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[throughthelookingmax]

"Hey, looks like there's a town up ahead."

Reigen obviously saw it --- he was the one driving, so he saw just about everything. But Max wasn't sure that the others in the back had. She looked over the shoulder of her seat as she said it, making sure that her voice wasn't drowned out by the sound of the 80s citypop CD they acquired at the last town they ran into.

Max turned back around and squinted her eyes, trying her best to filter out the rays of blinding light that seemed to reflect off of everything.

"I think it might be near a beach, too," she said. "That looks like a seagull, right?" Max pointed at the figure of a bird flying overhead.

Comments

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen hummed. It certainly seemed so to him.

"...Wait, if we're going to his childhood home...doesn't that mean...baby pictures?"

[throughthelookingmax]

Hitomi peeked up from the back at that. Max just grinned.

"You looking forward to seeing baby Doppio?" she asked Reigen.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Oh don't act like you aren't. If this is gonna be my last few days with my strange little friend I'm gonna milk it for everything it's worth. I'm gonna get the stories about him you'd only hear at his wedding."

[aoihitomi]

"I wonder if there are any pictures of his family. I'm sure his mom was very pretty. I wonder if they shared the same hair."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Given how easily Doppio passed as a girl, Reigen had a hard time imagining he didn't take after her.

"Hm...if Father Serra took him in as a baby, did that mean there was no one left to do it?"

[aoihitomi]

"His father must not have been in the picture... and his mother might not have had any family herself." This was too sad.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"...Just remember, happy faces, alright?"

They attracted stares as they passed through the narrow stone pathways of the village. Reigen pegged most of the folks as locals with their tanned skin and rustically casual attire, but there were a few that looked out of place. 'We must be the first newcomers with an actual working vehicle.'

At the heart of the village was a small whitewashed church. It had a belltower and everything. He had never seen a church like this in-person. Reigen couldn't help but imagine what it'd be like to explore it with Mob. He carefully, carefully pulled in alongside the priest's truck, though the branches of an olive tree were hugging the tall camper a bit too tight for comfort.

"The rectory is just down that way," Father Serra called to them as he climbed out of the truck, gesturing down a dirt walkway. It was hard to make out, but from what Reigen could see, it was modestly-sized. "I have another guest staying with me at the moment, but there's enough room for everyone."

[espresso_doppio]

"Who?" Doppio asked as he helped Chid down from the back of the truck.

"She's one of the displaced. Her name is Lisa Lisa."

[throughthelookingmax]

"Lisa Lisa? Not just... Lisa?" That was a name if Max ever heard one.

[espresso_doppio]

Father Serra chuckled as he opened the door for Vento to hop out. "Mysterious as she is, she's been a balm to our town. She happens to be from Venice."

"Venice! Didn't we visit there often?"

"We did, for the carnivals. Though the route to sail there on Tyrrhenian Sea doesn't quite look the way it once did..."

[aoihitomi]

"How much of your city is here?" Hitomi asked. "We've been to places where towns are fully intact, but Freid, where Chid is from, was completely fractured."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Biduèllu and the entire coastline remain intact. According to Miss Lisa Lisa, she had to traverse a sprawling desert from the north before arriving here. To the west is the sea as we knew it, but…according to our most experienced sailors, the mainland is nowhere in sight.”

“We drove in from the east. We followed a highway for weeks.” But it looks like their luck would be running out soon if there was no road left to follow from here. Reigen would worry about that later - first, Vento was gazing up at him as they walked and his floofy face was in dire need of some scritches.

[throughthelookingmax]

"I guess that means we should fill up on gas and get that oil change while we're here." On top of a lot of other things. "You think Anri's going to be able to handle that much sand?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“I don’t think the old girl has that kind of juice in her.” And if she did they’d burn through all their reserves of water just to keep her from overheating. “We should probably develop a plan B or C…”

[espresso_doppio]

‘A plan B…’

Doppio suddenly stopped walking as he was struck by a thought, but it was broken when Hitomi walked into his back as a result. He stumbled forward and spun around with a panicked expression.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I’m such an airhead.”

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi stumbled back but quickly regained her footing. She was an athlete after all.

"Everything okay?"

[espresso_doppio]

When their eyes met, Doppio had to look away. He waited until everyone had taken a few steps past them before answering. When he looked back at her, he mustered a smile.

“…Will you meet me outside tonight?” From his low tone of voice, it was clear he wanted to be private about it.

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi nodded wordlessly. "Sure," she added a moment later.

[throughthelookingmax]

"Sooooo..." Max droned once the kids had finished their secretive whispering (yes, she had noticed -- she was a teacher, after all). "I don't suppose you have a car dealership in town."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“‘Fraid not. My good friend and I handle most of the repairs for the village. Everything we have for parts are scraps from the trucks we had to retire. If it’s just a bit of maintenance, I can take care of that for you.”

The rectory was within view now, and Reigen was quietly struck with a surge of nostalgia at the sight of the broad garden in front. It looked a lot like his mother’s. He hoped she and the rest of his family were managing.

[throughthelookingmax]

"Trust me, it could definitely use any sort of maintenance you can offer." Max learned enough from Chloe about patching up trucks (she'd helped with more than one repair job until her truck gave up the ghost), but she couldn't do everything. "Let us know if there's anything we can do to give you a hand. We're not here to take advantage of your hospitality."

[espresso_doppio]

“You’ve already done me a great good by taking such care of my boy. A little repair work is the least I can do.”

While everyone passed him by to enter the house, Doppio lingered as he took it all in. The garden, the oak trees, the face of the two-story building itself—it was achingly familiar, but something was…off. Like a shoe that didn’t quite fit.

His anxious state was broken when he felt a lick on his palm. It was Vento. His black eyes were gazing up at Doppio’s curiously, as if he were trying to get a read on him. Then, he felt a gentle hand at his back. Father Serra smiled at him, and Doppio tried to smile back. Even if he felt off kilter, the man’s presence immediately made him feel a bit better.

And that had to mean something, right?

“I’ve given everyone the tour. While they get settled, would you like to relax in your room for a bit?”

Doppio blinked. When he looked around, he was suddenly inside. ‘When did I walk inside…?’ When had his father given everyone a tour? Had he been part of it?

“S-sure.”

He looked up the stairs but shook his head. His room was downstairs, he remembered that. It used to be upstairs when he was a kid, but he moved downstairs at some point. It was a room overlooking the courtyard. When the moon rose to the east he would watch it.

As he approached his bedroom, the unease grew, as well as a sudden aching loneliness. ‘I must have gotten used to sleeping with all the others.’

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Meanwhile, Reigen was scoping out the rooms upstairs with the rest of the party. He whistled, feeling somehow overwhelmed by even the most basic of living spaces anymore. Had he really been living out of a van for that long?

“Four rooms up here. Technically all of us could have one to ourselves if we wanted, right?”

[throughthelookingmax]

"Sorry, Hitomi, but there is no way I'm not taking the opportunity to have my own room." The few times they weren't living out of the van, Max and Hitomi shared a room.

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi was quick to dismiss Max's apology. It wasn't necessary; she didn't take offense. "No, I understand." It felt like ages since she'd had her own room. "I used to have to share with Merle before we were separated."