Irene Adler

"… No. Look, it’s probably not a good idea to go wandering off anywhere on your own." Casual, offhanded comment. 

     "Anyway, yes. I happened to see the welcome sign on my way in. If you go down the road, you'll see it. Although, if you go to far that white flash comes back and you end up somewhere back in the town. Look, this whole this is very strange. I don't really know that much." Irene shot him a warning glance, and then nodded to the factory.

"Ground floor. Never really bothered to take a look at the other apartments, just picked the first on the way. It’s easier to get out quickly like that." Which was practical thinking, really — and while she had noticed more people arriving and taking residence in the same building as herself, she didn’t exactly deem it necessary to meet them. At best, it would’ve brought her some distraction. At worst, a fight, and that was something she definitely didn’t need around here. At least not just yet.

"Beside that," she continued, "I’ve checked most of the buildings around. Just as decrepit and damp as the houses, mostly. Church seems pretty clean, though. You’ve been there yet?” At the first look, this woman definitely gave the impression of a religious person, and Meg had to suppress a mischievous grin at the thought of revealing her own origin to someone like that, even though she definitely didn’t plan on doing that just now.

The more she talked to and observed her though, the less she appeared to be someone to say prayers on a daily basis. There was something behind the polite, graceful mask, something attentive and calculating, that made talking to her so much more fun. Meg became more and more interested in her fellow captive. "How’d you arrive here anyway?"

     "Ah, I like your thinking," Irene replied with a little chuckle. "I'm lucky that there's a fire escape through my balcony. That way I can be down on the ground in a couple of seconds." The Woman listened to what the other had to say about the houses around the town, and seemed satisfied to hear that they weren't as nice as the apartments. She felt happy in the knowledge that she'd found a nicer place to stay in Incendium.

     "Yes, I've been to the church. It was pretty creepy. I met a strange man there, as well. Logan, I think. He had a pretty impressive set of claws on him. Have you met him yet? He and I walked back to town together." Irene's face gave nothing away, neither happy nor annoyed nor scared. The other woman asked her how she'd arrived, and Irene actually laughed.

Molly heard the words of Miss Adler, but although she seemed to agree, Molly wasn’t convinced. She’d heard her original statement — in addition, she wasn’t completely ignorant of who Miss Adler was.

"That’s true." she sighed. "That is, of course, providing that he is here… which I don’t know that he is or not. I take it you haven’t seen him either?"

     "No. No, unfortunately I haven't seen him. Or rather, I should say fortunately. I wouldn't want him to be trapped here like us. But I have no doubt that if two of his close friends are here, that he himself will be close by. Fingers crossed that he'll show up on my doorstep sooner or later. Or at least I'll find him myself somehow."

     Irene shifted from foot to foot, wondering what she could possibly say now. It was obvious that both women favoured Sherlock, and Irene wasn't one to scream and shout about what she wanted or couldn't have, but she had no idea what Molly was like. Although she did seem the quiet, calm type. Nevertheless, Irene smiled. "Do you drink? I've found a few bottles in the little shop. Perhaps we can busy ourselves by the fire in my apartment and get a little better acquainted?"

     "Don't you worry, I'm getting used to it. Although, I'm dying for some proper coffee. All I can find is damned instant..." Irene chuckled then, although she was inwardly quite upset. They could have at least provided her with decent coffee and some expensive port if they were going to trap her in this town. She thought of the great powers as 'They' because she couldn't think of any other way to put it.

Logan tuned back into what the woman was doing when he suddenly noticed she seemed to be backing away from him. Of course that was to be expected when she had just seen his claws—and it probably didn’t help that he had told her exactly where she lived. He had to admit he had already made a mess of this meeting. In her voice however she almost sounded as if she was afraid. If Logan could convince her of who he was then maybe, just maybe, he would be able to make another ally. "Hey hey hey, you're stereotyping me." That was something the professor told him about. He wasn’t completely sure the context of it but he was sure that was what was happening. "How do you know these claws aren’t for defense purposes? Go ahead, tell me when I had them out?" The woman continued to stare at him, either still afraid or possibly trying to work through his terrible attempt at calming her. "They were out when I woke up to find a strange woman standing mere feet from me. Now they’re gone. That means something doesn’t it?" There was little Logan hated more than trying to calm someone down, which was likely why he had avoided it so much in his life. Here in this town however he wasn’t sure how long any of them would last if they were afraid of each other and so he continued to try to calm the woman down. “Listen. My name is Logan. I knew where you lived because when I showed up there were only two other people here, and I’ve seen the one living in my building so why don’t you take a few deep breaths and maybe we can do something productive. Like try to get back to our beds. You wanted to know the way home right?”

     The woman realised that he was right, of course. The man had put his metal claws away once he realised that Irene was not a threat. Or at least, that's how it now seemed to her in retrospect. She was just being overly cautious, given that she didn't know her surroundings or the people in them. Irene took a deep breath then, exhaling all of the negative thoughts in her out breath. Her posture straightened a little and she resumed her commanding presence that she normally kept about her at all times; exuberant and powerful.

     "Well, one can't be too careful, can they? This town is full of twists and turns and, oddly enough, magic. I wouldn't want to run around this place with my guard down, now, would I?" Irene's voice was a little uptight, as if she were being defensive still, although at the same time as being very subtly friendly. She had decided when she'd taken that deep breath, that being friendly was the best way to go-- even if she didn't really mean it. Friendly people tend to make more allies, was her reasoning.

     Left elbow resting at the counter beside her and her head propped on her hand, Meg’s expression could almost be described as pitying if it weren’t for her impish smile. Her index finger ghosted over her lips for a while as she kept watching the other woman’s reactions, despite her obvious discomfort at the situation. “Depends on the situation, I’d say,” she finally replied, covering the mischievous glint in her eyes with a blink.

     Meg leaned back in the chair and folded her hands in her lap before continuing, in a much more sober voice this time. “You’re right, though. There doesn’t seem to be anything around here that jumps.” And while she wasn’t particularly keen on meeting whatever might be still out there (and what most likely brought them here, too), waiting for it to show itself only made her nervous.

     At the other’s assessment about their location, Meg raised an eyebrow. “That really narrows it down, now.” On the other hand, it’s better than being nowhere— even though that possibility still stands, too. A sigh escapes her before she can hold it back, but the smile’s back on her face almost immediately. “I’m staying in one of the apartments over there.” She nodds towards the window. “Seems to be the best shot around here. You?”

     The woman's smile was a little unsettling to Irene, but she had dealt with these kinds of people before. All it took was figuring out their likes and their dislikes, and then using that to her own advantage. Sometimes she didn't even need to do anything-- just the subtle hint in her tone of voice that she knew, was enough to have them doing exactly what she wanted.

     But Irene knew she couldn't be too careful in Incendium. Nothing was as it seemed, and she was wary of everything around her. When the woman mentioned staying in the apartments, Irene felt an indescribable sense of relief. So at least now she knew that this woman liked the comfort of her surroundings to be second to none-- and she deduced that she would rather be comfortable than get into a fight.

     "Same for me. The houses are all decrepit and damp, whereas the apartments seemed rather... Fresh, in a way. I'm on the top floor of the first block. I wonder why I haven't seen you before then? I suppose we both just kept missing one another as we wandered around. Have you had much of a chance to explore the town yet?"

Molly tensed. She didn’t like hearing this woman talk about Sherlock in that way, a feeling of jealousy pouring through her. “I’m sure that we all will be able to figure it out together.” She said tersely. “You aren’t the only smart one, you know. And if everyone

is here we’re not going to sit back and let Sherlock do this on his own when we could help. It’s not like he surrounds himself with idiots”

     Irene noticed the way Molly seemed to tense up, and she looked her up and down. There was something comical about the way she seemed to defend herself and her peers, as if they could ever match up to Sherlock's intelligence. 

"That’s a good point… Maybe everyone is here. I hope so… maybe he’ll have an idea of getting us home?"