Missing (OTA)

[st_hotflashes]

Liz stood in the middle of the lobby with a quiet, panicked look on her face. She turned around a second time, surveying the scene around her, but the second pass didn't help any. She ran a hand through her hair and then headed for one of the couches. She pulled back the cushions, digging her hand into the crevice of the gaudy plush decor and when her hand emerged empty, she felt her chest tighten.

Liz's journal was missing.

She thought she had brought it back to the room yesterday after studying in the cafe, but this morning when she went to review her notes from the day before, she had discovered that the familiar book she had so many things in was gone. She had checked the library, the restaurant, the cafe, even the kitchen itself. It had to be somewhere, right?

(ooc: Find her pretty much anywhere. Also! Feel free, if your character would so choose, to find the journal and read all or some of it because I am a cruel mistress.)

Comments

[st_arkintern]

Peter Parker had been looking for his girlfriend's journal ever since she informed him it was missing; while she checked inside, he checked outside, hoping that maybe she left it in the garden or at the pool or at the tennis courts.

Nothing.

He can tell from a glance that she hasn't found it, so instead of asking for an update, Peter just reports back to her. "I didn't find anything outside," he says. "Did you want me to put something up on the bulletin board?"

[st_hotflashes]

Much like when she saw Peter and the first time to tell him the problem, guilt washed over her face. There was so much about him in the journal, including his note, that she felt like she had betrayed his trust.

"Do you think drawing more attention to it is safe?" She really wasn't sure. She ran her hand through her hair again, frowning. "I'm really sorry Peter."

[st_arkintern]

"I think most of the people here are trustworthy," Peter says. "Putting something up is more likely to help than it is to hurt."

At least Peter feels that way.

"So no need to apologize."

[st_hotflashes]

"Okay... Yeah. Okay let's do that then." It didn't stop the quietly distressed expression on her face, but she nodded.

This was just like when it was missing back home only this time it wasn't the FBI and most of what she had written was really embarrassing.

"You really don't think people will read it?" At least Peter was open about being Spider-Man.

[st_arkintern]

"I'll put something together," Peter says. "I really don't think most people would read it. Yeah, maybe the first page to figure out whose journal it is, but once they figure it out, I don't think most people would read any further."

Peter gives Liz a hug. "You gonna be okay?"

[st_hotflashes]

"Yeah, it's just. You know. There's just stuff about people in there and I started writing letters to Maria in there and they're really embarrassing." She pressed her lips together. "Like, really embarrassing." Like, she might show him if he ever asked, but she wouldn't show him on her own.

[st_arkintern]

"Like, more embarrassing than the time I read it?"

Liz & Corbie

[st_rikingblueeyes]

When Liz had first come into the library, Corbie hadn't been on shift yet. It seemed someone had just slipped the journal into the book return stack and left it there. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to identify, given the first entry started with 'My name is Liz Parker' and she hadn't had to go any further.

So she was at the desk with the journal before her and a copy of Sense & Sensibility in her hand since there wasn't anything else to do at the moment. But when the rush of panicked steps entered the room, she held up the journal without looking up from Marianne and Elinor having a crisis over whose love life was worse after the one had been dumped by Willoughby and the other having to watch Edward with Lucy Steele.

She liked Austen. There was a rhythm and a feel to it that was like books from home.

"Looking for this?" She turned the page in her book.

Re: Liz & Corbie

[st_hotflashes]

Liz's heart did a leap in her chest and she closed the distance between them. "Oh my God, Corbie, thank you so much." She reached out for the book when she was in range. "I've been looking for this for hours."

Re: Liz & Corbie

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie nodded and looked up then. "I thought I recognized it," she said as she put a finger in her book to mark her page with one hand and handed over the journal with the other. "Somebody put it in the book return. I found it there."

Re: Liz & Corbie

[st_hotflashes]

The book went tight against her chest for a moment as she hugged it protectively and then, suddenly she reached out to hug Corbie if she'd let her. Even if Corbie didn't 'find' it, she had brought the journal back to her.

Re: Liz & Corbie

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Being somebody for spontaneous affection herself, the hug was a surprise, but not unwelcome. After a moment of stunned silence, Corbie chuckled quietly and put an answering arm around Liz. "Glad I could help. Everything okay?"

Re: Liz & Corbie

[st_hotflashes]

"Yeah... yeah. It's just. There's, um.. there's some embarrassing stuff in here, you know?" She flushed just thinking about it as she pulled away. "And some stuff is personal about other people... I normally take really good care of it, but." Well, not this time.

Regina & Liz

[st_oriedqueen]

When Regina picked up the notebook, she didn't know immediately what she'd found, other than that it belonged to someone and had clearly been left behind. She let it fall open in her hands and read a few lines--

--about a first kiss.

And then sighed. She flipped forward more entries and caught 'penis', rolled her eyes, and kept flipping. She found a reference to a fight with Kitty Pryde, and that was more than enough.

Tucking the journal safely behind an arcane lock so no one would see her with it, she went in search of the obvious owner and found her out near the gardens, frantic. "Looking for something?"

Re: Regina & Liz

[st_hotflashes]

She spun around, eyes a little wide. "Um.. yeah. I - I lost my journal, actually. I thought I picked it up when I was studying, but I guess I didn't and... it's missing." Liz ran her fingers through her hair.

Re: Regina & Liz

[st_oriedqueen]

"You won't find it out here, dear." Even if she weren't in possession of said journal, she would know that. The small elementals of the earth let her know as much.

She reached into her summoning space, retrieved the journal and held it out for the girl to look at. "Would this be it?"

Re: Regina & Liz

[st_hotflashes]

Her eyes widened and she took a step, pausing, and then tentatively reached out and took back the journal. "Thank you... where did you find it?" She looked incredibly embarrassed.

Re: Regina & Liz

[st_oriedqueen]

"In the cafe." That seemed answer enough, since the relevant point was that she had the journal now.

Regina knew she ought to walk away, but because she knew how much harm a diary could do, she couldn't. Or rather, she wouldn't. "Public's no place for a diary. Especially one without a lock."

Re: Regina & Liz

[st_hotflashes]

She paused and then gave a nod. She knew she messed up. "I know... I, um, this is the first time I lost it like that..." Maybe she was getting to complacent here.

[st_randedinwinter]

"Hey... are you okay?" Brad asked as he came upon a familiar person.

He looked a lot better than he had a few days ago. He was back to his normal self minus being stuck in a weird inn.

"You look worried," He added.

Brad/Liz

[st_hotflashes]

She turned around and saw Brad and somehow both felt embarrassed and nervous at the same time. "Oh, um... I - I lost my journal?" She winced a little because it sounded so ridiculously like something a child would do and to admit having a journal to another teenager seemed... weird. At least it wasn't the sort of journal that came with a lock and key like the ones she and Maria had had when they were younger.

"You haven't seen a book that's this big and brown, have you?" She mimicked the size with her hands.

Re: Brad/Liz

[st_randedinwinter]

"No, sorry." He answered, shaking his head. "...Is there like, really personal stuff in there?"

It's a girl's journal. There probably is a bunch of personal stuff in it.

"I can help you look if you want," He offered.

Re: Brad/Liz

[st_hotflashes]

She flushed a little more when he asked if it was personal. Out of everyone who could read it, maybe the person who looked a lot like Peter should keep the most difference. She didn't want Brad thinking she looked at him and thought some of the same things she thought about when it came to Peter.

"Um, sure, yeah. I probably need all the help I can get." Her luck it was back home on her bed or something. "I was going to go check the kitchen, if you'd like to come along and be an extra set of eyes."

Re: Brad/Liz

[st_randedinwinter]

"Yeah, sure." He replied with a nod. "I haven't been to the kitchen yet. It's weird to think we're just allowed into the back of a restaurant."

He followed when Liz led the way.

Re: Brad/Liz

[st_hotflashes]

"I guess working at my parent's cafe helps me not feel as weird about it, but you're right." She nodded. "It's like, sometimes you find yourself looking around for the person in charge and you realize there really isn't and you can do things here that you wouldn't normally." At least that was how Liz felt.

She led them into the kitchen. The chef that worked at the hotel was there, but, like always, seemed to ignore them. Liz began to search the cupboards as if maybe someone put it away there for some reason.