OPEN.

[bloodandbrass]

Comments

[hardlydead]

So you did use them to trap people before this place then.

[bloodandbrass]

sometimes. people don't look down in a mine.

[hardlydead]

What did you trap the mine for though? Workers must've needed to get about.

[bloodandbrass]

there were always abandoned shafts. half collapsed tunnels. places people didn't go looking.

[hardlydead]

[ he's so confused by this. are they talking about animals or people? does it really matter? ]

Animals a big problem down there?

[bloodandbrass]

[ he hesitates at that. how much of his life before this place does he actually want to talk about? it's not a secret that he killed everyone by the end, or at least almost everyone; there's newspapers around that tell the story, and over the time here people have put the pieces together if they haven't already heard the story as some kind of urban legend.

but that's still different than talking about it outright, even as a threat. ]

no. i killed most everybody down there. took a while.

[hardlydead]

Oh.
Couldn't have anyone getting away.
Got it.

[ he wants to ask why, especially given how protective evan is of his place, there's something missing there. some piece that'll make it make sense why he'd slaughter all his workers and ruin his livelihood, evan just doesn't strike him as stupid enough to throw everything away on bloodlust alone. it's got to be something else. ]

[ he's also highly aware this is the most forthcoming evan's ever been, and david at least recognises that if he pushes too much or the wrong way all he's gonna get is aggressively shut down. but while he's never necessarily saught to make evan open up or talk about his past, something about him doing it is almost magnetic to david. difficult to resist. ]

Why though?
That's a lot of hard work for what?

[bloodandbrass]

[ it was more than that, he thinks. but he doesn't say it.

already he gets the feeling he's crossing a line. one of his own, which makes it worse. he watches david's response come in and wonders why david's even asking. morbid curiosity, probably. ]

they deserved it. that whole place was infested.

[hardlydead]

Infested?

[bloodandbrass]

with maggots.

[ about as much of a straightforward indication to evan's eventual state of mind as he's ever likely to give. ]

[hardlydead]

Wait.

You're telling me you killed everyone because you thought they were beneath you?

[bloodandbrass]

that was part of it.

[hardlydead]

And the rest of it?

[bloodandbrass]

not your business. just be glad you weren't there.

[hardlydead]

[ well fair enough ]

You wouldn't have wanted me there anyway. I'd make a terrible miner.

[bloodandbrass]

[ he was half expecting a demand or accusation. not getting one irritates him almost as much as if he'd gotten one. ]

glad you know that. you would've gotten fired or killed on day one.

[hardlydead]

Yeah, see, maybe I'm sensitive but I also prefer an employer who doesn't kill you after your first day.

[bloodandbrass]

you fuck up bad enough, you deserve it. you get fired by way of an explosion, that's nobody's fault but yours.

[hardlydead]

It's just hitting rocks, how hard can it be?

[ he's saying it on purpose, david knows better. ]

[bloodandbrass]

[ that's bait, he tells himself, and only just barely manages to avoid rising to it. mostly. ]

would love to see how you handle dynamite.

[hardlydead]

Just don't be next to it when it explodes.

[bloodandbrass]

you sure? because you don't do that with anything else.

[hardlydead]

I've gotten you with enough flashbangs without blinding myself to say otherwise.

[ how many times did that also result in turning and running straight into a trap? listen-- ]

[bloodandbrass]

there's a difference between that and dynamite. you don't outrun dynamite in the ass end of a mine.

[hardlydead]

I'm just saying obviously I know not to be in the blast radius of an explosive.