"The d-..." He sits up in his chair, hands on the armrests almost as if to stand again, but instead he fixes sharp eyes on Cassian. "Bringing back the dead? Who? Where did you —"
But then his lips press together, and he shakes his head. "Your questions, not mine." And he thinks a moment, reeling back to the first question. "I don't entirely know how we show up here. It's always the hospital, and before that..." Eyes drop to his desk, brow furrowed. "I... I remember something. A lab, and some doctors, but none of the ones workin' in the hospital here. I didn't remember it before, I think I heard something that shook it loose. Didn't know what to do with it, so I tried to pass it on to you lot. See if you'd make any more of it than I could."
He swallows, then keeps going. "I've seen 'em work some medical marvels down in the ER, but never bring someone back once they're gone. That one's news to me. If I'm being honest, I can't say I entirely believe it." Which he's sure is understandable enough, all things considered.
"I can say that I woke up in that hospital, hell, three and a half years ago now. I've lived here damn near my whole life — least, I think I have." An exhale of something like a dry laugh. "After this long, it all blurs a little." Reality. This town. Any of it, honestly.
But what would he ask? That's an odd one. One he wasn't expecting, and he tries not to waste many precious seconds thinking on it, though his words come a little slow with lingering thought. "The Sheriff, he's not a bad guy. Three and a half hears, I've known the guy. And yet he seems like the one who holds whatever the hell this is together at all the seams. I've asked him why, here in my office — hell, I've asked over drinks in his living room. He won't say a single damn word to me. If all this —" A generic handwave toward the window where Nyx stands. "— is the acceptable alternative, how bad's the version where we all find out?"
By the end of it, he's talking more quickly, more because this is something that keeps him up at night and these two are the first he's been able to breathe a word of it to.
"I'd ask —" He opens a desk drawer, pulls something out, and sets three rifle bullets on the desk. "— what the hell they're giving me these for. Saying I'll know when it's time to use them, like a single damn thing that'll ever march into my office calls for an ACR."
Mayor Townsend seems to realize he's getting more fired up even than the folks here searching for answers, because he checks it now, relaxing back into his seat.
"All my news from outside comes through Danny. I—... I think I had a wife out there, but years I've been trying to call, trying to remember the numbers in the right order. It's always a stranger on the other line, a wrong number. One of 'em said she moved, but described her all wrong when I pressed for more. Not sure why he'd lie to me." It's gone ruminative, and he lifts his eyes to Cassian now for a proper answer. "Can't fathom a guess on what's out there. I've never been to the wall, myself. Taking leave's a whole lot harder these days."
no subject
But then his lips press together, and he shakes his head. "Your questions, not mine." And he thinks a moment, reeling back to the first question. "I don't entirely know how we show up here. It's always the hospital, and before that..." Eyes drop to his desk, brow furrowed. "I... I remember something. A lab, and some doctors, but none of the ones workin' in the hospital here. I didn't remember it before, I think I heard something that shook it loose. Didn't know what to do with it, so I tried to pass it on to you lot. See if you'd make any more of it than I could."
He swallows, then keeps going. "I've seen 'em work some medical marvels down in the ER, but never bring someone back once they're gone. That one's news to me. If I'm being honest, I can't say I entirely believe it." Which he's sure is understandable enough, all things considered.
"I can say that I woke up in that hospital, hell, three and a half years ago now. I've lived here damn near my whole life — least, I think I have." An exhale of something like a dry laugh. "After this long, it all blurs a little." Reality. This town. Any of it, honestly.
But what would he ask? That's an odd one. One he wasn't expecting, and he tries not to waste many precious seconds thinking on it, though his words come a little slow with lingering thought. "The Sheriff, he's not a bad guy. Three and a half hears, I've known the guy. And yet he seems like the one who holds whatever the hell this is together at all the seams. I've asked him why, here in my office — hell, I've asked over drinks in his living room. He won't say a single damn word to me. If all this —" A generic handwave toward the window where Nyx stands. "— is the acceptable alternative, how bad's the version where we all find out?"
By the end of it, he's talking more quickly, more because this is something that keeps him up at night and these two are the first he's been able to breathe a word of it to.
"I'd ask —" He opens a desk drawer, pulls something out, and sets three rifle bullets on the desk. "— what the hell they're giving me these for. Saying I'll know when it's time to use them, like a single damn thing that'll ever march into my office calls for an ACR."
Mayor Townsend seems to realize he's getting more fired up even than the folks here searching for answers, because he checks it now, relaxing back into his seat.
"All my news from outside comes through Danny. I—... I think I had a wife out there, but years I've been trying to call, trying to remember the numbers in the right order. It's always a stranger on the other line, a wrong number. One of 'em said she moved, but described her all wrong when I pressed for more. Not sure why he'd lie to me." It's gone ruminative, and he lifts his eyes to Cassian now for a proper answer. "Can't fathom a guess on what's out there. I've never been to the wall, myself. Taking leave's a whole lot harder these days."