#pre-game.

@irraediate

fading   in   and   out   of   consciousness   after   a   grade-a   smackdown   ,   green   eyes   finally   pry   themselves   open   when   he   feels   something   soft   rubbing   on   his   cheek   .   after   staring   at   the   blurry   world   around   him   –   a   mix   of   his   glasses   being   knocked   off   and   the   possible   concussion   he   just   granted   himself   –   jake   slowly   turns   his   head   to   see   a   familiar   face   .   well   ,   a   face-less   face   .   his   pet   ?   no   .   guardian   ?   whatever   gcat   happened   to   be   .

                           “…………   peachy   .”   

                                              the  day  was  just  like  any  other  .    the  young  seven-year-old  woke  up  completely  alone  on  his  island  ,    got  on  his  shoes  and  clothes  ,    and  went  to  go  make  his  own  food  .    cereal  with  milk  was  the  norm  .    if  he  was  feeling  extra  spiffy  ,    he’d  perhaps  make  a  sandwich  .    what  else  could  he  do  ?    a  year  since  his  grandmother  had  passed  and  he  was  far  too  young  to  know  how  to  cook  anything  .

                                              that  was  the  easy  part  .    the  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  trying  to  survive  .    the  beasts  that  came  to  him  looking  for  a  fight  did  nothing  but  scare  the  poor  boy  .    one  day  ,    he  hoped  he  could  fight  back  .    instead  ,    he  often  just  ran  away  ;    those  were  the  lucky  times  .    otherwise  ,    he’d  get  injured  ,    to  which  he’d  have  to  treat  all  by  himself  .    it  was  not easy  but  any  stretch  of  the  imagination  ,    but  in  the  months  after  burning  his  guardian’s  body  ,    he  had  grown  used  to  it  .

                                              today  was  one  of  the  bad  ones  .    a  lusus  managed  to  pick  a  fight  with  him  ,    causing  him  to  get  relatively  injured  .    far  too  injured  to  run  for  dear  life  ,    and  he  ended  up  just  curling  into  a  ball  ,    hoping  the  awful  crab  monster  would  leave  him  alone  .  then  ,    he  saw  something  ...    or ,    rather  ,    someone  .

                                              a  boy  came  by  and  seemed  to  scare  the  lusus  off  ,    but  jake  hadn’t  really  noticed  that  .    he  couldn’t  help  but  just  stare  at  them  .    he’d  never  seen  another  human  before  ,    aside  from  his  grandmother  ,    so  this  was  nothing  short  of  shocking  .    the  young  boy  got  up  eagerly ,    though  then  proceeded  to  limp  towards  the  other  ,    stumbling over  his  own  two  feet  .

If they were regular crabs, he would’ve been fine but no. They had to be lusii. Though his knife seemed to keep them away, there was no way he could do any damage withone getting up close, and that was out of the question.

The last thing he was expecting was gunshots, or for the crabs to actually run off. Once he sees the other person, he lets out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank you so much. I think if I was in that situation for much longer they would have disregarded my knife…” something was missing… oh!

“My name’s Die” he put out a thin, gloved hand for the other to shake.

“Well, it’s a good thing I popped by when I did then.” Once the threat was gone, his pistol went right back in his sylladex. Sure, they had a knife, and Jake was weary, but there was no direct threat right now. Besides, not like he can’t whip the thing back out if need be.

He shook the other’s hand, giving them a smile. “Bonjour there, Die. Call me Jake.”

@auniversalhorror

What on Earth could that ruckus be? There’s no way a group of lusii would make that much commotion unless something was up. Curiosity guided Jake to the window where he saw… Another being! By that, he means neither a lusus nor a human, which was absolutely astounding in his books.

Without hesitating, the boy lept to his feet, running towards the man with pistols out. Of course, he wanted to help. He liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. Semantics could be dealt with later on.

At least it was just some crabs.

Die had stopped himself from asking the question previous nights. While he enjoyed Jake’s picks, he had his own slightly different taste in movies.

“I was uh… wondering if we could watch Scream?” He figured it was one of the more lighter ones from his own personal collection. One horror movie couldn’t hurt, right?

Jake, of course, rarely watched horror. It wasn’t because the movies were of bad taste or were somehow less superior to his typical comedy and action flicks. As much as he liked to pretend he was brave, he really... wasn’t. So, of course, when the recommendation was made, he felt a pit form in his stomach.

He wasn’t going to admit to this, though.

Even though the bullet wasn’t launched in his direction, Die was still a bit startled, and it took him a few seconds to muster up the courage to speak again. He anxiously fumbled with his doll as he responded, “I-I-I- Uh… My n-name’s Die… I’m a leprechaun.”

He stared down at the gun in Jake’s hands, and didn’t hesitate to try and give the other a reason not to shoot, “look, I-I’m… I’m not gonna hurt you just… pl-please put the gun away.”

Okay, now he felt even more guilty. The poor guy seemed just as confused as he was, and a lot more scared. With a frown on his face, Jake put the gun in his holster, nodding softly. “Okay… But no funny business!”

     @unsixessful | x.

     Upon realizing that the noise he heard was no threat, Jake lowered his pistol. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t suddenly feel guilty. “Oh shoot. Sorry!” Thankfully, the nerves caused by hearing a noise that he couldn’t quite pinpoint made him anxious enough to wildly miss his target, more or less just firing in the sky. “I thought you were one of those blasted monsters!”