Maenad: forum

The problem with letting Jesus take the wheel is that that he isnt afraid to die.

"And that precludes romantic intent?" Mae giggles from a few barstools over. She came in this morning and hasn't really left since. She had the day off, as most folk what've been in the bar today have learned. "You certainly ain't been around the block like I have." She sighs and stares into her beer with a grin.

"Sounds to me like you oughta switch it up. Get on different meds. Won't take much lookin' to find someone with somethin' else." She offers, ordering another drink and dropping some cash on the bar, enough to cover both of her drinks.

Mae taps her glass on the bar, then drains the rest. It was about a mouthful anyways, so it's no big change. The pepper sediment that collects at the bottom perks her up a bit, and she crunches an ice cube to get some non-alcohol fluids in her. She sighs, grins a tight-lipped, wistful, bitter little grin, and pulls a little bottle of advil from her hoodie pocket. She pops a couple and stares into her empty glass.

"God, it's too early for this." Mae mutters into her drink, before letting her humanity get away from her. "Sucks to hear about your parents. My folks are doin' serious jail time, most of em. It's just my aunt and my grandmama that got off. I wanna say there's like... ten life sentences split 'tween my brothers, my momma, and my granddad."

She shakes her head. Depression, vodka, and a hangover are an unpleasant mix. "Drink with me. Ta family we ain't gonna see again." She raises her glass in Sirius's direction.

"Well see that's the thing, kid." She yawns and rubs some of the sleep from her eyes, then drains a good chunk of her drink. "It's gonna stay that way. Been here bout five years. Happiest I ever been was the day I left. You wanna know the reason I stick around this shithole? Present environs excluded, of course." She shoots a grin at whoever's running the bar. She pops an olive in her mouth, chewing as she cuts a look over at Sirius.

"Damn, drinkin's messin' with my memory more'n I thought it was. I cain't even remember askin'." She chuckles. "Kiddin' ya. I just got back inta town recently, had some family business back home to take care of. Hey... yer the one from last night. The one that got in the slapfight with the dumbass beggin' Angelo for a job, right? How long ya been in Torn, kid?"

Mae munches on the salad in her drink, crunchin' the celery and looking bemused.

Mae stumbles in, looking thoroughly hungover and still wearing the clothes she was in the night before. "Damn, I really gotta stop drinking. After a few bloody mary's, I mean." She sits at the bar, a few seats away from Sirius, and nods with a grimace.

"Mornin."

Mae kinda chuckles into her drink, trying hard not to full on laugh. It was like watching two little yappy dogs rile each other up. Hilarious and almost adorable. There was plenty of shit like that back in the hills, but doing stuff like that in Torn was dangerous if you weren't prepared to deal with the consequences. Her first barfight was over a girl, as is tradition. Some out of town frat boy was hitting on her girl and went a little too far. Spent the night in jail over it, but the prick didn't press charges. Didn't want it getting back to his frat that Mae whipped his ass.

Mae sips her GnT, nods thanks at Wood, and listens in on Angelo and Jeremy. Not openly, of course, but she's still keeping her attention on the pair of them.

Mae drains the last watered down bit of her gin and waves at Wood. "Must get a lotta weirdos through here. Anything fun happen recently?" She grins. "And, when ya get a minute, top shelf gin and some crushed ice'd do me right."

"I hope it does. Y'all've got better walls than my folks did, but we were way up hidden in our holler. Thought we were safer than everyone else up there, but we got in a fight with some bastards that set up shop in the mine and that didn't go our way." She shook her head slowly, chewed on her lip in anxiety, before nodding as though that were the end of a conversation. Then, she turned on her heel and walked on over to where the canteen was, and got a plate. There was a salad, some potatoes, pork. Nothing extravagant.

She felt naked without her guns. Not feeling the weight of her Sig on her right thigh felt alien. Not feeling the strap on her 715T press into her shoulder, the magazine occasionally bumping her elbow... She fiddled with her granddaddy's knife, twirling it's deer antler hilt around in her left hand as she eats with her right. She sighs, finishing off the last of the not cold pork, and stands, returning her dishes before tracking down Diane again.

"Listen, Diane, you can obviously tell I'm a self sufficient kinda gal. I used to specialize in gettin' in 'n outa places that needed gettin' in an' out of, usually with a full backpack on the return trip. I'm damned accurate with those guns, but only alright with larger calibers. Did some crossbow huntin' as a kid, but nothin' I'd feel comfortable bettin' my life on. I'm also a damn good cook. Y'all wouldn't happen to have some okra growin' around here, would ya? Anyways, that's what I do. I get supplies, I'm a good shot, I cook. I can fix bikes too, but that's mostly self taught. Where d'ya'll need me most?"

"Ahh, thank ya Mrs. Witch. I can certainly drink to that." She sips on the drink, and finds it's pretty damn good. "Ah, damn fine. It's good ta be back, yknow? The hills is always gonna be my home, but damn if family ain't annoyin'. What brought you an' yer man out to TC?"

"I cain't have my guns? I don't pull em out 'less I'm shootin' zed or returnin' fire." She protests in a vain hope of keeping at least her pistol. "Sumbitch." She mutters, "Fine. Just... Keep em together. And I know how many rounds I've got, I expect ta see each and every one of em again someday." Indi has been trying to keep her happy face on, but this has been a stressful and irritating day so far.

"I'm Indigo Lawson. Biked here from my settlement in Kentucky. You mentioned somethin' about a shower?"

"Ah, been there." She shakes her head and chuckles. "I dunno, I'm feelin' fancy tonight. Gin an' Tonic, if y'all've got the limes for it. So, what's yer name, ma'am? Folks call me Maenad, or Mae, either one. I used to live here a few years back, but moved out back home to try an' get a better life. Didn't work, obviously." She laughs, showing wildly janked up teeth and a missing premolar as she smiles.

"Well, my momma always told me never to make an important decision without showerin' first. I assume y'all got runnin' water around here somewhere... Let's go on in." Indi nods, her jaw tense as she pops her neck and tries to relax and see the inside of this place without judging. Her hand, however, didn't get the memo and still hasn't left the gun in her thigh holster. It ain't drawn, hell, the safety's even still on. Thinking about how her life's about to change. The information she had been given suggested that this was the largest colony on the continent, if not the largest left in the world.

The truck is let in through the gates, and Strange parks beside a building that seemed to be some kind of garage or motorpool or something. Indigo steps out of the cab and fishes her bike out from the back. Leaning against the truck, she sets her bag on the ground. "Thanks for the ride. You got any idea where I might find that Diane person you mentioned?"

It had obviously been a minute since Indigo had been in a vehicle moving this fast, and was white knuckling on whatever she could get her hands on to hold her in her seat. Her irritation had turned to overwhelming, mind melting emotion. It's hard to pick out any one dominant feeling when you're experiencing half the damned emotional spectrum all at once. Fear, anger, panic, gut-dropping excitement, disgust... All of these mixed in her gut and exploded out as an elated, screeching laugh as the truck parts the Zed in a red sea of gore.

As they get to the other side, she kinda comes down out of the moment and her laugh putters out to a nervous chuckle. A few deep breaths later, she chuckles at the awkward question and nods. "Yeah. Been workin' my way here from Kentucky since my last group detonated." She noticed Mendoza's sickly disposition with a pitying grin. "Vomit don't come out of this suit all that well, aim fer yer buddy if you're gonna hurl, hon."

Then, as though just remembering what was going on, suddenly stiffened. "Right, so, normally I ain't the kinda gal to go home with two men she don't know. When we get to the safe zone, would I be free ta go if I wanted?" Her right hand has shifted from the seat to the Sig clipped to her thigh. Damn that suppressor, it'd make drawing on one of these fellas a hell of a lot harder if she had to.

"Sons o bitches..."

Indigo stands, looking out the window after the deafening noise that was the horn blaring down the street. Gritting her teeth with irritation, she snags her bike and books it out the building, running with her bike in her left hand and her pistol in the other. She shouts at the truck, "Y'all couldn't'a just keyed the damned radio?! You just rang the God damned dinner bell!"

Not having time to talk things out in the street before getting in with these guys irritates her. She was already on edge, but this really did it. She threw her bike in the back of the truck, then started towards the cab.

"Hell. Sorry, I think it's Olympic, I think I saw that on the sign comin' in. I got outa the habit of lookin' at street signs when the world ended, y'know? There was a bigass overturned eighteen-wheeler a little ways down from the arcade, big green Mack. How long y'all think you'll be? Over."

She leans back against the wall, since it's not like they were just around the corner, and pulls out a battered pack of cigs and a lighter. She sparks it and inhales, meditating on what all she'd done today. She'd camped out in one of the canyons that passed for a state park this far out west. A cold camp, she'd had to suffer through unheated food. Indigo sighed and exhaled the nicotine, instantly feeling it take the edge of her anxieties. It was still there, of course, making contact with new people was like petting a chained up dog. Sometimes you got a lovin' creature that wadn't in a good state. Sometimes you lost a hand and had to get a rabies shot. She wondered, absently, what the odds were that she'd have to treat these new fellas like the rabid dog and put em down.

She did not enjoy the thought.

It took barely any time at all for her to get a ring back, and her heart lit up. "Oh, I'm in a buildin' nearby to the safe zone, I think. I ain't seen any dead walkin' around nowhere, so I imagine I'm in the area y'all patrol. It's on the road, just down the street from the old arcade? Didn't see any signs. Y'all come on when yer ready. Oh, one more thing, how many folks d'y'all send ta make contact? I dunno if I'm good with more'n a couple. More'n four and I'll be gone. Over."

Indigo post up in a window with a good angle to see the street, and waits. She nibbled on the last of the rabbit jerky she brought with her from out east, hoping this group would be her last.

name: Indigo Lawson

age: 25ish

nationality:American, originally from Kentucky

gender: Fem

profession: She was a chef and a runner in her last group, but that fell apart. She's been alone for a hot minute.

description: She's a tall woman, about 5'10, with short red hair she obviously cuts with a knife. She's got green eyes that occasionally peek out from her goggles. Her clothing is simple. She's got a motorcycle suit she wears when she's out and about, and opts for light, seasonable clothing when not in active danger. She's covered in small scars and callouses from her time trekking from her home in the mountains here to LA.

gear: She carries two guns: her rifle and her pistol. Her rifle is a Mossberg International 715T. .22lr, 25+1, accurate in the range she needed it. Her pistol is a suppressed Sig Sauer P322. Once again, .22lr, 20+1, and damned accurate. She only carries her ammo, and tries not to use it. It's common, yeah, but till she can find a way to make more it's all she'll ever have. She also carries a crowbar, a hatchet, a collapsible saw, her camping gear, etc. She rides a mountain bike, nothing motorized. Most of her time is spent in the wilderness, so she doesn't worry about gas.

backstory: She was with a group for a good while, but it fell apart a few months back. She knew of the LA safe zone from before she got with this group outside Louisville, but hadn't really considered the cross-country trek. Now that her people are mostly dead or scattered, she's decided to hit the road.


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She turns the corner, weaving past a couple corpses, and keeps on closing the distance to the safe zone. She's had a couple runins with the dead, but managed to get out of there unscathed. As she nears the coordinates she was told about, she pulls off the road and into a nearby building. She takes her bike upstairs, stealthily making her way into a mostly abandoned office space. Indigo pulls out her radio and broadcasts, "Aw hell, this thing workin'? Yeah! Yeah, I think it is. Howdy, y'all, this here's Indigo Lawson. I'm lookin' for the LA safe zone, anyone read me? Over."