4:13. She had awoken at 4:13 in the morning with a start. It was a dream. It had only been a dream...and yet...whatever she had dreamt that had caused her to sit up in her bed so abruptly could scarcely even be remembered but four minutes later. Something to do with crocodiles? Her brows had furrowed in the darkness of her room as she struggled to remember any of the details that had frightened her so much. For several long minutes, Emerance had laid back against the plush pillows, simply staring at the ceiling with the hopes that sleep would once again come and whisk her away and back to those fantasy lands that had seemed so very real...except it didn't. The minutes ticked on...and on....and on...and still she stared at the popcorn speckled ceiling until finally...she just couldn't anymore. It was far too early to be up...far too early for any sensible person to be up, that is. Her brother, she knew, would be dead to the world at such an early hour, though really he'd been putting himself through so much lately as it is that she was surprised he was ever functioning. Perhaps...it might be nice to wake him up with breakfast or something...

It was that very prospect that prompted Emerance to finally drag herself from her bed, the girl dressing quickly in an oversized sweater and a pair of leggings. She had been taught from a young age to never leave the house in any state less then presentable - that lesson one that was impossible to forget for either sibling. She never stepped outside without makeup perfectly in place, shoes perfectly tied, and hair perfectly done. It had driven her ex perfectly insane...yet another reason they'd been an awful couple...though really she was just looking for excuses to justify breaking off the relationship now. Emerance rolled her eyes at her own inner monologue as she stepped out into the crisp almost autumn air. There was something...serene about those way too early mornings in Sacrosanct. The world seemed delicately hung in balance, breathless. The whole of the city seemed collectively tucked away in their respective beds, no matter the species. It was the one bit of time in which a need for sleep united them all. How...rare. A small simper danced upon her features as the meandered down the seedy street corner.

The West was...so far removed from the Northern life of high class boarding schools and finishing classes that she'd grown up to. How like her brother to purposefully choose a life style that would irritate their father and yet...it had a sort of charm, she supposed. She'd yet to venture thoroughly down the block she now lived on really, beyond the Chinese take out joint that knew her sibling by name. That was hardly appropriate breakfast though...or coffee. It was, in the end, a dinner that Emerance ended up in front of - the very thing a near idyllic representation of...the 50's or...something. Emerance had, admittedly, never paid terribly good attention at any history lesson ever to quite get the decade right. It hardly mattered though, as she stepped into the place, the girl informed she could choose whichever booth her heart desired. An almost flirtatious smile was flashed at one of the cooks as she strode across the checkerboard tile to a old red leather booth near the window, the young woman more then happy to people watch while she indulged in....well...she wasn't quite sure what yet.

She was only just looking over the menu she'd been given with the ringing of the bell hanging over the front door drew her gaze upwards, the wayward man that stumbled inside drawing the entire weight of her attention. Well he looked...certainly down on his luck. But she knew how that felt, now didn't she. Obviously, of course, the girl of class had never actually been down on her luck but...with wealth came so many strings that Emerance often felt she was caught in a spider's web. Her head tilted to the side as she placed her chin upon the palm of her hand, watching him as he watched...well...everyone else. He seemed...jumpy...but not quite drugs sort of jumpy. She knew that jumpy well. This was...something else. The near desperate sound of his voice at the offer of coffee, combined with the way that he near buried his head within his hands prompted a spark of...well...compassion in Emerance. Oh, she knew what her dad would say about her actions....and her brother. She could already hear their voices in her head and perhaps it was because of that that Emerance slid out of her booth and rose to her feet, approaching him without a single ounce of hesitation displayed within the diner's staff. "Excuse me." She voiced sweetly, as if she was more talking to a wounded deer then a man, "I know it's not really my business but...I just wanted to ask...are you okay?" Ever the one to jump to the heart of the matter. Even so...it was his choice to let her into his little world, whatever it might consist of.