[ the response means david's got enough strength back to hold himself, which means evan can probably let go. he gives him a little more time. enough to make sure he still has a grip on himself, mostly, but he can pretend it's for david's sake. ]
Just use the damn bed.
[ it's not like it'd be the first time, and nobody goes back there anyway. well. not right now, at least.
evan pulls himself away when he's fairly certain david's going to stay upright on the workbench and pulls his waders back up, buckling them back in place and reaching for his mask again. he doesn't pull it on right away but keeps a grip on it, just in case david's too exhausted to stay in place and slides straight onto the floor and he needs both hands again. ]
[ david raises an eyebrow, surprised by the offer. it's not the first time, sure, but evan is particular about his property. about his space. and david gets it, it's why he'd never assume something being okay one time means he has an open invitation, wouldn't necessarily even ask about it a second time unless he had something to give in exchange. ]
[ there's a hint of annoyance there, because since when does he offer anything without meaning it? but he's not in the mood to get really pissed off. besides, the wariness is warranted. anybody else would be the same way.
he swipes david's clothes off the floor and drops them in his lap, not caring about any mess that might spread around. ]
Better than you passing out halfway back and drawing some scavenger over here.
[ david makes a tired attempt to catch the clothes before they land in his lap, it's really only partially successful. at least it's on the leg of his jeans rather than somewhere more embarassing. either way, david dumps them on the table next to him, because he might fake stability well, but he knows he's in no fucking state to move or get dressed just yet. ]
Just don't want you getting pissed 'cause I'm still here an hour from now.
[ partially joking, but it's also a fair assessment, he thinks. ]
An hour from now I'll be killin' your friends again.
[ it's not said with any particular malice. it's just a fact. another fact of this place, of the life they live. in a hour he'll be too busy to care, essentially. and once he gets back he'll probably forget david's there at all, because he doesn't use the bed on his own time, and who knows if the entity won't grab david before he even wakes up?
the injuries come to mind again, and he looks them over. the angry red marks and welt at his shoulder that's a familiar injury to every survivor. they shouldn't linger like that. ]
Just don't fuck around and I doubt I'll remember you even went in.
[ there's some visible discomfort that david can't quite conceal at what evan says; sure, it's a fact of this place, but he tries really hard not to think about it when he's here. thinks about the last two times he woke up here and the way he felt at the realisation evan wasn't here because he was in a trial. he might prefer it if evan's here when he wakes up, just for his own sanity. ]
[ the moment passes and evan keeps talking, david reaches behind himself for the tattered rags that used to be a t-shirt and uses that to clean up with a soft snort. "don't fuck around," when does he anymore? ]
What am I gonna do in there anyway? Change the lightbulb?
[ even if david doesn't get off the workbench yet, evan moves away. doesn't pull the mask back on yet, but goes back to the other table, the one where his work is always waiting. because there's always something else to fix or repair or make more dangerous. ]
Ain't that room that's the problem. Be surprised if you could fix that light. Never worked before.
[ it was a joke, he knows, but god forbid he fail to take any idle comment seriously. ]
[ he's even made a point of learning how to spot traps, figuring out how to get around them, closing less every time he's here just to avoid stoking that bit of evan's temper. it's a shame that doesn't seem to have carried over into trials, but what can you do really. ]
[ hesitantly, david slips off the workbench while he speaks. very suddenly about ten times more aware of various aches and pains, but at least he doesn't fall on his face even if his legs still feel a bit rubbery. he's stable enough at least to pull his underwear on and slowly start toward the bedroom. ]
[ evan sifts through the metal on the workbench, more as a distraction than anything else. there's always something new to repair here and he's looking at a trap that looks like someone put a metal pipe in the middle to set it off. teeth broken, jaws just slightly bent out of shape. not enough to make it ineffective but enough to piss him off.
he hears david moving around behind him and pulls the mask back on. ]
Good to know.
[ he believes him, which is as much a surprise to him as it might be to anyone else. so far, david's lived up to not being as much of a pain in the ass as he could be outside trials. that's enough, really. not everyone has that kind of awareness. ]
[ the lack of argument or shitty comment is a surprise, but david's mollified by it, he doesn't want to fight over something so stupid this soon after sex like that. ]
[ he's a little baffled by the way evan just gets back to work, it felt like that was a lot for him too. stands and watches him for a moment, but it's probably just one of those killer "benefits." that and whatever the fuck is wrong with evan that he couldn't stop working like his entire existence depends on it. david shrugs it off and heads into the bedroom without a word, leaving the door open a crack to let some light stream in so he doesn't bash his leg against the stupid thing again as he clambers into the bed to sleep. ]
[ he's tired, although probably not as tired as david. but there are benefits to being on this side of things, and one of them is that exhaustion doesn't hit as hard. they have to be ready for a trial at any time, and however much the entity might think it's funny to toss them in at the worst possible time, it does need them to do their job. so they benefit.
evan listens as david heads into the room, and then his attention fixes back on his work. at least, it mostly does. it's been a while since things went sour, with him unintentionally pissing david off, and now that they're back on the rails he's gotten a pretty good grasp on what's different between what they have and what he has with other survivors. it's ... a little concerning.
but if he doesn't think about it, it won't be a problem. that's served him well his entire life. and when he feels the tug of a trial maybe half an hour after david falls asleep, he doesn't waste any time getting a weapon and leaving. ]
[ he's a little bit more aware of the dustiness of the room this time around, probably because they didn't just fuck in it, it irritates his nose a little but not enough to be a problem. david just lays down on his back and settles in, drifting off relatively quickly. ]
[ when he wakes up a few hours later, he just lays there for a little while. partially because he is so much more sore than he was when he went to sleep, but also some of the weirdness of this has just sunk in. this is weird, there's no getting around that. even accounting for how fucked up it is to be hooking up with a killer, or whatever the fuck evan's deal is, this is a strange situation. ]
[ he rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands with a tired groan, staring at the ceiling afterward. listening for the sound of evan working outside to try and figure out what leaving's going to look like — or rather, how much he's going to have to pretend he's definitely not in any pain at all. ]
[ there's a trial, and then another trial, and then he's back in his workshop, and then there's something out on his property, fucking around. by the time david wakes up he's still out there dealing with it.
he's been gone long enough that the fire in the forge-slash-furnace has faded down to a dull glow, leaving the workshop barely lit. the few lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling are off. the whole place is mostly shadows, hiding anything that might be a trap.
although he doesn't trap the workshop these days. he leaves what he needs to deal with trespassers on high shelves for when he catches them. it's outside, just past the door, where the traps start. what gets missed on the way in generally catches on the way out. except most people are getting good at avoiding them. it's almost pointless now.
david won't have any issues leaving, but once he's outside he'll hear the clear sounds of a struggle not all that far away. because it's the thing that is and isn't a person out there, the one nobody has a name for, caught in four traps and still trying to beat him to death or whatever it does, and evan really doesn't know how to deal with it. ]
[ eventually, david decides he's alone and elects to leave. slow and ungainly as he pads out to the workshop to gather his things and get dressed — in hindsight, he thinks as he pulls a clean shirt out of his bag, maybe he should've brought his stuff into the bedroom with him. getting dressed is quick, even if his back protests a little when he crouches to tie his laces, and david does his best to brush off the discomfort of being here alone on his way out. ]
[ he's almost out of the mineshaft when he hears it. not the struggle, though that comes through just after. what he hears is the voice, the one that makes something in him sieze in a cold panic. after this long, there isn't much that still scares david (that he knows of,) but that thing does. makes him contemplate trying to wait it out until he realises what the rest of the noise out there is. ]
[ for some reason, he'd feel bad leaving evan to deal with this on his own. ]
[ he takes a deep breath, puts on his game face, and heads toward the noise. the sight is almost as absurd as it is upsetting, he doesn't want to look directly at it, ends up looking away to evan before he's fully processed the sight of it somehow caught in four traps at once. now he's here, he really has no idea how to deal with it either. ]
There's easier ways to get me to stick around, you know.
[ the only reason evan's not already ash on the ground is because of the traps. both of those fucked-up legs are caught, and so is one arm that managed to get two. it keeps tripping over itself no matter how it twists and turns. but the one arm free has an axe that it keeps swinging at his head.
david's voice catches him by surprise and it's only because the bigger threat is in front of him that he doesn't turn. he's pissed about it all, though. david's not supposed to be able to sneak up on him. ]
You wanna go in there and get killed to make it fuck off, go ahead.
[ it's a snarl. he has other traps he could lure it into, since it doesn't seem to understand how to avoid them, but that's only going to do so much. he has to be able to get in range to kill it, and between the axe and the pulsating whatever on its back, he doesn't have much confidence in doing that. ]
Yeah, nah. Get killed enough by that thing as it is.
[ it twists its head around to look at david where he is just behind and to the side of evan, in its awful, trilling, almost-human (almost dwight if he pays attention) voice it says "help... can you help?" as if he's not looking directly at it. he visibly shudders and looks toward evan again. ]
[ it hasn't got out its awful... throat proboscis at least. maybe it can't use it with the position it's stuck in. ]
-- hang on.
[ it's a longshot, david's never tried this outside a trial, but those journals said something about killers being averse to light, right? why would that be different just because they're not in a trial? who fucking knows, it's been years since they found them, but david swings his bag off his back anyway and starts rummaging for a flashlight. zero hesitation between finding one and immediately shining it at the thing's sockets, hoping for the best. meg's shined these things in his eyes when she's pissed enough times for him to know it fucking hurts and is disorienting even without a supernatural weakness. ]
[ he doesn't take his eyes off the thing. being watched doesn't seem to make a difference to whether or not it attacks, but he's not going to give it even a second.
he's not afraid of it, but it's offensive, in a way. pretending to be a person so badly. even ghost face knows how to fake that better when he has the chance. then again, that might be the point. it's not supposed to fool anyone for very long - just long enough to get them in reach.
and then david's reaching in his bag and pulling out a flashlight, of all things. evan doesn't say anything, doesn't even look over at him incredulously, but inside he wants to bash david's head against the nearest tree, or maybe into a trap. it's a stupid move. idiotic. flashlights are a problem in some trials, but as max proved ages ago, light isn't always a threat, and outside trials the damn things are better projectiles than anything else -
but the thing recoils. not much, and not far, but it does back off, tripping over its trapped legs. something splits along its spine - or chest cavity, fuck if he knows anymore - but the tendrils he's expecting don't erupt. not yet, anyway. ]
[ he's not stupid, he knows this is just a temporary inconvenience, but the unknown recoils, disoriented and pained. that's enough for david to feel comfortable with the idea forming in his head. ]
You're gonna kill it. I'm gonna keep it from knowing where you are.
[ it's a simple plan, how could it possibly go wrong? ]
[ it takes a lot of effort to not turn around and smash david's face in. only the sight of the thing in front of him keeps him in one place. ]
Yeah? You think that's how it works out here?
[ it's true that that thing doesn't like the light - that it's turning its head, trying to avoid it, while at the same time following david and not evan. but that's just where it's looking. he has no idea how it actually sees; there's no eyes in those sockets. ]
Turn it around. Ain't going at it from the front.
[ he's not sure how he's going to kill it at all. he's not sure if that's even possible. ]
[ he snaps in a hushed voice, practically a snarl. part of david is loudly reminding him he could just leave. he doesn't owe evan anything, and even if he did, it's not enough to put himself in the firing line of one of the few killers who still scare the shit out of him. ]
[ keeping eyes on it, reminding himself what's real, that's how to avoid getting caught out. doesn't help that looking at it is so viscerally uncomfortable that he has to fight himself to do it. ]
[ he clicks the flashlight off, just for a second. it swings at him with its axe once it can see, but david's out of reach. what's more important is making sure it's following as he carefully circles. flashlight coming back on the second he hears its back creaking, for a moment shocking it back into that blindness and discomfort. ]
[ evan doesn't think, right now, about the reasons why david's still here or helping him at all. he just takes the extra body, the extra target, and tries to work out how to do this.
it's focused on david (apparently). bones creak and skin snaps as it moves, legs twisted up even more awkwardly than usual thanks to the traps. it ran at him on all fours, which is the only reason it hit them in the first place and the only reason he's still alive. he'd never seen it do that before even if he'd heard about it. if that's what it does in trials, he's surprised david's here at all.
he waits in total silence and perfect stillness as david draws its attention away. it's not until he sees it start to try and close in that he steps forward, moving more silently than might be expected, cleaver coming up -
just in time for its back, or chest, or whatever's facing him, to snap open. the flashlight's still on but its eyes (or just one of them) must be facing him. he ducks in time to avoid getting hit full-on by the emerging tentacles, but one hits him in the face, tearing his mask off an an eyehole before he lands a blow on it and severs the damn thing in one go.
its whole body reels at that, curling backward like it's trying to protect itself. but the noise it makes is still almost human. the same noises it probably heard while it was killing people on its own, back in the world. he's not sure if it can even feel that but it sure can react, he thinks in a haze as pain rips through his head and blood blinds him. ]
[ usually its back opening means somebody's about to die, so david thinks he can be forgiven for flinching when that happens. honestly he thinks he should be applauded for not running, considering he has to fight every instinct he has not to. but it doesn't strike at him, it strikes at evan instead. can it see him or does it have some other sense tracking him or some shit? ]
[ that's a flaw in the plan if it does, because then blinding it means it only has eyes (as it were) for evan. ]
[ david processes the noise it makes with a grimace before he realises he's watching the thing huddle away from evan, down a tentacle. a lot of thoughts race through his head about the nature of this thing at the sight, but none of that is helpful right now, shelves it for now to bring up later with sable and mikaela (and probably haddie) when he can figure out how. for now, david wishes he had a weapon, but the nearest one is in that thing's fucked up hand, and if it ran through four traps without dropping it, david isn't sure he can do anything to get it. ]
You okay?
[ if he sounds concerned, it's just because he knows evan going down here means he's next, that's all. ]
[ david's words hit his consciousness somewhere, distant and fading in and out. he tries not to focus on them but rather on the thing still trying to back away, or maybe back toward david, or maybe wind up for another hit. its back is still open, but the tentacles are retracted. might be the first time anyone's ever landed a hit on it before. ]
Fine.
[ it's a stupid question, he thinks, because there's a lot of blood on his face and he can't see and his brain is half-consumed by a nebula of pain radiating from his eye. but he's not so overwhelmed that he can't take another few steps forward and slash at the arm holding the axe.
he gets in a good cut before the bone in that arm snaps itself twisting and whirls the axe down at him. he just barely avoids it. the cut didn't go to the bone but it must have severed something anyway, because the arm twists too far and the axe hits its own leg. ]
[ if he even cast a glance evan's way, david might hesitate, but he has no idea evan's half blinded right now. he hears him say he's fine and trusts, (maybe stupidly considering the man would never admit weakness,) that he's fine. ]
[ either way, he doesn't give evan a chance to protest what he's about to do. david's a big believer in the power of teamwork, and has little issue putting himself in dangerous-to-lethal or worse situations to get shit done. to get other people out. evan's seen it, even if he's never been the recipient of it. ]
[ david takes a second just to watch the way it's moving, line up his shot before he launches the flashlight at its face hard enough an actual person would probably have to consider going to the hospital. it's not a person, but between that and evan almost severing its arm, it's at least stunned for a second. that's not the stupid part though. the stupid part comes seconds later, when david darts over the other side of it, jams his hands into its horrible back/chest mouth to grip a tentacle and pull it out. ]
[ in his head, the idea is he would hold it immobile so evan could hack it off like he did the other one — that's the only thing that's gotten a real response out of it after all — in practice? it's slippery and stronger than he expected and david still hasn't realised evan can't fucking see right now. ]
[ normally he'd snarl something sharp - everything you do is stupid - but the pain has him distracted. he can almost see out of one eye, better when he wipes the blood away, but the other - something's bad there. he can't tell as it is and he doesn't want to feel around to find out.
on top of that, the light david was shining suddenly flashes wildly, going in random directions and then rolling to the ground after a hard thud that has a squelching edge to it. now he's a little blinded too, the shadows closing back in, his darksight picking up. and he can hear something, movement. footsteps. the thing groaning and heaving and whining in two or three voices at once. and david ...
he can't really see david, except as a slowly-clearing shadow against the ugly, twisted thing in front of him. he can hear noises that make his gut churn with disgust. ]
The fuck are you doing -
[ even as evan starts to realize it, seeing the weird shiny tentacles lashing midair and against david, the thing seems to grasp what's happening. the head, its face bent out of place by the hit with the flashlight, whips around so fast the bones crackle. it drops to the ground and swings its other arm, the one still trapped up, toward david. the arm itself might not be a major problem, but the traps, heavy and metal as they are, will be.
he tries to lunge forward and drive his cleaver into something sensitive even on that thing, but he's not sure it'll be enough. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the number of times i've done small instead of courier in text threads is astronomical
Just use the damn bed.
[ it's not like it'd be the first time, and nobody goes back there anyway. well. not right now, at least.
evan pulls himself away when he's fairly certain david's going to stay upright on the workbench and pulls his waders back up, buckling them back in place and reaching for his mask again. he doesn't pull it on right away but keeps a grip on it, just in case david's too exhausted to stay in place and slides straight onto the floor and he needs both hands again. ]
we're so good at html 🙏
You sure?
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[ there's a hint of annoyance there, because since when does he offer anything without meaning it? but he's not in the mood to get really pissed off. besides, the wariness is warranted. anybody else would be the same way.
he swipes david's clothes off the floor and drops them in his lap, not caring about any mess that might spread around. ]
Better than you passing out halfway back and drawing some scavenger over here.
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Just don't want you getting pissed 'cause I'm still here an hour from now.
[ partially joking, but it's also a fair assessment, he thinks. ]
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[ it's not said with any particular malice. it's just a fact. another fact of this place, of the life they live. in a hour he'll be too busy to care, essentially. and once he gets back he'll probably forget david's there at all, because he doesn't use the bed on his own time, and who knows if the entity won't grab david before he even wakes up?
the injuries come to mind again, and he looks them over. the angry red marks and welt at his shoulder that's a familiar injury to every survivor. they shouldn't linger like that. ]
Just don't fuck around and I doubt I'll remember you even went in.
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[ the moment passes and evan keeps talking, david reaches behind himself for the tattered rags that used to be a t-shirt and uses that to clean up with a soft snort. "don't fuck around," when does he anymore? ]
What am I gonna do in there anyway? Change the lightbulb?
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Ain't that room that's the problem. Be surprised if you could fix that light. Never worked before.
[ it was a joke, he knows, but god forbid he fail to take any idle comment seriously. ]
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[ he's even made a point of learning how to spot traps, figuring out how to get around them, closing less every time he's here just to avoid stoking that bit of evan's temper. it's a shame that doesn't seem to have carried over into trials, but what can you do really. ]
[ hesitantly, david slips off the workbench while he speaks. very suddenly about ten times more aware of various aches and pains, but at least he doesn't fall on his face even if his legs still feel a bit rubbery. he's stable enough at least to pull his underwear on and slowly start toward the bedroom. ]
I'm not gonna mess with your stuff, don't worry.
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he hears david moving around behind him and pulls the mask back on. ]
Good to know.
[ he believes him, which is as much a surprise to him as it might be to anyone else. so far, david's lived up to not being as much of a pain in the ass as he could be outside trials. that's enough, really. not everyone has that kind of awareness. ]
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[ he's a little baffled by the way evan just gets back to work, it felt like that was a lot for him too. stands and watches him for a moment, but it's probably just one of those killer "benefits." that and whatever the fuck is wrong with evan that he couldn't stop working like his entire existence depends on it. david shrugs it off and heads into the bedroom without a word, leaving the door open a crack to let some light stream in so he doesn't bash his leg against the stupid thing again as he clambers into the bed to sleep. ]
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evan listens as david heads into the room, and then his attention fixes back on his work. at least, it mostly does. it's been a while since things went sour, with him unintentionally pissing david off, and now that they're back on the rails he's gotten a pretty good grasp on what's different between what they have and what he has with other survivors. it's ... a little concerning.
but if he doesn't think about it, it won't be a problem. that's served him well his entire life. and when he feels the tug of a trial maybe half an hour after david falls asleep, he doesn't waste any time getting a weapon and leaving. ]
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[ when he wakes up a few hours later, he just lays there for a little while. partially because he is so much more sore than he was when he went to sleep, but also some of the weirdness of this has just sunk in. this is weird, there's no getting around that. even accounting for how fucked up it is to be hooking up with a killer, or whatever the fuck evan's deal is, this is a strange situation. ]
[ he rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands with a tired groan, staring at the ceiling afterward. listening for the sound of evan working outside to try and figure out what leaving's going to look like — or rather, how much he's going to have to pretend he's definitely not in any pain at all. ]
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he's been gone long enough that the fire in the forge-slash-furnace has faded down to a dull glow, leaving the workshop barely lit. the few lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling are off. the whole place is mostly shadows, hiding anything that might be a trap.
although he doesn't trap the workshop these days. he leaves what he needs to deal with trespassers on high shelves for when he catches them. it's outside, just past the door, where the traps start. what gets missed on the way in generally catches on the way out. except most people are getting good at avoiding them. it's almost pointless now.
david won't have any issues leaving, but once he's outside he'll hear the clear sounds of a struggle not all that far away. because it's the thing that is and isn't a person out there, the one nobody has a name for, caught in four traps and still trying to beat him to death or whatever it does, and evan really doesn't know how to deal with it. ]
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[ he's almost out of the mineshaft when he hears it. not the struggle, though that comes through just after. what he hears is the voice, the one that makes something in him sieze in a cold panic. after this long, there isn't much that still scares david (that he knows of,) but that thing does. makes him contemplate trying to wait it out until he realises what the rest of the noise out there is. ]
[ for some reason, he'd feel bad leaving evan to deal with this on his own. ]
[ he takes a deep breath, puts on his game face, and heads toward the noise. the sight is almost as absurd as it is upsetting, he doesn't want to look directly at it, ends up looking away to evan before he's fully processed the sight of it somehow caught in four traps at once. now he's here, he really has no idea how to deal with it either. ]
There's easier ways to get me to stick around, you know.
[ he's still got jokes though. ]
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david's voice catches him by surprise and it's only because the bigger threat is in front of him that he doesn't turn. he's pissed about it all, though. david's not supposed to be able to sneak up on him. ]
You wanna go in there and get killed to make it fuck off, go ahead.
[ it's a snarl. he has other traps he could lure it into, since it doesn't seem to understand how to avoid them, but that's only going to do so much. he has to be able to get in range to kill it, and between the axe and the pulsating whatever on its back, he doesn't have much confidence in doing that. ]
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[ it twists its head around to look at david where he is just behind and to the side of evan, in its awful, trilling, almost-human (almost dwight if he pays attention) voice it says "help... can you help?" as if he's not looking directly at it. he visibly shudders and looks toward evan again. ]
[ it hasn't got out its awful... throat proboscis at least. maybe it can't use it with the position it's stuck in. ]
-- hang on.
[ it's a longshot, david's never tried this outside a trial, but those journals said something about killers being averse to light, right? why would that be different just because they're not in a trial? who fucking knows, it's been years since they found them, but david swings his bag off his back anyway and starts rummaging for a flashlight. zero hesitation between finding one and immediately shining it at the thing's sockets, hoping for the best. meg's shined these things in his eyes when she's pissed enough times for him to know it fucking hurts and is disorienting even without a supernatural weakness. ]
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he's not afraid of it, but it's offensive, in a way. pretending to be a person so badly. even ghost face knows how to fake that better when he has the chance. then again, that might be the point. it's not supposed to fool anyone for very long - just long enough to get them in reach.
and then david's reaching in his bag and pulling out a flashlight, of all things. evan doesn't say anything, doesn't even look over at him incredulously, but inside he wants to bash david's head against the nearest tree, or maybe into a trap. it's a stupid move. idiotic. flashlights are a problem in some trials, but as max proved ages ago, light isn't always a threat, and outside trials the damn things are better projectiles than anything else -
but the thing recoils. not much, and not far, but it does back off, tripping over its trapped legs. something splits along its spine - or chest cavity, fuck if he knows anymore - but the tendrils he's expecting don't erupt. not yet, anyway. ]
That ain't gonna kill it.
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[ he's not stupid, he knows this is just a temporary inconvenience, but the unknown recoils, disoriented and pained. that's enough for david to feel comfortable with the idea forming in his head. ]
You're gonna kill it. I'm gonna keep it from knowing where you are.
[ it's a simple plan, how could it possibly go wrong? ]
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Yeah? You think that's how it works out here?
[ it's true that that thing doesn't like the light - that it's turning its head, trying to avoid it, while at the same time following david and not evan. but that's just where it's looking. he has no idea how it actually sees; there's no eyes in those sockets. ]
Turn it around. Ain't going at it from the front.
[ he's not sure how he's going to kill it at all. he's not sure if that's even possible. ]
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[ he snaps in a hushed voice, practically a snarl. part of david is loudly reminding him he could just leave. he doesn't owe evan anything, and even if he did, it's not enough to put himself in the firing line of one of the few killers who still scare the shit out of him. ]
[ keeping eyes on it, reminding himself what's real, that's how to avoid getting caught out. doesn't help that looking at it is so viscerally uncomfortable that he has to fight himself to do it. ]
[ he clicks the flashlight off, just for a second. it swings at him with its axe once it can see, but david's out of reach. what's more important is making sure it's following as he carefully circles. flashlight coming back on the second he hears its back creaking, for a moment shocking it back into that blindness and discomfort. ]
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it's focused on david (apparently). bones creak and skin snaps as it moves, legs twisted up even more awkwardly than usual thanks to the traps. it ran at him on all fours, which is the only reason it hit them in the first place and the only reason he's still alive. he'd never seen it do that before even if he'd heard about it. if that's what it does in trials, he's surprised david's here at all.
he waits in total silence and perfect stillness as david draws its attention away. it's not until he sees it start to try and close in that he steps forward, moving more silently than might be expected, cleaver coming up -
just in time for its back, or chest, or whatever's facing him, to snap open. the flashlight's still on but its eyes (or just one of them) must be facing him. he ducks in time to avoid getting hit full-on by the emerging tentacles, but one hits him in the face, tearing his mask off an an eyehole before he lands a blow on it and severs the damn thing in one go.
its whole body reels at that, curling backward like it's trying to protect itself. but the noise it makes is still almost human. the same noises it probably heard while it was killing people on its own, back in the world. he's not sure if it can even feel that but it sure can react, he thinks in a haze as pain rips through his head and blood blinds him. ]
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[ that's a flaw in the plan if it does, because then blinding it means it only has eyes (as it were) for evan. ]
[ david processes the noise it makes with a grimace before he realises he's watching the thing huddle away from evan, down a tentacle. a lot of thoughts race through his head about the nature of this thing at the sight, but none of that is helpful right now, shelves it for now to bring up later with sable and mikaela (and probably haddie) when he can figure out how. for now, david wishes he had a weapon, but the nearest one is in that thing's fucked up hand, and if it ran through four traps without dropping it, david isn't sure he can do anything to get it. ]
You okay?
[ if he sounds concerned, it's just because he knows evan going down here means he's next, that's all. ]
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Fine.
[ it's a stupid question, he thinks, because there's a lot of blood on his face and he can't see and his brain is half-consumed by a nebula of pain radiating from his eye. but he's not so overwhelmed that he can't take another few steps forward and slash at the arm holding the axe.
he gets in a good cut before the bone in that arm snaps itself twisting and whirls the axe down at him. he just barely avoids it. the cut didn't go to the bone but it must have severed something anyway, because the arm twists too far and the axe hits its own leg. ]
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[ if he even cast a glance evan's way, david might hesitate, but he has no idea evan's half blinded right now. he hears him say he's fine and trusts, (maybe stupidly considering the man would never admit weakness,) that he's fine. ]
[ either way, he doesn't give evan a chance to protest what he's about to do. david's a big believer in the power of teamwork, and has little issue putting himself in dangerous-to-lethal or worse situations to get shit done. to get other people out. evan's seen it, even if he's never been the recipient of it. ]
[ david takes a second just to watch the way it's moving, line up his shot before he launches the flashlight at its face hard enough an actual person would probably have to consider going to the hospital. it's not a person, but between that and evan almost severing its arm, it's at least stunned for a second. that's not the stupid part though. the stupid part comes seconds later, when david darts over the other side of it, jams his hands into its horrible back/chest mouth to grip a tentacle and pull it out. ]
[ in his head, the idea is he would hold it immobile so evan could hack it off like he did the other one — that's the only thing that's gotten a real response out of it after all — in practice? it's slippery and stronger than he expected and david still hasn't realised evan can't fucking see right now. ]
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on top of that, the light david was shining suddenly flashes wildly, going in random directions and then rolling to the ground after a hard thud that has a squelching edge to it. now he's a little blinded too, the shadows closing back in, his darksight picking up. and he can hear something, movement. footsteps. the thing groaning and heaving and whining in two or three voices at once. and david ...
he can't really see david, except as a slowly-clearing shadow against the ugly, twisted thing in front of him. he can hear noises that make his gut churn with disgust. ]
The fuck are you doing -
[ even as evan starts to realize it, seeing the weird shiny tentacles lashing midair and against david, the thing seems to grasp what's happening. the head, its face bent out of place by the hit with the flashlight, whips around so fast the bones crackle. it drops to the ground and swings its other arm, the one still trapped up, toward david. the arm itself might not be a major problem, but the traps, heavy and metal as they are, will be.
he tries to lunge forward and drive his cleaver into something sensitive even on that thing, but he's not sure it'll be enough. ]
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david: bullies your characters specifically
that's why mikaela bullies him with tarot
mikaela please the cards are so mean to him
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