Two Weeks Into Quarantine (Cafeteria)

[sndwurks]

Billy advances his Queen forward until it rests neatly between Henry's pawns, looming hungrily over them and the rook in the corner. He lifts his finger from the board and shakes his head at Kelsey.

"Hive mind is the wrong term," the private investigator says simply. "It's like... the closest thing I ever found to it was this one case I worked, about four years ago. A body gets found shoved in a crawlspace of a house in Needham. Forensics don't get much out of it, other than an age and gender. Fourteen year old boy. Someone cut the hands and head off, never found them. A woman hired me, though, because she was convinced it was her son who disappeared twelve years ago. The timetable lined up, but she wanted to prove it. So, I started asking questions.

"I found out pretty fast who knew something, but not because anybody talked. It was the people who didn't talk who knew what happened. Four people, who had been kids at the time it happened. I dropped a line to a cop who owed me a favor, and he arrested one of them. The guy broke with a little bit of real pressure, but that's just details. Talking to the four of them, before they got caught? They each shared in a secret, a terrible secret that none of them ever wanted to talk about or have known. Having someone around asking about it made them scared and angry, willing to give anything just to make them go away."

Billy chuckles faintly, and glances towards Kelsey.

"I don't think there actually is a secret that all the people of Whisper Hill know and want to keep hidden," he says simply. "But something there makes them feel like there is. And I'm willing to bet that what's been driving the animals crazy on that island is just another part of that puzzle."

He turns to look at Henry, and tilts his head to the side.

"Yeah, who is Miss Sveta?"

[Henry Gondorf]

Henry moved his Rook to the side of his embattled King. He was impressed with how Billy worked the four knowitalls into breaking their silence. It wasn't until both Kesley and Billy asked about Sveta Henry looked up from the board in realization.

"Oh, its just a gun I found in my apartment one day. I figured it was Russian because lettering on the box. Seemed a fitting name." Henry said with a shrug. "It is a scary world out there. Its a little scary when you realize the monsters in your closet are not as bad as the ones next door. "

[sndwurks]

"Yours, or someone else's?" asks Billy, lifting an eyebrow.

He pushes his Queen diagonally forward, claiming the rook to the side of the king, and nods.

"Checkmate," he adds after a moment of studying the board.

[Henry Gondorf]

Henry took his bishop from afar in the field to take Billy's queen.

"I dunno. Never really thought about that much." Henry replied.

[sndwurks]

"Ah, good move," offers Billy with a grin. "Got greedy, I guess."

He stared at the board for a few minutes more, and then shrugs. He pushes his bishop forward, taking its counterpart from off the board. He's down a Queen, but he seems willing to accept the further loss on a bishop. It will leave him weaker on the board, but there are worse places to be.

"I was asking about the machine gun," offers the private investigator. "Is Miss Sveta yours? Or someone else's?"

[Owle Isohos]

"If I never see the Butcher again, it'll be too soon," Kelsey says. "But I don't suggest firing a machine gun at it. Bullets seem to bounce off it...and back at you. Every time someone pulled a trigger, I heard them screaming right after. And that bloody thing just kept standing there, coming after us."

She shakes her head, thinking on Billy's theory about Whisper Hill. "It makes a certain amount of sense, if weird stuff like this keeps happening around Whisper Hill. Most people just want to pretend this stuff doesn't exist - they'll do just about anything to rationalize it, make sure it fits into how the world's supposed to work. I got that sort of uncomfortable silence a lot back when I was volunteering as an EMT back in med school. No one wanted to talk about how there was no way that man could've gotten mauled by wild animals in a closed room in the middle of a city."

[Henry Gondorf]

"The gun is mine. The crate I found it in was in a backroom of my apartment. I must have pick it up along the way." Henry answered as he took Billy's Bishop.

"And just because it might be like fighting off a bear with a pair of live beehives does not mean it might not feel great to annoy the hell out of him. Granted bullets sting much harder than bees." Henry said. His levity was making a small attempt to return.

[sndwurks]

Billy advances his bishop along the black squares, taking Henry's right most pawn. He continues to study the board for the moment, taking in the positions with some care.

"So, you just had a Russian machine gun, lying around the back room of your apartment?" asks the private investigator quietly, lifting an eyebrow to look at Henry. "See, if there was one in mine, it'd mean that the roaches were obviously running guns. Which, you know, meant I could start charging them rent."

The humor in Billy face, however, dies fast as he thinks of something, and shakes his head.

"Next time we see the Butcher, you'll be welcome to try keeping him entertained with Miss Sveta. But, don't say we didn't warn you."

[Henry Gondorf]

Henry moved his Queen's Pawn forward one space.

"Hey, everyone finds things tucked away in their house. Some have baseball cards. I find things that are a little more practical." Henry said. There was no trace of snark in his voice. It was a simple fact to him. The cheer faded from his face as he thought about what he saw over by the gas pump.

"Don't worry about me going lone ranger on that thing. The whole gun thing was more for a pick me up than anything else. Call it a lesson in Darwinism here but I am getting the feeling we should be grateful when we shoot something and it starts to bleed."

[Samantha]

"I heard the Butcher the first time but happened the second time? If people were getting hurt I was more likely focusing on helping people then trying to figure out what was going on." Vanessa stands back up to go and get more coffee, obviously needing another one with her silence. She pulls on the lever to pour more in her cup and then adds cream.

She turns back to the table, "If you ask me everyone seems like a little to trigger happy around here. I'm ashamed to have had to use one myslef, but a... i'm not even sure what it was was going to try to hurt Dr. Rue. I couldn't have that." She stares at the cup, "Atleast in here we don't need them."