[hr][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjEwNi4wMDAwMDAuU0dGeWJXOXVlU0JYWldKaS4w/the-decompozed.regular.webp[/img][hr]

[b]Quintin[/b]

When Quintin finally dragged itself reluctantly into view it looked about how Harmony felt. One by one old tired buildings appeared as the sun burnt off the mist. She paused as she reached the sign that somehow managed to say 'Welcome to Quintin' with a distinctly unwelcoming tone.

Harmony had been walking most of the night, since the man who had given her a ride most of the way had decided he was entitled to some payment that she wasn't willing to give. The worst part of it was that she knew if it had been a year ago, she wouldn't have had the wherewithal to refuse. Her fingers found their way to the chip hanging from a cord at her throat. It had come free of her t-shirt at some point during the long walk.

She'd had the chip, a 9 month sober chip, for only three weeks, yet already the surface felt worn and familiar. It meant something, where so many things hadn't. Not that it mattered. The woman who had taken her to her first meeting hadn't existed. Was her second chance some sort of huge cosmic joke?

Looking at the town her investigations had lead her to, Harmony didn't find it very funny.

Quintin looked about as welcoming from inside as it had from outside. Harmony received several dirty looks, though to give them credit where it was due, she didn't exactly look like someone you would welcome to your small town. More like someone that would drink the one local bar dry, break into the pharmacy and hightail it into the night in someone else's car.

She briefly entertain the idea of finding the town's bar, just for one drink, which was precisely why she shut that train of thought down. One drink would arrive in half a dozen glasses.



[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/q7Yakq0.png[/img][/center][right][b][code]The Webb Family Coffee House[/code][/b][/right][hr]

It was a relief when she finally found the small coffee shop, the all-conquering advance of Starbucks seemed to have given Quintin a miss, and slunk up to the counter. She was exhausted, so the only coffee she could think of was the black tarry kind. It was exactly what she got, and she sipped on it gratefully, even though the heat singed her lips and the bitter taste did the same to her taste buds. It woke her up though.

It didn't take long to find the person she was looking for. Jennifer Caspin was distinctive enough, and the rest of the eclective group wore a look that screamed 'I'm not from around here'. It was tempting to just watch the group from afar, but Harmony was here to find out what the fuck was going on, and nobody ever found that out by hiding in the background.

Feeling a little more like her old self, she joined the group, pulling out a chair near the head of the table with the scrape of wood on wood, and sitting as heavily as her skinny frame would allow her to.

She had arrived just in time for the introductions it seemed. Not that they helped, if anything they just made the whole thing sound more fucked up. Harmony's Eleanor had definitely not had kids, and she had been much older than seventeen.

"No. Don't shut up. We're all here because we met someone that it seems doesn't exist right? It's fucking weird and we're all used to it being fucking weird and having no one believe us. This is the one place we can actually talk about it and not have people look at us like we've sprouted extra heads." Harmony glanced around at the locals, several of whom were indeed looking at the group as though they were horrifying creatures that should be killed with fire.

"OK, at least some people that won't."

Harmony took a deep breath. "My Eleanor was a doctor, she saved my life, helped me get straight." She fished the sober chip on it's cord from the front of her t-shirt. "I nearly died, I got another chance. Thought I was just experiencing a really long trip when I woke up and she'd ceased to exist."

She fell quiet for a moment, "Also I'm Harmony. Nice to meet you all... I guess..."