June 2021 - A New Arrival?

[staymods]

A New Arrival?

For the last two months, arrivals in the settlement have all been the same. First an Otherworlder is picked up by the Finnish government, then they are quarantined and questioned, and finally they are brought to the island. There has been no variance to the pattern, and the familiarity of it gives life in the settlement a kind of rhythm to live by.

Or at least, it did. Up until today.

Because at some point in the early afternoon, the air around the settlement shifts. For a few seconds, anyone outside will feel the hairs stand up on their skin, not unlike a static charge. Then there is a, audible snap, the feeling abruptly disappears, and all returns back to normal.

Except for one important detail: there is now another person in the settlement, standing on the sandy, treeless banks of Snake Island.

Comments

[ghoulserrand]

What? [Hang on.] No... I need that...! For hunting...! I need it back home... I need it here...! It should be... kept safe with me.

[Double hang on. He steps back a moment with the realization, then gestures.]

You have pockets...!

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano laughs, and mirrors the gesture by taking a hop back. ]

They're occupied!

[ With Teo's rope and also now Kano's hands that he shoves inside of them, no room left for twigs. ]

We're gonna get off this island, and then onto another island, and then maybe another. Point is, we gotta leave here first, and you'll get it back before you go home. Nothing to hunt on this island, anyways— it's flat all the way around! No monsters!

[ghoulserrand]

You could... put the rope on the ground...!

[Un-occupy those pockets!!!]

Before I go home... that is.. a trick. Before.... we leave this... island. Please.

[suddenlybees]

[ Make him!! ]

You're waaaaaaayy too trusting! Somebody could come by and snatch it off the ground.

[ Somebody like Kano. Come on, it's not like he can run away with it? Look at him. ]

Have some more faith about getting home, okay? You'll get your rope back! Cross my heart!

[ghoulserrand]

There is... no one... but you...! And you're not... being trustworthy...!

[He's overcome with a fit of coughing. That's too much not-shouting. Okay. Fine.

With a huff, he starts to look around for sticks-- which are not going in his pocket.]

[suddenlybees]

[ That makes him laugh, because trustworthy or not, there is nobody else but him.

But also, please gather sticks properly... because Kano gives himself several paces' space and starts looking around the ground too, also not placing any sticks inside his pocket, like he's waiting for Teo to do it all instead. ]

[ghoulserrand]

[Unhappy as he is with the rope theft and what appears to be him doing all the gathering, he soon falls into a rhythm. Silence and monotonous tasks are part of his day to day. Fairness never factored into any of that, so with enough time, he can forget about the lack of it here.

Back and forth he goes, gathering sticks and then dropping them down by the shore, until he has what he hopes is a sizable pile. He waits for Kano to join him before asking--]

Now what?

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano wanders back empty handed, pockets laden with rope and other little knickknacks he'd picked up in the time he milled around while Teo was hard at work. He crouches down in front of the stack of wood, tilting his head this way and that, as if appraising them, although without touching them. ]

Hmmmmmmmmm... yep! These look good! Great job!

[ His prize iiiiiiiiiiiiiiss... two large rocks! one in either of Kano's hands that he pulls out of his pockets and holds out to Teo. ]

Here, take these. You gotta bang them together until they catch fire.

[ This is how you make fire. He saw it in a movie once. ]

[ghoulserrand]

[He looks from the rocks, to Kano, then back to the rocks.]

Do you... know if that's flint...?

[That's what this is; Kano wants to start a fire. But this plan is more dubious by the minute.]

I want... my rope.

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano looks down at the rocks, up at Teo, back to the rocks.

... ]

Sure! It's Finnish flint! Never seen it before? Give it a try~

[ Ignoring the request for the rope, Kano underhand tosses the two rocks at Teo's chest, so he's forced to either catch it or let it fall on his feet. ]

[ghoulserrand]

[He fumbles to catch the rocks, mostly because he's not interested in being hit with rocks. He stares at the boy.]

... Kid... whatever... your name is...

[He is never getting his rope back is he. He feels a pang of worry, but then it occurs to him...]

You... can swim... right?

[suddenlybees]

[ Who knows, maybe Kano will drown out at sea and Teo can pick his pockets before he sinks too far. ]

It's Kano! And, like... [ ... ] Like, on my own?

[ Without an inner tube? without tethering himself to a zombie who may or may not be able to swim? ]

[ghoulserrand]

[The drowning would be unpleasant. He'd prefer not to pick corpse pockets... again.]

Kano, then.

[He nods. Oh, to be a zombie sitting in an inner tube. But no, this isn't his plan.]

Good.

[He pulls his quiver and bow off his back and replaces it all to the front of him. Then, he drops down to the ground, legs folding.]

Before you're too hungry... Kano... you should swim.

i'm crying

[suddenlybees]

[ Holy shit. Holy shit?? He's seen this before in movies too, when a madman tells the poor innocent victim to run and then when he's at a far enough distance to have a glimmer of hope, they shoot him in the back. He's not going to do it. He won't. ]

No way! I'm not going anywhere without you!

[ He is never turning his back on that bow, thank you!! ]

i am also crying

[ghoulserrand]

[He looks up at Kano, head tilting. Is this... some kind of playing hero...? No. No. The kid stole his rope. That doesn't make sense.]

... I don't think... you have a choice... I'm not swimming... Either a boat... shows up... or you go alone.

[suddenlybees]

[ He got the rope and now his next thought is how stupid would he have to be to lunge for the bow and wrench it out of Teo's grasp and fling it far into the ocean, never to be seen again.

...

He could do it

He is very stupid. ]

Of course I have a choice! We all have choices! And my choice is that we're gonna stay together no matter what. So come on, get up! Up up up!

[ghoulserrand]

[Don't do it, Kano.

Do not do the thing.]

Kano... I'm not swimming... I'm waiting here... until help comes.

[If it comes. Might be days. Might be weeks. He'd really rather Kano wasn't here for that long.]

[suddenlybees]

Wow! Don't give up hope! Sometimes you gotta make your own help! I'm helping!

[ He says as he lunges for the bow to wrench it out of Teo's grasp and fling it far into the ocean, never to be seen again. ]

[ghoulserrand]

[For ages he'd wished for nothing more than to see another person again. Someone who'd stop and listen just long enough. Someone alive.

The fact that this person is Kano is just more proof that the universe has a vendetta against him personally.]

Wha-- No...! N-- [He breaks off into coughing, but he's not letting go of that bow. Kano yanks and he holds fast.]

Let... GO!

[He lifts his boot up to try and shove Kano back.]

What is wr-- [He coughs again and draws a particularly raspy breath.] wrong with you...? What are you... doing?

[suddenlybees]

[ He takes the boot wherever it hits him, shaking off the nostalgia and laughing at that question: what is wrong with him? there's just so much. ]

Ouch... I'm saving our asses, that's what! What can you expect to do, holding onto this thing like a safely blanket all your life? You gotta let go of it someday!

[ghoulserrand]

You're... crazy...!

[What is even happening right now.]

This safety... blanket... isn't for me...! What if the... monsters showed up? [What if one was already here, that is.]

[suddenlybees]

If the safety blanket isn't for you, then for who? [ The only other person here is Kano, and if it's for him, shouldn't it be in his hands? ]

If the monsters show up—

[ huh

If they show up, they'll be dead. Absolutely dead. No way around it. ]

I'll give it back then! But they can't swim— or I don't think so, anyways, 'cause there was one way up north that we could hear screeching and whatever all last month, and it prowled up and down the shoreline but it never went into the water towards camp.

[ghoulserrand]

[He clutches his bow and quiver closer to himself.]

No.. no, no... Bad idea...! And you... are a liar... who stole my rope...!

[He scrambles up to his feet, trying to put distance between he and Kano.]

This... is a safety blanket... for everyone! [He coughs.] Including you.