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Grounds, The Camp |
With the removal of underbrush and a half-dozen small trees, there is now a tiny clearing around the dropship. It has begun to fill with detritus from the ship, including all of the seating, padding, and removable plates or bulkheads. Several tents have been set up within the clearing, set close together within the confines of the surrounding trees. A small collection of weapons sits under a parachute-cloth shelter by the door of dropship, open for community use. A three-holer latrine is set up downwind of camp in the prevailing breezes, and a rough wall stretches between trees at the edge of the clearing, dropship plates and felled tree-trunks stacked up and lashed together as best as the Delinquents can manage. There is a gate at the north end, a single panel that can be rolled aside at need. The forest immediately surrounding the camp has been cowed into near-silence, but is still vibrant and green to a people used to stark metal bulkheads all around them. |
16 Days After Landing |
A sudden cry goes up from the wall, and someone is screaming one of those ear-splitting screams that are filled with fear and surprised. One of the kids who was supposed to be on the wall — but let's be honest, they were all finding spots to watch and listen to Jaha's address — is darting through the crowd, pushing and shoving. "Jeane found Evie… Eden… someone has to help her!"
Standing at the edge of the crowd Allen finds himself in what might be an advantageous position. The moment the scream is loosed and the shouting begins he leaps into action. Though weaponless, he doesn't seem to care, and instead pushes through the crowd at a non-stop pace, heading in the direction that the panicked teen comes from. "Where's she at?" He yells out over the crowd, his voice booming, though possibly drowned out, "Where'd they find her?"
At the shouts on the wall rings up, Devin is on his feet and looking towards the source of the shouts. He drops his cut and is moving as quickly towards the source of the shouts as he moves through the crowd towards the target destination.
Layla finally decided that all the stuff about Unity Day and Jaha addressing the camp was enough to make her join the rest of the delinquents at large. A mistake, most assuredly, because the young woman had hardly spied a friendly face amongst those gathered than when that shriek assaulted her eardrums. "What's wrong with her?" She calls out after the other person, but they were already shoving their way deeper into the crowd. "Where was she found?" A question undoubtedly already being asked by others.
Morgan looks over at the scream and immediately starts toward Jeane, putting his cup in Cam's hand. "What happened? Where is she? Show me. Someone run to medbay and get bandages and… Well, bandages." Not like there's a lot up there.
Roger nods a little at Alison, brow slightly furrowed, but he at least looks relieved at not needing to go out in front of all 90-something teenagers and explain what's going on. He heads to the radio and starts pushing at buttons and experimenting with trying to make connections to the Ark. Now and then he might be heard, "Hello? Anyone up there? This is Roger, can anyone here me?" He jumps a little at the scream, then, and looks up, eyes widening a little. He stays put, indecisive, with his hand still on the button.
A scream. Now that's a good way to sober someone up. Silas' eyes go wide as he hears the scream, and he's up and onto his feet as he spins around and staggers- nearly falling as he tries to collect himself. And despite not being in the state to be of any remote help, he's making his way over to try and do so. Or at the very least investigate.
"Evie?" Cameron's confused briefly, but he's a bit drunk, and then he's alarmed and full of adrenaline, and after taking Morgan's cup and depositing them on the table, he's off pushing through anyone and running for the dropship medbay immediately.
Grey looks up at the scream, his right hand whipping up to the handle of the metal rod strapped to his back. "Shit." He tosses down his cup despite the alcohol still in it, then half-turns to give Quinn a light shove, toward the gate. The motion also starts him moving toward the dropship. "Go, go. I'll get 'backup.'"
The kid is shaking his head, looking pale and dumbstruck. He points off toward the gate, which has been left open since the threat of Grounder attacks have been alleviated. "There's blood, so much blood," he says weakly.
Screams, and for Kai that means that whatever remains of her snack gets shoved in her mouth, gaze flittering over the gathering to seek out Elias, Grey, and Quinn. The smirk's off her face as she starts to back up towards the dropship, disappearing inside for the moment even though she's not headed for the medbay.
Once he knows where to go, Morgan starts running out the gate. If there's that much blood, he'll no doubt be able to find her without further directions. Though he's already starting to think there's not much point in running.
"Shit." Quinn mutters when the screaming and shouting starts, and she gives Grey a nod before she heads in the direction of the kid, "Hold on…blood?" This means that…wait. Morgan's already on the move. Medicine stuff handled! But she darts off after him so that he's not running away alone.
When Evie's name is said, Hanne freezes dead in her tracks as her fear takes over. She stares at Elias and then back to Grey as he starts into the dropship, but she doesn't seem to know exactly where to move to. News of blood though gets her feet moving, and she's probably going to be dragging Elias along by his shirt — though she doesn't actually tug at him.
Devin looks towards the others as they head towards the dropship and the medbay then he follows Morgan towards the front gates, offering his help wherever it may be needed. "What do you need me to to?" He asks him, trying to keep up while not being in the way.
Elias hadn't been drinking that much to begin with, but the scream from the wall has his attention immediately snapped to the direction of the sound. His eyes immediately go wide, but he does his best to stay calm for the moment. While he isn't over by Grey and Quinn, he does give a quick look to Hanne. The announcement of blood has him standing straight and still with wide eyes once again, though. "We couldn't just have one," he utters as he moves in the direction Hanne indicates.
Allen certainly isn't going to let the medics run off alone, and - if there's going to be action, Allen is going to be there. "Grab the shit and meet us there, I'll look over 'em," he calls back to no one in particular before he sprints off after the pair that have started through the gate already, doing his best to catch up in order to run in front of them.
Layla, who has been burned twice the last two times she's run willy-nilly outside of the camp due to some kid's screeching, watches as Morgan heads for the gate. Her shoulders slump slightly, and she heads for the medbay to get the bandages and whatever other few paltry items that might be worthwhile. Once they were retrieved, Layla would move with swift purpose in order to rejoin those going to find Evie or Eden or whomever it was that went and got themselves injured.
Rifle? Rifle. There's a reason why Kai was lurking near the dropship. For all that the shape might be half-hidden under a blanket when she emerges it's unlikely that it's not obvious that she's got something long and gun shaped under the damned thing.. for all that she's at least trying to keep some concealment on it as the lean ex-C head's towards the wall,"Plant-boy! Get the fuck inside!" who that is, or why he merits being called out specifically.. who knows.
Grey gets to the top of the ramp a moment after Kai, holding out his hands for the items that he assumes she's gathering up, "And the blankets. Keep 'em under wraps unless we need 'em?" He puts enough of an upward tilt to the last word that he's not giving the other ex-C orders. Just… a suggestion… but she's already ahead of him, and he just nods, stepping around her to grasp another pair of rifles under a pair of blankets.
Cam rushes past the well armed cadets, having grabbed those bandages he could, and darts across the yard off towards that-a-way. Out beyond. He figures he'll get a better idea of where to look once he's done dancing and skipping past delinquents and out beyond the wall.
Silas seems to be make a bit of progress towards the gate and to follow those leaving- that is up until to the point where his eyes bulge and he lets out a loud gag, his right hand coming over to cover his mouth and his left hand to wrap around his stomach as he begins to stagger off and away from the gate and away from the crowd, sulking off to find some corner to throw up in.
When the group comes across Evie, she's laying in a disorganized sprawl just inside the gate. She looks as if someone gave her a big shove from outside the wall, so she's sprawled half-in and half-out the wall border. Her brown hair is matted around her head from the blood where it looks like someone tried to cave in the back of her skull. Her hazel eyes are blank and dull, though there's tear marks streaming down her face where she had, at some point, been crying. While there was a call to help Evie, it is quite obvious just by looking at her that there is no helping her at this point.
Thrown just in front of her, lying in the dirt at a weird angle, is a chunk from the dropship. A hasty hand has written in scarlet, 'Arkers Go Home.'
Alison scowls towards the wall. Then she starts off to go help, spots Kai headed inwards to the drop-ship. "Damnit." She looks back into the tent, then just heads back in to help Roger. "This is Ground, transmitting in the blind to Ark. All systems operational. We are holding on your signal." Alison leans over Roger's shoulder. "Stop transmitting, go passive. Any ideas on how they can signal us?" She asks the other electronics tech. "Particles might have hit the Ark's transmitter. Ideas?"
Shit shit shit. There's not supposed to be any emergencies the first time he's been drunk in way too long. At least Morgan's sober enough and jazzed on adrenaline enough to know he's drunk. Fortunately, for some definitions of fortunate, there's obviously no need for him to try to perform medicine and he starts to slow as soon as he sees Evie. "Oh hell." He doesn't need to check her vitals and just comes to a stop next to her.
Fiona starts jogging in that direction, coming to a halt as she stares at the body. "This is…no. This doesn't make any sense!" She looks around in confusion, stares at the body again. "We have an agreement, we just made an agreement, they wouldn't just break it after agreeing to terms…"
As soon as Quinn has caught up with Morgan she slows down, coming to a pause when she spots Evie and her general state. "I don't think you can save her." She informs him, then starts to circle around her, snorting at Fiona, "Maybe it's not the Grounders, Fi…maybe it's one of /us/."
Cameron comes to a halt near Morgan, hands in bandages, and he stares down at the body. He looks down at the bandages, and… sighs. "This wasn't Grounders, Fi. They seem the writing type to you? Its one of us. Its one of the fucking anti-ark sociopaths. Evie was one of the people on the top of the list wanting to go join the Ark the second they came down."
<FS3> Devin rolls Resolve: Failure.
Layla was sorely tempted to mutter, 'well that's precious,' but she reasoned that no one would appreciate the dry sarcasm she used as a means of emotional shielding. Instead, she says, "Anybody know where Rawlins and his cronies are?" She casts a pointed look at Grey. He was the one on the end of that false flag, after all.
Kai stays low when she gets to the wall, easing up so she can peer over the top, scanning what she can see in order to judge whether to leave the weapons under the blankets or not. From the way her mouth moves she's still chewing on that eel, because why waste good food?
Roger does not even seem to consider answering the call for help, but then again… What would he do? There are better fighters and better medics already on the scene. Instead, he keeps fiddling with settings, checking readouts, and generally attempting to find /some/ evidence that the Ark is still up there. He looks up when Alison speaks up, and gives her a worried look. "We're not getting a signal from them at all. I mean. Like… It's like they're not even /there/. I've tried everything I can think of." He glances toward the tent ceiling. "You don't think…? I mean, maybe it's just… you know. Some kind of massive interference or… something… Everything's probably fine, right?"
Devin stops at the body just as the others do, his eyes widening slightly at the sight. He just stares at the body for a few moments before his stomach starts to convulse. He does so twice before he moves away from the body and vomits into the brush. Once he's finished, he looks back towards the others. "Who would do that?" Apparently, he hasn't seen the note yet.
The moment Allen comes across the corpse of the girl, he might as well see red. Stopping abruptly, his gaze locks on the gory, matted flesh at the back of her skull, then finally lowers to the warning sign that's been left in front of her. There's a clenching of teeth, then a low growl that slowly cascades into a louder, and louder one. Then, without hesitation, he reaches out and slams the flat of his boot against the wall, clearly ignoring whatever pain this might have caused him in the moment. Looking back to Fiona, then Quinn, he points towards the corpse and speaks, enraged, "They couldn't have broken it? We didn't make /shit/. All of you Grounder-loving fucks gave them the time they needed to do THIS to one of us. And I'm going to crush their fucking skulls for it."
Fiona draws in a shaky breath as the assurances that aren't very reassuring come from the others. Letting it process, she looks at Quinn. "Is it coincidence? We lose communication with the Ark, and suddenly there's a body?"
"That's a really long list, Devin." Quinn replies, careful to not step in anything obviously important as she inches closer, crouching down to try and get a closer look at Evie. She raises a hand, rubbing lightly at her forehead, "I need everyone to back up…try to not trample the scene.." She pushes to her feet, glancing towards Allen, "Sure, they could have. But any of us could have done this, and jumping to conclusions so we /all/ end up like that isn't going to help anyone. So pipe down." She then glances at Fiona, "No, I'd say there's a connection."
Grey is several steps behind Kai again, doing his best to juggle two assault rifles and the blankets covering them. When he gets to the gates, holding out one of the bundles to Quinn, he stares down, "What the fuck?" He's using that word much too frequently lately. He stares down at Evie… at Evie's body, and goes a bit grey under his dark features. "Damn it, damn it…" Allen's anger hardens his face again, "No one's killin' anyone yet 'till we find the right jackhole to kill."
Hanne is one of those who just stares in utter shock when she comes upon Evie. She is looking at the body, her expression pale and wane. Her eyes flicker around at all the people just standing there, and then she releases a sudden, sobbing breath, "Could we maybe get her inside, and not just… lying there." Tears start to stream down Hanne's face, spilling over from her hazel eyes. "An-and then w-we can talk about wh-what to do."
Morgan kneels down and feels for a pulse in Evie's neck just to make it official. Shaking his head, he stands back up. "There was not a single sign, a single word, in the Grounder's village that wasn't pre-war. They didn't write this. I don't think any of them can write."
Cameron backs up, as instructed, but only a couple feet or two. He can't stop staring at Evie's face, a tension rising in his body. He glances at Allen and shakes his head, "There's hundreds of Grounders, just in that one village. If they wanted to kill us they'd come at us straight. They would have killed us while we were unarmed in their village. And they wouldn't have left a note. No. One of us killed her. Killed her /because/ she was an Ark loyalist." His voice is cold, and hard, and he goes back to staring at Evie's face. Hanne's suggestion gets a grunt, but Cam can't move.
Fiona looks between Hanne and Quinn, biting her lip, and then approaches the first girl. "We should let Quinn and whoever she thinks best have a look first." She extends he arm, as if to put it around Hanne is she permits it. "Let's back away and give her space." A terse look is sent Grey's way, but then, she trusts him to handle the likes of Allen.
"I know, Roger. Focus on the problem. If the Ark was.. It's there Roger, we would know if anything happened. It is huge. Could be anything, sabotage on their side. Solar Flare." A pat to Roger's shoulder. "They are fine, we just cannot hear them. I promise." She gives a gentle squeeze, "Don't worry about the outside either, plenty of others. You are better with the comms than me." She moves to the connections to check the power.
<FS3> Quinn rolls Alertness+3: Good Success.
Something about Cameron's words clearly resonate with Allen, and this only manages to make him more angry. He reaches up and scratches viciously at the stubble on his face, then the top of his head. Finally, he drops his hands back to his side and digs his nails deep into the flesh of his palms. Instead of addressing the others at the gate, for the time being, he turns back towards the grounds, holds his arms out to his side wide, and positively bellows out at them, "Tell you what, y'murderous fuck. If you killed this girl because she was a loyalist, you better fucking kill me too. Because I am going to /crucify/ you. I am going to make you wish you were dead."
Devin looks at the body from his position away from her, but still takes a few steps back at Quinn's suggestion. He just stares at the body for a moment or two longer before he looks up and out at the area surrounding their spot around the camp. He reaches down to his belt, grabbing for the pair of knives and pulling them free as he scans the space around them.
<FS3> Kai rolls Alertness+3: Great Success.
Layla, watching Hanne as tears streak down her face, ponders her own feelings, or lack thereof, before approaching the other girl alongside Fiona. "Fiona is right," she concurs. "And I think that perhaps someone or a group of someones should address the camp at large." There's a slight shrug at this. "Too often has something happened and we go running off, then the rest get restless wondering what's happened." Drawing in another breath, Layla considers things further. "And if this is the result of someone amongst us, then I don't think it's a great idea for there to be no one at least ''trying'' to keep on eye on things in there." Like, you know, some other ex-C's who were at least somewhat trained at this sort of thing.
Morgan steps back away from the body to let Quinn do whatever it is Quinns do. Looking over at Allen, he just nods, in total agreement with the angry young man. Moving over to Cam, he puts his arms around him and rest his head on a shoulder.
Roger glances toward the side of the tent, worriedly. "What's even going on out there…? Sounds like chaos." It's more of a mutter, though he glances toward Alison, and then gets back to work on the comms. He alternates between trying various fixes, leaving the radio open to receive messages, and attempting to hail the Ark. So far, he isn't having any luck.
Elias stops when Hanne does, his expression falling into perplexed sorrow. The grisly image turns him a bit white, but he does as he's asked as far as keeping back goes. Clenching his jaw, he reaches out to lay a hand on Hanne's shoulder so he can urge her to turn around and face away. He musters what he can to keep some composure about him. "C'mon. Don't. Just…they'll get her down." The words are spoken in a quieter tone.
<FS3> Devin rolls Alertness: Good Success.
"We'll take her in soon, Hanne. Just not yet…" Quinn informs Hanne, then starts to look around, taking note of a few things before she rubs her fingertips together before reaching towards the body, starting to carefully move it as she keeps looking for any signs. Any evidence. It's not pleasant work, but she seems to be ignoring the reality of what she's doing.
"We're not Arkers to the Trikru, people." Grey's voice is slightly strangled by the tightness in his throat. "We're Skaikru to them." He steps back a bit at Allen's bellow, wincing a little at the volume. "I'm gonna check in on the Techies and keep a handle on things in there, Q, Adams." Glancing over to Hanne, he reaches out to squeeze the Ee-Ess nerd's un-Eliased shoulder as he heads back toward the dropship.
By this point, someone managed to find Cookie and tell her that Evie was injured. Some pressing palms here, an elbow nudge there, sprinkled with some, "Excuse me. Pardon me. Coming through. Move, please," eventually brings her to the fore of what's going on. Before she can even ask for a sitrep, those doe eyes of hers have found the crumpled, bloody form of her (non-cousin) BFF on the ground, and a strangled sound escapes from her throat as she topples to her knees, wide-eyed, blanched, and horrified.
"You're all so sure that it was one of us," Allen starts to Quinn in particular once he's finished with his scene, "So you figure out what the fuck happened here, I'll look out there." 'Out there' is accompanied by a gesture towards the forest, the tall man's gaze turning to face it more pointedly, "I'll see if I can't find anything— a weapon, a track. Something." And, with that - should no one stop him - the massive teen begins making his way away from the gate.
Kai gives a sharp whistle, probably for the other ex-C's, points to her eyes, points down to the ground just outside the wall. She slithers back down the wall with her bundle in hand and then pads towards the gate, clearly determined that she's going to follow whatever she spotted.
"Alright." Quinn replies to Grey, her concentration pretty well settled on Evie for the moment, checking her hands, and under her nails before she pokes around at the wound. Then she pushes to her feet, "Before you go, why don't you show me your hands and arms." She glances towards Kai, lifting her chin upwards in acknowledgement before finally taking the item Grey was holding out to her, tucking it under one arm. "If people will take her inside, that'd be great."
"Allen!" The sharp tone comes from, of all people, Fiona. "If you jeopardize the peace we've made because you're so convinced Trikru is responsible you can't cope with anything else, we won't save you from the consequences!" They worked too hard for this. Her expression is perhaps unexpected quite fierce.
<FS3> Kai rolls Survival: Success.
Devin's attention moves away from the forest and then back to Quinn as she gives the go ahead for them to move the body. He sheaths his knives again and moves to help carry the body back to the camp.
Cameron turns and watches Allen bellow at the yard, and he just nods in agreement with the man's sentiment. The first one, at least. He leans against Morgan then, his body trembling slightly, "I liked Evie. She was nice. Smart. Didn't ever want to hurt anyone at all." But he gives a squeeze to Morgan, his eyes turning to find Cookie's, his expression one of sympathy as he reaches an arm out to offer a hug, but since he's mid-hug already, she's gotta come get it if she can.
When he's addressed, Allen turns about and looks towards Quinn with a sneer. His lip tucked up and teeth visible, he holds his bare arms high, his tank-top revealing quite well that they're clear of any marks or scratches. "If you insinuate for a fucking second," he starts towards the other teen, though he remains in place to allow her to examine him, should she want to, "That I had something to do with this, I am going to lose it, you understand me?" Then, when Fiona calls out as well, Allen barks in response, "I'm not going to jeopardize a fucking thing. If they did this, I'm gonna kill them. If they did— Well. We wait until they kill us. Either way, someone is going to die."
<FS3> Cassandra rolls Melee: Failure.
"Woah, hey," Layla says, voice raised ever so slightly. "I doubt Allen can walk the, what, two-three hours, to the Grounder village in order to wave his stick-spear and shout mean things at them in a suicide attempt." She has Serious Concerns about things that sounded an awful lot like For the Greater Good. "People ''should'' be examining the area outside of the camp as well as in." Isn't that what investigations were all about? She turns to look to any of those faces of those nearest her, as if hoping to spy some kind of affirmation.
Cassandra has managed to get lost in the crowd. It is a big crowd, and finding one person in it is a tough call. When she does return, it's with the trusty old machete she left behind before heading out to Coesbur. Now the crowd is much bigger, or rather, denser than it was before — it surrounds the body of one Evie Williams with a caved in skull, and naturally, many delinquents are starting to panic, but she herself is now struggling to see. "Did you figure out the feed yet?" she asks one of the smaller kids, giving a push to shove him out the way. This gets her shoved right back, and sends her stumbling sideways. "Float yourself, Anderson," she tells the delinquent.
"Your words, not mine. Maybe you could be helpful for right now, and carry the body of the girl you're so upset about." Quinn suggests, smirking at Allen before she takes a step away from where the body is still on the ground, moving to start examining what's around, moving in every widening circles before she starts to follow after Kai to let her know what she found on the corpse itself.
Hanne looks toward Cookie when she emerges. She is turned around easily at Elias's urging, but this leaves her looking at Cookie. She reaches up to squeeze at Elias's hand, and then steps toward Cookie. She reaches to gently take Cookie's hand, fingers twining around hers. "Hey, we should go back inside," she says, her own words trembling a bit.
Alison steps back to the flap, "I don't know Roger. Don't know. I have a headache." She glances straight up and scans the stars, you know, cause. Then Ali slips back inside the tent, "Somebody was hurt, pretty bad. We need to stay on this. Can you try to scan through the interference, isolate the source, in or out of the atmosphere?" the red head frowns. "Do we have a landing point set for the next dropship?"
"Yes, someone is going to die." Morgan agrees then lifts his head and steps back. It's the only result that can happen for killing one of their own.
Hanne also gives Grey a small look of thanks, even if she is pale and sad.
Kai's on to something. Maybe. Certainly the lean girl with the rifle isn't stopping to argue or check bodies and doesn't seem set to wait to see if anyone else wants to join her under the basic assumption that if others are coming, they'll follow. She and her stiff blanket step past the gathering at the gate to follow what she's spotted along the outside edge of the wall; drag marks. From the fact she has the rifle with her.. probably she's not planning on negotiating surrender if she finds something.
Grey looks a little confused by Quinn's request, then his eyebrows rise and he looks down to Evie's hands. He slings his blanket-wrapped bundle, showing off his arms and hands. They have minor nicks and scratches, the cut from Cameron's knife a few days ago, but no nail marks. No one is above the law. He nods once, looks up to Kai, nods again, then heads back into the camp, "Alright people. Torches for the search parties! It's getting dark out there and we don't want anyone to get lost. If you're not searching, back to your food and booze! They'll find who did this." It's questionable if his shouting makes any appreciable difference in the chaos in camp, but at least it makes him feel a little better on his way to the Tech Tent.
<FS3> Allen rolls Resolve: Good Success.
If it isn't Quinn's words that set Allen off, it's the smirk she gives him. And set off he is. His face is red, his eyes wide, and his teeth bared, and it seems to take him every single bit of his willpower not to advance on the smirking girl. But he manages to direct his rage elsewhere. Looking to a spot on the ground near him, he throws his arms up, then down, and screams, "WILL YOU SHUT. UP. NOW." The sound likely can be heard from the gate, to the dropship, but that does very little to bother Allen. "I have someone to kill," he says to Quinn, then, as he turns around and begins making his way to the forest, "Go float yourself."
"Where's Rawlins? Cassandra?" Cameron shakes his head, his expression suspicious, "Does anyone really expect to find something /out there/, when we're all /in here/, and it'd be easier for the murderer to just slip back into the crowd and blend in?"
Roger sighs, showing an uncharacteristic frustration as he snaps, "Interference kind of implies that there's a signal of some kind to begin with. There's /nothing/. It's like they just disappeared." He pushes back from the table, a little more forcefully than necessary. "I'm going to go check the antennas and shit. Maybe it's a problem out there. Maybe some animal chewed a wire or… I don't know. Something." He slides his hands over his head, probably a stressed gesture, and starts walking away.
Cassandra is right here, though she's currently on her arse due to a minor quarrel with Anderson, a scrawny young delinquent who's given her an embarrassing amount of trouble for his size. When she pulls herself up to her feet, the severity of the commotion finally starts to sink in, and she peers about as others from the party start to filter out towards the forest. Words like 'die' and 'kill' are starting to reach her ears. This time, with the crowd thinning, she manages to shove her way towards the forefront of the crowd, where she gets a full eyeful of the body. Her whole body tenses and her dark eyes narrow.
Layla frowns, throws up her hands, and begins to head back into the camp. All the better to get lost in the crowd, my pretties. She does, however, mutter, "You're expecting the killer to have any semblance of cleverness." Rawlins, when he had beat up Grey, hadn't been all that smart about it. Why should ''whoever'' was responsible buck that trend? At any rate, Layla will go and grey cloud in some solitary place unless she's otherwise bothered.
Grey gets a nod in passing as well from Elias, but it's the squeeze to his hand that has him actually moving again. Shaking out of it for now, he retrieves his hand from Hanne's shoulder and looks to Cookie as well. "Shit," he says, finally choking up and unable to hold himself back from tears forming in his eyes. He holds his hand over his mouth for a moment before using it to wipe up and then down his face. There's a shake of his head to Hanne then, staying nearby to both her and Cookie, but not moving to crowd Cookie at the same time.
Cookie is kind of dead weight. Not in the same way Evie is, obviously, but she's not exactly in a condition to be moving. Shock tends to have that effect on a person. The good news is that she's not hysterical. Just numb. That said, odds are that Hanne might need some help getting the chef out of there.
Reaching the Tech Tent, Grey sticks his head inside, "So. What the shit broke in here?" There's something desperate, searching in the way his eyes flicker around the gear, looking for a distraction. "Not that I wanted to see the whole silly pageant again anyhow, but I was kinda curious what other people said about unity." Yes. Good. Let's not remember the almost-friend by the gates with her head caved in, or the lynch mob following tracks outside.
Fiona has since let go of Hanne, and so she goes over to help her with Cookie. "Cookie, Cookie, come on." she says gently, looking over at Hanne in concern. "Cass? Can you come help?" She'd be no good out there, so Fiona tries to focus on what she can do something about.
"Cookie," Hanne says softly, trying to keep her voice soft and easy. "You should come with me." She starts to tug, trying to encourage Cookie to move. She looks at Elias a bit helplessly, seeing that his own expression is a bit strained. She reaches to take his hand too, giving him a little squeeze at the wrist.
Alison looks up as they are joined by Grey, "Honestly, we've got nothing on any channel. Zero communication out of the Ark. We both checked our gear, it is functioning." Alison says as she checks the signals again just because. "Roger is as good as we have on the comms, way better than me." She says and nods to the young man. "Could have been a solar flare, but the Ark has weathered them before." Another ask him chin motion to Roger.
"I got you, Fi," Elias says quietly, clearing his throat. He moves over to Cookie as well finally, but doesn't say a word to her for now. Not a single word. Instead, he wipes over his face again and waits for Fiona to give him direction on how she'd like him to help lift. A nod is given to Hanne as well. "Let's get her inside," he says, still offering assistance, but not wanting to jump the gun either.
Cameron comes over towards Cookie too, his expression worried, reaching out to grab her arm and squeeze it if she lets him, "Cookie, listen to them. Let's get out of here, right?"
Cassandra? Help? "Screw that," she says instinctively to Fiona, glancing from Evie's gored skull to the retreating figures beyond the gates. "Are you asking me to join the lunatics out in the woods about to go get themselves killed? If Grounders did this, and you know as well as I do they might well have —" She gives her sort-of-friend, recent-five-second-dance-partner a hard look, then raises her arms and mimes a cross. "Then they're walking into a death-trap. If one of us did this… fuck."
It's a bit like lifting a rag doll. One that weighs as much as a 5'6" human who is reasonably fit. Cookie is fraying around her eyes, which are glistening but not yet leaking, and she offers no resistance as she's hauled to her feet. Some sort of pitiful mewling sound is left behind with Evie as the chef is shuffled away.
"No, Cass, I was asking you to help with Cookie." Fiona snaps, adding, "You know goddamn well they don't write. Or call us 'Arkers'." She refocuses on Elias, nodding in thanks as she gestures for them all as a collective to help with the bereaved cook.
Roger pulls up short when Grey appears at the entrance, just as he's going out. "As far as we know, they're not up there at all. Could be their communications went down for some reason. Could be the whole Ark lost power. Could be solar flares. Could be they were all zapped to oblivion by little green aliens. We just don't know." Apparently the retiring nerd gets snarky when he's stressed. Go figure. "I've tried everything in the book, and nothing has worked. I don't think anything is wrong with our equipment. Whatever's happening, it's on their end, so we won't know anything until they fix whatever knocked them out. If they even can. If they're even still up there. We might /never/ know what happened."
"One of us did this, Cassandra." Cameron looks backwards, narrowing his eyes at Cassandra, "Someone who hates the ark, who thinks the ark can float for all she cares, someone who would look at Evie's being one of the most loyalists the Ark has as a danger to herself, since anyone who supports the Ark she thinks endangers her life— which is the only thing important to her. Know anyone like that, Cassandra?"
Cassandra opens her mouth to answer Fiona back, and by the look on her face she has a lot to say, none of it agreeable. Nothing new there. But then Cameron is accusing her of murder — or rather, politely inquiring as to her knowledge of unnamed individuals in the group who might possibly match her description — and she claps her trap shat to slide her eyes his way with a bewildered expression. "Float yourself, Cameron. Unlike your boyfriend, I've never killed anyone." Except for those two Grounders. "…Of our own."
<FS3> Elias rolls Resolve: Good Success.
Grey starts a little as he ducks into the tent almost face to face with Roger, then scowls at the responses from Alison and Roger, "Shit. Damn. Hell." He draws in a slow breath, pressing against his temples with the palms of his hands. That lets the blanket slip off the rifle slung barrel-down over his shoulder, and he glances down, then crouches and bundles the cloth around the weapon again, "So nothin' wrong with our equipment. Must be Ark-side. Right. I guess we hope for 'solar flare.' I mean, it's not like there'd be anything that'd just make the Ark disappear." Beat pause, and he looks to Roger, "Besides little green aliens."
Elias flicks his attention over to Roger and what he says about the Ark. Apparently, this didn't help matters. The squeeze to his wrist does bring him back to the task at hand with only a soft cursing under his breath. That task being getting Cookie anywhere other than here. The vocal arguments slung back and forth start to draw annoyance and panic from him, but he does manage to keep his cool well enough. His face is ruddy and eyes glassed over, but he's able to maintain composure enough to move behind Cooke so he can start to wind his arms up underneath hers for a pretty standard emergency carry. "Fi, can you get her legs? Hanne, clear a path if you can?"
Cameron is having none of Cassandra's denials, his head tilting up and eyes staring full of accusation and suspicion, "Evasion? Check. You've been threatening me ever since I called the Ark to save Arker lives, something Evie agreed with. What is it you like to say? Sleep with one eye open? Did Evie get a warning like that too, Cassandra?"
Hanne nods sharply, but she seems a bit disorganized. Making a path really just means her walking ahead to make sure that no one else is just loitering there, in the way. She is equally numb, but manages to follow Elias's instructions!
"Cameron, stop it." Fiona bends to get Cookie's legs, hooking her arms underneath the other girl's ankles. Here's hoping she doesn't get kicked.
Alison makes a rough guess-timation of the mass of the station, "The station is there, it is too big. If it exploded, we'd have seen it. If it lost power and hit the Earth at terminal velocity, we'd have seen and felt it." Eighty percent Alison offers it as statement, ease Roger's nerves. "One hundred years up there and no aliens around but us space invaders." Blab and don't even consider the twenty percent window of 'yet.' "I wish I could tell you more, without a laser or telescope, I cannot confirm it, except to say we could if it had come down."
No one gets kicked, and the cook is carried off with little fanfare. Certainly none on her part.
Roger snorts faintly. "Yeah. It's a three-fucks kind of problem, for sure." Yes, tech problems are measured in fucks. Rog has spoken. "I'm going to double check the antennas and the cabling to make sure nothing got fried by the weather or chewed on, or… whatever. But I wouldn't hold your breath or anything." He glances toward Alison, more solemn than usual, and lifts a shoulder. "Doesn't mean they didn't suddenly lose life support or something. Could be floating up there in orbit with everyone dead, for all we know." So helpful. Anyway, he looks back at Grey, abruptly changing the subject. "What the hell's going on out there? Sounded like someone was hurt?"
Morgan walks over to put a hand on Cameron's shoulder and give it a squeeze. "Let's wait to make accusations till we learn something more. The camp is full of anti-Ark idiots who could have done this. She's probably not the only one who's threatened to kill someone because of it."
"You can't prove shit," Cassandra tells Cameron with a feral sneer, and her posture is already on the defensive. "I didn't kill Evie, and if I was going to brain every shitstain who got in my way, I would have been boxed long before I was." She scans the crowd hereabouts to see if anyone's going to rise to her defense — Anderson certainly won't, but Fiona's admonishment of her accuser has her relaxing a touch. Looking to Morgan, she waves a hand towards his partner. "It occur to you that maybe it was an Ark Loyalist who did this, to rally people against people like me who are talking sense?"
Cameron is silenced from further verbal attacks on Cass by the hand on his shoulder, but the look he gives Cassandra is pure accusation. "I /liked/ her, Morgan. All she ever did was try to find food and medicine for us, for everyone. She never even had a harsh word to say for anyone! One of those sociopaths killed her and they're going to pay for it." Then he snorts at Cassandra, drawn in again, "Misdirection. Check. Yes because the loyalists — mostly people who just have family — are the violent ones going around beating up and threatening those who disagree with them."
Mimi has gotten to the party late. She steps in with a little yawn, covering her mouth as she does so. There seems to be some kind of chaos going on? So she says "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." One of her favorite lines from a show long since done airing. She has slipped off the bandage over her head "It is precisely the time that I am able to remove the bandage. Yaaay!" She waves around the clean bandage as she walks further into camp. She swings her arms for a little dance, then looks around. Her skill of Alertness 1 shows itself as she quirks her head "What's going on? I thought everyone would be partying? It's like someone died or something."
Grey nods at Alison's words, apparently taking a little bit of reassurance there, "Yeah… okay. No fireworks, no boom. Makes sense." He glances up at the roof of the tent, as if that is likely to have any answers, "Okay. So we lost contact. If the Trikru were watching, they know. If not, we shouldn't tell 'em." Looking back to Roger and nodding slowly, "Well, let's add a fourth 'fuck.' Evie was killed." Again, his throat threatens to close up on him, and Grey clears it sharply, "Sign, said 'Arkers Go Home' next to her… next to her body."
"That's a pretty big stretch Cass." Morgan says and shakes his head. "Not to mention that 'you can't prove shit' isn't really a very good denial. But hey, if you go around threatening to kill people, you shouldn't be surprised when people look at you when someone turns up dead. Congrats, you got the response you were trying for. People believed you. But." he adds to Cam, "She's hardly the only one. So let's wait and see."
Cassandra's fist curls at her side, feet shoulder-width apart. She might just be about to swing at Cameron, prove him right about who the violent ones here at camp are, but Morgan's hand on his shoulder halts her too. "I'm banking on at least one person here at camp hasn't lost their marbles to go around accusing people with no proof," she says. "Probably a bad bet." She starts to turn back away from the pair, though one hand rests on the hilt of her machete. "If I say I didn't do it, that's evasion. If I say someone else did it, that's misdirection. If I say I did… float you, because I didn't. I'm not doing this bullshit again."
Alison watches Roger depart, up there in an orbital tomb. A slow breath, then she presses the transmitter again, "Ground calling Ark, reply, we are in the blind." She swallows, and raises a brow, releasing the button, "So now the Grounders decided they want us to leave sooner?" Alison glances off towards a tent wall as if she could see through it. "Why warn us like that? Why not just wipe us out?" It really doesn't make the most sense to her, but not thinking of her suffocated or choked or de-pressurized family orbiting the planet is good.
Cameron gives Morgan a lingering look, nodding a slight concession that Cassandra might be not guilty, but the withering glance he gives her seems to make it likely 'innocent' isn't the opposite of not guilty. "Who all is in the anti-arker faction? Asher's dangerous, but he always seemed an up front kind of dangerous. Faolan is *nuts* but again, leaving notes? I don't know. But I don't know where Faolan stands except that he's really into hitting people. Niner seemed cool, but he's seeming more and more unstable every time he opens his mouth. Shit, I haven't been /keeping track/ of who is in what faction, so I have no idea who the suspect list /is/." The withering look turns towards Cassandra again, "If only I /had/ been making lists I might know where to start. /Someone has to pay for this/."
Mimi perks up "Did someone say they wanted to make a list? I enjoy lists…" She rests her hands behind her rear as she looks around once more, then moves over to Allison at the radio. "Excuse me, did we lose communication?"
Grey shakes his head at Alison's question, "No. It wasn't Trikru." Yes, he's been infected, calling them by their own name. "They don't call us Arkers, they call us Skaikru. Q and Adams and some others are looking to find out who did it." His lips press together for a long moment of thought, "It'll be real interestin' to see what happens next, since we don't exactly have any laws down here. Or anyone to make 'em, or enforce 'em." Drawing in a breath, he nods to the other Tech Nerds in the Tech Tent before speaking to Alison, "Why don't you get a breath of air?" And he steps backward from the Tech Tent, the rifle still slung on his shoulder with a blanket wrapped around it. Mimi's question causes him to blink and nod, "Yeah. During the speech. Or, during the pageant, really."
"Faolan is about as pro-Ark as you can get." Morgan tells Cam before looking over at Mimi. "Yes, the transmission stopped without warning. And someone killed Evie. Someone from the camp." Of that he has no doubt. Grounders are mostly illiterate from all evidence.
<FS3> Allen rolls Melee: Good Success.
Those that went out, are now coming back; Allen and Quinn ahead of Kai, who still has that blanket wrapped bundle with her, and doesn't seem to be particularly intending to go further than the gates for the moment, pausing to murmur at one of the people on duty before stepping back at least a little bit outside of the gates again to keep watch from the ground. If there's explanations coming.. clearly they're not going to be coming from that one.
Roger stares at Grey, stunned for a moment, before shaking his head a little. "Fuck." He clenches his fists at his sides, loosens them, clenches them again, then stretches his fingers, looking around the room. "Evie… She was… Which one was she? She was nice, wasn't she? Why would someone kill her?" He glances to the other side, and shakes his head. "Because we're living in a camp full of murderers. Stupid question." He swipes a hand over his face, glances around, and then shakes his head. "Fuck." He starts to walk off, but he doesn't head for the dropship. He just sort of walks off in a random direction, vaguely headed for the gate.
After his brief sojourn outside of the walls, Allen comes back in through the gate at a quick pace, clearly intent on something in particular. In his right hand he holds a large, blood-soaked rock, and his left is clenched firmly, with his nails digging into his palm. Should any delinquent step into his path as he walks, he physically moves them, his momentum and large size allowing him relative ease. Like Kai, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of explanations coming from him, as he instead begins looking about the camp intently.
Cameron nods quickly to Morgan's exoneration of Faolan, "Okay, wasn't sure. Haven't really hung out with him besides the rescue." He crosses his arms over his chest, his expression thoughtful, and as his eyes fall around at each person in turn, almost no one gets a look that doesn't have some suspicion in his features. Except Morgan and Grey. He's making a list, he's checking it twice, he's gonna find out whose bein' naughty and needs their head ripped off.
Quinn follows Allen, her blanket wrapped rifle is still tucked in her arm, her steps quick to keep up with the other Delinquent, but her eyes aren't idle. She's scanning the crowds that are still milling around for someone.
<FS3> Quinn rolls Alertness-1: Good Success.
<FS3> Allen rolls Alertness: Success.
Cassandra had something she wanted to say to Fiona earlier, before she was accused of murder; she says it now to Grey. "In case you haven't noticed, the Grounders are human beings," she snaps, turning back towards the group. "They're perfectly capable of learning, just like we are from them. You really think it's a stretch that if we can learn to call them Trikru instead of Grounders, they can't learn to say Arkers instead of Skaikru?"
Morgan puts his other hand on Cam's other shoulder to lightly rub them. When the trackers return, he looks over, his gaze following Allen and Quinn as they start looking around the camp /with intent/. "Find something?"
"Obviously you weren't paying any attention when we spent thoes days with them, Cassandra, but no. The Grounders wouldn't send a message like this. If they wanted us to leave, the message would be /really fucking obvious/ that its from them and they mean business. I'm thinking several hundred people with swords standing just out of bow range saying we have until dark to leave or they'll kill us all." Cameron's voice is positively *dripping* with disdain as he stares holes in the back of Cassandra's head.
The arguments with the others, normally she might have an opinion on some of the things that are being tossed back and forth. But Quinn is on a mission. She keeps searching the faces, and then she finally finds it. It's not Grey, not Hanne, not Cassandra…not anyone else she often will bother looking for. It's a tall girl that is lurking by the dropship. Mags. As soon as she's spotted her she starts heading in that direction, lengthening her stride and picking up the pace.
Grey nods at Roger, "Yeah. She was one of the good ones." This time, the heel of his hand isn't pressed to his temple, but swiped across his eyes, "And based on the sign, I'd say it was some rebel asshole, or some twisty damned pro-arker nutbag lookin' to get sympathy." Spotting the returning party, Grey shifts the blanket-wrapped bundle around so that he can slip a hand inside and onto the assault rifle's pistol grip. His eyes narrow at Cassandra's words, "I'm sure they can. But that's not what they call us, not how they think of us." And then he's moving to meet the returning investigators as well, falling in alongside Kai, Allen, and Quinn. "Q?"
Alison nods, flipping a switch to make sure if the Ark does suddenly reply, it will be broadcast outward. "Grey, did they loot the other ship?" That's not a terrible idea. "They could call us Arkers, you just called them Trikoop, Trickle. Whatever. Still, murder is the oldest crime, with the oldest punishment." That seems simple to Alison. She glances to Roger, sighs, "The medics and the cadets will have to handle it. If the mob doesn't." She hunts down her cup for more booze, talk about a buzz kill.
Grey adds to Alison, "Someone did. Coulda been Trikru, coulda been Mountain Men." And then he's gone.
Kai's not the most obvious person. And she's certainly not making an effort to be noticeable right now. The observant might notice that she's definitely watching the camp and it's walls rather than the treeline beyond them. The Captain's daughter with her hands on the rifle under blanket, her grey-eyed gaze searching those milling about with hawkish intensity. The gate might not be closed physically, but well, evidently right now departures are going to have to go around the armed girl.
Cassandra cants her head at Cameron like an owl might, with utter disbelief written on her features. "They are complex. Fucking. Human. Beings," she reminds him. "They have liars, thieves, pranksters, bloodthirsty murderers and arseholes just like us." That last category earns him a pointed look. And kiss or no, her attention is so focused on a quarrel with with her eternal camp arch-nemesis that she doesn't notice Quinn's purposeful stride, nor pay mind to Grey's pursuit.
Mags Trentin is one of those tall, lean types that would have been chosen for basketball if the sport still existed. She has kept mostly to herself since the whole dropship came down, hanging out with only a few choice people and none of them part of the major crowd. She is skulking at the moment near the dropship, trying to casually run her fingers through her dark hair. Her green eyes lock on Quinn as she starts to approach, and the tall girl is beginning to step back.
The moment Quinn turns her attention towards the newly spotted woman, Mags, Allen turns to look that way as well. And while Quinn might act with whatever measure of calm she can, Allen does no such thing. Instead, he very firmly grips the rock in his hand, leans forward, and -sprints- at the tall teen, his teeth bared. Completely silent, he doesn't weigh in on the conversations going around him, he doesn't speak up on the accusations laid towards Cassandra. He only charges this girl, intent on wrapping his free hand around her throat.
"We found Mags' jacket." Quinn tells Grey when he joins her, but then Allen is running off and she grinds her teeth, "Fuck." At that point she starts to run as well, changing her grip on the rifle that she's got wrapped in the blanket. She doesn't shout, and she doesn't so much chase Allen as move to stop Mags if she tries to get away.
Roger continues walking away in silence, but at least he doesn't seem to be aiming to deal with anything himself. He dodges any potential run-in with Allen or the others making a bee-line for the dropship, and instead continues toward the gate, no doubt to encounter Kai. He's not exactly being observant. He just keeps walking past her, headed for the forest.
Cameron has words to say, words he has, and they'd be biting words, cutting words. He opens his mouth to say them, and they die on his lips as he notices Quinn and Allen, "Fuck, someone dogpile on that fucker before he does something stupid!" And he's moving forward, intending on joining the dogpile if need be.
A dogpile isn't Cassandra's style. There are a lot of salacious rumours about her, that just isn't one of them. And so she turns, on the spot, to watch as Cameron charges past her towards Mags, Quinn and Allen without so much as a cutting remark, quirking an eyebrow but unwilling to intervene.
Grey starts to nod to Quinn, and then Allen sprints forward, "Shit." Grey starts forward only a few steps behind, but he wasn't planning to start sprinting, and so the larger man is able to open a gap. He's further slowed by the fact that he slings the rifle more securely as he runs. "We do things right, damn it." He's wanted to do this for real all his life, and so as he approaches Allen, he launches himself forward, arms spread, aiming to slam into the man's side with his own right shoulder, wrap him up, and make a neat football tackle at full speed. "Get off."
Kai's clearly not there for Roger, given that aside from an acknowledging nod and a once-over from the grey-eyed girl, but she doesn't appear to feel the need to get in his path at the moment in favor of watching the others move towards Mags.
Roger disappears into the forest, without a glance to Kai, leaving everyone else to do whatever it is they do.
Alison did say, 'if the mob doesn't,' she does not rush off to the scuffle. She gets a fresh drink and moves to stand closer to Cassandra. "What's that?" She motions with a nod to the dog-pile. "You okay?"
Morgan doesn't join Cameron in the chase. He just stands there, watching Allen run at Mags with murder in his eye. "Maybe Oxfor was right." he says to no one in particular. "We're just a mob who can't be trusted. Threatening each other and now killing each other."
Cameron is totally going to dive tackle too. He has no idea what that entails, though, so that largely is him flinging himself bodily on Grey and Allen because what you need in a situation like this? Its a botanist tackling you. That can't possibly go wrong.
Mags is about to book it, but she's got Quinn stopping her within a few paces. This is also punctuated by the fact that Grey just body-slammed both himself and Allen into the tall, athletic girl. There is the smart sound of a lot of weight being slammed into the dropship with Mags in the middle of it. "Fuck! Get off! What the fuck are you guys doing!" The words are snarled and spat out, and she aims to try to kick the closest person to her.
Allen doesn't even attempt to move out of the way of Mags kicks, not that he could if he wanted to with Cameron and Grey's weight pressed up against him. "Quinn, fucking— LOOK," he calls out emphatically as he attempts to reposition himself in a way that will keep the athletic girl pinned, though he clearly has no intent to use the rock he holds as a weapon - and likely never did, at least not yet - instead opting to keep his arms pressed against each side of the girl.
The look Cassandra gives Alison is one of pure disdain, and it travels up and down the more privileged delinquents ensemble. They might all be equals down here on the ground, but clearly that hasn't registered with her yet. "Evie's dead," she replies. "They're all looking for someone to string up for it." At least she replies, and at least that disdain is evidently not personal, but extended to most for the camp.
That… hurt worse than Grey expected it to. Then again, most football players wear pads and helmets, don't get tackled themselves a half-second later (thanks Cameron), aren't carrying various metal pipes and rods on them, don't have a knife in the back of their waistband, and don't end up hitting the re-entry-proof side of a dropship at the end of their tackle attempts. "Ow… shit… ow…" He holds onto Allen's waist for a moment, then asks, "What's that prodding me in the ass?" It's the barrel shroud of the rifle slung on his shoulder. Letting go, he does his best to extricate himself from the pile, "No one's getting lynched."
As soon as Mags is down, Quinn moves to grab her arms, "I really wish this hadn't gotten so wild." She points out to no one in particular. Despite Mags' attempt to run, she's still double-checking everything, "Just…give me your arms and this'll be over."
"Oof." is Cameron's words into Grey's ear, "Oh, you got this, apparently. I thought Allen was just gonna run up and murder the girl without, like, …" You know. Whatever they have for due process down here. He seems at a loss for words to explain that.. And after a moment later, he realizes this is all a little bit weird, and so peels himself off away from the pile, and backs away, rubbing at his chest. "Right. Cadets ahoy. You all got this." And with all his dignity, largely because he never learned how to feel embarrassed, he strides back over towards Morgan, "Heya."
Mags continues spitting, and kicking. The almost six foot amazonian is about ready to deck someone if it means getting away. "No, fuck you, Samantha." Oh, she just used Quinn's first name. She tries to slam an elbow into someone's jaw, but this just opens her up to getting pinned. Under Mags's sleeve, her swarthy skin is raked in deep wounds from fingernails from where Evie had put up a damn good fight. Mags knows she's caught the moment the forearms are revealed, so she starts growling, "You can't fucking stop this! It's done! Each and everyone of yous."
Ngh. Too much alcohol. Morgan can barely think. The adrenaline wore off long ago. Reaching up, he rubs his eyes and shakes his head to try to clear it. "We need proof. Real proof." Pause. "Oh, I guess that counts."
Mimi moves over to stand near Cassandra. "I don't think that you did it…." She looks mortified when there is… Arker on Arker violence? The big pile leaves her mouth agape for a few moments. She shivers and hugs herself visibly shaken. "We are attacking one another like fools. Without reason, we hurt one another. Accuse. People are dying. There are now 91 of us. I believe I'm likely to be next. I don't want to die. I wouldn't have cared back on the ark as long as I finished my projects in the SkyBox for the council, but I care now and I don't want to die." She starts walking off to head outside of the wall "We are too many individuals…no one will even know we are gone.."
"YOU FUCKING BITCH," is what Allen gets out the moment he sees the cuts, and hears the woman's words, "How could you? How DARE YOU. You want to pick on someone, you should have picked on ME. NOT SOME NICE GIRL." And, without any hesitation, the 6'4'', massive teen draws the rock he holds in his right hand back and attempts to slam it down onto the girls head. Right on the temple. Doing all he can to avoid whatever grasp of Grey should he try to stop him, "YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS FEELS LIKE?"
"I agr — " Pause, also. Cameron glances back over there, nods, and says grimly, "Right, then. So, now what? Killing one of our people has to be answered." He glances over at Cassandra, and his expression isn't even *slightly* apologetic. "We need to do this rig — FUCK." That because he sees Allen's about to brain the girl.
When Allen goes wild again, Grey stops trying to get himself out of the pile and dives right back in, trying to get a hand or hands on the larger man's arm to stop the blow or send it awry, "Fuck! Stop it, goddamn it!" If he can manage to get a firm grip on Allen, he'd use a joint lock, but right now, he's just trying to do anything to get a hold of the other man's arm, "This ain't justice, it's murder!"
Cassandra does what she does best — nothing. While the others wrestle and wear Mags down, the other violent delinquent stands way back by Morgan, Alison and Mimi, spectating. "Thanks Mimi," she says to the latter in particular, folding her arms across her chest and letting her shoulders go lax. Likely she's just glad to have the buck passed off of her, but she shows no more signs of sympathy for the new prime suspect whose shoes she was in was nearly in only a moment ago than she did for Evie's corpse. She meets Cameron's gaze briefly with a cold stare, right before the threat of a second murder arises.
Alison lifts her cup for another sip, watching Cassandra out of the corner of her eye between keeping up with fracas going on around Mags and Quinn. "Good to see you are well, Cassandra." A sigh, she is not intervening, "Mimi." It is a naming and greeting to the other girl. "You'll be fine, but better not alone." The red haired girl just watches, she said the cadets would deal with it.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Allen=melee Vs Grey=melee
< Allen: Good Success Grey: Good Success
< Net Result: Allen wins - Marginal Victory
<FS3> Andromeda rolls 6: Success.
It's a little bit bothersome to have someone swinging rocks around since Quinn is literally in the line of fire. She's gotten pushed and pulled by the bigger girl while struggling to get a glimpse of her arms, and misses the fact that there is a rock swinging down. "Stop what?" She growls, trying her best to get Mags under some kind of control for questioning.
"Go help." Morgan says quietly, giving Cam a little nudge. "Stop him."
Though Grey's managed to do a good job getting in the way of Allen, the larger teen does manage to draw his arm back more fully. Pressing his free arm against Mag's chest as she struggles, Allen barely lands a blow on the amazonian girl's shoulder, though it manages to rend open her skin and clothes there against the rough edges of the rock. "YEAH. HOW'S THAT?" he shouts out, clearly uninterested in whatever Grey - or anyone else - is attempting to do to stop him, "She was fucking CRYING when you beat her to death. CRYING. You gonna cry too, huh?"
Mags is still putting up a fight, and when Allen tries to brain her with the rock, she is also trying to dodge out of the way in sync with Grey trying to get in the way. This causes the rock to slice across her should, scraping up skin and muscle, and leaving bruises around the lacerations. Mags lets out a feral scream, and tries to barrel through Grey to get to Allen, but Quinn still has a sizable grip on her, so she ends up falling backwards into the ex-C.
Madness, is what this is.
"Drop him, Q!" Probably not the best choice of word for Grey to make while Quinn is holding a loaded rifle, especially not while he's frantically struggling to keep the prospective target from braining someone with a rock, but in his defense, he is frantically struggling to keep a larger person from braining someone with a rock. The first blow deflected, Grey tries to reset himself so that he can get a more efficient Guard joint-lock on Allen's rock-arm, still behind Allen where the inertia of his tackle took him, trying to loop both arms around the big man's right arm.
Prodded, Cameron comes forward, his voice cool as he calls out, "Allen, man, if you just kill her out of hand then you're a murderer and that just means you'll have to answer for your crime the same as she has to answer for hers!" Attempt 1: Reason. Attempt 2: He'll run up to the side of the struggling bunch and see if he can grab a hold of Allen's stoning arm and just add leverage to keep it from, like, stoning anyone. With Grey doing his Guard-fu, he probably is going to be minimal help, but hey, Cam'll be moral support if nothing else.
"Kind of busy!" Quinn retorts as Mags falls into her, one arm wrapping around the bigger girl as she takes some kind of advantage of things, trying to wrap her legs around her, too. If she's going to be smooshed, or brained, she's going to be attached like an annoying, clinging burr while it happens.
Mimi looks back at the 'action' and completely loses it. She starts waving her hands to her sides, running around Cassandra in several large wide circles. "Murder, there is a murder in progress! Problem! Problem! Murder! Murder attempt! Murder! There is a murder happening! We are going to murder one another! I don't want to be next!" A couple shrieks as she takes a good lap or two around Cassandra again and runs outward after off randomly. Mimi < - Not good in a violent crisis.
<FS3> Cameron rolls Melee: Good Success.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Grey=melee+1 Vs Allen=melee
< Grey: Good Success Allen: Success
< Net Result: Grey wins - Marginal Victory
Elias emerges from the cook tent after hearing a loud bang on the dropship. Well, probably a bit after that. As soon as he steps out, he's greeted to the sight of: Yes, more chaos. With a blink, he immediately reacts to the scuffle outside. "What the FUCK!?!?!" he yells out, already starting to stomp his way towards the group of them. He stops short and observes the situation before entering into it, though to make sure it won't just make things worse. Murder in progress? Probably worse.
<FS3> Opposed Roll — Quinn=Melee Vs Mags=5
< Quinn: Good Success Mags: Good Success
< Net Result: Quinn wins - Marginal Victory
Alison is watching intently focused on the crisis. It is not that she doesn't care, she actually does, very much. Then, Mimi seems to throw a fuse. "What the.. Crap." Alison likely would have added this is not my job. Then off she stalks after the broken girl.
Unlike Mimi, Cassandra is excellent in a crisis. She asks herself the important questions: Am I in physical danger? Am I likely to be in physical danger? Is there free food in my vicinity? And when the answer to these questions is sadly, no, she allows herself the luxury of just standing there, arms crossed, coldly observing and thanking her lucky stars — or rather, lucky trees, since the ex-Skybox-inmate is rather sick of stars — that she isn't directly involved. Her eyes follow the circling mathematician for a lap or two, before she gives her a fraction of a hapless shrug, the kind that really requires the absolute minimum level of effort in hitching her shoulders, and turns her attention back to the fray. "Don't kill anyone, I guess," is the best advice she can offer poor Mimi.
Drawing his arm back once more, Allen looks to be about to drop it down on Mags head, but his hesitation allows Grey to grab him and draw him down into a joint-lock. "Float yourself, Grey! What are you doing?" He attempts to kick a leg out, slightly, but feeling the pressure that's being placed on his arm, he instead holds completely still, "What are you going to do? You gonna have a little meeting? We gonna vote? You gonna banish her so she can do this shit again? Or you gonna put her on her knees and put a bullet in her head? You think I'm a Murderer? You think I'm the one that's bad? All you're doing is saying that murdering people who don't deserve it isn't gonna get you killed. You're a pussy, Grey. You're afraid."
It's rough. But Quinn gets enough of a grip on Mags to try and scoot-drag the pair of them a little more outside the range of the rock, growling into Mags' ear the question she'd asked earlier but hadn't gotten an answer to, "What can't we stop? Talk fast, or I'll get Grey to let Allen go, and you can get your head bashed in like Evie did."
Mags struggles against Quinn's Gollum-grasp, "Get off of me! You're all going to be floated!" She can't get free of Quinn, and as the camp starts to press around the scene, she finally stops struggling, "You better let me go. You better. Or you'll be sorry."
Grey finally gets an arm wrapped around Allen's forearm and presses his left hand against the point of the big man's elbow until he freezes in place, "I'm keepin' you from bein' a murderer, jackhole." Grey is breathing hard, and gives Cameron a brief nod, then focuses on Allen, "Yeah, we're gonna have a vote. And if the camp wants her dead, I'll kill her my own damned self." The ex-Guard puts a tiny bit more pressure on Allen's elbow, "Because I am a murderer, if you haven't forgotten. Or if you're still so crazed, you can do it. After a vote." In the struggle, the blanket wrapped around Grey's big, black weapon has fallen off, leaving it free for anyone who might want a glimpse… of the assault rifle slung on his back.
<FS3> Cassandra rolls Resolve: Good Success.
"We're saying no one perosn has a right to decide to kill another one of us. You are not judge, jury and executioner, Allen. You don't decide who lives or dies anymore then she does." Cameron grunts, doing his best to add his strength to Grey's, and creepy as it is, he nods in agreement with everything Grey's saying.
A vote to murder someone? This manages to get her goat. Cassandra swears under her breath, rolling her eyes and making as if to edge away from the scene, but she still stays put and looks to the group from across her shoulder. "Are we Jaha now?" she wonders aloud. "We going to start boxing people and floating people, that it?"
"I don't think I need to remind you that I'm a murder too, idiot," Allen starts, clearly quite the mouthy one regardless of his current position, "You're wasting time. You banish her, we're fucked. You vote her dead, she's dead. You think it's murder for me to avenge the death of a girl who was /crying/ as this bitch crushed her head, then you're the fucking monster, not me." Looking to Cameron, then, he says, insisting, "I'm not anything. I'm a murderer who wants revenge for an innocent person dying. And if you think I'm as bad as this bitch, you're delusional."
"Why will I be sorry, Mags? Who else is working with you that'll make me sorry…or do you think you're going to get a chance to come at me?" Quinn isn't letting go, she keeps her grip tight, and tries to talk fast and get as many answers as she possibly can before getting answers becomes impossible. She lets her gaze flick first towards Grey and Cameron, then to Allen before she looks towards Cassandra at the mention of Jaha.
"You can't stop what's already happened, you dumb ex-C bitch." Mags snarls the words, but it seems to be all the fight left in her, her limbs tucked up against her now rather than flailing. "And I'm not saying nothing more, just you'll be sorry if you don't let me go right now, Samantha."
Grey narrows his eyes for a moment, and then his smile spreads wide and cruel across his lips, "You a Grounder now, Allen? Blood must have blood? You ridin' the Juice Train" That would be jus drain jus daun, of course, but Grey can't pronounce Trigedasleng particularly well. "Can't think of anythin' but revenge? Evie was a nice girl. A good kid. She'd want justice, not revenge. So put the fuckin' rock down, or I break your elbow and turn you over to the docs."
"She murdered Evie. What do you think we should do? Ask her nicely not to do it again, Cassandra?" Cameron glances back and snorts, rolling his eyes at Cassandra, his voice dripping with contempt again, "Or do you think Evie doesn't deserve justice? That there should be no consequences to killing one of us? I'll remember that when someone puts you down." He then turns his attention to Allen, "There's no more or less bad. You don't get to decide on your own who lives and who dies. Period." Again, he's nodding in complete agreement with Grey.
At the moment, Elias stands by while looking to Grey and Cameron. He's definitely not the first one to go rushing headlong into fights, but he's got a handle on what the situation is. Holding up both hands, he tries to reason with Allen rather than engage physically apparently. "Whoah! C'mon, man. That's fuckin'…enough tonight, alright?" There's a look to both Grey and Cameron then, wide-eyed that begs the question: What do I do?
"Y'got me," Allen concedes, his right hand opening as he tosses the bloody rock to the ground and holds his hands out wide, fingers sprawled from side-to-side, "I'll let you have your justice. And when she's dead, or other people are dead because of her—" He pauses for a moment as he shakes his head, his voice full of contempt, "It'll be your fault for not letting me end it here."
Cassandra meets Cameron's gaze dead on when he rolls his eyes at her. "For someone who has it in for the Council so bad, you sure do ride their dick hard," she replies. "I don't know what grudge you have against them, or if it's all just to impress your boyfriend, but I'd just own up to being a loyalist already." She glances between him, Grey and Allen, mentally boxing the trio. Even Quinn gets a disappointed look. "Just remember this: if it's justice you're after, then you better float yourself. And I mean that literally, because you've all been marked down for it, jackholes."
"Yeah, well…too late." Quinn responds to Mags, shifting to try get to her feet to haul Mags with her, the entire process being less than graceful, "You could have sent your message without killing someone. Now no one'll listen." The last part is said more quietly, hissed at Mags as she struggles to get the situation both current situation from here to there, and let her get back to her usually scheduled brooding.
Mags really only resists Quinn so as to not make it easy on the blonde ex-C, shoving and pulling, but not really trying to break away. Not much point, not with half the camp crowding around the scene alongside the dropship. "You've got your warning. Things aren't going to go well for you Council dick-suckers."
Grey waits a moment after Allen releases the rock, then steps back from the bigger teen and looses his grip on Allen's arm, "She's guilty, you can do it then. She's not, we'll find who did it, and you can do them instead, if that's what you want." His arm bumps up against the uncovered rifle at his side, and he grimaces, cursing, "Shit." A quick look around finds the blanket, and he gathers it up, wrapping up the assault rifle again, "Damn it, cat's outta the bag now if it wasn't before. Better move the guns, put her up top, yea Q?" And then he pauses, and looks to two others, adding them to the decision-making process as well, "Elias, Cameron?" Cassandra's venom gets a glance, "Grow up, Cassandra." No more arm-slinging or co-making-out now, "Even if the rest of the Skaikru wasn't comin' down, we'd need laws."
"How about this…" Quinn tightens her hold on Mags, "Did you kill Evie and send a message to those that are Loyalists?" See? Simple.
Allen waves a hand away in front of Grey as he turns to make his way off towards the gates. "I'm outta here," he says back towards the other men, with a glance back towards Cameron and Elias, before he calls back out to Quinn, "Thanks for holdin' up the bargain, Quinn." And, with that, he shouts a tired, angry "Move" out towards any that might be in his way, and starts off towards the gate.
Cameron steps back slowly, but keeps an eye on Allen for a moment, just in case he seems likely to try to maul Mags some other way. Turning sideways a bit, so he can keep an eye on Allen and glance at Cassandra. His voice is dry, "You mean it literally, do you, Cassandra? That I should float myself. I suppose you have a plan for how I'm going to get into space, literally?" The tone is downright mocking. "You didn't answer my question. What do YOU think we should do? She murdered Evie. You want us to just shrug and do nothing? For the record, there's only one dick I'm riding, and that's Morgan's, not the Council's. Have you /seen/ them? For one, not all of them have dicks, so that's a problem right there." That said, he turns and nods to Grey, "Yeah, put her up top with some guards." He pauses, and narrows his eyes, "Including at least one non-cadet, just in case, so there's no worry about someone walking in and out with her." He turns and gives a slightly weary nod to Elias, and gestures to Mags, "It seems she murdered Evie. There's some debate on what to do about that."
<FS3> Asher rolls Riding: Good Success.
Cassandra really does have a lot of venom for someone who's just standing there, watching a lynch-mob debate whether or not to execute Evie's murderer, Mags. She hasn't lifted a finger to physically intervene since being acquitted of Cameron's charges, and she doesn't look apt to lift a finger now… and yet she does. She lifts a specific finger at Cameron, but then she's about done for strenuous activity. Drunkenly making out with Quinn and dancing with three others was sufficient for one Unity Day. "I dunno, Cam, what do you think should be done with Grey and Allen? 'Cause they're killers too," she replies.
Having not been back to camp since he left with the medics, Asher comes trotting in on Steak and New Boots finally. Unaware of what has happened today, he seems to be focused on the act of riding, which he is doing much better than he did his first time out. Of course, he also rides into the midst of quite a scene. He pulls back on the reigns, cants his head to the right as he gets the horse to stop. "Somethin' going on here?" That seems like an obvious sort of question. He slides off the horse and starts to move off to tie it off near his tent, gaze still settled on the others present.
Elias places his palm to his forehead and quirks a brow at the question of the guns first. "Part of me wants to get rid of the fuckin' things," he says and then breathes in deeply before nodding in agreement to Grey. "Yeah. I don't know." Slumping forward a touch then, he drags his palm back through his hair with no small amount of frustration and disquiet. "I just don't want anyone else dead tonight." Looking from Cameron to Grey then, he shakes his head. For all that he looks at them both, he's avoiding eye contact the best he can right now. "Agreed. Put her up top with a couple of guards for now." He looks over to Mags and his jaw clenches, eyes narrowed just a touch. Back to Grey and Cameron then, he shudders once and puts his hand up to his mouth and nose once again before sliding it down when composure's been regained. Asher gets a look from Elias as well. A haunted one. If he knows what's going on, he's not really forthcoming about it.
Mags snarls at Quinn, "I'm not saying another word, Samantha." She says, saying six more.
Grey lets Allen go, glancing up to the trees overhanging the camp, and then back down to the now-torchlit scene, "Shit, shit, shit." The repeated curse is a grumble rather than anything really audible. He nods as Elias and Cameron chime in, "Faolan's up there. You want to sit up there too, Cameron?" There might be a little venom there, but only a little, "We can figure it out in the morning, when no one's drunk and after the hangovers wear off." Asher's question draws a rough shake of the ex-Cadet's head, "Unity Day." There is a considerable amount of disgust in the exclamation, and then he explains, stepping over to offer to take Quinn's blanket-wrapped rifle from her so that she can escort the prisoner appropriately, "Pageant cut off, Ark's not transmitting shit, and Evie's dead. Probably from Mags. Oh, but there's booze and lamprey." Sarcasm, thy name is Grey.
"I'm cool with Faolan." replies Cameron to Grey: he doesn't show any signs of even having heard the venom, or he's deciding not to. But his attention might be distracted by Cass, as he stares coldly at her, "What happened before we got to the ground was Ark business, Cassandra. The Ark punished us for that. Being here is part of that punishment, but that's done with. We're not on the Ark now. I ask again." Cameron stares at Cassandra with disdain practically oozing from his pores. When he gets a finger, Cameron rolls his eyes in a slow, exaggerated manner, just to share his feelings on that. "What should we do with her? She murdered an innocent girl who has done nothing but try to find food and medicine so we all can survive. That's all that matters to you, isn't it? Your survival. Mags there, she made your survival *less likely* now. If you don't think Evie wasn't extremely important to both our food and medicine acquisition, you weren't paying attention. Mags didn't just murder a girl, she made us all more vulnerable. What. Should. We. Do. Cassandra. Stop being a cowardly bitch sitting there doing nothing but self-righteously judging us, try stepping up and making a suggestion on what we *should* do if you have an actual thought bouncing around in that head of yours." Yeah. Cam has forgotten everyone else for the moment, his nemesis has triggered him.
Quinn lets Grey take the rifle, and shifts her grip on Mags, making it easier, hopefully, to push her in the direction that they eventually need to go. When Cameron starts in on Cassandra again she frowns, glancing between the pair of them, "Insults aren't going to help anyone in this situation, and it's already bad enough." It's not hard to detect the rather tired, resigned tone in her voice before she starts to push Mags towards the ramp of the dropship.
Cassandra looks at Asher's horse; his horse is amazing. She waits for Cameron to explain the situation in more detail than Grey does, locking eyes with her rival and recent accuser again. "I guess that means I'm your top Earth Skills gal now," she says, "Best not float me too." But with mounting pressure, she eventually addresses the pertinent question at hand. "Just let her go. We can't afford to lose more people. Not with the sitch with the Grounders being tenuous as it is." Finally, she looks back up to Asher and offers up her own explanation of the situation. "Loyalist got killed. We're discussing whether to start floating and boxing people as consequence."
A brow is raised just a bit by Asher as he pats the horse on the side of the neck and turns back to eye the others. "Huh…" he says quietly, looking Mags over, before his gaze flickers from Quinn to Grey. "So…She killed one of ours…And you want to let her go? You figure that's the right move?" A beat pause and he glances to Cassandra, "I get the urge to stab people every so often. I figured it'd get me killed. If that's not the case, then I'll just gut someone the next time they annoy me." He wears a frown as he says this, moving towards Quinn and Mags at a slow walk.
Elias shifts his attention back to Grey more fully now and breathes out a sigh. "We couldn't just have this, could we?" he laments and lets his greasy hair just flop down where it will. His eyes then go to Cassandra and he blinks at her. "Let her /go/ so we don't lose more people? Are you fucking serious right now, Cassandra?" Baleful would be a mild word for the look he gives her, but he immediately looks away and turns his attention towards Quinn as she starts to haul Mags off. There's a nod to her comment and for that he buttons his lip.
Grey gathers both rifles under his right arm, the shapes made bulky and less regular by the blankets rolled over there. He looks at Cameron and Cassandra tiredly, "Knock it off, both of you. We'll vote in the morning. Hopefully by then we've got contact with the Ark again, not that that'll matter for this shit." Rubbing at his forehead with his left hand, he drops his hand to brace up the barrel of the rifles again, "But there's gotta be laws down here, at least some kind, or else we're not people, we're just animals." A very Guard approach to civilization, for all his assholishness and previous rebelliousness. He gestures to Asher's words to back up his own, then turns toward the big man with the red streak in his hair, "Asher, unless you're gonna help her up to the top deck, I don't think we need anyone else 'helping' right now." Finally, he shakes his head slightly to Elias, "Nope. Not even god damned Unity Day."
Cameron stares at Cassandra for a long moment, "You're not fucking kidding, are you. You think that someone should be able to decide to murder someone and have no consequences. And when she kills someone else, well, we can't afford to lose anyone else. You're not just a sociopath, you're just really fucking stupid." And at that, he has to laugh, waving a dismissive gesture at Cassandra and turning his back to her. He glances at Asher, "No." he says, quite firmly, "No one but that crazy bitch over there thinks just letting her go is an option. We just don't think one person deciding to kill her out of hand is okay, either. So we're going to throw her in the top, get everyone together, and show the evidence, and vote. And then someone kills her. Rough justice, but justice. Murdering our own is unacceptable. Don't get any ideas, Asher."
"My estimate, she'll be dead by the morning anyway if she stays in Camp," Cassandra insists. She is dead serious, and for all her protests, she isn't letting this go. "Let her go make her own arrangements. At least she'll get a chance." She looks to Mags, then back to Cameron, but though she stands her ground, she still doesn't move a muscle. A stubborn, stationary mule.
Quinn's got nothing more to say for the rest of the conversation, just continues to move Mags in the direction of the dropship. When Asher starts to head her way she glances at him, lifting her chin very faintly to him in greeting, "Want to give me a hand to get her up?" Which, she might need since Mags has several inches on her, as well as several pounds.
"I was making a point, dumb ass. If I wanted to kill someone, I'd just do it. I can live and die with the consequences." Asher retorts to Cameron. He doesn't get physical though, instead he just nods to Quinn, "Sup." And then another nod, "That was my thinkin', yeah. I'm not involved, got no dog in this fight. I'll help you get her up, and I'll keep watch." So she doesn't just get killed by someone taking justice into their own hands. He does glance to Cassandra, "Banishment, eh? Sounds like floating to me out here." You can live a whole three seconds up there.
Elias gives a curt nod of his head to Grey at that. "Not even god damned Unity Day." With things calmed down, Elias just looks absolutely drained. Canting his head, he scratches up underneath his jawline while continuing to look sidelong to Grey. "I don't even want to think about what mighta' happened to the hunting party," he says with a shake of his head. Elias eyes Cameron and Cassandra, quietly watching and listening to the exchange going on between the two. "This is so fucked up right now. Cassandra, that's fucking unreasonable in any society. Like I said: I don't want anyone else dead. Not tonight, not at all. Way I see it, we all got a clean slate when we came down here. But we have to establish some ground rules."
"That's why she's going to be under guard, Cassandra. So no one takes matters into their own hands." Then Cameron is glancing over at Asher, and snorting, "It was a point everyone got to the moment the situation arose, so congratulations: everyone noticed and was unimpressed by your insight." That said, he nods over to Elias, "If we can't all come together and agree: murdering your people is wrong. Don't do it. Then I frankly want nothing to do with anyone who can't see that." He pauses, and smiles brightly, dimples showing and everything, "Surprise! Its the sociopath segment of the population who can't get behind murdering is wrong. And I want nothing to do with its spokeswoman. Win. Win."
"If the camp decides she's guilty, yeah Cassandra, she will be." Grey shrugs a little helplessly, "Or maybe they'll decide that she should be banished instead. That'll be up to the camp. We can all make our arguments tomorrow." He hefts the awkward bundle of blankets, metal, plastic, and old, possibly-non-functional gunpowder in his arms, "Me, I'm gonna go get Kai's blanket back, and get these things back under guard." He nods sidelong to Elias, "Yeah. We'll head out after the trial." Glancing after Quinn, Asher, and Mags, he shakes his head, "I'm pretty sure it's gonna be quick."
Cassandra, the misanthrope, shows her colours in the look of exasperation she gives both Quinn and Asher now, half-turning away as Mags is hauled to her feet. She is used to people being vocally unimpressed by her insight, so perhaps that's why she remains so stubborn, but this, apparently, is more difficult for her than when Grey, Cameron and Allen were primarily involved. "Didn't say banishment," she replies, but the fight's almost gone from her voice. She sounds like she's trying to convince herself as much as the others now. "Said let her go. You'll either find her dead in the morning, or she'll have been smart enough to leave and figure shit out on her own, like Zoe did before any of you could get to her." Cameron, at the potential sociopath's mention of their missing thief, gets a dark look. "Zoe might be dead, that's not my problem. Rather this not be our problem, either. We ain't a normal society."
"Nah..Faolan is there, I can get someone else to watch, too." Quinn shakes her head at Asher, glancing to where Cassandra is looking all sorts of disappointed, murmuring more quietly to him. "I think we need to go talk with her." She doesn't say why, but she probably just assumes that Asher understands the why. If not..well…then she'll cross that bridge later. But then she's heading into the dropship to get Mags settled, only getting mild resistance from her, and at one point almost a headbutt to her nose.
A smirk is offered to Cameron by Asher at his words, "Cam, the day you speak for everyone in the camp, is the day I slit your throat and let the camp decide if I should be let go for doing them all a service." He moves over to Mags and is about to help Quinn out when apparently his help guarding Mags. He frowns for a moment, but then will continue to help Quinn move mags off to the Dropship and in as he said he would. "Fine, whatever." he comments on their way. When Quinn has a headbutt to the nose sent her way, Mags finds herself the recipient of a knee to the stomach.
Elias shakes his head in response to Grey's words, though not in the negative. "No. We gotta' have order. The Grounders have it." At that, he gestures in the direction of their village. Vaguely. "Shit. The fact she's getting a trial is a hell of a lot less brutal than the way they handle shit. I bet you they don't even tolerate murderers." Cameron's nod is returned with one of his own. "Yeah. Shouldn't be a lengthy one. Hope to Eden we can get a fuckin' win out of that at least. We could really fucking use one right now." Gritting his teeth then and clenching his jaw, he gives a hard swallow. "I really, really want another drink."
"Maybe we should be, Cassandra." For whatever definition of 'normal' any of them are willing to write. Grey's words snap out, but he shakes them off, looking back to Elias, "They've got somethin' called the Death of a Thousand Cuts. Hangin' or throat-slittin' or whatever is a whole lot cleaner than that." And then he's shaking his head, heading out to collect the rifle from Kai if he can find her, and make sure that they're all tucked away safely again.
And off they go…to lock Mags up. And hopefully not have anyone "fall down" in the process.
"Ash, honey, the day I think I speak for everyone in the camp, is the day I cut my own throat to get the fuck out of that crazy post, and that'll happen before you can get to it. Pull your head out of your ass, I know its hard, but try. The key is to take a deep breath, and push. It loosens you your ass up there. You'll hear a popping as your head comes out, but don't be alarmed. The smell you're smelling is your own bullshit still clogging up your nose." Cameron even forgets Cassandra for a moment, but gives a sympathetic smile to Elias, "There's no win's in this situation, Eli. If we kill her, we lose. If we don't, we lose. If we banish her, we lose. We lost because Evie, someone who did nothing to anyone but was a vital part of our survival efforts is gone… and that bitch took her, and one way or another, we lost her too. This is a no-win situation all around."
Though Asher's death-threats manage to cheer her somewhat — which for Cassandra, is the difference between slouching bitterly and keeping her chin up bitterly — her contributions for the evening have petered out. "Ditto," is all she has left to say, and it's to Elias' statement of wanting another drink. Nonetheless, she slips her hands into her pockets and turns to stalk off in the direction of the forest, without making good on her wish.
"Yeah…Death of a Thousand Cuts pretty much says it all," Elias offers with a weak smile to Grey and an upwards nod to grasp at some manner of levity. "I don't agree with killing her, though. This shit's going to wind up an endless cycle." Exhaling then, he just shrugs his shoulders. "We're dropping. The less of that I have on my hands, the better. But…tomorrow." He gives a nod over to Cameron as well. "Oh, no. I agree. I meant the search, man. I just really fucking hope we bring back alive, healthy people is all. I fucking doubt it, but…I hope."
Cameron turns a serious look to Elias, "I don't relish the idea of killing someone— anyone, I don't like killing at all— but she brained Evie who fought to survive— that innocent girl *hurt*, and scratched the hell out of Mags arms defending herself, it looks to me— Its not a cycle if you answer murder with a trial and justice. Would you feel safe banishing her? What if she came back? But even if she didn't, isn't banishing just killing her slowly? It seems cowardly to me— and I don't mean any insult to you, Eli— to think banishment is better then killing her. I've got a solid grounding in earth skills, a talent for being covert, but if I was all alone, by myself, out there? Its an pretty damn near certain death sentence. Isn't sending her away just making our conscience feel better and nothing more?"
There's a cant of his head and a raise of one eyebrow at Cameron, though he doesn't say anything immediately. Elias beckons Cameron one with a wave as he moves back to where the drinks are. His eyes are glassy and red at this point and a sob finally escapes him. Just a short one before he steels himself again. "No offense taken. I just don't want to think about it right now. The alternatives…any of it. I don't have anything better. She had tears in her eyes, Cam. And Cookie? Hanne's in there taking care of her right now, but you see what death gets us." Continuing on towards the drinks, he picks one up and grips the makeshift cup. "How the fuck do we see that and not really consider the weight of what we're doing here?"
Drinks, yeah. Cameron follows that beckoning, because seriously? That buzz he had got killed /dead/ with him staring at Evie's face. He lifts up a cup after dunking it in the sketchy booze. He sips his drink a moment, and there's a slight shudder of tension through his body. Cam is, if anything, a /cool/ guy. Not cool, like rad, but cool like he runs colder then most people. Shit happens he deals. Except that day his mother fell from the sky and died to bring the radio to call the Ark. And… a bit now. There's a tremble to his shoulders. "For what Cookie's going through now, if I could get my hands on Mags, I'd almost want to kill her myself. Cookie's my *family*, Eli." He shakes his head slowly, "That's the thing, though. How do we not see the impact of this petty murder— 'Arkers Go Home' that bitch wrote next to Evie's body— that is bred out of petty, idiotic hatred for innocent people… No, Eli. No. We have to draw a line somewhere. We don't agree on what we're going to do when the Ark ships come down, we don't agree on all this political shit, but can we please, please agree that we can't murder eachother? In every society there's a line, and we have to agree that's a line."
Drinks indeed. Elias takes a swig from the sketchy booze, relishing in the burn that distracts from everything else for a moment. Elias is by contrast fairly warm most times. Right now he's a bit distant and likely haunted by Evie's face. "I know she is, Cam. I mean…Evie and I weren't tight or anything, but she and Cookie were close." Exhaling another sigh, he gives a nod of his head. It's a tired one, but not for Cam's company. Sniffing inwards another successful battle against tears, he lifts his arm to wipe his nose on his sleeve. "We do, man. Murder isn't okay. I definitely agree with you. She shouldn't be walking free, that's for damn sure. But who's gonna' pull the trigger? Muscles McMurder-on? Fuck, Cam. For what it's doing to Cookie, I don't blame you. I really don't. But we also have to draw the line at what's justice and what's vengeance. You're right. Banishment is even worse. I wish there /was/ a third option. With our luck, it'd be even worse than the others."
"There isn't a third option, but who to do it?" Cameron shrugs slightly, "I say, we take those willing and draw straws. I'll put my hand in. If I draw the short straw, I'll do it. I won't like it— even if I'm angry about it, shit, I don't want to kill anyone…" Except Jaha but even that is problematic after tonight's announcements, "…but I'm willing to do it. We shouldn't pick the most bloodthirsty and set them free, because wanting to kill someone shouldn't be a reward. The difference between justice and vengeance is the person carrying out the execution isn't the person deciding it." He takes a deep breath and lets it out. He's been an advocate for democracy, and that continues, "We will vote, and no matter who carries out the act, we'll bear the burden of our vote. That's only fair. We can't remove the responsibility that we're /judging/ her, and no matter who a random lot picks as carrying it out, its by our will. That's the only way to do this and … make it /fair/, make it … just. I think. I might be wrong as I haven't thought about this more then like two minutes ever."
Elias exhales again and hangs his head. "Yeah. I'm willing." Another drink is taken before he's once again using his free hand to push his hair idly back. "I hate everything about the idea, but if that's what's decided and it's going to be done…" The sentence is just left to trail there and a shrug of his shoulders follows. "I know she doesn't deserve it, Cam. Evie had tears in here eyes." Repeated again with a haunted look in his own eyes that flashes brief on his expression. "She didn't die fast. There has to be a line we won't cross. Death is the humane way to go. I know that. I hate it, but I know it. Just want to make sure it's humane. Quick." Again, he nods to Cameron and takes another deep, steadying breath. "It's a good idea. Well, not /good/. Just…probably our best option."
"We don't live in a nice, comfortable place, Eli." Cameron's voice is soft; is both cool and even, but also strangely soft. It is strange on him. "We can only do our best. There's nothing /good/ about any of this, believe me, I know that." He downs his full drink, sets his cup down and grunts softly, "What pisses me off most is that Cassandra— that sociopathic bitch— is a little right. And what pisses me off most is that Jaha— and I can not properly frame my hatred for him— isn't entirely wrong. To live in a community means that community has to make hard choices. We can not tolerate people murdering our own. That means we must act, we must *punish*, and that means we must take their lives in our hands. I never wanted that, Eli." Cameron suddenly seems so *incredibly* tired, "I never wanted to decide for anyone, anything. I never wanted to cast a vote to condemn anyone to death. To bear that burden. Does that make us like Jaha? It might. Does that mean that Jaha might have been right? Fuck, I'd rather die then think of that." He rubs at his face, "I should go find Morgan. I want to hear his heartbeat in his chest and try to sleep."
Elias' drink is downed as well in full, though he keeps the cup in hand. He winces and sucks a short, hissing breath in through his teeth. He gives Cameron a look of understanding then, a ghost of a nod given. "The worst thing is wondering whether or not Jaha feels the burden the same way. Had to have at one point, yeah? Doing what has to be done for 'the greater good' as it were. Maybe we're all destined to be tyrannical pricks." There's a small smile there, but one might get the impression he isn't entirely joking. At this point, he's also feeling the heady rush of the strong drink. "S'what makes you a good leader though, I s'pose. That you don't want it." He gestures with his empty cup before dipping it back into the bowl. "You're a lucky guy, Cam. Wiped the ugly out of your eyes and found yourself someone worth fighting for. We've all had a hell of a night and he's probably gonna' want you closeby."
Cameron does not look at ALL pleased by Elias' insight on Jaha, but that less then pleased look? Its not directed at him, either. "I want to make all these arguments for how its different, and I think some of them are right— we /are/ different, there's no unelected Council here— but, come down to it… If you look to the essence of it… I'm willing to say: Mags should die. Throw everything else away and there's a hubris to that, to deciding who should die." He sighs a little, "Allen, Asher. They spoke of just killing outright. Is that more honest? I want a vote, a trial. But I know right now what I'd vote for, and is that just me trying to shed responsibility? Share it so I don't bear it byself?" That said, he dips his cup in too. There's not a lot left at this point, likely, but man, is Cam gonna partake of what there is. His voice is abit hazy. "Morgan and I argue a lot, we don't agree on everything, but push comes to shove…" He shrugs one shoulder again, taking a gulp of the quote-unquote alcohol, "He makes me feel safe. Happy. If I need him he'll be there. I don't have a doubt. So yeah. I know I'm lucky. There's a reason I wouldn't let him and I get close up on the Skybox. I knew they'd kill him at his review, and I had a shot of being freed. If I let us get close, … but its different down here. We're free."
"I think it matters that we ask these questions," Elias pipes up after a moment or so of thought. He looks down into his makshift cup and lets out a brief, quiet laugh. "We want a trial because we give a shit about what our people have to say. Not because it's a way to share the blame or to shrug it off. If we're gonna' be free, we need to depend on each other to protect it." Another short laugh and an even briefer raise of his brows with his amusement. "Should..have recorded that Unity Day speech." Another laugh makes its way out, a bit louder this time. The drink is swirled around and he looks back up to Cameron. "I have three someones worth that fight. My parents are two. The third would have wanted to see me floated." There's a shrug and he takes another long drink before speaking again. "Thing is, Kai wasn't always so…the way she is. I feel responsible. A bit. I don't know." Again, he shakes his head and then takes another drink.
At mention of the unity day speech, Cameron groans, "I gave my whole.. /philosophical/ bent, and I didn't know that was going to be /transmitted/." That said, soberly, he nods slowly. "I like to think you're right, that the reason I want a trial is that we speak together. But I think that… I do want to share the burden. Almost because it needs to be, that burden, its sharing." Then he sighs, and nods slowly "My dad's still up there." His mother, of course, died a week ago to crash down and bring a radio to the 100. "You can't take responsibility for other people, not entirely, Eli. Oh, see what you see, advocate for it, but ultimately? People have to /choose/ how and who they are." He sighs, sets his cup down and stumbles a bit to the side, "I'm gonna find Morgan."
Laughing at Cameron's plight a little more, Elias just shakes his head at that. Finally a topic not involving life and death. "As if they didn't already think you were an asshole, eh?" he asks, grinning broadly at him and a bit of life seeping back into those eyes. "Yeah. I understand, man. What's good for the community needs to be decided by the community. And all the responsibility that goes along with it." As Cameron starts to move to leave then, he nods his head. "That's the rational thought. That I can't possibly bear all of the responsibility." A short laugh is given after that. "It's different when you have to look at them afterwards." With him going off to find Morgan, Elias raises his cup in cheers after him. "Happy Unity Day," he says in a dopey, mocking tone to him in parting before taking another long drink of Unity Juice.