Chapter Text
“Clown,” Ash called from the hall, “You got a letter,”
“Oh” he couldn’t remember the last time he got a letter, most of his friends were close enough to just talk to him, “You can come in,”
Ash pushed the door open and walked across his office, letter in hand. It was a fairly ordinary letter; The envelope’s paper was yellowed and there was a blood red seal in the center. He paused to look closer at the seal, it looked like a wolf with bat wings surrounded by sunflowers. How odd, he didn’t recognize it at all.
He opened it with his usual care before reading it with his usual speed.
To Clown Pierce,
While we do not know you, we believe you know one of our friends. We met Dr. Legundo about ten years ago. A few months after we met him, he died.
If this is not of interest to you, we apologize for wasting your time. If it is, we invite you to the town of Oakhurst to visit his grave.
Oakhurst is not on many maps but if you go to Birchhurst and follow the red dirt road all the way through the forest, you will find Oakhurst.
We can explain more about the circumstances surrounding Legundo’s death if you are to come here. We would also like to apologize for the delay in informing you. We had trouble tracking down some of those who may like to read this message.
Our best, Cleo Zom and Pearl Moon
Clown exhaled a shaky breath as he lowered the letter.
“What happened?” Ash asked,
“Do you…do you remember Dr. Legs?” Clown knew how little Legundo had talked to the others back then.
“Uh, yeah? Was it from him?”
“No…it…it was about him. He…” Clown inhaled once more, “He passed ten years ago, apparently the people he was with are sending out letters to people he knew.”
“Oh,” even though Ash had never really known him, it was no secret how close he was to Clown. No matter how determined Legs was to not get too attached, Clown was nothing if not persistent.
“They invited me to visit his grave and gave me directions on how to get there,” He stated. He wanted to, but he was busy, especially with most of the staff on vacation. Maybe after they came back…no, there’s always…
“You should go.” Ash said, pulling back Clown’s wandering mind, “When the rest of the staff gets back I mean. Like you can take a few days off. How far is it anyway?”
“It wasn’t very clear, they said to follow a road from Birchhurst and that was it,” Clown glanced down wondering if there was just something he missed.
“Birchhurst is pretty close. Only like, what? A day and a half away? Assuming the graves another day or two, that's like, a little more than a week total. It’s not that long”
“I mean, I guess, but there’s still work to be done after the staff gets back,”
“A away week isn’t going make the house explode, Clown”
Clown wasn’t sure he trusted anyone here enough to believe that, but he knew what Ash meant. And it would be nice to pay respects to his old…friend.
“Maybe, I’ll ask Zombie what he thinks after the staff gets back. And maybe see how the staff perform after so long away,”
Ash rolled his eyes but agreed that would probably be the best course of action. Besides, the rest of the staff would be back in two days, it wasn’t that much longer.
~~~~~ Three Days Later ~~~~~
“So are you planning on taking that break anytime soon?”
Ivory was pretty sure it was Mr Ashwagg talking, but it was hard to tell behind the closed door of Mr. Pierce’s office.
“Mr. Piece taking a break? Whaaaat…?” Seraptor muttered, he stopped dusting to get closer to the door.
Ivory didn’t understand why he would stop doing his job to listen in on a conversation he could already hear but moved closer to listen with him anyway. She kept working though.
“Maybe,” Mr. Pierce’s voice was familiar enough to recognize through the wall, “the staff seems to have adjusted to their normal schedule…”
“I think you should talk to Zombie,” It was a jarring hearing someone refer to Mr. Hemlock so casually, “He’ll let you go, Oakhurst isn’t too far”
Oakhurst.
Ivory knew that town. She’d never been, but she’d known it’s name for an eternity.
She took a step back, no longer wanting to listen to their conversation. Why would Mr. Pierce want to go there anyway?
“Ivory?” Seraptor followed her as she walked away, “You good?”
“I, uhm,” she took a breath, steading her voice, “I know that town, O-Oakhurst, I uh, that was around…uhm”
“Do you want to go with him?” Seraptor asked her.
“What? No…I…I just took a break I-I shouldn’t take more time off” she had work to do.
“You should be resting anyway,” Seraptor turned around and started back toward Mr. Pierce’s office.
She hated that. She was fine. She’d been through worse. She had work to do. The only one she’d ever want to see hadn’t even been in Oakhurst. He’d been in the forest on their way past, and that was 3 years ago.
“Seraptor…” she turned to stop him, unfortunately for her, Mr. Pierce chose that moment to leave his office.
“OH, uh, hi Mr. Pierce,” Started Seraptor as he came to a halt, “Sorry for eavesdropping but I think Ivory should go with you to…uh, what town was it”
“Oakhurst. But there is really no need,” Ivory turned to look at Mr. Pierce, “There is no need for me to leave this soon after coming back sir, I do not need to go,”
Mr. Pierce looked over both of them. Was he mad? Probably.
“Why would you want to go to Oakhurst?” he asked, looking at her.
Seraptor turned too, clearly he wanted to know as well. Surely they would see why her going was pointless.
“M-my…my brother went missing around that area years ago,” she looked to the side, not wanting to fake eye contact any longer, “There is no point in going there when he is likely long gone.”
There was a pause after that. Maybe they were thinking how silly it had been to push her to go.
“I’ll ask Mr. Hemlock and Mr. Pyroscythe for some time off for you,” Mr. Pierce started walking seemingly toward Hemlock's office.
“Wait, what??” she hurried to follow him, trying and failing to explain why she shouldn’t go. She thought Mr. Pierce of all people would understand needing to work?
“Sir, it’s really–”
But it was too late, Mr. Pierce gave a few knocks on the door which were quickly followed by footsteps.
“Do you need something?” Mr. Hemlock asked, looking between his employees.
“Good afternoon sir, I would like to request a week off for Ivory and I,” how Mr. Pierce managed to look Mr. Hemlock directly in the eye was beyond her.
“Really?” He raised his eyebrows, "How come?”
Ivory could hardly hear as Mr. Pierce explained his situation and somehow justified why Ivory should travel with him. She knew he was dead. It would be stupid to hope. She didn’t want to go. She didn’t need hope.
“Maybe it would be good to let them go,” Ivory flinched at the new voice, she hadn’t even heard Mr. Pyroscythe approach
“Sir…” She tried
“You should still be resting anyway!” He cut her off, “Besides, it’s better not to travel alone,”
Why couldn’t they just assume that she was fine? That’s what people normally did, right?? Even Mr. Hemlock didn’t expect her to work. What was the point of treating her so well? What did they think she could give them??
“Why don’t you go pack clothes for the week? We can leave tomorrow morning,”
Ivory sighed and turned to leave, “Yes sir…”
She didn’t want hope. It was pointless.
Even if she wanted to go, did she even have enough clothes for a week away?? Her uniform was hardly a travel outfit. Who would do her job while she was gone anyway?? WHY DID ANYONE THINK SENDING HER OFF WAS A GOOD IDEA???
But she kept quiet, did as she was told.
Like she was supposed to.