We have this strange obsession / You have the means in your possession

[gotbottle]

Who: Rachel Conway and THE ENTIRE CITY, I guess. If you want.
What: Hanging out at the tea house for tea, conversation, and CR.
Where: The Shrove's Wing.
When: Shundi, from midday until well into the evening.
Notes: Note the time of day if it makes a difference to your thread.
Warnings:

Potential for people Rachel knows to get mashed together like Barbies IT'S FUN SHE ENJOYS IT OKAY.

Working the middle shift is a mixed bag. On the one hand, Rachel's day is pretty much shot for anything else; not long enough before her shift for much in the way of adventures, and while her later evening is free it's not like she has a circle of friends or dates or anyone to go out on the town with after.

But the trade-off in being there for this shift is seeing the customer base turn over, from the people doing lunch to the leisurely afternoon lollygaggers, from those arriving for midafternoon tea to the evening dates. A wide range of people, alone or with company, comes and goes over the course of her shift, and she's happy to wait on or hang out with them all.

She can be found manning the tea bar, or sometimes carrying pots, cups, and food to and from tables. Sometimes she even gets to crash at a table or in a booth for a few, or she gets to go upstairs to wait on someone in one of the private rooms. It's a busy day and there are a lot of people to see.

Comments

[toooldforlosing]

"I tried - maybe someone else'd have better luck." Tim had disappeared before Raylan'd been well again, properly. It made it hard for him to know as much as he'd like, and he blames himself some.

"It's been awhile, though, and I might've wasted the trail."

[gotbottle]

"I'll do it," she decides, on the spot. "I'll poke around a little, see if I can find anything out."

She grabs a paper napkin from a stack behind the bar, and a pen. "What's your friend's name? Was he still staying at the inn? And when did you last see him?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Tim," he says, smiling a little. "Deputy Marshall Gutterson. His dog was with him - don't remember the dog's name." He'd been on painkillers.

"He was at the inn last, but I hadn't got out of the infirmary yet, so I can't tell you as much as I'd like."

[gotbottle]

"Tim Gutterson," Rachel repeats, writing it down--and then her gaze flicks up a moment. "He's in law enforcement? Like a United States Marshal?"

And back to writing. He had a dog with him, he was at the inn. And Raylan was still in the infirmary, so... She presses her lips together, mentally counting back how long she's known Raylan, when they first spoke, and she writes down an approximate date.

"What's he look like?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Just like," he confirms. "He's a few inches shorter than me, middle build but athletic. Hair around my color, I'd say he's in his early 30s, maybe a little older. Very mild Kentucky accent."

It was easier to give a description of Tim than to consider what might have happened to him besides going home.

[gotbottle]

"Got it."

And it was easier for Rachel to write all of it down than to consider what might have happened, too. She hadn't heard of anyone going home and all the signs told her it was impossible. So... what? What could get the jump on a guy--a lawman, no less--and make him vanish?

"I'll see what I can find." She folds up the napkin and stuffs it into her pocket.

Raylan's friend was a lawman...

"So, what about you?" she asks, lowering her voice. "'Just like'--just like your friend? Are you a Marshal too?"

[toooldforlosing]

"A bit out of my jurisdiction, but yeah. Don't tell me my un-hideable lawman aura finally failed me," he added, amused. He's been in law enforcement way too long to hide the tells; he can be subtle, but he's never been undercover, and he hasn't tried to hide it in Baedal. Whoever brought him here had left him his ID and his gun, and that was good enough for him.

"What about you?"

[gotbottle]

"No." Rachel laughs, the color rising a few degrees across her cheeks. "No, it didn't, I just... thought I was being over-romantic or something. I guess." She looks up at him. "When I met you in person my first impression totally was 'old west lawman' but then I was like, you know, come on, they don't make 'em like that anymore. And here you are proving me wrong. But that's all right. As for me--I'm not a US Marshal," she deadpans, before breaking into another grin.

"I was--well. I was hoping to be something of an investigative reporter, someday. I was gonna write a book. I got as far as working for a publishing company, editing other people's work, and writing things like textbook chapters."

[toooldforlosing]

He laughs at that. "Hell, we're almost a movie - fish-out-of-water lawman and feisty girl reporter. All we need's a love interest for you and a couple of unsolved crimes and it's an old time matinee."

[gotbottle]

Rachel laughs too, holding up her hands in a good-natured echo of the universal gesture for surrender. "Okay, look, I'm totally down with this it-shouldn't-work-but-it-does team-up we've got going on here, and I'll even take the unsolved crimes, people need justice and all. But I'm good without a love interest for a while. Hopefully the movie still sells with that change to the storyline."

[toooldforlosing]

"No good, won't see any tickets. Unless we add explosions. Zombies?" But he's still laughing. He sounds like he could use it.

[gotbottle]

Rachel laughs again, making a bit of a face. "Zombies sounds dangerous. Explosions could work. Or-- I know. What if I wear a short skirt and punch a few guys in the face instead of dating them?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Radical," he said, "but if it's short enough, they might let you get away with it. I might have to lose my shirt at one point."

[gotbottle]

"That's only fair," Rachel observed. "We gotta have something in this for everyone, right? Explosions, facepunching, tiny skirts, and shirtless attractive dudes ought to cover most everything."

[toooldforlosing]

"It does sound like a winner. You can think up a catch title, and we'll pitch it when we get back." When. Not if.

[gotbottle]

"I'll come up with something. I'll even give you a writing credit on the screenplay--half these ideas are yours, anyway. We'll totally pitch it when we're back," she says, echoing his words to reassure him that, yes, she agrees, and she's going to do what she can to see that happen.

[toooldforlosing]

"And then we can both retire in comfort."

He seems ill-suited to retirement, though, and he's guessing she's the same.

[gotbottle]

The face she makes shows him he's guessed right.

"Comfort's nice," she says diplomatically. "I don't know that I could hack it for a hell of a long time, though. I'd need things to do with myself."

[toooldforlosing]

He nods, his expression almost rueful. He'd told Winona he would walk away, for her, but a part of him still wondered if that would work. The day before he came to Baedal suggested otherwise.

"Well. Either way." After a pause, he says, "While you're working on intel, what do you want me to be doing? You seem to have a handle on organization."

[gotbottle]

Her gaze drops a moment at the compliment, stays there another handful of them as she thinks this over.

"I said I'd work on getting us friendly with a lawyer," she says, looking up at him. "I can't help thinking we should make sure we're in good with a doctor or two, as well. Like--people we know we can trust. With as much crazy shit as seems to happen around here, I'd feel better knowing we had someone we could go to that wasn't gonna inform on us or wasn't secretly working for the government or something. What do you think?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Not a bad idea," he agrees, thoughtful. "I still don't know if I trust the lady that patched me up, but I have to confess her work was good. I might do some more digging, though."

[gotbottle]

"There was another guy," Rachel offers. "Mike Anders. When we had the crows and all that other nonsense he was doing first aid at the inn. I talked to him for a little bit over the network. He seemed all right but that's just first impressions from a phone call."

She shrugs. "But he's definitely worth checking out. He was looking for somewhere to work, last we talked, right after things settled down. He didn't seem too ready to trust the city, either, so that might be a point in our favor."

[toooldforlosing]

"Anders. I'll look him up." A reliable doctor who wasn't working for the city would be good. A lawyer too. "If we could find someone who's been here a little longer who seemed trustworthy, it might be worth it. Seems like they try to keep us with our cohort as best they can."

[gotbottle]

"They do, don't they?" Rachel hummed thoughtfully. "We could try to find people from other cohorts. Or even locals, people born here."

[toooldforlosing]

"Yeah. I mean, no real way to vet anyone but..." He spread his hands. "None of us is gonna get any answers alone, and we've gotta pick someone to trust."

After all, he can't be sure that even Rachel is who she says, but he figures getting too paranoid will trap him just as surely as being sloppy.