Marisol observed the changes that Sam made and let out a deep breath. It did make her feel better, even if the compliment had her feeling somewhat bashful—she'd never really known how to respond to praise other than with modesty. "Thank you," she said sincerely, before lifting her camera and snapping a candid picture of him. "All of the advice you've given me has been really helpful. I learned a lot from you during this."

She took another deep breath, glancing around at the other people setting up booths, and the handful of early birds who had already arrived and were walking around. She wasn't much of a drinker but a drink sounded really good right now. "Actually, yeah," she replied with a grateful smile. "A drink would be great." Looking around, she caught sight of the stack of flyers she'd taken and held them up. "By the way, I promised my brother's partner to hand these out to people. Is it cool if I keep them here?"

He smiled at the thanks and then chuckled at Marisol taking a snapshot. He had given the tip that the best pictures come when the subjects are comfortable. "I'm glad you found my advice helpful. But honestly? You're still young. A lot of it just comes with time and practice. You've got a good eye Marisol. In a couple years I guarantee your stuff will blow mine out of the park without needing pointers. I wish I was as talented as you are at your age."

Sam gave a nod. Sure it was a bit early for a drink, but sometimes liquid courage went a long way. "Any requests, or dealer's choice?"

His smile dropped as he took a look at the flyers. Poor kid. He'd really hoped that looking into Sunflower's disappearance would have helped shed some light on Will's, given their timelines, but so far he'd come up with circumstantial evidence at best. Though....he did have a new lead now. One he was still trying to wrap his head around. Sam shook his head of his ruminating. "Yeah, of course that's cool. Anything we can do to help."

Lonnie had been very vague on purpose about when he was going to the festival, because he wanted to be able to look at whatever photographs Sam had at his booth without anything being hidden. He waited until Sam's back was turned before coming up to examine them.

"You sure do have a lot of talents, you know that?" A playful grin was on his face as Sam turned to face him, leaning on the booth. "Maybe I should be asking what can't you do at this point?"

He jumped with a startled yelp, one that Sam would deny ever happened until the day he died. "Shit, Lonnie, warn a guy next time." Sam put a hand over his heart and let out a chuckle. At his boyfriend's teasing his cheeks tinted pink, before realization hit him.

Sam scrambled to move in front of one particular candid shot he had taken of Lonnie and Narcissa, their heads hung low as they were talking something over. That was exactly the kind of photograph he would have hidden if he'd been given any prior warning. "So um...see anything else at the festival? Haven't had a chance to check any of it out." It was a total deflection and he hated how obvious it was.

WHERE: Marisol's and Sam's Booth @ Art Festival WHO: Sam Ahn ( @travelingreportersam )

Marisol was standing in front of her portrait displays, her new camera hanging around her neck as she reached out to move things around—adjusting the frames, switching their places, or otherwise making little changes before changing her mind and doing it over again. After a while, she took a step back and turned to Sam. "Hey, I'm having a bit of a nervous perfectionist moment," she admitted. "Do you think it looks okay?"

While Sam wanted to reassure her that there was nothing to worry about, he figured adjusting something may just help ease Marisol's worries. Taking a couple steps back to assess what could be done, he snapped his fingers and walked back up to her display and rearranged a couple pieces to be more thematically groups. "There we go. Can't think of anything else. Really Marisol, you're work's amazing. I wouldn't be surprised if you sold out more prints than I did."

He flashed her a smile, tempted to ruffle her hair but figuring he'd probably lose his hand in the process. "Do you want a drink or something to calm your nerves?"

"Mm..." Sol hummed, taking a long drag. "So it's that kind of party..." He exhaled, tilting his head towards Sam and lifting his shoulder in a half shrug. Sol accepted the reality that he was probably putting himself in danger easily. It wasn't a new feeling for him.

A small half-smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"...And now you're here to get into more?" He asked. If he were honest, he had been hoping Sam would show up tonight. Sol had heard that the journalist had been asking around. And if Sol knew, that meant that the Mayor knew. "Sam, right?" He offered his hand for Sam to shake, "Here's to doing what we can for as long as we can then..."

Sam held his hands up. "Not definitively, but rumors usually have a spark of truth in them." He chuckled at the question. "Maybe. I guess I'm here mainly out of curiosity. Though I do agree the mayor has gotten into some questionable business lately and that needs to be held accountable."

He took Sol's hand, shaking it. "Right. I'm happy to offer whatever I can."

"I don't think I know anyone you could send the file to." Parker couldn't recall if there was anyone that had a computer that he knew. "You can scan that one" he gestured to the one he was already working on, the paper route one with the maps. "but can - can you please not with the others? I know you're trying to help, but this is like... it's my life and I don't know, it feels like someone having access to it all the time."

He was going to suggest that older guy Parker hung around; a teacher, he was pretty sure. But what they said made Sam pause. Damn, he got too caught up in the idea. "Shit, I'm sorry Parker. I didn't mean to stress you out." With a sigh he finished off the scans and took the sticky note off the notebook, tossing it in the trash. He held the notebook back to them. "I just know you lost your phone so this seemed like a solution."

Parker stood up, following Sam over to the copier. "I only have two with me" There was the one for his paper route, and then the other that held information about the people he met. While he would sometimes carry others with him, most of them usually stayed at the commune, these two were the ones that were always with him as they were the most useful on the day to day. He held the first one, the paper route one, out to Sam and then started digging through his backpack for the other. "You can make paper copies, but you don't have to save them to the account, though. I don't really have a way to see a digital copy anyways. You shouldn't - I wouldn't want you to waste your time doing that for me" Parker told him as they pulled the second notebook out and held onto it for now.

Sam reached over to a nearby desk and grabbed a sticky note. He wrote 'bring all notebooks to work - Sam' and put the note on the cover of the first notebook. As he input his login and started scanning the pages he shook his head. "It's not wasting my time and I want to do this. Plus those copies could just as easily be lost or destroyed. This way, we can print more any time you need them. I can also send the file to someone if that makes you more comfortable." He looked up from his work to give Parker a smile.

He shook his head, "I have other notebooks, but they're for other things." This was because having everything all in one notebook had started to confuse and overwhelm him when he was still learning how to adjust to his new reality, and find ways to manage it. Had sent him into full on panic attacks trying to find a specific thing. Parker didn't remember these, but Luca would...Ty would...Grace would...his teachers would...their mom would. She had been the one to come home one day with a stack of notebooks that first time. They'd had things like the streets listed out on his phone. Done in a specific order so if he was on one street he would know what the next streets over would be, but that wasn't really relevant anymore.

Suddenly inspiration hit Sam. He got up from his desk and walked over to the copier, indicating for Parker for follow him. "Let me scan your notebook. Hell, all of them. I'll save them to my account so that way if anything happens to them you'll always have a digital copy."

"Yeah," she said, smiling a little. "You get it." Sam was doing his job, she knew that, but he also had a good energy about him. Lilith wasn't quick to trust anyone but at least she had a good feeling. "What do you think the monsters are?" She asked softly, her gaze set forward. It was a bit of a test in a way. She was curious.

Sam let out a long exhale, lacing his fingers together behind his head as he looked up at the sky in thought. "I can't quite figure that one out," he admitted after a moment. "But I feel like applying our understanding of nature in a place like this isn't appropriate. After all, it's not like we have portals in the real world. Or at least that we haven't found."

With a shrug he dropped his arms again. "What do you think they are?"

"And you should," Lilith replied, giving the other a bit of a smirk. Sometimes, when she forgot about it all, it was easy to go right back into normal habits. She crossed her arms over herself, almost protective, and nodded along. "That helps... You know, that you get it." She shrugged. "I wanna know what happened too. Honestly, I know this sounds stupid-- but my cards don't lie. I know something bad must've happened."

He offered her a warm smile. "I don't think it's stupid. I believe in gi, the energy in everything. It's not impossible that by reading your cards, you're harnessing some of that energy, just like through meditation."

"Huh, maybe you aren't so bad, reporter Sam," Lilith replied softly, giving him a bit of a smile before facing forward again. She let out a deep breath. "I know people have a lot to say about the commune. Some people think we're weird, some people think we give off scary vibes... They just don't know what it's like to be us. For a lot of us, myself included, the commune is the closest thing we have to a family anymore."

Sam grinned at the comment. "I'll take that as the highest compliment." He nodded as Lilith explained what the commune meant to her. "I totally get it. I've stayed in a bunch of small villages in Afghanistan and Iran, hell even in North Korea, and they have a similar mindset to what the commune is meant to be. A tight-knit community. I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with that and I promise I'm not in any way trying to demonize the commune. I honestly just want to know what happened to Sunflower." And if it had any relation to Will Monroe's disappearance.

Lilith glanced behind her again and then nodded. "Sure." She gathered her cards and tucked them away in her bag. A small smile appeared on her lips before she rolled her eyes at him. "I won't rob you. Pay for my lunch and I'm good." When it came to saving others, she knew that being cruel wouldn't make them want to join them. Another tactic seemed to be necessary. And truthfully, the cards were definitely making her wary at the moment.

He chuckled as he got up from the porch. "That's fair. Whatever you'd like, it'll be my treat." As they began walking Sam glanced over at Lilith. "So...until we're in a more private location, what do you feel more comfortable talking about?"

He couldn't help the wince at Lavender's words. "Sorry," Sam offered. "Well, I do appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I promise that if I find out anything I'll let you know. And don't apologize. I understand it's not an easy thing to talk about."

"I think the mayor likes to control what we think. Many people saw something in the sky the day of the big storm. The Mayor put out a statement basically threatening anyone who talked about it. I just... if she's willing to threaten people over the truth then who knows what she would do to someone who continuously fights against her ultimate control." Jane moved to start walking Sam out. "I know it makes sense to come here to look for answers when it comes to Sunflower but based off of everything I've seen and know, your culprit is in town." She stopped at the front door. "And next time maybe... call ahead if you want to visit."

Sam had heard about the 'something in the sky' though he still wasn't sure what to make of it. It was certainly a lot to take in. "You bring up a lot of good points, and I appreciate your insight Jane, really. I promise it's something I will look into." He still had his suspicions, especially about the current leaders of the commune, but he certainly wasn't going to voice that.

He let out a chuckle at the suggestion. "Yeah, I keep being told that. Guess no one likes sudden house visits, especially from a reporter. I can respect that. I do appreciate you taking the time to talk to me though." Sam held out his hand to Jane.

Lilith didn't feel comfortable talking about that. Especially not here where an answer would be like a betrayal to both of them. She shook her head, glancing behind them toward the house and back again. "Tense," she worded without sound and frowned. She meant it was tense between the two of them. She loved Sandra and Raziel. For different reasons. "Nothing is ever simple. More in-depth readings will require a more private space."

That was a fair assessment. "I live at the Bed and Breakfast in town. The garden there is private if we wanted to go there instead." Away from prying eyes and ears. "I can pay for your time if you'd prefer. I'm not sure what the going rate is for an in-depth reading, so just try not to highway rob me," Sam joked lightly, hoping to ease some of the strain in the air.