Not Agreeing With the Agreeable Tiger Moth
When Gem gets back, she has to resist the urge to clean the netherite axe that lay in her hands obsessively. It was weirdly cheap, and also super cool.
Guess you could add "purchasing from the black market" to her crimes committed list. Then again, Joel had taught her that you won't get arrested if they can't figure out you committed the crime.
While Gem lugs her axe into her room, Grian and Scar almost instantly throw themselves onto the couch and start talking incessantly. Naturally, she had to snoop a little, how couldn't she? And boy...
Setting up the armour stands, they don't discuss anything particularly interesting. It mostly was light chatter and something about Scar's longest-lasting Tamagotchi named Bubbles. It was when Gem started to consider joining in on the conversation, that Grian and Scar started to talk about someone almost worth recording.
"Have you ever been to Disney?" Scar asks, obviously Scar. No one else can talk about Disney like he does.
"Unfortunately, no. I don't think I've ever heard of it." Grian replies almost instantly. Pretty reasonable, Disney used to be pretty expensive if you didn't have those yearly passes.
A ruffling of fabric is heard, presumably Scar moving around. "Really? Well, it's a really, really fun amusement park like Cedar Point and I used to go like every year." he starts, excitement buzzing in his voice, before dimming down drastically, "They kind of got rid of the park though, and I don't think I'll ever get to go again; I made some good memories there."
Silence passes by as Gem slowly presses her ear up to the wooden door, cringing when the floorboards slightly squeak. However, the duo don't seem to notice and keep talking, "So, let me get this straight; this Disney place was probably making a whole ton of money for the government, and they just, got rid of it?! Just like that?" Grian exclaims, a slight buzz audible through the door.
Scar sighs, "Yeah, this whole country hates happiness or something. I wanted to be one of those people who design and make rollercoasters, too! But here I am, HotGuy-ing people forever." He mutters bitterly, "Not that I don't like doing this — it's very rewarding, but not what I would have chosen to do."
"I get it. ...Hey don't look at me like that, I do, truly." Grian shoves Scar playfully with a giggle, causing an unruly squawk to emit from him, "The being made to do something you don't really wanna part."
Then, it's silent again, and once again does Gem consider walking into the living room, but mid door-knob-twist, Scar pipes up again.
"Your hair looks really soft, Grian," he says quietly. Gem has to open the door a little to even hear him.
Grian breathes in sharply, "...You think so?"
"Yeah." through the gap, Gem can see Scar smiling as he scoots a bit closer to Grian, "You're uh..."
"I'm...?" Grian asks with a sly tone to his voice. Gem mentally gags.
"Handsome? Pretty, uh, y'know." Scar blurts, making incomprehensible hand motions while he says it.
Grian proceeds to make a bunch of weird, confused noises before clearing his throat, "You think so?"
The two start leaning closer, and closer together before they're about 5-ish inches away from each other. Gem decides this is a great time to interrupt their conversation before she sees something she regrets.
Gem steps out quickly, slamming to door behind her with an innocent smile on her face. Grian and Scar jump at the same time, moving apart from each other. Grian hops backwards and tries to put his feet up on a non-existent table, causing him to flail around like a dying snake. Scar hastily scoots backwards before nervously blabbering about some random topic again.d
Gem can't help the smirk that starts growing on her face before laughing uncontrollably. "Oooh my! I didn't realize it was like that! I won't tell anyone, I swear."
Grian groans while Scar shakes his head frantically. Ah, denial at its finest.
Just as Gem was about to say something like; 'Just kidding!', an annoying siren starts wailing through the apartment. Gem's mood sours in record time as Scar puts on his serious face and jumps off of the couch. Grian opens his mouth, but closes it again, sighing and getting up as well.
Now, don't get her wrong -- she loves her roommate, platonically. Scar was a great guy with great humour. What's there not to like about him?
It's just that when he gets devoted to something, you can't make him stop, even if it's going to drive Scar clinically insane. Watching his bubbly personality melt away is almost horrific. All Gem wants to do is get him to chill for at least a week, and yet she could never do it herself.
When Grian had come around, he had done it so easily; gotten Scar to put the bow down and actually enjoy life for a little bit. And yet, it seemed like Scar could never pull himself away from the black hole of his own guilt. Gem had told Scar over and over that nothing was his fault, he didn't choose to be thrown into a world of cruelty. Still, he pushed on.
Grian is good for Scar, Gem decides as she goes into her room to tug on the tight fabric of her costume. A lot better than Gem was, but of course she can't discredit herself.
Gem automatically pulls herself toward her drawer of little weapons and daggers, before looking at the armour stand. She did just put that up... But displaying can come second, fighting first!
A few minutes later, Gem is opening the window, beckoning to a blindfolded Grian and a Scar who had somehow gotten his hands on arrows of harming. Probably from the weapon splurge they had just went through.
She dives out the window, spreading her wings and flailing around when the axe weighs her down. Much like a mace, it was heavy but could deal a massive amount of damage if wielded correctly
Grian and Scar eventually pop out the window, both clearly used to going down the stairwell.
"That has to be heavy," Grian points out, waving toward Gem's axe while simultaneously helping Scar's wings fit through the wooden frame.
Gem shrugs, a grin spreading on her face, "Trust me, I can handle a challenge."
˚⊹ ‧✩⋆⁺₊𓆩✦𓆪⋆⁺₊✩‧ ⊹˚
As a dragonfly, Gemini naturally soars through the sky with ease, cutting through the wind like paper -- except, when you're dragging around a massive netherite axe the ability to zip around and do barrel rolls decreases substantially. While she mourns not being able to flip around in the sky, HotGuy points out some guy staring at the trio, pointing and waving down.
"That's weird," says Gemini, squinting at the figure. A man with brown hair and ocean-blue eyes looks up, a bubble-wrapped polearm in hand.
CuteGuy leans forward, as if looking closer. Suddenly, he gasps and nudges HotGuy, and... Did Gemini just see a flash of purple from the corner of her eye? "Dude, that's the seller that I bought the polearm thingy from!"
"Oh, neat! You can go talk to him." HotGuy says, dropping down from the sky a little.
CuteGuy flutters down as Gemini starts panicking. That's a random civilian and CuteGuy was just going to say 'hello' like everything was fine?! "HG, no! We're literal Reborns."
HotGuy mumbles a soft 'shit' before quickly rocketing down to the ground. Gemini follows in pursuit, just in case she has to kill the seller.
When she gets into earshot, the seller is already talking to CuteGuy, "Grian! Hello, I've got your package right here. Please enjoy, as you'll most likely need it."
CuteGuy grabs the double-edged spear, using his stinger to cut through the bubble wrap and brandishing it. And then, he stops, the happy smile on his face fading as he looks at the blue-eyed man in front of him, "How do you know my... God, how do you even know I was going to be here?!"
The seller only smiles, before disappearing into a flurry of soft scales, white and pure as snow.
"What on earth?" CuteGuy mutters, reaching his hand out into the snowfall of scales only to pull his hand back in pain. A rash was starting to form on his hand. "Ouch... Scales? Oh, oh my gosh, that was a moth -- a moth Reborn."
HotGuy huffs humourlessly as Gemini stares in shock. So much for Gem and the Scotts.
"That, my friend, was The Tiger Moth, the first winner and Corrupted." mutters HotGuy, "I gave him our address too."
"What?!" Gemini exclaims, panic buzzing through her veins once more.
"I-it's fine! Let's just kill him and move on with our lives, yeah?" CuteGuy chatters, pacing nervously.
Gemini sighs, "I'm confident he could wipe us out all on his own."
Then, the world, no, her perception of the world starts melting into a horrible rainbow goop. Gemini staggers backwards, blinking rapidly as a voice rings out behind her, "Wow, such praises! I really don't deserve them, Gem."