Game session: ?/2011

As Peter and Anita wait for their food at IHOP, they notice two ghosts in the restaurant. One is a cook, overweight and greasy who has a triangular cut in his torso that leaks… fluid. When the dead cook approaches, they also notice the pupils in his eyes are perfect triangles. The other shade is a waitress, painfully thin, who sidles up to Anita in an alarming manner. While the cook – Vinnie – tries to badger Peter about getting "the money" from the mob, the waitress starts trying to feel up Anita and uses pickup lines from ten years ago. The Sin-Eaters mutually decide to get their food to go, and eat in Peter's bleach-white Mini Cooper S. After eating, Peter drives over the bridge and gets to Baystate shortly before midnight.

Isobel goes on-duty at midnight, but consoles herself with the knowledge that she has an interview for a daytime physical therapy job at an outpatient clinic soon. She starts work, and does her best despite the constant jostling from the dead trying to get her attention. As she works on another victim of Springfield's endless gang wars, Anita and Peter enter the ER and Peter heads up to the admissions desk. He flashes his badge and asks to speak with Dr. Vanora; the frazzled nurse pages Isobel and orders Peter to sit in the waiting lounge, out of the way of the crush of people. Peter complies without complaint, and the nurse eyes Anita, who clearly has all her limbs and is not leaking precious fluids. Anita quickly says she is with Peter, so the nurse grunts and orders her to join him. The two Sin-Eaters sit quietly and observe the desperation of humanity, until the throngs of ghosts suddenly realize their presence and swarm them! Realizing they'll be overwhelmed, Peter and Anita filter the dead from their sight and ignore them.

Isobel hears the page but continues working until she has stabilized her patient. She realizes the dead have all left, and heads to the admissions desk. The nurse simply points to the lounge and Isobel strides in – and stops dead when she sees a 5'3" Puerto Rican girl of average build and a 5'7" Caucasian man with an athletic build, both with geists swirling around them like negatives on a photo! Anita and Peter see a 5'7" Caucasian woman with auburn hair and blue eyes – and The Corpsman superimposed on her! All three geists recognize each other and The Witch purrs, "My love," which makes Anita flinch. The Corpsman tells Isobel, "We can kiss any chance of peace and quiet goodbye here and now." Fallen Snow identifies The Corpsman, but says nothing further.

Anita and Peter introduce themselves and Isobel warily does the same. Anita admits she learned of Isobel because of Consuela, who came to her shop earlier today. Isobel mutters, "She keeps making the Jesus at me," but Peter retorts, "Can you really blame her?" Isobel rolls her shoulders and the other two hear the neck bones crunching; Peter asks if that's how she died. Isobel nods, but suddenly all three geists insist there are two more like them out there – The Discarded and The Deep Dweller. All three Sin-Eaters wince simultaneously, and Peter mumbles, "Well, they sound charming." The Witch informs Anita that the last two are "the most alien" of the five; Anita is startled to learn that anything is more alien then The Witch herself. The three Sin-Eaters agree to meet this afternoon to hash things out, as Isobel is still on duty. Anita hands them both a business card from the Botanica, and they decide to meet around 1 o'clock in the afternoon for lunch – and to give Isobel a chance to go home and sleep after her shift.

Isobel returns to work while Peter drives Anita home. Anita heads inside and her Abuela demands to know who just dropped her off. Anita sweetly replies, "The cop that Del hit, I brought him flowers as an apology." She then closes her door to sleep, cutting off her grandmother's outraged protests. Peter heads home, but has to endure Fallen Snow's sudden demand for "real" vodka. Peter tries to explain to the geist that homemade distilleries are quasi-legal at best, but the geist persists. Peter promises to get a license tomorrow and goes to bed. He wakes up at 3:30 in the morning when his police scanner blares to life, and listens blearily about "gang tags" on the Rock 102 billboard. Fallen Snow perks up, but Peter mutters they'll investigate after he's slept.

Isobel's shift winds down a bit near 5:30 AM, and she grabs a quick break. She overhears the Bax & O'Brien show on Rock 102; the jocks are bitching about the gang tags on the billboard. The Corpsman is suddenly alert and wants to see the "strange symbols," so Isobel pulls out her smart phone and goes online. She finds a picture of the vandalized billboard – and realizes it's a message calling for all who can read this to meet at midnight at "the X." The corpsman clearly is translating the code, but seems confused about "the X" until Isobel explains what the X is. Her shift ends at 7:30, so she heads home and crashes.

Peter wakes up at 6:30 out of habit, and calls a few friends at the SPD. He learns the police really don't intend to investigate the vandalism, as quite frankly it's far too unimportant for them to care. He pulls up his e-mail and finds a picture of the symbols in the police list-serve e-mail. He immediately understands the message, and Fallen Snow seems content. Peter showers, and then heads out to procure a distilling license. Meanwhile, Erika wakes up and listens to the outraged news about her late-night handiwork. She feels strangely pleased with herself, but once she sees the entire billboard she understands the message The Deep Dweller was trying to convey. She asks her geist how she should make it obvious she arranged the meeting to the others can find her, as the X is a busy place even at midnight. The Deep Dweller seems uninterested in such petty details, and leaves it up to Erika. She heads out and gets chips and soda, not really knowing who is going to show up.

David has spent the last six weeks since his death and Bargain lying low and keeping to himself, although he learns through some contacts that Luis's gang has now adopted a lot of Catholic imagery in their tags. He settles in to watch TV and sees the news report about the vandalism. He immediately understands the message, and The Discarded seems intent on attending this proposed meeting, so David spends the say doing laundry, shaving, and getting a haircut. Meanwhile, Anita gets up and prepares to go to the store. Abuela again demands an explanation and admonishes Anita to "stay away from that cop. We have enough legal problems." Anita walks to the Botanica and opens at 10 o'clock. The day is a bit busy, but Anita learns of the vandalism, which piques The Witch's interest. She googles the story and immediately spots the message hidden in the graffiti while The Witch crows in triumph.

Peter swings by the Botanica at 12:30, with two pizzas in hand: one plain cheese and the other pepperoni. Anita has two older Latinas in the shop who stare at the white cop like he's an alien, but he offers them pizza. One woman bolts from the store, while the other calmly pays for her charms, grabs a slice of pepperoni, and then bolts. Anita starts shoveling pizza into her mouth as she's starving, while Peter settles in and looks around. Isobel arrives at 1 o'clock, and the three Sin-Eaters discuss the Rock 102 billboard; Peter muses, "We've been summoned." They hang out for a while and talk, and Peter agrees to pick Anita up for their midnight meeting.

The store phone rings and Anita answers. Abuela demands to know why "that cop" is there bringing her pizza, and Anita sighs as she realizes her customers squealed to her grandmother. Abuela demands to know "that cop's intentions," but Anita says, "Ask him yourself," and passes the phone off to a confused Peter! Abuela launches into a tirade in rapid-fire Spanish when Peter says, "Hello?" but Peter replies that many citizens have an inaccurate picture of the police – in perfect Spanish. Anita laughs out loud as Abuela sputters, and Peter comments, "There's a lot of Jesus in this store!" as he looks at all the candles. Peter hands the phone back and Anita cackles at her grandmother's outraged sputtering. Abuela recovers and demands to know if there's anyone "chaperoning" the two; Isobel rolls her eyes and buys a candle. She asks, "What does it do?" and Anita replies, "Well, it smells nice."

Abuela hangs up in a huff and Anita asks Isobel to pick her up instead. Isobel agrees, and the three Sin-Eaters go their separate ways for the afternoon. Anita runs the shop until closing, and then heads home. Isobel does grocery shopping and grabs another nap; fortunately she has tonight off. Peter heads to the West Springfield Town Hall to procure his license. He fills out some paperwork and bums around his apartment for several hours until 10:30 PM. He then drives to the X and parks at the Walgreen's, which is open 24 hours. He settles in to wait and starts reading a book. Isobel leaves her apartment at 11:15, picks up Anita at 11:25, and reaches the X at 11:40. David drives by the parking lot at 11:45 and sees the two cars next to each other. Ironically, Erika is driving the car right behind David and also spots the two cars, so she pulls into the lot and drives over. David sighs and enters the lot a little further down, and then pulls up next to the other cars.

Erika and David get out of their cars and approach the others; they see a 5'5" Caucasian woman in her late twenties with a whirlpool flickering behind her – and bones occasionally surface in the pool – and a 5'10" Caucasian man in his early thirties with dark brown hair who is clearly ex-military and has a humanoid pile of rubble, asphalt, and torn flesh surrounding him. All five geists immediately recognize each other and start jabbering, while the five hosts eye each other cautiously. David breaks the silence by suggesting they go to the X Pub to talk, but Peter suggests the Dunkin Donuts instead. David retorts, "How stereotypical," as its obvious Peter is a cop, but he cheerfully admits, "A German-American immediately going to a bar is also stereotypical." Erika suggests the bar, as it will be louder and the noise will cover their impending weird conversation. Peter mumbles that late-night customers at Dunkin Donuts have some very weird conversations as well, but he yields and the five Sin-Eaters go to the bar.

Recap originally published on Livejournal.