scythegun | week 8; monday

week 8; monday

[Monday's a dreadful day for Yeager, but he's got a pretty good idea of how awful it is for some of the others as well. Everyone has someone important to them held captive and sitting around feeling sorry for himself isn't going to do anything.

Top Dollar's the one he's really concerned about, though. After all, Myca is very dear to him and she's supposedly dead.

He shows up at Top Dollar's door after checking most of the other rooms for anything interesting. It's late at night, but he figures Top Dollar won't be getting much sleep either.

The knocking isn't as obnoxious and loud as usual, but it is persistent and he'll keep it up until Top Dollar answers.]

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[He figured it was exactly that bad, but it's still not pleasant to hear it.]

I see. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

[It's not dismissive or upset, just a statement.]

Is there anything I can do for you right now?

...I don't know.

[And that much does seem to be genuine, at least, as opposed to being cagey for the hell of it; he just...legitimately doesn't know.]

Just talk to me for a while, I guess. Stick around for a couple hours.

[...]

If I take this shit out on anyone, it's probably not gonna be any of you that I start with. So. You know.

I appreciate that. I'm not sure how well we could handle losing any more of our number right now.

[Much less another trial...]

But I certainly don't mind spending time with you. I can stay here for... well, until I get too tired, I suppose!

[Which might not happen for awhile, since he's been keyed up all day.]

...Good to know.

[This is going to be a shitshow, but at least that does seem to calm him down a little. Not much, but a bit.]

How're you holding up, anyway? Actual answer, not the usual bullshit.

Ah, cut me off at the pass, ja? I can't blame you for that!

[He took every opportunity to avoid any serious discussion with Yuri, so.]

I'm... Well, I won't lie to you, I'm not okay. I doubt I'll be okay at all until I can confirm that my girls are fine. But until then, I can't sit idly by. I've never been good at that sort of thing and if I allow myself to stop for even a moment, I'm afraid I won't be able to start again.

[It's what happened back home and he can't let it happen again.]

Yeah, I get it. Offer still stands, though - you need anything, you come to me.

[I MEAN SHIT HE CAN'T EVEN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF AND HE'S NOT ENTIRELY CERTAIN THAT HE WON'T DIE TONIGHT DUE TO HIS OWN STUPIDITY

BUT IF YOU NEED ANYTHING, JUST SAYING.]

[...HE'S LIKE 90% SURE YOU'RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING INCREDIBLY STUPID WITHIN THE NEXT TWO DAYS AND GET YOURSELF KILLED BUT THANKS FOR THE OFFER...????]

I know. And maybe I will! But I'm... okay for now, I think. We can't afford to have everyone fall to pieces right now, ja?

[It's said as a joke but he's entirely serious. We can't rely on anyone to be the lone sane man right now.]

I know that. At the same time, if I spend too long thinking about my own shit I'm gonna go insane.

[...]

Sorry about your girls, by the way.

I understand entirely.

[He shakes his head a bit at that question, more to clear it than anything else.]

They're strong girls, I know they'll do everything they can to pull through it.

[It might not be enough, and that's the terrifying part.]

Yeah, of course they will.

[To his credit, he doesn't sound disbelieving of that.]

Myca...assuming that's actually her, she's gonna be okay. I'm not saying she won't be upset as hell whenever everything actually comes together and everything's less that, but she'll work through it. She's...stronger than me, I guess. More resilient about shit, less prone to weird decision-making.

That's certainly an admirable trait to have! It's a dreadful situation to be in, but I think they'll be fine.

[For now, at least. It gives them a little time to come up with some sort of way to end this, right? There has to be a way that doesn't involve handing over the gunners.]

...And for what it's worth, you've been very resilient so far.

Well, yeah, ignoring the part where I stabbed a priest to death and decided that I fucking miss T-Bird, of all godforsaken people, to the point where I ate a bullet.

[...Jesus Christ, that's probably the closest he's come to sounding normal all day.]

[jesus christ he's trying so fucking hard not to laugh don't do this to him]

Well yes, but it's not as though the rest of us haven't done absolutely crazy things here as well!

Well, that's fair.

[WE'RE A SHITSHOW.]

I ended up telling Duke about what happened with Kevin - it kinda became necessary because he was the one that searched my room.

He pretty much held up one of my guns and asked me "why", the poor confused bastard.

Oh dear. That must have been awkward!

[oh my god]

I figured it wasn't my place to tell him. It's not that I don't trust him, of course, but that's your business.

[and keeping people he likes in the dark is kind of a thing yeager does all the time anyway SO IT'S FINE.......]

How did that go, though?

Understood and appreciated - I'm used to being more open with my guys, if something's going on with me I prefer that they know, but here I've been making some exceptions.

[ahahahahaha. ha. ha. ha. um.]

It went all right, though. He didn't seem like he was expecting to hear that I left one of the bullets on the ballroom floor and the other one got left in Kevin, but he took it well enough.

[....................]

You know, I should have expected exactly that. I don't know why I expected anything else.

[SOMEDAY... SOMEDAY HE WILL BE ABLE TO PREDICT EXACTLY THAT LEVEL OF BLUNT]

Well, obviously one of my swords ended up in Kevin, too - but I was able to get rid of the evidence there, and thankfully he wasn't asking about that.

[...ONE OF THESE DAYS, YEAGER]

[SOMEDAY.........]

That's good! Speaking of that... I found Kevin's old room key, which I assume you threw into room... 207, I believe?

[...AND BEFORE YOU ASK]

I needed something to do to keep me busy. Checking old rooms was apparently it!

[...He's actually not sure he wants to know.]

Yeah, that was me - did you keep the thing, or...?

Oh no, of course not! I left it right where it was. The last thing I want to deal with is someone accusing me of killing Kevin or being a gunner.

And speaking of that... Shelley wanted me to ask you what you know, because she thinks you know something about the gunners and wouldn't tell her!

[.......................y e a h]

You get a notice for that little party they're throwing in our strip club tomorrow? She's not the only one getting ambitious.

If it comes down to me saying something there, then I fuckin' will - I'm not gonna hand them over, but if I can piss them off enough it'll split their focus and they'll leave 'em alone in favor of hassling me. It'll give them some time to get their shit together before the weekend, anyway.

If we need to throw them under the bus then, we can, but not before.

...I'd like to avoid it, if at all possible. I have no doubts that they'd be willing to throw themselves under the bus, but I'm hoping that won't happen.

[Please don't fuck things up for him this one time, Yuri. PLEASE...]

With that said, I'm not particularly fond of that idea, but I believe it will buy us plenty of time. I don't think anyone is going to kill the gunners at this point, so painting a target on you won't involve too much of a risk. Shelley seems to think that if we hand the gunners over we won't be sending them to their deaths, but I'm not sure how anyone can be stupid enough to genuinely believe that.

Exactly - and this is pretty much the one shot we've got to ensure that they don't get fucked over before Friday.

[...]

Don't worry about me, I'll be careful with it.

[...It sounds kind of stupid to ask, but...]

Will you promise me that much, at least? That you'll be careful with that much?

[Even if you can't promise him anything else, just that would be nice.]

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