A Bitter Pill To Swallow

Aging, cracking facades, flickering lights illuminating out-of-date ads in the thundering rain, sirens in the distance giving hints of crime, death and injury just barely far enough away to allow them to be ignored.
Graybridge is not a pretty place at the best of times, and this dark, wet October is far from the best of times. The old, ruined streets are littered with dirt, with cheap, broken Halloween decorations that didn't even last the month they were made for, with garbage that nobody bothers to pick up. Seemingly neverending rain has been soaking the city's people to the bone all month, discouraging anyone from stepping a foot outside if they don't absolutely have to.
This Wednesday turned out to be one of the worst in regards to the rain. Ice cold drops of water hammering down in a heavy, constant, neverending cascade. It's no wonder the streets are all but abandoned this dark October evening...

GRAYBRIDGE, 25 OCT 2023, 19:41
Episcopal Cathedral of St. Javelina, Basement
Thin streaks of water flow underneath the small, high up window, betraying that its aged frame is no longer able to hold out the elements. Cold wind, carried through cracks in the walls and doors and windows is barely counteracted by an old, loud space heater in a corner of the room, trying to make a hospitable place for up to a dozen people for whom chairs have been placed in a loose circle in the middle of the room. But despite this optimistic estimate for attendance, ten minutes after the scheduled start of the weekly meeting for those affected by metahuman violence or activity, there are only two people gathered here in the cold church basement - David Draven and Augusta Ang.

Just as Dave is certain no one else is going to show up to this meeting anymore, the door opens and a familiar face leans into the room. Brock Kaminski is a regular attendant of the group whom Dave knows fairly well at this point. Most often, he shows up alone. Sometimes, he comes with his girlfriend Anna. Occasionally, she comes without him. The two metahumans are in a long-standing, mutually abusive relationship, which is always the reason for their presence here. Tonight, he seems to be alone, deep circles underneath his eyes from what looks like lack of sleep. "Uhm, Mr. Draven," the young man says. "There, uh, is something going on outside. Thought I'd tell you. You always tell me not to get involved in anything, y'know."GRAYBRIDGE, 25 OCT 2023, 19:41
Caine and Sloane Department Store
It was supposed to be Melissa's day off. Instead, Mike called her in a panic, letting her know that Paul and Emma had both called in sick and that he desperately needed someone to help with the store today. And so, here she is, soaked through, as was inevitable in the thunderstorm going on outside, hammering against the windows and shaking them with every perfectly simultaneous flash of lightning and clap of thunder.

Here she is, but no customers. Barely anyone is crazy enough to pick an evening like this one to go shopping, so the large, multi-storey department store is almost completely empty. Not that that means she can relax. Mike has decided that this is the perfect opportunity to start decorating the store for the Christmas season, which means plenty of decorations to hang up, stickers to attach to the windows and Christmas hats to place on mannequins while the same Christmas playlist as every year plays quietly over the speakers for her motivation.

Mike meanwhile is busy sorting through the seasonal wares, deciding which to put in the discounted section and which to keep at full price for now. In this work, he somehow always manages to stay at least somewhat close to Eva, who may not have an actual obligation to be here but who has nonetheless braved the rain to spend the evening between clothes, accessories, household wares, toys and many other things, most of which are far out of the price range set by her meager wage from working at Dark Lips.

While the store is mostly empty, Eva isn't quite the only customer. There's a couple searching for just the right toaster, a teenager eagerly comparing the labels on the boxes of liqueur-filled chocolate and one or two other rain-soaked people just wandering aimlessly as they're sheltering from the weather outside. A jingle at the door announces it opening for another customer, drawing automatically the involuntary attention of both Melissa and Eva. A man stumbles inside, swaying as if heavily drunk. He's dressed in a cheap plastic parka to protect against the rain, his face is slack and his eyes unfocused. As he moves further inside and the automatic door closes behind him, he stumbles into a small keychain display, knocking it over. If he notices, he shows no reaction and just continues wandering aimlessly inside.