[complete]📷⚰️ˢᵉᵖʰᶜᵃʳˡ ᴼⁿᵉˢʰᵒᵗˢ⚰️📷

📷⚰"I'll Kill You"

[2v3 AU]

It seemed like the whole manor was worried. It didn't take a genius to notice that the embalmer was working himself out. Why that was, nobody got the answer for. Everybody groaned when the embalmer had volunteered the second time that day, the seventh time this week, and it was only a Tuesday! It had been like this for the past two weeks.

"Aesop, darling, you need to take a rest," Vera said as she went up to the embalmer. She rubbed soothing circles on his back while holding him close. The perfumer, one of Aesop's closest friends, was usually the first one to try to talk him out of participating in the matches he volunteered in everyday. This time was no exception. Moreover, he had just gotten back to the manor thirty minutes ago from a match against Michiko. Even if he had not sustained any injuries, that did not mean he should not get a rest.

"I'll take a rest after this match, Vera," the silver haired man said, gently trying to push Vera off of him to get into the waiting room. "I promise, I know what I'm doing."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Vera said, getting a bit irritated by her friend's recent behavior. "If you're going, then I'm coming to watch over you." The perfumer took out her communicator, something that every person in the manor had, and pressed the 'volunteer' button in green.

The embalmer did not answer, but gave Vera a look of gratitude. Just by looking into his silver eyes, you could clearly see how tired he really was. He was not getting much rest due to his constant late nights painting while in the manor, and he had not gotten much mental breaks away from people. He was exhausted, yet that was not stopping him. His will was strong and his decision was set in stone. Whatever his motive was, it was powerful. It was enough for Aesop, the person who had chosen not to participate in as many matches as he could, to do the complete opposite this past moon cycle.

The embalmer took a seat at the very end of the table, while Vera took the closest seat she could get to him. Vera was the first person Aesop had really gotten to know when he first came to the manor. Originally, the embalmer thought of her as somebody who would talk about people behind their backs and initially wanted to stay away from her. However, she made small talk with him whenever she could.

At first he thought of it as annoying, but she brought up topics that he enjoyed and she stuck to those for a while. She was fascinated by his make-up skills, and somehow became his model not long after asking him once to do her make-up. He was quite hesitant at first but agreed to do so. Of course, he had others who would ask for the same from him after they saw his work on Vera. But Vera was who he was the most comfortable with. They were practically like siblings after all of these months they had passed by together.

Then in came the doctor, who had matched with the embalmer as much as she could recently without harming herself. She had made it her temporary duty to make sure Aesop did not overwork himself and often told him to focus on decoding instead of distracting the hunter. He did not like it when she would tell him that when he clearly knew to do so, thus becoming stubborn and did not heed Emily's warnings which would cause him to get scolded when they got back to the manor.

Emily gave the two a greeting, sitting down next to the lady in black. "That dress looks stunning as usual, Vera," she complimented. Aesop was relieved she had not decided to lecture him.

The temporary silver haired woman blushed a little and shrugged. "Well, I can't compare to what you're wearing today. That has to be my favorite outfit of yours."

Ms. Dyer was wearing an angel costume today. Not very practical, but many survivors are used to impractical clothing. It helped them forget about the dread of the game. The doctor also mended clothing to not think about where she was. It helped that her wings would often got worn and torn. They would get stuck on tree branches or pallets, but Emily had gotten so used to it that she never noticed until later. Or she just started to not care.