Moss and Bones

Open

Off to the side of the lake is a relatively small man-made pond, filled up with water from the lake itself. Inside this pond is a collection of five rusted cages, arranged facing each other. Back when the island had a thriving community, these cages were used for anyone who disturbed the peace of life. Rather than any form of corporal punishment, offenders were instead put inside one of the cages and made to stand in the lake in silence to reflect on their actions. The water in the pond typically came up to a person's waist but in some cases of severe storms, there could be a chance for the water level within the pond to rise. Around the edges of the circle are a pair of chairs, for people to watch over those inside the cages to ensure they were properly reflecting.
User avatar
Jilly
Posts: 1001
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:54 pm
Location: drinking all of your Dr. Pepper

#16

Post by Jilly »

BUSH GIRL was all 👀, but did not move from her roost.
User avatar
Deamon
Posts: 1367
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:28 pm

#17

Post by Deamon »

As it all happened Aliya couldn’t stop herself from blaming Tony. If he hadn’t grabbed her Paloma would never have had the chance to take a swing at her. It was a logical thought, but also self-defeating. Her own decision making had caused her situation. She needed to own that.

Her right knee took the brunt of the impact from Paloma’s baseball bat, although her left knee also got caught. Regardless she was now on her back in the mud. It was wet and colder than she expected. Tony was already over her, asking if she was okay. He had been a dependable and reliable traveling partner, happy to take a back seat to her lead and go along with it throughout everything. But she couldn’t help thinking that he’d really messed up. Aliya knew her body as a result of all her years training. That meant she knew when something was wrong and she knew her knee was fucked up.

She could tell from the tone of his voice and the look on his face that Tony regretted his decision and in the long term she was sure she’d be able to forgive him. At that precise moment however she was angry at him and that feeling wasn’t helped by how in her face he was being.

“I don’t fucking know!” She snapped, eyes glaring up at him. Then she saw the figure of Paloma collapse behind him. “Tony, Tony,” She said putting a hand on his shoulder and pointing at Paloma’s prone body. “Check on her. I’ll be fine.”

Aliya really hoped she hadn’t done something terrible.
User avatar
VoltTurtle
Posts: 801
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:10 pm
Location: Dreamland

#18

Post by VoltTurtle »

So Paloma had let go of the bat, and that was good, Amber thought. Except, there were two major problems with that. The first problem was that it had required Colin stomping on Paloma's head, which was not what Amber had wanted. She had intervened to stop the violence, not help set up Paloma to get her teeth knocked out. All she wanted was the chance to talk and get the closure from it, so Amber could finally move on and never have to think about Paloma's ugly face ever again.

The other problem was Paloma had let go very suddenly, and Amber had been pulling back on the bat really hard. So when Paloma's grasp finally waned, Amber kept leaning back and pushing against the muddy soil below her, and soon found herself flying backwards, twisting in the air to try to catch herself, only to fall face first into a large mud puddle.

She had begun a short lived yelp before she hit the ground, small bubbles of air briefly rising up through the mud shortly after her face had been submerged. Her whole body, save for her feet, was now buried in the filth, the baseball bat still clutched in her hands, now pressing up against her chest underneath her.

As the mud soaked into her hair and clothes, the whine escaping her lips could only be faintly heard above the rain. The slap of the ground against her body after she had landed had stung, and in her mind, it was just adding an insult to the injury of her making this entire ordeal even worse and then embarrassing herself, yet again.

I'm starting to sense a pattern.

Amber, sweetie, you're doing your best, and that's what counts.

"Help?" She choked out through the dense earth, more air bubbles appearing around her. Her voice was muffled heavily, and she was starting to suffocate just the slightest bit. It was pretty terrible, all things considered, but she still wasn't going to get out on her own.

Couldn't you just get yourself up?

Yeah, but I'm really not feeling it right now, Blue. Considering I somehow managed to turn this into more of a clusterfuck than it already was, I think this is where I belong, for now.
THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU. READ ABOUT THEM AND PREPARE YOURSELF.
[+] V7 Roster
Marceline Carlson
Pregame: -#->
Memory: -#-#->
Prom: -#->
V7: -#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-|

Richard Smith
Pregame: -#->
Memory: ->
V7: -#-#-#-#-|

Ming Robinson
Pregame: -#->
Memory: ->

Amber Yates
Pregame: -#-#->
Memory: -#-#->
Prom: -#->
V7: -#-#-#-#-#-#-|
[+] V6 Roster
Wiki Pages:
G013: Penelope Fitzgerald
G046: Isabel Ramirez

V6 Meanwhile:
|-#-#-|
[+] V5 Roster
Wiki Pages:
Image G005: Madeline Wilcox
Image G030: Sara Corlett
User avatar
Catche Jagger
Posts: 294
Joined: Thu May 23, 2019 12:39 am

#19

Post by Catche Jagger »

And so, Paloma stayed the fuck down.

As Colin lifted his foot from the girl’s face, he made sure not to look down at her face. Whatever bruising or bleeding or knocked out teeth he’d left didn’t interest him much and getting all introspective about stopping a killer from doing more harm was just some navel-gazing bullshit.

However, almost as soon as that matter was dealt with, another fucking problem came up. Apparently, in the aftermath of getting the bat, Amber had gotten stuck in the mud or some shit and now needed some help.

With a heavy sigh, Colin squatted over the fallen girl and attempted to get her up with his free hand. However, doing so one-handed proved to be a bit of a task and he had to feel around her torso in order to get a good grip.

At the same time, he turned to Tammy and another person that was seemingly with her at the moment.

“Hey, can somebody help me? I really need my fucking head bandaged ASAP.” He called out to them, before finally getting a good grip on Amber and pulling her up, letting out a grunt of effort as he did.

“You know, you could have helped yourself just a bit there.” He remarked, somewhat indignant.
[+] sig
[+] V7
ImageB078 - Thomas Buckley: "Holy- yes, I am scared because I am not ignorant to the world around me. What the fuck are you talking about ‘am I scared’?”
Status: DECEASED
Memory: 1 | Pregame: 1-2 | Trip: 1
V7: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9

ImageG078 - Sapphire Waters: “It’s okay, Emmett…”
Status: DECEASED
Pregame: 1
V7: 1-2-3-4

ImageB079 - Colin McCabe: “Hey you murderous prick! Tell me how the fucking dirt tastes!”
Status: DECEASED
Pregame: 1-2
V7: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
#1 Uriel Hunter stan

"I'm refined, I'm cultured. I'm a fashionista. I'm everything you're not and never will be." - Ali Grayston, 2006
User avatar
Jilly
Posts: 1001
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:54 pm
Location: drinking all of your Dr. Pepper

#20

Post by Jilly »

Aight, aight aight aight aight. This was a good laugh, a good gaff, a good jimmy rustle, but BUSH GIRL really should go. As much fun as it'd be to see the aftermath of Amber and Paloma and Aliya getting their ass beat and the new development of Colin's ear thing and whatever, it'd be less fun to explain what she was doing here chilling in a bush with a bear trap in hand if she got caught.

So basically her work here was done!

"But you didn't do anything!" heckled a heckler from one of the back rows of the theater.

Yeah, well-

((END SCENE))
Aura
Posts: 547
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:01 pm

#21

Post by Aura »

"Okay, gotcha." Tony backed off, sensing that Aliya didn't really need him in her face right now. He looked back at her for his first few steps away, but started watching where he was going shortly afterward. Good thing too, since he nearly tripped over a rock that would have seen him taking a nasty spill, and they really didn't need more people hitting the ground right now.

Amber was in the mud, and Colin was helping her out. Tony made a bit of a face at the sight. He figured that it might have been working in a kitchen and washing his hands devotedly every few minutes or so that had gotten to them, but his mind immediately went to how filthy that mud had to be, and what could be hiding in there. Hopefully Amber got a chance to wash soon.

He reached the spot where Paloma was currently lying on the ground and got down on one knee next to her. He wasn't really sure what constituted "checking on her", so he just did the first thing that came to mind. He leaned down so that he could see her face. Yep, eyes closed, looked like it was lights out. Still, he felt like he had to make sure, so his next logical step was to see if she could hear.

"Hey, you all right?"
User avatar
Melusine
Posts: 863
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:38 pm

#22

Post by Melusine »

If Paloma had words, or rather, if Paloma was conscious, she would probably say something like "do I look like it?"

Instead her body was quiet. Other than her breathing, it stayed there, unmoving. If anything, she looked peaceful if you ignored the specks of muds on her face. The footprint created a halo on her forehead was oozing with tiny red dots, just below her hairline. If Tony looked closer, he would also see her bleeding scalp through her dirtied red hair.

Paloma stayed quiet. Her consciousness was still somewhere else where the light didn't shine and where Tony couldn't be heard.

At least for now.
User avatar
Deamon
Posts: 1367
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:28 pm

#23

Post by Deamon »

Aliya had said that she’d be fine, but she knew that wasn’t true. Her knees had taken the full force of Paloma’s swing and she knew her body well. Years of taking bumps and putting your body through gruelling training gave an insight into how it worked and reacted to things. So she knew as soon as her brain caught up and assessed the damage that it was bad.

That knowledge was going through her head when she pushed herself into a sitting position and then when she attempted to stand up. It was a trying experience, the meaning of the injury weighing on her as much as the pain. She hissed as her right knee popped when she put weight on it. The pain coming out from it in heavy waves. Her left knee meanwhile sat at a dull throb. Tony was busy helping Paloma by himself it seemed, while Colin was helping Amber. A lot of happened in the short time she had been on the ground, and while her muddy clothes stuck to her, she hobbled over to Colin. Each movement was horribly slow and just as painful, more than once her leg slipped in the mud and she nearly fell back down. Despite that she forced herself onward, her bags were all the way back up by the trees but she assumed one of the others was closer. When she took a look at his injury however her eyes went wide.

“What the fuck happened dude?”
User avatar
VoltTurtle
Posts: 801
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:10 pm
Location: Dreamland

#24

Post by VoltTurtle »

When Amber was finally removed from the mud and stood up on her own, she was as still as a statue, the baseball bat still held out in front of her, her cheeks almost as red as her hair.

She tried to speak, only to stop herself immediately, temporarily at a loss for what to say, as her indignation slowly built. When she had asked for help, she had been expecting for someone to grab her arm to pull her up, or otherwise do something similar. The last thing she had expected to get was someone to take advantage of her vulnerability and get all handsy with her breasts in the process.

She stared off in the distance, watching the rain and the chaotic situation unfolding around her as her breathing began to grow heavier and faster. Her face was fully flushed now, and her anger was just itching to be released. The only question was, what exactly was she going to say to him? More importantly, what was she going to do?

Amber don't-

He was FONDLING my TITS, BLUE.

"Why..." She began, her voice carrying an unusual malevolence, as her eyes stared daggers into Colin. "Why were you... copping a feel..."

Amber he might not have even known-

"WHY WERE YOU COPPING A FEEL OF MY TA-TAS?!" She screeched, waving the baseball bat in the air in her best attempt to look threatening, failing to realize how inherently unintimidating she was. "I DIDN'T CONSENT TO YOU GETTING TO SECOND BASE WITH ME!" She continued to shout, her speech slowly growing more incoherent with each word. "ONLY ABEL WAS ALLOWED TO DO THAT, AND HE'S DEAD!"

Amber.

"How dare you take advantage of me like that?" She hissed, her speech returning to normal volume level. "How..."

Amber, please calm down. Acting like this will only make it worse, not better.

She stopped, her breathing still heavy, as her initial outrage slowly began to fade. She looked at Colin, really looked at him, and gulped as she realized that one of his ears was bleeding, and appeared to have been torn to pieces, a detail she had previously missed amidst all the chaos. Now that she had noticed it and was thinking about it, she imagined someone in that kind of condition was fairly unlikely to try and grope someone out of the blue. Maybe he really had been just trying to help her up, and just didn't know where his hands were.

Her shoulders slumped as she lowered the baseball bat back down, the realization of how needless that outburst was finally hitting her. Instead of immediately losing her mind, it might have been better to act like a mature adult and ask Colin if all of that had been an accident instead of, as she had initially assumed, some kind of perverted ploy. Yet again, she had made a fool of herself and made a big deal out of nothing, only this time it might've hurt someone other than her.

Fuck. Am I a bad person?

No, sweetie, you just need better counseling that I can provide.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," she mewled, doing her best to salvage what little she could of this mess she had created for herself. "I didn't realize your head was so fucked up. Um... I can help you bandage it, if you want?"
THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU. READ ABOUT THEM AND PREPARE YOURSELF.
[+] V7 Roster
Marceline Carlson
Pregame: -#->
Memory: -#-#->
Prom: -#->
V7: -#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-|

Richard Smith
Pregame: -#->
Memory: ->
V7: -#-#-#-#-|

Ming Robinson
Pregame: -#->
Memory: ->

Amber Yates
Pregame: -#-#->
Memory: -#-#->
Prom: -#->
V7: -#-#-#-#-#-#-|
[+] V6 Roster
Wiki Pages:
G013: Penelope Fitzgerald
G046: Isabel Ramirez

V6 Meanwhile:
|-#-#-|
[+] V5 Roster
Wiki Pages:
Image G005: Madeline Wilcox
Image G030: Sara Corlett
User avatar
Catche Jagger
Posts: 294
Joined: Thu May 23, 2019 12:39 am

#25

Post by Catche Jagger »

Finally someone, namely Aliya, came over and noticed the bloody, poorly bandaged side of his head, asking what had happened. However, before he could answer, Amber displayed her gratitude for his help by flipping the fuck out.

Apparently his hand had accidentally touched her boob while helping her up and that had been enough to set her off.

The sense that this felt like some really bad, uncomfortable anime that had begun with Volker’s villain speech just kept growing, like a fungus growing on his ear wound or something.

Had Colin not lost his ear just a little while ago, he might spat some shit right back at Amber, but now she apologized. Whatever.

“Yeah, cool, whatever.” Was all he could muster for her before turning back to Aliya.

“Marco Volker is what the fuck happened.” Colin began “Found him about to kill some guy and tried to stop him, emphasis on tried.” Colin felt himself getting upset and angrier as he talked about it, reliving his failure.

“After that, I almost took Volkerdown, but he had a chainsaw so… so now I’m one ear fucking short.” He tried to let out a deep breath afterward, stop getting worked up about nothing immediate.

“So, if you wanna help, either of you,” he continued, opening things back up to Amber.” I really could use a decent disinfecting and bandage job done by somebody that can actually see what this shit looks like.”

“Also,” He indicated the bat Amber had taken from Paloma, “I could use that if you’re already armed. I’ve been working with nothing so far, and after the shit with Volker, it’s pretty clear that’s not gonna fly. I’d also rather we not give a weapon back to a known killer.”
[+] sig
[+] V7
ImageB078 - Thomas Buckley: "Holy- yes, I am scared because I am not ignorant to the world around me. What the fuck are you talking about ‘am I scared’?”
Status: DECEASED
Memory: 1 | Pregame: 1-2 | Trip: 1
V7: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9

ImageG078 - Sapphire Waters: “It’s okay, Emmett…”
Status: DECEASED
Pregame: 1
V7: 1-2-3-4

ImageB079 - Colin McCabe: “Hey you murderous prick! Tell me how the fucking dirt tastes!”
Status: DECEASED
Pregame: 1-2
V7: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
#1 Uriel Hunter stan

"I'm refined, I'm cultured. I'm a fashionista. I'm everything you're not and never will be." - Ali Grayston, 2006
Aura
Posts: 547
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:01 pm

#26

Post by Aura »

Well Paloma was out like a light, so Tony figured that they didn't have to worry about her for now. Worries were definitely not gone for good though, since he didn't even have time to turn around before he heard one of the girls going off like crazy. Something about groping and taking advantage, which had him ready to jump in and see what the hell was going on... right up until she suddenly started freaking out and apologizing, muddying the whole situation even more.

"Uh... dude..." Tony muttered, barely audible. Hie eye had caught Colin's bandages where an ear used to be and... yeah, that was a sight that he wasn't going to forget for a while either. He needed some first aid, but Tony didn't want to touch it, or look at it, or be anywhere hear it. He wasn't a cold guy or anything, just really grossed out. Plus, he didn't know the first thing about first aid anyway. He had let all of his bruises heal naturally, and it sucked. Which was another reason why he thought that someone else should take care of it.

"Yeah man, I get you." He gave Colin a thumbs-up. "I don't know shit about medicine, so I'm probably the last resort here. You guys any better?"

He still remained positioned by Paloma, having turned his back to the unconscious girl.
User avatar
Melusine
Posts: 863
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:38 pm

#27

Post by Melusine »

Her eyes briefly fluttered opened. Her consciousness had crawled back to her through the mud and water. It had entered her through her mouth and slowly found its way to her brain. It connected tissues together, figuring out what was the best course of option. It took on control and let Paloma admire it.

When she was back into control, and when the sleep inertia had left her body, Paloma closed her eyes. It was a conscious, reasonable decision. She was better off unconscious or dead or dying in this situation. She kept her body limp and felt the rain fall on her. She had to wait.

She could probably book it since everyone was busy with each other. Paloma was left alone, but it wasn't good enough. She wanted enough range to get her bag back then book it. Perhaps it was too greedy, but Paloma didn't plan on spending another night hungry.

It was with a quiet resolution that Paloma concentrated on her breathing.

She listened and waited.

She had all the time in the world.
User avatar
Deamon
Posts: 1367
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 3:28 pm

#28

Post by Deamon »

Everything was quickly becoming a mess but at least helping Colin with his injury gave her something to focus on. Amber freaking out notwithstanding. Ignoring the other girl, because Aliya didn’t really have anything to say to her outburst she instead focused on the boy in front of her. The injury to his head was gruesome, a crimson mess on the side of his head in place of his ear, blood steadily being pushed out of the wound in time with his heartbeat. Aliya considered herself good with blood but this was above what she’d typically seen in person.

She swallowed momentarily before speaking. “I’ll do it.” Her voice steadied as she continued. “My bags are over there, closer to the trees,” Her feet started moving as she spoke, pain came shooting from both her knees, the muscles around her right noticeably tighter as she limped. “We’ll do it over there, away from all the mud.”

As she reached her bags she dug through one for a first aid kit. She didn’t know if it was hers or Berts’ but it also didn’t matter at that point. She could swap them around later.
Aura
Posts: 547
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:01 pm

#29

Post by Aura »

(Skipping with permission)

Tony was starting to feel pretty bad over the fact that he was, well, not particularly doing much to help at the moment. He did go over to check on Paloma, but aside from that, now he was just standing off to the side while at least two people were probably in need of medical attention, and one of them was giving said attention to the other. Between Colin's missing ear and Aliya's painfully clear limp, Tony and his mostly uninjured self should have been trying to do more, or at least that was how he felt.

"Hold on, I'm gonna come over there." He announced, unzipping his bag and reaching inside to try to find his own medical kit. As he did so, he subconsciously took a step back, placing his foot very close to Paloma.
User avatar
Melusine
Posts: 863
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:38 pm

#30

Post by Melusine »

Tony had stepped within the range of Paloma for a second time. She felt him move next to her. He was too close, but it didn't seem he had realized it. It was maybe because Paloma was really good at faking being dead or maybe Tony was more busy thinking about the others than the soon-to-be-moving Paloma.

Either ways, he had stepped at the place for Paloma to enact her plan. She opened one eye and scanned the horizon. Everyone was busy doing one thing or the other, they didn't look at the antlion.

Paloma opened both of her eyes. She had blood streaking over her right one but it didn't stop her hands from grabbing Tony's ankle and pulling as hard as she could. For a moment, she was glad that the mud was here. It made a slippery surface that didn't leave much to the imagination when the ground gave out underneath you.
Post Reply

Return to “The Serenity Circle”