She chuckles, "Mm, I feel right at home. Well, aside from the part where most of them seem to be prepared for a battle to break out at any moment."

Cati looks around the room, and seems to come to the same conclusion. "Well. As long as they're not trying to sign me up for it and I've got ample time to start running," she says, drily. 

She flags down the bartender. "First one's on me. What d'you want?

"Think they have any of that terrible whiskey we kept sneaking from Caine's dad?" She suggests with a smirk, "For old time's sake?" 

Cati grins. "Two of that nasty stuff with the orange label, thanks!"

The bartender snorts, but pulls down the bottle of 'Desert's Finest Wiskee', and pours them two straight. 

Cati pays, then holds up her glass. "Cheers, Newark."

She tinks her glass against Cati's, "Cheers!" Bottoms up!

"Yeugh," she shudders, "You know, I thought I must have been exaggerating how bad this stuff was, but it turns out my memory was spot on." 

"Pretty sure Caine's dad used to use this to clean his gun," Cati says through a grimace, though she's laughing too. 

Snort, "I wouldn't be surprised. How about I get us something a bit nicer on the tongue," she suggests, flagging down the bartender to order their next drinks.

"You'll get no argument from me," Cati says, still wincing a little against the terrible whiskey. 

Once they have the nicer drinks, Cati forgoes actually small talk, because she is and always will be, a bull in a china shop. "Why are you really back?"

Erin glances around, but honestly everyone seems busy enough with their own conversations that it's probably safe enough. 

"My parents have vanished. Have you heard about that lab they opened a few years back? They were working there, and then something happened a few months ago, some kind of accident, apparently, and I haven't heard from them since." 

"Your parents? Thought you guys didn't get on so well?" 

Cati takes another drink, frowning. "I did know about the lab. Did some freelance programming for them. Coding some kind of security for a biohazard. Well, I wasn't supposed to know that much, but I've gotten good at hiding my tracks."

"We've got our problems, sure, but... I don't want them dead. And their disappearance seems to be a piece of a bigger puzzle, too. The lab, the infections, all the military presence... and there's this guy who's been following me, and he showed up at my house today and stole what I think was evidence on whatever the hell is going on here. I'm pretty sure I've only just scratched the surface, but I'm already really worried, not just about them, but about everyone else in town." 

"Wait, woah, hold on- who's following you?" This, more than anything else, seems to rattle Cati the most. 

"He wouldn't tell me his name. Just showed up at my door out of the blue, stole this weird fruit-thing I got from one of the infected people, and then left again. I couldn't stop him," she adds, frustrated. "He was all dressed up like some kind of spy - long coat, suit, sunglasses."

"You've been here two days, and someone is already having you watched?" Cati shudders. "Jesus."

A few of the other people in the bar catch the latter part of the conversation, and start looking over at the two, frowning. 

Erin notices this out of the corner of her eye. "Damn," she murmurs, and then a bit louder, "Okay, enough about my problems. We came out here to have a good time and curse Disney, right?" 

Cati catches the look. "Yeah, god, absolutely. I don't care how good any of the movies are, I won't watch anything that dares to take away all three of Han and Leia's kids," she adds. Lying well, but like it leaves an odd taste in her mouth. 

As the night goes on, a few people come and go, and the soldiers watching Erin lose interest. 

And then, in walks a few people, looking tired and ready for a drink, and in the middle, someone familiar to Erin.

Haylin Cooper, her old mentor.

Haylin? Here, in StrangerVille? That group must be involved in whatever project they were doing at the lab. And no one will question her going over to chat with her old mentor. 

She rises from her barstool, pointing the group out to Cati in explanation, and makes her way over to them. 

"Professor Cooper!" She greets, "I haven't seen you in ages, how are you?" 

Haylin’s face lights up. “Erin! I didn’t know you were coming home! I’m doing all right, how are you?”

"I'm well enough. Ran into an old friend at the grocery store and we decided to meet up for drinks. Luckily, apparently!" She takes a seat and the table, "How's Emily? I heard you got married last year," she adds apologetically, "I was in the islands at the time, though, and couldn't get away."