Chapter Text
In the desert southwest, among all its sand and mountains (which don't exist), lied a small town called Desert Bluffs on the southern end of Route 800. A nice little place, eery to the naked eye but with a strong sense of community and bustling with shops and restaurants and people and lives and love and homes and hope. But this tale is only partially about the town. It's also about a radio station with its blinking towers, old and decrepit despite how well it functions. It stood as the tallest building, reaching to the sky like some long-dead monster rising from the desert. This was furthered by the way it hummed as if it was alive rather than mere technology. If you looked close enough, you probably would think it was alive. Maybe it was. Maybe everything was alive. Like that rock near the diner that tried to get a citizen to commit tax fraud the other day.
Most importantly, inside this radio station, was a radio host who was also alive. He was average but recognizable, with a casual, warm-colored fit. His clothes looked like how drinking coffee by the fire felt. He had been at the station for as long as anyone could remember, although the town barely remembered how long he had truly been speaking to them. He was quite passionate about his work, which could be expected of someone who had survived internship but was nonetheless an admirable trait. He loved radio like how he loved his community. And he loved his community like a partner. Just as the glaring sun peeked above the rocky desert he would get up and start his show. It was one of the most important jobs in town, besides the cactus barber and the rattlesnake groomers. There was so much to report on in the town it was incredible there were so few newspapers or magazines or even other radio stations. This was less of a mysterious thing and more of a budget thing however, as stated by the glowing orb who does finances for Desert Bluffs.
Kevin had gotten up at 7 in the morning and made himself some eggs for breakfast. Scrambled, with pepper but no salt. He had said good morning to his neighbors and offered them help watering their plants, but they declined because they were asleep and it is traditional to decline offers if they are telepathically sent to you while you are sleeping. Kevin then got into his car and arrived at the radio station at 7:30, which was earlier than he usually got there.
The station was not far from where he lived, or really from where anyone lived considering it was the center of town, but the traffic had been terrible recently. Someone had an entire midlife crisis over a soda bottle cap and the amount of effort it had taken to create it, which backed up about half the town. Not because the poor women was taking up a lot of space, but because the citizens found themselves swept up in the same feeling.
Kevin said hello to his current intern, intern Vanessa. He got himself a scone from a basket in his office and sat down to do his show. As the radio waves moved through the tower and radios all across town, he felt a bit of a stirring on his forehead. A third eye. He's used to it by now, but it startled him quite a bit when he first got it. The little orb, which always seemed amusing excited at being allowed to exist on him and observe things (as eyes tend to do, except on Wednesdays), served almost as a vessel for the connection between him and his town. Every previous radio host there had one, and presumably the other radio hosts in the desert he heard rumors of had third eyes as well.
The eye glanced around the room and he smiled. He leaned close to his microphone and began.
"Welcome to Desert Bluffs!"