Weirder Stuff - Rainbow In The Dark

[Jaunt]

Tools.  Lemmings.  Hangers on.

As he walked across the grounds all he was were people and faces that meant nothing to him.  No one really cared about what was arranged here, or the work that went into it, only that they could come here to take advantage of it and wreck it.  Tawny had bumped into a few friends, one of them Laurie as she arrived, and was now laughing and talking while looking for a spot to call their own to set drinks and camp up for the duration of the party.  IT was standard procedure: find a spot, claim it, and in between dancing and drama one would return there to hydrate and rest up before heading back into the mix.  Essentially it was conditioning for when they all got older and started clubbing.

Rumor had already begun to spread that Chet and others were banned from the bash and eyes fell on Devin like he was some grim enforcer.  They would never know, if Chet and Sikes knew what was good for them, that it was Bannon who almost murdered them with a hay hook, which was pretty fucked up, no doubt, but still funny.  The thought made him chuckled as he walked past everything with his hands tucked deep in the pockets of his cargo shorts.  He wanted this party.  He really did.  He'd even been looking forward to it for a few days now but as he looked around and saw everyone just... being themselves... and it was almost enough to bring on another seizure.

He knew he wasn't feeling well lately.  He'd never admit that to Doctor Cook, but he had a feeling Tawny was onto him.  He couldn't describe it but he felt... lost?  Like no matter where he was he wanted to be somewhere else.  No sooner would he arrive before he needed to pick up and go.  If he didn't he felt edgy or anxious.  New scenery, new environments... the same old routine of his life was quickly becoming stagnant and boring.  Like the person he is was nothing but a shell for something else and since the seizure cracks had started to form and disassemble who was to make room for what lay underneath.

He sat down on one of the heavy logs, not too far away from things but just far enough to look dark and brooding... like Bat-Kid looking over party-Gotham.  Something about this night he just didn't know about.  He just didn't have the mojo to get out there and be Devin, Prince of Shelly.  He just looked at them all and thought to himself how empty all this of this was.  With a sigh he shook his head.  Without him and Marissa, Shelly High was going to become a war zone.

"Here," a Jones Soda, dangled into his field of vision.  Black cherry, his favorite.  Marissa strolled past him as he accepted and sat beside him on the log and tipped a brown bottle to her dark lips.  "What're you all mopey over here for?"

"Just not feeling it," he replied somberly as he twist the lid off with a hiss and took a sip.

"Kay," she said suspiciously, wondering what ha gotten into her brother.  "So, did Bannon really almost throat Sikes with one of those hooks from I Know What You Did Last Summer?"

Devin smirked and sipped his soda.  "No.  It was a hay hook, not a gaff hook."

"Whatever," she dismissed his uncanny knowledge of hooks.  "Just going by what I heard from Tawny."

He nodded his head slowly in unconcerned acknowledgement.  "You know what I heard?  I heard you called Tawny fat."

Mari's eye's narrowed as she felt a fight coming on.  Her brother had, on many occasions, proven that he excelled at the first hit and very few but his sister were left standing afterward.  It wasn't often that Devin turned his ire upon Marissa, but when the twins battled each other it was always for the same reason: one of them had crossed a line.  They're relationship was symbiotic: one could not run Shelly High without the other, at least not for very long.  "I merely implied she was vastly exceeding a recommended caloric intake with all that carnival food.  She's constantly pining for you.  Swooning on your every word," she rolled her eyes and scoffed.  "It's sickening.  Stop playing with your food and take a damn bite already.  God."

"It's not like that," he shook his head to deny Marissa's comment.  "It was a kiss, we talked about it and we let it go."

"No, you let it go," his evil(er) counterpart smirked as he tipped the bottle to her lips.  "That outfit for the fair?  That's for you.  The lip gloss?  For you.  The pretty blonde pony tail with the rogue strands falling into her eyes just so...?  You guessed it, Bro.  For you.  And the cuddling and hand holding and speeding her all around town on your world's most expensive vibrator is only adding to the delusion fantasy she has woven for the two of you.  Trust me Devin, despite what the rumors say, I am a woman, and I know lusty googly eyes when I see them.  Cut.  Her. Lose."

"Yeah," he disregarded everything she just said.  "I'll think about it."

"Well," she grunted as she stood up, taking a moment to flatten out the black corset top she was wearing that showed off her mid-riff and brushed off her tight jeans.  "Please do.  Now, no offense, but you're bringing me down and I came here to get wasted and unapologetically say some mean shit to someone I can't take back.  With luck, I'll light the fuse of a suicide tonight."  She smiled impishly.

"Yer all heart," he smirked back.

"Lies." She laughed and stepped off to join the party once more.

[WS ST]

The Party

 

It was in full swing, it being the party an entity which had taken on its own life, across the campsite there were a half dozen or more groups which had coalesced, the cliques which had congregated with others of their kind as always happens at these things. The stoners, the jocks, the drama and band geeks, and others. There was some mixing especially in the middle where Jase had set up all the refreshments and the main music but off on the edges where the cliques seethed they had their own vibe each with their own music and vice.

The perfect tinder box for Marissa or someone like her,

Cora

It was hot and the music was good and the boy was very cute, she kind of remembered seeing him around in school last year and she thought he was maybe a senior this year, breathless and glowing with sweat, she broke off out of the dancing crowd between songs, drawing the boy after her with a wave of her finger and a smile fit to split her face, "Never got your name. I'm Cora. Good moves."

“Its Liam, and thanks I've been to a lot of dances and parties, had a lot of practice.” His smile was rakish as he looked her up and down approvingly, “You, on the other hand, move like nobody else here, like no one I've ever seen on any Shelly dance floor..”

They stopped by the beer and the makeshift DJ setup with the speakers and one of Sean's laptops that with Jase's suggestions he had filled with various playlists, Sean was standing there behind the table face turned to the screen oblivious to the rest of the party.

Liam glanced at Sean and gave the heavily breasted boy a little smirk before looking back at Cor, “Beer or something else, Cora,”

 

Sean

Sean had jumped out of the back of the truck and looked around he couldn't help but catch some of the looks Jase gave and as he helped, as much as he could, carry the chests and other stuff they had retrieved, caught some of the looks and concern that Sara shared with Jase.

About that time the girls rolled up and he saw Cora and Laurie jump out of Clara's car and dissapear right in to the bulk of the crowd dancing. With a frown he went over and grab a Jones Berry Lemonade to start, then he started noticing all the graduated students he hadn't seen in months and even years recognize him and notice how he's changed/developed. He couldn't hear the comments but he knew what they were.

Even with the heat he wished he had worn a jacket, or hadn't come at all. He looked at the lemonade in his hand then bent over and put it back and picked up a hard lemonade then went over to check on the music.

He checked the playlist made adjustments and even did some impromptu mixing, it was as if the laptop and the music were shielding him from scrutiny that illusion ended when a couple stopped by the coolers and he glanced up and saw Cora and, oh for gods sake, Liam Day.

 

Sara and Jase

As Lilly's truck pulled up in one of the reserved spots, Sara hurried over, her expression clearly mirroring what Jase was feeling.

"I know." he said to her, sighing.  "Help me with these?"

Sara nodded and helped haul the stuff something she was doing a lot of. After they finished she stood back and let Jase set up his liqueur and pot stand. She waited until the first rush was over and approached Jase when he was lone for a moment,”They just started showing up about a half hour before they were supposed too and I don't even know all of them. I don't think Marissa invited all of them either, she was kinda ticked off when she got here and saw them, but got over it pretty quick.” She looked around sheepishly which looked odd coming from someone her size and build. “I probably should have texted you, sorry”

Jase shrugged, “Don't be nothing we could have done.” He offered her one of the little bags and she smiled her thanks as she took it, “Jase, there's something else. Did you find a trail over behind were the cabins used to be, and cover it up?”

 

Luis and Lona

Luis couldn't help but be surprised at the size of the party, his school was bigger than Shelly but no one there could eve have put together a gathering like this there, no this was like some shit you saw in a movie or on TV easily over a hundred people crowded the ridge and they were all drinking and partying he really hoped that things stayed cool. He wasn't sure about this Jase fellow either or how close Lona was to him. I mean this was major party stuff and if he was hearing right this guy was the one who put it all together.

He was still looking around and occasionally over at where Lona was talking with the tall guy, when a big guy almost six foot and bulging with muscles walked up and gave him a look and that was when he realized it wasn't a guy it was a girl and from the look and gesture of her head, she wanted to talk to Jase alone.

He moved off a few feet and saw that Lona was coming toward him looking a bit perplexed and maybe somewhat exasperated.

“I need a drink,” Lona said as she walked past Luis and started mixing a drink.

Luis watched for a few seconds as she finished and took a big gulp.

“Is everything okay,” he asked?

 

Lilly and Charlie

The music was loud and she could pick out at least three different songs and they all clashed. This wasn't their party she had been right somewhere along the despite Jase's intentions, and it was probably Marissa's fault as well, they had lost control. All she could do was stay back and hope that she could mitigate any damage.

As she looked around she saw a lot of older kids some who had graduated this year and some from as far back as two years ago. That she thought was odd.

This was the first time she had been out here in the dark and to be honest the woods thicker here than she was used to and that made the darkness outside the fire light seem kind of ominous.

Then she noticed Charlie sitting on a log smoking a joint by himself.

Charlie could count the number of times he had gotten high on one hand, so each was memorable, and none of them, none had ever been like this. By the third hit the music became nothing but a beat a beat that seemed to thump in time with his own heart and the people, everyone there on the ridge he could see them all even though he was looking at the ground or when he screwed his eyes shut. All of them were there behind his eyes. Some of them he could recognize most he couldn't the clearest were his friends, Lilly who was coming toward him, Sean all the way over there next to Bannon,

“Charlie?”

Suddenly he coughed and let out the toke he hadn't realized he had been holding Lilly was standing in front of him and everything was normal.

 

Cass

Everyone pretty much abandoned her. She had thought to hang out with Clara but Clara and gotten a text and the next thing she knew she was standing there still by Clara's car and no one was paying her the slightest attention.

She adjusted the strap of her camera and decided to mingle, she knew a lot of the kids here but just as many she didn't know. May be if she didn't draw any attention she could pick up some juicy gossip,,,er stories.

She had been cutting through the crowd for more than ten minutes when she heard a familiar voice.

“Oh my god, what the hell are you doing here, for fucks sake, this is a party you don't do parties.”

Cass turned and started right into the inebriated eyes of her nemesis, Leila Cross.

 

Devin

Devin sat on the log bottle of soda in his hand he had taken a couple of sips but the taste was bland so most of it was still in the bottle getting warm. He found himself watching Tawney, his sisters words bouncing through his brain. She was still talking, to Lauri Cassidy and at least a half dozen other girls had joined them and moved on. Devin had never realized that Tawney was liked by so many. Nor how hot Cassidy's sister was.

So engrossed in this train of thought he hadn't noticed when Courtney came up beside him two red solo cups in her hands. He could smell the crown from where he sat. She held one out for him. “This is a party Devin, you of all people shouldn't be seen drinking pop.” She put it closer to his face but didn't invade his space. “I heard what happened with Chet. Is it true? Did the neanderthal make him piss his pants?”

Spoiler

Clara i didn not post anything for you at this moment since you are going off to have your private moment we will get back to you when you rejoin the party. Cade has not arrived yet although his jeep lights can be seen coming up the ridge

 

[Jaunt]

Quote

Devin

Devin sat on the log bottle of soda in his hand he had taken a couple of sips but the taste was bland so most of it was still in the bottle getting warm. He found himself watching Tawney, his sisters words bouncing through his brain. She was still talking, to Lauri Cassidy and at least a half dozen other girls had joined them and moved on. Devin had never realized that Tawney was liked by so many. Nor how hot Cassidy's sister was.

So engrossed in this train of thought he hadn't noticed when Courtney came up beside him two red solo cups in her hands. He could smell the crown from where he sat. She held one out for him. “This is a party Devin, you of all people shouldn't be seen drinking pop.” She put it closer to his face but didn't invade his space. “I heard what happened with Chet. Is it true? Did the neanderthal make him piss his pants?”

Devin accepted the cup didn't drink it.  Courtney, gay as she thought she was, had been trying to get Devin drunk for way too long.  He wasn't sure if she was really into girls and just wanted to get a few blackmail photos with him, or was straight/bi-ish and really wanted him to nut in that fish.

"Thanks," he said with as small of a measure of disinterest as possible.  In typical Devin tactlessness he answered her question.  "Chet and Sikes almost raped a girl tonight."

"Almost, I mean, they didn't, right?"  Courtney was certainly disturbed by Devin's tone.  He sounded, to use phrasing from Lona's point of view, almost lordly.  "Chet wouldn't, we both know he wouldn't do something like that."

"Yet, there he was, with Sikes, trying to get their grab on.  Chet might not, but Sikes is a right bastard, and we both know he's rapey.  He dragged Chet along for a dangerous ride."  Devin laughed but she could tell he wasn't finding any of it funny.  "There are rules, Courtney.  Moderation and fear.  If you guys cross too many boundaries or go to far to quickly... people go to the police or you get guys like Bannon who make guys like Sikes and Chet wet themselves."

"Jesus," she curled her face in revulsion of the thought.  Whether it was of Bannon or Chet and Sikes, Devin wasn't sure.

"The girl they almost sexually assaulted," Devin carefully tried to not mention Cora in the presence of Courtney, lest the rumor turn into a sorted tale of stable debauchery and 'she was asking for it'. "Chose not to retaliate.  I'm giving her time to change her mind and if she does, you know what those two have coming..."

"The Tree."  Courtney swallowed hard and sipped her Crown.

"That's right,"  Devin looked off at the party, his expression blank.  "The Tree."

There was a long silence between them as the music of the party blared around them.  People yelled and danced and played corn hole and slammed beers and did keg stands.  Courtney didn't say anything and if only for a moment she seemed mildly 'normal' compared to her usual bitchy self.  Finally it was more than Devin could spare and he quietly inhaled and tried to relax.  "So, Cee, which of these lucky ladies are you taking home tonight?  I'm calling pics, or it didn't happen."

[Bannon]

It was almost, but not quite like holding court.

Jase had set up his niche on a fallen log near the kegs, but far enough away to avoid being jostled.  Smoldering cigarette dangling from his lips, a cooler either side of him and a bottle of Captain Morgan to hand he sat like a dragon curled around it's hoard - only minus the devouring of hobbits.  He dealt with all comers in the same polite yet arms-length fashion, his prices non-negotiable, his attitude of 'take it or leave it, I don't care either way' born from a supreme confidence in the quality of his product.  There may have been certain avaricious types who pondered simply brushing him aside and making off with a cooler, but word of what had happened to Cody Sikes had spread as such rumors tend to, with enough exaggeration that people who heard the rumors were unsure as to their veracity, but with enough factual base that no-one wanted to find out how true the rumors were.  And so Jase's clientele were well-behaved, approaching and browsing the goods on offer before making a purchase, then heading off before another customer approached.

"Duuuude!"  Ahh, the call of the Lesser-Brained Greg, Bannon thought to himself as he looked up from his thoughts to see several of the football team bearing down on him.  He reminded himself that these weren't those jocks - Greg and his immediate friends were fairly decent, even if Jase's opinion of their brainpower was less than flattering.  He forced a slight professional smile and nodded to them, taking a swig of rum from the bottle.

"Gentlemen.  As promised, I have what you asked for."  As Greg, Ewan and the other two grinned and punched one another on the arms in excitement, he patted the coolers like they were prized hunting dogs.  "This cooler here on my right is my regular product, which you have come to know and love."  He smiled as they laughed raucously.  "Pre-rolled with the good tobacco for your convenience, four joints for ten bucks or ten for twenty.  Party prices.  This cooler is the premium shit."  He tapped the left hand one again for emphasis.  "You have never smoked it's like, nor will you find any other supplier with it.  I sell it in fours only, one package per person, and it's forty dollars for a package."  He smiled, leaning back and regarding the four of them.  "I'm only offering it to you because you're good customers and I believe you know good product.  This is not common stoner shit."  He let that hang in the air for a moment, then flashed a toothy grin.  "So, what will it be?"

Business was quickly resolved after that, and Bannon smiled in satisfaction as he counted and pocketed the money, shaking hands with Greg and company.  It worked like a charm - although the Lucifer's Reserve was indeed special and the subject of some personal pride, painting and presenting it correctly was having the fish bite before he could even finish setting the bait.  And of course, it helped that some customers already had a buzz on from the booze, too.  Sara came over, her expression concerned again.

1 hour ago, WS ST said:

“Jase, there's something else. Did you find a trail over behind were the cabins used to be, and cover it up?”

He frowned.  He vaguely remembered the trail, but he certainly hadn't covered it up.  He shook his head in answer as Sara sat down on the log beside him.

"No."  he said, thinking.  "I saw the trail when we were scouting the place, I think.  But I didn't cover it up.  Why?"

"I was walking around the outskirts of the party - away from the noise and stuff.  And I saw that someone has tried to cover it up by pulling bushes over it."  Sara said, lighting up one of her 'party treats' and taking a draw.  "Holy shit!"  she said, keeping the smoke in for a long beat then exhaling, her eyes widening before half-closing in bliss.  "Jase, this stuff-!"

"I know, right?" he gave her a crooked grin.  "Don't ask where I get it, because I'm gonna enjoy being the only source of that in Shelly."  He glanced around the party.  "I pictured something smaller, you know?  Looks like people couldn't keep their mouths shut." he said with a frown.  He checked his coolers - they were emptying fast, even the Lucifer's Reserve, and he was aware of the weight of his wallet right now.  "Not going to complain too much though." he remarked with a shrug.  "I've got my eye on a '70 Dodge Charger - she needs some work but she's solid.  Going to buy her this week, then start getting the parts together to make her sing."  He glanced sideways at Sara with a smile.  "Figure you might be able to help me there, if you'd like to earn some cash in hand.  I'm talking supercharger intakes, beefing the engine, all that good stuff."

[WS ST]

Sara and Jase

Sara looked sideways at Jase a bit thrown off by the change in subject. We are all so different, what am I doing, “Yeah, sure, I can help with that. The car, you know mechanic stuff, some body work if it needs it. You want me to take a look at it before you jump?” She offered him the joint.

Jase considered that for a second then nodded, “Yeah that would be cool, might get the price knocked down.”

Sara watched the party goers as the laughed and dance and noticed a few couples had already moved to secluded areas and started to make out.

“About that trail, Jase. I been out here all day after you guys left, and there wasn’t anyone else up here. Someone had to cover it up, and if it wasn’t you and it wasn’t me… who was it?”

 

Devin

Courtney made a show of brushing the log then sat down close but not so close to Devin that anyone would mistake them for a couple. She took a couple of sips from her cup as she perused the crowd of party goers. “Well, so many to choose from. I have been in a cherry popping mood today and already got one notch at the fair.” She held up her right hand first two fingers extend tightly together and made thrusting motions with them as she giggled. “Think I might go for one of them.” She points the two fingers at Tawney and Laurie.

“Poor Tawney, she probably needs it most just to get over you. But then that Cassidy kid,” Court takes in a deep exaggerated breath in through her nose and lets it out as a satisfied sigh, “Mmmm, red on red is so exciting.”

She glances at Devin who is stony faced, “You make it happen and I promise you can have pics and video, hell you  can have her panties if you want them.”

[Bannon]

51 minutes ago, WS ST said:

“About that trail, Jase. I been out here all day after you guys left, and there wasn’t anyone else up here. Someone had to cover it up, and if it wasn’t you and it wasn’t me… who was it?”

Jase blinked, then frowned more deeply, his eyes sharp as they regarded her, then looked in the general direction of where the logging cabins had been.  He couldn't see anything now, but his good mood had been shaken somewhat.

Nearby, someone struck a match to light up and yelled in surprise as it turned into a small brief fireball.  They dropped it and stamped the flame out as their friends laughed drunkenly.  By the keg table, someone picked up a cup of beer to find that in the five seconds they had put it down it had somehow frozen solid, frost riming the plastic cup's outside.

"Shit."  he said quietly.  "There was a Rez girl at the fair who bumped into me.  I thought she might be a dangle from the Sheriff.  What if she was running her own game?"  He glanced at the maybe three-quarter empty coolers.  "I can't just leave this stuff here.  The fuckers will run off with it.  Help me lock it away in your truck and we'll go have a look."  He bent down and snapped the padlocks back onto the coolers, waving away a customer with a shrug and a "Store's closed, man.  I need to walk around a bit.  Be back later, ok?"

Sara helped him hurry through the crowd to her wrecker, where the coolers were locked into the storage trunk on the back.  After that was done, Jase turned to her as she grabbed a torch from the glove compartment.

"Right.  Let's go take a look." he said, eyes narrow with suspicion.

[Cade]

Cade was the very last arrival for the party, and smiled as he drew near.   it was definitely one to remember, as it seemed it was way larger than was likely intended.  He hoped that his friends were having a good time.   He found a place to park, and then quietly made his way into the party itself. With the party already in full swing, he didn't draw any attention to himself, simply looking around for his friends.  He'd have to apologize to Cora, since he was supposed to give her a ride out here, but he had a feeling one of the others had brought her.

He made his way to the coolers and took a coke from one, and smiled, before setting out to find the others.  His dad would have a field day if he learned of this party, and he frowned.   He'd wanted to tell the others about his dad leaving abruptly, that they might need to be abit concerned, but he'd not had the chance to do so.

[WS ST]

Cade

Cade took a swallow of his coke and slipped his hand into his pocket and felt the tooth as he looked around. There were way many more people here than Jase had said would be here and some of them he remembered where seniors when he was a freshman. He saw Sean hiding behind the Laptop pretending to be the DJ, that was unfair, he was the one who programmed it but even though he looked like he was doing stuff Cade doubted that he was really doing much except trying to go unnoticed.

Looking beyond Sean he saw Lona with some guy he didn't know and beyond them he saw Cora. That made him smile knowing she had made it and the smile vanished when he saw the guy standing next to her hand er a drink. It Liam Day a recent graduate from Shelly High and like Bannon a dope dealer but unlike Bannon he had no scruples would sell anyone anything, except weed he didn't deal weed not since he had been a sophomore and Bannon came on the scene. The guy was a total jerk and didn't give a crap about anyone but himself, especially the girls he dated if you could call it that.

Sara and Jase

The two teens slipped away from the party and didn't turn on their flashlights until they had gotten away from the light of the bonfire. Sara led the way to the trail as Jase hadn't been all that sure exactly where it was until he saw where they were going. It was about ten feet behind the furthest ruined cabin just where the woods began to thicken. Jase had seen it that first day and marked it as a game trail, now he wasn't so sure.

Sara pulled up one of the tree limbs and showed it to Jase. He examined it and noticed that it had been partially cut or chopped and then twisted off. he sniffed the cut ends and figure it had been cut recently, some time that day. They both shined their lights in the direction the trail seemed to go. Jase stepped around the cover and went about five yard up the trail then knelt and touched the ground. Sara followed but didn't kneel instead she kept her light on the trail ahead.

"It isn't a game trail," Jase said. He set his light down and put both hands on something in the dirt, with a bit of effort he pulled up a concrete block about a foot square and two inches thick. The kind you make garden or lawn walkways with. Now covered by inches of dirt and forest detritus but once this would have been a walkway leading deeper into the heavy woods toward the north face of the ridge. 

Spoiler

Any of the PCs could have seen Sara and Jase going off alone and could if they wished follow or you can continue where you are.

 

[Clara Lys Wright]

When he’d found her, Etienne had pulled her into the woods towards the north ridge, far enough for the trees to block out the blaring speakers and toasted party-goers. Though the moon was bright overhead, it was dark under the canopy of the trees. Clara picked her way through the shadowed underbrush with surprising ease - it was if the woods were lit by weird shifting lights.

“Here,” he said after a moment, leaning against a tree. It was quieter and no one else seemed to be headed in this direction for make outs or drunken exploration. “Clara. . .” he sighed. “All you had to do was say ‘stop’. I would have.”

She flushed, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. “I-I know. I just-It wasn't. . .” Heat snaked through her body along frayed nerves, leaving pinpricks of sweat along her skin. 

“I know I’m not a part of this plan you have,” he said as he pushed off the tree and stepped up to her, “but maybe, I could be?” He slid a hand over her cheek, a spark of static electricity flaring between their skin. They both smiled at the slightly painful flicker of connection. “Plans can change. Grow.” 

How did he....? Lona. Right. God, he’s practically glowing. “I don’t- I don’t know how. To change, I mean.” She shivered and he put an arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “It’s...It’s always better when, when I’m in control. When I know how things are going to be. Make a plan. Follow it through. It’s safe. Safer.” 

He tilted her chin up and kissed her, wrapping his other arm around her once he felt her relax against him. “Safe isn’t better, Clara,” he murmured. “It’s just safe. Life is more than safe.” 

She laid her head against his chest, her eyes closed. Light seemed to flicker just beyond her eyelids, defying the darkness of the night. The sound of his heartbeat drummed steadily in her ear and the presence of him seemed to fill her awareness. On the very edges she could feel the forest around them breathing and sighing in the evening gloam. She took a breath and nodded, looking up to say something when the sound of Sara and Bannon intruded on their solitude. 

“...game trail,” Jason’s voice drifted over as the pair approached. Etienne cleared his throat and asked softly. “Are we good?”

“Yeah,” Clara nodded and smiled up at him, nervously stepping outside her well-built comfort zone. “We’re good.” She leaned her head against his chest again, but her gaze shifted to the direction Bannon’s voice had come from. She frowned, finally slipping out of his arms, “But, we should find out what’s going on. Jason’s the one throwing this party. He wouldn’t ditch it unless something was wrong.”

Taking hands, the two angled their walk towards the sounds of Sara and Bannon. 
 

[Jaunt]

Quote

Devin

“Poor Tawney, she probably needs it most just to get over you. But then that Cassidy kid,” Court takes in a deep exaggerated breath in through her nose and lets it out as a satisfied sigh, “Mmmm, red on red is so exciting.”

She glances at Devin who is stony faced, “You make it happen and I promise you can have pics and video, hell you  can have her panties if you want them.”

"They're mine."  Devin said flatly.  Courtney was one of the rare few people in Shelly that Devin could not intimidate, at all.  Not because she was tougher than she looked (although she was) or that she wasn't in some way afraid of him (which, she was), it was because she got off on it.  The more forceful and intimidating he was around her, or even to her, the more she liked it and Devin hated himself for finding that so god damned hot.  "Besides, they're not really worth the time or trouble.  Feelings, emotions... I do this because I'm bored and it's fun to see the looks on their faces when I've I had my fun with them.  You?  You need more than girl next doors and ripening sophomores.  They're droll."

"If that were the case, Devin, you'd not be wasting your time either," she challenged him.  She was right, to a point, but thankfully Devin knew her weakness was the same has his own: her ego.

He smiled, appreciating that she was one of few women in Shelly that waa, despite her penchant for being a psychopath, actually real.  "I'm in a rut right now.  This summer hasn't been the best I'm amusing myself where and however I can.  But you, Courtney.  You're wasting your time with girls like these.  You're smooth, talented, sexy as hell," he dropped on the compliments having no idea that, like Tawny, she was just one more girl in Shelly that fantasized about him.  He was pretty sure Cassidy's sister did too, and he planned on finding out later.  "You need to challenge yourself.  "What do you gain from cherry popping, I mean, I get it to some extent, since there are some dudes who don't mind a little ketchup on the hotdog, but there's no real fun in defiling this crowd.  I mean, really... you think not a single one of these ladies here hasn't gone all Master of Ceremonies on the little man in their boat and let DJ Diddles out to get freaky?  Deflowering these girls isn't what you need to be doing, it's beneath you.  You make art, Courtney, and you, lapping away at stank nectar is just a waste of your talents.  Anyone can pop a cherry.  So... you pop em, wiggle the digits, make em feel dirty... then what?  You just gave them one hell of a story for college and prolly an orgasm to match."

Devin's lies were one day going to bite him in the ass.  He was only bull shitting Courtney to get her to leave him alone but he had no idea what manner of dumpster fire he was igniting.  "You're an elegant repository for debauched ideas.  Why cut them loose?  Why conquer when you can convert?  Don't just leave them be, make them want more.  Make them so messed up that they can't eat or sleep or think without wanting to come to you and get more of whatever it is your giving."  He pointed at a pretty young lady with dark hair and glasses.  Pretty, but not overly so and from a distance could have been a runnin up for Clara's style of nerdiness.  "Take Samantha Hollen for example.  Major Jesus freak, prays twice a day, saving herself for marriage, and dedicated her science award to 'God's grace', because he guided her thoughts and hands."

"Ew," Courtney scrunched up her face.  "It's amazing how crazy people are these days."

"Right?"  He shook his head, completely agreeing with her.  "So you un your game on her, you get your digit dribble on, finger bang the pootie-tang and then what?  You've essentially reaffirmed her faith in Jesus because she spent the whole time screaming 'oh God' and walks away feeling great and like all Christians just blames it on Gods will and passes it off as a test to escape any and all culpability for her actions.  No damage done."

"So, what do you suggest?"  She asked with interest.

"Make them just as sick and depraved as you. Make them a vessel for all your sick and twisted ways.  Make them need you, want, hang on your every thought, touch, and word... meke them twisted and broken."  He didn't realize the expression in his face, or that he was looking right at Laurie as said what he did.

"Doesn't sound like much fun," she shrugged.

"Then cut them loose."  He sipped his warm, flat soda.

Courtney grinned ear to ear.  "My god, that's horrid..."

"And it's not bullying," Devin shrugged.  "Because they'll be doing it to themselves.  Exploit their mental weaknesses and dependencies and watch them self implode."

She slid over on the log and leaned over to his ear.  "I swear, I could fuck you right here.  Right now."

Devin about choked on his second sip of soda.  She wasn't into guys.  She wasn't supposed to say things like that!  In just a few short words she'd shattered his stone wall of composure.  He coughed and managed to look at her through watery eyes.  "I-I'm sorry... whuh?  Uh, your fridge is meat free."

"Okay, first, let's not refer to my hoo-ha as a 'fridge'..."

"Can we not refer to it a hoo-ha, too?"

"Anyway, you're not wrong," she said, still sitting close enough to him that he could feel her breath.  "It's just, were I to sleep with a guy, I could certainly see it being you.  There's just, something about you that turns me on."  She took his hand.  "Wanna see?"

"No," he slid his hand away swiftly and she laughed at him.  She'd set him up and was loving her victory.  "No, really, I'm good."

"I will certainly take your council under advisement," Courtney said as she scooted away.  Not tonight though, I just want to play with and break a few toys.  I'll leave your blonde and the Cassidy sister alone, for now."

"Which one?"  He asked with a smirk in reference to the Cassidy sister.  Courtney and him shared a laugh.

"Okay, and another thing... hoo-ha?  Really?"  She looked at him cross ways.  "You're the king of inappropriate phrasing and you don't like hoo-ha?

"Eh," he shrugged.  "It just sounds demeaning."

[Coraline Hess]

Spoiler

Cora

It was hot and the music was good and the boy was very cute, she kind of remembered seeing him around in school last year and she thought he was maybe a senior this year, breathless and glowing with sweat, she broke off out of the dancing crowd between songs, drawing the boy after her with a wave of her finger and a smile fit to split her face, "Never got your name. I'm Cora. Good moves."

“Its Liam, and thanks I've been to a lot of dances and parties, had a lot of practice.” His smile was rakish as he looked her up and down approvingly, “You, on the other hand, move like nobody else here, like no one I've ever seen on any Shelly dance floor..”

They stopped by the beer and the makeshift DJ setup with the speakers and one of Sean's laptops that with Jase's suggestions he had filled with various playlists, Sean was standing there behind the table face turned to the screen oblivious to the rest of the party.

Liam glanced at Sean and gave the heavily breasted boy a little smirk before looking back at Cor, “Beer or something else, Cora,”

"Coke, please," she chimed back in answer, covering the quick flash of displeasure that turned the corners of her smile downward for a heartbeat. Think about it another time. Now was now was now. Liam turned away to fetch the drink, and by the time he came back, the smile was firmly back in place.

"Thank you. Well, I have been taking lessons for the last ten years. You work hard enough at anything, and it looks easy. The Vice-President of the Dance Club should be able to hold her own," she chuckled, looking down as she cracked the ice-cold can open, "I love it. Make the whole world perfect three minutes at a time no matter what's happened before or might happen after. Worst thing most people can do on a dance floor is step on your toes, you know? Best foot forward, and no one gets hurt by..."

She cut her speech and that train of thought short, sipping her drink and scanning the crowd while she waited for Liam's response to her little monolog. Oh. There was Cade. About time. Okay. And... Why were some of the others slipping off into the woods? Huh. That was troubling. 

[Marissa Jauntsen]

2 hours ago, WS ST said:

"It isn't a game trail," Jase said. He set his light down and put both hands on something in the dirt, with a bit of effort he pulled up a concrete block about a foot square and two inches thick. The kind you make garden or lawn walkways with. Now covered by inches of dirt and forest detritus but once this would have been a walkway leading deeper into the heavy woods toward the north face of the ridge.

Marissa's thundering through the trail in pursuit of Jason and Sara was less than stealthy.  Neither really thought much about it since people were wandering all about to take leaks in the trees and find a quite place to begin their lessons on the hardships of teenage pregnancy.  When they stopped and when she didn't quiet down, they'd finally realized they were being followed intentionally.

"Would you two stop, already," Marissa tripped over and stumbled upon every loose stone and fallen branch on the trail, signifying she did not have her nature legs.  Thankfully she was in jeans and comfortable Converse, which they both took as strange since she'd never really get caught dead in anything but designer footwear that was not sensible for hiking.  She just seemed like the type of horror movie white girl to wear heels in the woods and getting eaten alive first.  "Jesus... what is going on?"

"You tell us," Sara said in her own round about way of asking Mari what she was doing following them.

"When two of the people I planned this with, sneak off and I know a coupling isn't likely," she gave Sara a side look.  "It makes me a bit nervous.  We're facilitating this thing, so if the place gets messed up, we're responsible.  It's a nice spot, I want it left as close to how we found it as possible.  So, when you slipped off I figured some idiot set something or, knowing this town, someone on fire."

"You were concerned," Jase offed his trademark corner of the mouths mirk.

"Curious."  She corrected in her usual stern, bossy tone.  "I'm being cautious, since we're all taking risks tonight, I don't want one fool to ruin it for all of us."  She shined the light of her cellphone on the stone Jason found.  "What's that?"

[WS ST]

Devin

Courtney giggled then laughed, she had just learned something, she drained her drink then grabbed the one she had made for Devin and drained that in three big gulps. She laughed a little bit more "And when I say cherry popping I'm not talking about their virginity silly. Most of these girls think their straight and even the one who know they aren't hide it. Its a thrill turning them if you know what I mean and there are other thrills involved. Subversion is almost as much a turn on. I don't care about any of these little small town slips I have bigger vision than Shelly, Montana."

 She swivels her head around craning her neck looking through the crowd they could see. "There see little miss baton waving drum major..., not majorette that word is sexist now. She who has been dating Mike French for two years but has a secret crush that no one knows about. Well except me. So I waited until she was most vulnerable and heartbroken that her true love doesn't even know about her love. Boom I swoop in and get her in a shed, bang her little cooze til she doesn't even know who she is anymore, then I am out of there and boom, someone like her, how can she ever face Mike French again, and how is she ever going to be able to look her secret crush in the eye again and not think of me."

She takes Devin's soda and takes a big swallow. "Now that is a turn on, and either of them," she points the bottle at Tawney and Laurie, "would be even bigger." She runs her tongue around the lip of the bottle. "But I will respect your wish and not bother them...until, you, Devin, have made up your mind, after that the other one is fair game."

[Bannon]

6 minutes ago, Marissa Jauntsen said:

She shined the light of her cellphone on the stone Jason found.  "What's that?"

"Paving slab."  Bannon let it 'thunk' back into it's niche as he stood up, dusting his hands free of soil.  "And it's been here awhile, perhaps since just after the logging camp was torn down."  He ran the beam of the flashlight along the slightly flattened trail until it went out of sight in the trees.  "I thought this was a game trail when I scouted the place, but someone tried to cover the beginning of it since Sara and I were here two days ago, right after you and I set the ball rolling."  Jase didn't seem like his usual 'who cares' slacker self right now.  He seemed intent and focused rather than slouched and uncaring.

"So...?"  Marissa looked at the trail, then at Bannon's wary thoughtful expression.  Neither of them seemed to notice the hard-eyed stare Sara was leveling at Marissa in the darkness, as though she wanted to shoot lasers from her eyes right through the Queen Bee's head.    "So someone tried to cover an old path.  Weird, but-  Oh."  She nodded as her slightly-buzzed brain caught up.  Marissa was not stupid, despite being several orders of magnitude behind Jase in the brain stakes.  

"Yeah." Jase nodded in agreement.  "Someone knew we were coming.  Someone didn't want people blundering up this trail.  They went to pains to make it look as if there were no trail.  You don't do that for no reason."  He glanced at the two girls, the firelight from the clearing shining in his eyes.  "I want to know why."

A sudden rustle caused the three teens to tense, Jase flashing the beam from the light onto Clara and a handsome looking guy who were walking hand in hand.

"We heard you here."  Clara explained, looking nervously from Jase to Marissa then Sara.  "You found something?"  As Jase tersely explained, she nodded.  "Seems intriguing, to say the least.  And you're going to investigate?"

"There could be all sorts of dangerous shit you're about to walk into."  Marissa objected.  "Wolves.  Bears.  Cougars!"

"No tracks around here." Jase replied with a shrug.  "I checked before approving the site."  He paused, looking at them all, his eyes briefly resting on the clasped hands between Clara and Etienne. The air suddenly seemed to get colder, or maybe it really did get colder.  It was hard to tell and nobody had a thermometer handy, but all of them felt gooseflesh on the backs of their arms and an urge to shiver in the middle of a warm summer night.  "I'm going.  You can all do as you please."   And with that he turned and headed up the trail.

 

Spoiler

Let me know if your character or NPC is following and I'll add them in, with dialogue if you wish.

 

[Jaunt]

"That's what that means?"  Devin sat there looking about as dumb as he had in a very long time.  Courtney looked at him and nodded her head slowly with an expression that read 'duh'.  "Well shit.  Jesus Court, why do you have to be gay?  You're like, perfectly fucked up enough for me.  And those two?"  He laughed.  "Not a chance in hell.  Tawny is ironclad straight.  Cassidy, eh, maybe, but I'll know soon enough."

"I'm going to hold you too that," she said with a predatory glare as she tipped his drink and finished it.  She tossed it at his feet and stood up.  "Have fun.  I've things to get on with."

"Later."  He offered passively.  For a few moments he had some quiet and time for himself to keep looking on at a city filled with people he cared nothing about.  Or did he?  Why did the actions of the Nerd Herd keeping running back to the forefront of his mind?  Why did they care about him that day when they all knew he would never had done the same thing for them?  With a sigh he stood up and brushed aside the confusing thoughts in his head and decided it was time to get on with his party night.

Meeting a new girl was always a gamble.  Especially when that girl was Laurie Cassidy and you'd spent the better part of three years beating up her brother.  Needless to say it didn't place things in his favor.  He had a reputation, one he no longer seemed to care about, but a reputation nonetheless.  It wasn't going to be easy.  In a way that was totally not, but seriously was, creepy he walked about the party for a bit stalking and observing her.  Tawny was part of the problem and knew with her there all his lines would be shot down as she tried to save Laurie from Devin's antics.  After a few moments Tawny skittered off with a few other friends and Laurie was alone, if only for a few moments.

He approached her and planned it perfectly.  As she turned around he was right there and she bumped right into him.  Classic technique and opened up an avenure for conversation, since people were always apologetic after running into someone.  He took the impact and waited for her to apolo-

"Fucking watch it, Juantsen," she back away and scanned her chest and pants for any spilled drink.  "Jesus Christ.  Are you blind or just stupid?"

"Uh...," he stammered trying to process a backup to what was the perfect plan.

"Stupid, got it."  She moved to walk around him.  "Good talk."

He had nothing.  This was supposed to be flawless but she was a master at this game.  She was a whole new level of impervious to his station and money and popularity.  This wasn't right.  It wasn't supposed to work like this.  "Excuse you."  Was apparently what his brain thought was the best choice.

She stopped.  Success.  Sometimes they just needed a moment to realize they were walking from an opportunity of a lifetime.  She slowly turned, her eyes narrowed in disgust.  "Excuse me?  Exuse me?"

"Yeah, you ran into me."  Just be stern with her.  She's wild and needed to be broken.

She stepped back and met him face to face.  "You're Devin Jauntsen.  For three years you've abused, bullied, tortured and generally made the lives of us in Shelly High a living hell.  You're a self-centered, egotistical, pretty little rich boy who thinks that everything in the world is owed to him.  You're sorry, pathetic, entitled little ass wouldn't last ten seconds without daddy's money and frankly I can't until the day comes where someone comes a long and ruins you.  You deserve nothing but contempt and I hope you and your stuck up sister choke on the ashes of your insecurities and vomit up rancid, blackened sacs of the horrid, viscous nightmares that pass for your souls.  You are small.  You are wretched and you are weak.  Now, do I look like I give one care about running into a piece of shit like you?"

There was silence amid the loud music.  He could almost see the storm clouds in there eyes and the thunder rolling in her voice, each insult a strike of lightning that coursed through his skin and started his heart.  Laurie Cassidy was savage as fuck.  "Ssssooo... do you wanna go out sometime or exchange numbers or something?"  He regretting saying it as soon as he heard it.  He had nothing, his brain was paralyzed.

"Exchange numbers?  This wasn't a car accident, Devin," she smirked and walked off.  "It was a slaughter.  I hate you and I hope your prostate falls out."  With a toss of the bird she walked off.

'Duh' seemed to be the only face that he could muster.  She walked off into the evening and all he could think of was what the wedding ceremony would be like.  She was pure fire wrapped in a delicate, beautiful feminine form.  He replayed the whole thing in his head and decided to own it.  He frowned a bobbed hiss head in retrospect.  "That went well."

[Marissa Jauntsen]

47 minutes ago, Bannon said:

"There could be all sorts of dangerous shit you're about to walk into."  Marissa objected.  "Wolves.  Bears.  Cougars!"

"No tracks around here." Jase replied with a shrug.  "I checked before approving the site."  He paused, looking at them all, his eyes briefly resting on the clasped hands between Clara and Etienne. The air suddenly seemed to get colder, or maybe it really did get colder.  It was hard to tell and nobody had a thermometer handy, but all of them felt gooseflesh on the backs of their arms and an urge to shiver in the middle of a warm summer night.  "I'm going.  You can all do as you please."   And with that he turned and headed up the trail.

 

"Oh, well, 'you checked'.  Fabulous... just like you checked and this trail wasn't here yesterday or rather 'it looked like a game trail'.  I suppose the cougar that eats us wasn't here yesterday, or maybe it looked like a kitty cat."  She had her arms out expressively and let them drop to her sides with a slap on her thighs.  "You're not really batting a hundred here."

"A thousand," Etienne offered.  "It's 'batting a thousand'."

She looked at him in the dim light.  "I'm sorry who are you?"  She looked away from... whoever he was and looked to Jase who was already ready to get going despite Marissa's protest.  She reached out and tugged at Jason's sleeve.  "Wait.  If you're really going to go... fine, I'll go."

"Concerned?"  Jason asked.

"Curious," she corrected him again.  "But, let her go first," she motioned to Sara.  "She's poor.  If something happens no one will miss her."

[Clara Lys Wright]

"Good lord, Marissa," Clara huffed, "What is your malfunction? Were you fed acid and venom as an infant?" It wasn't much of a zinger, but she'd already spent her cussing quotient for....the decade?...earlier in the night. 

Etienne leaned over and said quietly in Clara's ear, "Maybe we should just go back to the party?" His eyes were mostly on Marissa as he spoke, but they slid past her to Jason by the end of his question. 

"No," Clara shook her head, her curiosity too caught now and her mind supplying an actionable excuse. She squeezed his hand and smiled up at him, "You said there was more to life than safe, right? Well...." She motioned to the path. "Besides, it's  plenty bright enough out, we should be fine. We can find our way back once we see where this goes and make sure Marissa doesn't eat anyone for, I don't know, not having the right brand of hiking shoes."
 

Spoiler

There's a waning gibbous moon out, but under the trees, it's pretty dim.

 

[Sara Hutchins]

Marissa turned to lay into Clara when a hand clasped her shoulder and Sara Hutchins leans close in to stare into her eye "The cougar or bear your so fond of mentioning is going to attack the noisiest target first. so why don't you shut up and follow behind us or go back to the party and do what it is you do best, whatever that is."

[Bannon]

As Marissa opened her mouth to retort to the two girls, eyes snapping with a mixture of anger and nervousness, Jase looked back over his shoulder, having ignored her barbed injunction to let Sara go first, and said one word as his eyes swept over the group, focusing on Clara and Sara before resting on Mari -

"Enough."

It wasn't the volume - Jase didn't raise his voice much if at all.  It was the tone - a slightly note of impatience with the follies of others overlaid with disdain for such trivia and a sense he, Jason Bannon, had more important things to do than listen to this shit.  Marissa closed her mouth as the other two girls settled their feathers back into place also.

[z-Avalon Wilson]

Quote

Lona was coming toward him looking a bit perplexed and maybe somewhat exasperated.

“I need a drink,” Lona said as she walked past Luis and started mixing a drink.

Luis watched for a few seconds as she finished and took a big gulp.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Great.” Lona glanced at him and then at the smoking rollup in his fingers. “Got enough to share?”

Luis hesitated then dug out the pack. “One,” he said firmly, “until you tell me why you’re so wound up.”

“There’s this guy who freaks me out and I think that Clara has a thing with him.” She lit up and inhaled deeply before adding, “I’m fucking terrified that I’m going to have to have the shovel talk with him.”

“Perhaps skip this one?” Luis suggested, raising his eyebrows. 

“Haha, no. Cute idea but it violates the Girl Code.” Lona’s tone would have have more force behind it but the weed had already stolen that hard edge. Sighing, she scanned the crowds and froze. “Aw, shit.”

“Problem?” 

“Yeah.” She looked at him. “I don’t want to drag you into anything--”

“You need backup?” he guessed.

“Only from a distance,” Lona confirmed. “Just bear witness.”

“‘Bear witness’?” he asked, tilting his head. 

Damn you, Sean! You and your fantasy RPG nonsense is infecting me! “Yeah. Watch us. In case he tries something dumb.” Lona turned and headed toward Cora, scowling as she walked. “God, now I’m starting to sound like them,” she growled, pushing through the crowds. 

There were itches in the back of her head; they had crept up on her until she was only now realizing it had been there for a while. They were like arrows from her to points in the night: two over there, one over there, and more spread around her. This is some fucking weird weed. Do I dare tell Bannon that?

The crowds parted as she marched up to Cora. Liam saw her coming and winced; Lona ignored him and caught Cora by the arm. “Cora, hon, I just need to warn you. Liam here? He’s the kind of creep who won’t take no for an answer. He’s the kind of guy who’ll dump you on the side of a hot road in July because he won’t accept that you’re just friends. Given tonight, I thought you might want better company. I don't want to have sex with you, and Luis is cute and not at all rapey.”

[Lilly Pryor]

21 hours ago, WS ST said:

Lilly and Charlie

The music was loud and she could pick out at least three different songs and they all clashed. This wasn't their party she had been right somewhere along the despite Jase's intentions, and it was probably Marissa's fault as well, they had lost control. All she could do was stay back and hope that she could mitigate any damage.

As she looked around she saw a lot of older kids some who had graduated this year and some from as far back as two years ago. That she thought was odd.

This was the first time she had been out here in the dark and to be honest the woods thicker here than she was used to and that made the darkness outside the fire light seem kind of ominous.

Then she noticed Charlie sitting on a log smoking a joint by himself.

Charlie could count the number of times he had gotten high on one hand, so each was memorable, and none of them, none had ever been like this. By the third hit the music became nothing but a beat a beat that seemed to thump in time with his own heart and the people, everyone there on the ridge he could see them all even though he was looking at the ground or when he screwed his eyes shut. All of them were there behind his eyes. Some of them he could recognize most he couldn't the clearest were his friends, Lilly who was coming toward him, Sean all the way over there next to Bannon,

“Charlie?”

Suddenly he coughed and let out the toke he hadn't realized he had been holding Lilly was standing in front of him and everything was normal.

Lilly walked up to Charlie as he sat on a log and leaned down to give him a closer look, her loose knit sweater hanging loosely from her torso as her long hair, which she rarely wore down, framed her face. Her gaze shifted from one of his eyes to the other with a hint of concern on her face.

"You okay dude?" she asked, resting her hand in her knees as she stood there, leaning down to look at him.

"Never been better." Charlie said with a faint smile.

"Pryor?" came a familiar voice from behind her, causing Lilly to straighten up and turn around.

It was Will Beckett, the center of the football team. He was unmistakable as probably the biggest, or at least broadest, student at Shell High. He was not what one would call 'fat', though there was certainly some on him, but rather just big, corn-fed country boy. When he set his mind to it, there was little that could move him against his will, physically or mentally, making him a standout on the wrestling team and a valued member of the football team, anchoring the offensive line as center. Will was pretty easy going though, quick to smile or laugh and slow to anger, though on the rare occasions that he was enraged, it was a sight to behold. 

Along with Will was Todd Barnes and Darrin Miller, the left tackle and right guard of the offensive line and friends of Will's. Combined, they were 3 of the biggest kids in school and Lilly knew them all pretty well, as they protected her, as quarterback, each offensive play.

"Hey Beckett! Barnes. Miller. What's up?" she said as she extended her hand and gave each of them the classic 'bro' handshake, stepping in to pull their clasped hands close to the chest as she patted them on the back, happy to seem some friendly faces.

"What's up? You tell us. Never expected to see you at a party like this." Will chuckled.

"Yeah, I know, but summer's almost over and I'm a VIP. It's not what you know, but who you know, you know?" she said with a grin. "Besides, there's plenty of other stuff to drink.

"Cool. Cool." Will said a little at a loss for words, his brain fumbling, searching for something to say. Lilly was the last person he thought he'd see tonight, much less like this, looking hot with her hair down and not in football pads or athletic attire. She had always come off kind of as 'one of the guys', not letting Chet or other intimidate her and being comfortable on a team with guys. Seeing her like this though was kind of eye opening.

"Sooo.. what? You friends with Marissa now or something?" Todd asked, looking a little confused as he took a sip from his red Solo cup.

"Me and her? Friends? Oh heeeeel no." Lilly laughed in response and shook her head.

"She thinks I gave Devin seizures or something, which I am not sure is insulting or flattering." Lilly joked, prompting a laugh from the three boys.

"Naw. I know Bannon. He and Hutchins pretty much did this. Mari just told people. I mean, you think she is gonna break a nail setting this up? Come on." she explained with a smile still on her lips.

"Bannon? Jason Bannon?" Will asked. He knew that Bannon and Lilly at least knew each other, but he did not think they were in *this* tight.

"Yeah." she replied. Noting their looks she added, "What?" quizzically.

"Nothing. I just didn't think you two.." Will's voice trailed off a bit.

Lilly laughed again, a sweet melody of mirth and joy, truly amused at Will's words.

"No dude. We play D&D together. With Cade Allister, Chrlie here..." she said, stepping aside to reveal Charlie sitting on the long behind her.

"Charlie? This is Will, Darrin and Todd. Guys? This is Charlie. Say hi Charlie." she said, making introductions.

"Hi Charlie." he said to the guys with a smile, nodding to them and he looked over his joint again.

"What's up." the guys said, more simply acknowledging Charlie than actually expecting and answer.

"And others." she chuckled.

"Ohhhh. Cool. Cool." Will said, nodding in what might be seen as a bit of relief.

As they spoke Lilly had noted first Jase and Sara lock up the coolers in her wrecker and then go slipping away into the woods, followed by Mari on her own, which confused and concerned her a bit. What in the hell would they be doing? She looked around, and saw Lona talking with Cora and Sean seemed good 'acting' as DJ, but Clara was nowhere to be found either. Had something happened to her?

"Hey guys?" she addressed them while looking past them to the woods beyond where she caught a glimpse of light, "Would you mind keeping an eye on Charlie for a minute? I'll get you hooked up when I get back." she asked, not really waiting for an answer as she slipped past them, giving Will a pat on the shoulder.

"Uhh.. sure?"

 

Lilly followed after her friends into the woods as best she could, though they were not all that hard to find. All one had to do was focus in on Mari's bitchiness. She listened as well as she was able from close by for a moment and then came forward, having approached much more stealthily than any of them had expected.

"What's wrong? Animal scare somebody taking a leak?" she asked in a whisper as she crouched like the practiced hunter she was and looked around, her eyes doing their best to perceive what they could in a dark woods. 

[Bannon]

7 minutes ago, Lilly Pryor said:

"What's wrong? Animal scare somebody taking a leak?" she asked in a whisper as she looked around, her eyes doing their best to perceive what they could in a dark woods. 

Jase had only taken a few steps, the others behind him, when Lilly caught up with them.  He didn't stop moving, but he did explain as they moved in his terse, concise manner.

"Someone tried to cover this trail between us scouting the location and the party.  Turns out it's not so much a trail and more a paved path.  We're going to find out what's at the end of it."  He said in his habitual quiet fashion as he played the flashlight beam over the ground before them.  "No, there are no wolves, bears or cougars."  His lips peeled back from his teeth in a grin in the darkness.  "Probably."  He glanced Lilly's way, the light catching his pale eyes for a brief second.  "Wanna come along?"

"And let you go traipsing around in the woods and have all the fun alone?"  Lilly snorted, smiling a little at him.  "You need to ask?"

"Great.  More meat shields."  Marissa muttered sotto voce, but fell silent as Jase glanced at her, remembering his earlier admonition.  "Can we get on with it while there's still a party to go back to?" she said more clearly.

[Coraline Hess]

"Wait. What?!"

The sheer shock of Lona's accusation and Liam's lack of immediate rebuttal made her whip her head around as she was dragged away, eyes boring into his with the anger of betrayal. Her scowl could have shattered glass, lips a thin bloodless line. The nearest speaker stuttered out of time with the others, a small discord in the revelry of the dance area.

What the hell was it with tonight?! One. Freaking. Conversation. Maybe followed by more dancing. Was that too much to ask?! 

She wrenched herself out of Lona's grasp, moving under her own power towards a concerned-looking boy she presumed was Luis.

[Sean Cassidy]

Sean, Cora, Lona

21 hours ago, WS ST said:

Liam glanced at Sean and gave the heavily breasted boy a little smirk before looking back at Cor, “Beer or something else, Cora,”

 

21 hours ago, WS ST said:

He checked the playlist made adjustments and even did some impromptu mixing, it was as if the laptop and the music were shielding him from scrutiny that illusion ended when a couple stopped by the coolers and he glanced up and saw Cora and, oh for gods sake, Liam Day.

Sean glowered at Liam. Liam had hit on him when he'd been in Grade 8, urged on by his friends and somehow not knowing who Sean was or aware of his condition, despite being in the same school for a year and the elementary school right next door. Liam had accused Sean of trying to trick him... then had continued to pursue him to some degree or another while chasing any other girl in school almost until he graduated.

Sean didn't know if there had been a bet, if Liam was just into the novelty of tapping a freak, or if it was something else, but he'd been rather persistent until Teagan had deterred him forcefully enough that she'd been suspended for a week. But now Teagan was gone while the 'shroom slinging dickweed was still in Shelly pumping gas, his eyes on Coraline, though not without taking a long smirk at his tits.

Well, fuck this. He was getting tired of hiding. He was a guy who looked like a girl with a big rack. He was well aware of that, so was everyone - almost everyone - in Shelly, and it wasn't going to change. He tilted his head and chugged down the rest of his hard lemonade, savouring the bite. He sneered around the lip of the glass bottle when he caught Liam's eyes flick back toward him for a moment, or rather, the contents of his shirt.

Sean stood up and slapped the empty bottle down on the table with the laptop, his brows furrowing when he heard a clink. He glanced down and found the glass bottle wobbling slightly, glancing off two other empty bottles of flavoured hard lemonade. He could barely remember downing the other two despite having an - at times annoyingly - impeccable memory.

Liam hadn't been one of her tormentors, per se, he'd never beaten him up, given him a swirly, or even really insulted him about his appearance. But Liam had made him uncomfortable and been more than a little skeazy, having 'accidentally' brushed up against his breasts or ass on multiple occasions. Time to make his life just a bit hellish.

Sean laughed out loud as Lona blithely dropped the 4-1-1 on Liam with Liam standing there. Sean walked over to Lona and Liam as Cora retreated to join Luis, a sway to his hips he normally constrained without even thinking about.

"Don't worry about Liam, Cora," Sean called out sweetly, standing next to Lona as he smirked up at Liam. "He'll take a 'no' backed by a girl who can beat him up. You could do it, Cora, I'm sure. And Lilly's here too and so is Sara..." Sean looked around, a mildly confused, sure he had just seen the heavily muscled girl. "... somewhere. Isn't that right, Liam?"

[Cassandra Allen]

“Oh my god, what the hell are you doing here, for fucks sake, this is a party you don't do parties.”

Cassandra looked around and stared...then burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. There was something peculiarly right about Leila being here.

"You know what? You're not wrong. This is my first big party, and I'm not going to waste it..." she wiggled her fingers, "...doing this thing we do. It's a big party, there's a shit-ton of people here, how about we just sort of...agree to a glasnost thing and take a day off to just enjoy ourselves?"

Leila just rolled her eyes at that. "Jesus, everything's so dramatic with you." She smirked then and added, "Besides, you never take a day off. This is about some story isn't it? Even though school hasn't even started yet. You know if you squeal on this, Bannon's gonna be piiiiiiiissed..."

"Okay, first of all, no...I'm actually here to have fun. I was invited," Cassie retorted. "Second, why should I even care what Jason Bannon thinks?"

The dark-haired girl, a fellow worker on the paper, shrugged nonchalantly. "He's supposed to be pretty fucking scary, I'd watch out if I was you. I heard he almost murdered Chet or something."

Cassandra opened her mouth to fire back, then paused. There had been that commotion at the fair.

"Really? Was it at the stable by any chance?"

Leila probably answered, but Cass completely missed it, because at that moment, by sheer chance, she spotted Clara across the party grounds. And a dude! An older dude! Walking off together!

She looked back at Cross and held up a finger. "Actually, I have to go. It's been, uh, fun. Hope you have more fun. At the party. Excuse me." And with that wonderfully crafted outro, Cassandra whirled and started pushing through the crowd towards the spot she'd glimpsed her friend and her scandalous...possibly dangerous!!...new beau.

Leila frowned to herself, wondering what the reporter was really up to, lurking around here. Invited, her ass.

Fucking Cass.

..

By the time Cassandra reached the spot she was pretty sure she'd seen Clara, obviously the two were long gone. Well, minutes gone. Still, they hadn't gone back into the party, and the path led that way, so...come along, Watson. Extreme deductive insights at work!

She followed the path for a little while before starting to to feel that she was:

A) Getting a bit far from the party for her well-being, and

B ) Still not seeing Clara and her friend.

And really, what the hell was she even doing? If they'd wandered this far off, it was a sure bet that they didn't need someone poking their nosy nose in on their business. Sure, that was newsworthy, but Clara was...nice. She didn't deserve to have her personal affair spattered all over. Besides, Mr Klent wouldn't run anything salacious. But mostly it would be unethical. Tabloid tactics. She wasn't that kind. Was she?

Crap. After that speech about not wasting her time at the party sniping at Leila, she'd decided to...waste her time at the party chasing after stupid kid-stuff stories.  Cassandra sighed and turned around, taking a second to just pause and close her eyes and still the rush of thoughts constantly surging in her brain and just relax. For a second.

And she heard them.

Dimly, kind of like an echo almost, but clearer. Clara's voice. And then someone she didn't recognize immediately, and then...was that Bannon? What the hell?

Curiosity spiked anew, Cassandra turned towards the faint sound, eyes still closed, orienting on it until she felt like she had a direction...and then set off, heedlessly leaving the path to see what was going on.

[WS ST]

The Party

 

Cade watched with some curiosity the weird scene involving Cora, Liam, Lona Then Sean. He didn't know what was going on but all of his friends ended up moving away from where they had been leaving a stricken Liam holding a solo cup and looking like he might cry. Cade felt a pang of pity then reminded himself who it was he was pitying. At that he hurried over to join his friends

“Hey guys, sorry I'm late.” Cade said as he came up and stood beside Cora. After they exchanged greetings Cade pointed at all the people, “Where did all these people come from I thought this was supposed to be a small party.”

Sean snorted feeling a tad tipsy, “Marissa the mantis screwed up apparently, “ he said with a chuckle. He looked at Cade “Why you so late man, and more importantly why you leave Cora alone at the fair?”

“It wasn't my choice I had to take my mom and sister home after my dad got called out on an incident.

As for being late, I saw something down by those old rail road tracks. I thought it was a deer or maybe a wild pig. When I slowed to see what it was something hit my jeep.” He digs the tooth out of his pocket and shows it to his friends and passes to them so they can look at it closer. Cade notices Luis then and extends his hand. “Hey we haven't met, my names Cade.”

 

In the Wood

Jase, Sara, Carla, and Lilly

 

Both Marissa and Sara glowered at each other and at Jase but the dropped the bickering and followed after Jase who had already gone several yards a head. While the two of them glowered Lilly had caught up with Jase and the two were almost walking together. Clara and Eteinne brought up the rear.

The group walked about ten more minutes the noise of the party completely faded and only the sounds of the wood could be heard. The woods had continued to grow thicker and suddenly Jase stopped. The stones path led to what at first appeared to be a veritable wall of Trees that had severed the path. But careful study showed that it would be possible to wend their way through. Jase started to do just that when Sara spoke. “Hey maybe we should go back tot he party and come back tomorrow when it's light.”

Jase didn't stop or look back. “You can go,” he said dismissively as he pushed into the thicker trees”

And so they went on.

They didn't have to go far though. Jase was the first one through and stopped when his flashlight revealed a sort of clearing in the midst of the wood and in the center stood an old trailer with iron grating covering the windows covered in vines and mold the thing looked as if it had been there for decades.

Spoiler

In the Woods

Cass and Devin

 

Devin thrust his phone into this pockets and headed toward the woods. What the hell was she thinking going off with Bannon and Hutchins Jesus Christ. He made his way easily following them he wasn't on the trail he just knew were they were and unconsciously went in that direction.

Cass followed the voices she heard but strangely she never seemed to get closer to them and they were always in the same direction, no that's not right it was almost as if she were already there but she could see them anywhere then she heard a loud snap as something stepped on a branch. Cass jumped behind the nearest tree and waited breathlessly then started when Devin stepped around another tree a few yards away. The two teens stared at each other. Devin had heard the branch snap and had stopped as well then he saw Cass, a second later she saw him. Then they both heard another snapping twig. Cass rushed out of her cover and joined Devin . He gave her a look that had WTF written all over it. But before either one could say anything they both had the eerie feeling they were being watched.

Almost as on they turned and looked behind them and saw not a dozen feet away a man, filthy disheveled, unshaven and very naked. The trio stared at each other for several seconds then the man raised his arm and pointed a gun at them.

[Charlie Cole]

Lilly left, and everything went back to the way it was - from Charlie's viewpoint. It was as if Lilly's presence had been covering up everyone else who were just so dim except for his friends. Because it wasn't clarity that was the variable factor now, it was the light of each and every party-goer.

Jase does greaaaaaaat weed. This is just... Shakespearean.

"I don't get it." Charlie pondered out loud. "Why are you so dim, Bob?"

"Umm," the awkward Will was the one of the three to respond, confused if the drugged drama nerd was insulting them or someone else, "none of us are Bob."

"Don't be silly." Charlie insisted, thrusting a finger at Will. "I mean, it's you Bob," the finger moved to Darren, "Bob here," and finally to Todd "and the other Bob." It had to be some trick of the light, because his eyes seemed to be turning green, then gray, then purple, in time with his change of target. "All Bobs. Nearly everyone here is Bobs. Bobs are dim. I don't get it. Lilly, she's just so bright, like Cora and Sean. Is this something Devin and Marissa did?"

Within moments Charlie promptly decided it was their fault, just like everything else. Drought, famine, pestilence, death, the Jauntsens were behind it all. "Yes, they did." Then he saw Cade and ambled off to say hello, his eyes back to their normal blue, leaving behind the three confused football players.

Finally, Darren offered his thoughts. "I guess Bannon's stuff must be that good."

[Bannon]

At the Creepy Trailer Cabin
Jase, Lilly, Marissa, Sara, Clara and Etienne

All six teens froze for a second, all manner of creeped-out thoughts going through the heads of five of them whilst one of them simply scanned the clearing for signs of life before stepping out of the trees and approaching the trailer.

"Jase!" A hissed chorus of his name, or variations thereof, came from the lips the group, which prompted him to look back at them with scarcely concealed impatience then turn back to the trailer, treading carefully as he approached, flashlight playing over the ground warily before he reached the side of the cabin.

"Dude."  Lilly muttered as she caught up with him, Sara hurrying along behind her prompting Clara to tug Etienne into following.  Marissa, realising she was on her own and the only light source was with Jason, cursed and hurried over last.  As they drew near, Jase put a hand up as he scanned the ground carefully around the door, then nodded to himself and moved to peek in the windows.  A reflected glare from the flashlight indicated that the windows had been covered with some kind of reflective foil - all of them, in fact.  He grunted and moved back to the door.

"Jase, I think we should come back later." Lilly ventured, not really expecting him to listen.  Jason seemed weird lately, as though the eccentric grumpy loner she thought she knew was a mask of some kind, past which the real Bannon peered at them with bright, piercing eyes that didn't blink or look away, but measured and assessed and betrayed little of what was behind them.  Truth be told, she was a little worried - for him and of him.  The shy sideways glances and smiles were still there from time to time, but during stressful periods it was as though that persona was switched out with someone cold-blooded, ruthless and calculating.  The question was which was the real Jase?

Marissa was experiencing a similar sensation of dislocation.  She had a feel for people - the accuracy of which she was currently reassessing.  She was the queen of the Shelly High ecosystem, it's apex predator and chief warden.  She took note of all in her domain and mentally slotted them into their pigeonholes, imposing her order on the jungle.  Bannon was - had been - in the category of 'canny scavenger'.  A fox, or a coyote.  Someone smart enough to toe the line, someone useful enough not to persecute.  Not part of the food chain because they just wanted to be left alone.  Now, though... With the events at the fair, and with the quiet disdain in his tone when he'd stopped them all bickering, and with the cold competence and fearlessness with which he was investigating a place which had 'serial killer boudoir' written all over it - well, it was enough to make her question if he was content to appear a fox so people wouldn't look for a shark.  Either that, or he was just crazy as all hell.

"Latched door, looks like it should take a padlock."  Jase glanced at the others, shining the beam on the door fastening which, all could see, held no such lock.  "The door is a heavy steel one too.  Not normal trailer construction."  They all stared at it for a moment.  No sound could be heard in the clearing.

"So... what's inside." Etienne ventured, voicing what they all were thinking.  Bannon flashed that switchblade-fast grin again.

"Let's find out."  he said, reaching for the door latch.

[Marissa Jauntsen]

"No, let's not,"  Marissa grabbed his arm to keep him from reaching for the door.  "Jason, this is reckless and dangerous.  This could be someone's home, or where someone is dumping bodies, or where they cook their meth.  It's obvious they know who we are, you said it yourself, so why re we tempting fate, hmm?  Last thing I want is some Jerry Voorman to run out and machete all our faces off."

"Voorhees.  It was Jason Voorhees who machete'd people."  Etienne offered up.

"Whatever, nerd.  I don't care," she hissed at him with a roll of her eyes.

"This is nuts and you're curiosity and haste are centered only on your desire to see what's in there," she lied, knowing damn well she was curious too.  She was not like Jason, however.  He seemed ready to rush in and throw caution to the wind and Marissa was more the girl whose contingencies had contingencies.  "This is dangerous, Jason and some psycho could be holed up in there.  Don't think for a moment that I don't know that Sweat Hog and Roid Rage wont trip me up to save their own skins."

She pulled her phone from her pocket and the shine from the screen illuminated her face.  Even scared half to death she was attractive, which wasn't that easy to pull off.  "I've seen these movies, it's always the gorgeous rich girl who dies first,"  she tapped her screen the flashlight on her phone brightly came to life.  "I'll wait here.  I text Deejay, he's on his way.  Maybe we should all just wait for more people?"

[Bannon]

Jase lowered his arm as Marissa grabbed it, frowning slightly before he gave a short nod.  He'd felt a tingle where she had touched him, a heightened sense of Marissa's presence in the same way he'd felt Clara when she'd held his hand.  That sense of connection helped to ground him, made her more real somehow.

"You're right."  he said quietly, taking a deep breath.  He handed the flashlight to Lilly and turned away from the door, taking several more breaths to clear his head.  The booze and weed were affecting his judgement, that much was plain.  He was going from bold to reckless, and he was never usually out-and-out reckless.  He gave a short low chuckle, resuming his habitual slouch and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking up at the slices of sky visible through the trees.  "We should wait for the others - I got carried away by the excitement." he said apologetically.

"And the rum."  Sara said with a smirk.

"And the weed."  Lilly added, smiling and nudging him with an elbow.  Jase snorted in good humor, darting a quick glance at them all before wandering a few paces away, all tension gone from his posture.

"Mostly the excitement though." he retorted.

"You are so weird."  Marissa said, shaking her head as she watched the chameleonic shift in Jase's attitude.

[Sean Cassidy]

The Party

After Cade, Sean offered his own hand to Luis, his tone one of neutral friendliness. "Sean, nice to meet you, Luis."

Luis blinked at the uncommon name for what he took to be an uncommonly curvaceous High School girl. Her hands were delicate, but her fingers and handshake seemed strong, and her strange eyes of turquoise and teal were oddly direct, almost daring, though daring him what, Luis wasn't sure.

Sean pursed his lips at he took his turn looking at tooth or fang, then pulled out his phone and snapped a pic. Then snapped another with the tooth and a quarter on his hand for a size reference, and began humming as his nimble fingers did a reverse image search to see if the internet had seen anything similar enough to give them a clue what they tooth may have come from.

"Yeah, I meant to ask Liam about that, 'bout where he'd heard 'bout the party. The Mantis wouldn't need the 'shroom slinger when she could get her hands on Jase's stock," Sean commented while he scrolled around on his phone with a flick of his thumb, looking at pics and likely sites. He looked up and raised his voice unabashedly towards Liam, who had his phone to his ear. "Liam. Liam!" He raised an armed and waved energetically, his tone turning into a sing-song. "Leeeeeeeee-aaaaaaaam!"

Even with the distance between Liam and Sean and his friends, they could hear the squeal of feedback from Liam's phone. Liam glared down at his phone, then transferred that glare to Sean, who seemed unphased.

"What the fuck do you want, freak?" Liam snarled.

"Where'd you hear 'bout the party from, Liam?" Sean asked pleasantly, apparently ignoring or even unaware of Liam's hostility. "No offence, but I don't think Jase or the Man... er, Mari...issa would have invited Shelly graduates."

[WS ST]

At the Creepy Trailer Cabin
Jase, Lilly, Marissa, Sara, Clara and Etienne

They were all enjoying a good laugh well mostly all of them when they heard what sounded like a gunshot.

 

The Woods

Devin and Cass

Both teens froze as the sudden fear of eminent death gripped their hearts, even at twelve feet away in the dark the end of the barrel looked like it was the entrance to hell. Neither teen could tear their eyes from it, then the man began to mumble unintelligibly, and he took a stumbling step forward looking almost like a zombie from one of those terrible B grade movies they show on cable. He stumbled but the gun didn’t waiver.

He took a second step, “Ummm…namm, uhhh…yermmm…” the sounds came from the man buth the kids weren’t sure he even knew he was aware he was making them. Devin stood his ground and Cass moved closer to him and grabbed and hugged his arm, the man-zombie stumbled again and they saw something behind him, a tiny roiling cloud no bigger than a dinner plate only a couple of fee behind his head.

Step…stumble…step… Devin stepped in front of Cass out of reflex, she peered around him watching not on the man-zombie with the gun but the cloud which had grown to at least three times its original size. Man- zombie was oblivious to it he was fixated on the young people.

The cloud grew, Devin stepped back pushing Cass with him, the man stepped forward and something reached out from the cloud, grabbed the man from behind around his upper torso and shoulders. Like a snake striking, it was fully revealed as it exited the cloud its toothy mouth completely engulfing hid head and in one swift move yanking him back into the cloud. As he flew backward his gun went off sending a bullet into a tree before falling from a spasming hand.

Cass almost screamed but instead buried her face into Devin’s shoulder, who stood transfixed as the cloud, now man sized roiled a yard away. Devin could almost feel something looking at him, studying him, then the cloud started to shrink and move away then it was gone. The only thing left to show that any of this had really happened was the gun lying on the forest floor.

Spoiler

what came out of the cloud  

 

The Party

"Where'd you hear 'bout the party from, Liam?" Sean asked pleasantly, apparently ignoring or even unaware of Liam's hostility. "No offence, but I don't think Jase or the Man... er, Mari...issa would have invited Shelly graduates."

Liam walked over slowly a wariness in his manner, “I don’t know I think one of these guys mentioned it when we were…talking.”

The music was loud and almost everyone was engrossed in their own partying so what sounded like a distant gunshot if heard was not registered by most. But Sean Cade Cora and Lona did hear it and they all as one turned toward the sound.

[Cassandra Allen]

Cassandra couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't think. It didn't even feel like she was still in her body. The world felt like it was spinning wildly around, and it was all she could to to stay on it. Her grip on Devin's arm was painfully tight, but she'd forgotten she was holding it.

Somewhere in the back of her head, a voice of reason was trying to convince her that she hadn't seen all that. It was drugs from the party. She hadn't taken any, but maybe there'd been some in the punch that she hadn't drunk, or maybe she'd inhaled too much smoke or...

She didn't listen. Cass was too much a creature of her senses, even when her senses abused her like this. There was no explanation for what she'd seen, but she'd seen it. She'd seen it, and she'd have to deal with it.

The gun.

It was still there. Still real. Sitting on the ground among the trees. By itself it proved nothing but it was all she had.

With the hand that wasn't still latched onto Devin, she dug into her pocket and shakily held out her phone. A flash zapped into the forest, like a little bolt of lightning.

The gun was preserved on the screen of her camera. A memento of the night that broke everything. It changed nothing, having that picture, but somehow she felt the raw panic starting to fade back. Like the photo was an anchor. The world didn't feel as out of control as it had a second ago, and she managed to loosen her deathgrip on Devin's arm. Red, raw panic pulled back, letting some actual thought through.

That's when she realized she'd been hyperventilating and squeaking "Oh my god" over and over again under her breaths, so she covered her mouth to shut herself up.

"Devin, we have to get out of here," Cass whispered when she trusted her voice. He wasn't her favorite person in the world, but right now she wasn't moving more than two steps alone. He could be Charles Manson and she'd stick with him because what the fuck???!!

[z-Avalon Wilson]

Luis shook Cade’s hand. “I’m Luis. Lona invited me.” 

Lona was struggling not to cough like a dweeb; she literally hadn’t see Cade coming until he was right there like some demon appearing from the dark. Incubus, maybe, her apparently now-dorky brain supplied. “Hi,” she wheezed. “Cade. Hey. Yes, Luis is a fan. But also a friend. Fan-turning-friend, maybe?”

Luis raised his eyebrows but covered her awkward. “I think she just likes me for my pretty horses.”

“They are very pretty,” Lona added, falling gratefully silent when Cade showed them the tooth. 

When Sean joined them, Luis shook his hand, still smiling but only saying, “Luis, ma’am.”

Sean pursed his lips at he took his turn looking at tooth or fang, then pulled out his phone and snapped a pic. Then snapped another with the tooth and a quarter on his hand for a size reference, and began humming as his nimble fingers did a reverse image search to see if the internet had seen anything similar enough to give them a clue what they tooth may have come from.

“So,” Lona said as Sean performed his basic investigation, “are you guys springing a surprise live-action thing on the group?” Cade and Sean blinked at her, startled, and she said, “C’mon, that doesn’t even look real.” 

“It’s real,” Cade said. “At least, I really found it.”

His firm statement was enough for her to drop her questions, and she stood by, watching Sean torment Liam for information. At the gunshot, she gasped, “Clara!” 

Whipping out her phone, she frantically started to call her, all the while pushing toward the noise. “Be okay, be okay, be okay,” she chanted as she dashed blindly into the night, looking for her housemate.

The itching was worse, almost making her head buzz with sensation. She was being pulled in several directions by it but ignored it. Dropping the half-smoked joint, she silently vowed to never smoke Bannon’s shit again.

[Lilly Pryor]

At the Creepy Trailer Cabin
Jase, Lilly, Marissa, Sara, Clara and Etienne

 

Lilly's head snapped to the direction of the gunshot and without hesitation she took off running toward the sound. Jase went a bit wide eyed at her instant departure and moved to run, or at least jog, after her when Mari latching onto Jase's arm with a claw-like grip.

"Nuh uh buddy. You are NOT running off! I've seen this movie!" Mari said to Jase, yanking him back toward her and the others, determined to keep as many meat shields around her as she could.

If there was no game in the area, then it couldn't be hunters, and with the discovery of the trailer and the fact that somebody tried to hide the trail, the likelihood that it was some meth cookers or something protecting their territory became much more likely. Lilly was not sure what she could do against one or more assailants, armed with guns, but she had to at least try, and did not even stop to consider how possibly suicidal her current course of action might be. She could not just sit there while other possibly got gunned down for no reason that having some fun at a party.

Even in the dim moonlight, Lilly was quite a sight to behold as she took off running. Most, if not all, of them had seen Lilly play various sports and knew she was a talented athlete and a fast runner, but this was different. This was clearly no game to her. For the few seconds that they could see her she was a bit breathtaking in her athletic prowess, agility and even power as she put her several years of free running and physical gifts to their full use. Somehow Lilly managed to find the one breach through the veritable wall of trees that the others had missed, where a tree had fallen and taken down several others in the process making a barely passable route through the thick growth and just happened to be toward the general direction of the gunshot.

She moved through the brush and down the length felled tress, jumping and tumbling only to rise right back to her feet without even slowing, moving faster than any of her friends would dare in the dimly lit woods as she disappeared into the night. Etienne, for his part, instinctively moved between Clara and the trailer, with the probability of real danger now at an all-time high, shielding her with his own body.

 

Spoiler

Lilly is running as fast as she is reasonably able (which is still pretty damned fast) towards the sounds of the gunshot, but will slow some when she thinks she is getting close. Devin or Cass or Nina (of course) can have her arrive. She is expecting an active shooter, for what it's worth.

 

[Sara Hutchins]

At the Creepy Trailer Cabin
Jase, Marissa, Sara, Clara and Etienne

Sara watched Lilly run and admired the way she moved, the girl was supple and fast and supremely confident and..."She thinks it's meth heads," Sara looked back at Jase, saw Mari with her hand on his arm and frowned.

"Wouldn't this place smell if it was," she asked Jase?

 

[Sean Cassidy]

The Party
Cade, Cora, Lona, Sean

3 hours ago, Avalon Wilson said:

“So,” Lona said as Sean performed his basic investigation, “are you guys springing a surprise live-action thing on the group?” Cade and Sean blinked at her, startled, and she said, “C’mon, that doesn’t even look real.” 

“It’s real,” Cade said. “At least, I really found it.”

"We aren't larping, Lona," Sean assured Lona, wryly amused. His head bobbed side to side as he mused, and he snorted with a bit of laughter. "But someday, I might want to try cosplaying at one of the big cons, like San Diego Comic-Con, DragonCon, or one of the PAXs." He paused, a vertical furrow blooming between his brows as he realized he had said that out loud. He gave a stilted chuckle, his cheeks glowing pink. "I mean, if any of them happen around Halloween."

Sean's birthday was on Halloween and he had always enjoyed dressing up for it. It had been awkward when he began developing the wrong way, but then he had forced himself to embrace it, giving himself one day of the year to stop worrying about his looks and just enjoy it. He could kill it, dressing up as any number of video game, comic book, or other pop culture characters.

He gave Luis a sidelong glance, then sighed. He thought he'd be used to explaining by now, but it had only grown marginally easier. "The mistake is understandable, but I should-"

"Laurie!" Sean hissed emphatically, crouching instinctively at the sound of the gunshot, taut and tensed as Lone exclaimed, "Clara!"

He tried to determine where the gunshot came from, listening for a second shot, at third.

"No! Wait! You're going the wrong way, Lona," Sean whispered sharply, trying to pitch his voice for Lona's ears alone and reached out for her. He straightened, grunting in frustration, then stretched up on his toes for any bit of extra height at he looked for his sister.

Liam gave Sean a look of bland expaseration, his eyes sliding down for a moment when Sean stretched up on his toes while Luis looked from where Lona disappeared into the trees to down at Sean with uncertain concern.

"Is there something wrong?" Luis asked.

"I... I think there was a gunshot," Sean admitted in a low voice after hesitating for a moment about whether he should mention it or not.

"Fuck!" With that one expletive, Liam began running.

"And Lona--" Luis started.

"Went towards it," Sean finished, heart hammering, chest rising and falling with his rapid breathing. "Don't start yelling it out. It's going to start a panic." He looked at Luis, then at Cora and Cade, and Charlie beyond them. "Okay, Okay, I'm going to get my sister. Cade, Cora, go collect Snoop Dog over there, then we'll meet up at the cars. They should give us the most cover if there's more..." He looked around to see who was around, then lowered his voice anyway. Some people were already looking in the direction Liam had booted it. "... gunshots, and we can be ready to get the hell out of here. Good?"

Sean barely waited for an answer as he began looking for his sister and tapped out a group text to his gamers. His phone was in his hand, yet his fingers didn't seem to be tapping anything.  <Heard gunshots. Heading to cars for cover and withdraw. Nobody hurt? Where is everybody?>

Spoiler

Gamers Group - Obviously, the members of his gaming group, Jase, Cade, Lilly, Lona, Charlie. Coraline is still new and hasn't been added to the Gamers Group on his Contact list on Sean's phone.

 

[Cade]

"No LARPing here, I promise.  That tooth or whatever is real and was lodged in the tread of my tire..."  Cade replied quietly.  Sean's comment about cosplaying quickly brought up any number of Trap characters, and he knew it was unfair.   He had always tried to see Sean as Sean, no matter how different he was physically from a regular guy.   "You've got alot of options Sean."
 

At what sounded like a gunshot, and then Lona's abrupt departure, Cade tensed.   "Why the hell are you all running toward the sound?"  He asked noone in particular, as he looked to Luis and Cora.  "Let's get Charlie then."   With all of the "Hosts" of the party seemingly gone, he wondered if anyone would actually notice.  With Sean running off too, he sighed.  "This is how horror movies always go."

he began moving toward Charlie, finishing his Coke and frowning.  This was not what he'd planned for tonight.

[Clara Lys Wright]

Clara had heard far more car backfire's than gun shots in her life, and while she started she didn't panic at the sound. Not until Etienne wrapped his arms around her and put himself between her and the trailer in one swift move. His fear and tension felt like it was running through her. A glance up at him showed little to no of that in his expression, just a focused alertness as he looked around. She was still blinking in confusion while Lilly ran off and Marissa co-opted Jason as her personal bodyguard. When her phone rang, she started again, fumbling for it with shaky hands. “L-lona?”

“I heard a gunshot. Are you okay?” she asked, her voice alarmed.

“Gunshot?” Clara blinked, her brain finally catch up the why of the alarm from her companions. “Lilly!” she let out a worried and exasperated exclamation. You don’t run to a shooter. That just gives them more targets!

Etienne’s voice rumbled in the background of the call, “We should head back to the party and leave.” 

Lona rolled her eyes. “Fucking Lilly. Do--”

Her phone beeped and Lona removed it from her ear to look at the screen. “Okay, Sean’s rounding the gaming kids up at the cars. Make your way there and get out.” She tripped over something in the dark and cursed roundly. “Promise me you’ll leave.”

“I’ve got to find the others. Then we’ll go. Promise.” She felt Etienne tense more, but she wasn’t going to strand people here when she’d promised to get them home. “Where are you? With Luis?”

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to strand people,” Lona said, trying to talk into the phone and use it for a flashlight. “I’m at the party, where are you?”

“In the woods. We’ll head back now, right?” Clara looked to Jason, hoping he would be able to lead them back to the party area quickly. 

[WS ST]

The Party

Everyone took off in their own direction, Sean worrying about his sister, had forgotten the laptop, so there was actually no one there to see the surge of static that caused the screen to jump and  that when it cleared was on a  certain Wikipedia page.

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbourofelis