[SCE] She's the Giggle at a Funeral

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina had climbed up a tree to avoid the others. She wasn’t exactly a social butterfly, and being up here was so quiet and peaceful. A few spiders had made themselves known to her, but they were fun to watch or easy to flick away, and the occasional silk worm dangling down was amusing enough to keep her attention for a while. Selina sighed and glanced through the foliage to view the lake that was shining in the early afternoon sun. She was honestly debating going skinny dipping after the lights at camp were out. The water would be cold, but she didn't care. Swimming was therapeutic for her in the same way that martial arts were, maybe even more so.

    Selina leaned back against the trunk of the tree and breathed in the cool air. It would be too warm out here if not for the shade, so she was grateful she'd found a climbable tree not too far from camp. She would probably only have to walk a little over half a mile to return, but with the forest all around it was like she was already in a completely different world. She couldn't hear or see anybody from the school and she preferred it that way. 

    A particularly large black spider suddenly decided to hang down in her face from the branch above her, and even she was startled by its size and appearance. She instinctively swatted it away only to watch in partially horrified amusement as it fell on top of an unlucky student who’d been walking by. Selina wasn’t sure whether to giggle or call down an apology… so she threw back her head and laughed. Maybe she wasn’t the kindest soul out here, but damn, some things were just too serendipitous not to appreciate.

[Ashley Benson]

Ashley wasn't particularly afraid of spiders, although she wasn't particularly fond of them either. She'd always found herself somewhat in the middle of the road when it came to creepy crawlies. She'd never been one to fear things smaller than her, especially ones that were proven to largely be harmless to people like the majority of species of spiders. While she had no desire to ever touch one and she did her best to avoid them, arachnids of most shapes and sizes were largely ignored. At least, that was usually the case when they weren't huge and falling onto her face.

She let out a sharp yelp of surprise and batted madly at the creature that had tumbled into her hair. It fell to the forest floor with an audible sound and skittered away even as Ashley continued the flailing action that could only be described as the 'oh fuck a spider just jumped on my face' dance. A shiver ran through Ashley' body as she gathered her long, brown hair and pulled it over her shoulder and held onto it protectively. She couldn't shake the haunting feeling that there was still something on her and it gave her the creeps.

Clear, blue eyes lifted to the tree above at the sound of the giggle. Ashley's brow furrowed even as her gaze sporadically glanced downward to ensure the spider wasn't coming around for another go. It didn't take long to identify the source of the laugh and, Ashley suspected, the cause of the errant spider that still had her chest heaving from the shock. "What?" She said, her voice laced with surprise. "Why?"

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina finally stopped laughing and called down to the unfortunate girl below her, "I'm sorry. I actually didn't mean for that to happen," she got out between minor fits of laughter. Selina swung her legs out over the side of her branch and started the climb down the tree, having had enough of creepy crawlies for today. She wasn't scared of them, but she wasn't particularly fond of tem hanging down in her face either.

    Selina let herself fall the last five feet out of the tree and landed on her feet. She then brushed off her clothing and smiled at the girl, "I was just as surprised as you were, honestly," she admitted as she looked over the girl in front of her. She'd certainly never seen her at the school before, except for maybe on the bus out here, but she'd been so focused on other things that she didn't quite remember.

    "I'm Selina, and you are?" she asked with a friendly smile. She wasn't usually quite this kind to strangers, but she felt like the girl had already been through enough with the spider. "I really am sorry about that," she added, though her care-free countenance betrayed her. Some part of her did feel sympathy, but not much. It wasn't necessarily because she was mean spirited or because she was heartless, Selina just appreciated life's quirks for what they were. Selina found herself slightly curious as to why the girl was out this far away from camp, but then she didn't really have any room to talk either, so she decided not to pry.             

[Ashley Benson]

Ashley peered up to the dark haired girl as she spoke. Her reasons were acceptable, an accident, sure. Ashley could buy that. She really was supposed to be here to help her give people the benefit of the doubt and she'd already been attacked by some weird multi-legged creature before and, even though the bulky teacher claimed whatever the hell it was happened to be more afraid of her than she of it, she swore there was a bloodlust in its eyes. Or antannae. Whatever they were. Regardless, Ashley figured it a likely story that she had happened along the spider's path to the ground on accident. But the girl didn't have to keep laughing about it.

With narrowed eyes, Ashley watched the girl skillfully make her way down to the forest floor. She felt a bit of envy stab in her chest at the way the slender brunette's body moved fluidly over the branches until she landed with a soft -thump- in front of her. "I'm, uh." Ashley's crystal, azure eyes shifted to scan the ground to make sure the spider wasn't returning to finish her off or anything before she continued speaking. "Ashley." Her eyes flinched just slightly as she spoke. It was as if she despised the sound of her own name. "It's okay." She turned her attention back to Selina. The smile she gave didn't come easy. Ashley still wasn't used to any sort of social contact and sometimes found herself lost when there wasn't the strict format of 'question, answer, repeat' she'd grown accustomed to with her therapist or doctors. "I'm not really... scared of spiders." Her eyes turned upward as they scanned the trees above them warily. "I just don't like them landing on my face."

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded to Ashley and brushed the dirt off the butt of her jeans. She’d noticed the flinch, but was unsure of what caused it so she just kept her movements open, relatively slow, and unthreatening. “Yeah, same here,” she agreed. “The reason I swatted him was because he decided to hang out right in front of my nose…” she explained. “I’m very protective of my nose. Can’t afford a new one, you know?” she joked as she glanced up at the tree as well until she was satisfied that no more surprises were headed her way.


    “At least he’s gone for now,” she stated. “And I don’t think he’ll be coming back anytime soon,” or at least she rather hoped not. “Now that I think about it, that spider was probably a ‘she’. Lady spiders are often quite a bit larger and sometimes end up eating the smaller males once they’ve finished mating. One of the reasons I like spiders quite a bit really,” Selina admitted. Wait, why was she talking about spider fucking practices? Selina laughed and shook her head at her own thoughts before looking up into Ashley’s lovely blue eyes, “So, other than the spiders, how are you liking it out here in our own little Garden of Eden?” she asked with a sardonic grin. If the spider had been guarding the Tree of Knowledge, perhaps humanity wouldn’t have fallen… Not that she believed in it, but sometimes it was fun to think of such things.

[Ashley Benson]

Ashley gave a short laugh at the mild attempt at humor that came from Selina. It was an almost awkward, unnatural feeling laugh that didn't last more than a second or two, but it was a laugh nonetheless. In that moment Ashley felt a surge of emotion. Everything had been so much gloom and doom for so long she couldn't remember the last time someone made a joke in her presence or she'd seen something that made her crack a smile, let alone issue a chuckle. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked to the darker skinned girl.

"Well, it's a very pretty nose. I would be protective of it too." The words tumbled from Ashley's lips seemingly of their own volition. Was that flirtatious to say? Had she just said something that could have been construed as playful? That the reply came so naturally actually seemed an accomplishment for the usually reserved girl. In a way, as odd as it may come off to strangers, Ashley looked almost proud that she'd managed to say something outside of her usual disjointed, mumbled responses. It was empowering to think that there was something that could pass for normal hidden deep down inside that was clamoring to escape.

The next question caused Ashley shoulder's to slump and she issued a low sigh. She hated it here. She didn't like the woods and she didn't like being so far from the civilization she'd grown accustomed to. Change wasn't something Ashley did well. She liked her routine, it was the patterns in her life that kept her calm and her condition manageable. Ripping her out of her comfort zone and tossing her into the wilderness with a bunch of alleged 'bad' kids didn't seem the right course of action according to her treatment plan. "I hate it." She said simply. She kept her arms held closer to her body, her hands finding the front pocket of her sweater as she gave another weak shrug. "I want to go home." She admitted quietly, the empowering, almost happy demeanor she'd flashed just moments ago melting away in an instant.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smiled at Ashley’s compliment and bowed slightly, “Why thank you. You have a lovely nose as well, I must say.” She could be as foolish as anyone when she was in a good mood, and for some reason right now she was actually happy. Her foolishness wasn’t often seen in Bellemonte, if ever (unless Frank was involved), but for the moment she just didn’t seem to care. Her highs were usually very high, just as her lows were very low. Selina could also swing from one to the other in a matter of minutes on the rare occasion.


    There was always the very real possibility Selina was forcing herself to be almost unnaturally happy to avoid thinking about certain things, but she would focus on that later… Not really. Selina’s first coping mechanism was to push everything to the back of her mind and to ignore it until it went away or blow up in her face. Funny how often it ended up being the latter.


    Selina grew concerned as Ashley visibly slumped. She paused and thought over Ashley’s words for a moment before responding, “Is there any way to make this camp more home-like for you? Anything in particular that could help you adjust? I know we don’t have much here, but it may be worth a shot. Even if what we end up with isn’t exactly what you’re used to, we might be able to make or find something close,” she offered. Selina was certainly willing to help Ashley if the girl wanted it. Supporting other women had been ingrained into Selina from a young age, and her mother’s teachings still held a lot of weight for her.


    The Charitable lady was completely useless in Selina’s not-so-humble opinion, but the man seemed to be capable of empathy… which was a thought that never would have entered Selina’s mind before being sent here. If there was nothing that could truly help this girl, perhaps he would allow Ashley to be sent home early. After all, forcing Ashley to stay when she was so clearly affected by being away from her home seemed like cruel and unusual punishment… even for Bellemonte.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan heard everything, really. When the latino girl had looked for surprises up in the tree, she hadn't looked far enough up. Ryan was a bit like a monkey in these situations. She climbed down the branches enough to be perched on the bottom branch. She did it quietly enough it might not even be heard by the two girls busy talking below her. It was still a pretty big branch and enough to hold her weight along with a couple of other branches. Then she heard the question about home and she smiled. She couldn't help but reply to that one.

"Yeah, like a nightlight? I might be able to find a firefly or something. Wouldn't count on it too much though. I'm not always great at catching bugs right away. If you don't believe me, ask the science club. They hired me to catch their tarantula a while back. That didn't go nearly as fast as I had anticipated."

[Ashley Benson]

Ashley issued a faint shrug of her shoulders. The ease in which she had partaken in the playful banter about noses had melted away at talk of her presence on the trip. She didn't belong here. She'd never done anything wrong in the four years she'd been at the Academy. Her only transgressions had been episode brought on by her condition. Certainly she wasn't being blamed for that. It was merely a side effect of her mutant power. It simply couldn't be helped. "Not unless you want to make a break for it and hitchhike back to the Academy." Ashley said, forcing a bit of a smirk through the bleakness of the situations.

While Ashley had made great strides in her journey to manage her condition she still had a great deal of trouble with surprises and things jumping out at her. The strange girl who made a sudden appearance was more than enough to cause Ashley to jump and issue a short yelp of surprise. She slid away from Ryan, spinning around to face the newcomer, a hand coming up to her chest, which she felt already heaving. She really needed to learn how to relax. "What th-?" Ashley's eyes turned upward to the red haired girl. "What?" She asked, completely lost. She hadn't even head what the other girl had said.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina laughed and shook her head, "Not yet, but I'll let you know if plans change." She'd come here to avoid getting into more trouble with the school, not to cause it. Even if she got down about still being sent to this place regardless of her relatively good recent behavior, she wasn't going to give the school even more reason to hold her past against her. Her mother was counting on her doing well, and Selina was determined not to disappoint her. 

    Selina barely kept herself from flinching as she suddenly heard the girl behind and above her. Selina had almost mastered not responding visibly to such things, but her emotive response wasn't near as calm as her expression. Her heart was racing and every single muscle was tensed in preparation to attack, but she turned slowly and glanced up at the tree with an annoyed expression as if nothing had happened, "And just who the hell are you?" she demanded with a cold tone. She wouldn't have been near as hostile had she not been taken by surprise, but her hostility was a cover for her much more unsettled interior... as it usually was. 


Ryan Alexander

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan grinned and looked down at them as they flinched at her sudden voice.

"I'm Ryan Alexander I. I'm on the survival experience as well you know. I'm quite enjoying the change of pace actually. I killed a squirrel. It was kind of fun." She shrugged.

"No need to bow to my presence. 'Cause you know I'm just like you and all that." She smirked before grabbing the branch she was on with both hands and swinging around it like a gymnast, sticking the landing in a neat crouch. She straightened up and brushed off her brown leather jacket and black jeans before smoothing her hands over her hair.

"That was a joke, just in case neither of you have a sense of humour. Although I have had people bow to my presence before. Kind of unpleasant, to be honest."

[Ashley Benson]

Ashley understood the strange redheaded girl had spoken a joke. She simply didn't find it amusing in the slightest. Her eyes narrowed as Ryan introduced herself. Immediately, Ashley shrank away, stepping back and almost moving behind Selina. She wasn't particularly fond of the other brunette girl, but she was better than... whatever it was that had just jumped down from the trees looking all smug and arrogant.

Instinctively, Ashley shifted toward the lesser of two evils and moved closer to Selina as if the girl offered some sort of protection. Her hands met and she began fidgeting nervously, her deep, crystal blue eyes locked upon the newcomer. Ashley didn't like surprises and she was already tightly wound before nearly being given a heart attack from a falling spider. Regardless, she knew why she was here. She had been chosen to come on this stupid trip because it was supposed to be 'good for her'. She knew she had to get out and experience a little bit of life, she just felt this was a little extreme. "I'm, uh, Ashley." She said, offering a meek wave and little else in the way of greeting.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina’s cold demeanor didn’t change even after the surprise of Ryan’s introduction wore off. There was something about the red-head that rubbed her the wrong way and she had little enough patience as it was. This girl was the type of “troubled” Selina could understand throwing to the wolves in the wilderness. What with killing squirrels and all, the girl could probably remain here and be fine right? Selina was partially amused at Ashley’s response to Ryan, but also slightly grateful that she wasn’t the only one unappreciative of their newest acquaintance.


    “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Selina responded after giving the red-head a dismissive glance. The only thing she was baffled by was how she hadn’t noticed the red-head previously. She’d been up in that same tree for quite some time. Selina quickly decided she needed to work on being more aware of her surroundings. “And I’m Selina,” she added dispassionately after Ashley’s introduction.


    Selina was more than aware of Ashley moving behind her and sighed at literally being in the middle of these two girls. She then glanced back at the brunette, “Want some food or something?” she asked, deciding that ignoring the red-head was the easiest way to go. Whatever they did, she'd prefer not being the buffer between these two.

[Ryan Alexander]

"I brought a bunch of canned goods on the trip if you want to share. I stuffed them in my suitcase. Figured cans would work well considering I could shape them into tools. Speaking of which, if you weren't shrinking back from me I might consider shaping the metal into a knife or something so you guys could survive better. But you're looking at me like I'm a monster." She was kind of hurt, to be honest. And her face betrayed how wounded she felt.

"I honestly didn't mean to scare you. It's just...I was higher up in the tree and I heard people talking and...well, I'm new. And I'm not always someone people like talking to. So I kind of have to barge my way into conversations or people don't talk to me at all." She rubbed the back of her neck.

"Unless they're wanting something from me, anyways. No strings attached conversations don't usually happen. I was hoping I could just kind of...join in on yours."

[Ashley Benson]

No one just wanted to converse with someone as jumpy and stilted as Ashley. She wasn't on anyone's list to speak to. It seemed as though the only ones who did were outcasts and those with no one else. Even then it felt far too much like people merely humored her. She'd yet to believe anyone had ever left a conversation with her feeling pleased that they had made the decision to do so.

On instinct, Ashley stepped closer to Selina. She didn't know the dark haired girl at all. There was no safety or comfort to be found, as far as Ashley knew. Selina had been more even keeled and hadn't come barreling out of the tree like a bat out of hell making her the lesser of two evils. She didn't catch the slightly resigned way Seline looked her way but Ashley nodded, nonetheless. "Um... O-okay." She was rattled, that was for sure. She had suddenly gone rigid, her hands moving to fidget idly with one another as she kept her piercing blue eyes locked upon the redhead.