[color=gray][right][b][i]TIMESTAMP: MONDAY AFTERNOON, AFTER “AN UNEXPECTED VISIT”[/i][/b][/right]
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[sub]A [@Venus], [@LovelyComplex], [@metanoia] and [@Aces Away] Collaboration
Featuring [color=7B68EE]Natalia Belmonte[/color], [color=fe6f5e]Poppy James[/color], [color=e62020]Jade Taylor[/color] & [color=crimson]Mordechai Boaz[/color][/sub][/center][hr]
[indent][indent]After Natalia had pulled herself together into a presentable appearance after fourteen days of solitude, some quick detours at Jade’s home in the Southside for them to pack their overnight belongings and a quick corner store visit for some snacks and “goodies'', the mismatched foursome set off on the drive to their destination. As she drove down the scenic routes that led from the town of Edenridge to the Blue Hill Reservation taking nervous pull after nervous pull from her vape, the Belmonte girl’s mind was racing as fast as the trees she was speeding past. There was silence between the passengers of the Navigator for the majority of the ride, and the few times Billie Eilish’s haunting vocals were occasionally interrupted was by the GPS on Tal’s iPhone directing them on their way.

The quietness of the drive gave Natalia plenty of time to reflect on her ties to Charlie Decker. It was crazy to think that one night had completely altered the course of the Northie’s life. What would have happened if she’d waited a few more minutes to storm off? If she would have gone the opposite direction? If she would have blown Charlie off when he’d inquired about what was bothering her? If they hadn’t smoked some more, talked some more, bonded some more? If they hadn’t closed the distance between them to lock their lips in a kiss? If they hadn’t boarded her car, driven down to the home he shared with his mother, entered the sanctity of his bedroom and of seeked comfort from their heartache in each other’s arms?

If she had known then what she knew now, would she have done things differently?

After two songs by Billie Eilish, Penelope found herself mentally checking out. She had nothing  against the artist, she simply couldn’t listen to the same type of music for however long this ride was. Plus! The Midnight had a new album that needed to be listened to. Opening her bag, she pulled out her headphones and put them on. She was sitting on the right side, behind Mordechai who took the passenger seat. When she got her phone situated, she went to her Spotify and started with the song, [i]'Heart Worth Breaking'[/i]. Staring out the window, taking in the strong scent of cotton candy, Penelope watched the trees pass her by.

They were going to meet Charlie’s sister. Mitena. Poppy didn’t know how she should feel about this but she knew she needed to stop waiting for opportunities to come to her. She needed to feel the moment and take chances. This would be her biggest step to redeeming herself for not being able to save Charlie from his demons. This would be her moment. Her moment to feel the deepness of reality and learn to love herself. Her moment to let go. Her moment to live.  

When they went by Jade’s place, she didn’t care what it was that she brought. It was just going to be a couple of days, right? Not even that, so a change of clothes that were fitting for a Native American Reservation was all she needed. That made it difficult, of course, because most of Jade’s closet was filled with…inappropriate reservation attire, but she made it work. She had some shorts, cut up as they were, that she could put into a bag and some shirts for her and a few oversized ones for Poppy. She had to pack a dress, too. Reservations meant there was a casino. So why not? Maybe they could have some downtime during this whole quest of theirs. Jade opted to leave her pocket knife at home, though. She didn’t want to leave a bad impression for obvious reasons, but also because this was Charlie’s sister that she didn’t know about until this morning.

But when they got moving and when they drew further away from Edenridge and the somewhat pleasant sounds of Billie Eilish’s vocals filled this surprisingly uncomfortable car (she missed the seat of her harley), Jade couldn’t help herself but actually let these songs get to her. She was feeling low as it was. Feeling like somehow she didn’t belong on this quest. What right did she really have to be here? She ghosted her friends for nearly a month. When she wasn’t at work or her apartment, she was at the angels clubhouse with the one rule that anyone looking for her was to be told she wasn’t here. She’d receive texts and calls from Chase, from uncle Demo, from Tov and Ransom and even Dolce. Even Leone got involved and still Jade ignored them all. She didn’t want to face them after what came out when they were all at the Carlisle house.

[i][color=e62020]It all comes back to that night…[/color][/i]

Yeah, it did and Jade hated it. So what right did she have to be here? She didn’t feel like she had any. But she was here and all she could think about was how shitty of a friend she’s been to Key and Poppy.

Lamenting in her own sadness, Jade didn’t mirror Poppy, who from a side glance at the brunette beside her, she realized already had her headphones on. For whatever reason, Billie Eilish was a lot better than Jade gave her credit for. She actually was [i]feeling[/i] the songs that played.

Mordechai was [i]not[/i] feeling the songs being played, nor was he able to disappear into his own music since he hasn’t had any headphones for years now. It was just something he never thought about after he lost his last pair. He glanced in the rearview at his companions and got a glimpse of Poppy staring out the window behind him, and Jade who seemed more zoned into the music than he would have expected. A glance to his side showed Natalia intent on the road, her vape, and singing along, and Mordechai realized he was alone on his own little island of a passenger seat.

Blue Hill. Now that his brain was truly catching up with all the events of the day, and his emotions had leveled out from being in the mess of Natalia’s room, their actual quest settled in the back of his mind while he focused on the other factors that would soon come into play. He’d be seeing Jokes and Creed’s Auntie Adora for the first time in just over two years, the last time being the summer before the shooting. And while he was sure everything was explained to her by his Serpent brothers, Mordechai was a little scared to be seeing her with Jade and Poppy in tow. Adora wouldn’t judge Mordechai for leaving, he knew that much, but he was still worried about what she might say. Adora was another person he had allowed himself to be vulnerable with, one of the few adults -despite her having less than a decade over him- that truly treated both Mordechai [i]and[/i] Danny well, whereas many of the adults in Edenridge just saw Mordechai’s patch and assumed he was a shitty older brother leading his younger astray along the same doomed path he took.

He could remember the whispers of the Northside any time he interacted with those they deemed better than him; with Rye it was, [i]’That Boaz boy has his claws in him now. The kid almost had a chance to be safe, too.’[/i]; with Lanie it was, [i]’He’s going to ruin that girl, hurt her beyond repair. He’s dragging them all down with him.’[/i]; with Danny it was, [i]’He’s going to make that boy just like himself, another dreg of society. He’ll get that kid killed young.’[/i] Shaking his head lightly to dispel the thoughts, Mordechai slumped lower in the passenger seat and tried not to think about how everything those adults had said had been more prophecy than slander. He tried not to think about how his parents had said all the same things long before he ever even interacted with the Northside.

The musings of the Navigator’s passengers were interrupted by their driver shortly after transitioning from neatly paved streets to dirt roads that were rough underneath the tires of her SUV. [color=7B68EE]“We’re here,”[/color] Natalia announced to the group as they crossed the large sign welcoming them to Blue Hill Reservation. She paused to lock eyes with the passenger beside her and the ones behind her via the rearview mirror. [color=7B68EE]“If we’re going straight to the hotel I know where it is. I can get us there without the GPS.”[/color]

With her headphones down now, around her neck, Penelope surveyed the small pockets of beauty in the reservation and the areas that desperately needed funding. [color=fe6f5e]“You’ve been here before?”[/color] Poppy asked, her eyes falling on a food truck, Resi on the Rez. From there her gaze went to a longhouse called Aponi’s Heart, followed by children running around, getting up to mischief. There were four of them, two boys and two girls, and it kind of reminded her of her and her friends, and Charlie. When they were young and dumb. All they had was each other. That was the Southside way. 

Natalia nodded, even if Poppy couldn't see it from the backseat. [color=7B68EE]"I'm sure you already know this, but Jokes' mom Thunder was from here-- she moved to the Southside when she and Slick got married. His mom's sister, Adora, still lives here and works at Blue Sun's, so we came over to visit her a few times when I was still dating him and Creed. I haven't been here in years, though. But it looks like it hasn't changed much…"[/color] she noted, judging from the sights she could visualize while still keeping her eyes on the road.

[color=e62020]“So you’ve been here before?”[/color] Jade asked as she cracked her neck. She had been leaning against the edge of the seat close to the door. She took a couple power naps that didn’t last any longer than fifteen minutes at a time. She couldn’t sleep worth shit and most of her upper back and neck were, honestly, aching pretty fucking bad. Good thing she packed the rest of the oxy pills that she had leftover from her last deal with Sonny. She’d have to thank him for saving her hide even when she didn’t think she’d need them. 

Jade cracked her neck again, hearing the oh-so-satisfying sounds of her bones pushing against each other and releasing all the pressure. So refreshing. Instead of asking what she wanted to ask and that was whether Natalia actually knew Charlie’s sister, she kept her mouth shut about that and just followed Poppy’s eyes. [color=e62020]“Not a bad place. Looks peaceful. Kinda like the perfect place for someone to not get dragged into the shit happening back in town.”[/color] Yeah, if only.

Mordechai almost laughed at Jade’s comment, if not for the fact that he was still in a rather somber mood himself, and sat back up from his slouched position to follow the blonde’s lead and crack his neck and back. [color=dc143c]“It definitely hasn’t changed,”[/color] Mordechai acknowledged as he followed Nat’s line of sight. He thought about the fact that the beanie he had tucked away in his bag used to belong to Thunder the same way Sonny's beanie had been Slick's. He hugged his bag to his chest and remembered how confusedly warm he'd felt that night when the two snakes had shown them affection, and how cold he felt sitting at an unconscious Molotov's bedside knowing that they were gone along with Creed's dad. Everyone that treated him well suffered eventually. Trying to distract himself from that, he allowed Puff's commentary to get him thinking of all the times they’d both been here and he couldn’t help but ask, [color=dc143c]“D’ya think we’ve met his sister already, at some point when we were here before?”[/color]

Once again, Penelope was in the dark. She kept quiet, focusing on taking her headphones off, unplugging it from her phone, and putting it back in her bag. She was never given many opportunities to know the crew and when she did, they acted like she was invisible. She didn’t know what Charlie or Decky or both said or did to get most of the kids on the Southside to barely acknowledge her existence but it hurt. And the fact that her father was once one of them, meant nothing to them because suddenly him wearing blue meant he wasn’t a snake anymore, hurt even more. 

She wasn’t a rock like her father and quite frankly, she was okay with that. She didn’t understand how he was standing after people called him an abuser when Max ‘committed suicide’, or the fact he constantly pulled double shifts just to show kids like him there was more to life than gang violence and drugs. The Four Brothers had their stories and they were legends for a reason, but she imagined those stories did not feel good at the time, while her dad and his friends were experiencing them. 

Still, there was no use in brooding over how unwanted she was. To stand alone took more strength anyways. As much as she wanted a family with those that grew up on the same streets she did, she knew nothing could be forced and she wasn’t one to beg. Plus! She had Marco now. Maybe her family were lost souls from all corners of Edenridge, not just the Southside. And if that was the case, lucky her. 

Natalia shrugged her shoulders. That was a possibility she hadn’t stopped to consider even if it was unlikely. [color=7B68EE]"Maybe. I was always focused on Creed, Jokes and Adora though, so I don’t really remember meeting other people besides her coworker Yana."[/color]

Mordechai continued to watch Poppy in the rearview as Natalia replied to him, keeping his face as neutral as possible as he saw her check out, this time with her headphones off. She'd known about that at least, hadn't she? He'd told all three of them back then where he occasionally spent his holidays, even if he didn't include his Serpent trips in that information. He never really considered what he was doing as keeping secrets, but he also never really expected to live long enough for any of his shit to come back and bite him in the ass either. Even when he was younger he assumed he'd eventually just be a memory in everyone's heads, but now instead those memories were Charlie, Danny, Max, all the lost souls that have been restlessly haunting the survivors' minds.

[color=DC143C]"It's gonna be weird either way, I guess,"[/color] he finally acknowledged. [color=DC143C]"And if they were sendin' each other letters, then his sis definitely won't wanna talk ta me."[/color]

That tidbit of information caught Natalia's attention in a way that almost had her slamming the breaks and losing her grip on the SUV's steering wheel. [color=7B68EE]"What did you say?"[/color] Tal sharply asked Decky, a slight increase in the pitch of her voice. She couldn't have heard that right. There was no way that her luck was so shitty for there to be letters out there in the hands of a stranger detailing her ties with Charlie Decker. 

Gripping the door handle at the sudden small swerve of the car, Mordechai glanced to their driver and caught a glimpse of the distressed look that she wore as she kept her eyes on the road. What the hell was that about? [color=DC143C]"That's why we're goin' ain't it?"[/color] Mordechai asked, eyes shifting to Poppy in the mirror once more. [color=DC143C]"He was pen-pallin' with her and these new letters back home threatened her?"[/color] He could have sworn he had at least that much information straight.

[color=fe6f5e]“Not the letters sent to the whole town. I know for a fact that wasn’t written by Charlie.”[/color] Penelope’s eyes rested on the back of Natalia’s head, curiosity setting in on why she reacted the way she did at the mention of Charlie writing to his sister. [color=fe6f5e]“Too girly and lovey dovey. I think for that one, someone is trying to get on the bandwagon because of how the Allison incident played out.”[/color] 

The car ride gave Penelope plenty of time to listen to the Endless Summer album and ponder like she was some true crime mastermind. Nah, that was Kylee Grimm. Everyone knew Kylee and Roddy Callahan liked to ‘Scooby Doo’ throughout town, causing their own mischief on the other side of the railroad tracks. Still, Pops could at least act like she knew what she was talking about, [color=fe6f5e]“The culprit who has Charlie’s journal is likely toying with us. That or they are threatening someone completely innocent. Which makes me wonder if Rhonda was the only one that got a personal letter?”[/color] She theorized out loud trying to make sense of it all. 

[color=fe6f5e]“Long story short, it shook her and now here we are,”[/color] Penelope glanced back out the window, at the reservation, the place of Charlie’s history, and sarcastically muttered, [color=fe6f5e]“One big happy family trying to be heroes when we can’t even save ourselves.”[/color]  

He tried to hide his wince at that final shot from Poppy, knowing it was all too true. Him, who disappeared completely for two years without even a postcard to the people he was closest to; Jade, who spent the past month completely tuned out from the lives of her family and friends; Poppy, who until this past month couldn't go anywhere or do anything without several security blankets; finally was Puff, who was obviously on her own downward spiral into the rock bottom that Mordechai had just finished climbing out of. What a group to be trying to protect someone else, so damaged and cracked and one more shake in the foundation away from their minds breaking down. What great people to meet Charlie's sister. His true love, his best friend, his Judas, and a girl that none of the other three even knew the role of. 

The weapons on his person felt heavier by the second as he thought of how pathetic he was in the role of protector. All he ever really did was run away. From his parents, from the Southside, from Edenridge, his life with Allegra and the kids. He was never the shield he'd thought he was.

[color=DC143C]"Well, we're all she's got,"[/color] he said shortly, mood continuing to sour. He crossed his arms tightly and clenched his jaw tightly before finishing with, [color=DC143C]"We better hope it's enough."[/color]

Natalia became silent during the exchange between the two friends, the panic she'd been feeling before bubbling back up to the surface. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she resumed the near-frantic use of her vape while trying to regulate her breathing to avoid suspicion from her passengers. Charlie writing letters to his sister meant that, if they were close enough to discuss his personal life, there could be written proof about their liaison. So now not only did she have to worry about her name being dropped in any page of the stupid journals being photo-copied and sent around Edenridge, but she also had to worry about letters that may or may not contain similar or more detailed information.

Had she finally discovered the real purpose behind coming here? For the Southies to get their hands on these letters and the contents disclosed in them? The thought of what could happen to her if they all found out her secret when she was away from home and anyone who could protect her worried her-- her kickboxing wouldn't get her very far in a fight with multiples carrying knives or guns. But maybe that's what they had wanted all along: an ambush in the name of payback and truth.

She needed to find out what these letters said, [i]fast[/i], and get rid of them if possible. That would be her personal goal for this trip.[/indent][/indent][/color]