Hajime

[Deamon]

Yasmin was pleased that Katy had broken her hand. She knew it was bitchy but Katy had gotten away with so much while they had been at Aurora it was nice for something bad to happen to her for once. Yaz just wished it hadn't been done at the expense of her own nose, which was also broken. It stung badly too, and Yaz was sure her face was starting to swell up from it.

The way Katy phrased her explanation made it sound like it was Yaz's fault, which wasn't true at all, Katy was the one who had attacked her out of nowhere. If she had actually checked and been less gung-ho they would have avoided the entire situation. They both would have ended up intact as well.

As it was they were both injured and it looked like Katy had lost the use of one of her hands completely.

Yaz was surprised when Katy apologised though, or gave the closest thing she was going to give to an apology. She didn't look at Yaz as she gave it either. It was like the apologies Yaz had gotten off kids when they were at middle school, when the teacher had forced them to apologise. Insincere. Not wanting to show weakness. It was always the same things with bullies.

"Thanks I guess." Yaz said in reply. She wasn't sure where the two of them stood at that moment in time and there was an awkward silence as she thought of what else to say. In the end she settled on the simplest option.

"What now?"

[Outfoxd]

Katy finished her energy bar, downed another sip of water, and capped the bottle.

"What now?"  Katy parroted.  "I'm gonna find the rest of the softball team.  Anyone's got a clue what to do, it's those bitches."

She adjusted the gauze on her hand.

"You-"  She said, pointing at Yaz with her good hand, "Can sit here and bleed for all I care."

Katy looked out of the window.  Since their exchange, nothing but their words had broken the silence of the school grounds.

"What'd you get in your bag?"  Katy asked suddenly.  Flashbangs were good.  Whatever Yaz had might have been better.

[Deamon]

Katy mocked her and then said that she was going to go and find the softball team. She also made it clear that Yaz wasn't invited. It was what Yaz had expected so it didn't come as a surprise. After all Katy didn't like her and had no reason to go out of her way to help her.

That didn't stop it being disappointing. Yaz knew that Katy would have been an awful person to travel with but she knew Judo after all and was in good physical shape, apart from the broken hand. So it would've been a safe option. Unfortunately it looked like Yaz was going to have to make her own way through the game. It was a daunting prospect and it wasn't one she was looking forward too.

There were too many people who could potentially be out to hurt her. There would also be people who would shoot first and ask questions later, Katy had proved that much.

Yaz was broken out of her thoughts when Katy asked what she got in her bag. Yaz had a funny feeling that if she'd have gotten something good this would have been the point where Katy tried to rob her. As it was however Yaz had an awful weapon so there was no point lying.

"I got the same as you." She said as she got up and made her way over to her bag. "Apart from this." Yaz took the pillowcase out and tossed it just in front of Katy. The rock making a dull thunk as it hit the floor.

[Outfoxd]

Katy looked at the pillowcase.  She almost laughed when she realized what it was.

"Oh my God.  They really did fuck you, didn't they?"

Katy bent down to pick the pillowcase up.  She stared at it for a minute before shaking her head and tossing it to the side.

"I guess you could hit someone pretty good with it.  But considering what other people might have-" Katy tapped her own bag.  "You might as well have nothing."

Katy reached into her bag and rummaged.  Her hand came out with another of her flashbangs.  She set it on the floor and slid it to Yaz.

"You're gonna need that more than me.  Although I don't have much hope for you regardless."

Katy zipped her bag back up.

"Do you even have some friends to run with?"

[Deamon]

Yaz gathered up the pillowcase and returned it into her bag. Katy even emphasised her point by tapping on her own bag, like Yaz needed any reminding of what her weapon was. She had experienced it first-hand.

That was why she was surprised when Katy actually slid one of the flashbangs across the floor to her.

"Thank you." And for the first time since they had started talking Yaz actually meant it. The thought of just pulling the pin and bolting entered her mind briefly; she could have done it too. Just pull the pin, throw it and hide behind the desk again. If Katy caught her afterwards though...no wasn't worth the risk.

The next question Katy asked her made Yaz stop to think. Did she have any close friends she could rely on in SotF?

Maddie was the first person who came to mind, they were close and both trusted each other. The only issue would be she would have to find Maddie and that would be hard. Off the top of her head Yaz could think of a few others but Maddie was the main one. Still the group of people she really trusted was very small regardless.

"I don't have many."

[Outfoxd]

The gratitude was weird.  It certainly didn't sound right.  Katy ground her teeth together at the sound of the words, but didn't otherwise respond to them.

Then she said she had no friends.

"Christ."  Katy had to stop herself from slapping herself in the face with her broken hand.

"So you've got a shitty weapon, no friends, and a broken nose in a place where we're expected to kill each other."

This time she did laugh.

"What's your plan, then?"

[Deamon]

Katy had summed up Yaz's situation perfectly, and it didn't paint a pleasant picture. Everything was stacked up against her, and some of the obstacles would be pretty hard to overcome, and that was if Yaz was being generous about her situation.

"I guess my plan was to find one of my friends...past that..." Yaz trailed off.

She didn't have a plan at all, and her original one of finding friends seemed like it would be much much harder than she had first realised. A much better plan would just be to stay out of trouble and stay hidden. But the fact that certain parts of the island would be made out of bounds by the danger zones meant she would have to move at some point.

Even then if it came down to it, would she able to kill another one of her classmates in self-defence? If the encounter with Katy was anything to go off she was useless in a fight...no scenario looked good for her.

"I don't really have a plan anymore."

Yaz was just starting to realise how awful her situation actually was.

[Outfoxd]

This girl was pitiful.

Katy knew it long beforehand, in the halls of Aurora.  But looking at her now, with the level of her pathetic inability to even ensure her own survival, it was painfully clear.

Yazmin was dead weight, a load to be dumped off and stuck in an incinerator or crushed in a trash compactor.  Which is why Katy had no clue why she was compelled to say what she said next.

"Look..."  She said.  She looked at her feet and kicked a pencil that was on the ground there.

"Just... come with me for a little bit.  You know, until we find somewhere good for your worthless ass to hide for awhile."

Truth be told, and she didn't want to admit out loud, Katy was afraid of being alone too.

[Deamon]

Katy had actually offered to let Yaz travel with her. It was obvious that Katy didn't like doing it; Yaz could tell as much from the way she didn't look at her and instead played with a pencil that was on the floor.

Granted she was planning to dump Yaz some place as soon as she possibly could but even having a partner - even if that partner was Katy was better than nothing. It wasn't like Katy would be bad in terms of physical ability, far from it but on a personal level it would be an unpleasant experience.

Still she wasn't going to say no to the offer. After all everything Katy had said had been true and Yaz needed any advantage she could get.

"Ok...sounds good." Yaz picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Guess we better start looking for others." She said. If she had learned anything about Katy it was that she accepted authoritative action, and if Yaz just asked Katy what the plan was she would be letting Katy assert her dominance again.

Instead it would be better to at least play some part in deciding what they were going to do next and an uneasy partnership was better than no partnership at all.

[Outfoxd]

Katy held up a finger, almost stuck it in Yaz's face.

"Rule number one.  Don't speak unless I ask you to."

She rocked back on her heels, and in spite of herself, nodded to Yaz anyway.

"Guess we better had.  Come on."

Katy shouldered her pack, started out, and wondered just what the hell she thought she was doing.

((Katy Warren continued elsewhere))

[Deamon]

Katy told Yaz not to speak unless she was asked too. Yaz rolled her eyes at the command but didn't say anything.

If Katy wanted to continue playing the stupid game of dominance who was Yaz to deny her.

Katy got up and started to leave, Yaz made to follow her but stopped when her foot hit something on the floor. Looking down Yaz saw that it was the pencil Katy had been fiddling with. She bent down and picked it up, stuffing it into her pocket. It wasn't even her pencil but it made her feel slightly more comfortable.

Drawing had been one of her favourite things to do back in Seattle and she always had a pencil on her person. It was a small thing but it put her more at ease, made everything seem more...normal, less dangerous.

Feeling a little bit better Yaz sped up to a quick jog to catch up with Katy; she didn't want to get left behind after all.

((Yasmin Carrol continued in Start It With a Positive Jam))