oh, now, just dirt and mud in my veins.

[vidal]

WHO: Reyes Vidal
WHERE: Outskirts of the southern village
WHEN: Today?
OPEN TO: John Wick
WARNINGS: Language, violence, and a Ghost in the Machine fight

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village outskirts | john (ghost in the machine)
It’s his own fucking fault for letting his guard down.

— at least, that’s what Reyes would wind up telling himself. It’s late morning and he’s on his way back from a successful solitary hunting expedition, bow slung over his shoulder, hunting knife tucked into his belt, a strange saw-toothed deer hanging from the other shoulder. Over the last few months, he had lapsed into some kind of day-to-day rhythm in the village; not exactly his forté, not what he would’ve chosen for himself back home, but at least it was something.

On this particular day, there’s not too many people around, just a darkhaired man he doesn’t recognise, and then two figures walking in from the wilderness. He squints at them.

Reyes isn’t a cheery small-town person. He doesn’t deliver a chirpy hullo! at the people he passes; only a wary nod. These two are both disheveled, all tangled matted hair and streaks of dirt, and he arches an eyebrow at it. Nobody’s hygiene is perfect here, but this is worse than usual. Courtesy another impromptu wilderness adventure from the Observers, perhaps?

“You look like shit,” he says, wryly. “Are you alri—”

And then the woman who looks so very much like Jessica Jones punches him in the nose.

Comments

sorry for the late

[withafnpencil]

John's day-to-day doesn't start with checking traps or heading out for hours to go hunting and gathering as part of his contribution. His injury wouldn't allow for anything like that, so finally, after healing enough that he could be active again, John took to setting up a work-out much like the one he had back in his military days.

That particular day, John is on a run when he notices someone ahead, but it's not until he gets closer that he sees a woman walk towards that person and punch him right in the face. Then he notices someone else standing off the path; a tall, bald man, looking as dirty and unkempt as the woman.

Something wasn't right.

"Hey!" John hollers, slowing on his approach to them, only to realize the tall guy was heading his way and not to shake his hand.

As John Druitt extends his fist, John leans to the side, grabs his wrist, twists and punches him in the jaw instead.

no worries, i too am slowww

[vidal]

Reyes had been lulled into a false sense of security in the village; all of the dangers had come from outside it, after all. From being teleported around the island, from black foxes and creatures with tooth and claw. The village had been a safe haven.

Not so much, anymore.

Someone somewhere might have had some compunctions about not hitting women, but Reyes would damn well contend that she hit him first. So after he went stumbling back, a hand pressed to his stinging and painful nose, he's forced to immediately volley back as she leaps on him. It's scrappy, ugly, both of them scrabbling for a hold on the other. A few feet away, the two Johns are faring better; the man with the black wristband is doing a good job of fending off the massive looming hawk-nosed man, with sharp, clinical movements, as measured as Reyes' is chaotic.

"What the hell have I ever done to you," he gasps, as Jess collides with him bodily, frenzied, driving him against the nearest building wall. Reyes' knee finds her face, slams her away. And then their fight spills over, winds up next to the other two men.