Cause for Concern [ Edge | Aaron ]

[MP]

Bestspresso had, if not the best name, easily the best coffee within walking distance of Aaron's commute. In the timeline he remembered, the entire building had vanished overnight along with half the block, replaced by a field of ominously withered flowers. He hadn't been back since then and was pleasantly surprised to find it completely normal - true to the specialist's word. Aaron ordered his usual, deciding not to think about the disconnect between the few conflicting months of memory, and went on his way with brisk steps. 

He would need to look in on the manticore situation today. It had been delayed between incoming priorities, standard check-ins, and mandatory counseling for the time merge. Personally, Aaron would have preferred that those sessions be opt-out - they wasted more time with untargeted meetings than they did solving the problems those meetings were supposed to address - but the director seemed to think otherwise. Aaron would simply have to plan around it. 

He was ordering his mental to-dos, coming up on the doors to headquarters. This early in the morning, there weren't many people on the street. So the figure standing there, noticeable even through a crowd, caught his eye at once. A figure who met Aaron's gaze and held eye contact. Aaron paused, nodding a greeting. Not quite smiling. 

"Morning, Edge."

He took another look at the man's expression. That didn't look like a good morning. And it was odd to see Edge here, at this hour. Odd to see him here at all. 

"Is...everything alright?"

[NightshadeVII]

The night had passed in some nightmarish blurr.
It had started with that strange text from Faolan. No, in reality, it had started before that, with their argument a few days past. They had both been stressed, his boyfriend particularily overworked, himself fully booked with band things (that seemed entirely unimportant now) and hadn’t had a chance to spend time with eachother without interruption for a few tense weeks. The final straw; another interruption, their planned date night washed down the drain. It had culminated in an argument, frustrations slipping between them. The two rarely argued, making it all the more unpleasant for both of them, but they had agreed to take some time to clear their heads, to think about what they really wanted to work out, without frustrations getting in the way. Last night, they were supposed to have met and talked it out, but then, that weird text came in. Faolan was leaving town, without warning. The language of it had been strange and detached, entirely void of emotion. A worm of wrongness had settled in the back of Edge’s mind.
Faolan didn’t reply when the Darai wrote to him, didn’t pick up the phone when he called - of course he knew that there was still tension between them, but this wasn’t like Faolan at all, to just suddenly up and leave. Sure, it hadn’t been a pleasant argument, but Edge knew his partner wouldn’t just run from something like that, trusted that they could work out a small, but frustrating problem like this easily, now that they had both had time to think things through.

So the Darai had gone to his boyfriend’s apartment, hoping to catch him packing, so he could ask if Faolan was okay, if something had happened and at least apologize for the argument, so the issue didn’t go unaddressed and festering.
When he had knocked on the door, there was no reply. When he had spoken through the door, knowing it was thin enough for Faolan hear him, there was no reply, no acknowledgement, nothing. There wasn’t even the muffled sound of shuffling footsteps or packing. After a while, all he could hear was a series of loud meows from Jake. He knew that the cat was vocal, but not this much for that long.
That worm of wrongness grew into a snake. A gut feeling he couldn’t quite shake.
Perhaps he was just overthinking, but he couldn’t shake his worries, that feeling that something was entirely off. So despite his better judgement, he had fished out his keys and unlocked the apartment. It was neat and tidy as always, entirely empty, save for the dissatisfied cat that wasted no time walking up to him and making his complaints known. Had Faolan already left? That made no sense, Jake was still here, and there was no note with instructions to a catsitter. The doctor always made sure to leave detailed instructions for whoever looked after his cat when he left, sometimes even preferring that the catsitter brought Jake home with them. And he wasn’t te type of person to leave without being sure everything was already in order. Faolan’s clothes were untouched, his suitcase still in place. Their argument hadn’t been that serious, had it?
That was when he had tried calling Faolan again, reaching a busy signal.

The rest of the night had been a blur of searching the city, intermittently trying to call his boyfriend, unable to stand and do nothing, as worry gnawed in his gut. He had even called Alex, their mutual friend, and she seemed just as confused by Faolan’s sudden vacation as Edge. Maybe he was overreacting, maybe he had hurt Faolan more than he thought - the thought terrified him- but something told him that wasn’t the case. Yes, they had been stressed and had argued, but neither had tried to hurt the other’s feelings. They had vented frustrations, not venom. Edge had experienced enough people disappearing without a trace in his life, Faolan couldn’t be one of them.

If he was overreacting and entirely wrong about the whole situation, he would gladly ask forgiveness, but he would rather be safe than sorry.

That lead him to where he was now, waiting outside the WDSA office, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t wasting his time just standing around, waiting for an agent he knew to show up. Rubble crunched under his boots. Every cell in his body wanted to keep moving, to turn the city upside down if necessary. But the rules were different here and he needed to cover all his bases.

So when, in the early morning hours, agent Telmore showed up with a to-go cup of coffe in hand, the darai didn’t exactly had the mind for polite greetings and pretending everything was fine.
“Aaron”, Edge nodded, “I need to talk to you.”
Normally, he smiled when greeting people, spoke in a gentle tone with features animated by warmth. All of that was gone, as if he was a different person.

[MP]

Aaron paused. In that half second, his demeanor shifted. The tired slump slid from his shoulders like an old blanket, and the soft gaze focused into something focused and alert.

"Alright," he said. "My desk."

It wasn't the immediate response Edge wanted, he knew. But whatever the situation was, it couldn't be discussed on the open street. Aaron's steps were sympathetically brisk as he led the darai through security and up to his office floor. If this was about supernatural concerns, having access to the proper paperwork and notes would only expedite the process. Aaron pulled out the guest chair for Edge, swiveling it for him it in a one-handed, unconsciously practiced motion.

"Alright," he said again. Aaron's hand was resting by his notepad, his fingers grazing the pen. "What did you need to talk about?"

[NightshadeVII]

The darai appreciated Aaron's brisk pace as they walked through the WDSA building. He had been here many times before, picking up Faolan after work to walk him home or bringing him lunch or dinner during a long shift when he had the time, but the floors the agents occupied were very new to him. This kind of bureaucracy, which he had had a little bit of contact with when he first arrived here years ago, still struck him as somewhat strange. He wondered, impatiently, how long it would take to get a massive system like this mobilised and ready to act. 

After some time, which felt like an eternity, they reached the agent's office. Edge was offered a chair, and he managed to muster a small smile as thanks, but he could find the necessary calm to sit down. Instead, he paced, tapping his foot against the ground as he gathered his thoughts. 

“Faolan’s missing”, Edge didn’t beat around he bush, even though it looked like it pained him to say, “I haven’t been able to contact him since last night. I tried calling around, none of our mutual friends have seen him either.”

He took a deep, steadying breath and rested his hands on the back on the chair for stability.
“You have proceedures for this, right?”, he asked, looking Aaron in the eyes, “tools you can use, agents that specialize in this sort of thing?”

[MP]

Aaron paused. The sudden memory of an evening call came to mind. Faolan's number - misdialed, he'd assumed. He'd barely had time to reach for his phone before the ringing stopped, and Faolan hadn't called again. The agent's brow furrowed.

"When did you last see him?" His voice was calm, despite the inner pang of worry. Even as he spoke, Aaron was making a mental note to check with the hospital staff. "Before or after work?"

[NightshadeVII]

Edge noticed Aaron’s slight pause. It kindled hope that perhaps the agent would understand and take this seriously. Faolan always spoke highly of Aaron, and though musician had only met him on a few occasions, he seemed dependable.

“I…”, Edge paused, “Wednesday morning. I last saw him Wednesday morning before work.”
The Darai’s shoulders slumped slightly - it was hard to reason away feelings of guilt and failure, all things considered. If only he hadn’t been so stupid and cancelled their night together, maybe all this could have been avoided.

“We had an argument, over text. We’ve both been really busy with work and haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together. So when I had to cancel our plans for a date night last minute on Wednesday, Faolan understandably got upset. We agreed to talk about it today, Friday.
Suddenly, last night, I get a text from him, about how he needs space and is leaving the city. Which was more than a little weird. You know Faolan, he doesn’t do stuff like that, and our fight…”, Edge paused, taking a deep breath to stop his rambling and gather his thoughts, before looking back up at Aaron.
“I know everyone says this, but it wasn’t that kind of argument. Faolan and I, we don’t argue like that. We were both stressed and overworked, but it wasn’t a ‘I’m skipping town without warning’ kind of argument. Something just seems off, Y’know? I can show you the conversation, if you want.”

[MP]

No, Aaron agreed silently. That didn't sound like Faolan. But if the doctor had stepped away, for whatever reason, there was an easy way to confirm that.

"That'd be helpful," he agreed, sitting forward. "If he has a usual route home, errands, favorite takeout, I'd like to get those too, just in case."

He kept his tone reasonable, methodical. No alarm that might spur Edge to reckless assumptions. But no dismissal either. The pen clicked as Aaron prepared to take down any addresses or details Edge might remember.

"What I can do is check with his CMO to see if he took time off. If he hasn't gone through the proper channels, I'll follow up with locations along his commute. He walks home?"

Aaron glanced up, looking for confirmation. It had never occurred to him to ask Faolan about his commute, and despite the time he'd spent with the group this past year, he'd never considered it. There was only the incident at the park for reference, and Faolan had walked then.

The park.

Aaron felt a silent twist of unease, remembering the gangrel. He knew perfectly well how dangerous she was, and she'd targeted Faolan once before. Regardless what the CMO had to say, he resolved to look into the situation on his own time.