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

[weiirdw0lf]

Danny turned to look at him when she spoke up. Told him to not mention Cody, like he didn't have every right to. Was it cruel saying things like he was? Sure, but it wasn't a surprise coming from him. And then she was going on, saying that--

"Shut up," was all that came out of his mouth at first. Pathetic, really. He didn't know what to say to her. (Was it because he realized Winnie had been right all along? Surely not.)

Instead, he paced around the room like an agitated animal, intending to ignore her as well. It was hard to when kept talking despite the fact she was literally dying right in front of him. Figures she'd do something like that. He heard the sound of the gates being powered up soon after, and let out a breath. The other two weren't coming, then, if he had to guess. Most didn't once the gates had been opened. Sometimes it happened, but he doubted that was the case here.

Playing house? That's what she wanted to call it? His gaze snapped back over to her once more, and even without seeing his face it was obvious the glare he was giving her from beneath it.

"You don't know what you're talking about," he hissed out. The thing was, she did. That was the problem. No matter how much he denied it, some part of him knew every word she was saying to him right now was right.

"Maybe I should've killed you quickly," he mutters, half under his breath. Knew he couldn't have, not unless he really did go against the Entity's rules, but god how he had the itch to now. To drive his blade into her skin and silence her. No point now when she was about to die anyways, but the urge was there regardless. He continued his circle around the room instead.

Finally, there was quiet. Her voice and breaths had faded and the only sound was that strange sort of hum that happened when trials were about to end. He was going to get sent back soon. Good. He was glad. He didn't want to see any of their faces anymore.

---

Cody had been restless ever since he got sent back himself. Couldn't stay still, kept getting up from where he'd originally went and sat, pacing around a short distance away from the fire before a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Winnie?" He blinked and looked up, seeing her over by a couple of the others. He walked over, probably quicker than needed but trying to make it seem like he wasn't affected. As if it wasn't obvious. Who wouldn't have been?

He faltered though when he stood before her. What was he supposed to say? Ask if she was ok? That's what he wanted to, but everyone knew that was a dumb question in a place like this. Yeah, she was physically ok now, but mentally? God knows at this point if any of them were.

His eyes darted away, shifting from foot to foot. This felt more awkward than it needed to be. He wasn't really sure why. Finally he spoke after a moment.

"I'm sorry you saw that," he settled on, as if it was his fault Danny did what he did. Ok, it kind of was, but he couldn't have expected him to do that! Was he even allowed to? He had the same questions Winnie had when she witnessed it. He was tempted to ask around about it but also didn't really want to. "I don't-- Why did he do that? I thought..." He trailed off as if he couldn't gather his thoughts, but she probably could guess what he wanted to say. Thought they could only die on hooks.

Well, turns out both of them had died in different ways this time. Not that he knew that part right now.

 

[MoggieMoof]

As she hauled herself to her feet, Winnie brushed herself off. Her eyes shifted from the ground, upwards instead at the sound of her name. She blinked a few times, eyes still a bit bleary even with her return to the campfire, and she watched as he practically beelined it to her.

When he had stopped before her, she tipped her head to the side, watching the way that he faltered beneath her gaze. Her brows furrowed together in concern at his anxiety-addled behavior, but in all honesty, she couldn't blame him for acting that way, not at all. Not after what he had been put through during that trial. So, rather than just standing there and staring at him as she waited for any sort of verbal statement from him, she offered him a smile. As genuine of a small she could put forth, at least.

"It's okay, you don't have to apologize to me for that, you know. I'm sorry that you had to experience that." It wasn't really his fault. Sure, it was a consequence for his own actions, but his actions had been completely justified. His actions were also a consequence for Danny, so if you were to draw a line all the way back, you'd eventually get: Danny. It was his fault, and Cody didn't deserve to think that it was his own.

She was quiet as he voiced his thoughts on what happened—or at least while he tried his best to. Cody didn't have to finish his statement for her to understand what he was trying to convey. "I didn't know that he was allowed to do that, I don't... I don't know."

The easiest thing to presume was that Cody had just really pissed him off, but seriously, was he allowed to kill them like that? Well, obviously they knew that he was allowed to do that now, but why hadn't he done it last time? What the hell were the rules in this place for them?

"We could ask around, if you want to? Unless you just want to, um, try to forget about it for now, I'd understand that too." If it would bring him any solace, she wouldn't mind picking at someone else's brain for answers. Maybe they could find Sable again, as she was pretty nice, right? Surely she wouldn't mind answering.

With a glance around, she couldn't immediately find Sable, unfortunately. However, upon glancing over her shoulder, her eyes landed on Mikaela and, whom she could only assume was their other teammate since she hadn't run into them, another girl. She blinked at them, watching as they regained their bearings after their arrival after escaping that last trial. Shifting awkwardly, she watched as Mikaela's eyes skimmed over them for a moment before her eyes seemed to shine with sympathy.

"Sorry about that last trial, you two," Mikaela chirped from where she stood, beginning her short walk over to where Winnie and Cody stood. Feng on the other hand lingered where she had been standing before she slowly followed after the curly-haired woman, looking a tad uncertain. "Sometimes the killers get tunnel-vision like that. You can try to help, but sometimes there's not a lot to do about it, uh..."

Mikaela's gaze shifted between the pair, but she paused with her attention affixed to Cody instead. "That was your first time being on the other end of, uh, that, I'm assuming?"

A very polite way of asking, first time you got killed by their own hand, right?

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"It's... um." Once more he wanted to say something and didn't. 'It's fine' was what he was about to tell her, but was it? "Never mind. Yeah, we can ask... I was thinking about it anyways."

He would've liked to forget about it really. Forget about all of this, but that wasn't exactly an option. Not really. So, he did the next best thing, at least for him -- try and get answers.

He spotted the other two soon after Winnie had, listening to Mikaela when she spoke up. He just nodded. That part he wasn't exactly surprised about -- Danny going after him the entire time. (What had he done afterwards? Cody obviously had no way of knowing... but Mikaela had apologized to both of them, so... did Winnie die as well? That was partly why he was so anxious waiting. He didn't know what had happened to her.)

"I-- Yeah. I didn't know he was allowed to do that," he finally got out, just repeating what he'd already said to Winnie. But judging by Mikaela's words, the killers must've been if he wasn't the only one it'd happened to. He really didn't get the rules of this place either.

"Guess it makes sense," he mumbled out, glancing between the three. "At least you all got out...?"

That part was hesitant. He didn't know Winnie hadn't, but even then, he guessed he could've just been saying it to Mikaela and Feng.

---

Danny, as one might've expected, had done basically the same thing he did when Cody had stabbed him. Stormed off deeper into the woods as soon as he was sent back, not knowing where he was going but hoping none of the others were anywhere nearby. Didn't need someone asking questions. Not that people typically did, but who knows.

"Fuck," he spat out the curse, stabbing his blade into a tree he'd stopped near. As much as he wanted to go run over to the survivor's area and stab the both of them again or something, he knew that was a stupid idea. This would do for now. Or at least for a moment until he started thinking about it more again.

Despite his typically calm(ish) demeanor, even while he was hunting down survivors, it wasn't unusual for his mood to change in a snap like this. Some of the other killers had probably witnessed this already, and he could recall similar things happening in trials before as well. This was just... probably worse than before. (Or, as Winnie had said, he was throwing a fit.)

"Why did she end up here?" He was just talking aloud at this point, not really caring as no one else was around. Probably. "Him I get. Her? I didn't do shit to her!" And that was the issue, once again, that he hadn't. "He died, it makes sense for him to have shown up... she should've been perfectly fine. Fucking Entity has an awful sense of humor."

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie decided not to pry any further, simply offering him a sympathetic smile and a small nod. Yeah, she knew that it wasn't really fine, so why would he lie and say that he was?

Forgetting about it unfortunately wasn't really an option at all for them. It was hard to remain ignorant in a place like this, because it seemed like you had to learn to increase your chances of survival. Physically and mentally, if that were even possible in a place like this, at least.

"Yeah, it's a bit of an odd thing. They're only allowed to do that sometimes." Other than that, though, Mikaela didn't know too much about it. Most killers would get a certain glint in their eyes when they were granted permission to do so, others would loom for a little while longer before they followed through with their chosen execution—but other than that? No real way to determine whether or not something like that would happen in a trial. "I don't really know what defines when they can or cannot do something like that, though. It's, I dunno... everyone has their theories, but it's like this split second change, and at that point there's nothing that can be done to change it."

At Cody's hesitant words, Feng quirked a brow. She stepped forward a pace, lifting her hand to point a finger between herself and Mikaela. "We got out."

Her eyes lingered on Winnie, looking uncertain, and she couldn't help but stare right back at her. Why's she looking at me like that? Winnie couldn't help but wonder.

"Um, yeah. I, uh—think I got under his skin." Winnie lifted a hand, toying with the neckline of her shirt as if she were anxious at the idea of it. Which, yeah, she kind of was. She had royally pissed him off, who's to say what he'd do the next time they ran into each other. "Well, I mean, I know I got under his skin, I—um, you know, I was pretty upset and I said some stuff that he didn't really take too kindly to."

---

The killers' neck of the woods was usually pretty quiet, and it had been pretty quiet for the most part. Susie had been just waiting around for the rest of the team to come back from whatever trial they had been sent out on—leaving herself and Frank to mingle with each other. She didn't mind Frank, they were friends, obviously, but she was mostly waiting around on Julie.

When Danny had come blundering through the forest, she had been seated on a low-hanging branch, carving lazily at the bark with her makeshift blade, sharpening the tip of the ruler to a rugged point. She paused in her tedious work to watch the fellow masked man, tilting her head as she watched him storm by.

"Watch out, public meltdown incoming." Susie had uttered to Frank, voice soft as ever yet heavily laced with sarcasm. Slipping off of the branch that she had been sat upon, she stepped around the tree to peer out at the illustrious Ghostface, who was currently flying off the handle over a mysterious him and her.

Well, she would have been happy to eavesdrop before, but now she was even more curious. Was his last trial so bad that he was really out here, causing a semi-public fuss in the woods? Must have been a real shitty trial then, huh. Casting a glance up towards Frank, she tilted her head ever so slightly, as if to silently say, sheesh.

"The entity's been telling you jokes?" The question sounded damn near innocent coming from Susie's mouth, given just how quiet her words came out when she spoke. "She only whispers to me... What about you, Frank?"

Obviously, given the context clues, Susie knew that there was something else at play here. Maybe she was purposefully playing dumb in an attempt to get him to talk about it more. Nah, scratch that, get him to fuss about it more. It was kind of entertaining to watch—and a good way to pass the time until the rest of their friends returned, too.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Oh." Cody wasn't sure what to say. That was... stupid, in his opinion. Why did they get to do things like that for no apparent reason? Maybe there was some rule or something and the survivors just didn't know about it. Either way, it frustrated him.

At Feng's words, he frowned, looking back over at Winnie. So his suspicion had been correct then, unfortunately. He honestly wasn't that surprised, as much as he hated to say that. It made sense Danny had went after her once he was dead.

"Good, he deserves it," Cody said, sighing. Didn't mean she deserved whatever she got for it, but still. "Don't know why he's still acting like this over that. I mean, I know why, but it'd be great if he could just get over it already." He huffed out a little laugh, despite it not really being funny at all.

Admittedly, he was a little curious as to what exactly she'd said that set him off so badly, but he didn't ask. It could've been something that probably wasn't even a big deal and Danny probably would've done the same, if he had to guess.

---

Frank just rolled his eyes when Danny came on through. God knows what he was on about, really. He'd seen it a few times before, but the other killer definitely seemed way more ticked off by... whatever it was that had happened. A trial, seemed like, but from what he could sort of make out it sounded like something more than that.

He snorted at Susie's comment. They'd been out here waiting for the other two up until Ghostface decided to throw a fit about whatever it was out here. Could he not go somewhere else? They all had their own little places they could go back to when trials weren't going on, or between them. As far as he knew, that's typically where the other was when he wasn't talking everyone's ears off about stuff no one actually cared about. He'd opted to listen a few times when he'd been around, because why not, though they'd got into arguments about stupid things a few times as well because of it. Not exactly surprising, knowing either of them.

He looked back over at Susie when she spoke up again, though it seemed she was half saying to Ghostface and half to him.

"Nope, haven't heard anything," he said, shrugging. He looked over at her from where he was leaning against the tree, and then over to the other masked killer now a short ways away.

Danny had heard some sort of noise from nearby -- leaves rustling and a faint voice he couldn't place at first. Then, another. He yanked his knife out from where it'd been embedded in the bark, tucking it back in his belt before he looked over to where he thought the sound was coming from. Oh. When did they get here? Didn't look like all of the Legion was around, just these two, but still. He hadn't exactly planned on having witnesses to... this.

"You done being a big baby about your trial?" Frank taunted, knowing he probably should keep his mouth shut. Bad habit. Oh well. Danny shot a glare at him despite knowing neither of them could see it.

"What, you've never had a bad trial?" He retorted, knowing it was much more than that. Not that these two needed to know about it, but whatever. He'd keep it at that unless they kept pestering him. Knowing Frank, he very well might. He should probably be thankful he didn't end up with Danny's blade stuck in his side one of these times...

 

[MoggieMoof]

It honestly didn't make much sense to Winnie, either, and she couldn't help but presume that it didn't truly make sense to  anybody except for the killers themselves. It didn't sound very fair, but then again, was anything truly fair around here? No, not really. So, even if it didn't sound fair and it also didn't make any sense, it wasn't really surprising.

When Cody had looked at her with a frown, Winnie simply offered him an awkward smile. One of those smiles that said, it's fine, even though it really wasn't. Nothing could be done about it now, and nothing could have really been done about it before, either, so she figured there was no point in anybody lingering on it.

"I know, I mean, God." Winnie managed a laugh as well, even if it wasn't necessarily funny and it definitely hadn't been funny in the moment, it was nice to at least try and laugh at it. "Guess it's understandable that he isn't over it. I mean, we're constant reminders."

Was she empathizing with the guy? No. Well, not really, she was just trying to clock why he was so bothered, and she had done just that just before she dropped dead in the last trial.

Her eyes shifted from Cody to look at their previous teammates for a moment, catching Feng's stare again. The young woman stiffened and glanced away, almost sheepish, before she spoke. "You guys actually knew him before you came here, huh?"

---

Susie slowly pulled her eyes off of Frank, eyeing Ghostface from behind her mask. After he had retrieved his blade from where he had buried it in the tree next to him, she completely turned her head to look at him.

A quiet snicker escaped her at Frank's taunt, and she lifted a hand as if to cover her mouth despite still wearing her mask. Even if her older friend probably shouldn't be instigating anything with Ghostface, she wasn't necessarily opposed to watching the effect it would have on the guy. Given how irked he had been when he had come storming over here, she could only imagine how much prodding it would take to make him burst. Did she want that on her hands? Not necessarily, but curiosity killed the cat.

"Sure." Susie shrugged her shoulders as she scuffed at the ground with her heel, carefully kicking up the dirt beneath her. "But I don't usually get half as pissed as that."

She couldn't lie and say that she never did retreat somewhere remote to make a fuss, but she tried her best to keep her tone down. Then again, Susie was naturally more on the quiet side, like most of the other killers here. She was only ever chatty with her friends, hence why she had the confidence to gently prod at the man before her as she was doing right now.

"Did somebody give you a good run?" That was the only thing she could think of that could bother him so much. She hadn't run into the two new survivors after all, and how would she have known their connection to him anyway, even if she did run into them?

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Unfortunately," Cody said, shaking his head. "Wish we didn't." He looked over at Winnie -- speaking for her, yeah, but he was pretty sure she felt the same and would've said the same thing too.

"Even then though," he started, going back to what she'd said a moment ago, "you'd think he'd... I don't know, realize that hey, we can't die here? Just like everyone else? Stop targeting us for god's sake. Not going to make us disappear as much as I kind of wish it would." He huffed in annoyance. He doesn't entirely mean the last part, just annoyed. He'd feel bad if he somehow... what, actually died or disappeared or whatever and Winnie was still here or something.

"Is us knowing him that big of a shock? Sable said something before about some of the others knowing killers before coming here, but as far as I've seen none of them are going after people like he does." Then again, they haven't exactly been in too many trials. But still. Maybe it's just a Danny thing. Figures.

---

"That makes three people today not minding their damn business," Danny said under his breath, referring to Winnie before -- though to be fair, she was just trying to protect her teammate, any other survivor would've done it. Ok, maybe not any of them, but point still stands. And everything after that... ugh. He doesn't want to think about it.

"You could say that." Not quite, though. Cody had run him around more than he'd expected, sure, but in the end he went down like Danny thought would happen. And he still got a tie. He'd count that as a win in his book even if it didn't feel like one with everything that'd happened.

"Yeah, sounds like way more than that," Frank replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "What, you get blinded and stunned a hundred times and then everyone got out or some shit?" That'd definitely make him mad, but he also got like that over little things a lot. So, that didn't exactly help matters. He could sorta relate in that way though -- the other three had probably seen him acting similar to Ghostface right now, but it still was a little funny to make fun of the other killer for it.

"No. Got a tie." Danny wasn't sure why he was even talking to them about this, and regretted even saying that much when Frank opened his mouth again.

"Then why're you being so bitchy about it?" He was one to talk. "Least you got two kills."

"It doesn't matter," he told them, but he had a feeling saying that now was going to make them wonder more.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Initially, Winnie gave a shrug of her shoulders. Cody spoke on behalf of both of them, so she saw no need to say it twice.

When Cody had continued on the topic of  why Danny behaved in such a way, Winnie sighed. She had a good hunch as to why he did, if his responses to her statements during the last trial meant anything at all—and she believed that they did, because she had him grasping at straws for a minute there. "He's doing it to feel better, I think? I don't—I mean, I don't really know, that's just my hunch. I can't imagine that it's really helping, though. Maybe eventually he'll stop, uh... Targeting us as much as he is."

Mikaela let out a hum at Cody's final words, and as she did so, she shrugged her shoulders, sounding and looking a bit uncertain. "They've all done it to us before, I think. You guys only got here recently, and the only killer that has done that to you has been him, which... Makes sense. Maybe he'll get over it after seeing you two a few more times?"

"I mean, you did stab him. Whatever he had against you before is probably tripled now. Can't act like that forever, though. Maybe his attitude will fade." Feng pointed out, which, in all fairness, was a good point. Her words weren't in defense of the masked murderer, no, it was more like she was playing devil's advocate just for the sake of the conversation. "Dunno though, given your tender history with the guy, maybe he won't."

Winnie's eyes raised slightly at what the girl had finished her statement with. She blinked owlishly, eyes darting from Cody, and then back to the girl that she still didn't know the name of—that was a targeted comment if she'd ever heard one.

"Um," Was the only thing Winnie found herself saying after that. She hadn't really thought about what anyone else would've thought about the things she said if they had heard it, but here they are now. So someone had been nearby while she and Danny were exchanging words.

---

How vague. Supposed they'd just have to play the guessing game now. It was Frank's turn, though, so she gave him the time to make his best guess.

"Definitely more." Susie chimed in, sounding far too jovial for the topic. If it were one of her friends, she'd be a bit more concerned, but Ghostface wasn't really her friend. Yeah, she thought he was cool, but she also thought that he was a bit scary, too. Less scary in the company of Frank, though, hence why she was a whole lot more talkative than usual.

While the two men exchanged words, Susie lifted her hands, messing with her fingers as if she were piecing together a mathematical equation. So, he got a tie, got a run for his money (or something like that), and supposedly didn't get stunned a bazillion times over. Lifting a hand and twiddling her fingers, she tipped her head to the side. "Oh, I got it—you got ran around in shack for, like, three generators. Did I get it?"

Once more, she paused, tapping a finger to the chin of her mask. What was he saying when he stormed over here? "What's so funny about the entity? You said something about... Her sense of humor, right? Am I getting warmer?"

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"That makes sense," Cody agreed. He wouldn't know if it was helping Danny or not, and he didn't want to know. He could go find something else to do that didn't involve killing people... oh right. Kind of couldn't do that here.

"We can hope," he replied at both of them suggesting that maybe he would get over it soon. And then Feng was saying something about 'their history' with him, which made Winnie look rather surprised. Cody wasn't sure if he should ask now, but. Oh well.

"What did you say to him anyways?" He turned to look over at her. "It couldn't have been that bad. Actually, I doubt it was. He probably just got mad over it even then."

"Well-- You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he added quickly then. Wasn't sure if it was a bad topic, but he was still a bit curious. Wondering if Danny was blowing things out of proportion -- he didn't know Winnie had been bled out and all that, but from everyone's reactions, whatever had happened after he died was just as bad.

Regardless of what she said, Cody still stood by the fact he probably deserved it. He deserves everything bad coming for him here, he thought to himself. And what would those other things be? Who knows. Maybe someone else would stab him too.

---

Danny sighed, looking between the two. Did he want to try explaining this to them? Maybe just to get them to shut up about it. They weren't going to understand it. Not the full extent, he assumed.

"I knew them," he started, being rather vague now as well. "The two I killed. That enough for you?"

"No," Frank immediately answered, smirking behind the mask. He couldn't just say that and not say any more! "What do you mean, you knew them? Thought no one ever got away from the Ghostface."

That seemed to make Danny stiffen, and Frank knew that was it. There. Figured it out already, he was pretty sure. Hadn't really meant to -- it was just another taunt, said half jokingly. But... really? Two people got away from him? At least, that's what he was guessing here. Danny hadn't said anything more yet. There were other ways he could've known people from back before the realm, but that was his first guess.

"They shouldn't have," he spat, now getting irritated about the whole thing all over again. "That's all you need to know."

Who knows if they'd finally leave it alone though.

 

[MoggieMoof]

The question had been directed at her, and Winnie was blinking owlishly for the umpteenth time. It was only fair that he'd wonder about what she had said, though, she just wished that Feng and Mikaela weren't hanging around to listen. Well, maybe this would prove to be a good icebreaker between herself, Cody, and their new acquaintances.

"I mean, in the grand scheme of everything, it wasn't that bad at all—what I said to him, I mean." She shifted her weight to one foot, finding the ground beneath them to be quite interesting. "I—I dunno, how much do you want to know?"

It was a sarcastic, awkward question, followed up by an uncertain laugh. "Told him the basics, I guess. I hate you, uh—um, I told him he ruined my life, uh, mentioned that he had all of the time in the world to kill me, kinda dangled it over his head, I guess... Then, uh, y'know, he had me on the floor, and... He was pretty adamant on letting me bleed out, so I just tried my best to bother him until I physically couldn't anymore."

What else did she say? She puffed out her cheeks as she thought it over, and then she exhaled slowly. "Um, told him that all of this—I mean, being here, you know, was his fault. Cause he tried to blame that on me... And, uh, reminded him that we'd be his two constant reminders of his fuck ups, I guess. Dunno, I was just mad, so I said all of the mean things that I could think of."

Winnie didn't like to be mean, but she supposed that Danny deserved it. No, she didn't suppose, she knew that he deserved it. She hated him, so he deserved all of the hate that she could put out into the world, right? Yeah.

"He couldn't even respond to half of the things I said, just... Shut up, and, you don't know what you're talking about, stuff like that... But he knows. He knows that I know what I'm talking about." Then, she shrugged, offering the trio an awkward smile. Maybe she'd go into more specific details if Cody wanted her to, because she would for him—but not while these other two were around. "Ah, uh, anyways, though. Enough about my arguments."

---

Neither Frank nor Ghostface could see it, but beneath Susie's mask, she made an 'o' shape with her lips. He knew them, oh, so that's what was so funny about the entity then, right? She must have hauled those two here because he knew them! Funny. Well, not really, but funny in a fucked up kind of way.

"How'd they get away?" She found herself blurting out the question before she had the time to completely think about it. Oh, it was just too interesting not to ask! Did he know them before his attempt at taking their lives? Did they overpower him? Oh, embarrassing, if so! "C'mon, you gotta tell us—I won't tell a soul."

Lies, she'd run off and tell Julie immediately, and then they'd all go and tell Joey as well. Outside of their little group, though, she wouldn't spill to anyone else.

"You should tell us—or we can just make a wild guess." Susie tapped a finger to her mask again, poking at the space before her chin. "Could always just safely assume that these two just outsmarted you, simply put. The remarkable Ghostface got his own ass handed to him at his own game. Fun story, wouldn't you say, Frank?"

If they busted his ego enough, maybe he'd actually tell them what the big deal was. Hopefully, at least—yeah, it was none of their business, but she just... Really wanted to know. There was no bigger picture to it, she was just nosy, honestly.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Bleed out?" Cody blinked, looking over at her still. Huh. Ok, so... what, they'd both died not in the usual way? He also wasn't aware the killers could do that, but he guessed when you thought about it, that at least made sense. What Danny had did to him still was confusing in its own right.

"Because it is!" He exclaimed at her saying it was his fault, but let her continue on. When she got to the part about Danny just... not knowing what to say, Cody almost wanted to laugh. Really? He wants to act like this but then can't even respond when she tells him the truth? Yeah, he definitely knew she was right. Just didn't wanna say it.

"Sounds like it," he agreed at that last part -- that he knew. "Just can't accept that anyone other than him could be right about something." He rolled his eyes.

This was so stupid. Were they going to deal with this same sort of thing every time they had a trial with him now? Cody's not sure if this or the killers they saw earlier would be worse at this point...

---

"Yeah, she's right," Frank said, looking over at Susie, now grinning behind his own mask. "I think you're getting closer. He wouldn't look like that if you weren't."

Ok, look wasn't really the right word -- none of them could see each other's faces, but Frank didn't need to to know what Ghostface was feeling with the way he held himself and reacted otherwise. He thought the other killer was supposed to be the one who was good at reading other people.

Frank also knew damn well they'd go run and tell the other two if he did end up spilling the details, or even if he didn't. It'd give them something to talk and speculate about, he guessed. Stuff got boring around here between trials sometimes. And this? This definitely wasn't boring. It was the first he'd heard of it -- he doubted any of the other killers knew. The survivors... who knows. If these two really did know him from before, maybe it'd got around over there as well.

"Fine," Danny started, huffing in annoyance. "Since you two won't be quiet. Mostly you." He nodded in Frank's direction. Frank scoffed.

"Like I said, I knew them before this." He wasn't sure how much he should say about the survivors themselves, like names and all that. Figured that part didn't matter that much. "One of them, he was supposed to be dead when I got here. Fucking... Entity took him anyways. Like she does sometimes." He was pretty sure there'd been others who were close to death and showed up as well.

"The other..." He trailed off. What did he even say about Winnie without saying way too much? He definitely didn't need that being a topic of discussion amongst the killers. "Let's just say I got too close to her."

Once again he had a feeling he was going to regret this, so with that thought in mind, he added:

"And I swear to god if either of you do tell anyone, you're both getting stabbed."

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie paused and gave a nod, yup, bled out on the ground. She couldn't blame him for the confusion there. They had both been introduced to new doorways to death, after all. Bleeding out and somehow something more brutal than what they had previously been aware of.

Oddly enough, his exclamation made her feel a tiny bit better about the whole thing. She knew that he'd agree, but hearing him agree as passionately as he did actually made her laugh. "Right?"

Now wearing a smile, not an entirely gleeful smile or anything, more of a tired, relieved upturn of her lips. Despite being one hundred percent certain that he'd feel similarly to her, she was still relieved to know that he actually did. A sense of companionship in a place like this really did work wonders, and it was probably the only thing that would keep her from a certain point of insanity. "Well, y’know what? Whatever, I don't want to think about that anymore. I clearly got in his head, and that's all that matters to me."

If Cody had dealt some serious physical damage to Danny and she had dealt something damaging on the emotional side, that was basically a huge win to her. She'd take what she could get.

"Good. Don't linger on that trial for too long, either of you." Mikaela finally piped in again when she deemed it appropriate to do so. She and Feng had been listening, but they didn't really feel right interrupting. "You both did your best, and for what it's worth, I'm not sure if the outcome could have changed. Once you get a handle on everything, things will... Things will suck a lot less, but I'm sure you've been told that already. We're being honest when we say that."

---

Beneath her mask, Susie wore a lazy grin as Frank agreed with her. They were both actively trying to get under Ghostface's skin, so of course he would agree.

With all of their irritating efforts, it came as a surprise to Susie that it actually worked.

Holding in a snicker at the way that Danny belittled Frank, she tilted her head to the opposite side and eyed him as he went on to explain himself. So, one was supposed to be dead. Sounds like he had killed him, or at least had him close to death, and then the Entity snagged the guy. Definitely not unheard of, so she gave a nod to express that she was listening. "Yikes."

The next escapee was interesting, too, considering his explanation on her. Vague. Got too close to her, huh?

"What, did you get infatuated with her or something?" Susie snarked, but the snarky tone of hers could hardly be read by how softly she spoke her words, it could probably be mistaken for genuine curiosity.

Then, Susie raised her hands as if in surrender. "Hey, big man, I told you I wouldn't tell anybody. My promises are practically a personal law of mine."

Slowly, she dropped her hands, tucking them away into her pockets instead. Still, he couldn't entirely understand his frustration. He had, like, all of eternity to fuck with them now. Wasn't something like that better than death, especially as punishment for those that escaped him? "Shouldn't you have fun with them being here, though? Like, I don't know. They can never get away from you here, are you not happy about that?"

 

[weiirdw0lf]

“Same here, honestly,” he’d said when Winnie told them that all she cared about was getting in his head. He wasn’t sure why that’d made him feel better, but it sort of did, at least up until… well. That whole trial had happened. But thinking about it now it was a little better, and he didn’t want to keep dwelling on it either if he could help it. Just knowing they did something to bother him. Funny how words could bother him just as much as literally being stabbed.

Cody glanced over at Mikaela when she spoke up then, nodding. Yeah, they’d definitely heard that last part more than a few times now.

“Well with what just happened, I don’t know about that,” he said, though it was sort of a joke. Really though, talking with them about all this did help, at least in his opinion. Or just talking in general. Knowing they had people here and weren’t totally alone. Which made him wonder again about how it was on the killer’s side. Not that he actually cared. He hoped Danny was alone.

---

…Danny, unfortunately, was not.

“No,” he spit out near immediately when Susie asked if he was ‘infatuated’ with the one in question, which he realized just made him look suspicious. But. Too late to take it back.

“You said that way too fast for someone who’s not,” Frank retorted.

“Why do I even bother with any of you.”

And then Susie was asking, ‘shouldn’t this be fun for him?’ Hypothetically, yeah. That’s what he’d thought at first too, if only for a moment.

“You’d think,” he started with a huff. “Not that simple.”

It really wasn’t. It should’ve been. Would’ve, if he hadn’t—

Ok. Yeah, definitely regretting opening his mouth about any of this to these two. Maybe he should just leave without saying anything.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Mikaela offered the young man a sympathetic smile, of course she understood it, but in this place? You just had to learn to move on really fast. "Better believe it!"

Feng hummed passively. "It's still shit, but it's bearable."

"Right." Winnie murmured softly, clearly not too sold on any of it either. If everyone said it to be so, though, who was she not to believe it?

Allowing a sigh to escape her lips, she interlocked her own fingers and lifted her arms above her head, allowing herself to stretch. A yawn escaped her then, not because she was actually tired, even though she felt that she definitely should be. A part of her wished that she could actually be tired, so she could just knock herself out on the grass somewhere.

"I remember Dwight saying something earlier about how time worked here. Like, dead-time or something, when trials don't happen. A little buffer we get for breaks—is that happening now?" Winnie asked the two more seasoned survivors once her arms fell to her sides again. The reason for the question was due to how busy their little clearing was, there seemed to be a lot of people now. She could only assume it was because everyone was here, right? No trials for a little bit, like Dwight said earlier, or something like that.

"Mmm, seems about time for that, yeah." Feng nodded once she too had taken a glance around the clearing. Crowded. Well, not completely crowded, but definitely buzzing with more energy now that so many survivors were here. "You two might benefit from poking around and talking to some of the others while they're here—you know, look for some wise words or whatever. Or you can sit around the fire and talk about your shittiest experiences today. Team bonding."

---

At Ghostface's quick response, she couldn't help but let out an obnoxious laugh that started out as a snort. Her hand flew to her mouth—well, her mask, and she slapped her hand over where her mouth would be. "Right, right."

She snickered at Frank's reply, watching the older man's frustration grow by the second. "Maybe it is simple, and you're just too emotional."

It would probably be pretty funny to hear that from an outsiders perspective. A sixteen year old girl telling a grown man that he was being too emotional? Talk about a win for feminism. Susie didn't necessarily mean it in a mean way, she was just saying it the way that she saw it.

"Alright, so you've got mister slipped-through-your-fingers and missus not-object-of-infatuation here with you now, and you're not over the moon about it." As she gave the two mystery survivors their brand new and very long names, she shrugged her shoulders. "And you just killed them both in your last trial and got a tie. I'm confused, big man, because I'd be kinda happy if I were you."

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Thank god," Cody said with a slight smile of his own at the confirmation that, yes, there were no more trials at least for now. He wasn't sure he could deal with any more today after that last one. The clearing was definitely more crowded than it had been before now that he took another look around though, they were right.

He let out a little laugh at Feng's words. Might help though, all things considered. At least gives them something to do, he supposed. Then he looked over at Mikaela, wanting to say something now that they could actually talk and weren't running for their lives in a trial.

"Didn't exactly get the chance to say anything back there but Sable told us about you, by the way!" He wasn't sure where the girl in question was, probably around here somewhere though seeing how many new faces had popped up. "You two seem cool."

He hadn't really talked to Mikaela too much besides right now, but from what Sable had said and their current conversation, he stood by that. Honestly, he was surprised everyone they'd talked to so far pretty much was so... nice. He was kind of expecting at least one of them to not be as friendly considering the circumstances, but maybe they'd just been lucky. (Or people felt bad because of everything with Danny... no, he was pretty sure people were being genuine. At least right now.)

---

"I'm too emotional?" Danny echoed, looking between the two. He didn't need to see either of their faces to know the both of them were smiling under there. Frank shrugged at Susie's words, though he kind of had to agree. The guy definitely did seem like he was having lots of feelings over this right now. Not good ones.

"You wouldn't understand," Danny started, which Frank thought made him sound like some edgy teenager or something... ironic seeing who that was coming from. "You two didn't have people dragged here by the Entity with you as some sick joke, or whatever the hell. You all have... each other." He waved a hand, gesturing vaguely.

Which was another problem in itself, wasn't it? He didn't have anyone now, not really, despite how much he talked aimlessly to some of the other killers. More like talking to a wall sometimes, but. Semantics. He realized, once again too late, that maybe he was saying too much. Not good. Not at all, not when it was the Legion he was talking to. He didn't trust Susie saying she wouldn't go run off and tell anyone else, if he was being honest. Who knew with anyone here. But if anyone was going to talk, he'd have to say it'd be these guys.

"I am happy about killing them," he said then. That wasn't a lie. It'd made him feel slightly better. Or at least, finally getting Cody had. Winnie? Not so much. Not when she wouldn't shut up at the end. "Well. One of them."

"You ever have someone keep talking until their very last breath? Just trying to spite you, make you upset? Cause that's what I just had to deal with. At least the other one, he went down quick."

Quick was... well. Maybe not the best word. Quick at the very end, he should've said. Cody had ran him around for a while but they didn't need to worry about that.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Mikaela returned her attention to Cody again when he had turned to speak to her, and a bashful smile crawled its way onto her face. "Hope she had nice things to say." A joke, obviously, as her words were followed up with a chuckle. She knew that Sable didn't have anything bad to say—considering the fact that Sable came here looking for  Mikaela, it would be pretty wild if she had anything bad to say about her. "Well, thank you. You two seem pretty cool, too. Not every day you find one of us giving one of them as much shit as you guys—and you just got here."

The whole stabbing fiasco was definitely interesting. Word spreads fast amongst the survivors, and there was an even divide of support for the action and general anxiety regarding it. Mikaela didn't find herself fussing over it very much, if at all. All the power to him, really, for having the guts to do something like that.

"Here, how about you two come with me while I try to find her. I'm sure she'd be happy to sit and talk with you guys again." Mikaela offered, pausing for a moment to wave a brief goodbye to Feng who was slowly inching away. Once the girl had slipped away, she returned her gaze to the pair.

Winnie cast a lopsided smile at Cody when Mikaela had said she also thought they were cool—she knew it was mostly, if not entirely, aimed at him. She was proud of him, even if she had been freaking out during the whole situation.

"I wouldn’t mind at all. Sable was really nice, I'd be more than happy to chat with her some more." It would be good to make some friends here, Winnie decided. Mikaela and Sable seemed to be good friend material, too.

---

Propping a hand on her hip, Susie nodded as if it was obvious. Yes, I fear it's true. You're emotional, Ghostface. She couldn't help but think to herself, clearly entertained.

Behind the mask, Susie's eyes darted towards Frank for but a moment. The irony in Ghostface's words didn't have to be pointed out, she was sure her friend would pick up on that too.

By the sounds of it, the dude was lonely. For all of his rambling, he didn't really have anyone that listened to any of it. Did that really matter here, though? Kill or be killed, feelings be damned, it didn't really matter. Then again, Susie had people to talk to anyway. She had friends, and even for all of the anxiety that Frank gave her sometimes, she was still willing to consider him to be her friend too. The Legion was lucky that they had been taken here as one, all together.

He went on, though, and like the pretend therapist that Susie was suddenly taking on the role of, she nodded. Well, a very shitty, under-qualified therapist. Nevertheless, the point here is she was listening.

"Uh-huh." Sure sounded like he was overjoyed to have been given the blessing to kill them time and time again. Oh, who was she kidding, she didn't believe him at all! Did she say anything about that, though? No. It wasn't her place, she could recognize that much.

"Nope. Never." For extra emphasis, Susie popped the 'p' on nope. "I mean, I don't think so, at least... If anyone has, I don't remember. I usually tune them out, unless they're talking to each other. Doesn't matter what they have to say to me." Then, she looked to Frank for his thoughts on the matter.

Yeah, sure, some mean words and remarks had been thrown at her before. So many times she couldn't even count. Still, those were just mean words spat at her after successful pallet drops, or out of frustration, fear... It didn't really mean anything to her. Hell, she'd said some mean things to some particularly annoying survivors, too. Susie just didn't take any of it to heart, didn't let any of it hurt her, because it didn't matter to her. The only thing that mattered to her here were her friends.

"Why do you care so much about what they say to you anyway?"

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody agreed with that -- Sable had been nice before, so if she was around right now, maybe all four of them could talk? It seemed like Sable had been looking for Mikaela the last time anyways when she'd brought her up, but maybe she was in a trial or something. Guess now they could all meet each other.

Not long after they'd been looking around for her, Sable had shown up near the fire. Her last trial had dragged on a bit, but seeing everyone here now, guess that was it for the day. Thankfully. She spotted Mikaela and the other two and headed over to see them.

"Everyone have fun during their trials?" It was very much sarcastic, but she probably wouldn't have said it if she'd known what Cody and Winnie just came back from... oops. That's just how she was though, saying stuff like that.

"Definitely," Cody replied. Definitely not, but that much was probably obvious. Pretty sure a 'fun trial' wasn't a thing. Even with all that though, he was feeling a bit better now that he knew for a fact they were done for the day, and now he had these two to talk to as well as Winnie.

---

Frank looked over at Susie, then back to Ghostface. He'd like to say the same, but honestly, he could understand the older killer's frustration. Maybe not totally -- he wasn't there with him of course, but he'd definitely gotten pissed off over stuff like that more times than he could count. Definitely not for the same reasons, as Ghostface had already said. 'They wouldn't understand.' Maybe not fully, but Frank sort of got it, he thought at least. He'd had his fair share of both survivors saying shit to him and him doing the same.

"I mean, I kinda get it," he started. "Yeah, we don't know any of the survivors like that, but sometimes they're annoying as fuck."

"Annoying's an understatement," Danny replied. Frank just let out another little laugh.

"Don't think I've had anyone do what you just said though either... mostly they just get you to chase 'em the whole trial and then stand at the gate and act proud of themselves." He continued, shrugging again -- he wasn't really sure what else to say about that part.

Danny's gaze flicked back to Susie when she asked him that. Why did he care? He kind of faltered for a moment.

"Would you not care if you'd never had a single victim get away, and then you thought you killed them, and now they're here with you?"

"Don't think that's the one Susie was asking about," Frank said, noticing the way Danny froze again but not pointing it out. "You didn't say he said anything."

"...Alright, both of you get the hell out of here. Go do whatever it is you do when you're not in trials. I'm leaving." Danny finally said after an awkward moment of him and Frank just kind of staring at each other. Yeah, no. He wasn't explaining anything else. Not anything that had to do with her at least. If they found it out themselves somehow, then whatever, but he wasn't going to try and tell them that whole story. Not now. Probably not ever.

When Ghostface had left, Frank turned back to Susie again.

"I think you were right the first time," he said, and you could hear the smirk in his voice even without seeing his face. He was of course referring to her asking if he'd got 'infatuated' with whoever this was.

"How much you wanna bet he did get obsessed with her or some shit and then... well, you know how it goes with the stalker ones." He didn't get that, not entirely. That wasn't his -- or the other's, really -- style of doing things.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Speak of the devil, and so she appears. Sable was easy to spot amongst the crowd—she stuck out like a sore thumb with her sense of style. Not a bad thing at all, of course. She was a unique woman and she had a style to suit that.

When Sable had made her way over, Mikaela was all smiles—happy to see her closest friend after a long "day" of trials. Today hadn't been particularly terrible for Mikaela, but it also wasn't good either. Kind of neutral, but definitely better than the days that the two newbies had. "Had the time of my life, I don't know about you guys."

Winnie sighed, relieved at the new, light-hearted feel in the air. "Fun is definitely a word to describe it."

Now with the jokes out in the air, Mikaela led the group closer to the fire to snag a spot by the fire before it got too crowded. Most people preferred to stick around the fire, but now with everyone here, the survivors usually felt a bit more secure in their safety. Enough to scatter more around the clearing, some even drawing a bit close to the trees lining their space. It was nice, sort of welcoming, in a way. For a moment, this place could maybe be mistaken for a real, friendly campground... Minus the tents and camping amenities.

"Happy first official deadtime to our newest pair of sorry sacks!" Mikaela spoke playfully once she sat down, earning a few sarcastic words of congratulations from a few others that were seated around the campfire as well.

Winnie, almost flustered by the attention, laughed softly and looked down at her lap. "Right, right... Happy deadtime."

"Maybe the entity will give you a gift for your efforts today—charm or something, I dunno. Sometimes she'll give us new outfits, too." Mikaela sounded almost thoughtful as she expressed the idea—Winnie, on the other hand, found her words to be a bit confusing. To express that, she just quirked a curious brow.

---

Despite Susie previously stating that she wasn't one to be bothered by the survivors and their own shenanigans, she couldn't help but groan when Frank brought up such a familiar scenario. Those survivors that would just stand at the gate, taunt you, maybe even flick a flashlight on and off in your face—she audibly groaned. "Okay, yeah. That does annoy me, actually, I can't lie."

Then, the conversation had returned to Ghostface's troubles, and she couldn't help but tilt her head at his question. She supposed she'd care if she were in his shoes, but still, this escaped victim of his wouldn't be able to escape him here. Sure, it could be seen as the ultimate mockery from the entity, but it could also kind of be seen as a gift, too. That's how Susie chose to see it, anyway.

"He got you there." Susie couldn't help but muse when Ghostface had momentarily frozen up. It looked like Frank had hit the nail on the head, really, and the guy's refusal to speak about it further only seemed to prove it.

After a moment of watching the older killer practically flee the area, she pivoted on her heel to face her friend once more. "Looks like you struck a nerve."

Brandishing her makeshift blade again, she shifted to look at the tree. Lifting her hand, she etched a crude, barely there, tiny smile into the bark. "I'm not even sure if we need to bet on it. Either way, maybe he should just try to be happy 'bout it, I dunno..."

Once her crude carving had been finished, she tucked her blade safely away into the pocket of her sweater. "Whatever, that's big man's problem. Do you think Julie and Joey are back yet?"

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Sable had been one of the ones who chimed in at Mikaela's 'congratulations' of sorts, and Cody offered a little smile of his own. He glanced back at Mikaela when she spoke about... them getting outfits? He blinked in what might be confusion, same as Winnie.

"Huh," is all he said for a moment. That's... interesting, he guessed.

"Yeah, I know." Sable looked over at him. "I don't get it either, trust me. Don't think any of us do, but hey, if the Entity wants to make this a fashion show instead of a death game, then have at it."

Both of them laughed at that. Cody hadn't seen anyone in different outfits... well, not that he knew of -- not like he was super familiar with anyone here just yet anyways, but the idea was amusing when Sable put it like that. Did it do the same thing for the killers, he wondered?

"I'd ask where it even gets that kind of stuff, but actually I don't want to know." Half joking, half not. Probably the same way it created any of this, or the other places here, and who knows if anyone here even had an explanation for that. Then again, if they'd figured out the whole... 'it feeding on emotions thing,' then maybe someone did. Oh well. He didn't really wanna think about all that right now, so he stopped that train of thought where it was.

"...What do you guys even do when this time comes around?" Perhaps a stupid question, but he also wasn't sure what else there was to do besides sit around and talk. Not that he was against that, no. He was having a much better time than during trials already. Just was curious. He hadn't been too far out in the woods besides way earlier when they'd been shown the other little buildings scattered around, so maybe there was other stuff out there he didn't know about?

---

"Looks like it," Frank agreed, watching Ghostface run off. Yep. Definitely too emotional. Had to agree with Susie on that part too.

He watched her carve into the tree while she spoke, nodding. Yeah, probably. If it were him, he'd be happy... he thinks, at least. Not like they've had it happen before, and he's pretty sure there's no one they knew from way back then that the Entity would pull here now, so probably no chance of it happening in the future. Either way.

"Probably. If we've been out here for this long, I think trials are done," he said, looking around as if he expected them to appear. No such luck. Well, if Ghostface was gone, maybe they should head off to look for the others. Or if not, he was sure they'd find them. Always did, it seemed like. The four of them were all together more often than not.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Fashion show instead of a death game, ha. They weren't being serious about that, were they? They weren't barbie dolls. Maybe it was kind of nice to think about, though. Maybe the entity would give her a nice new sun dress for the warmer trials.

Either way, Winnie just gave a soft laugh instead of asking any questions.

"Whatever we can do to pass the time, really." Mikaela said with a shrug. "Depends on who's around, honestly. Sit around, tell stories... If Kate's in a good mood, maybe she'll sing us a song. Oh, sometimes Sable and I like to explore a bit."

Sable liked to explore, and Mikaela just liked to tag along. Mikaela didn't like trekking out into the forest, but she didn't mind heading out to certain trial grounds 'after hours'. Well, okay, she only really enjoyed heading out to one in specific, but she also didn't mind exploring elsewhere if Sable ever wanted to do so. They've had more close encounters with killers than they could count during this time, but she couldn't complain, really. They knew the risk that they were taking every time they went out on their little expeditions during dead time, and they knew exactly who could be waiting for them out there.

"There's an arcade out in Greenville. Some of the arcade machines work, so we've been, uh," Mikaela paused for a moment, an almost embarrassed chuckle escaping her before she continued. "We've been playing for the top spot on the leaderboard for a while now on a few of the working games, it's... I mean, it's probably the most fun you'll find in a place like this."

Winnie seemed to be intrigued by this, although she personally hadn't been one for arcades back home, she knew that they were still fun. Like Mikaela said, probably the most fun they'd have here. "Greenville? Where's that? I don't... I mean, I really don't think we've been there. At least I haven't. What about you, Cody?"

 

[weiirdw0lf]

Cody looked over at Winnie, then back at the other two, shaking his head. Not that he was aware of -- the place he'd been to before their last trial, the only one without Danny, it'd looked like an old junkyard. No arcade machines in sight, just rusted cars and whatever other stuff lying around.

"Oh, it's... well, not our place, but kind of, in a way?" Sable started. Normally if one were to refer to the other realms as belonging to someone, it'd be one of the killers. Which this one did belong to a killer too. It also happened to be the Entity's recreation of somewhere back in their home town. "Entity made it pretty close to the real thing, I'd say."

Cody just nodded. So all of the places they were sent to for trials were based on... something real? Some place people here had once known? He guessed that made sense. He honestly wasn't sure if it was better or worse him and Winnie hadn't come across a place that resembled something they knew. Figured they would've by now if they'd already seen Danny twice. Might've helped, being familiar with it, but it also would've just been a reminder of things he didn't want to think about. He briefly wondered if Sable or Mikaela ever felt that way then when they went to this one, being reminded of somewhere they couldn't return. He tried to push away those thoughts -- they were trying to have a good time here! Well, as good as one could get, like Mikaela said.

"Wait, how do we even get there then?" Cody asked. Sure, they'd been to different places for the trials, but you could get there outside of them, on your own? Without the fog coming and taking you away? No one had told them about that. "Sounds better than sitting around here to me, so... count me in." He looked over at Winnie then, as if waiting to see what she'd say.

"...Actually, wait-- If this is your place, I better not see that thing from our trial before running around!" He turned back to Sable. He was being serious even if he laughed a bit while saying it, unsure if the killer in question would be there. Sable said her and Mikaela knew about it, and Sable was the one to explain its powers to him and Winnie, so... he guessed it wasn't too far fetched. Did the killers even stay in those areas or did they all come back here? If the survivors were apparently allowed to go outside of trials, surely the killers could too? Lots of questions he didn't have answers to and wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Maybe they were about to find out, though.

 

[MoggieMoof]

Winnie hummed softly in consideration when Cody shook his head—in the grand scheme of things, neither of them had been to very many different realms. They had only been to three each, four altogether, and Winnie couldn't help but think... How many different realms did the entity have?

"Mhm, it's kind of our place." Mikaela leaned over to playfully knock her shoulder against Sable's teasing her a bit about her confident choice words. "It's just like it was back home but... Also not, if that makes sense? I mean, the entity has a way of making everything appear more disturbing than it originally was, so it's got something a bit more sinister going on now in comparison to how it was."

That went without saying, though. At least in Winnie's opinion. Nevertheless, she nodded in understanding, and Cody had asked the million dollar question that she was also wondering.

"Would you believe me if I said you have to close your eyes and just think about it?" Mikaela asked with a soft chuckle, because she had to admit, it sounded kind of bizarre. Entirely bizarre, really, but everything was a little bit absurd here. "Could be a bit hard for someone who's never been there before to get there, but, no harm in trying."

Winnie raised her brows at the curly-haired girl, offering her an almost sheepish smile. Was that really going to work, or was this some sort of rite of passage for newbies? "No way you're being serious."

At the thought of running into whatever Cody and Sable had seen earlier, she physically cringed—not something she wanted to see today if she didn't have to. Although she didn't know what it looked like, she could vaguely put together an image in her head. Whatever she put together for herself definitely wouldn't be half as bad as the real thing, though.

 

[weiirdw0lf]

"Yep, she's serious," Sable said, looking over at Mikaela. Cody was just as confused by this -- it seemed... stupid, almost? That it was that easy to do such a thing. Well, he'd say it was easy -- at least if you knew the place like Mikaela had said -- compared to what he assumed they might have to do. Go wandering out who knows how far into the woods and hope they don't run into any killers. But no, they could just... what, get magically sent there the same way they got taken to trials, basically? You learn something new every day about this place.

"As for that, well... no promises." She grinned as if it was funny to her, which Cody just shook his head at. Really though, who knows if any killers would be around. The Unknown was the only one tied to that particular realm, the one they wanted to go to, at least that Sable was aware of. She was pretty sure sometimes the killers would stay in their respective realms between trials as Cody had been wondering. Not that she really wanted to run into it or any others either, but it certainly could be a possibility...

"Should we go, then?" She tilted her head, glancing between the three.

"That doesn't exactly make me want to," Cody answered with a huff of laughter. He still would, of course. (Could they be hurt outside of trials if they were basically invading one of the killer's... territory or whatever? He hoped not.)

"What about you?" He looked back to Winnie. "Don't know if it'll work but like I said, better than sitting around here, I think."