Dangerous Burns

[Primrosette]

And he was back here again.

((Emmett Bunnell continued from Bottomless Sorrow))

Emmett didn't know why he had come back here. Maybe he had hoped to see Emil here again. Maybe he was just being a foolish idiot. He didn't know why he had stopped here and sat down on the sand. He honestly didn't care what he was doing. He just felt like he had to wait. But he didn't know why. Maybe he just wanted anyone to find him.

He had the spear resting in the sand in front of him and he found himself thinking about Sapphire. He still felt like he had her blood on his hands. But he knew that it was not there anymore. His eyes were playing tricks on him.

I really need to get my shit together, don't I?

He let out a sigh of exhaustion. He wished that he could fall asleep and forget about all of this.

"God.... What the hell am I supposed to do? How can I find Emil now? I'm doing this all wrong." He muttered quietly to himself.

[ItzToxie]

“I mean, you know I’ll just find you instead.” Emil waved his tracker in his hand.

(( Emil Van Zandt lll continued from Something Better ))

“... Even if it takes all fucking day.”

And all day it did take. Like, fuck he had to take all the longest routes. Every time Emil thought he could cut the trail, the terrain told him fuck no through one fun contrivance or another, and Emil has to backtrack all the way back to the trail, then follow it, taking even longer time.

He took a break, slept, woke up, and got back to it again, only to finally end up back at the beach. Here was Emmett, just sitting there on his lonesome.

“Anyways... What the fuck was that shit about yesterday? Why’d you bail on us? Like, that’s not what we do man, we try to help people and- wait, where’s the others at? Didn’t you take some people with you?”

“Also, where’d you nab that spear?”

[Primrosette]

Emmett turned his head to look at Emil and he felt relieved that Emil wasn't in a worst condition.

Like Sapphire was because of you...

He felt his heart tighten at just the thought of Sapphire and he was trying to hold back the bile that was threatening to come out of him. He didn't want to think about her. But all he could see when he closed his eyes.... was her face. She had been innocent. It should have been him lying in a pool of his own shitty blood.... Not her. She had deserved to live more than he had. He was at fault because he dragging her into a fight that he couldn't win and she had saved his worthless life. He lost her to Lorenzo....

"Sapphire...." It hurt him to say her name aloud and he was trying to control himself from pounding his fists into the sand. He had to tell Emil what happened. He had to give him the details. Even if Emil possibly wouldn't want to know. "I just couldn't handle what was going on with Nona. I'm not good with people, you know that. A lot of people know that about me. F....Fuck.... I need to apologize to them. Nona. Garnet. God, I'm such an asshole."

Emmett picked up a handful of sand in his hand and he then released the sand back into a small pile after a few seconds. He let out a choked-up sound as he was now staring down at his lap and he couldn't look Emil in the eyes as he wasn't sure if he could handle someone else's reaction to the news.

"It was only me and Sapphire yesterday when we wandered off on our own. We went to the aviary and we found a group there. Axel, Andy and Morgan. And Lorenzo was fucking there too, getting into a fight with them and I was a stupid fool. I tried to fight him with the e-tool that he stole in the end, but I almost got myself killed by that green freak. But Sapphire... She, she.... She saved my useless ass. Sapphire saved my life. Lorenzo.... L-Lorenzo hurt her badly. There was so much blood.... Too much blood. I didn't know what I was really doing and I carried her. I didn't stop until it was really dark and I stopped at the bay. I tried so hard to treat her wounds, even if I'm shit at that stuff. When the announcement was playing earlier; Sapphire died. She died while I was holding her hand and it.... It's all my fault. She was my friend. One of my closest friends and she's fucking dead because of me."

He felt himself trying to not cry. He didn't want to be a complete babbling mess of a broken shell.

[ItzToxie]

"No."

Lorenzo did what now?! Emil was surprised, he heard names on the announcements, but not Lorenzo's. He should have expected it after the shit he pulled back on the beach, but now that it was confirmed? Aw hell no. Fuck all the other cowards that killed someone yesterday, but fuck Lorenzo particularly for giving in so easily and so early. Yeah, what Emmett and Sapphire did was fucked up, bailing on them like that, but neither of them deserved to go through what they did. Sapphire didn't deserve to die for it, and Emmett shouldn't have had to sit there and watch helplessly either!

"Fucking no, Emmett, that's not right!" Emil moved closer to Emmett, shaking his shoulders. "Look at me!" Emil hated this. It only took minutes for him to lose track of Emmett for a day, and that day ended up being the worst day of his life. He felt responsible for it, for staying to try and help in a situation that he really couldn't have helped. He should have left when he had the chance, he should have stayed with Emmett, and this wouldn't have happened to him or Sapphire.

"It's not your fault, okay? There was nothing you can do about it. You tried to help but there wasn't anything you could've done. That happens sometimes. Sometimes there's nothing you can do, but at least you tried! Don't blame yourself for what Lorenzo did. That was his choice, that was his doing. Not yours. Sapphire isn't dead because of you."

[Primrosette]

Emmett felt Emil shaking him and he felt himself tensed up, trying to keep himself in control. Emil was trying to convince him that it wasn't his fault for what happened to Sapphire. But it was, because he was the one who started the fight with Lorenzo, he made Lorenzo a killer. He couldn't even look at Emil. So he looked down at the sand in front of him and he felt the quiet tears falling and dripping onto the sand.

"E....Emil...."

He hated that Emil had to see him breaking down like this and he wished that Sapphire was still here with him. He couldn't really say anything to Emil and he didn't know if he could fucking get his shit together. He wished that he could have just been fuelled by his temper and going after Lorenzo for revenge. But he didn't feel like he was at that stage at all. He was just feeling a lot of guilt and heartbreak over losing a friend. He couldn't.... He couldn't handle it.

"I....I killed her. I killed Sapphire."

He felt his trembling hand grabbed onto Emil's shirt and he felt himself just wanted to stay where he was. Not wanting to come out of his sorrowful shell of despair.

"....Emil, I'm.... I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry...."

I fucked up everything so badly. Why the fuck did I even think I could take Lorenzo down in a fight...? Sapphire....

[ItzToxie]

"Woah, woah! Emmett, calm down, calm down!"

What? Hold on. This wasn't making sense? What did Emmett mean? What was he trying to say? Emil wasn't liking this. "Emmett, Emmett! Stop, just stop for a second! What're you- I don't understand. What are you saying?"

Emil didn't like this.

"Slow down. Who killed Sapphire? Was it you, or was it Lorenzo? What happened?"

Please don't tell me Emmett did it. It was Lorenzo right? Had to be. He said it earlier unless he was trying to lie. Please let this be a mistake, please...

"Emmett... What happened? Tell me the truth, okay?"

[Primrosette]

"I-I dragged Sapphire into the fight because I was such a selfish idiot who.... who really just wanted to beat some sense into Lorenzo. I should have told her to stay back. Why...? Why didn't I...?"

Emmett could only see the red blood again and his breathing was getting more funny and heavier. He might as well be a killer as well as Lorenzo. He watched her die. He couldn't even stop the bleeding and she had suffered because of him, him, him, him. Sapphire might have forgiven him, but he couldn't forgive himself for being so worthless, so useless, so helpless, so hopeless....

"She was in so much pain.... It should have been me laying in a pool of my own blood... Not her. F-Fuck...!"

He wanted to scream over and over again. He felt his hand letting go of Emil and he fell quiet for a while. He felt like he was spiralling more and more out of control and he didn't know how to stop it. He wished that he wasn't in this fucked-up situation and he honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do anymore.

"I....I thought about it w-while she was laying there.... W-When she was still breathing, whimpering and s-sleeping.... I thought about strangling her. To give her a mercy kill or some shit like that. But I....I....I...."

Emmett glanced up and stared right at Emil with exhausted, sad eyes.

"I couldn't do it.... I was too much of a fucking coward to do it.... I killed Sapphire by doing n-nothing to put her out of her misery...."

[LeslieFranc]

Cecil remembered having to use his water to wash off the vomit from his hands and shoes and the blood from his knife before wiping them off with his least favorite shirt. He remembered helping himself with a generous amount of hand sanitizer from the first-aid kit. He went and made sure there were furniture blocking the doorway before he slumped down in a corner. He remembered closing his eyes but not the incessant whispers in his mind, reeling from the day's events. He had second thoughts whether he should sleep or stay awake. He might have considered cutting his arm to make sure he stayed awake, or even make small cuts from under his eyes. Cecil didn't remember the rest after that.

Considering the fact that there were no injuries besides a light bruise from Gervais's kick, he thankfully did not go through the self-harm. Although, he regretfully fell asleep, but Cecil couldn't even be angry at himself about it anymore. He might have convinced himself that he would've been woken up even with a light sound from his sleep, so the rest of last night must've been so quiet and peaceful he didn't need to stay alert. It was still wrong, but...he…wasn’t wrong either. That was what he convinced himself of, anyway.

Getting himself up was an effort more than usual. Nothing unexpected, of course, but just as his mind started finally clearing, so did his capacity to feel frustrated. He was never a morning person, so fuck the sun. Fuck mornings. Fuck waking up. Fuck this nightmare. Then maybe I wouldn't mind waking up.

Nonetheless, reality didn't change, so Cecil tried not to either.

He had his tasteless breakfast while he looked over the map, once again having to pick a destination with no reason in mind other than that he had to get himself to move, convinced that staying in one place would be to his detriment.

Then the first announcement came, and he ignored the chill that went to his spine when Mr. Danya’s voice carried even to the inside of a small house, choosing to focus on the contents of the speech that could undoubtedly help him in his first move for the second day.

He was dreading to hear the names of people he cared about. Declyn. Camila. Even Drew who left him and whom Cecil didn’t go after in turn. Hell, he might even mourn for Ned and Charelle. The relief from not hearing their names did come, but not before the shock from hearing Abel and Beryl’s names.

Two people he didn’t currently had any special relationship with, but if he had to choose, he’d rather think of them with some modicum of fondness. Cecil felt sorry. For them, and for their families, and, and…and…

And nothing. Nothing’s changed. Not for Cecil.

He steeled himself and started to plan.

The waterfall is a danger zone. One of the killers, Blaise d’Aramitz, is probably headed there for their award. I should probably avoid the way there.

Cecil packed up, adjusted his trench coat, and went on his way.

((Cecil Salazar-Loveless continued from Lonely as the Sound of Lying on the Ground of an Airplane Going Down))

And so here he was close at the edge of the island.

Might’ve been a bad idea. It looks like it’s gonna rain, he noticed, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught his attention.

There were people in the beach, and Cecil found himself wondering just how big or small this island really was.

Two of them, both of which he knew of. So a hothead and a loudmouth.

Cecil didn’t exactly had a good first impression of Emil and Emmett, especially the latter. However, considering the fact that he still had to endure days of exposure to them in the same room, it was only natural that he’d have to find a way to cope to make sure the trip wouldn't be a completely negative experience. In this case, Cecil developed some tolerance and maybe even affable familiarity at the very least towards these two.

And yet, he couldn’t help but sense something different about them. Even at a distance, he could clearly see that both of them had went through some fights that left them more unlucky than Cecil. But it was the way Emmett was sitting by himself so dejectedly or Emil desperately calling out to him that got Cecil…just a little bit worried.

He couldn’t exactly hear what they were talking about, but…

Emmett had always been sullen from what Cecil had seen in him, but there was a deeper amount of despair around him right now. Emil’s change in demeanor was a lot more drastic; there was serious panic in the expression of the rather easygoing boy Cecil had as a roommate. It was disconcerting.

It’s not the first day anymore…what could’ve happened? he wondered, hesitating whether to continue moving on or to approach them.

[ItzToxie]

The good news was that Emmett did not kill Sapphire. The bad news was that he had so much survivor guilt that he thinks he may as well have been the reason.

It wasn’t Emmett, it was Lorenzo. Emmett couldn’t do anything but watch Sapphire bled out. As much as he said it was him, it wasn’t Emmett’s fault.

Maybe Emmett was partially responsible, maybe Emil thought that Emmett bailing on him was selfish and stupid, but Emil wasn’t the one who saw his friend die in front of him so he had to take that into account.

“Emmett, it’s not your fault. Lorenzo killed her, not you. You did everything you could. At the very least you tried to help! Everyone is going to know what Lorenzo did tomorrow. He’s already made enemies, and now everyone will know he’s a killer. He can’t hide.”

Emil hugged Emmett. He knew he needed it. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened. We knew people were going to die here.”

He pulled back and looked Emmett in the eyes. “I hate to tell you this, but you can’t dwell on Sapphire. I know it hurts, but you can’t get locked up on her, because... she’s gone. Right now, all you can do is work on fixing it, and stopping others from dying. We can’t help everyone, but we can do our best to. That’s all we can do right now is try. And right now we need to focus on those we can help, than those we can’t.”

Emil saw someone in the distance behind Emmett. He recognized him. How could he not? Cecil was one of their roommates.

“Hey! Over here!” He said as he flagged Cecil down.

[Primrosette]

Emmett felt himself calming down slightly from Emil's hug and his words that were trying to get through to him. Emil was definitely a better person than him, Emil was so good and kinda of a idiot at times. But Emmett knew that that was just how Emil was, he wished that he could be this caring like the other boy. He wished that he wasn't such a selfish prick. Now he had a chance to change himself. Maybe just a little. It was fucking hard to pretend that he was going to be okay, but Emil was right. He had to put Sapphire in the back of his mind as he couldn't grieve for her forever and he had to concentrate on surviving. He had to stay with Emil this time and he wondered how long Emil was sure about helping people.

"S-Shit. Y.....You're right. I have to survive and stop sobbing over this. I-I want to help you, Emil." Emmett said as he wiped the tears from his face as best as he could and he sniffled a bit. "For Sapphire and anyone else that I care about.... I have to make things up to people. I fucking have to..."

He then tensed up as Emil was calling out to someone behind him and Emmett turned his head to see who it was that was a bit farther away from the both of them. He was slightly surprised to see that it was Declyn's boyfriend. Cecil. Right, his name is Cecil. He wondered if Declyn was going to pop out of nowhere to make them a complete set of the Room 709 Squad or some shit like that. Emmett felt like that would be very funny but very unlikely.

I wonder if Cecil had been on his own this whole time. I wonder if he is worried about Declyn. Shit, I'm feeling worried about Declyn. F-Fuck...!

"C-Cecil...?"

[LeslieFranc]

I…did not know they were that close, Cecil thought with a curious raise of his eyebrow when he witnessed Emil hug Emmett, and he just let him. He had the impression that the latter was often annoyed by the former, but perhaps there was something about them he missed or didn’t read into? Of course, a lot could’ve happened during their days in the same room, and a whole lot more in a day when they were dropped into this island and found each other.

“Good for them,” he tonelessly muttered to himself. He couldn’t help but wish that he found someone, too. Well, there was Drew, but now he was gone. It shouldn’t have hurt him more than he thought it would; Cecil bailed on people before, and they fairly bailed on him in return. It didn’t affect him then, so why should it affect him now, right?

Cecil tried to ignore the obvious answers a part of him started freely giving out. Instead, he got lost in his own thoughts.

But I didn’t just leave Drew…did I?

No. Drew left him.

And it’s only fair I just leave him on his own as well.

Right? Wait, no. That’s wrong. I—

Aaaand they’ve seen me.

Emil called him over, and even from far away, Cecil could tell the other boy somehow still had some energy despite looking worse off than him. Once again, he was jealous. Emmett’s reaction was a lot easier to relate to. These two definitely have a story to tell.

Well, if they trusted him enough to tell it, and if he trusted them enough to walk over.

His trust in them, huh…

Not much, he decided as he raised his hand to nonchalantly wave back to Emil and Emmett, eyeing the latter’s spear with concern. But I just found them, so maybe… After a beat, he went on his way towards them anyway.

Cecil lightly jogged towards them until he was with them at a respectable distance, just at a specific spot he calculated, or at least attempted to, to be where Emmett’s spear wouldn’t immediately reach him. Cecil’s ballistic knife was visible in his hand, which should be fair enough for the both of them. They were just weapons. Mostly everyone had weapons now. They have weapons. Not much trust, but maybe just enough…

Cecil didn’t really want to fight.

“Hey,” he finally said with a smile he thought looked peaceful, but merely looked exhausted. Cecil tried thinking of something or anything he should exactly say to them. Clearing his throat, he tried to project as much as lightheartedness as he can to his voice. “So, what have you two been up to?”

He found them. He had to try, despite the fact that these two were here but Declyn wasn’t, and that felt so plain wrong. Even though Declyn had always been there for Cecil. Even when he never expected him to, which was from the very start until recently and fuck I miss him, I need to find him. It irritated him, but that wasn’t any of their fault here, was it? Cecil just had to take a chance.

[ItzToxie]

Emil stood up from Emmett, and turned towards Cecil as he got closer. Cecil looked like he'd been in the shit too. At this point, probably everyone has. He hoped Cecil hadn't been the one to instigate it.

"Buddy, we've been up to the same thing's everyone else is. We're just trying to help people and not die in the process."

Emil looked at Emmett, then back to Cecil.

"...Aaaand avoid Lorenzo. That one's kinda been on our list."

Emil rubbed his chin and laughed half-heartily. "So far we're only successful with one of those three things! It's... It's not been good. I won't lie. We're getting overwhelmed and, we'd really appreciate some help. I'm really glad to see you actually. It's hard finding people, even with my collar tracker. Yeah, to put it lightly, it's been rough for us." Emil shrugged and tilted his head. "I don't really wanna admit it, but I'm kind of at a loss for what to do right now. I know what I want to do, but I don't know how I can do it; You understand where I'm coming from? I mean, you're smart right? You probably have an idea or a plan or something long term we can do right? I hate this, dude..." Emil flipped his hair out of his face.

"Feeling useless. I hate that feeling more than anything, and shit I know I can't give up, but like-"

Emil froze and stared at the sand. For a moment, his face twitched, and his façade of motivation and collection left. He was as broke and lost as everyone else. He was truly and utterly fucked, and if he couldn't even keep track of Emmett, how could he help anyone else, let alone himself, and shit was so fucked, and he was realizing now that he might not make it, and all the upbeat speeches and pain is weakness leaving the body, and every little dumb video he's done to prove mind over matter meant noting in the face of his own mortality-

Emil took a deep breath.

Breath in.

Breath out.

"Shit man... I'm sorry I'm being rude as hell. I'm already venting to you, and I ain't even asked how your day went?" Emil smiled again. His eyes didn't match it. "Anyways buddy, how's it been? You been holding on better than us? Or is it just about the same where you're coming from too?"

[Primrosette]

Emmett found himself too exhausted to even speak or do fuck all as Cecil made his merrily way over to the both of them and he noticed that Cecil seemed to be in a bit of a rough state himself. It didn't seem like he wanted to get that close him or Emil either and Emmett didn't mind. People being too close up in his space always made him feel pissed off or just uncomfortable about it in general. Emmett didn't feel like moving from his spot on the sandy beach and he found himself staring out towards the ocean, making sure that he was listening to what the other two were talking about.

As Emmett listened to Emil rambling on and on; he realized that he had made Emil take the burden of trying to be the positive one of trying to pick up the shattered pieces around this island on his own and with Emmett in his presence. Emmett felt himself dragging his fingertips through the sand at his sides and he felt like a shitty person for not noticing how Emil was trying so much harder than him to make the best of a terrible, crappy situation that they were in.

For fuck's sake, I need to keep my shit together and make sure that Emil doesn't hold up everything on his own. I have to be strong. Strong for him now. He always is the one to save me so now I have to do something right. Fuck it.... I need to do something good for him too and I need to find other good people that need someone by their side. Emmett, get up! Now!

Emmett made sure to get a grip on Sapphi- No - his spear and he made an effort to get up to his feet, wincing in the process from his still hurting ankle. He hoped that it wasn't going to be too much of a nuisance and he let out a small sigh. He then turned to glance over at Emil that was beside him with a softer expression on his face and then his glance went over to Cecil, waiting to hear what the other boy had to say.

[LeslieFranc]

Cecil was simply nodding along as Emil talked about their supposed day and plans. He was looking down at the sand below, his eyes unfocused as he absorbed some new information that may determine whether he could trust his fellow roommates and how he would have make his moves for this day. He mulled over the stand-out ones from the continuously flowing information that was Emil’s talkative nature.

The first thing that Emil said was already remarkable.

Trying to help people? Cecil doubted that was what “everybody” was up to. He also doubted Emil was that stupid…ly idealistic, but he guessed he was wrong. For this place and even for them, that’s a noble endeavor. How good-natured of them. Cecil never got the impression of Emil and Emmett being deceitful people; he’d like to believe that he spent enough time to figure that out. So that kind of statement that defied the new rules of this place…he didn’t know what to do about it, but he wanted to trust it.

The second thing was a name that Cecil will assume to be the reason why these two were in a bad shape.

I might have to ask more about that later.

The third thing was something Cecil never really expected to hear. It never occurred to him that something like that would exist, but he had an idea what it should be just from what Emil called it.

Did he just say a collar tracker? To find people? He couldn’t help but perk up at that.

Cecil had been waiting for a pause to take the chance to ask about the collar tracker first, but before he could utter even a sound from his mouth when it seemed like he was finished, Emil just kept talking, which led to Cecil having to look back up at them in surprise, trying to pay attention to what else could be said.

And then Cecil was faced with heaps of helplessness that Emil had been feeling, along with the expectation for Cecil to be helpful as a result. It was like those words easily made it harder for him to breathe. Emil had somehow been able to articulate the same feeling Cecil had been having trouble to sort out about himself ever since he woke up yesterday.

Feeling useless, his mind echoed. Cecil would never admit that out loud, no matter how constant it was then and how heightened it was now. He wanted to empathize with Emil, but would telling someone feeling helpless that he felt just as helpless as well solve anything? Of course not.

“Well,” he finally sighed, a bit in a daze from Emil’s venting and his own thoughts about the matter. Looked like it was his turn to share information. “I think I’ve definitely been in better places, especially in comparison to you two,” he eyed their visible injuries in concern. “Also, in addition to the killers and Lorenzo, I have another name that I think should be avoided.”

“Gervais has a gun,” he revealed, then started revealing more. “And he shot—he shot a friend I was with.” His grip on his knife as well as his expression tightened at the memory. “My friend was gone—he just left—by the time I got Gervais to leave. I was just by myself since then.”

He looked at Emil, then at Emmett who just stood up. Cecil still felt wary about the spear, but their supposed plan of apparently helping people and the collar tracker held him in place.

While he wasn’t exactly all for being the helpful shining beacon of light in the island, he decided he’d trust their good intentions not to harm him. Also, that collar tracker sounded useful.

“Look, in order to help others, you have to help yourself,” Cecil glanced at Emmett’s trouble with his ankle, then at the bruises at Emil’s face. “There are people who might actually want some help, I’ll admit that.” He inwardly thought of Yuka, who despite having that gun just wanted to find her sisters, and now her sister Yuko was dead. “But enough encounters with the wrong people will ultimately amount to nothing good.”

Cecil himself hadn’t figured out a concrete endgame for him that would make him content enough, but he had an inkling of an idea of what to do in order to survive in each situation he previously encountered.

“Before all that, you have to worry about yourselves. And then…” he hesitated. Here it was, an offer to align himself with them. “…then, maybe you guys could start helping me, and if I can, I’ll help you. We can help each other.”

[Shiola]

((Erika Stieglitz continued from Direct Impingement))

Familiar faces shouldn’t have seemed especially comforting to Erika. Not when all she could see in them at this point were different social tapestries to tear threads from. After what just happened though, she needed a distraction. Anything other than spending time alone in some hole or decrepit building, making mental lists of things and people to be afraid of.

That seemed like a good enough reason. It was bullshit, though. Erika didn't understand why she was doing much of what she was doing right now. The only viable justification for her actions lay firmly in the long-term. Problem with that was, most people had a really hard time thinking in the long term. She was definitely one of them. In the short term, most of the actionable decisions that presented themselves to her seemed like various different shades of moral bankruptcy. Something as simple as walking over and saying hello to a couple of people she’d expected to find dead any moment now seemed to win out by default.

There’s at least temporary safety in numbers. Especially if I can win them over before the announcements hit.

As she walked onto the open beach, she heard fragments of a conversation between Emmet, Emil, and a dude in a trenchcoat she only peripherally knew.

Cecil, Lazar Love or some shit like that. Screws up the team name with him here. Em & Em & Cecil? Doesn’t really work so well anymore.

She strode quickly across the sand, the only sign of tension in her body that one of her fists was clenched. Inside was an empty brass casing. Picking up brass was a habit. The lines it dug into her skin worked as a reminder of the one she’d just crossed. With as genuine a smile as she was able to muster, she waved at the group and joined the conversation at a similar distance to the one Cecil held.

“Hey dudes. Glad to see you’re still kickin'.”

She raised the shoulder the rifle was slung on, looking to the gloomy-looking boy in the trenchcoat. Given the rain that had been sputtering on and off on the island, she was more than a bit jealous.

“So, uhh. I heard the words ‘Gervais’ and ‘gun’. Might be happy to know he doesn't have a gun anymore. Or like, intact ribs for that matter.”