Bloody Palms

[AnimeNerd]

Nancy, help me, please. Save me from-

FREDDY!

RJ feels awful that that's the first thing that goes through his mind when he hears someone call for help. It didn't exactly fit the current situation-calling for help then was more meant as a taunt to the final girl than it was supposed to tempt her into coming closer-but it still felt related, considering where they were.

A part of him screamed at him to run-grab Amy's arm and start trying to haul ass away from someone that could try to kill them without a second thought. Yeah, he still had a gun, but that didn't translate to him actually being useful with it. That wasn't even going into detail about how many characters would've survived had they not gone towards the weird sound in the basement, or checked out the breaking branches in the forest. It was first horror movie kill set up, plain and simple.

Another part of him though was screaming at him to help, though. That he should be ashamed of himself for even thinking like that. Was he really expecting everyone that was brought he was psychotic enough to immediately start killing? Did he have no faith in anyone? Plus, he's thinking about going into medical work if writing doesn't work out! How can he just leave someone that could be injured, possibly critically, to die?

He stayed standing, staring at the area where the guy had called for help. He met Amy's eye as she looked at him, before shifting down towards the gun in his hands.

He'd never seen a gun exactly like this before, but it looked a lot like one's he'd seen in movies.

It took a second, but after moving the bolt as if to take out a used shell-pull up, then back-he checked the area he assumed was the magazine.

At least one.

Push forward, then down.

He nodded to Amy, afraid just saying one word would give too much away, even if it was a whisper.

"Please?" RJ said, keeping his voice from shaking somehow-even he wasn't sure how. "I can...I can help you, if you're hurt."

[UnmaskedMountain]

Ouch. Concentrating so much on faking a headache seemed like it'd actual given him one, or at least the growing pain in his head simulated it.

Luciano hated the placebo effect. It made no logical sense; If your cognition controls your physiological functions, who's to say our biological bodies are even real? Like, can placebos even be explained biologically? Luciano scored pretty highly in Biology, and he couldn't think of when they'd explained it in the course. To be fair, placebos might not even be in the course.

Still, isn't it slightly weird? If that's true, then surely altering cognition could be a good way of curing diseases? It's an untapped source of potential research, as ridiculous as it sounds. If the first premise is that cognition affects physiology, and a second premise is that cognition can be forcibly altered, then it's a natural conclusion that physiology can be forcibly altered through cognitive changes. Tied in with epigenetics, it seems less and less like human bodies are finalized and more and more like people are suitable for modelling in whichever shape is desired (once the technology is complete.)

Why does that matter? Well, it provides evidence that the physical world might not be the only real one, if a real one at all. If abstract things like cognitive thoughts can impact physical ones, then who's to say our physical bodies are real? If they're not, was it even worth trying to survive SOTF-TV?

Luciano shook his head. Existentialism aside, he did want to live. He, Luciano Ascencio, was real and sitting behind a crate in the middle of a death game. He'd heard Amy and RJ announce that they would be happy to help him, but he couldn't make out the quieter phrases they uttered to each other. What he did notice, with the small glipses he received, was the gun in RJ's hand.

He let out a deep breath. It was a calculated decision; RJ and Amy were on separate teams and had not killed each other - That implied neither was prone to instant violence. Similarly, Amy was on his team so she'd have no incentive to kill him. In fact, it might empower her to take out RJ, if anything (not that Luciano necessarily thought that to be a wise decision.)

"Thank you..." Luciano released a strained call, getting to his feet and walking towards the two, his falx by his side. He gestured to it with his other hand, explaining, "I'm sorry, I.. I have a headache, so I know I would be an easy target. I don't intend to use it, just a precaution." Luciano explained, bringing the hand without the falx to his head for a second, as if to emphasize the headache. Still, his voice was characterized by the boring awkwardness it was accustomed to as he gazed solemnly at the two.

[Slam]

Amy stared blankly at Luciano as he emerged from his cover. Another nameless face, but with a key difference. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the splash of black around his arm, matching her own so unmistakably. A teammate. A very poorly dressed teammate.

Her attention was then pulled to the falx, as Luciano emphasised his armed state. She glanced briefly to Roberto, who was staring back at her she she continued to lug him around. Compared to shooting someone, or impaling them, a decoy seemed of little value. If only Roberto had been armed, or he was some kind of exploding mannequin from Q’s lab. That’d be better. Alas, his blank eyes could only apologise for his comparatively useless state. Amy didn’t forgive him.

“Stay there.” she suddenly called out, surprising even herself as she realised Luciano was still approaching. It must have been the nature of seeing someone better armed and completely unknown walking towards you. While she wasn’t paranoid about invisible threats, not yet, she still had enough base instinct to not let someone who might disembowel her stroll up and try to shake her hand.

“Do you know him?” she asked RJ, keeping her eye on Luciano. Even if they were on the same team, he made her nervous. She hoped that RJ could vouch for him, or at the very least keep him from trying anything. Although she wans't the one with the gun, it was already proving useful to have around.

[AnimeNerd]

RJ almost felt a little calmer when seeing who it was. He didn't talk much with the guy known as the Space Cadet, but the guy never really seemed the type to go crazy and go on a killing spree.

But he was one of the people he didn't really talk with that much. For one reason or another. And while that shouldn't really influence his opinion of the guy, he couldn't help but feel a bit wary near him, shifting from one foot to another.

RJ didn't say anything as the Space Cadet made his way over to them. He glanced at the weapon he had-some sort of sword apparently-and internally hoped that he wouldn't try anything like attacking them. He was dealing with what could be a migraine, after all, and RJ hadn't really tried to hide the gun. Maybe they could just help him, maybe agree to ally, and get out of here? May've been wishful thinking, but everyone has got to dream, can't they?

"Ibuprofen. There's some in the first aid kits, just-gotta grab-"

Before he can start digging through his backpack for the first aid kit, Amy is telling Space Cadet to keep his distance and asking RJ about Space Cadet. He's a bit unsure of what to say for a moment, out of surprise of the suddenness more than anything, before finding his words.

"A little bit," he said, keeping a low voice, just in case. "His name's Luciano. He's a grade below us, and he's a bit spacey sometimes, but I think he's alright."

He glanced at Space Cadet once more, specifically to the bandana around his arm, before finishing his thought.

"Doubt he'll try to hurt you, at least."

It was only logical, anyway. They were on the same team. Killing each other would be self-destructive, wouldn't it? Lowering their chances of survival or something like that, right? That's just want made sense to him.

[UnmaskedMountain]

Left. Right. Left.

Luciano concentrated on each step he took, attempting to clearly portray his pretenense of fatigue and unease. Methodically, Luciano ensured his alleged headache would appear as legitimate as he could as he slowly, steadily walked towards Amy and RJ.

Left. Right. Left.

Judging from Amy's blank expression, it was unlikely that she recognized him. He wasn't hurt; it was a sign of his past successes, if anything. He remained silent, though, pretending to try to focus as he observed Amy's eyes flicker to a doll-type object. Damn, that was unfortunate; if Amy had a better weapon than RJ, the situation could've developed differently. Luciano shook his head. He was being an idiot; RJ was a good person.

Left. Right. Left.

Suddenly, Amy announced that Luciano should stop. He obliged; there was no incentive not to - If Amy didn't trust him, that would be the second worst situation possible. Simultaneously, he noticed RJ's gun. A minor setback, if anything - He would make it out of this alive. He had to.

"Of course." Luciano muttered, after a short hesitation which characterized his nickname for a lot of people. Gazing at RJ, Luciano watched as the two briefly discussed him - He couldn't entirely make out what they were saying, but he was fairly certain it was about him. Why else would they lower their voices?

The fact that they didn't kill him, or attack him straight up, was crucial. RJ had no reason to kill them now after already letting them live, so any additional fear would be paranoia. Luciano trusted, or at least hoped, he knew enough about RJ to be confident in his call. Therefore the main priority was gaining their trust.

Leaning down softly, Luciano lowered his falx to the floor and glanced back up at both of them. "I trust you. You might not know me well, but I hope this can show I have no bad intentions." The phrasing was awkward, but he was fairly positive that he had conveyed his point.

[Slam]

Amy’s eyes followed the falx down to the floor, then back up to Luciano. She relaxed her grip on Roberto, though not completely. She was trying to decide on her next move.

RJ’s assessment of Luciano hadn’t really helped her make her mind up, but at least he hadn’t told her to stay away from him. If it had been someone like Junji Yamada crawling out from behind those boxes, she probably would’ve told RJ to open fire. Not exactly kind, but it would have been the logical response. That such a situation could actually pan out in the context they were in didn't stop her from agreeing with it.

She couldn’t judge Luciano for being spacey, though. She had often been labelled with the same description herself, though in truth she often felt painfully aware of her surroundings and her presence in them. Considering the superior firepower in the vicinity, this felt like one of those moments. She was unconsciously drumming her fingers on her leg as she thought.

She wouldn’t say she felt safe, but she was starting to feel less like she would die imminently. RJ really didn’t seem out for blood, and he didn’t look particularly worried about being outnumbered either. She might’ve just been misreading his face, but she wanted to think that he trusted her for some still unknown reason. Maybe he really was just a nice guy. Lucky her, if that was true.

So that just left her teammate. “Hang on,” she finally said, not looking at either of the boys but aiming it at both of them. She reached into her own bag, rooting around for the first aid kit, and subsequently, the aspirin. It was better this way, since it would mean that RJ wouldn’t have to put the gun down, or that he would have to close the distance and cost their advantage. After a few moments she finally found what she was looking for, taking a while longer due to still holding Roberto with her other arm. She could’ve put him down, but he was her only weapon. She wasn’t going to let him go until she felt it was safe to do so.

She walked towards Luciano, bottle clearly in hand. She felt her heart beat in her chest, as she couldn’t stop herself from feeling angst. What was she trying to do, she asked herself as she walked closer to another armed stranger. Test him, she supposed. She wasn’t entirely certain what she was testing, but RJ was right there. He could probably react faster if he had to. Hopefully.

Don’t do anything. she mouthed silently at Luciano, over and over, as she stepped closer with medicine in hand.

[MurderWeasel]

When Amy is closest to Luciano, a voice echoes from her collar, quietly enough so only the two Leviathans can hear it, not the boy waiting with the gun.

"Good. If there's anyone here you can trust, it's your teammates. And me.

"I've been watching Luciano clutch his head for the last twenty minutes. I think he was too fucked up to even realize he's got painkillers, and it seemed like a waste to burn my one message reminding him. More efficient like this, with you together.

"Right now you have a lot of resources. A teammate, some other guy who's not hostile at this time, and potentially a gun. Just remember to keep an eye out for risks and opportunities. And do remember to tell me what it is you want to achieve—that goes for both of you."

[AnimeNerd]

RJ felt himself let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding when hearing Luciano's words and watching him place the sword on the ground. Yes, the wording was a bit weird, and the deadly weapon was still there, but he felt just a little at ease as it happened. He still didn't think Luciano would try anything, but it was the little things, apparently.

Despite that, though, he did keep the gun somewhat pointed Luciano's way. Really it was just pointed at the ground-water, whatever-that RJ stood on, but what he believed was the sight was in Luciano's direction, and he was ready to lift the gun and pull the trigger if it seemed like he really needed to, even if he thought-and really hoped-he wouldn't need to.

RJ did as Amy said when she told him to hold on. He couldn't really think of a reason to do anything at the moment, so there was no reason not to. He had two people he could potentially work with, at least temporarily, and even if they were on a separate team from him, they were both peaceful and trustworthy as far as he could. Wasn't the best situation, but no where near the worst.

As Amy walked over to Luciano, RJ couldn't blame her for keeping the mannequin in her arms. At this rate, he was fully expecting every weapon to become a sort of security blanket of sorts to everyone that was taken. It only made sense when in a game where everyone is potentially out to kill you.

RJ began to shift from foot to foot again as he looked around more. Seemed like they were the only ones in the area at the moment, but it was always good to keep a sharp eye and be aware in a deadly situation.

[UnmaskedMountain]

Distrusting.

Luciano's eyes traced Amy's, attempting to determine her thoughts from her expression. It was distrusting. She was a reserved person, so it was more difficult to scan her face; still, two things seemed obvious. Firstly, she appeared to trust RJ, at least to some extent - She didn't necessarily seem terrified that RJ would release a shot at any moment, and that was a relief for both of them. Secondly, she lacked faith in the team mechanic and by extension strangers that were even part of her own team.

He obediently paused as she instructed him to hang on, and smiled softly as she reached for the aspirin. It wouldn't be dangerous to use it unnecessarily, at least in a physical way - It might have harmful consequences in the long run to reduce Amy's supplies, and Luciano would've preferred if they'd used RJ's painkillers, but he couldn't complain. The only way to get out of it was to admit he lied, and that was never a viable option in the first place. She came over with her doll in her arms, and Luciano wondered what exactly she intended to do with it; there was no logical reason to attack him, and Luciano's weapon was far deadlier than hers regardless.

It frightened Luciano how rapidly he had adapted to the idea of surviving, and the connotations of fighting and, hopefully avoidably, potentially killing. More frightening still was the knowledge that some of his classmates would have definitely reacted faster, or even been excited by the prospect. That one thought hardened his resolve - He wanted to win for a noble cause, and thus there could be no mercy for those who wanted to kill.

Once again, Luciano obliged Amy's silent request to do nothing. As Amy approached, he watched every step with a mixture of confusion and happiness at his luck of waking up so close to one of his teammates. He couldn't deny he was mildly scared, but Amy was offering to help and again, she was a teammate.

As soon as she'd arrived, Luciano felt a jolt of shock as Jewel's voice emerged from his collar. Jewel disgusted him, but... But he couldn't let his own personal thoughts outweigh his possibility of victory, so he listened closely. She covered for him, thankfully, so perhaps he shouldn't hold as much disdain as he should. For now, at least. He wanted to respond, to explain his plan to win the game, but he remained silent, wondering how Amy would respond.

Flicking his head back to RJ in the meantime, Luciano noticed RJ continuing to point his gun at their approximate location. He wouldn't shoot. Luciano was genuinely confident; with every second that passed, the possibility of RJ releasing the trigger became exponentially smaller. Reaching back, he took the medicine from Amy and dry swallowed it, gulping uncomfortably before nodding at her.

"Thank you, seriously." Luciano remarked, waiting to see if Amy would respond to Jewel and beginning to move towards RJ.

[Slam]

Amy didn’t offer any kind of response to Luciano, instead waiting there without a word until he headed past her towards RJ. She watched them both, silently.

She had been surprised when Jewel had spoken, but she didn’t think she’d made that obvious to anyone watching. She had listened intently, not really paying attention to Luciano swallowing the pills, and taken in the words. She played them back in her head for a full review.

She was supposed to trust Luciano, she thought to herself as she watched him walk. Why? Because they were teammates? She didn’t know how reliable the teammate system was. She had never watched SOTF, because she always thought it sounded unpleasant (and more to the point, boring), so she didn’t know whether teammates really looked out for each other. From what she did know of the show, it wouldn’t be surprising if they turned on each other just for the ratings.

Jewel said Amy could trust Luciano, but she didn’t. Jewel said Amy could trust her, and that she was more willing to believe in. Jewel had no incentive to help her die. Except for the ratings.

She had been standing there without saying anything for a long time, she reminded herself. She was usually aware of when she was standing aside without a word, and usually felt awkward about it. This was no different, but the awkwardness came from a different place.

There wasn’t time to worry about it though, not yet. She didn’t feel like leaving was an option, because she didn’t know how to explain it without saying that she didn’t trust the boys. She could have lived with that, if it wasn’t for there also being two resources available if she stayed. She was stronger with them than she was by herself with only Roberto on hand.

She moved to rejoin the group. She would have to decide what she wanted to achieve sooner than later.

[AnimeNerd]

Alright, so Luciano was definitely going to be a part of their little group. Again, that was good in RJ's opinion. He wasn't incredibly close to Amy or the Space Cadet, but considering the current situation? He was still just happy the first people he ran into were on the peaceful side.

RJ lowered the gun a bit more as Luciano made his way over. He didn't need to look like he was ready to shoot him, after all.

At first he didn't really notice Amy still standing where she was. He was already looking around the area again, making extra sure that no one else was around. He wasn't expecting Jason or Freddy to just jump out of the water and start hacking and slashing, but the paranoia was just too great for him at the moment.

When RJ finally noticed that Amy hadn't moved, he opened his mouth to ask if she was alright, only to close it when she started moving back to them.

With one more cursory look around, he looked at the other two in their little group.

"Any ideas on where we should go?" He knew they didn't know the area any better than he did, but it was a good idea to ask. He didn't even care where they went after this; he just wanted to be on one of the bigger ships and feel a little bit safer, even if that safety was only temporary.

[UnmaskedMountain]

Silence.

Luciano had expected Amy to at least say something, had lingered around slightly longer than was natural by slowing his walk, but she'd remained silent. Was she worried to say her goal out loud?

That would change things. If true, it would honestly be advantageous - Any teammates reluctant to fight would weaken their team, and Amy seemed like she could help in a fight if she was willing. Regardless, there was a second possibility; Amy still refused to trust him. It wasn't necessarily a possibility, more a reality. Luciano had watched the fear and discomfort in Amy's eyes as she'd walked over and provided the pills, but he still couldn't fully understand why she didn't get the team mechanics. Surely there was no benefit for anyone but a sociopath to kill a teammate?

Well, only Luciano knew that he wasn't a sociopath; he couldn't assume Amy knew he wasn't, but wasn't it kind of unfair to assume everyone was dangerous straight away? Mabye not, when you're entered into SOTF-TV. Still, Amy followed him as he moved closer to RJ and Luciano genuinely smiled a bit when RJ put down the gun.

Yeah, not getting shot was a bit of a relief.

RJ still seemed nervous, potentially even paranoid, but it was understandable. Luciano was extremely lucky for meeting RJ as the person not on his team, as other people he knew like Eric may have been much more dangerous. He glanced up, hesitating for a few seconds before responding.

"We should try to find people; the more people and especially the more teams we find which are friendly, the better." Luciano begun, before stopping for another second. He was lying through his teeth about his intentions, but that was alright - What he was saying made logical sense, according to Luciano. Still, it benefitted him too because he wanted to find people he knew secrets about. People he had power over. He almost smiled.

"People tend to be friendlier and more passive at the beginning of every season, so now is the best time to find people. If there's enough of us with weapons, we can protect ourselves from aggressive people and so we need to group up with as many people not playing the game as possible. So, you guys good with going to one of the bigger ships?"

[Slam]

“No.” Amy replied sharply. “We shouldn’t try find more people for a group. It would be too risky.”

Frankly, three was already a crowd Amy didn’t want. She’d prefer to just have RJ around, because he was the less threatening and more useful of the two. Even if he was on a different team, he had made it pretty clear at this point that he wasn’t going to shoot her. He’d even had a loaded gun this whole time, and he knew it. Even if Luciano was on the same team as her, not stabbing her when he had a gun pointed at him simply wasn’t as successful a trust exercise.

“I think we should find somewhere quiet and decide what to do next.” she continued. Again, what she really wanted was somewhere not out in the open to do two things: one, change into her Melina costume, because it was more practical, and two, ask Jewel about what she should be doing. The latter would not only give her some additional advice, but also give her a chance to decide what she wanted to do.

But most of all, she just wanted somewhere quiet to breathe. Trying to deal with the two boys was already wearing her out. Disagreeing with Luciano’s plan had made her nervous, and before she might have just caved in and complied, but she simply could not go along with something so against what she wanted. Being agreeable mattered less here; she didn’t have to try to impress either of them. Never the less, she found herself avoiding eye contact as penance for her defiance.

“I’m OK with going to one of the big ships.” she conceded after a moment, making a token effort to compromise as she pointed towards the cruise ship, placed grandly in the centre of the flotilla. “Maybe we can find somewhere quiet in there.”

((Amy Barrow-Shaw continued in Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?))

[AnimeNerd]

Okay, so they were at least in agreement for one thing: the bigger the ship, the better.

It's after that where they apparently deviated.

RJ could give or take some more company at the moment. He still wasn't completely at ease with both Luciano and Amy, but he had no idea who else could be here still, and while he wanted to have faith that some people here would be on the calmer, more reasonable side, he didn't want try finding some group only to perish because that group more fire power and less morals than they did. More company would be nice, but didn't want to get killed over it.

But he had to pick a side, apparently, because Amy wanted the group to stay as is and Luciano wanted to add to their group. He didn't think he'd have to play a mediator in this game, at least not this early into it, but if that was where he was, so be it.

"How about we go to the cruise ship, and if we run into people on the way or arriving there, we can see if they'll team up?" RJ asked after a moment of thinking. "We can think more on what we want to do after that. Does that sound good?"

Maybe not the best thing that could be suggested, but he was under pressure, and had a time limit of awkwardness depending how long it took for him to think of a plan. He just hoped it was good enough to get both sides to agree and for them to just get out of the wide open area.

[UnmaskedMountain]

Why couldn't he have had RJ?

RJ would've been so much better to have on Luciano's team than Amy, but you win some and you lose some. Luciano shook his head, and attempted to consider the situation fully. He hadn't visibly reacted when Amy had sharply shot down his idea, but he could tell from the way she was avoiding eye contact that she felt a sense of shame or worry regarding her resistance.

Her attitude was nonsenical, too. Perhaps Luciano was being arrogant, but he didn't recall Amy's grades as being notably high. She was alright, good even, but Luciano was smarter. Or at least, he worked harder, and weren't they almost the same?

It didn't upset him that she'd disagreed, it was merely a setback that they would have to resolve at a different point. He had to gain her trust, but was it worth the effort? People who don't put in effort to something, like school or sports, wouldn't exactly be the best here, and it didn't seem like Amy was putting effort into anything but sharing her paranoia.

After a few moments, Amy conceded and accepted the idea of moving to one of the cruise ships, and Luciano felt as if he'd been a bit too harsh on her. Still, the decision came to RJ, and as Luciano expected the boy went directly to a compromise. Luciano paused. RJ's suggestion worked far better for Luciano than Amy, since it meant there was a much higher chance of meeting new people, but it sounded like a compromise so RJ helped him out on both fronts. Thank god for RJ.

"That sounds perfect, thank you. I'm sorry Amy, I didn't mean to make a risky decision, I just thought it would be useful to find people sooner than later." Luciano chose his words carefully in order to win over Amy, but he wasn't sure how well that would work. Either way, to prevent her from backing out now, Luciano pointed towards the Jetties. "Come on, my headache's better now so we should start moving. Better not to stay out in the open for too long.." Luciano feigned a slight wince as if from the headache for a second, before striding forward towards the Central Jetties.

(Luciano, Amy and RJ continued elsewhere...)