The Gold of the Firepines

The Missing Mailman

The sound of the Engineer's guitar was the only light tune the dense air was carrying. Pyro sat by the window as they had been doing for nearly half the day already and the day previously. Spy was in the corner smoking, making the already hot air smoky, and filling it with a tobacco scented dread. Scout tapped his bat on the ground and was continuously walking from the pantry to the fridge and was the only thing keeping Demoman awake as his eye traveled with Scout's pacing. Soldier would be contributing to some noise, but was on the roof doing push-ups, insisting the height from the ground to the roof was what made them "elevated." Sniper walked in originally going to sharpen his hand crafted blade, but halted in the doorway as he ran into the wall of low hanging tensity.

Eventually there was complete silence; everyone save for Pyro glanced to Engie as he stopped to tune his guitar. The elephant in the room would have to be addressed at some point...and even if they all knew it, no one was going to be the one to say it.

Until Heavy walked in, finishing his afternoon cardio. After a few seconds of being in the miserable environment he had to ask, "What is wrong with all of you?"

And like that, an avalanche of discussion was loose. Comments flew left and right; Pyro wailing their hands in distress, Scout trying to say 'nothing was wrong' and being offended that Heavy would imply something was wrong, Spy's scoffing and justifications, Demoman claiming he didn't do anything, Engie wanting them to pipe down, and Soldier rolling off the roof and crashing to the dirt. Sniper was the only one not saying anything, covering his ears and looking between Spy or Heavy to see if one of them would get things in order with a loud noise, but no one seemed to be doing anything. Taking action to shut everyone up, he tossed his knife harshly, nearly hitting Scout, and punctured the fridge.

"Ey! That was uncalled for..!" Scout shouted to cover up the shriek he made only moments before. But just as intended, the room was again silent and filling with sighs.

"I want to know where my all-American ads are!" Soldier hopped up off the ground and took a moment to speak as things settled down.

"There is a noticeable lack of mailman." Spy stated next, crossing his arms and tossing his cigarette aside. "Facteur should have been here...but then again, they were never supposed to be here. It is best they have le-"

"Don't you dare even finish that sentence!" Scout pointed his bat angrily. "Y/n has a place here!" Everyone was looking at Scout's defending sentence with a raised brow so he lowered his bat, trying to play off his sudden defensive nature for you. "...It's what you're all thinkin' ain't it? Sure, they aren't onna us, but they...uh..."

Pyro mumbled something like 'became one.' What they said could have been taken in other ways, but the majority of heads either bobbed and followed with a bout of silence.

"Aye, but who's sayin' they're gone?" Demoman pitched in and chuckled with an edge of nervousness. "It's not like any of us told Ms. Pauling or verified anything or...any of that for some uh... booze, ya know?"

"They're probably mighty busy." Engineer followed up and to Demoman's relief swept the guilty statement he had made under the rug...

However, Heavy did not. "You did what?" He turned his head slowly in Demoman's direction. Heavy's addressing it seemed to suddenly bring everyone on the same page and their heads turned in Demo's direction as well.

"I said it's not like that happened...!" Demoman quickly defended himself.

"Maybe so, but that is a particularly specific example." Spy followed with a raised brow. "What kind of booze?"

"...A really good lookin' one..." He answered hesitantly, and launched the landslide of chatter back up; most of the words being said contained curses.