Players: Kimen, Forte
Title: A Place To Stay

Forte stepped on a broken pane of glass and immediately resented the noise. He had been asked to come out to the outskirts of Truce to examine things, namely the word of a child out here alone. It was getting close to night time, something Forte hoped would mean the kid was here.

The house was more than just a fixer-upper. It looked like something that was not far from being torn down. The yard was entirely overgrown, the planks of wood in the middle of the front porch were broken, there were broken windows and very little paint remaining on its walls. It was a well known place to local children for the stories of it being haunted by angry vengeful spirits, and sometimes the brave ones would venture inside only to run out screaming in fear a short time later. The sound Forte made seemed to go unheard to anyone or anything but him. The house seemed relatively still and empty save for the sun-bleached, shredded and moth eaten curtains that blew on the other side of the windows.

Forte patted at his pockets, making sure that the container of treated salts were inside. Sure, the whole 'vengeful spirits' thing would have just been children telling tales, but in this world it paid off to be cautious. Stepping inside of the home, Forte looked around, hoping for something as simple as dust showing footprints inside.

From the foyer, a few things could be noticed. The stairs leading up to the second floor had mostly collapsed cutting off access to the next level some time ago, if the dust was any indication. To the right was an empty dining room devoid of chairs and furniture, but even from outside it was not hard to tell that it had been cleaned. To the left was a kitchen, there a few mismatched dishes sat drying in a rack by the sink. There were definitely plenty of footprints on the floor moving between the rooms. Two sets in fact, one being smaller than the other. Other than moving between the kitchen, dining room and foyer, the footprints also lead further back into the house.

Forte proceeded deeper into the house quietly. With the silence of the place he was starting to wonder if maybe the kid was asleep.

And the kid was indeed asleep, lured into such a state by warm sunny afternoon and a thick book. Kimen was lying on the floor, head resting upon a pillow and book laying over his chest. Despite the bed in the couch being folded out with some clean sheets only the child's legs and a stack of children’s books seemed to rest upon it.

Forte paused. The kid was like one of those cats on the internet, just a picture perfect moment of cute. Still, this place was dilapidated and dangerous. That, and Kimen had obviously been living here for a bit. Forte pondered to himself for a moment as to whether the kid had an actual home or not, before stepping forward and squatting next to the kid, gently shaking his shoulder. 'Hey, get up Kiddo.'

Kimen’s eyes opened sleepily, staring up at Forte with a confused "Mmuh?" before the child's eyes opened a little more and her mouth widened into a smile of greeting, "Oh, hello Mr. Forte. What are you doing here?" She asked groggily, reaching up to rub the sleep from her eyes.

Forte grinned a bit, mostly to pad his next words. "Oh, semi-official business. One of the housewives out in Truce noticed a little boy who seemed to be living out here in the outskirts by himself. They got worried and asked me to take a look." Cocking his head to the side, Forte gently boopped Kimen's nose. "Guess we know who she was talking about, huh?"

Kimen swung his legs off of the bed and sat up, book falling onto his lap in the process. He yawned and stretched and tried to make sense of what the man was trying to tell him. "But Mr. Coloumb left, and I haven't seen any others living out..." Kimen blinked, fully waking up, "---Oh, you mean me?" Kimen pointed to himself, tilting his head slightly to the side.

Forte nods. "Yup. And so here I am. Honestly, I figured that there was some kinda 'hidden secret base' thing goin' on, so I was mostly here to check out if the place was safe to stay in. But uh, you're doin' a little more than that, aren't you Kimen?" Forte examines the area once more, before looking back to the kid. "Do you have a place to stay? I mean, are your parents around?"

"This is a terrible secret base, Mr. Forte! It doesn't have any of the proper cool features a secret place is supposed to have!" Kimen giggled at forte as if this was obvious, but her expression softened a little as she started to explain things to him, "I fell here into the cleft without my family, but the man who used to look after me was killed a few month ago. I've been staying at the smithy he ran in Shrike, but there are really not a lot of good places there to practice magic so I came out here. I kind of stayed longer than I intended to though." Kimen rubbed the back of her neck, "I kind of like the healer out here more than the doctors in Shrike. I mean... I don't really have anything against them but everything is so white in their offices. Its kind of a bit creepy, don't you think?"

Forte chuckles. "Yeah, they really could paint it a better color. Like, a nice blue. Very calming." Actually sitting down now Forte picks up one of the nearby books, flipping through it. "I am sorry to hear about your friend... If you'd like, instead of staying in the Smithy, I could arrange a place for you to stay around here. Truce may not always be as safe as Shrike, but the people tend to be kinder."

"I would prefer not to trouble to anyone, Mr. Forte." Besides, Kimen was mostly healed now and needed to consider going back soon, right? Actually now that the child thought about it, the house had become pretty lonely with Mr. Kent gone. Part of him kind of did want to stay in Truce, at least for a little longer. And he wanted to find Mr. Edmund and ask him a few more questions about Mr. Kent's death.

Forte grinned, setting aside the book. "Ah, no problem at all, kid. Honestly, I get paid more than what I really know what to do with. That and I've got my own place out in the castle. Isn't much, but it's a place to crash at night."

"Really? You live in the castle too?" Kimen seemed a little surprised by this. It really didn't seem like a place a detective would be allowed to live. "Alright Mr. Forte." She said finally with a cheerful smile, "If you don't mind me spending a little longer here in Truce with you I will take you up on this offer!"

Forte nodded along, mentally creating a checklist for things he needed to clean, the top of which is his search history. It would not be good if the kiddo learned about that,
"Alright kiddo, gimmie a few hours and I'll get things all cleaned up. Until then, how about you go to a place that isn't liable to collapse on you if the wrong thing gets knocked on?" Fishing around in his pocket, Forte pulled out a few gold and gives the coins to you.

"Alright. Should I meet you anywhere in particular?" Kimen took the coins looking a little confused as to what he was supposed to use them for. Maybe to get some food?

Forte hummed for a moment. "Try the Rabite's Cafe. The ladies there might think you're cute enough to give a discount on some tea. I'll be back soon as I can, okay?"

"W-what? N-no. I'm not!" Kimen stuttered. She quickly got to her feet and started collecting all her scattered books and belongings hoping Forte would not notice the bright crimson color of her cheeks.

Forte chuckled, before standing and making his own way back home. Things had to be done, and guests had to be given comfy places to rest.