Myopia

[Deamon]

She nodded. It hadn't been something she thought about but when the boy brought the point up she realised that she had been alone the entire time. Not in a physical sense, there had always been someone nearby or close enough to her but in a more emotional or mental way she had been alone since waking. It wasn't something she had given much thought because it didn't truly matter. If everything was to be followed through to the bitter end as expected then she would be alone then as well. A leaf blown apart and away from the rest of the tree, left to take its own path.

Of all the people she had met her friend meant the most. His absence when she had given him the offer of joining her stung still. A painful feeling that buzzed like a bee trapped in her skull occasionally stinging to remind her it was there. That was the one she felt.

Shifting in her seated position slightly she turned her gaze to better take in the boy. He was tall, athletic and of Asian descent. She didn't know what country.

"Here and elsewhere. People don't stay around much."

The connections between everyone were fleeting, slowly the thread was fraying and soon it would snap.

"What about you?" She looked over at the other two, who were quietly conversing off to one side and narrowed her eyes before turning back to the boy.

"Have you been alone?"

[The Honeless Beard]

So many ways to answer the question, to break it down into tiny little pieces. The options weren't as limited as Daniel pretended they were.

But then again, Daniel was still Daniel.

He hadn't smelled the shit wafting from Yaz's corpse, hadn't dug around in the near dark, aware of how much noise he was making but unwilling to stop looking, knowing that at any point either a psycho with a gun or a corpse of a friend could greet him and not knowing which option was preferable.

Daniel was still thinking about Johnny, about Rachael. Daniel was still thinking that his friends should come first, that everything would be okay once he found them.

Daniel was still Daniel, and being Daniel, he was lost.

Baxter tugged absently at his jersey sleeve, a familiar gesture to him. Usually he felt the fabric between finger and thumb jogging into a huddle, the name of a play on his mind.

He tugged again, shrugged.

"I'm going to find them," he said, his voice soothing, quiet. Stern. "Johnny, Rachael. Roy or Adonis, maybe. Find them and keep moving."

He took a few steps towards the entrance, looking back at Daniel.

"Coming with?"

[Namira]

"Uh, well, you know, mostly. I saw Donnie—that's Adonis—yesterday but he didn't want to much hang out so that was whatever."

He hadn't much liked Keiji's idea here, though he'd totally failed to offer a better one. Keiji shuffled both feet; seemed that him and Kris both hadn't had a lot of luck that side of things. Though he hadn't really seen anyone other than Donnie, and probably his luck would be just fine now that Brandon and Daniel were here. Maybe Kris, too?

Keiji glanced over his shoulder; looked like Brandon was prepping up to leave.

"Hey! You should come along! Then you won't need to worry about folks not sticking around cause you'll be the one sticking, right?"

[Deamon]

An offer was put forth but the one doing the offering didn't appear to understand his position. Of course there were unseen dynamics that would be silently considered, contemplated and implemented. The castaway was in charge, that much was clear. His control built on making decisions then acting on them. Power and control seemingly all he would listen to or hear.

He had already made his next move behind their backs. As his steps carried him closer to the door with the only delay being his morality pet in the tale. She was still intrigued by him and wondered how close she had been to drawing an attack.

As the other one trailed behind she turned back to the boy talking to her. He seemed lost and lonely. His deliberate decision to embrace his delusion could only carry him so far. His offer of a place in the group was the only such thing she had been given of it's kind. The previous offer of its sort was one she had given out and it went unaccepted, left trampled among the leaf litter of the forest. Still the offer didn't grab her.

She could feel something in her bones deep in the marrow. She knew who she was but she didn't know how to feel. The group was safety but what was the purpose? She had time to figure it out though as it was a part of the deal. She felt something at the offer but didn't let it show.

"No."

Collecting her things she got up and started moving towards the door but stopped and turned back to him.

"We can make our own way though."

Then she left without a word to the other two.

((Continued))

[delicateMachine]

Yeah, Brandon was the man with the plan. The boy with the ploy. The guy who... was gonna try. Daniel never should've doubted that.

Like, the plan was pretty obvious and was basically what his overarching goal had already been, but at least Brandon was confident about it? Sure, he didn't have any supporting details, or intricate machinations, or anything to suggest that they weren't gonna be wandering around aimlessly, but whatever.

He had confidence, and there had to be a reason for that, right? Like, maybe he was just faking it, but if he had the required presence of mind to actually pull the act off, Daniel still respected that a whole lot. Brandon was making a promise that things were gonna be - well, not that things were gonna be alright, that'd be kinda ridiculous, but like, they could do something. The least that he could do was trust him.

"You really gotta ask?" Daniel said, finally getting up from the pew and heading towards to the door. Kris passed by the both of them without another word and that was kinda weird, but Kris had been kinda weird in general so he wasn't exactly torn up about it.

"Keiji, uh, you too?" He forgot to actually ask the question there, but the content was hopefully clear enough. Keiji might not run in the same exact circles as them, but like, expanding the number of people they were hoping to find made it more likely that they would find at least one of them; and at least then somebody would be happy.

[Namira]

Kris responded to his offer to come along by offering he come along.

It took Keiji a second to actually work out what she meant by that, and then he wound up drooping ever so slightly as he realised that she meant—hey, he should come with her instead of her coming with Brandon and Daniel and making it a four.

He didn't actually know how to respond to that. If she was gonna say no, then he expected it to be a total no, not interested I'm sticking with me. Or, better, that she would say yes and strength in numbers, cause if they stuck along with Keiji then they would definitely be down with how he wanted things to be rolling. Stay together, stay safe and just hold on for as long as possible. Nothing lasted forever, right?

Keiji flicked back over to Daniel, over to where Kris was heading on out. Two opposite directions, two choices. His buddies, or this girl who he didn't know so well.

But if he went with the guys, then Kris, she would, well, she would be all on her own, and that didn't seem right or fair.

He held up a finger.

"Look, uh, I don't want to leave you but I think we should all make sure each other are safe," he put his hands on his hips and beamed. "If you end up in trouble, meet up back here! Unless it's a dangerzone, in which case--we'llworkitout!" he called that last bit over his shoulder as he dashed out after Kris, realising she was getting ahead of him.

Two and two, that was safer than three and one, right?

((Continued in Evil))

[delicateMachine]

Well, that was that. Daniel couldn't exactly say he followed what Keiji was trying to get across, but he wished the dude the best. Hopefully they'd see each other again.

Nothing left to say then, right?

((Brandon left, and Daniel came with.))