[ the pressure irritates him, and he still doesn't get why david bothered at all, but he manages to keep still, one remaining eye fixed on david. partly to make sure he's not about to do something stupid and partly to see if he can find an answer to his question of why. he doubts david's about to say anything even remotely satisfactory.
the comment about not healing up makes him raise an eyebrow. he knows david turns up ripped to pieces on the regular, but expecting it by now is either serious pessimism or something else. ]
Maybe if you weren't always doing stupid shit, it'd cut you a break.
[ there's a pattern to it sometimes; coming out and staying fucked up usually means he's going back in hurt. it's what he expects at least, otherwise he's sure he would've recovered fully by now. ]
[ regardless, he raises an eyebrow at evan. has he ever known the entity to work like that? ]
Yeah, 'cause it's so fair and judicious in how it operates.
[ david rolls his eyes at that. 'cause they fucked him over, sure. like killers don't have ways to take away the chests or get rid of their shit. screw the cannibalism, the worst thing bubba ever did was bring franklin's to the fog. ]
Good thing I'm not after any favours from that fucking thing then.
[ there's a heavy dose of contempt in his voice, moreso even than when he talks about the likes of ghost face. but who could be surprised? he was about to take a real, serious step forward in his life and then he got ripped out of it and broughr here to suffer and bleed and die until he's got nothing left, dealing with bullshit even the best acid on the market could never have helped him imagine. ]
[ he's angry. he's so fucking angry. can't even fight back, what the fuck. ]
[ familiar with soul-burning rage as he is, evan can feel the change in the air around david. the way he tenses, the look on his face, the poison in his voice. something barely-restrained and about to explode. it reminds him of when they killed ghost face - when david did it, with evan there as backup. much as he hates to admit not being the one to break that freak's neck, it was on david, then and there.
the same rage. because he's stuck here, the same as the rest of them. evan knows there wasn't much future for him, whether the entity was responsible for that or not notwithstanding. but maybe that wasn't the case for david. ]
Probably for the best.
[ or maybe he's just sick of dying. wouldn't be the first time someone's gone over the edge because of that. ]
[ david swallows, pushes the anger back down so it doesn't have a chance to boil over. it's not gone, it's never gone, but it's somewhere manageable for now. up on a shelf where he can look away and pretend he's not as pissed off and miserable as he fucking is. ]
No point anyway, shit's gonna end up the same whether or not I start every other trial in a state or not.
[ but he tries not to think about that too much. tries not to think about the bone deep existential despair that comes when he remembers the void, when those fucking ghosts slip out and what that does to him. ]
[ a little funny though, to be the guy who seeks out creature comforts between trials when certain people would tell him there's no point to that either. ]
[ from evan's perspective, surviving trials helps with what he's always seen as a constant degradation of the everything. then again, he's never been on their side of things. survival might not always be ideal. ]
Guess I shouldn't argue. Makes my life easier.
[ is that honesty or some subtle attempt to get david angry enough to forcibly survive? as if he isn't already doing that every time, but, well. evan's not exactly a manipulator.
he pushes away from the table, not putting the mask back on just yet. even if it would hold the bandage on better, he needs peripheral vision if he's down a whole ass eye. ]
[ when evan pushes away from the table, david takes up a spot by where he was, watching evan for hints of any other injuries. as if there's anything he could do about it. he knows evan's mouth is some kind of hurt — spitting out a tooth kinda gives something away there — but there's not reallymuch anyone could do about that one. ]
[ he reaches up without thinking while his eyes are on evan's jaw, when he tracks the line of it to that spot under his ear where one of the marks he left is faded and gone. gently traces his fingertips over that spot with a small frown. ]
[ and then evan speaks and davis snorts in response. ]
Guess you need all the help you can get, ey?
[ what other response could evan have possibly expected? ]
[ the touch almost makes him jerk away, seeing the hand come up near his jaw, but he manages to stay still. david ends up reaching for somewhere else, anyway. the touch doesn't hurt. he remembers, after a few seconds, that david left a mark there. one that isn't there now, because trials don't (usually) keep injuries, even ones that aren't a problem.
not unless the entity wants it.
the return makes him scowl and move away, back to another workbench where he was busy before getting dragged off to kill and then having to deal with that thing. he really should have expected that. ]
Not gonna go out of my way to help any of you fuck me over, am I?
[ there's less irritation there than he probably feels - slightly more ... not good humored, but closer to it than he normally gets. ]
[ david struggles to find a way to lean against the workbench that doesn't hurt. ends up pulling himself up to sit with a grunt of pain at the weight he's putting on his injured shoulder. he should leave, some part of him knows this, but he doesn't feel any particular drive to go just yet. ]
You always make it sound so personal.
[ to be fair, he supposes, evan is among the killers many of them have known the longest. some people might go out of their way to fuck him over just because it's him, but mostly they're just trying not to die. it doesn't matter who it is throwing them up on hooks. ]
[ maybe evan's ego would never let him consider it that way though. ]
[ is it ever not? the whole point in a trial is for them to survive, which fucks him over. or whoever's killing. sometimes they fuck each other over, it's true, but that's usually on accident, or earned. the whole point is to make him suffer. make him be the one it draws its meal from.
it's always personal. not always in the other direction, he thinks, because he just holds a general grudge against most of the survivors, with a few bright shitheads standing out. but they want to live, which means he has to suffer.
he fails to realize how it probably looks to them. hypocrisy being his second nature and all. ]
Try and tell me you don't like seein' me standing there while you run like hell out the gates.
[ well. david pauses for a second, give that an extra second of thought. ]
Most of the time.
[ sometimes he's in a real 'fuck trapper specifically' mood about it, david won't lie. depends on a lot of things though, there's a lot of moving parts to how frustrating a trial is. if they come to in a realm where trapper already has the upper hand, or he manages to lock down a good area quick, david's about ten times more likely to go out of his way to make his trial extra miserable. ]
[ it's not even the worst he could be. david's been known to follow ghost face around so he can't use his shroud, or just spend a whole trial deactivating singularity's biopods. ]
Could say the same to you anyway. I know you have to enjoy dragging one of us away from the gates, or getting to kill us right by the fuckin' hatch.
[ a slightly snarled repetition, because he knows even if he isn't always the target, when they go for him, it's personal. or at least he takes it personally. that's the ego, really.
david's comments make him think for a second, because it's true. of course he likes that. there's a feral joy that comes searing out of the darkness when one of them, obnoxious and mocking, makes one mistake and ends up dying a foot from freedom. especially if it's because there was a trap they didn't see. and when it fucks over everyone else - when those little tricks he's picked up from other people turn out to actually have some use - it's even better.
at least, in the moment it happens. ]
Sure. It ain't personal, though. Don't matter which one of you I get.
[ the way david raises his eyebrows at that says loud and clear that he doesn't buy it, he's been on the receiving end of evan's wrath enough to feel comfortable saying it's personal at least some of the time. but he's trying to make a point here, they'll never get to it if he lets himself get caught up arguing with evan about being a fucking liar. ]
Exactly. Doesn't matter which one of you we're leaving at the gate, it's satisfying no matter who it is.
[ he turns, slightly, making sure he can see david and david can see the slight scowl on his face. he's lost the trail of the conversation, but if there was any point at which david thought he didn't enjoy what he did, then there was a disconnect somewhere way before this.
at least, he enjoys most of it. every so often things go wrong. but that's rare, even now. ]
Sure. Has to be or else I wouldn't be here.
[ he's had to make enough of his own sacrifices here that he's not going to argue about that anymore. ]
[ so they agree? he thinks. david's not completely sure what point he was trying to make anymore, but the scowl evan sends his way is satisfying regardless. ]
I'm just saying. You act like it's personal when most of the time it could be any killer standing in your place and we'd act the same.
[ yes, his ego does tell him they're targeting him - after all, if there's four of them and only one of him, who's got more of a focus?
but it's not an argument he's going to go much further with. it'll just piss them both off, and with his eye and jaw in their condition, he's not ready for a full-fledged fight. david might not be at his best but he's already proven he can take evan down with his bare hands.
and he's not ready for that. again. ]
If you can talk that much shit, you can find your way back to the fire in one piece.
Might throw your ass slightly closer back than normal.
[ he's dumped bodies - dead and just unconscious - just close to whatever counts for a border around here before. makes his life easier because they don't wake up and start harassing him straight away, or draw the demogorgon to try and eat, and makes their life easier if they're alive by giving them a quicker out.
[ david snorts as he grabs his bag and swings it onto his shoulder, wincing when it hits his back. claudette's probably gonna be mad when he gets back and she sees he managed to wreck two whole shirts. ]
Real kind of you.
[ god he hopes that thing isn't slinking around in the dark out there. or some other killer ready to get the drop on somebody already hurt, but david feels like he can deal with that a lot easier. either way he lifts a hand in a tired goodbye and heads out the door. ]
[ kinder than he could be, evan thinks, giving david a very slight nod as he heads back into the darkness and then out into the forest. no traps go off, at least. and there's no immediate snarling or screaming or sounds of fighting. nobody - no thing - waiting outside for revenge.
once he's sure david's gone, he reaches up and feels around in his mouth for another tooth that was coming more and more loose the more he talked. it's bloody and hurts his jaw to get rid of, but like hell he's going to put up with it. knowing his luck, he'll be stuck with the pain of all this shit for hours yet before his next trial.
maybe he should have let that thing kill him. maybe he should have let david kill him. would have solved the problem, at least. but neither of them needs the ego boost, or at least david doesn't.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
the comment about not healing up makes him raise an eyebrow. he knows david turns up ripped to pieces on the regular, but expecting it by now is either serious pessimism or something else. ]
Maybe if you weren't always doing stupid shit, it'd cut you a break.
[ as if, really. ]
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[ regardless, he raises an eyebrow at evan. has he ever known the entity to work like that? ]
Yeah, 'cause it's so fair and judicious in how it operates.
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Dunno. Seen some of you run out with nicer tools than you went in with 'cause you fucked me over.
[ or at least, that's his pessimistic assumption. souls and suffering are the name of the game, but that doesn't always mean it has to be theirs. ]
Dunno if this is gonna do you any favors.
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Good thing I'm not after any favours from that fucking thing then.
[ there's a heavy dose of contempt in his voice, moreso even than when he talks about the likes of ghost face. but who could be surprised? he was about to take a real, serious step forward in his life and then he got ripped out of it and broughr here to suffer and bleed and die until he's got nothing left, dealing with bullshit even the best acid on the market could never have helped him imagine. ]
[ he's angry. he's so fucking angry. can't even fight back, what the fuck. ]
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the same rage. because he's stuck here, the same as the rest of them. evan knows there wasn't much future for him, whether the entity was responsible for that or not notwithstanding. but maybe that wasn't the case for david. ]
Probably for the best.
[ or maybe he's just sick of dying. wouldn't be the first time someone's gone over the edge because of that. ]
no subject
No point anyway, shit's gonna end up the same whether or not I start every other trial in a state or not.
[ but he tries not to think about that too much. tries not to think about the bone deep existential despair that comes when he remembers the void, when those fucking ghosts slip out and what that does to him. ]
[ a little funny though, to be the guy who seeks out creature comforts between trials when certain people would tell him there's no point to that either. ]
no subject
[ from evan's perspective, surviving trials helps with what he's always seen as a constant degradation of the everything. then again, he's never been on their side of things. survival might not always be ideal. ]
Guess I shouldn't argue. Makes my life easier.
[ is that honesty or some subtle attempt to get david angry enough to forcibly survive? as if he isn't already doing that every time, but, well. evan's not exactly a manipulator.
he pushes away from the table, not putting the mask back on just yet. even if it would hold the bandage on better, he needs peripheral vision if he's down a whole ass eye. ]
no subject
he knows evan's mouth is some kind of hurt — spitting out a tooth kinda gives something away there — but there's not reallymuch anyone could do about that one. ]
[ he reaches up without thinking while his eyes are on evan's jaw, when he tracks the line of it to that spot under his ear where one of the marks he left is faded and gone. gently traces his fingertips over that spot with a small frown. ]
[ and then evan speaks and davis snorts in response. ]
Guess you need all the help you can get, ey?
[ what other response could evan have possibly expected? ]
no subject
not unless the entity wants it.
the return makes him scowl and move away, back to another workbench where he was busy before getting dragged off to kill and then having to deal with that thing. he really should have expected that. ]
Not gonna go out of my way to help any of you fuck me over, am I?
[ there's less irritation there than he probably feels - slightly more ... not good humored, but closer to it than he normally gets. ]
no subject
You always make it sound so personal.
[ to be fair, he supposes, evan is among the killers many of them have known the longest. some people might go out of their way to fuck him over just because it's him, but mostly they're just trying not to die. it doesn't matter who it is throwing them up on hooks. ]
[ maybe evan's ego would never let him consider it that way though. ]
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[ is it ever not? the whole point in a trial is for them to survive, which fucks him over. or whoever's killing. sometimes they fuck each other over, it's true, but that's usually on accident, or earned. the whole point is to make him suffer. make him be the one it draws its meal from.
it's always personal. not always in the other direction, he thinks, because he just holds a general grudge against most of the survivors, with a few bright shitheads standing out. but they want to live, which means he has to suffer.
he fails to realize how it probably looks to them. hypocrisy being his second nature and all. ]
Try and tell me you don't like seein' me standing there while you run like hell out the gates.
david: bullies your characters specifically
[ well. david pauses for a second, give that an extra second of thought. ]
Most of the time.
[ sometimes he's in a real 'fuck trapper specifically' mood about it, david won't lie. depends on a lot of things though, there's a lot of moving parts to how frustrating a trial is. if they come to in a realm where trapper already has the upper hand, or he manages to lock down a good area quick, david's about ten times more likely to go out of his way to make his trial extra miserable. ]
[ it's not even the worst he could be. david's been known to follow ghost face around so he can't use his shroud, or just spend a whole trial deactivating singularity's biopods. ]
Could say the same to you anyway. I know you have to enjoy dragging one of us away from the gates, or getting to kill us right by the fuckin' hatch.
that's why mikaela bullies him with tarot
[ a slightly snarled repetition, because he knows even if he isn't always the target, when they go for him, it's personal. or at least he takes it personally. that's the ego, really.
david's comments make him think for a second, because it's true. of course he likes that. there's a feral joy that comes searing out of the darkness when one of them, obnoxious and mocking, makes one mistake and ends up dying a foot from freedom. especially if it's because there was a trap they didn't see. and when it fucks over everyone else - when those little tricks he's picked up from other people turn out to actually have some use - it's even better.
at least, in the moment it happens. ]
Sure. It ain't personal, though. Don't matter which one of you I get.
[ usually. ]
mikaela please the cards are so mean to him
Exactly. Doesn't matter which one of you we're leaving at the gate, it's satisfying no matter who it is.
no subject
at least, he enjoys most of it. every so often things go wrong. but that's rare, even now. ]
Sure. Has to be or else I wouldn't be here.
[ he's had to make enough of his own sacrifices here that he's not going to argue about that anymore. ]
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I'm just saying. You act like it's personal when most of the time it could be any killer standing in your place and we'd act the same.
no subject
[ yes, his ego does tell him they're targeting him - after all, if there's four of them and only one of him, who's got more of a focus?
but it's not an argument he's going to go much further with. it'll just piss them both off, and with his eye and jaw in their condition, he's not ready for a full-fledged fight. david might not be at his best but he's already proven he can take evan down with his bare hands.
and he's not ready for that. again. ]
If you can talk that much shit, you can find your way back to the fire in one piece.
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[ he's teasing, obviously. sliding off the bench to his feet with a grunt at the way the pain winds up his side and back when he lands. ]</small
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[ he's dumped bodies - dead and just unconscious - just close to whatever counts for a border around here before. makes his life easier because they don't wake up and start harassing him straight away, or draw the demogorgon to try and eat, and makes their life easier if they're alive by giving them a quicker out.
usually. ]
Or just drag you.
no subject
Real kind of you.
[ god he hopes that thing isn't slinking around in the dark out there. or some other killer ready to get the drop on somebody already hurt, but david feels like he can deal with that a lot easier. either way he lifts a hand in a tired goodbye and heads out the door. ]
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once he's sure david's gone, he reaches up and feels around in his mouth for another tooth that was coming more and more loose the more he talked. it's bloody and hurts his jaw to get rid of, but like hell he's going to put up with it. knowing his luck, he'll be stuck with the pain of all this shit for hours yet before his next trial.
maybe he should have let that thing kill him. maybe he should have let david kill him. would have solved the problem, at least. but neither of them needs the ego boost, or at least david doesn't.
if he's get one from killing him at this point. ]