Echoes In My Head

[DerArknight]

Someone had killed a christmas tree.

The place of the crime was the lowest level of the research station. Time had to be anywhere between the start of this insanity and right now. Suspects? Everyone.

Maybe even the detective.

((Dawn Montogomery continued from Would You Like To Pet The Kitty?))

Ironically, she had spent the entire night sleeping not too far from the "corpse", only noticing it in the morning. Could she have saved this tree? Of course not.

What facsinated Dawn about the tree was its decoration. Meticulously arranged just to be teared down. She saw no reason why the terrorists would do such a thing. Her classmates on the other hand seemed all too ready for unreasonable actions, judging by the announcements. But someone who snapped would lack the patience for the task. So what had been the intention of the culprit? Were they someone like her, wanting to spit the system with an action it wasn't created for?

She threw an eye at the nearest camera, who had to have filmed the crime. Once the terrorist did their thing, the mystery would be solved.

With or without her.

[decoy73]

((David Worth continued from Yo dawg, I heard you like SOTF, so... Wait, you hate SOTF?!? Well, sucks to be you, pal.))

Abhishek ...

"First person voted out of Survivor JEM: Spoiler Alert ... Abhishek"

Abhishek handed over his purple bandana without any protest. "I've made history today," Abhishek said, with a smirk almost as wide as his face was. "What have you lot done?"

Abhishek had trolled his way out of the game. Deliberately and as a way to entertain himself. David was left wondering if that was how he had died. Mouthing off to Daenerys. Or if it had been something else. He didn't want to think about it too much. He just looked around the large room as the people he was trying to forget stayed in his head.

Box ... shit ... box ... Dominiqua ... chair ... Spike ... desk ... Zhijuan ... tree ... Quentin ... body, or ...

David gently stomped his heel on the floor.

"Hello?"

[DerArknight]

"!"

The boy's greeting ripped Dawn out of her inner musings, making her jump with a yelp. She turned around.

It was David. David Worth. Host of the Survivor fangame Dawn had twice taken part in. Ethan was involved in the production, so she knew a bit more about David than David probably knew about her. That's why she realaxed. Because she knew David was a good guy. Not because she hadn't heard his name on the announcements. If she were to start judging people by that merit alone, the terrorists would have won.

But how did David see her now?

"Sorry, you just kinda scared me. I have a lot on my mind lately." She gave a wry smile.

"Hello, as well."

[decoy73]

Dawn. She'd played twice. Spoiler Alert and All-Stars. She'd come close in Spoiler Alert, nowhere near in All-Stars. But now? She'd amputated someone's arm or something. But what did it mean? That she'd tried to kill someone, or just failed horribly in being helpful? Although a "lot on her mind." Being here, having actually killed someone ... anyone who didn't have a lot on their mind needed psychiatric care.

David just nodded at Dawn's condition as she stated it. "It's ... no problem. I guess we all have full heads right now."

[DerArknight]

"It's ... no problem. I guess we all have full heads right now."

David's answer reminded Dawn that she wasn't alone. In more ways than one. Everyone on this island heard the announcements each morning. Learned of friends dying somewhere. Knew that they might be on the next, be it as culprit or victim.

Somehow, this thought calmed her.

"Yes, I guess we do.

"..."

Dawn threw a quick look at the camera.

"I suppose it all depends on how we cope with the situation.

"If you want to talk about something, I am listening."

[decoy73]

Well, Dawn was willing to talk instead of fight. That was good. Although the only thing was

"I don't know if there's anything to talk about. I'm just glad to be with someone who isn't hostile."

[DerArknight]

After a few seconds, Dawn chuckled.

"It's kinda sad that I agree with you on this. A few days ago, being around people who aren't hostile was something we all took for granted."

She looked down, at the camera, then down again.

"I guess this place changes people. Not for the better, probably."

Finally she looked up to David.

"I am going to built a memorial. Something that people can see to remember us. But I need to collect a few things first. This stuff won't be enough for what I had in mind." She gesticulated at the christmas decoration.

"If you want to, you are free to tag along."

[decoy73]

A memorial? That sounded, well, not bad.it wasn't necessarily good, but it wouldn't get them immediately killed. Especially since they both had something to defend themselves with.

"A memorial? Yeah. Sure. That sounds nice. What do we need?"

David looked around. There didn't seem to be much of anything there.

[DerArknight]

Oh.

Dawn was unsure if she should be happy or worried about finding someone willing to join her in her task. It made things easier while also raising the stakes. Right now, though, it mostly made things easier.

"I was thinking of something shrine-like. You know the small shrines sometimes seen in anime? Something like this.

"For that, we would need a foundation, some tarp or bedsheets or other fabric for the walls and maybe some sort of cross. Making a fire to draw people in would be neat as well. Finally, the shrine should look festive. This christmas deco is already a good start, but other colorful stuff won't hurt."

That was the extent of what Dawn dared to say. She didn't look at the camera.

"I think it is best if we split up to cover more ground. I was planning to travel to the town. You can search around the station here."

That sounded like a plan. Dawn nodded to herself.

"Let's regroup in the basement tomorrow after the announcement. Then we can share what we found and decide where to build the memorial.

"Good luck."

((Dawn Montogomery continued in Every Planet We Reach Is Dead))

[decoy73]

Anime ... David hadn't seen anime. He watched Rick and Morty, but no anime. David just nodded. Some sheets, some ... okay, he didn't know how to make this shrine "festive." Especially since "festive" wasn't a word he'd use to describe what she was trying to memorialize. Unless the Holocaust Memorial was "festive."

And now Dawn wanted to split up. That was a maybe. After all, wasn't it better to be in a team, at least for now?

"Good luck." And then she walked off.

David just sighed. Here I go again.

((David Worth continued in I Hail From Nowhere))