All Alone

[ViolentMedic]

Between the coconut and the beer, it seemed like everyone else had been equipped for a beachside picnic instead of a fucking death game.

"Eeesh," Roberta mumbled, taking a step back.

That said, the thing could do some damage if it was lobbed at her, and Roberta didn't think she could do some cool movie thing and slice it in half before it hit her.

If she pointed him towards the trapped person inside, though, that might be enough for him to decide D was an easier target, if this guy was... fuck, what did the internet call it? 'Playing?' Roberta considered the question for a moment, squinting at Daniel-Dominic-whoever.

"Nah," Roberta grunted. "Nothing worth bothering with. So I'll be, uh, y'know... going."

She took another slow step back, khopesh still raised.

[Deamon]

"Yeah, sure," Darryl said, taking a step toward the door. "I'm going to go, sit down, warm up and think about my life."

Darryl was aware he was making a bet. He was wagering that Roberta's desire to keep D's predicament a secret from him wasn't strong enough for her to try and stop him by force. Mainly because that would have been an overreaction on her part. At least as far as he was concerned it would have been. He realized as he started moving that he couldn't rely on rational, predictable thinking in the middle of a death game, but he'd already committed.

If he was about to eat a blade to the back, well, that would have been his fault really for misreading the situation.

He stopped and turned back around to face her.

"Good luck out there," He said, giving a small lopsided salute.

[DerArknight]

It was the snark in the "think about my life" that made Daenerys recognize the person. She frowned.

Darryl Smith Jr was probably among the last classmates she wanted to meet right now. He was one of those jerks who would tease and wind up others just for the sake of it. She always disliked such people.

If he came in now, odds were he would either laugh in her face and throw the key away or get mad with the power and make demands. Best case he would demand her food, worst case he would ask her for something perverted. Anyway, she did not want to owe him anything.

For that reason, D stood up and went towards the bars, taking the windbreaker with her. Bending down, she reached through to the bars and threw the windbreaker while holding onto one arm, completely covering the key.

Then she started to slowly drag the windbreaker back into her cell, taking the key with it.

After a few centimeters, the key came loose.

She retreated the windbreaker.

She threw it out again.

[ViolentMedic]

He was going in either way, huh?

...Well, fuck, it was what it was. What was she going to do? Lunge? And for what? 'Oh, I had to, dude had a coconut.' It wasn't any of her business.

"Uh... yeah," she mumbled. She took a step away, never turning her back.

It didn't make her an asshole to leave Daenerys there, likely still trapped.

Slow, cautious steps away. Still watching Darrywhoever. She turned away briefly.

It didn't.

She half-turned back.

When the situation was going to end in shouting, she had to leave. That went double, triple, fucking infinity times more when staying could result in a fight, let alone one that might get her killed.

Fucking go, go, go! Roberta made her feet bolt, before she could change her mind and do something stupid.

((Roberta Chen continued in Murphy's Law.))

[Deamon]

Roberta turned and then took off, causing Darryl to smile and shake his head. He sighed as he watched the girl run off over the horizon, slowly vanishing from view in the white of the snow and green of the exteriors of the buildings. That left just him and D, so he needed to put phase two of the plan into motion.

Bouncing the coconut in his hand Darryl walked inside the correctional building. It was a very plain interior, spartan would have been the word. It had a single chair and a desk, both covered in dust, then the cell with its fully-made bed and grumpy-looking occupant, D herself. D was, she was fine, he guessed. Darryl was pretty sure she didn't like him. Not that it mattered to him much, this was a mission with the goal of winning hearts and minds anyway. But he couldn't gauge if she would be thankful for his help or just accept it as something he should have done. The "morally right" thing to do, as if they weren't in a situation where traditional morals no longer applied, but that was something for another time.

Darryl put on his best friendly face as he caught sight of D. For the first time of course, he wasn't supposed to know she was stuck in the cell.

"Hey D," He started, putting the coconut down on the desk, and then moving closer to crouch down and pick up the key. "Did Roberta just leave you in here?"

[DerArknight]

Crap.

There he was, entering the room armed with a freaking coconut.

Ten more seconds and Daenerys would have managed to retrieve it. But now she was only holding onto the windbreaker. She surely didn't want Darryl talking down to her, so she stood up, not taking her eyes of the boy. She also made sure to be out of his reach should he try to grab her.

"Hey D," said Darryl. Only her friends called her D, and he surely had no place in this group. While there was the possibility he didn't know better and just wanted to be nice, it still pissed her of.

And of course he instantly went to the key like a moth drawn to the flame, picking it from the ground. "Did Roberta just leave you in here?"

For a moment, D considered her options. Her best weapon were cans of cold beer. If she threw hard enough, it might knock him out. But how was she going to get the key if he fell outside of her reach?

For now, she had to try the diplomatic approach.

"Let's just skip the pregame and jump to the important stuff, okay?"

She went to the bed and brought forward the cooler, the extendable handle at full lenght. Then she put on her serious business-face.

"This cooler currently contains a dozen- eleven cans of shitty sugar-free beer, but it can be used to transport anything that would fit into a microwave. It is on wheels so you can easily drag it behind you. It is also still light enough to be thrown at someone in a pinch. All things considered, it is the ideal companion for the modern SOTF-participant.

"And it can be yours in exchange for single key that is of no use to you otherwise. You can even have half of the beer." She wouldn't mind him taking all of it, but she wanted to keep at least a bit of dignity. Giving Darryl everything would have been akin to surrendering, after all.

"So, do we have a deal?"

[Deamon]

Darryl smiled but didn't laugh. Daenerys really thought that little of him huh? He really put himself out there for her, facing down Roberta with her weird-ass sword and the greeting he got was a sales pitch. It made it really tempting for him to just take the key and walk out. Toss that sucker in the sea or something, just to prove a point to her, but that was the catch wasn't it. He had to smile and disprove her, it was on him to prove her wrong even though he hadn't even done anything to begin with.

But he didn't turn and just walk out, he stayed where he was and let Daenerys finish the charade they were taking part in to make her feel better. Once she was done he let everything sit in the air for a moment. He wondered if she'd realize how she sounded, but he really doubted it.

"I don't want your cooler," He said, spinning the key in his hand. "I'm just gonna let you out."

He showed Daenerys his empty hands, key notwithstanding and stepped forward to the cell door. After a brief bout of light clinking and clanking the lock clicked and Darryl pulled the door open. It gave a long and loud squeal as hinges that hadn't been used for decades were finally asked to do something once again.

Stepping back, Darryl settled into leaning on the desk, gaze still on Daenerys.

"I'll take a beer as thanks though,"

[DerArknight]

So Darryl wanted to play the good samaritan? Fair enough. As long as he didn't expect any compensation later on, of course.

The important part was that he had unlocked the goddamn cell. Relative freedom was at hand. She just had to make it past this smartass and out of the door. Sure, it would be just as dangerous as inside, but she would rather freeze than spend another minute in this crappy room.

"If you say so." D took a can out and threw it at Darryl in a way that he had a realistic chance at catching it. Then she collected her belongings. One of the first things she had done once awake was checking her luggage. The AT had removed a few items, but thanks to Daenerys' habit of carrying way too much stuff with her "just in case", she still had a few things on her person that would be usefull when dealing with mother nature.

With a creak, the mechanism released her from this prison. She even made sure to close the door after rolling out her cooler. For a moment, D considered leaving the key, but then she kept it in. This cell might have been an obstacle, but might prove usefull later on.

Assuming that there was a later for her.

"I think I will head out. Room is getting too familiar, if you catch my drift. Thanks for the key-thing."

Carefully observing Darryl, she made her way to the exit.

[Deamon]

Darryl caught the beer with a grin and a nod. He considered opening it right away, it was tempting and would have certainly taken the edge off. But ultimately he decided that it would have been short-sighted. He needed to save it for a special occasion so stowed it away in his bag.

He listened to Daenerys talking as he did, not really giving her his full attention. He was waiting for a thank you, which eventually came at the very end, an aside. Darryl knew that he should have probably just accepted it. Taken the win when he had it and gone about his day. He had a limited amount of sunlight left in his life after all. Darryl really didn't need to go through with his train of thought and ruin the rest of his day. But if he was known for one thing it was his ability to talk shit and he had seen her pocket the key.

"More like the saving your life thing," He said, turning his attention back to her. "Why are you acting weird?"

[DerArknight]

So much for being humble. Daenerys could have pointed out that she would have reached the key eventually, but saw no reason to argue about this.

Darryl's question made her pause for a bit, genuinely thinking about the answer. In the end, she raised her left hand (the right being used to drag the cooler behind her) and pulled on her collar. Very carefull, since she had no clue how fast it would detonate.

"Right now, we are wearing the world's most deadly fashion statement, are the hostages of the world's most wanted terrorists and are starring in part 8 of the world's most famous snuff franchise. Way I see it, anyone who doesn't act weird in this situation is a psychopath.

"See you around."

D exited through the door, leaving her second-degree prison behind.

A cold wind greeted her. For a moment, she took in the scenery. The cell had been in a small building, seemingly only one room big. But it was part of a larger coomplex of structures built in the snow. Some kind of outpost, probably either military or scientific in purpose.

Listening closely, she believed to hear a gunshot from very afar. Somewhere, someone might already be dying. One more reason to press on.

With a brisk pace, Daenerys started walking.

((Daenerys "D" Todd continued in Ursa Major Meltdown))

[Deamon]

If Darryl was being honest he only half-listened and cared about what Daenerys said. It was just such a dull explanation. I'm speaking to you like dirt because we're in a death game. Okay, girl go off. Whatever. Darryl was aware of the double standard at play in his reaction. He had stepped in to release Daenerys with ulterior motives but he had still done all the actions of being a good samaritan as far as she was aware. But naw, that wasn't enough, she just took it as given. Lesson learned Darryl supposed. They could have stuck together for a while, and looked out for one another. He'd have had better luck with Roberta in hindsight.

He cocked his head slightly a pulled a face before shrugging and hopping off the desk, picking up his coconut as he passed it. There was no point sitting around. He had to get back on the horse and so he stepped back out into the snow. He could see the trail that the wheels of Daenerys' cooler had left behind leading off in one direction. So he turned and started going the opposite way, tossing the coconut from hand to hand.

There was always next time, he thought as he once again felt the snow falling across his shoulders.

((Darryl Smith Jr. continued elsewhere...))