The News Is Out

[Emilie]

"Let's do this shit." She said, leading the rest of the way to the pier to find this bike repair shop.

[Narrator]

Emilie comes within view of a few brick shopfronts and it doesn't take long to spot one with well-worn letters spelling "COOPER'S" painted in the window. Numerous vintage Vespa parts are lined up at the bottom of the window, and a model that's seen better days but looks fairly intact is on a small platform in the center.

[Emilie]

Emilie was whistling a tune to herself as she flipped the pouch flap open so that Vic had easy access to get out when he was ready, but as long as he laid low he wouldn't be noticeable.

With a chime of a handle bell, Emilie was in.

[Sean Hall]

Sean meanwhile split from Emilie and walked the perimeter as innocuously as possible for someone who was looking for traces of magic, which was perhaps not as much as he'd hoped. However, it probably made him look more bent than like he was scoping the place.

[Victor Freud]

Victor had been at least thankful to be given the option, instead of just dropped in as was often the case with other persons. But then again this was old-hat to Em. Leaning his back against the front of the pounch helped lessen the jostling from every hip-sway as the woman walked. He took out his cigarette case once again and pressed the little button sideways, the front panel flipping up on a piano hinge to expose a small square hand mirror, which he held up above his head to peer out the gap. It was less conspicuous than a tiny human head.

[Narrator]

Around the rear is a decent-sized garage door, a few rubbish bins, and the smell of hot automotive grease. The place has no real enchantments hanging on it, but it certainly has a resonance that Sean picks up on, a sort of weight to it.

Every so often there's the low blurt of a power tool from somewhere in the garage, which is audible both to Sean in the back and to the pair entering.

A few other vintage scooters are on display in what might charitably be called a "showroom" inside. There's a counter with a teenaged girl sitting behind it, distractedly tapping at her phone.

[Emilie]

Emilie approached the teen in a quick but friendly fashion and, much to Victor's surprise, began to effect an accent that was actually believable. An Irish one.

"Hello there! I was wondering if the management might be about?"

[Sean Hall]

Around the rear is a decent-sized garage door, a few rubbish bins, and the smell of hot automotive grease. The place has no real enchantments hanging on it, but it certainly has a resonance that Sean picks up on, a sort of weight to it.

Every so often there's the low blurt of a power tool from somewhere in the garage, which is audible both to Sean in the back and to the pair entering.

A few other vintage scooters are on display in what might charitably be called a "showroom" inside. There's a counter with a teenaged girl sitting behind it, distractedly tapping at her phone.

Sean traces a rune on the side of the building and places his hand on it. Trying to feel for if there's a pattern to the weight he can feel or a source(s) for it.

[Narrator]

Sean sees fleeting images of moddish teens going to the shop. The fashions change, and it seems like generations of them have been going here, like a rite of passage to buy scooters. Some of the same scooters are present across multiple generations.

The weight seems mostly emotional, each repetition reinforcing it.

It takes another few moments for the teenager to look up from her phone.

"Granddad's busy."

[Emilie]

"Oh aye, I'm sure he is at that. I'm sure.

But it's just that...

Well, of you don't want t'be changin' th'diapers on a lil' aunt or uncle, it's best you get him. "

[Sean Hall]

Sean sees fleeting images of moddish teens going to the shop. The fashions change, and it seems like generations of them have been going here, like a rite of passage to buy scooters. Some of the same scooters are present across multiple generations.

The weight seems mostly emotional, each repetition reinforcing it.

It takes another few moments for the teenager to look up from her phone.

"Granddad's busy."

Sean pulls back for a moment considering how to proceed. He traces more runes onto the side of the building and tries anchoring the spell to memories from their ghost. Trying to see if there's some tangible connection to this place.

[Narrator]

Winding back far enough, Sean sees the fashions progress through the nineties, then the eighties. Finally, he spots a young man who almost looks like the Ace Face. If he squints. A bit less idealized, a bit more hapless, and on foot. Walking up to the front of the shop.

What Em says gets the teenager to stop facetweeting, and she looks across the counter again.

"...I don't think you've met Granddad."

[Emilie]

"Oh? Why's that then love?" Emilie inquired, at least managing to keep her busy.

[Narrator]

"Tell me when you figure it out."

"Granddad!" She shouts, reaching back to flick a light switch on and off behind her.

[Sean Hall]

Winding back far enough, Sean sees the fashions progress through the nineties, then the eighties. Finally, he spots a young man who almost looks like the Ace Face. If he squints. A bit less idealized, a bit more hapless, and on foot. Walking up to the front of the shop.

Sean tried to focus and slowly put one foot in front of the other in attempt to walk through the hazy memories towards the person he thought was the Ace Face. He needed to see more, hoping to find something that would help the trios investigation.

[Victor Freud]

Victor didn't hear any footsteps approaching as the women spoke. Running to the back when the owner was approaching the counter would be risky, but perhaps waiting for him to get there before slipping out of Emilie's purse might also be risky. With the counter acting as cover he let himself drop to the floor below; what to him had to be several stories. But he was getting old hat at this by now, his body was tougher at this size, with a tuck and a roll he was back on his feet and running along the edge of the counter, using it's overhang as cover as he tried to avoid the attention of the distracted granddaughter. His plan was to stick to the wall as much as possible to try and avoid detection - not unlike a mouse.

[Narrator]

There are a few memories Sean can find related to this. Quite a few are just the lad going up to the front window and staring at the shop's contents wistfully. Eventually Sean finds one where he approaches with more confidence, and goes inside. Shortly afterwards he steps out with what is quite definitely a much better looking version of Emilie's Vespa. As he steps out, his features seem to blur and something like a halo seems to rest on him. Others take note, and when Sean can focus on his features again he looks exactly like the vision of the Ace Face he saw earlier.

The noise of machinery in the garage beyond subsides after the girl flicks the light switch a few times, and Victor soon sees his chance as the door opens...

...and an older gentleman in a wheelchair rolls out, wearing a grease-stained mechanic's jumpsuit.

"What's all this then, Maisie?"

[Emilie]

Emilie looked down at the man who was clearly injured from the waist down. But Emilie came in here with a plan, and she was sticking to it, even if it needed to be altered a little bit.

"What happened to you in the last three months?" She lilted to him.

[Narrator]

"...very little that didn't happen to me in the past thirty years?" The man says with some puzzlement.

The girl clears her throat.

"Ah, fair enough. Maisie got me to eat a chili pepper that gave me the sweats for an hour straight."

The door to the garage is still open.

[Victor Freud]

Victor made his move while the man was discussing his hot pepper challenge, and made a break for the garage door.

[Narrator]

The sights that greet Vic's eyes, while possibly impressive from his height, are decidedly non-eldritch. It's a well-worn garage with tools that are cared for quite well. Here an there is a Vespa in various states of disassembly and refurbishment, and a bench set to be the right height for a wheelchair-bound man.

[Victor Freud]

Victor thought that, while less stealthy, he could better investigate as his regular height. And upon gaining it, looked at the workbench and such.

I probably should have asked what I was supposed to be looking for. Well, something out of place. Something that didn't belong. Or was placed to try and be hidden from view - that was where Victor's eyes went as he took in the garage.

[Sean Hall]

There are a few memories Sean can find related to this. Quite a few are just the lad going up to the front window and staring at the shop's contents wistfully. Eventually Sean finds one where he approaches with more confidence, and goes inside. Shortly afterwards he steps out with what is quite definitely a much better looking version of Emilie's Vespa. As he steps out, his features seem to blur and something like a halo seems to rest on him. Others take note, and when Sean can focus on his features again he looks exactly like the vision of the Ace Face he saw earlier.

The noise of machinery in the garage beyond subsides after the girl flicks the light switch a few times, and Victor soon sees his chance as the door opens...

...and an older gentleman in a wheelchair rolls out, wearing a grease-stained mechanic's jumpsuit.

"What's all this then, Maisie?"

Sean sees the Vespa and Ave Face with it, so at least the story is consistent so far. Well, other than the halo around his head, he tried to get closer to get a closer look at Ace Face and the Halo that was resting on him.

[Emilie]

"Ah, fair enough. Maisie got me to eat a chili pepper that gave me the sweats for an hour straight."

The door to the garage is still open.

"And made ya lose control'a legs as well?"

[Narrator]

"I'm afraid I've not had the use of my legs since seventy-three," he says with a look that's equal parts confusion and mild offense.

"Can I help you, young lady?"

The halo Sean is seeing doesn't seem to be quite literal. Like everything else here, it's got the feel of emotional weight. As Sean focuses in on it, his vision blurs again, and suddenly the Ace Face isn't a singular being. An odd sort of double-image bows out from him, then a treble image, then several more in front and behind of the Ace Face.

All of them look a little bit like him, though the hairstyles and outfits change. All of them carry that same sort of authority resting upon them. The Vespa changes a little in each image.

Nothing much looks like it shouldn't be here to Vic. The garage has seen some good years, and the tools have been well-used. Above the workbench are some framed pictures, each dated. One of which looks more than a bit familiar to Vic. A young man on a scooter who could be the spitting image of the Ace Face, posing for the camera.

The trouble is, it's dated 1973. The Vespa is definitely not the same, either.

[Victor Freud]

Victor took out his phone and snapped a picture of the framed photo, before putting the phone back in his pocket. He reached out and tried to carefully take the framed picture off of the wall so that he could get a look at the backside, maybe something had been written there.

[Narrator]

Tucked into the back of the frame is a postcard from Brighton, depicting a beachfront scene.

Jimmy,
Was nice meeting you this summer. Still can't tell Mum the half of what we did together.

Maybe we could see each other again sometime? Remember to write.

--Vonnie.

[Victor Freud]

Victor got out his phone and snapped a shot of the postcard before putting the picture back. Maybe it was nothing, but at least now they might have a name.

[Emilie]

"You can help me by letting me know what I'm supposed to do with this baby in my belly."

[Narrator]

"Young lady, I can appreciate your predicament, but you have me at a loss as to what I have to do with it."

"You're talking to an old dobber who tinkers with Vespas. I'm not the best person to ask, eh?"

[Sean Hall]

The halo Sean is seeing doesn't seem to be quite literal. Like everything else here, it's got the feel of emotional weight. As Sean focuses in on it, his vision blurs again, and suddenly the Ace Face isn't a singular being. An odd sort of double-image bows out from him, then a treble image, then several more in front and behind of the Ace Face.

All of them look a little bit like him, though the hairstyles and outfits change. All of them carry that same sort of authority resting upon them. The Vespa changes a little in each image.

Putting his intellectual curiosity aside Sean was rather glad it wasn't a legitimate halo. Mostly because it meant he wasn't about to get involved in some kind of, well involved in another divine dispute.

"Maybe he isn't just one person," Sean said walking towards the multiples and trying to discern a non-vespa connection between the lot or something out of place, "Maybe a collection of peoples and their experiences like Hannah is."

[Narrator]

Though Sean can't be expected to place all the fashions, the tail end of this odd centipede of afterimages seems as if it's roughly in the 1970s. As Sean circles around to get a better view, the afterimages abruptly shift. Their clothes and hair are dripping wet and they look frankly drowned. They get worse the closer to the modern day they seem to be.

[Sean Hall]

"Drowned perhaps? All of them though? That'd be an odd series of coincidences, aye?" Sean muttered to himself while staring at the group of drowned vespa riders. He reached into a pocket for a small non-precious crystal, he couldn't take a picture of the different figures but he could capture this moment in a different way in the stone. He pulled a knife from another pocket and pricked his thumb adding a drop of blood to the stone to activate the new spell. "Wonder why it stops there though. Something here perhaps."

[Emilie]

"I should think you would be, being as you're the one who placed it there. "

Sean and Vic would both feel a psychic 'knock on the door'.

To whomever was open to receiving the message, they would be greeted with the imagery of a familiar style of watch,, the face of which however bore the likeness of a character Sean wasn't likely to be as familiar with as the usual culprit.

It was wrapped around a feminine wrist wearing an out of style glove, hovering above an equally out of fashion pair of shoes and dress, but those were in the background.

Whoever this was in the vision, they were checking their watch.

[Victor Freud]

Victor didn't see anything related to a Vonnie, and the mental image of a clock ticking was taken as his cue to end his part of the investigation. He dropped down to his previous minute size and began the trot back toward the door that led into the front of the shop, and the counter beyond.

[Sean Hall]

Sean began wrapping up seeing that somebody was trying to let him know time was up as it were, so he pocketed the crystal and erased the working with swipe of his hand. He began walking back towards the front of the building believing that's where he'd meet the others.

[Narrator]

"Miss, humor me for a moment."

"Kick me in the bloody shin."

[Emilie]

Emilie narrowed her eyes and considered the offer.

When no one sent back anything she shook her head.

"I musta been mistaken. Thanks for your time."

[Victor Freud]

It wasn't too long before Emilie would feel something touch her boot as Victor climbed aboard, holding onto one of the many buckles. Because a tiny guy running for the door might be slightly more conspicuous.

[Emilie]

Emilie would meet up with Sean, the weight of Victor not even breaking her stride.

"Keep walking wizard, he might call the cops."