Belgian Roulette

[decoy73]

((Zubin Wadia continued from The World According to Third Grade))

"Tyler, did you go to prom?"

Zubin didn't know if Tyler was even listening. He didn't care. He just had to think of something that wasn't about his current situation.

"I went with Jaquilyn. I remember when we were going there, she asked if I was doing this to get in bed with her. I told her that if I just wanted to get laid, I would have asked Stacey Mordetsky, but even if she had said yes, we would have killed each other before we could consummate our tolerance for each other. Stacey ended up going with Travis. Two of them fit together so well then." Jaquilyn and Stacey were both dead. Stacey's lover was practically on a watch list. Stacy Ramsey was dead. Paris and Joachim were dead, the former at the hands of the latter, who had been killed by Ami. Claire was dead, so that was almost everybody he'd come into contact with. Virgil was dead, too. That particular alliance was down for the count. Oh, shit, he was still thinking about it.

"So, Tyler, if you're the last one standing, what'll you do when you get home?"

[Grim Wolf]

(Tyler Lucas continued from The World According to Third Grade)

"Prom?" Tyler grunted, limping in Zubin's wake.  "Nah."  He hesitated a moment, as beads of sweat dripped down from his limp and greasy hair.  "Nah."  

The spacious grounds of the mansions stretched around them.  Tyler's eyes didn't seem to look at them, or anything nearby.  They seemed glazed.

"Had to work," he said.  "Mom got sick, and I needed to cover her bills."  He paused, then added, "There was a girl I kinda wanted to ask.  Probably would have said no."  He shrugged.  "Hell."

Still, his eyes were glazed and distant.  Except when Zubin asked his last question.  Then Tyler's eyes snapped back to Zubin, and he stopped moving.

"Don't think about that," he whispered, and there was sudden ice in his voice, at once angry and scared and wistful.  "Don't give it a single fuckin' thought.  Don't get distracted.  Treat this place like a fucking addiction.  You take it one fuckin' day at a time, got it?"

[Ruggahissy]

You can't do that. You musn't do that, you should do this. Don't you know that people are always looking at you? If you mess it up, they'll notice and you'll lose all that respect. You can't do that, you should do this. I'll do whatever I want now.

((Amaranta Montalvo continued from Whispers in the Dark))

She was lying on a couch in the mansion, unmoving, mostly just thinking to herself. She had done a lot of that lately. Thinking. Thinking about the things she liked at home, the things she didn't like. Remembering the time that all of her friends came to her house to get ready for prom. Summer had made a passive aggressive dig at Naomi for winning the election for president. It was so obvious now to see the seeds that came to fruition on the island. All of the beginnings for everything that had happened were already there. It made her feel embarrassed that it had taken so long, and ineffectual to know that knowing did her no good. Sure it was information, but it wasn't helpful at this point. It was just trivia now.


She heard voices go by outside the window. She knew who they were. Mara didn't move, still staying limp on her semi-hidden spot on a couch in a living room. She liked to eavesdrop, no need to make herself known.

Zubin was trying to strike up conversation with Tyler. How very Zubin of him. He asked about home. She hadn't considered going home. Of course she'd considered surviving, but going home would be very strange. It would be like lending someone a sweater and then getting a ball of yarn when they went to return it to you.

Tyler had some sob story about his parents. She didn't care. The gossip in her did briefly wonder who the girl he wanted to ask was, though. She wanted to see if he was shooting way out of his league or not. He probably was. His admonitions to Zubin made him sound like he'd been cut from an 80s action movie and pasted onto the island, snuck aboard a high school plane to Disneyland.

[decoy73]

Treat it like an addiction ... what? Like kick it or ... Zubin just shook his head.

"Got it. Just think of the here and now." He didn't really feel like debating the point that home was the entire reason he was trying to survive. He just looked around at the houses that were in the area. Many of them would have been the talk of the town if the place was inhabited.

"So, anywhere you think is a good place? Bet the values here were through the roof."

[Grim Wolf]

It seemed to take Tyler a long time to respond.  His eyes were glazed and his face exceptionally pale.  He was drenched in sweat, so his ratty tanktop clung close to his body, so wet it was nearly transparent.

"Good?" he grunted.  "Good for...what?"

He blinked, and shook his head.  Glanced down at his bloodstained, ratty rags.

"I need some fuckin' clothes," he grunted, jerking his head towards the nearby mansion.  "Come on."

He started limping towards the nearest door.

[Ruggahissy]

Mara heard foot steps coming up towards the door. She glanced at it for a moment before going back to staring at the rotting ceiling.

Her gun was resting in her lap and the pillow she was using was full to the brim to grenades. However, she didn't make any motion to reach for anything. She thought about Zubin, who would surely open the door any second. Was she concerned? No, not really. Tyler was with him of course, who had been on the announcements more than once, though she didn't really remember specifically who he'd killed.

The announcements......Owen was dead. That was a real shame. He was a nice person and one of the very few people on the island who'd treated her with kindness without asking anything in return. It was a given he would die, like all other people on the island bar one, but it was still a little sharp needle prick in her heart. He listened to her and he watched over her and gave her food. He carried her to a room with soft carpet and made a bed for her and watched over her. She wondered what he was like during his daily life before pushing the thought of Owen away altogether. Travis was the killer, he should have had a better killer than that. Maybe she should have killed him in thanks for his kindness, she knew she'd be quick and he wouldn't have felt anything.

With new company approaching she thought about what would happen if they found her sitting there. She could easily kill them both. To her honest surprise, she did not want to kill Zubin. He was silly. He amused her which was especially rare now, probably one of the only things left on earth that could make her smile because everything else was destroyed. In a world where she hated everyone and everything in it, a smile was so rare.

Mara shifted around, lying half off the couch, staring at the door upside down. She fiddled with the hem of her skirt. It had gotten shredded and dirty during all her altercations.

[decoy73]

Tyler went towards a door. He wanted clothes. Zubin didn't really care either way - the clothes he had now would work just fine until the end. It likely wouldn't last for five minutes when he got home, anyway. He just looked up as he crossed the threshold and entered the building.

"Oh, shit. Sorry about that. We were just leaving." Zubin cursed his luck.

Seriously? Mara again?

[Grim Wolf]

Tyler glanced at Mara, his eyes flickering over her weapons.  "The hell we were," he grunted.  "I need a change of clothes."

He nodded at Mara, though.  "Good job keeping alive," he said.  "You can hide out if you want, Zubin.  Don't think she'll be killin' us today."  

Tyler headed up a nearby staircase, looking for closets.

[Ruggahissy]

"Morning Zubin," she said as she twirled a grenade around in her hand. She stopped it suddenly and cocked her head to the side. "Did you make me breakfast? I want breakfast."

Tyler wandered past her and it seemed he was looking for clothes. She had boy's clothes, but while she was content at the moment not to lob one of her grenades at them, she didn't feel particularly like helping them out.

And he congratulated her on being alive, but was strangely blasé about it. It was in the same vein as "Cool haircut" or "nice Power Point presentation."

"Uh, thanks," she said slowly. Everything was so bizarre, but bizarre was preferable at the moment to the uninterrupted trauma of everything else thus far. Strangely enough, this was one of the warmest receptions she'd gotten so far. No one yelled at her or randomly attacked her. It had been almost beyond memory the last time someone considered her to be not dangerous.

She blinked in confusion and then tracked him with her eyes until he was out of the line of sight.

"So are you his manservant or something?" she asked, turning back to Zubin. "I figured you wanted a sexy partner, but I have to be honest, this isn't the way I thought you were going to go with that. Also, where's that breakfast?"

[decoy73]

She's lost it.

Zubin just stared at the woman in front of him. She was a little dirty and worn out, but otherwise quite chipper, which, given their previous history and interactions, made no sense. Maybe she'd decided to turn over a new leaf, which would be relieving if it weren't for what was in her hand.

Is that a fucking GRENADE?

Never mind. Mara was losing it. Now he really wanted to get the hell out of there. Of course, given that they were down to twenty-something people and he was unarmed, he wanted to stay close to somebody who could help him long enough for him to be able to strike off on his own if he had to go alone again.

"Uh, no. It's like one of those ... buddy-cop movies. I'm the bookish guy, he's the brash one, and together we just try to not get killed, I guess? Why would you even care? I tried to get with you after you threatened to perforate me."

Goddammit, just shut up this is not the time you are not helping

[Ruggahissy]

Tyler was upstairs doing something or other. He didn't seem like a friendly type and her other company for the moment was Zubin.

"If smarts are what you contribute to the partnership then I made the correct decision."

She stowed the grenade and picked up her m4 carbine and heavy bag, lumpy with more weapons. Once up, she dusted herself off, grimacing at the pain from her hands.

Mara walked up to Zubin and stood across from him, standing straight up.

"Don't be so dramatic," she said with a half-smile.

She assessed him for a moment. At school she would have unquestionably said she was better than him in every way possible. The fact that they were both still alive meant that they were roughly equal, as was everyone on the island. Seeing them all as such had a very strange effect on her. She didn't really know what it was.

Mara made a hesitant move forward as if to hug Zubin, but seemed to think better of it and stopped. She looked at her bag for a moment, and moved forward again, this time completing contact.

She patted Zubin on the shoulder twice.

"Like I said last time, I can't stay."

Without any other explanation she walked out of the mansion.

[Grim Wolf]

He was up the stairs, limping through ornate rooms gone to dust, when he hesitated and glanced back over his shoulder.  Down to where he could just hear Zubin and Mara's voices.  He looked down at himself--at ratty clothes and bloodstains--then back again.

His mouth flickered as though torn between a grin and a grimace.

He doubled back the way he'd come, found a narrow staircase towards the rear of the house, and crept down it, putting ginger weight on his leg so he didn't make any sounds.  He hesitated again, then snuck out the back door and around the side of the mansion.

And almost ran into Mara striding the other way.

There was a tense moment where they stared at each other, fingering their respective weapons.  Then Tyler's flickering face unfolded into a grin.

"Good luck out there," he said.  

Then he limped past her without a backwards glance.

(Tyler Lucas concluded in Glory and Gore)

[Ruggahissy]

Just as she was on her way out the other guy came up to her side. She raised held her gun at the ready, considering her past bad luck with people trying to stop her from leaving an area. He smiled at her.

When good looking people smile, she automatically thought it was a nice gesture. When unfortunates smiled at her she automatically braced herself for them wanting something.

He wished her luck. Like they were on the same football team. 'Good luck out there, sport. Play a good game.'

He's bizarre

"Same...I guess."

((Mara Montalvo continued in Multishot))

[decoy73]

Mara was probably going to kill him with that gun, so she stood up, made fun of him a little, patted him on the shoulder, and left, (relatively) politely declining any alliance.

...

Zubin just stood there for a good minute, shocked. She didn't do anything. Someone who virulently hated his guts, with clear means, motive, and opportunity to blow his head off right there just ... up and left. Was there some divine force just smiling on him or something? Zubin just breathed in and out, in and out ...

He just shook his head, picked up his bags, and looked around to see Mara bumping into Tyler. Shit. Zubin started jogging, grinding his teeth in irritation. If he booked it fast enough Zubin could catch up to Tyler before Tyler dropped out of sight.

((Zubin Wadia continued in Glory and Gore))