[img]https://i.imgur.com/aHWHQEs.png[/img]
[code]Streets of Quintin > The Webb Family Coffee House [/code]
[hr]

It was fucking hot.

Charlie should've expected it, cause they were in a swamp. Well, a town in one. She'd packed for all weather, cause back home it could change in the blink of an eye, but there were only so many layers she could take off. Here she was in a tank top and shorts feeling well out of place in a very unfriendly town. She'd scraped her hair back into a tight bun (which also wasn't enjoying the heat and lack of treatment after a long flight) to help keep her cool, but it really wasn't doing much. She really wasn't enjoying it here, what with the strangers looks, the heat and the beginnings of a throbbing headache. 

Shoulda listened to the warning of the truck driver who gave her a lift most of the way there, for the payment of her delivering the tiny amount of packages he had for Quintin. He'd seemed put off by the town, if not scared... But it hadn't really fazed Charlie. Now she was here she could sorta see why. The swamp itself was spooky, the kind of thing she'd seen in horror movies her and her dad used to watch together when they had more time. It would be all too easy to get lost and completely disappear. A bit of a sobering thought. She'd definitely be avoiding going in there. No wonder her mum had been so against bringing her here. Wasn't exactly a picturesque hometown to take your kid to.

It wasn't difficult to find the meeting place. The town wasn't exactly huge, and there weren't that many coffee houses. She couldn't wait to get inside, and cool down in the lovely, air conditioned-

Of course it didn't have air conditioning. Charlie had quickly grown used to it being in buildings here, but she'd also spent most of her time jumping between fast food chains. Of course McDonalds had air conditioning but this tiny family ran cafe didn't. She was just going to suffer through the heat, then. 

Inside the place Charlie made a beeline for the counter, getting a coffee more out of habit than necessity. By some miraculous luck she'd been working the night shift that last few weeks, which had made getting an early flight hellish but adjusting to the different timezone relatively easy. She was pretty much already living in it anyway. It was the one saving grace in a bunch of shitty circumstances. Like, she wasn't tired cause of the time difference but rather cause she'd gotten on a plane hours after a shift and had travelled way too far in two days. So yeah, maybe the coffee was actually a necessity. 

It tasted like shit. 

Charlie grimaced, before forcing herself to suffer through with another sip. She surveyed the place as she did, gaze flickering past the few people there before she found what she was looking for. A large table in the middle with three girls sitting around it now - one she recognised, the organiser of this whole affair, and the other two presumably just like her. 

"Hi!" Charlie gave a way too energetic greeting for someone running on four hours of sleep, smiling brightly at the group. She took a seat in the middle of the table, one that gave her a view of the door to see others coming in. Normally she'd start up conversation right away, but she sat quietly while sipping on her coffee. She was as close as possible to being tired for someone with constant energy, so she'd wait until everyone else was here. By then the caffeine would've taken effect too.

The table filled up, and they finally got started.

Jennifer asked for their names. A standard question, though explaining who Eleanor Black was not so much. 

"I guess I'll start," Charlie said, looking around everyone with a smile. "I'm Charlie and I came all the way from Newcastle cause of all this. Eleanor Black is- well, was, maybe- my mum. Kinda fucked up to suddenly find out half your DNA isn't what you thought it was, since now there's some other woman claiming to be my mum. Even my dad doesn't remember her."

She shrugged, seemingly unbothered by it. It was easy to ignore the constriction of her chest, the fluttered panic, and keep a calm facade. 

"As for leads, I don't have much. Mum never went into much detail about her hometown. She really didn't like talking about her family and would always avoid my questions about them... Even though I was pretty annoying about it as a child. I bet they know something, but I ain't got anything more than that."