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–NightNight–
Orpheus was a pretty decent survivor. He wasn’t as great a kiter as Melly or Fiona, but even so, hunters all agreed that he’s a pain to go against, much to his bitchy delight.
As a hunter he’s also pretty good, at least on paper.
Then your crows get perfumed, they’re always in cooldown, your eye-spy-lookin-ass skill misses and you spend an hour hitting a wall and get looped for seventeen ciphers.
He wasn’t the best hunter, but alas, it was little shits like him that made hunters go on strike.
And with the lack of hunters, even his incompetent ass had to step in, and now he was playing duo hunters.
His teammate, Ithaqua, managed to send someone back to the manor already and chaired 2 others. Orpheus was chasing Qi Shiyi and ate a pallet during this. After the second round of ciphers Ithaqua had 2 other survivors sent back to the manor. Orpheus hit Qi Shiyi once.
The antiquarian was indeed a formidable opponent. But god- she kited him for 6 ciphers now.
And finally, when Orpheus downed her, the last cipher popped.
Ithaqua sent 3 survivors back, they just needed one more to draw. But there were already people at either gate. Whatever, Orpheus just needed to hit Qi again.
He didn’t have max presence and teleporting to the crow wasn’t going to help him that much, but Qi only had around one hit of her stick left.. Orpheus could’ve gone to a gate, but she was almost dead.. He just needed to hit her one more time. Most people were either at gates or getting there, Orpheus didn’t want to have to deal with geared up, full health survivors. He just needed to down Qi and this wouldn’t be a loss. And besides, he was being thrown around by her this entire game, if he didn’t eliminate her in the end then what was the point??
This was probably the worst kite of his life. Orpheus finally managed to get his eye-spy-claw thing on her.
Phew.
They were going to draw at least.
But when Orpheus went to dash-hit her she was suddenly blown in the opposite direction.
Fuck- ITHAQUA.
Oh but- Ithaqua could down her right?
She poked him.
Oh but that’s just one stick surely- Luchino came to body block, he opened the dungeon nearby.
…
As the last 2 survivors jumped out Ithaqua sighed, “Well, that’s too bad. I’m gonna see if there’s anyone else left.”
“There’s no one else left! We lost!”
Ithaqua looked confused, “Lost? I’ve chaired at least 6- Wait we,” Ithaqua looked at the stats for the first time since coming into the game, “How did we lose?!”
It was true, Ithaqua did manage to chair 6 different people. But with Orpheus preoccupied with Qi, there were always enough hands to rescue. No matter how many people Ithaqua downed and chaired there would always be someone available. It’s surprising that he managed to actually send a few people back to the manor by himself.
Orpheus knew he shouldn’t blame him, but Orpheus is a bitch. And his hard earned single down was thwarted by Ithaqua, whether he nearly carried him to a draw or not.
Orpheus spent the entire game on Qi Shiyi, he took two pallets up the ass and finally managed to get her until Ithaqua pulled her away. And even then he didn’t get the fucking hit.
The two of them were suddenly brought back to the waiting room.
“We lost because you PULLED HER AWAY FROM ME. I HAD THE HIT,” Orpheus yelled.
“Oh don’t you fucking blame me,” Ithaqua really read through the stats now, “You spent the ENTIRE GAME on QI! I downed and chaired every single person except for Qi and Luchino at least ONCE, WHILE YOU WERE STUCK-”
“We could have at least drew if you didn’t screw me over,” Orpheus shifted back into his human self.
Ithaqua laughed seeing him more disheveled, “Oh you look like a fucking mess. Qi really beat you up that bad?”
“Quiet,” Orpheus left the room.
Ithaqua frowned. He was a little sore from all the gunshots.. And all the magnets and skulls and balls.. He had to deal with all of that just for Orpheus to get mad at him for one mistake? When that useless crow didn’t even finish the game with max presence??
“Fuck- ah..” Ithaqua was actually quite injured. Believe it or not, having to essentially do a 1v7 while your teammate is losing in a 1v1 is tiring and can lead to injuries.
Ithaqua might’ve fucked up his left arm.. At some point when he was ballooning someone, Martha shot him in the arm to rescue. It hurt like shit, but it wasn’t broken right?
Perhaps he needed a trip to the infirmary after all.. He hadn’t had to go there in a while .
—
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———
The longer Ithaqua took to walk to the infirmary, the more he realized how wounded he was.
William had rammed himself into his leg so his ankle was a little fucked and besides all the little bruises from stuns there was also his arm.
He was in a bit of a mood during that match.. He really didn’t pay attention to the things he should’ve paid attention to. His ankle was fucking killing him.. He decided to dash a few times before taking his stilts off and walking the rest of the way.
He’d have to hope that Emily would be there today and-
Ah right uh, he might’ve injured her quite a bit in that match..
Ithaqua just had to wait then. He hoped he didn’t have to wait until the next day, but that was a very real possibility. He didn’t mind all that much though, the beds in the infirmary were actually pretty big and really comfortable.
Luckily the hunter’s infirmary was rather empty.. Or so he thought?
The lights were on and the door was open, “Hello? Emily?” Was she not as injured as he thought?
“…Oh, you .” Orpheus turned around. He was wrapping a few of the injuries he got from Qi. He didn’t actually get hurt much beyond some bruises and cuts, surely that didn’t warrant a visit to the infirmary? And besides, Orpheus could easily get all that from the survivor’s infirmary, why did he have to come here?
“Did the little cuts and bruises from getting 7 cipher kited by Qi really require a visit to the doctor?” Ithaqua held in the pain from his ankle and walked as tall as he could without his stilts.
“We don’t need to talk about that anymore,” Orpheus turned away from him, “I’ll forget how you threw if you be quiet.”
“How I threw? You-,” Ithaqua hung his coat on the coat rack and stomped over to him, “You couldn’t even down-”
“-I would’ve downed her eventually. You messed it all up,” Orpheus had that annoyingly calm expression even if it was pretty clear that he was ticked off. Though Ithaqua couldn’t really tell just how ticked off he was.
Oh he wanted to hit him so bad. The novelist finished up and rolled his sleeves back down, turning to leave. He stood in front of Ithaqua one last time and scoffed.
Fuck it, it was because Orpheus was such a deadbeat teammate that Ithaqua required this visit to the infirmary in the first place. And now Orpheus stood in front of him, practically begging to be hit.
Ithaqua reached up and slapped him across the face so hard he actually started bleeding.
Orpheus didn’t react much, he stood up straight and tilted his head at him as he wiped a bit of the blood off, “Do you really want to do this while you’re injured?”
“Compared to someone of your level I’m in my primest state,” Ithaqua glared up at him through his mask, “You’re a mediocre survivor at best, and you can’t even hunt. You’re fucking weak. Whatever you wanted to accomplish at the manor isn’t going to come to you when you-,”
Orpheus suddenly grabbed his shoulders and pushed him onto the bed. Ithaqua wasn’t going to lie and say he wasn’t a little scared at that moment. Orpheus was ticked, really fucking ticked.
But Orpheus is also a weak twink. He pushed Ithaqua stomach-first onto the bed but Ithaqua easily back kicked him off. Orpheus was obviously not experienced with fighting, or he was a dumbass(or both) because he just tried to jump on him again?
Ithaqua was ready to kick him again, that dumbass really got kicked off and thought it wouldn’t happen again the second time?
But when Ithaqua’s foot made contact, he didn’t expect it to suddenly be pushed down onto the bed. He felt a crushing weight as Orpheus changed into his nightmare form, effectively pinning him down.
It was like he could tell which arm was injured, Orpheus held down Ithaqua’s right hand as he leaned in over, “You called me weak?”
Ithaqua struggled under him, but Orpheus didn’t have to put in any effort to keep the night watch completely immobile. Ithaqua’s legs could barely reach anything, and his left hand was weak and useless.
But he wasn’t quite done, “-As I was saying, whatever you want to accomplish in the manor isn’t going to-,”
“Shut up will you?” Orpheus’ free hand pushed his face down into the bed, “All this talk and you won’t even apologize for letting Qi escape.”
Ithaqua turned his face to the side, his mask slipping off a little, “You’re still pissed about that? What- was it going to be your first ever down as a hunter or something? Did you think that you would amount to something other than a pathetic wannabe father with an imaginary daughter who leads on equally pathetic men into partnerships doomed to fail and fall as hard as your ambitions-”
Orpheus grabbed his mask and threw it off the bed. Ithaqua was startled by this action but managed to keep a glare on his face as Orpheus studied his expression.
“…You were saying?” Orpheus had a claw graze up his neck to his chin. Without his mask, a layer of confidence was also discarded, and the crow seemed to take notice.
“You’re a fucking loser,” Ithaqua didn’t like that his face was on display now. He almost wanted to turn his face back into the pillow and hide it but he was too pissed off to show fear.
“You know, for someone who won’t take responsibility for a mistake you’re kind of pretty,” Orpheus roughly grabbed his face with his clawed hand.
“And for someone who can’t get max presence in duo fucking hunters you’re as hard to look at as one would think,” Ithaqua used his left hand to roughly claw at Orpheus’ arm. No matter how much it hurt to move it, he was desperate to do something to him.
Orpheus winced a bit before reaching for Ithaqua’s head and bunching up his hair. Swiftly, he pressed him back into the pillow.
“Ithaqua, my dear teammate,” Orpheus leaned over him, pressing a knee against his back in the process, “Fighting like this doesn’t do any good for either of us. How about this? Apologize for throwing that game and we call it all even?”
Orpheus was met with no response, so he roughly pulled his head up. Ithaqua winced at the way his hair stretched and did his best to glare, “What the fuck do you want me to apologize for? For killing three people in a 1v7 while you were-,”
“Ithaqua,” Orpheus leaned in, his beak poking the back of his neck, “Earlier you called me weak.”
“Mm- that’s because you fucking are.”
“Saying such a thing while you’re at my mercy? I thought you were brighter than this.”
“And I thought that you weren’t so pathetic as to-,”
Orpheus pressed his face back into the bed, “Shut up.”
“Mmph-,” Ithaqua turned his head to the side, “What, are your stupid wittle feelings hurt? Are you sad that your teammate might just be a little upset that you were so helpless and unreliable?”
“You’re provoking me.”
“I’m just speaking the truth.”
“If you keep provoking me you’re gonna pay for it.” Orpheus’ voice sounded darker.
“Pay for it how? I already paid for your incompetence. Where were you when I was getting harassed by three different survivors? What the fuck do you think you can throw at me that wasn’t already thrown at me while you were getting your ASS KICKED-,”
Orpheus grabbed the back of Ithaqua’s shirt and pulled it down, ripping it. His claw slashed open a bit of his skin in the process as he leaned down and roughly bit the back of his neck. The turtleneck pulling at his throat choked him a bit, and Ithaqua muffled the scream he let out into the pillow as Orpheus pulled off.
“Let’s do this again,” Orpheus admired the sharp, red, beak imprint he left in Ithaqua’s neck, grazing his claws up and down the open skin, “You can tell me to stop or answer my question. Do you apologize for taking my kill and throwing it away?”
Ithaqua winced a bit.
Orpheus was straddling his waist now, one claw on Ithaqua’s good hand, another trailing through his fresh wounds.
The night watch turned to the side, not enough where his eyes were visible, but enough that his voice was audible, “I apologize.”
Orpheus smiled, he stopped grazing his open wounds and pulled his ripped shirt back over his back.
Ithaqua turned a little more so his eye was visible, “I apologize that your useless ass couldn’t handle a single fucking survivor.”
Orpheus let go of Ithaqua’s hand.
Ithaqua thought that perhaps his nightmare of an ex teammate had finally given up on being a self apologetic dick, and started to push himself up. But then he felt an arm under his stomach as a claw bunched up his sweater, ripping it over his head to pull it off. The sweater restrained his arms as Orpheus pushed him back down and dug his beak into one of the claw marks in his back. This time Ithaqua didn’t muffle his scream. Orpheus was fine with that, it somehow healed his frustrations a bit.
In this state Ithaqua couldn’t fight back if he wanted to, yet he still insisted on provoking him.. Did he not want this to stop?
As angry as he was, he didn’t want to go too far. The hunter under him was defenseless after all. Yet he didn’t want to sound soft either. Orpheus used both of his claws to hold him down by the waist and loomed over him, “Do you want to try this again?”
Ithaqua breathed heavily, Orpheus could feel it under his palms. In a way it did a little more than healing his frustrations..
The night watch shivered pathetically under him, but still managed to hold a glare, “Go fuck yourself.”
Orpheus stabbed his beak into one of the slashes in his back and he screamed again. Honestly, Orpheus was starting to enjoy it, he pulled out of him, “Do you not want me to stop?”
“Kill yourself.” Ithaqua’s voice was muffled but the words were still rather clear.
Orpheus dug his beak back further in and smiled at the light whimper that escaped Ithaqua’s mouth in the process. He twisted the beak then pulled it out again, licking some of the blood that came with, “Come on now.. Be a darling and take some responsibility won’t you?”
“Fuck yo.. AGH.” Orpheus dug his beak back in and opened it as Ithaqua really started whimpering against the pillow.
Orpheus couldn’t help himself, he licked Ithaqua’s pale skin, tasting the night watch’s blood as he twisted the beak deeper.
Ithaqua hated that the licking was almost soothing when paired with the torture of Orpheus’ beak.
The taste of iron reminded him again not to go too far. The novelist pulled out gently, “Do you want me to stop?”
“I want you to kill yours-,”
“Darling you already said that once,” Orpheus shifted one of his hands from his waist, delighting in the red print it left on Ithaqua’s pale skin, “If you want me to stop, say the word. If not, I’m going to take my frustrations out on this pretty little neck of yours until I deem it enough to offset the apology you refuse to give me.”
“How about you ask the manor for a couple of bot matches so you can experience getting a down for the first time in your life?”
Orpheus chuckled as he grabbed his hair again, “I warned you, little wind walker.” He pulled him up a little and opened his beak wide enough to fit his shoulder. At the front, Orpheus’ beak almost reached Ithaqua’s stomach. In the back, he slid his lower beak into the cut and under a bit of his skin, tugging it upwards. Oh it was fucking torturous, and Ithaqua hated himself for being thankful for Orpheus’ warm tongue.
Orpheus leaned a little closer to his face and let out a low chuckle.
With how Orpheus pulled onto his hair, Ithaqua’s whines and hiccups were completely on display, “I- I fuc- I fucking hate- I, agh- AGH.” Ithaqua was crying at this point. It was absolutely adorable how he was physically begging for Orpheus to be more gentle yet he still had fierce eyes and let out profanities whenever he could. Orpheus decided then that despite how much he enjoyed his crying, perhaps he should shut him up.
Orpheus had one claw down on Ithaqua’s waist, and another in his hair. But unbeknownst to the smaller hunter, Orpheus still had the means to do more.
He slyly licked his tongue up Ithaqua’s back, delighting in the metallic taste that came with it, then wrapped his tongue around his neck.
“Oh what now?!” Ithaqua’s voice was fierce and angry, but when Orpheus responded by digging his beak deeper into the skin of his back, he faltered, a cute but silent gulp ended this round of insolence.
Oh… Orpheus liked how that felt against his tongue. The darling was afraid, you could tell from the little hitches in his body, yet he refused to back down.. Perhaps…
Orpheus tightened the grip his tongue had around his neck and moved his claw lower to assist in choking him. Ithaqua let out a yelp that cut out halfway through. His hands were still restrained together in his sweater, Orpheus loved watching his desperate attempts to pull them out but it seemed his nails were a bit stuck.
Orpheus wanted to make him swallow again, so he dug his beak further into his back and dragged it up and down. And oh did he feel it, or felt him try it. Orpheus’ tongue had gripped his neck tight enough that it wouldn’t go down. God- there was no god if he allowed Orpheus to do this. Speaking of- why was Ithaqua letting him do this??
Ithaqua was dead quiet from the choking, and Orpheus was starting to miss his sobbing. He moved his hand back up to his hair and roughly pulled it back, making his back arch more than it already was.
Ithaqua started to audibly cry when the tongue loosened from his neck, “I- hic I hate you so- I.. I h- hate- f- fuck- fuck-,” he could barely say a word with how violently he cried.
Oh the melody of his tears.. It was so lovely.
Orpheus chuckled again, and this time Ithaqua managed to let out something coherent, “SHUT UP.”
Orpheus didn’t want to take his beak off of the little hunter just yet, but he didn’t want to shut up either.
So he hummed.
He hummed against him as he pressed his beak harder into his skin. Ithaqua stopped hiding his cries and Orpheus could hear him sobbing pathetically below him.
Perhaps he had enough now.. He wasn’t asking him to stop, in fact he was still kind of provoking him with how he glared(or tried to), but it seemed he really couldn’t take it any more.
Orpheus’ beak left a nice line of red down Ithaqua’s chest. His neck had a similar red across it, though it was a little lighter. And of course his back also had the three claw marks, one of them was definitely a lot bigger than the others now.
Orpheus turned back into his human form and licked his lips. He sat up and reached for Ithaqua’s discarded shirt, tugging it off. But just before he himself could get off, Ithaqua’s clawed hands suddenly grasped his neck.
His grip was surprisingly strong, Orpheus felt himself genuinely struggling to breathe. And he couldn’t peel Ithaqua’s hands off either. The night watch’s nails dug uncomfortably into Orpheus’ skin as the novelist started to feel a little lightheaded.
Surely Ithaqua would tire out.. Orpheus stared down at him and only saw his reckless determination.
Right- his left hand was fucked wasn’t it? Orpheus grabbed onto that and squeezed it as tight as he could. He saw Ithaqua’s eye twitch but he still persisted.
Orpheus couldn’t help but admire him. He just had his back thoroughly stabbed out and still had the energy to choke him. There were tears rolling down his face but he still had the strength to pierce with his glare. He was starting to feel a little lightheaded, and for whatever reason, he put all his energy towards a taunting smile.
Suddenly Ithaqua let go.
Orpheus wheezed and finally got off him.
“I’m losing a lot of blood thanks to you..” Ithaqua limped out and turned away, “And the bed sheets are stained too.”
Orpheus chuckled as he continued to wheeze, “I’ll admit little night watch, you’re as delightfully terrifying as you are cute.”
“I want to kill you.”
“Aw, you just threw away your chance,” Orpheus looked around and found a towel. Ithaqua stayed turned away from him and decided that he was too tired to fight anymore. And it seemed Orpheus was done too.
Ithaqua needed to get his shirt fixed at some point.. That damned novelist.
He suddenly felt something cold against his back, when he turned, he felt a gentle hand urge his shoulder to keep down, “Relax, I’m cleaning it.” Orpheus had a cold, wet towel wiping his back, dabbing at the open skin.
“Why don’t you just leave.. I’m gonna wait for Emily.”
“You wanna know why I came here? Emily has the keys to the survivor’s infirmary. And she is currently being treated by Ada in her room. I doubt you’ll get any medical attention until the next morning and you look pretty fucked up.”
“Whose fault is that.”
Orpheus sighed, “Let me take care of you, I’ll leave when I’m done.”
Ithaqua stayed quiet.
“Good boy.”
Orpheus’ hands were oddly skilled. He quickly finished cleaning the wound then wrapped it up neatly. Ithaqua didn’t say anything as he found the materials needed to fit his left hand into a makeshift cast, then did something similar with his ankle.
Orpheus smiled as he finally finished bandaging the last of Ithaqua’s wounds and got up, ready to leave.
“Orpheus,” Ithaqua called out.
Orpheus turned.
“I hope I never team with you again.”
Orpheus smiled, “And I hope the marks I left on you stay for a while so you can look at the mirror and be reminded of the time we spent together.”
“And I hope you-,”
“Kill myself? Darling, watching you cry gave me the will to live.” Orpheus walked out, closing the door behind him.
Ithaqua felt sore all over, but he was oddly warm with embarrassment.
Just why didn’t he tell Orpheus to stop?