My psychometry gave me a unique perspective on Gordon’s Fish Shack’s claim of “Great Fish Since 1902” that was written on their sign. The fish was of fair quality in the beginning with a peak in the roaring twenties, then a fall during the great depression for obvious reasons. The second world war took the new owner, son of the original, away from the business for a time which actually helped. You see the thing is his wife was a much better cook than both her husband and her father-in-law with a lot of ideas for the recipes, but she was ignored by her husband in the name of tradition. He wanted them to continue with his father’s recipes.

Which in my opinion was silly as innovation and change was critical to business and life in general. It was as the red queen theory of evolution stated: everything was constantly improving and if you’re not, then you’re falling behind. Or as its namesake once said you must be constantly running to stay in place.

When the second owner got back, he was understandably angry with his wife, but understood that she was right due to the increased business she drew even in a time of rations. So, they continued with the wife’s new recipes and experienced an even greater surge in customers due to the war ending. They kept that business due to the new recipes.

This success continued into the modern day with that couple’s grandkids still running what had become an institution on the coast of Sunset City. All this to say that the sign should read “Great Fish Since 1945”, which is still an impressive achievement.

When I walked in, I saw the place with my own two eyes for the first time. I saw the faux vintage tables and chairs that replaced the worn genuine articles five years ago. The bar that has been there since day one told the history of this place even without my powers. The pictures decorating the walls also told the story of the family, the restaurant, and the world at large for over a century.

Some would say researching a place’s entire history to decide whether or not you wanted to eat there was overkill, but those people must never have had bad fish. Also, it only took minimal effort to divine.

I walked over to the hostess stand and saw the daughter of the current owners playing the role of hostess. It was strange to see a woman that I had seen grow up before my eyes look at me like a stranger, but I knew that was exactly what I am to her.

“Welcome to Gordon’s Fish Shack, Great Fish Since 1902. Party of one?” Diane the hostess asked me with a kind smile.

“Yes. It’s just me.” I replied with a smile of my own.

Diane proceeded to lead me to my table.

“Your server will be with you shortly.” She told me before handing me a menu and walking away from the table.

After a minute or two, Diane’s sister Margaret showed up at the table.

“What can I get you honey?” Margret asked.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I’ll have a root beer and the cod fish fry with a side of fries.” I responded. I then proceeded to listen to the gossip being spread at the bar, the reason I went into the seaside restaurant in the first place. I just so happened to overhear the gossip I was looking for.

“Can you believe that the harbor master is covering up those deaths?” An old man, who we are just going to call Person A, asked his drinking partner.

There is the reason I’m having lunch at a fish shack instead of my usual diner, I needed anything I could get on the deaths at sea before heading out onto the water. If I did not get anything, I was blindly searching the sea for a relevant trail.

“What deaths?” responded the younger alcoholic aka the infamous Person 2.

“You haven’t heard about all the people disappearing recently. Hell, O’Neil and his two sons haven’t been seen in a week after heading out into the water on their boat. I’m telling you it’s UFOs.” Person A told the young man trying to convince him of what’s going on. Which he should as Person A was telling the truth. Not about the aliens thing though, they don’t exist. In this world at least.

“What?!?! That’s why I haven’t seen them recently?! Why isn’t this more well known?” Person 2 started to freak out as he was starting to put credence in the drunkard’s rambling.

“The harbor master. Haven’t you heard a goddamn thing I’ve been saying? Brock is covering up the disappearances for some unknown reason.” Person A rambled onward. From my preliminary investigation Brock was just pulling a mayor Vaughn, wanting to keep the waters open as closing them reflected badly on him.

As I was listening to the conversation my food arrived, and I proceeded to dig in. I left the restaurant when I was done as I did not believe the drunkard had any critical information. It was a hail mary anyways, just on the off chance that my search could be narrowed. For the record I did not enjoy the fish, too much oil. It just goes to show the flaw in my psychometry, I see what other people think of something, not the thing itself.

I walked down to the waterfront while taking off my socks and shoes. I felt the sand between my toes, this did not benefit the next action I just liked sand on my feet. I looked out on the water and saw a large squid-like mass of energy far offshore. Apparently, the creature was a giant sea squid aka a kraken. Thus making my pit stop at the restaurant even more irrelevant as I could never miss that flare in the dark.

The kraken was bad news for my hunt as it was too strong for me in the water and there was no way I was getting it out of the water. Fortunately, the MFBI thought I was even weaker than I actually was and sent a team to help.

Current Equipment:

Head:

[The Black Wasp Jackal’s Face]

Earrings:

[]

Necklace:

[The Energy Baron’s Stomach]

Clothes:

[]

Rings:

[The Mentalism Ring]

[Succubus’ Kiss]

[Mena’s Book]

Bracelets:

[]

Shoes:

[Cement Shoes]

Armaments:

[Weaver’s First Armament]

[Sense Cane]

[Holy Straight Razor]

Storage:

[Various Essences]

[Chi Organ]

[Spirit Shards]

[Various Murder Weapons]

[Green Thumb]

[Glass Eye]