Way of the law (Woof)

Clair smiled to the praise she was getting for her thoughts, but even still she knew that they were theories with no ground to support them, and she wasn't a licensed lawyer, not like Jett. The only way she could help was to be the woman's eyes wherever they went.. Or to find something and hand it to Jett personally.

She'd shake her head to the question about the pharmacy. What was... She didn't often go to those places anyway, so she couldn't tell... But maybe there was something off about what she saw when it came to the two criminals. Thinking hard about it, she frowned. And frowned. And then remembered that at least one of those criminals met a ghastly fate thanks to the monster. For some reason... She couldn't remember anything about the second ones fate.

"Well... When I was inside... First. Inside that place. They were opening this safe inside a wall. It was weird because it looked as if they had to move a bunch of things to get to it, and the rest of the place had looked trashed too in certain areas. But I spooked them before they got it opened fully..." The more she thought about what she said, the more she realized what had happened.

A hidden stash. Something they didn't know exactly where, but that it existed. If Mr Powers had sent them with the idea of getting this stash, he would have told them the exact location, yet the way they had trashed the place, looks as if they hadn't a clue. Just an idea on where... But who owned the hidden safe... And what was inside it.

While Clair thought about the Pharmacy, Jett continued to eat. As she chewed on her steak, she and Vaedren began to list off their own theories of what the men were looking for. At first Jett dismissed the idea of the safe having any importance, when Clair mentioned it. But as the young girl went on to say that several other areas of the Pharmacy had been upturned, well now that could mean something. Taking the final bite of her steak, Jett moved onto the fries it came with. “Most Pharmacy’s have some sort of safe, that’s not that out of the ordinary.” Munching down on a fry, Jett would continue. “What is interesting is that it was well hidden. Most places just have a place in the back or something. But if Nathaniel’s men had to move things about to find it, that meant the owner had something in there that they didn’t want anyone to find.”

Jett was slowly unraveling things in the back of her mind as she tried to mentally picture the scenario. “If were putting our money on drugs, then perhaps it was a formula he was after?” It would make sense. Though it didn’t sound like there was anything to special about this pharmacy. Maybe it had more secrets than just the safe to hide.

“See, this is why we get out and do a little leg work. While we can’t exactly force the owner or employees to show us around. We can still look for our selves and if we think something is fishy, we get the police involved, and lucky for us, I know someone.” she was of course talking about her roommate. With the mystery looming overhead, Jett started to get a little excited and picked up the pace eating her food. The sooner they were done here the sooner they could get to the real meat of the day’s agenda.

Clair found herself nodding along to Jett, moving onto her food as she did so. So many possibilities, so many reasons and whys, so many ways that certain things could be awork more then others. Detectives, law enforcement, lawyers. Everyone in this style of work must have to deal with this kind of thing daily. How did anyone get anything done? Her head was already boggled by her own thoughts.

Soon finishing her meal, Clair quietly awaited for Jett to finish, her fingers twisting and turning with each other. Was she going to be okay? Could she handle this... She didn't want to disappoint Jett, nor did she want to get in the way. She wished she could call it. Her mask. Somehow, having it on her just, calmed her. Gave her a sense of purpose. Stilled her to this world as someone other then herself.

But alas, her walking with a mask would be weird enough. She didn't need to add that to her already off looking appearance, disheveled, unkempt and not as clean as she'd like now... Funny. It took Jett to really start to notice the things she had been denying herself. She needed to look after herself better... And a good meal was a good start. "Well... I'm. I'm ready when you are!" Clair declared, puffing up her chest and mentally assuring herself that she was indeed ready. She wasn't going to let Jett down. Not one bit.

Jett was actually shocked that the young girl had finished her meal first. “And here I thought you weren’t hungry.” she said with a slight smile as she recalled Clair saying so just a little while ago. Jett knew she still had some food on her plate, mainly because she kept mental note of all the food on the plate. The serving size was always the same. After cramming a few more fries into her mouth and then finishing off her tea, Jett would reach into her coat pocket and retrieve her wallet. Reaching in, she’d withdraw a single hundred dollar bill.

It was obviously more that what would ultimately be required of the bill, but Jett had places to be. After placing the bill, Jett would cautiously rise out of the seat and then hold her arm out for Clair to grab onto. “Hurry let’s boogie before Alonne see’s that I paid for lunch!” Truth of the matter was, Alonne had been one of the lawyers clients once and when he hit a rough spot, Jett bailed him out. While he never had the kinda money her firm demanded as payment for services rendered, he and Jett had made an agreement. Free food for life. Jett still liked to pay though.

Once the two were back on the sidewalk, the cool air quickly nipped at Jett’s nose. Prompting her to make a comment about how she should have worn a scarf today. Despite the temperature, Jett lifted her head and allowed the shallow breeze to wash over her. It felt kinda refreshing. And it was a good wake to wake up, especially after all the delicious food she had just downed. “Alright Clair. Lead the way!”

Clair frowned, not realizing how fast she had eaten compared to the blind woman. Maybe she had been lying to herself when she said she wasn't hungry. The girl wasn't sure. But she was happy to at least have the food in her system. Already she was feeling better for it. And when Jett was ready to go, the girl felt her eyes bug out when she saw the hundred dollar bill.

Attempting to say something about it, she went silent when the woman held her arm out for Clair to grab onto so they could rush out at he request, something she was so focused on doing correctly she had forgotten about the amount all together. Walking into the street, Clair huffed at the cold, thankful she had brought the jumper now at least.

But being asked to lead the way had made the girl shiver as if a chill had climbed up and down her spine. Lead... Her? Clair wasn't sure she could trust herself... But she had too. Leg work couldn't be done without legs. Right? "Of.. Of course. This way." Making sure Jett was secured to her arm, Clair lead the two towards... That place. The pharmacy. The place that started at so many of her nightmares.

It was a slow walk. If too many people were around, Clair would wait for them to pass. She didn't rush and she made a few stops to just catch her breath. At some point however, when she thought she could make a quick short cut though an alleyway, she stopped. Staring at a wall. Tears welling up into her eyes as stared at the wall. Here... Here was the start. Where she had... Had... Had... Where she had met... It. Slowly lowering herself to her knees. Clair continued to stare at the wall. Unable to tear her vision away from it. Someone had died here. Died near her. Blood... Every... "Ahh.... Ahhhh.... Ahhhh."

The walk was a quiet one for the most part. Jett had regulated to brainstorming ideas and mentally yelling at Vaedren for allowing Clair to not only get shot but also for scaring her for life. The woman’s attention would get divided every now and then as there would be a pause in their movement. It seemed Clair was really having a hard time of all this. It made Jett question her idea of getting Clair involved. The girl seriously needed help. Jett couldn’t provide that. She wasn’t a psychiatrist. After a few more stops of the same nature, Jett found herself struggling internally with whether or not she should tell Clair to go home.

She couldn’t bring herself to do it though. Clair came to her for help. She couldn’t turn the girl down. Jett would eventually feel herself dip to the side Clair had been latched to. The poor thing had collapsed to her knees and Jett could hear her losing her cool. The blind woman would quickly kneel down beside the distraught girl. She didn’t know what to do. So she did what she thought was best and wrapped her arms around Clair.

“Sssssh It’s ok. Don’t think about it. Just close your eyes and focus on my voice.” Jett stroked the girl’s hair and held her tight hoping that being close would calm her down. “Nothing is going to hurt you. You’re stronger than this. Don’t let the fear rule you or you’ll be a victim all your life.” It was a lesson Jett had learned herself. When the only thing you see is darkness, the world could be a scary place. If she had chose to give into her disability she wouldn’t have been the woman she was today.

Clair hadn't noticed Jett at first, her mind filled with the utter dread of the thing that had killed people here. What was she even doing out here. This was why she didn't leave the house. This was why she went to school and hid in whatever corner she could scurry too. This... This... Her arms moved to hug Jett, holding onto the woman as tightly as she could. The touch made her feel several emotions all at once.

Bad, good. Safe. Scared. Danger. Alone. But she wasn't alone. She wasn't in danger. She was safe... She was good. And... And she couldn't let Jett down. Like a balloon deflating. She'd let out a shaky breath and at the same time her clothes would expand, as if something was pushing against them, only for a thick mist to sliver out from every bit of her clothing, letting them soften once more. Almost like the mist had been building under her clothes the moment she had stepped out the building, the moment she had put them on.

The alleyway was filled with the mist, leaving Clair to feel a strange mix of warmth and cold, but her tears had stopped as she watched the mist, moving in time with her heart beat, her hands. "I... I'm sorry..." The girl choked out, releasing her hold on the blind woman and leaning back to wipe at her eyes. Slowly standing up to look at the alleyway, covered in the white mist as it was.

"I.. I thought this was... The alleyway. Where it started... But I was wrong... I was... I'm okay to keep going. I am, Jett." Clair looked to the ground, her hands bundled together at her stomach, she slowly rose them up, watching as the mist lifted itself up with her. Yes... She had to be strong. For Jett. She wasn't going to let her mind turn her into a babbling mess.

Looking to Jett, she was so thankful the woman was blind like she was. It wasn't something Clair wanted to be thankful for normally. But she couldn't see this... What she was doing. And that was... It was good. Walking up to the woman and grabbing a hold of her arm, Clair used her free hand to clench her fist, pulling it and the mist back to herself, watching as it trailed back to her, vanishing under her clothes again. "It isn't that far now... Come on."

Jett was partially relieved that she had managed to comfort Clair. There was no telling what could have happened if she didn’t calm down. This was mainly denoted by Vaedren’s constant growling as the mist poured out of Clair’s clothes. That medallion really was an enigma. If Jett was going to keep Clair around, she’d have to learn more about it at some point, which meant paying a particular red skinned, singled horned Arcadian a visit. For now, they had somewhere else to be.

With Clair having found a new sense of focus, it wouldn’t take them long to reach their destination. Upon walking through the front door, they were greeted by a little bell and one of the pharmacists working the counter. With a slight nod Jett would wave the pharmacists off. Well now that they were hear, it was time to see what was so special about that place. Luckily they had plenty of eyes to look around the place, even if the woman was blind. The lawyer would lean over casually to whisper into Clair’s ear, which because this was Jett, happened to be Clair’s entire face. “Now’s where we split up and look for anything out of the ordinary. Don’t worry, I’ll do just fine on my own in here.”

Jett would wait for Vaedren’s signal to know that the girl had left her side. Once the coast was clear, Jett would slowly use Vaedren’s guidance and make her way just a little closer to the counter. When she was in range, it was time for Vaedren to do his part. Breaking off a piece of himself, He would slid down Jett’s hand and onto the shelf. There he would slither his way through the maze of bottles and boxes until he was behind the counter. Because this was only a piece of himself, he and Jett were able to communicate and be with one another while this single small strand acted as a little scout for the two of them. Anything it saw, Vaedren would see.

Clair nodded, frowning how was Jett going to do.. Well, see anything? And then she remembered that nodding did nothing for the young girl and she looked back to where this mess had started. "Okay... Be careful." Quietly said, Clair bounced away from the blind woman to look around. She didn't often visit a place like this, so the stalls had her confused at first.

But eventually she was able to navigate herself about. The place wasn't terribly big, but it was enough that someone, anyone could be right around the corner. Walking up to one of the many walled shelves, the young girl looked about it. It seemed... Different. She looked to the ground and found scrape marks of something moving, but even when she gave it a tug, she didn't feel it budge, rattle even.

Clenching her hand, Clair made her way towards Jett, tugging on the woman's sleeve so that she could draw the blind woman's attention to her as she leaned up to Jett's ear. "I think they moved it from where I last saw it. It's been a while so it makes sense..."

The scout of the duo however, would have a better find. A stranger find. Behind the counter, among the boxes of pharmaceuticals and bottles of pills or liquids meant to keep one heavy, the fragment of Vaedren would find a discolored part of the counter wall, looking freshly painted and put in compared to the rest of the counter wall. If it ventured in though the cracks the led inside this boxed area, it'd sight a gun along with what looked like a bottle with a rolled up piece of paper inside, the bottle inscribed with 'secret formula.'

Jett moved about the pharmacy as inconspicuous as she could. She moved under Vaedren’s guidance, making sure not to knock anything over as she moved. Just as she was rounding a corner, she felt a tug on her coat sleeve. Spinning in that direction, Jett would hear Clair speak. The lawyer nodded as Clair spoke. At the same time, Vaedren would confirm Clair’s story. The piece of the demon that had been used to scout out the harder to reach areas of the place, had come across an odd looking panned behind the counter.

Trying not to give away the game, Jett leaned in a little and whispered to Clair. “Are you sure? How do you know?” As Jett spoke with the girl, the strand of Vaedren had weaseled its way into the seam of the odd looking panel. The small space was dark, dark enough that Vaedren had a hard time seeing. But as the strand snuck further into the space it began to make out the faint outlines of some objects. There were clearly a few bottles of something in here, and a gun. There was also something rolled up and something that looked like a thick folder filled with papers.

This was definitely something Jett wanted to check out further, but as the strand of the demon continued to move through the hiding spot, it picked up something else. There was a low hum, that reverberated throughout the small box. It grew stronger the closer to the bottom of the box the stand moved. “Theressss something else hear! Below the pharmacy!”

“Are you sure?”
“We can hear it! Like electricity running down below….A lot of it!”

Something suspect was definitely going on here. Jett wanted to get to the bottom of it. But she didn’t quite know how to go about it. There had to be a way where she could get down below the pharmacy to investigate. The strand of Vaedren could easily pull it off, no doubt. But that meant hanging around here for longer than Jett would have liked. “Clair, do you recognize any of the workers here? Where any of them here the day of the break in?”

Jett had a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Powers might have gotten what he was after all along.

Clair would look back to where she had seen the safe, and how it seemed impossible to move before she looked back to Jett, frowning ever so lightly. "I can't move the shelf. And if it had been found there before, it wouldn't be safe to keep there for next time..." The second was mere guess work, but she felt confident that her guess was right.

But when Jett asked the second question, Clair looked to the ground in thought, of all the people she had glanced, had she seen them before? She didn't remember much about this part of the night, only the men, the safe. But the workers? She sucked in a breath before she took longer looks at the employees, hoping none of them took notice of how she scanned them, sifting though her memories each time as she found their faces, but sadly. She just couldn't remember.

"Sorry Jett.. No.. Maybe this was a waste of time, of your time. I'm really sorry." She was. How could she have not thought that weeks, months after the event, things would have changed so much that coming back here would just have been a dud. It was foolish of her.

Jett allowed a small frown to appear on her face after hearing that Clair didn’t recognize anyone in the pharmacy. The frown didn’t come because of Clair’s lack of recognition, but at the same time it did. If Clair didn’t recognize anyone in the shop and the safe had been moved since that day, then Jett had a pretty good hunch as to what was going on. Despite the girls best efforts to prevent Nathaniel from getting what he wanted, he got it in the end.

Jett had a hunch and that hunch said that some time after the altercation between his thugs and Clair, Nathaniel Powers swooped in and bought the place out. All she needed was for Vaedren to confirm this. And slowly but surely the broken off piece of the symbiotic demon slinked it’s way closer to a discovery. The two had already been in here for quite a while. Neither had asked for help, or seemed to really be looking for anything. It was only a matter of time before they were found out. Jett had to think of something and quick. She needed to buy Vaedren just a little more time.

“It’s only a waste of time if we didn’t find anything. But we’ve already discovered that the safe has been moved.” Jett said to Clair, trying to get her thinking about this in a different light. She didn’t want the girl getting down on herself. So any chance to lift her spirits, Jett was going to take. “We just need to buy ourselves a few more minutes to look around. We can’t stick around for too long or they might catch on to us.”

Clair looked to Jett, knowing that the blind woman didn't mean for the both of them to look, she was blind, and that meant it was on Clair to find the time they needed for her to keep looking in case she missed something. So that was what she had to do. "Okay. I'll handle it!" Clair declared, her voice raising for a moment till she clasped her hand over her mouth to silence herself, before nodding and wondering off, moving towards one of the employees and doing her best to smile, even if it felt as fake as it looked.

"Hell... Hello. Um.. My friend is blind... And needs her medication, but she couldn't find her normal pharmacy from mu.. muscle memory alone, so I.. Umm. Brought her here. And I don't know.. Ahh.. what I'm doing." She tried to speak, mostly mumbled as she looked to the ground, but really she was looking for more markings that might mean a secret compartment as she listened to the employees answer, before following them and answering the questions that she was asked, both unintentionally and intentionally being difficult about it, anything to buy the young girl the time she needed to look.

It really made her wonder how Jett did this. Was she more on talking to suspects and witnesses then looking? This made Clair feel a little better. She was being useful in being the eyes Jett didn't have. She could see the things Jett would have missed. Which was sad to think about because she was such a great lawyer without them, but she could have been even better... Which just meant that Clair needed to be better so that Jett could be.

Jett remained in place as Clair rushed off with some kind of plan. The lawyer immediately felt a bit of pride and dread. Clair was slowly coming out of her shell, but she wasn’t a hundred percent ready to interact with people. Regardless of how confident she was feeling. This was made rather apparent when her attempt to buy a little time consisted of a poorly put together lie. The Pharmacist at the counter would greet Clair with a smile before giving her a slightly confused look. His eyes would trail over to the blind woman stumbling about the pharmacy. “Im sorry. But if your friend doesn’t have a prescription here, then there is nothing I can do.”

No sooner did the man finish his sentence, Jett would stumble towards the counter. “CLAIR! Clair, you there?” she’d say, before bumping into the counter and knocking over a stack of pamphlets the pharmacist had there. On purpose of course. Jett had felt particularly bad about putting Clair up to this and felt the need to bail her out. “H-Hello there. I was te-” Before the man could finish his sentence, Jett would quickly interject. “Im sorry for any confusion. What my assistant here meant to say was….I’m looking for some eye drops. The gel kind more specifically. Do you have any?” she’d finish with a smile.

The pharmacist would stand there for a second before nodding at the blind woman. “U-uh yeah. Sorry. Right this way!” He would then step out from behind the counter and over to Jett’s side, trying to figure out how to guide her. Not wanting to touch her as though her disability made her fragile or something. As the man began to walk away from Jett, the woman would lean in towards Clair with a smile. “Good thinking.” she’d then begin to follow the clerk, occasionally bumping into the odd display here or there. Hopefully the other people in the pharmacy would be to busy to pay attention to Clair. She would be able to look about as she pleased. At the same time Vaedren’s broken off strand made it’s way towards a door in behind the counter that he assumed lead to the basement.

Clair spun to Jett when the blind woman had suddenly called out her name, looking obviously worried. She had surprised the girl, but it only took a few seconds for Clair to recognize what was happening. The man had left her to aid Jett and Clair found herself letting out a relieved sigh. She didn't like talking to strangers, but men and boys had that affect on her more so then anyone else. Brave face or not, she wouldn't have stood a chance if he had even accidentally touched her even the smallest sect.

With Jett being a distraction, Clair was soon forgotten, and so she continued her fruitless search for something she wouldn't find on the floor above. Not when what she was looking for, was already found by a single strand of Vaedren. It had found itself in the basement, and already, if it could taste the air, was thick with fumes. Acids and chemicals at work, mixed and burning.

Men moved about, some still, working, others stacking crates and jars or beakers. They wore protective suits and gas masks, obviously to protect from what they were working with, really, it might be more surprising no smell had made it's way upstairs as a obvious foreman with a clipboard walked among the bees, checking down and writing notes when it seemed relevant to the man. A operation was ongoing under this seemingly innocent pharmacy.

Still, Clair hunted, and hunted and hunted. Not noting anything, nothing but the odd patch of strangeness with the floor, as if certain places had been hollowed out. She didn't take much notice of it, but she kept it on mind in case. She needed to pay attention for any detail that could help the two of them. That could help her... In case...

As the pharmacist lead Jett, she could feel her eyes starting to water a bit. Her other half was choking in a matter of speaking. There was an assault on Vaedren’s senses the moment the strand made its way into the basement. Normally that wouldn’t have been much of a big deal. Vaedren would have sucked it up and just kept to himself. But lately Jett had noticed that she and her demon companion were beginning to split their experiences. Case and point being Jett’s watery eyes. She even began to work up a slight cough.

Noticing his partner was in danger, Vaedren quickly began to recall the strand back to him. “Is definitely something down there Jett!”

Vaedren had seen just enough. He now knew something was down there, and apparently so did Jett. “Yeah, I got the message big guy, loud and clear”

“U-um Maam? Did you have a specific brand in mind?”

Jett had almost forgotten that she had lead the pharmacist away from the counter. “Y-You know what. I don’t think I’m that far from home. I’ll just wait till then. Thank you for your help though.” the blind woman would say, doing her best to hold back a cough.

“Clair! Clair, where are you? We’re leaving!” she shouted out. Most likely embarrassing the young girl in the process as no doubt a bunch of attention would be placed on her.

Once they were outside, Jett would wrap her arm around Clair’s tightly. “There’s definitely something going on in there. What did you find?”