2020-08-14 - Dine and Discover

Diners and people in uniform are a cliche for a reason. The portions of food are good and they keep it coming with good-enough coffee. Not to mention counters for eating at so one doesn't feel awkward taking up a whole table by themselves. Niall is at said counter, clad in ranger gear with his hat sitting on the countertop. He's poking away at a salad with so much cheese, dressing and bits of ham to hardly be a salad at all. He's got a bit of a thousand-yard stare. Either that or he's finding particular bits of bear decor to be especially fascinating.

Alexander struggles with many things, in many different ways. But he's one hell of a stalker, when he puts his mind to it. So it doesn't take him long, after hearing about the body, and doing a little research on the sand castle event and the social media posts, to track down Niall. As an outsider, of course, Niall is already of interest when it comes to town gossip, and recent events only heighten it. So when Alexander shows up at the Black Bear Diner, he scans the interior like he knows what he's looking for. When he finds Niall, his head goes down and he shuffles his way to the stool on the counter next to him. "This seat taken?" he asks, while in the process of sitting down.

And all in all, Niall does stand out in this town. Not white, not American. Tall. Often in a uniform. That's not even taking into account that some of the town's younger residents grew up with him interpreting the park for them on school trips. He also has a fairly reliable routine. So as quarry goes, he's not Alexander's most challenging.

He doesn't look too surprised when Alexander comes up to him. He looks at the other man, then picks up and shifts his hat out of the way. "Have a seat. I think someone new is working. So she might get your order wrong, but you might actually get it in a reasonable amount of time."

Alexander does, at least, pause long enough for the man to pick up his hat before he takes a seat. Part of that is that one of his arms is in a sling - it looks darkly bruised and swollen from the hand all the way up to where it disappears in the sleeve of the t-shirt. Seems to be his dominant hand too, so his movements are fumbled and a bit slow. He orders a coffee, and casts a dubious look at the new server. "Still not ordering an omelette," he says, with a smile. But the coffee actually gets to him within only a few minutes, making his eyebrows go up. As he waits, he studies Niall. He's not subtle about it. "You're, uh, Tokoronga, right? The Park Ranger?"

"Do you know many other guys in this town who could pull off the surname Tokoronga?" says Niall with a little bit of a grin, but it's forced. It's been a rough few days. But it looks like the other man has had a tough time as well. "What happened to you?" A beat, "On the other hand, I probably don't want to know. The less you know about what's going down in this town the better, yeah?"

"I haven't taken a thorough census," Alexander says, with every appearance of considering the matter seriously. When he gets his coffee, he starts to reach for it with his right arm, grimaces, then reaches for it in a careful, left-handed grip. "I got lost," he says, with a single-shoulder shrug. "Didn't die. And I don't think whether you know about it matters or not, really. It'll eventually be bad either way." He peers at Niall. "You look rough. I heard about the sand castle competition."

"Whole town has heard," says Niall with a soft whuff and a bit of an eyeroll. "Not exactly a great first outreach event as Station Manager." A huff. "Sorry, that's disrespectful to Henry." He shakes his head. "We should've looked in on him after he didn't show up for duty, but I figured he'd either switched shifts and it hadn't gotten to me, or he was sick."

Now, Alexander does smile, just a bit. "For a Gray Harbor outreach event, the bodycount was remarkably low, and no one else got kidnapped, tortured, or attacked by monsters. You're ahead of the curve, Mr. Tokoronga." A pause. "Not that I'm making light of the event. I just think it helps to maintain some perspective, in this town." He takes a sip of his coffee, and gives Niall a thoughtful, sidelong look. "When's the last time you heard from the deceased?"

"That's damning with faint praise, Mister Clayton," and yes, Niall knows who the other man is. He lifts a hand, lets it fall at Alexander's question. "At work. A few days ago. I work the day shift to get a bunch of admin stuff done. Henry was on the noon to 8."

"It sounds like people had fun? Other than the decomposing corpse?" No, Alexander is not good at reassuring compliments. He does blink at Niall identifying him, and he coughs, his gaze going to his coffee rather than the other man's face. "Heard of me, huh?" He thinks about that, then gives a resigned sigh. "Sorry. Well." A sip of coffee. "Had he spoken to you about any changes in his life? New relationship, relationship ending, joined a new community of some sort, seemed to change his habits? New shift? Anything that comes to mind."

"He was acting a bit cagey in the weeks leading up to his..." beheading and mutilation? "...death." Niall raps his fingers on his cup. "Also, he was like us. He..." he waggles fingers to indicate Glimmer. "He'd only been living in Gray Harbor about two months. He just got transferred from the Olympia station."

"Cagey?" Alexander's tone invites elaboration, and his momentary embarrassment slips away. If he were a hunting dog, his ears would be pricked upright. "And he stood out. Olympia. Did he know August Roen at all? I think Roen was stationed up near there, when he worked in the forest." He takes another sip. Then he jumps a little, and says, as if he were trying to memorize something and had only just remembered a line, "My condolences, by the way. For losing a coworker like this. How are you holding up?"

"Don't know. Possibly. He was stationed down there for a couple've years." Niall half-shrugs. "And just keeping to himself? I poached him from Olympia because I needed someone more senior to train some of the younger rangers. And he was personable and friendly and had a lot to teach. Christ," he mutters. "It's my fault he ended up in this town." He rubs his face. As for how he's holding up? "Walking a fine line. I know the police won't look into anything not...mundane. So I want to help people who know more about the..." he seems to not want to, or can't figure out how to name the Veil and its related effects. "...special aspects of this town without contaminating the investigation. Because there's no way this is just a normal killer." A scoff again. "If there's such a thing."

"They might have missed each other," Alexander muses, more to himself than to Niall. He rubs his face, scratching at the scruff on his chin. "You're not responsible for what happened to him," he says. "Only person is, would be the person who killed him." He pauses for coffee. "About the ways this town is fucked up," he supplies, with another hint of that amusement mostly in the lines around his eyes. "What makes you think that? That this isn't a normal murder?" He doesn't necessarily sound like he disagrees, but he's watching Niall with a curiously intense gaze.

Niall looks Alexander in the eye as if he's trying to gauge if he can trust the other man - if he has good intentions. He knows him by reputation, but that only really tells part of the story. He lowers his voice, leans in and murmurs, "Well, he was found face down. Most of him was. With an octopus where his head should be. Head still MIA. And strange symbols carved onto him."

Alexander meets Niall's eyes, without hesitation, returning stare for stare. He doesn't look like the kind of guy who has good intentions, and god knows that his reputation in town isn't good. He tenses a little when Niall leans in, but doesn't lean away. Instead, his eyes narrow as Niall speaks. "...so probably not an accident or an angry lover." It's not sarcastic, more like there's a mental list that's being checked off. He pulls out his phone, swipes a few times, and then shows Niall a picture of what looks like a card, blank but from some drawn symbols. It's taken from Henry's wallet, the back of a barber shop card, but all Alexander says is, "Do these symbols look familiar?"

Niall looks at the phone, looks at Alexander, "I didn't...actually get a good look at the symbols. Just overheard the police mentioning them. For reasons that involve me being his boss and potentially a suspect until they checked out my alibi, they took pretty tight control of the scene after they arrived." But his eyebrows arch. "Where did you get that?"

Curses. Alexander doesn't say that, but somehow his expression reflects it, even as he keeps his tone calm. "Do you recognize them from anything else? Doodles the deceased might have made, any sort of communications that came to the station, anything like that." He puts the phone away, and smiles. "I couldn't release my sources, sir. It may not even be related." He doesn't sound like he doesn't think it's related. But he does ask, casually, "Did you kill him?" And, at the same time, if Niall's perceptive enough, there's a feeling that he's listening to the answer with more than the regular senses.

Niall arches his brows. "Mhmm, so we're not doing mutual cooperation, then?" He grunts a little, then finishes up his coffee. "You're asking me if I severed the head off my coworker and replaced it with an octopus? Seriously?" He shakes his head, bites his lower lip, which seems to be pushing down a surge of stress-fueled anger. "No. I did not kill him." His words ring true to both mundane and supernatural senses. He does look like there's more to say, but now he seems to be debating whether to even tell Alexander.

"Depends on if you're investigating or a witness," Alexander says, with a shrug. Then a wince as that jerks his wounded shoulder. "If you're a witness, then telling you too much contaminates the information you might give me. People tend to start making connections as soon as they can, and deleting memories that don't match the connections they're trying to make. I don't want to prejudice you." He just stares through the rest, looking interested but not particularly repentant. It's really no surprise that people in town tend to cringe or get defensive as soon as Alexander shows up; he has no delicacy about the matter. But, on the bright side, he also seems to accept the answer completely. "Thank you. For answering. Now I know you didn't. It makes everything else easier."

Yes, it's certainly good to know for Alexander's peace of mind that Niall is not a suspect. However, it's a risky gambit because such direct questions have the potential to shut down your subject. That seems to be what's happening in this case. He pulls out his wallet and fishes for enough cash to cover his food. Faster than trying to flag down a waitress to pay with a card, after all. "There's nothing easy about this investigation, Mister Clayton." He reaches for his hat.

Alexander pauses, and resignation flickers across his features. "I suppose not." Then he brightens, fractionally. "That's what makes it interesting." Not a response likely to stop Niall from leaving, but it just seems to slip out without pausing to check with his brain and what passes for his sense of etiquette and restraint, first. He does say, "Thank you for answering my questions, Mr. Tokoronga. I appreciate your time." He looks down at his coffee. "I will do everything I can to see that your coworker's killer is arrested and sees justice for his or her acts."

That's the problem with having to leave the supernatural investigation to the civilians. They're, well, civilians. However well-meaning they might be. Nial sets his hat on his head. He wears it sitting far back rather than the conventional way. "Just...don't poke any beehives, yeah? Whoever this is, they're dangerous."

"It's okay. I get stung all the time. Be careful, yourself," Alexander says, without looking up from his coffee. "Until it's known why your coworker was targeted, keep an eye out. And encourage your coworkers to do the same." One corner of his mouth turns up. "Don't die."