[img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjExNi5hY2FjZWYuUTJ4aGJtTjVJRkJoZEhKcFkycy4x/burn-out-fade-away.regular.webp[/img] [code]House on the Hill[/code] [@NoriWasHere][@FernStone][@Blizz][@Shin Ghost Note] [hr] Greenwood? Clancy had almost [i]missed[/i] their arrival, in the throes of pain. And they'd come bearing [i]pizza.[/i] The sight briefly invoked a memory from long ago, being taken to some pizza parlour on a stop in Chicago when he was a little younger than he'd been, but that quickly soured as he realised he'd all-but-forgotten the taste of it, much as he had with most other things. Now? The thought of [i]that[/i] invoked memories of the slice of cold hawaian pizza he'd left moldering in the motel room, a few weeks back. Thinking of the man who'd purchased it, and his [i]intentions[/i] for that first night in town, had left him with a bitter impression. Clancy's attention, for a moment, shifted back to Luca. There was a genuine guilt that one of the few people he could verify as both [i]alright[/i] and [i]trusting[/i] of him had been hurt, as a consequence of trying to help him - a relative stranger, a [i]monster[/i] who had seen and done things that most people of his [i]youthful visage[/i] did not. [quote=@Blizz] [color=00ff98]”Well, you’re alive and in one piece [i]now,”[/i][/color] he noted. [color=00ff98]”That’s the important thing, isn’t it? You might want to keep close to some of us for the time being. Just in case this woman wants to finish the job.”[/color] [/quote] Stormy's choice of words made him almost [i]chuckle[/i] at the irony, but he only offered a muted answer. [b][i]"Sure."[/i][/b] As for the others, they were still watching him with wary apprehension, or preoccupied watching [i]each other[/i]. That much he was conscious of - he got the impression of bad blood between them. Could he blame them? [i]Not really.[/i] [quote=@Estylwen] [color=bcbcbc][b]“There's more than Father Wolf and 8th Street after you people…”[/b][/color] [/quote] Somehow, the white-haired girl - [i]Luna[/i] - had managed to elicit a bitter chuckle from him. [b]"[i]Some[/i] more than others."[/b] That he was on the [i]shitlist[/i] of someone who had the ability to inflict the sheer damage and [i]pain[/i] that they had to him Anya seemed to quickly shut down any further conversation on that topic, strangely so. The abrupt nature of her comment further cemented the impression he had that there was bad blood that he wasn't too clear on. Ashley had only given him broad strokes, and he hadn't probed past that. It wasn't like there was an encyclopedia on these people and their problems. When he was introduced by name to the Greenwood people, he offered them a shrug from his hunched position against the wall - it probably did him no favour, given that his left shoulder was [i]far[/i] from okay, still little more than a shadowy, skeletal outline that contrasted with the reforming patches of pale white skin creeping inwards from the rest of his battered body, like spilt paint spreading across a canvas. This Ruby White introduced herself and her [i]friends.[/i] Then, he felt their 'healer' Kashmira speak in some strange language before a green [i]wave[/i] washed over those in the close vicinity. Something about it felt [i]familiar[/i], invoking memories of a trashed parking lot he'd barely heard out on hs travels, before a certain familiar, green irridescence washed over him without any clear effect - still tattered, still skeletal in patches. It [i]felt[/i] warm, which was strange, because warmth was something he almost never felt unless he [i]ate.[/i] And the [i]hunger[/i] far outlasted any brief release he might experience. That also reminded him; hos shirt and pants were ruined, which had meant [i]another[/i] trip to the store with some other wallet he'd swiped. It was hard to go out and [i]buy[/i] clothes when you looked like you'd fell through a woodchipper, even if you eventually recovered from it. Naked and underclothes children attracted attention, particularly in a time where phone, dashboard and surveillance cameras were all the rage. [I]This used to be so easy.[/i] To distract his mind from the frustration at that fact, he turned his attention back to the Greenwood people. Their naming conventions were... [i]unconventional[/i] to say the least. Maybe it was something about the almost sing-songy nature that reminded him of a dumb fairy tale, like one of the Disney showings he'd been taken to at the movie theater when he was just a little younger than he was. [b]"And I'm [i]Peter Pan,[/i]"[/b] was his response to that, before he shifted to business, [b]"I don't know you people, and you won't know me... this [i]coven[/i] stuff is all new to me, but I've taken care of myself long enough to know there's [i]other[/i] stuff out there, so I can guess you're here for the [i]right[/i] reasons? Not to be assholes?"[/b] [b]"I want the [i]asshole[/i] who killed Ashley. I can’t rule out that it someone who knew her and everyone else in this room that dealt with the [i]snake[/i] years ago. [I]That's[/i] the common lead. But while I'm at it, there's [i]some[/i] people here that she probably cared about. And [i]8th Street...[/i] that [i]prom queen[/i] who runs them is a problem, and she obviously doesn't give a shit who or [i]what[/i] she steps on, like uh-"[/b] Clancy shot Lila a glance, then parted the fingers of one hand to make a wing-flapping gesture [b]"-bird-lady here. And I'm [i]still[/i] not convinced she isn't part of it, or knows more than she's telling about the murders. The others are assholes,"[/b] then, for a moment, he shot Luca a glance, [b]"[i]Mostly[/i] assholes,"[/b] Clancy corrected, [b]"But it's just her and a couple others making the [i]asshole[/i] decisions, right? Emily. That Vashdee or whatever. The rest are people who just [i]think[/i] they want to be her, or think she can help with their [i]problems.[/i]"[/b] His contempt for Emily Reed was written on his face, a crinkled expression rendered even more grotesque by the fact he was still missing a quarter of his face, where his eyesocket and the corner of his jaw had yet to reform, leaving a dark, empty pit in their absence. If [i]any[/i] of his family were left, he doubted they'd have approved. But they [i]weren't[/i] here, because the world wasn't fair, and so he'd even things out [i]his[/i] way if he had to. [I]Because[/i] he had to. [b]"What do you [i]need[/i] to get them alone, so they can be taken apart one-by-one?"[/b] The phrase he was looking for was [i]decapitation.[/i] A decapitating strike, to take the head off the snake.