[x] Metro Mafia roleplay, Day 2

Borscht was not happy and Borscht was usually always happy, five people had died in the last day and not one of them had a key for the artefact. Borscht didn't know what the artefact was but Borscht would do what he was told. Borscht didn't even cast a vote, Borscht did nothing wrong and yet Borscht felt sad, he felt bad to be in this group "Borscht thinks we have killed good people."

 

"Bishop want Borscht to dance round like money. Bishop throw peanuts at money. Bishop make monkey happy." I wanted to suggest aloud, but I withheld. Borscht was all right. He had a way of speaking, but who was I to hold it against him.

Some crazy shit recently took place, and it has left everyone uneasy. It appears that Vsevolod wasn't who the majority of us thought he was after having checked through his belongings on him and in his rucksack; but that was in the past. Vsevolod was killed. What happened next revealed that the killer –actually now possibly the killers- were still among us. Rabid Hound had been thrown down the shaft of the elevator. Kind of funny after considering I had mentioned earlier about doing the same with the dead commander's body. I’m not too clear on what happened to Matros, some say a mutant ripped him to shreds while others blame the “murders.” The most recent and disturbing of them all was Vodyanoy. We had been arguing over the same shit and Vodynanoy sat near by, next to a fire, on a small chair like an old lady would to try and keep warm in the winter. It wasn’t until one of the other group members became frustrated and went over to him, after having asked him a single question more than once, and nudged him and said “Hey, dummy, can’t you here me?” That’s when Vodynanoy’s head flung back like a door’s hinge and revealed his throat had also been slit. Who ever this was, doing all of this, like to use a knife. It seemed strange that somebody could be running around killing everyone without any one of us noticing whom it was –they were just smart about it, I guess. The only reason I came to believe that this was a job dealt between more than one person was because the how quickly all the killing were being made.

Anyway, back to business. I cleared my throat before speaking, making sure that it was still there and not cut in two, and said, “So, Borchst. We’ve killed good people, eh? It’s obvious that some of them were some of the bad peanuts in the peanut bunch.” I said, poking at the fire. “Hey, Magpie, I had seen you working around the elevator earlier when we first got here. Seems pretty devious. Were you checking out the location where you would thrown one of use down the chute before you actually got the guts to do it.” I asked.

 

Damn. The closest thing I'd had to making an ally out of these strangers lay before me, throat slit. Just like the Commander he had tried to replace. I decided against trying to take his place in organizing the group. I liked my throat just the way it was.

And Fourth Reich Chevrons? Spartans? This whole mess was clearly above my head. I desperately needed to find a way out of this mess. The group had already nearly been cut in half over the course of a day, and I didn't much fancy my odds at this point, especially with multiple killers on the loose.

Damn this artifact to hell and back. I checked my rifle for the 10th time. My leg was shaking uncontrollably. I was in the lion's den, and the lions weren't even on top of the food chain in here. Acid hail on one end, god-knows what kind of mutant on the other, and here I sat, surrounded by people who wanted to kill me. Damn the paycheck, damn old world knowledge, I just wanted this nightmare to end. I forced myself to calm down and focus, when I heard my name, and yet another accusation thrown my way.

"We all checked the place out when we first got here, and countless people have taken turns leaving our camp to go off and take a piss. Not to mention multiple people saw me by the elevators; if were are to later find a body by the moldy furniture down the hall, will you assume it was Agrippa? And it was you who threw the commander down there; were you looking to add to your collection?"

Borscht also seemed like the most mentally unstable one here. I passed him off as a bit harmless early on, but after so much blood being drawn, and so few being left, I couldn't rule out anybody. For somebody to go this crazy with a knife, they had to be a little crazy. And right in from of me sat a guy, named after fucking soup, who had never made a damn lick of sense in the short time I'd known him.

 

"Like I had said earlier, 'I won't be able to sleep with all the chewing going on when the rats get to him.' That's why I moved him. But that doesn't matter now, does it? Not with the men around me, whom I'm talking to, are imagining me being murdered in their fucked up head." I said, slowly tapping at my skull. " I won't be able to sleep either way; so, if you want, we can bring over the commander to accompany us for whatever time we have left before the next one of us goes. Hey, and while we're at it, you, Borscht, the commander, and I can all play a game of poker."

There wasn’t much to talk about at the moment. The air was filled with shit. That’s the best way I could describe it. The other stalkers hadn’t been in the room, so who knows what plans they were making against us...against me. “To be honest,” I continued, “I think Rusalka might have something to do with this."

 

I spent some time in the elevator shaft examining the crime scene while listening to the faint conversation in the main room. Three men went in, one came out. Man this mystery was really starting to get under my skin. I realized after a while that being all alone with a killer on the lose was just asking for it so I quickly walked back to the main room, constantly looking over my shoulder.

When I arrived I saw everyone there, execpt Rusalka who seemed absent. A strange thing to do in a time like this, be all alone, vulnerable. Unless... You had nothing to fear.

"I was scouring the elevator shaft for any clues but got paranoid... Being alone and all scared the shit outta me when I realized it. I heard what you said about Rusalka, Bishop and I think you might be right about him. So quiet and isolated. A ghost practically. He worries me."

 

A bit messed up, but I decided to play along.

"Sure, let's invite Matros, Hound, and Vodyanoy while we're at it. I've heard Voddy has an unbeatable poker face."

I regretted it the second I said it. I hoped I hadn't taken putting on a brave face too far.

"That's true, but if we're going to look at the quiet ones here, Borscht hasn't been very chatty beyond a few cryptic metaphors."

 

People thought Borscht was the murderer, that Borscht was not chatty. Borscht is chatty but about nice things, not murder and death "Borscht is chatty, Borscht is not cryptic, Borscht will chat about nice things."

 

"Right. He doesn't seem to be too concerned with what has been happening lately." I said wile opening up a can of pre-war clam chowder and dumped it into a small pan to let it simmer over the fire. "Good stuff. It's old as hell, but it's damn good." I said, stirring it with a stubby piece of wood I found nearby. "You know, I still don't get the reason for the Nazi chevron laying there, near Rabid Hound."

The conversations went on, and in one of them, Magpie replied to my comment over the game of poker we would have with the corpse of the commander:

An uncontrollable amount of laugher sprang up from within after hearing Magpie's comment. Ha-hah-ha-ah-hah-ha-ha! "Whoa!" Ha-ha-ha. It was pretty messed up, but it made me forget what state we're all currently in. I continued to chuckle at it as I finished stirring my food. Borscht rambled on about being good; and with that, I wondered how Borscht managed to come to take a big job, like this one. Yeah, he was strong -very primitive to be exact (at least how it was said in the books) but the way he talked didn't reflect well on his intellect. I'm surprised he didn't fall into a ditch or stop to chase around a Demon while we were scurrying up on the surface for shelter. And who knows, maybe he thinks good is killing. He did say he thought we killed good people –and I believe it too- but he didn’t say he thought killing good people was bad.

“Borscht, what is ‘good,’ for you?”

 

"Good is happy, children, happy things, Borscht is usually happy but it is not a happy place here. Death is not happy and this place smells of death, years of death not just these few days." Borscht did not want to be interrogated, Borscht would slip up, he would panic, say things that weren't true. Borscht does not want to kill anyone, only find the artifact so that he may go home to Borscht's mother "Mother will be afraid Borscht is gone for so long, we must find the key, maybe Rusalka is hiding key from Borscht and you, he wants the key to himself so he hides."

 

I couldn't believe it. I'd stood here and tried to ignore it long enough.

"You expect me to take this shit sitting down? You two have never had a debate. You two have never voted for each other. You two have never called each other out for a damn thing while screaming bloody murder at the slightest sign of poor will. You two clearly seem to know each other, to be friends, yet have made no mention of this whatsoever."

I paused to catch my breath, red in the face.

"You two haven't even tried to hide the fact that you two are in cahoots. Bishop, you and Borscht are up to no good. I can see that both of you jumped on Rusalka as a convenient fall man, but I see through your bullshit, you murderous traitors."

I sure hoped that looks could kill, as I stared directly into Bishop's eyes.

 

"Picking sides, are we now?" Magpie gave me a stern look in the eyes, the same way expert S.T.A.L.K.E.R.S. said to do when you confronted a man-like beast in the Moscow Library. I stared at him back with what felt like the same concentration and determination he had on; though, I doubt he was able to notice with my shades on. He would not break the stare, so I smirked at him and stood up, saying, "What the fuck are you staring at, huh? Do you think that’s gonna work on me, as if I’m some dog?!” I had knocked over the pan in which my chowder had been cooking in, when I stood up, into the flames of the fire. Crackling and popping sounds were accompanied by a heap of gray smoke as the chowder burnt over the flames –it had gone from looking like puke to a large scab.

“Look,” I said, while pointing in the general direction to where Rusalka might be “I ain’t going to deal with your shit and with Rusalka’s secret pile of crap he’s been making in one of those rooms to start flinging at us!” What I just said sounded very childish, but it was the fist thing that came to mind. “The only reason you’re defending Rusalka is because you two have something to hide; and while you’re here being the though guy, Rusalka is back there, somewhere, rigging the place up with traps –setting loose tiles that will open up to nothingness and a sure death, and rocks over doorways to crack our heads open like a coconut!” I was now standing over Magpie, and was face to face with him. I clenched my teeth and spoke through them, saying, “Now, I see where we stand. Now, I see the whole picture. Your reason for accusing Borscht and me is week; but we can turn the tables, you know, us three,” I said, broadly encircling Agrippa, Borscht, and finally myself with my pointing finger “You never had anything on Rusalka as he’s your ally, and I understand; but I never truly realized it until know.” I said, nodding my head a few times.

“Vsevold had been your pick to vote off the team, and it worked. He’s dead now.” Spinning around and walking away from Magpie, I continued with a big grin “My initial vote was for Rusalka. He still here, somewhere,” I said, spreading my arms like a religious figure, “and yet, the killing continues! You’re defending a man that hasn’t even been here for the past night in any of the arguments or the votes. For fuck’s sake, why?!” I turned back to Magpie, and said “You’re full of shit."

 

Perhaps all of Magpie's nagging held some truth. Maybe he was right. Although Rusalka was quiet Bishop seemed to have it all figured out. Cool as a cucumber. And besides, who wears sun glasses in a dark room lit only by a flickering flame. Is he hiding his eyes?

"Magpie is right in one thing at least. You can't be trusted, Bishop, just the same as Magpie, or Borscht. You know that! Why then do you cuddle up with Borscht? You should be keeping a safe distance like the rest of us. Maybe Rusalka's up to no good. But he's just as likely keeping away from killers. So don't stand any taller than any of us because your just as fucking small as us."

 

“Why for fucks sake does everyone think I cuddle up with Borscht?! I’m here, in front of you! Behold, as I am currently cuddled with Borscht, and have been for the past day!” I said, sarcastically. “Argrippa, do you hear yourself? You're like me, except you're teaming up with Magpie and Rusalka -the wrong people. Are you really going to listen to that guy, after his poor accusation toward Borscht and I, that we haven’t argued with each other? Neither have you, you imbecile! You’re just like me! The same damn thing.”

I have no idea what has driven Argippa to go with Magpie on this. Magpie has nothing on me except that I haven’t raised hell with a guy that shouldn’t even be on a job like this. Argrippa also hasn’t made waves with Borscht, but Magpie doesn’t seem to care one bit. That definitely raises a flag. Argippa is definitely being swinddled here.

 

"You know damn well that wasn't meant literally. You two have been the friendliest to each other out of anybody here. Borscht practically echoes what you say, just... in twisted metaphors and gibberish. You both seem well aware of each others' allegiances, You both conveniently pick on the quiet one who dared not object, instead of actually looking for evidence and clues. Maybe he can't stand to see you two bully others in our group into submitting to your ideals.

Am I wrong? Prove it! Prove that you're not the man I can see you to be.

And take off your damn sunglasses. We're indoors with no windows, you fool. The dying fire hurt your eyes?"

 

"Borscht doesn't pick on quiet ones, mother would be unhappy if Borscht did, mother will be worried, Borscht should be back with artifact now, we should stop fighting, Borscht and us are good people, Rusalka is not. You argue between good people when bad people are around, Agrippa, Magpie, Bishop." Borscht had never even said their names "We must work against cultist and none of us and Borscht are murderer. Agrippa is good, Magpie is good but not thief like name suggest and Bishop is good like a Bishop, Rusalka is evil woman, Borscht is just soup, not special, Borscht is very good name for Borscht." Borscht was exhausted but he had to fight his case well and fight everyone elses for no one bad except rusulka.

 

I smirked, once again, at Magpie. I removed my sunglasses and swiftly put them on him. "Ha-ha! There, all better.....Rusalka! Where are you!?" I said before storming off into the corridors.