perverse verdict

[Maraoone]

Diego's stomach churned. Kelly's tone changed with about the same ease one could change shirts, like a switch being flipped back and forth, but the words were all wrong, it felt all wrong. She talked of Darwinism with hatred, and then talked of their dead classmates the same tone one would talk about their math class.

She spoke of Marceline in a dismissive manner, called her a waste, just casually spoke the word.

Diego's teeth clenched. A fire lit in his eyes.

"She wanted to kill Blaise. She had a goal. She talked about..."

wanting to live another day.

He looked down.

"Yeah.

"No end goal."

Those were her words. She just wanted to live another day. A fancier way of saying survival. She'd gotten another day, and then she'd gone off to die.

He wanted to say more. She didn't deserve to be called a waste. But, he barely knew her. They'd only been together a day. She'd mattered because she was there for him, but that was it. She was there. They'd barely even gotten to know each other.

He swallowed his words, gulps startlingly audible.

She didn't matter right now. He had a way down to go. He needed to follow. He needed to move.

He put up a leg, rested his arm on his knee.

"Let's just. Circle back a bit. What's your goal here, again? You want everyone else to understand? Well, great, I understand."

I think.

"But what's next? You just gonna... talk at me more?"

[Cicada]

"Chatting's alright. I guess. That hasn't changed."

The textile patterns of Kelly Nguyen's face were shadows and blood. Briefly both obscured the eyes that seemed to look inward.

If Kelly Nguyen smiled, or frowned, or had any particular expression at all, it refused to show.

"Everything we choose to do will be meaningful. I want to avoid waste."

Once more, an arcane crop of gestures, all five fingers, all two shoulders, ghostly echoes of some meaningful idea.

"It might not be me, but don't you think someone from this class has to make a difference? For once. Every past winner of this island script has been irrelevant. They pass the responsibility of evolving, of shedding cowardice, onto the next crop of students who are kidnapped to die."

The camera remained inert. Staring at the patch of ground between them, that Kelly Nguyen occasionally darted onto then off of.

"They failed, and we must not. I can show you what I mean."

Kelly Nguyen seemed to have remembered where she'd dropped her gun, when she began to hobble right towards it. The scrape of her bad foot slowed her pace, but seemingly not by much. Each wince was determinedly energetic.

"I think it would help if you see what I've seen. The futility. The hollow it carves out, and what we must fill it with."

The direction Kelly Nguyen glanced was the way she'd come. Weapon confidently loose between playful fingers.

[Maraoone]

They failed, and we must not.

Kelly thought of Diego as someone in the process of evolving.

He was already partway down.

He swallowed phlegm again. It seemed to never stop coming.

Alright then. If she believed that of him, then all the better. That meant she favored him. It meant he could stay with her, continue his way down.

He nodded after she finished talking, eyes locked on her, hopefully conveying comprehension, understanding he did not possess. He focused on the mask, rather than her eyes. Her eyes scared him.

"Sure. Sure. I'll come with."

It wasn't like there was anything else to do.

He realized, of course, that this was feeling like another alliance. He was breaking his promise to himself a second time. But he took no pleasure in this. This was not some desperate attempt for company, for friendship, like with Marceline. This was purely out of necessity. He only needed to be like her for one more day. That was it.

He gestured at her with his hand, palm turned upward.

"Lead the way?"

The temple was just out of view. He'd said something like this to Stephanie, right before he'd entered that building. Eleven days ago, by his count. It had felt a lot more innocent then. But then again, so was everything else. That was just how the island was like.

[Cicada]

Look into Kelly Nguyen's eyes, and all that seemed to follow in her wake were shapes and sounds of the jungle around, all the creatures trying to stay away.

"Yeah. Consider me your friend."

The 'for now' unsaid, but seeming to briefly trace itself over the topography of Kelly Nguyen's mask.

She held out a hand in turn, as if to take the word 'lead' to its extreme conclusion. His to take. His to follow.

[Maraoone]

He didn't answer. He didn't want a friend, and she wasn't one.

His eyes fell upon her outstretched hand. He looked away from her, retrieved a bottle of water. Wet both his hands for a few seconds, rid himself of the dirt, stickiness. He put back the bottle of water, gathered his things, stood up. Still didn't grab her hand, still didn't look her in the eye.

His gaze fell upon the wound in the back of her knee. He took her hand, guided it towards his shoulder. Walked side by side with her instead, served as a third limb.

She didn't know if she'd have done that for him, if their positions were switched. He liked to pretend she wouldn't. He liked to pretend he had that over her, at least.

For now.

((Diego Larrosa and Kelly Nguyen continue in Madness in the Method))