Tall Oaks Cafe

She enters the cafe and pulls her umbrella down as she enters. The cafe seemed pretty quiet with only a handful of patrons who are quietly minding their own business. She takes a seat by the window and sets her umbrella by her chair. Looking out the window, the rain seemed to be falling softer than it was earlier. "I don't mind the rain. To me, its as if it cleanses everything." she says randomly before turning to Ben with a grin. "Thanks for deciding to join me."

Ben pulls out the other chair and sits down he smiles back at Merryl and replies "i agree i also like to think that it calms you down, and i'm more than happy to join you"

She grins. "So...I guess you want to learn more about this other B.S.A.A. guy, huh?" she asks, folding her hands together as she waited to be waited upon.

Ben looks at Merryl and replies "yeah sure, and with him being a former Raccoon Police officer there's a very high chance that i may know him"

Merryl nodded. She turned to the man and said: "Just a regular coffee. Two sugars, no milk." she said before turning back to Ben. "Well then, you must have heard the name Damian Handy then?" she asked before adding: "I believe he said he was a Lieutenant...he was in the Raccoon Select Police Force, the S.W.A.T. division?" she asked.

Ben also turned to the man and said "a regular coffee with two sugars" he then turned back to Merryl and replied " yeah he was in the S.W.A.T Division, he was also my superior officer" Ben then finally added "Last i saw him was about four maybe five year ago"

She raised an eyebrow. "Really now?" she asked curiously. "How did you both come across one another?" she asked looking into his eyes with her unique hazel ones. She was taking a mental note of everything, and was quite interested in what he was telling her.

Ben replied back to Merryl "After being transferred over to the swat unit I was assigned to his squad in 1996 until 1998 when Raccoon City became hell on earth, I lost contact with him during the outbreak and proceeded to escape on my own, afterward I didn't really see much of him until I joined the BSAA then that was it up until 2009 if I recall I believe he was injured during a mission but that's only what I heard from other members" Ben finally added "I'll be surprised if he remembers me, a rumor I heard was that a mission he was on last year went horribly wrong and messed him up pretty bad.

Merryl was pretty shocked by Ben's response. He was just the person she was looking for info on Damian. Her grin faded. "Yeah...the way he looked...I'd say he'd seen better days." she sighed. "I'm actually looking into his background, I'm a little worried. I'm trying to find out what exactly happened; when did his degeneration start, why it happened..." she looked up at Ben and blushed slightly. "I have to be honest, I've known about Damian for a long time. His exploits are well known when I used to work for the main office of the D.H.S." she says with a faint grin.

Ben replied too Merryl "I would love to help you more but sadly even i don't know when it started, either way he will eventually get through this rough patch he's a tough one you can trust me on that. Ben then finished with a slight chuckle "I know that from personal experience"

She let out a slight chuckle. "Well that is quite alright; I didn't expect you to know as much as you did." she says before leaning back in her chair. She brings her coffee up and sips from the mug, before lowering the ceramic cup and placed it back onto the table. "May I ask how long it's been since you've been discharged, Mr. Winters?" she asked out of curiosity.

Ben drank a bit of his coffee then looked back at Merryl and said " I was discharged at the beginning of  January last year" Ben then sighed and finished with "i wish things had gone differently but now i think about it's exactly what i needed"

Ben Winters wrote:

Ben drank a bit of his coffee then looked back at Merryl and said " I was discharged at the beginning of  January last year" Ben then sighed and finished with "i wish things had gone differently but now i think about it's exactly what i needed"

She took another sip of her own before replying back. "What do you mean?" she asked, setting her cup back down again. "You said you had to be let go because of your Captain...what exactly did you do?" she asked, curious. She suddenly blushed and then shrugged. "Oh, I don't mean to push, you don't have to answer if I'm crossing the line or something like that." she displayed a nervous grin, shrugging back in her seat a bit.

Ben didn't feel like telling Merryl the reason he was discharged as it was still a tender subject at the moment he simply replied "It's a long story that i don't feel like sharing at the moment perhaps another time though" Ben finished his sentence with a smile. He then changed the subject and asked Merryl "So what do have planned for the rest of today anything interesting"

Ben Winters wrote:

Ben didn't feel like telling Merryl the reason he was discharged as it was still a tender subject at the moment he simply replied "It's a long story that i don't feel like sharing at the moment perhaps another time though" Ben finished his sentence with a smile. He then changed the subject and asked Merryl "So what do have planned for the rest of today anything interesting"

She nodded. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked to begin with." she said before answering him. "Well..I don't have anything too interesting going on..." but with this she leaned a little closer over the table. "Since your arrival...have you seen anything...suspicious?" she asked in a low tone.

Ben looked slightly confused and replied in a low tone "Nothing out of the ordinary" Ben then said with a slight chuckle "This is actually the most normal place I've been to for a while"

Ben Winters wrote:

Ben looked slightly confused and replied in a low tone "Nothing out of the ordinary"  Ben then said with a slight chuckle "This is actually the most normal place I've been to for a while"

She slowly slumped back into her seat and then sighed. "I haven't been able to get a hold of any good information...but if you seen anything unusual...please try to get a hold of me." she said a little worried. "There's...something not right with this City." she says trying not to reveal too much about her case.

Ben looked slightly worried and then asked in a curious tone "What exactly do you mean by unusual?"

She let out a soft pout but despite their short meeting she trusted Ben to an extent. "This info...never leaves this table." she says looking into her mug. "For the past six months..people have been disappearing from Tall Oaks. Seventy people gone, simply without a trace. The President still plans to go on with his speech tomorrow, and none of this info has been officially released to the public." she finishes with a deep sigh.

Ben replied to Merryl "Understood no one else will hear of this" he then added in low tone "I'll do some digging around and see what i can find out" Ben than drank the remainder of his coffee.

She finished the remainder of hers as well before standing up and pulling out enough money to pay for both of their coffee's. "Alright then, perhaps I can put in a good word with the 'guys upstairs' if all turns well." she said with a smile, grabbing her umbrella. She took out her pen and wrote her number on a napkin before handing it to him. "That's in case you find something and I'm not around." She says with a slight wink, walking towards the exit of the cafe. "I'd suggest checking out the campus area, most of the activity was situated up there." she says before opening the door to the cafe and exits.

Ben nodded to Merryl as she walked to the door and exited the cafe, Ben picked up the napkin and placed it into his pocket he then grabbed his metal case and he too made his way out of the cafe he decided to take the case back to his room so didn't have to carry it around with him.