‘ꪖ ᦓꪑꪖꪶꪶ ꪖ᥅ᧁꪊꪑꫀꪀꪻ,’
♪Now playing: …/..Home — Cavetown,♪
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☆—| Characters: Sally Williams, Ticci Toby/Tobias Rogers.
☆—| Pairings: Sally Williams & Ticci Toby/ Tobias Rogers (Platonic.)
☆—| Synopsis: Something goes wrong on Sally and Toby’s mission, causing them to argue.
☆—| TW: Mentions of R@pe/SA, Implications of past abu$e, mentions/implications of dead relatives, cursing, mentions of blood (only metaphorically though and for one line).
☆—| Word Count: 1,068.
Toby shoved Sally to the ground, leaves crunching beneath her. His face a mix of rage and despair. His mask covers it, but Sally’s sure his teeth are bared, gritted.
“A-A-Are you an a-actual idiot?” The question is rhetorical, his voice is jaded, sharp like a double-edged blade. The metal hits Sally, and she can see her blood dripping from the dagger, warming it, the red liquid reflective in the dim sunlight that shines above the two.
She swallows down the lump that had formed in her throat, forcing anger to show a front instead of sorrow. She will not be a prey, she will not be the lamb, not again. Never again.
“Are you?” Toby narrows his eyes, her words seeping in like molten. He feels a sense of hate form, warming the blood that surrounds his bones, dripping into the marrow inside and burning it. His mind feels fuzzy, frustration taking hold on him as he replies.
“Excuse me?” His voice is a laugh. Though, it’s bitter, harsh, hollow as cave. There’s no warmth in it, no fond exasperation or annoyance. The only thing that seems to show is fury, disgust that Sally’s always seen directed towards the others in looks, being shoved towards her in words.
It hurts, as if a hand reached into her chest cavity and took hold of her heart, squeezing it in match with her dying heartbeats.
She doesn’t back down though, doesn’t lose her courage. “You’re about to get mad at me when you’re the one that messed up this mission!” Sally’s shouts course through the woods that surround the two, intertwining with the soil beneath her, planting itself into the dirt and growing into one of the trees in her eyesight, forever planting its roots.
“I m-me-messed up the m-mi-mission? You’re t-th-th-the one that h-hes-h-hesitated!” Toby shoved his mask down, letting it rest around his neck, the cloth reaching his chest as he leaned down to scoff at Sally.
“Because that was an innocent man! These people we kill, we’re forced to kill these random hikers that wander too deep!” Sally isn’t angry, just.. sad. She’s tired, exhausted. Her throat burns, the burden of her death ever-so-present. She should stop this fight, tell Toby they should just go to the manor, that she’ll tell Slender she let the victim get away.
But, she can’t. “I wouldn’t care as much if it was just adults, but we kill children too! Children, Toby!” Children like her. “Plus, you’re the one that let him get away! I may have hesitated but you’re the one who couldn’t catch him!” Toby glares at Sally.
“And who-who-whose fault is th-th-that? Especially s-si-si-since you th-thought rambling with m-m-me about stupid sh-shi-shit was m-mo-more important than th-the mission!” Toby’s arms waved around in agitated gestures, expressing his annoyance in waves.
“Stupid shit? What, is everything else I tell you marked the same as well?” Sally forces herself up off the ground, staggering to her feet, glaring at Toby.
“At th-thi-thi-this point? Yeah!” Toby jabs a finger into Sally’s chest, repeating the actions as he speaks, “You’re a child. A child who has can’t do anything for themself.” Sally flinches back.
“I am not a child.” Sally slaps Toby’s hand away, snarling at him. “I can fare for myself.”
“Y-Y-Yeah? How’d you d-do against y-you-you-your uncle?” Sally freezes. He was talking about how her uncle smashed her head in with a rock, nothing else. Sally never told him about her uncle’s sexual assault of her, never went to him when she laid in bed at night shaking, gasping for air that wouldn’t come, tears that fell freely, because she had a nightmare about her uncle’s nightly activities with her. And if she did? She’d lie, make up some stupid dream about the proxies chasing her and killing him or something.
“Just like how you handled your father for most of your life.” Sally replies, her tone pure venom. She hoped he swallowed it and choke.
“Yeah? A-And who got t-t-to kill th-th-their abuser?” Sally stiffened at his words, which equally held as much poison as her previous retort.
“At least my family is still alive-!”
“What about y-y-your uncle?”
“That piece of shit isn’t my uncle.”
“N-No? Then why d-di-didn’t your parents d-d-do anything pa-pa-past putting h-hi-him in jail?”
“At least they did something! What’d you do to protect your sister?”
“Don’t fucking g-g-go there.”
“You started this, asshole!”
“You fff-fu-fucking brat. I’ll start-“
“What? Are you gonna beat me? Gonna smash a rock over my head like my uncle? Or are you gonna force it in like he did?” Time seemed to still when Sally uttered those final words. Toby paused, eyes widening, an eyebrow raising.
“Wh-Wh-What are you..?”
“You’re the only fucking family I have, Tobs!” Sally sobbed, her arms wrapping around herself. “My uncle sexually assaulted me everyday of my life, he isn’t my uncle. My parents turned tail and left town, I don’t know of any other relatives that live around here, the other proxies hate me! You’re the only one who’s showed me an ounce of compassion! I can’t lose you too! I don’t want to!” Sally hiccuped, gasps escaping her mouth as she cried. Her nailed dug into the skin that rests on her arms, leaving white, crescent-shaped in its wake.
Snot dribbled down her chin like her tears, her eyes red and puffy, like her cheeks, where you could see the stains of her breakdown.
Toby stood in front of her, frozen.
He moved his feet, forced the to walk forwards, hesitating as he neared.
“I- I didn’t-“ He stuttered, his voice a whisper. Guilt coiled around his gut, piercing it with its pointed tail.
Sally furiously wiped her tears away, her throat aching, her voice dying on her tongue. Yet, she still forced herself to speak. “You want to lose another sister? Be my guest. Because I’m not becoming subject to another proxy’s emotions.” She began to walk away, arms still hugging herself in an attempt to offer some form of comfort.
“I’m s-so-s-sorry..” Toby muttered, eyes wide, his own tears forming, tear ducts wetting.
“Yeah, me too.” Sally murmurs, leaving Toby behind in the shadows of the forest.
Toby lets the salty taste of his tears fill his mouth, becoming the center of interest on his tongue. It told him he was crying, at least.
What had he done?
