|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Jun 25, 2013 15:12:18 GMT -5
Victoria couldn't deny that she was confused. "Wait, what?" she asked, not doing anything to cover up her confusion. It wasn't that she hadn't been paying attention, it was just that she was lost now. I--- she didn't know what to finish her statement with.
"Uhm, do you want to fill me in on your thought process here, Juliet?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Juliet Harwood on Jun 26, 2013 19:38:36 GMT -5
"The man downstairs said Owen did something to a woman named Anya Rogers," Juliet said, trying not to speak too quickly. She was still agitated from her discovery (or what she thought she had discovered), but she forced herself to take even breaths and speak clearly. "Another Rogers wants Owen punished. Said he's an enemy, but didn't say why." She must have been too excited to wonder why on Haven, although asking would certainly have been a bad idea. "I thought it was about money. I figured everything would be about money with a man like that. Now, I'm not so sure. I think Joel wants revenge for Anya."
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that she was tired and hungry. If she gave herself even half a second, she would probably flop onto the bed and sleep like a baby. Juliet refused to give herself that half-second.
"It may not be true," she conceded, and noticed that she had started to pace again. "I could just be searching too hard for a connection. But I think it's worth some kind of investigation. And if Joel really did send Preston out on a personal job instead of a professional one, then that changes things. It means I'm going to play it my way instead of his." That she didn't exactly know what her way was didn't seem as important as that decision.
|
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Jun 27, 2013 17:20:51 GMT -5
Victoria listened intently, but she still wasn't piecing it together. She got the connection between the Rogers, but why would Joel send Preston for revenge on her. To the best of Victoria's understanding, the man was not a fighter. Nothing against him of course, but why not send a gun hand? Or was he trying to get Preston killed?
"Juliet, I think we should find Owen quick like. If what you're saying is truth then he may be in more trouble than we thought. So, saying we are doing this your way? What does that mean exactly?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Juliet Harwood on Jun 28, 2013 22:41:14 GMT -5
Juliet hesitated a little. "Joel's way of scaring someone probably involves blood," she said finally. "Mine doesn't." If all went well, it wouldn't, anyway. She was still worried about things going well, but she knew they would go horribly if she did nothing. "You're right, though. We've got to find out where Owen would be."
She was about to start for the door when her legs shook and she dropped onto her bed. She hadn't rested easily on the Mei Hua, and this was the first place she had been in days where she knew what she would see when she woke up and looked out the window. At least, she would know if she had bothered to look out.
"I'm tired," she said quietly. "Victoria, I'm so tired of all this running and trying to figure everything out. I'm not giving up, but... I want to go home." She took a deep breath and lifted her head. "I'm going to sleep for a few hours. When I wake up, I'll find some coffee and some answers. I don't know if Preston can wait for me, but I suppose he'll have to."
|
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Jul 2, 2013 7:01:18 GMT -5
Victoria could only imagine the mental torture her friend was experiencing. She didn't have someone that she cared about that much, so to her it was a new thing really, but she did care about her friend. When she fell back into her bed, Victoria pulled the blankets up over her.
"I promise you we will find him. I know you'll never give up on him, and I'm gonna be with you every step of the way," she answered.
She waited for the young woman to fall asleep, then slipped out of the room, locking the door behind her. Victoria was tired, but not that tired, and they needed information. She'd just hope that she would get back before Juliet woke up. It was likely that she would, considering just how tired the young woman was.
Victoria went down the stairs and up to the bar. "I need to find Christopher Owen. Do you know where I can find him?" she asked the bartender. "It's important that I find him as soon as possible." The bartender shook his head. Either he knew nothing, or he was hiding something, either way, Victoria couldn't tell. She got up from the barstool and left the bar. He was an Alliance official, so that was where she would have to start looking.
|
|
|
|
Post by Juliet Harwood on Jul 2, 2013 16:13:46 GMT -5
Juliet drifted in and out of sleep, torn between wanting to wake up and being too exhausted to get out of bed. She had strange dreams about Whitefall and Preston, and once she woke up half-convinced she was covered in tiny eels. She didn't get much more sleep after the eel dream, and after lying half-awake for a few minutes decided she might as well get up.
Victoria was gone, and while Juliet was tempted to go out after her, she decided it might be better for at least one of them to stay in the same place. She changed into a set of fresh clothes, attempted to comb her hair, and wandered down the stairs. She must have been sleeping long enough for the bartender to have a shift change, because now a broad-shouldered, dark-haired man stood behind it. She bought a little food and asked after Christopher Owen.
"Sorry, miss," he said. "Not many people have seen him around. They say someone's been sending assassins after him, and he must have gone into hiding. That, or he's dead and no one knows it yet."
"Do you know who would want to kill him?" Juliet asked, trying to sound mildly interested. She didn't know if Joel was sending waves of killers or if Owen had developed more enemies.
"Some crime lord," the man said. "He must have angered about a dozen by now. And if you're one of those women who offered to work for a room, there's dishes in the back. You can start on them when you've finished eating."
|
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Jul 7, 2013 15:09:00 GMT -5
She was out for about an hour when she finally decided that she needed to get back and get some rest. It took a little while to find her way back, and she got more than a few glances from Alliance personnel on the planet. They were uncomfortable glances, but she managed to keep herself from returning those looks.
Finally finding her way back to the inn, Victoria noticed her friend already starting on dishes in the back. She knew she'd have to help, so she went over and rolled up her sleeves to help. "I did some looking around," she told her friend. "Got nowhere, but I know a few places not to look now, and I found an Alliance off duty hangout we should probably look into as well."
|
|
|
|
Post by Juliet Harwood on Jul 7, 2013 23:53:08 GMT -5
"That sounds good," Juliet said. "Even if we don't find him, we should be able to hear something."
She filled Victoria in on what she had heard about the assassins and how Owen had probably angered more than one crime lord. She also mentioned that Owen had probably gone into hiding and that she was unsure how to feel about that.
"It's just," she said, scrubbing a plate, "that I'm not sure if it will make what I want to do any easier. Preston would probably be complete rubbish at finding someone who doesn't want to be found -- hell, he couldn't even win at hide-and-seek with the ranch hands' kids -- so he might just be wandering around. Or he could be lost, which I wouldn't put past him." She glared at the plate. "If we can't find Owen but we do find Preston, then I'm calling it off and going home, even if it does lose us that money. Even if Joel Rogers does come back to Whitefall." In a way, she almost hoped he did. She had to have someone to take her temper out on.
|
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Jul 12, 2013 10:33:59 GMT -5
Drying one of the dishes, Victoria listened to what Juliet had to say. She could understand her last point, calling it all off after finding Preston, despite the amount of trouble that would likely bring afterwards.
"So what is it exactly that you plan on doing, anyway?" she asked while sticking another plate in the soapy water. "I mean to say, if he's lost and just wandering around, that's going to make it even harder to find him. Not trying to put a downer on this or anything." That was the last thing she was trying to do. She needed to reassure her friend, but she had no idea what to say to do that.
|
|
|
|
Post by Juliet Harwood on Jul 12, 2013 19:15:14 GMT -5
"I hadn't thought that far ahead yet," she admitted. "I guess I figured I'd just look around where Owen should have been, since that's where Preston would be likely to go. He'll be searching by some kind of logic, and I just have to follow a similar train of thought."
She passed another plate to Victoria. "I think I'll head out once I'm done here. Want to scout the hangout with me, or do you want to get some rest?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Jul 18, 2013 10:36:49 GMT -5
Victoria nodded. That sounded reasonable. She didn't even mind that it wasn't completely thought out. They needed something to go on, and that logic seemed like it just might work. "So you've just got to get in Preston's head and think like him, makes sense," she said.
She took the plate handed to her and rinsed the soap off, then dried it. "I'm alright to scout some more after we finish here."
|
|
|
|
Post by Juliet Harwood on Jul 18, 2013 22:13:55 GMT -5
Juliet hoped she really would be able to think like him; after all, they had known each other for years, and she doubted he would get into some chess-like gambit of trying not to think like himself just so she would be unable to find him. He shouldn't even know she was here.
They finished the dishes, and Juliet stepped outside. Ariel was a beautiful planet, even in this lower-class area, and she couldn't help feeling that this counted as her and Preston's honeymoon. "All right," she said, "which way?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Aug 20, 2013 8:13:19 GMT -5
Victoria hated doing dishes. But they had to pay for their room somehow. Once they finished, she breathed out a sigh of relief and dried off her hands. It would have been obvious just how much she hated this type of chore. It wasn't something that she grew up doing.
Stepping outside with Juliet, Victoria stretched out loudly. She hadn't slept, but was more concerned with getting her friend's man back to her. She pointed in the direction that she'd gone the last time and started off towards that way. She moved slowly, not wanting to get lost or to let Juliet get left behind. Damn this was a busy planet.
|
|
|
|
Post by Juliet Harwood on Aug 20, 2013 13:32:49 GMT -5
The streets were crowded, and Juliet did her best to keep close to Victoria as they walked. She wondered whether there was a time when a certain area would have everyone asleep and tried to imagine what it would be like living in this place. It was almost impossible, and she felt suddenly homesick for quiet little Whitefall, where she had been the most energetic person in the area.
People gave her some odd looks as they passed, and she couldn't blame them. She still looked like a ranchhand from a backwater world, and her hair hadn't been properly brushed for weeks. A quick glare sent them on their way, and a few whispered to their friends as they hurried along. At first Juliet was worried that word of a girl from the Rim might reach Owen's ears and reveal her, but then she realized that on a planet this interesting, she would only be a tiny oddity at best. Besides, if word reached anyone, it would likely be Preston.
|
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Angel Paulsen on Aug 27, 2013 11:51:53 GMT -5
Victoria was wearing down, and it was plain to see really, but she knew she had to push on. It had been her own fault. She should have come back and gotten some rest, but she felt that she had to do something to at least try to get things started. She moved through the streets, crowded as they were, taking note of landmarks to get them back to where she'd gone before. She also glanced back from time to time to make sure that Juliet was still there. She'd heard stories, even on the more civilized planets of young women getting snatched off the streets. She wouldn't let that happen to Juliet.
It didn't take too long to get back to where she'd gone. "This is it. I was trying to find the cheapest looking place that I could. This appeared to be it."
|
|
