Dungeon Residential Camps, Somewhere, Saturday

[not_a_whiner]

And then the pathways slammed shut.

Oh, not all of them. Most of them simply rearranged themselves. But whatever had connected each camp to another had been violently stripped away. They were alone now, and they were easy prey. At least the winds had settled down...

The maze had grown more erratic, however. Instead of speeding up time for all, it was now slowing it down at random in different places. Anyone caught in a sudden bubble of it would find themselves slowing down compared to the rest of the world. Awkward.

[ camp one | camp two | camp three | ooc | note: feel free to mod knowledge of sholeh's gremlin key, dean's unicorn key, and the vault. ]

Comments

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

"Are you eating?"

Jack had not dealt well with the news Derek was gone. He'd spent the day before mindlessly exploring corridors until he felt sane -- or at least the next thing to sane -- enough to talk to Stiles without shouting or weeping.

Both seemed to be at bay now. He spoke calmly, though Jack's eyes were rimmed with red if one looked closely.

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"I'm not hungry," Stiles said. "Food here kind of sucks anyway."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

"It does," Jack said, because he saw no point in lying. "But wasting away isn't going to help anything."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"I'm not wasting away, I'm just not hungry," Stiles insisted. "Might as well save food for someone who needs it."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

Jack considered it, relented. No one was going to die after a day or two without food, anyhow.

"All right," he said. "I just -- wanted to feel like I'm doing something."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"I'm sorry," Stiles said, rubbing at his face. "I know you're trying to help, and I appreciate it. I just don't know if anything's going to work."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shook his head; he didn't think anything would work either. Not today, anyhow.

"I feel like I should have stayed with the two of you after I found Derek in the luggage room," he said instead. "That's what packs do, isn't it? It just -- didn't seem important."

Probably he couldn't have made a difference in Derek's final fight, but the thought he might have been able to was going to haunt him.

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"You might have been killed too." That's what everybody kept telling him, he figured he could pass the sentiment along. Not that it did anything to make him feel better. "And you got to miss out on me and Derek's completely depressing walk along memory lane."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

"I got a stroll of my own, so I didn't miss out on too much," Jack said dryly. He'd really hated that room.

He furrowed his brow a bit at the 'you might have been killed too.' "And -- maybe I could have been., but it bothers me we'll never know. What exactly happened?"

He'd eavesdropped enough to understand Derek was dead, not enough to get the details.

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"I made Derek go out with me to explore," Stiles said. "And we ended up in a place where ugly psychos like to attack. One of them got the jump on Derek. Gutted him before I knew what was happening."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

"At least it was fast." It wasn't much for comfort, but it was all Jack had. "Sorry."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"If it was slower maybe I could have done something to help him," he said. "I ended up killing the fucker that got him, I could have gotten there sooner."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

"You killed the psycho?" Jack sounded surprised. Also like he very much approved.

The point about a slow death vs. a fast one, he acknowledged with a shrug. He wasn't there. He didn't know.

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"I beat it to death with a wrench." It had been very messy and more than a little traumatizing.

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

Jack suspected Good for you was not the right thing to say, so he nodded instead, trying to look understanding. "And then you got back to camp."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"Eventually." There had been a lot of crying over Derek's body first. "I'm sorry."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shook his head. "I didn't have to see it. I'll be fine."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"How do you manage to pull that off?" he asked. Hell, he still wasn't fine from his mother's death.

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

Jack smiled. Sort of. There wasn't much mirth in it. "By remembering that if I let myself start being sad, I might never stop."

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[robinonadderall]

"That any different from repression?" Not that he was judging. Stiles lived for repression.

Re: Camp One - Main Space

[bitten_notshy]

A denial rose to Jack's lips, but he realized it would have been a lie before it came out. "Probably not," he said. "But we didn't call it repression in 1900."