Repose

Please tell me there's a store here that sells wine. Preferably by the bottle(s), but beggars can't be choosers.

[It doesn't come as a gift from santa for the holidays, because this is more than that. But it comes, nonetheless, in a nondescript cardboard box with no return-addressee.

Inside, packed lovingly in tissue paper, is a porcelain doll. Delicate with dark hair and a pressed little dress, she looks quite comfortable in the nest of tissue that makes up her bed.

It's only when she's moved that the truth becomes clear, that the image is shattered. She comes apart in pieces, chunks of porcelain, limbs detaching, clattering against one another with any shift.

There's no note. There doesn't need to be.]

[public]

I would ask about bars, but that's already taken care of. I'm new. anywhere in town so good it's worth checking out the first week? I got a list to make.

[Delivered by mail, though only the name is written on the outside of the trifolded pages. The handwriting is archaic, the ink sanded dry. The letters are sealed shut with wax, though there is no seal. All are signed, simply, "Your Friend".]

[Jude.]

[Addressed by first name on the envelope, and in the header.] Departing the country for a short period, for greener pastures (as they say). Do not expect the absence to be permanent. Thank you for your hospitality. - You did not run very far.

[Claire.]

Limited gardening skills, and the plot of land, I think, is in Repose. Certainly back for spring. You should decide if you want me in, or seal me out.

[Atticus.]

[The book is returned.] There is no time for reading where I am going. Surprised you are pursuing correspondence given previous circumstance; should think you might settle your haunts if you expect to live long. Prodigious strength in you, should you care to recognize it.

[Separately. Cris (with the associated names he signed the card with, Sam, Teresita, Joey); Sasha.]

Much obliged for the holiday greetings. Wish you best for the new year. Should plan an assembly.

[Louis.]

How am I to know the invitation will only include yourself? Even you do not know that.

[Saturday morning, there is a small item hanging above the door of Loot, the colors of it bright enough to attract attention (even with all the neon around). A sprig of flowering coronilla* and a single piece of wheat**, the stalks wrapped together with orange*** thread. The thread is snagged on a tiny imperfection in the door's frame, near one of the upper corners. It doesn't hang down to obstruct the door at all, it's just... there.]


* success crown your wishes
** prosperity/riches
***success

[Abe W]
So, about those artifacts.

[Cat C]
Does Bruce go off topic a lot? And does it make you want to strangle him, too?

[Reece E]
Are you trying to start a sock war? Because that's how you start a sock war, sir.

[Public]
Theater is closed tonight and probably tomorrow. Some thousand-legged hellbeast has taken control of screen 3.

Completely unrelated, does anyone know where to pick up a flamethrower with enough power to incinerate anything it's aimed at? Prime delivery is not fast enough, and hairspray with a lighter only makes it angry. Laser blasters/Photon torpedoes are also acceptable solutions.