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"Punz!" Purpled calls, grim. "Punz, get the fuck out here!" He doesn't bother hammering on the door, one hand on the hilt of his sword tucked in his belt and the other curled in a fist at his side. Punz's got neighbours, and a sense of decency that's never applied to people like Purpled.
The door slams open and there he stands, gauntlets hastily buckled on and hair tousled. "The hell you want," he says.
Purpled stomps up to him. "What are you doing," he hisses.
Punz yawns. "What's it fuckin' look like," he says. Purpled bares his teeth.
"This," he snaps. "This fucking— why did you take Tommy's job?"
"I'd've thought you'd take Tom's side, kid," Punz says, cracking his neck to both sides with a groan.
"Don't call me that," Purpled snaps. "You're with Dream. You always have been. What the fuck is this?"
"Client confidentiality," Punz says, bared-teeth facsimile of a grin. "You should know that, Purp."
"What is wrong with you?" Purpled demands. "This isn't how we work."
"Oh, isn't it?" Punz sighs, looking tired again suddenly. "Just— come in."
"No thanks," Purpled says.
"Come in, Purp," Punz grits out. Purpled scowls at their back and follows them in, fists clenched tight. Shuts the door behind him. The house is the same as it always was, even though the wood has to be new. What with Sapnap— well.
Punz paces across to the floor, stands facing him with their arms crossed. "What's this really about, huh? I know you don't give a shit about Dream or Tommy."
"Don't you presume," Purpled says. Punz laughs.
"Making friends? Which is it, the big bad? Or that brat who's ass you could've kicked when you were half his size."
"Don't lie. I was never half Tommy's size," Purpled says, reluctant smile crossing his face.
"Ah, but he's freakishly tall. And underfed, frankly," Punz muses. Gentler, still brusque; "what's going on, hm?"
"This isn't how we do things," Purpled says. "You're crossing Dream. Why?"
"Where'd you hear that anyway? You're never around," Punz says, grimacing. "Whole thing happened just a day ago."
"Never you mind," Purpled huffs.
"Ponk?" he guesses.
"No," Purpled says, guarded.
"Fine. Kid, you crossed people in the war."
"S'not like I ever officially declared my allegiance to either side," Purpled sniffs. "Don't call me kid." Whole thing is wrong, off.
"Sure," Punz says. Purpled makes a face.
"I didn't wanna," he says, petulant. "I just— I." Punz cocks his head as he makes sense of that. When he does, he shoots Purpled a pitying look. Purpled scowls.
"Never fought a war, huh?"
"As if you have," Purpled says.
"Mm. Hardcore's something, for sure," Punz murmurs. Sighs and starts unstrapping his gauntlets as the room goes quiet and melancholy. "Whole server is something."
"Where's it end?" Purpled asks him.
"Wouldn't ask that'f I were you. Road to ruin," Punz says.
"You're not though. And, I mean. I know right from wrong," Purpled disagrees. Fiddles with the charms on his belt hidden under his clothes.
"Yeah? Who's right then?"
"Sure isn't Dream," Purpled says.
"You think Tommy's right about this whole thing," Punz says. He taps his lip.
"Nah," Purpled says. Gives it a moment of consideration.
"They can't both be wrong," Punz says.
"Hell yeah they can," Purpled scoffs. Winces as he thinks of Chaz, laughing and refusing to take a side. Brushes the reminder away. "Whole thing's stupid anyway."
"I feel you," Punz says. "Why you so upset?"
"Why'd you take the deal?"
"Paid well," Punz says flatly. Purpled's throat clicks. It's all so wrong. Punz purses his mouth. "Do I look like I want to be outgunned?"
"Richest people on the server," Purpled reminds him. "And everyone else that went there— they don't know shit."
"So— what," Punz says. "You want me to have helped Dream? This isn't about them, so what is it?"
"Don't pretend you know what I want," Purpled warns.
"I'm asking," Punz says.
Purpled curls his fists into his hoodie. "I don't understand why you helped Tommy," he says, frustration finally cracking through. "And— " he swallows, once.
"Oh," Punz says, and draws closer. "Purp. He didn't somehow deserve it. Kay?"
"No one deserves anything," Purpled echoes.
"Yeah. Come sit down, kid."
"Can't," Purpled says. Punz built this house to stay, but Purpled — he's not. He can't.
"I took the job because of the money, okay? That's all." His eyes are piercing and they hurt. Purpled's own sting. Punz, thank gods, at least doesn't ask is that it all condescension and faked sympathy. They don't do sympathy. Neither of them. "Purp, are you—?"
"No," Purpled says, blinking that vulnerability away hard. He's not lying. That's— part of it, maybe, it's what brought that longing on so sudden and sharp. But it's not really about that.
Punz takes a few steps closer, stops an arm's length away from Purpled. It's rather too close, but his back is to the door already anyway.
"No?"
"No," Purpled says harshly.
It's like this: two years and change ago Wallibear dies for Purpled on a hardcore world and nobody is there to stop it.
That's not the point though. It's not. It's mostly— he just wants to go home. The admins've fucking locked this world, and he's just—
He wants to go home.
Guilt, yeah. But mostly longing.
Punz takes the last step forward. "You," he says, tapping his finger against Purpled's chest, "have a responsibility. To the dead. Do you understand?"
"I know," Purpled says irritably. He has to swallow against it though.
"No, not that. S'not what you think it is," he says. "I don't mean respect their wishes. Purp. Dying hurt, kay?"
"Obviously," Purpled snaps.
"Listen to me. Dying hurts. Walli's a little older than you, yeah? Some five hundred years."
"It's like fifty years difference," Purpled says flatly. "And he left his homeworld later."
"Hey," Punz says.
"Whatever, fine."
"When Walli died," Punz says. Purpled glares at him, daring him. "He was putting off yours. And you lived. That's all. And now you're here."
"What do I get out of that?" Purpled snipes.
"A life," Punz says. "Make the most of it."
"Back home— " Purpled starts, finally reaching the crux of it. Finally saying the words.
Punz laughs. "Can't live your whole life there," they say.
"I didn't," Purpled grumbles. "Got a whole host of servers."
"Ahuh," Punz says. "Think of it as— a new map, or whatever. One really long UHC game, something like that."
"S' too long. Not a game," Purpled says.
Punz smiles, taps his chest one more time mirroring where their medallion rests. Pulls Purpled away so they can open the door. "Nah. Just life."