Amelia

---

Amelia smirked gleefully as she downed another jello shot, and looked right back at Lynn as she did so. "Well then. To not drinking like pussies." With that, she proceeded to down two more at once. Amelia was starting to figure that perhaps it would be fine to let her guard down here. At least for a little while. Unless it backfired completely, in which case she would probably vow to never ever to that again.

Amelia was listening in to drinking stories when she spotted some all too familiar faces making their way over. She'd had about 5 now and was starting to get a little tipsy. Which made her all the more bouncy and sassy for the reunion. "Well well well! Look what the oversized iguana dragged in!" She made her way over to the two of them to bump so fists. "Though to be fair, you could say the same to me. How's it going you two?" She glanced at Archie and Natalie, and the way they were standing together, and something seemed to click. "Oooh! Ooooooooh! What's this that's happening heeeeere?" She pointed at the two of them repeatedly with her trademark mischievous grin before laughing at herself. "Kidding. I'm kidding."

Amelia got a look at the new guy walking over. He didn't look half bad, in her opinion. Waaaaaaay too stiff though. Something would have to be done about that. Fortunately, it seemed Lynn was right on top of that as she broke out her secret stache. "Lynn, Tequila is definitely not Mexican sake. I can promise you that." She grinned, and continued in a teasing tone. "Also, what the hell? You can't just start a story like that and then drop it just as its getting good. Details woman! We need details."

She shook her head at the offer of cigarettes though. "Nah, I'll pass. I get enough shit in my lungs as it is. Speaking of which..." Amelia pulled out her ever present journal. "I need suggestions. Something to get my muse going. If you could put something up on a wall for all of the Promise to see, what would it be? We're looking for something provocative here people."

Natalie Ellis

---

---

The campsite, while there were a few people she didn't know, currently had every other person Natalie knew on the Promise. Besides Archie, Amelia was the only other person Nat could properly call a friend. And it was very good seeing her out and enjoying herself. She'd been spared from the breakout herself but the fact it happened at all, combined with Amelia's paranoia, wasn't making life easy for her. Natalie was sympathetic and patient, and knew she'd come out when she was ready. And it looked like now was the time.

Amelia was already a little drunk. Natalie could see Lynn was deep into the bottle at this point and had yet to figure out if that was good or bad. Hopefully good as Lynn had seen them and hadn't set anything on fire yet. Amelia offered Nat and Archie fist bumps, which Nat returned while grinning.

"It's going good! What about you! It's so good to see you out here!" Nat replied, before blushing and looking down at her feet when Amelia was teasing the two of them. She wasn't embarrassed, or trying to deny it. She was bashful, and blushing, and smiling, and...it was fairly obvious what was going on here.

It was then that Archie dragged Natalie off to a free table, and poured himself a drink. When asked if she'd ever drank before, Natalie shook her head. "Not once in my life. Will I like it?" she asked, and without waiting for an answer, made herself a rum and coke. She went easier on the coke as she was still scared but as her only frame of reference was Archie's ridiculous drink, what she reacted was still almost a half and half ratio. She took a sip, and immediately started into a coughing fit.

"This is actually really nice," she chuckled.

Nicholas

---

Nicholas Adair had several possible outcomes in mind when he left the dance to venture into the woods. Perhaps he would've lost his gumption to ever return to society. He figured he may have just kept walking until he flattened himself into a stain on the inside of The Promise's hull. With luck, maybe he could've been the first human to be consumed by the ship's indigenous squirrels. Or, ever so slightly more realistically, he'd get killed in the next unscrupulous incident aboard the ship.

Maybe it said something about his character that in attempting to escape his own perspective and anxieties, telling himself he wanted to be alone, he actually seemed to have zeroed in on a group of teenagers who looked like they were pregaming for shooting a slasher film. Pretty girls. Dudes who were.. well, dudes. He didn't hold any strong opinions toward their appearance but saw one who looked like even more of a fish out of water than he did.

Piercing his internal monologue as though it was cast in hot wax, a voice like a siren, blistering with clarity called out to him. "Hey you! Want a shot?" But there was no one in front of him, he was yards away from anybody. Then he saw her, a dark haired angel. For the first time since he'd boarded the ship, it really felt like he was tumbling through space.

She was looking at him. Had he been staring at her and zoning out at the same time? Nic didn't know that people could do that. Then again, he wasn't used to being around people his own age without the explicit instructions of running surveillance. Surveillance! That's it! His subconscious had made him focus on the girl and analyze her. That made sense. Well... it almost made sense. If that were the case he didn't understand why he hadn't inferred anything meaningful about her. God, I'm an idiot.

After he had hung his smile slack-jawed for a minute, trying to unravel his own web of dumbassery, he felt the first real duchenne of the day roll across his lips and curl his eyes.

"Why, thank you! I can't think of anything that sounds better right now."

And it was true. Just a little something to take the edge off would be nice. If he just shaved off the progress he'd spent the last two years making, it'd mean that he wouldn't pose a threat to the partygoers and it would mean that he would finally be normal. Kinda. Being abnormal was part of what qualified you as belonging here so in a cruel twist of fate it would actually make him the deviant.

Fuck it. It always seemed inevitable that I'd rinse myself out up here anyhow. I thought I could rise above my former crutch, that I'd overcome it, but nothing sounds sweeter than the sour sting of surrender as my darling depressants fix me, just for a bit.

_{"nah man, the alcohol was part of the old you. Just hang in there. Think about it from your perspective from tomorrow. You'll have overcome this. You'll be stronger.}

I am so unbelievably sick of thinking of things from different perspectives. How cruel it is that my penchant for empathy serve as my penance.

He continued to think about it entirely too hard as he cleared the ground that stood between him and the girl that had invited him. She looked like a dream. He approached her with his head down, mildly shy before beaming at her, scooping up one of the Jello shots and holding it inches away from his chin. The gelatinous drink felt more structurally sound than his own willpower right now, he thought as it weighed upon his forearm like a dumbbell, burning in his hand like the sort of confession you only make when it's too late to make a difference.

"My name is Nicholas but people tend to like Nic better. I hope that the evening has been kind to you."

---

…

…

…

Radvi shot awake.

He was sitting down at a table, in front of a shop that had been closed for Homecoming. D was seated across from him, hands folded, twiddling his thumbs.

‘BAD DREAM?’ flashed across D’s helmet.

“Yeah…” Radvi said, quickly regaining his composure. All the sleep he’d been losing was catching up with him, it seemed. Somehow, he’d let his guard down in the open enough to drift off. He didn’t even remember finding a place to sit down - did D take him there? No one else was in the immediate area to see them. He felt like he was starting to lose his mind for a moment.

“Sorry… about that.” Radvi said. D just shrugged, nonplussed. He was perfectly fine keeping watch while his buddy caught forty winks.

Radvi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, rubbing his eyes.

“I need something to keep me awake…”

---

As Keaton retold her first experience with alcohol, Eli listened with a small grimace. Rum didn't sound like the best, first liquor to taste. Sure, it was fantastic mixed with literally anything, but straight? Yuck.

She didn't know what to think about what she said about the rich kids getting grounded. Were parties on The Promise anything like a high school party on Earth? There were definitely rich kids on The Promise, too. Eli imagined the rich kid parties on Earth set in huge mansions. With almost movie theater sized TV's and huge swimming pools in the backyard. Stuff she remembered seeing in TV shows and movies.

Keaton's face fell and she grew silent for a few moments, which made Eli feel sympathy for her. She had to keep reminding herself that her new friends had only been here for a month. They were still grieving for the lives they left behind. Eli gave Keaton a small smile after she changed the topic. She seemed to be doing better than most of the newbies she'd met over the years, but she reminded herself to ask Keaton how she was doing with the transition some other time.

Her attention turned to Lynn next. The girl's expression was contagious, and Eli returned Lynn's wide smile with one of her own. Her eyes crinkled at the edges, thoroughly enjoying Lynn's drunk personality. Was this the real Lynn shining through? Now that she was drunk off her ass, Lynn seemed as if the weight of the world had lifted from her shoulders. This was how a girl her age should act, anyways, right? How old was she, anyways? She couldn't have been more than 16. Eli's eyes followed Lynn's spare hand to the scar on her nose. How did a young girl get so many scars?

Unfortunately, Lynn's rambling was interrupted as the 'Fish' arrived. Eli turned to greet him, a smile on her face. He spoke first, his words coming out slowly and with a thick Japanese accent. She knew a way to overcome the language barrier, if he wasn't great with English.

"Don't worry, I have something for the language barri- ... berry, bear... barrier."

Lynn's slurs drew an amused grin from Eli and she looked to share the laugh with Keaton and Amelia. It was then that she realized that Amelia was talking to someone, and Keaton was looking in their direction. She followed her gaze to see Archie and Natalie by the drink table. Wow! She thought, her eyes on how amazing Natalie looked. Seriously, this girl is a dark angel. Archie even looked like a dressed up version of himself. If only he had a nice suit to go with her dress! They would have made homecoming king and queen. She gave Archie and Natalie a wave and a smile, deciding not to approach them. It was best that she give them their space for their first date. They would make it over to the group eventually.

So, Eli turned back to say hello to the Japanese newcomer. "Welcome to the party, Gen," she said with a smile. "If you're having trouble translating, Cara can help you with that. She's an amazing translator. Nothing like that google translate bullshit." She pulled out her own device, holding it up between the two. "Cara, how many languages can you speak?" She asked her phone.

"My database contains all active, written languages. What would you like me to translate, Eli?"

Eli grinned, looking up at Gen. "Told ya."

It was then that she noticed the other newbie coming their way. She lowered her phone, watching as he cleared the ground between them. He seemed shy as he approached, but once he was close enough to the group he revealed a happy smile. She smiled back as he grabbed a jello shot.

"My name is Nicholas but people tend to like Nic better. I hope that the evening has been kind to you."

"Hello, Nicholas," Eli began. "It's been a great evening so far." She gestured to the group. "These are my friends Gen, Lynn, Keaton, and Amelia." She gestured to each of them as she said their name, even giggling for a moment as she realized Gen and Lynn had rhymed. "And I'm Eli." She finished with a grin.

"So, what brought you two to this side of the woods?" She asked both Gen and Nicholas.

Archie

---

"Well well well! Look what the oversized iguana dragged in! Oooh! Ooooooooh! What's this that's happening heeeeere?"

"Hey there, Amelia. It's good to see you again." Archie greeted, smiling so that his eyes crinkled at the sides behind the red rim of his solo cup, halfway down with taking a swig. He smiled down at Natalie, and decidedly answered Amelia's question by positioning himself a little closer to Natalie and resting a hand on her hip. He waggled his eyebrows at his friend, as if to say 'look what I've got'. Natalie didn't seem to immediately react, she was too busy accurately measuring the liquor to soda ratio of her drink as if she were some scientist mixing away at some chemical concoction.

"Will I like it?

He marveled at Natalie's grit as she made a drink of her own, one to match his by the look of it. The question struck him as odd, but given what she had told him it made some sense that she hadn't had much of anything in her life. He grinned at her and shook his head. "Probably not. It takes some practice." he said, and she either didn't hear him or didn't care. Or maybe she cared a bit too much and wanted to impress him. Either way, she took a sip of her own mixed drink and just about immediately turned into a sputtering mess. Archie laughed, a shoulder bobbing, full bellied laugh, and the hand that had been on her hip slid up the small of her back, over her spine and onto her shoulder- the one furthest from him. There was no concern or disdain in the laugh, just genuine amusement. He squeezed her shoulder lightly, like he had with her hand earlier, and smiled at her. "Hey, watch this."

Archie made a show of it, taking a half step away and bowing his head. His free hand, the one that had been on her shoulder, came up and pinched his nose, and in one motion he sank to one knee, threw his head back, and brought his solo cup up to his mouth and drank. It took him few seconds to down the whole thing, and when Archie finally dropped his cup he gagged- making a fairly disgusted face and shook his head quickly, as if he were a dog shaking the water off of its body. "Nasty." he commented, decidedly ignoring the warm feeling that was blossoming in his stomach. He would likely regret that later, but he wouldn't worry too much about it now. He shifted his jaw, trying to clear the taste from his mouth. His eyes shifted back to Natalie and he gave her a crooked smile and said "That was a mistake."

He moved next to her again, and pointed at her drink. "That might be a bit strong, 'least if it's anything like mine. Might wanna go a bit easier on the liquor or- ooooor," he said, he could feel the buzz returning some. Just as he was starting to burn it off, too. "Or you could try the jello shots. But dont take too many cause they'll mess you up. Can't really taste the alcohol in them. Unless they're like, really really strong."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw another, third man join the group and he jumped for joy at this. As much as he enjoyed being so surrounded by pretty women, having some dudes around to do his typical dumb country shit with would be nice. That and having someone to appreciate a good view with would be nice. He doubted Natalie would take kindly to him commenting on Eli's curves, that is unless she did appreciate that kind of stuff too. That would be kinda fun he guessed but at the same time maybe she wasn't secure enough in them yet and and and-

"Shit," Archie said, his heart-rate monitor was beeping again. "Blasted thing," he cursed, shaking his hand as he always did in a futile attempt to placate the noise, completely ignoring the fact that he had cursed for the first time in what was probably a long, long time. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."

---

"Welcome to the party, Gen. If you're having trouble translating, Cara can help you with that. She's an amazing translator. Nothing like that Google Translate bullshit."

Cara can what now? Realisation slowly dawned.

“A-Ah. Sou desu ne.”

His smile widened reflexively as he felt his soul crumble and reform a million times over. A meek nod and he pulled out his own phone.

“<Looks like we’ll be spending a lot more time together, Cara-san.>”

He wanted to cry.

“<It will be my pleasure to facilitate your many future conversations.>”

Were robotic voices capable of smugness? Cara was a rather advanced program, her capacity for bullshittery was likely much higher than the average supercomputer. The ‘mexican sake’ shoved at him by the thug girl – tequila, it was most definitely tequila – was starting to look very welcoming now.

"So, what brought you two to this side of the woods?"

Crippling isolation. A naggy robot.

“<I thought a momentary change of pace would be pleasant,>” he shrugged stiffly, Cara repeating it in English for him.

Nicholas

---

The drink weighing in his hand, Nic reminded himself that he was 593 days sober and that it would literally take the better part of two more years to rebuild this streak. But did it really count if it was in Jell-O? Maybe? No? Of course not. It's Jell-O. And so, having found a compromise that allowed him to maintain his streak and indulge his inner demons without looking like a square, he slurped it down before he even realized that he'd made a decision.

Following Gen's little discovery of Cara's miracles, Nic elbowed him in the ribs and chuckled.

"Gen. Lynn. Amelia and Keaton. Got it," he lied, unable to tell which was supposed to be which, Gen notwithstanding. Though he was suddenly feeling generally more confident. "Pleased to meet the lot of you." In an attempt to slyly match names with faces, he asked "Say, Lynn. Is that short for something? Like Caitlyn or Evelyn or.. anything to that effect? I've been told I have an Aunt Linda who sometimes goes by Lin but I suppose that's really neither here nor there."

"As for what brought me here. That's a fantastic question." Rather than saying that he had clearly been railroaded here in a conspiracy by the fates or describing his angst, he shot from the hip: "I was asking myself the same thing a second ago. I honestly think it's just one of those things where it's really complicated but it isn't all that interesting. So, I dunno," he waved his empty vessel in a wide arc before briefly eyeing the rest of them and attempting to calculate how many he could handle before it would actually break his sobriety streak.

"In short: Just thinking. Trying to lose myself or maybe, I dunno, find myself, I guess. But instead I wandered into this party. With all the stuff going on around the place I feel really bad for everybody and would love to help improve morale but, I guess, partying isn't really something I've ever done much of. This is all new ground for me."

Then he noticed that, besides Gen, there was another dude. One with a date, a posh little brunette who looked.. equally as pretty as all the other girls. Huh? This can't reasonably be beer/Jell-O goggles. Could it? Either the Jell-O shot should definitely have counted or there was an unusually high ratio of gorgeous to person in this particular cluster of people.

Then the other dude seemed to lose himself. "Shit. Sorry, sorry, sorry." Unsure as to what was happening, Nic skirted over to come to his aid.

"Hey. Are you okay, man?"

---

Ten—that was pretty early. Really early. Was it surprising? Yes, in that Keaton couldn’t really imagine drinking at such a young age. Drinking around her dad only became normal once it came out that she drank; before that, it was sneaking around curfew and popping mints as she did her best to sober up before arriving home, but those were all late teens antics, not preteen ones. High school PSAs about alcohol affecting brain growth came to mind, the thought dwelling as Keaton stared at Lynn. If Lynn knew what she was thinking, Keaton would probably get a burn or two, but drunk Lynn didn’t seem as attentive as sober Lynn. Pity would go over her head, then, especially with Keaton’s poker face, which was honestly better when she had another emotion to distract herself with.

In this case, the distraction was her other two jello shots, and she pulled a grin as she swallowed the second, the tang of vodka biting past the off-fruit aftertaste of the jello as she watched Lynn address Fish. Amelia and Eli weren’t as caught up in Lynn’s words as she was, though, and Keaton took a hint from them, downing her last jello shot and turning her attention on the newcomer, who identified himself as Gen, or Zack, with choppy English. Wearing a collared shirt to a campground party marked him as either a guy looking to get laid or socially awkward, and his marked hesitation as he introduced himself had Keaton place him as the latter. His bow marked him as some sort of Asian, east instead of south, so mixed. Black? Keaton did a double-take, looking Gen over. He was tall, but she was generalizing now.

Lynn purporting that tequila would solve the language barrier made Keaton crack a laugh, though she sobered up as Amelia piped up about wanting the complete tale of ten-year-old Lynn and whiskey. Staying silent as Lynn fumbled with her cigarette, she watched, only tuning in fully when she heard Cara’s name. Out came Eli’s phone, and Keaton looked at Gen again, frowning as he spoke. How had he survived on the station without learning English? It was basically a mandatory class, and it wasn’t like Cara wasn’t a viable practice partner. Keaton herself had briefly considered learning some Spanish, after hearing Lynn throw it around, but she’d never gotten around to it. For Gen to sound like he was fresh off the boat at this point in time, well, he had to have either holed up in his room or—Cara’s tone. Cara had tones, and her tone hadn’t matched her words fully, didn’t tend to match her words when she had thoughts on the subject. Being on the receiving end of Cara’s penchant for subtly rubbing wins in allowed Keaton to place the tone, and she fixed Gen with a sharp look. He was understood English—had understood everything Eli and Lynn had said even before Cara started translating. He was lying, and Keaton, be it because she felt that it was her responsibility to vet people for Lynn or because she was beginning to feel the buzz of not really wanting to consider or care about why the antisocial boy decided to lie, had no sympathy for liars.

“Hey Cara, how’s Zack doing in his English classes? Well, I assume?” she asked, flashing Gen a bit-too-wide innocent smile. If Lynn hadn’t introduced him, hadn’t implied that she’d be open to considering him a friend, Keaton might have cut him some slack. But Lynn introduced him, and he decided to lie. He was a poser, a fake, a liar who wasn’t afraid to take advantage of someone if it meant he’d be more comfortable. If he’d just told the truth instead of being a spineless idiot, maybe he’d deserve the name ‘Fish,’ but even fish had spines.

The boy next to Eli stepped away, and Keaton suddenly realized that she’d managed to tune him out completely when she focused on Gen. Shit. How strong were those jello shots? She could handle a bit more, but they were hitting. Hard? Kinda. She hadn’t drunk anything in a while—a long while, now that she thought about it, and yeah. Okay. So she had to revise her drinking standards a bit. Big deal.

“Lynn, pour me some tequila,” she said, fully intent on directing the shorter girl back towards the booze table and away from the wannabe fob. Archie and Natalie were there too, along with Nic, now. Maybe if they all left, Gen could get what he wanted: some more alone time.

Lynn

Lynn was not sure if her thoughts or her body or her eyes or her head started spinning first, but they all followed one after the other in a drunken shuffle. Somewhere, vaguely, the memory of fumbling with the pill bottle cap earlier in the day came to mind, and Lynn couldn't remember eating today, and she hadn't slept, she didn't think. She had bad dreams when she did sleep. She was in a restaurant, most of the time, or sometimes she was back in juvy, or sometimes just in grade school. So she stayed awake.

Amelia was talking. Leather jacket. Lynn blinked and opened her mouth, looking for words a minute before they came to her. She wanted to know why she drank at ten. He said it'd make you not afraid, Lynn wanted to say, but the last fumbling sober neurons were able to wrangle her mouth shut before she could talk. They wouldn't get it, Lynn realized. They'd just have questions and Lynn didn't want to answer questions, she didn't have the answers, they'd want to know who was Che and why she did stuff and why she was ten. Around her the music was loud and everything was picking up, movement and conversations Lynn couldn't keep track of. "'Cause I flinched," Lynn mumbled, not sure who she was speaking to. "I broke the bottle, I wasn't supposed to..." she blinked. Quiet. one half of her said. But it's true, the other half of her said back, blearily. I was supposed to throw the bottle but I got scared when I saw it light up.

Rolex came over. He was tick-tocking along. That was how you knew he was a fake. Lynn giggled at that. No, he didn't seem fake. Lynn swayed back and forth a bit, eyeing him over. He's fidgety, Lynn thought. Maybe it's his first party. But that didn't seem right. Lynn had a few instincts ingrained so deeply not even her drunkenness could make her forget them. She'd learned in a number of less-than-safe environments to look and see the way somebody carried themselves. You could see someone's tolerance for taking shit and their capability to dish it out and whether or not they'd ever seen something so fucked up it left scars on their eyes you could see every time they blinked. Lynn could see all that on him. He probably needs the party...he should get drunk too. Lynn felt Eli's eyes on her and she smiled, giggling again. The part of Lynn that would've noticed Eli was looking at her scars and counting them off in her head was struggling to keep its head above the alcohol that flooded her brain. Lynn just saw Eli smiling at her. Then she was introducing Fish and setting Fish up with Cara. She said some other words that Lynn missed, her eyes were closed and she thought her ears closed off for a second, too. When she opened them both Eli had called Lynn her friend, which made her turn back and stare, confused as the cigarette curled smoke up out of her mouth.

Friends? Lynn thought, and suddenly it was there again, that visegrip around her gut and throat that seemed to curl up around her, tighter and tighter. No, Lynn wanted to say. We can't be friends, that's bad, that's not it but Eli was also smiling and Lynn's brain couldn't put those two things together and make them fit.

Lynn's head swiveled over to Lucy and her denim jacket, which looked really snug and cozy. Lucy did two more jello shots and Lynn grinned wider, happy that she looked so happy, because they never looked happy, not with all the investigating and everything else that was going on. Lynn could see that she was wearing masks, though, because she got serious when Amelia asked about the story, and she was looking at Fish but it was a different smile than the ones she'd seen before. Lynn started to ask why she was smiling so differently, and she could smile just one way if she just drank more. Lynn turned and saw Archie and Nat and felt her stomach twist like the knotted ends in her hair and wrinkle like the ones in her shirt she couldn't seem to press flat. Archie looked good. He was tall and broad and Lynn wondered how strong you got working on boats because Archie looked strong. Her eyes swam over to Natalie who looked beautiful, awfully terribly beautiful. Something in Lynn wanted to shake and rage, wanted to scream. I got my shoulder fucked for you, Lynn wanted to shout. And almost got the needle when you called or the freezer or...

There was a part of Lynn that could still function competently and it dragged her eyes back to Archie, the light burns on his hand why did you grab me why the fuck did you grab me from behind i didn't know i wouldn't have done it and his eyes, very blue eyes mine are blue sometimes too, just not now. His eyes were looking everywhere, and Lynn followed them to the curves on Eli's jeans and the dimples on Lucy's face and Natalie's stupid fucking beautiful dress and not...they didn't...I can't help it, Lynn wanted to say, looking up. I was supposed to be tall and pretty but I'm not. I could keep you safe, they can't do that, I wouldn't let...she's wearing heels it's not fair...nobody taught me how to do makeup like hers or I would...I'm a good fucking person you shouldn't have grabbed me, why did you grab me, I don't want to burn you... Lynn's thoughts seemed to bounce and ripple apart like someone had dropped a rock into a pond, hitting the curve of the inside of her skull and bouncing back looking like something new.

Lynn fumbled to get the cigarette from her mouth to take a drink but her cup was empty. "Fuck," she murmured, blinking. She turned and Archie's heart rate monitor was beeping and before Lynn could drop her things and grab him, and keep the lizard from coming out like she had when they found the body, Rolex was there, stepping up. Lynn opened her mouth to ask if he was okay, if she could help, but she closed it.

Lynn turned back to Keaton, grabbing the tequila bottle firmly. Amelia was still there.

Do you wanna know? Lynn wanted to say, but she couldn't screw open the bottle and talk at once, she didn't spill bottles any more. You had to focus and hold them tight. There was a house across the street from where they parked, but they weren't where they'd parked. They were in a little alley off to the side and Lynn was shivering, grabbing at her face, at the bridge of her nose.

"Che...Che did I...am I gonna be ugly? Am I gonna be..."

"Shut her the fuck up."

"Che I didn't mean to - "

Che kneeled down, hushing the man next to him. Lynn didn't know who he was, but she'd heard he was from Out West, and that maybe he was a Fire Wyrm. Che cursed, holding the last bottle in his hands, stuffing the rag further down into the opening. The smells were strong and harsh, kerosene and alcohol and of course iron, but that last one was from her. "You told me you could do this," he said, and even then Lynn could tell there was iron in his voice, too, and it was because the other man had more iron in his voice, and there was going to be something bad if Che couldn't do what he said he would do, and it was because Lynn couldn't do it. Lynn didn't want to be the one who couldn't do things. She was gonna get transferred because she couldn't read as good, but Che was still her friend. But if she fucked this up then maybe he wouldn't be.

"I thought I could," Lynn said, reaching up for the glass wedged at the bridge of her nose but Che pushed her hand aside. "I thought...you didn't say there were people inside...that it was..."

"Shut her up before one of them hears," the other man muttered. Half the hair on his face was singed off, and both his eyebrows. Che had only lost the hair on his arms, and gotten a nasty gash from part of the glass. _{amelia called me molotov that day at the bench when nat was reading her stupid book before we found the dead body and i was in the hospital}

Che turned back to her and pressed the bottle into her hands. He pulled out a flask from his back pocket and handed it to her. "She can fucking do it." He turned to Lynn. "Drink this. It makes you not scared. After, you go home and it's just like a bad dream."

Lynn nodded and did, coughing and wheezing at the taste, but Che cupped a hand over her mouth and she didn't spit any out. "It hurts," Lynn said, her back to the brick wall.

"It has to be you to throw it," Che said. He stared into her eyes and when he did that sometimes she couldn't look away no matter how badly she wanted to. She knew it had to be her to throw it, because she could make things burn, like the house last year, she hadn't meant to, she'd just tried to play with one of the Christmas candles and it had gotten so big so fast, but this was diferent. This wasn't playing. "If you don't, Clarita and Megan are gonna die. I'm gonna die too. And then you're gonna die. Is that what you want?"

"No," Lynn said sniffling, because the glass hurt, it hurt really bad, but she knew you weren't supposed to cry, because then people knew it was easy to make you cry and they did it more, and Che wouldn't like her, "I...I don't want anybody to..."

Lynn jerked the bottle back. She'd poured too much into Keaton's glass. She could feel Archie standing there, just a few feet away, and maybe the lizard would come out and maybe he wouldn't, Lynn didn't care, she was just small, smaller than everybody else here, and she couldn't - fuck. Fuck all of this. She shouldn't have come. "I gotta go, uh," Lynn said, the words refusing to come together smoothly. Fuck, she just needed an excuse, a simple excuse, "Piss, yeah. Hold it for me," Lynn said, handing it off to someone, she couldn't remember their name - Jack? Fish? - and she stepped away from the circle, feeling the campfire grow smaller and lonely behind her as she stumbled off into the woods. Lynn kept herself steady until she was a good ten or twelve yards into the treeline then she picked up the pace, tripping over roots and branches and every other fucking thing in these stupid woods. Lynn kept going until she couldn't hear the sounds of the party, stopping at a tree.

Lynn grabbed onto the trunk and retched, and retched, and retched. She held herself there for a minute or two, gasping and wheezing, then stepped back. The dirt under her feet felt soft and shifted under her feet. Then again, everything was shifting. Lynn found a different tree and sat/fell down, leaning back against the trunk and feeling her whole body anchor steady to that solidity. She was on something soft. Flowers. Lynn picked some up, rolling them over in her hands. They were pretty for a moment or two, until she remembered. Flowers just cover up the smell of how full of shit some people are, Lynn thought, lifting one up to her eyes. She grunted and let the light and heat dance back across her hair and down her arms and legs, and watched smoke curl up off the petals. She'd have to hurl again in a minute, but this was fine for now.

---

“A-Ah. Sou desu ne.”

Eli's eyes glanced over the young man's expression as she tried to decipher what he said by his emotions. His smile was wide, but she could see a hint of fear in his eyes. The only reason that he wouldn't be thrilled by Cara's translating capabilities would be that he was trying not to speak at all. Her eyebrows furrowed for a split second before the right eyebrow rose in realization. He was lying. This guy was trying to get out of talking to them. A small laugh burst from her lips, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from laughing further. He continued the lie by responding to her question through Cara. It was only when Keaton made her own extremely sarcastic comment on the matter that Eli released another bout of muffled giggles through her hand. To be honest, it was hilarious that this guy had even tried in the first place. He wasn't that naive to think that no one would notice, right? Especially with Keaton here.

Nicholas answered her question next, which forced Eli to quell her amusement. She looked to the tall, friendly newbie and nodded to let him know that she was listening. Still, her lips were pressed tightly together in a smile so that she wouldn't laugh again. In between Nicholas's statements, her eyes glanced between Keaton and Gen. Oh, man, I hope he knows how to recover from that.

". . . But instead I wandered into this party. With all the stuff going on around the place I feel really bad for everybody and would love to help improve morale but, I guess, partying isn't really something I've ever done much of. This is all new ground for me."

Eli's smile withered, his empathy for the rest of the parahumans on The Promise reminding her why they were having this get-together in the first place. She nodded, agreeing with what he said as she looked into his eyes. At least she wasn't the only one that felt this way. She was going to voice her opinion on the matter, but a loud beeping noise drew both of their attention towards Archie. He was shaking his hand, and Eli noticed the heart monitor on his wrist for the first time. Nicholas moved to ask him if he was okay, but Eli was too caught up in wondering why he wore a monitor to react to it. Her eyes moved over Archie's face slowly. Why did he need a monitor? Only people with serious parahuman "conditions" wore them. Dangerous parahumans wore them. How could someone like Archie need one? And what had set it off in the first place?

"Lynn, pour me some tequila."

Eli looked away from Archie, her focus on the monitor broken as she was reminded of alcohol. OH, right. Drink, drink, drink. She thought to herself, raising her cup to her mouth and downing the rest of its contents. She lowered the cup, wiping the edge of her lips with the sleeve of her jacket. She looked into the cup for a moment, almost disappointed that it was empty now. Did she want more to drink? Did she need more? She was definitely drunk, but she wasn't sure how drunk.

"I'll have some, too, Lynn." She said as she turned to place her cup next to Keaton's. Only, when she looked, she saw that Keaton's cup was spilling over the sides. Lynn was frozen in place, but her hair was ablaze with color. Her eyes were glazed over, making it look like she was stuck somewhere deep inside of her mind. "Lynn-" She didn't need to say anything more. She was startled back into reality, on her own. She didn't look alright. This was a side of Lynn that Eli had never seen before. Eli looked over at Keaton, her eyes expressing her concern for Lynn.

Lynn gave the group an obviously improvised excuse to leave before she made her way into the woods. Eli pressed her lips together. For a split second she considered letting the girl have her peace, but she knew not to let someone that drunk run off into the woods alone. Anything could happen to them. And even if she just needed to puke it out, Eli knew that there was something else going on with her. The light of Lynn's hair quickly faded into the dark of the forest. Eli looked over at Keaton one last time. Did she want to go after her, too? Would it be better if Keaton went, because she knew Lynn better?

No. That doesn't matter. I'm going, too. Eli decided as she set her empty cup on the table. She bent down below the table, reaching for a case of water bottles that were ready to grab for anyone that needed them. "I'm gonna bring her a bottle of water and make sure she's okay." She let Keaton know before turning to see Gen again. "It was nice to meet you, Gen. I hope you have a good night." She gave him an amused smile, reminded of his earlier embarrassment, before heading out into the forest.

The amusement vanished quickly as her concern for Lynn returned. She was moving through the forest, looking and listening for any sign of Lynn. Her foot stumbled on a root, but she caught her footing quickly before spotting a flicker of light ahead of her. Out of relief, she let out a breath of air and slowed her pace. She was careful about where she stepped, now, and she was cautious as she approached Lynn. The young girl was leaning back against a tree, playing with a singed petal from the flowers around her. Eli couldn't help but smile softly. Even though Lynn looked like she was fucked up, the color in her hair and the color of the petals painted a pretty picture.

"Lynn? Are you feeling okay?" She asked as she approached her. She knelt down in front of the girl, admiring the slightly burnt petal in Lynn’s hand. She then held up the water bottle in her own. ”Here. This should help.”

Amelia

---

Amelia gave a wave and a quiet "Sup?" to the newcomer. This one didn't look stiff in the same way as Gen. Just formal. God, what was with these people? They were only in their late teens, but it felt like some of them were fresh out of military school or something. Maybe it was just different from her usual crowd of rule breakers, she didn't know. But this party? It was nice. Almost made her forget....

Oh. Right. Amelia's face fell a little as she remembered the nature of this place. Drinking at a party on a space station that represented everything she hated about para-human oppression. And apparently had lackluster security. Memories of plans to fuck with the system and make her message known came back into focus. Plans she had abandoned. Amelia downed another shot to try and forget that for a moment, laughing with Eli about Lynn's slurring.

And then, all of a sudden it wasn't as funny. Amelia recognized the look on Lynn's face. She'd seen it when her own crew got cold feet after a long drunk talk about how to stick it to authority. Lynn excused herself, and noticed Eli made her own effort to follow. Amelia didnt want to disparage Eli, but she had a gut feeling she might not be sure what route to take with this. So, Amelia excused herself in the opposite direction behind a tree, and warped her way across the site to nearby Lynn. She stepped out behind a tree to join them.

"You know, I get the feeling you're too cool for the holding your hair back while you puke thing, but the offer stands." She shrigged, keeping a distance from Lynn in an effort to preserve her unique sense of dignity. "Sorry. You know, if I brought up uncomfortable memories and all."

---

Noelle was gone.

She had been for a while, actually. No sign of her anywhere on the station. Radvi had only noticed such a few days after the breakout. Once he did, he made a trip to the High Rise, only to discover that it had been demolished during the event. And it was pretty low on the priority repair list.

Now, it was back in business, but under new management. Some woman Radvi had never met before took over, saying that Noelle simply left because the Promise was going to hell. No notice, no goodbye, just… gone. An unceremonious departure.

Oh, well. She had her reasons.

Radvi got himself some coffee, the newly-managed High Rise being one of the few places still open during Homecoming. Somewhere to get drinks that wouldn’t completely wreck your head. It wasn’t busy, of course, and the new owner was mostly just lounging about. But hey, Radvi got his coffee, and that’s what mattered. He found his way back to a little alcove where D was seated. His ATV was parked nearby. He sat down, and forced himself to relax a bit. Sipped some of his coffee.

“So far, nothing’s come up.” Radvi said to D, who was just kicking his foot idly. “I’m starting to think this is just a giant waste of time.”

D turned his head, somehow exhibiting concern without any expressions to form.

“Almost all of the security force has written me off as a loonie and a traitor, for working with you. Because you’re still on their shit list ever since orientation. Why… why even did you kick Anderson’s face?”

D shrugged. He didn’t have any good of an answer.

“Hmm.”

Pause. Another sip of coffee.

“Wish you’d just tell me what you’re doing up here. Or how you survived getting spaced. Or who you actually are or, anything.”

A moment passed before D’s helmet blinked out, the default grin giving way to a dimly lit black surface. The sounds of… breathing, began to emanate from it. Strained, slow, as if being assisted by some form of medical equipment. And shortly after came the accompanying sound of a heart rate monitor, a constant beeping, evenly spaced out. He played these sounds for what seemed like years, even though it was only about ten seconds.

_{“...What the fuck?”} Radvi muttered to himself.

After a few more seconds, the sounds stopped, and D’s face blinked back. The crosshair eyes and the giant, toothy grin. He turned his attention towards Radvi and just gave him a silent, unmoving stare.

“You are…” Radvi said, “All kinds of weird.”

D chuckled. Radvi sipped his coffee again.

Lynn

There was only one steady thing in this world and it was the tree behind her. And the ground. That was two things. Were they one thing? Maybe they were all one thing. oh God I'm one of those drunks Lynn thought, trying to blink the dizziness away. She rolled the flower over in her hand, focusing on how soft the petals felt to distract her from the tipsy-topsy-turvy mess that was her stomach. Somewhere, like a single ray of sunshine in-between a sky of storm clouds, a lone sober thought broke through to the front of Lynn's mind: I think I should've eaten dinner before this.

Lynn focused on taking deep breaths. Before the Promise, she'd been better at this. She could just beat back whatever was lurking around in the back of her mind. Che or all the homes - heh Holmes - or the trial. No matter how many times, each time the trial crossed her mind it stung just as badly as the day it'd happened. For a minute, her black t-shirt was a scratchy orange jumpsuit, her neck tight against the cold steel. Lynn shook her head like a dog and it went away. But here at the Promise it was like it was all right there under the surface just waiting. The cafeteria was just pain in her shoulder and looking down and seeing a butcher knife in her knee, or every time she walked into the Vaquero's kitchen she remembered - vaporized - or coming into the woods she saw that body with all the scars and that reminded her how close she was, if any of them, Gennedy or Radvi or any of them, if they found out. They brought her on the Promise strapped to a chair, and she had a feeling she was ending her time here the same way.

There was movement to her left and Lynn was too slow to react - fuck, fuck, she was too slow, she was going to get her, she hadn't killed her, she'd made it out the restaurant and - Lynn blinked. It was Eli. Lynn clumsily raised a hand and grunted for a minute, letting her skin glow and fill the few feet around her with soft light, the shadows dancing as her hair changed colors. Something in the alcohol had dampened whatever kept Lynn on such a hair trigger, and the heat was pleasant in the artificial autumn air. The forest was pleasant at night, if a bit spooky. It smelled like the real world out here, not like some squeaky clean lie up in the stars. Lynn hadn't ever got to play around in forests, growing up in the city. She had to leave Earth to see this many trees. Lynn stared up at Eli with woozy yellow eyes. "Eli?" Lynn slurred. She could hear the slur in her own voice which meant she was probably slurring like fifteen times worse. well it's not like they thought i was a rocket scientist before Her voice was full of surprise. She hadn't...why had Eli come? And with a bottle of water? Was she trying to dowse her? That wasn't enough water to - oh. She wanted to help. Well that was nice.

Lynn fumbled with the bottle's cap for a minute, smacking back more bottle memories and taking a sip. It helped wash away the acidic taste in her throat. "Thanks," Lynn mumbled, swaying a bit. Eli was close to her. Just kneeling. She didn't have one hand casually by her belt or one ready to grab her. She was just there. Eli was being really nice. Eli didn't look at her the way the others had, like she was just one wrong word away from killing them. That was what Lynn wanted, you know, so they wouldn't fuck with her, but it - she didn't - this was nice, was all. "Some other fire para threw up over there so you should watch out," Lynn said, hoping for humor and unsure if any of the words were intelligible. Lynn sipped again on the water and looked at Eli for a minute. It was kinda hard to look at much else since the corners of her vision were a bit dark and most certainly blurry. At least the ground was soft, and there were lots of flowers. She was nice. Keaton was nice too but Keaton was really smart and there was - well Lynn didn't blame her, because Lynn didn't fully trust Keaton either, and she didn't trust Eli, she'd only just met her, but Lynn thought someone who could fuck with your mind was going to be a terrible person and Eli wasn't, and she'd known enough fake snakes to know the difference, and -

"Eli," Lynn said quietly, her head too full of noise for any one thought to get through. This was a terrible idea but Lynn did not care. Continuing to breathe on this damned station was a terrible idea. There was a block in her throat she had to push past but once she did the dam just split and all the alcohol-thoughts came out in a slurred whisper as quiet as Lynn could manage, like maybe if she spoke quiet enough it wouldn't be true. "Eli I...Eli you shouldn't be nice to me, I..." Lynn's words slipped off for a minute. _four "Eli I had to...there wasn't...she was gonna kill me if I hadn't, or do something to Archie, but...but I don't think that's why I did it, I think I..." the words came spilling out like a jug that burst in half a dozen different places and Lynn couldn't keep track of which stream came from where. "This place is fucking evil, they're doing shit, they...I - I can't sleep, there's...I just wanted to get fucked up for one night to celebrate 'cause of Gary, and not think about - then he had to bring her here and - I didn't mean to burn him, he grabbed me and I - and everybody thinks I just...fuck just go back to the party, I don't want to ruin it, I'm fine, I-"

There was noise Gennedy and Lynn flinched back against the tree. Had she been less inebriated, she might've notice the scrape on her neck as a result. It slowly stitched itself back up. It was Amelia. She hadn't heard, Lynn didn't think. No...no chance. She was speaking so softly. you're so drunk you probably weren't even speaking English anyway. She thought an iron ball had been dropped in her thoughts and dragged her drunk back down to reality. Shut the fuck up right now, you idiot. She's one of them. She'll tell her friend Radvi or tell Keaton you're fucking losing it and then they'll lock you up. Amelia or Nat will snitch. That one with the Rolex would just shoot you. They'll put the needle in you. Lynn took a sip of the water. That doll wasn't far from here when I found it. Amelia was trying to be nice. Maybe. Lynn didn't know what Amelia was doing sober let alone drunk. she's getting a kick out of this I bet. at least she doesn't look scared anymore. Even Lynn's pride was not so great as to admit this was probably pretty funny for them. At least she wouldn't remember it. "You can only fuck my hair back if you hold me." Lynn frowned. "No, shit. Damnit. That would've been funny. Shit." she sipped at the water again. "Thanks for the water," Lynn murmured. "I'm okay, though, you guys can go back to the party. I think I - " Lynn coughed for a minute, a false alarm of a dry heave passing as quickly as it came. "I think I could sober up pretty fast but I would probably set some stuff on fire if I did that. I got bitchslapped by the lizard I'm not gonna die from some - " Lynn burped, pausing. Nope. She was good. "Some tequila." She paused, swaying. "I mean it was a lot of tequila. But whatever." she sat back, the bark of the tree more comfortable than any chair in recent memory. The tree was solid. The tree was good. Lynn didn't fully realize she was doing it, but she shifted one of her legs to the left, leaning it against Eli. Eli felt warm. Eli was solid and good too.

---

First the thug girl hurtling off somewhere. Then Gojira. The alarm was obnoxious, hard to miss, and quite frankly, rather concerning. Gen’s pleasant façade cracked for a moment as his eyes followed. They told the whole story.

Disgust, wariness. Fear. He didn’t want to be here.

In no world did an alarm strapped to a person mean good news. Same for the subsequent reaction of stumbling away from potential casualties. Gen was reminded all too clearly of why he wanted to stay away in the first place. Surely his wellbeing was more important than placating these loose cannons. Yes, yes it was. He made a silent apology to the Houjou code and decided to take his leave then and there. He just had to disengage from this new girl’s small talk first.

His focus flickered back just in time to catch Cara responding with, “Zachariah is not enrolled in any English classes.”

Oh. Was that bad? That wasn’t going to cause any problems was it? He wasn’t sure if it even mattered at this point.

“<Is that something to worry about?>” he cast his gaze in Gojira’s direction. “<Does he need help?>”

Natalie Ellis

---

---

Natalie wiped her mouth and managed a little chuckle in reply to Archie's laugh. Now he was no longer nervous, she was much more relaxed too. She still wouldn't go as far as to say she wasn't nervous, though. His hand running up her back had felt weird. Not good or bad, but like....like it made her entire nervous system glitch out for a second. Archie then downed his drink, making a show of it, and Natalie giggled and clapped as he did so. She was actually genuinely impressed he'd managed to do that with something stronger than what Natalie had taken a small sip of. He clearly didn't enjoy that but if impressive things were easy, they wouldn't be impressive.

She conceded that her drink was strong, and these 'jello shots' might be the way to go. That's when she noticed that Lynn's face betrayed that she wasn't having a good time, and Lynn went further into the woods. Eli and Amelia went after her, so Nat didn't feel the need to get up herself and check on Lynn. She wasn't sure if she'd be welcome anyway. Lynn was in good hands. She'd have to check up on Lynn later, though. For now she took another, smaller sip of her drink. It was actually very sweet but the rum was still overpowering. She didn't cough this time, at least.

Archie's heart monitor went off, and Natalie put her drink down, and put her hand on Archie's arm. "It's okay. I know how annoying those things are. They gave me a shock collar on the first day, if you remember, when they thought my...condition was caused by heart rate too, instead of fear. They are annoying, but they're necessary."

Archie

---

"Hey. Are you okay, man?"

Archie sighed loudly, and whipped his arm around a few more times before finally giving up and letting his arm drop to his side. The noise, while mostly harmless, was embarrassing and he was trying to wow Natalie and- shit. New person. There was a new person approaching him. Archie's attention shifted to the newcomer, a tad shorter than him but more stocky in build. He seemed friendly, but Archie wasn't exactly operating at 100% capacity right now. The man had taken him somewhat by surprise and he had been so distract with Natalie that words simply fell out of his mouth. Archie says, more articulate than ever, "I, um, it – uh, you, I, um, er, uh, well… um, yeah?"

He collected himself, and Archie decisively ignored the beeping on his wrist when he extended his hand for this new guy to shake. "Sorry. I uh, I have a condition 'n all so the doctors gave me this. I think they set it to be much more sensitive than it should be." he explained, then introduced himself. "Archie. Anderson."

He felt someone's hand press gently on his bicep and turned to meet Natalie's gaze, and followed her eyes to the forest clearing where he caught a glimpse of Lynn disappearing into the woods- followed shortly by Eli and Amelia. He frowned, but ultimately made no comment. His hand still hurt, and he knew better than to try to help Lynn when she wasn't feeling right. Whatever the issue was, it wasn't his place and if last time was anything to go by she wouldn't want to hear from him anyways. His heart monitor was dying down in volume now. Natalie was explaining how she knew how he felt and honestly? It didn't go unnoticed. It certainly wasn't a collar and it definitely didn't cause pain by any means, but it was embarrassing and Natalie empathizing with him did make it better.

"But still annoying." he said, giving her a sideways smile and bringing his hand up to take hers, and then allowing it to fall to his side once he had successfully laced his fingers with her own. He bumped her hip with his in a show of playful affection. "Load of good yours did, ay? Did some Bruce Lee shit on me that day."

---

In between the shouting and laughter, if one listened real hard, Eli, Amelia, and Lynn might hear the soft pssh... Shhnnk of a shovel moving dirt some distance away.

---

The bottle went slack in Eli's hand. Lynn was putting on a little light show, whether she knew it or not. It was captivating. Like the illusions Eli created when she was in her room and lonely. Except this was real life. It was real.

"Eeli?" Lynn slurred, pulling her back into reality. She blinked slowly, her eyes adjusting to the light of Lynn's face. Both of her eyebrows raised as she waited for Lynn to continue. Wow, she was feeling shitfaced right now. Maybe she was enhancing Lynn's light at the moment, but it seemed to absorb the area around them. As if she was her own little bonfire. The bonfire. How were the rest of them doing? Did the newbies find someone else to talk to already? Eh. We'll find out later. The night was still young.

"Thanks."

Eli smiled at her sickly friend, giving her a light little shrug. Bringing her water was the least she could do. She couldn't count the amount of times that she'd held a friend's hair back while they upchucked into a toilet or by a tree. Lynn's next garbled comment proved her point. All Eli could do was laugh, her shoulders shaking and her body leaning backwards a bit as the laugh spread through her body. It was the first genuine laugh in a while, and it felt good. "I'll tell everyone to look out," she mused.

"Eli." Lynn continued. Eli pushed her hair back from her face, brushing the joke away before she continued to laugh. She adjusted her knees below herself, getting comfortable. It looked like Lynn had something serious to let out. Maybe it was the reason she was so down all of the time, or just some sad observation she made tonight. Either way, Eli was there for her. She might have been almost as drunk as the girl before her, but she still had a grip on herself. She was prepared to comfort Lynn if needed.

Lynn's voice was quiet, and honestly difficult to understand. Eli's brows furrowed at first, and she leaned in a little closer to hear the younger girl's words. She never formed a full sentence; it was more like a bunch of little puzzle pieces were being spread out around her. There was a piece missing. Or three, or four. They were all connected somehow, but they were different scenarios. She was going so fast. A woman was going to do something to Archie? What woman? Arianna. . . No, that's not it. Not her.

Eli felt her heart sink into her stomach as the girl continued. She knew exactly how Lynn was feeling, but in her own way. What did Lynn know about The Promise already? What had this place done to her in such a short span of time? She thought of the first day Eli met her, trying to connect these pieces to what she'd heard in the mall. The others would know, wouldn't they? Lynn mentioned not thinking about anything, but then she mentioned a he and she. Eli assumed that she meant Archie and Nat. She recalled Archie's burnt hand at the mall. At least she was able to connect those dots.

Eli pursed her lips and frowned. It was hard to see so many emotions flash across Lynn's face. Eli wanted to ask her [i]so many questions[/b]. About her past. About the scars. About who was going to hurt Archie. For now, though, she could only ask one. [color=E5D00FF]"What do you believe everyone is thinking?"[/color] She asked, her tone soft.

"You know, I get the feeling you're too cool for the holding your hair back while you puke thing, but the offer stands." Another voice interrupted.

Eli turned her head to see Amelia step out from behind a tree. Her brow quirked as she realized that it looked like Amelia appeared from the opposite direction of the bonfire. "How...?" She thought aloud, but she didn't finish the question as Lynn made her own comment.

Eli let out a puff of air, one side of her lips pulling back in an amused grin. She was shaking her head as Lynn mentioned a lizard, and she quickly turned to give Lynn a confused look. How the hell did a lizard bitchslap you? She thought, but didn't ask aloud. It was probably just some drunk Lynn mumbling.

"We're not going anywhere without you, fireball." She said back, looking to Amelia and rolling her eyes. She was giving her best "can you believe this?" face when she felt something warm press against her legs. It was Lynn's leg, and it felt oddly nice to be against a source of heat. Eli smiled at the girl and leant back on her hands. "Amelia and I are staying right here until you feel well enough to go back. Anyways, you're a lot warmer than the bonfire right now." She smirked.

Pssh... shhnnk. Eli frowned, closing her eyes as she listened to the odd noise coming from the dark.

Pssh... shhnnk.

Her brows wrinkled, and she opened her eyes to look between the girls. "You hear that? Sounds like a... like something weird." Her head turned to peer back in the direction of the noise. "Listen." She murmured. Subconsciously, Eli had already tapped into the girls' senses of hearing. The sound was suddenly much clearer and distant sounds of the party were muffled and quiet. She didn't even think that the girls would notice the difference. Hell, she couldn't even tell herself. Maybe the noise had always sounded like this. It was hard to tell the difference sometimes; especially when she was drunk.

Lynn and Amelia may have responded, or even made expressions, but Eli hardly heard as she felt something in her stomach tighten. Whatever this was... she was going to find out. It was all she could focus on at the moment. Her body left the warmth of Lynn's leg as she stood, her gaze still on the woods. She dropped her connection with the girls' hearing, slightly enhancing her own to find the source of the sound. "It's gotta be something." She murmured. "I'm gonna look for the source. You can wait here if you still feel bad, Lynn. I'll only be a second."

Eli began to step towards the dark, glancing back at the girls to see if they were following before she slowly continued into the forest. Her steps were light, but given the state of the forest and the state of her inebriation, Eli was only hoping that she was being stealthy.

Pssh... Shhnnk.

The noise was getting louder. Eli didn't have to use her ability to hear it now. The further she went away from the bonfire, the better she could hear the noise. Her chest also tightened more and more as she left. She didn't know what to expect. Whether it was harmless or not Eli continued towards it. She could see movement in the distance through the trees, and then she heard something that made her freeze in place. A sound that made her heart drop into her stomach.

’Alert: Target within 100 feet’

---

Beeping. From Radvi’s glasses, clipped to his collar.

“Alert. Target detected by other device.”

“SHIT-” Radvi called out in astonishment, eyes wide. He dropped his coffee out of his hands, spilling it onto the table as he scrambled to put the glasses on. D just watched in idle amazement. Radvi could see the readout indicating that the PSI chip he’d given to Eli had activated. The waypoint marker guided him upwards, to a spot further along the station’s ring, somewhere nestled in the woodland. A whole month of nothing, and suddenly this. Arianna was back, and Eli - maybe others as well - were in her vicinity.

In danger.

“C’mon!” Radvi said, bolting upwards and away from the mess he’d left his table in. D stood up as well, following behind. Radvi made it to his ATV and started it up, ready to roll out immediately - until he felt something clasp at his abdomen, and the sensation of something heavy on his back, static making his dreads lift up a bit.

“Wh-”

D was on the ATV too, seated behind Radvi, holding him tightly.

“You have rocket-powered skates.” Radvi said sternly, “What the hell are you doing.”

“I love horses.”

Radvi sighed, dropping his head.

Amelia

---

Amelia stifled a snort at Lynn's comment about her hair. For all of three seconds at least. Then she fell into a bit of a drunken giggle as she leaned back against her own tree. "No. No no, it's...it's totally fine. I know what you meant." She snorted. "And I mean, it's not like I'd..." Amelia caught herself at just maybe the last minute. The alcohol had been starting to talk, and Amelia was always one to be taken with those of the "bad person" persuasion. Still, a little voice in the back of her head told her maybe this wasn't the best time to be flirting, so she shoved the comment right back down. "Never-mind. It's cool. I'm cool."

Amelia looked back over at Eli's look of surprise and raised a finger to her lips in a shush motion while she smirked. "Oh, it's my whole...thing. I teleport. But not a normal teleport, I guess? Only when nobody's looking. Otherwise, when I try to do it..." Amelia's form suddenly began to shimmer and shake uncontrollably, before appearing a few inches to the left of where she had been before. She shrugged. "I can't get as far. Real pain in the ass, honestly." She seemed to shimmer a bit, before her goofy grin faded, and she slid down to sit on the ground with a little bit of a frown. "Causes a little bit of a headache too when people are watching. Not a fan."

Amelia's grin returned as Eli stated they wouldn't be going anywhere. "Yeah, fuck that. It's tradition, you know? Gotta stick together when this shit happens. It's supposed to be bonding or some shit." She smirked a bit, until the look turned inquisitive when she also started to hear the noise.

Pssh... shhnnk.

She leaned her head over towards the sound, not quite getting up yet. She didn't notice when the noise got clearer, but she did start to feel the gears in her head turning. "Huh. You know, it could be the drunk talking, but that almost sounds like a shove......."

"Oh no."

Insidiously, almost as though it had always been watching and waiting, the feelings of panic began to drip into Amelia's brain. Of course, of fucking course. The one day that Amelia decided she would try to get out and reintegrate with her friends, and someone else had been murdered. Of course, this could all just be a massive jump to conclusion. And while some part of Amelia in the back of her head knew this, the panic was starting to block out that rational thinking. Amelia sprang to her feet unsteadily, her fight or flight response starting to kick in. "Why did I agree to meet at a park again? After last time?"

Amelia almost jumped as Eli's alarm went off, her body shimmering as though it wanted to teleport away on instinct. She looked over at Eli with a look of panic in her eyes. "What the fuck was that?"