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“Who’s nametag is that?” Minute asks sharply, landing on top of the base. Egg lands next to him, and looks towards the armory. The familiar image of laughter fight heft purple friend comes to Egg’s mind when he looks at the tag.
“Oh, it’s Wemmbu,” He says, and steps forward. But MinuteTech jolts, so he pauses and looks back. “Yo?”
“Nothing,” Minute says, untensing. “Go say hi to you– your friend.”
Egg shrugs, then glides down.
“Wemmbu? You in here?” He asks, opening the door of the armory. Wemmbu flips around, and fumbles the sharpening stone he was holding, slicing across his thumb. Egg cringes, wings flaring slightly. “Dude.”
Wemmbu doesn’t even acknowledge his bleeding thumb, standing up suddenly and dropping his sword. Egg blinks.
“You good?” He asks, hesitant, leaning away. Um. Wemmbu’s being weirdly quiet…
“I– you’re– oh my god, Egg,” Wemmbu heaves, and stumbles forward, shaky as a fawn. Egg jumps forward to catch him. “You’re here. Oh my god. You’re here. You’re here.”
“Dude, what the hell happened?” Egg questions as Wemmbu sinks into him, because huh? Wemmbu usually isn’t this… vulnerable. Emotional. Ever. At all. “Are you okay?”
“Bro, Egg, I thought– they said– oh my god.” Wemmbu wraps his arms around Egg, grasping at his shirt like he’ll disappear. Egg immediately returns the favor, wings cupping Wemmbu’s back.
“Hey, it’s all… we’re fine. You’re okay. I’m okay. We’re chilling.” He tries, sinking to the ground to follow. He puts his hands under Wemmbu’s sleeves. Safe.
There isn’t a dramatic shift of healing energy, just a small shift to his thumb, so Wemmbu’s not dying or hurt– but something in Egg’s head feels off. Less full.
He’ll deal with that later. Wemmbu’s currently trying to fuse them into one and gasping for breath.
“Brother, what happened?” Egg asks, and removes his hands just for a second to place them on the side of Wemmbu’s head, fingertips weaving into hair. “Are we not safe? You good?”
“You– I thought Flame– Boosfer said– Oh my god, Boosfer.” Wemmbu groans, but the annoyance doesn’t really come across when his hands are clutching bunches into Egg’s shirt. When he’s pressing every part of himself closer to Egg. Egg instinctively draws back, and Wemmbu follows the movement.
He isn’t really sure what to. Exactly do here. Uh,
“I– well. Well, I’m not dead.” He says, hoping that helps. It’s a little harder to help when he doesn’t know the problem, y’know… “So. Yeah, we’re fine.”
Wemmbu doesn’t say anything else, but his hands tighten, and he drags them closer together. Egg straightens up for a little bit of room, blinking down at him.
And it’s just– Wemmbu’s just. He’s just breathing. Shaky, heavy, but alive. It’s a little confusing. What even happened to bro??
Egg lets him breathe. They’re safe here. Minute is probably watching them still, or at least watching the door. He nearly leans away when Wemmbu presses his forehead into Egg’s chest, but Egg locks in and actually leans forward. Win. Goat at comforting.
Wemmbu periodically loosens and tightens his grip. He heaves for breath for a few minutes, almost like he’s sobbing.
I haven’t checked if his hand’s okay, Egg thinks, still shading Wemmbu with his wings.
Once Wemmbu’s breathing evens out, Egg pulls back to look at him. Wemmbu lurches forward, eyes slightly widening in panic, but Egg holds his shoulders back.
“Let me look at you,” Egg says, trying to soften his voice. Wemmbu relaxes, and Egg lifts his injured hand. It’s mostly healed, but the blood that originally swelled is still there. Egg wipes it away. “See you’re fine. I’m fine too.”
“Boosfer–” Wemmbu takes a breath, looking up from his hand to Egg’s face. “He said Flame killed you when he, uh, raided the place. And then you guys weren’t here dude–”
Egg moves his hands from Wemmbu’s hand, to the side of his arms, meeting his eyes. They look more sad than any tragedy Egg had ever read. He draws his wings back.
“Flame did– Yeah, Minute and I left after Flame came and forced us to. But we’re lowkey back now. You’re fine.” He nods, and leans away. Wemmbu slightly leans forward, but doesn’t drag them back together. “We had a whole adventure. I’m for real exhausted.”
Wemmbu breathes out. Egg stands, and helps him up.
“Alright. Can we– where…?” He looks around, getting up off the ground.
“Where’s Minute? He’s like right over there.” Egg gestures. Wemmbu nods.
Neither of them move for a second.
“…and like. You’re safe, right? He’s chill?” Wemmbu asks, concern slipping through his tone. Egg grins.
“Minute’s goated dude. He saved my ass the other day.” He says, and starts walking toward the armory exit. Wemmbu grabs his hand, and pulls. “Wh–”
“Need my sword,” Wemmbu explains, and lets go of Egg’s hand. Egg waits. Wemmbu darts over and barely leans down to grab his sword, swiping it off the ground and sheathing it. “Alright. We chill.”
“W,” Egg acknowledges, and only starts walking again once Wemmbu is at his side. He’s like a tracking dog. “Minute’s outside. We’re going to the library.”
Wemmbu nods, and walks with him. Egg doesn’t say anything about how Wemmbu won’t stop glancing over at him. He’s just super nice like that honestly.
Egg waves at Minute, and gestures for him to come over. Minute jumps off the roof, and Wemmbu tenses at the noise.
“Just Minute,” Egg reminds quietly, then nods at Minute.
“Hey Wemmbu,” Minute greets when he gets into earshot. Wemmbu’s muscles tense, so Egg brushes a wing against his back. He settles down. “Good to see you.”
“...Hey Minute,” Wemmbu responds, a little late. “What’s up dude?”
“Hhhh,” Minute makes a ‘so-so’ motion with his hand. “Gotta rebuild after Flame blew it up a little.”
Wemmbu flexes his fist. Egg grabs his hand.
“Dude I was– you weren’t at the door bro,” Wemmbu breathes, laughing half nervously and half relieved.
“Yeah,” Minute nods, frowning. “Egg and I just dipped for a sec. We raided some end cities.”
“You were that far away?” Wemmbu asks, eyebrows furrowing.
“We pearled through one of the gateways,” Egg adds, and Wemmbu turns to look at him. “So we didn’t travel all three million blocks out. Just like, a couple thousand.”
“Cool. You guys get anything good?” Wemmbu asks, looking between them both. Egg starts toward the library, Wemmbu in tow.
“Couple shulkers, couple elytra. Diamond armor.” Minute lists, following. “Nothing amazing. Really I– I just wanted us away from the base. I couldn’t kill Flame, and I wanted Egg safe.”
“Good.” Wemmbu states, voice firm. Egg glances at him. Minute just nods.
“…so uh. We’re gonna all chill out in the library.” Egg informs them, and opens the library door. “Cause Minute and I put like. Couches in there a couple days ago.”
“W,” Wemmbu says mindlessly, and steps aside for Minute to go in.
“Alright,” Minute agrees, and walks in. Egg goes in after, because Wemmbu wouldn’t leave him outside alone for even a heartbeat.
“Wait, it’s lowkey nice in here,” Wemmbu says, scanning around. “Book city dude.”
“Has bro never been to a library,” Egg counters, and moves towards the couches.
“Not one as big as this,” Wemmbu returns, following. “Bro, Minute, where did you even get all these books?”
“Uh,” Minute starts, sitting on one end of the couch. Egg sits next to him, on his left. Wemmbu stalks the surrounding area. “All over. Players bring stuff with them, leave it, some people donate the books because they like the library.”
“Wemmbu,” Egg says, and Wemmbu looks over. Egg flexes a wing into the empty space next to him. Wemmbu pauses, then heels to Egg. “Anyway– yeah, there’s a couple people who bring me– bring us books a lot. One of them’s named GoldKarat and she brings a bunch about like, flowers.”
Wemmbu sits on the couch, and leans heavily on Egg, one hand holding Egg’s shirt. Someone’s tired. To be fair, so is Egg.
“Mhm,” Wemmbu nods. Egg pushes his wing at Minute’s back.
Minute leans forward to allow him room, and Wemmbu tenses, hand tightening on Egg’s shirt.
Egg pets his back. This guy. His wing is behind Minute now, though. Win.
“Yeah,” Minute says to no one. “I think it’s our bed time, bro.”
“Yes.” Egg agrees, and puts a hand into Wemmbu’s hair. “I think uh, I think we’ve all had long days.”
“Mhm,” Wemmbu confirms, and suddenly slumps on Egg. Egg instinctively wraps a wing around him, but leans away.
“Brother, you good?” Egg asks, and Wemmbu hums peacefully. “Yo, I’m taking that as a yes. Let us know if that changes.”
“You’ll know if it changes,” Minute points out, pointing a thumb back at Egg’s wings. Well! Yeah, the healing. Probably makes that faster.
“Dude,” Egg responds. Minute laughs. Wemmbu presses his face into Egg’s shirt. It’s a little cute. “Don’t tell him that.”