The Savant

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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As he left the side of the mother and child, Doctor Fitkau walked around the festival more. There were quite a few games though he did not see the point in playing them. The children seemed to enjoy them more than he ever would. He would have enjoyed them as a child or a younger man. A content sigh left his lips with a faint smile sticking to his expression as he wandered around the whole area.

Plenty of conversations happened between him and clients and clients' friends or family groups. Most people in Sanctuary were lovely individuals. Almost living in this small town for twenty years and he has not had much of a problem with anyone. There have been a few but that is normal. Not everyone is accepting newcomers and out-of-towners but he was practically a product in the mix of this small little town.

At the moment he was near three individuals and a very out-of-place man was making somewhat of a scene. It caught his attention. The man was interacting with two women. What an odd sight that was playing out in front of him. The man seemed to freak out a bit from being touched by the one and distanced himself before taking out a package of wipes and wiping down his hands. Seems like someone is a germophobe or someone does not like something that had happened in the interaction.

The two girls began to be odd or at least the one initiated an odd behavior. Overhearing some of the conversations before he shook his head and decided to distance himself away from that crowd. Some people are so odd sometimes…

Moving around, he saw two fiery-haired individuals walking through the crowd. Oh! He knew one of them. How could he not? Doctor Graham has been beneficial to this town and a lovely man to work with. The last head doctor for the hospital did not believe in the benefits of psychiatry and how it could help patients and how some patients needed to be on watch for up to seventy-two hours. Doctor Graham had experienced therapy growing up and has shared some of his experiences with Doctor Fitkau. Fitkau was always fascinated to hear about other people’s experiences in therapy, how many therapists they had, and how positive or negative the interactions and experiences had been for them.

Sadly, Archer Graham was one with the statistics, and not all therapists should be allowed to continue therapy. What a nice boy. He thought as he gave the man a slight wave. If he saw the wave or not wasn’t anything detrimental. The older man would maybe tease the man for getting so familiar with the town later. Tease him about the girl he saw him walking with just to get a reaction out of the other doctor. Graham usually wasn’t one that showed many reactions but he could attempt till he got something from the serious man.

Continuing to make his way around the festival, Doctor Fitkau kept analyzing the people of Sanctuary. There was a boy and he knew where his face was from but couldn’t place it. The man was standing there in disbelief and confusion and partially wet. He wondered what happened but he was not going to intrude on such an emotional moment for the young man or did he need an interaction? Standing there, he thought about it then decided against it. He would continue to analyze everyone before making such a decision.

Doctor Fitkau began to continue walking around till he found himself on the outskirts of the festival and he saw the sheriff’s truck. The man in the truck was soaking wet, his head on the steering wheel, as he mindlessly scooped whatever he was eating in his mouth. The doctor’s expression filled with some form of concern while his brows knitted. Poor man doesn’t realize the energy he puts off. Next time when I have to pick someone up from the station or run into him, I will give him my business card, and try to open his mind to help… The man thought before continuing back into the festival.

Once again he was scanning people and seeing what they were doing. The majority were having fun and so much was happening at once that he couldn’t catch everyone with his eyes. There would be faces later that look familiar but not placeable to him. A way of allowing him comfort as he could interact with them more with a common start of, I think I have seen you around, or something similar.

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Location Festival ground
Time 3 PM
Interactions Analyzing people from a distance

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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At first the doctor did not understand what she meant though he thought about it. Beta girl? Then he realized and his face seemed to have somewhat of a surprised look that faded quickly into a warm smile. He was attempting to reassure the woman that he did not mean to cause embarrassment. “I apologize if I caused any embarrassment,” That was not his intention at all but he knew communication could be subjective. He was only teasing because she seemed to know a little bit about betta fish.

Noticing how she bought a basket of balls, he thought she was going to join him in throwing, and she quickly gave it away to a small child. For some reason he assumed that the child was probably hers before he referred to her as Ranger Jones. Oh? A park ranger. How interesting.

“If you want, you can call me Archer,” Trying to offer some personal connection to their discussion and interaction. He knew he needed to work on the difference between personal interactions and formal. Naturally, he would go formal because he worked sixty hour weeks and he had to be formal in his job. Only every now and again would it be non formal because of a patient. Sometimes patients needed more of a friend than a doctor when receiving news.

Throwing another ball in an attempt to get a fish, it bounced around before plopping right into a goldish filled bowl. “I got one. Now we are both going to get in trouble with parents if I get another one,” Playfully nudging the woman as the worker handed up a fish in a small carry terrarium. Then he couldn’t help but laugh at the question. Dancing. How many times has he been told he has two left feet when it comes to that? He couldn’t tell. “Dancing sounds fun, but I have been told quite a few times that I have two left feet. I’m not very good at that, though I will attempt if someone wants to dance with me,” His smile was wide and showed his pearly whites while he tossed another ball.

Tipping her head Nixie smiled. "I'd be happy to teach you." Grinning broadly Nixie continued, "Well there's Phoenix, the formal name. Then there's Jones, PJ, Peegee, Nixie, Nix and Pho. I guess you get to pick which one speaks to you." As she rattled off the nicknames she counted on her fingers. Though she didn't give him some of the names she'd been called. She wiggled her fingers smirking. "Though I am always open to suggestions."

Archer seemed nice and after the day she had a little relaxation sounded good. Getting to open up her circle of friends didn't mean that it was going to be painful.

That was quite a list to pick from and he thought about it. “My suggestion was Betta Fish girl,” He teased the woman before quickly continuing on to picking out of the list of nicknames, “If I call you PJ, you can call me Archie,” He offered even a less formal sense of his name. Archie was rarely used to refer to the man and the only person he knew that would call him that currently was his little sister. That reminded him he needed to call his sister around six, he usually called around then.

“I will try my best to learn a dance from you but I do not know if you can have the patience for a clumsy man like me,” Archer honestly believed this as he rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about the last time he danced. Dancing was something he was never naturally good at. Horrible. The comments about stepping on toes and feet rang in his mind. He always seemed to do that or freeze as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do next. Instead of allowing the motions to flow. He would become choppy.

Laughing Nixie nodded. "PJ is fine and I like Archie. If Betta Girl comes out of your mouth then you'll get Man Buns from me." She wiggled her eyebrows outrageously and laughed harder. "Sorry I needed a good laugh. Don't worry about my patience. I have a serious amount of it. They have classes at the Tavern on Thursdays." She looked thoughtful. "We could use a few more victims," Nixie playfully covered her mouth in mock shock. "Omph partners."

Hearing the other laugh only caused his smile to grow brighter and he couldn’t help a laugh coming out from the comment of man buns as he never heard that one before. “Why man buns?” he had no idea why that would be what she would pick to call him. Was it his hair length? He could see that. This individual was quite pleasant to be around.

“Victims on Thursday?” He seemed to lean into the comment about victims instead of partners after she corrected herself and his smile had a hint of mischievous intent to it. “I might have to stop by and be victimized on a Thursday by the sounds of it. Sadly, I cannot promise anything because of my sixty hour work weeks,” Archer was constantly working and always had something on his plate or he was being called into the ER for one reason or another. It was hard to make plans that were not on his days off and even then… there was the possibility of those plans changing. The medical staff in Sanctuary was grossly understaffed.

Throwing another ball, he got another fish and it was a beta. In another little carrying container. “Now I have two…” He handed the beta over to PJ without hesitation and as a child passed while hanging onto their mother’s hand, he offered the goldfish. The child looked ecstatic to have a fish and the mom looked almost startled then defeated as she continued past and he gave a smile that showed he was saying sorry.

One last ball, holding it out to the woman, “Come on. You have to throw the last one,” He tried encouraging her to do it.

Raising an eyebrow at the ball he was holding, Nixie - newly christened PJ - made a mock defeated sigh. "I suppose it's only fair."

Taking the ping pong ball PJ tossed it a couple of times. Narrowing her eyes she pointed to a gold cup on the far side of the set up. "The gold one top tier on the right. Watch there."

Bouncing the ball twice PJ concentrated on hearing the ball make the distinct sharp staccato tap. It was cheap quality but that was fine and she flicked her wrist to bounce the ball. It came up to chest height and she swatted it. The arch of the ball seemed to slow time to PJ as she watched it. It landed in but only after it ran the rim to release the excess energy. Smirking, she looked back at Archie. "Never said I couldn't hit a ball."

Archer placed his hands on his hips while watching where the woman wanted him to. That golden cup. With the different technique coming from PJ, he was surprised that the ball went into the cup and he chuckled, “That is true. It looks like you got yourself another fish,” The man teased while gesturing over to the ball being in the cup. “Does that mean you pick the kind if you get it in the golden cup?” He was curious.

PJ shrugged, having no idea since she normally avoided these games. "I don't know. I normally avoid games like this." The man running the game harrumphed and handed over a business card that had on the back a voucher for a pet store in town. PJ looked confused.

"You can go in and get a pet of your choice and they'll take off the adoption fee." The older man flipped over the gold cup so that no one else could land a ball in it.

PJ blinked. Jethro would never let her have another pet. Jealous little shit that he was. He barely tolerated Tommy and his horse. Then a light bulb went off. Tommy had always wanted a dog. She'd gift the voucher to her best friend. "Okay that's pretty cool! What do ya say Archie I think we've done enough damage here; shall we move on? I kinda want a funnel cake."

That was pretty cool! At least he did not get the golden cup or he would have to find someone to give it to. He really did not need animals. “Funnel cake?” Was she talking about the famous funnel cake everyone has been talking about for the past couple weeks. Something he was excited to try out. “Let’s move on, funnel cake sounds delicious and everyone keeps talking about it,” Archer brought out a little pamphlet of where all the stands were supposed to be for the festival. It was a single piece of paper with some coloring and symbols. They were not that far away from it either.

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Collab @Almalthia

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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Glancing over his shoulder at the child who was hiding behind him. With how short the girl was, he thought she was a child at first. Then he realized she was older than that. Maybe a teenager? She couldn’t be an adult with how short she was, could she? He was confused on why she was hiding behind him. It wasn’t like he was covering all of her or anything. People could still spot her from behind him especially with her peeking out beyond the crowd. Taking a drag of his cigar while glancing over to the blonde haired woman, he was trying to ignore the red-headed girl at first.

Allowing his attention to fall back onto the girl when she spoke, “Mhm…” What was she hiding from? He didn’t want to be caught up in anything that was not his business. Two strangers were crowding him and one was right behind him. Uncomfortable for someone that is in such a dangerous business. His guard was being put up and his natural alert system was slowly going off.

The crimson haired girl referring to the blonde as udders caused the Russian man to chuckle as he puffed out smoke. Someone has a mouth on them. Maybe she is running because someone is going to teach her a lesson for that mouth of hers. That wouldn’t surprise him. Then she continued to become cruel and his eyes sharpened while the girl seemed to have no self-awareness of herself or maybe her words at all. Disrespectful thing… he thought to himself while he took a step forward to distance himself from the crazed child.

Then the child began talking to herself. She broke her brother's guitar? Egged him on? Huffing out some more smoke, he did not want any part of whatever was happening between these siblings. The girl who was deciding that touching a stranger's back was an okay thing to do in the first place could feel Moxi tense. He was extremely tense. The girl could probably feel the underlying feeling of a shoulder holster for a gun depending on where she touched. The traps were prevalent when pressed against.

“I do not knov zis child, do you?” Moxi had no idea who this person was and the audacity that they had to touch him. Taking about fifteen steps away from the duo. His cloudy blue eyes glared towards him as if he was irritated. He was. Why the FUCK DID SHE TOUCH ME!?! Rang through his head and if looks could kill… Em would be dealing with icy daggers.

Dusting himself off as he took his suit jacket off and laid it over his shoulder. The man took out a small bag of something and it was a package of clean wipes. He began to use one to clean over his hands as he flicked his cigarillo to the ground and stepped on it. “Don’t touch me again,” Moxi’s voice was as cold and icy as his eyes at this point.

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Location Near the cornhole game
Time 3 PM
Mood irritated
Interactions @The Muse @Viciousmarrow

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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Levi still had an arm on him, he would give him that. The attempt to ignore his childhood friend was lost when he heard the Hmph and the man began to take his eyes off the woman who wanted him to win her a bear. Smurfy? What type of nickname was that and while his eyes were coming off her, they quickly locked with one of his officers. The man’s grin told him everything and that caused his eyes to dart back to Levi. The man was standing there.

His eyes followed Levi the whole way till he was looking down at his friend. There was no response to the question. That might have spoken louder than words. Tommy did believe that he wouldn’t ever see Levi again or get into contact with him. All those attempts in university really drove a nail through his heart. He already lost two brothers in his eyes and when he lost Levi, it hurt more than he would let anyone ever know. Would he let him know? He truly didn’t know if he could allow himself to open up to him again. He hasn’t opened up to anyone in years, even Nixie.

Anger shot through his thought process when Levi said that he could say the same for him. I’ve been back in town for about a decade, the thought sounded unpleasant but he held his tongue while staring at Levi. Attempting to process the situation and not allowing his negative feelings to get in the way of the reunion of friends and brothers.

How was he supposed to welcome his friend? He didn’t realize he had so much pent up emotions and his expression began to soften the longer he stared at Levi. All those good memories flooding back in. Every time they sat in the police station chairs together after getting caught cow tipping or when Misses Crooks called on them because they were sinning in her eyes and wanted them off her ‘property’ even though it was public land.

Not noticing the little girl waiting in line excitedly, Levi began to speak, and Tommy found himself emerging into the ice water once again. This time he didn’t freeze. The man shot up and began to pull himself out of the dunk tank. You asshole, you should have been better to him!!! Hurdling the wall's tank and landing on his feet. Water splashed everywhere against the concrete. Maybe the water did the man some good.

“Tony git into the ice tank! Aah’ll be back en forty-five to an hour!” The man waved over one of his officers while beginning to follow Levi into the crowd. Internally cursing himself out for being such an ass. He needed to not worry about Nixie. He needed to not let his walls stand so high that he cannot even see his friend eye to eye.

Batman? Where are all these names coming from today, ran through his mind as well. That was when he stopped for a few seconds as he heard Tony shout, “See you later Smurfy!!” And he rolled his eyes and shook his head before budging into the crowd after the other man.

It took about a minute or two for the man to catch up to Levi in the sense of arms length away. “Hey jackass!” The man did not hesitate to grab his friend's shoulder, quite hard at that, and yank him backwards. This was purposefully to get Levi to spin around right into a hug and that hug was tight. His arms wrapped around the other man as he gave him what is known as a bear hug and somewhat dug his chin into the upper part of his shoulder blade, “Aah missed ya too,”

Levi's body tensed as he was grabbed and forcefully spun around in his seat, his hands immediately curling up into fists as he prepared to duck and swing a right hook into whoever was looking for a fight. Levi was no stranger to fights, although it had been awhile, but his gut instinct was always fight - never flight. Instead of an adversary, Levi was met face to face with Thomas who was completely drenched in water. Before he was able to pull away Thomas pulled him into a tight hug. “Jesus, dude.” Levi returned the hug and wrapped his arms around Thomas, submitting to his clothes soaking in the water dripping off of Tommy. “You were this close to a knockout.” He joked, patting his friends back a few times, his body finally relaxing. Now this was the kind of welcome he had been looking forward to!

Tommy couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he lightly laughed at the man’s comment about possibly being knocked out. “Aah reckon aah can take a punch from a city boy,” His tone was playful since he knew he could take plenty of punches. Coming back from university after his father passed so he could raise Junior and Roy —- Roy threw tons of punches till he was able to leave the house. Tommy never punched back. The only time Tommy was punching anyone was in the ring when he was training, boxing, or when he was on the job and had to defend himself. There were a few wild stories of pulling people over, going into a bar call, or so on where Tommy had to fight to restrain.

Pulling away, Levi looked down to check his golden star sticker, "Careful, I don’t want you ruining my trophy. Jeeze.” He patted it lovingly, making sure it wasn’t losing its stick after the water encounter. He laughed and then looked back to Tommy, eyeing the man’s arms. “You been going to the gym, haven’t you?” He reached out to squeeze Tommy’s bicep teasingly, “I don’t remember the last time I was spun around like that!”

As the man began to pull away, Tommy allowed his grip to loosen while he glanced down at the loving pat to the star. He could not help the thought of how there were probably four hundred and ninety something stars just like that one left in the prize bucket yet he decided to keep that to himself.
Glancing down at Levi’s hand when he felt the man grab his bicep, he shook his head in more of a joking way than anything. “Aah’ve bin’ hittin’ the gym since junior year of high scole ‘n majorly since the po-leese academy. Aah’ve always looked weaker than what aah’m,” That was something that he was too familiar with hearing while growing up. Everyone always commented about how he was too skinny. Too lean. Teasing if he could pick things up boys his age could. His muscles didn’t show like others did. They did now but he was lean just like his mother’s side of the family. Maybe a reason his father was so rough on him unlike Junior and Roy who had the muscles that popped when flexed out or toned down. Show muscles.

‘Aah felt lak an ass so aah had to do somethin’” Tommy tried to offer a warm smile that showed a little bit of awkwardness and a bit of shameful hint.

"Well, you are an ass, I’ll give you that.” Levi smirked, clearly playing with his friend as per usual. In truth, he had never thought that Tommy was an ass - it was quite the opposite. Tommy was typically the nicest guy he knew, usually to the man's own detriment. Too nice.

“So you’re the big bad Sheriff now, huh?” Levi’s eyes glanced behind Tommy to take a look at the dunk tank surrounded with police. “Ladies love a man in uniform. You got a girlfriend?” He laughed, looking back to his friend. He had known that Tommy was Sheriff for some time now, courtesy of his mother the town gossip. He had even shot Tommy a call when he found out but the call went unreturned. Levi had just chalked it up to Thomas being too busy at the time, but eventually the time between communication got longer and longer as Levi became more involved with his job at a five star restaurant. Not only that, but his ex-girlfriend in California had taken up a lot of his time as well. Admittedly, Levi had missed his own fair share of calls and texts.

Tommy shrugged his shoulders at the question, “They have bin’ reappointin’ me meh fo-wah about a decade, aah must not be that bad,” The man’s tone was becoming warmer by the second. He was enjoying the interaction he was having with his friend. He missed it. He really did miss it. Levi would never know how much it hurt when he couldn’t get ahold of him anymore.

“Even en an uniform, aah’ve never bin’ great with the ladies…” Was what came out of his mouth and it was humble. It sounded fine. It wasn’t giving any major clues.

“How’s Nix?” He questioned, knowing that Tommy would know better than anyone. “I saw her briefly this morning, but, uh…” He leaned back against the picnic table, wishing he had another beer in his hand at this moment. “I guess she was busy.” He shrugged, “Bringing you breakfast I heard, actually.”

His face seemed to lose all of that warmth and welcoming energy when he was asked about a girl friend. His chest twisted at the thought and his eyes naturally fell away from Levi’s face. How was he supposed to answer that? He hasn’t had a girlfriend since his last one dumped him in college with the comment of my friends knew you were gay, because he wouldn’t do anything intimate with her. He felt awkward about this. Couldn’t he open up to Levi without being judged? No… he would be judged and teased for it.

Now he was thinking of Nixie. She wasn’t even his girlfriend. Stop thinking you idiot… began to repetitively go through his mind. His cheeks began to have a slight shade of pink where the cheek bones were under his eyes.

Levi was bringing up the fact that Nixie brought him breakfast. That was a usual thing. She was always nagging on him for not eating properly or at all. God… was it that weird? Now he felt like it was weird. He would tell her to stop doing that if everyone was getting the sense that they could be a thing. Tommy’s mind began to race. He began to panic. It was getting difficult to breath with all these thoughts in his head and Levi standing in front of him asking harmless questions. They were harmless. Don’t think about them.

Patting Levi’s shoulder with a forced smile, “Aah really do not want to talk about this with ya, Levi, aah’ll catch ya later. Aah need to go eat somethin’,” Tommy practically rushed away from Levi before disappearing into the crowd. You’re so awkwardly stupid… You could have just stopped talking, as he continued to push through the crowd and move away from Levi. Since the man was back, he was going to have to get something else for Nixie’s birthday. Preparing himself to be a third wheel or completely excluded within the next week. This made him sick. It made him want to go home and drink. Maybe he should go home. No one would notice if he disappeared from the festival. It wasn’t like that many people actually cared about him.

Levi frowned as Tommy quickly made an exit, refusing to talk about Phoenix. The reunion had felt good, but it was so brief that it left Levi wishing he hadn’t opened his stupid mouth. Stunned and confused, Levi stayed in place and watched Thomas walk off. What was he supposed to do with that sort of shut down? ’That was weird…’ Levi thought, wondering what had made Thomas so uncomfortable. Did something happen between him and Phoenix this morning or something? His friend had always been a bit awkward, but that felt different. Once again he was reminded that he needed to go find a beer.

Tommy knew that exit was awkward and he was totally regretting opening his mouth. If Levi didn’t ask about him having a girlfriend and bringing up Nixie it would have been fine. Reminding him of the lie that he always tells himself. There is no time for a girlfriend between protecting the town, coaching the kids, and other activities. Drinking. Depression. Multi-hour long showers. Crying. Binge-watching home VHS tapes of him and his mother. His father before the man lost his wife and became an alcoholic.

That was when a dark wave of emotion hit him and he stopped in the crowd while people passed by. It was a lonely feeling. A dreadful feeling. Did he just ruin something? Was Levi going to be suspicious? What if Nixie and Levi get back together and he might have said too much… Would Levi tell him to go away? This stung. That thought stung so much. No. Levi would never do that. Trying to push those emotions down. Way down so he wouldn’t think about them.

The man walked to the grocery store down the street after that and ordered a five dollar meal that the deli had. Making his way back to his truck that was on the outskirts of the festival. Tommy locked himself in it and began to try to focus on his meal. “Aah'm 'unna have to reckon about gettin' nixie somethin' else fo-wah her birthday,” There was no way he could give the items and letter that he wanted to give to her now. That letter took him about six months. Pounds of paper and multiple pen packs later and he felt like he had the best outcome he was going to get with that. Maybe burning it in the fireplace tonight would be a better idea. What would he get her then? Would he still give her the items that were bought and had handcrafted for her? That’s too much… Maybe he will just keep those and hide them somewhere that no one else would find them.

Placing his forehead on the steering wheel the man mindlessly stirred the plastic container of mashed potatoes as he thought about what he was going to do now. The overwhelming urge to go home and drink was the only thing that flooded his mind. Alcohol was being substituted for anxiety and depression medication. It was a vicious cycle at this point and he would always remind himself that he could never tell Nixie that he drank. She probably was suspicious but he knew that she probably didn’t know how bad it was. He just needed to cut his losses but why did he not years ago?

The man continued to mindlessly stir the potatoes before he realized that he had been in his truck, stirring potatoes for about fifteen to twenty minutes —- DING DING DING!!! Those were the bells indicating that it was 3 PM and he had been in his vehicle for quite some time — and he decided that he would eat. Beginning to try to force something into his system. He felt like an idiot at this point. He felt like if he confessed his feelings, he would lose both of his friends. Taking a deep breath as he took another bite of mashed potatoes. “Ya have bin' doin' this fo-wah roughly two decades, give or take, just keep doin' it 'n ya won't lose either…” Tommy didn’t want to lose either of them in the long run. They were his best friends and pretty much his lifelines throughout high school and most of his childhood.

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Location Sitting in his truck, outskirts of festival
Time 3 PM
Mood Depressed and attempting to eat
Collab @The Muse

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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A flicker of movement was caught in the corner of his left eye and his eyes glared over out of reaction. A blonde-haired woman was approaching and she had ice cream. He did not know her and he was confused why she walked right up to him. Maybe she was one of those extremely friendly locals? He has run into a few of them. Clearing his throat when she asked if was staying away from the crowd for peace and quiet. “Niet…” He calmly replied while scanning the crowd. The noise. Everything was overwhelming to a point though he was used to it at the same time or he wouldn’t have opened Euphoria.

The man began to pull out a cigarillo while the woman continued to start a conversation with him. She seemed stubborn and he glanced at her. Head to toe. Then back up. Analyzing the individual who seemed to be curious of him. “Vhy do you kome if it is overrrvhelming?” That made no sense to him. Wouldn’t you want to stay away from something that disturbed you in such a way? Odd woman.

Raising a single brow as she offered him something and he realized she was offering part of her ice cream. Noticing that there were two spoons in the bowl of ice cream that she had. Waving his hand as he lit the cigarillo and put it in between his lips. “Niet. Niet. Zank you,” Moxi was trying to be pleasant to the pretty woman but he only had so much patience. That patience was different for different people in his life. If she was his. He would not mind sharing something but he did not care for ice cream anyways. She was a complete stranger and the thought of her spit on that ice cream almost made him gag.

“I do not karrre forrr sveets,” That man decided to open up slightly towards the woman to keep communication though he really didn’t know what to say. It felt weird that someone approached him but he wasn’t against it. Just surprised even if his stoic expression didn’t show the surprise at all. “Yourrr offerrr is apprrreciated,” The kinder you were to this man the kinder he would try to be to you. Being proper and gentle in this situation with the woman felt like the right thing to do. He might be a bad guy but he wasn’t necessarily a bad guy. He continued to watch the cornhole game that was going on.

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Location Near the cornhole game
Time Festival
Mood Surprised
Interactions @The Muse

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

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Upon hearing the words he was determining if she was being silly by calling him a spaceman in reference to Doctor Who or if she was calling him spaceman because he was no native to Sanctuary, Colorado, or the United States. It seemed to be a fifty-fifty reaction from the small people of Sanctuary if he was welcomed or not. Offering a polite smile as he threw another ball. “If a patient's friend runs into the operating room and yells at you, you have to stop. It's the Doctor's Code,” Archer teasingly said to test the waters on references towards the T.V. series as he stopped throwing the ball and put his attention on the red-headed woman.

His eyes found themselves on the ping pong ball, “It looks like you found yourself a free throw. You can throw a few more if you want. I don’t need a whole pitcher to myself,” offering for her to throw a few. He did not mind at all. There was about a seventy-five percent chance that the man was going to give the fish he won to some random kid. He was only playing the game because he enjoyed it and it reminded him of his childhood when his grandmother would take them to a local festival in Scotland except they had a few different things. You could win a lizard, a variety of easy freshwater fish, or a frog.

Hearing how two different fish could be so different to take care of, he glanced over to the fish bowls which a few had one kind of fish and a few had the other. Some had water. Some were empty. Chuckling at Bertie the Beta comment from her, “I can promise you that I would not get distracted about a fish, it would be horrendous if I did,” Laughing lightly with his own words because he could not imagine. Getting distracted by a fish in the middle of a trauma. That would be horrible for everyone involved. Disastrous.

Deciding that he could continue throwing, he grabbed one while he stepped over so the woman could grab at the ping pong balls comfortably as well. Tossing another one and he clearly tried listening to the woman. The ball went right into one that had a fish but popped out because he put too much force into it. “What is your name beta fish girl?” Teasing her about the fact that she seemed to lean towards the beta fish in conversation. The man has seen her around, she was pretty hard to miss with that vibrant red hair. He has never interacted with her or at least he couldn't remember if they had. Sometimes memories that included work were a blur on stressful days.

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Location Festival, Fish Game
Time Start of Festival, around 2 PM
Mood Curious
Interaction @Almalthia

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

---

“What a mildly pleasant day it is in Sanctuary,” strolling down the street while he admired the buildings of the town. They were all decorated for the 15th festival or at least all the ones in walking range of where the festival was being held. Almost missing it, he corrected his path around a roadblock. He has officially entered the festival and there were quite a few people. Naturally, he gazed around his environment and noticed little tweaks and fidgety behaviors that ran around the crowd.

Entering the swarm of people the doctor realized that some people needed more help than others with the conversations he could overhear. “Oh my…” Was his reaction to a certain conversation he heard a few older people having in the crowd? Lifting himself up on his tippy toes to see the individuals that the voices and conversations belonged to. AH! He thought as everything made sense. Luana Summers, an older lady has been coming to him for the past ten years since her husband died.

The man decided to proceed into a conversation with the lovely group of women. Complimenting their summer and festival dresses. As he was a charming man and they were quite charming women themselves, the conversation flowed like a river between them. Luan gave the man a kiss on the cheek upon greeting him like she usually did. The typical reaction of him presenting a friendly smile with a light blush. The woman introduced her friends, this was a handful of times that he has been introduced to them. She commented about his wonderful work as a therapist. “You flatter me! I am glad that you are feeling better compared to last week. I hope it continues,” He gently gave a squeeze to her shoulder before departing from the conversation and in the departure, they said their farewells and offered fortune in enjoying the festival.

“What lovely women,” Doctor Fitkau mumbled to himself as he began to scan around the bend more. The games were laid out for everyone. The food stands. The whole presence of laughter and dopamine. What great fun! He couldn’t help that his smile grew and his cheeks turned jolly with a warming expression under that unique mustache of his.

Bumping into someone who was smaller than him, his expression lightened right away as he looked down to see a child who looked startled. “My apologies. Did I harm you in any way young sir?” He questioned as the child held the stick that had the lollipop which was in the child’s mouth. “That is quite fortunate of me, I guess Miss Luana has lucky farewells after all. Where are your parents?” The older man questioned since he realized the child was not holding onto anyone and no one around the child looked like they were trying to grasp them either. The child was awfully too young to be left alone in such a crowd.

The child shrugged as they kept enjoying their lollipop, “Let’s do this! Upsadaisy!” The older man picked up the child that looked to be around five and placed them onto his shoulders. “Now can you point out if you see your parents?” The child looked around quickly as he pointed in a direction. “Mama’s over there!” That was a quick fix.

As he adventures over to where the child said they spotted the mother, her face looked with many different emotions. She seemed to have anger, sadness, worry, stress, and relief being the last. “I’m so sorry! Anthony, you are not supposed to run off! I told you to hold onto me, I’m so sorry if he bothered you,” She could only feel the need to apologize and Fitkau chuckled at the reaction for the child was no bother. As he brought the kid from his shoulders and handed him over to his mother, Anthony was safe and sound.

“I can assure you, he is no bother at all and I am glad we were able to find you so quickly, you might want to have a talk with him later,” Fitkau smiled at the child who seemed to smile back before becoming shy and hiding in the frills of their mother's dress. “Thank you. I appreciate it a lot and I can tell you, I will. Won’t we?” The mother seemed serious as she got her son’s attention and the little boy nodded. Fitkau gave his farewells to the duo before wandering around the festival even more than he had done.

---

Location Festival
Time Afternoon, Festival time

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

---

Noticing that someone else was approaching, a familiar face, and it was his noon-coffee buddy, Talie. Offering a faint and warm smile. He was familiar with this individual and he found himself being relaxed around her in a similar way he was able to relax around Nixie and his coworkers. People that he knew allowed him to give off a better vibe than the one that he expressed when interacting with Jewel. That was embarrassing.

Before the man could reach down and appreciate the offered donut, he was dunked and as he threw shade to the man and climbed back onto the seat. He was able to give Talie the attention she deserved, “Aah didn't git ya wet did aah?,” That faint and warm smile stayed on his face when it came to Talie as he slowly ignored the man who threw the softball and hit the target.

He really appreciated the offer of donuts. The realization kicked in that the man did not eat anything and hadn’t had one thing today. It was after two and he was starving himself. You cannot keep doing this… was the thought that crossed his mind. Those words were stated about a week ago by Nixie herself. He needed to remember them and actually force himself to eat but some days he couldn’t. It was getting harder and harder for some reason.

The statement proceeded through his head even more. The one about deformed Smurfs and he began to laugh at the thought. A smile that showed his pearly whites appearing. He never thought of that carnival game in such a way but he was not going to unsee it. “They do look lak deformed Smurfs, don’t they?” Mainly speaking to himself as this realization hit him. Chuckling some more at the thought. How funny is that? He was going to play that game later and that would pop into his head.

“Once aah'm off this forsaken seat, aah will try to win ya a bear 'n aah will have a donut. How about that? Aah'll put myself to shame if aah don't 'n it's a shootin' game,” That seemed like a fair deal. He couldn’t eat when people were throwing balls at the target and hitting. Tommy did not want to have to let all the water out of the dunk tank, clean it, and refill it because of a donut accident.

Stroking a handful of fingers through his hair again. He had to stay in this tank for at least thirty minutes, he promised his officers that he would do so. Maybe he would get back in it later?

---

Location Sitting in the dunk tank at the police department booth
Time Festival Time
Mood Happy
Interactions @PrinceAlexus

Escape from the Prison Mine

---

The man had no idea what he was doing or he at least felt like he had no idea after putting on the face he needed to pretend that he was a guard. Guiding the others along as he was making his way to the guard house. Repetitively reminding himself that he needed to take Titus to Vito. Vito was the person he needed to find. They needed to get to Vito who was at the guard house. It felt like there was pressure on his chest though he ignored it for the sake of everyone involved.

Walking through the hallway, it felt like forever before he passed what he thought was another guard though it was a decoration and a small monument to a guard who passed years ago. It made him jump when he saw the skeleton underneath the beaten clothing. That’s fucking terrifying!!! Why do they have that!??! Kristo was screaming internally while giving Titus an awkward look before reforming his face. Putting his expression back to that stoic one. Inhaling sharply as he did so to calm his heart rate down.

As he moved through the hallways, they seemed emptier than usual. He always felt like there were tons of guards and prisoners always out and about. It must be a party. There was barely any noise compared to what there usually was. Without realizing it at first, there was an actual guard coming up. They were standing there at the end of the hall and that must be the guard house. Where they were.

Woohoo! He has made it to the guard house. Wait. Not yet. Stop partying Kristo. Cursing himself internally as he walked up to the guard and nodded. Going to go through the opening that had no doors towards what looked to be the guard house. The guard stopped him with a spear and Kristo looked the other guard into the eyes. “Is there a problem?” The man stayed confident in this scenario and the guard decided to reply with a, “I didn’t think anyone was supposed to be here around this time,”

Sighing in disbelief, Kristo rolled his eyes, “I was told before the party began without me that I was supposed to bring this specific prisoner to Vito. They didn’t tell me anything other than that. Do you think I want to be here?” Kristo was trying to distract the guard for someone else to help him out but he felt like he was going to have to knock the man out himself. He could do this. He could do this. You can do this Kristo.

“I would rather be at the party and you probably want to be at the party too, eh? We must be the ones they don’t like. Sucks doesn’t it? How was he going to go through knocking this man out? This sucked. He hated this. Why did he agree to this plan?

He agreed to the plan because of the faint hope of being able to get out of this place. He needed to think of something if they were all going to get out of there. The guard chuckled at the comment, “I guess so… it does suck man. I hate being put on duty when everyone else is just hanging out and drinking,” Kristo was a bard nonetheless. His charisma was high and his influence was usually great. It was great before entering prison.

“Why don’t you join them? Nothing important is going to happen in the time you sneak off to join the party. Once I am done with this pathetic soul, I will come to join you. We will have a few drinks and some fun,” Kristo nudged the other guard. They began to laugh and chat for a minute before the other guard walked away and disappeared down another corridor and turned the corner. He was gone. Yes! I still have it! Kristo smirked at this. It was almost like he had some control over the individual.

Then he brought Titus through the doors and right up to the guard house, whispering, “Time to go in…” Kristo opened up the guard house and surprisingly the vibe was nice. Barely anyone seemed to glance towards him and Titus. Everyone was distracted between their individualistic groups, chatting with others, telling jokes, and getting drunk of their asses.

This is like a casual night at the bar! Kristo began to walk Titus along more out of the way and in the shadows than anything. Not thinking it wise to move through the major parts of the crowd as he guided the man to Vito. Trying his best to spot the man and realizing that he didn't have any idea where Vito was or what he looked like. Ah... this sucked.

---

Interactions @Saiyan
Mentions/Acknowledgements NPC guard
Current State Reliefed

~ Welcome to Sanctuary ~

---

After leaving the Cozy Bear Cafe, the Russian man glanced up at the sign to remember the name. He enjoyed his short time in the building even if it did not appear that way. Walking down the street, he passed the empty sitting park. Only escaping conversation with the doctor by a few minutes as he continued to walk. The man knew that the festival was not starting till afternoon but he decided to walk through the whole thing anyways. Checking out the setup process and what everyone was doing.

Two children bumped into him, literally, as the one fell off their bike and Moxi’s brows knitted together as he looked at the child. The child looked terrified of the unknown man. “I-I I’m sor —” The kid seemed to be tripping over their words as they didn’t know how to apologize to the Russian.

Somewhat interrupting the child, “Do you trrruly mean zat apology? If not. Stop talking,” This caused an awkward interaction to happen between him and the two children. They stared at each other for what felt like forever. Why are these children not around their parents? Glancing around to see if there might be people staring at them. Some indication of parents being by. Nothing. Nothing at all. Biting the inside of his cheek as he looked back to the child who was picking up their bike.

“Vatch out next time. Yeah? People don't like being bumped in knee,” The man stated as he took a drink of his tea. The child nodded their head before jumping on their bike and riding away with a yes sir. Moxi knew he had to try to be nice to the people of Sanctuary for multiple reasons even if he felt like he didn’t belong.

Deciding to walk back to his condo the man found himself relaxing on the balcony like always. Enjoying the fresh air mixed with a cancer stick as he pulled smoke out. Smoking to smoke. A bad habit. Probably one of his better behaviors overall, sad to say.

---

The festival began to start and he decided that he would walk back down to downtown, so he could check it out. The Russian man found himself quickly in a crowd of people. Being slightly shoved as everyone was excited and it was an uncomfortable stance to be in. Puffing on another cigarillo.

As someone bumped into him, he leached forward and groaned with displeasure as he decided that was enough and he flicked the ending part of the cigarillo to the ground and put it out under the tip of his foot. Under those shiny dress shoes that he wore. He decided that it was too busy to attempt to smoke and he swore that he already saw a sign that said no smoking area, probably put up by that idiot sheriff.

Talking about the idiot, Moxi found himself about thirty feet away with people passing in the crowd. He could tell that the sheriff was processing something while that familiar face from the cafe began to talk to the other man. One seemed way more excited in this interaction than the other. Pathetic… was what crossed his mind as he got bored and decided to move on with his life.

A few steps were taken before he almost ran into someone and tensed up. For someone who was in the business of the illegal world and being so social and calm in those aggressive and threatening situations — Moxi was anything but internally calm inside amongst the group of townsfolk.
The man moved around the person he almost ran into without saying a word and continued to travel around the festival as he got to an outskirt. An edge that he felt comfortable in and did not appear to be busy which was by one of the alleyways in between the buildings. He watched as the crowd moved and swayed in between games and booths. Everyone looked happy in some way shape or form. People were laughing. He felt like the odd one out. He knew no one and he wasn’t the opening-up type.

It reminded him of the schoolyard in Russia when his parents moved him from public school, away from all his friends, into a private school. Then his parents decided to send him away. Boarding school… It brought similar emotions and did that mean he cared to be recognized slightly in the eyes of these people? It must. Moxi knew he was going to be here for a long time, most likely. He should get comfortable while he is here and get some kind of fun out of it.

He noticed the game that was about forty feet in front of him. Two people were on each side. Each of them was taking turns throwing a hacky-sack type of thing. They had different colors and they seemed to be aiming for the hole in the middle of the board. A part of him wanted to play it. Then he realized he didn’t even know what the name of it was. The point system. And he most likely needed a partner. “I need another…” Was his reaction to his thoughts as he pulled out another cigarillo and began to drag on it after the initial light. The Russian man only smoked when he was stressed and sometimes casually, so he was stressed because of socializing at this festival. It felt stressful even though he was standing there doing nothing.

---

Location Near the cornhole game
Time Festival
Mood Stressed
Interactions None