Checking In

Aimee stared at her phone, her thumb hovering over the call button. Finally taking a breath, she pressed down and raised the phone to her ear, waiting for Irene to pick up.

She didn't recognize the number right off, but it was a Texas area code - she was guessing College Station. Which meant it could be cops, or lawyers, or gods even knew who. But, you never knew.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Irene, I don't know if you remember me specifically. This is Aimee Solleau, with the, umm, allies in College Station..."

Well, that was a bit of a surprise, though a relatively pleasant one. Sophie had been coordinating a lot of stuff with the cops, and she didn't know how much the locals she'd met had been able to avoid getting entangled.

"Oh! No, I remember you, definitely. What's, ah, up?"

"I, um, just wanted to check in with you guys and see how things are going. I'm sorry, that's not...I know things must be terrible right now. I just wanted to see if there was anything I or we could do to help."

She sighed. "Yeah. Things are kind of....well a fuckin' giant fuckin' mess. I don't know what's gong to happen - we're trying to stick together, you know - just in case? But we all have other shit on our plates... It's rough, but everyone's safe. Everyone, uh, here."

"I can only imagine...actually, I know exactly what its like when something happens to a friend." Aimee paused, considering. "Wait, you said everyone there. Are people leaving? Or did they go missing? Any word from...upstairs?"

"I meant ...Indigo." She tried to force herself to say his name as blunctly, as casually as possible, but here was still a pause before the word would come out, and an edge to it that reflected her feelings a little too keenly. It felt sharp - she felt sharp, and angry. She pressed on, trying to push it away. "Everyone is here. And no - no word. Danya was really our only open line of communication, and she's gone too.... Its just sort of... I don't know. How long until we know that its safe, you know? On top of all the rest. What the fuck do I even say to anyone?"

"Have there been any more incidents? I'll see what we can do tracking down Alan or any of the rest, but they're pretty slippery. I know we don't know each other...at all, really, but we are kind of all in this together. I don't want any more of your people hurt."

"No.... Nothing like that. But if you find that bastard, I want a fucking piece of him."

Aimee's tone was grim in response. "Duly noted, and I don't blame you. We've got a similar beef with an associate of his, and I'll gladly turn him over to you when we find him."

"On a related note, as its something that seems to happen to us fairly regularly, how worried are you about other threats? The group seems to run into them every couple of weeks or so."

"Thanks. Sophie doesn't think it is something we need to worry about too much - mostly that shit is attracted to you guys, not us. Although, Geoff is taking this stuff pretty seriously. The.... thing about you being Gods?" It sounded sort of awkward to say aloud, even if she knew it was more or less right. "I'm sort of worried that he might attract some kind of negative attention, but we'll keep an eye on him. He needs us. Indigo still needs us, too. And maybe it will be better for everyone, without Danya."

"Whoa, we're not gods. Demi, at best, and that's kind of a technicality. But, uh, that's not important. What do you mean Geoff's taking it seriously? And what about Danya?"

It was weird to talk to someone on the outside about any of this, but it was also kind of a relief. "Danya was.... well, she was all about his Father, and so there was always sort of a thing there. I don't know what all I should be saying about it, over the phone, but she was pretty, ah, dedicated. And old. At least I think so. She never really said and I don't wanna bug Sophie about it because she's going through so much and everything's kind of falling on her right now. All the public stuff. So its touchy. Geoff's thinking a little, uh.... evangelical, maybe? I don't know how to put it. He's just trying to cope, and Danya shut him out so much... but he thinks it will help Indigo somehow. I don't know. What do you think? Is that how it works?"

"Well, I'm certainly no expert, but, yeah, that actually might help. I'm told that notoriety actually empowers us, sort of. I really don't know, but I don't think it could hurt at this point."

"Yeah, that's sort of the impression we had.... How are things down there? Not too much trouble with the po-po? Uh... how is Esperanza?"

"She's, uh, she's getting better. We've all been keeping an eye on her, but its been rough. I think she's been dealing with a lot to begin with, and this was just the camel-breaking straw. We're...I'm trying to find ways to prevent this sort of thing. This is bigger than I think people realize, and we've got to find a way to be more proactive." Aimee paused, embarrassed. "Um, maybe I'm getting evangelical, too. Sorry."

"No, man, its cool. I can only imagine - I mean, I'm standing on the sidelines here and its already pretty heavy stuff. If you need any help though... I don't like things that hurt, and murder, people that I care about."

"Well, if nothing else, let me know if you or your people run into anything you can't handle. Or, hell, just let me know if you run into anything period. I think the more communication we have going, the better. I know things went bad down here, but ya'll seem like good folks, and I'm here if or when you need anything. Trust me, I've got the time and the money. Hell, I have a private plane if it comes to that. We can be there in a few hours if things get dicey, and our doors are always open."

"Man, this is New York. There is always crazy shit even without, well, you know. You want a piece of trouble, you are welcome to come up anytime, and I'm sure we can find something. But seriously - thanks. We're keeping an eye out, and if we need the help its great to know its there."