Work Text:
For her first match at the Oletus Manor… it was really quite relaxing. Dare she say boring even. She decoded two ciphers on her own with no interruptions from the presumed hunter of the match.
The other survivors had warned her that the games were violent and they would get sent back to the manor only until they were scheduled to participate in another match with no chance to ever escape.
It worried her, but it didn’t necessarily bother Wendy Foote. A limbo with no real consequences didn’t seem all that scary to her.
But this match was particularly quiet and fast.
A guy, who preferred to go by Trace, had a robot assistant to help with the decoding so Wendy figured it was nice to have a mechanic on the team to finish more ciphers.
When the last cipher popped, Wendy surveyed the area around her to make sure there was no threat of the hunter. Whoever was kiting was doing a fantastic job at containing, but Wendy was still on edge about running into them. She’d be an easy target as she didn’t even know where the exit gates were right now and she hadn’t seen any of the other survivors since they teleported out of that dark lobby earlier.
Wendy walked around a bit, taking mental notes of the area and locations she could familiarize herself with. A large shipwreck was definitely worth remembering and an important focal point of this map. It seemed sturdy enough and Wendy was curious about the sounds she was hearing coming from inside.
Is this where the survivors hid? She imagined they had all left by now, but she entered the large hole in the ship and investigated.
Dim lights caught her attention from the basement and was also the source of the noises she was hearing.
Two people to be exact.
She was worried about what she’d walk into, but she could tell as she got closer that the two were talking. One giggling profusely.
Wendy snuck into the basement, careful to watch her steps to make sure they didn’t cause any creaking sounds on the floorboard and she peered her head around to see that guy, Trace, engaging with some… mechanical spider lady.
She had very pretty, long wavy brown hair tied into twin braids. She wore an olive colored capelet. And she had large expressive brown eyes. Very warm and welcoming. Wendy didn’t recognize her around the manor… could this woman have been their assigned hunter?
Trace sat on the floor, eye level with the woman, as he adjusted her prosthetic limbs.
“Oh, thank you so much!” She had a very high, sing-song voice as she wiggled one of the legs. “It feels so much smoother now.”
“Anything for you, Violetta,” said Trace. “You’re one of my favorite people here.”
”If you ever need anything— Anything at all! I’ll do it.” Violetta clapped her hands. “Sometimes, I feel bad asking you to fix these for me all the time. I really like hanging out with you! Oh— I know.” She pulled out a tiny black hat, almost like a sock. “I’ve been making these— for the cold. It stretches around your head to cover your ears.”
“This is really nice,” he said, removing his own hat and replacing it with Violetta’s. “It’s really comfy too.”
”You’ll have it?”
”I’d love to,” he said. “But you don’t have to give me anything to feel even. You're my friend and I love spending time with you too.”
”Oh, Trace. You’re too kind.”
“And like I said, anything you need I’m here for you.”
”Yes, yes. Same to you.” Violetta adjusted the hat so that it covered Trace’s ears. “It looks nice on you.”
Wendy’s heart felt warm from watching the interaction. It had seemed like the most wholesome interaction she’d seen since arriving at the manor. The other survivors she had met had seemed… indifferent.
Friendly, yes. But maybe not too friendly or even genuine. But Wendy didn’t mind or care. She mostly kept to herself anyway.
To be frank, people genuinely bored her.
But not these two.
Trace sat on one of the rocket chairs, propping his arm up on the rest to lean his face against his fist watching as Violetta crawled onto the chair to his right. She was much tinier than him and Wendy realized that Violetta had all prosthetic limbs. She thought the spider getup was just for show and to hunt, but maybe she was wrong. She tucked her legs under her body in the rocket chair as she smiled at Trace.
“Not as nice as you,” said Trace, causing Violetta to blush and glance away.
”Oh! Do you think the other survivors left?” She asked. “I didn’t even get to say hi to Wendy.”
The fact that she knew Wendy’s name made her feel a little bad, like she should’ve known Violetta as well. How would she have even known Wendy’s name to begin with? They never met… unless Trace had mentioned her sometime during this match.
Trace was playing on a remote. “Both of the exit gates are open. I think they’re all gone. And you can always say hi to Wendy next time.”
Violetta shook her head. “Oh, I made such a bad first impression! I should’ve said something before she left so she knows… but, well maybe it doesn’t matter.”
Trace was still playing on the remote. “She’s really quiet so far. But she’s new. It might take some time to warm up.”
”You’re right,” said Violetta. “Well, at least she had an easy first match.”
”Thank you for that, by the way.” He was still pressing buttons and moving the controller. “I didn’t get to mention to her that you’re probably the friendliest hunters here.”
Violetta sighed. “Next time I suppose.”
”Or right now.” Trace laughed.
Wendy’s heart sank and she turned around to walk away, but the mechanic’s robot was standing behind her motionless. She jumped and then she jumped again when Violetta turned the corner.
”Hello, Miss Wendy!” She looked up at the meteorologist. “My name is Violetta, the actress! I’m so glad you didn’t leave. I forgot to introduce myself.”
Trace turned the corner with his arms crossed. “How long have you been standing there?”
Wendy didn’t have the words to answer, but Violetta grabbed her hand to shake it, thankfully. “It’s so nice to meet you, Miss Wendy. I hope you enjoy your stay at the manor.”
”It’s… nice to meet you too.” Wendy shook Violetta’s mechanical hand. It was cold and hard to touch.
“This is so exciting,” said Violetta. “Would you like to see the rest of the village?”
“I already looked around,” said Wendy. “I got lost. Then I heard you two down here.”
”Let’s get you back to the manor then,” said Trace.
”Oh, of course,” said Violetta. “You wouldn’t want to be here at night. It’s so scary. Hi, George!” She waved at the robot as they walked by it.
“George?” Wendy asked.
”I built him,” said Trace.
”Trace builds a lot of cool things!” Violetta did a twirl. “Even these spider limbs for one of my shows a long time ago.”
”How long have you two been here?” Wendy asked.
The three of them walked up the stairs and out of the ship, the mud squelched under Wendy’s shoes. The sky is already getting much darker and colder.
“It’s hard to say,” said Trace. “Time kind of stops working in purgatory.”
”It’s hard to remember a time before this,” said Violetta. “Bits and pieces fill in eventually, but it’s nice to be here with friends.”
Limbo was an awfully long time to be here, but maybe Violetta was right.
And Wendy was looking forward to the rest of forever with them.