Skwisgaar kept himself locked in his room for the entirety of the next day, choosing to sleep off the swelling of his head; luckily it wasn't as bad as Toki's. Aside from the mild concussion though, he was also embarrassed and ashamed, and most of all, pissed off.
Not angry enough to justify to himself the way he had reacted, but just enough to be offended at the audacity of Toki's words. He had been moaning for Nathan. Not Skwisgaar, but that damn singer. It hurt his dignity in more ways than one.
Skwisgaar was the 'whore' of the group and he prided himself in that, even reverting to men to push his limits and gain more numbers (though the rest hadn't known that, or if they had figured it out, no one said anything). To be outdone by Nathan was infuriating. Who would even think about fucking that man when they were being touched by a GOD?
It didn't help that Skwisgaar had actually made it a mission to get Toki infatuated with him, (and was hopelessly failing). It again being a pride thing, because he felt jealous that despite the fact that he and Toki hung around possibly the most, the younger man was attached to Nathan at the hip. He had been so close- he could still taste Toki's sweet lips on his tongue even a day later- and still, Toki's attention was only on Nathan's mere existence.
Skwisgaar knew that Toki liked Nathan, and he knew that Nathan didn't feel the same way. It was obvious that he only saw Toki as a cute yet annoying little kid or something similar to that. The fact that Toki continued to cling and touch him though, like he wasn't aware of the obvious disinterest, when Skwisgaar was available in all his beautiful glory, was frustrating.
The worst part was that now that Skwisgaar had gotten a taste of Toki, had seen the look of lust and pleasure on his face with his mouth hung open and his eyebrows pinched together, he wanted more. He wanted Toki underneath him, on top of him, Hell he would happily switch places multiple times just to have all of Toki.
It was obviously just a lust thing, and Skwisgaar was far too comfortable with casual sex to really understand the 'pain' of what a one-night-stand could cause between two band members as friends. He just knew that Toki was a beautiful specimen and he wanted to take pleasure in 'experimenting' with him.
Just the thought of it took his breath away. Skwisgaar was very egotistical and thought himself to be one of the most attractive things in existence, but if it were a competition Toki would be a close second to him. One might even say that sometimes, SOMETIMES, Toki looked even better than him, not that the blond could ever admit that.
Skwisgaar rubbed his cheek softly as he thought, feeling a mild bruise on it that had formed from slamming his face into the floor. He really hadn't meant to hurt Toki, he had just been caught off guard, both times. It seemed like Toki wasn't all there when he had been running or hiding himself from Skwisgaar, so he worried that maybe he had pushed too far. The fact that he had cried out Nathan's name just made it all the more confusing, though.
Skwisgaar wasn't going to give up that easily, but if Toki proved to be disinterested to the point of fear, he wasn't going to force it. Skwisgaar was many things, an... abuser was not one he wanted to be.
That didn't stop him from thinking sexual thoughts about Toki.
"Fucks," Skwisgaar muttered as he stood to peel off his dirty clothes and toss them into the hamper. He figured he would shower, then maybe, MAYBE, go get something from the kitchen. It was now six a.m and he hadn't left his room since the other night. No one had really knocked or bothered him, possibly because they already knew what had gone down, or possibly because they just assumed that Skwisgaar was stressing over his guitar playing, as he usually did.
He cleaned himself up, using most of his time on his hair to keep it shiny and silky smooth, then proceeded to get dressed and cautiously opened the door to his bedroom. He walked quickly and precisely down the hallway, heading toward the kitchen.
Skwisgaar nearly panicked when he realized that someone was already there, hidden in the shadows of the dark room, but immediately relaxed when seeing that it wasn't Nathalia, Toki, or Nathan. He didn't want to be around any of them right now.
Instead, Salem poked their head up from the fridge with a mouth full of something, eyes wide to see that they'd been caught. For whatever reason, they thought their best bet was to duck their head back in the fridge, causing Skwisgaar to snort in amusement.
"Gettinks a little snacks, eh?"
There was a long pause as Salem seemed to struggle with either swallowing whatever was in their mouth, or pushing it to the side. "Nuuuuuuuuuuh," they finally ended up mumbling.
Skwisgaar rolled his eyes. "Wells, hurry ups, I ams hungries too yous know."
Salem finally managed to ingest the food, smacking their lips for a few seconds before saying, "Now you can wait even longer." Then, they proceeded to dive back in.
Skwisgaar scoffed. "Get the fucks out of the ways before I cabinalize yous."
"Cannibalize." Salem paused to pull something out, sniff at it, then decided to place it back in and pat it timidly like it was an angry dog. "That's someone else's issue... Oh, and eat my ass."
"I could, if you wants me tos," Skwisgaar smirked, a twinkle in his eye. He wasn't a fan of the younger ones (by younger he meant people his exact age group), but Salem was okay looking enough, plus he would never say no to sex in general. Not that he expected the offer to be genuine, or that they would even take him seriously enough. However, despite all this, there was something off about Salem that made him a little less than attracted to them, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The gender wasn't an issue for him, and neither were their looks, but there was something strange about the icy sparkling eyes having a sense of familiarity that made him feel weird.
"I'm good, I don't know where you've been." Salem eyed him playfully, earning a small gasp from the Swede, even though he wasn't actually insulted, oddly enough, since he was usually offended by everything. Then their eyebrow raised as they eyed the side of Skwisgaar's face. "Wow, Nathalia really did bodyslam you too."
Skwisgaar flinched, attempting to hide the blotches with his hair. "Wh- what she has tolds you?!"
Salem shrugged. "That she got mad at you for picking a fight with Toki."
"Wells... we didn'ts really fights."
"Yeah, Toki explained a little more." When Skwisgaar gave the other a cautious look, Salem explained, "You guys had an argument and you were trying to stop him from walking away but apparently you tugged him too hard. He smacked his head and then bit through his lip. At least that's what he claims. Nathalia calls bullshit."
Skwisgaar flinched, automatically feeling guilty, and also surprised that Toki would lie for him, since technically that lip wound wasn't from smacking his head. "What does you calls?"
Salem puckered their lips a little. "I don't know, I don't really care at the moment, as long as Toki's alright." It was at that point that Skwisgaar noticed the deep bags under Salem's eyes, the paleness (more-so than usual) of their skin, and their hair was an unwashed mess. They were in a pair of black pajamas much too big for their body, and hung loosely over their shoulders and hips.
"You looks like shits," Skwisgaar commented without even really thinking, earning a weary smile from the drummer.
"Thanks, I know."
"Has you even slepts yet?"
"Nope."
Skwisgaar shook his head, though it wasn't that surprising. All Dethklok members had at some point pulled an all-nighter. "You shoulds probaly goes sleeps thens. And get the fucks out of my ways."
Salem stepped backward from where they were blocking the fridge, allowing Skwisgaar to snoop through. He spotted the mystery container that Salem had sniffed, and chose to leave it alone for now. "By the ways... How's is Toki?"
"A lot better. He's been all over Nathalia, who's been watching over him and babying the fuck out of him. It's kinda cute but unnerving since I know how Nathalia is."
"And hows is she exactlys?" Skwisgaar questioned dryly with a sudden lurch in his chest, and Salem's face flushed a little.
"Nothing bad, I guess, she just has a hard time genuinely connecting with people. If she's already that clingy then I'm more afraid of her viewing Toki as a pet than a person." They smiled jokingly, and Skwisgaar sniffed in disdain as a reply.
Salem let out a sudden yawn then blinked. "I'm gonna try and pass out." Salem stole an apple that Skwisgaar had pulled out much to his dismay, and smiled as they took a bite out before handing it back. "By the way, Nathalia wants to see you when you feel like not hiding anymore. She might be heading this way soon, too."
Just then, someone flicked on the light and Skwisgaar nearly jumped out of his skin. He wasn't prepared to fight Nathalia, even if she wasn't that strong (not because she was a woman... or maybe, who knew, not Skwisgaar). She was just crazy enough to WWE his shit.
Surprisingly it was not her, but Murderface, who looked dazed and confused to see that people were already standing in the kitchen. His eyes locked onto Salem though and it made him grin automatically, while Salem looked mildly uncomfortable but smiled back pleasantly nonetheless.
Oh dear Gods, Murderface was... Skwisgaar forced himself to hold back a snort. He'd seen those goo-goo eyes before from the man. Skwisgaar wasn't even sure what Salem was, but whatever they were, they were most obviously not a straight cis, which meant either Murderface was out of luck with getting a shot, or might become really, really gay after one night with the midget.
To be fair though, it made sense for Murderface to already be a little gay given his initial interest in Pickles, and his liking for Salem to begin with when nobody, especially Murderface, knew what they were.
"What are all you gay fucks doing in here?" A voice Skwisgaar had been dreading to hear, spoke up from directly behind Murderface. The bassist jumped, Salem was completely unaffected even though Nathalia could not be seen from wherever she was lurking, and Skwisgaar flung some pasta thing at her general direction out of surprise.
"Shits!"
"Dude, relaxsch," Murderface said with an eyeroll, though he still seemed a little nervous because of the original scare. "She'sch juscht a girl... right?" He then yelped as Nathalia came leaping from the shadows in an attempt to startle him.
She looked annoyed as she stepped into the light, shooting Murderface a glare of pure venom before she turned her attention to Skwisgaar.
"Aaaand on that note." Salem slid past Skwisgaar to head to their room, but not before Nathalia pointed a finger toward them.
"We still need to talk later," Nathalia insisted to the small one, but Salem only waved their hand behind them as they rushed out of the kitchen. Skwisgaar wondered what that whole thing was about, but chose not to dwell on it when he saw her taking a step toward him.
Skwisgaar grabbed the nearest object which happened to be a bar-stool sitting innocently by the counter, and he held it up in defense with the legs pointed 'threateningly' at Nathalia. "I am dones nothinks wrongs!"
"Bruh." Nathalia had stopped to stare at the blond in bewilderment. She was obviously very tired; there were dark shadows under her eyes, and the black makeup around them didn't help her case. She grabbed one of the legs and yanked the weapon out of his hands. "Look, I just came to uh... fuck. Apologize or whatever."
She was almost as bad as Nathan when she flinched at her own words. "Uhh... alrights. Apologize acceptsed." Then he quickly added, "How's is Toki?" He had already previously asked Salem, but figured it'd be good to hear from the one who had been supposedly taking care of Toki.
"He's alright, he got a concussion but I've been looking out for him, fed him, sang him to sleep, all that gay shit. He's feeling a lot better now, if you wanna go talk to him later." She looked pointedly at Skwisgaar and he realized it wasn't really an option- she was telling him to go see him. Possibly to apologize.
Skwisgaar swallowed heavily and nodded. "I, I goes to sees him now, ja?"
Nathalia shook her head. "He's sleeping right now, go do whatever the fuck until I tell you you can talk to him." She smiled as she nudged his arm almost in a friendly manner, but pointedly pushing him in the direction of his own room at the same time.
"Okays, okays, I bes in my room if yous needs me," Skwisgaar mumbled as he turned to walk away.
He caught Murderface staring hard at Nathalia, who received a nasty growl from the singer. "The fuck you looking at?!"
"Nothing!" Murderface protested, and that was the last Skwisgaar heard from the two before he started walking back to his room.
On the way back though, he was surprised to see that Salem had not made it back to their room yet and was rather hunched over in the middle of the hall, looking like they were about to hurl or have an exorcism. Sweat dotted every piece of skin that was showing, and their clothes were damp too.
As Skwisgaar got closer, they looked up quickly with wide eyes, relaxing slightly to see that it was just the guitarist. They forced themselves to stand upright and nodded quietly to the other, possibly expecting Skwisgaar to just walk past, but he was genuinely curious with what was going on. He could sense that this wasn't normal behavior, and he wasn't sure why he felt that way; considering that Salem only just looked a little ill. But there was something about their eyes that were so hollow and drained.
"Needs help?" Skwisgaar asked softly, and Salem looked surprised to see the haughty man offer, but accepted it nonetheless with a nod. He placed a hand on their back and led them carefully down the hall, having to ask for directions a few times before being able to drop them off to their room. It was almost instinctual, despite Skwisgaar usually having nothing to do with anybody else except Toki, much less near-strangers.
"Thanks," Salem sighed as they pulled the door open. "See ya."
"Waits," Skwisgaar said quickly. "Uhh... ams you alrights?"
Salem smiled wearily and nodded. "Yeah, just... tired, and maybe a little sick I guess."
"It ams the summers cold, ja? They bes the worst," Skwisgaar commented, shuddering as he remembered his own issue with that.
"It's not summer," Salem laughed quietly. "No, I'll be fine. Thanks again." With that, Salem quietly closed the door, leaving Skwisgaar to his own thoughts.
As soon as Skwisgaar began to walk toward his room again, he saw both Charles and Murderface heading his way, Charles obviously in distress to what was coming out of Murderface's mouth.
"I- I juscht, ya know, think I descherve to know, schince I'm working with he- hi- them... I'm honeschtly juscht curiousch."
Skwisgaar had a slight inkling to what he was talking about, and flashbacks from last year made him feel sick to his stomach. The thought of Murderface doing the same exact thing... Skwisgaar pursed his lips. But they weren't supposed to even care about each other's affairs, much less from someone else that wasn't even in their band.
"Oh Skwisgaar," Charles said, looking relieved to have found an excuse to cut off the bassist. "Ah, excuse me William." Charles then quickly sped away from the other man, who looked disgruntled.
"Good to have caught you." Charles was good at sniffing out his band members. "I just wanted to let you know, since I ah, didn't see you yesterday... The walkway closest to Tobias's room is off-limits while we make repairs to Mordhaus. There was a really bad storm the night before, and it caused a fire. Everybody's rooms are available using the other passage, except for Tobias's."
"Where ams Tobias sleeps then?" Skwisgaar questioned.
"He'll be ah, bunking with Toki apparently, who already has Nathalia in his room for the time being." His eyebrow raised as he spoke, causing Skwisgaar to swallow heavily. No doubt the cameras had caught their little mishap, but rather than discuss it, Charles moved to continue walking. "Well anyway, that's all I needed to say. William, you shouldn't be dawdling in the middle of the hall."
Murderface had been drawing nearer and nearer to Salem's room, but snapped his attention to the manager, then proceeded to chase him down like a lost puppy to blather about whatever. Sighing, the Swede AGAIN began walking.
Skwisgaar finally reached his room without any other stops, and he gratefully dropped to his bed with a sigh. He was so, so tired, though it wasn't like he hadn't gotten enough sleep the day before. He found his eyes closing momentarily, dozing in and out of consciousness before something whacked him directly across the back, jerking him back into the real world. He didn't even really react to it at first, choosing rather to give a soft grunt and tilt his head to the side.
Another sharp smack made him jerk up fully, moaning in pain as his skin stung from the assault. Skwisgaar blinked the sleep from his eyes and turned to glare at the culprit, only to shrink back when he saw Nathalia's icy stare dig right through his face.
"Toki's awake, and now you are too," Nathalia said simply, turning to stalk out of the room quickly and quietly while dropping the newspaper she had used onto the floor Why did she suddenly seem so nervous? Must've been anxiety, he witnessed several of his band members go through it, though it was mostly because of stage fright, which he assumed could be a bit different from her... issues.
Skwisgaar sat up slowly, giving his back a soft rub to try and soothe the flesh. He peered over at the clock, realizing it was nearly noon, and stood with a groan. He made sure that he didn't smell like sweat before leaving, assuming that Toki was in his own room.
After a quiet knock and a muffled, "Comes ins," Skwisgaar opened the door to see Toki sitting up on his bed with a large bandage wrapped around his head. His lip, however, wasn't wrapped up, so it just stuck out sorely with a stitch or two. Skwisgaar flinched, immediately feeling guilty for what he had done, and he stepped in quietly. Nathalia was there as well, having had a head-start to reach the room before Skwisgaar, and was eyeing them both the entire time.
Skwisgaar cleared his throat a few times, studying Toki nervously, unsure of the younger man's reaction to seeing him there. To his surprise, Toki gave him a soft, lazy smile. "Oh, hellos, Skwisgaars..."
"Hi Toki," Skwisgaar spoke quietly. "How... How ams yous?"
"I ams fines."
Skwisgaar nodded. "Goods... I just cames to apolgetics to yous."
"No, I apolgicaks," Toki replied honestly. Nathalia's eye twitched, possibly from Toki's very broken english, because surely it wasn't Skwisgaar or his english who was the problem.
"For whats?"
"For sayi-" He paused, remembering that Nathalia was in the same room and he had technically lied about part of the confrontation. "...For walkings away. It rudes of me to does that. You forgives me, ja?"
Skwisgaar pretended to think real hard about it, seeing the panic flicker across Toki's face when he hadn't gotten an immediate answer. "Yes you fuckinkgs dildoes." He rolled his eyes softly as he came over to sit on the other's bed, careful not to actually touch the other. "As long as yous answer mes somethinks."
"Anyt'ings!"
"Why dids you go limps like that?" Blue eyes stared into blue eyes as they stared at each other for a while. Skwisgaar had an inkling, especially with what Toki said during that time, but he had to know for sure. Toki sighed and looked away first, twiddling his thumbs almost nervously.
"I... I don'ts gets grabbeds like that oftens. My brains got scareds." His eyes flickered over to the picture of his father that he had hovering over his bed. Skwisgaar didn't understand Toki's attachment to his now deceased father or why he kept that picture, but he could understand why Toki had gone ragdoll mode on the blond once being grabbed at. He felt even worse about the situation. Granted he was still offended that Toki hadn't moaned his name, but most of the events after the fact were unnecessary and painful for the man, and he had never wanted to hurt his friend, especially not like that.
"I ams sorries Toki," Skwisgaar whispered as he gently patted the top of his head, away from the bandaged area. "I promises to never do that agains."
Toki smiled and grasped at the hand, choosing rather to hold it to his chest. "You ams forgivens." He then let go and turned to Nathalia, and smiled wider as he batted his eyes at her cutely. "Naaaaaaat?"
Nathalia groaned. "What's up?"
"Can I has more chicken noodles soups?" Toki maintained his cute demeanor until she huffed and stood up.
"Fine. Skwisgaar, could you watch him? I'd ask Tobias but he's passed the fuck out and he gets grumpy." It was at that moment that Skwisgaar noticed the lump on the floor at the end of the bed, and he raised his eyebrow but didn't question it. He remembered that Tobias's room was currently unavailable. Poor guy, he had just moved into it.
"Ja, sures. I cans watch little babys Toki," Skwisgaar said with a smirk, earning a punch from the rhythm guitarist.
"Fucks yous!"
"Fucks yous!"
"Fucks yous!"
"Fucks yous!"
"Jesus Christ," Nathalia sighed as she managed to slip through the door and escape while the two heavily accented men began to shout at each other. Tobias gave a soft snore and rolled over, having been used to shouting. As long as nobody poked him obnoxiously, he wouldn't have to kill anyone. Not that Skwisgaar would know that, but he wasn't crazy enough to go slapping others awake regardless; unlike some people.
The two eventually calmed down and Toki had scooted over so that he could sit on the edge of his bed with Skwisgaar, kicking his feet like a small child as he gave soft hums. He looked up at the tall Swede and nudged him with his shoulder. "...Skwisgaars?"
"Ja?"
"...I sorries for the other things, too."
"What others things?" He knew what other things; he wanted Toki to actually say it.
"The, the things... the sayings not yours names but another names." Toki looked miserable.
Skwisgaar turned his head away, the pain in his chest back again. Surely it was just his wounded pride that was hurting? Not some sort of weird jealousy thing that he had absolutely no need or reason to feel? "It ams fines, Toki."
"No... I know it ams nots," Toki said sadly. "You can'ts even looks at mes."
"Dat's because if I looks at yous, I will probalys kisses you agains," Skwisgaar said bluntly, feeling Toki stiffen up next to him. "And I can'ts do thats."
Toki shifted uncomfortably next to the blond. "... Whos says?"
Skwisgaar blinked. As flattered as he was... "Because your lip ams not healeds you fuckinks dildoes."
"Ohs, ja." Toki smiled even though Skwisgaar couldn't see because he was still avoiding the other's eyes, and his uncomfortable movements turned into happy wiggles. Of course there was another reason for not wanting to kiss Toki- he didn't want a repeat of last time, though without the physical harm. But Skwisgaar felt that a sudden kiss would probably lead to nearly the same result of Toki moaning for someone that wasn't him. Maybe if he romanced Toki enough and gave him time to mentally prepare...
Skwisgaar's thoughts were interrupted when the door creaked open again and Nathalia walked in with a steaming bowl of soup. Her face was unreadable, and he took it as a bad sign.
She said nothing though as she gently placed the bowl in Toki's hands and then sat next to him, looking absolutely exhausted. "Haves you even slepts?" Skwisgaar ended up asking, and he received a head shake as a response. "Yous and Salem ams bads at goings to beds."
Toki snorted. "Says you, mister kings of nots sleepings because you practices too hards."
Nathalia gave a light chuckle, but her eyes darkened at the mention of her friend. "I have insomnia, I already suck at sleeping. Then I wanted to help Toki out, too."
"Does Salems haves the ammonias too?" Toki questioned.
"It's insomnia. And yeah but probably not as severe as mine." She shrugged, almost giving off a smirk to that.
"Then why ams they so pales and tireds lookings?" Skwisgaar raised a brow as he butted in.
Nathalia shrugged again, face flashed in irritation; was- was she trying to make it a competition? Then Skwisgaar's question was shaken from his mind by what she said. "They won't tell me." Her eyes flickered into mild annoyance, then a little bit of sadness. "They won't tell me a lot of shit. Though I..."
"Ohs?" Skwisgaar tried to press, but Nathalia seemed to quickly recover and she grinned over at him.
"Don't worry about it, they'll be fine. I'll beat the fucking words out of them if I have to."
"You haves a thing withs the beatings on others peoples," Skwisgaar rolled his eyes with a snort, remembering her smacking him awake earlier.
Nathalia cackled at those words, which made the Swede both slightly annoyed and also amused.
They continued on their nonsensical conversation for a little while, before Skwisgaar felt the familiar ache in his belly and decided that eating before some guitar practice would be an ideal plan for the rest of the day, now that the drama had been dealt with.
The Swede stood up from where he had been sitting on the bed and waved somewhat awkwardly at them. "I'll see yous laters, ja? Gonna works on my guitar playings, unlike some peoples." He shot Toki a look, who pouted.
Nathalia ended up smirking at Skwisgaar, which unnerved him. "I'm sure Toki will see you soon enough, that's for sure."
Skwisgaar didn't like that it sounded as though she were implying something, but he shook it off, trying to play it cool. "Well, yous can't gets rids of him when hes want to follows. I'ves trieds."
"I'm sure." Nathalia scoffed, then snickered as Skwisgaar left the room with his eye suspiciously on her. There was no way she knew...
~~~
Murderface dug his knife into the wall, listening to the beautiful sounds of destruction as he frowned to himself, thinking.
Charles and everyone from the band were gone to do their own thing which left him alone, and William being alone was never a good thing, not for anyone. Not even for himself.
Murderface's mind was preoccupied with many things, things he'd been thinking about for a very long time. Like Pickles, for example. Why couldn't he just forgive the bassist? Surely he didn't need to apologize for what he said a year ago, did he?
All Murderface wanted was to feel Pickles again, to touch him, to see the trust and affection in the other's eyes. It filled Murderface's cold, broken heart with a warmth he couldn't replicate through self-mutilation (and Satan knows he tried). Or even by attempting to re-ruin things again, to maybe getting something out of it... receiving nothing, no satisfaction, just guilt or offense at the lack of response, then redirecting his feelings back to that need for Pickles to just... love him.
Salem though... It was a whole new experience for him. He immediately felt drawn to... Him? Her? 'Them'? He didn't know what they were, but he knew it was magnetic and powerful.
Did Salem feel the same way though? Should he ask? Did he want the same from them as he had gotten from Pickles, or was this different? It seemed different. Murderface could practically feel the horrid kindness and compassion oozing out of their body, which obviously counteracted his dead, nihilistic nature.
Could Salem feel the disgusting-ness that was Murderface's aura? Did they drink it in like Murderface did their sweet, sugary feelings, revel in it, feel more energized because of it? Probably not. It was like trading apple juice for swamp water, and no doubt Salem would have the worst end of the bargain.
This thought made Murderface smile a little through the pain of realization. He was drowning in a sea of sand that was his self-loathing, and taking other people's happiness, sweetness, kindness, gave him his own temporary pleasure, no matter how temporary it was or how much worse he felt after. It was a vicious cycle.
How much more could Murderface project his pain onto others before it no longer felt satisfactory in any way? Before it blew up in his face? Before he was permanently suffocating and had no way of getting help? He was sick, he knew he was sick. He just didn't care for 'medium' feelings, he needed to be hated passionately or one hundred percent loved, and nothing in between. He wanted to be noticed and remembered forever, and he'd do anything for that.
Perhaps that was partly why Murderface would soon be a victim of manipulation, a pawn in his own traitorous game.