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"I don’t know," he says quietly. "Maybe it’s something from when I was younger." He hesitates, then adds, "Did you ever hear how I got this scar? Or why my face looks a little… off?"

"N... No, what happened?" She asks, seeming as though she's wanted to ask but didn't think it prudent.

He gives a small, self-conscious smile before continuing. "A few years back, I was picked for this special cybernetics workshop. I spent some time in Smith Falls, working in a lab. Got exposed to some chemicals that messed with my skin, and later, when we were installing this prototype sensor, there was this flash burn. That’s what left the scar."

"Oh," she replies, "Well I think it adds a sort of manly character to you," she smiles, admiring his scars, tracing her finger along the flash burn.

He searches her face as he talks, "Maybe the tablet recognized something from that; some kind of database from the program. Or maybe..." He pauses, his brow furrowing slightly. "Maybe my family wasn’t always from here. My dad’s got some old stuff in the attic. Things that don’t fit. Like an old military uniform with a strange red, white, and blue flag. When I saw it, I felt like I should recognize it, but I couldn’t place it. It was the same kind of feeling I got when that password popped into my head. Like a memory that’s there, but… disconnected from everything else." He gives a small, uncertain laugh. "It just… was."

"Red, white and blue flag," recognition crosses her face. She rushes from behind the check out counter and runs into one of the library aisles, "Follow me!"

As Dane reaches the aisle, she's pulling down some random, extremely old, tattered books, promptly thumbing through them. One of them is just part of a book, with only about thirty pages remaining, but still kept for historical purposes. The corners of several pages show burn marks, as though it had been through a major fire. She thumbs through the pages and then stops on a page, titled 'Northern Eagle Military Alliance, A.K.A. N.E.M.A. She flips the page and finds several flags. A green, white and red flag, listed as the national flag for a place called Mexico. A red and white flag, depicting a red leaf of some sort, is listed as the national flag for a place called Canada. Finally, she squeaks in excitement as she finds it, "Here it is! The United States flag, red, white and blue with a bunch of stars. They're three countries that were allied in the time before the Dark Ages." She shows Dane the US flag, "Was this it?" Dane already knows that it's the same flag. A footnote next to the flag states, "This nation vanished during the great cataclysm and subsequent Dark Ages."

A chill crawls up Dane’s back and across his shoulders. "Umm… how long ago was that?" he asks, his voice quieter than before. "Hundreds of years, right?" He knows he should probably stop talking now—Dad would definitely lose it if he knew Dane was sharing this much—but the words keep coming anyway. "That uniform looked like it wasn’t even fifty years old," he says, while staring at the pictures in the book. "And it had ‘Stryker’ on the name badge."

For a moment, he just stares at the page, the flag, the proof of something that shouldn’t be possible. Then his eyes brighten with a sudden idea. "Hey—do you remember that old game thing my dad gave me yesterday?" He leans a little closer, his excitement starting to edge out his nerves. "Do you know of any old references to an electronics company called Nintendo from before the apocalypse?"

A chill crawls up Dane’s back and across his shoulders. "Umm… how long ago was that?" he asks, his voice quieter than before. "Hundreds of years, right?" He knows he should probably stop talking now. Dad would definitely lose it if he knew Dane was sharing this much, but the words keep coming anyway. "That uniform looked like it wasn’t even fifty years old," he says, while staring at the pictures in the book. "And it had ‘Stryker’ on the name badge."

A worried expression crosses Meg's face, "At least... Dane, if he's from that far back, then he's either a dimensional being or he was in some sort of hybernation before he came here... or he has been alive a long long time!" She covers her mouth with her hand, "Dane, no one can know. They'd kill you both!"

For a moment, he just stares at the page, the flag, the proof of something that shouldn’t be possible. Then his eyes brighten with a sudden idea. "Hey! Do you remember that old game thing my dad gave me yesterday?" He leans a little closer, his excitement starting to edge out his nerves. "Do you know of any old references to an electronics company called Nintendo from before the apocalypse?"

Meg thinks for a moment, then walks back to the library computer and does a search. After a few moments, she sighs and states, "Nothing here." She then looks back towards the checkout counter. "Do you think your new computer would have any information? Should we risk using it? It sort of scares me."

Dane’s shoulders slump as he takes in what she said, the weight of it settling in. “After today, they might decide to take it out on you too,” he says quietly. “Man… what did we get ourselves into?” He meets her gaze in a moment of shared understanding.

He does some mental calculations for a few seconds, then lets out a short breath. “I don’t want to turn that tablet back on until we know what caused that fire. I don’t like coincidences, and that one started right after I powered it up.” He gives her a half-grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “How about we grab some food instead? By the time we’re done eating, maybe the fire department’ll be back proving I’m just a jumpy idiot who’s afraid of shadows. I’ll buy.”

He smiles at her, trying to ease the tension in the air — silently implying that everything will be fine, even if he doesn’t quite believe it himself yet.

Dane’s shoulders slump as he takes in what she said, the weight of it settling in. “After today, they might decide to take it out on you too,” he says quietly. “Man… what did we get ourselves into?” He meets her gaze in a moment of shared understanding.

Her frown fades into a mischievous grin, "It's kind of exciting, if you think about it."

He does some mental calculations for a few seconds, then lets out a short breath. “I don’t want to turn that tablet back on until we know what caused that fire. I don’t like coincidences, and that one started right after I powered it up.” He gives her a half-grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “How about we grab some food instead? By the time we’re done eating, maybe the fire department’ll be back proving I’m just a jumpy idiot who’s afraid of shadows. I’ll buy.” He smiles at her, trying to ease the tension in the air — silently implying that everything will be fine, even if he doesn’t quite believe it himself yet.

Meg contemplates, finger on her lower lip. Then she nods in agreement, "Food sounds good. And your friend, Megana, should be racing soon. Could be fun to watch."

Taking Meg’s hand, Dane leads the way through the crowded street, searching for a place to eat where the lines aren’t too long. The noise of the gathering helps mask the anxious energy still buzzing under his skin. As they walk, he keeps an eye out for the other kids he knows — curious who’s hanging around — and for his dad, hoping maybe he’ll have some word about the fire. For now, though, being out here with Meg feels like the first normal thing all day. Crazy to think that having a new girlfriend for less than five hours counts as normal compared to everything else that’s happened.

OOC: Nothing in particular planned other than heading to watch whoever might be competing, or finding a good spot to see Megana’s race.

The busy throng is more chaotic than before, getting closer to late morning. More people are arriving from Smith Falls and the Native American encampment. He's unable to spot his father or any of his friends as they enter the main part of main street. Even the food vendors just outside of the library are close to thirty people long. Bison Stampede, where he and Kendal ate earlier, doesn't seem to have a line. Although, their prices are higher due to the high end food that Heather Tokahashi always seems to create. At this point, Dane can afford it. Upon glancing inside, there are two tables open and Heather looks busy, even with the unfamiliar helper, whom she must have recently hired to wait tables.

There are stands with kabob skewered meats, that seem over priced but smell delicious. There are regular carnival candy and sweets stands that seem busy, but the lines move faster. Mr. Lee's butcher shop seems to be giving out free samples of his newest sausage creations. Mostly hungry children seem to be taking advantage of that. There are a few coffee stands that offer pastry sweets, but nothing that sounds filling. Another stand is selling bowls of chicken fried rice, but a sign reads, 'Get em while you can! We're almost out!'

As the two meander into the more densely crowded part of main street, Dane notices new tents and booths set up on the far south side of town, near some of the residential areas there. He overhears someone stating that this is the largest festival ever, with a turnout of over three thousand visitors. New vendors have come up from Smith Falls to take advantage of the crowd. That should make Lord Stein happy, he charges rent. A thought crosses his mind, oO(That means that he'd send the sheriff or one of the deputies to make sure that they pay. Dad could be the guy)Oo

From that direction, which has very few people due to most of the vendors not fully set up or ready, Dane smells an assortment of hunger inducing odors. Fried pickles, fried chicken, fish and chips, fresh cinnamon donuts, syrup and whip cream topped fruit bowls, steamed vegetable bowls, marijuana baked goods, fresh bread, an entire curly fried potato, jalapeno poppers, stuffed peppers and much much more. He spots 'the pancake shack,' which is a literal portable shed that makes dozens of different styles of pancakes. (ooc think of ihop's selection). He also spots an ice cream cart, run by a gas powered generator, at water tower park. There's at least two candy tents at the park. He sees one outside of Mr. Lee's butcher shop that sells bags of assorted jerky. Dane is sure that vendor will be taking advantage of Fort Hammer's affordable meat prices.

Upon reaching the end of Main Street, Bottoms Up is now so packed that Angie and Felix have setup extra collapsable tables and chairs and expanded the side of the bar with rope and benches. They've hired on some of the local farm wives to help bartend an serve food and drinks. Until the bear drinking competitions, no one can take their beverages away from the saloon. Everyone seems frantic to keep up with the masses.

Glancing back at the south residential street, Dane sees his dad, in full uniform, seemingly writing up a leasing bill or a ticket to one of the vendors, which is selling assorted fruit baskets. Beyond, he can still see the pillar of smoke, although, it's thinner.

“The kabobs look good,” Dane says, nodding toward the stand. He suggests grabbing a couple so they can eat while wandering over toward the racetrack. “Looks like Dad’s on collection duty. He probably doesn’t know anything about the fire yet.”

“The kabobs look good,” Dane nods toward the stand. He suggests grabbing a couple so they can eat while wandering over toward the racetrack. “Looks like Dad’s on collection duty. He probably doesn’t know anything about the fire yet.”

Meg shrugs, "It looks like it's almost out, judging from the smoke cloud." As she follows Dane to the kabob stand.

Upon reaching the kabob stand, line only has ten people ahead of them, but the line moves in spurts, as the most popular item on their menu, teriyaki chicken on a stick, can only cook twenty kabobs at a time when one credit will get you two. Two credits will get rice and extra sauce. Three credits will get five kabobs with rice and a cup of water.

Other options include salt and pepper steak, bacon wrapped trout over rice, seared pineapple honey ham cubes on a stick, spiced honey chicken on a stick, barbequed chicken on a stick, barbequed steak on a stick or lemon pepper chicken on a stick. All for one credit for two, two credits for two and rice and three credits for five and rice with water.

By the time Dane gets through the menu items, they're just two customers short of the ordering booth. Meg states, "We should get the five with rice bowl. It's more cost efficient." She seems excited to try the teriyaki chicken on a stick meal.

“Great idea!” When their turn comes, Dane orders two teriyaki chicken, one lemon pepper chicken, one honey ham, and one steak skewer with rice, plus two waters. He grins as he pays. “I couldn’t decide what sounded best, so I figured we’d try them all.”

With the food in hand, he leads the way toward a spot where they can sit and eat, scanning for an open table or a bit of shade away from the thickest part of the crowd.