His Whole Life Packed In Two Bags, Just Two Bags

[Emprexx Plush]

((_____ Hart continued from She's Not Developed Like We Are))

_____ had stayed quiet once the others woke up. ___ eyes were heavy; it was obvious at a glance __ hadn't slept much but that probably wouldn't be a surprise. _____ and sleep had frequent disagreements, Garnet herself had probably prodded ___ awake more than enough times at school to predict it. Once you added in all the extra stress of the island, it would have been more shocking if she'd woken up to find ___ sound asleep, right? Right. She didn't know. Hadn't asked where __'d gone, so she couldn't know about that either. The nervous glances weren't new either, or the sweat as __ stubbornly insisted on keeping ___ hoodie on. Anxiety and fatigue were familiar accessories, there's no way either of them could guess it was stemming from somewhere new. _____ didn't know why __ was considering Christina on the same level as Garnet there, the other girl seemed completely indifferent to ___ presence. Maybe worse than that. Annoyed. If there was any indication she knew more about what was going on than Garnet __ might-

No. That could wait.

They'd stopped to sleep in the woods near the lake, and exploring it further hadn't seemed like a bad plan. __ forgot who suggested it. ___ thoughts were somewhere else, but movement was good. Keep moving, keep learning, and __ could put off what __ had to do a little longer. ___ bag wasn't so heavy anymore, but there was still a focused weight at its center that transcended physical sensation. There was no hurry to add it to ___ arm.

A pond, off to the side of the lake proper. Spots of metal glinted in the distance, though whatever they were seemed rusted over in most places. They looked like cages, but that didn't make any sense. Where would ___ classmates have gotten cages? __ couldn't believe anything the others said, but it could tell ___ a little more about the nature of this elaborate joke to get them talking. "What do you think those-"

_____'s voice was cut off by the crackle of speakers coming to life.

[Namira]

((Garnet continued from Something Better))

As a miracle of miracles, Garnet had managed to get some sleep. It wasn't good sleep but it was some kind of sleep and sometimes you had to take what you could get, cause Garnet wasn't gonna lie, she'd spent half the night jerking out of a drowsing state in mortal terror that someone was gonna jump out of the shadows and slamdunk a railroad spike into her skull. Kept having weird dreams, too, half-imagined events that seemed plausible enough to someone in-and-out of slumber. She remembered getting up in the night to punch people in the face at least three times, then her eyes opening and having to remind herself that actually no she didn't do that. Also not doing that thing where you imagine you're in a fight and you kind of just flail your arms and it never really connects or you have a gun but it's actually only your fingers and dream-you can't understand why the person you're shooting with your literal hand gun isn't falling over.

Dreams sucked.

Anyway, the three of them intrepidly travelled their way away from the waterfall and made it to the next closest landmark, which was the big ol' lake that the waterfall seemed to feed into. None of them were in much of a party mood and once they all woke up and reaffirmed that everyone was okay, nothing untoward had happened in the night etc., they pretty much stopped talking after that and just trooped on off. What was on the menu? Glad you asked, chef Barnes! Today we've got a delightful entree of... bread. Dry brown bread.

Brown bread sucked.

Garnet was getting a case of the itchy brain. She wanted a screen, or music, or a book or a dog or a something because god she didn't do well without stimulation. Red Garnet needs entertainment badly. Maybe... maybe she could do some kind of off the cuff roleplay thing? The thought sent a momentary smile ghosting across her face, but just as quickly it was gone. No, not a good idea most likely. Nona was a dorky nerd but probably not that kind of dorky nerd, and Garnet knew very little about Christina other than that she was a fellow gamer. That was a decent enough conversation starter, right? She'd just ask them both what their favourite pokemon was and they could go from there—Nona spoke first, then got interrupted, and then Garnet's morning got a whole lot worse.

Her shoulders slumped as bit by bit, all the energy and life bled from her body. She recognised all the names on that list. Some less, some more. But still all.

She—she played softball with Yuko, and she was way better but that was all right cause you know, couldn't be the best at everything and Garnet figured that for sure she had to be the cool one of the three and she was dead. She'd always felt like she'd maybe kind of taken Beryl's spot on the basketball team and even though she tried to tell herself that no she definitely earned it for herself she could never shake off the feeling that maybe she would never have made it if Beryl didn't quit, and Garnet had always felt a little guilty about being glad Beryl wasn't on the team any more and now she was dead. Christine—Christine their badass brave gal who flung herself into being her paladn like she really was saving all their lives, who Garnet had spent hours and hours getting to know as both herself and her character and shared highs and lows with at the table and once rolled a nat 20 to save Garnet's bar-bar's life and she had actually screamed 'I LOVE YOU' at her and, and she was dead.

And that was Tyrell who did that, Ty, Erika's boyfriend who Garnet saw every so often and he looked pretty intimidating but he was dating Erika and that meant he probably wasn't so bad and he'd killed. Then Violet, that sweet girl who always stood up for other people, she got attacked by Quinn—Quinn, her freaking teammate who she'd won three titles with! Quinn who was—okay yeah she could be a bit strange but wasn't so bad when you took your time with her and was a badass at vidya games and she'd killed. And how about Blaise? Blaise who Garnet had made out with once and they'd been interested and she'd been interested but uhh neither of them quite had the right idea of what they were doing and it got awkward and Garnet just started laughing and it was funny, and they'd kinda just mutually agreed it wasn't going anywhere and they'd killed.

Garnet tried to swallow down a sob, then the tears began to roll down her cheeks in a flood. She collapsed to her hands and knees and tried not to wail and all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry until this wasn't happening any more.

[decoy73]

((Christina Rennes continued from Something Better))

They'd moved to some circle by a lake. It actually looked quite nice, if not for the cages. What kind of sea life were they keeping there? Either way, the night had been surprisingly boring.

Good.

She's actually been able to get some sleep. Only some, though. It wasn't like sleeping in this death trap was going to be easy. Or smart. Or unnecessary.

KSSSSH

The dead for the day - Toby dead. Crap. Dante dead. Crap. Tyrell had killed two people. Jessica wasn't dead. That was relieving.

It was too much for her to believe that nobody would die, but then again, the fuckers that were had an out for that, so of course someone was going to break. This was just a taste of what was to come, and it was going to suck. Garnet's sobs were just proof of that. At least Nona was handling it slightly better.

[Emprexx Plush]

Did you know that unlike dogs, pigs, and some other mammals, humans cannot taste water? They taste only the chemicals and impurities in the water.

What about how there is more real lemon juice in Lemon Pledge furniture polish than in Country Time Lemonade?

Or that household bleach is the recommended chemical to decontaminate people exposed to the anthrax virus, by the U.S. F.D.A.?

How about how the household wrench was invented by boxing heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in 1922? That Drew Carey once worked at a Denny's? The word taxi is spelled the same in English, German, French, Swedish and Portuguese? The oil used by jewelers to lubricate clocks and watches costs about $3,000 a gallon? In the White House, there are over 13,000 knives, forks and spoons. There are 10 towns named Hollywood in the United States. If a Lobster loses an eye, it will grow another one. The average single man is one inch shorter than the average married man dogs and cats consume over $11 billion worth of pet food a year the IRS employees tax manual has instructions for collecting taxes after a nuclear war the Zip Code 12345 is assigned to General Electric in Schenectady, New York during the Gold Rush in 1849, some people paid as much as $100 for a glass of water Kermit the frog delivered the commencement address at Southampton College located in the state of New York in 1996 the first household refrigerators cost about $16,000, in today's money nose prints are used to identify dogs, just like humans use fingerprints Theaveragetastebudlivesonly10daysbeforeitdiesandisreplacedbyanewonemostofahog'ssweatglandsareinitssnout7,000newinsectspeciesarediscoveredeveryyearaKoalaBearsleeps22hoursofeverydayBobHopeandBillyJoelwerebothonceboxersnooneknowswhodesignedthefirstAmericanFlagsalmoncanjumpashighas6feetonlymalefirefliescanflyonionshavenoflavoronlyasmellintenminutesahurricanereleasesmoreenergythanalltheworld'snuclearweaponscombinedByraisingyourlegsslowlyandlayingonyourbackyoucan'tsinkinquicksand Out of all the senses, smell is most closely linked to memory 9 out of 10 lightning strike victims survive.

Paranophobia is the fear of everything.

_____ filled ___ thoughts with every piece of trivia __ could to keep the names out. The voice on the loudspeaker was a total stranger trying to convince ___ that ___ friends were dead. Somebody's older brother, maybe an actor friend, __ had no idea what the real madman behind the terror attacks sounded like so __ couldn't say this was him, it wasn't proof, it could never be proof as long as __ didn't listen. Giving ___ imagination the fuel of names, that was playing with fire, __ had to ignore them to keep from cracking. Think of anything at all to keep it out, faster, bigger, none of it had to make sense anymore, it didn't even need to be true, flood every channel with information so that no new stimulus could possibly be absorbed at any but surface level recognition. __ stood frozen until the speakers went silent. Safe, not a word touching anything but the wide open lane between one ear to another.

Garnet's sob was harder to block out. There in a moment, gone in the next. It didn't ask for ___ focus. Processing was done just as quickly though, slipping through the smallest cracks in ___ mind to collect in ___ stomach with inescapable weight. It did what dull knives, wild tales of violence, speakers and neck-sized bombs could not. It made ___ doubt and brought tears to ___ eyes. Dragged ___ back to a friend in need of so much more than what __ could offer, but in need regardless and with just a push back __ could fill that void couldn't she? Slipping back came so naturally. Being what others demanded through word or deed was a reflex for her. Any second Garnet would call her name and expect her to do something, anything to prove she was worth having around, and if she failed she would-

_____ hit ___ knees scrambling for the bag's zipper. There was no going back. This was an act. A really, really good act. Maybe they had some blackmail or something and she was guilty and it was all getting to be too much for her and that was fine it meant Garnet was still a good person they could still be friends everything would be okay but __ had to remember it wasn't real nothing was real nothing in the entire world was real right now except for the feeling of burnt leather flushed against ___ skin.

__ held ___ hand in the bag and didn't look up when __ spoke. "Garnet. What's happening?"

One chance. Just one more chance. Please make the right decision.

[blastinus]

(Reuben Walters continued from R T J 3 M O T H E R F U C K E R S)

The night hadn't been a comfortable one for Reuben, even after he insisted that he and Teresa take shifts. His mind had been full of thoughts, plans...and regrets. They were forcing him to do this. He would never have done this by himself, so it was all under duress. But at the same time, the image of Jessica slipping away into oblivion kept coming back again and again. After a while, it stopped being horrifying and just became dang irritating. making it hard to sleep.

It was an accident, right? An accident. They couldn't pin this one on him in the announcements, but if they did...if his name came up, he was basically locked in. Nothing left for him but this life of murder and banditry. Nobody would ever trust him again.

One could imagine his relief then as the announcement sounded while the two of them were traveling along and his name didn't come up at all, followed immediately by the dread of realizing that Jessica's name hadn't come up either. Somehow, someway, she managed to fall down the backside of a waterfall and not die, which was a problem because he had her bear trap AND a knife. If suspicion fell on him, the fact that he had two weapons would implicate him then and there. They were on borrowed time. Sooner or later, their sins would come back to them, assuming they didn't add even more besides.

"How did she-" he began to ask Teresa, but stopped, because they had company.

Wrapped up as he was in his own self-reflection, Reuben was going on autopilot, and so he didn't realize that he was coming across a trio gathered around a strange pond until he came to a stop less than 20 feet away. The "Serenity Circle," no doubt. He'd had a chance to study the map, to get an idea of where all the landmarks were. Why it was called that wasn't important at the moment. Rather, priority one was setting a good impression, finding common ground and not getting shot in the face. Definitely that last part.

Who were these people? Names he knew, but other than that...Nona...no clue. Christina and Garnet were gamers, he knew that much, but otherwise not a lot to go on. The three of them seemed shaken, probably by the announcement. Yeah, so was he, but not for the same reasons. At least he assumed not. Who knew what skeletons they were hiding...

Well, no point putting it off. They'd likely already heard him coming anyway. His hands were empty, knife and bear trap stowed in the bag, but his arm had a bandage from the rock Terra'd thrown at him and his knees had small adhesive bandages for the scratches, so he must have looked a sight. He didn't even want to imagine how his long hair was a stringy, tangled mess at this point. Straightening himself up from the slouch he'd been in, he stiffly waved and said, in as casual a manner as he could muster, "I, uh...hi, guys. Sorry...probably a bad time."

Truly suave. He should have been class president.

[Yugikun]

She was behind Reuben. Only her right side was visible, if one looked at him. Her hair looked disheveled, her eyes looked baggy, and there was a frown on her face, as her gaze moved on and off the group in front of her. There was a quick breath out — a tone to it that made it sound like a sigh — but no other noise, ‘cause man, like, the one time it felt good to do the one on one shit with Reub she’d been waiting to do since Jessica got like, yeeted down the waterfall there had to be a buncha fuckin’ dudes who probably wouldn’t like it if they started talkin’ ‘bout doin’ bad shit. One time she felt it pretty bad to try and beat up dudes was the time dudes actually showed up. Sorta, like, really blew, y’know?

But eh. This girl could deal. Awkward for random people to show up right when she was gonna go ‘hey, uh, might be a good idea if we got better at beating the shit outta random people’ but she was sure this wouldn’t go bad. Didn’t exactly take like, complete tactical genius and co-ordination and shit to not attack dudes when they had more dudes than you and were looking, like, right at you. They’d say, like, hi and shit, shoot around and pretend like they hadn’t tried to kill a bunch of people yesterday, and then they’d be out, no problemo.

...Yeah. Seemed solid. Hopefully everyone here was comin’ to see the same picture, and that, like, when they shot the shit they wouldn’t actually shoot each other’s shit. Seemed like a pretty good way to make sure this girl’s shit was the shit that got shot and that, like, didn’t really seem fun at all? She didn’t know. Jury was as out there as her right now.

[Emprexx Plush]

((Breaking Order To Exit))

More people appeared before __ could make ___ move. Reuben and a girl __ only remembered seeing at parties too drunk to remember her own name. Well, _____ always assumed she was drunk, it was more polite than assuming that was her natural personality. Another sudden appearance to throw ___ off right before __ went looking for answers. Once was a coincidence, maybe. Twice was a pattern. The stalling at the waterfall might have been just enough time for them to hide something critical from ___, or maybe it'd been a ploy to drug ___ again that fell apart, whatever it was __ couldn't shake the feeling that __ didn't escape it. There were so many people, but only three climbed down together. That was all they needed to keep ___ in line, wasn't it? __ gave up again there and played along. It might work if __ tried that now. Clam up and let them talk amongst themselves until they felt the situation had reset and these two would leave. Then what? The second _____ went into ___ bag again there would be more, and that time they wouldn't walk away. They'd take it from ___, __ was sure of that now, if it posed any real risk and they had some way of knowing what __ was doing they would orchestrate some excuse to rob ___ again. __ thought of the name and number inside ___ bag, the proof that they'd already stolen from ___ once without logical purpose. It could happen again any time they wanted if __ kept playing their game.

_____ jumped up from ___ bag and swiped in the vague direction of their voices. "S-stay back!" ___ eyes fixed on the approaching pair. "I know what you're doing, I'm not an idiot! Stay away from me!" Garnet was closer. She could be a threat too. _____ didn't raise the glove to her but __ looked to her, streaks of tears down ___ face to mirror the ones __ couldn't trust on hers. "Why are you doing this to me? We, we're friends but you're helping them..." The accusation lumped in ___ throat. The glove came up as __ started to back away, trembling from Garnet to Christina to Reuben to...whoever. "Don't follow me. I don't want to, I mean, I'd never but, but if you make me I'll, I'll really hurt you okay?" __ didn't take his eyes off the group until __ was far enough that probably only Garnet could catch ___ if she tried. It wasn't so far they couldn't hear each other if they yelled. There was so much __ wanted to ask, and despite all the betrayal twisting up in ___ heart impulse begged ___ to apologize. They were still friends, weren't they? Every time someone close to ___ hurt ___ __ always found a way to forgive and move on. It was the right thing to do. Easy too. _____ couldn't remember the last time __ screamed at a friend like this, if __ ever had, and there were so many people who deserved it more than Garnet. The word was on ___ lips. All __ had to do was send it out to her, and maybe she would understand. Things could eventually go back to normal.

____ turned away and ran as fast as __ ever had back towards the lake. There was no way to be sure __ was sorry outside ___ reflexive need to avoid conflict, and it was even less certain that they were ever really friends if she could do something like this. __ didn't need her forgiveness, her friendship, or her permission to reset back to normal like none of this happened.

Where exactly had normal gotten ___?

((_____ Hart Continued In We're Gonna Need a Better Boat))

[Namira]

Could she not even get a moment just to have emotions? Could she not just get one second to be something resembling a normal person?

When Garnet finally managed to raise her head off the turf, tears still streaming down her face—adjusting her glasses with a finger, then just taking them off, they were covered in crying anyway—she looked around to try and answer Nona's question, to try and put words to, to. To how did you even answer that? How did she stop herself from just yelling 'what the fuck do you think is happening!?', grabbing Nona by the shoulders and shaking her until she got it into her head that nobody was making any of this up, this was real, this was—

But she didn't, and Garnet felt like she deserved some credit for that except, she realised, Nona wasn't there any more. Because there had been some shouting, raised voices that it took two, three, four seconds for Garnet to mentally rewind and realise that she'd heard in the first place because it had been invisible against the grief grasping her in its bloody talons. It had been noise, just noise, because who could give a fuck about something like a few short words when Yuko was dead, when Beryl was dead, when Christine was dead, when it was any of them, it was happening and it was real and it was now. Who could even care about something as pointless as talking?

Except, like a song where you only got the words after a couple listens, Garnet played it back, played it back, played it back.

And her heart sank like a stone. Nona. Nona had freaked. Freaked bad. And here was Garnet being useless and apparently that wasn't even allowed right now because apparently she'd appointed herself guardian protector—and her gut wrenched as that made her think of Chris's boisterous laughter again—and responsible for Nona's safety and Nona'd just up and fucking taken off!? Threats notwithstanding, cause Garnet couldn't really see Nona managing to hurt someone outside of like, tripping over and smacking her head on the floor.

But she was already fucking gone, like out of fucking sight gone. How the friggity heck had Nona managed to move so fast? Frigging fuckity FUCK.

"Nona! Nona! Come on dude, come back—" Garnet pushed herself to her feet, desperately wiping her glasses, then put them back on. She threw up her hands helplessly at the others—sorry you dudes that are here or whatever Garnet has someone to prevent taking a stage dive off a cliff—and started to run off in the direction she... she didn't actually know exactly where Nona wentfffffuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

Barely able to see through the continued floods of tears, Garnet rushed in what seemed the most direct route towards the treeline.

((Garnet continued in We're Gonna Need a Better Boat))

[decoy73]

Two new people came in. Reuben and Teresa. Other gamers. Reuben apologized for ... something.

"S-stay back!" Christina turned to Nona. "I know what you're doing, I'm not an idiot! Stay away from me!" What was she doing?

"Why are you doing this to me? We, we're friends but you're helping them... Don't follow me. I don't want to, I mean, I'd never but, but if you make me I'll, I'll really hurt you okay?"

What the fuck was that? Did Nona break or something? She was just running away as if Reuben and Teresa were out to get her. Was she just that afraid of what was going on or what? Garnet, likely being a whole lot more familiar with what was going on in her head, tried to follow her and also ran off. Christina just stared at the spectacle she had seen.

[blastinus]

Hmm. Close but no cigar. When the girls began to scatter, Reuben held out hope that they’d all go together, leaving him and Teresa alone to discuss strategy. Christina’s presence made that infeasible, albeit not entirely possible. They’d just have to speak in code.

“Just left you, huh?” he mused. “A friend of ours vanished like that, back at the waterfall. I was...worried that she would show up in the announcement, but...thank goodness she is okay. Right, Teresa?”

He nudged Teresa with his elbow slightly, hoping that his robotic cadence would clue her in that the thing he was implying was actually the opposite of what he was saying. He was ostensibly a writer, so speaking in metaphors was theoretically something he was good at.

And with any luck, maybe if he acted weird enough, Christina would be so bothered that she’d leave of her own volition. He had these candy bars. Maybe he could start chewing one really loudly. But that was a matter of last resort. He may have been an undesirable nerd, but he wasn’t a monster.

[Yugikun]

The girl watched as everything that happened had happened. Her expression stayed neutral as Nona left. It bent upwards, slightly, as Garnet followed. By the time it was clear it was only the three of them left, her face had become what looked like a crooked grin, ‘cause hey, three on two wasn’t all that great, but two on one? That changed things.

...Kinda sucked that everybody kadooshed the moment this girl had shown up to the party, though. Did she, like, stink or something? Like, she hadn’t fuckin’ murdered the shit outta anyone yet but everybody was actin’ like she had. Maybe something she needed to work on? Being, like, boring on the surface?

“Oh, right!” Her smile straightened out. It looked almost genuine.

...Eh. Maybe later. Right now, she was with her dude, and her job was to, like, spook the shit out of the person here who was neither her or her dude. She was pretty sure that’s what Reub meant with that nudge anyway.

“We, like, yeeted your sister down a cliff right before we had ta dash. Dunno whether she made it, but, uh…”

The girl giggled. This time, she meant it.

“Figured you’d wanna know, y’know?”

[decoy73]

“Just left you, huh? A friend of ours vanished like that, back at the waterfall. I was...worried that she would show up in the announcement, but...thank goodness she is okay. Right, Teresa?” That was weird. Not what Reuben said, but how he said it, like he was an exceptionally bad actor waiting for the director to say "CUT." It was when Teresa spoke that Christina got worried.

“Oh, right! We, like, yeeted your sister down a cliff right before we had ta dash. Dunno whether she made it, but, uh… Figured you’d wanna know, y’know?”

Seriously? Christina slowly put her hands in her pockets. They had to be joking, right? Jessica wouldn't hurt a fly. There was no way she'd start a fight to the point of getting thrown from a waterfall. Unless ...

"Right." Christina chuckled, unconsciously taking a step back. "She got pushed off a cliff. Surely you did everything to help her, right?"

[blastinus]

Really, Teresa?

Reuben turned to her and narrowed his eyes, unsure whether he should be shocked or disappointed that Teresa just gave the game away right at the start. They were going to need to have a loooooong chat about this once they were done here-Wait, did Teresa say sister?

Now that he looked at her, Christina did have a close resemblance to Jessica, though not the same sort of temperament. Hmm...so maybe back in high school, when he thought that Jessica was walking by...yeah, that'd make sense.

What to do though...They were already caught red-handed, so maybe they could just explain what happened and hope that she accepted their version of events? It was worth a try.

"We were, uh...well, trying to rob her," he said, taking a deep breath and praying this wouldn't bite them in the ass. "We were hiding in the cave...the one under the waterfall, when she wandered in. Figured, you know, we could get some early supplies and be set for the rest of the game. She backed up during our...discussion, and uh...she fell." Then he hastily added, "But she's alive though, right? That was yesterday. She'd have shown up in the announcements if she was dead, you know?"

Jeez, honesty was a pain. His hand slowly slid into his own bag, where his KABAR sat. Things could turn ugly in a heartbeat. Better be ready for it.

[Yugikun]

“Yep,” she said. “We helped her get down.”

Aw c’mon Reub did y’have ta blow the ruse? Like, c’mon, she had a good thing going there; y’know, like, tell her that they’d just murdered her sister, get her mad, make her do somethin’ stupid like rush at them, or make her freak out and get the fuck away from here. Either kinda worked. One made Christina, like, Deadstina or somethin’ (plus put her death on herself because lmao @ attacking someone when you’re outnumbered) and both made sure that like, she wasn’t here and that she and Reub could finally talk ‘bout shit.

Yeah. That worked. This girl was like, a genius planner and stuff. Ain’t no way this could go wrong.

“And we’ll, like, get you down too if y’don’t like, scram and shit,” the girl said, reaching into her pocket and beginning to take out the whip stuffed within. “Y’know, like, leave, bail, let the big dudes talk ‘bout what they need t’talk about.”

...This was prolly gonna go wrong.

“Maybe drop ya bag while you’re at it. Help a metaphorical sister out, y’know?”

...Eh. That’d work too. This shit’d be blastin’ off either way.

[decoy73]

((GMing approved))

"We were, uh...well, trying to rob her. We were hiding in the cave...the one under the waterfall, when she wandered in. Figured, you know, we could get some early supplies and be set for the rest of the game. She backed up during our...discussion, and uh...she fell. But she's alive though, right? That was yesterday. She'd have shown up in the announcements if she was dead, you know?"

“Yep. We helped her get down. And we’ll, like, get you down too if y’don’t like, scram and shit. Y’know, like, leave, bail, let the big dudes talk ‘bout what they need t’talk about. Maybe drop ya bag while you’re at it. Help a metaphorical sister out, y’know?”

Christina's eyebrows rose as she moved her hands out of her pockets, this time flicking out the blade of her knife, first at Teresa, who was taking something out of her pocket. A whip. She pointed her knife at Teresa, and then Reuben, who stepped forward with a bigger knife in his hands.

"Don't. Come any closer." She leapt back as Teresa actually cracked her whip, turning around and breaking into a full-out sprint, cussing to herself. Things had gone to shit for her multiple times. And she knew it was only going to get worse from here.

((Christina Rennes continued in Binary Suns))