If I ever acquire wisdom, I suppose I'll be wise enough to know what to do with it

[almostinhuman]

Patching the boy up proved easier than she'd feared once she had him upright. His leg was in poor shape, but she could at least make it so he wouldn't bleed out. He made a rather understandable fuss about it while she sanitized and dressed the wound, but really, he was handling having his leg minced a lot better than most would. There was a lot that could still go wrong - he was probably risking an infection even with her attempts to clean the injury - but for now, he was as in the clear as she could make him.

She tried not to think on whether doing this for Marion would have helped.

He wanted to know what they'd been up to, before Seo-yun and Anthony and whoever the fuck else showed up. She wasn't sure if he was asking about her and Luanne or her and Shoshanna and Rhonda. For all she knew, he didn't actually know she'd been with them, or maybe didn't know they'd been here at all. They were gone now, obviously, so maybe they'd gotten away before Ashanti and this kid showed up. Maybe they were fine and as feeling as frantic about her as she was about them.

"Shoshanna wanted to come here. Thought maybe we'd find something that could help get the collars off." She sighed, tightening the bandages around his leg. "To be honest, I don't know if she was on to something or not. I was... distracted, when she laid out her plan."

"Did you see her, by the way?" She met his gaze, hoping now she could get a straight answer out of him. "Or Rhonda? What happened to them?"

[Maraoone]

"O-oh shit you were with her?"

Matias probably could've said that with some more tact. Too late to take it back now though so.

"She was, uh, she and Rhonda? Basketball girl? They were here when Seo-yun came in. Hid behind some tables last I saw them. I don't know what happened to her after we left but, like, we don't see any bodies here so that's encouraging, yeah?"

A beat of silence. More awkwardness, more nothingness. Didn't like it.

Might as well ask about other things in the mean time. Not like he could walk out of this for the moment, much as he wanted to.

"You guys made much progress on that escape thing yet?"

[almostinhuman]

"Well..."

He didn't have much to offer, unfortunately. His answer gave her no information she couldn't have gleaned with a glance around the room. It was probably the best she could hope for that he hadn't seen them get gunned down, but that was little comfort.

She didn't have much to offer in reverse, either. Just two kids with blown-up necks. Hardly a vote of confidence.

"... define progress."

[Maraoone]

"Like. Do you have a good idea of what you're doing? Any leads on how to escape?

"Okay that might be asking a bit much but, like. What do you think the odds are of you making it out of all this alive?"

...

That might also have been asking a bit much, thinking back on it.

[almostinhuman]

"Truthfully?"

She wasn't about to give him what she actually thought. Far too grim.

"I don't know."

[Maraoone]

"Fair."

Matias sighed. Leaned his head back, momentarily paid his attention to what had once been an ornate ceiling, now missing its chandelier. At least it wasn't raining scum water on them anymore.

"I mean, if it helps any? We have this giant as fuck jetpack that weighs a fuckton. Been weighing down Ashanti's back for basically several days. Could help if you have any ideas relating to fire and shit, and we'd been about to give it out anyways."

[almostinhuman]

She looked at him incredulously. Had she heard him right?

"Jetpack?"

[Maraoone]

A laugh bubbled from Matias' throat.

"Fuck yeah a jetpack. Ashanti, like, led me back to the thing when we first met up, was a fuckin' ordeal trying to get it out from the middle of this huge-ass ship. Almost broke my arms trying to help her lift the thing up."

A smile lingered on his face for a bit. Then it faded. Maybe he should've helped her carry that thing around more? Like, she'd never offered but. Hm.

He shook his head, trying to get the thought out of his mind. Looked back up at Nadine.

"But yeah the producers say it should work. Allegedly."

[almostinhuman]

Not just a jetpack, but a working one? Really? That was a little hard to swallow.

"I... I guess that might be useful? Though if it's that heavy I don't know how we're gonna move it."

[Maraoone]

"...yeah."

Not like he had the legs needed to support her. And she looked like she'd be crushed under the weight of that thing, no offense.

"Well, we can just wait for your... shit, sorry."

Your allies. The ones currently disappeared off to fuck knows where.

...

"Why escape anyways? Why not, like, join up with a team or try to play or whatever? What brought you here?"

[almostinhuman]

Why escape anyways?

The question seemed ridiculous. Nadine still didn't get how so many people could do anything but try to escape. It confused her when Laura left them, it confused her when everyone at the pool rejected her offer, and it confused her now. She wasn't even certain escape was possible, but to try anything else, especially after what she'd done in pursuit of it...

There was a long, ugly pause before she responded.

"Marion Rosales."

[Maraoone]

The girl she killed.

Matias nodded, leaned back, stroked an imaginary beard. Started rocking the leg of his that wasn't fucked. He got the distinct feeling he should have just shut up and let the pain overtake him, like, one or two questions ago. But he was curious at this point.

So he kept digging.

"You guys close or?"

[almostinhuman]

She looked away from him, at nothing in particular. Could she really claim to be close to someone she'd practically only known for two days? Someone she'd killed? Marion felt like a friend, but she'd been barely less of a stranger than Jasper.

"... no."

She shouldn't have brought her up at all. Why was it any of his business? Who was he, even?

"So what about you," she asked, turning back to him, "since we've learned plenty about me? You got a name?"

[Maraoone]

"...you fuckin' serious? We're about to graduate and shit and you don't know my fuckin' name?"

Matias scoffed, half-laughed a bit. Not to suck his own dick too much or anything but just, like, he was on the soccer team and thought he was fairly well-known and shit? And even if he wasn't, like, shouldn't you know the names of your classmates by this point? They'd been around each other for four years, he'd thought that would've been a given at this point.

Whatever.

And they hadn't, by the way, learned plenty about her, she'd sidestepped his question about why she wanted to escape, but he was digging closer and closer to a brick wall so there was no point in questioning any further there.

"Matias Juarez. That's who I am. You're Nadine Morales, I'm pretty sure. And by the way."

He looked down at his thigh. Gulped, sighed. Looked back at Nadine.

"You still accepting new people in your escape thing or no?"

[almostinhuman]

"... Flores, actually." The barest hint of a smirk played across her face. "But I can't complain. Glass houses."

She wouldn't have complained regardless. Weren't there, like, a thousand students or so at Mangrove? Not getting their names perfectly right was understandable in her view, and was better than she herself had managed. Frankly, she was a little surprised Matias recognized her at all.

Nevermind that, though. He'd had something else to say. Much more important than his griping about names.

"And yes, definitely. There's no such thing as too many escapees, I figure."