A Bitter Pill To Swallow

ANNESBURG, 1 NOV 2023
The Mill Coffeehouse, Parking Lot

It is a pretty car, sleek and sportsy, entirely stylish and still manly. His taste is remarkable, in so many ways.

She doesn't look, doesn't see it, pretends not to see it. She climbs into her car, and drives away. Signaling to turn right, pulling out too fast and honking at cross-traffic, then driving off slowly. When she gets out of sight of the diner, she turns right again, and then pulls up close to the alley.

Climbing out, she pulls her dark trenchcoat out of the back, and ducks into the alley.

She lets the goblin out. Or does she supress her alterego and reveals her true self? She doesn't ponder that more than a second.

In the parkling lot, she leaves the trenchcoat and slips behind Brian's car. She looks underneath, and then reaches under and squeezes the exhaust pipe closed. Then she slips back into the darkness, grabs her trenchcoat, and slips back to her car.

Tossing the trenchcoat into the back seat, she heads for the Dark Lips Books, looking for a bodega or mini-mart where she could pick up some decadent ice cream, preferably green tea praline.

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
Walking the Streets
The disappointment on Tanya's face -- and in her voice -- is almost more confusing that the little bombshell about them being sisters. Looking at the other woman, and frowning at the glumness she sees there, Eva points at a bar on the next corner.

"How about we get that drink," she says. "I... I don't know what to say, Tanya. I didn't... grow up like most kids. Have you heard of Wyvern Lake, of the facility there? That's -- that's where my memories start."

As they walk, she goes on. "I mean, I do have some earlier memories. But they're so distant, and just like... flashes. Like glimpses of old photographs or videos."

Something occurs to Eva as they cross the street, and she asks, "Wait, do you mean... we have the same mom? Or... or that you were at Wyvern Lake too? How did you... know about me?"

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
Episcopal Cathedral of St. Javelina, Basement

A normal person might've felt bad for roughing the kid up the week before. Not Dave. The thought never even entered his thick skull. "No wonder you felt like a 'worm on a hook'. You were." He snatched a faded, water stained flyer from the wall and shoved it and a crappy pen in Tim's hands. "Gimme the name of that bar. There's a slim chance he'll come back there but if he does, I need you to point the guy out.". Dave grinned unsettlingly, his face lighting up with a tough of manic glee. "Drinks are on me. Think of it as a Guy's Night Out... Meet you there around 8. Bring your sister. It'll be fun." He clapped him hard on the shoulder, the effort to reassure Tim failing miserably.

ANNESBURG, 1 NOV 2023
Outside The Mill Coffeehouse, Parking Lot

She almost felt as if they never took a hiatus. Yeah, that's what she would call it. She had already forgotten the text breakup by the time Brian helped her with her jacket. I mean, what guy did that nowadays? Wasn't chivalry dead? This was why she had fallen for him back then and was why she falling for him all over again. That and his sexy good looks. It was easy to overlook things. Maybe too easy. A nagging bell tinkled at the back of her brain. The powers. The drink. Did he have too much power over her?

Meilissa was an observant woman. She once thought she would make a good cop, but that wasn't a glamorous occupation so she dismissed the idea. As they approached his car, memories of them laughing on their long drives rang through her head but she suddenly froze as she looked at the vehicle. Something was off.

"Brian? You always keep your vehicles so well. What happened there?"

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
Episcopal Cathedral of St. Javelina, Basement

"Troubled relationship with your sister, eh?" Dave opined Tim's previous statement. "What exactly is the difficulty between you two? The effort to reach out to estranged family members is noble... And it's understandable to try to shelter her from things you think she might find unpleasant about you." He looked at the kid, his mind wandering for a moment as he considered a few paths to helping Tim with his family problems. He sighed heavily and leaned in to talk to Tim closely, "You know, it's best to be totally honest with someone if you want a real relationship with them. Hiding parts of yourself is just holding back and that's not healthy for a relationship. Your sister has to know who she's reconnecting with or it's not an honest connection. True, it's a risk putting everything out there but it's the most solid basis for a real relationship. Invite her. Tell her what she needs to know about you and I think she'll appreciate the candor and vulnerability. If not, then that's on her." He leaned back and smiled, "Plus, you need a good bonding moment with her and there are few things better for that than a few drinks and some possible subterfuge..." Dave put on his best 'I'm just trying to help you' face to try and seal the deal.

Eva is going to order a beer as well, but as Tanya continues talking, as the other woman mentions sharing a set of parents, she rethinks the idea. They are full sisters?

"Whiskey, on the rocks," she orders nonchalantly. When the bartender asks what kind, she give him the kind of I have no idea blank look that lets him know he's supposed to pick for her. Then, glass of amber fluid and ice in hand, she settles on her stool and takes a drink. It's difficult for her to not make a face, because Eva has never had whiskey before -- at least not that she remembers. Eventually she coughs and chokes and sputters, and after spending a minute or too recovering, she takes a much smaller sip.

"Ah, whoa. Sorry about that. Strong stuff. And uh... can we go back? To the part where we have the same mom and dad. Do you know them, still? Are they... around? And if we're... like full sisters... are there more of us? Kids, I mean."

The two attractive women are capturing more than a few eyes and ears in the bar, but Eva doesn't notice, or doesn't seem to. "And what do you mean you've said more than you're supposed to? What are you supposed to say? Who even cares?"

There's more to discuss -- their shared childhood, Eva's memories... but there's just so much in Tanya's initial comments to unpack...

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
Episcopal Cathedral of St. Javelina, Basement

"Your choice." Dave shrugged. "But don't let the chance to be honest with her slip by. You says she reached out to you so..." A curious expression passed across his face as a couple of neurons connected a few dots in his conversation with Tim. "Hey. You said she was starting a career in pharmaceuticals?" he squinted at the thoughts running around in his head. "Like Plaxo Pharmaceuticals? Did you actually get to meet with your sister at the bar that night?"

ANNESBURG, 1 NOV 2023
The Mill Coffeehouse, Parking Lot
"Yeah, your car. It doesn't look right. Scratched or something. I thought maybe it was a trick of the light but shit, if we hadn't seen the exhaust pipe we could have died in the car."

Turning to Brian she searches his eyes. "Who did you piss off? A jilted ex? But enough to want you dead?"

She starts having second thoughts. Someone was trying to kill the guy. "I don't know, Brian. What are you mixed up in? Is it even safe to be with you? It doesn't seem so."

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
A Random Bar
As Tanya talks, Eva's eyebrows knit and she drinks more of her whiskey. She can hardly believe what she's hearing. She has a sister. She has regular old parents. And they might be alive.

Also, there was an 'us,' and a 'they.' The hell is going on?

Leaning forward, Eva presses the woman on these topics. She has to know more!

ANNESBURG, 1 NOV 2023
The Lonesone Streets

Augusta feels bad about leaving Melissa with Brian, but then again what does she know. She had suspected nothing, then Melissa implied she had been dosed with something only to totally back away from that when Brian batted his eyes at her. She was clearly a flake and deserved to be treated as an adult.

But what was the truth with Brian Floyd? These Plaxo connections, the increasing number of powered people, the TANC, and the other strange occurrences. There was only one way to determine if Brian was involved. Crawl into his life with a flashlight and speculum and see what he was hiding.

She didn't know many criminal adjacent types. Maybe Dave or Eva knew how to do this stuff.

She triggers the voice command function in her car. "Text Dave, 'Need to meet tonight. Send me Eva's deets too please.' End message and send."

"Message sent: 'Need to meet tonight send me ETA on beets too please."

"Fucking thing," she grumbled.

ANNESBURG, 1 NOV 2023
The Mill Coffeehouse, Parking Lot

Oh, his eyes. Melissa is entranced by his gaze and would believe anything the man said at this point. If he wasn't worried about his car, why should she be?

"She wouldn't, would she?" Frowning she answers her own question which was mostly rhetorical anyway. "Yeah she definitely would. She has that goblin thing going on. And speaking of that...," Melissa hesitates. The last thing she wants right now is any kind of confrontation with Brian.

"Um ... yeah dinner. How about tonight?" Her eyes suggest a little more than dinner. "As long as I am the one making the drinks at your place. We can talk about ... things then."