which were blackest (p) none could tell

I can get a first post up later, or you can start it if you want. I have a busy weekend coming up so don't attack me if I don't respond immediately eep

I definitely will, I'll try to get it up tonight at soonest!!

Heck yeah let's do that. I'm excited to get started!

The wind running through René's hair was calming, relaxing. If she closed her eyes and allowed herself to forget where she was and what she was doing for just a moment, then she could begin to imagine that she was flying. She had always liked birds, but she hadn't never become jealous of them until recently. Things with wings were always allowed to take off and steal away whenever they pleased; things with arms and legs were forever constrained to crawl about the ground eternally, spending life and death and everything in between on the cold, hard earth.

She didn't especially crave becoming a bird. Having the ability to fly, on the other hand, was something to be sought after. Especially when sitting on the roof of a three-story building, the need to touch the sky rose dramatically along with the height off the ground.

"Anything happening?" Danny appeared behind René, breaking her from her musings and giving her a bit of a fright. She started, turning around in shock before relaxing once more upon seeing who was behind her.

"Oh. It's just you."

"Just me?" He smiled one of his gentle, thoughtless smiles, a beautiful expression that René had to look away from. She was two years older than he, a fact that was oftentimes difficult to remember until she took a moment to look into his eyes and soak in his wise grins. "That's a little harsh, isn't it?" Sometimes it was hard to recognize when he was joking, but it was pretty obvious at this particular moment.

"Oh, you know what I mean." René looked back out over the ruined city that she was supposed to be keeping watch on and let out a small sigh. "You can't blame me for being surprised."

"I can't," Danny agreed. "That just means that you're working hard, after all."

"Either that, or I'm spacing off. Though I don't know how you'd tell the difference." René didn't glance back at him, but she could tell that he wasn't concerned with her dutifulness, or lack thereof. Truth be told, she was too tired to keep watch, and yet she didn't have the strength to force someone else to do her job. She wasn't the only one suffering from a lack of sleep and assurance; the turf war between Quicksilver and Evercrest were starting to escalate. The constant need for a watch and protection had spread the gang thin, making their crew seem much smaller than it actually was.

It was as though Danny could sense what was on her mind. Pulling up an extra crate and sitting beside her, he jumped right down to business. "How are you holding up? The conflict getting to you, too?"

His bluntness shouldn't surprise her by this point, by René still caught herself blinking from the unexpectedness of it. "Yeah," she admitted, turning to him.

"Do you have any bright ideas for how we should go about fighting back?"

She had a few, but she didn't share them.

"I'll take that silence as answer enough." Danny paused, sorting his words out before continuing on. "I haven't run it by everyone, but I know the most reasonable course of action by this point in time."

"And that would be?" René's eyes wandered, drifting back out over the city. A small flash of motion caught her attention, but it was easy to convince herself that nothing was there.

"By eliminating the enemy immediately." Danny spoke so matter-of-factly that it was hard to take him serious at first. "If we strike first and strike hard, they won't be able to recover. We might be able to get supplies from them, not to mention the fact that we'll redouble in safety and space. A group that can take out another group is formidable, you know."

"Uh, Danny?" This time, René saw something and didn't make an excuse about her faulty peripheral vision.

"I mean, look at us! We're starting to outgrow this building. We can't expand until we can safely scout out new territory." He was starting to get excited, a vision of growth swelling in his mind's eye.

"Danny . . . . "

"Imagine it, René! We're strong as a small group; imagine turning this little gang into a full faction of people."

"Danny!" Finally she managed to snap him out of his daze. A little bit disoriented, a little bit irritated, he furrowed his brows. "Please. I like how you're thinking, but look." She pointed a finger down into the streets. "There are people."

Sure enough, there was. A whole gangful of them, in fact. "God damn," Danny scowled, already standing and racing downstairs. "It's Evercrest."

OOC: I like it the first way around; if Evercrest invades, they could take a hostage, but then if they had to get out quick and one of their own was wounded they couldn't take 'em along. Either way it basically becomes a double hostage situation xD

IC: "What are we going to do?" René cried, following Danny down the long flight of stairs to the main floor. She took note of the knife which had appeared in his hand, almost as though it had been summoned there by magic, and pulled her own gun out of its holster at her waist. She wouldn't typically carry a gun around, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and its presence had become a source of security. Gone were the days of safety blankets and stuffed animals; children nowadays were being raised with blunt daggers and BB guns as their comfort. Protecting oneself in a crazy world was the only reasonable thing to do, and so people adapted. They did what was necessary.

Danny didn't respond immediately. He could feel his face clouding up, his hair threatening to fall down into his eyes as he flew down the stairs at top speed. His knuckles were turning white, so strongly did he grip the knife's hilt. "The very thing that we've trained to do in situations like these," he muttered darkly. "We have to fight back."

Like a well-oiled machine -- which, considering the amount of time that they'd spent together in training, combat, and leisure alike, wasn't too far off from accurate -- Danny and René broke off from one another, heading into separate rooms to warn the rest of the gang. In record time, all who were available and capable of fighting were mobilized, guns and ammo present in every direction as weapons were acquired and loaded.

Some people were already fighting, but Danny and René didn't join the fray until they reconvened, both out of breath from sprinting around in a panic. "You ready? Did you talk to Josh?" Josh being the head of the group, a young man that favored Danny to be his informal yet widely accepted second in command.

"Yeah," Danny said, a hard glint in his eyes as he steeled himself for battle. "He said, 'Daniel, do what you need to.' And I told him, 'Then it looks like we're going to see some carnage, because we aren't letting this f*ckers onto our territory without a fight.' " Adrenaline had turned his vocabulary slightly less refined, but René hardly even noticed. She just nodded, raised her gun, and ran to the north side of the building. Without a word, Danny peeled off to the south, his usually pleasant demeanor turned poisonous in his rage.

Danny ran as fast as he could, almost desperate to find someone and exact justice for this raid. As he passed a few people, he tapped them on the shoulder, nodding for them to follow. With grim expressions, a few people nodded and immediately followed behind, keeping up as best as they could. Though it would have been smart, Danny didn't grab his own gun, just fingered the knives and daggers hanging at his belt with care, drawing an odd sense of peace from their presence.

Upon catching sight of Vivian, Danny felt a wave of pure wrath wash over him. Food was important, but medicine was by far the most important commodity to have in this day and age. Receiving medical attention was highly important, especially when the count of injuries had increased substantially in recent times thanks to all of the conflict. Obviously Evercrest was also feeling a similar blow, for why else would they target medicine above weapons and ammo? A second before the girl had the opportunity to raise her gun, Danny raised a throwing knife; as her mouth opened to speak, the knife was sent flying through the air, finding its mark in her bag. He didn't even stop to think that maybe, just maybe, that act could have damaged some of the goods. Frankly, he didn't really care. "The next one hits you between the eyes," he said coldly. Despite the fact that a gun could probably go off quicker than a knife could fly through the air, he wasn't concerned about getting shot. Danny could sense someone coming in behind him, hear the sound of breathing, and knew that one of the members of Quicksilver had finally caught up to him. Perhaps it was reckless to be fast, but his gang members always caught up eventually.

-----

René wasn't the best at thinking things through. She tended to act impulsively and opt not to seek out backup. She didn't think that she was invincible, and it wasn't that she didn't trust someone else to watch her back, but it never really crossed her mind to be cautious. Before joining Quicksilver, she had been a loner, doing what she wanted when she wanted. Though the past was behind her, some parts of it never exactly died.

Before exiting out into the car lot, René attempted to peek outside and glean some insight on what she was up against out here. She couldn't see much, unfortunately, so she had to settle for walking into the situation without any opportunity to plan or prepare. Ready to shoot at a moment's notice, she held up her gun and went outside.

She immediately regretted not getting help. Two guys were poking around the cars, assumably taking parts, while another guy stood guard. From his very first words, she knew that he was a giant ass, his words condescending and his demeanor pretentious. Aiming her own gun in response, René sneered, "And what makes you think I should do that?" She willed for someone to come, secretly resigned to the fact that she had gotten herself into a situation that she could never get out of.

God, if Danny knew that she had just rushed into a situation like this, completely reckless and oblivious to reason . . . . He would be so disappointed.

Situations that involved violence always seemed to fly by quickly. Daniel was sharp, quick, and alert, but he rarely found himself in full control of situations such as this. Bullets flying past him and finding its target raced twice as fast; his mind hardly caught up with the knife leaving his hand; the medicine was gone before his conscious and reasoning mind could process what had happened. He always acted on instinct as much as he could, but sometimes an person couldn't do everything they attempted to within a short span of time. He hadn't been able to stop the bag of medicine from getting stolen away.

What had succeeded, however, was the acquiring of a prisoner. Typically that would be seen as an unequal trade-off, but all things considering . . . .

"Lay off, guys." Danny found himself intolerant of his companion's words, their mouths running for the sake of exercise, not for wit. He pushed past them, eyes unreadable as he approached the wounded Vivian. Though looking at her, he also seemed to be looking beyond her, simultaneously sizing her up and trying to come up with a sound course of action. Upon reaching her, he paused, then kneeled down. There was something about his eyes as he locked gazes with her, making it nearly impossible to look away. Then, speaking past her even while staring right at her, he instructed, "Get some bandages. They didn't clean this place out completely, so bring some here." Footsteps confirmed that the given command was being carried out. This time to Vivian, Danny added, "I can tell you what won't be happening. We seem to be missing some medicine, so you won't be getting any. You won't be getting away. And this little raid of yours will be the last, so it won't happen again." Bandages were handed to him, but he waved it away. "What will happen is this: I'm going to take my knife back."

In the midst of everything, there it was, still stuck in Vivian's leg. With a hard set to his face, Danny placed his hand on the hilt and firmly yanked it from her leg. Blood gushed from the wound, but at least it came out cleanly and hadn't landed anywhere too vital. "Oh, and I suppose I might as well add that you will survive. But you can bet that you won't enjoy it."

Done with his little speech, Daniel stood and grabbed the arm belong to the person nearest to him. "You deal with wounds more often than I do. Do what you have to." He pulled a rag out of his pocket and started cleaning his blade, lip curling back at the sight of the blood. Though acting quite cold and harsh at the moment, he honestly didn't know how to proceed. The first step was to lock up the girl -- who, thankfully, was useful and not just a nobody -- of course, but what next? Hostage situations were rarely heard of amongst the gangs.

-----

((you're fine! It moves the plot along appropriately, so we're good))

René didn't freeze up very often, but if there was an appropriate time to, it was now. It wasn't every day that she found herself in such an unfair situation, outnumbered and outgunned. She should have exited the building with guns blazing, but she hadn't, and now she couldn't without getting herself shot at.

Damn. If one thing had to change about Quicksilver's base, she would certainly suggest more security potential, because this was one position she never wanted to be in again.

What brought her into action was the male's comment about her appearance. "Oh, I'm just a regular ol' angel with a shotgun," she responded tightly, trying pack as much sarcasm and hatred into so few words as she could. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but the male intimidated her, especially considering the fact that the odds were against her. Still, she wouldn't give up trying to find a way to get out of this alive; she certainly wouldn't go down without a fight. If only someone would come in as backup-

-And someone did come. Only, they were also with Evercrest. René looked at the newcomer but kept her gun steadily pointed at Blake. Little good it did her, however, considering the fact that she was quickly disarmed. She almost didn't mind at first, considering the fact that it was grimly satisfying to know that not everything was rainbows and butterflies for the rival gang, though her mind quickly changed as she was swept off her feet. And not in the good, romantic way; more like in the kidnapping way. "Hey! Put me down!" she hollered, fighting back in vain.

How was she going to get out of this one?

OOC: Sorry this took so long! I've studied more in this past week for my AP exams than I have for anything else in my life, so I've been pretty busy.

IC: Frankly, Danny didn't hear his gang member yell at him. It didn't really benefit him to tune in to those useless words, anyway; he already recognized the fact that Vivian couldn't die. That simply wasn't an option. He also knew that she was going to majorly be his responsibility. Once upon a time, the very concept of having to deal with a hostage might have disgusted him. But, desperate times call for desperate measures, and the frustration and rage swelling inside of him was enough to compel him to agree with anything. Or, perhaps more accurately, it was the helplessness that he felt that was most compelling; not being able to do much to protect their medicine, let alone the raid as a whole, was vexing beyond words.

What he did hear, however, was Vivian's gently murmured explanation. She didn't need to offer it up, but perhaps blood loss made her vocal. Luckily, her words were extremely helpful, since it gave Danny a thread to latch on to. It also exposed the fact that Evercrest was currently in need of something, so desperately, in fact, that they were willing to become reckless and even target one specific good. That meant that a lot of people, or at least someone important, wasn't well. And that meant a possible advantage to be exploited.

Once her wound was done being cleaned and taken care of, Danny spoke up. "Thanks, guys. You can go see if there's anything else to be done. I'll take it from here." He walked over to Vivian, pausing before her. "And don't tell anyone about this just yet. I'll need to talk to Josh first." Assuming that they would heed his instruction, Danny bent down and scooped Vivian up. He didn't know exactly where to take her, so he carried her to the only place he knew would be private and out of line of gang scrutiny: his room. He would figure out a better plan later, but for now he placed her on his bed, eyes shadowed in thoughtful concern.

----

The only thing worse than being in a stereotypical hostage situation was being dumped in the back of a musty old trunk, bound with duct tape. And the only thing worse than being dumped in the back of a musty old truck was the fact that the ride was bumpy. "Jesus! Learn how to drive or give me a seatbelt!" René grumbled under her breath, trying to combat the butterfly fear within her stomach with indignation. She didn't like the thought of being anywhere near the rival gang; though Quicksilver was sometimes deadly in its efficiency and its intent, it was Rivercrest that had the true source of infamy. The profile of most of their members was far more abominable than those of her own gang's members. She didn't know what they were going to do with her, but she wasn't too excited to find out. At least she wasn't subject to very sensitive information; she was just another member of the gang who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You know that I can walk, right?" René was starting to get claustrophobic over the tape binding her, the restriction getting to her. That, and she abhorred being thrown about like a sack of potatoes. Where was she going to run, after all? The time for escaping had passed. If she couldn't have her freedom, she at least craved to have her dignity.

OOC: I mean, it's a little weird (I did one 1st person rp in the past, but we were both using it).... whatever is most comfortable for you. I've lived too long to complain over rp POV's.

IC: "Yeah? Well, I could really go for a time machine myself." Daniel had studied a number of things in his lifetime, but medicine wasn't ever one of them. He knew how to put on a bandage like any toddler, but there was something about the way the body worked that confounded him. He could deal with blood until it came to stitching a wound; illness was fine until he had to be crafty about which medicines to use to heal it. The names of important prescriptions were always long, the side affects dire, the dosage complicated. Maybe he was just being difficult, but he never cared to learn, leaving more medical centered knowledge to others.

Luckily, however, he did know someone who knew a thing or two about medicine: René. She wasn't the most notable person when it came to this topic, but she was capable enough, and he trusted her. Problem was, they had split up before, so her current location was unknown to him.

It would be really easy to let Vivian suffer without any move to help her, but Danny wasn't a monster. Repressing a sigh, he pulled open the door to his closet and dug out a bit of rope, promptly tying her wrists firmly to the headboard. She wouldn't likely be able to get away in this condition, but he wasn't going to risk anything, not after the fiasco that just occurred. "I'll be back," he said, his tone surprisingly neutral, before leaving the room.

When he returned, however, he was a lone, and his face was grim. It was clear by his expression that something was worse than wrong. This day had already put new lines upon his face, and the knowledge that René was gone happened to cause the most unerasable of lines. At the very least he held a bag of supplies in his hands, though he was loathe to waste anything upon a girl who had brought so much tragedy upon his gang.

-----

Great. René allowed herself to be tossed down like a bag of yesterday's garbage, acutely aware that she was currently in the present of Rivercrest's head honcho himself. Strangely enough, her hatred for him was currently overshadowed by her hatred for Blake. Still, both emotions were strong and potent, even if she didn't have the courage to speak up. As the heat of the conversation rose, she felt herself withdrawing even further into her silence; it felt as though she were eavesdropping on a conversation she had no clearance for, trapped into listening even as she wanted to turn away.

No wonder this gang was perceived as tough and merciless: their leader was far more savage than a starved wolf.

Daniel set to work with the med pack, practically shoving a few pills into Vivian's mouth and forcing her to swallow them dry. They weren't too big, it wasn't too hard to take a few small pills without water, and he didn't feel inclined to baby her, so he didn't even stop to consider offering her a glass to go with it. He didn't respond right away when she spoke. After a few long moments dragged by, he gruffly responded, his voice unfeeling. "You're just sorry that you got caught," he said, speaking with minimal inflection. "I know that you feel no regret for coming in here and stealing from us, so any sadness you might feel is useless to me." He wasn't in the mood for hearing her lament over this situation after it was her gang and her group which had made it possible for this to come to pass. "I don't care what you think about 'this mess' since it's all of your orchestration." With that, he packed back up the med kit, putting it aside for potential later use.

----

As the male yelled at his gang member, threatening all sorts of things, René felt understanding wash over her. Like father, like son; the latter was an asshole because of the former's influence, creating a detestable circle of existence. What that meant for her she didn't quite want to imagine.

Considering her observations and assumptions up until this point, his actually humane offer caught her completely off guard. Still, that wasn't nearly enough to quench the flames within her. "I actually do have a request," she began, pumping her words full of a sickly, mocking sweetness. "Stop being a goddamn fool and just take me back. You're probably making a hostage situation out of nothing, and all thanks to your friend. He's the one who abandoned your sister, right?" She knew that she wasn't going to be let go so easily, but prodding at him in this manner was completely worth it. He was already angry with Jakob, so it wasn't hard to further fan those flames.

If Blake was going to try and make friends with René, she was going to try everything to stop that train in its tracks. She didn't trust anyone in Evercrest, least of all him.