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The first time they were the last man standing against him, they didn’t know what to do.
And so, then and there, they gave up without a fight. The minute that they felt that dread in the air and saw the distant through-the-wall flash of him, they just…settled on the ground, accepting their fate. Unthinkingly they reached out nearby, where the corpse of a certain pumpkin-helmed god lay, shakily grabbing for his hoof-hand to hold it in their own frantic talons, seeking some desperate, cold comfort before the end of the round was inevitably upon them.
She braced herself at the sound of hoofsteps and chains, and any second expected the heavy hammer to come down upon her. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the shadow of the blow before it hit her.
Instead Privkus thudded down next to her, and ever so gently, Doombringer sat down next to her as well.
“Hello, Stirk,” his voice was more gentle than it ever had any right to be, “I’m sorry these are the circumstances in which we reunited.”
Words that she couldn’t actually say bubbled in her throat, thousands of curses and insults and rage aimed at the man next to her. Instead she just held Dusekkar’s hand tighter like he could pull her away from the situation.
“...Have they been…treating you well here…?” Doom inquired, gently reaching out one of his hoof-hands and retracting it when Taph frantically flinched away, “If they’ve been hurting you, I swear I–”
Taph hissed at him, thankful they could at least make that noise. A blatant noise of dislike for the situation. They didn’t want him here. If he wanted to spare them for this round, he could at least do it on the other side of the map. It was agonizing how friendly he was trying to be, even as the ground around them was stained with the blood of the people he had slaughtered. At least the other killers had remorse, or were forced to do it, or both.
Doom? Doom did it because he thought they deserved it.
Doom sat for a moment, not saying a word. Taph was trying to figure out why the timer wasn’t ticking down, why they weren’t being pulled away from this.
…It was because it was fun, wasn’t it? Fun for that damned thing watching them all. Fun for The Spectre and for no one else. Fun because Taph was forced to listen to Doom speak. Fun because Taph couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“I noticed you hide parts of yourself you didn’t used to,” Doom hummed in a quiet observation, “You hide your talons in gloves. You hide your hooves in shoes. Do you even still have your tail?”
All parts Taph had hidden for years. Hidden ever since 1x1x1x1 betrayed everyone, because all Taph could think was that Doom had such a large part in it. All the traits they hid tied them back to Doom in some terrible, backwards way, and they hated it.
Without answering, Taph hauled Dusekk’s corpse into a desperate hug, uncaring for how his blood stained their cloak. Doom made a sort of somewhat disgusted sounding snort, like he was about to tell them off for holding a corpse so tightly.
“...From my understanding the whole…god thing isn’t a secret anymore, correct?” he inquired, “I sure hope that damned cultist isn’t giving you any trouble. If they are, just let me know, alright? I’ll set them straight.”
She made another hiss, more choked this time. She didn’t need him to set anyone straight, let alone one of the people she’d grown so fond of. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?!
“I’ll get you out of this,” he gently promised, like he was one of the other survivors back at the cabin, “I’ll get you out of this, Stirk, and then everything will be okay again, I promise you.”
Taph wanted to rip him apart.
And then, suddenly, they were back at the cabin, sitting at the winner’s table.
They stumbled out of the chair, taking a few steps before they came to where Dusekk stood. Silently, as if knowing just what they needed, he laid his staff against a nearby wall and ceased the idle floating he always did, crouching down ever so slightly and opening his arms to offer a hug.
Unthinkingly, Taph collapsed into his hold, now warm again.
The second time Taph had a notable encounter with Doom beyond the first round he appeared in was quite a few rounds later. Still within the week, but many rounds after that Last Man Standing.
After realizing the strange fact that Doom would not hurt them, they began putting thoughts together, just to see how far this would go.
The golden opportunity presented itself when Taph realized the number of people in the round was ticking down, and soon enough, they located one very annoying [at least to the killers] sentinel, already injured and very clearly easy pickings for Doom–if he could get to them.
Which Taph did not intend to let happen.
Two Time blinked up at her, breathing heavily from where they had crammed themself into after clearly getting way in over their head in a fight.
“Taph?” they breathed out, “Taph, you need to get out of here. I truly upset him, I don’t know how much longer before he finds where I am.”
Taph’s hands shook as he pulled them out of his sleeves, trying to steady himself before he signed, “Stick behind me. I want to test a theory.”
Two Time blinked again, but nodded firmly, pushing their back against the wall of their hiding spot and trying to hold their wounds shut.
Taph turned just in time to see Doombringer enter the scene.
He paused, then seemed to test his stance, alternating which hoof he put most of his weight on as he looked back and forth between Taph and Two Time, as if looking enough would cause Taph to step out of the way.
Taph hissed at him.
“...Don’t make this difficult, Stirk. I don’t want to hurt you, and you know that.”
Taph flared their head-wings out, a clear silent challenge. Standing between killer and potential victim, they made it crystal clear that the only way Doom was going to get to Two Time was going through Taph.
“You protect this one of all people?” he seemed…disappointed. Not angry, not in any capacity, just…disappointed and annoyed at Taph’s choices, “At least pick someone noble, like Jane or the soldier. Not…a filthy cultist.”
Taph’s next hiss was louder, punctuated by her clacking her teeth together as if threatening to bite. Both a statement that she wouldn’t back down alongside a statement that she hated how Doom was talking about the one behind her. Doom’s visible eye blinked, and he seemed to grow surprised.
“You’re fond of this one? When I thought you were fond of the whole team, I thought there’d be exceptions!”
Unthinkingly in their anger, Taph stamped their foot down and drew it back, like a bull threatening to charge.
And much to their disgust, Doom’s face turned fond. Fond of them taking on a behavior that they knew was from him.
He reached out a hoof-hand, and before Taph could react he ruffled the top of their hood like he was ruffling their hair, letting out a loud, bellowing laugh.
“Alright, alright, I’ll give you this one, Stirk. But the next defense is gonna take more than just a fancy show, okay, kiddo?”
Taph heard Two Time take a breath, and she frantically looked to face them and shook her head, trying to tell them it wasn’t worth it. They closed their mouth and drew back, nodding.
And then, Doom simply…stepped away. Simply left Two Time alive.
Taph let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“...A-Are you alright, dearest Demolitionist?” Two Time gently asked. Taph stared at them for a moment before he shook his hand in a so-so motion, then gave a thumbs-up. Two Time seemed to analyze the motion, narrowing their eyes in thought.
“Sort of, but you’ll be okay?”
Taph nodded in confirmation. Two Time nodded back with a smile.
“Thank you. I will repay you somehow, I promise.”
The third time an interesting opportunity presented itself, Taph decided to up the stakes.
That being, it became time to test if he could protect two people instead of just one.
Taph had run practically cross-map, heaving and out of breath by the time they found the two of them, one desperately trying to use a medkit they had been given and the other with her skateboard raised in threat at the bull standing in front of her, like that would do something.
Taph issued a single hiss of warning. Doom stopped and stood for a moment before he shifted his attention. He made a hum of contemplation before he nodded.
“...Yes, I remember what I saw here with you and these two,” he calmly stated, confusing Taph, “Well, you remember what I told you, Stirk: more than just a fancy show.”
Understanding the assignment given to them, Taph suddenly darted forwards, avoiding a strike from Privkus that clearly would have simply knocked them away rather than done any sort of actual damage. They knew they wouldn’t be able to face him head-on, especially considering that he was so large that they just barely came up to his waist, so they had two options: dance around him until the timer ran, or use his weight against him.
Deciding on the second of the two options, Taph opted to continuously stay behind Doom, meaning he constantly had to spin to keep his eyes on her. Unthinkingly at one point she leapt and headbutted his spine, leaving him stumbling for a few steps before he started laughing. Laughing like she was just a little kid playfighting, rather than a grown adult trying to protect her friends from impending death. Taph shook her head out from the headbutt, hissing through her teeth.
“Looks like the chicken DID have enough Telamon left in him to gift to you!”
Taph froze.
Did he just?
Did he just?
Taph glanced at Veeronica and Noob, who had both halted what they were previously doing to stare at Doom in shock, then at Taph, as if silently asking “Did we hear that right??”
Doom, somehow, seemingly did not realize the weight of what he had just casually said.
Taph silently held out a hand-talon to Vee, asking for a weapon without actually asking. Vee set her skateboard in their grasp with an affirmative beep sort of noise. A friendly order to get him.
Taph did just that, abruptly flinging themself at Doombringer, hissing like a cat dunked in freezing water. Doom was caught off-guard, shouting in surprise and stumbling back, like he didn’t expect them to actually fully begin fighting him. He made swipes at the board as he attempted to grab it from Taph’s grasp as they weaved around him, constantly staying out of his range of motion and relying on his size to leave him desperately trying to swing around to catch them.
And then abruptly–
The round was over.
Taph’s now-empty grasp slammed into the winner’s table, having been brought down in an attempted attack before the timer hit zero. They stared at their fists on the table for a moment before they let out a loud huff, annoyed they got that heated over simple words.
They were shaken out of their thoughts by a half-tackle hug, and the sound of Noob and Vee laughing hit their ears as they suddenly found themself lifted into their air. Noob still held them in a hug, and now Vee held them both in the air in her own hug.
“TH-THAT WAS AWESOME!” Noob shouted.
“DIDN’T H4VE A SHRED OF HOPE AG4INS7 Y0U!” Vee added.
Taph blinked for a moment, breathing out to try to calm herself. After a moment, she shook with silent laughter, seeing the puzzled faces of the other survivors in the cabin.
And now, she had the knowledge she needed: confirmation that Doom would not hurt her, and confirmation that she could weaponize it against him.
And weaponize it she planned to do.