Chapter Text
"Minty?"
"Haven't heard that name in a while."
...
November 14, 202█
Gum's House
"I recall back when we were friends, before we... were in a relationship."
"When I slept over at his house, he never took out an air mattress or sleeping bag, just insisted on me sleeping in the same bed as him. I was always somewhat adamant on it. Honestly, looking back on it, feels like foreshadowing of some kind."
Brandy chuckled after he spoke, leaning back in his chair and relaxing.
"I asked him to be my boyfriend on January 30th, 201█. I remember the exact day. It was cold, and it had stormed two days before. Everything was still a bit wet. It was the morning, around 9:00 AM. I drove to his house and pulled him out of his room to meet me in the backyard. I had gotten a hydrangea from a local shop, and I gave it to him, smiling."
"I always felt comfort in him, even more in the days leading up to the proposal. I remember him always being talkative, occasionally flirty and romantic. ... When we were giving him testosterone shots, he was always nervous, and that led to him either clinging to me or taking a few hours for himself. He was acting weird when he started it... But that was his stuff. I really don't want to get into that with you. Mostly because I don't know everything... You know?"
"Yeah..? Why'd you even bring this up in the first place?"
"You asked about him," Brandy scoffed.
"I didn't mean to go on this long rant about him! I get you guys were married or whatever, but that's kind of a lot of info to just, y'know, throw on me." Gum complained.
"Okay, yeah, fine. I was oversharing. Sorry, or something."
"You're immature."
"You too! Well, actually, why did I even visit you in the first place?!" Brandy shouted.
"I don't know, why're you asking me?"
"It was rhetorical, you dumbass!"
"Oh my God, just leave already!" Gum snapped.
Brandy stormed out, slamming the door.
"Can't believe I even thought about hanging out with that bitch again! Never should've given her a chance in the first place... God. Well, I guess there's not much else to do right now. I'm off work for the entire week. And, it's only Tuesday, so I still have, what, four or five days? Whatever. I'll just drive home and watch some TV." Brandy thought to himself, trying to calm himself down.
Brandy walked to his car, and pulled keys out of his pocket, starting up the car. He drove back and out of the driveway, pulling into the road. He turned the air on, and the radio as well. He still felt like he needed to calm down. And, it was unusually warm in Gum's house. Brandy only wondered why for a second, as it was insignificant to him.
Brandy turned the dial on the radio to tune it to a specific station, but then he decided that it didn't really matter, and just turned it left a bit, waiting to see what channel would come up. It was, unsurprisingly, a news channel. He hadn't been updated on the news in a while, why not just listen for a bit? He was sure he would switch to a music station after he listened to... whatever these people were talking about, for a few minutes.
Crackle, crackle...
"And, now onto Jacob!" an excited voice said.
"Er, hello," a male voice said.
"Hello there, welcome! Do you support Warhammer?" Jacob asked
"Yes. I stand by his actions, they're completely justified."
"How?"
"Firstly, him killing people isn't a big deal, as he s-"
"Oh, it 'isn't a big deal'? It's not? You've seen the news reports on this very channel about how many objects were reported missing just because they wanted to go to Outer Ring? They died."
"Well, they were trespassing. They went into his territory."
"How did they know that specific area in Outer Ring was his territory? He's constantly on the move!"
"They could've avoided him! Maybe, not even bothered him at all!"
"In the police report of July 2nd, 2017, it's clearly written that 'the injuries sustained by one particular victim were scratches that were so deep, they were halfway through their object.' It also stated that 'the victim seemed to have had no way of defense, or otherwise, the attack might have been unwarranted and most likely unnecessary'. They were recovered and now have post traumatic stress disorder. You think they bothered him?"
"That's one case."
"Reports that were almost along the same lines were recorded on July 20th, 2017, July 28th, 2017, August 18th, 2017, October 18th, 2017, November 3rd, 2017, November 10th, 2017, November 14, 2017, December 8th, 2017, January 28th, 2018, February 9th, 2018, April 10th, 2018, May 30, 2018, June 1, 2018, June 9th, 2018 August 8th, 2018, August 18th, 2018, and November 10th, 2018. One more report is planned to be released later this month."
"They're all incidents with Banhammer involved? All of them?"
"Yeah. That's 17 incidents with him involved, along with one more to be released soon, so that's 18 out of 102 total cases released by the police from Outer Ring, only from 2017 to 2018. That's around 18% of cases. That's somewhere near 1 in 5 cases, that have Banhammer's name mentioned in the document as a potential perpetrator, or, in some, a confirmed perpetrator."
"Really?"
"So, do you still support Banhammer? We're running out of time here."
"Yes."
"Okay... I can't change your mind, and we're almost out of time, so... Goodbye, everyone! Thanks for tuning into this debate. Back to Mike!"
Brandy turned off the radio. He sat in the car, even though he had already gotten home, and just stared at the garage. He sighed, and turned to the backseat, getting a somewhat heavy box, and putting it in his hands. He exited the car, placing the box on the roof of the car, closing the door, and locking the car with his keys. Brandy put the keys back in his pocket and picked the box back up, carrying it to the front door. He put it down on the lawn, taking out the keys from his pocket to unlock the door.
He unlocked the door, kicking it open with a thud, while putting his keys back in his pocket. He picked the box back up, carrying it inside, and shutting the door with his forearm. He walked to the kitchen island, placing the box down and then going back to the front door, locking it.
Brandy made his way to the living room, grabbing the remote and sitting down on the couch, his back not fully touching the backrest, but leaning on it, and some of the armrest. He turned the TV on, and opened Netflix. Just as he opened his profile and was browsing... His phone rang. He, reluctantly, answered it. His mistake was not checking who it was before he spoke.
"What do you need..?"