Affluenza

[Cake]

Miles spat again on the handkerchief, crumpled it up and tossed it to the side.

"Fuck off," Miles spoke up, raising his voice and using a word choice more lewd than what he usually would, but at this moment he didn't really care about being civil. He sat up, glaring back at Joe again. His abdomen still burning with the throbbing pain he was trying to endure.

He slapped Joe's foot away, and pushed himself back to lean his head against the lounge chair he had been resting on before Joe had entered the house.

"Look, you Homunculus. I am sick and tired of repeating this to idiots who don't want to listen to reason."

Like that ignoramus, Katarin.

"Met with Chuck and Kat Tolstoff at the lagoon by that beach on the first day. I actually ended up liking the kid okay?" He could have added more details, but Miles hated to relive those painful moments from that first day again and again. He felt crappy just thinking about it.

"Kat didn't believe me so she stabbed me," Miles pointed at his abdomen and lifted his shirt up to show him, the seeping with red, bandages. "Right here."

So you got your answer Joe.

"I wish I hadn't screwed up back there. I didn't mean to do it, but it happened. You can believe what you want to believe."

[ViolentMedic]

Joe's foot got pushed away. He didn't move it back, instead just tapping the foot against the ground as Miles talked.

When he showed the wound, Joe immediately turned away. At the same time, he felt both relief and guilt. He'd made it worse, but he hadn't punched a hole in Miles' abdomen or anything.

Joe didn't reply for a long, long time. Part of his mind still told him to stomp. Hurt. Make him suffer.

He breathed out hard through his nose, looking up at the ceiling. "...You're still stupid."

Miles couldn't be forgiven. But... hurting him wouldn't fix anything. Joe wouldn't. He could, but he wouldn't.

Joe crouched a little, looking back at Miles. "Can't... can't forgive you. But not like it would... would mean anything. From me. But... but yeah. You screwed up."

At least he admitted it. At least he didn't try to justify it. At least he never said that Chuck's death was for some better reason. No grand justification to make himself feel better.

"You... you screwed up. Guess you gotta live with it. For... for a while." Living with it was the worst, anyway. Joe couldn't do worse than that.

Joe looked at the floor, then back at the ceiling to avoid seeing the blood splatters.

"Shouldn't... shouldn't have... D'you have bandages?"

[Cake]

"You need to have your speaking license revoked," Miles spat out weakly in defiance.

Joe was really quite annoying. The dumb stuff he kept saying in combination with that ridiculous stutter was simply grating. He was glad he'd never spoken to this guy at length back home; because he was sure he would have lost it.

Now he was asking about bandages, but no, Miles wasn't going to tell him where the wardrobe he hid his stuff was located. That was a death wish. That's where all his supplies, his rations, his medical kit was. That's where he hid the dynamite and the Hunga Munga. The same Hunga Munga that killed Chuck.

If Joe actually wanted to help fix the injuries he inflicted or made worse, then he could use his own bandages.

Miles shook his head and then gently laid his sore body back down onto the carpet. He closed his eyes. He spoke again, his words soft.

"Sorry about your friend." No, that didn't cover it enough, he wasn't just a friend. "Sorry about Chuck."

[ViolentMedic]

Joe made a face in response to Miles' insults. No bandages. Well, that was... a problem. But Joe had to think of the other people he had left to find. Might have been his fault, but he couldn't just... go running off to find bandages. Not for Miles. He didn't deserve death or anything, but... he wasn't at that level of forgiveness.

"Sorry, then. Luh... lost my kit."

And then an apology.

Joe looked at Miles, then looked away. He blinked rapidly a few times, eyes suddenly watery. Sudden lump in his throat.

"Y...yeah..." he croaked.

Still no forgiveness. But he recalled the announcements and what Aileen had said. That girl, Naomi... he recalled something about them being cousins. They did look similar. Miles had his own losses. So maybe there was no forgiveness, but there was pity. Sympathy. It briefly dissolved the anger that was still swishing about in his gut.

"Uh... I'm, uh... I'm sorry, too. For, uh... you know, uh..." He trailed off. Trying to think of a sensitive way to say, 'I'm sorry your cousin got brutally murdered and cannibalized.'

[Cake]

Wait, hold on one second, what was that.

Miles' eyelids and body shot up in response to Joe's ambiguous apology. His speech patterns did not help to make it easier to understand either.

The sudden movement caused strain to his wounded gut, sending waves of burning pain rippling through his mid-section, so he immediately laid back down onto the formerly neat, but now dust covered white carpet, with his own blood on it.

He closed his eyes and then groaned softly to himself again, in reality it probably didn't help with the pain, but it felt like it did and that's all that mattered.

Still, even through his pained groans, Miles' gaze continued to follow Joe as he stared on with an expression of clear confusion. Then he shut his eyes again.

What was he talking about.

[VoltTurtle]

Maddie turned to see RJ behind her, having entered from another room. She gave him a small smile, knowing she had a friend still made her feel a happy warmth, even after it's already been a while. Just knowing she didn't have to be alone and she had someone who would help her, someone that she could trust, made the crushing situation of the game just a tiny bit easier to deal with. She spoke. "I managed to find a tin of crackers in one of the pantries." She ruffled through her bag and pulled out the tin, shaking it around. "I think there might be some other stuff that we can find around the house if we looked."

She turned a bit to her side and gestured. "I'm going to go upstairs and check the area up there since I've already gone over most of the rooms down here. Go ahead and give everything a once over to see if I missed anything and come upstairs once you are done with that." After making one final gesture she moved out of the living room and up the nearby stairs. She arrived in the hallway upstairs and glanced around. When they initially arrived she had given the house a once over to check if anyone else was in it before they settled down. She hadn't actually looked at the rooms in detail, and now she was finally doing so.

She turned into the bedroom closest to the stairs and began looking around, opening wardrobes and dresser drawers. She stopped when she finally found a drawer that wasn't empty. There was a brush in it. She took it out and looked at it. It was an old brush, and from the looks of it it hadn't been used in a while. The brush made her think about how she hadn't legitimately brushed her hair in several days since she hadn't had anything to really brush it with. She didn't have the foresight to bring a brush with her on the trip. She hadn't even taken her hair out of her ponytail since she got on the island. Her hair was probably heavily tangled and matted. The thought made her wince. Now, she supposed, would be a good a time as ever to giver her hair a good brushing.

She put her hat down on the dresser, keeping the silver pill box still sitting inside of it, and undid her hair in front of the mirror. She pulled the brush through her hair, bit by bit, wincing as it pulled through each tangle. Despite the tugs on her hair from the brush, she found that it felt oddly relaxing to brush her hair like this, in front of a mirror. Maybe it was because it reminded her of being home back in Seattle. Oh how she wished she really was back in Seattle, that she had decided to skip the trip and avoid all of this. She sighed. However she thought about it, hindsight wasn't going to help her present situation.

She finished combing her hair and redid her ponytail. She slipped the comb into her bag and placed her hat back on her head as she walked back out into the hallway.

[Un-Persona†]

((Gm-ing of Maddie approved))

R.J. nodded as Maddie smiled towards him, told him to look around the house for supplies. Yeah, he could do that for her. He began inspecting the drawers and cupboards, looking for anything that could help him or Maddie while they were on this place. A metal ting against his palm drove him to grabbing it, curiosity gaining lee-way. It was a rusted knife, short handle with a thin blade, clearly worn down from it's years. Probably wasn't good for cutting anything anymore. A dull knife is still a knife, however. Might help out, in whatever form that may be. He placed it in his bag, hearing Maddie coming down the stairs.

He told her about the knife and how he wasn't coming up with much else to find. They both agreed that there could be more stuff in the other houses, and it'd be good to stretch their legs after staying in the house so long. The little limp he had yesterday had now subsided to basic soreness, so that was nice. As Maddie and R.J. went outside, R.J. kept looking around his surrounding, daydreaming. He felt secure enough to do that again. Gazing, he saw a dead body across one of the yards in the bushes. R.J. guessed they must have missed it when they walked by earlier, turning his head away from the corpse. R.J. wasn't sure if it was the time to begin looting bodies.

"Maybe soon, but not now."

So he lead himself and Maddie into this new house. Voices and noises coming from one of the rooms. He raised a finger to his lips, signaling Maddie to stay quiet. Could be someone hurt, could be people raiding, could be nothing at all. But being open had given him little luck so far. That in mind, he crept through the halls as quiet as possible, successfully making as little noise as possible.

They had made their way to the other people in the house. One was a boy on the floor, bleeding. The other was Joe, standing over him. R.J. stood still, crouching and saying nothing for a few seconds. His eyes had blinked a number of times, his face in a locked neutral state, before he stood again and stepped into a closer view.

The knife was now ready in his hand.

[ViolentMedic]

Joe took a step forward, hands reaching out slightly, as Miles starting hurting again. Then Joe closed his hands and moved back again.

Did Miles not know? Or had Joe just been too... vague? Maybe it wasn't just his cousin, maybe he'd lost friends too. Of course he had, he was part of the popular crowd. He had to have lost others.

"I mean... I... I guess I'm s-sorry about anyone you lost... buh... but sorry about N--"

And suddenly there were people in the room. R.J and another girl. Knife. Joe suddenly realised how bad this situation looked.

He had no-one but himself to blame for that. It was probably just as bad as it looked...

Joe took a step back, hands raised. Mouth opened and shut, and he shook his head as he did so. Then he bolted. Because what could he say to make that situation better?

((Joe Carrasco continued in Oh... Hi...))

[Cake]

"N--"

Never-mind.

It was the last thing Miles heard Joe say before the clattering of panicked footsteps switched from the carpet to marble flooring. There was also the sound of a door or window slamming open as if someone was trying to make a quick get-away. That was Joe of course. He ran away. Then Miles heard the extra sounds and the extra footsteps and then he knew why. There were other people here.

Stacy and Rachael.

Finally. Too bad they had such awful timing to come in about ten minutes too late. Except no, there was another guy's voice so that wasn't exactly correct.

Miles didn't say a thing. He hadn't moved. Instead, he felt content to just stay on that carpet and continue to lay there.

In a lot of pain.

[VoltTurtle]

Maddie checked each of the other rooms on the floor, checking the various containers and giving the rooms each a cursory glance. Unfortunately, she didn't find anything of note, just random junk like paper clips and hairpins. Once she got through the last room she sighed, opened up one of her water bottles, took as sip, and walked back down the stairs into the living room with RJ. He said he found a rusty knife. She became puzzled for a moment, and shook her head a bit. How could she have missed something like that? He said that they should stretch their legs and check the other houses. She nodded to that, although she wasn't particularly hoping to get even more exercise, she had gotten enough already from just running around.

The two of them walked out of the house they were originally in and into a nearby house. There were voices coming from part of the house. They weren't alone. RJ signaled to her to stay quiet. She nodded to him and crept alongside him as they made their way towards the noise. The last time they had investigated a noise hadn't turned out so well, but perhaps this time won't turn into a life or death situation. They arrived at the source of the noise, two boys, one standing over the other, one injured. She tensed, something had gone down that she didn't really want to be a part of.

But, one of the boys, the one standing over the other, noticed them and immediately bolted. She looked at the other boy, he was very obviously in pain, hadn't moved much since they arrived on the scene. She approached him, concerned. She wanted to help him, despite her instincts telling her to avoid the boy, she couldn't just simply ignore and leave him. "Do you want help?" She said, trying her best to convey it in a non-confrontational tone. She kneeled close, but not right next to, the boy. "I know some basic first aid, if you are willing to accept my help."

[Laurels]

((Rachael Langdon continued from ... Into the Fire))

Rachael hurried along back to the house with Miles. Her eyes were getting puffy from crying, with the occasional sniffle being the only sound she could make. She wasn't in a talkative mood with Stacy. She couldn't hate Stacy for what happened back at the mansion. Those girls were willing to kill them, and the two of them simply were the lucky ones. It was still a tragedy that it had to come to that, but she couldn't act like Stacy had committed some grand moral affront. After all, morality worked differently here.

Rachael approached the home Miles was in. She hoped they could get inside and find a Miles who would be ready to move out. The further they got from Miranda and Katarin's bodies, the better. It wasn't going to help that they now had a lot more weapons. Stacy had the large spear to go with her gun. Rachael took Katarin's knife from her in order to lighten her load. Carrying the knife in her hand didn't feel quite right, so Rachael kept it in her pocket. She had to manage carrying the bags they looted, and the knife was just in the way.

Rachael stood in place, looking at the house. She hoped Miles was ready to go.

[Un-Persona†]

Well.

Scaring off Joe had actually worked. R.J breathed a whiff of air out of the corner of his lips, it lifting some of his hair away from his eyes, now a bit more relieved. There was still Miles to deal with, but at least he probably wasn't going to give the two any trouble.

R.J. simply nodded as Maddie offered her help to Miles lying on the floor. They couldn't just leave them there. He already had bandages on him, so he was obviously hurt beforehand. It made him a little worried, thinking about it.

Joe wouldn't try to go for the easy kill, would he?

Never-minding that, R.J. figured he could make him self the impromptu guard, not having any idea of what to do with helping in any medical way. He already knew first-hand that Maddie had more first aid knowledge then he did, so he didn't have to fret over that.

R.J. slumped his shoulder against the wall in the hallway and stood there, facing away from Maddie and Miles, arms crossed and knife twirling between his fingers.

He began to daydream.

"An iron horse with a flaxen tail..."

[Will†]

((Stacy Ramsey continued from ... Into the Fire))

After Stacy exited the mansion, she began to cry. She wept softly, trying not to gain the attention of Rachael who was several feet in front of her. She was the cause of two people dying and would be known as a murder for the rest of her life, which would more than likely be over by the end of the week. The worst thing was that it could have been avoided if she and Rachael just went back to Miles after searching the first mansion. By tomorrow morning everyone else on the island would think she's a player, some might even try and hunt her down and kill her for what she'd done. She hoped that Rachael and Miles when he eventually finds out wouldn't think anything less of her.

Stacy saw Rachael stop as she reached the house Miles was in. Stacy had stopped crying and was now wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Once she had caught up with Rachael, Stacy stood beside her before glancing around them both. There didn't seem to be anyone else around, but Stacy wanted to make sure no one would sneak up on them while they went to collect Miles. She didn't want another situation like what had happened at the mansions.

"Rachael, you stay here and keep a lookout for people, I'll go and get Miles." Stacy said glumly.

As she made her way into the house and into the room they had left Miles in, Stacy was caught by surprise at what she saw. She froze briefly and took the scene in. A bruised and beaten Miles was spread out on the floor with Madeline Wilcox kneeling near him and R.J Roger standing close by, both of whom had kills to their names if she remembered correctly. R.J had a knife in his hand, but it didn't look like it had been used on Miles and by the looks of it, Madeline was trying to help Miles.

Snapping out of her gloomy state, Stacy dropped her things and rushed over to Miles.

"What happened?!" Stacy asked whilst her eyes darted between the three of them.

[VoltTurtle]

((Skipping with permission))
((GM'ing of RJ approved))

Maddie looked up from Miles when she heard the sounds of footsteps just outside the room they were in. A girl entered, not someone Maddie recognized that well. She looked surprised as she looked over the scene. Maddie panicked. The girl probably thought that her and RJ did this. Then, she rushed over to them. She said something. Something Maddie didn't catch, probably something asking them what happened. She didn't know quite what to do. She wanted to stay here and help Miles, but she didn't know if this girl was going to jump to any conclusions and potentially be dangerous.

Ultimately, she decided to run. She rushed out of there, grabbing RJ's wrist as she did so to drag him along with her. Out of the house and out of the gated community she went, with RJ in tow, to some other place that they could potentially hide or meet people under better circumstances.

((Madeline Wilcox continued in Death to Buddy))

[Un-Persona†]

"...And that's why the rainbow is my bed."

A flash of blonde ran past him, distress evident through her voice as she asked what had happened. Stacy Ramsey, he'd seen her around a few times. She was looking towards R.J., Maddie, and Miles. This must have looked pretty bad. It would have been easy just to explain it was Joe, get this whole thing settled. Easy.

"U-Um, some guy...I don't know his name - was here and we found him like this and-"

Before he could finish, Maddie had grabbed his wrist and was tugging him out the front door. R.J. repeatedly kept saying sorry to Stacy, said sorry as he was dragged past a distressed looking brunette girl, sorry till they were out of range for his voice to be heard.

R.J. hoped that Miles would be okay. R.J. saw himself as lucky today. Lucky enough to spot Miles when he did anyway, could have actually done something useful for a change.

At least for once, a few apologies would mean something.

((Rutherford "R.J." Roger Jr: B032 -V5- Continued in Death to Buddy))