random street corner with azazel @withoutmonsterswebecomethem
poker night had completely changed emmeline's outlook. for years, the woman had gone through her days with a stable routine of work and self-care, making sure she didn't slip into one of her states where her thought patterns ran rampant... unfortunately, she was ill equipped to deal with the happenings of that night - the events had given her ammunition to enforce past ideas that had held her back. no amount of 'vampires, keep out' signs were going to make her feel safe so she'd shortened the business hours of her beloved shop, was more on edge with customers to the point that she was disengaging rather than being her helpful self and to anyone that knew her or her history, it would have raised alarm bells in their mind. she'd tried her best that night to keep people safe but she felt guilt for not acknowledging the feeling of dread before the games had even started - could she have done anything more? emmeline had kept alert, making sure that if she'd seen the one she accompanied to the hospital that night, she'd walk away from them. of course, she hadn't explained what had happened to the doctors at the hospital - she was in shock, knew that they wouldn't believe her and it would compromise her. still, her avoidance efforts seemed to be undone in an instant as she turned the corner of the street and there he was. "i-" the woman frowned and shook her head. "how have you been?" she herself was looking worse for wear; dark circles hung from her eyes, tangled hair and a lot more silver rings were stacked on her fingers in order to protect. "are you alright?"
