2019-12-06 - The Doctor Is In

One of those suspicious people happens to be Minerva's brother. Mostly because he knows her very well. But he's also here because he hasn't seen her since she got back, so it seems like the perfect time to pop in. Thus, he comes through the door, looking around until he spots said sister. "Welcome back," he says as he starts over to her, unbuttoning his outer coat in deference to the change in temperature from outside to inside.

Word was out, Minerva was back! After the text conversation, communication hadn't been all that great, but here she was, darkening the doorstep to Seraphim. Since it was open, she pushes the door open and steps inside. The only other times she'd been here was the Paranormal Society meetings, but this time she could linger! Wearing a belted winter overcoat, probably Burberry or something.. without the tan and red plaid, but a more understated chocolate brown, almost black color with her normal dress and heels, she closes the door behind her, coming in several minutes after Ciprian, probably.

Upon entering, Erin spots Ciprian and Minerva both, the latter wandering with the clipboard. "Good evening," she greets them. "It's good to see both of you."

Minerva was about to go and lock up when the door opened. There's a look to who enters, a bit of a wave given to Ciprian, "Hey there." she states. She settles the clipboard down and watches her brother for the moment. "You doing alright?" she asks. Then there's a look to who comes in a bit after him and she looks between Ciprian and Erin, but doesn't say anything. "Heya, Erin. Come on in." she smiles.

"Oh, sure. I'm great." Ciprian's tone is a little dry, which does not lend itself to being totally sincere that he is, in fact, great, though he does sound fond also as he starts over to his sister to give her a hug. "How was the flight back?" he asks, though Erin's arrival has him looking over his shoulder. When he sees who it is, he pulls back from the hug, continuing, "Oh, hey Erin. Good to see you, too. How are you?"

"Thanks," Erin says to Minerva, warmth in her smile. "I am glad you're home. I missed the parade last night but I heard it was really something. Even heard you were all dressed in white like an angel. It sounds incredible. I hope your trip was nice." She'd also heard about the missing children, she doesn't say much about that though. Not yet. "Hi Ciprian, it's good to see you again. It's been awhile. I am doing great, thank you. I hope Ashira is doing great? Ready for all the holidays?" There's warmth in her expression already, but even more so at the mention of the girl in question.

Minerva hugs Ciprian and there's a bit of a smile, "Flight back was alright. Mom and dad complained the whole time, you know how they hate flying." she admits. "Anything happen while I was gone?" she asks him. Then there's a smile to Erin, "Yeah, the person that was supposed to be driving Saint Nicholas called off at last minute so I got to be the angel for the evening." she tells her. "Everyone doing okay?" she asks.

Ashira's great," Ciprian replies, and his own expression softens when he talks about his daughter, too. "She's ready for the winter break. She likes school, but a rest will be good for her." The mention of his and Minerva's parents gets a look to the heavens, but also a laugh and a shake of his head. "Thank you for taking the bullet on that one," he says as he looks back to his sister, though the question of whether anything happened while she was gone gets another look shot at Erin. "Well," he says, drawing the word out a little bit, "a weird dream. But other than that I managed to stay out of trouble." He does not speak for Erin, though -- just about the weird dream part.

"As far as I know. There's been a few things." Grateful the shop was closed. "Dryads in the tree farm, or that's how they looked to me. Killer elves at the Winter Wonderland. Invitations from a shady source that wasn't an invitation at all, but an order for appearance." With Minerva, she speaks freely, then realizes she'd not much spoken of the glimmer with Ciprian around, except the Harry Potter thing. A wry look given his way before she looks back to Minerva. "The picture in the newspaper sure looked good, so I'd say you pulled off the angel very well." Though Ciprian mentioning a dream has her squinting a little as she looks at him, a concerned look in her eyes. When she talks though, it's about his daughter. "I imagine she is ready for break. I got her a gift. I went shopping in Seattle so I could buy for the Angel Tree and I got her a coup.. few things."

Minerva gives another look between Ciprian and Erin, but doesn't say anything for a moment. "Weird dream?" she finally asks them. "Same one? I heard someone mention Harry Potter and thought that sounded exactly like something the veil would spit out." she sighs. There's a chuckle, "No problem. Better to let me handle mom and dad. Something tells me they take a bit of pity on me." she muses. "Picture? Ah, yeah, should probably have them throw that out." she chuckles. "No more murders while I was gone?" she asks.

"Yes," Ciprian confirms, "same one. Apparently I'm a Ravenclaw. Who knew?" As though that would be surprising to anyone. Well, maybe someone who didn't know him at all, which is not either of the people in this room, and particularly not Minerva. He has to let out a little laugh of his own, though again, it's a bit dry. Not too much so, though. His gaze shifts to Erin then when she mentions the presents, and there's a brief look of surprise, though it's followed by a smile. "Thank you," he says, "that's really nice of you. I'm sure she'll love them."

"Yeah we had the one same one, but the others.. they were more menacing than that one," she tells Minerva. The Harry Potter one was really interesting and fun, as far as dreams go." Erin smiles at the Ravenclaw part. "It seemed to fit at the time. I don't know you as well as a sorting hat, I'd imagine." Offering a grin at that. "I was out shopping anyway, and I saw a few things that made me think of her, so I got them. I should have asked first, though."

Erin adds momentarily. "There have been more murders."

"We're both Ravenclaw. This surprises me very little." Minerva muses to Ciprian's House. Then she looks a bit sober for the news, "Were the other dreams...not so good?" she asks. "And I'm guessing it wasn't anyone we knew, or I'd have messages." she frowns.

Ciprian reaches over to nudge his sister with his elbow at her first words, and there's still that little smile on his face as he answers Erin. "It's okay," he says, "just as long as you didn't buy her a mini Maserati." His smile fades into a more concerned look now, though, when the murders get mentioned, though he doesn't say anything about it, letting Erin take the lead on that one.

"I don't recall the names right away, mostly some passing through. I witnessed part of an autopsy with the medical examiner, but I decided that is not the sort of work I want. I couldn't get further in than the initial part and I had to go. The other dreams, elves trying to kill people is one, another was a tree chasing the Kelly twins and yet another.." Erin's expression gets somewhat wary. "Was that invitation I mentioned. From the Dark Men." Despite the grimness of that, she smiles again at the idea of a mini Maserati. "You're welcome to drive it sometime. Once you drive it, you'll want one." The words are light hearted.

Minerva receives a call, her one eye going down to look at the screen and she purses her lips, "I need to take this, but please don't wait for me." she tells them. "I'll need to catch up when I'm back in." she frowns. And with that she steps out to take the phone call. Which she didn't look happy about!

Now Ciprian is is not smiling at all, especially once Erin mentions the Dark Men. He sort of tries to muster one for the idea of him driving Erin's car, though it doesn't really reach all the way up. "Thank you," he says, "but I think I'd be too worried about scratching it or crashing into someone." His gaze moves to his sister when she receives that call, still with the slight concern, but he just says, "I'll see you soon, Riya."

Erin tries to offer him a reassuring smile, the smile makes it whether he is reassured or not she is uncertain. "The car is insured," grasping the lighter of the topics. "I made sure it was covered. Though I understand if you'd prefer not to. It's not for everyone. I'm getting an older model pickup. Maybe a '57, but it will have to be fixed up. I found the body I want." Minerva is given a smile. "I'll come back soon, or text you." She gives her attention back to Ciprian, "I think your sister thinks we're interested in one another outside the bounds of friendship, if only for the looks she gave us. I'm not speaking for her, but that is my assumption."

Ciprian lets out a little huff of amusement, and he replies, "Are you? I have to say, it won't be the same seeing you drive that as the Maserati." The last words, however, have him getting a little more serious again -- as though he wasn't serious before! He was. But still. "Does she?" he asks, looking over in the direction that Minerva has gone, before he looks back to Erin.

"I like you," he says after a brief pause, "and Ashira likes you a lot. I hope we can be friends. But I'm nowhere near ready for a relationship. I don't know if I'll ever be, honestly. We don't need to get too far into my ex and our issues, but suffice it to say it wasn't great. And you're young. You have your life ahead of you. I'm going to be 40 next year, with a preteen daughter."

"I will still have my Maserati, just need the truck for things I can't haul around in the car. I want to get some plants and all for the back yard for starters. A little more landscaping." Erin smiles, though when he gets serious, she smiles in return. "I wasn't hinting. I was just giving you a heads up." At first, she gives him an easy look of understanding, because she does get it. "I would like to be your friend and I've mentioned to Minerva how much I enjoy your daughter and told her we're friends, you and I." Though as he continues on, turning it to age differences, she tilts her head and offers a soft spoken question after a disclaimer. "Please don't take offense, but are you trying to convince me your yourself?"

"Good." As for the last question, though, Ciprian doesn't seem offended -- he even smiles a little bit, though when he speaks, his tone is unequivocal. "I'm not trying to convince anyone," he says with a little shrug. "I'm stating my reasoning. Once a lawyer, always a lawyer." It's a joke, if a wry one; and of course, it's also the truth couched in humor. "But yes, I know my own mind. I'm not looking to date. I can't be casual and test the waters when I have my daughter to think about, and I've made my peace with it."

Erin returns the smile and briefly touches her fingers over his arm. "I know, I was teasing, mostly." Adding in the mostly, because it is the honest truth. "I really appreciate you saying it like it is and I've told her that the bulk of my interest was in Ashira. Who wouldn't appreciate her and want to be around her? She drew me in and now I just like being around her." Again, the truth. "However, I would be completely lying if I didn't say I could be interested in more, if the cards all fell right. I understand about casual dating and I've tried dating recently and found that I don't really fit in with it. So I decided awhile back not to attempt it. I've always been a sort of one man woman and it's not what people are looking for these days. So!" She laughs softly, "Now that the awkward is out of the way, I am all for being friends with no pressure for more. You and Ashira are welcome over anytime. I've got puzzles and board games, a grill out back, horse shoes and posts out back. I could use a few friends in my life, if you need a friend too?"

Ciprian listens, and as Erin goes on he does look sympathetic, since they're kind of in similar boats, though for different reasons. "I can understand that," he says with a nod. "Not wanting to date around. It was never my thing, even when I didn't have a kid." He nods, though, and replies, "I'd be very glad to have you as a friend. Both Ashira and I could use more of those, I think. We've been in a bit of a rut this last year, and we both need to move past it."

"That clears the air perfectly. On that note, I have a question to ask. But not here. Outside maybe?" Erin doesn't mean to sound mysterious, but it may come across that way. She motions to the door though. "If you're agreeable." There's a tentative smile that holds absolutely no ulterior motives as she waits to see if he would.

Ciprian's eyebrows raise -- it is certainly mysterious, and it's clear that he wonders. Of course, it's rare that something too horrible needs to be moved outside rather than inside, and so it's not too long before he nods once, saying, "Sure. That's fine." He looks toward the door, before he starts toward it, opening it so that she can precede him out.