeping figure. He couldn't stay...not when the police were most likely on their way to the mansion now. The mansion that was now the site of not just one, but two murders.
"Oh Juniper...I hope you're not mad at me for this." Writing up a short note on a piece of paper and leaving it under the pill bottle still on Juniper's nightstand, he placed a quick kiss on the girl's forehead. With that, he went to take the service elevator down and by the time sirens came roaring into the neighborhood, Elias was, once again, long gone.
The note, written in Elias' messy scrawl, simply read: You know how to find me. A foolish display of trust. For all he knew, Juniper would use this information to help the authorities find and arrest him, but Elias was still young and, for better or for worse, he was naive.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 4, 2017 13:51:12 GMT -5
"I'm telling you that I don't know anything."
Juniper was weary of the questioning, holding onto herself and staring blankly at the two rings on the table in front of her. She was still bruised up - there was a splint on her ankle, hugging the throbbing injury and helping soothe it. The police officer frowned at her, looking her up and down for what seemed the hundredth time. He hated to press her in this fragile state, but he didn't have a choice. Two detectives were in the other room, talking to a 'strangely calm' Mrs. Danine.
After a moment of silence, the officer sighed and pushed the two rings back to the girl, looking at her sympathetically when he saw how carefully she moved, how her scars were so obvious against her skin. She was in a pair of hospital scrubs, but the off-blue color only made it more obvious how battered she was. Bruises all over her, a bruise that would have been a black eye if it was half an inch higher. Welts from what the officer could only guess was a belt. He watched as she slipped the leather cord around her neck, and then just nodded silently and slid her cell phone to her too. "Get well, Miss Smith," he said, and Juniper looked up with surprised eyes as the officer patted her head quietly before he left, walking out of the hospital room.
Juniper moved gingerly, laying back down with a grimace. Her skin almost matched the white sheets - almost, but too ashen. Her red hair was as bright as ever, but several inches were cut off - it barely came to her shoulders no. Her tired mind couldn't stop herself as she opened her cell phone, dialing the number she had by now memorized. Voice mail, this time.
"It's Juniper," she said tiredly. "I don't know what went down at my home, but I want to ask whoever hears this to tell Elias thank you for everything. I'm a the hospital for now but I can pay as soon as I'm released. Bye," she hung up, setting her cell phone on the little table the officer had questioned her over and letting the drugs the hospital had given her drag her under the surface.
Two doctors stood by her room a long while later, arms crossed over their chests as their brows furrowed in worry as they looked at the sleeping girl. They discussed what they saw - almost severe malnourishment, horrible bruises and welt - and those scars were horrible. Sighing, one of the doctors shook his head and muttered something about a no-good mother and went to check the guest room, again. He was hoping someone would come and see this poor girl - so far, two boys had come in but they weren't on the list Juniper had given them. There were only two names: Leo Crawford and Marina Danine, although Juniper looked repulsed when she put her mothers name down. Not that she came in to see her daughter...
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 4, 2017 19:33:51 GMT -5
{ Sorry my replies are really short today. Been on the road pretty much all day :x Should be back to normal on Sunday }
"Just text her using a burner phone or something, I don't care, just ask her." Elias heard Ivan grumbling something about putting this on his tab before the phone line went dead.
A few minutes later, two text messages appeared on Juniper's phone from an unknown number.
Elias wants u to know u don't have to pay for his services.
He also wants to know what hospital ur at and if he can visit. Breaking into hospitals isn't his thing.
Elias had been a little miffed when Ivan called to ask him how much he was planning on charging for the job. He'd assumed that it was kind of self-explanatory that a "favor" meant he wasn't charging a cent. But that was easy to clear up.
When he was told that Juniper was at a hospital, Elias thanked the heavens that he hadn't flown home yet. Cleo was busy with other clients, told him to wait a few days, and while he'd been admittedly mad about that at first, now he chalked it up to fate. He was going to visit Juniper, of course, but he did wonder if she would want to see him there.
Being a mercenary, Elias was the definition of "morally flexible." But even he figured that breaking into a girl's hospital room was a bad idea. If Juniper didn't want him there, then he wouldn't go. Honestly, at this point, he wasn't sure if Juniper would want to see him ever again. There was no way she could miss the fact that Elias had killed Newel.
How long until she figures out that Oliver was your fault, too?
It may be an impossible hope, but Elias hoped anyway that Juniper would never find that out.
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 4, 2017 23:06:52 GMT -5
Juniper glanced over as her phone buzzed - once, twice. Two texts. Wincing, the girl reached back out and snagged her phone again, tired eyes not even blinking when she saw the unknown number. Saint Catherines, she typed out, about seven blocks east of the cemetery. Tell him to say that he's Leo - I put him on my guest list under that name. She hit send, shutting her screen off and closing her eyes again. She felt the timed drugs kick in - the aches and sharp pains that her injuries gave her slowly filtered away, and she found herself able to relax again as the painkillers dripped through one of three IVs in her arms. One dripped liquids - another was antibiotics, for the scars that had split open from what must have been a pretty harsh whack with the rough side of a leather belt. She had stitches again.
The girl found herself pushing the food around on a plate some time later, never really eating it. Two doctors still watched from time to time, eyeing her non-existent food consumption.
"Her body is rejecting it."
"Well, the IV's should help. Give her a week."
"A week? This girl has been through enough," The first sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm going to see if any of her guests are here, again." He nodded to the other doctor before heading towards the waiting room, brows furrowed at the two names on the list. He pushed open the door, looking around carefully. He couldn't tell any new faces, so he risked name calling. "Marina Danine?" Nothing. The doctor shook his head in disappointment. "Okay, well... Leo Crawford?"
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 5, 2017 16:43:02 GMT -5
It was a good thing Elias brought extra pairs of colored contacts wherever he went, just in case he ran into emergencies. He supposed this could be counted as an emergency...though it was hard to say whether it would be easier for the authorities to catch up to him as Leo or as Elias. As far as he was aware, the police currently had no leads on the murders of Oliver Danine and Newel Sison. You better pray it stays that way.
Well, he supposed if Juniper hadn't ratted him out already, then he'll be ok.
Yeah? What if she's leading into a trap right now? Telling you you can visit her at the hospital...seems suspicious.
Regardless of his inhibitions, Elias found himself at Saint Catherine's, dressed as inconspicuously as possible in a black hoodie and jeans. His eyes were blue, his hair dirty blonde (no point in getting a dye job just for this).
Admittedly, this was Elias' first time visiting anyone at the hospital. He told the receptionist his name, Leo Crawford, and asked her if he could visit Juniper Danine. The receptionist smiled a fake smile and told him to wait. So he did.
After maybe twenty minutes of shifting around and fidgeting in his seat in the corner, trying to stay as far away as possible from the nearest human being, a doctor called for "Marina Danine." She's here!? But no one stood up and the doctor called another name. Leo Crawford.
For a moment, Elias just sat there, looking around, before he realized that "Leo" was him.
"...uh, that's me." He stood, waving a hand awkwardly. The doctor seemed almost relieved to see him, though Elias couldn't imagine why. They headed towards Juniper's room, all the while the doctor talked about her condition and what they've been doing to treat her many injuries and other bodily trauma. Elias understood only about half of what the doctor said, though that may have been attributed to the fact that he was only half listening.
The doctor left Elias alone after opening the door to Juniper's room. He hesitated before letting the door close, then walked over to where the bed was, bringing over a chair from the corner of the room and sitting down gingerly.
"Damn..."
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Post by Strawberry Scream on Aug 5, 2017 18:27:16 GMT -5
Junipers plate was on the side, on the table to the side of the bed. IV's dripped into her arms, painkillers on a steady trickle - a doctor had put an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose, noting the extremely low iron content in her blood. She was asleep once again, the bottoms of her underarms facing the ceiling so the IV's could drop directly into her blood. She was ice and fire - her skin too pale, too cold, and her hair like the sun against the white sheets.
The doctor followed "Leo" into the room. "She's making a rapid recovery," he mentioned in a low voice, checking over the monitors. "I can't believe she was still up and running, truly. Whatever went down at her home between her mother and Mr. Sison, it wasn't good." He reached up, turning the valve to the morphine drip to minimal exposure. "She should be waking up soon, now. Be patient, the drugs will still be in effect for a few minutes after her eyes open." He reached over as he spoke, carefully removing the mask from the girls face. He didn't say anything else, just sped up the drip of the IV nutrients into her arm before taking his leave.
It took a few minutes, but sure enough, the girls' eyes blinked half-open, and she shifted slightly against the sheets. She was still bruised up, although that was no surprise. "Elias?" She asked quietly, almost a whisper from her drug-induced tiredness. She reached up with one hand, running her fingers lightly across her aching eyes as she inhaled deeply through her nose, already feeling different between normal air and the almost pure oxygen from the mask. She looked over at him again, her eyes studying him with startling acuteness. "Your eyes are blue again," she said groggily in her whisper-like voice. "Not that it matters, but I like your brown eyes more. They're warmer."
She didn't seem to realize exactly what she was doing, a heavy dose of morphine still in her system. "Thank you," she said, her voice heavy with drugs and quiet from caution. No one else was in the room, just them and the quiet music playing from a speaker. The acoustic version of The Last Fight by Bullet For My Valentine. "For taking him out." She reached out a bit, asking for his hand in her own. An expression flashes across her eyes for a millisecond - complete loneliness - before the drugs wiped it out again.
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Post by נσкσмαтσ on Aug 5, 2017 20:28:56 GMT -5
Elias nodded dumbly at what the doctor said, eyes not leaving Juniper's face until she stirred. Only then did he avert his gaze, as though embarrassed to be caught staring. His eyes flickered back up to her face as she spoke and he tilted his head, amused. "You like the brown eyes better? Noted." That was new.
When Juniper reached out her hand, it took Elias a solid half minute to process what this meant. He thought he saw something in her eyes just then, but was too preoccupied with his own emotions to figure out what it was. What is she...she knows I killed Newel...she's not kicking me out? She... Tentatively, he closed one hand around hers, hovering in that space between grasping her hand and just brushing against it. And all of a sudden, he understood why he kept coming back.
Unlike most people in his life, Juniper offered him genuine human contact. He couldn't remember a time when his parents hugged him or patted him on the back or even let him have a simple handshake. He couldn't recall the last time Marja came close enough for him to feel her warmth against his skin. Even Wade had been averse to contact, though Elias would never fault him for that. Growing attached was an occupational hazard and to share genuine contact was a great way to grow attached and fast.
You just turned Juniper into an occupational hazard. Good job. Elias frowned slightly at the thought and he almost pulled his hand away. But he only got as far as tensing his arm. He can't pull away now, Elias reasoned. That would be rude. How would he explain that? Excuses, Elias. You know better than that. And he did know better, but if he could fool himself for a moment longer, he would.
"You're..." Don't ask! Don't you dare risk th-- "You're not mad that I killed Newel?" His voice was barely above a whisper, his eyes doing their best to meet Juniper's but ending up somewhere between her mouth and nose. In Elias' experience, outside of the people who knew specifically of what he was and what he did, there was always a negative response to what he left behind, to his method of dealing with things. Even shooting someone as bad as his father had been frowned upon by the authorities. "You didn't tell anyone. The police don't have any leads. Why?"
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