Gonna Miss Me By My Walk... Miss Me By My Talk, Oh

Between Day 5-6: Late Night.

The parish is set somewhat apart from the ruins of the main dwelling, and takes the form of a non-denominational chapel. Designed in a classic configuration with several rows of pews facing a raised stage, it nonetheless doesn't boast any traditional religious icons out in the open. Cupboards and closets contain an assortment of bibles, crucifixes, copies of the Torah, and other items of worship... as well as a few bottles of a particularly good rum stashed behind the pulpit. For some miners, alcohol held more sway than God.
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Cake
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Gonna Miss Me By My Walk... Miss Me By My Talk, Oh

#1

Post by Cake »

[[Kyran Dean Continued From: One Sided Smile.]]

Clap-clap. Tap-tap-tap. Clap-lift-tap.

Clap-lift. Tap-tap. Lift-clap-tap.


No one showed up yet and Kyran was somewhere between bored and concerned. Sure he should have probably continued to take guard, but doing it for what amounted for essentially the whole day, felt monotonous. Even if he did prefer being alone most of the time. At least the AK was still at his side.


Clap-clap. Tap-tap-tap. Clap-lift-tap.

Clap-lift. Tap-tap. Lift-clap-tap.


The sound of his makeshift instrument, the plastic cups he had found in the backroom which he had woken more than a day ago. Two bottles whiskey Michael had found, at his side now, to match the catchy song that Kyran would never admit to tapping a foot to and self-taught on how to pull off correctly. He'd not normally drink, or didn't on purpose before now, but he decided maybe just this once. To get the experience of doing so. Just in case. Blood of Christ and all that.

His hands mimicked the girl from that movie he also wouldn't admit to being somewhat entertained by, as he hummed the pleasant folksy tune softly to himself. Lost in his thoughts, as if none of what he was in was happening. It was sort of nice having absolute solitude again. He could always pretend. That everything was fine. But that was all a mere dream. No Bella pom pom, anywhere to be seen. He missed that pup.

.... And I sure would like some sweet company....

Lift-clap-tap.
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#2

Post by General Goose »

((Chuck Soileaux continued from The Left Eye of the Smiley.))

Chuck contemplated throwing the rope away. To conceal his failure. But no. Michael had known his strategy. Michael would ask why it hadn't materialised. Best to be honest.

Plus, rope could be useful. In random ways. Random, unpredictable ways.

Could abseil with it. Or craft an impromptu zip wire. Or make a nifty garrote.

And so, he returned, fashioning trails of toilet paper behind him, satisfyingly on his last roll now. He'd had to backtrack once or twice, but all in all, he'd been very effective with his TP rationing.

Probably could have actually saved some for himself.

"Yo, Kyran!"
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#3

Post by Cake »

"Yo."

The voice and footsteps from the darkness lifted his focus briefly, one hand up with a wave to acknowledge the arrival, as the first person, Chuck, found his way back. His voice lively still, a contrast to his own tired, laid back, monotone.


Clap-clap. Tap-tap-tap. Clap-lift-tap.

Clap-lift. Tap-tap. Lift-clap-tap.


Kyran continued to do the instrumental motions as he sat in a cross legged position on the parish floor, looking up as Chuck finally got to him. He shined the flashlight upward, but careful not to beam it at any eyes.

"So uh, how did things go."

At this point Kyran had put the cup down, next to the other cup just to be polite and attentive for a conversation. Lord knew (there we go again with the religion reference - being in a church for days really had that effect didn't it), how annoying it was when someone who you were talking to pulls out their phone and stares at it instead of engaging with you.

He had to admit though, his hands were antsy to get back to the motions with the cups again. Was strangely soothing to perform and even hear. Almost like popping bubble wrap.

His eyes stared at the cups and back to Chuck again.
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#4

Post by General Goose »

Chuck shrugged as Kyran asked him how it went. There were a myriad of ways to answer that question. Mostly vague and noncommittal, some veering into the trivial, some going into the TMI. 'Oh, better than any other day on the island'. 'Not terrible'. 'Eh, as well as it could have gone'. 'I kinda wish the lake was accessible'. 'It was agony having to wipe my ass with leaves when sitting next to a treasure trove of toilet paper'.

He settled for a pretty average reply, showered with some details.

"Pretty generic. Didn't encounter everyone, didn't die, eye healing up well. Accidentally triggered a beeping at one point but that's because I almost broke a camera."

Kyran was turning the cups into musical instruments. Oh God. Stay calm Chuck. Don't freak out. Don't lose your cool. Don't be too excited. He strode up to Kyran, calm and collected, with a deliberate and nonplussed demeanour that could only be concealing giddy excitement.

"Can I join?"

Chuck lived for this shit.
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#5

Post by Cake »

Chuck spoke about his day, about how he almost broke a camera, but it was the question that made Kyran lift a brow. Dude wanted in.

Kyran nodded, grabbed one cup and pushed the other one closer to the boo hat wearing enigma his homie was.

"Sure, whatever. Have a seat; criss cross applesauce."

Did he actually just say that. Dang, why did people have to be so PC these days and change it from being called 'Indian Style'.

"Know the motions?"

Clap-clap. Tap-tap-tap. Clap-lift-tap.
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#6

Post by General Goose »

Chuck, for a second, pretended that he did know the motions. It was a lie. He didn't.

"I mean, when I was playing with cups, I always used to play a kind of..."

He felt bad saying this. Was he taking away from something important to Kyran.

Oh well. The interruption had already happened. Sunk costs. Best to just press ahead, and return to Kyran's plans if he wanted.

"Like, a popular song or theme. And the other person has to guess."

Chuck loved that game. Never understood who lost if a song couldn't be guessed: the person doing the guessing, or the person doing the playing. Oh. Maybe it was a team effort.

Yeah. That's fun. Pure. Comfy.
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#7

Post by Cake »

Kyran stared at Chuck for a moment, slowly blinking before letting out a brief yawn, patting his mouth and smacking his lips as follow up.

"Cool."

Clap-clap. Tap-tap-tap. Clap-lift-tap.

Clap-lift. Tap-tap. Lift-clap-tap.

After the final motion, Kyran set the cup down with a tap right in front of the now sitting Chuck. A quick swap grabbing Chuck's cup and passing his own forward.

"Alright, come on. Don't leave me hanging. Go for it."
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#8

Post by General Goose »

Okay. Chuck was rusty at this game. And bad at popular music.

Random guess time!

"...Yellow Submarine?"

When it came to his turn, he did The Simpsons theme. Almost hummed it at points. Had to stop that. The only permissible form of musical expression here was the cup.
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#9

Post by Cake »

Ha.

That one was obvious on account to the humming accompanying the tapping of the cup to the floor. Well, it was mostly the humming, because Kyran couldn't quite figure out what Chuck was trying to play until the humming happened. Of course Kyran had guessed it correctly, making sure to play it off that it was Chuck's 'pro cup playing' that did it.

Back and forth their session went on for a while longer.

Kyran lifted a whiskey (or was it brandy?) bottle up, unscrewing, uncorking it. He flipped the cup upside down or rather, right side up, filling about a shot amount.

"Shots?"
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#10

Post by ItzToxie »

((Michael Crowe continued from Move Along Nothing To See Here))

When Mike got back to the parish, he had stuck the bootleg torches into the ground outside the door. He moved towards it, and peeped through the punch hole he had made some day or so ago.

The ice-grey eye followed the shapes of Chuck and Kyran playing around with cups and bottles, making music and passing them back and forth between each other. Michael raised an eyebrow at the spectacle, not because of what he saw. Nah, it wasn't that, he was used to seeing weird people and weird shit, and this was comparatively mundane to what he normally witnessed. It was more *who* he saw doing it. Hint, it wasn't Chuck.

Chuck was weird as fuck to say the least. Mr. 80's hair would be a hypocrite to say that it was because of the boo hat, so he wasn't going to say it was because of the boo hat. It was mostly how he acted. Chuck was simply a weird dude, and not that cringey fedora flameshirt combo weird, like Chuck's brand of weird was palatable, y'know pretty harmless. Hell it was actually funny. Chuck doing this didn't really surprise Mike at all.

It was Kyran who he saw joining in that had Michael bewildered. It wasn't like Kyran was a negative nancy, or didn't know how to have fun or anything like that, or that he was boring or anything, he was cool. Hell, that's the main thing that stood out about Kyran. The actual definition of 'cool'. He was always calm, always had less than zero fucks to give. You could tell him how you had some brand new scheme to rule the school, or how you saw some crazy fat lady on a hoveround drive away from squad cars in what had to be the slowest police chase ever, or hell even told him the house was on fire. Y'know what he would say?

'Whatever.'

Like, he'd still laugh a little and react and everything, he wasn't a robot or nothin', but he was unphaseable for the most part. You couldn't shake him a bit, he's like the grizzled old police chief who's seen everything and has to say 'I'm getting too old for this shit', only instead of that it's 'whatever'.

It was at that moment he was sure they noticed him and were looking at the eyehole in the door he was staring through. He stared back, not speaking. They stared back. Michael stared some more. They stared some more.

"The fuck were you guys doing?"

...





.....






"Haaaah, you blinked."


Michael had won the staring contest, and right now that was all that mattered. He grinned and stood up, opening the door.

Wait a minute...

"Hey... Where's Scarlett or Natali at?" Michael figured he'd have made it back last. Were they okay?
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#11

Post by Primrosette »

((Scarlett McAfee continued from Paper By Paper))

Scarlett knew that she should had come back to the parish earlier but she had been afraid that no one would be there. Or worse, someone who was out to get her in revenge for Tania's death. Or if they were one of the current killers who are willing to take out everyone, not caring who they hurt as long as they got the competition out of the way. This was possibly seen as a real game to some people. Not to her.

She beamed her flashlight towards the parish and she was hesitating for a few seconds. Then she heard familiar voices inside. Male voices. She knew that it wasn't hard to realize Michael's voice. She was relieved to know that the group had got back safely.

She felt herself smiling as she walked inside and she noticed that it was only the guys there. "I'm back. Sorry for being late, I just didn't want to come back for a while in case there was no one here." She was trying to explain her and she touched her bruised cheek a little. It was a little swollen but she didn't mind it at that moment. "Still, I'm just happy that you guys are alright."

She glanced around and then looked back at the others. Natali wasn't there yet? She wondered about the other girl. She barely even knew Natali. But did she leave for good...? Scarlett wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Natali's not back yet? We can wait for her. Take a rest for a while or so." She suggested to Michael, Chuck and Kyran.
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#12

Post by General Goose »

Chuck liked this. It was almost like being at home. Except Chuck didn't have to care - couldn't care - about what people thought about the juvenile nature of the past times and recreations he and Kyran were devising. Kyran had a..."cooler" reputation than Chuck. Him being the instigator of this was actually pretty relaxing.

And then Michael arrived, and the noise of a sudden arrival made Chuck drown his shot in a panic.

To what end, Chuck wasn't sure. A silence settled between the trio. There was a joke here, Chuck just hadn't spotted it yet. Oh. Fuck. It was a blinking contest. Chuck, especially with the cut giving him an excuse to keep his (now eyepatch-less) bad eye shut, was good at them. He just needed warning.

Chuck had no grounds to complain. Wasn't like there were international agreements governing blinking contests. So he shrugged, to concede Michael's victory, and let Michael's questions sink in.

"It's a mystery, my man. So me and Kyran here were just finding ways to amuse ourselves. We were about to give situational homosexuality a go, if that floats your boat?" He was already halfway through 'homosexuality' when Scarlett's return became apparent, and decided to keep on talking. Somehow pausing mid-syllable seemed like it would make the rather lewd nature of his humour only all the more transparent. "Hey Scarlett!", he waved, seamlessly seguing from crude joke to friendly greeting. Perfect timing on Scarlett's part.

Maybe it was a reflection of how perfectly matched the routes were that they all arrived within such a short window of time. But then again, Natali was still absent...eh, Chuck couldn't, despite himself, rule out her being a cowardly flake or a treacherous snake. Would disrupt the shape and power of the toilet paper trail, but it wasn't too bad. She'd only taken toilet paper with her.

"So...umm." Chuck looked down at the empty cup. "Sorry about prematurely taking the shot." In his family, timing shots to be concurrent was pretty sacred. "Everyone fancy one more?"

And maybe they'd have to have another one when Natali returned. Or when the first people arrived at the "sanctuary" they'd established, if people did end up following it.

If he kept it only to those social obligations, he shouldn't get too drunk.
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#13

Post by Cake »

"Hear, hear," he called out in a slightly more energetic, yet still monotone voice, raising the glass, or plastic cup rather, containing the shot amount of liquor.

"Mike-Scarlett," Kyran nodded at them both, hopping to his feet, towering above the rest, walking to them, pouring a second shot in Chuck's cup.

"Not gonna lie, don't think she's coming back, but—" he handed Scarlett the cup he'd turned instrument, turned shot glass, careful to avoid the beam from her flashlight, then bent to pick up the other... bottle of whiskey for the way.

"Quick shot, before phase two?" He extended the first bottle, gripped by the neck toward Michael in offer.

It would be a decent way to burn time, if they wanted to wait a little bit for Natali, but he understood that with Michael's plan, time was of the essence, so one was enough. He looked at the team. A unit - glad to be a part of. Except he realized he hadn't really connected with Scarlett much, out of everyone in this group of four.

"Hey, don't worry if you're not much of a drinker," he spoke to her with a slight smirk and shrug. "Me too."

He meant to say 'neither am I' but whatever, he was kinda tired. It felt like he had talked more than usual already, but heck maybe spending a day alone like a monk in a monastery really made one yearn for human interaction or something. He paused, pondering in thought for a moment, before it was time to bring his bottle up to touch.

"For Adonis."

One name he oddly felt like honoring. Maybe the others had some too. He raised his own bottle, ready to clink cups and glass.

"Cheers."
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#14

Post by ItzToxie »

I guess it'd make sense that Natali wasn't down for it. To be quite honest it pissed Michael off if that was the case. She took some of the TP, she said she'd do it. It isn't that she backed out, but she joined in knowing she wouldn't have done it anyways. If she wanted to opt out, she should have just said so...

"Fuck man..."

Chuck and Kyran offered shots before part two. Fuck it, with or without Natali they were still doing this, but there was no harm in waiting. She could be coming back after all. "Yeah, I'll take a shot, probably gonna need it."

He couldn't dwell on who wasn't here, because he had everyone here to focus on. The people who stayed. The people who joined in, the reason he was doing this in the first place, the reason they were doing this in the first place.

Kyran gave a toast to Adonis, and Michael had to follow. Everyone in this room had lost somebody, Everyone's seen it happen by now. We all knew this was real, and we all knew if we didn't do anything about it, it would just keep happening.

"For Simon."

There were other names Michael thought of saying. He could have mentioned Aaron because of the mistake he made. He could have mentioned Everett for not being there for him. He could've mentioned Ramona or Zubin, for being there with him to help Maxwell, and for giving their lives for a chance at a way out. He mentioned Simon though, because Simon was there for him, if it wasn't for him he wouldn't be here now. If it wasn't for Simon, he wouldn't have come to the realization of what he had to do. If it wasn't for Simon, he wouldn't have learned his lesson, he wouldn't have known that helping those that needed it was better than hunting those that deserved what was coming to them.

"Cheers."

All's left was Scarlett and Chuck. Who'd they lose? Michael was sure he had a guess for Scarlett's name, but Chuck he knew almost nothing about. Before the Parish, him and Natali just appeared out of nowhere. He just wanted the names, because he wanted the reminder of why they had to do this.
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#15

Post by Primrosette »

"Ah, I see." Scarlett felt herself nodding her head as Kyran told her what he thought about the chances of Natali coming back. Well, it was Natali's choice. Still, she wondered if the girl would be alright on her own out there. Whatever Natali was planning on doing, Scarlett hoped that it was the right choice for her.

A team of four. Scarlett was okay with it. She wanted the group to stay like this for as long as they could. And now everyone was each having a turn to honour someone who had died previously. Kyran wanted to cheer for Adonis, Michael wanted to cheer for Simon. She wasn't sure who Chuck had on his mind to cheer for. She knew who was still on her mind this whole time. She couldn't ever forgot him. She wanted to remember him.

"For Everett."

She felt her voice falter a little as she spoke his name. She hoped that somewhere Everett was watching them, seeing what they were trying to achieve.

"Cheers."
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