SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

"Wait," Tonya blinked at Ramsey, eyelids up and down like a window open and closing, up, down, up, down. Boy was talking a mile a minute, and it was a whole lot of shit for a lady to take in just a few seconds. She put up a hand, to tell him and rude white kid #1 to slow down just a little, just enough for her to get her shit straight. "Like, nah, I haven't seen no Angie, but I saw Tanisha in this kitchen thing or whatever, back in this place with tons of houses and all."

See? She was playing nice, all like Marcy, no longer twig girl anymore 'cause she was actually acting not a fool and standing up for a bitch's ass, and Tonya was doing all they asked for. Answering the questions. Not waving around the machete. Being chill, being good, because she was definitely chill. The most chill.

She nodded at the other girl, once just to let her know that she got it, and appreciated all of it. Not more than that, though, no need to get too close. Right here, Tonya was gonna be taking in all the creature comforts she could get, even if she was almost for sure definitely gonna bail on this bitch if anyone got more aggro. White boy #2 was just looking at his map as if that was gonna help reduce his ego to a manageable size, but she wasn't exactly in the shading a-holes mood right now. Didn't know if she'd ever even be like that for as long as she was here, really.

Anyways, Marcy was saying this shit sucked, which like yeah, duh, of course, no other way to describe it, but yeah, true. Whatever.

"So, mmm, this sucks, yeah, the shit is shit, but what're you gonna do 'bout it?" She was still questioning, but the words were less sharp now, knives stashed in the rack for just a short while. She just wanted to know, after all.

What were they going to do?

While Theo waited for an answer, he fumbled idly with his bag. It seemed his comments had been ignored, for the most part, with Ramsey more concerned about somebody he knew and Parker engrossed in his map-reading. The only person to actually noticed was Mercy, and only to tell him to be more polite. Tonya herself had simply ignored him, instead asking her own question about what people were planning to do next.

He thought carefully. What was he planning to do? "I was planning on going down to the houses down the hill, actually."

He took out his map and circled the nearby group of houses with his finger. "They look like they would have something useful. I saw them before I came in here, when I woke up. I was initially thinking of looking around here, but this place seems mostly empty." He looked at the others. "Does anyone have any other plans?"

He felt hungry again, but didn't want to start on his rations just yet. Turning back to Ramsey, he held out his hand once more. "Do you mind if I have some more?".

Tanisha in the the kitchen thing or whatever. It wasn't a real lead, but it was something better than just standing around and waiting for Angie or Ace to show up on their own.

Parker was looking at his map, Mercy was still sulking, and Tonya and Theo both talked about what the hell they were gonna do now. They really were pretty SOL, but at least Theo seemed to kind of have a plan to go somewhere.

"I'm gonna go look for my sis and Ace. That's all I care about right now." Ramsey handed Theo a wad of marshmallows before tying the bag back up and gathering all 100 lbs of his stuff.

((And then a blood-curdling scream shook the interior of the temple.))

Ramsey flinched, quickly scanning everyone in the room until it was over.

"Okay, so, I ain't sticking around to find out whatever the hell that was. You guys should probably do the same."

And with that and a quick "excuse me" as he passed Tonya, he hippity hopped out of there.

((Ramsey Cortez continued in Son of Robot))

The conversation swirled on around him as he studied. Mercy tried her best to de-escalate, Tonya tried to act at least moderately helpful with the tension fading out of it, and Theo laid out his plan to go check out the buildings. It wasn't a terrible one, but he doubted the terrorists were going to leave anything of note lying around, and it seemed even more likely that someone else who'd been left closer would have ransacked them before now anyway. Not that he said as much.

He pulled the map down as the scream reached the building, his eyes catching Ramsey as he looked around nervously, and declared his own intentions. They seemed panicked, irrational - He wanted to find people he knew, with no direction to go on, and was deciding to strike out on his own to do it. Him looking around the room for support in the task, and not receiving it before walking out only confirmed that. At least the thought of not wanting to find out who'd made that kid scream was probably a sound one. The only thing he'd said that he concurred with.

He began to fold up his map, and started talking again, answering Tonya's question for himself.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I kinda want to live - And I'm pretty fucking sure I'm not going to make it out the way they want us to" He explained, one finger tapping against the metal of the collar to signify who the 'They' was in this case, before continuing to talk. "So, I'm going to try and find a way off the island." he completed, looking at them momentarily for a reaction, before reaching down to pick up his axe again.

He looked over the three remaining people again. "Y'all are welcome to come with me, but I figure you've got other priorities and people to find, so... Well, take care of yourselves."

With that said, he turned around, and began to walk out the way he'd came.

((Parker_Green - Day 1 - 9:25 Local Time - In Transit to Forgone Conclusions))

Plans, okay. It would be good to have a plan. Mercy would have thought of something, if her head wasn't full of buzzing. By the time she opened her mouth to say anything, things had already started to crumble between the five of them again.

"Huh- Ramsey, wait up!"

Mercy hopped to her feet as he made his escape. She glanced back at Theo and Tonya. "I guess what I'm doing right now is following him," she said, voicing the decision she'd just come to about ten seconds ago. They were welcome to follow if they wanted, but she didn't want to wait around and risk losing track of the one person she knew best out of this group (and "best" was still just vague positivity towards him, but it was better than nothing).

She hustled out of the temple on Ramsey's heels and didn't look back at the moldy, creepy building. Good riddance to that.

((Mercy Ames continued in Son of Robot))

So, mmm. Seemed like what they were gonna be doing right now was leaving her ass behind here, which Tonya definitely wasn’t pissed off about, but she was still just a lil’ bit angry. ‘Course, when she’d given them some info they wanted, they were just gonna leave her behind, and sure, she stepped out of the way of everyone making their way, but she was not gonna deny how tempting it felt to pick up the machete and do something.

Still, the only goodbye she gave the others was a raised eyebrow, no wave, no wishes. Like sure, woulda been nice and all, but here, fighting for your life, did anyone really mean good luck when they said it? Or were they just trying to cover up their guilty-ass selves? Tonya was firmly in the latter camp, and as she picked up her machete, she remembered there was still one other person in here.

“So, I’ma be leaving now,” she said, more to confirm it to herself rather than the other white boy. She had her things, had the big-ass knife, had everything she needed to do this. To live. To be queen bitch or whatever. “And if you follow me...”

Tonya raised the machete at him, with no real intent to slash, but a real intent to make him stay the fuck away from here. “Just don’t.”

With narrowed eyes, she exited the temple, eye glancing over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being trifled with. Just like that, she was out.

((Tonya Collins, continued in Rakshasa Country))

Theo recoiled at the sudden sound, but the lack of a follow-up suggested whatever, or whoever, had caused it, had already left. He watched as the others made their ways out of the temple, mostly peacefully, though Tonya paused for a moment to swing her machete aggressively for one last time. He frowned in response as she made her way out of the temple, but said nothing as she left, leaving him by himself once more.

Finally alone, and with no one else watching him, he took one last look at his surroundings only to see a noose and a broken roof beam on the floor. Had it always been there? Had someone tried to commit suicide here? Or was it the last remnant of something much worse? Still, the rope could be useful, and he slid the rope off of what remained of the beam. He toyed with it as he left the temple, and tried to put the question of what it meant out of his mind.

(Theophilus "Theo" Walterson continued in Solace in Solitude?)