The Use of Common Sense is Authorized

[decoy73]

((Charlene Norris continued from Anthem for Doomed Youth))

Charlie should have been feeling a lot worse than she was. The past two announcements had heralded the deaths of fifty people - Feo, Janet (okay, she was a bit of a bitch, but still), Jamie, Carla, JJ (and killed by Jimmy Brennan, of all people), and Madelyn were the ones that stuck out to her - oh, and one other:

... Charlene Norris was the next to get in on the action, shooting down Kyle Portman, who was dumb enough to take the bullet for Hayley Kelly ...

That was the one. Weirdly enough, she didn't feel the soul-crushing guilt that she would have expected herself to feel, and the fact that she had gunned down someone who had probably, up until that point, had done nothing wrong only made up a little bit of the problem. Her thoughts on the matter were more along the lines of:

Crap. I hit the wrong person. The feeling was wildly different than how she felt due to the death of Steve Barnes - then, she was scared out of her mind, and guilty over the fact that she had done nothing. Now, she just looked out at the beach ahead of her. It was actually pretty nice - the only sign of any interference was the large circle, as if someone had decided to create a bonfire.

"Hell, this looks like a good spot to get a tan." Given the context of the game, and the increasing number of bodies peppering the island, treating today as a "day on the beach" would be only as long as someone else didn't come in trying to shoot, and the area remained clear, but still, getting some sun would be a great relaxer.

[Arscapi†]

((Thea Kairos continued from Anthem for Doomed Youth ))

Thea walked silently as the announcements came again. She tuned them out for the most part. The list of names just kept getting longer, and everyday there was someone that she knew. Besides nothing could hurt as much as hearing James' name on the announcements a few days ago. She sighed, and thought about what she'd gone through so far. Not much probably in the grand scheme of things. But she hadn't really had time to mourn, for James. She'd taken on the leader of their little group when no one else would. Then had to deal with people that thought they knew her and could tell her what to do. As if!

She glanced over to Charlie as her name was called over the announcements. If there was one thing to come from this, it was that she didn't know her best friend at all. From the moment they'd met up Charlie had acted totally out of character. Honestly, she didn't know what to do about her. So for now she'd decided to keep her opinions to herself and stay with the small group she'd found and hopefully stay safe. Of course how safe she actually was now that Charlie was a murder she didn't know.

Blowing out a long breath, as Charlie muttered something about a tan. She laughed; she had to as she looked over at her best friend. "Maybe for you, my dear, what with you being the whitest of the white people and all. But I don't have to get a tan, mine comes built in."

[xylophonefairy†]

((Acacia Salinger continued from Anthem For Doomed Youth))

There were two things on Acacia's mind.

The first was that Thea and Charlene probably thought she was on some kind of wild gun toting rage after she suggested they shoot Ricky in the tunnels. That wasn't what she'd meant, if they'd been able to read her thoughts... obviously they couldn'y, but if... then they would know what she meant. As it was, it hadn't been brought up, and Acacia didn't like to remind them in case they thought that she was crazy.

And talking of crazy, that was the second thing that was on her mind. Acacia was having some doubts about Charlene. She'd known the girl for many years, they'd travelled all over the state and country participating in doubles tennis the last couple of years, so she knew somehow that things weren;t right. But she had no idea that Thea shared her feelings, not that there was anything that the two of them could have done about it. As it was, Charlene was a killer, and Acacia didn't want that gun rage (see? It was Charlie that was on the crazy gun-totin' rage, not her!) to be pointed in her direction. Also, it might be useful if someone came attacking. Three incredibly hot cheerleader with revolvers. Acacia was tempted to suggest that they nickname themselves Charlie's Angels, but then that would put Charlie in a position of control, and Acacia didn't like the idea of any of them being a leader. Especially not the one that she thought might be going a little bit mad. Thea's Angels and Acacia's Angels both had quite good rings to them. But the point was that Charlie was controlling the Angels, making them his.

Danya's Angels. Now that was a macabre thought.

Deciding to consider the matter further later, Acacia deposited herself on the sand, becoming aware as she did so that she'd been there before. Less than a hundred metres down the beach was the spot where she'd hugged her knees and blamed everyone for her predicament. She still hated beaches, in all her years at high school she had somehow managed to get out of all the beach trips going. Living in Minnesota meant that there weren't many of them, to her high school glee. She looked around grumpily, as Charlie and Thea discussed tanning.

"Alright for some," Acacia said, trying to inject a light hearted edge to her voice, unable to draw her eyes away from the spot on the beach that she'd gone to just after she killed Roman. There was the rock that she had paused to tie her shoe on as she left, there the beach curved around before it disappeared around a headland. It was too familiar. Familiar places here made her feel nervous, it made this island feel too much like a home. It defied the very definition of a home.

home
noun \ˈhōm\
Definition of HOME
1
a : one's place of residence

A home was a place where people lived. This was a place where people died. Shut up, brain. Being philosophical isn't helpful here. Also, where was the philosophy in my Sociology exam, huh? Acacia pulled her sweater over her head, and adjusted the two vest tops she wore underneath so that she looked good. Despite the bikini in her bag, she wasn't going to change into it, there was a real risk that she might not get a chance to change back and would end up running around the island that wasn't a home in what was essentially her underwear for the rest of her days.

"I'm not averse to getting a little sun. It's not like we can't defend ourselves if crazies come a knocking, anyway?" she added, patting her homemade belt holster.

[decoy73]

"Maybe for you, my dear, what with you being the whitest of the white people and all. But I don't have to get a tan, mine comes built in." Charlie laughed at that sentiment. Maybe if she got out of here, she wouldn't need to commit herself to an insane asylum. Maybe.

"Alright for some. I'm not averse to getting a little sun. It's not like we can't defend ourselves if crazies come a knocking, anyway?" Charlie looked at Acacia. The past two announcements had given her time to think and remember.

"Roman Jackson was stifled in his sleep by Acacia Salinger, Othello style ..." She didn't know who Roman was, probably some other guy at school. Still, Acacia had killed somebody, and it was pretty easy to "defend" oneself against a sleeping person. Another thought had crossed her mind, mainly that given Maxwell Lombardi, Reiko Ishida, that Raidon guy, Hayley Kelly, and a fuckton of other people, one single kill wasn't really a big deal, but still ...

Charlie just shook her head at the thought. It was starting to hurt her brain. She just stepped forward, towards the waterline, fiddling around her personal bag for the towel she had brought with her, and unfurled it onto the sand before removing her tank top and lying faceup on the towel. She smiled for a second. For the first time in more than a week, she felt, well, semi-normal. She was just a girl on the beach, and if anyone tried to attack her, well the gun was tucked into the waistband of her pants.

[Arscapi†]

Thea glanced down at her friend and shook her head, maybe all the thinking before had been a waste of time. This definitely was the Charlene she knew. Take a break from this crazy game to sunbathe, because whether they died here or managed to survive they had to look good doing it. She laughed and copied Charlie's actions shaking out a towel of her own.

She sat down and began searching through her bag. With a satisfied smile Thea found what she was looking for, pulling out a hairbrush and a small mirror that had managed to stay intact. She frowned as she held the mirror up and got a glimpse of herself for the first time in almost a week. She attacked her hair with a sense of purpose; she'd deal with the dirt trails her tears had left later.

"You know after we're done here, we should go find some fresh water. I could really use a bath. Well, at least getting some of this dirt off of me," she said. After several minutes of effort she had her hair smooth and pulled back into a bun, then lowered herself onto her stomach, gazing out into the water.

[xylophonefairy†]

Acacia put a hand to her own scalp, running her fingers through her hair. She pulled a face at the grease she felt there, this was the first time since she'd woken up that she'd even thought about what she looked like. The old self, the self that hadn't had to euthanise one of her friends, the self that didn't carry a pistol in the waistband of her jeans, that old self, would never have gone this long without looking in a mirror. Copying Thea, Acacia rifled around in her bag for her own mirror, a mid size black compact that had her name written on it in fake pink diamante gems. It had been a present when she'd left the Long Island Junior Cheer Squad. An even older version of herself, her pre-Minnesota self, had thought it was a bit tacky.

Four years of high school meant that she'd grown into it. Even if it was perhaps a bit juvenile to have her name on it, it meant that it had never been stolen (she'd never met another Acacia and was dubious that she ever would, especially now). Also it was just really good quality, the mirror was clear and reflective and, unfortunately, showed herself now in perfect clarity. After getting a glimpse at herself, Acacia immediately snapped the mirror shut, before slowly opening it again to get a better peek at herself.

She looked a sight. Wispy baby hairs around her hairline were stuck to her forehead with what appeared to be sweat and pure grease. There was a scratch just above her left eyebrow that had already half healed with a dubious looking greenish scab. Her face shone with perspiration that she hadn't particularly felt, mixing in with the dirt that had tracked across her cheekbones and smudged agross her nose, giving the at a glance appearance fo freckles. Acacia rubbed furiously at the dirt, which obligingly refused to shift, and she instead managed to make in look even worse. There was a pimple on her cheek, and another from her forehead, probably there due to the mixture of stress and poor nutrition. Mascara smudged on her lower eyelids, and her red sclera had her look like she might have been crying, though in her own opinion, she hadn't been crying enough. Crying might release some of the tension that she could feel building up inside her. For a moment, she squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to convince herself that she was somewhere else. Then she opened her eyes and looked in the mirror again. Still here.. Her hair, despite being greasier than she had ever allowed it to get, didn't look too bad. She had tied it back and it had adopted what was almost a surfer-girl look (not that she really did surfing owing her her hatred of the sea).

"There's a whole ocean out there," Acacia said to Thea, indicating the sea with her right arm. "Heck," she added, in a forcedly light tone of voice, "if we swim far enough it won't even matter what we look like any more!" she shook her head at her own joke, feeling sickened by it. "Sorry, that was uncalled for," she apologised, half because the joke was crass and half because she didn't want Thea to think she was crazy.

[Ruggahissy]

((Mary-Ann Warren continued from Waves of Devotion))

Mary-Ann had been walking aimlessly following the path of the beach. Her feet sloshed lazily through the sand and her rifle dragged behind her, leaving a line in the beach where she had been. It was so heavy, too heavy to keep lugging around upright. But more than that it was as if she didn't care.

She felt so numb. She felt like the physical embodiment of black and white static on a malfunctioning television set. Crackling and droning and comforting in it's blank surface and hissing.

Her eyes were half lidded as she trudged dutifully down the beach. So many people had died, but she only cared about the one.

It had been a long time since she'd seen other people, but when she came upon the three girls, they didn't alarm her for some reason. She looked up. Two of them were getting pretty in compact mirrors.

She didn't speak. Just stood with her lips slightly parted and her red, puffy eyes fixed.

[decoy73]

Charlene closed her eyes and relaxed herself as she lay on her back. The warmth of the sun felt nice as she removed her shoes and socks with her feet, allowing her to feel the sand between her toes.

"You know after we're done here, we should go find some fresh water. I could really use a bath. Well, at least getting some of this dirt off of me." Charlie smiled at Thea's suggestion of a bath. Who knew how many diseases they could contract by being on this island?

"There's a whole ocean out there. Heck, if we swim far enough it won't even matter what we look like any more!" A pause, as Acacia thought about what she had said. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not going in there, anyway. Water's too cold, and whatever's in there would probably make us even dirtier." Charlie wasn't as offended by Acacia's joke as she should have been. Maybe it was the killing that had made them more cynical, or maybe it was that itch on her left leg. It just wouldn't go away, no matter how much she scratched at it. She sat up, finally looking at the irritation, to finally notice the dressing. She'd forgotten about it, but now she remembered how she'd nearly been shot by Jonathan way back when she first woke up in this stupid game.

Charlie reached for the tape, unwrapping it as she noted the hair growing on her legs - she needed a shave badly. She removed the dressing as she looked at what the gunshot wound had become - it had actually healed pretty nicely, transforming into a reddish, brownish scab that jutted out about an eighth of an inch from her leg. She poked the scab, and then ran her finger along the length of it. The last time someone had touched it, it hurt like hell. Now, her leg felt fine, and her fingers simply registered a roughness, coming from the dozens of little pits and canyons and such that had formed in the scab.

Charlie looked over at the other two girls, looking themselves over in mirrors they had packed. She was about to do something along the same lines when she noticed the girl, just, standing there. She squinted at the newcomer to get a better look, but Charlene couldn't make out anything definite about her or her intentions, except that she seemed to be dragging something along. She patted Thea's shoulder and pointed in the direction of the girl.

"There's someone here. I can't make her out. Looks a little weird, but I don't know if she's sizing us up."

[Arscapi†]

"Last time I checked sweetie the ocean contained salt water," Thea said fighting to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Do you not know what happens to your skin after you're in salt water?" She stopped talking as the rest of what Acacia said sunk in. "Umm morbid much. What's that all about? Do you need some more food or something?"

"There's someone here. I can't make her out. Looks a little weird, but I don't know if she's sizing us up."

Thea looked over her shoulder and saw the girl in the distance. She pushed herself up off the towel and gave the girl her full attention. "I don't think she's much of a threat. It's Mary-Ann, from theatre. At least she wasn't, kind of stuck to herself." Thea waved and forced a smile, but pulled her bag closer to her.

[xylophonefairy†]

"Eh," Acacia said noncommitally in response to Thea. "Bloody inlanders, I spent half my childhood in the sea and it never did my skin any harm at all..." She pinched her cheeks as though this proved her point. Then, Charlie was the first of them to notice that they were being observed. Acacia rolled onto her stomach and squinted at Mary-Ann standing at the edge of the beach. The girl didn't frighten her much, even though Acacia had no way of knowing if she was crazy or if she was armed or if she had some kind of irrational hatred toward cheerleaders (it was fairly common). She'd made a point of being more wary of people she didn't really know, but a mixture of tiredness and Thea's unconcerned response made her feel relaxed.

Also, more people was good. More people to get shot while she ran away. Eyes darting around, Acacia tried to seek out potential escape routes. The path that went to the bridge was too obvious, but the woods weren't far away, and she'd had an idyllic enough childhood to have a rudimentary knowledge of how to climb a tree; an older brother had been useful for that part of her education as well. Then there was the sea, choppy and dangerous looking; it might not be just their collars killing them if they swam out too far. This was the kind of surf with riptides and swells and the other things her brother's friends used to sulk about in her living room when it was too dangerous for them to swim.

Acacia picked up a fistful of sand and started to clump it together to form a rudimentary sandcastle. A leaf, she presumed it had been blown off a tree in the nearby woods, was perched jauntily at the top in place of a flag. Why was it that in books and films and TV programmes there was always someone to provide a little red flag to top the sandcastle with? Nobody in real life carried flags around for those moments, nobody on beaches sold them (though, now that she thought about it, that was a good idea - she could sell them for a dime or something, little kids would fall over each other trying to buy her little flags. The downside of that plan was that she would have to move somewhere near a beach, which was the one thing in life she had always known that she wouldn't do.

Glancing at Thea's waving, Acacia decided to join in, hoping that it wouldn't freak out the girl, that someone she barely knew was now waving at her like a madman. Toning down her waving, Acacia looked at her sandcastle as the briefest of gusts of winds caused it to crumble, the leaf fluttering away from her capture. Her tired, clumsy hands tried to catch it, her fingertips just grasped the leaf as it disappeared in the wind. Trying not to convey the unusual feeling of upset over her leaf, Acacia bent her head forwards and started to rebuild her sandcastle. Carefully, this time. She glanced up at Mary-Ann again, moments after she stopped waving, and decided to say something. She didn't want the new girl thinknig she was mad over the loss of a leaf that was never hers to begin with.

"Hey!" Acacia called, her voice carrying on the breeze. "You alright?" she didn't know how else to start up a conversation.

[Ruggahissy]

Mary-Ann staggered forward slowly, dragging her rifle behind her in the sand as she walked. The girls looked like they weren't dangerous. Thea and Acacia were waving to her. They seemed nice and it would probably be a good idea to ban together with them. A bigger group was a safer group. But what if they left her like R.J. had? She wasn't sure she could take something like that again. She was just managing to hold it together as it was.

She trudged forward and knelt down next to Acacia's sandcastle, picked up another leaf and stuck it at the top of the newly re-done castle. She bit her lip. Her eyes started to become teary again.

"H-hi" she croaked out, trying to keep her voice even.

[Arscapi†]

((Skipping post order to avoid inactivity))

"You're doing that wrong," Thea pointed out to Acacia as Mary-Ann joined the group. "You'll never get anywhere using dry sand."

Thea smiled as Mary-Ann joined them. "Hey," she said brightly. "We were just discussing the merits of salt water versus fresh water. I'm all for fresh water to clean up after we finish relaxing here on the beach. Acacia's calling me names for not enjoying the salt water more. What do you think?"

Thea kept the conversation light and casual on purpose, she wasn't sure she was ready to another recount of the terrors that Mary-Ann had faced on the island. Or worse yet having to recount losing Jason, who she'd inadvertently sent to his death, or reliving James' death, which she hadn't even been there to see. She'd only heard about it over the announcements. She sighed, this place sucked. Picking up a shell from the beach she hurled it as hard as she could into the ocean.

[decoy73]

((Must ... avoid ... inactivity! Also, due to a death that's occurring, timeskip COMMENCE!))

"I don't think she's much of a threat. It's Mary-Ann, from theatre. At least she wasn't, kind of stuck to herself." Mary-Ann. Charlene squinted to further make out the approaching girl. Mary-Ann. A woman who would be cuter if she hadn't spent 8 days getting railed by SOTF.

"Hey! You alright?" Acacia called out as she started fiddling around with the sand, making some sort of pile. Mary-Ann came forward, just able to give out a greeting as she stuck a leaf into the pile, making some sort of basic sand castle.

"You're doing that wrong. You'll never get anywhere using dry sand." Thea told Acacia. "Hey. We were just discussing the merits of salt water versus fresh water. I'm all for fresh water to clean up after we finish relaxing here on the beach. Acacia's calling me names for not enjoying the salt water more. What do you think?" She greeted Mary-Ann. Charlie turned onto her stomach and giggled a little.

"Whenever I go to a pool, it's always a bitch washing my hair. Seems the water does something to make my hair bulletproof or something." Charlie took out her gun and turned it over a couple times in her left hand, being careful not to fire it at anything, before sticking it back into the waistband of her pants.

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The night was nice. They had a bonfire - good thing for them they had a fire pit already there. They hung out, as if they weren't on SOTF at all - they were just four girls hanging out together. They played a game of Truth or Dare - Charlie admitted she was bi (wasn't like they were going to be alive enough to make it worth keeping it a secret anyway), they did each others' hair, (so now, thanks to Thea, Charlie looked semi-human - her hair had been horrible once she'd seen her reflection), and they all managed to get some actual sleep.

((As a note, please PM me if you don't approve and I'll make changes accordingly))

The next morning, Charlie's attention was turned away from what had probably been her best day on the island so far as she could tell (well, she was a mess, but at least she was a mess with her friends) by, what else, the announcements.

"Alexander Campbell died of I-thought-it'd-be-fine-to-field-amputate-my-arm ..."

"Ricky Fortino and Francesca Fiametta both managed to get themselves caught in the tunnels, and exploded ..." Ricky's death got to Charlie a bit - it seemed like he was so drunk off his ass he must have fallen asleep or something. But it was Alex's death that got to her - not only did it mean that the shot had ended up killing him, but now ...

It's just me and Hayley. Of their original group, everyone else was dead - Jonathan, Madelyn, now Alex were dead. Now it was Charlene and Hayley, and given that James and Jason were dead by Hayley's hand and she'd gotten slashed when she met Hayley last time, it wasn't going to be good next time.

[xylophonefairy†]

The announcement woke Acacia up with a moan and she blinked against the light that streamed against her closed eyelids. Putting her hands over her ears, the sound filtered through anyway. Trying to block it out, the second name jumped out at her like a lion and she sat up suddenly, eyes widened. The ocean was beautiful that morning.

"Ricky's dead?" she said dumbfoundedly to the others, aiming it mostly at Charlie, whom she'd noticed was awake. Her mind reeled. They had barely left him, he had been fine! Pissed out his mind, but fine nonetheless, she'd seen Ricky drunk dozens of times and he'd always made it home okay. But now he was... The image of Ricky's body with only a bloody stump where his head used to be filled her mind, and she felt bile rising in her throat. Turning round abruptly, Acacia rooted around in her back for her insulin, trying not to look too closely at how much was left. With a practiced hand, she loaded a new cartridge into the pen (when had the last one run out? She might have been injecting blanks for a couple of days), clicked it round, and jabbed the needle into her stomach. It was almost an unconscious gesture, and her expression didn't change from the mild surprise at Ricky's death throughout the whole process. Putting the pen back into it's slot in the case, she shook her head, while the rest of the dead were read out.

That was both the south eastern woods and the tunnels out for the rest of the game now. Acacia crossed them out on her map, they were useless now. She wondered idly what had happened in the woods to make them out of bounds. The thing in the tunnels, it must have happened about the same time they were there, maybe a bit before, maybe a bit after, she wasn't exactly sure what had happened, only Liz Polanski was dead.

"He's dead," she repeated hollowly. "It's not our fault, right? We couldn't have known that the tunnels were going to become a danger zone!" She said it for her own benefit rather than the others. Acacia shuddered, looking out to sea and hugging her knees against her chest, trying to make herself as small as possible. Tiny waves lapped the shore, the fluffy edges of the beast that was the sea. She'd squashed the sandcastle in her sleep, the leaf that Mary-Ann had found was still there, half buried in the dry sand. Idly, Acacia tried to reform it for the third time, keeping a good hold on the leaf.

"So, where next?" Acacia said, hinting slightly. This beach made her feel antsy.

[Ruggahissy]

Mary-Ann blinked a few times. It seemed she'd stayed with the group after all. That was probably for the best. They were well armed and friendly. Mary-Ann didn't even remember much after first happening upon them. She was out like a light as soon as her head hit anything that was even close to being soft, sand in this case.

She was hugging the gun R.J. had given her. Mary-Ann might have slept a full night's sleep but she was still so tired. Not sleepy, just tired in a way that felt like her soul was worn down. However the sleep had done her some good. She felt like now she might be able to talk without crumbling into tears. The announcements went off.

Mary-Ann rolled over and looked at the girls. Even now she'd taken shelter in the protection of other people. It didn't seem like she was very far along on her promise to be strong for R.J. and she couldn't feel even a trace of his presence left, no matter what his letter said.

"I'm sorry I didn't really say anything before. I was kind of a wreck. Thank you for letting me stay."

((Continued in Everyday is like Sunday))