2020-02-11 - Gone

After a text from Alexander, August is in a flurry of motion to get showered, dressed, and on over to Gardens of Eternal Rest. He's not particularly spry in any of this, still covered with cuts and bruises and shivering with yet another case of near hypothermia, but he's hurried, stressed, and frazzled. Also he's pretty sure he somehow shocked Eleanor in the middle of the night, and not clear on how he managed that. Maybe it was a dream. Hopefully.

So here they are, pulling up in his Outback. "Hopefully Thewlis or the pastor are here," August says as they get out of his car.

That's ok, August. Ellie is pretty sure she zapped the coffee maker and it's now dead. Her hair is a bit frizzy and looks like she abused some styling products but other than that, she seems unharmed by the unintentional tasering in the middle of the night.

The redhead climbs out of the SUV's passenger side, wearing jeans, boots, a sweater, and a coat, with a purse slung crossbody. "You're sure Alexander was thinking straight and not, you know, still on the pain killers?" she mumbles to him. Of course she also felt something shift during the night.

The pastor- at least, the new, assistant pastor, is in fact here. As August and Eleanor arrive, he's just coming out of the church entrance that leads out to the graveyard. Oren is wearing a heavy black wool coat against the cold outside, but his priest's collar still shows, the white square shining bright to announce his calling. He's got a sheaf of papers tucked under one arm, and dark circles under his eyes, as if he didn't sleep very well last night, and he's muttering under his breath to himself.

"No, he's already out of the hospital," August says, a fact for which he judges Alexander not one bit. "Apparently Isabella got hurt somehow, so he's kind of in a mood, consider yourself warned." He spies Oren, or more importantly, Oren's collar. "Ah ha." He heads towards him at a ground-eating stride. "Padre. I'm really sorry to bother you, but this is kind of," he sees it, that faint, tell-tale shimmer around Oren, and finishes with, "...important."

Eleanor is a parishioner, but as Oren is a new arrival, she hasn't met him yet, just heard he was expected. "You must be Father Sommer," she offers to the man, holding out a hand to shake. "Eleanor Lake, and this is August Roen. We could really use your help."

Oren slows his steps as he notices August approaching him. He seems mildly surprised to see someone out here this early on such a cold day, but whatever was bothering him, he quickly changes it into a warm, welcoming smile. "Oh! Hello, good morning, God bless." He takes Eleanor's offered hand, giving it a gentle squeeze in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you both, Mr. Roen, Ms. Lake. I am indeed Father Sommer, but, please, call me Oren. I'm afraid you've caught me in the middle of-", he begins to say, and looks at the papers under his arm and shakes his head, smiling once more.. "Ah, nevermind. If it's important, I'm happy to help. Would you like to go inside so we can talk?"

This is why he brought Eleanor; to be the personable, friendly face while August freaked out in 100 directions. He forces himself to relax a bit, taking the cue that maybe they don't need to head into this at a hundred miles an hour. Just, like, forty. He dips his head and shakes hands, grip firm and friendly. "Good to meet you too." He flicks a glance at the windows of the church--does he look guilty for a moment?--back to Oren. "Ah, well, what we wanted is out here, actually. There's a grave we wanted to check on." He looks askance at Eleanor. "William Gohl."

Eleanor puts on her best sweet Catholic girl expression. "We helped to pay his funeral expenses and I received an anonymous message that indicated his grave may have been vandalized, so we really need to take a look."

Oren tilts his head to listen as August explains, but the mention of that name causes him to startle slightly. "... William Gohl? I...", he begins to say, until Eleanor gives her explanation. He has no reason to suspect she might be lying, after all, she's a sweet Catholic girl, so he nods and goes quiet a moment. "It's funny you should ask after that grave. I was actually just headed there. It's... very strange. I'm not sure 'vandalized' covers it." His expression goes, if you'll excuse the pun, a bit grave as he motions for them to follow him along the paths between the headstones. "I noticed it just a short bit ago, and had gone inside to fetch the paperwork to make sure I wasn't mistaken."

August flicks a surreptitious glance at Eleanor as she says all of that. Well, it's...technically true...

But then, Oren looks startled, and August pales. As Oren continues, August battles intense nausea, one hand forming a fist hard enough to turn his knuckles white. He shuts his eyes a second, lets out a breath. "Shit," he whispers. "Ah, yeah, if you wouldn't mind, we'd like to take a look." He moves to follow Oren, taking Eleanor's hand on instinct. His is ice cold.

<Shit.> That is projected to August's mind from Eleanor. That doesn't sound like a good thing at all. She moves with the two men, shoving her free hand in her pocket to keep it warm. They were in a rush. She was trying to figure out how the coffee maker got fried. She forgot her gloves.

"I was planning to call the police once I confirmed I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Or wasn't seeing, you see-", Oren says, looking a bit flustered. "Well, it's easier if I just show you." He leads them at a quick pace towards... an empty plot. No grave. No headstone. THe ground doesn't even look like it had ever been dug up. It's not that the grave was taken, it's that it's gone. As if there had never been a grave there at all. Oren takes the papers and looks through them. "Yes, this is the right plot. I remember seeing the grave here yesterday- I didn't really take particular notice of it, I just remembered there being a grave here. I came out for a walk to enjoy the fresh air, and, well..." He motions to the empty plot.

August follows Oren, hand gripping Eleanor's almost uncomfortably tight. He's not sure what he expects to see--the grave dug up, coffin spilled open? a busted headstone and spraypaint?--but it's not this. Not...nothing.

"What the Christ," he whispers, staring. "We were--here. I was here, I attended this funeral. I cut--" He stops himself just in time. I cut down a tree older than this bullshit town.

He stands there, staring at the empty space, then steps forward. He's never tried reading the ground. Might even be a bad idea. But he's entirely lacking in good ones. He crouches down, runs a hand over the grass, threads his fingers through it. "Where the fuck did you go," he murmurs.

Eleanor stares at the empty place that used to contain the remains of William Gohl, and many many items from many people who buried him. Not her, mind you, but August and others. All the hell they went through to get rid of the spectral a-hole. She feels her breath catch in her throat, her stomach flip over, and every hair on her body stands on end, and not just because August zapped her last night. "Oh my God," she whispers, dropping to one knee to place a hand over the space the coffin used to be. "How is this possible?"

Oren quietly makes a sign of the cross and looks apologetically up to the heavens as August takes the Lord's name in vain right next to him, but he is kind enough not to chide the obviously upset man over it right now. He steps back as they both approach the not-a-grave, giving them some space and silence. "I... wish I could tell you.", he quietly answers Eleanor. "I'm afraid I don't even know if we have security cameras of any kind out here. I was going to call the caretaker to see if he knows or has seen anything, and then I'll be calling the police to report... whatever happened here." A pause. "Did you know Mr. Gohl well? You have my deepest condolences over this... travesty. I'll do all I can to find out what's happened here.", he says, earnestly.

August's eyes slowly drift out over the graveyard as he seeks with his mind Art, searching, searching...but there's nothing. Not even the nothing of the graveyard itself. Nothing. This could be ground from literally anywhere else.

He looks down at his hand, half-listening to Oren and nodding. He stands, blinks as his mind catches up with the last question. "No, ah, he was a relation of some friends of mine. Complicated situation, really, we were trying to right a wrong done to his family a while back." There, that sounds ambiguous and yet realistic enough. Right? Right. He waits to see if Eleanor sensed anything, though; maybe she saw what he missed.

Eleanor swallows hard and straightens up, looking between the two men. "It's like it was entirely replaced with something newly created. Brand new, untarnished, untouched by anything ever." Nothing she knows of Glimmer or Aspects would allow someone to just...do something like this. At the pastor's question she shakes her head. "Gohl died a long time ago. It was a very delayed burial due to his remains having been lost and only recently recovered." That is true at least.

Oren looks a bit surprised as they explain further. "... that... seems unusual.", he murmurs, then shakes his head. "Still. I understand this must be quite upsetting. I've never seen anything like it. I'll report it to the police- if you'd like to give me a way to contact you, I'll be happy to pass along a case number or any information they might give us."

August watches Eleanor while she says that, winces as she confirms she felt the same thing. He pulls out his phone, swipes a quick pair of texts, holds it up to snap a couple photos, pockets it. He considers Oren a second, nods and pulls out a business card from his wallet. "It's my personal number on here," he taps the side that says Out on a Limb, "so that'll work fine." It's a double-sided card, and includes information on where the garden shop (Branch & Bole) is located. He sighs heavily. "It was a weird kind of situation," he admits to Oren. "Not sure if you're new to the town but," he gives the pastor a wry smile, "I'd get used to it."

"Thank you, Pastor. We'd appreciate it." She adds her business card to August's. "I own Espresso Yourself downtown. If you need to speak face to face I'm there a lot. Or I'll be here on Sunday for services." She grimaces at the advice from August and nods her head in agreement. "Sorry the town has rolled out the weirdness so soon after your arrival."

Oren takes the card from August, looking it over curiously, and then slips it into his pocket, just in time to receive Eleanor's. He smiles at her, nodding. "Oh, I stopped by there my first day in town. Excellent coffee.", he says, then his smile grows a little smaller as they talk about the weirdness. "I've only been in town for a couple of days now, actually, so, this is not exactly the most auspicious beginning.", he says, and then gives a soft laugh. "I suppose He does like to keep us on our toes, though. It's good to know that there are good people who care when something like this happens, though."

August's smile loses some of it's edge, becomes a bit more genuine. "Yeah, I guess it is," he says, glancing sidelong at Eleanor, back to Oren. "If you, ah, need help with anything like that, please let us know. This town might be a little strange but that doesn't mean we can't all stick together, help one another out." His eyebrows go up briefly, then he runs a hand through his hair. His phone buzzes in his pocket, but he ignores it for the moment. "So did the church send you up here? Or did you ask to come up this way?" Another glance at Eleanor, maybe to draw her attention to the fact that Oren is not an ordinary pastor, and so his presence might not be ordinary or coincidental either.

Eleanor goes quiet, still staring at the un-grave while the two men talk. She's pondering deeply, but nothing in that filing cabinet that is her brain can account for what happened here.

Oren gives a soft chuckle and nods at August. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. And, actually, I was looking for an opportunity to move to a new parish, and when I heard that there was a position to come here to Gray Harbor and assist Father Daniel as a curate priest, I decided to take it. I'd heard Father Daniel was a good man, and I looked forward to working with him to serve the community." He pauses a moment, his expression going a bit wistful. "But I have to admit there was just something about the town. As soon as I heard the name I knew I wanted to come here. Perhaps it was God telling me where He wanted me."

August is in effect the opposite of Eleanor: he is a neutral, secular, ethnically Jewish boy. So it takes a little bit of effort for him to not let some sort of expression leak out when Oren talks about being called to Gray Harbor by God. He hasn't had enough coffee for that yet. Nowhere near enough. He clears his throat. "Well. I hope it treats you alright." Another furtive glance at the windows. What was it about talking to a priest that made him want to apologize for smashing all of them back in October? But Oren wasn't here for that, so he's off the hook. "Thanks again for your time, Padre."

Eleanor seems to snap out of her introspection. "Yes, thank you again Father. I hope your time in Gray Harbor is," uneventful, "pleasant." She hooks her arm through August's, indicating it's time to go and let others know what they've discovered.

"Even if it doesn't, well, we persevere.", Oren replies, with a good-natured smile. "Be safe out there. It was a pleasure to meet you both, though I wish it had been under better circumstances. I'll be sure to let you both know what I hear about this.", he says, turning to see them off.