#timestamp 001.

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+ ISLA / ON THE ROAD / OCT. 20 – ?

ATHABASCA, AB & OCT. 21.  

"Oh, no," said Hermione, stoppin' abruptly. "Turn back, turn back, I don't wanna talk to Moaning Myrtle -" "Who?" said Harry as they backtracked quickly. "She haunts one of the toilets in the girls' bathroom on the first floor," said Hermione. Elliot's voice is a quiet drawl as reads to Isla on the floor of an abandoned home in Athabasca. Their third town in the two days since leaving Hollow Cove. Candles are going, and they were lucky enough to find a few comforters left in the home when night began to settle. They'd been through each building, picking off supplies as they saw them but no flashlight or pack of batteries or cans of soup were enough to make up for the lack of information.

It used to be a town that would help supernaturals. They'd get to Athabasca and be helped to other safe havens. It was more of a stopover town than a safe town itself, but they'd hoped to find more information here because of it. Transcripts. More than the two maps they'd found, which they'd taken anyway. But after hours of searching, it was clear that just like Hinton and Whitecourt before it, Athabasca was going to be a dead-end. Too late to travel to their next stop, they decided to find an empty home for the night, parking their truck close enough that they could run right out in a moment's notice. But any tire tracks through town were at least weeks old, practically faded entirely, and that alone gave them the incentive to stay inside.

With discarded bowls of soup to their side, and Elliot's back propped against a wall, he continues on. His arm rests across Isla's shoulder as she curls up beside him, head perched enough to see the words on the page, even as he hopes his voice might lull her to sleep so she can rest. He thumbs the page over, the book Rory had given him proving more entertaining than he'd thought. "She haunts a toilet?" Elliot drawls, "Yes. It's been out-of-order all year 'cause she keeps having tantrums and floodin' the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it's awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you "Look, food!" said Ron.

"I like Ron," Elliot cuts off with a wry grin, biting off a piece of jerky from the small back between them. "Seems relatable. It'd be exhausting to have Harry as a friend." Even if he hadn't read the books before, he can still recall the movies, ones he'd watch with Isla on the couch as the winter months arrived. @waterfallswords

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+ BEAU / THE CASTLE / NOV. 6

"You might wanna consider a paternity test – she doesn't even look like you," suggests Levi as he approaches his brother and the bundle of trouble in his arms. Trouble because he can see where this is heading, clear as a cloudless day. He thinks anyone with half a brain can. But especially Levi who can see his brother's actions for what they are – an attempt to hold onto something that's no longer his. He gives Beau a long look before stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets and slumping against the wall beside his brother. "You really gonna do this the entire time, man?" he asks sincerely, eyes scanning the pockets of people for Tammie, a bit surprised she'd actually left Eden with his brother all things considered. @secrettyrant

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+ HUNTER / CROSS CABIN LATE OCTOBER 19

Elliot exhales as he approaches Hunter's cabin. The truck is packed and they're leaving as soon as the sun comes up. He's said his goodbyes to everyone except Hunter. There have been moments throughout the day, as his brothers help him pack the truck, when he could've said it. But each moment came and went and the words were stuck in Elliot's throat. He's not sure why it's so hard to say.

He'll be back. But it feels strange leaving without Hunter by his side. Strange to have the next few weeks stretch out before him knowing that none of his brothers will be with him. This is the longest he'll be gone from them and even at nearly thirty-four years old, the thought fills him with discomfort. A sort of child-like anxiety burgeoning in his chest the more he thinks of it. So he tries not to. He lets the hours slip through his fingers like sand and only when there's the last bit of it left does he cross the small path between their cabins.

The door's unlocked and he suspects that Hunter's been expecting him as he pulls it open. In another room, he can hear Kat reading to Jude and he snickers slightly. "Little asshole don't like to sleep, do he?" Doesn't seem like a far jump considering the time. He jerks his chin at his brother, nodding outside, to the front steps. "Got a second?" @manybcdthings

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+ GABE / INFIRMARY, TOWN HALL NOV. 11

Taliah moves around the infirmary, careful despite her newly bandaged and slung arm. The wound caused by a wolfs-bane coated bullet still smarts but less with medical attention. She knows some others from their group are being brought to the infirmary after check in and decides to wait for them. The guy checking people in mentioned something about taking names down and getting back to them so she'd given her brothers names, and her cousins, Danny and Azize's family too. It's been a while since she's been part of such a thorough process, but she tells herself not to get her hopes up. Hawk and Bear might want to move on and she needs to think of how best to stay put, to split off despite technically being in their debt still.

Thoughts swirl around her restless mind as she waits, free hand ghosting over some supplies she sees set up for the next patient. Her hand hovers over some bandages, picking them up to consider if it's worth taking when she hears the door to the infirmary swing open. Clutching the bandages tighter now, Taliah spins, hand behind her back. Any well-formed, at-the-ready remark about being grateful for their hospitality or when are the others coming through die on her lips when she sees who's standing in the doorway. @manybcdthings

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+ RORY / TOWARDS THE CASTLE

Levi's trek to the castle is solely for the purpose of his shift. A training shift he swapped when he realized that Rory would be there with Ryan. Given how tough things had been for her since her unsanctioned run, Levi thought she might want a friend around. Still, he finds himself considering her situation a bit more than he would if it were someone else. The fact that she's not really a fighter in the same way that her family was, wasn't a bad thing. But he wonders if she thinks it is. And then he thinks he should say something, and then he doesn't because that would look like too much consideration was given (which it was) but that's besides the point.

Still, none of this stops his feet from carrying him towards The Castle before he spots a familiar figure approach. Levi's brows furrow and he raises a hand in greeting as Rory gets closer. "Hey, I was just heading there..." But he trails off once she's within actual viewing distance and he can see she's crying. Immediately concern rushes in but he doesn't think of what it might mean as he draws near. "What happened? Did you get hurt? Where's Ryan?" he asks in a series of rapid fire questions to gain context. @rviner

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+ TAMMIE / ADAM'S LAKE, BC OCTOBER 24TH

The woman's cries are haunting. They echo throughout the abandoned building like a ghostly call to something long gone. Nora can't help but think of her mother with each cry of pain that emanates from the woman. Was this what she'd gone through? Was this how it had all ended for Ava Jones? She swallows a lump in her throat and rakes a hand through her hair, surveying the room around them. "We can't move her like this." Nora whispers, looking to Tammie, the two of them with heads bent together as they work out what to do. She can hear the sky rumbling low outside, a slow, rolling tide that'll soon become a downpour. Their option are few and far between.

"And I don't think we got time to find JJ and Soph," she sighs. Rubbing her jaw, she observes the woman on the wooden floor, curled on her side and cradling her stomach. They'd patched up the bullet wound in her shoulder, but then the contractions had begun and they had to sort out another plan. Nora nods at her sister. "We should make her comfortable, before we do anything, right?" It's a question and suggestion all at once because birthing cows seems a lot different than birthing one of their own. But they'd split up from JJ and Sophia an hour ago to explore the town. And, small though it was, it was large enough that to cover ground fast, pairing off had been their best bet. Nora knows that is going to be a small detail they leave out when they tell their dad how the run went.

"Ma'am?" Nora finally addresses the lady, glancing to Tammie with a worried brow before taking a step forward towards the woman. She crouches down beside her, the floor creaking beneath her boots as she hovers a hesitant hand over the woman's uninjured shoulder. "We're gonna help make ya more comfortable in here and then we're gonna help you with this here..." Situation seems too cold given the circumstances, "miracle you've got goin' on." She settles on a word people loved, though Nora never understood why. One that evokes hope for those who think magic exists. She can't deny that if there was ever a time she wishes it were real, it's right now.

"We're gonna be with you the entire time," Nora encourages as they help her up so they can move to the couch in the next room. The only reason they were in this abandoned home is because they'd heard her groans of pain. And then when they saw the state she was in, they couldn't leave. "I'm Nora, and this is Tammie." She introduces them as they wrap an arm each around her waist to help her up, careful as can be with her current state.

It's clear by the pallor of her skin that she's lost a lot of blood, if her clothes weren't indication enough, stained so dark with it they're almost black. The woman lets out another cry, doubling over and Nora stops short. She rubs the stranger's back until the contraction passes and the woman's head slumps forward with exhaustion. Was this how it was for you, mom? she thinks, another stone in throat as she looks at Tammie with a worried gaze. Somehow, Nora knows that they share the same thought. @rviner

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+ DOMINIC / TOWN HALL

"Wait wait wait... if Sophia's on watch Tuesday, that means that Beau will be on my watch Wednesday." Levi huffs, running his hands through his hair as he looks at the wheeled in chalkboard with names scrawled across. But he brightens after a moment of thought, snapping his fingers and glancing at Dom. "But if you trade with me and go on watch with Beau, then I can do patrol with Valerie." A new blonde wolf who'd arrived last week and was finally on schedule after getting settled in. "So...do me a solid? I'll take your next watch with Roxy too." Even if it means doubling up on watch shifts with how the schedule's laid out. But he's willing to make that sacrifice. @gloriouswhispers

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+ JACOB / WATCH DUTY

It's the first time in weeks Nora's assigned to a shift outside of town but it's a relief short lived when she sees who's on watch with her. It's another strike on the mental tally she carries against Levi who she thinks puts together schedules based on whims, rather than reason. Since the disaster that was Kaslo, all of them have been kept on a short leash. But now it's being let out a bit and Nora's not about to let a shitty partner ruin that for her. So she carries on in silence for several miles before they reach the base of their outpost for the night as the forest sounds with the steady chirp of forest critters settling in for the evening.

Giving Gomez and his shift partner a friendly greet when they relieve them from duty, Nora secures her pack and begins to climb up the ladder. She glances back down at her partner briefly but is unwilling to be the first to break the silence since ostensibly being called a loud mouth by him. Instead, once she's on the platform first, she snags best spot. It's a part of the tree that's warped in, creating the perfect curved space to tuck into for the night. Which leaves Jacob with the side of the trunk that juts out where an old branch used to be. She almost says too slow when he pops up onto the platform but instead she just gives him a syrupy sweet smile, nestling back to get comfortable. @manybcdthings