some sort of gay soap opera

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    anime_boy_with_black_hair_and_yellow_eyes_wide_500_by_yui_won-d8fch66.png
    Damien Onyx Ashe



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    -=Ooc=- what a great place for Damien to be inducted leader into
    well i didn't know that
    but also i don't regret a thing so *sticks tongue out at you*

    -=Ic=- Damien rubbed the back of his neck again, coughing slightly. This whole situation was quite strange, and he honestly wasn't really sure how he was supposed to be reacting to any of it. He started looking through the cabinets for supplies for himself once the little girl left, happy to be doing something that could occupy his hands. When Maya asked her question, though, he decided he should probably answer. Chris and Jared seemed to trust her.

    "It started out because of the kidnappings. I should hope you, as a resident doctor, know already, but four of the Northerners were kidnapped, supposedly by people in my group. I wasn't present at the time and really am not sure what's going on with the whole situation there; I'm currently waiting for one of my friends to contact me back about it. We were going to, originally, separate at the border and go to our separate groups to try and stop the war, but Chris had a plan, and so I went along with them to this compound. Unfortunately, things started to go haywire when Rosario showed up. He took me to interrogation room c, and stuck Jared in the room beside it, where you, uh, put people who you're going to use as leverage.

    I didn't know where the hostages were at the time, but he was threatening Jared's life, and I figured my best bet to save Jared was to lie and tell him some random address. So I rolled the dice, picked a street and ran with it. Rosario believed me, and sent off a group to 'free them.' Unfortunately, he had been counting on me not breaking. He actually wanted the looming war to happen. And because so many people love Jared, what better way to start a war than..."

    Damien cleared his throat and wrapped his arm, where he had been cut as he threw one of the guards down. He stayed silent for a few seconds, before pressing on. "... Than to kill him as a martyr? So he pressed the button and released Jared's invention on its own creator. So, in return, I, well, I killed him, and, unfortunately in my rage and need to stay alive, also had to kill the two guards in the room. I couldn't release Jared because I had no way of keeping myself from getting affected by the gas, so I assumed Jared was... Was dead. Thankfully Chris had a gas mask and a backup plan and came to Jared's rescue and released me from the room. As we were walking to go announce the fact that I... Uh, am technically now the new leader of the Northerners, and also to find Jared some medical help, you chanced upon us and that leads us up to now. And I will see to it that if the Southerners are in fact the ones who kidnapped your people, which I believe they are, then I will free them and return them to their families and friends accordingly. And also stop the imminent war."

    Damien fell silent after delivering the most awkward report he had ever presented and walked to the sink to wet a towel, so as to clean off some of the blood all over him.

    The post was edited 2 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]There were some members of the group who might have been very shocked by certain parts of Damien's story. Maya, however, didn't seem to be bothered by it, or even remotely surprised. She just stood there, nodding along as she pulled a plastic cup out of one of the cabinets, filling it with water. "So, I assume if Rosario intended to use Jared to persuade you to give him information, that means the two of you are in some sort of romantic relationship?" She looked over at Jared, whose face was bright pink after hearing her question. It was clear that Maya was a very straightforward person, and wasn't afraid to ask questions.


    She didn't wait for anyone to answer her, and instead grabbed a tongue depressor and a flashlight, signalling for Jared to open his mouth. As she examined the back of his throat, she cringed. "It's about as bad as I thought. You'll get over it eventually, but it's going to be painful." Chris moved to see what Maya meant, and his eyes grew wide. Blood was dripping from the top of Jared's throat at an alarming rate, but as long as Maya didn't seem worried, he wasn't going to panic. She got up and threw the tongue depressor away as Jaimie entered the room again, holding two bottles; both of them clear, one full of liquid, the other full of pills. Maya took them from her and walked over to the counter, reaching up and searching through the cabinets until she found a pestle and mortar.


    In less than a minute, she'd pestled the pills into a fine powder and mixed it with the cup of water she had fixed earlier, and had measured out a fair amount of the odd brown liquid. She turned to Jared, handing him the medicine. "That one will stop the bleeding, this will help it heal more quickly." Jared gave her a skeptical look, and she sighed. "Yes, it tastes bad. I stil expect you to take it."


    Jared looked over at Chris, his eyes desperate for help. He knew he needed to, but he clearly didn't want to take the medicine. Chris quickly looked away, rubbing the back of his neck as he attempted to avoid looking at his friend, who had guilted him into convincing Maya not to make him take medicine on multiple occasions. When Chris didn't say anything, he looked at Damien with puppy-dog eyes, hoping that he would say something.


    anime_boy_with_black_hair_and_yellow_eyes_wide_500_by_yui_won-d8fch66.png
    Damien Onyx Ashe



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    -=Ooc=- [size=2pt]sex jokes just come to me easily

    -=Ic=- Damien smiled and blushed lightly; he wasn't really taken by surprise about the question. It was more direct than he had expected, but considering the fact that he had mentioned it, it would have made sense to wonder and possibly question the state of their relationship. He didn't answer, however; it was obvious she didn't really need a response and already knew the answer when she asked the question.

    He watched as Maya worked, pressing his right hand against the wound on his left to slow the bleeding. Damien knew how Jared felt about the medicine; it looked pretty disgusting, and Damien had taken some nasty stuff in his time. But when Jared looked his way, Damien didn't offer any quarter. He loved Jared, but it was because he loved him that he wouldn't give in. That pouty look was probably the sexiest thing Damien had seen in his life, but he knew the medicine would be better for Jared in the long run. Don't give in to it...

    Damien finally shook his head. "Take it like a man and swallow, Jared. It's gonna be nasty, but you'll like it in the long run." He gave Jared a sympathetic smile, but kept himself from saying anything more; he was too busy trying to keep himself from giggling.
    [/size]

    The post was edited 3 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]He knew he should not have been so shocked when Damien refused to try and help him get out of taking the medicine, but he couldn't help it. In the past, whenever he had looked to Chris for help, his friend had done what Jared wanted him to without hesitation. But now, Chris was avoiding his gaze, and Damien clearly had no intentions of getting him out of taking the medicine.


    After a moment, Damien said something that apparently Maya found hilarious. She let out a loud laugh, quickly trying to stop herself, biting her bottom lip as she dissolved into giggles. Chris seemed equally amused, although he also appeared to be conflicted; as though part of him wanted to be mad, and another part of him wanted to join in Maya's laughter. "I can't believe you would say that..." he muttered, shaking his head as Maya chimed in, "I really like this one." Jared and Jaimie, however, both looked at each other, clearly confused as to why everyone else was laughing when he had to go through the trauma of taking medicine he didn't want to take.


    Jared stared down at the medicine with deep blue eyes full of pain for another minute, before he finally downed the medicine, gagging a bit, clearly not in the best mood. Maya handed him the glass of water, and he drank it slowly, Jaimie patting his leg sympathetically, because as a child, she knew what it was like to have to take yucky medicine. Chris reached into the candy basket, tossing Jared a Milky Way. "There. That should help some."


    Chris watched as Jared unwrapped the candy bar, breaking it in half and handing a piece to Jaimie before looking to Damien. "We really should go make that announcement now," he said, looking towards the door. "I can take you to the main building, and Maya and Jared can..."


    Before he could finish speaking, a high-pitched sound emitted from seemingly out of nowhere. Chris narrowed his eyes. Whoever was working the intercom had most likely found the scene in the interrogation room. "Attention, all members of the Northern Bootleggers, please gather in the main building immediately."


    That couldn't mean anything good.


    anime_boy_with_black_hair_and_yellow_eyes_wide_500_by_yui_won-d8fch66.png
    Damien Onyx Ashe



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    -=Ooc=- whoop-si-daisy, probably should have cleaned that up
    oh well *shrugs*

    -=Ic=- Damien dissolved into laughter when Maya and Chris caught on, unable to keep himself from it any longer. He wondered to himself if he had spent too much time hanging out with Everett and listening to him crack dirty jokes constantly, and then shrugged off the thought. Nah, no such thing as too many dirty jokes.

    Damien's laughter finally quelled, and he nodded when Chris suggested they leave. He was about to get up when the intercom crackled into hearing, and he sighed, listening to the announcement. His good moved dissolved much faster than his laughter had, and he sighed. "Shit. We should have cleaned up that interrogation room, shouldn't we have. Alright, well this isn't the greatest way to start off the announcement, but I guess it saves us the trouble of gathering everyone. Let's go."

    The post was edited 2 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]It seemed that nothing would be going their way for the rest of the day, and Jared had accepted that fact the moment Chris showed up at Damien's house panicking. At least, he thought, they were all still alive. After everything that had happened, the three of them were still alive. That was all he could hope for, because at that point in his life, he knew that a lot of people didn't even get that.


    Chris grabbed the candy basket, and they all exited the room, heading towards the main building. Fortunately, it didn't seem like there were many other people in the building they were in. As they entered the courtyard, it was empty as well. When a meeting was called that required everyone to be present, people didn't wait to go. Missing an important meeting was not wise, and there was no doubt in anybody's mind that the high-ranked members of the group would start a meeting without calling roll.


    Before they actually went inside, Chris stopped at the door, looking over at Damien. It was still sort of hard to believe that the man who he had once considered his greatest rival was now his best friend's boyfriend, and the leader of the group he'd been in almost his entire life. He took a deep breath, thinking for a moment. "They're not going to be happy when you walk in there. Try not to lose your cool or anything while you're talking. I'll try to help as much as I can." With that, Chris pushed the door open, waiting for everyone else to enter ahead of him.


    "-were found dead in one of the interrogation rooms, presumably killed by an assassin from the Southern Underground, by the name of Damien Onyx Ashe. We have cause to believe that said Southerner has also been involved in the torture of Jared Ryker Smith. It has been discussed, and many of us believe that, as he is an enemy and not a member of the group or a civillian, that the Law of Skai should be overlooked and he should be exec-hey!"


    Chris hadn't really been listening to Trevor's speech as he moved through the crowd, which parted for him as he passed, and walked up to the podium, pushing Trevor roughly out of the way. Murmurs of shock and confusion ran through the crowd as the three appeared -- Maya and Jaimie had slipped into the crowd. Trevor snarled at Chris, but took a step back, sure that Damien would step in if he tried anything.


    Although he wasn't good with people, and often wasn't good with words, this was one situation he felt that he could keep under control. Chris cleared his throat slightly and adjust the microphone, scanning the room. It was so silent then that you could hear a pin drop. "My fellow Northerners, I'm not sure exactly what you've all been told, but whatever you've heard about Rosario's death is wrong."


    The crowd erupted in hushed voices again, a few clear statements popping up every so often, which Chris decided that he should most likely answer. "Well... okay, not everything was wrong. He was killed by Damien Ashe, but I promise you, there are good reasons for his death. Please stay calm and silent long enough to hear them." With that, Chris took a step back, motioning for Damien to take over.


    anime_boy_with_black_hair_and_yellow_eyes_wide_500_by_yui_won-d8fch66.png
    Damien Onyx Ashe



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    -=Ooc=- o shit it's gettin' good
    i mean not that it wasn't already my favorite roleplay

    -=Ic=- Even if Chris wasn't listening when they opened the doors, Damien was. He sighed quietly to himself but, just as when he had first entered the compound, he held his head high. This was his play ground. He had grown up around these types of politics, and even if one on one he tended to be a little inept, when it came to big crowds he knew exactly what he was doing. Chris' warning was unneeded. Damien stepped up to the podium.

    "Thank you, Chris." Damien paused for a few moments to look around the room. "As you now know, Rosario Cates is, indeed, dead. I killed him. There is a war looming between the Southern Underground and the Northern Bootleggers, namely because of the kidnapped group taken unfairly from your ranks, but I want to first assure you that I had nothing to do with this and will do all I can to return them to their families. However, when I first showed up here, Rosario took me to an interrogation room, automatically assuming I had played a role in the kidnappings, or at least knew where they were hidden. In doing so, he put your very own Jared Smith's life on the line by threatening to kill him if I did not respond.

    "You see, I did not, in fact, torture Jared, nor will I ever. He was staying at my house to recover from injuries, and during that time we grew close. Rosario found this out and used it as an advantage against me. The only way to save Jared's life was to lie, so I gave Rosario a fake destination. He believed me, but unfortunately he still wanted the war to happen. He was obsessed, it seemed, with the profits it would reap him, despite the fact that in engaging with us he would kill many of the people he had known for most of his life, people who had families, wives, children. He did not appear to care, and proved this by attempting to still assassinate Jared with Jared's own invention and offer him up as a martyr against the Southerners. With quick-thinking and insight into Rosario's untrustworthy-ness, Chris Lansett saved his life. In the meantime I took a swift revenge on this heartless killer. I believe there should be some sort of recording set in the interrogation rooms, you can check it if you wish to prove my story correct. I was in interrogation room C.

    "Now, as for the matter of whether I am to be executed, or placed as your leader in keeping with the Pennington Plot, it is up to you. However, I would like to point out that I wish no harm upon you, and would like to avoid war at all costs. Thank you, that is all." Damien gave a quick nod to the crowd before stepping down and back, allowing someone to intercede.

    The post was edited 5 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]During Damien's speech, the crowd seemed uneasy, but, per the instructions Chris had given, they stayed silent, for the most part. There were points where people muttered to each other to express their disbelief, and, when he mentioned the possibility of recording proving his innocence, three people left the room, clearly eager to check the facts. It was clear that Trevor was desperate to interrupt, but any time he tried moving towards Damien, Chris snarled at him, and he shied away.


    For a few seconds after Damien's speech had ended, there was silence as Chris prepared to step back up to the podium. A few more murmurs ran through the crowd, and suddenly, a clear voice rang out. "If Rosario wanted a war, he must've had a good reason!" Shouts of agreement rang throughout the room at the statement, and Chris frowned, waiting for everyone to quiet down before answering. "I assure you that he did not. It may be hard for some of you to accept, but Rosario was a selfish man who didn't care how many lives we would lose so long as he got some sort of profit."


    "Why should we listen to a Southerner?"


    The crowd exploded, and it was clear that everyone was about to turn against Damien. Chris tried to calmly convince the crowd to stop talking. When that didn't work, he did what he would usually do. "EVERYONE SHUT UP!" he roared, and everyone did as told, clearly scared by the fire in the man's eyes. "I'm not a Southerner, and I saw it with my own eyes. Rosario tried to kill Jared without any reason other than to try and start a war. A war that would do nothing for anyone in this group other than kill our members."


    He was quiet for a minute as he cleared his throat, the crowd not making a sound. "However... chances are that a war is imminent. Not between ourselves and the Southern Underground... but a rebellion against the government."


    If anything else said had upset the crowd, then this outraged them. At first, Chris feared that the other Northerners weren't interested in a rebellion. It was likely that there were plenty who weren't. But the more closely he listened to what was being understood, the more he reaized what everyone was upset about. "No member of this group will have to fight if they don't want to. But we need a rebellion. There are problems with our government that must be fixed, and there is a group out there that sees that and needs our help to try and bring the changes that will make our world better. Their members aren't like ours; they haven't been professionally trained. They don't have the type of weapons that we have, and without our assistance, they won't be able to win this."


    This seemed to calm the Northerners, to his relief, and he waited for the news to sink in before continuing. "Now, as for Damien being leader... the Law of Skai has been in place for generations, and, aside from that, I personally believe that he would make a great leader in our current situation. Before anyone complains, let me remind you that Damien was willing to save a member of our group when Rosario was equally willing to end his life."


    More agreement from the crowd. After the shock they'd shown at first, he had been worried. "Now that this has all been settled, meeting adjourned." As everyone started to leave, Chris stepped away from the podium, looking at Damien. "That went better than expected. Now we should probably head to the Southerners and talk to-"


    Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned curiously to see Trevor stading there, outrage clear on his face. "How dare you undermine me like that? You may have gotten away with that shit when Rosario was leader, but not with me." Chris shrugged, backing away from Trevor. "Well Trev, the thing is... you're not the leader. Damien is. And we're about to go speak with the leader of the Southerners. So before we do that, if you want to take it up with the actual leader of the group, he's right here." Trevor seemed shocked, but only for a second. "Maybe I will."


    anime_boy_with_black_hair_and_yellow_eyes_wide_500_by_yui_won-d8fch66.png
    Damien Onyx Ashe



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    -=Ooc=- suck it trevor

    -=Ic=- Damien watched as Chris battled the crowd, raising an eyebrow at his tactics. As long as they work, I guess.. He was pleasantly surprised when the whole 'yelling at my gang members' thing worked; it wouldn't have with any Southerners. Damien didn't really mind, though, he would rather not have had to live on the run again, that had sucked.

    As Chris stepped down from the podium, Damien felt a sweeping sense of relief, coupled by the pressure of several new burdens now that he had suddenly become the leader of an entire new group. The most pressing one was how the hell he was supposed to tell his boss about this, but thankfully Chris seemed to have a plan for that as well. The only hitch seemed to be Trevor, but Damien could deal with someone like him.

    "Take what up with me?" Damien's cool voice rang out beside Chris, and he looked Trevor in the eyes. "The rest of the Northerners have accepted me as their leader. I do believe I'll make a better one than you, if the way you treated Chris just now is any indication. So I'll kindly thank you, but I don't really believe you have any argument to put up with against mine."

    The post was edited 2 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]ooc: you thought Chris was bad
    but now there's Trevor
    who didn't lose almost everyone he cared about when he was twelve and just have to go through the ordeal of watching the second person he ever loved fall for his worst enemy
    and is just a piece of shit
    who does not have a sad backstory to soften people's opinion of him


    ic: When Damien spoke, Trevor seemed shocked, despite the fact that he had said he would be talking to the man about what had just happened. Chris couldn't keep the smug look from his face. Sure, he knew that Damien being the leader was going to mean a lot of bad things for him personally, but the mere fact that it meant Trevor wouldn't be leader, and would probably never be leader, made it better, at least for the time being.


    He seemed to have recovered from his shock, and instead scowled at Damien. "I doubt just how innocent you claim to be. Whatever injuries Jared has that you were healing are most likely your fault, and guilt doesn't make one innocent." With that, Trevor looked over at Jared, who shrugged.


    "I certainly can't vouch for his innocence -" (Chris let out a small, relunctant laugh, wondering if Jared had made this joke intentionally) "- but Damien caused none of my injuries. I fell on one of my throwing stars and was shot. The next day, another group of Southerners broke into his house and thought I was stealing, so they tortured me. I'm sure they regret it, after what Damien did to them when he found out. We can go ahead and assume that everyone else accepting him as leader of the group means that they have forgiven him for any other crimes he might have committed, and before you say anything about you personally not forgiving him, I will point out that I know for a fact that he has never killed anyone close to you, so, quite frankly, it doesn't matter whether or not you forgive him for anything."


    The fact that Jared, of all people, wasn't interested in helping him, assured Trevor that nobody was willing to. He turned to Chris once more, who had crossed his arms, the smug look still on his face. "You're power-hungry, Trev. And although I personally can relate, that's not a good thing to be seen as right now. I suggest you walk away before you continue to make a fool of yourself."


    Finally, Trevor backed down, although he was still clearly disgruntled. The man walked away, disappearing into the crowd; plenty of people had left, although there were always people who hung around to talk to their friends and gossip. Chris smirked; he had considered what had just happened a great victory. He looked over at Damien, quite obviously in a better mood than he had been at any other time since finding him the night before. "Okay. We should probably head to talk to the Southerners now. Hopefully they'll be as easy to persuade as everyone here was." It was unlikely, considering the fact that the leader of the Southerners hadn't just tried to kill one of their most beloved members, but he was in too good of a mood to worry about that.


    //timeskip?



    Death. Destruction. Damien!



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    -=Ooc=- trevor is a shit
    not even a piece of shit
    he is a whole shit
    one whole shit
    possibly more than one

    ERIS TIME

    by the way you're gonna be the one to post our 200th post
    it'll be post #144 as long as we don't bump the thread or something

    -=Ic=- Damien walked into the Southerner's compound, chatting quietly and happily away with Chris and Jared. He had enjoyed the walk over to familiar territory; despite some of the inevitable trouble that was coming, a lot of the previous pressure was off and he had enjoyed the small, comfortable haven that their walk had provided. Whispers filled the compound as families started to notice him, surprised by his good mood and his companions. No one contested him as he walked inside the compound, headed to his boss' office. The Southerners had a tendency to be less... Flashy, and so news of his entrance, while spreading quickly, was not so wild and untamed as his previous one had been at the Northern base.

    He had notified Everett of his coming, and so soon the three of them were joined by Puck, Rex and Everett. Puck was obviously reluctant to go near any of them, but Rex nudged him closer.

    "I'd say I was sorry for beating the shit out of you three, but honestly you deserved it. I know you won't do it again, obviously, and since Jared is healing well, I'm willing to pass a truce if Jared is." Damien nodded his head at Everett, who grinned.

    "Hey man, it's cool. We used to wrestle in high school, I just took yesterday as an extreme version of that. Where Puck got a few broken ribs. Anyway, sorry for the, uh, way we met last time. I'm Everett, and I'm normally much nicer, but I honestly thought you were thieving one of my best friends. Obviously you're much closer to him than that, if ya know what I mean." Everett winked at Jared, before turning to Chris. His eyes raked over the tall Northerner, and he raised one eyebrow. "Damien, in the span of two days somehow you managed to find not only a hubby but also a DDG little boy friend. Hi, I'm Everett, you can call me Ev. You must be Chris... Is that short for Christopher or Christian?" Everett stuck out his hend, a sly look on his face.

    Before Chris had the chance to reply, Rex elbowed Everett, who immediately doubled over in pain. "Sorry about him, he flirts with any boy with a pulse. I'm Rex, this is Puck. We're, uh, we're sorry and all that." Puck let out a whimper and a small wave, dwarfed by everyone in the group except Jared.

    The post was edited 3 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]ooc: yessss


    did you really just do that math?
    wow
    good job noticing that
    *clapping*


    ic: The walk to the Southerners had been much more cheerful; Chris had clearly been put in a good mood by the fact that his idea for the groups joining the rebellion had been put into motion. Jared was a bit nervous; after all, the leaders from his group had been quick to assume that Damien was the enemy - which he had been for a long time -, so there was no saying that the leaders of the Southerners would take kindly to Chris and Jared being around. Still, he didn't say anything about his concerns. It was probaby stressful enough for Damien, having to deal with being the leader of a group he hadn't even been a part of.


    The Southerners were all a lot different than the Northerners, Jared noticed, mainly because they all seemed less shocked by members of their rival gang entering their compound. They just whispered things to each other and watched. They didn't pull each other away from the scene, as though being to close to Chris would cause them harm. In that moment, he wondered if Rosario had done anything to cause this difference. After all, Rosario had always been quick to feed him stories about the horrors of the Southern Underground. How they were all ruthless killers.


    A few minutes later, they were joined by another group of three, and Jared was quick to hide behind Damien as they approached. It honestly didn't have anything to do with the fact that they had tortured him; he was already over that, even if he was still hurting. They were just intimidating; it definitely didn't help that he already knew that they were capable of hurting him, but aside from that, all but one of them towered over him, and the one who didn't still managed to terrify him. He stared at the ground, his face turning red as the one with purple hair - the one named Everett, he noted - finished talking to him, and instead turned his attention to Chris.


    Chris seemed far less scared of the other three males than Jared, which, of course, made sense. He was the one who was actually trained to fight. He looked quite relaxed, although Everett's statement threw him off a bit; once he managed to figure out what 'DDG' stood for, a light blush spread across his face. It quickly disappeared when Everett mentioned the name 'Christopher,' and Jared watched, forcing himself not to laugh. He knew that Chris thought Everett was attractive, but he also knew that Chris had been known to explode when people called him Christopher.


    Luckily, the taller male - Rex -, had interrupted before Chris could say anything, and he looked over the two of them. The statement about Everett flirting with everyone made his face go red once more, but the knowledge that they had been the ones who had hurt his Jared didn't really make them his favorite people. "So... you two are the ones who tortured Jared?" he asked, clearly a rhetorical question. "An apology might be enough for him and Damien, but not for me. So it'd be in your best interest to watch your backs."



    Death. Destruction. Damien!



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    -=Ooc=- i waited almost three hours for your post
    and i was so excited to post mine and then my internet cut out

    i did just do that math
    it's my specialty

    i love benno he's so chill

    -=Ic=- Rex seemed to be the most apologetic; Everett accepted it as a trade; beating up Jared and in return getting a beating twice as bad. Fair enough. Puck was just, in general, too intimidated to say anything. Rex nodded at Chris; he may have been several heads taller than everyone in the nearest vicinity, but he respected anyone willing to challenge him.

    "I understand. Don't worry, from now on I will be as dedicated to protecting Jared as I am to protecting Puck."
    "I don't need your protection, ass!" Puck narrowed his eyes in annoyance out of habit before realizing he was speaking in front of Damien and fell silent again.

    Everett laughed, doubled over again but this time in amusement. "Sure you don't, Puck-y. Anyway, nice to meet you. I'm gonna vote that your name is Christopher because you didn't tell me otherwise, so if you get mad it's not even my fault, babe. And Jared, take care of Damien, alright? We gotta clear out before the boss notices we're talking to some random Northerners, but it was nice meeting you. And you, especially." Everett winked once again, this time at Chris, before putting his arm around Puck's shoulder and steering him away. Rex shrugged and followed, and Damien gave a small wave as they left.

    "Well, they're an interesting group, but those are my friends I guess. Come on, we've got to get to the headquarters building." Damien smiled gently at Jared before heading down the hallway once again.

    It wasn't long before the passage opened out in an empty courtyard, across which stood a pair of dark oaken doors, ominously looming over the grass. Damien crossed with long strides, opening the door and holding it for Jared and Chris.

    When they were through, he followed them into the darkly-lit room. A desk stood at the far end of the room, with a man leaned forward, writing on his desk. He looked to be in his late forties, with silvery hair and a well-built physique that most men his age would envy. His head lifted up slowly, untroubled by the appearance of the three. "Damien, good to see you again. You've been causing trouble as of late, and I was wanting to talk to you about what happened with Puck, Rex, Everett, and my now traumatized- and also newly hired, I might add- assistant. Also, why in the hell have you brought Christian Lansett and Jared Smith back from your three-day escapade?"

    "I can explain everything, sir. The first thing I would like to mention, however, is that technically I am no longer in your employ. As per the rules created after the Pennington Plot, I'm now the leader of the Northern Bootleggers." Damien rubbed the back of his neck; he and Benno Bowlby had always been more on the level of equals than employee and employer, but it was still quite odd to be telling him this.

    It was with the first look of shock Damien had ever seen on Benno's face that Benno looked at his previously-best assassin in the eyes. "Well, I'd throw these papers in the air in a mixture of frustation and astonishment, but they're really quite important. Go on."

    "Well, I'll be submitting a full report later, once I've gotten everything set up quite well with the Northerners and can step back down and into my old job, but the basics of it is that I killed Rosario in revenge because I thought he had killed Jared, who I was keeping at my house to recover from injuries inflicted by Puck, Rex, and Everett, and then they inducted me as leader. I'm going to need those hostages back, sir, and then we need to have a talk about uniting both groups in the rebellion that's been gaining ground as of late."

    "Well, frankly I'm not sure whether I'm still dreaming from that nap I took earlier today, but we'll hope for the best. You've had quite the crazy week, and I look forward to discussing everything. But first, I want to know why exactly Christian and Jared had to come with you." Benno's eyes moved from Damien's face to study Chris and Jared, his shockingly blue irises studying them with an analytical gaze that he had perfected over the years.

    The post was edited 3 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]ooc: that's happened to me so many times bless your soul
    only it's usually with messages though
    which is why some of my messages are late


    Yay Benno
    the leader who's probably not trying to kill off members of his own group in a gas chamber
    this is why you're dead Rosario you decided to be an ass so the scary man killed you



    ic: Chris watched the exchange between the three with an amused expression. The dynamic with the taller two and the shorter male seemed to be similar to how Michael, Jared, and himsef had been. The only difference was that Puck seemed relunctant to admit that he needed his friends to look out for him.


    Everett's comment about his name made his blood boil, but at the same time, he couldn't protest much. He hadn't answered the question about his name, and, honestly, Everett was far too attractive for him to scream like he usually did when someone dared to call him Christopher. "It's Christian, actually, please don't ever call me Christopher..." he muttered through gritted teeth, trying his best not to have a breakdown. His anger melted away when Everett winked at him, and he blushed again. Jared couldn't help but laugh; he had never seen his friend look so frozen, and when they started down the hallway once more, it seemed to take Chris a minute to notice. He kept looking over his shoulder, as though wondering if Everett was coming back.


    Eventually, they made it to a room; a dark office. Jared could only assume that the man who was sitting at the desk was Damien's boss, who seemed much calmer about the presence of two people who were considered enemies being present than Rosario had been. Then again, Rosario had been dealing with more than just a traumatized assistant at the time. When the man said his name, Jared moved as though he was trying to hide behind Damien, which he was. Chris stayed where he was, listening to the conversation, smiling to himself when he was referred to by his full name.


    Chris looked up when Benno asked why he and Jared were there, and he looked at Damien, biting his lip for a second before answering, "I'm here because I'm the one who knows about the rebellion Damien mentioned. As for Jared, after everything that's happened as of late, I think Damien would agree that neither of us are eager to let him out of our sight."



    Death. Destruction. Damien!



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    -=Ooc=- only reason someone hasn't killed Benno yet is his faithful gang members
    everybody loves him for the most part

    man that must suck i'm sorry
    woo benno
    scary man kills all asses
    by having the best ass amiright

    -=Ic=- Benno nodded, obviously accepting Chris' answer. He stood up slowly and emerged from behind his desk for the first time. He walked with a permanent limp, and if you looked close enough you could see that his left foot was an old and jerky automated prosthetic.

    He reached out his hand to shake Chris' and Jared's, individually. "Well, it's nice to meet you. I look forward to negotiating peaceful terms for once with the Northerners. The past few generations of Northerner leaders have had a ridiculous penchant for violence, so during my rule I never had the chance to resolve tensions. I suppose we can use the death of Rosario to our advantage and fix this. I'll notify for your prisoners to be released when we are finished talking. Now, you said something about a rebellion?"

    "That's correct, Benno, but Chris knows more about it than I do. Chris?" Damien turned to Chris, nodded his head at him to explain about the rebellion.

    //that's right i'ma blame it all on the southerners
    which, ya know, isn't totally true
    but that's probably how Benno thinks it is due to prejudice

    The post was edited 2 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]ooc: Benno seems like less of a dick
    Rosario was pretty fucked up even if he was nice
    he liked to fight people


    ic: Chris was quick to shake Benno's hand; he knew that the man had ordered terrible things against his friends, knew that he was the reason people he cared about were gone, but he respected him. Jared was more tentative. He was still scared that someone else was going to try and hurt him. Still, he did shake Benno's hand, offering a small smile. The comment about the leaders in the Northerners being violent confused him somewhat; he had only known two leaders of the group, and neither had ever seemed violent to him. It was most likely because they didn't want to scare him.


    When the rebellion was mentioned, Jared looked up at Chris, curiousity shining in his eyes. He still didn't know exactly what the rebellion would mean, so he was quite interested. "Right. About two months ago, I was stopped by a woman in the street. She knew who I was. She said that she had read my file, so I assumed that she was a Southerner. She wasn't; she turned out to be a member of a group called the Empire State Rebels. She gave me a business card and told me that they usually have recruiters stationed near the ruins of the Statue of Liberty, and that they were trying to gather enough people to start a rebellion. The main problem is that they don't have enough weapons. She requested that, should I ever find an opportunity, I ask the Northerners to help, and now, we have that chance."


    Jared blinked, somewhat shocked. He wasn't sure what story he'd been expecting, but he knew that it hadn't started two months ago. Chris would have told him. He would have been excited at the idea of another rebellion. But he hadn't. "I can understand if you would rather not risk any of your group's members by asking them to fight, and I'm not asking you to, but they need help. Weapons, medical assistant, anything."



    Death. Destruction. Damien!



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    -=Ooc=- only less of a dick though
    i mean he's a gang leader at some point he's gonna turn into a dick of some sort
    he's the hard and tough kind
    annnd we're back to penis jokes

    also sorry for the crappy post i'm not good at multitasking

    -=Ic=- Damien entered the conversation once again. "Ben, I know many of the Southerners would be willing to fight. Personally, I'm going to rally any volunteers from the Northerners. I should hope you do the same."

    "That is the plan, yes. We have no shortage of weapons or medical supplies and would be glad to help. I will hold a meeting later today and gather everyone together. I suggest you do the same, and we can meet at the statue in two days at one in the afternoon with volunteers and supplies."

    "Sounds fine to me. Alright if I take Everett Puck and Rex with us?"

    "As long as you don't ravage their skeletal systems again."

    It was a dismissal, and Damien exited the room and headed out to the courtyard to talk with Chris and Jared.

    The post was edited 2 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]ooc: we always end up back here at some point
    every damn time
    doesn't make it less funny tho


    ic: As they left the room, Jared stayed close to Damien, Chris following behind him. He was glad to know more about the rebellion. Glad to know that Chris really didn't hide everything important from him. It made him feel a bit more guilty about what had happened earlier. However, he didn't believe himself to be in the wrong. Chris did often protect him from things he didn't need protected from, and that made everyone else think of him as a child.


    When they got to the courtyard, Chris grinned. "That went well," he said cheerfully, clearly satisfied with the way the meeting had gone. Rosario never would have agreed to a rebellion in such a short amount of time. It would've taken at least a half hour of arguing and bargaining with him before he so much as considered helping a rebel group. "I'd always imagined if I found myself in a room with Benno I'd try to kill him, but he seems pretty cool. Definitely more trustworthy than Rosario was."


    "You're not going to let me fight, are you?"


    Whatever Chris had been starting to say was gone when Jared spoke, his lips parted slightly as his gaze turned to his friend, clearly shocked. Jared was staring at him, an expression he couldn't decipher on his face. "I mean, if there's any field combat invovled in this rebellion... you won't let me be a part of it..." He looked away, staring at the ground instead, shaking his head. Chris took a step forward, watching Jared for a minute.


    "I just... I just don't think you're ready for something like that," he said softly. "You could get killed. You could get tortured again. You don't have any training. If things were different, I would consider it, but you're..." Chris stopped, unsure of exactly what he should say next. What he actually could say next, because whatever he wanted to say, he couldn't. "You're all I've got left. You're my last reminder of him. You're the only person I really care about and I can't lose you because of something that I got you involved in..."


    "... you're too much of an easy target."



    Death. Destruction. Damien!



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    -=Ooc=- it's always funny

    -=Ic=- Damien felt cheerful as well; at least for the first few minutes. He had known Benno would be open to the idea as it was something they had discussed before; but he hadn't expected it to go down that easily. Truly a lucky break.

    Damien sighed when Jared spoke. It was not that he was tired of Jared, or his complaints; he felt he could never be tired of Jared, no matter what he did. It was more that he was slightly confused as to the way Jared's brain worked; after all, it made sense for Jared not to fight. A field initiate is not allowed to go into combat unless they've completed their training, and Jared hadn't even started his training. He repeated this sentiment aloud to Jared, in a more gentle way.

    "Jared, think of it like this. You really only gotten the basics in combat training before you stopped to become a salesperson, right? Well, trainees aren't allowed to fight, at all, until they've finished their training. So the same rule applies to you until I'm done teaching you how to defend yourself."

    Damien checked his phone, pulling it out to see a text from Everett. Safe for us to come now? We got loads to do. He replied quickly with a simple 'Yes, hurry up.' before turning back to the conversation at hand. Except the conversation at hand was interrupted.

    Everett was the first out the door, with Puck and Rex not far behind. "We were waiting out in the hallway. Was it just me, or was that an extraordinarily long meeting?"

    "Just you, Everett. It was actually pretty short."

    "Whatever. Hey, nice to see you again Jared, been awhile." Everett turned to Chris and grinned. "Sweetcheeks, you too."

    Damien rolled his eyes. "It's been maybe thirty minutes, Ev. You have the attention span of a goldfish."

    "Yeah, probably, but not the dick of one, if ya know what I mean. We ready to get this show on the road? We got lots of rallying to do."

    //he never stops
    his flirtation and libido is just ongoing, 24/7
    sometimes he just says things outright like that and Damien and Puck and Rex are used to it but it always shocks everyone else
    he thinks it's hilarious, Damien, Puck and Rex thinks it's annoying

    The post was edited 3 times, last by MaxiMal ().

    [align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; text-align: right; letter-spacing: -2px; font-size: 18pt;]★ ― jared smith[/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; letter-spacing: 1px; font-size: 8pt; margin-top: -10px;]so celebrate the times when your world was calm...
    [hr]
    [hr][/fancypost]
    [fancypost borderwidth=0px; font-size: 8pt;][justify]Jared frowned at Damien's response, clearly upset. He had been hoping, for some stupid reason, that Damien would be on his side. He wanted to be a part of the rebellion. He wanted to be able to help, but there was no guarantee that he would be finished with his training before the rebellion was over. For all they knew, the rebels already had some brilliant plan that would win the war before it ever really started. And, although there was a part of him that would be relieved if that happen, that just wanted the whole thing to be over already so he could be with Damien, he wanted to be able to say that he'd done something meaningful to help instead of spending his time training for nothing.


    It was quite clear that Jared wasn't the only one who had objections; Chris seemed shocked, and was about to say something when Damien's friends arrived. As always, he felt his face heating up at Everett's comment, and he smiled a bit. Still, even Everett's flirting couldn't distract him from what he had just heard.


    "Um, right, but... what did I hear about you teaching Jared to defend himself?" Chris was clearly interested, and Jared sighed, shaking his head. "Chris, let it go, please" Jared begged. Chris looked over at him, fire in his eyes. It was obvious that he was not ready to even consider letting it go. "No, okay? Where does he get the idea that he'll be teaching you to defend yourself?" Jared muttered something under his breath, and Chris raised an eyebrow. "What?"


    "Someone has to do it. I mean, there's about to be a rebellion. It's not like I can keep going on without any self-defense training, at the very least. What did you think was going to happen? Did you think I was going to hide in some sort of bunker the whole time?"


    Chris opened his mouth to respond, but it closed again in a matter of seconds, and he just stood there, unable to think of anything he could say. "Everett's right. We should go," he muttered, shaking his head, the feeling of defeat clear in his eyes.