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Post by valerie on Jun 28, 2009 13:01:33 GMT -5
Valerie smiled at his flattery, even blushed a little as he kissed her hand. This was nothing new to her, but she liked him more than the boys she'd met at parties. The shy boys there were nice enough, but tripped over themselves too much, it seemed, and couldn't catch an original thought if they had a circus tent for a net! She hoped this one wouldn't suddenly start sputtering Keats or Tennyson. She liked poetry very much. But delivery was most important in execution, not just memorizing. Stuttering and mixing up lines tended to drain the romance from the words. But, so far, Jerry hadn't.
Valerie's smile faded as he mentioned the girls missing, but she gave a small grateful one and nodded, "Oh, yes, thank you." She looked to her roses, white and yellow, a pale blonde like that boy Pup's hair. And to think she had bought these roses to cheer herself up. To hide away in fashion and beauty like her mother, was more like it, and ignore what was really going on around her.
"It isn't just young girls," Valerie glanced to Jerry and shook her head, "though they are the majority. A few small boys as well. Have you heard much about it?"
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Post by Jerry Flynn on Jun 28, 2009 13:20:57 GMT -5
Jerry hooked his elbow, offering it to her as she led the way in the appropriate direction.
"No, miss, I haven't. I keep to myself, mostly. But my brother is a dock worker, and some of the boys there are saying they can't find their girls. At first I thought maybe one or two of them got it in their head to up and leave the city, maybe go somewhere to find themselves, leave their friends and their families and their lives and start over fresh. And I could've gone with it if it were only one or two, but the numbers kept climbing, and now that's just too much of a coincidence, you know? And if there's children going missing as well..."
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Post by valerie on Jun 29, 2009 11:01:46 GMT -5
She smiled to him, taking his arm, her bare hand resting gently on his arm. Valerie gave a shrug, "There are a few newsies going about asking people just if they've seen their friends... They've said they've already gone to the police, but don't expect very much from the authorities."
((Fail post.))
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Post by Jerry Flynn on Jun 29, 2009 12:25:51 GMT -5
Jerry nodded gravely. "Yes, I don't think the authorities--the "bulls," I think they call them--take the underprivileged very seriously. I don't think they realize how important the urchins are, or how quickly the city would shut down if they disappeared. No newsboys to sell newspapers, no delivery boys to make deliveries, no dock workers to haul in imports, no sweepers to keep the streets clean... They're a very important part of the city's dynamic, and no one seems to give a damn about them." Realizing he'd let his mouth run off in front of a lady, he quickly blushed and bit his lip, backpeddling. "Begging your pardon, miss, I was running off at the mouth and let my incivility show. Please forgive my dreadful language."
((Fail reply to fail post.))
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Post by valerie on Jun 30, 2009 11:01:04 GMT -5
Valerie blinked, a little surprised at his cursing, but smiled, shaking her head as he apologized, "It's quite all right. Obviously you feel rather passionately about the underprivileged. It's admirable." She paused, looking to her flowers again, "One of the boys I've heard missing... His name was Pup. Stuart Dawkins, more accurately. Only about eight years ago. A few weeks ago we met. The poor thing looked starved and I did accidentally trip him with my parasol, so I took him to lunch. A sweet boy. But he wanted to stay in the streets rather than go back to his parents. Simply dreadful."
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Post by Jerry Flynn on Jun 30, 2009 22:38:32 GMT -5
Jerry listened to Valerie recount her meeting with the boy, and frowned. "It really makes you wonder what makes these children become urchins in the first place. If he'd rather live on the street than return to his parents, what must his parents be like? What was his home life like that sleeping in a gutter and hoping for a kind young woman to take pity on him and buy him lunch is a step up?"
He paused for a moment and nibbled his lower lip, wondering if he was talking too much. He only seemed to have two settings when he was presented with a lovely woman: awkward silence or awkward rambling. But Valerie seemed to be interested--or at least too polite to act otherwise, so Jerry continued.
"Maybe we focus our attentions in the wrong area. Rather than on the children who've left their homes, maybe we should be thinking about the parents that made them leave in the first place. Children take their cues from their parents, after all. If the children are independent and distrusting, someone had to have taught them how to be that way."
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Post by valerie on Jul 1, 2009 10:40:45 GMT -5
"His mother beat him..." Valerie sighed. It sounded a bit more like a confession than she had meant it to. The truth was, she still felt guilty over not doing something about it. But she hadn't seen the boy in weeks and there wasn't much else she could do. "I offered to help. To tell the authorities. He didn't want it." She shook her head, "I still can't help thinking there was more I could do." Valerie gave a small humorless laugh, "I even offered to let him stay with me! He seemed happy. But then he left and I haven't seen him since. Now I know why..."
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Post by Dr. Walter House on Aug 28, 2009 14:08:10 GMT -5
>>>NEW DAY<<< Maybe it was because she was in the same line of work as his sister and brother in law, and that his niece was still missing, but he found himself unable to stop thinking about Ms. Medda Larkson. He wondered if that were even her real name, as most actors take stage names. But did it really matter? He was enamored with her either way. Maybe it was only because he could think of little else besides his missing niece and work wasn't distracting him nearly enough. Perhaps it was because work had distracted him so much that he was 40 years old and not yet wed. Nor did he have a very stable relationship with his niece, who he was now guardian over. Nor had he seen his sister in years before her untimely death. Thinking of his sister, Walter purchased a bouquet of baby's breath to place on her grave later in the day. But first he wanted to take the pink callas to Ms. Larkson in apology for being a little rude with her the other day. She had only tried to be useful and sympathetic towards him and like usual he had made snap remarks to deflect emotion. He paid the girl at the cart, pausing to smell his purchases for just a moment. |
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Post by Medda on Aug 28, 2009 15:08:26 GMT -5
Medda walked down the street towards Irving Hall, she'd gone out briefly to find a carrier to deliver her invitations and needed to head back and start preparing the Hall for the coming event. She knew she'd made the invitations to delicious to resist. She'd also booked some trapeze artists for entertainment along with some classier singers that the richer more influential people were fond of. Of course, she still planned on singing but she'd tone down her girls a bit that night. She wanted to attract a lot of attention so that when she began speaking about the missing children everyone would take her seriously.
She was only a few blocks away when she noticed Dr. House standing near the flower cart smelling what she could only guess was a fresh purchase. As she approached she gave him a pleasant smile, she understood his curtness when they last saw each other and didn't hold it against him. "Hello, Walter..."Medda said politely as she approached.
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Post by Dr. Walter House on Aug 28, 2009 15:51:56 GMT -5
He nearly jumped, pulling his nose from the flowers and looking to the woman approaching. In the daylight, she looked much lovelier, now that Walter saw more through the makeup. Theater people were found of it, weren't they? Marjorie certainly was.
"Ms. Larkson," Water gave a smile to her and then held out the pink callas to her that matched the color she often wore for her performances. He had seen one, in effort to make up his terrible mistake for his niece. A few newsies had been at the performance and greeted her with name "Shiner" when they thought Walter was out of range. It stung, deeply, and even Lara seemed hurt and embarrassed on the trip home.
"These are for you. I was... My behavior the other day was nothing short of unacceptable. Please accept my apology. I know you do care for these children. Lara hadn't the chance to meet you, but the way she spoke of you and the stories she had gathered from friends certainly paint you well."
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Post by Medda on Sept 2, 2009 8:52:31 GMT -5
Medda's smile brightened as she took the flowers, which happened to be her favorite, from him. As he apologized a slight tinge started to work it's way into her cheeks and she had no idea why. She was as far from the blushing type as it was possible for one person to get but she supposed it could be due to the heat. "Thank you, they're beautiful, but honestly you don't have to apologize Walter. I probably would have felt the same way if it was my family, but your right I do care about these children. More than you know."
Since coming to the city and becoming the owner of Irving Hall, Medda had taken in more orphans than you could shake a fist at. Her passion was dancing and singing but also helping the poor souls who slipped through the crack in this city. She loved her life and the only thing she wished she could do more was take more children in. She didn't want to see them grow up on the streets their innocence shattered but she didn't have the means which is why she often tried to make sure they all knew that if they needed her she would be there in a heartbeat regardless of the circumstances.
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Post by Dr. Walter House on Sept 2, 2009 10:55:00 GMT -5
"In these past few months I've become rather open to many difference things... I suppose struggling to raise a young woman to not follow the path of her mother, and who of course wants to do nothing but follow the path of her mother," Walter added a little weary but with a faint smirk of humor, "will do that to you..."
He glanced down to the baby's breath in his hands, maybe a bit bashful, maybe rather ashamed. Collecting himself he looked up again, "Ms. Larkson, I do wish we had met under better circumstances. However I would be frank enough with you to say that if such awful things hadn't occurred I doubt I would have ever stepped foot in your establishment. That is to say... I am glad I did, but not why I had to."
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Post by Medda on Sept 2, 2009 11:03:42 GMT -5
Medda gave him an understanding smile and tilted her head slightly to the side as he finished speaking. "You have nothing to be ashamed of Walter. Many people find my establishment rather unbecoming and I honestly don't blame them. I wasn't raised the same way a lot of other folks were but I still respect their opinion." She was feeling the same way as he was about the circumstances of their meeting. Although she wished his niece hadn't been one of the ones to go missing, she was glad to have met him. He seemed to care for his niece quite a bit and that was more than most kids in this city could say about their families.
Medda raised the flowers to her face, inhaling deeply a smile still on her face. Flowers were always so divine, she felt immense pleasure whenever she received them. "I'm having a ball of sorts at the Hall this weekend. I'm afraid too many people are unaware of what is occuring in this city and I plan to change that. If you came..well it would be good to have someone of your standing there who has a family member missing." Medda didn't want to come out and say that they wouldn't care about orphans missing but Tate and Walter's niece would put an entirely new spin on the situation.
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Post by Dr. Walter House on Sept 3, 2009 18:25:11 GMT -5
"Of course, Ms. Larkson." Walter gave her a smile, a genuine one instead of his flustered bashful smirk of embarrassment. While it over stepped his plans for having dinner with her, it was still a chance to get to know her better and more importantly help the missing children. "I would love to help out in any way."
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Post by Medda on Sept 6, 2009 19:16:23 GMT -5
"Please call me Medda and thank you, I appreciate it more than you know." Medda gave him a dazzling smile and brushed a curl from her forehead. She knew that when she introduced him along with Tate's family people would pay attention and demand action. Although she was loathe to admit it she knew that if she tried to speak about the missing children without offering a loving a family mourning they're loss people wouldn't pay attention. She was after all a taboo in the world that they lived in. A successful businesswoman who ran an establishment such as she did.
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