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 Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:02 pm
After an uneventful trip through the forest and matching ride through the city, Lenore and Erika arrived at the officer's apartment. Mephistopheles had been returned to the decrepit pokeball before they had gotten into the car, and for now, he stayed there. After climbing the stairs up to the second floor, Erika pulled a key out of her jean pocket and unlocked the door.
The room inside was bare, save for a desk and chair, a single dresser next to a bed and a mini refrigerator. Lenore looked around as she entered behind the woman, and she must have seemed curious because the officer shrugged. "I'm not here often. I spend most of my time not workin' at the bar. I only really come back to sleep." Lenore gave a non-committal "Oh." as she continued looking about. It was a small room, but the lack of much of anything made it seem larger than it was. Lonely.
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:02 pm
A series of loud slams at the door broke the silence. "Erika! Erika, I know you're in there! You're on the job, what on earth are you doing?"
Erika leaned her head back. "Aw, s**t." Turning to the door, she called out in an exaggeratedly masculine voice. "Yo, yo! There's no Erika here, dawg! I'm Johnny D., man, who the hell are you?!"
The door slammed harder. "Erika, if you don't open this door within ten seconds and give me an explanation, then so help me I will get you thrown off the force. One... Two..."
Erika rolled her eyes as she stepped towards the door. "Three..." Get the police baton out of your a**, woman!" The officer swung the door open as the woman on the other side got to five.
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:03 pm
The woman at the door was taller than Erika, with flowing brown hair that went down past her shoulders and golden eyes. She was wearing a police officer's uniform identical to Erika's, and she had a glare on her face.
Erika matched the glare. "Yeah, whaddya want?"
"I want to know why you suddenly vanished from your patrol, and why I had to come cover for you!"
Erika shrugged, looking to the side. "I figure the chief ********' asked ya to? Not that hard to figure out."
The woman grabbed Erika by the shoulders and shook her. "Erika, that's not what I meant and you know it! Why did you leave the patrol?! We thought something happened to you! You had the whole department worried! You had me worried, but I suppose I shouldn't have bothered, because you were just <********> goofing off!"
Erika flinched when the other woman swore, caught completely off guard. She'd never heard her swear before - Erika thought the other officer was incapable of it. Erika looked the woman in the eyes and brushed her hands off her shoulders. "I'm sorry, okay? I got a call from Dr. Lothar, that dude on the outskirts of the city, askin' me to pick up some kid he found in the mountains. I should've let someone know, but I didn't. I'm sorry."
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:04 pm
Samantha was caught off guard by the apology - not one, but two! Erika never apologized. She had to be up to something. "Al... Alright, let's say I believe you. Where is this hypothetical child?"
"Right here." Erika jabbed a thumb behind her, and for the first time since the door opened, she noticed the girl standing behind Erika.
Unsure of what to do, Lenore gave a tentative wave. "Uh, hi."
Samantha stared at Lenore, mouth agape. "Ya believe me now?"
"She can't be older than thirteen..."
Erika shrugged. "I dunno how old she is." She turned to Lenore. "Hey, Sleeves, how old are ya?"
"Twelve."
Erika turned back to Samantha, whose eyes were wide open, and laughed. "She's twelve, no need to be so shocked!"
Samantha turned to Erika, incredulous. "Why are you swearing in front of a twelve-year-old?!"
Erika frowned. "Hey, don't try to pin all that s**t on me, you swore, too!"
A look of horror made its way onto Samantha's face. "Oh no." She walked over to Lenore and knelt down so she was at eye level with the girl. "Young lady, you should never repeat anything either of us said just now, you understand?"
Lenore shrugged. "I already knew most of those words, don't worry."
Samantha felt herself die a little inside.
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:04 pm
Erika grinned as she looked down at Lenore. "Oh, yeah, Sleeves. This naggy woman here is Ms. By-the-books. Ms. By-the-books, this is Sleeves, the girl I'm supposed to look after for a bit."
Recovering from her earlier shock, Samantha glared at Erika. "I really wish you'd quit that." The other officer turned back to Lenore, smiling kindly. "My name is actually Sam. Samantha Pierce. I'm an officer, just like her. As sad as that is."
Lenore pointed at Samantha's uniform with a blank face. "And here I thought you were a doctor." Erika made no attempt to hide her laughter.
Samantha's smile faltered for a moment, her face reddening. "Ye - yes, well..." Erika continued to laugh, tears forming in her eyes. Sam whirled around to face her peer. "Shut up, Erika!"
Wiping her eyes, the sandy-blonde-haired woman forced herself to stop laughing. "It was funny, though!" She quickly burst back into snickers.
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Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:56 am
Samantha turned back to Lenore. "Given how Erika is, I'm sure 'Sleeves' isn't your real name. What is it?"
Lenore smiled faintly. "Would it shock you to learn my name actually is Sleeves?"
Samantha stared at the girl in shock.
Lenore's smile faded, replaced with the normal blank look. "It's not, though. My name's Lenore."
As Erika continued laughing behind her, Samantha couldn't help but wonder why dealing with this child was so difficult.
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Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:20 am
Samantha stood up and stretched before looking at Erika, who quickly stopped giggling. "Well, Erika, due to the circumstances, I'll finish your shift and tell the chief what happened. In exchange, you have to promise me that you'll look after Lenore. Understood?"
Erika rolled her eyes and waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. Get goin', Ms. By-the-books, ya don't wanna be late."
The other officer sighed and looked back to Lenore. "It was nice meeting you, Lenore." Samantha turned back to the door and left.
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Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 5:57 am
Erika broke the silence. "Alright, Sleeves, it's gonna be boring as s**t here, so let's go buy you some clothes."
Lenore tilted her head. "Why?"
"Well, that's what girls your age like, right?"
Lenore shrugged. "I wouldn't know. But why are you wanting to buy me clothes, anyway? You just met me."
Erika shrugged back. "Ya reminded me of another kid I picked up once. I said some pretty mean things and wasn't as nice to him as I should have been." She grinned. "Nah, I'm screwin' with ya. You gave me a couple good laughs, so I figured I'd repay ya."
"Oh." The girl looked down at the ground before looking up at Erika. "Could I get a book, instead?"
The woman laughed softly. "s**t, man, if ya want a book, then fine. There's a book shop down near the gym, so it's not too far. Let's go."
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Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:52 pm
"I'll get this one." Lenore hoisted up a gigantic book that took most of her strength to lift above her head.
Erika raised an eyebrow as she took the book from the girl. "'The Power Of Battle: Theories Upon The Energy Emitted By Attacks'? The hell?" She looked down at Lenore. "Ya sure ya can read this?"
Lenore rolled her eyes. "No, I'm getting it for the pictures."
Erika flipped open the book and looked over a few of the pages, then laughed. "You're an ornery one, aren'cha, Sleeves?" The woman closed the book and placed it on the counter with a thud. "Whatever, 's your book."
The cashier rang it up after giving Lenore a quizzical look and placed it into a bag. Lenore reached up to the counter and took the bag with some difficulty, lifting it so that it didn't drag on the floor. Seeing her trouble, Erika reached over and took the bag from Lenore. "Ya prob'ly should've picked a smaller book, y'know."
Lenore shrugged. "I like to read." She said, as if that explained everything. And Erika had to concede that, to a point, it did.
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Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 7:18 pm
Hours passed after the two returned to Erika's apartment. Lenore had immediately started reading her new book after a quick "Thank you." and Erika began to work on her backlog of work. She didn't want to, of course, but Samantha would have her head if she left Lenore alone. "Prob'ly get pissed if I drank some of my own alcohol, too. Pain in my a** even when she's not here..." Erika muttered under her breath.
Behind her, she heard a stifled yawn as the girl flipped another page in the book. She was laying flat on her chest with the book on the floor in front of her, reading with bleary eyes. Erika had to hand it to the girl, she'd made some serious progress on the book. A short time later, Lenore's eyes closed as she succumbed to the powerful lure of sleep. Erika took a look at the clock: a little past nine o'clock. She grinned. Smart as the kid was, she was still just that. Erika got up and walked over to the girl, whose head was resting on the pages of the book, and picked her up with ease before placing her on the bed. Pulling the blanket over the girl, she smiled softly. "Sweet dreams, kid."
Backing away from the bed, the smile twisted into a mischievous grin. I'm sure Ms. By-the-books won't mind if I crack open a cold one now. It's like I'm off duty, right? Opening up the mini-fridge, she retrieved a beer and walked out onto the balcony to look at the stars.
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