Nobody talks like that Erik Lenoir

[IRENE ADLER]

She stood prepared her whip by her side as she applied thick shades of lipstick as she found a smudge and removed it. Her hands grabbed some of the short hair she had cut as she looked at herself in the mirror. The bad gash she had received from falling in the shower still visible as it would never heal. The dark eyes that were puffy and worn making her feel old. She gagged as she took another swig of the vodka and hugged the bottle as if it was a dear friend.

She felt miserable, and she had not even seen Sherlock or had any fun for a few days. She loosened some of the buttons on her night shirt , and looked at her waist. It was smaller more skeletal than the last time she had actually seen it, after all it was due to her not eating. Eating and puking where not a good combination and she felt it in her bones and her stomach and head. The alcohol did not help either but did she care no she did not.

So why did she come here , for some reason she liked central park. Also her all so wonderful clothes seemed to not fit her. She did not know what was happening to her , did the thought of Sherlock drive her, this was how she imagined things in her head she was worthless and had nobody. Not even her own family could even stand her. That was her problem all the time who was she who cared for her. Would she marry some sick little man who did not love her because she was good to show around.

That was not a bad idea and yet why would she be worth to him. Was love so hard to achieve, or was it just bad luck that she was not socially adaptable.

[ERIK DANIEL LENOIR]

Erik liked walking after dark. He felt safer then. No one could see him as clearly as during the brightness of day. Even though he was wearing his natural looking synthetic skin over his deformed right face, he was sensitive and afraid that someone would notice. His years of abuse at the hands of other children while growing up and the stares of adults and how everyone treated him before receiving the prosthetics which included a false nose to cover the one he never had, had made him terribly sensitive about his looks. That was one of the reasons he had left his native London and settled in New York City some years earlier.

He left the apartment building and started walking at a steady pace. Soon he reached Central Park and began his usual walk through the park. Then he saw someone walking ahead of him. A woman, obviously, dark haired and thin. He wondered who she was. He followed her to see where she would go. He came a bit closer. Her clothes seemed too big for her. He decided to talk to her. He wondered why she was alone. He had the vague feeling that something was wrong. He walked a bit faster to catch up with her.

"Hello, Miss?" Erik said. He smiled. "Are you all right?"