The fishing line rocked in the dark waves of the ocean, ebbing and flowing under the calm starry sky. Slowly and surely the line was called back to the stern of the fishing trawler, pulling through the waves and fighting gravity as the hook returned to the calloused hands of Leslie Lowell.
Looked like it didn't do no good, though it still had the worm on it. So, Leslie cocked the rod back, swung it forward, and released his thumb off the line as it sailed out into the open sea.
He did the same thing again, slowly calling back the line until there was no more line to call back. And he released it again.
((He did some thinking, since back on the clipper with the mutineers.)) Not a whole lotta thinking, since he weren't really good at it unless it was recalling cool facts about coastline fishing or for science tests and that like, but he did think. About Gus. About Jasper. About Shoshanna (Leslie ended up just asking her name outright, which was only slightly more awkward than he expected). About their plan, when it got relayed to him. About if he really wanted to try and get the fuck out of here again.
He still didn't really know. But he did think.
...Still nothing on the line. He didn't really figure there would be, fish only gonna go after food they like and fish generally didn't find worms out in the open water but he thought he might as well've tried while he was out here. He was still a little disappointed regardless, but he was gonna keep trying.
Anyway. He waited a bit until after the announcements played, when Admiral Manbun was out on watch duty. Had to play a bit of 20 Questions with him, but ultimately he let Leslie go check out the fishing trawler while everyone else was still resting. 'Course, there was more to it than just wantin' to look for stuff like tools or if there actually were fishing equipment and stuff but... well, regardless he was here now. And he was gonna spend the probable last night of his life doing what he loved.
He was kinda shocked the skeleton lady didn't check in on him again when he was whoopin' and hollerin' and bangin' on everything like a crazy person while scoping out the boat. Maybe they wanted to see what he was gonna do. Maybe they were afraid of him. Maybe they wrote him off as a lost cause. Not like he cared, again he didn't need a damn mentor.
So here he was with a rod and some bait he found, just fishing off the side of the boat in the middle of the night with his flashlight sat on top of his bag right next to him. And he waited.
...Nothing again.
Matias & Me
private under the sea of tranquility
((Matias Juarez continues from Chapter 46: Fantom Frigate))
After the clusterfuck at that rickety old ship, he and Ashanti opted to stay in this little corner of the arena for the day, taking shelter in some rickety boat tied to some rickety jetty. There was only one way in, one way out, he figured after looking at the map, so if anyone passed by, they could just follow, execute the strategy they'd come up with before and that would be that. Orange bandanna like theirs, welcome to the team, and anything else?
Yeah.
He could've handled the whole ghost ship thing better in hindsight. Maybe, like, waited a few more seconds to see if anyone else would come by before just diving right in. It felt kinda humiliating thinking back at how panicked they'd been. He didn't like being caught on the backfoot like that.
Ashanti was still kinda pissed at him over the whole debacle, the bitch, but he could understand, he guessed. She'd get over herself eventually. But yeah, she was pissed, meaning she wasn't interested in any small talk, meaning Matias was left to pore over the binder.
He realized that it wouldn't have mattered either way whether they got the girl or not. He didn't really give a rat's ass about a lot of his classmates, but he could put faces to names, and that face wasn't one of his teammates. And they couldn't kill her, not while three, four other people were closing in on that ship, not without any weapons, not in the time they had. So they'd cornered themselves into this part of the flotilla for nothing.
The first announcements came and passed, they weren't in a danger zone, they were alive to hear it, hoo-fucking-rah. They weren't one of the blink-and-you-miss-it schmucks people always made reaction gifs of, God bless. The only thing really of note was that Verity had killed as soon as she'd woken up. Which struck him, really. She mostly knew him as friend of that stuck-up dipshit Keegan, and one time he'd gotten into it a bit with him, threw a punch, it had felt good. And, all he remembered about her was how fucking scared she was, how wide her eyes were. And now she'd drawn first blood. People really did change on SOTF.
He assumed she didn't think too highly of him now, so he'd have to watch out for that.
The others didn't matter too much. Xander, team captain, was also gone, and the thought of no longer having a captain slightly unsettled him, but they weren't close. Soccer was soccer, school was school, and in the hallways, when it came to places of interaction and socialization, Xander wasn't someone he knew, he was someone he knew of. Especially true for the other names mentioned. It slightly fucked him up a bit how not fucked up he was from hearing all the names, but people died in SOTF all the time, he watched them die all the time. Just cause he knew a little bit more about them than the other losers, why should that change things?
For each name of the dead said by the preppy lady on the speakers, Matias would unhook the pages of their bio and set it aside, placing the bio of each newly dead kid on top of the previous one. When it was all said and done, he placed all the bios, five total, and placed it at the very back. They were dead to him, actually dead really, and their weapons would probably be pilfered by whoever killed them, so the only purpose of their bios at this point was to serve as a reminder that they were no longer to be looked for or kept in mind. They were gone.
He considered making paper cranes out of the pages, but they were laminated, so none of the folds would stay. He considered just throwing the pages out, scattering them over this boat, but that felt wrong, somehow, just leaving their stories exposed like that. Ashanti came to mind. She was so obsessed with the idea of owning herself, keeping some part of herself, her voice, only hers, and he felt she wouldn't appreciate just throwing some piece of them away like that. And, at first, he thought that he didn't really give too much of a fuck about what she felt, he didn't really give too much of a fuck about these random dead people that had happened to be his classmates, but he realized that he himself wouldn't be comfortable with just being left like that. He'd been so fucking mortified reading over his own bio, but the idea of someone else doing that to him, someone just reading through him and discarding him just like that, it bothered him. Symbolic shit. It felt profane to literally throw away someone like that. So, the bios would stay with him, and that would be that.
The sun dipped below the horizon and he decided to take watch first. He couldn't sleep, and Ashanti had been carrying around that 80-pound jetpack the entire night, so why not be a gentleman and give the lady a bit of rest, yeah? He tired of reading through the binder, looking through all the shit weapons people had gotten (the book on how to avoid huge ships, in particular, got a laugh out of him, that shit was fucking funny), so eventually he settled for just looking out of the boat and watching the twilight turn into the night sky. It was pretty.
Someone passed by eventually, he spotted a shape crossing a jetty on the other side of the forked path. He waited to see if anyone would follow. No one did. So, he woke Ashanti up, pointed at the boat, and then made his way over, making sure she followed.
Whoever they were was making a fucking loud ruckus, enough to wake up half the flotilla, probably, but no one else came. Not as far as he could tell. And no one else seemed to be on the ship, no voices rang out. The coast was clear. Or, whatever the equivalent of a coast was in this landless place, whatever.
The two climbed aboard, headed towards the back of the boat.
The sight was kinda fucking eerie, much more so than whatever haunted house shit was going on in the ghost boat. Just some dude bathed in starlight, casting and reeling his fishing line over and over. Calm, but eerie.
Familiar.
If Matias were so inclined, he could just rush over and push the guy overboard. He'd probably get credit if the guy drowned, and they'd be one closer to endgame. But he didn't see his bandanna, couldn't tell in this dim light. And, more than that, it was the familiarity that kept him from doing so.
Some random, by his lonesome, just fishing the night away.
He had a hunch.
"Leslie?" he called out.
After the clusterfuck at that rickety old ship, he and Ashanti opted to stay in this little corner of the arena for the day, taking shelter in some rickety boat tied to some rickety jetty. There was only one way in, one way out, he figured after looking at the map, so if anyone passed by, they could just follow, execute the strategy they'd come up with before and that would be that. Orange bandanna like theirs, welcome to the team, and anything else?
Yeah.
He could've handled the whole ghost ship thing better in hindsight. Maybe, like, waited a few more seconds to see if anyone else would come by before just diving right in. It felt kinda humiliating thinking back at how panicked they'd been. He didn't like being caught on the backfoot like that.
Ashanti was still kinda pissed at him over the whole debacle, the bitch, but he could understand, he guessed. She'd get over herself eventually. But yeah, she was pissed, meaning she wasn't interested in any small talk, meaning Matias was left to pore over the binder.
He realized that it wouldn't have mattered either way whether they got the girl or not. He didn't really give a rat's ass about a lot of his classmates, but he could put faces to names, and that face wasn't one of his teammates. And they couldn't kill her, not while three, four other people were closing in on that ship, not without any weapons, not in the time they had. So they'd cornered themselves into this part of the flotilla for nothing.
The first announcements came and passed, they weren't in a danger zone, they were alive to hear it, hoo-fucking-rah. They weren't one of the blink-and-you-miss-it schmucks people always made reaction gifs of, God bless. The only thing really of note was that Verity had killed as soon as she'd woken up. Which struck him, really. She mostly knew him as friend of that stuck-up dipshit Keegan, and one time he'd gotten into it a bit with him, threw a punch, it had felt good. And, all he remembered about her was how fucking scared she was, how wide her eyes were. And now she'd drawn first blood. People really did change on SOTF.
He assumed she didn't think too highly of him now, so he'd have to watch out for that.
The others didn't matter too much. Xander, team captain, was also gone, and the thought of no longer having a captain slightly unsettled him, but they weren't close. Soccer was soccer, school was school, and in the hallways, when it came to places of interaction and socialization, Xander wasn't someone he knew, he was someone he knew of. Especially true for the other names mentioned. It slightly fucked him up a bit how not fucked up he was from hearing all the names, but people died in SOTF all the time, he watched them die all the time. Just cause he knew a little bit more about them than the other losers, why should that change things?
For each name of the dead said by the preppy lady on the speakers, Matias would unhook the pages of their bio and set it aside, placing the bio of each newly dead kid on top of the previous one. When it was all said and done, he placed all the bios, five total, and placed it at the very back. They were dead to him, actually dead really, and their weapons would probably be pilfered by whoever killed them, so the only purpose of their bios at this point was to serve as a reminder that they were no longer to be looked for or kept in mind. They were gone.
He considered making paper cranes out of the pages, but they were laminated, so none of the folds would stay. He considered just throwing the pages out, scattering them over this boat, but that felt wrong, somehow, just leaving their stories exposed like that. Ashanti came to mind. She was so obsessed with the idea of owning herself, keeping some part of herself, her voice, only hers, and he felt she wouldn't appreciate just throwing some piece of them away like that. And, at first, he thought that he didn't really give too much of a fuck about what she felt, he didn't really give too much of a fuck about these random dead people that had happened to be his classmates, but he realized that he himself wouldn't be comfortable with just being left like that. He'd been so fucking mortified reading over his own bio, but the idea of someone else doing that to him, someone just reading through him and discarding him just like that, it bothered him. Symbolic shit. It felt profane to literally throw away someone like that. So, the bios would stay with him, and that would be that.
The sun dipped below the horizon and he decided to take watch first. He couldn't sleep, and Ashanti had been carrying around that 80-pound jetpack the entire night, so why not be a gentleman and give the lady a bit of rest, yeah? He tired of reading through the binder, looking through all the shit weapons people had gotten (the book on how to avoid huge ships, in particular, got a laugh out of him, that shit was fucking funny), so eventually he settled for just looking out of the boat and watching the twilight turn into the night sky. It was pretty.
Someone passed by eventually, he spotted a shape crossing a jetty on the other side of the forked path. He waited to see if anyone would follow. No one did. So, he woke Ashanti up, pointed at the boat, and then made his way over, making sure she followed.
Whoever they were was making a fucking loud ruckus, enough to wake up half the flotilla, probably, but no one else came. Not as far as he could tell. And no one else seemed to be on the ship, no voices rang out. The coast was clear. Or, whatever the equivalent of a coast was in this landless place, whatever.
The two climbed aboard, headed towards the back of the boat.
The sight was kinda fucking eerie, much more so than whatever haunted house shit was going on in the ghost boat. Just some dude bathed in starlight, casting and reeling his fishing line over and over. Calm, but eerie.
Familiar.
If Matias were so inclined, he could just rush over and push the guy overboard. He'd probably get credit if the guy drowned, and they'd be one closer to endgame. But he didn't see his bandanna, couldn't tell in this dim light. And, more than that, it was the familiarity that kept him from doing so.
Some random, by his lonesome, just fishing the night away.
He had a hunch.
"Leslie?" he called out.
SC3:
Matias Juarez is fed up. He is currently walking home.
Pregame: now that you are broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters,
Memories: Vamô Detonar essa Porra!
Diego Larrosa is lost. pls give my kids friends tv3 version
Stephanie's Cuckaneers Today at 12:29 AM
maraoone was a mistake - cicada 2021
Matias Juarez is fed up. He is currently walking home.
Pregame: now that you are broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters,
Memories: Vamô Detonar essa Porra!
Diego Larrosa is lost. pls give my kids friends tv3 version
Stephanie's Cuckaneers Today at 12:29 AM
maraoone was a mistake - cicada 2021
((Ashanti Baker continued from Fantom Frigate))
Until the sun set, Ashanti had spent a lot of her time looking at Matias.
He hadn't noticed this, as far as she knew. It had been in moments whenever he was checking somewhere else, or his focus wasn't on her or anything in her direction. Every time she got some seconds on him, she would just look, and she would think.
And she knew that for every camera she could see, there were three she couldn't, so she betrayed none of this to her face.
Eventually, she got tired of thinking about what she really thought, and eventually just watched the natural yellow light disappear and replace itself with blue.
Her arm dangled off the side of the boat, where it had stayed since the announcement. People were going to die, Ashanti was going to feel bad about it, and she was going to feel slightly more bad if it was a friend and maybe slightly less bad if it was someone she hated. She knew that was how it worked. Fortunately she was apathetic about the latest ones, which Ashanti knew was the best case scenario for someone who planned on getting out and worst case for someone who wanted to stay in.
Maybe there was a way she could save both Marion and Alyssa, as well as herself. If she was having to play along with everything against her will, maybe she could work it to her advantage, make it so everything came up well for her. But then returned the thoughts about subverting this whole thing, thoughts she'd literally never had in her life until she woke up here, and she couldn't figure out what was supposed to be the right thing to do for her. Not even for her survival, just for...her.
Ashanti absentmindedly turned her arm over.
Before she knew it, she had nodded off.
And then she was sitting in her World History class. It was empty. Her classmate's seats didn't have classmates in them, but they did have stacks of books-
And that was all Ashanti remembered before Matias's gross little hand shook her awake.
The lack of voice wasn't a natural thing yet, so it took Ashanti a few seconds to remember. She curled her lips as he pointed to the boat. Nodded.
Ashanti unwrapped the straps from the boat seat before squatting underneath and lifting her burden.
She envied the sounds he made. As she made it to the deck, less so his work.
Matias's words were ones she didn't know, since who the fuck was Leslie? He mustn't have been worth knowing back at school, which is probably why Matias knew him.
Unless he spoke her language, there was nothing for her to add. Matias probably had the right read of this situation.
In which case, Ashanti squatted closer to the ground, before slipping her arms out of the jetpack and letting it fall a foot to the ground.
Until the sun set, Ashanti had spent a lot of her time looking at Matias.
He hadn't noticed this, as far as she knew. It had been in moments whenever he was checking somewhere else, or his focus wasn't on her or anything in her direction. Every time she got some seconds on him, she would just look, and she would think.
And she knew that for every camera she could see, there were three she couldn't, so she betrayed none of this to her face.
Eventually, she got tired of thinking about what she really thought, and eventually just watched the natural yellow light disappear and replace itself with blue.
Her arm dangled off the side of the boat, where it had stayed since the announcement. People were going to die, Ashanti was going to feel bad about it, and she was going to feel slightly more bad if it was a friend and maybe slightly less bad if it was someone she hated. She knew that was how it worked. Fortunately she was apathetic about the latest ones, which Ashanti knew was the best case scenario for someone who planned on getting out and worst case for someone who wanted to stay in.
Maybe there was a way she could save both Marion and Alyssa, as well as herself. If she was having to play along with everything against her will, maybe she could work it to her advantage, make it so everything came up well for her. But then returned the thoughts about subverting this whole thing, thoughts she'd literally never had in her life until she woke up here, and she couldn't figure out what was supposed to be the right thing to do for her. Not even for her survival, just for...her.
Ashanti absentmindedly turned her arm over.
Before she knew it, she had nodded off.
And then she was sitting in her World History class. It was empty. Her classmate's seats didn't have classmates in them, but they did have stacks of books-
And that was all Ashanti remembered before Matias's gross little hand shook her awake.
The lack of voice wasn't a natural thing yet, so it took Ashanti a few seconds to remember. She curled her lips as he pointed to the boat. Nodded.
Ashanti unwrapped the straps from the boat seat before squatting underneath and lifting her burden.
She envied the sounds he made. As she made it to the deck, less so his work.
Matias's words were ones she didn't know, since who the fuck was Leslie? He mustn't have been worth knowing back at school, which is probably why Matias knew him.
Unless he spoke her language, there was nothing for her to add. Matias probably had the right read of this situation.
In which case, Ashanti squatted closer to the ground, before slipping her arms out of the jetpack and letting it fall a foot to the ground.
...Well, he thought he was all prepped to go die, but hearing his name called out loud still made him jump a lil' bit. He tried to play the flinching off as trying to jostle the fishing line again, but he was pretty sure he did a lousy job on that.
But it was all right. He wasn't alone anymore, so. Didn't even have to look over to know who it was.
"Hey, Matias."
He heart sank a little, though. Matias was... uhm... well, anyway regardless he wasn't the person Leslie was hoping to run into.
He did glance over after saying that, though. Matty had a hell of a nose shiner, clearly visible even in the dim late-night glow. He was with that Ashanti girl or sum'n like that, another one of those girls that... was probably even taller than Leslie was. Sigh.
He watched her drop the contraption on her. Even with as small of a drop as that, Leslie could feel the power and weight it carried from where he stood. He wondered why Matias wasn't the one breaking his back to carry that thing when the two of 'em were clearly together, but looking him over again that thing probably wouldn't've broke his back so much as snap it in half like a wishbone.
Leslie grumbled, saying nothing and returning to his fishing. For a moment anyway, before he ultimately set the rod down on the edge of the ship and let the line dangle on its own. His head crossed the beam of the flashlight, bandana showing and all.
He rubbed his hands together before sticking them in his pockets. He hung his head low. He didn't realize how cold it suddenly got while he was out here.
"I, uh... I see they nabbed ya, too. I'm... uh, ya doing okay?"
Probably should've made that ya into a y'all, but oh well.
But it was all right. He wasn't alone anymore, so. Didn't even have to look over to know who it was.
"Hey, Matias."
He heart sank a little, though. Matias was... uhm... well, anyway regardless he wasn't the person Leslie was hoping to run into.
He did glance over after saying that, though. Matty had a hell of a nose shiner, clearly visible even in the dim late-night glow. He was with that Ashanti girl or sum'n like that, another one of those girls that... was probably even taller than Leslie was. Sigh.
He watched her drop the contraption on her. Even with as small of a drop as that, Leslie could feel the power and weight it carried from where he stood. He wondered why Matias wasn't the one breaking his back to carry that thing when the two of 'em were clearly together, but looking him over again that thing probably wouldn't've broke his back so much as snap it in half like a wishbone.
Leslie grumbled, saying nothing and returning to his fishing. For a moment anyway, before he ultimately set the rod down on the edge of the ship and let the line dangle on its own. His head crossed the beam of the flashlight, bandana showing and all.
He rubbed his hands together before sticking them in his pockets. He hung his head low. He didn't realize how cold it suddenly got while he was out here.
"I, uh... I see they nabbed ya, too. I'm... uh, ya doing okay?"
Probably should've made that ya into a y'all, but oh well.
Matias jumped a bit when the jetpack fell. Like a coil springing back, releasing tension. He turned around, saw Ashanti was fine, and looked back at the boy in front of him.
Leslie. He was one of the less annoying people in Mangrove. The two of them came from the same neighborhoods, had gently coexisted with one another for years. Leslie tutored him with math, made sure he didn't sink, didn't treat him like a fucking idiot just for having a bit of trouble with the idea that letters and x's and radicals were suddenly a thing in math. They'd shoot the shit after going through the day's homework. Or just coexist with one another. That was fine too.
Seeing him fishing by his lonesome was eerie, it was weird, but it made sense. It fit him.
He was a calm sea.
Matias looked down. Kneaded his thumb.
He'd looked through the binder just earlier. He didn't need the flashlight to confirm they weren't on the same team.
He had his hoodie on by this time of night, but it still felt fuckin' cold out here. Must've been the sea breeze.
Leslie was still awful close to the edge of that boat, wasn't he?
Matias' eyes lingered on his friend's feet.
"I... yeah. Fuckers fucked up my nose too. I put up a bit of a fight when they grabbed me, heh."
He reached into his hood, scratched the back of his head.
"But I'm fine, I guess."
He looked, gestured behind himself.
"This Ashanti by the way. Teammate. She won't be speaking. She uh... she lost her voice a while back. Yeah."
He turned back.
"You? How're you doin'?"
Leslie. He was one of the less annoying people in Mangrove. The two of them came from the same neighborhoods, had gently coexisted with one another for years. Leslie tutored him with math, made sure he didn't sink, didn't treat him like a fucking idiot just for having a bit of trouble with the idea that letters and x's and radicals were suddenly a thing in math. They'd shoot the shit after going through the day's homework. Or just coexist with one another. That was fine too.
Seeing him fishing by his lonesome was eerie, it was weird, but it made sense. It fit him.
He was a calm sea.
Matias looked down. Kneaded his thumb.
He'd looked through the binder just earlier. He didn't need the flashlight to confirm they weren't on the same team.
He had his hoodie on by this time of night, but it still felt fuckin' cold out here. Must've been the sea breeze.
Leslie was still awful close to the edge of that boat, wasn't he?
Matias' eyes lingered on his friend's feet.
"I... yeah. Fuckers fucked up my nose too. I put up a bit of a fight when they grabbed me, heh."
He reached into his hood, scratched the back of his head.
"But I'm fine, I guess."
He looked, gestured behind himself.
"This Ashanti by the way. Teammate. She won't be speaking. She uh... she lost her voice a while back. Yeah."
He turned back.
"You? How're you doin'?"
SC3:
Matias Juarez is fed up. He is currently walking home.
Pregame: now that you are broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters,
Memories: Vamô Detonar essa Porra!
Diego Larrosa is lost. pls give my kids friends tv3 version
Stephanie's Cuckaneers Today at 12:29 AM
maraoone was a mistake - cicada 2021
Matias Juarez is fed up. He is currently walking home.
Pregame: now that you are broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters,
Memories: Vamô Detonar essa Porra!
Diego Larrosa is lost. pls give my kids friends tv3 version
Stephanie's Cuckaneers Today at 12:29 AM
maraoone was a mistake - cicada 2021
Leslie chuckled with Matias as he talked about his nose getting fucked up. He wouldn't be surprised if three of those motherfuckers got taken out with it. "If ya cain't beat 'em, give 'em hell" was something Dad liked to repeat a lot, or at least he liked to yell it at the TV during one of his extremely comical drunken tirades. Leslie chalked it up to him and his one-percenter Hell's Angels macho wannabe ass, but he kinda had a point.
And then he frowned. Dad didn't seem like the kinda guy who gave a rat's ass about TV that wasn't sports or reruns of sitcoms from well before Leslie was even born, but he probably would be watching knowing his son was on it. Wonder if he was yelling at him right now.
He looked out at the ocean, leaned over and spat down into the water as Matias introduced Ashanti who lost her voice... whatever that meant. But whatever; the less people talking, the gooder.
"Been better," he sniffled and rubbed his hand against his nose as he looked up and got a better look at the two newcomers.
"...Gonna guess you ain't a Kraken too, are ya?"
And then he frowned. Dad didn't seem like the kinda guy who gave a rat's ass about TV that wasn't sports or reruns of sitcoms from well before Leslie was even born, but he probably would be watching knowing his son was on it. Wonder if he was yelling at him right now.
He looked out at the ocean, leaned over and spat down into the water as Matias introduced Ashanti who lost her voice... whatever that meant. But whatever; the less people talking, the gooder.
"Been better," he sniffled and rubbed his hand against his nose as he looked up and got a better look at the two newcomers.
"...Gonna guess you ain't a Kraken too, are ya?"
"Nah, dude."
His fingers were starting to feel numb. Pinprick sensations. He pressed his thumb again, rubbed his finger over the top of it again and again, trying to restore circulation.
His eyes were glued to the floor.
"We're named Ben's Crabs, apparently. Fuckin' stupid name really, like, who wants to be named after crabs?"
He forced a laugh.
"But yeah."
He looked up, to the side.
Aside from Ashanti, no one else was around. No one else would see this.
They weren't on the same team. So no matter what happened, one of them wouldn't be making it out of here anyways.
He looked past Leslie. At the sea.
He couldn't even hear the waves right now.
It was so fucking quiet.
"You got any teammates with you or?"
His fingers were starting to feel numb. Pinprick sensations. He pressed his thumb again, rubbed his finger over the top of it again and again, trying to restore circulation.
His eyes were glued to the floor.
"We're named Ben's Crabs, apparently. Fuckin' stupid name really, like, who wants to be named after crabs?"
He forced a laugh.
"But yeah."
He looked up, to the side.
Aside from Ashanti, no one else was around. No one else would see this.
They weren't on the same team. So no matter what happened, one of them wouldn't be making it out of here anyways.
He looked past Leslie. At the sea.
He couldn't even hear the waves right now.
It was so fucking quiet.
"You got any teammates with you or?"
Leslie laughed with him. He came close to interjecting with a "Ben has what?", but it probably wasn't the best time for 6th grade jokes. It did make Leslie glad they gave him one of the badass team names, though thinking about it... something about calling them the "Krakens" kinda bothered him. He couldn't place why.
"Nah... I mean, yeah, but there ain't no one else here. Prob'ly not lookin' for me, either."
Leslie walked right up to the edge of the trawler and rested his arms on top of the metal railing next to the fishing supplies he burgled from the trawler. Even with his short stature, he had to bend over a bit.
He didn't say anything for a bit, not until he could find the words in the chilly saline air.
"...It's cold."
"Nah... I mean, yeah, but there ain't no one else here. Prob'ly not lookin' for me, either."
Leslie walked right up to the edge of the trawler and rested his arms on top of the metal railing next to the fishing supplies he burgled from the trawler. Even with his short stature, he had to bend over a bit.
He didn't say anything for a bit, not until he could find the words in the chilly saline air.
"...It's cold."
"Sure is."
It had felt less cold for a bit when he'd laughed. Like they were back at the library, one or the other saying some unintentionally dumb shit, laughing it off.
The breeze came back in, wicked away any residual warmth.
Leslie was right at the very edge now. An inch away from the sea.
Matias stepped closer, once, twice.
"You OK?"
One more step.
"Nah sorry, I asked that already, sorry."
Closer.
He eyed, again, the red-almost-black bandanna on Leslie's head.
One of them was dying here anyways.
It would happen anyways.
"But are you? Are you OK?"
It had felt less cold for a bit when he'd laughed. Like they were back at the library, one or the other saying some unintentionally dumb shit, laughing it off.
The breeze came back in, wicked away any residual warmth.
Leslie was right at the very edge now. An inch away from the sea.
Matias stepped closer, once, twice.
"You OK?"
One more step.
"Nah sorry, I asked that already, sorry."
Closer.
He eyed, again, the red-almost-black bandanna on Leslie's head.
One of them was dying here anyways.
It would happen anyways.
"But are you? Are you OK?"
"Dunno." Leslie shook his head. He raised one of his hands and pressed his palm into his forehead, passing right over the silk of the bandana.
He didn't hear Matias approach, but he could feel him. He didn't look back; he just watched the edge of the fishing line as it bobbed in the water.
"...You gonna go for it?"
He didn't hear Matias approach, but he could feel him. He didn't look back; he just watched the edge of the fishing line as it bobbed in the water.
"...You gonna go for it?"
"Ha. What?"
He froze.
"Go for- go for- go for what? What do you mean, go for it?"
He froze.
"Go for- go for- go for what? What do you mean, go for it?"
Leslie put the arm propping his head back down and clicked his tongue.
"The ten kill thing. Are you gonna go for it?"
"The ten kill thing. Are you gonna go for it?"
"Oh.
"Uh. I uh.
"Team win's easier. Teams are big enough for them to matter this time around. But I- I'm willing to do what it takes to get there, if that's what you mean."
No response came for a few seconds. It was silent for a few seconds. Cold and quiet and terrible for a few seconds.
Leslie was looking away, but he felt like a pair of eyes was boring down on him anyways.
"I wanna live, man."
It would've been easier if Matias had just lunged him the moment he saw him.
"Why do you ask?"
"Uh. I uh.
"Team win's easier. Teams are big enough for them to matter this time around. But I- I'm willing to do what it takes to get there, if that's what you mean."
No response came for a few seconds. It was silent for a few seconds. Cold and quiet and terrible for a few seconds.
Leslie was looking away, but he felt like a pair of eyes was boring down on him anyways.
"I wanna live, man."
It would've been easier if Matias had just lunged him the moment he saw him.
"Why do you ask?"
Leslie swiped the back of his hand across his nose again.
Tried to swallow spit, but he couldn't.
His throat was so dry.
"...Wanna kill me, right now?"
Tried to swallow spit, but he couldn't.
His throat was so dry.
"...Wanna kill me, right now?"
Ashanti had been keeping her eye on the entrance they'd just entranced with, a few steps back from the action, when she heard the request, and suddenly she needed to about face.
It wasn't often she heard someone request to be killed.
In fact, it wasn't ever. At least in person. It must have happened dozens to hundreds of times on this show, of which examples were evading, something she was beginning to notice the longer she spent awake, but to be there for something like that was...a barrier breached. A glass ceiling broken.
Other words which felt more welcome at home on a social media account, and yet the way to express them weren't in her language anymore.
She looked at the boy who requested death.
She looked at Matias.
She stepped forward, reminding herself of her seat at the table in the process.
It wasn't often she heard someone request to be killed.
In fact, it wasn't ever. At least in person. It must have happened dozens to hundreds of times on this show, of which examples were evading, something she was beginning to notice the longer she spent awake, but to be there for something like that was...a barrier breached. A glass ceiling broken.
Other words which felt more welcome at home on a social media account, and yet the way to express them weren't in her language anymore.
She looked at the boy who requested death.
She looked at Matias.
She stepped forward, reminding herself of her seat at the table in the process.