Despite how angry I found myself with (Name) and how she had reacted, along with how angry I was at Tim and Brian for their idea of a punishment, I also found myself sort of understanding Jeff's obsession with her. Of course, his delusions were personalized to him and probably would never make sense to anyone but him, but still, I related. And what scared me most about it was that when I had been given a moment to try and attack her for what she had done, I had froze up.
She had picked up on Jeff's infatuation with her instantly, not needing even a partial explanation of his true thoughts. Jeff was much darker than most could fathom, but (Name)? She not only understood it, but tweaked her approach accordingly to play into his twisted visions. And if it wasn't for that, the girl wouldn't have interested me in the slightest. Yet, it happened, and I was irrevocably interested.
When Jack had torn Jeff from the top of me, I knew I could have attacked the pesky woman for pinning an absolute psychopath against me. Yet, I couldn't force my body from the floor. My vision, completely overtook with some sort of flashback or hallucination, (it was hard to tell these days) showed the only person from my past that I ever cared for. Paralyzed by the sight of my sister's sweet face, my brain thought only of (Name), yet saw Lyra.
I sarcastically pondered if coming in contact with Jeff's skin was enough to absorb his insanity, knowing it was impossible. Each and every one of us had our own patented brand of mental illness, and delusions about 'higher powers' just wasn't my cup of tea. But believing that my sister had come back to me in the form of (Name) was a thought too overpowering to bear. I collapsed on my bed, breath hitching in my chest as tears threatened to fall down my disfigured face. I ripped away my mask, and reached to remove my goggles, but remembered how Jeff had punched them clean off my face, effectively destroying them.
I'd definitely have to hand Jeff his ass later on for turning on a proxy at the will of an outsider, but after meeting her, I didn't blame him. While he was still in the wrong, he was also onto something. She had this pull; something magic loomed in the air surrounding her mere presence; she had captivated Jeff, had won the protection of Jack, and ultimately had captured my own attention.
I threw myself onto my un-made bed, thoughts racing faster than the answers could catch up. I found part of myself wishing that I had never listened into the Conversation Room that day. If I had just taken the punishment without wanting to retaliate, I wouldn't be in such a strange position. I wasn't the type to feel anything for anyone. I didn't feel bad when I murdered families, leaving children to go into the system. I didn't feel bad when I stole from the homeless and left them in tears. I didn't even feel bad when I cracked my own father's skull open with an axe. But now, in a position that forced me to feel, forced me to dig up the grave of things I had buried years ago, I reveled in it. Never had an outsider elicited such emotion from me; I had thought I wasn't capable of such intense emotions anymore. But as I lay sprawled out on my bed, raking my hands through my hair with the faintest of tears rolling down my cheeks, I smiled. If I couldn't feel physical pain, I could feel emotional pain, and it was exciting.
--Jack POV--
She hadn't made any move to attack me after I had challenged her placement of loyalty; she had done as she had before and just cried. I didn't care to hear her tears as I was frustrated from not being able to finish my trek to (Name)'s house. I had a few favors I could call in and ask Tim and Brian to come watch her for me, but I wasn't so sure if that was something I wanted to subject them to. Toby's reaction, or lack thereof, hadn't escaped my vigilant senses. Instead of attacking her as I had anticipated him to, especially after she had quite effortlessly turned Jeff against him, he just froze. Quite literally, he stayed glued in place to the floor of my cabin, his eyes unblinking and his limbs awkwardly rigid. I knew it wasn't fear of his life ending at the hands of Jeff that froze him in his place; I would have been able to smell his fear. The scent pouring off of him in waves was of an emotion I wasn't familiar with; I assumed that if I didn't recognize it, neither did he, which caused him a momentary lapse in judgement.
(Name) was certainly a quizzical creature. Nearly every colleague of mine she had come in contact with so far, she had managed to cast some sort of pull on, even myself.
I had arrived at the cabin much before any of the chaos broke out, but upon hearing her try and talk him down like a psychology major would, I decided to listen in.
She had been able to empathize with Jeff's emotions toward her without even knowing the extent of them and utilize it for her own gain. Dealing with Jeff wasn't an easy feat for anybody, but she had made quick and easy work of the clueless man. I listened from the doorframe, her hushed whispers only loud enough for Jeff and her to hear, or so she thought.
"I would do anything for you, would you do anything for me?"
How quickly she had turned his infatuation into a plan for escape was impressive. She had laced her words with silk and honey, battering Jeff's eardrums with promises she had never intended on keeping, promises she didn't even mean. Quite the seductress, able to wrap unsuspecting men around her fingers only to uncoil them when she no longer had use for them.
Yet, she had never spoken to me with honey-laced words. She had never whispered meaningless promises into my ear. She cursed at me, spoke disrespectfully to me, and occasionally, completely disregarded my orders.
Yet next to Jeff and Toby, there I was; just as wrapped as they were. I should have transferred that money by now. I should have been already embraced in the warm arms of freedom, unshackled from my tightly-controlled life, free to do as I pleased. Yet, here I stood just behind the door that held her here, combing my hands through my hair, silently sinking to the floor.
If I called Tim and Brian and told them about what had happened, confided in them the truth about Neil and the curiosities of this girl, perhaps they'd know why this was happening.
But then again, their thoughts were not safe. Even if they wanted to hide the truth about Neil from Slenderman, eventually, he would know, and we would all be held accountable for hiding such an important piece of information.
I stood, shaking off the engrossing thoughts that lingered in every crevice and corner of my brain. She had brought forth a quality I had actively tried to rid myself of all those years ago. Nobody had showed me even a glimpse of it when I needed it most, and due to that, I decided that I would completely rid it of my being. Yet here I was, pacing silently in front of (Name)'s prison, feeling it in it's full force; humanity.
I found myself worshipping the door between us; it kept her away from me, preventing her from bringing up any other deep-rooted feelings so effortlessly.
But I knew that the exact moment my lips had touched her own that whatever goodness and purity she was absolutely infected with had planted it's seed in my own being; curse you, (Name).
However, there were more important things to square away than cursing (Name). She still hadn't eaten in a dangerously long amount of time, and I still hadn't been able to acquire any food for the girl. I highly doubted that sitting a kidney covered in bodily mucus and stringy veins upon a plate and serving it to her would go over well; I needed human food to give the wretched creature.
Abruptly, an idea somehow snuck it's way into the jumble of thoughts that composed my brain at the moment; well, less an idea and more an experiment.
--Tim POV--
Brian and I had decided, against our better judgement, that we should remove the body from the crime scene. If we could make it appear as if Neil had been involved in the disappearance of (Name), it would throw his fellow officers for a wild goose chase trying to find him and her together rather than two separate cases; not like either of them would be found regardless.
I had been able to remember the address of (Name)'s house quite well, so we had decided to stop in and plant some of Neil's blood at the scene, which surprisingly hadn't been investigated yet. Jack must have really done a number on the girl; there was glass scattered all over the living room of the house, blood, undoubtedly hers, painted the living room and bathroom in a sickly dried-crimson. Not that Brian or I minded; it was a ready-made crime-scene, all we had to do was scatter some of Neil's blood over the walls and floors, make it look like the two had an altercation. Easy-fuckin'-peasy.
However, when we had arrived back at the house after gifting the body of Neil to a very happy-looking 'family-pet' of the mansion's, we had the sweet privilege of seeing Jeff. I hadn't bothered calling Jack to see if he had handled the whole 'Jeff-going-to-his-cabin' ordeal, not that I needed confirmation that Jeff had been handled anyway. Both of his arms were absolutely mangled and marinated in blood, both practically hanging on by a singular vein. His shoulders were slumped involuntarily, his arms swaying loosely when he walked. I glanced over to Brian, silently questioning if he was seeing the same thing. He stifled a chuckle, and I followed the motion. Jeff had been just itching for an ass-whopping the way he had been acting lately, and it was about time that somebody had issued him a good n' proper one. But the laughter ceased when the brown-haired, twitchy fuck decided to trudge through the door not far behind the sulking Jeff.
"Hey, asshole," I called to him, bounding toward him and making quick work of the short distance between us. Brian and I had been standing only a few feet away from the front door as we had just walked in only a few minutes prior to the two-twat-trio, so closing the short space between myself and my intended victim was the easiest task of the fucking day.
"I'm fucking talking to yo-,"
I roughly gripped his shoulder, only for him to jerk to the side and rip himself out of my grip.
"F-fuh-fu-fucking leave me alone, Tim."
He made a move to get in my face, a move which I didn't appreciate nor tolerate, especially from him. I shoved my palm out against his chest, and when my hand made contact with his sweatshirt, I gripped the scratchy material and nearly lifted the kid before throwing him on the ground. I stood above him, my mask blocking my visceral reaction from his view.
"Let's try that a-fucking-gain. I said, I'm fucking talking to you,"
Toby grabbed both of my legs and pulled upward on my ankles, sending me hurtling to the floor. Brian sprung from his spot beside me, yanking Toby backward by his throat just as he stood to walk away, his gun effortlessly and silently pulled from his own sweatshirt and pressed against Toby's temple.
Click.
"The safety is off, Toby. I really wouldn't make another move like that,"
As hard as Brian and I fought sometimes, it was times like this where I knew he'd have my back, as I would have his.
I stood quickly, regaining my bearings just as fast as I had lost them. The fall hadn't injured me, but it had surprised me, and I didn't care for being surprised.
I stood before Toby, Brian's elbow still locked around Toby's throat while his other arm held his gun firmly against the twitchy-fucker's temple. Even though he was tasked to individual missions for the time being, if he was going to disrespect the leader of the group he'd soon rejoin, he would suffer the consequences.
The kid not being able to feel pain was definitely a hindrance when it came to administering a suitable punishment for him; no punch, kick, slice, or scratch would even make the kid flinch. Though beating the fucking snot out of the little punk was surely tempting, it wouldn't be a suitable punishment. However, his insides were not as safe as his outsides, and nothing was really off bounds when it came to punishments for insubordination.
Bzzt,Bzzt.
A series of buzzing emanated from my pocket, drawing my attention away from the current situation. I quickly glanced at the message, not really planning on answering whoever it was until I read the full contents of the message.
I stared down at the text while I gave Brian my final order on what to do about Toby and his outburst.
"Get him in the gas mask, pump it with tear gas for half an hour. Make it hurt, Brian,"
Still looking down at the text, reading it over to myself again, I felt my mischievous spirit flood back into me.
'hey, it's jack. care to conduct a little experiment? we would need brian to be our test subject. explain fully later.' 12:45 A.M.
I smirked at my phone as Brian dragged Toby off toward the staircase, typing out my response.
'who am i to say no to science?' 12:46 A.M.
--Hey yall, sorry for not updating last night, i was absolutely exhausted and just wanted to lay in bed and be lazy, i hope this chapter makes up for it. I hope my time jumps make sense; Toby's POV is meant to take place after his intense punishment. As we all know, Neil is dead, and (Name)'s house hasn't been investigated yet. YET.
I really wanted to showcase how strained the partnership is between Brian and Tim; that most of the time they really dont get along, but when push comes to shove, they have eachother's backs regardless. I also wanted to showcase the confliction Toby faces in his brain when it comes to his complex relationship with human emotion, though he is human. After being exposed to numbness for so long, meeting someone that brought memories of his sister forward, even though the memories were painful, was exciting to him because he never really stops to feel emotions in his daily life. With Jack, he is at odds with (Name) and just can't make sense of her and the ability she has to bring out very real emotions in the people he works with, especially because his associates are typically devoid of any emotion. Jeff wasn't affected in the same way due to his mental illness; he doesn't feel emotions in the same way as the others due to having a very skewed vision of life in general, including romantic feelings. Though he never says that he feels something romantic for (Name), he does mention in previous chapters that they were meant to be together by some sort of cosmic binding, and whether that be romantic or not is up to the discretion of you, (Name).
And as always, if you're going to Meatball, do it Extravagantly. And remember, if someone ever kisses you without your consent, you smack the absolute fuck out of them. Unless, of course, you get kissed by Jack. Then, by law, you're married forever. I don't make the rules, I just enforce em.--