D A Y 0 4

[founds]

CHAPTER 2

Nov 3rd | 63℉☁

▸ Due to last night's storms, a quarter of Blackwell is still without power. It seems a tree has fallen on a power line, which will be promptly inspected by BWI and fixed ASAP.

▸ The worst of that storm is now over, thank god. Weather reports cloudy days from here on out.

▸ Fairweather and Winters kids are still missing. Local authorities and volunteers are resuming their search in the immediate area. Please, if you have the time, go join the cause.

▸ In a sad turn of events, the remains of Kara Samson have been returned to the family not a week ago. Details surrounding her disappearance and cause of death have not yet been released.

▸ Rumors say that the county morgue outside of Elkins was broken into early this morning, but officials decline to comment on the matter.

▸ Today's news radio is brought to you by Black Lodge Bar! Head on down to Black Lodge for their all day Monday happy hour!

▸ And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

THE RISING IS NOT IN EFFECT

Comments

Blackwell | Cafe | 9am

[overworn]

[ she's only so late out the door because she was up until 4am doing who knows what. probably working. also getting news of the morgue, something she'd think to check out at some point since she'd agreed to shoehorn herself into the Gage case. sending adam a text while she waits for her double americano to go. ]

[overworn]

[ and she's soon dousing her watered down espresso with cream and is out the door. she takes a moment to right herself in the car, being tired as hell. this is her quiet coffee moment. zen car coffee drinking before it's back on the road to an office where she's not welcome to work on cases almost no one wants her to be on. the coffee is nearly gone by the time she swings into the office, folders tucked under arm. let's see if she can be in and out in 10 minutes or less.]

randolph county sheriffs office, 9.30a

[bluecode]

[he's at deputy kipp's desk going through his drawers for his access code to the evidence lockup since his has been suspended. no he didn't come straight here from the diner but he's here now and that's all that matters. they didn't get back to him fast enough on the footage so he's makin it happen himself. it's been like 5 hours step up your game deputies]

[overworn]

[ making me move threads. the nerve ]

[ she clearly hasn't made enough of an entrance today so she's just going to stand behind him while he rifles through someone else's desk. she's not going to knock it, but only quietly judge him for a moment. he should be thankful she's not the sheriff. ]

[ clears throat ]

[bluecode]

[he is not of the right mindset to be thankful for anything along those lines these days which is probably evident by the fact that he's even here in the first place]

[he only turns at the insistent throat clear when he's already come up with the keys. kipp needs to fucking clean his desk, it is a disaster. well, it is now moreso. sorry. moves a cup back to where it was like it'll make up for the disturbed paperwork everywhere.]

Ms. Voss. [pockets his proverbial claw machine prize]

blackwell, west park, noon

[inheritable]

[nobody reasonably expected hailey to be at school today. she could tell, because when she had showed up to class all eyes had been on her. halfway through the first class, she'd had enough and got out of there, walking through the desks and out the door without a word. it's the first time she's done anything like that and even now, thinking about it is making her heart pound. it's done now, though, she's here.

sits without swinging on the swingset, watching the empty pavilion. she'd had her 11th birthday party here. it'd pretty much just been her and her dad and bela. a couple other friends from school had come by, but nobody she remembers.

digs in the sand with the toe of her shoe.

she's been here about half an hour.]

[sciophobic]

[he doesn't even bother going to school much anymore, between the gawkers and the fact that he can't seem to get his head right enough to pay attention, so why bother at all. he's probably on the verge of academic probation, but with all of the commotion surrounding the new events in the samson case, and then the gage girl, no one seems compelled to pursue disciplinary action. he's not seeking her out when he sits next to her on the swings, but he's around and he sees her and he knows that look.]

Hey. [lamely. he mimics her toe digging like it's some kind of signal that they're murdered buddy buddies now or something, like sand-disturbing trauma solidarity]

[inheritable]

[she can't just stop going to school. what would her dad say? oh god, what is her mom gonna say when she finds out hailey just left and drove down to blackwell? dad's gonna be disappointed, but mom's gonna be punitively disappointed.

startles a little when the kid next to her speaks up, like she hadn't seen him walk up and sit down next to her. she just hadn't expected anyone to try to talk to her.]

Hey. I'm not in your spot, am I?

[your swingset-moping spot? is this a private playground? it's supposed to be a joke, but comes out too flat.]

[brabble]

[ sophie has just been out of the woods by blackwell dam to take a million pictures of the tree fallen into the power line. she has taken plenty of them from various angles but she was still not in the game. there was too much going around her head from everything that was happening for her to focus. and the rumours of the break in left her unsettled. they couldn't mean the awful green bean colby and sophie fuck up. there was something else there, wasn't there?

she flicks through the photos in the camera and then sets it down, letting it hang around her neck. she looks up to the sky and sighs, turning her head to the other side of the street. she spots him and blinks. there you are. she jogs up to him (nearly slips on the wet floor so she slows down) and catches up to him, gently grabbing his hand. ]

Adam. Hey.

[bluecode]

[he's in between leads, which seems to be where he lives perpetually now as darla none too kindly points out at every opportunity. he hasn't slowed down to talk to anyone in days but it feels like months and maybe that's why he feels instantly guilty when sophie catches up to him]

Hey, Soph. [if he could barely figure a way to relate to his wife through all of this it goes without saying he hasn't made much of an attempt to reach out to his would-be family, even knowing she's had just as hard a time with it all. he stops in his tracks on his way to the car door, letting her still him with her hand in his]

You getting into trouble? [glances over her head toward the downed line, a hollow attempt at teasing familiarity for a conversation they've probably had a hundred times]

the gage residence, early morning

[weiners]

[ adam was gone.

again.

she hated herself for being as surprised as she was. darla forced herself down the steps, dog running at her feet. if she was going to have another stint alone, she needed coffee. to the kitchen she went. first the dog food, then the coffee filter and the coffee.

her eyes catch a glimpse of adam's whatever on the kitchen table. there's a pause. no. no. darla turns back to the cabinets to fetch herself a mug, setting it on the counter top. and now she had to wait for the coffee to brew.

she walks the few feet back to the kitchen table and moves a few of the photographs around.

regretfully. ]

[ooc; ;) ps youre welcome to jump in at any time she'll be at the house all day. ]

the black lodge 5pm

[secretagents]

[ happy hour? don't mind if i do. ]

[ his house is still without power but he trusts Petre will be fine. he can go to the church or whatever. those grannies will take good care of him. as for Jacob he can't handle another day trapped in that house, he needs to get out. that's why he's hurrying to the bar from his car like it was pouring cats and dogs. ]

there is no 'the', you should know this jacob

[toddy]

[ getting his drink ready as soon as she spots him. more like she has had little to do because everyone is out looking for those kids. it's been slow. ]

If it isn't the dude who solely pays my electric bill. [ most likely ]

blackwell afternoon

[eternalboy]

[ Ben spent the morning looking for the missing kids in the forest to no avail but not even that is enough to kill his spirit. it looks like that's not going to lead anywhere so he has decided to hunt down the kids whose names he found on Facebook. an officer dropped him off in town before heading back to the searches. ]

[ if you were at the French Quarter and on the photos online, he's coming to find you. ]

[brabble]

[ she was neither on the photos nor at the french quarter, but she was definitely snooping around a day or two later and uploaded some photos on her own shitty little blog.

so when she sees him looking like a man on a mission, sophie stops and slloowly turns around. unless your name is adam gage, generally speaking cops and her don't mix, especially the new folks. hey it's not that she gets into trouble, it's trouble that usually gets to her. it's part of the job, she guesses ]

chew morning

[sabotagen]

[ sits on a table at work, dangling her feet. it's really quiet here too because of the search. ]

[ she has asked every man coming in if they found anything but so far everyone has been like crushed inside because two kids are gone. even people from the kitchen have joined the searches so all they're serving today is soup and sandwiches. ]

[ she looks over her shoulder at the radio once it broadcasts the news of the morgue break-in. ]

[happenings]

[ the broadcast fades out into a different song. no one seems to notice the difference. ]

The Immediate Area, 1000

[espish]

[spent a sleepless night trying to dry his notes out. he'd slept in an icy huddle in the middle of his bed and he'd still awoken to find he'd thrown the carefully drying pieces of paper all around in the middle of the night. the hotel was evidently still without power, and the samson case was going nowhere, so sam took up the first person who asked on the offer to go look for the other missing kids.

apparently that means looking through the woods.

he'd still have gone, if he'd known, but he'd have thought about it a little longer. sam does not like nature, and nature does not like sam. sam is not built or dressed for nature. sam is visibly annoyed at nature, with a flashlight and a pounding headache.]

[espish]

[i sense awkward teenagers.]

( black lodge, 11PM )

[avers]

[ he's been in blackwell much more often, he notices, even if it's not for business's sake. maybe there's something in this god forsaken town that pulls him, maybe it's the words adrian has left embedded in his head about lost lake. he's a stubborn man, arrogant and one that finds his own thoughts and ideas superior to others, but he can sometimes listen to theories other than his own. what if she had been right? what if that stupid, stupid girl had gone to lost lake and something had happened there? with all the things going wrong with bela's case, maybe he should turn to it for a fresh idea.

so he goes out to drink. because that's what you do when you're stuck, you get out of your clean apartment and go to blackwell to indulge in a glass of gin tonic. he sits at the counter, but doesn't lay his hands on it until he pulls out a handkerchief and wipes it. it doesn't matter if it's clean or not, he'll do it. only then does he ask for the gin tonic, looking pensive while waiting for his drink.

what a piece of shit day. ]

[toddy]

[ It's been a rough week all considering. all the found bodies and bodies gone missing really takes her back to a dark time, one she isn't too fond of remembering. so for her, it's been a rough week of throwing herself into her work. maybe a pick me up here and there to keep her going, but she was never a junkie. she still has enough self respect for her limits.

thankfully business picked up once half the team turned in for the night. she'd elected anyone who was apart of the search party would have their drinks on the house. they wouldn't take advantage, they were going back in tomorrow anyway.

she leans against her bar cleaning glasses, mostly minding her own business, but there are some opportunities she doesn't let go of ]

I haven't seen you look this morose in a long time. [ harry code for, what's up butter cup. tell me all your secrets. ]

blackwell, after school hours

[icide]

[their home is still without power, so his parents encouraged them to get out of the house. even with the recent spate of murders and disappearances they are determined to be involved in the community, although he did get the stranger danger talk. he wonders if cole got the same or if he just looks more like the type to get kidnapped.]

[his parents' enthusiasm for the good of the community is as good as an excuse as any to get out into the woods and join the effort to search for the missing kids. it makes him sick to his stomach with the heinousness of it, but the more concerned he looks, the better, he figures. still, he trails behind the rest of the search party, unable to really look them in the face.]

[nowheres]

We find them.

[it's a promise, not a declaration. Petre can see as much as anybody that the boy who recently joined their group is absolutely uncomfortable with this, so it's really up to him to keep some spirits up and determined to believe the best is still possible.

...Well. The best would be for them to be alive.]

You are not here before?

blackwell, lucky's, 2:14 pm

[inheritable]

[has that hangdog look about her that kids get when they know they've fucked up. there are a couple of leaves and stray twigs in her hair from not completely ducking under branches, and little scrapes on her hands from moving things out of her way. it's not really an unusual look for her, having been in the woods, but usually she was with bela, so.

stops at the PLEASE WAIT TO BE SEATED sign but rises up on her tiptoes, squinting out over the heads bent over menus and tables across the place. rocks back on her heels when the hostess comes back to her station.]

Hey. I'm meeting my dad?

[you know my dad. everybody knows my dad. he's my dad.]

[embroil]

[ it's not that trent minds his kid missing classes - not that he approves of it, but he knows that kids, sometimes, need to vent their frustrations and at the moment, allowing hailey to do that seems more important than worrying over grades. he might be a hardass when it comes to that, only because he wants the best for her, but he knows when to lay off.

there's a hand on her shoulder and trent tugs her back to him, cupping the back of her neck gently ] Hey, bumblebee. [ he kisses her head and lets her go before nodding to the hostess ] What's up, Clara? Got a table for me and Hailey? [ and she does, probably because trent sometimes taps that. not that hailey needs to know that. she won't.

he walks with her to the table and lets her sit first, the leans back on his chair in front of her, crossing his arms over the table, before reaching over and plucking a leaf she missed. ]

Been busy?