Work Text:
Love Crystal
Courtesy of Magic Mtn.
Instructions: Make eye contact with your target, within 20 blocks, and snap the crystal in half. Their eyes will go pink and should look reminiscent of gems for a moment. It’s a one-use item, use carefully!
The second Martyn read the tag around the crystal Scar tossed to him, plots started hatching.
Of course they did, as scheming as he was. If this crystal were real, it’d work as a charm-type thing, right? That’d be useful- that’d be very useful. He could just get someone to fall in love with him for whatever duration the crystal had? That was insane, he would definitely be using that.
Though- he reasoned, as a person with fair knowledge of D&D mechanics fantasy rules- there was likely a caveat. He wasn’t exactly a skilled magic user anymore than his servermates, and so one item could only have so much power. Can’t be used on mobs or a player engaged in combat with him- yadda yadda, those were what Martyn assumed his limits were. Something like that anyways.
That was fine! Maybe he could use it on someone from BEST- or BET, sorry. Would it work on a Red? That’d be a powerful asset- almost too much so. He didn’t want to waste it. He mentally added “No Reds” to his list of boundaries, to be safe.
Using it on a member of BET- particularly Etho- was his most rational plan, he figured. Though, he wasn’t innocent of some more self-indulgent ideas. Something was appealing about using it on Ren, if he was being honest with himself. There was the obvious reason- that was ridiculous, of course. He took to a bit of self-psychoanalyzation to rationalize it. Martyn had been a traitor to the Southerners, and it didn’t take a genius to see that the rest of them weren’t too loyal either. Using it on Ren would be a reassurance, of sorts. That they’d stick together.
And that was dumb. That was very dumb, so Martyn wasn’t entirely sure why he was considering it so heavily at the moment.
He, BigB, and Ren were planning… not exactly a siege on BET, but something fairly similar. It was clear that the three of them weren’t faring very well together without Skizz- and Tango in particular seemed like a weak link in their alliance. So they were creeping up to the snowy walls of their base- Martyn leading, as he had an unusual amount of experience sneaking around the castle. BigB was trailing behind slightly when Martyn stopped, Ren stopping just behind him. They were just out of hearing range.
Martyn was plagued with what ifs. What if one of BET was the Boogeyman? That would throw their plan of a bloodless siege out the window. What if one of them was the Boogeyman and hadn’t told? That would ravage their own alliance with distrust. What if BigB or Ren abandoned Martyn inside the walls- to the hands of a potential trap or Boogeyman, what if, what if, what if-
“Martyn? You alright, dude?” Ren whispered. Martyn turned. He met Ren’s eyes.
What if he didn’t get the chance to charm one of BET?
What if Ren left him?
Well, he had the solution to both of those in his back pocket.
“Ren,” He said quietly. Ren nodded. “Look me in the eyes.”
Ren nodded again, pushing his sunglasses into his hair for good measure. His brow was furrowed, either in confusion, determination, or both. Probably both.
Martyn fished the crystal from his pocket and, before he could doubt himself, snapped it in half behind his back. He felt something, a jolt of energy like a static shock, a disgustingly sweet smell like overbearing perfume.
But he stared into Ren’s unwavering lime green eyes, and he saw no effect.
“I should’ve known this crystal was bogus.”
Scar looked up from the sales counter with an unshaken smile. A lot of people tended to enter Magic Mountain with complaints. Martyn was stood in the doorway with half of a- now dim- pink crystal in his hand.
“Bogus?” Scar asked. “You’re clearly mistaken, my friend, my crystals are all one-hundred percent authentic!”
Martyn walked up to the counter and placed the crystal on the tabletop. Scar looked it over.
“Well, it didn’t work, that’s for sure.”
Scar furrowed his brow, smile twisting into a puzzled look.
“Did you read the instructions?”
“Of course I did. He was right next to me and we were looking dead at each other.”
“Hm… hang on,” Scar bent down to search for something under the table, “The full page should be somewhere down here. Couldn’t fit it all on the label, you know. There you are!”
He rose with a piece of parchment.
“Let’s see…” Scar said. Martyn’s arms crossed impatiently. “It wasn’t a mob, was it?”
“Of course not.”
“And you weren’t in the middle of fighting them?”
“No.”
“Red?”
“No. And I’ll have you know, I’m three for three on guessing these limits.”
“Anything obscuring their vision?” Scar glanced up and gave Martyn a bit of a look, “Sunglasses, for example.”
Martyn narrowed his eyes.
“No, actually.”
“Obscuring their scent?”
“I can’t imagine so. Scar, just admit-”
“And they didn’t already have feelings for you?”
Martyn hesitated.
“...No. No, of course not!”
“Mmh, mhm. Who was it, exactly?”
“Why d’you wanna know?”
“So I can figure out what else might’ve gone wrong, of course!”
“...Ren.”
Scar raised his eyebrows, but didn’t look too surprised at all. He nodded.
“Right, well… I’m sorry your experience was less than ideal,” He set aside the paper and stood, digging in one of his barrels, “I can offer you a TNT Minecart for your troubles.”
“That's-” Martyn huffed, “Fine, sure.”
“Wonderful!” Scar got said minecart out and set it on the counter. Martyn took it, turning to leave. What a waste, truly, he didn’t know why he’d believed Scar in the first place-
“Oh, and Martyn!”
He turned. He gave Scar the testiest look he could.
“...Whatever, your plan was,” the wizard smiled, “I have confidence you can pull it off without the crystal.”
There was a pause.
“Uh… sure,” Martyn replied, turning again and leaving, putting the minecart in his inventory.
He scaled the Shadow fort’s walls and spotted Ren, standing in the courtyard with an annoyed smile, surely ready to chew him out about using the door. Scar’s words echoed in his mind as he smiled back and hopped down, but he wasn’t sure why.