Peers

[Pippi]

Despite Brennan’s crazed yelling, Simon didn’t seem like he was going to run away or attack Brennan, although he did seem slightly taken aback. Brennan privately thought this was a minor miracle. He was calm again. He was still upset, of course, but he didn’t think he’d start yelling and threatening people any time soon. Simon seems kinda... calm about Rishi’s death, though... but I guess not everyone shows their emotions, or something...

So, Simon and Rishi had gone off to the Rain Forest... and that had been where Karen had killed Rishi. Even though Brennan doubted Karen would be stupid enough to stay in there the whole time, he still didn’t want to go anywhere near the Rain Forest in the near future. Simon was still speaking, telling Brennan he’d met some people. One of them, Todd, Brennan didn’t recognize, coming from the other school. The other...

Simon had met Ali.

I knew I shouldn’t have gone with Eric, I knew it! But... I can still find her. Simon must know where she last went. I have to ask him!

Simon was still talking, however, and despite the fact they were on Death Island, so to speak, Brennan didn’t want to interrupt him. He was glad to hear that Simon shared his feelings about Eric, and this, combined with the Simon’s news, caused Brennan to smile for the first time on the island. His comments about the rest of Orange Team, however, brought Brennan’s mind round to a different thought. I hope Ali’s on Orange Team... but even if she isn’t, that won’t matter too much, will it?

Brennan was about to ask Simon about Ali, when Cesar spoke up. Brennan hadn’t even noticed him arrive. He was glad he was calm now; he might have hit Cesar in his crazed state earlier. As Cesar and Simon exchanged greetings, Brennan looked back over at where the new guy had been. To his surprise, he was walking off, shaking his head, and Bobby was standing in his place. A surge of annoyance rushed through Brennan. A potential ally, turned away. Brennan turned back, shaking his head like the new boy had been, and seeing that Cesar and Simon had stopped talking, asked the question he’d been wanting to ask for the past minute or two.

“Hey, uh, Simon? You said you’d seen Ali White in the Rain Forest, didn’t you? Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

[The Bearded One*]

The guy with the green bandanna nodded and rolled his eyes. "You guys be careful. Hate to hear your names come up on the next announcement," he said. Bobby wasn't sure if that was a threat or just sarcasm. The kid recognized him from the track team, then speculated about an escape from the show like back in season 53. "I suppose I'll see you on the other side one way or another."

The kid smiled and waved as he walked off the dock, heading roughly eastward. That was definitely sarcasm, Bobby thought, frowning at the kid's back.

Cesar got back from the yacht quickly, but not quickly enough to speak to the black kid. He mentioned that he'd heard the announcement from inside the boat, and that "the shit really hit the fan out there...."

"You aren't kidding," Bobby answered. He held himself back from mentioning Odile's part in the list of killers, not wanting to bring it up if Cesar wasn't ready. Besides, there was still one stranger on the dock with an unknown weapon.

Cesar advised Bobby to be their backup if the smaller stranger turned violent. So he hung back, watching Cesar approach the kid, speak to him almost formally. Then the kid answered with his name, Simon Porter (He must be from the other school.), and shake Cesar's hand. Good, he's not a threat at the moment.

Bobby walked closer to the three boys, close enough to hear their conversation but not intrude. At first Bobby thought that Simon might be on his team, but the grey bandanna had the numeral '13' rather than the shield that was on Bobby's forehead. Simon asked if they'd seen any other members of his team. Let's see, Bobby mused, purple, pink, orange, and now you. That's a big nope, sorry. Instead of saying that, he just shook his head negatively.

Brennan in turn asked Simon if he knew where this Ali White girl was.

Now that the cruise ship's been declared a danger zone, we should go to the hotel to see if there's anything salvageable left. Again, he kept his mouth shut, realizing that whoever this 'Ali' person was, she was in some way important to Brennan. And the world doesn't revolve around me. He decided to wait for Simon to answer before he spoke.

[Kitten*]

((Odile Jones continued from We are the Dead))

In any show, the most important part was the entrance. Your show could be moving, it could be hilarious, it could brutally shatter preconceptions and it could restore faith in humanity, and nobody’d give a shit if your entrance wasn’t up to snuff.

Odile was good with entrances, and this was one of her better ones.

With a light breeze, her tailcoat billowed rather majestically. She kept her head down, eyes concealed under her tophat brim. Her hands were spread wide, a gesture of peace; being shot as a threat would not be a good look.

Odile strode along the dock with confidence. The kids at the end of it looked disorganized, confused.

Perfect.

Stagelights were on. Time to play.

This was risky, she knew that. There looked to be about four of them, meaning that odds on one of them had a gun. If these were SDA kids they wouldn’t recognize Odile, but if they were from Detroit she could be in trouble.

Still, she had her gun, tucked into the waistband of her brand new hotpants. If this all went tits up, Odile could probably take a hostage. At worst, take one of them with her.

She lifted her head up, showing her face.

Bobby something, Brennan something, some other kid and… Cesar?

This would be interesting.

Odile grinned, wide.

They knew her by reputation; both her old, Detroitian quasi-fame and her island-stlye murder-rep. An impression had already been made, she wouldn’t need to try to hard. That being said, she was never one for doing things half-heartedly.

Showmanship is breaking expectations. Her Uncle's words, and wise ones at that. Show someone a black card and they won't bat a eyelid. Show someone a black card when they're expecting a red one? You can blow their fucking minds.

Creepy Odile, the creepy killer, had made her creepy entrance. Expectations had been established.

Time to start breaking 'em.

Odile's bottom lip quivered. Her eyes went wide and anguished. Her pace became faltered, uneven. She dropped her bag, ran and threw her arms around Cesar.

"Th-th-they tried to kill meee!"

God she was good.

[Nadir*]

Cesar tried to remember if he had seen someone with a bandanna like Simon´s. Tristan was Grey. Jazsmine was Blue. The guy who Bobby had briefly attacked at the Geyser was Green.

"Hummm, no, I don´t think I have seen anybody with a bandanna like yours" Cesar muttered. The other guy, Simon, did not look like an inmediate threat. That was good. After all, four people were better than three when travelling together.

Brennan then asked about Alicia White. Seemed like he was looking for someone precious to him also. Cesar could understand the feeling, he could know what Brennan was going through right now.

Bobby came closer, and they both waited for Simon´s answer regarding Alicia White, when it happened...

Or else, when "she" happened.

Cesar could not tell if he was glad or angry to see her. He was not ready yet. Not when just a couple of minutes had happened after he had heard the announcement. Not after he had learnt what she was capable of doing. Not after he had learnt that she had killed an scared, innocent child.

On the other hand, he could not but blush slightly after she threw her arms around him. He was happy that she was still allive. He was happy that she was there. He was happy that she had found him.

And he was determined to stay with her until the end.

She sobbed, her head buried deep in his shoulder. "Th-th-they tried to kill meee!"

He nodded, and felt how a couple of tears were trying to escape his eyes as well. No. He. Couldn´t. Break. Down. Right. Now. He had to appear strong for her. For everyone else.

Of course she had not been doing it on purpose. Of course they had been trying to kill her. If not, what other reason was left to explain her actions...?

"Shhhh..." Cesar whispered on her ear "It´s allright, honey. It´s allright. You did what you had to do. Don´t worry about anything else, you are safe now"

He also threw his arms around her, his head buried also deep on her shoulders. His poor Black Swan. His poor Odile. His poor Goddess.

"I promise it. I swear it on my life. You don´t have to worry about anything right now..."

He did not know how the guys would take Odile´s entrance on the scene. But, at this same moment, he was too enthralled by her to care about what they thought.

Time just seemed to stand still.

[Fenrir]

“Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

It seemed like Simon wasn’t the only person out looking for people on the island, only rather than looking for his teammates Brennan seemed more interested in finding people he knew from school; Simon couldn’t blame him, maybe if he was on friendlier terms with people back home he’d be doing the same but, as it was, he just wanted to find whatever was left of his team so he wouldn’t have to worry so much about the people around him.

The only question was how much to tell him; he would tell her where she was, it wouldn’t be fair to keep that fact from Brennan when he knew, but what about what team she was on or the fact that she had been injured?

“After the Rain Forest, Ali and I ran to the Resort Beach. We ran into some more people staying in one of the souvenir shacks, most of them were her teammates so she stayed with them; sorry Brennan but she’s on Gold team, not Orange”, better he was prepared if he was going to walk into the middle of almost the entire Gold team, but as for Ali injury he was going to leave that reveal up to her; better not to worry Brennan too much.

Once he had finished speaking he turned around in time to see a girl dressed like a magician – or possibly a circus ring master – tackle hug Cesar. He wasn’t all that worried considering the other boy seemed to know her, but he was a little uneasy being around this many strangers; at least back at the beach he was around other SDA students.

[Pippi]

As Brennan spoke, he saw Bobby walk over to the rest of the group. I just hope he doesn’t force Simon away. We need all the allies we can get in this... “game”.

Simon started speaking, and Brennan blocked all other thoughts so he could concentrate solely on what he was saying. So, he’d last seen her at the Resort Beach, huh? Maybe, when the time comes to discussing where next to go, I could... try and hint at us going there, maybe? But, then again, she could have moved on from there... And I’ll have to consider what other people want to do...

“Sorry Brennan, but she’s on Gold team, not Orange.”

Well. That bit of news was slightly less welcome to Brennan. All he could really do, though, was give a rather lame little “Oh?”, and slump back onto the grass, resting his head on his palm. Inside, however, his mind was racing. Did that really matter? Did, at this point in the... “game”, teams already start congregating according to their bandanas, not allowing outsiders in the group? Brennan had never seen the show, so he didn’t know the answer to this, or the fact that the team aspect was entirely new. But I don’t... I don’t care. Even if the rest of Gold team is armed to the teeth, that doesn’t matter to me. I will find her. Then, maybe, we can look for everyone else. Tiffany, Brenda, maybe Simon and Bobby’s friends? And didn’t Cesar say something about Odile Jones? But... she was on the announcement, wasn’t she?

As if on cue, something rushed into the group, almost colliding into Cesar. The sudden movement caused Brennan to stand back up again in shock. As he did, he saw that the “something” had indeed been Odile, curiously dressed in what looked like a magician’s outfit. That’s... odd, to say the least. I doubt Odile was just casually wearing that when she was abducted.

The sudden arrival of Odile had brought conflict to Brennan’s mind. On one hand, he was glad Cesar had found who he wanted, and he didn’t exactly want to ruin their moment. On the other, there was the whole... murder thing. From what Odile had said, she’d been attacked, and Brennan guessed she was talking about who she had... killed. Wait, “they” tried to kill me? But the announcement only mentioned that Holly girl...

There was nothing else for it. Brennan would have to say something about it. For a couple of seconds, Brennan simply opened his mouth, as if he was about to speak, before closing it, in realisation that his words could have been insensitive. He had to tread carefully here.

“Look, uh, Odile, isn’t it? I’m sorry to have to bring it up, but it’s really necessary. I’m guessing that you were attacked by the people you- uh, I mean, were on the announcement. Which brings me to two questions. Number, uh, one. You said “they “ tried to kill you, but there was only one person on the announcement. So who, uh, was the second person? Or, uh, if there was more than two, who were they? And, uh, secondly...” At this, Brennan took a deep breath.”

“What... Exactly what happened?”

[The Bearded One*]

Simon's answer to Brennan was a little more long winded than it needed to be, but the details were there.  The last time he saw Ali (whoever she was), she was somewhere on the Resort Beach, and she'd met up a couple of members of Gold team of which she was a part.

Brennan didn't seem to react negatively to the news that Ali wasn't on his team.  Is this Ali person actually Brennan's girlfriend?  I guess that's possible, Bobby thought; I just didn't think a geek like Brennan could score with anyone at all.

Before any more reflections on Brennan's crush could progress, Odile appeared.  She was dressed like a sexy stage magician complete with top hat.  At first, Bobby thought that she was praying, but she quickly looked up, spotted Cesar, and ran into his arms crying that 'they' had tried to kill her.  Cesar wrapped her in his arms and whispered (presumably) comforting words into her ear.

The announcement said something about Odile knifing some girl in the throat.  That doesn't sound very self-defense-y.  But before Bobby could put these thoughts into words, Brennan spoke up.  He asked her what she meant by 'they', and what exactly happened.

Bobby didn't particularly like Brennan taking so active a role, even though he was asking the same kinds of questions that Bobby would have asked.  He added a third question of his own to the girl: "Yeah, and what weapon did you wind up with?"

Hmph.  Maybe Brennan does have a head on his shoulders.  Well, if he really wants to go to the Resort Beach to look for his girlfriend, we can probably swing that after we figure out what's up with Odile.

[Kitten*]

Brennan mumbled out a question, his good nature clearly tempering his skepticism. That was good. It gave her time to plan.

Odile’s mention of being attacked by a group seemed to have thrown her audience. A sob story about having to save herself from Holly would’ve been expected, and wouldn’t’ve been believed readily. She could’ve made it work, Odile had no doubt about that, but that would be an uphill battle. Mentioning dead-boy was necessary too; there was no surer way to draw suspicion than fail to mention that one time she shot a guy to death.

People frowned on that sort of thing.

She burrowed her head into Cesar’s shoulder, rubbing the rough material of the shirt against her eyes. The way in which she told the story was what they’d be watching for, and a little tearfulness would be her friend here.

There was no doubt that she’d been lucky with this group. Four guys, for starters, was definitely a plus: she could see the teary-eyed broken-bird act going down significantly less well with a female audience. A woman crying was some kind of primal, male protection trigger, right? As a general rule, Odile preferred her manipulation to be a little more subtle than simply pressing vestigial caveman buttons, but she’d take whatever advantages she could.

Were any of them likely to see through her story? It didn’t seem likely. Brennan was smart, smart enough to press her for details, but he was also way too nice for his own good. From memory, Bobby had some sorta misogynist thing going for him; a scared girl killing by accident would slot into his worldview nicely. The other kid, the one she didn’t know, didn’t seem particularly interested either way; she didn’t see him speaking up any time soon. All of that just left Cesar, and he’d never be a problem. Cesar thought she was a lady, and ladies didn’t kill children.

Misinformed about her character as he might be, Odile still liked the boy. She almost felt bad, having to lie to him. Almost.

Okay, enough delaying. She planned her story out in her head. Something simple, schematic. Let the redness in her eyes do all the work. Not too much detail, but obvious omissions would draw suspicion. Tone should be panicky, maybe even hysterical. Voice: quavering. Pitch: high. Plan: foolproof.

She was ready. Story time.

“I - I - I was sleeping and I - I woke up and there were people there, a boy and a girl, and they tried to grab me but I rolled away and then, and then I - I...”

She paused for a breath, taking it in a wheezing, ragged sob. Was it working? They looked like they were buying it.

“I had some, some scissors, and I waved them at one of them, at the girl, and I didn’t mean to cut her but I did and she screamed and she had a gun and she fired but she missed and she dropped it and ran away and I didn’t think she was that hurt and I was so scared and I -"

Her voice faltered. Masterful.

" - and I grabbed the gun and the boy had a gun too and I shot at him and I didn’t even think it had hit and I was so scared and he ran away too and I was scared and I thought they’d be okay I didn’t know I’d hurt her and then it said she was dead and I was so scared”

Odile buried her face in Cesar’s chest. She’d never been able to bring tears to her eyes, but she could fake the sound of crying with a fair amount of believability.

“Oh god I was so scared!”

She sat down, taking off her hat. The picture of vulnerability. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she looked up at Bobby.

“I... I still have the gun. The girl’s gun. Holly. I didn’t know she was dead, didn’t think she was really hurt until the announcer-man said so.”

Was announcer-man too childish? No, it had seemed to fit.

She sniffed, loudly, and put both hand to her face.

“I’m sorry, I’m such a mess, I was... I was just so scared.”

Time for the masterstroke. Odile looked up again, this time at all four of them.

“I feel safe now I’m with you, though.”

[Casey The Undead*]

A voice echoes very quietly from Bobby's collar...

"Bobby, listen. I'm Martin, Martin Winchester, and I'm going to get you through this game. I've seen this before, lots of times, the crying girlfriend, self-defense act. Don't buy it. Girls like her cannot be trusted, you got me? But don't fight back, that's stupid. Use her while you can, but don't let her get the advantage. You can come out on top if you play it right. You can win this whole thing, but you gotta be careful!

"

[Nadir*]

Cesar´s head almost jerked up when the questions started. He had been expecting it, for the most part. They all thought she was a murderer. He sent a death glare at Brennan and Bobby. If looks could kill, the two other boys would have been dead on the spot. Simon, however, hadn´t opened his mouth at all when Odile had crashed into them. Possibly because he was the only student from the another school in the group.

The guys were asking Odile what had happened. Odile had told them the story, about how the girl, Holly, and the other boy, had tried to kill her, in rapid sucession. That cleared her of all fault, in Cesar´s book. Besides, she hadn´t known Holly was dead until she had left the scene. Clearly, it all had been a pitiful, regrettable accident on her part (at least in the first death), and out of self defence (in the second).

The thing is... Cesar was having trouble believing her. He did not know if the other guys were thinking the same thing, but it seemed so... out of the blue. However, Cesar was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“I feel safe now I’m with you, though.”

"Yeah... of course you are" Cesar smiled at her, reassuringly. He was going to protect her, at all costs "You don´t have to worry about anything, you are safe now... and you don´t look like a mess, at all. It´s normal, after what you have been through..."

He then heard a sound, like a metalic rasping. And then something like a voice, coming from very far. However, Cesar could not hear it clearly, nor he could tell specifically where it came from.

"Hummm... did you guys hear any of that?" he said, getting his hands into his pockets, his sights set in the treeline.

[Mini_Help]

Just a friendly reminder: Please remember to take note of this thread concerning the mentor advice given and which students may have heard it. Usually when the advice is noted to be given very quietly it means that the advice was relayed to the person receiving the message, only. In this case Robert Goldman is the only person who has heard the advice. If the advice isn't edited into the thread link given above and you have doubts on who heard the message, it's probably best to ask the staff member who posted the advice.

[Fenrir]

Simon stood off to the side while Odile told her story. He didn’t speak up like the other two at first; he didn’t know them, any of them, so how could he doubt what she said. He listened carefully to what she said and even though he couldn’t detect a hint of a lie, it just sounded wrong to him.

She sounded sincere enough; the little wavers in her voice, the crying and clinging to Cesar, nothing that would suggest any of it was anything but the truth. But the story itself? She was apparently grabbed in her sleep by two people with guns but managed to roll away; she then pulled out a pair of scissors – by which he assumed she meant the little things they got in the first aid kit – and attacked them, injuring the girl enough to eventually kill her before grabbing her gun to shoot the boy as well. It all sounded so… I don’t know.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t the fact she might be lying that bothered him; even if she was telling the truth she had just admitted to attacking and killing one person and injuring, maybe killing another. And on that note;

“Urm… Odile was it? Did you see who the guy was, or what teams they were both on?”

[Pippi]

Brennan had been expecting the look he recieved from Cesar. After all, if he’d been in Cesar’s place, he’d probably have done the same. He tried to reply to Cesar’s glare with a look as apologetic as he could make, trying to say “I’m really sorry, but I needed to say that” without speaking.

For perhaps the first time in his life, Brennan wished he had watched SOTF before. Only slightly, but he thought it might have given him some sort of advantage right about now, so he’d know whether Odile’s story was likely or not. But even with prior knowledge of the show, Brennan wasn’t sure if it would have helped. He was inherently friendly and trusting of people. He’d always believe that people were innocent until proven guilty; he’d always give people the benefit of the doubt.

Essentially, Brennan’s greatest traits in normal life were his biggest flaws in SOTF.

That was why, almost as soon as Odile started speaking, Brennan was ready to believe her. The panicky, high pitched voice, the way she clung to Cesar: All of her act had Brennan completely convinced. There was a nagging voice in the back of his head that said “Don’t trust her. Don’t trust anyone. You don’t know what they’ve done.” Brennan, however, ignored the voice.

Odile’s words were rushed, and she was speaking without stopping, words becoming jumbled. She might not have been able to conjure tears, but Brennan, in his already fragile state, was so concerned for her well-being, that he felt a couple of tears returning to his eyes. When she said that she felt safe with the group, Brennan nodded, and said “Ye-yeah, uh, it’s okay. Don’t worry, like Cesar said...”

Brennan also nodded at Simon’s question. He really wasn’t sure what else to say now. The recent announcement, and Odile’s arrival had kinda thrown a rather large spanner into the group’s works, and he wasn’t sure what they’d be able to do. He, of course, wanted to find Ali, but Cesar would probably want to try and help Odilie in any way. And as for Simon and Bobby... Brennan had no idea.

Cesar had apparently heard something off in the treeline. Brennan looked over at him, slightly confused. “Uh, nope. I didn’t hear anything...” His voice trailed off, as an idea struck him. Brennan had, since joining the group, felt fairly... useless. He hadn’t felt like he had contributed anything to the group, and didn’t want to hinder Bobby and Cesar at all. Maybe... If I try and help them, I won’t feel this bad...

“But, uh, Cesar?” Brennan spoke up again. “Do you, uh, want me to check the trees to see if there was anything, y’know?”

[The Bearded One*]

Odile told her story in answer to Brennan's questions and his own. She'd been attacked by a boy and a girl, killed the girl with scissors, then took that girl's gun and shot the boy. If Odile hadn't been practically weeping while recounting the incident, it would have sounded like a player's double-kill. It seems so unlikely on the face of it, he thought, but I suppose it is just within the range of possibility for Survival of the Fittest: TV. Bobby's brows un-knitted; he was prepared to believe her.

Cesar was comforting Odile, holding her and shooting dagger-looks at Brennan and Bobby for even asking Odile for more details. "You don´t have to worry about anything, you are safe now," he said softly. He might have gone on, but his eyes shifted as if hearing something.

Bobby heard something, too. It was a very quiet voice addressing Bobby from his collar. It/he was telling Bobby not to believe Odile's story. Bobby was a little surprised that he hadn't heard from his team's mentor before then, but pushed that thought away. He looked back at Odile with renewed skepticism.

Simon finally spoke to Odile, asking if she saw what teams her kills had been on; and Brennan volunteered to go scout the tree line for possible intruders. That's pretty damn foolish of him: a small kid with no weapons going on patrol. The only thing he can do if he finds someone is shout an alarm just before dying horribly!

Bobby wasn't an actor, wasn't practiced in hiding his true feelings, but he tried. "Odile, I'm sorry that this happened to you. It looks like having taken a life has been very traumatic for you. Maybe you should hand that gun over to Cesar so that it doesn't happen again. I'm sure he'll protect you; we all will as long as we're together."

"You shouldn't go alone," he said to Brennan, "I'll come with you." He started walking away from Cesar and Odile before seeing what her reaction to his little suggestion would be.

[Nadir*]

Cesar instantly regressed having looked at Brennan and Bobby like that. Brennan looked sorry and apologetic, while Bobby looked indignant and skeptic regarding Odile´s story. Simon then asked Odile in which team had been her two...

Victims... they were her victims. No, he was not gonna refer to Odile as a murderess. Never. At all. Then what, attackers, sound betters, doesn´t it? Yeah, her attackers. Sounded more neutral. Better.

As he waited to hear Odile´s answer, Brennan denied that he heard anything like the metalic sound Cesar had listened previously. However, he volunteered to go to the treeline and check if there was someone hiding there. Cesar had to give it to the kid, he had balls. In some part of his mind, Cesar knew that the guy only wanted to go and explore just to make up for the way he thought Cesar and Odile had been offended.

"Hummm, yeah, Brennan, actually I think that would be a good idea" and then he offered a smile to the boy, so he would know that he was not angry anymore "Just be careful out there. Give us a shout if you see anything"

He felt a pang of regret for sending Brennan on a potentially dangerous mission, but then Bobby also volunteered to go and accompany Brennan on the task. That seemed better. If there was someone out there, the little boy wouldn´t last ten seconds. It was better if Bobby was with him. After all, he was bigger, and stronger. Yeah, if somebody could protect Brennan from danger, that was the other guy.

But, before going away, Bobby then dropped a small, and somewhat curious, suggestion for Odile.

"Odile, I'm sorry that this happened to you. It looks like having taken a life has been very traumatic for you. Maybe you should hand that gun over to Cesar so that it doesn't happen again. I'm sure he'll protect you; we all will as long as we're together."

"Allright" he said to Bobby, as both boys started walking to the treeline "Simon and I should cover you from here, but still give us a shout if you see anything suspicious"

He then watched at Odile, who was still sitting on the ground. He bit his upper lip. What Bobby had said...

"Hummm..." he started, trying not to sound very suspicious "Odile, you know, maybe Bobby is right. Maybe you should give the gun to me until you have rested a little bit more. I promise you I will give it back right when you ask, but if somebody attacks us and you are exhausted like that then we run the risk of you shooting one of us..."

He paused briefly as he pondered on that. Would Odile be able to shoot him, if she had the chance...? What if in the end she turned out to be like Karen...? What if, behind all the tears, all the magic, there was really a witch, expecting all of them to fall under her spell...?

"Only if you want, of course..." he added, in a hushed tone. However, he knew that this was a trial that Odile had to pass on her own. If she gave him the gun, then Cesar´s trust on her would have been cemented, solidified. He would follow her to the end of the world, and he would actually not care on how many people she killed as long as the two survived. However, if she did not give him the gun, then...

Then I dunno what Im gonna do, because she is the only person I trust in this damned shithole...