[hr][hr][table][row][/row][row][cell][indent][color=silver]	[color=#1E46A8]"Yeah, yeah-- and then--"[/color] Maya attempted to chime on to the explanation the pair was giving to Tom, of what they had just seen take place-- in medias res, of course.

Riley cut her off-- [color=986B40]"They were staring each other down with guns, they took their eyes off the girl in the middle-- which was a mistake-- when she had an opening she pulled out a knife and straight [i]GORED[/i] this one big dude's shoulder. Shit was gnarly and cash as FUCK!"[/color]

Tom gripped the ridge of his brow, [sub][color=9873C9]"That doesn't sound very 'cash' to me, Hattie."[/color][/sub]

Riley smiled wide, [color=986B40]"Pops-- you're alone in the desert-- four assholes who probably want the same thing you want all greet you-- not with a fucking--"[/color]

[color=9873C9]"Language."[/color]

[color=986B40]"--hello, but with their fucking... [i]'boom-boom-me-have-big-dick sticks'[/i] instead of laying down and taking that she decided to go out like a G."[/color] Riley shrugged, [color=986B40]"I think it was cash. Plus they didn't even actually kill her... which... now that that I'm thinking about that..."[/color][/color]

[color=#1E46A8]"..."[/color]

[color=#986B40]"..."[/color][/indent][/cell][cell][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/lYcLIGL.png?1[/img][b][color=silver]——————————————————————[/color][/b][right][color=1E46A8]MAYA STARLESS[/color]  [color=986B40]RILEY LACEY[/color]  [color=9873C9]TOM LACEY[/color][color=#2e2c2c][sup][sup]━[/sup][/sup]━━[/color][/right][b][color=silver]——————————————————————[/color][/b][/center][sup][color=lightgray]
[sup][color=#2e2c2c]━━━[/color][/sup]🧭  Parked near nowhere manor, Nevada
[sup][color=#2e2c2c]━━━[/color][/sup]🕑  Evening
[sup][color=#2e2c2c]━━━[/color][/sup]⛅  Red mist storm approaching
[sup][color=#2e2c2c]━━━[/color][/sup]🗣   Maya, Tom, Riley[/color][/sup]
[color=#2e2c2c]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/color][/cell][/row][/table][table][row][/row][row][cell][indent][color=silver][color=9873C9]"Yeah."[/color] Tom squinted toward the house. Riley had been able to make out everything in detail, but Tom could at least confirm there were others besides just the 5 involved in the altercation being attracted to its promise of relative safety.[color=9873C9]"At least this gives us an in. One of them is injured and needs medical attention, and whatever reason they kept the girl alive-- hopefully out of pure altruism-- they probably don't want her concussed, or worse."[/color] He winced at the thought of worse. Tom's heart rate was still a bit high after hearing the gunshot.

[color=#1E46A8]"Wait!"[/color] Maya objected, a half-smile on her face, [color=#1E46A8]"Wait wait wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait."[/color]

[color=9873C9]"Okay.[/color]

Maya looked between Riley and Tom nervously, [color=#1E46A8]"W-well why do we need an 'In?' What the hell does that even mean? It was fun to watch, but we're not dealing with those guys, right? We're looking for another house, right??? I [i]know[/i] we have the gas for it!"[/color]

Tom looked calmly toward Riley, both of them had already begun to gather some of their things, [color=9873C9]"You didn't tell her?[/color]

Riley sucked in air through his teeth, and gave a sigh, [color=986B40]"I didn't want to worry her, or you... I thought I could outrun it, you know?"[/color]

[color=#1E46A8]"If we were in a new car with 200 less pounds, maybe!!"[/color] Maya exploded.

[color=9873C9]"You're a good driver, Hattie."[/color] Tom looked out of the rear windshield, Hattie had done a decent job outpacing it, but they still had less than 5 minutes before it would be upon them, [color=9873C9]"But you have to remember. You're still so young-- and those demons don't have to follow the same rules you do."[/color]

[color=#986B40]"I guess so..."[/color] Riley opened the driver door, ready with his bags to approach. He noticed a man with an axe running past him. Riley smiled and gave a wave-- the man was in no position to return-- before finishing his point. [color=#986B40]"I'm also worried about the car... I've noticed gunk in the engine. I think the break downs might have something to do with that red shit. I think it might be fucking things up."[/color]

[color=9873C9]"Hmm."[/color] The theory gave Tom pause, it was certainly an interesting train of thought-- and he could follow it easily enough. Though, while he wasn't a car expert, he knew enough to know that Riley's expertise was only a few rungs above his own. Besides that, it wasn't really the time. [color=9873C9]"It'll have to wait. Right now, we have to make ourselves useful enough to that estate full of... what you so aptly called 'Boom boom sticks' so that we don't have to--"[/color]

[color=986B40]"I called them--"[/color]

[color=9873C9]"[b]SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE TO SEE WHAT THE MIST DOES FIRST HAND.[/b]"[/color] Tom said flatly and sternly, [color=9873C9]"Bring any food and essential supplies we can spare. No weapons-- they would just confiscate them. I'm going to offer my services to the man with the injury and the girl. You two do your thing. Break!"[/color]

The tan woman gave a sigh, [color=#1E46A8]"B-break..."[/color] He voice was completely downtrodden and laden with sighs. She didn't want to be doing this.

[color=986B40]"Fuck football."[/color] Riley wondered if the knife girl would loan him one.
[hr]	To say the three "descended" the slight incline to approach the mansion from the side would be a bit of an overstatement. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Maya practically sprinted toward the door of the mansion once she saw how close the mist was. Who knew the skinny alcoholic was capable of technically beating Usain Bolt's best time in the 100 meter dash? While slightly buzzed-- in heels, through sand, no less? It was all Riley and Tom could do to keep up with her.

Surprisingly, the door to the mansion was open. Or, rather-- someone had been watching for the possibility of others seeking refuge there. The three stumbled in to quite a scene. A nervous Korean woman, the man with the fire axe that had passed them moments prior, The five from the stand off from before-- the young woman and large man had a third with them, apparently. Only Riley noticed the other two new faces who had also been in the house the whole time. What Tom saw was the knife girl was on the floor, she needed assistance-- with the other two gun toting women near her-- pretty much engaged in a much more complicated version of the Mexican standoff from before. More guns, more people without gun, even MORE nerves. It made Riley upset, it was close to triggering Tom, Maya was scared shitless.

She had entered first. Scrambling in moments after the man with the axe. Tom entered slowly, with his hands raised coolly, Riley was somewhere in between the two, not running, but not moving so slowly as to capitulate-- and his arms were crossed. Maya swerved behind Riley, hiding behind him as he spoke to himself, loud enough for others to hear.

[color=986B40]"Ugh."[/color] Riley rolled his eyes, [color=986B40]"More guns. More people threatening to kill each other while there are literal hell beasts outside. Very sexy, very cool. Glad it was more of this instead of something cool at this place, guys."[/color]

[color=#1E46A8][sub]"R-riley, shut up..."[/sub][/color] Maya's whimper of a whisper was barely legible, let alone audible behind the boy. Usually Tom would reign Riley's destructive idealism in, in moments like this-- but it seemed that gunfire really shook him. His hands were up, and he'd closed the door-- but he hadn't introduced himself as a medic. Hadn't looked at the still bleeding man, who seemed more concerned with maintaining order than tending to himself. Maya had only seen behavior like that before in the bodyguards some of her celebrity friends once had. Tom wasn't taking his eyes off the girl on the couch with the gun. Was she not practicing proper trigger discipline, or whatever he went on about?

Man.

Maya. didn't like all this tension. To her, doctors usually got a free pass in moments like this, right? And she was with the doctor! All she needed to do was get the doctor moving. She could do that.

She would just... [i]'do her thing.'[/i] 

[color=986B40]"I'm just fucking saying, it's--"[/color]

[color=#1E46A8]"That's enough, Riley."[/color] Maya spoke in voice Riley had never heard before-- but as Maya continued, Riley knew what she was trying, and could only sigh, holding up his hands like his father did. [color=#1E46A8]"You'll have to excuse my son,"[/color] Maya addressed the room, but primarily the woman on the couch and the men who she assumed were her guards in some capacity. She gave a wry laugh, [color=#1E46A8]"He's a bit stressed out by all of this, as I think we all are!"[/color] Her voice was that of a cheery suburbanite mother. A role Rico had gone over with her once when she was younger-- [i]bringing life to extras,[/i] he had called it. She continued. [color=#1E46A8]"But please-- my husband saw your altercation and said we had to stop to help anyone who was injured!"[/color] She loudly whispered, [color=#1E46A8]"He says it's a Hippocratic oath, but I think he's just a big ol' soft teddy bear! Why not even the end of the world can harden his heart!"[/color] She sighed, looking over to Tom, who had been nodding when appropriate as he caught on, [color=#1E46A8]"But that's why I love him."[/color]She finished by adding, [color=#1E46A8]"Anyway, sir, he'll say he's only a medic, but I've never met a General Practitioner as able as him! He can get your arm properly checked out if you'd like? He even thinks the girl may have a concussion-- so you could keep an eye on her while he checks you both?"[/color][/color][/indent][/cell][/row][/table][hr][hr]