Welcome to Hemlock Falls

[The Dullahan]

Sam kept to the back and just observed. Too many people getting involved would be a bad thing. He looked over at the group, and then back at the police officer, giving the other man a nod in thanks for the assistance. Otherwise, he would wait and see wait the others wanted to plan. His leading days were over, as far as he was concerned.

 

[Atrus]

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, the deputy coughed and said: "OK then. Take care."
He climbed back into the car and rode away, leaving the group alone with their choices.

 

[Marcos Medeiros]

Marcos takes the slip of paper from the officer and nods. "Of course. It would be rude to leave you in suspense, no?" Marcos grins. "Until later, Mr Taliaferro."

Marcos watches the police car for a moment or two until he's reasonably sure that the officer is far enough not to hear anything, then turns to his companions. "We can plan along the way, no? Let's get moving. Last one to town picks up the dinner tab tonight." The young man winks, then starts down the path that he saw on the map -- leisurely, so he doesn't stray too far ahead of the group.

 

[Craft]

"On the way it is. Not like we're going to figure out much about that transmission from here."

Craft cinched the straps on his pack and started down the path as well, "The officer seemed nice enough, at least he didn't try to warn a bunch of strangers away from town. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of Hemlock Falls feels about a handful of strangers wandering through..."

 

[Molly Dufrene]

"Yay, walking." Molly says to herself as she adjusts her pack and starts following the others down the path. She is slightly less jumpy than before, but still tends to glance over towards the woods as if she expects something to come barreling out occasionally.

"Well, uhh, it's not like everyone that lives in small towns hate outsiders or something, ya know. I mean, I'm sure it'll be noteworthy in general, but the opinions will vary. Unless they are an actual hivemind." She starts to ponder this line of thought for a moment.

 

[Antistita]

Lu struggled into her pack. She drew a deep breath. "We gotta get our story straight. How about we are a bunch of Pokemon enthusiasts, a club. We're an international bunch meeting in person for the first time and we figured this would be easy. Just the mention of Pokemon will make their eyes glaze over. Two minutes of me showing them my Pokemans and they'll have us in the 'harmless but weird' category." She rattled on in that vein or a couple minutes, hiking down the trail, then remembered other people needed to talk too and hushed up.

 

[Mathewsen]

Mat smiles at Lu's idea, listening 'til the end and nods "Yeah, why not. I know we have a few pokemon enthousiasts here, and I even brought my nintendo ds along, in case of sleepless night or something. 'could also help them to not find it weird if they see some of the high-tech stuff in my bag." He shrugs "When in town, I'll try to find a place where the youth gather and have a chat with 'em."

 

[The Dullahan]

Sam follows along at a good pace, not too fast so he's not in the lead, hanging more towards the back of the group. This way he could see those in front of him and also watch their rear. He paused for a moment as he listened to the conversation, then frowned and admitted, "I don't know much about pokemon." Anything really, other than its a game, he mentally corrected himself, real hip Rourke, real hip.You're becoming an old man.

 

[Atrus]

Just like the deputy had said, all they had to do was follow the road for the most part of an hour. A few trucks and some cars passed by on the road to Hemlock Falls, their occupants staring at the ragtag group with varying degrees of curiosity, but not enough to have them stop or slow down.
The trees kept on surrounding them on both sides. As they came closer to the town they could also hear the sound of moving water, probably a stream.

Then, after another couple of bends, the town finally came into view, as if it had just popped into existence behind the trees.
Buildings rose on both sides of the road. Most of them had a worn down, tired appearance to them, paint faded and peeling, shutters drawn against dusty windows. A single traffic light cycled red, green, yellow, with a single road forking off in the direction of the water, but no cars passed through.

The Officer had mentioned Rosie’s, and would have been hard to miss the diner. Wedged between the police station and a hardware-slash-general store, the parking lot was half-full with beat-up old relics of vehicles.
A little down the road, a small group of teenagers, sitting in the shade of an overgrown tree, was staring at the group.

 

[Diana Senis]

Diana follows behind pondering as she gets her pack "I dont really know much about pokemon I er am afraid..."

 

[Mathewsen]

Mat answers to Diana "Let's forget about Pokémon then. Maybe a bunch of people who won a prize on the internet?" He shrugs "That's simple and it gives us a lot of room for improvisation! What do you guys think?"

 

[Diana Senis]

"I mean if you wanted to go with that idea I could always be new to it."

 

[Molly Dufrene]

Molly halfheartedly listens to the conversation, but is more interested in the town that had just come into view. The whole thing had a weird familiarity to her, the small town a reminder of her own upbringing, a time and place that seemed rather distant now. On the other hand, the stillness and the possibility of a hidden danger put her on edge, making the whole thing an odd mixture of emotions.

 

[Craft]

Craft doesn't contribute much to the Pokemon conversation, he really has nothing to add. He watches the cars travel by, noting the looks the group is getting. Scratching his beard as the idea turns to being contest winners.

"Keeping it simple is a good idea. I know zero about Pokemon, though... But I am a good test of the eyes glazing over effect of it. A contest could work... but what exactly did we win?"

Craft takes a look down the road towards the small town, noting the teenagers sitting under a tree, "Because it looks like there's a few folks already taking note of us."

He grinned at Mat, "Mighta already spotted a spot where 'the youth' gather too."

 

[Marcos Medeiros]

Though Lu's enthusiasm brings a wide grin to his face, Marcos, too, has little to contribute to the Pokémon discussion — and he doesn't even have his age to blame! He shrugs, slips his hands into his coat pockets. "Ah... I installed the app once, and it never worked. So I will just agree with everything that you say."

As Marcos listens to some of the other ideas popping up, he keeps a watchful eye on his surroundings. He's casual enough about it that, to any civilian, he'd just appear to be sightseeing; his peers, however, would know that he's keeping an eye out for trouble, just as Molly is. He'd only been in town a few minutes, but he's already getting the heebie-jeebies.

"I think that it is better that we stay with our official cover story," Marcos says, raising the pamphlet that Araci had handed out to them during the briefing. "It is simple, and we will not risk getting a lecture from the Council." Marcos winks, then slips the pamplet back into his backpack.

 

[The Dullahan]

Sam nods, agreeing with Marcos, "Simple is good." He paused, and then clarified, "Makes lying easier." Sam considered the town a moment, and what little it had to really offer. It seemed the secret world didn't care if you were a sleepy town in the middle of no where. He was quickly learning that everything was fair game in this new reality. "Split up? Some Scope out the diner, the hardward store, check in with the deputy...." He paused looking over at Matt, "...try taking to the 'youth'." Youth. Reminded him of...whats that movie? Vinny. Cousin Vinny? My cousin Vinny! A small almost there smile tugged at his lips, barely visible, before he turned his gaze to the diner. A memory threatening to pull him away but he resisted violently. He didn't really smile much anymore, and his face didn't seem to know what to do with the beginnings of the expression so it faded before it really began. "I could use some coffee. Anyone else?"

 

[Klaus von Richter]

((Oh god, so sorry for not posting, RL at me so badly.))

Klaus was relatively silent during the officer's stay, far too busy fuming at the shameful situation the group had managed to unwittingly fall into.

The mention of Pokémon, however, was an immediate distraction from his dour thoughts. "I like the PokéPlan!" the German cheerfully added as they were walking along. He certainly was one of those Pokémon enthusiasts.

He couldn't help but pout at the plan's dismissal; however, yet another distraction came his way.

The staring.

"We should do something soon. I don't like how they are staring..." he whispered to his fellow hiker-tourists. The teenagers' constant gaze disturbed him, and the dilapidated, dismal city itself began to bear down on him.

He didn't want to linger.

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

A young woman, barely out of her teens, walks out of the diner.

"Thanks for the bread, Rosie. Fresh baking will taste real good tonight!"
"Y'all got a long trip ahead of ya, dear. Least I could do."

She's adjusting a backpack, one of those professional-looking ones with a waist strap that needs to be adjusted to fit the wearer: it probably even has supports that shape to the wearer's back. The backpack is well-worn, its maker's logo faded to almost nothing, the only clearly visible marking is 'Virginia Fire Watch'.

She herself is wearing the 'uniform' of the rural American: a hat with curled sides and a toggle, faded flannel shirt, t-shirt underneath, rugged looking pants in a faded earth colour, and boots that have seen better days. Hers are tied up, unlike those worn by some rural kids. She's a brunette, 'white' in ethnicity, rural in her accent.

She waves to the teens who sit in the shade of the tree, then turns to see what they're looking at. Her face quite clearly has that 'Ah' expression, the one that says 'oh, I heard about this'. She slings the pack over her shoulders and walks towards the group of strangers-to-town.

 

[Diana Senis]

Diana already looks uneasy at the staring.. She hates when people simply stare at her.. She nods at Klaus's words having fallen back towards him. "I ah.. do not like their staring as well.. the er pokemon story could have worked but since alot of us do not know of it.. it would er how you er say.. been suspicious." whispering to the group trying not to be loud. She shifts her backpack uncomfortably, while going to more raural areas wasn't anything new to her she couldnt help but feel that she looks out of place.. her accent really not helping aswell.. She would slip her tablet out of her coat a minute and type some things onto it before turning the screen off and slipping it back into her coat.

 

[Molly Dufrene]

Molly listens to some of the others discuss the kids watching them, but honestly, to her that seemed expected. A bunch of new folk show up out of the blue? Noteworthy for a place like this. So instead she futzis with her glasses, wiping the dust that had accmilated during their walk in.

She's about to ask if the group had an idea of what their next stop was going to be, but before she gets a chance to speak notices the young woman approaching them.

Okay, calm down. Just a person, don't act all weird.

Pushing that thought away, she smiles, a bit awkwardly but hopefully friendly, and waves in the direction of the woman. Friendliness might help them figure out what was going on around here, and at the very least couldn't hurt.

"Hello." She says, a but louder than normal, with a hint of a Louisiana accent creeping in.