Occams Razor

*Found on the table at her usual seat, Pandora's satchel contains a metal box. In that box is a journal chronicling some of her thoughts since escaping the facility in the spring. Many entries are etched so deep the pen has torn through several pages, later ones are legible, some even have sketches of flowers in the margins. Written on the inside of the back cover in small, even writing is a letter:*

My Friends;

Thank you. Thank you for your kindness when the world was so frightening. Thank you for helping me to learn that even though we are seeds in the wind we can find a place to grow. Thank you for showing me that I am not in this alone. Thank you for the sacrifices you undoubtedly made when they claimed what will never be theirs. I will not be frightened. I will grow. I am not alone.

With hope,
P

exhausted, victor scans the diner for a place to lay her head down for a minute. everyone's freakin' out and babblin' to each other about death and shadows and all that bonkers stuff til it just starts to sound like a big ol' hive of buzzin' bees to her. and now that shadow maybe inside her too, maybe, just like poor hank? just.. too.. much.

she spies pandora's seat in the corner, same spot vic'd napped in the night before, while she was waitin' to fight them yakuza.. just felt warm and safe. pandora.. she remembers slipping into unconsciousness during the cave battle, beaten down by those shadow jerks, and pandora's cloak settlin' over her, her whisperin', don't worry, i'll shield you.. wakin' up at zinc's table in the diner, both of 'em just barely clinging to life, only to run full tilt through that cave to sneak right back in on the fray together. that girl is hardcore.

remembers crouchin' by the shed with nile and hartighan, the three of them grimly watching that mess of a battle when the proteans came to take pandora away, as they licked their wounds. ain't no way we could've stopped 'em, but what do we do now? are they just gonna.. have her now?

vic lays her head down on pandora's pack, breathes in the smell of her friend. her hands don't mean to start rummaging, but you can't help who you are, and it's in vic's nature to want to be close to her friend's belongings, it feels safe to hold 'em in her hand. like sally's baseball bat. it ain't stealing EXACTLY, more like.. takin' a memento. vic's fingers catch on all the odd little bits of blue string pandora'd been weaving trinkets from, the paper she'd been trying to work out codes on from the "last free voice"..

through half closed eyes, head down, vic fumbles out the diary and flips through it. coming to the letter on the inside back cover, she smiles, and oh god here come the tears. the diary goes under her head, both arms over to hide her face, and victor sits like that for a long while, shoulders shaking, the diner whirling and buzzing around her..

JD comes out from the kitchen, dish water staining his old clothes. His face is sunken and he wares dark bags under his eyes. He see’s Victor and manages a smile.

Carrying over two cups of hot chocolate he sits down next to her and slowly pushes one in front of her. He sits in silence for a moment, clearly uncomfortable and searching for the right words. He has never been good with kids, it’s a wonder he managed to have any of his own that turned out so … normal. After a long while of silence he takes a sip of his cup.

“We are going to get her back kido. The answer has to be in there somewhere .. “

Jd taps the corner of the book

“Lets take a good look through it and see if we cant figure out where she comes from, who she is, and why she was here. From there we can piece together were they took her. What do you say?”
JD forces a smile and orders a plate of French fries.

Madrigus sweeps into the diner, a look of consternation on his face. He was aggravated that he had missed three days by taking the meditative retreat, and it seemed that whenever he chose to do such things the shit hit he fan without him. He'd have to try harder to plan these 'vacations.'

After collecting a burger, his favorite food of the 'modern era' he paused near the fireplace, looking for friends to sit with. His gaze picked Victor out of the crowd as she began to pick through someone's bag and he smiled fondly.

Coming out of his reverie he glided over to the table just after JD sat and curled his hand posessively on Victor's shoulder briefly before taking his seat. After JD speaks his eyes narrowed. "It seems I've missed quite a bit more than I was already afraid I'd missed. Care to fill me in? I can try to help."

JD looks to Victor laying with her head on the book and looks to Madrigus with a pained look.
“A lot … a lot happened. I promise you I will tell you it all just … just not today.” JD clenches his fist around the cup, trying to control his anger.

“Some … people came and took Pandora from us. They seemed to be very interested in her. They had mercenaries with them … more than, more than I could really keep track of. They came in here organized, with purpose, and took her.”

“the other things we will talk about soon.” JD nods to the girl and shacks his head.

victor opens one eye just enough to analyze JD's offering, snakes one hand out to collect the steaming vessel, draws it back in, clenching the thing between two fists, pressed up against her forehead. her shoulders go limp at madrigus' touch, and she slowly turns her head toward the sound of JD's voice, one wet cheek still pressed firmly against the diary, her eyes dull and abyssimal, framed by darker-than-usual shadows.

"JD," vic manages the barest hint of a weak smile, "thanks. you really think we can find her? they were.. really mean to her. and pandora's a good girl, i mean. smart, and you can really count on her. she's my friend, and i never had too many. i know that feeling, like it don't matter what you say, you just gotta go away anyway. and sometimes, you just wish somebody would stand up and say no, she's stayin' with us 'cause we like her. like a family, you know? i think that's our job here, huh? so let's do it!"

vic gathers her strength, lifts her head finally from the table, and you can feel the weight just watching her. she smiles a little brighter, looking at JD with gratitude, though her eyes are still black and exhausted.. clutching the cocoa still in two twisted and tense little fists, takes a loooong, slow drink, closes her eyes, breathes it in before lowering it to the table.

she looks across to madrigus finally, squinting her eyes and quivering her head a little, like a sick cat, "i don't care how much trouble it is, 'cause she's really smart and fun and she got my back, y'know? and i think it's true we can get her back. stupid doctors and their stupid army guys won't beat us."

she opens her mouth to speak again, sighs, squinches her eyes shut, shakes her head. takes another long draught of cocoa, "..lot of crazy things happened this weekend.. lots and lots. there was fun parts (you know i NEVER miss the fun parts), and really sad parts, and confusing parts too, but.. i think i'm gonna need a nap, i dunno even where to start. i was pretty smart and quick, and i kept a sharp eye, killed a bunch of stuff, helped out, but.. a lot of things happened, that's for sure."

vic pushes the diary listlessly toward JD, puts her head back down, watching him.

“That’s right kid-o she is family, and family is meant to be together that’s just how this works. We are going to get a win, no questions asked.” JD smiles and seems a little lost in his own mind for a moment.

He nods as he sees Sally walk in

“know you are always welcome at number three if you need it.”

JD give another nod to V waits for a moment and stands to head over towards the others.

Sally walks up to where Victor and JD are talking and sees Pandora's effects. His face, already dark from seeing the shrine to the Few, darkens further for just a moment. He reaches into his shirt, where a small bottle is looped 'round his neck with blue paracord. Caramel-colored liquid swishes in the bottle.

More of the blue cord sticks out of Pandora's kit.

"Hey, Boss. Vic."

He doesn't look up from her gear.

"Any of yer phones workin', Boss? I got-" he licks his teeth, eyes hard for the moment, "I got a couple calls to make to folks that don't like takin' calls."

He looks to Victor, "I got some friends that make they livin' kickin' in tha doors a folks that think they above gettin' caught."

Sally's dog tags jingle as he sticks the bottle back into his shirt.

"And maybe some of them owe me a favor 'er two."

He ruffles the girl's hair and says, "In tha mean time, I gotta clean my kit. Make sure nothin' jams. This ain't done. You keep that stuff safe fer her. She gon' want it back."

No sir. Not done by a long shot.

To anyone looking as Sally Lautner leaves the AAA, his face says enough for him to keep his mouth shut.

You done took the last 'a my marrow you's gon' take.

JD nods to Sally "I am sure we can get a call out. As long as you are sure that ... that you want to go making that call. I trust you, not them ... but you know that... i guess what i am saying is, we are going to get her back and I trust you to start the ball rolling on this."

JD smiles at his old friend "Dont think we didn’t do the best we could with what we had. That was a mess of a situation. Just gota get our feet under us again and we will win the day."

JD grabs his cup "probably about time I place a call into the family and check in. who knows what the old timers will be able to figure out with all this new info." Forcing a smile JD watches Sally leave. JD clenches up and looks more and more concerned as he thinks.

"See you round kid-0" JD Leaves the dinner headed towards main street.

Madrigus watched Sally approach, then ignore him, THEN touch-

No, calm. The demon took a deep breath, then held it. Emotions were high and it was his job to be calm andbreasonable. After Sally and JD left he let the silence hang for a long moment, allowing the young girl beside him to let the other's words of comfort sink in before he spoke.

"I find that talking about things, letting it all out, really helps people deal with pain. It seems that Sally and JD have cards up their sleeves that'll might help pull through with this, but right now all we can do is wait. Do you want to talk about it?"

He also slid his plate towards her and gestured to his fries.