"Oh sure, way to slut shame. Very progressive," she said folding her arms, forgetting for a moment the situation and instead reverting to a more high-school level of conflict. Lori was brought back to the gravity of the situation when she looked properly down at Paloma again, cast half in light and half in the dark of the cave as she lay dying. The features of Paloma's face suddenly smoothed over with a kind of calm. She grimaced in disgust and half-sympathy.
Then Paloma lurched forward as a shambling half-dead corpse that was still struggling to insult her with her last breaths. It was too late to take any other path and truthfully Paloma was not making her regret the choice. The tattered remains of Paloma began to yell at her and Lori screamed in response, both girls yelling.
Lori pointed the gun at her and fired another shot. She stood with her arms locked, both hands on the gun and her eyes squeezed shut. Then there was silence.
"BLAH BLAH BLAH. Just shut up already!" she screamed into the void.
Methanol and Nails
PM to Enter - Day 10, After Announcements
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
SALT, PALOMA
G003
DECEASED
39 STUDENTS REMAINING
G003
DECEASED
39 STUDENTS REMAINING
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Her voice maintained a presence in the cave after she had stopped shouting. She blinked into the darkness and then turned away at the half-lit corpse on the ground. She couldn't face what Paloma looked like.
"This isn't --" she started.
"She -- She -- "
Lori twirled her hair around her finger over and over and over.
"I'm not a bad person," she pleaded. "She deserved it," more assertive, now. "She killed people!"
Her heart was starting to slow down. She took a deep breath. It would be okay. Things were finally going her way, for the first time probably ever in her life. It would continue to go up. Everything was coming up Lori, for once.
"This isn't --" she started.
"She -- She -- "
Lori twirled her hair around her finger over and over and over.
"I'm not a bad person," she pleaded. "She deserved it," more assertive, now. "She killed people!"
Her heart was starting to slow down. She took a deep breath. It would be okay. Things were finally going her way, for the first time probably ever in her life. It would continue to go up. Everything was coming up Lori, for once.
"It's true, though."
The sterile color of her mask had begun to putrefy with a ghostly hue of blood. Little dagger streaks of copper red and a hazier, yellower film of something organic surrounding. It came out of the darkness, ever watchful eyes zeroed onto Lori, stepping slowly. Kelly's shotgun was pointed rather rudely, the barrel resting on the soaked bandages that represented what was left of her destroyed arm, held up like a waitress with tray. She stopped, still half buried in shadow. The most important aspects of her then, gun, eyes, were obvious enough.
"You can take half of her stuff. Drop the gun first."
Kelly was intrigued, anyways. Paloma was gone, bless her mutilated heart. She'd come this far to crumple over without putting up a fight. Kind of lame- Kelly supposed you could only ever expect so much. Everything she'd learned remained true: all those people you related to, found kinship in, the similarities only ever carried so far. Most all people didn't bridge the gap all the way. They didn't reach the peak of evolution and look down with their first new breath. Kelly sniped a downward glance at Paloma's battered mannequin, just long enough a moment in time to assure Lori without a word that she was dead if she tried anything with the gun. They were too close- Kelly wasn't going to miss.
Kelly would eulogize Paloma, some day. She'd at least kind of earned it- nobodies fault that she'd thrown her life away in the process.
"... It's true," Kelly repeated, solemnly. A warm smile on what was left of her lips, stuffed behind what was left of her face. "How does it feel? To know the truth."
The sterile color of her mask had begun to putrefy with a ghostly hue of blood. Little dagger streaks of copper red and a hazier, yellower film of something organic surrounding. It came out of the darkness, ever watchful eyes zeroed onto Lori, stepping slowly. Kelly's shotgun was pointed rather rudely, the barrel resting on the soaked bandages that represented what was left of her destroyed arm, held up like a waitress with tray. She stopped, still half buried in shadow. The most important aspects of her then, gun, eyes, were obvious enough.
"You can take half of her stuff. Drop the gun first."
Kelly was intrigued, anyways. Paloma was gone, bless her mutilated heart. She'd come this far to crumple over without putting up a fight. Kind of lame- Kelly supposed you could only ever expect so much. Everything she'd learned remained true: all those people you related to, found kinship in, the similarities only ever carried so far. Most all people didn't bridge the gap all the way. They didn't reach the peak of evolution and look down with their first new breath. Kelly sniped a downward glance at Paloma's battered mannequin, just long enough a moment in time to assure Lori without a word that she was dead if she tried anything with the gun. They were too close- Kelly wasn't going to miss.
Kelly would eulogize Paloma, some day. She'd at least kind of earned it- nobodies fault that she'd thrown her life away in the process.
"... It's true," Kelly repeated, solemnly. A warm smile on what was left of her lips, stuffed behind what was left of her face. "How does it feel? To know the truth."
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
As soon as the voice spoke Lori looked up and yelped in shock. She jumped back and grabbed at her heart with her free hand.
"Fuck that, I'll keep my gun and you can have her shit."
She backed away slowly.
"How long were you there?" she yelled.
The girl looked grotesque. She wasn't even totally sure who it was.
"What truth?!"
"Fuck that, I'll keep my gun and you can have her shit."
She backed away slowly.
"How long were you there?" she yelled.
The girl looked grotesque. She wasn't even totally sure who it was.
"What truth?!"
It breathed quieter than its mask rustled.
"Long enough." A soft shrug. It had beautiful shoulders, at least. Slender, proportional when naked. Ignoring the stump that followed a tidal ebb and flow, red washed to her heart beat. Calm, regular. Thump thump. Also almost louder than the more human noises of her breath.
"I know who you are, Lori. I know what you want now because... I want the same thing."
Lori had potential, it had decided. Enough that the bullet remained stubbornly in barrel.
"I've done what you've done, and, as you can see." A soft giggle. Calculated, almost memorized. Like lines off a script, edits to a photo to make it uncannily perfect.
"I've paid a price for it. You don't have to. But you have to be ready. You have to understand- listen to me, okay? Let me say my bit."
A less organic sound. More defined. It broke the silence. The metallic pump of the shotgun clicking as it was primed.
"Long enough." A soft shrug. It had beautiful shoulders, at least. Slender, proportional when naked. Ignoring the stump that followed a tidal ebb and flow, red washed to her heart beat. Calm, regular. Thump thump. Also almost louder than the more human noises of her breath.
"I know who you are, Lori. I know what you want now because... I want the same thing."
Lori had potential, it had decided. Enough that the bullet remained stubbornly in barrel.
"I've done what you've done, and, as you can see." A soft giggle. Calculated, almost memorized. Like lines off a script, edits to a photo to make it uncannily perfect.
"I've paid a price for it. You don't have to. But you have to be ready. You have to understand- listen to me, okay? Let me say my bit."
A less organic sound. More defined. It broke the silence. The metallic pump of the shotgun clicking as it was primed.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Lori stepped back when Kelly moved. Her calm was unnerving as the oil to Lori's volatile water. She almost blurted out that she doubted her summation was true because Lori didn't want a hand, but thought better of it because a dim voice in her head it would be rude to to say something to someone differently abled.
"No way," she said in a hushed tone, securing her bag on her shoulder and making sure not to slip on the slick floor of the cave. She felt the moisture from the waterfall and her sweat stick the flyaways to her face. Lori didn't need counsel from a crazy person laughing about killing people and literally lurking in the shadows. The mechanical sound of a weapon echoed faintly.
Lori swallowed harshly.
"No offense, but play in traffic, weirdo," she said in the tone of an apology. With that, she ran.
((Lori Martin continued in the The Fear Index))
"No way," she said in a hushed tone, securing her bag on her shoulder and making sure not to slip on the slick floor of the cave. She felt the moisture from the waterfall and her sweat stick the flyaways to her face. Lori didn't need counsel from a crazy person laughing about killing people and literally lurking in the shadows. The mechanical sound of a weapon echoed faintly.
Lori swallowed harshly.
"No offense, but play in traffic, weirdo," she said in the tone of an apology. With that, she ran.
((Lori Martin continued in the The Fear Index))
"Very progressive."
Kelly's dry echo almost reached her ears before the last reverberations from the screaming gunfight that had produced Paloma's corpse. She sighed softly. Potential wasted, but that was nothing unusual in the high school experience. Most trajectories inevitably lacked true momentum, and but for her own harrowing journey to understanding, might Kelly herself have sadly arced, sailing under the horizon and into oblivion.
She felt little for Lori, but a strangulating sort of pity. Other commentary of a brutish sort died in the throat. Kelly didn't notice her brief moment of petty bloodlust when it didn't actually happen.
She took food and water from Paloma, not much else to be had. The ideas could be buried with the rest of her. Another tragic story intertwined with Kelly's triumph- another name for her to remember, joining the pantheon of Mercy, and Lucas. Tragedy spurred growth.
Kelly had a long way left to go, but she was proving to herself by the minute that she was a stronger specimen, than anybody had bothered to give her credit for. The only person on her side was the one who had a pretty good understanding of herself- knew the aspects of her mind that nobody else could be possibly enlightened enough to see. The instincts, the impulses. The grudges, growing sweet as they matured to ripeness. Kelly knew her truth. Needed no other.
((Kelly Nguyen continued in give me everything you have and more))
Kelly's dry echo almost reached her ears before the last reverberations from the screaming gunfight that had produced Paloma's corpse. She sighed softly. Potential wasted, but that was nothing unusual in the high school experience. Most trajectories inevitably lacked true momentum, and but for her own harrowing journey to understanding, might Kelly herself have sadly arced, sailing under the horizon and into oblivion.
She felt little for Lori, but a strangulating sort of pity. Other commentary of a brutish sort died in the throat. Kelly didn't notice her brief moment of petty bloodlust when it didn't actually happen.
She took food and water from Paloma, not much else to be had. The ideas could be buried with the rest of her. Another tragic story intertwined with Kelly's triumph- another name for her to remember, joining the pantheon of Mercy, and Lucas. Tragedy spurred growth.
Kelly had a long way left to go, but she was proving to herself by the minute that she was a stronger specimen, than anybody had bothered to give her credit for. The only person on her side was the one who had a pretty good understanding of herself- knew the aspects of her mind that nobody else could be possibly enlightened enough to see. The instincts, the impulses. The grudges, growing sweet as they matured to ripeness. Kelly knew her truth. Needed no other.
((Kelly Nguyen continued in give me everything you have and more))