silentspringlogs | Part Three: The Drive

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Part Three: The Drive

Who: Arthur and Bucky, possibly more later
When: Early March (after the bird attacks)
Where: Maybe leaving Sweetwater??
Open/Closed: Noted in prompts!
Applicable Warnings: No Good Very Bad Awful Ideas

Closed to Bucky

Arthur hates using his Bluetooth, but it's easier than trying to blindly wander around trying to find the man he's after.

Look Bucky its its Arthur I was wanting to um to talk to you about the about something you mentioned at dinner before. Right so if if if you could come find me we could discuss it in person thanks. Fuck how do you turn the

...he also hates speech to text a lot.

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Oh. Huh. Well, Numbers isn't going to turn down an invitation from Arthur to discuss 'books'. Arthur has proven himself to be a trustworthy investigative partner--he can only assume something has popped up.

Ok

I'll be there

And so he does. Before he leaves, he plucks a random book from a bookshelf and tucks it under his arm to give credence to the idea that he might be heading over to discuss book club stuff. When he arrives, he rings the doorbell and steps back. When Arthur answers the door, Numbers clears his throat and makes himself known.

"Arthur." He states the man's name in a very business-like manner. "You said you had a book you wanted to discuss?"

There's an edge of tension that drops when he recognises Number's voice, and it's less of a smile than a satisfied grimace.

"Numbers-- yes, u-uh- please, come in." He can contain himself at least until the door is shut again - and it says something about the nature of the discussion that he chooses to lock the door behind Numbers.

Numbers is quick to enter Arthur's house, waiting for him to shut the door. He raises the book under his arm--though, he realizes Arthur can't actually see it.

"I brought a book so you can say we talked about--" He glances down at the cover, then frowns. "--uhhhhh. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male? Maybe not, actually."

He shakes his head, dropping his arm at his side.

"So, what am I here to actually talk about?"

Sorry the title of that book is distracting enough that Arthur levels a baffled look in Numbers' direction. Jesus, if people saw the title of that, rumours would fucking spiral.

But the question makes him shake his own head, and he moves further into the house, the kitchen so he can set the kettle up, talking all the while. "Bucky and I made a few discoveries the other day. Namely that when we tried to leave town to follow up on that toe tag he saw... w-we couldn't." He looks back towards the doorway, expecting Numbers to have followed him. "There's some kind of barrier around Sweetwater - Bucky said it's invisible but it's fully tangible, pushing us back when we tried to approach it. Even a car wasn't enough to force our way through it."

Numbers dutifully follows Arthur to the kitchen.

"So...we can't leave. Even if we wanted to." He frowns. At least that answers that question. Ever since he got here, he's wanted to just take off in one direction and just keep going. The only reason he hasn't is...well, because he's supposed to be dead. He'd argued with Wrench, saying they should try to leave, but the fear of losing his partner again had stopped him. That maybe he was pushing his luck already for being a dead man walking.

"Do you know if other people leave? Y'know, like, the townies and shit? People who aren't...us."

There's no hiding how pleased he looks with the question, that he can tell immediately that Numbers is already on board. "That is what we need to find out."

He turns to lean his hips and hands on the counter, not even bothering with the pretense of the kettle. "If there's some way for people to enter and exit town, we have to find out how. And the best way to do that is going to be the supply chain - find out where the shops and restaurants are sourcing their ingredients. If there's a way into the town then there must be a way for delivery trucks to enter, we'd be able to tail them and see where they come from, how they do it."

"So you'll need someone to tail them." Numbers says. Arthur can definitely hear the devious grin in Numbers' voice.

Being a hitman is less exciting than what TV shows make it out to be. Stretches of waiting and driving, followed by bouts of extreme violence, and then more waiting. A lot of it is just tailing the target and tracking their movements, seeing how they go about their lives and mundane investigative work. But it does mean Numbers is well versed in tailing people.

"I assume you have an idea on how to not get caught this time?"

"Attacking multiple fronts simultaneously," he answers immediately. "I can't help with a stake-out at this point, I can acknowledge that. But what I can do is take the personal approach. I can ask the shopkeepers and diner staff themselves where they might get their ingredients from, see if we can't get a specific location. If you and Wrench can take a car and see if there's any outside deliveries - especially with anything that has stock that can't be produced in town, like- cans from the grocery store, o-or any fresh produce - then we can set up a two-pronged attack. Maybe we can even get someone to check out the school or the library, see if they've got any book deliveries that we can track."

"We can do that." He says it without hesitation. He knows that Wrench will be on board--when was the last time that the two of them had tailed someone together? For Numbers, it's been three months. For Wrench, it's been ten years.

"Leave the details to us. When do you want us to do this?" A pause. "And when do we regroup to share this information? I'm sure the other people stuck here will want to know this."

"We should see how long it takes us to get any results from this first," he returns readily. "If it's anything like my time, we'll be lucky if these places restock more than once a week, maybe two, so focus on the fresh produce first. Let's go for two weeks, maybe. We can always try and get more people to help with it if we need more eyes, but I trust your judgement if you see anything else unusual happening at night to follow up on it."

He pauses, his gaze flicking sideways as the gears turn in his mind, then continues, "Whatever we discover, any leads or dead ends, we ought to do another meeting after the turn of the month. Most of the things that keep happening to us seem like they happen at the start of the month, a-at least so far, and it seems to be when new arrivals show up - for their sake we ought to loop them in as soon as possible."

Numbers nods, brow furrowing. That's right--there was that mute woman in the park the other day that he hadn't seen before, who was clearly out of place. He hadn't seen anyone else yet, but if she suddenly appeared overnight, then surely more people could've shown out.

And there's the fact that a handful of people have also gone missing--perhaps taken in the night for acting out too much. Are these new people to replace them? Whatever the case, the implications are disturbing.

"Agreed." He scratches his beard, looking thoughtful. "We should change the location, if possible--and spread the word by mouth. It's too dangerous to be broadcasting that shit through those...computer...things."

He gives a sort of dismissive wave with his hand.

"Y'know, if we're going to keep working together, it might be a good idea to learn a little bit of sign language."

See, this is why he likes working with Numbers, the bastard actually respects his input and plans.

And when he proposes the new suggestion, Arthur smiles - genuinely pleased and honestly a little relieved.

"I was actually wondering the same thing myself. Wrench and I have worked out some communication between us, but it's far more limited than being able to sign with him directly would be. I, er- I can only assume you'd be willing to teach me?"

It'd be a little difficult to work it out on his own, is all.

The corner of Numbers' mouth twitches upwards. "Yeah, I can do that. I had a pretty good teacher, myself."

He remembers the countless weeks and months he spend with Wrench, painstakingly practicing letters of the alphabet and scrawling down questions to confirm certain words and concepts. They were kids at the time--just on the cusp of entering middle school. Fumbling 'D' with 'F', accidentally signing "bitch" when he meant "talk"--and subsequently learning what the sign for "bitch" was.

"You left-handed or right-handed?"

That gets a dry huff. Hard to beat the source if you ever want to learn anything.

"Right." With an idle flick of the same hand.

Numbers nods.

"Alright," he continues. "We can start with the letters of the alphabet, then do some signs that'll be helpful in the field. Things like...'stop', or 'blood', or 'help', or whatever."

He pauses, realizing he's not exactly sure how to demonstrate how to sign to someone who can't see.

"Hold out your hand. I'll sign a letter with my right hand so you can feel the shape of my fingers, and you try to copy it. Got it?"

"Oh, uh-" Somehow he'd forgotten that particular step in the process, and a part of him is kicking himself that he'd neglected that blatantly obvious part. "R-right, of course."

He still hesitates despite himself, because it's just- it's a lot, to be able to trust someone with that. Even if it was Numbers, who had done nothing but help him with all their criminal bullshit. But he does, after a few seconds, reach out to try.

Numbers seems nonchalant about the whole hands touching thing. He forms his right hand into a fist with his thumb pointing slightly out, palm facing forward, then grabs Arthur's wrist to place his hand on his hand.

"This is 'A.' You've gotta make sure you're kind of...holding it up and slightly to side," he explains casually. "Clarity is important--picture it like you're showing these signs to someone across from you. Give it a try."

"Alright-?" The immediate impression that gives is of holding a photo out to show someone on a case, and he mimics that rough height. "Like this?"

It's a little close to his body, perhaps, but the height is correct.

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Part Three: The Drive

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