September 20, 2022

Cole and Spider appear in the lighthouse.

"So we're heading to that beach right?" Spider asks while heading up the metal spiral staircase

"it's not at the beach, last time me and Luna were there it was gone" Cole follows

They reach the top to find it’s raining slightly and dark out. A rope from an earlier search hangs off the side of the lighthouse still.

"So where we headed then?” Spider stops at the railing at looks at Cole raising an eyebrow.

"Well someone has it, so...i guess we have to find it" Cole shrugs.

"And you're gonna what? Sniff em down?"

"...." Cole looks to be actually considering it.

"Good luck in this weather, the rain will have dulled the scents, not to mention it was also raining last time I was here"

"I gotta good sniffer, you'll never be able to match my sniffing power" Cole starts sniffing the air, hoping to by luck sniff it out somehow. He can only smell rain.

"You know I'm proper wolf right? If anyone's the better tracker it's me"

"Yeah well.....I hope you get water in your nose cause I don't have to worry about that!" Cole crosses his arms and smiles

"You really are something else aren't ya?” She shakes her head “So did you get anything?"

"...all I can smell is rain" Cole sighs and uncrosses his arms.

"So to the beach then? We might get a lead there and Luna mentioned a second path"

"It's not at the beach and i'm pretty sure the other path goes nowhere but you are welcome to try it while I break and enter into houses"

"Are you stupid? A. that'll take you all bleedin' night and B. what makes you think a local has it? There's a reason sky wants it and I highly doubt it's because some rando picked it up"

"Spider, I will take my fucking chances that a local has it and if you honestly think it's in that cave then go search for it while I look for it in the town. the sooner we find it the sooner sparrow will be back to some form of normality" Cole sighs.

"Fine, fine I'll tag along" She sighs as her form starts to glitch into staticky green lines.

"Good, now lets stop wasting time and find this fuckin thing" Cole vaults the railing and starts walking to the manor. She growls and jumps down after him her form glitching a few more times as she follows him. They reach the manor and see a road going to the left and right. Cole heads right as Spider follows. 

Spider glances at the manor in thought before she follows him "Don't you think that if anyone around here had it, it would be the Moores?"

"Why would the Moores be interested in a weapon made of opal? It's a weak gem to use for a weapon"

"Says the guy with a sword made of opal"

"Point still stands, I doubt they know of its unnatural properties" Cole goes to the house closest to the cords from the cereal box riddle leading them all the way to the end of town towards the North West.

"It's the Moore's, considering how they were before the old timeline was destroyed I'd be surprised if they didn't" She's still following Cole building a map of the place in her head as she goes.

"i mean all i'm sayin is that I doubt the Moore's are interested in a weapon made out of a weak gem"

"that's not my point you plank"

"well it's mine" After they pass through Greywood, they head to what looks like the outskirts of town. The streets are quiet at night and they find an old run down warehouse with tarps over some broken windows. There's broken glass and cigarettes on the ground.

"So this is an interesting place" Spider comments.

"..not what i was expecting but alright" Cole walks over to a broken window and peers his head inside.

inside looks to be an abandoned mechanics shop. There's still a car in it.

"Any luck?" Spider asks.

"Abandoned mechanics shop, there's still a car" Cole carefully climbs into the window, avoiding the glass. The white opal blade that Cole wears seems to shift its weight some as he enters. Cole unsheathes it and twirls it to check the balance. All of the weight is to the handle. Spider heads inside and starts looking around.

"all the weight is in the handle, weird" Cole shrugs and starts searching.

There's a shuffling sound from in the car

Cole quickly spins around to face the car and Spider’s ear twitches as she turns to look as well. Something falls out of the open door on the other side. the seats and interior look to be torn to shreds. Spider moves around the vehicle to see what fell out as Cole follows, gripping the sword tightly.Sitting by the open car door is a strange stringy mass that’s difficult to make out. Spider carefully nudges it with her foot. Its feels furry as it steps back and turns to face them. On facing them it's easier to see. They see what looks like a black cat or fox with long ears and egg like droopy and uneven black and white eyes. Its smile cuts through its left eye and spans to the tip of each ear. It’s body distorts like it’s stuck in a high content awareness filter. It gives them a rather goofy smile.

"..." Cole looks at Spider and whispers "can we keep it?"

"no we can't" Spider whispers back before looking over at them "Hello?"

Cole emits a boowomp noise as he looks back at them aswell.

The creature has a rather cute and innocent female voice "Hello"

"Great you can talk, do you have a name?" Spider’s slightly weirded out by this but trying not to show it.

The creature responds as she makes a wobbly smile "Entity eat car"

Cole whispers to spider "I think we should keep it or at least take it somewhere else"

"..you're Entity?" Spider asks as she turns to Cole and whispers "You know who this is right?"

Cole whispers back "well aware, why shouldn't we move it away from the car it's trying to eat?"

"because it seems perfectly happy here and we have a sword to find"

"Sword?" Entity tilts her head to the side curiously.

Cole slowly climbs out of a broken window while staring at Entity

Spider looks over at Entity "Yeah, have you seen one?"

"What is?" Entity tilts her head to the other side.

"it's a weapon, like a knife but bigger"

"What is knife?"

Spider sighs and moves a hand down to a knife sheath on her belt pulling out a hunting knife and showing it to Entity. "This is a knife, so have you seen a sword anywhere?"

Cole starts slowly walking away from the warehouse. Entity nods.

"Could you show me?"

Entity shakes her head "Only Wensdays"

Spider growls and mutters something under her breath. Entity crawls back into the car as there's sounds of the interior being ripped apart. 

Spider sighs and walks back over to the car. She knocks on the window. Entity raises her face to look over at spider with a smile full of upholstery. Spider lies "You know it's Wednesday right? So could you show me where the sword is?"

Entity shakes her head "No no, not Wensday"

"When is Wednesday then?"

"When done eat car"

"right, well I'll see you later then Entity" Spider leaves and starts tracking down Cole.

Cole walks through downtown and to a street with a one story brick house. He walks up to a window and peers through it, looking for a weapon case. He sees an old gray cat sitting in a recliner watching tv and snoring. He goes to a brick two story house. In the window he sees two hyena nonferal children fighting over a card game. 

"i fuckin doubt that old ass cat has the opal weapon" Cole groans as he walks to the next closest house. Cole twirls the opal sword as he looks for a weapon case. The opal sword has slowly become balanced again. He sees a decorative hunting knife displayed on the mantle of the fireplace past the hyena kids

Cole tries to see if it's made of opal as he gets an idea. He can't seem to tell as It's in an elaborate sheath. Cole makes a mark in the grass with the sword and goes to the next closest house as he keeps the sword level out in front of him. He reaches another two story brick home. Inside is an empty living room with a sleeping pet feral cat on the sofa. No weapons in sight. 

Spider Catches up and walks over to Cole. "So any luck?"

Cole shakes his head "Not yet"

The pet feral cat in the house raises its head to the sound and meows.

Cole whispers "The cat can hear us"

"No shit, it's a cat" She mutters.

Cole rolls his eyes as he whispers "Oh really?"

The cat meows again as it gets up and hops onto the window seal. Cole slowly looks over at the cat as he marks the grass with the sword and motions for Spider to follow as he walks to the next closest house. The next house is a one story house with white siding. the curtains are closed

"So what's your plan if you find the sword? Because I doubt you're just gonna be able to barge in" Spider follows.

Cole whispers as he checks if the window is unlocked. "Turn invisible then barge in and take it"

The window is locked. Cole twirls the sword and feels it’s still balanced as he whispers "shit"

"So breaking a window is beneath you now?" Spider mutters.

Cole whispers "Well that makes a lot of noise dumbass"

Spider rolls her eyes at him "So where next?"

Cole tries to score the glass in a circle big enough to put his arm through with his claw. The cheap glass instantly shatters.

"So much for stealth" Spider comments.

"Shush" Cole sticks his arm in and unlocks the window. Cole pulls his arm out and opens the window as he moves the curtains and looks around. They are both hit with a strong herbal smell. A smoking "vase" sits on a table in a sloppy living room.

"stoners then?" Spider peeks into the living room.

Cole coughs "Yup, and i doubt stoners would have it" Cole stops peering into the window

"So doing this is a solid idea but stoners having the sword is too much?” she moves onto the next house. A pet feral pitbull in the fenced in yard starts barking at them.

Cole follows "Stoners wouldn't be able to get off their ass to get it-" Cole starts barking back. The dog stops and tilts its head in confusion at cole.

Spider covers her ears and looks in through the nearest window "You mind?"

Cole stops barking as he whispers "Sorrryyyyy"

In the house is someone asleep on the sofa with football reruns playing on the tv

"ta, theres nothing here that I can see but try the sword" She drops her hands.

"...why?"

Cole twirls it to find it’s still balanced. There a couple of nonferals walking down the sidewalk headed their way. Cole quickly sheathes the sword as he rocks on his heels

"..great" Spider sighs at seeing the nonferals and goes to stand next to Cole. One of them looks in their direction a bit suspiciously. Cole smiles and waves while Spider shrugs as she puts her hands in her pockets. They look mildly disgusted and they keep walking until they pass them.

Cole whispers "I really wanna eat them"

"As much as I wanna say go for it, it'll attract too much attention" Spider whispers back.

"Dammit" Cole whispers and sighs "Go check the window"

Spider pulls her hands out of her jacket pockets "Already did, there's nothing" They move on to the next house. The next window has closed blinds

Cole sighs "Well this is going great"

"Did you really expect anything else?"

"Yeah" 

The next house looks abandoned with planks of wood boarding up the windows

"promising, hopefully" Cole mutters.

Spider walks over to and tries the door seeing if it's locked. Its unlocked as Cole feels the sword's weight shift fully to the end of the blade and it quietly hums.

"I bet you it's in here I bet you" Cole walks next to spider

"well if we find it, I'm holding onto it yeah?" They enter and start searching the house. The living room has old tarps over the furniture and there’s a foul smell.

"I mean the sky said it would tell me when I grab it sooo" Cole adds.

"Yeah when you have the location I'm holding onto it, I don't trust you with this" She follows the smell trying not to gag.

Cole blocks his nose with his paw "And why don't you trust me? This helps me and you why would I fuck both of us over?"

The smell leads upstairs as they both head up.

"Because you're not the brightest, and you're rash and those reasons aside, if I hold onto the sword then Sky will have no other choice but to let me tag along to your little meet"

"The fact that you don't trust me with saving my own daughters life is actually so fucking upsetting, and why would you wanna intrude on a private meeting? I thought you liked privacy or something" Cole is on the verge of tears

They reach an open door to a bedroom covered in blood. Theres a body laying near the nightstand, the source of the smell. The blade continues to hum.

"when it comes to Sparrow’s well being I don't give a shit about privacy" She looks over at the body then back at Cole with a sigh. "Thought so, and the reason why I don't trust you is because I....care about Sparrow yeah? When it comes to her I don't trust anyone but myself and her"

"So me being Sparrow's father means nothing to you? I care more about her more then my own damn life" Cole sniffles as the tears flow down his face "But fine whatever I'll just shut up cause clearly my word means nothing to you"

"What and I don't?" Spider sighs "I just...wanna make sure this goes smoothly, and it's not that it doesn't, it's just..I'm worried about her ok? And I want to be there to make sure she's gonna be ok"

Cole sniffles and turns away from Spider as he mutters "I just.....I don't want her to die again" Cole puts his head in his paws.

"I don't either and the best way we achieve that is by working together, and considering your habit of hiding information I'd like to be in the room"

"I only hide information when I'm scared of everyone's reactions" Cole mumbles as he pulls his paws away from his face

"yeah I get it, but it's not helpful mate"

They inspect the body to find it’s partly skinned but with no weapon in sight.

"ok...that's definitely not concerning" Spider mutters

Cole sniffles as he mutters "Can't help it but I'll try and get better" Cole looks over at the body as he wipes the tears from his face and shrugs "Not too bad"

"Ta mate, and yeah, it's a problem though"

"What? That it's a half skinned body or that the weapon isn't here?"

"Both, I mean let's assume that this guy had the weapon, and now he's been shredded, you see why that's not good?"

"...both of us are immortal"

"And I can still feel pain"

"I can still feel pain too but like I have a gun and they have a sword or something"

"I doubt it, but anyways you wanna go check the other rooms?"

"Yeah" Cole nods "Lead the way"

She glances around the room one last time before walking out and heading into the next nearest room. Cole follows as they enter a small bathroom 

"I can't tell if the humming means we are far away or close to it" Cole mentions.

"I mean it should mean that we're close to it right? Cause wasn't it humming when the entity showed up?" Spider heads into the next room. The last room upstairs is an office. The window is open.

"So back downstairs and round? Cause it looks like whoever it was threw themselves out the window" Spider chuckles lightly. The sword’s humming dies down until it stops.

Cole shrugs "Fuck it" Cole jumps out of the window.

"Idiot" Spider mutters her form once again glitching into green lines as she jumps out after him. They land in a fenced in backyard with some broken bottles.

Cole looks for a trail that someone could have left. There's no trail besides a few stray blood spots on the ground near the window. "No trail....I kinda wanna go back to the one house that had a weapon on display"

Spider sniffs the air "Yeah..just one sec" There's smells of people everywhere as she sighs "fucks sake…So you wanted to head back?"

"yeah, I think it's a couple houses back"

The sun is just above the horizon and the rain is now only a slight drizzle. There's a few cars passing on the roads here and there.

"Spider trust me I have an idea" Cole sheaths the sword and starts waking back to the house with the kids and the weapon.Spider almost wants to say something but stays quiet and follows him. They can hear the two kids inside the house playfully screaming while running around the house

"So what's the plan?"

"Well they’re being loud sooo" Cole walks over to the window he saw the weapon at and peers in. He sees the two kids dash into another room. One is holding a foam sword. The tv is on and playing cartoons. Cole checks the window and discovers it’s unlocked.

"Be careful yeah?"

Cole nods and opens the window as he quietly steps in and starts walking towards the weapon. They hear one of the kids hit the other with the foam sword rather hard, a long pause, and screaming. Cole covers his ears and whimpers quietly as he grabs the weapon and goes to leave. They hear a parent in the other room yell "STOP HITTING EACHOTHER WITH THE SWORD"

Spider covers her ears as she watches Cole keeping an eye on him and the doors. Cole covers his ears and whimpers again as he climbs out of the window

"So you wanna check it here or head home and do it?" She sighs and leans against the wall.

Cole shuts the window and sighs in relief "Let's head home and do it"

"you mind if I take it?"

"...." Cole looks slightly upset as he extends it to spider

She sighs as she takes it "Look if you can get me in this meeting then I'll give it back ok? I just...need to be there"

"Alright" Cole sighs "Ready to go home now?"

Spider fiddles with the weapon some "thank you, and yeah though while I have you I should probably explain myself more shouldn't I?"

"yeah that would be nice" Cole leans on the side of the house

"The thing is, I don't trust the sky, and going off that log you started acting weird in that dream, and I told Sparrow that I would make sure everything is gonna be ok so yes I'd like to be there, both for her sake and mine"

"That's understandable, and I only started acting weird because of the bosses name"

"no, before that you kept banging on about...Term and acting like they were gone forever when Sparrow’s here, if that makes any sense"

"Did you read it fully? Sparrow is one of two halves and when I give this weapon to the sky he will join the halves"

"yeah and what happens then? How is this gonna affect her? And you mean when we give it to 'em"

"I don't know what's gonna happen or how it's gonna effect her but it's certainly better then her turning into that fucking thing"

"agreed....I just don't wanna lose her again and right now it seems like both options lead to that" She mutters quietly before speaking up "anyways we headed back?"

Cole nods and sighs as he mutters "i don't wanna lose her again either" Cole then speaks up "yeah we should uh get going"

"You playing taxi or am i?"

"i got it" Cole snaps as Cole and Spider disappear

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