◈ 003 ; open } { don’t you know i can’t sleep at night since you’ve been gone

[tornadoinheels]

Being alone in Chicago is never an easy feeling.

You know, in a sense, that you’re not alone. There are thousands of people. You live in a building full of Wanderers, some you know and some you don’t. You know, logically, that no matter what you feel, you’re not truly alone. That there are people who will worry about what happens to you, will have your back, will commiserate over the insanity of the Rift with you. But that morning, Sara Ellis had never felt more alone.

Peter, gone. Elizabeth, gone.

Neal, gone.

The city feels a whole lot larger, and a whole lot colder when you’re alone, but she wouldn’t be Sara Ellis if she didn’t soldier on somehow. She had an interview for the business that Elizabeth had started and she is determined to continue. Elizabeth would want that. Elizabeth might even come back, and she should have something to settle into.

Until then, Sara could keep it on it’s feet. It’s the least she could do.

She’s waiting outside the local café for Caroline, who she had contacted about the interview before Elizabeth had disappeared, and now she is going to have to handle that on her own. She gets herself a cup of coffee and waits for the girl to show. She hasn’t touched the cooling cup, however, just idly stirring the liquid with her straw, staring off into space. Today hasn’t been a good day—she just hopes that the rest of it goes better.

----

Later, she’ll swing by the Crowbar and order herself an actual drink. She doesn’t know why she chooses that particular bar, but it feels a little less lonely than everywhere else in town. She settles on a stool and orders herself a whiskey.

She doesn’t touch it either. She swirls the glass in her hand, and just watches the liquid swirl and change in the low light. She doesn’t want to be alone in Chicago. As fiercely independent as she may be, she doesn’t like to be alone.

It’s not something she’s going to get over anytime soon.

[Cafe is closed to Caroline, but the bar section is open to everyone. COME TALK TO HER.]

Comments

[comhar]

John doesn't have to tend bar.

After co-owning the place for years, and employing as many people as they do, he could easily leave the task to someone else while taking over other responsibilities, but he likes it. He likes serving people drinks and he likes striking up conversations with them.

"Long day?" he asks Sara, picking up some of the empty beer bottles next to her. If she doesn't want to talk, John will leave her be, but on the off chance she might need a distraction, he's happy to supply it.

[tornadoinheels]

"That's one way of putting it," she says with a sigh, directing her attention from her glass to him. "I ... got some bad news."

Which isn't entirely true, but close enough.

[comhar]

"Then you've come to the right place," John says lightly, eying her glass to see if it's going to need a refill soon. He places the rag over his shoulder, leaning against the counter. "We'll take good care of you here."

It's what the Crowbar does.

"You wanna talk about it? Been told I'm good at listening every now and then."

[tornadoinheels]

She pauses for a moment, almost as though she was about to fire off her standard response that she's fine, and she'd survive, because on some level she knows she would. She would survive because humans didn't need family to survive. They needed food, water, and oxygen, but not family.

People got by in this world alone all the time. Sara would too.

But at the same time, she needs to get some of it out. "I think the Rift picked up a couple of my friends," she replies slowly. "It's been a few days, and I can't seem to be able to get in touch with them. I've gone by their rooms, checked their hang-outs ... "

She takes a deep breath. "They're just ... gone."

[comhar]

John doesn't prod. Surviving is important, but so is being aware you're not alone with it. Even if it's with a stranger named John who already cares, and not just because he's a guardian angel. He's built to care, and it's more than the Calling. The answer isn't an unfamiliar one, unfortunately.

People lose here. Far too often.

"I'm real sorry to hear that," John says to her. It's earnest. Low. Not the standard I'm sorry one fires off in return as a commonplace thing to say for lack of anything else.

"The Rifts like to give hell like that." His eyes are dark with understanding. "Sometimes they come back."

[tornadoinheels]

She nods. "I know. I know sometimes they do, and it's not the fact that they're not here is the problem. It's the fact that ... I don't know where they are. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

[shellbreaker]

Mark knows Sara from running into her on the sidewalk before, and she helped him with a kitten before so he thinks of her very fondly. There's the immediate happiness at recognizing her before it quickly shifts into something closer to concern.

She does not look very happy at all with the way she is staring at the drink but not drinking it. It's a common sight in the Crowbar. Something he's seen time and time again. In fact, she looks the opposite of happy. "Hey, Sarah," he says before he sits down on the seat beside her near the bench. "You okay?"

[tornadoinheels]

Mark is a bright spot in an otherwise miserable day. She's fonder of him than she would ever admit to anyone, so the sight of him manages a small smile on a day when she doesn't really feel like smiling.

"Just a bad day," she says with a sigh as she finally picks up and sips her drink. "The Rifts suck. A lot."

[shellbreaker]

Mark is happy that he can be a bright spot. He started to understand how terrible Chicago is when the meteors fell. It's something that stayed with him in this painful, aching way. It doesn't go away either though he's tried to shove it to the side.

"Bad days are the worst, but a drink can help," he says, smiling back at her though it's small and sad. "They do. Any particular reason this time? It's okay. Actually, research shows it's good to talk about it but if you don't want to, I'm here... too."

[tornadoinheels]

"I'm just ... tired of people disappearing on me."

Her thoughts are swirling in a similar pattern to the scotch, spinning in directions that she didn't want them to go, but she couldn't help it. She's been in this situation before, where someone in her life has disappeared without a trace. No explanation. No closure.

She hates it.

"Does it make me a terrible person if I almost wish ... "

And she stops herself. Because it does make her a terrible person and she knows it.

"Never mind."

[shellbreaker]

Mark winces immediately. He is familiar with loss in the Rift even if he hates it, hates it more than anything. He is familiar too with people disappearing into thin air.

"...Sarah." There's a pause as he looks at her and then he shakes his head, resting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. Who disappeared?"

He shakes his head at what she says.

"It doesn't make you terrible. When you lose a bunch of people, you're allowed to think, feel, do, wish, whatever you want," Mark says, throat tightening a bit. "I wouldn't think you were horrible for any of it."

[arkham_doctor]

Jonathan isn't entirely certain why he stopped by the Crowbar for a drink. It's really not his type of place, but he heard about it through the grape vine and decided he could use a drink.

He sits down at the bar next to Sarah, leaving a seat between them out of courtesy, and orders a drink. He quietly observes her for a moment when he notices she's simply staring at her drink and hasn't touched it.

Don't you dare get involved.

Jonathan ignored Scarecrow, instead giving Sarah a charming smile. "Something bothering you?" He asks curiously, turning slightly on the stool. He doesn't know why he inquires, really, but he decides that a little communication will probably be good for him.

Damn your need for human contact.

[tornadoinheels]

Human contact isn't an easy thing to live without. Sara would happily do without if she didn't need it so much. There was less of a chance of getting hurt that way. Less of a chance of being stuck without closure.

However, she isn't going to dump that into this man's lap. Instead, she'll just smile sadly. "Just a long day."

[arkham_doctor]

"I can certainly sympathize." He says, his smile fading to something much more subdued. "Though I believe the quote is 'We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure,' correct?"

He takes a sip of his drink, ignoring his other half's protests against the conversation until Scarecrow finally gave up. He's watching her intently, mind already working to discover what makes her tick.

[tornadoinheels]

She smirks. "Something like that. Though I used to be in a place where my work didn't make me feel as though I was giving something up. Unfortunately, things tend to change."

[arkham_doctor]

"How true that is."

His smile starts to appear as more of a smirk once he offers a hand to her for her to shake. "I'm Jonathan, by the way. Jonathan Crane."

Oh, you are pathetic.

[theslenderman]

After Jonathan leaves the bar, there is someone- something behind him in the shadows, in the street.

It is dark out.

The Slenderman moves like it skates. It moves without movement at all.

SE
IN
G

YO
U

Always.

There is nothing there.

There is something there.

Nothing at all.

The street is FULL empty.

[arkham_doctor]

Normally, Jonathan finds the darkness of night comforting. He had been, after all, considered one of the things that go bump in the night. Someone one didn't want to run into in a dark alley. Dangerous.

Those things were behind him now.

Short of a few relapses, he's been rather well behaved since coming to Chicago.

Tonight, though, something seems...off. As he leaves the bar he pulls his coat around himself a little tighter. He's experienced bouts of paranoia before, but this feels different. The uncomfortable feeling comes on all to quickly and he finds himself glancing over his shoulder every few paces.

Something got you worried, Johnny?

"It's nothing." He mumbles aloud, half in response to his darker side and half as a reassurance for himself. He adjusts his coat once again, a little nervously.

He sees something out of the corner of his eye but it doesn't remain long enough for him to get more than a glimpse of it.

Maybe you're not so crazy. There was something there...

[theslenderman]

The Slenderman is in the darkness and the day. Neither keeps it at bay.

Neither keeps it locked away.

The Slenderman is tall.

Jonathan might see something down an alley, in a corner.

Isn't there someone tall standing there around the corner?

One could just see the shoulder but then it's gone, in a flash.

One brief moment.

The eyes are playing tricks on you, because how could anything be there? When no one else sees it? When no one else notices?

[arkham_doctor]

Jonathan catches a glimpse of something every once in a while. Sometimes it's what he thinks is someone across the street, but when he looks there's no one there. Occasionally he thinks there's someone watching him from down an alley but only catches a glimpse before before it's gone.

It's exactly that distraction that causes him to trip over an uneven part break in the sidewalk. He stumbles but manages not to fall. As he recovers he thinks there's something watching him, probably mocking his lack of coordination, and he turns quickly, intending to snap at whoever's there.

He's rather shocked that the street is empty.

He takes a moment to rub his eyes and sighs. "I must really need some sleep." He mumbles to himself, still feeling extremely uncomfortable.

CAFE ]

[vampirebarbie]

Caroline shows up early. She isn't even sure what to expect. She'd put the resume in on a whim, thinking that maybe all her party planning skills could actually come to good use. Though, showing up early means that she drinks a rather large iced tea and then she needs to use the bathroom. That makes her a tiny bit late and when she spots Sara, she shakes her head.

Moving toward her, she immediately apologizes, "Sorry, I was early but I had to use the restroom. There was a line and I splashed water on my shirt. The dryer took longer than I had thought."

[tornadoinheels]

Sara gives her a small smile. "It's alright. At least it was just water on your shirt and not something more extreme." And having lived in Chicago this long, she knows at least that.

She then extends a hand to her. "Sara Ellis. You must be Caroline."

[vampirebarbie]

Smiling brightly, Caroline takes the offered hand and shakes it, "I am and I'm glad it was just water too."

She takes a seat across from her and scoots in closer to the table, "You said on the phone that this was about the resume I had dropped off earlier?"

[tornadoinheels]

"Yes," she says as she settles back into the chair. "But in all fairness, I feel that I should let you know that the job responsibilities have changed since you applied."

She takes a breath. "Originally, Elizabeth and I were looking to put you in more of an assistant's role, but given that Elizabeth is no longer in the city, I am looking for someone to fill her position. Understandably, it's quite a bit more responsibility, and things will be modified, given your experience, but ... you will be doing most of the planning. I just want to make sure you're still comfortable with that."

[vampirebarbie]

"Oh." Caroline is a bit startled by that information. She hasn't considered this sort of career before. Assistant - she can handle that, but this... this is bigger.

"I didn't realize she had left. When you say all the planning, what sort of events are we talking about?"