<strong>RUTH</strong><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">“Huh,” Dutchess manages, and settles back into her seat, waving for Ratchet to settle the gun down.  “Fuckin' a,” she says.<br/><br/>Ratchet peers on down the sights of his rifle for just a moment when Ruth bares all, but lets the barrel of the rifle droop.<br/><br/>“We'll call that a down payment!” Dutchess says as Ruth disappears under the gate.  Ruth hears the girl laughing after she's past.<br/><br/>Esther's gang counts about one out of every ten people Gomorrah, or anyway, one out of every ten people when the choppers and the cultists aren't hanging around like they are now.  About half of 'em keep to the compound, though not always the same ones, while the other half wander Gomorrah, mostly enjoying themselves and keeping an eye on things.  Esther likes for people to feel her presence that way, but she also likes to know that there're always people around in case anything undesirable happens.<br/><br/>One of those people still hangin' around the compound is Righteous – she's one of the real bullies in the gang, the kind who makes her presence in Gomorrah known real direct-like.  She's got this bright red hair, like cactus-fruit-juice red, all braided and tied up on her head, and she wears this hodgepodge of tanned hides, remnant leather, and cloth scraps that's more intimidating in a junkyard-monster kind of way than it is practical.  Also intimidating: the massive pistol she carries on her waist, so heavy it pulls her belt and her pants down so they sag low, low on her hips.<br/><br/>She spots Ruth pretty quick comin' in through the gates, rolls her eyes as she makes her way over, restin' her hand ready on the grip of her gun.  “Here for the boss, doc?  Follow me.”  Probably shouldn't've expected free roaming in the compound.<br/><br/>Esther's place is upstairs of the compound, and it's not a long way through before Righteous is rapping on that door, glancing now and then toward Ruth like she's an invader.<br/><br/>She knocks, and someone – Esther, probably – calls, “What?!”<br/><br/>Righteous is like, “Doc's here to see you!”<br/><br/>A quiet moment and the door pops open.  There's Esther, queen of Gomorrah -- or whatever title you like, she doesn't take one except 'boss'.  She looks the pair over and does her own little eye roll.  “Go away, Righteous,” she says.  "And you," she adds, pointing a finger toward Ruth that turns into an inviting hook.  "Come in."<br/><br/>Esther, she's not really very intimidating, as an individual.  Like, maybe if you know her, know she's got it in her to kill in cold blood, know about the time she gave the order to set fire around one of those little metal shacks and fucking cooked a guy alive for fucking with the fishers, then maybe she's intimidating.  But she's a slim woman, not terribly tall, right now wearing an old t-shirt that's a little too small and some baggy combat shorts, and that's not very scary at all.  She doesn't even look mean, and she steps back, into the room, and makes her way over to her desk.<br/><br/>“Welcome back,” she says, and looks over Ruth with a hint of the friendliest grin.  There are plenty to choose from.  The desk here is covered in those baseball cards people love so much, all sprawled out, and there's another room adjacent, marked off with nothing more than a dangling cloth drape.  “To what do I owe the pleasure?”</div></div>