Finders Keepers

day 3, open after Deamon posts, you know the drill

An old lake that was formerly fed by the now dried-up river from the mountain, it has been frozen over the winter and a thick coat of ice sits at the surface of the water. Although the ice is solid most of the way across the lake, traversing it can still be nerve-wracking thanks to the noise of the ice cracking and shifting, combined with the slippery conditions. On top of this, there are some places on the lake where the ice is thinner and falling into the freezing water below is a distinct possibility.
Jazzfat
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#16

Post by Jazzfat »

"You're good though, right?"

John looked back up at the new person.

"Right?" They suddenly looked a bit more worried.
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Rattlesnake
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#17

Post by Rattlesnake »

Anthony couldn't help switching his attention to the retreating pair, catching glimpses through the assembled vestiges of humanity mingled with encroaching nature, guessing at where they might be headed too, the exact footfalls they'd take in their journey to do whatever the fuck it was they thought they were doing. There were no Akashic records. Such things would be forever unknown to him, mundane as they were, which made them all the more interesting. People would know—him included, if he ever got out, which he had no diminished desire for despite his unwillingness to idly hope—all the broad strokes, the Big Events. Who it was they robbed, if his little jab had been on the nose, or prescient, or off the mark entirely. But those moments, they were little secrets spun up in view of the whole world that nobody would notice and nobody would record, because reviewing the tapes to figure out exact paths and stride lengths was another level of fucking weird beyond the whole snuff film aspect.

He pondered this all for an impolite time before turning back to return the volley on the question he himself had fielded.

"Sorry, yeah." He shrugged. "Well, I don't think any of us are good here. But, like, out to ruin anyone's day? Nah. That's fuckin' cringe. Don't think I really could anyway, they gave me one of those uhhh, fuckin, zappy things that restarts your heart?"
Jazzfat
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Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:40 am

#18

Post by Jazzfat »

John snickered at cringe. "Yeah, yeah, super cringe. Blue pilled."

John needs to shut the fuck up.

"I got a shovel. I dug a hole not too long ago."

Wow. So cool. Nice job, John. You used a shovel...for its intended purpose.

"Oh, but it's, like, one of those military shovels. I guess that means its sharp, or something? I dunno. I kinda don't like violence very much. I don't feel too safe out. Should we, like, stick together or something?"

John felt that last part was a little forceful, "N-Not if you don't want to, of course, yaknow. I understand if you don't want to do that."
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Rattlesnake
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#19

Post by Rattlesnake »

To be quite honest, Anthony had forgotten which of the pills made you shoot innocent bystanders and call people cucks, but they at least seemed to be in agreement, which was nice. Nice to find someone who seemed vaguely reasonable. Not in a hurry to expedite their own death, or anyone else's.

"Mmm-hmm," he said politely, noncommittally. More acknowledging the proposition than anything else. "Hey, that's no mean feat, digging a hole. Ground's gotta be frozen to fuck around here. Could probably take someone's head off their shoulders with that. Nice to meet someone dangerous for once. Sincerely." He cast his gaze across the vast, barren plain of the lake, and then back toward the dregs of civilization, where his classmates would be playing out their terminal dramas in the relative seclusion and comfort of bare walls and blown-out windows.

"I don't mind tagging along. Good move for sure. Just... I don't really plan on letting sketchy little weirdos off like that again. Especially if they're the ones actually coming up on the announcements. That cool with you?"
Jazzfat
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Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:40 am

#20

Post by Jazzfat »

"We're going to be the heroes of the day, then? That suits me fine."

Yeah. And the shovel is sharp. Yeah. Take that.

"And you can, like, bring me back to life if I die. With the chest paddles." John knew that's not how they worked, and their tone showed that. "Well, I'm going to just pick a direction aaannnnd..." They trailed off, just randomly picking one direction.

"Let's go that way."
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Rattlesnake
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#21

Post by Rattlesnake »

Anthony shrugged. "Not directly into the lake, so that's as good a beginning as any."

He looked once more across that blank white field. It was the middle that would be the real trick. The end was more than likely to take care of itself. In a way, that wasn't really a new development. You didn't ask to begin your existence, you just sort of ended up there one day wondering who was so determined to make it so. It was the in-between where your freedom lay, your chance to dodge and weave and touch up the course you found yourself on until that novel little jaunt met its terminal destination. And it would. Even the stars burnt out, and basest dregs of what remained had their lifetimes before decaying further into unrecognizability.

The notion that his own course might lay in deliberately cutting another's short, to ponder and plan and discuss it openly... well, in the scheme of things, that was the sort of event that happened quite a lot, wasn't it?

Yeah. Theoretical. Big-picture. Detached. Let's go find some people to maybe murder, and hope that they really actually deserved it.

He smiled a bit despite himself.

"Just... try not to get skill issue'd too hard."

((Continued elsewhere))
Jazzfat
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#22

Post by Jazzfat »

"Me? Skill issue? Never. I'm going to skill issue everybody else."

It was cold. John was cold. Everything is cold. Their legs started following Anthony,

((Continued elsewhere...))
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