Late September 2012: Manchester, New Hampshire

[damncompass]

A few days ago, Joshua's boss had rung him up and told him that one of his fellow Regents had died in a boating accident, and everyone was going to New Hampshire for the funeral. Halfway there on the plane, Artie (seated beside him because he refused to upgrade to first class, and Joshua was the one who bought the tickets) started chattering about the case he had sent Claudia on, and his intention of going to check up on her after the funeral.

"Bad idea, Artie." Joshua shook his head. "She doesn't take that shit well."

"Oh, she'll be fine. I just want to see how she's doing."

"Bad idea theater. Honestly."

With another shake of his head, Joshua fell silent again and the rest of the flight was uneventful. At the airport, they met up with his boss and Jane. Artie wandered off to rent a car mumbling something about driving to Boston. After even more admonitions about how bad of an idea driving in Boston would be, the Regent trio shook their heads and drove off to the service.

Joshua was quiet during the entire thing, which seemed so out of place, all of the loud and emotional prayers, all of the gospel singing, and the tributes to the dead woman that made Jane roll her eyes and mutter things under her breath that Joshua never really caught.

Eventually, the service was over, and they proceeded to the cemetery. Everything was fine until the minister started talking about ashes and dust, and something caught in Joshua's throat. Closing his eyes, he quietly backed up and walked away from the group at the grave.

A moment to himself would be enough. He just needed a moment. Really.

Comments

[damncompass]

"Yeah. I'm really sorry. Don't know why I kinda lost it there." He sighs and gets up, stretching slightly.

[k39zzz]

"It happens to all of us."
As she stands, she adds, "You may not have seen the signs to ask, and he didn't want to make this public knowledge, but... he has suspicions about whether this is the accident it's been presented as. I didn't see anything fishy, and we can't make accusations without some kind of proof, but..."

[damncompass]

"Shit. I'll... keep my eyes open, and I won't say anything." Joshua thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "I'm not much help, cause I didn't know her, but I might come up with something."

[k39zzz]

"At the very least, she was far from an avid boater."
It's... uncomfortable. Jane hasn't had any vibes on the matter, and unfortunately she probably won't until things re much farther along, if there is a threat. But something is a bit off about all this.

[damncompass]

"Shit. I mean, anyone can have an accident once..." Joshua wasn't an avid teleporter per se, but he did fuck it all up. "but I do see what you're getting at. Boating is an odd thing to randomly pick up."

[firstprotector]

"Exactly what I thought, Mr. Donovan." He walks over as the rest of the mourners were dissipating. "Are we ready to leave? I believe I found a good restaraunt for dinner." He pauses, a tiny smirk on his face. "All I ask, Jane and Joshua, is that we neither talk about death nor threats."

[k39zzz]

Joshua may not have been an avid teleporter, but he was a very dedicated researcher of the topic. That counts, in a situation like this.
"That sounds good to me. I think we've all had our fill of the former for one day, and there's not enough to discuss about the latter, yet." Unless he saw something, but Jane thinks he would have mentioned that much, at least.

[damncompass]

The trio go off to dinner, a lovely Greek restaraunt hidden in an alleyway.

Conversation is varied, from Joshua's college stories to his boss' stories about the Warehouse, some of which seem a bit too personal to be true, and Jane's stories from raising Pete and teaching school.

Eventually, they all disperse, and Joshua goes back to his hotel, changes into a t-shirt (Don't trust the Atom, they make up everything!) and shorts, and pulls out his Farnsworth to call his sister.

[claudiometer]

Claudia answers, still clearly in a hotel room rather than at home.
"Hey. Did it have to be Boston in the fall? I didn't wanna be a pirate who does something."

[damncompass]

"That bad? I'm sorry. What happened?"

[claudiometer]

Claudia shrugs. "It wasn't bad as such, other than Artie crashing my stakeout. Tell me you told him that was a bad idea."
She doesn't think Joshua sent Artie; even if they agreed she needed some kind of backup, Joshua's more subtle than that.

[damncompass]

"I told him it was a bad idea, Jane told him it was a bad idea, and my boss told him it was a bad idea. But, well, you know how Artie gets. Did you at least get the Artifact?"

[claudiometer]

"We did. And we even won the auction! ...Except the janitor stole it before the auction even started, hence the stakeout."
It's a little bit before Claudia continues. "Turns out his son had leukemia and he was looking for a way to let him raise his kid."
As motivations for using Artifacts go, that's one Claudia really can't hold against the dude.

[damncompass]

"Shit. That's.... a problem."

There's a long pause before Joshua finally speaks. "Did you... neutralize it?"

[claudiometer]

"Yeah. Stuck around long enough for the doctors to do their thing - the kid's fine."
She says 'kid' even though the guy's possibly older than her, but it's the easiest way to differentiate.

[damncompass]

"Good. Sometimes people need to be allowed to make sacrifices."

Cough cough, dude.

[claudiometer]

Claudia fixes her brother with a Look. "Yes. Yes, they do. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

[damncompass]

"I know, Claud. And I would for you too."

[claudiometer]

"I know." But that wasn't the right time to, Joshua! She had it under control!
"How was your thing? I mean, it was a funeral, those generally suck, but other than that, Mrs. Lincoln."

[damncompass]

"Meh." He sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. "I realized that the last time I was at a funeral was eighteen years ago. And then it all hit me at once."

[claudiometer]

"Oh, dude. You know you could talk to me about it, right?"
Not like she didn't deal with the same thing.

[damncompass]

"I know. I probably will eventually." He pauses, and leans back on the headboard of the hotel bed. "Also, it'll probably be comforting to you to know that the car crash was just that."

[claudiometer]

"Yeah, I know." And then it occurs to Claudia she'll probably have to explain that.
"Milliways thing - seems if you sleep there around Halloween you see dead people. First year I was there I got Mom and she said as much."


"...Wait, how did you find that out?"

[damncompass]

"Remind me not to fall asleep in Milliways around Hallowe'en. Knowing my luck I'd get Reynolds or something."

He shrugs, then looks a bit sheepish. "Well, uh, it seems that if you make two Artifacts before you finish highschool, you ping the Warehouse's radar."

[claudiometer]

"Oh, come on, then you could troll him - wait, what? Joshua Alan Donovan, what did you do?"
She sounds more amused than upset, despite the full name. That's more out of 'what the actual fuck' than anything else.