Don't go far off, not even for a day

[purmoncul]

WHO: Sirius Black and you?
WHERE: All over the city, specifically Sandust, the Institute, and eventually the police precinct. :(
WHEN: Today!
WARNINGS: Sirius?
SUMMARY: Remus hasn't been home. Sirius goes looking.
FORMAT: WORDS.

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Sandust

[neverwasanyone]

He'd wanted to resume his language lessons with Mr. Lupin, but he hadn't taken enough of them before he'd been pulled from the City to finish memorizing how to get where the man had lived. He had, however, spent almost every other day visiting the bookstore, having discovered that the things they sold were of better quality than the ones in the thrift shop.

So he thought he would wait there instead, and see if there were any more of the strange books written by the man who'd put cats in hats and drawn elephants listening to flowers.

But he hadn't seen his teacher anywhere, and looked around to see if there was anyone else who might be able to help him.

Vaguely recognizing Sirius, the boy walked over and--after a moment's hesitation--tapped his arm to get his attention.

[purmoncul]

Sufficiently distracted that he startles a little bit at the sudden touch, Sirius blinks down at the boy before immediately kneeling so that they were on a level.

"Hullo."

[neverwasanyone]

He backs up a step to give Sirius room to kneel without being right up in his face, and nods his return greeting. Sirius looks different, at eye level, almost the opposite of how buildings felt smaller when you visited them after growing up. A little less... frightening wasn't quite the word; he wasn't scared of the man, exactly, but it was difficult to speak to people who were taller and older than he was. Better to be able to look Sirius in the eyes, now.

"Is he gonna work today?"

[purmoncul]

"Is who going to work today? Mr. Lupin?"

Another gift Sirius had was the ability to talk to someone without talking down to them. The kneeling wasn't a particular favor, or some sort of patronizing effort to make the boy like him or to look like some sensitive guy - it was simply polite.

Outside the Institute

[soldieringblue]

Blue was standing there, his gaze tilted upward, following the lines of the building up and away where there was nothing but cloud and sky. He didn't need his eyes to look, and he had been doing that, taking extra care this time around. No simple flyovers, not for finding that particular someone. Looking for him was like trying to not look, picking out the shapes of negative space in a composition.

But everything was full and busy, and there seemed no room for an absence of any of it. Even the faintly hopeful part of him knew that was to be expected, even in such an unpredictable place.

He let his gaze drop, locking on the entrance. The shape of the person came well after the familiar mind - not the one he was looking for, but not unwelcome.

He hadn't spoken to Sirius in a long time.

[purmoncul]

Sirius's mental defenses were better now that he was older, but he was still nothing like a true occlumens. He was and would ever be ruled by his emotions, and it didn't take a telepath to see that he was worried right now.

Blue's appearance seemed like an omen. Sirius had never yet had a reason not to be happy to see the Mu, but given the circumstances it was hard to summon up a smile.

Of course he does anyway. "Hello, mon soldat fantôme bleu. What brings you here today?"

[soldieringblue]

Some things remained constant, despite time. Not entirely whole, but constant. The grinning boy Blue met before was not there, but not utterly gone, either. It felt almost like forgiveness to be greeted - that Blue had changed, too, and had kept away was hardly important. Not then.

"Searching," he replied. There didn't seem to be much need to explain. He began to turn as Sirius approached, facing the same way as though to follow.

[purmoncul]

Oh yes. How could Sirius have forgotten Blue's deep and abiding dedication to saying absolutely nothing? Not even a hello. Mood darkening quickly, Sirius walked on without slowing. Blue could follow if he wanted to.

"Are you now. Having any luck?"

There was something sharp and brittle in his voice, a glimmer of something like teeth. Whether directed at himself or at Blue, Sirius could not have answered.

near Sandust

[trueltning_fury]

Geddoe usually spent every day wandering around the city, never having specific schedules to keep, but he was starting to stick to his favorite haunts with winter closing in. After his little vacation in Belize, he had a few things he wanted to read up on, now that he could stomach reading large blocks of text in the local writing system. That meant swinging by Sandust, because he could always stop and chat with Lupin and get good recommendations.

He was on his way up the street towards the little bookstore, not at all ruffled by the chill in the air with all that leather on.

[purmoncul]

And here was Sirius, just coming out. In stark contrast with his usual, easy confidence, he was hunched in on himself, his hair grown shaggy enough to hide most of his face.

He'd get a facade of his usual extroverted confidence on for the public in just a second, but in this brief interstatial moment going from inside to outside, he looked exactly how he felt.

[trueltning_fury]

It wasn't hard to recognize the man ducking out of the store, even with longer hair. Geddoe was, after all, a mercenary used to investigations and observations. "Sirius," he greeted him, neither cheery nor dour. Just Geddoe, as usual.

[purmoncul]

"Ah. Hello, Geddoe."

Heh. It rhymes.

Heheheh. Oh God.

Sandust

[origamiguardian]

Maggie hadn't come to Sandust in awhile--only because her circuit of bookstores she visited was so wide, as it was indeed a favorite store.

The books always drew her attention first--the ones were well cared for here, but still begging to be read, as books were wont to do, and it wasn't until she looked up from some old treatise on alchemic theory that she realized the man near the counter was not Mr. Lupin. And he looked... distracted, at least.

"Mr. Black?"

[purmoncul]

Pulled out of his thoughts for a moment, Sirius blinks at Maggie before placing her as another imPort and one associated with the Institute as well.

"Yes. Can I help you?"

[origamiguardian]

"I didn't realize you worked here... is Mr. Lupin at the Institute today?"

[purmoncul]

"Eh, sort of. And, ah, no. Did you have an appointment?"

Remus stop having so many friends. Stop. Stop it.

Police precinct

[thelionharted]

It was meant to be a normal day at work. At least, that was what James had figured until he saw Sirius walk in the door. It was obviously something important, if it wasn't, Sirius wouldn't have come by, would have said something via the mirror or the comms, even. So he hurried over the very instant he could, concern written all across his face.

"What's up, Sirius?"

[purmoncul]

"There an office or something?"

Which is to say: help help help I am about to completely lose it in the middle of a sea of cops please put me somewhere safe.

[thelionharted]

"There is, yeah." Or, to be more precise, a spare interrogation room. He practically dragged Sirius over to it, fighting to stem the rising tide of something being wrong in his stomach. Once they were inside, he shut the door firmly and turned back to Sirius, biting at his lip.

"So?"

[purmoncul]

This is not a very good or reassuring sort of room. Small and boxy with bare walls, stark lighting. He'd sat and laughed in a room like this as they tried to force a confession out of him. Laughed in the Minister's face as he demanded Sirius make it easy for them to turn him into a scapegoat, and laughed harder when they did it anyway.

But that was for killing James. James was here now.

"It's Moony. He didn't come home from work yesterday, and I found these..." Sirius carefully places Remus's communicator and dog tags on the table. "Blue's looking to make sure it's not Vulcanus or something. I thought maybe we might put in a report here... in case someone sees him."