2021-09-20 - Yay! We didn't die!

The storm has passed, it's somehow September, and the Twofer still stands. The books show a steady but rather unremarkable Tourist Season's worth of income, though neither Easton nor Bennie can remember ever working a shift, filling out a purchase order, or hiring a new waitress. Also, strangely enough, none of the staff remarked on their absence. It's just business as normal to the Normies. To those that Glimmer? They're still scratching their heads and wondering WTF happened to nearly six whole weeks of their lives.

Bennie is no exception, currently scrolling through her phone for any news articles that seem out of place.

Weeks. Weeks Isi COULD have spent trying to integrate into the town and... apparently did? At least, she has several weeks of reports that look like her work but she hasn't the faintest memory of doing them. With this time warp screwing with her she's abandoned her office completely and headed to somewhere new.

When she enters alone it's with a bit of the hesitancy that comes from being somewhere new, her eyes dancing about the room to take it in before someone speaks to her.

Brows knit, Bennie continues her scrutiny of the tiny screen, not the local paper in the header, but the Seattle Press news instead of one focused just on Gray Harbor or the tri-county area. Her eyes flick up as she hears someone slinking in, and as the face is unfamiliar, she just waves a hand distractedly. "Sit where ever strikes your fancy."

What does Joe have to show for those lost weeks? A new novel. The one he'd been poking at in a desultory way in the year and a half or so since he arrived in Gray Harbor, trying to start. Trying to get it off the ground. But now it's there, glowing on the screen of his laptop in his apartment, a book he has no memory at all of really writing, let alone starting to revise - entitled Red Dust. They're his words, his turns of phrase....but somehow the product of whoever he was in that lost time.

So the sailor's got a distinctly shell-shocked look as he wanders in to the bar. He's wearing his pea coat, old jeans, those ridiculous browline glasses that on him look less hipster than Mission Control circa 1965. Shrugging out of the first as he enters, as he sets himself down on his favored stool with the care of someone putting a crystal glass down on a shelf.

The office door opens and out steps Easton. He's not dressed for a night behind the bar, he has on a camouflage Black Rifle Coffee tee-shirt and jeans over his boots. He does his usual awkward walk (favoring his right foot greatly) as he makes his way towards the bar with a notebook computer currently closed with a container of loaded tots balanced precariously on it. The other hand holds a beer. He gives Bennie a big ol' shrug with a shake of his head that indicates he's not any closer to understanding what the hell happened than before.

"We didn't go out of business but it looks like it took us a hellofa long time to recover from the storm.." He trails off and upnods at Isi and then takes a seat at the bar and slides his tots off to the side so he can crack open the computer. "I mean at least we made payroll...?"

He shoves some tots in his mouth and then sucks some of the ketchup and cheese off his thumb still shaking his head.

Pulled away from her looking by Bennie's words she nods once and heads deeper towards the bar. When Joseph sits she turns and gets all squint-y eyed, "You're the guy from that thing... but that was forever ago?" Yes. She's confused as the time jump and the last time she saw this person are at distinct odds with one another.

Bennie's lips screw up to the side before the bottom gets bitten with a ridge of teeth. She's so entranced with what she's reading now it's only Easton's booming voice that shakes her out of it. Like it's half panic and half guilt at whatever she's looking at she ditches the evidence. Right into a picture of beer. And then nonchalantly slips her hands into the back pockets of her cut-off shorts as bubbles blub out of her phone to the surface of brew. "Oh yeah? That's good!" She says in an overly cheery voice. "Hey Joe, when did you get here?"

"Just now," Joe says, in that sighing drawl he has. "Y'all lost time, too, didn't you?" It isn't really a question, by his tone. "At least, memories of that time. Last I recall was a storm in summer, but I woke up just today, came home to find I'd written a whole goddamn book in the interim." He shakes his head. "Man, I'll take a Four Horsemen. This occasion deserves real liquor."

Only then does he nod to Isi. "You and I were in that awful VR Dream together, weren't we?" he reminds her. Joe's propped himself up at an odd angle on the stool, like his bad hip is giving him trouble again. "And we'd met on the beach before that, if I recall. Isi, right?"

Looking down at Bennie's phone floating in the pitcher of beer and then back up at her and then back at the phone, he raises an eyebrow. "You want me to fish that out babe? Or does your phone really need a drink?" He pulls the phone out and grabs some napkins to try and soak up some of the beer. He pats it a couple times before upnodding at Joseph and says, "Hey Joe. And yuuuup." He listens to the order and calls out to the bartender, a local guy who is a new face in the Twofer, "Make that two-" Easton realizes with a bit of panic that he doesn't even know the guys name so he lamely finishes up, "Please?"

Recognition abruptly flairs in Isi's expression and she sits up just a tad straighter. "I knew I knew your face from somewhere but I couldn't figure out where. I wasn't going insane." That is utter relief and she shoos her hair out of her face. "Thank you for not letting me get killed though... with.... we lost time right? We did?" This time she turns her gaze towards Bennie and Easton as if looking for other assurance she's not insane.

Bennie will deny vehemently that she works here even though she's behind the bar, letting WhatsHisFace fill the order only adding a, "Make it three, sugar." Because 'sugar' covers a multitude of sins, including the fact that they don't have name tags.

She watches Easton patting down her phone trying to reach for it before he notices the crime section open on the unmussed phone. "Don't worry, I took your advice and upgraded to the water proof one." She's accident prone, okay? "Though I'm not sure our policy covers beer?"

"Not really sure that's a marker of sanity." She wipes her phone on the butt off her shorts and shoves it back in her pocket. "It's more like a...shared delirium." She assures Isi before adding, "Bennie. Easton." Introductions!

The phone in the beer has Joe's brows going up. "Man, that how you clean those things these days?" he wonders, with a certain tone of arch amusement. "Hey," he says to Easton, inclining his head. No impatience - he's retired, he's got all the time he needs to get drunk.

"You're more'n welcome," he says to Isi, with a faint hint of laughter in his voice. "I s'pose it's kinna me payin' things forward, considering how much help I've had in this town. I'm Joe, or you can use my last name, Cavanaugh, if you'd rather."

Easton does indeed notice the crime section and his eyes slide up to Bennie's with a questioning look that says he will want to talk about why she's acting all squirrelly pants later. He instead says to Isi, "Yes. We lost time. Because: Gray Harbor." More accurately the veil. Either way, he's not beating around the bush or hinting. If WhatHisFace gets confused, that's fine. Easton doesn't have time to be obscure. He turns to Joe as the shots arrive, "Have we figured out if it was everyone? I honestly assumed it was just Bennie and I until right now.. but was it..?" He trails off shaking his head trying to figure out how that would even work or what the implications of all that is.

"Joe, Benne, Easton," Isi repeats the name to herself and turns her face just enough so that she can see everyone more clearly, even if it does mean pushing her stool just a bit. The squeak is a bit loud and she'll freeze immediately and try to pretend she didn't just cause that sound to happen. Nope. Not her.

Cautiously she tosses in, "I tried to ask my boss about some of the insurance audits on my desk from the storm but he...." she trails off not sure exactly how to say it, and instead shrugs helplessly.

Bennie continues pretending everything is Just Fine, even though she can read that look from Easton from a mile away. Nothing to see here! "Joe wrote a book and we didn't have a baby! Apparently Isi here is still getting some work done too, so that calls for a celebration, right? Nothing stupid happened in our giant black out period so we should be thankful." Even if she doesn't sound convinced of that herself. She slides her shot which is combined of four other shots of four different liquors in front of her. "So, um. Cheers!" Instead of sipping her shot, she takes a giant gulp, grimacing at the burn that turns into a cough and a wheezed, "I don't think I've had anything to drink in three months. My throat is like a virgin on prom night." Even if that metaphor doesn't quite make sense.

"It's me, Rosencrantz, and de la Vega, too, at least," Joe says, as he lifts his glass to Easton. "I'm inclined to think it's everyone. At least, all of those that shine. Unless we just got shunted one door down in the time-space continuum or somethin'. I mean, my apartment looks the same. I look the same - this isn't some alternate history where the Russians took over, or somethin'. I don't feel like I spent all that time in cryo or hibernatin'..."

He pulls a wry face. "Yeah. I didn't wreck my bike or marry a stripper or spend all my pension on coke. Looks like I even spent the time productively. I'm actually pretty happy with the book."

Isi's voice rises just a few notes upwards. Not quite an octave, she's got this - kinda. "Heh... is that... wait," she looks between them to measure their seriousness. "For fucks sake - did that happen to people?!"

Easton gives Bennie the unimpressed eyes of /I'm not buying your everything is fine act/ as he slams the shot with a wince. Why are there so many whiskeys in that? How does Joe still have a liver? "But yes, I will drink many shots to no baby and here's to hoping we don't have some horrific surprise waiting for us." He pulls out his phone to start firing off texts to people to check in. His lips twitch up at the crack about virgins on prom night, "Not sure you'd know much about that Benz." Heh.

"Figures" Easton shakes his head as Joe informs him who got hit. "We couldn't have all ended up over there for that long.. people woulda noticed." He looks at Bennie, tentative in bringing up 'getting lost' as that's a sensitive subject. "And this is hardly the first time something has screwed with our memories. The uh... institute?" He looks at Joe, who knows it better than any of them, "Our little jaunt there got wiped /hard/ but that was different."

Bennie looks at Isi with a softening in her expression. "Don't know yet, but eventually most of us Shiny people will drift in here as the Twofer has become one of the unofficial rallying points." Ever since someone Got Lost. Bennie smells what Easton is laying down apparently, and her fingers go briefly to her throat.

"We'll find out more with a little bit of time, how far this reaches. For now, it's just a lot of testing the waters." Her eyes go to Easton, then filter back to Joe. "Hey Sailor, gimme your hand. I wanna try out something?" She makes gimme fingers for his.

How does Joe still have a liver? Maybe NASA installed a replacement before he retired. Or extended time in microgravity has a protective effect. Hard to know. Isi's question has him spreading his hands. "Gettin' pregnant in the interim? I dunno. Not involved with anyone that can get pregnant, so...."
Bennie makes that request, and Joe offers his right, with HOLD written boldly across the knuckles in shades of ocean blue. "Whatcha thinkin?" he asks her.

Isi doesn't down her shot - she's still over here doing some mental readjustments. "Just when I think I've got a handle on this place just - fuck." She shakes her head slowly and fiddles with her drink.

ENOUGH of her experience includes someone else asking for hands and her stool makes another scraping sound as she edges another couple of inches away. This is fine.

Easton raises an eyebrow at Bennie asking for Joe's hand as he has no idea where that's going, part of him expects that she's just aggressively trying to make him forget the thing with her phone. But then Isi is backing away even farther and he explains, "Bennie's not psychic, she's just very, very friendly. And don't worry, this place is trying to keep you off balance, you'll get used to it unless you're smart enough to run far, far away." He pours himself a beer from the pitcher that housed the phone, "Which we all should have done."

"Gotta love a man that comes with instructions." Bennie's grin is wide and full, even if there is the lingering doubt of something shading her eyes. She does in fact hold those HOLD fingers, one hand cupped beneath and one cupped below. "Just wanna see if my juju is working, that's all. You're hip bugging you?" She doesn't need confirmation verbally, she can feel it as certain as if it were her own bones and joint. "Sorry Isi, this place has a way of throwing you in the deep end."

She bows her head and concentrates, warmth creeping from her very core and along the conduit she's created with Joseph. Healing warmth. Like sunshine has split the clouds and it almost seems brighter in here for just a brief moment. It's not enough to heal the old wound, she wouldn't dare attempt that without permission, but it should be enough to ease the ache. With a final pat-pat she releases Joseph's hand.

"Oh, don't let him fool you. I'm totally psychic." She puts two fingers to her temple in a show, "Like I know Easton is...going commando right now."

"I don't know that you can get a handle on this place," Joe opines, after a moment. His hand is sinewy and callused - very worn, indeed. The ink is new enough to still be bright. "All you can do is be flexible, I think..."

He's sipping from his whiskey concoction as Bennie reaches out with her power. Her comment about instructions makes him chuckle, and ripple his fingers in her grip. "Yeah. It's cold enough now....oh, that's better. Thanks," he says, with a sigh of relief.

Easton pegged Isi's worry in a single word, "Yeah - that business with the lmamá is still on my mind - though it was a while ago now?" Wait, give her a moment as she goes back to processing the time jump and how long ago that meeting with the old Slavic woman was.

Things are weird enough that she absolutely does glance at Easton out of the corner of her eye as if expecting him to suddenly be naked.

Weirder things have happened. This wouldn't even be her first time in Gray Harbor where a guy is suddenly without clothes.

Easton just nods at Isi and says, "No worries. In case no one's briefed you, there are things out there at work that are trying to fuck with the people that stand out. This lost time thing is just the latest and newest flavor of fucking."

Easton being suddenly naked would actually be very, very normal. At least for this bar. He has a habit of being at least partially disrobing at a moments notice. But as to Bennie's comment, "That doesn't count. You know I couldn't find those after our last little break in my office.." His head tips slightly to the side and he narrows his eyes. "Oh. They're on top of the ceiling fan. Huh." He nods at Bennie, "Nice toss." Before getting back to his loaded tots, one of the bars specialities.

Bennie levels a look at Joseph, "Anytime, okay? Besides, with Alexander being busy with whatever slice of life he's up to now, I miss having someone to annoy with my abilities unasked. Ooh, I should totally call him, see if Isabella and he slipped too. Maybe shout out to Sutt...someone-else-who-no-longer-lives-here to see if it happened beyond our great boarders."

The pair has zero shame about when it comes to the office shenanigans it seems, because Bennie's cheeks don't even pink up as he points out she's cheating, instead beaming her thousand watt smile at being told it was a nice toss. "Beat my own record."

"She was warnin' us about it," Joe says. "The Baba. Cards an' all." There's something momentarily feral, fierce, in his grin - belying that air of almost feline laziness he often has.

It's only heightened by Bennie's comments. He inclines his head to her note about Alexander; certainly no love lost between them. "Sutton?" he says, voice bland as milk. "I know who she is. De la Vega's always had a weakness for blondes." Case in point....

Isi's puzzlement at the play of conversation between the three of them is as obvious as the color of her hair, thus she does the only polite thing that she can do, and takes a drink. Thus fortified she'll let out a very articulate, "I have no idea what you all are talking about. " No self pitying in those words, just blunt observation. "Except that the lmamá was the old woman, yes?"

Easton takes a gulp of beer and doesn't suppress a smile at mention of Sutton, "Aw you fuckin' should. Tell girl-Easton that I miss 'er." He gives Joseph a shrug and says, "Can't fault a man for taste."

He laughs at Isi, "Sorry, lotta history here between all the craziness that's been thrown at us. You should get people's numbers though. There are people like Bennie that can help heal you if you get hurt in a Dream." He stops and asks, "Do you know about capital D dreams? Getting lost and what not? Because someone more sober should fill you in on that at some point." Easton non-volunteers for that role. "And I missed out on the spooky fortune telling. But at this point I'm pretty sure I could do a reading. Blah blah death and horrible fuckery from the other side..." He's more than a little jaded about the twists and turns of the veil, but it still finds ways to screw with him despite his blase demeanor.

"Look, I get that the old fortune teller lady was probably the harbinger of all this, and it's deffo worth looking into or whatever, but maybe we could...not talk about her right now? We're supposed to be celebrating! You know, alive. Babyless. All our parts intact." Bennie turns around from the lot of them, this woman an obvious sore spot for this particular blonde, busying herself by dragging a trusty friend off the shelf. "I know her name, Joseph, just like I know you know her name, but I prefer my salt with tequila. Not old wounds." Bottle in hand is the case in point, the Reserva not the Jose that made up the Four Horseman.

"Yeah. The old woman," Joe says, nodding solemnly. He's not in any hurry to get drunk this evening, clearly. "Yeah. She's been in a Dream with me," he confirms for Easton. A shrug. "Hey, mostly they don't come with advance notice. I'm grateful for it, for my part."

He tips his head at Bennie. "Fair enough. Just y'all don't have to dance around. Javier fucked a lot of people in this town, I know. But ....yeah, celebratin' survival is never amiss, you know?"

"Yeeeaaahhh...." Isi says at Easton's question about the dream and Joe's elaboration, her elongation of the word implying that she really wishes beyond wishes that she didn't know about the Capital D dreams. "But speaking of numbers," Isi does the whole sit on a single buttcheek to wiggle the phone out thing, and turns it on to swipe through to her contacts. "Ravn gave me your number but it was in a group text with that Everett and Kailey guy, I didn't ask who was who, which one is yours?" She turns around the phone to show the group text to Joseph so she can put a name on the contact.

"If you don't mind the questions - " Isi says, glancing between Easton and Bennie as she waits for Joe's answer, "I wouldn't mind having some more people to spread my questions out. Be less of a burden on the Dane."

Easton's facial expression doesn't change but something that Joe said seems to make him fire down the rest of that beer quicker than he has been and not make any eye contact with Bennie for a bit. He grins and says, "Aww Ravn's a good dude to answer questions. He's probably got a good bit of experience under his belt by now but still fresh enough to remember what it's like. I feel like Bennie and I are old grizzled veterans of this thing by now?"

He grabs a napkin and a pen to scribble down his and Bennie's number, "And if you stop by here, there's almost always someone shiny around. Used to be the case up at Gina's diner but I'm not sure about that anymore.." Again, lots of history shines through their conversation. It's clear these people have been in the thick of what the veil throws at you for quite some time.

"Anyway.. We're celebrating. Benz, can you snag that Maker's Mark and a glass for me? Now that I know the bar's at least solvent, it's time to drunk text everyone in town and see who I can fuck with..." He pulls out his phone and composes outloud "Geoff. How's the vasectomy scar healing?"

"Aw, you know Ravn?" Bennie tries her best to pronounce his name correctly. "He's a peach. Tell him I said hi. No wait. On second thought, don't. But I hope he's, you know, doing well." She flips over a fresh shot glass and puts that with the Maker's mark in front of Easton, Joseph gets a bottle of whiskey she takes the tequila while Isi can choose from the lot.

"Never have I ever had carnal relations with Javier De la Vega." Sure, she won't rub salt in wounds, but teasing is totally on the table. And by the universally understood rules of this proposed game, Bennie doesn't have to take a shot, nor in her estimation should Isi, as recent an addition to town as it is.

"Ravn's good people," Joe says, approvingly. "But Javier de la Vega, Itzhak Rosencrantz, and August Roen are all experienced, powerful when it comes to the shine, and often willing to answer questions." He leans over to Isi's phone, indicates his number with a flick of a finger - the one with the F in Fast on it.

Joe snorts at Bennie, lifts his glass to her with a certain theatricality, and takes a big swig of it. Then he says, "Grizzled old veterans, indeed. 'least it hasn't driven you crazy, like it has some folks."

Isi accepts the numbers from Easton with a thanks, and then grins at Bennie taking back her comment. "Oh, I will absolutely tell him that people think he's a peach. Y'know, a little birdy said somewhere." She'll leave Bennie's name out of it, and just leave Ravn going ????? in return. There's a shake of her head at the never-have-I-ever bit, nope, she hasn't done to horizontal mambo with the police chief. "I've met August - though I didn't think about getting his number though."

She diverts her attention with Joseph's answer and goes to quickly put a name with a contact. "Are that Kailey and Everett I met as tied together as they seemed? Ah, fuck, I should have gotten Jonathan's too," that last is muttered to herself.

Easton just drinks his entire glass of Maker's Mark in a single gulp without saying another word before sliding the glass back to Bennie. "Can you fill that up again? I need to go put the laptop back in the office and then text Itz to ask how his budding drag queen career is going.." Look if the veil is going to steal three months from people Easton is going to make the most of it. He grabs the computer and heads to the office for now...

And when both the boys drink, Bennie's arms wrap around her midsection and she dissolves into a snicker fit that leaves her aching. "Spoiled sport." She notes to Easton, even as she refills his glass before his departure. "You're supposed to ask the next question!" But she salts her thenar webspace, then gives it a lick and downs her own shot. Because she's thirsty, not because of horizontal mamboing. "Uff, if you use the word Peach he'll know it was me, so just, you know, forget it." She tells Isi. "Those three are a like whoa. Alexander Clayton too, if you can find the recluse. I myself, prefer to stay woefully ignorant of my power. Wouldn't do much good, I tend to forget what I learned two minutes ago anyway, so. You know. What's another twelve weeks?"

The fact that Easton drinks makes Joe pause at his next sip. More accurately, he freezes, just letting the glass hover there in the air a little space from his lips. Then he sets it down, and stares after the bartender. "Wait, what? When? You can't just fuckin' take off on me like that!" he admonishes Easton. Then he shakes his head, turns back to Isi.

"As far as I know, they are. I don't know 'em well, but I seen 'em around town. I think they run that sweet shop?" Joe looks back to Bennie. "I've got Roen's number, I'll give it to ya. He also runs Branch and Bough."

There is some muttered cursing as Bennie tells her that Ravn'll guess. "The man is just too smart, I want just a little," fingers held up to show how much, "to get something back. Ah, well." There's no real malice in her words as she shakes her head and stands.

"I'll take that number if you're offering, text it to me?" Isi says. "I should probably get going - Thanks for being open to explaining...," and there's a vague gesture to indicated all the WEIRDNESS that is Gray Harbor in that thanks. There just aren't words for that shit. "It was nice to meet you," and a glance to include Easton in that despite him being gone, "and to see you again Joe." At some point after that she does take off, headed out the door with a less hesitant step than she came in on.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Joe! I'm so sorry. Jimmie Christmas, I thought the whole town knew! It was the Christmas before last, the whole reason Easton and I broke up for like, ever." Or what felt like forever.

"Bye Isi! Nice to meet you!" Bennie breaks out from her freak out for a second to be polite, giving the woman a parting wave. "Drop in or text anytime!"

Then back to her regularly scheduled inserting her foot into her mouth. "It was like...a bro hug. Only with penises. Inserted into each other." There is a hand gesture here to explain things, "But like, as friends when they were out shooting because Easton was hurting and they like, Marine bonded. With penises."

This apparently demands even more liquor. Joe downs about a quarter of the remaining booze in one swallow. "That's right when I got here," he says, wryly, fixing her with that clear blue stare. "No, I didn't know. Admittedly, wasn't my damn business at the time, and no one had any reason to tell me. And you broke up with Easton over it? Javier was already with Itzhak. This sounds like it was a hell of a mess." He's not so much indignant as perplexed.

Bennie nose wrinkles so hard it makes a little 'x' appear on the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, it was a whole thing, probably better that one of them tell you about if you want to know the details, but it was a whole Thing for a while. Itzhak was mad at Easton. I was mad at Easton and De lala. De lala arrested me. But we all got over it, and came out stronger for it. Now Easton and I have an understanding that you know, if he ever needs bro time, all he has to do is give me a heads up. He insists that he doesn't, but then there is Tom. And Geoff. And I just learned that it's a part of him not to be jealous over, because I'm also a part of him, y'know?" She shrugs in a whaddya gonna do kinda way.

"Maybe I shouldn't ask," Joe says, almost resigned. "Itzhak and Javier've clearly worked it out amongst themselves." He finishes his drink, pushes himself up from the bar. Apparently that revelation is gonna need a while to digest. "Man, this town," he says, on a sigh. He's generous with tip, as usual, but there's already that abstracted air to him. "You have a good evenin'," he wishes her, as he shrugs back into his coat.

Bennie slides the money off the table, her attempt to bring a lighthearted atmosphere thwarted by reality. "You too, Joe." She says quietly and turns to the till, leaves a note for Easton, and sneaks home.