DAY 0 - Morning

[islandiastaff]

[Good morning, contestants!

One moment, you were receiving a mysterious envelope marked "Greetings from Islandia". The next moment, you're waking up on a beach.

Twenty-four people are scattered across the sands of a beautiful tropical beach, all somewhere in the middle of waking up. To your right, a sunrise over a gentle sea. To your left, dense, vibrant jungle.

There are two signs of civilization here! One is a shipwreck, about half of a good-sized ship emerging morosely from the waves. The other is a wooden sign at the edge of the jungle, showing simply an arrow pointing deeper into the island. Looking a bit closer, there is a narrow but well-maintained path into the jungle.

Welcome to Islandia!]

Comments

[s2g]

Nah. She's a little hard to miss, too.

[ he stuffs his hands into his pockets. there's sand in them. there's sand everywhere. but, actually— ] You sure she came with you?

[collateraltsunage]

... Yes. [To put it nicely] And rather loud, at that.

I'm not. [She frowns, puzzling this over. Apparently they'd been chosen randomly. So either Milly hadn't been brought here, or she was elsewhere.] I woke up alone. And I've only seen you and that imbecile.

[Three guesses as to who she's referring to and the first two don't count!]

[s2g]

[ there's a quick show of teeth. a grin, too wide, as if Wolfwood felt like grinning just yet. hard to tell, but now that he's moved away from the ocean, the captive spell it held over him has also broken, and all that's left in him is a deep-rooted suspicion he's gotta work to hide.

honestly he's just jiving for a cigarette or something stiff to drink. ]

That guy said something about it bein' random, who ended up here. Guess you got unlucky.

[collateraltsunage]

[Joke tags aside, this guy really is sketch as fuck. Or at least, Meryl's getting the feeling that something is odd. Not that she knows him particularly well.]

I could say the same thing about you, Mr. Wolfwood. It's an interesting coincidence, the three of us being brought here.

[s2g]

[ for a second, he sounds less saccharine, more brooding (tm): ] Yeah.

[ but it passes and he's back almost instantly to grinning, casual, fakey faker priest. the image of a bus on the horizon and the Punisher hot against his spine in the back of his mind. ] But we've had stranger. Besides, I don't mind gettin' away from that desert for a while.

[ actually, he does. he minds it a whole lot. Gunsmoke's little more than hell wrapped up in godforsaken barren packaging, but it's where he needs to be. where Knives and the Guns still are. but as long as Vash is here, Wolfwood needs to be here, too. ]

[collateraltsunage]

You don't mind getting kidnapped for a so-called competition by a mysterious man with a mailbox for a head who refuses to provide a straight answer on how we've been brought here, among other things.

[Sharp and flat, just like she is. Rather, his current demeanor is more familiar and thus pushing her buttons, as she doesn't like this kind of behavior anymore from this weird priest than she does from a certain idiot]

[Now that the novelty of the foliage and water has worn off, she's also gone back to her default state: judgmental]

[s2g]

[ another quick show of teeth. he wonders if she feels it, like they're in a prettied-up cage, surrounded by the kind of stuff he figured they'd only ever see if they made it to Eden—and all of it way beyond the scope of what he or she or Vash know how to deal with. they can't swim. it's too hot here, like there's water even in the air and it's slowly drowning them.

they're stuck, whether they like it or not. ]

If ya hadn't noticed, they didn't leave a whole lotta room for argument.

[collateraltsunage]

[She's already feeling her patience dwindle. She was hoping to get a little more out of him than blithe attitudes and facts she already knew.]

[Why is she even talking to this guy]

Yes, I've noticed. [Clipped!] Are you intending to play along then, Mr. Wolfwood?

[s2g]

Until some other option crops up.

[collateraltsunage]

I see. [She kind of wonders what said option would entail]

I suppose we have no other choice at this point.

[s2g]

[ take a guess.

Wolfwood's got his doubts there was ever much choice. or even the illusion of choice. everything's come across as pretty damn railroaded so far. ]

You could stand to kick back a little. [ a little. she's small but she's a firecracker, and she knows how to keep an eye out. ] Loosen your collar.

[collateraltsunage]

[As long as Vash is here, Meryl really has no choice but to play along. This is the kind of thing he'd eat right up, and she, of course, has to make sure he doesn't destroy everything. Whether impossible kidnapping sites fell under her insurance clause or not]

My behavior is entirely appropriate. [She already did kick back, playing in the water and feeling up trees. That might be the best anyone could get out of her]

I doubt I'll get a chance to relax with that man around, anyway.

[s2g]

Have a little faith! [ he's really pushing the cheer on this one, but it's bleeding at the edges some. nobody'll get a chance to relax with that spiky-haired moron around, least of all him. ] Aren't you even a little interested to see what's gonna happen?

[ because Wolfwood is. he's so interested it's burning in his gut like cigarette smoke that went down the wrong way. maybe this is something Knives set up. or Legato—he wouldn't put it past that fucker to throw them into a hell disguised as an Eden. ]

[collateraltsunage]

Interested isn't the word I'd use. [More like she's dreading what he's going to get up to and the messes she will inevitably have to clean up. She can already feel a migraine coming on]

[That may be a side effect of talking to this man, on the other hand. Are they all competing for who irritates her most?]

And you?

[s2g]

Haven't figured it out yet. [ blandly ]

[collateraltsunage]

[What kind of answer is that!]

Is that so.

[s2g]

[ who knows! ] Yep.