[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— Colt had grown up surrounded by cruel, callous, mean people. Had there been exceptions? Of course. Matter of fact, he'd been close with quite a few of the kids his age. The adults, though - they had all been miserable. Selfish pricks, the whole lot of them. That being said, it had been a bit of a culture shock for Colt to arrive at the Lodge and find that everyone was... nice. Well, not everyone - again, there were exceptions. But most of the people at the Lodge were friendly, warm. They cared about each other, they would fight side by side. For the first time in Colt's life, he had met people that he looked up to. People that he wanted to be like. People like Eddie, and Will.
Colt had first met Will at the party in the bar, a week or so back. The two had gotten along right off the bat; William had dozens of stories about his life up his sleeve, and Colt - who had only known captivity up until very recently - was more than keen to listen. Will was brave, loyal, caring, strong - and he also didn't take shit from anyone. That was exactly how Colt wanted people to perceive him. He figured that if he started hanging around the guy, some of that toughness would start to rub off on him. So he'd hung around Will whenever he had the chance without being too overbearing. Will seemed to enjoy his company, so it was a win-win. As far as the young mercenary could tell, they were becoming good friends.
It was a particularly cold, foggy evening. Colt was lounging on the couch in the living room, debating on going out to set some traps. He lifted his gaze at the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall to his left - only to see Will walk in. His face brightened, and he grinned. "Hey, Will." He sat up straight, scooting to the edge of his seat. "You busy? Wanna go out on a quick hunt?" he would ask. Shit - his voice didn't sound too squeaky, did it? He wanted to sound cool. "O-Or we could spar."
━━━━━━━ THE BOY WHO FELL INTO THE SKY
[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]William was the cruel and callous monster that most people would fear to ever come across. The very kind of man who was assiduous in explaining precisely how he’d break a person before doing so with such a cold curiosity. An indifference to the fact that this was a life that he would so heedlessly destroy for his own morbid satisfaction. Most saw beauty in the immaculate, but William could appreciate the small cracks forming in the surfaces, eyeing out a way to creep in and take it on as his own. He enjoyed doing this with people. It was far easier to get by day-to-day when he could manipulate the world around him. Play on people’s emotions to urge them to dismiss his questionable behaviour. Why would he do such a thing with no remorse?
Well, that was just William. A beautiful man with a charm so fatal. He barely thought twice when he began to mess with Colt’s head.
It was clear that they got on like a house on fire but, with certainty, someone was bound to get burned. Someone else’s pain was intriguing to William. Pleasurable, almost, to see how he shaped the world around him. The way his calm actions gave him power. He’d give Colt what he wanted from the get go; the nonchalant man with the dry sense of humour. He liked to joke around carefully with such impassive features as he’d bluntly deliver his witticisms to those around him; it often pulled people in. They enjoyed the humour, the coolness as he spoke. It almost seemed as if he were an enigma, inspiring people to investigate him more until he had just enough of them to clutch onto.
As far as William was aware, Colt was trapped by him.
Casually wandering into the lounge, William paused in the doorway as he gazed across the room at Colt. The younger of the two seemed to liven up upon seeing Will — an ideal reaction in the presence of a man like Will — William bunching his brows as if to consider Colt’s offer. ❝ Hm. I think I can fit you in my busy schedule. ❞ He kidded with a straight face, eyes lingering on Colt before a hint of a jesting smile tugged at his lips. He soon nodded his head towards the front door, announcing, ❝ Lets go hunting. Saw a couple deer down the mountain in need of a killin’. ❞ Turning to head to the front door, William pulled on his coat and fitted a beanie on his head before picking up a rifle and heading out the front door.
Boots trudged in the snow, William carefully examining the condition of the rifle before glancing over towards Colt. ❝ Right then, tell me: what’s the biggest game you’ve ever killed on a hunting trip? I once downed a moose, y’know? That was quite some job, but a couple bullets eventually sent it to the ground. ❞ The way he spoke so fondly of death should have been a warning sign, but William worked it so well that he could wave his red flags in the face of many with no questions asked.
[align=center] TAKE A HUMAN HEART , ADD SOME VANITY , AUTHENTICITY
[sup]AND PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER . DO WHATEVER TO YOUR BROKEN MACHINE .[/sup]
[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— Colt could remember the first time he had gone hunting like it was yesterday. He had only been eight years old; he and two other boys around his age had been sent out into the forest behind the abandoned warehouse that the Ring had been keeping them in. They had been given rifles and sent off, told not to come back until they'd killed something big enough to feed all fifteen trainees and five adult mercenaries at the warehouse for three nights. It took them four days, and they'd nearly starved to death before finally managing to kill a doe and drag it back. On the second day, they'd had a chance to bring down a young buck - all Colt had to do was take the shot. But he'd hesitated, having caught a glimpse of the life in its eyes. It wasn't even fully grown, its antlers just barely stubs on its head - it hadn't gotten a chance to live. He couldn't do it - he couldn't bring himself to shoot it that day, despite the gnawing hunger in his stomach. After he put down the gun and the deer fled, the other two boys were furious. They beat Colt until his face was black and blue.
Eventually, as the years passed on and hunting became a frequent chore that he was tasked with, Colt got used to it. He learned to suppress the discomfort, shut down his emotions so that he could get the job done and put food on the table. He never learned to enjoy taking an animal's life, like some people, but he did it without hesitation because he had to. That was how he started to see killing people, too - until now.
Here, at the Lodge, hunting was the same to Colt as it had ever been - a necessary evil. Still, he knew William enjoyed it, and he figured that it was a good way to spend time with the man. He flashed a grin as soon as Will agreed to go with, grabbing his heavy coat from where it had been tossed on the couch beside him and pulling it on. "I think I know which deer you're talking about. Down East, right? I saw them on a patrol this morning."
He grabbed his own gun and followed Will out the door, happy to walk beside him. He listened to Will's question intently, his eyes widening. "A moose? I've never actually seen one of those in real life. Heard they were huge." He pondered for a moment, thinking back to his various hunting trips. A wave of nausea came over him at the thought of the countless animal corpses he'd had to gut and carry, but he tried to push that away. "U-Uh, well... I killed a wild boar once. Kinda felt bad - it got hostile, but I think it was just trying to protect its territory." He hesitated before forcing a sheepish laugh. "Didn't even taste that good, either. Meat was hard to chew."
━━━━━━━ THE BOY WHO FELL INTO THE SKY
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