CuteGuy (P2)
Grian wakes up at precisely 5:34 AM. He started a habit of waking up way earlier than Scar or Gem did so he checked up on his wing-growing process without the two noticing that he was not, in fact, a Jewel Wasp Reborn.
It's been a week since he started the agonizingly slow process and ever since, all he wanted to do was be done with it. It constantly drained him of energy and forced him to stay inside the apartment all day. Staying here 24/7 wasn't totally bad, though. It gave Grian a chance to talk to his roommates and figure out what they liked and disliked. For example, he had recently figured out that Scar liked a show called Star Wars. When asked about it, he would talk for hours and hours; going through every bit of plot the series provided. Scar even exchanged numbers with Grian so he could send a link to the first movie. It wasn't bad, but it didn't exactly live up to the hype that Scar gave it.
On the contrary, Gem liked to spend her time with animals and nature. She had shown him several little plants she kept in her room, which looked surprisingly healthy considering they were locked away in an apartment complex. Grian wondered if he had subconsciously forgotten to give the plants chloroplasts so they could photosynthesize. However, the leaves were green, which means that these plants were just taken good care of. Nothing special. Gem also mentioned she worked a job every once and a while at an office building. The job didn't pay much but it gave enough for her and Scar to live in the apartment without worrying too much about taxes.
Grian unhides his wings, expecting a flurry of dark purple feathers that he'd inevitably have to clean up and hide in the bin. What he didn't quite expect was two pairs of paper-thin translucent wings to pop out of his back, paired with a sleek stinger which resembled the abdomen of a wasp if it were shaped from metal. He almost shrieked in joy, jumping around happily for a few seconds before realizing he would probably wake someone up, and quickly sitting back down. He leaned forward, pulling the blanket that Scar had finally given him over himself and picking up his phone. He'd realized that maybe, just maybe, he was getting too attached to the device. Normally, he would ditch the phone and just use his powers instead. However, now, what he could do was limited and shrouded in mystery. Grian had to learn the hard way that he couldn't magically pull up a description of anything he wanted and now had to google it. Which wasn't particularly bad, it simply sometimes took longer.
The phone turns on, the screen almost blinding him as he worked to turn the brightness down. After that, he checks his messages, most being left on delivered as he never bothered to answer any of them. Grian spent an hour scrolling through all of them, checking statements and warnings from the Head Watcher that were long past meaning by now. He only has a singular message from Gem, a simple hi that was used to add his number to her phone.
He's about to turn his phone off when Scar sends him a message. Grian wrinkles his nose, what was he doing awake at this hour?
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tall hotguy (get it?)
tall hotguy (get it?)
Hey Grian. Heard you banging in the living room, lol. You okay?
man w/ amazing looks and charm
yup smth rlly cool and exciting jst happened no need to worry also plz be aware that saying i was banging is kinda weird
tall hotguy (get it?)
Hey, banging is a completely normal word! You wouldn't bat an eye if Gem said it!
Anyways, what happened?
man w/ amazing looks and charm
scar banging isnt normal
especially cuz u say youll bang smth out in the corner sometimes
context matters
i digress. come out ur room ill show u
tall hotguy (get it?)
When you say it like that, I guess it makes more sense.
Also, it's 5:40. The bed is too cosy and Jellie is sleeping on my lap. You have to come in yourself.
man w/ amazing looks and charm
fine. ig youll never know now.
tall hotguy (get it?)
Wait. I'm coming out right now.
man w/ amazing looks and charm
thats what i thought
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Grian looks up just as Scar opens the door to his room and steps into the living room. He's wearing a grey shirt and black shorts, wings shuffling slightly as he held Jellie in his arms.
"Sooo, what's the cool thing you were talking about?" He questions, slowly petting the tabby in his hands.
"Look at this." Grian remarks, covering a growing smirk with a grin. He turns around and flutters the newly formed wings on his back, the membrane of the wings lifting the hem of the red sweatshirt he'd been wearing and then washing on repeat for the week. The wings were a heap lighter than his old ones, and Grian almost found himself preferring these instead.
Scar gasped, quickly letting Jellie down from his arms and rushing over to get a closer look at them. "Woah- These are awesome! They look great on you, Grian! Can I touch 'em?"
Grian briefly nods before angling himself towards Scar, splaying his wings out for practically the whole world to see. As soon as a hand lightly traces the veins in his forewings, he seizes up, violently biting down on his tongue. Note to self: wings are extremely sensitive.
Scar doesn't seem to notice right away, though. Small, electrifying shocks are sent up his spine as he brushes down his wings, lifting them and examining them like they would break if handled too hard. He wasn't exactly sure if he liked or hated the feeling just yet.
"Uh, you alright? You look a little tense." Scar blurts out, a hint of curiosity in his voice as he leans over Grian’s shoulder to peer at his face.
"Yeah, my wings are a bit sensitive. Not a big problem." Grian deflects, mentally sighing in relief when the raven Reborn steps away.
"Noted! Well, I'll uhm, probably go back to sleep. Have fun banging around in this place at 6 in the morning though." He mumbles, spinning around and letting Jellie back into his room before closing the door, the only evidence of his presence being a small black feather.
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When Gem eventually gets up, she shrieks at the sight of Grian, practically dropping everything as she runs over. "Grian! Your wings are fantastic! That stinger is also wicked cool! How do you sting people? Do you also tear your guts out when you pull away?" She pauses, backing up and rethinking her last question with a frown. "Uh, maybe don't answer the last one. Sorry, got ahead of myself! But your wings are great."
"Thanks, Gem!" He grins, giving her a thumbs up.
As if someone flipped a switch in her brain, she scurries away and pushes out a box with a 'PRIVATE. DO NOT OPEN' sticker on it. "Your outfit arrived early. It came in yesterday while you were napping. Sorry for not telling you earlier. You should try it on."
All of a sudden, Grian randomly starts regretting all the aesthetic decisions he made to the outfit. He sighs and drags the box off into the bathroom where he throws on the outfit as fast as physically possible. When he's done, he looks in the mirror and cringes when he sees himself. To be fair, it did look mildly sultry on him but it was already made and he had no room to complain. He's wearing a skin-tight top, made out of the same material that Scar's is, he presumes. The top is split into two colours, pink and purple that closely resemble the Watcher's iconic purple. Grian couldn't imagine not wearing the purple on every uniform he had anymore. Two gaps in the back of the top and one balanced down the bottom of his spine let his wings and stinger fit snuggly through the fabric. Talk about prophetic powers, he thinks to himself with a snicker. A heart keyhole is placed in the middle of his ribs, lined in gold.
Around more metal painted, or maybe real gold, is the real part he was worried about. Leather shorts with matching thigh straps on each side. Probably not safe for the local children, now that he thinks about it. Darn, past him and his decisions! A lovely pair of thigh-highs were also in the box, heart motifs going up the side of the heels and cute little bows on each side. They were surprisingly comfortable to wear, despite them looking like a foot torture machine. Small heartbeat motifs lined his inner arms and thigh straps, drawn to match the theme of the hearts. His sleeves cut off into gloves which revealed his thumb and some of his pointer finger. Nothing special there, he just thought it looked good at the time.
Grian had also noticed that his eyes were the most noticeable part about him around here, especially if you just saw him on the street, most people would realize who he was right away. So, to fix this problem, he got a custom blindfold which covered his eyes perfectly. He couldn't see very well when it was on, everything going almost dark and blurry but was quickly fixed by Grian subtly summoning more eyes around him so he could see when fighting or flying. Maybe it would even catch some people off guard!
He combs his hair back into its usual style before trailing back into the living room. Gem is at the door with a camera, snickering as the flash goes off multiple times. Scar is standing near the couch and his jaw drops to the floor when his green eyes land on him. He quickly regains his composure, coughing into his hand.
"Wow, that looks... A lot better than I imagined it to look." Scar says, his eyes trailing up and down Grian's body.
What was that supposed to mean? "Thanks...?"
"Just a question though, how do you see with that blindfold on? Doesn't it make everything go dark and stuff?" Scar asks, waving to the piece of fabric over his eyes.
Grian hums, thinking of a good answer. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to come up with a great one so he replies; "Erm... I have my ways."
"Welp, if you say so! Now come over, I gotta ask you a few questions. Call it vigilante training!" Scar stated, a huge smile starting to spread across his face.
Gem looks at Grian before mouthing Good luck, you'll need it. to him.
He sits down next to Scar on the couch as Scar launches into an array of questions. For example; 'What's our cause for being vigilantes in the first place?' and 'On 1-10, how would you rate your ability to fight?' He tried to answer most questions as honestly as possible, as long as it didn't cost having to reveal his genuine identity. Finally, it came to the question Grian hoped Scar would ask.
"Alright, last question. What's a Corrupted and when do they form?" Scar prompts, seemingly going through a list of prewritten questions in his head.
"Oh, erm.." Grian stumbles, trying to produce a good answer before giving up. "They're the winners of the LIFE games that... Go kind of crazy when they win?"
"Pretty close, actually! When a winner wins, they undergo the process most citizens call Corruption. Something in their head amplifies their worst traits by a whole ton! Their body mutates slightly, so for someone with wings, they may grow more or they'll get way bigger. Or, if you have a tail then it can get more pointy or long. Winners also freeze into their body of death, causing some pretty gruesome sights when you actually see them in real life." Scar explains, grimacing before explaining the last part further. "For example, Joel- sorry, the Scorpion, the most recent winner died from repeatedly clipping into the ground with an ender pearl. So, most of his bones are dislocated and broken and stabbing out of his skin.."
"Okay, okay. I did not need to hear a description, Scar." Grian interrupts, shivering at the thought. He was about to let the topic drop when he realized something. "Hey, this is a biiiit off topic but why do you always call the winners by codenames and not their actual ones? Is there a reason?"
"Oh. Yeah, most Reborns call them by their codenames because they aren't who they used to be anymore. They're just a shell of the person they used to be." Scar replies, his smile faltering a little bit.
"I see. Well, I'm probably gonna change out of this now. It's getting kind of weird just sitting here like this."
"Alright. Be quick though, I want to show you something after."
Grian smiles to himself before turning the corner and beelining to the bathroom, already shaking off the thigh highs halfway there. He didn’t exactly want to admit it, but he was awfully curious about whatever Scar had in store for him. Whatever it was, Grian was 97.86% sure it would be something great. Mostly.