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

[MoggieMoof]

Nobody had said anything to them yet regarding what had happened before they left, but by the way that they were staring, they may as well have audibly said something about it. Her eyes shifted over the survivors, trying to understand or at least hypothesize what everyone had been thinking–and judging by the expressions that they wore, not everyone seemed to share the same opinions regarding what had happened.

Some seemed amused or impressed, while others looked to be generally displeased or indifferent. Claudette was one of those people, Winnie noted as she looked over towards the woman. As far as she was aware, Claudette hadn’t been present during the whole debacle, but clearly she had been filled in on what happened while she was gone in her trial. She didn’t look angry or displeased, just… Anxious, maybe?

Winnie glanced to Cody, surprised that he had even said anything–she had half expected that he wouldn’t say anything at all, honestly. Full of surprises, this one. She couldn’t help but laugh softly at his words, now wearing a small grin.

“Y’know what? Hell yeah!” The cheerful exclamation came from a young woman with light hair. She lifted a fist into the air as if to emphasize her point, offering the pair a toothy grin–what was her name again? Kate, maybe? “Kudos to you! You’ve got some real balls, there, man–I didn’t even know we could hurt those guys.”

A few murmurs of agreement came from around the campfire, but a long, extended ‘um’ came from an anxious fellow with glasses. Initially he didn’t say much, just shrugged his shoulders and vaguely gestured to the forest with one hand. “I just–it’s–well, I’m… Proud, I suppose, but also–I’m just wondering what you were thinking when you did that? I don’t know, I’m just a bit baffled by–well, that.”

Both fair outlooks on the situation, in Winnie’s opinion. She still wasn’t totally sure how she completely felt about it–happy for him, yes, but also a little bit conflicted. It was scary, but still, she’d defend Cody’s actions nevertheless. It had already been done, and no matter what happened now, she’d stand by him for doing what he did.

Despite not being the most confrontational person on the planet, she scuffed at the ground with her heel and glanced up towards the campfire, and then back down to her feet. “Everyone is entirely entitled to their thoughts and feelings, but… What’s done has been done, and we’re just going to have to deal with whatever happens now as it comes to us. We can’t really go back and change what happened–maybe one of you guys should’ve–no, never mind, sorry.”

Maybe one of you guys should have helped me break things up if you have such strong opinions about it, was what she wanted to say.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody couldn't help but agree with Winnie there. He was honestly surprised no one stepped in earlier, but also... no he wasn't, not really. Why would they? Yeah, there was some who seemed braver than others, but he didn't really know anyone well enough to say if they were the type to do so.

"I didn't either, but here we are." He really hadn't -- no way to know unless he tried though, which is exactly what he did. Reckless? Yes. Stupid? Yeah, probably. But like Winnie said, he couldn't take it back now. So... whatever happens, happens. Hopefully nothing crazy.

Or crazier than this place already had been so far.

As for the question about what he was thinking, Cody still couldn't say really. But he tried to answer regardless.

"I, uh, also don't really know. Just kind of did it." What he'd already said to Winnie, basically. "I know I know that was a bad decision but-- hey, maybe he'll only go after me instead of you guys or something now." Another little laugh and a shrug despite that absolutely not being funny, not for him if it really did happen. Which wasn't out of the question, not with Danny.

...Speaking of that.

"Oh, now's probably a bad time to ask but. What's the deal with the trials? Do we have to do more of those today?" As if it was a job or something. He's not sure anyone filled him in on that, or if they did, maybe he just didn't catch it. He'd rather not run into Danny again if possible. Prolong the inevitable consequences of his own actions. Not that it was a guarantee it'd be Danny again, but he also wasn't sure how the Entity picked people for the trials. Was it entirely random? Probably not, given all three of them were in that trial the last time... that definitely wasn't coincidence.

 

[MoggieMoof]

It was only a matter of time before questions regarding the trials and how this realm worked came up again, and Winnie was kind of glad that Cody took it upon himself to ask some questions right now. Steer the conversation away from the most recent stabbing incident, to instead talk about something that would actually be beneficial. For the two of them, at least… For everyone else, depending on how long they’ve been here, it would probably get borderline irritating having to answer the same questions over and over again with every newcomer that arrived.

Winnie decided to come closer to the campfire as these questions were asked, sitting down on one of the logs–next to Kate, but again, she wasn’t totally sure if that was her name–and she patted the open space to her right for Cody to follow if he wanted to.

The anxious looking man seemed to take it upon himself to answer his questions to the best of his ability, and as he spoke, Winnie squinted at him–what was this guy's name? She could’ve sworn that Claudette told them, but now she was drawing blanks… Darn.

“Depends on the day, I suppose. If you’re lucky you’ll get one trial per day, and if you’re not you can get two, maybe a couple more. It’s hard to give you an answer that’s one hundred percent true, because it really just depends on the day. There’s usually always at least one trial taking place at a time, usually more but, like I said, there’s always one actively happening at all times during the day.” Dwight explained, using his hands to make vague motions–damn, this guy really liked to talk with his hands, Winnie noted. “...But at the end of the day we hit a sort of dead time, I suppose. Once the day is considered to be over–you can think of it as night-time, I suppose, even though time here is a bit wonky–the entity gives everyone a break, and no trials take place for a certain amount of time.”

So they had a specifically scheduled time to rest even though they didn’t really have to sleep–how considerate of the entity to let them relax for a little while!

“Well, what about now? Is it, uh… Dead time, or um, night-time?” Winnie prompted him quietly.

Dwight shook his head to simply answer the question. Damn. She wondered what the killers did during the time that they weren’t actively partaking in trials–maybe they had their own fucked up little campfire that they liked to sit around, too. Would Danny answer that question if she asked him that? Well, it was food for thought.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody took the offered seat, listening to the other man talk and explain to them about the trial... schedule, if one could call it that. Alright, well, that's sort of what he guessed it might be like. So... just a never ending cycle of trials and dying and whatever else. Great. At least they did have some sort of break from it all.

He looked over at Winnie when she spoke up next -- beat him to it, he was going to ask something similar. So does that mean any time now they could get pulled into another trial? Ugh, he's dreading that, hoping it's not him who gets sent to another one today. Hopefully Winnie doesn't have to either. Then again, with their luck, he wouldn't be surprised if it did happen too.

Honestly, as long as he doesn't have to see Danny's face (mask, whatever) again for a while, he'll be happy.

Little does he know what other awful things he might see instead. He'll probably be wishing it was Danny who was chasing him around when he inevitably runs into some of the... stranger killers, to put it nicely.

"Well hopefully we can sit this next one out," he says aloud then, sighing. Like they had a choice. He also wished they did.

It was only a little while later when the ever present fog creeped in closer again, and Cody cursed under his breath when he realized it seemed to be him getting chosen. Just what he wanted... not. Maybe he jinxed it by saying that before, or the Entity heard however it did and thought it'd be funny to put him in another trial just because of that. Who knows at this point.

Whatever he was about to face, wherever he was about to get sent to, he wasn't sure he was ready for it -- but maybe his earlier bravery would help him? (Not that he could be stabbing killers during the trial, but at least there were pallets and such.)

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie looked towards Cody at his hopeful declaration, and she could only hum hopefully in agreement. “Hopefully.”

Hope didn’t seem to do much for them here, though, because she could already see the fog hovering just outside of the survivors clearing, barely hidden away within the treeline. Although she could see it, she couldn’t feel the same chill in the air that she had felt that last time–so perhaps it wasn’t here for her.

Slowly, the fog creeped its way towards the campfire, inching closer to the four survivors that it would inevitably pull into another devastating trial–and a frown tugged at the corners of her lips when she realized that the fog had begun to lap away at Cody’s shoes.

“Good luck, Cody–I’ll be here when you get out.” She forced a small smile to her face as she bid him farewell. Oddly enough, despite knowing that she’d see him again no matter the end result of his trial, it still managed to strike something within her heart, and it brought her an odd sense of pain. She figured it was just her being worried about what would happen to him in there, though.

With him went three others, and as the fog retreated back into the trees, Winnie glanced around the campfire to exchange some glances with the others. She and Cody had been attached by the hip since they got here, so in a way it felt wrong to be separated from him–it brought her a great deal of discomfort, in all honesty.

So, instead of lingering by the campfire, Winnie headed off for her own little adventure. Not anywhere particularly far away, or anywhere unknown, no–back to the shitty shed that the survivors could call their own. It was private and nice, for all of its awful interior, it was the next best thing she had to an inkling of comfort, so she found herself seated on the floor again with her legs crossed.

Maybe she could find a book somewhere and start journaling about this shit. Being alone here gave her a lot of time to think, and she… Didn’t really like it at all. With a sigh, she tugged her sleeves to cover her hands, feeling a subtle chill in the air at this point. It had been fairly warm earlier, so it was a bit odd–oh.

That made more sense, now that she noticed the fog that was slowly trickling into the shed. It looks like she wasn’t very lucky this time around, either.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Thanks, I probably will need it," he said -- and yeah, while he didn't know what he was in for this trial, he definitely would be needing the good luck wishes.

When the fog had eventually whisked him and the other three survivors off into some other place, Cody had come to and seen they were in... he wasn't sure, at first. Not the farm like last time, it was dark here. The smell of rust and gasoline filled his nose, and finally gathering his thoughts and steadying himself, it seemed like a junkyard or something. There were old cars all over and some sort of building a little ways away-- oh, a gas station, if he was reading the sign right from here? If only he could actually drive out of this place. Not that this place seemed in good shape anyways, even if he could.

The beginning of the trial had been alright. He'd run into another survivor he hadn't met until now -- Sable, apparently; somehow they'd ended up giving each other a little introduction because they'd been talking while working on a generator. She was one of the ones who was very much intrigued by what he'd done earlier. From what little Cody could tell, she seemed like maybe she'd do something similar if she could.

And then it all went downhill from there.

He'd run off, intending to find another generator, as the one they'd been on was done -- whoever was keeping the killer occupied was doing a good job, that was for sure... or at least they had been. Cody had rounded the corner of the gas station, hoping to go inside and see if there was one in there, when he came face to face (sort of) with this... thing. That was quite literally the only way he could describe it. Almost human looking, but definitely not. Like someone who didn't know what a human looked like tried to make a recreation of one.

Except it wasn't moving. He'd hidden behind a nearby wall, waiting for it to eventually go so he could get by, but it stayed where it was. Sooner or later he'd found out that whatever that had been wasn't even actually the killer. Somehow the actual creature could make you see copies of it, or something like that? The rushed explanation someone tried to give him wasn't exactly the best when they'd had to run moments later.

...Which, of course, meant the killer had to come right for him. Because why wouldn't it.

He honestly wasn't sure whether being hit with weird alien monster slime(??) was preferable to being stabbed. Or, in this case, getting hit with an axe? He hadn't been actually injured with the thing's weapon, it'd just been launching this gross pink stuff at him while it stumbled after him -- Cody had to wonder if it was hard to walk with the way the killer's limbs were all twisted. Despite that, it seemed to move quite fast.

Whatever that stuff was, it seemed to make you weak, and apparently more prone to hallucinating -- which from what he was putting together was apparently one of the creature's abilities. So yeah, that plus being in an unfamiliar place and being chased by a awful looking monster? Not a good combination.

Cody eventually ended up back at the campfire when he'd been hooked one too many times.

He was, understandably, very tired and annoyed and also scared because what the hell was that thing that'd been after them. Thankfully he was back at the fire now, but he shuddered thinking about it and its weird voice that sounded like too many people talking all at once, all wrong.

He didn't immediately see Winnie, but Sable had appeared nearby and they'd both taken a seat near the fire, to which she was attempting to explain some things about said killer they'd faced -- apparently she knew about it? Maybe she should wait for Winnie to get here, it might be helpful to know...

 

[MoggieMoof]

When the fog had finally flooded the shed, she closed her eyes to make the falling feeling a little less nauseating. She had been sitting when she was taken away, but upon her arrival she was standing again–she would absolutely never get used to the transportation process of this place, that’s for sure.

Upon arrival, Winnie’s lips curled into a disgusted scowl–the smell of this place wasn’t a delightful one, no, it smelled of mud, grime, rot–and the stench of something else that made her gag and cover her mouth. With her hand clamped over her mouth, she looked around the area in order to take things in–a swamp. Much different from the farm that she and Cody had been on before.

She came upon a building of sorts, and slowly she made her way up one of the ramps that led up into its upper floor. As of right now, she hadn’t heard a thing–from the killer or any of the other survivors that she was here with, so she wandered along. She found a room with a few windows, a couple of lockers… Did the lockers have locks on them before? She couldn’t remember, as she hadn’t paid much attention to them before. As she passed by one of the lockers, she absentmindedly flicked the lock closed, shrugging as she went.

There was a generator located up on the second floor of the building she was currently occupying, so she decided to give it a shot, as it was better than endlessly wandering. As she worked, there were a couple of shrieks off in the distance, and shortly after the third shriek–loud clanging came from the room that she had been in before. The room with the lockers.

Winnie abruptly stood up, taking small, quick steps in order to find a spot where she could effectively peer into the room, and once she could see into the room, her face fell as she watched… She didn’t really know what to describe it as, honestly–an amalgamation of odd limbs, fleshy shapes, pointed teeth–maybe bones?

“What the fuck?” Winnie blurted out as she tried to understand exactly what that thing was, but it’s attention was turned to her and suddenly she didn’t have much longer to think about it. All she knew was that it was after her.

And then an undeniable darkness had settled over her, as well–and Winnie knew, without a doubt, she was screwed.

How the hell are you supposed to deal with that?

Darkness, an unfamiliar location, a horrifying monster that looked like it had been pieced together by the entity itself using scattered limbs of things that had maybe been living before–and Winnie’s undeniable fright, had all been tied together with a neat bow to screw her over indefinitely.

She was fairly positive that she had been the first to die during that match, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself exactly where she had been before she left: sitting on the ground of the shed. Immediately, she scrambled to her feet and bolted out the door, sprinting down the decrepit path that would inevitably lead her back to the survivor campfire.

Sure, she was safe now that she was back, but she still didn’t want to be alone after seeing that!

As soon as she had broken through the treeline, arriving back at the campfire, she stooped over and placed her hands on her knees, heaving a sigh. “Holy shit.”

Oh, she dearly, truly hoped that she wouldn’t have to go to another trial today–not after that, God, no. She lifted her head to peer at those that had gathered around the campfire again, and she was relieved to see Cody–she wondered if he had escaped his last trial or not.

“Cody!” She called out, hurrying her way over to enjoy the company of people by the fire. “I just–oh my God, I saw the most freakish thing during that trial, I–I don’t even know how to explain it.”

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody turned when he saw Winnie run out from the woods over to the fire, confused and also a bit worried since she seemed in such a rush. Did something happen? Was she ok?

Sable’s head turned as well, and when she heard what Winnie said, she almost wanted to laugh -- not because it was really funny, but to her in a way it was. Both Cody and her had terrible trial experiences apparently. (She couldn’t say she was that fazed by the trial, especially when she’d seen that killer too many times. It’d… come with her, or something, so she saw it a lot when she first showed up.)

“What?” Cody took a second to process what Winnie said, and then-- “You too? We just saw the weirdest thing, I don’t know how she acted so calm!” He gestured at Sable, who shrugged. Calm wasn’t necessarily the word, she definitely had been freaking out a bit herself a few times during that trial. If only because she’d definitely been chased a bunch too.

"You get used to it, what can I say?" Sable replied. It seemed that's what everyone kept telling him, but when they'd only been here for a day and this is what you dealt with? First someone you had a terrible past with and now freakish monsters? It wasn't exactly easy to get adjusted to.

"Easy for you to say!" Cody shook his head. "Anyways, uh-- Sable here was trying to explain what the hell we just saw, I guess she knows about it or something? Maybe she knows about whatever killer you saw too... or someone else might, I don't know. Why, how... bad was it?"

He wasn't sure what to even expect Winnie to tell him about. What other weird things were in this place that he didn't know about?!

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie gave an avid nod as she planted herself down on the log beside Cody, and she glanced towards Sable as she began to speak. Everyone seemed to say that they got used to it, but she couldn't comprehend that–she highly doubted that she'd ever truly get used to this place.

“Everyone says that, but I find it kind of hard to believe.” She shrugged as she spoke–how could they get used to living like this? How could everyone so easily give up on their lives and accept this place as their new forever? Sure, they had no choice, but–she didn't want to be here forever, and she didn't want to give the entity the pleasure of seeing her losing all hope entirely. Inevitable, sure, but… Winnie refused to accept it.

Winnie quirked a brow at Sable, curious about her supposed wisdom–she'd be interested in hearing whatever she had to say, even if it wasn't about the monster she had faced. “The only word I can use to describe it was… Monster, I guess. It was like this dark void that wandered around and, all of these limbs were protruding out of it–just this mess of body parts that weren't even human, as far as I could recognize. It–I think it hid in the lockers?”

She couldn't be one hundred percent sure about whether or not it had actually been in the lockers, because she didn't see it jump out or anything–she only heard it and saw it after it had already popped out. Well, that's what she assumed had happened, at least.

“What about you guys? What did you see? I-I kind of thought that there would only be humans here, I didn't think we'd run into anything like… Well, like that.”

She didn't know what was worse: humans like Danny being more than willing to do these awful deeds, or literal other-worldly monsters? Morally, the people. Which one was more terrifying, though? Winnie couldn't quite answer that question, even for herself.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Well, I guess it's kind of different when you came here on purpose," Sable said as Winnie expressed how she thought it might not be so easy. To be fair, Sable acted as if it was, but just like everyone else she still had her struggles here. A better way to put it might be she adjusted faster, as she'd kind of expected there to be horrible things here.

"You-- Huh?" Cody looked at her incrediously, like he didn't hear her right. At first he thought he hadn't, because why on earth would someone come here willingly? He didn't know what was even possible from what everyone had been telling them earlier.

"Yep, you heard me," she answered, a slight smile on her face like she was almost proud of that fact. She kind of was in a way. Not many people could say they'd do something like that for their friend -- which was the whole reason she was here in the first place. Maybe she could tell them about that too if they wanted, she'd had similar disbelieved reactions when she explained how she got here before.

"Sounds like the Dredge," she started, wanting to explain to them about some of the killers. Maybe it'd be helpful... or maybe not, given these two were still new to this place, but it might be good to know regardless. "Don't know any other killers who can go in the lockers like that. Or that look like you described... which is probably a good thing."

Definitely, from what Cody was hearing, but whatever thing they'd been up against didn't seem like it was any better -- though Cody didn't want to see whatever monster it was Winnie had seen either. Probably would at some point, unfortunately...

Sable briefly tried to explain the whole 'locking the lockers so it can't teleport to them' thing to Winnie before she went on about their own trial.

"The one we saw," she looked at Cody for a moment, "it... doesn't really have a name. People call it the Unknown." She then told them how it had showed up here when she did, and how another survivor -- her friend Mikaela -- sort of knew about it as well. Not quite, but the circumstances involving them being taken to the realm had to do with it in a way. That was a story for another time, though. Unless they wanted to hear it.

"It's like-- it looks like a person, but not really, it's all..." Cody wasn't sure how to describe it either, so he just said what he'd been thinking upon first seeing it. "Like someone that didn't know what a human looked like tried to make one, or something."

"That's a good way to put it," Sable replied. "I think it mimics people. Tries to look and sound human so it can kill them. Or that's one explanation people came up with, at least. No one really knows what it is, hence the name."

Well that's just great, Cody thought. As far as he was aware, things like that only existed in stories people made up. Apparently not...

"Yeah, there's not just humans. A lot of the killers are, or... were, at some point. But there's a lot of things like you two saw too." Sable told them. Cody was tempted to ask what she meant by 'they were human.' What, did the Entity turn them into monsters or something? That was just... he'd say cruel, but he also didn't know anything about any of them. Maybe they deserved it. (He briefly wonders why it didn't do the same to Danny then, but whatever.)

 

[MoggieMoof]

“Pardon?” Winnie couldn’t help but blurt out–oh, she hoped that didn’t come off as too rude… She just couldn’t fathom why she would ever come here of her own volition. Even when Sable had insisted that, yes, they had indeed heard her correctly, she had a hard time believing her.

If it weren’t for the fact that Sable practically glossed over the topic, she would have asked her about it–maybe she could ask later, as long as Sable didn’t get whisked away into another trial before she had the time to propose to her a question regarding it. Surely that wouldn’t be a problem, considering the fact that she had just returned from one… Right?

Well, at least messing with the locks on that locker had been a good thing, then. She had no idea that it would provide any sort of aid to them during the trial, she just messed with it because she hadn’t seen it before. Either way, she had managed to do at least one thing right during that trial, so that was… Good, right?

“Oh. That’s really disturbing. Like, deeply disturbing–” Then again, she supposed that this place was home to many things of such a disturbing nature, so it shouldn’t be that surprising that there was something lurking around here that fit such a description.

A lot of the killers are… Or were. Would Danny ever end up like that? Why was he still… Human? She had a hunch, but she didn’t really want to ask about it–if the answer was what she thought it would be, she wasn’t sure if she’d actually want to hear it out loud. Instead, she doubled back to a topic from before that had caught her attention.

“So you… Came here on purpose? I-I mean, I thought you had to… Die, or get lost or something, so I’m just wondering what… What did you do?” Maybe those weren’t the only ways of getting here–it would maybe explain her appearance, which she still didn’t completely understand. She definitely didn’t die, and she definitely didn’t get herself lost anywhere–she was just in her car. “You don’t have to answer, I’m just wondering because I’m not really sure I understand how I got here, so… I don’t know, I guess maybe I’m wondering if this will clear things up for me at all.”

It’s not like she could just ask the entity why she was here, or how she had gotten here. That seemed to be something that she had to piece together for herself, unfortunately.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Sable didn't think it was rude -- again, she'd had a lot of the others here react similarly upon her telling them how she'd come to the realm. Telling someone else wasn't really an issue, she didn't mind.

"I wouldn't have if it wasn't for Mikaela," she said. She looked around the area as if wondering where said survivor was, but didn't spot the other anywhere. Maybe off in a trial too. Oh well. "She... got taken before me. It's kind of a crazy story."

it was in fact another one of those things that Cody would've thought somebody was making up if it weren't for the fact he'd lived through something similar and was here now. He listened as Sable told them both how her friend had been whisked away into the fog, in front of a whole room of people nonetheless. He wondered if that's what happened to him too, just with... less people. Did he just vanish from the hospital or wherever he was when he got taken? Is that how Winnie got here too? Just... plucked out of their own lives like that. What did anyone back there believe happened to them?

Apparently, someone eventually told Sable about a place that led... here. To the realm. (Cody had a hard time believing that, but again, they were all here now. Was it really that strange? But also, was there really just... portals or whatever to this place back there?) They told her to leave it alone, to not go. But here she was.

"I couldn't just leave her," Sable insisted. She had to know what had happened to her after she'd seen it. It was unlike anything she'd looked into before. "Plus, I've always been interested in the things most people would stay away from. Can't say this is what I expected, but... I'm not sure what I did expect to happen either."

Not this. While it was true she'd always been a big horror fan and talked about rather dark things on her little radio show, actually following her friend willingly into the darkness? That's a whole other thing. She didn't know if she wanted to believe anything would happen despite all that. But it did. She was here and couldn't go back, like the rest of them.

She wasn't entirely sure if she regretted it or not, honestly.

"Wow, yeah, that's..." Cody trailed off, surprised at everything she'd told them. "I mean, at least you know someone here too, I guess? I was... not glad we were here, but glad I knew Winnie. When we showed up." He glanced over at her as he said that. Which was true. Yeah, they hadn't been super close before this, but seeing a familiar face had sort of comforted him despite the circumstances.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Mikaela. Winnie took a glance around just as Sable did, wondering if the girl in question was around here anywhere–but it seemed that she was not. Unfortunate, as she would have liked to talk to her, honestly. Sable was pretty cool, so she could only assume that Mikaela was similar if they were friends.

“That’s really brave–you two must be close.” Winnie murmured thoughtfully. She wondered if Sable ever regretted her decision, but she decided against asking the question. It was a bit of a deep question, all things considered, and she had just met this girl moments ago.

That still did nothing to explain her appearance here, though. Suppose that it didn’t really matter, because whether or not she understood it, she was here now. She just wished that she could understand it a bit better. Perhaps it would bring her a bit of closure, in a way. Maybe it would be easier to accept her new role here if she truly could understand how she got here.

Cody had a near-death experience and he had been taken during recovery in the hospital… Which made sense. Danny supposedly had been taken on that very same night. It was probably different for the killers–less about dying themselves or getting lost, more about the horrid acts and deeds they performed. That night alone was enough of a terrible deed to open up the door for Danny to get here, she could only presume so, at least.

Maybe she could ask him? Not that his experience in arriving here would help her out very much, but maybe it would be worth asking him. He seemed more willing to talk to her than, say, Cody, so perhaps it was worth a shot.

For a moment, she wondered if he was still struggling with his injury, or if anything had been done about it through the otherworldly means of this place.

Winnie was pulled from her thoughts at Cody’s words though, and she lifted her head to glance at him as well. “Yeah. I’d say it’s easier being here with someone I know–company and all. I mean, the survivors are a team and all, but when you’re new it feels… I don’t know, alienating, I suppose. So, it’s nice to be here with someone.”

Slowly, Winnie’s vision shifted from the fire up to the sky–not that there was anything to really see. She just watched as the sparks from the fire lifted up into the sky, slowly fading away into nothing at all. “Honestly, I asked out of curiosity, of course, and to see if your explanation would help me out at all. I still don’t really understand how I landed myself here in the middle of all of this, it doesn’t… Make sense.”

Her eyes flitted down towards the fire once more before her gaze was directed to Cody again. Lifting her hand, she gestured to him before she began to speak. “I think it kind of makes sense how you got here–I mean, with what happened. You–you almost died, you must have… Died, maybe. Been close to it at least, and he came here because of what he did–I don’t know. Understanding how I got here doesn’t really matter at all, I just can’t help but wonder about it.”

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody didn’t entirely understand it himself, and maybe he never would. He guessed it made more sense how he got here, or how Sable did, or even Danny himself. He thought about how the Entity chose them, or whatever. Did it watch them for some time or something before picking them? If so…

“I wonder if it’s like…” He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “The entity somehow knew you had a connection with us and that’s the only reason why. With him, more like it. Since it feeds on us, or whatever someone said. Us being connected to him like that would obviously give it more.”

Sable looked at him, curious. She often wondered about the Entity, wanting to know what exactly it was, why it did this… not that there was any way to figure that out, really. She wasn’t sure who had first figured out the whole ‘it feeds on our emotions’ deal, or how they’d pieced that together. But. This place was strange, as they all knew. Maybe it wasn't as difficult as she thought. She supposed maybe she'd come to that conclusion too

“Could be,” she said. “I mean, it makes sense, at least to me.”

She also thought about what it was like for those who were just taken. Who didn’t wander willingly into the dark waiting for the fog. No one else here that she knew of had shown up in such a way. There were some who were similar maybe, or had been drawn to dark things too — even one of the more recent arrivals had apparently known about the Entity itself? Just in a bit of a different way, not by that name… among other things, it was complicated or so she heard. But none like her specifically. None who really wanted to be here.

Guess that just makes her different, even here. Not that she wasn't used to that. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Not always, at least.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Well, that would make sense, right? Maybe it would just be safe to blame her arrival here on that–on him. The way that Cody put it, it really did make sense–so, Winnie decided that she’d go with that from now on. Since she didn’t die, and she also hadn’t gotten herself lost like some others might have, it only made sense that the entity would draw her in based on her connection with Danny, right? Cody as well, but they hadn’t been particularly close before–well, before all of this.

“You know… I think that would make a lot of sense, actually.” Winnie admitted with a nod, and a small, barely there smile. The topic of their abduction by an other-worldly entity wasn’t necessarily something to smile about, but it was nice to have an idea of how it had happened to her.

Slowly, her gaze shifted from Cody back to the fire, and then back towards Sable. Right! Sable was still here and she still seemed open to questions, and Winnie wanted to take advantage of this moment to ask some more questions.

“Okay, so… I’m curious about the other killers that are here.” Winnie began, scooting ever so slightly forward on the log, inching ever so slightly towards Sable before she continued on. “I mean, Cody and I only know about three of them now. How many killers are, uh, out there? The same amount as us survivors?”

She dearly hoped that there weren’t more killers than survivors–that would be hard to keep track of. If every killer had their own set of abilities, she wanted to understand them all at least at a base level. Knowing information like that would probably boost her chances of survival, right? She just wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to memorize and understand their capabilities if there were so many of them.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Hm... I think there's more of us than them. Not by much, I don't believe, but I think that's what someone said." Sable told her. The numbers were close, if she was remembering right. Even so, with so many it definitely was confusing as a new arrival. You didn't always see the same killers, some you'd see more often than others for whatever reason it seemed like.

She had a theory the Entity put those who knew each other, as they'd been talking about, in trials more often among other things. It'd make sense, given the trial they just had. She came here around the same time as that killer, and from what she'd heard, these two had their first trial with Ghostface and they knew him. Sable couldn't recall if her first trial was against the Unknown or someone else... but even in her case, she'd never actually seen the thing before coming here. Cody and Winnie seemed very much familiar with their killer. That had to have been rough.

"You'd probably be better off asking the ones who've been here for longer about it, I think some of them know better." She shrugs and takes another look around -- not trying to get rid of them, no, but just curious who else is here. If there's anyone who might know more. Some of the same survivors, some different. Not everyone was always around given the trials and just the fact there were so many people.

"Right, um, I don't think anyone really told us about the killers besides you. I didn't think to ask I guess, too worried about... everything." Cody gestures around them, referring to them just being here at all. "Might be a good idea though."

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie let out a soft hum in consideration at her response. So, a lot of killers meant a lot of different abilities that she had to learn about. She resisted the urge to audibly sigh, instead channeling the energy into impatiently tapping her foot on the ground instead. She couldn’t blame Sable for suggesting that they talk to someone else about the other killers–she’d probably suggest the same if she were in Sable’s shoes.

“Maybe I’ll try to bother Claudette about some of the other killers, then…” She murmured, not really aiming her words at anyone in particular, just speaking her thoughts aloud. “...Whenever I see her again, that is.”

She hoped that Claudette didn’t mind being the one that she went to for most questions–Claudette had been the one to answer their initial questions upon arrival, after all, so she felt safe enough to go to her. Her eyes trailed off, slowly dancing from person to person before she found herself staring out at the treeline again.

“If you were given the chance to go back, change your mind, not go looking and not end up here–would you? I mean, knowing about what awaits you here, would you still do it again?” Winnie found herself asking slowly. It wasn’t really any of her business, but she was just curious–similar to how she asked Cody if he’d have changed anything if given the chance before coming here.

It’s not like coming here saved Mikaela or anything, it just meant that Mikaela and Sable were here together now. She supposed that it was nicer to be here with a companion–Winnie didn’t know what kind of state she’d have been in if Cody weren’t here with her. She’d probably be a whole lot worse than she was now–but then again, she had been putting on a bit of a brave face for the younger man, to maybe bring him some comfort in the fact that he had someone that he could rely on. At the very least, she was trying to be reliable.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody couldn't say whether or not Claudette would mind it, but he figured that made sense -- she was the one who basically first got them all... situated, as best as one could here. He'd say that'd probably be the first person he'd think of to go ask things too, if only because he still didn't really know any of the others too closely, hadn't talked to many of them. Though he supposed he was getting to know Sable a bit better now too, which maybe was a good thing.

Sable paused, resting her head on her hand, seeming to think about the question. She couldn't say she hadn't thought about it, because she had. It was just... hard to answer.

"I think... if I knew about all this, and I could, I'd try and stop Mikaela from doing anything that might've gotten her sent here," she answered. "Assuming I couldn't do all that though? No. I wouldn't have."

She had no idea what would happen if she somehow had stopped Mikaela. Would she still have been taken away, later on? Would it be the opposite of their former situation -- as in, Sable would've been the one who went missing, and Mikaela went looking for her? Or maybe she wouldn't have. There's no way of knowing, and she's not sure she'd want to.

"A lot of things suck here, sure." Very much an understatement. "But I wouldn't want her to be here alone."

As Winnie had been thinking, it was sort of how her and Cody felt. Being here together... softened the blow, so to speak. Sort of. Even if they hadn't known each other all that well before, they were getting to do so now, and at least having a familiar face around was better than being totally alone -- in Cody's opinion, and Sable's too, even if she often preferred that at times.

"That makes sense," Cody said, looking over at her. "I mean... I don't think I'd want you to be here alone either." His gaze shifted over to Winnie at that. But would she have even been here if it wasn't for him? He also had no idea, though he had a feeling it definitely was because of him. Because of the Entity, sure, whatever. But if he hadn't done what he did, been in that place at that time, how would this have turned out? Would him, Winnie, or even Danny be here at all?

...He guessed he shouldn't keep reminiscing about things he couldn't change. Though it was kind of hard not to think about it. To think about, as Winnie had asked, what you might've done if you got the chance.

He couldn't really say what he might've done himself if he could go back, honestly. It was a hard thing to answer. Yeah, he wouldn't want Winnie to be here by herself if she'd gotten taken, but he didn't want to be here either-- He shook his head as if to clear the thoughts, looking back up at the other two. Probably spacing out for a second there. Oops.

Really, if he had to guess? Danny was probably the only one who'd have wanted to be here in any way. (At least in Cody's mind, it made sense. Being able to kill with no repercussions and all that... ugh, he didn't want to think about that either.)

 

[MoggieMoof]

It was endearing and incredibly heartwarming, Winnie had to give her that much. She and Mikaela must be very close, if she would be willing to do all of this again just to ensure that the woman in question didn’t have to be here by herself. They must have been very close before they got here–and she could only imagine that their bond had strengthened immensely since they both arrived here, too.

A smile appeared on her face after hearing Sable’s words. Even in such a morbid, awful place such as this, there was still room for pleasant things–thank god. She tipped her head to the side when Cody’s words had been aimed at her, and his gaze shifted to look at her. Thoughtfully, she eyed him for a moment.

“I wouldn’t want you to be here all alone, either, Cody.” The smile that had been on her face before grew a bit wider, a bit happier–and she playfully elbowed the younger man’s arm. It was oddly nice, in a way. They had grown to actually be friends out here–or at least, she considered him to be a friend now. Before, they were just co-workers, nothing more and nothing less. It was nice to have a friend here, though. Someone to rely on, someone to share the burden of being here with.

“Anyways, sorry. I like to think about the what ifs, I suppose. It’s nice to think about what could have been, you know? If we didn’t end up here.” Winnie scuffed at the ground with her heel after she said that, bringing her hands together to press the nail of her thumb into her opposing palm. “Sucks we didn’t leave much of a legacy behind–working for the local newspaper isn’t much to be remembered by. That and accidental association with a murderer, but, y’know, I’d rather not be known for that.”

She knew that they’d both be known for that, though. Cody would forever be remembered as a victim, and Winnie as–well, whatever the people back home thought her to be. She had heard a few of the things that people were saying about her before she left, and not many of them were good–oh, well. Nothing she could do about it now.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody was glad she felt the same. Despite the circumstances being not great, he also was happy that they were sort of getting closer, getting to know each other now. He agreed it was nice to have someone in a place like this. He smiled back at Winnie when she said and did that.

"Yeah, I get it," Sable replied. It's not like she didn't miss things back there. Since showing up here, she often thought about how if she did somehow get sent back, she'd have tons of stories to tell people about on her radio show. That's what she'd always talk about on there -- things no one else would really want to. Dark things. Places like this.

She supposed that was something she could be remembered for. It almost made her laugh to think about it; after all the things she'd looked into or explained on there, she still ended up in a place like this. On purpose at that. You would think someone having so much knowledge on that sort of thing would know when to stay away. She'd even been told to! But that was another thing people probably knew her for. Not leaving things alone even when she should.

"Hm... well, what about you then?" Sable asked, looking over at Winnie. "Is there something you'd change, if you could?"

She figured it was ok to ask, given Winnie did the same, but she wouldn't be upset if the other didn't answer or anything.

Cody heard the question, and while it wasn't directed at him, he felt like he knew what Winnie might say. Or maybe not. If he was in her place, he would've never talked to Danny if he knew what would've started if he did. At the same time, would that have actually helped anything? They'd just have gone on peacefully... well, as much as one could knowing there was a murderer running around, but not knowing who was actually behind it. Would that have made things any better?

He still couldn't say.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Not really expecting for the question to be pointed back towards her, she gave Sable an almost owlish blink. Then, after a moment she smiled and took in a long breath. What would she do? Thinking back on it, it’s not like there had been any warning signs that Jed was someone that he wasn’t. There’s nothing that she technically had done wrong–he had tricked her, but now that she knew of that, would she have changed anything?

“I’m not sure.” Another pause before she continued. If she hadn’t associated with Danny at all during his time in Roseville, would she have not ended up here? Would she still be alive? What if he had killed her otherwise? Then again, that sparked the question of: why didn’t he just kill her when she was alive? He had been in her house dozens of times, even overnight–and yet, he hadn’t done a thing.

“Well, I think… If I hadn’t gotten involved at all, Cody would have ended up here by himself. I mean, how you got here has nothing to do with me, so even if I had avoided him during my life, you would’ve still ended up here. Alone, at that–doesn’t sit right with me.” None of it sat well with her at all, being here point-blank didn’t sit with her very well, either. She was positive that if she hadn’t come here, Cody would be fine–considering the fact that Cody had stabbed Danny within the short timeframe of them being here, of course. Within theory Cody would be fine, at least to her knowledge… But she still didn't like the idea of him being in a place like this by himself. Without a friend.

On the other hand, Winnie would probably fall apart if she had no sense of camaraderie here. She was relieved that Cody was here, but not happy that he was here, if that made any sense. “So, I… I don’t know. I just don’t think anything that I could’ve done would have changed anything at all. I mean, if I had done anything differently, who knows? Maybe I’d have been killed, too, but… I don’t know, honestly. Suppose, if I could go back, I’d choose to ignore him. Maybe.”

Winnie glanced down to the fire after she had finished, eyes darting up to Sable, and then to Cody before she looked down at her lap with… Well, discomfort. Clear discomfort, at that. Not that the question that Sable had asked had been a bad one, the question itself didn’t make her uncomfortable–it was her own indecisiveness, really. Did that make her a bad person? No, certainly not–right?

“Cody, knowing everything about where you’d end up, would you have gone into the arcade that night?” Quiet question, but spoken quickly–a topic change.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody heard Winnie's question to him, spoken almost under her breath, but he just kind of looked at her for a moment, unsure. Good question he supposed, but he also wasn't entirely sure how to answer it.

Then again, like Winnie had said before, if he hadn't ended up here? She probably wouldn't have. So...

"Honestly, no," he answers finally. "Assuming you wouldn't somehow get taken anyways? No, I wouldn't have."

There was also the point they'd made before about Danny ending up here though -- that in a way, it sort of had helped. Sure, he wasn't 'caught' in the typical sense, but him being here at least meant no more people back there were being killed. (People here were, but... as unfortunate as it was to say, it seemed like that was just going to happen regardless. At least people here came back.)

"...Do you think he would've showed up here if neither of us had intervened?" Well, Winnie hadn't really, but she'd been closer to him than any others, he assumed. And of course they all knew what Cody's involvement was. Or she knew, at the very least.

He wasn't sure he wanted to think about that either, but he had to wonder. Not like they could do anything about it now, or about anything else they were talking about, but still.

Sable hadn't said too much else while the other two were talking, just kind of listened. While she was a bit curious about some things, she refrained from asking. She was pretty sure she could put the pieces together based on what she'd heard from them and others after they showed up.

"I think someone like him probably would've been," she offered after a moment. She wasn't sure if this was 'bad' to say, but it made sense in her head. "The Entity didn't have to... do anything to him. He wasn't turned into some monster after coming here. He's just... him."

Which was true. She'd mentioned before how some of the killers weren't always the way they were. Influenced, changed, both... Danny wasn't one of them. Did that make it worse? Did it make him more or less of a monster than the actual ones who were?

She supposed that wasn't her place to say. In a way though, that could be just as scary as any creature here.

 

[MoggieMoof]

After she had asked her question, the pressure on her own shoulders slowly alleviated. Not entirely, but a little bit at least. When Cody had given her that brief glance, Winnie tipped her head to the side, although she offered him nothing more. The question was kind of nothing to smile about, otherwise she would have smiled at him. Not the time, that's all.

She had expected that much–his answer. If she had experienced what he had, there was no way that she'd go back there, not even with a brand-new plan intent on taking Danny down. She wouldn't. The thought of experiencing what he had was too frightful, even now, having experienced what they had experienced here in the trials already... She still wouldn't.

The question that Cody had offered next... Well, Winnie wasn't sure. It was kind of like he was destined to be here, right? This place must have been, like, a dream to him. Free to do whatever he wanted, and inflict as much harm as he wanted to. Paradise for people like Danny.

"Um," Was initially all that she could say, eyes drifting to the fire instead. Probably, is what she wanted to say, but she suddenly felt as if her hands were getting clammy, so she couldn't find the words to say anything at all. Thankfully, Sable had spoken up instead, although she wasn't sure if her words made her feel better or worse.

It was the truth, though, and they all knew that to be true. The entity didn't have to do anything to him. He's just him. He'd always been like that, hence why he had arrived here with no changes to his appearance whatsoever. At the very least he looked human, spoke like himself, and he seemed to be at the same height that he had been before. She just hadn't seen his face, although she wasn't sure if she wanted to see it. She was kind of afraid of actually seeing his face behind the mask, despite being completely aware of the fact that he was beneath it.

It was scarier knowing what she told them, though. Danny was just that much more frightening–and maybe it hurt a little bit more to know that. Her stomach felt a bit more hollow than it did before at that revelation from Sable, and Winnie resisted the urge to gag.

"Fuck." She whispered, nearly seething, but her delivery was a tad too weak to be deemed as such. "Yeah, he would've ended up here no matter what. I can't believe that this–he–any of this–God, I feel disgusting."

Shifting slightly, one of her feet shuffled in the dirt below them, moving to gently poke at Cody's shoe–finding a weird sense of comfort from the contact. Hardly any comfort at all, but a little bit. Yeah, she still felt like heading off to the treeline to go and vomit privately, but she felt like doing that a little bit less than before.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody frowned when Winnie spoke up again, hesitantly looking over at her but unsure what to say himself. He glanced back over at Sable then, who seemed to be feeling similarly.

"It's not-- I mean, neither of us could've known any of this was going to happen," he said quietly. He'd wanted to tell her it wasn't her fault, which no, it wasn't, but he also wasn't sure how much that actually helped anyone. Probably not much. Then again, him saying anything at all probably wasn't either... ugh.

He also wasn't sure how much this was going to help, but. Winnie had done the same for him before. It also wasn't any less awkward really than it had been before, but he scooted closer on the log and reached an arm over as if he was offering a hug. If she accepted or not, up to her. But it'd helped him a little when she did. (Why was stuff like this so difficult? Being here probably didn't help matters any. All of this was too complicated.)

"...For the record, I don't think you're alone," Sable started, looking around the clearing for a moment. "Maybe not the exact same circumstances, but I think there's quite a few people here who were... connected to a killer in some way or another." She's still not sure about everything, and still doesn't want to pry by asking, so she leaves it at that. She guessed Cody was, and so was Winnie, just seemingly more... personally?

"Can't really say myself. I mean, having some weird ass monster follow you here isn't really the same," she says with a dry little laugh. "But seriously, I'm sure there's other survivors who feel similarly, as much as that sucks."

She's not sure it helps anything either, but she puts it out there more so to say that maybe there were others Winnie could talk to if she felt like it, perhaps. Sable wouldn't blame her if she didn't though.

 

[MoggieMoof]

"I know," Winnie sighed. He had a point, but she knew that, too–how could they have known? Danny did a really good job of leaving zero evidence behind with each and every crime that he committed. That was the fault of neither herself, nor Cody. Realistically, she knew this, but she still felt a bit sick to her stomach.

With a sigh, Winnie slouched against Cody. She hadn't wrapped her arms around him in response, but she still accepted the hug via slumping into him as soon as it had been offered. What? She was a creature that craved physical touch! She had always been touchy, more-so before they had arrived here. Touchy in a friend way, though–she could respect boundaries, and she wouldn't be so physically affectionate with someone if they expressed discomfort about it.

After a moment of sitting there, slumped over with her head resting on his shoulder, she huffed and shifted to sit a bit more comfortably, finally returning his gesture by wrapping the arm closest to him around him as well. Yeah, she still felt sick. It was bearable now, though. She probably wouldn't have to go hobbling off to the trees to vomit, and that was an improvement.

At Sable's words, Winnie took a glance around the clearing, although she didn't know what exactly she had expected from looking around. Same old, same old. Nobody was necessarily leaping to have a therapy session, anyway.

Somehow, despite the circumstance and her inner turmoil, she managed a quiet chuckle at her words. "Everything is just fucked up beyond repair here–ought to get used to it, I suppose."

Although Sable's words didn't necessarily help that much, her words had still brought her some comfort. So, that mixed with the simple comfort that was Cody's company, the weight in her stomach ebbed away. For the most part, at least, enough to try and push it out of her head for the time-being.

"Maybe I'd do well with stabbing him, too–what'd you think? Might be therapeutic if we've both got him back at least once." It was proposed as a joke more than it was an actual question, glancing up towards Cody, arm still wrapped loosely around him as she asked. Her frown from before had since twitched up into the tiniest of smiles, expressing that she was feeling a bit more lighthearted than she had before. "How strong was he? Think I can take 'em?"

It was a completely hypothetical question, to make herself laugh, really. Hopefully make Cody laugh, too. She didn't want him to worry or anything, and maybe a laugh would do them some good.