★

[Wham Yubeesling]

She knew she hadn’t meant it the moment his body suddenly stopped.

This hadn’t been quick. This hadn’t been easy. His body hit the railing and stopped moving and suddenly Verity realized that there was another person on this ship. A life. A life that didn’t want itself taken away so easily. Was that why she suddenly wished she hadn’t done this? Was she feeling regret only because she didn’t get to have her cake and eat it too? No. No. That wasn’t it. She didn’t want that to be it. Timothy was a guy she’d met at bandcamp and who had introduced her to so many places where she could write. They’d talked and bantered and had been friends, real friends and even if they hadn’t talked at all this year he didn’t deserve to be here. He didn’t deserve to have blood all over his leg. He didn’t deserve to fall into the ocean and likely- and likely- and definitely drown because of something she had done.

But now he had to.

Because now his body was being pushed against the railing. Now she could feel her muscles tense and work a way forward as her brain directed them to keep going. Now she had done it. Attempted. Now she had to see it through.

But why was she doing this?

Why was she trying to kill him?

Why was she freaking out about it?

(no)

(no)

(can’t do that)

(you’ve already killed him)

(remember when you saw his bandana? found out that it wasn’t the same as yours? you said it. right then. it was always going to be one or both of you and him and now it’s him. you’ve made sure that it’s him. you’ve made him bleed and you’ve fucked up his leg and you’ve made it so that there’s no way he could last in this game. he’s going to die. it’s him. it’s him. it’s him, and if you balk and let him go and just leave him for someone else, it’s going to be you. it’s going to be you as well. this game changes people. it shows them who they really are. if you let him go it’s going to be you because that’s who you are. that’s what you were always going to be. that’s how this was always going to happen.)

(no inbetweens)

(no compromises)

No mercy.

Her body kept pushing. Her bones creaked against his body as Timothy stayed. Pushed back. Didn’t fall past the railing like he was supposed to. She kept going. She kept going. She kept going because she knew she couldn’t just let him go and-

[Cicadan]

He was resisting. Apparently? That was possibly happening. He didn’t know.

((drabble))

Pushing. Noise leaked out of his throat. Through the flesh it was so guttural, rather than out the mouth. His feet didn’t budge an inch, a demarcation line marked into the dusty soil by the heel of his shoes.

He could fight back.

((words and thoughts))

He didn’t know why he was fighting back. He didn’t have to. Wasted effort, wasted words. He knew he was a liability. He’d been before the knee. Before the island, actually. He’d been shuffling forward because he had no other choice.

He did have a choice now.

Did he. Really?

To fight back, to push, to hope and pray and those words were already wasted, already gone, as he slumped and the fight went out of him. Wasn’t it already gone? In hindsight maybe he’d wanted to try. i]That’s what he told himself.[/i]

b]((put more language related to procrastination somewhere in the internal monologue at some point))[/b]

In the future maybe there was still time, somehow, for him to take back his white flag and rescind surrender. Maybe he had the words to describe what he wanted, what he was going to do, the words to breathe to life willpower, energy, maybe he could speak it into being, a promise to himself to not fall back, to defy gravity, to defy Verity.

He could-

((

Try. He could try. He didn’t know if he wanted to, if it’d make a difference. But he

?

?

could.

[Wham Yubeesling]

And then she heard the railing break.

And then she couldn’t feel Timothy’s weight anymore.

She heard his scream.

Felt the empty air on her hands.

Watched him fly.

[Cicadan]

=https://imgr.com/a/36Mw0Qm
]He couldn’t. [url=He’d never known how to.]

((describe the falling))

((physical sensation of falling))

((third-first person mix)

)

Timothy was a patch of seafoam indistinguishable from the rest.

He hit the water. The sun drifted away, above his face, the billowing of a curtain swiftly closing. He could still take action. He could do… something.

It was so easy to float away.

((next post is death post already))

((don’t drag this out longer than it needs to be))]

A final moment of indecision.

Of existing without a reason to.

In so many words, all he had to do, to say-

[Cicadan]

[
b]((i’ll try to think of something))[b/][color/

[Wham Yubeesling]

When the 67th season of Survival of the Fittest started half an hour earlier than it was supposed to, the whole world knew exactly why that had happened.

They could see it for themselves. SS01 and ES06 at the front end of the cruise ship, the former talking about things she very clearly did not have proper knowledge on. At first it was only the most dedicated who could see — frantically refreshing the page half an hour before the slated time live feeds would start — but after the most mindful of those dedicated spread the news on Discord, on Twitter, on Reddit and whatever other fan forums still existed after the advent of Tapatalk, it became clear: it had happened again. Students had woken up early. It wasn’t that uncommon an occurrence — just last season EW4 had crushed a fish in her hands — but it was when two students had done so in the same area. It was when they were actively able to talk to one another, despite SS01’s delirium. So they watched. They saw everything, even the things that had happened before Verity ‘woke up’ the camera. Them talking. Verity and Timothy realizing they weren’t on the same team. Tim getting worried that Verity was going to kill. Verity getting angry at the insinuation, before the two started fighting for Verity’s bag. Verity ruining Timothy’s knee. Verity’s promise to help him out. Verity and Timothy walking along the ship together. Verity very suddenly attempting to push Timothy over the railing. Their fight. Timothy getting pushed over, Timothy falling into the ocean. Verity watching as he hit the water. Timothy failing to resurface. Verity taking a step back. Verity taking another step back. Verity picking up Timothy’s bag and running away from the scene, as fast as she could.

Not everybody had gotten the message in time, but by the time the majority of the audience checked in it was clear: ES06: Timothy Torales was dead, and SS01: Verity Stewart had a kill to her name.

Luckily, for those who had missed it initially and did not want to go back in the midst of all of what was currently going on, the first episode aired later that night. They showed the briefing, everything cut to black, and then the season opened to show Verity and Timothy together on the deck of the cruise ship, right before everything happened as seen on the feeds. They even went further. They saw Verity sit and cry in a cabin, eventually leaving just as everyone else in that area woke up. They showed her converse with her fellow students. They showed her shooting someone in the stomach. They showed her kill again.

But before they showed all that, they went back. To the two of them, looking at the camera. Verity said her first line again. And again. About how they would only be shown if they mattered. The guest commentator for that night chuckled. Gave a smile that could be heard on TV all across the world. Gave one sentence in response.

“Of course, Miss Stewart would soon come to learn just how much she would matter…”

((continued in Death Spiral))

[Namira]

A single, solitary voice, emitting desperately from the other side of a monitor.

"Timothy, just—hold on! Timothy, listen—Timothy! TIMOTHY!"