Life Is Just A Memory

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah relaxed a touch and returned the smile of the dark-haired boy. In the recesses of his mind, he recalled that he was called Cecil. He probably sat next to him in some class during roll call or maybe stood in line next to him for lunch.

He noted that Cecil had a knife, but he'd lowered it. The knife wasn't as worrying as Emmett's gun though.

"I haven't seen Adonis, sorry," he said plainly with his smile fading a bit. He didn't know Emmett that well either, but he knew him via Adonis. He'd dumped his trip roommate, which cause Adonis to mope for a good deal of their time in the hotel. Marco had said Emmett was a jerk. But it seemed he had lowered his gun, so at worst he was probably just the sort of low-level high school jerk that dumped someone in an unkind way.

He took another look at Cecil and managed to recall that someone had once pointed out that he had been adopted, just like Jonah. He supposed at the time it was to show him that he wasn't so unusual. He had a decent feeling about the pair.

Jonah walked up to Cecil and put a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"As long as you guys stow your weapons in your bags, you can come in and rest. I won't let anything happen to anyone under my roof, scout's honor."

"Even though the weather out here does look nice, I think," he added.

[LeslieFranc]

Cecil inwardly thanked Emmett for immediately providing him a name for the new face. Jonah. He could only assume that Emmett knew him through Adonis, if his question has anything to go by. A part of Cecil regretted not knowing more of Declyn's friends outside their mutual acquaintances so that he would've had more certainty about the right people to ask.

Cecil looked on warily when Jonah approached closer, slightly tensing until he patted him on the shoulder, in which by then he was more curious and confused.

Well, he seemed like a nice guy.

However, the request about having to put their weapons anywhere but their hands took precedence over the overall good impression of the guy Cecil had been forming. Jonah did invite them inside, but. He promised to not let anything presumably bad happen, but. But but but but but...Cecil didn't trust Jonah yet, and he was only about twenty percent sure about stowing away their weapons on their bags. Now what to do?

Sending Emmett a questioning look after a pointed glance at their own weapons, Cecil decided not to immediately form a response about that particular condition to enter the house with Jonah, no matter how gentle it might've been presented. Instead, he absentmindedly filled in an "Is it?" to Jonah's additional comment about the weather as he tried to think of a way to get out of stowing away their weapons without being too hostile about it.

"Are you just by yourself then?" he decided to ask as casually as possible. Cecil needed more information.

[Primrosette]

Well, shit. It was worth a shot in the dark in asking about Adonis for me. Even if I didn't get jack shit. Making process a little without being an ass. Go me, I guess

Emmett suddenly felt uneasy as Jonah had asked them to put away their weapons if they wanted to come inside and he wondered if that meant that someone else was inside with Jonah. Was it someone that Jonah was trying to protect? Or was it another one of those fucking killers that had been on the announcement? Or was he just alone and felt unsafe with the weapons being out? Emmett wasn't comfortable with putting them away and it wasn't because he didn't trust Jonah. He just wanted to have his weapon ready in case more people who were unfriendly were about to show up in the area where the three of them were.

"If you're not feeling safe around our weapons.... We could always go to another house if that would make you feel better, Jonah." Emmett said as a suggestion and he glanced at Cecil with a shrug of his shoulders. "I just don't want to risk putting them away and getting attacked by someone who is on a killing streak, you know. I've already had some fucked-up times with Lorenzo and Lucas Brady."

He knew that if he did see either of them again....

He was not going to hesitate anymore.

[Deamon]

Jonah gave her the signal. It was safe. They weren't a threat. Arizona got to feel relief for all of five seconds. Then they started asking questions. Arizona rolled her eyes and leaned her head back against the wood panels of the cabin. Was it so much to ask that they just went along with the request?

Still, no one was openly aggro. Her grip remained on Jonah's gun however. She didn't know if the conversation could turn violent. Their reluctance to go along with a simple request didn't fucking help. She stayed peeking out of the window. Keeping an eye on things. Their arguments weren't good either. They were only being asked to put their weapons away. Not hand them over. Plus if it was the setup for an ambush it was a risky setup. Seemed like Jonah was the most likely one to get hurt if anything went wrong.

Arizona kept her breathing steady as she watched.

Fucking Jonah just walking outside like that.

If he got hurt she was going to kill him.

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah smiled, which became a half-grimace for a second before settling back into being a more apologetic smile. Cecil had flinched when he touched him. He would have said sorry, but that would be been kind of awkward. Jonah assumed that everyone was pretty tense given the situation, so his reaction was the normal one. He retracted his hand.

"No." He said in response to the question. "My...uh....mmm....an....Arizona is inside," he said, tripping over what exactly would be the correct way to refer to her. "We have a gun, which I gave to her," he continued, thinking it would be best to be honest. "I didn't know who was out here and it sounded kind of like an argument. So I told her if I gave a signal that you were dangerous, to shoot. I don't think you are -- I hope not -- so I gave her the signal to stand-down just now. It's just the two of us."

He turned to Emmett and nodded. "That's fair on the flip side too. If you don't trust us, you can go try the other houses. I'm willing to compromise and let you guys have one weapon out; that way we'll each have one just in case. I promise though, as long as you're under our roof I'd put myself on the line to make sure you'll be safe," he said, a little embarrassed with the last remark. It sounded very cheesy, like he was pretending to be a super hero. "Or you could look in the other houses," he said, sheepishly looking at the trees rather than Cecil, biting his lip which wore a half-smile.

[LeslieFranc]

Jonah and Arizona. Well, I haven't heard their names on the announcements yet.

Of course, their plan about shooting us down if we were considered hostile... Cecil's breathing quickened as he inevitably thought of the image of him and Emmett suddenly getting shot down by an unexpected unknown from the house nearby. Not to mention we were loud enough for other people to have heard us. Shit shit shit shit—

Emmett voiced out the better alternative that presented no risks which seemed like the obvious choice to Cecil. His diplomatic explanation on why they'd disapprove the no-weapons thing also didn't escalate the wary but friendly thing they've got going on with Jonah into something worse. Jonah's promises for a peaceful time increased, and Cecil wanted to believe his words, he really did. However, he can't help but doubt the words of a stranger who just claimed that he would risk his life for their safety. Too noble. Unrealistic. Doomed.

Cecil wanted to know what kind of gun they had, because worst case scenario, either Cecil would only have one opportunity to get a good shot or Emmett wouldn't have enough time for a reload against a better firearm if the two of them weren't fast enough.

—shit. Well then.

After a brief moment of deliberation, he let out a shaky sigh, his eyes up above before looking back down to solemnly stare at Jonah. "You promise to keep us safe?" he smiled wryly. I don't trust it, but if I did...

"Then I'd like to have my knife out," he finally decided before glancing back at Emmett to ask. "That is, if we're all on the same page?" ...oh Emmett, you think we'd have a better chance if we join them? Or no?

[Primrosette]

Jonah and Arizona, huh. It seemed like they were two peas in a pod and Emmett felt somewhat relieved that Jonah was not alone. Being alone just felt more or less risky and Emmett knew that wandering off alone was stupid as fuck. Also they had a gun and Emmett's eyes widened a little at that. He hoped that it was a better gun than his as he honestly had no idea how to use his and he was not a professional shooter.

Like Erika.

When Jonah mentioned the argument; Emmett felt his face burning in embarrassment and he clicked his tongue to stop himself from saying something stupid. "....We were just having a bit of a disagreement and now we're fine again. I was upset about.... something and I just took it out on Cecil." He paused as he glanced at Cecil's face briefly and then he looked back at Jonah with an awkward, slight smile. "Sorry for making things uncomfortable for you and Arizona. Uh...."

Emmett was surprised that Jonah was willing to do something noble for them and Emmett wasn't sure how to respond to that. So all he did was clear his throat nervously. "Jonah, you don't.... you don't have to do that for us. Okay, Cecil can have his knife out and I'll put away my gun....." He said, not feeling comfortable with doing that at all and he was not going to say anything that could ruin this conversation between them. "I'll only get my gun back out if we get attacked by known killers or by someone who wants a kill. Is that fair for you, Jonah? If we stay under your roof...?"

He just hoped that he wasn't going to fuck things up again.

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah nodded in response to Cecil's question. "If I break my promise, I give you permission to stab me in the hand with that knife," he said, smilingly with a hint of slyness. He held up the hand in question and wiggled the fingers.

"I'm the baseball team's pitcher, so it's important to me."

Jonah turned and went back to the cabin, opening the door. "You didn't make things uncomfortable," he said as a half-truth. "We're coming in!" he said, by way of warning to Arizona. Jonah made sure to go through the door first so that the others wouldn't think it was an ambush for them. He did mean what he said to them. Of course, in the hierarchy of saving people from danger Arizona would be first, but he was comfortable risking life and limb for guests.

[Deamon]

Everything stayed fine, no one got aggro. Everything was cool. But they'd ended up with two people joining them. Two people who they didn't really know, and who didn't trust them. Arizona wasn't sure of the arrangement. It seemed like there were too many ways for it to go wrong. She heard Jonah telling them not to worry about making things uncomfortable. Never mind the fact they'd just had a stand-off due to them. Still, she breathed a sigh of relief that everything had turned out okay.

Moving away from the wall of the hut with a relieved sigh, Arizona stepped behind the table in the center of the room. She placed the gun on the table but kept a hand on it. More of a precaution than anything else. It wasn't as if she distrusted the new pair. Besides their caution when it came to trusting Jonah they didn't seem like bad people. The fact she had access to a real weapon did put some thoughts in her head. The main ones centering around her teammate. Quinn was still out there killing. As far as she knew no one had managed to stop her. Arizona still felt a need to find her. Originally that plan didn't have any end step. But the gun gave her options for that.

She still needed to talk to Jonah...about a lot of things. That was just one of them. But now that had to wait because they had two new people to share the space with. Arizona chewed her lip as she thought of what to say.

"Hey," She said as they entered, making a vague gesture to the room with her free hand. "Dump your bags wherever. Not like I give a shit."

Good enough.

[LeslieFranc]

It’s done. The decision’s been made. No need to freak out about it anymore. Just go for it.

While Cecil thought that Jonah’s offer about stabbing his hand was probably a joke, he had no problem taking it at face value for the sake of his nerves. The additional tidbit about it being important to him due to being a baseball player had made him hesitate a bit, but it wasn’t like things like that will be applicable here in this island, was it?

But anyway, we’re supposed to be allies now, right?

And yet he only gripped his ballistic knife tighter as they finally went in to follow Jonah, making himself smile in reassurance at Emmett.

A rather less than friendly although not completely hostile welcome had greeted them upon their entrance, which should be just about right to balance out Jonah’s friendliness and willingness to have his hand stabbed by a stranger. The gun on Arizona’s hand was just as understandable, but Cecil was still just as inwardly alarmed even though he was expecting it.

Cecil decided that he should probably stay close to Jonah, just in case.

“Hello,” he greeted back with a polite smile, carefully dropping his bags beside the doorway. Walking further inside until he was almost in the middle of the room, he took a look around his surroundings, from the humble but still way better than others furnishings to his three companions. He stood there silent for a few seconds, a rare but brief emptiness inside his head as he wondered what he should say next.

Well, Emmett and I were supposed to sit down and come up with a plan or something like that…

“So,” he looked at Arizona then to Jonah. “What’s the plan? Your plan, I mean. What were you gonna do from here on out?”

[Primrosette]

Emmett didn't want to admit it but Jonah had somehow made his cold heart flutter and Emmett felt like a complete asshole about it. The guy had just basically been nice to them mostly - the stab in the hand thingy was weird as fuck but he wasn't going to question how Jonah thought about things in his state of mind - and now Emmett was feeling all mushy from that kindness. It kind of made him think of Adonis for a few seconds and he knew with a heavy heart that he had to go and look for Adonis at some point.

Before Emmett headed inside with the others; he made sure to put his gun into the duffelbag and then he went into the house behind Cecil. He then noticed that Arizona's approach towards them was more different and slightly more negative than Jonah's more positive-like side and Emmett honestly didn't mind that she was more or less like that. He then placed his bags down beside Cecil's and then he glanced into the room, not yet stepping inside to be more cautious and careful.

Emmett gave a brief nod towards Arizona to acknowledge her and he didn't even needed to say anything. Cecil basically asked the question that he had wanted to ask and he was glad that his partner was on his wavelength. He just now had to see what their answer would be.

Hopefully it isn't a shitty answer.

[Deamon]

They entered and everyone continued to be cool if tense. It made sense. They had no reason to trust the other. Besides a deal about who was allowed to have their weapons out. No biggie there, just a normal everyday conversation on murder island. They seemed to be more on edge due to her presence. Or to be more accurate, the presence of her gun. But they would just need to deal with that. Jonah had invited them inside and laid out the rules. They'd follow them, or they could find somewhere else to stay.

Maybe it was a harsh way of thinking. But it was a realistic one. It had been a struggle for Jonah to convince them he wasn't a threat. He'd had no weapons on him and if they wanted to they could have shot them before they knew they were there. That scenario hadn't entered their heads it seemed. Instead, they were tense, ready for any sign of betrayal. As if that was an option still on the table. No, her and Jonah's gun was the only thing on the table. Emmett had stowed his away as per their agreement. It did lend a certain power dynamic to the proceedings. But again, they—or in this instance Jonah—had offered them the chance to stay. So they got to keep their gun. That was the house rule.

Arizona watched as the pair dropped their bags off and went through their greetings. Their clothes had some evidence of the nature of the island. Blood and mud caking different parts. A sign that they had probably been involved in something. What didn't particularly matter. Neither of them had been listed in the announcements after all. That, and their hesitance to take Jonah at his word meant it was unlikely they had been trying to kill anyone. One of them, Cecil, asked what their plan was and before she could think Arizona found herself answering on instinct.

"Probably try and find Quinn." Her eyes darted over to Jonah and then returned their focus to Cecil. "Someone needs to stop her."

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah had taken a seat on the small couch in the living area once the other two had come inside. They look around, apprehensively, though not upset. He tried his best to reassuring and he gestured towards a small table in the room with some chairs by it. Jonah didn't imagine that they wanted to keep standing since this was supposed to be a restful place. It seemed everything was alright. He thought about going to give Arizona a kiss on the cheek like he had just returned home from a day of work, but then decided against it.

Jonah sighed out the tension and closed his eyes, appearing serene. Cecil asked what they planned to do and before the information had time to filter through his brain beyond the literal meaning of the question, Arizona responded. He remained seated, looking peaceful for about two seconds. Then Jonah opened his eyes as this second piece of information now succeeded in fully being processed. His eyes went wide and he looked at Arizona.

"Quinn?!" he asked, shaking his head like a dog drying itself. "What the... heck?" said, pausing as if deciding how hard of an expletive he could drop. "No, Ari. That's too dangerous. She's sick. I mean I agree, but -- but maybe you should stay here and wait, maybe Darlene will show up," he said quickly.

[LeslieFranc]

Cecil only raised an eyebrow at Arizona’s swift answer to his question, taking a moment to gracefully accept Jonah’s courteous gesture of offering them to sit down. He was still stiff and uncomfortable even in a resting position, but he’d be lying if he claimed not to want to groan in relief at getting to sit down after walking so long and chasing Emmett around to talk, except that would be pathetic to look at, so he didn’t. Belatedly, he finally recalled the numerous mentions Quinn Abert had gathered from the morning announcements during the past days, remembering a fact under it that had mattered to Cecil.

She killed Ned. A boy that Cecil considered to have possibly been friends with. It’s a pity I can’t recall what Quinn Abert looks like.

Stopping Quinn Abert was obviously just Arizona’s plan though, as Jonah made it clear that he was against it. Normally, he’d agree, but he was also the one who decided to travel with Emmett and his supposed journey to kill Lorenzo Tavares.

“So you’re planning to hunt someone down, too?” he remarked, turning to stare at Emmett meaningfully before quickly glancing away.

As of now, Cecil didn’t think he’d hesitate taking down Quinn Abert or Erika or Lorenzo Tavares or Gervais or Micheal Froese especially if he would ever encounter them, but he realized now that he can’t bring himself to muster the time and energy to focus on killing someone specific when Declyn was still out there alive and it’s almost a week and I need to see him. Shit.

And who’s Darlene? Cecil cursed the fact that he never paid more attention to his classmates and it had haunted his whole experience in this island.

“Anyway, you’ve got more friends coming?” he asked with furrowed eyebrows, his gaze directed at Jonah in question.

[Primrosette]

Emmett was quick to take a seat and he was glad to be able to rest his aching feet, feeling the shame about running away from Cecil not that long ago. It seemed like Arizona wanted to hunt Quinn down and he had to agree with her that girl had to be stopped from her killing spree or some shit. However, it looked like Jonah was more hesitant and he wanted to wait for a friend. Darlene was that girl who seemed to blend into the background if Emmett remembered correctly and he remembered so many times how he wanted to fade into the background himself at school and at that wild-ass party. That all felt like it was a lifetime ago.

Cecil spoke up about the hunting part and he had looked at Emmett. Emmett found himself looking between Arizona and Jonah and he knew what he wanted to say. Fuck, it was all that he could think about. Hunting down people who didn't deserve to go home. There were a few people that he knew who deserved to go back home and he didn't want to fuck that up for them.

Sapphire and Emil should have been back at home. They deserved so much better than me failing to protect them. This time I have to make sure not to fuck things up. I really have to stop Lorenzo....

"I'm glad to know that we aren't the only people who want to stop someone. Quinn really is going way too far and she needs to be fucking stopped. She's killed so many people and it just irks me that no one is able to stop her." He said honestly as he was looking at Arizona with a more calmer expression and then he glanced at Jonas somewhat more awkwardly. "....I want to hunt down Lorenzo because he killed one of my closest friends and...."

His face crumbled a little into a look of sadness and regret. He almost didn't want to say his name and he knew that he shouldn't be scared of doing so. He took a few moments to let out a deep, shaky breath and he felt his fingernails digging into his thighs. He needed to keep his shit together and he shouldn't cry anymore.

"Emil.... He k-killed Emil in front of me and I.... I was too powerless to stop him. But this time.... This time I will not hesitant to put a bullet into that bastard."

He then went back to be quiet and he felt more exhausted than ever before. He wanted to rest and he was more afraid of knowing that more people were dying. While he was sitting on his ass and doing nothing but talking to Arizona and Jonah. But he knew that he couldn't go back out there in a tired state and he needed to get his butt reenergised.