SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

Nothing about this was okay.

Nona clung to her and Garnet's heart broke a little. None of them deserved to be here, but Nona, seeing her act like this, it kinda contextualised everything, didn't it? This wasn't just a prizefight where you stuck your best gladiators into the coliseum and saw who came out on top. You threw in everything and laughed up the ensuing bloodbath. This wasn't the wolves and the sheep, this was wolves and fucking three day old lambs. It was a complete and total joke. Wait, no, jokes were supposed to somehow be funny.

Nona was kind of tugging Garnet's top down which was pretty awkward but she didn't really want to start telling the other girl off when she was clearly going through some shit. Maybe not even the same shit the rest of them were all going through--you didn't get to live in other people's heads, you know? The same set of circumstances didn't hit everyone in the same way, like Garnet started playing Sun and then cried because it was so pretty compared to the ones she played when she was a kid, she was willing to bet that not everyone else did that. So this was the same thing, right?

Just with, just, yeah, all the rest of it. With the... with the murder and all.

"Hey, listen. How about... how about we maybe take a walk, get somewhere a bit less, you know," she glanced at the edge. Nona was away from it now, but still too close for her liking. Garnet looked back at the others, making it clear she was kinda talking to them too. "Or not, you don't need to. That's okay if you don't feel ready just yet."

Christina just stood there. She didn't really have anything to say, although the other guy had basically given some meaningless platitudes of "we're all fucked, but let's make the best of it." Nona was one step away from the fetal position, so maybe it would take some time to see whether she could come to terms with the circumstances. Either that or Christina would be involved in an assisted suicide. That would be awesome.

"Hey, listen. How about... how about we maybe take a walk, get somewhere a bit less, you know." Now that ... that wasn't so bad. It might work to calm everything down temporarily. Or it might cause them to run into another crazy guy ready to attack.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan to me."

((Christina Rennes continued in His Whole Life Packed In Two Bags, Just Two Bags))

Emil relaxed as the situation relaxed. Garnet had control. Nona had seemed to calm down. Emil checked his tracker.

Oh.

Oh shit.

Emmett and friends were pretty far away. Emil should probably catch up so he doesn’t lose them, they were at the edge his range and he really, really needed to catch up to them.

“Hey uhh, guys I’m sorry about this, but I gotta go. If I lose Emmett then I probably won’t see him again. If you guys wanna follow me you’re welcome to!”

Emil turned to leave before he turned to look back at Garnet.

“Hey, I’ll talk to Emmett for you. That was fucked up and I’ll let him know!”

Emil hated to bail, but everything seemed under control, and right now he had more pressing matters to be completely honest.

He still owed Emmett one after all.

((Emil the third continued elsewhere.))

Everyone was leaving. There was nothing to keep her away from, she'd been off base from the start. Maybe they really were stranded somehow, and there was no bus, and there was no going home, and all she could do was play along until they got whatever punchline they wanted out of her. That is how it went, right? It was what was expected of her. Give in to whatever she was told eventually. Do what everyone else wanted. Be what they needed. So why should she be surprised that even somebody like Garnet could turn her into a prop for whatever messed up prank people were playing on her? She was used to be used. It shouldn't hurt. The smart thing to do would be to cling to her and let this ride until it all blew over and deal with her feelings when she got home. There weren't any facts she could slip into defend herself, any argument came down to her word against theirs, and when had her word ever meant anything? Nona was too afraid to stand up to any of them.

Imagine it was all true though.

Imagine it was really happening to them, that 1 in 30,000 chance. They'd all been kidnapped. No one knew where they were, and no one was coming to save them. Somewhere out there their friends were dying. There could be a murderer hiding around every corner. Any second someone could kill one of them without any warning.

Nona's temple ached. Nona's hands let go of Garnet's top. Nona's feet carried Nona's body to Nona's bags, still heavy with collection, and hoisted them over Nona's shoulders to carry them back down Nona's path without another word in Nona's voice.

A name with each action until it wore out. It had to wear out. The lie they wanted to force would kill it as surely as it would kill any other person on this island, but in its shadow confronting the truth was mundane.

They wanted fear. They wanted violence. They wanted death. Fine. Whatever.

Let's see how long they stick to that story when he's the one writing it.

((Nona Hart Continued In She's Not Developed Like We Are ))

And breathe. Just for a moment. Nona didn't respond, but she did start pulling her things together and Garnet was going to take what she could get at this point. Mobile wasn't as good as attentive and responsive; maybe they could work on that once they'd had a chance to get moving properly. Sometimes, being in motion just helped. That was one of the reasons walking dogs was so nice. That and the dogs, obviously.

Emil was going to follow on after Emmett and you know what like, not really on board with that? Guy knew he was being a little shit by running off and going after him to tell him he was a little shit had basically no bearing on his continued little-shitness. They'd obviously been together beforehand though and Garnet couldn't really begrudge him wanting to link back up, much as she wanted to. Who was she to say what you could and couldn't do when you might die in like a minute?

Literally like a minute.

She shook her head to either side, straightened the straps of her bag, weighed the roll of quarters up, took a deep breath, and began moving.

Aw fuckbeans.

((Garnet continued in His Whole Life Packed in Two Bags, Just Two Bags))