Closed RP Blood and Cinnamon

[Crow]

The paperwork had all been relatively standard, from what Sam could find from her research, as she sat on the couch of her apartment. The comfortable red fabric molded around her and let her relax in a way she hadn’t in days. There was a certain comfort in knowing that someone was going to help her, that she wasn’t alone in this anymore. Between Julian and Adelyn, they would find him. They would find Todd, and she’d hold him, and everything would be okay again.

She had signed all of the pages, and hadn’t even balked at the price. She would be willing to pay anything to get Todd back. Being without him felt like breathing with only one lung, seeing with only one eye, and existing with only half a heart. A little fee like this wasn’t going to be the thing that she stopped at to get him back. Julian could have everything but her soul if it meant having Todd back, not that she would admit that.

After she had finished the paperwork, Sam had looked around the apartment and winced. She had a few minutes, maybe ten, before Julian arrived to have his look around. Just enough time to at least clean up her slightly excessive amount of mugs and plates that littered the living room. He didn’t need to know she had been sleeping on the couch, practically living on it, the last few days. She couldn’t stand to sleep in her bed without him. Not after she had gotten so suddenly used to his presence, his chill, his arms.

The cleaning commenced, and she was proud that at the end of those ten minutes, she had cleared almost all traces of having lived on the couch for the last week. It wasn’t spotless, and the blankets were just folded on the edge of the couch, but it was better than it had been. It looked like it normally did, with books and CDs and her usual collection of art supplies scattered around the coffee table. Her new easel leaned against the wall by the entertainment center, the old one having been a casualty in her meltdown a few months earlier. In fact, she’d had to replace a lot of the paintings and prints on the walls as well after that.

Sam sat back down on the couch, easing back into the soft but thick cotton. The couch had been her first purchase when she had decided to stay in Pittsburgh. Very few things of hers had come with her from the apartment in Columbus. Her music, her books, her clothes, and her art supplies had been the majority of it. Everything else had been bought when she had decided that maybe she wasn’t quite ready to die. When she had decided that maybe something worth living for still existed. The gym, new friends, her passions– and then, finally, Todd.

Everything came back to him eventually. Without him, she wouldn’t have stayed as long as she had. Without him, even with the gym and Adelyn and Nat, she would have gone to Philladelphia. She would have confronted Obsidian months ago, and she probably would have died. Todd was the reason she was alive. He was her reason for everything, now.

She needed him back.

She was already falling apart without him. Unable to focus, unable to work, unable to take care of herself. He would have been devastated, she knew, to know his disappearance had done this to her. As much as she wanted to just power through, to tough it out, she couldn’t. He was half her soul. She was only half a person without him. It wasn’t fair to him, she knew, but it was the truth. Sam couldn’t exist in full without Todd at her side.

That was why it was so important that everything went well on this visit. She flipped the keys to the building around in her hands, fingering the key to Todd’s apartment next door. She was so lost in thought, that if it hadn’t been for her ability to sense vibrations, she likely wouldn’t have even noticed if someone had come up to the exterior hall door.​

 

[Mach2]

Julian took his time wrapping up at the office. There wasn't much to do, and even stalling, it didn't take long. He powered up the neglected desktop computer, letting its quiet hum fill the room while he sent the invoice he'd been finalizing earlier. It was a comforting enough noise while he was working on the computer, but an unwelcome distraction in any other instance. As soon as the email was away, the machine was powered down again. He looked over the notes he'd scribbled down, and jotted in a few new details as he let his mind work. He would transfer the page to his main notebook this evening, and re-organize the scrawling mess then. When everything was finished, he took another moment to savour the last few sips of coffee before heading for the door.

The extra few minutes should have been enough to let Sam look over the paperwork he'd sent her home with. But they had been as much for his own benefit as for hers. His office, his apartment, his car, these were all carefully curated spaces. To the fullest extent that he could, Julian exerted careful control over the stimuli in his life. Other people’s spaces were unpredictable, an unknown mix of sights, sounds, and scents. Usually, it was fine. Sometimes, exhilarating. Occasionally, unpleasant. It was always a toss of the dice, but he found that a few quiet moments in his office helped him to mentally prepare for the outcomes.

A short while later, he parked his car on the street at the address he'd been given. He looked at the building, eyes dialing in on every detail of the architecture. The window frames, the wear and tear, the shadows of street dust collecting on the facade despite the respectable maintenance efforts. As he exited his vehicle, the scent of Sam's gym met his nose. The doors were closed, but even still, he picked apart the cloud of metal and sweat and cleaning supplies and chalk and damp towels. Business seemed good. He walked quickly past, bee-lining for the apartment's entrance.

The stairwell had a distinctive scent. Every building's did. Even with only Sam and Todd living in the units, the stairwell retained the memory of all the shoes, paws, and bicycle tires that had trapsed across it. Every spilled bag of groceries, every cardboard box moved in and out, all of it was immortalized in the confines of the stairwell. He breathed deeply, not bothering to try to pick apart the scent, but memorizing the complete signature. The stairwell smelled like Sam, or maybe she smelled like it. People were so closely entwined with the spaces they occupied.

It was the middle of a weekday, but even so, noises bled through from the gym downstairs. It was a well-constructed building, and most people would barely register the background noise. But Julian's ears caught the steady rhythm of feet on a treadmill, and the almost-imperceptible vibrations of someone assaulting a heavy bag.

He let himself into the hallway adjoining the two apartments and knocked on the door to Sam's unit. The scent in the hall was different - slightly cleaner, slightly warmer. He waited, listening for the telltale sound of shifting furniture that would precede her footsteps.

​

 

[Crow]

She noticed him, though, when he hit the exterior door. Sam forced herself to wait as she felt Julian enter the hallway and then approach her door. It would be weird if she was there, at the door, when he knocked on it. She gave it to the count of three after he knocked before she rose from the couch and started to walk over to the door. While she walked, she worked on fixing her face in a more neutral smile. Something more pleasant than sad.

She wasn’t sure she had managed it, not with the tilt she felt her eyebrows at, but still she opened the door. She looked up and felt that pang again in her chest. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe she and Adelyn would be able to manage without involving a PI. Still, a part of her was worried. She didn’t know how good of a tracker Adelyn was, how much Todd had taught her. Maybe a PI was necessary. She took in a deep breath before stepping to the side and waving for Julian to come into her apartment.

“Hi again. Come in, it’s cold out there. This is my apartment, but we can go into Todd’s next.” With a bit of a shrug, she let him pass her before closing the door. “I figured since he’d been mostly in here for the week before he disappeared, it might be the best place to start. His regular things are here, but a lot of his other stuff is in the other apartment.”

The faint scent of lemon and orange hung in the air from the soap she had just used to scrub down the kitchen and the dishes, but hopefully he didn’t notice that. She looked a bit nervously around her space, though there was no reason for it. Neither her vigilante kit nor Todd’s were anywhere inside the apartments. She’d made sure of that before letting Julian in. There was nothing incriminating or identifiable in here.

“If that’s okay, that is. If you want to start with his apartment we can.”​

 

[Mach2]

Footsteps, a pause, and the door opened. Julian gave a small nod of greeting, reading her expression out of habit more than need. Sam looked like she was trying to smile. The expression would probably pass anyone else's radar, but Julian could see microtensions in the wrong muscles as she forced the expression. He didn't comment, but slipped past her into the apartment unit with a quiet, "Thanks."

Even as she talked, he was already working. His eyes glanced down as he stepped over the threshold, registering the shoes by the door. The drying dust and dirt on the soles, the spaces where other pairs might sit. His nose...he nearly wrinkled his nose at the soapy, citrusy, scent of freshly washed dishes. He wished he could have told Sam not to bother herself with cleaning. For one thing, she clearly had enough concerns at the moment. But beyond that, it added another layer to the complex array of scents he would have to detangle. "Yes, starting here makes sense," he agreed.

He paused, weighing his options. If Todd really had been here the week before his disappearance, Julian probably could have picked up a scent if he focused. But it would take time to sort through everything. Even with his other senses clouding the picture, he could still smell...spices, tea, floral chemicals, meat, food, dust...he stopped before he went any further down that rabbit hole. He would save that for Todd's apartment. Hopefully, the scent there would be purer, less confounded. If it would take him less time to pick the scent apart, perhaps he would be able to focus more...discretely.

No, he would use his eyes in her apartment. And the other skills he'd worked so hard to develop for this profession. "What else went missing when he did?" he asked, glancing from the kitchen to the living area, eyes skipping over the paint and easel set up there. "He had his phone on him? Keys, wallet? Anything else you noticed?"

​

 

[Crow]

The door closed behind Julian as he walked into the apartment, and Sam’s hand lingered on the door handle as she thought. Had anything else gone missing? His phone, his keys, his wallet… his kits, but she couldn’t say that. No matter how much it might mean to the investigation, she probably couldn’t mention that his vigilante kit had gone missing. Well. She let go of the handle hesitantly as she thought of how she could phrase it.

“His hobby kit. Photography.” She kept it easy and partially true. Her voice barely even skipped when she said it. That was an improvement over her usual ability to lie to people. Always knowing when someone lied to her had made her much more hesitant to lie to others. As such, she was bad at lying. She didn’t have the practice necessary to do so convincingly. But, neither of those things was technically a lie. His hobby kit– his vigilante kit. And Photography was a hobby of his.

“But yes, he had his phone, his keys, his wallet. They’re all gone. His usual shoes. No extra clothes and nothing of importance. His main camera is still in the apartment as well, and I don’t think he’d leave without that. I will disclose, I went through his apartment when he disappeared, a few days ago. I put everything back where it was, but. Just in case that’s important.”

Sam sighed and rubbed her arm, looking down at the spot where his shoes were whenever he was over. She’d seen Julian look there and hadn’t been able to stop herself from also looking. She broke her stare, looking back up at the detective. “A lot of his personal things are here, in the bathroom. He stayed here for the week before he disappeared, so it just started accumulating.”​

 

[Mach2]

Julian nodded, half-listening to her words, but already beginning to lose himself in processing the details of the apartment. Photography. Yes, mixed in among the framed movie posters and album covers that adorned the apartment were other images that felt decidedly out of place. Landscape photographs. Natural subjects, cohesive in their own way, distinct from the rest of the decor. And while a few frames on the wall were ever-so-slightly askew, every one of the nature prints was perfectly straight. Todd's photography had been put up with care.

Sam was saying something about the bathroom. Todd's personal things. Again, Julian nodded. That was the last thing he heard.

There was so much to observe, it was almost too easy to let everything else slip away. The hum of the apartment's furnace, the rumble of traffic outside, the rhythm of Sam's breathing, her heartbeat - every sound faded into nothing. The cloying lemon scent of dish soap vanished. The lingering taste of coffee on his tongue disappeared. Julian felt his body grow numb as his nerves quieted - a moment ago, he'd been quietly aware of every fiber of his clothing. Now, he felt nothing.

There was only sight.

The world expanded before his eyes, revealing layer upon layer of intricate detail. Now, when he looked at the frames on the wall, it was all too easy to infer a chronology. Immediately, he began picking out clusters of frames made of the same materials, noticing tiny dents at the corners that hinted at which ones were older. They had been purchased first; the others acquired more recently. But from the same store, to match the aesthetic. He stepped closer - there was no haptic feedback to confirm the ground was still beneath his feet, but he saw every step in his peripherals - to look at one of Todd's prints. It had been taken in a garden, sometime near sunset judging by the way the light glowed against the leaves. Julian committed the gloss of the paper to memory.

He turned his attention back toward the kitchen. The water droplets in the sink were slowly evaporating. If he'd wanted to, he could have watched them and back-calculated just how long ago Sam had finished putting the last dishes away. He didn't want to. Instead, his eyes scanned over the surfaces. The countertops were clean, he could still see the faint streaks left by the cloth. The cupboards over the counter still had fingerprints. Only one set, and they stopped short of the highest shelves. Todd had been staying here, but Sam was the only one who used the kitchen.

Sam had said something about the bathroom. He walked toward it, his mind still processing a thousand details. Fingerprints on the door frame - two sets. Wool coat hanging in the closet - in good condition, despite the age he could see in the fibers. He scanned the bathroom, noting the shampoo, the extra toothbrush, the bar of soap sitting in the shower. It was the heavy-duty kind, meant for scrubbing stubborn engine oil out from under a mechanic's fingernails. Julian picked the bar up, looking at it briefly, and set it down. By now, Todd had probably been out of the apartment enough days that the aroma of his last shower would have faded, and there would be dozens of others in the city who used the same soap. It wasn't a perfect clue, but he wanted to memorize the scent nonetheless. Picking it up would be enough. The scent would be on his hand later.

He stepped out of the bathroom, looking back at Sam as he let his vision go. His other senses came back in a rush of sound, scent, and touch that was only slightly disorienting."Sorry," he apologized, tone casual. "Did you say something?"

It was an easy act to put on. If she said yes, he had simply been too engrossed in his observations to hear her. If she said no, he must have imagined it, and the conversation would move on.

 

[Crow]

Falling silent, Sam elected to simply watch as Julian moved through the apartment, His eyes seemed to trace over most of the things in her apartment as he moved. From the classic and cult classic movie posters, Todd’s photos on the wall, the kitchen, to the bathroom. He lifted Todd’s soap up, looking at it for a moment before setting it down. She coughed, tilting her face into her narrow shoulder as she did. She paused for a moment at the scratch in her throat, but quickly looked back up as Julian addressed her again.

“No, sorry, just a cough.” Something seemed off, but she brushed it off as her own nerves of having someone in their homes. This was risky, even without Todd’s kits in the apartment. And if Julian found the loose board in the corner of her bedroom where her own kit was tucked away, that would be even more difficult to explain. It would also mean he could probably put two and two together on Todd also being a vigilante, and if he did that–

She cut the thought off with a soft sigh “Is there anything I can help with? Or anything you need in specific? I want to help however I can.”

She didn’t know how private investigating went, but she imagined it was something like vigilante investigating. Looking for signs, looking for inconsistencies, reading patterns and following them. She was good at pattern recognition. She had to be, to track down the kinds of people she took care of. Phoenix– Crow– whoever she was, predator of predators. Taking down human traffickers especially took careful investigation. You never wanted to accidentally pursue the wrong person.

So while she didn’t know how this worked for Julian, there was a potential that she could help, if he needed it. And it beat sitting still until whenever she was meant to go out with Adelyn. Whenever the girl was better. Sam wasn’t good at sitting still, and even as she stood against the wall and watched, staying out of his way, her fingers tapped rhythmically on her arm, to the tun of a Muse song called Stockholm Syndrome. It was playing in the back of her head, and it helped to soothe her nerves slightly.​

 

[Mach2]

Julian let his gaze pass over the apartment once more. He knew he was still seeing more than most people would, but compared to the detail he’d absorbed only moments ago, everything felt dull. Muted. The bedroom door was ajar, and if he’d wanted to give it the same attention he’d given the rest of the apartment, perhaps he could have found other minutiae of note. But even if Todd had been staying here before his disappearance, that was Sam’s room, not his. And while she was tolerating his sleuthing well, people were rarely comfortable having a stranger poking around their personal space."No. I wish it were a matter of just asking you to point me to one specific thing," he said. "That would certainly make the job easier. It can be difficult to know what you’re looking for until you’ve spotted it, but I promise, letting me look around like this is helpful."

He’d save her the intrusion of asking to look around the bedroom. Although unexpected details could turn into useful evidence, there was one key piece of information he’d come here for. He’d prolonged his investigations enough that it felt like an appropriate time to ask about the other unit in the building."We can go to Todd’s suite now, if that’s all right," Julian suggested.

He already had some locations to look into. As soon as he had a scent to memorize, he’d have all the components necessary to find the missing man. And he was anxious to get started for other reasons as well. Although he hadn’t picked up any reaction from Sam when he’d used his usual facade to mask his temporary deafness, he hadn’t forgotten the elevated temperature of her hand during their introduction. Something about her was off, perhaps in the same way that something about him was. He’d gotten away with focusing on sight this time. Best not to push his luck. As soon as he had a scent, he could get out of her space and back into his own.

 

[Crow]

“Of course. Follow me.”

With a sigh, Sam slipped back toward the door, letting Julian out before she closed it behind him, not bothering to lock it. She never locked doors when she was home. Not when it was so easy to feel when someone was coming. The only time she locked her apartment, and the exterior door, was when she left the gym and apartment entirely. She led the way down the hall and to the apartment that Todd lived in.

She looked at the door, hesitating. Letting someone into his private space felt wrong. But if it was the only way she’d find him, especially if he was hurt or being held captive by someone… She opened the door with the spare key on her key ring, then stepped in, letting Julian in as well. In an absolute contrast to Sam’s apartment– which was decorated so much the walls were barely visible in some places, and had comfortable furniture shoved in every available corner– Todd’s apartment was stark and almost barren.

A single couch, a pair of basic folding chairs and a card table, and a few surfaces were all that were in his space. A few of his favorite photographs he had taken were on the wall. True to her word, she had put everything back exactly how she had found it when she had torn through. Everything, except for a photograph that was on the table, the one she had found buried in his drawers. In it, he stood next to a truly massive black man with braids, who made Todd look small in comparison. The man looked to be over six and a half feet tall, knowing that Todd was six foot three. She assumed it was Arlo, but she’d probably never know.

“Right, here we are. This is his place. If you need me to step out, just let me know. I’m sure me watching you isn’t super helpful. No matter how much I want to help.”​