Something Something Movie Reference

[Laurels]

((Claire Monaghan continued from Babette's Supper Club))

Claire wandered into the grotto, wiping the sweat from her forehead while trying to avoid touching the bandage. She'd probably have to change it soon. All the rain and sweat couldn't be helping the injury that Hansel left her. She was already sluggish enough, she didn't need blood poisoning to add to her weak nature. She progressed slightly into the cave, keeping her flashlight to her side.

She stopped partway in and leaned against a wall, sinking to the ground. She closed her eyes and began to sigh. The only plan she had so far was to use the beach as a guard in case anyone tried to come from her. It did mean she could get cornered and killed, but it also meant she was likely to see the danger coming before they got a chance to attack. Either way, it meant she still didn't have much of an idea of what to do.

She grabbed her bag and put it on her lap, starting to rifle through the contents. She still had the extra water and food from Kyle's bag, but it was starting to get a little low. She decided to simply ignore eating for now and deal with the bandages on her head.

As she pulled out her first aid kit, the announcements came on. Claire tried to ignore them in favor of working on cleaning the wound. She continued to work as the names were read off. It was the same crap as before: people either continued to murder, gave up and killed themselves, or people died in ways that are simply played for laughs by the assholes behind the game. It was getting tiring to hear all of this after a week of being here.

Oh, and I almost forgot—

Claire perked up at that. It sounded fairly important if it was going to have such special attention drawn to it.

Claire Monaghan smashed Matthew Young in the head with a flashlight, sending him toppling down a ledge to his death...

Claire's eyes widened. She set the bandages in the kit and set the kit to the side. She slowly began to stand up.

"W-what?" she muttered as she stood up. Was that guy serious? She killed that boy? She felt her face start to get red as she grit her teeth.

"What the fuck?!?" she screamed.

She killed that guy? She couldn't believe it. Of all the idiotic things she had done, accidentally killing some dude topped it.

"You stupid bitch," she muttered to herself, turning behind and kicking the cave wall. "You just had to spas out and run. You couldn't have just quietly walked away. You had to be some paranoid fucktard who killed a guy without thinking it through!"

Claire began to pound her fists against the wall, but stopped after a few hits. She sighed and sat back down on the cave floor, turning her attention back to her first aid kit.

"Well, it's done now..." she muttered. "So much for any moral superiority."

Claire started to remove the bandage from her forehead, wincing as she felt it pull the skin. She had her one kill, so they'd let her go home if she survived. However, her reputation among her peer was now ruined. People would probably try to kill her now. Matthew Young might still have living friends who want her blood. She painted a target on her forehead just by killing him.

Claire put the new bandage on her forehead. She began to slowly pack up the first aid kit. Once it was away, she grabbed the flashlight and held it close to her chest. There wasn't much she could do now.

[decoy73]

((Zubin Wadia continued from Drawing to an End))

Zubin was wondering whether he was drawn to this place. He was back at the western beach after being away for about a day. He was in a different spot, sure, and Mara wasn't here to shoot/kick him in the nuts again, but still. And then the announcements came back on. More people were dead, and other crap. A bunch of danger zones were up permanently, the Woodlands being among them, meaning no free weapons for him. Other than that, the top killer was now Katarina Konipaski, and there was nobody he really wanted to seek out to kill. Garrett Wilde came close, but someone else had gotten to him first.

So now he was at some cave, with this weird jumpy feeling like oh wait. Zubin looked around as he looked around ...

Two minutes and thirty seconds later, Zubin zipped up his pants and sighed in relief. Much better. Wasn't anywhere to go really. He picked up a rock about the size of his fist and walked into the cave. Now he had a weapon if something were to go wrong. Hopefully not, though.

[Laurels]

Claire sighed as she rested in the cave. Her mind was racing around as she thought about Matthew Young. Now people knew she was a marked woman, and she was going to probably have to deal with more bullshit in the next few days, if she had a few more days. If there were any so-called "Player Hunters" around, they'd probably immediately assume she needed to be put down, like the dog in White Dog. She was sure she could be rehabilitated, but would they even consider her redeemable.

Who am I kidding? I'm probably still fucked.

Claire held the flashlight shotgun before her. They wanted her to survive with a single bullet. They had decided her fate long ago. Fate had also decided to send someone else into the cave, considering she heard footsteps approaching.

Claire wasn't too far into the cave, so she could see the silhouette of someone walking inside from the sunlight coming in from the entrance. It was hard to make out, but it looked like they had on a hat of some kind. She rolled her eyes. She didn't want to deal with other people right now.

"Hey, whoever's coming in here," she said aloud. "Just so you know: there's monsters inside this cave."

[decoy73]

"There's monsters inside this cave."

Seriously? Monsters? Zubin knew the voice well enough. Claire Monaghan wasn't really on Zubin's threat list - she wasn't even close to the top killers, plus he'd survived Mara kicking him in the balls, so how bad could she be? Besides, she was kinda friendly. Maybe less so given the circumstances, but still. Claire was, given the people he could have found, pretty high up there.

"Oh. Hey, Claire. How ya doing?"

It was good to see another sort-of friendly face. Who knows? Maybe they could actually get a game plan together.

[Laurels]

"Zubin?"

Claire's eyes focused on the person approaching her. To her surprise, it was Zubin Wadia, someone she knew from Debate Club. Part of her was honestly surprised he lasted this long. The last real interaction she had with him was when he and Amaranta Montalvo had that stupid fight in the computer lab. Considering he was on an island where people were trying to kill each other, part of her wondered if his mouth might have gotten him into grave trouble.

Still, she had no reason to worry about him yet, so she could talk with him for the moment.

"I'm fine, I guess. I mean, I accidentally killed a guy, and we're still nowhere closer to getting out of this hellhole. So...yeah. Fine. I guess."

[decoy73]

"Oh, yeah. Heard of that from the assholes. I'm not going to judge that." Zubin sat down across from where he now saw Claire in the shadows.

The words that came out of Claire Monaghan's mouth showed one thing - she was semi-friendly. Sure, as per the rules, he might have to kill her eventually to survive, but at least with her, Zubin would wait until the final two and even then he would feel bad about it.

"Yeah. aren't we all 'fine' right now. I think I caught Katarina killing someone. Oh, and I took a nut shot from Mara. On the plus side, I do have a way to cheat the game. It's shitty, but it's still there."

[Laurels]

Zubin sat on the cave wall opposite Claire. Good, the two of them could have a talk and not fall into any stupidity. Zubin seemed to forgive Claire for accidentally killing someone, something that did put her off a bit. It seemed a little too easy to forgive. He had to subscribe to a different philosophy or religion if he could forgive her that easily.

He hadn't had a good time either. He saw Katarina kill someone, then got kneed in the balls by Amaranta. That caused Claire to chuckle a bit. Of course Amaranta would try to damage his swimmer sac. If she knew those two from how they acted in school, she figured he must have done something to push her to do something like that.

She could ponder on how his nuts got busted later. Zubin said he had a way to cheat the game. That caused Claire to raise an eyebrow in surprise. That was quite something to announce aloud.

"Really?" she said. "All this time, you've had a way to cheat the game?"

Claire crossed her arms and looked directly at him.

"What do you have in mind?"

Claire wasn't sure if he actually had a plan to get off the island or had found some hole in the terrorist's scheme. He called it "shitty," so it didn't sound like he had much of a plan. Still, she could at least hear him out. After all, Amaranta might have just rendered him impotent. She could do him a favor.

[CondorTalon]

((Corey Esposito continued from Tell No Tales.))

The thing was, Corey actually was planning to go back to the ship.

It had been a long two days to collect his thoughts. To find Kyran or Claire, or at least to find Rachael's group again. No such luck, on any front. He was still as overwhelmed as he was two days ago, and he had no luck finding anyone.

Also, the gash on his arm had become infected. That's an important detail to recount, probably.

When he'd left the ship area, he had run through the forest to get away. As he was hopping over a ledge, his arm caught on a tree branch, which dragged across his arm, leaving a deep gash. He had been more concerned with getting away than he was with cleaning the wound.

He was paying for it now.

As he arrived back at the beach, he stopped up against the mouth of a cave just as the latest announcements began to play. He felt the sweat on his brow, heavier than usual, as he listened to the deaths.

Claire Monaghan smashed Matthew Young in the head with a flashlight, sending him toppling down a ledge to his death...

Shit.

He wanted to find her. But it looked like he wasn't going to be able to now...

...is what he thought until he swore he heard her voice.

It was her voice, along with another one, coming from another cave, nearby.

He willed himself to stand, before sluggishly making his way over to the other cave.

He scratched at his bandaged arm. It was a bad idea. He was afraid to see what was actually going on under them.

"Hey..." he said as he saw two figures up ahead.

He leaned against the cave wall to support himself.

[decoy73]

And the moment of truth came yet a third time. Zubin had to explain how an orgy was going to help cheat the game, but this time, he got to do it in a dark cave, so that there was no way for her to read any notes he had written to know the truth. Zubin just shook his head as he breathed in deeply.

"It was an island-wide orgy. That was my master plan. To impregnate the women so that two people would leave where only one came in. Before you object, I should state that I practically have a doctoral thesis on the flaws in this plan, so you're only telling me things I already know. Hell, Mara kneed me after I admitted my plan sucked, among other reasons." Zubin breathed again. "I've been trying to figure something else out, but everything keeps on stopping at the fact that it's so easy to get caught and blown up. Would you like to help me figure out something less offensive?"

"Hey ..." Another voice came from the entrance of the cave. Zubin looked to his right and saw a guy there, framed in the shadow, leaning against the wall.

"Oh, hey. How are you?"

[Laurels]

Oh my god, Amaranta might have been onto something with attempting to emasculate Zubin...

Claire gave a hard stare at Zubin as he explained his "plan" to escape the island. He couldn't be serious. Claire sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Zubin, what's the real plan?" she asked. "Because you can't tell me you've spent a week on an island where more than half of our senior class has been horribly murdered, then think it's seriously a good idea to go up to people and suggest they fuck like crazy in the middle of a jungle? You must be joking, because there's no way I can believe you'd be that insensitive to your peers during such a crisis as this. I also don't believe you'd be that idiotic to think anyone would go along with it. Then again..."

He did talk about planning a better escape. If the best Zubin could think of was something straight out of Caligula, she wasn't sure he would be the best person to pair up with.

Thankfully, a voice from the cave's entrance called her attention. Claire gasped in surprise when she recognized the voice. Instantly, a smile appeared on her face.

"Corey!" she shouted.

Claire stood up, keeping the flashlight in her hand. She couldn't believe it. Corey Esposito, one of her good friends from back home, was here. She was never able to see Chuck, Alex, or Amy before they died, but she finally found one of her best friends.

"I'm so glad to see you!" she said, walking closer to the boy. "I didn't think I'd see anyone else from our crew again. Have you seen Sean, Gray, or Kyran? What about RJ?"

Thank god for a tonal shift. I needed that after OrgyTalk2012.

[CondorTalon]

Yes. Claire was indeed here. Corey would have celebrated, if it weren't for the fact that he had little energy to do so.

"Claire, I'm glad I found you too," he tried to smile at the very least.

"Sean and Gray... they're on the ship. At least... they were two days ago... I wanted to find you, so I left. But I haven't found anyone else yet."

God, his arm was so itchy.

"Listen, I..." he started, but his head pounded and his thoughts stopped midway. He raised his hand to his forehead. Burning hot, and covered in sweat.

"I might not... make it."

[decoy73]

Needless to say, Claire was not impressed or amused, even with the knowledge that his "plan" wasn't very good, and enhanced by the fact that he couldn't pull out his notes to show that he actually did have something better up his sleeve. Then Corey showed up. Claire knew him well enough as a friend, so Zubin was okay with it, save for one small detail.

"I might not... make it."

Zubin cocked his head at that. Corey seemed okay. Maybe a little tired, but not ready to die.

"Wait, why not? What's wrong?"

[Laurels]

Claire's grin got wider as Corey showed joy at seeing her. He had apparently seen Sean and Gray two days earlier at the ship. Claire knew that had to be close to the beach, even within reasonable distance from the caves. There had to be a chance they'd still be there. She and Corey could go find them, then look for their other friends, and then maybe things wouldn't be nearly as awful.

However, Corey then mentioned that he might not make it. Claire's smile disappeared almost instantly. He was touching his forehead. A wave of panic came over her.

"Corey, what do you mean?" she asked frantically. "You can't seriously be dying on me after we finally meet? That's too cliche, man. You're better than some cliche."

Claire bit her lip. Part of her started to pray it was all a joke. He seriously couldn't die at this moment. That was just too cruel.

[CondorTalon]

"Sorry."

One simple word. That's all it was.

Sorry.

Corey was apologizing, even though he was the one who was dying. Sorry. One word, but with so many different meanings. So many different contexts.

Sorry you have to watch me die.

Sorry I couldn't find you ealier.

Sorry I abandoned Sean and Gray just for this to happen.

Sorry I couldn't have thought things through at such a critical moment.

Sorry.

Corey grabbed Claire's shoulders, pulling her into a hug. Well, more like falling into it.

The tears finally started to flow.

[Laurels]

((Skipping in order to help move the scene along))

Corey apologized. For dying? She couldn't believe it. He really was dying in front of her. Claire felt her eyes start to water. Before she knew it, Corey grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Claire realized he was starting to fall, so she quickly dropped the flashlight onto the cave floor and wrapped her arms around his. She guided him to the cave floor as she felt her shirt start to get wet from Corey's tears.

"Hey, you don't need to apologize," she said, stroking the back of his head.

Claire could start to feel a tear fall down her cheek.

"Look at it this way," she continued, her voice starting to strain, "you're going out in the arms of someone who cares about you. That's a luxury many of us won't get on this island."

Claire tightened her grip on Corey. She had seen moments like this play out in dozens of movies, but experiencing it was something completely different. This was probably the last time she'd get to talk with her friend. That's when a thought came to her. There was something that usually came out of those scenes in movies: the passing of mementos to give to loved ones, plans to start shrimp boating companies, and final declarations of passion. It might have been cliche, but Claire could give Corey that same privilege.

"Corey, do you have anything you need to say, or anything last requests you'd like me to fulfill?"