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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eluvan" data-source="post: 1843366" data-attributes="member: 24812">WARNING: contains strong references to drug useRound 1.4 Eluvan vs. RangerWickettA token gesture    As Daniel slowly, blearily, opened his eyes and struggled reluctantly into consciousness, a number of things imposed themselves upon him quite quickly. The first was the hard, uncomfortable object on which he was lying. He tried to brush it away, but his hand simply smeared across the mud on which he lay. No object was displaced. It was then that he realised the object was not on the ground, but in his pocket. Shifting his weight so he could access the pocket he reached in and found the thing with his hand. It was small, perhaps an inch long, and hard. He got his hand halfway out of his pocket, holding the thing, when his eyes happened to look up and noticed a <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17099" target="_blank">sheep</a>. It stood opposite him, quite still, staring at him dispassionately. A sheep is certainly not what you expect to see upon waking up, and it was presumably for this reason that this particular sheep registered so quickly to him and seemed for a few moments to be the focus of the entire world, the most important thing in existence. There seemed something almost profound about it as it stood there looking at him with that blank stare that suddenly seemed to Daniel so reproving. It seemed that if only one knew its relevance, this sheep held the answer to all kinds of questions. After all, it was the only thing within sight that seemed significant, and more and more questions slowly began to encroach upon Daniel as his mind became more aware.      The first and most pressing of these was ‘why am I lying in a ditch?’. This question seemed to Daniel so pressing and pertinent that he muttered it out loud, and then scratched his nose and meditated upon it. The sheep continued to stare, offering little in the way of a solution. Looking down at himself, Daniel slowly took in the information offered to him tentatively, rather uncertainly, by his eyes. He was wearing a rather expensive looking suit, now muddied and tattered beyond all hope of salvation. By some miracle, the red rose tucked into his button hole had survived relatively unscathed, and stood out on his tattered person like a gem sitting pristine among lumps of filth. His nose still itched. He slowly sat up, and tried to piece the situation together in a way that made sense.     He remembered… something. A party? It was, perhaps, something like that. No – not a party. Not exactly. He remembered now. He’d been at the opera, hadn’t he? A solid memory came back to him, surprising him with its vivid quality even if it seemed somewhat dream like, as if seen through a distorting lens. Looking away from the performance for a second, to his left, at <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17100" target="_blank">the group of ladies he was with</a>, and meeting the eyes of one of them in a fleeting shared moment as they both laughed at some joke on stage. Something about that girl… he couldn’t place it, but he knew she was in some way significant although he had never met her before the previous night.    He dwelt on this a little longer, but quickly reached the conclusion that however important it was, it was probably rather less important than getting out of the ditch he was still uncomfortably slouched in. He pushed himself up to standing, and it was as he did so that a small packet fell out of his pocket and lay there on the ground, looking distinctly out of place with the fine white powder it contained contrasting strongly against the mud. Daniel stared at it for some moments, trying to comprehend its meaning, before finally remembering. About half of the original contents were gone, consumed the night before. That accounted for the unusual manner of his awakening, and his hazy recollections. And something else was important. Something – money. That was it. The god damn stuff had to be paid for still. Paid for today. Suddenly Daniel had a thought and in a panic his eyes shot down to regard his wristwatch. Its surface was caked with mud, but after a few seconds of frenzied wiping it became clear. 10.00am. Thank God, it was still early. Daniel had about twelve hours before his meeting. Twelve hours to find the money.     After scooping up the fallen packet and stuffing it back inside his jacket pocket, Daniel rather shakily began making his way down the uneven track that ran parallel to the ditch in which he had spent the night, his unsteady passing causing the sheep to trot away a few paces skittishly. Movement was something Daniel could have done quite happily without being forced into, but forced he was, and he slowly managed to lurch his way two miles down the track and find some signs of habitation. Over a small stone wall was a road – a small road, admittedly, but nonetheless a real, honest-to-God road which sure beat the rutted track he had been walking down. It hadn’t really occurred to him to look about before, but now he was forced to. The road he was coming onto ran across the top of a ridge, and beyond it the land fell sharply away and then slowly levelled out into a river valley, the river itself winding slowly through the fields with the early morning sunlight sparking and flashing off it’s surface in the odd spots where it penetrated the thick cloud cover. To his left it widened and joined the sea, a great expanse of tranquil grey that stretched out to the horizon.     Daniel surveyed this scene for a few moments. He recognised his location now – he wasn’t too far out of town. If he started now he should get into town before twelve and still have time to pawn something. He wasn’t sure what – he was certain he had nothing left of enough value, and his parents had long since stopped giving him money. In fact, the dinner suit he had ruined by sleeping in it was probably the last thing he owned that they had given him. As he trudged along the road, he speculated a little further on why he was actually wearing it. He’d been at the opera, he had already remembered that. It might seem weird, juxtaposed with his awakening the next day, but Daniel was used to it. He’d been living an unusual life for some time now – he had never really got out of the habit of the high life he had been brought up in, even if it was now beyond his means. But then, many things he did regularly were beyond his means. He always seemed to find a way to work things out somehow.     It was as he was walking along, preoccupied by these musings, that the sound of a car came into focus behind him. This was not surprising. He was walking along a road, after all. What was surprising, however, was when the car slowed down as it came near and eventually stopped right in front of him. Curious, he came alongside and bent down to look in the passenger seat window. Sitting in the driver’s seat, smiling wryly at him, was a girl. He knew her, he was sure – of course. The girl from last night. With a grin, he opened the passenger door and climbed in. The girl greeted him with a friendly ‘good morning’, amusement and curiosity evident in her tone. Daniel smiled shamefacedly, and shrugged. ‘Don’t ask.’ He said simply, fervently hoping that she wouldn’t.     She looked intensely curious, but to his relief she let the subject drop. She seemed about to say something, but did not. The silence was awkward, tangible. Daniel shattered it, in the end, with the rather feeble effort of ‘sorry about your seat, and the dirt and all.’ The exchange as to his dishevelled state had rather taken the winds out of his sails. She smiled at him, shaking her head slightly. ‘It’s fine. This thing’ll probably get retired soon anyway. Can’t complain I guess. Most biscuit tins would just fall apart if you slapped them with an engine and wheels and tried to make them run, but this one’s lasted years.’ Daniel made an effort to smile at her joke but failed rather miserably. It occurred to him that he was being rude, and should say something more.  ‘I’m sorry,’ he ventured hesitantly, after another long silence, ‘but I don’t recall your name. I know I’m dreadful.’ She grinned. ‘You certainly are, Daniel’, she said, putting emphasis on his name. ‘It’s Olivia.’      ‘Of course!’ He cried, trying to sound much more enthusiastic than he felt and aiming for the clear subtext of ‘I remember now, certainly, I can’t think how I could have forgotten,’ though in fact it came out rather ponderously.     ‘Well… you’re certainly less charming this morning than you were last night,’ she rebuked playfully. ‘But I’ll forgive you, since you did get opera tickets for me and all my friends.’ That was it! Thought Daniel. He had met this girl and her friends at a bar, and had invited them all to come to the opera with him since there was a show on and, he said, he could get free tickets. It was a lie – he’d had to buy them all, and in doing so he’d wiped out what pathetic vestiges of his bank balance still remained. He was prone to such impulsive acts, particularly where a pretty girl was involved.    Lost in his thoughts, he realised that he was once again being rude, but could think of nothing to say. This time the awkward silence was broken by Olivia. They had come into town by now and were driving along the beachfront, and she pulled the car in at the side of the road by a fast food place. ‘Come on, I’m sure you’ve got time to drink an awful cup of coffee with me haven’t you?’ she asked pleasantly, though the question was clearly rhetorical as she opened her door and stepped out without waiting for an answer. Daniel followed, and after each buying a polystyrene beaker of coffee the two made their way across the road and sat on the wall, looking out across the beach. It was still morning, but the cloud cover had become even thicker and had turned the sky an ominous deep grey, with odd shafts of sunlight piercing the clouds and lancing down to earth in radiant glory. ‘It’s beautiful,’ Olivia said softly, ‘don’t you think?’      Daniel nodded, feeling somewhat at peace for the first time that day as he sipped his scalding, dreadful coffee and looked out across the sea. ‘Yes,’ he stated simply, but with an emphasis that made the agreement seem considered and profound.      She turned, and smiled at him. Conscious of her gaze on the right side of his face like the shining of a lamp, he kept his own focus ahead, at the ocean before him. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17101" target="_blank">A figure came into view, silhouetted as it jogged across the beach</a>, and then disappeared into the distance, whilst a tranquil, shared silence prevailed between the two who watched from the wall.      The moment was finally brought to an end by Olivia as she got up and walked a dozen paces to put her empty coffee container in a bin. She remained standing when she returned. ‘Well, I’d better be going,’ she said with a hint of regret. ‘Places to be. Just like always… never can find a moments peace. Oh,’ she exclaimed, as if suddenly remembering something, ‘I don’t suppose you found a brooch last night did you? Small, white, floral pattern? It’s pretty hideous to tell you the truth, but it’s an heirloom and kind of valuable. I think I must have dropped it somewhere last night.’     Daniel shook his head. ‘No, sorry. Nothing like that.’     ‘Oh… well, I suppose it was kind a long shot. Do you need a lift into town?’ she asked with a warm smile, quickly overcoming her disappointment.      Daniel shook his head. ‘No, thank you – I’m fine here.’     ‘Okay. I’ll see you around then.’ She turned on her heel, flashing him a last smile, and went back to her car, waving at him through the window as she drove away. Daniel watched the car until it drove out of sight, and then resumed his vigil, looking out over the beach. It was mere chance that led him to put his hands into his trouser pockets after a few minutes, and discover there the small, hard item that had awoken him when he had lain on it that morning. He drew it out and regarded it. A small <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17102" target="_blank">brooch</a>, white, with a floral pattern. He stared at it for some time before he finally remembered. He had stolen it. Last night, as he embraced Olivia and stole a farewell kiss, he had slipped a hand up and under the pretence of a caress had unclipped it from its place on her breast and pocketed it with the knowledge that he would need something to sell the next day, and had nothing else. The memory hit him with all the force of a sledgehammer to the head. He was stunned, appalled by it, and for some moments he was shocked into complete inactivity.     That night, Olivia was alone but for her cat who purred and rubbed himself incessantly against her legs as she tried fruitlessly to read the book she had settled down with. About nine, an envelope came through her door. She opened it, full of curiosity, and found inside her brooch, and a small slip of paper on which were written five words: Sorry. Thank you. Goodbye.            Daniel</blockquote>

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