NEW GAME, OLD RULES.

Amanda leaned against the countertop, watching Adam wring his hands. She didn't get what he was apprehensive about. It was as simple as resetting the trap, it didn't require a gentle touch. Quite the opposite, actually. You had to be pretty aggressive with it to open it without cutting yourself. 
"What, grossed out by a little bit of blood?" She teased rudely, "You'll have to clean, and repair it yourself eventually," She wouldn't always be around to do it, and she would be so mad to come back to the Meat Packing Plant to gross bloodied bear traps.
She grabbed a rag, striding over to the trap, and Adam. "Here, I have two more that got used last time so I can help with this one. They're less gross, this one fought it. Tried to pull it off too fast." Don't know how they hadn't been hyper aware of the jagged blades that were in their mouth, but she didn't care. "It's worse when they're dry, trust me." She didn't use them more than once or twice, their improved design made them last a little longer.
"Plus, this is the best part. It's quiet, no one to micromanage," Maybe before the Entity she wouldnt have said that, but now trials took so much out of her. It was tiring. "Is there absolutely anything I can do to motivate you?" Amanda prompted, taking herself out of her thoughts of how much she couldn't enjoy trials because of the variables that she never had with her traps. 

Amanda always appreciated Adams ability to make jokes, and continue to be himself through all of this. 
It was a trait she didn't quite retain most days. 
Still, she shoved him and exhaled through her nose. 
"I don't think I'm the horny one, Stanheight. You heard what you wanted to... But if that's what it takes..." She trailed off her sentence, shrugging. 

"If the issue really is more traps, you know I can make more, right? I'm sure if they're simple enough the spider-cunt wouldn't care." Amanda hummed, looking around at the scrap metal. Something like the bathroom trap....Something like the bathroom trap. 
It was hard to mobilize that one. Maybe Amanda could carry chain, and handcuffs and the Entity could set up clips to the walls, of course with the ever so decorative bone saw nearby. The only way to get out would be to hope for mercy, or get help.

When he became fixated on the bear trap, it clicked. He didn't actually want new traps. He just didn't want those. 
Her stomach turned, and she moved to put her back to him. Red shirt, and low ponytail was all he was allowed to see. 
"You don't have to try," She offered, "It isn't that big of a deal, they're just. Tools. Nothing more, nothing less." She tried to waive it off, but couldn't get past the way that he very clearly hated them too. 
"I have some prototypes. Shotgun trap again, uh... I have another one called 'sacrificial'... The person gets blindfolded, and handcuffed and they have to get someone to lead them to keys to find one that unlocks... If left too long, an explosive goes off killing one or both of them." Her rambly speech was hushed, maybe she could move on from that. She knew why he cared so much, from the moment he learned that that was her trial, her trap, her test. It was different interacting with the RBTs. 
Wasn't she supposed to be cold, callous and calculating? So why was she so uncomfortable right now, at the prospect that maybe, just maybe, he cared enough about her to want to get the RBTs out of the meat packaging plant.

Fuck. 
Fuck, fuck fuck. 

Why couldn't things be simple? With John, maybe he was wrong but they were easy. He stayed out of her hair, out of her business...

She didn't want Adam go do that, but it would be so easy to do things if he would. If he just... Left her alone. She wasn't low enough to blow up at him, take the chance of him leaving. Some fucked up part of her wished she could, but she knew even if she did he'd come right back, eventually. There was no getting rid of him, especially once he cared about you. She knew that very well, now. 


She didn't bristle at his touch, but relaxed. Running his fingers through her tied hair, it was an appreciated gesture. 

Why couldn't Adam just... Want to build traps? Or why couldnt Amanda just resent him for not wanting to? For being stronger than she is?

She could build traps all day long, small, complicated, gigantic. It didn't matter. She could do it. 
She couldn't come to terms with how fucked up the RBT was, and inflicting it on others. 
It rarely bothered her, especially now being so far emotionally removed from being in her trial. 

Wincing when her hair was tugged, she leaned forward, exhaling a breath she didn't realize she was holding. 
"It's okay." It was truthfully easier to brush the apology off, it didn't really hurt.

"Good. Good, I'm um... I'm glad." She tried to regain her confidence, fake it. Somehow she just sounded more pathetic than she felt. 

She'd talked to Adiris recently, when something was on her mind... It was way out now, though. The other woman had completely cured her ailment of being too lost in her thoughts. 
Somehow Adam put her back. No I'll intent, and Adam (usually) meant well. 


"I don't know what to do if it bothers me." She admitted, "I can't change it, if the Entity wanted she could scrap everything else in this fucking meat plant, and just make me look at these little fucks day-in and day-out." so, she felt powerless. Why fight a battle that you'll lose? Join the enemy's team, quit your own.