logsville | from god that is our father, blessed angels came

[ he gets points for trying, anyway. lorna looks a little horrified at what she's just seen, but seems otherwise steady; death and having to deal with bodies isn't exactly uncommon where she's from, but people generally don't desecrate corpses like this. if there are people behind this. ]

Considering we're getting steadily surrounded by corpses? I guess I could be worse. [ she could be one of those corpses. ] How did you find out about them?

[She's got a point, though Crowley suspects that... these people might've done this to themselves. Not that it makes it better.]

Uh, got a little off course on the driveway, knicked one with my car.

[Not going at particularly high speeds, thankfully, so he and Ray just had to deal with a knocked over corpse rather than one that had been run over.]

I know it isn't much help when there's a bunch of 'em, but we can get rid of this one, if you want.

[With a nod towards his car. Which is an awful, ugly station wagon, but at least it's got plenty of room for a corpse in the back!]

Yeah. [ the fact that more keep appearing is troubling and she's pretty sure they're going to end up having to deal with the rest later on, much like they did with the children who had drowned during halloween, but right now she'll be happy just to get rid of this one. good thing she's already got a shovel!

well, definitely not one she can dig into the frozen ground with, but still, she has one. ]

Where did you bury the last one?

["Bury" is a strong word, but they don't need to get into that.]

Out into the woods a bit. You could try the cops, too, but I heard they don't, uh, seem to see the bodies? Didn't bother trying myself.

[What is he, a narc?

Mostly he just didn't want to draw attention to it, from the police, so disposing of the body himself (with Ray's help) seemed safer.]

Don't see as in can't see, or won't come out to see because they think you're trying to pull a prank on them?

[ because yeah, the ones she'd tried calling on halloween had been less than helpful when she told them she'd been poisoned. ]

Either way, yeah, I'd appreciate the help.

You'd have to ask someone else for the details, I'm only reporting on the local gossip.

[Ray had mentioned something that Archer had said, and Archer is sort of useless when it comes to being a reliable source of information, so who knows what the truth is.

He regards the body with a frown, sighing after a second.]

You going to be alright touching it?

[He's handled so many bodies during his existence that it hardly matters, but that doesn't mean everyone can deal with it so easily.]

[ yeah, she's met him. she may not know that he's who he's referring to when it comes to unreliable information, but he seems a good source for unreliable information.

lorna regards the corpse with some distaste, but nods, setting her shovel down and tugging her gloves on tighter. ]

You get the shoulders, I'll get the feet?

[ she's not great with handling bodies, but she has had to deal with them before. ]

Sure.

[He kicks some of the snow away so he can get closer, stepping around until he's at the head, then crouching down to get a decent grip under the shoulders.

He signifies he's ready when she is with a little nod, then gives her a wry grin.]

What a way to meet the neighbors, huh? Better than jello molds, at least.

God, don't remind me.

[ handling a corpse is already bound to make her nauseous at some point. he does earn a wry quirk of her mouth in response, though, and she takes hold of the back of the body's knees and lifts when he does, carefully looking around to make sure they're not being watched.

though, come to think of it: ]

So you remember. Before Halloween?

[Crowley will give Lorna like five whole dollars if she never tells anyone that he made an Old Man Grunt upon lifting the body.

But it's up, and he starts towards his car, moving about as fast as a person can while carrying a corpse.]

Mm, sort of? I've memories of it, but they're a bit vague, and I've no clue what happened to November.

[ her lips are sealed, and she moves as quickly as they both can, not wanting to keep touching the body for any longer than she has to. the idea of the rest of these rapidly appearing snowmen all containing another corpse sends chills up her spine, especially when she thinks back and realizes the population hasn't seemed to go down. where are all these bodies coming from? ]

I don't, either. But I remember the kids. And the poison and weapons in the candy.

The kids, yup. Must have been spared the candy, I'm not big on sweets.

[As far as he knows, Aziraphale didn't really bother with much candy, either. He's glad for it, now.]

Did you get hurt?

Poisoned. I tried calling the hospital and they thought I was a crank caller.

[ she's fine, obviously, but she'd been furious when it happened. hey, are they at the trunk yet? this dude's getting heavy. ]

[They are Sisyphus and the body is their giant rock.

Which is to say Crowley makes a sound of acknowledgement that passes for sympathetic, but doesn't respond to the comment immediately, since they're close to the back end of the car.]

Here, pop him down, I'll not be able to get the boot open without dropping him otherwise.

[He never locked the car, so he doesn't have to fumble with his keys, at least. He just lowers the body to the ground, then takes the few final steps to the trunk, opening it up and laying out the tarp that he'd tossed in there after last time.

He might hate the car, but it's the only one he has at the moment, so he'd prefer not to get too many bloodstains on it.]

[ lorna nods and sets the body on the ground as she waits for crowley to get the trunk open and sets a tarp out on the upholstery. she looks over the corpse, then leans a little closer (not too close, she doesn't want to touch it any more than absolutely necessary) to try and get a better look. ]

The last one of these you buried, could you tell what killed it?

Wasn't a mark on it.

[Not that he did like, an autopsy, but he and Ray both got a decent look at the body, and couldn't find any signs of trauma, no wounds, nothing that would give away what happened.]

I hate to say it, but I reckon they might be alive when they go in the snowmen.

[Which sure is a way to die.]

Here we are — [He's happy with how the tarp is laid out, so he returns to the body and lifts the shoulders again.] — Upsa-daisy.

[Crowley you can't just..... you can't just say upsa-daisy when talking about lifting a dead body.]

[ lorna makes an expression to indicate her disgust and horror at that idea, but she's not seeing anything to indicate that the theory is wrong. she ducks to gather the body at the knees again, helping crowley deposit him in the trunk and trying to suppress a shudder at the whole situation. brushing her hands off, she looks back at crowley. ]

So, you were driving?

Obviously.

[Does he look like the sort of demon that lets other people drive his car?

He considers asking whether she has a shovel, but decides that he's not up for digging a hole for the body. It can just get dumped, the animals can have it. With that internal decision reached, he closes the trunk, and gestures for Lorna to head to the passenger side.]

Crowley, by the way. If you're not keen on hopping into cars with strangers.

[Exchanging names means he isn't a stranger anymore.]

[ she does, actually; that's what she'd knocked the snowman hiding the corpse over with. she's not sure how useful it'll actually be when it comes to hiding the body, since it's a snow shovel and not a ground shovel.

guess they'll find out. ]

Lorna. [ in case he's not keen on giving rides to strangers. ] Thanks, by the way.

[While his experience with snow shovels is limited to the past month or so, he's pretty confident it won't do much in actual dirt. But hey, who knows.

Once they're both in the car, he starts the car and pulls out onto the road.]

Oh, like the lass from Exmoor. [So he read Lorna Doone, what of it.

Maybe this way he'll have better luck remembering her name.] Don't mention it. With how this place is, we've got to help each other out now and then.

[Crowley is not, by nature, a community sort of person, but he's admired humanity's capability for it. And now he's sort of human, so the concept sort of applies.]

from god that is our father, blessed angels came

you got a deal!

perfect

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