Exposure

[randomness]

((Skipping Rugga to avoid inactivity))

There was still pizza in the pizza box. That was a pleasant surprise. Stephanie eyed the open box, already thinking about how it would taste. How long had it been since any of them had a decent meal? And it was pizza. It was like a great delicious miracle packed into a nice little box.

But it was clear enough where the pizza had come from in the first place. It wasn't as if you could somehow keep pizza fresh for over a decade. They had said it in the announcements hadn't they, asking a girl to go pick up a supreme pizza from the shopping mall?

Leona had called out to Chris. She'd found something. Stephanie followed her glance up, spotting a figure up in the trees.

That girl was a killer. And she had given them pizza. Those two thoughts didn't quite reconcile themselves with each other.

"Um, thanks for the pizza, but you were the one in the announcement, right?"

[Ruggahissy]

((apologies ;~;. Promise prompt responses going forward))

Mara turned back and gathered her things up among her place in the leaves. She put the gun inside the bag, hidden away. She sighed deeply, and pushed a few strands of loose hair back behind her ears. She pushed her bag out of the tree and supposed it must have made a thudding sound when it hit the ground.

Carefully, she looked down. A girl was looking back up at her. Mara blinked a few times and then took hold of the branch with both hands. Faintly, the girl had said something. Mara jumped down, hanging by the branch, and then letting go to fall on her scuffed black shoes.

"Whatever," she said in response to the thanks. She asked if she was on the announcements.

"So what if I was?" she said as she brushed her black blouse smooth again. She picked her bag up from where it had fallen. "Are you afraid of me?"

[Outfoxd]

Leona took up the thread of conversation.  Though she sounded calm, she did back up a step.

"Should we be?  We might be able to assume something else is going on if you haven't already started trying to kill us.  We can hope, anyway."  She said.  As she waited for the response, she glanced down at Mara's shoes, a pair of Mary Janes that would not have been out of place in one of her dad's clothing stores.

"I like your shoes.  Very cute."  She added, the relative inappropriateness of the comment lost on her.  Her hand sought her pocket and withdrew the quarters.  Slowly, they began their finger-dance.

[randomness]

The girl didn't seem to pleased at either of her comments. Stephanie wasn't too suprised at the reaction, but she couldn't help but feel slightly ticked off by her rudeness.

She wondered for a moment who she had killed and how. It might have just been an accident, right? Then again, that wouldn't quiye justify them giving pizza, would it?

Stephanie berated herself for not listening to the announcements enough. Now, all she knew far too little to know how to react and  badly timed comments about shoes didn't help at all.

"I suppose Magician Girl's right, given everything so far. Not quite afraid I guess, but a little wary. And we'd all have every right to be, right?"

[Ruggahissy]

The one girl said her shoes were nice, that is what she thought she said anyway. "Well, at least I know with certainty that girl is crazy already," she said pointing to Leona.

Her shoes were disgusting. Maybe they were cute once, but not anymore.

A feeling like wanting to scream was stuck up in her chest. It had been there for a bit, but it was getting worse just like her hearing. What was happening to her? Mara held tightly to the bag on her shoulder, noticing her hands were shaky.

Her breathing started speeding up and she looked quickly around.

"I..." she faltered for a moment. She had something she needed to do. It was something she needed badly to keep going with. She needed this thing as a goal so she wouldn't fall apart. It was happening already, she was coming apart.

"I need to find Stacy Ramsey. Blonde, this tall? Cheerleader and kind of an idiot? She killed two of my friends," she said, staring intensely. Then she put a finger to her chin and seemed to reconsider.

"Well, one of my friends. The other was more of kind of a casual acquaintance who sort of hung around the same places as I did sometimes. Anyway, we have to have a talk and if you've seen her it's for the best if you tell me where."

[Deamon]

Chris followed Leona's gaze up to the tree. S noticed too and also turned her gaze to the branches of the tree. She clearly spotted something and started speaking to whoever had taken up residence in the tree, the mysterious person who had given them the gift of pizza.

Then they dropped down from their hiding place and Chris was able to get a look at them. He recognized Mara Montalvo instantly. His grip on the pizza box tightened. She was a killer, and that was what had gotten her the pizza in the first place. It all made sense, the pizza was the prize the terrorists had given her.

To Chris's surprise when asked if they were scared of her the other two girls said no. That didn't quite compute. Chris was scared of her, maybe not in the knee quaking sense, but he was scared of anyone that had killed someone else. It took a special kind of mental state to be able to do that and if she had been rewarded for it? Well it must have had something special about it to rise above the other acts of violence that were perpetrated across the island every day. That was what scared Chris about her.

Stacy Ramsey?

Things just became more and more confusing for Chris but it looked like they were going to get away from the encounter alive. She didn't seem to have a weapon in her hand, of course she would most likely be hiding one but as things were she didn't have one she could use in an instant.

"I haven't seen her." Chris said his voice soft. "And I doubt you just want to talk anyway."

[Outfoxd]

Mara rebuffed Leona's compliment on the shoes, which nonplussed her just a little bit.  Dirty or not, she could see how they would have been before the dirt.  Would've been great with any number of outfits she had in her own closet.  But that became mostly unimportant as she started asking about finding someone for what seemed like some good old-fashioned revenge.

Leona was reminded that she too had someone to find.  Rebecca had been lost in the whirlwind of people having sex near her then getting ruthlessly slaughtered by a stoner with a pen.  And her name hadn't yet come up on the announcements.

"I haven't seen her either."  She said.  The quarters were slipped back into Leona's pocket mid-trajectory.  She turned and nodded to Chris and Stephanie.  "On that note, I've someone of my own to find.  Chris-" Leona patted her coat pocket, though the glass shard was hidden in a different spot on her person, "Thanks for the item.  I've got to be off."

She turned on her heels and started a brisk pace away from the quad, and before long it was as if she disappeared.

(Leona Van Kamp continued in Arcadia))

[randomness]

Magician Girl made her departure, but Stephanie felt no inclination to follow her. Still, her departure made Stephanie feel far less safe. Even if Mara had a weapon, three against one wasn't bad odds. Now it was just her and Chris, and the two of them would have to be more careful if she pulled something.

But it didn't seem as if it would come to a fight. After all, killing them wouldn't help her. And she had long lost any element of surprise. She wasn't going to kill them. Probably.

"You didn't quite need to describe her, you know. I doubt a soul in our school couldn't recognise her,"  Stephanie said, "Haven't seen the slightest hint of her, though."

"But even if you do find her, what are you gonna do?" she continued, crossing her arms as she did. "I mean, there's only one thing it could be, right?"

[Ruggahissy]

One of them wandered off, the weird one. Good. Less good was that it seemed like none of the people she'd come across knew where to find the girl she was looking for. She frowned. How many people were left? One of the remaining kids on the island must have seen her at some point or knew where she might be.

"What I do with Stacy is between myself and her," she said, advancing slightly on Chris.

It seemed like the other girl was also concerned about what would happen once she found her former friend. For the life of her, she didn't understand why either of them was worried, but she was getting impatient.

"I didn't know we were all such Stacy fans in the neck of the woods. What do you care, hu? Finding her will make me feel better. It'd say between the two of us, considering that I haven't killed you yet, I'm the one you'd be rooting for anyway. Not that I care if you like me or not."

And it was true. She wanted to find Stacy because she felt like it would help her cope, but more than that she needed to find her and kill her so that she would have a goal. She needed a purpose and here it was. For now, anyway.

Mara secured her hold on her bag, ready to leave like the other girl had. There was nothing of use left here. She left without saying anything more.

((Amaranta Montalvo continued in....Miles Behind Us))

[Deamon]

Leona said she had someone of her own to find and then thanking him for her 'item' she left. Chris just let her go. There had been something slightly off about Leona. He couldn't quite place what it was but it was there.

Mara advanced on him, trying her best to be intimidating. In a normal situation it wouldn't have worked. But the situation they were in was anything but normal. She had killed before and from the sound of it she wouldn't hesitate to do it again. So it was only natural for Chris' heart to beat that little bit faster when she became aggressive. He was tempted to draw his gun, but he recognized the dangers of causing a stand-off so held his hand.

S supported what Chris had said in her own way. Mara didn't like their attitudes it seemed and ranted before she too walked away. Chris again let her go. The danger of trying to stop her was far greater than any potential benefits she'd give. He silently wished Stacey luck, knowing what Mara was planning to do once she found her.

Chris exhaled once Mara was gone. He still had the pizza box in his hands. He turned to S and nodded at the box.

"So...want to split this?"

At least he had one sane companion for the time being.

[randomness]

Mara left. That was a good thing, Stephanie supposed, not having a killer stay about for much longer than strictly neccesary.

Then again, that meant that the only things she had to defend herself with was a half-empty pizza box and a dirty slingbag. That wasn't a nice thought at all.

"Sure. I'm not going to turn down pizza at a time like this."

She took a slice, taking a small bite out of it, trying to savour her first taste of real food in days. It was frustratingly cold, but pizza was still pizza.

"You know," Stephanie said, "She did have a point. Stacy's not exactly nice. But they're both killers, right? I'm not sure who'd I root for if they met."

[Deamon]

S took a slice of the pizza. That was good. She was a normal companion and Chris could appreciate that. He'd been missing company since Jesse and Brianna. Chris took a slice of pizza for himself and closed the box. Despite being cold it was still good. It made Chris realise how much he missed real food from home.

Chris shrugged. "Honestly I don't know. But I guess one less killer is better for the rest of us isn't it?" One less killer meant one less person who was ok murdering their classmates. Chris didn't like the thought of someone else losing their life, but if it meant that the island was less dangerous for everyone else maybe he'd be alright with it. Needs of the many vs the needs of the few and all.

Chris looked at S again. He still had to figure out one more thing about his new companion.

"Sorry but I don't remember your name. Its S-something right?"

Maybe Brianna had gotten through to him when she'd ranted about her brother or maybe it was her death so soon after that had given him the kick he'd needed. But he swore to himself he wasn't going to forget S' name once she had told him.

[randomness]

"You're probably right, but I don't like the idea one bit." A tiny little part of her mind wholeheartedly agreed with his statement, and she wasn't very happy to find herself doing so. She shouldn't feel better when someone else got hurt. No, she shouldn't feel that way at all.

The boy asked for her name, interrupting her thoughts.

"Huh?" She paused for a moment, failing to parse the sentence immediately. "Oh. It's Stephanie."

"Your name is Chris, right? I don't suppose staying in the middle of a park with nothing but a pizza box is all that great of an idea. Maybe we should get a move on."

[Deamon]

Stephanie.

That was S' name.

Stephanie.

He nodded when she asked his name. He nodded again when she suggested they should move. It made sense; it wasn't exactly safe if someone tried to take pot-shots at them. They were incredibly exposed Chris belatedly realised. It would not have been hard for anyone to just aim and fire. Then one of them would have been hurt at the least.

Stephanie.

"Yeah, you're right. We should get a move on." He looked at the pizza box and thought for a moment before setting it down. He jogged over to where he'd left his bags and brought them over to where Stephanie was standing. Removing the first-aid kit from one he tore off a lengthy strip of bandages and picking up a slice of pizza wrapped it in the bandage. He repeated the process one more on the other slice. Leaving one slice for him to eat. He passed one of the wrapped slices to Stephanie and put the other one in his original bag. Then hefting both bags over his shoulders he started moving off. He didn't quite know where but if he had to guess what Stephanie would have preferred he was going to go with something under cover.

"We'll head inside somewhere. See if we can't find a place to hole up for a while."

Chris wished that this time things would turn out better than the hospital. He took a bite out of the slice of pizza. He didn't get his hopes up though.

((Christopher Harlin continued elsewhere...))

[randomness]

Chris seemed quick to agree with her. He stopped for a moment to pass her a bandage wrapped slice of pizza before grabbing his bags.

Stephanie followed suit, stuffing the pizza ignominiously into her bag. That was a bad idea, she realised, in retrospect, but grease inside her bag wasn't something she could care to fix at the moment.

They'd go somewhere safe, and then she could deal with wharever she wanted.

But, what sort of place would be safe on this island? The only answer she could give was not here, out in the open.

She hefted her bags and followed after Chris.

((Stephanie Wright continued in In Total Control))