Humility is nothing else but a right judgment of ourselves

Every last Sunday of the month Louise held a Sunday brunch for all of her (Siren Cove) friends and acquaintances. People were invited to the Abasi house because she didn't have enough room in her own apartment (and liked her privacy a bit too much, no matter how much she appreciated the people coming over).

Brunch started at eleven o'clock with a small speech delivered by Louise, her father or her mother (her brothers not living at home any more, but sometimes visiting), and after that it was a nice, social gathering with good, sturdy food inspired by the South and Kenya alike. Except for her mother's favorite macarons and croissants, which were delivered by a patisserie in a nearby town. Around three the meal was gently rolled up with coffee and doggy bags, but that was then. Brunch was now.

Her parents were gone for the holidays, but Louise still wanted to offer a place for festivities for people that couldn't find such a thing with family. The brunch wasn't as grand as usual, much more lighter foods and a lot of smoothies, juices and virgin cocktails to make sure everyone got hydrated. 

 You couldn't move on with your life if you kept surrounding yourself by enough safety blankets to build a fort out of them. Louise loved staying at the Middletons, especially ever since Lily and her mother had agreed on bi-weekly tea-sittings to make sure everyone knew what was going on in Louise's life (it made her guilt about leaving the family house much smaller). But outside all of the comfort (and breakfasts in bed), she wanted a place she could an one-hundred percent call her own.

So it was finally time to go looking for a new little nest. Louise wanted something up high. 

She told Lara to meet her at the Blue Ocean Lofts. The Seawalk Village and Siren's Landing Apartments were for the afternoon. If Lara had enough time, they could even have lunch in between.

 "I just don't understand why you want t-" 
"Vincent", her mother had interrupted her father. "Her entire world went topsy turvy and some bad things happened on our grounds. I understand that you want to leave, dear. Although I don't like it. "
"It's not like I don't love you l-" Just that I don't want to be viewed as a teenager again.
"We know that, love. And at least it's the Middletons, you won't be far away. Just keep in touch, please?" Her father was tearing up. "For your old fool of a father?"

Louise knocked on the door at 5.55 pm. She had two suitcases, a hanger case and a briefcase with her and hoped Grant wouldn't laugh too loud about her bringing so much stuff for a move that you could do in a hop and a skip. There was work, there was clothing and there was entertainment. She had so much to catch up on.

 It had been three days and forty four phone calls when Vincent and Wangari let the remains of their vain hope about Louise’s departure go.  ( More ic info )

 

Ooc
- Hiatus for Lou. Our mod told me I can't play again until I finished Shameless. I don’t feel like I’m doing her justice and I want more for her. Thinking about a month, maybe sooner. It has to get worse before it can get better (I’m the worst for my characters, oml). In case people want to play with this (I'll play the parents for a day), here are some hints 
  -mama siren and other tuned in sirens could pick up a trace of heavily glamoured up siren all around Lou's cottage
  - the evil plant on her night stand wasn’t the only one, underneath the windows are loads of hallucinatory, create paranoia, become-addicted beauties
  - everything’s still there
  - the letter she left behind goes up in flames as soon as someone magic inclined touches it

 Lou isn't sure where she got the news from. Tracy, cleaning her house, her bed, her body (why does she needs to be cleaned, why can't she do it herself?)? A text, a news bulletin about a missing young woman? What is the anchor keeping her to this world? Of course, she knows he has to be happy and healthy and soft for when Joey comes to pick her up, but this - Corrine, her little student, little lamb lost, is too much to ignore. 

The Abasi estate has plenty of hidden passages and with a pull-kick-step routine she finds one that will lead her to the police station. Fools not doing their jobs because of some stupid anti-magic idea or something. More and more cracks are showing in her plaster, like in her mind, but it was the last day of her bed rest and this is more important than some bone. Joey will find some way to heal it for her, she'll never have to enter a hospital again, never see those terrors again. (Wasn't it Joey putting her in the hospital in the first place?) Lou ignores the thought. 

It takes time, sweat and more anger to reach the police station, but she gets there. For Corrine, for all the lost ones and this messy little town that covers up wounds so well. 
"Where is that stupid mistake that calls himself detective? How can none of you shamble-for-brains keep the people of this town safe? Why do ALL OF YOU continue to allow us to get hurt like this?!" 


ooc: Lou's delusional, disheveled and very angry. Magic people/mind people might recognize how clogged up her mind is. Not police people are welcome to see her on the way in/out of course

 Lou's on bed rest now for at least five days and therefore won't be seen around. Still I'm sure the news will move around town pretty fast and people can react or not react accordingly. 



(this is me putting her on the slow back burner while writing 500 words of planned plot, but she's still up for threads)

 Louise had been lucky and at the same time unlucky when at her arrival she noticed that Nkem was at the Abasi house. The old woman used to be the nanny slash housekeeper slash chef pantry, and she found it impossible to not meddle with the Abasi children's life. Still, it was better than the confrontation with her parents. Nkem could be distracted with Lou reverting back to child-like behavior, allowing to be pampered without any comment. Right now she welcomed the shocked cooing, the mutters about the spots on her "beautiful, beautiful" dress (Lou had lied, told her that someone had spilled a drink on it) and the soft hands. This meant that her parents would later hear about their klutzy daughter, but Lou was planning to be long gone by then. 

Nkem didn't like going through the medical cabinet, but Lou had told her that she would refill it before her father would know, if Nkem wouldn't tell him. Really, she was only asking her because she didn't keep pain killers at her own place (another lie). Under her mother's pillow she found a sleeping potion one of the town's witches provided her with and she felt the tension slowly leave her body. 

Bundled up in a huge robe on her own couch, Lou slowly felt herself drift off, and now the pain was receding her mind started filling with cloudy thoughts again. She shouldn't have told Joel. She should have warned Lara. Her desperate need to connect to everyone, not to float, had effectively killed ties between two life buoys. In nine days she would have to go back to the hospital and she wanted Val to talk about it, her to make silly jokes to calm her down while counting down. But Val had to be there for Riley, you couldn't ask a sister to step away from her sibling. 

It was a good thing Joey had started writing again. It was the only good thing right now, no matter how many bitter sweet memories it brought up, how the nerves in her belly seemed to be an ever present knot of failure and pain. She knew that her thoughts about it were misogynistic, old fashioned. She could blame Joey, the hospital, her body, anything. Anything to make her step out of this hollowed out cliche of mourning woman. Anything to make her step away from the corrupted judge she was becoming. 

It was a good thing that the pills and potions started to soften the world around her, the thoughts could barely hurt her. Maybe she could organize another brunch this weekend. Or something silly. Anything not to be alone. 

 Lou wake up disoriented. What happened, where was she and why was she so cold?
When the world came back into focus, she recognized the small streets of the town center. The reason why she was cold because most of her clothes seemed to have been scorched (scorched?) off and her leg -

"Oh. Oh fuck." She bit down a howl of pain when she tried to move it, and her leg refused to participate. "Shit." Cursing brought her down to earth. "What the .." Her phone, where was her phone? She needed to get to the hospital.

"Help?" There was smoke and darkness sabotaging her search for others. "Help? Someone? Please?"

 Come find me here for 

• Relationships, shared pasts (first kiss? Big Decisions about which education/job, coming out, anything), shared hobbies/dislikes
• Did Lou help your char out with parents'/people's/lover's problems? 
• Or is Lou the problem? (I'm definitely picturing her as the fairy godmother of Siren Cove but EVERYONE needs to be disliked/have non-fans imo) 
• Because she's older (the oldest) I'm up for holding family secrets your char doesn't (yet) know of.
• Besides this I'm ALLLL UP FOR dramatics. Already building a Sad, Sad story and I'd love to have more hiding behind her armor of Let Me Help You So You Won't Ask.

Besides that Lou has three brothers that are up for grabs, in case of need. 

• Pierre is the oldest at 37, but he's very naive when it comes to magic, trying to use it to his advantages. He's gay, but not quite comfortable with the idea
• Armand is 31 and the traveler of the four. Louise's always a bit jealous about how he successfully managed to escape her parental clutches
• Michel is 29 and the Benjamin of the family, cuddled by everyone. Michel always tells Lou to relax and don't act like she's Atlas. He's teaching Anthropology somewhere else in the country.