Hell's Kitchen: The Truth Behind the Papa Louie Universe

Chapter Ten

CW: discussions of death, drowning, and suicide; paranoia & panic(very end of chapter)

"Oh, sweetie, I know who you are," Akari could hear Ivy snapping her gum over the phone, "I'm from Tacodale, 'kay, and you- I know everyone, yeah, it's like a whole thing, but you? I was like a street over, 'member? Nah? Plus, I'm working with that movie thing Louie's putting on, you're in that, I know, of course."

"You are?" How many people worked on this stupid documentary? And why did Akari not know any of them?

"Mhm, location manager. Though, haven't done much yet. He tends not to write me back, emails. Eh, he's a busy man, I'm a busy woman, not a big concern. But what can I help you with today, hun?" Akari wondered if she should be taking note of every single detail about Papa Louie that anyone brought up. The answer was maybe, but that was seemingly the answer to everything these days.

"Um, I was wondering how to go about getting to Calypso Island, to see a friend."

"Hm, that's fun. Calypso's so nice, you'll love it. I live there, you know-" She did. And so would anyone who visited the Travel Trout website and could put two and two together that "based in Calypso" meant that the business was based in Calypso. The conversation continued, discussing transportation and dates, and once it became clear that it was about five hours of travel both ways, 'lodging' as Ivy called it.

"Oh, plenty, see, I have a contract with- her name is Makaila, she's lovely, owns a bunch of properties around the coast, she rents them out. I'll need to ask her if they're livable at the moment, not so many visitors in the off-season... Do you think I can put you on hold?"

Before Akari could say anything, she already had. Olivia raised an eyebrow from across the room, and Akari took the chance to relay everything to her.

"Hello?" After several minutes, Ivy's voice called out from the phone.

"Yes, I'm here."

"Well, good news, Makaila has a property perfectly ready-" They continued speaking, discussing ferry prices and the rate for the rental. The cost wasn't a huge concern, Calypso was fairly inexpensive, cheaper than New Pepperton, at least. Plus, for all the downsides of the Mocharia job, she couldn't deny that the pay was decent, especially when she was living rent-free in the apartment above it. Sure, it came with the price of oh, her life, allegedly, but at least they weren't strapped for cash.

Akari tried her best to dissuade Ivy's many attempts to convince them to book some recreational activities on the island, but she was persistent and Akai was starting to think she might not get out of this without booking a surfing lesson. Nothing quite said 'respectful' as well as making this trip to discuss Utah with Nevada than having some tourist-y activities planned alongside it, although maybe to the average person, Olivia's 'going to see the abandoned Freezeria building' was about as tourist-y as it got.

"Actually, we're planning on just going to see a friend. No big deal, we don't need any extra... anything."

"Are you sure? You get 25% off the equipment rental if you book a scuba lesson-"

"We're sure."

"Oh, well. Who's the friend?"

"Uh- it doesn't matter." No way did Ivy not know Nevada, and the least she needed was Ivy getting involved with the whole matter.

"'Kay... Well, I'm emailing you the tickets right now, alright? And I'll put in a good word with Cori and Makaila. Hope you girls have fun."

Akari imagined that she winked. Akari didn't have the heart to mention that this was more of a research endeavor than whatever probably fun romantic getaway she could tell Ivy wanted to plan. Like she'd said herself, it was the off-season for travel, and while it would maybe pick up a fractional amount over the holidays, most people weren't visiting relatives via travel agencies. She and Olivia probably wouldn't have needed one either, but they did want to get some information on Ivy, so that was that. She seemed happy to have the business, and frankly, they were happy to provide it, so win-win, it seemed. Right? Though, it didn't look like they were gonna get any particularly interesting bits of Papa Louie gossip from her. Maybe Olivia could better read into things that she said.