CMLB: Arkaley Pythons @ Rift Storms, S1D25, 6
This one is dedicated to Kosmo, who chose this path /lh
The CMLB was off to a great start. The Skates were looking pretty dominant, though many teams were just in the competition for fun and did not care about winning, (looking at you, Zeromere Heroes) but all in all, everything was going fine.
Its Blaseball though, so everything had to go wrong.
Day 25, Nagomi is watching an 'away game' as she calls it in her mind. Arkaley Pythons versus the Rift Storms.
The weather has been bordering on a storm the whole time, dark clouds billow in the sky above the Stormdrain, the Storms' stadium.
Parker has been jotting down all the plays of the game, something that he doesn't need to do but enjoys doing anyway. Nagomi figures it's to keep his hands busy, and she is probably right.
Nagomi is looking away when it happens, glancing down at her phone to check her texts. It's the 8th inning, the Storms have a rather commanding lead, 10-2.
She's looking down when she feels Parker urgently grip her arm. When she looks over, He's staring wide eyed at the field.
"What?" Nagomi asks, she also trains her vision to the field to see what the hell he's looking at.
"Marylou Good just disappeared." He murmurs. She can hear the tone of panic in his voice, clear as day.
"She- Fuck." Nagomi is out of her seat in seconds, running down to the field. The level of urgency in his voice… She's only heard it once before.
Marylou had been standing out on the mound, and even through her urgency Nagomi took a cursory glance around where she could have disappeared to, but nothing.
The umpire behind home plate had also seen Marylou disappear, just like Parker. They had immediately called a timeout and were urgently awaiting Nagomi's arrival on the field.
Nagomi is fast on her feet, and Parker's cane is to give him a little more stable mobility, but it doesn't make for speedy getaways, so she's already down talking to them before Parker arrives.
"I didn't see her go." Is the first thing Parker hears. "Parker is the one who saw."
The umpire is a volunteer, going by J. Good. They have a lot of blaseball experience and are allegedly related to Marylou. They don't talk much, and never actually revealed their first name, but they look strangely familiar.
Unlike Marylou's eyes, which have a flaming pupil, this Good only has one visible flaming eye, and boy do they look pissed.
Nagomi doesn't wait for them to respond. "I'm ending the game. I don't care if the Storms would have scored more, this is serious."
Good nods.
"We'll talk more in my office." Nagomi says. She walks over to the batter's box.
"Game's over." She says to Maverick Aero, the current Storms batter.
He tilts his head, "But the game isn't over! There's still some innings left!"
"Someone just disappeared." Nagomi growls. "Game's over." And she walks away.
__
Commissioners Office
Nagomi is sitting at her desk, her elbows resting on the surface in front of her, her hands steepled with the fingertips resting on her forehead.
She's been deep in thought for a while, waiting for Parker to wake up.
Good is off to her left, leaning against the wall and checking their phone, sneaking glances over at the both of them.
On the right is Parker, taking a nap on the couch. After the amount of hectic scrambling following Marylou's disappearance, Parker kept up fairly well with the hectic cleanup of the incident.
After a few hours, It became evident to both Nagomi and Good that Parker's body was giving out on him, so the both of them gently urged him to take a short nap.
Parker is not often able to resist the allure of sleep, as much as he tries, though he insisted that he only needed a short nap.
"...You're an ILB player, right?" Nagomi murmurs in Good's direction.
They nod.
"If you were trying to be sneaky, you should have picked an alias. There is literally only one player with your last name in the ILB."
"I wasn't trying to be sneaky." They snort. "I was trying to be a volunteer umpire for a new splorts league."
"That's it?"
"That's it, that's all… Well, I guess I was also here to watch Marylou play." They mutter as an afterthought. It makes Nagomi feel that much worse.
"I'm… Really sorry about Marylou."
Good sighs, "I know you are. I know you didn't expect this to happen, trust me."
Nagomi runs both her hands through her hair. "We have no leads, no indication how she disappeared or where she might have gone or how to get her back. I said I would protect them and I failed."
Good sighs. "I'm not going to keep up with your self loathing on this one, boss. The fact of the matter is a player disappeared and barely anyone noticed until we announced it, that's suspicious."
Nagomi turns to look at them as they speak again. "If someone was looking for a reaction, they would do it like incineration. Everyone focuses on an incineration, but whoever did this? They chose sneaky, and that sits strangely with me."
Nagomi nods, "It's fucking wierd is what it is. There has to be a reason, especially without any sort of replacement swapping in."
"Exactly." They nod, "And I hate to say it, but with what little information we have right now I'm thinking we're going to have to wait until it happens again before we can start investigating any patterns."
Good looks over at the loud sound of Nagomi thunking her head on her desk.
She groans, "And I hate to say that you're right. We have nothing to go off of, there's nothing we can do."
"Hopefully they're just missing and we can get them back." Good mutters, swiping away a notification on their phone. "Better hope we don't have to necromancy someone."
Nagomi stares hard, Good doesn't meet her gaze. She doesn't know if they're joking or not.
Parker decides that now is the time to wake up from his nap. "What's happening?" He says immediately, rubbing his eyes.
"We've determined that there's currently nothing we can do other than wait for it to happen again." Nagomi scoffs. She doesn't bother giving context, she knows how Parker's brain works, and he doesn't ask.
"You got any scientist types in your league?" Good ponders, "You could see if they could get some readings on something."
"There's a few on the Stargazers." Parker pipes in. "A majority of them are astrophysicists but a few of them might know some folks in other disciplines."
"Sounds good." Nagomi writes down the idea in her notebook. "Better than waiting around."
"I'll… Draft a 'memorial' for Marylou." Good says, quietly. "So that the people know what's happened and why they should care."
Nagomi and Parker nod, avoiding their gaze.
Good sighs. "I don't want you both to feel responsible for this, honestly. Your intentions with this league are what I wish the ILB was like. Marylou wouldn't want you to blame yourselves."
"It's my league. I can be as responsible as I want." Nagomi says stubbornly. She gets up from her chair. "I do think we're done playing the blame game in circles though, let's get outta here."
The Stormdrain is now empty of spectators, only a few staff members remain, cleaning out the seating for the next game. Thunder rumbles in the sky, and a few lightning bolts descend and hit the lightning rods, despite there being no rain to speak of.
There are two cars waiting outside for them, one for Good and one for Nagomi and Parker.
Parker enters the vehicle before Nagomi, but as she's leaving she looks over to where Good is getting in the car.
"Jenkins." She starts, and they look back at her. "Don't be a stranger."
Good smiles, giving her a two finger salute. "This isn't the last you'll be seeing of me, boss. I promise."
Their car drives away, and Nagomi joins Parker in the car.
"Jenkins Good, huh…" Parker muses.
"Did you know?" Nagomi questions. Parker hums. "I knew there was something familiar about them, but it's hard to recognize them without a crop top on."
"I guess it's true what they say about their abs being their most defining feature, huh." Nagomi snorts out a laugh.
__
"And now, to say a few words about the missing, I introduce Jenkins Good, pitcher for the Canada Moist Talkers." says the announcer, there is polite and somber applause.
Jenkins Good steps on the stage, they are wearing their signature Talkers jersey, looking every bit the ILB player that they are. They approach the microphone.
"Marylou Good is not my blood cousin." They start. "As most people know, I am an Alternate, and where I am from, I only had my parents in my family. After the switch, Marylou made an active effort to get to know me, when the rest of the Good family here chose the opposite. I will never forget her kindness, her optimism, or her enthusiasm. I miss her greatly and I hope that someday she returns to us, from wherever she has been sent."
More polite applause. The lights in the auditorium dim, and a slideshow of various pictures of Marylou play.
The ending slide shows a picture of Marylou's face, along with the words 'You will not be forgotten.'