Ch.15c Southbound (Interlude)

[Philulhu]

Sunday, February 8th, 1931 7.30pm
M&B Railroad, South of Danville, VA.

The first day’s travel had been uneventful. Ivy had spent much of her time watching the scenery go by, the trees by the railway track tall and proud and yet to find the first bloom of spring. Beyond them, the fields lay dormant but deep beneath the soil, the first stirrings of new growth were starting to make themselves know.

Alex - her ‘husband’ - had spent a good deal of time reading his newspaper, with only the occasional glance and rare smile over the top. Ivy yearned for more, but she had to satiate herself with what meagre offerings there were.

The evening rolled around and the Stewards could be seen in the corridor, visiting each carriage, drawing the blinds and lighting the gas lamps. Their Steward, Anton, was a tall, muscular, native of Alabama with olive skin, dark hair and an easy Southern charm. Ivy inhaled his musky cologne as he moved past her, and admired the musculature of his legs under his tight black trousers as he reached up to pull the blinds down.

She smiled at Anton as he left and craned her neck to watch him as he made his way down the train, swaying his hips effortlessly as the carriage swayed. As Alex studied her over the top of his newspaper with a quizzical eyebrow raised, she thought, ‘Hmm, perhaps I’ll try the beef later…’ with the merest ghost of a smile upon her lips…

If you wish to discuss anything further before arriving in Louisiana, now’s your chance. For example, if Lawrence & William are going to see the Police, what are Ivy & Alex going to do?

[Mr. Handy]

William has brought some books along for the long train journey. "Did you want to go see the Sheriff with me, or would you prefer that I go alone?" he asks Lawrence. "I left the door open either way."

[Bullfrog]

"We do nothing alone, if we have a choice; one person is an easy target, two less so. For all we know, our enemies may already know we're on the way, or at least expect us. I don't want to take chances with this." Lawrence replies, looking up from his heavily annotated journal; if William cared to look, he'd probably catch a glimpse of Lawrence's scrawled attempts at theorizing the nature of Yig and the other beings he had encountered, complete with scribbled illustrations. Writing is absolutely not his strong suit, and his drawing isn't much better.
"I don't know about you, but after this, I'm done. This stuff has given me nightmares, William, the family says they don't even recognize me anymore, and that isn't even mentioning my time in the asylum. This ain't a way for a man my age to live."

[Silver Priest]

Unbeknownst to Ivy, Alex was in the mood for some beef as well.

He addresses his "love." "Our first order of business should be finding a motel room. I'd prefer one in a separate place from where William and Lawrence are staying for maximum deniability, but I'm unsure if we'll be so fortunate. There may only be one place with lodging available, but we should at least get a room far away from the others.

"As we are tourists on vacation, it provide us an easy opening to do some investigation of our own and see if we discover anything unusual."

Must give great appreciation to Philulhu, the change in tone had me rolling.

[Mr. Handy]

"I hear you," says William. "I can't take much more of this myself."

[jp1885]

Snap out of it, foolish girl! Beef indeed!

Clouds dissipate and violin strings twang as Ivy mentally slaps herself out of her reverie.

“Hm?” she mutters, realising Alex is talking to her.

“Oh yes, tourists. Good idea,” she replies, toying with the cheap wedding ring that now sits uncomfortably on her finger.

“I suppose asking for a twin room would arose suspicion,” she continues, face reddening. “We must perforce find one with a couch.”

Unable to look her ‘husband’ in the eye, she furiously scans the newspaper she bought at the station for any mention of unusual occurrences down south.

[Philulhu]

There were some stories that struck Ivy as ‘odd’ but that might just have been the contrast between her urban upbringing and the lives of the considerably more provincial southerners…

Dinner came and went, and the menfolk were invited to partake of brandy in the saloon while the women were offered limoncello in the dining car. Sadly for Ivy, Anton appeared to be serving drinks and lighting cigars in the saloon.

[Bullfrog]

"Well, William, I'm off to have myself a little drink of brandy. Care to join?"
Lawrence never really thought of himself as a drinking man, aside from the rare midnight shuffle through pappy's liquor cabinet, but a little something to steel his nerves for the journey sounded good to him. It certainly beat writing about the most horrible, evil things in the world in his journal.

[Silver Priest]

"If it comes to it, I can take the floor," Alex responds.

He heads to the saloon and meets with his male companions. It may be their last time to really be able to relax for some time and let their guard down, and he intends to relish it.

[Mr. Handy]

"Don't mind if I do, Lawrence," says William, getting up and following him to the saloon.

[jp1885]

Huffing at the unfairness of it all, Ivy leaves the menfolk to their port and cigars.

Ordering a coffee, she settles down with a good book.

[Bullfrog]

"Tell me, gentlemen, what idea scares you more: the idea that we were destined by fate to be involved in all of this, or the idea that it was all our choice?" Lawrence asks his compatriots, much to the confusion of anybody else at the bar. These days, this is what passes for casual conversation for dear old Lawrence. It's really no wonder that he doesn't talk to his family much.

[Silver Priest]

"We always have a choice," Alex asserts. "If nothing else, we can be glad that our efforts have saved some people. From what you told me, Brophy did not seem likely to stop his cult and the innocent victims would have continued to grow had you not intervened. Whether it be fate or choice, I feel called to stop this cult down south and spare some others the horrors we've endured." Of course, Alex was also the only one of the men that hadn't truly been struck with terror yet at what they faced.

[Mr. Handy]

"The idea that scares me is that both could be true at the same time," says William. "That it was unavoidable, and we still have nobody to blame but ourselves."

[Bullfrog]

"I'm not sure if it means anything, but I think we did the best we could in our situations. If nothing else, we survived." Lawrence shrugs. "Here's hoping we keep doing that."

[Philulhu]

You’re welcome to continue your conversation, if you wish, but when you’re ready the next stage of your journey is here: Baton Rouge