aarons first night back
w/ mo (@nurseguillermo) eagan (@endlessreruns) tw mention of death
aaron was only arriving back into town and the first place he wanted to go was home. he still had his key from when he was younger and had every intention of using it anytime he was going to visit but never actually had the chance to until recently so when he got there, he tried the key on the door and when it didn't work he scratched his head for a moment. he flipped the key and tried one more time and when that didn't work he knocked on the door. "dad? you home? it's aaron." he called out hoping for an answer.
Mo had set a plate with a sandwich cut in half in front of Eagan, it was easier to give her one handed food lately. He'd been about to sit to eat when he could hear the door jiggling, brow furrowing as he glanced at the clock. It was way too late for someone to be fucking around with their door, he debated the bat next to the door before hearing the voice on the other end. Opening it he stared blankly at the guy in front of him, "Uh...hey? Think you might have the wrong ho-...wait shit did you just get into town?"
Eagan glanced at the door at the sound of the jiggle and then the knock, and then over to Mo before the other went up to find out who was there at this hour. "Who is it?" Eagan asked, calling from the couch, before taking a bite of one of the sandwich halves "if it's Hunter tell him to fuck off" she added as she chewed
aaron looked severely confused when someone who wasn’t lincoln answered the door then even more when he heard someone else inside who was unfamiliar. “uh.. yeah i guess? just drove in a few minutes ago.” he said and pointed to the car that was currently parked in front of the house. “sorry, who are you two and why are you in my parents house?”
Mo cursed under his breath, taking a peak behind Aaron's shoulder at the sun that was setting. "I'm Mo de la Luna...might've known one of my siblings. Lui, Vero, or Celia Reyes Ortega?" he offered up, he looked like he'd maybe had gone to school with them. "Look it's a long story, but we need to lock the door for the night. Town changed a lot while you were gone. Uh...you hungry? Can make a sandwich while we fill you in?"
Eagan tried to peak around to see who it was. It didn't sound like Hunter which was already a plus in her book. Besides, Mo wouldn't need to introduce themself if it had been. After a moment he was actually able to see the guy's face. Definitely not Hunter. "If you don't come in and let him lock the door you'll die. Horribly"
"maybe? that still doesn't answer why you two are in my parents house and what do they mean by i'll die? what the fuck is going on?" aaron looked back at his car and saw as the sun started setting before finally stepping inside. he used to live there anyway so it's not like it was that weird, what was weird was literally everything else. "alright i'm inside now, someone spill."
Part of Mo had hoped the guy would introduce himself so they could narrow down who his folks were. He was really hoping they'd moved before the paradox or maybe gone to the Commune. Locking the door, he checked to make sure it was properly sealed. "Ok look, short version. Town is like in a bubble or something. People come in and can't leave, at night these things come out that rip people apart. They look human but they aren't," he was really hoping this wouldn't be another Hunter situation. "If you don't believe me town hall can fill you in, in the morning. Which is also how we got the house, empty houses are up for grabs if you talk to town hall...so like sorry, Eagan been in this one a few years now."
"I'm Eagan" she lifted a sandwich gripped hand up before taking another bite. "I think I have some of your old clothes. I guess you can have them back if you want. They're like upstairs though or whatever"
right, names, they must've not heard him through the door when he first said it. "aaron." he said back, setting his backpack by the door trying to listen to what mo was saying. "empty? that's not possible, my dad, sorry lincoln, he lived here with my mom and sister. how could it have been years?" that was all aaron could seem to focus on at the moment, the rest hadn't fully processed yet since he just wanted to know where his family was first.
Mo fully stiffened at the name Lincoln, he glanced at Eagan and then back at Aaron. Fuck did he not want to be the one to have to do this. Briefly he thought about Val and bit back a sigh. "Dude I'm sorry but...your dad passed away months ago. My friend found him in the woods, and the word around town was his family passed away at the beginning when those things first showed up. I'm....I'm really sorry man."
"no one was here when I found the place" Eagan added "he might have been living at the commune before he died though" it was also possible he'd just been living in a different house. She didn't exactly know the guy to be able to say for sure.
aaron raised his eyebrow slightly, "is this some joke that you guys like to play on people? new guy rolls back into town and you tell some fucked up story well it's not funny, seriously. if something did happened to my family my dad would've called me and told me, was this his idea to put you two up to this or something? freak me out for not coming around for a while?"
This time Mo did sigh, rubbing at their face, "It's not a joke dude...he didn't call cause he couldn't. Phones don't work and no Internet." Pausing he thought it over, "GPS start fucking uo when you got close right ? You got one of them smarty cells or whatever? Ain't gonna have signal either."
"we already got one asshole around here thinking this is all fake. Trust me we don't need another. It sucks, the whole thing, but like he said it ain't no joke or whatever. You can try the phone in the kitchen if you want. Try calling someone out of town. Ain't gonna work no more."
"i used to live here i didn't need the gps." aaron said trying not to be snippy about the whole thing. "alright fine, i'll humor you." he knew where the kitchen was and immediately picked up the phone, dialing the first number he could think of which was some pizza joint he'd order from fairly often. when it didn't ring he pulled out his phone and checked the signal on it to see he couldn't use that either. "what the fuck." aaron mumbled to himself and came back out. "so.. you two really aren't fucking with me then..?"
Mo had sat down next to Eagan, he didn't blame Aaron for being short. Once it him, it wasn't gonna be great for anyone. They moved to lean against Eagan suddenly feeling more tired than anything. Glancing at Aaron he grimaced, "Honestly? I wish I was, but no it's the truth. Been stuck here since 2012 with no way out. Your dad was friends with my brother in law's friend. I didn't really know him that well."
Eagan turned their head for a moment to press her forehead against the side of Mo's head. She looked back over in Aaron's direction "Weirder shit has been happening lately. There was a whole earthquake. People died. Didn't even know we got those things on this coast.
aaron came back into the living room and sat down on a chair nearby, running a hand through his hair with a sigh. "so that's just it then? i come back to see my family that i don't actually have anymore?" he didn't know how to feel, anger sure was one of them and it was strong. "earthquakes? on the east coast? what the fuck happened while i was gone none of this is making any fucking sense."
Mo had been tempted to move closer but it seemed wrong with how Aaron was doing. He'd lost people sure, though it was Luke, Minnie and Sammie he'd dealt with the fall out of. People like Evora and Lincoln were more acquaintances he'd only really heard about afterwards. "It's unfortunately not that uncommon, my brother in law came to try and find his sister...and yeah." It been a while since he thought about those early days, he'd been fairly young as well. "There was a freak storm, next thing no one can get out. You drive or walk and just pop back into town. Then at night these things came out and ripped people apart, the Sheriff found a rune that if you put on your door keeps em out. Just gotta make sure it's locked, why we tried to pull you in so quick."
"I tried to leave after I got here. More than once. Can confirm you're not getting out. None of us are. Now on top of all that you gotta worry about not falling into the big hole in the ground or whatever."
“great.” aaron leaned back in his chair and mumbled something under his breath. not directed at the two of them but at this situation in general and wishing there was any way to go back. “guess this explains why he never responded to me back.. just thought he was pissed at me for something.” not like he’d done anything wrong to warrant it anyway but at some point he’d assumed as much. “so rune.. giant hole.. and can’t go outside at night.. and people just accept this? this is fucked up.”
Mo shrugged, "Been over a decade dude, not much else we can do." They were idly drumming their fingers against their leg, "Come morning I can call my brother in law, he was friends with one of your dad's friends. If you want more info on him?" It was the best he had to offer, other than Val who he wasn't sure would even want to rehash Lincoln with him.
Eagan nodded in agreement as Mo spoke and explained that there wasn't much that could be done other than accept it. "We have a room no one uses unless they wind up over too late. If you want to stay in there tonight" the room mentioned being the one that had once belonged to Laredo Abernathy, the youngest of the two Abernathy kids.
“no it’s fine, i’ll just,” aaron paused and shrugged at mo’s offer, he wasn’t sure what to do or to really say, “no point anyway i guess.” he mumbled and looked over at eagan and grimaced slightly. “where’s that room at?”
"Could tell you where he was staying...woodcarver right?" Mo asked as he racked his brain for something. He thinks he remembers Lincoln had a stall at Ren faire, but he'd been pretty drunk most of it. "Up the stairs on in the middle, sure you don't want like a beer or something? Got weed if that's more your speed."
After Mo mentioned the guy's dad had been a woodcarver she tried to think of if she knew any woodcarvers. "wasn't there a girl with him at the like old timey thing with the horses or whatever?" They asked, looking over at Mo. Maybe he could remember better.
aaron frowned at the mention of where the room was and shook his head, “think i’ll just sleep on the couch if that’s cool.” it still felt weird having to feel like he was asking for permission in a place he used to grow up in. “a girl?” he perked up a bit thinking maybe his sister was still here after all. “what’d she look like? how old she look?”
"Yeah, I can lug this one upstairs," Mo mumbled, he didn't need to carry Eagan but it was habit. Pausing he furrowed his brows at Eagan before slowly, "Oh uh...that's Lucy? Yeah Lucy, Knightley treats them sometimes. They're like our age? Black hair real quiet, but yeah she hung out around Lincoln, think they're a carver too."
Lucy. That was it. She was going to have to believe Mo when it came to the black hair because she didn't actually remember what she looked like. There had been a couple times back when Knightley was still at the commune that she'd heard the name, though. "Were you wanting to sleep now or - I've still got some sandwich"
hearing the name made aaron sulk back in his chair having lost that hope her had for just a split second. “oh.” he ran a hand through his hair but held onto that name in case it ever came up. “no i’m good right now, could go for that beer though or the weed. or both.”
Mo nodded towards the tin case on the coffee table, "Should be some matches in there along with a joint or two," they said as they went to the kitchen. Grabbing 3 beers and popping them open, coming back he handed one to Aaron before sitting back next to Eagan and handing her the other. Taking a sip he glanced at Aaron, "So what you go to college for?"
Eagan took the beer with a nod to say thank you and took a drink before setting it on the coffee table in order to pick up the remaining sandwich half. Chewing she looked back over at Aaron, she hadn't known too many people that had gone. Mostly because so many of the people here had never gotten that chance.
aaron nodded and opened the tin when mo went to get the beer, lighting it by the time they’d gotten back and taking a hit while grabbing the beer at the same time. he gave a nod as thanks and exhaled to answer the question. “went to get my business degree so i could conti-“ he paused to take a sip, “guess that parts not important but business degree. that’s really it.” he answered with a shrug.
Mo was idly sipping at his beer, "Oh shit so you're like smart smart. Town hall probs still have something you can do with it," pausing he took another sip before shrugging. "reminds me we don't use cash anymore. Been using ration cards and the barter system for a while now."
"they're supposed to give you like a welcome basket or something at town hall. Has some of those ration cards with it." Eagan added on through another mouthful of sandwich. "you could always make a business of your own. I have my own. Sort of. I don't have a business degree or whatever though "
aaron shrugged, “wouldn’t say smart smart, i know enough to run a business out there but better with my hands more than anything.” he took another hit from the joint and let himself sink farther into the chair. “so town hall in the morning then, guess i’ll see what they’ve got i don’t.. yeah i don’t know about starting my own thing here. it’d feel weird doing that stuff here without my dad.” maybe one day, for now he’d figure out.
"My sister's head of construction and my brother's like the main plumber in town. Could always use extra hands," Mo said shrugging. He'd been thinking over what else might be useful to someone new, "Uh mayor's probably gonna shit talk the commune. It's basically a big house where a bunch of folks live and watch out for each other. I got friends and family in there, pretty nice all around."
Eagan took another drink of the beer and moved to stand, grabbing hold of the crutch that was leaned against the arm of the couch. She'd been getting better, at least their foot had, and really only needed the use of one crutch now to be able to get around. She left the two of them to continue on as she went to grab a pillow and blanket from one of the downstairs closets.
aaron stayed where he was and continued to sip at his beer. “construction doesn’t sound to bad, i’ll think about it.” as for the commune, depending on what’s said about it he was thinking he’d end up there anyway. it seemed easier than having to stay at somewhere new, especially alone.
Mo finished off his beer, letting Eagan hand off things, "Got plenty of food if you get the munchies. Take ya to town hall in the morning," he said. He let Eagan head upstairs first before trailing after them opting to stay in the same room for the night. Locking the bedroom door he flopped down onto the bed, "Well that was something," he grumbled already not looking forward to the next morning.
