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"... Stay safe."
Jen


Normally those two words were a generic farewell that offered some welcome variance to the sea of shapeless 'see ya's, but given what had preceded it, Harmony couldn't help but feel that it was more of a warning. It made sense, there was something weird going on here. Harmony had heard of people disappearing all the time, she'd even met people one day that had vanished the next. Sometimes they showed up face down in the river a few days later, sometimes they were never seen again, but somebody else always missed them. There was always a reason for that, they stuck their nose where it didn't belong, they saw something they shouldn't have seen, they talked too much. There was no reason for Eleanor to have disappeared, and none that Harmony or her crumbling web of contacts had been able to dig up.

The conversation had continued apace, and Harmony struggled to catch up as people started to pair off. For a moment she considered going along with the nurse, Charlie, before she caught herself. The main reason she had managed this long sober was because she had avoided temptation. She had stolen drugs from a doctor's office before, testing her will seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Other people had joined the conversation, at least one of which she would have bet half her sobriety was a cop. She'd worked with enough of them to be able to almost smell them, not to mention spent some time in the back of their cars and in their cells. Harmony had been a good lawyer, and she'd spent most of her career opposite the boys in blue. As such a healthy distrust for them had been bred into her. One to watch.

She turned to the last one to speak, not wanting to be the last one left without something to do. "Spoilt brats never do know how to keep a zip on it. Mind if I tag along?"




Quintin

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.


The Webb Family Coffee House



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..."
Definitely interested!
Interested.

Interested!
Absolutely interested in this, and already on your Discord!


Cesar feels hands make contact as he sits against the door frame, still blinking the stars from his eyes. Fortunately they don't attempt to go for his throat, and he realises who they belong to as the well-educated French voice gives away their owner. Esme doesn't even finish his sentence before he pushes past and away from Cesar. Not that Cesar is totally ungrateful for the sudden peace that he is granted.

He rubs at his eyes again, now seeing stars, but at least able to make out the shape of the room and the dim light coming from the window. Once his vision is more completely returned he crawls forward towards the prone form of Nakala. She's unconscious and Cesar can't blame her, her hair is no longer on fire, but he pats at the few smouldering sections of hair that seemed to have survived the blaze.

Her skin is raw and red from the fire, most of it looks like might just be first degree, but there are some sections where the heat was clearly fiercer. Looking around, he spots the bottles of water in the corner. Thankful for the stockpiling that has already gone on, he starts opening as many bottles as he can, once he has about a dozen he begins pouring them gently on the worst wounds. It's not as good as say, a shower would be, but he's doubtful of his ability to carry the Amazonian woman without help, she's several inches taller than he is, and a lot of those inches are definite muscle.

Swinging his bag around to his side, he starts hunting through it for something anti-bacterial and some sterile dressings. Finally finding what he needed at the bottom, he sets about properly cleaning the burns as carefully as possible. There was a good chance that the treatment will end up waking Nakala, so he sets some painkillers on the ground beside him. Though he hopes she doesn't wake up, he's not sure of the chances of her not attempting to kill him when she realises the pain he's inflicting on her. "Please don't kill me."
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