The flicker of a smile feels like a small victory of sorts, and he visibly relaxes a little at the volley of friendly banter, shrugging and returning the smile. "To be fair, it's pretty hard to compete with Humphrey Bogart."
Nodding at her theory about the glitching, he mutters "Good point", chewing the edge of his lip thoughtfully, before turning his attention back to the newspaper room as Rowena cracks open one of the books. Giving it a quick sweep over with the flashlight again before stepping in, he finds the lone article in color and skims it over.
The contents shook him a little. It was one thing to hear about the war this world had been through in books or from people on the sterile rig. It was something else to see it talked about so plainly in a paper. It somehow made it feel more real to read about it from the words of someone living through its inevitable beginnings.
It wasn't too surprising to find confirmation that "Darlington" was a town transformed. Added credence to his theory about the place having possibly been hit during the war, or having gotten brushed by a Stuff storm. But then, if Rowena was right about the glitching being a sign that something was struggling with its hold on parts of this place, maybe something more was going on. He'd never heard of Stuff struggling to transform things.
But the note on the paper, that worried him. Maybe one of the others from the Rig had somehow found this before them, but that felt like something they would have brought up in the network post if that was the case.
"Check this out." Holding the paper up for Rowena to see when he rejoined her, he gives a quick jab at the headline and the name of the paper. "Think you were on to something with that last theory." Then turning it to the note scribbled on it, he gives that another jab before offering the paper for her to look over for herself.
"And it seems like we're not the only ones who came here looking for answers."
no subject
Nodding at her theory about the glitching, he mutters "Good point", chewing the edge of his lip thoughtfully, before turning his attention back to the newspaper room as Rowena cracks open one of the books. Giving it a quick sweep over with the flashlight again before stepping in, he finds the lone article in color and skims it over.
The contents shook him a little. It was one thing to hear about the war this world had been through in books or from people on the sterile rig. It was something else to see it talked about so plainly in a paper. It somehow made it feel more real to read about it from the words of someone living through its inevitable beginnings.
It wasn't too surprising to find confirmation that "Darlington" was a town transformed. Added credence to his theory about the place having possibly been hit during the war, or having gotten brushed by a Stuff storm. But then, if Rowena was right about the glitching being a sign that something was struggling with its hold on parts of this place, maybe something more was going on. He'd never heard of Stuff struggling to transform things.
But the note on the paper, that worried him. Maybe one of the others from the Rig had somehow found this before them, but that felt like something they would have brought up in the network post if that was the case.
"Check this out." Holding the paper up for Rowena to see when he rejoined her, he gives a quick jab at the headline and the name of the paper. "Think you were on to something with that last theory." Then turning it to the note scribbled on it, he gives that another jab before offering the paper for her to look over for herself.
"And it seems like we're not the only ones who came here looking for answers."