2020-06-04 - Have You Seen These Abs?

Two If By Sea is entering into its busy season: tourist. To temporarily shutter it now in Easton's absence would be a detriment to this year's profits, and so it marches on. While Bennie is relying heavily on the manager, she's relinquished her job at the Diner to fill in here. Mostly it's just making sure things run as smoothly as possible, deposits are made and people are getting paid. Right now, however, she's playing a fun game she likes to call 'Stare at the Ceiling', having sequestered herself in the office. She sits in the chair behind the desk, the surface as neat as Easton kept the rest of his life, which is to say everything has a place and there is a place for everything. Toes press into the floor, rocking her back and forth slightly as she stares upwards at nothing.

Byron's been incredibly busy these last few days that it takes some time for him to actually make it to visit with Bennie after having been handed a Missing Person's flyer with very little time to ask questions before the woman was off. He knows he should have reached out earlier, at the very least, but he was now.

Showing up in casual dress, a royal blue buttoned down shirt, the top few buttons left undone with a black leather jacket thrown over it. Instead of suit pants, he's wearing dark jeans. His feet are tucked into black combat boots. In his company is Lilith. They were both concerned after learning that Easton had gone missing. As they make their way past the bar to the office, a good drink sounded like a great idea, but maybe they'll have time after they find out what's going on.

Knocking at the office door and announcing his arrival, Byron lets himself and Lilith in once Bennie gives them the OK.

On his way to the office, he took note of who all was tending bar, visually, seeking out the manager and such. It looks like things are running well enough.

"Bennie? I... Sorry I didn't get a chance to reach out earlier. I just want to know what exactly happened? When did you see Easton last?"

You know those funny thoughts that come out of nowhere when something is actually terribly wrong? Maybe it's just Lilith who tends to think that way, because when she saw the actual flyer that had been passed off, she almost snorted. Part of her thought it was a bar trick, a scavenger hunt, a ruse or what have you. But then she thought perhaps he just decided to douche out, it'd make far more sense than whatever insanity she was thinking with first reaction. Eventually, her brain makes its way to the third thought of what else could have happened.

Maybe knowing the third thing is the most likely is what had her brain telling her other things, initially. Deny, deny, deny, right? Because if it can happen to him, just like the others...

Lilith trails in behind Byron with a sober expression on her fine features. She's wearing accent cosmetics and is sporting a neat twisted bun to keep her dark hair out of those blue eyes, which are vaguely widened at the moment, dark lashes fringing her muted concerns. Her clothing for the day is a purple v-neck spring sweater with skinny jeans and laced up high leather boots that have slight wedge heeling. Once in the office, she absently puts her thumbs to loop hang from her pocket corners, fingertips fanning over her hips with subtle fidget stance.

The woman herself doesn't ask anything for the time being, she just seems ready to listen to some questions and answers and... well, study Bennie. Though Lilith isn't staring, she's also not being sly about visually checking the level of how much the blonde is actually taking care of herself physically at current time.

Well, to be fair, the flyer that's in TiBs has an addition to 'have you seen this man?' with another picture beneath it of Easton Marshall's stomach with the words 'have you seen these abs?!' But that was just Bennie's version of trying to keep things light during an incredibly stressful time.

Bennie immediately pops to her upright and locked position, blinking at the knock but bidding them in. Beneath a thin veneer of make up she looks tired and drawn, but she still fixes them with an Oakes patented smile that's just a few watts short of its normal business. She has, if anything, learned the skill of pretending everything is FINE even if the mention of Easton makes her bottom lip tremble just the tiniest hint.

"Hey guys, c'mon in. Have a seat. Want a drink?" There is a bottle of his favorite bourbon on the desk, already opened at one point, and Bennie is hauling paper cups out of one of the drawers. Very classy. Their options for sitting are two client chairs in front of the desk or a very well loved leather couch set along one wall. "Uh, geez, what day is it." She makes a little flappy hand gesture like it doesn't really matter, because the fact of the matter is, "May Twenty Third. I kissed him goodbye in the morning before my shift. He texted on the way home that night, and I reminded him to pick up dog food."

Byron doesn't immediately take a seat, allowing his eyes to study the office interior, noting where everything is, as if he's possibly looking for clues somewhere. But he's sure that Bennie looked everywhere. Twice or more.

If anyone knows how to hide the turmoil in their life, that's something that Byron Thorne was used to doing growing up. His careful gaze catches the way Bennie's lip trembles despite her usual cheerful demeanor, but he won't bring any of that up. Not yet.

Instead, he waits for Lilith to take a seat first, before settling down into one of those appointed seats. "A drink would be wonderful, thank you." He says in a gracious tone, before he hushes to allow her to respond to his inquiry. "He could've been anywhere at the time." While he doesn't say 'At the time he was swallowed up in a Dream', it's clear what he means. "I could try to mentally survey the town to see if I can sense traces of him." He then considers, "Was his car found yet?"

Lilith plays with the Piaget rose pendant at her throat, pulling it back and forth on the chain once she's seated, "Sure. Drink would be good. Thanks. I used to call these Dixie Devils, you know-- the paper cup and drink to burn combo." The commentary is quiet, polite and casual, despite the subject and the sober mien of her actual face while she's speaking. Apparently she's not the sort to come in with a lot of 'aww' or 'poor thing' or anything of the ilk, but she makes up for it by keeping that general low-pressure Lilith ease intact, more or less, throughout sitting and listening to Byron's next questions.

After a little intake of breath, she seems about to ask a question of her own, in addition. But she doesn't want to overwhelm and she wants the conversation paced to comfort levels as much as information levels. Instead, she saves it and waits for a segue in tactful, patient fashion, legs crossing one over the other so her foot can work with pensive bounce.

Not only can Byron see through Bennie's mask, he can see the wince that registers in her eyes when she jostles her left arm that's in a sling across her chest as she goes to pour them some drinks. It's slow going, working with a busted wing, but she doesn't ask or intimate that she needs help. She doles out the glasses with a little lean and then sits back with her own, gnawing at the paper edge instead of sipping from the whiskey as Byron asks his questions. Bennie almost has half the rim nibbled off in a ribbon like a gerbil before she answers. "I found his jeep between here and home. It didn't look crashed so much as just...drifted off the road and came to a stop. My friend Aidan, uh, read it. He disappeared from there." Her eyes flick between the pair, demuring when she sees that look on Lilith's face as if she might have something to add.

"He's Lost, guys. The Capital L kind."

His eyes look over at Lilith, watching as she plays with the pendant which he'd given her. Bennie's tale is something that could happen to any of them the longer they remained in town. What happened to Easton and Bennie is something that every bright and shiny couple in Gray Harbor fears most.

If anything, Thorne seems satisfied that someone had done a reading on the vehicle, even if he barely knew the boardwalk magician. However, learning that Marshall was lost... that wasn't good. "That's been happening more and more lat.... who am I kidding. This has been going on for years now." While this is not something that he normally brings up in Lilith's company, he will say this now, "Before the winter holidays this past year, Vivian went missing as well." He slowly shakes his head, "I thought maybe she found herself at the Asylum, since she was helping Easton look into that, before she just vanished. Or... there's o signs of her anywhere at all."

Noting that the blonde was injured to go along with what emotional pain she must be going through, Byron had been hesitant at first to bring attention to it, but eventually, he does. "Are you okay?" He even nods in the direction of her sling. "What happened there?"

Lilith drops the pendant and puts her hands down against her lap after shooting the offered drink from prior, not bothering to nurse it. Instead, she tosses it back and swallows with quiet hiss before leaning forward to put the cup back down and settle back, bottom lip working between her teeth.

Suddenly, though, something Byron says makes her turn her head and stare at him for a few passing beats before she focuses her sights on Bennie's insides with that alternate way of viewing she has about her.

Lilith looks at her hands in her lap for a moment, then back up to wonder, quietly, "Would you like me to take the physical pain, at least?"

Bennie fingers the flap of paper out of her way as Byron mentions the asylum and Vivian, finally taking a sip of the alcohol. Funny that she convinced Easton to lighten up on this particular habit and now that he's gone, she's the one hitting it harder. But anything to get through the day, right? "Asylum is the first place I checked." Bennie's head tilts towards her shoulder, clearly the result of such an adventure. "Due to the nature of the injury - that being when a sentient car crashed into the brick wall in our daring escape - my best guess is a stable oblique fracture." Spoken like a true EMT with a bit of Gray Harbor sprinkled in for good measure.

"But I think the asylum is gone now. Everything sort of started...dissolving when we left. Like whatever juju was holding it together was sucked out of it. I dunno. But Easton's uncle - the psychiatrist there, did you know? - said the car was looking for Easton in the Veil when we showed up. If some magical fu-...." She bites back the swear word, never prone to using them but they've been sneaking in lately, just like the booze. As if Bennie's picking up all of Easton's mantels in his stead. "If some Glimmer Car can't find him?" She just shakes her head, letting the question float away without finishing that depressing thought.

Exhaling through her nose, Bennie affixes a soft smile for Lilith's offer. "It's not life threatening or anything, so I don't know if it's worth the flack. But if you don't...mind? I can't be slowed down right now."

When he's told that Bennie had already checked the Asylum, Byron can't hide his surprise. With a lifted brow, his hand automatically reaching for the plastic red cup, he asks, "How? I mean, I know that others said that they'd visited it before, but they couldn't really say how they got there." The cup lifted to his lips in a mechanical motion, he continues on, "So is there an actual way to get to the Asylum? I mean, there must be, if you were able to get in. This second time, as far as I know." He's talking about the group who had ventured there first.

"Gone....? Like the Factory?" He brings up the FCN Inc. Factory, which they'd destroyed prior to this. If anything, he quiets down to drink in everything that Bennie says, all without downing the content of his cup in one long gulp. There's something that unnerves him when she mentions the word car. He had a recent run in with a car, but he knows exactly which car Bennie is talking about. "The Cadillac, I think it was?" Vivian had told him about it.

Perhaps in his own need to know, he comes out and asks, eyes looking intently on Bennie, "What happened to the patients? Or... any of the employees?" The way that he asks these questions, it hints that he has reasons for wanting to know the fate of the Asylum occupants."

Settling back deeply within his seat, the cup lowered, his forearm resting on the armrest. She was right. If some Veil car couldn't locate Easton. "Tobin used to be able to feel or... sense," His eyes narrow as he tries to think of the right word, "his mother's presence after her disappearance, when we were still in high school. It's why he never left town." Pause, "Until now. He could no longer feel her anywhere, so he knew for sure that she was gone. He then did the smart thing and took off." Taking a short, quick drink from the cup, he tacks on, "I've never felt her presence, so I don't know what that's like." From what he can see of her, she didn't have his Talent. Or not to a degree that might aid her in that sort of sensation.

"I guess that you can't feel him at all, huh? I can't sense Viv either, but I never could once she was gone. Maybe certain people are more attuned to that sort of thing." He would've thought that he would be, with all of his mentalist powers! So if anything, he's a bit frustrated by all of it.

Turning to Lilith as she offers her assistance., Byron won't stop her from helping out in any way that she can-- As long as it's not too often. Even if any bit of healing seems to gain the Dark Men's attention as far as he knows.

Lilith draws her bottom lip to work with hard back and forth between her teeth while listening between the pair, tipping her head small to Bennie's permission. She stays seated until they're finished talking, then uncrossing her legs, she rises up into a stand to step over toward where the blonde woman is seated, reaching down to place her hands down upon the shoulders. After closing her eyes to focus, she starts to talk quietly, advising.

"I was stuck on the other side for days. I don't know how many. Time went differently, here and there. I had to fight to stay alive. I didn't expect to get back. Maybe he's fighting to come back. What we know or learn may never be enough. But he'll fight for as long as it takes... at least we know that."

The woman sighs quietly to herself, and it's clear that she's not trying to stick sunshine and false hope up Bennie's ass. She just knows... if there was a chance for her, this early in, maybe there's a chance for Easton too. Opening her eyes, she looks at Byron a moment, then briskly cuts her eyes away to look down at the top of Bennie's head. Refocused, she flashes with exertion, but something strange happens when she's focusing. For Bennie, it feels like it should, at least enough, the body accelerates to increase the knit and mend and repair from the inside, but it fans out like a warm wave that moves more slowly.

Oddly, Lilith loses a lot of her coloring all at once, instantly ill at ease as Bennie's very posture shifts with reflex easing, indicative that what she did worked. So if she did what worked, what's wrong, exactly? It looks like she's having a battle to stay on her feet and she has a strange, bothered expression on her features, suddenly. Abruptly, she pats down on the blonde's shoulder to indicate she's finished, then before she can swoon out, she turns to sit back in her chair with the bout of wooziness to let it play off and through.

When seated, there's a small roll of her wrist in 'go on' gesture as she takes to staring at the floor with her brows in hard knit, secretly fighting a wave of nausea and pulse of pressure behind one of her brows. But she's rather making a point to deal with whatever's got her sideways and bothered in favor of facilitating continued information, situational context, and apparently terrible things about Byron's personal life she doesn't know and is now allowed to hear by proxy while he shares it with someone else.

But that's the least of her issue when Lilith just wants to be able to not cause a fuss and sit up straight so she can think about what just happened when she used her powers. Supported by drape of forearms across her lap, the woman insistently and thickly resumes silence to facilitate conversation, postured with leaned pitch forward, eyes and face tipped downward.

There's no point in hiding anything now, if the others were initially or just didn't remember due to their handy memory wipe, because The Way doesn't exist anymore. Bennie's foot stomps on the floor at her feet, twice. "There was a door, in the basement here. Easton had the key which I found in his desk. I went in his stead with the others but the door like the rest started to just flake? Melt away? I was a little jumbled after the crash, so the details at the end are fuzzy. It was a Cadi, yeah."

Bennie nudges over the bottle, letting the others refill their cups at will. "The Doctor was popping heads like pimples when we got out. We pulled a girl named Meagan out, Ruiz took her. Otherwise...?" Bennie shrugs helplessly with one shoulder, answer unknown.

The blonde gives a sad little shake of her head, as to whether or not she can feel Easton. "But we always find our way back to each other." She says softly, then takes a bigger sip of her drink, as if somehow not quite convinced of her own words.

She wishes Lilith's words about being Lost were more comforting, but they only cause a sigh, "He's been gone ten days already. So what's that like for him? Hours or years? But I know he'll fight. He has too much to come back to. So Ruiz has an APB out for him and I have calls into all the surrounding hospitals for when he gets spit back out again." Or if.

She quiets down when Lilith lays her hands on her shoulders, wincing at just the weight of a hand on her shoulder but she doesn't wiggle. It's not like it used to be. Bennie's felt and seen flesh knit back together by her very own hand before her very own eyes. When her bone doesn't just magically fuse back together, it leaves her a bit bewildered even though she can sense Lilith is stronger than her. And then of course, the way it leaves Lilith turns those brows downward with concern.

"Does that always happen to you? I know I get super duper tired, and August gets and upset tummy..."

If anything, learning that the entrance to the Asylum was right under their noses this whole time is another surprise to Byron, his brow quirked in that 'huh' sort of way. Looking down at the flooring below them, there's this urge to try and get a sense on whether he can feel anything odd in the vicinity or not. He was no physicalist, so finding doorways is impossible. When the bottle is pushed their way, he doesn't top his plastic cup, but does pour a little bit of the good stuff into it. He will fill Lilith's up to the rim as she starts her healer's work.

Lilith brings up her time stuck in the other place and Byron remembers it all too well. At least from the point of view of those searching for her. His dark eyes watch her inform Bennie of her experience getting out of that Dream, the Veil, whatever it was. Both spaces blend into each other in his mind and for all he can tell, they are almost one in the same. Almost. No, they weren't the most reassuring words, especially with her fighting for her life, but they were the truth.

"I'll keep my mind open for when he shows up again." He doesn't mean 24/7, of course. That what attract far too much Dark Men attention. "I'll reach out and see if I can get a sense of him."

As he speaks to both women, his eyes looks from the blonde to the brunette and that's when he catches something off about Lilith. Immediately, he rises to stand to help her keep steady. Very often, Lilith would use him as some sort of healing voodoo doll for her patients and as he's no Spiritualist, himself, he sees by not doing so, it may have been far more taxing for her. Reaching a hand out, he tries to keep her steady.

He doesn't say anything right away and waits until Lilith is settled down back into her chair for rest. He lingers there for a moment, lowering down to ask in soft words, "Are you alright?"

"No. I do get nervous mending people from the inside when they aren't Byron, though, I don't do it much. I know how he's made through and through, so it's..." Lilith pauses while answering Bennie's question after some small delay, head nodding a couple of small and dismissive times at Byron's more quiet inquiry as to her well-being. "I've just gotten a couple of nosebleeds from doing it at a distance when needed, or when I've had to do it over and over and over." After speaking, the woman shifts straight and more upright to breathe quietly while centering her visual focus on the blonde woman again to look into the body.

Apparently, she's both assured and a touch confused by what she sees, which makes for an odd and then vaguely frustrated facial expression once she's blinked the hyperfocus away. For a beat, the brunette starts to say something, stops and wets her lips, then leans to reach for the refilled cup to toss it back in a hurry instead. After putting the disposable cup back down and breathing a tiny hiss, she settles back in her chair, "... you're not where I wanted you to be, but it's doing what it's supposed to do and you'll be tiptop enough soon. Which is good. I understand wanting to be mobile and ready right now, you know... pain and discomfort and frustration that's probably compounding your situation all put aside."

Once Lilith is leaned back against her chair proper, she's starting to get some coloring back, and she gestures between the pair instead of explaining what she's feeling or thinking at the moment, save for the assurances after brief concern for Bennie's physical state, "I'm fine. No need to derail. But curiously, do you know if Easton had been using his powers more than usual over the past month or two, perhaps?"

While changing the subject back to pertinent instead of Lilith-bent, she's playing quiet and chill again with legs recrossing. But she does take a moment to touch two fingers against her brow and temple, like she has a sinus pressure bothering her. And right after that she reaches up with both hands to start taking her hair down out of the bun to uncoil and free it into waves for fingering through, taking the tension and weight of the updo out of the equation to try and get some relief from whatever.

Bennie gives one of those drawn out, "Okaaaaaay", as if not really believing Lilith, but she's just going to roll with it, her brow knitting after that assessment that things aren't working how Lilith would like, but then again she can feel it. Feel the bone isn't quite good as new, that a little pain still lingers, but it is better which is a relief.

"Easton would use his power to fetch beer from the fridge, so I'm not what an increase would really be." She should be furious at him, for using it for such menial things, but it brings a sort of fond look to her eyes that quickly hoods away as she looks down to one of the desk drawers. "But you know E, he has a plan for everything, and a contingency plan on top of that. Which brings me toooooo," She pulls out a sheaf of papers. "He left a living will of sorts. Most everything including the bar seems to be left to my caring hands in his temporary absence. I made a copy for you, Byron, for where the casino is concerned. I think his portion defaults back to the family trust, but you might want to have," Bennie has to pause here, to take a deep breath, "You might want to have Katherine take a look. And I haven't told her yet that he's missing."

Perhaps, whatever differences can be seen or felt by the healing types, Byron is oblivious to it. Yes, healing often closed or repaired wounds near instantaneously, but it did have lingering effects and as far as he knows, Bennie is healed! "Would it be easier for you to use me as your proxy again?" Obviously, he's not talking about now, but for later endeavors. Still, even with Lilith settled in and looking to be recovering somewhat, he continues to observe her in a mostly subtle manner.

Returning back to what Bennie had said earlier, he just has to ask, "Popping heads? Like making people's heads explode?" That was concerning. "Who the hell was there with you? Did anyone..." The word die does not escape his lips, but Bennie might be in a worse emotional state of one if their friends and associates did have their head's popped. "So you escaped the Doctor and the Cadi crashed, right? And the Asylum disappeared?" His tone quiets, voice sounding thoughtful, "And we have no idea what happened to the patients within."

If anything, Byron can't help but smile a touch of being reminded that, yes, that's how frivolously Easton Marshall used his powers. "Some would train their dogs to do the same." He decides to add, trying to lighten a dark and heavy mood. However, his chin lifts when Bennie brings out some paperwork for him and the lawyer to look at. Reaching for it, he gives it a quick look-over, eyes scanning the print, confirming exactly what Bennie just told him. "I'll inform Katherine... when I give her these documents to examine. I'll also need to inform the investors, but... I'm not even sure that they've even dipped their toes into the madness that is Gray Harbor." Straightening the paperwork out, he sets it aside for now.

That's when he looks around the office, "Bennie, if... If you need any help with this place, have any questions on how to run a business, I'm always a phone call away. Moreso with the documentation, payroll and things like that. I, myself, have never run a bar."

It doesn't occur to Lilith, of course, that something is wrong all the way around when it comes to powers and physical healing. Even though she's powerful, she knows power can slip, hence her concern for Bennie to ensure she was well on the mend and not actually damaged. Because that time, when the brunette woman finally surged with power to manipulate and accelerate and exert her abilities on the woman's body, it felt different. It worked different. It responded different, right and wrong all at the same time, at least in terms of the way Lilith feels them.

After drawing in a shallow breath and sitting quietly to listen to the pair talk, Lilith looks aside at Byron with contemplation, because as he pointed out, she almost always uses him as proxy on the rare occasion she actually heals someone else, especially if it's someone she isn't overly familiar with on a personal level. There's always been something about a connection to someone that changes her confidence and directive despite nerves, turning that anxiety about healing into determination, she tends to focus on it and rely on it. Yes, while distracted and bothered in the backdrop, she did things differently this time, maybe it should feel different, maybe she should be lucky she didn't hurt the woman on accident, maybe she should have used Byron.

Her head is pounding with ebbing throb and she's having to fake her upright posture because Lilith desperately wants to curl up or slump thinking about how foreign using her powers and watching them respond felt right then. Instead, she stops eyeing Byron while pensive and eyes her emptied cup as they talk and she focuses deliberately on what's being said so she doesn't get lost in her own thoughts. Finally, though, with her hands still working perpetual motion of fingers slowly through her now-unbound waves and length of hair, she speaks up again.

"Same. I know a thing or two, not like Byron, but business ducks in order and paperwork and spreadsheets with expenses and profit margins, I can do. But also... you know. In case you're hurt again while..." She doesn't finish that sentence, she doesn't have to, she knows the lengths she'd go to and where she'd leap to try and find Byron, "You can call me for that."

Bennie draws a hand down her face, "Can we...talk about this later? I'm sorry, I'm just really tired and I think Lil could stand to go be poured into bed. But I'll text you later with more details when I remember them and I'll for sure be taking you guys up on that offer for business help. Because the Big Guy in the Sky sure knows I don't know what the heck I'm doing besides just keeping the doors open. But thank you both. For coming by. And sharing your juju, Lil."

Being unable to sense physical discomfort the way that Healers can, Byron may have missed some of the signs of Lilith's own discomfort, the way she tries to hide this fact. Bennie is able to tell, however and as Byron has been keeping a close eye on Lilith when he's not trying to get a visual read on Bennie's state-of-mind or looking over contractual paperwork, he, too, sees some of those subtle tell-tale signs that she's not feeling well.

Rising to stand, one hand making a grab for the legal documents, he nods at Bennie's sound advice, "I'll make sure that Lil is well taken care of. Some wine, maybe Italian for dinner. We'll see." Stepping in close to her seat, he offers up his arm if she needs it. "Again, Bennie, I'm sorry that you're going through all of this. We, and I'm sure, everyone else in this town, will do what we can to help bring Easton back."

"I'm really okay. You take care of yourself, Bennie. Don't be afraid to reach out. We can try and be useful, at the very least." Lilith tells Bennie, briefly looking at Byron's offered arm while she drags the hands from her hair. Then, for the sake of proving she's fine (ok maybe other reasons too), the woman leans to get her shoulder bag from next to the chair instead and rises while slinging it over an arm to wear and then dig in for her phone where it's buried beneath other things.

Quietly aside, she murmurs to Byron, "I'm fine, I am." Then as they're stepping around the chairs to head out, Lilith stops fussing with her purse, pulls out her phone and looks back at Bennie on the way. She puts on a tiny semblance of carefully encouraging smile in that 'keep it together' kind of fashion instead of blind hope or pity or sorrow. No need to make things worse for the gal with fluff.