TJ looked for whoever was the subject of the angry address, but he quickly realized that it was, in fact, for him. Looking around, he saw that several faces looked at him in distrustful fear, and in their center was Jeff. His face was screwed up in rage, and as he shouted, his face went nearly purple with the overwhelming force of his fury.
"We don't want monsters in here, so get the fuck out!" Jeff walked forward, his finger accusing and jabbing at TJ's chest.
"What's your problem?" TJ demanded, slapping Jeff's hand away with more force than necessary, the crack of the slap echoing in the concrete room. "I'm getting some dinner."
"You're the problem, you always have been!" Jeff screamed. "Ever since you got here, you've been dangerous and trying to hide it, but you can't any more. You tried to kill people today! You're a monster and you shouldn't be around people!"
Though he fought to retain some measure of composure, TJ immediately lost all handle on his rationality. "Who the hell told you anything?"
"And he doesn't deny it!" Jeff screamed while refusing to answer. "He knows he's been caught, and now he's trying to silence the truth. Don't let him lie his way out. A dangerous monster, and we've let him into our home. A treacherous snake in the grass looking for the next opportunity to bite!"
"That's not what happened, and you were too busy sitting at home doing jack shit while I went out helping everyone else!" TJ insisted, but around Jeff, more and more faces turned to look at him with fear and distrust. When Granny Penny's face twisted into an emotion TJ couldn't place, he lost it.
Already exhausted, TJ didn't think before he lashed out with a closed fist. Jeff was waiting for it, and his armor appeared around him with a clinking of metal. However, TJ's recently enhanced strength combined with the fact that Jeff was only level 4 according to TJ's Appraisal sent the Zealot stumbling back with a bloodied lip. He began to try to shout something else, but TJ was having none of it. With a snarl, he used Wind Manipulation to pull the man back into range, where TJ lunged forward to attack again.
Now that he was ready, Jeff wasn't so easily knocked down. He raised his fists, ready to shout something else, but TJ refused to be put on the back leg and activated Divine Transformation. As a 30 foot serpent appeared in the middle of at least 50 people, screams echoed out as Jeff raised his weapon. Others moved threateningly in the rest of the room, but TJ only cared for one person. His mind screamed for slaughter, for Jeff to pay for his accusations, for his ignorance for challenging Kukulkan's honor!
But no. TJ was not a murderer, certainly not for something so petty. Instead, he wrapped all around Jeff's torso while holding his arms flat to his sides. Then, once the adversarial asshole was fully immobile, TJ flashed his jaws, new bladelike fangs threatening Jeff's life. The bastard went silent as he saw how close to death he was, and those rallying to support him did too. TJ's blood continued to pump wildly in his ears, but as he heaved one breath after another, he spoke, Wind Manipulation carrying his words further and louder than before.
"If I wanted to kill someone, they'd be dead. Like you. I'm done dealing with you all. I've saved dozens of lives already, and you listen to some ignorant, weak, jealous fool instead of reality. He told me he's a level five in his Occupation today, and he still hasn't crossed level 5 with Zealot, if that's true. A whispering, gossiping weakling who can't do anything for himself except for run his worthless fucking mouth." TJ shook his head, his feathers pulling the wind more eagerly through them, filling the enclosed space with a growing gale.
"I'm done. When you have a Chindi coming to twist your minds to kill each other, I won't save you. When a wendigo comes to eat your flesh and crack your bones, I won't mourn you. When a herd of javelinas trample your homes, I won't rebuild them. I'll be here for the boss and the defense because I have to, but since I took Jeff into my home today and offered him advice on how to get better Skills and in return, he decided to treat me like a monster, I'll be your troll under the bridge. Cross my bridge and meet my fangs. I'm done."
As he finished, TJ transformed back to human. He couldn't keep himself from pushing Jeff much too hard, sending him stumbling into a nearby table, glasses clattering and silverware falling. Jeff started to open his mouth, but Farid was there, and to TJ's surprise, he threw a wicked haymaker Jeff hadn't seen coming. The Zealot fell to the ground and Farid's handsome face twisted in true hatred.
"You know nothing! You're worthless and do nothing but pine after a woman that doesn't care about you! Are you so stupid that you think this is helpful to anyone?" Then, while Jeff was still sputtering his anger, Farid lunged forward and kicked Jeff's stomach so hard his armor dented. While he still wheezed on the ground, Farid spoke aloud, addressing the whole of the people in the room.
"Justice dies when the weak and evil are allowed to speak while the good do nothing. I will explain what happened, to show you that my friend TJ did nothing wrong and was only a victim! What this foul stain on the floor refuses to remember, what he fails to mention, is what the monster did to all of us, and how TJ saved our lives."
Though he'd resolved to leave them behind, to forget helping the rest of the inhabitants of the town, Farid refused to let Jeff's words taint anything. As TJ watched, Shiva's descendant explained the Fear that had consumed his mind, that had forced him to rush around without a thought, how he'd been less than half the warrior that he'd learned to be while under its influence. He spoke of the reassurances TJ had made, how TJ's plan allowed them to move towards escape and push the worst of the Fear off as they had something to do.
"TJ was unaffected, and he could have escaped at any moment. Instead of that, he stayed with us, chased after Sarah when she lost her nerve, and when he caught her, instead of lecturing or yelling at her, he comforted her! Is that something a monster does? No! He is a good man, and just a man, like the rest of us. When the monster decided to stop trying to kill us because TJ's plan led us to escape, it left the rest of us alone and focused on him. It saw he was the most powerful, and showed just how despicable it is.
"The Chindi, that monster, took his wife's face and controlled his mind. If you think making everyone so afraid that they can't think isn't enough, he controlled TJ's mind. Made him think that he had to kill Zig to get his wife back. He was mind controlled, and it was scary, but did he hurt anyone? No! He was scary for about 15 seconds, then he was back and we scared the monster off. Did he need 15 seconds to kill someone? No. Even being mind controlled, he wasn't a monster or violent.
"So don't you–" Farid punctuated his words with another kick into Jeff's ribs, the man sat on the ground as his mumbled excuses were washed out by Farid's furor, "fucking dare to cheapen his pain and his work for us. I'd rather feed you to the monsters out there before I allow you to slander him. Now get out before I show you what an angry descendant of Shiva the Destroyer will do to you!"
Before Farid could continue attacking Jeff, the man, eyes swollen from the punches he'd taken, rushed out of the firehouse. Farid spat in Jeff's direction as the Zealot fled, his rage slightly mollified by Jeff's flight. Even so, he was far from done. With his hands held open, Farid spoke to the people in the firehouse again.
"You all owe TJ an apology for listening to rumors instead of him. I hope he can forgive me for my part in allowing the liar to spread his tales as far as he did." Farid bowed his head in an earnest apology, and TJ, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes for Farid's genuine support of him, stepped forward and took Farid into a rough hug. After slapping his back a couple of times, TJ let go and stepped back. Something about his vulnerability there must have changed something in the way these people perceived him, because although Penny was the first to step forward, she was outpaced by younger, healthier people begging for forgiveness.
In the press of people, TJ nodded as one person after another asked for him to forget the way they'd been swayed by Jeff. Before long, Penny pushed through a couple people before reaching up to TJ's shoulder and pulling herself close.
"There's a quote I like for moments like this, though I wish I'd been able to do it instead."
"What's that?" TJ asked, unsure of what the old woman was going to say.
"Whole lot of people have gotten used to running their mouths. Oh… how did he say it? People got used to disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it."
"Granny Penny," TJ said, a smile creeping over his face, "are you quoting Mike Tyson at me?"
"One of the greats!" The old lady grinned wide. "I know I messed the quote up, but I'll tell you, if I was just a couple levels higher and bit healthier, I would have beaten Farid to the punch. Literally!"
"Thanks Granny."
Penny patted his cheek and pulled away through the crowd. Others didn't lie and say they would have done the same thing, but most of the apologies seemed genuine enough that TJ didn't want to hear them any more. He was about to escape anyways, just wanting to get out of the press of people, but Penny caught up to him again, carrying a plate loaded with meat and boiled potatoes. Surprisingly, she'd heaped a gob of butter on top, the luxury item slowly melting over the hot tubers. TJ smiled as he thanked her and then Penny shooed the rest of the well-meaning or simply bothersome people away. He took the time to make his retreat, the emotional whiplash from Jeff's accusations and Farid's support serving to exhaust him completely.
TJ walked out of the firehouse, looking down at the heaping pile of food on his plate, and scoffed a little.
"I'm sorry I let that happen." Farid apologized once again outside of the building. "I should have made sure that he would never be able to speak for as long as he did, but I was too shocked. I'm glad you got a couple hits in though."
"He made the decision to be an ass. I don't think anyone could have stopped it before it escalated to that point." TJ said, trying to be rational. Even so, he felt his rage boiling under the surface, threatening to melt everything in his path. "Who the hell told him I was trying to kill someone?"
"That was my fault." Zig said as she faded into view from a particularly deep shadow. TJ had to fight back a snarl of rage as she walked forward with her hands held high in an attempt at mollifying him.
"What the hell did you think was going to happen when you told him?"
"I was trying to tell everyone about how dangerous this Chindi was, and gave that as an example. I wasn't trying…" Zig trailed off, seeming to grapple with what she was saying. After a moment, she looked up and met TJ's eyes. "Those are excuses. I was still scared and hurt and it made me stupid. I tried to have people be scared of you, but I wasn't thinking that someone would act like that because of it. I was wrong, and I'm sorry."
TJ stiffened and stepped back away from her. Zig tried to walk forward, to make another excuse, but he shook his head, keeping her from coming too close.
"TJ, really–"
"Don't talk to me. I can't trust you." He saw that his words fell on her like hammers, but TJ didn't care. "You knew that people look at me like I'm some kind of monster. You told stories about how I'm a hero to try to combat that, and now you're working against it? I can't understand you, and I don't want to be around you."
"You tried to kill me!" Zig said, incredulous. "Can you blame me for being scared?"
"Of course not." TJ responded, his blood feeling like ice. "But do you remember the last thing you said to me? It was, if I remember correctly, 'I'll need time away from you to feel totally safe, but I still know you're on our side, and you don't deserve to be treated like shit.' Seems like a pretty fucking shitty thing to do to someone if you ask me. Come talk to me if you want. Talk with other people we trust if you need to. You're going to talk like that around people we know hate me? You must be deluded or stupid, and I don't care which. Zig, I get it was a moment of weakness, but you don't have a monster or affliction to blame this time."
Zig tried to say something else, but Farid spoke instead, "You've both felt betrayed by someone you trusted today. Let's stop talking before we say anything else that can't be taken back. I trust you both, and I've seen both of you at your worst today. Get some rest. Tomorrow will be better than today."
TJ clenched his jaw, wanting to argue back, and saw that Zig was doing the same thing. He just nodded and turned on his heel back towards his house. His steps echoed through the night and TJ fought to settle his emotions enough for rest. After his meal, the sleep still didn't come easy.