SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

Kathryn rolled her eyes at Iselle saying, "O ye of little faith." Kathryn hadn't picked a random tent at all. While the others had been talking she'd scanned the available tents and chosen this one specifically. She smiled and took a step forward, lightly kicking the box of baseballs that stood in one corner.

"Ummm, in case you haven't really been listening the announcements have named quite a few of our classmates as killers. Now I don't know the circumstances of each and every one, but to my thinking all of them can't be accidental. Which means that going around randomly approaching them and telling them not to hurt anyone else, just might get us killed." Kathryn for once restrained herself from pointing out that two in their party had been among that had their names announced.

"Besides, I've done enough walking around today and it's raining. So for a while, I'm going to be selfish and hang out under this tent."

"FUCK THE RAIN!" Jaquilyn was on her feet now. Her legs were wet, her ass was wet, and her hair was drenched. "There are people DYING!" She looked at everyone around desperately, was the weather their biggest concern right now?

She was still yelling, "We're all fucking just trying to stay alive, it's not like the kids on the announcements want to be killers!"

It was far too late to stop sounding defensive, she took a step backwards and pointed at her classmates. "You don't know what I've done! You don't know what I saw! I don't fucking need you to patronize me, do I fucking look like I'm proud of myself?"

She stepped back and turned to whoever was still around and listening. She needed to calm down.

"Look. Grace died today." She wiggled uncomfortably as a cold sensation ran up her backbone. "That means nobody else has to." Her yelling had calmed to a more pleading voice. "None of you have to die, none of you have to kill."

She sighed, exasperated. It was hard to sound reasonable and collected when... this.

"I'm not playing this game to win, but I'm sure as shit not trying to die. Neither are you guys, otherwise you would have messed with those collars by now." She touched her own.

"Let me go and try to stop the killing today," She demanded. "...Please... It's the only good thing I still try to do."

((Sorry, but I've got to get out of here.))

Jaquilyn turned away, and headed back towards the woods. Hopefully they'd spread the news of Grace's death. They didn't seem to be killers, anyway. She'd get the word out. She'd shout it from the mountain if she had to.

Her feet splashed in puddles as she continued. She could feel the moisture through her shoes, making sopping sounds with every step. She stayed focused on the sound, noting it's metronome-like cadence. Maybe she ought to go back for Joachim. He'd been a dependable ally. Maybe he didn't have the greatest people skills, but that didn't really matter when you were trying to save lives... And Joachim wanted to help too, right?

Jaquilyn grabbed the sides of a turnstile and swung her legs over it. If she found him, she'd find him. He might still be waiting at the rendezvous point, but she'd be burning precious daylight if she went back now. She wasn't going to let herself return to the safety of her ally's protection or their collection of weapons. Eight people died on the first day, but she'd figured that was due to sheer panic. Twelve on the second day, people must have panicked when they heard there was actual killing. Sixteen on day three.

God help me if I can't slow this fucking thing down.

((Jaquilyn Locke continued in I'm Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.))

((Apologies from me as well, I'm going to be really busy this weekend and I'm afraid I might not have time to post before I go inactive on Monday, so I need to skip to avoid that.))

There wasn't a chance for argument, or reaction. Her hand clenched tight around the handle of the whip, and she tensed to spring if Jaq made any sudden moves after her little speech, but then she just...left. Walked away. Nobody came charging out of the woods. Nobody pulled a surprise weapon. All the tension of the situation deflated, like there was never anything to be afraid of in the first place.

No. She was planning something. We just scared her away. That has to be it.

Alda latched on to the suspicions inside her. She let them lead her downwards into her convictions. With a derisive snort, she abandoned Chase and moved back to join the others in the tent.

"Whatever. I don't give a fuck as long as she keeps her crazy somewhere else."

Getting out of the rain was nice, as was finding the baseballs. They weren't much, but maybe they'd come in handy in a pinch. One of them would be better against somebody with a gun than her Cat would.

"So what's the plan? We waiting here for awhile until this stops, or moving on, or what?"

((And since I'm now on Day 12 again, fuck it, I'm posting.))

As Jaquilyn walked off, a small amount of tension bled off from Iselle's shoulders.  The other girl's erratic behavior bothered her more than she had realized.  If they had been back at home, Iselle would have sworn that Jaquilyn was high.

She ran a hand over her damp hair.  The water would be good for smoothing down any fly-away hairs. It had been a long time since she had even a passing thought about her appearance. Iselle's hand slid down to grasp her braid, giving it a slight tug.  The familiar gesture and the quick, sharp pain soothed her nerves.

Nodding in agreement with Alda's statement, she pondered the question.  The key to surviving seemed to be in staying together, staying alert, and staying on the move.  Iselle sighed before answering. "Okay, I'm all for staying until the rain stops mostly because I don't want to be following on Crazy Jaqui's heels.  I don't know exactly what's wrong with her, but the more space between her and us, the better.  After that...."

Iselle puffed her lips and exhaled loudly.  "After that, I guess we just keep doing what we've been doing.  If either one of you two has an idea, I'm willing to listen and go with it.  If nobody has a plan right now, we can walk until we get one.  Agreed?"

_______________

As soon as the rain began to taper off, Iselle exited the game booth and set off.

((Iselle Ovalle-Vandermeer continued in Kill All Motherfuckers))

---

Chase just stood there silently, not because there was nothing to say, but because there was simply too much.

He'd just wanted peace and purpose, for the constant barrage to slow down,.  He'd just wanted for things to be simple again, for things to be easy, to do the right thing, and maybe he'd known all along that it was all wrong. Alda's accusation had neither shocked or horrified him.  He only felt a dull, painful sort of recognition, as if he'd been forced to face a fact he'd wanted to avoid.  

So he didn't say anything as Jaq walked off into the woods, nor did he move to follow Alda back to the tents.  Because he could indeed remember the first announcements, could indeed remember the killers' names, now that the fog had been stripped away, and he had to face reality as it was even though he wasn't ready.  He only knew that it was all wrong, that everything was wrong, and he didn't trust anyone here.

He didn't know what to do anymore, just knew that he couldn't stay.  So he walked off again, alone, even more directionless than before.

At least the drizzling rain didn't seem that big of a deal anymore.

---

Kathryn sighed. She really didn't want to go wandering the island again. Especially since there was no guarantee that they wouldn't get caught in the rain again. As a Seattle native, she usually didn't mind the rain. Then again she had a home to get to, and a warm shower waiting for her. A warm shower sounded wonderful right now. Much too soon for Kathryn's liking the rain let up and Iselle was off.

Determined not to lose her teammate again, she gathered her gear, grabbing a couple of baseballs as well. Straightening, she glanced over at Alda. "Guess that means Iselle is ready to go. We should get after her before she gets herself in more trouble."

Kathryn stepped over the railing and headed after her co-captain. "Hey Iselle, wait up. There's no reason to rush."

((Kathryn Nguyen continued in Kill All Motherfuckers)))

While they waited for the rain to pass, Alda looked through her bag and added a few baseballs from the tent. She spent a few minutes staring at the map before giving up and throwing it in the bag. She couldn't figure out exactly where they were, and it didn't really matter anyway.

The drizzle slowly dissipated until all that was left was the smell of wet earth. Iselle walked off without a word. Kathryn soon followed her out, calling out to catch up. For a moment, Alda waited alone.

She could tell them to be more careful.

She could tell them to figure out where they were going.

She could point out how badly things could have gone here.

Instead, she smirked and hurried up the trail. Fuck all that complex bullshit. Get Paulo, get out, and kill every last motherfucker who won't stay out of our way. That's the only plan we need.

((Alda Abbatte Continued in Kill All Motherfuckers))