Go for Broke

[almostinhuman]

(Nadine Flores continued from Born to be Public)

Laura wasn't here. A shame. It'd seemed a more likely place to find her than where she'd actually promised to be.

The girls had arrived at the cruise ship shortly after the announcements declared it safe - and declared their former haven a danger zone. Shoshanna and Rhonda were in the nearby banquet hall, following up on Shoshanna's ideas for the collars. Nadine explained her plan to meet with Laura that they'd formed on the first day, and offered to check the pool for her, though not without Shoshanna fretting over the idea and making her promise to run back to them at the first sign of trouble. Nadine understood why, of course, but it made her feel like a burdensome child. Which, given how useful she'd been so far, wasn't an unfair read.

The announcements themselves revealed one unfortunate note; Nadine was credited as Marion's killer. That was going to make things very awkward if she actually managed to find Laura. It also probably wasn't a great advertisement for their escape attempt. The primary thing the group had accomplished so far was getting picked off, and now that was being broadcast to the entire arena. There were other depressing points of interest as well - Lark and Hailey were dead, Anthony had killed someone - but after the past few days it all filtered into the general background noise of stress and misery. Hearing about your friends killing and dying versus literally killing them yourself hit very differently.

Nadine walked to the ship's edge, gazing out at the flotilla from this high point. It hadn't taken long to tell Laura wasn't here, but there wasn't much she could do with that information. Two of their agreed-upon meeting places were danger zones, and the third was at one of the furthest possible places from where she was right now. Even if Laura was there, she'd probably leave by the time Nadine could get there. Plus she could hardly abandon Shoshanna and Rhonda for Laura's sake, nor could she ask them to take such a huge risk for someone who wasn't gonna be much help. Truthfully, she was only looking for her because Marion seemed to give at least the tiniest enough of a shit about Laura to include her in their escape. If Marion didn't get to go home, at least Laura might.

Seemed like a terrible trade, frankly.

If Laura wasn't here, there wasn't much reason to stay. Yet Nadine didn't want to go back to the others yet. She and Marion had idled here on that first day, and it was probably the closest Nadine had come to feeling even a little safe this entire time. She'd openly decried their small talk as a waste of time after the first announcements, but now she wished she hadn't. Maybe if they'd stayed put a bit longer, they wouldn't have met the others on the clipper ship, and Marion wouldn't have been there for her mysterious assailant to shoot. Every conversation she'd had since then had been either pure utility or mired in grief. She missed idle chatter, and she wasn't even very good at it.

Still, while she was here, there was at least one person to talk to. One who could help her with something that'd been nagging at her since the start.

"Hey, uh... Malcolm, right? We sure haven't spoken since... ever."

There was a pretty obvious reason for that, but there wasn't any need to say so.

"So, I'm sure you know what I'm up to. I'm also sure you have nothing useful to add to the topic. But I guess I've been wondering..."

"How many times have kids tried escaping before? How many of them have succeeded?"

She wasn't certain what answer she was hoping for, but she had a gut feeling about the answer she'd get.

[Kermit]

((Luanne Grasset continued from Girl with Death Mask (She Plays Alone)(tw for some stuff in other Kahlo paintings that can sometimes show up on the webpage)))

"..."

Dripping with sweat and tears, she stumbled forward, a couple of meters behind the other girl.

Her feet gave out from under the weight of the two bags slung over her shoulders. She collided with the ground.

She laid there, retching.

[almostinhuman]

"So... nothing, eh?"

That wasn't the answer she'd hoped for nor the one she'd expected.

"Won't pretend I saw that coming. Guess I probably should've."

She'd expected either a noncommittal response or the straight facts - which were likely to be grim. Somehow this felt a lot worse. Was he intentionally ignoring her or was he not there to begin with? It probably didn't matter if the effect was still the same.

But maybe it was for the best. She'd already put everything on the escape plan, given and lost quite a bit to it. What would knowing about prior escapees accomplish, aside from making the past two days feel like a senseless waste? Any plan in SOTF was gonna be a dicey gamble, so she was better off betting blind. Knowing the odds would just paralyze her.

She turned around to return to the banquet hall just in time to see someone collapse to the floor of the pool deck, vomiting and crying.

Nearly as bad as someone with a gun.

"Uh..." Nadine had no clue what to say to her. "You... you okay there?"

[Kermit]

She'd barely even entered the cruise ship, and she'd been running through a corridor, trying to find the banquet hall, when out of the corner of her eye, she'd seen it. Through a window. She didn't mean to look, didn't want to look back, but she'd caught the shop boat. And she'd seen it. Outside the boat, a boy dragging something very sparkly. Dragging her like she was a piece of meat.

And

she didn't want to talk about it. About that. The time between then and now. About how she'd ended up at the pool deck. About what she'd said to Pippi here, before they'd both gotten dragged under. About how she physically couldn't exert herself anymore without dry heaving. About how she hadn't yet been able to bring herself to open Pippi's bag, because it would feel like walking into the bedroom of a dead sibling. They were all the kinds of things that she only knew how to draw, didn't know how to say.

And so now here she was, on her hands and knees, coughing out her own throat. And she was still completely oblivious to the other girl's presence.

"Noreen," she rasped down into her collar mic, "Noreen, if I, if I don't, if I, I just - I'd like to be cremated with my sketchbooks. Please. Burn them with - with me. If I don't make it out. Or if I do, and, and nobody finds me in time. Please."

[almostinhuman]

Also no response. Though unlike her mentor, Nadine could hardly blame the girl. It wasn't hard to guess what had probably upset her so badly; Nadine had reacted similarly, if less explosively, the night before. Someone was dead. Probably a recent death, probably one she'd witnessed, if she was affected this badly. Perhaps it was even her fault.

If this girl needed comfort and reassurance, she'd found maybe the worst person for the job. Still, it was clear she desperately needed some sort of help.

"Hey, seriously," she knelt beside the girl, though not so close as to touch her, "what's the problem? Do you need help?"

[Primrosette]

"Hmm. Looks like they are not here." She whispered to RJ as she was standing out of sight from the two girls and she was pondering on her next action.

((Bacchia Rubus continued from Predator And Prey At Night))

She had decided to come back to see if The Respects were there again and she didn't really know why she had wanted to. Maybe to make sure that they were okay after they lost her and how they had to possibly take care of Ivan without her being present. She was still glad that she had managed to hurt the bastard, but it was possibly not enough for him to fall over dead and she was feeling a bit frustrated about it. Another team kill would be a pain in the ass tho. She knew that much.

She and RJ had managed to get some rest while switching over in shifts, she had done some make-up as she has carried it around on her person, and they had left some time before the next announcement.

The announcement had some things that piqued her interest. Nadine Flores whom was one of the girls that she was peeking at.... She had a kill to her name. Marion Rosales. However, it seemed like it was either a request or an accident by the announcer's opinion and Bacchia really couldn't judge that well. Since Nadine wasn't attacking Luanne out of the blue, she could safely say that she wasn't going for the ten kills and she felt that was a good thing. Also, Anthony Golden. God, she wondered how RJ was feeling about that and the fact that Anthony had mercy killed an innocent soul like Beau Lively. Even if the guy's kind and hyper personality had annoyed her at times. It felt so strange to hear about RJ's friend doing something like that. Also that strange static cutting things out. She wondered what the hell that was all about.

She turned to her attention away from the girls and now she was focusing on RJ.

"Hey, RJ. Do you want to talk about Anthony? Before we go and greet those lovely girls?" She asked in a calm, soothing voice as if she was trying to comfort him and she was curious to know what was on his mind.

[AnimeNerd]

[[RJ Blackburn continued from Predator and Prey At Night]]

RJ was, admittedly, a little thankful that the Respects weren’t in the area. He still thought seeing them was more of an inevitability rather than just a small possibility, but that didn’t translate to wanting the confrontation right away.

It made him think of a final girl type of character trying to confront the slasher killer in the middle of the movie, and the end result was not pretty.

But Bacchia wanted to go to the cruise’s pool, and RJ also felt a little doubtful that the group would relocate back to the area so quickly, so he went ahead with the plan. And instead of a fate his dreams showed (which were a little less violent at least), they found one crying girl and another trying to comfort the former.

Luanne was definitely harmless. Too struck with grief over something to try anything, and unlike SOME PEOPLE, RJ wouldn’t disturb that. Nadine, meanwhile, might’ve been a bit more questionable if not for the reasoning for her kill being given through the announcements. He wasn’t sure what tampering with the collars could’ve done, but he didn’t believe it was anything actively malicious.

Bacchia asked a question and...it was not the best. He appreciated the calmness in her voice, but his feelings on Mr. Hypocrite at that point were very negative. To the point that he honestly thought back to Bacchia’s statement last night-about possibly having to kill the Fool’s Golden Boy himself-and agreed with it, at least somewhat.

But there was a time and a place for that talk. Maybe in the evening, once they had a place to rest. Not just out of earshot of two others.

RJ shook his head. “Thanks, but later. If we’re gonna say hi, there’s no point in putting it off, right?”

He wasn’t sure what they’d do after that, but hey. Figuring it out as they go along was always an option.

[Kermit]

Luanne then became aware that she wasn't alone, which she realized meant she was probably in a much deeper situation than she had bargained for.

Her blood ran cold. She froze. Caught her breath for a few moments, waiting to get hit by a bullet. Like normal, nothing happened.

She couldn't look towards the voice without staring into the sun, so. She was just gonna stay on her hands and knees, staring at the ground.

So, okay, the voice asked some questions. Pippi was dead, she'd seen it. And if Luanne'd left her a minute later, they'd both be dead. Pippi was dead. Luanne barely knew her. She'd only really been around her for a bit over a day. But Pippi almost felt like a sister to her, because each other had been all they'd had, especially to the cameras. Pippi was dead. It didn't feel true. Stop. Don't make a wake out of your life. Just do the best you can under the circumstances. Try to do the right thing. Okay.

So. The voice asked some questions.

What's the problem? Do you need help?

She still stared at the ground.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked.

[almostinhuman]

The girl's question left an ugly pause in its wake. The accusation cut a bit, though it really shouldn't have. They were on Survival of the Fittest, after all. It was perfectly sensible to assume complete strangers might want to hurt you. And strangers they were; Nadine didn't recognize her, so the reverse was likely also true. She hadn't even looked up to see who it was.

And if she did look up, she'd see a girl whose mostly-black outfit only partially disguised the fact it was covered in blood. So that probably wouldn't be very reassuring.

"... No, I'm not here to kill you." She tried to sound a bit more non-threatening, though she hadn't thought she sounded threatening to begin with. "I'm asking if you're okay."

[Applesintime]

"Give her some time. I, uh, she'll be fine. I think."

((Anthony Golden continued from SCALPEL LIPSTICK GEL ACTION CAMERA LIGHTS VIOLENCE IN YOUR HEART MEMORIES OF LOVE))

Maybe he should have just moved on. Stayed out of it, continued wandering through the corridors, looking for a player to hunt. Rows of identical cabins, unending hallways, and the occasional dead body. While maybe not the best hunting grounds, the Respects made this area their hunting ground for innocents, and in turn, it would become his hunting grounds for Respects. But hearing Luanne and Nadine talk reminded him of two things. Firstly, Pippi's bag was with Luanne, and her baton would be a nice backup item if his board ever got too broken. Second, Nadine was OK, and he wanted to talk to her. She was like, the only fellow anti-SOTF person here, apart from maybe Kurt but he'd seemingly disappeared off the face of the fucking planet.

Now the adrenaline had worn off, his arms hurt. The skull was a tough beast; it was designed to keep all the good bits inside your head, and cracking it took quite some effort. What killed Pippi, he wondered idly as he stepped through the doorway and into the pool area. Brain trauma from skull fragments flying into her brain? Blood loss? OK, probably not that. Probably brain trauma from the skull fragments. Or, in more simpler terms, the fact he had beat her head in. Man. The last time he had been here, Giselle was alive. The last time he had been here, Beau was alive. The last time he had been here, he didn't have the blood of two people on his hands and more to come.

"Nadine. How've you been?" He was aware he wasn't exactly the most friendly-looking person right now, what with the bloody plank and the blood stains and the fact he hadn't showered in three days and this heat. Well, actually, he had nipped into a cabin's shower for a few minutes but he didn't use any product. In comparison, Nadine looked a hell of a lot better, but she wasn't hunting. She hadn't killed anyone, and he sorely fucking hoped that she wouldn't. He didn't reckon she would become a player, no, but he hadn't expected Pippi or RJ or Verity to start playing and guess what, they fucking did. Expectations didn't mean shit here.

"Luanne'll be fine. Dunno what happened, but she'll be fine."

He knew exactly why she was upset.

He didn't care.

[Primrosette]

Bacchia was relieved that RJ seemed to want to discuss about Anthony later on as it was a testy subject and she wondered if she could convince RJ that Anthony had to be put down. Killing an innocent person didn't seem right even if it was asked for and Bacchia knew that it was an asshole thought. Since she had killed her friend without any mercy. Even if Calla would have done the same. Bacchia would have understood.

Aren't you lying to yourself, Bacchia?

Maybe she would have, maybe she wouldn't have.

It honestly didn't matter right now. What mattered was making good use of RJ as a loyal partner.

"Of course, makes sense. Let's go and-" She paused in her speech as she had looked back at the two girls and there was the boy who they were just talking about.

Anthony Golden.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." She chuckled bitterly. "You know what? Let's get this over with, RJ."

She stepped out into the open, making sure to keep her sword at her side in a non-threatening manner and she was keeping her distance from the others. She wasn't going to get too close. She had someone with a gun and she hoped that he wouldn't hesitate to use it if this situation got more messy.

"Hi, Nadine and Luanne. Sorry to interrupt...." She smiled at the two girls genuinely and her expression turned more cold when she glanced at Anthony. "I have some business with Anthony. Seems like you've been a busy boy, hmm?"

She raised an eyebrow in pure curiosity.

[AnimeNerd]

God, Luanne looked pitiful. If he didn't think it'd get him socked in the face, RJ would've offered the girl a hug without a second thought. As it was, Nadine was probably a good replacement for someone to comfort people. Keeping distance but still trying to be supportive, and the kill to her name was probably one of the better ones to be stuck with. It was for the best that he stayed back in the moment and-

And he was here.

The one fucking person RJ didn't want to see anymore, and he decided to show up in that exact place, at that exact time, so that they'd see each other again.

At this point, if God was actually real, RJ was sure He was cruel and laughing His ass off at this scene.

He took a breath in. He sent the breath back out.

"Yes, let's."

The two of them didn't step out in the open in-sync or anything, but RJ was only a second off from Bacchia's movements. His gun was aimed directly at the other boy's chest. Best to keep the biggest danger in the room under control, after all.

He didn't speak, for once. He only glared at the religious zealot, looking him right in the eyes, his mind going to a good song from a bad musical.

My dear old friend
Can't believe you're here, old friend

[Kermit]

The voice said it was checking if Luanne was okay.

Ok.

Okay so then there was some stuff that happened.

If the British boy hadn't materialized out from behind the hotdog stand or wherever the heck he just came from, Luanne would have responded to the voice. She would have said "Okay. Good. Just checking," and then she would have paused and said "Do you need help?".

If the goth and the boy with the gun hadn't walked out from around the corner, Luanne would have scrambled to her feet, and she would have looked at the British boy. And then she would have recognized him as the person who'd been dragging Pippi. Then she would have said "Get the fuck away from us, you fucking psycho." And then she would have noticed Pippi's blood. All of it. And she would have kicked the boy in the crotch as hard as she could. And then she would have taken the voice, who was now named Nadine, by the hand. And they would have run.

Unfortunately everything was always happening so much, so Luanne didn't get to do anything except sit there like an idiot. Until now! She scrambled to her feet. She looked at the British boy, who was now named Anthony. He was the boy she'd seen murdering Pippi. He was drenched in her freaking blood. She didn't know him. Didn't know why he'd done it. But there weren't many good reasons to kill someone like Pippi. So he was dangerous.

She was doing her best not to think about the blood. It was very very difficult. But right now she couldn't afford to dwell on anything. She couldn't afford to mourn. She'd have to process things later. Because right now there were more pressing matters.

She took a few steps backward towards Nadine.

[+] And she gave Anthony this kind of a glare.

Then she whispered under her breath (very quickly (and so quietly the girl might not even have heard it)) to Nadine, "You were on the announcement for trying to get a collar off. I think I have some stuff that could help. Anthony just murdered my friend. I don't know those other two. If this escalates, we need to run."

Then she took a breath in, and then she looked at Anthony, and the goth girl, and the boy pointing a gun.

Channel the pain into something productive.

Okay.

...

She had something to say. She had a lot to say. It was something someone else had once said. But they weren't here. So she was going to say it. Because it was something that someone needed to say. And she was going to say it really loudly and with a lot of passion so that nobody else could get a word in.

"Just - UM, can we hang on a second? Can we just not do this, please? This us versus them bullshit, it's just, it's just the same shit over and over again. Nothing happens. It doesn't do anything. This is the world in shambles. It's about the moment when pride becomes contempt. About hurting one another. About owning one another. About shaming and hating. About doing damage. About having a gift for cruelty. About who owns what. About who's remembered and who's forgotten. About who wins and who loses. About the enemy in you and me. The stranger. The other. This is about conquest. About manifest destiny."

Her eyes were aflame.

"And I'm fucking sick of it all," she spat. "None of this needs to happen. So let's just stop."

[almostinhuman]

Well, fuck. She'd thought she was just helping out a stranger. Before she knew what was happening, it had ballooned into four-way drama involving guns and a good dose of information overload. Cool. Guess it was her fault for trying to do something nice for someone. She was gonna need time - more time than she likely had now - to process all the shit going down.

"Okay, okay..." she snapped, getting back on her feet, "let's pause here."

First off, she was pretty sure she'd seen this new girl. Goths all looked kinda similar at a distance, but she was fairly certain she'd spotted her on the clipper ship the day before. She'd been among the gang who'd murdered Jasper; not just a player, but one with a team of other players at her back. Had they tracked the girls here from the other ship, intent on finishing the job? Were the others lurking around nearby?

She'd brought one friend, at least. Nadine even kinda recognized him; RJ Blackburn. She hadn't seen him at all at the clipper ship, didn't really know what he'd been up to or what his deal was, though the fact he was with the goth girl was a bad sign. The most notable thing about him was the gun he was pointing at Anthony.

Anthony himself, well, he was a whole handful. Under any circumstance besides this one, she'd be happy to see him; he was a bit manic, but easy to get along with, staunch anti-SOTF stance aside. But not only had his murder of Beau been on the announcements, it was apparently only the first of his kills. And here he was, awash in some other kid's blood, trying to chat with her like any of this was normal. Had he cracked? She hadn't expected this at all out of him, given his hatred of the show they were on.

And then there was the first to arrive - Luanne, according to the others. She'd claimed in a semi-heard whisper that she knew about Nadine, and knew something about the collars. Even without everything else, that'd be a lot to take in. Then she launched into an impassioned speech, like the protagonist of some florid YA novel. It wasn't even a bad speech, really, but the notion it was gonna sway anyone seemed laughable.

So basically, everything here was a huge mess and exactly what Nadine had hoped to avoid. Perfect.

Calling Shoshanna and Rhonda would probably just escalate the situation. She wasn't certain how any of these people would react, but odds were good at least one of them would take it as a threat. Getting a bunch of riled-up kids with guns all in one place was bound to end in a firefight taking most of them out. She was gonna have to hope everyone could cool down - or alternately, that she could bolt before the whole thing blew up.

"Before we start waving guns around," she shot a pointed glare at RJ, "would you like to give me an abridged version of what the shit's happening and why you're all here?"

[Applesintime]

Fantastic. In the space of about a minute, RJ and Bacchia had appeared, with RJ training his gun on him, Luanne stood up and gave him a glare and rambled some shit about who wins and who loses and humanity and all that shit, Anthony couldn't tell you, he wasn't listening. And then Nadine asked RJ for an abridged version of what was going on. He hadn't been banking on this happening, but that's the way the cards roll. RJ had seemingly embraced he was a player, judging by him teaming up with a Respect. He'd have to go back on the list.

"RJ murdered someone so I tried to kill him so he's pissed at me - really funny how you're not a player but you're allying with someone who's in a player group, anyway, Luanne saw me getting justice for Mateo because Pippi admitted that she killed him and she played, so I killed her. And me? I'm just hunting for more players. Dunno why everyone else is here, but I'm hunting for more murderers." Anthony shrugged, taking a few steps backwards. If RJ or Bacchia tried to murder Luanne or Nadine, as much as he would want to save them, he couldn't go up against a gun just so easily. And Bacchia had a big fucking sword. He wasn't going to go against a big fucking sword.

"Seriously, RJ. Bacchia's in a player group. She murdered someone before. You're gonna trust her to not stab you in the back and take your iron? Or have you joined up? Embraced the fact you're nothing but a filthy fucking murderer?" It was a bad idea to provoke the guy with a gun, but Anthony was confident that if RJ decided enough was enough and tried to headtop him, he could make a run for it before RJ could fire. And there was some dinky cart next to him as well, and if he had to take cover it was probably the best thing that he had right now.

"And yeah, I will admit it. Hands up. I killed Pippi. She was a murderer, so I don't feel bad, and anyway Luanne, you know she wanted to die, what are you giving me that look for? It's not like Seo-yun or Eric would have kissed her head and tucked her in before shooting or stabbing her." He stared back at Luanne. He could see Pippi's bag; well, it was either that or Luanne's bag, it was a 50/50. He glanced over at Nadine; she seemed pissed, which was understandable, considering this little two-people conversation had blown up into a five-person Mexican standoff, except only one person had a gun and the other two had a wooden board and a sword. "And Nadine, are you gonna trust the players, or your friend?" He glanced over at her, trying to make himself look less... murderous, more like how he used to be in school, the Anthony who would rant at you about how this show was fucked up.

It was a little manipulative, he had to admit. Still, she knew him. She knew he wasn't the kind of person to play, so she'd have to know that he wasn't doing this for his own personal benefit, he was doing it for a greater purpose. A higher purpose. What's the saying? Kill 'em all, let God sort them out? He didn't know what He would do with Pippi, but it would be the right choice. Silently, he prayed, for divine protection from being shot by a murderer with a gun.