Survival Of The Fittest

((Mortimer Schaub continued from Don't Text and Walk))



(OOC: Sprite of Mortimer is made by Fenris)

"So when are they going to start the nukes? It's been too long."

Russell mused, when he was trying to eat some chicken tenders. It was a miracle that Strawberry Letter Pavilion had a Chili's with good quality service than the Applebee's nearby.

Actually, let's pause the VHS tape here.

We must set the scene.

5 young men at a booth. One gap in the seating. Inside of a Chili's with staff (bless their hearts) for being better than the other Chili's in town.

Among the chips and salsa on the table, there was Mortimer eating some Southwestern egg rolls for dinner, though let's talk about these 4 boys who, unaware to themselves because they think everyone around them are NPCs, are actually NPCs. They all have a similarity against Mortimer.

It's easy to guess why.

But let's make this obvious...

[+] I think you know the correct answer here

(OOC: Quality art is made by Yonagoda. Art has been edited by Mortimer's handler with the award-winning digital software known as Microsoft Powerpoint)

Now, let's pull the camera back and focus on these 4 gentlemen.

Starting from left to right, while Mortimer remains in the middle.

On our left, wearing a white dad cap over his short brown hair, a thrift shop shirt featuring the logo of the band Goldfinger, shorts, and flat bottomed Vans shoes, was Oscar. He was munching on half a rack of baby back ribs that came with fries and white cheddar mac and cheese. Oscar comes from Meadowbrook from one of the most aggressively middle class families imaginable. His parents listen to such mainstream taste as Coldplay and Destiny Child, which were a far cry from how Oscar listened to Incubus and Earl Sweatshirt with a dash of skate punk in the mix. His parents were also fans of The Amazing Spider-Man films from 2012 to 2014, considering them better than the original Spider-Man trilogy or the newest one that is part of the MCU. Oscar is a skater boy, who said "See ya later, boy", though for the rat pack, he knows his stuff with God of War. One of his skateboards even had Kratos on the deck. His favorite skate sport is the reservoir at Majestic Park. There is also his interest in werewolves, to which he would deny being a furry.

In truth, he was a furry. But everyone in the squad knows this.

Next up was Louie, who had blond wavy hair, a meek demeanor, and feasting on a Santa Fe salad. A complete social outcast who lived in Meadowbrook, but it might have been due to the fact that his parents are Harry Potter fans in the midst of the 2020's. His mother cosplayed as Harry Potter once. Now, it seemed like they were jumping onto the Wicked craze from last year. The rest of the squad under Mortimer's command had to get him toughen up. Good for them for teaching him to be a sneaky bastard when necessary, but it was a teenager version of street smarts. Mortimer wanted him to not end up as a soyjak or even post soyjaks. Those images were so overbearing and the joke always got old when it came to strawmanning. Morty knew that he was on the spectrum, which could explain his high grades and good GPA for school. Besides bringing a Nintendo Switch to school to play the Legend of Zelda, the squad keeps him around because he knows a little too much on Manhunt and explaining things in great detail about what was in the game.

Then, there was Carl, who had already eaten dinner back at his place and had ordered dessert of a molten chocolate cake. He was dressed up like a wannabe greaser with his slicked back and shaved at its sides black hair and a black leather jacket. It was a complete open secret to everyone at Red Rock that Carl lived in a part of Las Vegas that was much rougher than Skyline Heights. He was said to be living in an area directly by Malone Circle Park, so he knew a lot on what happened over there at night. His father, who was the one to mostly take care of him, voted for President Canon. Both back at 2016 and recently at 2024. Carl's father walked around with a red cap with one of Canon's slogans and lounged at his living room to watch episodes of Jeopardy. He was still better than Carl's mother. Carl hated his mother and his dad did, too. She was a skinny bitch, but she doesn't do a damn thing. She wasn't even employed or wanted to be employed and ironically fit the deadbeat dad trope than Carl's actual father.

Though, his father was kinda racist.

...Well, how racist again?

He was trying to not be racist, since his job threatened to put him in some racial sensitivity class, if he kept up with the micro-aggressions. He really was trying, Carl knew. Though, to be safe since Carl's dad was a major conservative type, he didn't want to mention to his father that he was gay. It will probably be best if he waited until after his senior year. Back to focus directly on Carl, he used to be a part of the anime club, but he hated how it was becoming associated with "weebs" and dropped out to join the rat pack instead. He knows a lot of old school media like Akira and The X-Files, though he enjoyed playing zombie games. Especially Dead Island and its sequel. After he got arrested and sent to juvie one summer, he came out and bragged that being in jail showed how "tough" he was. His friends already know that he was actually arrested for having overdue unpaid parking tickets.

Lastly, probably as Mortimer as Mortimer Schaub himself, you have Russell. He seems harmless with messy dark brown hair and a pair of reading glasses, but he has some trashy taste in true crime. A lot of true crime. Probably one of the first things that Morty heard from Russell's mouth was how he was covering the Gabby Petito case. He lived in Skyline Heights like Mortimer, though he was deemed "unethical" by many. Probably because he likes to use torrent sites by engaging in piracy. It would be like every month for him to send his PC over to the Geek Squad to purge it of viruses. Russell has a shitty ad-blocker, which didn't helped. His parents were still good saints, but even while they were trying, there was still a flawed kid in the mix. His mother was originally from New Jersey, in which she described to be a "cesspool" of a high school. She wanted to learn, but her teachers didn't give a shit. Probably also didn't help that Russell mentioned a story by his mother once that one of her teachers was supposed to be in a porn movie. After Russell's mother got older, she did everything she could with the help of her family to get the fuck away from her town and migrate on the Oregon Trail over to Nevada. Russell indirectly got his interests in true crime from his father, who got a job as a UPS driver and was a fan of the show Dateline. His father even had copies of episodes of To Catch a Predator. Among the action figures in Russell's room, he was a fan of Batman. Unfortunately, he was a fan of Batman written by Frank Miller. Which then led to him being a fan of Frank Miller in general. In terms of video games, he really liked Mortal Kombat. To net him some views, he would post footage of all of the fatalities and brutalities of Mortal Kombat, using characters like Reptile and most recently, the T-1000, as test dummies to showcase all of the kills without getting flagged with a violence warning.

It probably made a bit too much sense that there was a good chance that Russell had some undiagnosed issues going for him. Mortimer thinks that he had ADHD or was heavily autistic or probably something else. All the boys can say about Russell was that he had horrible taste in women. Very horrible taste in women.

"Eat shit, you phony Amber Heard bitch."

Russell nibbled on his chicken tenders, while Mortimer rolled his eyes. "Russell, we doom-talking again?" Mortimer mentioned to him.

"Isn't Musk technically president now?" Oscar asked as a snide reply. Mortimer sipped his diet coke. "I mean, that was definitely a Nazi salute." Oscar continued, but Carl stopped him.

"Everyone knows that he was doing the salute. Everyone also knows that Musk has people gold farm for him on Path of Exile 2."

The other 4 young men let out a "ooh" in reply. "Good one, Carl." Mortimer said.

"Does anyone feel nostalgia for wanting to play Bloons?" Louie asked his friends.

"Bloons? That's so casual! Why not something like GTA 4?" Russell asked him.

"No, we need to bring back the CDI version of Zelda!" Oscar said.

"Amen, brother. That game is actually a masterpiece." Mortimer said.

"No... ac-t-tutally it's a post-modernist form of art that was too ahead of its time back then." Louie said about the CDI verison of Zelda to join in on the joke.

"Why can't Wade and Ray stop by here?" Russell asked Mortimer.

"I texted them, but they seem busy. I figured we enjoy ourselves, since the horror club isn't going to kill me anymore." Mortimer said, though Russell chipped in with a remark.

"You have Fray-Fray going to turn you into the next Brain Thompson."

"You mean assassinate me with a Jamba Juice?"

"The first recorded murder in history from Jamba Juice will be a victim named Mortimer. That's who."

"You should see if Panera Bread can chip in. They can try to poison me with a caffeine overdose." Mortimer snickered.

((Stella Nyquist stepped in through the front entrance.))

Scanned the room.

Saw Mortimer.

Blinked, double-take.

Turned and exited the establishment.

Got back into her Camaro.

((Drove off.))

((Permission to write Rosa Hernández granted by LYourLocalAutist))






“Did you see that Camero that peeled off when we were parking?”
“ZL1.”
“Huuh. Didn’t know you were into cars, Rosa.”
“It looked familiar, like I’ve seen it on campus before?”
“It’s Stella’s.”
“... Oh yeah. You recognize her car?”
“I watch Varsity practicing sometimes. Taking notes.”
“Are they that good?”
“Best batch in years according to Coach.”
“They’re not even competitive circuit, right? Aura farming ahh.”
“Ooh wait, she’s the one you have a crush on, right?”
“Crush is putting it strooongly.”
“Still. Sucks I didn’t catch a glimpse of this supposed peak femme.”
“She’s pretty. Trust.”

"And here's your table ladies,"

so spoke a waitress with the energy of the open of her shift. One or two thanks. Four women shuffled, slid, splattered into the booth left of the other occupied one.

"And here are your menus." A few more thank yous. "My name is Bea, I'll be your server for this evening. If you have any questions please let me know, I'll be back to get your drink orders!" The waitress wandered off, spring in her step. Worn down, uncomfortable mattress sort of spring.

The camera briefly shunted over. In no particular order:

Leftmost. Rosa Hernández. Dreads dyed ghost blond, soft eyes, high cheekbones just like her older brother. Gen Alpha revival bohemian chic: earthy cream and brown shirt with polka dots and princess sleeves, relaxed white joggers, big round frame glasses. Infinity kitschy wood bracelets asymmetrically distributed over her two wrists. One hand holding Temu, the other hand holding local thrift stores. Eternal doomscroller of r/fauxmoi. She was her first period friend group’s go-to for indie pop a liiiitle less mainstream than Beabadoobee or Boygenius.

Skipping over her to the third girl at the table. Caitlin Wethersby. Curly brown hair, strikingly green eyes almost cartoonish in hue, chubby in body and face. Weeb... fashion, quote unquote; gray tee with a Pochita front and center; maroon yoga pants; way too many Genshin character keychains strung off her aged-to-imperfection brown pleather purse. DJ alias, taipan_forever. One of the more famous names among the perennial no-names of the suburban Las Vegas rave scene. The NGMI of the Vegas youth. 23 and a half, worked a shitty casino retail job to keep a bed in a one bedroom apartment with three other roommates. Free to play gacha enjoyer by force, not by choice. Boyfriend was even more useless than she was, his net worth tied up into three glass cases worth of gunpla.

Back to the girl skipped over. Jimena Marroquin. Wild wavy black hair left aesthetically undone to half bury her eyes, light brown eyes in an almond shape, gym influencer physique. Casual wear, a Red Rock spirit day tee, a blue marbled white skort down to the knee, a black smartwatch on her left wrist: 70 bpm average, 160 cal burned. Red Rock JV cheer flyer, already the standout talent of the freshman batch, yas bitch slay variety of arabesque. Currently focusing on getting her study habits together. A bit of tutoring from a certain Meghan Roberts had helped out. Jimena was confident she’d iron out the kinks in her grades by the end of the semester and be in a good position to join an all-star competitive team, as she ranted about at every single family dinner ever. Had… deeeecent taste in men. Half-kidding. She knew older was a long-term mistake, hormones aside.

Rightmost. Jimena's older sister,

[Mona Marroquín, Pregame Thread 3]

She was the light brown eyes in an almond shape done up in royal reds and golds, shout out to the approaching Lunar New Year; she was the fiery orange lipstick with a bit of extra douyin wet gloss; she was the light gray wool trench coat and the light gray white striped pageboy cap; she was the simple white undershirt and relaxed fit tan slacks.

You know the rest.

The two freshmen carried on their own conversation, something like:

“You think I have the hip flexibility for this one?”
“You coooould. I’ve been telling ya, like, hit me up during lunch. We can do stretch routines together.”
“I mean. I’m buuuusy.”
“Bitch when I leave you’re nose deep into Pinterest.”
“And I resent that ya don’t join me, mayne.”

Mona, being the closest to the table of ... whatever the fuck that was, came off the loudest by a smidge.

”A whole extra table on top level’s possible like I said. I’m just saying I’m curious who you got coming in.”
“Just a couple girls, uh… maybe? Guys. Dunno who Camero girl’s gonna invite along.”
”Are you doing this to impress her?”
“I’d call it a switch up but she probably fucks with crazier scenes.”
”Mmmm. Way you’ve spoken about her, who knows. Oh shit, y’all are gonna be under twenty-one yeah?”
“Yep. No issues with that, right?”
”Just keep the fakes on you. But I’ll make sure the organizers know y’all are with me.”
“Hm.” A giggle. “What’s it like having clout, Cait?”
”Wish it made me money.”

”But. No, like. Girl. You know we hit this in sync.”
“Mmmm. What would I wear, I guess?”
“We don’t have to color coordinate anything.”
“Yeah but you complain all the time that all I know how to wear is workout clothes and my cheer outfit.”
“You used to be so much better! Like I get you’re in hyperfixating on sportsball mode but, c’mon. You’re the hottest bitch in our grade-”
“—X to dooooubt—”
“I just wanna show off with you, you know? ‘Mena. Throwback. Eighth grade social studies. We cracked every neck in that room dont’cha know?”
“I remember, I remember. Hold up-”

“I’ll take you out to the buffet at the Wynn. Been a while since we’ve been there.”
”Oh god, yeah. That’d be an adequate comp for my efforts.”
“You know I’m good for— oh, hey sis. What with the phone you’re thrusting in my face?”
”Opinion?”

TikTok noises joined the Chilli’s ambiance.

“Huh. Yeah, the two of you could pull it off.”
”Feels like a slower grind might be more the play.”
“Oh, that’s a good call. Rosa?”
“... Low key hung up on dude in front. He can get it.”
“I mean. Yeah, agreed. Cait?”
“Shrug. I’m accounted for.”
“But if you weren’t?”
“Not my flavor. Mona, you’re the token sapphic here, which of the girls is the baddie?”
“This my new lot in life? Mmm. First one if I had to pick.”

“Ladies!” Chiptune sweet Bea’s server call-to-arms cut through the blob of conversation and looping TikTok video. “Have we decided?”

”Think I’m ready to order. If that’s okay, sis?”
“Go for it. Cait, are you ordering?”
“Maybe a dessert? But in a bit, just drinks for now.”
“Rosa?”
“Yeah. Blackberry ice tea and the Nashville Hot Crispers, thank you.”
“Dang, sounds goooood. Uh, unsweetened ice tea please! Surf and turf sirloin, sub the mashed potatoes for extra broccoli.”
“Fancy.”
“450 cal, 60 g of protein.”
“Of fucking course.”
“Too much sodium but hey, I’m a salty bitch.”
“That's my girl. Same. Cait?”
”House marg, strawberry.”
“One brainwave, dang. Same for me please.”

The two of-age girls hit the high as possible five. Bea asked for their IDs. Caitlin Wethersby. Camille Dolor. Wink wink.

“Looks good to me! I’ll be back with your orders, ladies. Call if you need anything else!”

Mona settled in for a long and chill hang out with one of her best friends in the world. And her DJ friend, and her best friend’s best friend who, uh, actually kind of hated her but. Y’know, emotionally abused her older brother and all. Understandable, comprehensible antipathy. Mona would have judged Rosa more if there wasn’t a side eye literally every time she opened her mouth.

Her ears perked. Wait. Familiar voices in the booth behind her. She chanced a peek in case it was, like, one of the handful of friendly faces on campus and

Nope. Not a friendly face. Not at all. Hm. Mona should have been paying more attention coming in. Accursed habituation. She’d thought Applebees was a safe space, she guessed. Like, in so far as anywhere in driving distance of Red Rock was safe for her. Didn’t Morty know he and the rest of his goons were supposed to be losers that only had an established presence in, like, VR chat yiff servers or whatever it was they did in their free time? Mona shrugged inwardly. Outwardly, no response. Whatever happened happened and all that. She chanced returning to the disjointed conversations at hand.

“What about Bea? She’s kind of cute.”
“I’m bi, not desperate. Hitting on wait staff should be illegal, et cetera.”

One ear open, that said. A passive absorbing of what the boys(™) were up to. Mona did have memories of the edgy gamer flavor of conversation from back in the day. Mostly lame and terrible, but like. Nostalgically so. Wait shit, was a barely eighteen year old even allowed to have nostalgia? Was she r/lewronggeneration now?

A presence of a goddess entered the building, only to leave when it encountered a rival.

Stella's arrival and quick departure went unnoticed by Mortimer and his troupe.

Perhaps, she would've attacked him when he was alone. Of what weapons she would've used, that answer is currently unknown.

"Hey, isn't the Razzies this month?" Louie asked the group. "Oh yeah! It's going to be a tough pick. I already know what movie is getting nominated nonstop. Serves those pricks right for stabbing us in the hearts." Mortimer said, seeing the Razzies as a form of karma.

"What are the nominations this year again?" Russell asked. "Most of the movies are comic book adaptations or superhero flicks." Carl replied. "Damn, now I want to see the 5th season of The Boys. They wouldn't hesitate to mock all of the shitty superhero movies, if that's the case." Mortimer snickered.

"Bets for Worst Picture?" Oscar asked.
"Megalopolis?" Louie started throwing out suggestions.
"Not Megalopolis. Movie sucks, but that movie tried too hard." Mortimer didn't want to give the film too much credit, since you have cheesy shit like this, when you have Adam Driver speaking like a Reddit moderator.
"Argylle?"
"Nah..." Carl groaned.
"Unfrosted?"
"Amy Schumer is probably going to get Worst Actress for that, but not Worst Picture."
"Reagan?"
"Not that either. But we had Dennis Quaid in that." Carl mentioned.
"And Dennis Quaid was also in The Substance, so we give that movie a pass."

"...Joke-"
"SHH! Don't speak that venom yet, Louie." Mortimer interrupted him, while nibbling on another egg roll. "Damn it, Carl. You're right. There's a lot of crappy superhero flicks that came out."
"Plus, there's no crappy superhero flicks that we can hate/mock watch on like Morbius." Russell commented.
"You're right on that. It's not even funny anymore, when you have the newest Crow film that's the same level of bad as Morbius."
"Isn't the new Crow movie bad as the other sequels after the original?" Louie asked them.
"Oh definitely." Carl chipped in.

"I was about to mention the Crow movie, but what about Kraven the Hunter?" Oscar suggested.
"Oh, that was also going to be my pick." Carl said.
"People don't give a shit about Kraven the Hunter. He only had one significant comic book story arc that everyone loved, but nothing else that stands out."
"Hang on!" Mortimer thought of a movie. "We're all still placing bets that Joker 2 will be the worst film of 2024, but what about Madame Web." Mortimer said, which caused his friends to let out a simultaneous chuckle.

"I didn't even watch Madame Web. That's the thing. That film had no substance." Louie said.
"Join the club, Louie. Nobody here had wanted to watch it. It's money to burn." Russell said, until he proposed another film as Worst Picture.

"Alright. Hear me out... Borderlands."
"Oh I hate that freakin' movie!" Mortimer immediately said with everyone agreeing. "Not in my top 10 worst films I seen, but it will be someone's list. Just as bad as Bio-Dome."
"Is Borderlands worst than Joker 2, though?" Carl asked a philosophical question.
"Well, no one cares about the Borderlands games anymore. That's a start. Second, Randy Pitchford was involved, so screw him. Third, it's like a Guardians of the Galaxy clone."
"Real." Oscar said.
"Why would they get Eli Roth to direct, if they made the film into PG-13? We needed him for Thanksgiving, not that shit." Carl mused.

"We do need to get our revenge on Todd Phillips somehow. God damn pretentious prick thinks it's funny to play us dirty like that. All of the so-called supporters of the sequel can die on the same hill. All with their hippy-dippy 'it's supposed to be an artistic statement' bullshit." Mortimer said, with the 4 boys agreeing.

“So, like. The Weeknd’s new album—”
“Dude, Cait. I’ve been dying to talk to someone about that since it dropped. Uhhh, fuck. I mean. It was good? Too much of a slow burn?”
“Mona?”
“Oh yeah, I heard it. Mmm. Agree with Rosa.” The glaaaaare. Side eye literally every time Mona opened her mouth, et cetera. “It’s a good concept album but I won’t be surprised if it bombs commercially.”
“Exhausting, shallow. It’s like. Late night staring at the ceiling wondering what went wrong in your life: The Album. Cathartic but cringe to try and remember the next day.”
“That’s a good way of putting it.”
“Did you check out the lyrics to—?”

And the girls had pulled out Genius. Jimena toying with the smartwatch. So it went.

Booth behind Mona. Razzies? Reagan? Some things didn’t change year to year. Back when Mona had called Morty one of her close inner circle friends— like, imagine— she’d always followed along with the conversations more than actually been a part of them. Greek chorus and she the one jackass standing around waiting for them to be done so she could move on with her life in the spotlight (breaking out of the rigging and falling on her head coded).

“But yeah. I saw this recipe for shrimp molletes.”
“And your big bro is okay with that?”
“I don’t give a fuck about what he thinks? You and I are gonna cook. Literally.”
“First time I’ve ever heard that joke.” The freshman girls had started a conversation within a conversation that was in no way related to the original conversation.

“— Like the theme of the song is clear I just think the way Abel delivers it seems off? Like it’s almost a timbre problem, straight up—” Cait, meanwhile, full autism mode, bless her soul. Totally didn’t know or didn’t care that she’d mostly lost Rosa’s attention.

Huh, well. The boys had already moved through, what, a whole second rate YouTube channel’s worth of movie critique by now? She was still stuck on the part where they’d bothered to carry water for a conservative apologia movie because, hey, overrated white male actor happened to be good at coming across as a scumbag for one twenty some minutes of life Mona was never getting back (not that she had been paying attention, it had been running in the background because she’d misclicked while finding something on Prime to not pay attention to while she sewed. The rest was history (to be specific, 1980s quote-unquote history) ).

”But are you going to have to drop by in your cheer outfit if we hang on Saturday.”
“Yeah, unless you want me to drop by for like thirty minutes. Clinic’s a half day thing.”
“You people are insane, jeeeesus.”
“Rosa, you don’t get the grind—”

Shrug. Edgy boys would be edgy boys (neither Wade nor Ray even spoke the same way the others did, why were they there at allRay, in particular, deserved better. Something something he could get it. Mwah)? Mona gave them some credit. Different lived experiences between theabused daughter of an illegal immigrant and a bunch of annoying teenage boy hipsters. And she also did know Morty was smarter than most people gave him credit for. Sometimes. As a treat. And she also knew thatholyshit why was she giving him any credit for anything what was wrong with her

”But gosh, I will admit I adored the transition between—”

As she scrolled down down down through her DMs, half a dozen full-wristed flicks of her index finger later, still unable to find Morty,
③
still no Morty,
⑦
Mona had gotten very used to ignoring sudden Discord notifications, collecting red left unreads. She’d get to it when she got to it, evening blitz session, bit of Sewerslvt playing, maybe a bit of brandy or something equally gross tasting but aesthetically pleasing to sip on.

But like, it had been Hunter who had messaged her. Less annoying to deal with than Mortyyes she hated them both despite reserving spoons in her drawer for each of them, certainly normal human behavior so, six full-wristed flicks uuuuuuup, and

[+] dzprnoiaboy to dasheth1

askdfjsfkjksfkjf
tf did i sayyyyyyyy
castel-p btfo fr
shes live @ twitch rn this is generational crashout kinda vibe
its sooo hard not to say anything im just sitting here like
https://i.imgur.com/SMfYCZr.gif
couldnt have happened to a nicer bitch

“God, poms are not nearly as soft as they look out the box. I got a bunch of slices up on my wrist when I tried to use them without shaking them out proper. Might still be able to see them—”

“And the way the next track tees up, I feel like the mixing kinda isn’t right between the two tracks, like they could have put more effort into—”

Whoops, a lot was happening at once. Suddenly she was a bit frazzled, a bit eyes burning from the pepper, neurospicy, call that BookTok. The same way girlies be online if they were straight and the gay happened to their faves, or vice versa. Mona was pretty sure she was neurotypicalimagine dealing with that, on top of everything else that was already impossible for her to deal with!and even she was having a bit of difficulty processing. Much as she didn’t have the time in the moment to imagine how someone with executive dysfunction would be faring right now? She was randomly distracted by that exact bit of empathy (fuck empathy, etc. Distraction from the importantly petty things in life).

“The sample goes off, yeah,”
“Oh. Yeaaaah, one hundred percent.”
“It could have been better integrated into the beat when they turn it into that vocal chop bit? It feels totally out of context vibe wise. The composition feels more melodramatic than anything else. Like, mmm. And it’s a two parter song! It’s such a needless tempo change between suites, like—”

Well, Mona had to do something. She was the unironically trying to befriend Meggy, she was the unironically trying to talk to Stella, the unironically having a bi awakening in the processseriously how the fuck why not? Mona was a lot of things. Maybe, even, a repentant (squint really hard) friend. Also. She was. Booooooooooooored.

Six, down, another half dozen messages from some rando she recognized as one of her personal Discord’s power users, totally ignored,

[+] dasheth1 to Chiller

I'm a bit old, I think, to be setting myself on fire for your amusement.

Look behind ya babe.

”Like okay. I don’t want to do this at all, but, hypothetical. If I joined cheer—”
“Doomed. Over before it began.”
“The fuck, ‘Mena? I totally could—!”

She was, also, alone in a crowd.

"I'll be right back. I need to take a leak." Russell said to the group, scooting himself out.
"Hey, you don't ditch us. We're all going to pay the bill here for our own junk food." Carl said to him, after he slipped out from the booth to head over to the restroom. Russell walked past the girls, oblivious to Mona's presence.

"Man, where the hell is Ray and Wade? Don't tell me that your friends are hiding out from you." Oscar asked Mortimer. "Hey, give them a break. I don't know where Wade ended up. Last I heard from him, I think he was hanging with someone at Silver Springs." Mortimer mentioned, drinking more Diet Coke, though knowing Wade, it wasn't random of him to end up in random places. He was at Silver Springs a few weeks ago at Claude's place.

"Why not Ray? We need to see him here." Louie asked Mortimer.
"Yeah, where's Ray? Don't tell me that he skipped out on us, because we're not in a place that's supposed to be vegan friendly!" Carl chipped in.

"Give him a break. I'm trying to see him, too. I'm making sure we hang together for when my birthday happens. Make sure he has something that he can eat." Mortimer said, making sure that he was finishing off his food. Now, he just needed Russell to come back from his supposed quick piss, so they can fetch the waitress.

"Hang on, weren't you also at Claude's place?" Oscar asked him.
"Oh yeah. Lucie didn't make it easy for me, though she was unaware that my lesbian goth principal was onto me, when I got the horror club in trouble."
"Isn't she tall?" Louie asked him.
"She still is. I keep forgetting how tall she is. She's even fucking bigger than Claude."
"Russell has that theory that the government stationed at Area 51 are putting something in the water supply to make the women taller and stronger." Carl said, but Mortimer nudged him.

"You two keep your Amazonian fantasies to yourselves. You go thirsting for them on the internet like you are supposed to." he mentioned to the group.

Mortimer took another sip of his drink, until he got a Discord notification on his phone. He pulled his phone from his pocket and paused.

dasheth1.

Oh great. How the fuck am I supposed to describe that trainwreck?

Mona's Discord account.

Was Russell trying to do a prank on him? He was trolling from the restroom, wasn't he?

How did Mona even manage to DM Morty? He thought that he blocked her.

Mortimer checked the message and he felt an icky feeling from what he read.

"Guys. We should get the bill now." Mortimer said, changing his tone.
"Wait, what about Russell. We can't-" Louie wanted to say something, but got interrupted.
"We need to speed this up. I think we have a problem." Mortimer looked around, until he noticed that Russell had stopped and were glancing at people over at the booth directly next to theirs.

You got to be kidding me...

Mortimer had Carl move out from the booth to see what Russell was doing, and sure enough, he locked eyes with Mona.

He almost didn't recognize her.

Then, he knew what to do.

He ignored her.

"Come on, Russell. Stop people watching." Mortimer subtly said, making sure that Russell kept his mouth shut.

"Wait, that's-"
"Don't go there." Mortimer immediately said. "We're leaving this joint."

Mortimer had the waitress called over, so they can get the bill. Carl was the only one to still use straight cash. Russell wanted to open his mouth, since he was still thinking about her.

"Mortimer, what's the matter? You look so tense all of the sudden." Oscar asked him, until Mortimer brought his voice to a lowered tone.

"One of our ex-girl friends is here. She managed to circumvent being blocked by me. Her black magic is already getting to Russell." Mortimer said.
"Oh damn." Carl said with Louie letting out an uncomfortable groan.
"Can I talk to her, though?" Russell said, but Mortimer stopped him.

"She doesn't care about you, Russell. We have been over this! I don't know why she's eating out here. Wearing all of that tacky shit in a Chili's of all places." Mortimer said, wanting to bail ship.

No, seriously. Mortimer took one good glance at Mona and she was among fast fashion and designer clothing.

Where the fuck did he even need to begin with that femcel?

Mortimer assumed that Mona would just fade away somewhere, but seeing her now reminded him of a movie character from a terrible Blumhouse film. She probably still had the same voice as that bitch from Wish Upon. Better yet, she probably deliberating had bad taste in horror movies to piss off the horror club members.

Actually, there was a good insult for her!

Mortimer compared her to a character from a Bret Easton Ellis novel. The type of character that you're supposed to hate from how shallow and vapid they are. Completely superficial, even after what she did. He knew about her online life and how much of a farce it was, compared to how...

..EMPTY, she made him felt.

That's the thing. Mona goes from having a meltdown from her treating her boyfriend like utter shit, than suddenly she acts all "new gold" with her trendy clothing and claiming that she gets her food that she eats at lunch from trendy restaurants that no one has the time to eat at, because they don't want to waste their time to go where Mona eats, they want to spend time with their friends.

What were those women she was with?

More like sham friends with the same showy expensive clothing. Mortimer knew that Mona was trying to eavesdrop directly onto him to stir a reaction, but knowing his online street smarts, he knew that people like Mona had weaknesses.

He even bet that somehow she was able to read how his mind was working and thinking about her.

"... What is it, like. Splits? Easy, I can still do that."
"Baaaarely. Last time we did them, like. Your forms totally off, hips not square, back not flush. And more importantly. Cheerleaders do splits in midair, not on the ground."
"I could figure it out. Look, I'll show you when we get outside, I'll do it as good as half your squad, on god."
"Mmmhm. Do it now."
"Oh shit, spotlight much? I don't wanna break anything."
"Yo, yeah. Let's try not to knock tables over or anything."
"Cowards~"

Nothing from Morty. Mona glanced behind her, he and his squad were starting to peel off, riding into the sunset in their… did any of them even drive? Maybe the state had denied them licenses because danger to societywhy had Mona been allowed to get hers, etc? Total wash then? Suited her just fine. Sending a message to Morty for the first time in literally more than a year had at least saved her a couple of scrolls up.

[+] dasheth1 to dzprnoiaboy

Keyboard mash @ Ray leave me out of that
Man this waas coming forever tbh surprised shit didnt hit the fan after her artist spent half a day subtweeting her

And dasheth1 was
typing…
And suddenly, she was not. Half a message left in purgatory for Hunter to ignore at his leisure seated as he was on his throne in hell, as if he would be paying any attention to the messages she’d already sent? Mona’s current ‘friend’ forgotten. Her ex ‘friend’ staring right at her. Measuring her up like she was the meniscus in the world’s most ambiguously written chemistry in-class lab. Dude, stop staring. Monaty (Mortyna?) was not happening.

Russell on the other hand. Y’know, he’d simped for her long enough that there was a whole reverse Stockholm Syndrome type thing going. She, the captor, unironically developing a thing for the captive. He was no Stella, no Leah, not even an Alec, but. Y’know. Cute boy’s a cute boy. Glasses jacket shirt man. Fellow Coffeehouse Crime and Sommer Sanchez enjoyer. All that summed? Call that, uh. Russona. Monell. WIP.

Mona kept her gaze, confident, right on Morty’s eye, looking right at him even if he was doing his best to not look at her

[+] MoanaMarroquin, taipanforever, Rosasabohobaby, JimenaM2010

Yo dont talk about stella slash camero girl at all
He gets a lil weird when shes brought up
Wonderful taste in creepy ass friends you got
heyyyyyyy
You aside Cait

well, sort of. Multitasking, et cetera.

[+] MoanaMarroquin, taipanforever, Rosasabohobaby, JimenaM2010

ohhhh wait these are ur edgy friends or whatever they were called from back in the day
wheres the hot emo one
Wish I knew

“Heeeey Morty. Been a while.” Mona smiled, teeth and all. Maybe even let her eyes soften a bit, if you really squinted at it. Stared right into the soul of her eyes, ever searching. Mona looked as relaxed as she was. Whatever happened happened. God he looked like he hated her. Like he’d forgotten the liminal sleepless late nights, the melting boundary between themselves and the edge of the flat screen TV in Ray's bedroom and the ironic rewatches of M. Night Shyamalan movies (the non TLA ones). She didn’t blame him. She had also forgottenand she also hated herself. Almost as much as she hated him. But, y’know. The difference between hating and being a full-on hater was an important line to walk.

“Russell,” she cooed. “You gonna go so soon? I’m cool to chat for a bit.”

“Yeah I’ll bring the shrimp then, we can Venmo halfsi— wait is she inviting them to hang?
What?”

[+] MoanaMarroquin, taipanforever, Rosasabohobaby, JimenaM2010

sis wtf
need i remind you if you want a boy that Alec’s way hotter??
Shhh it’s just for the bit!!!
Keep talking I’ll entertain the boys
god Mona you are so gross
Rosa only I can talk bout my sis like that
Reminder Mona Delulu is not the solulu

“Ok so with the closing track, Rosa, did you listen to—” Shout out to Cait for the neat segue from jabbing at her back to jabbing at some album that wasn’t worth the effort (shout out to people putting in way too much effort into talking about things that didn’t matter. That was literally everyone in the immediate vicinity except the freshman girls and their chatting about a cute little brunch together).

“Morty,” Russell, eyes misty with black magic, pentacles, sigils, whatever the fuck. Mona wasn’t an occultist, now was she? Her knowledge of magic started and ended with Bible Black (maybe ironic) and shitty isekai worldbuilding (also maybe ironic). But, no lie, no cap. She liked the effect she was having on him. Almost enough to make this situation unironically bearable.



“Uh. Like.”

Russell had been planning to get back home to his newest recording of MK (OG) but. Girl who made his heart code blue whenever her cute little Furina avatar appeared in his Discord overlay. Unironically wanting to hang IRL. “Morty. Carl.” Shit what was the name of his third friend? The power of an attractive ‘I will step on you’ woman onto a heterosexual(?) man. “You guys can go. I’ll just…”



”Any of your cheer friends down? Like. I’m sure my parents would be chill with it.”
“Oh Rozalina would be all about it. Let me show you her Insta, her latest ‘do is like. Gooood I wished I looked that good.”’
“Damn, no kidding. Yo Cait, check this out.”

Shout out to the girls for expertly ignoring the unfolding trainwreck. Mona sat back. Arms open, one on the table to prop up the side of her face with a hand. Had to show off the white gold on her middle finger. Not, like, to Morty and crew specifically, just in general. Her legs casually slung to one side, her spine slouched. A lazy dethroned queen on her Chilli’s throne.

There was Bea again. Drinks on coasters with an expert smile. A bill to hand to Morty, per request.

“Heeeeey, are you two in a party? Catching up? I can pull up more chairs if you want, we can squeeze you all in without blocking traffic.”

Mona raised an eyebrow. Don’t keep the waitress waiting, dear Chiller.

Morty could tell that Mona was trying to get his attention. She wasn't even an ex-girlfriend, but she was definitely the type to go stalker on him. That crazy bitch was trying to look him in the eyes.

Just look away from her. She's not worth it.

Mortimer got his phone out and blocked Mona again on Discord. No more dasheth1. She wasn't going to start shit with him.

"It's best that we leave, guys. Russell, stop staring at people." Mortimer said to him, when he saw that Russell was eyeing Mona. Of course, she got his attention. Russell and his horrible taste in women. Louie unfortunately was seeing Mona, too. Not that Mona gave a shit about him.

Mortimer heard his name being called. Just ignore her. She's just a ghost. That's what she is to him. He already forgot about her during winter break, he can forget about her again.

"Morty." Russell suddenly said to him.
"What is it, Russell?"
"Uh. Like. Morty. Carl." Russell kept saying. Morty can see it in his eyes. Mona got Russell under her spell.

“You guys can go. I’ll just…”

"Russell, you don't even know these women nearby. Your folks aren't going to be happy that you're out late without their permission." Oscar said to him to try to snap out of it.
"No, it's good. I can Uber home." Russell said.
"Ah jeez... Russell, don't be going trying to pick up girls right here and right now, man!" Carl said to him.

"Russell. You don't even play any of that gacha game shit. We're going to Carl's car and we are all going home." Mortimer put a hand over Russell's shoulder, forcing him out of the booth. Unfortunately, the waitress popped up. She thought that the two groups were part of a party.

"No no no, it's alright!" Morty said to Bea, making sure that everyone got their cards ready. "We're leaving, actually. We're sharing the bill. We don't even know these women. They are just a separate group." Mortimer kept talking. He glanced at Mona who had a smug raised eyebrow.

"Would it be easier to pay up in front? We need to try to be somewhere. There's a game starting tonight and we don't want to be late." the whole game thing was a lie. Mortimer just wanted to get the hell out of dodge.

"Can i-"
"No, Russell." Mortimer said, making sure that he kept a firm grip on Russell. One day, he was going to end up like one of those bankrupt men who are into financial domination. That's where Mona was going to be doing with more men when she grew up.

Oscar, Carl, and Louie were following suit. There was a bit of tension in the air.

“I dunno. Would either of you do a fade like that?”
“Wasn’t that popular back in your day, Cait? Age of the dinosaurs?”
“Whoa, fuck you? I’m not that old.”
“I knoooow. Your hair is gorg, you know I’m jealouuus.”

Mona hummed a songbird note. Perfect pitch. Serene. Distant, difficult to place.

“I’ll cover your rideshare. You know I’m good like that.”

Pick up girls, hm? A bit presumptivethough historically, they’d be forgiven for assuming that the flakes of pencil graphite that delineated ‘commodifying myself for attention’ and ‘actually for sale’ could easily be erased. It was all just in good fuuuuunup until it wasn’t. From experience. Mona’s aristocratic poise (close your eyes, and close your heart! Breakfast, à la carte) drifted. Fingers casually explored the chub of her cheeks. A yawn slipped out between her lips, louder in the brief whirr of her eyes before she adjusted her focus.

Bea nodded. Already had the separate checks. She moved onto less awkward locales in their setting.

“Like, tee-bee-aych. I never had too many casual hang outs at friend’s houses when I was your guy's age.”
“Like in meatspace?”
“Yeah. It was mostly, like Crunchyroll and Discord servers.”
“Honestly that’s also a vibe.”
“You two play Animal Crossing, right?”

“Morty.” Mona took a knife to the tension. Her voice was described as sharp, right against the eardrums, like a piano key. “Here’s a thought. Russell is a grown ass adult. Maybe let him make his own decisions.”

Younger sister caught older sister’s eye at that. Glanced at the same time, briefly stepped out of their respective parallel-to-the-horizon conversations. Nothing said, no expression. Mona’s pride and joy. She’d let Jimena’s own decisions speak for themselves a long time ago (girl made way better ones anyways). Their moment in space and time folded away, neatly forgotten by mutual assent. Mona’s eyes snapped back to attention. Russell sweating it out. The tiny surfer boy blonde with the Harry Potter parents, sure, she met his gaze as well. Louie. The other one in the group besides Ray and Wade where Mona had to wonder why the fuck he was even there in the first place. Stare all you want, hun. Mona existed for clicks and eyeballsand for her own enjoyment of looking good and feeling confident, but, y’know, who cared about that part amiright?.

Mona smiled, warmly as a microwave about to pop eggs or hot dogs into mash spread over the spinning plate and the walls. Two of four, uh oh. Mona was kind of a big dealamong the untouchables caste of society (domestic and international). Many such cases. She wasn’t proud of it, necessarily. But again. Boooooored.

"Don't judge ya though. Whatever you pick."
If anything, she judged him more if he picked her.



"Honestly I just haven't had the time. Haven't visited in, like, a month."
"Awwww. 'Mena, your friends are gonna miss you."
"Yeah, kinda heartless. In the night, I hear them talk, the coldest story ever told~"
"Ehhh. I gueeeess, like. Sylvie plays AC too. Maybe I can boot it up for a bit so I have something to talk to her about."
"Honestly it's awesome that the upperclassmen are so helpful to you guys."
"I dunno if like, Coach puts them up to it but they do drop by and give us stunt tips and check in on us and stuff."

Mona straightened, spine up. A final flick of her eyes over the assorted box of spoiled, crumbly chocolates. Her pupils briefly kissed the cold metal of the industrial style rafters overhead. One last smile, as frosty. Hands back to the table, arms down, one folded over the other. Legs flipped, knees now facing into the booth. She stopped looking at them.

"Cait."

The two of them touched the rims of their margaritas, sipped. Smiled at each other, not for the cameras.

Morty heard Mona let out a 2600-hertz phreaking whistle from her mouth. She was still trying to egg Russell in on joining her by covering the rideshare. Apparently, she claims that she's good "like that", but Mortimer figured that Mona was going to rip off Russell anyways by making him pay for it.

"Russell, you don't need to have to ride home in some Uber. You got us to drop you h-" Mortimer wanted to say something, but then Mona went condescending onto him. That was her counter-attack onto him. He can hear and know when to counter-attack on his own. Calling Russell a "grown ass adult". That could've worked to have Russell get a false sense of freedom in his choices, despite having trouble in determining his choice, but it was also an insult to him.

Because, you know what, Mona?
Two can play at this game.

"...How? How did you do that?"

Settle down, my skeletal fellow from unreality. This is still my job.

Mortimer adjusted his thought process when he focused on Mona. "Well, you're not his mother either." Morty said to Mona.
"Come on, Russell. You can see her at school." Louie added, knowing that there could be a shitstorm.
"Didn't you say that you had a Ready or Not mod that you had for me?" Oscar added.

You might get Russell soon, but I will still win this game, Mona.

Oh yeah, I know, you're going to see this text, because you play the same structure here.

You may have been gone from us, but I get the last laugh from my little tricks and Trix for kids.

"...Yeah, I should get back online." Russell said, but the glance to Mona from him showed that he was going to Discord thirst for her later. A stalemate, but Mortimer knew that he was going to win. Did I mention that just because you gone ahead and sold yourself out to a bunch of fake friends and to your middle-aged male fans who want to goon over your body, you're still going to lose regardless? The same thing that you did to Manuel. You will just do it again and lose the thing that you care the most when the world sees that you were always a shitty person. You can't wear your little mask, forever. Mortimer was still satisfied. He gave a smile to Russell.

"Let's not have people waste your time. Come on, Russell." Mortimer said. His gang followed. So did Russell.

Though, at the front where the squad was paying the bill, Russell flashed Mona a gesture to call him.

Oh, by the way. I bumped into Joanne yesterday. She was trying hard to be fake, but she was more alive looking than you. Joanne won against you and she even has less Instagram followers than you. So you still lose.

"Well, you're not his mother either."

"Too bad, ain't it? Some folks are into that."
"Jesus, Mona."

She hadn't bothered to look when throwing that last punch(?).






Boys were gone.
Honestly disappointing as it had been inevitable. Heuristics took over in most situations where information was incomplete, where time was limited, and inertia was the shortcut solution to most things. There was a reason most people had a good reason to distrust Mona. She was still, mostly, that untrustworthy girl from the summer of 2023. What little signs there were that she'd changed, that she'd put in the work to be better. Well. Even she herself didn't really see them all that easily. In her own mind the easiest assumption was that she was a piece of shit who didn't deserve the time of day.
And anyways this was a night out with the girls. No boys allowed. In retrospect. Sure. She was allowed to claim that after the fact. Fuck. No. Okay. She was gonna have to sit with that one for a while. Jeeesus.
And life. Went. Onnnn.

"Cait, do you cook?" Followed by a long sip of the ice tea with the blackberry-flavor syrup.
"Rosa. We've got to cook, Rosa"
"Uhh, super basic stuff. Breakfast, mostly. My roommates always leave tons of stuff in the kitchen to clean and it's like, so much mental energy to even start trying to fix shit—"

Mona nodded sympathetically, at least half there while her friend vented about how shitty young adult life wassoon it'd be Mona's turn, assuming Dad's money ever stopped flowing. Maybe even then. Mona had to admit her lifestyle wasn't exactly... safe. Admit it when nobody was looking, of course. Phone out. Mona's version of a nine-to-five because like hell she actually did anything in school. Back to Hunter, back to her Discord, a quick to Russellbecause she was a total hack and had no ability to avoid fishing for any attention she could get, and back to... randomly doomscrolling Instagram, she guessed, why not

"Cait. Triple dipper?"
"Damn straight! Did ya even have to ask?"
"Honey-chipotle, yeah?"
"Yes ma'am!"

and the Insta scrolling was chased with a distracted sip of the margarita. Solo effort this time. A bunch of promotions and hype images from Cait for the upcoming rave, Gabby's cute pics from her life in the PNW, Jimena's fitness progress, makeup influencers, cosplayers (the Stella that didn't cause her to want to burst into flames lowkey, at least years after the likely suppressed girlcrush had naturally faded away), come to think of it did Stella (the Red Rock one) even use her Instagram for anything? Mona had never seen her posts on the Home feed. Shrug. A who's who of other Red Rock students she followed, as if summoned by the briefest thought of the worst place on earth. That dumbass screeching harpy Rita, Hunter's annual once a year post on his non content creation account AKA his useless account, some cute stuff from Sylvie, uhhhhh she thought this was one of the other cheerleaders? Mona wasn't sure why she was following her, actually? Mona scrolled on. Et cetera.

"But yeah. Usually I do half an hour of cardio super early in the morning when I can fit it in."
"How early are we talking?"
"Like, five to six."
"Mena, like. Are you even human, the fuck is wrong with you?"

Bea showed up again. Triple dipper ordered. And yeah, TBH Cait was right. Their waitress was kinda cute. Being into girls was. Hm. Kinda easy, wasn't itagain, presuming it was coming from a genuine place in her soul, which, a) Mona had a soul?? and b) not certain. Never was, likely never would be. The cost of letting her trauma rule her life?

[Mona Marroquín, Pregame Thread 3 Concluded]

Wow.

Mona did imply out loud that Russell had a domination fetish.

Mortimer didn't say another word. He dragged Russell along with him, so they can pay the bill up at front.

Morty flashed a glance at Mona, while she was busy talking to the girls. Her possible fake friends for all Mortimer can see. It would be in-character for Mona to be hanging with snobby randos. The waitress got everything sorted out with the bill, so the boys can head outside.

"Wow. I completely forgot that Mona was even real." Morty said to his friends.
"That got a bit tense." Louie mentioned to them.
"She managed to get back onto my Discord account to PM me."
"Dude, that sounds so fucking creepy!" Oscar said when he brought up Mona PMing Morty.

"Can we just get home? I rather just head back to my place. It's not like we need to be elsewhere." Russell said, trying to hide the fact that he was most likely going to contact Mona soon. He never bothered to block her, even after the whole controversy with Manana.

"C'mon. I drive us all back home." Carl said, having the group walk over to his car.

"Hey, make sure you pay your fees, too. Don't want to end up back at juvie."

"Shut up, Russell." Carl said to him, when all 5 of them got into his car. "At least, Ray wasn't here."
"Oh, tell me about it." Mortimer commented.

---

Deploying V4 leveled song post, while our characters ride off into the night.

Welcome to Eltingville!
We are the Comic Book and
Science fiction, Horror, fantasy and role-play club!

Maiden Protectors!
Super Collectors!

The Eltingville Club
The Eltingville Club

Welcome to Eltingville
We'll spend mom's money
On Major Violence, Boogie Skull, and Ultra Mummy.

There's nothing wrong with us
There's nothing wrong with us!

The Eltingville Club
The Eltingville Club

Toys, cards, games, models!
Toys, cards, games, movies!
Toys, cards, games, monsters!

Eltingville Club!

((Mortimer Schaub continued elsewhere...))