Infinityandmadness - No Mask? NO MASK!!

Redlight king - Bullet in my hand

I came out of the darkness with a bullet in my hand, I got one more shot  at livin, I’m lucky that i can. ‘Cause i got a little roughed up, I really got fucked up. I came out of the darkness with a bullet in my hand.

DÔ VALOR A ESSA BANDA. Mereciam mais reconhecimento do que muita bandinha que se tem por aí.

Avan Jogia as Ulysses Zane in ‘Now Apocalypse’ 1.02

Following his son into the shop, he took a look around, letting Tali free roam for a bit. Crossing his arms under his chest Lainn started over toward an interesting side not sure what he would find anything of worth in the whole place.

Now that Lainn was getting a better look as he closed in on the items that had caught his interest, he was certain there was nothing of worth. Reaching out for one random item, he paused when a voice interrupted him. Glancing over at the stranger when they brought up fighting for a pair of pants. He glanced away, considering for a moment, how that would go.

Sizing them up, he grabbed the pants and ripped them away from the other's grasp, holding them up to look at them more properly, “Too slow.” As the other started to explain themself to him, he narrowed his eyes on them, tilting his head, “Okay?” Great, a pacifist who couldn't decide to be one or not. Just what Lainn figured he always needed in his life.

Lainn bites on his lips, before making a small popping noise and leaning in a little bit toward the other, “I'm also a pacifist. But sometimes, some people need punched right in the jaw. The human shut off button.” Pulling away a little, he holds the pants out for the other to try to grab if they'd wanted to, before pulling it out of reach again, “Okay. Maybe. I'm not a pacifist. I'm actually an escalator of conflict. Since we are exposing.” He turned away leafing through more of these drab clothes, muttering under his breath, “I don't think you are a pacifist, either.” Probably because he suspected that most of the town was in a violent cult.

where: second chance thrift to: open

—

being stuck in this town shaped prison put a limit on the amount of hobbies mason could half-heartedly start and stop when he got bored. but where there's a will there's a way, and he was in desperate need of some kind of distraction. ever since the storm there was a certain unease that had seeped into his skin, even more prevalent than it had been before. it was growing increasingly harder to sit still.

so he decided to go thrift shopping. there was a feeling of normalcy that came with sifting through racks of second hand clothing, even if the options were considerably slimmer than he was used to.

there was already a vague idea bouncing around in his head of how he'd DIY whatever he could salvage into something he wasn't embarrassed to be seen wearing in public. but the hunt was proving harder than he'd thought. cold and slightly shaky hands came up to rest on a hanger, his gaze raked over the item when he noticed the other person in his peripheral vision. " i'm willing to fight over these pants, " he was joking, mostly. " i'm usually a pacifist but desperate times and what not. "

We need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like being banished into forests far from everyone. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief.

Franz Kafka

plant shelf 🪴

When the other came to stand and looked at him, Lainn directed his gaze away while listening. He watched Tali mumbling about some of the plant life he was seeing before looking back at Lucas, “Really? You encourage that?” Lainn questioned, curious. Then knocked his head toward the other, “Lainn. So, you're Sheriff of this place?” He questioned, wondering how that was established, and why. However, he was not one to go against 'order' over chaos. He very much did enjoy some chaos, too. Lainn twirled the leaf between his fingers on his right hand, “How bad's the crime rate around here?”

Lucas actually looks up to who he's talking to. He vaguely recognizes the face as someone semi-new. Seeing a child helps. Larry? Lauren?

Lucas stands. "Sorry. We just encourage people not to get too close to the woods. Sheriff Lucas Miranda."

He steps forward, offering his hand.

He glances over and smiles toward the kid playing.

Lainn raised his eyebrows at their echoing, before squinting at the others, in a small moment of quiet. Though as the stranger continued, he is gaze shifted elsewhere as he listened quietly. That did sound very strange. Though, he supposed most coffee tasted terrible, anyway. As he never liked the stuff. Though he would never have described of the times he had tasted it, to be like a burnt tire, “Does it ever get cleaned out?” He chanced asking. Not sure this was the right person to ask. Turning his head from them, he looked about the 'station' where any coffee maker might be, spotting it easily, then giving a 'tsk' toward the look of the thing. It needed to be put out of its misery.

With a hesitating glance back to the other, he further listened to them as they moved their comments on toward him. Moving closer toward the coffee maker, he sighed a bit, begrudging of this newcomer look he was sporting in his being, at the moment. He hated being new to anything. It drew far too much attention than what he really liked, toward himself. Lainn nodded, however, “I'm not really much of a coffee drinker, to be fair.” Though he could, perhaps, help to make the coffee better, if need be. Lainn glanced at them, “Just, getting the lay of the place, I guess you might say.”

“Have you seen me around, huh.” He supposed his exploring was noticed, “I suppose you'd say that is the case. Though I don't drink coffee, I thought there might be something. Maybe tea… But hello. I'm Lainn.” He elegantly held out his hand, gesturing to Tali, “This is my son, you may call him Tali.” Lainn introduced, his eyes on the area of the coffee maker once more, “It is good to meet you Sullivan, I guess?” He grinned, “Absolute loathing might be more descriptive of what I feel toward coffee.” Turning then, he politely took the other's offering for a handshake, giving a strong, good shake before letting go after a respectable amount of time. Then he pointed at the coffee maker, “Who owns it?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Sullivan echoed, their Southern drawl curling around the words. They gestured dramatically at the mug. “You mean aside from the fact it tastes like someone boiled a burnt tire in swamp water and called it a day? Absolutely nothing. Top-notch poison.”

Their grin deepened as their gaze drifted back to Lainn, noting the way he was sizing them up—or maybe just trying to make sense of them. Sullivan let the silence hang for a moment before adding, “Let me guess—you’re not here for the coffee either, are you? No one comes here for this mess unless they’ve lost a bet or all their other bad habits dried up.”

They tilted their head slightly, as if considering something. “I’ve seen you around,” they said, gesturing lazily toward him. “Usually keeping to yourself. Guess the coffee finally broke you down, huh? Name’s Sullivan, by the way. Figured we should get that out of the way since we’re bonding over mutual disdain.” They extended a hand with a crooked grin, their tone a perfect blend of playful and sardonic. “You?”

Lainn raised an eyebrow at her snort, before glancing away. That told him a little more that this place wasn't as panic-inducing as the people behaved on the first night. Granted, the freaks outside at night to be true in the case, whatever reason, Lainn had decided to play along. Giving Tali the same game plan in private. Though Tali was only just nine years old, he had been through plenty enough. Enough that he knew whatever the situation was in front of them, it would be dangerous to give into the childish part of him, now. Following in step with Lainn as they were walking. Lainn listened to the other, “Right. I got a little information on that when I got here.” Though, he did think about what she was elaborating on here.

At the question, he glanced back to Mira and nodded, listening as she explained the situation with juice and tea. Looking vaguely disgusted on hearing this, he clicked his tongue, “The milk tastes like cardboard…” He wondered how that could have even been possible. But, perhaps he was overthinking what he had learned before coming here. So, he really didn't know how to think, given what he currently knows of this place. Now, he was just concerned with why milk would taste like cardboard. Or if Mira was just playing up the whole act altogether. “But you have cows, so, that's something? Are you feeding them properly?” Should he have even been asking her that question? What made him think she was in control of any livestock? “I mean, are they being fed properly?”

When Mira continued, he nodded his head at her reasoning and continued walking toward the diner. Once inside and Mira had moved to rest on the counter to talk to Tali, Lainn sat back a little to one side, observing this interaction. Tali looked at the woman, now more at eye level with him, and gave a nod of his head toward Mira's words, understanding. He offered a nervous smile before turning his head toward Lainn, who offered an approving smile, “Just give him some time to figure you out.” Lainn echoed part of her prior statement back, nodding as he continued to watch Tali for another moment. When Mira went on to Lainn question of her medical experience, he listened attentively to her, “Ooo, a dropout. Thought about doing that a few times myself, in school.” He swallowed, stopping himself from thinking too far back into those years, “Had a lot going on at the time.”

As she prompted, he moved to hold his hands out for her to see more clearly, they had already been cleaned up pretty well this morning, “That would be unpleasant. I would like to keep my hands. Though, I would like to keep my mind, more. Good brains are a hard thing to come by, you know.” He partially joked, watching her closely as she was cleaning the deepened groves his nails had cut into the bottoms of his palms, “By the sounds of it, don't seem like anyone here just rolled in here on purpose.” He pointed out, then turned to look at Tali, who was sitting at the booth now, playing with some toys he had in his backpack. Lainn looked back toward Mira after a moment, “But, yeah, I guess we were just moving, which you can te-Ah-” He winced a bit as his palms stung with the medicine. Then continued the next second, “The moving truck is a dead giveaway. The Twilight Zone is probably what I'd call it, going by what I've been told so far.” Lainn pauses, looking from his palms to her, “Nah, just going to a different state, I had a new job opportunity waiting for me. Kinda a boring story, actually.” Tali looked over, looking uncertain before looking back to his toys again, Lainn continued, “What about you?”

she walked just ahead, the soft scuff of her boots against the pavement filling the quiet between them. her gaze flicked toward lainn’s son, tali, as he clutched his backpack straps, his eyes darting around like he was trying to catalog everything at once. there was a wariness there she recognized — a kid who’d learned too early to read the room, to stay close to the people who mattered. it made her chest ache, just a little. at lainn’s comment about infections and whatever this is, she snorted softly, her breath visible in the cool morning air. “weak minds don’t last long in a place like this,” she said, her voice low, more to herself than him. “but it’s not just infections you gotta watch out for. this town’s got a way of digging in, pulling at the edges of you until you start unraveling.” his dry response about teeth earned a faint smirk from her, and when he asked about tea and juice, she raised an eyebrow. “tea? sure, if you’re not picky. juice? you’re asking a lot from a place where the milk sometimes tastes like cardboard.” her tone was teasing, but there was a sharpness underneath — this wasn’t the kind of town where you could afford to be picky. not about anything. as they reached the diner, she held the door open, letting them step inside ahead of her. the smell of stale coffee and frying grease hit her immediately, and she relaxed, just a little. this place might not be much, but it was familiar now, and in a town like this, familiar was as close to comfort as you got. “new guy’s just what i call people i haven’t figured out yet,” she said, shrugging as she moved behind the counter. her dark eyes flicked to tali’s brief grin, and something about it softened her sharp edges. “lainn and tali, huh? well, nice to meet you. and tali,” she added, leaning forward slightly, her elbows resting on the counter as she looked at him, “if you ever feel like talking, i make a pretty good listener. no pressure, though.” she pulled a first aid kit from under the counter, plunking it down in front of lainn with a decisive thud. “first aid training?” she repeated, arching an eyebrow as she opened the kit. “let’s just say i spent a few years learning how to fix people up when they were too stubborn to admit they needed help. med school dropout,” she added casually, grabbing some antiseptic wipes and bandages. “but don’t worry, i know what i’m doing.” she gestured for his hand, her movements brisk but not unkind. “you’ll be good as new in no time, i promise. or, at the very least, you won’t have to worry about losing your hand to some weird infection from this town.” she started cleaning the wound, her hands steady as she worked. “so, lainn,” she said after a moment, her tone light but probing, “what’s your story? you don’t seem like the type to roll into a place like this by accident.” she glanced up at him, her eyes sharp and curious. “or maybe i’m wrong. maybe you’re just another lost soul who made a wrong turn and ended up in the twilight zone.”