Attn: Mangrove

[Richter]

So, we've all been wondering.  Where's Scrid?

Loosing the Bar and then teh Bodega must've sucked.  Haven't raised him by phone in months, and the letters have stopped coming.  There was a brief mention about studying Japanese massage, but I can't see him falling in with a good crowd through that...  Just a hunch.

Anyways, if you know of or see the dude, please let us know.  I get worried about that cephalopod.

[Mangrove]

Dear Richter,

The whereabouts of the Scrid is something of a mystery. I've been looking for him for months but to no avail.

Occasionally, I will head down to the shore and wait around for a few hours. I've befriended workers at the local fish markets too. Sometimes I will get wind of a sighting, perhaps a snippet of a detail that might give me a location. Most of these stories add up to nothing or that they were indeed credible, but I've arrived too late and the trail has gone cold.

One rumor was that he was in witness protection. Another said he joined corporate America, though I heard an opposing tale that he had, in fact, joined the circus. Same difference, right?

There's been a few paternity claims too though they amounted to nothing. One woman sent pictures of her offspring, stating that it was a Scrid Jnr. Take it from me, that kid had been beaten by all manner of ugly sticks, but he was by no means half cephalopod. I send her $5 and never heard back again.

I checked the hospitals, the halfway houses and flea bag motels. I even check the arrest logs for the various Police departments around here. Still, nothing to really grab onto.

After the Open Bar closed, it seems that he underwent some type of identity loss. I've never actually seen a Scrid grieve before, so I really didn't know what to expect.

I don't know what to tell you really. He may have forsaken the internet for a while. Maybe he went back to the sea? (He was always fond of the song '1983..a merman I shall turn to be' off Hendrix's Electric Ladyland album.) Maybe he went to another forum? Maybe he found God?

The last time I heard from him, he left me a Post It note on the fridge. It read:

  Dude. Seriously, we need milk.

Since then, nothing. No email, no calls, no text message. And that's a shame because a Scrid text message was like reading Kerouac's roll manuscript for On The Road. I mean that saline little fucker could TYPE!

As soon as I hear anything, I'll let you know. He may still try and contact you.

Best wishes,

Mangrove.

[Richter]

I've come across about as much as you.  Some of the leads, like your have been barely credible.  Others have been downright INcredible.  Rumors of a betentacled sage performing miracles in the name of lulz. 

Did you investigate the Route 66 roadside parlor sighting?  The old trucker who screamed and thrashed behind closed doors, only to fly out over - oiled and fully erect.  His screams were as much from rage over his massage as incredulity over his own erection.  He reported being impotent for the past 10 years.  The masseur who did the deed was nowhere to be found, the fellow staff only able to describe him with south - asian vernacular for mythical figures.  The only evidence was an ink stain and an apparently concerous lump, which they now keep in a jar of preservative that they showed to me for $5 (Useless for testing now, damnit.)

I came across a group of disjected LARP'ers who had turned to cephalapod poaching, and went undercover with them in hope I'd find Scrid.  Their leader, a pugnacious, ill tempered sort of Ahab had a long standing grudge against "Thee Moft Fearsome Demi Scrid."  I was accepted readily for my martial skill and the ruse that I had lost family to an octopod.
We followed a trail leading into a dank corner of Seattle, and they were immediately incarcerated for their spiked armor.  I was plainclothed and escaped by pretending not to know them.  I followed leads, but by the time I got to the most liekely they had psoted bail and gotten there first.  They had a tentacled figure cornered in an alley, and were moving in, so I had to take them.  A hit from behind and call of "10 backstrike" took care of them, but blew my cover.  The quarry was a veteran of the '89 Cuttlefish Contra Affair, who went his own way once we escaped.  Sadly, he knew nothing.  Strange though, he said it had been years since he'd publicly seen ANY Scrid. 
Anyways, I've had to keep my efforts subtle since, those involved with the aquatic underground are hearing of me, and my mission.         

     

[Mangrove]

Richter,

I wish I'd known before that you had been conducting your own investigation. From what I gather about the Route 66 'incident', it sounds like I'm a couple of weeks behind you. By the time I had got wind of the Scrid working out of that massage place, the Dept Of Health had been notified and shut down them down due to all the non-licensed massage workers. They then, of course, contacted Homeland Security so I expect anyone who had worthwhile information has been jetted back to Korea by now.

Not long before he disappeared, I went through the browser history on Scrid's laptop. I think he'd gone out bowling with some friends. All the dolphin porn sites was hardly a surprise but what was weird, was that he'd downloaded hundreds of PDF books. It was like he was hitting all these Torrent type sites and just sucking them dry. Everything from the completely trivial to major literary works, technical manuals, scientific papers, history and so forth. Haven't yet been able to see a pattern to his download habits - it looked indiscriminate to me.

Of course, the laptop is gone now. Took me a day or so to notice it was missing from the house after I found the Post-it note. Most of his personal belongings stayed behind but he took his computer with him, 4 pair of gloves,whatever was left in the change jar and a box of Pop Tarts. I'm guessing he left in a hurry.

Hope this helps, more as I have it.

Mangrove