Ducks Love Fireworks

A medium sized duck pond is in the middle of the park. Old row boats are still tied to the edges of the pond. There are stands near the edge of the pond that advertise birdseed, and there is a sign near the water that says swimming is prohibited.
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Arscapi†
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Ducks Love Fireworks

#1

Post by Arscapi† »

((Bianca Howard start))

Bianca Howard woke feeling unsettled. It was an unusual feeling for her, but one she felt free to indulge in for the moment. Between being kidnapped and the gentle rocking motion being queasy was acceptable. Wait, why was she rocking? When she'd awoken the first time she'd been tied to a chair. Where was she now?

She sat up and surveyed the area, finding herself in a rowboat which was currently moored on a pond. Well, that certainly explained the rocking, she thought. Bianca stood up, pausing to catch her balance, before leaping gracefully out of the boat and onto the shore. She bent down to retrieve the duffle bag with a 45 stenciled on it. Moving away from the edge of the water she sat down and began going through the contents of her bag, keeping an ear open for any of her other classmates.
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Aura
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#2

Post by Aura »

((Adonis Alba continued from Far Below Par))

Adonis came running out of the trees and slowed down as soon as we caught sight of the pond.  He looked back to make sure that no one was chasing him.  Fortunately, it seemed that Cowboy had decided he had better things to do than to tail Adonis through the woods.  Good thing, too, because while Adonis might be pretty tough, he was no match for a rifle.

He put his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.  He had ran a lot in his lifetime, but those were usually touchdown nuns.  Running-for-your-life runs, he discovered, were a lot more tiring.  He unzipped his daypack and pulled a water bottle out.  He took a gulp of water before screwing the top back on and stuffing it back in his pack.

After his experience at the golf course, Adonis had come to the realization that he couldn't survive on the island alone.  The only reason he still had his legs was because Mallory had thrown a water bottle at the asshole that was aiming a gun at him.  If he had been solo, he almost certainly would have died there.

Come to think of it, I probably should've followed her.  Damn...

Adonis looked around the lake.  He couldn't see anybody, but there was a chance that maybe they were just somewhere beyond his field of view.  Hell, it was worth a shot, at least.  He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out.

"Yo!  Is anyone out there?"
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#3

Post by Arscapi† »

"Adonis," Bianca asked climbing to her feet. She'd ducked down behind the boats when she heard someone coming. It figured that an ex-boyfriend would be the first person that they ran into on this crazy island. Not that this relationship had ended badly, or had lasted very long at all. They'd dated back when Adonis was on the football team. Come to think of it they hadn't interacted much at all since then. There were definitely worse people to run into. He hadn't changed much and since they'd dated and Bianca took a minute to appreciate his looks. That was how she noticed his breathing.

"Are you okay," she asked taking a step out from behind the boat. "What were you running from in the woods?" Bianca eyed the forest behind him suspiciously.
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#4

Post by Aura »

Suddenly, Bianca Howard popped up from behind a boat.  Adonis had mixed feelings about this.  On the bright side, she was someone he knew, and she was pretty hot as well.  On the downside, however, she was an ex-girlfriend, and he wasn't too sure how happy she'd be to see him.  Hopefully she would be happy enough to not want to shove him in the lake, at least.

Fortunately, she didn't seem angry, and she actually sounded concerned about him.  She wanted to know what he had been running from, and he was more than happy to tell her.

"There was this... this cowboy asshole..."  He said between breaths, pointing into the woods,  "And he had this big gun, and he tried to steal my water for some stupid reason.  Then he decided he was gonna shoot me, but then Mallory... remember her?  Yeah, she threw a water bottle at him and yelled at me to run, so I did."  He took another moment to breathe some more.  Damn, it had been a while since he had ran like that.  He needed to build his stamina back up.

"So yeah, that's pretty much what happened."
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JamesRenard†
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#5

Post by JamesRenard† »

B030: Luca Johanssen - Start

This is all kinds of fucked up.

Luca - also known as boy number 30, as denoted by the black duffel bag currently draped over his shoulder - was not in the best of moods. He'd woken up an hour or so previously and had immediately set off towards the park area from his starting place. His right hand was gripped tightly around the plastic handle of his designated "weapon", a replica lightsaber.

He hated the toy with a passion. Not only because it was nearly useless, but also because he knew it was going to make him the butt of several jokes among the people watching him. Hey, look! It's Luca Skywalker! Luca, use the Force! He could imagine there'd be some sickos watching and cracking jokes at his expense, if history was anything to go by. From Version 1 to Version 4, Luca had found out that they'd all had their little audiences, watching the students kill each other from behind their computer screens. Yeah, let's all watch this kid suffer a slow and painful death because his weapon is just a glorified plastic bat. What a fucking joke.

"Fuck you, government. I know you're responsible for this," Luca muttered as he marched towards the duck pond. He was convinced of it. Why else would he, of all people, end up in Survival of the Fittest? He'd posted the odd comment on message boards and forums in the past, pointing out bits and pieces that didn't make sense and linking it back to the government. Some people had agreed with him, others didn't, and some just got royally pissed with him. It was kinda funny to watch them, in a way. Yeah, and I just painted a huge target on my back for all my troubles.

Luca saw two people, one male and one female, hanging around the boats as he approached the pond. He slowed his pace down to a stop, trying to make out the couple's identities before getting any closer to them. Is that... Adonis? Can't quite make out. Fuck, if it is him, he's probably more pissed than I am!
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#6

Post by Arscapi† »

The longer Bianca listened to Adonis' story, the more confused she became. "Wait a cowboy was chasing you for water? Doesn't he have his own? What happened to Mallory," the questions came pouring out of here as she tried to make sense of what little he'd told her.

Bianca paused and took a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm just freaking out a little, well a lot actually. I mean this is, well it's all just unbelievable. And yet here we are and according to you our classmates have already decided that this is a game they want to play. I can't believe they would even think that."
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#7

Post by Aura »

"Yeah, it's crazy, but its the fuckin' truth."  Bianca clearly didn't want to believe what was happening, but Adonis had already been on the wrong end of a gun barrel once, so he knew that it was for real.  He felt that the sooner he snapped her out of her shocked state, the better she would be able to keep herself alive.  He was trying to come up with some way to calm her down when he remembered his knife.

"Hey, we're not totally screwed yet.  I actually got a pretty good weapon.  Some kind of knife... thing.  What did they give you?"  Adonis thought that maybe if she had been given a decent weapon, she would stop freaking out.  Pretty much the last thing he needed right now was anything that would attract more attention, so he really needed her to chill out.
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#8

Post by JamesRenard† »

As far as Luca could tell from where he stood, things seemed to be staying relatively calm between the two students. No guns were drawn, no knifes unsheaved, no fisticuffs. That's got to be a good sign right there, right? They're not trying to kill each other, looks like they're only talking amongst themselves. Good, good, most likely they won't try to kill me either.

Luca began the approach again. As he got closer he could see it was indeed Adonis standing there with the other girl, the identity of whom he still couldn't quite work out. Wasn't she his girlfriend or something? She does look familiar with him. He kept the pace slow, however; if Adonis did suddenly flip out and attack either of them, at least he'd have enough distance to turn tail and run like his life depended on it. Well, at least as fast as his knee would allow him to go. "Hey, guys!" he called out to grab the pair's attention, holding the lightsaber out at arm's length so they could see his weapon. Hopefully they could see just how crappy it was from their position. "Uh, you two alright there? I, err... come in peace."

It was such a clichéd line and he felt so ridiculous once he said it, but it was the only thing he could think of at that moment. He just hoped that he was right about Adonis and the other girl not being threats.
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#9

Post by Arscapi† »

Bianca took a deep breath. This wasn't like her, she was usually calm. When her mom had a heart attack, she listened to the doctors carefully. She made sure her mom followed the rules. Oh, man! Her mom what must she be thinking? Part of Bianca hoped that her mom wasn't watching any of this. I can do this, she told herself. I can get through this.

"I got fireworks," she said. Before she could say anything more a voice came from behind her. She jumped and spun before her brain figured out that the boy walking toward them was saying that he wasn't going to hurt them.

She took a calming breath and counted to ten to try and calm herself. What was wrong with her? As she watched her classmate approach she realized that she knew him. Well, she knew of him. He was the weird baseball player, that didn't date at all. Bianca honestly couldn't fathom that, not dating at all. But then he was always going on about the government this or the government that, so maybe that was a turn off. It certainly had put him in the pass column in her book. Then she noticed what he was carrying and she laughed.

"A lightsaber? They really gave you a lightsaber," she said. "I thought fireworks were bad."
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#10

Post by Aura »

So Bianca had fireworks, apparently.  Adonis felt a little bad for her.  Hell, at least his knife was useful in a fight.  Bianca's fireworks couldn't do anything unless someone ate them or something stupid like that.  "Damn, that sucks."

At that moment, someone called out to them.  Adonis turned his head to see a sort-of-familiar face.  He didn't know the guy's name, but he remembered that he was sort of a conspiracy theorist, one of those guys that thins that the government is secretly behind everything.  Or maybe it was the aliens, depending on what kind of conspiracies they believed.  Adonis wasn't really sure whether this guy was a government guy or an alien guy, though.

What Adonis did notice, however, was what the new guy was holding.  Of all the goddamn things in the world, he had a toy lightsaber in his hand.  Damn, did the terrorists really want to fuck him over so badly that they gave him that as his weapon?  That was even worse than Bianca's fireworks!  Hell, at least they explode!  Adonis couldn't help himself.  He just started laughing on the spot.

Oh, you poor son of a bitch!

During his burst of laughter, Adonis tried to calm himself down enough to say something to the guy, maybe give him a fine greeting.  Unfortunately, whenever Adonis looked at him, he only saw the lightsaber in his hands, and he started laughing all over again.  Eventually, Adonis stopped laughing and looked at the poor bastard.  He could only muster up a few words, still chuckling a bit from the sheer absurdity of the situation.

"Dude... what the fuck?"
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#11

Post by LoneArcher† »

((Start for B010 Garrett Cobbler))

Garrett stuck a few fingers in his mouth in the vain attempt to silence his breathing. He was screwed. He was royally, horrendously screwed. The boy sat against the base of a tree with his head low so as to obscure as much of himself as possible from view behind some shrubs. It wasn't going to work. It was a stupid idea. He glanced briefly to the side of the shrub at what appeared to be a steadily growing congregation of people potentially trying to kill him. Pleasant thought. A part of him had thought about sprinting away. Surely, if they hadn't noticed him yet, he could be at a decent range before anyone called him out, especially if they had useless weapons. While not a religious young man, Garrett couldn't stop himself from sending a silent half-hearted prayer to the sky wishing that everyone else had useless weapons.

He sure as hell did.

He stared at the gigantic punt gun resting at his feet. Useless. Utterly useless. What was he going to do with it? He couldn't run with it and he had already tried lugging it around but the fastest he could go was about the speed of a toddler on a bicycle... if said toddler fell every foot. Even then, he wasn't so sure this hypothetical toddler couldn't beat him in a race. The worst part was the noise. Unless he wanted to tire himself out extraordinarily quickly, Garrett had to drag the damn thing everywhere he went, which was not quite the quietest thing he had ever heard. He had a half a heart to dump it off a cliff and hide in a tree somewhere for the game to be over, but he knew that wouldn't work. Not only would someone assuredly find him, he would still have to kill someone or the game would be up and he would be stuck in the same situation all over again. There was no winning.

At least the punt gun was strong. What stopped him from immediately dumping it somewhere was the knowledge that it was actually quite a competent shotgun. The only problem was the fact that it was several feet long and not attached to a boat. If only that were the case, he could float around and protect himself in relative safety. He had even heard of a punt gun being able to kill up to fifty ducks in one shot. That was precisely when it clicked in his head, causing him to lean his head back in exasperation and force himself not to audibly groan. They had dumped him near a duck pond. With a weapon designed to mass kill water fowl.

Had he been in another situation, Garrett might have laughed. Unfortunately, he could not quite be certain that laughing wouldn't result in a bullet in the head, especially with the crowd by the boat. He glanced over his shoulder again but couldn't make out the details of his potential murderers. As quietly as he could, he slipped his hand into his blazer pocket and pulled out his glasses case. After putting on his glasses (and smiling at the small victory of still having them), he looked once again at his peers. Was that... a lightsaber? Was it a real lightsaber? No, that was stupid. Those didn't exist. Then again, up until a few hours ago, Garrett hadn't thought that explosive collars existed. Perhaps he really was lucky though. Maybe everyone there was just as screwed as he was.

Garrett grinned bitterly. He supposed it didn't matter what weapons they had. Everyone was just as screwed as he was.

He carelessly placed a hand on the dirt beside him, rustling a few branches in the shrub. His eyes widened and he clamped his mouth over his fingers once more.

Royally, horrendously screwed.
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#12

Post by JamesRenard† »

"Fireworks, huh?" Luca wondered aloud as he got closer to the pair. "They're definitely nowhere near as bad as this thing. I mean, what can I do with this? Pretend it's a baseball bat and smack grenades away if someone happens to throw 'em at us? Not gonna happen." He did recognise the girl now that he was closer, however.

What's her name? Blanca? Bianca? Yeah, Bianca, that's it. Didn't she date someone from the baseball team before? I could've sworn she did at some point... well, maybe not, might be mistaken. Ugh, I don't know. Luca admitted that he didn't take too much interest in other people's dating lives, not since his break up with Louise the year before.

And then Adonis had the gall to open his mouth and laugh at him. What the hell, man?

Luca turned from Bianca to face the jock and just glared heatedly in his direction. His grip on the lightsaber tightened. "Adonis. Buddy. This isn't really funny, you know?" Luca scowled while bringing the lightsaber down to his side, the 'blade' pointing towards the ground. "I've been thrown into some kind of fucked up death match, got given a shitty toy to defend myself with, my knee is acting up so I can't run fast and my shoulder is still sore."

Stop. Breathe. Calm down.

Luca closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths through his nose. "Sorry for ranting, but I'm not in the best of moods right now."
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#13

Post by Arscapi† »

Bianca continued to smile and fought to keep her laughter under control. Luca was apparently very sensitive about his weapon. "Lighten up Luca," she said offering him a genuine smile.

"We're in a situation so bad, if I don't find something to laugh about I think I'll just curl into a ball and die. Save someone the trouble of attacking me. Can you believe that's what they actually want us to do? I'm trying to look on the bright side; if nothing else your weapon is good for a distraction, just like mine," she paused for a moment. "Actually mine isn't good for anything, unless there's a lighter somewhere."

She wandered over to where she left her duffle bag and made a cursory search. There was nothing in the duffle bag itself. Bianca did find a first aid kit. Dropping the bag she carried the kit back over to the boys, flipping it open to search through as she went.

"Yes," she said holding up the lighter enthusiastically. "Maybe we should set one off tonight, just to see them. I love fireworks." She gently placed the lighter back in the first aid kit and continued her search.

"There's aspirin in here, if you want it," she said holding the packet out to Luca. "Hey, why is your shoulder sore? What happened?"
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#14

Post by Aura »

The conspiracy kid seems pretty pissed off about Adonis laughing at him, which, concerning their current situation, was pretty justified.  However, despite a good amount of effort, Adonis couldn't wipe the grin off of his face.  Because, honestly, the guy had just walked up carrying a plastic light saber, of all things, and that was easily the funniest thing he had seen all week.  In spite of that, Adonis did make his best attempt at an apology.

"Sorry bro, it's just... fuckin' lightsaber, man.  It's kinda hard to take you seriously when you're carryin' that around."

Not the best apology in the world, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

At least Bianca still seemed to be in a good mood.  From what Adonis heard, she wanted to set off one of her fireworks just for the hell of it.  It struck him as sort of odd that she would just waste her weapons like that, but then he remembered that her weapons are fireworks, and therefore completely useless for anything other than being blown up for no real reason.  Still, it wouldn't hurt to see what kind of fireworks she had.

"So what's in the bag, Bianca?  Cherry bombs, bottle rockets, what are we working with here?"
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#15

Post by LoneArcher† »

Garrett exhaled in relief. They hadn't noticed him. As far as he could tell, they had just continued their conversation none-the-wiser. It didn't quite change his situation, however. He was still relatively near a group of potentially dangerous peers with no way to run without abandoning his assigned weapon or drawing a lot of attention. He would have to make a decision outside of hiding and he would have to make it soon. He glanced over his shoulder once more at the three students. Nothing seemed to be happening. No Mexican stand-off, no mass murder, no one screaming at the tops of their lungs. Either they weren't planning on doing anything violent, or they were working together.

He weighed his options as quickly as he could. He could run and leave his punt gun, but then he would be completely unarmed and with more than a hundred armed kids running around, he wouldn't be in the best position to survive. He could run with his weapon [or in that case, hobble slowly] and hope they didn't notice, but that was likely to get him killed. He could continue hiding, but surely they or someone else would find him. Finally, he could come out. If there was anything Garrett decided he didn't want to do, it was surprise anyone. Surprising someone could force someone to react in a way a bit more violent than normal out of self-preservation and the last thing Garrett wanted to do was surprise three armed individuals.

He took a deep breath and shouted over his shoulder as calmly as he could, "Hey, it's Garrett! I... don't shoot! I don't want any trouble!"

He waited a beat and then peeked out from behind the foliage before stepping out, dragging his gun behind him but making sure only a few inches peeked out behind the shrubs. Worst comes to worst, he could pretend it was an average-sized shotgun and scare them that way. He scanned the individuals and his heart dropped. It was Adonis, possibly the last person he wanted to see.
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