We All Look So Perfect

[Un-Persona*]

A voice quietly whispers from Jewel's collar.

"Oh honey, don't just go showing off like that. Look at what you did, now they're all fidgety! Listen, I think you're smarter then to just give out the headphones to anybody who comes across, but you need to seriously evaluate potential prospects. Look at the red-head. Do you think he's going to make any friends, do you think he'll be last long even though he has a gun? Look at the big guy. People are going see him as a threat, yet he's probably the most nervous one out of anybody, just going by the way he walks. Now, this is not me telling you to give them out to your teammates either, but I do think you have a gift to make your own team, where you're the captain. My advice? Find people who are like you: precocious and pretty."

[delicateMachine]

To Erik's surprise, Dougie was the one who nervously answered his question this time, speaking more than just a couple words for the first time since the start of the conversation, Jewel being the one that remained silent. Erik had to admit, he kind of had a point. The gun was doing its job as an intimidation factor a bit too well. He'd wanted to scare off any unscrupulous sorts who went after him, not mostly inoffensive people like Jewel and Dougie!

The mostly was what stopped Erik from telling them that his shotgun wasn't even loaded with ammo. He didn't intend to actually use it, and he'd seen far too many unhappy accidents caused by people who failed to observe proper gun safety. Regardless, as much as he wanted to think the best of the two, he was getting a really bad feeling from the whole situation, and it was good to have something to fall back on in case everything went pear shaped.

"T-terribly sorry." Erik said, stepping back a bit from the two. "I suppose I d-do sort of have an advantage here. Rest assured, though, all I wanted was a bit of conversation. I c-could leave right now, if you'd like me to."

[The Honeless Beard]

Dougie was surprised that that had actually worked - and even moreso that Jewel remained quiet, seemingly content to let this whole thing play out.

And he suddenly felt like a tool for letting her squat and shiver without offering a hand up, his sweater, or anything.

"Hm? Oh - I don't think that's... needed," Dougie replied to Erik, offering a hand to Jewel to pull her to her feet. "Just - can you put it away or something? It'd make me feel better."

What he'd really want was for Erik to pitch the gun into the audience and leave it behind, along with the knowledge that it had existed at all. The shotgun's presence was a stark foreboding presence - that classmates can and would murder each other.

Maybe were, as they all sat around discussing what to do.

[MurderWeasel]

If things had not changed from last season, then only Jewel heard the voice. She knew that they were pitched carefully, and the words were right on the edge of her own hearing. She'd read an article about the science behind this, and could remember nothing except that it worked. The mentor had ideas. She wanted Jewel to do these things she said, to follow her orders.

She was going to be disappointed, but in the long run she would thank Jewel.

"You don't have to go," Jewel told Erik, taking Dougie's hand in hers. His skin was warm against her. She stood up under her own power, putting no weight against the boy who looked down at her. Would that be visually apparent?

She released his hand and undid her bag again and took out one of the boxes containing the headsets. Maybe this was just a little bit of contrarian revenge, a little statement that she'd do as she fucking pleased. Her wrists and the backs of her thighs and her ass were freezing, the breeze sucking warmth out of her through the dampness, and now she shivered. It couldn't be helped. The headset slipped out of her fingers, dropping to the ground.

"I will," she said. "I'm going somewhere warm. Be safe."

She was to be captain of her team? She was to find others who were beautiful and brilliant?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. She had some ideas what she was going to do. These thoughts didn't include Dougie and Erik. Not yet. So their triangle could become a line. Maybe she was wrong and it would turn into a point instead.

She moved through the curtains, out the back, steps quick and light. Dougie was concerned with Erik, who was unlikely to follow her. They could contact her if they had to. For the moment, she wanted space.

Everything had threatened to become much too stable.

((Jewel Evans continued in Boyhood))

[delicateMachine]

Gradually, the tension began to disappear. Though the mood was still somewhat uncomfortable, it was a safe sort of unease, the type that is natural when strangers with little in common are brought together for a while. "Er, sure. I c-can do that." Erik said, though a part of him was still unwilling to give up his illusionary advantage. He slung his daypack off his shoulder, opened it, and carefully placed his gun inside. It fit, if barely. The pack was noticeably heavier, but it was thankfully still manageable to carry.

By the time Erik was finished with this, Dougie had helped Jewel up to her feet. The girl quickly said her farewells and exited the stage, leaving only a single headset behind. "You be safe, too!" Erik called after her, before bending down to pick up the box. Erik couldn't exactly say that he had expected Jewel to leave one, but he wasn't really complaining, either. He wasn't sure in what circumstance he would ever need to contact Jewel again, but a reporter did have to have their sources on the field. Being able to make use of every resource you were given was an important skill.

"You, uh, mind if I take this?" Erik asked Dougie, looking the headset over. "I mean, it's cool if you really want it, but if not..." His voice trailed off for a second as he thought. "Well, in any case, I guess it's about t-time for me to take my leave as well. Unless, you, uh, wanted to stick together for a bit?" He might not have known Dougie all that well, but he seemed like an okay guy, and Erik had to admit, it'd been a bit lonely, just wandering around the resort by himself.

[The Honeless Beard]

As Jewel left, Dougie’s eyes fell to the headset, watching it carefully as she stepped out of sight. He kept his eyes on it, frowning at it, the stage and the situation bleeding out of his thoughts as he focused on that one, sole piece of equipment.

In Jewel’s hands, it was an unknown force - something that could be used for a great many things, but none of them he had a solid bead on. But Erik had a gun, and he could listen to Jewel at any given moment, which meant he also had access to her. He had been unsettled enough by her without her voice constantly at her ear.

Jewel having four headsets could range from bad to good, but Erik having one was a situation he trusted a lot less - especially with the way his nerves kept quaking out in his voice.

Suddenly, Dougie’s hand shot outwards, gripping the headset firmly as he met Erik’s eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll take it,” he said, his voice steady, smooth. “Thanks.”

[delicateMachine]

Erik flinched just a little bit when Dougie suddenly grabbed the headset, meeting the boy's eyes for only a second before looking away uncomfortably. Erik had to admit, he hadn't really expected the guy to actually care enough to want to take the box from him, but he couldn't exactly take back his offer now, especially since Erik couldn't exactly stop Dougie if he decided to take it by force. "Yeah, uh, no p-problem." Erik said sheepishly.

Dougie was looking like much less of an appealing traveling companion, now. The intensity in his eyes when he grabbed a hold of the headset was pretty intimidating. "Er, I think J-Jewel had the right idea." Erik said, lightly shivering from both the cold and his anxiety. "I'm, uh, g-gonna find somewhere less out in the open. Best of luck to you."

Erik took a couple of steps back, waved, then turned, doing his best to look like he wasn't hurrying away from the stage. This hadn't exactly been the outcome he had hoped for, but it could have also turned out much worse. There were many other stories just waiting to be uncovered.

((Erik Lowell: Continued in Judicator.))

[The Honeless Beard]

It was a hollow victory in the long run, all things considered. Dougie held the headset in his left hand as he watched Erik leave, adjusting the shoulder strap to his bag with a slow, casual movement, shaking his arms slightly to let the sleeves of his sweater cover more skin.

He was still surrounded by cameras, in a strange place, with little food and less idea of what to do next. He was facing down his classmates and strangers for the right to walk away with his lives. Even now, millions of viewers globally were dissecting every moment of screen time broadcasted across this place, arguing, dissecting, deliberating.

But he got the headset.

Dougie waited until Erik was fully out of the building, before lifting the headset to his face and slipping it over his ear. It was a simple model once he learned how to flick it on - but not before he ensured the little red MUTE button was engaged.

For a moment, he just listened to the silence - Jewel must not have put one on.

Then, after a moment's hesitation, he left through the same exit she did.

((Dougie Sharpe, Killer Munchies))