Day of the Dove

[Ruggahissy]

((Isabel Guerra continued from Time is Not on Our Side))

((Also, this post was a team effort. Teeaaam!))

Dave, Isabel and Charlie had gotten to know each other. The three sat on the greens, watching the sun set after walking since they had awoken shortly after sunrise.

During the first hour of their walk they had been quiet. Isabel was still shaken from the announcements, Dave was complaining about the misty morning and Charlie was fussing with her hair.

During the third hour they started talking a little more. Dave and Isabel told Charlie about their day trip to the fun fair and the magic mirror house, while Charlie told them about being bashed in the face with a hammer and narrowly avoiding getting her ass capped.

Into the fourth hour they began to argue about who had had the worst day. Sure Charlie had taken a hammer to the nose, but Dave and Isabel had endured poetry from the dark, tortured soul of a goth chick. In the end they reasoned the two just about evened out.

On the fifth hour they began to get bored with chatter.

"Why don't we play a game?" asked Isabel.

"Game? Sure. Let's play the license plate game," Dave sourly replied.

"Don't think we're gonna see any cars," said Charlie, equally sourly. "How about instead, every time we see a tree, we punch a Latina."

"Ummm, could you not?" Isabel frowned and clutched her trumpet protectively.

"Right. Sorry. I didn't... sorry. We're cool, right?"

At the sixth hour they tried to play a game of "Never Have I Ever" eating a little piece of a bread slice for every thing that they had done. This would have been a bit more sporting if Dave and Isabel had ever bothered to do anything. Soon they had just made it a game of trying to get Charlie to run through her bread.

"Uhh, Shit, I got this one, hang on... Never have I ever joined the cheerleading squad," said Dave.

"Oh, fuck you guys." Charlie took a vicious bite of her slice.

They stopped for two hours to rest. The girls filled up their bottles at a river in the forest and Dave found berries that looked safe for consumption. The three sat in the dirt and smashed the berries into their bread. It wasn't much but it certainly improved the cheap, store brand white bread.

At the ninth hour they took off and continued on. Isabel and Dave tried to keep their heads down as they saw the back of the mirror maze off in the distance. Suddenly, Dave broke the silence.

"Isabel."

"What?"

"Lay me a beat."

"What?"

"Aw come on! Lay me a beat!"

"No."

Dave turned to Charlie, strangely enthused after the hours of walking.

"Lay me a fat beat. Come on. Do it. Just fucking do it."

"You're joking right?"

Isabel sighed and brought the trumpet up to her mouth. She could see Charlie cringe out of the corner of her eye. She blew a note and repeated it at about the pace at which they were walking.

"Yo, sup, name's Dave. Listen up everybody, gonna be a fan fave."

"I watched a fucker get chainsawed, I'll admit"

"But keeping my chin up high, despite the grit"

"In my back, that's whack, I'm cut, and that's just smack"

"Imagine what I'm gonna do If I eventually crack."

Isabel couldn't go on. Her notes splintered and she pulled the mouth piece away, dissolving into giggles. Charlie likewise seemed to be affected and was leaning against a tree with both hands covering her mouth as she laughed.

Despite having slept for an entire day the trio was starting to get tired again. Isabel hung back, thinking to herself while Dave and Charlie headed the front. He cautiously looked over his shoulder at Isabel.

"Looks like Hernadez back there is getting tired," he whispered. "And here I thought she'd be used to being on her feet forever. All the jobs available to her require it. Waitress, nanny, gardener...uh.....gardener who watches kids while serving drinks...."


"Y'know, Dave, I'm actually really sad we didn't get to know each other back at school. I feel like we could've gotten to be pretty good friends, and then you'd probably start developing feelings for me that I'd never return or even notice." Charlie tossed a quick look back at the other girl as well now, then turned back to Dave. "And then Izzy would be off in the corner, stealing jobs from hard-working Americans."


Finally they reached what looked like a sports field. Charlie and Isabel ran forward out of the forest towards the grass and threw their things onto the field. Behind them Dave bitterly hobbled on his injured leg after them. The girls had sprawled out, lying down for the first time since their long sleep. Dave eventually plopped down next to them and the three basked in the orange glow of the sunset.

Isabel smiled warily at them. Charlie, in her surprise, smiled back.

For those few hours, they were on the camping trip they were promised.

[xylophonefairy†]

((Helen Wilson continued from Bats & Rats & Blind Cave Salamanders))

She had never gotten around to building a sandcastle. Instead, Helen had spent her time trying to shake off the people she'd met in the tunnels, and then run what she reckoned was south, based on the sea and her map. The forest had been good to her for a while, and she'd managed to find a spare loaf of bread in the duffel bag of a corpse (she didn't know who the corpse was, purposefully not looking at it) which was promising. Since then, and since the few snatched hours of sleep amid the trees, she'd been walking steadily. Trekking was probably a more technical term for it.

Helen had decided on this; the best way to survive was to keep moving. She had, dully, accepted that she was probably going to die, and as a result, the last day or so had been a lot easier on her. There had been two lots of announcements since then, one had woken her up just as she'd escaped from the crazy tunnels lot, the other had been as she'd trekked through an area of relative desertedness on the southern side of the island. She'd been trying to keep a wide berth of the funfair; somehow that seemed a place where psycho's would hang out. Horror movies weren't often set in abadoned fairgrounds for no reason.

There was something worse, though, her iPod was starting to run seriously low on battery. The charge indicator in the top right hand corner had started out on green, around noontime yesterday had slipped into orange, and was now deep into the red section. Turning it off sadld, Helen wrapped the headphones around the device and slipped it back into her back; she would have to go music free for a bit. That was probably a good thing anyway, better to be able to hear if someone was sneaking up on her, so she could turn around and... stab them in the stomach with a glow stick.

Coming into sight of the greens, she had spied Dave, Isabel and Charlie, all of whom seemed very comfortable in each other's company, which filled her with jealousy. She hadn't found anyone she knew yet, not that she knew properly anyhow. At any rate, they looked safe, sunbathing as they were in the warm orange glow of the sunset. It was an unusually beautiful evening, and Helen paused before they saw her to take a picture of them, dark shadows against a fiery sky. A good one for the collection, though she doubted the camera would ever find it's way home. Shrugging, she went up to them, trying to look as unimposing as possible.

"Hi..." she said softly. "Can I join you?"

[Jonny†]

((Charlie DuClare continued from Time Is Not On Our Side))

Sunset felt good and warm and safe against Charlie's face, and she decided that she wasn't gonna miss it again as long as she lived. She'd fucked it up the first two times, first by being too pissed off to stop and notice it, and then by sleeping through it. It wasn't gonna happen again. Sunset was worth stopping for. It felt great, it felt right. It was supposed to be there, and she didn't mind it being there, and all told, she was fucking glad it was there. It belonged. There weren't a whole lot of things that belonged on this island- her collar didn't belong, the creepy announcer guy with the grating voice didn't belong, fucking Blanderson and Retard Cowboy didn't belong.

Dave and Isabel belonged. Good for them.

That was all Charlie was gonna say on the subject for now, because she was frankly a little sick of it. Every waking moment since she'd met up with the two spent thinking about whether she liked them, whether they liked her- Christ, she wasn't that needy, was she? Every joke followed up with a silent wish that it hadn't offended Dave or Isabel, every word those two said vigilantly monitored for indications that they sucked. It was exhausting. And she was done with it. Dave and Isabel belonged. That was her final word on the topic. Wasn't gonna change any time soon. If they did something retarded, Charlie would forgive them. She had plenty of forgiveness to throw around.

Maybe a good time to finally check her weapon. Right? She'd wanted to save that big reveal for a rainy day, but... things had changed a bit since she'd skipped out of the mine shack. They didn't already have a gun, for one. Isabel had her adorable pet trumpet, and Dave had... what the fuck did Dave have? Probably not something good. If it was a gun or something he'd have revealed it by now, shown Dave and Charlie how safe and sound they were by now. So it probably sucked. Maybe he'd even ditched it. On account of how much it sucked.

So that left Charlie to be the group's protector. Fuuuuuuck. That would be... awful. Just a terrible idea all around. Could she give her gun to Dave? Would he be okay with that? Probably. Nobody was gonna say no to getting a gun, so of course she could just give it to him, so of course that would just work out and it'd be great. It'd be great, so there was no reason to delay any further, so Charlie tore into her bag and searched for whatever big shiny gun was waiting for her, had been waiting for her the whole time.

It was a handheld mirror. It was a bit of a disappointment.

She stared at it for a little while. Turned it around in her hand a few times and ran a finger along its edge. Wondered what the hell she was supposed to do with it. "Maybe if... if we could somehow attach it to... the trumpet..." It was an alright idea. Whatever. It wasn't like there was too much else to do with it. So don't give it to Dave. Just slip it back into the bag. Just lie down again, because the sun is still setting.

It was right about then that a mousy-looking sort of girl walked up, looking just cartoonishly nervous and meek. Awwww, adorable. And she... huh. She was asking if she could join Charlie. And Dave and Isabel. Which was... Charlie honestly didn't know how well that sat with her. More friends were good to have, obviously. But not everyone was a friend. Not everyone could become a friend. She'd tried back at the shack, good fucking lord she'd tried so hard, and she'd still walked away empty-handed. It wasn't something Charlie really wanted to repeat.

Charlie shot a look at her two best friends on the island. Sorta sour, sorta unsure, sorta I dunno how I feel about this. It elicited a raised eyebrow from Dave. Well that was a pretty clearly worded answer. That was pretty much a divine mandate to go turn her head to the new girl and ask, "Uh... are you sure you wanna?" To pause and look... a little embarrassed, honestly. Of something. "... we're kinda mean."

There. It was for the new girl's sake. It was about protecting her from getting her heart broken by some devastatingly catty remark from Charlie or Dave. Yes.

That's what it was all about.

[Badb†]

((Dave Morrison, continued from Time Is Not On Our Side.))

For the first time on his tenure on the island, Dave felt at ease. Izzy and Charlie were good company, when it came down to it. Apparently, this was especially so for walking however the fuck far they'd managed to wander over the last day. Shit, the sun was setting. Had the managed to waste another day? Shit, Dave had so much he wanted to get done. He had so many more emos to harass. More assholes to watch while they chainsawed random fuckers out of nowhere. Actually, yeah. Forget about that shit. Dave was fine with wasting days, now that he thought about it. At least it was keeping them out of trouble.

They settled down in the greens and decided to take a break for a while. Yeah, that was a good plan. Dave's knees were starting to hurt again. He slowly sat down, trying not to make his hastily slapped on gauze fall apart by bending his knees too much. Charlie seemed to be opening her bag. Had she checked her weapon? Dave guessed not. She mustn't have had time in between talking to whoever the hell the Retard Cowboy and Blanderson were.

"Alright, Just so you guys know I got a butcher's knife or some shit," Dave pulled the knife out of his pocket quickly, sliding it back in before he could hurt himself. "So I guess I'm pretty much all we've got unless Izzy wants to rock the trumpet-shiv look again today. I hear it's totally in this season."

Immediately after that shitty joke, Dave heard a voice from behind and turned his head to face them. He actually kinda recognised the kinda timid sounding brown haired girl he saw looking back at them. That was a change. Her name, however, was going to be a proble. It was, uh, Elaine? Probably not... Helen? Yeah, that was it, Helen. Helen Wilkins or Webster or something like that. Charlie warned her about the fact that, well, they were inclined to kind of be douchebags at times. Eh, it was fair to give her a warning. Dave couldn't help but think that maybe Charlie could have been a bit too blunt with her.

"Don't worry though," Dave chipped in with a smile. "We don't bite, honest. Well, me and Charlie don't, anyway. Not too sure about Izzy."

[Ruggahissy]

Isabel was pretty tired from the long hike, but when she finally took inventory on the group, they weren't doing so badly.

It was already the third day and among them, none of them were killers, none of them were crazy, they'd all had decent rest, though the food hadn't been great they had eaten enough and discounting Dave's damaged knees and Charlie's nose, they were largely uninjured. On top of all that, they seemed to get along reasonably well, which was a boon in and of it's self.

She rolled over unto her stomach and watched Dave pull out the butcher knife. She supposed that at least counted as something the average person would be afraid of. Charlie was the least fortuitous of all, pulling out a small mirror.

"A mirror?"

Without so much as picking up her head she unzipped her bag, felt around and took out the large jagged mirror shard she had taken from the maze.

"Yeah. I've got one of those too," she said lightly.

She dropped the thing back into the bag. A small voice floated down from over head and she rolled over to look. Cute girl, scared girl. She wanted to join. The more people that were added to the group, the more nervous Isabel became. Anytime she was in a group she became quieter the larger the group. She and Dave were fine. She supposed she, Dave and Charlie was fine as well. This new addition set her on edge a little, but in all honesty she felt bad turning someone like that away.

"Normally I consider myself to be sort of mean and snippy but compared to these two I'm practically the welcome wagon. So..uh...welcome."

It struck her as singularly odd that Dave referred to her as "Izzy." No one called her that. It wasn't that she minded, it was just....well, no one called her that. She chalked it up to Dave being too lazy to say the whole thing.

Lord knows that extra syllable might kill him.
Still, as it was almost a term of endearment, she was fine with being called that.

"Well, go on and have a seat."

She sat up and tried to take a survey of where they were. Looked like a golf course. In the announcement they had said the mansion was off limits. She supposed that was the thing in the distance as marked on the map. Several yards away the green dipped a little. A sand trap?

"So what's your name and how have you spent the past three days?"

[xylophonefairy†]

They let her sit with them; Helen had never felt so relieved.

Plonking herself onto the grass on the other side of Dave, Helen took a moment to rearrange herself until she was relatively comfortable, allowing a smile in spite of herself. It was strange how she'd never met any of these people before. Charlie, Dave and Izzy. Normal names, relatively not crazy looking people.

"Uh, well I'm called Helen," she said, starting to answer Isabel's questions. How had she spent the last three days. That was, in fact, a very good question. They'd gone quickly considering that she'd spent most of it on her own, trying to avoid what she was certain were madmen all with a vengeance to kill her. "I spent the first day lost in some tunnels with a bunch of people, the normal ones of whom I lost and then I ran away from the crazy ones. Then walked here, all the while depleting my iPod of battery..." she said the last bit mournfully. It was only day three, and she was already without music.

Though perhaps it was a credit to the relative peacefulness of her journey so far that a red battery was her only real problem. She turned to face her three schoolmates properly, trying to remember their names.

"So it's Dave, Charlie and Izzy?" she said hesitantly, pointing to each of them in turn. "Funny how you can go through high school and never learn some people's names," she added softly with a shrug, picking a blade of grass from the gorund and rolling it between her fingers like a cigarette.

[Jonny†]

Welcome, Helen! Welcome, because we're so... welcoming. Nothing but smiles and hugs here. Yeah, we give great hugs. The best hugs of all.

She was alright, Charlie supposed. Charlie couldn't really dislike her, since she wasn't anything... offensively bad. Probably a really nice person when you got down to it, probably didn't have a mean bone in her body, probably volunteered at... an animal shelter, maybe? Charlie pictured Helen cradling a kitten in her arms. Yeah, the shoe fits. So that was all well and good. But she... Charlie couldn't really like Helen either. Where were the awful jokes? Where was the spirited defense of the dignity of a trumpet? Where was the casual racism, for Christ's sake? There is a Latina right there and yet I do not hear a single derogatory remark. For shame, Helen. For shame.

Dave and Isabel had set the bar pretty high as far as first impressions went. Helen was having a bit of a hard time living up to that standard.

And so Charlie decided she was going to listen very closely to every word Helen said, because every word was an opportunity for redemption. Every sentence was a chance for Charlie to think to herself Alright, I guess she's not so bad after all. I guess she can stay. I guess she gets a hug. So pay close attention. Pay close attention as she talks about the batteries in her iPod running out and as she all of a sudden starts to look really sad. Which was... huh. Which actually poked and tugged at Charlie, just bit. That shit was not about to fly. Helen had just dropped a pretty serious sadness bomb on the otherwise happy sunset fiesta, which meant Charlie was gonna cheer Helen back up again.

Okay. And she even had an idea, brilliant. The only problem was that Helen was still talking, some useless small talk bullshit about everyone's names. I'm Charlie, which is short for Charlotte, but you can call me Claire if you'd like! God knows you wouldn't be the first one on this island. So Helen needed to shut the fuck up right now, because Charlie was about to start cheering her up, because Charlie was about to be nice to her, which was kinda a big fucking deal. Alright, Helen was finally done. Here goes:

"Hey, uh, if you're worried about not getting to hear music anymore, don't be. Isabella over here is a virtuoso on that trumpet of hers. Seriously just world-class, y'know, she's been giving us these little concerts and it just blows my mind every time." Charlie looked over at Isabel and grinned. She had no reason to believe Isabel was anything other than complete shit at the trumpet, and that just made it even funnier. "You, uh, you think you got one more in you? I can sing along if it's a song I recognize- and I've been told by some very reputable sources that my singing voice is absolutely decent." That part was true. Charlie was decent. She really, really was.

There, everything was set in motion. By the time Isabel was finished farting out a lovely rendition of Hot Cross Buns, Helen would be rolling in laughter and she'd have forgotten all about that stupid iPod. And Dave... Dave could try to rap again, maybe. That didn't seem like it ever stopped being perversely entertaining. Yeah. This was fun, this was happy. This was good.

This was all really, really good.

[Badb†]

The girl sat down and introduced herself as Helen. Good, for once he got someone's name right. He was kinda proud of himself for that. Couldn't remember where he knew her from, though. Drawing a complete blank on that one.

Apparently she'd also been stuck with a bunch of crazies, and lost her friends running away from them. Dave had a feeling he'd be hearing that story a lot. It was okay though, they'd be good company, so long as she didn't mind Izzy or Charlie.

Then thr gir- Helen made some dramatic statement about the loss of her precious iPod. Great, she was probably going to follow them around singing pop-rock or something. Dave supposed that was marginally better than Pandora and her emo poetry. Marginally. Charlie suggested Izzy play something on her trumpet, and Dave had to agree. It could be a laugh, given how, if Dave was honest, awful she was with it.

"Yeah!" Dave smiled and looked over at Izzy. She was going to hate them for this, but the opportunity was just too good to pass up. "She's actually amazing at it."

Charlie offered to sing. That was good, that meant he wouldn't have to come up with another rap. The last one he'd thought up? That was pure genius. He'd have to wait at least a day or two before he could come up with something that good again. Plus for some reason, Dave actually kinda wanted to hear Charlie sing. He laughed, before attempting to collect himself as he said his idea.

"Sure! You too then," He nodded again. "Go for it, Charlie. You and Izzy, lay down some beats up in this bitch."

[Ruggahissy]

"Hi Helen," she responded with a bit of a wave. "It's no problem. I don't know most people's name's either."

Isabel tried her hand at a smile. She wasn't used to trying to be inviting, but she gave it her best shot. Helen had a very relatable story, especially the part about running from crazies. Isabel had yet to start running down her iPod battery since she'd found company to fill in the silence.

Of course, Charlie decided to put her on the spot and decided that she was the entertainment. Isabel looked at her through narrowed eyes. It seemed Dave was of the same mind.

Isabel awkwardly picked up Partario. She put the mouth piece to her lips, took a breath and blew while pushing down a plunger. Isabel managed to warble out a few notes that sounded almost like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Suddenly she took a sharp intake of breath, turned the trumpet to Charlie and blew the hardest, loudest note she possibly could.

Isabel put down the instrument and tried to keep a straight face.

"I guess I'm rusty."

[Anderson]

((Tyler Franklin continued from Cold, Wet, and TiredCold, Wet, and Tired))

Tyler was getting exhausted. Between trudging from one end of the island to the other, he was burning calories like he never had before, and the few loaves of bread he had were, well, not enough to keep going forever. And even if he won, how long did these shows usually last? Ten days?

I feel like I'm going to starve before this ends. Where's a good pizza when you want one?

Those thoughts get shoved aside when Tyler sees, well, kids. More or less having a good time...

...which of course means people that presumably won't try to kill him. This is good. This is very good. It's also a decent-sized group...probably not a bad place to spend the evening, perhaps swap for some "real" food (or more likely some junk food).

Slowly emerging from cover, Tyler steps out by the group and offers a smile. "Mind if I join the party, too?"

[xylophonefairy†]

Letting out something that she vaguely remembered as being a laugh (she hadn't laughed in three days, and couldn't remember going that long without ever before in her life), Helen lay back on the grass and settled the back of her head in the palms of her hands. She felt... strangely content. As if she coud just about forget the world she was in. Izzy seemed the most friendly of the three, she felt strangely put out by the other two, but she forced herself to be fair. These were, after all, unfortunate circumstances to be meeting people in.

"Sounds like my attempts at the clarinet," she said good naturedly, taking off her glasses to clean them as the last rays of sun bounced off the flecks of dirt that had been obscuring her vision. "Problem was I was actually in the band," Helen added lightly, cleaning the other lens and attempting to drop the glasses at arms length back onto her face. When they fell a couple of inches to the left of her head, she picked them up, rearranging herself into a sitting position, legs sprawled in front of her.

Seconds later, Tyler appeared from somewhere. Shading her eyes to get a better look at him, she watched as he asked to join their party. Helen glanced at the others, not really feeling that she had the authority to formally invite him to join them, she had, after all, been there for all of ten minutes, whereas it appeared that the other three had spent the best part of the last three days together. Helen shrugged her vague seal of approval to the others, wanting to make some kind of gesture at least.

[Jonny†]

Face full of giddy expectation, a little five year old grinning widely so widely because she's about to hear music for the first time in her life. It's gonna be oh shit, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Hahahahahaha, this is fucking priceless! So she steadies herself, barely manages to keep from bursting into laughter, and she starts to sing. She's got a pretty voice, but anyone who knows anything about music would be able to glower at her and say something about how the pitches and the keys are all wrong and the sharps are all flat. She goes: "Twinkle, twinkle, litt-

"OH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!"

Unexpected. Just a bit unexpected to hear a huge murderous elephant of a note coming out of the trumpet. Caught Charlie off guard a little, gave her a bit of a scare. But then? Made her laugh. A real, genuine sort of laugh, where she threw her head so far back she ended up losing her balance and plopping onto the grass again. Yeah, Izzy. I think I like you just fine.

"If we ever get off this place, Isabel, I will buy all your albums. Every single one."

It'd worked, hadn't it? Helen seemed happier. Helen was cheering up just fine, she was even laughing, she was even making a joke of her own. Cheer up, Helen, cheer up, cheer up! And everyone else too! This isn't so bad, none of this has to be so bad. It was... weird. A really weird feeling, to be having a good time out here. To be safe and sound and smiling and laughing. And friends. And good friends that she already felt like she'd known a lot longer, that she wished she'd known a lot longer, that- fuck me, why didn't I ever bother to... Didn't matter. She had them now. It was all good for now.

But it was all so fucking delicate too. Any minute, something was going to come along and ruin everything. Something like a huge asshole or a stray bullet- or a very deliberately-aimed bullet- and then it'd all come crashing down. No, no, no, no, not yet. Please not yet. One more day, please. One more sunset for all of them to look at. One more, and please please one more after that. And after that, and after that, and as many sunsets as you can possibly spare. Please. Just a few more smiles and songs before everything comes crashing down and you won't be able to do shit about it, Charlie DuClare. You won't be able to do shit about it.

But that just means you don't have to worry yourself to death over it either. It'll happen when it'll happen. When it does, I can start freaking out. Until then... no way in hell I'm gonna waste this happiness.

And then there was a boy. He probably sucked, and he was probably about to ruin the great thing they had going, and... for Christ's sake, Helen was barely integrated into the group! They had to get to know her a little better first, make her feel more welcome and part of the gang, before they let anyone else join in. It was... no, no, no. Not now. Please just go away and maybe come back later. He was asking if they minded if he joined in. Do we mind? Are we opposed? There is a very clear answer.

"Yes."

Which, if Charlie's ears hadn't deceived her, Dave had said at the exact same time as her. She could help but give Dave a little roguish grin. Yeah, Dave. I think I like you just fine.

[ifnotwinter†]

((Winsome Clark continued from Accidental Acrophobia))

When Winnie had first fled the scene in the woods, leaving behind guns and screaming students, there had been nothing on her mind but the all-consuming need to escape. Her headlong rush had taken her deeper into the trees, until eventually a tree root, sticking out at the perfect angle, had sent her careening into the ground. The indignity of falling combined with the rush of adrenaline through her veins and the still-open wound slicing across her chest overloaded her emotional barriers once more, and she curled into a tight ball, sobbing silently into her arms.

After that, things had changed.

Winnie drifted around the island, sticking to the woods, avoiding other students like the plague. Gunshots splitting the air would send her burrowing into the ground almost like an animal, using the drifts of old leaves, mulch, and tree branches to cover her body. She had lost her pack back at the tree she had fallen from, but she scavenged the water from another abandoned bag along with a loaf of bread. She was not particularly hungry, but recognized that at least a portion of the hollow, desperate feeling tightening her middle went away when she ate. The cut on her chest clotted, scabbed over, somehow escaping infection while still breaking open occasionally. The T-shirt Thea had given her hung loose on her tiny frame.

Now, somehow, she had emerged from the woods. She was exhausted. The sounds of fighting were more frequent, now, the announcements splitting the air loudly. Her water had finally run out - this day? The day before? She wasn't sure. She pushed limp, greasy hair out of her eyes, stumbling forwards. She could hear students up ahead, and the dry feeling in the back of her throat was driving her towards the sources of water. Perhaps she could steal a bag. Or just a bottle. Shouldn't join with them, bad things happen then.

Dirty, foot-sore, shirt stained with leaves and blood, Winnie slunk closer to the group, desperation outweighing the need for silence. Her lips parted and she made a soft, frantic noise, coming forwards another few feet.

Please let them not notice. Please...

[Badb†]

Wait, they actually agreed to it? God, he was joking. Sure enough, however, Izzy fired up the trumpet and Charlie sang along. Dave burst out laughing. Amazing. Completely amazing. Charlie joked about Izzy making a record or something.

"Yeah, We need to sign you up for American Idol or some shit. That shit was amazing." Dave sniffed and mimed wiping tears from his eyes. "Brings a tear to my eye."

This was great. Just... great, really. It was. Y'know what? Dave was really starting to like this little group they had going, even if he didn't know Helen or whatever it was yet. So much better than staying with that murdering fuckwad Roland, who was probably ripping his hair out right now to find out that yes, people could co-exist on the island without murdering each other. Everything was right in the world and all that crap.

Then some asshole wandered up and ruined it. He started asking if he minded if he joined their party. Dave wasn't sure about the others, he knew his answer to that one from pretty much the moment the new guy opened his mouth. He wasn't sure if the others would agree with it, but he figured he should make it known anyway. It would make a nice "I fucking told you so" if they said "Oh, okay, you can come chill with us!" only for him to stab them in the backs. Or chainsaw them, whatever. Well, he didn't look like he had a chainsaw, so Dave figured they were okay on that front. Well, did he mind, after all that?

"Yes." He said, apparently in tandem with Charlie.

Dave would have high-fived her if his hands weren't still bloody as hell. He really needed to do something about that. Shit though, their responses were in-sync and everything, that must have done wonders for whoever the fuck the new guy was's self-esteem. But yeah, he did mind, ever so slightly. Helen shrugged though, so Dave guessed she probably didn't care, and he had no idea what Izzy's opinion of the guy would be. But even if Izzy agreed, that was like, two opposed, maybe one for, and one who didn't give a fuck? Right, new guy wasn't welcome, Dave was free to be a douche to him if he sat down. He figured the others would be too.

First order of business for Dave, don't acknowledge him. Talk to one of the others. Talk about something one of they'd brought up earlier.

"Oh, You played in the band, Helen?" He turned to her. "How'd that one end?"

Noise from behind, was it another person? God, they went a whole fucking day without being spotted and now everyone was coming out of fucking nowhere. Probably no one important. Dave would acknowledge them when the others did.

[Hollyquin†]

[[ooc: hi my name is holly and i will be your rugga this evening :3]]

Isabel smiled, an involuntary smile (imagine that!). Surprisingly her little display of trumpet-playing ability (or non-ability, as the case so clearly was) seemed to have brought the whole mood of the little camp up another notch- even Helen seemed cheered, to the point of cracking jokes, even.

It was odd, how close she felt to them at this moment. I wonder if I'd ever have made friends with them if this...this hadn't happened. Probably not. I guess there is a silver lining to every cloud...

In all honesty, though, I think I'd take not having friends over this.

And then-

"Mind if I join the party, too?"

"Yes."

It was a surprisingly quick response, from two directions- Dave and Charlie had apparently decided simultaneously that the group didn't need a new member. Isabel...agreed, she supposed. They'd made peace here, the trio, soon to become a foursome as Helen became part of the group. Big groups were dangerous. The more people, the more likely a member was to snap and attack them. Right?

Right?

She nodded. Saying 'yes' like Dave and Charlie had seemed a little...Isabel had never considered herself particularly polite, but it seemed excessively rude. She stayed quiet. She trusted Dave and Charlie, weird but true, and she had a feeling that given a few more hours she'd trust Helen, too. Why add someone new to the mix?

And speaking of someone new- she felt a new presence. Someone else was here, and she was sure the others noticed too. What was the smart thing to do? Probably turn around. Acknowledge the person before they shot them all in the back. What if it was someone trying to pass through unnoticed, though? Someone who wouldn't speak to them if they weren't first spoken to?

For the moment, she remained silent. Let one of the others acknowledge their semi-hidden visitor, if they wanted.

I just hope this doesn't end in a chase scene.