travelingreportersam

[travelingreportersam]

Sam felt a strong sense of deja vu as he walked past the Listener's house and saw Lilith on the porch with her tarot cards. "Lilith, hi. How's everything been going?" After their last conversation he wanted to make sure she was doing okay, the guilt still eating at him for overwhelming her.

@thirtecnth

[travelingreportersam]

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Would it make sense playing them without the first two?"

"hmm fair point," leo scratched the back of his head trying to think about what other games he had. "oh! i have a couple of spiderman games if that's more your speed? i have pretty much every one except like.. the first two that were made."

[travelingreportersam]

Sam tried not to frown. "So you won't be interning as a doctor?" Obviously working at the retirement home was important, especially after the hell they had to endure from that psychopath, but he couldn't help feeling like his brother wasn't reaching his full potential. "That's still great though, really! I know they'll love you there."

"Mmm; I did, and they only really need a pharmacist there, but suggested I go talk to the retirement home, so I'm doing that later this week," Jonathan admitted. "I think the old folks will find me funny and charming."

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Sam shook his head. "For you Narc? Never." And he meant it. She was his best friend, and he would always make time for her and especially her work. "Nah, I get it. We're not even going to talk about the nightmare it was to write two books. Actually understand why Steven King was high off his ass most of the time." He cracked a smile to Narcissa.

There were very few positives about being stuck in a place like Huntsville, but meeting Sam was one of them. "Sure - I mean, if you're not too busy, that is. It's one thing to do the research and bust open a case; for some reason whenever I try to assemble it, I hate the way I've worded everything."

[travelingreportersam]

The smile grew some. The sleepless nights and packs of stress cigarettes felt vindicated at that moment. "Yeah, actually. I noticed a high volume of missing person cases for such a remote area of West Virginia. Decided to look into it, and well," he indicated around them. "How about you? How did you end up here?"

"damn. if those notes are anything to judge by, i'd say massive pain in the ass is an understatement," zoja comments as she takes a look at the notebook. "is that how you ended up here then? trying to figure out a story and then, bam! you're stuck in the middle of it?"

[travelingreportersam]

Sam had to bite back a laugh, not wanting to add insult to injury as he watched Doc scramble around the morgue. It was honestly pretty adorable, not that he'd say that aloud. He did, however keep a brow raised at the entire ordeal. "I'm not even sure which part to comment on first," he shook his head. "I was just dropping by, seeing if you had any interesting news to share with the press." Not really. He just wanted to come by and visit.

It's easy enough to tell when Doc's the only one working in the morgue, the sound of early 2000s club pop punk only ever loud enough to drift upstairs when he's the sole doctor settled into the basement office- regularly offering to work the overnights for cataloguing Felicity and Zeke might not want to do. He's certainly been here since last night, because a small handful of things are evident upon stepping into the small space that serves time and again as Huntsville's citizens' last stop before the graveyard on the edge of town: Doc's made a bed behind the main desk, and as he sings along to the radio, his mismatched slipper-clad feet are kicked up on the desk, the right bearing a rabbit missing an eye, and the left very clearly a monster foot.

"You're a hot m-mess I'm lovin' it h-hell yes- Christ Almighty!-" Sam's appearance, without a knock and with the music deafening his ability to catch anyone coming down the stairs, sends Doc spilling from the office chair and into the floor, the coroner upended for a moment before he springs to his feet, straightening his blazer over his shirt with a wheeze before lobbing a stapler at the radio across the room, knocking into it just violently enough to make it stop playing. "Ah h-hello Sam! I didn't hear you come in! S-Scared the life out of me." He quickly slams the top of his laptop shut and kicks his makeshift bed underneath the desk.

"H-How can I h-h-h-help you, M-Mr. Ahn?"

@travelingreportersam

[travelingreportersam]

Sam scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit bad that Leo was trying to share his games with him and it wasn't really meshing. "Not really," he admitted sheepishly. "There's so much shit in the world, I'd rather it wasn't in fiction too, you know? Not that there's anything wrong with people liking this kinda stuff. Just...not for me."

it took leo a second to remember what nihilistic meant (and max a google search to figure it out) before actually answering sam. "uh, yeah kinda? why is that not your cup of tea cause i've got other story games you can give a try if you want."

[travelingreportersam]

He smiled back to his brother. "Glad to hear it. Did you ever get a chance to talk to the clinic?"

closed starter for @travelingreportersam location: bucky's diner

"You know, I think I'm finally starting to settle into this place," Jonathan admitted as he sat across the table from Sam. "I mean, yeah, it's definitely not ideal still, but.... you gotta make the best with what you got, right?"

[travelingreportersam]

Sam chuckled as he pulled his printed copy from the machine. "While that's true, that isn't exactly news worthy. No, this is about current projects in town, like that upcoming dating thing. Still not what I'd prefer to write about, but you work with what you've got." He did have something, something big, but the lack of evidence was the biggest hurdle to overcome.

when: september 11, 2024 where: huntsville daily who: mirana & samuel @travelingreportersam

She's leaning against the printer, as if she owns it simply because she's the one who can operate it better, tapping black nails against the plastic surface as if she's in a hurry. Actually, she finished editing everything she needed to send back to Barboza over thirty minutes ago and is free to go home. What's keeping her here? Boredom, mostly. "What's this week's article is about again?" she questions Sam. "Let me guess. Precisely how many facial muscles less it takes to smile than frown?"

[travelingreportersam]

Sam rubbed at his eyes, brain slowly waking up. "Oh, uh, yeah, no, come in," he yawned, moving aside to let Easton in. "Been meaning to come by the front desk but been so caught up with everything. With all the rain I think there might be a leak or something. At least water damage." Shuffling more into the room, he inclined his head toward one of the corners where a wet, discolored stain was growing.

"I was just making rounds, making sure everything was good with the residents. Things you might need, comments, concerns, any repairs that haven't been filed yet that we need to get to. That sort of thing." Easton explained before taking in the state of the other. "I could come back later" it looked like the other had just woken up.

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Sam smiled, appreciating her words even if Zoja didn't know how much that meant to him. "You have no idea. I'm stuck on a case right now that's been a massive pain in the ass. It's big, but I can't get any evidence to corroborate the pieces I'm putting together. So I've been brainstorming," he indicates to the notebook, a mishmash of English and Korean chicken scratched along the pages.

zoja notices the shift and shrugs her shoulders. "passion's cool. i get that it can be a lot for some people but honestly, chasing a goal is something to be admired. that's how i look at it, anyways. besides, i'm sure there's a lot to write about here with everything going on."

[travelingreportersam]

It was clear he was starting to push too hard. "I...just want you to be safe, Lilith. To not blindly trust these people, okay?"

Lilith shook her head. She felt emotional. If someone had told her any of her family were justified in dying, she would have been livid. It was just hard. It felt like two sides of her brain were competing against each other. “No. I could never tell Lavender that…” She muttered, sighing. “I just… I don’t know what to do, okay? I don’t.”

[travelingreportersam]

He frowned at that reasoning. "And did Sunflower do anything wrong? Wrong enough to justify her disappearance? Could you look Lavender in the eyes and tell her that what Quinn and Raziel did was good?"

Lilith shook her head immediately. "They wouldn't deem me that way, Sam... I haven't done anything wrong." Besides talk to him which wasn't the greatest thing in the world. "They won't hurt me... I know Quinn, she wouldn't hurt me..."

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He shook his head with a small smile. "A shot like that though? Would have been worth the risk." The smile grew at Narc's reaction. It genuinely made Sam happy that his friends landed such a big win. They could all use more of that. "Want me to take a look? Sometimes it helps having a second pair of eyes."

"That may have been for the better - you're the only one with the repair skills around here, and then I'd never see you again." She teased, and shrugged. "Sure; I could eat. We can nibble together."

"Oh!" Narcissa flushed a little, almost fanning him away. "Well, thank you - but I couldn't have done it without Pru, either. We're a pretty relentless team. We're like soldiers, taking turns sleeping while the other pours over files. I almost have it together; I've been a little extra critical of it, unfortunately."

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Sam let out a long exhale, nodding as well. He let go of Spencer's arms, stepping back some. "Yeah, of course. I'll, see you around?" He hoped he hadn't just cost the budding friendship they had.

spencer nodded, they appreciated sam saying he was sorry even if they felt like he didn't need to be but that was their own mind trying to convince them otherwise. "i should go.. i need to get back to my friends."

[travelingreportersam]

He shrugged, turning his attention to the game. It took a while for Sam to get used to the controls, and after completing the prologue he looked back at Leo with raised brows. "Jesus, this game's nihilistic. Is it like that the whole way through?"

leo chuckled and put his hand on sams shoulder. "yes i'm sure, like i told you i was starting a new save which means i've already played it before. play your little heart out man."

[travelingreportersam]

He shook his head with an amused smirk. "Sure you aren't. Anyway, I'm a journalist, so writing's par for the course." Sam couldn't help the small grimace. "My boyfriend hated that I couldn't turn it off."

"no apologies necessary — it's your business. i was just curious," zoja responds, settling back in her seat to pop one of the strawberries into her mouth. "no! no. god, no. i'm not a weirdo or anything, i promise," she says after chewing, her eyes wide. "sorry. i didn't have anything else to do so i was kinda just looking around and every time i looked around i noticed that you were still writing."