Information Overload

[htownshend]

He still wasn't happy with this idea, and he never would be. But he had to accept it, and that he was something he was good at. Eileen had let him pick the spot, and he figured that New York was a neutral enough place

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[eileen303]

Eileen fiddles with a dollar fifty's worth of bottled water (she's not the smartest consumer out there, okay?), flipping it back and forth between her hands. It seemed like she ought to reimburse the cafe in some way, lest their loitering draw glares.

One would think that Abernathy conspiring with Walter Sullivan, carrying a history of murder, and history of mixing subtle sarcastic mockery with odd compliments when he's spoken to her would make her at least a little more suspicious than she is. But his single self-sacrificing act to save 'his' Lynn DeAngelis, his help during Liz's incarceration, the fact that he honestly has been polite to her more often than not, and an enormous amount of sympathy for his unenviable position of being easily controlled means that Eileen knows why Henry's not happy about this, but doesn't entirely get it. Troy Abernathy, like the little boy in the woods overlooking Toluca, is filed away in her brain under the same heading that she assigns both herself and Henry. Victim of circumstance. And if she

[dr_abernathy]

Eileen was absolutely right. Traveling was a bitch for Tory, but it was at least possible to reach here. He was lucky they hadn't asked for somewhere he hadn't been before.

She was also right about him not being thrilled about this. He hated it, in fact, and was ready to leave the topic up in the air. He was going to let them wonder, but he just couldn't find it in himself to do it. Maybe that was because he was the one missing, but more likely it had to do with the fact that he was wanted- no, needed- to help here, and it'd been awhile since that was the case.

In some respects, it was nice to be 'back'. He didn't leave his apartment at the Lounge much anymore- there wasn't anyone who'd want to talk to him, and he was feeling too lazy to go through the work of making new friends.

So when he sees them standing there, he smiles one of his best and walks up. "Hi, Eileen, Henry," he says pleasantly. "Sorry I took so long. Travel was harder than I expected. Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long?"

[eileen303]

She holds up a hand in greeting. "No, it's no problem; thanks for coming. Guess no introductions are needed, right? Mind if we walk?" They'd chosen a middle-of-the-road neighborhood - it's not about to break out into a riot, but it's no Wall Street either - to try to minimize the chances of someone looking at them funny for what's bound to be an abnormal conversation. But she gets unsettled about having these kinds of meetings on her world and likes to take as many precautions as are reasonable.

"How have things been going? Haven't seen you in a few months..." Henry would probably appreciate getting right to the point and right back out, but Eileen doesn't want to be crude about this, especially when the man's doing them a favor. And it's not like it's an empty question she truly doesn't care about the answer to.

[dr_abernathy]

"Yes, it has been awhile, hasn't it?" He nods towards Henry, who seems to be working hard at not glaring. "I've been about as well as can be expected, and thank you for asking."

And as much as he'd like to chat all day, there's a reason for him to be here, and he'd also like to get to it. Maybe afterwards, he can help calm Eileen by easing her back into a more normal everyday mode- Henry probably would rather just leave, but he's got to consider Eileen's feelings here too, right?

"I'm sorry to hear that the both of you haven't been doing quite so well lately. I know you're worried about the recent disappearances. Now, if you'd just give me the basics, I could try to fill in details from my own experiences, but I don't know how accurate they'll be. Completely different worlds, after all." And his smile turns apologetic. "Still, I think I might be able to help. What's going on?"

[eileen303]

Christabella's accusation seemed to take some of the starch out of her sails for a moment. Busily paying no attention to Henry's obvious concern about the danger posed to the two of them, even if he hadn't put it into so many words, she'd never considered that this could've placed their informant in harm's way. Even if the thought had occurred to her... she would've asked for this anyways.

When Henry, arm around her waist, reaches for his phone, she's leaning almost comically towards the little girl. Not reckless enough to shove away again now, but still flustered and angry, she'd begun to insist with eyes flashing, "T-the hell it's not my business, it's not yo-!" The next ill-boding round of freaked-out whining is cut off by her abrupt removal from the scene, though

[htownshend]

Henry, meanwhile, is trying to figure out why they're not at the Sherman-Townshend's house. For a brief, horrible second, he thought they might be in a different part of the otherworld. Everything seemed so desolate. But he doesn't get the same feeling here...just cold and wind. So he opens his phone and watches as it tries to figure out where they are.

And it's about this point that Eileen's protests register. "Eileen!" His shout is loud and insistent, meant to catch her attention. He puts a hand on her shoulder and looks straight at her. "We can't. We can't save him."

It's already started, and Henry does his best to brace himself. After all, it's just going to get worse from here. He has to look out for the both of them, because Eileen will be watching for everyone else. The sharp tone to his words cracks, and he sounds uncertain again. "I'm sorry..."

[eileen303]

She looks taken aback at first by the rare experiencing of hearing him shout about anything. But, eyes wide and dark, she's quickly back to scrunching up her nose and wailing in pointless defiance. "You can't say that, you don't know that!" Even though there's no sound but the wind to block out right now, she clasps her hands over her ears. It keeps her hair from blowing in her face, but more importantly, blindly tries to reduce sensory input in hopes of asserting control over something, anything. "Y-you brought your gun, didn't you?! We have a gun, and me, I, take us to my apartment a-and I'll get one...! I can't just not try!"

[htownshend]

"Eileen...." He stares at the ground. How can he say that? If this was two years ago, he would've been trying to help the doctor right along with Eileen. What's so different now? Had he really lost that much hope?

No, some things were just more important to him now. Maybe later he'd wonder if that's good or bad. For now, he just looks determined. "What are we going to do with our guns, Eileen? They would just get back up. And yeah, I'm saying 'them', because it'll be the both of them...I think he knew that. He didn't want you to stay, because....that, that girl...." He shakes his head. "We can't go back. No."