There always was something sinister about Slenderman's office, but Austin never put his finger on it. Maybe it was the quietness, even when 2 people were in there. Maybe it was the lack of mess. Maybe it was the fact that a lot of people were scared of Slenderman.
As Austin looked around while he sat anxiously waiting for Slenderman to finish writing a report. It felt like he was in here for the first time, but that was wrong. In fact, he was in here a few times before.
Toby, Masky and Austin were all sitting there. Masky and Toby had just finished telling Slenderman as many details as possible. Masky was the most helpful. Austin remembered it, but it felt more like a fog in his memory. He knew he wasn't the one who did it, but he also knew he'd get blamed.
"Thank you for holding still long enough, Toby" Slenderman hummed. "You and Masky can go relax now. I won't be needing you for another assignment until tomorrow morning. Austin, stay here"
Masky rose to his feet noiselessly and moved past Toby. Toby jumped to his feet, saluted both Austin and Slenderman, then bounded out of the room. The door shut softly behind him. Once the door closed, Austin bit his nail nervously as Slender 'looked' at Austin.
Austin began blurting out as much as he could out with one breath.
"Everything was going fine, but these two guys jumped me while I was waiting for Toby and Masky to get out of the servo, and one guy had a gun, another was stealing shit from the bag, and I didn't think right and I let It out and-" Austin gulped a lungful of air and was about to continue when Slender stopped him.
"Calm down. Start from the beginning and take it slow" Slender said firmly with a tinge of gentleness.
"S-sorry" Austin mumbled before starting again. "Everything... Everything happened very fast... I was waiting outside the service station with all the things that we had brought... Masky was getting smokes and drinks with Toby. Then these 2 guys... they jumped me. One had a gun and was telling me to give him money. The other one was going through the bags... I didn't think right, so let the Static take over. The Static shot both of them - killed them both, I think. It was weird, the way it did it... the guy tried to shoot me but it killed the other guy, even though the gun was aimed at me. The guy died, then the guy with the gun shot again and... he died. Then it rounded on Masky and Toby when they walked out. Toby shook the bottle of lemonade they got me and squirted it in my face, and Masky knocked me out, along with the Static... And now you're caught up"
Slender had been writing small bits of information down. For some reason, he seemed amused.
"I'm partially proud of you" Slender finally leaned back in his chair.
Austin frowned. "Huh? Why?..."
"That's not something to be proud of!"
"Here, yes it is. Out there" Slender pointed outside, toward the town. "Not so much. Are you sure the two died?"
"Mostly... If not, I'm sure Masky or Toby would have handled it.
"Were there any cameras?"
Austin went slightly paler than he usually was.
"I can't remember?... I don't think so"
"You were at a service station. Service stations have cameras everywhere in order to make sure no one is stealing"
"Don't worry. I can handle that. Everything you did sounds quite extraordinary. Except for putting Masky and Toby in danger. That won't go unnoticed"
Austin nodded, understanding why.
"You must apologize to Masky and Toby. Your consequence is you have to walk the Mutt on Thursday with Splendor and Offender"
Austin's shoulders sagged as he registered it.
That... Mutt... killed his brother. And Slenderman knew this. And he also knew he didn't like Offender. Nobody did except for the brothers. He didn't mind Splendor, but he was still kind of scared of him. He seemed a little... bouncy?...
"I know it sounds too much for you, but this can't go unnoticed"
"Come on, sir, I'll do anything else!" Austin pleaded.
"It's already been decided"
Austin groaned, hanging his head back as he did so.
"You brought this on yourself" Slenderman said firmly. "You are dismissed"
Austin stood up in a bit of a huff and attempted to stomp out of the room, nearly resulting in a face full of wall. He pushed the door closed behind him and sighed. He had to admit, he was feeling a little - no, a whole lot upset. He kept his feelings back, and headed to the living room. He had to get it over with with that apology. Masky was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Toby. Great. Now Austin had to look for them. He peeked into the kitchen and saw Toby making Pop Tarts, but also saw Masky outside, having a smoke. He decided to apologize to Toby first. He headed into the kitchen to do so. He jumped as the toaster popped up. Toby took the sugary treat from the toaster and bit into it.
Toby looked over. Austin had seen Toby's face before, but each time he saw it, he always got a surprise anyway. The cut across Toby's face was similar to Jeff's, but a little smaller and only the left half of his face was cut. Austin wanted to ask about it on a number of occasions but never got to it. He felt that now wasn't the best time to ask.
"Oh, hey!" Toby smiled and gave a small wave. "W-what's up?"
"Just wanna say... that I'm sorry, about... you know, nearly blowing your head off" Austin mumbled softly.
"Eh? I-i-it's okay! C-can't say that's the f-first time a P-P-Proxy tried to ki-kill me" Toby grinned and bit into the Pop-Tart again.
"So... No hard feelings?..." Austin almost pleaded.
"Oh, of course I-I've got 'h-hard feelings'. I'm n-not letting it s-slide, Austin" Toby stated with a mouthful of Pop-Tart.
Austin looked a little confused for a minute, then registered it. He blinked then nodded slowly.
"R-right... Of course..." Austin mumbled.
"Exp-pect something in the n-near future that's g-gonna shock ya - or ki-kill you, either or" Toby seemed jolly as he swallowed the bite he had in his mouth.
Austin gulped slightly then nodded. "I'll... keep an eye out"
Toby nodded once, then returned to eating his Pop-Tarts. Austin stood there awkwardly for a moment, then remembered he had to apologize to Masky. He headed to the backdoor and exited the house. Masky was still puffing away on his smoke. He didn't turn his head to Austin.
"Hello, Void" Masky hummed without so much as a nod or head turn.
"H-hey..." Austin waved awkwardly. Austin went straight to the point. "Just wanna say sorry for nearly blowing your head off"
"Oh, no need to. It wasn't your fault. You didn't think correctly at the time of the assault, and that is to be expected from a newbie like you"
Austin nodded. "Okay... thanks"
"Do you want a smoke?" Masky asked suddenly, handing over the packet.
"O-oh, no, thank you... I appreciate the offer, but I don't smoke" Austin held his hands up in a sort of way to push away the smokes.
"Really? Huh. What do you do to calm your nerves?" Masky asked, puffing out a cloud of smoke.
"N-nothing? Am I supposed to do something?"
"Impossible. Everyone does something to calm them down. Whether it be something that could cause long term illness, such as smokes, or something like cooking. Do you do anything to stop nerves?"
"I... go for walks sometimes? Does that count?"
"That's a good way. Healthy and logical"
"Guess I should do it more often..."
"It can clear your thinking. Maybe that's what you need. Clear thinking is a good way to stop from doing stupid things"
"Right... thanks for the tip"
Masky nodded and puffed his smoke again. He dropped the smoke onto the concrete and crushed the butt. He then picked it up and put it in a little cigarette bin on the floor.
"I'm interested in possibly getting you to be trained to be a bit more vigilant and less... out of control"
"No no. I'm meaning like... self defense training. I'm going to see if Slenderman is okay with it. If so, then several Proxies will help train you into becoming a better person when it comes to decisions, accuracy and strength. And possibly even your abilities"
Austin smiled. "Okay. I look forward to it"
Masky nodded, then headed inside just as it started hailing. Austin jumped out of the way of the pebble sized ice and shook his hair. He didn't realize that it had been raining. He headed inside
