Island, Round Six: By a fallen stake...

[Deleted]

Darkness...utter darkness...

Then light again.

At first she didn't quite know where she was.

Then the memories came flooding back. She had been accused, out of nowhere. And why?

It was her compassion. They had taken it and thrown it back at her. They wouldn't even listen to Cassie.

These people were warped. If she didn't know better she would have called it possession. It must have been the murderer who accused her. Whoever it was, they had seen the way Mina was looking at the children. They wanted to get her out of the way so they could...kill...the...other...children...

The very thought would've made her sick had she been alive.

She didn't even realize Shani had spoken to her until much later. She didn't feel like exploring or anything. Unless she meant the smoke. Whoever was there was surely the wretch who had done this.

She flew straight to Shani's side.

"Let's go," she said. Her voice had changed. It was now full of a fury she never thought she would feel. She herself was surprised that she didn't glow red due to it.

[Robyn]

No sooner had Moonflower taken a huge, fulfilling bite of her newly earned kebab than had complete pandemonium broken out on the beach not too far behind her. She pivoted on her heel to find that a large crowd of her fellow survivors had started screaming out accusations against one Mina Saelune and were beginning to gang up on the poor girl. She stood stock-still in horror as they fashioned a noose out of vines, tossed it over a leaning palm, and dragged her to the gallows. Any words Moonflower might've had choked in her throat. What was happening? It took less than three minutes for what was happening to happen, and the crowd slowly dispersed, Mina's body left alone to swing from the tree.

Both the color and appetite drained out of Moonflower as Mina's ghost materialized a few moments later, and it was all she could do to keep from bursting into shocked tears. Why had they felt the need to kill her? Her aura had been so pure, nearly white in its innocence. Now there was a marked unrest about her ghost, a red sort of pulsation that Moonflower had never seen before. The same mysterious energy had seemingly trapped Cassie's ghost on the island, Moonflower had seen, but the force surrounding Mina was wilder. Faster. Angrier.

Moonflower dashed over to her shelter to drop off her meal (even if the killing had quelled her hunger, she'd be needing that later), and cautiously, she decided to approach Shani and Mina. The angel she'd been watching from a distance, secretly fascinated by how her ultra-human anima manifested itself, especially around her wings. Mina, on the other hand, she'd actually known for a long time, since before the whole cruise disaster had ever happened. It was why it'd come as such a shock to her earlier when she'd recognized her, as well as why her sudden death had genuinely upset her.

"Let's go," she heard Mina growl disturbingly.

"Wait!" Moonflower called, "Mina. I have to tell you--"

She paused when she saw the ghost's face, taken aback. Rage contorted all her pretty, wispy features, and for a moment, Moonflower was legitimately frightened. She wasn't sure what sort of damage one residing in the outer rings of the soulosphere could do across dimensions, but she did not want to invoke the wrath of any spiritual beings, much less one she had admired so highly in life. She chose her next words carefully.

"I'm...sorry, for what just happened. It sucks that such a kind soul as you had to make your transition to the outer rings so quickly, and...you know, like that. The balance of your aura was crazy perfect," Moonflower breathed, awe-stricken and sad, "You really didn't deserve this."

Clearing her throat delicately, she continued, "I knew about your music before all this. I'm a pretty big fan, actually! Or. Was, I guess. Am? Dunno. All your melodies and lyrics just, like, really spoke to me, you know? And the whole nomadic thing was completely on my wavelength. I felt like you and I had a real spiritual connection like, before we even met."

Moonflower's eyes were wide and grey, full of sincerity. After a moment, she seemed to remember Shani was there. Upon seeing her, that default look of far-off complacency settled back into Moonflower's face, and she smiled.

"So, you two were thinking about checking out that smoke? Would you mind if I came along?" she asked, "It could be natives, and like, they are SO in tune with the very core of nature. They're pretty much the best at it. Otherwise you couldn't really call them natives, right?"

Moonflower beamed at her own solid reasoning.

[Jayeee]

“I am traumatised. ABSOLUTELY TRAUMATISED!” Thomas shouted as he staggered away from the killed Mina Saelune. He collapsed onto the sand. “Why am I continuously being tortured? I do my best to treat everybody with kindness! I selflessly protected these islanders from being ravaged by rabies, but still I am plagued by terrible luck. MUST THIS GO ON?!”

He shook his head. “You know, that girl’s son must be distraught. Think of the children. THINK OF ME! Did anybody give any thought to how I might feel about this gruesome execution?! How it might have affected me? DOES NOBODY CARE OF MY WELFARE?! Daddy is going to hear about all of this; about this whole adventure. About the conspiracy plot the captain, who wasn’t really the captain had about the CIA agent who is now deceased. About the CIA agent’s daughter who was murdered while I was in a nearby tent! About the crazy old fool who I cannot understand. About the woman executed while her son Christopher watched on! About that strange ditzy girl who apparently married Hunter Harris while here on the island, who is also married to that Melanie person! Polygamy, I tell you, POLYGAMY! And let’s not forget about that horrid creature who resists flying back to whatever hole it came from. If daddy were here, HE’D FIX IT ALL!”

Thomas stood up and straightened out his clothes. He coughed awkwardly. “Apologies to those who heard that little outburst. I can get a tad emotional sometimes; nothing major. It is so difficult to remain positive all the time. Sometimes I just need a little moment to quietly wallow.” He coughed again. “You know, daddy once took me to a public execution. Oh it was such fun, not like this one at all. I had candy floss and ice-cream and all sorts. It was a splendid day out. Truly splendid. I had a smashing view too. Daddy got me right to the front. I wore my rain coat in case of blood splattering, of course, but oh it was a sight. There were people crying everywhere, I couldn’t imagine why. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. And at least there I had a chance to sit down. Not even a decent seat at this one, I am quite frankly appalled. Is that any way to treat an audience? One horrid child tried to steal one of my candy pieces, so do you know what we did? Daddy had him executed too, as a little bonus. Oh it was funny. I laughed and laughed, and clapped my little hands together in absolute delight! Quite a show for the whole family.”

He looked around and despite talking to nobody in particular, carried on. “I heard that that executed woman snuck onto our ship so that she could secretly take out one of us. Current rumours don’t indicate who that might be, but she was obviously a hitman. Possibly for the mafia. Oh isn’t it all interesting? Mummy always says that people who go around murdering are so uncouth. Who could simply bear to get blood everywhere? It’d never wash off. And I refuse to have to give mummy another stained jacket. Last time somebody spilt something on it, we had the restaurant closed down. After then daddy bought me an elephant. Oh it was fun. Until the elephant refused to ride the bicycle daddy got for it. After that I got a lovely pair of ivory shoes instead. Oh I do love them. But now they’re somewhere in that blasted ocean. I think I’ll have daddy drain it when I get away from this dastardly place.”

[gold]

Comwell had not believed her alibi. It was easy to think of on the spot, and she hadn't mentioned any people who could confirm it. That was why he had made the first accusation, and a few others had joined in after that. That was when he had made the noose from the vines, and once he had done that, it was pretty quick. He was still completely sure that she was the killer.

He ignored the kebobs, being the type that didn't go for cannibalism (and only really having a LifeAlert to offer, and that was too precious), and instead offered to go along with Shani, Moonflower, and Mina. Someone had to make sure she couldn't kill from beyond the gra-- er, the noose. He was pretty sure Nelly would get to the body before anyone else did, if she hadn't already.

"Might I come along, too?" he asked.

[Avery]

Nelly is tickled pink that the little blind boy, Christopher, takes her attempts at coddling well. She beams at him, strokes his little cheek, and tells him her name. Oh yes, he will be a good apprentice, indeed! And given his disability, no one will suspect him of being anything but innocent.

"We'll be such a nice duo, me and you," she tells him warmly.

... then pandemonium breaks loose, as the rest of the idiots on the island decide to string up that singer girl, Mina. Nelly frowns. Of all the people on the island, she was probably the least suspicious. What is up with these fools? Oh no, how dare they kill the blathering bloke Thomas, or the strangely pale and shifty Hunter-- no, they must kill a singer girl. She sighs.

At least, she thinks, she'll have more supplies. Perhaps she'll pass this batch off as pork chops.

"Come, Christopher," she says, grabbing her protege's hand. "Your fellow islanders have just done an awful thing and executed someone. Let's cut her down from the tree, hmm?"

[Terra]

Calista was scared.

She had been watching the other survivors silently, hiding among the flora, since she had been woken by Sam’s screaming that morning. When she saw Cassie’s dead body, she had stopped short and hadn’t moved from her hiding spot since.

She watched as Nelly dragged the body away, and soon later, came back with delicious-smelling kebabs of some kind, that she said were “beef”.

It took a little bit of wondering where she would have possibly found a cow on this island before Calista realized what had happened.

So, she took my advice, she thought.

She considered trying to barter a beaten-up shoe or a hair ribbon for one of those kebabs, but she never got up the courage to leave her hiding place.

And then Mina was hanged.

Calista’s thoughts spun around in her head frantically. Why did they think Mina was the killer? She hadn’t been acting particularly suspicious, but maybe the others had seen something Calista hadn’t. And what if she wasn’t? Then the killer was still out there somewhere. And now that two people had been murdered...it didn’t look particularly good for the rest of them.

Calista wanted to hide, but what if the villagers turned against her? She was only ten years old, true, so maybe people wouldn't kill a cute young kid...but she really wasn’t that much younger than fifteen - did it make enough of a difference?

She hugged her knees and rocked back and forth and started humming to herself. She imagined chords and runs and sequences and patterns of notes, all coming together in perfect harmony, and wished that she had a piano in front of her so she could attempt to play them, tweak if necessary, perfect the sound, touch the ivory keys and hear them respond, rather than listen to herself make a poor attempt at the melody line with her single voice.

But the whole time, her fear was in the back of her mind, tinged with the smell of smoke.

As if she had to worry about getting caught in a forest fire, in addition to the possibility of getting beaten to death or hanged or something.

[Celestial]

Nelly did not seem to notice her. Shani wanted to get angry, demanding better customer service but as soon as she noticed that the woman was with Christopher, the boy who appeared to be blind, she decided not to get so angry in front of the children. She did not want to waste energy.

Not when there was such a delicious smell of pork coming from the place where the smoke was. There was no point hanging around here, not when Mina's corpse was looming over everyone, quite literally.

Speaking of Mina, the girl's ghost had a very fierce edge in her voice. It chilled the angel to her core but at the same time, she felt emboldened by it. She stood up.

"Yes, let's" Shani said, spreading her wings. Her hunger was strong now, so strong that she did not hear much of Thomas and his whining. It was like white noise now. However, she did notice all the people who seemed willing to tag along, Moonflower and Captain Cromwell among them. The angel turned to them.

"We don't really know what that thing is. Mina is...a ghost and I can fly but what happens to you? How will you get out if things get ugly? It's best if you stay here and," she looked at Calista, who appeared distressed, "comfort her at least. And keep an eye on everyone else, particularly...the vile loudmouth."

With that, Shani took off into the sky before they could object. Tunnel vision had set in by now. She was starving and the smell drew her in.

She was soon above another section of island where a campfire was burning on the beach. Beside it lay a man in boxers and BACON. Plus more boar than she could possibly eat in one sitting. Shani swooped down, irregardless of the danger and began stuffing her face with bacon before moving on to the carcass of the boar.

[Nova]

"A v-vampire? Well I won't hav-ve to worry about you harming m-me, I don't even have blood. Just this m-misty stuff."

"Well... you're new at being dead, so I don't blame your innocence. When my sister's boyfriend bit me on the neck, I knew nothing of the spirit world either. But you'll learn. Vampires, zombies, anything undead can actually torment your afterlife. So.. try and stay clear of them, yes? I know you've been through a lot.. and you can't leave here until you've been avenged. Hopefully soon, you can go to Gate in the Sky and live there peacefully.

Then, just as he finished, the tribe of islanders rose up and hung Mina from his favorite palm tree. A tear fell from Hunter's cheek, the poor innocent child who genuinely cared for everyone's safety.. was just brutally hanged. He had a moment of silence for her, remembering all of the nice things she did, and how much she loved her music.

And then, as if on cue, Thomas started rambling.

As Cassie tried to escape the island, Hunter was hungry, he decided to go searching for a coconut in the jungle.

[Draco]

Q after finishing the bacon, decided to wear it. He wasn't that hungry because of the crab, so he just layed it on himself for later.

"Mmmm, warm bacon."

That was when he was attacked by a winged person who then ate the bacon.

"Well then... What have we here?"

He looks down at how he is dressed and while the winged person was busy eating the boar he killed, he dug in his trunk. Within moments he was wearing a shirt, pants, and a old coat. He also put on a fez, then decided against it and threw it back in the trunk, he never really cared for them, why he had one he was unsure about.

He stares for a few moments at his visitor, then waves.

"Hello there, I'm Q."

[Celestial]

Shani ate as much of the boar as she could, which admittedly was quite a bit. It was odd snatching bacon literally off that weird guy but she was hungry and besides, what he did with the bacon was his business, even if it included wearing it. Shani did not have any problems eating it either way.

He asked her a question, which Shani heard but did not answer until she was completely full. As soon as she was, she walked down to the sea, washed the fat, blood and pig juice off her arms and face before turning to face Q.

"Hello, Q. My name is Shani, it is a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry for dropping in on you like this but I was starving. I have not found any big game on this island and have been relying on fish, which does not fill me up like meat," she said, bowing and spreading her wings. "Are you one of the survivours of the shipwreck or are you native to the island?"

[Deleted]

Mina was glad Moonflower was coming. She seemed very nice. She was glad to have a friend on her side. She had thanked her for her compliments.

Captain Comwell, on the other hand...his voice sounded a bit familiar. In a creepy way. She'd known he was among the mob, but there was something else about him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Well, he seemed to know what he was doing, nevertheless.

She regarded Q with suspicion. She'd expected there to be more people there, but it was just one man. What was he doing out here all alone, she wondered? Had he something to do with it? Maybe...it was best not to jump to conclusions.

[selmette]

Selm knew better than to respond to Comwell; any mildly intelligent person would immediately suspect her of murder if they'd known she'd been awake the entire time. Either that, or pressure her for information. Selm was wildly disappointed in herself for not gathering any leads the night before. Her memory wasn't exactly extraordinary, but she figured she would have payed careful attention to the whereabouts of her fellow survivors.

After no immediate response from Melanie, Selm directed her attention toward the fresh kebabs. While the idea of a meal she didn't have to work for sounded extremely appealing, especially in her current situation, she'd made a pledge to herself during the night not to trust any of the other islanders. That meant no eating any food she didn't make herself. Especially when the offer came from an eccentric nutjob like Nelly. Selm wouldn't be surprised if Nelly turned out to be a paid assassin and the kebabs were poisoned.

Being stranded on an island is decidedly dull after all, she thought. I think perhaps if I were not so paranoid I'd be able to enjoy myself. She contemplated for a moment whether there was a fate worse to suffer than death by boredom when her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the din of the execution. It was a horrible sight to behold; Mina's desperate pleas for mercy as she was forced into the noose. Selm cringed in empathy--there was no possible way Mina had even been affiliated with the killer. She watched Mina pointlessly struggle for breath in the few moments before death finally took her.

What a disgusting species. It was moments like these that made Selm feel ashamed to be human.

[Draco]

Q returned the bow to Shani, with a fancy hand twirl to go with it.

"Yes, I was on the ship. I washed up over here along with my trunk. I decided to make camp here for a day or two before heading off to look for others. I was hoping others might wash up on the same beach, but it seems I may have been mistaken."

He looks at the people standing near him, then notices Mina.

"Ohh, first a winged person and now a ghost. This is a interesting group and a very interesting day!"

He gives himself a small clap.

"I haven't seen a ghost since I visited my cousin in Netwaffle! Very fun town, you guys should visit if we get off this island."

[Robyn]

"Netwaffle?" Moonflower said as she approached Q. She hadn't paid much mind to Shani's warnings; she figured that after she'd seen what all the fuss over the smoke was about, she could go right back to check up on the little girl. Calista, that was her name. Moonflower wasn't sure if she'd even spoken to her at all the entire time they'd been there. Regardless, she was now here with Mina and Shani at the source, where they'd discovered a very...eccentric man. His aura was erratic and twitchy. She could tell he was an extremely free spirit.

"I've heard of that place," Moonflower continued, "One of my friends from the commune said that their downfall was rooted in capitalist corporate greed."

She didn't seem to notice the strange looks she got for her statements. Smiling, she drew a few lines and dots in the sand with her toes, and then glanced back up at them.

"Well, since the smoke isn't linked to any danger--" Or natives, Moonflower thought sadly, "--I'll head back to see how Calista is doing. Children tend to have very delicate spirits, and I'd hate to see all this dark energy permeate her astral being, you know?"

With a parting nod, she danced her way back over to the part of the beach where the rest of the survivors were scattered. She found Calista sitting and humming with her little knees curled up to her chest. Moonflower took a seat beside her, crossing her legs. She took a second to examine Calista's aura. The energy about her was vibrating in short waves...frightened.

Quietly, Moonflower said, "Hey there, starshine. You don't need to be afraid."

[Rosalie Dylas (Maddy)]

Christopher smiled cheerfully at Nelly. He had decided he really liked her. She seemed so nice. "Nice to meet you Miss Nelly." he told her.

Then there was noise. Christopher's face changed to confusion. It was Mina's voice, screaming she was innocent... innocent of what? What was going on? Then Mina stopped screaming. She stopped screaming. Why? Why couldn't he hear her anymore? What happened? Christopher still hadn't found out what had happened this morning with the screaming, now this.


Then Nelly grabbed his hand, at least his assumed it was Nelly's hand. "They... What..? Why... Mina..? No, Mina was so nice...? Why would they execute her..? I don't understand... what did she do...? She didn't do anything." Christopher babbled hopelessly trying to grasp what had just happened."There was screaming this morning. What happened? Was it Mina? Did Mina do something wrong?" Christopher asked Nelly, trying to piece this together, trying to cope with the fact that the woman with such a kind voice was gone. Wait, did he just hear her kind voice? Christopher was so confused, didn't she just get executed?

"C-c-cut her body down?" Christopher asked, following Nelly's hand. "Ok." he said, nodding numbly. Nelly knew what she was doing, he would trust her.