Outside the Diner

[Taranis]

It is a warm afternoon and the sun shines brightly in the sky. Alexandre leans against a tree by the entrance of the diner quietly observing the few locals trickle in and out as they go about their day. Occasionally he glances out over the hill towards the lake. Usually he would be down by the shore enjoying the sun's rays on a day such as this, but this time something is different... Something... missing. His contemplation is quickly broken as a large black fly decides to lodge itself in his throat. With a sudden gag he spits the fly to the ground and stomps on it, loudly exclaiming:

"I DON'T THINK SO YOU LITTLE BASTARD. I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO!"

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey paused on her way out of the diner, a look halfway between bewilderment and alarm on her face as she stared in Alex's direction. One hand was already in her medical bag, and she quickly scanned the area for the emergency. Not seeing any hostiles, she made sure both her first aid kit and the pea shooter were readily accessible before cautiously approaching Alexandre.

"Everything okay?" she asked, looking at him with obvious concern.

[Taranis]

Alexandre jumps at the sound of Kelsey's voice, raising his hands as if to claw at the unexpected visitor. Upon realizing that it is Kelsey he freezes before lowering his less than intimidating stance.

"I, uhh, yes! Everything is... fine! I'm just not myself, er, no, I... am myself, I just don't know... uhh..."

He looks down at his hands with an obviously frazzled expression on his face.

"Just confused is all... So how goes the doctoring? I can imagine standard medical protocol must have been thrown out the window given recent events, but I'm more of an expert in taking people apart than putting them back together." he says glibly.

[Owle Isohos]

Blink. Blink. Blink.

For three awkward seconds Kelsey stared at him in confusion, then shrugged in reply. "There's not much for me to do once the fighting's over, and that's a good thing. I mostly just do the equivalent of putting duct tape over any tears until the real doctors can do their work. But...yeah. I know I dropped out of med school, but I don't think there's a standard medical procedure for surgically removing a chest burster from someone. And you're generally supposed to have like...a hospital, and equipment. Fuck, just keeping everything sterilized is a challenge out here. But, hey, most of us made it through okay."

She studied his face for a moment, then asked, "Um...I know it's probably none of my business, but do you want to talk about whatever's going on? I don't mind if the answer's no."

[Taranis]

A bit surprised by the genuine concern, Alex looks up.

"...Honestly, I would love to, but..." He pauses for a moment,
"...I've been living with other's thoughts in my head for so long... Now I finally have the opportunity to collect my own." He sighs,
"Tell me, why is it that you are here? What drives you to continue helping people, especially in Whisper Hill, of all the crazy, fucked up places in the world?"

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey didn't press him further, but stopped to consider his question.

"...Because this is where you are," she answered at last. "Not you, personally, but..." With one hand, she indicated the diner in a sweeping gesture. "All of us. Because I've seen you stand against the Darkness. Because I'm part of this, and I won't walk away. I could, I think. But I don't think I could much live with myself if I did."

The medic shrank into herself a bit, as if embarrassed to give such a grandiose answer. "As for what drives me to keep helping people...well...it's a bit like asking me why I keep breathing. What about you? What drives you to keep fighting, and to stay here?"

Kelsey chuckled softly. "You know, besides the world ending if we don't."

[Taranis]

Alexandre dwells on the idea of staying in such a place only to help people, the concept sounding so alien to him given his track record. He then moves on to contemplate Kelsey's inquiry...

"...It's funny. Originally I came here on the run. I was trying simply to stay alive given my new and unfortunate life circumstances. I was fighting simply to be, with no real cause other than survival, but now..." He looks around, scanning the town.

"...Now it just feels right. I can't explain it. It simply feels as though I am meant to be here and shape the way things go. There is something about this town, it's people, the creatures, that fills me with a need to stay, a need to... help."

Alex stops to think about what he had just said, but before he can come up with any meaningful thoughts another fly decides to land on his face. There is a loud *WHACK* as Alex smacks himself in the nose to be rid of the tiny insectoid abomination. In a bit of a daze he exclaims,

"or maybe I'm here for the sole purpose of COMMITTING GENOCIDE!" He starts frantically swinging his arms about, attempting to shoe off the swarm of flies that had since increased in number due to the presence of more people.

"WHERE'S NICK AND HIS MAGIC TENNIS RACKET WHEN YOU NEED HIM."

[Brett]

Brett made his way up towards the diner waving his hat at those he recognized on the porch. seemingly unaffected by the swarm of black flies he seems bright and cheery, even his veins are a rosy shade of green.

"Nice day out, great photo op on the lake! How's it going?"

[Taranis]

Alex continues flailing his arms at the tiny onslaught,
"Well if it isn't my favorite talk show host. Long time no see!"
He gets a few good hits on the little buggers,
"We've been having a bit of an insect problem the past few days."
A good punch sends a fly hurdling into the adjacent tree,
"Oh, you also missed the giant reptile, but I won't get into that."
He finally stops flailing.

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey was about to say something meaningful and perhaps ask some personal questions when Alex burst out into a fly slaying rampage. Then she couldn't help herself. She started laughing.

"I'll ask him if he'll let you borrow it sometime," she commented at the mention of Nick's magic tennis racket. "I think he'll be happy to aid the cause of fly genocide if he isn't currently using it himself."

The medic grinned when she saw White Noise. "Hey, Brett!" she greeted him cheerily. "You missed a hell of a weekend. I was left to die." The seriousness was taken out of the last sentence by the fact that she was still laughing a little at Alex's war against the bugs. She seemed to be in good humor about the whole thing. "Wait, giant reptile? I think I missed that, too. Did we have a godzilla to battle mothra?"