Fandom you need to comprehend who's in control. || weiirdw0lf & moggiemoof

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody let out a huff of laughter at her comment about them 'all being pissed off together.' Yeah, that'd work, sure. Kind of already seemed like it was the case, and again he couldn't blame her either.

When she asked about what he might do if he had the chance, he had to stop and think. He'd never considered it before, not really. Didn't have time to. Once more he agreed with Winnie though. Not that he was close with Danny back then, but he wished he would've gotten closer to her instead as well.

"I think... maybe I'd do the same. Get closer to you too." He admitted. And wish that I could've somehow figured out he was the killer before any of this could've happened.

He frowned as he saw her look away again, clearly upset. He wished he could do more. Back then, here... either way. Do something about any of this like he'd been wanting to since the murders began back in Roseville. He still didn't know why he even started looking into it all. It wasn't his topic to write about, and he had no knowledge on those sorts of things. Sure, he'd found out some stuff along the way, but he sure wasn't a professional by any means.

Sort of spacing out for a moment there, he saw movement from the corner of his eye. Or, thought he did at least? Blinking, he looked up, glancing between Winnie and then further out. Huh.

It takes him a bit to notice what she probably saw too. At least, that's what he's assuming she saw -- he doesn't see any other creepy masked faces poking out from between the trees. Ugh. Annoying bastard had to come all the way out here too?

"...Is he really that mad about the trial he had to come all the way here," Cody mumbles, half under his breath as if he didn't want her (or maybe any of the others nearby) to hear. He's not totally sure if she saw or not either, so he doesn't want to scare her himself.

---

Yes, in fact, Danny did have to come all the way out here. Or stay here, rather. He still hadn't exactly intended to wander to the survivor's camp, but here he was. Oh well.

Winnie's eyes stayed fixed on him, he noticed, and then not long after Cody seemed to spot him as well. Observant, they were. At least now, outside of the trial when they didn't have anything else to worry about. He almost laughed when he recalled pulling Cody away from the generator earlier, but then all that did was remind him of how badly he'd ended up losing too. He dug his nails into his palms, though the gloves he still wore dulled any pain that might've been caused by the action.

He probably could come out there, if he wanted. It's not like there was some barrier preventing him... at least, not that he was aware of? He hadn't ever wanted or needed to, the most he'd done was just... this. Silently observe the survivors like he would in trials, just in a different setting. He was tempted to try, just to see, but he refrained for now.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what he was doing either besides just that. He tilted his head like he often did, that little mocking action, as if to signal to Winnie that he did realize she'd seen him. He wondered if these two were the only ones to notice or if any of the others would. Hopefully not. He didn't need a whole crowd right now. He doubted either of them would go running off to tell either... probably.

He didn't move from that spot yet, just stayed still and silent as ever. Would they speak up and alert the others that he was there, or stay quiet themselves and try their hardest to ignore it?

He had a feeling he knew which one would do which.

Or maybe they'd surprise him again. Already had done that during the trial...

 

[MoggieMoof]

Despite Cody's mumbling, she had in fact heard what he said. Although she hadn't said anything about it herself, he saw him too. “What the hell is his problem?”

A rhetorical question, because she knew what his problem was. She didn't think it was that big of a deal, though, not enough to warrant what he was currently doing, at least.

Winnie furrowed her brows at the masked figure, watching as he slowly tilted his head. She mimicked the action, just like she had done before in the trial. It wasn't necessarily done as a mockery, more of a monkey see monkey do type of action–she had always been that way.

Her fingers twitched against her own sides, and without giving it so much as another thought, she stood upright.

“I'll be back.” Winnie stated briefly, glancing to the other two that were still seated at the campfire from their latest trial. Her eyes shifted to Cody again, simply offering him an eyebrow raise. If he wanted to, he could tag along, but she wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to, either. It's not like she had much of a plan for this little excursion of hers, after all, she was running on pure impulse here.

What was she doing, exactly? Even she wasn't entirely sure–she just knew that she wanted to investigate. Was investigate the proper word? She wasn't sure about that, either.

With a sharp inhale, Winnie tucked her hands into the pockets of her pants and she wandered off. She had done it in an attempt to play off the fact that she definitely had a destination in mind, hoping that if anyone else glanced in her direction, they'd just think that she was exploring, as most newbies probably did. Her seemingly aimless wandering eventually landed her just in front of the treeline.

Now that she was closer, she could see him clear as day, and she could feel her heartbeat pick up–but it wasn't as loud as it had been during the trial. Now that she was actually here, she found herself to be a little uncertain. What was she supposed to say? Additionally, what if someone saw? If you saw somebody standing along the treeline, staring out into the forest, you'd think they were talking to somebody, right? Probably.

So, to limit suspicions and possible fright from her peers, she shifted and leaned her back against the tree that was closest to her, before she slowly slid down to sit on the grass.

Winnie wondered if he'd take the chance and just… Hurt her here. She wouldn't be surprised, but she also presumed that he wouldn't–safe space and all.

“What're you doing here? Grieving your losses?” Her voice was quiet, but each word was laced with an underlying, guttural frustration that she couldn't hide. Was she egging him on by asking that? Not necessarily. She wasn't trying to piss him off, she didn't want him to do anything rash. Even so, he was the one who came here, to their space–heaven forbid the girl dig into the guy that was invading their space first… Not that she expected much of a helpful response anyway.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody watched as she stood up and started walking away from the fire, and he looked around as if expecting someone to stop her -- but of course, no one did. All worried about their own problems or they just didn't care. He wasn't sure if he should follow, especially considering everything earlier, so he stayed where he was for the time being. (Danny wouldn't dare try to hurt them here in front of the other survivors, would he?)

He couldn't hear or see what the two of them were saying or doing, not really, but he kept an eye on them regardless in case something went bad.

Danny just stared at Winnie for a long moment, scoffing at her questions. He supposed that was reasonable though to ask after... all of that. But still. Way to rub it in.

"What, a guy isn't allowed to come see what's going on over here?" He gestured vaguely towards the fire. As if this was his space too. "I wish I would've when you two had showed up. Maybe that trial wouldn't have been... well." 'A shit show' is what he wanted to say, but he left it at that. Good for them, bad for him. Mostly.

It was funny how he was talking as if this was just some normal conversation. Like he wasn't invading their space, being a creep and spying on them -- then again, being a creep is what he did best, he'd say. Maybe it was in part because that's what he was used to with her, or maybe it was to mock her more. He did this too sometimes with the others, as he had during the trial, but this felt different somehow in a way he couldn't quite place.

"What are you doing?" He echoed her question. "Or do you want to cause a scene if the others notice? Actually, no, I don't think they will. I'm surprised you two even did."

That wasn't necessarily a jab at her and Cody, as he was surprised. It'd only been a couple times anyone spotted him when he was out here like this.

"I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you're worried about..." He dragged out the word 'hurt' as if it was an outlandish idea that he'd try to. "We can save that for the trials. I'm just... curious. That's all."

Yeah. That was one way to put it.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Initially some silence had hung in the air, and she could feel his stare practically burning into her skin from behind that mask of his. She didn’t look up at him, though, from where she sat. Instead, she pulled one of her knees to her chest, leaving her other leg to stretch out in front of her.

She was surprised that he had even bothered to entertain her with conversation. A part of her thought that he’d disappear off into the forest upon her arrival, and if not, she thought that he’d do… Something. Something other than uphold a somewhat regular conversation.

Her eyes flicked upwards to look at him when he started speaking, watching as he gestured to the fire. Winnie resisted the urge to say, well, I thought the trial went great. Probably wouldn’t end too well if she did say something like that. “I know I just got here, but I’m pretty sure you’re on the blacklist for this place.”

When she had walked over here, she had expected to be a whole lot more mad. Yell at him, maybe–but that would definitely cause a scene, and upon her arrival she had realized that she didn’t actually want to attract anybody’s attention. The less everybody here knew about what had happened between the three of them in Roseville, the better. At least that’s how she looked at it.

Winnie furrowed her brows at him, casting a glare his way when he had expressed his surprise. Wow, okay. She fixed him with a displeased stare before she shook her head, returning her gaze to look towards the campfire–to Cody, specifically, instead.

“Shocker.” She muttered at the idea of him not hurting her. Then again, though, she wouldn’t have walked over here and sat down if she didn’t remotely believe that.

For a moment, she debated on not answering his questions, because she didn’t owe him shit, and she definitely didn’t owe him any explanations to satiate his curiosity either–and yet, she found herself answering him anyway. “I’m not here to cause a scene, I–... I don’t know.”

Winnie gave a shrug, thrumming her fingers against one of her thighs for a moment as she tried to collect her thoughts. Why did she come over here in the first place?

“I think I came over here to tell you that you’re a miscreant prick, and…” She clenched one of her fists, and knocked her knuckles against her own kneecap. I hate you so much. I wish I had never said a single word to you. I wish you’d have just killed me, so at least I could have been given the grace of not being here with you. “I came here to yell at you–you know, ream you out. I saw you and I thought, he’s got some fucking nerve. So, I thought I’d come over here and… Tell you off.”

Relaxing her hand, she pressed her palm flat against her thigh before she looked up to him again. “So, have I scared you off successfully yet?”

A rhetorical question, of course–maybe even a joke.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Am I? If they don't know, who's to say?" Logically Danny knows even if none of the other survivors are aware of his presence, that doesn't mean they want him or any of the other killers over here. He's basically just being annoying. Like always, really.

He expected to react worse too, if he was being honest. Figured he was just... holding himself back because if he did actually hurt one of the survivors someone would inevitably be upset by that. Winnie herself, surely. The rest of them. He once more had to wonder if the Entity herself would actually care, or if the whole supposed rule didn't matter if it was broken or not and she wouldn't do anything. Why would she care? He had to assume that they would come back just like they did in trials if one of them died.

He didn't plan to find that out tonight though.

(Besides, he sort of was still mostly angry at Cody and not her. Her too, but less so, as he'd already come to realize.)

"...That makes two of us," he admitted at her saying she didn't know why she was here, voice slightly lower. He wasn't sure why he was being honest about that. He could've made up some lie or not said a word. Instead he spoke the truth.

This probably looked incredibly strange, if anyone were to actually see what was happening. Or hear, rather. Them just... having a conversation like nothing was wrong. As normal as it probably could be in this place.

He let her ramble, go on insulting him. He didn't take offense to it. It's what he expected, if anything. He'd guessed she'd come over to do something like that.

"Oh, I'm terrified," he answered, the sarcasm blatant. Joking back, perhaps. Why was he doing this? The joking around was one thing; something he even did in trials with the other survivors. Not to be nice, of course, but another way to mess with them. But here he was, standing next to Winnie of all people, acting so... casual, almost. It made him uncomfortable, and yet he was the one going on with it. He didn't stop her, ignore her, walk away like he should've before she realized he was there.

Looking away as if keeping his eyes on her any longer would hurt them, he saw Cody shifting around, stand as if he wanted to come their way too but never actually approach. His fingers twitched as if wanting to grab his knife, pure instinct, but he refrained. Not now. Not yet. Even if he felt maybe spilling blood would make that uncomfortable feeling dissipate, the itch under his skin, the thoughts urging him to just for the hell of it. Like causing a scene here would be better than aimlessly talking. Like it'd maybe make him feel better if only for a moment.

That's what he knew, what he was used to. Not whatever this was.

 

[MoggieMoof]

“Yup, you are,” Winnie affirmed with a nod, that metaphorical blacklist most definitely had his name on it. Written three times over, even; Ghostface, Danny Johnson, and Jed Olsen. “I made sure of it.”

She was surprised to hear his admission, but then again–who’s to say he wasn’t lying, right? As far as she was concerned, not a single word that came out of his mouth could be taken as a truth. Now, you might be asking, what was the point of all of this then? She didn’t know the answer to that herself.

The fact that he hadn’t interrupted her at all during her fairly hate filled dialogue was a surprise–not even a rude statement in response. A part of her wished that he’d say something downright awful to her–maybe that’s why she had said all of that to his face–that would make matters a bit easier.

Against her best judgement, Winnie laughed. A quiet, sad kind of laugh, but it was definitely a laugh nonetheless. Ironically, their rather odd conversation felt natural, in a way. Probably because it had been at one point, on her end, at least. She wasn’t sure how natural their conversations had felt for him, all things considered.

Still, she continued to indulge him–or maybe indulge herself, who’s to say.

“Good, you should be. Scram.” She lifted her hand, opening it as she had said that last word, scram. Her voice lacked any sincerity, unfortunately, she found herself mimicking his sarcasm instead.

Winnie watched as he shifted his attention to the campfire, her eyes lingering on him for a few moments longer before she followed his gaze. Cody was standing up now, and a hot rush of discomfort washed over her at the idea of him coming over here. You’d think that she’d be relieved at the idea of it, but it made her more anxious than anything else.

“Would you cause a scene if he came over here, Danny?” The question slipped without another thought. She’d imagine that he would, but she also didn’t understand why he wouldn’t have caused a scene the moment that she approached him. It would have been easy–easier now, even, with her sitting on the ground with her guard down as it was.

He could have quite literally hauled her into the forest, simple as that. He had been stronger than her before, and he was definitely stronger than her now, provided that he could easily carry every survivor here on his shoulder, and that roster most definitely included herself… And if that’s not the way he wanted to go, he could have just attacked her pointblank.

Winnie’s gaze shifted to him again. She wanted to try and pry into him–she could understand why Cody pissed him off as much as he did, the one that got away, but should she not be held to that same exact standard as him?

 

[weiirdw0lf]

He looks over at Cody again, staying silent for a long moment. Would he? That's a good question. Danny's still not sure himself. He wants to, but...

"Maybe, maybe not," he tells Winnie instead. Not an actual answer, because why would it be? Then again, why wouldn't he -- why didn't he -- do the same to her?

If she'd asked him aloud about their conversations, whether or not now he was acting? He probably still wouldn't know what to say. It had felt natural back then, which wasn't entirely strange -- he was used to that kind of thing. What he wasn't used to was that continuing on for so long, spiraling into what it did. Could he even call that a relationship?

Whatever it had been, it definitely wasn't anymore here. Despite this, it still felt oddly comfortable (mostly) having this conversation even with the topics they were talking about.

Cody seemed intent on coming over now, taking a few steps forward. Danny turned towards him, but didn't say anything this time. Just watched as the other survivor approached them both, looking over his shoulder like he expected someone to stop him. No one did, of course. He paused a couple feet away from where Winnie was sat against the tree. Danny himself was slightly further back, but close enough that they could all hear each other if they were to speak.

"Got brave, did we? What, scared I'm going to kidnap her or something?" He laughed, not that it was really funny. Not like there'd be many places to take her. Back to his own little cabin, maybe, but he'd rather not have any of the survivors seeing his... collection, if you will. (AKA, photos he took during the end of trials because the Entity let him have a camera here too.)

"Relax, neither of you are going anywhere," he said then, but didn't sound so sure of it himself. Maybe they weren't going anywhere, as in he wasn't dragging them off into the woods, but he was still hesitant to say he wasn't going to hurt them. Hurt Cody, more like. Yes, he was still on that, because of course he was.

Cody was hesitant too, looking like he wanted to run back to the fire, but stood his ground regardless. Didn't want to look like a coward in front of Winnie, or in front of Danny for that matter. Not that it really mattered -- he was sure she wouldn't blame him, but still.

"If you do hurt her out here, I swear to god I will find a way to kill you myself." Cody mutters then, with less conviction than he probably meant it to have. Also, oops. Kind of let it slip he'd been thinking about that. Still wondering if there was some way for that to happen. Whatever. Probably wouldn't anyways.

He still was hoping it would though.

 

[MoggieMoof]

This guy was so vague, Winnie wouldn’t be surprised if he began speaking in riddles one day. She couldn’t say that she had expected a real answer from him, though. Either way, she’d have to just hope for the best.

With Cody deciding to come closer, Winnie’s anxiety spiked. Could you blame her? The chances of the three of them having a conversation together was slim–mostly because of them, as she was very much capable of holding up civil conversation with the both of them, apparently. Them, though? The thought of it concerned her.

Of course, Danny began to incite Cody immediately upon his arrival. She shot him a look, brow quirked–if he had any plans to kidnap her, he probably would have done so already. She could only assume as such, anyway. Not that she was very well versed in the art of abduction, but it would probably be easier to do with Cody not standing a few feet away from them, right?

“Woah,” Winnie found herself whispering at Cody’s declaration. Her eyes had gone round, her attention immediately snapping up to him instead of Danny. It didn’t surprise her that he had been thinking such thoughts, but it shocked her that he’d say it to his face like this.

Despite the lack of confidence in his statement, she found herself smiling. It was an oddly endearing thing, that he had mustered up the courage to walk over here and state such a thing to Danny’s face. Suppose this was proof that trauma bonds would have you saying things like that, though–she could never fathom hearing such a thing come from Cody’s mouth up until today, after all.

“Hey, I’m okay. He hasn’t done anything, promise.” Winnie began, attempting to defuse the situation before it got worse. She wouldn’t put it past Danny to do something rash, even though he seemed almost normal right now, partaking in simple conversation with her moments ago as if he hadn’t stabbed her twice just a little while ago.

She quickly stood from where she had been sitting in order to step closer to Cody now. As she got closer to him, she lifted a hand to brush her palm along his upper arm, an attempt at soothing his concerns and his rather prominently bubbling rage for Danny. It wouldn’t be good to start a fight here–to start a fight anywhere here, to be honest–especially not with one of the killers that definitely had some sort of advanced strength gifted to them. “He would have done something by now if he was planning on hurting anyone–he had the opportunity to do so already. It’s okay.”

I think, at least.

Winnie’s eyes darted towards Danny for a moment, casting him a look that could have nearly looked like pleading for a moment, before she looked to Cody instead.

Surely they wouldn’t. Surely Danny wouldn’t, right? There were probably rules set in place that sort of protected the survivors from being injured outside of trials–she hoped so, at least. She wouldn’t really know what she’d do if they decided to have a scuffle right here, right now–throw rocks at them, maybe? Call David? That guy had some crazy muscles, so maybe he’d be able to do something.

Please don’t do anything stupid, she resisted the urge to say aloud.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody really wasn't sure where he got the audacity to say something like that himself, if he was being honest. It just kind of... came out. Did he regret it though? Not really. (At least, not yet. Danny wasn't immediately going to stab him or something for saying it it seemed, so. This was going significantly better than he would've imagined.)

Speaking of Danny, he was silent now, and Cody hated the way he couldn't read anything about the other man with that stupid mask on. He kind of wanted to rip it off, but he wasn't that bold. Huffing in annoyance, he looked back at Winnie as she told him it was ok. He wasn't sure if he believed it, knowing the fact they had a literal killer standing two feet away from them.

Cody didn't have time to react when he was suddenly yanked closer by the front of his shirt. He let out a startled little noise, eyes darting up to meet the blank sockets of Danny's mask. The hell was he doing?

"Didn't like that, did you," he asked under his breath, but it sounded more like a statement than a question. Danny stared back at him, and Cody resisted the urge he had earlier to either rip the stupid mask off or smack Danny across the face. Both, preferably, but again he wasn't going to pull something that risky no matter how much he wanted to right now.

"No, I didn't," came Danny's voice, lower as well. And that was one thing you didn't need to see his face for, to hear the contempt in the killer's words when he spoke to Cody.

"So what, you're just gonna hold me here like this? Wow, I'm so scared," he deadpanned, knowing he was probably just provoking Danny more but he couldn't help it now that he'd started. He wasn't one to fight, physically or otherwise. Not if he could help it, at least. But something about the situation was making him want to. Maybe because he couldn't before. Maybe because even with the risk of Danny attacking him, he knew there were others here, he knew that he couldn't truly get hurt. Well, he could, but he at least couldn't die like he maybe did back then? (He still wasn't sure what actually would've happened if he hadn't been taken here. Would he have died? He wasn't sure how severe his wounds were. Hadn't exactly gotten a chance to find out...)

Or maybe he was just feeling cocky from the earlier win. Who knows at this point. Probably all of the above.

He risked a glance over at Winnie and immediately regretted it, because he knew she was probably praying both of them would stop right now before this got worse.

Did he though?

"Can you even hurt us out here?" No, apparently he wasn't going to. A valid question though, as he hadn't exactly expected one of the killers to waltz on over to the survivor area like this, and he hadn't asked about whatever rules there might be in such a scenario because of that. "Probably wouldn't wanna risk it. I mean, there's--"

'There's more of us than you,' is what he'd wanted to say, before Danny's blade was suddenly poking against his chest. Well, that was fast. Didn't really answer his question either though, as Danny wasn't actually harming him, just... holding the knife there as a threat.

"Do you want to find out?"

...No, not particularly.

Danny taking out his knife did give Cody another idea, though. A really really stupid one, but an idea nonetheless.

He wasn't sure if it'd work -- Danny was probably stronger than him even without whatever powers he had during the trials, but Cody was going to try anyways. At first he wanted to just try and reach up and shove Danny's hand away, but he figured that might actually get him hurt. So instead he attempted to pull away from Danny's grasp -- he wasn't holding on that tightly -- and kick him, knee him, something. Actually hurt him even if it wasn't much.

To his surprise, both of them stumbled back, and Danny was fixing him with what he could only assume was a glare behind the mask.

Hey, we're getting somewhere.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Now, what was she to expect to come after something like that? Nothing good from Danny, no amount of non-verbal pleading would alter that. So, when Cody had suddenly been forcefully pulled closer to the treeline, Winnie's head practically snapped to follow the movement.

Winnie's brows slowly furrowed together, her eyes becoming soft with worry. It came as no surprise to her that Danny had effectively started the altercation, but Cody was spurring him on!

A call from somewhere else within the survivor camp caught her attention for a moment, and she glanced over her shoulder to see that a few others had noticed the interaction now. Well, of course. That was to be expected.

Winnie grew hot with… Embarrassment, maybe, before she returned her attention to the squabbling men.

She had been stuck in her place out of shock ever since Danny has grabbed Cody, and she only found the courage to move when her fellow survivor spared a glance over his shoulder at her. Her expression that she had worn, so full of concern, melted away to reveal a frustrated scowl instead.

And then the knife had been introduced into the ring, because of course it had. A sharp exhale escaped her at this, not a sigh, but an audibly frustrated huff.

In all honesty, she couldn't understand why the threat had gotten Danny so heated up. You'd think he'd just laugh, begin to mock him–because that's what he usually did, was it not? Why was he so bothered by a murder threat when he was the one that held the most power here?

When the pair stumbled away from each other due to Cody's ministrations, Winnie took this as her cue to intervene. Try to, at least–pushing herself into a knife fight didn't sound too fun, but she found herself taking a step in front of Cody, half blocking him off from Danny.

“Let's go back to the fire.” She insisted, trying to keep her voice soft, but ultimately she failed, as her words came out as a hiss.

Taking a glance over her shoulder to look at Danny, she sent him an almost confused glare. Whatever had been happening here was completely spun around, from a fairly casual conversation to a fucking fight, and she didn't understand it at all. “Can we all just get a grip, turn around, and go our separate ways? We don't even know how injuries work out here, and I really don't want anybody–fuck, Cody, I don't want you getting hurt.”

I really don't want anybody getting hurt. Slip up, but whatever, it was just a misplacement of words that neither of them would even notice, taking into consideration the glares they were giving each other. Chances are, they probably weren't even listening to her.

Returning her gaze to Cody, she reached over to squeeze his wrist, in addition to the frown that she was giving him, too. Please, drop it. Let's go back to the fire. Please just fucking drop it, because, why would Danny follow us to the fire? Please, just stop before it's really started!

 

[weiirdw0lf]

It wasn’t necessarily the threat itself that’d bothered Danny. More so the fact that Cody even had the audacity to say such a thing. That he thought he could even do that if he somehow tried.

And while Cody didn’t plan on doing it yet, he did plan on doing something else.

He heard Winnie’s words, but was reluctant to actually walk away. He had one thing on his mind now and wanted to know if he could do it. He wasn’t entirely sure why himself. He knew she was watching this, that there were now some of the other survivors probably wondering what the hell was going on. So, maybe he wanted to… what, prove a point? Do it just to say he could? Embarrass Danny or something?

He glanced back at Winnie just for a moment, unsure what to say.

“I’m not gonna get hurt,” he settled on, even if he wasn’t sure how true that was. “Trust me.”

Stupid thing to say when he was just as clueless on this as her. Would someone have intervened if they knew it could go badly? (Ok, just about anything with one of the killers was probably going to go bad, but would someone have at least said something if they thought he’d get hurt?)

When she’d let go of him, Cody turned back to Danny, who still wasn’t doing too much besides watching them. Annoying.

His eyes flicked down to the knife still in the other man’s hand.

What the hell am I doing, was the only thought in his head as his hand darted out to grab Danny’s wrist and try to wrestle the knife from him.

Danny let out some sort of noise between surprise and frustration, of course attempting to yank his arm back. Cody sort of had a grip on the knife, or more like his hand was mostly over Danny’s on the handle as he wasn’t trying to grab it by the blade and cut himself.

“You little shit,” Danny hissed, and it wasn’t like he wasn’t stronger than Cody, but he was almost tempted to let the survivor take it from him. What would he even do with it? Surely he wasn’t going to try and stab him right here with it. Not that Danny would let him even if he did manage to grab it.

Cody was positive both Winnie and any of the others watching probably thought he was an idiot, but he didn’t care about that right now.

He also realized just how stupid this probably looked. Two grown men basically playing tug of war with a knife. He almost wanted to laugh.

By some miracle though, he’d actually managed to get the blade out of the other’s hand.

…Now what exactly was he supposed to do with it?

 

[MoggieMoof]

For a long moment, Winnie just stared at Cody in complete and utter disbelief. As if what he had said was completely outlandish, which it kind of was. How could he be so sure that he wouldn't get himself hurt doing–whatever it is that he was trying to do here?

“Fine.” She managed to push the word out between gritted teeth, quite literally seething as she let go of his wrist to instead spin around on her heel to step away.

In the time that it took for Winnie to take five steps away from them–literally five, she counted–they had begun their tousle once again. She hadn't even turned to look at them again, she could just hear them–their feet scuffing the ground during the struggle and Danny's frustrated exclamations.

Pivoting on her heel to face them again, she watched with her brows furrowed, eyes slightly narrowed, and her mouth pulled downwards in a frown that looked more annoyed than anything else.

The altercation had earned the attention of most of the survivors in the clearing now, all of them with their heads turned like owls just to observe. Still, nobody had offered to intervene yet–maybe out of a place of fear that Danny would hurt them, or maybe out of genuine interest that one of them could hurt one of the killers. Winnie shared neither of those feelings, as she had already tried to intervene–whatever happened was kind of out of her power now. At this point, she was just baffled. She'd just have to helplessly observe and clean up the pieces, just like she had when they'd disappeared in Roseville in the first place.

When the pair finally separated, Winnie was shocked to find that Cody actually got the knife.

Her breath got caught in her throat, and she could’ve sworn that all of the other survivors that were currently watching felt the exact same way. Intrigued, maybe even a little bit impressed–a bit anxious about what Danny would try to do now that his knife had been taken away. What was there for him to do now that his weapon had been snagged from him, though? More importantly, what was Cody planning on doing?

The fact that Cody had the knife kind of scared her, in a way. She wasn’t sure why… Because it shouldn’t really matter if Danny got hurt. It shouldn’t matter at all to her. Maybe it was just the image of Cody wielding the tactical knife that was a bit unnatural. It just didn’t look right–it made her feel a bit uneasy, she supposed.

But what the hell was she supposed to do?

Her eyes slowly shifted to Danny, staring at him as if to say, just take it back and go! The guy was strong, so surely he was capable of doing so–but then again, why would he just take it and leave without quite possibly lashing out?

For fuck’s sake.

“This is completely ridiculous, you two realize that, right?” Winnie found herself snapping at the both of them against her better judgement, as if she were watching her kids bicker over a piece of candy instead of two grown ass men fighting over a knife. “Is anyone even listening to me? Oh my God.”

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody just... stood there with the knife in his hand. Winnie's words vaguely registered, but he was more so shocked too that he'd managed to do that. He didn't know how, but yeah, that was definitely Danny's knife he was holding. (Danny seemed to be feeling similarly, if him standing there doing nothing yet meant anything.)

But then of course Danny had to go back to his typical self once he regained his composure.

"Wow, I'm impressed," he started, but you could tell he didn't entirely mean that. Surprised, sure, but that's about it. "What do you plan on doing with that, exactly?"

Cody didn't answer, because he didn't know. He'd imagined this, vaguely. Actually trying to do anything? Totally different story. It was one thing to come up with some fantasy, another to actually have the bravery to act on it. Clearly both of them were hesitant to believe he'd... what, stab Danny with his own weapon? It was ridiculous. None of the survivors -- at least while Danny had been here, which to be fair hadn't been that long compared to some -- had ever dared to pull something like this. But now Cody of all people was? It made no sense.

Cody thought maybe this place was making him insane already, because he'd never do something like this otherwise.

He took a step forward. Danny didn't move. Held his arms out even, as if to say 'come at me' because he knew the other wouldn't.

Except that's where he was wrong, apparently.

Cody's grip on the knife faltered for a moment, but he didn't drop it. No, he got even closer to Danny then, so that they were basically face to face. Face to... mask. Whatever.

Close enough that Cody could drive the blade into Danny's side like he'd done to him during their trial.

Danny's head tilted downward, and he staggered backwards slightly. He didn't yell or shove the survivor back, just seemed stunned into silence for a good moment there, even with the pain he must've felt.

...Cody wasn't sure what to do now. He was still awkwardly holding the blade, and hesitated for a moment before pulling it back. Danny's hand came up to press against where there was now blood slowly starting to soak through his coat, as if he was checking to make sure, yes, that did in fact just happen. Maybe he thought nothing would happen -- not just in the sense that Cody wouldn't do anything, but that even if he tried, maybe he wouldn't get hurt? No, Danny wasn't stupid enough to believe that.

Neither of them seemed to know what to say or do.

After what felt like far too long, Danny reached out with his free hand and ripped the knife back from Cody's grasp, who didn't seem intent on fighting him for it again despite now wondering if he was about to get stabbed back. Fortunately, Danny didn't do that.

"...You're braver than you look, I'll give you that," he muttered. Truthfully, part of him was tempted to shove Cody to the ground and see if the survivors could die outside of trials too, if they'd get brought back.

The other part wanted to run back to wherever he came from and figure out how the hell he'd just let that happen.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Point taken that nobody was listening at all. What was the point in talking if nobody listened?

She glanced over towards the fire, making eye contact with David and Nea who were still there, but they had since stood up and come a bit closer to witness whatever was happening. It was worth noting that a few others had done the same, although she couldn’t put a name to their faces–it seemed that Claudette wasn’t here at all right now. Probably off in a trial, she supposed.

Winnie made eye contact with Nea for a short while, which the woman had apparently taken as an invitation to come closer, because before she knew it the woman was only a few steps behind her.

Even as Danny had begun to talk again, Winnie just kept her gaze averted.

Until she heard that sickening, newly familiar sound of a blade piercing through flesh. The hair along her neck stood on end as she slowly turned to observe what had happened, her discontent expression from moments before fading into something a bit more horrified. Her mouth fell open, perhaps to say something, but she was cut off by a full body cringe when Cody had pulled the knife back from where it had been embedded into Danny’s side.

When Danny tore his knife from Cody’s grasp, Winnie found it surprising that he didn’t immediately slash at him back. Instead he seemed to just linger, holding his wound as well as his knife now–maybe he was weighing his options?

Was that even going to heal? Winnie found herself wondering, and slowly she began to approach the pair.

“Back up, Cody.” Winnie suggested once she stood beside him, not wanting him to stand so close to Danny anymore. It was definitely still possible for him to do something in retaliation, and she really didn’t want that, because who knows how the whole healing schtick worked out here?

Did the killers even have, like, med-kits?

“Um,” Was all that Winnie could find herself saying initially. She hadn’t expected Cody to actually stab him. A part of her thought that he’d chicken out at the opportunity of actually stabbing somebody, but… Point proven, she supposed. It was understandable to a degree, all of the awful things that Danny had done before coming here, and even within the past little while of them arriving, Cody had the right to do what he did.

So, why did Winnie feel so bad seeing him like that? Maybe if Danny had been turned into some kind of monster upon arrival here, she’d feel less sympathy for him–for his injury. How the hell could she feel bad for him, when he had done nothing but fuck her over as of late? All he had ever done was fuck people over, take lives just because he felt like it! Who was he to deserve her sympathy?

And yet…

“...Is that gonna heal out here?” She asked in a low whisper, sounding borderline worried–but hopefully she’d just be able to pass it off as general anxiety due to watching her friend stab someone. Surely that would work, right?

 

[weiirdw0lf]

For once this whole time, Cody did listen to Winnie and stepped away from the killer. He didn't dare to look at her or the others that might've been nearby, unsure what to expect from them -- he hadn't expected himself to do that!

And then Winnie was asking if Danny's injury would heal. Fair question, he supposed, but why did she care? (He knew why.) He, unfortunately, didn't know how to answer that. He hadn't exactly thought about it before doing what he did. He hadn't thought about much of anything before doing it, he just kind of... did and hoped things didn't turn to shit. Thankfully they hadn't. Yet. From the looks of it though Danny still wasn't intent on harming him, which was... surprising, to say the least.

"Guess you'll find out when you see me next," was all Danny said before he turned and walked back off into the woods, perhaps more hurried than intended. (Him, nervous? No. Couldn't be. Right?)

Right. When they see him next. Assuming they'd see him in a trial sometime in the near future. Cody doubted he was going to come back over here like that after what just happened, but maybe he would. Maybe he'd return and try and do the same to him... not that Cody wanted to think about that, but now that he was (sort of) in his right mind again, he realized that was definitely a possibility knowing Danny.

Leave it to him to head off acting all 'mysterious' or whatever.

"...He's probably just pissed I managed to do that," Cody said under his breath, which was in fact partially why Danny had left. Why he didn't stay and do anything else was beyond Cody, and Danny himself really. Seems like neither of them knew why they were acting the way they were as of recently.

Cody once more wondered if this place was making him crazy. He wouldn't be shocked.

Finally risking a glance over at Winnie, he found he couldn't quite read her expression. Concerned, surprised -- he expected that much. But her basically asking if Danny would be ok?

He decided to just ignore that. Danny had sort of already 'answered' her anyways. Not really, but close enough. He wasn't sure if anyone else knew -- if they did, no one had spoken up about it yet. They were probably all just as shocked that had happened, if he had to guess.

Cody was tempted to go run off himself. He felt... he wasn't sure either. Did he regret doing that? He couldn't say. It felt... good, if that was even the right word, in the moment, to hurt Danny like he'd hurt him. Do the same thing back. But he wasn't sure if that just made things ten times worse for him here or not.

...Guess there was only one way to find out. Just to wait and see, really.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie’s eyes shifted from Danny’s wound, and then back up to his face–er, mask. She blinked owlishly at his response, unsure how to respond to it, but she didn’t have to, seeing as he had already begun walking away before she could. Until he had entirely disappeared, she didn’t move–didn’t even look away, in fact.

You’ll find out when you see me next.

Their next trial, whenever that would be–or if he decided to snoop around again, but who’s to say they’d notice him? She wasn’t sure if she wanted to notice him next time. If she hadn't gone out of her way to talk to him by the treeline, this absurd scenario would have never happened–for better or for worse.

Slowly, she turned her head to look up at him, her eyes still appearing vaguely owl-like as she peered up at him. Winnie gave a careful nod in response as she slowly turned away from the forest to face Cody entirely instead. “I’d say, yeah.”

With shaky hands, she lifted her arms and planted her palms onto either of his shoulders. Almost uncertainly, she gave his arms a gentle squeeze, and she offered him a small, almost frightened smile. “Are you okay?”

She wondered if it made him feel any better. It might have been therapeutic, in a way–about as close to therapy as one could get, stabbing the guy that had brought you so much pain and despair. She wondered if stabbing him would help her, too… And she found herself toying with the idea in her head.

If it had been her in the moment, somehow managing to snag Danny’s tactical knife. Swinging it and feeling it slice through the air until she hit her mark–

Her hands trembled where they rested on Cody’s arms at the thought.

It would not help me, Winnie decided.

“Would you like to take a walk with me and talk about what just happened, or would you prefer interviews with the peanut gallery?” She asked slowly, quietly, tipping her head to the eyes that still lingered on them after what had just happened–the peanut gallery meaning the other survivors, of course.

Whichever his decision, she wouldn’t really mind, even if she kind of wanted to talk about it. She just didn’t want anyone to hear them if they did talk about it, because privacy still mattered to her here! Not that they could stray very far from the fire, but she felt kind of tense and even just wandering in circles around the ‘survivor clearing’ would help her at least, and maybe it would do him some good to talk about his experience in stabbing somebody for the first time.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody just kind of... looked at Winnie for a minute, like he didn't know how to answer that. Was he ok? Well, he just stabbed a guy, so. If she meant mentally, he's not sure what that counts for right now. To be fair, Danny had done the same to him. Did that make it ok? (He'd settled on yes, but it was also already said and over with. Even if it wasn't, too late to take it back.)

"I-- Uh." He didn't actually answer her other question at first either, just nodded, until he realized that wasn't exactly telling her which one he meant. "We can... go somewhere. I don't even want to know what anyone else is going to say." He gestured vaguely, as there wasn't exactly too many places to go. He wasn't sure if hearing the others would be bad or good and right now he didn't want to find out.

I also kind of don't want to know what you're going to say, he thought. Not because he thought Winnie was going to yell at him or be upset over it really, but he just also wasn't sure what to expect after doing something like that.

Wherever they ended up, probably just walking around the area or maybe slightly further off into the woods, Cody admitted he wasn't sure what came over him there.

"I don't know why I did that," he told her, sighing. He was... sort of glad? He'd been going on about it from the moment he'd gotten here, really. 'Getting revenge' or whatever. It was just... "Hopefully he doesn't come back and try to kill me out here or something for that. Wouldn't be surprised."

"Or maybe he'll just have an even bigger grudge against me during trials. And just in general. Ugh, I probably just made this even worse for myself, I'm an idiot--" He cut himself off with an annoyed noise, deciding to end his little rant there before it began really. He's not sure why he would, but he hopes Danny doesn't start going after Winnie more too now. He doubts it though. Cody's still pretty sure Danny just has something against him.

...Yeah, definitely. If he felt the same about Winnie, she wouldn't have gotten away with just coming over there and talking to him like she did, he's pretty sure. Cody doesn't know how to feel about that.

 

[MoggieMoof]

After a bit of wandering, they ended up in an awfully put together shack that was a little ways out from the campfire. It was one of the ‘buildings’ that they had been told about before, and they had come to see it briefly with a guide but they hadn't gone inside. Despite it hardly being a shack at all and being more of a glorified shed, it was probably the next best thing that they had to privacy.

Rather than propping herself up against the wall like she usually would have, she found a spot on the ground for herself instead… Mostly because this place looked like one strong gust away from lift off, and she didn't want to be known as the newbie who knocked the beloved survivor shed over.

Winnie let him get what he needed off of his chest. She figured that he'd have some stuff to say without much prompting from her–stabbing someone is kind of a big deal, after all.

“Well, I wouldn't put it past him.” She stated with a small shrug, it was just hard to believe that he wouldn't do anything in retaliation. Hopefully he'd wait for trials rather than come back around here, because that would just be more stressful than it was worth. In her opinion, at least.

“You're not an idiot, Cody. I'm sure a lot of the other survivors would be happy to do exactly what you did if the opportunity ever came about.” Winnie made an attempt at soothing him, but she wasn't entirely sure how effective it would be. She didn't want him beating himself up over it, because maybe this would turn out better than they thought it would. Maybe Danny wouldn't come around here anymore? Doubtful, but it was a possibility. “Did it at least feel good to do? I mean, you know… Making him feel the pain that he's been inflicting upon others for so long?”

Winnie wasn't sure if she'd label the act as revenge quite yet. When she thought of revenge, she thought of giving him a taste of his own medicine in it’s entirety–death. Chances are, he probably wouldn't bleed out and die from that wound, would he? She supposed there was a chance of it…

“You never know. Maybe he'll be more careful when it comes to taunting you, I mean–I would, if I were him. It's your first day here and you stole his knife, and not only that, you stabbed him too.” Hopefully he'd be at least a bit proud of himself for that. It was definitely a bit insane within regular circumstances, but none of this was normal at all, so she believed it to be fair grounds for pride.

In all honesty, she didn't think much about the possibility of Danny taking it out on her. Why would he? She didn't do anything–but she supposed it would be another way of getting back at Cody. Even so, she didn't really think about it or worry about it, as she was more worried about what this all meant for Cody.

She wondered what the entity thought of it all. That thing had tabs on everybody, right? What if it, like, recruited Cody to the other side now? That's not how that worked, right? Surely not. Cody wouldn't!

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody glanced around at the little shack when they walked in -- yeah, not the greatest, but he supposed you couldn't be picky in a place like this. Besides, he didn't really care about that right now, he'd just wanted to be away from the others. He still wasn't really looking forward to going back to the fire and hearing what anyone else had to say.

"I mean..." He trailed off for a moment at her question. Did it? Kind of. At least, when he'd done it. And then after he felt... he still wasn't sure how to describe it. Shock still, perhaps, or something else.

"Yeah, I think so," he settled on. Easier than trying to explain his mess of emotions at the moment.

He guessed that much was true, too. He didn't think any of the others could say they'd done something like that. At least, he didn't think so -- he figured someone would've said it when he asked if the killers could be hurt. Admittedly, he was a little proud, along with lots of other things. He did hope that Danny didn't bother them for a while or something at least. Then again, if that were him... well, he wasn't sure what he'd do.

The Entity wasn't on his mind at all, but if it were, he doubted something like that would happen either. Pretty sure that wasn't how it worked, but who knew. He didn't know much about this place yet still, at least compared to some of the others he was sure. It was odd to think about -- they really had only been here for such a short time and it felt like so much had happened already. Which, in turn, made him kind of dread what might happen in the future. Did they really all get so used to things? It was hard to believe.

Then again, if he'd done what he just did and dealt with that trial earlier, he probably could get through a lot worse. Or so he hoped. Not that he wanted to, but he figured he'd have to unfortunately.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie settled on the floor with her legs crossed like an elementary school student, her hands resting on either of her knees. She watched him as he seemed to mull over his response in his mind, and she couldn’t help but tilt her head quizzically.

You think so? She had wanted to ask, but ultimately she decided against it. It was probably a little bit difficult to really understand how it made him feel, whether or not it had actually helped him. What happened was still incredibly fresh, so maybe he just needed to sit with it for a little while longer… She could only imagine that the feelings he held towards such an act of violence would have to be sat with for a little while to truly understand.

Rather than prying into him, Winnie hummed softly. “That’s good.”

Her mind ran endlessly as the silence settled over them. About Cody, and how he must be feeling–the feelings that he had held onto in order to drive himself to do what he did. A part of her wondered what it had felt like for him that night. She had to admit, she was curious. The details that he had given to the authorities before his disappearance had eventually gotten out to the press, but only bits and pieces, so she only knew what details were allowed to be told to the public.

“Could I ask you a question? Um, feel free to deny me an answer, I know it’s… Kind of insensitive of me to ask.” Usually, she wouldn’t pry at all–but she wanted to know. After everything that she had experienced over the last three weeks before she got here, the curiosity had been eating away at her. “That night–at the arcade? I just–I don’t know, I’m curious about it, I guess. They didn’t really allow a lot of information about it out to the public. What was it, um… Like? What did he do to those guys?”

Like she said, she’d understand if he didn’t want to answer her question. She just… Wanted to know, from his point of view as a victim and someone who unfortunately had to witness what he had done. Maybe hearing it from him would make it all the more easy to hate Danny’s guts–which she already did, but she had come to the realization that whatever feeling she held for him was much more nuanced than that of just hatred. She just wished that wasn’t the case, so maybe hearing this would help her with that.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

He blinked, looking back at her as she asked about that night. It was strange how the memory of it was both slightly fuzzy and also seemed as if it'd happened just moments ago -- contradicting, yes, but perhaps this place messed with your memories as well. He wanted to say he'd heard someone say something about that when they'd first showed up, but he wasn't sure. Either way, that's another thing he wouldn't really be surprised about if it were true. The whole time weirdness thing might've been to blame as well.

Well, it was either that or just the trauma of witnessing something like that and then going through it yourself making it all... messed up. That would do that too.

"It's alright," Cody started a bit quietly, though his gaze was now cast down at the floor, at his own feet pacing around the small space. He had to think for a moment, try to gather the thoughts.

"I, uh... well, I guess it was just kind of. Right place wrong time sort of thing. More like wrong place wrong time," he let out a little laugh, but it wasn't really funny. "I just happened to be there with a friend. We were about to leave since the place was closed and..."

You could guess what happened after that. Of course, he continued on anyways though. Told her how whatever he heard from in there sounded bad, and he knew he probably shouldn't go investigate it himself, but he couldn't help it.

"It was stupid, I know. Don't know what I was thinking. That... what, I was gonna catch the killer and be some hero? Yeah, ok." He shakes his head as if to dismiss the idea. He'd been so fixated on the crimes plaguing the town, wanting someone to finally put an end to it. Even if that someone was him. "Guess I sort of did though. Except now we're all here so it doesn't even matter."

That's not what she wanted to hear about though, they were already well aware of that fact, he was sure. Unfortunately.

"I go in there, and--" He paused then, like he wasn't sure if he wanted to go on. "I don't know what I thought was going to be happening, but that wasn't it. He'd already... killed three other people, the workers, I think." He doesn't get too into the details there, figuring that much had already been told on the news. They'd all been stabbed multiple times among other, awful things. It was bad. Cody doesn't want to think about it.

Danny -- Jed, then -- was the last person he'd expected to see at the scene of such a crime. And he only even knew it was him because for whatever reason, the guy had the mask off. You'd think he'd be more careful about something like that. Maybe it was purposeful? (It was, but Cody hadn't exactly gotten a chance to ask him. Hadn't thought of it, really. Too worried about everything else.)

"It was just... luck, I guess, that he wasn't wearing the mask. I don't really know why. He definitely didn't expect me to be there either."

They both were shocked, just kind of staring like neither of them had wanted to make the first move -- but of course in the end, Danny did. Wanted Cody gone before the cops came, because they'd both already heard the sirens. Cody's friend had left and said they'd call but they weren't sticking around for whatever mess he got himself into, basically. Cody couldn't blame them. If he knew what was going to happen when he stepped foot in there, he would've left too.

And Winnie already knew how the end played out, given they were all here now.

Cody hadn't realized he'd still been walking around the small space like he was trying to wear a hole in the floor. Guess talking about it made him restless, anxious, but that made sense. He stopped himself, glancing back over at Winnie still sitting there like he's not sure what else to say now that he told her the story.

 

[MoggieMoof]

From his initial reaction of just looking at her, she wondered if the question had possibly hurt his feelings or maybe triggered something within him. Her brows furrowed together, and a small frown etched itself into her features, concern written all over her face. If it was too painful for him to recall, he really didn’t have to, she’d be fine with knowing all that she knew about it.

Winnie was relieved when he took it upon himself to answer her question, though. Relieved that she hadn’t hurt his feelings with her curiosity, that is–because hearing him go over the events that transpired that night hurt to listen to, but it was a hurt that she wanted to feel. She needed to hear it all in its entirety.

“It’s not stupid.” She interjected as soon as she had the opportunity to do so. “You didn’t know where we’d end up–if this had never happened, us coming here I mean, I believe he would’ve been caught. Because of the information that you were able to provide that night. Even if we ended up here, it’s still… It’s good that you did what you did, because who’s to say how many other people would have died by his hands if you hadn’t?”

It mattered, and she wanted to ensure that he knew that. Even if they were here now, there were other people that were much safer now that he was gone–now that he was here, too… Even if that was an entirely unintentional thing.

She watched him as he paced the room–er, the shed–even after he had finished telling the story. Unsure as to whether or not she should interrupt him, she kept quiet until he seemed to notice his own actions and he looked over at her. Winnie frowned at him, and slowly she brought herself up to her feet and approached him slowly.

Lifting her hand, she closed it up into a loose fist before she gave him a playful, gentle jab to the shoulder. “You were very brave, at least I think so. That day, and today too–even though it was a little funny watching you two fight over a knife like it was tug of war.”

A part of her wanted to give him a hug, but she wasn’t sure if it would be very appropriate–but then again, they had just been through the horrors together and she was quite positive that experiencing such a traumatic experience together had effectively forged a bond of sorts. So, she decided to offer it up anyway, simply lifting her arms at her sides ever so slightly to wordlessly invite a hug, if he wanted to.

It was an attempt at comforting him–or inviting him to accept some comfort, if he wanted to. She could practically see the anxiety coming off of him in waves, and as much as she wanted to help ease that feeling, she didn’t totally know how, so she resorted to the only thing she knew–physical touch. That didn’t work for everybody, though, and she’d definitely understand if it didn’t comfort him either.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"...I guess that's true," he replied when Winnie brought up the fact that even with them all being here, that meant Danny wasn't back there terrorizing the town still. But it still didn't feel great to think about the fact that he was probably the one who somehow caused all... this. (Not like he had any choice in the matter. What, the Entity just somehow saw all of that happen and decided all three of them were a perfect fit for its realm? Honestly, sounds about right.)

When she came over to him and said that, Cody couldn't help but laugh a little. Not that it was really funny now or in the moment, but thinking about it like that was kind of amusing. He'd had a similar thought while it was happening anyways.

And then she was there holding her arms up, and he hesitated for a moment, like he wasn't sure what to do with himself. Yeah, he wasn't all that big on physical things. Or well, that wasn't entirely true. It was more like he hadn't had that kind of comfort or whatever in what felt like forever, so it felt... awkward, he supposed was a good word. But he appreciated her offering it nonetheless.

So, despite the hesitance, he accepted it. Hugged her back, albeit seeming a bit awkward about that too, but giving a slight smile when they pulled away. If anything, just the fact that he had someone here he sort of knew (...besides him), someone that actually cared? Someone that'd talk to him like this? That made him feel better.

"Thanks," he said quietly afterwards, gaze shifting somewhere to the side. He wasn't sure what they should do now. He wouldn't mind staying out here and talking more, though he wasn't quite sure what to talk about himself. And again, heading back to the fire seemed like all it was going to do was stir up drama. And by drama he means "people asking me 100 questions because I just stabbed someone, probably."

 

[MoggieMoof]

At least she was getting him to laugh about it, even just a little bit. It hadn't really been funny at the time, no, and she wasn't entirely sure if she actually found it funny now–but the way that she worded it made it sound more humorous than frightening. What matters is she got him to smile and chuckle about it, even a little bit.

Winnie noted his hesitance at her offer, and she would have happily backed away from it entirely if he hadn't accepted it, much to her surprise. She gave him a tight squeeze, not enough to take his breath away or anything but enough for it to be noticeable, and then she retracted her arms from him. Giving him a bright-eyed smile of her own in return, she released him and took a small step back from him, giving him his space again.

“C'mon, you don't have to say thank you. I wanted to give you a hug, it looked like you needed one.” Winnie started with a shrug and a smile. “We should probably go back now, though. I just… Wanted to give you the space to talk about it without everyone else trying to pry into your business.”

Leading the way out of the rickety shack, she took a brief glance around–into the forest that surrounded them seemingly endlessly. It was unnerving, especially knowing what was out there. Well, technically they only knew of one of the things that could be lurking out there, and he had most definitely hobbled off somewhere to deal with his injury. Without a doubt though, they knew that there were beings out there capable of inflicting incredible harm… A part of her was curious as to what else they would face in the trials. More humans like Danny, perhaps monsters that she had only ever seen in movies? Who knows. She didn't really want to find out, but she was bound to.

“If anyone tries to bug you about what happened, I'll tell them to get lost. Scare ‘em off real good, promise I will!” Not that she was the most intimidating individual around, but she wanted to protect his comfort and privacy, so she could try. “I mean, assuming that you don't want anybody poking and prodding at you.”

With that, she headed off down the barely-there trail that would bring them back to the campfire. Of course, upon their return, a few heads turned to stare at them expectantly. Well, to stare at Cody expectantly–she hadn't really done anything at all to begin with, she was just sort of inexplicably bound with the two of them.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Right, probably," Cody agreed when she said they should go back. He looked around as well -- he hadn't thought too hard about it, but he was also wondering now as well what the other killers were like. Not that he wanted to face them really, but he admittedly was a little curious when he'd overheard a couple things vaguely earlier after they'd gotten out of their own trial. Hadn't bothered to ask though.

He gave another little smile at Winnie offering that. It probably wouldn't be as big of a deal as he was imagining it to be, it was just he didn't know how to explain a lot of stuff as Winnie had already heard. So he wasn't sure what he'd even say to any of the others if they asked.

Cody wasn't surprised at all when a couple of them looked his way as him and Winnie came back near the fire, but again, what did they want him to say? Tell them why he did that? He doesn't quite know. He just... did it. And only half regretted it.

"What?" As if he doesn't know why they're staring. And then, because he's feeling a bit better despite all of that, "Bet all of you have wanted to do that. And look, the guy who just got here did it for you!"

...Again, it's not really funny, but he doesn't know what else to do with himself right now, and messing around apparently is the solution. Probably not the best, but maybe it'll lighten the mood?

---

Danny had made a point to avoid anywhere he thought any of the other killers would be, instead heading back to whatever little building he called his own and basically hiding away in there for now. He leans against the nearest wall, pulling his hand back from his side, now tacky with blood. Great. Where the hell was he even supposed to get anything to wrap and/or clean this up with? Go steal a medkit from the survivors? Yeah right.

...Actually. He might not have to do that, now that he thought of it.

Rummaging around, he found where he'd set aside -- you guessed it -- a medkit that for some unknown reason, one of the survivors had left him during a trial before running out the gate. Confused, he took it, wondering if he'd even keep it when he got sent back here. Not that he thought he needed it at the time, he just wanted to see what would happen.

Apparently that one little thing came in handy right now. What are the chances?

He still wasn't sure why every now and then survivors would do that -- to other killers too, not just him, or so he'd heard. Maybe they thought if they were nice (if leaving the killers items they couldn't do anything with really counted as such) that the killers would let up some. Which maybe was the case for some of the others, but not really for him.

Either way, he was glad he kept the thing. There happened to be a little roll of bandages along with a couple other things, so he got to work covering the wound, all the while complaining to himself that he even had to do this.

"...He's gonna regret that next time I see him," Danny muttered to himself as he finished what he was doing. If that were true, they'd all just have to wait and see.