The daily life of a ghost in Oletus manor

Chapter 16

By the time Joseph arrived with the doctor, most of the other hunters were long gone from the scene along with Jack, of course, for which the Photographer was really grateful. Don't get him wrong, Joseph held his fellow hunter quite dear to him, their relationship could be even considered friendly, but that certain incident left a bitter taste in his mouth. He couldn't help himself feeling slightly wary around the Ripper. To be completely honest with you, he couldn't really blame the man for what he did to the clown; Joker had it coming, he shouldn't have said all those things to the other hunter, who was already on the edge by that time. Especially not that one about the Mercenary. Anyone could see how protective the man was of the survivor, to the point of possessiveness. Jack clearly saw the boy as his own, and the other guy- the Ripper, definitely thought of him that way too. If it wasn't the case, Joker wouldn't have gotten so hurt by that person.

So yeah. Joseph was pretty sure his reaction would not have been any better in that exact scenario. So who was he to judge? He was certain that every hunter would have done the same if not worse. He didn't even want to imagine the bloodbath Hastur would make would something happen to his precious little Seer. Because yes, the god's obsessive protectiveness towards that certain survivor didn't go unnoticed by either of the others, Joseph included. Everyone could see how dangerous the Feaster's aura got every time someone went unnecessarily hard on the boy- which of course didn't happen often, because that boy was a saint. He was an overly polite person, one that was very hard and troublesome to hate. The only times one of them has gotten out of line with him was when they were already too far gone into madness to see reason. And Hastur always made sure to make the said person suffer when that happened, so no one in their right mind dared to touch the boy more than it was necessary.

It was almost funny how easily some of them got attached to the persons they were supposed to torment. For example, Leo couldn't possibly hate his daughter, nor could he get himself to hurt her on his normal, more clear days. Hell, even Joseph had a hard time hurting some of the survivors, especially Emily. She was his friend. The only person who knew everything about him, even the secrets he would never share with the other hunters. It wasn't intentional though, he didn't plan their relationship to be anything more than professional between a doctor and her patient. But one thing led to another and they warmed up towards each other fairly quickly.

It was a story for another time, though.

Stepping into the hall alongside the doctor, the first thing they noticed was the fact that it was empty save for the Feaster and the Evil Reptilian, who were chatting with Miss Nightingale in a hushed voice near the bloody mess that was left after Joker was taken to the infirmary. Emily didn't waste any time, already rushing forward, her gaze filling with horror as she was trying to process the sight before her.

„What... what happened here?" she took a deep breath, a frown finding its way onto her face. She took a look at the others before her, pushing all her doubts to the back of her mind, deciding to investigate later. „Joseph told me Joker is injured? Where is him?"

„Jack. That's what happened," muttered Luchino through his gritted teeth. He was very unimpressed with the maddened man right now. Hurting survivors for the sake of his own entertainment was one thing, but actually trying to kill a fellow hunter was taking things too far in his opinion. What the hell was even wrong with him? What's the guarantee he won't try to do that again in the future? While yes, it might be true that they didn't die as long as the Host didn't want them to be gone, they felt the pain just like they would if they were out of this hellish place.

"Please, follow us." Miss Nightingale was starting to walk towards the infirmary. It wasn't too far from the hall, you just needed to walk up the stairs to the second floor, turn to the left and it was right at the end of the corridor. They reached there pretty quickly, the two hunters letting the doctor go inside first. Emily didn't hesitate for even a moment, stepping into the room, immediately searching for the injured hunter with her gaze, just to freeze in her movements for a second when she finally saw the man, her eyes widening dramatically in her shocked state.