Horror Candlewood

Chloe Barnett felt more than a little uncomfortable sitting in the police station. After what had happened a week ago the 17 year old beauty almost felt uncomfortable everywhere. At least here she did not have to endure all the sympathy and pitiful looks.

"So did your father do anything unusual the last days before ... the incident?" The Sheriff asked and stroked his beard. Deputy Michaels was sitting next to him, making notes. Michaels was young and attractive, usually Chloe would have loved to spend time with him ... but not in an interrogation cell at the local police station. Not under these circumstances.

"I don't understand Sheriff, is this an investigation? What is there to investigate?" Chloe asked annoyed by how little sense all of it made and she decided to look at her freshly manicured nails instead of the overweight bald Sheriff. A habit of hers whenever she got nervous to concentrate on something superficial.

"Sort of. Did he buy something or talk about something?" The Sheriff kept on asking the same question again and again, trying to wrap it fresh every time.

"Sheriff, seriously. I told you before I did not talk to Dad for days before it happened." Chloe shrugged. "Really. I cannot help you."

"We know he called you." The Sheriff exhaled as if he had preferred not to disclose this piece of info.
"What? You checked my phone records?" Chloe now tensed even more, folding her arms. "Do I need a Lawyer?"The Sheriff waved away. "You are in no way a suspect. And no I checked his phone records not yours ..." "Why did you do that?" Chloe asked.

"And he called you a day before ... the incident. What did he talk about?" "Nothing." Chloe insisted."bull****." The Sheriff hissed. He had suddenly lost his calm and Chloe realized this strange look in his eyes. Chloe almost jumped up. The Sheriff seemed not even to realize the change. "Did he mention the book? Any book he wanted to read or buy ..."

"A book? What got books to do with this?" Chloe was getting angry.

"It might be related to the incident." The Sheriff said, now clearly loosing his patience. Deputy Michaels was obviously as irritated as Chloe by the Sheriffs erratic behavior. "What? Stop calling it an incident! My dad killed my mom and then blew his head off! What the hell has a book to do with it? I wanna go ..." Chloe stood up and felt suddenly the iron grip around her upper arm as the Sheriff grabbed her and forced her back into her chair. "Are you crazy?" She screamed. Michaels jumped up, but did not dare to intervene.

"If you know anything you gotta tell me. Now!" The Sheriff was close now. Did Chloe smell alcohol in his breath?

"Why?" She asked, intimidated but also curious. After all this was about her Dad and if there was any explanation for him snapping, she wanted to hear.

"Because I dream of it! I need to find it! You hear me?" The Sheriff was now almost crawling onto the desk between them. The grip at her arm became painfully tight.

"Sheriff!" Michaels shouted out. The Sheriff froze and suddenly seemed to realize the situation. "I am sorry." He said with an almost flat voice and turned, leaving without a further word.


Chloe never got a chance to tell him her Dad indeed mentioned a book. A passing comment she recalled later that day. When she came to the office of the Sheriff the next day she was informed by a shocked Deputy Michaels, that the Sheriff had lost control of his car on his way home and had driven of a cliff into the ocean. They found his car, but not his body. Chloe soon forgot about the conversation and turned back to grief and a growing depression. A natural reaction to the tragedy that had befallen her family. She did not think about the book the Sheriff was so obsessed about for another ten years. She did not think about it until the day Jane Masters vanished.

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CANDLEWOOD
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This is a horror game set in the fictional town of Candlewood. Candlewood is located at the coast of Washington state not far away from the Canadian border. It is a fishing town, that also hosts a very exclusive private school and a minor tourist industry which is mainly renting cottages in the nearby region to people looking for a retreat or just like to wander through the woods around the town. This game is set ten years after the tragedy of John Barnett's murder of his wife and his suicide. The murder is the only recorded serious crime in the last decade and it would be fair to say Candlewood is a calm and idyllic little town. It certainly saw better days, but is still a nice place to live. People know each other here as barely five thousand people live here. Neighbors help each other out.

But the town has a secret, which is about to resurface and change the peaceful place forever.





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Characters should be either living in Candlewood or visit it. They could be anything, from a Sheriff or Deputy to any inhabitant of the town, tourists or even a student of the Candlewood Private School. If you want to discuss character ideas please just send me a PM or simply submit a character sheet with your idea.

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Character Template:


Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Occupation:
Biography:

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Rules

1. PM all character sheets for approval
2. Taking control of minor NPCs is okay, but no postings that godmod other players or major non-player-characters are allowed
3. The game is about characters, so respect the postings of other players and avoid meta-play.
4. For any questions PM me.
5. Stay within the rules of these boards.
6. Any player who does not respond to updates for a longer period of time can be controlled by me for the sake of moving the game forward.

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My special thanks to LordTroepfchen who was an invaluable source of help in creating this game.

English is not my first language so forgive me any spelling and grammar mistakes. I will try to keep them to a minimum.

 

Sirak-Approved

Name: Julia Wilson
Age: 27
Appearance: Pale skin with faint freckles. Thin build, average height. Blue eyes. Wavy, red-brown shoulder-length hair.
Occupation: Shop clerk
Biography: Julia was born and raised in Candlewood. Her parents own a local book store, and she is an only child. She attended Candlewood Private School, and began working at her parents’ shop during her college years, and still works there.

Julia is the same age as Chloe Barnett, and they were in many of the same classes in their school days. They knew each other, in the casual way that everyone in a small town knows each other, but they were never really friends. It was as much a shock to Julia as to the rest of the town when Chloe’s father killed his wife and then himself, and though she showed the same sympathetic kindness to the other girl as everyone else did, Julia didn’t feel close enough to Chloe to offer more. Chloe began to distance herself from others, and things eventually calmed back down.

Jane Masters was another of Julia’s classmates, but unlike Chloe, Julia and Jane were good friends during their school years. They grew up living just down the street from each other, and though work and their personal lives have weakened the relationship, they still see each other now and then, as Jane works at the library just a few blocks from the bookstore.

Julia met Ethan Wilson during her junior year of college, when he first moved to Candlewood to take a rookie position at the police department. They married two years ago. Jane attended the wedding.

 

GM Approved!

Name: Miles Rayburn
Age: 26
Appearance:

Occupation: Postman
Biography: Miles led a simple life growing up in Seattle. He is the oldest of three Rayburn children, his father a longtime postal worker for the city and his mother a teacher. He was shy as a child but not anti-social, and this has essentially remained the same through his adult life. Through high school he was considered one of the top baseball prospects in the state, but flamed out after an arm injury and a lost passion for the game.

After high school, Miles enrolled in a local community college but had no real idea of what direction he wanted to take, and after seeing the success his father had in raising a family in a small suburb in Washington, an idyllic life that he aspired to for himself someday, Miles decided to follow in his father's footsteps and joined the post office in Candlewood, a small town only a few hours away from his home and family. He's been there for the past five years, carrying the same route day after day and growing to know various residents of the city, establishing quite a few friendships along the way. He's also befriended a few of his coworkers as well, namely Kyle Chambers, a war veteran.

Miles has always had a competitive drive for as long as he can remember, and channels this in a seasonal slow pitch softball league, where he uses his talents from his past as a sought-after baseball player, and he also participates in a bowling league with a few close friends. He is his own toughest critic, and oftentimes has trouble shaking frustration when things don't go his way, though he does a mostly decent job of internalizing this. He also suffers from occasional bouts of anxiety, though there is almost always a reasonable trigger for it and it's nothing so severe that he's needed to seek help.

Miles is currently single.

 

GM approved


Name: John Carver

Age: 42

Appearance: https://goo.gl/images/wJ1UXE

Occupation: unknown, tourist at the moment

Biography: (on request of SirakRomar only his short biography in Candlewood will be posted here)

John arrived about a month ago, booked a room at the local hotel right next to the Ocean View Cafe and stayed. He was basically not seen doing anything except reading or walking and spending a lot of time in the Ocean View Cafe drinking coffee and looking out at the water. He reads a lot, also even the most curious waitress could not make out a pattern in his choice of literature.

 

GM Approved
Name: James Power
Age: 45
Appearance: Pale skinned, brown hair, blue eye's, somewhat round features, with a friendly smile.

Occupation: Mayor of Candlewood
Biography: James was born a few miles south of Candlewood, his father was an electrician and his mother stayed home to look after him. He worked as a lifeguard in his teenage years, and went to college out of state, where he studied political science, and got his teaching degree on the side. Power returned to Candlewood after graduation to intern for Mayor Mary Larson in the late 90s. After being 'promoted' from coffee duty, he largely spent his time going door to door, listening to the complaints of the residents, and soothing their concerns. He stayed in Candlewood afterwards, and became a part time teacher in the intervening years.

James married his wife Grace (née Chevalier) in February of 2000, and their son Max was born a year later. Grace has become his closest confidant, and advisor. In part because she was his campaign manager. He calls her 'His better half', as she pushes him to be more assertive, though he remains reluctant to do so. Both his parents are now elderly, and live in an assisted living community near Seattle. He visits them on holidays, and calls them every weekend.

He ran for mayor a half decade ago, but was defeated by his immediate predecessor Samuel Lawrence. He spent the years following that defeat campaigning, and earning the locals trust. By the next election he was popular enough in the community to win overwhelmingly. He is still relatively new to the office, having only taken the oath a little over a year ago, but he swore to himself he would keep the peace. His greatest fear is some event will anger the public, and they'll take it out on him. This drives him to do everything in his power to avoid scandal, and downplay any trouble that might occur in town. Fortunately things have been peaceful of late, and he refuses to allow for the possibility something might go wrong. As long as the public is calm, he figures, his chances of reelection are secured.

 

Welcome everybody on board!

I am very happy with our character line up. Great to have you all on board! Right now I got no pending character sheets, so there is no need to wait too long before starting the game. Therefore expect Thursday evening or Friday morning European time for the Opening Post of the game to be up!

The game is always open to new players, but if anybody wants to be there for the opening ... now is a good time to send those CS in.

 

Prologue
A week before the Vanishing of Jane Masters

The Brownback Hills

The woods were beautiful, no doubt. But that made hiking in them not much easier. Dr. Robert Fallon felt like he was dying as he arrived on the peak of Atachan, or Brownback as the people called the hills today. Robert preferred the name of the native people.

"God, I hope this is worth it." His colleague Michael Monroe catched his breath.

"This could be the most important discovery of the last ... six month ... at least in North America." Fallon knew it was no big deal for anybody but him. Even Monroe was only here because he liked him and was promised a good cigar and a spectacular view. "Listen, just take the probe. I just need to know how old the paintings are." Fallon sighed and felt like pleading to his friend.

Monroe laughed and clapped his shoulder. He was ten years older than Fallon, but in better shape. Bearded and wearing outdoor clothing he actually looked a lot better prepared to this hike than Fallon.

"Don't worry Rob, I will not leave without something to analyze. Too much of a pain to get here. But really what do you expect? Native Americans have not that long existed in this region. I could give you a pretty good guess without even looking at the cave paintings." He told Fallon.

"Michael a finding like this needs to be properly dated not guessed. Believe me." He looked up the hill and then checked his GPS. Another ten minutes walk probably.

"You gonna tell me what is so special about these cave paintings?" Michael asked. "Now that I came all the way out here?"

"They are not only paintings. They are a calendar. One based on a 300 days cycle." He smiled. "But that's not all. I found signs the natives actually linked this calendar to certain star constellations they tracked through decades and centuries. They calculated astronomical events a hundred years in the future! Not even the Greek and Romans could do that. Europeans had this ability not before the Renaissance."

Michael raised a brow. Advanced astronomy by Native Americans. Astronomy was math, so far the original inhabitants of the continent had not been considered good at numbers. "Okay that is a finding." He laughed. "What happened to the tribe?"

"They vanished. Calvin got a theory about it. There is a site of what appeared to be a mass suicide near a mountain village three miles from here. We compare notes next week. This might actually be a whole series of articles." He got carried away. "So I need a century, you know?"

Monroe confirmed with a nod and tried to smile while catching breath. "Sure. Let's move."

The two man walked upwards the hills again. Below them they could see the old buildings of the lumberjacks who had once founded the nearby town of Candlewood. They had vanished to. Fallon disdained "popular science", but realized the potential of a myth to get funding. These hills had a history of people vanishing in them. Hell, maybe he would write a book about it and sell the movie rights.

Tag: Nobody

 

Two days before the Vanishing of Jane Masters

Barnett House, Southern District of Candlewood

If the house had been at the shore she would not have been so worried about selling it. But the Barnetts house was near the forest at the southern border of town.

Kyle was on time. Chloe could probably not hide her surprise, as her little brother stopped his old rusty excuse of a car and jumped out of it. She was sitting on the veranda of the old house and enjoyed the sun. The house still smelled like it had been freshly renovated, probably because it was.

"Hey Bro!" She smiled and actually felt relieve. Not only had she not seen her brother in a few months now, she also had not felt anything when she had come here. It had been a challenge. Her therapist told her to challenge herself. Knowing Kyle would be late she had come here early to see if the old Ghosts still hung out here. They were gone. It was time to move on.

Kyle looked good in his green hoody and he had obviously worked out. It was a bit disturbing to consider your own little brother had become handsome, but Chloe took that with a big spoon of irony. She herself had lost weight again and looked terribly pale for the great summer they had so far.

"Hey Sis, sorry if I am late." He smiled and gave her a long, warm generous hug. It made Chloe smile.

"God, you are only muscles! What happened!" She laughed.

"Training. I got a goal. You know?" He laughed. "You always said I should figure out what to do with my life. So I did!"

Jane laughed. "Okay, what is it? You wanna do pro-wrestling?"

Kyle shook his head. "I wanna become an astronaut." He smiled and reminded her terribly of the ten year old Kyle.

"I know, since you are ten. Maybe smoke a bit less of this stuff ..."

"I quit. Bad for my fitness. Air Force first, then Nasa." He grinned as he saw his sisters reaction.

"You are serious about that, are you?" She could not believe it.

"Absolutely." His grin did not vanish. "So let me do the heavy lifting. Miss a work-out, so I can use the extra load." He passed her and went into the house. "Wow, haven't been here since ..."

Chloe followed him. "Yeah. I know. Been here only a few times myself. Not the most pleasant place, hm?" Chloe tried not to infect him with the uneasiness she felt as they entered their old home.

Kyle laughed and pointed to the stairs. "Remember when I fell down and you were baby sitting? You held me why I was crying for an hour until Mom came home. You were so afraid they would be angry, but Mom was totally proud of you. God, I probably never in my life felt as protected as I did while you held me in your arms that afternoons."

Chloe now had to smile, too. The optimism of Kyle was contagious.

"Yeah, I had to hold you every night after that for a year or so ... god you bugged me." She remarked.

"Don't remember that. Only how I felt when you held me." He finally sighed. "My point is: Let me do the kitchen. I will be quick about it. Then the rest of the house is full of good memories for me."

Chloe smiled. "You are right." It was as close as they ever got to talking about what happened in that kitchen, what her Dad had done in that kitchen. "I start with the cellars, we need to get rid of Dad's old boxes. The house needs to be perfect. Market is tough enough."

Kyle waved away. "It is a very nice house and our price is ... what do you call it? Competitive!" Optimism. She loved him for that.

Nevertheless she gladly left the kitchen to him and turned to the stairs to the cellar.

An hour later she found the book.

Tag: Nobody

 

GM Note:

So we begin with a little prologue to get to know our characters a bit. This takes place exactly one day before Episode I: The Vanishing of Jane and this prologue will last for three updates for everyone. It serves the purpose of getting to know our characters a little, so feel free to do with the scene whatever you feel right.


Prologue


The Bowling Alley, Mike's Bowling Center

The evening had been pretty successful for Miles Rayburn. They had not only won their match against Robert Farlow and his team. It had been his series of three strikes that had made the difference. Now they were chilling with a beer at the alley as the evening was coming to a close. Farlow was still there and so was Kyle Chambers, who had been distracted all evening and had almost cost Miles team the victory. Kyle had his brooding days ever since returning from Iraq, but today was certainly a bad one. The others had gone home already.

"Next time Andy is back and we will beat you again." Farlow exhaled and gave Kyle and Miles their bottles of Budweiser he had picked up from the bar. The bowling center was getting empty.

"How is his hand? A shame he broke it, man." Kyle mumbled half absent.

"Ah, he will be alright. A box with fish broke two of his fingers. The docs say he will be as good as new." Farlow was an overweight bald man in his fifties who was basically the Harbour master of Candlewood. His team unsurprisingly consisted of fishermen from the town.

"Good." Kyle only remarked.

"Guys you heard the thing about Johnny Langston? Ridiculously funny, if it wasn't so sad. He claims to have seen something in the water the other day and since then has not dared to go out to the sea anymore. Not talking about it either. Haha. Sea monsters in Candlewood. Guess he was a little too long in the sun."

Janine came by and took the empty bottles. The waitress had been with Mike for a year now and had raised the tip-rate considerably. Her ginger hair and shaped curves had made the alley an even more popular place for the mostly male customers. She gave Miles a brief smile as she passed and moved away from the guys without disturbing them.

"Or he had too much of this moonshine his daddy is brewing at the warehouse." Farlow laughed and took another sip of bear, but one could see he was concerned. The fishermen were like family to him. One of them not going out to the sea meant one of them was not providing for his family.

Kyle seemed to not listen anymore, but drank his bear staring at something behind them and left the conversation to Miles and Farlow.

Tag: @Reynar_Tedros




The Bookworm, Harbour District

Julia was about to close the shop, when one final customer arrived. Technically she was still open for another five minutes, so there was little reason, why she wouldn't sell him a book. Also her husband was doing nightshirt. So there was nobody waiting at home for her.

The man who came in had been there a few times over the last weeks, buying or ordering books on various topics. Forensics, the history of fishing, Dostoyevsky, a Stephen King novel. He seemed to follow no pattern when it came to reading.

There was only one bookstore in town, so whenever John ran out of supply, he found himself there. Usually a young woman in her twenties was there called Julia. She was also there today, probably preparing to close up.

Tag: @JediMasterAnne, @DarkLordoftheFins



The Weaver Bar, Harbour

Mike Weaver had called the Sheriff, just when they had prepared for nightshift. Deputy Ethan Wilson and their newest recruit Anna Harmon were with the Sheriff as they arrived at the scene and they already saw a group of men sitting outside the Bar. It was ... unsurprisingly ... Cole Manners and his boys. Fishermen who liked a good fight on a Friday evening. They were well-known trouble makers. Today it seemed they had bitten off a little more than they could chew. Cole himself was holding ice to his left eye and his two friends Jack and Oliver looked also less than happy. A bit apart from them stood a black haired man in his mid-thirties the Sheriff had never seen before. Dressed in a black jacket and shirt and fancy jeans he looked like a city person. He seemed unharmed. Between the two groups stood Mike, a hulking figure with a baseball bat. Bearded and obviously annoyed. He approached the Sheriff as he arrived, giving Cole an angry look.

"Hey Sheriff, sorry to call you in. But this one went out of hand a bit. This dude over there was cornered by Cole and his boys and ... well, he knows how to handle himself I guess. Broke Bayers nose, send him to the doctor. The Others got quite a beating, too. But hell, these guys are bad for business. Second time this months they started a fight. So I decided to call this one in." Mike almost apologized for calling. He could not ban fishermen from his bar. Something you just did not do in Candlewood. But these guys were probably bad for business.

Ethan laughed. "The guy handled all four of them alone?" He asked as he left the car.

"Didn't even break a sweat. Military or something I suppose." Mike winked.

Ethan turned to the Sheriff and rolled his eyes. "Do you wanna take Cole and I do Mr. Superman over there?" He asked and looked at Anna who had her hand at her holstered gun as they were told in training and had her eyes on the "suspects".

"Relax Anna, these guys are pretty harmless. Most of the time." Ethan told her and turned back to the Sheriff for an answer.

Tag: @HanSolo29



Townhall, Meeting Room

Maria Burns was a woman in her fifties who always was wearing her most fancy costume to the meetings. Usually the colors were almost painful to the eyes and today was no difference. It was a bright pink costume. Maria had asked the Mayor Powers and Alfred Dirks for an emergency meeting. She loved those emergency meetings. It gave her otherwise mundane life a sense of urgency. Why the head of the tourism council had emergencies was still something everybody was trying to find out.

Alfred, the unofficial leader of the fishermen in town certainly had little patience for these. He was wearing a simple washed-out T-Shirt with a barely recognizable Pink Floyd motive and jeans and looked bored already. He was in his late sixties and a man who had little patience for nonsense. He often refused to be summoned at all. Today he had come though, as he seemed to guess what it was about. With the representative of the fishermen and tourism in the room the mayor had the two key industries of Candlewood present now.

"We need to do something about the Langston boy. His behavior is intolerable!" Maria's voice was high and unnerving.

"Calm down, Maria. The boy got spooked. Happens to the best of us." Alfred yawned.

"Spooked? He is running around town telling people he saw something in the water! Some sort of monster! Can you imagine what this could do to our booking ratio? Summer is coming and people wanna swim, for God's sake! We cannot have a drunk boy telling people about monsters in the sea!"

Alfred grunted. "Well, he is telling the other fishermen. Not the tourists ..."

Maria hammered her hand on the table she was sitting at. "Mayor, I am sure you understand the gravity of this! Summer is going to be great! Bookings are already up 5 percent from last year. This boy is a dangerous delusional!"

"Hey!" It was Alfred's turn to get loud now. "He is a good boy with a little too much fantasy. He is not delusional!"

Tag: @ConservativeJedi321


Seven-Eleven, near the harbour

Oh God, why is she wearing these jeans again? Red smiled at Jane Masters as she entered the shop and she completely ignored him. They called it the cut "low waist" he believed. With her tight t-shirt he could actually see her flat stomach revealed every time she stretched. She was breathtaking, not only by Candlewood standards. It was okay that she did not even look his way. Nobody cared for a teenager behind a counter. He would not have minded her caring though. Quickly she went through the shop and collected her things. He wondered why she was not going to the supermarket three blocks away. Was a lot cheaper, actually.

It took her not two minutes to assemble her stuff. The only thing she gave any thought was the meat she took from the fridge. Then she was at the counter, searching her handback for her purse.

"Hey." She smiled a short superficial smile.

"Hey, that's all?" Red asked.

"Cigarettes. Gaulloises. Two boxes." She added and he turned to give her the cigarettes. Then he went through her chosen articles. Shampoo. Toast. A bottle of German beer. Two steaks. Condoms. Two boxes of condoms actually. Oh someone was lucky tonight.

"Thirty twenty." Red said and she gave him a twenty dollar bill and started picking change from her purse. Red looked at her short, tight T-Shirt. It was white with a pink words on it. You can blame me. Even shame me. I still care for you.

"Nina Thomas." Red smiled and regretted to have spoken out loud. Jane looked up.

"Pardon?" She asked and gave him the twenty cents.

"That song on your T-Shirt Ma'am. That is a Nina Thomas song. My mum used to hear her all the time."

Jane looked at her shirt and laughed. "You are right. Had it printed myself. Lovely song, is it?" She put her purse back and watched him put her catch into a plastic bag.

"Totally." Red lied. He liked Death Metal. Not this woman stuff. Maybe that was why he never had a girlfriend, he mocked himself.

"And Red, it is Red is it?" Jane looked at him and gave him a smile that made his heart jump.

"Yeah, Red." He smiled back, maybe looking a bit dumb as he basically melted away.

"I am no Ma'am. I come here every day. Call me Jane. Everybody does." She winked and Red resisted to say "Yes, Ma'am" and simply nodded. She picked up the receipt and the plastic bag.

"But points for old fashioned politeness." She added and turned with a dry smile to leave. Had she just flirted with him? Yes, maybe she had. Red couldn't help but smile as she left and he wondered if she actually actively pursued the goal of being the woman everybody dreamt about.

Redding Wayne had no idea he would be one of the last persons who ever saw Jane Masters.

Tag: Nobody

 

IC: Julia Wilson
The Bookworm, Harbour District

She’d already sent the other clerk home for the night, and was literally just about to close out the register when the bell on the front door jangled, announcing the arrival of a last straggling customer. Some evenings this would annoy her, but tonight there was no reason to rush out; Julia was going home to an empty house, and she wouldn’t sleep anyway, with Ethan out on night patrol. Besides, business had been a bit slow today, so one last sale couldn’t hurt.

Looking over to the customer, Julia quickly recognized him. She’d never seen him before he’d wandered in a few weeks ago, and she couldn’t remember if he’d ever given his name, but his was still a now-familiar face. At least for the most part he’d been fairly easy to deal with in the past; as far as she could tell, he read just about everything. “Back again?” she remarked pleasantly, by way of greeting. “What can I help you find this time?”

TAG: @DarkLordoftheFins
OOC: Click linked character names to see pictures, I couldn't get them to work as images in the post.

 

IC: Miles Rayburn
Mike's Bowling Center

Miles had never liked the taste of beer ever since his dad had set him on his lap when he was a kid and given him his first sip. He'd grown more accustomed to it as he got older, but never fully came around to the flavors of any of the different types he'd tried. But he didn't mind the effect that the alcohol had on him, and for him it was purely a social thing. He never had so much as an inkling of a desire to partake in the stuff when he was alone, but when in Rome, well. Funnily enough, despite his distaste for it, Miles was almost always the first one finished with his beer. He figured it was because he liked the taste the least out of those he was with, and wanted to get it over with as fast as possible. When Janine came by for the empties, Miles gave her his with a smile and a thank you, and tried his damnedest to keep his eyes from studying her shapely figure for too long.

"Guys you heard the thing about Johnny Langston?" Robert's skill with small talk helped keep Miles' mind from wandering. "Ridiculously funny, if it wasn't so sad. He claims to have seen something in the water the other day and since then has not dared to go out to the sea anymore. Not talking about it either." He chuckled. "Sea monsters in Candlewood. Guess he was a little too long in the sun. Or he had too much of this moonshine his daddy is brewing at the warehouse."

Miles grinned. "Hell, Kyle, sounds like Candlewood's got its own Loch Ness Monster." He could tell since Kyle arrived at Mike's that his friend was off. Miles was good at reading people, especially those with whom he was close, and Kyle was no exception. His buddy from the post office was distant, not entirely present, which reflected in his bowling scores in each of the three matches. Luckily Miles was rolling above his average all night, and had made multiple jokes about his back hurting from carrying the team on it. Kyle would give a halfhearted grin at his friend's attempts at humor, but there were no hearty laughs that night. His reaction to Miles' comment about the mythical sea creature was no different, and he continued to stare idly behind them.

Miles glanced at Robert, then back at Kyle. "You all right, man?"

Tag: @SirakRomar

 

John Carver
The Bookworm, Candlewood

John loved the smell of bookstores. Amazon just did not smell like this. A kindle did not smell like this. He had to smile and remembered his youth. He had spend so much time in shops like this. He had read so many books most vanished in a blur of distant memories. A clear sign you get old, probably.

"Hey there," John smiled at the familiar face of Julia and stepped over to her. There was no other customer present he realized and checked his clock. They were closing down in a few minutes. "I still have a few minutes right? Because today I think I need your advise."

He looked around and wondered how long he would be here and how many of these books he would read. "I need a Thriller. Maybe something historical?"

Tag: @JediMasterAnne, @SirakRomar

 

James Power
Townhall, Meeting Room

James folded his arms across his chest as he attempted to listen dutifully to Maria Burns. An irascible women if there ever was one.
Or maybe she just wanted to feel important.

Either way he resisted the urge to role his eye's as the purpose of this 'emergency meeting' became clear. Some kid got spooked after seeing something move in the water, and was now telling tall tails to the fishermen around town. He subtly moved his right hand to tug at his tie, trying to get comfortable without looking comfortable.

As Ms. Burns, and the Fisherman in the room, Alfred Dirks began to bicker he glanced up at the clock. A quarter after eight, not especially late, but James was starting to feel the hours weigh on him. Since taking office he was happy to learn most of the 'problems' facing the town were tedious, and easily resolved. A business dispute here, a road in disrepair there.

Nothing of great interest really, and while he was thankful the town hadn't suffered enough issues to keep him up at night, they did tend wear him down throughout each day. So maybe he ended up sleeping too well by the end of them.

And then there the issue before him now...

"Mayor, I am sure you understand the gravity of this! Summer is going to be great! Bookings are already up 5 percent from last year. This boy is a dangerous delusional!" Ms. Burns shouted in a shrill voice. This drew James's focus back towards her, and it took him a moment to pull his eye's away from her ridiculous looking getup. In that moment Mr. Dirks snapped back at her. "Hey! He is a good boy with a little too much fantasy. He is not delusional!"

"Please, calm down you two." James Power refused to engage in shouting matches. His voice was quiet, but firm.
Before he could say anything else, he heard snickering coming from behind him. He turned, to face his Advisor Grace standing to his right, she wore a white button up shirt, and dark pants with her long brown hair tied back. Far less flashy than Maria Burns, but more formal than Alfred Dirks, she was easily overlooked by those not paying attention to her. "So the boy believes there are sea monsters in the fishing water. I don't see the harm? Surely our citizens aren't so gullible as to believe him, and perhaps the tourists might find it alluring. It might draw in a new kind of explorer, who is actually interested in that sort of thing. What's the worst that can happen?"

James smirked at her tenacity. It might be unusual for an advisor to be so blunt in such a meeting, but Grace was in the awkward position of also being his wife. He certainly couldn't tell her not to speak up. Well, in theory he could, but he didn't especially feel like sleeping on the couch for the next month.

The Mayor turned back to face Ms. Burns who was clearly surprised by the intervention, and he took her pause to interject with his own attempt to calm her down. "Look, I understand where your concern is coming from. But surely you must understand if we take any major action to silence him, certain elements will only take that as confirmation that we're trying to hide something. Which is absurd of course."

He glanced towards Alfred again, before continuing. "Even if he's delusional..." he placed great emphasis on the word 'if' so as not to offend the man again. "To call him dangerous is a step to far I think." James went on, arms outstretched diplomatically as if to hug both sides, though he did not step forward. "Mayhaps a third party ought to speak to the boy, or his guardians, in order to allay his fears."

James signaled towards Alfred with his right hand. "Perhaps you, Mr. Dirks. You clearly have an understanding of what is going on with him. It would do us a great service if you might talk to Johnny, and teach him there is nothing to be afraid of in Candlewood."

Tags: @SirakRomar

 

IC: Julia Wilson
The Bookworm, Harbour District

When he realized the time, Julia just shook her head and waved it off. “It’s fine, I’m not in a rush.” Just to make sure that he really would be her last customer for the night, though, she went ahead and flipped the sign on the door from OPEN, over to CLOSED.

"I need a Thriller. Maybe something historical?"

“We’ve got some over here,” she said, coming around the counter and leading him down the aisles to the shelves marked Mystery, Thrillers and Suspense. “Are you looking for a specific author, or time period? True crime-based or historical fiction?”

“Historical thriller” was a pretty broad topic.

TAG: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

The Bowling Alley, Mike's Bowling Center

Kyle looked at his friend, probably his only true friend and nodded.

"Yeah, had a few rough nights. How about a beer tomorrow night? I would like to show you something." He spoke with a flat tone and kept his voice down so Farlow would not hear them over the country music playing in the background. Farlow was busy looking after Janine though.

"Oh man, if I would be a bit younger, you know? Then again I think our bowling beauty has her eyes on someone else, right?" He laughed at Miles. "Man, you should give it a shot!" Farlow drank another sip of his beer and got up to get his stuff together. "Nothing personal, but I take this one for the road, alright?"

Kyle nodded. "Sure." He replied and looked at Janine. After a long moment he turned to Miles and nodded. "He is right about Janine, you know?"

Tag: @Reynar_Tedros


Outside The Weaver, Harbour

Ethan smiled at his Boss and moved over to the tourist.

Cole almost jumped up when asked about what happened. "That guy attacked us Sheriff, we were just asking for a round of pool when he turned totally ape**** on us. Broke Andrews nose! That is a psycho!" He pointed over at the man who now seemed to have a civilized chat with Ethan, handing over some sort of passport. Mike laughed and stepped next to the Sheriff.

"Cut the BS, Cole. You guys cornered him and tried to intimidate him. I saw you swing first. Just before he send you to the ground. Where you stayed while he ripped through your little gang of losers!"

Cole gave Mike a hateful look, but then shrugged. "He provoked me. He said, I should try if I did not value my own health. So I did as he said, I tried! Man, this guy is some kind of Terminator!"

Mike sighed and waved his hand at the story. A look at Ethan and the Sheriff saw him raise his brows and give him a look.

Anna stood next to the Sheriff and tried to look angry, which actually made her look even more cute. She could do little about it.

Tag: @HanSolo29



Townhall, Meeting Room

Maria Burns actually listened to Grace and when the potential attractiveness of a sighting came up she calmed down visibly. Obviously she had not considered this. The calm voice of the Mayor ended the shouting and she even left the comnent about going too far by calling the boy dangerous unchallenged.

Alfred Dirks listened to the Mayor's suggestion and nodded. "Sure. I talk to him. But he is already the laugh of town. I don't think he will be too keen to spread his story anymore. He did not go to the sea today, though. So he is really scared."

Alfred sighed. It was rare for fishermen not to go to the sea when the weather was that good.

"Any idea what he might have seen?" Grace asked, probably more to show how serious the concerns of the influential fishermen were taken. Alfred shook his head.

"Guess a big pacific." He said. When he understood nobody knew what he was talking about, he explained. "Giant octopus, they are usually found in the deeper water but one might have wandered off. Harmless creatures. But huge. These things can get scary big. I saw one that was as big as a horse once."

Maria smiled and was obviously satisfied with a potential solution available to the sighting.

Grace nodded. "Yes, I read about them." She said and that was probably true. She read a lot about all kinds of things.

Alfred sighed a bit unnerved. "Does this conclude our business then, Maria?" He asked. Maria Burns nodded.

"Nevertheless I would like to raise the point at our weekly council meeting." She added. Grace rolled her eyes invisible to her husband. Alfred laughed a little. Then he stood up. "Mayor, Grace, Maria." He said and nodded to Powers. He obviously appreciated how the situation was handled.

Tag: @ConservativeJedi321

 

John Carver
The Bookworm, Candlewood

John gave her questions some thought. Actually he had simply the urge to get away from his usual reading habits, but realized now how hard it would be to recommend anything for such a broad request. He had avoided thrillers for years, as the inaccuracies usually drove him nuts. He had tried once to get through Silence of the Lambs and had barely endured the scenes where the investigation had been described.

"Anything 19th century would be great. Oh and I have seen enough true crime for one lifetime. As fictional as possible, please."

He smiled. "A challenge, I know. I am basically a virgin to the genre. So I fully rely on you."

Looking around he took in the details of the shop. New books had arrived. They were sorted in and some expected bestsellers were displayed prominently. There was a huge young adult section and he wondered if he would give one of those Harry Potter books a try next. He had to smile at the thought of him reading a novel about wizards. It was so unlike him he fell in love with the idea. "I am John by the way." He said. "Never introduced myself, did I?"

Looking at Julia he realized the woman probably was from town. She was the same age as ... "You are from Candlewood?" He asked as a passing conversation wiping his last thought away before his brain could conclude it. "I love this place actually. A wonderfully quiet town." He tried not to get to know anybody too well, but considering how badly he had already failed this principle the night before he wanted at least to be polite and show some interest.

Maybe a good sign, he thought. His interest in human interaction seemed to slowly return.

Tag: @JediMasterAnne, @SirakRomar

 

James Power
Townhall, Meeting Room

Things appeared to have calm down, Maria Burns appeared to be liking at least one of the idea's presented, and Alfred Dirks agreed to go talk to the boy.
All the details of this problem appeared solved, and James gave a mere moment to mentally pride himself at solving the issue. He glanced at his wife, who looked back his way as if to indicate she was having the same thoughts about herself, before turning back to Mr. Dirks to wonder what exactly the boy might have seen that spooked him so much.
James raised an eyebrow at that, but chose not to say anything. It was probably for the best they didn't know who's solution had mended to conflict before them.

"Guess a big pacific." Alfred answered Graces question nonchalantly. James opened his mouth to ask what exactly that was, but the man appeared to read the confusion on his features and answered before he could say anything. "Giant octopus."

The Mayor wasn't much of an outdoorsmen, actually he hated being outside for any longer than he had to. Itchy bugs, hot sun, and dirty water were what came to his mind when thinking of what lay beyond these walls. He found it more enjoyable in his youth, as swimming had long been his passion. Still, as he grew older he found himself more comfortable indoors, curled up with a good book, or the television keeping him company.

But in a town such as this, that relied on fishing, and camping as a major part of its income, he couldn't make his feelings obvious without being accused of being out of touch. "Could such a creature come into these waters? Seems like something you'd find further out."
Mr. Dirks was already hesitantly shaking his head. "They are usually found in the deeper water but one might have wandered off. Harmless creatures. But huge. These things can get scary big. I saw one that was as big as a horse once."

Grace, being the more naturally social half of their union, was far quicker to build off of something she had in common with the fishermen. "Yes, I read about them."
She smiled as if recalling a enjoyable memory. It made sense James supposed, she did enjoy reading. Actually they both did, but Grace had a far broader range of literature she enjoyed. He mostly stuck to history, fantasy, or sci-fi. She could pick up almost any book and be enchanted by it within a few pages.

Alfred was clearly eager to end the meeting, the other man interrupted Mayor Power's thoughts with a semi-frustrated sounding question. "Does this conclude our business then, Maria?" The women nodded, seemingly satisfied with the options presented to her. "Nevertheless I would like to raise the point at our weekly council meeting."

The Mayor was startled by this, and hastily added "If you do, please be careful how you word it. We don't want to be frightening any more superstitious youngsters in town, alright?"

As the meeting drew to a natural close the Mayor gathered his supplies, and brief case, and wished Maria and Alfred a good night.
He began walking towards the door, with his wife at his side. "That went much better than I expected. Seems Ms. Burns got something she wanted out of this." he smiled at Grace Power, and imagined getting home at a decent time. Something that didn't happen often enough. "I thought your current book was a murder mystery?" James put forth as a bit of small talk.
"Oh it is." she responded, looking absently at a clock as he had earlier. "But my Grandfather was a fishermen in town. Whenever I visited him as a kid he would let me read some of his books."

"Good memory." James stated, referencing her recollection of the sea octopus. "Oh you should know by now." his wife playfully poked his chest. "Women never forget." she winked, and he laughed.
The mayor pulled his keys out of his pocket, and tried to remember his schedule for the day. "Alright, I think that was our last mayoral meeting. If we aren't called anywhere at the last minute, we might have a chance to relax a bit before bed."

@SirakRomar

 

IC: Julia Wilson
The Bookworm, Harbour District

"Anything 19th century would be great. Oh and I have seen enough true crime for one lifetime. As fictional as possible, please. A challenge, I know. I am basically a virgin to the genre. So I fully rely on you."

Julia ran her fingers along the spines of the books, examining titles as she looked for something that might fit what he was looking for, listening while he went on, introducing himself as John, then commenting on the town.

"You are from Candlewood?"

She nodded. "I've always lived here; my parents actually own this shop."

"I love this place actually. A wonderfully quiet town."

“It does have its charms,” she agreed. Though she wondered if he knew about the stain the Barnett incident had left on the town’s history. Whether he did or not, Julia wasn’t going to dredge that up. “Good schools, nice location, low crime—my husband works for the Sheriff’s department, so I can vouch for that. There hasn’t been any kind of major crime here in years.” Has it really been ten years?

Returning to the task at hand, she pulled a couple of paperbacks off the shelf and held them out to him. “These might fit the bill.”

TAG: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

John Carver
The Bookworm, Candlewood

John looked through the books and nodded. "Yeah heard about the crime rate. One of the reasons I came here. It has been too long since I was in any place you could consider save." He smiled. "Ten years without a serious crime Jane told me, too." He mentioned the name without any emphasis on it, but in truth he watched if Julia showed any reaction that might give away that Julia knew Jane. Not that it mattered? It was just a habit. Connecting dots, even if there was no picture to paint.

Jane Masters had surprised him. She had irritated him, also in a good way. He resisted the urge to ask about her directly and slapped himself mentally for getting distracted like this.

"She also told me about the extended suicide. If it was one." He doubted the story told in town was even close to complete. The psychopathology of the case also did not add up. But who was he to take the peace-of-mind from these people.

"And your man is a cop?" He smiled and changed the topic. Naturally this point interested him. "Oh dammit I admire that. Even in a small town like Candlewood. Must be hard sometimes." John sighed. "The waiting for him to come home."

He picked Caleb Carr "The Alienist" and put it on the counter right next to the cashier. "I take this one."

The plot looked interesting enough. Profiling before there was profiling and it took place in his old neighborhood in the 19th century. That had been enough to sell him on the idea. It also was pretty extensive, so it might fill a day or two before he turned his attention to wizards and young adult fantasy.

Tag: @JediMasterAnne, @SirakRomar

 

IC: Julia Wilson
The Bookworm, Harbour District

So he did know about the Barnetts, though she didn’t quite know what to make of his skepticism regarding the circumstances of the murder-suicide. Granted, there were still a lot of unanswered questions about what had happened that night, but it wasn’t something Candlewood’s residents spent a lot of time discussing. Not openly anyway. And was he talking about Jane, as in her-former-friend-Jane?

"And your man is a cop? Oh dammit I admire that. Even in a small town like Candlewood. Must be hard sometimes. The waiting for him to come home." John had changed the subject as Julia went back around to the register to ring up his selection.

“Sometimes, yeah,” she replied. It did chafe at times, and there were days when it felt like she hardly saw Ethan at all. And even though Candlewood’s streets were a lot safer than most, she still worried about him. But his job was part of who he was, and she’d known what she was signing up for when she’d married him.

“That’s fifteen-nineteen,” she gave John his total, then took the opportunity to ask, “You mentioned ‘Jane,’ did you mean Jane Masters, she works down at the library?”

TAG: @DarkLordoftheFins

 

John Carver
The Bookworm, Candlewood

John smiled as he realized he had guessed right that these girls would know each other. They were the same age.

He gave her a twenty dollar bill and received the change and put it into his pocket. Then he carefully put the book into his leather backpack he was carrying around.

"Jane Masters, yeah. I met her the other day. Charming young lady. Guess in a small town like this everybody knows everybody." He would not reveal any of the circumstances under which they met, also he assumed it wouldn't be hard for Julia to ask around. But he did not mind. Maybe Jane would even tell her, they had not agreed on any kind of secrecy.

"She works at the library? That explains why she was such a fountain of knowledge about books. She actually has quite an impressive private library." He stopped immediately as he realized he had just revealed he had been in her flat. "But don't worry, I make notes in my books, so I won't get myself a library card any time soon."

This was a little more personal than he felt comfortable with which annoyed him. It was a harmless talk. So much for warming up to human contact.

He remembered Jane had mentioned a friend married to a cop and cursed himself for not making this connection immediately. He did not mention it though.

"Greet her from John the book hound if you see her, will you? And thanks." He pointed to the book in his backpack. "I will let you know how I liked it."

Tag: @JediMasterAnne, @SirakRomar

 

IC: Miles Rayburn
Mike's Bowling Center

"How about a beer tomorrow night?" Kyle suggested to Miles. "I would like to show you something."

Miles gave an noncommittal nod. He wasn't one to go out for drinks very often (hardly at all), but that last bit made him curious, so he'd probably oblige his friend. He wondered if the 'something' was the reason for Kyle's distance, if that's what occupied his mind instead of bowling. Almost certainly.

Miles glanced over at Robert, whose gaze had followed Janine as she walked back to the bar to dispose of their trash. He was in his fifties, she was in her twenties, but Miles could hardly be surprised at the wandering eyes of a man well past his prime, the longing for youth's return, the impossible fantasy of it.

"Oh man, if I would be a bit younger, you know?" the older man mused. "Then again I think our bowling beauty has her eyes on someone else, right?" He laughed at Miles. "Man, you should give it a shot!"

Miles responded with a brusque laugh, looked down and raised his eyebrows. "Well."

Robert took another sip of his beer and rose from his chair. "Nothing personal, but I take this one for the road, alright?"

Miles stood as well and shook Robert's hand. "Take it easy, man. Drive safe."

He sat back down in his chair, planning on departing the alley himself soon, and after a moment Kyle turned to his friend and said, "He is right about Janine, you know?"

Miles looked at Kyle and shook his head, smiling, leaning back in his seat and folding his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. "Man." He leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. He looked over at the red haired waitress, may have caught her looking his way before she looked elsewhere but couldn't be sure. "I don't know." He tapped his fingers on the surface, looked back at his friend, laughed softly and stared at his hands. "Look at her, dude." He shooked his head, but was still grinning, a faint glimmer of hope refusing to die out. He was just a simple mailman. She probably wanted a doctor or engineer who traveled abroad and built houses for the poor, if she didn't have one already. The hell would she be interested in him for? But the glimmer persisted. "Maybe next week. It's late, she's probably tired." Typical Miles Rayburn procrastination. "You ready to hit the road?"

Tag: @SirakRomar