D A Y 0 8

[founds]

CHAPTER 2

NOV 7TH | 54℉☀(windy)

▸ Parka up for a cold an--*CHSKSSS--*- windy day in Blackwell folks! I sure do hope--*CHSKSSS--*-search team down at the lake won't--*CHSKSSS--*---*CHSSK--*-trouble out on the waters. Professional divers have been going in since dawn, let's give it up for the professional --*CHSKSSS--*-!!

▸ Old Lady Petunia has paid me to say DO NOT SEEK OUT THE ANGELS--*CHSKSSKK--SK--SSSH--*- In fact, there are no such thing as angels. See how easy that was? No angels, no problem.

▸ And now back to our --*CHSKSSS--*-regularly scheduled programming.

THE RISING IS NOT IN EFFECT

Comments

blackwell, 1pm

[tralineate]

[ she's taking her lunch break from the rescue efforts down at the dam. it's cold enough to freeze her little tits off so she's walking around with a big fat coat over her uniform and a beanie with the BFD logo on it.

she's basically taking a walk around town to get to know it a little better.

but at the moment she needs to go buy lunch so she's walking into the closest convenience store to get a blt, a water bottle and possibly some chips; she's looking at a couple of them in the chips aisle. ]

Blackwell, Chew, 1045

[espish]

[it was a rough day and a rough night. he's found little solid evidence of the missing kids and little... less solid evidence of them either. he's spent the last couple days doing what's amounted to aimless wandering, for all he had good intentions. the french quarter wasn't any more helpful alone and dry than it had been with ben in the rain.

and then there was the fun last night at the bar, with the screaming and the breaking glasses and the drama.

and the whiskey.

sam regrets the whiskey.

what he needs right now is something fried please and a lot of coffee.]

[secretagents]

[ he's not alone thinking so. after Petre left to school Jacob found himself alone at home and fast came to the conclusion that he couldn't handle it so here he is. with the exception that he doesn't regret any drop of the whiskey. ]

[ signs at Sam to come join his table. ]

[eternalboy]

[ *Ben is here too, most likely. ]

Gainsbourg Resort, 2pm

[eternalboy]

[ there's a garbage bag laying sideways along with several cardboard boxes in the hallway on the second floor. they're not filled with trash but with clothes and packagings of various phones and game platforms with all the manuals and spare parts still neatly in little plastic bags. Ben doesn't even own most of those things anymore but it's clear he has never bothered to go through the stuff and throw away the ones he doesn't need. ]

[ but yeah. he's finally moving out of the hotel. he carries out another cardboard box to the hallway and sets it down. this one is filled with paperbacks. ]

[nowheres]

[VISITS OLD LADY PETUNIA has a bible with him. yay.

feel free to approach crazy jesus kid before he gets there]

first united methodist church (blackwell), all day

[ex_vacuous481]

[ it's time for the annual thanksgiving canned food drive, held in the parking lot of first united. cypress is organizing it this year, so she'll be running about helping stack boxes and taking in new cans. come, feed the needy for thanksgiving! they're really going to love their canned green beans and corn. a turkey truck flipped over on the interstate the other day and donated hundreds of turkeys to the cause-- these people are going to love jesus by the end of thanksgiving, okay. ]

[sabotagen]

[ spots neighbor kid out and about in town. ]

[ follows him like every sane person would. ]

[nowheres]

[isn't freaked out?? notices when he's turning a corner and sees her. oh he recognizes u. stops and waves!]

Hello. Good day.

[espish]

[it takes him a minute to notice the guy waving at him. and even then, sam looks back down at his menu, assuming the guy must've meant someone else. but when sam looks behind him, there's no one there, and when he looks back up he realizes the guy did mean him. that's weird.

he's only ordered coffee so far, which hasn't arrived yet, so it's pretty easy to pick up his menu and hat and move to the other guy's table.]

Morning. I don't think I caught your name, last night...

[pretty sure "sadsack" isn't your real name guy.]

[espish]

[waves his hat at ben as he passes. hey favorite cop.

it's not a close race.]

[sabotagen]

[ did not expect to be noticed. just stands there. ]

You live next to my house.

[nowheres]

Yes.

[nodnod]

Mister Jacob house.

[eternalboy]

[ too into his game to notice. ]

[espish]

[secretagents]

It's not John.

[ doesn't look up from the menu when he sits down. ]

Jacob.

[espish]

Oh. Well. Jacob was gonna be my second guess, after John.

[slowly, puzzled. sets his hat down and slides into the booth in time to flag the waitress with his coffee, who is not the woman he met last night, over to the place he has moved. ]

I'm Sam.

[sabotagen]

They don't have any kids.

Or he doesn't.

[ who are you you FAKE ]

[secretagents]

Enjoyed meeting the locals, Sam?

[ he kind of spaced out last night, in the middle of the drama. ]

I tell you, it hasn't been that exciting for years.

[espish]

It's been a varied experience. Like anywhere, I guess.

[that's not completely true. almost everyone he's met here has been at least a little terrible, and he's gone whole weeks before without immediately getting off on the wrong foot with an entire city.]

You one of the locals?

[secretagents]

Local enough to be tired of every local face. I work at the hospital.

[ been working there for years. he sounds fed up with it. puts the menu down. ]

I think I'll take the eggs.

[espish]

[oh it's time to order.] Can I get the #3 without bacon? [he can.] Thanks. [bread.] Uh, rye? [we're out.] Sourdough? [yep. hands off his menu.]

You're a doctor, then?

[jacob sounds fed up with a lot.]

[secretagents]

[ life sucks and then you die. ]

Currently on a leave.

[espish]

I see.

[it's probably too soon to ask why. he's not a fairweather, a winters or a samson, but he might have other missing family. sam doesn't think he's related to the gages, either. not that he's looked into that case, because that would be super illegal and also nobody's paying him to do that.]

Seems like plenty of the local faces are disappearing these days.

[and other days. all the time.]

[secretagents]

[ waited to see his reaction and then turns to look out of the window. he was already kind of hoping Sam would have asked about it so he could have turned this conversation really unpleasant and now he's feeling almost ashamed for planning that. ]

Dying. Just call it what it is.

[ oh yes there are other ways this could get awful. ]

They aren't coming back. Not anymore.