[ October Event ] The Black Stag Casino

[pumpkinhollow]

**Plain text version here. [Pending - pardon the delay! Plain text version will be created and added within the next 48 hours.]

THE BLACK STAG CASINO

THE LODGE

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild unreality, lapses in memory }

Wake-Up Call

You wake on the morning of October 26th in the most comfortable bed you have ever laid in. Regardless of what accommodations you’ve been used to in the past, no matter how lavish, you cannot remember the last time you felt so perfectly cradled by a mattress or slept at such a perfect temperature. You wake to the sound of a pleasant little chiming sound, repeated over and over until you address it.

You sit up and realize you don’t know where you are.

It’s not that you don’t remember coming here--- in fact, you very much do. Though the action itself is a bit of a haze, you can recall being approached by a stunning woman dressed in all black, with a wide-brimmed hat that had long tassels which concealed most of her face. She handed you a beautifully printed invitation, though you can’t recall the text, just the image of golden antlers and blue flowers on black paper. Then you went home, packed a bag of your things--- clothes, personal items, toiletries, medications, money, things you might need on vacation--- and then when you opened your door, you were standing in a forest. You recall following lights in the distance until you reached a large, ornate wooden door and then---

Well, now you’re here. In a beautiful hotel room decorated in lavish navy and black decor, possibly with others, and there is a ringing sound.

When someone answers it, despite the advent of the speakerphone having yet to occur, the golden handset phone on the desk can be heard at a pleasant volume which everyone in the room can hear. A woman’s voice speaks.

“Welcome to the Black Stag Casino and Lodge!” she says. “This is the wake-up call you ordered when you checked in last night. Just a reminder--- you are visiting us with an all-inclusive package from now until November 4th! All food services and amenities are free with unlimited use, all entertainment is included at no additional cost, a no-cost service to take care of your affairs at home has been added for you, and you will be receiving 50 free casino chips when you visit! The only things that have a cost to them are the shopping areas and additional chips. Check-out starts at 11am on the 4th, and not a moment sooner! If you have any questions, please see our front desk, open 24/7. Also, please be aware that all interpersonal violence is physically impossible outside of the arena, and no weapons are permitted inside the lodge. Enjoy your stay!”

And enjoy it you must, it would seem. When you look out your windows, you will see the misty pine forest sprawling out endlessly in every direction as far as the eye can see. While you’ll have an opportunity to verify it later should you choose to, you likely already have a sense that there is no way to leave. But at least there seems to be plenty of ways to make the best of things. Time to take a look around?

Amenities

The Black Stag Casino’s lodge is well-outfitted with only the most indulgent of luxuries; the beds are just a start! Each room has a pair of enormous king-sized beds with plush bedding and always the exact right amount of pillows. Rooms can each house between 1 and 4 people. (Please feel free to check out and add yourself to the room assignment chart as you see fit. It should be noted that only those chosen by Dahlia Leeds or Prince Aster are permitted to stay in the VIP suites.)

The bathrooms are equally luxurious, each with remarkably advanced independent plumbing, full-sized bottles of shampoo, fluffy towels and even monogrammed black bathrobes customized to each guest. A handy card informs you that you can even keep the robe when you leave, which is wild.

Each room also has a balcony overlooking the expansive lodge grounds and surrounding forest. The views are eerie, but beautiful in their way.

And of course, each room has several copies of a map of the resort, showing the locations of its underground shopping promenade, numerous performance stages, always-open front desk, lavish spa, buffet, restaurants, bars, and expansive casino floor. There’s also something out behind the lodge called the “arena,” though its purpose is unclear just from the map.

Finally, you will also find a phone number and impressive menu for room service, whose prices have been concealed. A card is attached reminding you that anything you ordered is included in your package. Truly, all expenses are paid. If this place were not clearly the work of a demon, it might be a dream vacation. But considering that anyone in the know could easily clock this as the work of a demon representing indulgence and consumption, the message is clear.

Still, perhaps it can’t hurt to enjoy it a little bit. You are trapped here for a while, after all.

THE CASINO

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: Gambling, violence, potential character death }

Game Tables

The first thing you’ll see if you enter the casino floor is, of course, a wide array of game tables run by dealers both humanoid and monstrous. However, the vast majority of dealers appear to be… the exact same woman. Specifically, a woman in a tight black dress and long black gloves, wearing a wide-brimmed hat with tassels that conceal most of her face. They each wear a gold name tag just below the plunging neckline of their dresses, and each and every one of them reads “Daphne.” (On rare occasions, the observant watcher may be able to catch one of these women phasing into a pair of mirrored copies, indicating that these are all very literally the same person.)

The games are all fairly standard casino fare. Betting is simple--- if you win, your bet is doubled. If you lose, your bet is forfeit.

Casino Rules

Each guest starts with 50 free chips and is responsible for keeping track of them on their own. Chips cannot be used for anything outside of the casino and must be redeemed at the prize counter. More chips may be purchased with Brass at a rate of 50 chips for 200 Brass. Chips cannot be redeemed for Brass once purchased and cannot be transferred or pooled between guests. Chips are not transferable between players.

A guest may bet as much as they’d like on each game, which does not have to occur within a thread (although some should, because that’s what we’re here for!) and can play until they run out of chips or wish to stop. Each game will use dice rolls (or a roulette wheel) to determine winnings, which means that all casino games rely entirely on chance to win. You are on your honor not to fudge results! We have four casino games that we have simplified for text-based RP:

Blackjack

Roll a D10. Rolls 2-9 are number cards of any suit. A roll of 10 can be a 10 number card or any face card (Jack, Queen, King) valued at 10. A roll of 1 represents an Ace, which can be valued at either 1 or 11, per the player’s preference. After the first roll, players can decide if they wish to “hit” (roll again and add the value of the additional roll to their previous) or “stand” (abstain and stick with their current value), with a goal of getting to a total of 21 or as close as possible without going over.

Players may continue to roll until they either decide to stand, or until they “bust” (exceed 21). A dealer will roll against them, which the player can either roll themselves OOCly on behalf of the dealer or recruit another player to roll for. Whoever gets closest to 21 without busting is the winner. Players who are able to “get Blackjack” by rolling to 21 exactly get triple their bet!

Craps

Actual Craps is somewhat complex and not conducive to RP, so this is an extremely simplified version. Roll 2D6. This value will determine the “point” for that round. From there, you will have 7 rolls to attempt to roll the exact same value. If you fail to do so within 7 rolls, you lose and your bet is taken by the house. If you manage to roll the point, you win. If you at any point roll “snake eyes” (a pair of 1s), you automatically lose, unless it is the first roll to determine the point, in which case you may roll again.

Poker

Due to the numerous steps in Poker and the fact that it is meant to be played with the other people at the table as opposed to the dealer, most of a Poker game will be done ICly or handwaved.

Poker requires a minimum of 2 or a maximum of 5 guests and D20s. Place bets to enter, roll your D20 once, then keep the number to yourself. Based on your roll, determine whether you wish to “call” (double your existing bet for the opportunity to win) or “fold” (forfeit). Players who folded will not be eligible to win. All players who called will then reveal the number they rolled on the d20. The one who rolled the highest wins. Rather than doubling their own bet, however, the winner receives all money bet by other players, including those that folded.

Roulette

The Black Stag Casino, like most casinos, has a roulette wheel in the center of the room. However, when you approach, you see that it is not like a traditional roulette wheel.

Instead, all the tiles that should be red are blue, and marked with gold lettering that reads “WIN!” and the black tiles all have gold text on them that reads… well, each one is something different.

The rules are simple. Place a bet of your liking and spin the wheel. If you land on a “WIN” tile, then your chips are doubled as usual. If you land on any other tile, you are subject to the effect of that tile. You may interpret it however feels right to you, and one of these effects even supersedes the “no violence” rule! SPIN HERE!

Most Dangerous Game

On the far wall of the casino from the main door, you can see an exit onto a large balcony with seating overlooking what appears to be an enclosed area of the forest, marked as the “arena” on your map. Beside the doors, you can also see a bookie working at a betting counter. Above the counter, you can see the name of the game, which is simply listed in a stark font as “PREY”.

Additionally, you can occasionally hear a crackling audio that sounds a bit like an old intercom making announcements asking that various people (usually two names, sometimes more) to report to the arena booking counter. There are times listed for “matches” on the wall with people’s names listed, and you can place bets on each “match.” The bookie doesn’t care much to tell you what the premise of the game is, just that he’s the one you can sign up to play with if you want to participate, and that there’s a pretty significant windfall for winning.

- HOW TO PLAY -

- PREY -

Any Pumpkin Hollow resident can play the game in the role of Prey, either by deliberately signing up or by ICly “drafted” to play against their will. (OOCly players would still be volunteering their characters, it’s just an opportunity for you to force them to play if they might not want to.) ICly, the Predator that they are matched with is chosen by Aster with the aim of being an interesting and well-matched fight, though the Predator does get some input. (Again, OOCly this is decided by players entirely.)

Prey are entitled to any weapons or tools they request, but have no input on the environment. Their goal is to escape, incapacitate, or kill their Predator. There will be at least one escape route per arena layout whose location and escape conditions are determined by the Predator. The winner is determined by a combination of dice rolls and player communication.

Prey who win their match-ups will receive a significant prize--- a flat prize of 200 chips, plus 50% of all bets made against them. (Bets from NPC demons will be determined on a D100 and PC bets will be added in after, if there are any.) Prey who lose get 50% of all bets made in their favor, but are dead by normal Pumpkin Hollow rules for the rest of the day. No death certificate is needed for deaths occurring in PREY. Sending Stones do not function inside the arena. No other guests may enter the arena, even as ghosts.

In the PREY Betting thread below, it is the Prey’s responsibility to set up a top-level for their match-ups betting pool. This is done by simply replying to the betting thread with the names of the Prey and Predator as the comment’s title. (ex. [Prey name] vs. [Predator name])

- PREDATORS -

Predators are VIP guests specifically brought in by Aster for this purpose, who signed up to participate via a special character claim. No more can be added. Their goal is simple: to kill their prey, by any means necessary. Predators are given some leeway on who is chosen as their prey and are provided with any weapons or tools they desire. They are also allowed to have the arena magically modified to their liking. However, they cannot modify their environment during the match unless that is specifically one of their existing powers, and they must install at least one escape method into their arena. Predators who die are only dead for a few hours before Aster sets them right, and they are not rewarded or penalized for winning, as they are already being rewarded just for being here by Aster (who has promised them each some sort of wish) and are simply here to work.

The Predators available to play against are below the cut. The Predator is responsible for the starters for their match-ups in the PREY thread below so that they can set up their arena, unless otherwise discussed.

Predator Options

Acrid || Risk of Rain
Nama/Anri || acrid_rain

Allyin Kailius || Original Character
Yarrow || allyin

The Butcher || Malevolent
Meghan || sometimesfortissimo

Brooke Augustine || InFamous: Second Son
QV || helltopave

Chase Collins || The Covenant
Dee || bastardofipswich

Dahlia Leeds || Pumpkin Hollow
Rose || thethirteenthchild

David Xanatos || Gargoyles
Batya || still_got_the_edge

Fenrir || Original Character
Kalineh || odinsbane

FUTURE || SAYER
GladHatter || for_humanitys_future

The Goose || Untitled Goose Game
Jesse || a_anser_horribilis

Hol Horse || JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Sentis || emperorcard

Itazura Unmei || Final Fantasy XIV
constellation || bloodyscalesemptyheart

Jack Spicer || Xiaolin Showdown
Kai || howiruletheworld

Julia Montauk & Trevor Herbert || The Magnus Archives
Blue || tapetumlucidum

Leshy || Inscryption
Harvey || scrybeofbeasts

Mary || Identity V
Mira || predation

Max Jagerman || Nerdy Prudes Must Die
Rose || whowillprayforyou

Ned Low || Our Flag Means Death
Rin || forthelulz

Nikola Orsinov || The Magnus Archives
Rose || dancetheworldnew

King Oberon & Puck/Robin Goodfellow || Folklore
Guildenstern & Bash || oberlord & tailorcries

Spamton G. Spamton || Deltarune
Harvey || nowsyourchance

- SPECTATING & BETTING -

In order to bet, please make a comment in the appropriate betting thread stating which character is placing the bet, how many chips they are betting, and who they are betting on to win the match. Please do not use meta knowledge to influence your bets. If you bet correctly, your bet will be doubled as usual.

To spectate a match, grab a seat on the balcony overlooking the arena! The arena may be enclosed or have scenery that blocks the view, but not to worry--- two large magical screens will be tracking both the Predator and the Prey. You cannot communicate with anyone inside the arena.

Prize Counters

When you’ve earned enough chips, there are some exceptional prizes available at the prize counter! Choose from any of the following options:

Cheap Souvenir - 50 Chips
Some kind of weird junk. Can be nearly anything you like, within reason. Fuzzy blue dice, a bag of weird candy, a poorly made trophy, a Black Stag Casino branded pen, or a very ugly stuffed animal are all great options.

Bottle of Generous Garlic Powder OR Vanilla Extract - 100 Chips
A small bottle containing seemingly infinite high quality garlic powder for cooking or vanilla extract for baking, one or the other (you can get both but you must buy each separately). Not for the faint of heart, as in order for the bottle to retain its endless quality, you must always use its contents to excess each time you cook with them. If you follow the recipe, you will find them empty the next time you reach for the bottle.

Decanter of Endless Spirits - 200 Chips
A stunning crystal decanter that will contain an endless supply of an alcoholic beverage of the pourer’s choice. It is always of the finest quality. Be warned that those who drink from it will feel a slight temptation to overindulge.

Deerbone Dice - 300 Chips
A pair of 6-sided gambling dice made of deer bone, with the dots inlaid with gold. They feel very lucky. Anyone who owns these could add +3 to the result of any dice rolls they perform in any context for the duration of the game.

Silvertongue Amulet - 400 Chips
The wearer of this silver pendant would find themselves permanently more persuasive whenever wearing it, and would find it easier to get people to do things for them or give them information. It works even on the most powerful supernatural creatures, though the success may vary on demons, elder gods, or goddesses somewhat.

Infernal Service - 500 Chips
A ticket promising the services of one infernal servant under Aster, for any task that does not directly conflict with Aster’s interest in a non-negotiable way. Which Infernal Servant will be at Aster’s discretion and dependent upon availability.

Unholy Talisman - 700 Chips
A protective ward in an array of designs that will allow the wearer to resist the influence or workings of Nyarlathotep. Would only help with non-physical/mental effects, physical damage would not be preventable.

Fallen Angel Investor - 1000 Chips
A certificate indicating that Aster will personally fund an Entrepreneur career, paying for you to open a business of your choice. The funded business will automatically be a Level 3 business and there are absolutely no catches aside from Aster being a little nosy about how numbers are.

THE EXTRAS

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: Potential for overeating, heavy alcohol use, mental manipulation }

Food & Drink

Considering it's Aster’s specialty, you know that the food has to be good. And the staff is more than willing to identify everything in the food! It’s not human, they promise. (For once it’s genuinely not. Besides, lying was Mendel’s game. The Dark Feast prefers to skirt around the truth instead.)

There are two main places to eat. The first is a high end, luxurious restaurant with rich and well-made food, some of which is unique and a bit experimental. It’s the finest money can buy, and it’s all yours for free. A great place for a date! Never tried caviar? You can get it here.

The second is a buffet. The food here is also fantastic, though with significantly less bells and whistles. It’s all hot, fresh, and widely varied, and it’s never empty.

Additionally, there is also a stunning bar, whose bar-top is carved from dark wood and whose decor incites a close, intimate feel. There is a VIP room that intends to be specifically for Aster’s guests, the Predators and his family members, though others can join them if invited.

It’s worth noting that each of these places make it fairly challenging to stop consuming, and time seems to pass strangely in them, becoming easily lost. It takes a bit of willpower to leave them, and ordering room service doesn’t seem to really circumvent this problem, as you’re still left wanting more once you’re finished. However, the effect seems fairly mild--- except in the buffet. It is extremely easy to get trapped in the buffet, overindulging in the food there and losing hours and hours of time, and once you go the first time, you feel compelled to go back each time you get hungry. Overconsumption is Aster’s game, but it seems particularly potent there.

Shopping

On the bottom floor of the lodge, which is underground, there is a sprawling indoor shopping area designed to look like an outdoor promenade in a fancy commercial district, with stone shop fronts and gold-lettered signs and tasteful street-lamps lining the herringbone-pattern brick walkway. There are a fair few shops down there, some of which don’t seem completely compliant with the time period Pumpkin Hollow exists in. The shops are as follows:

Wolf’s Clothing: A high end boutique with stylists who can put together the perfect outfit. Everything is magically tailored to fit the wearer perfectly.

Quarry’s Demise: A shop that sells powerful magical armor and weaponry from the mainland. Purchase will be sent to the buyer’s home directly, as weapons are not allowed in the casino.

Flames of Yvelas: A shop selling powerful magical items and potions that you can’t get on the island. Combat products will be sent directly to the buyer’s home.

Complete Sustenance Market: a food market selling high end specialty products and health foods, many of which are not available in Pumpkin Hollow. Perishables will be sent directly to the buyer’s home.

Nightingale’s: A well-to-do bakery with fancy cakes and artisanal bread. Also serves coffee and tea. Occasionally you can see the baker, who is evidently a large wolf-monster with open throat lacerations. This does not seem to impact the quality of the product, or the sanitation of the kitchen. Apparently he just looks like that.

Buckskin Spirits and Liquors: A liquor store with everything imaginable.

Spacetime Super Store: an interdimensional clothing store that has clothing from other time periods, ranging from medieval to futuristic.

Ye Olde Pokemart: A shop that sells Pokemon supplies. It has a bakery counter in the corner that sells Pokemon-safe desserts called PokePuffs.

DreamThrift: a thrift store of some sort that seems to sell gadgetry, decorations, or mundane items from various worlds and time periods. Much of it is middling quality.

Spirit Halloween: Exactly what it says on the tin. How did this get here?

Ennui Perfumery: A perfume boutique that sells beautifully bottled perfumes named after abstract concepts, whose fragrances somehow smell exactly the way one expects the concept to smell and also evokes the feeling of that concept.

Price Guide

The specific items found in each shop are up to players, within reason, and are categorized within a set of broad categories. You may use your best judgment to determine the price of something. If the mods receive a massive influx of price check questions, we will explode, so please use the price menu to the best of your ability and reserve questions about pricing for things that you truly have no frame of reference for. Things are expensive because all of them will be things you cannot get back home!

Follow this link to view the price chart!

Entertainment

In addition to shopping and games, there are plenty of other fun things to do at the lodge. You could take in a show! There are magicians, acrobats, musical performances, and a stage that is dedicated to a 24-hour cabaret that becomes distinctly adults-only after dark. There’s also a spa where you can get massages, a magically-heated hot tub and swimming pool, and a dance hall. Take a break from gambling and check out the other indulgences available.

Grounds

Attempting to exit the casino is entirely possible, but not advisable, as you'll be met with a long and grueling journey through an endless woods full of increasingly violent predators and thick fog. Conveniently, however, once you turn back, you'll find the path very easily traversed and the lodge only a minute or two's walk away, even if you've been traveling through the woods for hours.

CHECK-OUT

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A }

We Hope You Enjoyed Your Stay!

On November 4th at 11am, you will be allowed at last to exit as normal. But will you want to? Perhaps some of you will struggle with the temptation not to extend your stay. Remain a while more. Indulge, consume, obey.

Or not! We hope to see you back soon!

Comments

[acceptandadapt]

There's a flicker of a moment where, in the wake of everything that'd come so suddenly, Basira's locked in place.

She hadn't signed up for this. There wasn't any real purpose in doing so - the casino itself offered a significantly less-lethal gambling opportunity, after all. But she was called, all the same, given a choice of weaponry, and dropped into the middle of nowhere by a door. Demon bullshit had quite a range of possibilities for it, more than she'd given it credit for from the jump.

Basira knew from the second she'd heard the names "J. Montauk and T. Herbert" announced for the match who she'd see, but coming truly face to face with Julia Montauk was entirely different from distantly anticipating it on the walk in. Only Julia, as well. Trevor could be anywhere. She didn't have the sheer manpower of the Institute's days to overwhelm one of them to focus on the other, and both the holstered pistol and short, sheathed knife she'd been granted suddenly feel remarkably inadequate.

A few scant weeks in the end of the world hadn't been adjustment enough for her to fully understand, especially not spur-of-the-moment, how to manage without someone watching her back. Now more than ever, it's clear that she is deeply, profoundly alone.

The only reply she can manage is a terse, firm, "Right."

And then, without hesitation, she turns tail. She can't linger on the trail, and it takes her only a moment to veer off of it. As long as she can keep it in her periphery, she can find her way along with those signs, right? Stay near the trail, not on it, and she might just be able to cut her way through this.

She's never felt less optimistic about that notion in all her life.

[tapetumlucidum]

The laugh that bounces through the trees behind her is nothing short of exhilarated, even now, even before the chase has well and truly begun. The rabid bitch's special little human hunting partner, all alone in the woods—oh, that's absolutely fucking beautiful, that is. That alone would make this whole fuss worth it, and it doesn't even end there. Fantastic.

When Julia takes off after her, it's not even at her top speed. Oh, she's fast—far faster than she has any right to be—but she could push it harder, could gain on her even quicker, but there's no fun in ending things too soon. Better to make Basira work for every inch of ground only to be able to take it away again just like that, to hang back just far enough to hound her the ways Julia wants them to go.

Heavy boots pound against the hard-packed dirt beneath them and low branches crack without so much as a wince.

"What's the matter, Hussain?" she calls, not even out of breath. "Feeling a little lost without your attack dog's leash in your hand?"

[acceptandadapt]

Crunching foliage, rustling, those footfalls gaining on her all too quickly--- Basira didn't charge off at full speeds to try to avoid getting winded too fast, to try to keep her energy measured and keep moving until she's out, but she picks up pace. Each passing sign, shapes of metal and wood, is a good sign. It doesn't feel like it's leading anywhere, but surely it must be, right?

She works just as diligently to keep herself steady as she does to move, to keep an iron grip on her mind. The Hunt has been on her periphery for years. She's seen it at work. She has an understanding of what feeds it, and what doesn't. Focus.

"Got enough to figure out where I'm going, and I know right where you are. That's enough," Basira calls back - animal instinct tries to insist to be quiet, to hide, but she knows full and well that there's no hiding from a Hunter. Not while blood still courses through her veins. If she can keep Julia jeering, she knows where one is, at least; it's easier to pinpoint a voice than footsteps, especially when she's trying to keep her attention spread far enough to find that second set.

Spur of the moment, she changes directions, back across the path. None of the branches she can see are low enough to try to scale.

Basira draws the pistol from her belt. Best to have it ready, just in case.

[tapetumlucidum]

"You sure about that?"

Julia turns on a dime, dirt kicking as the steel toe of a boot twists in it, following Basira's trail like a homing missile of teeth and claws. She may as well be exactly that, for the way the Hunt drives her, directs her, pulls her toward the sound of blood and the vengeance that's rightfully hers.

"Where do you think you're going, exactly?"

There are the signs, of course, but who put those signs there? What is it that Basira imagines she will find at the end? Julia knows full well there's an escape built in, an unfortunate compromise for the nature of the game, but it's easy enough to try and sow doubt despite that truth. To make Basira second guess the best course of action, how to survive.

Julia overshoots on purpose, catching herself in a skidding twist to come at Basira from an angle and drive her in a new direction again.

[acceptandadapt]

Shit. The new angle is easy enough to take; as much as Basira wants to try to barrel ahead, to stay the path, to shake that feeling of being a wild beast spurred on by hunting dogs at the ankles, it would be a full collision. She can't risk that, not so soon.

She pivots, digs her shoes in, and takes off anew.

There's a new apprehension, though. Between the jeering and the turn-around, she still follows those signs, but is she following them the right way anymore? Did she get spun around fully, and is pressing deeper into these seemingly-infinite woods? Had she been turned the right way to begin with?

Basira doesn't know, but she has to stay the course. That's the best shot she's got, at this point.

"Going somewhere," Basira's words have a bit more force behind them now. Her breaths, previously short huffs of air, start to grow ragged, slowly but surely, with exertion. If she kept running nowhere, they might turn her in circles until she's too exhausted to carry on. Persistence hunting, until the prey can barely hold itself up.

It's a gamble, but she turns on her heel, gun in hands, and takes a shot directly behind her, before trying to course-correct from where she'd been steered aside, not even taking a long enough moment to see if the bullet connected. It likely cost her some of that precious distance, but if it gave her even so much as an inch, she has to take whatever she can get her hands on.

cw: violence

[tapetumlucidum]

Julia laughs again, wild and free, a predator in her element. There's no strain to her breathing, there's no sign of muscles starting to ache or cramp, there's no give to the relentless pace. It's so much better when the prey makes a good go of it, really tries to survive despite the odds. And the odds are never good, never in their favour. Prey is prey.

Doesn't matter that Hussain pulls a gun on her. Julia barely even tries to dodge, shifting only enough from her trajectory to stop the bullet striking somewhere more inconvenient than the path it carves through her upper arm. Fabric and skin tear in matching streaks, the only sound a grunt, a snarl of energized pain.

She does not falter and the wound heals so quickly you could think it had never been there at all, if not for the blood in the air and on her skin, but she doesn't have the chance to force Basira onto a tighter route yet again.

[acceptandadapt]

"Shit."

The snarl and the continued sounds of chase spell nothing good for her short attempt at curtailing the problem whatsoever. Hunters were always impossible to take down, after all, weren't they? It took other Hunters to even so much as leave them breaking a sweat. Basira couldn't be so lucky to hit a leg, or somewhere more vital, something that might've slowed her down.

She's starting to have to put so much strain on herself to run. It's hard to tell just how long she's been running, at this point. Signs continue to pass, but there's no tells on them, nothing she could see without risking getting closer and stopping.

Holding course here is more difficult than it'd been during the Unknowing - perhaps because, here, she can think too hard about it.

She's beginning to run herself into the ground - Basira knows she is. She can't go like this forever.

It might be too risky, but she has to try something - deliberately, she slows, and one shot rings out from her firearm, then a second, then a third. It's a small pistol, there's every chance she's burned through half of her ammunition already - she should've been more specific, but it's what she has to work with.

[tapetumlucidum]

Three bullets, two strikes. A chunk of flesh from Julia's thigh, gone but healed just as quickly; a hole in her abdomen, a bloom of blood spreading, a darker shade against the lighter red fabric—all with barely a grunt, a restrained hiss of pain that does so little to slow her down.

"How's your ammunition?" she taunts. Four bullets total and such a piddly little gun, barely worse than a bee sting. Pain means so little when you're built to take the punishment. "You can't keep this up forever, Hussain. Your precious little lap dog's going to see you torn to bits and she won't be able to do a damn thing about it."

It's not even about Basira, really. Isn't that a horrid thing.

They're close now, to where Julia keeps trying so hard to drive her. And so she picks up pace, closes a little more of that distance, to push her a little harder.

[acceptandadapt]

Managing to be just close enough to see that a hit that would have taken anyone else is useless, that it doesn't even cause her to stumble--- it finally sinks in that the gun is as good as useless. As far as she can see, she doesn't know what she could have gotten that would have been useful.

At least she can stop holding it like the lifeline it isn't now.

"You keep saying that," Basira manages between huffs, and she tries to continue to push, to shove further ahead, in spite of how the muscles in her legs sear under the pressure. It's a wonder that she even remembers to holster that weapon of hers once more - if it wasn't something that Julia could've picked up, she may have just thrown it to the ground, at this rate.

It seems like she may yet be in luck, however - through the dark of the woods, she can make out the shapes of the trees beginning to part, even just a bit. A clearing? An exit? A ledge?

Whatever it is, it's got to be something other than endless woods and a closing chase. She'll make it work.

It's a blind dash, a final push, but with everything she's got left, she shoves ahead.

[tapetumlucidum]

The treeline breaks. A small but distinct clearing opens up on the other side, disrupted only by a small, shabby cabin just big enough to be a respite, a place of safety, in any normal forest.

But this is not a normal forest, and this is not a safe haven.

Inside, Trevor waits for his cue. It's a trick he and Julia have played many a time before, with hiding places ranging from car boots to motel rooms to cabins to public bathrooms—anywhere you can lure someone, anywhere someone can expect to be safe, to let their guard down, maybe to hold down a defensive position.

He waits for the handle to shift, he waits for the door to crack open, and then he lunges to throw their quarry to the ground.

[acceptandadapt]

Basira's swift impact to the door doesn't do her the favors that she'd hoped it would when she shoved on to the cabin. There had been just enough doubt in its safety, in the idea that someone might be behind the door - but what other choices did she have? Where else could she go? She'd gone the wrong way on that trail, if there was even a right way to be had.

Her haste only sends her to the floor harder when Trevor lunges at her, her shoulder connecting harshly to the aged wood of the floor below.

Terror wells in her chest, and any distress chokes words in her throat. What could she say to make a difference, though? This was the game all along, and she'd ran headlong into it.

They were going to tear her to pieces.

God, she hopes Daisy isn't watching. Maybe they won't get what they want that way.

Her hand darts to her belt, trying to pull the short, sharp blade from its sheath, the last line of meaningful defense that she might have. Knees curl to try to jab defensively, to gain her any distance, but the panic of being all but under the blade of a knife doesn't do anything for her composure. That measured control she wields as a weapon in and of itself is slipping from her fingertips; she has no idea what to do to try to get it back.

cw: violence, it's only gonna get worse from here

[tapetumlucidum]

For a man a good twice the age of her, Trevor Herbert moves with the strength and precision of an old wolf that earned every scar and ache and has no intention of stopping just because he's slowing down. Every motion he takes has to count and he makes sure that they count.

Keep his weight on her—he's shorter, but he's dense for his size. Shove his forearm against her throat, pinning her down even as her knees jab into his ribs. Grab for her wrist to try and yank it up to her side, to trap it against the ground where she can't grab for her weapon.

"Not so fun bein' on the wrong side of the chase, is it lass?" he snarls in her face, through unnaturally sharp teeth and breath that reeks of blood even now. "Should've thought to bring that rifle, ay?"

Heavy footfalls cross from dirt to wood and a shadow falls over them, a silhouette cast from the light in the doorway, echoed by a threatening laugh.

"This is what happens when you think you're just too good to give up your precious humanity," Julia jeers, pulling her own knife from its sheath and running her finger across the blade, "and you still try and Hunt."

CW: Eye trauma

[acceptandadapt]

A rifle--- something with some decent power behind it. If the match hadn't been shoved at her so suddenly, maybe she would've considered it. It wasn't as though the rifle she wore on her shoulder during the apocalypse was anything short of a last-minute find either, though. But how would he know...?

There's no time to worry about that.

Her wrist just manages to escape his hand on the upward lift past her head, pulling from rough, calloused fingertips that have seen a lifetime of hunting in so many different forms. She knows it won't be enough to get her away from both of them - it may not be enough to even get Trevor off of her, quite frankly.

If she can't win, she might as well make it harder for them to put her down, right?

It's a quick snap of a motion, a lashing out of desperation. Fingertips press hard against his greying temple, fingernails digging in as sharply as they're able, and her thumb presses like a sharp blade into the neighboring eye-socket. No showboating to mirror that of the Hunters follows. The only words that join it are a hiss, strained under a pinned windpipe but as bitter as it could have ever been of, "Piss off."

They're going to kill her, but she'll leave them with lasting damage. An eye for an eye, given more literally to one half of them.

cw: eye trauma, violence, light gore

[tapetumlucidum]

The low, startled shout that breaks the air is the first real noise of pain either Hunter has made since this whole horrid affair began. Trevor doesn't get a hold of her wrist again until there's already blood streaking his face, her fingers. Even as he slams her arm back down to the boards so hard there's an unpleasant crack, that eye is left squinting and useless, not healing up the way it really should.

Sometimes even old tricks fail.

"That's enough of that," comes from the woman above, more a bark than anything else, as she stamps hard on the wrist to keep it down and make whatever damage Trevor already did hurt more.

Trevor makes sure to pry the knife from her belt before he does anything else, eyeing it for a moment as if deciding what to do with the thing before he stabs it down into her other shoulder. Can't try that move again if her arms are no good, can she.

"What d'you reckon?" Julia says, casual despite the odd, animal rumble behind her voice, crouching down without ever taking her foot away from its position. The blade in her hand presses the tip to Basira's cheek, just hard enough to draw blood. "Could tear her throat out. See how the lap dog likes being on the other side of that move."

[acceptandadapt]

The only reason a louder sound of pain doesn't escape her than the sharp, agonized, muffled yelp she can't restrain is teeth clenched so tightly it hurts. She doesn't want to give them anything, and she'll take any bit that she can deny them the satisfaction of getting, even as searing pain tears up through her arm, blooms from her shoulder into her neck, all while the seeping blood from her shoulder chills in the cabin's stale air.

She can't move either of her limbs, not anymore. Ragged puffs of air grow rougher as Julia bears down her weight more firmly when she crouches, tinged with the stuttering, pained groan that rattles in her throat.

"Can't--- think of anything new? She got you good." She manages to mutter between those breaths, even if the pain already threatens to cloud her mind and leave her delirious. Even in spite of the pin, the heels of her own boots dig for purchase against the wood floor. Instincts plea with her to get up and away, even if there's no way she could pull herself off the floor without some sheer misery involved. "Can't even get her back in--- in a way that sticks anymore. Get your scraps of revenge."

cw: violence and choking

[tapetumlucidum]

Julia flashes her teeth in a tense mockery of a smile-turned-threat-display, tucking the blade of the knife under Basira's chin to tilt her head back to look at her. Upside down, she still meets her gaze.

For all that the Hunters develop similar traits, for all that at a distance their eyes seem the same, there's no doubt when you look closely that these are not the eyes of the Hunter that loves her. Maybe it's the size or shape, maybe it's the shade of the iris, maybe it's the edge that almost feels like it's earned the cat-like pupil in the way her more canine counterparts haven't.

Or maybe it's just that they are filled with hate. With violence. With a lack of mercy. All the things Daisy has never been able to aim at her partner, never her.

It's Trevor that laughs, a gruff and weathered thing. "Good enough to know she'll never stop kickin' herself for letting it happen. Shoulda thought about that before using my girl against me, shouldn't she?"

Julia's gaze flicks his way, but lands back on Basira quickly. Whatever emotion passed across her face in that moment, it's set aside for later. "What was it you said, old man? She thinks this one's purer. That she shouldn't have to get her hands dirty on the real work."

Trevor grunts in acknowledgement but says nothing else.

"Shame she wasn't any good at protecting you from it, in the end," Julia muses. "...just choke her out, Trevor. If she thinks we need to get more creative, we can mix it up."

Trevor huffs something sickeningly like a laugh and clicks his tongue. "Fine by me."

He doesn't even use both hands. He just presses that arm harder, and harder, and harder against her windpipe with more force than anyone could hope to struggle out from under.

CW for choking/death by asphyxiation

[acceptandadapt]

Basira doesn't speak again - she can't, not really. Between those eyes set on her own, so viciously hateful unlike anything she's ever seen,the arm against her throat, and the beneath her chin, she couldn't possibly begin to. Especially not with how her head swims, leaving her feeling as though the world teeters on its axis from that dizzying pain.

Not that she'd have much of an opportunity to speak, anyhow. The plan is settled on, though it's no faster a death than tearing out her throat would be. Even despite the sharp pain any time she moves her shoulder, her hand twitches and curls, as though, should it be able, it'd lift to try to push him back, to stop that increasing pressure on her throat, to ease the crushing of her windpipe---

But she cannot.

It isn't an easy death. Her lungs burn just as much as her wounds, her broken bones, as they strain for air. Fleeting seconds and dragging minutes feel like ages, and her body, in how little she's able to move it, writhes, shifts, does anything she can try to free herself, all while her vision darkens at the edges.

But, at last, she succumbs. Consciousness drains away from her until she can hold it no longer - yet more pressure, and her pulse follows the rest of her into frozen stillness.

Basira, at last, sinks away into her first restless death on Marrow Isle.