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Candace couldn't stay in her room anymore, she refused to look like she was moping. She wasn't moping. She was fine. She was okay. They would all be okay. Atropos was kept somewhere near her at all times however, such as now when the smoke could be seen rising from within her coat pocket.

It was time to get out, maybe go for a walk. Deathsweeper had been great and all but that was in a golem not using her own body. She'd spent enough time just laying around clinging to her tablet or making sure someone she loved was okay.

Just an aimless walk with no real purpose or direction. Hell, Candace wasn't even paying attention to where she was going she was too busy looking at her phone.

Candace didn't even look up from her phone, still texting away with her eyes on its screen. "It's not my fault you're a greedy little child who can't be content with just two asses in his life so he has to obsess over mine at every given opportunity." She replied calmly. Rep would not be getting to her today, she wouldn't let him piss her off. It was just too easy to rile him up, even Jordan had stepped in when her intention hadn't even been to piss him off. He had a point though, he could deck her like nothing now with no fear shield; Candace wasn't afraid of Rep but she also wasn't a complete ******** moron.

Wait, did she smell chocolate? She blinked and finally looked up from her phone, pocketing it with her tablet and giving Rep a curious look. Where did he get hot chocolate? His personal stash? How the ******** did he still have any left?! "Plus I have better things to do than check twitter every minute of the day...that smells good." She gestured to the mug. Hot chocolate sounded really good right about now.

"You know, for someone who claims to be this macho manly man, the epitome of masculinity, you're more sensitive than the women that you mock on a daily basis." Candace couldn't help but roll her eyes. It was so tempting to tell him to be careful or the hot chocolate would go straight to his hips and oh no he'd get fat oh nooooooo. Thankfully Candace didn't need Atropos to tell her that was a really bad idea.

"Racial slurs? Oh, ow. No don't make black jokes I don't think I could stand it. There's no fried chicken and grape soda on this island for me to drown my sorrows in." Candace replied in a flat tone, idly adjusting her scarf with a bored look of disinterest. "Boyfriends plural? You're mistaken, Rep. I've only had one boyfriend on this island. Nice try though, give me something original." Something new. Something exciting. Candace could really only tolerate Rep's misogyny for so long before it just got dull and became a broken record, stuck on eternal repeat of the same argument over and over and over and over and over again.

At Rep's snap she raised a brow and gave the man a look that said 'you cannot be serious'. "I don't imagine you flinched when you killed that old woman." She shrugged, feigning boredom as he continued on, though the way her fingers twitched and clenched briefly around the fabric of her scarf did betray her coolness when he brought up Red and Ceres. She closed her eyes, tensing visibly. Don't hit him, it's not worth it. Don't hit him. Don't hit him. You don't have a fear shield he will destroy you. Don't hit him. She repeated this mantra in her head a few more times while taking a slow breath in and then letting it out in a soft sigh. "One day someone is finally going to get real tired of your s**t, Rep. Don't you ever get tired? Tired of acting like a heartless a*****e who just pushes everyone away? Who attacks anyone who so much as breathes the same air as one of his boyfriends? It's getting old."

And right about now was when the voice in her head would be telling her now was not a good time to talk about this, not when Rep could actually send her to the infirmary unlike on a normal day.

Candace remained stone silent, her face devoid of all readable expression as she just let Rep talk. On the outside she appeared calm..well, mostly. Her fingers did tremble slightly as they pinched her scarf, her grip getting tighter and tighter with each word. What the ******** did Rep know? He didn't know anything. He didn't know her, he didn't know Cass, he didn't know Aria or Molly or Ro or any of them. He struck a nerve with the mention of failures, her knuckles paling as she desperately chanted in her own head not to punch his face in until it was nothing but a bloody mess. She could see it now, she could imagine it, broken and bruised and with no shield or weapon to heal it within a few days. Give him a pretty new scar to go with the one across his nose, or maybe even just ******** his whole face up. No, don't do it. It's not worth it, he's not worth it. It was better to just let him talk, to let him make an idiot of himself without fueling the fire. She could look calm all she wanted but inside Candace was burning with rage, wanting so badly to just shout and attack him.

"Ever stop to think maybe I don't want a boyfriend?" Candace hissed, her voice going cold and losing all the humor that had been in it before. "To chain myself down to one person? Or two? It's not my cup of tea, thanks. And don't you dare speak about Ceres that wa--" Wait..did he just threaten her with Tracey? Candace actually stopped to just stare at him with a somewhat dumbfounded look of disbelief that soon changed to amusement, and she laughed. Loudly. "You? End me? Oh, William that's absolutely adorable!" One hand was pressed against the top of her chest while the other covered her mouth in a half-assed attempted to muffle up her laughter. "Oh look I'm Willian Reid and I have a big bad axe that's going to take out Can--ahaha! ********! I can't even say it!" Candace moved back a few steps away from Rep, a natural instinct to put distance between herself and someone bigger and physically stronger than her. He could probably throw her out a ******** window right about now.

"Oh, but being nice just gets you so many wonderful things." Candace said with a happy little sigh, wiping away a few tears and taking a few deep breaths in an effort to calm down. "Maybe one day you'll learn. Or maybe you won't, maybe you're just too stupid." Play nice, Candace. For Harrison and Jordan, play nice. She sighed again and shook her head. Time to sober up and--

What. The. <******** the sight of a knife Candace nearly took another step back. No, don't back down to the point of showing fear. Don't let him see it. Her amusement dissipated almost instantly, her expression taking on the emotionless look from before. She almost looked..bored. In truth it was taking every ounce of strength and will that Candace had to keep her entire body from shaking at the sight of him pointing a knife at her, asking her a very ominous question that could very well spell disaster if she did the wrong thing. She had to be careful now. ********. He was insane. He really did want to be a monster.

...She was so much better than him.

Candace suddenly smiled in a way that didn't reach her eyes. It wasn't sweet or kind, she wasn't even going to pretend to be warm to him right now. "Mm, that is a good question. Tell me, what do you think stabbing me would accomplish? I guess if you did it that would mean you were tired of Harrison," she damn well hoped Harrison would come to her defense on this one. "And, well, living." Candace blinked, lifting a hand to tap at her chin and eyeing the knife with mild curiosity. "I mean come on, do you seriously think Aria would let someone try to kill one of her Hunters? Get real. And if I live? What do you think I'll do when I've recovered? You don't know me, Rep. I killed nine people and I don't regret it, never have, never will. Fun, huh? But I have always been bothered by that number. Nine." Candace made a slight face at that. "It's just so odd of a number to stop at, so close to ten and yet so far. Hell, even my trial number was Epsilon Ten...maybe I could make you number ten." She grinned again. "I doubt the leaders would be terribly opposed. Allan, perhaps. He's very kind, very easy on you Suns. Maybe even Clarice. But I'd be justified, right? You stab me, I stab you harder. It's only fair." She shrugged, slipping her hands into her pockets and narrowing her eyes at the man before her. She had a plan. If he came at her she'd dodge it, he was big and slow and stupid. She'd duck, and then either kick his leg out from under him or just trip him; Candace didn't need Atropos to do something like that, it was simple physics and training. She was smaller, quicker, more agile than him. She'd seen him fight. The idiot needed to learn to ******** think before he did this kind of thing, she'd told him that before hadn't she?

"So, let's go back to your previous question now that we have that all settled. How tired are you?" She found Atropos in her pocket and her frown deepened. A stone tablet...a good shield. A stupid handmade knife wouldn't damage the tablet more than maybe a scratch or two, right? Atropos could protect her even in this form.

As she decided to go on about not needing a boyfriend he found his grip on the knife tightening, it made it so much easier when it was a woman. He liked it when the odds were biased in his favour, when he was acutely aware of what a superior creature he was, naturally fitter, stronger and bigger. Without weapons there was balance in the world again.

Her mockery and laughter were like a cold icy hand that narrowed his focus down to a fine point. He wasn't William Reid with a big bad axe. He was William Reid, with a knife that could ******** kill her twice as quick. The derision only galvanised his desire to flat out murder her, the reasons against it seeming all the more inconsequential the more she talked. All he could replay over and over in his mind was thoughts of how he'd do it, how he'd make sure there was no chance of error, no chance that at the very least he wouldn't get her.

So she wanted to compare numbers. She'd killed nine people, he didn't believe it for a moment. But it had been the trials, had to be. She was a callous b***h, he didn't doubt it, but he couldn't imagine a situation where she'd have done it before. People didn't get ******** stabby over shoes.

Still, the threat, the promise of revenge, all of it stacked the odds against him, cornered him by calling his bluff, because really, it wasn't a bluff, not entirely - he was just hoping to avoid having to resort to making good on it. It would be quick, it would final, and he would keep his pride.

It felt like there'd be something to lose, but all there was was the gaping void in his thoughts where what that was should be.

And then Harrison was there.

He didn't take his eyes off Candace. He didn't lower the knife.

"This b***h was just telling me she killed nine people and didn't give a s**t. She was going to make me number ten apparently. I was about to let her guess my score from her ******** puncture wounds."

"You told him you were gonna what? Hey- now, hold on, dammit-" Harrison warily allowed Candace to put him between them.

He answered with reluctance,

"Nah, it's just- Not like I've never been...normal...before-" Rep looked downright murderous, "you guys can't joke around with this s**t. Especially after what went down with Cass..."

Candace sighed. "He threatened me with a knife so I told him if he kills me that's probably the last straw for him, that's all." She waved a hand dismissively and looked directly at Rep now. "Give him a chance to reconsider doing something incredibly foolish. I don't think he really thought his little plan through." But then she turned a hurt look back to Harrison. He really thought she would go the route of Cass? Did he have no faith in her? "You know I'd never do that, Harrison." She had more sense than that! She was terrified but not stupid, she wasn't going to fight Rep when he had a knife and physical power and she didn't have either of those things. She opened her mouth to speak again, to reassure Harrison that everything was fine, at least until Rep turned into some kind of animal.

She tensed, wide eyes locked on Rep as she tried not to cling to Harrison like some kind of protective teddy bear. He was hurt, she couldn't do that to him. Her palms were stinging from her own nails digging into them and she wasn't about to subject Harrison to that. He was ordering her to move, and her body wanted to run, but her legs refused to budge. She was scared. Candace cleared her throat and tried to stop her hands from shaking. Part of her wanted to tell him to stop acting like some insane, knife-wielding child, but a louder part of her told her to keep her mouth shut. She managed to move one trembling leg enough to quietly slide a little more behind Harrison. She was shaking all over now. He'd gone nuts. "He's scaring me." She whispered for Harrison's ears only. It was hard to actually admit it but there it was. She hadn't felt this scared in a long time.

Rep was using up all his anger faster than he could supply it, fury twisting into a desperate strangled sort of hurt as it lost its legs. He'd been stupid, he'd come way way too close to losing it to his anger, and he wasn't even sure why. It had gotten out of his hands and he'd almost been waiting on that voice to cut in and tell him this was enough but it wasn't there because it was in that stupid tablet in his bag, silenced.

He dropped the knife as Harrison got near him, as if terrified he might use it, not trusting himself at all at this point.

"I was just.. I was...we were talking." his voice had an edge of hoarseness from the screaming. "She's always ******** patronising me. She can't without her weapon. I wanted to talk" He'd wanted to get to her, he'd wanted to see her scared of him, he'd wanted to see she was just as human as everyone else, but she'd won again and now he just looked like a psychopath. Probably even to Harrison. The knife made sense before now it was a horrible chilling liability. Cameras everywhere, he was right, what the ******** was he thinking?

His eyes darted to Candace and to the knife and there was a flighty sort of flinch as he considered trying to run. Just run off on this whole situation. Somewhere along the line he changed his mind. It wouldn't solve anything. "I didn't do anything to her, I was just ******** showing her I wasn't scared of her like this. She tried to bring you into it." He clenched his hands tightly. "If touching you isn't ******** goading me I don't know what is."