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INTERIM - HOME ALONE


Bannon

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Saturday, following the events of Ep2

Spoiler

session 2 was Thursday night/Friday morning, it is Saturday morning when this takes place a whole day has passed between this and the party/events in the wood

The Bannon Farm (formerly the Wilson Farm) was mostly neglected these days.  No cattle grazed, no crops grew in the fields.  There was a chicken coop that bustled with feathered life, but that was all.  When Gareth Bannon had bought the place from the Wilsons, unmortgaged and payment up front, six years ago, he had seen it as a fresh start after a life in prison, and a place where his strange and baffling son could start over.

But something in Gar was defeated by his treatment at the hands of the system.  His once brilliant mind was clouded with depression and heartbreak, and despite a token attempt to become a farmer, all he could do was look backwards at his regrets and lose himself in conspiracy theories and anti-establishment rhetoric.  He also could not seem to quite reach his withdrawn, emotionally detached son, and his failure as a father weighed on him more than his failure as a husband.  He settled for a 12 hour a day shift as a janitor and essentially gave up his fight.

The farm lay fallow, except for the house and a few of the outbuildings which Jase used for his projects.  As he carefully scraped the stubble from his face, Gar smiled at that.  His son was gifted despite being odd, and self-reliant in the extreme.  Pride and love, mixed with worry, would be a good summary of Gar Bannon’s feelings towards his son.  Not for the first time he pondered getting Jase tested for Aspergers or some other condition, but every time he brought it up Jase remained defiant in his refusal to cooperate.

He heard a rattle of pans from below, and smelled bacon and other cooking smells.  His boy, making breakfast once again whilst his dad woke up bleary and hung over.  It seemed Jase did most of the cooking these days, except once in a while when they hung out and grilled together with Hank.  He smiled sadly to himself, rinsing off his face and heading downstairs.

The big farm kitchen was an orderly place, as might be expected.  Every utensil was in place, every pan hung spotlessly clean from the rack over the central large table.  Two pans sizzled on the stove, coffee was dripping into the large pot, and a cooler already sat by the back door next to Gar’s boots, rifle and orange vest.  He stared at it for a moment.  He makes me a packed lunch every day.  What do I do for him?

“Dad.”  Jase said as he came in from outside, catching his father’s gazing at the cooler and misinterpreting the look.  “For you and Hank, remember?  You’re heading up north to hunt, right?” he asked casually as he moved to tend the stove.  Gar nodded, missing the subtle flicker of relief on his son’s face as he helped himself to coffee.  As usual, the coffee was good – Jase had a thing about coffee. And food, for that matter.  Not so much fussy as... choosey.  Which was odd, because Gar had personally witnessed Jase’s enjoyment of deep fried confectionary and junk food as well.  But that, Jase maintained, was snacks.  Meals were special, the kitchen was a lab, and labs did not use substandard compounds.  Coffee in hand, Gar sat as Jase slid a plate of bacon, pancakes and sausage before him, looking up as he heard the slam of a truck door. 

“Hank’s early.”  Gar noted, frowning.  He’d wanted a heart-to-heart with his son over breakfast, and though Hank was an honorary uncle he didn’t feel it was appropriate to try and convince Jase to open up in front of another person.  His son smirked, eyes crinkling in good humor.

“Really?  Seems he arrived precisely when he meant to.  Hank knows when breakfast is on weekends.”  Jase gave a glance at the door moments before Hank opened it, the craggy features of the ex-Marine creasing in a grin as he sniffed the air.

“Hey. I smell breakfast?” he asked – a typical Hank ‘hello’. 

“Morning to you too, Hank.”  Gar gestured with his fork at his plate.  “You smell my breakfast.  And I ain’t sharing.  Cold dead hands is the phrase.”  Hank chuckled as he moved to sit, nodding companionably at Jase as the gangly teen slid a plate in front of him too.

“No need.  Jase got my back covered.  Ain’t that right, kid?” he asked with a grin as a cup of coffee was slid to a stop next to the plate.  Jase sat down with his own meal then, nodding.  He liked Hank.  The man was clinical when talking about things that most got tense about, but otherwise projected the air of a friendly St Bernard – sure, he could tear your head off, but he wasn’t inclined to so long as you minded your manners.  He also, despite calling Jason ‘kid’, didn’t treat him like one.  Hadn’t since their first meeting, in fact.  There was a simpatico between them – Jase got the impression that Hank saw something familiar in him.  And it was plain Hank was tickled by the precocious eleven year old, quickly becoming a combination of uncle and big brother.

“So what you got planned while me and your old man go hunting this weekend?” Hank managed to say around a mouthful of pancake.  He swallowed and grinned.  “Got the ladies lining up to come over, I bet.  Make sure you get the scheduling right, player.  Don’t want one meeting the other.”  Gar smiled – Hank had a way with Jase, a way of treating him normally that Gar couldn’t, for some reason. As usual when teased this way, Jase just shrugged and gave back a small smile.

“Don’t worry, Hank.  I’ll make sure your mother doesn’t meet your sister.  I’ll even change the sheets between their visits.” He calmly retorted, taking a sip of coffee.  Gar winced, but as usual Hank guffawed loudly, slapping the table. 

“Okay, I asked for that.” He grinned.  “Seriously, though.  What’s cooking?”

“Not much.” Jase shrugged evasively.  “Might be hanging out with Sean and the guys today, if they can get the time.”  Hank nodded, glancing at Gar to see if he’d noticed Jason’s air of evasion, but Gar was focused on his meal. 

Breakfast passed companionably, the two older and one younger man chatting about the upcoming hunting season, fishing, the tomato plants Jase was cultivating out back and Junior year.  It was a slice of normality that his friends, had they seen it, would not have credited to the strange teen.

 

Spoiler

Notes on the farm:
Much as described. Lona would recognise it as the same only let go somewhat.

The barns and outbuildings are in decent repair, and locked.  There is a new grove of cherry saplings out back, just at the first flowering stage, and a few rows of tomatoes and other vegetables, plus an herb garden.  No, not that sort of herb.

The farmhouse is in good repair, though the paint on the outside could probably do with freshening up.  Inside it is clean and tidy, but definitely a bachelor home with no domestic female touches.  The main hub is the large kitchen, but those wandering around will quickly find that everywhere is lined with bookshelves, floor to ceiling.  Hallways, lounge, staircases, upstairs landings...  It's a freaking library covering a massive range of topics.  Kitchen has one too, filled with cookbooks of various types of cuisine.

 

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The Mercedes sped down the dirt driveway swiftly coming to a halt with the crunch of small stones and gravel beneath the tires.  The three men glared at the vehicle as the mirrored dark windows thrummed with the inner sound of the stereo blaring Alice Cooper.  Jase knew whose car it was and resigned himself to a sigh as the door opened and Alice Cooper filled the air a moment before she cut the engine.  Marissa stepped out of the car, her hair up and out of her eyes and off er shoulder for the hot summer Montana morning.  She looked every bit of beautiful as the word was meant to describe.

She slid off her sun glasses (because addressing her hosts with her shades on would be rude) as the car door closed and approached the men standing on the porch.  "Good morning Mr. Bannon," she said with a kind and fair tone that Jason recognized as a tool of the 'game' she played with people.  Luring them into believing she was far more decent of a human being than she actually was.  "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Hank, eyes fixed on the lovely young lady gave Jase a sidelong look for a brief moment.  "How do you know I ain't Mr. Bannon, young lady?"

"Because you're Mr. Graskle," she smiled at him.  "I know of you, if not anything about you, and I've seen Jason with his father on a few occasions, not as many, but a few."  She looked to Jason and smiled, flashing her beautifully white teeth.  "Hey, you.  Thank you again for agreeing to help me with my college essays."  She lied for a cover story.

"Now why on Earth would he do that I wonder," his dad mumbled softly.  He and Hank smirked lake boys in the locker room, eyeing Jason.

Spoiler

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"Well now."  Hank drawled, trying hard to contain the shit-eating grin and failing badly as he glanced at Jason.  He nudged the lanky youth hard enough to make him sway, grinning wider at the cool look he received in return.  "We'd best be off, Gar.  The weekend awaits."

"Yeah, but-"  Gareth Bannon started to protest, glancing at the lovely Marissa like she was something completely unexpected - which she was.  Jason showed no interest in girls, dating or any of that stuff before.  Hank didn't give him time to collect himself, though.  Being the most awesome of wingmen that he was, he grabbed Gar's gear in one hand and looped the other around his friend's shoulders.

"We'll be off, let Jase treat the young lady to breakfast." he repeated, nodding to Marissa.  "Ma'am, it was a pleasure." he said politely as he practically hauled Jason's dad to the truck.  Gar blinked, looking over his shoulder as he was towed away, looking from his expressionless son to the wholesomely smiling Marissa.

"Uh... Be good!" he managed before the truck door slammed and Hank dumped the hunting gear in the back.  As Marissa approached the house, Hank gave Jason another shit-eating grin and a thumbs up from behind her, almost prompting an eye-roll from the taciturn youth, who instead gave Hank a level stare that made the ex-Marine laugh as he, too, jumped into the truck.  As Marissa came up the porch steps, Jase shrugged at her, a faint smile on his face.

"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" he asked, humor flashing a fin in the depths of his gaze.

"Classy, Jason."  Marissa smirked, looking from him to the surroundings, but her smile warmed slightly. "Nice to visit a farm that doesn't smell like pig shit."  she quipped back.

"We outsource that."  Jason returned, deadpan.  "You want some pancakes?"  Mari's eyes lit up in pleased surprise.

"Home-cooking?" she asked in a similar tone to someone saying 'Luxury cruise?!'  "Sign me up."  Jase led her around the porch to the rear door,  Marissa's sharp eyes not missing the kitchen garden out back, nor the grove of young saplings beyond them.  Her host opened the door, gesturing her into the kitchen and to a seat at the table as he slid the skillets back onto the stove.   She looked around the kitchen, noting that although nothing was particularly designer or shiny, it was neat and well cared for, then smiled a little as Jason slid a cup of coffee in front of her.  "Nice place.  I was expecting bodies on meat hooks." she teased as she reached for the cream and sugar.

"Cleaned them up this morning."  Jase said as he busied himself cracking eggs into a bowl.  "You know how parents are.  Nagging you to pick up your toys all the time."  He affected a put-upon air, and Marissa laughed. 

"You'd better make plenty.  Devin's probably not far behind me and Lord knows he can eat."  she suggested as she watched him start beating the eggs and flour together.  He nodded, reaching without looking for another couple of eggs, cracking them one-handed as he worked.  His movements were neat, precise and, as he noticed her watching, with a little flair.  So he did sometimes seek to impress or entertain.  Good to know.

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She sipped her coffee with both hands wrapped around the mug.  She managed everything with an adorable precision of a dancing cobra before it spat in someone's eyes.  "Mmm, good coffee, wow.  This is some serious gourmet shit, Jimmy."

With a smirk Jason tried to resist for a moment, even shaking his head to signify that he would not be lured into- " I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys shit. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it."

She set her mug down, lips pursed to keep the mouthful she had from getting spat out and raised her hands high while she took a small victory lap in the kitchen.  "Yes!  He lives!  Jason Bannon with the Tarantino reference! Woo!  We keep this up and maybe Santa will make you a real boy."

She took up her cup again and walked about as he stirred up the batter for the pancakes.  Peering out the door, she took a sip and with her mouth full waggled a finger at him to make a point before she spoke.  "Mmm, before I forget.  My brother has been a bit shaken since last night.  I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but...," she exhaled and forced a smile.  "If he's a bigger dick than usual, please cut him some slack.  He's coping, we're all coping.  Except Lilly."

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"Mmm."  Was Jason's noncommittal reply as he plopped precise circles of batter onto the large skillet, turning and fetching packs of bacon and sausage from the fridge and setting them to cooking in the second pan.  Marissa narrowed her eyes a little at his back, then moved to lean with one hip on the counter by the stove, far enough back that she wouldn't be in his way as she studied his impassive expression.

"Use your words." she said, not un-gently.  "You're upset with Lilly still.  I get it.  It's okay to be upset, you know."

"Disappointed." he said simply, shrugging one shoulder.  "Not angry anymore."  And like that, he was resorting to shorter, terse sentences, shutting down and withdrawing emotionally.  Marissa reached out and punched him on the shoulder, causing him to start and look at her in surprise

"Stop that."  she sniffed.  "I know you like Lilly.  I mean, I guess you do, or you'd not give a shit.  But she ran off and left us, then chased Devin and Cass around the woods with a loaded gun, then showed up too late to help with anything and stood around calling us all nuts.  So you'll forgive me if my opinion of her isn't soaring."

"She's my friend."  he said quietly, flipping pancakes.  Mari sighed, then arched a brow.

"Just a friend?" she asked pointedly.  Bannon shot her a faintly annoyed look, then smiled a little.

"Just a friend." he confirmed.  "I had a sort of crush on her once.  I still like her, but I'm not wasting my time on forlorn crushes and other teenage love drama."  He grinned slightly as one stack of pancakes was plated up, bacon and sausage joining it.  "For what it's worth, you're my friend too.  At least until you do something to disabuse me of the notion."  He handed her the plate.  "Syrup and butter are on the table - I'll get Devin lined up."  He said as he poured out more pancakes, then gave her a sly smile.  "And since you asked nicely, I'll go easy on him.  What he saw would shake anyone."

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She took a seat and poured on syrup as the small cut of butter melted.  The way she ate seemed to belay her hundred and ten pound frame and fit figure, but she didn't waste anytime digging in.  "Sho," she said with a mouthful of pancakes, covering her mouth politely as she pressed on.  "Why shorta? I mean, the girls in that little click are bashically throwing themshelvesh at you."

She took a drink of coffee and washed it all down.  "Ugh, so good.  Why don't you date?  What has you so scared?  They like you, you like them.  No regrets, just see how it goes."

The quiet hum of the Ducati engine was only given away be Devin's need to rev it once to announce his presence as he kicked down the stand no far from Marissa's Mercedes.  He got off the bike and set his helmet on the seat and looked around.  "Emjay!" he yelled, smelling the food but seeing both the porch and the bar and not really being sure where to start.

"Kitchen!"   Mari replied like she lived here and had no problems shouting in Jason's house.  "Oh, sorry."  She said at a more comfortable level.

He hopped up onto the porch with only a single stride and tapped twice on the door.  Jason waved him in and barely managed to formulate a hello before Devin shoved a sketch in his face.  He was looking rough.  Like he'd not slept and was hopped up and anxious more than usual.  He was a bit pale and sweating a little but that could have been from the helmet.  He looked like shit compared to his usual name brand everything self.  "This is what got that guy.  The cephalo-gina."  He slammed it down on the counter top.

"Can't believe you named it that," Marissa shook her head.

"It's real, Marissa," Devin snapped at her, using her whole name which he rarely did.

She raised a hand up, dismissing him while she cut another bite from her pancakes.  "Never said it was wasn't, Momento.  Chill."

The drawing was good.  Real good.  The more it seemed everyone got to know each other the more Bannon was realizing that no one was truly who they appeared to be.  Devin, despite all his flaws and 'personality hurdles', possessed a real talent.  "You do this?"  He asked.

"Yeah,"  Devin nodded.  He was edgy, moving like he was tweaking, a side effect of lack of sleep and severe over abundance of vitamin B.  If he had to guess Bannon would have said Devin slammed a few 5-hour energies.  He didn't envy the crash Devin had coming to him.  He could only defy nature so long.  "Why?"

"It's good."  Bannon nodded.  "Breakfast?"

"Hm?" He looked at Jase.  He could see his hand quivering from whatever he took to stay awake and 'keep his edge'.  "What?  No.  I'm good."

"Deej, eat."  Marissa motioned to her plate.  "C'mon.  We can't do much until everyone else gets here and you were in no shape to cook breakfast this morning so I know you didn't eat."

"No."  He shook his head.  His eyes were going a million miles on every direction, thankfully simultaneously in the same directions...  "I'm, good."

Jason slid a plate onto the table not far from him.  "Don't make me waste this, man.  Some of us aren't rich.  Do me a courtesy and eat what's offered.  You can complain later."

With a sigh Devin looked around, like he was expecting the creature to leap from the walls.  Lack of sleep and too much unhealthy voodoo to keep himself awake was starting to seriously unbalance him.  The food would certainly help.  "Yeah, okay."

Jason could see the worry for her brother reflected in Marissa's eyes.  Everything in her expression told him and defined for him what love looked like when it was tested.  Empathy, sympathy, raw concern were all things that read across the face of a young woman who would ruin peoples lives just for fun and personal amusement.  As Devin ate his food like he was one and it was a smash cake she reached over and took his hand, rubbing her thumb gently across the back of his hand.  She looked back at Jason and offered him a worry filled half smile mouthed an apology for her brother's attitude and behavior.  "Slow down, you're going choke.  What the shit, dude."

"It might come back.  It's saw me and Cass."  He shoveled more pancakes into his mouth.  "We have to be ready for it.  It might come for us.  I protected her Mari.  I can't let it get her."

She pushed herself away from the table and moved back to Jason, shrugging.  He just smiled and raised his hands, talking softly.  "Your brother is high as shit right now.  No sleep, excess Vitamin B in his system, probably a three of for month supply.  He's going to have a lot of energy for awhile and be a loopy while his body processes it all, then pass out for twelve to sixteen hours and wake up with on hell of a full body fatigue going on."

"What can you nerds make, huh?"  He looked back to Bannon, gripping the back of the chair with his armpit.  "I need to stop that thing.  I'm going to need machine guns, lasers, grenades," he twirled his fork.  "One of those uh, things the Martian guy always was making..."

"The Eludium P36 Explosive Space Modulator?"  Jason asked.

"Yeeeaaahhh," Devin said excitedly with wide eyes, like it really existed and sounded awesome.  "One of those.  We gotta get it before it hunts us like in Final Destination or some shit.  It's coming.  I know it.  Get building nerd.  Chop-chop!"  He tap his fork on the table and got back to eating his pancakes.

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"Deej, they're science nerds just about to start Junior year."  Marissa said with some asperity.  "Not 'Q' division, any more than you're James Bond."  She paused, eyes narrowed, then looked at Jason when he didn't say anything.  "Right?"  He was studying the picture, his eyes intent.  "Jason?"

"Hmm?  Oh, I guess Devin could be James Bond.  Tawny can be Moneypenny."  Bannon said with an enigmatic smile.  Devin grunted something enthusiastic and affirmative around a mouthful of food, and Jase set the drawing aside and started prepping more pancakes.  "I can't do lasers, sadly.  At least not weaponised ones.  But getting hold of guns will not be a problem.  Dad has some downstairs in a coded vault."

"And you know the code?"  Marissa slowly stated rather than asked, fully expecting the nod that Jason, in fact, did give.

"No frag or high explosive grenades, though he has coloured smoke and CS gas.  Plus pistols, shotguns, rifles, a couple of 'Ray-kays'."  Bannon slapped some more bacon in the skillet then glanced at Marissa's frozen expression.  "Chinese knockoff AK-102's."  As she continued to stare he clarified.  "Assault carbines."

"Jeezus!"  Marissa shook her head.  "People always say you're the most likely to shoot up the school, but I figured that the worst we'd have to worry about was a freaking pistol.  Do you know how to use them?"

"No."  Bannon shook his head.  "Hank's promised to train me soon, though.  Oh, and I'm good with chemicals and things that go 'boom', and could probably take out the school with the contents of the janitor's closet, if I had to."  He gave her a sidelong smile.  "Am I oversharing?  It's not too late to run."  Marissa closed her mouth and recovered her aplomb, tossing her head and smirking at him.

"Run?  Me?  You're not even close to scaring me off." she sassed.  "You're just getting interesting."  He laughed, a low quiet chuckle, serving up more food onto Devin's plate and flipping a couple of spare pancakes onto hers.  She nodded thanks and sat by her brother as Bannon rejoined them at the table with a fresh cup of coffee, planting a glass of OJ next to Devin.

"I'm not keen on breaking out my dad's guns, for several reasons.  First, so far as I know none of us is range-trained, let alone fit for high powered firearm combat.  Secondly if anything goes wrong, it comes back on him.  And thirdly, this thing looks like its closer to a starfish than a cephalopod, and that means riddling it with bullets might not slow it down much.  Shotguns might do enough massive tissue damage to impair it, and with enough shots put it down, but really we have no idea about it's physiology.  This dorsal raised area might house a central nervous system, but other than that I have zero clue."  He held up Devin's drawing again, examining it critically as he sipped his coffee black.  "If we ever do get hold of it, I'd want you to do the anatomical sketches though, Devin.  This is excellent."

"Thanks, man.  So no machine guns?"  Devin said, demonstrating how much of the conversation he had followed so far.  His eyes darted around the farm kitchen, but the comfortable surroundings and food seemed to calm him, as did Jason's own stoic manner.  

"Not yet.  You're safe here, Devin.  And we have options when we need them.  Plus Sean and Sara might be able to expand our bag of tricks as well.  They're both quite handy., tech wise."  He got up and poured a large glass of water from a pitcher out of the fridge, setting both down in front of the wired teen.  "Drink this down, Devin.  You're going to be thirsty, and peeing out the crap you've drunk is probably the fastest cure."  Marissa mouthed a 'thank you' as Jase settled back down across from the twins.

"We need to focus on the investigation side, really.  Once we know what we're dealing with, we'll know how to stop it.  Hell, for all I know blowing it to bits would end up with each bit becoming a whole new cephalogina."  He frowned.  "The sabertooth is more mundane - it's a big damn cat and big damn guns should deal with it.  Perhaps tranquilisers - capturing it might prove of more benefit."  He mused, tugging at his lower lip as he sat back and looked at the ceiling, deep in thought.

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Clara's Ford C-Max looked positively boorish next to the Audi and Ducati, though no less out of place in the midst of the dilapidated decay of Lona’s childhood farm. Lona got out of the car slowly, staring around at the heap of her parents’ dreams. Swallowing hard, she tried to smash down a dozen memories: planting seeds, picking blackberries, weeding, and playing outside. Those memories didn’t match the overgrown and half-rotten image in front of her.

 

“I need a moment,” she told Clara brusquely, pulling a pack of cigarettes out and digging into her jeans for a lighter. “Go on in.” The rough tremble in her voice betrayed her heightened emotional state, even as she lit up and stared back at the road to hide it.

 

Clara squeezed Lona’s shoulder and headed inside, suppressing her own desire to try to get Lona to talk things out instead of smoking. She was learning! She hooked her thumbs into the straps of her backpack, shifting from one foot to the other as she waited for a response. In her running shoes, hair up in a ponytail, and sensible-but-still-expensive jeans and shirt, she looked every inch like she was already back in school. A new necklace with an antiqued gold-and-blue compass pendant sat solidly against her chest.


Clara stepped up on the porch, knocking politely on the door. She tugged at the pendant as she waited, still unused to its weight.

 

Spoiler

The watch pendant, just for funs.

image.png

 

 

 

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"Kitchen!"  came a female shout from inside, followed by a quieter "Sorry." as Marissa once more demonstrated what she considered to be her boundless take-charge talent and a lot of other people, Devin included at times, considered her predilection for being a bossy cow.  As a bemused Clara followed the porch around to the open kitchen door, she could hear the twins gently wrangling.

"...didn't have to shout like that.  I felt like my heart was gonna jump out my chest!"  Devin could be heard complaining.  And then the screen door opened to show Jase on the other side, gesturing her to come in as his pale eyes studied her without the usual drop or glance to the side that had, before Thursday night, been his most identifiable idiosyncrasy.  His lips curved in a faint smile as he nodded in welcome, the faint crinkling at the corners of his eyes giving the expression genuine warmth.

"Pray enter." he said, gesturing to the large kitchen table in the middle of the room where it looked as though Devin and Marissa had already gotten comfortable.  His next words surprised Clara.  "Breakfast is still on.  Coffee and pancakes?"

"Uh- sure!" she smiled.  She had spaced completely about this get-together, and so after having gone running had found no time for breakfast, having resigned herself to going hungry.  Never one for spare pleasantries, Jase nodded once more and turned away to the stove, his usual slouch also having disappeared and making him seem taller as he moved with straight-backed grace around the farm kitchen.  He still looked like he dressed in cast-offs one size too large and his hair still looked like a haystack after a storm, but a marked difference was there.

"Lona?"  he asked Clara over one shoulder as he fetched a box of eggs from the fridge, indicating with his other hand that she should help herself to coffee from the pot with a rack of mugs beside it.  Clara shrugged awkwardly.

"She's just finishing up a cigarette.  We - uh - weren't sure what your rules were about smoking inside."  she said as she poured some of the aromatic brew.  She could feel his eyes on the  back of her head before she took a breath and turned around, smiling.  He studied her a moment more, then nodded.

"Not in the house.  Smoke gets into everything.  It's a filthy habit." he said with a trace of ironic tilt in his smile.  "Cream and sugar on the table."  He turned back to the stove, mixing bowl under one arm as he worked the batter round some more.

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The sound of decades old metal could be heard growing louder and louder, though not overly loud, as Lilly's '57 Chevy pickup cruised down the driveway with the windows rolled down in a vain attempt to make up for the pickup's lack of air conditioning. She pulled up and parked, waiting for half a minute or so for the song to end, singing a grooving along with it, before finally killing the engine stepping out of her old, rusted pickup along with Charlie, who she had picked up on the way. Her truck stood out painfully against the other vehicles parked, but strangely fit in rather well with the rest of the old farm, almost like it belonged there.

Lilly leaned in and grabbed her backpack, throwing it over a shoulder and closing the door. She turned and waited for Charlie to come around the back of the truck before she started walking toward the house. The pair could see Lona sitting against Clara's car, smoking a cigarette. Lilly paused and looked over to Lona.

"Hey Lona. What's up? You okay?" she asked with a hint of concern.

Lona nodded.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'll be there in a minute." she answered and took another drag from her cigarette.

Lilly was not exactly best friends with Lona, but knew her well enough to know that something was bothering her, but also knew that Lona was one who tended to keep things in and talk when she was good and ready and her answer made it clear she just wanted to be alone right now, so Lilly nodded back while Charlie waved.

"Cool. See you inside." Lilly said nonchalantly and headed toward the porch. 

Lilly had most of her long hair tied back in a long, loose braid. She was wearing a long, very light gray tank-top and a short blue-gray tight skirt, while on her feet she wore simple matching sandals. it was a simple, cute, summery outfit for the warm weather which covered her very short, gray athletic shorts and sports bra from her earlier run. Since she normally at least ran on Saturday mornings, Lilly had decided it was easier to put a top and skirt in her bag and be seen leaving in her athletic apparel so as to not make anything unusual. 

It was not her first time at the farm, having picked up Jase quite often for gaming and such, so she was somewhat familiar with it while it was pretty new to Charlie, his only visit being the night of the party when they stopped to pick up 'supplies' for the party. It was dark then, making it difficult to get a good look at anything outside of the islands of light that were cast by the pickup's headlights. In the morning son it looked quite different; old and not in perfect order, but still perfectly serviceable. It was almost like a facade to hide the truth of the place.

She stepped onto the porch with Charlie following her lead, as she seems to somewhat know the place and, knocked, and waiting for a reply.

"Kitchen!" they heard Jase call out from around the corner of the house, which was a bit surprised as they had never heard him yell like that.

Charlie poked around the corner and started heading toward the sounds, and smells, which he found emanating from the screen door of the kitchen. With a smile he opened it and stepped in, followed by Lilly.

"Hey'o." he said with a smile as he was drawn immediately to the smell of coffee as Jase handed him a cup with a faint grin.

"Welcome." Jase said, addressing the newly arrived pair, clearly pleased  to seem them both ('clearly' at least to those who knew him and could read is often sphinx-like expression)

"Cream and sugar are on the table." Jase said to Charlie, nodding toward the table where Mari, Devin and Clara sat.

"Hey guys." Lilly said in her usual greeting as she shifted her sunglasses up to her head and nodded to each of the others at the table, though she was ready for some sort of snarky comment or insult from Devin and/or Mari.

"Breakfast. Pancakes, if you want some." Jase said as she stirred the batter.

"Yes, please!" Charlie said enthusiastically, which made Lilly chuckle.

"Sure." Lilly answered as Jase walked over to the friedge.

"But just one or two. I'm not a fan of coff-." she said as Jase, having noticed Lilly's dislike of coffee months ago, pulled out a pottle of orange juice and set it on the table with a grin.

"Well fine then. Be that way." Lilly said in teasingly, rolling her eyes as she smiled and poured herself a glass.

Spoiler

5439401ddabc21f5b16afefa6e4139e9--hiking

 

 

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Devin didn't jump so much this time as Marissa and Jason both chorused "Kitchen!", but he did glare at them both as he drained his glass of water and poured another.  The food was settling him, the water already diluting the vitamin B he'd all-but OD'd on, and the comfortable friendly air of the kitchen was such a departure from the madness of the woods and the tense atmosphere at home that it was a balm to his troubled mind.  The arrival of Clara, then Charlie and Lilly passed without comment as he finished shoveling pancakes into his mouth and discreetly belched, grinning at the muttered 'gross' from Marissa, who leaned over and checked his forehead with her palm, then checked his eyes like a concerned mother.

"Feel better?" she asked quietly.  Devin was still jittery, his eyes restless as they attempted to track everyone at once, but at least he didn't seem on the edge of a panic attack.

"Mmhm."  He grunted, nodding.  "Good pancakes.  You have some?"  Marissa blinked as she realised he hadn't noticed her eating as well, casting a glance at Jason, who shrugged one shoulder and shook his head, a faint smile indicating that this was not a concern right now.

"Yeah, I did." she said with a warm smile for her twin. "And yeah, they are."

12 hours ago, Lilly Pryor said:

"Well fine then. Be that way." Lilly said in teasingly, rolling her eyes as she smiled and poured herself a glass.

"I shall."  Jase deadpanned, a glint of sly humor in his eyes as he plopped more batter out on the skillet while his guests relaxed.  Charlie wandered around the kitchen, cup of coffee in hand as he examined the bookshelf filled with cookbooks on one wall, all of which looked well-thumbed.  He cast a gaze at Jason, who was occupied, then poked his head briefly out of the kitchen into the hallway, blinking at the sight of an assortment of bookshelves in a variety of styles, all heavily laden, lining the walls.

"Feel free to explore if you want."  Jase said calmly as he glanced around.  "Bathroom is along the hall on the left.  I ask that you stay out of any room with a closed door.  Those will be bedrooms upstairs."  Charlie jerked at little, feeling like he had been caught prying, but Jase didn't seem to care at all, plating up some breakfast for Clara and Charlie and sliding it onto the table before setting up another plate for Lilly.

"I just realised I've known you for, what, a few years we've been gaming?  And never been inside this place."  Charlie commented as he took a seat and began eating.  Lilly nodded agreement.

"I'm a private person."  Jason shrugged.  "Perhaps to the point of hiding myself for the sake of hiding, I've recently had cause to consider." he added without looking at Marissa, who smiled slightly as she kept an eye on Devin.  "That's part of why I invited people today.  I'm trying something new."

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The day after, Friday, some of them, Jase, Lilly, Sara and Sean, had gone back to the Party site to make sure it was cleaned up and as much evidence that here had been anything going on there as possible was gone. It took most of the morning and at lunch with the noon sun bearing down the entered the wood they had avoided talking about.

With the sunlight streaming through the trees it seemed a much shorter walk than it had the night before and when they arrived sure enough the trailer was still there just as they had left it. It didn’t look as is anyone had disturbed the place at all. The tracks were there too and looked just as big and scary in the daylight as they had in the dark maybe more so.

They didn’t stay long just changed the lock with a new one Sara had picked up in town and she had made copies of the key one for each of them. As they were leaving Jase got their attention. “My old man’s going hunting tomorrow, him and Hank, I thought maybe y’all’d want to come over to the farm. You know we can talk about this without any pressure or distractions.”

No one really said much of anything but they all sort of nodded agreement, “Cool I’ll get the word to everyone else,” Said Jase, then they left.

 

Sara woke up and rolled out of bed, it was Saturday morning and she had slept later than she had intended. After she dressed, she found that her mom hadn’t come home from her night out. Sara was long past worrying about her mom, so it didn’t really phase her that she hadn’t come home. She grabbed a glass of milk and an orange then headed out. She was riding one her dad’s dirt bikes today, the wrecker was to big and drank diesel like a hog. As she flew down the road, she had every intention of going out to the Bannon Farm, but she kept right on going and before she knew it, she was back at the bridge over the river which led to the camp.

Sara spent about thirty minutes looking over the old logging bridge and inspecting the adjacent railway bridge which also was no longer in use. She spent another twenty minutes just sitting on the bike before kicking it alive and heading back to the main road and then off to Bannon’s farm.

Sara parked the bike away from the cars, Lilly’s truck and the expensive motorcycle that was nothing but a big ‘hey look at me I’m better than you’ to everyone in Shelly. She hadn’t thought that Jase would invite them, the Jauntsons, but here they were. She wasn’t the last one here she thought assuming the rest would come. Setting her helmet on the bike seat she sauntered up to the porch and knocked on the door only to hear chorus of voices call out, “We’re in the Kitchen!” followed by laughter. With heavy footsteps the big girl went around to the side door and joined the rest.

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"It's a good new, I think." Charlie said approvingly. The smells of the pancakes helped certainly. And the coffee, which he really did need. Could one get a weed hangover? Charlie felt like he needed a pick-me-up from one. With a light amount of cream and sugar stirred into his coffee, Charlie took a drink. It was really good. Did Bannon hand-grind or grow the coffee here? With this survivalist locale and lack of certain modern amenities, maybe.

"So I'm rather fuzzy about the other night. All I remember is that something strange happened and I was high enough to qualify for a halo. Recap please?"

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"Duuuuude, you were fucked up," Devin laughed, shaking his head.  "Sayin' some strange shit."

"Says the guy who's been downing 5 hour energy drinks since the party and hasn't slept in forty eight hours."  Marissa huffed like a mother hen.  She stepped up and took her dishes to the sink near Jason and turned the water on.

"I'll get those, just set them in," he started when she shot him a look.

"I got it.  You're going through the trouble of cooking for us.  Least I can do is clean up after myself, contrary to popular belief this manicure does touch dishes from time to time."  She proceeded to rinse and organize the the dishes so she'd have a starting point as people finished.  "Have a seat, Glee Club, you have mine."

"You sure, I don't want to put you out," Charlie protested.

"Sit."  She pointed at the chair then sharply shifted her direction so she was pointing directly at the floor.  "It's not five star guys, I mean c'mon, look at the place.  I know you losers travel in packs so it's not likely all of you are going to pack around that four seater dining table.  I'm done eating.  Sit.  Enjoy.  Couldn't you have just brought up the table from the basement that you and peepaw carve up your victims on?"

Jason shook his head.  "Leg is wobbly."  He shrugged apologetically.  "Safety first."

Charlie sat down while Marissa continued flirting(?) with Jason.  He sipped his coffee and looked at Devin, then Lilly then the others... unsure of what to say.  For a drama guy, he didn't have the greatest skills in initiating conversations.  Especially with Devin sitting at the table.  How does one talk normally while their everyday tormentor for three years just sits there beside you munching on pancakes.  "So," he went for it as he looked at Devin who was just chowing through pancakes like an athlete bulking up.  "Trouble sleeping, huh?"

It was a perfectly innocent question meant for nothing more that to start conversation.  A toddler would have known the Charlie didn't mean anything by it, but they were deling with something worse than a toddler... Devin.  The loud clatter of his fork hitting the plate startled everyone.  For a moment he didn't say anything, he chewed and in the irritating way people do lips made those slow, strange movements that spelled frustration and irritation.

"Dude," he started then sighed immediately after.  Whether it was for effect or to gather his thoughts, no one knew.  "The other night while you were baked off your ass I was shot at and almost killed.  At first I thought that was the worst of it, but, then I get this guys name, Captain Cooper?  You see Captain Cooper looked right at me and Cass.  Right at us.  And when that thing grabbed his head the look in his eyes was nothing short of vividly clear.  He knew he was about to die.  No more Christmases for him.  His family will probably never know what happened to him.  He'll be forgotten."  He was just looking at his plate of pancakes as the whole thing replayed again in his mind for the umteenth time.  "So I get to sit and wonder from now until I leave this Earth if there was something I could have done for him?  All I did was just stand there.  I stood there, scared and just let that thing have him.  It's kinda of a shitty feeling, regret."

He looked at Charlie sternly, like he always did.  Charlie didn't miss the level of sadness in his eyes.  "So, yeah Glee Club... I'd say I'm having a pretty hard time sleeping lately."  He pushed his plate away and buried his head in one hand, raking it through his hair and massaging the bride of his nose.

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Clara was tucking in her breakfast, doing her best to ignore the people in the room she didn't feel like talking to yet. Then Charlie stuck his head in the maw that was Devin Jauntson's conversational skills and everyone around the table tensed like cats hunting a cucumber. She shivered when Devin recounted his side of the party night events, her hands shaking enough that she set her utensils down to keep from flat out dropping them. In the moment of silence that followed, she pulled her backpack around and pulled out two orange prescription bottles. She doled out four pills from each - one kind round and white and the other oval and salmon pink. Both had deep scores down the center for breaking them in half. She held them out to Devin.

"The white one is for panic attacks and the pink one is for sleep. Try just a half at a time, they're pretty strong. I don't use them all the time, so I some have extras. I know it's not a good idea to take someone else's prescriptions, but I don't know how you could explain why you need them to your doctor without ending up in the psych ward. You have to sleep." She was very pointedly not looking at the rest of the group, figuring she was probably about to be yelled at by at least three different people and not able to hold onto to being nice to Devin and possibly ruining her reputation with everyone else. Being nice to Devin was hard enough as it was, but she knew what it was like to live on caffeine, desperation, and a deep loathing of dreaming. It had been years since she'd had to take them regularly, but she always had some on hand and a prescription ready to be filled for when she had a bad day or week or month. Midterms and finals were the worst. "Hopefully it'll be enough to get you back to sleeping without it. Or to figure out a good cover story for a psychiatrist."

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Sara didn’t knock again she just paused outside for a moment in wonderment of the normalcy of what she was seeing inside with everyone at the table and Marissa washing dishes,  then Devin got upset at something Charlie said and Sara froze  remembered the man-zombie pointing the gun at her and the cloud roiling behind him and the thing coming out of it and taking the man’s head in its mouth the man throwing up his arms and the gun going off as he was drug into the cloud…

She waited a moment the illusion of normality brushed aside but the strangeness they had encountered the strangeness that had done something to her.

Sara opened the door and plastered a smile she didn't feel on her face and stepped into Jase's kitchn, "Hiya guys, Jase, got any more bacon?"

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Lilly watched the other, sipping her orange juice as she did, and let out a small, almost imperceptible sigh accompanied by a matching shaking of her head as she watched Mari getting cozy with Jase. He was her friend, and she cared about him. He was quiet and misunderstood by most, but deep down he was actually a thoughtful, caring guys, even if he had his own way of showing it. She did not want to see Mari ruin that... to make her friend into something else like he'd already seemed to show a hint of the night of the party with the way he spoke to everybody matching the mocking tone Mari had used with her and telling everybody, essentially, 'if you do not 100% believe what we saw was real, then GTFO'. He had apologized, but she wondered if he was now on the slippery slope and if he would act like that more and more and the day would come that he would no longer apologize.

And then, sitting there going off on Charlie, on innocent, exuberant Charlie, was Devin. She was not exactly ready to seem him yet either. He had worked her last good nerve into oblivion that night with he comments, mis-characterizations and flat out insults. She had wanted to talk to him that night, but let it go because she knew she couldn't stand another one of his outbursts at her. They might have been justified, given his stress that night, but that did not make them any easier to endure in the moment.

Lilly gave another slight shake of her head and took another sip of the orange juice when she noticed Sara enter and greet everybody. She had not particularly known Sara, but in the course of the few days preparing for the party, and the events of that night, she had gotten to know her a little better and the two now shared a great deal of trust. She liked Sara, actually. She was calm and composed generally, a rock among the sea of chaos. Maybe she'd see if she wanted to workout together or restore her truck. The thought brought a faint smile to her lips, though Sara's expression dragged it down a bit.

"Bacon? You didn't say anything about bacon." Lilly said to Jase jokingly with a grin after Sara asked, trying to lighten the mood, or at least her own spirits.

Lilly then looked to Sara and gave nodded, offering a fistbump.

"Hey, Hutchins. What's up?" she asked, offering her a friendly smile.

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1 hour ago, Sara Hutchins said:

"Hiya guys, Jase, got any more bacon?"

"Sure."  Jase said, glancing Sara's way with a nod as he slapped some more ingredients on the skillet.  "Coffee's there, orange juice is there.  Standing room only for now, but at least there's space to lean."  Sara felt the still calm of his presence as a counterpoint to the frantic energy of Devin's fear and remorse as their host glanced at Lilly, one eyebrow quirking.  "I said breakfast, Pryor.  Bacon is implied."  He smiled faintly as he added more bacon to the skillet as well.

1 hour ago, Clara Lys Wright said:

"The white one is for panic attacks and the pink one is for sleep. Try just a half at a time, they're pretty strong..."

At the sink Marissa turned sharply, and for a moment Jason thought she was going to fly into Clara's face, but instead she was mouthing 'No-no' and waving her hands in a warning-off, cease and desist fashion.

"Drugs!?"  Devin's head came up out of his hand as he fixed bloodshot eyes on Clara's hand, then her face.  "Is that everyone's answer?  Get wasted?!  Most of the school are wandering around like zombies anyway, so what's one more sleepwalking moron, right?  Can't sleep - take drugs.  Junior is getting into fights - take drugs.  Need something to sharpen you up or mellow you out?  Freakin' Bannon is supplying weed and an Adderall derivative- which, I just found out yesterday, he produces himself!  Probably in the barns along side the bodies hanging from hay hooks!"  Devin got up from the table, waving his arms as he paced whilst Marissa pinched the bridge of her nose, actually giving Clara a sympathetic look and shrug.  She took advantage of Devin's movement to grab his empty plate and take it to the sink, weaving around the moving male Jauntsen with ease.

"Okay, fine, you need those sometimes."  Devin pointed at Clara's hand.  "I get it.  They were prescribed by someone with letters after their name and shit.  But you don't just go around offering them to people, people!  There could be contrafibulations-"

"Contraindications."  Jase corrected quietly, Marissa shooting him a Look which he just shrugged off as he loaded up some plates.

"Yeah!  Those!"  Devin agreed, winding down a little as he leaned against the wall.  "I just think there's too much drug culture.  Really, guys.  Try flying straight for a fucking change!"  he said almost plaintively.

"Not fucking likely."  Marissa snorted under her breath, smirking as she rinsed Devin's plate.  Turning back to the table, she gave Clara a nod of acknowledgement as the other girl slowly put the pills away.  "Thanks for the thought, but my brother is a prude."

"It was the thought that counted."  Bannon said calmly as he came to the table with plates of pancakes and bacon, setting one down for Sara at Devin's vacated spot and another in the center for people to pick at.  "And there's not much wrong with Devin that won't be fixed once the energy drinks he's hopped up on flush out of his system."  He picked up the sheet of paper with Devin's drawing on and set it down in front of Lilly, Clara and Charlie.  "That's what Devin and Cass saw - what are your impressions?"  he asked them, plainly measuring their responses.

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*The Hess Household, Basement*

Coraline's friends were smart. They'd come up with some way to tackle this problem and it's invisible, teleporting monsters with their mind, bodies, and souls in one piece. Last thing they needed was the input of a scared, idiot girl while they did so. If they decided to do something and needed a body, she'd come running. Until then? No. Just no. The tall brunette was on edge, restless. She liked people, and... That night had poisoned her affection for them, added a taint of doubt to that particular well she had come to not expect from the small town. Just that much more draining to say the words and smile the smiles and dance the dance she needed to dance to be the good girl she had to be.

A party by any other name, no matter how 'low key' it was promised to be, was not copacetic with what she was feeling right now. She wanted, needed, time alone to digest and deal, to get everything in her head back under control.

So here she was, Saturday morning, in her socks, leggings, and a comfy, ugly as sin t-shirt she'd deny loving to the day she died. A half-wall length mirror was in front of her, reflecting Coraline as she stretched on a bar attached to an adjacent wall. Mirror and bar were a gift she'd gotten for her 13th birthday, a private little space to practice away from prying eyes during her war with her changing center of gravity. A couple hours of this, and she'd feel better. It had worked the day before. Know what you were doing on a dance floor, and no one would screw with you, three minutes of social invulnerability. She liked that feeling a lot. 

Straightening up from a stretch, she caught sight of her Father's punching bag in the opposite corner. She was lucky. No grounding, yet, for blowing her curfew even if the reason was her Father getting distracted by a 'Bad Day at Work', all he usually told them when something went wrong or some criminal decided pudding day merited a stabbing or a riot. No probing questions as to why she suddenly asked to join a kickboxing class at the civic center followed by a 'yes' to the request. And miracle of miracles, no worse than the usual rumbling 'I'll need to talk to the boy.' when she mentioned Cade and their vague plans to catch a movie or something...

Enough of that though. She padded over to the speaker with a satisfied grunt, finger scrolling her way through her playlists in search of the perfect one for a perfect Saturday session.

 

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Lilly walked past her into the house, thankfully, and Lona relaxed. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, much less the sometimes-overbearing Lilly. Knowing that she meant well didn’t change the sense of being lovingly smothered. Most of the time, it made it worse because bitching about it only made you look like an ungrateful douche who like to kick puppies and shit on chocolate cakes.

Stubbing out the cigarette on the ground, she stood up and turned toward the house. She meant to go inside and join the others but instead she journeyed around the corner of the building and headed for the path leading to the back of the farm. She shouldn’t be running around on someone else’s property, but her feet carried her along anyway. 

The path was harder to find; without Arthur and her tromping down the way daily, the wilds were starting to reclaim them. She persevered until she found it, ducking into the underbrush and pushing into the small stand of trees that followed the season creek on the east edge of the property. The creek wasn’t accessible without serious effort and a willingness to fight through brambles -- unless you knew the Secret Road.

The first marker was still there; Lona brushed her fingers over the rough smiley face cut into the tree’s trunk. Tears rose as memories flooded her. A hundred wild adventures and crazy tales had been spun together out here in the trees, where she had been the Warrior Princess and Arthur had been the First Dragon Rider (a title she’d always been jealous of but he’d come up with it first), fighting off the villains and monsters of fantasy, loosely coded from school and life. Chetten the Scourge who ate babies from the cradle and the Witch Priestess Courtana. The evil King Jerrad and his army of fire wolves, who ravaged the land without mercy. The Son of Jaunt the Warlord, who was surpassed only by his sister in his evil.

“We were so stupid,” Lona said with a laugh, wiping away tears. “Such dorks.” Of course, by the time they’d moved away, Arthur had stopped playing, preferring to spend time with friends or on the computer. The last adventures of the Warrior Princess had been solo missions, and more than one had been against Cancero, the Diseased Priest. She hadn’t yet understood that was an enemy who couldn’t be beaten.

The second marker, a cow skull, was missing. Lona found it hidden under leaves, knocked from its stake by the wind and buried by the elements. She returned it to its place with a fond smile. Moving past it, she pushed into the small clearing beyond.

Their castle had fallen down. Lona wasn’t surprised after five years, but it still hurt to see it down. Arthur and she had spent hours on “quests” to gather the sticks and branches to build the structure. She’d been so proud the day that Arthur had announced the Castle HighWind was finished.

It was all gone. She’d always known that but seeing it brought the hurt back. 

Blinking back tears, she turned to go, stopping when a burst of purple caught her eye. A blackberry hung on a branch, heavy and sweet, and once she’d seen one, she saw another and another. Grinning, she plucked one and popped it into her mouth, overjoyed that the thicket had thrived in her absence.

Turning up the edge of her shirt, she started to pick berries and drop them into her makeshift basket. She was guessing that Bannon hadn’t found this place, and for a moment, she debated not telling him.

This is his home now, she reminded herself, her delight fading a bit. Hiding this from him wouldn’t change that, and would be shitty, too. Sighing, she continued picking, hoping she could put enough in her shirt so that everyone got a few. Her circle of friends hadn’t changed, but her circle of associates seemed to be growing by the minute.

Ugh, since when are the Shelly Sociopath and the Mantis people I count as associates? Fuck my life.

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Sean was running late, but he took his time biking to Jase's home, not wanting to be a sweating mess by the time he got there. The sun was bright, but it wasn't scorching yet, and there was a pleasant breeze that made the bike ride less of a hardship. Still, he really needed to look at getting a car. Motorizing his touring bike hadn't gone as well as he'd hope and he'd had to restore it back to pedal power. His car fund was growing, he could get something decent used he thought, though he would prefer something new.

He had meant to head out earlier, but with success last night with what Sara had handed him the night before after the party, Sean had woken up in the mood to code and had settled into a groove, his fingers flying over the keyboard, the mouse and interactive pen feeling exceptionally precise and deft in his hands. The Party had gotten.... strange, a strange that was just getting stranger, a strange that was starting to affect him and his friends and his not-friends.

Making something, creating something with his own hands and ideas gave him a sense of stability and control when everything around him seemed to be changing. This wasn't his first game - the first was just a simple mobile game, a platformer without any microtransactions, it wasn't earning him much - but this one was far more ambitious, with no team behind it, just him. He couldn't predict how well it would turn out, how well it would sell - getting an indy game to break big took a lot of luck - but he knew the effort he was putting in to it, and was proud of what he was digitally sculpting.

No matter what anyone said, video games could be art.

Sean had his earbuds in, listening to the music he'd composed for one location to see if it grew irritating or annoying over a longer period of time, and it gave him the pretense to ignore any honking horns or crass propositions from the occasional passing motorist. Another reason to get a vehicle. The music was good, not excellent, but good. Maybe if he could make it flare or shift at points with the actions of the player...

Gravel crunched as he turned down the drive to Jase's home, and he turned off his earbuds and shoved them into a pocket his unzipped, sleeveless hoodie. He hadn't been here before, but he was sure it was the right place, according to Jase's directions and google maps. He cycled pass the light screen of trees and came to a stop, one red sneakered foot on the ground as he looked over the farm.

Jase had never invited him over before and Sean had thought his friend might have been embarrassed. It looked sort of run down, but his father was a general contractor, and Sean could tell is mostly just superficial wear and tear. From what he could see, the farm was in more than serviceable repair. It was just Jase and his dad, he didn't see what Jason would be embarrassed about. Guess its just being super private.

Sean pedaled up to the farmhouse, lips twisting as he swung off his bike when he saw Devin's distinctive Ducati. He couldn't help but feel a little insulted that Devin had been to Jase's place before he had, even if it was by an hour or so. He also had to resist the urge to sit on the high end motorcycle. It probably wasn't necessary, but by habit, Sean walked his bike over to the porch and chained it up, then got his computer bag from the rack over the back wheel and slung it over his shoulder.

He roughly brushed his windblown golden-red hair with his fingers then stepped lightly onto the porch. He would have texted Jase that he was here, but cell reception was suspect at best out here. Still, before he even got a chance to knock on the door, there came a giggling chorus of 'Kitchen!'

Sean walked around the porch and saw Lona coming up from behind the house, cradling something with the edge of her shirt. He gave her a curious look, but held the screen door open for her. "After you, Lona."

Lona nodded her thanks and Sean followed her in. There was the typical exchange of hi's and hellos and heys, Jase offering food, coffee and juice.

"Thanks, but I ate before I headed out," Sean said, though he still snagged two strips of bacon from the plate in the center of the kitchen table. He had eaten, but it had just been toast and a bowl of cereal he had quickly scarfed down before he'd left for Jason's place. "But I'll so take a cup of coffee."

Sean stiffened at the sight of Devin and Marissa, Marissa looking entirely too domestic and comfortable washing dishes, unable to put all the torment he'd suffered at the hands and words of the Jauntsens behind him. Even if they had been rather.... decent was too strong a word. Not actively vile? He gave them a cautious nod of greeting and muted, "Hey."

Sean made himself a cup of coffee, disdaining creamer but adding enough sugar that Jason was beginning to calculate the ratio of sugar to coffee.

Taking a sip of his coffee, Sean peered over Clara's shoulder at the drawing on the table. Having not seen it himself, 'for real', nor it eating Captain Connors, Sean just couldn't work up the same terror or recrimination Devin felt.

"This the unfortunately named cephologina? It kinda looks like it could be some sort of mutant kin or minion of a Beholder," Sean commented, adding a bit more sugar to his coffee. "Okay, really, it looks kinda starfishy to me."

Spoiler

Sean is wearing brown cargo shorts, a little snugger fitting than he usually wears, a sleeveless, light grey hoodie unzipped, and a green shirt.

pi_20delicious_20math_20-_20womens_20tee

 

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Lona slipped to Bannon’s side and caught his attention with a touch on his arm. “Here, I went and picked these. I thought you might like them.” She held the edge of her shirt out so he could see the plump, ripe berries. “Where do you want them?”

She glanced up at him, meeting his eyes, and for once, Bannon saw her without all the tension she carried all the time. She looked more at peace, her lips stained berry-red and a lack of tension in her expression. Few people had seen her relax this much, and no one had seen it since Clive’s last downturn in health. Being at Bannon’s farm seemed to agree with her mood.

“I could make a compote for the pancakes, if you want,” she offered with a shy smile. “Or you could refrigerate them and make cobbler or something like that. Or just eat them.” Her smile widened and she licked her lips, and Bannon saw that her tongue was stained, too.

"Where did you find these?" Bannon asked, reaching into a cabinet for a bowl.

"In the stand of trees, there's a little spot. Before we go, I can show you the path in." Sorrow slipped into her gaze. "It's a little hard to find unless you know where to look."

"Thank you," he said, and together they carefully shook them out of her shirt and into a bowl. As Lona rubbed ruefully at the purple spots left on her t-shirt, he slipped them into the fridge. 

Giving up on the stains, Lona glanced at the table caught sight of the drawing. Frowning, she leaned over Clara's chair for a better look. “There’s nothing like that in the re- known world,” she said, catching herself before she made a close-minded statement. “How big was it?”

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With the addition of Sean and the absence of Cora, which most likely meant the absence of Cade considering the closeness they seemed to be sharing, Marissa took Charlie's plate as he finished and moved to Clara's and took it as well.  The chattering of the group was mind numbing to Devin, who despite being an amazing artist, had never really produced anything but hot naked women in compromising positions.

"The hell is a beholder?" He said, irritated that he was quickly being surrounded by more and more nerds.

"A floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and many smaller eye stalks on top that all have powerful magical abilities."  Came the answer from the least likely of sources.  The only thing that made Marissa acknowledge the rest of the room and take a break from her dishes was the sudden strange and awkward silence that filled the room as every nerd stopped to look at her as if she suddenly sprouted arms from her head.

She inhaled and sighed.  "Okay, let's address the elephant in the room."  The Queen Bee deflected.  She wiped her hands with a towel and frowned as she picked at her nail polish which seemed to have chipped while cleaning.  She seemed relieved to discover it was just the polish, not the nail.  Priorities.  "That being my brother and I wallowing in the mud with you social rejects."

"Hell of a pitch," Lona mumbled with enough sarcasm to stage a teenage rebellion all it's own.  "I'm riveted.  Quick tell us how lame we are, it's been almost sixteen hours since we've heard it."

"Old habits," Marissa's gaze alone could have broke Lona's jaw but the Queen Bee tone in her voice was enough to wrangle back control of the conversation, at least until her next term of endearment got her and her brother lynched.  "I'm not liking this any more than any of you are, and I'm in a bit of a transitional phase at the moment.  It's as awkward for me as it is for you."

"Yeah, but you guys didn't spend three years kicking your own asses." Sean chimed up.  He had a bit of confidence with Sara and Jason in such close proximity.

"True, but it's not our fault you're on a lower tier socially than we are," her compassionate smile was as sad as the statement she believed justified everything.  "Look, this wasn't my idea so it's still not sitting well with me either-"

"-but she's supporting my decision." Devin said while looking at the drawing he made.  He just turned it edge over edge in his hands making the image spiral clockwise over and over.  "When I had my episode last week, all of you were there.  I don't mean to witness, I mean you acted.  All in your own way, you acted when the guy who had been your tormentor, your bully, one of a pair of people who were nothing to you but the avatar for your misery.  You coulda stolen from me," he looked to Lona.  "You didn't.  You could have let me to spaz out," he looked at Lilly.  "You didn't."

His eyes returned to the paper and he let it spin.  "I realized that day that now matter how many people in the popular clique I surround myself with, I had zero friends."  He paused and looked at Charlie.  "And I get to play card I damn well please."  He stood up and the sudden movement made Charlie flinch.  Devin taking a shot at Charlie was not something they would put past him and Sara quickly tensed up and prepared to put Devin in a pine box if she had to.  He just stood up though and patted Charlie on the shoulder.  "Relax.  No more ass whoopings.  You are all free of my tyranny.  No strings attached."

"But back to the card," he paced about, moving through the people in the kitchen (which was getting pretty crowded).  "See, none of you know me.  Or Marissa.  I don't fault you for thinking we're horrible, we are.  But you don't actually know a damn thing about us, hell you guys are so introverted," he motioned to Lilly.  "Except for Perfect Life Lilly, that you barely know each other.  I'm not even sure what I was looking for, but I decided at the very least, I'd leave you guys alone from now on.  Then-"

"-all the Weird Stuff happened at the party."  Okay, now it was getting strange.  The twins were doing that twin thing where they could literally finish each other's train of thought.  Marissa took over.  "Look, none of you like us here, we get that and trust us, we're not oblivious as to why.  We dress better, we look better, we understand how soap works," no where on that list, of course, was 'we spent three years making your lives hell'.  Still, she powered through.  "None of us, however can deny the insanity we stumbled on in the woods to which all of us have taken an interest.  Suffice it to say that we all have a vested desire in seeing where this rabbit hole goes.  I'm not fully on board with my brother's one eighty in high school career choices but if this is his cheese cake," nobody caught the reference.  "Well, I love him and I support this slice of lunacy with him.  So, I'll do my best and try to cope with having to deal with all of... you."

"Oh, well," Sara rolled her eyes.  "Don't put yourself out."

"You just insulted us three times, Marissa."  Sean laughed.  "In like... twenty seconds."

"Baby steps, sister!"  Marissa snapped back swiftly.  She pinched her finger and thumb together and swiped them horizontally.  "Zip it!"

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It was at the halfway point between her mom's house and the Bannon farm that Cassandra had occasion to second-guess her decision to ride her bike there. She'd felt weird calling Clara for a ride that early, and didn't really know anyone else who might be able to give her one, and hey...she was young right? And it was still cool in the morning! And it was good exercise!

Ugh. And clear across town, it felt like. And uphill. And the morning didn't STAY cool. And there was hardly any wind!

But it was still good exercise, she guessed.

She almost stopped at a convenience store to grab a bottle of water, but managed by dint of sheer willpower to stay the course. Keep focused! She had the thumbdrive she'd loaded the pictures she took on. It'd be fun to go over them with everyone! And she'd get to eat breakfast there! At this point Cassie wasn't even afraid it'd be Eggo waffles and hashish brownies. She'd take all that and more please because why was the whole world uphill right now?! How was that possible?!

Finally, finally, she saw the main house through the landscaping up ahead, and with legs that felt like red hot iron bars, she pedaled up to the deck

When the door opened after she knocked, Cassandra came in with an abashed grin...all sweaty from the road and said, "I gotta get a car."

On joining the others she wasted no time collecting a generous helping of whatever food was left and carting it back to her place at the table.

"So everyone..." Her hand dipped into her pocket, and came out with the thumbdrive. "Discuss."

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There was a stunned silence as everyone absorbed the twins revelation.  Charlie, blinking as he realised that Devin was being friendly, had a look of bafflement on his face.  Sean was torn between frowning at being called 'sister' and exchanging a 'what the hell?' look with Sara.  Lona was staring at the Jauntsen twins, but not in anger or resentment - her gaze was pensive as she absently chewed a strip of bacon she'd plucked from the plate in the center of the table.  Lilly's expression was a study in the term 'poker face', and Jason...

A sudden strange sound filled the silent kitchen.  It was as out of place as a sabertooth in the modern Montana woods, as weird and eerie as a giant flying starfish that ate men and disappeared.  It took a moment for everyone to realise what it was:  Jason Bannon was laughing.

Not "chuckling dryly".  Not "giving an amused grunt".  Laughing, a rich, happy and above all merry sound that seemed to come from his belly as he turned back from the fridge, closing the door and regarding their stunned faces.  Whatever he saw made him laugh harder.  It wasn't harsh and mocking, per se, but those present definitely got the impression they were part of the joke.

"And what are you laughing at, hayhook?"  Marissa snapped, her own lips twitching despite the frown knitting her sculpted brows.  Jase's eyes were bright, his smile radiant, and his laughter infectious.

"Everything." he managed, between chuckles.  "Most of all you, knowing what a beholder is."  The expression on Marissa's face at that sent him off into another fit of laughter.  "It sums up this situation perfectly!"

There was a snort from the table, and eyes swiveled as if on stalks to see Clara bury her head in her hands, shoulders shaking. Lona stuffed the bacon she was nibbling into her mouth and moved to rest her hands on Clara's shoulders, seeking to comfort her sister, only to realise that Clara, too, was laughing fit to burst.  That made Lona's eyes widen in concern, even as the laughter's next victim was Charlie, who chuckled good-naturedly, followed by Sean, whose girlish lips twisted in an effort to restrain himself, but the whole situation was too strange not to be funny and soon he, too, was giggling.  He hated his giggle - it was so damn feminine, but right now that seemed such a small thing.  Sara smirked and chuckled, shaking her head.

It was then that Cass arrived, sweating and somewhat confused about the laughter, but she was happy to take advantage of the confusion to grab breakfast and settle in while whatever madness she'd stumbled into worked itself out.

Jason had fallen silent as his fit of mirth passed, but was still smiling as he watched the room's occupants.  Devin was smiling slightly, shaking his head as though rueful.  "See, I told ya we'd break them." he said to Marissa, who smirked as she folded her arms and gave Jason a measuring look.

"You got something to say about me knowing about beholders?"  she challenged with a toss of her head.

"Just one thing."  Jase said as he spread his hands in a shrug.  His next word was not, in fact, his alone, coming as it did from Devin as well, the two youths chorusing "Nerd!" before Devin turned and offered Jase a high five, which the lanky young man took only a fraction of a second in responding to, despite it being unexpected.

"And one other thing to say."  Jase finished.  "You two are, of course, welcome here."  He nodded at Devin and Marissa, then glanced at the others.  "As welcome as anyone else here." he stated calmly, making his position plain.  "We all bring something, not just to this mystery we've fallen into, but to this group.  Or perhaps the term should be-"

"Don't say it!"  Sean warned, pointing at Jase, who grinned and shrugged.

"What?  Fellowship?  Was 'fellowship' the word you didn't want me to say, Sean?" He asked disingenuously.
 

9 hours ago, Cassandra Allen said:

"So everyone..." Her hand dipped into her pocket, and came out with the thumbdrive. "Discuss."

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"Before we get to that," Sara points at the thumbdrive, " I got something."

She pulls a small paper bag out of her back pocket and starts passing out the keys. "We went back to the trailer yesterday and it was still there and hadn't been messed with. I replaced the lock with a new one and these are the keys. Like Marissa and Bannon have said, we are all in this together, From the second Devin punched Chet and the Sheriff lumped us all into one...clique, right up to facing a saber tooth tiger and a flying starfish, so, I had one of these made for each of us. Just us." 

She leans back against the counter shoving the little bag back into her pocket, "I'll give Cade and Coraline theirs when I see them."

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Cassandra took her key, rather touched at the gesture. She still felt like a bit of an outsider to this bunch, and being included like this was...unexpected. And nice.

She waggled the key at Sara and grinned.

"Putting our own lock on it...ballsy move. I like it, but I hope you paid cash for it."

With a big yawn that bespoke insufficient sleep the night before, Cass tucked the key away and rubbed her temples, easing some of the tension she kept feeling.

"I'm thinking we ought to keep some kind of...rotating watch on that thing. Like stake it out. See if anyone comes sniffing around over there, or if anything else weird happens."

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As Marissa shot Jase and Devin both an elegant manicured bird before turning back to the sink to hide her smile, Clara frowned in thought. "If we want that kind of thing, we'll need a camera of some sort. If there's always one of us missing school, that's going to be noticed." She nodded to Cass, "It's a good idea, though. Might tell us a lot more, if someone does come checking up on the trailer. Or if it gets moved or anything else, we'd have a chance of know who."

She took her own key, slipping it onto her keyring somewhere in the middle of the dozen or so keys she already had. There was a new small and sleek thumbdrive of her own keeping the keys company as well. "Thanks, Sara. This was a good idea."

"As a matter of fact," Jase mused, lips twitching slightly.  "I agree as to keeping watch and the camera."  He nodded to Cass and Clara, then turned his gaze on Sean.  "But there's no need to risk personal exposure when we can set up remote surveillance, is there?"

"You want to set up cameras..?"  Sean blinked, then frowned as he considered, nodding.  "We could set up one or two, and mics too...  yeah.  Lemme think that over."  The weirdly-pretty (at least to the guys) redhead's lips pursed in a pout as he chewed some bacon, deep in thought as he mulled the logistics of the situation.

"Q-Division."  Devin nodded, looking triumphantly at Marissa, who snickered, shaking her head.  "I tell ya, sis.  I'd rather be King of the Nerds than King of the Retards."

"I am so not curtseying to you."  Lona snarked, but her smile was tentatively friendly.

"Didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective."  Charlie piped up, smirking.

"No, we're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort of executive officer for the week."  Sean joined in.  "But we'd better stay on topic, or Jase is going to show us the violence inherent in the system."

"When Sean comes up with a solution, we should probably bring all the papers and maps back here."  Jase went on as though Monty Python had never happened, though a faint crinkling at the corners of his eyes betrayed mirth.  "The loft above the main barn is large enough for us to use as a research center with only a little clearing out.  My dad never bothers with the farm side of things and pretty much lets me have the run of it.  I've already turned it into a private study area of sorts, so it should suit us."  He paused.  "Getting there will mean going through the barn, and I ask that nobody blabs about what they see in there."

"Weed plantation staffed by Oompa-Loompas."  Lona muttered with a grin at Jase.  Devin snickered.

"Meat freezer filled with dead cats and missing hikers."  Marissa echoed the tone and the grin.

"Fifty Shades-style playroom!"  Cass giggled, then blinked as Jase's bright gaze swept the three of them, face expressionless save for a single slightly-raised eyebrow.  He radiated a patient 'Y'all done yet?' demeanour, though as the three scamps settled down he smiled enigmatically.

"So to sum up."  Clara said in a businesslike fashion.  "We're going to plant some bugs watching the trailer, then bring everything from there down here, and then get to work sifting the data?"  She looked at Jase, who shrugged and nodded, then glanced around the room.  "Anyone have any issues with that plan?" she asked.

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Sara sniffed to clear her sinuses which drew everyone's attention, almost like she had planned. 

"I went out again early today before riding over here. I think the cameras, while be it might get to be a bit expensive for a bunch of kids, and moving the maps and stuff out to a safe place, is a good idea.. But cameras aren't gonna keep other kids from going up there now that they know about it.

I want to protect the whole place. I want to pull the bridge down." eyes went wide and several people started to talk all at once until Jase held up his hands and made the 'lower it gesture', "Lets let her finish. Go on Sara."

Sara nodded thanks, "I actually thought of this yesterday when we were finishing cleaning the place up. So after we left I went to city hall. There is no record of that bridge anywhere there  and the Railroad bridge and that whole spur was abandoned in the early 1970s. We can use the railroad bridge to cross the river and if the logging bridge is gone, I doubt if anyone is going to bother."

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"Nothing ever happens in Shelly."  Marissa said calmly.  She was ignoring the others and their jibes at the moment because what Sara said was pretty serious.  "A collapsed bridge is something and people will certainly notice it.  Sure, it's not been used, but it will give them something to do and if they detect foul ply in its collapsing it will spark an investigation.  Especially if they think a few idiot kids are the one's who did it," she nodded and motioned to everyone but her Devin.  "No offense."

"It might be on Res land, but once foul play is involved and report is filed it can go to people who can go on res land.  Collapsing a bridge quickly becomes the jurisdiction of federal agents who can, and will, be all up in everyone's business.  It may not sound like much, but they will jack the charges up as high as they can in order to get the funding an tasking they need to find who did and they don't mess around.  What started as a bridge collapse can escalate into 'Domestic Terrorism'... and the whole time we're trying to go unnoticed and sneaking onto res lands to our secret trailer... we'll be dodging cops."

"Don't collapse it, Webfoot.  Damage it."  Marissa smiled dryly.  "Vandalism is one thing, destroying it is another.  You could even use the damage to stage an accident with a dirt bike, say you got injured, make a report... and regardless of whether it's true or not they are required to shut the bridge down until an inspector comes and clears the bridge for use evenif no one intends on using it.  That's how the system works.  It hasn't been used in what?  Thirty, forty years?  How long do you think that request will sit in someone's 'In' box?  Weeks, months, maybe, and even when he arrives the bridge will still be there... but too damaged to be used.  You guys really have to learn how to get the authorities to do your work for you.  Hell, they might even demo it on their own.  But it keeps a full fledged investigation from happening and all you'll get a smack on the wrist for riding your bike in Res lands."

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"Seems like a solid idea," said Cassandra, giving Marissa a nod. "I don't know how we're going to damage a bridge, but I figure we can go down and give it a look. Hell, maybe it's already unsafe, and we can just...ride that train in."

She shrugged. "And if not, then maybe we can see if it has a weak spot or something. In fact, some of us can do that while Sean and whoever set up the cameras. That way everyone has something to do."

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Sara just looked at Marissa for a moment their eyes locking. Mari felt that that look she was getting from the muscle bound teen was almost threatening as if she were saying with a look did you just call me webfoot , Mari could almost imaging she could hear Sara voice.

"What part of the bridge doesn't even exist officially, didn't you understand? None of you , no one from school, would even  know about it if I hadn't of shown it to Ja...Bannon." There was a hint of anger in Sara's voice.

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"Oh, I heard and understood it all," Marissa said plainly.  "And yes, yes... pat on the back for finding it, great job.  Because people who go down that road are looking to be praised for their contributions to... whatever, this is.  Jason will toss you a treat later, I'm sure."

"Fact of the matter is, official or not, collapsing a bridge makes noise and clouds of dust, and draws attention.  However, I'm sure you have means of circumventing all the logical arguments in lieu of what you really want to do.  So have at it.  I never said anyone couldn't wreck the bridge, I merely suggested an alternate way of handling it.  Go.  Be free.  Do whatever."  She feigned brushing her hands together like she was dusting them off and raised them high like she was washing her hands of the whole situation.

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"It's not an official or legal bridge and nobody knew about it or used it to speak of for decades. If others tried to go back to the spot, if they could even find it again, considering was dark when they went up and they were drunk and/or high when they came down,. If the bridge was gone, especially if it just looked washed out, collapsed or whatever, because it is old after all, nobody will say anything. They are not going to go complain to adults that the bridge to their illegal party spot on the Res is gone." Lilly said, agreeing with Sara.

"If somebody were to get hurt crossing it, then there would be a report and people might look into it. Otherwise it's no big deal. Just an old ass bridge that nobody really ever used is gone, washed out or whatever." Lilly said with a shrug.

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"What about just getting one of those 'closed roads' sign and some cones, maybe a Danger sign? If the bridge doesn't officially exist, then no one would come take them away, right?" Clara was giving Marissa a side-eye for knowing proper 'don't be investigated for domestic terrorism' etiquette in regards to bridges, but her point was solid. The idea was to keep people away from the area, not draw a big bulls-eye of interest on it. 

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"Taking it out of commission sounds better than destroying it totally."  Jase shrugged, nodding at the 'decommission' camp.  "Less questions, less mess, less everything.  I do want to protect the camp site, because, well, it was Sara's proposal and preserving it is important to her.  I also agree that destroying the bridge completely means questions, because we aren't the only ones who know about it, regardless of how dark it was or how drunk people were.  Someone will try to get back to the 'cool party site' and wonder what gives."

"When we head up there, we should take a look and see what it will take to sabotage the bridge while making it look like it just gave up the ghost.  As a last resort, we total it." he finished, turning off the stove and setting the skillets aside to cool.  "There's enough technical know-how and brain power, plus straight up deviousness in this room to see it done, and done well... If we work together at it rather than wrestle for control.  Sara and Lilly would beat most of our asses at the wrestling anyway."  He gave them a faint smile, then fell silent, letting others have their say.  As they spoke, he slipped silently from the kitchen.

The house was dim and quiet away from the bustle of the kitchen, Jase's bare feet making little noise as he made his way up the staircase, past the rows of bookshelves.  Part of him was eager to get going, to get back to studying the materials in the filing boxes, sorting through them with Marissa's, Clara's and, he guessed, Cass's help.  Plus whoever else had the patience to wade through all the paper. As he opened the door to his room and stepped inside, part of him turned to another reason he'd invited his friends here today.  

His room was neat, though not scrupulously so, and clean, though not obsessively so.  The most marked feature was the books.  Everywhere one looked, books lined shelves on the walls, were stacked in rows on the desk, and even piled four high on the nightstand and the floor next to the bed, covering topics from biochemistry to Russian poets to automobile-repair textbooks.  A few band posters were on the walls, along with a map of the world that took up most of the wall over his desk and an old, yellowing periodic table poster by the window which he never looked at, these days.  It hung pinned to a backing board, and it was this he now took down, turning it over and regarding the folder clipped to the back of it with a frown.  It was part of his medical records, but a part he'd never let his father know existed.

He'd had hopes he could drop this bombshell, but the chemistry in the kitchen was all wrong right now - at least he thought so.  The good mood in the room had been fleeting, the push-and-pull was already starting up.  How well did he know some of these people, anyway?  Sean could handle the folder, probably. So could Lilly.  The others...?  Well, Marissa already knew and hadn't seemed fazed in the least.  Lona?  Perhaps she'd be okay - she seemed comfortable around him, at least in part.  Devin would probably either not care or else care a whole lot - and that could be a problem.  Sara, Clara, Charlie... There were just too many variables.  With a sigh he set the folder on the desk, then sat on the end of his bed to pull on socks and boots as he stared at the blue-card envelope like the insoluble problem it, in fact, was.

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Sara  had turned red with embarrassment eventually lowered her gaze to stare at the floor as they continued speaking. Then Jase spoke and seemed to make a good compromise, he seemed to get it, but his off hand complement fell flat to her. After Jase left and the others kept talking, she looked back up with eyes brimming with tears she wouldn't let fall. She reached into her pocket and drew out the bag and tossed it on the table, turned to the door, "Good start to your Fellowship. Tell Bannon thanks for the breakfast."

She pushed open the door, stepped out onto the porch and headed to her bike.

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"What's wrong?!" Cassandra shouted after her, but either she wasn't loud enough, or Sara was too mad.

Feeling stung, and defensive and guilty...for what she had no idea...Cass went back to the table with the others and said, "She seemed really pissed off, and I don't even know why. I asked her to come back in, and she just flipped me off."

With a shake of her head she asked, "Is she always like that?"

It was a good reminder of just how little she really knew this bunch, maybe...

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