Welcome to Hemlock Falls

[Mathewsen]

"You american sure love your bacon." Mat chuckles "It's not as famous, but actually us French are not better. We kinda are the same about saucisson." He pronounces the last word in French. "And it doesn't sound that bad, I mean, they're essential basic products! Sounds way better than moss, roots and small rodents anyway!"

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

She tries to imitate him. "Saucisson?" She mangles it, of course, but she gave it a try. "What's that?" A pause, then she wrinkles her nose and says "I'm told you eat snails. And besides, I'm sure we both eat potato and carrot, and those are roots."

 

[Mathewsen]

"Trust me, most French people never ever tried snails and would never consider it. Saucisson, on the other hand? I doubt you can find anyone in France that never tried it, unless they're vegetarians, jews or muslims. It's minced meat, mostly pork but sometimes you have other kinds of meat with it, mixed with fat, seasoned using various recipes depending on the region, and pourred into some sort of sausage casing."

"Sometimes they have extra stuff like nuts, pepper seed, or even cheese in them, it's like a bonus! Then they are left hanging to dry, sometimes smoked, or even something else, it depends again on the recipe. It's very good as aperitive food. I brought some with me, I'll let you try if you'd like!"

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

"Oh! Fancy sausage!" And so Sarah defines an entire genre of cuisine francais.

She nods. "I'd be happy to try some. And ... " She peers at the houses the small group is walking past. "Ah. If you look, many of the folks here have smokers, if not entire smokehouses. Most of the pig farmers do, but they're further out from here. Cattlers do, too, but they're more likely making jerky."

She looks at Mat. "Oh, if you like fancy sausage, you've gotta try jerky!"

 

[Mathewsen]

"Yeah, fancy sausage, you could say that" Mat chuckles

He answers with a smile "I do know jerky, not my first time in the U.S. ya know!"

"But I'd like to try a piece of local jerky of course."

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

Poor Sarah is insular, nyekultoorney, unsophisticated, unworldly, and doesn't know it. But she's more than happy to share, and out of another pocket comes a couple of ziploc bags, each with a label, each containing some strips of jerky (and dessicant in a foodsafe sachet). She studied them, then asks "You seem to like having peppercorns in smoked food, right? Try this one."

She offers the jerky which is labelled 'peppered', and which, yes, visibly has both 'black' and 'white' peppercorns - lightly cracked. As in, some probably aren't, so you'll get the 'wow' of cracking a peppercorn between your teeth.

 

[Mathewsen]

"I don't especially like peppercorns in saucisson actually, I'm more of an hazelnut type of saucisson lover" he smiles but takes the jerky she offered "Doesn't mean I dislike it though."

He opens the bag, pulls a piece out and chews a bite off of it.

"That's funny the way you pull that out of your pocket. Like, people often have treats like candies, mints, but you have jerky." He isn't making fun of her by saying that, and is genuinely smiling.

"You want one too?" He offers the opened bag.

"You seemed quite proud of the radio tower earlier. Is it some kind of local pride or is it just you?"

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

((We're still walking towards the church. I figure we'll reach it whenever Atrus comes online and describes it for us.))

She laughs. "If you're planning on hiking, meat is better than candy." She takes a piece, though, and tears a bit off with strong teeth. She pauses for a moment, then says "I think the whole town is proud of the tower. It really is a community effort to keep it up, and it's part of Hemlock Falls' share of looking after the whole region."

"Every rural area has its problems, if you're going to live outside the cities it's kind of ... pick which problem you're happy to live with." She shrugs. "The community radio is able, in emergencies, to be a communications centre that keeps a whole team of firefighters - or whatever - connected to a central base. So ... pride."

(("Every rural area has its problems" - I reminded myself of Deputy Andy. "Every town has its dark side, right?" (Elm St Blues, if anyone now has the same urge I did - to go check the cutscene.)))

 

[Marcos Medeiros]

((Sorry for falling so far behind! Marcos... burnt his tongue on the coffee? Looked down at his phone at the wrong time and ended up walking onto the wrong street? ))

"I do," Marcos says, craning his neck to take a peek at what's in the bag that Mathieu is holding. Yes, he did just accept an offer without knowing what the heck he's getting himself into. Again.

He listens closely as Sarah talks more about the radio tower. Hmm. Could that be where those not creepy at all signals are coming from? He can't ask about that outright, obviously, but maybe there's a way to wiggle something out of their tour guide...

"It doesn't seem like there would be many problems here. It's very quiet," Marcos says, glancing at run-down houses around him. Then, a smirk. "Well, except for Derek. He sounds like trouble."

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

((Mat and I get the bit in our teeth and get talking, don't worry about it. It's a function of the time-disjoint nature of this RP.))

Sarah passes the bag of peppercorn jerky to Marcos. She shakes her head. "Never really any problems. Oh, I suppose there's the odd DUI, domestic disturbance..." Notably, she doesn't add 'human sacrifice'.

((I really, really, really couldn't resist! Sorry. That's a tad out of character.... ))

"Yes, Derek's trouble, but teenagers are. I certainly was, and I'm sure you were. Just because ... you know, teen." She sighs.

"So yes, every few generations some teenage boy is showing off and tries to dive off the top of the falls and breaks his fool neck. And that's a tragedy. And sometimes a fool actually tries to pet a black bear, and gets what he deserves. And of course farming is one of the most dangerous jobs - people are always getting broken feet when a bull stands on them, or getting a hand caught in a harvester, or ... " She shakes her head.

"So yeah. We have problems. And the fire watch isn't a make-work job either."

"That what you meant?"


((Damnit, I keep typing in MY words. 'Fire watch isn't a sinecure'. Sarah's not the kind of person who uses six-dollar words.))

 

[Mathewsen]

"What's the frequency of Hemlock's station?" He'll compare it to the frequency of the strange signal, 'cause the CoV surely knows that.

"I know what that is, I come from a small town too. Well, not the same kind of small town, but still! We didn't have our own radio tho. Or bears. Or rattlesnakes. Damn that town is way more dangerous for dumb people than mine. Must be why there are so few people left!"

"Tell us more about your job!"

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

Sarah gives the frequency from memory, and then laughs. "So you and Molly are both small town folk. She's from Louisiana bayou country, though. Very different hazards there - I'd be the one totally lost!"

 

[Atrus]

Mathieu and Marcos would be able to verify that the radio's frequency was not exactly the same as the mysterious signal's, but it was near enough in range the same equipment might have been used to transmit it.

After a few more minutes of walking and nibbling on jerky, the group finally reached their destination.

((Mat, Sarah, and Marcos' adventure continues by the church))