His face still had splatter marks of blood from the last fight, as he walks towards the door. The door had a glass window, though the view through it is blurred so you can't make out what's outside nor inside.
Kremidal opened the door as it led to the hallway that leads to the lounge that also leads to the radio station. He has this already laid out in his mind because this is what he's already researched hours before she spoke to Claire, which means he knows almost every corner of this building.
As he looked at the hallway, it was empty. The way in doesn't seem to hold any corners so he walks to the entrance like nothing happened. While walking he noticed a camera in the corner in which it points towards the lounge door.
He overloads the camera with electricity thus the lens exploded, glass shatters on the pristine tiles as the camera's lenses spark, sounds of broken glass shards echo in the hallway
He checks the door whether it's locked by twisting its lever.
It's unlocked, and he gets a feeling something or someone is actually inviting him inside.
The lounge; the room is about the size… of a living room that belongs to an upper-class family, just with a little more tastelessness with the décor.
It had a curved sofa that had a square coffee table in the middle. There was a gold-plated statue of a stripper twerking in the corner, vinyl records hanging on the orange wall that still has visible bits of puke that's been dried up. There aren't even lightbulbs in this room, only a bunch of led strips that span to the corners of the wall. Lots and lots of plastic plants that don't even match the décor of the room
Half-empty bottles are riddled on the coffee table, and ash trays filled with cigarette buts, and some disposable vapes on the table too, one of the vapes are even drowning in the glass of liquor, though what Kremidal noticed in these glasses is that none of the ice has actually melted, the moisture of the shot glasses looked like it had freshly settled.
The realization that he's not alone in this room has finally set in, he became more alert as he glares around the room
A red door that has a window that's blurred for privacy had golden letters embedded on the window with stylized font '99.3 Boom Radio'
He grabbed the door knob with a firm grip, but as he tried to twist it didn't seem to budge
It's locked, he thought to himself: thinking of brute forcing it won't do any good, there's too many variables to think about. Kremidal said in frustration
"Fuck it"
He tries to kick the door; it budged a little as he heard the plywood crack under the pressure of the door hinges. Although it wasn't the only thing that cracked, he felt a sharp pain on his hip. A loud "ow" is heard across the room, he straightened his leg, removed his getas, and stomped the ground, as a loud click sound can be heard right from his hip. He slouched in relief "Man I'm getting old"
Looking at the door hinges, he walks back and forth right in front of the door; saying while his hand covers his chin "No, no, no, that's too easy"
His eyes rapidly look around sideways, eyeballing every furniture in the area. But then he spots an 'x' mark. In the peak of curiosity he approached right under the x, upon closer inspection the mark looks like it was hastily sprayed on with black spray paint.
As Kremidal was about to look behind him, a man elbowed him right in the face, his jaw squished against the man's elbow as his head recoiled.
They come to a stand-off. Kremidal just simply adjusted his jaw right in front of the man. The had a surprised look as Kremidal just simply cracks his neck "Phew you woke me up a little bit mate"
Suddenly steel cabled bolas wrapped around his arm and his legs, a woman pushes her from the back, leading Kremidal to fall on the ground, slumped over his stomach.
"Police grade bolas? Took you guys long enough to upgrade" Kremidal still standing, struggles to escape the bolas, but a guys kicks him in the back, then once he lied face flat on the ground he looked over his side it was a shoe going to hit his face.
In Kremidal's eyes; the world fades to black
Meanwhile back on the Church Claire is lying down on her bed, her eyes heavily half asleep as her grip on her pen begins to slip away, while the voice of the math teacher on her phone sounds around the room. Her drool slowly dripping down her cheek.
Realizing she was about to fall asleep, she slurped her drool back and sighs "I can't do this right now"
She locks down her phone and puts away the notebook she was taking notes on.
Though she can't help but think about the man that saved her: Kremidal
She thought to herself, despite barely knowing her she was saved by them.
'He could've just left me there bleeding out to my death, but no; what do you even do in this situation? I can barely stand on my feet - the world is still spinning around me.
Or is this just vertigo?'
Suddenly the door slammed open, only to reveal a girl on a wheelchair with a hollow 3d printed cast on her leg that looks like a spider web.
Her hair was pink and it seemed to run down to her calves, she's wearing a hospital gown.
"Yo G where the hoes at?" She yells while she looks around the room only to see Claire.
"Oh wait Kremidal's not here, bah! Doesn't matter because I'M HERE" She was loud and expressive for a handicap. She shakes the paper bag that she carries as she said
"Chek this out Sooji, got some coffee here to lighten things up!"
Claire, flabbergasted, raises her eyebrow then asks "who's Sooji?"
As Poppy puts down the paper bag and grabs the coffee mug she says as she stopped what she's doing "Wait so your name's not Sooji?"
"Where did you even get that assumption?" Claire exclaimed.
Poppy said while she put the coffee-filled mug with water from the dispenser. "I dunno… you looked a lot Korean to me, like a more tanned one"
Claire froze in shock from what she heard; her face in a stern frown with her mouth open for a solid 7 seconds while Poppy rolled up to her on her wheelchair.
She places the full mug on the table beside Claire's bed. Claire asks
"Why are you even here anyway?
She points her finger at the coffee mug and explained "Kremidal wanted me to watch over you, because some uninjured incel couldn't be helped to watch over a girl that can barely keep her consciousness straight – no offense though"
Claire got up from her bed to look at Poppy " -What you said earlier was worse, so I was already offended a few seconds ago"
An awkward silence occurred for a few seconds as she goes back to talking "Anyway as I WAS SAYING – Zephyr couldn't be helped since he's a bum-ass limp dick, and Kremidal… Honestly I don't know where he is actually"
Claire stops Poppy on her tracks to say "Wait, wait, wait, Zephyr? Who are you talking about? I haven't even got your name first!"
She bowed as if she's meeting a princess and she lets her hand out "Ah my bad g, the name's Potpourri Puffins, honestly just call me Poppy"
Claire understood the assignment and started acting like a royal too "Well miss 'Poppy', may I ask how are you doing that?" Claire points out the mug of coffee as it starts boiling.
Poppy looked at Claire with confusion, but as she noticed her finger pointing at the cup "Oh this? Just heating up the coffee since the hot faucet of the dispenser is broken - I'm an Arcana, I emit radiation"
Claire in a look of utter confusion as she tilts her head, raises her brow and her upper lip "that won't give me cancer, right?"
Poppy stops boiling the coffee in the cup. She adjusts her wheelchair to better speak to Claire, she says as she leans closer "Oh my god, you have been missing out! Wait, how old are you even?"
"13 years old" Claire said as she shrugged while shaking her head
Poppy grabs Claire's head, locking their eyes to each other
"Lady Apex Solaris, you have been missing out for 13 years?! How!? Plus, your hair is like blue – how did you not know this?" she exclaims as she shakes Claire's head with her hand gripping the sides
Claire swats Poppy's hands out of her head "Get your hands off me, damn!"
Clair carefully touches her hair as she sorts out one strand to pull it out. She looks at it closely then faces it near the window. Once the sunlight hits the hair strand the hair becomes a bright blue. "Nobody told me having blue hair is different"
"But yours is a little harder to make out since it's a really dark hue" she takes a sip of her own cup of coffee, then she offers a cup of coffee to Claire "Coffee?"
Claire stares at the cup, frozen in confusion; still processing Poppy's exposition – "Ah don't sweat it, it's decaffeinated"
As Claire grabs the cup with visible hesitation, Poppy reminds her "Careful it's hot" then she blows out the steam emitting from the cup to cool it down.
Claire blows her coffee gently again, took a whiff of it and thought to herself
'smells like coffee'
She took a sip, as it touched her lips she realized it's still too hot, she stuck her tongue out because she got burnt. She looks at Poppy chugging her coffee down while it's still steaming hot. Claire; cup in her hands asks
"So, uh… Poppy, do you have any plans for today?"
Poppy chugs down her mug more while looking at Claire, before Claire wished to speak more; Poppy's skin began to faintly glow a yellowish-green, She raised her finger to make her wait.
She kept waiting
Poppy was slurping
And gulping
And gulping
Then she lets out a sharp sigh as her face scrunches down
After finishing her coffee she slams the mug to the table, the glow on her skin began to fade and waved her hand presenting her broken leg
Claire, with a clear tone of disappointment said "Oh, well maybe-"
She immediately gets cut off as Poppy says "Nah I'm just fucking with ya, I'm planning to get some of my documents signed today, you wanna come with me? Oh and this wheelchair is remote-controlled, see?"
She moves the joystick that's placed on the left arm of the wheelchair as she awkwardly moves back and forth, but then her wheels start screeching so she does doughnuts in the room then stops with a reverse wheelie.
Claire with a blank stare says "Yeah… I'm walking"
She takes her blanket off revealing the rest of her body, weirdly enough she's not wearing a hospital gown like Poppy. She's wearing white shorts and a white shirt.
"Wait, they gave you normal clothes rather than a gown? That's not fair – why do I have to be one that's butt naked underneath!?"
Claire's short stature makes her legs dangle over the bed as she tries to reach the ground. Slowly she slid down her back from the bed. As she drops down her balance was still wobbly as she was still grabbing the sheet from the back while her back is against Poppy
"Woah easy now" Poppy said as she moves her wheelchair closer to Claire with her hands spread out attempting to catch her
Her feet slowly gets a feel of the ground, as her trepid steps smacks the skin of her foot on the floor tiles. Poppy's arms are raised; prepared to catch Claire in case she falls.
Claire; in a few more steps she manages to maintain balance - she walks around the room circling it from every corner. The sharp pain from shin splints stings her with every step, yet the pain gradually fades with every step. After circling around for the third time
Poppy crossed her arms with a smug face "Hah! I knew the coffee would work on you"
Poppy takes off her slippers, plopping them on the floor as she visibly fluffs inside the slippers bounced against the floor. She picked it up with her hands hanging it near Claire "Here, you're gonna need these"
Fast forward to the elevator, Poppy was still in her wheelchair but this time Claire's hospital pole is attached to it – a blood bag hangs as the silicone tube runs down towards Claire's wrist.
Claire looks around the elevator, the hardwood floors, the OLED screen displaying which floor it is with an anime girl nun on it, the vibrations of the elevator continues as she feels her weight lighten up a bit; She's getting visibly bored as her eyes look aimlessly in the stainless steel walls and hardwood panels that alternate on the elevator walls, the indicators jingle and light up as they climb each floor. She frequently changes her grip on the handle bars of the wheelchair
Gently she touches Poppy on her shoulder
"Hey poppy I couldn't help but ask, can you – tell me more about Arcanas?"
The elevator's upward motion became a lot more noticing before wobbling back down, stainless doors open in front of them, beams of light with varying colors hit their face, as the stained glass windows are shone by the sun outside
"[Now entering balcony floor]"
Poppy looks at her from behind while the door opened. "Well since you asked nicely"
They enter the balcony floor, where bridges spanning across near the church's ceiling with walls twice as tall as a normal human.
In awe, Claire looks around as tens of murals are carefully placed on the walls of the church, brimming with color – though they don't look like gods, because the clothes they wear seemed to be new. Suddenly the both of them hear heavenly sounds. They spotted the choir at the very south of the church singing, their voices blending together seamlessly. Her stiff shoulders suddenly relax, her mind starts to drift off, she closes her eyes as she feels the choir's vocals touch her soul.
Poppy continuing her answer "You see like I said earlier, Arcanas control energy- "
They notice that the conductor of the choir seems to make the glass on the windows vibrate, the vibrations follow the voices which both Claire and Poppy can feel.
"That's brother Hanz, his energy type is sound. He controls the sound of anything really, you can even feel his presence while the choir sings, the sound loud even though it's just five of them."
Claire looks at him – he looks like he is enjoying what he's doing because there is a warm smile on his face while he's waving his hand; his head bobs as the choir sings gleefully.
"Don't piss him off though, or he'll make you mute. Just being a little tone deaf will tick him off"
Overlooking under the balcony room, the church seems to be closed and a few workers are stacking boxed goods, some of them are using scaffolding to reach some boxes.
Poppy looks down the balcony as they see a group of men working "You see, all Arcanas stick to only one type of energy they were born with."
Claire looks over the men working on the ground floor, as she notices one of the boxes is about to fall from the scaffolding; assuming that's a twenty-foot drop. She also notices that some men are struggling to lift up the boxes, which means they are heavy
As the scaffolding moves in mere inches the box suddenly falls
Claire stops to point at them and shouts "WATCH OUT!"
One of them notices the falling box, as it's about to hit another man without a hard hat. He was suddenly pushed by another man resulting in him falling on his butt, the man who pushed him caught the box as if it weighed nothing. Although as he drops down the box, a loud thud could be heard as the box clears the dust from underneath.
Both of them noticed Claire from the ceiling and gave her a thumbs up, she sighed in relief.
Poppy tugged Claire's shirt as she says "that guys whole schtick must be Kinetic energy"
Poppy continues to move left as Claire follows and asks "I just remembered, you never really told me where you're going"
Poppy replied while moving "I- I just need to sign some papers for some medical bills"
Fast forward to the office, the view of the door has a glass pane that has 'Financial Records Office' all attached to a wooden door. The both of them arrive at the from of the door, since Poppy was in front of Claire, she tried to stand up to knock on the door, unfortunately she forgot she still can't stand up since the bones of her left leg is shattered.
Claire took initiative and it weas she who knocked on the door instead; Poppy looked back at Claire with a smile and a "Thanks"
The door clicks as they pushed to open it while the bell on top of the door rings, a glass window will holes punched at the bottom for bills and the center for hearing them speak, a mahogany red counter where they can place their documents.
The both of them stepped in, as they see the lady inside the window still sorting documents as she stamps them down as she proceeds to the next paper. Within her glasses, her eyebags are deep enough for you to poke your finger in; while she stamps the documents, her fingers rapidly type on a numpad as the numbers on her screen kept solving in quick consecutive successions.
"hi Ms. Baker!" said Poppy as her wheelchair zooms inside while Claire follows.
Ms. Baker faces them both while she says this in an annoying tone "Yes Poppy what can I do for you?" As she faces the both of them through the window, she only sees Claire down to the shoulders
"Oh, hello dear! Are you lost?"
Poppy raises her hand and points down her finger towards herself "That's not me silly, I'm right here!
Ms. Baker leans on the counter to get a better view on Poppy as she asks "So Poppy, who's your little friend here? Please don't tell me this is one of the homeless people you've just met outside, because I'm not in the mood to tell you my job isn't charity for people you've just invited from the street"
Poppy crossed her arms and frantically looks at Claire "What? Pfft! I don't know what you're talking about? I totally don't steal from you to give it to the poor! I couldn't comprehend to do such a thing, I hate robin hood!" then she looks at Claire with an anxious look in her eyes
Ms. Baker comes back to the pile of papers she was stamping down and asks "Just tell me what you're here for so we can get on with it"
Poppy raises her hand as she points her finger up "I'm here to settle payment for the surgery"
"Oh that, that's already paid" said Ms. Baker as she picks out the paper
Poppy and Claire looked at each other, as their view switches over to Ms. Baker "By whom?"
"Your dad, Kremidal. He did mention that he hired a special medical professional, I've met the man but there was something ominous about him, his presence felt something… off"
Silence was struck the room as the sound of the choir's harmony is muffled through the walls of the office
Breaking the silence Poppy casually says, "Well He always hires weirdos, because he knows that they know something most people don't know, plus he's not my dad"
Ms. Baker quickly replies "well it looks like it, like daddy's little princess too"
A brief silence ensued once more, in these split seconds they look at each other, Ms. Baker immediately interrupts the silence with
"Well let me just dry seal this agreement papers after you sign this, Kremidal endorsed me to tell you that he's already signed that"
She hands out a sheet of paper containing the agreement; it reads 'consent form' her finger glows with ultraviolet light as it reveals Kremidal's and the Medical professional's signature, all that's left was Poppy's
Claire notices this – discovering that this woman, is an arcana that can control UV radiation.
Fast forwarding to the both of them leaving the office, the song of the choir begins to sing a slow and melancholic melody, Claire – eyes locked in to Maestro Hanz, as his hands wave around slowly as the somber melody swings Claire's mood around, she thinks to herself that as though she's enjoying her time in this 'church tour' she can't shake the feeling that she practically has zero contact to her sister.
While walking she checks her phone weather Clarice has ever messaged her. Not a single notification despite having excellent WiFi signal at the church.
She shakes her head and looks at Poppy and asks "Hey Poppy – about arcanas: what if an arcana can control more than one energy type? Does that even exist?"
Poppy suddenly acted surprised and stops her Wheelchair, she rotates herself slowly as the motors of her chair hum – finally facing Claire saying "You know, you're a lot smarter than you look; follow me to the elevator, I really hope we can meet father Huo Hu in time is at the relic chapel.
As they head down to the ground floor, there lies in the east wing heading to the chapel. The hallway had sconces of candles lit in yellow flame,
as Claire's faint steps and Poppy's wheelchair humming. The fire of the candles started to turn purple as they pass by. Though while walking towards the relic chapel, she notices a door left ajar, seen through the metal mesh, shelves of tarnished chalices, cracked icons, some bones wrapped in cloth, and a few preserved body parts inside a glass display can be seen on one of the top of the shelves from the dim lights in the room, there walks a woman holding a clipboard, inspecting one of the relics – lightly she removes the dust from the engravings of the silver pendant. With her is a man smoking a cigar, wearing a tuxedo while each and every one of his fingers are equipped with rings with gems of varying colors.
On the next corridor, she spots a servant dressed in black robes, carrying a tablet as they check images within it, the images they're looking at was full of convoys of vehicles with texts underneath the screen. Shirtless men filled with tattoos carry the sacks around the room, they groan loudly while they place these sacks on the palette revealing the church's sigil.
At one junction she hears a faint humming, as they continue to walk the humming gets louder as it turned into buzzing. A line of men and women sat down on chairs, with ECG (electrocardiography) cups are sticking on to parts of their bodies. Most of them are wearing a tank top that's filled with sweat; most of their faces are scrunched up as sweat drips down their faces. Their limbs seemed to be detained on the chair while most of them clench their grip the armrests and their toes closing tight. A man dressed in workwear attire and a hardhat, heads to the controls of the machine. As he turns the machine off, the people tied on the chairs started to relax and huff heavily. While the electrician removes the massive battery from the charger.
One of the people tied to the chair seemed to pass out while the electrician moves the battery to a next area, then another man with a hard hat pushes another battery with the same look on it. He attaches the battery on the charger, then heads to the controls to turn the machine on once more. As they turn on the machine, the people tied to the chair, sat upright from a hunched posture, their limbs stiffen and clench as the buzzing occurred again.
Claire's expression suddenly turned into concern, while she checks on Poppy – she only seems to express excitement as her glowing skin is a lot more prominent in the dim hallway while they move along, the candles continue to keep turning purple from being yellow as they pass by.
Arriving at a tinted glass door, Claire rushes to open the door for Poppy, revealing a small chapel. With chairs and kneeling pads at the back are settled inside. In the middle of the room is a priest in black robe, candles lit with purple flame are laid out in front of him. He was sitting at the front row of all of the chairs, he prays in silence while both of the girls search for a spot to stay in.
Claire scootches towards the very back row, while Poppy rolls to her side.
Poppy leans towards Claire whispering "remember when you asked 'what if an arcana can control more than one type of energy? This is one of them, they're called 'gods'; they control all types of energy, when you mix up multiple types of energy, you create an element"
Claire leans over to Poppy and whispers "then what's his element? And why is he called a god when he's a priest?"
Poppy leans over again to answer "His element is potassium, as for the 'god' thing. I think there was just an egotistical warmonger that coined that term, I'm really not sure"
"I can hear the both of you" Father Huo Hu stands up with his back against the girls, while he stands the candles in front of him quickly got extinguished from left to right, putting out hundreds of candles in the chapel without even lifting a finger.
"What brings the both of you here?" He spots the Claire's blood bag directly connecting to the back of her hand "What happened to this girl?" he approaches them as he noticed Poppy is on a wheelchair "What happened to you!?" he exclaimed
Poppy answered "We're just here to see you cause I wanna give an example of what a god is"
He irked out of what he heard "Please don't call me that" he approached both of the girls and places his hand on their shoulders "look at yourselves! the both of you should be taking a rest – come now" He proceeds to walk them back to their recovery rooms.
As he pushes them outside the chapel, he snapped his fingers. Every candle that was extinguished was lit once more, all the flames that turned purple were yellow again. Despite seeing this a million times over, Poppy is still in awe of what Father Huo Hu can do. While Claire tugs his robe, with a concerning look
Meanwhile on the radio tower, the rain outside subsides a bit as the thunder storm quietly stops. The clouds remained to look dark and heavy
Kremidal sits while his eyes are closed, while a smear of blood on his cheek streaks up to the ear, his hands, torso, and legs tied down substantially to prevent him from moving. At this moment he is fully conscious, he'd been pretending to be out cold since that last kick that hit his face.
He overhears them coming from the lounge, the loud bustling inside the lounge indicating that they're celebrating. Kremidal opens one of his eyes. As he takes a look at the room, he sees someone with a shotgun sitting in the corner, but he's actually doomscrolling on his phone with an anime case.
He scans the rest of the studio with only his one eye, it seems he's the only one here. He notices that the carpet underneath him had certain ruffled strands of fabric, it resembled foot prints. One of them leads behind Kremidal.
Suddenly the door opens, the man doomscrolling in front of Kremidal quickly pocketed his phone, gripped the shotgun and squared up all the while Kremidal closed his eyes back.
"Look at that, what a catch! Is this the fabled God Slayer everybody's been talking about?"
"This is like being a fisherman catching a shark" Then started laughing, cackling and wheezing
One of them gets near him and gently slaps his face to wake him up "Wakey, wakey! it's time for Sunday school" then they had themselves rolling again
Kremidal opened his eyes as he held his head up high and drool still hanging from his chin "Huh wha-? Where am I?"
Then they slap him again to get his attention "Yo gramps! I thought you were faster than a bullet. What happened there? Maybe that back pain's finally catching up huh!?"
Suddenly a man in a leather jacket steps forward from the crowd while his shoes clack on the carpet floor, he pulls out a large pistol from his leather jacket as he stuck the barrel onto kremidal's chin "So the one and only god slayer, did you know I'm already aware of your influence in this city?" He turns around to face everyone in the room as he circles around Kremidal "People know him by many names; the walking flash, storm king, nightcrawler, but most importantly
'the god slayer'
With that I've invited gods around this city, they're just itching to meet you, oh wise and mighty pontiff"
Suddenly he was pistol whipped by the man, lucky Kremidal turned his head in time, the gun merely grazed his cheek, however one of the sharp edges managed to nip his cheek, a small drop of blood ran down as the people in the room cheered.
Then another man punches him in the gut, knocking the air out of him. A woman kicked him in the arm, he fell down the floor in a sitting position then they gathered around to kick the shit out of him, it went on for quite a while as they were enjoying themselves a bit too much.
After the dust settled, they beat him so badly they broke the chair he was tied to, the knots on his body were now looser.
"Strip him"
They gathered around like a gang of perverts and pulled his clothes. They're a bit of a higher quality so they had a bit of a hard time, so they tugged as hard as they can, so much so that their veins on their bodies began to bulge and some of their faces started to turn red. First, they rip his cape open; the plastic material stretches and tears, then his pants, one of them grabbed and sniffed his getas from his feet, finally his bare ass was on the ground; they pull his skin tight long sleeve shirt as the threads kept clinging to every thread on the garment - pieces of cloth float down the room, while drops of blood stuck his clothes splatter on their faces.
Their laughter, yelling, and clamoring slowly fades into silence, as they bear witness such a grotesque display of experience as they finally ripped off the undershirt -
Revealing a nasty lightning strike scar on his back, the scar spans from his back to his arms and town to his legs, each vein varies within colors; red, purple, blue, dark green, and black
All of them stood in silence, as they bare witness the image of his body
Kremidal, with a disgusted look on his face while parts of his bangs cover his eyes "so it is true, you're all amateurs. From the casino to this studio; you all still fail to realize the situation that you yourselves got into."
He slowly stands up and gathers composure. The knot's around him are loose thus falling off one by one without effort, he pulls a couple of them as the gang just stood and watched due to most of them being frozen in fear. The blood from his mouth and nose drip down to his chin. He snorts a bit of the blood stuck in his nostrils. This man is butt-booty-naked, everybody is seeing everything, most of them looked confused. But streaks of purple lighting crackling around his body –
The hair on the gang's arms start standing, their phones ringing to indicate that signals had been lost, the grounded static could be felt on the carpet as streaks of lightning on their fingertips could be seen
The gang even more confused as they look at each other. Then suddenly a deafening explosion of a red lighting struck in front of them through the ceiling, punching a hole where rain began pouring inside, leaving the outside part of the studio becoming damp
The blood on Kremidal's face began to wash away by the rain, as said rain poured even stronger, winds began whistling outside the radio station. Fear was struck among them, he gradually flashes out a shit-faced grin.
"You all think you dragged me here?
The truth is…
I walked in"