It all happened so fast . God, that was a painful cliché, Olivia knew. But you never realize that even the most clichéd of clichés have some tiny glimmer of truth to them until you see them unfold before your very eyes. And when the gun roared... Always a little more bloodshed to be had, in the end....

There had been a sort of tranquility to Olivia and Verity's final moments. They'd been talking, maybe past each other, in what had to be the strangest, most resigned conversation they would ever take part in. Each line of dialogue, infinitely transient. Each continued moment, a miracle. Violence and...

Handler: carduinal-cyn
Dates Away: September 20, 2023 - September 24, 2023
Days Away: 5
Reason for Away: Important test worth 20% of my grade
Characters: Olivia del Rio

"You feel like a winner yet?" No, Olivia thought, I've never felt more like a loser in my entire life. So many ups and downs, so many escapes instead of fights, so many missed chances to say goodbye. So many chances to look cool on TV, most of which failed. And now she was sitting there c...

"Yeah... from the lacrosse team," she says, and at last it feels like she has identity again. Something to ground herself while smoke fills her lungs and the blood of Verity Stewart puddles around her knees. Olivia's heart caught in her throat as she caught sight of Verity for the first ti...

More spite, more vitriol. Was this how two people on the verge of death talked to each other? Olivia had half a mind to shoot them both, and then herself. (Even without the ammunition, which Ivan had. She could pretend she was doing it and that was as good as the real thing at this point, the way it...

They weren't listening. No one was. Once again, Olivia's life intersected with a pair of stories that were not her own, her little pinball-self bouncing between two random flippers on the gameboard of life. A lacrosse ball, passed between two teams. No one ever bothered to ask the ball anything. It ...

"...leave it."

She moved her head from side to side. Shook it "no" in slow-mo, barely even noticeable.

A selfish wish filled up her throat.

she's already
get out
i don't
i miss
they're gone
so is

She clutched the gun like a security blanket.

After all the screaming, the gunshots, the carnage, the cruise ship was settling back into a deafening silence. "Not yet," she mumbled. She wanted to add but she will be , but couldn't find the words. All three of them knew. The end was coming. That assumption hung in the air like thick, w...

Handler: carduinal-cyn
Dates Away: July 18, 2023 to July 25, 2023
Days Away: 8
Reason for Away: Life stressors.
Characters: Olivia del Rio (SOTF-TV3 Endgame)

Olivia watched the smoke roll in. Standing as close to steadfast as a girl with scratched-up legs and a bullet hole in her shoulder could manage, she was a suitable anchor for Ivan to steady himself. Their guns remained on the floor, discarded: loyal old guard dogs who deserved a rest. The would-be ...

Handler: carduinal-cyn
Dates Away: July 4, 2023 to July 10, 2023
Days Away: 7
Reason for Away: Family emergency regarding upcoming move out-of-state.
Characters: Olivia del Rio (SOTF-TV3 Endgame)

Olivia stared at the heap of blood and skin and hate that used to call itself Anthony Golden with the beginnings of tears in her eyes. She hadn't even felt herself fire. Her fingers quivered like half-dried worms. The gun slipped from her grasp and knelt at her side. She mouthed the word bitch , lik...

Olivia fucking did something.

As if of its own will, the gun barrel turned on Anthony and

BLAM.

With shaking arms, Olivia's hands closed around the gun. She wasn't sure how many shots were left in the chamber — she needed to aim and fire like there was only one chance, because functionally there was . Miss, and Anthony fucking Golden would chop her body apart like firewood. She was so tensed-u...