week one, friday evening

[jettisons]

[Bellamy doesn't do well when he feels helpless, and this is the most helpless he's felt in a long time. He's trapped with no information, almost nothing to go off of, and the girl he promised he'd protect is dead. It doesn't take long at all for him to set off across the island in search of Lief, who he's begun to think of as levelheaded and reliable. If there's a trial tomorrow, they need a game plan.]

Comments

[reidentify]

[That's... pretty understandable.]

How are you doing?

[He doesn't ask it so much as he expects Bellamy to be okay (who would be okay right now?) but more so to check if Bellamy has calmed down.]

[jettisons]

I've been better.

[But he can guess at what Lief is really asking.]

I'm not going to do anything stupid.

[reidentify]

[He smiles weakly, even though there's little to smile about right now.]

Because Raven would have something to say about it?

[She seems more level-headed than Bellamy, at least.]

[jettisons]

Because I know it won't help.

[Although... Yeah, okay.]

Raven would have something to say about it.

[reidentify]

She seems like a reliable friend. I am glad you have her here with you.

[... Not that he's glad she's here, stuck in this awful game, but.

For a moment, he thinks of Jasmine, and how much he misses here, before he pushes the thought out of his head.]

[jettisons]

[He shakes his head a bit. Raven should be back on the Ark, complaining about algae salads with Emori.]

I don't want her here. She's been through too much already.

[Admittedly, he'd probably be losing his mind without her.]

But if anyone is going to get us out of here, it's her.

[reidentify]

Unfortunately, it is too late for that wish.

[She's here—everyone's here, so they have to make the best of it.]

She seems very capable. You and her both.

[jettisons]

[There are times, like now, when Bellamy doesn't feel capable at all. How hard is it to protect one person?]

I hope you're right.

[He clears his throat, as though trying to erase what he just said.]

You've been doing a hell of a job keeping everyone focused.

[reidentify]

[He blinks.]

Everyone is doing their best—well, most people. [Joshua and Laura are assholes.] I do not think it truly has anything to do with me.

[jettisons]

[He shakes his head, voice firm.]

That's not true. Not everyone can take a group of forty terrified people, get them to listen to you, and then put them to work like you did. Take credit where it's due, Lief.

[reidentify]

[... It's difficult, when his failures back home have hit hard, but he doesn't want to offend Bellamy by refusing his compliment, so he slowly nods.]

Thank you. Lelouch has been a great help as well, though.

[Even if Lief can't bring himself to fully agree with Lelouch's more hardass approach.]

And I am sure that many people look to you for guidance, particularly when it comes to survival.

[jettisons]

I'm happy to help.

[The thought of not knowing any of this when it was so drilled into his head on the Ark is a little strange, he has to admit.]

Almost everyone's been willing to pitch in. We've got a good group.

[reidentify]

Indeed. It is heartening to see. [a pause] ... Though with the size of the group, the chances that the murderer is among us are...

[Not so bad.

except jk it was the dickrobots all along but Lief can't see the future, so.]

[jettisons]

[Bellamy nods. That sure is a thing.]

There's no way to know who it is, especially with those roles they won't tell us anything about.

[reidentify]

Yes.

[A pause—and, well, since Bellamy brought the topic up, he'll just be blunt.]

Do you have a role, Bellamy?

[jettisons]

No.

[He sounds genuine at least, if that means anything to Lief.]

Do you?

[reidentify]

[He shakes his head.]

I do not.

[Likewise, he sounds genuine.]

Unsurprisingly, I do not know of anyone who claims to have one either.

[jettisons]

[Bellamy's not shocked at the answer. He has no way to tell if Lief is lying, of course, but he decides to trust him.]

We don't have anything to go on, and I doubt we will unless the Chiefs decide this isn't entertaining enough for them.

[reidentify]

If the Chiefs decide that we are not entertaining enough, then I can only imagine this getting worse...

[jettisons]

[He doesn't want to start sowing such morale destroying ideas in everyone's heads, because he knows how quickly things can go south when people lose hope, but Lief is an exception. He'll be frank here.]

I would be surprised if it didn't. Why do you think they put us on teams? When push comes to shove, they're hoping we'll all turn on each other to survive.

[reidentify]

[He nods.]

For many, their partner will be the only one they can trust, if they both have any intention to survive. And yet, having their life tied to another person will make them fearful—and for those of us who might wish to act, however recklessly, we must be tempered with this burden as well. That will make people impatient.

[He's kind of thinking out loud right now.]

[jettisons]

The more people die, the more everyone else will panic, and the more impossible it will be to get through to them.

[Bellamy is agreeing, basically. This sucks.]

[reidentify]

Fear and despair can be people's worst enemies.

... At the same time, right now, we have so little information on which to act.

[jettisons]

I'll do my best to keep them focused and fed. Raven is working on a way to shut the AIs down, but I don't know how long that will take. She's got next to nothing.