((Ashanti Baker continued from the ballroom))
It must have been a very strange situation for Mandy Gross to be in, having been taken hostage by a mute girl who had never made her intentions clear.
It was just as strange for Ashanti as well. She hadn't thought about the ballroom much - she'd lived in the moment since she'd stepped through those doors and away from the rancid sprinkler water pouring through everything. Her hair was an assymetrical mess. When she clamped her hand so hard over Mandy's mouth that Ashanti could feel her teeth through her lips, she'd done so because she knew having a prisoner who could speak when she was still out in the open was a bad move. When she'd taken Mandy's gun, the first weapon she'd ever owned here besides that jetpack that was now sitting back in the ballroom somewhere, presumably, she'd done so because letting Mandy keep it was moronic, and Ashanti was anything but, despite what Matias had assumed about her.
And when the hours passed, with Ashanti keeping watch in the room on that level of the cruise ship with the easiest escape route, one that Ashanti had worked out from her time walking without end with a jetpack strapped to her back, and the announcements for the night piped up, Ashanti had taken out the freshly reloaded gun and kept it trained on the other girl, just waiting for the excuse of Matias's name.
Except it never came.
Which brought her back to the present of then. Ashanti didn't know what went down in that ballroom, but all she knew was that Matias was alive and Seo-yun, somehow, hadn't gotten a single kill from the entire saga. So when the announcements ended, her gun lowered.
But then her gun raised itself again, and she motioned towards the door.
--
The great thing about this room, The Captains Quarters, above all others on the ship, was the bed was nice and soft.
Unfortunately, Ashanti wasn't sleeping. You can't exactly sleep when you're the one person holding a prisoner with nobody to help. So Ashanti was sitting in a chair in the sitting room, opposite the other girl, gun lain on her thigh, map open on the table.
She'd made it clear, as best as she could, that Mandy wasn't allowed to yell for help, or she'd catch a bullet. Hand signals worked wonders, even if she felt like she was talking to a six-year-old.
There was a lot Ashanti wanted to do here - the girl was a travelling companion of Seo-yun, the most dangerous killer here. There were five deaths to her name, which meant that there were five expanding butterfly effects rippling outwards from her wake, and Ashanti had something to provide for the aftermath of any of them. In the best case scenario, Ashanti would lob off the other girl to any grieving party for revenge. Ashanti had none of that to extract herself, especially since Matias was alive and Nadine was nowhere to be found. The only reason she could give herself to shoot and kill Mandy was if Seo-yun killed Alyssa, which was a grim thing to think about. She didn't want Alyssa dead just for that, even if this was a very dangerous game to play.
But all of Ashanti's dreams of what she could do with Mandy would be made easier if she could just speak. She had an advantage in this game she'd never held before, and all she needed to do to utilize it to its fullest extent was drop the silent treatment she was giving the producers.
Yet as she sat there, hand flexing lightly around the grip of the gun, staring into the other girl's eyes, she knew that there were bigger battles to face, and she wasn't giving up the front for a glimpse of something not completely guaranteed. Mandy wasn't the real enemy here, even if Ashanti herself was probably Mandy's.
Ashanti didn't have an exit strategy here, but she'd made her bed, even if she had no way to lie in it.
No Bel Canto
night, day 3 - private
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MurderWeasel
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((Mandy Gross continued from If I ever acquire wisdom, I suppose I'll be wise enough to know what to do with it))
It was funny, in a way: Mandy had spent her entire time in this game, up until that fateful encounter at the banquet hall, traveling with the most lethal and dangerous person here, but while there had been scary moments aplenty, she had never been afraid in any deep or lasting sense. Meanwhile, a couple hours into her association with Ashanti, and Mandy was terrified.
It wasn't even about the gun. Sure, it stung quite a lot that Mandy had been unceremoniously manhandled, disarmed, and relieved of the bag she'd gone to such lengths to recover. Staring down a loaded barrel wasn't fun, and she couldn't help but feel like she'd let both herself and Seo-yun down. But what really had her on edge was that Ashanti wasn't saying anything. Like, at all.
Maybe some of their classmates wouldn't have questioned it. Maybe the people watching from their couches with big bowels of popcorn wouldn't either. But Mandy paid really good attention to who was who in school, and especially the seniors. She hung around their gathering places during lunches. She went to the school plays. And this meant that she knew darn well that Ashanti could talk. For some reason, however, the girl refused to say a word. Any queries Mandy made were met with gestures and jerks of the head, or else ignored entirely.
At first she'd thought maybe something terrible had happened to Ashanti, like maybe someone had pulled her tongue out with pliers or something, but it sure didn't seem to be the case. She showed no particular signs of pain, wasn't dribbling blood or swaddling a neck wound in bandages. She just wasn't saying anything. As far as Mandy was concerned, that meant that any damage was of the less visible kind. Or, to be blunt about it, Ashanti had probably gone crazy. This was really not what Mandy wanted from someone who had whisked her away and was now holding her hostage for unclear reasons, able to kill her at a moment's notice.
That they had returned to the very spot Mandy and Seo-yun had first met also felt particularly inauspicious. The rooms had, if anything, gotten trashed more since then. In places the ground was still covered in shattered glass, and assorted knickknacks had been carelessly strewn about. There were some stains on the carpet that were probably blood. No obvious corpses, but who could say what might pop out of a closet?
And on top of all this, Mandy still felt awful on a physical level. Her right shoulder was tender from what were probably burns. She was bruised all over, it felt like, from the falls she'd taken. She was achy from exertion. The faint odor of burnt hair clung to her. And, to top it all off, she was still damp and clammy from the foul water. The only very faint bright side was that it had been a mild vindication of her choice to wear her swimsuit under her clothes, because at least it was material that did well when wet. She wanted, badly, to get changed, but wasn't even that sure what her options would be; the fire hadn't entirely ravaged her pack, but it had gobbled up a lot of the stuff at the top, including her hat and dress, now reduced to so much singed scrap. And Ashanti had all the stuff in her custody anyways.
At least these were problems she could worry about instead of worrying about Seo-yun. The announcements had come and gone, and they hadn't named the girl, but there'd been some vagueness and Mandy suspected that more information would spool out soon. She knew that Shoshanna and Hannah had been shot, and maybe they're lived but it seemed a little unlikely that they'd both made it. And Seo-yun had been badly messed up, and now she was alone. Who knew what the next check-in would reveal?
Mandy was across the table from Ashanti, too far to make a lunge from the gun and catch anything more than a bullet, but at least she got to sit down. She was shifting back and forth, trying to ignore the squishy sensation of damp pants against chair. From time to time she sniffled and wiped at her nose. There were a bunch of things she wanted to do, but the biggest was to not get shot by Ashanti.
It felt like a long time since she'd tried to bring anything up, though, so maybe she could talk just a little.
"I'm thirsty," Mandy said. "Can I have some water?"
It was funny, in a way: Mandy had spent her entire time in this game, up until that fateful encounter at the banquet hall, traveling with the most lethal and dangerous person here, but while there had been scary moments aplenty, she had never been afraid in any deep or lasting sense. Meanwhile, a couple hours into her association with Ashanti, and Mandy was terrified.
It wasn't even about the gun. Sure, it stung quite a lot that Mandy had been unceremoniously manhandled, disarmed, and relieved of the bag she'd gone to such lengths to recover. Staring down a loaded barrel wasn't fun, and she couldn't help but feel like she'd let both herself and Seo-yun down. But what really had her on edge was that Ashanti wasn't saying anything. Like, at all.
Maybe some of their classmates wouldn't have questioned it. Maybe the people watching from their couches with big bowels of popcorn wouldn't either. But Mandy paid really good attention to who was who in school, and especially the seniors. She hung around their gathering places during lunches. She went to the school plays. And this meant that she knew darn well that Ashanti could talk. For some reason, however, the girl refused to say a word. Any queries Mandy made were met with gestures and jerks of the head, or else ignored entirely.
At first she'd thought maybe something terrible had happened to Ashanti, like maybe someone had pulled her tongue out with pliers or something, but it sure didn't seem to be the case. She showed no particular signs of pain, wasn't dribbling blood or swaddling a neck wound in bandages. She just wasn't saying anything. As far as Mandy was concerned, that meant that any damage was of the less visible kind. Or, to be blunt about it, Ashanti had probably gone crazy. This was really not what Mandy wanted from someone who had whisked her away and was now holding her hostage for unclear reasons, able to kill her at a moment's notice.
That they had returned to the very spot Mandy and Seo-yun had first met also felt particularly inauspicious. The rooms had, if anything, gotten trashed more since then. In places the ground was still covered in shattered glass, and assorted knickknacks had been carelessly strewn about. There were some stains on the carpet that were probably blood. No obvious corpses, but who could say what might pop out of a closet?
And on top of all this, Mandy still felt awful on a physical level. Her right shoulder was tender from what were probably burns. She was bruised all over, it felt like, from the falls she'd taken. She was achy from exertion. The faint odor of burnt hair clung to her. And, to top it all off, she was still damp and clammy from the foul water. The only very faint bright side was that it had been a mild vindication of her choice to wear her swimsuit under her clothes, because at least it was material that did well when wet. She wanted, badly, to get changed, but wasn't even that sure what her options would be; the fire hadn't entirely ravaged her pack, but it had gobbled up a lot of the stuff at the top, including her hat and dress, now reduced to so much singed scrap. And Ashanti had all the stuff in her custody anyways.
At least these were problems she could worry about instead of worrying about Seo-yun. The announcements had come and gone, and they hadn't named the girl, but there'd been some vagueness and Mandy suspected that more information would spool out soon. She knew that Shoshanna and Hannah had been shot, and maybe they're lived but it seemed a little unlikely that they'd both made it. And Seo-yun had been badly messed up, and now she was alone. Who knew what the next check-in would reveal?
Mandy was across the table from Ashanti, too far to make a lunge from the gun and catch anything more than a bullet, but at least she got to sit down. She was shifting back and forth, trying to ignore the squishy sensation of damp pants against chair. From time to time she sniffled and wiped at her nose. There were a bunch of things she wanted to do, but the biggest was to not get shot by Ashanti.
It felt like a long time since she'd tried to bring anything up, though, so maybe she could talk just a little.
"I'm thirsty," Mandy said. "Can I have some water?"
As Ashanti drifted off into thought, mostly about the situation she was in and only slightly partially her brain telling her it was time to go to sleep, the sound of Mandy's voice brought her back to reality.
She wanted water? Sure. Ashanti was the one with all of their belongings, after all, kerplunk'd into a pile beside her chair. If they'd actually been travelling together, and not holed up in a single room for hours on end, there would be some inequity involved - Ashanti was supposed to be holding the power here, this wasn't exactly a democracy - but since they weren't moving, Mandy wasn't getting her stuff, so it was up to Ashanti open up her bag, pull out a bottle of water and toss it through the air, across the table.
Which is what she did. Her throw was a little weak, however; it hit the table and rolled towards Mandy at the end of it. Probably a misjudge of the weight of the water.
Just as the bottle left her hand, Ashanti went straight back to position, gun in lap, staring at Mandy.
She wanted water? Sure. Ashanti was the one with all of their belongings, after all, kerplunk'd into a pile beside her chair. If they'd actually been travelling together, and not holed up in a single room for hours on end, there would be some inequity involved - Ashanti was supposed to be holding the power here, this wasn't exactly a democracy - but since they weren't moving, Mandy wasn't getting her stuff, so it was up to Ashanti open up her bag, pull out a bottle of water and toss it through the air, across the table.
Which is what she did. Her throw was a little weak, however; it hit the table and rolled towards Mandy at the end of it. Probably a misjudge of the weight of the water.
Just as the bottle left her hand, Ashanti went straight back to position, gun in lap, staring at Mandy.
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MurderWeasel
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The bottle thumped, bumped, bounced, and rolled its merry way towards Mandy. She managed to pull the pout back off her face after just a moment, even if she was sort of not super happy about how that had played out. The anemic throw and the quick return to business stance told her that either Ashanti didn't trust her and was keeping her occupied so she couldn't make a move, or else she just wanted to see Mandy flail for it.
How strange to be thinking like that. Maybe hanging around Seo-yun was rubbing off more than she'd thought. Or maybe it was that, without Seo-yun around, Mandy was turning her worried, protective gaze inwards.
Whatever the case, she leaned to the side to intercept the bottle, unscrewed the cap, breaking the little plastic seal with a satisfying snap but then running into that issue where it didn't come off all the way without some more twisting, before finally raising it to her lips and taking three long, deep swallows.
The taste was nice, even lukewarm and a little plastic-tinged. It washed away residual gunk and smoke scent, grounded her in a way that let her be more aware of the room around her, the way her body felt (not actually a good thing because she felt awful), and the girl across from her, who she watched through the clear blue bottle, distorted to a point beyond recognition by the sloshing water and the ripples of plastic.
At least this was the one moment Mandy could be pretty sure she wasn't going to be imminently shot, because if that was the plan then Ashanti could've just done it and not wasted the water. Of course, that was assuming Ashanti hadn't gone totally wacko, so maybe any chicken-counting was preemptive.
Mandy set the bottle back on the table, a little harder than she meant, spilling a few droplets to glisten on the surface like the liquid had on Seo-yun's face before the fork was pulled out. There was about three quarters of the bottle left. Mandy screwed the cap back on, just in case; if she spilled it, she wasn't sure she'd get more.
"So," she finally said, "like... what now?"
Not that she expected a direct response at this point. But then there was a flash of an idea:
"Wanna play twenty questions?"
How strange to be thinking like that. Maybe hanging around Seo-yun was rubbing off more than she'd thought. Or maybe it was that, without Seo-yun around, Mandy was turning her worried, protective gaze inwards.
Whatever the case, she leaned to the side to intercept the bottle, unscrewed the cap, breaking the little plastic seal with a satisfying snap but then running into that issue where it didn't come off all the way without some more twisting, before finally raising it to her lips and taking three long, deep swallows.
The taste was nice, even lukewarm and a little plastic-tinged. It washed away residual gunk and smoke scent, grounded her in a way that let her be more aware of the room around her, the way her body felt (not actually a good thing because she felt awful), and the girl across from her, who she watched through the clear blue bottle, distorted to a point beyond recognition by the sloshing water and the ripples of plastic.
At least this was the one moment Mandy could be pretty sure she wasn't going to be imminently shot, because if that was the plan then Ashanti could've just done it and not wasted the water. Of course, that was assuming Ashanti hadn't gone totally wacko, so maybe any chicken-counting was preemptive.
Mandy set the bottle back on the table, a little harder than she meant, spilling a few droplets to glisten on the surface like the liquid had on Seo-yun's face before the fork was pulled out. There was about three quarters of the bottle left. Mandy screwed the cap back on, just in case; if she spilled it, she wasn't sure she'd get more.
"So," she finally said, "like... what now?"
Not that she expected a direct response at this point. But then there was a flash of an idea:
"Wanna play twenty questions?"
Oh, she wanted to talk? Talking was good, Ashanti loved talking. Back home, she could talk forever. It was so fun to talk. Here was no different, except now if she talked too long her hands were tired instead of her jaw. Wasn't learning fun?
Ashanti placed the gun down on the small table beside her chair, and began talking.
"Sure - I'm thinking of a winner of SOTF. First question?
Her look turned cold.
"But you obviously can't understand me, can you? It's Louisa Lynn, whoops, the game is over."
The side of one side of Ashanti's mouth turned upwards.
"If more people knew how to speak this language, the world would be a better place for people like my sister. But then I wouldn't be doing this instead of actually speaking here. There wouldn't be a point."
Ashanti relaxed back in the chair, waiting for the obvious response from the girl in front of her, because that's all anyone did in this season - the obvious response. That was why people killed, because it was just the obvious way. It was why it had crossed Ashanti's mind a few times in the throes of her multiple crises over the past few days, because killing people would just be an easy way to get out of here, or get to the end, and yet she couldn't bring herself to that point.
Why, though?
Ashanti placed the gun down on the small table beside her chair, and began talking.
"Sure - I'm thinking of a winner of SOTF. First question?
Her look turned cold.
"But you obviously can't understand me, can you? It's Louisa Lynn, whoops, the game is over."
The side of one side of Ashanti's mouth turned upwards.
"If more people knew how to speak this language, the world would be a better place for people like my sister. But then I wouldn't be doing this instead of actually speaking here. There wouldn't be a point."
Ashanti relaxed back in the chair, waiting for the obvious response from the girl in front of her, because that's all anyone did in this season - the obvious response. That was why people killed, because it was just the obvious way. It was why it had crossed Ashanti's mind a few times in the throes of her multiple crises over the past few days, because killing people would just be an easy way to get out of here, or get to the end, and yet she couldn't bring herself to that point.
Why, though?
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MurderWeasel
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Mandy's lips pressed together as she tried to figure out Ashanti's gestures, and she was grateful that they were a little moister than before she'd had the drink. It was a relief that the gun was off to the side, but the way the girl's fingers moved spoke to more intent and practice than might, say, an improvised game of charades, yet conveyed a whole lot less that Mandy could glean. It took a couple seconds more for Mandy to think that maybe it could be sign language, but she had no way to be sure of that, and the whole situation was very uncomfortable.
Once more, Mandy was struck by just how eminently reasonable Seo-yun actually was, despite the killings she'd conducted. Mandy had disagreed with her, taken her to task for dishonesty, turned her back on the girl, and she'd been fine. With Ashanti, Mandy could hardly bear to blink from concern the other girl would make some kind of move.
But eventually the gestures subsided, and Ashanti sank back into her spot, waiting. Mandy felt her face getting scrunched up, her brows pulling together, and she took a moment to consciously force some relaxation into her features. It probably looked even more strained than the alternative.
This totally wasn't fair. She'd been trying to be nice, even, to come up with something that would work with whatever it was Ashanti had going on, a way to maybe find out something about why this was happening to begin with, and instead she was hitting a brick wall. There might be some paper and a pencil around here somewhere, but rooting around didn't sound like the best choice right now. At least, Mandy didn't want to ask and get the gun trained on her again. But at the same time, frustration was starting to pop and bubble inside.
Very slowly and carefully, Mandy raised her right hand up, in a horizontal fist, then stuck her thumb out like she was hitchhiking, which she still wasn't entirely convinced was a real thing that real people actually did and not just some weird invention of old movies, no matter what her parents said. She then rotated her fist, first by ninety degrees to a thumbs up like she was a dork saying good job, and then then a hundred and eighty so the digit pointed down like she was telling a gladiator to finish his opponent off. Then she let her hand drift back to the table and open again.
"Were you traveling with Shoshanna and Rhonda?" she asked.
When in doubt, just keep going with Plan A.
Once more, Mandy was struck by just how eminently reasonable Seo-yun actually was, despite the killings she'd conducted. Mandy had disagreed with her, taken her to task for dishonesty, turned her back on the girl, and she'd been fine. With Ashanti, Mandy could hardly bear to blink from concern the other girl would make some kind of move.
But eventually the gestures subsided, and Ashanti sank back into her spot, waiting. Mandy felt her face getting scrunched up, her brows pulling together, and she took a moment to consciously force some relaxation into her features. It probably looked even more strained than the alternative.
This totally wasn't fair. She'd been trying to be nice, even, to come up with something that would work with whatever it was Ashanti had going on, a way to maybe find out something about why this was happening to begin with, and instead she was hitting a brick wall. There might be some paper and a pencil around here somewhere, but rooting around didn't sound like the best choice right now. At least, Mandy didn't want to ask and get the gun trained on her again. But at the same time, frustration was starting to pop and bubble inside.
Very slowly and carefully, Mandy raised her right hand up, in a horizontal fist, then stuck her thumb out like she was hitchhiking, which she still wasn't entirely convinced was a real thing that real people actually did and not just some weird invention of old movies, no matter what her parents said. She then rotated her fist, first by ninety degrees to a thumbs up like she was a dork saying good job, and then then a hundred and eighty so the digit pointed down like she was telling a gladiator to finish his opponent off. Then she let her hand drift back to the table and open again.
"Were you traveling with Shoshanna and Rhonda?" she asked.
When in doubt, just keep going with Plan A.
Confusion was the obvious response, so that's naturally what the girl looked like she was.
She obviously didn't approve of not being spoken to in the same language, but Ashanti did not care. She could dwell on the moral implications of whether or not she was responsible for all the deaths that Seo-yun caused, for all the waves in the ocean heading towards them until Ashanti tossed in Mandy's body, but if she did that too long she knew she would return to the bunker of the boat, Leslie's body above her for hours, and she would eventually have to question whether she was responsible for his death just as much. These were questions that sat on the horizon like the hitchhiker Mandy at first seemed to pretend she was, but Ashanti wasn't going that way any time soon.
But she did keep talking.
"You know, I've thought about what I might do with you. If the next announcements happen and Matias is on them, I might go crazy. I might have to kill you, since Seo-yun isn't here."
The blank look Ashanti held on her face began to turn upwards at the edges. Some might have called it a smile, except if anyone actually knew her from back home.
"Maybe I-"
The smile disappeared. The hands stopped, and sank to the sides.
Maybe it was the tiredness, but she couldn't see the point in continuing the conversation like this. It wasn't even a conversation - if she devolved any further, it would just be Ashanti turning into the wrong winner. She didn't want to rant - she wanted to retain herself for just long enough. Maybe there was another restless watchman in her head, overthinking the situation, but she could only think of the fact that she could still be giving the wrong people what they want.
She pursed her lips, looking downwards at the table. One edge of her mouth stretched with the lower muscles of her face, before she looked up at Mandy once more.
If spelling out words to Matias felt like pre-school, then she was about to return to infancy.
Ashanti held out her left palm, flat as a wall. She used the two main fingers on her other hand to point towards Mandy, then towards her palm. She returned to the English language, just for a moment.
S
E
O
-
Y
U
N
Ashanti looked back at Mandy, making sure she understood letters. She returned.
?
She brought her fingers back to her own head, and spun them in a loop to the side of her forehead. The restless watchman returned again, knowing there could be many ways to interpret a language neither of them were fluent in, but determined to see something out, if only to not do what she expected herself to do in the wrong way. Come to think of it, what was the right way?
She obviously didn't approve of not being spoken to in the same language, but Ashanti did not care. She could dwell on the moral implications of whether or not she was responsible for all the deaths that Seo-yun caused, for all the waves in the ocean heading towards them until Ashanti tossed in Mandy's body, but if she did that too long she knew she would return to the bunker of the boat, Leslie's body above her for hours, and she would eventually have to question whether she was responsible for his death just as much. These were questions that sat on the horizon like the hitchhiker Mandy at first seemed to pretend she was, but Ashanti wasn't going that way any time soon.
But she did keep talking.
"You know, I've thought about what I might do with you. If the next announcements happen and Matias is on them, I might go crazy. I might have to kill you, since Seo-yun isn't here."
The blank look Ashanti held on her face began to turn upwards at the edges. Some might have called it a smile, except if anyone actually knew her from back home.
"Maybe I-"
The smile disappeared. The hands stopped, and sank to the sides.
Maybe it was the tiredness, but she couldn't see the point in continuing the conversation like this. It wasn't even a conversation - if she devolved any further, it would just be Ashanti turning into the wrong winner. She didn't want to rant - she wanted to retain herself for just long enough. Maybe there was another restless watchman in her head, overthinking the situation, but she could only think of the fact that she could still be giving the wrong people what they want.
She pursed her lips, looking downwards at the table. One edge of her mouth stretched with the lower muscles of her face, before she looked up at Mandy once more.
If spelling out words to Matias felt like pre-school, then she was about to return to infancy.
Ashanti held out her left palm, flat as a wall. She used the two main fingers on her other hand to point towards Mandy, then towards her palm. She returned to the English language, just for a moment.
S
E
O
-
Y
U
N
Ashanti looked back at Mandy, making sure she understood letters. She returned.
?
She brought her fingers back to her own head, and spun them in a loop to the side of her forehead. The restless watchman returned again, knowing there could be many ways to interpret a language neither of them were fluent in, but determined to see something out, if only to not do what she expected herself to do in the wrong way. Come to think of it, what was the right way?
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MurderWeasel
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That was not a reply to Mandy's question but, you know what? She'd take it. It was something she could hold onto and understand, and that made it a significant improvement over the status quo thus far.
So maybe Mandy didn't exactly love squinting at Ashanti's slow miming of letters. Maybe it would've been easier to just find some paper, or carve in the table, or—radical idea here—talk. None of that really mattered. Ashanti had the gun, set to the side but omnipresent in Mandy's awareness and the corner of her eye, and Ashanti wanted to do this so cheating-at-charades it was.
Mandy opened her mouth, took a couple breaths through it, tried to figure out what she was even going to say, and how, because this was still a volatile situation that had her quite unsure, even if Ashanti spinning her finger was a trip right back to kids calling each other cuckoo in third grade.
"I mean," Mandy said, "I was with her, yeah."
This was probably the place to lie. She could pull out a real sob story about how she was held hostage and forced into it all, and thank Ashanti profusely for "rescuing" her, and try to pivot into getting released. It didn't even matter if she had to leave the gun and the stuff behind. As soon as she was free, she'd take right off and find Seo-yun and then they'd come back and do it again, but cleaner this time, and without survivors.
But Mandy didn't really have the right ideas in her head to make that story sound real, and for all Ashanti was crazy, the girl didn't seem dumb enough to swallow a line like that without question, so it wasn't even worth trying.
"We got together right at the start," Mandy explained, instead. "I was freaking out, and she calmed me down. We were here, actually—I mean, literally right over there."
She sort of bobbed head head in the direction of right over there. It was easy enough to step back those two days, to a time before everything hurt and the faint odor of burning clung to her and reasserted itself with every movement.
"We met Mary and Leo and were all kind of trying to figure what to do, but then Leo grabbed Seo-yun and she had to hit him with a pan and we ran away."
That was a lot easier than creating a whole cloth evil Seo-yun who was nothing but out for blood. Really, all Mandy was doing was telling the story she knew—the one she'd believed for a long while. Still, her feet pressed harder into the carpet, lifting the front legs of her chair off the floor by just a millimeter or two.
"Then we ran into Abel and Virginia, and when Seo-yun tried to talk they attacked her. They were on the same team, but they messed up and Abel got shot and Virginia ran away, but we ran into her again and there was a whole big gunfight because she was still after us."
Was this even loosely what Ashanti wanted?
"She's not crazy. And, and I know you probably don't believe it but she's not bad."
So maybe Mandy didn't exactly love squinting at Ashanti's slow miming of letters. Maybe it would've been easier to just find some paper, or carve in the table, or—radical idea here—talk. None of that really mattered. Ashanti had the gun, set to the side but omnipresent in Mandy's awareness and the corner of her eye, and Ashanti wanted to do this so cheating-at-charades it was.
Mandy opened her mouth, took a couple breaths through it, tried to figure out what she was even going to say, and how, because this was still a volatile situation that had her quite unsure, even if Ashanti spinning her finger was a trip right back to kids calling each other cuckoo in third grade.
"I mean," Mandy said, "I was with her, yeah."
This was probably the place to lie. She could pull out a real sob story about how she was held hostage and forced into it all, and thank Ashanti profusely for "rescuing" her, and try to pivot into getting released. It didn't even matter if she had to leave the gun and the stuff behind. As soon as she was free, she'd take right off and find Seo-yun and then they'd come back and do it again, but cleaner this time, and without survivors.
But Mandy didn't really have the right ideas in her head to make that story sound real, and for all Ashanti was crazy, the girl didn't seem dumb enough to swallow a line like that without question, so it wasn't even worth trying.
"We got together right at the start," Mandy explained, instead. "I was freaking out, and she calmed me down. We were here, actually—I mean, literally right over there."
She sort of bobbed head head in the direction of right over there. It was easy enough to step back those two days, to a time before everything hurt and the faint odor of burning clung to her and reasserted itself with every movement.
"We met Mary and Leo and were all kind of trying to figure what to do, but then Leo grabbed Seo-yun and she had to hit him with a pan and we ran away."
That was a lot easier than creating a whole cloth evil Seo-yun who was nothing but out for blood. Really, all Mandy was doing was telling the story she knew—the one she'd believed for a long while. Still, her feet pressed harder into the carpet, lifting the front legs of her chair off the floor by just a millimeter or two.
"Then we ran into Abel and Virginia, and when Seo-yun tried to talk they attacked her. They were on the same team, but they messed up and Abel got shot and Virginia ran away, but we ran into her again and there was a whole big gunfight because she was still after us."
Was this even loosely what Ashanti wanted?
"She's not crazy. And, and I know you probably don't believe it but she's not bad."
Ashanti's held nothing from her face when Mandy explained the relationship between herself and Seo-yun. By the time Mandy was explaining that Seo-yun actually wasn't a bad person at all, it resembled a mask of Melpomene.
It took until the end of the story for Ashanti to realized the kind of person she was dealing with here - not even in the game, but in real life. Boy, it sure was convenient that everything bad happened to Mandy and Seo-yun, wasn't it? Nope, they did nothing wrong at all, it was all these other people's faults, other people who were conveniently dead and had no way of refuting the story. Yep, poor Mandy and Seo-yun, who surely did nothing that Mandy conveniently left out of the retelling.
Give her a fucking break. Was Mandy actually trying to re-tell a story to someone who used to be a master of retelling? Even worse, was she aiming for the highest degree of difficulty, trying to rehab this season's Big Player? And who was she even trying to fool, here? Those cameras weren't decorative, and the editors weren't chumps. Greyscaled flashbacks existed for a reason. The people would know the truth with certainty, even if Ashanti could only know it with high likeliness.
There was just something that stuck in her craw, though, and that was the last line - 'she's not bad'.
Ashanti's head shook slightly, side-to-side, in such a way that Ashanti didn't even know she was doing it.
She began writing again.
2
U
The underlining of the second letter was probably unnecessary, but she was feeling some type of way.
It took until the end of the story for Ashanti to realized the kind of person she was dealing with here - not even in the game, but in real life. Boy, it sure was convenient that everything bad happened to Mandy and Seo-yun, wasn't it? Nope, they did nothing wrong at all, it was all these other people's faults, other people who were conveniently dead and had no way of refuting the story. Yep, poor Mandy and Seo-yun, who surely did nothing that Mandy conveniently left out of the retelling.
Give her a fucking break. Was Mandy actually trying to re-tell a story to someone who used to be a master of retelling? Even worse, was she aiming for the highest degree of difficulty, trying to rehab this season's Big Player? And who was she even trying to fool, here? Those cameras weren't decorative, and the editors weren't chumps. Greyscaled flashbacks existed for a reason. The people would know the truth with certainty, even if Ashanti could only know it with high likeliness.
There was just something that stuck in her craw, though, and that was the last line - 'she's not bad'.
Ashanti's head shook slightly, side-to-side, in such a way that Ashanti didn't even know she was doing it.
She began writing again.
2
U
The underlining of the second letter was probably unnecessary, but she was feeling some type of way.
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MurderWeasel
- Posts: 3442
- Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:56 am
- Team Affiliation: Jewel's Leviathans
The two character rebuttal gave Mandy more pause than she'd expected. It was just, all of a sudden she was thinking about Lark again.
It was no accident that her retelling of their adventures had ended where it had. Beyond that point, it got a little bit harder to spin, both because of the actual facts of the actions themselves and because soon after they had hit the point where they didn't bother pretending anymore. A commitment had been made, and from that point on they'd followed through on it, even when it was scary and disgusting and horrible.
Could Ashanti understand that? Was it even worth trying?
Mandy stalled by slowly and carefully and with no sudden movements taking the water back up and having another long gulp of it. It tasted a little like plastic, like bottled water normally did, and in a faintly different way than her favorite brand, which was Fiji because she liked the square bottles and thought they were much cuter than the more mundane designs.
"Yeah," Mandy said eventually, though only after setting the bottle back down and screwing the lid on. "I guess so, mostly."
She almost brought her hand up to fidget with her hair, but the distressing thought of the singed ends pulled her up short, and the gun still close at hand reminded her to let her fingers fall back to the tabletop. The front legs of the chair raised another millimeter.
"But, Ashanti, you know what?
"That's a lot more than most people. There were lots of people at school who would barely even look at me when I was there at lunch, or who would go up to the senior floor in the library so I couldn't follow. And Seo-yun wasn't my best friend or anything but she was always nice to me and she could've hurt me or killed me a bunch of times but she never tried. Some of our friends can't say that, and I don't know why she didn't but she didn't."
Mandy's breathing was picking up and her voice was starting to get faster, and a glance at the gun didn't really help with either of those things but at least convinced her to wrap it up quick.
"She's who I have here."
It was no accident that her retelling of their adventures had ended where it had. Beyond that point, it got a little bit harder to spin, both because of the actual facts of the actions themselves and because soon after they had hit the point where they didn't bother pretending anymore. A commitment had been made, and from that point on they'd followed through on it, even when it was scary and disgusting and horrible.
Could Ashanti understand that? Was it even worth trying?
Mandy stalled by slowly and carefully and with no sudden movements taking the water back up and having another long gulp of it. It tasted a little like plastic, like bottled water normally did, and in a faintly different way than her favorite brand, which was Fiji because she liked the square bottles and thought they were much cuter than the more mundane designs.
"Yeah," Mandy said eventually, though only after setting the bottle back down and screwing the lid on. "I guess so, mostly."
She almost brought her hand up to fidget with her hair, but the distressing thought of the singed ends pulled her up short, and the gun still close at hand reminded her to let her fingers fall back to the tabletop. The front legs of the chair raised another millimeter.
"But, Ashanti, you know what?
"That's a lot more than most people. There were lots of people at school who would barely even look at me when I was there at lunch, or who would go up to the senior floor in the library so I couldn't follow. And Seo-yun wasn't my best friend or anything but she was always nice to me and she could've hurt me or killed me a bunch of times but she never tried. Some of our friends can't say that, and I don't know why she didn't but she didn't."
Mandy's breathing was picking up and her voice was starting to get faster, and a glance at the gun didn't really help with either of those things but at least convinced her to wrap it up quick.
"She's who I have here."
The girl pursed her lips. Blinked, looking the other up and down.
There were many ways to escalate the situation in an unnecessary manner, something of which Ashanti had become accustomed here, all of which were bad ideas and yet the fact she knew this still didn't stop her. Mock her. Insult her. Shame her. Shoot her, with the gun sitting by her side. All possibilities, all of which were going to stay in her mind forever regardless of what she chose.
But at the end of the day? There wasn't a right choice. There were just choices, with consequences unfortold. There was just her choice, and the consequences therein. She made the choice to steal this girl, to hold her hostage, for what had to be no reason other than wanting to do something against the person who was probably going to get out of here if she wasn't stopped. She had a single plan, something she'd mulled over - but when it came down to it, enacting it would either mean going out and finding Matias so she was no longer alone and had someone to help her with it, or staying awake forever. The former involved venturing out and possibly running into one of the many people running around with multiple kills to their name, let alone Seo-yun; the latter was impossible.
So what was she going to do?
Apparently, sit around talking relative morality with a girl who wore dog eared beanies and helped Seo-yun Lee kill people.
She wasn't wrong when she said nobody looked at Mandy in school. Ashanti didn't even know her name until she kidnapped her. She wasn't wrong that it was probably in her best interests to team up with one of the only people who would treat her right. The fact of the matter was that Ashanti wished, just a little bit, Matias treated her as well as Seo-yun Lee apparently treated Mandy.
The fact of the matter was that the reason they were at odds were that Mandy picked the right horse to back, and Ashanti had considerably less success with hers.
Not that she resented Matias, no matter what anyone watching their interactions over the past few days who could understand them might think. They just hadn't gotten towards any of their goals in the same way that Seo-yun had towards gettin those ten kills. Matias's attempt at teaming up with the rest of the Crabs on the boat failed; Ashanti's attempt at finding any of her friends failed; Ashanti's futile attempts at pretending she knew what she was doing, up to and including the moments of Leslie's death, and charging headfirst into it without thinking of the consequences failed so abysmally it was by pure luck she even managed to survive. Hell, the closest they'd managed to get to anything was giving that jetpack to what looked like a burgeoning escape group, and that failed only because of Seo-yun's success.
So yeah, she was probably jealous at the end of the day. But the kind of jealousy where you envy someone else's success at their goals on SOTF, but not enough to wish you'd back a different pony in the odds. Maybe if Ashanti had committed to playing, like she'd told Matias back at the start, she'd be in a different position. It always happened in SOTF, kills and camera-time just flocked to the right people, especially those who were playing it right. It was bizarre, and honestly, in a way she'd never really thought about before, kind of played into what she admired about Louisa Lynn - she bucked the odds, and made art out of it.
And yet, as she sat there, looking Mandy down, she realized there wasn't exactly a way to convey the Harlan Ellison epic going on in her head, so once again she had to condense down the entirety of her mental state into a few letters for someone she felt a brewing combination of disgust and envy for. And she had to do it again, and again, and think about how she could have done it differently hours later because it didn't turn out exactly how she wanted it to, and she had to do that while only being able to write crude letters like a caveman because, again and again, her language wasn't important enough for anyone before this.
So she lifted her left palm flat, and traced again with the right fingers.
1
0
She sliced across her hand.
She slowly pointed at Mandy.
She pointed off into nowhere, as thought Seo-yun was waiting in the vents.
Of the hundreds of options Ashanti could have chosen, she went with #34b - the b was added on when she pointed to a Seo-yun that wasn't there.
There were many ways to escalate the situation in an unnecessary manner, something of which Ashanti had become accustomed here, all of which were bad ideas and yet the fact she knew this still didn't stop her. Mock her. Insult her. Shame her. Shoot her, with the gun sitting by her side. All possibilities, all of which were going to stay in her mind forever regardless of what she chose.
But at the end of the day? There wasn't a right choice. There were just choices, with consequences unfortold. There was just her choice, and the consequences therein. She made the choice to steal this girl, to hold her hostage, for what had to be no reason other than wanting to do something against the person who was probably going to get out of here if she wasn't stopped. She had a single plan, something she'd mulled over - but when it came down to it, enacting it would either mean going out and finding Matias so she was no longer alone and had someone to help her with it, or staying awake forever. The former involved venturing out and possibly running into one of the many people running around with multiple kills to their name, let alone Seo-yun; the latter was impossible.
So what was she going to do?
Apparently, sit around talking relative morality with a girl who wore dog eared beanies and helped Seo-yun Lee kill people.
She wasn't wrong when she said nobody looked at Mandy in school. Ashanti didn't even know her name until she kidnapped her. She wasn't wrong that it was probably in her best interests to team up with one of the only people who would treat her right. The fact of the matter was that Ashanti wished, just a little bit, Matias treated her as well as Seo-yun Lee apparently treated Mandy.
The fact of the matter was that the reason they were at odds were that Mandy picked the right horse to back, and Ashanti had considerably less success with hers.
Not that she resented Matias, no matter what anyone watching their interactions over the past few days who could understand them might think. They just hadn't gotten towards any of their goals in the same way that Seo-yun had towards gettin those ten kills. Matias's attempt at teaming up with the rest of the Crabs on the boat failed; Ashanti's attempt at finding any of her friends failed; Ashanti's futile attempts at pretending she knew what she was doing, up to and including the moments of Leslie's death, and charging headfirst into it without thinking of the consequences failed so abysmally it was by pure luck she even managed to survive. Hell, the closest they'd managed to get to anything was giving that jetpack to what looked like a burgeoning escape group, and that failed only because of Seo-yun's success.
So yeah, she was probably jealous at the end of the day. But the kind of jealousy where you envy someone else's success at their goals on SOTF, but not enough to wish you'd back a different pony in the odds. Maybe if Ashanti had committed to playing, like she'd told Matias back at the start, she'd be in a different position. It always happened in SOTF, kills and camera-time just flocked to the right people, especially those who were playing it right. It was bizarre, and honestly, in a way she'd never really thought about before, kind of played into what she admired about Louisa Lynn - she bucked the odds, and made art out of it.
And yet, as she sat there, looking Mandy down, she realized there wasn't exactly a way to convey the Harlan Ellison epic going on in her head, so once again she had to condense down the entirety of her mental state into a few letters for someone she felt a brewing combination of disgust and envy for. And she had to do it again, and again, and think about how she could have done it differently hours later because it didn't turn out exactly how she wanted it to, and she had to do that while only being able to write crude letters like a caveman because, again and again, her language wasn't important enough for anyone before this.
So she lifted her left palm flat, and traced again with the right fingers.
1
0
She sliced across her hand.
She slowly pointed at Mandy.
She pointed off into nowhere, as thought Seo-yun was waiting in the vents.
Of the hundreds of options Ashanti could have chosen, she went with #34b - the b was added on when she pointed to a Seo-yun that wasn't there.
-
MurderWeasel
- Posts: 3442
- Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:56 am
- Team Affiliation: Jewel's Leviathans
"She isn't going to send me home if she gets ten," Mandy said, wobbling her head more than shaking it. She was definitely not confident in her interpretation of what Ashanti was trying to communicate this time, but the question she chose to read into it was probably more interesting a conversation topic than "why do you think she won't kill you for number ten?" Maybe that would come later too, though.
"It's... it was never the plan," Mandy clarified. "I don't know if ten was always her plan—"
Okay, that wasn't true. Mandy hadn't always known that ten was the plan, which was a fundamentally different thing.
"—but once it happened a few times, and everyone turned into a fight, it was the only way."
Mandy unscrewed the bottle again and had another drink but barely let any water go into her mouth. She was really just buying time to think, which was strange because it wasn't like Ashanti was going to interrupt or take over the conversation, not unless she suddenly stopped being crazy or possibly turned even more crazy and just started shrieking.
"And we're not on the same team," Mandy added. "So one of us would have to get it, for us to both have a chance. But it doesn't make sense for her to send me, even before."
Mandy didn't quite like how much vocalizing this made it seem like she was making excuses for Seo-yun. She was in fact pretty sure that she had herself been the first one to bring up this part of the plan, and all the reasons for it at that time were exactly as sound now.
"It's her only chance. So many people know what she's done, and everyone she meets will know what she's after and try to fight her, and she can't win them all. I don't even know if she can get enough."
Especially on her own. That was absolutely not something to let on, though, because what Mandy wanted from this, in the end, was for Ashanti to give up and let her go or go to sleep and let her sneak away or something that got her out of his situation so she could get back to Seo-yun and help put the plan back on track. Because just like Seo-yun was invested in making sure it worked and they both made it, so was Mandy. She wasn't going to give up and abandon her friend.
"She got her ear shot off," Mandy said. "I mean like all the way off. And then Shoshanna stabbed her in the eye with a fork, and I had to pull it out. Right before you came in. After I got burned and stuff."
She tried not to think about the feeling when she slid the tines free, focusing instead on the lingering pain from the scorching she'd received, also at Shoshanna's hands.
"So she can't stay." It was insisting, almost pleading. "So the idea was, when she goes, I find my team and just stay with them and we do the best we can."
The chair legs lifted and lowered, wobbled slightly. Said out loud, it sure didn't sound like Mandy got very much out of this plan, huh?
"It's... it was never the plan," Mandy clarified. "I don't know if ten was always her plan—"
Okay, that wasn't true. Mandy hadn't always known that ten was the plan, which was a fundamentally different thing.
"—but once it happened a few times, and everyone turned into a fight, it was the only way."
Mandy unscrewed the bottle again and had another drink but barely let any water go into her mouth. She was really just buying time to think, which was strange because it wasn't like Ashanti was going to interrupt or take over the conversation, not unless she suddenly stopped being crazy or possibly turned even more crazy and just started shrieking.
"And we're not on the same team," Mandy added. "So one of us would have to get it, for us to both have a chance. But it doesn't make sense for her to send me, even before."
Mandy didn't quite like how much vocalizing this made it seem like she was making excuses for Seo-yun. She was in fact pretty sure that she had herself been the first one to bring up this part of the plan, and all the reasons for it at that time were exactly as sound now.
"It's her only chance. So many people know what she's done, and everyone she meets will know what she's after and try to fight her, and she can't win them all. I don't even know if she can get enough."
Especially on her own. That was absolutely not something to let on, though, because what Mandy wanted from this, in the end, was for Ashanti to give up and let her go or go to sleep and let her sneak away or something that got her out of his situation so she could get back to Seo-yun and help put the plan back on track. Because just like Seo-yun was invested in making sure it worked and they both made it, so was Mandy. She wasn't going to give up and abandon her friend.
"She got her ear shot off," Mandy said. "I mean like all the way off. And then Shoshanna stabbed her in the eye with a fork, and I had to pull it out. Right before you came in. After I got burned and stuff."
She tried not to think about the feeling when she slid the tines free, focusing instead on the lingering pain from the scorching she'd received, also at Shoshanna's hands.
"So she can't stay." It was insisting, almost pleading. "So the idea was, when she goes, I find my team and just stay with them and we do the best we can."
The chair legs lifted and lowered, wobbled slightly. Said out loud, it sure didn't sound like Mandy got very much out of this plan, huh?
Ashanti didn't get anything she wanted from Mandy's little spiel, but she didn't get nothing.
Her gaze relaxed.
She leaned back in her chair, the gun back in her hand, resting on her thigh.
That was all the conversation Mandy was getting today.
Her gaze relaxed.
She leaned back in her chair, the gun back in her hand, resting on her thigh.
That was all the conversation Mandy was getting today.
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MurderWeasel
- Posts: 3442
- Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:56 am
- Team Affiliation: Jewel's Leviathans
The chair wiggled in a way that felt dramatic, but it didn't seem to draw any notice. Mandy waited, breath stopped, for a response, for anger or argument or the gunshot she suddenly half feared would arrive, but none of that happened. Nothing happened whatsoever. It was like time was stopped, or like Mandy hadn't said a word.
"I know it doesn't..." she started, but the look she was getting didn't change, so she stopped talking and drank more water instead. She was probably going to have to go to the bathroom soon if she kept just chugging it, and that was another complication with the whole being at gunpoint thing, like as soon as one or the other needed a moment of privacy, then what? Because if Ashanti wanted to tag along, yuck, she'd just hold it.
The chair wiggled more, bobbing faintly as Mandy's legs pushed against the ground, and she knew—she just knew—that she was going to wipe out any moment if she didn't stop and set the feet on the floor, and she remembered her mom shouting at her not to do what she was doing so many times, but there was too much bouncing around in her mind and her feet simply weren't listening to the quiet whispers of common sense.
Her shoulders hurt, the right one especially. Her head still smelled like a salon immolation. Now that she'd thought about needing to pee, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Ashanti wasn't saying anything at all, and that was crazy and unfair, just like all of this, and Mandy wished that she was with Seo-yun instead, and wished that if she was gonna get shot it would just go ahead and happen because this waiting was the absolute worst. The corners of her eyes were getting fuzzy with liquid, but she was at least pretty sure she could manage to not cry for a few more minutes.
"Can I—" she started, and oops, talking was a mistake because the stress was making her throat hurt and she sounded like she was about to cry now and that made it harder to believe she wasn't. She tilted forward and the chair legs landed with a clearly-audible thump that made her wince.
"My arms got burned," she said, "and I'm sweaty, and I need to use the bathroom, and I..."
She licked her lips, bit the bottom one.
"Ashanti," Mandy said, "can I please just have my clothes and my first aid kit and take a shower?"
She hated how obvious it was that she was begging.
"Please?"
"I know it doesn't..." she started, but the look she was getting didn't change, so she stopped talking and drank more water instead. She was probably going to have to go to the bathroom soon if she kept just chugging it, and that was another complication with the whole being at gunpoint thing, like as soon as one or the other needed a moment of privacy, then what? Because if Ashanti wanted to tag along, yuck, she'd just hold it.
The chair wiggled more, bobbing faintly as Mandy's legs pushed against the ground, and she knew—she just knew—that she was going to wipe out any moment if she didn't stop and set the feet on the floor, and she remembered her mom shouting at her not to do what she was doing so many times, but there was too much bouncing around in her mind and her feet simply weren't listening to the quiet whispers of common sense.
Her shoulders hurt, the right one especially. Her head still smelled like a salon immolation. Now that she'd thought about needing to pee, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Ashanti wasn't saying anything at all, and that was crazy and unfair, just like all of this, and Mandy wished that she was with Seo-yun instead, and wished that if she was gonna get shot it would just go ahead and happen because this waiting was the absolute worst. The corners of her eyes were getting fuzzy with liquid, but she was at least pretty sure she could manage to not cry for a few more minutes.
"Can I—" she started, and oops, talking was a mistake because the stress was making her throat hurt and she sounded like she was about to cry now and that made it harder to believe she wasn't. She tilted forward and the chair legs landed with a clearly-audible thump that made her wince.
"My arms got burned," she said, "and I'm sweaty, and I need to use the bathroom, and I..."
She licked her lips, bit the bottom one.
"Ashanti," Mandy said, "can I please just have my clothes and my first aid kit and take a shower?"
She hated how obvious it was that she was begging.
"Please?"
An unfocused hand holding a gun waved towards the general direction of the bathroom.