Speechcraft

[ViolentMedic]

((Mônica Oliveira continued from FUBAR.))

Mônica ran for a while. She could move faster than ever with her bag so light. She sprinted in the direction of town, making sure to put distance still between her and the research facilities where Aracelis and Leslie might still be lingering.

She didn’t stop running until she hit a bar, entering and slamming the door behind her before doubling over and wheezing. She was pretty fit… but it had been a LONG run. She might have outpaced the others. Though she was still unsure as to if that was a good or bad thing.

The bar smelt bad. The source was probably the corpse of Jack Anderson. She looked up, still breathing heavily, then around, at the absolute mess that the bar was. But no-one had come running out when she’d clattered her way in. The building was probably empty.

She straightened up, took a few steps in, then finally checked her bag.

Her supplies were gone. No food, no water, no medical kit. Her ruana was still in there, having caught on the tear in her bag and stayed, but she’d lost her hat and the ruana had gotten soaked by the water bottle that had leaked while falling out. The make-up case she’d brought on the trip was still in there, stuck between the ruana and the hole. She couldn’t eat that.

“Fffffffffghhhagh,” Mônica said eloquently in her frustration, as she took out the ruana and the make-up case. She draped the ruana over a nearby chair, hoping it’d dry off without getting frosty, and stuck the make-up case into the pocket of her jeans.

Well, she still had her sword. Maybe there were some supplies around, either left by the deceased Jack or in the bar. She hopped over the bar and started to move towards the back room, hoping that maybe someone had left some food in there. Maybe a can of beans or something.

[Fiori]

Further up the road, a pair of figures can be seen making their way through the heavy snowfall, one of whom looked ready to keel over at any second.

((Shawn Bellamy continued from FUBAR))

Fear and adrenaline were the only things keeping Shawn going at this point, having not stopped since his and Matthew's narrow escape from the clusterfuck back on the old road. Fortunately they were closer to town than he initially realised, and despite his reservations he couldn't deny the appeal of sleeping under a proper roof again after roughing it two nights in a row. Especially now that he had a well-armed friend to watch his back.

They followed the girl who tried to help them, Matthew insisting on doing so instead of splitting off in a separate direction. As happy as Shawn would've been to ditch her, he didn't offer much complaint, too focused on getting away from Jezzie and Julia to argue back. At least this girl wouldn't gun them down on sight. Keeping up with her proved to be tricky however, especially with all the snowfall going on around them, but they managed to keep her in sight long enough to see her enter a building a couple blocks down the road. Perhaps there they would find the answers to Matthew's questions, whatever they were.

He stopped briefly as they arrived outside, slumping against a wall beside the front door to catch his breath. "Just... Just gimme a sec, Matt, I need to... Need to get a breather before we go in..." he gasps, leaning against his pickaxe to steady himself.

"Fff.... Ffffuck, man, I can't believe we're still alive after all that... Holy shit"

[Applesintime]

((Matthew Bell continued from FUBAR))

Even after what must have been... shit, something like half an hour, forty five minutes, Matthew was still pretty doped up on adrenaline. Nothing like escaping almost certain death to get the heart pumping. At least this time he didn't get his eardrums fucked by a shockwave, so this had turned out better than the Katelyn shitshow. Plus, now he had a buddy who hopefully wasn't gonna try and steal his gun. So, uh, today was on the up and up for sure. At his insistence, Shawn had followed after Molly with him, both because she was friendly-ish and because Matthew had some burning questions for her.

Why?

Why kill your own damn brother? Matthew had only talked with the Oliveras a few days ago, and they seemed friendly enough then. Going after Aracelis seemed like a fucking stupid idea, but it was their funeral, he'd thought at the time. So what changed? What made Molly kill her own goddamn brother in cold blood? Had they had a really bad falling out or something?

Why warn him and Shawn? Nobody woulda known that Molly was there apart from herself, so she could have just let the situation get even more shit and pick off whoever survived, or just scavenge the remains like a vulture. But she stuck her neck out for Matthew, knowing that she was just the kinda person that he was looking to kill. That was... the most confusing part.

So now they were right outside the door of the building Molly had entered, preparing themselves to go in.

"Yeah. That was, uh... hoo." Matthew inhaled, letting out a wheezing chuckle. He'd already escaped death twice in the past week or so, but it's not like he intended to make it a habit or anything. Just sorta... happened. Really, it was a fucking miracle that nobody died in the first place. Not Jezz, not Julia, not Molly and not him or Shawn. Although, with Julia's aim, she'd make a fine Stormtrooper.

"Lemme know when you're good to go in." Keeping close to the building, Matthew watched both sides of the street, the surrounding houses. A gunman could be anywhere, waiting to blow both of them away. Speaking of guns, he should probably look into getting Shawn one. Keeps both of them safe.

[ViolentMedic]

Mônica opened the storage room, saw a glimpse of a corpse, and immediately shut it again.

Couldn’t go anywhere without tripping over bodies. Couldn’t they have left somewhere a little cleaner? Maybe there was food out here. At least focusing on rations was pulling her mind away from everything else. Gave her something else to think about besides Lúcio, and Aracelis and Leslie, and the dangers that she’d just run from--

She could hear wheezing outside.

Well, nevermind escaping that mess on the road. Sounded like they’d caught up with her.

She had two choices. Hide, and try to escape when they weren’t looking. Or talk to them head on. They’d chased her this far. Either they wanted to talk to her, or were really dedicated to killing her. If it was the latter, running wouldn’t help and would make her look more guilty.

So she called out.

“You can come in if you don’t shoot!”

She remained behind the bar, sword in hand but pointed at the ground. At least she’d have a little bit of cover if Matthew pulled the gun on her. And who knew. Maybe there were some beer or peanuts behind here, or something.

[Fiori]

Shawn couldn't help but chuckle along. Not a happy chuckle by any means, his own wheezes aside. More the kind a soldier might make after realising how close he was to stepping on a landmine.

He propped himself up against the wall, closing his eyes and taking a long deep breath to compose himself, exhaling warm steam as he gripped the pickaxe tightly.

"Alright, I'm good..." he began, getting back onto his feet. "Lets-" he continued, stopping as their would-be savior made herself known. Well, it wasn't as if they were trying to sneak up on her anyway, Shawn turning his head to Matthew to offer a reassuring nod. Best he take the lead on this one, being the guy with the gun and all.

"Lead on, MacDuff."

[Applesintime]

Matthew was about to reply to Shawn when Molly made it clear that the pair weren't as sneaky as they thought they were. Ah, well, better they figure that out now than when they're trying to go get Kitty or Julia or something else. Still, couldn't help but be a little peeved at their shitty stealth. Looking over at Shawn, this time Matthew just nodded back, hugging the wall besides the door and carefully pushing it open just in case a hail of bullets flew out into the world or Molly decided to do a runner on them. She probably didn't have a gun, but just had to be sure. What with the whole road shitshow and Katelyn, he'd been caught with his pants down far too many times. If it was being slow and cautious or rushing and getting shot in the fucking face, he'd pick the former.

But, of course, there wasn't any hail of gunfire. Just the whistling of the wind and the creaking of the door.

So Matthew stepped inside, gun still in his hand but aiming at the floor, whispering outside to Shawn with a 'We're all good' once he saw where Molly was. Behind the bar, it'd take some time for her to attack and uh, he could draw and put a bullet in her if she tried. As for Molly herself, he made a point of showing himself popping the magazine out of the gun and putting it in one of his jacket pockets. There was still one in the chamber, but she didn't know that, and for the moment it probably helped to reduce the tension if she thought he couldn's shoot her.

"Mind if I take a seat? Not looking to hurt you." There wasn't any seating close to the bar, and Matthew doubted he could pull the booths over, so he instead hopped up on the pool table, tossing his bag underneath it. Felt like some sorta cop show interrogation, grilling the suspect on why they did their crime or whatever, except there were no actual cops here. Or prisons. Well, there was that cell in the sheriff's office. Setting the gun down besides him, but close to hand just in case, Matthew crossed his arms and studied Molly.

[ViolentMedic]

When Matthew unloaded his gun, Mônica put down the sword. Out of reach of the other two, still behind the bar, but she let go of it before crossing her arms and leaning forward on the counter.

“Don’t know if I’d trust that pool table? It’s probably got tetanus or something? But go ahead. Couldn’t stop you if I wanted to.”

Mônica shifted a hand up and rested her chin on it. Her eyes initially followed Matthew as he settled onto the table, analyzing her in turn. Yeah… he looked like he was sizing her up, just like she was sizing him up. But that made sense, especially with how he’d been acting back in the church cellar. But he hadn’t shot yet. That was a good sign.

Shawn, though…

Mônica’s eyes shifted over to him. An unknown. Not on the announcements at all. But Jezzie had accused him. And was his goal the same as Matthew’s? If what Jezzie had said was true, leaving murder pits around wouldn’t line up with Matthew’s ‘killing killers’ goal.

...But Shawn didn’t have a gun. So Matthew was still the one she had to worry about. She tried to squash the fear that was bubbling back up in her stomach. She could feel more tears prickling at her eyes, and pre-emptively rubbed at them. She probably looked like a mess, between the crying and lack of sleep.

What a time to be self-conscious.

“You didn’t pick up any of the stuff that came out of my bag, did you?” she asked hopefully, nodding her head towards where she’d left her assigned bag. Rip in the bottom very evident.

[Fiori]

Shawn followed suit with his pickaxe slung over his shoulder, taking a cursory glance back outside before closing the door behind them.

His face grimaced as he was welcomed with a horrible stench, one that he was becoming all-too familiar with at this point. Seems this place had seen it's fair share of death, judging from the absolute state the bar had been left in. His foot bumped against something small and metallic, looking down to spy what appeared to be a canister of some kind. A smoke grenade, maybe? One that had already been used from the look of things. Shame.

Now that he was inside, he finally got a chance to see who their supposed saviour was. Molly Oliveira, another cheerleader from the same crowd as Aracelis. Didn't her name come up recently? Not long after her brother's, no less? How spicy. No wonder Matthew had questions for her, if anything Shawn was now rather curious himself as to what excuse she'd come up with.

He couldn't help but glance at the unloaded gun Matt left on the table, briefly entertaining an intrusive thought or two, before sauntering slowly towards the window to take another peek outside. There were a couple ways this could play out, directions he could attempt to steer the conversation towards. He just needed to figure out what outcome would benefit him the most.

"No such luck, I'm afraid" he replied, turning away from the window as he leant up against the wall, looking somewhat at ease even as he kept his hands on that pickaxe. "Was too busy trying to get away from that mess to notice." 

[Applesintime]

"Same here. Didn't really see anything, and besies if we stopped to grab shit one of those psychos would have probably put a bullet into us." Matthew was about to add a second point, about how there were probably enough dead bodies around here that she could scavenge from, but that was just morbid as shit. Even if it was true... sometimes you gotta learn when to shut up and when to speak. And now was certainly a time to shut the fuck up. He had his two questions, and if he scared Molly away he'd probably never learn the answers to any of them.

"So, uh, I'll cut to the chase. Why go out of your way to help us? Could have got you fucking shot. I mean... coulda just stayed quiet, went on with your day or even just hung around to scavenge the remains of whatever happened, uh one sec - Shawn, mind keeping watch? Let us know what's happening out there? Don't want to be chased by one of those psychos and killed." Seeing as his friend was already at one of the windows, it made sense that he stayed there to keep an eye on their ass. He didn't know if Jezzie or Julia would be coming after them, but better safe than sorry.

"Am, right, anyway. You, uh, coulda just stayed quiet and waited for shit to play out. But you purposefully stuck your heads out to warn us, even knowing that... given events I probably wasn't thinking too kindly of you at the moment." Hinting at it in the slightest way possible. Didn't know if this would end with a dead Molly or not, but really Matthew had had enough of people just killing each other for some flimsy reasoning. If he was going to kill anyone, he was going to have a damn good reason.

[ViolentMedic]

“Ahh… makes sense,” Mônica muttered. “It was kind of a mess?”

Her eyes followed Shawn as he rested near the window. Back to the gun. Back to Matthew.

“Yeah, I could have. Though I think anything’s got a good chance of getting me shot. Standing still, lying down, siding with anyone… all the same chance at this point. And yeah, I don’t think anyone’s thinking good of me. I know I’m not.”

As she spoke, she continued to look behind the bar for something to eat or drink. Though, head down, her eyes periodically shifted up to scan for exits. Just in case.

“But I figured, with how you were talking back at that basement… that you might understand why I… I...” She couldn’t make herself say the words outloud, as she picked up a bottle to see if there was any liquid left in it. “Why I did what I did,” she said instead.

She shook the empty bottle, grimaced and put it back. Her gaze went from the bottle to the zweihander, where it rested on a counter.

“I… I was aiming for Aracelis.”

[Fiori]

"Way ahead of ya" Shawn replied, idly peering out the window to check if there were any unexpected guests on the horizon.

To his surprise, the town wasn't nearly as noisy and chaotic as he assumed it would be. Makes sense, if there was near-constant gunfire this horrorshow would've wrapped up days ago. And it wasn't as if there weren't the odd telltale sign of death and destruction to be found, the bar alone looked like it'd seen its fair share of carnage.

Exhaling warm steam, Shawn fumbled his jacket pockets, raising his brow before looking down to see his finger poking through a hole in his coat. He was pretty sure that hole wasn't there that morning, his eyes widening when he realised there was another not far from the first. Seems he had been even closer to receiving a bullet than he realised, gulping nervously before trying to play it cool again.

Fortunately, he was distracted from his recent brush with death when Molly reminded him of another, the sickening crunch of Aracelis' bat bearing down on Bethany's skull still ringing in his ears.

"Understandable. Barely got away from Aracelis and her little sidekick myself a couple days back..." he interjected, briefly turning away from the window. "Heard she blinded a dude. Gorged his fucking eyes out... Like seriously, who the hell does a thing like that to another person?"

[Applesintime]

"She blinded someone? Jesus." Matthew couldn't really get what brought someone to do something like that to another person. Well, yeah, he killed people, but it's not like he was doing it just because he wanted to or to make other people hurt. He was doing it because, really, it was the only goddamn thing he could do. Less Katelyns and Aracelises and Kais running around meant less people got murdered. Even if he had to get his hands dirty, at least it meant other people wouldn't have to.

"Anyway, uh, I'm curious. How'd you go from killing Aracelis to killing your brother? It's, uh, I dunno. Seems like a difficult thing to get mixed up." Shifting a little on the pool table, Matthew noted just how uncomfortable this was. But he didn't really wanna move. He had a good view of everything from here; the front door, a little out of the window, the back room. If shit started, he'd be in a prime position to pick his gun up and start shooting.

"Oh, uh, mind if I load the gun again? Not gonna kill you, but if Julia or whatever comes in we'd be kinda fucked without."

[ViolentMedic]

“Blinded?” Mônica’s eyes widened. “With the bat, probably? ...Ew. First I’d heard about it. Neither she or Leslie were keen on talking about what they’d been doing. Which… sounds like they weren’t just playing peaceful after killing Constance, then.”

Shawn was, if unintentionally, backing her up, then. Good. That was extra weight for her side of things.

At Matthew’s matter-of-fact statement, she winced and looked back down. “I told you, I missed.” She waved her hand at him and his gun. “Do what you want.”

She picked up another bottle, trying to figure out her words, how to use as much of the truth as possible, while avoiding anything that might make Matthew use that gun.

“You met Lúcio. You know he was down to talk to Kitty before shooting at her, right? You think that would have gotten any better when it’s his girlfriend who’s the danger? Even if--” Mônica paused briefly, then said, “It didn’t matter if she’d had that bat to his eyes, he would have tried to hug it out. So, he… he ran between us to try and stop the fight, and… and...”

Mônica’s voice broke. She tried to continue a couple of times, but each time her voice faltered.

Finally she said, “You know what happened. Don’t make me say it.”

She could feel her eyes welling up again. She tried to keep her voice steady, and reached up to try and wipe her eyes before she started sobbing again.

“Fights are messy, even when people aren’t throwing themselves in the middle. Bet that’s even truer with a gun.” She looked up. “I mean… Ren hadn’t killed anyone, had they?”

Throw the ball back in his court. Hope it stopped him from thinking about how she never said that Aracelis had attacked first. Maybe he’d understand, but at the same time… saying she tried to kill someone in their sleep would not endear herself to them.

[Fiori]

"That's what I heard on the grapevine, yeah" Shawn replied, resting his pickaxe up against the wall beside him as he leant back, arms folded as he allowed himself to relax a little. Not too much of course, still taking the occasional glance outside here and there, but he figured they were mostly in the clear at this point.

Matthew's choice of words threw him off a little, not that he was too surprised. Matt was never one for flowery euphemisms, or shying away from difficult subjects. He liked to speak his mind, tell it how it is. Shawn kinda respected that about him, even if there were times like this where he could stand to use a little more tact.

Molly then expressed her side of things, presenting a messy scenario where misplaced love and misunderstanding led to an undesired outcome. It was a story that checked out, made more sense that she'd Mercutio her own brother instead of taking a sibling squabble too far. Reminded him of how fortunate he was to be an only child, god forbid he couldn't bear the idea of having an annoying brother or sister. Sounded like hell on earth.

Her bringing up Aracelis did beg a couple questions, such as whether she or Leslie made any mention of their encounter with himself and Bethany. Or better yet, any mention of whoever was forming a cult of personality out there, granted at this stage there was a good chance that information was irrelevant. Still, it didn't hurt to know who the shakers and movers were amongst his competitors, especially those who had avoided the limelight.

But, that question would have to wait, as Molly turned things back on Matthew. And truth be told, Shawn was rather curious himself as to what Matt had to say about Ren...

[Applesintime]

So, Aracelis blinded, uh, someone. With her baseball bat. Christ, what a thing to do to someone. Matthew could only hope that the poor bastard was dead, otherwise... well, they were gonna be dead anyway. Not being able to see in this goddamn place was like the equivalent of being tied up and left for the fucking wolves. All you had to do was stumble into the wrong person and you were dead, just another name to add onto theirs. Or you'd stumble into a death zone and get your collar blown, although that was probably the better fucking option. Quicker, Matthew would imagine.

Molly's explanation made sense; Lucio was a sorta... naive guy, the kind of person who didn't really use his brain before acting. Even then, Matthew had thought just hugging it out with the killers and singing kumbaya was a stupid fucking idea, given that all the other players around here, Josh and Katelyn and Salem, they wouldn't give a shit about what your intentions were, they just wanted to wipe one more person off the board and hope that the terrorists gave them a gift for it. Of course he'd try to stick to that peaceful vibe even if it would cost him his goddamn life. What a fucking mess.

"Ren?" Matthew couldn't hide the distaste in his voice at the line of questioning. "Ren was with Katelyn and Kai. If not for their own action of pulling a fucking gun on me and trying to keep the, what was it then, six-time murderer alive, they'd have been alive themselves. And if not for Ren? Katelyn and Kai would be dead, and there'd be a good few more people running around this fucking island!" And as it turned out, he couldn't hide the anger either. People kept throwing Ren in his face like it somehow made him and Katelyn or all the other killers equal. They'd made the choice to defend a murderer. They got what they goddamn deserved.

With a distinct movement, Matthew loaded his gun again, setting it down besides him.

"So no. Killing someone who'd been helping the biggest murderer on this island out isn't comparable."