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Sin waits, for a bit, in the void. The darkness.
He’s not moping, that’s not what he’s doing. He’s - satisfied, with the way things ended. It’s the best they could’ve hoped for, at least.
He wonders what Betty’s doing, in these final moments.
Okay, maybe he’s moping a little bit.
Sin thinks of her wife. The one she dragged onto the server just to see her in a wedding dress. She talked to Eva, of course, but it’s been so long since he actually saw her. Bothered her in person. So that’s what he’ll do. Enough with the languishing.
Sin logs into the server. It’s been a while, and it’s exactly as he remembers it. He still has creative, which he slyly changes back to survival. Nothing to see here. His log in spot is the village near his ugly fucking villager hall - the good thing about building secret bases on Divorcesteal is you don’t have to concern yourself with roofs. But he gathers his elytra, his rockets, and flies back to spawn to see if anyone’s there.
It’s quiet, which he expected. Everyone’s busy. Scooter’s house is still ugly, Eva’s house is still beautiful. Sin gives Scooter’s horses some pets before wandering up to Eva’s gardens. They’re a bit overgrown, but - flourishing still. The calcite of her house is yet to be covered with lichen.
Sin pushes the door open, and it gently creaks. The house is quiet. She rummages through Eva’s chest - a bad habit she gained before Divorcesteal, thank you very much, but she doesn’t need to steal anything. She’s just nosy, okay?
The rustling doesn’t summon anyone, so Sin wanders through Eva’s house some more. He passes the bedroom and realises he’s suddenly quite tired. The bed looks wildly comfortable, all nest-like, which is typical. Bird instincts. Stray grey feathers are strewn across the blankets.
Sin curls up and promptly falls asleep.
….
He’s poked awake, some indeterminate number of hours later. There’s no longer light streaming through the windows, but that could mean anything. He glares blearily up at his waker, but is unable to feel anything but fond at Eva’s put-out face. He’d missed her.
“That’s my bed, by the way.” Eva points out, deadpan.
“Yes, I’m aware.” Sin replies, with the tone of voice of someone who clearly doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.
Eva looks ready to argue back, but just sighs instead. “You haven’t visited in a while.”
“Yeah, I - sorry.” Sin swallows. “Been distracted.” Distracted is an interesting way to say “had the past seven months of my life consumed”, but distracted was more succinct.
“I’m busy too, you don’t have to feel guilty over it.” Which is a nice sentiment, but Sin’s gained a bit of a habit of self-flagellation, so she still will.
Sin doesn’t know how to reply to that, but eventually blurts out, “Tell me - about the books you’ve been reading.” Eva perks up at that, sliding into the nest beside Sin and tucking Sin’s folded up wings into her own. She has a lot of books to recommend and a fair few to recommend against, too. Eva’s presence is comforting, her voice relaxing, and Sin allows herself to feel content in a way she hasn’t been able to in a very long time.
“Sin?” Eva asks, eventually, and Sin jolts, realising all of a sudden Eva hasn’t said anything in a while.
“Yeah?”
“You’re sad.” It’s not phrased as a question, so Sin doesn’t answer. “You’re gonna go away again?” The phrasing briefly confuses Sin; it’s impossible to think of Divorcesteal as away, as anything other than her home, but here, with Eva, Scooter, Mae, Mint, Nick, this is her home too.
“Yeah, I’m gonna go back.”
“Why?”
“It makes me happy, too. Not everyone made me sad… there was Betty, Deli, Nara… and I love everyone there regardless.”
“Even the ones who hurt you?”
“Of course. I hurt people too, you know. That’s - that’s the point. We hurt each other.”
Eva seems to ponder this for a bit.
“Oh, come on. You love angst.” Sin points out, poking Eva in the side.
“Ohh, I think I get it now.” Eva’s face scrunches up in thought. “I think I’d still prefer building.”
Sin giggles. “That’s fair. Can I still invite you back to marry me again, next time?”
“It would be my honour. Though, wait until you get elytra this time, I want my wings.”
“Oh, naturally.”
Eva pauses. “Tell me more - about what made you happy.”
“Ooookay, so it all started when I asked BettyIsBaffled to team with me…”