OPEN.

[bloodandbrass]

Comments

[hardlydead]

Don't start.

[bloodandbrass]

you keep forgetting escalation here doesn't stop. they kill you, you don't stay dead. it's never finished for them.

[hardlydead]

So I'd better not get caught then, eh?

[bloodandbrass]

that ain't your specialty.

[hardlydead]

Easier when nobody's home.

[bloodandbrass]

won't stay that way forever.

be impressive if you actually pull it off.

[hardlydead]

I'm almost done here.

[bloodandbrass]

don't mean it's gonna work.

[hardlydead]

Might not.
Doesn't mean she'll know it was me who tore the place up either though.

[bloodandbrass]

no, she'll assume it was me if you can't prove enough it was him.

[hardlydead]

[ he sends a photo of her cabin. it's a mess, but the way a place gets messed up when somebody's looking for something specific. things pulled out, storage upturned, at least one "frustrated" hole from a knife being stabbed into the side of a container. ]

You often in here looking for stuff?

[bloodandbrass]

[ he could argue with that, but ultimately, david has a point. ]

no. just making her life miserable.

[ an old thought slithers in. ]

make it look like you checked under the bed.

[hardlydead]

[ it takes a few minutes, but david sends another photo of the room. this time the bed's been shoved to an angle, bedding rumpled and mattress pushed a bit off the frame too for good measure. ]

[bloodandbrass]

[ it's satisfying to see her shit in disarray, and the bed's going to drive her over the edge. but seeing it makes frustration stir inside him.

why did he suggest that? where did the thought come from? the answer starts to unfold, and when he realizes it he slams down on the memory until it cracks. ]

good. i'd say smash the wine but that's more me than him.

take something. hide it somewhere. he keeps trophies.

[ as if david wouldn't already know. ]

[hardlydead]

Good shout.

[ david honestly doesn't question it, assumes it's just something evan's picked up over the length of their feud. he just thinks on the trophy thing and digs around until he finds something that looks personal and then tucks it away where it's unlikely to be found for quite some time. he knew, but it slipped his mind. sort of. ]

Any other ideas?

[bloodandbrass]

[ as he's considering it, he realizes he's helping david, of all people, with a potentially backfiring plan. even if it's meant to drive two people he loathes against each other, he also hates david.

although there's a difference between those two things. ]

no. he doesn't fuck with everything at once. leave something for him to come back to later.

[ this is less knowing the psyche and more having dealt with this exact bullshit for a while now. ]

[hardlydead]

I better get the fuck outta here then.
Wish me luck.

[ that's a joke. obviously evan's not going to do that. ]

[bloodandbrass]

i've got traps on her side of shit. try not to step in one when she comes after you.

[ that's as close as he can get, really. ]

[hardlydead]

[ david is good at making plans, better at thinking on his feet, but his forethought is nothing to scoff at either. as far as he can tell (or as far as jonah could tell after his little eyes lit up at the idea of poking around her tech) her drones work off radar, so david makes sure to come and go from the same direction that ghost face left after their fight. maybe it says more about his opinion of her than her actual intelligence, but he doesn't think it'd occur to her that he probably wouldn't come the same way every time. especially not when she's pissed. ]

[ ten, maybe fifteen minutes later, once he's sure he's in the clear, david finally replies. ]

Good thing her trials always last for fucking ever.

[bloodandbrass]

[ he was honestly expecting to hear something about being killed. ]

some people fuck around too much.

you sticking around to watch or what?

[hardlydead]

Wasn't planning on it. Why?

[bloodandbrass]

you're still here.

[hardlydead]

Got about a million traps to get past still. Slows a guy down.

[bloodandbrass]

never stopped you before.

[hardlydead]

Trying to get rid of me?