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

[hider=ambience][youtube]https://youtu.be/9TzIS71hM50[/youtube][/hider]

As people had slowly filtered away, Clancy had taken the liberty of stepping aside from a now somewhat-stable Luca to poke through the old building in a hunt for something to wear, for what was probably the [i]nth[/i] time in as many weeks.

As it was, he had been half-naked, wearing the tattered remnants of his shorts with sneakers that looked as though they’d been through a woodchipper. His shirt wasn’t much better, and as he’d moved around the tattered remnants of it sloughed away like dead skin, exposing the [i]facade[/i] of pale flesh that had by this point reformed, painted back in. Even his [i]eye[/i] had returned to occupy the empty socket, to the point he now looked as much as [i]himself[/i] as he ever could. 

Given he stood out, he didn’t want to draw more attention than needed. The police scanners no doubt would be alive with reports of an underdressed child if he walked out like this, and that would in turn catch the attention of the [i]hitwoman[/i] and her [i]employers.[/i] An annoyance that threatened to become something more, and he wasn’t eager to experience that kind of [i]pain[/i] again.

A few minutes of clambering over the bar and crawling through crevices eventually found him something that would [i]work[/i] for now. A leather jacket, bundled in a heap in a corner under a dripping faucet.

It had seen [i]better days[/i] to say the least. While it was still intact for the most part, the grainy patches of white [i]material[/i] speckled across its edges betrayed a colony of mold that had formed across the surface. For Clancy’s part, that didn’t bother him. He didn’t need to worry about breathing in the spores, and the musty, mossy odour it gave out was no worse than the other array of things that assaulted his senses out in the wilderness. 

Slipping it on, Clancy found it had been oversized for him, enough that he had to roll up the sleeves, and it extended to the midpoint between his waist and knees, but it would [i]do.[/i] It was better than nothing, and worst case scenario strangers would not [i]annoy[/i] him with small-talk if it meant having to deal with that moldering-grass pungence that usually came with mold.

Luca and the swordsman would probably be leaving soon, In the corner of his vision, he caught a glimpse of Britney. She hadn’t yet left.

[b]”Did you [i]know[/i] this would happen?”[/b] he asked, pointedly, [b]”Your friends and the Prom Queen.”[/b]

Britney narrowed her eyes at Clancy, resting a hand on her hip. [color=f4eb93]”You’re gonna have to be more descriptive, hun.”[/color]

Deep down perhaps, he might have understood some of it if his perspective was in a different place. Maybe if they had been [i]desperate[/i].

[b]”You might not trust me, but I [i]try[/i] to be better than those parasites. And you've worked with worse than me.”[/b]

[color=f4eb93]”No, no,”[/color] Britney raised her hands. [color=f4eb93]”It feels like I am actively working with worse - but that isn’t on my mind.”[/color]

For a moment, she paused. 

[color=f4eb93]”You might have the others convinced you’re not a threat, but be straight up here: what are you? What gave you these abilities?”[/color]

[b]”Feeling is mutual,”[/b] Clancy cracked back, [b]”Not convinced about either of us.”[/b] For a moment, his face scrunched, [b]”[i]What[/i] am I?”[/b] 

For a moment, he seemed to weigh his options.

[b]”Twelve-and-a-half.”[/b] He answered with a flippant shrug, motes of dust flaking off the sleeve of his moldering jacket, [b]I [i]don’t know.[/i]”[/b] he said, dispassionately. 

[color=f4eb93]”Come now, you have to know something,”[/color] Britney pushed, [color=f4eb93]”Where did it start? If you remember?”[/color]

[b]”I’m not an [i]expert[/i] in this stuff, like you people, I guess I ran into the same kind of monster that you [i]fed[/i] people like Luca and Emily Reed to.”[/b] 

The truth came sharply. Bitter, painful memories surfaced and washed over him, colouring his words. 

[b]”If you [i]really[/i] want to know… imagine you wake up from your worst nightmare. Except that’s the last time you’ll ever get any [i]sleep[/i again. You’re cold, but you’re not freezing to death. You’re [i]always[/] hungry, [i]starving[/i] even, but you can’t make it stop. Not [i]really.[/i] Food tastes like… dirt, sand, dust. It’s [i]all[/i] meaningless. And you feel the world through a filter. Pain isn’t…. It isn’t there. And you can’t die, no matter how hard you push your luck. I’ve been under cars, trains, dropped into frozen rivers and fell from rooftops. I’ve been [i]shot[/i] in the head enough times I could [i]spit[/i] fragments out.”[/b] It streamed forth now, a diatribe on his situation, [b]”Do I [i]like[/i] that? No. Do I have a choice? [i]Also no.[/i]”[/b]

[b]”So… maybe I’m still [i]me[/i], or I’m something that has all the [i]memories[/i] of me. And I keep going by dealing with [i]assholes[/i] and [i]bad[/i] people. That’s how I keep control. That’s [i]all[/i] I’ve had to keep going. Ashley? She was [i]family[/i], and I’m trying to find the asshole who [i]murdered[/i] her, and stop her [i]idiot[/i] friends from dying the same way. Does that cover it?”[/b]

Britney was silent, as she looked at Clancy.

[color=f4eb93]”… Do you remember where or when it started?”[/color] She asked. [color=f4eb93]”Something had to have changed you… unless you are an Abominable.”[/color] She shrugged.

[B]”I don't know what that is.”[/b] 

[color=f4eb93]”A magical creature basically. Some are created… some are born,”[/color] Britney explained.

[b]”Maybe, whatever.”[/b] Clancy shrugged, [b]”[i]East.[/i] Somewhere between Huron and Michigan, maybe. I was twelve-and-a-half when [I]it[/i] got me, and I woke up like this.”[/b] 

[i]Half of the truth.[/i] The closer he got to the memory, the more difficult it was to maintain a normal composure.

His last moments [i]alive[/i] had been inhuman terror beyond anything he could understand. 

[b]”So I'll ask again. [I]Did. You. Know?[/i]”[/b] Clancy switched back to his original line of questioning, [b]”What they would [i]become[/i], what they would [i]do[/i]. What would happen to them? You [i]know[/i] that boy-... that [i]Luca[/i] is rotting from the inside, don't you? I felt it. I could smell it.”[/b]

Britney silently averted her gaze from Clancy. [color=f4eb93]”… No, I didn’t.”[/color]

[b]”You know [i]now.[/i]”[/b] [i]Assuming she wasn't lying.[/i] [B]”Barely know him, but even I can see [i]he[/i] doesn't deserve that. Even if they're [i]assholes[/i] now, I bet 8th Street didn't deserve it before they [i]chose[/i] to be monsters. Have you thought about whether [i]any[/i] of this could be because of that?”[/b]

He let the point hang for a moment. 

[b]”They were calling for [i]your[/i] blood.”[/b]

[color=f4eb93]”Of course I have,”[/color] Britney said with a nod of her head, [color=f4eb93]”Look, I understand what I did was fucked up. I’m not going to sit here and try and justify or excuse it. I had this conversation a thousand times already.”[/color]

She narrowed her eyes at him, [color=f4eb93]”If it’s my fault, then it’s my responsibility to fix it.”[/color]

[b][i]”Sure,”[/i][/b] Clancy shrugged, optimistic of neither her chances [i]nor[/i] her sincerity, [b]”If you want to make a start, Luca. You help him, and I'll [i]probably[/i] keep Emily Reed from wearing your skin.”[/b]

If he could save [i]one[/i] of them from being consumed by the monster that had taken their body, it was him.

He seemed to pause, then reconsidered.

[b]”You said ‘abominable’ earlier. I don't know if that's what I am now. I'm [i]Clancy Patrick.[/i] Or I [i]think[/i] I am, and I have his face and memories. But you know these monsters better than me. If you [i]want[/i] to do something right, maybe point me in the right direction on how to [i]kill[/i] one of them. When our business is done, I'm going to [i]end[/i] the thing that did this to me. I won't be [i]anyone's[/i] problem after that.”[/b]

He offered out a hand to her, cold and unflinching.

[b]”Deal?”[/b]

Britney hesitated for a moment, [color=f4eb93]”I’m already working on something for Luca. Don’t worry about that.”[/color] She shook her head. [color=f4eb93]”And look, at the end of the day, Emily and Vashti are my responsibility. Not yours.”[/color]

[b]”Offer stands,”[/b] Clancy's hand pulled back, his expression creased a little further, [b]”You can do something [i]good[/i] and leave the world with a few less [i]monsters[/i] in it, for a change.”[/b]

Britney stared at Clancy, [color=f4eb93]”I think I am looking at one.”[/color]

[b]”Maybe we agree on [i]something[/i], then,”[/b] The boy offered her a dour expression, [b]”But you're not above working with them, either.”[/b]

[color=f4eb93]”No, I’m not,”[/color] Britney sighed, [color=f4eb93]”But, let’s just shake on it and be done with it, okay?”[/color] She extended her hand, and after a moment's pause, Clancy returned the gesture with a firm, icy grip. 

[I]And maybe she needs a mirror,[/i] he considered, wordlessly breaking off from the contact as soon as they'd made it.