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Post by Sentinel Prime on Mar 18, 2012 13:08:55 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime is a career paranoid. Elly Winston knows everyone in this building now. She made a point of it, in a pleasant but slightly overly insistent fashion. Elly didn't remember a single one of them then, even when they, ever so vaguely, remembered her, but she knows every wretched human face now and the names of all their cats and dogs and iguanas and fish.
She takes the cellphone as if holding something hot, just barely grasping it with the tips of her fingers, and Elly nods in confirmation.
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Mar 18, 2012 14:17:10 GMT -5
The woman who opens the door is... not Elly Winston. It takes Xavier a moment to place her as the woman Elly had been with when he saw her at the restaurant. A friend? A lover? An aide? He doesn't know, and he curses himself for getting impatient and not figuring out what changes might have occurred since Elly's death.
Looking startled, he says, "Um, is Elly here?"
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Post by Pee-Dee on Mar 18, 2012 18:48:10 GMT -5
Petunia smiles. "May I ask who's asking?"
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Mar 18, 2012 19:15:58 GMT -5
The way the apartment is set up, if Xavier looks to the right, he will see a very small closet. If he looks to the left, he will see an l-shaped couch and a window. Bundled in blankets on the couch is Elly Winston, looking ill and suspicious.
She has tucked the cellphone under the blankets; neither of her hands show. The cellphone is flicked open, the contacts list called up, and Elly has her thumbed hovered on Esprit Hunt, ready to call if things go south. In her other hand, she has her knife. Elly is a paranoid who is sick, yes, but she is especially a paranoid who is sick of people screwing with her.
Elly can't see Xavier too well from where she is under her pile of blankets, but isn't it lucky that Det. Dahlia just happened to be here today?
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Mar 18, 2012 19:23:43 GMT -5
Xavier ruffles the hair at the back of his neck, trying to look shy and unassuming. "Um, Paige? I live-?" He waves a hand vaguely down the hall, hands making their way into his pockets as he scuffs the toe of his shoe against the floor.
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Post by Pee-Dee on Mar 18, 2012 19:29:36 GMT -5
Petunia's hand remains on the door-knob, with her other hand leaning against the door-jamb. She pretty effectively blocks entrance to the apartment but certainly not to looking.
Her eyes flick towards Elly. "Ms. Winston? Did you want to see Mr. Paige today?"
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Mar 18, 2012 19:44:11 GMT -5
Elly rises up somewhat, climbing through the blanket pile to get a better look at 'Mr. Paige'. Her hands remain under the covers. She peers at him and then says firmly, "No. You don't. Dave and Dirk Strider live at the end of the hall - they're brothers and they have all these ravens and seagulls around, and then the other apartments down that end belong to Roxy and Rose Lalonde, mother and daughter, and they have these freaky-looking cats named Jaspers and Mutie and maybe they even have some others, and then there are Jake English and Jade Harley, a grandfather and his granddaughter. They have a dog named Becquerel. You want to explain why you're lying?" - - - OOC: The names of the apartment-mates are meant entirely tongue-in-cheek and not seriously in the slightest.
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Mar 18, 2012 19:56:22 GMT -5
"Lying?" Xavier says, eyes widening with only half-feigned confusion. Damn, this is going weird quickly. A little alarm in his head is screaming, Pull out, pull out! while another voice in his head is shouting gleefully, Kill them both! Paint the walls with their blood!. Not helpful.
"What? I've been gone a few weeks, and I heard Elly was dead and then that she was back." He hunches up, trying to look sheepish and vulnerable. "I just wanted to see if she was okay."
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Post by Pee-Dee on Mar 19, 2012 20:36:56 GMT -5
"Really? That's very interesting." Petunia smiles, flashing her canines. "Ms. Winston says you're lying, and I'd think she'd know that better than me. But I recognize your face."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Mar 19, 2012 20:49:48 GMT -5
"So do you live with the Lalondes, the Striders, or Old Man English and his little girl?" Elly asks, her words oddly edged. She's really, really curious to hear his answer to that. His puppy-dog act falls upon a hard heart; she may have the frail body of a sick woman, but her mind belongs to a robot drill sergeant.
Anyone who was here at the time would know she died - the police questioned everyone. It's what they do. Her death was even on the news. That she is alive again, though... that has been kept quiet. If he's been away for a few weeks... well, the apartment tenants might gossip. She's sure they do.
She is equally sure that Mr. Paige hasn't heard that gossip from the Lalondes, the Striders, or English and Harley.
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Mar 19, 2012 20:56:05 GMT -5
Okay, so Elly is Elly, she still doesn't recognize him as her killer, and trying to her murder her right now would be annoyingly awkward. Now seems like a good time to retreat.
"I'm on a different floor," Xavier says, doing his best to look confused and weirded out by this odd sort of interrogation. It's not exactly hard, given that he feels rather out of sorts, though for different reasons than the character he's trying to play. He focuses on Petunia, "I saw you guys at that restaurant, right?"
He shrugs. "Anyway, Elly's fine, I guess, so I'll just..." Xavier jerks his head at the hall and turns to leave.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Mar 21, 2012 17:13:18 GMT -5
OOC: Skipping Det. Dahlia by player request.- - - "What room?" Elly orders, clearly very used to being in command... of something. She was a scientist before she had her accident, wasn't she? Elly adds, "If you have nothing to hide, you'll tell me what room. I'm harmless," not really, she's armed with a knife, "and it would really put my mind at rest." She is a professional at manipulative guilt trips, too.
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Mar 21, 2012 20:12:36 GMT -5
Xavier just shakes his head and says, "Whatever. You came back weird, Elly."
He walks away from the open door and the two women, sauntering towards where he stashed his backpack, though he won't try and grab it until he hears the sound of the door closing.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Mar 23, 2012 21:42:04 GMT -5
It is lucky for the world that Sentinel Prime is stubborn and has a robust self-image, because Mr. Page there just tried to undermine Elly's perception of the world, and Elly's perception of the world is the world, to a certain small extent. She warps reality around her with her beliefs.
Her eyes narrow, and she demands, "Have you given the police your statement yet?" Her eyes flicks over to Det. Dahlia.
Has he? If he lives here, he had blasted well have given a statement. There was a murder here.
Elly does not believe he lives here, though.
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Post by Pee-Dee on Mar 24, 2012 14:13:44 GMT -5
Petunia gives a small shake of her head. She's read everyone's statement, and she has a memory for the oddest of details.
Besides if this man were up to any good, he'd tell the poor ex-dead woman what apartment he was in.
Petunia steps out into the hall and shuts the door behind her.
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