milliways_bar | (no subject)

(Millitimed to before Teja's re-entrance)

Yrael spent all of last night and much of today in the woods, searching for what clues he could find. There are a number of scents, some familiar, some not. There are no remaining footprints, due to the drifting snow and his own actions at the scene of the crime. But there are scents.

Just nothing he can do right at this moment. Which is giving him time to slow down and think. And feel.

He doesn't want to. It aches, the loss. He has never had a friend taken away from him in this manner. Some have left the bar for good, yes, but it was of their own choice. Teja... he was taken. Yrael doesn't do well with this foreign kind of pain.

He's currently in one of the high-backed chairs by the fireplace, gazing unseeing at the flames. He has forgotten that he still wears his new, finely tailored suit. It is rather worse for wear, still stained with dried blood and dirt from the night before.

A half-full bottle of Atlantean sits on the table at his elbow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He doesn't move. He's not pretending to breathe. His dark grey suit, while exquisitely tailored to him, is spattered with blood and dirt. Yrael's voice is quiet, without any of the spark that usually graces the Bright Shiner's words.

"Liz."

The blood and dirt get her attention fairly quickly, as does his tone. Which causes her to shift to kneeling in front of Yrael, hands on his knees and peering up at him.

"What's wrong?"

Yrael doesn't look at her, his gaze still on the fire, his bright green eyes reflecting more than just the flames.

"Teja is dead."

She frowns, worry and confusion etched on her features clearly.

"Wh...what?"

"He was murdered, out in the woods, last night. Charlie was grievously wounded as well, but will survive." Yrael's voice is roughened into a growl of pain and rage.

The confusion turns slightly to anger, because she'd liked Teja. Charlie...she wasn't sure where she exactly stood with, but she tried to be civil.

"What can I do?" To help. To distract. To hurt. He has but to name it.

"I do not know," he says, at a loss. "I have searched the forest for sign and scent, and I must find Guppy again some time soon, to see if his study of the body has found anything. But I think he is asleep, as we were all up the entire night."

"There is nothing I can do, right now, and I can't stand it."

Liz shifts to crawl into his lap if he'll allow, as well as be enveloped in a hug. Touch is comfort in her world after all, and she's trying to offer it as best she can.

"There's no scent...?" Because that really isn't right. There should always be a scent. Even Yrael had a distinct one.

Yrael accepts her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into her hair as he hugs her. He is warmer even than usual, right now, verging on the exceedingly hot.

"There are many scents," he says into her hair, needing the comfort she offers. "Blood and demon rabbits, and people who are often in the forests."

There are no signs of discomfort from Liz at the exceedingly hot friend. She can deal with exceedingly hot if she can give her brother some comfort. She just wraps her arms around him and offers the softest of purrs, offering everything she can.

There's a soft sigh, "Too many to distinguish..." She understands. And that's harder still.

"Some are familiar, at the very least," he says, the toneless voice muffled by her hair. "Those I will seek out, and find if they know anything that might help."

Her cheek rubs softly against his head where it rests, "Is there anything helpful I can do?" Aside from what she's doing? She feels a little helpless, truth be told, because she's not sure what can be done.

"Do not let me dwell on it?" Yrael says with pain in his voice, though he knows that it is a nigh-impossible task. "It will be better, later, when I have direction. Now, I am adrift. I must wait, and try not to think."

Her first instinct is to say hunting, but on insight she can't see how that would be helpful. Her head turns to leave a kiss to his hair, "Movie? Game? Book?" Any or all or something else. She's trying to run through her mind what someone else might want that has nothing to do with the forest.

"Something that requires focus," he says at last. He can't say with any honesty that movies, games or books interest him at this moment.

She's quiet for a moment, thinking on what one can focus on, get into to loose himself in at least for a little while. "Video game?" If she can get him focused, distracted enough to learn the controls he might just stay distracted for a little bit. "We can virtually teach you to drive?"

Yrael turns his gaze back to the fire for a moment, focusing on banking the fires behind his eyes before lifting his head.

"Sure."

He'll try it.

She slips from his lap, not really letting go in an effort to pull him to his feet after her. "It's all in my room," she explains softly.

Yrael stands with her. He does not look even remotely human at this moment, his face too angular, his skin and hair luminous and eyes too bright, his shadow cast by the fireplace much more menacing, its own shape crackling with the turmoil hidden by the shape he now wears.

Her hands slip to rest around his arm and squeeze to offer support since she's not wrapped around him now. She lets go with one hand to grab the half-empty bottle on the table. He might want or need it later...or now. And then turns and starts slowly towards the stairs.

He follows her up the stairs. It's all he can do not to head back out the door to see if there wasn't some scent or sign he might have missed.

She's hoping that it will do something to help. Even if only to help distract for a little while. And if that doesn't, well, there is the rest of that bottle. All she can do is hope and keep trying for her brother as they head to her room.