Re: Rise and Kate

**Dancin' Kate** Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:24 pm

Emma sat on a metal bench with her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the park she'd slept in a almost two weeks ago, the black hood of her jacket pulled over her head and shadowing much of her face. Sighing, she shut her eyes and shifted her position and shuffled her feet a little, returning the flow of blood into the lower half of her legs with a grimace as they began to tingle. Sitting on that bench, she wasn't quite sure why she had felt the need to come outside on such a gray, cloudy day and sit there in the mist of the park, the moisture in the air threatening to fall from the sky in a great downpour at any moment.
Maybe it was because she had grew up with this kind of dreary whether and so it didn't bother her. Maybe it was because the dark clouds shutting out the light from the sun matched her somber mood. Or maybe she just didn't care. Sitting there, Emma wasn't too sure of what she was feeling or why she couldn't seem to find the motivation to move at all. With a heavy sigh, she dug out her phone and flipped it open before searching through her contacts quickly, selecting one and writing a quick text message.
"We need to talk. Meet me at the park across from the dry-cleaners. -E" After the message was sent, she shoved the phone back into her pocket and pushed herself off the bench, strolling lazily over to the swings and sitting down. She wasn't sure where Gabriel was, so how long it would take him to get to her was questionable. A few minutes later, her phone buzzed with a reply saying he was on his way and would be there within fifteen minutes. Frowning, she stood up again and wrapped a hand around her middle, uncertainty clouding her eyes as she paced back and forth. How was she going to tell him everything that was going on? The brief description she gave him at the bar three days ago wasn't nearly enough to keep him safe, let alone available when she needed help.
A tap on her shoulder while she was vigorously pacing and thinking made her jump and spin around, her heart racing until she saw it was just a familiar face. Gabriel tried to crack some joke about how she was 'jumpy much?' before seeing that something was wrong as she gave him a grim look.
"If you're really going to help me with Deacon, then you need to know everything," she said vaguely, her eyes locked on the ground as she crossed her arms and bit her lower lip, anxiety getting the better of her as she went back to her pacing. It shouldn't be this hard to tell him, so why was she fretting and worrying so much? Wasn't it better if he knew everything than remain in the dark? At least this way Deacon couldn't use anything against her, right? Flustered, she spit out a curse loudly and raised her hand to her forehead, running it through her hair as she sat down on the playground structure. Gritting her teeth, she looked up at Gabriel who seemed concerned and swallowed anxiously, lifting a finger and pointing at him with a serious expression on her face.
"Once I tell you this, you can't back out- because the moment I do, somehow, someway, Deacon will find out and know that you're involved," she said, again very vaguely before she explained in more depth. "I-I need you to promise me that you won't back out once I tell you. Despite what you think," she went on, a paranoid expression on her face as hysteria laced her words, "I-I can't do this on my own. An-and if you got hurt, I-I don't know what I'd do. So, it's better if you know everything because if you don't, something could happen and then I wouldn't know what to do..." She continued to babble on, her defense mechanisms turning on as she rambled about how he could get hurt and about how she was scared.

**RiseAbove** Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:49 pm

Gabriel picked the buzzing phone off of the kitchen counter and lazily checked the message. The text was from a strange number, not from those in his contact list. Who could've possibly be texting him now? As he scanned over the message, he realized that the text could only have come from one person: Emma. Oh. Yeah.

It must've been that deal that he promised her off the spur of the moment without giving it too much thought. What business did he have in hunting down a stalker ex, let alone someone else's stalker ex? Gabriel began to second guess his decision as he slouched down, leaning against the refrigerator. He could always leave her hanging or come up with some excuse not to go. Her little mission wasn't all that exciting. Now that he had thrown his initial goal upon meeting her out the window, he wasn't really sure what he was getting out of it. But regardless of all his thoughts, Gabriel replied to her text message, promising to meet her there shortly.

---

"C'mon, Emma. What could possibly happen to me?" Gabriel questioned cockily. "Don't worry about it. Trust me," he added. Even if her crazy ex was dangerous, how dangerous could he possibly be? The guy was only a crazy ex who wouldn't leave her alone, nonetheless. Couldn't she just call the cops? They'll deal with a stalker. "Trust me, okay? I won't back out. I won't leave you hanging," he assured the panic stricken girl again. The guy, as he remembered, wasn't much bigger than himself physically. The guy, as he remembered, got jacked in the face that night, too. He took a seat on the step of the playground set. Looking up at her, Gabriel could see that she was genuinely terrified. Understandable, sure. She did say that night that he was after her for who knows what reason. But terrified could only go to such level. There could be another chance that she was just overreacting. "If it makes you feel any better, you have your friends and I have my friends to help you with...stuff," he said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "So, uh, Deacon. I'll listen. I have time."

**Dancin' Kate** Mon Jul 02, 2012 5:37 pm

Emma bit her lip after looking at him for a long time, shutting her eyes gently and letting out whatever further doubts she had through a heavy, drawn out couple of sighs, trying to calm her own nerves now. She could do this; it was just a little more background history about her life and the relationship between her and Deacon. No biggie. Just start out slow... a voice whispered softly, the words fading slowly as she took in a deep breath. "I've pretty much explained the big picture to you already, but it's the details that count here," she said slowly, trying to keep her voice calm and collected as she opened her eyes and stared at the ground. "Deacon and I were an item of sorts, he tried to hand me off, I told him to go fuck himself. Found out he's in a gang, and now I have to watch my back. The basics," she went on, using a few hand gestures here and there as she spoke. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she brushed aside her bangs as a gust blew over her head and threw her hair all over. She paused for a long moment before continuing in a shaky voice. "What you don't know is that I stole-well, took back something that he had..." Reaching inside her pocket, she pulled out a rather large gold ring with a blue gem in the center, tiny words branded around it. Handing it to him, she let him inspect it as she explained why it was so important. "It was my father's- my real dad. Not the asshole step I live with," she said, a small twitch on her mouth as she took it back. "I have no idea how Deacon got a hold of it, but I can assure you it wasn't honestly." Frowning, she then pulled out a ripped sheet of paper and hesitantly gave it to Gabriel to read as well, worry on her face as she went on to explain it. "I also stole this; it's some sort of drug-deal system set up through the city. I managed to grab it when Deacon took me to meet his 'friends'. Obviously, this kind of information could bring the whole system down. He doesn't know I have this in particular, but he know's that I'm aware of what he does..." Wetting her lips, she raised her eyes to meet Gabriel's and tapped the paper with a disgusted frown as she exclaimed, "This is why he's after me. Because what I know could ruin his whole career."

This was all I could think of to be rational enough for Deacon's reasons. xP

**RiseAbove** Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:23 pm

His eyes scanned over the ring as he rolled it around his finger. The text was much too small to read, at least under a gloomy sky. Gabriel fell silent, before replying, "Wait, that's great! You have his plans, so can't you just take it up to cops and...no. Take that back." His brow furrowed in thought, recalling what he had just gotten himself into. If she turned in Deacon's plans, he could turn in her name as well. Even if he didn't turn in her name with the law, Deacon had his gang and could more than easily do what he wanted with Emma. And if his gang found out that Gabriel knew... Uttering a swear, he commented, "Wow."

Just 'wow'. The wind tousled his short streaked blonde hair, which wasn't slicked down with hair products today. From the top of his head, he couldn't dish out a response that summed up what he had just heard. "Wait, so--" Emma cut him off, shushing him excessively. Gabriel pulled himself up to his feet. In a quiet, hushed voice, he asked, "Does anyone else know about this?" His tone was serious. The situation was serious. Gabriel knew that there were some little gangs around here, but he didn't realize that they were actually up to something. Usually, he'd only hear of little gangs smoking illegal weed behind an abandoned building or around a shop corner's dumpster. He didn't realize that they had their big system behind everything that was...this...big.

And what did that say about their meeting here? Could someone be watching from somewhere? Besides, it was a public park after all, regardless of how trashy and abandoned it seemed. If he had not known how much trouble he had gotten himself tied into, Gabriel knew sure well that he'd be seeing it play out in a matter of time. His guts wanted him to back out, but now that he knew, there really wasn't a way for him out of it. Emma knew he knew, and if he backed out on her...she could really hold it against him. She knew his name, she knew where he lived. She had his number, and there wasn't anything to keep her from turning his name in either. A serious haze fell over his face, duplicating the one in the ally when he agreed to tag along. "Anywhere else a little less open we could finish...discussing?"

**Dancin' Kate** Tue Jul 03, 2012 2:16 am

Emma nodded silently at his question concerning a more privet place to talk about the matter, getting to her feet as well and walking down the sidewalk away from the park. With Gabriel tagging along side her, she explained some of the more intimate details of the situation. "I haven't told Amber or Sandra, and I don't plan on it. I'd rather not get my two best friends in this kind of mess," she stated as she watched the ground, blinking as she quickly realized how he might've taken it the wrong way as she looked up and saw his curious expression. Coming to a stop, she gently placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a firm look as she fixed her statement. "I didn't mean it like that, Gabriel," she said quickly, apologizing with her eyes, "The only reason I let you get involved is because you insisted upon it."

Resuming her pace after clearing that up, she then retreated back inside her protective shell and hushed. For a while, she was silent as she went deep into her thoughts, a frown on her lips as she tried to sort some things out mentally. Her most prominent concern was whether or not she truly had Gabriel on her side or if he was still only in this for the chance of getting laid. If that was the case, then he would be of no use to her in a tight situation. Of course, then came the question of just how this college student who knew close to nothing of what it was like in the real world outside his weekly visits to the bar for hookups was supposed to help her. A getaway driver maybe, but she couldn't think of much else. So caught up in her swarming thoughts swirling through her mind, Emma hardly noticed until right then that she had led them straight to her old house. After walking there after school for so many years, it was a habit she obviously still struggled with breaking.

Coming to a stop, she stared up at the crumbling house and swallowed gently, memories of her early childhood days slowly coming back. Vaguely, she heard Gabriel ask where they were as he inspected the house, not giving it much thought at the tone of his voice. Blinking a few times as she came back to reality, she had to tear her gaze away from the house before looking at him and forcing a small smile. "My old house. I grew up here until I was sixteen when my Mom remarried and we moved somewhere else," she remarked softly, a remorseful edge to her words as she dropped her gaze slowly before looking away. He seemed to be ashamed of how he spoken earlier as he didn't meet her eyes and a slight coloring tinted his cheeks, bringing a smile to Emma's mouth.

"It's okay, you didn't know. Hell, I'd be thinking the same thing if somebody led me to a place like this," she joked, nudging his arm with hers as she approached the broken wire-fence, stepping over the tangled hazard cautiously. As she stood at the back door, about to turn the knob, she let out a sigh and turned her head to face him. "Are you sure you want to be involved in all this? Honestly? Because if you didn't, I can understand and I wouldn't hold it against you or anything. I mean, even I don't want to be involved in this shit, but I don't have a choice. You, on the other hand, you do have a choice," she said carefully, looking at him with an understanding expression as she searched his eyes, her mouth tipped down in the slightest of frowns.

**RiseAbove** Thu Jan 03, 2013 12:13 am

Gabriel hesitated for a second, before answering. "Uh, yeah. I'm sure. I insist, actually." Something inside him told him it was a bad idea. He wasn't one to listen to his head, though. Gabriel was more of a guy to go with his guts. He scratched his head nervously behind his right ear.

The place was total rubbish. It would be a surprise to even find a homeless man living here. It was unbelievable, in a negative way. Some tangled undergrowth caught his ankle as he took a step forward. Emma led him up to the doorstep and he followed her warily. This wasn't where teenage boys spent their Sunday afternoons. Long spider webs hung from the corner pockets where the supporting beams met the overhanging roof. If she said it was abandoned a while ago, he believed her.

"Out of all the places we could've talked, why did you take me to your childhood home?" he asked as his eyes wandered along .the cracks in the brick. "Don't tell me that your stalker planted some intricate secret that starts here," he added, but stopped himself abruptly. In the case that it was true, Gabriel wouldn't want to get on her bad side already. He had a feeling that this mysterious girl was more than just the girl was crazy friends that he kept meeting at the local bar. There was much more behind her, and he didn't want to find out the hard way.

"I got your back on this one," he repeated. The porch creaked eerily as she set foot on it. There really wasn't much he could do but follow.

**Dancin' Kate** Thu Jan 03, 2013 3:03 am

Emma stared at him for a long moment after he answered, her eyes unsure as she opened her mouth to say something but shut it as she thought better of her words and bit her lip slightly before nodding her head jerkily, sighing deeply. Laughing awkwardly, she run a hand through her hair as she pushed her bangs aside and dropped her gaze to the floor as she rested her hand on the doorknob. "I never thought the guy who tried to get in my pants three times would be the one to help me through… Well, this!" she exclaimed with an unsteady giggle, choking back tears of relief. She wasn't sure why she was so emotional all of a sudden, but she didn't want to appear any more vulnerable than she already was in this situation. With a final sigh, she paused a moment before opening the door and entering her old house, her heart clenching as the familiar doorway she stepped through flooded her with memories. Sucking in her breath sharply, she stood rigid for a second before Gabriel bumped into her, pulling her out of her slight reminiscence as she muttered an awkward apology, walking forward.

The place wasn't much to begin with in her childhood memories, but over the course of five years with no attempt to keep the place clean or efficient, it had deteriorated into little more than a two-story shack. Gulping, Emma slowly walked through the house, stroking the walls and fighting the urge to cry with each step she took. She hadn't been here in so long she had forgotten how much she was still attached to this house. Shutting her eyes slowly, she breathed in the moldy scent of rotting wood and felt her heart sink as she could no longer smell the familiar scents that had once flooded the place when she was younger. Her mother's incense burning along with assorted candles, her fathers infamous beef stew and metallic odor from working with rusty cars all day long. Sighing as she opened her mind, she leaned against the wall of stairs leading up and stared blankly at what was the living room, a faint glow to her eyes.

After a moment, she wiped at her nose as the stirred up dust gave her a slight sniffle and she had to fight the urge to sneeze. Craning her neck to look up the stairs, she smiled gently and jogged slowly up them, reaching the narrow hallway and turning to the right where her old room was. Opening the door, she felt a sense of deja vu crash over her as she sucked in another breath and narrowed her eyes, stepping back and examining the doorway with a curious expression. "Why do I feel like I've been here already?" she whispered to herself, her mind struggling to recall the dream she had in the back of Gabriel's car during her trip on acid. Frowning, she shook off the feeling and opened the door, light from the sun finally peaking through the clouds and shining into the room. Grinning, Emma let out a slight chuckle as she twirled in her toes into the room, remembering her stage as a ballerina. Standing in front of the window, she sighed gently and rested her hand against the glass, the other wrapping around her middle as she watched the street below. "I used to stand her for hours as a kid; just staring out the window, imagining my future," she said absently, a smile cracking on her lips. "I thought I was going to be a world-famous ballerina for the longest time…"

**RiseAbove** Thu Jan 03, 2013 3:48 am

Truth be told, Gabriel wasn't all that interested in her bittersweet childhood. Trying to get in her pants was twice as nice. What? He couldn't resist a girl that played hard to get.

But the house did give him a bad vibe. It could've been the bad maintenance, or rather, lack of maintenance. Gabriel couldn't help but stare at an old family portrait that still hung on the wall. Dust collected thickly on the surface. He reached up to brush it away, but the fine powder stuck to his fingers. A single long crack came down the middle, splitting the family exactly in two. On the right side stood an older man with thick glasses. His posture was rather stiff and he rested a hand on the shoulders of an older woman. Gabriel guessed that it was his wife. Several middle aged people lined up along the sides, but he couldn't help but notice a little girl with odd colored eyes who stared off into the far distance. Unlike everyone else, a smile dashed on her childish cheeks. "Is this you?" he asked. No one had purple eyes save for her. At least, no one he knew of.

"If you really wanted to dance, why didn't you?" There were plenty of shows that were looking for great dancers. Plus, seeing her wearing a pink leotard was quite easy on the eyes. "You obviously danced as a child. I'm sure that if you kept at it, you could have gone to professional." Gabriel didn't have the most imaginative dreams as a child. He remembered only wanting to become Batman, but that was about it. That's where the lack of a brother figure came to haunt him. Of course, he hung out with the neighbor kid, but even that boy was a good two years younger than him. As he grew up, his imagination became more and more limited. Heck, Gabriel was going to college for Business and Marketing. How much less artistic can that get?

The strange random comments made him stare. Seen this before? Did her trip take her back to this house? Is that seriously the only connection to this place? How the heck was he suppose to do anything in this joke of a home? "Why'd you take me here?" Gabriel repeated. He watched her cautiously. He couldn't have her fall over in another panic attack. That was pretty freaky.

**Dancin' Kate** Thu Jan 03, 2013 4:00 am

Ugh, I haven't done that BBC coding in forever and now I'm far too lazy to keep it up. xP

Emma sighed heavily at his question, having no other response but a simple shrug and a frown as she dropped her eyes to the ground, turning around and leaning against the windowsill as she stared down at her shoes, tapping her toes together a few times. "When you're a kid life is a playground with endless possibilities. But when you grown up…" her voice trailed off as she shrugged again, tapping her fingers on the edge of her seat. Lifting her eyes as he repeated his question from earlier, she felt a slight coloring fill her cheeks as she smirked and nodded her head for some reason, her hair falling in her eyes again though she made no attempt to move it this time. "Yeah, it's kind of creepy when a stranger leads you to her old house to talk about foiling a drug-dealer's plans," she joked, her voice light as she laughed at her own words, straightening up and crossing her arms over her chest.
"But don't go all stranger-danger on me, it really was an old habit taking over. I've lived in this town my whole life, more than half of it in this house. I used to come home drunk of stoned out of my mind by foot. Over the years I guess I developed a subconscious GPS," she explained with a grin, her eyes dropping to the floor again. For a while she stayed silent and let her eyes roam around the room, watching the focal point of the sunlight coming through the glass drop lower and lower. Ocassionally her eyes would wander over to Gabriel and would linger for a moment before drifting off again. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe. Comfortable. It was a good feeling.

Will finish once I get to my phone... Done!

**RiseAbove** Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:55 am

Gabriel nodded. At least this place wasn't related to her big issue. Well, in a way, but her obvious longing for her past was something that he himself obviously couldn't fix. What was he suppose to do? Bring back every face in that picture? Fix up this rat hole? For a college kid like him, there was no way that he even was going to consider how much it would cost. Even the deck alone must be a few grand!

Regardless of how it looked, Emma must really love this place. It was nothing to him, but to her it sounded like it meant the world. When was wasted or drugged out of his mind, Gabriel sure didn't return to his parents' place. One of the guys usually ended up picking up the pieces. But again, Gabriel wasn't much of a foreign substance kind of guy. He preferred to live it out through all the other drunkards at the bar. It was more fun that way. Better on his health, too.

"You must really want to get back at this guy," he commented. "How'd you get involved with a big drug lord?" She couldn't have just picked him up over a drink. Drug lords were not foolish college boys. He looked up at her. That calm sense that had briefly descended had disappeared like lightning. Emma's face was stern. If she was mad for getting drugged with hallucinogens, Gabriel understood. He would be mad, too. Except, something in him suspects that the acid trip wasn't exactly for her. Had it been roofies, she clearly could've been in a worse place. Roofies would've put her out like a dead bulb. Someone who had taken roofies wouldn't be up and lively enough to hop into his car. Believe it or not, the acid probably saved her life, if this drug dealer wanted something from her. For a second, Gabriel began to feel intimidated by the situation he had just put himself in.

But for some reason, he still stayed. Emma said he could back out whenever, but something made him stay.

**Dancin' Kate** Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:28 am

Emma felt her reminiscent mood immediately fall as he brought up the topic of her plans for Deacon, her eyes darkening and a fearful frown crawling onto her mouth as she shifted on her feat uncomfortably. Looking down at the hard carpeted floor, she bit her lip and struggled to think up a response. "It's not so much that I want revenge," she said slowly, her eyes narrowing as she sighed and rolled her head along the wall. "I just want him to be the least of my worries, something I don't have to always be on the look out for," she tried to explain, shrugging in a way that suggested she couldn't think of a better way to put it. As she watched him for a moment, she recognized the look of innocence to the true evil of the world in his blue eyes as she had once held onto that same look with every fiber in her being. Though he put on a tough appearance and a serious face, some part of her knew he was still ignorant to the harsh realities of living on the run.
At his probing question on just how she had met Deacon in the first place, she felt herself go rigid and stiff, guilt and a long-lived regret flashing in her eyes as she opened her mouth to say something but quickly held her tongue and clenched her jaw. Dropping her gaze to the floor, mostly in attempts to hide her true feelings on the matter from his curious stare, she searched the brown carpet and swallowed after a long moment of silence. "I-I've done a lot of bad things in my life, Gabriel," she admitted forcefully, her jaw clenching tightly as she kept her eyes fixed on the ground, refusing to meet his gaze. Vulnerability oozed off her like a sticky substance, leaving a sour taste in her mouth as she continued on. "Drugs and drinking are only half of the shit I got involved in," she added, her voice raspy and low as she forced the words out of her mouth, her hands gripping onto her jacket as they began to shake. "I used to like the thrill of hanging around dangerous guys like Deacon and I-" she broke off as she bit her lip hard, the pain distracting her from her guilty past. "I didn't mind if some of them took advantage of that," she said stiffly, shutting her eyes and pressing her lips tightly together, the taste of blood registering as she realized the small wound she had made by bitting her lip so hard.

O.O Awwwshiiiat.

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