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[In the chaos that follows two people going at it post-vote, Jason slips out when he thinks no one is paying him much attention. The trail of blood is easy to track, especially the further it goes along; the running, the moving, has been a disadvantage, has made Royce bleed a bit more profusely.
Jason stalks it, weaving several feet away, watchful of its course. Into the woods, which may or may not be such a great idea considering how high the hairs on the back of Jason's neck stands when he gets to the edge of the brush of it. But he presses on, keeping quiet.
Royce is smart, Jason finds. The trail moves in various directions, sharp turns, even doubles back before continuing on. It actually gets lighter instead of heavier. Royce must have either kept weight off it or wrapped something around it.
Then it goes up a tree. Jason stands hidden a little ways away, listening, watching, making sure. Slowly, he moves out, skirts up by the tree, lifts his head. Royce is small, dark, very hard to see. If there's no movement, Royce is practically invisible, blending. Patiently, Jason waits. Blood hits him warm on the cheek, and he smirks.]
Duster. [It's all he says. Royce will know him by his voice.]
Jason stalks it, weaving several feet away, watchful of its course. Into the woods, which may or may not be such a great idea considering how high the hairs on the back of Jason's neck stands when he gets to the edge of the brush of it. But he presses on, keeping quiet.
Royce is smart, Jason finds. The trail moves in various directions, sharp turns, even doubles back before continuing on. It actually gets lighter instead of heavier. Royce must have either kept weight off it or wrapped something around it.
Then it goes up a tree. Jason stands hidden a little ways away, listening, watching, making sure. Slowly, he moves out, skirts up by the tree, lifts his head. Royce is small, dark, very hard to see. If there's no movement, Royce is practically invisible, blending. Patiently, Jason waits. Blood hits him warm on the cheek, and he smirks.]
Duster. [It's all he says. Royce will know him by his voice.]
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It's frustrating, though. He can't see - he feels blind, unable to see through the dark like normal. He wonders if this is how it feels for Hadrian, for Gwen, and feels that irritation grow. No time to think about them now. He needs to be alert.
So when he hears moving beneath him, he goes still. Barely breathes. This isn't a permanent hiding spot - he'll be moving in a moment, when his leg stops bleeding, but for now, he needs this to be a safe place. It's not. Even the fact that it's Red doesn't help much. There's a pause, and then Royce sighs, shifting and peering down out of the tree. ]
Red. Come to finish me off? [ He's only half kidding. ]
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[The sound of his feet is the sound of him stepping back away from the tree. Soft metal clicks. A flick. Red. A flick. Red. In the dark, a lick of yellow blooms, then disappears with another click of metal, leaving behind a floating orb of warm, amber-red. It grows, cylindrical, an inch maybe, lights up brighter, then dims. Floats forward, then down in an arching swoop. Jason's exhales deep.
Royce can probably smell tobacco when the smoke rises up the length of the tree. There were two things he didn't take out of his jacket to put on the table.] You bandage it? If not, you should come down so we can. Might want to move to another area. If anyone can track, they'll be able to find you here like a shot deer.
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Royce stays quiet after that - sure, Jason jokes, and Royce isn't an idiot, he hears the grin in his voice, but still. After tonight, being called on to kill someone and absolutely not even hesitating once, having to kill someone in front of everybody? He's not super pleased about his situation. Not because he had to kill someone, but because he had to do it in plain view.
He watches the cigarette light in the darkness. Wonders exactly what that is that Jason's doing - and wrinkles his nose at the smell of tobacco. Gross. ]
It's bandaged well enough. [ It actually is, because Royce isn't tsundere about that, at least. He knows when he needs to take it easy and when he doesn't. He'll need to re-bandage it at some point soon, though. Royce doesn't come down from the tree, because he doesn't trust that Jason isn't actually going to shoot him in the face. ]
I'm aware. Why are you offering to help me? [ suspicious ]
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It's because you're smart and want to live. It's because you didn't hesitate to pick up the weapons even though I might be a little disappointed you killed an innocent man. [Circumstance, though. Jason knows exactly how it feels to want to live.]
You do need to move, though. Might wanna double-back to the north and dip into the ocean, lose the blood trail, follow it down, then come back through. Just a suggestion. [Jason's voice drifts a bit away, following his footsteps, like he's leaving.] Use part of your Dungeons and Dragons cloak to wrap the wound. You can cut it up the sides by the legs that'll leave you with a workable outfit but some spare fabric for bandages.
Might can find some leaves out here that'll help, too, if you know what to look for.
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Royce doesn't much care whether Jason is disappointed or not - he's going to do whatever he needs to in order to survive and some cocky upstart with an alias and a gun isn't going to change his mind about it. He ignores that part, because it's nothing he hasn't heard before. The rest, though, that's worth listening to. Jason has proved himself competent, and Royce thinks that's dangerous, in a place like this. Normally, Royce would take him out without a thought.
In fact, as Jason's walking away, Royce has already slinked his way down to the ground, followed after, Alverstone turned in his grip and ready to slip between Jason's ribs. He's much shorter than Jason but that's never stopped him before. No, he's worked with his height disadvantage more than enough that he can slip his foot around Jason's ankle and drag him down, yank him backwards by the hair and get Alverstone right up against Jason's throat, close enough that one move would shed blood. ]
You shouldn't turn your back on anybody in this place. [ Royce tells him calmly. And maybe in another life he would have just... ended it there. But it's been years since he's worked on his own. Hadrian has been a constant presence at his side and the lack of a partner is hindering him more than he'd like. Jason's not Hadrian. But it's good enough.
Royce lets go, and slips back, Alverstone hidden in his cloak again. ] I can take care of a trail. The first aid, not so much.
You show me those leaves and I'll make sure you're not caught tonight.
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There isn't two-hundred-something pounds and six feet of height on Jason for nothing. Out of all of the other birds, he's the toughest. He's the tank. He can take a punch as good as he can give one. In fact, he can probably take a punch better. In a fight with Royce, Jason is already aware of the height, and Jason re-caliberates for it. What Jason doesn't exactly expect is for the attack to come at the feet rather than the back or the head. Didn't give Royce enough credit.
Every muscle on him is burning tense when Royce pulls his head back and he feels the cool bite of a sharp blade on his throat. He's not afraid to die because he already has before. But there's an anxious thrill there. Something sick inside of him that is both afraid and excited. Enjoys it. It's almost disappointing when it vanishes.] All right.
[If Royce thought Jason couldn't move two-hundred pounds of muscle as fast as he can, Royce will be surprised as hell. Jason uses the same tactic, flipping around low to the ground and sweeping a hard leg out to hit Royce right in the knees. Quick. No hesitation and only a little restraint in the force. Jason's fist bunches in Royce's cloak before the man can hit the ground. Crackling blue lightning splits the darkness right before Jason plunges the taser into Royce's stomach. Fifty thousand volts. Three seconds. He dumps Royce almost immediately and retreats quickly several feet away just in case.]
You shouldn't threaten a twenty-first century Thor.
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Royce hits the ground - it doesn't hurt as bad after the shocks has stopped, but his muscles are tight, constricted. He's reasonably sure he's made his leg bleed more profusely, and his whole body aches, twitches, and he very nearly vomits. That fucking hurt, and he's far too stunned to do anything else. He's a target. Jason could kill him.
He doesn't say anything, just breathes harshly, doubled over in the dirt. Stubbornly, he tries to stand, and absolutely fails miserably, legs refusing to work. Royce just ends up scrabbling at the dirt, unable to breathe right.
Get up. Get up, get up, he has to... he has to defend himself. ]
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The end of the cloak is gathered up quickly, and Jason passes the sharp blade of the kris four times through the material to cut out a triangle near where it would fall against each leg. The cloak will still wrap and flow, will still conceal, but now it will just fold against the legs like the slits in a woman's skin-tight dress.
Jason puts the kris back, dropping the shards of cloak nearby. Then he bends down as he takes his foot off Royce's back, grabbing two handfuls of half-elf and rolling the guy over. He bunches those fingers again into the collar of Royce's cloak, tight, stern. He jerks Royce up a bit closer, lowers his voice to a hiss.] I know you can still hear me. Listen closely:
Ivan is innocent.
[And without anything further, Jason pops Royce one good, solid, hard time in the chin with his elbow to cut the blood supply long enough to bring unconsciousness.
Exhaling long and low, Jason takes a moment, then gathers Royce up to toss over his shoulder like a sack. Sorry, buddy. He gets the scraps of cloak, then carts Royce off into another part of the jungle to deposit in an alcove of strange ruins shielded by brush.
He goes out momentarily to harvest a few snapdragon to make a half-assed poultice, then cleans and re-bandages Royce's wound with the mixture.
Jason leaves Royce there like a secret, hoping fine for some time while knocked out.]
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That's surprising, actually. After all of that, he expected to never open his eyes again. Stupid, to trust - anybody, really. He knows that. He's not sure why he lapsed in that thinking. Hadrian's made him soft.
But he does wake up. And he does find that his leg has been bandaged, and that it feels better. Enough that it's stopped bleeding, and that he can walk without a limp, though he figures he needs to take it easy until the wound is well on it's way to sealing. He will. He'll take it easy all day tomorrow. He can digest what Jason's told him, and he can plan, rest in anticipation for the trial during the evening. But tonight, he has business to attend to.
Because tonight, he's going to indulge the dramatic side of himself. Tonight, he's going to quietly work his way through the jungle, and find Jason. When he does, he follows the former birdboy. He won't approach, won't let Jason see him, but he doesn't plan on letting Jason feel at ease. No, he follows him for a good portion of the night, rustling bushes, the sound of footsteps and the quiet, just-barely heard noise of a dagger being unsheathed behind him. Royce doesn't attack him, doesn't do anything but taunt - and doesn't allow himself to be seen.
Royce isn't a brawler like his partner, but he sure as hell can psychologically fuck with a person. The noises and feeling of being watched will stop in the early hours of the morning, and Royce will safely hide himself away until they're allowed into the mansion. ]
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Besides, Royce is rough enough around the edges that Jason likes him, so he wants the man to survive.
So Jason carries on about his business of hiding and surviving in the jungle without too much attention-paying to Royce's stalking, though he doesn't try to shoo Royce away either. Hopefully, Jason'll be able to get a quick nap in later in the day; he sure as hell isn't going to be getting it tonight.]