Rigor Samsa

[Fenris]

This was not an ideal time for the girl to spontaneously grow a spine.

Nia supposed she couldn't blame her for making the incorrect assumption that she was particularly invested in Alexander continuing to breathe. She'd decided she liked him, particularly after the stunt he had just pulled, but if she wanted so badly to perforate Alexander's throat she was unlikely to shed tears over it, literally or otherwise. That said it wasn't as though she had intended to actually harm the girl, or Nick for that matter despite the current positioning of her gun, and so continuing not to harm them wasn't much of an ask. Letting her leave wasn't much of an ask, either. It wasn't as though any of them were likely to miss her, unless she and Nick had some prior relationship she wasn't privy to, and considering both of their actions that seemed quite unlikely.

Alexander was clearly shaken. His calculations had been off. She couldn't blame him; her own had been similar. "Nobody move" had been an irritating choice of words on the girl's part, as it would be quite messy if she dropped the gun and the movement startled the girl enough to scare her into action. She sighed, a slow exhale, raised an eyebrow at the girl, nodded. Kept her gun steady. She'd rather flick the safety back on if she could, but even that movement might be poorly interpreted.

This whole matter had been rather melodramatic for her liking.

[General Goose]

Sure, the way that Lizzie had gotten involved was not exactly pretty. Nick could tell that holding a pair of garden shears to a blind kid's throat was, even in the most extenuating of circumstances, unsavoury at the very least. It just didn't have a sense of fair play to it. Now, Nick wasn't one to judge. If any situation justified eschewing courtesy and graciousness and abandoning all those niceties, it was this one. The terrorists had seen to that. But still. It didn't look good. It wouldn't, Nick imagine, feel good. Sure, Alexander was clearly a far greater arsehole than even Nick was capable of being, but the differences in size and ability did combine to make him instinctively more sympathetic in a situation such as this.

Nick wasn't complaining, though. Lizzie's sudden intervention had helped level the playing field and defuse their attempt to rob him and leave him defenseless, so he was grateful for that. Plus it made it clear that all he'd done was be a bit uncouth, a bit socially awkward, and have the misfortune of striking an unfortunately large and intimidating figure. He was the comparatively innocent one. The innocent one with a scary knife, but it was the only weapon in the room that wasn't a second away from murdering someone.

"I mean..." Lizzie's sudden desire to get out of dodge was understandable, but made it clear she wasn't interested in an alliance. That was unfair of her, Nick thought. An alliance could have been mutually beneficial. He was big and scary and strong and drew all the attention, she could sneak around the back and tear everyone's throats out with garden shears. But, no. It wasn't to be. She just wanted to get out of there and be crazy by herself. Boring. "Just so we're on the record here, I'm the only person in this room who hasn't threatened or tried robbing someone."

"So, yeah. Rare I get to take the moral high ground, but the view from here's quite nice."

[Slam]

“Hey! I’m not doing this because I want to!” Lizzie snapped at Nick, jerking on Alex’s shoulder again to drag him to his feet. The height difference made things a lot more awkward, only then did she realise, but it didn’t stop her pointing the shears where they counted. “Annie Oakley’s the one over there with the gun, I just want to leave without any extra holes!”

She looked between Nick and Nia, doing her best to avoid looking at Alex and rely on their new personal bond instead. Because, really, she didn’t need to look the person she was threatening in the eye and see how he felt about the whole thing. There was already a part of her brain screaming what the double-u tee eff was happening, but it was buried under the escalating sense of adrenaline and very prominent don’t get shot instinct.

Pulling on Alex’s arm, they made their way towards Nick by the door in a rather clumsy fashion. “Don’t get any funny ideas, I’ll do it! I will!” she shouted, pointing her shears at the other two, away from Alex’s neck. The whole situation was starting to feel more than a little embarrassing.

And yet, it was working. Nia had not shot her, Nick had not stabbed her, and she was that much closer to getting out of dodge. Even if she was going to Hell, it wasn’t going to happen today!

After what felt like an eternity, they finally arrived at the door to freedom. Lizzie gave Nick a pointed look while tightening her grip on Alex’s arm, with what mediocre strength she could exert. Her shears had a hard time deciding who to point at.

“Step aside, if you know what’s good for you. And hold the door open please, I’m a lady you know!”

[dmboogie]

Nick's gloating was frustrating and unproductive, but Alexander supposed the man wasn't wrong. How long would Nick's high horse carry him before someone shot it out from under him and he was left crawling in the muck like the rest of them?

Alexander would have made a remark along those lines, but he was rather concentrated on being a good, cooperative little hostage; and also not tripping over himself as Lizzie roughly yanked him towards the door, not sure if the indignity or the terror bothered him more. He was discovering he really did not enjoy being manhandled.

He also wanted to know what definition of 'ladylike' included threatening people with garden shears, but as he wasn't stupid, he simply said "Yes, please do open the door for the lady," which was perhaps laying it on a bit thick but the sooner this situation was peaceably resolved, the better. He could only hope that Nick would follow Lizzie out the door, and the two of them could live their own separate, harmless little lives, secure in their possession of alarmingly sharp objects.

[General Goose]

Nick supposed Lizzie did have a point, that she had very much been in the right in her actions, and that, yes, he was actually grateful for her intervention for helping shift the attention away from him. She wanted to leave now. She hadn't had the wit to recognise that their interests had been aligned. He wasn't going to force it. Might as well let her go.

"I'm opening the door because I'm polite, not because you're a lady. It's the twenty-first century, hen." Nick gave up any pretense of treating her with any more amicability than he had for the other two. Still, he stepped back, opening the door, keeping his bag tucked away beneath his leg and pressed against the door so that she wouldn't try anything funny and nick it.

"...wanna pass him to me?" Though he didn't use that term, Nick knew that having Alex as his hostage would help give him some leverage over Nia. Nick supposed he might as well climb down from the moral high ground now. He wasn't good with heights, after all.

[Slam]

“Chivalry ain’t dead, sweetheart! Just keep that polite pretty face of yours out of harms way and everyone gets to walk out of here peachy keen!”

She was quite conscious of how much she was yelling, and the shears continued to fly around with every word, but her back was to the open door. The fresh breeze of the (relative) safety of the open island behind her was the most welcome change of pace from the hostage situation she had unwittingly created. A literal breath of fresh air, if you would.

She looked at Nick out of the corner of her eye as she tensed to make her final move. Now, she could give Nick her hostage, and that might even be the poilte thing to do after he let her leave without too much fuss. But Alex was still a human being and she really didn’t want to screw him over anymore than taking him against his will and pointing sharp objects at his throat had already. Plus, Nick had been kind of a dick about the whole thing, and she didn’t feel like doing him any favours.

So what was she supposed to do with Alex? Just let him go and walk away? Exit on a witty one-liner? But if she did that, what if he did something like turn around and jump her, suddenly? Or step aside and give Nia a clean shot? He may have been blind, but he could have been crafty!

No, she’d have to do something, witty, cunning, and unexpected…

“Sorry that it had to go down like this.” She muttered to Alex, trying to think of something witty, cunning and unexpected in that awkward moment. “Don’t hate me, ok? I just want to get out of this in one piece, and you were closest. It’s not the sort of thing I’d do normally. Promise. Nothing personal.”

She gripped his shoulder one more time, chewing her bottom lip but not taking her eyes off Nia or Nick. She gripped her shears tighter with the other hand.

Welp, it was the best plan she had.

She punted Alex forward with a well-placed foot to the arse. As he fell forward, Lizzie turned tail and fled as fast her legs could carry her, shouting back all the way to try and convince anyone who heard, herself included.

“I’M A GOOD PERSON!”

((Lizzie Lebowski continued in I'm a Fucking Unicorn))

[dmboogie]

For a moment there, it sounded like Lizzie was going to kill Alexander. For a single heart-stopping instant, he flinched, ready to feel the shears snip his neck, pierce his chest, gouge his eyes-

and instead, he got a wholly unexpected boot to the rear. He yelped pathetically, falling to the floor as his captor made her egress. His breath was heavy with both relief and frustration as he lay there on the rough wooden floor. Things could've ended worse, but they could've also gone so, so much better.

After a few moments of stewing in his own shame, Alexander pushed himself back to his feet and leaned back on the closest wall for support. He could've found his way back to his bench, but there was still a wild card left to deal with, and Alexander slowly inched away from him. Now that one stupid crisis was over, it was time to return to being an active participant in the conversation. He couldn't say he had particularly enjoyed his time as a prop.

"Nia, if you're not completely disgusted by my incompetence, I'd appreciate it if you kept Nick from grabbing me. Nick, if you forget my earlier, ahem, indiscretion; I'll forget about what you just said to Lizzie. Deal?"

[Emprexx Plush]

“I’M A GOOD PERSON!”

Girl ran by. Hurry. Weren't sure why 'till he stepped inside.

((Jeremiah Anderson continued from Waking From One Nightmare into Another))

Fella on the ground. Nia with a gun. Nick with a knife.

Signed t' Nia, "HELLO--SISTER."

Nodded t' Nick. Nothin' t' say they hadn't said 'fore they left D.C.

Fella got up. Talkin', movin' real careful like. If he heard right, Nick weren't up t' nothin' good.

Hammer hung on his belt loop. Went for it.

[Fenris]

Nothing that occurred in the period following the girl leaping into action made Nia feel particularly like holstering her gun.

She had been hoping for a moment of respite once the girl was gone. Not that she expected Nick to be feeling charitable toward her and Alexander, considering the effect being held at gunpoint was likely to have on anyone's mood, but she didn't actually feel that Nick was inclined to attack. She had miscalculated previously with the girl, of course, so she could easily be wrong, but if she was it would be Alexander being stabbed before it was her, so in the end it wouldn't matter too much if she was incorrect. Ideally, though, he'd be willing to communicate.

So she stayed stock still, gun still trained on Nick though her arm was starting to ache. The pistol was heavier than she had anticipated, and her muscles were unfortunately quite weak. But she kept it reasonably steady, biting her lip from the exertion but not making any other moves, including resisting the very strong urge to roll her eyes at Nick and the girl's ridiculous exchanges. Frankly that was the most difficult task, and one Alexander ought to thank her for and unfortunately would not. Diplomacy wasn't her strongest suit due specifically to the unfortunate need to deal with people who were by any definition impossible to deal with; that was the best reason she had to keep Alexander in the first place. The best she could do was not show open contempt.

Of course, things only got more complicated.

The girl was gone. Alexander was on the ground. Nick had intimated to the girl to give Alexander to him as his own hostage; she hadn't complied, but she had put him in a difficult position regardless, and it wouldn't take much effort for Nick to pull him off the ground and take him prisoner. Her gun, presumably, served as a compelling reason to not do that, though he's already shown what was either suicidal overconfidence or just plain suicidal tendencies, so it was hard to be sure. If self-preservation wasn't an aim, though, there wasn't much she could do to predict his actions. Her only point of reference was the assumption of relative rationality. Circumstances were testing her capacity to trust in that much more by the second.

And then she saw Jeremiah.

Two quick signs meant for her; her hands were full, she only nodded back, at least until she saw him reach for the hammer hanging from his belt. His weapon, presumably, or possibly something scavenged. It didn't matter.

She dropped the papers and markers and reached out with her now-free hand, fingers splayed.

"STOP."

The wrong STOP, because she needed both hands for the right one, and now was the last moment she'd choose to take her gun off of Nick. Not that she didn't trust Jeremiah's capabilities, but there were many terrible things she felt she had the capacity to withstand on this island. Watching her brother be stabbed was not one of them.

[General Goose]

Nick shrugged at Alex's plea for leniency and a mutual attitude of forgive and forget. He realised, just as his muscles relaxed after the movement, that, yes, that was an act of body language that, with very good reason, Alex wouldn't pick up upon. Still, Nick found that his sympathy for the boy was limited and that, while normally he strived to be as helpful and accommodating as possible to those who were differently abled, there was a limit to the changes he would make to those who had tried to rob him. Still, the reciprocal detente was fine in Nick's book - as almost everything was - and his newfound apathy would certainly be picked up by Nia.

Plus, the fact that Nick didn't move to yank Alex up to his feet and perforate him with the weirdly ornate knife was an example of body language that even a blind person could interpret.

Now that Lizzie had left the scene, the 'crazy girl' mantle was firmly Nia's to seize, if she wanted it. Nick looked to her, expectantly, tilting his head to the side with bemusement as she kept the gun trained on his features. He wasn't able to tell if she had pointed her gun at his torso or if she was still being inconsiderate and aiming it at his face. That was irritating. Normally Nick was quite good with spatial awareness and deciphering little details like that - so many tricks and illusions, after all, depended on a mastery over such details - but his heart just wasn't in it.

Then she started nodding and signing and using body language in her own way and Nick's survival instinct, at least at first, was to keep his eyes on her. He knew all about misdirection, after all. Plus, she definitely wasn't communicating with Alex. He was blind, not deaf.

Okay. Nick was beginning to feel bad about all the blind jokes he was making in his head. Not because of Alex's feelings, but because of what it said about his own character. Still, he was without a doubt the least appalling person in this scene, even with that taken into account.

But then he realised that someone was behind him and-

Oh. Look who it was. The grey stick insect. Again, not jokes he should be making, even internally, but there was something cathartic to it in the current self-destructive rut Nick was stuck in. And Jeremiah's hand was wrapped around a hammer.

"Well, it's a better weapon than a milkshake."

[dmboogie]

Alexander's question was answered only by footsteps from the door, and the sound of several small objects falling to the floor in NIa's direction. Ominous, but not a clear sign of danger. Yet. He and Nia had been cooperating smoothly enough up to this point, but now he was really beginning to feel the ramifications of their restricted communication. If they stuck together for any longer, they'd have to work out some signals - a clap and a snap for 'danger?' A cough for 'what were you even trying to pull there, you imbecile?'

He tentatively braced himself as he was still rather shaken and Lizzie had only been gone for about a minute. Nick didn't sound particularly worried, but his comment was almost indecipherable without context. Some sort of in-joke? He didn't know who Nick's friends were, and all he had to go off of was that their newcomer was holding... something more useful than a milkshake. Helpful.

"Well, hello to our newest guest. Would you mind introducing yourself?" Here they went again - it felt like they'd entered some sort of cycle, just minus one Lizzie, plus someone else. Alexander would try his best to avoid needlessly escalating the situation a second time, even if the stranger was carrying the holy grail itself.

[Emprexx Plush]

"Yes."

Shot a confused look at Nia. "WHY? HE--SUCK." Jaw still kinda ached from the hotel room. Not 'bout t' make up now.

Squinted at Nick. Frowned. Weren't fair. Already up t' somethin', held up under a loaded barrel, but still gettin' second chances. Mm. Second sold short. Body couldn't tell how many chances a piece a' shit like Nick got t' hurt people and walk away.

Mm. No. Weren't fair. Weren't no matchstick girl neither. Didn't have t' think much. "I--BREAK--HIS--NOSE?"

Now, prolly fair t' reckon fella like Nick didn't know much sign. Hard t' pick up the finer points that way. When Jeremiah pointed at himself, brought his hands together like he was snappin' a twig, palmed at Nick, and tapped his nose? Might not understand the subtleties, but he could prolly figure it weren't nothin' good.

[Fenris]

Nia was just having a wonderful time witnessing what was rapidly devolving into a comedy of errors. Jeremiah refused to communicate with means that Alexander (or Nick, less importantly) could understand, a choice that Nia had been entirely supportive of for the span of their friendship, obviously, but in this moment it had suddenly become terribly inconvenient for everyone involved. Nick had at least not sunk his blade into the helpless Alexander or the significantly less helpless Jeremiah, but he did take a moment for a quip that served only to remind Nia precisely why Jeremiah was so quick to reach for a weapon in the first place, both by making her recall the incident on the trip Jeremiah had regaled her with and by further running his mouth in a way that made her sympathize with anyone who wished to shut it.

It had been maybe half a day since they'd all woken up and they had all apparently lost the ability to sit down and converse rationally. She felt a swell of affection for Alexander simply for having not made her life more difficult than necessary. Except for reasons beyond his own control, she supposed. It wasn't enough affection to override her annoyance at both him for dragging her into a poorly-planned mugging attempt and this situation in general, but it merited consideration nevertheless.

Of course it was also far less affection than she held for Jeremiah despite his current course of action, which she could charitably describe as "unwise". The particular set of signs he used to make what could be interpreted as either a request or a warning were terribly unsubtle and liable to cause Nick to act; if he were so brazen as to not comply with a gun pointed at him, what was to say he wouldn't attack Jeremiah despite the guarantee of a bullet following? If he didn't care particularly about the possibility of death, he might consider revenge a worthy goal to die for. It seemed unlikely, but anything was possible.

In that case, perhaps she ought to let Jeremiah make the first move? Well, it wasn't as though she could stop him if he was truly set on the action. But his having posed the question to her implied that he was at least considering not doing so. Nia glanced at Alexander, leaning against the wall, and began to move, circling slowly toward him without taking her gun or her eyes off of Nick and Jeremiah.

"MUST--YOU?" she signed at Jeremiah with her free hand, her expression questioning. She considered a few follow-ups and wrinkled her nose; not having both hands free to sign with was a pain, but the situation was too precarious to put the gun down. She simply shook her head, instead. Certainly she would still back him up if she must, but was it really worth the trouble?

[General Goose]

Nick just looked at Jeremiah. It wasn't an intense stare. There wasn't much disdain or scorn in his gaze. It was just...apathetic. There was a hint of mild bemusement too, as Nick was left slightly taken aback at how the cards had fallen in this particular way - the odds of being reunited with such a newly christened enemy so soon after their first and only physical altercation were rather high, to say the least. Nick had thought that he'd already had his fill of Murphy's law for the day, but nope. Apparently not. That was interesting at least, Nick supposed. The degree to which there was any real expression on Nick's face was all swallowed up by that interest in the situation at large, as shown by how he couldn't even keep his eyes trained on his nominal foe.

He imagined that, if Jeremiah's hate really was as fiery and primordial as he made it seem, such an unfazed reaction would be the greatest insult imaginable, but that wasn't the intention. It was just a convenient side effect of letting his face accurately convey his emotions - or surprising lack of them. Nick realised that he wouldn't even have the zest and spirit to revel in Jeremiah's indignation even if he reacted wildly to the sight.

Jeremiah was just...dull. He was angry and self-destructive and seemed to think Nick was worse than he actually was (which was, Nick had to concede, an impressive feat). Those were, from where Nick was standing, his sole character traits. Maybe he was wrong. Nick didn't care. Those were the only traits of any interest to Nick and they were all true in relation to Nick. How someone with such a distinctive look could be so boring was beyond him.

He was reminded of a The Thick of It quote. He'd often been told quotes from that show sounded good in his accent and that made sense.

'There are lots of shades of grey, you know!' 'I know that, I'm looking at fifteen of them right now!'

Seemed apt, in Nick's mind at least, for someone who was both metaphorically and literally as grey and dull as Jeremiah. But Nick didn't say that. He just crinkled his nose like a rotten smell had just wafted past his nostrils and shrugged. "I ain't gonna attack you, Jeremiah," he finally said. "But I can't stop you attacking me unprovoked. You've done it before and I guess those cameras would love to see a repeat."

[dmboogie]

Hesitant as Alexander was to feel any positive emotions towards Nick, he was grateful that he had identified the exceptionally uncooperative Jeremiah. Notoriously quiet, unusual skin - that's all Alexander knew about the boy. Not that the information helped him in any meaningful way, but still. Always nice to know the name of someone who could potentially kill you. At the moment it sounded like Nick was the only one in danger, but there was no guarantee that'd stay the case - and it'd be all too easy for Alexander to get caught in any crossfire. He'd used the wall to guide himself a bit further away from the door, at least.

If the two boys truly had some sort of blood feud between them Alexander doubted his words would make much of a difference, but he still had to make a token attempt at keeping the peace. "Look, I obviously don't know the history between you two, but I doubt it'd benefit anyone to start a fight right now. Perhaps it's time for you to leave, Nick? For what it's worth, I wish you well," he said, his voice having finally stopped the damnable quivering from his time as a hostage. Nick seemed the type to bristle at being told what to do; but it wasn't like there was anything or anyone here for him; so hopefully he would take the suggestion.