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He’s anxious. More anxious than usual, even. He died twice yesterday, and then got brought back because Jinx had… something. He doesn't know what happened. Something out of their control, apparently.
All that matters in the end is the death was rerolled, and Tibby and Jinx are still yellow. Not red. Not one step away from being eliminated forever. For the very short time they were red, Tibby couldn’t stop worrying. One misplaced step, and bam. First out. And he knows they’re both safe now, they’re back to yellow, but he can’t help but worry. It doesn’t help that there’s a warden on the surface, and so many people are at the ranch, and everyone’s voices are overlapping, and-
And people are looking at him. Whoops. Someone must’ve asked him a question, and he was too caught up in his own head…
Lew’s pulling him away now, a wing around his shoulder, sheltering him. He’s safe, he reminds himself. Lew wouldn’t hurt him.
“You… alright?” Lew’s pulled Tibby off to the side. Jinx and West are talking with the absolute mob of people around the base. None of them can hear Lew and Tibby’s conversation, none of them are looking.
Tibby takes a deep breath, calming himself. “Yea, I’m alright. Just… got caught up in my thoughts, heh!”
Lew sighs, and takes Tibby’s hands in his own. “I’m holding your hand, okay? So are West and Jinx.”
“Yea?” Somehow, Tibby feels this might be more than just the physical sense.
“Yea. That’s it, end of thought.”
They both laugh a bit. But, suddenly, Tibby’s somewhere else.
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He’s on some kind of cauldron, floating in a void. There’s people running sound, and things are exploding. He can feel the solid weight of some kind or rocket launcher or something in his hands. For some reason, though… he doesn’t feel scared. He feels like he’s having fun.
Someone comes over to him. He feels like he should know this person, should recognize them, but he can’t even make out what they look like. They grab onto his hand for a second.
“Bro. Bro. Holding your hand.”
They then walk off, leaving Tibby confused. He waits for a second, to see if there’s some kind of context, but none comes.
“...why are you holding my hand?”
The other guy laughs. “I… don’t remember what I was going to say.”
They both trail off laughing.
“I was waiting for you to, like, give some context, and you didn’t!”
“Well- what were we talking about, before the hand holding?”
Tibby laughs again. “Oh Skizz, that was like five minutes ago, I have no clue.”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And he’s back, Lew smiling at him. It doesn’t seem like any time has passed.
“Good now?”
Tibby nods. That… was it a memory? If so, why couldn’t he remember who that was?
Nonetheless, both whatever that was and Lew’s words have made him feel a lot better. He can also see, behind Lew’s spread wings forming their protective barrier, that all the other players who were surrounding the Sweeties’ ranch have dispersed. Not all are gone, but they’re at least separated.
“Yeah, I’m good now.”
Lew nods back at him, with another chuckle. “Alright. I think Phil’s waiting for you.”
Tibby scoffs, heading back over to the group, the memory or whatever fading to the back corners of his memory. “Of course he is. The guy just can’t get enough of me.”