Here Comes Trouble

= Here Comes Trouble = Posted by : Nim on Mar 25, 2018, 3:32pm

- Verdant Hills Apartment Complex, West Twins. Just After Midnight, August 19th -

Emily had managed to make it home to her apartment without any additional incidents. By the time she unlocked the door and stumbled into her flat, she was dead tired. After removing her shoes and putting down her purse, she tried to remove her dirty, torn dress that still smelled faintly of champagne, but she gave up when she couldn't figure out how to get her left hand out without agitating her injured wrist.

Emily looked at herself in the mirror sighed, consigning herself to the reality that her dress was probably beyond repair. She had really liked this dress, but she just didn't think it was salvagable enough that she needed to get it off at the moment and start cleaning it. Besides, she was exhausted, and she likely had a long day ahead of her tomorrow. Her decision made, Emily flopped into her bed and shifted around until she found a position where she was comfortable but also less likely to move her sprained wrist. Sleep came to her quickly...

- Hansons Apparel, Centrum. Shortly After Noon, August 19th -

The pain in her wrist had diminished significantly by the time Emily woke up. She had finally been able to get her dress off, and after cleaning herself, dressing for work, making herself presentable, and packing her lunch, she took a cab to work (she usually walked, but today she was running a little behind). Hansons was already quite busy when she arrived, although she quickly discovered that the dress and suit repair department was getting most of the business. Apparently the tremor that had knocked her off her feet last night had hit the whole city.

Emily made a point of talking to as many of their customers as she could in order to get a feel for how the city had fared after such a phenomenon, and for the most part, Dusk didn't appear to be too heavily damaged... for the most part. Quite a few people had gotten injured, mostly light injuries like her own, but some people had gotten hurt pretty badly. The hospitals would be busy today, that was for sure.

Emily had also heard rumors of some fatalities, particularly that of Councilman David Corbet. She would try to confirm that story before reporting it to the Rising Star, but if it was true, well, she wouln't miss the man. People like David Corbet were what was wrong with Dusk, people who happily manipulated the system to benefit themselves at the expense of everybody else. No, she would not miss Corbet at all, even if his mills made a lot of the fabrics that Hansons used for their clothing.

She had been able to get take her lunch break a little before noon. Her sandwhich had been pretty bad, but putting it together with only one hand had been quite difficult. Hopefully her wrist would be mostly healed by tomorrow, but now, she still needed to keep it straight and not carry anything with her left hand. Fortunately, she had been able to get her wrist bandaged up, which was helping her do that.

After Emily managed to eat her lunch, she went back out onto the floor and helped a customer find a new dress. She had just finished selling the dress to the woman when she saw two more woman walk into the store. The first she recogonized. Emma Garret was an informer for the Rising Star like herself, although Garret was willing to do things that even Emily wouldn't stoop down to in order to get information.

The second woman was unfamiliar to Emily, but her outfit and posture gave off a Skyrider vibe. Emily rarely interacted with Skyriders, but from the few occasions she had met with one, she had gotten the impression that they were an uncouth bunch. Hansons was not the kind of place that the less civilized people of Dusk had much of a reason to go to, so the possible-Skyrider's presense was very unexpected. Then again, Emily remembered overhearing some gossip after a Rising Star meeting that Emma was romantically involved with a female Skyrider, so perhaps this Skyrider was her.

Emily sighed. If Emma was here for Rising Star business, she would need to tread carefully. Emily usually tried to keep her public life and private life as separated as possible so as to avoid bringing suspicion onto herself. If Emma wanted to discuss Rising Star matters, Emily would have to do so under the guise of a business discussion. Fortunately, Hansons did supply quite a few outfits to the Lady's Grace, so Emily could fairly easily justify admitting Emma into her office. On the other hand, Emily would risk bringing quite a bit of suspicion onto herself if she interacted much with the Skyrider. Most people would think that the sales manager of a fashionable apparel retail establishment would have no business with a random Skyrider. If Emma wanted to involve the Skyrider in Rising Star business, she would have to explain what was going on herself, because Emily wasn't going to risk her reputation by "stooping" to talk to the Skyrider.

Emily's eyes locked with Emma's, and she saw the prostitute coming her way. She took a deep breath and braced herself for trouble. Today was going to be a long day...