Butter First, Then Honey

[decoy73]

((S129: David Worth - GAME START))

Fuck-fuck-fuck.

David wasn't in the best mood. He'd been hoping to be skiing a little, maybe even try to hit on a girl, rather than simply ask questions and host. But no, he had to play America's Death Game, all while freezing his keister off. They even gave him a weapon - a wire! It was even made of magnesium, which meant all of nothing. He'd just woken up in the middle of a mountain with some food, water, and the cold.

John Endecott Memorial, named after one of the Fathers of New England. Now, twenty students will return from four different seasons to play for the title of John Endecott Memorial's Ultimate Survivor

Well, no shit. Except now, it was somewhat like this.

John Endecott Memorial, named after one of the Fathers of New England. Now, over one hundred students have been given the chance to compete for the ultimate prize: life itself ... seriously? Who writes this bullshit?

One hundred thirty(?) students, fourteen(?) days, one Survivor. Of course, not like this. David just rolled his eyes. If he'd wanted to be on this program, he'd have simply joined the school's rooftop diving team.

[Skraal]

((Billie Sommerfield continued from Mean Time to Breakdown))

Contrary to popular belief, sometimes taking the high road wasn't always the best play - especially not when the path was this steep. When leaving the research station, this one seemed to be the shorter of the two ways through the mountain. Unfortunately for Billie, she had neglected to consider that shorter didn't always mean easier when she was picking which one to take. Now she was stuck, straining to push herself up this hill, continually engaging the brakes on her chair to take time to rest before continuing with her trek.

Of course, turning back was also a possibility, but not an attractive one. To turn back and head for the other path was to admit that this one was too difficult, a challenge that she was too incapable to overcome. On that path lay nothing but humiliation; even if nobody else could have found out, she knew that she'd be spending the rest of the day pissed off at herself over it. No, she was going to make it over this obstacle, no matter how many hours it took.

Eventually, after turning a corner, she reached a flatter section of the incline, sighing with relief as the strain on her arms lessened slightly. It was almost enough to prevent her from noticing the guy standing not far away. She vaguely recognized him, but nothing in her memory indicated anything to like or dislike about him. Still, that was better than most people, so it wouldn't hurt to at least be a little friendly before he ended up getting startled by her presence and falling off the edge or something. She engaged her brakes yet again and called out to David, her voice still a little hoarse from her earlier exertion.

"Hey. You going somewhere or are you just here to enjoy the view?"

[decoy73]

David looked over at the source of the voice. Billie. At least, that's who he thought it was. The wheelchair was a unique thing in the class. But other than that she was just some prickly girl that he'd seen in the halls and maybe a class or two.

"I guess I am just looking around. I just woke up here. With, well, nothing, really."

[Skraal]

Billie eyed David suspiciously. She had no reason to doubt his explanation; their kidnappers didn't seem to be picky about where they dumped everyone's unconscious bodies, and the fact that she had woken up quite a bit earlier than he seemed to have done could be explained by dozens of potential irregularities in how they were put to sleep in the first place. Still, something about the whole thing felt a little bit off. Had he really been given "nothing", or was he just hiding something?

She glanced off to the side for a moment, her breathing still a little ragged from her previous ordeal. She took a few slow, steady breaths in an attempt to get it under control before looking back to David. Regardless of what he had actually been given, he could still be a threat either way. Even if he was telling the truth and he had been given a piece of junk like Dani had, he could easily decide that robbery was his next best action, and the girl whose legs didn't work definitely come off as an easy target. Her odds of coming out on top in that conflict weren't great, but if he tried anything she would do her best to make him regret it.

In any case, that was enough threat evaluation for now. To be perfectly honest, she didn't foresee anything worthwhile coming out of this conversation, but since she had come all this way she might as well give it a shot. If nothing else, it was an opportunity to spend a little time resting her aching arms before continuing along that damn trail again. She cocked her head to the side slightly and responded to his answer with another question.

"Well then, see anything interesting?"

[decoy73]

David noted something in Billie. Suspicion? Of what, really? He wasn't going to hurt anybody. Not with what he had.

Of course, he'd just been thinking about how he'd directed a far less perverted version of this game. At least there, the prize was only a couple hundred dollars with nothing but dignity at risk. With their lives on the line, the only thing David could really do to prove that he wasn't aggressive for the moment was lie on the ground with his hands on his head. As for Billie's question, he just shrugged, making sure that his hands were out.

"Nothing interesting so far. To be fair, that's kind of a good thing here. Given what passes for 'interesting' here, I guess I'd rather be bored stiff."

[Skraal]

Billie couldn't argue with that. Honestly, it was probably not so different from what she would have said herself if the positions were reversed. Relaxing a little, she wheeled a bit closer to David, her eyes glancing over his empty hands before returning to his face. Satisfied, she turned to look over the side of the cliff, her eyes scanning over the snow-covered horizon.

"Well... yeah, fair enough. Maybe if this was, like, a movie or tv show, it might be cool, but as part of real life it just... sucks."

That was how it always went, didn't it? The whole point of fiction, no matter how horrifying, was to drag you out of the real world and into another one. If anything, terrible stuff happening on the screen made the stuff happening on your side seem way better by comparison. Billie felt a brief pang of regret as the realization dawned that she'd probably never get to do that again. Books, movies, music - a whole world's worth of stories that she'd never get the chance to see, the massive backlog on her hard drive forever remaining unwatched.

Shit, if she knew that the last movie she saw the night before was going to be her last one ever, she probably would have picked something more substantial than her yearly rewatch of Home Alone.

[decoy73]

David nodded. Going back to said less perverted game, interesting was good even for the people is was happening to. He looked at the horizon. If they didn't start now, the two of them would be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no shelter or heat

"It's getting dark out. We should probably find somewhere to stay for the night. At least we won't be bored alone."

((David Worth continued in A Headless Blunder Operating Under the Illusion of a Master Plan ...))

[Skraal]

Billie continued to stare over the frozen wasteland below. They still had a while before sunset, but with how long it took her to get up here, they had better start moving now if they wanted to make it down before the lights went out. She disengaged the brakes in her chair as she began to turn herself back towards the trail, carefully manoeuvring within the limited space.

Hopefully the trip back down would be easier than the trip up.

((BIllie Sommerfield continued in A Headless Blunder Operating Under the Illusion of a Master Plan))