Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDIA 23a: Respect

Pin and friends decided to start a campfire.

For the whole day, they've been doing exactly as they planned to do: they picked out a random direction, a direction that'd hopefully lead them to the coast, a direction that could *maybe* bring them a step closer to Dream Island. They'd walk, and they'd walk, and they'd walk. The whole time would be rather tense; Team Not was returning with a group twice the size of what they had when they set off, a group with unknown thoughts, unknown desires, unknown motives. Their eyes were constantly kept on each other, making sure that not one of them was gonna try and make a run for it at that very moment. And then the one after that, and the one following *that*, too. It was very painful, very miserable, and very, very *boring*. There was always the fear and dread, there was always the thought that something was *bound* to happen, that this house of cards was gonna collapse in on itself in no time. But it'd never arrive. Just like when they were sitting still, waiting for that bozo-brain bossy-bot to finally show herself and get herself caught. Only... in that instance, something finally *did* happen. After all that great amount of suffering, all of it actually paid off. The odds were in their favor that it was gonna happen again. Probability says that something *will* happen before they make it to Dream Island, before they even get a glimpse of it. But until then, until they saw who was gonna snap, all they could do was wait. Wait and anticipate.

Well, why not try and push things along?

When the sun started to set, when things got *really* dark, the group decided to settle down (relatively) speaking and look for a tree. Golf Ball and Pin, if their stories were to be believed, independently came up with the same idea. They were no longer trying to hide their actions, they were no longer trying to disguise themselves; what was the point in continuing to walk around aimlessly, continuing to rely on just themselves? They wanted to be found, so why not make it obvious for everyone else? And so, everyone that was able (i.e. everybody but the sport globules, and Pin) would make their way up the trunk, into the branches, pulling out whatever twigs and sticks they could and picking up those that had fallen into the ground. They'd also look for pebbles, rocks, and stones, gathering them up as well for good measure. GB expected to have to relay the instructions on how to actually use these items to commit arson, but she'd be quite surprised to find out that they were able to get it done just fine. Well, perhaps she shouldn't be; fire was just as much of a tool for destruction as it was a fuel for creation, and so more than a few of them would eventually be able to develop the logic and reason required to make use of it, even if it was just for... the other purpose. Soon enough, the fire was burning bright, and everyone had gathered around- close, but not *too* close -looking for a tiny little bit of warmth amidst this cold, cruel world.

And as soon as they got comfortable, they became obnoxious once again.

Pin said *absolutely* nothing, not wanting to draw any attention to herself, to be roped into conversations that she absolutely did not want to have. She was just going to let the flame do the talking, a *very* clear beacon for anyone that just so happened to look in this general direction. She wanted for this little chapter of her life to *finally* be over, for she and everyone else to move on to the next chapter of whatever this story is, taking them someplace that'll hopefully be more interesting, if not more tolerable. She wished that, for all the differences and disputes that she's had with everyone else, they were at least united in the fact that this whole thing just... *sucked*.

"Hey, you know what this reminds me of?"

Coiny's voice immediately became the center of attention, and that coin creature became the fixation of every gaze. "*Him*." He'd gesture vaguely towards the fire, muttering all sorts of impolite words as he went. "Firey's just the *worst*. I wonder where he's at now; hopefully in pain. Hopefully." Everyone else tried not to give him any attention, hoping that he'd eventually stop on his own. "He was *so* easy to slap. He may be made out of fire, he can burn bright, but that won't change who he *really* is, deep down inside." He'd grumble. "He's such an incredibly dumb, incredibly *rude* jerk. You *just* wouldn't believe it. Especially when we were both in the PRISON. He wouldn't stop talking about all the little ways in which I failed; failures that aren't even that big, mind you. Like, for a little while, I was convinced that I knew this person called Needle..."