#Haha oh boy. can’t wait for Delara to send Burke a letter like ‘’I am unsure if Bane has told you of the events that have transpired but…’’

[idv-ask-the-empath]

She’s not sure how much time it actually takes. She can’t count the seconds, and for a good while, she felt like her body wasn’t even hers. Like it was foreign, and she was only an outsider. It was fear of hers, really. That someday, she’d lose control of herself, and this was what it would almost be like, but that’s not quite the same… this was quiet. Protective. A numbing of a heart that was too big for its fragile body. Eventually -and she still doesn’t know when- she’s finally registering Kotaro’s fur, and the world around her becomes sharper. She’s aware of the ache in her eyes from the tears, and how wet her cheeks are. She finally even managed to loosen her control over Bane’s emotions, so that he could now resume exercising his emotional autonomy. She picks up Kotaro, quietly mumbling to him as she makes a weak attempt to smile- only for it to fall away as quickly as she tried. She wordlessly pets the cat as he purrs, her fingers touching his little head, and stroking the suspiciously well maintained coat of fur he had. She still looks a bit far off in the eye, but she was settling down. The warmth and softness of Kotaro was slowly settling her, grounding her to reality. She keeps trying to open her mouth, and force words to come out, but they seem to refuse to. They won’t fall out no matter how hard she pushed her vocal chords to just make a sound. Any sound.

But her body refuses to comply. At least, her mind was conscious enough to slowly release her influence over the Gamekeeper’s emotions. He’d feel no different from the calmness unless something managed to provoke another emotion. Then he’d know he was free from her will. It’s silent again as she properly comes to, and Kotaro trots up to Bane, gently head butting the rope of his head to the side of Bane’s as if in apology for the events. He then curls up beside his head, uncharacteristically quiet, save for a purr here or there. Delara tries to move herself, but finds it difficult to. She felt… tired. Like she was living molasses, and she hadn’t the strength to carry her own weight. She fears she may tip over if she tries to move. She fears her hands and legs may shake with weakness. She knew was already a rather sorry sight given her demeanor, but she’d try not to further that assumption- even if to some degree, it was true. To her at least.

“God…” Is all she can mutter as she rubbed at her eyes. She casts her vacant gaze towards the hunter who was presently laying on the floor. Once again, she was looking more like a corpse than a living being. The color drained from her face, leaving her paler than she already was. She seems to pause for a moment, taking a breath before she decided against speaking. She doesn’t know if there’s anything to say really. If he wanted to ask her a question or get angry, she wouldn’t have cared. She thinks if not now, then later, she should find her teammates… she knew at least Miss Behamfil would take care of her whilst in her state. Though then again… she didn’t want to worry anyone either. As she thought, she had looked away from Bane before she brought her eyes to him once again. She can only mumble a tired, “Sorry…” but to what she was apologizing about wasn’t specific. Though judging from her tone, and her expression, even in its hollowness… she managed to seem empathetic. It seemed she knew something deeper to him, but she wouldn’t say what. She knew this was likely to upset him… but he was better off angry than spiraling. And all the while.. the crows are watching with intrigue.

Duo matches always made her nervous. She typically never played in them for the sole fact that so much could happen at once. She hated feeling the distress of it all, not only from her powers but also herself. And as most duo matches tend to be, they were short a player, so she had went ahead and filled in. Who were the hunters for this round again…? It was… Bonbon and Bane, wasn’t it…?

This felt like it’d be a difficult match.

In search of a cipher, she wandered the Eversleeping Town- or at least, the recreation of it. She isn’t sure how “real” it is. Nothing at the manor felt real.

@idv-ask-the-empath

Now, Bane did not like to go friendly. It was something everybody was sure to have realised by now, with how mercilessly he went about his matches. Really, why would he go friendly in the first place? The Baron had assigned him this role and he refused to fail the man twice. He’d learned his lesson about kindness long ago… Of course, sometimes his friends would try to convince him to go easy on the survivors, or to just go friendly. If it was because they themselves weren’t feeling up to the match then of course he’d understand. He’d gladly just try to play well enough for the both of them to win while he let his friend rest. Convincing him to go friendly as well though…

It took a while, Bonbon relentlessly using every tactic they could in order to try and convince him. For a moment he was tempted to simply walk off to hunt the survivors himself! The robot was damn lucky he felt to be in a more agreeable mood… So it was with a sigh that he reluctantly gave in to the robot he knew wouldn’t have given up in their quest. Hey, he’d thought, at least he could spend some time with Bonbon, right?

Wrong, apparently. Rather than hide away within a corner of the map like Bane would prefer, Bonbon was insistent that it would be more fun interacting with survivors. He’d have to tell Burke to schedule another maintenance check because there must’ve been a few screws loose for Bonbon to think he was even remotely willing to interact with survivors in a more positive way… Still, the robot continued their attempts, beginning to push him forwards and forcing him to stumble along lest he fall over. Tch… who cared if the survivors were left unaware that they were going friendly this round? So what if they were to be tense and uneasy the whole time just waiting and expecting an attack? It wasn’t his damn fault and besides, if they didn’t know then they’d continue on to escape as quickly as possible and thus allowing him to leave as soon as possible!

Yet alas, the robot didn’t seem to care, simply making sure he walked through the surprisingly empty streets with him until eventually they found a survivor further down trying to decode one of the cypher machines. Instantly Bonbon ran after them as they bolted away, trying to show that they were friendly and calling for their attention as they did.

This just left Bane to wander on alone…. He’d just find some corner of the map to hide in, now that his pushy companion was gone. So onwards he went, wandering the streets in the search for somewhere nice to relax, gait more slowed than when hunting and hook still firmly attached to his belt. His head was tilted high, simply surveying his surroundings in a manner more suited for taking in the details rather than scrutinizing any and every shadow for a survivor. Silently he noted the details, forming a mental map within his mind as he went along.

Despite the current situation though, he hadn’t quite expected to see any more survivors, taking pause when he turned the corner and found none other than that ‘empath’ walking along. For a moment he froze, fingers twitching and barely resisting the instinctual urge to send out his hook. He was friendly, no hunting survivors… A quiet sigh escaped him as he tried to force the alarm bells in his head to silence and the tension to escape him. What was it friendly hunters were supposed to do? Spin…? … No way he was doing that. Huffing, he considered simply turning around and leaving while he could.

@idv-ask-the-empath