at Dawn

[dinah_shore†]

Emma awoke with a splitting headache. She kept her eyes closed, even though the light wasn't strong enough to hurt them. After a moment, she tried to shift herself into a more comfortable position, but instead rammed her shoulder into the trunk of the bush she was...she was...doing something under. What was she doing under there?

Emma had just enough time to process that she was under a large shrub before the canopy dumped some water on her head. She sputtered, and tried to raise herself up, tangling her hair up in the branches. Emma stopped, and slowly lied back down. She needed to control herself.

Upon looking around, Emma realized she was on the outskirts of a graveyard. Where was this graveyard, and what was she doing in it? She had no recollection of anything.

Instead of getting up and looking around, she stayed under the bush. There was no need to get more lost at the moment, and she was still too headache-y to think straight. She was sure she'd find some answers once she felt coherent again.

Emma waited anxiously for sunrise.

[Namira]

((Maxie continued from:Don't Panic))

Maxie felt a vague tugging of concern as she continued walking, getting further and further away from the confrontation she had abandoned by the second. She had lost her temper, and that was the truth of it - maintaining such a pace away from the incident was merely stubborness. Madi was the first person Maxie had encountered to show any inclination of wanting to help her out, and leaving like that felt uncomfortably like hanging her out to dry. Sharon had been quite obviously on the brink of doing something very stupid, Madi was in no state for a fight and Maxie had... walked off in a tantrum.

Fuckin' A. Who knows what's gonna happen back there now?

It was still dark, and still goddamn raining. Maxie was using her torch, though only to make sure she didn't trip over anything. She had her left hand cupped over the bulb, so only a narrow beam of light escaped - just sufficient to illumiate the ground in front of her. The lighting worked both ways - a torch could reveal you as well as guide your way.

As such, Maxie actually saw Emma, and stopped short of falling all over her. She ... well, she didn't know Emma per se, but certainly she was unmistakeable. Her looks were distinctive indeed - and Emma certainly liked to flaunt them too, if what Maxie had heard bore any veracity. She didn't look armed though.

Maxie cautiously put one hand on her weapon and then called out to the prone Emma.

"Ai. Friend or foe, and all that crap,"

[dinah_shore†]

Emma heard a voice she didn't recognize. Upon peering out from her shelter she saw that it was Maxie Dasai, a girl she barely knew but had a bit of a bad reputation. People tended to misunderstand independent and strong women. Emma had respect for the girl.

Suddenly Emma realized that she was curled up under a bush. She didn't want to get wet, but at the same time she knew she looked pretty ridiculous.

"Friend, of course," Emma replied as she scrambled hastily from under the bush. Her headache was starting to fade; she looked at her new friend and wondered why Maxie, of all people, would call out to her while she was sleeping under a bush to ask her if she was a "friend or foe"...it was all very strange. Then Emma saw it in her hand. A big, crazy meat hook.

"Whoa! What are you doing with that?" Emma looked around frantically. "Where are we? I don't understand what's happening! Last thing I remember, there was a commotion on the bus and I must have hit my head off the window or something really hard and..." she breathed, equal parts hysterical and pissed. "I wake up under this bush, in this strange cemetary I don't know...I don't want to fight you, why would you draw a weapon at me? Please. Tell me what's going on."

[Namira]

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Maxie held up both hands in a placating gesture, stowing her meat hook in her jeans to show Emma she didn't mean any harm. Maxie stopped a moment as the other's words processed. "Wait... ya mean you've been asleep for five days?" No, that couldn't be possible, could it? Maybe Emma had just been incredibly out of it, or even had reacted badly to all the gas... Sheesh, either way...

Maxie smiled ruefully, then sat down alongside Emma, mentally preparing herself to somehow try to explain the situation. How to break this kind of news? Jeez, Maxie had never been the most subtle person in the world, not by a long shot. She didn't even know where to start. One thing was for absolute certain though...

It wasn't going to be easy.

How th'fuck d'ya explain somethin' like THIS?

[dinah_shore†]

Asleep? Five days? No...

"I," Emma glanced around distractedly, "I think I was drugged. I mean, I don't remember getting under that thing." The cemetary bush she had been sleeping( hiding?) under was once a well-manicured shrub, cut to resemble a rather portly tree. It was a little overgrown but there was still enough room under it to fit Emma and her...duffle bag? Was that hers?

With a quick look at Maxie, she noticed that the girl had a bag in the exact same style. Emma reached under the bush and dragged the duffle bag out. It looked brand new. She turned to Maxie, who was now seated beside her and had almost a pained expression on her face. She had nice lips.

"Something feels wrong. Where is everybody?"

She felt a panic rising.

Oh, God.

[Namira]

"Uh..." truthfully, Maxie was lost for words. With her thick accent, she had never been an eloquent speaker, and the remarkable circumstances didn't really help matters. She was already encountering the block she'd anticipated. Dammit.

"I'll tell it t'ya short, Emma, cuz I dunno if I can say this in full," Maxie hesitated again, realising that effectively, she was giving Emma the speech most of the students had been privy to at the very start of SOTF. In this respect, she was almost emulating Danya himself - less the smug air and snide comments.

"Well, we - that bein', s'far as I know, th'whole damn senior class, got abducted five days ago, like I said." Maxie paused to let Emma take that in, then took a deep breath before continuing. "It doesn't end there though. We're ... we've all been put on a deserted island and got these dog collars stuck 'round our necks," Maxie cocked her head to one side, bearing her collar to Emma and tapping it with one finger for emphasis.

"We make a fuss, fiddle, or go in a dangerzone, and these babies blow us to hell," Maxie looked at her companion solemnly. "This is some seriously fucked up shit Emma," she sighed, having saved the (arguably) worst for last. "And why are we on this island? We've gotta kill each other, one by one, 'till there's only one left alive. Remember those freaky SOTF shows on a year or so back? Well... we're in one."

Maxie bowed her head, wondering how Emma would react to the earthshattering news. That had been the hardest thing she'd ever had to tell anyone.

[dinah_shore†]

As Maxie began to speak, Emma felt the blind fear stuck in her throat sink back down like a heavy rock, dragging her insides into the pit of her stomach. She had indeed heard about the game. Unreality washed over her as Maxie went on to explain that they were supposed to kill eachother.

Tears welled up in Emma's eyes, and quietly ran down her expressionless face. After the other girl had finished talking, Emma turned away from her silently, and reached for the zipper on the duffe bag between her ankles.

Inside, she saw a couple loaves of bread and some crackers and water. Emma was in no mood for counting. She pulled out a booklet labelled "Mr. Danya's Guide To Survival", and fanned its glossy pages. After placing it on the ground next to her foot, she pulled out a medieval-looking sword of some sort. It was large; but lightweight, maybe a little lighter than a wooden baseball club. And very dangerous looking. Upon examination, Emma saw that the blade was quite sharp. No way this could be a prank.

Immediately, Emma felt vulnerable. "So, um" she swallowed, "What's your objective here then?" She paused, and turned to face Maxie. She felt confident that she the girl wouldn't kill her at this time. "Do you know...anything about sword fighting?"

[Ares]

((John continued from A Living Dance Upon Dead Minds))

The game is meant to break people down. Break their spirits, make them go insane. It was doing its job.

"I've got a beat stick, I've got a beat stick." John sang in a jovial sort of tone, as he let his new morning star swing front to back as he strode along. It was after all a nice little feeling of power. John now possessed two great melee weapons, which did not require any form of finesse.

"You're still a little sticky you are." John said as he brought the dangerous end of the morning star upwards to inspect it closer.

Ha ha, get it? Sticky! God damn I'm hilarious.

John smiled at the thought of his own hilarity. Maybe if he won this thing, he'd have his own t.v. show. Riz continued to stroll along until he came to what was clearly a graveyard where two girls seemed to be in a rather exciting discussion.

"Well lookee here, some more of my peers, fellow students even." John whispered to himself.

At least they ain't in pieces.

"Do you know...anything about sword fighting?"

"Well you see," Riz said he as walk calmly toward the two girls,"Its really a matter of knowing your opponent. Knowing when to thrust, and when to pull back," John smirked at his own analogy, "Unless of course you're talking about the other type of sword fighting my dear, which I think my dear you'd best look up on the internet since I won't be doing any demonstrations of that."

Damn I am HI-LARRY-US!

"Now on to more pressing matters, the pressing matter being, a good reason why I shouldn't be pressing the pointy end of my beat stick here into either one of your skulls? Get it? Pressing! Whoo damn I'm on a roll!"

John turned and gave the nearby camera a slight bow before turning back to the girls, eagerly awaiting their response.

[Namira]

Maxie didn't speak at all for a while after she finished explaining the situation to Emma. It was a lot to have to deal with, and she didn't want to cause her companion to freak out. It was best to allow her to assimilate the information in her own time than press on and only have the shock hit later, at a point where it could be a very bad thing to happen.

She was a little surprised when Emma started talking again so quickly after being told the whole thing, but she supposed the some people took bad news better than others. Hadn't Maxie herself been able to handle the pressure? Perhaps Emma could just cope better than Maxie had predicted. That was nothing wrong with that at all, in fact, it was a bonus.

Maxie was about to reply when the ever-irritating John Rizzolo arrived on the scene, carrying two weapons casually. That immediately put Maxie on guard. That he had extra weapons told her he was either a killer or a looter, neither of which Maxie considered exactly good people to be around. Of course, it didn't help that Riz started shooting his mouth off in very annoying fashion as soon as he saw them. Hell, not even purely annoying, it was an outright set of threats.

"Tell me Riz," Maxie said levely, picking herself up off the ground and placing one hand on her hip - shortening the time she would need to draw her weapon. "Were ya born retarded or did'ya have t'work at it?"

Her eyes narrowed at the half-threat in Riz's words. Maxie didn't like people trying to intimidate her. It pissed her off.

"I can give ya a good reason Riz. That bein' - y'enjoy havin' the full use of your arms," Maxie slid the meat hook out of her belt, fully prepared for a fight. "See Riz, th' thing is... while ya jackin' off t'ya own wit, ya aren't payin' attention ta who y adealing with," Maxie pointed the hook straight at Riz. "Now, ya gonna shut the fuck up and be sensible? Cuz if you're not, I'm fully prepared ta knock ya around 'till ya see some sense,"

[dinah_shore†]

The irony was that Emma had liked John Rizzolo in secret for years and never told anyone. Not this particular John Rizzolo, who was clearly insane and...dumb; but the John Rizzolo she had English class with. The John who always made her laugh. Now he was threatening her life.

As John spoke, Emma's eyes widened. That thing he's holding has blood on it!

Emma looked down at her sword, a "falchion". About the same weight as a baseball bat... She didn't want to draw blood, but she sure as hell wanted to make sure J.R. didn't touch her either. Gripping the sword with both hands, Emma slowly stood up, her heart pounding heavily. Could she do this?

[Ares]

"Why you gotta be serious Maxie? Its like you think you have a chance." John asked with grin plastered to his face. He was excited. She wanted to take him on. She wanted to fight. Riz placed his pack down, unzipped it, and pull out his tire iron. He now held the tire iron in his left hand, the morning star in the right.

Oh, this is just going to be tons of fun.

John looked to Emma who took a ready position with her sword. She looked terrified.

"Hahaha. Emma, I really would think about backing up, or running, or something other than looking like you might be thinking about running that sword right through me. I like you Emma, always a nice girl to have an intellectual discussion with. Always asking me how the guitar hero was going. It was a nice relief. So for your own good, don't make me have to use this morning star on you in the same way I found it."

Riz smirked a little thinking about where the morning star had been. Truth be told, he was still shaken up about what he'd seen at the lagoon, but it had woken him up. He realized that there were people everywhere that were going to do everything they could to make John exactly like the Lagoon bunch.

"So Emma, make your choice, and make it really fast. Back up, or die. Afterall, heh, how do you know that your friend there will give you the same opportunity I gave you?"

There was a hysterical laughing going on inside J.R.'s head.

"How do you know, that if I turn around and leave right now, you aren't going to get penetrated by something I don't think you want to be penetrated by?"

Hahahahaheee!!!

"If I were you, I'd take a deep look at what I'm trying to do. Hell, you know what, screw killing you, I'll make a deal with you seeing as like I said, I like you. You team up with me, we go through this godforsaken shit hole, we do what we are supposed to do to win. Shit, I'll do the dirty work if you don't want to kill anyone. I'd just really like some company. We'll make it so its you and me. Then we have at it. You against me."

The laughing was almost deafening inside of his head.

"I know thats a bit...hypocritical since I just said that you're friend could turn around and turn you into a bitchkabob, but I give you my word, that if you team with me, and we dispose of her, we go final two. You and me. We'll settle it when we get there."

John awaited her response. If she did decide to team with him, he was actually going to keep his word. A good looking woman like Emma could lure so many people to their demise.

The laughter continued to roar.

[dinah_shore†]

"..."

Emma's mouth opened and closed. She didn't know what to say. Maxie helped her when someone else might not have, but John did have quite an offer waiting for her. She didn't even stop to consider if he was even capable of killing everyone else on the island, Emma was struggling not to answer the siren call of security: a man to protect her. She licked her lips and adjusted her grip on the sword, brow furrowed, eyes flicking back and forth from Maxie's back to John Rizzolo's face. Even if John did not want to keep his word, her sword was bigger and longer than his...mace.

She was not ready to commit yet. The fact that she had come to think of Maxie as her friend was still holding her back. After all, she did have some sense of loyalty.

Stuck, Emma waited for a deciding factor.

[Namira]

If Riz thought he was going to be able to fight properly with the pair of weapons then he had quite another thing coming. Sure a morningstar was a formidable weapon - weighty and difficult to block, but Riz would have been much better served using just that. The star was powerful, but ultimately, very heavy and quite unwieldy at the same time. It was clear to Maxie from where she stood that it would be difficult to both swing and direct in any normal sense, and doubly so now that Riz was insisting on using it with an offhand weapon.

"So serious?" Maxie asked with incredulousness in her voice. "Only cuz you're goin' after me with a morningstar ya brain dead moron!" the tone was gone now, replaced only with anger. "Ya think I'm leadin' Emma d'ya? Well I've got news for ya joker, there's actually people out here not tryin' t'kill everybody they see!"

Maxie brought up her meat hook, pointing it squarely at Riz, who, now that she thought about it, was rather too close for comfort.

When dey got a longer reach dan ya girl, ya gotta nullify dat. Get in up close an personal an stop dat from being an advantage.

Or perhaps, Maxie reflected, remembering her brother's advice, not close enough.

"Alright then Riz. Ya got one, and I mean one, opportunity to leave before things get painful," Maxie tensed herself, ready to spring at Riz at the slightest indication that a fight was going to break out.

[Ares]

The laughter continued inside of John's head.

How does she not get it?

"Well if they aren't playing, then they are just wrong, wrong, wrong. Life is a game, quite literally given our current situation. Now I like to play games, and I understand games. It's so easy to understand. How much are you willing to do, and how far are you willing to go to save your own life. Maxie, Maxie, Maxie, it's just a damn shame that you don't get that, a damn shame." John said while shaking his head in a world of disbelief.

John paused to soak in the moment, to enjoy what he was about to do.

"You want to play," Riz said with a borderline maniacal grin, "Let's play then."

John paused briefly before turning to Emma again.

"Don't forget what I said."

He turned back to Maxie.

"Now come on...hit me!"

Riz charged at Maxie, and swung the tire iron at her hook.

Make her use the hook to block, then end her...ha..hahaheha!

[dinah_shore†]

The buzzing in Emma's head became louder and louder. She couldn't even hear what the others were saying anymore. She needed to do something, anything to break the paralysis she felt. Without taking the time to aim or even look at her intended target, Emma swung her sword at Maxie with a loud grunt.