Oh goodness! It's on time!
Another short-ish post. I wish I could make these longer but every time I try it comes out awkward and not flowy : /
The next one - that'll be a good one. I can feel it in my old bones
Enjoy
The revelation had come as a surprise to everyone.
It was true that they all came from families one way or another. Theoretically, that meant they all had fathers and mothers and maybe a sibling or two. It was just they never talked about them. There was never any reason to. Everything before the gang was a hazy memory for most of them. Of course there were exceptions to this rule – Arturo telling stories about his papi Macho Arturo, Billy mentioning a Mommy once or twice, Snake and his Uncle's switchblade. But that was all talk. Rare, often intensely personal talk that slipped out under the pressure of alcohol or just plain loneliness.
It could also be said they were a kind of family. It might have been pushing it just a little, but in a way it was true. They lived together, watched out for each other, made sure they were eating and dumped them off at the free clinic when they were ill. But the term 'family' never quite came up. Despite needing each other, they were a far cry from brotherhood. They were more like roommates when it came right down to it. That suited them better – should something happen. The Gangreen Gang was a gang, an almost-family, but not a family.
To be exposed to the notion of an actual family again, a living, breathing example of it no less, made it that much more daunting to consider. They were stuck dumb into silence. It could be they were all thinking about their own families, trying hard to relate to their poor leader. It could be they were too nervous being around another authority figure, or that they were trying to gauge how to behave in the presence of their bosses father. Then again, it might have had something to do with how the news was broken.
"You gonna say somethin' or just lookit me." Sal had drawled after an insufferably long period of silence.
"Gimme one good reason I shouldn't kick your ass." Ace snapped, his blunt nails digging into the table.
"You mean other than me bein your dad?" Everyone gasped despite themselves, save Ace. Ace was too busy seething. "How 'bout the fact that I could hand your ass to ya faster than you could blink."
"You son of a bitch!"
A fight had ensued. Ace had started it, slamming his hands on the table and half lurching across it. Sal backed up, as did the rest of the gang, but the only thing exchanged were violent words – at first. The second fixtures started flying Ace ordered everyone out of the shack. The shouts were grating, unmasked, and furious. No matter how far Snake slithered away he could still hear them. He wasn't sure if the rest of the gang could. They, like before, stayed quiet, putting a decent amount of garbage between themselves and the fight.
After a time Arturo spoke up, volunteering to lead them to food and an alternate place to stay for the night. Billy and Grubber had agreed, but despite provocation Snake wouldn't leave the dump. Though he had been kicked out of his home he couldn't muster up the courage to completely leave. He wanted to be around, in case of trouble. Besides, he didn't disserve food or a bed tonight, anyway. Not after all this.
Snake saw them out and made sure they cleared the first few blocks, of course, but no matter how many looks Big Billy threw at him he remained inside the dumps' gates. As soon as the trio was out of sight he retreated back into garbage mounds. He made his way back to the ramshackle shed. While Snake wasn't foolish enough to set foot within ten feet of the fixture, he ambled around it, making wide circles, going away and coming back again, all while inhaling cigarettes to will himself to stop shaking. The shouting had died down to talking with periodic bursts, but it had calmed. He heard both voices and assumed neither was injured.
One of his trips away and back brought him back to silence. This scared the serpent, but he still wouldn't go too near the house. He saw moving – but only one figure. Immediately he assumed the worst – that one of them was on the ground bleeding out and they would have to either drag him to the clinic or he'd have the entirely undesirable new experience of being an accessory to murder. Briefly Snake considered bailing – running to catch up to the remaining Gangreens and keeping as far away from the trouble as possible.
But he couldn't bring himself to leave.
Snake scratched at his hat, approaching the shack carefully. Regardless of the danger that he was putting himself in, Snake could not just up and leave. He owed Ace everything, and Sal was his friend – he and his twisted, misguided sense of loyalty could at least do them some courtesy. He just needed to calm one down and make sure the other wasn't dead. Admittedly, he hoped Ace was the one in the shack and that they could just drag Sal off somewhere and get his beating over with so they could go back to normal.
That hope was dashed when the door flung open suddenly and out stepped Sal, a little ticked off looking but otherwise fine.
The serpent had dived for cover the second the door slammed against the adjacent wall. When he saw Sal stroll out like he owned the place his stomach dropped. It wasn't that Ace couldn't defend himself, nor did he believe Ace would go down that easy. Snake pushed the queasy feeling of doubt out of his mind and slithered out, keeping a safe distance. If Sal could make Ace fly into such a rage perhaps he had reason to be somewhat afraid of the guy – not to mention those shiv's he used back at the jailhouse were still somewhere on his person.
Sal, however, seemed more than happy to see him and turn chummy. He grinned at Snake and turned to face him, showing his free hands. Snake watched him carefully, his gaze flickering between the felon and the shack. There was no sign of movement from inside and Sal looked far too happy to have just come out of a fight with Ace of the Gangreen Gang.
"Was wonderin' where you ran off." Sal drawled, scratching his beard "Where's the rest of ya?"
"Where'sss Ace?" He hissed cautiously
"He's okay. Ran off somewheres to think."
"Ohs… which way did hesss-"
"I wouldn't chase after him, kid. He's pretty pissed."
"What did you doss to him?"
"I dunno. Probably hung up on the whole abandoning thing. I dunno."
They remained like that for a tense moment, until Snake's fingers started to quiver. Without even thinking about it h fished out a cigarette and took a few heavy puffs. He calmed, exhaling smoke, but he was still wary of how close Sal was. Snake exhaled, hissing to get Sal to back off, which he said promptly did. The silence settled over them, though this time much more comfortable. Snake wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Should he be this complacent around someone who so obviously irritated his leader? Shouldn't he be looking for said leader? Sure, he'd be walking straight into a beating – but he still had to look for him. Soon. In a minute.
"You oka-"
"I sshouldn't be talkingsss to you." Snake blurted, taking a reflexive step back "Thisss is sssso messssed up."
The reptilian Gangreen groaned. Everything that had been weighing down on him since the first imprisonment seemed to suddenly chose that moment to crush him. He felt guilty – like it was his fault. Deep down he knew it wasn't but the fact remained Ace was upset, and if Ace was upset he was supposed to make it so that he wasn't upset and that was exceedingly hard to do when Ace wasn't there to make not upset. He blamed himself, and he should take his beating so Ace would be less angry. If all it would take was a couple a bruises or a broken bone, he'd gladly submit himself.
Sal, however, looked less than convinced of Snake's stance. He frowned at the smoking serpent, shaking his head and crossing his arms. Snake didn't notice him at first, stuck inside his own worries. Luckily for him, Sal had some wealth of patients about him. Once Snake opened his eyes and looked toward the recently escaped prisoner he began to speak.
"It ain't your fault."
"Yessss it isss…"
"Why – 'cause ya talked to me?"
"Ah-"
"Bullshit. I would've found him sooner or later. He's just bein a bitch about it."
Sal kicked at the ground and ambled over to Snake, who, though he was normally rather quick, couldn't force himself to move away quick enough. It was like he was rooted in that one place, powerless to stop Sal from throwing his skinny arm casually around his neck. Snake gave a token twitch, but he was too tired to move. The ache forming in his head was far surpassing his desire to put up a fight. Not that he wouldn't start fighting should the older male make a false move. Ace's estranged father or not (with or without that shiv) he could take the old man.
Snake raised his head though his shoulders sagged. Sal eyed him sympathetically. The poor kid looked like was about crack, if not completely shatter. To add insult to injury, he was cold and shaking - though Sal wasn't sure if they were mutually exclusive. The lanky teen was under far too much pressure to simply be shaking from the cold. The fire stick in his mouth probably wasn't doing nearly as much as good as he thought it was. Sal seemed pitied him – but then again Snake wasn't especially receptive to it. It was just as well; Sal was pretty sure he had forgotten how to do that quite some time ago.
"It ain't your fault." Sal repeated, patting his bony shoulder "It's mine, I guess. He'll get over it."
"Howss can you be sssure?"
"I don't. I'm just optimistic, I guess."
"Youssss ssstrange." Snake muttered, eyeing him "For a convictsss, I means."
"You think?" Sal shrugged, pushing him towards the door "Eh. Come on. Wait inside."
"I don't thinksss-"
"I'll wait outside. You're fuckin' frozen. Jesus kid – how do you deal?"
"I doss what I cansss."
"S'all you can do sometimes. Now get inside 'for I gotta drag you."
What a nice heart to heart.
Guess what's not gonna happen again in the near future :D
I'm so awful to these guys, seriously.
Thanks for reading!
