Repose

[After some thinking. Posted anonymously.]

If anyone requires assistance in financing gifts for their Secret Santa, I am willing to provide. You need only comment here.

Ho ho ho.

[Locked to Caleb R]
Back in town. Miss anything? How are the new guys working out?

[Locked to Cisco D]
Hear I missed some excitement.

[Locked to Billy K]
Enjoy having the place to yourself while I was gone?

[Locked to Cris M]
Fill me in, brother.

[Cisco D]
[After she checks like, three hundred times in a mirror. Just to make sure.]

scars gone

[Most people know who he is, but he posts it anonymously anyway.]

I don't know what big dark thing is fucking with the woods right now, but get the hell out of our territory or you're going to have a lot of problems. Problems with teeth.

[Wolves.]

If you haven't been vaccinated, handle it. Everybody try to stay on two legs until the people in the suits leave town. This is all we need.

[Ranger Allies.]

This isn't good for us.

[Animal Lock: Patrick G+Mary M+Cisco D(+ETA: Dawn L)]
Add anyone you can think of who'd be helpful, but I thought perhaps it'd be useful to aggregate our information.

[Locked to Louis D]
Louis, have you any idea why your shop is being plagued? And do you know anyone at the manor being similarly affected?

[Much, much later in the day, after the party.]

[Cisco D]
i dont know how yall do rolecall round here but im alive or whatever. dont send nobody to kick down my door.

[Jack P]
hey old man. you alive?

[Patrick G]
sound off boy scout

[Connie G]
[...] hey

[Not too long after the party.]

[Locked to Patrick G]
All right, darling?

[Locked to Jack P]
Hello, Jack.

[Locked to Cat C]
I hope the party went well for you.

[Locked to Destiny S]
Hello, Destiny.

[Locked to Connie G]
Hello, Connie, did you attend the party?

[Locked to Raven P+Atticus M+Cisco D]
Hello.

[Locked to Dahlia H]
Hello, Dahlia.

[Locked to Daniel W]
Hello, Daniel.

[Delivery, of a sort]
[Now that Connie's no longer working at the B&B, Newt takes over the responsibility of leaving out food for the hellhound on a nightly basis. He's not quite sure what such animals eat, but he does try.]

So there's 10% off cover price of horror books from now until October 31st. So if you like stuff like that, it's a good time to come in to the bookshop and get it.

[As it tends to do, local gossip has long since moved on to the next exciting thing, and the 'dog' attack a while back is all but forgotten. After all the chaos and a ton of false sightings, the animal is presumed dead or gone or, more implicitly, now some other town's problem.

The full moon comes and goes.

Meanwhile, the gym on the outskirts of town shutters. Maybe temporarily. Its schedule has been certainly sporadic ever since it opened, after all. So maybe it's a small miracle the place even kept its lights on as long as it did, especially with the owner completely MIA last month. But luck runs out eventually—school is back in session, and the pair of college kids on summer break that held down the front desk are gone. (Rumor has it they have yet to see a whole month's pay, too.) Now, the lights stay off, even upstairs, and the mail piles up at the door, most threateningly thick and stamped with angry red ink.

The trailer behind the gym is gone, leaving behind nothing more than a patch of dead grass, and later shows up in the commune camped out in the woods.]

[Newt P]
look i know you never wanna hear from me again but [...] thanks. for yr help. and puttin up with me

[Cisco D]
yall got rv hookups out here somewhere

[Public]
[Anonymous.] motorcycle 4 sale. harley '91 fatboy w newer evo motor and lotta custom work

msg for pics make an offer

Let's hear your favorite quotes, inspirational, literary, or otherwise.

I'll start with one. "It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is." - Hermann Hesse

[During this.]

[Locked to Jack P]
Jack, you've spoken with Dahlia?

[Locked to Cisco D]
Hello, Cisco.

[Fuzzily, a couple days before the full moon.]

[Newt P]
pain worse today

[Call: Cisco D]
[From an unfamiliar number. Ring!]

[The morning-ish after this.]

[Locked to Patrick G]
Hello, Patrick.

[Locked to Cisco D]
It is a werewolf bite.

[Locked to Jack P]
Hello, Jack.

ETA: [Note left for Dahlia on bedside table]
[In fluid, if slanted cursive. Written with a fountain pen.]

Dahlia, when you're ready this man would like to talk to you. He's the alpha of the local pack. [Cisco's name & number stated.] I'll be in the case for a bit today, as I've some cleaning up to do. If you need me, please feel free to post to me on the forums or, if you feel up to it, knock on the top of the case.

- N. Penhaligon

[During this.]

[Locked to Cisco D]
Hello, Cisco. I've a woman who's been bitten by a werewolf.

[Wolves. This lock includes PJ, Connor, and Atticus, but also all the other pack with local accounts. Unless they comment, which a handful do with basic questions, the names are not shared with others on the lock.]

Canine attacks mean the authorities start looking real hard at us. Unless you need me to stay in control, stay home. No running until the moon. If you have problems with the change - you know who you are - stay in camp with me.

Anybody who has a connection at the hospital to pull me medical records, come talk to me.

[After the post from Newt he adds a lock to Connor.]

Call me right now. [#]

Who: Patrick & Cisco
What: A trip to the past
Where: Beyond the Lookout
When: Fuzzytimes
Warnings/Rating: Probably entirely safe

Man, this summer was turning out to be a nightmare. It was hot and dry, and the radio in the Lookout had just reported a new fire out at Canyon Creek. It wasn't too close, but the Summer Lake fire that was still burning was much too close for comfort, and that thing was 466-acres, man. It all made Patrick think of his season in Shoshone, of the fires there, and dude did not want a repeat. Repose was sparsely populated, and there was nothing but highway and blacktop between it and the Capital, and a fire spreading here would be a disaster. He wasn't sure this town could burn, and he was highly suspicious that the weirdness of his most unique hometown would prevent it going up in flames, but dude still did not want to test that theory. Which meant that Patrick spent most of his days going around and putting out campfires and twigs that sizzled.

He didn't mind it. Being outdoors always soothed him, and Patrick was in the market for soothing these days. Things had become Uppercase-Complicated, and dude preferred his life chill, even if chill was not something in store for Repose or himself at present.

Walking through one of the thickest parts of the woods in cargo pants and a white tee that stuck to his back, Patrick pulled out his chronometer and watched as it unfurled in his palm. Man, he was trying not to think too much about all the things in his life without answers, but it was getting more and more challenging. For example, dude could absolutely sense when the trees were trying to warn him about things. Like now, there was someone due-north, and Patrick wished the chronometer would give him answers. It wouldn't, because dude was not insane, and dude did not expect his mom's trinket to speak to him, but answers would be most appreciated. However, answered remained elusive, and Patrick just turned in the direction of whoever was wandering. Floppy blond covering his pointed ears, he had his badge at his hip, but dude was not carrying. He was supposed to be, but he was also supposed to be in Ranger greens, man, and Patrick wasn't always about following the rules.

[It's the night of the moon, and there's the usual influx of pack satellite members and families coming in from the Capital for the typical BBQ and, later, fur.]

Who: Connor and Cisco
What: Getting sniffed by the alpha.
Where: The woods.

( The cave mouth in the woods gaped wide, the opening strung with fallen branches and mosses. )