be the light.

-

Leave it to Briar to attend a party and piss on it too. That girl was as confusing as ever. Like a stray cat that couldn’t decide if it liked you or not. Would follow you around then hiss at you. Take the food you gave it then swat at your hand. Too much like Darby now that he’d thought about it. He should ask her one day if that’s what she’d modeled her personality after. “Damn right, I’m jumpin’,” Riggs said. “Gonna do it with a smile on my face and my eyes closed too.” Actually, he wasn’t sure how he’d be jumping, only knowing that he was going to do it and hoping he wasn’t going to piss himself while he did. But he loved to say shit just to say shit. It made his insides feel all fuzzy. “You just gonna sit in the crowd and scowl all night?” He sauntered up to the blonde, slinging a lazy arm over her shoulders. “I heard it’s what all the chickens are gonna be doin’.” His mouth took the shape of a smirk. “Bok bok.” He poked at Darby’s side. 

-

His eyes closed and a smile on his face. See doubted he’d keep the latter half of that up but she entertained it for the sake of making fun of him, "Then at least Junior won’t have much work to do for your funeral then huh,” she noted, though it was admittedly a little macabre for her liking, especially to mention her older brother in his professional capacity for the sake of a sarcastic bit. There was just something about the smug expression on Rigg’s face that brought out the absolute worst in her, she couldn’t help but rise to the occasion - or descend into the gutter and beyond, perhaps in this case. 

…

“pretty big difference between some cliff diving,” he gestured to the devil’s tooth where someone was getting read to take their turn in the jump, “and putting a gun to your head.” it was pretty intense to even compare the two. he wondered what this girl’s deal was with the whole panic thing. he can’t remember if they have ever met before, but he could tell from this short interaction that she would probably frown upon most of the things alec did in his free time. but he did notice how she didn’t answer his question. “doesn’t really seem right, does it? newbie comes in a tries to take the money all for himself. pretty fucked up, in my opinion. not really fair to the people who grew up here.” plus, he didn’t really need the money. sure he was broke, but he owned a house and a truck and he liked it here. he wouldn’t really know what to do with the money besides help out his friends with it. 

-

“How'd you figure that? Ain’t nobody but God know what’s under that water, not really,” she insisted, “You jump and I figure you got a chance at landing safely, you got a chance at hitting the rocks or you got a chance at breaking your bones into dust the second you hit that water- you know the thing is, the higher you jump, the faster you fall and it’s like hittin’ concrete by the time you get down there,” she’d seen plenty of injuries of that sort come through the clinic, in fact. “I’ll take five empty chambers over any of that,” she decided. 

If anyone was going to perk up to someone speaking to a crowd, it was likely to be Sienna. Her brows rose, wondering how on Earth she was listening to someone sound slightly more obnoxious than she was. “Aw, come on, don’t be such a negative Nancy.” Nudging Darby with her elbow, she gave her a little grin, brows furrowing together. “Some of my best friends are dumb as boxes of hair, according to you.” She told her playfully, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I’m not jumping, though. I’ll leave that stuff to the professionals. Besides, I can’t get this hair wet, I spent like an hour and a half curling it. Who knows what chemicals are in that water?” Her eyes went wide at the thought. Besides, she already had a plan for how she’d get something out of Panic coming back that wasn’t actually having to compete. Not that she was planning to tell the blonde about that. As someone who was often referred to as obnoxious and judgemental by others, she could say that the vibe radiated off Darby every time she opened her mouth. 

-

“Ain’t my fault,” Darby concluded simply. If Sienna wanted to be friends with a bunch of idiots, that was her prerogative. Darby, after all, was just stating fact in her (not so) humble opinion. “You call a spade a spade and that’s that,” she reiterated, confident as she so often was that she was correct and that she had every right to declare it.

-

“ Willing to count me out that quickly, huh? ” Koda couldn’t keep grin off their features. The wondered if Darby would bet. If betting was back, that was. They didn’t think she would, not very God-ly to make bets, but it would satiate them incredibly to have her bet against them and lose the money. Their head tilted with curiosity at her response to their question. They weren’t all convinced that she wouldn’t tattle but at the least she had a curiosity about panic that drove her out here the same as the rest of them. Were the rumours true? Was it real? Had it ever been and was it really back? “ ‘Cept whoever’s behind it, ‘course. ” They noted aloud, allowing a small beat before they asked a follow up question on their mind. “ You gonna come to the rest of the challenges? See if the rumours stay true an’ all? ” 

-

“I was just respondin’ to the question you asked me Dakota, be mindful of your own words if you don’t want ‘em mixed up,” she warned the other, as if she was offering sage advice instead of just avoiding an uncomfortable topic of discussion, if it could even be called that. Did she and Koda ever have discussions or were they merely duels between them, words as their weapon of choice?

-

“ We all got our talents, don’t we? ” Koda replied, that shit eating grin remaining on their features. Koda had a nose for trouble and Darby had a nose for being an annoying brown nosin’ narc– but they’d be civil(-ish) for right now. They still had to climb up the cliff and jump off it and they had to be first. After they jumped? Well, cards would be off the table by then. Thank God I’m here, she said and Koda last a second before they snorted out a laugh at that statement. 

“ Yeah, thank God. You gonna give me CPR if I drown? ” They joked crudely, raising their brows. Were they still being civil? Maybe not, but how could they let something like that just slip past them. “ Why are you actually here? You gonna tattle on all of us with a bit of courage in our bones? Or did you wanna see if it was real? ” Koda didn’t believe for a second that Darby was just here because she didn’t want to spend another night alone with her parrot.

-

“Don’t know about that,” she could just about count the number of people in that crowd with God given talents on one hand and that was if she was being mighty generous. 

[ DARBY BRIAR, SHE/HER, CIS WOMAN, KATHRYN NEWTON] is a 25 year old NURSE from PROSPER, WV. They are WELL SPOKEN and CHARITABLE but also FACETIOUS and JUDGEMENTAL]

-

Darby’s voice rang out like a cat yowling in the night. Except Koda would care far more for a cat than they would for what Darby had to say. “ Thank you so much for that Darb-eline, ” Pronounced like Madeline, “ I was just wonderin’ what you thought of all this. ” They replied facetiously, starting nice and loud so they could grab her attention but returning to a normal level once they had it. Then came the question of whether or not they were jumping. “ ‘Course I am, ” Koda responded with ease, not a single care in their mind for what Darby Fuckin’ Briar thought of them. They held up their hand, showing off the number one drawn in black marker by one of the Roberts twins. “ It’s tradition, ain’t it? ”

“Looky what the cat dragged in,” Darby remarked, making very little effort to make it sound like a good thing, though she did wear something like a smile on her face- somewhat soured by the utterance of Darbeline. “Miss Dakota Reid, how did I know you’d be at the center of this here ruckus? You just got a nose for trouble, doncha,” Koda was ‘as dumb as a box of hair’ personified in Darby’s opinion - no that anybody had asked for it now or ever for that matter, “Tradition is havin’ turkey and taters on Thanksgiving day, this on the other hand all is just beggin’ for some kinda accident to happen,” she assured Koda without hesitation, “Thank God I’m here,”  yes, thank God Darby Briar was there to put band-aids on knees, wipe bloody noses and complain for the remainder of the evening about her civil duty to do so.

…

alec sipped on his beer as he overheard darby’s little judgmental rant. he didn’t really get why she would be here if she was so against it the whole thing. didn’t that make her just as ‘dumb’ as the rest of them for even coming here? why not just stay home and pretend it wasn’t happening? but then again, who was alec to question? it’s not like he knew everything about these towns and the people who have lived here their whole lives. “i think they’re pretty damn brave,” he finally spoke up, looking over at the girl. “i’m not jumping, but i think anyone who does is pretty cool in my books.” granted, some of the people jumping were his friends so they were cool in his books even before tonight. but that was besides the point. “if you don’t like it, why’d you come and watch?” he asked, not able to bite his tongue for too long on the matter. 

-

“You reckon Russian roulette is somethin’ pretty brave too? I don’t see much of a difference here,” she quirked an eyebrow, asking the question incredulously as she spared absolutely no time in looking the male up and down. He wasn’t from around here, she didn’t know him from Adam but she did know he wasn’t local, that was for darn sure. She took a moment to gaze up at the Tooth, trying to figure out what it was that he thought was so cool about all this, “If you think it’s so cool, why ain’t you jumping?” she didn’t answer his question before offering one of her own, as if her intrigue had took priority over his for some undiscernible reason.