Beauty and The Beast

A tale that's nigh a few weeks old.

The southeastern part of the island is covered in a dense, dark forest. Somewhere within the forest, a tree fort once belonging to a young child has been erected within the trees. Don't let your guard down here, there's no telling who's hiding in the nearby bushes waiting to strike.
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laZardo†
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Beauty and The Beast

#1

Post by laZardo† »

((Continued from Damien Broke In))

Damien Carter-Madison found it all so romantic and breathtaking, even though he was shivering quite badly. He could also see his breath in front of him as he exhaled. Right now he was running on whatever was in his stomach...and willpower from a newfound sense of confidence, the rest of his body and soul be damned. Of course, it wasn't much, and he clearly appeared to be trudging along the forest like a tired soldier.

The sun was already above the level of the trees that cluttered this forest, with the fresh morning light trickling with the dew down the leaves and onto the ground. The rays that managed to make it all the way down created slanted pillars of light that accented the fog so well, at least before it generously slid out of the way later on in the day. He could hear some wind blow past, but other than that the place was almost perfectly tranquil. Refreshing. Peaceful. Somewhat numbing too, but that could also have been a good thing given that he could still feel the effects of Marvin's beating as well as the little stings that came from the barbed wire he had acquired off his first kill.

In fact, Damien clearly didn't seem to mind as he stepped over a maggot-infested carcass that looked like it had been impaled by a sharp instrument. There didn't seem to be any supplies nearby...or at least none that had already been claimed by local forest vermin. While Damien could still go off Elias' for at least a day or two, he certainly hoped he could get supplies off of someone else...and that would be something he certainly hoped he would have a lot of fun doing. His severely-bandaged left hand had not let go of the blood-stained barbed wire it wielded, while his right only let go of the pot lid only when he needed to do a #1 or #2.

Sometimes, Damien chuckled at the fact that he'd gotten the idea to use the "survival manual" as toilet paper from the last SotF Champion.

He did start to mind as Danya's announcement started to play though. He smiled childishly as his name was mentioned for his proper execution of one of his tormentors, though it was a tainted, strained smile. Tainted by the fact that Roland Thomas Kelly's name was also mentioned, because he never figured that grunt of the Valenti Syndicate for even a real fighter despite his boisterous rhetoric. Strained because Damien's own had not received any more accolade than the idiotic self-kill that had been mentioned first. Maybe it was to hide his suspicion that his own mother had put him in this game, but who knew.

All became tranquil once more as the public access system shut off, giving Damien time to think. It wasn't much time though as the tranquility was interrupted by another noise, this time coming from Damien's own person.

Damien let his barbed-wire hand take the pot lid for a moment, before he felt around his stomach, which was covered only by his blood-stained button-down shirt. He felt enough of a rumbling to decide to take a much-needed rest and get some food down. He found a particularly tall, sturdy tree and slid his backpack off before sitting down on the ground (landing quite hard from exhaustion), leaning back against it. The roughness of the bark was easily negated by his shirt, though he didn't lean his head all the way back in case something decided to get into his hair that he didn't want.

He hummed a tune in a failing yet still very childish voice as he put the pot lid on his lap and reached into his backpack.

Hmmm...some crackers would be nice about now...

The crackers, of course, coming from a tin that had been severely battered from the explosion that gutted Elias McConnell's jugular. Right now though, the first thing he pulled out was some water.

The sight of all that dew - not all that blood - made him quite thirsty.
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#2

Post by Xaldien† »

((Continued from To Figure Things Out))

Kristey was walking for quite a long time thinking about the three people who she was worried about. Mostly her brother, and now he's homocidal boyfriedn... what a perfect pair they make. Then again, she was convinced that Andi had something to do with it, since it seemed like Peter was nothing more than a mindless puppet that Andi had on a string... but she never knew anything about Andi, other than she wanted to murder him.

The third was the name of someone more closer to home... well, school.
Damien. She heard he had killed someone, and it didn't surprise her.
He'd crack, he'd lose it.

He'd... She saw someone very familar nearby, and she continue her train of thought... he'd appear right before my very eyes.

From a safe distance, she called out "The bitch in the red dress says Hi, Damien."
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#3

Post by laZardo† »

The water wasn't that much colder than the air outside as it went down Damien's esophagus. Hell, it wasn't really cold. Which was a good thing, as it helped warm him a bit. He knew it would only be a matter of hours before he started sniffing from the onset of pneumonia or other cold-induced ailment.

Then he heard a voice. A single female voice coming from somewhere in the forest. A very familiar female voice, belonging to self-proclaimed girl in the red dress. It had been nigh a week since he last heard this voice telling him to run away, and if the girl this voice had belonged to found him, he would die. Of course, that had been when he was alone and unarmed, now he was alone but also armed. The girl displaced Renée Valenti at the top (per se) of his new hit list, but he had hoped that he could clear out everyone else first like the Bride before facing the final boss.

This lack of readiness easily explained why he was not currently shivering out of the cold air around him, and why he nearly choked on the water, the resulting jolt causing him to drop the bottle and instinctively grab the pot lid.

This early already!?

Very rightly so, it seemed. It could not possibly be a hallucination on an island where literally anything or anyone could kill him.

He didn't remember hearing Kristey Burrowell's name in any announcement that he could remember...and he didn't remember all the announcements. For all he knew she could have managed to kill someone with - or win by killing someone with - an assault rifle or infra-red goggles. This of course meant he knew she could see him, but he couldn't see her back.

He stood up slowly, holding the pot lid close and barbed-wire at the ready. He could feel the barbs starting to poke through the bandages wrapped around his left hand, but they hadn't reached the flesh yet. Fortunately for him his thin build could conceal him behind the tree...if she was on the other side of the tree. For all he knew, he could be filling up her gunsights, and she could be behind the tree right in front of him.

Damien found himself breathing steadily yet heavily as his glance shifted rapidly from side to front to side to front to side and so on. Apart from his own breathing he could hear nothing but the usual forest ambience minus the wildlife. He tried to put on a grimace so that he seethed, but even he knew he was scared, because she could just as easily pop out and bludgeon him to death from the current blind spot in his field of vision with her Louisville Slugger. That would be a very easy job. He couldn't climb the tree lest he expose his back, either. In effect, he was lodged in his position.

All he knew for certain is that it was now or never...and that he was thankful he had gone #1 only a few minutes prior to the announcement.
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#4

Post by Xaldien† »

"I wouldn't move to quickly if I were you, Damien."
She had her baseball bat ready for a strike. It seemed like a long time since she last saw him, but it was really only a few days. She completely forgot about him for sometime, despite his betrayel, and continued distrust of her. Which wasn't entirely unfounded, considering her evil streak back when they were in school.

"So, I hear you've been having a little fun in this program. Godo to know you've kept yourself busy since we last met."

She put down her bat for a brief time, and decided to try and have one good moment between before the inevitable fight started.

"You've been doing okay, I take it?"
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#5

Post by laZardo† »

Damien still could not see Kristey, at least from where he was standing. He could see the barbed wire wiggling just a bit as a result of his hand shivering. He could feel the confidence in her voice shaking him to his foundations, and it did not feel good at all. The more it shook him, the bigger an advantage she'd have...especially when she seemed more confident (and more importantly, much less injured) than he was right now.

"Oh y-yes...I've been doing f-fine..." he stammered almost musically, trying to use Elias' death to build up some confidence.

At least those memories were fresh enough that he could do so with some degree of success. "Been taking care of imp-portant business. Yep." Of course, as long as Damien was more shaky than Kristey, it wouldn't matter if he'd just slaughtered the rest of the Valenti Syndicate and taken their firearms.

It was crazy, but predictable in some equally crazy manner that the only person to show him any real compassion in long-past-recent memory would be the one most out for his blood. But to Damien, it was all part of the tragedy that was his mere existence...especially compared to the more successful endeavors of his tormentors.

Which brought memories of Roland's kill and Franco's slaughter into mind. "Y-you know...your friends are also pretty busy too..."

All this duress didn't create ideal conditions for him to be playing mind games, regardless of his actual measured intellect. He tightened his grip on the weapons he wielded, the barbs starting to cut dangerously close to his flesh.
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#6

Post by Xaldien† »

"Friends? Pssh, if you're reffering to Renee's group of rejects, who's mafia wannabe attitudes were the live action equivalent of valium, sorry to say, they were in no way my friends."

She didn't take her eyesight off of him for a second. She knew he was afraid of her, and for damn good reason, but regardless, she continued speaking in that little way of hers. She figured that if he's still scared of her, she can use that to her advantage, and maybe get some help with Andi, if she managed to butter Damien up a little more.

"I'm sure you'd be a lot happier if Renee were here. We both know that without her precious little boytoy, she wouldn't last two seconds. Then again, he didn't last very long to begin with."
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#7

Post by laZardo† »

A thought flashed into Damien's mind - if she could see him, then he could easily see her. He turned his head and to his shock, he was absolutely right. The blonde bombshell he saw clearly showed signs of fatigue, but her presence - and the Louisville Slugger she wielded in one hand - still made her appearance feel like the very apparition of death. Her voice still remained as snarky as ever to him.

Damien grit his teeth. It was infuriating that super-snob Franco Sebberts had been able to knock off Marvin Hendrick so easily...and it piqued his curiousity in a very negative way to wonder if Kristey had also knocked off her own allies while he wasn't listening to the announcements. Still, apart from Elias' demise, he wasn't shaking as much now that he had his target in view and items to attack or defend with. He definitely hoped that the same shield he knocked out Elias with prior to his first kill would hold up against a baseball bat.

But as he quickly brushed aside more memories, he stopped at one flashback. One that made him realize that something - someone was missing.

"So maybe you and Reneé weren't exactly girlfriends...but whatever happened to that big guy you had in tow?"

To be fair, Damien would not have been surprised if Kristey decided to whack Peter...such a large specimen of human would have a hard time even trying to keep up with her...
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#8

Post by Xaldien† »

"Peter found his way back to the person he was looking for... his boyfriend... my brother..."

She moved to Damien's right side. But she kept a safe distance to make sure that she wouldn't get hurt. Then again, at this point, it wouldn't matter to her at all. There's no point in her being in this game, this battlefield. Nothing in this world is meant for her, other than this moment with Damien, the one person who she seemed to want to care for, for reasons she would rather keep to herself.

She let her bat go at ease, and then rather than taking the usual high and mighty stance she kept over every person she encounter, she sat on the floor, with the bat at her side, but not ready for a strike.

"This place is hell. Maybe not even that. It's worse. For me, it's for reasons more than just killing, and seeing friends die."

The wind started blowing a little bit as she she sat in deep thought.
"The part that makes me feel shitty here is that, despite my appearance, attitude, and mentality... I am too weak to kill anyone. And then, because of my appearance, attitude, and mentality, I have no friends to kill or see die. I have nothing, and that's what this place has shown me."
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#9

Post by laZardo† »

Damien didn't notice that Kristey had moved up to his side until it was too late. He gasped and did a double-take, fast enough to throw him off balance that he had to use his pot-lid "shield" to catch the tree. Of course, that wasn't as effective as he thought it was - the shield still blunt around the edges, and he ended up sliding down onto his rear end. Impacting with the ground didn't hurt too much, it was better than trying to use his arm to break the fall.

It didn't do anything for his fear though, as for a few moments he was once again staring upward at the very dominating presence of the one girl who he figured was behind all his misery (his mother, of course, was behind the girl.) Kristey towered over Damien, her bat at the ready, and even if he could even raise his barbed-wire hand in time, it wouldn't even be able to reach any vital spots. The only thing he could do was raise his shield up to defend himself, and when he did he squinted his eyes shut and braced for the inevitable.

An inevitable which...surprise of all surprises, did not come. In fact, when Damien opened his eyes some seconds later, he found her sitting on the ground in front of him, apparently contemplating.

This isn't right. It must be a con.

No response from his friend. Still, it didn't feel right (even in Damien's sense of "right" and "wrong" just to seize on the opportunity afforded by Kristey letting down her guard.

Perhaps it's time to add insult before injury.

"You don't mean that. You could've killed Rowland when you wanted," Damien began, his mutter still keeping a childishly androgynous tone. He still spoke from behind his shield though. "You have more than me...and yet I who have nothing can have it all too."
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#10

Post by Xaldien† »

"I doubt I could have... I'm actually a lot weaker than I seem, Damien."

She finally took the time to feel the breeze of this hell on her face. She's going to hell for her actions soon enough, she might as well get used to it, maybe even enjoy it.

"I witnessed a death on this island, and it was caused by my brother... huh, the one person I was hoping to get rid of on this island... and I can't. I'm too scared of him, I'm even more scared of ending life in general. I'm not strong enough to do it."

She started to sulk a little bit. Something that she previously thought she was incapable of, well, more along the lines that she previous wouldn't allow herself to be capable of.

"All these kids had family, friends, and happiness for them. I had nothing but contempt, violence, and a faux-badass attititude. Yes, I could hurt someone... but I'm too weak to kill anyone."

She started tearing at the eyss, but her voice wasn't breaking, and her breathing wasn't irregular.

"I'm not going to win this. I'm not going to win this. Even if I did, there would be nothing for me in this life."
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#11

Post by laZardo† »

Damien took Kristey's still sturdy voice into account as he fervently shook his head. He outright believed that she was lying, trying to lure him into a placid state so she could pummel him to death. And why wouldn't she? Right now, he was still in a relatively weaker physical state than she was...despite the fact that he was able to muster the willpower to massacre someone clearly more intact in body and mind than he was. Still, Elias McConnell was no Kristey Burrowell, especially in terms of willpower.

Amidst all this calculation, Damien could also feel the warming breezes blowing through the forest and swirling around his shield at this ungodly hour to press against his entire upper body. Perhaps these were the winds of revelation...and Kristey's revelation in particular. Of course, Damien couldn't tell what sort of effect it had on him.

"If I 'won' this crazy game..." Damien replied, avoiding mention of his mother lest he risk premature detonation, "...then I know I would have nothing after it either. You might have had nobody around you...but it hurts worse when you have everybody around you but nobody who really cared."

He peeked up from his shield again, and Kristey was indeed starting to cry. If that was really him wearing down her psyche, he'd have to turn up the heat.

"I just want to die with closure...and we'll all be better off then."
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#12

Post by Xaldien† »

"Closure... what closure do you think you're going to get here?
You kill numerous people for being assholes to you, only to realize that it won't do anything for you. You kill, get brief satisfaction, and then what? What'll happen to you when all of them are gone, and you're the only one left? You'll then replace them with OTHER people on this island, and then you'll replace THEM with other people."

She didn't want to think about the irony of the word closure too much, mainly because her main reason for being alive thus far is to try and kill her brother, for 'closure'.

"There is no such thing as closure here. Especially not for me. I acquired my enemies on my own, I thought I was fine by myself, but I'm not. You at least have your mother."

She knew her mentioning his mother would get him riled up, but she had to state it.

"Whether you like it or not, she is your mother. She cares about you, she loves you, in her own way. If you can't see that, and do nothing but complain about it, then you're no better than those jack-offs from school. She tried to protect you, but had no idea of what her actions did. At least you had a parent... my mother hates me, and I've never known a thing about my father. Not even in my own house did I have anyone who cared."

The tears that were going down her cheek were rapidly increasing.
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#13

Post by laZardo† »

Damien smiled...even laughed at the prospect of surviving. "I don't expect to survive my stay on the island, after I find my closure. And even if I won this game..." Damien was tempted to compliment the game for allowing him this opportunity at vengeance. "...the whole world will learn not to mess with me anymore."

Then Kristey brought up Nicole. It was there that anger seeped into Damien's voice...though it wasn't as if he wasn't enjoying this especially after seeing her break down further.

"My mother...that goddamn whore..." Damien replied, growling out loud enough for the speakers to hear. In fact, Nicole had just turned onto Damien's channel to hear this...and it took several of her workmates to restrain her. This was probably what Damien wanted, though.

"No...I picked the wrong word. She's a goddamn pimp." The anger in his voice was clearly present, though he knew he couldn't implicate his mother in the game no matter how much he insulted her. Danya was also the brunt of verbal grumblings, anyway.

"She pretended to love me. To protect me. When all she really wanted was to whore me out to people like you... like a prostitute so she and her own gang could take their cut and get whatever the hell they wanted. Your own mother hated you but she didn't do that to you. You wreaked all that havoc by yourself, and that's an accomplishment. My own mother would scold me for even fighting back, because she said "it only makes you as bad as they are." Pfft."
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#14

Post by Xaldien† »

"You think it's an accomplishment to be hated? You think it's an accomplishment to be alone, no matter what you do? You think it's an accomplishment to act like a bitch, but when it really comes to it, I'm nothing more than a weak, pathetic child... Oh yeah, that's a real accomplishment."

She didn't want to think about the idea of it anymore. She tried harming people as a way to make herself feel powerful, feel respected, or feared. But in the end, she was just alone, as she always was.

"You've done nothing but turn into them. They inflicted pain upon them for inflicting pain upon you, not even thinking that you're not gaining closure, you're becoming a hypocrite. And I the same... you and I are the same, Damien. We were given the chance of revenge, and we both wanted it. Only difference is that you went through with it, while I realized that I was afraid of taking a life. And that it will gain me nothing."

She stared at her hands for a moment.

"I was going to use these hands to kill someone who did nothing to me, other than have the life that I wanted. He's my other half. And he proved to be the stronger of the two. He fights for Peter, his father, and himself. I don't even have faith enough in myself to fight now."

Nothing could have kept her from bursting into tears at this point. For the first time in her life, she let her emotions take complete hold of her, even if she knew that Damien would probably take this chance to attack her. But she really didn't care at this point.
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#15

Post by laZardo† »

"Oh, but I think it's an accomplishment when one has nothing else to live for. While we suffer, their futures were already secure. Heh..." Damien's mistake gave him a chuckle. "...well, maybe not as secure since they got here. If I've turned into one of them..." Damien chuckled again, "Then it's about time they got a taste of their own medicine."

It was then that Damien decided to get back on his feet, empowered by a new sense of confidence. It was a slow, cautious ascent, in which Damien did not take his eyes off of her. Even though the more Kristey cried, the more Damien didn't buy into her sob stories, it was then that he finally mustered the nerve to fight her.

"I don't care if you want to die...or if killing me will give you new resolve. But I won't fight someone who'll just lay down and die. It'll put your hands to good use again."
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