Glad You Came

Midnight Ventures

It was a rather chilly autumn night in the other realm; however as far as the monsters were concerned, Slender's realm never really seemed it change. It always seemed so bland and boring there, the weather staying so bleak and barren. They often learned to get used to it, as one would suppose it was better than nothing. Well, not really. At least, not as far as Masky was concerned.

He hated that name, honestly. Damned Tim could've picked a better one than that, or at least stuck with 'The Masked Man.' Sounded better, but he supposed it was a mouthful to others and easier just to say Masky than that. Still, it irked it so; so much so that, as his eyes snapped open in the darkness to feel a warm body up against his frame and arms entangled with his own, that he carefully pried himself away from the two sleeping figures that lay beside him to find a place alone. This, of course, meant finding pants (sweats would always do) as well as Tim's cigarettes and lighter (damn idiot needed to buy more; they were down to three now) and quietly make his way down the stairs and to the front yard. It wasn't so much a front yard, of course, as it was a place where trees didn't seem to grow for a good thirty foot radius around the front. Liu and Jeff had managed to somehow find a three person swing, the kind that the humans bought when they didn't have a porch to put a swing on. While somewhat rusted, it still held firm and sat overlooking the forest.

Sighing, Masky gently began to rock back and forth as he lit up the cigarette -- a habit he'd sneakily been trying to help Brian make Tim quit; however it was difficult, especially since the bad habit had slowly carried it's way over to Tim's alter ego, meaning Brian had two people to deal with -- and placed the lighter in his pocket. The usual dreary clouds had at least lessened enough as so the moon could be seen occasionally, the only source of light they seemed to have out here that wasn't house related (they really needed to install an outside light or something). The woods themselves seemed a little too quiet, aside from the rare howl, growl or rustling of leaves. Masky wasn't worried, though; the Operator had made sure his three Proxys were protected from whatever dangers lurked in these woods and gave them safe passage, though the same could not be said of the other residents that decided to come and go as they pleased. Masky chuckled at the memory of Jeff and BEN making a mad dash from the nearby woods to the house after some days of doing Slender only knew what, the local Wendigo (Toby and Hoody opted to name it Steve for some odd reason, though Masky wouldn't complain) that stopped at the forest's edge. The look on their terrified faces were priceless.

It hadn't been more than ten minutes into his musings, cigarette almost gone, that the front door slowly creaked open. Masky half turned, ready to simply stand and scuttle to the side of the house if it was a resident leaving for some type of 'fun' (he really didn't feel all too comfortable showing 'his' face around others quite yet, only seeming to do so around Toby and Brian) when a sleep riddled voice called out curiously.

"Tim, you out here?" Toby whispered, head peeking out cautiously and not seeming to notice the masked man from his spot where the swing sat in front of the living room window.

"No," Masky replied curtly as he relaxed back onto the swing, ashing his cigarette.

"Oh, ok," came Toby's whispered reply as he seemed to start retreating back into the house, readily accepting the response -- only for the door to come flying back open as Toby stepped out of the house fully, seeming both annoyed though slightly amused as he looked to the swing.

Masky snickered.

"Why are you out here smoking?" he asked curiously as he stepped out of the house in nothing but boxer shorts and an under shirt, gently closing the door behind him. "The room's not too bad, you know, and the bed's warmer!"

"Cause Brian said I couldn't," Masky grunted in reply.

Masky seemed to have learned to speak far better than Hoody could, oddly enough. While Brian's changes could be more easily noticed when Hoody overtook him (namely his eyes seemingly filming over with an odd grey color), Tim's transition to his alter ego were not as noticable if he didn't wear his mask. Brian had noted, however, that "Tim's" voice grew far more scratchy, almost deeper than normal; and if Tim thought he had an accent from growing up in Alabama, then it came out in Masky ten fold (something both Brian and Toby seemed to like). Albeit, Masky didn't seem to be able to speak for long periods of time before his throat became too sore to continue.

Toby gave the other a confused look as he stepped towards him, before it seemed to dawn on him what the other had meant.

"Hey, Mask --!"

"You start that, mother fucker," Masky grunted as he leaned forward to snub out his dying cigarette in the dirt at his bare feet, "and I'll make sure you sleep on the floor for the next week."

"You wouldn't dare!" Toby playfully gasped, feigning offense.

Masky glared as he sat upright.

".... Can I at least sit down?" Toby asked after a moment.

Masky stared back for another long moment -- before sighing and patting the empty spot on the swing to his right. Toby gave a rather happy sounding squeal before trotting over and plopping down. Masky grumbled something under his breath, yet still slung an arm over the other's shoulders. Toby leaned into the touch, head resting on the other's shoulder as he gave a content sigh.

The sunrise would likely come soon, anyway, and while he saw no point nor thrill in watching it come up -- the other two seemed to enjoy it greatly, he supposed he wouldn't mind sitting outside a little bit longer to watch it come up with the brunette. Whatever made them happy, Masky supposed, made him happy as well (and less annoyed by Toby, but he wouldn't tell him that).