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The air was hotter and drier than most people who hadn't spent time in a desert would have experienced. It was, to say the least, extraordinarily uncomfortable, and yet Celeste was still glad it was a dry heat rather than a humid one. There was also an unexpected and very welcome breeze. It was slight, but enough that it offered some level of relief, which seemed surprising for a town that had all the trappings of hell on earth. Relief seemed like the sort of thing hell would do without, at least that was her immediate thought, but then she remembered something her husband had once said. In his younger days he had been a prospector and would travel around trying to find good sources of gold, and on occasion he did. In that line of business superstition and rumor lorded over many like the all mighty Himself, and for some even more so. If rumor got out a spot had gold it was a certainty that that area would be flooded with men of all ages trying to find their fortunes. Her husband told her of one such incident, a rumor had spread that there was guaranteed to be gold somewhere and of course he and a trainload of other fools grabbed their pick-axes and pans and set off. Her husband spent about a month searching with around a hundred or so other men without so much as a shimmer of gold. Feeling confident there was nothing to find he and several other men left, chasing other rumors or following their own wonky instincts. He spent around three months traveling around collecting gold where he could and by the time he decided he had had his fill he had collected enough gold to settle down and have an easy life. He always liked to joke that he had planned to spend the rest of his days getting drunk and trying out a new whore every night but some lady showed up and married him and dashed all those dreams. Celeste smiled as she remembered that old joke.

On his way home he was close to that spot he had been at all those months ago and decided to pass on through out of curiosity, see if there was anyone there had struck it big. Most of the men were gone, but there were a few stragglers left behind, still looking. In all those months of searching, they had found a combined total of a quarter ounce of gold once those that were left pooled it all together. They sold it so they could buy some rations and replace some equipment. It was always possible to find a little bit of gold just about anywhere her husband had explained at the time, but that did not mean there was some grander deposit waiting around. The men who were left searching were the most tired and rundown men he had ever seen. They looked sad and pathetic, and each one carried themselves like they were walking towards their deathbed. But still they searched, day after day, hoping to find that fortune they wanted.

"It was that bit of gold they found that did it. Hell, had I been there I might have kept looking too. Hope is a cruel thing when used against you. You get your hands on even a little bit of hope, and most men will stick it through the worst of the worst life can throw at them. That's the amazing and terrifying thing about man, the ability to push forwards when the only thing keeping them going is the flicker of light they remember almost seeing. Hope will pull a man through hell, and they'll gladly let it, when the sensical thing to do would be just give up."

His voice was still so clear in her head even though it had been so long since she had heard it. If Fortune's End was hell, perhaps a little bit of relief, a little bit of hope, fit in just fine.

After Fredrick revealed her and the others were trapped in the town Celeste was struck stunned. She wasn't sure what the others said or did in the face of the news, she was in too much of a daze to comprehend what was even happening. When she snapped out of it she found herself outside by the blacksmiths having left the saloon without even realizing it. Evidently some part of her mind had decided she needed to leave and walk it off, a rather good idea as it gave her some time to herself to calm dow. With the initial shock having ebbed away she was able to rationalize enough to determine that she would focus on one problem at a time. She had made her way to Fortune's End for a reason and she would see to it that reason was fulfilled, anything else could come after.

Based on her conversation with Fredrick before his upsetting reveal it would be best to head to Fortune Found, however Celeste wanted to make a quick stop somewhere else first. She was very curious to speak to the man in the clock tower who fired a shot every our, from his vantage point he might have some form of insight into the goings on of the town or where she might be best to start looking.

On her way to the clock tower she had to pass by the Mayor, who spoke to her as she passed.

"Good... morning, Celeste..." his struggle to speak made her very uncomfortable, it was like listening to a man dying of asphyxiation. Celeste stopped, but didn't turn to look at the shockingly loquacious mummified corpse.

"Good morning monsieur Mayor."

"Off. To speak with. Thomas. I su...suspect?"

"Oui monsieur. I hope that his unique view of the town will give me some helpful insights." A strangled sound came from the once-a-man as he attempted to laugh, but all he could muster was a dry exhale of breath that sounded like a tumbleweed being crushed underfoot. "Is there... something the matter?"

"Oh. No." the mayor lifted a hand a few inches, his wrist and fingers moved ever so slightly as if he was trying to gesture. The skin all over that area cracked and split revealing dry gray muscles beneath. He lowered his hand. "He just. Hasn't. Done much seeing. In some time. Is all. But don't let. That. Stop..." He stopped and took a deep breath for some reason, pulling in air with a strangled wheeze, "don't let that stop you. Go on ahead. I. Wont keep. Ya..." he lowered his head back to his chest and stopped talking.

Very uncomfortable, and glad the conversation was over, Celeste made her way to the clock tower. The tower was evidently still in the middle of construction, somehow, as there was a series of temporary stairs on the outside of the building that led to the top. Celeste suspect that the stairs being on the outside meant there was nothing on the inside and so made her way up the sturdy if still worrisome outer steps to speak with Thomas.

When she made it to the top she once again found herself stunned, evidently the town still had plenty of knew strange and horrible things to show off. At the top of the tower sitting in a chair under a roof where a clock should have been was a man whose head was missing several large chunks, so much so it looked like a lump of meat and bone atop an otherwise normal human body. In one hand the corpse held a pistol, a peacemaker not unlike the kind Celeste herself carried, and in the other hand was a pocket watch. The floor was covered in dried blood so thick it almost looked like a carpet, and one of the walls next to the man was covered in enough dry and hardened viscera. She tried to muster the ability to say something, scream, or move but she couldn't do anything. She didn't even jump as a slight ringing chime began to emanate from the pocket watch and the corpse began to move. It raised the pistol to what could be considered its' head, pulled the hammer back, and pulled the trigger without hesitation. A loud bang cracked through the town as part of the man's skull was blown away, showering the wall beside him with fresh viscera and the floor beneath with fresh blood that dried almost immediately from the heat as soon as it hit the floor. The corpse lowered it's raised pistol, then the remains of it's head turned to look at Celete. There were no eyes, or other facial features to really tell otherwise but she could feel it in her gut, the thing was looking at her.

Celeste began to sputter and back away, trying her best to speak up and say something ineligible.

"Je suis tellement désolé! Je ne voulais pas te déranger! je reviendrai une autre fois! Ou plutôt je veux dire, je ne vous dérangerai plus, excusez-moi!" she couldn't manage a single word in English, not that it really matter as the orb of meat that was once a head didn't posses any ears. Yet despite that the corpse nodded, as if in understanding, then returned to the position she found it in when she had arrived. Celeste took several more steps backwards and bumped into the railing of the stairs which was slightly too low and she almost pitched herself backwards over it. She didn't, but the sudden feeling of almost falling snapped her out of her daze and she fled back down the stairs and rushed towards the saloon. As she passed the mayor he raised his head.

"You. Will want to get up. A little earlier in the day. If you want a. Chance to speak with Thomas, proper. Not much. Left of him. By this point..."

Celeste didn't stop to talk, she rushed past him and back into the Saloon. She paid no attention to what might have been going on with the others and rushed upstairs to her room. She slammed the door closed and locked it, throwing her extra bar across the door to make sure it was as locked as it could get. She leaned her back against the door, and slid down it to the floor. With her good hand she pulled out the pistol at her waist and held it at the ready.

@KidgoatA collaboration could work well to help get some more information out as right now the plans I had for Celeste don't really directly push things forward. I had sort of planned on more people pushing in more directions at once. If we can just get the ball going Ill have an easier time of it as I left the beginning pretty open to allow people to settle in.
@KidgoatWas wondering if you had any plans you were going to start working towards for the RP? Or if maybe you would like a bit more information to build off of. Same goes for you @kapuchu
Some space has opened back up in the RP. If there is anyone still interested feel free to join in.
Introductions suitably out of the way and with everyone having a better understanding of where they all fit in the grand scheme of things Céleste decided it was time to get her own task underway. Once the other woman, Astrid, had finished talking to Fredric Céleste made her way over to the abomination, pulling out a piece of paper.

"Bonjour again monsieur Fredrick. Seeing as you seem to be the the place where everyone will end up, I was wondering if you might recognize a face." She unfolded a rather worn piece of paper that was once a wanted poster, though much of the ink had worn off or faded leaving being barely legible text. The depiction of the criminal however was rather crisp, having clearly been repeatedly traced over with ink more than once. In fact there was enough layers of ink that cracks were forming in some of the more thicker sections. The man depicted was unremarkable in appearance, looking like a stereotypical man of the time you could bump into just about anywhere. All over the rest of the paper were various names, each crossed out -some more aggressively than others-, with various combinations of freshness of the ink. Sometimes both the name and the lines used to cross it out were equally faded, sometimes the name was more faded than the lines.

Fredrick's face contorted and twisted in a way that might have looked normal on any other person straining to think but on him caused a feeling in Céleste that made her want to reach for a pistol. "I can't see that all that well, may I take a closer look?" his long gangly arm stretched closer to Céleste, the ropes supporting it stretching taut as he moved it to the limits of the ropes range. Céleste hesitated a moment, quite protective of the paper, but only a moment. She placed it delicately into the man-things hand and let go. Fredrick seemed to pick up on the importance of the paper as he handled it just as carefully as she did and brought it closer to his face. He inspected the paper for a reasonable amount of time and passed it back. "Lots of folk come through here," Céleste's heart immediately sank as she suddenly expected poor news, Fredrick continued, "and I can't say this man is particularly distinguished. But I can say for certain there have been quite a few people that have passed through here that have more than just a passing resemblance to this man. Couldn't rightly tell you names, names are a lot harder than faces, but I'd be willing to bet my life, as little as it may be worth at this point, that the man you're looking for did come through at one point. Assuming he didn't die or somehow figure out a way out of the town, he'd be over in Fortune Found" Céleste gave a wide and excited smile, carefully placing the now folded paper deep into the pocket she retrieved it from.

"Bon! Merci monsieur Fredrick! I shall venture off imme-" she stopped. "Pardon? What do you mean by, managed to find a way out?" Fredick shifted, a clear sign he did not want to answer the question. "...monsieur?"

"Well..." he began, his eyes looking away. "Now that you all are here, you can't exactly leave until... well we don't know what needs to happen. We just know you're stuck here. That's why they built Fortune Found, so many people have gotten stuck here over the years they needed a second town just to house them all."

Céleste's eyes went wide and she took a few steps back. She had wondered about the strange outer ring of a town but with all the oddness going on just assumed it was more or less normal.

"Par Dieu, dans quoi me suis-je fourré..."

"Eh? Beg your pardon ma'am?"

"We are, trapped?"

"I'm afraid so."
@KidgoatYeah it looks good!

Céleste looked over her shoulder through the doorway leading from the balcony inside. Three more people had made their way downstairs, some of them had also managed to locate food for themselves. A giant of a woman and a man straight out of a tale from the west seemed to be talking to one another. The large woman seemed strangely friendly, though that was hardly a bad quality simply an unexpected one. Céleste had made her way all over the world and the one consistent thing she found was that kind people were worth taking note of; both because of their rarity and because there was a certain breed of parasitic scum that fooled others with a kind exterior and show but had souls blacker than pitch. She doubted the Jötunnesque woman was such a creature, something about the way she held herself presented an air of sincerity even the best tricksters couldn't mimic once you knew to look for it. Céleste similarly didn't get a bad feeling about the other two either, though it could be difficult to say for certain with what most would consider zero interaction. At the very least she doubted they would be a threat to her so long as they did not get in her way and she in theirs. The cowboy of the groups response seemed to suggest like Céleste he was in Fortune's End for reasons not relating to gold, which was good. Gold had a way of turning even the most level headed of people into a back stabbing asshole, so the less people around concerning themselves with it the better. That in mind Céleste decided it would best to introduce herself and let it be known to the others she would not be competing with them for the prize.

She popped the remaining piece of her meal into her mouth and downed the last of her tea. She brushed any crumbs that had accumulated on her attire onto the floor and re-entered the saloon. "Bonjour, I am Céleste R-" she stopped, deciding that last names were probably a bad idea. "I am Céleste, and I too have business in this town. I wish to make it known I have no interest in the supposed bounty of gold for solving this town's most...circonstances étranges." she let out a quick and quiet sigh of exacerbation "This towns most, odd, circumstance. I have more important matters to attend to so you need not worry about me, intentionally, getting in anyone's way. That said, once my business is concluded I will have an abundance of, shall we call it, available time on my hands and would gladly assist if I can. My heart goes out to these people and their pligh-" she was cut off by the loud bang of a gunshot ringing out which broke her concentration, making her think of the man in the tower. She didn't finish what she was saying and instead waited to see if any of the group had something to say.
Since I have both characters and story stuff I have to do I'll be sure to mention at the start if its story stuff for everyone. My last post was just for my character.

Also, I should probably point out I knew The Watcher might show up but they came a little sooner than expected. I wonder why they came so soon...
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