the caged mind craves the comfort of home

[AnimeNerd]

Maybe there was a reason why Jezzie's gaze had drifted to the plateau's edge earlier.

Maybe it was an early call-a warning that she was better off jumping there and then instead of staying and getting the bath she wanted.

Alas, she hadn't heeded the call, and now she paid the price for her decision.

Because this was absolute fucking bullshit.

The one time-the single fucking time she wanted to not be herself, not only does someone immediately come around to shatter the scene to pieces, but her original scene partner decided to grab a hammer and join in on the shit-show. And now, if she didn't want a...sickle? Whatever D had getting stabbed through her stomach, she needed to grab the camera and take control again, before the worst could have a chance of happening.

Jezzie let her hands fall to her sides again. Her head tilted down, just enough to look at the ground in front of D's feet. Her nose let out a sniffle.

"I..."

The breath Jezzie took in was shaky, like she struggled not to sob.

"I...nearly died yesterday, and...the people behind this are trying to make me the bad guy."

Jezzie looked up again, at D's face. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes. The smile on her lips was so forced it was obvious, as was the cheer in her voice as she asked,

"How about you?"

[DerArknight]

"Hmmmm" was D's first response to Jezzie.

The girl could really have acted in self-defense. Or she could be lying her ass off. Daenerys didn't know her good enough to make a judgement call on this.

But did she have to?

Apart from the blood and the scared expression, Jezzie still looked like back at school: one of those girls who did little sport so as to not ruin her makeup. D doubted Jezzie had any experience of being picked last during PE. Or getting pushed into locker while someone screamed "Where are your dragons now?" in her face. Last but not least, Jezzie had a small knife against D's khopesh.

In other words, it was clear who would have the advantage physically, mentally and in weaponry. If Jezzie was clever, she wouldn't start shit.

Meaning her goal was still feasible.

"I too almost died not so long ago," Daenerys answered truthfully. "A girl named Roberta - I don't know her last name - attacked me. I barely escaped.

"Now I just want to relax in the water for a bit." Wanting to end her proposal on a happy note, she came up with a metaphor that her parents would have used.

"So how about we interrupt the Murder Island Arc for a bit for a fanservice-heavy onsen-episode?"

To pronounce her words, she stuck the khopesh in the ground and took a step away from it. Not too much that she would be unable to reach it if need be.

[almostinhuman]

"Well, I mean..."

Jacob leaned back, sheepishly waving at D now that Jezzie was no longer blocking their view of each other.

"I was kinda in the middle of that already."

He realized the joint was still lit in his hand.

"And uh, I got weed. Not much, but enough for three or four of us."

[AnimeNerd]

The one, single, solely positive thing that could be gained from this experience; it would never again be a challenge for Jezzie to summon tears on cue.

That wasn't to say these were fake of course, more like...reused. All it really took to remake them were thoughts about what she'd seen already. One teacher getting shot, another exploding horrifically, one classmate getting her throat slit and being forced to hide in a closet with her corpse, nearly dying twice already-in future interviews when she was famous, Jezzie wouldn't be lying when she cried and said the experience was entirely horrific. Just one thought about any of it and she felt the tears welling up, ready for whatever scene she had to be in, becoming the picture of pitiable.

And it seemed like they did that job, more or less. D didn't want a fight. Jacob didn't want a fight. And she obviously didn't want a fight.

Things were back in her control. The script would be followed once more.

Jezzie sniffled, letting her smile get a little bit more genuine, and purposely let herself snort at the talk of the other two.

"We don't have to go that far, but..."

With a deep breath to build up some confidence, Jezzie let the twisted knife fall from her grasp. It landed bladed tip first, planting itself in the snow at ninety degree angle, before the weight of the handle took effect, shifting it to the side for something between a seventy degree and sixty degree angle.

It was hesitant after that, but Jezzie a took a step away from the weapon after it had landed. Still not too far from it, but enough that she hopefully reassured the other two.

"I'm happy to just. Sit and chat, if you guys are."

[DerArknight]

"Fine by me," Daenerys answered Jezzie.

However, that didn't mean she fully let her guard down.

"Listen: if I were to leave my copish or however it is pronounced stuck here in the ground and go to you, anyone coming from the direction I came from could easily take it. So I will pull it out of the ground. I will keep my distance to you. The spring is big enough for us all to sit down with a few meters to spare.

"Oh, I also have beer." While grabbing the khopesh with her right hand, she pointed at the cooler with her left.

"Anyone want some?"

[almostinhuman]

He perked up at the mention of booze.

"Oh, absolutely I fucking want beer."

[AnimeNerd]

Fuck, a beer sounded nice right about now. Something to take the edge off. She had never actually drank before, but it always seemed like it could be enjoyable in moderation.

Jezzie let out a chuckle, not entirely forced. "I. Think I'll have to pass. Thanks, though."

As tempting as it was, she needed to keep control of the situation. She had to resist any temptation that could make Jezzie miss her mark. God forbid she forgets a line or shows the wrong emotion at the wrong time.

And if making herself a little more unhappy was the price to pay to keep a clear mind, she'd pay the dues forced upon her.

"And...yeah, that's fair. About the...your weapon."

Jezzie crouched down to snatch the twisted knife again, but quickly pause, glancing up at the other girl.

"Is it alright if I keep mine on me too? Just...don't want to be caught unarmed, in case some psycho decides to come around and doesn't want to play nice."

The best lies are ones that have some truth to them. She certainly didn't want to have nothing immediately on her if Janice or Kitty came around. She just also didn't like the idea of not having it with her while near these two.

No real worries about being completely unarmed, of course. So long as her own bag was with her, she still had Tiny and Reliable.

[DerArknight]

Daenerys squinted at Jezzie's request. After failing to come up with a refusal that wouldn't make her a total hypocrite, she responded.

"Sure, that's just fair."

Retaking her hold on the cooler's handle, she ventured forward until she reached the hot spring, making sure to keep some distance fromm Jezzie and who she now saw was a boy who looked like he had just gotten out of the water. Thank god she hadn't arrived sooner.

Upon his request, she took out the third can and tossed it to him in a way that gave him a good chance of catching it.

"Catch!"

Then she just sat down and enjoyed the warmth. D considered dipping her feet in, but then decided to wait a bit to see if the peace would remain.

During all of this, she never let go of the khopesh.

[almostinhuman]

Things hadn't relaxed quite as much as he might've hoped. Both girls were armed, far better than he'd certainly been, and both were keeping those weapons close at hand. If it was just the two of them here, it wouldn't be such a problem, but Jacob was here too, still naked and just a little bit high, and neither seemed particularly concerned for how all these weapons everywhere were gonna look to him. Leaving the relative safety of the lab he'd woken up in seemed more and more like a mistake with each passing second.

"Well, uh..."

He set the beer can down - with everything else working against him, he didn't need that hindering him too. Right now he needed to cool the rising heat before it combusted.

"If it makes y'all feel any better, I didn't get a weapon. Just some kinda nasty canned fish or some shit."

[AnimeNerd]

"Don't worry! I won't-have it on me on me."

She hated the lines that just left her mouth-felt like spitting up blood. But she couldn't help it when taking in the look she got from D and what she assumed to be a guilt trip from Jacob. The scene needed to go off without a hitch, meaning she needed to be the picture of pitiable: meek, scared and struggling to keep it together, only putting up a façade of being okay and breaking into tears at the slightest provocation.

Anything less and she was liable to end up on the world's worst highlight reel when she's stabbed in the chest, or worse-the blooper reel, where she gets strangled and thrown off a cliff, by a guy who's ass was still bare for all the world to see.

So, while it pains her, once the twisted knife is in her hand again, Jezzie places it in the same bag as Tiny and Reliable before zipping it up tight.

"And I'll just...stay over here, I think. Try to keep watch better."

'Over here' being the plateau's edge, further away from the two. Not at the very edge, maybe few feet from it. Didn't want to get too close.

Putting more distance between herself and the other two may not have been necessary, but it would at least put them at ease. D, Jacob, and herself as well. The girl who had killed was further away from them, and she would have more time to run if they decided they wanted to change their minds.

A solution everyone could be satisfied with.

[DerArknight]

It appeared that Daenerys had worried about nothing.

Jezzie's knife disappeared in her backpack while the girl in question took a few steps away. The boy appeared as unperilous as before, although slightly on edge. Maybe the situation. Probably the situation. Most likely the situation.

Now there was no excuse to withhold the water. After freeing her feet from her shoes and socks with practized movments, D tucked up her jeans and made wet contact with the hot spring.

"Ahhh..."

After walking around in the cold longer than she had expected to do on the trip, the spring water almost made her forget about the terrible shit that had been going on earlier.

Almost.

"... By the way, I don't think I got your name," D said in the direction of the boy. "Also have you seen Corbin or Abhi around? I kinda ditched them the other day without a word, so I at least want to know I didn't screw them over.

"Oh and please keep that fish away."

[almostinhuman]

"Kinda, heh, already chucked it at somebody."

It'd been pretty funny at the time, especially given Mildred's reaction, and he was just about high enough to find it funny again now.

"Anyway, I'm Jacob. Not the one on the announcements though. Winters, not Lang."

He was gonna have to awkwardly drop his last name every time someone asked who he was now, wasn't he? Fuckin' Jacob Lang, ruining his perfectly clean first name.

"And nah, haven't seen either of them. I... hold on."

He took one last, long drag off the blunt before extinguishing what little of it remained on the ground.

"Right, so," he continued, coughing a bit, "I kinda hid out at the start of all this, so I haven't seen much around here. Just hunkered down with a few folks who stumbled into the place they dropped me."

His hand gently ran along the circular rim of the beer can. It was tempting to open it; it'd been a while since he'd gotten crossfaded. But maybe that could wait for when he wasn't naked and surrounded by armed girls.

"It's where I stole the weed from. One of the girls I was with had a bunch of it."

[AnimeNerd]

It was official, she had decided it-she deserved an Oscar for this performance.

Maybe it was silly, but it took a Hell of a lot of effort to keep herself somber and hold back the bitterness she really felt. Oh, those two got two hang around with friends, drink beer, and chill out while getting high? Good for you! She had see a death maybe a minute after she woke up, meet asshole after asshole, defended herself with lethal force two times, and through it all found little to no reprieve in anything! But hey, at least some people got to have a nice time on Murder Island!

She hoped the original owner of the weed spat on what was stolen by Jacob. Or D tripped and spilled a can or two of her beer. Something to even the scales a bit.

Outwardly, Jezzie only chuckled to herself, though just loud enough for the other two to hear. It was partially forced, partially genuine as she also spoke, and her eyes drifted over the cliff's edge.

"I'm starting to wonder how many people got food, and other weird..."

Jezzie's voice trailed off as her eyes were pinned on something below. The pasted on smile had fallen to an open mouth of true shock. Half lidded eyes replaced with ones as wide as saucers.

Then, as suddenly as it occurred, it changed. Jezzie's jaw snapped shut. Her head jerked to the side, towards the steps she had taken to get here. And though her eyes didn't change their state, her feet made up for it, taking quick steps toward where she know looked. Putting distance between herself and the plateau's edge.

Jezzie's voice sounded more forced when she spoke again. Like this was the first time she read from this script.

"So...maybe don't get to close to the cliff's edge. Seems like...a really bad idea."

It was the first thing that came to her mind, apart from screaming 'HOLY FUCK I WAS ONE MIS-STEP AWAY FROM FALLING TO MY DEATH, I FOUND ETHAN AND HE'S A STAIN ON A ROCK, WAS HE HERE THE FIRST TIME I WAS HERE, HAVE THERE BEEN ANY MORE PEOPLE BATHING THIS CLOSE TO WHERE SOMEONE DIED, JESUS CHRIST-'

[DerArknight]

"I agree," Daenerys replied, her back turned to Jezzie. "The ground is hella slippy here. Amost tumbled one or two times when climbing the stairs. Better watch your steps."

The short talk with the boy named Jacob revealed a few things to her. Namely that there was a group with even more drugs, that he hadn't seen Corbin or Abhi and that there was a second Jacob with a kill to his name. But Jacob Lang rang no bell in her mind, just like Jacob Winters did.

Since she had missed the announcement, D was clueless about who killed whom, but it didn't bother her as much as it probably should have. There would be more announcements in the coming days.

Like the one that would talk about her.

Wanting to stop her mind from rotating back to that topic, Daenerys looked around the spring a bit. And indeed, she spotted something of interest.

A lone backpack sat close to the water, next to a rock of similar color. Easy to miss unless one looked more closely.

She stared at it for a moment.

[almostinhuman]

Something was wrong.

The airy smile fell from Jacob's face. Something in Jezzie's voice, in the way she held herself... it had shifted. He was still coherent enough to tell the difference.

"What..." he replied, a tense edge in his voice. "What's wrong?"

In truth, he was pretty sure he already knew; there weren't very many possibilities, given where they were. Maybe he was just hoping he was wrong.