Chapter Text
Inside the Midnight Cafe, one of the most well known places in Lunadome, sit two old friends catching up. Castro and Florence, two friends who haven't seen each other since leaving the town 8 or so years ago. Returning home to celebrate the Moonlight festival, a town wide event that lasts the entire month. Celebrated around the Lunar New Year, folks are given Lunar Tokens as forms of payment, used at the stalls and for other miscellaneous products here and there. A woman, Charlotte's her name, walks up to Castro and Florence, and strikes up casual small talk. A waitress at this establishment, as well as an old classmate, Charlotte was a very bubbly individual, seeming to get along with everyone she talks to. "Didn't expect to see you guys here. It's been a long time, hasn't it?" She leans over the counter, striking Castro a smirk. The dark skinned individual returned the smirk with one of his own, a mischievous glint in his golden orange eyes. "Couldn't miss the festival, so it seemed like the perfect excuse to come home." He flicks his head towards Florence, his short black hair flowing with it. Charlotte turns her attention to Florence, her smile not leaving her face. "Flo, it's so nice to see you again." She leans slightly further towards Flo, eyebrows raised slightly in acknowledgement. Flo returns her smile, with one of her own. "Yeah, it has been a while. What have you been up to?" Charlotte leans back, crossing her arms over her apron everyone in the cafe has to wear, thinking briefly before answering. "Oh, nothing really. Working. Can't pay the bills without it. What about you? Last we talked, you were just planning on going to college. What did you end up going for?"
"Accounting, actually. Who would have thought?"
"Accounting, huh. Good on you. What about you Castro? You were planning on psychology right?" Castro nods, leaning his head on his hand. "Yeah, I ended up getting my degree, and moved towards med school."
"Wow, that's fascinating. Never struck you as a med student. Say, weren't there three more of you? Joseph, Riley, and Brielle right? You all had that book club you guys were in. Do you know where they are?" Charlotte questions, glancing around the smaller cafe, in an attempt to find the remaining three members. "They're expected to be here, but I don't know when exactly. Maybe the bus is running late, or traffic stopped them?" Castro informs, before the three fall into casual conversation, waiting for the remainder of their friends to show up.
Meanwhile, just right outside the cafe, Joseph stands hesitantly. He watched his friends walk in there, so why didn't he join them? Well, how could he? It's been a little over a decade of hell, seeing the same people over and over again, the same events, the same everything. He didn't know how to have actual conversations anymore. I mean, yeah they were… are his friends, but still. He looks different, he acts different, he is different. And not in a good way. As he stands there, nervously wringing his hands, the bus pulls up about a hundred or so yards away. And out walks Riley. Crap, well he can't get out of this one, can he. She sees him, and gives him a little wave as she's walking. He returns the wave, a small smile on his face. She finally reaches him, and pulls him in for a hug. No hesitation, no nothing. He immediately stiffens, unfamiliar with this sort of interaction, but finally snaps out of it and hugs her back. "It's been so long." She says in the voice he's grown so used to hearing. "Yeah, it has." He replied in a small voice. When has his voice become so quiet? He was an actor, he should be used to projecting his voice. "Are you ready to walk in?" She asks, always so understanding with him, and never forcing him to do anything." He nods, and the two of them walk in together.
As the two of them walk in, Castro and Florence both catch Riley's eye, and wave the two over to the bar they're sitting at. The two sit down, and there's a small bout of silence before Florence speaks up. "What chaos have you guys sprouted this time?" She questions, a playful tone in her voice, and sparkling in her brown eyes. "Us? chaos? Never. I only hacked a very important company, nothing more" Riley responds with an equal amount of playfulness in her voice, as she pushes up her glasses a bit. "Yeah, come on. Why would we possibly cause chaos?" Castro sarcastically remarks. Flo simply rolls her eyes, a smile playing on her lips. Charlotte, who has remained mostly silent, pipes up. "Riley! So great to see you again. How was your ride here?" She shifts her attention, focusing on Riley. "It was fine. The bus hit a little traffic on the way, but it wasn't too bad. You look great." Riley moves her long blond hair off of her shoulder. She figured putting it in a ponytail would keep it out of her way, but it doesn't seem to be the case. "Oh, thank you darling." She shifts her attention once more, this time to Joseph. "And Jo. It's been a bit, hasn't it." She leans on the bar slightly, seemingly trying to catch his attention. He seems to come to, blinking his auburn eyes as they refocus, and focuses his attention on her. "Oh, yeah, it has been." He offers her a smile, his voice never truly reaching the pitch it used to. "Well, I have to go serve my other tables, but… Mason! Come on out here!" She shouted towards the back. "Mason can get your drinks for you." She gives us a wave, before walking towards Castro and giving him a sly smirk, before going to her other tables. Mason, a younger teen, walks up to the four of them, a bored look on his face. "What can I get you all?" His monotone voice asks. Joseph, recognizing Mason, gives him a small wave, and a, "Hi Mason." Mason looks at him, returning the wave, and saying hi back. Mason is the owner's kid, and with this being a place Joseph frequented while here, he knows him quite well."Moscow Mule for me." Castro responds almost immediately. "Just water please." Joseph says almost at the same time as Flo, also requesting water. "A margarita please." Riley responds. He glances at Flo, before scoffing slightly and saying, "boring" before walking off to get the drinks. The group resorts back to some small talk, before their drinks come out. The group starts on their drinks, when a loud voice comes from the Midnight Cafe's door. "Castro my man!" They all turn to see Maxie, another person they all know from school standing in the entrance. "Maxie, my man." Castro stands up, and the two of them hug it out, before he sits down next to him at the bar. They engage in conversation, catching up, before he turns to Joseph and nods his way. "Hey Joseph." He smiles and waves.
"Hi Maxie." His eyes catch Riley's and he smiles. "Riley." Riley nods her head at him in response. Maxie had a very close relationship with Castro during school, and it seems to have stayed that way even after he left. He wasn't as close to the others as Castro, but that never really stopped him from talking to them. Finally he lands on Flo. His smile seemed to have faltered a bit, his cheerful glow kinda diminishing slightly. "Flo." He says curtly. For some reason, he was always short with her. None of the friends really knew why. She simply nodded back, before going back to her drink. "What have you been up to, man?" Castro asks.
"Oh, you know. I breed dogs now. Got into the business not that long ago." He states. The poor guy wasn't ever really good at school. It was honestly a surprise when he graduated. He's a very friendly guy though, as shown by how talkative he is with the group. "Are you doing it ethically?" Flo asks, which seems to throw Maxie off guard for a second. "Uuh, yeah. Hey man, I gotta go. It was nice seeing you all again! I hope you enjoy the festival!" Maxie runs off, waving at us as he does. Charlotte, seemingly finished with her other tables, returns to us. "So, are you excited for the festival?" She asks Riley, taking her spot back on the bar. "Yeah, I honestly forgot about it until pulling up, but I always remembered it being a really nice time." Riley responds, taking a sip of her drink. "And what about you Jo?" Joseph, who has been staring into his cup of water, jumps back into consciousness, and looks at her. "Oh, yeah. It's going to be great." He says with no real emotions behind it. She smiles playfully. "You better wake up, you wouldn't want to fall asleep too fast. The festival is all month long. Speaking of." She leans in close to the group. "I'm supposed to give this to you. You're only supposed to get one, but since I know you, you get five." And she hands us all five Lunar Tokens. A lunar token is a simple circular blue wax like object surrounded with a gold metal band. "I have 5 here for Brielle too, but" she looks frantically between the four members sitting in front of her, "here. Hold these for her. I will know if you don't give them to her." She thrusts five more tokens into Joseph's hands. A bit stunned, he accepts the five extra tokens, tucking five in one pocket of his pants, and five in the other. She then runs off, needing to take care of something else. Probably the drunk old man, who's sitting at his usual spot in the cafe. He's shouting quite loudly, asking for more beer, as if he wasn't already drunk enough. This strikes an idea in Castro's mind. As he begins to stand up, a familiar face walks into the cafe. Brielle, the final friend, walks in and catches Castro’s eye. She walks over and takes a seat next to Riley, striking her a bright smile. “Brielle! So nice of you to show up! Was traffic busy? Did you take the bus?” Charlotte asks as Brielle takes her seat.
“Oh, yeah it was. But I drove here instead of taking the bus.” Charlotte nods.
“Do you still have your parents' car?” Brielle laughs a bit, before responding.
“Well, it’s my car now. They gave it to me, so I own it now. But yes, it is the same one. It’s gotten me pretty far.” Charlotte nods, very intrigued in what she has to say before she glances at Joseph. “Don’t you have something for her?” She questions pointedly at him. He flinches, before rifling through his one pocket to fish out the Lunar Tokens, and hands her the five he was given for her. “These are for you.” He tells her, not looking her in the eye, before going back to his water. Castro focuses on her, resettling himself back down on the bar stool. “What have you been up to?” He asks.
“Ah, well, you know. I’m a nurse now, so that’s pretty cool.”
“That makes two of you that went to med school. How in the world did you both manage to go to med school in such a small amount of time?” Flo asks, glancing between the two of them.
“We’re just that good. Don’t read too much into it.” Castro responds with a sly smirk before he stands back up. “I’ll be right back. I have something I would like to do.” He says as he walks over to the very intoxicated man. “Hey man.” He says, causing the man to look up at him.
“What do you want?” He slurs, downing the rest of his beer.
“You got a Lunar Token too, right?” Castro asks as he sits down in the seat across from him.
“Yeah. What of it? You’re gonna have to win it off of me.” A sinister smile crosses Castro's face.
“How about a drinking contest?” The man laughs out loud, smacking his hand on the table. “You’ve got to be joking. I’ll drink you under the table little boy.” He says as he calls over Mason. “Keep them beers coming. I need to prove a point.” Mason sighs heavily, but leaves to get them.
Meanwhile, Charlotte leans towards Brielle. “What can I get for you?”
“Just a beer please.” Brielle responds almost immediately. Charlotte nods, before walking away to get that for her. As she does that, the group overhears commotion coming from behind them. It sounds like Castro and the old man are having a drinking contest. People are crowding around the two, and the sound of clinking coins can be heard. It seems like they are making bets on who will win. As Joseph hons in on what everyone is saying, it seems like the crowd is indecisive on who they’re voting for. Some are convinced that the “young whipper snapper” will win. Others are convinced that the old man is going to win. “You guys gonna bet?” Charlotte asks, as she returns with Brielle's beer. The group shrugs, and both Riley and Joseph bet for Castro, Joseph betting one and Riley betting two. However, Flo bets two against him. As they turn to watch the remainder of the battle, they watch as the old man finishes his drink, and then stands up. Only to then stumble, and collapse, seemingly passed out from the sheer amount of alcohol he consumed. Mason, the one who was overseeing the whole ordeal, collected and is now redistributing the Lunar coins as needed. Castro, satisfied with his winning, returns to the group. “Congrats Castro.” Charlotte bumps his shoulder with a smile. After a small amount of time has passed, the group continues their small talk, everyone's phones go off, a mass text message showing on everyone's screens. Joseph, who doesn’t appear to pull out a phone, leans over to Riley to look at her screen, Riley leaning the phone slightly towards him so he’s able to get a closer look at the message on the screen. “Missing Persons report. Person in question is Fiona Welsh. Gray eyes, brown hair, shorter, and always wearing colorful clothing. If found, please call the number below.” And the number listed is the mayor's number. I mean, it makes sense, the missing girl being the daughter of the mayor and all. “Again? She’s been doing this a lot.” Charlotte states, before putting her phone away.
“When did this all start?” Joseph asks, looking towards her.
“It seems to have started once you guys all left, so about 8 or so years ago. This is the third time this week we have gotten this message.” She then slaps the countertop, catching the group's attention. “So, if you guys don’t have any plans yet; yes I know that the festival is going on, but if you could just take a small amount of time away from that I have something I want to show you guys at the library. My thirty was supposed to be thirty minutes ago, but I’m sure they’ll let me go now. I could use that time to take you there.” The group follows her out of the cafe, and into the street. Just a few hours later, and there are already so many stalls and carts full of miscellaneous trinkets and foods. “Here, let me see your phone Riley.” She holds out her hand. Riley hands her phone over. She adds her phone number in, and goes to add the library into her maps, when she sees that it already is pinned. “Oh, good. It’s already there. I know you might want to go look around quickly, since you all came before they really set up. But, I’ll meet you over there.” She gives everyone a quick wave, before she heads off towards the library. The four of them look over the stalls, absolutely enthralled by what they see. Castro’s mother engages enthusiastically with Samuel, a teacher from the high school, and Maxie stands at a stall with a few dogs. So many more are around, adorning different festive foods and toys. “So, what do we want to do?” Riley asks.
“I kind of want to go with Charlotte. She seemed like she really wanted to show us something.” Brielle is in agreement, whereas Castro wants to go talk a bit to Maxie. Riley then turns to Joseph. “What do you want to do?” However, she does not get a response from him.
As soon as Joseph steps out of the cafe, and turns to see the festival, he freezes. It brings him back to a time that was not so great. Sure, it wasn’t quite like back then. That was a circus, this is not. But, it’s all so close. With that comes the memories. The death. The resets. The constant betrayal. The death of his girlfriend. The only thing he can feel right now is the weight of the token in his pocket, the only remainder of his girlfriend. Why didn't he remember the festival was happening? If he did, he wouldn't have come back here. He feels his mind begin to lock up, begin to block out the sounds and sights as he begins to mentally transport himself back to the time he wishes he could forget. But, a hand touches his shoulder. And like that, he comes to.
Riley places a hand on Joseph's shoulder, noticing the tell tale signs of an oncoming panic attack. He jumps slightly at her touch, turning slightly to look at her. "Hey, would you want something? We could go together and get something from the stalls."
"Actually, c-could we go to the library? I would much rather go there right now." Joseph responds, a slight quiver to his voice. Riley nods, not really understanding, but doesn't want to push him to do something he doesn't want. "Alright, if the group is going to the library, I guess I'll go too. I'll get back to this once we're done." Castro says, meeting up with everyone, and the five of them start off for the library, not knowing what they're going to get into next.