strange, strange woman

who: jesse and lenore
where: 6th street soup kitchen
when: midday

The bundle of money under Lenore's mattress that represented her 'underground' earnings was pretty substantial. Lenore never really knew what to do with it. Sometimes she would buy an expensive dress or something, but really, the rent in her apartment was cheap and she didn't feel like she needed or wanted anything. So more often than not, Lenore would stuff an envelope and wander down to 6th street and give the soup kitchen some cash. The money she gave would keep them afloat for a week or two with no problems - but with all the street kids and crazy homeless folks, it wasn't that simple. She knew she wasn't really helping or solving a problem to much of a great extent - and that was okay by her. There had to be balance in all things, and the homeless of Eidolon City were part of that. It was a fragile ecosystem. So her philanthropy was really just an excuse to get rid of some extra cash she didn't want cluttering her living space.

It had been a busy morning, and she'd taken a bath before coming out - removing bloodstains from her hands and dirt from the scratch marks the girl had left under her eye - so Lenore was very out of place with her high-quality woollen coat and freshly washed soap-scent. But she didn't dress in bright colours or high heels, and she was a somewhat recognised face, so she didn't attract too much attention. Anyway, if she was mugged it would just cut down the time she had to spend offloading the money, and if they decided to beat her up and kill her then that was just that. There was no point worrying about circumstances beyond your control.

She walked fairly slowly, her gaze drifting around her surroundings and taking in the way things never seemed to change in this part of town. It felt like a whole other lifetime ago that she had huddled on these very corners, and maybe it was. It was always quieter around this time of day - the daylight was better for sleeping. She remembered that much. She didn't feel that much different to how she had felt back then - although perhaps she had lost her air of desperation. Finally, her focus settled on the front steps of the familiar soup kitchen where too she had spent a good portion of her younger days, and she made her way towards it, smiling softly. Nostalgia was a tricky animal.

Jesse was not looking his best either. Though while Lenore only had some scratches, Jesse looked like he'd been in a fight or two. Which, to be fair, he had. One of his eyes was swollen nearly shut, his lip was split and generally speaking, he looked like he'd had a rough day the day before, and that was true too. Mostly, he was coming by the kitchen to check on the girl he'd found the corpse with, but no one seemed to know where the girl was. So, as he stepped out of the place, he hunched his shoulders agaisnt the cold a little, and started down the steps, the limp in his gait a little more pronounced today than usual. But then that happened when he was feeling like hell.

Lenore blinked at the sudden appearance of a very battered individual from the soup kitchen doorway. Now there was a person who looked like they belonged down on 6th street. Although maybe he too was a little better dressed than most bums. Her nurse-skills were awakened looking at all that bruising. It wasn't fresh fresh, but sometimes these people left their injuries unchecked for too long, and the thought of someone suffering with a nasty infection of the face made Lenore's skin crawl.

"Good grief," said Lenore sharply to the man, "You look like you did ten rounds with a dancing bear. Did they give you antiseptic in there?" She sounded far more ward-sisterly than anyone as young as Lenore had a right to sound, but there it was.

It was the tone more than her words that caught Jesse's attention, because that was a Mom Tone if he ever heard one. And sometimes his sisters managed to bust it out too. He stopped where he was and arched an eyebrow at the woman. "Kinda feels like I went ten rounds with a dancing bear." he told her. "Though that probably would have been far more entertaining than just a bar fight." he said. "As for antiseptic, I got some from a friend yesterday. I was just looking for someone. The girl who used to kind of run the joint--you happen to know where she's at?"

Lenore folded her arms and looked sternly at Jesse, hoping that his 'friend' was someone with some hygiene standards. "Bar fight. Lovely," said Lenore, dripping with disapproval, "And I don't even know who actually runs this place any more. I'm fairly sure the gentleman who was in charge when I actually worked here is dead."

She didn't sound particularly sad about this. Or anything, really. He probably was dead - that was the way of things. She tipped her head at Jesse slightly and stared at him quizzically. Maybe he wasn't homeless after all, maybe the bruises had just fooled her into thinking that. Street people rarely frequented bars and had meetings with the head of the soup kitchen.

"Why did you want her, anyway? You don't particularly look like someone who would have soup-kitchen business?" her tone was sceptical, as she knew that on rare occasions mob thugs would shake the place down for protection money, and that was something she was fairly dissaproving of.

Jesse cocked his head to the side as he regarded her. "...look, lady, first off, you're not my mother." he said, even if his tone was actually mildly amused. "Second, whatever business I do have? Is mine, isn't it. As for the looks thing...haven't you ever heard that saying? That whole 'don't judge a book by it's cover' thing?" he put in. He might have explained the bar fight, that he hadn't just picked one for the hell of it or anything. That he had done it because people weren't being so nice to Helena, and he didnt' stand for that sort of thing, but that wasn't her business either.

Lenore couldn't help but feel a smile tug gently at the corners of her mouth at the mother comment, considering he looked much older than her, but sometimes she could have that effect. She kept her arms folded and didn't remove her inquisitive gaze from Jesse as she spoke, but there was less of a hard edge to her stare.

"Alright, your business is your business. But there are a lot of people out there who look to take advantage of operations like this one and usually those people send rather stocky young men with bruises to lay down their proposals. So forgive me for thinking the worst." She didn't actually sound particularly sorry, but she was perhaps a little less sharp with him.

"Anyway, are there any volunteers in there at all, or is it empty? I have something to drop off."

"Actually, wouldn't they send guys who don't look like they've had their ass handed to them recently? Seems if someone were going for 'intimidating' they might want to lay off the 'a poke in the ribs will send me to the hospital' look." Jesse said, teasing, just a little. "And there are a couple, they kind of looked like they were closing up shop though. Sorry. I mean, you might be able to leave something, you'll have to check. I've got no idea, I just popped by to see Ruby." he said. He didn't know that much about the place, he'd just found a body with the girl who ran it, and had been coming by to check on her. So far, that wasn't working out for him so well.

Lenore nodded curtly and pondered for a moment. It wouldn't take long for her to just hand over her envelope and leave, although it seemed awfully early for them to have simply shut up shop. She'd slip in and make sure there were no disasters brewing, and then nip back out to make sure this one didn't keel over and bleed everywhere. He didn't exactly seem like he would, but the company'd be nice anyway.

"Wait here then, I'll just drop this envelope indoors and I'll meet you back outside. Terrible sort of neighbourhood to walk through all alone if a swift poking is really going to send you to hospital. I'll ask about Ruby for you, too. They know me - might be slightly more forthcoming."
She flickered a grin at him again, not waiting for his response - he could leave if he wanted to, she didn't particularly mind - and briskly jogged up the steps of the soup kitchen, brushing through the door without having to open it too wide.

How do you know I'm not well known here and they would be tight lipped with me? Jesse thought, but so far, the woman seemed chock full of assumptions. He did wait, though. It wasn't because he wanted to be accompanied wherever he was headed, though. It was he'd found a dead body in the alley a few nights ago, and the girl while lippy didn't look like she was going to handle a run in with a psycho. Especially considering the scratches on her cheek. So, having that ingrained desire to protect females around him, he leaned against the post at the bottom of the steps, and glanced around, hoping there weren't more corpses hanging about.

Lenore had assumed Jesse wasn't a soup kitchen regular because he hadn't seemed to know much about what was going indoors other than that this Ruby girl wasn't there. Also, she had never seen him before, which didn't say much but Lenore had a habit of figuring she knew best. Anyway, once indoors she spent several minutes trying to find someone, and eventually came across a middle aged woman named Beatrice who worked fairly regularly at the kitchen and handed over her envelope, exchanged pleasantries, and learnt that Ruby hadn't been seen for a couple days. She also learnt that volunteer numbers were at an all time low, and that her money would probably be even less stretchy than usual, but that of course, it was still appreciated. Lenore remembered that Beatrice had always been a bit of a guilt trip artist.

She slid back through the front door and jogged over to Jesse around 10 minutes later, mildly surprised that he had actually hung around. "Well, no-one's seen hide nor hair of your lady for a couple of days, so she's probably skipped town with some strapping young lad. Or the serial killer got her, but that seems less likely if she's not turned up on the front page of the Echo" Lenore tipped her head and gave Jesse her best sympathetic look (which was genuine), rubbing his arm in a good attempt at condolence "Sorry either way. Were you very close?"

Jesse squinted one eye shut in a wince. "Ah--ow." he said, since she'd happened to have chosen the arm he'd gotten a knife shoved into to rub. "And no, we weren't, I just stopped to help her the other night. We er...well. Whatever, I'm sure you read the papers, we found one of the um. Victims." he admitted. It wasn't like it was a state secret or anything, so he didn't feel like he was meant to be keeping it quiet. "I wanted to check and see if she was dealing alright, but...maybe she isn't and left for greener pastures or something, who knows."

Lenore removed her hand when Jesse winced, and tutted softly. Not disapproving of him, so much as the person who had obviously done a marvellous job of beating the snot out of him. Her interest was piqued though, when he said he'd found one of the serial killer victims. She sniffed and looked up at Jesse, her expression quite serious.

"It's horrible how he treats those poor women, you know. He shouldn't torture them like that. It's wrong" she said softly. To most people the crime would be in the serial murdering, but that attitude from Lenore would've been a touch on the hypocritical side. She's read the papers though. The reports on all those dead women. That their time to die had come was unavoidable - but to treat them like that? To abuse their bodies and make them horrible, unclean things? That was repulsive. What she did was much better. It was the way things should be done. With dignity.

Jesse caught the Weird there too. "...here I thought the whole...killing them thing was a problem." he said. "But yeah, the torture and stuff..." he shook his head. He really didn't want to think about it. He had a daughter and a whole slew of sisters. He didn't want to think about it at all. "Um...what happened to you?" he asked, reaching up to gesture towards the scratches on her cheek, though he didn't come even close to touching her.

Lenore sniffed dismissively. People had such a selfish perception of Death. People who died moved on, they got to be with God - or at least someplace quiet. The people they left behind never appreciated that the next level was important. Being sad was one thing, of course you should be sad that something so precious was gone - but to think they shouldn't have died? Ridiculous. A lifetime was all anyone got.

"Everybody dies eventually. But torture? That's avoidable and very unnecessary," unconventional moral lectures were no-one's idea of a good time, so she smiled and changed the subject, "As for these? There was a little bit of drama at work this morning and I got myself slapped. But I very much doubt it was a personal complaint. People get rabbity when they hear bad news. What did you do to deserve such a thorough thrashing?"

With the kind of odd vibe there, Jesse was happy to skip topics to something else. It wasn't anything he wanted to think about, remember, or start discussing moral dillemas on. So, right. They could agree torture equaled bad, and move on. "That looks like you got yourself scratched, what do you do?" he asked. "...some people were bothering a friend of mine. I stepped in, they didn't like that very much." he answered her as to what happened to him. It was the short answer, anyways. "But she got out okay, so..." So, he didn't mind.

"Very noble," said Lenore, nodding, "You do the knight in shining armour bit a lot?" she was genuinely curious, although her tone had a tendency to sound patronizing even if she didn't necessarily mean to be. Saving some woman from roughnecks, and checking up on the soup kitchen girl - either he was an A-grade player or a genuinely nice person. Both were fairly interesting, as far as Lenore was concerned.

"As for me, I'm a nurse. I used to work in that soup kitchen though, a few years back, which is how they know me. Sort of scurried my way up the social ladder. I suppose. How about you? Professional bar fighter?" she asked, smirking. She also didn't mention the slight dip she'd done between soup kitchen and nurse which involved stripping and throat slitting, but that was a conversation for a different audience.

He quirked a little smile, and glanced away before he looked back at her. "I wouldn't say often..." he said, even if he knew that he kinda did. It was just in his nature and he couldn't fight that. Like a few days ago with Anya, he'd rescued her too. Then there was Helena, and if he saw some other girl in need of help he'd step up there too. And he supposed the thing with Ruby counted. Maybe. He just didn't necessarily like being called a knight in shining armor. "Just whenever I see it, I suppose. When I might be needed." Then he listened to what she had to say, and nodded. "A nurse, that's a good profession. Bet it pays better than a lot of occupations in the city too." He sort of kinda skipped over mentioning his own profession. He didn't have one, per se...

"Well, Mr. Shining Armour, I'm Lenore. Nice to meet you," she said, finally offering her hand in a prompt, businesslike fashion, "Are you heading anywhere else this afternoon? I have time to kill. I'll walk with you. Make sure you don't get beaten up again." Lenore did have time to kill, and she was curious about the beaten up man, and apparently she was picking up her old habit of befriending strange guys, but whatever. Everyone had to have hobbies.

He shook her hand and quirked a smile that if he looked slightly less beat up, would have been charming. "Jesse." he introduced himself. "And I was just kind of going for a walk. But sure, if you want to ward off any more thugs be my guest." he told her. "Nice to meet you too." he offered as he picked a direction and started walking, paying attention to cover the limp in his stride more than he usually did. Why he was bothering, he didn't know. He looked beat up, he was beat up, that could explain it just fine, he just hated looking disabled.

Lenore looked up at him as they walked, and she matched his pace easily. He was walking funny, or trying to look like he wasn't walking funny, but she put that down to his being beaten up. What Lenore was really curious about was the body he'd found. Since he'd mentioned it she'd wanted to know. What it had looked like. She knew it probably wouldn't go down amazingly well as light conversation went, but well, it couldn't hurt to try.

"So I don't suppose it was that Stella girl you found? Too recent I suppose. I believe the Echo said that she was found by police, although you know I don't hold that paper too high in my esteem."

"No, I don't think it was her." Jesse said. "But honestly I couldn't tell you, I don't keep up with the paper much, and I don't think the woman we found had been named yet. It was a few days ago. When was Stella found?" he asked. His daughter was never leaving the house again, it was official. Like ever. She was grounded until she was in her sixties.

"It was in the paper this morning, so I suppose yesterday? I've been pretty half-hearted about following the story, because I think it's vile what he does to them. The other girls at the hospital are all pretty spooked, though, they walk home in pairs." Lenore sounded very scornful of this fact. As far as she figured, if it was your time it was your time. No "precautions" were going to give you any more or less. But whatever made them happy.

Jesse definitely found her tone odd. "I think everyone should be doing that lately. Just in case." he said, glancing at her sideways. "And no, it wasn't Stella then. I don't know who the girl is we found, but it wasn't yesterday." It was getting on a few days ago, but the escalation of the timeframe on the murders was concerning. Wasn't it before like, every few months, and now it was all the time? That was just a level of crazy he didn't want to think about.

"Hmph, I haven't been picked off yet, have I? Hysteria doesn't do anyone any good," said Lenore brightly, as if she was telling a small child to chin up and stop sulking, "I shouldn't like to live my life in fear the whole time, jumping at shadows and travelling around like a flock of geese at all times. That's not living, that's surviving, and I think it's a waste."

"Perhaps you haven't, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't take the slightest bit of common sense as a precaution either." Jesse said. "It's also not living in fear, it's just being intelligent. If the guy picks off women who're off by themselves, then it's only exercising a little bit of smarts to walk home with someone else. It's hardly hysteria. It's also way off base to imply that it's not living...you've got one hell of a whacked way of looking at things, lady. If all it takes is just taking a walk with a friend someplace...why the hell would you invite a killer to come calling? That's what I'd call a waste. I'd also call that pretty unintelligent. That I would consider not living." he commented, thinking she was a little bloody nuts, truthfully. With all the just slightly off statements she'd been making, it was kind of adding up to being 'creepy'. After all, that was what was creepiest. Things that were just off enough. Something that was meant to be normal, but didn't quite fit.

"Well there's no need to get annoyed, dear," said Lenore in an amused tone, cocking an eyebrow, "we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one, hmm?" Lenore could be frustratingly patronizing and weird at times. It was one of her specialities, although it wasn't exactly a tone she affected in order to get a rise. It was just her idea of polite seemed a little off to most people. Her ideas about a lot of things seemed off to most people - but as far as she was concerned that was their problem, not hers.

"But then again, you're a knight in shining armour, aren't you? So of course you would see it differently from me. Can you think of anywhere else your girl Ruby might be?" she was considering the possibility that she'd maybe been insensitive, considering he did seem to be the big-shouldered protector type. Maybe he was a police officer and that was why he hadn't said what he did - which would be a novelty in itself. The very nature of Lenore's life did not give her much opportunity to deal with police on a non-professional level.

Who said anything about annoyed, crazy woman? went through Jesse's mind, though he thought better of sharing. "I can't think of anyplace she'd be. But then again, like I said, I didn't know her very well. She could disappear all the time for all I know. I don't even know her last name." he said honestly. So he couldn't look her up, if she even had a phone. Not everyone did. Like he didn't, really. He couldn't even afford a two bedroomed apartment for himself and his daughter.

"Fair enough. Some people do that you know. Vanish. Happens a lot in this city. I wouldn't worry too much, she'll be wherever she's supposed to be, you know?" said Lenore, trying to sound reassuring, and smiling slightly at Jesse in her tight-lipped fashion. "Now, have you decided where you're walking, my dear? Only I might have to scurry off to run an errand or two soon."

Not that he wasn't interesting, or that she was particularly busy, but it was clear she wasn't going to get any quality serial killer chat out of him, and that had really been what she'd wanted. It was what had hooked her into walking with him in the first place, the fact that he'd found the body. Also, Lolita Thrill's post box needed checking and that particular trip wasn't one she could have company for.

"I should probably head home." he said, even if he wasn't especially sure that was where he was going. He just didn't really want to stay in a conversation with the woman. She was just way off. Slightly creepy, and weird. Therefore, he was kind of looking to bug out. "Nice meeting you, though." he said, sounding for all the world as if he were genuine there.