You Gave Up Being Good When You Declared a State of War

[MK Kilmarnock]

Jerry's knuckled tightened. He opened his mouth to say something...

And he just laughed. He laughed, and the tension left his shoulders and he took a step towards the door, a side-stop closer to where Noodle had been poking through.

"Holy shit." Jerry snickered, shaking his head in disbelief. "You're pathetic. I call you weak, and you're just crying some more? You wanna know what's gonna happen when I wake up tomorrow morning?" Jerry paused, let a crowd that wasn't there boo. Hey, in essence, he had already gone out there and said the thing that needed to be said and that made him the bad guy. Sometimes audiences liked the bad guy, though. "When I hear your name? I'm gonna say 'Good! That's one less person I've gotta live longer than!'"

Jerry knew he didn't really mean it. He knew that, and maybe even Nadia knew it, but Ass-ka here didn't have to know that. Certainly wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that somebody was actually going to care about her dying, least of all him. "You don't have to outrun the bear, bitch-tits! Just gotta trip somebody else so they get eaten instead!"

Yes. Yes, the booing. Uuuunf, it sounded like sex in his ears. 'Whatcha gonna do, bitch?' Jerry thought, getting a little bit of hop in his stance, now flashing a grin he hoped was menacing but was a little giddier than anything. 'Gonna shoot me with those 'shaky hands of yours?'

Not worth actually saying. Not worth actually prodding her anymore. It's not like she was gonna do anything.

"Toby, wait up!" Jerry called, continuing his little strafe-step. Fuckin' daring, DARING Ass-ka to try something. "Jerry muthafuckin' Fury's coming with ya." He jerked his head at Nadia for a second, all 'coming with?', before giving one more look to Asuka.

Your move.

[Zetsu]

((Skipping with permission.))

Asuka was calm now. Really. She'd hit her peak, and now that the throbbing of blood was fading, she didn't really care about any of the shit Jerry was spewing now. They were just words, now. And everyone knows that words never hurt anyone, right? Right.

Asuka shook her head. She was in a room. She was having a shouting match with Jerry. The fucker was pissing her off. He was really pissing her off. So pissed, in fact, that she was. Um.

But it was no good. Already, she felt like an actress dropped into the middle of some hyper-real set, and everyone was looking at her and she couldn't remember her lines. Figuring out what thoughts she should be having right now was just making her dissociate more.

Well. Only one way to change that.

Jerry Fury was a sociopath. Or not. If he wasn't, there'd be hell to pay. If he was...well. Asuka would rather not think about that possibility. She wasn't suicidal. Well, she was, but she wasn't that suicidal. She had her goal and her vision. She wouldn't stake her life like this if she wasn't pretty damn sure he wasn't actually that evil, which was actually a pretty risky bet if you thought about it because c'mon they were just kidnapped by terrorists the other day to play a death game, but anyways--fuck it. She had nothing to lose but her life, and if she was proven wrong then life would've been pretty shit anyways.

Only one way to find out.

"Okay. If that's the game you want to play."

She felt histrionic as fuck. That was okay. What she was doing was histrionic as fuck. Carefully, methodically, she took out the gun, checked if it was loaded. Safety off. Slid it over to Jerry.

"Prove it, then. Blow my brains out. One less person you have to survive longer than. Then you can go skip your merry way and laugh as you gun down everyone else. Or whatever."

Okay, so maybe he wouldn't actually do that. That didn't matter. What mattered was the implication that she actually believed he could be capable of doing that.

Try me.

[Laurels]

Sure enough, Asuka wasn't going to trade the gun for a chair leg. That was something Nadia was certain of. What she didn't expect was Asuka to go on some long tirade about her impending death and how dickish Nadia and Jerry were. Nadia raised an eyebrow and lowered the chair leg, surprised that Asuka had such beef with her. As far as Nadia saw it, she had been fairly reasonable with Asuka. The girl had issues with the gun, and so Nadia was willing to trade for her sake. Asuka had given her a spiel about how she was too unprepared for this world, so Nadia was fair to assume Asuka didn't want to have such an obvious sign of the madness of the game in her hands.

Yes, they were all likely to die soon, but Asuka wasn't more likely to die than any of them, nor did she deserve any special treatment for that. Acting like Jerry and Nadia were one-dimensional bully stereotypes wasn't going to help her out. It was starting to become clear that Asuka wasn't likely to be any use to them, gun or not. The girl was cracking, and lashing out at people for supposed moral crimes wasn't earning her any more points.

Of course, Jerry was only there to exacerbate things. Now Nadia was starting to wish she hadn't left the cabin with Jerry. Aside from the lousy insult of "bitch-tits," Jerry was only confirming the impression Asuka had of him. Nadia slowly shook her head, realizing how poisonous staying with Jerry was. Toby seemed fine, at least, and maybe it'd be worth going with her to find her friend, but Jerry was becoming almost too much.

Now he wanted her to come with him and Toby. Nadia was prepared to leave, if only to at least get to a more stable location after maybe "getting lost" from Jerry, but Asuka had to take things to the extreme. Now she was handing a gun over to Jerry asking her to gun her down. Nadia widened her eyes and let out a quick curse under her breath.

"Whoa, okay, let's calm down," Nadia said. "This is really over-the-top and not at all how we should be acting right now. Asuka, let's not fold so brutally. Jerry, please tell me you're not actually going to take up her offer."

[MK Kilmarnock]

It looked like Jerry was on the fence about considering it. Indeed, upon Ass-ka turning over the gun and offering it, the look on Jerry's face plainly told his shock, likely showing the girl some of that hesitance she wanted to see. It quickly faded as Jerry realized the situation he had found himself in. She was trying to call his bluff. Even he was smart enough to figure that out.

"You know what?" Jerry said, steeling himself to Nadia's words. "Yeah. I think I actually WILL take her up on the offer." He snatched the gun as he said it, narrowing his eyes. He turned the weapon over in his hands until he carefully adjusted his grip and held it tight. His finger inched closer to the trigger while treating it with all the caution of a spider that might lash out and bite at any sudden motion. He didn't have it pointed at Asuka. Not yet.

"Pretty big fucking gamble you just made," Jerry said with a smug grin, putting a thumb on what he figured must have been the hammer of the pistol. He wasn't really big on pistols. Or guns, now that he thought about it. When was the last time he had fired a gun? Had he ever fired a gun? Food for thought. Right now in the moment, he was a pro, a regular John Wayne or a fuckin' Neo with that gunkata shit. He had a feeling he had Ass-ka here dead to rights, like it would be so easy to put one right between her eyes.

"But SOMEBODY wasn't paying attention," Jerry crowed. "Just because I wanna outlive you doesn't mean I wanna kill you. Thanks for the gun, dumbass!"

Jerry played his final card, which just so happened to be darting out the door after Toby, protectively cradling his new friend.

"ONE SIDE, TOBY!"

((Jerry Fury, continued in Ain't nobody got time for this))

[Namira]

Leaving right now became not quite leaving right now as Jerry did the Jerry thing and pissed Asuka off. Toby stopped psyching up and for a second just stared.

For fuck's sake, was this actually happening, because she really didn't have time for ... it.

Asuka was giving Jerry a gun? That was... amongst the worst ideas Toby had seen so far today.

No, scratch today. Last few weeks, last months. Why oh why would you arm Jerry. Even to prove a point. Especially to prove a point.

She didn't think Jerry would actually shoot her. He was a jackass, but not that flavour of jackass.

It was still a colossally bad idea.

And now Jerry was 'with' her.

With a gun.

...

Fuck.

Toby started to jog away through the corridors, and had never been less reassured to have company.

((Toby continued in Ain't nobody got time for that))

[Zetsu]

"I still have almost all the ammo, you jackass."

Not much point in calling after him at this point. But she needed to undermine that bullshit somehow.

Well. It wasn't like she hadn't anticipated this. Jerry was a fucker. Apparently she'd somehow overestimated him. Bastard couldn't even be a dick properly.

Yeah. Fuck him.

Still, it was worth it. Right? Yeah, except the whole thing where she was getting an emotional high out of this was gone. Were you wondering how she was staying so calm after all that shit? Now you know.

She didn't even have to take deep breaths to calm down. Fuck.

Hey Jerry. Good luck with outliving everyone without killing people. Hope your shiny Nazi gun helps you with that. Who gave him that gun again? Fuck. FuckfuckfuckFUCK. It was all her fault, it was all--

She couldn't even convince herself she was really mad about that. Does she giggle over that?

Nah. Too drained. Too tired.

How about that? Does that merit a giggle? Or maybe the fact that she was creating a really dumb loop? C'mon, something's gotta get a reaction out of her.

She turned to Nadia.

"Hey. Um...I guess I'm supposed to go out and get it back from him or something. But before I go. Um. How the fuck did you put up with him?"

[Laurels]

Nadia turned away from the two as Asuka handed the gun over to Jerry. She put the chair leg under her armpit and put her hands over her ears. If Jerry was really about to murder this girl, she didn't want to see it. She also knew he'd be firing a gun in close quarters and the sound would be loud and painful, so she had to take some protection to not go deaf this soon into the game.

However, she heard Jerry announce he was going to just take the gun and leave. She turned and saw Jerry rush out. Nadia raised an eyebrow as Asuka mentioned having the ammo. Nadia closed her eyes and sighed. That was a good point, and probably the sign that staying with Jerry was going to lead to disaster. Not only was he crazy, he was now armed; poorly at best. She had no clue how many bullets were in that one clip, but it wasn't enough to survive.

Asuka asked how Nadia put up with him. Nadia shook her head.

"Not well. I found him tolerable enough for the first day, but I think I've gotten my fill. Now..."

Nadia looked around. There wasn't much point in staying in the office. She didn't particularly want to travel with Asuka, but she didn't want the girl to be completely worse off for this mess. If Asuka died because Nadia left her alone, she'd probably regret it and have to answer for it. Thus, an idea came to Nadia.

Nadia took the chair leg from under her armpit and set it down on the desk.

"Here," she said. "I've got an extra, so you can have that. I've got somewhere else to be. Good luck."

Nadia stepped past Asuka and into the hall, heading the opposite way of Jerry and his friend. She moved her bag in front of her and opened it, taking the second chair leg out. Looks like it was smart to take two legs, even if the move did make her look as awkward as Brendan yesterday. Either way, Nadia was ready to move on from Jerry Fury and his eccentricities. She needed a real plan.

((Nadia Riva continued elsewhere))

[Zetsu]

"Nice knowing you too."

So it goes. Or something. Thanks for the chair leg and all, it wasn't like she could just get her own. It was sad because she probably actually couldn't.

Asuka trembled, felt her knees stutter. Her body could betray her all it wanted to now. Fall over, collapse against the wall, let the tear ducts open. It's okay. You can cry now.

Asuka's body wouldn't cry. Fuckin' traitor. She really needed a good cry.

"It's okay," she whispered to herself. "You're gonna be okay, kay? Kay."

Ah, here we go. Not much of it. Most of it came out as pathetic sobbing. But. Nevertheless.

And now what? Asuka knew, of course. Jerry had made that easy. She was gonna go after the Nazi and make him drop his Nazi gun. Yes. He was a Nazi. Might as well be. Not in the genocidal bigot kind of way, in the 'has a sign around his neck saying 'I'm the fucking cartoon writers come up with when they're too lazy to write a sympathetic villain'. And that was terrible. Very very terrible. Not the fact that he was an asshole. That part was definitely fine. Definitely. But was it too much to ask for a deep, complex, byronic hero of an asshole? Couldn't he have done Asuka that favor? At least?

Bet he'd give the terrorists exactly the kind of stupid drama they wanted. So stop him, right? Replace him with other drama. Your drama. Artsy, pretentious drama. That's your gig, your game, that's how you feel alive.

Theory. Heh. Asuka was all about theory. Theoretically happy?

Yeah. Something like that.

((Asuka Takahara continued elsewhere))