Son of Robot

[Mimi]

Why did she trust them?

Or, better yet, did she trust them? Was it trust if she couldn't see them as anything other than who they were back in Tennessee? As anything other than a bunch of tired kids knocking at her door?

And she was tired, too. Worn from the day both mentally and physically; finding to hard to continue to support the weight of the surprisingly sturdy fire-poker as more and more of her adrenaline seeped into the air around her. Maybe she was just tired and not thinking straight.

Maybe it wasn't trust and maybe it was just desperation. Desperation to speak to anyone other than Nathan, anyone who wasn't completely reliant on her. Anyone who would do a better job with him than she had or anyone willing to shoulder the responsibility with her. Or anyone willing to take it from her.

Maybe she wanted a leader. Someone to take charge and make the plans and rally the troops, like Mercy had done back on the cheer squad. Someone intuitive and perceptive to read between the lines and call some on their shit, like Ramsey had summarily just done with her and her insistence that she was alone. Someone to carry the conversation and save her from silence even if she didn't want to speak herself, like Kelly was known for.

Maybe everything wasn't real for her, maybe she wasn't ready to believe, maybe she was just as bad and as naive as Nathan and maybe she needed someone to hold a piece of glass to her throat too.

But a shaking footstep moved closer to the door and a shaking hand wrapped around the knob and a voice that tried to mask shake spoke:

“I'm opening the door. Back up a little.”

And maybe she trusted them, because as she shone her flashlight on them and saw they were just as dirty and sweaty and tired and scared as she was, she wanted them there. She wanted Kelly and her chicken, Ramsey and his cereal, Mercy and her rat poison. She wanted to tell them that she'd lied about the gun and Nathan and about how he'd already lost his bag and eaten most of her food and about the gunshots she'd heard earlier in the day. And she wanted to tell them that she was scared and she didn't know what to do, but she knew she was Madison Springer. And she knew what people thought about her and she knew what they expected from her and she knew how she was supposed to act, because anything else was disingenuous to their perception of her.

So instead, she lowered her flashlight and her gaze from them to the earth below and stepped to the side.

“You guys can stay in the living room. It's past the kitchen and straight through the foyer. There's only two couches, though, so one of you will have to sleep on the floor,”

She took a hesitant breath, waiting for them to enter before her.

“Just don't come upstairs. Nathan's here, too, and I don't want him scared and up all night.”

[Jilly]

Damn, a rubber chicken? Now Ramsey really did feel truly blessed to receive this bounty of marshmallows.

Well, maybe not "blessed". You know what he meant.

Eventually the characteristic click of an unlocking tumbler tumbled from the door. And then it opened to reveal one Madison Springer with a death grip on some sort of metal rod.

Or rather that was what he could make out, because for the second time in several minutes he had a light shine directly at his eyes like he was witnessing an alien abduction.

Instead of shooing her away he just blinked a few times as the flashlight passed, clasped his hands together, and said, "Thank you."

He gripped the poly bag of marshmallows and made his way past Madison, past the broken plates and smashed pots and pans of the kitchen, and collapsed on what looked to be the rug in the middle of the living room.

If Nathan were truly here, and of all people to say were here it'd be a weird thing to lie about, Ramsey was totally fine with avoiding him. He wasn't in the mood to be Santa Claus, at least not for now.

((Ramsey Cortez continued in Unicorn on the Gallows))

[Somersault]

Arsenic. Arsenic. Arsenic.

As soon as Mercy said the word, said that word, Kelly's ears perked up at the thought, though she tried her best to suppress it. It wasn't as if her ears literally perked up, after all, she wasn't an animal.

Just had to think a bit like one out here.

Survival was key, smart survival even more so, and that meant that sometimes she'd just have to close her eyes and hope they would understand. And they'd have to because she was nice, she was great, she was trying her best, she was going to Cornell, she was, she was- She was Kelly. And Kelly was going to be a-okay.

This all stayed deep in her mind as she followed Ramsey into the house, thankful that Madison had dropped the venom for something slightly less stinging.

She smiled, nodded, said her thanks like had been ingrained in her since birth, but she wasn't really thinking about the words Madison herself was speaking. Nathan being here was odd, but she wasn't about to question that. Wouldn't be polite. More than that, though, that would just cause more ripples, and now didn't seem like the moment to cause waves.

"If it's okay," she stated as they continued further into the house, using a bit more urgency than she had in her thanks. "Could I take first watch? Just don't really think I'll be able to get a good night's sleep right about now."

Soft, slow, sweet. Baby steps. Just like the ones she used as she went around the kitchenware debris, careful not to injure herself. Once they got inside the living room, and saw Ramsey collapse on the rug, she daintily sat down on a sofa, dusting herself off. Maybe Kelly wasn't exactly a houseguest, but etiquette was still etiquette for good reason.

There were miles to go before she slept, but the first step Kelly took was to begin scouring the room with her eyes. It had to be around somewhere, somewhere innocuous, and yes, there it was. Nestled in a ceiling corner, small but so very, very present.

A camera. Watching, waiting to see what she did, waiting to see her tumble into madness, to see her become yet another nameless victim. Silently, she locked eyes with it for a few seconds, before closing her eyes and breathing in deeply.

The world would witness, and Kelly would prove them wrong.

She needed to.

((Kelly Nguyen, continued elsewhere))

[backslash]

That was, uh. Easier than Mercy had expected it to be, actually. She'd been kind of psyching herself up for another trek back to the other houses, weird noises or no, but the door swung open, and while Madison might have been aiming right for the eyes with her flashlight, there was no gunfire.

"Oh, uh... thanks! Thank you, really. Gosh." She hadn't prepared anything clever to say, so she just followed on Ramsey and Kelly's heels and hoped that she didn't sound fake. It would have been hard not to be genuinely relieved and thankful that they were being given shelter, but convincing someone like Madison of her genuineness was another thing.

It seemed like they were all too tired to argue, though, or maybe just glad for the company. Mercy wasn't in the mood to question anything she saw or heard right now. Maybe that was foolish. Maybe she would regret it in the morning. That was a problem for later.

She picked her way through the disarray of the house and gratefully collapsed onto one of the couches. Honestly, she and Kelly probably could have shared so that Ramsey didn't have to sleep on the floor, but he was already down there and seemed comfortable enough, so she didn't bring it up.

They'd all made it one day, at least. That was a good enough reason not to rock the boat, right?

Mercy slipped her sweatshirt off and bundled it underneath her head like a blanket, and after a moment's thought, kicked her shoes off too and left them in a heap with her bag on the floor. Kelly wanted to stay up, and Mercy mumbled something akin to assent. They were probably all safe enough in here that it wasn't needed, but maybe Kelly just didn't feel like she could sleep.

Mercy herself didn't fall asleep as quickly as she would have liked, but she mentally repeated reassurances and platitudes to herself until she felt comfortable and secure enough to let exhaustion take her.

((Mercy Ames continued in Unicorn on the Gallows))

[Mimi]

Madison trailed behind the trio as they made their way through the manor, offering nothing in the way of guidance or direction before eventually breaking off from them at the foot of the staircase leading back to the second floor. For a moment she watched them gather their bearings in the plush living room, looking all too dirtied and out of place even among the old, weathered furniture. Part of her felt like she was supposed to say something; ask what they'd been through throughout the day or even simply say goodnight, as if she were the hostess that had to welcome them and make them feel comfortable if her home, but the words weren't coming. Instead, she let the uncomfortable silence linger and resigned herself back to her wing of the manor.

At the end of the day, they were little more than unwanted guests and as she climbed the cracked marbled staircase she couldn't shake the uncertainty brewing in her. It was clear they weren't threats. For now. And she believed that. For now. But they weren't her friends. And no matter what weird pressure she was putting on them to fill that void or round out her island life, they weren't her friends and she had to hold on to that very close.

They were co-existing and that was it.

And, above all else, she knew where she stood. They didn't owe her anything and, if push came to shove, they likely wouldn't bat an eye if she were to die.

But as long as she kept that in the back of her mind, she could feel the same.

“Nathan?” her voice was barely a whisper, tired and hoarse as she pushed open the doors to the master bedroom. The door to the balcony still hung ajar, allowing a chill breeze to filter in. Shutting and locking the door behind her, she moved toward the bed and bent down to her knees, letting the fire-poker drop to the carpet.

“It's me,” She called out once more, part of her aching to lift the dust ruffle and 'boo' at him, but the logical, exhausted part winning over and settling on giving him time to come out on his own.

[MK Kilmarnock]

"What's the password?" came the quiet voice from under the bed, followed by a short giggle.

Nathan knew right away that it was Madison. He could just tell. Madison did not yell or scream at the strangers who came into the house downstairs, so they must have gone away or were friendly. That was a relief, and he felt much less scared than before. But then, a throbbing pain made him wince. That was right, he hit his head on the underside of the bed! Nathan was so focused on staying quiet and hidden, and listening for Madison, that he had almost forgotten. "Ow..." he said without waiting for Madison to say 'I'm Pickle Rick,' the password that he had just come up while waiting for her to return. There was some thumping and sliding before Nathan crawled out from under the bed, carefully and slowly.

"I hit... my head..." he explained, craning his neck up and squinting through the darkness at Madison while his hips were still underneath the edge of the bed. "It... still hurts!" He turned himself sideways and tried to roll out. When that did not work, because his hips turned on their sides could not pass underneath the low edge of the frame, he flattened back out and shimmied sideways, then pulled at the bed while pushing off the floor in order to stand up. "Um, who's, um... who was, who... who came here?"

[Mimi]

Madison's password came in the form of an eyeroll as she rose to her feet once more, leaving Nathan alone to his devices as he struggled to remove himself from under the bed. He was far calmer than she'd expected him to be, half expecting to find him a wailing, inconsolable mess and had made peace with the fact that she'd likely spend the majority of the night consoling him and calming him down enough to sleep again. But leave it to Nathan to shake it up on her. Kid could barely tie his own shoes, but he somehow had the mental fortitude of an ox; taking the hit and letting it hit you for five seconds, but moving on like nothing was wrong.

“Just rub it, you're fine,” She said dully in response to his bump, not wanting to linger on her thoughts much longer as she moved toward the opened balcony door, peering outside into the dead night for a moment before shutting and locking it as well.

“It's Mercy, Ramsey, and Kelly,” She said simply, drawing the sheer curtains as if it'd do any good, before kicking some cars into a pile at the side of the room and continuing, “Mercy's the uh, short girl on the cheer squad. The one with short hair, not pink hair. Kelly's the girl yearbook girl, she probably did something with you for it when you got elected and you probably don't know Ramsey. They're gonna stay the night, but they're probably not gonna stick around so don't be bummed if we don't see them in the morning.”

Crossing the room once more, she placed her hand on Nathan's shoulder and wordlessly guided him toward the large bed, pulling the sheets down to make space for him before helping him into it.

“It's bed time now, though,” For a moment, she looked down at him, seemingly waiting for her to finish tucking him in and she'd have acquiesced if she didn't see too many shades of Cassidy in him. So she left him to do it on his own, moving to the other side of the bed, her back to him as she sat on the edge and removed her boots and pulled her loosened hair back into a tight ponytail.

Without looking back at him, she removed Connor's jacket and bundled it beneath her head, his cologne still persisting through the sweat and grime of the day, and got under the covers as well. She could hear him breathing softly next to her, softer and more calm than he had any right to be, and after a few minutes, once her eyes grew heavy and sleep threatened her, she spoke one last time.

“What was the password?”

[MK Kilmarnock]

"Uhm..."

Nathan shuffled in the blankets for a little bit.

"Dun remember." About a minute later, Nathan's breathing grew deeper, until he started to snore.

((Nathan Coleman and Madison Springer continued in the next one))