O-Lan, You Are the Earth

[Laurels]

((Claire Monaghan continued from The Things We Lost in the Fire))

Claire stood in place and looked at the field before her. She was surrounded by amber waves of grain, but she was already over the romantic imagery. She had just finished a mad dash away from the golf course, and she was no better off for it. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, trying to avoid the bandage on her forehead.

After the incident with Hansel, Claire went to the clubhouse to treat her injuries with Owen, Aileen, and Sharon. They got a bandage on her forehead and on the burn on her back before spending the day recovering. She used this time to change into some other clothes as well. She had managed four days in the same shirt and pants, and they were sweaty, dirty, and wet enough that she needed to change in one of the locker rooms. It felt good to shed the old clothes and put new ones on.

Of course, the golf course had to be made into a Danger Zone the next day. Claire had hoped that she could wait until the rain stopped to do something with Kyle and Adonis's bodies. Unfortunately, the time for that was cut short. As soon as she heard the announcement that the golf course was no longer safe, she bolted from the clubhouse, not even checking if her allies were still following her. There was no way she could die that easily after everything that had happened. Once she was free of the collar beeping, Claire realized she was all alone. With nothing else to do, she moved on.

Now she was standing in the wheat field, wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a blue Perry the Platypus t-shirt. She took her denim jacket off after she stopped running and tied it around her waist. The weather was better than yesterday, so she didn't really need the jacket at the moment.

What she did was need some idea of where she was going and what she was doing. Her plans so far had all been duds. Wander around with some quiet guy she just met? They fell apart the moment they saw someone with a gun. Bury the dead students they found? They got two bodies in the ground before having that completely fucked over. Pursue Hansel and exact bloody, Kill Bill-Lady Snowblood-Lone Wolf and Cub-Death Wish-Oldboy-Virgin Spring-Last House on the Left-Kind Hearts and Coronets style revenge? She gave him an entire day to get as far away from her as possible with absolutely no way to track him down. All in all, she wasn't doing a very good job at planning here.

Claire did realize there was at least one thing she could do to make things a bit easier for her. She still had the bag Hansel made her stuff with Kyle's belongings, and there was still one in particular she could use. She didn't put it on in the clubhouse, but now would be a good time to do so.

Claire knelt down to the ground. The wheat was pretty tall, and she could probably avoid detection if she stayed low enough. She quickly opened the bag and searched through it before pulling it out: the bulletproof vest.

"Thank you, Kyle," she muttered. "You left me something useful. Oh, and thank you Hansel for being stupid enough to make me carry something this valuable."

Claire chuckled to herself as she removed her t-shirt. Even though she was sure no one could see her in the wheat field, she was still glad she had a bra on. She wasn't going to let anyone see her nude, no matter what. That's not what she was going to be known for. The vest looked fairly easy to put on, and she was sure it could be hidden under her t-shirt.

Then again, I do have to remember that these aren't magic. I could still break a rib if I get shot close enough. Well, I guess it's the mentality of safety I need more than anything.

Soon enough, Claire had the vest and shirt back on. She stood up and looked around the wheat field. She still couldn't see if anyone else was nearby. There were probably some farmhouses nearby, so she started to walk through the field. She made sure to carry the flashlight in her hands. There could be danger anywhere.

[randomness]

((Stephanie Wright continued from Fools and High Places))

Ever since that announcement, Stephanie had been in bad spirits. They were playing with them. It was horrid, and sick the way they were still messing with them even after doing all this.

It wasn't enough that they were trapped. It wasn't enough that there were dying. They had to suffer during their short stay on the island and end up entertaining the internet while they were at it.

The day that had passed had been a blur, raw anger feuding with tears for a chance to prevent her from thinking rationally. She had stayed near the cliffs for a while, finding a spot to rest, and simply sulked there the rest of the day.

She had fallen asleep sometime and woke up in the middle of the night hungry, upset and unmotivated. She wandered along the road, forcing herself to eat something despite her lack of appetite. There wasn't much left, but it was enough to make her feel a little better.

She had eventually found herself back in the field, golden wheat blocking off vision in most directions. The wheat was been trampled in places, forming trails then went deeper into the fields. There wouldn't be people here now though. It had been a danger zone just a moment ago.

Stephanie was halfway across the field when she realised how wrong she had been. There someone nearby, trampling their way through the field along with her. It was great to finally see someone else after so long. Two days with only corpses at company was no fun at all.

Nonetheless, she remained wary. If it was a player, she would be in trouble fast. She was ready to bolt if things went bad, but she didn't know how long she could escape from someone with a gun.

"Who's that out there?" Stephanie shouted, "Are you playing?"

[Laurels]

Walking through a tall wheat field proved to be a lot more difficult than Claire thought it would be. If this was a corn field, there would probably be some spaces between the corn that she could easily walk through. Well, she couldn't pick what island she'd have to fight to the death on, so she'd have to deal with it. Besides, the field was probably like this because there were no humans to control it, so even a corn field would be difficult to walk through.

Claire had hoped that she could just move through the field and not have to deal with any bullshit, but someone was shouting. Claire stopped walking. It was a girl's voice, one she wasn't familiar with. She sighed and closed her eyes.

You think people would attempt to be more discreet after five days of this shit. Well, to quote Kyran: Whatever.

Claire looked around the area. She could sort of make out a figure nearby. Since this girl hadn't lost her faith in the class just quite yet, Claire decided to answer.

"It's Claire," she responded. "and unless you're our class's wannabe Gary Cooper, I'm not playing."

[randomness]

They weren't playing. That was good enough for Stephanie. They could be lying, but she didn't quite care. She would take her word for it.

"Wait up. I'm coming over." Stephanie said,  wading  through the wheat towards where the voice had come from. She regretted havig worn a skirt; the plants were scratching against her bare legs.

"I'm Stephanie by the way. Is there anyone else out there with you?"

[Laurels]

Stephanie. Claire was sure there was more than one Stephanie in their class, but she wasn't familiar with this girl. She'd probably had a class with her at some point, but she certainly wasn't anyone Claire would have been close to.

The girl asked if Claire was with anyone. Claire shook her head.

"Sadly, I'm alone. My companion died yesterday, and I got separated from this other group when we had to flee the golf course."

"So basically," she continued, "I'm fucked."

[randomness]

"Oh," Stephanie sighed, not sure if she should be more relieved or dissapointed. "You too, huh?"

"I was with someone the first few days too, before they got killed. I haven't seen much but dead bodies since then."

"I can't believe so many people are dead already, she sighed, coming to a stop in front of Claire. Stephanie was a little surprised to see the bandage wrapped about Claire's head. Had she gotten caught in a fight? Stephanie didn't want to ask.

"I'm guessing you don't have a plan either, right? Mind if I stick with you for a while?"

[Laurels]

It looked like Stephanie was going through a lot of the same shit Claire had. Well, it's not like Claire was looking for sympathy. She told the girl the honest truth. Kyle was dead. Arthur was also killed last night. Becca was dead as well. She buried Jason and Xavier, and also saw Adonis' body. She had no clue if Owen, Aileen, or Sharon made it out of the golf course alive, and Hansel was probably still chugging along being a murderous prick. Paulo was probably still alive as well. There was also that guy who helped bury Jason (who she realized later was Joe Carrassco. She couldn't believe she forgot about him). She didn't have a good record of running into the people near her.

But now, Stephanie wanted to accompany her. Claire paused as she thought about the offer. She had to seriously consider this offer. The Doctor has to pick the right people to travel with him. Ned Stark has to figure out who he can trust in King's Landing. She needed to think if this girl was worth taking along.

"Steph..." Claire began. "... I don't know if that's a good idea."

Claire adjusted her glasses and faced the girl. Stephanie needed to know the truth if she was going to extend such a laurel towards this girl she just met.

"I'm not really doing that well here. I tried to avoid dealing with the realities of the game, and that got my friend killed. I almost became the hostage of a psycho as a result, and for that I got a burn near my ass and a scar on my head. I haven't even found anyone I really care about, living or dead."

"You also should know that I'm really pissed at someone, and if I do meet him again, I'm likely to try and kill him. I don't know if you should be with someone who's that unstable right now."

Claire raised her flashlight and rested it on her shoulder, placing her free hand on her hip.

"But then again, I don't really know you that well, so I'm not sure how you'd react to all of that. So I guess I should ask: are you sure you want to be with me?"

[randomness]

Claire was being disorientingly honest here. It was surprising for Stephanie that someone would be so frank about themselves wih someone else.

"That's kind of a hard question, isn't it?" Stephanie glanced at Claire. The girl was trying to push her away. Was it a bad idea to stick with her after all?

Claire didn't seem to trust herself, but she was open about itthat mean anything at all?

"I honestly can't say if sticking with you is a going to turn out well, but by now, I think it'd be asking for a lot to have a emotionally stable partner, right? I'm not even sure I'm fine myself.

"I don't know enough to make a good judgement, but I'm probably going to stick around, unless you really don't want me to."

[Laurels]

Claire waited for the girl's response. At least Stephanie admitted that she had trouble answering the question. Claire was glad for that. It meant Stephanie would have to think carefully about her moves. Every decision from here on out would mean life or death, and planning was necessary.

Stephanie admitted that she was more concerned about someone who could be emotionally stable and decided that she would stick with Claire for a bit. Claire closed her eyes and sighed.

Well, I guess I should be glad she considers me emotionally stable. That's got to be a rare compliment by now.

"Alright," Claire said. "You can at least stay with me until we get out of the fields."

Claire opened her eyes and faced the girl directly.

"But you should know I don't have much in the way of weapons or strategy, so if we get into danger, I can't promise we'll survive."

Claire looked around the area around her. There was too much wheat in her field of vision.

"So, any ideas how to get out of here?"

[randomness]

Claire didn't sound like she fully trusted her. At least her presence was being tolerated.

"Depends on what you mean by here. I've been in this field once before and I know that there's a couple buildings around here. It shouldn't be too hard to find them again."

"If you're talking about the island though, no luck there. I'm guessing if anyone had an escape plan they'd have tried it by now," Stephanie said, trying to spot the farmhouse over the wheat. Years of neglect had left the field taller than would have been expected, not helping her out one bit.

"It should be that way, I think," Stephanie pointed out a direction. "You wanna go there?"

[Laurels]

"No, I meant just the field," Claire said. "I have no idea how we could get off this island, and I really doubt there's anyone in our class who would figure out how to get us off."

"I'd kind of rather avoid the nearest buildings," she added. "I feel like an isolated area like this would have people holed up in the few remaining man-made structures."

Claire pondered for a moment. The homestead did just reopen a few hours ago, so there was still a chance the places would be empty. Still, she wasn't sure she wanted to stay with Stephanie that long. As terrible as it would be to admit it, there were people she was more concerned with than Stephanie. Still, she could at least show some kindness to the girl who had come to her with eyes wide with hope.

"But, if you'd rather go to those places, I can at least escort you there. I need to reorient myself with the island, and I can probably do that at one of these structures before heading out."

[randomness]

"Oh." Stephanie should have seen this coming. Maybe she was the only person who was naive enough to think that alliances between people who'd just met could be anything but tenuous and short lived. What had happened with Mallory was probably the rare exception to that.

"Yeah, that's no problem," She forced a small smile at Claire, "Let's get going then." She dropped the smile the moment Claire couldn't see it. The only thing she wanted to do now was to get to the farmhouse.

((Stephanie Wright continued in Wish I Had a Chance Here)

[Laurels]

Stephanie agreed, and began to walk away. Claire began to follow after her. She had to remind herself: just until she gets to the farmhouse. Stephanie didn't seem like a bad girl, but Claire couldn't get close to her. Getting close to people she wasn't close to before only meant she'd have to feel sad when they died. She'd rather be sad about the people she already knew she cared about.

Once Stephanie was gone, Claire could go back to her other goals. She needed her friends, at the least to ensure they were okay. Gray, Sean, Corey, Jack and more were still out there, and they were the ones she needed to keep close to her.

At the same time, Hansel was still out there. He was like that canine from White Dog: a dog that threatened the lives of innocent people. If he couldn't be reformed, he'd have to die. If she was going to see him again, she needed to make sure he was the one getting put down.

Unfortunately, Stephanie didn't fit into those categories, and Claire couldn't waste her time feeling sad over her. The girl would probably better off without her.

((Claire Monaghan continued in Babette's Supper Club))