Carp Diem

[Zetsu]

Come on, Theo. Yeah, Irene gets that you're pissed, but come the fuck on. Stop making this harder than it has to be. Now James has an excuse to keep on fighting and yep, there he goes, making not a panicked retreat but a strategic withdrawal because Irene was smart and she knew random shit like this, and there goes Theo following him, and for fuck's sake, Irene just wants a fucking break. She wants a chance to finish puking her guts out in peace. It was subsiding by now, thank god-or-whatever-fucking-deity-you-worship, so she wasn't gonna die like this, but still. Stop making her do things while her stomach is writhing around trying to find a way out of her body.

Stop. She rose to her feet, harpoon in hand.

Stop. She took a step.

Fucking. Stop. It.

Irene tackled Theo--fell on him, really--from behind, knocking the machete out of his hands. There wasn't any real technique to it. Given his forward momentum--wow, Irene's at the top of her fucking game here, remembering science at a time like this--it was all too easy for Irene to throw him off balance, push him forward a couple more steps and then make him eat dirt. She lay on top of him for a second, catching her breath. Machete. Right. Irene half-pushed, half-flung it out of reach.

Now for James. Irene flung herself forward, grabbed hold of his ankles, looked up at his face. She was almost there, now, almost done with this. Just another minute, and she'd be able to take a real breather.

"Stop. Just. Fucking stop it. None of us want to deal with this or do this shit, so just. Stop it, okay?"

[Ohm]

Sometimes in life you kind stop to reflect on how you ended up in the situation that you did. For James that felt like every moment of this infernal place after he woke up. Damion’s paranoia and shooting, Theo stealing from him, Clio dying, meeting Sophie and losing her...everything had gone to shit. And right now they’ve reached the top of the shit covered crop.

So there they were in a half crazed fist fight, hand to machete. Man against fedora beanstalk. One could take a guess as to who was winning that one, at least until the same girl interfered again. Jumping on Theo til he crumpled on the ground, James took the opportunity to get a few kicks in before she set her attention on him. Suddenly she lunged and grabbed ahold of his ankles and started rambling. And what she said made him stop and stare at her.

"What?"

Stop. Just that. James wondered what planet this girl beamed down from to think that was the right to say because that was the last thing he wanted to hear right now.

"No, no no no. Fuck you! He just killed two people and tried to kill us. I'm not stopping till he's dead in a tar pit. So fuck that and fuck you!"

[Zetsu]

James still didn't get it. He was still deluded. Or Irene was deluded. How does the saying go? If everyone else seems insane then you're probably the one who's insane? Something like that.

"I. Don't. Care." Irene spat out the words between breaths. She barely registered the feeling of Theo rolling out from under her legs. Slowly, carefully, she released James's legs and stood up, gripping the harpoon.

"See, I'm the sheriff right now. And I'm keeping the peace here. And I don't give a god fucking damn if you think he killed two people, or even if he did kill two people, because I am fucking done with dealing with this shit! So fucking what if he killed two people? They were gonna die anyways! He's gonna die anyways! So stop worrying about this stuff and why don't we just all fucking sit down and sing Kumbaya until this is over because we might as fucking well!"

[Ohm]

It didn't take long for the girl to get on her feet and continue her task of pissing him off. Talking as if she was in charge, as if two people hadn't just died by puking themselves to death right in front of them. He narrowed his eyes at her, he felt his teeth grind and his breath almost lost in his throat.

"You delusional bitch! Two girls just puked their fucking guts out and you think that's fine?! I don't give a fuck as to why or how you think you're in charge, get the hell out of my way!"

Girl had stones, he'd give her that. But she was an unbridled idiot if she really thought James was going to stop and listen to her.

[Zetsu]

Irene had forgotten one thing.

"Delusional? Fuck yeah. I'm insane because you'd have to be insane to still be sane. I'm the only sane one on this fucking island."

Irene took a deep breath, took a second to formulate her thoughts. Calm down, Irene. Calm down.

"Look, if they hadn't puked their guts out right now, their guts will be strewn all over the floor a couple days from now, or their brains would be splattered on the ground. So instead of worrying about who kills who and who's killed before and--and--look, the thing is, you don't have to do anything to him! He's not doing anything to you right now! Maybe he's done something to you before, but he's not doing anything to you right now, and you don't have to do anything, and the day's already been fucking ruined so--so--why don't we just call it square, okay? And besides, he didn't do it. Get it? Maybe he did do it, but he didn't do it even if he did do it. Get it? Because even if he did do it, I'd be happier thinking that he hadn't done it, and even if that gets me killed, so what? I'm fucking dead anyways! Why should I make my day worse to fiddle with something that doesn't matter and isn't gonna change anyways? Why should you make my day worse?"

Irene sighed.

"Just...fuck, I don't have the energy for this. Just stop, okay? Just...don't do anything. You don't have to do anything. Nobody has to do anything. If you and he and everyone else could just not do anything, then things won't have to be any worse than they already are. And then you'll be almost okay. And I'll be almost okay. And Theo will be almost okay. And everyone else. Okay?"

[Ohm]

See, in a good world James might have listened to her. He might havew considered that maybe, yes, she could have a point that doing nothing might have been the better thing. Maybe they all would have been dead within days anyway and dying early was a blessing?

But this wasn't a good world, and James had no inclination of trying to be better anymore, he was not letting him get away. Not with this, this was different. This was done with a pretense of peace and quiet. A moment for them all to wind down and not worry about murderers and fear for their lives.

He had taken that moment, that peace and perverted it with one move. And that was not something he was gonna let slide. He was asked to do good and by god he was going to do it.

And if that meant hurting this girl so she was no longer in his way? So be it.

James walked up to her and shoved her hard.

"Get out! If it bothers you so damn much, then walk. I'm not going to let him get away with this."

[Zetsu]

Irene stared at James.

Did he get it? Did he get that Irene was fucking tired of worrying about people attacking her or attacking each other and just wanted some peace and quiet? Did he get that pretty much everyone was fucking tired of having a bad day? Did he get that worrying all the time about fights and murder on this shithole island was making a bad day a very very bad day for everyone? Did he get that nobody would have to worry about anything if they would just stop doing things that gave everybody reason to be worried?

He got it, right? Irene's delusional optimism wasn't misplaced. Her efforts to stay calm weren't misplaced. They couldn't be. Because Irene was an optimist. And that meant that things weren't going to go wrong.

And then he shoved her.

Fuck it. He didn't get it. He didn't care.

Irene raised the harpoon.

"SHUT UP!"

And she pulled the trigger.

[Ohm]

There was a realisation along the way where he thought, maybe I shouldn't antagonise this girl so much, delusional lunatic she was, but after a while that portion of the brain gets kind of cut off and you think, nah, fuck em.

Well, James probably should have listened to his. Then he might have avoided the harpoon sticking out of his chest. He felt himself drop, first on his knees in a desperate attempt at keeping his balance. His brain was trying to send the message to his legs of stand up, you fool, but along the way it took a few beers, a few beers turned into many and soon James felt his legs collapse underneath him after a brief moment of success.

He landed on to his chest, pushing the harpoon deeper in. For once, the air wasn’t filled with the sound of his screams, only whimpers and groans as blood flowed upwards. He tried pushing himself to the side to look at his wound. His shaking hands against the ground as he did so, using his right shoulder to prop himself up as he glanced at it.

It didn’t look good.

James felt his left hand grasp it, shaking and pulling. His breathing turned ragged and quick, like he was hyperventilating. It hurt so badly, tears formed on his face as he cursed everything around him. Theo, Wendy, harpoon fuckstick standing over him, the girl across who did nothing as all this happened. To hell with all of them. They were as complicit as him when you boiled it all down.

He at least tried to do something about it. And yet here he was dying. Figures that’d happen.

He tried to form words, but the strength had left him, grunts and whimpers came out instead. He laid down on his back, feeling the taste of copper in his mouth. It was becoming clear now. aft first he was content with looking upwards at the sky, but the harpoon fuckwit wasn’t done tormenting him. She got in the view of it. Couldn’t give him the courtesy of dying while looking at something that didn’t anger him to the core. Instead he turned his head to the side and looked at her. Blood drooling down the side of his mouth as he did so.

He’d told her they didn’t need a plan, they just had to live. Clearly he’d fucked up at some point because he should have planned. It was stupid of him not to have.

Should have told her not to take the food. Should have told her to grab Theo’s bag and run. Should have told her that everything was going to be fine if they just continued what they were doing and avoided the living until the bitter end.

Instead, he’d fucked up. And he’d gotten her killed by proxy, let his guard down and allowed these monsters the chance to take her out. He should have realised it when they were friendly, you should never, ever let your guard down.

Yet he did.

The one person who’d treated him kindly. Who hadn’t threatened him, stolen from him, broken his trust to tiny pieces and danced on the remains.

No, she had wanted to do good. Give people the respect they had been denied by their classmates.

Guess now James won’t be able to.

“S...op...hie….”

I’m sorry.

He felt his vision fade, the feeling in his limbs disappearing and his mind growing darker and darker. Even then, he kept his sight on her. If he was going to die, James wanted to look at something nice before he did so.

Not long after did it fade fully and he laid his head down.

-


When James woke up there was one thing he could tell about his current situation.

He couldn’t see shit.

Surrounded by darkness with sounds emanating from around, distant or close, he had trouble telling. For the moment he had stayed put, at least til the noises stopped and he decided he’d rather walk then wait out and end up like those things from The Descent.

It seemed like a good idea, except for the fact he kept walking into walls, tripping on rocks, almost kicked his own bag into the unknown without even checking it. So you know, not the most foolproof idea he’d ever had.

It was then he figured, they might have given them some light source to counteract this dipshit move they pulled and fuck, turns out they did. So James was now stumbling through the cave at least with a view on where he was going which at least helped him keep his nerves.

Even so, there was something about this James didn’t like, outside the obvious of course. He couldn’t put his finger on it, he figured it was being stuck down here getting to him. The thought horrified him enough to quicken his pace, he needed to get out and soon.

It took him a while, but eventually he made it to the entrance. It was surrounded by foliage and it seemed weird. Like it had been recently disturbed. james could hazard that it was here the noises were made and that someone had messed with it. probably.

But it was something else with it. it looked like a nest.

Suddenly there was a face. Eyes red, face pale and frozen in fear. Brown hair jutting out among the foliage, almost blending in.

A gun poking out with shaking hands.

His eyes grew wide.

“Damion?”

A shot rang out.

B15 JAMES MULZET: DECEASED

[Aura]

When Yumi's sobs quieted, the other voices got louder. She tried to shut them out. She wanted to avoid all of it, but it was too loud to ignore. She kept her face hidden as she listened in, getting a slow understanding of what the others were up to.

There was a lot of arguing and yelling going on. From what she could tell, it was stemming from the deaths of Felicia and... wait, two people died? Her grip on Felicia's shoulder tightened. She wasn't the only one to die. One of the other girls had as well. It wasn't Irene, since she could recognize her voice, so that meant that it had to be Sophie. Yumi hadn't even known that she was in trouble. Was she really so oblivious as to not notice someone dying only a few feet away?

Stupid.

The fighting went on. Theo was accused of killing the girls. The guy who wasn't Theo wanted to "make him pay" for it? Irene was against it, saying that it was already in the past and they shouldn't dwell on it.

Yumi was stuck between both positions. She didn't want to fight anyone, and she definitely didn't want to kill anyone. For one, she didn't think that she would be able to go through with it, but she also didn't think that she would be able to handle having that on her conscience. But at the same time, could she really let Felicia's killer go unpunished? One of her closest friends had died a horrifying death, and she couldn't do anything but watch. The kind of person who would do such a thing didn't deserve to be walking free after that sort of thing. She generally had a liberal view of justice and punishment, but in this case, she couldn't hold herself to that. She couldn't forgive what this person had done to Felicia. It was too much.

There was a loud noise, loud like a car backfiring in the middle of the night when she's trying to sleep. It jerked Yumi up from her prone position, giving her another view of Felicia's suffocated face. She felt sick just seeing it. Her hands touched the ground as she leaned away, and her fingers grazed something. She turned her head and saw the GPS. Felicia's GPS. She had left it at her side while she ate. Yumi grabbed it and slipped it into her pocket. Felicia had been carrying it this whole time, and she was going to do the same. It took a few moments for her to get to her feet. Her knees still felt weak, largely due to shock and grief, but she managed to stand regardless.

She looked to the others, but something was immediately wrong. One of the boys was on the ground. There was a metal rod sticking out of his chest, surrounded by a puddle of blood. Irene was standing over him, her weapon now empty. The scene pieced itself together in a gruesome fashion.

Yumi would have said something if she weren't too busy hyperventilating.

[Latin For Dragula]

His rapidly fluttering eyes made the scene come to him in flashes. Bright red blood on James's legs. Fists raining down on his body. Irene suddenly on top of him. His body on the ground. The machete just out of reach. The grenade launcher just a little further on.

Too far.

He waited for James to kill him.

He waited for James to notice him.

He waited for either of them to drag him back in.

But they were too busy with each other.

Huh.

Was this how Damion felt?

The thought didn't rattle his head for long. There were still ways to save this. James wouldn't win this time, and he wouldn't get away this time either. He didn't know what he was going to do exactly, but if he got things under control, they could figure out how he killed them. That thought did manage to stick with him. How had he done it? Had he ever gotten anywhere close to either of them? Stuck them with something? Put something in their food? Theo doubted a lot of things about his memory these past few days, but James wasn't one of them. He'd been completely focused on him the whole time.

Oh.

James didn't kill them.

More rapid blinks as he crawled closer. The machete in his hand. The grenade launcher a few feet away. Wendy.

Wendy?

Wendy.

Wendy.

Wendy, the gracious host insisting that everyone join them for lunch. Wendy, who called him chef Theo even though he barely did a thing other than stir. Wendy, the murderer. Wendy, who was currently cowering at her bag trying to look as small as possible.

When he rose, Theo finally looked the part of a hero ready to face his fate with the machete in one hand and the grenade launcher in the other. But there were no dragons to slay here. Wendy was just like him: a coward playing pretend. Looking down on it from the page, he might've pitied her. No, more than pitied, empathized with her in that way that exposes all of your worst faults as a person and leaves you feeling disgusted with yourself. As a passive observer he would have hated her, and loved her, and wanted to forget her.

As an active participant, she had tried to frame him for murder.

He made sure he had her gaze before he pointed the grenade launcher in her direction. "Say it. Say what you did." It wasn't his voice. His voice had never hissed like that. It had never held that kind of conviction. Yet it just kept rolling on. "Tell them the truth, or..."

Or what? Theo wasn't a killer, and he was pretty sure if he looked it up there wouldn't be a table for stun damage on a grenade launcher. He stood there shuddering as he turned the weapon away from her in shaky millimeters...until it jerked to point straight at Kasumi's grave.

"I'll blow this whole fucked up memorial up."

[Cake]

Wendy gritted her teeth, braced herself once the sights set on her, as she huddled next to the cooler and pack.

This was it. There was no where to go. Theo had the power. She had nothing.

With in seconds her expression of clenched teeth, changed, unhinging as her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. No, no. He wouldn't dare.

"Wait, no-no, stop!" she was already on her knees from cowering after the preliminary scene that took another. Her hands clasped together as if in prayer. She shook her head, eyes squinting, mouth curling up into a distressed, grimace - she begged, pleaded.

"Don't please, don't do it. No-no-no. Stop it. Please. You-you, can't. Those are graves Theodore. I beg you. Please."

He spoke. An ultimatum. Wendy's view twisted, surveying in a panorama, taking a look at the few who had remained.

Irene, understood. Wendy had listened to her speak during that face off with James. It warmed her to realize that there was someone else on this island who could understand. She got her. Perhaps not purposefully, but indirectly - from her words she understood the reasoning behind it all. She had also survived the aconite. Drank up the purple queen of poisons then lived to power-through and harpoon that boy like a speared sailfish.

Yumi. She was still there, still with Felicia. The girl had seemingly formed a strong bond with one of Wendy's closest friends. For once deep within her gut, Wendy felt remorse, for taking it away. She needed to rethink this, rethink her approach. Just - she couldn't think with that jumbo cannon at ready, preparing to send explosives sailing through the air, into nature's beauty. Into everything she-they had poured their love and respect into honoring the fallen. She couldn't let it demolish the final resting place she had planned for Felicia and Sophie or the rest who had already sunken. Not after all those heartfelt words Felicia had spoken yesterday. Not to Kasumi.

"No. It wasn't supposed to go down this way." Wendy shook her head. Her eyes, her expression slowly dropped toward the ground with every shake. "This was a terrible mistake."

[Latin For Dragula]

His grip on the grenade launcher tightened with every word. "Look at me!" The echoes of his scream rang through the open field around them. Anger was pouring off him with every trembling, restrained twitch. A murderer he could understand. A monster he could fight against. But to do something so twisted as to kill innocent, harmless people, to kill friends who came to you for comfort, and then to cower like you're the victim? To expect sympathy and forgiveness?

Theo wasn't a killer.

Theo wasn't a killer.

Theo wasn't a killer.

Theo wasn't a killer.

Theo wasn't a killer.

He just had to keep reminding himself of that before he did something he would always regret. "How was it supposed to go down?" Hate still burned in his tone, but it had focused. "What was the plan? Where we all supposed to die? How long was it before Felicia got here before you were picking out her pit? Did it just strike you this morning? Were you awake all night thinking about it? Did she even make it five minutes before you were fantasizing about putting her in the ground?" As he spoke his voice built louder and louder until he was teetering on the edge of another scream.

Then silence.

A glare, followed by the quietest words he'd given her yet. "Had you thought about where you were gonna drown the rest of us? How many graves did you pick out today Wendy?"

[Cake]

"I made a mistake."

Wendy bellowed out the words before lifting her head. One eye twitching in a vacant stare of her own.

Questions. Too many of them. Talking to her like she was lower than him, like he was way smarter than her. Like she was dumb.

Nails clawed at her arm. How dare he continue to threaten desecration of these ceremonial graves.

"That mistake was pulling you out of yours. You should have drowned in that tar, Theodore."


Like Vincent. Like Bridgette. The gnu and the gardener. Ungrateful for the hospitality.


"There are brutal, dangerous players I've seen out there and I mean it with all due respect and total honesty when I say this. — You. Don't. Stand. A. Chance."

Gritted, gnashing teeth. A deep sigh.

"None of you do, not against the likes of Bunny. Miranda. Saachi. Or KK. Except maybe, her..." Wendy looked over in Irene's direction with admiration. "She has taken 'Clio's Revenge' yet she lives. She-she is the only one who understands, she said it herself. You're all going to die anyway. In horrible ways. At least I- I wanted to make it...."

Wendy looked up with a smile and a dreamy eyed gaze.

"Peaceful."

Her lips trembled and Wendy stared back at her fallen friend Felicia next to her and the nearby Yumi.

"She was my friend. Just wanted to take her away from all of this. I misjudged and made it worse. It wasn't supposed to hurt." She mouthed an 'I am sorry' to Felicia. Looked at Yumi and repeated another: "I am so sorry."

Wendy stood straight and flicked her head back in Theo's direction, tossing her hair to the side with a glare onto his burnt, wet face. A dead stare.

"So how was the soup, Theodore?"

[Aura]

Wendy?

Wendy tried to kill them. All of them at once. Now Yumi had to force herself to view her as a killer. She didn't think that it would be so hard. After all, she tried to kill them all, and she succeeded in killing Felicia and Sophie. Two people had died horrible deaths because of her. Yet even so, Yumi had a hard time viewing Wendy as the kind of person that would do that. She had been Felicia's friend, and Felicia had a really great sense of people. How could she have been so close to someone who would do something like that? It didn't make sense, not in the slightest.

Yumi took in Wendy's explanation for her actions. She wanted them all to die, but she said that she meant it as a mercy. She didn't want to see them brutalized by the resident murderers, so she wanted to give them another way out. Too bad for them, things went deeply awry. Yumi couldn't gauge how truthful Wendy's explanation was. As far as she knew, she could have been trying to weasel her way out of the others being mad at her because she was afraid of retribution. But even if that was the case, there was something about her speech that really stuck with her.

They didn't have a chance, or at least Yumi didn't.

She had tried to be strong. She had left the church on her own after Lyndi's death because she wanted to prove it. But despite her best attempts, she had nothing to show for it. Even when she was faced down with a murderer heading straight for her, she couldn't do anything. She even had a gun in her hand. All she would have needed to do was aim and shoot, and the problem would have been dealt with. But she couldn't do it. She didn't have the stomach to kill, and maybe that meant she didn't have what it took to survive, not anymore.

No... no. She couldn't think that way. She had to get home, back to her family. She had to get her book published somehow. She had to keep telling herself that.

She silently stared at Felicia, still with a disbelieving look even after her explanation was finished. Words failed to provide her with a response.

[Latin For Dragula]

Theo's body went completely still. His eyes fixed on Wendy's. Even as he gripped the machete so tightly against his palm that it hurt. "Do you think the only dangerous people are out there?"

The barrel of the launcher tilted back to point towards the center of her torso. "I could kill you Wendy." Heavy, slow footsteps as he started to stalk forward, every sentence increasing his volume.. "I stab you I guess." Step. Louder. "I could gut you and watch you bleed to death while you try to crawl away holding your intestines in." Step. Louder.  "I could drag you to one of these pools by your hair and hold you under until you go limp." Step. Louder. "I could strangle you in your sleep." Step. Louder. "I could beat you to death with the pot you murdered your friends with." Step. Louder. "I could slice your hamstrings and leave you to rot." Step. Louder. "I could stick this thing down your throat and see what happens when I pull the trigger." He was just a few feet away now and screaming now. "Is that what you want?"

Silence. His voice dropped low enough that only she could hear him. "Because I think it is. I saw you break." The hiss came back into his voice as he echoed her. "And I mean it with all due disrespect and total honesty when I say this: You don't stand a chance. You're gonna die here like everybody else, and everyone who ever thinks of you from now on is only gonna regret it didn't happen sooner."

All the hate and frustrated venom building up in him over the last few days spent itself in his tirade. When he'd emptied himself, there was nothing left but worn down determination. "I hope somebody kills you soon Wendy. I really do. You don't deserve to live, but you deserve to live with that even less." Kitschy. Dramatic. Like something out of the final chapter of an okay fantasy novel.

Theo liked those novels. The hero usually won. The monsters usually lost. It was usually clear which was which. They usually never ended up walking away from a pile of dead people terrified that they almost put one more over the top. They usually didn't try to hold their tears back until they finished walking away and fail miserably. The usually didn't walk off aimlessly hoping a bullet caught them before they decided to play it tough and confront anyone else. Their scars were usually rugged and powerful and didn't itch or make them worry no one would be able to look at their face at their funeral. They did usually externalize their problems through shitty extended metaphors that were way, way too obvious to anybody who looked at them for more than a second.

At least he was nailing that part, right[url=viewtopic.php?f=81&t=1801&p=16964#p16964?[/url]