Would Not Rec!

[KamiKaze]

((Ty Hartley continued from Angry and Fighty))

Ty laid on her back on a sofa near the door. Pangs of irritation had been coming in and out the past few days. She’d always been like that. Ty had always been an angry person. Not to like, destructive extremes she didn’t think, she was normally upbeat. But it was easier to rile her up than even her reputation made it look like. It was just that usually, she didn’t beat people up, more that she dealt with it by throwing herself into exercise, distracting herself a bit, you know?

Honestly, she should have asked Calvin about Quinn a bit more. It didn’t seem like he knew anything, but still.

The boredom, the waiting, was the worst part. Ty had no idea where to look, even though she knew Quinn well enough you’d think she’d know how she’d think. So she was stuck for the time being. Quinn was smart enough to know that you should keep yourself indoors during winter weather, so at least it made sense to stay indoors.

It was also annoying that she couldn’t play the VHS tapes, because, guess what? No electricity. And they took a lot out of the gym too.

Looks like distracting herself was harder. At least there was ping pong and pool, maybe.

But then, something hit her. She knew before, but now it just occurred to her.

Calvin was dead. Died in the waves.

And meanwhile, Katelyn, that weirdo from school, had continued to pile up bodies.

She’d have to have a talk with her.

It was good to direct her anger at the names that kept coming up on the announcement.

It’d make her feel better than knowing she was maybe one of the last people to see Calvin alive.

[DerArknight]

Slowly, the door into the room opened.

((Derek Caldwell continued from I'm a Derek and Dereks don't run!))

After three nights, they decided to leave the quarters behind. Partly because spending hours upon hours in the same rooms would drive them insane rather sooner than later. And partly because other students started to show up more regularly. That dude carrying a mace looked especially like bad news, so Derek and his companion quickly snuck out when they saw him.

Now they were in another building labelled Recreation on the map. Before Derek entered, he threw a looi through the room. In front of him was a large place filled with seating arrengements facing what once was probably a working TV. Tables to play ping-pong and billard were also present, as well as a bar on the other end of the room.

Almost everything was dusty, and the light remained dim despite the sun being up. Trully a place that only ghosts would visit under normal circumstances.

Most importantly, Derek saw no signs of live. At least from his position. There were several good hiding places, which was another reason why Derek gave a "the coast is clear"-sign to the girl and stepped into the room.

He settled on not fullfilling the horror trope of calling "Is someone there?"

[Laurels]

((Chiara Masina continued from Glow Up))

Chiara kept her hand in her jacket pocket as Derek led her to the door of the Rec Room. She wasn't sure why he was leading. She was the more armed of the two, and she still had all ten of her fingers. Still, she wasn't going to protest. Derek probably still needed to feel like he wouldn't bring them down with his injury. Plus, she had to admit it was kind of cool.

Still she was going to make sure that they were protected. She hadn't had to use her gun yet, but that could change at any time. She still took time to read over the manual after finishing her makeup, so she was becoming more confident in how to use it.

Chiara kept close to Derek as they moved in. She tried to walk as quietly as possible. It might work in their favor if anyone who was inside didn't know how many people were coming in.

[DerArknight]

With the girl walking behind him, Derek dared to closer venture into the room.

...

Was this a foot he saw stucking out from a sofa?

His grip of the nodachi tightened.

[KamiKaze]

And with that, Ty sat up.

Frowned.

Her own grip on the gun in her hoodie pocket tightened.

"Hello?"

[Laurels]

Chiara remained close to Derek. Then she heard someone call out.

Hello?

Chiara froze in place. She slowly pulled her gun out of her pocket and looked to Derek.

What now?

[DerArknight]

"Hello?"

Such an innocent question, consisting of a similarly innocent word. And yet it caused Derek to visibly flinch as the foot stirred and a figure emerged from the shadows.

The girl in front of him had been lying on a couch facing away from the entrance. Not a bad spot since it gave her cover against anyone coming in. And the other seating arrengements and other objects around would allow for a relatively save exit through one of the windows.

The girl behind him raised her gun. After a moment of inner debate, Derek raised a palm, silently asking her to wait. Then he turned to the couchsurfer.

"Hello."

The word hung heavy in the air for around two seconds.

"I am Derek Caldwell, someone who hasn't been on the news and isn't planning to. I can vouch for my partner that she is save.

"We are just looking for a place to hide."

Derek made sure to give no options on what to do. Saying "If you want us to leave, we will" would almost certainly result in an affirmation. Saying "How about hiding together here for a bit?" would have sounded suspicious, even if the offer was genuine. Saying "We have a gun." could be seen as a threat.

Was silence the better choice? The following moments should bring clarity.

[KamiKaze]

“Ty Hartley.”

Ty lifted her body up off the sofa, pulling herself at full height. She rolled her shoulders for a moment.

“Listen. I haven’t been on the announcements either, and I don’t want any funny business. So you can tell me anything useful, like…”

She thought about it for a second.

“--info on who was on the announcements, I’d appreciate it.”

[Laurels]

A girl rose from the couch. Chiara was about to raise her gun, but Derek made her stop. He then introduced himself to the girl in the room, who was named Ty Hartley. Chiara kept the gun low and moved so Ty could at least see her, giving the girl inside a small smile.

Ty asked if they had info on the announcements. Chiara turned away and began to run through what she could remember about the announcements. Chiara didn't really know anyone that closely, and aside from the girl they met who died, she hadn't really internalized any of them. She mostly focused on Danger Zones.

She continued to think, hoping Derek would have something more concrete to inform her about.

[DerArknight]

Oh yes, the announcements.

Derek would have rather ignored them, but he had always been bad at tuning out unwanted background noises. Maybe it gave him an edge here or maybe it was just eating him up knowing a little more about the tragedies happening all across this island. On the other hand, freely sharing info would be a small step towards not being frightened of each other.

"Things are pretty messed up. Every day there are about a dozen deaths, almost all of them murders. Of course we can't be sure how trustworthy Danya is, but
two days ago we saw a girl dropping dead and the announcement recounted her cause of death truthfully.

"Katelyn Graves has killed four or five people all on her own. Today she even got an award for that. The days before, awards went to another Betty, I think it was the one with Q, and some guy called Josh Jamie or something similar. No clue who that is.

"... So did you run into anyone?"

[KamiKaze]

“I saw Calvin, before he died. He was… weird, but he wanted to give me info, and I gave him info.”

She rolled her shoulders.

First thing, I saw Przemek, yeah? His face was bleeding, and then he pushed Ethan off a ledge. It was…”

She grimaced, but put a straight face back on. Didn’t want to remember that.

“Not a pretty sight!”

Ty looked them over for a second. She was taller than both of them. Derek was kind of a blunt loner back home, while Chiara was more on the calmer side. A gun versus another gun and a sword. Plus Ty’s own fists, if she needed to.

They didn’t have anything super interesting to tell her right now, but still. Maybe they needed a memory jog.

“I’m looking for a fellow Betty. Quinn. The one on the announcements. Seen her?”

[Laurels]

Derek and Ty both exchanged names and information. Derek did mention the girl they saw die, while Ty mentioned seeing a murder. Chiara slowly slipped the gun back into her pocket. This seemed to be a neutral situation, so she didn't need to keep the gun out.

Ty asked about Betty Quinn. Chiara shook her head. They had barely seen anyone over the last few days, so it was easy to say they hadn't seen the girl.

Chiara slowly moved into the room, trying to take in the rec room atmosphere. A TV was smashed, so she looked at it and back to Ty, quietly wondering if the girl had done that.

[DerArknight]

"No, we did not. Managed to avoid people in general for the most part."

Thankfully the two girls seemed to calm down, allowing Derek to lower his nodachi as well. Truth be told, he would have had issues to use it anyways. It wasn't even out of its sheath.

Scanning the room, he took silent note of anything worth noting. A window that would make for a quick exit. A set of couches that would make for decent cover. A shelf with board games that could be tipped over to create a disctraction.

A shelf with board games?

As he went closer, Derek found a few familiar names. The packages were already greyying, but he could still guess which games were inside.

Including one that he used to play a lot whenever Abel and him found the time. A wry smile flew over his lips.

"If we have nothing better to do, would you two be down for a round of Rummikub or two?"

[KamiKaze]

“Ah, I see.”

So they didn’t know anything about Quinn. Figures. Ty felt her blood boiling, not at them. Just… frustration in general. Impotence, maybe. Hm, maybe not the best phrasing? But thing is, she felt incompetent.

She closed her eyes for a moment. Opened them, and followed Chiara’s gaze.

“If you’re wondering about the TV, it was like that when I got there. I would’ve played the TV not smashed it,” she said, forcing a laugh. “And… uh, I honestly don’t know how to play Rummikub? The Betties and I were more lawn games, not board games.”

[Laurels]

Chiara nodded at Derek's suggestion to play Rummikub. It wasn't a game she was really familiar with, but whiling some hours playing games sounded way nicer than anything else they could be doing here.

Chiara moved over to a nearby table and began clearing it so they could use it to play. She looked at Derek and Ty and smiled a bit, waiting to start.

((Chiara Masina continued in DEFINITELY Would Not Rec!))