AW June Blog Chain

Last month I participated in the May Blog Chain on Absolute Write, where everyone posted about how music is a part of their writing.
Now it's time for the June Blog Chain, and the topic this month is "Post a scene that describes or defines your main character's attitude."
My newest main character, from my WIP Stray, has a whole lot of attitude. But they say your true personality emerges in times of stress, so I chose a scene that appears just after the MC's most stressful moment -- after witnessing the murder of a public official in a boat the MC owned:

Mayor of New York City Presumed Dead.

I should've known why he looked familiar. I don't follow the news too often. I avoid public areas when I can – a necessary concession if you want to stay on the streets. Otherwise the cops snatch you up, throw you in the houses. And believe me, you'd rather die on the streets than spend a night in the Harlem State Houses.

But this mayor I knew. This mayor, almost five years ago now, is the one who created the houses. He banned homelessness from our streets. Literally.

If I hadn't witnessed his grisly death, I might be glad he's dead. At the moment, I just wish he'd died some other night, in someone else's boat, so somebody else could deal with the mess.

I decide I don't care what time of night it is. This constitutes an emergency. I change directions and head for Linda's.

When I ring her bell, she opens the studio door, takes one look at my pants, and tuts. “That time of the month?” She waves me inside.

I roll my eyes. Linda is the only person who knows my secret. Which is to say, she's the only one who knows what private parts are really underneath my stuffed boxer-briefs. “Yeah, it's a little heavier than usual. As in enough to drown in. Think that's a problem?”

“Spare jeans are in the first drawer on the left. But you owe me ten bucks for these, they're designer. I was gonna give 'em to Jorge for his birthday.”

That's what I love about Linda. She never asks questions.

I change in the studio bathroom. The place is a mess – one part art supply store, two parts photography studio and half part bedroom. When Linda's not working in the makeup studios on Broadway, she's usually up here improving her technique. I've played model for her a few times. She does some killer fake wounds.

But tonight, I'm here for the necessities.

“Beard?” Linda calls.

“Make it ten o'clock shadow,” I reply as I hop into the pants. Damn, Linda's new man has a tight ass. I'm lucky I can button these.

“Got it.”

I pretend the dried blood on my arm is mine. That way I don't puke while I wash it off. By the time I emerge from the bathroom, Linda has the studio lights on full strength. I collapse into the chair beside her favorite mirror, which she trains on my face.

“Long night huh, Darlene?”

Linda is also the only one who calls me by my given name. Hell, even in my own head, I'm Darryl now. The most convincing lies are the ones you believe in yourself. “You can say that again. Hear 'bout the mayor?”

She dips her brush into the spirit gum and brushes the cool liquid along my jaw. I close my eyes and hold still, used to the motion. “Can't say as how I'm surprised. I don't think he was so much of a douche as most of the administration. Still, ignorantly naïve.”

I open my mouth, but her eyes silence me.

“No yapping while I'm working. You know the drill.” She purses her lips and dusts the first layer of shadow on one cheek. “Thing is, if somebody offed Mayor Williams over his policies, they didn't have their heads on straight. Lincoln steps in now as acting mayor; he's twice as crazy. You know the Times once scooped him saying he thinks the houses are the best thing to happen to the city in twenty years? Said if our homeless want to rip one another's throats out, there's less hungry mouths the working people gotta pay to feed.”

I scoff in the back of my throat, because that's the only sound I can make without getting into trouble.

“Course they had to run a retraction the next day – turns out he was off-the-record when he said it. Makes you wonder what some of these other suits really think when they're up on that platform spewing all their PC bullshit.”

Both of us fall silent. Normally I enjoyed Linda's chatter, but tonight it wore on my already frayed nerves. I just want to curl up in a corner somewhere and fall asleep, preferably for a week. Eventually Linda leans back on her stool to admire her work, and I crack my jaw. “Permission to speak, captain?”

She slaps my knee. “Go for it. Tell me all about the shitty night.” Linda starts to pick up the makeup scattered across the desk, cleaning her brushes in between.

“I was there. I saw the murder.”

She stops cleaning.

“Well, not the murder itself,” I clarify. “But I watched these guys dump the body. Mob I think, only I can't figure out which it would be. I mean, Williams pissed off them all at one point or another, but he also created their favorite breeding grounds.”

“Why the hell are you here?” Linda interrupts me. The edge in her voice startles me. Linda is never edgy. “You need to go to the cops, Darlene.”

“You know I can't do that.”

“This isn't some back-alley confrontation. They're going to be swarming all over this case. They will find out you were there, and you will be implicated if you try and run.”

I can feel my face heat up. I struggle to hold my composure. Linda's usually smart, so I don't get why she's making such a dumbass suggestion. “Thanks. I'll think about it.” We both know that means no, but at least she lays off. Until I reach her door, that is.

“Darlene, promise me you really will consider talking to someone.”

I brush past her and step outside. “I already have. Talked to you, didn't I?”

“You know what I mean.”

I storm down the street without replying.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the other participants' responses!

LadyMage and direct link to her post
FreshHell and direct link to her post
Collectonian and direct link to her post
Aimee Laine and direct link to her post
AuburnAssassin and direct link to her post
Lyra Jean and direct link to her post
Aheïla and direct link to her post
ArcticFox and direct link to her post
Fokker Aeroplanbau and direct link to his post
Alpha Echo and direct link to her post
xcomplex and direct link to her post
CScottMorris and direct link to his post

me!

Lilain
defyalllogic
*RomanceWriter*
IrishAnnie
Anarchicq
littlebear91
hillaryjacques
Proach
CowgirlPoet