Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Those who are Right.

_______________________________________________________

-Star Charter -

Special

Strength: 7

Perception: 6

Endurance: 6

Charisma: 5

Intelligence: 4

Agility: 8

Luck: 4

-Skills-

Explosives- 50

Small Guns- 61

Melee Weapons- 60

Trait: Kamikaze - Star Charter acts fast and recklessly when in conflict. She is often the first to attack, even when taken by surprise. Because of her reckless nature, she rarely gets out unscratched, having -2 damage threshold.

Trait: Hot Blooded - Star has a +15% damage increase but a -2 to Perception and Agility when health is below 50%.

Unique trait: Evil Eye’s Corruption - Star was "given" the power of the evil eye at the age of 11. This gives her the power of terrifying presence when making eye contact as well as regeneration. The use of the evil eye does damage to Star, starting with bleeding from her eyes which progresses until she is bleeding from every orifice. Her regeneration keeps the evil eye from crippling her. Though magical, the eye uses her natural energy to heal. Because of this, she will need to eat or risk her body consuming itself. The self-consumption of her body also puts great strain on her body. It pumps adrenaline to extreme levels and causes her to go into a berserk state of hunger.

Developed Perk: Canterlot Gourmay - Your discerning palette allows you to gain more health benefits from food and drink and resist substance addiction.

Developed Perk: Foal at Heart - Opens up dialog options with younger NPCs and characters.

Learned Skill: Stone Throw - when tossing heavy rocks for hours on end a pony quickly learns how to throw them a bit better. Star Charter can throw weapons 10% farther with 10% more accuracy.

Perk- Earlier Sequence: Star reacts a little faster in a fight, possibly faster than anypony around her. This often gives her the first strike in a fight.

Perk- Pathfinder- Star’s intuition leads her in the right direction, even if it is down a twisting path. She will commonly find shortcuts when traveling or avoid going down the wrong path. All through intuition alone.

Perk- War Dancer - All’s fair in love and war, and being able to move one’s hips can also help in both. When dealing with the opposite sex, Star gains a -5% to damage taken and a +5% to damage given along with new dialogue options.

-Gear-

Cosmic Cutlass: A sword that both holds an edge and is more durable than any known metal, but most strange is its ability to take in and hold heat. The blade will have an added burning effect if ever near a heat source.

Nightstalkers Regarded: An enchanted 10.mm fully automatic pistol with snake-like engraving and paint that resembles the ghost Nightstalker. It has the ability to envenomize those hit by its bullets.

Outlaw: A 10mm Griffinstone Typewriter made by the Gunrunner Hardballer for controlled and sustained fire. Perfect for life in the wasteland. Though heavy compared to all other SMG’s, it has almost no recoil and is built to even outlast its user. The gun also has an air of mischief and style only a roguish pony could truly enjoy.

-Companion-

Caval: This young Ghost Nightstalker will go wherever Star goes as her protector.

_______________________________________________________

It was like a pain I had never known before. It was worse than any physical injury or sharp word. I could lash out at that kind of pain to make myself feel better by breaking a leg or two.

But no. There was no making myself feel better from this. The pony I wanted to hurt for it was far out of my reach.

This pain boar itself deep inside of me so deeply that I knew it was now permanently part of me. It was something I would have to live with until I die. Was it guilt? No. I heard guilt was like a heavy weight on one's back where this was more like a void. Part of me had been carved out, leaving me empty on the inside.

Loss. That had to be it. I was looking at Prism and it made me feel hollow.

Prism breathing had only become weaker as the day turned to night. Each breath filled me with the dread that it was the last one. I knew she could not live forever. We lived in the wasteland. Pony’s die here. Everypony dies at some point. Not even the goddesses were exempt from that truth.

Looking down, Bridget was fast asleep next to me. Her energy died down with the sunset. I was at a loss as to what I was going to do next. How was I to raise Bridget without Mom? Do I take her with me into Desperado territory or leave her here with the Gunrunners? Just thinking about it made me want to hurt myself for letting things get this bad.

If Skipper had not run off, then Briget would not be at the whims of her irresponsible mother. Disappearing to become a Talon and never showing his beak for the last six years, I can’t even remember what I saw in the pink hippogriff fool.

The flaps to the tent rustle as Jali quietly trotted in. She noddiedat me as she went over to check on Prism. A long sigh came from her. The ghoul looked over at me and motioned with her head for me to go outside.

Stepping out together, Jali pulled out a packet of cigarettes. They were clearly hoof rolled. It was not something from the old world. Passing me one, I accepted. We both shared a moment of silence as we breathed in the wasteland tobacco. It was harsh but strong in flavor and effect.

“How much longer?” I asked.

Jali’s eyes looked tired, both from having to do this for over two hundred years and that it was another friend she was burying. “Not long. She will likely soon go into a state of extreme pain, possibly some mutation or rapid tumor growth. That's why I’m offering to… let her die with… dignity.”

I snarled at her but held back as I swallowed down my anger at her suggestion. “How so?”

She took a long drag from the cigarette. Smoke escaped holes in her cheeks and some in her neck. “We happen to have a very powerful opioid in our stock. It’s too strong to be given to any pony without killing them. It can be diluted, but the risk of addiction is still considerably high if used. It should be powerful enough to ease Prism's pain as we disconnect her life support and let her pass away peacefully.”

Talking a long drag myself, the nicotine filled my lungs and restored a brief sense of calm. I didn’t like the suggestion to hasten Prism's death, but if anything could ease her pain, I wanted her to have it. “Are you sure that will work?”

“Not my first time doing this. Friends, family, strangers. Met a lot who could not be saved, but would suffer greatly if I did nothing. Sometimes it was a plague. Other times it’s a fellow ghoul who finally went feral. Met one pony who had all their limbs cut off by raiders and just wanted the pain to stop.”

Jali took another long drag of her cigarette, turning it all to ash before dropping it and stomping it out before she continued. “It’s part of the job I hate the most. No matter what any of us do, the patient is being harmed. I’ve seen some with weaker minds be driven mad from having to do such things. After that, the only solution I can see is to let them go. It’s one of the few times when I’ve administered a bullet as the solution.”

I also finished off my cigarette. I took the time to process all of this. I knew there was nothing I could do to save Prism. What was done to her far beyond any ponies ability to fix. She was clearly in pain and it was getting worse. I was also leaving soon and I didn’t want to leave her alone again. No. Not again and not like that.

“Alright… but I want to say one last thing to her,” I told Jali. The ghoul simply nodded back at me.

Trotting back inside the tent, I went to Prism. I again held her hoof. Jali soon entered. Following her was one of the other alicorns who gently levitated Bridget out of the tent.

Taking a deep breath, my mind was all mixed up on what to say, but eventually I found the words. “I’m going to miss you Mom… so much that it hurts. But I’m going to try my best out there. To be the good pony you saw me as. To show Bridget that her Mom is like that hero from the book. I’ll also make sure she has a safe place to grow up. There's a chance that I’ll mess up again, but I’ll make sure to set things right if I do, so don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. When it’s time for the waters to finally claim me, I’m sure we will meet again. I’ll tell you all about what good I’ve done and how Bridget has grown up to be a fine mare.”

Prism stirred as her eyes opened slightly. A small smile formed on her face. “I… expect nothing… less from my… daughter.”

Holding her hoof tightly, Jali administered the chem. For a brief moment strength returned to Prism. “I love you, Star,” she said before her eyes closed and she drifted off. Jali stopped as the machines kept Prism alive. The pulse in her hoof grew weaker and weaker until it just… stopped. I held onto her a bit longer as I did my best to hold back my tears, but they flowed anyway.

Finally, and painfully, I let go of Prism. making sure her hoof was pushed over herself and not left hanging. She looked peaceful, as though she was finally getting the sleep she had deprived from herself for all these years.

Jali placed two old-world bits over Prism’s eyes before placing a blanket over her face. She then trotted over to me and raised a hoof to console me. However, I didn’t want to hear it and slapped her hoof away.

"Give me some time,” I told her. The old Ghoul did just that as she left the tent, letting me be alone.

I sat there not knowing what to do or where to go. Without Mom I had no home. Mom had been my home, and now she is gone. As I let the tears flow from my eyes, the exhaustion from everything today began to take me over. I let it go. I let sleep take me as I sat next to Prism. For one last time, I wanted her warmth next to me, even as it fades.

_______________________________________________________

“Welcome back Star,” Lethe spoke as she cleaned a broken glass at her bar. “You look like you can use something dry and filled with flavor.”

I had somehow found myself at Lethe Watering Hole, but it was not in town. The place was literally in the middle of nowhere. Nothing seemed familiar. It was just dry barren land filled with dead plants and bones. Above me was the biggest and reddest moon I had ever seen.

“Here. This one's on the house. And before you ask again, the answer is the same. It’s an investment. No strings. Just expectations.” Lethe then placed several bottles on the table in an ice-filled bucket with glasses inside. It also had a fresh lemon. I had never seen an actual lemon in my life before.

“How… What is this place?” I asked her.

The ghoul, Lethe, began mixing the drinks together. “You're neither here nor there. We’re at someplace that isn’t someplace. It's clearly a dream, but you're very much awake.”

This did not help. In fact, it only made me more confused. “Have I gone mad or delirious?”

Lethe chuckled as she used some sort of press to squeeze the juice of the lime into a small cup then poured it into the glass. “A bit late to ask that. You went mad a long time ago. It can be said that you were born mad and sanity is not your natural state” She grabbed a large bottle with a mushroom shaped cork and popped it out. It popped. Bubbles flowed out as she poured some of it into the glass. “Now sit and enjoy this drink. You're going to need it.”

Taking a deep breath, I sat down while looking at the fancy drink

Before I could ask another question, Lethe answered, “It’s called Ambrosia. It was quite a popular drink in Canterlot during Equestrias’s golden age. Celestia was the one who named it that. It also helped that it’s quite a good tasting drink, though pales in comparison to actually Ambrosia.”

I took a sip of the drink. I found that it tasted wonderful, but I also found no joy in drinking it. “By Ambrosia, what do you mean?”

“Oh no. It’s far from that concoction of warped magic,” Lethe assured with a chuckle. “Something you will find out... eventually.”

Downing the rest of the drink, I tossed the empty glass. It shattered in the distance. “Alright, tell me what’s going on!” I demanded to know. “What the fuck is all this? The fucks wrong with the moon? How the fuck is your bar out here? And how the fuck did you get a fresh lemon and ice?”

She smiled at me with her perfectly white teeth. “Dear Star, that’s not for you to know… not yet that is… or maybe ever... I’m just making sure you understand what must be done.”

“Fuck what must be done! Tell me what all this shit is or I’m going to break your fucking face. I don’t know if you understand, but I’m not in the mood for crazy shit right now!” I threatened Lethe.

Somehow Lethe became far more menacing looking. Her suit seemed to be made of shadows. A skeletal-like figure that was even more thin and frail, all the while her empty eyes glowed with a blue light.

Lethe spoke with a loud wispy voice that sounded like it was the wind itself. “Abandoned child, blooded fighter, navigator, cannibal, daughter, mother, friend, enemy, and one who deals death. A pony can become many things in their life, many of which will condemn them to death. You are no different. Only by the negligence of others have you been given the life to achieve these titles. A privilege that can be revoked!”

“That’s enough!” the voice of a meek mare spoke up, causing Lethe to turn back to normal.

Joining me at the bar was a cream gray-colored unicorn with a red-orange and yellow mane. She had freckles-covered face and a cutie-mark of a painted rainbow. It somehow felt very familiar to me. The mare looked at me and smiled as she passed Lethe two bits. Lethe quickly made her an ambrosia cocktail before going back to cleaning another glass.

“Who are you?” I asked, feeling at ease by her presence.

She chuckled. “You know, I never could tell how tall you actually are. Everypony just seems so small when you're so tall.”

Looking her in the eyes, I just knew. “Mm.. Mom?”

Prism Paint smiled warmly as she took the drink Lethe made. “I can’t even remember how old I was when I gave myself to Unity, but then I didn’t care at the time. All I cared about was running away. It was all I had left. The unending cloud cover robbed my dreams of seeing rainbows. Poverty stole me of my dignity as I became a whore. My own negligence caused the death of my son. I guess I believe that if I died, I would be punished for what I let happen, so I ran and became part of Unity. Life was already a punishment. I didn’t want it in death as well.”

She took a long sip of the drink and squealed with joy. “Oh this is good.”

“The number one drink of Canterlot, long before its fall,” Lethe announced with pride.

Leaning on my shoulder, Prism sighed. “I always thought that I should never have become a mother. It’s not like I chose to in the first place. As you know, it simply happens when you're selling your body for just a few caps. So, when you became pregnant, I was terrified, but then you changed. You chose to be responsible. You became everything I wish I had been so long ago.”

“But that’s all ruined now.” I sighed. “And it’s all my fault.”

“You’ll be fine. All you need to do is stay calm and think of what to do. You're sure to find the right path,” Prism told me before she took another sip of her drink. “Doesn't matter what it is so long as your mind is clear when you make that choice.”

I felt calm. It was as if everything was alright at this moment. I even felt like I could joke, despite the reality. “What if I decided to follow the same career of both my mothers? Sell my body for caps?” I asked with a chuckle.

Prism frowned. “That’s not funny. Not when you can do far more than that. But… I’m sure if you think it’s the right thing to do, then do it without regrets. Just don’t make the same mistake I did and get lost in despair and hopelessness. And please, make sure Bridget has a mother for years to come.”

She sat up straight and finished her drink. “Also, I wouldn’t mind if you gave her a little brother or sister. I just wish I could be there to see it.”

I laughed. I found the request unlike Prism, yet somehow it was something she wanted to say to me for a long time now. “I would give almost anything to have you here with me again.”

Prism laughed as well. “I know, but the price you would pay, from what Lethe told me, is not worth paying.”

Lethe took the empty glass and nodded. “Yes. Doing such things disrupts the natural flow of life and death. To have it flow in reverse destabilizes the foundations of reality itself. Not even Discord would do such a thing, even in jest.”

Placing a hoof on my shoulder, Prism looked me in the eyes with a serious look of determination. “It’s time, Star, so listen to me. Stay calm and don’t lose your head. So long as you do that, everything will be fine.”

“Mom, what are you talking about?” I asked her.

She hugged me. “Even if I’m not with you physically, I’ll do my best to be with you in spirit.”

_______________________________________________________

“Star! Wake up!” Jali said as she stood over me. A look of worry was on her face.

“What… happened?” I asked as I sat up. I looked at my pipbuck. It was still late, but getting close to morning. I must have been out for only a few hours.

"You need to go, and now!" she ordered me firmly.

“What’s going on?” I asked, but the sound of shouting quickly confirmed what was going on.

“Do we have to knock over every one of these tents? Bring her out now!” Ashy Oaks shouted from outside.

I snarled as I grabbed my sword.

Jali stopped me and hissed. "Are you mad?!"

"Damn right I am, and you should be too!" I hissed back at her.

"Trust me, I'm as pissed as you, but I will not have a shootout here of all places," Jali said calmly.

I took my hoof off my sword and breathed in deeply to calm my mind. What did that dream tell me? To stay calm and don't lose my head?

"Fine,” I resolved, “but what am I to do? And where's Bridget?"

"The little one is safe. She is in a tent with the other foals here, under close watch," she informed me as she moved to the tent's door. "There's a little passway just behind this tent. It will take you to a cave you can hide in until they pass. I'd have had you teleported out, but that mare is still dealing with the mess you left at the NCRCF."

"So, run away and hide. It's just not fair, but fine. I would rather not cause trouble here. You're good folk and you have to deal with enough brahmin shit as it is." I told her as I gathered my things.

"Thanks and good luck," Jali told me as she left the tent.

Drawing my cosmic cutlass, I made a cut at the back of the tent and hopped out. The nearly full moon helped me see where I needed to go with the path illuminated just enough for me to find and follow it.

"Have you gone mad?! This is a place of healing. Stop this nonsense!" Jali shouted in the distance.

"From a pony harboring a known criminal? That's a lark!" Ashy shouted back.

I wanted to go back, but I also knew that the old ghoul would be fine. Jali has worked to help ponies far longer than I have been alive. Not even Ashy could justify attacking her.

Leaving the camp behind, the trail was not long. The caves were nestled behind some dead bushes.

"Thought as much," the worn voice of Stopped Clock spoke from within the cave. A small flame illuminated his face as he lit a cigarette. "The Followers are smart, but not smart enough to be unpredictable."

I took a step back but froze when I heard the cocking of a gun from behind me.

"Nowhere to go, Star. We know this part of the wasteland like the back of our hooves," The asshole sucked on his cigarette as he trotted into the moonlight. "There's only a few places you can run and hide here, and Ashy has the other deputies blocking the other routes. Now drop those weapons or be shot right here and now."

"Fuck!" I breathed as I unlatched my saddlebag and let it slide off my back.

"Good. Now come quietly with us. You have a date with a noose," Stopped said to me as he levitated a revolver in my direction.

I wanted to jump him and tear his throat out, but I stayed calm. I was outgunned and outmaneuvered right now. Anyways, if I go with him, I'll likely get to see Ashy up close. Maybe get a shot at her.

One of Stopped Clock's deputies ran off as the rest escorted me around the Followers camp where everything had gone silent. As we skirted the edges of the town, I could see lights in the distance along with the sound of music. The Lightbringer festival must have started, meaning sunrise was not far off.

We eventually arrived at a familiar place, the town graveyard. The place was dotted with both crude and well-made tombstones along with plenty of pre-dug holes.

"Looks like the new grave digger's been really busy. Hope the fucker's not as much of a creeper like the last one," I said as I was marched to the center of the graveyard where the gallows stood.

"Keep talking. Not a lot of good it will do you," Stopped Clock said as he poked me with his revolver.

It was all I could do right now, so I flashed him a smile. "Topsoil got what he deserved. He stalked Cloudy and tryed to kill me and all."

Stopped Clock lowered his gun. "Ahh! Finally willing to talk about that."

"Ya… yes I will, not that I'm guilty of jack shit. But you’re still going to up and murder me no matter what I say," I told him.

"It's justice, not murder," he growled out.

That got a laugh out of me. "Like how the NCRCF was totally not a slave labor camp, or how Ashy is not just another cold-blooded-"

A swift hit with the butt of a revolver to the side of my head caused me to stumble. "I don't want to hear that out of a criminal's mouth."

"And what? Shoot unarmed me and pretend it's not murder?!" I spat out at him.

He raised his gun at me. A snarl was on his face. "It be a mercy you don't deserve."

"That's enough!" shouted Ashy as she trotted over while flanked by six more deputies.

"So the queen bitch is here. Kill any more innocent ponies lately?" I mocked her.

"None I've killed were innocent. Every last one deserved what they got," Ashy assured calmly as she trotted over. "That includes you, Star."

I glared at her. "Tell that to the Gunrunners, I'm sure they will see it your way. I mean after Longslide shares the video of you murdering Hardballer. I've also heard that the Talons are the most forgiving creatures in the wasteland. Once you’re dead and all."

She paused, but for only a moment. The cold uncaring look on her face did not faltering once.

"He was the least innocent of them all and far more deserving of a worse fate than the one he got," Ashy said as she trotted closer to me until we were only a few hooves apart. "I have suffered too long for some budding raider to give me lip."

"Oh fucking get off that woe is me pity train, bitch. I neither have the patience nor the fucks to give to even care about your life," I said with a snarl as I looked her in the eyes. "It's the wasteland. Shit happens and we all have no choice but to move on. You can keep digging up the past, but eventually the rot will set in and the crops you parade around will be just dust."

Ashy drew a gun and smacked me with it, but unlike the revolver before, this felt awkward. Getting back up, I saw that she was holding Checoff's Promise in her magic, Slowtrot's gun. The same gun she used to kill Hardballer.

"What do you even know, child?" she asked with gritted teeth.

I growled back at her. The feeling of rage was just barely held back. "What do I know? How about the fact that if you didn't unjustly throw me in that prison, maybe my mother would still be alive right now! I could have protected her, but no. I was breaking rock and fighting an insane steel ranger!"

I took a step forward. My eyes locked on her. The magic in my eyes kept her frozen in place. "And suffering? Prism suffered all her life and not once did she lash out. No. Not even once. She saved me and helped others. When she was tied down by spiked chains, she cared more about my safety. When her wings were sawed off, she didn't stop to cry. Instead, she fought on and never regretted losing them. Prism suffered, but all you saw was a monster worthy of your hate."

I felt pain in my eyes as its power drained me. I was pushing all my own pain at her. I wanted her to feel everything. "You know what I see, right now, looking back at me? I see a monster in the form of a pony, and that monster deserves all my hate."

I felt another hit to the side of my head which sent me to the ground. Stopped stood above me. A look of disgust was on his face. "So you are a mutant. I had always suspected."

My vision was reddish from the blood in my eyes. I had let it all out. Let other ponies see it, and it felt good.

Ashy had fallen over and was being helped up by two of her deputies. Shock and horror were on her face along with hate and disgust. "String her up before she does any more strange magic," she wheezed out.

I was dragged away by several deputies. Several more trained their guns on me. I was going nowhere but to the gallows. Pulled up, a noose was placed around my neck as the bitch watched.

Stopped Clock spoke loudly and with authority. "I will now list the crimes this… pony has committed."

The way he said pony sounded as though he was talking about some monster in the shape of a pony.

"Arson, vandalism, assault and battery, extortion, public indecency-" he listed.

"I was drunk at the time!" I clarified.

He continued. "Underage drinking, discharge of a firearm in a public place, possible murder of the town gravedigger, consorting with raiders and supplying them with arms."

I rolled my eyes. "The Desperados are not raiders for fuck sakes."

"They'll be not much of anything soon," Stopped Clock sneered.

Something in me didn't like the sound of that. "What did you mean by that? What have you done?"

He glared at me as he explained. "By now, they should have been exterminated down to the last raider. Took some planning. It was only made more difficult by your arrival, but it matters not anymore. By sunrise, their camp will be nothing but ash and corpses as all raiders should end up."

"You… WHAT!" I shouted as my blood boiled. "They have innocent foals and the elderly there! The Desperados aren't raiders, their ponies. Their families live there. How can you even do that? Is your fucking justice just some excuse?"

"Stopped Clock, is what she says true?" Ashy asked her head deputy.

"In the way that there are several generations of raiders living there. They simply pass on their madness to the next generation as they always have, and always will. We are simply pulling out this problem at its roots for the good of all," he coldly explained.

"Oh bramin shit ya ignorant fuck!" I said loudly, glaring at them with all my hate. "You're so far up your own ass that you can't tell raiders from ganggers. The Desperados are only still here because of that Blue Skies contract keeping them here! What is wrong with you? All of you?"

He glared back at me coldly. "We're perfectly normal, unlike a monster like you. And it was Blue Skies who so generously kept those raiders in one place and offered their help in the extermination of their nest."

I looked at Ashy who was avoiding eye contact with her hat. "And you, miss justice, believe any of this?"

"How I see it," Ashy's voice was not just cold, but it felt empty. "Even if what you say is true, it still doesn't change what the Desperados are. A roving band of marauders is just another way to describe raiders. I have seen all types of raiders in my time, and it all ends the same, given time. They either kill you, or you kill them. Even the foals eventually come back as full-fledged raiders, so they must be razed from the ground and the land salted, otherwise, they will return. For the good of all, any raiders or slavers must be killed. It doesn't matter if they say they don't do that no more. At least for the sake of their victims, they must die."

I laughed. Just the idea of me thinking she could even care was comical to me. It all was ridiculous to me now. I hated it so much. "Spoken like an evil pony if I ever heard one before. At least I stop to think if what I'm doing is wrong. That, maybe I should do something different! But you? You go all in and don't look back. You feel so sure that you're right, you're willing to act just like a raider. Oh how the mighty has fallen. The great slaver hunter, the bringer of order. Now nothing more than a raider who sells ponies into slavery."

She snarled then shouted, "Enough! I hereby judge you guilty and sentence you to be hung by the neck until dead!"

One of the deputies pulled a lever and the floor beneath me gave way. Instinctively I tightened the muscles in my neck which helped prevent the fall from snapping my neck. No way I was making this easy on them.

A loud flash illuminated the graveyard followed by a bang that echoed through the town. If I was not slowly being strangled to death, I would have laughed at the fact my sendoff got some fireworks.

It at least gave me a better look at Ashy as more fireworks lit up the sky. She looked as though she had not slept in days. Deep bags were under her eyes and her clothes were disheveled. If anything, I was sure she would be following me in death soon, hopefully by her own gun.

Another light lit up the sheriff and her deputies. It got brighter and brighter. The deputies ran, as though from something. They pulled out their guns.

Everything flipped around for a moment. The noose around my neck suddenly loosened. After a moment, I realized Harp was looking down at me and I was in the Smuggler. The rubble of the gallows was all around us and its gun fired wildly.

"You're late!" I scolded them as I threw off the noose and got up to look around. "Now which asshole has my shit?"

_______________________________________________________