Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hurst didn't have that many people in his life he genuinely cared about. That, of course, had been all by design, stemming from daddy issues he knew he had from when he was a child. Thus also making a point to avoid anyone who tried to get close to him during times such as these, he didn't think he had the necessary, ah, capabilities to be of any comfort. Still, in this case, he had to try, because it did involve the sister of someone he genuinely cared about. He figured he might have a shot, since Sergei was getting the cold shoulder and he was getting replies at least.

The man stopped outside the door to Nadia's apartment and paused for only a moment before wrapping his knuckles on the door. Under his other arm were a few boxes of strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. Comfort food. Also possible bribery for entry.

Hurst raised his hand in mock solemnity. "No, he did not. Scout's honor." Never mind that he had never been a scout in his life. "Though he's been pouting with the best of them, I did come of my own volition." No one should be alone when they were hurting, and that was just common sense...whether the person realized it or not.

Since she looked at the treats he brought, he held them up for her to better inspect it, and a brow raised as well.

Hurst kept the thought well maybe he'll be pouting until the day he dies then to himself.

He kept his silence for now, glad that the woman was allowing him entrance to her domain. He followed after, and drifted towards where she indicated. Of course he couldn't help but glanced at the pile of letters. It was easy for him to tell that they were written by Olga. He had seen her leave small notes and post-its in Sergei's place. Her handwriting was what his impression of her was: Open. Bubbly. Expressive. He set the boxes of dark chocolate dipped strawberries down, and crossed his arms.

"Oh, just to offer up some company." He replied, gaze sliding away from the letters and instead back to the woman with the red and puffy eyes. He couldn't help but ask, curiosity definitely going to kill him one of these days. "Nadia...do you think there's a chance she'll come back? What is it they do to your kind, anways?"

She was the veteran in all of this. If anyone would know, it'd be her.

He immediately regretted asking, and it wasn't purely for Nadia's sake and her pain. It was his own. Having found out that his beloved niece was also a senshi (still, what sick ******** made children do this kind of work?), hearing what could possibly be done to her made him sick.

Hurst wasn't so caught up in that though that he wasn't paying attention to Nadia's body language. Ah. Crying women. He hated it. Hurst's arms unwound from his chest and he closed the distance to pull the woman into his embrace now. How could they even try to look, then? If that was how it went? "Well." He murmured to her hair. "Considering how hellbent she was on spending time with Sergei and keeping to their patrol schedule, it would have taken an act of deity capable proportions to tear her away." A small comfort? That she hadn't gone willingly.

Small joke aside, and since he had made her cry again already by asking, he continued. "If you do manage to find her...is there a way to bring her back?"

His hands rested in a respectful spot on her back, and his fingers laced together flat against it. He held her there, resting his cheek lightly on top of her hair. He stared at nothing in particular as he just listened and thought. There were too many perhaps and hopefully and maybes, and the realist in him, or maybe it was really a pessimist, decided this sounded like a needle in a haystack. A hopeless one. Sergei and himself may have been able to find the trail of clues that told them how Olga was lost, but what was the trail of clues for her to be found?

Much harder. Maybe impossible (to him) even. "You think he'll go out looking in his ballet suit?" He asked softly. "He's cut back on his dances since she disappeared."

He couldn't help it, but for a brief moment his body stiffened. Children senshi were immune to corruption? Okay. So maybe there was some benevolent force looking out for the children after all. Maybe. He forced himself to relax though, because while this brought some comfort, it didn't change the fact that Noah was still out there. Doing this stuff. In harm's way.

"I'll do my best to keep an eye out." He replied.

He didn't have to see her face to know how whipped Sergei's sister had him from those words. But she made a good point, and he could easily see that. When Nadia said jump though, Sergei asked how high...

He'd have to tell the man that one of these days, whenever the Russian was getting a little too big for his britches.

He shifted as she pulled away, but only to take his face in her hands. They were soft and warm, and he couldn't help but give something of a wry smile when she read him. He'd been a little too lax in how he held himself, but Nadia was a very clever woman underneath the lazy smile. That cleverness made her even more appealing, but it also made him more wary.

"She is." He replied quietly.

"You don't know that, Nadia." He told her softly. Bluntly. Truthfully. Her friend hadn't been safe. They weren't. Noah wasn't, no matter how much he wished it so.

That was just the way of things. But she was right. He didn't have a choice anymore to ignore it as much as he had been anymore.

He hadn't moved into the kisses as she pressed her lips against his, but as she pressed him to the couch, he moved. There were no more words to say, and as her hands shook he reached to take them in his, to steady them. "One more moment." He agreed, and leaned down to kiss her.