[M] Are you afraid of the dark? IC

[SmileyCassandra]

OOC (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25925)

In the old town of Mansfield; there stands an old abandoned building. No one dares step foot on the land, nor do they even attempt to look at it. The building was once a hotel, and only the rich could stay there. One day in this old building; there was a murder. A woman was killed, and a note was left behind.

To fulfill my own satisfaction; this woman was my target. Beware of future days, fore she is not the only target I am after. I will give you a hint, and only one. This building will be the place.

The hotel owner and police were stumped on the letter, and shut the hotel down.

Now only two years later, the building still stands. The walls are moldy, and the floors are cracked. No one knows who stays within, but on some nights distant screams can be heard, from all of the victims from before.

Demi Re'Shay

Demi walks the streets in a hurry, the foot steps behind her scare her. "Who's there?" she asked, coming to an abrupt stop. The footsteps behind her stop as well, and she slightly turns her head. "Seriously, who is there?" she asked, turning around fully. No one is there that she can see, and she sighs in frustration. "Damn tricks" she muttered, and continued walking. The next thing she knew; someone grabbed her from behind and put something to her mouth. She began to struggle, but she soon began to close her eyes. She was thrown into a van, and taken away.

Isabelle Ricklie

Isabelle left her job early, and began heading home. "What a nice town this is" she said sarcastically, as she watched guys pushing around a young girl. "Hey! Get your hands off of her!" she yelled, her voice demanding as she watched them. She acted tough, but deep down she was scared shitless. They guys ran off, and then girl went on her way like nothing happened. No thank you? Selfish bitch. Isabelle kept walking, and soon felt something hit her across her head. She fell to the ground motionless, and her eyes closed letting the darkness take over her.

All victims

You wake up in what seems like an old moldy basement, and notice others around you.

Soon a screen pops up, and there is a black shadow with no face that you can see. He then begins to speak; his voice deep and auto-tuned.

"Welcome my little victims, welcome to my game. Here you will satisfy me, and I will watch you all die one by one. Demi, Cassidy, Lola, Cairo, Johnathan, Vivian, Melanie, and Isabelle, can you survive? I will let you know your first game, but in the mean time get to know your roommates, who can you trust?"

The screen then went black, and you see all of the surprised looks of the others around you.

[andrinaandug]

Melanie felt slight consciences coming back to her and opening her eyes was not as easy as it always seemed once you've waken up from a sleep. The instant she got her senses back a horrible stab was felt , pain shooting through her head having to flinch and rub it soothingly not recalling what happened for it to hurt so much.

Suddenly she felt light against her skin and looked up to see it was coming from a screen that was once dark and black and now a shadow of a person you could not see clearly who is speaking of this "game". The screen went black and it took her quiet a few seconds till she finally had snapped out of it, looking down at the palm of her hand that was rubbing against the back of her head a second ago, and now is filled with dots of blood covering it having blurry flashbacks of the scene of her getting hit in the head and snapping up jolting up from the chair, her face losing every colour to it.

She looked around to see more people here the instant she remembered he mentioned more names, They we're all strangers, people she did not recognize nor trusted. But one thing they all had in common, they had a terrible fate to be brought up into this horrible place. i scanned each and every one of the faces of the people that I will soon might have to rely on to survive.

[Nathanial]

Johnathan rose his head still fuzzy from what he could only guess was a spiked drink. Slowly pushing himself up with one arm he looked around the room as he listened to whomever's voice came from the t.v. "Just a game" he mumbled to himself. When the t.v. clicked off he looked at the others who where there trying to paste the names to each person.

[The Lifted Lorax]

Cairo lifted his head, gingerly feeling his temple. Surely enough, a lump was beginning to rise from where he'd hit his head. On his medical table! Panic gripped him as he realized that someone had known where his little torture spot was, but a screen rose and the digitized voice said nothing of it. Only his name. As the screen lowered, memories started gradually fading back to Cairo.

He'd been cleaning off the metal table, blood from the last girl, working with hydrochloric acid to make sure he got everything. It was when he'd started feeling a little nauseated and woosy he thought it might be a good idea to put the acid away--he saw burns on his fingertips from where his fingers had slipped--and it was only then he'd smelled propane. But it was too late. Someone had blown out the pilot light in the stove in the next room and the last Cairo knew was his head hitting the edge of the table before he blacked out.

Cairo quietly cursed himself for being so lax on his security. When he got out of this place he would have to double- and triple-check everything. Then something the voice on the screen had said registered. He would watch them all die one by one. Cairo smirked; this person clearly must not know who--what--he was dealing with if he dared to even make a threat on Cairo's life. He looked slowly around the room, taking in each person and sizing them up. He was one of two males in the room, odds he rather liked, and his attention was drawn to one particular brunette across from him. She was beautiful and young...just his type. His smirk widened into a grin as he imagined how loud she might scream with a rat gnawing its way through her stomach and burrowing into her entrails.



Lola lifted her head and slowly pushed herself up as a voice, still blurry to her ears, spoke. Very slowly, in time to hear her name amongst others, things stopped sounding like they were underwater. Game? What game? What was this about trust? She looked around at the others, most of whom looked just as confused as she was. The man who was smiling disturbed her; no one should be smiling in this circumstance. She'd been walking home from her job as a cocktail waitress at a casino near her dingy apartment when she'd felt a hand with a rag around her nose and mouth, a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pinning her arms to her sides. She blinked blearily, adjusting to the lighting.
"So..." she said slowly, looking at each one of her fellow captives, "who are you and why are we here?"

[goldgall]

Vivian suppressed the groan that threatened to escape upon her awakening. Her head hurt like hell and her throat was horribly dry. She struggled to remember where she was before she passed out.

At that thought, she frowned. Passed out? She must have passed out. She didn't remember going to sleep. But Vivian never drank--she hated how she had no control over what she did. The one time that she had indulged and gotten drunk at a party, she'd woken up in an unfamiliar room with a pounding in her head. The next day, the death of the idiot she'd been trying to charm into paying for a trip to France had turned up dead.

Needless to say, she'd packed up and gotten the hell out of that town.

She shook her head, reminding herself that she had to get back to the situation at hand. She discreetly looked around the room, taking in the faces of the people there. Four people of the seven other people had already woken up, looking around. She made a mental note to keep an eye on the sleeping ones as well--they could just be pretending. None of them looked familiar.

She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and in the corner of her eyes she saw someone looking at her with a smirk on his face. She quickly quelled the desire to turn around and flip him the bird. She had more important things to worry about.

Such as the television screen that had just flickered to life. She kept her face expressionlessly blank as the figure spoke, but on the inside she was a wave of emotions--mainly anger. The speaker, whoever it was, had known her name. She'd stopped telling her real name years ago, instead going by various aliases. Her favourite was Sareh; there were millions of Sarahs.

A game. She had been taken to a game. Her natural instinct to treat everybody else as either a threat or a target doubled. For a few seconds she thought about the best way to go--should she fierce and intimidating? Small and innocent? Frightened?

She settled on the appearance of being totally helpless. The damsel in distress. She had no idea why she was here and she just wanted to get home to her little sister, who she loved with all her heart. Despite herself, a small sly smirk curled her lip. She hastily turned her expression into one of fear, making her eyes wide as her eyes darted around the room in a panicked manner.

Slowly, she reached out an arm to 'steady' herself as she wobbly rose to her feet. She looked around slowly, like she was still trying to figure out what was going on. "Wh-what's going on?" she asked, making her voice higher and softer than usual.

Her eyes darted from face to face, resting on the young woman who had just spoken. Some distant part of her mind noted that she was the picture of innocence--baby blue eyes, soft features, and blonde hair.

"I-I don't know" she stuttered, hugging herself and looking down. "I'm... I'm Vivan" she said softly. "I don't know why I'm here..."

She looked up again, her eyes wide. Mentally, she grumbled about the necessity of it, but the look on their faces when they fell for it was well worth it. "Who are you? A-and what's he talking about? A game?"

Once again her eyes darted between faces, this time because she the idea that one of them might be a spy, or someone on the kidnapper's side, entered into her mind.

"What sort of game?" she asked in a frightened voice.

[Awyas]

Cassidy stood up, looking around as she saw all the the other people. Suddenly, a screen flickered on, and she jumped about a foot in the air. All the light in the room was a picture of a black face. Kind of shaped like a clown. All of a sudden, her legs collapses, causing her the crumble to the ground, wincing in pain. She was so tired. Then, the 'clown' on the screen starts to talk about a game. A game? Interesting. What kind of game? I hope we don't have to hurt each other. I don't want it to be like The Hunger Games. Cassidy thought. She couldn't hurt a fly, unless the fly flew into her face. Then she would scream, run away, come back with a fly swatter, and kill it. She hates bugs.

[SmileyCassandra]

Demi and Isabelle

Demi looked around, her eyes full of fear. The screen clicked off, and Demi honestly didn't know who to trust. "I'm Demi, and I don't think any of us know why we are here" she replied, looking at Lola with fear filled eyes. She heard a girl start freaking out, and it made her all the more nervous. "Hey you" Isabelle said, looking at Vivian. "Stop whining and acting innocent, it's annoying. Your freaking others out, and honestly we are all trapped here not just you" she stated, looking strait in her eyes. She then looked around, and sighed. "Look, we are all trapped here and none of us know exactly why. So I would suggest saying our names, and getting to know each other a little better. I'll start" she said, looking at all of them. "My name is Isabelle, and I have a two year old son. I work at a factory, and I'm twenty. I want to get out of here just like you" she said, and then looked at Demi.

"Um, I'm Demi. I am a sixteen year old in my second year of high school" Demi said, not trusting anyone enough to go any further.

"Now, for the rest of you" Isabelle said, her voice low and seemed like venom from a snake. She realized the boys in the room, but chose to try and ignore it.

[The Lifted Lorax]

"Hey cut that out!" Lola snapped at the girl who soon introduced herself as Isabelle. "It's not like any of us knows what's going on." She crossed over to the attractive brunette, Vivian, and hugged her. "It's okay, don't listen to her," she said quietly. "We're all scared. She's just like that cuz she's scared too." She turned to face the others and said in a louder voice, "My name is Lola. I'm a cocktail waitress at the Big Chief Casino in Branson. I uh...I don't know if we're anywhere near there anymore. I'm twenty-three." She twisted her fingers together self-conciously.



"Cairo," the man said, standing slowly. He'd seen through Vivian's act, but chose not to say anything; this could be very fun. He almost felt like asking if she cared to dance...but of course that would give the whole game away. He surpressed another smirk to avoid raising suspicion and instead turned his dark eyes onto Isabelle and took a few steps towards her. "I'm twenty-seven and as such I don't greatly appreciate being told what to do." He pursed his lips and turned back to the rest of them. "My father was a butcher, his father was a butcher, as was his father and his father's father before him. I repair time pieces." His understanding of normal human interaction told him this was an appropriate time to allow himself a small smile, having injected a small amount of humor into an otherwise tense situation. He disliked that he was not the one in control...but that would change. "And I can see more than you think." His eyes darted to Vivian for a fraction of a second before returning focus to the entire group. "And seeing as I live in New York I highly doubt any of us are in any sort of familiar place."

[Nathanial]

John slowly rises and looks around the room at everyone. He can already feel that part of his mind starting to think and trying to poke its way into his mind. "The names Johnathan, but John for short please. I am seventeen years old and I come from pennsylvania." He quickly gets out that sentence then gets all quiet again.

[andrinaandug]

Melanie heard everyone introducing themselves. She looked around at all of them, some we're still sitting down and the others we're standing up. Everyone had finally introduced themselves but she did not, and she wasn't going to unless someone asked her formally and personally because she wasn't the kind to talk when not approached to. She simply looked around the room, feeling as if this game is so familiar; yes it was exactly like that horrible horror movie her friend had watched once when she slept over. Shivering from the thoughts of that because it made her know that people we're going to die, and that could be her.

She simply looked around for anything, in corners, and finally saw a door going silent... She gently opened it only to see a bathroom, looking inside there was a bunch of public toilets that looked like they we're abandoned for years with fungus everywhere and the doors of the toilets we're broken. She looked over at the mirror to see blood, some odd things written glazed with blood that was unclear. She blinked a few times and thought about it for a moment seeing the same glaze of blood on the open doors of the toilers, closing them one by one she looked in the mirror once again and saw what was written her face paling. "Guys... Guys come look over here" She cried out for the others to hear.

[goldgall]

Vivian almost, almost dropped her act in favour of snarling at the confident idiot. Instead, she took on an affronted and slightly angry tone and voice (which wasn't that difficult). "I don't know what you're talking about. Why on earth would I need to act innocent when I'm scared out of my mind? What other emotion could I summon up when I wake up in a room with seven strangers and someone telling me I have to play a game?" she snapped, doing her best to not let too much of her anger leak through.

She admitted that maybe she had overdone the inital act. She couldn't help it--while acting was one of the things she did best, she couldn't help but admit to herself that she was shaken by what was happening. She didn't let it show, though. She was just opening her mouth to say something else when she was cut off by one of the other's defence of her. She inwardly smirked and returned the hug gratefully. "Thanks" she murmered quietly, withdrawing.

Lola. The one that had fallen for it was Lola, and the irritating one was Isabelle.

She stiffened as she heard a male voice, her eyes darting wearily to the speaker. It was him--the one that had been looking at her. She payed particular attention to everything he said, something telling her that she should be suspicious. Was it her imagination, or did his eyes dart to her when he said he saw more? Vivan usually trusted her instincts, but she had to be extra careful in a situation like this.

She made herself smile a little, forcing herself to act as if she wasn't currently thinking about how she could ensure that she got out of this alive.

"Um... Well, I'm Vivian Chambers" she said, trailing off. "I'm nineteen and I don't feel that comfortable telling you all where I live. It's a rather small town" she frowned worriedly to herself. The excuse wasn't a very good one, but someone travelling from town to town didn't fit the persona of who she was trying to be. "For now I'm doing collage over the internet, but I have a little job to support my sister and I" she said hesitantly.

She was just about to say more, when her attention was drawn to one of the other girls. She'd found a... toilet? Bathroom?

Cautiously, she walked behind the girl, wrinkling her nose at the smell. She quickly scanned the bathroom for anything she could use as a weapon, and came up with a couple of ideas. Hell, maybe all she'd have to do is lock them in there and they'd die of the stink.

She came to stand behind her, watching as she saw the genuinely surprised expression on her own face reflected back at her. It gave her one moment to school her next reaction from one of suspicion to stay as a surprised one.

Isabelle.

Isabelle, was written on the mirror in dried blood. Her mind was working furiously as she wondered what it could mean--would she be the one to die first? Was she the one to live? She had to be somehow special, something that defined her from the rest of them.

Grimly, she stepped back out of the bathroom, staring at Isabelle. While she looked dumbstruck, she was examining everything she knew (which wasn't much) to try to explain the name on the mirror.

[Playpink]

Tasha groaned and rolled over, covering her eyes with her hands. Her back ached worse than it did after her first performance (which included getting on all fours belly up and having another performer stand on her stomach). Usually her feather mattress (of which she had spent a month’s worth of pay on) would do wonders to relieve the aches and sores that came with the life of a circus performer, but the surface she was laying on was hard as rock.

Tasha slowly removed her hands from her eyes, wondering when the last time she had fallen off her bed was. Instead of the ceiling of her caravan, cheerily lit by the rising sun she was greeted by what looked like a cracked cement ceiling. She sat up so fast it made her head spin, but she was used to blood rushing to and from her head at high speeds. Looking around her, she could see several other people looking just as confused as her.

Just as she opened her mouth to ask what the hell was going on a screen popped up and flickered to life. Tasha strained her eyes to make out the face of the person on the screen. She made out the rough silhouette of a head with…a party hat? The frizz of hair and the pointy hat sitting lopsidedly atop the persons head screamed ‘clown’, and after all her time around circus clowns she was pretty damn sure this freak was dressed up like one. As the person--at least she thought it was a person. Who knows, it could be a cardboard cut-out and a recorded tape--spoke, her eyes grew wider with each word.

As the screen went black she tried not to hyperventilate and die--although that sounded better than whatever death the nut job on the screen had planned for her--as she attempted to make sense of what little information she had.

Okay. So she and a bunch of other people were being held captive by some psychopathic murderer who is going to make them play games and then kill them. No big deal.

Tasha buried her head in her hands. How did she even get here, anyway? Carefully retracing her last known memories, which were of her practicing for the next show, she remembered taking a drink of water and then darkness.

She blinked. Oh. Great. This psycho had put sleeping pills or tranquilizers or something in her drink.

Something else struggled to the surface of her frenzied mind. The letter. Her eyes widened as she remembered the letter. Finding a clean white note folded in half shoved under her door was confusing enough, but the words written on it were highly disturbing. Even so, she tossed it aside, thinking it was a prank by one of the local kids. But now? There was a damn good chance that that letter had everything to do with her kidnapping.

She was tempted to start yelling her head off about how she was too young to die, but then the crazy sicko behind this might kill her for being annoying or disturbing his beauty sleep or something. It seemed like the sort of thing insane, homicidal people would do.

Tasha took a deep breath. She had to calm down. Her death was avoidable, she was definitely not facing her painful and imminent death.

“Agh!” she removed her head from her hands to grip her hair painfully. As her hands weren’t covering her eyes now she remembered she wasn’t the only one facing an excruciating death.

Listening to someone named John introduce himself, she figured that they were, well, introducing themselves. It seemed that everyone had already introduced themselves, so Tasha meekly raised her hand.

“Um, I’m Tasha. I’m an eighteen year old travelling circus performer” she said rather awkwardly, glad for the distraction from her frantic thinking.

She was about to say more when she heard someone cry out. Quickly getting to her feet, she cautiously followed a brunette towards the call, half expecting the psycho from the screen to come out carrying a dismembered corpse or something.

Upon entering the bathroom she recoiled as the stench hit her, soon followed by a gasp of horror. She didn’t know who Isabelle was, as she had been having a near nervous breakdown during the introductions, but she had a feeling that this was not good news for Isabelle.

She continued to stare at the mirror for a couple minutes before the smell drove her out of the room. Sitting down in the corner, she wrapped her hands around her knees and tried to think about something else. Like how she was going to freeze to death in her decorative sleeved leotard she had been wearing while practicing and apparently been kidnapped in. Although, again, dying of hypothermia was most likely preferable to the death the psycho had planned out for her.

With a groan Tasha flung herself onto the ground and stared at the ceiling. “I’m going to be killed by a psychotic clown” she muttered to herself rather dazedly.

She worked for the circus. Clowns were supposed to be her friends, damn it.

[SmileyCassandra]

Isabelle, and Demi

"Why are you looking at me?" Isabelle asked the girl, and slowly walked over. "W-why is my name on that mirror?" she asked, and backed up slowly. "One of you did this didn't you? One of you put my name on the damn mirror! Who the hell did it huh!?" she yelled, and ran for a door. As she cracked the door open, she screamed out in pain as something shot her arm. "OW!" she screeched, and instantly held her arm from the pain. She whimpered, as she began turning pale.

Demi watched as this happened, and gasped as she saw Isabelle collapse to the floor. "No! What happened!?" she yelled, and ran to her side. "Someone help!" she yelled, looking at the others around them. She began breathing harder, and the tears from her fear poured down her red flushed cheeks. "No one should go through this! Why the hell are we here!?" Demi yelled, watching as Isabelle's eyes began to puff up.

Click

As the click sounded off, the man with the clown mask laughed a twisted evil laugh. "It seems as though everything is going as planned" he said, and then looked at the pale Isabelle. "For trying to escape there is now a poison through out your body, though there is a cure. I have a riddle for all of you, and I know some of you will not care for the woman's safety" he said, and paused slightly as he looked around the room.

"To give life to one, you must take life from another. 'Tis a female not a man, though she is a child, with a monster deep within. Trust those who you will, but not who seems obvious. There is a present inside the female, and another inside the sick. Figure this how you will, and I hope you have fun with this first game. Also, Tasha, welcome to the games" and with the screen once again went off, and Demi looked around confused.

[Nathanial]

John looked around at everyone. The news sent a chill down his spine, but that didn't last long. His mind was already at work seeking the answer to the riddle. Already a part of him was grinning at the thought of it all. He knew people were going to die and deep down he wanted to be the one to do it to them all. Sweat dripped down his head at the thought of it all. His hand twitched a bit remembering the feeling of dissecting animals in school part of him always wanted to do that to a human, but he hadn't gotten the chance. He shook his head trying to get those thoughts out of his head.

[The Lifted Lorax]

"A female, well that's really useful," Cairo muttered, rolling his eyes. "That only rules out two of us, leaving six or seven." He did a quick count. He tried to look agitated and concerned, but just under the surface of that facade excitement was bubbling. He sighed and folded his arms, looking grimly around the room. "Alright ladies...it's time for the truth. We need to know any secrets you're hiding, try to figure out who could possibly have a 'monster deep inside.' This girl's life is depending on it."

In complete honesty, he wanted this girl to die as slowly as possible so he wasn't in too much of a hurry to find a cure. He wanted to study how it happened, perhaps reverse engineer the effects to figure out what kind of a poison so he could use it when (not if) he got out of here. The first assumption would of course be Vivian but he already knew her for who she was. Lola was 22, the oldest woman here so she could be ruled out. That left Demi, Cassidy, Melanie, and Tasha. He didn't much suspect much of Cassidy; she hadn't struck any cords with him, and if anyone knew about the monster inside it was him. Tasha had just woken up a few minutes ago so he hadn't had much of an opportunity to figure her out, she still wasn't ruled out. He turned to Demi, the youngest. The others were on the cusp of womanhood, but she was still very firmly a child.

"Demi, you're the youngest. If you're hiding anything, please..." Cairo's eyes were pleading with her. "Please...you could save her life." He curled his fingers to keep them from visibly twitching. His hands were itching to get to work. He hadn't had a kill in so long and it was starting to give him the shakes.



Lola had followed into the bathroom, only to immediately stagger out at the sight of the name written in blood and the smell that nearly knocked her over. As she saved herself from tripping over her own feet, the screen popped up again. She listened to what their kidnapper had to say, and it gave her shivers. She looked around the room quietly, unsure of who was meant by the child with the monster inside. She knew that as the oldest she was safe from suspicion, particularly since there was nothing to suspect, but she couldn't possibly fathom who it might be among the women. Her head snapped to the side as one of the men, Cairo, called out Demi. It made sense...but Demi had seemed so nice...

[andrinaandug]

Melanie's mind could not quiet observe what was going on. The shock that the blood on the mirror of the name of one of them made her body so numb. She was paralyzed entirely in place just starring at the mirror. Next time that could be her. Her name could be written somewhere and that could be the end. She had to take a deep breath to calm down having to rub her hand over her eyes. Looking over at the door hearing the others talking outside. She was the only one inside the bathroom and that freaked her out. Not wanting to be caught in some kind of game she immediately walked out of the bathroom closing the door. And once she did some kind of brick fell down from now an open whole in the ceiling almost hitting her head. She flinched back looking down on the brick... paper.. theres paper attached to it... maybe a clue? She thought but didn't want to open it. No no more discovering unpleasant things. Last time she dared to walk into something she discovered it scarred her mentality for good.

[Playpink]

As Tasha had been staring at the ceiling and contemplating her imminent doom she didn’t see what had happened, only heard Isebelle’s rant and then a cry of pain. At this she shot up, inducing another head rush, to see another girl crouched over who she supposed was Isebelle.

She scrambled to her feet, about to go over and see what she could do to help when the screen flickered to life again. The clown psycho laughed before seeming to start rambling. Tasha payed rapt attention to each word, her mind in a panic. Sure, she didn’t know Isebelle (and to be honest, she seemed like a bit of a drama queen, but being kidnapped would push anyone close to the edge) but she wasn’t about to stand my while someone died!

Once the screen went black again she proceeded to stare at it for a few minutes, her mind reeling. She wanted to help, she really did, but she couldn’t fathom the idea of taking away one’s life to save another’s, even if the child was a so called monster.

There was only a five children/teens here, four of which she didn’t know the names of, thanks to her panic during the introductions and…her. She didn’t think she was it, but for all she knew the freaky clown person thought she was. Or he could just be flat out lying and there was no cure and they might wind up killing someone for nothing.

"Alright ladies...it's time for the truth. We need to know any secrets you're hiding, try to figure out who could possibly have a 'monster deep inside.' This girl's life is depending on it” the voice startled her out of her frenzied panic (well, sort of). She turned to face the speaker, who was looking at all the possible subjects grimly.

“I don’t think I’m a monster, and I don’t remember ever doing anything remotely monster-like, but the clown psycho might think I am or he could just be screwing with us and we might kill someone for nothing and Isebelle is doomed o-or there is a cure and he’s just screwing with us on the riddle…” Tasha continued to babble about all the things that could be/go wrong, suddenly feeling very exposed in her clothes.

After quickly blabbering out her long list of worst case scenarios in incomprehensible stream of gibberish, she hurried over to Isebelle to see if she could help. The girl looked terrible, her eyes were puffed up (though she couldn’t tell if that was from the poison dart sticking out of her arm or from tears) and she was sweaty and pale. Quickly pressing her hand to the girl’s forehead, she estimated she was running a temperature of that-shouldn’t-be-humanly-possible. This was pretty damn high, coming from a girl who knew a guy ingested fire at a regular basis.

She threw a look at the bathroom, her gut churning at the thought of going in there again. She gritted her teeth and got to her feet, taking a deep breath before re-entering the bathroom. Another girl was in there, though she seemed to be just staring at the mirror blankly. Tasha spared her a glance as she searched the bathroom, her nose wrinkling in disgust. Lying in a relatively dry corner she found what she was looking for.

Taking what looked like someone’s old shirt, she hurried over the sink. Squeezing the tap handle, she turned with all her might. The tap opened with a low screeching noise, and icy cold water shot out of the tap. Dunking the shirt under the tap, she fervently hoped she was doing something useful. She quickly squeezed most of the water out, leaving her with a damp wadded up shirt. It wasn’t much, but it would do.

Tasha noted that the other girl had left the bathroom at some point and was now standing outside the door, staring at something at her feet. Tasha hurried past her, going back to Isebelle.

“I-I don’t quite know what I’m doing here, but I think this will help a bit, if only making her a bit more comfortable” she muttered half to herself, smoothing the makeshift rag over Isebelle’s forehead.

[goldgall]

Vivian wondered what Isabelle would do when she saw her name. Cry? Break down? No, that didn't seem to fit in with the character she'd shown. It was more likely that she'd yell, get angry, and all-around unreasonable.

She wasn't wrong, but she was surprised by the words that Isabelle said. She accused them of putting it there, which Vivian hadn't expected. And though she tried to school her features as quickly as possible into pure shock, when she fell to the ground she couldn't help the tiny smirk that flitted across her face.

She made herself rush over to Isabelle, pretending to be frantic and concerned, but after a moment her head snapped back up to the screen, this time the surprise on her face not acted. The mysterious man was back again, with that grotesque mask covering his face.

He began to speak, and with every word the frown on her face deepened. It wasn't an angry frown, it was a contemplative one. It didn't last long though, because at his last words it turned confused, though she hid the anger that she wanted to show.

Tasha? Who was Tasha?

Her head snapped towards the unfamiliar figure that was approaching Isabelle. It was a child-like girl wearing a leopard-print leotard, something that made her eyebrow twitch slightly in incredulity. The girl then proceeded to spew out a nonsensical stream of gibberish, thought Vivian managed to understand the gist of it. The girl oozed silliness... or stupidity, as she would rather call it.


And somehow, Vivian had missed her. She hadn't noticed her. She berated herself, realizing that this... whatever this was must have shaken her more than she thought if she had overlooked something so obvious as an entire person, when she should be paying twice as much, if not ten times as much attention as usual.

She pushed it out of her mind, because now Cairo was talking. He looked concerned, but something was... off... about it. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she resolved to pay close attention to him. Though that didn't change much, since she had already decided that he was worth being wary of.

And anyone that she deemed a threat, she had to either ally (or pretend to ally), or get rid of them.

She shook her head slightly, allowing herself to do it because it didn't go against her image. She had to think about more important things. Like... the riddle. No, not a riddle. A set of conditions and warnings. Conditions for how Isabelle could live.

Well then. Vivian had two main options; she could either try to help out in finding out who could save Isabelle, or she could pretend to. It depended on who it was that could save her--and therefore die in her place. It was really too bad that the riddle said that it was a female, or otherwise she would have been all aboard for getting rid of Cairo.

As it was... A female, described as a child. With a monster within. Her eyes widened, wondering if he could possibly be talking about her. She knew that she hardly qualified as a 'child', but she also knew that she could certainly qualify as a monster. Others might see her as such, anyway. She just thought she was... ambitious. Self-serving. And what was wrong with that?

Humans were essentially selfish creatures. Everybody did things for themselves, and if not for themselves then for the people they deemed deserved their attention. Sometimes there was that rare person that helped a stranger out, but what was that for if not for some deluded self-satisfaction that you were a good person?

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind, feeling frustrated as she continually lost track of her thoughts. She had to think about the riddle right now.

A present inside the female, and another inside the sick

Vivan couldn't make sense of it. There was something that could save Isabelle inside the 'monster'? The first thing she thought of was a cure, but the idea sickened her. The main reason for that was because right now, she considered herself as the most likely candidate. She quickly thought about the other part: ... and another inside the sick. What could be inside Isabelle that could be of any use to them?

She could think of several things, like a weapon or a piece of paper telling her exactly how to escape alive, but she knew it wasn't going to be that simple or that easy.

And then... The warning. Trust those who you will, but not who seems obvious. She realized that this could also very well apply to her, but that could be because her first impression told her that 'obvious' meant as in 'obviously trustworthy', but that wasn't necessarily the case.

She took a deep breath, telling herself to get a grip. The first thing she had to do was keep up the pretense.

She looked around, seeing that the circus girl--Tasha--had gotten a rag from somewhere and was smoothing it over her forehead. She couldn't think of anything else she could do to try to (or pretend to) help her, so instead she focused her attention on Cairo, who was accusing Demi.

"Just because she's the youngest doesn't mean she's the person he's talking about" she protested. "I--I think I agree with Tasha" she said. "He might just be lying to get us to kill each other" she looked down at her feet.

"I don't want to kill anyone" she whispered. Ugh, the sooner she could drop this, the better. Vulnerability was one of the things she hated, and to this degree it was just... ugh. She never had been as good at the innocent act.

[andrinaandug]

Melanie had to take a deep breath and twist her head backwords to start looking towards the others. Theyw e're interacting and talking to each other, helping each other. She'd usually be one of them as well and not be so helpless and silent but right now she really had nothing to say, nothing to do, nothing to think. Her mind was blank. Her emotions we're all blurred out. In other words her body was in chaos mentally and physically. A cataclysm was just going on inside of her.

She saw how fast ad kind Tasha was. She was not scarred at all, well she was surely scarred just not showing it. Pushing it aside only to take care of Isabelle who was not in the best shape as she can see. Melanie felt saddened that a single person had to go through all of this. She looked horribly pale and hardly standing up. Her knees we're buckling and quivering. Melanie truly wished she could help save Isabelle but there was another dilemma in the case. in order to do so another person in the group has to be sacrificed. The thought sent chills down her spine.. wait.. minors... she was... a minor... Oh no no no she thought shaking her head trying to snap herself out of it. Her thoughts we're the worst right now worrying about herself is just plain selfish. Just look at tasha, she was racig ot make Isabelle feel comfortable even if she just found out she might die.

And Vivian.. her voice sounded weird a bit strained on the soft side. But Melanie wasn't going to judge. Vivan looked like a very nice girl. She was pretty innocent and quiet friendly from what it looked like. She had to agree with both girls. "Yeah... I doubt it has to be the youngest.." She said a bit too quietly not knowing if they had heard or not.

[SmileyCassandra]

Demi and Isabelle

A monster within? I don't have a monster within me! So why is he telling me I'm the youngest!? "Shut up! Just because I'm the youngest doesn't mean I have a monster within me! Instead of pointing fingers, why don't we try to figure this out!" she yelled, watching as the girl who was called Tasha tended to Isabelle. Isabelle looked up at her with a smile, and nodded with thanks. She couldn't speak because she was to weak, but her eyes said all the thanks needed to the people trying to help her. She didn't believe Cairo's words, nor did she believe Vivians. There was something off about the both or them, and the only way they would win her trust was by coming clean. She heard how people defended Demi, and smiled at that as well.

"Thank you" Demi said, her eyes on Cario. "Look, for all we know he was telling us it was a female to trick us. Besides, it doesn't matter becau-" she was cute off once she caught sight of the wall. There was a C written on it with blood as well, and she looked around the room with a scared face. "State our names, and maybe that will help" she whispered, "Demi" she finished, her voice louder then before.

"Isabelle" Isabelle said, and looked around the room. "But how will that help?" she asked, and winched at the pain in her arm again. "You guys he didn't state how we would find the person we are looking for, so maybe he put clues around this room? Just like Isabelle's name on the mirror; it caused her to try and escape..." Demi said, and looked around once more.

Cassidy

Cassidy looked around the room just as confused as everyone else, and listened as Demi asked for their names again. This time, she answered. "Cassidy" she said, her voice low. She didn't exactly understand what was going on, but she was very scared. She did have a monster inside her, but it wasn't very big. What would that have to do with all of this? She didn't understand, but she didn't want to talk about that at this time. They would instantly think it was her doing, and simply kill her off. Why would they want to kill me off? It's not like I'm the one they are talking about, and she honestly didn't believe it was her.

[The Lifted Lorax]

Cairo held up his hands defensively. He hadn't actually accused anyone of anything! He was just trying to appear as if he was trying to help!

"Look, I wasn't saying anything, alright? I figured we'd start with the youngest and work our way up. Go on the honor system. If Demi had nothing to hide, we'd move on to the next youngest and so on. Yeah, the guy could be lying. But then how would we figure anything out? Are you willing to risk this girl's life on the off-chance he was lying?" He gestured to Isabelle, who was surprisingly lucid for someone slowly being poisoned to death. "I wasn't pointing fingers. Like I said, start from the bottom and work our way up. And there's no need to shout; I'm right here. Shouting induces panic, and that's just what he wants." He should know. His voice, however, was filled with surpressed panic and anxiety.

He followed Demi's gaze. Great. Now because the one with the cure suddenly "wasn't female" by virtue of "it could be a trap" (everything could be a trap), he would come under suspicion, too. No matter. He was willing to kill each of them if he had to. If he were lucky, he'd get at least one. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Cairo," he said in a carefully controlled voice which dripped with concern and fear.



Lola frowned, confused by everything. None of this made sense...why would...but then, why would any of this happen? She sighed and shook her head, letting the others argue it out instead of adding to the chaos herself. She looked up, however, when she noticed everyone had gotten quieter. That's when she saw the C up on the wall.

"L-L-L-Lola..." she said quietly, her body shaking as well as her voice. For all they knew it was a first initial. But her last name was Cartwright. It was still enough for her to be concerned. She worked very hard to get her body to stop quivering.

[Nathanial]

John studied the people more and simply listened to all they were saying. Such foolish creatures we humans really are he thought to himself. Easily thrown into chaos when little things happen. John sat down on a nearby chair and sighed. "Johnathan, but I prefer John. Please do remember that" John spoke short and sweet. He didn't want to delve into any deep conversations with these people. Conversations always seemed to turn into useless dribble. He winced slightly has he felt his mind tugging at him more and more. "Maybe id be best if I let him take over for now" John mumbled to himself.

[goldgall]

Vivian frowned thoughtfully. She'd already thought of the possibility that the clown-faced man might be lying, but she hadn't thought that he might be lying about the 'female' part. If he was... Then it opened up a whole new line of possibilities and suspicions.

Demi cut off mid sentence, paling as her eyes widened. Vivian's heart quickened a little as she looked to where Demi was staring.

A large C, written in blood, on the wall.

Her eyes widened a little. For once, without meaning to, she looked the very picture of what she was trying to look like: innocent. C. C, possibly for Chambers. Vivian was undeniably rattled. For one moment, the reality of the situation came crashing over her. It was very possibly her they were talking about--the only requirement that didn't fit was the 'young' part.

Although at 19, she could still be called a child. She felt her hands started to shake, just a little bit, and she couldn't seem to stop them. Her eyes were riveted on the wall, the unforgiving letter 'C' scrawled there.

Suddenly, almost compulsively, like a nervous twitch, her eyes darted downward, to rest on her trembling hands. The sight snapped her out of it. She may not be able to control what was happening to her, but god dammit she would be able to control her own body!

She clenched her hands into fists by her sides, her skin going white with the effort. She was not weak, she was not just going to let some man wearing a party mask tell her what to do! She looked up, a determined glint in her eye.

"My name is Vivan Chambers" she said strongly, for once just dropping the act in favour of what in her mind was an act of defiance against the psychopath that had brought her here.

She didn't know it, but it may have actually added more credibility to her act. She was no longer an innocent, naive girl--she was now a determined girl, with perhaps just enough sheer will to survive.