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It had been hard at first, being soulmates with Joel.
The wolf hybrid had always seemed wild, running with a wolf pack in Third Life, and then his killing spree during Last Life, all without a teammate.
He was a lone wolf.
And Etho hadn’t known that he could even handle having another person just… there all of the time.
But he was surprised to learn that Joel was a good teammate. He followed Etho’s lead when he needed him to, and other times Joel would guide their little team of two.
It made more sense after getting to know Joel a bit more, why he had lit up at the realization that they were soulmates.
He was very social, always chattering about something or another, and usually finangling his way into accompanying Etho whenever he went to do a trade or visit people.
Joel didn’t like Bdubs for some reason though, which Etho thought was odd.
Everyone liked Bdubs.
And yet he would always bare his pointed teeth at Bdubs whenever he got too close to them, a low growl humming like a distant earthquake.
Etho let it slide. Bdubs could use some lessons on personal space anyways.
Then they needed to focus on surviving. They needed a base, better armor, better tools. Who knows what could happen if they didn’t get diamond gear. So Etho went caving, searching for the precious resources that would help them survive.
When he got back, there was a regal ship on the hill he’d left Joel on. Round garden beds filled with golden stalks of wheat followed the winding path until it hit the valley floor.
It was easily defendable with a good lookout point, and just beautiful.
Etho liked it.
He told Joel as much, and his eyes caught the way Joel’s tail started wagging, faster and faster until it stopped, stiff and Etho looked back up at Joel only to find that his cheeks were red, and his eyes were firmly focused on Etho’s shoulder.
It was cute, Etho thought absentmindedly.
He ruffled Joel’s hair, trying to be careful of the man's pointed ears. “You did a good job Joel. She’s beautiful.”
Etho politely ignored the cut off whine from the wolf hybrid, instead climbing up the ladder to look inside the spruce hull.
Joel ended up getting them killed, and all Etho could think about when they woke up was Joel’s terrified face, and the cut off shriek of his name before they died.
He found Joel quickly at spawn, running over to him and kneeling before him.
Joel’s eyes were wide, unblinking and glazed over.
“Joel? Joel, it’s okay, we’re safe now. It’s not here anymore. We’re safe.”
He looked up at Etho with watery eyes. “We-?”
“We’re safe, I promise.”
“Yeah. Us. We’re safe.”
Etho got up to his feet, holding out a hand to Joel who was still kneeling on the damp ground. “C’mon, we don’t want them to steal our stuff, right?”
And this time, Joel was smiling as he looked at Etho. “I’ll kill them if they do.”
Etho laughed. “Good.”
Joel was different after that, more outgoing and taking more risks than he had in Double Life so far. Etho was okay with it. He didn’t want to win that much anymore, being teammates with Joel was enough fun for the whole thing to be worth it, even if they did lose.
It was too bad they were both reckless enough to play Pearl and Grian’s fishing rod game, allowing themselves to fly up into the air, falling falling falling until Joel hit the ground and Etho didn’t get the chance to graze the grass before they were home.
Etho was mad, but Joel? Joel was livid .
All he could talk about on their way there was how much he wanted to kill Pearl, how they would do it, what they would do to anyone who even thought about touching their stuff-
And Etho was right beside him.
And not only had Pearl encouraged the game that got them killed, she took their things afterwards.
They made her pay for it.
And then they were terrorizing the server, side by side like it was how they were meant to be.
Joel was so good at it, so good at being red at killing at threatening-
He was so good at comforting Etho in the middle of the night when the bloodlust got too strong and he had to grip the sheets to avoid the urge to claw at his own skin.
Joel was a grounding presence in those nights, holding his hands and talking about his life, describing builds and other games he had played, little stories about his friends from Empires and other little things.
In the day, they would run, wild and unrestrained and Etho felt like they were flying . Being with Joel was flying, it was being tethered to the ground, it was everything in between and so much more. It was companionship and trust and understanding.
Soulmates hadn’t meant anything to Etho.
But Joel?
He changed that.