SepticGentleman

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

Archie Davis and Harmon Rottlage

Strong Gold Community, Silver Hills

Well, they made it. Not that bad of a bus ride over, even if they did get some looks, but that stopped bothering the both of them a while ago. Archie and Harmon looked around the scores of people that'd come together to celebrate this Jiao-Long Liu figure's kindly venture. It did not seem like those of Archie and Harmon's caliber were all that welcome, however. The passing gazes persisted all the while.

After the speech, they wandered further into the massing, only for Archie to stop and whip out his phone minutes in. He had Harmon hang back for a second as he texted someone.

TO: Zach
Harmon and I are at a big party right now for a new neighborhood. Lotsa cool shit if you and Vero wanna come up and see.

And he got a response not even a minute later.

FROM: Zach
NOT TONIGHT MAN. TED'S BRINGING ALL THE WARRIORS DOWN TO THE CIRCLE FOR EXTREME FUCKING. CHERRY'S BAND IS PLAYING TOO. V AND I ARE GONNA WATCH AND THEN CHILL TOGETHER LATER.

TO: Zach
Alright, if you say so. Probably for the best, I have some business to take care of on short notice.

FROM: Zach
WHAT BUSINESS?

TO: Zach
You know. Business.

FROM: Zach
OH. YEAH THEN NAH YOU HANDLE THAT WITH H. GONNA BE HAVING PLENTY OF FUN HERE.

TO: Zach
Actually I should probably ask Harmon if he wants to head back inside. We both know he's not into these arrangements.

FROM: Zach
YEAH SEND THAT SKINNEH BOI OUR WAY. WE'LL MAKE SURE HE HAS A GOOD TIME.

Archie turned his attention towards Harmon, who was staring off with his camera in the direction of wherever. He tapped his shoulder and started typing on his phone again. It was too loud around them for text to speech, so he just motioned for Harmon to read his text mentally.

You wanna head back inside and stay with Zach and Vero while I handle things up here?

Harmon nodded. "I-I think that's for the best." He said, nodding. Archie then proceeded to set down his backpack, unzip it, open up the bag inside wide enough to jump down into, and Harmon did so. Archie closed everything back up, the whole thing lasting about a minute. The moment he slung his backpack over his shoulder, he looked around to see an understandable number of people watching him, wondering what the hell just happened. And he just waved them off happily, silently hoping no one would report the incident to a DOVE or RAVEN agent attending the celebration. He continued to explore the party, just waiting for Arianna to pull him out of the crowd. He wondered whose form she'd be taking tonight.

His money was on George Burns.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

Hurry Allen! Prove him wrong!

Prove your are

THE

KING

_OF

@BurningDaisies

Opulence worthy of a true Memelord.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

@JunkMail Holler holler, acquire dollar.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

Archie Davis and Harmon Rottlage

Oakdell Harbor, White Coast

"I could use, uh... a water, Archie." Harmon piped up, as they were walking. "Alright." Archie replied with his phone, scanning the lines of establishments near them. Archie pointed out a random junk food cart and made his way towards it with Harmon in tow. They approached the clerk, who was looking away. He turned his head to face the two and, understandably, jumped a bit. Mainly, he was focused on Harmon.

"Woah! Jesus Christ, are you okay?"

"I-I'm sorry?" Harmon replied.

"Your head! There's huge pieces of fuckin'- shrapnel in it!"

"Oh, oh, no, that's- that's part, o-of me. I'm okay, really."

The clerk sighed, half out of relief and half out of confusion. "Freakin' metas, man..." He said, "I mean, no offense but-"

"You mind if we just get a water?" Archie interjected, "For him."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, okay. Fifty cents."

...

Afterwards, the two were seated on a bench facing away from the beach, Harmon enjoying his water sip by sip. Archie was scanning the districts of Baybridge he could see in the distance. "It seems like the best we're gonna get, Harmon." He typed out and sounded, "Last place in the country at least."

"Do you really still want to make people leave?" Harmon asked, turning his camera towards Archie.

"Don't make it sound so harsh." Archie replied, "I just want everyone to have the best lives they can get. I like having people in the Microcosm, and if they don't want to leave, they don't have to. But some of them don't-"

At the moment, a text message notification popped up. From...

Oh, boy.

FROM: [phone]
Archie, I'm going to be doing a job. You'll get a cut if you help.

Archie paused for a moment. Harmon looked at him questioningly. Archie raised his free hand and pointed to Harmon, simultaneously telling him, "Barricade. Right now." Harmon didn't hesitate, and focused his abilities on keeping Archie's phone, for lack of a drawn out and detail-laden description, "secure".

And the conversation went on.

TO: [phone]
Ari?

FROM: [phone]
This is her.

TO: [phone]
It's been months. What the hell are you up to?

FROM: [phone]
Planning something, and I need your help. We can talk there.

TO: [phone]
Ari when you say "plan" and "help" in the same sentence, that concerns me.

FROM: [phone]
It's going to be at Jiao-Long Liu's party. Meet me there.

TO: [phone]
I only just got to Baybridge. I don't know where the hell that is. And I haven't even agreed to whatever this is.

FROM: [phone]
You'll figure it out. See you soon.

TO: [phone]
Ari god damn it.

Archie subsequently deleted the entire conversation from his phone. He motioned his head upward in something of a defeated expression. Harmon asked him, "What's wrong?" He could've very easily read the conversation mentally, but he respected Archie's privacy too much to do so. All he did was keep things classified.

"It's Ari."

"Oh..." Harmon replied, looking a little disappointed somehow. "Her..."

"I know you're not her biggest fan. But I do owe her a favor. Or several. I don't know, the imaginary scoreboard we have confuses me sometimes." He grabbed his backpack and stood up from the bench and continued, "She wants my help with something. I'll at least humor her by showing up to this party she mentioned. If I say yes, okay. If I say no, then hey, you and I can still enjoy a party."

"You're not going to say no." Harmon replied, standing up. "You never say no to her."

"Yeah. Probably." Archie replied, "Let's just find out where this Jowel-Hong Louie's shindig is. It'll make for a nice tour." And he once again began marching into the unknown.

"I don't want to do this..." Harmon said under his breath, getting up and following suit.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

<Snipped quote by SepticGentleman>

More like regret ulcers.

Because every time it feels like I'm past the part where I regret everything, you pull me back in.

@Mr Allen J

You've got me under your skin.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

I can feel the ulcers exploding in my stomach.

@Mr Allen J

Trust me baby, those are feel-good ulcers.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

I'm sorry. The temptation was just too strong.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

Archie Davis and Harmon Rottlage

Oakdell Harbor, White Coast

Archie was seated on a bench somewhere along the boardwalk. He had his backpack open and the impossibly spaced bag opened up inside. He was reaching his arm down, seemingly attempting to grab something, and then out came a small black device with a thick plastic antenna on it. Looked like some kind of wifi router. He gave it a look before setting it aside and taking out his phone. He opened up an application that he'd probably gotten more use out of then literally every other person who's ever bought it - text to speech. He set the voice to TTS Mike, speed modifier at zero, and with the unnaturally dextrous fingers of his right hand, he began typing.

"Got it. Hey, how about you join me for a walk up here?"

And the bag - or whoever was in it - replied, "O-okay."

Archie got up from his seat and pulled the bag out a bit, held it up opening-outward, as wide as it was allowed. And out stepped the strangest young man you ever did see - skinny frame, colorless complexion, and an assortment of metal bits scattered about his noggin. Archie's premium buddy of seven years, Harmon Rottlage. Just climbed right on out of his backpack like any normal friend would. A few passing boardwalk-goers looked on in confusion, but Archie simply waved to them as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

Harmon looked around with the camera of his own cellular telephone, mouth slightly more agape than usual. He turned and put his hands on the wooden railing, looking out at the waters and beaches, all very much being occupied by the public. Harmon took in a breath of fresh air. "It's... it's nice." He commented softly.

"I know. Probably the best-looking hotspot in the US of A at this point. Sunny skies and friendly faces." Archie replied, with his phone. He walked up to Harmon and held up the device from earlier, still connected by a blue wire running i to the bag. "This thing working?"

"Yeah, i-it is." Harmon replied, "I can see everyone using their phones and laptops now."

"Excellent."

Here's the thing - non-Euclidean folds in the fabric of reality tend to suffer from cuts in satellite ranges, which means no internet. For a lot of people, that basically means all hope is lost. So sometime ago, Harmon remedied the situation by cooking up a little signal-receiving device. Running from the outside into a system of routers on the inside, wifi signals could squeeze through and get properly jumped on by the folks inside Archie's bag of wonders. Back then, that definitely put Harmon on some peoples' friend lists - shame he failed to see the merit in social media and never used any of its available outlets. Chances are he'd be somewhat popular

Archie pinned the device to a clip on his backpack, poised and free to pick up any available signals. Harmon was always on standby to fix any problems that arose. "Y-you sure no one's going to... steal it?" Harmon asked, walking beside Archie as the two headed further along the boardwalk.

"If they do, you and I will go on the wildest adventure to get it back. We'll end up finding out the whole thing runs deeper than we thought, and we'll have to infiltrate the underground crime ring of Baybridge, beat the crap out of some Russians, jump through the air with two guns each, disable the bomb, secure the antidote for the virus, and save Christmas. In theaters next month in 3D IMAX sweet Dolby surround sound supreme."

Harmon just shook his head, wheezing a bit in amusement. Archie slung his arm over his buddy's shoulder, and they kept on marching forth.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

Ever day we move further away from god's light.

Written in context of Archie.

I'm sure naturalreaders.com/index.html will be proud to have this to their name.

@JunkMail

In the outskirts of the space nation, it's time to taste the finest murders.

Baybridge: Old Ghosts [COMPLETED]

Before I lost my head into shitposting mode, better make use of the time to continue working on my IC draft.

_{Which will also help to take my mind off the doomsday countdown. In about an hour's time.}

@tsukune

A few more pages in and I know I'm gonna slip into shitpost overdrive deluxe.