Path of Pins

[Riki]

[Joachim Lovelace, continued from Rende- some French Word I Can't Spell]

Was he the first one to arrive at the bridge? Or were the other's hiding among the buildings just as he was? In other words, was it safe to come out? Joachim was not sure about that, so he waited for a few minutes at a corner near the bridge. In his hands, he held the gun, which felt still odd, but much more natural. The first time he used it, he was shocked by the overwhelming sensations provided by the weapon, but now the thought of firing it again was... well, less disturbing. In his mouth, he held his ballistic knife, the coppery taste perpetually reminding him of what he did and what he was ready to do again.

In hindsight, he should have given that knife to Jaq, not Adonis', but Joachim felt oddly fond of the ballistic knife. One could call it his signature weapon. Either way, he was confident in Jaq's ability to survive even despite being merely equipped with a meek blade.

What was more interesting to him at that moment was that nobody came forth to claim the box on the bridge. Either everybody was playing cold war or he was indeed the first person to enter the area. Time to gamble, perhaps?

Joachim bolted towards the bridge, his mind constantly focusing on and managing as many sensations, both internal and external, as it could. Heart beat, breathing, Carmina's and Adonis' mixed and dried blood, friction of the gun, the wind blowing against his head, drying the sweat, a distant bird communicating, sound of the fast-paced steps.

He was surprised for a moment when he actually reached his destination, the box containing the prize. Joachim placed both knife and gun next to it, then opened it to see both food - enough for all three winners - and a firearm.

The box was closed again, and then
he waited.

[MrMissMrs Random†]

(Rosemary Michaels continued from What Now?)

Rosemary's eyes narrowed as she spotted the figure on the bridge. She was laying down on the slope, hood up and trying to conceal herself in the overgrown grass. Someone had beaten her to the spot, but instead of taking the weapon and goods had stayed in wait. It had to be one of the two others who had won Best Kill, but what was the reason for staying? Were they looking for a fight?

The girl's nose wrinkled as she held back a sneeze. Even with the grass still damp from morning dew, her allergies were acting up. She should have taken some medicine before she moved over here.

For a moment her thoughts went back to Meera and Paulo back at the school. Please let me see them again, let them be there when I get back...

She exhaled, looking back at the bridge. The boy was still there. From this distance she could not tell if it was Maximilian or Joachim. Which one would be worse?

Rosemary slowly pushed herself up and made her way down the slope at an even pace. She did not want to look like easy prey to whoever laid in wait. She pulled her hood back to let her hair tumble down as she came forward.

[Riki]

Joachim remained in his position as the girl came closer.

"Hey Rosemary."

A small smile crept on his face, but after a brief moment he remembered that it might be inappropiate, given the position they're in. He knew who Rosemary was, dimly, even if only he recognized her face. However, he discarded anything he knew - thought to knew about her - as Joachim was aware that people have changed massively already. How they were back in high school was not a good indicator anymore. Well, except for Max, perhaps. It was not a nice thing to think, but Joachim was not surprised by Max's rampages. Speaking of him... he has not appeared yet, and Joachim hoped that he would take his time first, because Rosemary got all his attention now.

"Say, what exactly made you think that you could remove a collar with a simple knife? I mean, if that death was your intent all along and the collar removal just happened to be a ploy, then kudos to you."

[MrMissMrs Random†]

The figure turned out to be Joachim. Not Maximilian.

Rosemary felt a strange mix of relief and disappointment. She wanted to see Maximilian, let him know somehow that his actions lead to her own position now, how Paulo felt bout him killing Becca... but that would have to be another time. Joachim had killed two people already, and it was not a wise choice to let her guard down.

"Hello, Joachim." She replied, trying to keep her face neutral even in the face of his question.

"We were planning on first trying to remove the collars of the dead. It didn't work, so then... we tried again, and obviously that didn't work either." She looked at Joachim's hands. They were filthy, the nails grown too long and sharp, almost like a pair of claws.

She took a moment to look down at her own hands- they were also dirty, a few nails hanging and ragged with leftover debris underneath, and maybe even a bit of Joey's blood. she quickly looked back up directly to Joachim.

"What about you? They said that you only had to kill one person to be able to go home, but you killed two."

[Riki]

"Let me get this clear, first. You tried to remove the collar of a dead student, but it did not work. So you concluded that it will work on a living student?"

Joachim shaked his head as he said that. Her group must not be very smart in that case. Well, fine with him. She asked a question. Joachim closed his eyes for a brief second to think about what Jaq would answer here.

"It's not about getting home, at least not for now. It's about survival. You know the rules. One day without a kill, and we're all done for. And somebody has to ensure that one person dies each day."

He removed some of the dirt under his thumbnail with his mouth - more to help himself focus than clean himself - before he took a step towards the girl.

"...I'm pretty sure you understand me, even if you seem pretty naive."

[MrMissMrs Random†]

"I didn't want to, but Joey... Joey still had hope it would work. He wanted to try again." Rosemary looked down, her voice low, as if she was talking more to herself than Joachim. She did not want to explain herself to Joachim, but the words slipped out. "It was stupid of me to tdo it."

As Joachim approached her, Rosemary wanted to cringe away but held her spot firm. She couldn't look scared, he would probably be happy if she did. "What your saying is also rather naïve. Once people started to kill each other, it was never going to stop. Don't try to cover what we did as benefiting everyone when it was just for yourself."

Rosemary fiddled around with the water bottle in her hands, before stuffing it into her pocket as looking directly at Joachim's face. Save for the dirty appearance he had a normal façade, nothing truly monstrous about it, but she still did not like looking at his hands...

[Riki]

The tension within Joachim increased when Rosemary mentioned how he did it for himself. Perhaps there was some partial truth to that. ...okay, not perhaps. He was, without doubt, enjoying some parts of the island experience. For once, there was the fact that he loved the thrill that the kills gave him. The hunt of Carmina, and the battle against Adonis. Both physically and emotionally stimulating, whether it was pain or euphoria. Sensations, who regardless of whether there are positive or negative are a sign of being... alive.

His voice hardened a bit.

"Okay, fine. But maybe I am just a tool here for somebody else. Jaquilyn Locke came up with this idea, and I just try to fit in and this extraordinary situation. And besided, I am far away from being someone like Maximiliam.

Come to think of it..." Joachim pointed at the box. "There is enough food for us all, but only one gun.

Which means that I either kill you or we use another, perhaps fairer method to sort it out. Like a game, or a coin toss."

Joachim was not even shocked by how easily he said "kill you".

[MrMissMrs Random†]

"Don't try to excuse yourself." Rosemary's tone turned hard. "I'm... I'm not condoning what I did. And neither should you when people are dead..."

Rosemary felt her stomach drop at Joachim's words. He wasn't bluffing about killing her- the blood on his blade and the two names listed gave her all the knowledge she would need to know about how he could do so.

"Fine," Rosemary looked at the prize box then quickly around, trying to bring something up to stall for time and let her think. "What about Maximilian though? He won Best Kill as well, shouldn't we include him in our game for the gun?"

[Riki]

"I'm sure that Maximiliam will choose to fight."

Which would not be that bad. Killing one of the, if not the most profilic players on the island had a certain, charming ring. Oh, and Joachim knew for sure that he wouldn't feel bad about killing Maximiliam.

...it would also be an opportunity to use the gun for good.

However, the prospect of fighting over the right to possess the gun with an alternate method was much for interesting. And such an opportunity would likely be lost if Rosemary died in a firefight between Maximiliam and Joachim.

"And he'll definitely kill you. Also, I think that... playing with you for the gun seems more fun than just killing you for it, no?"

[MrMissMrs Random†]

Rosemary tried to calm her beating heart with even breaths. He sounded much too happy about killing and fighting. It wasn't even a week and there were already classmates like Joachim running around.

If she got through this ordeal alive, then there would be another time for her to get to Maximilian, preferably with equal firepower if all went well.

"Very well, why don't we have..." Rosemary searched her mind. Something that wasn't physical or easy to play- but something that might make Joachim think he had the upper hand. A cocky killer was probably easier to fool than one in control of their emotions.

"... A game of riddles? All we'll have to rely on is our wits. Whoever lasts the longest without getting a riddle wrong will have the gun."

[Riki]

A mischievous smile formed on Joachim's face. Game of riddles. He heard these were quite popular in Norse mythology, but Joachim himself knew them from Tolkien. It was, in theory, an easy concept. Player A presents a riddle, player B presents the solution. Then, player B presents the riddle and A answers. The first one to fail is the loser, as Rosemary said.

"Excellent, I'll start.

What get's wet when drying?"

[MrMissMrs Random†]

Rosemary frowned. She had heard this one before by her swim coaches, and despite the trick wording was not too difficult to grasp.

"A towel." She replied. Once she was given the assent that her answer was correct, she thought about her own riddle. What was one she knew that was trickier... oh! It was a short one, but could lead to multiple interpretations.

"To give me, you must keep me."

[Riki]

Alright, that was a new one. Required some thinking.

For the next minute, Joachim thought about the solution, broke down the riddle into its parts, defined these parts. What does "keep" mean? What can be "given"? It had to be something abstract, possibly containing more than one word. What kind of words? Composite nouns? Adjectives? Verbs? Pronouns? What required to be given in order to keep it? Love? Trust?

... "My word?"

Joachim smiled when Rosemary confirmed him.

"When do elephants have eight legs?"

[MrMissMrs Random†]

That was one she had never heard before. The last time she checked an Elephant had four legs. She thought about the possibility of during certain parts of the elephant's life that would lead to them to be thought of as eight legged, before the answer hit her. Elephants, as is more than one! Word tense was cleverly used in this one.

"When there are two?" She answered, and when Joachim replied that her answer was right she couldn't help the small smile that came to her face. Despite the possible demise with losing, this game she was having with Joachim was the closest thing to normalcy she had in days. Her mind was not being plagued with guilt or fear, only this need to think and speak and win.

"What has a face but never cries?"

[Riki]

...what has a face but never cries? Difficult, but one thing could be excluded. It was definitely not the simple head that animals possess. That was the thing with riddles, the listener is tricked into hanging unto the obvious meaning of a term. Because the listener is fixated on that certain definition, they are unable to find the true solution. In this case, "face" would equal "thing on head".

What else was described as a "face"?

There was only one thing that came to Joachim's mind. A "face", as in the sociological concept of prestige or image. It was often found in east asian countries, which made Joachim doubt whether this was the true answer to the, possibly western-based, riddle.

Time to gamble.

"The face as a sociological concept? As in, losing one's face and so on?"