|More Than What We R§VP'd For.| {Piscatus}

Branden Sykes
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Taking a moment's respite to catch his breath on a fallen tree, he was surprised when Iris sat next to him. In the background, he was almost sure he had heard Gavin mutter something. But was the lad talking to either of them? Stretching his injured leg out in front of him, Branden stared into the surrounding forest. It was too dark to see more than a few feet ahead, and he did not relish the idea of getting lost in the darkness. But his ruminations were interrupted as Iris began to speak.

"Hey...are you alright?"Her words seemed genuine if a bit struggled with. Looking at her, he locked eyes for a moment and missed what she said next, as his focus was on her face."-ook like you need a break." She grinned. Yet another thing that caught him off guard. "Keep a wary eye out Iris. I just need a few minutes to think." He smiled back at her before launching himself back into his brooding.

Dark were his thoughts as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He thought back to how this had started. It had been interesting enough to receive a wedding invitation in the mail, especially when Branden did not tend to ever interact at social functions. It seemed as if he had been chosen at random, as had the people he had met. It just didn't add up. After caving to his parents insistence that he needed to shake off some stress and enjoy himself, he had been sorely put out to discover that he had missed the voyage of the Plausible.

A day ago, he had considered himself lucky to have found the late boat along with several others but, now the luck tasted bitter. Sighing, he stuck his hands in his pockets, and oddly enough, he felt something. Removing his hand, he found the crushed up and slightly damp wedding invitation. He stared at the blue slip of paper before shoving it back to where it came. Why had he agreed to attend?It wasn't as if he even knew the bride and groom. Evelyn and Lucan Hale? The names meant nothing to him. Cracking his knuckles irritably, he was shaken out of his thoughts when Iris screamed.

Quickly turning to see what was wrong, he watched as she shook a rather large spider off of her hand and proceeded to shout bloody murder at her three male companions, violent threats should anyone speak about her arachnophobia. The threats unsettled him momentarily, given the situation they were in; but he understood. He himself was a different person when confronted with open water.

Limping over to Iris's side, Branden put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm yourself Iris." He said soothingly. "There are worse things out there then spiders. We don't want to give away our position. Don't worry..."He started to say something else, but the words caught in his throat, and he awkwardly made his way back to the fallen log. What was he to say? I'll protect you? How cliche. And hollow sounding considering the circumstances.

His mind drifted again and flashes of the nights events rolled through his head. The boat crash had been purely accidental right? A freak storm. It wasn't as if someone was trying to strand them here on purpose was it? The sewer. Who had suggested they go to the sewers? The captain. That man was dead now, as Branden so vividly recalled. They had found a dead boy in the sewers as well as an old man that Branden remembered seeing walking around the shoreline every now and then.

The old guy was dead now too, and evidence pointed to Silver. But... There was no way for her to have killed the Captain. Even if her weird little friend had appeared at such an odd time. But both of them had been in the sewer when the brunette girl had died, and now they were dead too. Branden could only assume that the killings would continue, proving the young pairs innocence postmortem.

Branden huffed. The pieces of this puzzle were coming into focus, but some things just didn't fit. He didn't care for that. There were too many unknown variables. Catching sight of Iris again, he decided to shelve his thoughts for the time being, lest they became paranoid delusions. "Hey, Iris? What part of district four are you from? I haven't seen you around before." Ah, small talk. Perhaps this would add a feeling of normalcy to the situation at hand. Gavin spoke, saying something about ways. Branden's attention was on him and Frederick for a moment. The two were silent. Very silent. It was almost as if they weren't there at all. He shuddered involuntarily before turning back to Iris.

Branden Sykes
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Iris sat down next to him again and he unconsciously looked away. Seeing the haunted faces of Gavin and Fredrick, It was a little awkward to ignore the pair, but they didn't seem much for talking. Gavin might be someone to strike up a conversation with, but for now, his attention was on Iris. She smiled again, in such a way that he couldn't help but smile too.

"That's cause I'm not. I'm from District Two; My dad knows the family and I got to go because I've been working hard on my career training. One hell of a reward right?" Interesting. The thought that people from outside district four had been invited to the wedding was not a thought that had occurred to him. Someone was playing a dangerous game. But what was the purpose behind this frightful occurrence?

"Career eh? So you uh, You want to be in the games then?" It was a piece of information that explained her attitude. But was she a willing career, or the kind that was forced into it by her parents? It she was willing to kill people... But no. She couldn't have killed anyone in the sewer. It was highly unlikely. If only he had been able to garner any information from the two young girls. But they had been a little crazy and completely unhelpful.


A district two girl. Huh. Well. She was much paler than most of the females he had seen around town. Most of the denizens of the fishing district were tanned to some degree. Still... Blast it all. Branden was not a ladies man and he was getting slightly uncomfortable about the way Iris was looking at him. He took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the sea as well as catching a whiff of the sewers stench. Everyone's shoes were caked in dried filth. Nasty. How had he failed to notice before?


Iris was covered in a light sheen of sweat, likely caused by her spider related freak out. Would she catch cold? On an impulse, Branden removed his shirt and draped it on her shoulders. His frame could handle the chill of the night air. Coughing awkwardly, he moved away from her side and went over to Gavin. "Gavin right? You alright man? You've been kinda quiet."

Iris had been watching Branden and blondie, sure all trouble would start there, but to her dismay, it came from the woods. The career watched as a boy appeared from from the woods, a rock held up in threatening manner, or, in Iris' case, an imitation of a threatening manner. What the Hell was this? A game? Iris didn't think so. This is the end of bullshit on this island.

"What the Hell is this?" Iris spat, practically spitting venom. A rock? Okay, so what? Wanna fight? What the Hell is wrong with you?" Iris continued on in her rage. This was enough for one day without having some punk try and come at them for a fight. What the Hell was wrong with him anyway, trying four against one? How fucking stupid could someone be? She reached behind the log and grabbed a familiar rusty pipe. "So you wanna fight, motherfucker? Let's fight." Iris was snarling now, she took two steps forward.

The blood was pumping in her head now. Iris could feel the adrenaline pumping. maybe, if this idiot didn't explain why why he acted like he was going to attack them with a fucking rock maybe she'd have the chance to beat the Hell out him and get her anger out. God knows it'd be good for their little group, even if they didn't know it yet. She could do it to, thanks to her training.

The boy sounded a bit nervous now, Iris lips twitched into a little smile at that. She had a way of making people nervous, and this was definitely it. Iris loved this little talent of hers, especially when it came to little shits like this. Iris watched him carefully, scanning for any signings of continuing with his little joke of an attack, completely ready to go at the slightest aggressive movement.

As expected, the boy who's hair was similar to blondie's, slowly brought the rock down to his side and let it fall onto the filthy ground. As he did this, Iris slowly let the pipe down to her side and relaxed her stance, though the pipe didn't leave her hand. She wasn't entirely sure that she trusted him not to try something yet, as she was trained not to trust. She was trained well, this was definitely a time to be grateful for that.

"Um- I don't want to fight I just want to know where the rest of my party is." The boy, Iris deemed him blondie number two, said to her. She let her eyes soften just a little. Hardly noticeable, but still there. "Listen buddy," Iris said softly, though with a hint of annoyance at his ignorance. "We're in the same boat of shit, no pun intended, as you are. We're just from the late party. Can you tell us what the Hell happened?" Iris gestured to the remains of what seemed to be a party next to them. She didn't want to fight, not really. It had just been spur of the moment anger and she felt sorry about it, but her ego wouldn't allow an apology.

"Are you going to bludgeon me to death with that?" The boy asked with a slightly anger tone, drawing Iris out of her thoughts. She looked at him with a hint of guilt, a feeling she didn't often feel. Maybe she did overreact a bit, but he had no reason for coming at them with a damned rock. "No, I guess-" She began, but blondie number two cut her off. "I mean, you are in the business of killing innocent people- My death would just be a part of your training." Iris drew back as if she'd been slapped. Without realizing it, he gave her something to think about it, but it also pissed her off to a whole new level. She saw red and had to almost physically restrain herself from attacking. "Talk to me like that again and i'll shove that rock up your ass." she said in a quiet, raspy voice.