Survival Of The Fittest

Paulo stepped out with Becca.  And then shit got weird.

None of this was what Paulo expected.  Old girl was screaming, on some old bullshit.  Then the boy was getting on his knees.

"Que?"  Paulo muttered.  

Paulo didn't make the connection between Kyle getting on the ground and Becca having a gun.  His mouth was running on autopilot.

"What's he think, I'm gonna let him suck on my dick or something?"  He said to his companion, against all conventions of good taste or intelligence.

"You foders keep your shit together and old girl here won't blow it out your asshole!"  He said to them, not realizing that his mouth was more than likely making everything much worse.

Becca squinted, eyes narrowing.

It wasn't a deliberate threat, with the gun. Dropping down was instinctive, trying to make herself a smaller target. She had no follow up though - no intent of trying to well, like... do anything. Just because she had the Colt didn't mean she immediately wanted to use it! Crap. With the girl holding her arms up in the air like that, and the other person on his knees - because fuck, there were TWO of them - it felt like some kind of damn stick-up, and that sure as hell hadn't been the intention.

Paulo didn't, to be charitable, offer a particularly helpful contribution to the situation. Becca dismissed it with a shrug, remaining intent on the pair that they'd run across. Familiar faces - the senior class at Aurora wasn't that big. Fuck, Becca didn't think that there was anyone she didn't at least recognise along on the trip, even if she hadn't been buddying up to all of them. She wanted to say that the girl was Claire though, was she on the school newspaper? Becca wasn't sure... definitely there was some kind of media in there somewhere. She didn't know. Probably didn't matter much beyond; Becca didn't know her too well.

Becca straightened up, holding the gun in both hands. If the other two were armed, they weren't showing it, and if they were that scared at the sight of a pistol, Becca would've thought that they'd be pulling out their own if they had them.

"Chill, chill, okay?" the Colt was in front of her, but lowered, not threatening or pointing. "It's just a gun, I'm not using it unless anyone- unless anyone m-makes me."

Oh great, so not only is Becca pointing a gun at us, she's also allied with some prick.

Claire kept her hands in the air. Kyle and thrown himself to his knees in response to Becca stepping out, something Claire figured was his way of showing resistance, while actually looking really desperate to not die. Part of her was amazed that she was restrained enough to not do that as well.

She then saw Becca's ally, Paulo Abbate. He was someone Claire heard more about than actually knew. The boy was pretty into fighting, but was also known to be pretty loud and abrasive. Becca must be very pragmatic to keep him with her.

Fortunately, it looked like Becca wasn't going to kill them. She must have been taking a precaution by holding her gun out, even if it almost made Claire start begging like a sinner on Judgement Day.

"Okay, well no one here wants you to kill them," Claire responded to Becca, lowering her hands so they were in front of her chest. "We've got no reason to quarrel either. So let's break bread or protein bars or whatever and try to come to some peaceful agreement about not killing one another."

Please agree, please agree, please agree.

Paulo sniffed and dragged his thumb across his nose.  They had established their cred; these two weren't gonna fuck with nobody.  That was cool.

"It's on you then, girl."  Paulo clapped Becca on the back.

"Y'all better listen to her from now on.  She'll fuck you up, putos."

Paulo brandished the 2X4.  "Y'all better be happy I don't got that gun.  I'd have you kissin' the dirt, you know?"

Kyle stood up as the two in front of him announced their intentions. He felt stupid. Why did he even get down like that? If they were dangerous, the best thing to do would be to find cover, not immobilise himself. He was such an idiot sometimes.

He took a deep breath. Alright, time to take things one step at a time. He looked at the two kids in front of him. He had seen them in the halls a few times, but otherwise had no idea who they were. Kyle kicked himself mentally. His lack of a social life was really going to come back to bite him in this game, wasn't it. 

The boy in particular made him really nervous. He definitely didn't seem like one who would shy away from a fight. His actions puzzled Kyle. Why would he make gestures of peace yet keep insulting and threatening them? 

Maybe to get Kyle's guard down so he can kill him more easily?

Kyle blinked several times as he tried to push the disturbing thought from his mind. He turned to the girl, guessing he'd have a better chance at appeasing her than the other guy.

"Okay, let's all calm down here. We won't fight you, we promise that much. Is there anything else that you two want here?"

For the love of god Paulo - if Becca hadn't been fronting what had the potential to be a hairy situation she would've been very much tempted to slap him upside the head. Okay things seemed to be largely diffused... so how about let's throw in some threats and see how they respond to that. Particularly threats that Becca had no idea whether she'd be capable of backing up. Writing cheques that your ass couldn't cash was one thing, having those cheques signed in your name, something else entirely.

She quirked an eyebrow, either way. "What agreement? I said I wasn't gonna, right?" maybe a little defensive, but Becca didn't really understand what Claire was getting at. Perhaps it was more of the type of agreement that meant sticking together. However... she already had Paulo, that was one person that she trusted just about enough. The more people she surrounded herself with, the more likely it was that someone would prove untrustworthy. Becca didn't know if there was anyone she could have one hundred percent faith in, just that there were definitely plenty that had better than the thirty or so percent she had in Claire and this other guy, whoever he was.

"I'm cool, all right?" Becca was bristling a little. Didn't like being told to calm down. She hadn't even really DONE anything and there they were diving on the floor. Probably because of Paulo being belligerent, but whatever. It FELT like that they were talking to her. "Just looking around, is all," she didn't want to lay it all out, kinda paranoid. Justified, though.

Oh. Shit. Yeah, she already said that she wasn't going to kill us. God, Claire. Get your shit together.

Even though Paulo had made some threatening, kind of cocky remarks, Claire was starting to feel a bit better about the situation she was in. It looked like they weren't going to get shot, and they could just chill. Claire placed her arms by her side, pointing the flashlight towards the ground.

"Alright then," Claire said. "That's fine with us. I guess we'll just be on our way then."

Claire quickly turned to Kyle and gave a quick tilt of her head. It didn't look like there was much to gain from being near Paulo and Becca, so it probably would be best if they moved on.

I guess we'll find somewhere else to take shelter.

Paulo let the board rest casually on his shoulder.  They sure as shit showed these foders what was up.  Ain't no one gonna get in the way Paulo and his ass-er, new friend.


"Y'all go ahead and do that.  Next time tell your man to man the fuck up before he starts gettin' on his knees, yeah?"



" Menina, what you thinkin'?"  He said to Becca.  He stole a glance at her hindquarters before his eyes bounced back up to her face.

Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. This situation seemed to have settled down, at least. The other boy there was still suspicious though. Kyle didn't know what it was about him that bothered him, but there was definitely something disturbing about his behavior. He took a step back and tried to whisper to Claire.

"I don't think it would be safe to stay around them. Let's get out of here quickly."

That was assuming that Claire herself wasn't dangerous. He wondered if he might be better off on his own.

Kyle swallowed hard, feeling dizzy with fear. He just wished that all of this would be over as soon as possible. God, it was so hot out there. The least he could ask for would be to get some shade soon.

Be on their way...

Yeah. Becca was starting to feel that that was probably the best idea for her and Paulo, too. There were two pairs with their own...

agendas?

About that one. She still wasn't sure what was up with what she was doing, and a situation like this hadn't gone a long way to figuring it out. As far as Becca had got was that pointing a gun at people wasn't great, albeit pointing a gun at people could put the fear of god in them. Becca didn't like that she'd learned that, but it was useful information nonetheless. You didn't need to shoot to intimidate. Which was good, cause Becca still had no freaking idea if she'd be able to shoot.

Paulo's presence... had he helped, or had he made things worse? It was tough to say, honestly. It'd have been nice to have had an ordinary conversation instead of a holy-shit-don't-shoot-me one.

Heh... define ordinary.

Becca glanced to her fri- companion.

"I'm thinking we need some space. Map says there's more town to look at, maybe we can find somewhere," Becca looked back around. "Alrighty then. You two uh... yeah. Sorry about that. Maybe next time throw yourself behind something instead of on your knees."

Crossing the street, Becca headed off - away from that other pair. South seemed good enough. Hopefully they'd find someplace to get themselves set.


((Becca continued elsewhere))

Well, that tension resolved itself nicely. Then again, we did nearly shit ourselves and all we proved is that we'll cower and beg for mercy if anyone with a gun approaches us. Fuck, I guess we'll have to react faster to situations like that. Heh, looks like there was something to Dad making us go on family jogs every weekend.

It looked like Becca and Paulo were going to be heading out of the community. It didn't seem like a good idea to stay close to them, so it looked like Claire and Kyle would have to go the other way.

"I say we head the opposite direction they go," she said to Kyle. "We can't stay in this house now. Let's go. Allons-y."

Claire began to head in the opposite direction of Becca and Paulo. She kept a quick pace, keeping the flashlight in her hands and keeping her face forward.

Alright, Maréchal and Rosenthal are heading to the Swiss border, away from Major von Rauffenstein and the German army. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it.

((Claire Monaghan continued in How Could I Own a Real Chanel When There's So Much Poverty in the World?))

Paulo nodded at the plan.  Simple enough, and he was glad that those two fuckers weren't going to be a problem.  He really didn't want to have to fuck them up; it would've just been something he would have had to do.

The half-Brazilian followed behind Becca.  He was grateful she was on point.  Not just to stare at her ass, but because she couldn't see him.  Couldn't see his hands trembling on the base of his weapon.  Menina didn't know how he hadn't been entirely sure of himself.  Maybe even a little...well, scared.

You didn't know what people were capable of.

((Paulo Abbate continued elsewhere))

Well, that problem seemed to be solved. The others were leaving, and Claire seemed to leave too. He followed after he, glancing back at the two strangers behind him. They didn't seem likely to turn around and shoot, but Kyle didn't want to take any chances. After all, he didn't even know if it was it was safe to stay with Claire either.

For once, the intrusive thoughts were quiet. It was less distracting, at least. He didn't want to abandon the first person to actually spend significant time with him, even if they were only forced to through survival instinct.

He scratched at his ears as he heard a faint crackling sound, like static. He must have hit his head on something when they dropped him here. Just his luck.

((Kyle Fitzpatrick continued in How Could I Own a Real Chanel When There's So Much Poverty in the World?))