Chapter Text
51. “What the hell are you wearing?”
“What the hell are you wearing?” Karmo deadpanned.
When Shane first mentioned the Redcloaks, his new group of people wanting to redeem themselves, Karmo hadn’t thought much of the name. Obviously it drew inspiration from the Greencloaks. But what was Shane going to do, make them wear red cloaks every second of the day?
Well, the answer was yes, Shane WAS going to make them wear red cloaks every second of the day.
“We need to be recognized, don’t we?” Shane tugged at the red cloak behind him, then gave Karmo an amused smile.
Karmo inwardly laughed at Shane’s unoriginality. Even the white masks drew inspiration from somewhere. Tahlia, he recalled, flashes of a crocodile appearing in his mind for a moment. “I suppose. You’ll do anything to avoid wearing green, won’t you?”
“That’s cold,” Shane glared at him in a pouty way. But he got over the remark quickly and turned around, picking up another red cloak from a pile of them. He stepped closer and handed it to Karmo. “Why don’t you try it on?”
“And look as stupid as you?” Karmo said just to see his reaction. Shane pouted again, and Karmo laughed. “I’m just kidding. I’m putting it on.” And he did, pulling the front of the cloak so that it would rest on his chest, and smoothing the back. Then he looked up at Shane again and struck a half-hearted pose. “What do you think? Do I look like a hero?”
Shane didn’t say anything at first. Karmo saw the edges of his mouth turning upwards, but he quickly tried to hide it. “You look perfect.” He said, almost so quietly that Karmo couldn’t hear it. But he did. He blinked at the other boy, surprised at the honest compliment. He inwardly thanked the Great Beasts that he was Niloan and had dark skin, or else Shane would see that he was as red as his cloak.
Then Shane smiled crookedly and quickly added, “We can definitely save Erdas in these. Come on,” He gently pat Karmo on the shoulder as he walked away. Karmo watched him go for a second, suddenly realizing that there wasn’t any other person that he’d want to fight with (for), and ran to catch up with him.