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.

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[sentbydpd]

While Jake rounds the killer to get Connor down, Ace dips under her arm when she reels back to swing on him and put him back, taking the brunt of it to his back in a spot very close to where Connor had. His scream spurs Connor into motion, stumbling away from Jake and cramming himself in between a pair of rocks nearby enough that he can still hear them, and the wrathful vocalizations of the woman as she tries to rid herself of them.

The panic is making him stupid, but how can it not, when he's so near death? He literally has a readout blinking in the corner of his eye that tells him the status of specific pars of himself, and the damage is just too much for him to recover from here without a lot of assistance. Assistance more qualified than Jake, that was for damn sure, he thinks irritably at a dull throb from deep in his chest thanks to the damage to the hardware of him.

When he makes his way over to where he could hear a generator chugging along, he gets a look from Yun-Jin, part disgust, part interest, as he settles down to help her finish this up. She clearly doesn't trust this weirdly science-fiction guy, but he's at least good with his hands and quick on the uptake. They're able to finish the generator, but rather than even offering her assistance, she runs away at top speed. It leaves him staring after her for a moment, but really, what should he have expected?

He makes his way into the temple stationed in the middle of it all, and is struck by the architecture. It's old, and beautiful, and he can still hear that lullaby in the distance so he can only take it in on the fly as he heads downstairs to try and hide and patch up the wounds in the front of his body.

"Fuck, I need a smoke," he groans, making his way down a set of stairs that looks distinctly incongruous with the architecture. At the bottom the smell of blood and viscera makes his stomach churn, and the distant wailing and general vibe of this root cellar looking place has him turning in place to leave again. Unfortunately for him, though, that lullaby is getting closer. His blood is still on the floor. She knows that he's here.

And he can't run anymore.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

The scream Jake hears when the killer finally grabs and hooks Connor again makes him wince violently. Sure most people don't survive their first go but that doesn't mean it made it any easier to hear it. He has to shake himself and set about finishing their job.

He heard the final gen finish and can't help but sigh with relief as he jogged to one of the exit gates and began to open it. He felt every nerve in his body on fire, ready to jump away and hide or take off running at the first hint of a hatchet. Luckily it seemed like Ace had her attention and it wasn't long before he heard Yun-Jin sneaking her way over.

Stepping away he nodded to her to finish opening the door while he went to find their wayward old man and lead him there, soon holding back enough to run behind Ace and taking a hatchet to the back for his troubles. But it was fine, they got out.

Stumbling to the fire Jake kneeled down and rested his elbows on the log to catch his breath, knowing it was better to just sit and wait for Claud or one of the others to help him.

[sentbydpd]

Connor took some time before he was deposited by the fog back at the fireside, a groaning heap that didn't immediately move from its place just outside the firelight. When he did, he just sat up sluggishly and stared into the fire, shoving his hair back out of his face then just letting his head fall forward. His eyes were clenched shut tight as he self-assessed and found that he was no worse for wear, save for bruising in the shoulder that hat taken the majority of the damage.

He was quiet for a long moment before pushing himself up from the ground, stumbled at the immediate weakness in his knees, and had to catch himself before he faceplanted in the dirt.

"Wh...am I..."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

Looking up as Cheryl came over to help patch him up Jake gave the other a crooked sort of grin.

"Hey Bill, got any more of that crapy moonshine? I think the new guy could use some." chuckling he winced before smiling awkwardly at the small blonde woman.

"Welcome back to the land of the sort of living." He continued. "Sorry we couldn't get you out of there, they aren't supposed to stand there on you like that."

[sentbydpd]

Connor was quiet as he sat down in front of one of the logs, searching in his pockets until he found that stone that Jake had given him, rolling it across the backs of his fingers in what was increasingly obvious as nervous fidget. He looked up at the mention of moonshine, arguing weakly that he preferred whiskey, but taking the bottle nonetheless when it was held out to him.

It was nasty, but it would do. He took a few hard swallows before handing it back, then eyeing the old soldier's cigarette. "Got any more of those?" He asked cautiously, and was surprised at the offered pack. He tapped the end of it against the back of his hand purely out of habit, then shook one out and popped it between his lips. He was further surprised by the offered lighter, an old zippo that he held a moment before lighting the smoke and taking a deep, slow drag.

"Yeah, well. You tried. You ok?" he asked hoarsely, looking up at Jake and the patch job that he'd gotten.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

When Cheryl finished she lightly patted Jake on the shoulder to let him know and he was up, carefully, only to sit on the log next to where Connor was sitting on the ground. He waved for a swig of shitty alcohol before passing it back and looking down at the other.

"I'll be fine, just gotta heal up. Sometimes you're lucky when you die because you're all healed after...not so much for those of us who leave injured." He cradles his shoulder a bit with a wince. "I've had worse though, should have seen me once when I got completely laid out right in the exit gates. Had to crawl my way out and even then I only got out because someone else distracted the killer. Luckily alien dog demon things can be pretty easily distracted...no brains."

[sentbydpd]

The description of the monster got more of a reaction than the idea that healing via death was a thing that happened here. He could actually understand it, in a weird way. Like a reset. Returning their bodies to the physical state they were in before they were killed so that they could try again.

"We can't fight back?" It seemed unfair to him that that would be the case. Even dipshit horror movie characters got the chance to fight back.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"I mean we can...sort of...but not in any real way." Jake shook his head. "No idea what it is but even someone like David get's taken down by a sophomore in high school from time to time."

Looking around the fire he sees the others nursing wounds or drinks...or even cigarettes while others just relax. Kate's playing agian, her quiet strumming that helps to ease peoples minds a bit. Jake was never fond of country music before, but now it was a comfort and Kate's voice was sweet.

"We're ment to the prey and they're the predators. All there is to it to that thing."

[sentbydpd]

Personally, Connor was more of a punk fan, but any music at all was better than endless white noise from a forest full of monsters.

He looked around at an offended "'ey" from across the fire, where a large man with scars on his face and bandages around his hands had plunked himself down, looking irritable but no worse for wear, comparably. There was a moment that Connor simply stared at the man, big eyes and parted lips, before he caught himself and looked back around at Jake.

"This is bullshit. We're just fodder for some eldritch asshole? Does it feed on misery or something?"

His outrage wasn't strange; many of them that had arrived and learned about their predicament had wondered the same. It wasn't even the biggest logical leap to make.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"From what we can figure? Yeah it seems like it." Jake nodded, chuckling at David as the man sat down.

"Look, it's not my fault it's hilarious watching you run from a little girl who is like half your height. Like I get it, when it's her turn she can be fuckin vicious but...the mental image." Taking a cup that Claudette offered him, Jake sniffed at the steaming tea inside. Giving her a pout she just seemed to give him that look that read 'drink it or else' before walking off. Muttering a bit about not even getting sugar or something he started to sip on the tea, knowing it was something that could help.

"But yeah, we can do things like stab them to get away or slam palettes on their heads but that's about it. Or blind them with flashlights....or Leon could teach you how to make flashbangs...that sort of thing."

[sentbydpd]

"Valentine's got those mines that can turn the gens into time bombs," David added in favor of addressing the idea of him being menaced by a tiny girl in a mask. Though if it were up to him, he would gladly out up with her over the various other young girls on the other side. At least Susie didn't smell like wet death or go invisible.

Connor just grimaced at the confirmation of his only half serious questions, regarding the tea that had been handed over and sussing out that it had to be some kind of herbal remedy, especially given the reaction to it but grudging acceptance.

Connor's thumb flipped back and forth across the butt of his cigarette as he turned over the information that he was getting, and was gleaning from the way they behaved. They were at least willing to help each other to stay alive, so at the base level having support meant a higher possiblity of survival. The sharing of skills and willingness to get him up to speed rather than making him go it alone for the sake of 'field experience' meant he could adapt more quickly and easily. He could see this not being too terrible, actually.

You know, outside of the torture and murder.

"I hate this," he said decisively, in the way that someone subjects to a bad piece of news might say that they hated something.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

Jake can't help the humorless laugh that leaves his lips, almost chocking on his tea as he looks down at Connor.

"Welcome to the fucking club," He shakes his head, stopping to down the majority of the tea to keep from having to taste it before setting aside the cup. "I've been here...well..okay me, Dwight, Meg, and Claud have all been here the longest. No idea how long but it's been a long time."

Looking over at the others he nods to a few. "We all help each other, teach eachother what we know and it gives us an edge. Of course they can do that too, and they do. Remember how that gen we were working on sparked when neither of us were touching it? That's a hex, if you ever find one of those piles of bones that's glowing....get rid of it."

"If it glows it go!" Ace called around his cigarette with a laugh.

"Sometimes it might be something bad that triggers when it goes but....it's still better to be safe than sorry later. Plus there's one hex that can really fuck us over if there are any unlit totems left around."

Shifting a bit to put his hands out close to the flames he Jake relaxed a bit.

"Point is we do what we can to make this place comfortable, who knows how long we'll be here for."

[sentbydpd]

Connor just sat and listened, and absorbed, and let it sink in with the rest of what he'd learned in this very short period of time. From old gods toying with them to magic apparently being real enough to hinder them to monsters and murderers ready to chase them down and slaughter them, there was just a lot coming at him at once. If it weren't for his being accustomed to absorbing a lot of information rapidly, he probably would have just tuned out or decided it was all horseshit.

"I feel like I'm probably gonna have to sleep on all this. Sorry." He stood and steadied himself on one foot, putting out his cigarette on the sole of it then dropping the remainder of it into his shirt pocket before making his way back up to the cabin that he and Jake now shared. There, he would be carefully inspecting himself for damage from the trial that had killed him. If he were to take lasting damage, he wanted a running tally.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Nice one, Jake." Nea rolled her eyes as she watched the new guy leave.

"What did I do?"

"Info dump much? Poor guy just died for the first time and you dump all that on him? You know just because you're a hermit doesn't mean you get a pass for being totally socially innept."

"That's a big word for you." Jake raised an eyebrow, wincing when she smacked him on the shoulder only to apologize when she realized which one she had hit. Rolling his eyes he stood and made his own way back to their cabin, in time to see Connor checking himself over. Closing the door behind him he walked in, staying mostly quiet as he couldn't help but keep his gaze on the other man in the room. His eyes took in what he could see and when he finally stopped it was to lean on a shelf not too far from Connor so that he could see his profile.

"For the most part death is a reset and you should be fine. Well...hopefully. No idea how it will affect someone like you." He shrugs. "Obviously you're the first half machine." He tries to make light of it, a joking sort of tone to help the mood. "Sorry for all that info...I don't usually talk about stuff, usually leave it for the other to handle. I....well until I came here it had been a while since I was around others."

[sentbydpd]

Connor had been sitting in the middle of his bed in his undershirt gently prodding the badly bruised skin below his left clavicle then tracing along a razor-thin scar in the pale, mole dotted skin of his chest and shoulder with his fingertips. He looked up when Jake spoke up, just shaking his head some as he returned to taking stock of himself.

"No, trust me, I get it. You want to help and I do need to know this stuff." He wrinkled his nose, blinking a few times as if something has bothered his sinuses. It passed as quickly as it had come on.

He regarded the other man with a soft frown, brow furrowed. "How come you didn't say anything to them about it? Not that I want you airing my dirty laundry, but people have done shittier things with good intentions."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Same reason I haven't said anything to anyone about the things I know about others." Jake sighed as he moved over to his own bed and plopped down.

"It's none of my business." He shrugged. "If you want people to know you'll tell them. I will say that it might be a good thing to let people know so they don't freak out buuut...yeah. You might be the only half machine here but you aren't the only one with a secret. You'll learn over time. Some are more damning than others...and some make us more protective of each other."

Jake can't help but stare at his hands as he thinks about the latercation that had happened recently, hearing Yun-Jin spit hateful words about not just a single person but a group of people. The venom in her voice even hurt him and it wasn't even about him.

"Just be careful who you trust with stuff...we have some real self serving types around....well at least one really. Take what Yun-Jin Lee says with a grain of salt...I think I warned you already but....I mean it."

[sentbydpd]

"I'm not expecting everyone to be altruistic paragons of humanity out here. She's as human as any of us and if she starts shit, I'll deal with it if I need to." Connor moved and stretched his arm in what was clearly a physical therapy exercise, stretching and flexing and keeping himself mobile enough as they talked.

"I appreciate the help, though. Really."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Yeah well there's a difference between being a kinda shitty person and being a raging bigot who won't save someone just because of who they'd rather fuck." Jake slips up, he doesn't mean to be a bit more blatant but he can't help it. Wincing he instead goes about removing his boots and jacket until he's in just his t-shirt and jeans.

"Sorry, there's just been some tension around camp because of something that happened." Looking over at Connor, Jake sort of chuckles and shrugs. "No problem. It's good to help...we didn't have it when we got here. Had to figure it all out on our own."

[sentbydpd]

There was a long moment of silence, then a quiet "ah." So Yun-Jin was that particular brand of shitty.

He listened to Jake trying to explain himself, and cracked an actual smile, a sweet look at a private thought that betrayed the cool front that he tried to maintain.

"I get it. It's...heh. It's actually pretty familiar." A long story there for sure, complicated enough that he's not sure he would know where to start explain, if he tried to begin with.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Yeah..." Jake sort of trails off, catching the softer look he feels compelled to look away, so he does so by flopping onto his back with his legs still dangling over the edge of his bed. Eyes stare up at the ceiling for a long time as if counting the lines of the grain of the wood in each beam. It'd been a while since Dwight had moved to someone else's cabin, cold nights and Jake not being the most sociable person sometimes being as they were. Yet so far in the not even two days that Connor had been there Jake felt comfortable.

"So, what's it like...the future I mean? Sure you're not that far ahead of us but I mean....it feels like it. With the whole androids and...well I guess you'd be more like a cyborg right? It's all like...super advanced prosthesis right? We have a few things but nothing super advanced like that."

[sentbydpd]

"Advanced prosthesis, and what the Cyberlife techs call biocomponents. It's based on android tech because they decided it was appropriate to make the functioning hardware organ-like so it lent back to prosthetic research. Thirium's the blue fluid that sustains the energy and hydraulic pressure the components need to function," he explained, looking down at one of his arms, its spiderweb of hair-thin scars showing where he'd had work done. "If I'm honest with you? It's not super different, besides the income gap getting bigger. When androids went mass market, a lot of people were out of jobs and with no UBI and no rich assholes willing to help out with all that, the economy collapsed. The rest of us stuck in the middle just...try to make it work. I keep my head down and do my job and hope whatever comes next is gonna be ok."

Which, considering where he was now? Was a hell of a lot to ask for.

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Huh," Jake sat back up, rubbing his hands over his face. "Well sounds like my family will have been just fine. Good to know." Sure he didn't want to live like them but, he still appreciated them. They were his family after all, how could he not.

"Somehow I'm not surprised though, that the economy just got worse. Always hated how all that worked. 's one more reason why I said fuck that and moved to the woods."

[sentbydpd]

"You're probably the smart one, if we're honest here. Go do the self sufficient thing and fuck the rest of it. Only downside's if there's an accident."

Connor pulled his shirt back on and adopted a similar posture, only facedown with his arms laying loose over the top of his head.

He was quiet for a long moment before turning his head just enough so that his cheek was pressed against the blanket and his eyes could at least be up in Jake's general direction. "So how often does this happen? I would prefer not being sucked into the mist when I go out to take a leak."

[calmspiritsaboteur]

"Yeah well, I don't know. It's not that bad...even the idea of no one knowing your fate has it's appeal. Morbid as it sounds." Jake sort of chuckled, shifting to lay on his bed properly, hands folded on his chest.

"It depends, for a bit it might want you more often than the others. You're new and shiny you know? Like a new toy or something. I remember when Leon and his gang showed up it was almost always them getting thrown to the killers...or it was the monster that ended up coming with them that we had to face. After time it's taper off and soon you'll just be like the rest of us and only get pulled in from time to time. Uaully it's nice enough to give at least a little warning."

[sentbydpd]

Connor listened quietly, eyes up on the rough-hewn wood floor as he contemplated that. It made sense, if the thing wanted to test their mettle first, make sure they belonged here maybe.

His head lifted after some quiet thought, his chin propping on his arms as they cross beneath it. He didn't want to bombard Jake with questions, but there was so much that he needed to learn about how this place operated that he would need to know at some point. Maybe the others would be helpful, when he felt more up to actually trying to introduce himself beyond just giving them his name.

"If I have to deal with shit like hatchet woman, you're not gonna be the only one that knows about me," he mused. A tilted little smirk came to him as he added, "Maybe someone'll be better at trying to patch me up."