reefnet | RE419S | audio/text sent to everyone but DI481O

[ Hours—several—after Q&A with the anonymous callsign's come to an end, Rust breaks his walkie silence for the first time since the storm. He sounds raspy-voiced but keyed up, intent. His drawl's more clipped than usual, but he doesn't rush. ]

Bout a week ago, the man who's been calling himself Officer Ben De Guzman pulled a gun on me, knocked me out when I fought back. He then cuffed me, took my shit, and up till today had me leading him around that fucking cabin to the Northeast. Ah, this included forcing me to help put together a bloody arrow, leave it out for the guy living there like some kind of a fucking love note.

His callsign's DI481O. [ He repeats it for good measure. ] Mid-forties, Mexican, six feet. Muscular build. He's got a mustache, a grey streak in his hair. He dies, he'll come back in jeans, a button-down workshirt, red bandana. He'll have sustained a gunshot wound to his left leg and he'll be limping. His gun'll have four rounds, but I don't think I gotta tell anyone how easy it is to pick up new weaponry around here.

Most of what he said on here was bullshit. As you mighta gathered.

His name's Eduardo Salamanca. He's cartel, top of the fucking food chain. Drug manufacture and distribution, wide-scale killing on his say-so. This is a powerful man used to getting his way. He's also— [ The merest pause, a huff of breath. ] obsessive. Vengeful. Prone to fixate on people he sees as having wronged him or diminished his status. Capable, too. Not a hunter, but he can survive alright on his own.

[ Another, longer pause. When he comes back some of the weariness from the past week bleeds into his voice. ] I'm gonna type all this up for you. Ah, anyone who can write it down, please do. Tell anyone you know who might not be on the walkie.

Um, I took a print of his boot—I'll see if I can't get that out there. Anyone who's talked to him recently, I'd like to hear from you. You think he might come after you, I'd like to hear about that too. I've also got some questions.

Whos hurt/how bad? Anyone familiar with Salamanca's name? Anyone turn up something from his world during the storm?

[ OOC: True to his word, Rust will painstakingly type up a text version of this, which will take him a good twenty minutes.

He will ALSO be monitoring Lalo's walkie for a conveniently unspecified period of time, so if you want your char to look shady, now's your chance! Reply here with a message for Lalo and Rust will intercept it. (Or ignore this if your char is too smart for such ploys!) ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[God, he wishes work had just been boring.]

That's a really good point! :)
Yeah.
We met properly when we started working in the Archives together.
But I'd seen him around before when we were in different departments.
He always looked so focused and intense about whatever he was doing.
Passion's a really attractive quality and Jon has that in spades.

What is the Archives? Yeah. Passion is important. You can't have a relationship with somebody without it. Is he nice to you? Or do you guys fight a lot?

[ Maddy assumes, based on previous experience, that if Jon is passionate then he and Martin probably do fight a lot...but maybe not? Samantha said she didn't fight with her husband, and Martin doesn't seem like the fighting type. But people can surprise you sometimes. ]

Oh, sorry!
The Archives department at the place I worked.
It's... sort of like a library?
We store and preserve old records the researchers at the Institute can request.

[Technically, this is true and is the job he'd signed up for. Never mind Elias leaving out 90% of the actual job description.]

He didn't used to be very nice, but he's grown a lot as a person since I first met him.
We both have.
We sometimes fight, but a lot of the time we don't.
And when we do, we talk it through and sort it out.

[Or Jon corners him into stabbing him...]

Oh. That sounds nice.

[ It actually sounds boring af, but Martin is a nice guy so even the usually blunt Maddy isn't going to tell him, "Your job sounds boring af." Besides, maybe it's not boring to him? He sounds like he enjoys it, anyway. ]

Yea that's what my friend Samantha says about her and her husband too. She says they don't really fight very much. And when they do they work it out. I just can't picture myself in a relationship like that tho. Like, how do you guys do it? Don't you ever want to make him jealous just so you know he cares about you? Or like don't you want to start a fight with him just for the thrill? I just can't imagine being satisfied in a relationship where we don't fight. Like I would need some darkness. Must be nice tho.

I mean, you can have conflict and... spice? without fighting with someone you love.
Have you tried being with someone and not fighting with them?

[ Maddy gnaws on her lip as she bangs out her response. He's got her there. ]

I mean, no. But like the kind of guys I like are the kind of guys who would fight with me. Whether I tried to fight with them or not. I don't know if I could even be attracted to a guy who was really nice to me. I would feel like something was missing. If he was too nice all the time.

[ Specifically, too nice to her. She doesn't want to be abused again, not like with Nate, but you don't have to be abused just to argue with someone.

...Do you? ]

Is it that you don't trust someone being nice?
Like they're being inauthentic if they don't fight with you?
Because there are definitely better ways to communicate than yelling at each other.

Kinda. But not inauthentic. More like he didn't care about me. If you really care about me, I should be able to make you jealous and mad! You know? If you don't get mad then how do I know he even cares? And fights make things more exciting too. How do you and ur bf keep things exciting? I dont mean like sexually lol but just like how do you keep the relationship feeling fresh and new?

Edited 2023-11-12 02:07 (UTC)

[This girl sounds... incredibly exhausting to be in a relationship with. Jon has his problems. Martin knows he has his own. But starting fights just to start them isn't one of those problems. But she's a teenager. One who doesn't seem to have a lot of experience. Maybe she can learn?]

You can know when they tell you they love you?
When they show you they care with kindness, rather than angry words or jealousy.
Cuddling or kissing you, bringing you gifts, doing things for you and with you.
Just showing you gratitude when you do things for them.
Looking at you in a way they don't look at anyone else.
Making you laugh.
Remembering your birthday or dates that are important to you or your favorite color or flowers.
There are so many other ways for them to show they really care.

We've had a lot of excitement in our day-to-day lives lately.
So, we try to be the quiet in the storm for each other.
Learning new things about him, trying new things together.
Those are the things I'd love to do with him when things settle down.

[ "This girl sounds exhausting to be in a relationship with" oh buddy you don't know the half of it.

But Martin helped saved Maddy's life, so she's reluctant to tell him that she doesn't think the kind of relationship he's describing is possible for her, because of all the things that make her exhausting to be in a relationship with. She knows they exist for other people, but for her? There's something deeply and irrevocably wrong with her, a darkness in her. Something that can't be satiated by a nice boy. Maddy is sure of it.

But that's a lot to dump on someone who was nice enough to answer her question, especially when he's already helped her so much. It's not like it's Martin's problem that there's something wrong with Maddy. That's Maddy's own shit to deal with.

So she says back only: ]

hmmmmm okay thanks martin :) i'll think about that

[Or maybe she won't learn anything. Martin sighs to himself, more annoyed than anything now. But he'll be nice.]

Okay!
Thanks for asking.
I'm sure you'll find someone nice.
Just... probably not here.

[ teenagers, amirite? ]

i mean u never know like what if shawn mendes gets sent here?

Edited 2023-11-14 02:20 (UTC)

[...]

I don't think I know who that is.
A celebrity?

[ Oh, right. She forgot almost everybody on this island is old. ]

lol he's like the hottest guy ever. don't worry about it. you're taken anyway.

Oh, right!
I'll take your word for it. :)

RE419S | audio/text sent to everyone but DI481O | Night 23

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