The realization he's not alone takes a moment.

Was that... MATIAS SILPH? Someone Chu-e didn't know, not really, but had still spoken with once or twice... even if the other hadn't known it was him. Sniffing, he wipes his eyes and clears his throat. A kind of hopeless resolve is in his tone when he speaks; a person who doesn't know what else to do other than the current, failing action.

"Have you seen this girl? She's missing." And he holds up his phone, to the sleeping photo of Eris Halla and Reiner piled up on his couch, candid, he had taken right before covering them both up.

Did Chu-e contact the League? Probably, or the hospital did it for him when he started to flip his shit she was missing...

But he just gives a watery nod, pulls his phone to his chest and cradles it. Even if it's not Eris Halla herself, it felt better than shoving the thing with her image in his pocket like it didn't matter.

"Yeah. I'm her 'pa'..." Even that makes fresh tears want to spill.

He was so worried about her it was driving him nuts.

MATIAS SILPH

"He did. I adopted her."

Another sniffle, Chu-e wipes his eyes on the back of his hand to keep anything from spilling worse than it already had.

"You know Eris?" Chu-e knew that Eris Halla talked to a lot of people had an eclectic group of friends. He had no idea that MATIAS SILPH was one of them. His own tone is more surprised than anything, as well. He's okay with having an ally.

A quick nod and Chu-e gets back on his feet, wincing when they sting. He'd been on his feet a lot today and wasn't feeling the best. His throat was still raw from the events in the Church and he had gotten pretty banged up in his own way.

"I already asked around most of the town and in important buildings. I've only been here once or twice, so I don't know all the good places to search."

"I'm glad she had someone there to help her. It was terrible there."

A weak smile of offered to MATIAS SILPH. Chu-e knew for a fact is was terrible. He was one of the people who made it that way.

"She's a genius. I wish she could see that in herself." Building fireworks, studying myths, making all kinds of gadgets... Chu-e was proud of Eris Halla.

"Ji-Hoon Ki, by the way. My guess is she's not even in the city by now, if I had to be honest." Snd that weak smile turned back into a frown, worry gnawing at his insides.

"Of course." Even if he was tired and aching and sore, Chu-e would do his best to look for her. His break was over. It was time to get back to searching. Even if it was fruitless, it felt better than sitting somewhere and worrying.

"I wish I knew why she ran away." Chu-e had been rolling it over in his mind for a while. Ever since the ordeal with Melody Miro, things had been tense. He wishes he could get Eris to understand from his point of view. It's not he was the biggest fan of kidnapping; even if someone like Balder Schwartz might disagree.

The quiet 'what did I do wrong?' went unsaid.

MATIAS SILPH

"At the hospital." Chu-e thinks back. The whole situation was...

"We were admitted at the same time, after an accident at the church." But was 'accident' really the right way to put it? Absently, he rubs his throat. His insides were still raw from drinking... whatever the hell that had been. The bruising on his back was better, at least. "I was staying in her room with her, but when the nurses released me, I went back home to pick up some stuff for her and to change my clothes. When I came back, she was gone." Which was what he had also told the nurses and people he had reported her vanishing, too.

MATIAS SILPH