Looking Down the Barrel

DATE   /   MONDAY NIGHT, NOVEMBER 18TH PARTIES INVOLVED  /   JEREMIAH THANE, ANDREW THANE, JACKSON THANE TRIGGER WARNINGS   /   VIOLENCE, SERIOUS INJURY, BLOOD, TORTURE, KNIVES, FIRE, DECAPITATION, DEATH

Izzy perked up at Kane, happy that she would be getting some attention from him, even if it wasn’t as easily done with her crutches. While she’d known that he wouldn’t accept her help with the Dive, she would ask it of him for forever because she knew that the Dive was important to him and she wanted to be included. “Fine, I can work with that,” Izzy smiled, leaning back in the chair. She nearly crossed her legs before remembering that it wasn’t possible with her injury yet so she settled with crossing her ankles and placing them to the side. “Just feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” she sighed, a bit dramatically, as if she hadn’t seen him in the morning. But with Ryder in jail, Adrian a bit on the outs still and Ford and Iz in a weird spot,  she’d been rather dependent on Kane alone. Her core group was a bit in shambles and that meant she needed to preoccupy herself. “You know what I mean,” she corrected, knowing that Kane would, if she hadn’t. “But no one’s around and I miss your cute face.”

Izzy was good to him, he knew that. She helped out where she could, but he didn’t trust her to be able to do the work he needed her to do. He didn’t trust anyone to do what needed to be done when it came to the Dive. He had built that himself and he wasn’t gonna let anyone else help with it. “It’s been busy since the Gala.” ATF was working them and after the OD’s it wasn’t easy to keep everything working fine while flying under the radar. “You know that.” Of course she knew it, he had been leaving in the middle of the night to just come to the Dive to work on things. He let out a snort,“Your normal riff raff can’t keep you entertained so I have to step in? That’s hurtful, Iz.”

As soon as Kane had stepped forward, Ramina realized her mistake, and felt her heart rate accelerate— adrenaline beginning to race through her veins. “Don’t discredit yourself, Kane,” she said, trying to sound unfazed, but her changed body language was probably a giveaway. Ramina prided herself on always having something to say, but it was difficult to think of anything worth while when her brain was in a bit of a panic. “Why are you doing in the alley, anyway? Lurking around up to no good?” Like a troll. What was safe when it came to this? The only thing that comforted her at the moment was the knowledge that she still had her gun on her, though it hadn’t gone exactly smoothly with it the last time around Kane. 

It was always nice to see those who wronged him be afraid in his presence. They always tried to be strong, but he could see through them. He wasn’t good at recognizing other emotions, but he knew fear intimately. He could tell when people were afraid of him and he fucking loved it. “I was havin’ a smoke, Ramina,” His voice dropped as he said her name, his eyes raking up and down her body. “See your nose healed up. Sad it’s never gonna be as pretty as it used to be.”

“I think you believe i have more power than I really do.” The brunette said with a little laugh. Then again, the male hadn’t said that she could get her arrested either. “I’m not sure they’d touch her with a ten foot pole, whether or not she broke some decency laws. To be honest, I wouldn’t touch her with that same pole either.” Her head shook as she let out a small laugh. “If this is any reflection of our night, we’re in for an interesting one.”

         When the hand grips his face, Eli wants to yank it back but then realizes that he can’t — at this point, he’s so exhausted that his body doesn’t want to listen to him anymore, it doesn’t have the strength to do what he wants it to do. When the other continues talking, his body goes rigid. Friend? Who? Who else is here? he wants to ask but his mouth doesn’t want to form words either. The mention of someone else seems to spark a bout of anger in him, though, that he finally does put into words — maybe stupidly so, risking the safety of that friend. Eli’s too exhausted to think about consequences, though. “You’re gonna have to do a lot more damage to get anything out of me,” he says through gritted teeth and it feels like saying these few words have taken the last of what he’s got left in him.

@ares–kane​

Isobella moved into the office where she knew Kane would be, her crutches holding her upright. Her leg was progressing but it was still sore as shit, especially when there was pressure. Ollie had managed to do a number on her, all in the name of Eli and now she looked to Kane for what the Trojans’ next move was. She wasn’t expecting revenge in her name, particularly, but she wanted them to do something to pay Ollie back at least. If not, she’d be happy to do it herself. Izzy chose not to press the issue the last two weeks since it happened with Kane, knowing that he was mad enough as it was. 

Izzy lifted a crutch to tap the doorframe to introduce herself into the office, flashing Kane a smile as she entered. “Hey, baby,” she greeted. She moved herself to a nearby chair in order to give her underarms a rest. She had had enough of them but the doctors insisted on more time with them. Izzy would likely regret not heeding their warning but it didn’t make it all that less appealing. “Bartender said you were hiding in here, thought I would see if you needed me to do anything to help…” she asked, trailing off. Kane was quite particular about everything and she knew that she would likely end up getting a big fat no but it was worth a shot. “Otherwise, I was wondering if you had time for a break to hang out with me.”

Life had been busy enough with ATF in town. Things just snowballed when the OD’s had happened and he had barely anytime to do anything but work. After the Eli move, he had assumed there would be a move from the Primordials, but going after Izzy had been a move that he had not entirely anticipated. He had gone after Reina for being an Old Lady and a threat, while Rowan had simply been convenient and a good target, a doctor and someone who would hurt Reina more with her injury. He had gone after Old Ladies, but he hadn’t expected them to do so back. Hearing that it was Ollie had surprised Kane further. Izzy and Ollie had been friends, dispute Kane telling Izzy it was a bad idea. He had, obviously, been proven right to dislike Ollie.

He glanced up from his papers, bills from the Dive. “Iso,” He said softly, before looking back down and punching a few numbers into his calculator. He rarely took Izzy’s help when it actually came to Dive matters, he always preferred to take on the tasks on his own. “No. I’m just doing the bills. I’m fine.” He took a moment to write down a number. He raised an eyebrow at her but had a feeling she wouldn’t be leaving him alone until he hung out with her. “I can take a break. Then, I gotta finish the paperwork. Sound good?”

@ares–kane​

Ever since her little…run in with Kane at the Dive after her disastrous attempt to leave the Trojans, it only made sense that she’d been rather careful to avoid wherever he might me. Part of her was pretty sure he didn’t care that much about her, had gotten his fill of beating her and that he had much bigger fish to fry. But she also knew Kane was…difficult to predict. It seemed that such a sentiment was proved true as she walked back from a night of drinks with a couple friends, the sun having set a few hours ago by now. She’d meant to call a lyft or someone to pick her up, but tragically her phone had died nearly a half hour ago. So she’d been wandering in an attempt to find some other way home. Unfortunately, it seemed that her wandering, instead, produced a shadowed man on the corner of an alley. Trying to muster confidence, she called out— “Are you the tall, dark, stranger I’ve been lookin’ for?” Men generally responded better to flirtation than a threat of violence off the bat, and he wa confident enough in her persuasion abilities to know she’d be able to get herself out of anything she might not want.

Kane enjoyed being one of the most feared people in town for many reasons, but one of them was specifically having no one dare to just come up to him. He looked up from his cigarette, which he had been nursing for a minute, to see Ramina at the entrance of the alley. The fight he had with Izzy after the beat down he had put Ramina through had been worth making sure the bitch never tried to fuck with him or his after. He had to guess she didn’t realize who he was yet and so he stepped forward with a smirk on his lips. “Yeah, probably ain’t.” He stuck his cigarette in his mouth and took a drag, blowing the smoke towards her face. “Of course, unless you wanted to see how much you can take this time around.”

The mention of her still nasty scar that covers the majority of her stomach has Reina wincing involuntarily, and she silently curses at herself for letting him see how much it affects her. It does, though — every time Reina looks down and see it she wants to either scream or murder someone — and she can’t deny that, but she refuses to back down. “Go fuck yourself,” she sneers, her lips curling into a mocking smirk as her eyes go wide. “If you can even get it up.” The one good thing about Rowan and Kane’s affair was learning about his little boner problem, and as scared as she is of the man, she’s not afraid to throw that in his face. Reina’s about to see if she can push past him without an altercation, which may be testing her luck but at this point she has no other option, when his words make her pause. “Excuse me?” Everyone knows about Eli’s run in with Kane by now, but there’s no way she heard him right. Eli would’ve told them. “The only loose lips around here are your little girlfriend’s. Eli would never.”

Kane’s smirk grew into a malicious grin as she mentioned his inability to get it up in normal circumstances. “When I think of you like that Reina, it’s a lot easier to get in the mood. That knife, you, and me? That was a fantasy come true for me,” Kane’s tongue skimmed the back of his teeth as he took his time looking over Reina. She really did give him a lot of... Material to work with when he really needed to get going. “Eli seems to have taken Izzy’s mantle then. He just kept chattering once I offered him the drugs he wanted.” Not... Exactly truthful, but when was Kane truthful to Reina Thane.

Seth laughed at the woman’s expense. He’s sure that she was feeling good about her look for the night and feeling good about her costume— which honestly made it funnier to him. The idea that someone thought she looked good or that someone didn’t tell her that she looked like a meth-ed out Barnaby or whatever the fuck that dinosaur’s name was made Seth chuckle to himself. And yet again, it displayed why Seth and Kane were easily the closest things that each of them had to a friend. “I mean, might be good to get some of those fuckin’ regulars outta there. They’ve been stinking up the place like a fuckin’ retirement home or some shit lately. I ain’t tryin’ to find dentures in the bathrooms from them trying to enjoy some pussy, dude,” Seth joked, shaking his head at the image. Not that he wasn’t on the older side, like Kane, but they still managed to not play the fucking part. Well… Seth didn’t. “That’s being fuckin’ generous, thought she looked like you. Only a face a mother… or Iz could tolerate,” he smirked. “Speakin’ of which, you figure out who did that shit to her leg?”

“Their stink pays my bills.” A statement that was not even close to true, considering that Kane made most of his money off of his illegal activities. Still, he knew what Seth meant. Some of the dudes who came into the Dive looking for a good time, seemed like they should be using a walker to get around at this point. They probably had worse dick problems than he did and that was saying something. Kane snorted and simply went,“My mother ain’t like my face anymore than anyone else.” His mother had hated him since Kane could remember and he wasn’t even sure why anymore. He just knew that she had claimed he had had been too different. A growl left him,“Oliver Stone.”

Ford goes to respond, something snarky no doubt, but he stops dead in his tracks once Kane calls him a name that certainly isn’t his own. “Phoebe…?” He questions, confused as hell. But he soon shakes his head, focusing back on the topic at hand. “Maybe she is in college, man.” Ford replies with a shrug of his shoulders. That’s when Kane goes and spoils the entire thing by being the mood killer that he is from time to time. Ford, by now, is never quite sure why he continuously gives him the benefit of the doubt. He silently feels bad for him, or just pities him. He doesn’t act outwardly bitter towards him mainly for Izzy’s sake. Even now, he has to picture her face in order to control himself. “I could but then I’d be stealing your costume. Which, might I say, has been executed flawlessly.” Ford says, voice monotone as he waves a hand over Kane’s outfit. He laughs quietly to mellow out the dig, hoping Kane takes it as playful banter. Though he doesn’t exactly seem like the type. 

Kane glanced at Ford with a smirk,“Yeah, Phoebe.” Kane had little girl names for every male in this town and Seth had even given him one, Kandy. It was always fun to call them their girl names to their faces, they always looked as confused as little Fordy did. “She’s gonna look like a fucking wet rag when she’s older if she already looks like that in college.” He has to let out a snort at Ford’s little dig. At least he was willing to come back at him, Kane didn’t like the ones who didn’t even more. “Ya, I worked hard on projecting you as much as I could while I got dressed this morning.”

         The second the question falls, Eli looks away and swallows hard because fuck yeah, he does. After spending the past three days (more? How much time has passed since he’s been here — wherever here is) high as a goddamn kite just so he doesn’t have to deal with all the shit in his head. Coming off its is always hard — it’s become manageable, sure, but when he’s home by himself and not being fucking interrogated like this. Eli would love a hit just about now just so he can stop panicking about where he is and whether he’s gonna get out of this alive — he’s taking the threats pretty seriously. He’s also not about to run his mouth — or he fucking hopes so. “Fuck off, man,” Eli says, his words slurred. Right after the words leave his mouth, he can already tell that he really should’ve chosen his words better. “I don’t know shit, you’re not gonna get anything from me.”

Kane’s hand shot out and gripped Eli’s chin in a death grip, pulling the taller man’s face toward him. “Listen, you fucking moron, if you wanna make it out of here in relatively good shape, you’re gonna answer me and you’re fucking polite about it.” Kane let go of his face and smiled under his mask. “Or I’m going to dragged your friend here next. And I’ll cut off all his fingers on his right hand. Now, buddy, you wanna be the cause of that? My question simple and I know the drugs haven’t burnt out all your braincells yet.” 

Of course Kane Seifer would take the first opportunity he can to harass her and even if they’re in public, Reina’s spine straightens and the hair on her neck rises the minute she realizes he’s the one she’s alone with in the shadows of a tent. Reina, though she’s not afraid of much else, has built him up in her mind as this terrifying figure and no matter what she does, she can’t shake her fear of him. The worst part of it is she’s not wrong to feel the way she does, and Reina knows if he wanted to he could snap her neck right here and now and be done with it. “None of your goddamn business,” she snaps at him anyway, her pride always ruling out over any kind of emotion she might be feeling. “What do you want, Kane?”

She reminded him of a cornered lion, still snapping like that’ll show him her power. Reina Thane was a woman Kane despised with his every being, but god was she fun to play with. He stepped closer to her,“Just wondering how you’re healing up? Heard you got a nasty cut a while ago.” He wanted to touch the scar he left on her, he wanted to see her flinch away from him. God, what he would do to see her cry. Her fear was so sweet, he could get drunk off of it. “Mind if I have a sip from your flask? I’m parched.” He let out a soft chuckle,“You must be stressed from your boy Eli havin’ loose lips, huh? I’m sure your juice is helping.”

He didn’t know if he was supposed to answer the other man or not. James ran his hand through the back of his hair for a moment, deliberating on whether or not to say something snarky back. “Probably an eggplant,” He said with a shrug, “Some people are just things they put together last minute. What are you supposed to be?”

James Flores was not a person he had imagined would speak to him in public, ever. That was a dangerous game that Kane wasn’t sure he was that interested in playing. “I’m an MC President without his cut. I know, creative. What the fuck are you? Other than an idiot.” He wanted James away from him as soon as possible. He didn’t like that people could see them talk. 

Seth rolled his eyes. While Halloween wasn’t his favorite holiday, at least he could appreciate the slutty costumes that always seemed to fill into the events. “I don’t know, aren’t those the colors of that dinosaur that Zane liked…” Seth paused for a moment, trying to remember what it was called. “Bernie or somethin’,” Seth decided on, leaning back on on the table, trying to see what else he could pick out of the crowd. “Or maybe she’s tryin’ to get a job at the Dive and hopin’ your ass will be dumb enough to let her,” Seth smirked, looking back at Kane to gauge a reaction. “I mean she wasn’t half-bad lookin’ but she ain’t nothing too good lookin’ either…”

Kane was rather out of touch with what was popular with kids in general, but he was pretty sure he knew what the dinosaur Seth was talking about. “Nah, it’s name is Barnaby. Fuckin’ stupid name for a dinosaur.” His lip curled at the thought of that being one of his dancers at the Dive. “Yeah, I’d hire her when I wanted the fucking place to go out of business. All the regulars would jump ship.” Kane snorted at Seth and then smirked,“Looks like you with a wig on.”`