Accidental Acrophobia

[D/N]

Ricky was nothing if not glad to see James and then Jason go over to where Winnie was floppin' around on the ground. Saved him the trouble of doing so. Jesus Mercy, Ricky didn't have anything against the girl or anything, but this was getting ridiculous. Jason had at least given them an idea of where the hell they were on the island, so that was a start.

Ricky moved over to Thea when she motioned him, the gears tumbling around in his head. Just how the hell could they get anywhere else if Winnie was gonna be sitting around, holding them back?

Thea mentioned that anywhere was probably as good as any, and he tended to agree.

"Yeah, I mean, as long as we can get a direction that leads us outta here I'm fine for wherever we want to go."

Then, looking quickly at the group clustered around Winnie, Ricky dropped his voice.

"Uh, look Thea I dunno about you but I don't think those two girls are gonna be much help to us here." He nodded towards Raine and Winnie. "I'm thinking we should get James, maybe that Jason kid I know he's pretty smart, and cut loose, find some people we actually know."

[Ciel†]

"Winnie was in that tree," James explained to Jason. He pointed to the tree above. "I'm thinking that the sword cut her up. I'm not sure, I can't see."

One would think that James could just step over a few feet and get a good look at her cut, but he was telling the honest truth. Even if James stepped around Winnie had covered herself in such a way that no one could see anything. It was frustrating and James tried his best not to let it show.

James wasn't the kind of person who would just leave a girl bleeding to death to die. At least that was what he expected. It wasn't everyday that he saw a girl trapped in a tree. On the other hand, it wasn't everyday that... yeah. James shook his head. He had said "It wasn't everyday that he was trapped on an island" like five times mentally. Time to give it a rest.

He was on the verge of giving up. Winnie clearly did not want help and James wasn't the kind of guy who would push and push until he got his way. James persisted though, if only to help Winnie.

"Winnie. You don't want to die, don't you? I promise we won't laugh. This could have happened to anyone."

Winnie was determined, James... not so much. He turned his head as Jason walked over. James never pictured Raine as drinking any sort of alcohol. Guess when your life was on the line, you showed your true colors. James turned his head and noticed Ricky and Thea... all the way across from the rest of the group. Why the heck were they over there? Shouldn't they be with them? Oh, James noticed the map. Were they planning?

James looked at Ricky. Then over at Thea. "What are you guys... doing over there?"

[ifnotwinter†]

Despite Raine's soothing tone of voice and attempt at kind words, Winnie's mind had been quite firmly made up the moment she had plunged out of the tree. She had suffered embarrassment enough already, and quite frankly, she didn't care if she was getting dirt in the wound or not. She was going to die anyway - no not thinking of that now not thinking of that now - so it didn't matter. And she would not expose herself in any way. She changed position slightly, making doubly sure that her front was pressed into the ground, and discreetly crept a hand backwards to try and tug at the hem of her skirt.

But then, o heaven of heavens, her luck suddenly changed because Thea Kairos, one of the girls Winnie had long watched and admired from afar, alternately feeling desperate for that life and feeling glad she had her own because that life would lead to sin, to bad decisions, and she knew well where that led. And Thea had barely looked at her, seemed untouchable, seemed like she'd never notice girls of Winnie's stature and status...and yet here she was, offering up a shirt. One of her own.

She took it carefully, still guarding her body from view, and managed to squirm into the shirt, covering the ruined bodice of the dress. It took some doing, and each time the abused skin stretched over her ribs she squeaked softly, hating the pain and what it meant...but eventually she was decent again, covered fully. Wrapping around herself, she turned for the first time since falling from the tree, and faced the group. Covered in dirt and twigs, blood and leaves, she wasn't exactly looking her best, especially with the blotchy combination of pallor and blush that her face had adopted when she noticed just how many boys were here now.

Her eyes closed for just a moment, the pallor disappearing as the blush rose anew. Struggling to stand up, she tried to keep her eyes on the ground, arms wrapped around her middle. Wanting to apologize, but completely tongue-tied.

[chibinanashi†]

Raine stood up at the same as Winnie, making sure the hurt girl didn't fall over. "Please, Winnie...Take it easy." Her eyes softened as she attempted to keep her voice warm and sure of herself. How long Winnie would last without taking a look at her wound, she didn't know. If Winnie wanted to die that way, Raine knew she herself would be sad. She would regret not being able to force herself to help Winnie.

She then turned to the rest of the group. Her eyes turned to James, the only one who had tried to help Winnie after she had landed. This gave James points in her book. The others seemed to be standing off to the side....something that for some reason bothered Raine.

"What do we do now?" Raine spoke softly, unsure of what to do herself but to take a small sip of water.

[Arscapi†]

((Sorry to skip you Decoy I don't want Thea to go inactive.))

"Uh, look Thea I dunno about you but I don't think those two girls are gonna be much help to us here." He nodded towards Raine and Winnie. "I'm thinking we should get James, maybe that Jason kid I know he's pretty smart, and cut loose, find some people we actually know."

Thea glanced over her shoulder to where James was still fawning over Winnie as she regained her feet, getting blood all over HER shirt and rolled her eyes. "To be honest, I'm ready to go right now; I just need to grab my bag."

James looked at Ricky, then over at Thea. "What are you guys... doing over there?"

Looking at a map. Thea thought sarcastically. However she made no outside notice that she'd heard James. Instead she turned her attention fully on Ricky. She leaned towards him and touched his arm then pointed something on the map. She let her arm fall, trailing down his before she brought it back to her side.

"Wait, I take that any place thing back," Thea said looking at the map closer. "I definitely don't want to visit the swamp. I'm already down a shirt; I don't want to lose any more clothes." She blushed prettily and offered him a wry smile, as if just realizing what she'd implied.

She lowered her voice and leaned towards him. "If we pick a location, I can probably manage to get Jason's attention without raising the girl's suspicions. Although how we're gonna be able to stop them from following us I don't know," she finished but didn't move back.

[decoy73]

((OOC: Sorry about the delay!))

Both Thea and James were helpful in revealing to Jason what had happened: apparently, Winnie had been stuck in a tree, and had cut herself on a sword when she fell out. He looked at the redhead. She was balled up, either scared as hell, or trying to cover up the wound (in fact, it was both). He was about to hand over his beer when Thea asked the most uncomfortable question to date.

"Umm, Jason what exactly happened where you came from? I'm assuming something more serious than getting cut by an oversized sword and falling out of a tree."

Jason winced. Fantastic. He looked over at Thea as she handed a shirt over to Winnie before moving to talk to Ricky.

"One moment, please," he said to Raine. He didn't want to be rude, but either Winnie was acting or she was incredibly fragile, in either case, the incident over at the Eastern Beach was not something Jason wished to reveal to her. He took a sip out of the beer he was holding as he moved to Thea.

"Thea, about what happened there, someone got shot. I wasn't there myself, but it was pretty bad when I got there. Blood everywhere. Everything got tense and we all just split up. Then I was walking and I met you guys," Jason spoke in a low tone of voice so that only Thea, maybe Ricky, could hear. "I'd be slightly more public with this information, but Winnie seems to be a bit ... fragile right now, so I'm keeping her out of the loop on this one." (What Jason didn't realize was that he wasn't the only one doing so, as both Thea and Ricky were at the very least considering leaving Winnie and Raine and continuing with only Jason and James). He gulped. The debacle on the beach was a slightly uncomfortable subject.

"So what did you guys get?" Jason asked, allowing this statement to carry slightly more. "I'm in a bit of a bind myself. The only thing I have of worth is the beer. The weapon they gave me is the paper fan under my bag." He rubbed the stubble forming on the underside of his chin with the back of his left hand. Wait. Should I have said that?

[KingKamor†]

(Ridley Landon continued from Run From Your Troubles)

The trek from the coastline was nothing if not long and tedious. He often found himself having to climb over rocks, help Rena climb over said rocks, and weave between trees trying not to draw attention to themselves. Rena's questioning earlier of who he wanted to find rung through his head ever since he listed off those he wanted to keep alive. Sarah was his bro, as was Will, and Peter was one of his best friends. Finding any of them would have improved his attitude drastically, but at the front of his mind was seeking out Raine.

As he thought about it, his thoughts began to take a turn for the philosophical. Why did men always seem to seek out women? He was still a virgin so he may not have understood the sex aspect of a relationship, but, then again, he and Raine had not exactly been very physical. Was she meant to be a partner to him? Or was she just supposed to be there for his mental security, so that he could tell other people, "Yes, I have a girlfriend," and be done with it? However, even he didn't know why he was thinking of such things. Perhaps he was doing it just to pass the time.

"The weapon they gave me is the paper fan under my bag."

The voice rang loud and clear as he ducked behind the largest tree trunk he could find. With his gun suddenly drawn and the safety turned off, he motioned over to Rena to follow him over to the tree he hid behind. He was able to hear several voices. As he waited for Rena to arrive at his position, he listened in on what they were saying. Since he didn't know the situation they were in at all-- aside from being on an island and all that-- he could only tell how many of his peers were present. By what he could tell, there were at least four or five guys on the other side of the thick tree he hid behind.

Then, there was another voice-- a girl's voice. "Wait..." Ridley said to himself, almost a whisper. "I know that voice!"

He peeked out from behind the tree to take a better look at the area, hoping to the God he didn't believe in that he was right.

[Casey the Undead†]

(Rena Peters continued from Run From Your Troubles)

Rena supposed that there was little to complain about when it came to the hike. It was long and oddly quiet, but she wasn't a very good conversationalist to begin with, and pleasant conversation wasn't exactly the first thing on her mind, now that she was fighting for her life. She clamored over rocks, leaning gently against her slightly injured leg. She refused to look at the red stain growing on the bandage. This was not the time or place for another freakout.

She didn't hear the voices when Ridley heard them. She was rather distracted by the fact that they had been hiking non-stop for hours, and she hadn't exactly eaten in the past two days. Ridley seemed determined, and she couldn't blame him. But she had no idea where they were, or what time of day it was, and she was suddenly feeling rather nervous. It was like letting go of the things that structure your lifestyle; you lose your timing. There weren't any proper meal times or sleeping hours. You slept when you could and ate when you needed too, never letting your guard down. It was disturbing to Rena. Uncivilized, and inhuman somehow.

What was more disturbing was when she heard the click of Ridley's safety going off. He was ducking behind some tree, and she followed him instinctively. She now heard the voices he must have heard earlier, and felt like kicking herself for missing them. She hadn't been paying attention. Stay smart, stay alert. Focus!

She couldn't see Ridley's face, or the people who were talking, and her stomach was cartwheeling. She'd trusted this boy, and now she felt hopelessly blind.

"I know that voice!"

The words were so quiet that Rena wasn't sure whether or not he'd actually said them. She was only sure of one thing: she was sick of not knowing what the hell was going on.

"Ridley." She was whispering too, as she had no indication of whether or not these voices were friendly. "Ridley, what's going on? Who are these people? Tell me what's happening, dammit!"

Rena didn't swear often, but the stress of this horrific game was getting to her. She was tired, she was sweaty, and she was very sick of running around aimlessly. Whatever was happening, she was going to have a say in it. It was her life on the line, and she was going to protect it.

No matter what? A small voice in her head asked. She swallowed.

It wasn't a question she had the answer to.

[chibinanashi†]

(OOC: I don't want Raine to go inactive so I apologize ahead of time for posting out of turn.)

Raine didn't know what else to do. She seemed quite agitated that Winnie was declining help and everyone acted like there was some big secret she couldn't know. When Jason asked everyone what they got, she stood up and gave the boy a glare. "Wh...Who cares what we all got? We're all...we're all gonna die anyways in the end, whether here on this game show or elsewhere...What we all got..." She repeated, looking off to the side.

"...is a death sentence. That's what we all got." She murmmured, mournfully. Her hands fell to her sides and she was clenching them, trying not to reveal her weakness and spill tears. Raine couldn't help Winnie. Hell, she couldn't even help herself.

[SOTF_Help]

Just a note, since this seems to be a source of confusion: inactivity is two weeks after your last post, with one extra week of leeway beyond that for your first warning. Even after you've been warned, you still have two weeks from each post before going inactive.

[D/N]

(No worries chibi, sorry to take a couple days longer than I wanted to here. Also, we should get this wrapped up, being Day 1 and all)

"Alrighty," Ricky muttered to Thea. "So I uh, guess if you don't want to go to the swamp, maybe we go this way-" he traced a line on
the map going southeast "-and we come out in this area here where the mine and shit is, and, uh..."

His voiced trailed off as he noticed Thea... kinda stroking him. What the hell?

"Uh... but yeah I dunno how we're gonna keep them from following us and..."

Oh, thank Christ, Jason Clarke was coming over and that would at least give him to figure out what the hell kind of signal Thea was sending out to him there. Not to mention that James was shouting something over to them.

"Dude, we're just tryin' to figure out where to go!" he called back. Winnie was standing up and it was about damn time, but Ricky still wasn't sure about bringing her along. How the hell were they supposed to ditch the others if they wanted to do that? Just start walking and hope to lose them along the way?

Think, Ricky, THINK. Use what fucking brain you got.

Jason was asking what weapon he'd gotten. Had ANY of them gotten a damn thing here outside of James? Oh, and Winnie's giant hook whateverthefuckitwas, yeah that'd be REAL fuckin' helpful.

"Nah, I got shit-all, man." He shrugged at the younger kid. "One of those tiny shovel things like you use in the garden." Ricky took a couple steps away from the group, just trying to stretch his legs. "Uh, any way you can lead us outta here if we need you to, then?"

Maybe a distraction or something? Yeah, what are you gonna do there, yell out "HOLY SHIT IT'S A FUCKING KID WITH A GUN!" and just take off?

Ricky shook his head, taking a couple steps further, towards a nearby tree. "Cause even if we know where we wanna go we-"

And, not paying attention, he took a step and nearly ran straight into some kid he didn't even recognize.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Ricky didn't even think, before his fist shot out at the other guy's face. Then he was turning around and racing towards Thea.

Hey, looks like you might have got your distraction there, Ricky boy. Remind Thea to thank you later.

"There's some fuckin' psycho there, I say we get the fuck outta here NOW!"

(Ricky Fortino continued in Watch Your Step)

[Ciel†]

((Tiny GM used here, all parties informed beforehand.))

Thea didn't answer James, which was rude. James knew she heard him. He pouted just as Thea gave Ricky's arm a little rub. James went cold. What was that? Was she hitting on him? No, no way. Maybe he just had a bug on his shoulder and Thea wanted to get it off. Yeah. That had to be it. James was just being irrational. He shook his head. C'mon James, just let it go. They're just talking, planning. Doing the kind of things James should be doing.

James turned his head back and saw Raine crying over Winnie. Winnie had a shirt on now. It was a relief, but James was filled with guilt all the same. Raine was shutting down. James wished he could say something to help but his mouth hung open as he struggled on what to say.

"Raine, I-"

James held his breath. Ricky screamed, and James turned to look. Ricky was running away. He couldn't much of what the boy was saying, but James thought he heard the word "psycho". Psycho. Killer. A little tune rung through his mind as his heart ached. He did the only thing he thought he could do.

James pulled his pistol out.

It felt lighter for some reason. James shifted the weight from his fingers to his palm. The tip of his index finger curled around the trigger.

"Alright," James sighed, "Psycho in the bushes. No gun, or else he would have shot Ricky dead. Stay and fight or run..."

James rapped his fingers along the top of his pistol, thinking. What was he going to do? Just run for it? Fight the psycho? James didn't want to do either. He didn't want to be the one to choose.

He knew at least one thing he was CERTAINLY not going to do.

They couldn't just leave Winnie. James knew that it would be hard tugging a wounded girl along. He didn't owe Winnie anything. It would waste time saving her. However, leaving her here where someone could just come up and strangle her... well, that just wasn't an option and it would never be an option. Not after this fiasco. So James was trapped, looking back and forth, between Winnie and Thea. His girlfriend or a random girl that he only met a few times. Somehow Winnie won out.

So there was his plan - he had to get everyone out.

"Raine," James said. "Now's not the time to cry. You can cry later."

James turned to Thea. This time he made sure to scream. "Thea! Take Raine and Jason. Get out of here, I'll catch up!"

Why did James feel so calm? Ricky said something about there being a psycho and yet James wasn't freaking out. He was screaming, but his heart wasn't pounding. Perhaps it was the gun. Yes, it had to be that. Having the gun out now was giving him strength. He felt like he was standing up straight now. Yes, maybe he could lead these guys. Him and Thea. James looked back at Thea for a second before turning his attention back to Winnie. Even though Thea's shirt covered all of the unmentionables James was unaware of, it certainly was no bandage. James had the sinking feeling that she was still bleeding like a fountain. Shit, that wasn't good. He bit his lip and he quickly grabbed ahold of her hand.

"Come on," he said, helping her up to her feet. "We can't stay here. That shirt is going to have to do for now, we can fix you later. Just follow the rest, okay?" He smiled reassuringly. "I'll be right behind you."

The smile disappeared and James turned. He pointed the gun to where he thought this psycho was. For all he knew he was pointing in the completely wrong direction, but that was a risk he was going to have to take. James was going to wait until everyone else was out of the area before he left. He was the one with the pistol. That meant he was going to have to look out for the rest of the group. The Impromptu Group. He was the soldier. Ironic, seeing how he never intended on being a soldier. A scholar, a physicist. He was good with numbers, not guns.

[KingKamor†]

The fact that Rena, the girl he thought to have been kind and docile, actually cursed and showed anger sent his mind into chaos. Was she acting the whole time, or had the game just gotten to her? Either one of those was possible, but he decided to simply tell her and remain on her good side at least.

"One of the people over there sounds like my girlfriend," he said. "Let's take this slow, okay? We'll just walk in there with our hands over our head and--" He let out a grunt and a brief yell as someone appeared at his side and almost crashed into him. "Whoa!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Ridley was scarcely able to react as the other person's fist hurled towards his face. Using his arm, he was barely able to block it and duck his head out of the way, though his balance was jostled and his glasses became crooked from the impact on his arm. Before he was even able to comprehend what had just happened, the other guy took off in the other direction.

"There's some fuckin' psycho there, I say we get the fuck outta here NOW!"

Ridley's eye widened. "Oh, you little prick!" His anger had begun to grow as he righted himself and fixed his glasses and reached for his gun. Wait, why am I trying to draw this? He thought to himself. He had become far too used to being in the presence of that gun. "Wait, just calm down and explain it to them." He took a deep breath and shouted past the tree, "I'm not a psycho! We were just being careful! Please don't attack us! We're just looking for someone!"

Despite his words, he had grown doubtful about whether or not he had heard Raine's voice at all. Was that just wishful thinking? God damn would that suck. But first I need to get out of this situation. This could get real bad real quick. That retarded ass hole throwing punches and accusations needs to calm the fuck down.

"My name's Ridley! Some of you have to had seen me around school, right? I'm not going to hurt anyone! And neither is Rena!" He glanced at her to see how she was doing, hoping that she had managed to stay calm through all of it.

[Arscapi†]

((Thea's actions go before Ridley's as I was waiting for faceinabook and decoy to post. I'm skipping post order now only so that Thea doesn't go inactive.))

Thea raised an eyebrow as Jason joined her and Ricky. A little late there, she thought. She nodded as he'd explained what happened on the beach and made a face. It must have been horrible, but see he actually had a reason to be upset, unlike little Miss Drama Queen over there who fell out of a tree. When he raised his voice to ask the others what weapons they received, Thea tossed him a dirty look. What part of quiet and subtle was confusing with our little conference?

Raine, of all people, was the first to answer, going on about how it was all hopeless and it didn't matter what they got. Thea wasn't convinced it was entirely hopeless, her family was wealthy; she was hoping that somehow they'd be able to find her. Besides Raine's ramblings gave Thea an excuse not to discuss her weapon.

Sighing, she turned her attention back to Ricky who was busy explaining their planned route. She watched him address the rest of the group as he took a few steps across the clearing.

"WHAT THE FUCK," came Ricky's shout and then a blur of motion, and suddenly he was racing back across the clearing towards her.

"There's some fuckin' psycho there, I say we get the fuck outta here NOW!"

Thea didn't know exactly what he'd seen, but she knew an opportunity when she saw one. Scooping up her bag, she took off after Ricky.

((Thea Kairos continued in Watch Your Step))

[decoy73]

((Post order broken with permission from CaseyNuge. GMing of Raine Schwarz done with permission from chibinanashi))

The question that Jason asked had gone over better than expected. Raine was a little upset at the question, and Jason noticed Thea glaring at him, but Ricky revealed that he had received a small shovel, thus continuing Jason's status of having the worst weapon in the game (and in fact, in terms of the group, it was definitely true: Winnie had the sword now on the ground, Raine had a speargun, and James and Thea both received pistols). Ricky walked around a little, asking if Jason could act as a guide. Jason doubted it: he had only been able to reckon his location and movement from common sense using the compass. He hadn't been anywhere else except for the Eastern Beach, and knowing of two places out of an entire island did not make him a good navigator.

"I could try, although I've only got a guess of where we are now ..." Jason sipped his beer. No use letting it go to waste ...

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Jason looked up. Ricky was running away from somebody ... Ridley Landon. Jason didn't know of him personally, but Ridley didn't seem like a killer.

"There's some fuckin' psycho there, I say we get the fuck outta here NOW!" Everything went from the proverbial zero to sixty in two seconds. James had pulled out a pistol, and was also shouting out directions:

"Thea! Take Raine and Jason. Get out of here, I'll catch up!" Jason looked to see Thea and Ricky already running off.

Crap.

Now it was down to four people and a possibly unhinged psycho. However, his Survivor sense was thinking something very different from that of Ricky, James, and Thea. It had to do with a young woman named Amanda Kimmel. She was a contestant on the most recent version of Survivor, part of a dominant alliance in a tight situation: the only remaining person outside the alliance had won immunity. It seemed like Amanda was next, because although she had received the clues to the hidden Immunity Idol, she had been unable to find it. It wasn't until the votes had been cast when Amanda revealed that she did, in fact, find the idol and used it to save herself, shocking the other players (with the exception of a collaborator), Jeff Probst, the jury, and the entire viewing audience, Jason and his father included. The point was that just like Amanda had seemed to be the next one to go, Ridley only seemed to be a psycho.

What if Ridley's not a psycho? What if he's perfectly rational, and we are the ones lashing out? (What if he is, and he's hiding it?) That was the problem with SOTF and Survivor: nothing was truly what it seemed to be, and nobody could accurately gauge the abilities and intentions of the other contestants. It made Jason nervous: how was he to know the best course of action? He wasn't telepathic or anything. He had to make a choice: stay, and try to keep the peace against a possibly dangerous foe, or clear out, potentially missing out on a new ally ...

Jason ran to his bags, stuffing his map, collecting the map, compass, into the regulation bag and slinging both bags around his shoulders. Then he promptly collected the sword which was lying a few feet away with his right hand. Throwing his beer at Ridley (both to dissuade him from following and to free up his left hand), he grabbed Raine by the wrist, throwing a glance at James, who was attempting to help Winnie.

"James, we should get out of here." Jason pulled Raine along with him. "Come on, Raine, we're leaving!"

Yep. Jason had chosen to run for it - he had gauged the risk of being attacked by Ridley to outweigh the opportunity of making a new ally (a judgment which was actually quite inaccurate: Ridley Landon was about as threatening as a microwave oven, and was in fact Raine's boyfriend), and made a break for it, carrying Raine along for the ride, failing to note Raine's cry of protest as she noticed their alleged attacker. At that point, it didn't matter to Jason. He just went with the people he knew over the potential risk.

((Jason Clarke continued in Watch Your Step))