[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190811/ebac4f4c05aadbb66f658784df24295a.png[/img][/center][indent][sub][hr][/sub][color=lightsteelblue][sub][b]Location:[/b] [color=gray][i]Rushford, Ohio -- O'Neal Family Tavern[/i][/color][/sub][sup][right][b]Date:[/b] [color=gray][I]May 15th, 2019[/i][/color][/right][/sup][/color][sub][hr][/sub][/indent]
[indent][indent][color=gray]Percy had remained silent up to this point - though Damien making the omelettes made him feel a little.. guilty, on top of all his other frazzled feelings. Like, he really should've been the one to have had the thought to feed everyone. He was the oldest there - unless maybe Dan was? It didn't matter either way, because he just.. [i]Fuck[/i], he was hitting that anxious peak again. He couldn't focus on looking for anything useful like Jenn suggested they do, nor could he stomach food - he did find a bottle of alcohol before he found himself incapable of focus, though. 

After sneaking a glance around the room to make sure nobody was eyeing him, he decided that this bottle was his and his alone and took a big, healthy swig from it. [color=lightsteelblue][i]Maybe it'll help chill me the fuck out,[/i][/color] he thinks as he swiftly packs it in his duffel bag. Maybe it'll help him clear his head, and [i]maybe[/i] he could drink himself into a [i]stupor[/i] and pretend that everything is [i]just fine[/i]- and he made that sort of huffed nose-exhale you'd make when you're not quite in a good enough mood to laugh, but the thing you'd just thought of or witnessed was still funny. Is this how Laura felt? Is this why she drank so much? Was she just frazzled back then in the same way he felt now? Fuck. Ha.

[color=8e75b2]"Well, the best idea would be moving carefully out of the town, but I know we want to move fast."[/color]

It wasn't that he [i]wanted[/i] to move fast - honestly, he wished he could take a couple hours to just.. [i]process[/i] everything, but that same time he felt compelled to spend on trying to comprehend everything could be [i]better spent[/i] finding his baby, so.. He just sort of nodded in response.

[color=8e75b2]"Right. Well, we can’t go off sprinting down Main Street either way."[/color]

[color=lightsteelblue]"Aw, really? There goes my first plan,"[/color] Percy said with a little snap of the finger.

[color=8e75b2]“We’re here,"[/color] Jennifer started, apparently unfazed by Percy's attempt at a joke, [color=8e75b2]"We want to head south, across the river." [/color]

Percy nods again, both in understanding and to make sure Jennifer is aware that he is listening.

[color=8e75b2]"Once we cross a bridge connecting to Route 65, it’s a pretty fair walk. We can get there in a few hours. Give or take. The fastest and safest route would be going through these backroads. If we’re lucky the bridge isn’t uncrossable. If it is, well, then we’ll need to go to the next one. Any questions?"[/color]

[color=lightsteelblue]"Yeah, uh.. What if that [i]second[/i] bridge is borked? What then? Could we build our own? Man, I could [i]finally[/i] put all that geometry and shit I learned in college to practical use."[/color]

On one hand, he [i]knows[/i] he needs to stop. On the other.. [i]Fuck[/i], it's better than letting that frazzled energy bounce around in his head and conjure up horrible worst-case-scenarios, right? Better to crack jokes than be paralyzed by fear. Surely. Totally. Right? Right.

...Right?

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