A New Challenger Approaches

[sentbydpd]

He'd thought at first that it was a nightmare, a result of a bender after a particularly bad case; no matter how the people in his life that cared about him tried, the alcohol was still part of his life, a crutch and a numbing agent that he preferred over facing his problems and the people that were involved. The fog, dark and glittering with sinister red flecks, enveloping him where he'd collapsed in the stairwell of his building, making him feel as if he had slid back down them until he was lying in damp grass and staring up at stars that make him think that he's no longer in the middle of downtown Detroit.

Worse, he was sober. He wanted to die and he no longer had a drop of alcohol in his system to dull it. Miserable, cold, and aching, Connor sat up and inspected himself in case there might be some indication of what had happened to him. But there was nothing, just patches of wetness from the grass on his jeans and the outer layer of his slightly obnoxiously patterned button-up, the plain black shirt underneath untucked but otherwise pristine. He sat in the grass for a long while and puzzled quietly over it all, before pushing himself to his feet and panning around for any sign of life.

He didn't recognize what kind of trees he was surrounded by, so that told him he wasn't close to home. Concerning. He started to walk straight in the hopes of finding any indication that civilization might be nearby, trailed by that same mist that curled around his ankles until he found a bubble of blessed firelight. Nobody present that he could tell, but the presence of the bonfire and arranged logs around it told him that they couldn't have gone far, nor that they'd been gone for long. So he sat, elbows on his knees and his hands rubbing together slowly in front of his mouth as he debated on how to approach whatever was happening to him now. If he'd been kidnapped, he at least knew how to handle that.

Comments

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"There's about thirty of us here....wait no...thirty five?" Jake looked to be counting on his fingers before they were interrupted by Cheryl and Adam. The survivalist was on his feet in an instant, already moving over to help the other man with his shoulder wound while giving the woman an encouraging sort of smile. When the two went their separate ways, Jake continued as he wiped his bloodied hands on his pants. He'd long since given up on caring about that sort of thing.

"On their side there's about 31 I think? We only see one at a time thankfully, but they're all crazy." Shaking his head he looked back at Conner to see him looking after the two's retreating figures.

"I'm sure there's an empty cabin around here somewhere, if not you can bunk with me. There are a couple of us who share a cabin since there's so many of us. I used to but...heh Dwight's been staying somewhere else lately."

[sentbydpd]

Slowly he was collecting names, and over time he'd be collecting more, and faces to match them. For now he just needed the basics, and thankfully he had someone willing to help him at least for the time being.

"You don't have to do that," he replied at the offer of bunking with Jake. "If you all have to deal with this shit the last thing you should have to give up is your privacy."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"What and make you sleep out here by the fire? No way," Jake shook his head. "Besides, we don't really have much privacy anyways."

Looking up at the sky Jake sighed and relaxed onto his hands that were propped on the log.

"I'm used to not having a lot of privacy so don't worry about it. If I have a problem I'll just go for a hike." Turning his head he looked back at Conner. "Seriously though, we look out for each other around here. Well...most of us do anyways. If you see a brightly dressed Korean woman....her name is Yun-Jin and you're better off stearing clear of her."

[sentbydpd]

Brightly dressed Korean woman, best avoided. "Noted. Ok...last pertinent question, what are the physical rules? Eating, drinking, everything that comes with that, is that actually a thing to worry about?" He doubted it, but it was best to know one way or the other.

Connor was quiet and listened dutifully to everything, as if nothing were surprising to him beyond his initial arrival here. He thumbed his lower lip and stared into the fire without really seeing it, curls falling over his brow.

"Well, I guess it's better than fire and brimstone." And more peaceful than his former life, at least for the moment. He'd take the positives where he could find them.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Well from what some of us have noticed we don't really need to eat or drink....or sleep for that matter. If we do it's just for some sort of normalcy." From his spot he watched the flames dance in the air, watched the bits of embers fly up and go out on the still air around them

"Just wait until you're facing the collapse....you start seeing everything start glowing red at the seems and you have to find your way out before the killer gets you....or the ground does."

Jake...you aren't helping.

"But yeah, I guess it is better than your traditional hell in some ways. At least we get time to relax."

[sentbydpd]

"Guess I'll see in time if the downtime is a good thing or not."

Connor tucked his chin into one hand and stared blearily into the fire, only looking up when others started to wander into view and either take up spots here and there around it, or else meander off to be alone. Some were sporting injuries, others looked relatively well rested, though almost all of them regarded this new rather morose-looking young man with understandable suspicion coupled with the same bone-deep weariness with which Jake had. He exchanged names with them when one of them, a rather chipper young black woman named Claudette, asked him and then confirmed that he'd just arrived, that he was unhurt, and that he was alive. She was actually kind of started to learn the date he last remembered, as she'd started asking several of them to try and get a better idea on what to expect from them. Comparatively, Connor was from the future, which seemed to be of great interest to her, though personally he didn't see the relevance here. He was patient in answering her questions at least, knowing she was just doing her best as the apparent local physician of their motley crew.

It was in the process of this questioning that anyone listening would learn that he was a homicide detective, much like Tapp. He came with heightened perception by dint of his training and a technical prowess that would help him to catch on fast to the patterns of this place. Perhaps most helpfully, if disturbingly, he seemed to be taking all of this in stride. Like he didn't particularly care that he'd ended up in what Claudette had opted to refer to as Purgatory, rather than Hell as Jake had offered by way of explanation.

When she decided she was satisfied, Connor finally leaned back to Jake and lowered his voice. "I think I'll take you up on that bunk now."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

Taking a swig of whatever watered down booze Bill had swiped from Dead Dog's before chuckling quietly and handing the bottle back to the elderly man.

"Come on," Jake got up, motioning for Connor to join him as he clapped a blonde man, Felix he had introduced himself as, on the back before heading in the direction of his own cabin.

Getting there he opens the rather rickety door and steps inside to light a couple of the lamps. They're oil by the looks of it but Jake had never needed to refill them so he stopped asking and instead did his best to make the place feel homey. At least to him.

"The beds aren't exactly feather beds and the sheets aren't a high thread count, but it's home here." Jake waved to one of the beds that looked like it hadn't been slept in for a while, made up neatly with an extra blanket folded at the foot of the bed. "You can sleep there."

Moving over to his own side Jake flopped down on his bed and pulled out a piece of wood and what looked like a sharpened rock and started to wittle away at it.

"Don't mind Claud, she means well. Things have been weird here lately and it's been a while since we've had a new person come in. Wonder if it means there's a new killer too...there usually is. Any creepy crawly things or mas murderers from your world that you could be connected to?"

[sentbydpd]

Connor's eyes followed the bottle as it changed hands, but he kept it to himself as he made to follow behind Jake. He met others' eyes with a steady look, not quite challenging or intimidating, terribly world-weary for as young as he seemed. There would surely be some speculation over what would be happening with this guy before they were tossed into another match.

In the meantime, Connor was happy to just sit down on the edge of the offered bed without a thought spared to the quality of it. He just rubbed his hands over his face and grumbled his acknowledgment of Jake attempting to be hospitable. The question of what might be following him here was met with a bleary sort of frown, and he took a long moment to consider what he'd seen over the course of his life.

His first thought was one of his youngest siblings, and the man that helped him at the funeral home he owned. But from what he'd heard of the monsters so far, he couldn't say Curtis fit that bill and Toby didn't strike him as a particularly bad person.

"All my monsters were just human beings that did bad shit. There was one...fucking Frankenstein type. Made household androids into horrific things that could still walk around and try to function. So...maybe him, or one of them."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

Sitting up Jake set aside his carving and looked at the other with wide eyes.

"That's fucked up, why would someone-no wait...I can consider the why. The same reason as some of the crazies here. Because they can. Because it's 'fun' in their fucked up views." Jake grumbled and shook his head. "It could have grabbed someone like that...or one of his creations and tormented it...made it kill for It."

There's a heavy sigh as Jake looked up at Conner again.

"So are there a lot of them...androids I mean? I'm guessing you mean like actually androids and not just the simple robots we have."

[sentbydpd]

Connor got the impression that he would be seeing that reaction a lot when it came to the existence of androids. He nodded as Jake answered one of his own questions without much effort. Then he started searching through his pockets as he explained further:

"The android rollout after Kamski took over at Cyberlife was pretty damn fast actually. First prototypes were being tested when I was still in training and by 2034 they were being mass produced for home use. Housekeeping, secretarial work, stuff like that. They got more nuanced over time, more complicated and more buggy 'til..." He put his fingers to his temple like a gun, thumb coming down like the hammer. His hand fell away and he finally swore quietly as his pockets came up empty. Where the fuck had his quarter gone?

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Wow that's...something else." Jake shook his head. "They always make movies about robots or androids or whatever taking over and enslaving humanity but...it's just a bunch of shit for Hollywood. I feel like the closer to human something becomes the more miserable it is."

Jake being deep? Look he has had a lot of time in the woods to just be by himself with his own thoughts and the animals around him. There was a lot of self reflection and introspection.

"I guess in some ways this place isn't so bad...if you don't count the being hunted and killed from time to time. It's quiet at least...and you don't have to worry about bills or money...or family expectations."

[sentbydpd]

"Yeah it was less of an enslaving humanity thing and more, they were realizing that they were being badly abused and started telling people to cut that shit out, and it turns out humans still don't like being told what to do with what they perceive as property. Go figure, right?" Deadpan, sarcastic. His fingers fidget idly with lint plucked from the hem of his shirt when he couldn't find his coin.

While Connor himself could admit to moments of deep introspection and existential quandary, currently he's just exhausted and irritable and not looking forward to whatever is coming next.

"I miss my dog already."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Yikes, yeah that sounds about right." Jake sighed, his own hands starting to fiddle with the little carving he had been working on in the rough shape of a bird maybe? Seeing the way Connor was fidgeting sort of made Jake smile, there were a few people around who had nervous habits like that. He was constantly catching Dwight bite at his names, Felix fussing with his sleeves, even caught Nea drumming on her legs with a random stick she would find. Stopping his own fidgeting he looked over at his shelf of little finds and plucked up stone that had been worn down in just the right way.

Clearing his throat he tossed it to the other carefully before going back to his own carving again.

"A dog huh? What kind?"

[sentbydpd]

The clearing of Jake's throat drew his attention in time for Connor to catch the stone, the round, flat shape of it fitting easily between his fingers. The smallest quirk of lips softened his face considerably as he started to roll the stone across his knuckles, back and forth with fluid ease. The question of his dog made him relax just that little bit more.

"Samoyed. I got him when he was still so little he was just a fluffy white triangle with black spots for a face so the name on his certificate's Musubi. We call 'im Riceball though. Same snack, different filling."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Riceball, heh, that's cute." Jake chuckled as he watched the stone move in the other mans hands. "Dexterous, good. You're gonna need that when you're working on gens. Damn things can be really finicky."

Holding up the figure he was carving, definitely a bird of some kind now, he blew off some of the shavings while examining it closer.

"Never had a dog growing up, dad was pretty strict and always liked the house as clean as possible. Dogs make a mess." He shrugged as he went back, adding smaller details with the very edge of the sharpened stone. "But I had a lot more contact with animals after I went off on my own. Animals are way better than people in my opinion."

[sentbydpd]

If he'd had his phone available he might have held it out to show his dog off, as all good pet owners must.

"You're probably gonna have to walk me through that initially. My brother's the technical one out of us."

A worrying thought, the idea that his brother was probably having to deal with a lot of heavy shit alone right now. He wondered if he'd actually died and now his brothers and sisters were having to deal with that. They're all plenty capable, of course, but emotionally Conrad would be destroyed and he shuddered to think of Curt being the one to take care of his arrangements, even while he knew the guy was a consummate professional when it came to funeral service.

"mm," he replied distractedly at the idea of animals being preferable to people. Jake wasn't wrong, that's for sure. "We're pretty diligent about picking up after him but yeah, he's a loud, high energy ball of fluff. Lots of grooming."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"No worries, I've been doing it for a few years now so I can show you the ropes if we get into one together. If not don't hesitate to ask one of the others, someone's bound to help you." Smiling as he shaved another bit off, forming a difference between the round body and the tucked in wing before going about making cursory lines for flight feathers.

"Dad was the type who was like...we had maids and shit...place was like the cover of some magazine. Complete with the perfect little family who was successful and never did anything wrong." He rolled his eyes. "Too bad for him I guess, bet he's eating up the press with me missing now though."

There's a bitter tone at the end but he finally does look back at Connor, smiling at the idea of a ball of fluff running around.

"Man that sounds so cute, I wish I had a dog...best I got here are some crows that like to bring me things."

[sentbydpd]

Connor continued to flip the stone idly between his fingers, listening as Jake talked. To him it sounded like something that the other guy had been sitting on for some time, not really talking much about his life before now. So Connor just nodded vaguely, encouraging him silently to go on. The mention of the crows gets a soft, vague smile, tilted on one side and barely there.

"I get the impression that animals aren't really a thing here besides your crows. I didn't hear anything out there in the woods when I had to walk here besides occasional crows and some insects. If this isn't the real world it makes sense the wildlife is limited."

He finally let himself relax, stripping off the outer layer of his button-up and hanging it off the corner of the bed then kicking off his shoes and laying back with his hands atop his stomach.

"At least everyone here that I've seen seems willing to cooperate with eachother. Guess I'll see if that extends to these 'trials' too."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Yeah them, the rats, and some bugs...that's really it." Jake shrugged, setting his carving aside he moved to the lamps to turn them off. "I thijnk I'm gonna tuck in for the 'night'. We may not need to sleep but really...it's nice to sometimes."

Plopping down on his bed he opened the window next to it and turned to grab a small handful of what looked likes seeds in the darkness, setting them there before laying out on his own bed. "If I don't see ya before your first match, good luck."

Rolling over he let his eyes close and focused on the sounds outside the window. The birds and the bugs, the wind moving the branches, and Kate's quiet music playing by the fire.

--

When Jake felt the call it was more of a burden and annoyance than anything else. Called to the fire along with three others, and one just happened to be the new guy.

"Hey! Connor! Looks like I'll get to show you the ropes after all." He grinned, clapping the other on the shoulder before looking at the others, surprised to see Yun-Jin and Ace sitting around the fire as well. Reaching into a pocket he pulled out a bundle of pinkish violet flowers. Tossing them into the fire they release a strong floral scent.

"We have a few offerings that we can get, things that we place in the fire for various outcomes. Better luck with things, specific arenas, that sort of thing." He explained when he was sure to get a look from the new guy.

[sentbydpd]

Connor slept restlessly in the new environment with unfamiliar sounds all around. He was accustomed to the city, not wilderness. Traffic and muffled voices, not insect chirps and wind through leaves. He'd get accustomed to it in time he was sure, but for now, he would suffer through it.

When the call came, he couldn't say he was surprised. The thing that had called them, the Entity, it would want to test his mettle before giving him the chance to collect anything to augment his ability. He needed to learn what he was doing before getting fancy with it.

He stared at Jake when the man almost jovially approached him, giving him that clap on the shoulder in passing then explaining the flowers. He nodded; it sounded about right, the ritualistic nature of the offerings in a place that defied scientific explanation or logic. Connor nodded and looked around at the other two, nodding to each of them and getting a brief amusement from the finger-guns shot at him by the gangly older man in his ridiculous shades, hat, and a shirt that Connor could readily admit he wanted. He was somewhat bolstered by the confidence of the two men, and he hoped that Yun-Jin wouldn't be as much of a problem as he'd been warned about.

When the Fog started to creep in, he followed the three of them into it, only to emerge once more after a few minutes' travel in utter darkness into a forest that gently pissed rain down on their heads. He glanced around at the architecture and frowned. Unfamiliar to him from the outside, but maybe he could suss out the detail if he explored. He got the impression that it would be a terrible idea to call out for one of the others' attention, and so just eased himself up against the trunk of a tree with his eyes closed to simply listen.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

Creeping along the grass Jake tried to keep himself as quiet and as low as possible. Seeing Connor he made his way over tapping the other on the leg before raising a hand to quiet anything that he might say.

Motioning for the other to follow him, Jake made his way towards a gen. When the lights were in sight, flickering in and out like they did, he motioned up to them. A way to see where gens were without searching like a chicken with their head cut off. Making his way over he flipped down one of the panels and started pulling out wires. Looking over his shoulder to make sure Connor was looking he motioned to the small diagram on the inside and then to the wires.

"Just be careful and if it backfires, stay alert. I mean stay alert all ways but you get it. If it blows it'll give away our position and whoever it is might come here." He spoke quietly as he stood and motioned for Connor to take his place before he moved to what he considered one of the more complicated jobs on the side.

[sentbydpd]

Connor's eyes popped open at the touch at his leg, lips barely parting before he was preemptively silenced by the gesture. He nodded at Jake's gestures and followed along, keeping himself low and giving their surroundings a somewhat paranoid look.

The generator looks so much older than anything that he'd seen in his life. Detroit in his time certainly had its disparity of aesthetics, from the old houses that were yet to be torn down to the sleek metal and glass that made up the city center, to the huge, pricey houses belonging to the well-to-do. This thing was a relic of decades past. God he wished his brother was here.

Rather than responding, Connor just listened and watched intently, then crouched down in Jake's place and read over the instruction panel first, before reaching into the machine and drawing the wiring out into clearer view. The dim lighting here made this all the more difficult, and Connor licked his lips fitfully as he started to strip back the insulation around the wires to try and make them fire appropriately before twisting them together to maintain the circuit. The panel at least was helpful in letting him figure what wires wouldn't cross to make the thing backfire, and he actually seemed to get the hang of it fairly quickly. The machine was already chugging along with half its pistons going when he heard the echoing song in the distance. He put down the wires to keep himself from fucking it up as he stared out across the misty landscape.

"What the hell is that?"

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Shit shit shit....of course it's her." Jake sighed as he moved to reach into the generator to grab something and twist it just right, glad when he didn't get a face full of sparks. Looking up over the contraption as he worked Jake squinted for a moment before completely removing himself from his work. Seeing sparks fly for a moment he cursed under his breath.

"Fucking bastards teaching each other this shit...." He seemed to go back to work almost immiediately as well as speaking to the other in hurried but low voice.

"Alright so she's known as The Huntress. She's like seven foot tall and throws hatchets. If we're hearing her singing then she's close but when you start hearing your heartbeat in your ears...that's when you know she's close. Don't run unless you have to, it leaves a weird trace that they can follow. If you can break line of sight and hide that's your best bet. There are lockers but....she checks them a lot because that is also where her hatchets are."

He finally takes a breath, narrowly misfiring with a wire as he looked up at Connor again. "Just...don't let her see you and...be mindful of falling hatchets I guess?"

[sentbydpd]

The look on Connor's face as Jake explained that they were being tracked by someone literally titled The Huntress said it all. Intrigue overshadowed by horror, coupled with the idea that they could at any moment be blindsided by a flying hatchet, had him all the more intensely on alert. He glanced briefly around them for anything that might help them out, then blinked and held up a hand before creeping away with his head below the tops of the foliage all around. He could see a little...sculpture? Something that looked like a child's craft project, if not for the inclusion of human skulls. The tealights beneath it weren't lit, and he imagined they would be difficult to keep lit in the rain.

He had to investigate. It was in his nature. It was his purpose. It had him creeping out toward the thing and his weight shifting so that he was down on one knee, looking at the totem with his hands hovering around it as it trying to discern what it was, and whether it should be left alone or not. He didn't notice the lullaby growing louder until it had gotten to the point that he realized exactly what Jake had meant by the heartbeat in his ears. Because the closer the singing grew, the quicker his pulse grew, and he looked up at the same moment that a hatchet was raised.

"Fuck," he barked before scrambling to his feet and sprinting off in a direction that was nowhere near Jake.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

Watching Connor move to examine the totem had Jake sort of smiling. He forgot to mention those, of course as soon as he went to open his mouth and say something he heard the familiar thrumming of his own heart in his ears and was forced to silence himself in favor of letting go of the gen and backing away into a hiding spot. Silently cursing he heard the woman's familiar "huh!" as she raised her hatchet and tossed mixed with Connor's curse and the sound of shoes hitting grass.

Peeking around the corner to make sure that the hulking giant of a woman had in fact chased the new comer, Jake returned to his gen.

He really hoped someone would take care of that damn hex soon...he hated when he couldn't get off a gen to save someone without the damn thing breaking down from just sitting there.

"You got this Jake, stick it and then you can go save the new guy. Just. Focus." Breathing he went back to work, ignoring the pained cries he was bound to hear.