Possession

[Ruggahissy]

A figure walked straight forward into the mineral processing building.

Suddenly, everything hit him. His breathing started to pick up as if he was about to have a panic attack.

He started giggling. Lost his footing. He hit a wall, feet tangling over each other, causing him to bounce away and collide with the wall again and again. The two bags on his shoulder hit the wall and swung him. His giggles turned hysterical. His balance teetered wildly; he fell and rolled onto the floor.

No longer laughing, now panting like an animal, kneeling on his knees.

Then he froze. A strangled sound came from somewhere that he didn't recognize as himself. He choked. He stared upward with wide, frenzied eyes. Light shined down, illuminating his delicate features.

He sat for a moment, locked in place, before doubling over, vomiting, and expelling a shrieking howl.

((Josh James continued from Pecola))

Laying on one of the conveyor belts was a shiny, vaguely human-shaped lump.

It lay completely still.

Josh had hopped up onto one of the conveyor belts with his two bags. He took out the emergency blanket from the bag that had only recently fallen under his possession and covered himself entirely. He lay on his side, using one bag as a pillow and hugging the other like it was a person in bed next to him. The gun lay between him and the bag he cuddled.

He didn't know what to do or what he wanted besides not to be here.

So he went to sleep.

[Jilly]

((continued from somewhere in the miserable woods I'll link to in the morning))

There was something entrancing about watching people sleep. Maybe it was from how peaceful they always looked when they were most vulnerable. Maybe it was from that very, very fine line between life and death that a sleeping person masqueraded as.

For Shu Hawthorne maybe it was mostly just jealousy, jealousy of never having dreams of his own or receiving grace from his eternal suffering even while asleep. It was partially why he wasn't much of a fan of nighttime; the setting sun was an omen for how little time he had left before that day's nightmare would arrive. He gave up ever knowing peace many moons ago.

Of course, who was to say that the blanketed mass on the conveyer belt in the mineral processing building even was sleeping, or if they were in a sleep they could even awaken from. Shu didn't have an answer himself, but he didn't care about the question.

But there he stood still for many minutes, the sunlight bathing his form in a golden white halo, his own breaths in and out matching the subtle motions of the rot on the conveyer belt.

[Ruggahissy]

Josh fussed in sleep, pulling the blanket down so that his face was visible. The bandage was still over his nose and he was starting to develop dark circles under his eyes, but their mark was still mild.

He was awake before he opened his eyes. He didn't know how much longer he'd managed to sleep after his episode.

He remembered the announcement, just before he had added one more name to the list. It was disorienting that there was a whole list of people that he could never speak to again. He didn't remember particularly wanting to, but now he never could. It didn't feel real. It felt like watching wisps of smoke rise up and then float away.

Sometimes he would Shazam songs he heard at the mall so he would know the name and artist, not even because he particularly liked the song, but because it bothered him that this would be the last and only time he'd hear it. He just wanted the option. The option to hear it. The option to see someone. And now he didn't have the option for those classmates.

And he'd done it, too. He removed a person from the class, gave in to some part of him that wanted to and could do anything, because it was new and intoxicating.

His lip trembled and he bit it.

Josh opened his eyes just a bit and saw someone pulchritudinous watching him, radiant with the warmth of day. Someone he thought was fair.

He looked sleepily at him with heavy eyelids. Then he looked down inside his blanket at his marked knuckles. He sighed. Maybe this was what he deserved. He closed his eyes.

"If you want to kill me, let me go back to sleep. So I can die when I'm dreaming."

[Jilly]

He speaks.

Shu didn't move from his spot and remained a statue, white hair reflecting the ray of light like snow. The corners of his mouth upturned into a subtle, cold smirk.

He didn't respond for some time, taking a detour to ball his bandaged hand into a fist and then a release several times before stuffing it into the pocket of his parka.

"If you want, though sinners forfeit the right to dream. Would've thought you'd know that."

[Ruggahissy]

Josh's eyebrows furrowed, betraying that he had not gone back to sleep.

He opened just one eye and looked at Shu. He closed his eye quickly when he felt their eyes meet.

Under the blanket his hand moved into his pocket and rotated the wooden beads around in his loose grip.

Josh slowly opened both eyes, taking care to not meet Shu's gaze this time. The unoccupied hand left the cover of the blanket and ran through his hair, tousling it messily. When he heard the boy's next words, his face flushed and he looked at Shu's shoes.

How could he know that Josh had done something? There was no evidence and no witnesses. Maybe it was just a joke. Maybe he didn't know but he suspected and could tell just from looking at him. Maybe some micro expressions or some sort of general vibe tipped him off.

Angry tears welled up in his eyes and threatened to spill across his flushed face. Even if it was a joke, this reaction surely gave him away.

"I mur- murdered a girl," he said in a creaky whisper. "I strangled her. I'm horrible."



Ah


"Aren't I?"

[RC~]

((Przemek Ziemiak continued from Wendy House))

Somewhere in Mineral Processing, Przemek was hiding, still waiting for Sean and Bethany to return. He was not getting impatient, but hungry.

Finally he heard some footsteps and voices in the distance. It had to be them, returning from the scouting. Przemek was going to get picked up.

[Primrosette]

((Aion Rhodes continued from Suppression))

Okay, so things had not gone to plan for them really.

Aion had been feel like crap after they had left that other building and he still felt frustrated that he wasn't able to move at a normal pace. He also felt like being babysat by Amos, was making him seem like a burden. At least he hadn't tripped on his feet in the snow this time tho. They haven't really done their plan of going to the research station. But Aion wasn't really feeling worry taking over his mind. His mind was feeling pretty... bleh, for the time being.

"Fuck, could this day really get any worse for us?" He muttered softly as they were shuffling onwards with each other.

He noticed the mineral processing building and he paused during his slow walking process. Thinking about whether or not to check it out.

"Hey, Amos. Do you think that we should check that place? Like, fuck.... Maybe we could find something there for us to use when we get back to the others at some point?" He asked, feeling a bit uneasy.

[Jilly]

Shu's face reset into its natural expression, an ambiguous frown carved in stone. The heavy air in the building remained undisturbed for several seconds before Shu stepped closer to Josh on the conveyer belt. Still bathed in the golden light, he reached out with his untainted hand and stroked the little lamb's head gently.

"Can't answer that," he said in between several strokes. "But you had a reason. Real monsters don't."

Pat, pat. And then a step away.

"Can still kill you now if you'd like."

[Ohm]

It had been a while since they left the office. The outside was cold, and they couldn't walk too fast due to Aion's condition. Amos kept his speed to a pace that Aion could keep up with, but the ground they were covering wasn't much. It wasn't like he could leave the guy behind; lord knows what would have happened if he did that to him. Instead, he kept his pace.

Aion paused; if not for Amos looking over at him every few minutes he would not have noticed, considering the pace. Amos stopped and followed where the others boys' eyes had laid themselves upon.

He listened as Aion asked out loud if they should check the place out. He stood silent for a bit.

"Could be a good idea," Amos finally said, scratching his neck. If things were to go to plan, they would have to reach the research station before the end of the day, but a slight detour wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Ruggahissy]

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, waiting for whatever would come and convincing himself that he would be fine with whatever it was.

Something touched his head and Josh flinched instinctively.

Cautiously he opened one eye and looked up.

It felt strange, like his heart was carbonated -- bubbly and fizzy.

Shu stepped back and Josh sat up now. The emergency blanket fell from around him and pooled at his lap on the conveyor belt.

"A reason?" he repeated, his voice coming out a little higher than he expected it to.

"Y-you're strange," he said quickly, but finding he didn't dislike the interaction. Josh put his things back into his bag quickly like someone packing at the last minute.

Faintly from someplace nearby, he thought he heard voices. Josh hopped off the conveyor belt.

"But I don't know, I guess I don't mind," he said a little sheepishly, covering for the fact that he actually really liked talking to Shu and being pat on the head. But that would be a weird thing to tell another guy, weirder than doing it in the first place.

[Primrosette]

Aion was glad that Amos seemed to be on page with him or maybe he was just a follower in general. Aion really didn't know him that well, but Amos hadn't stabbed him in the back. Yet. He had to remember the word yet. Because friends turned on friends all the time when they were desperate to live. They weren't really friends, but Aion had to be honest about things lately. There was no way he could truly trust anyone. He would have to look out for himself at some point.

"Cool. Let's get going. Being out here is driving me fucking crazy." Aion admitted honestly and he moved forward. "This cold weather is-"

He paused for a moment as he heard something. Voices. He found himself frowning slightly. But were the voices something to trust? He wasn't sure yet.

"Do you hear those voices? Or is it just me?" He whispered quietly to Amos, making sure to stay close to him.

[Ohm]

Amos was set to follow; he did so for a brief moment before stopping dead still and staring at Aion. He was staring out into space, and Amos was worried that the injury had done some scrambling of the brains there.

He was talking about voices. At first, Amos could not tell what he was hearing, but he closed his eyes and tried to listen. There was something, but he could not discern the source.

"I do. Don't know who, though." He opened his eyes and looked at his travel friend.

"You sure about this?"

[RC~]

Hm, listening to the conversation, they did not seem hostile. Przemek had to remind himself that not everyone was like Aracelis.

Still, they weren't Sean and Bethany. However, when they'd return, they'd meet the new people as well, there was no way around it.

Przemek began to call out.

"Hello?"

They might join them. Maybe he could recruit them. Hopefully Bethany wouldn't mind. Przemek believed she wouldn't. More people meant that more people could do night shifts, a task he didn't need to do, but seemed scary and dangerous. Bethany wouldn't mind if she had a shorter night shift, right?

[Jilly]

A glare pierced through Shu's eyes at being called strange, his good hand balled into a fist so hard that the fingernails nearly punctured right through.

But after several moments of silence between the two of them, he simply smiled.

That smile folded at the announcement that there was someone else with them in the building, the second time someone came to kick Shu's sandcastle over. He quickly pulled back from the beam of light and made his exit, slinking into the background until there was no trace.

"See you around, Yeshua."

((to be continued))

[Ruggahissy]

There were suddenly a few different voices coming from different places. He looked away from Shu, but by the time he looked back, the other boy was already gone.

"Oh."

Josh wasn't sure who all of the voices belonged to, but too many and from unknown locations meant he could be surprised or boxed in. He quickly lifted his bag, his gun and snuck out of the mineral processing plant.

((Josh James continued in Paprika ))