You've Missed Mouthy

A Game?

Kate lays in the center of the sparring circle, looking up at the dark ceiling emotionlessly. She sits a few feet away from Mouthy, who is curled under one of the concrete benches. Its like back in the mines, both girls using the cold floor as their beds. Kate watches as Mouthy breathes slowly under a dusty bench, dirt and spider webs sprinkling her shoulder. Kate switch positions, not able to close her eyes and fall asleep again. She wants to run, to wrestle or fight. Remembering that this isn't the mines, Kate struggles to not just run around; instead she'll just lay there until one of the boys will come down to fight her. She considers waking Toby and stealing his goggles to make him chase her for them. Kate smiles behind her mask, the dirt on her face scratching the sharp places where it's been cracked. She settles on seeing how long she can mess with Mouthy without waking her, planing to take her mask off. Kate rolls onto her belly, pushing onto her hands to crawl silently towards Mouthy. Not liking to be slow, Kate's sneaking grows more jerky as she resists the urge to tackle Mouthy.    Kate shuffles in the dust, keeping a calm pace, but she grows more anxious and her foot slips. Mouthy's fingers contract into a fist; and Kate struggles not to move and lowers her body back down to the concrete, starting into the black eyes of Mouthy's mask. She suddenly rolls over into a crouch, lunging to tackle Kate. The urge to growl in failure is drown by the want to play and Kate happily throw Mouthy off herself, returning to pin her. Kate growls, Mouthy hisses. Both aiming to overpower the other.     Kate pins Mouthy onto her back, reading her body movements. Mouthy lifts her knee to Kate's chest, curling to put both feet on her hips before pushing off the concrete to send her flying. Kate growls, blaming Mouthy's hoodie for not being able to see her muscle movements. Kate launches forward, ramming into Mouth's stomach. Kate flips her over her shoulder, throwing her back to the floor. Mouthy grunts on impact, remaining motionless. Kate leaps forward to land on her, but before impact, Mouthy rolls away. Kate lands on her hands and knees, hissing in frustration. She watches as the grey hooded girl runs out of the ring, jumping to grab the railing on the stairs, skipping a whole flight. Finally, the chase Kate wanted, she takes off, letting her body do the hunting. Mouthy disappears into the darkness as Kate reaches the walkway above the ring, leaving her to stand and try to find where her partner hides.     "What the hell, Ben?! That stinks." A deep growl echoes from the distant room upstairs, belonging to Jeff. Kate rushes towards them still under hunter mode.    "It wasn't me; How can I pass gas when I don't even eat, sweet-cheeks?" A slightly higher hiss comes from the same location, Ben.    "Oi, you two. It was Toby, he can hardly control his body, remember?" Kate freezes, her senses returning to normal at the sound of Masky's voice. A commanded to listen, a response to obey him when Slender isn't present. The eldest proxy holding such authority on his tongue, causing Kate to grow angry by the way the talk back to him.    Kate can hear their feet shuffle above her, before she runs up the ladder and bursts into the room.    "Where... is she?" Kate growls, continuing to give deep roars when exhaling.     "Kate! What's going on?" Masky asks in concern, recognizing her voice.    "Mouthy..." Kate hisses, clicking her feet towards him.    "She was with you wasn't she?" Masky looks towards her strictly. Kate glares at him knowing that he can't see her well enough to do anything about it.     "Hey, grumpy. I know you and the other chick are use to living in complete darkness, but we'd like to see our hands when they're in front of our faces." Jeff groans. "What do we have to do to get the lights back on?"     "Mouthy hit a generator yesterday, I think I could find the switch." Vince quietly mumbles, bringing everyone's ears to hone in on him. "I'll just need someone to come with me down to the room with the punching bag."    "Kate." Masky says in response to Vince. "Go with him." Kate groans, walking across the dark room to grab Vince's wrist. He doesn't struggle or pull away, simply letting her drag him over to the ladder.     "What did she originally want?" Ben asks to whoever is listening. "Was she looking for Mouthy?"    "They often play for training. Like tag or hide-and-seek, wrestling is a given for whoever finds who." Hoody mumbles, "A-at least that's what Slender told me."    "So they're playing a game..." Jeff groans, "... and Mouthy's hiding from Kate, I wonder what she would do if we found her first." He snickers looking in the direction Ben's hammock is.     "It's on! Whoever can catch Ms. Musicbox gets to boss around the rest of the players for the whole day." Ben chirps in the darkness. There's a thump as Toby falls out of his own hammock.     "I'll win and make you all wash my feet." He says with a laugh, standing up with jerky motions. "And I can't remember that last time I took my shoes off."     "Nasty." Ben groans at Toby with a light snicker. But in the darkness, Jeff cracks an insane grin.    "If that's the case, then lets make this a even more interesting." He laughs, "Don't just catch her, but whoever can take off her mask, wins." Ben and Toby laugh in agreement, liking the idea.    "Jeff, that's pushing the limits." Masky interjects, "Kate and Mouthy have issues with taking their masks off, remember what Slender said-" Masky is cut off when Jeff begins to laugh again.    "What's the harm, hardass? It's just training." Jeff taunts, blocking Masky's return comment. "Game starts when the lights turn on, got it?" ~^~^~    Jack opens the lids of his eyes, gently blinking away any dust that had fallen of his cheeks. He groans while sitting up in the darkness, patting his hand over a dirty counter nearby. His fingers bump the edge of his mask, sending it further across the counter. Without complaint, Jack stands up to grab the object. Holding it tightly in his grasp, Jack waits for his eyesight to adjust as he stretches. He looks down, attempting to put his mask on, but a bundle of cloth under his cot catches his attention. Jack had checked the inventory of the small room before falling asleep, and he can't remember seeing this here before. He stares at it a little longer, finding a defining feature in the cloth; two black circles on white.     "Mouthy?" Jack questions, crouching down to get closer to her. She moves a hand to her mask, holding a finger where her mouth would be. Jack suddenly became more alert, taking her gesture as a concerning one.     "...a game." Mouthy whispers in a voice hardly audible, but Jack hears the words very clear. She giggles lightly, as a hum resounds around them. Jack watches as Mouthy throws her hands to cover her eyes, watching the room slowly grow lighter. The light above him clicks, spraying bright rays that shower him. The sudden flash temporarily blinds Jack, causing him to groan while applying his mask.     "Go!" Jeff's yell rumbles down the hallway, followed with his angry footsteps. Jack looks around the corner to see the smiley killer jump down the ladder at the end of the hall, followed by Ben's glitchy form hovering over the ground and Toby, who stumbles behind in an attempt to keep up. Jack sighs turning back to his cot, finding Mouthy standing between him and the makeshift infirmary. He remembers the "game" she spoke of, stepping to the side to let her run past. Jack figures that if those three morons are involved in her little game, that he won't consider on joining. Mouthy stares down the hall, with her head tilted, showing Jack that she is confused as to what Jeff, Ben, and Toby are up to.    "Those idiots... she's going to snap and take one of them down with her." Masky groans, drawing Mouthy's attention. She walks over to the doorway of the dormitory, standing off to the side of it. Jack follows behind her, curiosity pulling him like he's on a leash. Masky steps out of the doorway and immediately sees the grey proxy. He sighs, walking away from her without a second glance. Hoody walks out behind him, nodding to Mouthy in a casual manner. Jack watches as the two stare into each others face, silently exchanging information before both nodding to the other. Mouthy turns partially to Jack, giving a shrug.    "... a game." She whispers. Whether she was giving confirmation on the situation or offering for him to join, Jack couldn't tell. So he picks the safer option an just shakes his head. Mouthy snickers, bolting down the hallway and sneaks down the ladder.