A helping hand

Who: Ian and Shoshannah
Where: Men's suit shop
When midday

Max's visit had left Ian a little unsettled but after an hour or two of familiarizing himself with the apartment he dug around in the coat closet until he found something slightly masculine to put on and headed out. There were things he needed.

After stopping at the bank he went by a drug store, buying standard every day supplies and then headed on towards his favorite suit shop. They of course, knew about the fire given that the shop was only a few blocks from the Drake and they were more than gracious. After being there an hour he was already in a new suit, better than anything he'd owned before, standing in the mirrors at the front of the shop, with a pretty seamstress making folds for alterations.

Shannah felt a little lost and it surprised her. Not really lost geographically, but mentally. She didn't often get this way, but the past couple of days had been fairly trying for her. First and foremost was Angelo's secret. His drug use. And while it still unnerved her to know that he did drugs in the first place, she'd felt like they'd come to a strong agreement of what was best for Angelo and, in the end, for them.

But what she hadn't thought about was coming home from that day to find out that the Drake had had a fire. A big one. One that had reached her room and gotten to her things. And while things weren't exactly ruined, they'd certainly been touched. She was all at once thankful that her photos and camera were at Angelo's apartment, but she'd come to find out that her painting, her clothes, pretty much everything she'd had in her room had been singed at the least, if not outright destroyed. And even though she'd been put up in a nice hotel elsewhere with the rest of the Drake's clients and had been promised that everything that could be replaced would be, Shannah was feeling out of sorts to say the least.

Currently she was seated at the bus stop even though she had no intention of taking the bus, umbrella in hand even if it was tilted slightly and not properly doing its job. She didn't actually see onto the street right now, because she was zoning. Her purse was in her hands, held onto tightly which would surprise her when she woke, but for now all she did was stare.

The seamstress had Ian turn, so he was facing away from the mirrors and out the windows of the shop to the street. He stared out there lazily, taking a full moment before he realized he knew the brunette sitting at the bus stop. He watched Shoshannah for a long moment, then realized she was doing that thing she did sometimes where she was and she sot of drifted. He watched her for another moment before asking the salesman to go out and get her.

The salesperson, eager to please Mr. Sullivan did as he was told, as odd of a request as it might have been. In a moment he was rushing out, umbrella held over her head and tapping the young woman on her shoulder. "Miss?"

Shannah didn't hear the man at first. Or maybe she did, but it was just too far off. It would take a second 'Miss' from him to get her attention at all and even then, it took her longer to compose herself than it normally would have. She righted her umbrella even though the man had his over her and looked up at him with confusion in her eyes. "Yes?" She asked, trying to play it off like she hadn't just been staring into space for..however long.

"Mr. Sullivan, miss. He's asking for you." The salesman, looked up, pointing towards the window where Ian was watching from. Ian waved her towards him just as the salesman offered her his hand to help her up.

"Ian?" Turning in her seat, Shannah spotted Ian waving at her and then instantly saw the salesman's hand outstretched and willing to help her up. Taking it, she stood and tightened her grip on her umbrella and purse, giving the salesman her best 'I'm not confused' smile. "I'm so sorry to make you come out in the rain just to get me," She said as they walked into the shop. Closing the umbrella, Shannah shrugged out of her jacket, not at all happy with the fact that her clothes looked worn and wrinkled since she'd been wearing mostly the same outfit for the last few days. "Funny running into you here," She said, attempting a joke in hopes that it would cover up for the fact that she'd been caught sitting outside on a bench in the rain.

"No worries at all miss," the salesman said as he led her in, leaving her at the door. Ian shook his leg free from the seamstress to move towards Shannah so he could greet her. "The worst kind of funny. Apparently I need a whole wardrobe. How're you holding up?" he asked, taking her elbow and guiding her towards a chair near the mirrors.

She was still caught in the flurry of waking up again and she was also still trying to figure out why she'd been on that bench in the first place. Could she think that far back? Was she just taking a break from walking or did she have a plan? All she knew was that away from Angelo and with the news of the Drake fire, her condition was raring it's ugly head now more than ever before. So she didn't put up a fight being led toward the chair and settled down there carefully. "I'm all right," She promised, giving Ian a smile. It was a natural reaction. Lie about her condition. But on second thought, he wasn't asking about her condition, was he? "I'm fine, really. The other hotel is really nice and not all of my things were destroyed like some other guests so I'm lucky, really. How are you is a better question."

She looked dazed, like she had the day they'd run errands together. Ian knelt beside her, ignoring the tsking noises from the seamstress as he did so. "You sure you're alright? You look a little confused," he said softly, taking her hand. "And I'm fine. Moving in with my cousin and replacing all my things. Thankfully I didn't have much. And am able to afford re-buying everything." He wasn't really fine, but he could lie about it. The family had sent their best killer to question him, his hotel was burned up and he was pretty sure someone wanted him dead.

"I am, I promise. It's just been...a confusing couple of days." She gave Ian a soft smile, figuring he'd understand at least that much. It had to be confusing for him too. "Is there anything I can do to help you?" She didn't have much money right now and she had to worry about what she was doing for her own clothes, but Ian might need some help and she wanted to be there for him, awkward encounters or no. He'd done so much for her, she wanted to provide the same kindness.

"That it has been," Ian said squeezing her hand. "Hopefully nothing more than the incident though." He stood again moving back to the mirror and looking at his reflection for a moment before turning back to her. "i could use a hand with picking things out, if you're willing of course." He paired the request with a smile, hoping to put her at ease and thus tell him what had her so confused.

Shannah didn't say anything immediately, but didn't necessarily negate that it wasn't something else as well. What she did do was sit a little straighter in her chair. "Of course I don't mind. I'd be honored, but it looks like you have it under control already. What do you need my help with?"

Ian shifted a little to turn towards her and the seamstress stabbed him with a pin, probably on purpose for fidgeting. "I can handle the suit part, but the shirts are always my worst. Ties too." It was mostly because he couldn't see colors, but he was more than capable at asking a salesperson to do the work for him. Having Shannah help would be better though for the game he was playing.

And Shoshannah did love to shop, when she had the money and especially when she had someone else to shop for. Maybe it'd be nice to get back to something normal. Just shopping. And helping a friend. She smiled a little before she stood up. "Well..are you going to have them make you shirts or will you pick out some from the store? Be prepared, you might just get a lot of neutral colors if you're asking me." She still had trouble matching colors together, but the more time she spent around Angelo, the less she was nervous about matching something wrong. Maybe she'd have an even easier time doing so objectively for Ian?

"Neutrals work just fine for me," Ian told her with a nod. "I think I can make do with what they have on hand at least for now. So that I'll have something to wear for a few days at least." He gave her a broad smile as seamstress finished with her hem and ordered him behind the curtain to change.

So while Ian was being shuffled off to the changing room, Shoshannah was up and over at the rows of shirts hanging in the store. She felt her hands were dry enough to reasonably touch the merchandise in the store without ruining anything, so she started looking through them, but didn't pick anything up immediately. Better to wait for Ian.

Ian changed back into his loaned clothes, having been promised that two of his suits would be altered and delivered before the end of the day, the others would be there the next day. He took a moment to smooth his hair before walking out of the changing room and meeting Shoshannah in the store proper. "Any luck yet?" he asked with a smile.

"Not exactly," She said, looking up at him with a smile of her own. "But I'm sure there's something here. What about this one?" She asked, pulling out a crisp white shirt with small details in the fabric, thinner, shinier white strands creating small pinstripes on the shirt. "Maybe it's a little plain, but I think it's nice. It really depends on what you like, though."

Mostly it looked white to Ian, but he nodded. "Plain works. Simple. Nothing too over the top or too bright," he said taking the shirt from her and holding up to him so she could see. "Will this work?"

She smiled a little. This felt normal and she was actually pretty happy for it right now. "Looks really nice, Ian. But maybe you should get a shirt in a color just to have it? What's your favorite color?"

"Don't have one," Ian said casually, looking at the racks of shirts with no way to determine what was what. "What's yours?" he asked turning the question on her and less on him. He wasn't interested in explaining why he didn't have a favorite color.

Shoshannah didn't think it was that odd. "Not sure yet." She said, looking back at him with a small smile. "I like browns and I like greens, but I like blacks and blues and whites too. I've never really owned anything in an extremely bright color though. Maybe when I was little, but when I was older I stuck to neutrals. You can't match something wrong if they're all neutrals."

"My sentiments exactly," he said with a smile, relieved that he didn't have to explain himself. He reached for another shirt, a more modern cut which he didn't exactly find flattering, but style wasn't necessarily about flattering as much as it was about the style.

Shoshannah looked back at him to judge the shirt and then shrugged a little. "That one's all right. It's a good back up if we can't find anymore." She kept flipping through the shirts, still looking for some. "Do you want a black one too? Or a navy one? Something dark and something light?"

"Black," he told her as he put the one in his hand back. He hadn't liked it anyway. The suits were black, so it was important to keep the colors in the same vein. Having navy would just mess him up. "Though I supposed we could get a little creative with ties provided they all still match.

"Black it is. I think black would look nice on you," She said with a smile, handing him the nicest black shirt she'd found. Turning to look at the shirts again, Shannah was quiet for a moment. "Ian, I have something I should tell you. And I want to say first that I am completely grateful for your kindness and I intend to pay you back someday even though it might not be for a little while. But..I won't be returning to the Drake as a guest when it's finished. Angelo and I have decided to move in together so I'll be moving my things from the hotel to his apartment tomorrow." She ventured a glance at him, a sadness in her eyes. Why did she feel guilty about this? She'd been so happy about it earlier...until the opium, but then things had changed and it made sense for her move to be sooner rather than later. Things changed sometimes. "But that doesn't mean I won't be there ever again. I'd like to volunteer to help with anything you need, anything at all. I'm so grateful to you Ian, I can only hope you'll let me help you like you helped me."

Ian had been finally enjoying something going the right way even if it was naive and calm like it always was with Shannah. He'd even reached a point where he was going to wave off her gratitude and swear it was just because he wanted to help her, but the next bit of news made him want to break something. First Amelia, the beating, the hotel and that fucker Max on his doorstep. He kept his face passive for a moment before he let a little bit of hurt show on his face. "Um, congratulations are in order I suppose then?" he said awkwardly through the silent swearing in his head. He ran his hands over his shirt, straightening it a little, then stepped away from her.

She noticed the step and the hurt on his face and that felt like a stab in her chest. They'd been enjoying themselves, having a good time, and she had been worried since the decision had been made that Ian would think she was ungrateful or worse, not want to pursue a friendship with her considering that she'd be now moving in with someone else. But that wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to lose Ian because of this. She wanted both, she wanted to live with Angelo and she wanted to still have Ian as her friend. She turned to look at him, ignoring the salesmen mulling around in the background. "Thank you," She started, the frown set on her lips. "But Ian, this doesn't mean you won't see me anymore. I intend to bother you ten times more at the new and improved Drake than I already do. And if you need help there at all with anything, I mean it when I say I'd be honored if you let me help. The Drake means a lot to me. It's the first place that I met you, and you're a dear friend on mine. You're the first friend I made on my own in this city and you were kind enough to take me in when I had nowhere else to go." She reached for his arm and touched it gently, hoping that helped strengthen her words.

That was something. It didn't go far enough to really make up for the whole ordeal or her moving in with that trash. When she put her hand on his arm he turned towards her, hurt still on his face, but concern there as well. Ian covered her hand on his arm with his. "Are you sure about this guy Shoshannah? I've met him yes, this is a huge thing." He searched her eyes, waiting for a reaction.

Shannah was touched by the concern and she smiled a little at him. "I'm positive, Ian. It's right, for both of us. But it doesn't mean I'm going to neglect the Drake. I want to see the Drake up and running again and I'm not going to do everything I can to help. I'll talk to my father about it soon, see if there's anything we can do." She hadn't really spoken to her father in a few days and this would be a good excuse to meet him for lunch one day. "I appreciate your concern, Ian, but there's nothing to be concerned about."

"Don't worry about the hotel. We'll get it taken care of." He'd hired the best they had to fix the place up and make it better than it was before. Or that was his plan at least, obviously the family would have final say on everything. "But I appreciate the offer." He hadn't moved his hand, this time curling it around hers. "Be careful Shannah. I hate to see something happen to you." Or something that wasn't his own doing at least.

"I'd still really like to help if I can. Anything at all, even if it's going on those boring errands of yours with you that I hate so much," She attempted a joke, smiling at him this time. She didn't mind his errands so much, especially when she could come back with flowers of her own picking. "I will be careful, but there really isn't anything to worry about. You have enough to worry about now, you don't need me adding to it, especially when there's nothing to worry over."

Ian squeezed her hand again and then let it go, moving his arm away from her touch. "I appreciate it. You're helping plenty now and it's easier to do this with someone rather than alone." He smiled and it looked genuine but it felt trite and stupid. Every single plan was unraveling and it left him angry inside. "And even if there's nothing to worry about, I'll still worry. If you need anything you can come to me, you know that right?"

"Of course I know that, Ian." She gave him a smile. "I know I can rely on you and I appreciate it. I just want you to know that you can rely on me too." Shannah didn't have the same pull that Ian did, or anything near it (that she knew of), but she wanted him to know that she would try to help him with anything that he needed. She glanced from him again back to the racks of shirts, pulling out another black shirt like the white she she'd had, with the threads of shiny silks making small pinstripes in. "Why don't we match you some ties to these shirts?"

As much as he was certain he'd never actually need her help, Ian decided that he'd have to find a situation where he did, even if it meant completely fabricating the moment. He saw an opportunity to solidify something between them if she could do some of the helping. Taking the shirt from her he nodded towards the ties. "Yes, let's."