Santa Sangre

[Riki]

Fiyori showed Brendan a half-smile, albeit a genuine one. She appreciated his little joke and his ability to indulge her with this. The rest of his answer - although lacking in detail - was sincere in it's essence. And that was enough for Fiyori. For the moment, it was enough. He killed two people. He killed Bee, but she heard him speak, and she knew it was never his will to do so.

It was enough for her. But it dawned on her, it might not be enough for Ty. She hesitated.

"No, you're a good person."

So was Ty.

"Bee..." The word she wanted to use, 'was', seemed heavy. An admission of defeat to the fact that she was truly gone. Fiyori wouldn't get around that. "Bee was, if not my closest friend, someone whom I really liked. And I still say that you are a good person."

Yeah, Ty would definitely disagree here. She was sure of that. And as for the worst, Fiyori could not - would not despite all the assurances of her own she gave to Brendan - deny Ty the anger he would feel.

As questionable luck would have it, the situation allowed her to distract herself from this thought.

Alba had a rifle. The weapon drew Fiyori's attention, and she couldn't hide the fact that she mustered it intensively. From the way she spoke, Fiyori hazarded a guess. A guess that they had the 'chance' to use it - or rather were forced to use it - but did not or could not. Didn't want to, Fiyori guessed on that count.

She had a dry mouth, she tried to moisten it with some of her own saliva, but that didn't help much.

"...I know that the thing I am going to say will seem rude or arrogant, and for that I apologize.

Still, what good is a weapon that cannot be used? It's not even a good deterrent. A threat of violence if you can act on it, and the first guy to call your bluff will murder you - no, as of now - will murder us."

Fiyori couldn't help it. She started beaming just the littlest bit. Even she was surprised at how well those words sounded. From her perspective, at least, and that counted for something.

"Basically, I... if someone attacks us, please pass me the rifle."

[Primrosette]

Both girls were trying to make him feel less lousy and loathesome of himself. He felt like it was working. He was glad to have two people who were trying to understand. Fiyori was thinking that he was a good person, but he knew that not everyone would agree with her. Bernadette's family.... Ty.... Many other friends that he was sure would try to make him pay. Like Michael wanted to still avenge Jerry. Because he saved a girl who he still had no clue who she was. He had an uneasy feeling about not knowing who she was. He should have followed her... And then what? What would have happened? Would things have been more different? He couldn't think about it too much. He had to pay attention to Alba and Fiyori. He wondered if Fiyori would want to stay with them longer. Maybe they would have an alliance. He would like to have her around. Alba seemed really welcoming to have her around, so he was sure that they could convince her to not leave.

He stared at Jerry's weapon that was beside him and he felt more determined not to give up. He had to keep going and put on a more braver face for the girls. Right now, they were both speaking about Alba's rifle and he wasn't sure what he could add in the conversation. He wasn't a big fan of guns anyway. They still made him feel fearful of them. But for some reason, Fiyori wanted to use it? He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He didn't distrust Fiyori for wanting to use a weapon if she had to, but....

Would she be alright with taking someone else's life? What if....? What if...?

"Fiyori...." He had a bit of a confused expression on his face and then he glanced towards Alba unsurely. "....Alba could practice with how to use it. I mean, I may not be comfortable with her using it.... But we made a promise to protect each other. Right, Alba?"

His mind wandered back to the kiss Alba planted on him earlier and he instinctly raised his fingers to his lips. His lips that were now dry. He smiled slightly behind his fingers for a second and it faded as he needed to be more serious for this situation.

[Laurels]

Alba tightened her grip on the rifle when Fiyori said Alba should pass the gun to her if they got in trouble. Brendan brought up what Alba was thinking, so she nodded. She didn't want to get into a conflict with another person after the last one ended so poorly. She clenched her jaw and slowly breathed out through her nostrils. She wanted to make her point to Fiyori clear.

"Brendan's right," Alba said. "I know I don't want to kill anyone, but I don't want to be useless in a dangerous situation. So...I want to learn how to use this; to protect the ones I love, and to stop anyone who threatens them."

Alba looked over the rifle. It started to look like a gun shaped Rubik's cube in her hands, but even those had tricks and solutions.

"I mean, I only got this because Kimiko killed my companion. I only had a CD then, so I couldn't save him. But I don't want to go through that again. I'll protect my friends, and that will include you, Fiyori."

Alba stared at Fiyori.

"I-if you'd like," she stuttered out.

Alba bit her lower lip and looked around the room. She was making a lot of these speeches today, and it was starting to get strange how natural that was for her.

"But then again," Alba said, "we could all stand to learn how to use it if needed. So...target practice time?"

[Riki]

The situation was a bit complicated. All of it was a bit complicated, but that exact moment was notable in being complicated. She did laugh about it, in the sense that she gave it a few chuckles. Unfortunately, she couldn't hope to whisk the dilemma away by ridiculing it.

Well, she could, to be completely truthful. But she resolved to act, so she would have to act.

Brendan and Alba probably thought - Alba more than Brendan, Fiyori hoped - that she would take the gun and run. Granted, she had hers plans to kill some certain people. And getting a gun like the rifle Alba held would be a great boon. In fact, she could consider it a requirement. A requirement that might have been too hard to fulfill in any circumstances.

And yet, she really couldn't, and never would in good conscience take the rifle with her and weaken Brendan. The entire point of her resolve was to protect someone, and taking their defense away was, frankly, a betrayal, a sin, and most of all, simply counterproductive.

Regardless, the original point Fiyori voiced stood anyway. The rifle was useless in the hand of someone who wouldn't shoot. Alba apparently had promised to protect Brendan. In the bitterest corner of her mind, Fiyori thought ill of Alba's failings thus far. When she offered her 'protection', Fiyori's chuckle had grown into a laughter ricocheting through the lounge.

"Alright!" Fiyori clapped her hands, and the laughter stopped. "Target practice."

[Primrosette]

Brendan was relieved that the situation hadn't turned into a disaster. The girls were being calm about the rifle. Alba was right about the fact that the three of them do need to learn how to use the rifle and they definitely needed to practice. He still didn't like the idea of using it, but now he had no choice if he wanted to protect Alba and Fiyori.

"Target practice, huh?"

He suddenly thought of something that had been with him since the beginning of this. It was still in his bag. He wondered why he never got rid of it. Maybe it would be the time for him to let it go. It would be perfect for them to use as practice.

"Actually, I have something that we could use as a target...." He offered to the girls, he carefully unzipped his bag and he got out the can of cat food, smiling at the girls awkwardly. "My weapon.... I don't have a use for it anyway. So this is the best time for us to use it."

[Laurels]

So it looked like they were all agreement. They were all going to teach themselves how to use the rifle. Alba nodded as Brendan offered the cat food as target practice.

"Sure. That should be good. Place it on the table over there."

Alba turned the gun to the wall, away from Fiyori and Brendan. She was going to be messing around with a crazy and complicated piece of weaponry, and she really didn't want to shoot either of them. She started moving her hands over the gun, looking for anything that looked like a switch.

It was starting to feel weird. She was now coaching herself to fight and kill people. She was starting to accept the reality of the game, and she was making a lot of compromises. But even she knew she had to do this. She had made her declaration to Brendan, and she would do anything to protect those who helped her. Besides, even she could show some restraint when it called for it.

Alba then felt something flick. She had passed over a small object and could have sworn the gun just made a noise. She hadn't touched it before, so maybe it was the safety. Either way, she figured now was a good time to try the gun.

"Okay," she told them. "I think the gun is ready to go. Let's pop a cap in this cat food's ass."

[Riki]

Watching them set up their improvised shooting range was amusing. In a very dry sense, mostly because it allowed her to reflect a bit further on her own skills with a gun. Fiyori wasn't delusional in that regard. She had no idea how to properly use a simple gun, and the imposing rifle even less. Alba seemed unsure herself. Fiyori knew though that her own attempts would - at first, hopefully - look just as helpless.

"The way you go at this I presume there's no manual to this thing."

Fiyori folded her arms. After finding the position uncomfortable, she moved over to a couch and leaned on it to let her arms rest on the back. She bit her lips, because she had another question just popping in her mind, but she wasn't sure if she really should be asking.

"You mentioned you got this from someone." After, Fiyori guessed with the clues given to her, that someone was killed by Kimiko Kao. She went down a list of names in her head, but for the moment could only come up with Bradley's. "Mind telling me what happened?"

[Laurels]

((Skipping and GMing of Brendan approved by Prim))

Alba was all ready to go. Brendan had set the can up on a table and had stepped out of the way. Alba was ready to line the gun up and make an attempt to fire at the cat food. She moved so that Brendan and Fiyori could be nowhere near the direction of the gun if she somehow lost control.

Before she could, Fiyori asked her about the gun and how she acquired it.

"Oh, yeah," Alba said, "I did get the gun from someone. Kimiko stabbed Bradley and ran off, so I took the gun to go after her. I thought I'd catch her and force her back, but I lost her and then got lost in the process. It was pretty dumb, looking back."

"And no, I didn't get a manual. I have ammo for it, but if there was a manual, it's with Bradley at the gym, and we can't get back there until tomorrow. So I guess we'll have to figure it out on our own."

Alba gulped a bit.

"So let's try it."

Alba turned back to the cat food and held the rifle up. She knew guns had to have sights or other markers to tell her where the gun was pointing to and what would hit the object. She thought she had it lined up with the can, so she breathed in, then out.

"Okay, I think I got-"

Alba pulled the trigger, then let out a cry as the gun erupted. Bullets flew at the wall, causing Alba to close her eyes as they went off. Alba let go of the trigger after a few shots went out, bringing silence back into the room. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall. The bullets hit the wall directly above the can, which was as perfect as it was when it left the factory. Alba moved her hand away from the trigger and looked at the two near her, her rings starting to ring.

"Holy crap, that was loud!" she shouted.

[Primrosette]

Brendan had set up the can for Alba and he had backed away from it as far as he could. He didn't want to get hit by a bullet by accident. The terrorists would possibly laugh their asses off at that happening. He really wished that he could get his hands on them. Personally. And then what? He would get a bullet in his head if he tried to attack them. Besides, wherever they were, there was nothing that Brendan could do on that part. So he had to deal with what was happened right now. Target practice at a can with a gun. He could understand why they had to do this. It was to survive for as long as they could and then one person could go back home.

Home....My family. I miss them so much. I hope that they would never find out about this. I don't want them to see me as a terrible human being. I want them to remember me as me before all this. I don't want them to be more hurt by knowing that I killed two people. I don't want them to suffer through that.

Brendan felt himself almost choking up. But he stopped himself from bursting into a sobbing wreck. He couldn't afford to get emotional right now. He had to put on a face to keep himself under control. No matter how hard it was to do so.

He then thought about the grenade launcher that was still at the cliffs. And that Bernadette was still there. Still dead and gone because of him. He needed to get his weapon back if it was still there. It would definitely help if the three of them had it. Besides, Fiyori could possibly have it if she wanted to. Then he could say goodbye and how sorry he was to Bernadette. Just to get a bit of closure. He thought that Fiyori might want to see her as well. He wasn't sure. He had to ask-

The gun went off in Alba's hands and Brendan flinched out of a moment of fear. His heart was pounding a little faster in his chest and his breath became more nervous for a few seconds. He really, really hated this. He was more or less preferring not to use the rifle at all. But he had to. He couldn't back out of all of this now.

"Ha, ha...." He let out a small, shaky chuckle and he rubbed his hand over his chin, feeling himself sweating a little. "I guess that we should be more careful with it. I just hope that no one else had heard that. I really don't want people to come running in here right now."

[Riki]

So that was the power of the rifle. Fiyori, on a conceptual level, understood the lethal potence of the weapon. Yet seeing the gun fire, and it's bullets blast the walls, was as eye-opening as it was ear-shattering.

A drop of blood trickled down Fiyori's chin. For a moment she thought herself struck by the bullet casings ejected by the rifle. However, she had simply bitten her lip open in reaction to the gunfire.

It was fucking amazing. And it was so fucking terrifying. To think of it - to imagine a human rendered in tiny pieces of flesh by that gun was equally awe-inspiring and a vision of utter horror.

"Well, good thing you didn't hit the can. Would've coated us in cat food all over."

Fiyori approached Alba. From the left, of course. As a matter of safety, of course. When she took a few steps - loud, stomping steps to make sure Alba heard her - Fiyori cleared her throat once, and with a brief hesitation laid her hand on Alba's shoulder. Her head turned to Brendan, and she answered his remark with a brief chuckle. Yea, would suck a lot of dick. Though maybe they got lucky and whoever heard this thought better. Something along the lines of 'oh look someone has a fucking giant gun. Better run fast!'.

"I'd like to try now."

[Laurels]

Alba snapped her fingers by her ear. Oh good, she could still hear. She was worried the sound of the gunfire would leave her deaf, but the ringing in her ears was still quite off-putting. She whistled a bit.

"Okay, so I suck at this, but I guess that's why we're doing this," she said to Brendan and Fiyori.

Alba glanced at the immaculate can of cat food. The longer it stayed in mint condition, the more it proved that none of them were able to defend one another from the dangerous people. Alba bit her lip slightly. She had to get better quickly.

Brendan was right that they should have been careful about the sound.

"Oh, crap," she said. "We probably should do something about that."

Fiyori then asked to try the gun. Alba nodded. They should take turns to at least get the idea of how to use the rifle down.

"Here," she said, holding the rifle out for Fiyori to take. "You shoot, I'll block the door."

[Primrosette]

Brendan was glad that Alba was agreeing with him and he hoped that they would be able to make this a safe place for the three of them. He really didn't need someone like Isabel or Kimiko to come in and possibly kill all of them. No, they needed to block the entrance for a while until they were ready to leave. Hopefully in the morning so that they would find people who were important. Jonathan, Dorothy, Maxim, Candice, Byrony.... Ty. He actually wanted to find him and then Brendan wasn't sure what would happen next.

"Alba, would you like a helping hand?" He asked politely as he generally wanted to help her and he wanted to talk to her about what happened between them in the chapel. He thought that it would be better to talk about it sooner rather than later.

[Riki]

Alba offered Fiyori the rifle. With a nod, she took it. To carry the weapon in her own hands was surreal the moment it happened. Even the fact that Alba went to block the door, and the fact that Brendan went to help her somehow escaped her notice. It was a psychological effect, but the weapon looked quite heavy. When she held it, however, it felt lighter. Not as easy on her arms as to twirl it around, but still carrying a lesser weight that Fiyori had expected.

Fiyori aimed at the can of cat food. The rifle rested on her arm, and she breathed in and out several times before she could think about triggering. Was the safety still off? That seemed quite dangerous, but Fiyori paid it little attention. She wouldn't know how to check that, and if Alba happened to switch it on anyway, Fiyori would notice.

Ha

Fiyori knew so little about guns. She knew that this rifle would eventually fall apart by the lack of proper maintenance. She knew that the accuracy of her shot would be terrible. And still, she didn't knew but truly believed, that if she kept diligent and attentive, that she could and would kill someone with it.

Ha... Ha ha

The finger rested on the trigger for a moment only. Then she shot.

The gun screamed.

Her eyes screamed.

The wall scattered.

The bullets flew.

And above all else, Fiyori was laughing.

"Hahahaha - fuck, huaha... haha! God shit man this is good!" She yelled. By then the fire had subsided, and once she looked, she could see the can of cat food still unscattered. It didn't bother her. "Hu, huuaaaa - hahaha, oh man this is grea- hahaha. Great!"

Fuck, didn't matter shit if she couldn't hit the piss can of pussy trash. That fire power was enough, enough to balance her lack of accuracy. All she would need to do is

fucking fire.

[Laurels]

"Sure," Alba said to Brendan's question after handing the gun to Fiyori. "I'll start with that lounge chair."

Alba walked to one of the lounge chairs and grabbed it by the back. She dragged it behind her and walked over to the door. Her ears were still ringing from the last hail of gunfire, so she occasionally snapped her fingers by her ears just to make sure. She also patted the area around her ears to make sure blood wasn't dripping down. So far, it was fine.

Alba placed the chair by the door, shoving it under the doorknob when Fiyori fired at the can. Alba jumped a few inches off the ground, curling her body in slightly as she jumped. The whole thing was still really loud, causing her to grit her teeth and keep her hands close to her ears.

"Okay, I know we need to do this," Alba shouted, "but I swear I'm gonna be deaf when this is all over!"

"Does anyone have earplugs or something!?!" she shouted.

The ringing continued. If it was going to be this bad firing in a closed room at a stationary object, would it be worse if they had to fire at a living person? Alba continued to twitch a bit in place as she pondered that.

[Primrosette]

Before Brendan even got a chance to move anything to help Alba out, he was suddenly deafened by Fiyori firing the rifle and he cursed softly under his breath. This was really making him feel like he didn't want to be there anymore. But he had to deal with it. He had made his choice about continuing to carry on a long time ago. Using that weapon was really important. Important for their survival.

"That really is too loud.... We have to handle it somehow. Also we should only have a few more turns with the rifle. I think that we should make sure to save as much ammo as we can." Brendan said to them both as he approached Fiyori to take the rifle from her and he was uneasy to be holding in his his hands. "Just in case, we run into people that we might have to take down to defend ourselves.... Or if they give us no choice."

You did have a choice with Jerry and Bernadette, Brendan. You had the choice to walk away to let them live. But you didn't do that. You chose the other option....

Brendan shook his head and shoved his thoughts into the back of his mind. He had to move on. He couldn't let himself get distracted by the thought of them. He had to keep going forward.

He looked over at the the can and he took a few breathes. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. He then tried to positioned the rifle in his hands carefully. His shoulder was still hurting, the ringing in his ears was slowly fading away. He took aim at the can, squinting a little.

Then he fired.

--

Later on, Brendan was watching the two girls as they were sleeping. The three of them had taken a few more shots at the can but it hadn't been hit at all. But Brendan had been fine with that. They ate some food and talked for a while afterwards. Mostly about anything that came to their minds. It had felt nice and normal. It felt like a normal day at school. He wished he was there right now. Then they took turns to be on watch over each other as they slept. Fiyori was first, then Alba and then him. He was staring down at the table that was in front of him and he wondered if Jonathan and Candice were alright. He had to search for them soon.

Then he heard the speakers come to life. The announcement was starting again. This was something that he was always dreading to hear. He had to wake up the girls.

"Alba! Fiyori! Wake up! The announcement is starting!"

Brendan made sure to listen as carefully as he could to it. Alessio had killed some girl named Maria. He wondered if he would run into him at some point. There must be a chance for Brendan to talk some sense into Alessio. But maybe he wouldn't be able to. It could go both ways. Isabel had killed once more. That wasn't that surprising to Brendan that much. Jerry Fury again. He hoped he wouldn't see Jerry again. Oh. Coleen had killed Arthur. That one was a bit of a shock to him. Maybe it had been an accident? Jeremy had shot Junko. He wondered what Fiyori thought about that. She and Jeremy were friends, right? Alvaro and Nancy.... Two known killers were dead. And all he felt at first was relief and then he felt pity and a bit of guilt.

Then he heard a name that he never wanted to hear.

.....

Michael Crowe.

Michael Crowe was dead. Really dead. At the hands of Alex Tarquin.

.....

Brendan got up to his feet and he walked up to the table in front of him. He then struck the table with his fist. It made a loud noise and then he hit it again and again and again. Not caring that his knuckles were starting to bleed.

"Michael.... You idiot. You fucking idiot!"