Log:It's not a Concussion

From Horror MUX
Jump to: navigation, search
It's not a Concussion
Characters  •   Landon Marchant  •  Theodore Marchant  •  Morrison Lester  •  Lucas Marchant  •
Location  •  Upstairs Living Room
Date  •  2019-10-03
Summary  •  Lucas, Landon, Morrison, and Theodore talk after the encounter with Fran in the maze. Morrison realizes that convincing Theo of what happened is not going to be successful.

It was a quiet ride back from the English Village to the Marchant house. There was a decided tension in the car, but Morrison wasn't saying much after the whole encounter. He'd just directed the twins, Amy, and whoever else had come back with them to the car and driven them back to the house in silence. On entering through the front door, he goes looking for Theodore, likely where the booze is located, since that seems to have become the designated meeting point, bringing the others with him.

Justin had peeled off from the group once Morrison picked up the twins. He was shaken from having seen his brother, and said he needed some time alone to think, but he also wasn't going to leave Lucas' side until there was someone who could look after him, namely in the form of a meathead boxer.

Theo is indeed holed up in the parlor. He's still dressed up from attending the graduation ceremony, though he's shed his suit jacket, leaving him in black pants and vest with a emerald green button up shirt. He indeed has gotten into the booze, the waterford crystal decanter of expensive bourbon not far out of reach and a glass filled with more the a couple fingers in one hand, a law journal spread out in his other hand. He's just trying to enjoy his evening of no teenagers in the house.

Lucas is really not cool with this peeling off thing, but also can't stop him. He pauses and in a bout of trust hands Justin his pager so he can folow up if need be. Here's also to hoping this is not the time when strange numbers find their way into there. He'll be at the house so if he needs to call back, well, there's that.

There's nothing more to be said and all the way home he's glued to his brother who, in all reality, may never sleep again after this and he really can't blame him.

As he promised, Landon was taking Esme home with him, well, to the Marchant's after the incident at the English Village. Thus, she's seated beside him and Lucas during the mostly quiet drive. She's tense, nervous. He could understand why. Lana was still missing, somewhere for one. And Esme's cousin, Ashley was kidnapped. Most of the kids were making their way here for refuge, some coming with the Marchant triplets if necessary. So eventually, the place might get crowded.

Once they are inside of the mansion proper, he sends Esme off to use the phone in their room and see if she can get ahold of Lana somewhere. There's a lot of things going on in his head, but he's sure that it's the same for all of them. His eyes fall on Lucas first, trying to sort out how his twin is feeling now that Justin is gone. Then he looks to Morrison. Maybe they should've told their older brother that these bikers were vampires, but would he believe them?

Amy has been quiet. She's still a bundle of tension and adrenaline. Fear and anger. Just sitting in the car is one of the hardest things she's had to endure. Ashley, kidnapped. Spear, kidnapped. She never really did expect Fran would let people go just because some highschooler challenged her, but still. The fact that she lost them -- lost Ashley -- is something she's struggling to process. It's with a numb sort of feeling that she follows the others inside, just looking around and starring at nothing in particular.

People know the look of Amy -- of a Lester -- just needing to lash out at something. But there's nothing to lash out at that'll do any good.

George had gone off alone to get fucked up after everything... But as much as she talks tough, even George knows there are times that you need to be with family. So she shows up not very long after the others, getting directed in (or showing herself in if need be). She's got a cheap bottle of rotgut wine that she's swigging, so not picky right now. "So. Man. That was fucked up," she announces herself as she arrives. "I mean... fuck, right?" She's got a way with words, this one.

Morrison is looking a bit scuffed up from crashing into a mausoleum. He's going to be seriously bruised later. There's probably bruising going on right now, but his clothes conceal it. He makes his way into the house and into the parlor where Theo is sitting with his law journal. He walks right over, and he pours himself some of that expensive bourbon and takes a swallow of it, pausing to take a breath. Only then, does he say, "So.. you're going to think that /I/ am insane.. but this whole situation is .. even worse.. than we thought."

There's a half-moment where Theo has his mouth open, his expression saying he's going to issue one of his snider comments, and then he looks at Morrison. Slowly he shuts his journal, sets it aside, and drains the liquid in his glass only to refill it a moment later. "Okay. Hit me." He stays seated in his chair though, one leg crossed over the other, both hands on the glass of bourbon in his hand, looking for all the world like someone who expects the news to be that it might rain on Tuesday.

Lucas is uneasy. Whatever independent confidence he has is really stretched to the test at present. Moreso he's angry that seething imperious anger at making himself and everyone around him afraid, for touching his things (they're called people, but this is Lucas), and really not listening when tehy told batbitch to fuck off. There's something else there but hell if Lucas is going to admit it out loud. He's silent until Theo says to hit him withthe news. Two words, "Fran showed..." he lets Landon drop the in-betweens, "...at the grad party..." Honestly he'd never know what to do if Landon wasn't right there to finish his sentances. There's a lot of not admitting it could have come damn close 23 minutes ago.

Unlike Lucas, Landon looks to be mostly calm, if still tense. Those monsters were strong and it's not just Fran, there were a bunch of them. Trailing along the others to meet Theodore, interrupting his work, he looks distracted more than anything as he plays back some of what the Vampire Queen had said, in his mind. Then Lucas speaks up and without even thinking, he makes an automatic response when his brother mentions Fran, "...with some of her goons..." Without even looking at Theo, he finishes Lucas' statement with, "...And they kidnapped three kids with them." A pause, "None of the Triplets." He'll make sure to add to set Theodore's mind at ease on that, at least.

"The police have to do something now right?" Amy pipes up after a moment, a wavering in her voice. Uncertaintity. It's an unfamiliar sound coming from the Lester girl. Usually she's so sure of herself. "They've actually taken -- kidnapped -- people." She turns about and stares at George for a second, blinking at her vacantly before reaching out for that bottle of wine she has. "What are you drinkin. Can I?"

George gives Amy a long look and then hands over the wine without further comment. "It's shit," she warns, "But it does the job." The edges are a least a little blurrier now. "I mean, I... guess? But what can the cops even do? And who's gonna tell them that vampires have kidnapped people?" She's never seen eye-to-eye with the police in this town, but even she suspects that's not going to go over well. "So. I mean. What's the game plan then?" She looks mostly to Morrison, although Amy's got her ear now too.

Morrison glances over at Lucas and Landon as they begin to explain what happened before he has a chance to open his mouth. He does, however, nod in confirmation to that. "She's a monster, Theo." He never calls him Theo in front of others. "A literal not figurative monster. The goons with her? They were hovering in the air, some fifteen feet up. She moved so fast I couldn't blink before she was in front of Silver. And when I went to hit her, she /caught/ my hand without even looking at me, and threw me into a wall... twenty feet away." He's dead serious. Theo has seen him joking, has seen him fuck around deadpan. This is not that. He looks.. a bit lost, which is a really unusual look for Morrison. His movements are stiff, as well, as he goes to sink into a chair with a visible wince. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, his whole left side of his body hurts. He looks over at George and then back to Theo, "They're not kidding either. I'm pretty sure they actually /are/ vampires. Hence the whole weird ass permission to enter thing we didn't understand, and they weren't given drugs. They were given blood."

ROLL: Theodore rolls spirit for: [2]: x1 [4]: x1 [5]: x1 [6]: x1 -- Match Value: 0 (Raw: 2 6 5 4 -- d6)

Theo stares blankly as the news is related, only a slight exhale showing he had been holding his breath at all until Landon mentioned the triplets were fine. He sighs and leans back in the chair, peering down into his glass. "I might need to pick up an absinthe habit if this is the news I keep getting." He looks towards Amy, head canted to the side. "They should, if you keep your story as simple and straightforward as possible. There's other missing people, still, and more going missing creates a bad atmosphere." Good thing Theo is very good at maintaining his expression. He barely twitches an eye as he watches Morrison relaying the story. The only hint that Theo might not quite believe what he's being fed is a softly asked. "Has anyone checked you for a concussion?"

Lucas watches Theo, blinks, and excuses himself from the room for a long moment. He comes back and just hands the bottle of Captain Morgan to his brother and stays silent. There's something really weird when a rational adult says that. He answers, very seriously, "He doesn't have..." Really the twins are like listening to the Eurythemics in the car. the balance is throwing when they're not standing next to one another.

"...a concussion." Landon tacks onto the end of Lucas' statement. There's this desire to state point blank 'It's real. Monsters are real!!', but he refrains from getting aggravated about the whole thing, because even he knows that he'll sound like a raving mad lunatic. "They lured us into the hedge maze and picked some of us off, so yes, the police should be alerted. Hell, this is something their families will be worried about by now." With all that said, he looks over at Amy and George for a moment, then Morrison, "Morrison's right, they're dangerous. Like we said before. Fast. Strong." He then frowns a touch, "And they want a Marchant, Lester, Thistle and Freeland who drank the blood twice already to be turned over to them on the next full moon." He said blood!

Amy takes the bottle of wine from George and shrugs. "As far as I can tell, all alcohol is shit." Amy is not a drinker at the best of times, and certainly not a wine drinker. But she'll take a mouthful of the stuff now. "I mean, fuck everything else aside, he might have a concussion. He did get thrown a wall or whatever. So did I, the first time too." She shakes her head a little, shrugging. "It doesn't really matter. What matters is the Painkillers have taken Ashley Freeland, Spear Thistle and Arthur Bloomquist. Like, missing children are going to see a reaction surely. Fucking hell." Another mouthful of that awful wine, and a 'bleeah' sound afterwards escapes her.

"Fine. Let him tell the cops," George gestures towards Theo. "Maybe they'll believe him." She's not going near them if she can help it. "I'm just saying, we probably shouldn't rely on them." Leaving her wine with Amy for now, she flops sideways into a chair and picks at a hole in her fishnets. Fucking hedge maze. "I mean, we're obviously not trading anyone, so... anyone have any better ideas?" She really couldn't care less whether Theo believes them. Adults seldom listen to her anyway, and she's never let that stop her before.

Morrison settles forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his head in his hands, eyes closed. He knew that what he witnessed, he wouldn't have believed, himself, without seeing it with his own eyes. He's not surprised that Theo thinks he needs his skull checked, but he couldn't /not/ tell him, either. "They want Lennon," he says. His younger sister, who thus far, he's managed to keep from getting into further trouble somewhere in the background. "Or they're going to start killing the ones that they don't want. And we know they will kill people."

"And despite Brenda being missing for months and me having directly pointed them at the Painkillers, the cops haven't done much in the way of act." Theo just lets that comment hover in the air. "But kids are a different story." Did someone say the word blood? Nope, Theo definitely did not hear that word, but he did catch the part about the trade, which causes him to scowl. It doesn't take believing in vampires to accept kidnapping and murder, especially not for someone used to dealing with scum. "And I'm assuming the Marchant they want is Lucas, Landon, or Thea?"

Lucas follows up on Morrison's emphasis about their sister, "And they want- yes." Taking a deep breath and walks over to his cousin, back straight and fingers laced, but not folded. Time to try to speak to Theodore the same way Theo told the twins to talk to his father. He takes a long look and...nope. "Theodore it sounds stupid and you've been more than generous. What are our options here?"

While Theodore might not believe in vampires or monsters, he's on the ball when it comes to who Fran wants from each family. At least for the Marchants. Landon will relay any other bit of information, though it probably doesn't matter much to Theo. "And Esme," The girl who is currently upstairs, trying to reach her twin on the phone, "From the Freelands, even though she's a Reed." With Freeland blood. "Silver or James from the Thistles. They already got Arthur Bloomquist." His gaze slowly turns back to the others now, "If we're able to convince the police to help us, finally, will they all be enough to take down Fran and her people?"

More wine, and Amy flops down, looking absolutely miserable. "Without getting a hostage killed? I have no fucking idea," she says in an equally miserable tone. "Shoulda just burned the fucking motel to the ground weeks back like we suggested. Maybe still should. Just gotta figure out how to get people out of there now. Or wherever these kids are being kept." She looks down at her feet, another 'bleeeah' escaping her, along with that weird shudder, as she drinks more.

"They're not getting Lennon," George says to Morrison, simply. That's not happening. The others matter a little less to her, except of course, her not-brothers. Family is family even when it's not. "The cops might help if we tell them Fran's stolen their doughnuts, but I'm not really gonna count on them doing us much good." She looks to Amy and nods. "I'm good with some arson, if we get the hostages out. Maybe we could, I dunno, demand proof of life, have them meet us somewhere with the hostages, and then we... No, that wouldn't work. We need to burn it during the day. Assuming daylight kills them, like it's supposed to. Other than Amy, what do we know can hurt them for sure?" she wonders.

Morrison is really not one to have a whole lot of faith in the cops, nor does he depend on them for anything. He's got authority issues, after all. He also tends to let them handle big fish. He's a boxer, a brawler, and he'll fight a few drunks in a bar fight on his own, no problem. But going after a whole gang is more than even he can handle. And right now, he's still smarting from getting thrown by Fran, who is probably half his size. "We need to do something about them before the full moon. Because whatever withdrawals they go through on the full moon means we'll be fighting keeping the kids controlled as well as dealing with the gang. And that's a shit situation to be in. Burning the motel down isn't a bad idea. We need to be sure they're there. We also need to be sure the kidnapped kids aren't."

"If you can convince Captain Thistle that one of her own is in danger, maybe." Theo shakes his head. He doesn't seem to have too much confidence in the police himself, not with the way they've been handling other situations. "But three kidnapped kids? Maybe they'll act. It'd put a pall over the summer tourist season." He says that with a bit of a bitter tone in his voice. "But you'd think a group of crazed biker cultists would do that, too. So who knows?" He rests his elbow on the chair's armrest clearly lost in thought, at least until fire gets thrown around. "Well arson would certainly get some eyebrows raised."

Lucas falls silent and offers George and Amy a small nod. There's a pause and he looks up to both Amy and George saying, "Some of them are brothers and sisters to some of the people in our class. Star said... they didn't want to be there but I think they're in a position where they can't... I dunno." His fingers rub his face and he wades over ot the phone pausing at it but pulling the receiver into hand and poking at the keypad. "Per her they don't want to be there. At least some. Justin tried to talk to his brother last night but... I dunno how well that went." Two guesses where that page is going. Considering the reciver isn't lifted to talk and is hung up after. His hands drop back into his pockets and slowly he returns to some mode of composed.

"We were so close to packing up and head out to college too. And leaving this all behind us." Landon comes out to complain, his dark brow furrowed. This talk of arson gets his attention, but he will bring up, "Whatever they do? Whoever confronts them, they'll need to do it during the day. It's scorching all afternoon." Yes, he's talking about vampires again. "We could burn them out into the daylight, but we'll still need to get our friends out."

Then something that Lucas says, brings this thoughtful look onto his features. "If that's the case, we'll need to find the time to lure some of the others away. And get to Bubba."

Amy looks up after a moment. "We were gonna try and talk to Bubba you know." She says quietly, frowning. "Silver's idea really. But getting it all together when finals and prom and everything was happening and they left us alone last full moon. I guess it just slipped to the side." She stares at the bottle of wine, makes a face and sets it aside in a George like direction. She leans foward, lifting her hands to her face and rubbing at her eyes. "I dunno what to do. I gave it everything I had and even that wasn't enough to really stop Fran. And she won't be as off guard with me next time."

George is uncharacteristically quiet, actually listening to the others without any wise quips, a look of concentration not often seen on her face. "Okay. So we talk to Bubba and... maybe try to get some of the lackies on their own? Try to talk to them? Or... we could set up a trap for them somehow." She grabs the wine, but just rolls the bottle between her hands for the moment. "And we should probably check in with Chen again, although I'm still not sure I entirely trust him. Time for him to shit or get off the pot, if you ask me. If he knows shit he's not telling, it's time to speak the fuck up already. No more playing around."

"Who is Bubba?" Morrison asks, because this name keeps getting bandied about but he still doesn't know who that particular individual is. "And if there are those who don't want to be there, can you try and find out from them where the kids are being held? Hell, tell them it's in their best interest to give them up and not become murderers on top of the other shit they've gotten themselves into." Of course, he's talking about burning people alive, himself, at this point, so...

"As a lawyer, I'd advise you to keep the burning shit to the ground talk to a minimum. I'm not a criminal lawyer, but the less that know.." Theo drains his glass and sets it on the sidetable. He rubs at the back of his neck as he thinks. "If the group isn't entirely behind Fran, well, the best thing to do is attempt to flip one or more of them. It's a pretty standard way to pull a gang apart. You get one to turn on the rest and divulge the secrets of the others."

Lucas chews on the inside of his cheek shifting his eyes to each family member as they toss in ideas. They lock on Theodore when he brings that up and winces. "Shit." Yes he swore in the house so sue him. "Not going to get into law school if we do that. Right. Sooo..." Looking to them he asks, "We can ...ask Justin or Sean if they're willing to try to talk to their family there. Dunno how safe that'll be if Fran finds out though."

When asked who Bubba is, Landon considers on how to put this, before just stating things as factually as he can remember, no matter how out there it sounds, "Bubba is the elder vam-- The cult's actual boss' right hand. There's no one older, I think, than Bubba but the elder." That said, he is quick to point out, "We're told that Fran is trying to usurp Bubba's position and that's why she needs us, one person a piece from each of the five families. So if someone let Bubba know that Fran's after his position, he might put a stop to it."

That said, just the mention of Chen brings a sour taste to Landon's mouth. "Where was Mr. Chen, yesterday? He said he'd help, but he was a no show and then instead of just Arthur being kidnapped, two others got taken too."

"Yeah. There's some power struggle or something between the two of them. We were thinking of trying to talk to the one who's just wanted to leave us all the hell alone for however long he's been here. Enemy of my enemy maybe. I dunno." Amy leans back with those words, still with her hands covering her face. That wine is likely going straight to her head. "We need to talk to Mr. Chen, yeah. I don't even know what the fuck is going on there anymore." She offers quietly.

"I think if Fran knows what we're up to, she's gonna get real kill-y," George warns. "So if we're going to talk to her crew, we need to get her away, or them away from her, or... something. Fuck. This whole thing is complicated." She rubs her forehead and then takes a sip of the wine, but that doesn't help this time. "Maybe I could, I dunno, pretend like I wanna join her? Get her to meet me somewhere? Then you guys could get to the others without her... And getting Bubba on our side would be awesome, but... how do we even find him? Take out an ad in the paper?"

"Yeah.. I know," Morrison says to Theodore and rubs his face with both hands. This got way more fucked very quickly, and where he had been content to pretty much focus on getting the kids through to college and on out to not think about it ever again, it wasn't looking like that was going to happen. "Make contact with Chen and find out what the hell happened. If he was supposed to help, find out why he didn't, whoever of you is in touch with him. And if you have contact information for this Bubba guy, maybe arrange a meeting away from the motel. I'll go, just in case he tries something. If he really is against her, then enemy of our enemy. Maybe he can help deal with her." He looks at George. "You're not playing bait. Let the guy whose position is in jeopardy be the one to deal with her."

Theodore looks sideways at Morrison. "Not without me you won't. If we're going to talk to this guy and tell him to keep his little gangbangers under control, I'm going to be there. I'm getting real fucking tired of their crap." He reaches over and refills his glass from the decanter. "And I want a straight answer on Brenda."

Lucas shifts a slow look to Landon and his jaw sets. He's already had his say in that at vehement volume. Looking at the rest of the room he says calmly as if he were dedicating a lot of thought to this. "Let's just be clear, we didn't create this situation, she did. Anything that happens is on Fran." Tired he looks to Theodore. He never really hears him swear, like, near ever really. On one hand the twins know what they saw. On the other hand there's a certain satisfaction to hearing someone say Yes, that's my fault. He falls back to sitting by Landon and looks to them saying, "Just be careful." Because vampires Theo! He reasons, "They could be armed or something." Reaosonable. He's getting really decent at finding ways to phrase things. Hell after this pre-law might feel easy.

"I think she'll turn you down anyway, George. You haven't drunk. As far as I know anyway." Amy says with a shake of her head, glancing out from behind her hand and staring blearily at her cousin. "There's no guarantee anyone is on our side except us, either. Just cuz they might be having an internal struggle doesn't mean shit when outsiders get involved. They might just stick together for the sake of it. We would." She glances from George to Morrison and then shrugs. "Even if we were really pissed at each other, wouldn't we? Anyway." She shakes her head tiredly. "I guess I'll talk to Mister Chen. I dunno what else to do. Ashley's gone and I can't think."

"Okay, but how do we even find Bubba? That's what I'm saying," George repeats, her words maybe a tad slurred and her tone frustrated. "Yeah, she'll probably turn me down, but if I can just get her away from the motel somehow... I could pretend I've turned on you guys and will help her get Lennon, I dunno." She swigs again and then wipes her mouth. "Okay, so. We start with Chen. Maybe he has some idea how we find Big Bubba. Then we can try him. But if we're gonna try to get the crew to turn on Fran, then we gotta separate them. And I'm the expendable one here." She shrugs, no self-pity in her tone.

Morrison looks back at Theodore and says, "No, not without you. You deserve some answers, too. And I would have called you to come to the maze, too, but I didn't know how bad it was or how much time there was when Hector called." He then looks over at Lucas and says, "They're strong and fast. Clearly, fighters." Vampires. But he's not going to say it again, not right now. He nods to Amy, "You're family. Even when you're being dumbasses." He hadn't let her fight Fran alone, had he? Then he asks George, "Why would you help her get Lennon? You have no connection to the people she took. And she doesn't want you. It's suspicious and transparent. And you're not expendable," he snarls, that temper edging toward the surface again.

Theodore reaches out and grips Morrison's forearm as his temper starts showing. Just a light touch as a reminder to perhaps let that anger simmer. He gets to his feet, grabbing his drink from the table. "I'm going to go make some phone calls. See if I can maybe.. I don't know.. find something on this Bubba. Tanner knows a bunch of lowlifes, maybe he'll have a clue." He looks over to Morrison. "I'll need to talk to you, too. Come up after you've had a chance to relax." With that, he turns and heads towards the stairs.