It's Just A Day

[Namira]

((Shauna continued from I Heard Yxu Were Lxxking Fxr Me))

She hadn't felt this listless for a while. This was the place to reconvene, not the place to hole up. They were supposed to be out looking for the dangerous, stopping the bad, but--Shauna was having a slow morning. Call it a slow morning.

Arizona had taken off after learning who was responsible for Jonah's death. Shauna had managed to hold back from begging. Just. Stay strong. Do the right thing. She wanted to prove that she could help but... Arizona's mind had been set and set early. Couldn't undo years of Shauna being Shauna in a couple of short conversations. They'd hugged one more time, wished each other luck, said goodbyes.

'Stay safe and come back. I'm trusting you.'

She hadn't added please. It wasn't a request.

Shauna exhaled, tapping a foot over and over. Her eyes felt itchy. Last pair of contacts had just gone in, but days of dragging out their lifespan as long as possible were taking their toll.

"I guess... I guess we should get going?"

[Melusine]

From the morning, Angie knew something was wrong.

((Angie continued from the last thread.))

It had been too quiet since the announcement. Angie's fingers picked at her nails, twisting and pulling on the hangnails that just didn't want to go away. Mentally blocking out the announcements were one thing, deciding to fully ignore them was suicidal. But Angie made that decision, there wasn't any point in listening to them anymore.

It wouldn't matter anyways.

"Yeah."

There was no Arizona in sight. Nothing that made Shauna coo the nice noises she usually made when she saw her friends. It was upsetting, but not surprising. There was a good chance that the girl was already dead, and they would just need to move on. Again, moving on from something unstoppable that just kept happening over and over again.

"I'll get my bag." It was near the entrance of the manor. As she took a couple of steps, her head turned toward Shauna.

[Super Weegee]

((Matthew Hunt continued from I Heard Yxu Were Lxxking Fxr Me))

"We waited long enough."

Seconds felt like minutes as they waited for ages for Arizona to return, which she never did. Meaning she was either dead or dying. That, or she decided to abandon them altogether in favor of a more competent group. Matthew wanted to call himself overly cynical for even thinking that she would do that to Shauna, but worse things were on his mind.

Like how Sean and Lucas were murdered. Another two names to his list.

Matthew stood back up, brushing off the grass and dirt from his clothes, and picked up his bag next to him.

"So where should we go next? The village, maybe?"

[MK Kilmarnock]

Matthew stood and brushed off some grass. He picked up his bag. He did this near to the shaking crosshairs which slowly began to zero in on him.

A disadvantageous position, shooting at people who stood on higher ground. But that's what this was all for, to free up that higher ground. After the waterfall, this had to be the highest place on the island which made it the next most desirable location to camp out and pick off anybody else who came by. But that would require clearing this area out first. It had to be hard at first so it could be easier. It was all going to get easier as time went on, though it really should have started becoming easier by now, so... why wasn't it?

((Justin Greene, continued from And Nothing Will Go Wrong!

Justin held his breath to try and steady himself and continued to study his prey through the scope of a weapon he hadn't even tested yet. Another thing that should have happened at the waterfall, where Blaise's presence spoiled everything.

No more. It was all going to get easier. It was going to get easier. It was going to get easier. Things would be easy. Easy.

Climb this last metaphorical--and literal-- hill and he'd be able to look down on everybody for the rest of the game.

Justin waited for the shot.

[Namira]

Arizona was just held up, right? She hadn't been on the announcement at all. She was just delayed. She hadn't forgotten. She cared.

All those things. Shauna clung to them. She had to. She had to be able to tell herself that she hadn't just parked the group for no reason, clinging to the first safe option that arose in the guise of positivity. Oh, well, they clearly couldn't go too far, what if there was an issue and they missed their meeting? Ignore that it was dragging things out further, delaying the objective that they'd set themselves.

So, Shauna told herself a few things.

Arizona would get here sooner or later but they couldn't stay forever. She'd get that. She'd probably even respect that more than Shauna just standing here like a lost puppy.

"Wait though, maybe we should--well if we just leave, then Arizona won't know where we went. We need to leave a message somehow, right?" With no writing implements or materials but maybe there was a way around that? They could figure out some way to signpost where they'd gone, but they couldn't just walk off. Shauna wasn't ditching.

Shauna took a few steps into the garden, running a hand down a long leaf. "We could tie back a plant maybe? Make it like a directional arrow. 'They went this way!'. That could work."

[Melusine]

Bread crumbs as trails for a woman that wouldn't come back.

It was a plan that would effectively do nothing else than bandage Shauna's open sores, and it was good enough for Angie. It was something that would make Shauna happy, and something that would change the pain.

"I have a better idea," she shouted, getting her bag. "I got lipstick somewhere."

Her hand scourged for her red lipstick inside her bag. It hadn't been used in days. It had stopped being a priority, but it always sat in her mind that if she wanted, she could change her appearance to something more enjoyable. It wouldn't be the same without a good shower, though.

It hid inside her makeup pouch, beside some ruined Jeffree Star palette and a pair of fake eyelashes. She grabbed it. The tiny tube that fit within her palm had the nicest color. It was warm and red and beautiful. Angie smiled, but it was quickly erased by the remind of her duty.

She leaned toward one of the mansion's windows, tiptoeing. Her reached out to the middle of the window with the lipstick's muzzle pressed against the glass. She had managed to get three letters of Arizona's name when she turned toward Shauna.

"Where are we going sweetie?"

[Super Weegee]

Sweetie? Looks like they're closer than he thought. Matthew chuckled a bit before going back to the topic at hand.

"That could work," he said, "but we might as well have left a message that says 'Here's our location, feel free to come and shoot us!' if anybody else sees it."

It was stupid to even consider it. Shauna's just deluding herself, thinking that Arizona's just late, and Angie isn't exactly helping the situation. Leaving a message can help her track them down in the absolute best-case scenario, but the stars will have to align for that to happen.

Her name wasn't on the announcements, but that doesn't mean that someone hadn't gotten to her shortly afterward. Wyatt could attest to that if he could come back from the dead.

Taking a moment to stretch, he spoke again.

"Face it, if she isn't here by now, she's not going to come back, and that's assuming she's still alive."

[Namira]

Lipstick, she'd have thought of that if she wore it. Probably. Anyway, yes, good idea, better than plant map. Shauna broke into a smile that she knew looked wan and weak. She wanted to show Angie her appreciation but couldn't muster the enthusiasm. Arizona was preying on her mind too much. She was still out there. It was just a delay. Maybe she was mid confrontation with Michael, exacting revenge for what he'd done to Jonah.

She shivered at the thought of Ari's fury. Shauna had seen her mad on the court. She couldn't even imagine what that rage had to look like turned against a murderer. But--yes, they should get going. It was the right thing for them to do, and just as much as she'd tried to show her nerve before, Shauna had to hold it here. Just because she knew that didn't make it easy.

"Village," Shauna confirmed, hoping she sounded confident. Act it until she felt it, and sooner or later, the confidence was real, not imagined.

Matthew broke in again and broke any sense of poise along with it.

"She will come back this way," she snapped. "She's my teammate. I know her, and she's not dead." She heard the shrillness in her own voice and tried not to wince. "You two finish up with--with whatever. I'm going to do a quick loop. She's probably nearly here already!"

She stomped off away from them both, quietly fuming. Ari could be there, right? That'd be perfect, if Shauna took one last look and there she was, everything slotting together nicely.

Sure.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Handling a weapon such as this one had to be the most delicate operation Justin had undertaken. Even moreso than his trusty handgun that he'd used to... defend himself with, this offered the distance that he craved from those he had to kill. That advantage came at the tradeoff of setting the whole thing up. He needed to assemble the gun first, but he'd done that since before going to the waterfall. Then he needed to find the perfect place to fire it from. A small hill a ways south from the manor, sparsely decorated with grass and a couple dandelions and other weeds, would do the trick just fine. He'd laid down upon the knoll with the rifle set up before him and watched through the scope.

Like before, he saw Matthew. He was talking to somebody. Justin inched the rifle little by little, sweeping the narrow spot of magnified vision up until he caught view of another girl playing with a tube of lipstick. He recognized her, too... Angie. He hadn't expected it, that looking at somebody through the scope would force him to mentally reaffirm whatever connections they had. Neither of them were best buddies with him but they went to school. He knew their names. That's why none of this could ever be easy.

It beat bludgeoning them to death with the iron, though. Anything beat that last resort, it's just... if only he didn't have to look at them at all.

Justin peeked up above the scope to get a larger view of the surroundings. Matthew and Angie were now much smaller, less defined and he couldn't pick out individual facial features anymore but they still formed a vaguely 'Matthew and Angie'-shaped couple of blobs. He thought there may have been somebody else... he looked down at the rifle to make sure the safety was off. Nothing was allowed to go wrong -- if this went off without a hitch, he'd be knocking out multiple members of his competition.

'Like shooting a deer, who doesn't know I'm here...' Justin thought to himself and conjured the image of a buck grazing at the edge of a pond. He'd been hunting before... though he never shot a deer himself. Got the shakes the one good time he had the opportunity to. These were people. He'd already killed so many of those. He didn't like what that said about himself, but nobody would be able to blame him once it was all over.

It took a second to find Matthew again but when he did, the crosshairs swept from shoulder to shoulder, weaving up and down from the smallest motions. He'd have to hold his breath. Like in the video games, he thought. He inhaled and held it, his heart pounding while the crosshairs carefully settled over Matthew's chest. Center mass. Killshot. Don't be fancy by going for the head.

When his finger squeezed the trigger, it was gradual... slow, graceful. As graceful as killing somebody could be, and the muzzle of the rifle roared to life. Justin flinched a moment after from the noise, but surely that hadn't messed up his shot. It felt perfect...

And yet, Matthew didn't fall.

[Super Weegee]

"You keep telling yourself that." Matthew said as Shauna walked away from them to look around the area.

God, as if they wasted enough time already, but at least they'll be heading off to the village in a few more minutes. Considering how many buildings there are on the map, there's a good chance that someone else decided to hole up there. Whether more allies or more enemies, they wouldn't know for sure.

While just going somewhere isn't much of a plan, it's better than nothing. Still, he figured that he might as well ask Angie some questions while they wait for Shauna.

"So, Angie, is there anybody-"

Then there was a sharp cracking noise of a rifle somewhere behind him, the bullet whizzing past him and burying itself in the manor walls.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Matthew began to make a mad dash towards the closest place for cover, the manor entrance, covering his head with his arms all the while.

[Namira]

Gunfire. Shauna's head snapped around.

Had someone just been waiting to--

Stop thinking. Start acting.

Shauna turned on a dime and started to sprint for the location of the shot.

[MK Kilmarnock]

No... what? The crosshairs were over Matt. They were dead center on his chest! The wind? No, it wasn't that blustery out. And it couldn't be gravity because if anything, the bullet should have stopped short and Justin would have seen a puff of dust in the dirt or something, right? Instead he thought he saw some point of impact above/behind/anywhere but not his fucking target. He clenched his teeth in frustration. Had he jerked when pulling the trigger?

No. Justin felt that wasn't the case, either. Couldn't be... he'd followed through with ice in his veins, that's how cool he'd been. If he'd made some sort of stupid error, it wasn't that because the intent was there, the drive was there and there was just the tiniest flinch from the noise of the shot and the noise alone. He couldn't comprehend what might have caused the shot to be off that much.

Now Matt was alert. Justin grimaced and quickly lined up a shot against better and more calculating judgement. He couldn't hit Matt when he was standing still; he probably wasn't hitting a moving target. But he had to try. He squeezed the trigger again while hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Just one. He just needed... just one, so this whole outing wasn't a damn waste! Was one too much to ask for!?

[Melusine]

Angie had managed to scramble one letter in before the first shot popped their way into her mind.

She ducked, her arms clutching at herself. It felt too similar. It happened again, they were getting picked off one by one. It was happening again, and Angie didn't have a gun. She didn't have anything to protect Shauna or Matt or herself. She stayed in her crouched position, her hands hovering her bag.

Then, she noticed that Shauna was gone.

"Oh no no nononononononono-"

It was happening again. It was happening again and Angie couldn't do anything about it. She was powerless in front of the faceless enemy with a gun. Angie grabbed the grenade, the last one. She had kept it for something like this so she wouldn't be as weak as before. She knew, that this, that this dance that she was about to do, was worthless.

But it didn't matter.

She stood up, trying to spot Shauna as she-

There.

There she was, running toward the faceless enemy.

Again, they were doing the same thing they had done a... week ago? Five days ago? She didn't know anymore. Tanisha had died and Shauna and Angie were there over her. It was happening again and Angie had one grenade to fix it.

She lobbed it. The grenade's arc was revealed by the white fume that exhaled itself from the tube and behind it, Angie was following it. A pure white cloud was summoned and Angie started shouting.

"Shauna, don't you fucking dare."

[Namira]

Another shot.

Shauna could see him up ahead now, see the position he'd struck up for himself. Sniping. Take someone out from a distance and then fade away.

She didn't even recognise him.

A more muffled bang and a cloud of smoke burst out, Angie--she must have thrown it. She was yelling too, but what else could they do? Scramble around and get shot until this--this asshole got lucky?

The heroic version of herself would no doubt have had a badass line to throw out as she continued her charge.

"Leave my friends alone!"

Close enough.

[Super Weegee]

There was another shot. Matthew didn't know where the bullet hit, but the important part was that it didn't go through him. One thing was coursing through his mind as he ran past Angie.

Someone's fucking trying to kill me someone's trying to kill me holy fuck someone's trying to fucking kill me!

Bursting through the front doors, he heard another bang behind him, this time accompanied by Angie's shouts. What the fuck is she doing?! She doesn't have a gun!

Cover! Yes, cover, gotta find something to hide behind before he shoots my head off!

He closed one door behind him and moved into a crouching position. The psychopath sniping at them can probably shoot through the wood, but anything is better than standing out in the open. There's only one problem. The two girls are still outside!

"Hey!" Matthew yelled at the top of his lungs, "Get your asses in here unless you want to get shot!"

He hoped they would hear him since he wasn't poking his head out to see where they were.