[ he doesn't take too much advantage of the opportunity - he feels out the marks, the slowing pulse, the edges of his shoulders and collarbones. there's only so much that can be done like this, but it's not a thought he dwells on. david's not arguing. he's barely even moving.
eventually he does back off, letting go with a little more care than on past meetings so that david doesn't immediately pitch off the workbench and onto the floor. funny as that might be, it'd lead to the sort of argument he's not in the mood for right now. when he's fairly certain david's stable he pulls his waders back up, and only then does he glance around for his mask, which david set aside, out of range of being knocked over and upright.
he doesn't grab it. not right away. right now, he doesn't have to. ]
[ when evan starts to back off, david puts a hand down on the table to lean back on, rubs his face with his other hand. the more he starts to come back to himself, the more he feels a little off-kilter in a way he doesn't know how to process, a kind of uncertainty he can't find the source of right now. ]
[ maybe it's just the fatigue. a busy day on top of something that was way more intense than almost any other time before? makes sense that'd leave a guy feeling a bit weird, right? ]
Gonna have to give me a little bit. Then I'll get out of your hair.
[ he says it with a tired laugh in his voice, a little forced but masking this way is easy for him, he doesn't expect evan to notice. brushing everything off and acting like it's all fine and normal is something he's been doing since he was a kid, after all. and if it misses the mark somehow then the evidence suggests evan isn't about to comment on it anyway. he never has before. ]
[ evan watches david when he speaks, more carefully than he might at another time. the breathless little laugh in the words isn't something he recognizes. he could guess at why it's there. have his suspicions. but in the end, he doesn't mention it, because whatever's going on in david's head isn't evan's business.
well. as long as it's not along the lines of fucking up his traps and getting in the way of a kill. ]
What hair?
[ he knows it's just a turn of phrase, but the almost-a-joke gets out anyway. that's when he picks up his mask, adjusts the wires and straps a little as if they were ever out of place - as if they can ever be in place, even slightly comfortable - before pulling it on. he gives david space to recover or clean up, whatever he feels the need to do, but doesn't fully reoccupy himself just yet.
too bad there wasn't any hard liquor to steal. he could use a shot right now. david probably could, too. ]
[ god he really could do with a shot of something hard right now. would even be relieved to look in his pockets and find a crumpled up cigarette. instead he drags a hand through his hair with a soft, slightly amused at evan's almost joke, (and grimaces and wipes his hand on his chest when it comes away wet with sweat,) and tries to pull himself together enough to at least get up and put his pants back on. ]
Guess I'm not goin' anywhere then.
[ it's a joke in return. halfway mumbled as he almost gingerly slips off the table, testing his weight on a leg first before he stands and picks up his underwear from the floor so he can't put them on. ]
[ evan steps back a little further as david finally gets off the table. carefully, he notes. he wonders if one of these days he's going to make that too difficult to manage. it'd take a lot more than what they normally do, probably, so it's not likely.
not impossible, though.
as david pulls himself together evan heads back to his work. the broken trap only takes one more pull to finally come apart, the metal snapping mostly due to rust buildup. funny how a place with no time can somehow rust everything around him anyway.
after a second, he pauses and glances back. ]
Doin' that hit you harder than normal, I take it.
[ 'that' being the stopping out of nowhere. he's not going to comment on whatever might be going on in david's head, whatever ideas he might have, but it took david longer than normal to come down from the high. not too much. just enough for someone watching for it to tell. ]
[ he doesn't really want to give credit to that, but it'd be a lie if he said it had no effect and for some reason david is generally pretty honest with evan. as honest as he is with himself anyway. ]
[ david picks up his jeans while he speaks, but he doesn't put them back on straight away. holds them in his hands and leans against the table, a little distracted. brows pinched in thought for a passing moment. ]
Think it was a few things.
[ which he has no intention to elaborate on because he'd have to dig around in the muck of his thoughts and feelings surrounding all this to put that into words and neither of them wants that. ]
[ a few things. well, he can guess at those, but he's not going to ask. david gave him a confirmation without getting visibly angry about it, so that's about as far as evan's going to take it for now. ]
Maybe next time you can see how much it can do.
[ 'next time'. because at this point, evan's pretty sure there will be a next time. There's been several already. if david's regretting this, it's not enough to keep his distance.
evan pulls apart the remains of the trap, tosses a few parts in the scrap box, and eyes the rust on the remaining pieces. all the while he's keeping an ear out for whatever david does next - not that he thinks it'll be anything stupid after that. ]
Maybe next time I stop letting you get away with so much.
[ he says it with a tip of his head toward his ruined shirt where it landed on the workbench. no heat to it, david simply doesn't have the energy to be mad without being actively provoked right now, but they both know he lets evan do shit in the heat of the moment that he wouldn't otherwise. the mess of a neck he comes away with every time is testament to that. ]
[ after a moment's thought, david slings his jeans over his shoulder and grabs the shirt, using it to do a quick wipe up of his front with a snort and a shake of his head. at least it's still good for something. ]
[ evan snorts outright at that - almost a laugh, but not quite. ]
Yeah, right.
[ it isn't meant to be particularly insulting, though part of him realizes afterward that david might take it that way. but that's on him. he's the one who's let evan maul him, metaphorically speaking, and even tried to do so in turn. the torn shirt might be a first but probably won't be a last.
he glances back in time to see david barely even dressed. but that's on him. if he wants to wait until he can put (most of) the clothes back on, or walk out mostly naked, that's up to him. ]
[ luckily david doesn't take it as an insult, even if he doesn't particularly like the idea that evan knows him well enough to call bullshit. he might intervene if he tries to rip his clothes off him again though. maybe. ]
[ right now he's thinking about getting dressed and getting out of here which seems like a really daunting fucking task. the idea of getting past all evan's traps seems borderline impossible and honestly makes him feel a little more tired than he already is. ]
[ he looks at evan and then around the room. ]
I'm, uh. Just gonna sit down for a bit.
[ as he moves to sit on the floor by a wall with a tired sigh. just ten minutes or so to recoup his energy. ]
[ he was expecting david to leave on his own time, but not quite this much of his own time. evan turns to look at him again in a little confusion and a little concern - and a pile of annoyance, because this is david in his space now, without them fucking.
but he's tolerant enough of david now to just watch him settle down, because partly naked and exhausted and barely able to stand doesn't make him much of a threat. it's not a good sign for evan, that he'll put up with this. but he's done it before with others. will keep doing it for a while.
he doesn't say anything, instead turning back to his work and listening for the moment david decides to stand - or, and he's willing to bet on this, falls asleep. ]
[ it's a bet he'd win, because within a few minutes david does indeed drift off. to his credit, he does try to resist it, because he already feels like he's overstayed his welcome, but he's just so fucking worn out. every time they fuck he feels like he comes away from it more exhausted than the time before, and there's really an upper limit to how much of that he can just walk away from like it's no big deal. ]
[ it's maybe telling that he feels able to just sit down and sleep here instead of being on high alert the entire time, but luckily for david that's not something he can consider whilst zonked out on the floor, proppee up against the wall and curled a little into himself like he's aware enough to try and minimise how much space he takes up. it's just the same dreamless sleep he's always had since coming to the fog. ]
[ whether he should leave david be, kick him out, or just kill him is up for debate.
he watches david for a minute, once he realizes he's fallen asleep. it's ... frustrating, to know he's willing to put up with it; ages ago no survivor who got in here and fell asleep would wake up and live to tell about it. not so long ago anybody who tried getting in at all would be in for a world of pain.
they're not afraid of him, out here. and that's an insult.
in the end, he leaves him alone, frustrated but not enough to take action. and when the entity calls him to a trial, he leaves him alone in there, because it's not as if it'd be the first time david's had run of the place. ]
[ when david does eventually wake up, it's with a small panic initially, unsure of where he is, eyes darting around for danger as he braces himself for some kind of attack that never comes. it takes a few moments for the haze to clear and for him to realise, with no small amount of embarrassment, that he fell asleep in evan's workshop. and evan... left him there? ]
[ it seems odd to him, that the ornery bastard didn't kick him awake. or kill him for the disrespect. odder still that he left him here alone. must've had a trial, david reasons (and ignores the churning discomfort that rises with the realisation that he was just here snoozing while evan's out there killing his friends,) but even so it feels strange that evan let him be instead of shoving david out the door on his way. ]
[ there is, as always, the temptation to snoop, to steal, but david resists it. there's a world of difference in his mind to stealing from someone who allows you into their space versus breaking in to do it, and evan's been decent to him lately, so he's not about to break that tiny bit of trust. or maybe it's just resignation on evan's part. david doesn't know. ]
[ he does, however, have a look at that jar once he has his jeans on and wishes immediately that he hadn't. it's going to drive him insane wondering if bear grease is exactly what it sounds like and hoping it isn't. ]
[ he grabs his bag, shirt forgotten wherever he dropped it before, and tries to think of how he's gonna explain the state of himself when he gets back. as a show of thanks, he also resets any traps his closes on his way out of the mine, which is harder than evan makes it look, but he only comes away with a few bloody fingers so david will call that a success. ]
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eventually he does back off, letting go with a little more care than on past meetings so that david doesn't immediately pitch off the workbench and onto the floor. funny as that might be, it'd lead to the sort of argument he's not in the mood for right now. when he's fairly certain david's stable he pulls his waders back up, and only then does he glance around for his mask, which david set aside, out of range of being knocked over and upright.
he doesn't grab it. not right away. right now, he doesn't have to. ]
no subject
[ maybe it's just the fatigue. a busy day on top of something that was way more intense than almost any other time before? makes sense that'd leave a guy feeling a bit weird, right? ]
Gonna have to give me a little bit. Then I'll get out of your hair.
[ he says it with a tired laugh in his voice, a little forced but masking this way is easy for him, he doesn't expect evan to notice. brushing everything off and acting like it's all fine and normal is something he's been doing since he was a kid, after all. and if it misses the mark somehow then the evidence suggests evan isn't about to comment on it anyway. he never has before. ]
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well. as long as it's not along the lines of fucking up his traps and getting in the way of a kill. ]
What hair?
[ he knows it's just a turn of phrase, but the almost-a-joke gets out anyway. that's when he picks up his mask, adjusts the wires and straps a little as if they were ever out of place - as if they can ever be in place, even slightly comfortable - before pulling it on. he gives david space to recover or clean up, whatever he feels the need to do, but doesn't fully reoccupy himself just yet.
too bad there wasn't any hard liquor to steal. he could use a shot right now. david probably could, too. ]
no subject
Guess I'm not goin' anywhere then.
[ it's a joke in return. halfway mumbled as he almost gingerly slips off the table, testing his weight on a leg first before he stands and picks up his underwear from the floor so he can't put them on. ]
no subject
not impossible, though.
as david pulls himself together evan heads back to his work. the broken trap only takes one more pull to finally come apart, the metal snapping mostly due to rust buildup. funny how a place with no time can somehow rust everything around him anyway.
after a second, he pauses and glances back. ]
Doin' that hit you harder than normal, I take it.
[ 'that' being the stopping out of nowhere. he's not going to comment on whatever might be going on in david's head, whatever ideas he might have, but it took david longer than normal to come down from the high. not too much. just enough for someone watching for it to tell. ]
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[ he doesn't really want to give credit to that, but it'd be a lie if he said it had no effect and for some reason david is generally pretty honest with evan. as honest as he is with himself anyway. ]
[ david picks up his jeans while he speaks, but he doesn't put them back on straight away. holds them in his hands and leans against the table, a little distracted. brows pinched in thought for a passing moment. ]
Think it was a few things.
[ which he has no intention to elaborate on because he'd have to dig around in the muck of his thoughts and feelings surrounding all this to put that into words and neither of them wants that. ]
no subject
Maybe next time you can see how much it can do.
[ 'next time'. because at this point, evan's pretty sure there will be a next time. There's been several already. if david's regretting this, it's not enough to keep his distance.
evan pulls apart the remains of the trap, tosses a few parts in the scrap box, and eyes the rust on the remaining pieces. all the while he's keeping an ear out for whatever david does next - not that he thinks it'll be anything stupid after that. ]
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[ he says it with a tip of his head toward his ruined shirt where it landed on the workbench. no heat to it, david simply doesn't have the energy to be mad without being actively provoked right now, but they both know he lets evan do shit in the heat of the moment that he wouldn't otherwise. the mess of a neck he comes away with every time is testament to that. ]
[ after a moment's thought, david slings his jeans over his shoulder and grabs the shirt, using it to do a quick wipe up of his front with a snort and a shake of his head. at least it's still good for something. ]
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Yeah, right.
[ it isn't meant to be particularly insulting, though part of him realizes afterward that david might take it that way. but that's on him. he's the one who's let evan maul him, metaphorically speaking, and even tried to do so in turn. the torn shirt might be a first but probably won't be a last.
he glances back in time to see david barely even dressed. but that's on him. if he wants to wait until he can put (most of) the clothes back on, or walk out mostly naked, that's up to him. ]
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[ right now he's thinking about getting dressed and getting out of here which seems like a really daunting fucking task. the idea of getting past all evan's traps seems borderline impossible and honestly makes him feel a little more tired than he already is. ]
[ he looks at evan and then around the room. ]
I'm, uh. Just gonna sit down for a bit.
[ as he moves to sit on the floor by a wall with a tired sigh. just ten minutes or so to recoup his energy. ]
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but he's tolerant enough of david now to just watch him settle down, because partly naked and exhausted and barely able to stand doesn't make him much of a threat. it's not a good sign for evan, that he'll put up with this. but he's done it before with others. will keep doing it for a while.
he doesn't say anything, instead turning back to his work and listening for the moment david decides to stand - or, and he's willing to bet on this, falls asleep. ]
no subject
[ it's maybe telling that he feels able to just sit down and sleep here instead of being on high alert the entire time, but luckily for david that's not something he can consider whilst zonked out on the floor, proppee up against the wall and curled a little into himself like he's aware enough to try and minimise how much space he takes up. it's just the same dreamless sleep he's always had since coming to the fog. ]
[ but hey, at least he doesn't snore. ]
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he watches david for a minute, once he realizes he's fallen asleep. it's ... frustrating, to know he's willing to put up with it; ages ago no survivor who got in here and fell asleep would wake up and live to tell about it. not so long ago anybody who tried getting in at all would be in for a world of pain.
they're not afraid of him, out here. and that's an insult.
in the end, he leaves him alone, frustrated but not enough to take action. and when the entity calls him to a trial, he leaves him alone in there, because it's not as if it'd be the first time david's had run of the place. ]
no subject
[ it seems odd to him, that the ornery bastard didn't kick him awake. or kill him for the disrespect. odder still that he left him here alone. must've had a trial, david reasons (and ignores the churning discomfort that rises with the realisation that he was just here snoozing while evan's out there killing his friends,) but even so it feels strange that evan let him be instead of shoving david out the door on his way. ]
[ there is, as always, the temptation to snoop, to steal, but david resists it. there's a world of difference in his mind to stealing from someone who allows you into their space versus breaking in to do it, and evan's been decent to him lately, so he's not about to break that tiny bit of trust. or maybe it's just resignation on evan's part. david doesn't know. ]
[ he does, however, have a look at that jar once he has his jeans on and wishes immediately that he hadn't. it's going to drive him insane wondering if bear grease is exactly what it sounds like and hoping it isn't. ]
[ he grabs his bag, shirt forgotten wherever he dropped it before, and tries to think of how he's gonna explain the state of himself when he gets back. as a show of thanks, he also resets any traps his closes on his way out of the mine, which is harder than evan makes it look, but he only comes away with a few bloody fingers so david will call that a success. ]