(Untitled)

[phoinikothrix]

At last week's carnival, Francis had shown a remarkable lack of restraint--dragging Camilla on roller coaster ride after roller coaster ride and eating himself sick on corndogs and cotton candy. Though he'd always disdained the sort of corn-fed, wholesomely Midwestern version of summer entertainments such fairgrounds always seemed to represent,

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[1struleiscardio]

I pretty much just need to find Wichita. I haven't seen her in a while and all hell's broken lose. And...honestly, I know that she can look after herself. I just want to be nearby while she does it. I skid to a halt, double-barrel in my hands.

Don't be a hero.
Fuck it.

Time to nut up or shut up.
...Again.

"Jesus," I say.

[phoinikothrix]

Francis stopped short, seeing the curly-haired young man--or, more accurately, his gun. "Where did you--" he started to ask, before gesturing helplessly at the rifle. "I hope to god you can use that thing."

He chanced a look back over his shoulder, half-hoping the murderous toy was a hallucination, some trick of a guilty mind.

[1struleiscardio]

"I can use it," I say, lifting the gun and taking aim. "You...might want to get out of my way, man."

I really, really wish I wasn't back here again.

[dichotomos]

Everyone had been soooo cheerfully oblivious when the island had twisted itself up with roller coasters and vomit-worthy carnival rides. You'd think the people were being brainwashed with the easy way they forgot how regularly the place fucked with everyone. And yeah, okay, I spent two days straight stuffing hot dogs and funnel cakes into my face, but I wasn't stupid. I knew there was eventually going to be a catch.

That catch was apparently B-movie demonic toys. Out of the toy box and ready for slaughter. Seriously, it would have been nice to have a challenge, at least.

There was a skinny, manic guy sprinting my way through the foliage, pursued by the most fucked-up bunny rabbit I'd ever seen. I looked impassively from one to the other, pulled the Desert Eagle from the back of my jeans and leveled it at Bugs.

"Get down," I said, bored, then annoyed when I wasn't instantly obeyed. "Get the fuck down!"

[phoinikothrix]

Francis heard the shouted command, though his legs and the adrenaline coursing through his body refused to obey. Just as he reached the dark-haired man, his foot caught on a tree root and he went sprawling to the ground.

As if in response, the rabbit increased its speed, still grinning.

[dichotomos]

It wasn't what I'd been asking the guy to do, but it worked. I spared the skinny, prone body a glance and then pulled the trigger. A hole erupted in Bug's head, spraying bits of stuffing everywhere. The rabbit staggered, tipped over and lay still in the dirt.

"A friend of yours?" I asked as I crossed to the toy and nudged it with my boot.

[talented_liar]

Up until recently the island as a whole had bored Loki. His time spent as a child had been enlightening, the amusement park had been mildly entertaining, but this... this was something different entirely. This was chaos and he was determined to make the most of it for as long as he could.

While his brother happily fought his way through hordes of plush animals, Loki wandered the island to better take in the spectacle, stopping every now and again to quickly dispatch any toys foolhardy enough to attempt to attack him. He had no true weapons -only a makeshift staff and a few knives purloined from various places- but the god of mischief was nothing if not skilled at improvising. Scattered in his wake were the destroyed toys to show it.

As the young man blundered out of the foliage, Loki paused, instinctively on guard, only to begin laughing as he saw the source of his distress. It really was such a good day.

[phoinikothrix]

It was the laughter he heard as he passed the man that broke through Francis' terror. Stopping short, he looked behind him to see the rabbit still in hot pursuit, though gaining ground slower than he would have expected.

"What are you doing laughing?" he asked the man, indignant through his fear. "It tried to kill me."

[talented_liar]

"It is a stuffed rabbit," Loki said, calmly watching as the toy got closer to the two of them. There was no reason to act. Not yet in any case. If the rabbit made a move for him than Loki was more than prepared to protect himself, but whether he would assist the young man was another thing entirely. "Even a mortal should be more than capable of defending himself from that."

[raw_youth]

"Whoa, whoa, what the hell, man?" Dodge said, barely getting out of the way. He caught Francis's arm to stop him. He was blissfully unaware of anything weird afoot. He'd been off harvesting more pot.

"What are you running fro-" he started to ask, then there was suddenly a giant rabbit that looked like it was ready and willing to kill them. "Ohfuck."

[phoinikothrix]

Francis wheeled around at the sudden contact, his face white and terrified. "Dodge, it's--it's Bunny," he gabbled, near-hysterics. "I don't know how, but it's--he's trying to kill me."

[raw_youth]

Dodge had been jumped by street kids and had been beaten by his pimp and johns alike. Nothing like that really scared him. A giant fuckin' bunny rabbit...that was a different story. How did you fight that, he thought. This wasn't something that just taking a licking would mean it was over.

So he chose what he thought was smart.

"Fuckin' run, Francis!" he said, jerking the other boy's arm to get him moving again.

[other_valentine]

Finally, the Island had given her something to do! True, there'd been the carnival earlier on, but other than ride the monorail and explore the second Island and dinosaur territory, Hester had seen no reason to take part in the games.

Today was different. Indeed, when the mayhem started, the biggest problem for Hester was figuring out who to help first. There was a lot of running around.

Seeing this hysterical man rushing towards her, Hester drew her sword and adjusted her scarf. "Where is it?" she shouted, the better to get through to him. "What is it?"

[phoinikothrix]

At the sight of the woman and her sword, Francis stopped, panting and breathless. "It's--I don't know how, but there's a rabbit and it's trying to kill me." He knew it didn't make sense, phrased like that, but it was true--and better than admitting what he actually thought, or knew, or believed.

Behind them, the rabbit shambled down the path, still smiling.

[other_valentine]

Island or not, when Hester drew her sword to help, only to be told that a hysterical young man was on the run from a rabbit, she could not help but feel a little stupid, feel that the man was -- to say the least -- excitable, and that drawing her sword was a severe overreaction.

But then she heard the crashing of leaves, and something much, much larger than your average rabbit lumbered into view. Hester relaxed. "Oh," she said, and felt a lot less foolish. She knew what to do here.

"Keep back," she told the man, and she lunged at the rabbit, her sword swinging, slashing repeatedly at the giant rabbit's chest and neck.