May The Odds Not Fuck You In The Butt

[ViolentMedic]

Mallory reached Brian and cheerfully punched him in the shoulder lightly as a greeting.

"Ditto, man. You're fine, then? No assholes here?" Mallory didn't know Zubin very well. Her main memory of him was him doing his 'vote for me' speech at the school president thing, and she'd spent her time half-asleep because all the speeches had been so boring. Not really a great platform to judge potential psychoticness on. But if Brian was okay with him then she was as well.

Nina appeared from further away in the wheat field then, declaring non-dickish intent. Mallory waved at her.

"Heya! Yeah, it's me! Also, no violent intent or any of that bullshit. Just going to the, uh... where was it... clubhouse. Looking for a tennis court."

Brian had been on the verge of suggesting they go back inside. He probably meant for the night. Mallory wasn't sure about it. On one hand... she really was happy to see Brian, and maybe dibsing shelter would be a good idea. On the other hand, time was ticking out no matter what any of them did. Mallory might only have a few days left. Or just one day. Hell, she might only have five minutes. She didn't want to waste any of it holing up. She needed to do things, and the farmhouse Brian was indicating at didn't seem like it had what she was looking for.

"I, uh... I kind of needed to... do some things, I dunno." Mallory didn't want to leave so many people, but she didn't want to stay in one place when she could be moving, either. The clash of both urges caused her to hesitate and mumble, a rare occurance.

She turned to Stephanie. "There's no tennis court here. Probably not enough blankets, either. ...What do you think? Keep going? Stay here?"

[randomness]

Nina turned up, making the it feel a little more crowded, despite the fact that they were in an open field. It had been okay when she only had to interact with one or two strangers but the addition of a third person made Stephanie feel slightly uncomfortable. Instead,she turned back to speak with  the one she was most comfortable with, Mallory.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to find a tennis court out in the middle of a wheat field. I don't mind staying, but town is probably going to be better. There's probably a better place to crash there anyway, maybe some hotel or apartment or something. And it's not too far away, maybe an hour's trek at the most."

"So," Stephanie turned back to face the other two, "What do you think?"  

[Espi]

Nina smiled, relieved that nobody held any ill will for her, and apparently not for anyone else. A blessing, albeit a small one, to encounter a peaceful group, especially considering the stuff Nina was going through today so far.

Daniel.

Hansel.

Alex.

The other boy.

The shooter on the cliffs.

Maddie.

Already terrible things were happening, violence and murder and hatred and death, but Nina wasn't able to do anything about it. She was too scared, to weak, too naïve, worthless. She clenched her teeth silently as the memory of Daniel's body, slumped on the ground came back, welling up from her darkest thoughts.

"So, we've got a plan?" Nina smiled, as natural as any. "I think if we check the map, we could figure out a good place to hole up. I do like the idea of an apartment or something, I could use some rest." She scratched at the back of her head, toying with her pinned-up hair. "Besides that, though, do you have any ideas in mind?"

Anything would be better than dwelling.

[decoy73]

((Zubin Wadia continued from Russian Roulette))

Zubin walked outside to where the group of now five was gathered. He recognized, well, none of them. Other than having talked to them maybe once or twice in class, he couldn't immediately name the women that were with Brian. There was Tall Girl, Stocky Girl, and, uh, Dark Girl. They didn't seem hostile, so that was a plus. How was he going to play this?

"Hey, guys. Uh, so I've got this," he showed the plank in his right hand, "and they've taken away anything I have of value, and the same probably applies for everyone here. But I was able to find some paper and pens in the house back there, so if anybody has a plan, we can at least write it down."

[Fiori]

Well, seemed liked everyone else wanted to head off. Fine by him, they probably had enough daylight left to find somewhere else to lay low for the night.

"Well, let's have a look..." Brian began, opening up his map and reminding himself of where they were. He had intended on heading to the town anyway after checking out the farmhouse, but the question remained as to where exactly in the town they should head for.

"From the look of things, all the living areas seem to be in the western side of the town, so that might be the best place to head. As for tennis courts, uh... Dunno, maybe the school has one?"

Whilst most people would have raised an eyebrow at Mallory and Stephanie's desire to find a tennis court, Brian couldn't help but smile when thinking about the idea. Nothing wrong with people wanting to relieve stress with a little harmless entertainment, especially in a situation as bad as this one. That's kind of how he'd been living his life since the day he was born.

"Heh, wouldn't mind keeping an eye out for a bowling alley whilst we're at it..." he chuckled as he put his map away, his head turning back to the house when the sound of footsteps caught his attention. "Hey Zubin, good to see you. I, uh, presume introductions won't be necessary. We all go to the same school, right?"

Of course, there were a handful of students whom Brian wasn't particularly well acquainted with. That said, for the most part he felt like he was familiar with the majority of his classmates.

"But yeah, we're just talking about where we're heading off next, seeing as we probably don't want to stick around until whoever fired that gun earlier shows up."

Oh crap, nearly forgot about that.

"Uh... Don't suppose that was one of you guys, was it?"

Maybe they shouldn't be standing out in the open like this.

[ViolentMedic]

Everyone was up for going somewhere else. That was good. Keeping on the move was good.

Mallory waved at the guy who'd just wandered out of the farmhouse. "Cool, guy. Might need to borrow the paper and shit later." She needed a list, so she didn't forget anything she wanted to do. Probably not the kind of plan he meant, but it was a plan.

Her mood dropped the moment Brian mentioned gunshots. Shit.

"Aaaargh, you mean there's gunshots here, too? We just ran away from gunshots!" Mallory waved her arms in the air, while going, "Everywhere I fucking go, gunshots, gunshots, gunshots! Okay, the first time there wasn't actually a shot, but there was a huge-ass gun pointed at my face. Uh, watch out for the cowboy guy for the way, guy is crazy and I think he may or may not have been following me because I've been hearing gunshots ever since and--yeah, let's go somewhere else," she said, talking extremely fast. Largely out of panic this time. She did not want to see guns again today. Or ever, but that was probably too much to hope for.

She and Stephanie might have to separate from Brian and the others to finish what they needed to do while they still had time. But for now, it'd be fine to stick with them.

She didn't want to be alone if a gunman showed up. Or at all. But especially if a gunman turned up.

"...We don't have guns, by the way. Screwdriver and shovel," she added, gesturing at herself and Stephanie.

[randomness]

It didn't seem like anyone had any objections to moving, and frankly, and if there were gunshots, she'd like to be far, far away from the jerk, or the idiot, who had the bright idea of pulling the trigger. No one who wanted to shoot someone was worth trusting anytime. Good thing everyone here seemed to be nice enough.

Stephanie acknowledged Zubin's entrance with a nod, but she was now ready to leave. It would be dark soon and being out in the middle of nowhere at night was a horrid idea, especially with so little to defend themselves with.

"Um, no one here was shooting anyone, Mallory's a little panicked over some cowboy and our weapons are all definitively crap. We might as well start moving off now, right? If anyone here is good with a map, please, feel free to lead the way." Stephanie began taking a few steps towards what she was rather sure was west before turning back towards the rest, "Wait. You guys are coming, right?"

[Espi]

"Oh, uh, I guess?"

Nina wasn't sure what she wanted to do, so this seemed about as good an idea as anything else, right? After all, maybe she might actually end up doing something that didn't involve running away like a cowardly bitch.

Nina moved over to stand with Stephanie. She didn't know her much, though she knew her name well enough. And she seemed trustworthy enough, so why not? Like it really mattered anymore.

"So, where do you want you go? Any place in particular, or does it not really matter?"

[decoy73]

Zubin listened to what everybody had to say - a screwdriver and a shovel had been added to the mix. So, things were okay. Also, Brian mentioned leaving the area, a sentiment that was shared by the other members of the group.

"No problem with that. If we look at a map, we could find a place to hide out, maybe get supplies." Zubin paused for a second. Some cowboy guy had pointed a gun at Stocky Girl and she'd been hearing shots, which meant that people were, at the least, starting to freak out. "But anyplace where we could hole up, even for a day or two, would be good. I'll just follow you guys, maybe we can add to the Useless Weapon Alliance or something."

[Fiori]

A screwdriver and a shovel? Well, at least those objects had actual practical uses to them. Brian's on the other hand...

"Uh..." he began, unsheathing one of the punji sticks he had in his pockets. "I've got some pointed sticks? Like, eight of them. Not exactly as practical as a screwdriver or a shovel, but I guess quantity over quality has to mean something right?"

He put the punji stick back, looking over the map again to see if there were any good places he hadn't noticed. Whilst he wasn't too keen about wandering around an unknown island without a particularly great idea as to where they were heading, at the same time he wasn't terribly fond of standing around out in the open like this. He wanted to be on the move, find the rest of his friends before anything bad could happen to them.

Come to think of it, the one thing they definitely agreed to was to head to the town, right? So why not make a start and decide en route before it got too dark?

"Hmm, how about we start making our way towards the town now, and decide on the way where exactly we make camp for the night? I'd be happy to lead the way myself, unless one of you guys would prefer to be the one with the map?"

[ViolentMedic]

Mallory liked that idea. Moving and figuring stuff out on the way was much more her speed, much more than standing here in the open having a nice chat while that cowboy could jump out at any moment and fill them all with bullet holes. None of them had anything that could prevent that, all this talking had told her that much.

"Whatever we're doing, let's do it right now, alright? I'm getting all jumpy." Mallory pointed in the rough direction of the town. "It's that sort of way, isn't it? Let's go, we'll figure shit out on the way."

Without further words, she started wading back through the wheat towards the vague direction of the town. She wasn't sure exactly where they were going in the town, but someone would figure it out on the way, probably. Then next day she could head over to the shopping centre, pick up some sheets, she and Stephanie could go back to the clubhouse and they'd play tennis and make an awesome blanket fort, and all would be good. For as long as it could stay good.

((Mallory McCormick continued in Good Day Sunshine.))

[randomness]

Brian's punji stick reminded her of the shovel that she was still holding. She wasn't exactly sure why she was still carrying it. She might be able to use it for self defense in a pinch. She swung it around once, slightly dissatisfied with the way it turned.

But despite the array of bad weapons—every other person on the island had gotten guns as far as she could tell—things weren't going bad at all. They were now in a group, and while Stephanie would have been perfectly happy with less, there was safety in numbers. Her plan had met no objections, and to be honest, that little satisfaction was enough to make her smile a little.

"Let's start moving. If we wait any longer, she'll be halfway to town before we catch up." Stephanie said jokingly. With that, she hefted her bag and started running after Mallory.

((Stephanie Wright continued in Good Day Sunshine))

[Espi]

Nina was, at this point, more than happy to get going. Whether she wanted to stick with the others, though...they didn't have as much of a plan as she would've liked. Nina wanted to have a strategy, and maybe take the lead, but these guys...they just didn't seem like the type to make a strong, solid plan.

Nina wanted to team up with someone, safety in numbers and maybe having someone to protect to make up for her errors, but...it was probably not these guys. The more she thought about it, the less she really wanted to follow. But it would be rude to abandon them, and it might risk her or their lives.

So she followed Stephanie, keeping her eyes on the other girl to keep up. She wasn't sure where they were going, but at the same time, it didn't really matter, right?

Not anymore, certainly.

((Nina Clarke's story continues in Good Day Sunshine))

[decoy73]

So the three girls started to leave, Tall Girl swinging her shovel around once slowly, as if testing it out or something. One thing that was definitely established as being an agreement was that they had to stick together, and probably inside of town was best. Stocky Girl was especially intent on getting out of there, given her altercation with the cowboy. No problem there. Other Girl just followed the two of them and left the area. Zubin just took a look at Brian who pocketed his stick and suggested that he lead the way.

"No problem with that. I just don't want to end up vulnerable when night hits. Let's go before we end up as two again."

Zubin then adjusted his fedora and followed the three women to shelter.

((Zubin Wadia continued in Good Morning Sunshine))

[Fiori]

That's settled it then, they were all going to head out and decide where to stay later.

"Sweet. Let me just put this map away..." said Brian as he began to fold his map up. He figured that since there was only one main road on the island, it'd be pretty easy to find the town without using the map. That said, it was at this point that Brian was reminded that a certain level of skill was required when it came to the art of folding maps, a skill that Brian happened to lack.

"Crap. Screw it, I'll sort this out later. Well, lets get go..." he began, only to then notice that the rest of his friends were already making their way down the road. "Woah, wait up guys!" he called out, quickly rushing through the wheat field in an attempt to catch up with his companions.

Before leaving the area, Brian stopped briefly to glance back at the house. A part if him wondered if they really should be heading to the town so soon instead of staying there for the night. Sure, it looked like the set to an Evil Dead movie, but otherwise it was actually kinda cozy. Sure, there probably weren't that many beds, but at least it was in the countryside instead of in the middle of what was probably the busiest part of the island.

Then again, wasn't that why he was going to the town in the first place? Because he was more likely to find Ruby and the others there instead of scouring the surrounding woodland areas? Sure, it also meant that there was a bigger chance that they would bump into players, but that was a risk he was willing to take if it meant making sure his friends didn't get hurt.

Well, better get going. Don't want to end up lagging behind everyone...

And so Brian left the homestead far behind them, praying that he and his friends weren't making a terrible mistake.

((Brian Zhdanovich continued in Good Day Sunshine))