Jay was already home when Leon opened the door. Just casually sat there on his phone, scrolling through whatever popped up on his feed. Usually something about high class foods. Really liked that kind of content for whatever reason, despite working at a checkout in a discount grocery store.
"Hey Leon…who's that guy?" He asked as Ramon entered to observe the room.
"His name's Ramon." Leon replied as he tried holding his sigh back. "He got thrown into the death game and now he's staying the night here."
"How long we talking?"
"Good question. Ramon, how long we talking?"
"How much time do I have?" Ramon replied by the open fridge. There wasn't much of interest hiding within it, however.
"To be honest, I'd rather you just leave tomorrow."
Leon had heard of this guy, but didn't know the specifics. He could piece together from the last game he was connected, perhaps related, to Mateo or Ines. And he knew he went to North Lion high, until one day when he just…stopped. Regardless, he was fairly sure he was supposed to graduate last year.
"Got it, got it." Ramon said while slowly nodding to himself. "So, do I get the couch?"
"Yeah, you get the couch."
"Okay, Leon?" Jay piped in. "Gotta ask, you doing this for an ally or out of kindness?"
"He just asked and I wanted to get out of the junkyard."
"Well, shouldn't you interrogate him or something?" Jay asked while trying to size up Ramon. "He could be a spy for the gods or whatever?"
"Hm? Nah. Didn't even know about the death games. If I knew earlier I would have tried saving Ines?"
"Which one's Ines again?" Jay whispered as his head shifted to Leon.
"The girl who brings things to life by bleeding on them. The really weak one."
"Don't call her weak!"
If the shout from Ramon was any louder, it'd probably have enough force to knock over at least one poorly built table or desk. Jay took a few steps back behind Leon, just in case. He looked genuinely furious at Leon's statement, but focused on the talk show Jay had on as background noise before continuing the conversation.
"But yeah, Ines is my little sister."
"Got it." Leon replied.
This threw something of a wrench in the works for him. Ines, Tedros, and Mateo made up a pretty decent block of power in this game. Add Ramon, and that was four out of eleven left. And seeing how willing he was to kill Ulysses, it might be worth killing him at the earliest opportunity. Harsh to think about, but nearing the halfway point of this game, it needed to be noted.
"Wait a minute." Jay asked, stepping out from behind Leon. "You aren't staying with your sister?"
"Well, there's…you know…it'd be a bit…questionable to go back right now."
"Because?" Jay asked with his arms crossed.
"Jay, you aren't even a part of this, why do you care so much?"
"I mean, come on. A guy you're supposed to fight to the death later ends up in our place? Are you sure he's not gathering info or whatever?"
"Man, I'm just looking for a place to sleep. He wasn't even my first choice."
"I wasn't his first choice." Leon confirmed slowly.
"Was the first choice his sister?"
"I said I can't go back." Ramon repeated as he clenched his hands into fists.
"And let me ask again. Why's that?"
"Fine, I'll let you know. First off, how old are you?"
"Twenty three."
"And did you go to North Lion?"
"Nah."
"Well, I became somewhat infamous."
"Infamous how?" Jay asked as he turned to Leon. The guy looked to be between Jay and Leon in age, so he'd probably know about him. Leon shrugged.
"Yeah, Leon. You might remember the…scream heard through the city?"
Leon's eyes widened at that revelation.
"That was you?!"
"Heard through the city?" Jay asked, confused. "I didn't hear anything."
"It was a little exaggerated." Ramon admitted. "But still enough to get me expelled."
"No, seriously. What the hell happened?"
"He beat a guy so badly he went blind in one eye. Last time I checked, the guy's family had to move away to get him treatment." Leon whispered.
The school tried to pretend it never happened and nobody in the older classes said anything, possibly under police orders. Elijah really liked the idea of the guy joining the Spades and spent weeks trying to get information when it happened, but it was like he disappeared from the city entirely. And now he was in his living room.
"Okay." Jay replied while slowly nodding in Ramon's direction and refusing to break eye contact. "Can I at least have a reason you did that?"
"Yeah, I guess I can do that." Ramon said while awkwardly scratching his back. "I owe you that much."
"Back in high school, I was the class target. The bigger kids tried pushing my buttons at every opportunity waiting for me to lash out, and I inevitably would. Teachers wouldn't do anything, just tell me not to react and they'd get bored. They never did. So I just took it for four years, right until I overheard them talking about Ines a few months after she enrolled. Something about her condition and saying that it'd be easy to grab and have their way with her. So then I slammed his head into a metal guardrail and stuck my fingers in his eyes until he was streaming blood from both of them. Honestly shocked he was only blinded in one eye."
"Holy shit." Jay whispered as he moved his gaze to Leon.
"And, I'd do it again." Ramon finished proudly.
"I mean…I think I get it." Leon said after a few seconds. He was an only child. Just him and his mother, and that was more than enough. Maybe things would be better for him if he had an older sibling growing up. Maybe he'd have to make things right for a younger sibling. Who's to say? But this could be something to work with. If he were to manufacture a situation where, say, Elijah kills Ines. Then that fight would probably lead to one strong player being killed and save him for a little while. Messed up to think about, but it was something worth considering.
"But anyway, you guys want takeout?" Ramon said as he casually pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket.
"Where did you get that?" Jay asked as he narrowed his eyes.
"Don't think about it."
"No, no. I'm thinking about it. Why do you have that?"
"Can we order from Hip Star Noodles?" Leon asked.
"Oh yeah, sure." Ramon agreed. "What you recommend?"
Elijah was chilling in an empty house. For obvious reasons, he didn't feel like staying in the junkyard. So he was just on his phone, scrolling through shortform videos of cool cars, feeling his brain turn to mush in real time. Look, there wasn't much to do, he thought to himself. Besides, not like he does much anyway. Maybe it was time to dust off his mom's DVD collection or something. Gotta be a cool action movie or crime drama in between the endless historical soap operas.
But then Valerie called.
"Yo, what's up?" Elijah asked, slightly confused. He didn't remember the last time Valerie called him, she was the type to text.
"Elijah, turn on Lion City news. Quick."
Elijah did as she instructed, and on the news were three people discussing something. Two of them were the normal newscasters, he'd occasionally see a billboard with them on it. And the third looked a little familiar, but he couldn't say how. But the footage behind them was just a loop of the junkyard's warehouse falling down.
"Now, youth crime is something you intend to tackle should you be elected, correct?" The newscaster asked.
And that was how Elijah recognized the guy. He was the politician that his boss was into! The real sleazy one, Eugene or whatever.
"Well, it can't be ignored anymore. The fear of crime is rising, and it is indeed something I intend to tackle with more police presence, but of course we can't properly address the cities issues without fully revamping the centre."
"And what's the plan there?"
"We're gonna bulldoze everything and make it a new hub for any issues the city has! Progress has to be made, through any means necessary!"
"Hm, interesting." The second news lady answered. "What about the people living in the centre?"
Elijah turned the TV off.
"What the fuck was that?" He whispered to Valerie.
"You think the cops are on our asses?"
"What illegal stuff did we do?" Elijah asked.
"Still, all this shit about the extra police, for what?"
"Well, they said fear of crime." Valerie replied. "But I've pulled up the stats, and it says actual crime is going down for the most part."
"Most part?"
"I mean, says public drunkenness is up a little. But assault, gang stuff, knife stuff…yeah, that's all been down for a while."
"So what's his deal, then?"
"I guess he wants the centre for something?" Valerie said. She was probably the most socially aware of the Spades for obvious reasons. "No idea what, though. Maybe I can talk to…Leon."
She hesitated to say Leon, like always. It wasn't a trigger word for him or anything, but she acted like it was.
"Yeah, go ahead." He sighed.