City of IF

[scissorkitty]

Prologue Redux:

Everybody has a secret. Everyone has something they would rather the world in general didn’t know. My secret is something I wish I didn’t know.

Imagine your life. You were born to a mother, probably a nice woman. You had a father, probably a decent sort of guy. You happily passed through all the regular stages of infant development, your happy family clutched in the palm of one chubby, grubby fist. You ate a few crayons. You scraped your knees. You passed your math tests, learned to read, rode a bike, hid peas beneath your napkin, and tried to avoid being killed by an older, immortal brother that you only vaguely know exists. Or maybe that’s just me.

My name is Europa Fielder. As I write this, I am 22 years old. I live by myself in a tiny apartment above a Laundromat in a small town called Dolmen Groves. My apartment is too small, cramped, dim and ant-infested for most folks to really like it, but due to Aunty Mel’s Quick Wash downstairs, it always smells fantastic! I am not, as of yet, immortal. Before you throw a porterhouse at me, or try and create a charming garden fence in my chest cavity- I am not a vampire, nor am I likely to become an imaginary creature any time soon. I am simply a victim of a rather unfortunate curse on a rather overly fortunate man, who fathered one too man bastards.

“May you and your bastards live the life of the Damned, forever!”

Wow. Who’d have thought that Fate was listening to that one?

Synopsis:
Chapter One:
Europa visits her oldest siblings, a trio of octogenarian Immortals. Eloise, Helen, and Powell are engaged in a verbally abusive game of scrabble. The nature of the family curse comes to light: it seems that once someone dies, they are reanimated at that age, seemingly forever. Europa steals Powell into the kitchen, and once there, she questions the elderly gent about another brother, Harrold. Harrold proves to be less than loveable, with a deep-rooted beef of some sort against Euro, and a desire to see her end as a vegetable. Unable to get the dirt of Harrold's whereabouts from Powell, Euro visits another sibling, the diminuative Bernice. Bernice, stuck at the physical age of nine, is the financial genius who runs the Triplets' expansive real estate holdings and fortune. Bernice doesn't have much to say about Harrold, other than the fact that he may be trying to interfere with the young widow of a man named Rolph. She also tells Bernice that Eloise has met a psychic who may shed some more light on the Rolph issue, and that someone named Davis has an interesting theory about Rolph's death.


Chapter Two:
Europa meets up with Eloise, and the hated brother Harrold, before heading into the shabby apartment of the purported psychic. The psychic is revealed in all his quasi-hippy glory, and the sibs are unimpressed he warns them that, "ALL IS NOT AS IT SEEMS! SOMEONE IN THIS ROOM IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED!” . Rolph is revealed as the father of Euro and her mis-matched family. Once outside the apartment door, the temporary truce between Euro and Harrold is broken as Eloise leaves, and all the animosity returns, along with a mysterious phone call.


Chapter Three:
After a brutal staircase battle, and the intervention of a timely telemarketer, Euro leaves Harrold in pieces on the hallway floor, and heads over to Davis' trailer. Davis is revealed to be the third brother, a seemingly fourteen-year-old skater. He shows Euro a mysterious letter. The letter says the same warning that the psychic shouted, and sports "eyebrow tree" symbol. Euro recalls the same symbol on a book left by Rolph for his widow, Marion. At the mention of Marion, we revisit Rolph's funeral, and Davis spouts his theory on how Rolph- also Immortal- was able to become deceased.
“Right. So, here we are. Then Rolph goes and hooks up with Marion. He’s all set to tie the knot, they say their vows, and the whole marriage thing is finalized. The minute its done, though, Rolph has voided the curse! See.. Cause it says “You and your bastards”, right? But now Rolph is married, so any kids he has with Marion are now legally his- NOT illegitimate kids like the rest of us. So they won’t be cursed, and I think that somehow tricked the old voodoo into taking his curse away too, so all his years caught up with him, and now he’s a dirt pile instead of a dirt bag!”


Chapter Four:
Unsure of where to head next, Euro and Davis go over to Bernice's place, and the three siblings come up with a plan of research-and-attack. Compiling a short list of seven possible sites of the old tavern, where Rolph's curse was first cast, the trio head out.


Chapter Five:
Starting at the Damsel Taverne Bed and Breakfast, which quickly reveals itself to be a hotel chain rather than an ancient barstop, the three siblings head next to the Happy Endings Funeral Parlour and Mortuary. Euro is voted as the most likely researcher, and meets a Lurch-look-alike mortician, as well as getting a belly full of burning person-aroma. Several more possible locations are struck from the list, leading our trio to Incarna- an upscale bar and grill. Once at Incarna, a plaque announcing its "illustrious" history- from roadside tavern of old, thru Earl's XXX Hotspot, to the modern-day restaurant- proves the place to be a likely fit for Rolph's old watering hold. Euro, Bernice and Davis try and think of a plan to learn more from the snotty management.


Chapter Six:
Bernice throws a hissy fit, pretending to be a spoilt brat, and the trio of siblings end up in a casual meeting with Earl, the owner of Incarna. After posing as hoity-toity rich kids for a while, Bernice decides that Earl doesn't know anything helpful, and talks their way out of the situation by ripping the proverbial ass out of Earl's jeans with a swift financial speech. Left gaping, Euro, Bernice and Davis merrily skip their way out in search of the County Records Office.

Chapter Seven:
The County Records Office is located inside the local decrepit library, attended by a squirelly madwoman named "Happy". Euro is lead to a dusty back room packed with tomes to look for the purchasing records of the Tavern building, while Bernice and Davis prowl the rest of the building, in search of curse references, or background materials. Left for hours, it eventually occurs to Euro that she is totally lost and alone in the cavernous back hallways, with only a breeze to follow. Mysteriously, the breeze seems to be coming from inside the library....