eclipse

venue: cadillac lounge @hidehillstart

LOCATION: sorry mom

𝐆𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐅𝐅 his game, following everything that had occurred. lucas may have been one dumb son of a bitch in his eyes, a narcissist, it didn't make his disappearance any less jarring. he cared about people who actually gave a shit about the guy and suddenly -- he had vanished out of thin air. gael knew the feeling of loss all too well, the anticipation as you waited for the other shoe to drop, the knowledge that someone was just out there, and no one in town could help him. that all in itself was terrifying, no matter how you felt about the victim.

arms crossed over his chest, his eyes scanned over his shop like an overlord scanning over his country -- making sure that everything was in working order. he had let his employees know that if they needed time, he would give it to them. that they were all in this together. it's after a moments pause that he notices someone standing at the front desk -- the receptionist nowhere to be found.

And just like that they were back at it. Fear struck through the town as the Shadow tore its way through Hidehill. Realm felt sick to his stomach just thinking about it. Carmen's tongue, Remy's ears, Luka's eyes. He'd almost completely convinced himself that it was meant to be some sort of riddle… The frustration and anger he felt as he tried to piece it all together also made great fuel for his writing. So Realm made a point of spending as much of his time as he could in places that helped him feel clear. Sat himself down against the railings of the bridge and got to work. He'd often switch between pieces of his not-so-fiction novel and the actual notes he'd been taking on the Shadows both past and present. Notes similar to the one’s he’d taken over the course of the past few years. Feeling that familiar sense of dread as each page left him feeling more and more like things were unfinished. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but if the number of pages he’d gone through was any indicator it’d been at least a few hours before a shadow was cast over his book. His eyes squinted as he glanced up to see who’d approached. “Long time no see.” He started as he flipped his book shut. “I'm the troll that's here to stop you from crossing the bridge.”

Gabe almost felt bad for just blurting out the question that had played through his mind more often than he cared to admit, but it was high time they laid everything out once and for all. Maybe then, there might have been some kind of chance at moving forward, whatever that looked like. He looked over at Brielle as she swallowed hard and started to speak and for a moment he took himself back to before he'd left; an image of the pair of them sitting in what he could have sworn was this exact spot, tresses of Brielle's hair picked up by the wind obscuring her laughing face. When he knew it, but didn't have the guts to say it. Brielle, I love you. Words that would have been spoken too soon; words he always figured he'd have all the time in the world to say. But hindsight was a son of a bitch. "You could have come with me you know," he murmured quietly, dropping his gaze to the sand that camouflaged his feet before looking over at the brunette again. "Why didn't you come with me?"

"I mean, now I know I could have. It just.... I don't know," her shoulders lifted in a shrug, enough for her to pull her knees up to her chest a little tighter. "It didn't feel like it was back then. I think I convinced myself that you were leaving because you didn't want to be here," a pause, "because you didn't want me." It'd been enough for her to simply run with it. To curl in on herself and block out any and every attempt he could have made that might have changed how she felt. "My uh, my first real relationship was with Charlie." As if that in and of itself might have explained a few things, "He was my first love, I think.. and up until last week, I was under the impression that he broke up with me because he'd been cheating on me." Still, the truth of it curled tightly in her throat. Still, she didn't know how to process all of her fears and insecurities coming from what was essentially one big lie. "And it's not his fault, what I did to you.. That's.. that's completely on me," she noted rather bluntly - she felt nothing but guilt for it now. "When you left, it just felt like I could save myself from getting hurt, somehow, if I just.. cut you out."

LOCATION: dead dawg

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐋 he had felt since all this began was sitting at dead dawg's bar, brielle at his side. yet another three lives lost, another three souls that had left this earth too young. he feared for his children, for ana -- who's words he could still hear in his ears. he knew she was right, if they were ever going to be an us again they needed to get out to the other side of this. maybe, just maybe, they'd actually have a chance. a dead body had been gifted to them at their baby shower, max had been put into a coma... and that had just been the very beginning.

he's tried to pull himself out of his own head, for the sake of both himself and the young woman at his right as he takes a sip from the bottle of cheap bear he has been nursing for the past ten minutes.

Scout leaned over the shop counter, her phone sat flat with brightness on high as her finger swiped and swiped. "Oh my god, where is it," she breathed, moving through photos on her camera roll. She parsed through mirror selfies, memes, accidental screenshots, purpousful screenshots, spicy photos, and more until— "Wait. Lemme check Google." Two seconds and then, "Duh, sorry. This," she spun her phone around and showed a simple, likely-not-worth-the-effort-of-digging-for tattoo of two butterflies, "I was thinking this. Either hip or shoulder. What do you think?" she asked, face scrunched as she jut her hip out that extra bit.

Nathan had fully planned on spending his entire day alone. He had a stocked fridge and items that he labeled as self care such a face mask, fuzzy socks on his feet, and his house thermostat set to freezing. Things were just as he liked them as he settled down on the living room couch, pressing play on the latest show he was planning to binge. He let out a happy and content sigh as he laid his head down on the pillow, only to bounce right back up after being startled by the sound of his front door slamming shut. "Brie, what the hell? You scared the shit out of me." He looked over the couch at her, face mask still covering the top half of his face.

Brielle: this literally has nothing to do with whatever has happened with us

Brielle: fuck me for being concerned, right?

He sighed slightly as he stepped back once more, her words warning him enough to not do anything stupid. Stopping him from wrapping his arms around her, from doing anything that felt natural in this moment, things he had wanted to do for so long now. "If that's what you want." He spoke quietly now, his eyes firmly on her as he watched her speak, listened to her tell him she needed time. "I won't bother you from now on, I'll just steer clear of you until.. well.. until you want to talk again." He was aware that could literally be never again but he was tired of needing her attention, that's what it had felt like for all these years as he held onto this secret. If she wanted nothing to do with him now he was okay with that.

"Sh-shouldn't we, like, s-shouldn't we s-shut down this whole place?" Brandon said to nobody in particular. "Why are t-they just letting people walk out of here?" He added, breathing getting a little shakier as the room started slowly spinning around him. How did this keep happening to them? In every god damn space where they should be safe, they weren't. But then who was he kidding thinking they were safe because this was the Conrad Estate? If they could get to Sasha's private studio and kill her without a fucking trace, they could get anywhere. "S-Someone needs to do something, I-I should-- we-- the killer was here, t-they're probably still here, right?"