Needles and Pins

[Rorick Skyve†]

((Aiden Slattery continued from Imprimatura))

Like goddamn, this whole place was a dump. Trash and rubbish lying around left and right, no signs or nothing, just some depressing looking walls and hallway after hallway. Man, he was glad to get out of there. Scarlett didn't look to happy about any of this either. Prolly did her a favor gettin' her out as fast as he could.

Like, he kinda felt like he should have been really freakin' angry at whoever had pulled all this crap. Going through all this trouble to scare the livin' shit out of a bunch of teenie weenies, maybe givin' some of them paranoia for life, that stuff wasn't cool, not one bit. But really, he just wanted to get home again, share this weird ass story with his folks and siblings, then move on. Really, everything about this whole thing was made to look real, freakin' collars, goddamn Graham fakin' to bite it, like, shit. This was some professional work, so it was. Work of professional assholes, yeah. Would prolly catch themselves a whole nest of lawsuits once this whole thing was over.

Aiden stopped walking, looking at the walls left and right of him. Kinda looked like the place he had first woken up. Then again, hard to tell, with all the frickin' walls looking the same and shit, this was seriously frustrating. Had walked all the way back, all the way he walked into that musty ass dungeon thingie. The others were prolly still there, hiding or something, scared that some psyched out psycho with a chainsaw came after them or something. They'd figure out the truth soon enough. They had food and stuff too, so no big deal.

Still though, didn't help him with where the hell he was supposed to go. Stairs that led down had to be somewhere here, somewhere around here. Again, who the hell had thought it was a good idea to remove all the signs? Real fucking jokesters, these people who had set this up. Even thought of that, make him and the others run around the place like idiots. Bunch of pricks.

He scratched one side of his head, now looking at Scarlett, who was walking at his side. "Yeah, sorry about this; taking longer than I thought it would. Stairs have to be somewhere here though. Prolly won't be a long walk from there to the main exit."
He sighed, trying not to think about how his meds were still missin'. Main reason why he wanted to get the hell away from there and clear everything up. Had forgotten to take them once, result hadn't been pretty, nope nope nope.

Really hoped Scarlett wasn't scared or anything though. Poor girl still looked like she was buyin' into all of this. Made him feel bad, really, hurt to see her all down like this. Had to try and make her feel better, somehow.

"Hey, you alright by the way? Just asking, you still seem kinda anxious and all."

[Primrosette]

((Scarlett McAfee continued from Imprimatura))

How long have they been walking side by side? Scarlett had no idea. She couldn't help but think that leaving the others had been a bad idea. But that was her own fault. She had made her choice. She couldn't take it back now. Could she have tried to convince Aiden to stay in the group? Probably not. Scarlett let out a small sigh and she shook her head lightly. How would she be able to convince Aiden that all of this was not a prank? Some sick, twisted joke? No way. It wasn't even that. She remembered the blood. Mr Graham's blood. He never deserved to die like that. She couldn't get the image out of her mind and she just felt ill. How could they do something like that? Like this? Very easily. She couldn't deny it.

She was being more quieter than normal while Aiden was talking to her and she just let him. She just wanted them to both get outside. She need the fresh air. She wanted to escape. An exit.... Yes, they needed to find an exit. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to handle being there. Had they taken a wrong turn somewhere? She was feeling nervous and more uncomfortable. Her footsteps were echoing alongside Aiden's. This place was too big.

Scarlett stopped walking when Aiden asked if she was okay and she blinked a little. He seemed to have noticed that she was in a state of uncertainty. Should she just tell him how she was really feeling? Or should she lie and pretend that everything was going to be fine? She honestly didn't want to ruin Aiden's mood. But she didn't want to let him find out the truth the hard way.

Scarlett lowered her bag down onto the ground and she struggled to give Aiden a smile. Just be honest with him, Scarlett. "No, I'm not okay. Not really, Aiden. We're in a really messed up situation. We saw someone getting killed in front of us. We're in a kill or be killed situation. And I'm scared. And I just.... I don't know how to handle all of this.... And I don't know if you will believe me, Aiden." Scarlett's voice was getting more emotional and she didn't want Aiden to see her cry, so she turned away from him quickly. "I'm sorry for getting all emotional like this. I want to stay strong and positive. But I can't. I'm sorry for being such a downer, Aiden. I just didn't want you to go alone."

[Rorick Skyve†]

Aiden could feel his heart shrinking in his chest, like someone had put it into a vise, all the goddamn way. Goddamn it, had been obvious that Scarlett was feeling down and glum and all, but shit, this was just so freakin' hard to watch. Even though he didn't know her that well, no bff level or anything, it still was just depressing seeing that usually so cheerful lass like this, so it was. Had been a real long time since he had last seen a girl hitting rock bottom like this, and this time, it was even kinda his fault.

He remembered Sharon, how she had broken down crying that one afternoon, only time in his life he had ever seen her cry. Back then, he had gone with his instincts, try and make her pain fly away, make that smile return to her face. He had hugged her and it had worked. Hugging always solved things. Sort of. It made things better. Yeah, Scarley wasn't his sis, already had gone over that earlier. Still, she was all down and needed some help, clear as crystal. Had to go for it.

Aiden hesitated for a second, reached out to her, then retracted his arm. What was he, some sorta cowardly ass prick? No, he was going to make this right. Show Scarlett she had nothing to worry about. He owed her. Carefully, he stepped closer to her, then laid his right hand on her shoulder, left one followed suit. Yeah, he was smaller than her, didn't matter. Didn't mean he couldn't make her feel safe. "Hey, look. Scarley..."

He pondered whether or not to do it for a sec, then exhaled and went in for it, hugging her from behind, carefully. Didn't want to get in too close, make her feel uncomfortable, so he made sure there was still some distance between their lower body parts. This had to work, it always did.

"Look, I see why you're like this, okay? I'm really goddamn sorry for making you feel worse and all, really, I'm like, so so sorry. But like...it will be alright, yeah? Please trust me."

He struggled to go on for a second. Already had told her that several times now, said it was all a sham, a hoax, a really bad fucking joke. She was still like this. Didn't believe him, so it seemed. He just had to calm her down for the moment, get them out of there and then she would have to see he was right, that there was no danger, nothing, nada. That it was all fake. The collars, Graham dying, even this pseudo abandoned wreck of a place. Why couldn't she believe him? It was so obvious. It had to be.

"Please, we're getting out of here, okay? I'll get you out of here, everybody else will be there too. We'll all drive outta this hellhole together and go back home and try to forget any of this ever happened, okay? Just please, don't cry, like, please. I don't know what else to say, like."

Goddamn it. Now he was getting all sentimental too. From zero to full blown emotional, tissues needed and stuff. Damn, just damn.

"It's not real, yeah? It's not. It's not."

[Primrosette]

Scarlett was trying hard to blink away her tears and she then wiped at them with the back of one of her hands. She sniffed a little. She didn't want Aiden to see her like this. She wanted to be strong. Be positive. Hope that they would be saved by someone. But she had that gut feeling that it wasn't going to happen. Or that it would be too late for all of them. Except for one person. Who would be completely messed up by everyone else dying. She couldn't bear the thought. What if her friends were already dead?

Scarlett let out a surprised gasp as Aiden touched her shoulders from behind and she wanted to pull away. But she didn't. Because she kind of trusted him not to harm her. She couldn't see him hurting her. She had witnessed what happened between him and Bradley. But that didn't matter anymore. That was in the past. Then she heard his strange nickname for her. She remembered when he first called her that when they were looking for a puzzle for him when they were at her home. She had laughed because she thought it was cute. She still thought that it was cute now.

Then he was hugging her. She didn't suspect Aiden to do that. But it felt a bit nice. Scarlett was always the type of girl who was up for hugs. She normally liked doing surprise hugs to other people. So she thought that it was funny that Aiden was doing the same to her. She was making sure to listen to what he was saying to her. She didn't want to be rude and interrupt him from trying to comfort her. She felt guilty for making him sad as well. He was obviously trying to make her see that all of this wasn't real. It was still so hard for her to believe his words. Aiden wanted her to trust him. She wanted to. She really, really wanted to. Maybe she could try for a while. Until.... Until Aiden saw the truth of what was happening to them.

Scarlett didn't pull out of Aiden's hug and she just turned around slowly to face him. She give him a wobbly smile and she shook her head slightly. It felt so odd to be comforted by Aiden. Maybe she could get more used to him. "You don't have to apologize to me, Aiden. I was just panicking and I didn't mean to act like that. I'm sorry to have worried you like that. Really, I am." Scarlett was being somewhat truthful with him and she was making eye contact with him. Aiden really felt like a brother to her in an unusual way. "I do trust you, Aiden. I think we will get out of here together. I just hope that we are not lost. I really don't want to stay here for too long."

[Rorick Skyve†]

Some actual progress, huh. Like, got her to smile a little, so he had. Hugs really did do wonders, who needed therapy sessions or some mumbo jumbo, this was how it was done. Didn't even feel that awkward, nope. Kinda pleasant, actually, like. Maybe it made up for the lack of Sharon? Nah, that sounded shitty, like Scarlett was just a replacement or something. Bullshit, that wasn't true.

Really though, seeing her brighten up a little was worth any effort. Actually had done something useful, so he had, made him feel good about himself, about this whole thing. Step one accomplished, only needed to actually get out of this dump of a dump now. Maybe he'd even hang out with Scarley more often after this. Yeah, sounded legit, sounded like a plan. Got him a bit pumped, actually.

"See, that's the spirit. We're better than this, you'n me. Takes more than this to make us wet our knickers, right?"

He softly bumped her with his elbow, chuckling. Yeah, he got this, no problemo. "Let's keep going. Got a hunch the stairs are right around the corner." He didn't, not really, but telling her that woulda been much less helpful, to be sure.

[backslash]

"Good grief, this place is a total hellhole."

((Raina Rose continued from World's End Girlfriend))

The above-ground levels of the asylum were thankfully dry, but hardly in any better condition than the basement. Also, they were in an asylum. Joy of joys, with an extra little sprinkling of irony on top.

Even so, Raina, Johnny, and Alice hadn't encountered anything actually threatening yet despite the building's forbidding atmosphere. Raina thought she caught the sound of voices once or twice, but she didn't bring them up or go to investigate and neither did Johnny or Alice. Staying inside and away from others seemed like a good first step towards securing a safe hideout where they could plan their next moves. Raina had never been one for the outdoors, anyway.

Though they hadn't run into any people so far, there were definitely signs that someone had been here before them. On the second floor, there were a few doors standing open; one of them looked into a room that had been trashed, furniture overturned and broken. Raina caught sight of was looked like blood spatter among the mess and decided to quickly move on.

Good to know that somebody had already lost their shit. Less sarcastically, good for the three of them to be on their guard.

Raina was so on guard, in fact, that she nearly clocked Beaks when she rounded the corner and suddenly came face to face with him. Instead, she caught herself and wheeled back a step, instinctively bringing her hands up. "Holy- watch where you're going!"

[frogue†]

[Johnny Ray McKay continued from World's End Girlfriend]

That pale, birdy face was the last one that Johnny had expected to see here.

It wasn't that he shouldn't've expected it. Johnny had known that Aiden was on the field trip after all, he'd even spoken to him on the bus. It was just that Aiden didn't seem to fit, somehow. There was something about his bubbling speech and his ridiculous manner that was just totally inappropriate for their setting: it was like seeing Adam Sandler in a horror movie. Even standing there, looking at the boy, Johnny still couldn't quite wrap his head around it. It just didn't seem right.

His thoughts had grown dark, as they'd trecked through the hospital. They'd turned to fear and violence, and perhaps that was why seeing Aiden had shocked him so, since Johnny's friend was nothing if not the complete and utter opposite of that. Aiden was constantly, ludicrously happy, whereas hospitals for Johnny were places of sadness and dread.

He'd been bitten by a dog, when he was kid. It was bad as far as dog bites went, but hardly life threatening, though that hadn't stopped child-Johnny from being utterly, frightfully convinced he was going to die. It had just hurt so much, there was simply no way, he'd decided, that anyone could possibly survive that sort of pain, and no amount of explaining or cajoling or eventually outright yelling had been able to convince him otherwise.

Johnny had lain in his hospital bed, terrified, and come to despise the hospital. It had been loud and scary and smelled of sick people. This one smelled of dust and damp, but it was no less frightening. He'd been lost in thoughts of danger and panic, and as shitty as it was for the other boy, Johnny was happy to see Aiden nonetheless.

He grabbed him, pulling the shorter boy against his chest in a tight hug.

"Beaks you... you motherfucker."

[Espi]

((Alice Baker continued from World's End Girlfriend))

This place was as creepy as she could've expected. There was a tangible atmosphere of dread, and with the dingy rooms and eerie quiet, Alice couldn't help but feel like any second someone (or, more fantastical, something) was going to jump out at them.

So when Raina turned the corner into Aiden Slattery, Alice took a loud gasp and stepped back, nearly falling back down the stairs in the process. Recovering her wits, she recognized Aiden. He was one of those talkative energetic people, who wore Alice out in conversation.

Still, he seemed nice enough, and Johnny seemed happy to encounter him. Plus, Scarlett was with him, and Alice enjoyed Scarlett's company. So there didn't seem to be much issue.

Still, Alice felt uncomfortable in the presence of so many unfamiliar faces. So as the group coalesced, she hung back by the stairs, ostensibly keeping watch for potential arrivals.

[Primrosette]

Scarlett should have known that she and Aiden would have bumped into other people sooner than later. She didn't know whether she should have been relieved or uneasy about knowing the two new arrivals. Raina Rose seemed to be on guard a little. That didn't surprise Scarlett as she would have freaked out if she had bumped into Raina instead. She possibly would have screamed as well. And then felt like a fool for doing so. The other person was Johnny McKay who she didn't really interact with that much. However, it seemed like he and Aiden were buddy-buddy. So she guessed these two weren't going to start a fight. Not like she was thinking that they would. She was just being a bit paranoid. Being stuck in this horrid place possibly didn't help either.

".....Hey, it's nice to see some familiar faces. Are you guys alright?" Scarlett was being polite for now as she was calming down a little in the others' presence. "Are you two alone as well? We're trying to find a way out of here."

Scarlett wanted to be honest with Raina and Johnny right away. It wouldn't hurt to have more allies as long as Aiden didn't try to rush off again. Just like with Jonathan, Barry and that other girl. Scarlett was standing behind Aiden so she took a step to the left side of him. So that she had a better view of the other two.

[Rorick Skyve†]

Aiden loved being surprised, so he did. Ranging from birthday presents to getting himself pushed into a pool on some party, it was all there. This wasn't an exception, nope.
He jumped back a little when a blue gal materialized in front of him out of the goddamn blue. "Holy...!"

Girl raised up her hands, he followed her example, like he was standin' in front of the weirdest mirror he had ever seen. Took his confusy-fused brain another sec to realize he had just almost headbutted straight into Raina. His first instinct after raising his hands to the sky was showing off his usual grin, though he had no fucking time to do anything else after that, not even get a greeting out or anything.

Nother faced turned the corner, no face, more like a mug. Familiar mug though, the best kind of mug. Fucking Johnny boy, right there in the flesh, on his own odyssey featuring Raina - and apparently Alice too, caught her face somewhere behind the other two.

Yeah, Aiden was a little slow and shit. All he really did was getting his grin going even wider and lowering his hands back down, then he already had his head pressed to the dude's chest. "What the what-"

Still hadn't gotten a single sentence out. He did react now though, started to chuckle, then laugh like he had just witnessed the best joke since fried ice cream. Just, fuck, this was too much, he had to let it out. Whole situation was just goddamn hilarious, Johnny of all people going Sharon on his ass, hugging him and all. Unlike her, Johnny had a distinct note of musk going for him though aka bein' sweaty and stuff. "Hey, glad to see you too man. " Got that one out between two snorts.

He wriggled free, still schuckling a bit, then went back two steps, get himself some breathing room. Yup, goold old Johnny right there, Raina and Alice in tow. Nice, really fucking nice. Finally ran into some people with some sense in here, no offense to any of the others he'd met, but still. He knew Johnny was a smart cookie - yeah, not with life choices and shit, but he had good instincts, knew a little bout something, so he had to have figured this whole shit out. Then again, why'd he hug him like that if that was the case? Kinda overreaction there. Didn't make sense if - well, he was gonna find out sooner or later.

"Hi guys." He gave them a two fingered salute. "Nice runnin' into you. Teamed up with Scarley here, but yeah, you prolly already figured." He snuffled, going for his bag that he had dropped when Johnny pulled him close, then looked up to them while still squatted on the ground.

"You lookin' for the exit on this place too?"

[backslash]

Raina took a step back and pressed one of her raised hands over her heart, as if to still it. "Jesus, Beaks, you scared me."

Johnny's reaction was right the opposite, pulling Beaks into a rough hug. Raina gave Scarlett a friendly nod rather than following suit. Personal space, and all that. She'd let Johnny and Beaks do their dude-hug thing and then get back to business.

"We were just coming up looking for a place to chill for a while, actually," she said. Too casual? Possibly too casual, given the circumstances. Ah well, it fit the mood that Beaks seemed to bring with him wherever he showed his pointy little face. He and Johnny were practically half a petting zoo all on their own.

"The stairs are back that way, and there's a front entrance on the ground floor. Dunno if I'd really want to head out there, but I guess this place is enough of a wreck that outside seems kind of nice." Nice and exposed, if nothing else. Raina reached up to rub at the back of her neck, absently. The strap of the bag was starting to rub irritatingly against her skin.

"Stay out of the basement, though. It's full of water and completely nasty." Actually, if Scarlett and Beaks had been wandering around here for who knew how long looking for the way down, they might know what had happened to make such a mess, or where other students were. Time to mine this potential well of info. Not that one mined wells, but... you get the point.

"Did you guys wake up here, then? Have you seen anybody else? You know who trashed that room back there?"

[frogue†]

Aiden was pallid at the best of times, but as Johnny stepped back, he saw that the boy's pale face now looked downright ghostly.

Despite all his bluster, Johnny had always found Aiden to be of what might be called a sensitive temperament, and insofar as anyone was suited for this shitshow, the young Mr. Slattery certainly was not. Frankly, Johnny was surprised the boy was keeping it together at all.

He looked into his friend's eyes; they looked perfectly normal.

Johnny hadn't paid a lot of attention to Scarlet, upon meeting the pair - he didn't know her, and as long as she wasn't trouble he didn't care about her - but now he turned his thoughts to the girl. Was this who Aiden'd fucked, the one he just wanted to stay friends with? Feminine attention conveyed all sorts of courage, but Johnny didn't see it happening. The girl was ten million miles out of Aiden's league.

He drew out is cigarettes, taking one for himself and then offering the pack to Aiden. It was his last pack, maybe ever, and their number was limited, but nevertheless Johnny was sure it was the right thing to do.

Every condemned man should be offered a final smoke, after all.

[Espi]

Alice hung back.

Whenever there was a family gathering somewhere, or a birthday party, even if it was for a friend, Alice often found it difficult to speak up. Groups made things challenging for her; it felt like an intrusion when she tried to interject, and that meant she usually kept quiet. If she were home, she'd sketch or read or something until it was time to go, unless someone spoke to her first.

This wasn't home. There were no books, or at least, what were here were doubtless not her sort of books. Medical texts, perhaps. But she had no pencil or pen or paper or anything. So she occupied the time analyzing the others.

Scarlett she knew reasonably well. She was a chipper sort, a bit bubbly if anything. Raina was a smart girl, got better grades than Alice. Johnny seemed to think highly of her, which was perhaps a mixed blessing. But Johnny seemed optimistic, positive and friendly, though he did smoke. Not a great decision, generally. And Aiden, who Alice had probably never spoken to, who was clearly close with Johnny.

In short, Alice and Scarlett were the odd ones out, and even Scarlett seemed friendly with Aiden. Which left Alice. That was definitely worrisome. It meant she was expendable, or at least, less important to the group than the others. If someone had to die of this party, Alice would be first. She couldn't stay.

The thought surprised her. Hadn't she just been working towards confidence in other people? But it rang true. She couldn't stick with a set of people where she was on the bottom rung. that didn't sit well for her. Maybe it was foolish, or paranoid. But perhaps it was the safest means. And in this situation, safety did come first.

So she slid, slowly, back towards the stairs and the door, eyes on the others.

[Primrosette]

A place to chill? Scarlett raised an eyebrow when Raina said that so normally. Like they weren't in a terrible game of life and death. Scarlett thought it would be better if they all just left this place together. Maybe going outside was not a great plan but she was desperate to get some fresh air. She also noticed that Alice was there as well finally. It looked like she was backing away from the group. Scarlett wasn't going to say anything about Alice. She didn't think she needed to.

Scarlett gave a small nod to Raina. "Thanks for warning us about the basement, Raina. I wouldn't want to go down there anyway. Aiden and I just want to get outside...." And then what would they do? Will Aiden finally realize that all of this was not a joke? ".....Thanks for the way out of here. Well, I didn't wake up on this floor. So I have no clue who would do that to a room. I'm not sure about Aiden tho. We did see some others. Barry Banks, Jonathan and a girl who's name I have no clue of. We split up from them. So... yeah...."

Scarlett noticed that Johnny was giving a cigarette pack to Aiden. If she was back at home; she would be disapproving of people smoking and damaging their bodies. But right now she just wanted to go. So she stared right at Aiden and tilted her head towards the stairs behind Alice.

"I think we should get going now, Aiden."

[Rorick Skyve†]

Alright, alright, helluva lot information to process at once. Like, not that much, really, but it was kinda more puzzling for him to figure out why the hell they were running around the place when they already had to know where the exit to this place was. Hanging back and chillin', sure, he could dig that, but why now, just made no sense. All they had to do was leave that dump and they were good, why did nobody beside him see that?

Aiden rubbed one side of his face with one hand, feeling sort of disappointed. Like, Barry and Jon Jon, those two he could get, were prolly not the brightest bunch, but Johnny too? He had always considered that dude to be, dunno, mature or something, lazy bum maybe, but with some wits up in his brain. Man. Like, it was good to see the guy, but still.

"Alright so..." Aiden started and immediately stopped when he saw Johnny offering him one of his cigs. Like, nice of him and all, but wasted on him, he had promised himself to never do the smokies, nope. Still though, it reminded him that he himself was missin' some things of his. Motherfuckin' meds were still out of his reach, godamnit. He didn't need that reminder.

"Nah, thanks dude, better keep those." He raised a hand in a defensive gesture. And now Scarlett was telling him that they should go, great. No, that wasn't right though, he couldn't just leave with her and leave Johnny and Raina to their business, no way. Had been different with the other folks back there, he barely knew them and stuff, but Johnny Boy, that dude was his pal, he had to try and open his eyes, yup.

"Sec, Scarlett." He signaled her to stay put, then took a deep breath. Man, he didn't like being all serious like, but what could he do?

"Hold the phone for a bit, alright? You two, you're tellin' me you want to go deeper in here, hang out and stuff? I mean, you're right to do so and all, but why, like...?" Aiden stopped for a second, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, if you wanna get out of here, you know you just have to leave, right? After all-" He looked from Johnny to Raina. One of them had to have some sense in them, to be sure. He couldn't be alone with this.

"You get what I'm sayin', right? C'mon, you have to know what's up."