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Arriving at the home base that all the legends lived in between games was weird. Even with how much money Elliott’s mom made, they had never lived in a house bigger than they needed it to be. But, he supposed, being a super badass celeb had its quirks. Wonder if this place has a hot tub?
He had already gotten his greetings from his fellow legends at his promotion ceremony, the ceremony where they officially declared him a legend, one of the best, a true-to-the-bone killer, after he had ascended the junior ranks. Well, all of his fellow legends except one. Apparently, Bloodhound had been out hunting when everyone had been getting ready to leave and nobody had been able to find them before it was time to go. They would likely be waiting for him at the base while everyone went to get drinks. Say ‘hi’ before coming out with us, they had all said. Bloodhound would appreciate it.
‘Say hi to Bloodhound’. That was a task that should not be as daunting as it felt. The masked legend had always seemed so intimidating on TV. Who becomes the champion of a blood sport four times in a row and asks for a book end as a prize? Did people still use those? Did people even still hunt? Like, for their own food? Or was their blood thirst so powerful that they couldn’t function until they held the head of a poor unfortunate deer aloft towards the sky?
Elliott shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts that threatened to beat him over the head. This was stupid, Bloodhound-also-known-as-Bloth-Hunthr was still a person under that freaky helmet, weren’t they? Surely they were just awkward. Elliott could deal with awkward (Not because he was awkward, that totally wasn’t the case, he was an all-out cool dude!) so long as that awkward didn’t involve decapitated deer, because he might just barf.
A rustling and the closing of a door stopped Elliott in his tracks. Was that them? It had to be, all of the other legends were definitely at the bar right now, and they were the only other person who lived here. Alright, play it cool. You earned your spot here, Elliott, own it!
Elliott turned around, the greeting he had been rehearsing in his mind starting to pass his lips. “Hel-lo there, Bloodhound! I am your brand new shooting buddy, Mirag-“
Said greeting died on his lips as he got a look at the person in front of him. A couple inches shorter than him, tanned skin dotted with freckles and marred with scars, dark ginger hair, bright green eyes. There was blood and fur on their pants, which he recognized from their ring gear, but their tank-top and skin was left perfectly clean. They were hot, he wasn’t going to lie.
They also managed to get a knife to his throat quicker than he could blink, and he felt the unmistakable panic of having all of the thoughts and none of the thoughts at the exact same time.
“Who are you, who sent you?!” Bloodhound (was this Bloodhound? They were wearing half of the gear, this had to be them, right?!) snarled, the knife pressed dangerously against Mirage’s skin.
“L-Legend! New legend! Mirage, I’m Mirage!” Mirage sputtered out as quickly as he could, trying to remember when he had last updated his will. Luckily, Bloodhound seemed to accept that answer, pulling the knife away and cursing in a language that Mirage didn’t understand.
“Where are the others?” Bloodhound sheathed the knife, though Mirage still didn’t feel like he’d made it out of the doghouse.
“They’re all getting drinks, told me to drop my stuff off here and say hi. To you, not to my stuff.” Don’t stutter, god dammit, don’t stutter.
“I see.” They sigh, running a hand down their face. “Go deposit your bags. Your room has a sign on it. And not a word of this to anyone, is that reasonable?”
“O-Of course Blos- Blod- Blolo-“
“Bloodhound.”
“Bloodhound! Fitting name, anyone ever tell you that? I’mma just mosey on to my room, see you!” Mirage’s words tumbled quickly from his lips as he hurried down the hall to his room. As he practically threw the suitcases into the basic bedroom, he briefly wondered if Bloodhound had noticed that his cheeks were kind of warm.
They watched him run off. They noticed.