After what she considered the failure of the hospital's leads, Anby had given directions to the next item on her checklist. Her Plan B. As before, the drive was difficult due to the weather, but to Belle's relief, nobody else seemed content to drive in these conditions. If nothing else, she at least had the road to herself. As she pulled into a parking lot for what she guessed through the waterfall-like windows was a movie theater, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Are you sure we're in the right place? The lights are on and everything."

"I'm sure. The place we're actually going doesn't have any parking, so I tried to find the closest parking lot instead."

"Got it. Second question, how do you remember all these directions so flawlessly?"

"Is that unusual? Do you have trouble memorizing directions, Proxy? But you always seem so certain in Hollows."

"That's different!"

"It's not different. If anything, memorizing street layouts is easier, because they're stable and consistent."

"I can't even argue with that..." Belle had been wrong before. Everyone had. She'd even received immediate counterarguments that showed her how wrong she was plenty of times. Usually, they were from Wise. But never in her life had Belle felt like she'd been so thoroughly played by the very laws of physics themselves, as when Anby pointed out something so simple that left so little room for argument. She tried not to think about it as she pulled up the hood of her rain poncho and got ready for another round with the elements just outside her car.

"Okay. How far are we walking?"

"Our destination is about five-hundred meters away."

"What the! That's way too far! You're sure there's no other parking closer to where we're going?"

"Certain. Every parking lot closer to where we're going is an underground lot, and I ruled all of them out in case they started flooding. I don't think that would happen, but I don't want to take chances like that with somebody else's vehicle."

"I appreciate the concern, but that gamble sounds really tempting right now. Ugh, we're already here, though. Let's try to be quick."

As much as she didn't want to, Belle stepped out of the car, headfirst into the storm, and mentally braced herself for an entire kilometer of walking in this disastrous weather. She couldn't really put into words how thankful she was that when she'd initially bought this poncho, with ths choice between just getting something cheap at a convenience store, or buying something a bit more expensive somewhere else, she opted for the latter. It looked a lot better, for one, but more than that, those cheap convenience store ponchos would have been totally useless out here. She knew from personal experience, with this much rain, it would just soak right through the supposedly waterproof material, and get Belle drenched anyway. Instead, she could at least say the upper two-thirds of her body were keeping relatively dry.

Anby, as ever, seemed pretty unbothered, leading the way by her memory, the lights of the city, and her trusty flashlight. And, for what small mercy it was, her directions had the girls walking directly downwind. She did have to raise her voice quite a bit to ensure it would reach Belle over the onslaught of wind and rain, though. "Stay close to me, Proxy. Even when we're standing shoulder-to-shoulder like this, it's a bit difficult to see you in these conditions."

"Trust me, I plan on staying right by your side!"

"You sound distressed."

"I am. Why do we have to walk half a kilometer in this miserable weather?"

"Do you not like stormy weather, Proxy?"

"No, I really don't."

"I see." Anby was silent for the rest of the block. It wasn't until reaching the next crosswalk that she started talking again. "We can go back, if you want."

"Uh..."

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable. We can go back to the video store, and I'll ask your brother if-"

"Not a chance! Wise would never let me hear the end of it if I backed down halfway into helping a friend, and neither would I. I'll just... learn to appreciate it on the fly. Yeah. Do you enjoy this kind of weather, Anby?"

"I do. I don't enjoy working in these sorts of conditions, but on days off, I prefer bad weather. Usually, it's better for watching movies or listening to music. But when it gets to this point, it can sometimes be a bit much."

"Just "a bit" much, huh?"

"Just a bit. It's also difficult to pick the right sort of music to play with severe weather like this."

From there, the conversation found itself naturally turning away from the weather, and to the question of what sort of music would best suit it. Then to music in general, and other hobbies. It was, in her recent memory, perhaps the most pleasant conversation that Belle had with this other girl. Not to say any were UNpleasant, but rather, everything Anby said somehow felt more authentic today. It was such a nice conversation that Belle hardly paid any mind to the half a kilometer of what she'd initially suspected would be hell.

The drainage of New Eridu's streets held up admirably against the rain, but even that was slowly being pushed to its limits in some spots. Belle had to keep seizing control of her poncho from the elements just to keep dry. If she stopped too suddenly on the slick, soaked, nearly-submerged sidewalk, she'd almost slip and fall. Yet, none of it really seemed to register. Before she knew it, the girls were at their destination, and the storm had even eased up. The rain was still quite heavy, but at least Belle could see now. And the wind had largely calmed down, too!

"We're here."

"And the weather's a lot better, too. What a relief." As if by some sort of cosmic mockery, Belle's remark found itself punctuated by a blast of thunder unlike any other that day. Everything went completely white in a blinding flash, and the clap of thunder that accompanied it was both immediate and deafening. She could literally feel the sound reverberate in her bones, and the very ground beneath her seemed to shake from the sheer volume. "Aaah!"

"That's also a classic movie trope," Anby nodded, reeling from the explosive blast of thunder herself, based on her posture. She certainly did a good job of hiding it, if so. "You saying everything is better now is one, too. If we're going to find out anything about the relationship between horror and raincoats, I'm a lot more confident now that we'll find it here."

"And here is... a playground?"

Yes. A playground. Although, it was in a rather sorry state right now, on account of the weather. The terrain was an unpleasant mixture of either being muddy or being completely underwater, some smaller features and several decorations had been blown over and strewn about, and the street lights nearby were out of commission for the time being. The only source of light was the lightning above and the flashlight in Anby's hand. Belle had to admit, for the second time today, Anby really knew how to choose her destinations.

Although, unlike the hospital, the playground was clearly in a pretty good state as recently as this morning.

Walking around the playground was an unpleasant experience for Belle. With every step, she was either met with a splash of her rain boots going ankle-deep in water, or those same boots sinking just a bit into the soft, muddy ground beneath her. And all that getting soaked from the walk here was starting to catch up to her, too, to the tune of her legs and hands starting to feel a bit cold. Had this storm happened not happened on such an otherwise-warm day, she doubted she would have even made it this far into Anby's impromptu adventure. For now, she tried to wipe some excess water off one of the swings, and took a seat there.

"Alright, Anby, what's the plan here?"

"There's no ghost story associated with this playground, actually." Sloshing through one particularly deep puddle to pick up a fallen decoration, Anby continued "I thought about visiting here as a backup plan in case a ghost story didn't work. Taking a theme associated with children is a common trick in horror."

"Yeah, you're right. It's a good way to make the viewer feel a sense of dissonance between what they expect and what's going on. One of my favorite slasher films features a playground a lot like this one, actually!"

"That's also why ghosts of children sometimes seem more common than ghosts of adults. Like that one, over there."

"Yeah, like-HUH!?"

Belle's head immediately whipped in the direction Anby's flashlight had pointed. Sure enough, on the edge of the playground, was a tiny figure, absolutely too small to be an adult. But, the figure kept low to the ground, and making out any details besides its apparent size was an exercise in futility. Worse yet, it must have already been aware Anby had spotted it, since Belle saw it disappear from view behind a slide in the time it would have taken her to blink. It certainly wasn't Anby-shaped, at least, so she could rule out a reflection like last time. All she heard after that was the splashing and sloshing of Anby's rain boots navigating the swampy playground terrain, as she marched up to the slide to investigate.

It was right in front of her now. Anby turned the corner, bringing her flashlight with her, and found...

"Ehn-nuh-na!"

"..."

Tiny feet paced through the mud, stepping past Anby's legs and into Belle's view. It was a Public Security Bangboo. And it didn't look very happy to see the girls.

"Nuh-na-noo! Ehn-na, nah-neh-een! (Citizens, you shouldn't be here in this sort of weather! Just because this storm isn't considered dangerous, that doesn't mean you can come out to play in this sort of weather!)"

"Let me handle this, Anby." Belle got up to her feet, taking cautious steps across the playground to get a closer look at the Bangboo. She didn't dare kneel down to meet it at eye level with the terrain as it was, but it looked remarkably dry, despite everything. Suspiciously dry, even. She'd circle back to that in a moment. There was a bigger concern on her mind. "You're one to talk. A Bangboo can get all kinds of messed up in this sort of weather. Although, you seem awfully dry despite that..."

"Enn-nah-nu nah! (I was taking shelter beneath this slide until you girls arrived.)"

"Uh-huh. Well, I hope PubSec comes to pick you up soon. We're actually here on a personal investigation, but thanks for the warning. We'll try to be quick!"

"Nah-nah! Ah-nuh-nah-ehn, nah-nehn." (I hope so, too! Please conduct your investigation quickly, then try to remain indoors except for important business.)"

"Will do!" Belle then watched the PubSec Bangboo turn and leave. As it trotted off, it began some other communication. No doubt it was asking to get a ride back to the precinct while things were relatively calm. That just left Belle and Anby, the former giving a look that certainly conveyed something, though it was hard to pin down what exactly.

"That was also not like in the movies," Anby sighed. "At this rate, we won't get anything figured out. Proxy, can you check the weather forecast on your phone?"

"Sure. Let's take a break while we can, too. I'm not looking forward to another half a kilometer walking back to the car." This time, Belle sat at the bottom of the slide, as she navigated beneath her poncho to retrieve her phone so she could check the weather. She didn't even need the flashlight shining on her phone screen to tell Anby was standing right behind her, looking over her shoulder to also see it.

Unfortunately, Belle didn't like what she saw. The weather was going to remain in more or less its current state for a couple more hours, if everything was to be believed. But after that, the hellish weather from earlier was supposed to come back with a vengeance, and in greater force. Still not enough for the weather department to issue warnings, or else Belle would have certainly heard her phone go off for it, but if it wasn't warning-worthy weather, it definitely had one of its feet over the border of being such.

"We've got time, at least," she said, putting the phone away. "But I want to be back at the store before things get crazy again."

"Understood. There's one more place I want to check out, then we can head back, if you want to be back by then."

From her spot at the bottom of the slide, Belle's boots were in one of the deeper puddles on the playground. Gently splashing her feet around in it, she asked "How's that search for answers going?"

"Not very well. I feel like I'm almost there, but it's just a little bit out of reach."

"You know, it could just be one of those things that happens just because. Like how in animated films, the protagonist usually wears a primary color, or why a villain's lair looks so dark and foreboding. It could just be a visual cue."

"A visual cue..." Anby ran her hand up the railing of the slide as she thought about that one. "Telling the viewer where to look, or what to expect."

"Yeah! In fact, it's the same idea as when playgrounds get used in horror films! It's all about setting the expectation and telling you where to look! Maybe."

"You might be right."

"You do pick up on a thing or two watching movies from a business perspective." Belle felt quite proud of herself for that analysis. It was impossible to account for every possibility, of course, but she felt like that was a good "when in doubt" explanation that accounted for a lot of what she and Anby had already covered. "If you'd like, the next time you've got some spare time, we can marathon a bunch of horror movies with prominent raincoat scenes. It might be easier to find whatever answer you're looking for if you watch a bunch of related movies back-to-back."

"I would like that a lot."

Belle got up from her spot. If they were going to take a short break here, she might as well use the playground a bit. So, she started back toward the swings. About halfway across, however, her boot landed on a patch of land that was neither underwater nor muddy, but rather, a third, worse thing. Slippery and wet. Belle's balance completely gave out beneath her, and she quickly found herself on a face-first crash course with the mud below. She closed her eyes, accepted her fate, and braced for impact.

Only, rather than cold, wet, mud, Belle felt herself fall onto cold, wet, rubber. Her face was still wet for her troubles, but this was definitely the lesser of two evils. When she opened her eyes, she saw Anby between herself and the ground, and a long trail in the mud by her side. She must have done a running slide to intercept the falling Proxy.

"Proxy, are you alright?"

"Oh! Um." Getting back up to her feet, Belle wiped the water off her face. Her cheeks felt hot. That was pretty cool of her. "Yeah! I'm fine! Thanks!" As Anby got back up to her own feet, Belle couldn't stop a small chortle from slipping out of her lips. Ever the unflappable type, Anby seemed the same as always. However, her heroic slide came with with the side effect of grass and mud getting all over the back of her raincoat. "Uhh, your back is all messed up."

"Oh. I'm sure the rain will rinse it off."

"Pfft! Ahahahaha!" Belle couldn't contain her laughter at that response. She could do without the intensity of the weather from a bit earlier, and she wasn't exactly raring to go chase after ghost stories. But perhaps, at least for moments like this, she'd have to find stuff to do with Anby on rainy days for the future. But that was future Belle's problem. For now, she wanted to sit down, take a well-earned breather, and then take care of that one last stop Anby had in mind.

"You know, Anby, maybe dark and stormy days aren't so bad after all."