Dark Shadows over a Harvest Moon

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Zypher

Can I transfer you to my manager?
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
Genres
Adventure stories! They can be fantasy, modern, sci-fi, all kinds! Give me some good world travel stories and I'm all over it! I also enjoy romance stories and even though I tend to play females I love playing gay men.
Drew had finished up his rounds around Mineral Town, most of it was still sadly broken down and uninhabited. Soon more residents would move in and take up the rest of the buildings, at least he hoped. If he didn't fix up this town fast he would have to go back to the big city and the force and he didn't want that.

As he walked down the broken street he came across the old library and house, passing it by and heading towards the old clinic. As he reached the grocery store he turned down the main street and headed to the bar, it was usually open by now. Sighing he stepped up to the door, letting himself inside.

"Hello?" He asked, taking off his cap. "Anyone here?"
 
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Annika saw, from the corner of her eye, a man who was walking about. He entered the bar and she followed him in shyly. After he called out his question, she meekly stepped forwards. "Hello there.... sir? I was just curious who, I mean, I just bought a building here and I was curious who all was here.. I hope you don't mind that I followed you and all. I'm Annika, it's good to meet you? You do live here, right?"

She shifted nervously, clutching folds of fabric between her fingers. With her left foot, she slowly drew circles in the dust on the floor, allowing her thick golden hair to shadow her face. Perhaps he was really very mean! How terrible would that be, to have moved all alone into a town full of mean people...
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Flora was outside her flower shop watering the little buds that had started to grow. She hoped that this time they would actually bloom, but that wasn't likely to happen. Things didn't grow around here like they used to, it was as if the soil of the town was sad. She came here hoping for a new start, but the village met its decline shortly after she arrived. That was typical of her luck, but she was determined.

She set her watering can down to wipe the sweat from her brow, thinking it would nice to get something cold to drink from the inn. As she dusted off her dress she glanced around at her land. Her shop used to be owned by the rancher, who moved away with his granddaughter some time ago. She bought the half of the land with the house, leaving the other side an empty lot.

From where she stood she could see a little of the old farm. She had heard a new farmer would be taking it over and wondered if he would have any luck growing crops.
 
"Yes." answered a voice, coming from a door behind the counter. It opened and in walked Dexter, carrying a fresh bottle of wine with him, and placing it into the rather large cooler, for anyone who wanted some tonight. He wondered why anyone was here. It was still a tad early for usual bar patrons to be here. Maybe he wanted a drink before he went back to work. "What can I do you for, mister...?" he asked, grabbing a dirty beer glass and washing it, looking intently at Drew.
 
Layla sat at a table near the door twiriling her straw through her fingers, only 17 she was not old enough to drink she had come to the bar to socialize the town seemed uninhabited.
 
Layla emptied her glass and wandered over to the barkeep, she thought to herself maybe i should just ask for some wine he might not be able to tell im under age. She stood there looking at the wine and thinking.
 
Drew was taken aback at the business of the bar. There was a small girl off to one side and then two people had answered his call. He then turned around to see the girl standing behind him.

"Um yes, I do indeed live around here, out by the old hot spring in the forest. I'm sure you've been. I'm the new constable in this town and I was just making my rounds." He nodded as he turned to the barkeep. "Oh no, thank you, I've got to keep a clear head with this job."
 
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Annika smiled brightly at him, but her expression sombered, only slightly, when he mentioned he was the constable. Still, there probably was no dire need for one, right? "I've been, yes. So you just moved here? I have as well, I was looking for someone to talk to, it gets so lonely at the bakery without company" she looked up at him, studying his features. He seemed sturdy, kind.

Annika sat down on one of the stools, ordering a glass of water which she proceeded to sip on. A fat orange tabby crept silently around to purr and rub against her leg. "Oh!" she giggled, reaching down to pat its head. "Who ever head of an inn raising cats..."
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Zephyr paused a moment as the door closed behind her to snuffle and push the darkly tinted brass goggles up to the line of dirty blond hair, pulled back, more or less, out of her face. This was more people than she'd seen in one spot in a week. She was grease smudged and fumey headed and of an aching need for a third drink that drove her towards the bar. She looked over the glass of wine, but her tonsils cried for vodka as her hands patted the pockets of the grit smitten coveralls for currency. Momentarily, this dip down into the reptilian and limbic inner world saved her from the cerebral terror and paranoia of being in the room with two and a half strangers.

A bartender, of course, she could spot two miles out with her nose, and was never a complete stranger. Anyway, Zeph was sure she'd been down to the inn a few times already, surely.
 
Drew looked at Annika, then at the cat and a flicker of a smile came over his face. "When the town was booming that cat was just a kitten here. My family took me on vacations here. Everything went downtown after the...murder." The last word brought a pained expression to him and he turned away only to come face to face to one of the other townsfolk.

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." He bowed his head and looked back at all the people that gathered and stepped out past the doors and took a look outside before coming back in and sitting down at Annika's table. "What brings all of you to Mineral Town?"
 
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Annika reached out to pet the cat while it purred around her legs. The man seemed very kind to her, though she was curious about the murder but he walked away from her and began addressing everyone. She felt abashed, she had somehow entertained the idea that she was special, or at least having a conversation? She shrunk back into the corner, picking up the cat to cuddle it.

Annika folded her legs under her on the chair, surveying all the people around her with mild curiosity. These were her new neighbors, she supposed she ought to get to know them. With a sigh, she continued petting the cat.
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Glancing up from 1000 yards and little across the drab blue rumple of jumpsuit shoulder, the not entirely tiny lounge felt unexpectedly intimate....PANIC

"Hm.."She said while her skittish brain played back the last bit of happening she hadn't quite been paying attention to. Her eyes squinted and her sick-pale rose-petal lips screwed into a purse as fragments of the doings of the last couple weeks torrented before her third eye. She began a few slow nods.
"The weather, really. It, ah, suits my temperament, so I decided to settle here for a while. The trees are nice." She breathed, touching her chin with one bandaged and stained index finger (surely this gesture would convey thoughtfulness and total lucidity), and smiling at the two with what she hoped was harmless friendliness. At least it was mostly harmless and likely a little haggard, though the mostly fit frame her suit and half empty tool belt dangled from was sturdy, there was a certain slump to the lids of her eyes and the angle of her shoulders that bespoke deep fatigue.