Girl Chat: Riley, Dorothy, and Myra

*Some point in the past*

The gals in a separate room...

"Ok Myra, you really have to spill now. There's no hiding that what's going on with Justain is not just coming from him. Details, I live off juicy details!"

Yes! We need to know! It's the only way we can help stop him from being a crotchity Jerkface.


(BTW Kate, you have permission to make up what the two of you have been doing on dates and stuff, how well things are going between you, etc.)

Say Riley, while Myra's busy being tongue-tied could you do me a favor? I need your boyfriend's phone number.

...why?

Shockingly, because I'd like to talk to him. May I please have the number?

"It's *number*, but good luck, he's hardly ever in this plane of existence these days. I think I'd love him if I got to spend more time with him...Sometimes I wonder if it's just the heat of only seeing him when I'm almost dead...Ohmigosh don't tell him I said that!!!"

She smiles mischievously. "I'll promise not to tell him if you promise not to ask him what I was talking to him about."

*pats Riley's shoulder*
I know what you mean...it's a little disconcerting to try to sort out emotions from adrenaline highs. You're both highly competent mages, though, don't you have some sort of interplanar communications method?

@ Dorothy: Will you tell ME what you're talking about?

Dorothy smiles at Myra. "No, but I'll help you plot out fun ways to get Justain out of his shell if you'll tell us how things are going with you two."

Myra laughs. "You guys are persistent! I didn't think we were that interesting!

"It's going well....really well, actually! He's a lot of fun when he's not being so grim. But boy, I could use your help getting him out of his shell! I think part of the problem is that he doesn't seem to realize that he's IN a shell...I'm so used to people who blurt out everything that comes into their heads, who always have to be telling stories or making an argument...but he seems perfectly content to just observe and absorb everything going on around him."

She pauses. "It's a bit of a relief. A nice change from most of the guys I've dated in the past! Still, whenever we're talking I can see his mind going a mile a minute, but he doesn't ever say much. I think he's gotten so used to having to keep his thoughts to himself..." she trails off and looks to Dorothy.

"Has Cathy ever mentioned to you what he was like before all of this started? He almost never volunteers information about his past, and I've been trying not to pry. I mean, we had to learn about his wife and daughter the hard way, what else is buried back there? He said he wouldn't hide anything from me, but it's not like I'm going to sit him down and quiz him about everything that happened to him before we met."

Dorothy's expression turns a little more serious. "Well, from what I saw before you met him and what Cathy's told me Justain was pretty much just a gritty cop for a long time. Before he was partnered with Cathy he had another partner who died in the line of duty and I'm sure that roughed him up. It might be one of the reasons he worked so hard to find Cathy when she got kidnapped.

"But he did use to be very different when his wife and son were alive. I...did a little research. Before they died Justain was apparently a big ball of optimistic energy. He would brag about how amazing his wife was all the time and he was one of those dads that you can't escape from for twenty minutes because he's busy showing you all the baby pictures he has in his wallet. Losing those two must have been devastating to him." She pauses as though choosing her words carefully. "Apparently he went missing for a while afterwords."

Dorothy now looks very sad. Everyone roll wits plus intelligence and let me know if you get two or more successes.

Just two for me.

One

Alright, so Myra is able to remember the fight with the super-werewolf in the gauntlet and how Dorothy was also sad then. You'll recall this was also right after we found out that Justain was visiting gravestones, though you didn't know exactly whose at the time.

Myra looks somber, and stares and her hands for a few minutes.
"I can't even imagine," she says quietly. "To have built your whole life around something, and in less than an hour have it all come crashing down. I wouldn't have just disappeared for awhile, I probably would have disappeared for GOOD."

She looks at Dorothy and sees the sadness in her eyes. Remembering the way that Riley said her aura looked in the gauntlet after we discovered Justain's secret visit, she hesitates. Then-
"I've never lost anyone in that way...even when my dad disappeared I was more angry than upset, I thought for sure he'd just finally moved on to the next adventure. When I thought I was going to lose my mother to cancer, I was devastated. But I never really dealt with it properly, just- clinically. Just another thing to deal with. Thankfully I never had to see what sort of person I'd become if I lost either of them."

*she all of a sudden realizes that Riley is sitting RIGHT THERE*

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up such a lousy topic..."

*continues to look miserable*

Well you can all see how I've dealt with my mother's death, or haven't. I guess it's easier to try to keep so busy I can't think about it. Rebellious phase maybe. Oh god, can you imagine what a therapist would say about my behavior? How close I've come to almost dying myself...feeling more alive because of it...revenge...you guys have picked on me for things that I have done...unnecessary risks...but they're really not funny are they...are they kinda terrible? *looks at her hands*

*I think it's a good thing other people can't see auras, Riley's would be confusing as shit*

*shrugs* "Eh, don't worry about it too much. At this point I think we're all pretty messed up. I spoke to the Padre about it once. He seems to think it happens to everyone who gets into our business. I'll just be happy as long as I don't wind up like Sarah." *shudders a bit.*

*sort of puts her hand on Dorothy's arm*

"Are you alright? Did I say something?"

*kind of slides away* No, I was just thinking about stuff. It's alright.

*looks concerned*

"Alright...I'm sorry if I've brought up some rotten memories, I..." she laughs a little "I actually don't know anything about your life before this nonsense! It's okay if you want to keep it that way, though. I can understand keeping it in the past..."