What do you...?

[Jotun†]

((Continued from The very basic will to live.))

And then reality reared it's ugly head...

What do you see?

For roughly two hours, Felix had holed himself up inside this building. Very clearly intended to be a sort of medical centre, it had a host of things he would have found useful had be been harmed, but for the last few hours Felix had carefully avoided confrontation. He'd seen people, certaintly, keeping himself hidden, trying to get a feeling for what had been happening on the island. He'd not heard gunshots for some time, but he knew there were likely several smaller caliber weapons not unlike his own aquired one that would not carry through the air for the whole length of this rock.

Felix himself was a bit more grounded than when he'd started. He wanted to act, to provoke the island. Yet he'd been shot at completely without warning within his first several minutes of the game and the reality of that enlightened him to the danger he was in. He'd realized that maybe, he should be careful, he knew both the need to act cautiously when in danger, and the incredible tearing pain of taking a bullet. His hand went to his leg as he thought about it. He still wasn't afraid, but this island was chaos. It could be controlled, but it had to be done correctly.

Felix was sitting near a window, which had it's venetian blinds open only so slighty that he could see what was out without being seen in turn. The sun was nearly set. Maybe at night, he would move again. Next to him, a table was covered by the contents of Felix's bags; two magazines of nine millimeter bullets next to his Glock, one full, one now empty tin of crackers and three empty water bottles, as well as two large first aid kits and a hefty framing hammer. Felix was mostly supplied for rations, he'd only devoured his own, and still had the crackers and bread from the boy who had attempted to kill him with what was now Felix's Glock.

What do you seek?

Still barely content to just sit and wait for oppurtunity to act, Felix pulled back the slide on his Glock, the barrel ejecting a small bullet which Felix caught in his hand. Putting the glock down, he took the magazine he had fired from and loaded it with the bullet, leaving space for one more. Felix proceeded to take a bullet from the other, unused magazine, and loaded it into the use done, filling it. Felix loaded the glock and set it back down on the table, purposely not chambering a round.

"Gotta stay alive." He smiled, attempting to convince himself to stay put with his boredom... until a better time.

[Endless_Helix†]

{Continued from Rebirth}


Ernest was feeling a little ethereal lately. It was probably time to take his insipid little pill. He'd been walking back from the shore where he'd been held at gunpoint by somone who may have known who he was. It wasn't certain, but the odds were pretty good. That was the thing about this game, it tended to make such reactions seem logical, which was rather cruel. From what he understood, there was no limit to what they did, provided they killed one person each day. This was probably the worst possible situation for Ernest  to be in. There was a decent chance of the stress overriding the medication, which was not something Ernest needed to happen if he wanted to get off the Island with sanity and friends in tact.

The sand in his shoes was itching him. Ernest laughed a little. He hadn't realized that his socks wouldn't seal the sand out. He'd never been to a beach before. He'd seen the Ocean at a distance, but he'd never actually swam in it. His parents never felt it was worth it to risk him getting third degree burns on his skin. Given his first experience with it, the beach wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It just wasn't necessary. Ernest never really minded. He'd always wanted to do other things, like read.

Somehow, thorugh all of his wandering, he found the Hospital. Apparently navigating with the map they gave you was accurate, and Ernest was better at it than he would have thought.  The hospital was a run down, squarish, greying  building roughly the size of Ernest's house.  It looked like someone had been a little  too thorough getting rid of identifying markers. They were desperate leave no clue as to where the island might be. After all, this little pseudo-gladiatorial match was broadcast to the world. That meant that they had something to lose if the world found out where this little island was.

So, to beat SOTF, the World needed to know where the island is. Without SOTF officials knowing that the World knew.

That's what was going through Ernest's mind  when he noticed movement in one of the windows. Ernest considered for a second as to how he should proceed. Given his last two run-ins with the other students, he probably should run like hell right now, but the last encounter was something that could have turned out well if all the people hadn't left.

So, like a gentleman, he knocked on the front door.

[Jotun†]

What do you hear?

Knocking. Felix had looked away and somoene had seen the movement in the window. Otherwise they'd probably have barged in. Felix stifled a laugh, he'd have expected someone who had seen him to barge in anyway. Regardless, politeness didn't matter. Felix wouldn't trust this newcomer until he'd proven harmless, as everyone else Felix had met had seen fit to try and shoot him, and knowing at least one person on the island had been given a combat shotgun, Felix would have preferred more effective weapons. And so, untrusting, he did what seemed the most natural thing to do.

"Come in!" He yelled enthusiastically.

Felix grabbed the Glock and pointed it at the door, placing his free hand over the slide to chamber a round before he fired. He was to the left of the doorway, and when it opened the door would hide his position, and Felix would know if his guest was packing before he knew Felix was pointing a gun. Hopefully, he had been given a big gun Felix could take, like an assault rifle or rocket launcher. Felix wouldn't mind killing for extra security. If he was seemingly unarmed, Felix would relax, he had no need to kill someone with no weapon and no aggression.

Because someone else would do it for him eventually.

[Endless_Helix†]

"Come in!"

Ernest opened the door to find a Glock pointed in his face. There are definately many things that Ernest would have prefered to open a door to. This was the second time today he had a gun pointed at him, by a member of his advisory no less. But Ernest noticed a curious effect. The barrel of a gun is always larger when it's pointed at you.

"Uh..." Ernest began, "Wow, this is really awkward."

It then occured to Ernest that there really wasn't a right way to greet someone pointing a gun at your face. It took a second before he noticed the face behind the gun. Felix. From homeroom. With Mrs Sarrana. Who's dead now... Left in a world now dead to Ernest. As pleasant as reminiscing about the life he once had, it was like licking a frozen flagpole. You got stuck to it and you ended up getting hurt and leaving a bit of yourself behind when you finally do get separated. Living in the past was the danger on this island.

"Um. You're Felix right?"

[Jotun†]

It did not take much time at all for Felix to know who'd walked through the door. That level of pale skin, the matching hair colour, and as he turned to stare down the barrel of the Glock Felix couldn't miss the the shades. Ernest Decarteret, the only Albino Felix had ever met, from Homeroom. Not that the two had ever associated, but Felix knew who he was, had some measure of his thoughts based on the things he'd said and the way he said them and the way he moved and other things Felix picked up on without thinking. Ernest was a lot of things, maybe even the type to eventually buy into the carnage.

"Uh... Wow, this is really awkward."

But right now, he was just as alone and scared as anyone on the island. Felix lowered the gun, smiling, confident that nothing scary that may have inhabited Ernest's mind was at the surface.

"Um. You're Felix right?"

"The one, the only." Felix half heartedly waved with his free hand. "Decarteret." Felix nodded acknowledgement. "How're things?" A silly, rhetorical question Felix couldn't help but find inwardly funny.

[Endless_Helix†]

"Decarteret. How're things?"

Ernest smiled a little. The feeble attempt at humor was a wonderful concession, given the circumstances. After all, Ernest could be lying on the ground, dying right about now.

"Hanging in there, I suppose."

That was more true than Ernest would like to admit. Getting threatened wasn't too terrible, until they started firing shots at you.  Which fortunately hadn't happened  to Ernest, yet.  Felix had always seemed like the kind of kid who would act before thinking, and unintentionally screw you over. It just wouldn't occur to him that you'd been hurt. Basically, Felix was arrogant, concieted, and a little airheaded. But he was confident and could probably work a cellphone. That was important to the plan bumbblling up in Ernest's mind. Esepecially the cellphone bit.

"How about you? Hell of a trip, eh?"

Ernest paused. He needed to take his meds soon. The chair the Felix was sitting on was giving off an odd sensation of walking behind the sky. Ernest glanced around the building and saw a crate nearby a medicine cabinet.  Ernest took his pills out of his jacket pocket, and opened his duffelbag. There was a somewhat large bottle of water hiding beneath his ball of twine and some of the rubble he'd picked up during his time at the mall.  He reached in and pulled out his water and showed Felix what he'd grabbed.

"Medication, I'm afraid; doctor's orders," Ernest choked back a well of bitterness. This was a result of his lateness in taking his meds causing a stress reaction. Nothing else.  All the emotion  that was attempting to explode out of him was fake, an illusion. Ernest popped one pill in his mouth and gulped it down with a mouthful of water. The emotion receded. Just a placebo effect, grumbled the Albino; it's a shame that his medication wasn't instantaneous. He'd have to wait about an hour before it began to kick in. Hopefully the placebo whould keep a lid on things.

[Jotun†]

"How about you? Hell of a trip, eh?"

"You can say that again. 'Hell' is the perfect word to describe it, the in-flight movie was bad and the water tasted horrible." It was an interesting thing to attempt humour. For Felix, it was a way of keeping his head above the situation, reminding himself that he was still in control, still capable. Still sane.

Felix watched Ernest choke back on his medication with more interest than he had really intended to let on. Felix had seen Ernest with the pills before, but he had never speculate don what they were, he was hardly the only one. It was fascinating, however, that Ernest was on medication. There was something about the way Ernest presented himself that was unnatural, not his own, it was a thing Felix had seen, but could not describe to himself adequately, and he'd never cared to try before this moment. Now, it felt that much more important to understand Ernest. To understand everyone he met, because every single person on this island could be the deciding factor. So, Felix let his curiosity guide him.

"Medication?" He started, letting his sudden interest guide his tongue. "What do you need it for?" Felix asked not for the answer itself, but for the reaction, Ernest was fairly likely not to answer, but what mattered was how he hid the answer, how he responded. Everything he'd ever noticed about Ernest was adding itself up in his mind, forming countless theories, even if only on such a possible insignificant detail.

The details make the big picture, after all. How will Decarteret fit in...?

[Endless_Helix†]

"You can say that again. 'Hell' is the perfect word to describe it, the in-flight movie was bad and the water tasted horrible."

Ernest smiled a little at that. Black humour was really needed in this sort of situation. You just had to be normal and ignore the sheer brutality of SOTF, otherwise you would just break your sanity into little pieces. That's probably why people would consider playing this stupid game; they just lost themselves. After all, I would know... Ernest sighed into the water bottle.

"And the didn't even give us peanuts. I thought that was compulsory for all Delta airlines flights," Ernest chuckled a little.

He'd just finished taking his medication when Felix asked the question that Ernest had been  both dreading and anticipating once he met up with somebody. He couldn't tell them the entire truth. Who would want to be around a certified psychotic, whether or not he was a danger? Ernest needed something to explain the use of medication and his unbalanced psyche. Depression was common amongst nerds and geeks, as was mild OCD. All of these could easily be used. Or he could take the medical route. Hodgkin's disease was common in his family, on his father's side. His mother's family had an excelent bill of health though, and Ernest was most like his mother  father, mentally and physically.

"Medication? What do you need it for?"

"A life-threatening illness. I got it from my mother's side of the family..." Ernest was padding his pockets for a piece of paper. It didn't really matter what he said, he had a plan and need a cell phone for it. His signiture pen was always behind his ear anyway. There was probably a throat-mike in the collars. It wouldn't be diffiult put in there and it would allow for accurate dialogue. Even if there wasn't, this room was certainly bugged.

Ernest finally found his pad of paper that served as a schedule, in a time and place far from here.

He quickly wrote a sentence and passed it to Felix.

It read: Do you have a cell phone on you?

[Jotun†]

The sunglasses Ernest wore certaintly made it difficult to tell whether or not he was lying, but thankfully Felix did notice the way he'd given his answer, answering and then carrying into an irrelevant fact, and decided that 'a life-threatening illness' was not the full story, if it was true at all. Unfortunately, Decarteret seemed to have a good idea on how to make himself difficult to read, so Felix had only learned that it was something he saw fit to lie about. It was something, but not helpful enough.

Ernest searched his pockets for something which turne dout to be a pad of paper. Drawing a pen from behind his ear, Ernest started writing. Felix wondered what about, but Ernest save dhim the trouble of asking by showing him. It was a note.

Do you have a cell phone on you?

Felix wrote a 'No.' in response and passed it back. His father could not afford one for him, and as Felix had no job it would be very difficult explaining how he could maintain payments a cellphone without mentioning the stolen, illegal money in the tin in his room. So he was not blessed wtih a cellphone, and hardly saw the need for one. But why would Ernest need one now? And why write it down?

Felix answered his own question by moving his eyes up into one of corners of the room, where a slowly moving camera was moving back and forth in the shadows. It made sense not to speak anything important aloud. 'Important' meaning anything the terrorists wanted to hear.

Decarteret had a plan, and needed a cellphone. Felix pondered where he could get one, it was a big island with a lot of students.

[Cactus]

Alexander Ovechkin had never wanted to serve in the military. It hadn't been his thing. He'd done some very base military service when he'd been younger - as all Russian youth were entitled to it, but his dreams were mainly to play hockey. Since he'd been young, and since he'd watched such stars as Sergei Federov, Igor Larionov, and Alexander Mogilny play in the NHL, he knew that professional hockey was where his life's ambitions were going to lead to. Like many kids in the world, Alex had wished to make the NHL. Unlike many kids in the world, Alex was blessed with the talent to do it.

He'd gone first overall in 2004.

Alex had been on top of the world when he'd been drafted. Everyone had told him that it was a sure thing, but to Alex, you can never count on something until it happens. The English had their saying, something about 'counting chicks before hatching' or something to that effect; Alex hadn't completely grasped the language yet, so many of his puns and cliche sayings came out garbled. But he'd never looked ahead for anything, mainly just focusing on what he had and how he could improve his situation. It was in that way that Alex was an eternal optimist.

It had been how he'd dealt with his brother's death, long ago.

It had been how he'd dealt with moving to America and not knowing any English at all.

It had been how he'd dealt with his first professional injury.

It had been how he'd dealt with being traded from Washington to New Jersey quite unexpectedly.

And now, it was going to have to be how he dealt with the latest curveball that fate had thrown him.

Since waking up on the island, Alex had done an inventory and assessed his situation. He knew about the collar around his neck, as he'd seen images from the previous SOTF in passing and had found them rather disturbing. He'd found his assigned weapon, a Luger Carbine pistol, and had strained his memory to remember how they worked. He'd learned all about weapons during his mandatory military service, and he had to admit that he never ever figured that he'd have to recall that knowledge. Finally, he'd assessed the map after throwing away the instruction manual and introductory manual to the game. He wouldn't read them, as he'd probably barely understand them, and he didn't want to have anything else on his mind other than staying alive. That much, he could grasp.

So Alex had then opted to walk around the island, heading towards the Hospital as his first stop. Medical supplies were likely a good thing to try and obtain, especially because by the end of it all, Alex knew that if he were lucky enough to survive, he'd be wounded at least a little bit.

I shall try not to allow that.

As he walked around the hospital building for the fourth time, Alex heard voices within, and had surveyed that there seemed to be one, maybe two ways into the clinic that he could see. The voices seemed to be relatively calm, which meant that they weren't trying to kill each other - or at least, they were trying to kill each other as quietly as possible, a thought that Alex couldn't help but grin at.

It IS a strange thought that two people would attempt to kill each other quietly. For what reason? Who knows. Perhaps to have courtesy for others in the area. But who ever heard of a 'quiet killer'?

So, not knowing what else to do, Alex walked up to what seemed to be the main door, and knocked on it.

"Hello? Anybody home? I not wanting anyone to die, if you ask!"

Alex frowned a little. English was tough, and he internally scolded himself as he waited for a response.

No, that's not it at all. The plurals...ugh. Why can't they all be Russians? Then I wouldn't sound like I'm five years old to them. Oh well. Hopefully they'll get what I mean.

[Endless_Helix†]

Damn it!

Ernest frowned at the response. Without a cell phone his plan couldn't work. Even then, it would have to be a functioning cell phone, and it assumed that the island had cell service, which was likely, but not necessarily true.  All they needed was a bloody cell phone, and they could be off the island. Then there was a tentative knocking at the door.

"Well, it looks like we've got a while to relax, have fun, and possibly hang out. So, met anyone interesting lately?"

"Hello? Anybody home? I not wanting anyone to die, if you ask!"

The syntax was a bit strange, but the meaning was clear enough. The speaker wasn't playing. Actually, come to think of it, the voice was very familiar. The accent was definately russian; who did he know who was that russian... There was a russian exchange student, but Ernest couldn't recall his name at the moment. Ernest had never really talked much to him, mostly because they were from vastly differet social groups.

"Well, speak of the Devil and there he is!"

Ernest scrawled quickly on the paper to keep the gun at ready, just in case, and passed it over to Felix. Then he walked over to the door and opened it a crack, and looked out.

[Jotun†]

"Hello? Anybody home? I not wanting anyone to die, if you ask!"

As soon as the door had shook with knocking, Felix wanted to say 'come in' again, but Ernest seemed to think it was a better idea to risk getting his head blown off and answered the door personally. Just as he had done when Ernest came knocking, Felix readied his Glock on the door, half-hoping that Ernest's head would explode into pieces just because it would mean Felix was in for some of the action he'd been craving since he came down off his adrenaline high that morning. He didn't really expect or even consider that whoever had knocked really was aggressive enough to kill, not when they sounded as genuinely peaceful and confusedas whoever was at the door did.

Then again, that could be the accent and the lack of English ability throwing you off. Felix thought to himself. He sounds European. Probably Russian, considering his broken sentence structure. How did someone like that make it out here? He considered it might be one of the pricks making him run this gauntlet in the first place, and his grip on the Glock tightened. The newcomer stood out by voice alone, and that meant he didn't fit in with the rest of the students.

And there was only one group of people who actually knew where this island was that didn't include students.

What do you feel?

Ernest opened the door and poked his head out through it, and Felix considered telling him what a bad idea that was when he came more fully into the room, but reconsidered the idea almsot instantly.

I'm not sure I want to help him... Felix did not know why, but there was an instinct telling him that he didn't want to impart what seemed basic knowledge to Ernest. It wasn't a new feeling, Ernest wasn't the first Felix did not feel the need to look out for, but that didn't mean he understood what his mind was telling him. He stopped himself from wondering about it.

Feel. Don't think. Not yet.

[Cactus]

Alex was more than a little surprised when the door opened very shortly after he'd called out. In most circumstances, the occupants of the building would have taken a few moments to prepare themselves before opening their abode up for the occupants of the outside world. Of course, when the door had opened and a head popped out of the doorway, Alex had blinked in surprise. At the person had looked at him, Alex had put his hand up and slowly waved at the person in front of the door.

That's the first thing that I need to do. Make sure that whomever's inside knows that I'm no threat. That's the last thing I'd prefer to do right now. I'd rather just sit down somewhere and sort my head out...

"Hello! May I come in? It darkens, I do not want be alone with the ..." Alex trailed off, searching for the right word. "...monkeys? No...sorry, my English is not good. With the...other team!"

Alex shrugged to the boy. It was the least he could do to throw it back to hockey terminology but at this point, he didn't have much of a choice.

I'd rather not be wandering outside, alone in the dark, especially if I were to run into someone ... unfriendly...

[Endless_Helix†]

"Hello! May I come in? It darkens, I do not want be alone with the ....monkeys? No...sorry, my English is not good. With the...other team!"

Ernest smiled a little. This was the russian exhange student. The voice did sound familiar, and was now confirmed by the face. Interestingly enough, Felix didn't warn Ernest about opening the door and peaking out, which gave a lot away about Felix's personality. He was out for himself, plain and simple. No-one else mattered. But it also meant that he'd be easily convinced of anything, provided it benefited him more than it hurt him. Felix was a pragmatic. But an unpredictable pragmatic.

So, Felix is a danger, and he's armed well. He'd probably play if I had a better equipment to take... I don't think I want him on watch tonight... I hope the new kid has a better weapon than a glock.

Looking at the guy outside, it was clear that he wasn't interested in fighting. He had a very open face that read distinctly of hope and fear. He was essentially no different than Ernest right now. Lonely, and looking for friends. His body language read tired and tense. There was no way he was that good an actor. In school, everything he heard about the russian, it suggested that Alexander- that was his name!- was a fairly nice guy. Also, he was older than nearly any student on the island, even assuming they took other schools, which seems likely.

"Alexander, right? Come in, quickly. We're not with the terrorists either."

Technically, I shouldn't giving away this much information, but since I'm not in much danger at all, I can use the situation to find out a bit more on Felix and Alexander... Which at this time is infinitely more important than the minimal risk I'm taking...

Stepping back from the door, Ernest motioned for Felix to keep his gun ready, but not threateningly.

[Xaldien†]

((Continued from Rebirth))

He'd been walking for some time now.
Switching from being energetic to being fatigued so much that once he saw the hospital, he felt as if God himself had smiled upon him.

"Well, that sure took long enough," said Siouxsie, who just seemed to pop into his mind.

"You try doing this, and see how long it takes you."

"Sorry, I'm busy being at your place, and being all sad and worried with your dad to worry about how I would fare in all this."

He laughed and started making his way inside.
A hospital? Yeah, right, it was more of a residential clinic.
Oh well, he thought, he could probably rest here and get any supplies he may need.

He knew there was a possibility that people were inside, so he had his sickle at the ready.