7.2 The Southern Beach

[SOTF: Discord]

When the islanders started their attempt to branch into tourism to save the dying city, a few beach houses were created meant for vacationers to live in. Even the building of a big hotel started. However, this plans were eventually abandoned, leaving the beach houses finished but without any furniture and the hotel a half-finished construction site. Both the construction site and the beach houses can be found very close to the city. The beach of this area is also mostly sand and more surfer-friendly.

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Example-Thread

DerArknight — 23/09/2021 23:40
Name: Example-Thread (Content Warning: Suicide)
Time: Day 1
Status: Oneshot

DerArknight — 23/09/2021 23:41
((Bob A. Fett: Start))
Bob had no interest in this game, so he shot himself in the head while looking at the beautiful sea.
((Bob A. Fett: Deceased))

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] the c, the c, the shining c

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 01:43
Name: the c, the c, the shining c
Time: Day 1
Status: Closed

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 01:43
((Monica Reed starts here))
She awoke to the roar of a gun. Her eyes opened to the sight of waves lapping against the shore.

She lay still, transfixed by it. She knew, vaguely, where she was, what had happened. She knew the sound that had pulled her from unconciousness could have no desirable source. It could only be a harbinger of what was to come, of inevitability itself. As long as she stayed put, she didn't have to deal with it. It could come to her or leave her be, but she refused to engage.

For now, it was just her. Just the sea. Just the two of them, alone.

Catche | Brody, Horace — 24/09/2021 01:48
"Hey, you. You're finally awake."

A boy squatted beside Monica, a katana resting casually on his shoulder. His head was shaven, and his eyes anxious, darting around the beach. He wore a white t-shirt, and over that a simple black jacket.

((Brody Paxton: START))

"I'm looking for recruits."

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 01:57
A voice chimed from over her, though she didn't look its way. Likely not the source of the gunshot. It'd be strange to open fire one minute then offer something the next.

"Recruits" though. Unusual phrasing. What could he mean by that?

"... Recruits for what?" Her eyes were still locked to the shore.

Catche | Brody, Horace — 24/09/2021 02:03
A frown. She didn't look at him, clearly unable to except this new reality in which they lived. Hopefully, Brody would be able to break through to her.

"Recruits for a team that can rally together and eventually take the fight to the bastards that put us here. I'm usually more of a loner, but I understand my limits. Even if the fiends running this twisted game were foolish enough to provide me with a weapon I have ample experience with, I cannot do this alone." He did his best to speak calmly and clearly. Brody needed to ease this girl into the new world.

"Have you ever watched GANTZ? It's an anime." He asked, making sure she would understand his point of reference. There were two sorts of women in the world: those that did watch anime and were oh so eager to show that they were cool by knowing it, or those that abhorred anything that dare challenge their limited sensibilities.

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 02:22
Was this his elevator pitch? From what she'd heard, boldly announcing your intent to fight these people was a good way to get your head blown apart. Name dropping a fucking anime only made the plan sound even more ridiculous.
She glared up at him, irritated.

Catche | Brody, Horace — 24/09/2021 02:29
"Oh, good. You're paying attention." Brody smiled when she looked at him, taking it as a positive sign. Though, judging by her facial expression, she probably was that sort of girl was disgusted by anime. Unfortunate, but not unsalvageable.

"Well, anyway, this whole thing kind of reminds me of GANTZ, is what I was getting at. Like, it'd be possible to act on our own, but we'll need each other or we'll end up like that guy over there." He casually pointed his katana towards the corpse a few feet from them.

"Also, there might be aliens involved, but I'm skeptical of that comparison."

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 02:45
She sat up, shaking the sand from her braids, from her face. Clearly he wasn't going away. The fact his head hadn't already burst like a balloon was a sign his idea maybe wasn't the dumbest thing possible. And hey, if anything would drag her into what came next, it may as well be this. There were probably worse introductions to this nightmare happening across the island right now. As he rambled on about Gants or whatever it was, he idly pointed his katana over at...

Oh.

Her heart stopped. She turned from the sight, her face stricken with panic. Too late to avoid seeing the crimson mess sprayed across the sand, the remnants of someone's final moments. She was frozen again, worse than she'd been before. Only dimly aware that the boy was even still talking.

Catche | Brody, Horace — 24/09/2021 03:05
"But anyway, I was wondering what sort of weapon you had? I mean, I've got my katana and that guy had a handgun, so I was wondering if..." He trailed off, turning back to the other girl only to see she'd zoned out again.

Brody let out a sigh, knowing that this had to be expected. Many normal people would have trouble with accepting the reality of seeing a classmate suffering a gunshot wound to the head. Even Brody was shaken, seeing Bob in that state, but Brody had also always known that he was not a "normal guy."

"Hey, I... get it? I know that's hard to look at. But we can't focus to hard on that stuff. Uhhh..." Fuck, he couldn't think of anything comforting or inspiring to say. His thoughts swam for a moment.

"Um, I can just sit and wait a second. Like, if you need it or something." He said, sitting back on the ground.

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 03:31
Shit. Shit. SHIT.

It'd been one thing to hear it happen. Seeing the aftermath- if only briefly- was something altogether different. She didn't even know if she knew the boy, but it didn't matter. That he was dead, that he was dead here, that he was dead here and she was here and-

The other boy, at least, stopped his babble for a moment, offering pitiful comfort. How was he so okay with it, though? She was pretty sure he hadn't shot him, but he was taking this with eerie aplomb.

"I-I'll... I'm fine." Nothing was further from the truth. But she couldn't dwell on... whoever it was. He was giving her something else to focus on. Any port in a storm.

"Uh... weapon..." she felt a weight in her jacket pocket, only just now noticing the hilt of a knife sticking from it. She pulled it out, the weapon's black blade giving off barely a glimmer.

"This, I guess."

Catche | Brody, Horace — 24/09/2021 04:01
Brody examined the knife that the girl held closely, admiring it.

"Oh yeah, that looks good. You could definitely defend yourself with that. So is it cool if I take Bob's gun? I can handle myself just fine with my blade, but it'd be nice to have something if someone else has some firepower out here." He explained casually. He decided to take the girl at her word, even though it was possible that she'd been lying to him, or to herself.

With a shrug, he started to stand up, before holding off.

"Ah, right. Not sure we know each other from school. I'm Brody. Brody Paxton." He gave a curt nod before rising to his feet, doing another scan of the area.

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 04:09
"... Monica."

He was right; she didn't know him. For reasons that had rapidly made themselves known.

"And sure, whatever. Not like I'd really know how to use it."

She rose from the ground, brushing sand off her jeans.

Catche | Brody, Horace — 24/09/2021 04:14
"Cool." He nodded, quickly making his way over to Bob's corpse. He grimaced, getting a close look at the gore again, before gingerly taking the gun off of it.
"Alright, so, I was thinking we should probably make our way towards the city or something. Map says there's a place like that out here. Maybe there's stuff there, like electronics or something." He explained, hoping to get some feedback on the plan.

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 04:31
"I guess. Sounds good as anything."

She was going along with this now, despite how terrible his not-even-a-plan sounded. It's not like her odds of survival were really that much better doing anything else. He was probably about as trustworthy as anybody else, and going it alone seemed a recipe for suicide.

"We maybe shouldn't speak so... plainly, though. About what we're doing. I have a feeling it'll end poorly."

Catche | Brody, Horace — 24/09/2021 04:36
"But... ah, right." Brody gave a nod, quickly stuffing the gun into his pants so that he would have his katana at the ready. Monica was right, it was probably best to avoid being too provocative with eyes likely on them. He started to wonder if it would do them good to destroy any camera or microphone equipment they found.

"Well, let's get going, then. I'll make sure to move at your pace." He gave a polite nod before starting off from the beach, knowing that there was no way that the low-lifes that ran this sick game would be able to contain Brody Paxton when he was properly determined.

((Brody Paxton continued elsewhere))

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 24/09/2021 04:49
At her pace, huh? He hardly seemed a star athlete. She wasn't one either, mind, but she was perfectly in shape, and hiking through the wilderness wasn't new to her. The implication she was gonna be burdensome chafed more than a bit.

At least he took to her suggestion to keep their sabotage on the down low. They were probably lucky they hadn't already been blown up for it, so they'd need to be very careful with their moves here. Hopefully inspiration would strike once they got where they were heading.

Without looking back, she abandoned the sea and followed Brody into whatever came next.

((Monica Reed continued elsewhere))

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Boogie Boards and Broken Fingers

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 29/09/2021 23:40
Name: Boogie Boards and Broken Fingers
Time: Day 1
Status: Closed

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 29/09/2021 23:41
[[She had left Blighttown]]

This was what, three corpses she had seen now? And this was the first that she wasn't responsible for.

She didn't know the guy. Did she know anyone that was here? Anyone other than Tyler? Questions for another time, she supposed. Now was the time to focus on important stuff, and at that moment 'important stuff' meant supplies.

She still only had darts for actual weapons. The stress ball was a fun distraction for two seconds, but she kept it anyway. The blood and mud girl had probably been doomed from the start-how the fuck lollipops were considered weapons she would never know.

But hey, at least they had blue raspberry flavor. That was nice.

She had enough food to last for a while probably. A couple days worth of food for each person, and her having to bags worth of supplies meant she had six, maybe seven days worth of food. Possibly even longer, if she rationed things well.

And after getting all of her things in her bag, she just...sat there. Staring at the waves. Getting a moment to just sit down and breathe felt nice.

Probably the nicest thing she was gonna get when stuck here.

DerArknight — 30/09/2021 23:11
The beach seemed to end nowhere, continuing beyond his field of view in both direction. The water looked clear, the waves were perfect to surf. A strange calmness lay across this area.

But right now, that was unimportant. Important was that after some more wandering around, he had finally found another person. And even better, it was someone he recognized.

"Hey, Whitney!"

((Marty Freeman continued from Look, a Corpse!))

With fast steps, he made his way to her. Thankfully, his classmate looked unhurt. With one eye, Marty noticed the body a little bit further to the right, but he decided that in this moment, the living girl was more important.

Finally he stood next to her.

"I am glad you are okay." He said. "You must know there are some people actually playing this insane game."

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 01/10/2021 00:41
The salty air was nice. The sand underneath her felt nice. She was gonna have to get it out of her shoes later, but that would be another time. For now she would enjoy the nice, nice ocean.

Until someone decided to show up. Someone that knew her name, apparently.

She turned her head, a dart already in her hand as the lollipop shifted around in her mouth, in front of her teeth so she wouldn't choke. The dart was one of the clean ones-she had wiped the used ones on one of the now abandoned bags, but there might've been a bit of blood on it that she couldn't see, so clean was better.

But seeing who it was made her soften. Marty. She actually knew him. They'd talked a couple of times. Seemed like an alright person.

And now he was on murder island with her. That probably sucked.

The hand in her bag left it without the dart. This was a nice moment in a nice place, despite the corpse. She would prefer keeping it that way if possible.

"Good to see you're alive too."

Her eyes glanced to the body for a second.

"Yeah, I...I could kinda tell."

DerArknight — 01/10/2021 23:58
Whitney seemed shaken, especially when mentioning the corpse, but that was understandable in this situation.

Marty probably should keep looking for people who needed his help. But after walking for so long, he decided that a short break would do well.

"Mind if I sit there?" he asked Whitney while pointing at the empty spot next to her. "If you want to be alone, it's alright, but I believe in a time like this we should stick together."

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 02/10/2021 00:34
Marty was calm. Or as calm as he could be right now. Seemed like he wanted some peace and quiet too. She wasn't about to stop him from relaxing.

She turned her head to the water again as she spoke.

"I don't mind."

It was hard to think about what to say. Conversation at school was easy-they could about assignments or hobbies or what they saw on TV last night or the latest viral video or something-but thinking about speaking here just left her feeling queasy. All her brain could think about was everything going on. The guy that got shot in the face when they first woke up. The fact that some of them would never see their parents or families ever again, if not all but one of them. The corpse that was still in her line of sight.

And the obvious, of course.

So, she didn't try to force a conversation topic. She just stuck a hand into her bag, grabbed a thin stick, and held out a fruit punch flavor.

"Lollipop? I've got, like, a hundred, so I can spare some."

DerArknight — 02/10/2021 18:00
Marty sat down next to Whitney, letting the 2x4 fall between the two of them.

"Thanks." He took the offered lollipop and unwrapped it. While putting it in his mouth, he became unsure of what to do with the paper. On one hand, this was apparently an abandoned island, but on the other, wouldn't it be littering to just throw it away? Marty ended up pocketing the waste.

The view of the blue sea under the clear sky was still wonderful and calming. For maybe one minute, the two just sat there licking their lollipops and watching the sea.

But eventually Marty felt that it was time to speak. After all, he still had to find a way to get this collars off and save everyone.

"You don't happen to know a bit about mechanics? Like how we could get this bombs from our necks?"

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 02/10/2021 21:02
Marty took the lollipop and sat down, and for a bit, she didn't have to think about anything. Not their situation, not about the corpse still open to the elements, and especially not what she had done so far. It was ocean wave after ocean wave, one breath after the other, and the big blue sky.

But nothing last forever, especially not good things. Marty had a question and it would be rude not to answer.

"Not really, no. Unless you count changing tires or doing an oil change, mechanics isn't really my thing."

'Not to mention trying to get the collars off is probably just gonna make things worse.'

DerArknight — 03/10/2021 01:08
"Alright." Marty wasn't disappointed. While it had been worth asking, meeting just the right person for the job within hours was unlikely.

"Then I guess we have to find more people. From what I have seen in this hall we awoke first, they took tons of people, so one of us should have a clue about it."

He took another look at the corpse.

"Shortly after waking up, I found Abel." He told her. "He must be pretty shaken by the situation, because he tried to rob me. When we meet him again, I want to calm him down. Otherwise, he might do something he will surely regret once we are home.

"Apart from him, I only found a corpse in the swamp.

"What about you? Did you see anyone or anything that could help us?"

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 03/10/2021 01:40
Seemed like Marty wanted to team up. Try to find a way off the island and get home without killing anyone. Honestly? She couldn't fully blame him. Everyone wanted to go home. Everyone probably would've been happy to find a way home without anyone dead. Hell, she would've accepted one at this point, if she thought that the idea had any merit.

But didn't think they could even get past stage one. Whatever was going on was something big. Bigger than them. Bigger than they could hope to achieve on their own. And for them to get one over on the people behind this? It'd probably take a miracle.

Abel was here too. Decided robbery was the way to go, apparently. She didn't know how helpful that would be, but to each's own methods.

And apparently Marty had found her. Mud and blood girl. Or someone else died in that swamp. She didn't bother checking to see if any alligators had gotten anyone.

He asked for info that could help. That was one thing she could do at least.

"There's a guy named Tad here." She said. "Tad Livingston. Don't know him, but I watched him talked to another guy.

"He stabbed the other guy too."

DerArknight — 03/10/2021 21:29
"Oh." Marty said. "So Tad did it?"

He knew a bit about Tad. Not much, since they barely had classes together, but more than some others. Which made this new information all the weirder. His picture of Tad in school didn't mesh with someone who would go ahead and stab two people to-

Wait a minute!

"How do you know that the corpse I found has been stabbed?"

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 00:05
Wait, Tad did go to their school? Or did Marty just know Tad somehow? Or maybe there was another Tad or something-she didn't know and it hopefully wouldn't matter. She might need to avoid him from now on, though. The only reason she had killed mud and blood girl was because the girl apparently knew her-if her and Tad didn't go to the same school, then there was no chance she was the girl he was trying to find. If they went to the same school and just didn't know each other, though...

Wait.

Shit.

She missed Tyler. Tyler was the talker between them. She could talk, yeah, but he was the social butterfly. She drew people in but he made them stay and be friends. Knew what to say, even if what had to be said was complete bullshit lies.

Her, meanwhile?

"I-I, um..."

She stumbled.

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 00:14
When he asked this question, Marty hoped for an explanation. Something like "I guessed" or "Tad told me about killing someone in the swamp".

But no. Instead she mumbled something and looked away. Just like someone who had something to hide.

"Whitney? Please answer my question. It shouldn't be hard, right?

"How did you know about the stabbing?"

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 00:26
Lie. Lie. It should've been easy-so fucking easy. Say she saw someone else kill her. Say Tad killed two people. Hell, she could just say she found the corpse too and just made a guess after seeing the body.

"It-it was..."

But she couldn't. She was never a good liar. She could just omit the truth and be okay, but lying always ended badly for her.

And at this point, was Marty even going to believe whatever she would say?

She sighed, finally looking at him again.

"How do you think, Marty?"

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 00:28
"..."

Marty didn't know what to say.

Was there anything to say in this situation? There was only one explanation for her behaviour, and it was one he hated.

But he had to be sure.

"Tell me. If you did what I think you did, you should at least have the decency to admit it.

"And if I am wrong, you should be able to say so."

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 00:41
He wanted her to say it. He wanted to drag it out of her. To give her some form of dignity.

But she had killed her best friend when she first woke up on this island. She stabbed a girl in the neck when she distracted. She chatted with another killer and the two of them hadn't harmed a hair on the other's head.

She wasn't sure if she had dignity anymore.

"She knew me, apprently." She said. "Recognized me, at least. She fell in the mud, and didn't want help when I offered. Said she wanted to find Horace.

"I...I don't even know what her name was."

Her hand had slipped into her bag. Plastic dug into her palm, but didn't cut the skin.

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 00:42
"And then what?" He asked, not realized he his voice had gotten more aggressive than normal.

"What did you do?"

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 00:49
"She just...she turned around."

Her breathing had gotten shallow. She didn't want to say it. She didn't want to be so direct with him.

"She tried to grab her bag, like...like she thought nothing could happen. Like nothing would hurt her."

The ocean waves were calm. Soothing, even, in the right circumstances.

The hand gripped tighter in the bag.

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 00:50
"But you did."

It wasn't even a question anymore.

His left hand reached for the 2x4.

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 00:53
"But I did."

It was a statement.

The dart was out, pointed at Marty's chest.

"Just...just leave. Please."

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 00:56
Marty was speechless.

"...

"What..."

His grip around the wood tightened.

"What if the rescue arrives within the next hour and it turns out we all could have lived? How are you going to live with what you did? What are you going to tell the girl's parents when they ask why her daughter won't come home?"

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 01:03
"Where the fuck are we, Marty?"

The breath was shakey, but her words were clear.

"We're-we're in the middle of the god-damn ocean, and-and which fucking ocean? Atlantic? Pacific? Any ideas? Anything about how they could find us?"

In, and out. In, and out.

"Because I've got nothing."

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 01:06
This was getting nowhere.

Whatever had happened to her even before meeting the girl, it must have shaken her. Whitney was clearly not thinking straight.

Marty made a decision.

"Give me your weapon. I can't trust you with it."

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 01:10
...was...was he serious?

"I-what?"

"I-I'm not just..."

Her grip loosened. Did he...did he think that would actually work, or-

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 01:12
Her grip loosened. Marty saw his chance.

He took both it and the dart, ripping it out of her hands.

Then he stood up while still facing Whitney and threw the dart as far as he could into the sea.

"There you go. No more killing."

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 01:17
She blinked.

She blinked again.

He just...grabbed it.

She stared at him.

She wasn't paying enough attention, and he struck.

"You..."

They had one thing in common, at least.

"Why?"

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 01:23
"Because I don't want to play this stupid game, and I don't want you to play this stupid game!"

Marty failed to understand how Whitney couldn't see his point. What was she trying to accomplish by giving this asshole Danya what he wanted?

"Listen, we will go and find more people. Then we will find a way to get these fucking collars off and get out of this place. And then, once we are safely home, you will turn yourself to the police and answer for your crime. I will drag you there if I have to.

"So let's go, there might be more fools we have to stop from killing."

He turned around, expecting her to follow. After all, she no longer had a weapon. What else could she do now?

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 01:34
...he was stupid.

That had to be it-he was just dumb. An idealist with his head in the clouds. Or up his ass. She didn't know. She didn't know.

She did know better, though. Better than him, anyway.

That's why dart two of six was stabbed into Marty's back, next to his right shoulder blade.

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 01:38
Suddenly, pain.

Marty stumbled a few steps ahead, being taken completely off-guard by the sudden shock that went through his body.

What?

He felt a hot, searing pain in his back. Something sharp was stuck in him. He tried to remove it, but the moment he even attempted to move his right arm, the pain increased tenfold.

The 2x4 fell into the sand, followed by Marty falling to his knees, screaming.

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 02:12
"There were six."

She isn't sure why she says that, as a boy is falling on the ground and screaming. She doubted he could hear her over it all. The blood rush. The pain. His own voice.

But she didn't stop.

"With lawn darts, each player gets three. I got a whole set."

She's quick as she yanks the pointed metal out of his back.

"I'm sorry."

She's just as quick as she jams it into the right side of the boy's neck.

DerArknight — 04/10/2021 22:27
Marty could hear Whitney saying something, but at the same time, he heard nothing. The pain in his back had suddenly taken another form, and before he could fathom the reason, something sharp entered his neck, followed by more pain.

And more pain.

With feeble movements, he felt for whatever was stuck in him.

And more pain.

He found it.

And more pain.

One last ounce of strength allowed him to rip it out.

And more pain was felt as the new hole in his neck produced even more blood coming out of him.

Way too much blood.

B013 Marty Freeman: Deceased

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 04/10/2021 23:25
The stab itself didn't kill him. But it was enough. The delusional boy had a dart in his neck, he removed it, and promptly fell into the sand to bleed out.

That made three, now. Tyler, the blood and mud girl, and Marty-the sandy boy.

She took the dart from his cold hands. She didn't both with dignity this time-the blood on her weapon was wiped on the back of his shirt.

She stashed the dart back in the bag. She probably had to be a little more careful, now. She had most of the darts still, but she could lose them just as easily as the one taking a swim now. She had only one type of weapon in case of a fight, and she intended to keep it.

But she looked around and realized-she just got more supplies.

And a weapon that might actually be usable.

And who was she to let food and a weapon go to waste?

She didn't think she would ever really smile again. But at least she thought she could still have hope.

[[And she took the Boogie Board]]

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Where the Crawdads Sing

Laurels | Flora — 15/10/2021 00:16
Name: Where the Crawdads Sing
Time: Late Day 1
Status: Open

Laurels | Flora — 15/10/2021 00:19
((Flora Katsura continued from Into Thin Air))

Flora paced along the beach, her legs and arms sore from walking and climbing. She somehow survived the climb down, unlike the other boy. She had followed the mountains along and ended up at the coastline. She stuck to it, figuring staying near the sea would at least allow her to keep an eye on anyone who could approach.

Most of her time had been spent crying and sniffling. She had nearly gone through an entire bottle of water trying to get her throat to stop hurting. She was sure she looked like a mess, and so she tipped the brim of her hat a bit down to cover her face.

But now she was on a beach, and in her exhaustion, Flora quickly sat down on the sand and laid on her back. She kept the pitchfork in her hand, her callouses aching from how hard she had gripped it over the last few hours.

She stared up at the sky. This had been the worst day of her life, and now she wasn't sure what to do or feel.

Laurels | Flora — 15/10/2021 00:35
Dread. Sorrow. Horror. Grief. Regret. Guilt.
That's what Flora felt when she suddenly heard the sounds of the announcements play over the island.
"Jonathan..." she muttered.
Now she knew his name. And now she had more justification for why she was crying while laying on the beach.
Flora crossed her arms over her eyes as the tears began to flow.

kotorikun — 17/10/2021 22:09
((Grayson had thought the sky looked pretty before he continued from The River to Nowhere; but now it was simply stunning.))

The announcement felt like it was playing forever, some names unfamiliar to him. At least Claude wasn't part of it. Now he could enjoy the silent beach. Grayson had never seen so many stars before when his head was tilted back so much that he felt slightly dizzy while walking. Shaking it, he rubbed the back of his neck with a loud sigh when he directed his attention back to the front, and to Akiko who was walking beside him for a second.

After their little run they had decided to stick together for now because what else was there to do? She didn't make him want to fight her which he took as an okay sign, and he needed a pair of good eyes since his own were failing him.

"Ah!" He suddenly raised his spoon and pointed it sharply in Flora's direction. "Is that a person or a stranded animal?"

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 18/10/2021 03:11
((Akiko Sasaki continued from the same thread Grayson came from))

Akiko didn't know any of the names on the announcement. Is all that she was thinking after the announcement had ended and it was still pretty horrifying to hear aloud. Just knowing that people were getting killed and people being willing to kill... was just sick and wrong.

So now she and Grayson (they found out each others' names earlier and now they were partners) were on a beach and there was a girl who was laying on the sand and crying. She guessed that the girl heard a friend's name on the announcement who... died. It felt so strange for Akiko to think about honestly.

Grayson wanted to know if the girl was a girl or not and she was glad that he told her about him not being able to see well beforehand. "It's a girl." She said quietly. "I'll check up on her. To see if she's well.... okay, I guess."

She give him a small nod and she made a slow, cautious approach towards the sand girl, stopping a few inches away from her. "Uh, hey..." She paused for a second or so. "Are you alright?"

Laurels | Flora — 21/10/2021 18:34
Flora let out a quick cry and then scrambled to get back into standing position. She kicked sand up all around her as she pawed around for the pitchfork and stood up.

She looked at the girl before her. It was another Asian girl, this one a bit shorter than Flora. Flora looked all around, sniffling and choking up as she tried to reply.

"N-n-no..." she sputtered. "No, I'm not. Sorry."

kotorikun — 25/10/2021 22:34
Grayson was disappointed that it was no animal because it would have been easier to deal with. Just throw it back into the ocean and move on, that type of thing.

He stepped closer, feeling a bit out of breath from so much wandering around.

"Why not?" he asked once Flora paused. "Feeling sad is a waste of time and I do not recommend it. Bad for the heart and brain, like....." He glanced at Akiko for help, not sure where he was going with this. "Yeah."

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 25/10/2021 23:49
Akiko was not the best at comforting people who were crying or just upset about things in general. Her cousin Harun was better at making people feel better with his crappy jokes and she kind of missed having him around with her. However, him not being there was a good thing. She didn't want him to die here. She knew that his temper and his loudmouth could rub someone the wrong way. Enough to kill him? Very likely.

"Shhh, Grayson!" She nudged him in the side gently and then she glanced back at Flora with a more sympathetic expression, making sure that her knife was staying down low by her left side. "Sorry about him. He's a bit insensitive."

She then thought about what to say.

"But he is kind of right. I mean, there is nothing wrong with feeling sad about friends and classmates dying around here. But you're leaving yourself open to getting attacked by anyone that is willing to take advantage of a vulnerable girl." She said calmly, gazing out towards the sea and she was listening to the waves. "And I'm sure that you don't want to die here, yes?"

Laurels | Flora — 27/10/2021 01:00
"I...no...I don't..." Flora said, glancing away from the two.

The guy was a bit of a jerk, but the girl seemed a little friendlier.

"It's just..." Flora began, "...it's hard. It's hard to be here..."

kotorikun — 29/10/2021 11:23
"No shit."

Grayson grumbled, visibly irritated. It wasn't Flora's fault though. When he looked down at the sand he hesitated for a moment, but then he let himself fall back onto his butt to rest his legs, keeping a watchful eye on Flora.

"Since you don't want to be here, does that mean you're gonna kill us?"

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 29/10/2021 13:18
Akiko gave Flora a sympathetic nod as she completely understood what she meant by her words. "Of course. Being kidnapped and forced to kill each other is just so awful and I can't even understand why something like this is happening to us."

Grayson being Grayson.... Opened his mouth and Akiko felt tempted to slap him on his head for saying it. But in a way, Akiko realized that Grayson was just too blunt and honest about the things that he says. She didn't even know Flora. She was a complete stranger to her and so was Grayson honestly.

She glanced back at Flora and she waited for her answer patiently.

Laurels | Flora — 31/10/2021 18:27
“What?!?” Flora shouted in response to the boy’s question. “No, I don’t want to kill anyone! I just saw someone fall off a cliff earlier and nearly died trying to climb down a mountain! That’s all it is!”

Flora stepped back from the duo, tightening her grip on the pitchfork.

“I swear! That’s all it is!”

kotorikun — 01/11/2021 09:58
Grayson kinda regretted being down on the ground now with the pitchfork towering over him with some space in between. He was surprised by Flora's sudden outburst if you could call it that, but intrigued that his question had set her off.

"Okay. Okay. You're......" His voice sounded strained. "Y—You're awfully defensive all of a sudden! What's with that? Weirdo. I bet you're fantasizing about piercing someone with that thing and picking them up like a piece of meat on a..... metal thing.... skewer!"

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 01/11/2021 18:11
Well, things were starting to escalate very quickly.

Akiko didn't really want to be stuck in the middle of a petty fight. Between an upset, paranoid girl and an insensitive, blunt boy. She should just walk away from the situation really. But then that would make her as bad as them, right?

Akiko took one step closer to Grayson's side and she raised her free hand upwards for Flora to see that she didn't want to provoke her and that it was a sign of surrender. "Hey, let's all try to stay calm here. Let's not make this worse." She suggested calmly. "We can work this out. Let's not get paranoid because that's what they want from us."

Laurels | Flora — 07/11/2021 02:28
"I'm not defensive!" Flora shouted.

She quickly shut her mouth and looked between the two. Yeah, she probably wasn't helping herself.

"Look, I'm sorry," she said. "I don't want to do anything evil here. I'll just walk away if that's what you want."

kotorikun — 14/11/2021 12:24
"Why are you shouting then?!" Grayson shouted back. Wouldn't it be too dangerous to let her go? He felt like they needed to settle this, whatever this was, right here and now.

"You can't just walk away. And gimme that!"

He reached towards the handle of Flora's pitchfork.

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 14/11/2021 22:11
Akiko hadn't wanted the situation to escalate like this and she felt a bit frustrated over it all being out of her control. She had to do something before it would all get worse. But Grayson being Grayson was making a big mistake of trying to reach for Flora's weapon and Akiko felt a sense of alarm taking over herself completely.

"Hey...."

She took a step forward, keeping her knife down by her side. Making sure not to be intimidating with the knife and to be seen as trustworthy to Flora.

"Let's not fight over this. We can all just walk away from this situation. Let's not shred any blood."

Laurels | Flora — 14/11/2021 22:32
"GO AWAY!" Flora shouted.

She swung the pitchfork at the boy.

It was then she felt like her heart was going to sink and fall out of her. This was a massive error on her part, wasn't it?

kotorikun — 15/11/2021 14:07
Grayson suddenly let out a short cry when one of the spikes grazed him across his nose. The smell of blood hit him immediately when a few droplets made its way down the bridge of the nose, landing on his upper lip.

His patience was already running low but now it was cut to the minimum. He would have jumped right at Flora if it wasn't for what happened next.

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 16/11/2021 00:32
"S....Stop it!" Akiko heard herself suddenly yelling and she moved into action as soon as she saw the blood. Her instinct of wanting to protect Grayson kicked in as it made her think of all the times where she had to step in to protect Harun from bullies who would be hurting him.

She couldn't let her ally get hurt more than this.

She stepped forward more quickly and she was now swiping with the knife with intent. She was aiming for Flora's right arm, hoping that she could get the girl to drop the weapon and that they could get rid of the dangerous pitchfork.

Laurels | Flora — 27/11/2021 01:34
"GO AWAY!!!"
Flora screamed and swung again.

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 28/11/2021 04:39
Akiko let out a scream that was cut off short and she let out a gurgle of pure agony.

She felt something piercing her abdomen and she dropped the knife near Grayson. She had failed to stop things from getting worse and now she was dying because of her own fatal mistake.

"I.... G-Grk.... G-Gray...."

Now she wouldn't be able to see her family or Harun again. It wasn't fair....

((Akiko Sasaki - Deceased))

Laurels | Flora — 13/12/2021 20:10
Flora's eyes widened as she saw the pitchfork impale the girl. She immediately let go of the weapon and watched as the girl fell to the ground.

Flora let out another scream.

"Oh god! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Flora looked back between the dead girl and the boy.

"I'm sorry!" was all she could say before she bolted, leaving the pitchfork behind.

((Flora Katsura continued elsewhere))

kotorikun — 19/01/2022 14:42
And all the tension that had built up inside Grayson during this situation suddenly escaped in the form of the biggest scream he had let out so far on this journey.

Flora's words felt empty to him, in fact, they bounced off his head and fell in the sand to be taken away by the waves. Thankfully, they muffled the sound of Akiko's gruesome noises and the crunch of Flora's hasty footsteps too.

Nothing happened for a while....

until he put his spoon back inside his pocket, took the knife that Akiko had dropped, and.... hesitated, with a shaky hand, to grab the pitchfork, but immediately let go of it.

A last look at her face before he walked off into the general direction of where Flora had ran off to.

((Grayson Émile continued elsewhere))

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Die Vergessene Leere

DerArknight — 19/10/2021 00:25
Name: Die Vergessene Leere (Content Warning: Suicide)
Time: Night 1
Status: Inactivity-Cleanup

DerArknight — 19/10/2021 00:26
Anya's parents had always told her she was special.

After all, she was their daughter. And anyone closely associated with the Schrader's had to be one-of-a-kind.

((Anya Schrader: Start))

250 years ago, her family had held a noble title in germany. At least that was what Anya was told by her parents, and she quickly learned to not question anything her parents paraded as the truth. So she didn't question why a former german noble family was living in america with only barely enough money to be called upper-class. In fact, most of her life she had been way too occupied with her studies and lessons to question much

Even after being abducted and put on a deserted island, Anya refused to degrace her family by not acting according to her status. Even now, as she was walking down the beach, Anya had the same elegant posture and movements that one would expect a noble lady to have. She even had her parasol open despite the sun being not so bright that a parasol would be necassary.

Since awakening, Anya hadn't seen a single soul. But doing nothing hadn't felt alright with her, so she had settled for a direction and started to walk. And for most of the time, she had remained on this course, slowly making her way over the beach southwards. Slowly closing in on the city she could already see in the distance.

But before reaching the city, she found something else.

A beach house.

Granted, it was not the first house on the beach. She had already passed a few. But back when she had passed the others, her feet, unused to much walking, hadn't hurt like hell. So it was about time she took a break from walking all day.

The beach house was a fairly small one-story building, probably for only two people. Maybe this island had seen some tourism in the past. Maybe not. Anya didn't mind the reason. Important was that the house was there and had shelter for a-

"Freeze!"

She was about to reach for the doorhandle when the male voice called out to her. Surprised, she jolted back a bit.

"I have a gun!" The boy from inside declared. "Put your weapon and backpack in front of the door and piss off!"

Anya disobeyed, unsure of what to do. She hadn't expected the house to be occopied. However, her surprise was short. In a situation like this one, hthe most important thing was to keep a clear head and remain calm.

"I have no intention to follow your orders. If you want to shot me over nothing, go ahead. All I want is some place to rest." While speaking the last part, she folded her parasol and gripped it with both hands. Anya might have never seen a real fight, but her twelve years of fencing classes weren't for nothing. And the tip of the parasol was pretty sharp.

The boy didn't answer for a moment. When he did, his voice was a lot quieter and lacking in the earlier determination.

"Hey, this is a killing tournament or whatever, right? Shouldn't we, like, be at each others throat and so?"

Oh, she thought. This must be a naive one.

"What we do here is our decision alone. You want to give in to our captor's demands? Then please leave me out of it."

Again, the boy took some time to answer.

"Who the fuck talks like that?"

The door swung open.
--------------------------

"... And then I opened the backpack and found a jerry can with some stinky stuff and a lighter as my weapon. Like what am I supposed to do with that thing? Ask the others to let me sprinkle them?"

It turned out that boy's name was Samuel Denver, and he was from New York. The latter part was disgusting for Anya, who had heard about New York being a ugly place. But she figured that this was of lesser importance right now.

After calming the boy down, he had authorized her entry into the building. Now they were sitting on the floor since the house was devoid of any interior decoration.

Two introductions later, he had told her about his actions so far, which had revolved around panicing, going outside, finding a corpse and then going back inside quickly.

"And, well, that is the reason I decided to wait in this house until the police arrives. Sucks for the others, but they are on their own. I don't wanna end up like Bob, you know?"

"..." Anya thought about it. If there had been any doubts about this killing game being a trick, Samuel's story disproved them. But she hadn't planned to act according to the best possible case anyway.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a more proactive role in escaping this dreadful situation? We lack any information about the state of the authorities' search for us, so we might do good in looking for alternative routes towards safety."

As always when Anya spoke, Samuel had this weird look for a moment. Anya wondered if this was a common thing for boys her age. Her entire education had been within the walls of girl's boarding schools, so she wouldn't know.

Eventually he answered her question.

"I doubt me running around will achieve much, you know? I mean I guess if we could find someone more clever like-"

Suddenly, the sound of a speaker coming to live brought an end to his sentence. In the enxt moment, a familiar voice called out. "Greetings, contestants."

It was the tactless voice of Victor Danya. He rattered down a list of people who died. And people who killed. Each name was a stranger to Anya, confirming that the abductions had not been confined to her own school. It looked she had been thrown in this situation next to a whole bunch of commoners. What an annoyance.

Since the deceased were strangers, she had little reaction to their deaths. Samuel on the other hand was as white as a paper while Danya finished. At the end of the announcement, the boy slumped to the ground with a unsightly face.

"Are you alright?" She asked, worried her new companion might have caught something.

"They are all dead..." Samuel seemed to speak more to himself than to Anya.

Her companion's behavior was starting to get on Anya's nerves. Everyone must have had a few hours to get used to the situation. She had heard about commoners being rather slow-minded, but this was far below her expectations.

"Your senseless despair is not aiding anyone in this situation." She explained. "For now, we should-"
All of a sudden, he stared at her. His stare was... different.

"Who are working for?"

"...? Please explicate the context of this-"

"Stop bullshitting me!" Samuel looked at her with what she now realized was anger. "You talk like you jumped right out of a fairy tale. I clearly don't remember ever seeing you at school. The cute girl from my art class stabbed a friend of mine to death and you don't even blink an eye. So stop pretending you are just another student thrown into this situation. You clearly klnow something!"

The accusations thrown at her left Anya dumbfounded. While she could somewhat understand why he would come to such conclusions, him actually acting on them was something she would never have guessed.

She stood up, trying to show her sincerity. "I am not-"

Suddenly he was on his legs as well and giving her a push against the wall. "I SAID STOP BULLSHITTING ME!"

Then he grabbed her shoulders, apparently to restrict her movement.

For the first time since awaking on the island, Anya couldn't hold back a sign of fear from showing on her face. But she quickly recovered.

Remembering her training, she kneed the boy where it hurt boys the most.

The attack was effective, and Samuel fell to the ground screaming.

"I deeply apologize for my action." Anya spoke softly and made a light bow, holding her parasol with both hands. "But your behavior right now was unnacceptable and had to-"

"ARGH!"

Before she could finish, Samuel had sprung onto his feet again. With an angry scream he charged and-
------------------

How could this happen?

Anya asked herself this question for yet another time as she stared at the boy lying in front of her.

With the parasol lodged in his neck.

((B017 Samuel Denver: Deceased))

How could that happen?

Just how?

She was Anya Schrader. She was supposed to be the bigger person. No, the biggest person. And yet her first meaningful action in this times of need had been to take a life over a simple misunderstanding.

She had failed. This wasn't how a Schrader would act.

Even if she made it out of this situation, how would she be able to face her family? How would she be able to face herself? how could she live on with the knowledge that of what she had done?

-------------

She would spend two hours just sitting there, with her thoughts circling.

Finally, a decision was made on hwo to proceed.

Anya stood up. She walked up to the corpse and gave him a bow.

"I deeply apologize."

Then she exited the beach house, leaving the belongings of the boy, her backpack and the parasol (still stuck in Samuel's neck) behind.

With elegant steps she closed in on the sea.

Her feet touched the water.

The cold made her flinch a little, but she didn't stop.

The water reached her hip.

She started swimming.

She swam until she was sure that the water was at least a few meters deep.

Anya dived down.

And down.

And down.

She never surfaced.

((G010 Anya Schrader: Deceased))

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Swipe

Nigel Sullivan | Ahn Phan Phuc — 28/10/2021 00:33
Name: Swipe
Time: Night 1
Status: Oneshot

Nigel Sullivan | Ahn Phan Phuc — 28/10/2021 00:44

He placed the lighter in his pocket and the canister in his bag. He'd swiped them like a grave robber.

No time for morality.

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] My Home Is My Castle

DerArknight — 13/02/2022 16:56
Name: My Home Is My Castle
Time: Around the Third Announcement
Status: Inactivity-Cleanup 4

DerArknight — 13/02/2022 16:57
((Benton Prager continued from Stand Your Ground))
Close to the city, the beach was filled with a few rows of unfinished small houses.

The building that Benton had decided to hide in after getting chased out of the city was not among them.

He was situated on the third floor of a big construction site. Apparently someone had started to build a big building before giving up halfway, but Benton didn't care about history. He only cared about the building having floors and ceilings. And only one usable set of stairs. And all the stuff you would expect to see on a construction site.

Benton had spent most of the day with barricading himself and he was quite of proud of it. Thanks to heavier materials, his new barricade, located at the top of the stairs, was a lot sturdier than the one in the store. Even if one of his bloodthirsty classmates entered the second floor, they would have trouble getting any farther.

So far his hiding spot had been peaceful. Sometimes he saw someone in the distance, but no one actually approached the construction site. Good for him. And for them.

When the third announcement started, he had just laid down and closed his eyes for a bit.

„Good evening, everyone. Or rather, everyone who is still around.“ Danya's voice boomed through a loudspeaker that happened to be right above Benton, waking him up in the rudest way possible. Okay, rather the second-rudest way possible. Nothing beats waking someone with a kick in the balls.
"Screw you, asshole!" Benton showed the middle finger to the nearest camera.

Even if Danya saw this, he seemed unimpressed as he started to rattle off the names of the newly deceased and their killers. Benton barely listened. He was safe and secure in his spot. Plus the dead were dead, so who cared about who they had been? Danya could have saved a lot of time by just listing the names of the killers, which had at least some value in Benton's eyes.

But still not as much value as what came at the end of the announcement.

„And since there are not that many left of you, we have quite a good number of Danger Zones for you so you can't spread out and evade trouble much longer. The previous zones are cleared, but from now on, you better stay out of The Cave, The Swamp, The Southern Beach and The Mansion."

Hold up! Was his position a part of the southern beach?

As if to answer his question, his collar gave a loud beep once the announcement finished. Followed by a second one five seconds later.

"GODDAMMIT!"

Again? They were taking away his hiding spot for the second time? What the fuck did he do to them?

The only saving grace was that the city had been cleared. Benton would have to return to his old spot. Since he left it during the last announcement, it was unlikely anyone had even been there.

Hastily, Benton collected his belongings and packed it all into his backpack. This didn't include his flashlight and weapon, of course. He would need to be fast if he wanted to reach the store before anyone else could.

It was only when he had finished packing that he remembered the biggest hurdle: he had completely barricaded the stairwell.

A pile of bags of cement was between him and descending. He had spent hours building it up, and now he had merely half an hour to tear it down and get out of there. Difficult, but doable.

Benton laid down what he was holding and began to move the cement piece by piece.
...
...
When the collar started to beep faster, he had to admit he wasn't fast enough. He was still sluggish from just waking up.

"Screw that." He spoke while walking back a few meters.

Then he started running and crashed right into the barricade.

BEEPBEEPBEEP!
...
BEEPBEEPBEEP!
...




Benton slowly opened his eyes.

The last thing he remembered was crashing against the barricade. Now he had a thumping pain in head and was lying at the foot of the stairs alongside the bags of cement.

He touched his head with a hand. When he retreated it, his fingers were red.

The beeping of the collar was very fast.

Shit! How long had he been unconscious?

Benton quickly tried to come to his feet, but just as he attempted top put weight on his left leg, a searing pain made him fall to the ground again.

He looked down on him and saw that his left leg was bend in an extremely unnatural angle. There was little doubt it had been broken by the fall.

"Shit!" He cursed.

The beeping became even faster.

There was no time to get his weapon from upstairs. There was no time for first aid. He had to leave the beach now and hope that the movements wouldn't fuck up his leg even further.

Using a wall as help, Benton managed to get on his right leg. He would have to do some one-legged jumping to exit the area.

With determination, he made it to the stairwell that led to the first floor.

The stairwell that had no railing.

Benton knew this would be hard, but he didn't hesitate. The collar constantly kept him on edge, told him to vacate the area immediately. So he went down on his back and started to crawl the stairs, which seemed like the fastest way that wouldn't end with him falling down yet another floor.

He made it halfway down when his collar suddenly detonated, ripping his neck to pieces.

In his defense, he made it farther than most people would have with a broken leg.

B022 Benton Prager - Deceased