[img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjExNi5hY2FjZWYuUTJ4aGJtTjVJRkJoZEhKcFkycy4x/burn-out-fade-away.regular.webp[/img]
[code]House on the Hill[/code]
[@Estylwen][@Shin Ghost Note]
[hr]

For a little while, Clancy let Ruby run through her introduction, her [i]agenda[/i] and the usual spiel. 

[quote=@Shin Ghost Note]She shook her head before she continued. "Lyric Brown and Felicia Harvey were murdered by the Das Sonnenrad cult and robbed of their artifacts. Lyric herself was an artificer, and we've been trying to track down her artifacts because hell if we're going to let some skinheads use [i]her[/i] hard work to commit hate crimes."

"So, if you can help us find those, then that'd be great—but I don't want to seem like we're doing this for something in return."[/quote]

Skinheads. [i]Nazis.[/i] Clancy had no shortage of enmity for their type. Assholes through and through, and his family had a [i]painful[/i] history with them of which he'd only teased out in snippets over time. 

The name [i]Das Sonnenrad[/i] vaguely rang a bell, but only from local stories. Weren't they all supposed to be dead?

That thought was dispelled shortly.

[quote=@Shin Ghost Note]"... [i]You're a kid,[/i]I don't know what they told you, but did you forget that you walked up, got capped by that Wolfpack bitch, and caused that absolute fuckin' pandemonium? [b][i]You're[/i][/b] not doing anything. [i]Sit your ass down[/i]."[/quote]

[i]This again.[/i] He'd spent enough time being more [i]this[/i] than putting up the facade of the harmless kid with [i]hands-off[/i] parents, that he'd nearly forgotten how unconvincing he was.

She had a point, but only in that he [i]had[/i] been shot. He hadn't trashed the nightclub, hadn't wanted to be seen,  hadn't asked the bikers to try and [i]murder[/i] a regular kid for all they knew.

[i]I didn't ask to be shot. Assholes do what they do. And I'm still around, aren't I?[/i] Quietly, he bristled with a silent irritation. If she knew [i]what[/i] he'd managed outside of town, she might have been a little less dismissive. As it was, he kept his thoughts to himself.

At least he could respect that they [i]seemed[/i] to have good intentions, that they wanted to deal with the [i]assholes[/i] and the [i]monsters[/i] out there. Depending on their interpretation of both, in different times they might've found him, or vice versa. 

[I]We'll see.[/i]

[quote=@Estylwen][color=7ABBFF][b]“Naomi said it herself. Alizée was getting ready to leave. She [i]knew[/i] Alizée was easy to anger, she [i]knew[/i] Wolfpack was on the way. She [i]knew[/i] everyone needed to leave, else suffer. And what did she do?!”[/b][/color]

[color=7ABBFF][b]“It's her fault Alizée is dead. Naomi goes, or I refuse to acknowledge this alliance.”[/b][/color][/quote]

Clancy was decidedly unimpressed by the host-girl's argument for railing against the Greenwood people, all things considered. Fair, they weren't people he [i]knew[/i], but the reason for railing against them didn't even make sense. The [i]bikers[/i] shot the French girl, not anyone else. 

Linqian's suggestion of [i]mind drugging[/i] her seemed like a sensible argument given the stakes they were facing. Jack, the disappearing man, also had the right of it - it wasn't the Greenwood people who tried to [i]murder[/i] people, insofsr as he could remember. The bikers were busy enough with that job, even if they sucked at it.

He wondered what stake the white-haired girl had in things to be throwing out random recordings. Had she been [i]following[/i] them the whole time? 

Eventually, the agitation at the day's events had stacked enough that he had to speak his mind.

[b][i]"Idiots,"[/I][/b] Clancy growled. [b]"You're arguing while [i]more than one[/i] asshole is out to here to kill some of you. And [i]me[/I], I guess. Good luck to them there."[/b]

He pivoted at Layla, jaw set tight as he shot her a cold glare with the singular eye.

[b]"The French girl let that parasite try and [i]eat[/i] their friend, from what I'm hearing. They didn't shoot her. If you want to blame anyone... shooting started because [i]I[/i] make a good target. So maybe that's on the assholes who tried shooting me. Or maybe it's just [i]me[/i] you gotta blame for not scaring. It's shitty, but you know what? There's a [i]mountain[/i] of names I don't even [i]remember[/i] anymore... it's just a drop in the bucket."[/b]

The memory of that cold, entropic embodiment of predatory contempt that had [i]taunted[/i] him only added fuel to the fire, the more he thought about it. That it had seen him as something [i]amusing[/i] when he wanted nothing more than to be far away from some [i]monster'us[/i] plaything.

[b]"You and the French girl... Alizee? You were being [i]played[/i], and you're getting [i]weepy[/i] over some [i]parasite[/i] that [i]fed[/I] on people, no rules, no limits... I [i]get it[/I] - it sucks, because I know what it's like to be [i]alone[/i] and [i]stuck[/i] that way, [i]always[/i] cold and starving."[/b] To emphasise the point, he jabbed a finger at the as-of-yet empty eyesocket and the black void contained within. [b]"Nobody [i]asks[/I] for it. But at least you got away from that, you still [i]have[/i] a life... until this wolf asshole sticks you in the back and you [i]waste[/I] it-.."[/b]

He was about to say more, but Adora - [i]Adoras?[/i] He hadn't noticed that before - all three of [i]her[/i] had stepped in, and he could see she was trying to defuse things before it descended into another pissing match over stupid high school grudges. Given how [i]fair[/i] she'd been with him earlier, he felt a need to try and give some credit where it was due, and not worsen that.

He shot her a knowing look as the door clapped behind them.

[b]"-..be angry, but deal with the [i]assholes[/i] first.."[/b]

That much he said to the [i]rest[/i] of them, still left in the room.