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It’s been a good day. The rounds have gone better than they usually do, with few casualties and mostly wins throughout the day. All of the sentinels had hit most of their stuns, naturally meaning that spirits were high. It was what was supposed to be night time for them, as they’d noticed at some point that there was a period of time where the Spectre spared them from rounds, allowing them to rest.
None other than the CEO of Roblox HQ is leaning on the railing outside the cabin, ice-cold drafts of wind ruffle his cement-coloured hair. Stars glitter in the sky like a sprinkling of water over a black backdrop.
Builderman sighs. It seems Shedletsky has neglected to clip his talons again. There’s a trail of scuff marks on the ground, following exactly where one’s footsteps might be, in sets of four claws a foot, three in front and one behind.
Builderman is not looking forward to having to replace the flooring, lest they want scratched-up floorboards. He opens the door with a creak and cozy yellow-orange lighting spills out of the roaring fireplace. Two Time and 007n7 appear to be chattering about something together in a corner. In the kitchen, he can see Guest 1337 and Elliot preparing what is most likely supposed to be dinner. Curled in an armchair, Dusekkar appears to be reading some book.
Lounging on the couch is the culprit he’s been looking for. John Shedletsky, sitting alongside Chance and seemingly in a competition of who can talk the other’s ears off first. Taph is beside Chance, watching silently as ever.
“...So then Builds and I went and…” Builderman perks up as he hears his name.
“Someone talkin’ bout me?” He says, leaning on the backrest of the couch.
“Speak of the devil! Hey Buildsy!” Shedletsky says, looking at him with a smile. “I was just tellin’ Chance here about that time we had to chase down C00lkidd after he griefed the pizza place!”
Builderman chuckles, “Ah, that. It was certainly somethin’, havin’ to hunt down n’ eight year ol’ hacker.”
“Dinner’s ready!” Elliot calls to the survivors as everyone rushes to the dining table. As the crowd sat down, Elliot served the food. It was simple pancakes drizzled with syrup. Nothing special, but they ate it happily nonetheless. One might argue that pancakes are meant for breakfast, but honestly who cares about that when you’re in purgatory. Any food was better than nothing.
Halfway through the meal, Builderman nudged Shedletsky. “After this, can I talk to ya about somethin?”
“Mmh?” The other man said, turning to him, mouth still full. Shedletsky took a moment to swallow before answering. “Course you can, Builds.” Builderman gave a wordless nod in response and they continued to eat, shrouded in the other survivor’s chatter.
As the meal wrapped up, the survivors quickly singled out two of their number to do the dishes (this time, Noob and Two Time), and dispersed, preparing to rest. Builderman and Shedletsky retreated to their shared cabin.
“So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?” The avian says, turning to him with curiosity.
“Right, that.” Builderman nods, “How do I put this. Yer bird… foot.. Toenails.” He says, gesturing vaguely in Shedletsky’s direction. “They’re scuffin the floors.”
Shedletsky glances behind him, seeing a small trail of points dug into the dirt from where his curved talons had stepped.
“Oh yeah.” He says with a sheepish grin. “I kind of forgot I had to clip ‘em. Sorry.” He shrugs. “I don’t usually get around to cutting them and it’s a little difficult for me to do em nicely…” Builderman heard an ever so slight emphasis on the word ‘me’.
“I can do em for ya?”
Shedletsky looked at him like he’d just said ‘let me stroke yo dih’.
“What?”
Builderman, puzzled, repeated his point. “I can clip your talons for ya’ if it’s really that much of a hassle?”
Shedletsky stared for a moment. “Uhh… No?”
“Whaddaya’ mean no?”
“That’s kinda weird man.” He shrugged.
“Oh cmon, can’t be that bad.” The shorter man insisted. “An’ yer damagin’ the floorboards!”
Shedletsky smirked “You’re that desperate to touch my feet? Woww, didn’t take you for a freak, Builds!”
Now it was Builderman’s turn to look at him funny. “I- WHAT?” He blushed slightly, flustered by Shedletsky’s words.
“Well okayy, if you insist Buildsy~!” The bird man says with a smug grin and a wink.
“I- That’s not what I- Oh nevermind…” Builderman says with a sigh. At least now Shedletsky is agreeing to this.
Shedletsky took a seat on his bed, the planks creaking in protest (because got damn he's a fatass with a fat ass 🤑), feet dangling off the edge of the bed. Builderman knelt down in front of him, examining the curved talons.
“Yeesh those are sharp.” The CEO comments, taking one claw in his hand. Shedletsky instinctively flinches away from Builderman’s gloved hands, before slowly laying them to rest in his palm.
“Uh.. yeah. Sorry. I forget about them.”
“So uh.. Ya got any clippers or…?” Builderman asked, glancing around. Now that he thinks of it, he doesn’t know anything about clipping bird nails.
“I keep 'em under the bed.” The avian answered. “They look kinda like scissors.”
Builderman groaned, bending down and grasping around in the dark space beneath Shedletsky’s bed. There was a shit ton of dust down there, fluttering into his face and causing him to sneeze. With a disgruntled look, he finally finds what he’s looking for- a pair of what looks like oversized scissors with a strange dip in the blades near the end. He grasps the handles, getting up. He caught what looked like Shedletsky staring at where he was bent over before hastily looking away.
“Enjoyin’ the view, bird boy?” He asked dryly.
Shedletsky blushed slightly, yellow cheeks dusted with pink. “Uhh nuh uh.” The avian’s headwings are pressed close to his face, almost like he’s trying to hide behind them. Builderman notices he only does this when he’s embarrassed, nervous or lying.
“Mhm…” He says with a skeptical expression. “So how’d ya want me to do this?”
“Just try not to shave too much off. Uh. If they start bleeding, put cornstarch or flour or something on them.”
Something rang in Builderman’s memory. Memories of Elliot asking why the hell they always had a flour shortage. He did notice Shedletsky always looking especially guilty during those conversations but he’d never quite known why.
“So yer the reason for our flour shortages.” Builderman said with an accusatory glance at Shedletsky.
The man in question raised his hands in defense, wings fluffing up indignantly. “Hey! It isn’t my fault I keep accidentally cutting too deep!” He huffed. “There should be some in a jar. Also under the bed.”
Builderman sighed, “An’ ya couldn’t mention it earlier, eh?” He crouches down again, now reaching for a small jar filled with a white powder. “Aight.. I’ll get to it then.”
He holds Shedletsky’s talon in his palm. His claws are cold, with a slightly scaly texture, a stark contrast to the rest of his body- warm and soft (soft kaccan warm-). As he raises the clippers, he can’t help but notice the other has grown tense, keen eyes watching his every move, ready to flinch away at a moment’s notice. He slowly fits the end of one talon into the clippers, shaving off barely any of it.
Shedletsky doesn’t start freaking out, so he takes this as a good sign. He tentatively clips a little deeper.
Snip!
Shedletsky flinches away from him, one claw accidentally scratching Builderman’s arm. He lets out a distressed chirp as a spurt of crimson blood spills from the claw.
“Shit!” Shedletsky twitters nervously, lifting his bleeding foot onto the bed, wiping the blood off with his fingers.
“Language!” Builderman cries out of pure reflex before grabbing a pinch of flour from the jar, scattering it over the wound. Shedletsky reaches over and grabs a fistful of the white dust, haphazardly dusting it over his bloodied claw, half of it falling on the sheets.
“‘M sorry, Shed.” The engineer apologises, patting the taller avian on the shoulder as a consolation.
“It’s okay..” He says, slowly lowering his foot back onto the ground. “You can uh, continue if you want.”
“Ya sure..?” Builderman glances at Shedletsky inquisitively. Did he really still trust him with this after that?
The yellow man gives a silent nod, Builderman takes this as a sign that he can continue. He grasps Shedletsky’s talon in his calloused hand and raises the clippers once more. On closer inspection, he notices a thin line in each talon. In the injured claw, the end he cut off went through this line. Perhaps it’s a blood vessel of sorts?
“Hey Shed?”
“Mhm?”
“You ever noticed these?” He pointed out the pink threads visible through the semitransparent claws, explaining what he believed they were.
“Ohh. That makes sense.” Shedletsky said, scratching his chin in thought.
“Ya never realised?”
“Err.. Well no.”
He chuckled at Shedletsky’s lack of knowledge about his own biology before moving to the next claw. This time he was sure to avoid the pinkish streak. It turns out he was proven correct, as there was no bleeding this time.
He looked up at Shedletsky, who was looking down at him watchfully.
“…Guess you were correct.” The yellow man says after a moment.
“Ya probably coulda figured that out sooner if ya paid a lil more attention.” Builderman pointed out.
“Eh. Whatever. I would’ve got it eventually.” Shedletsky says with a shrug.
The engineer snorts before turning his attention back to the task at hand. It was much less nerve-wracking now that he knew what to avoid as opposed to just cutting blindly. It became almost soothing for Shedletsky, the rough fingers handling his claws and the occasional quiet snip.
It didn’t take too long for Builderman to finish up. “All done.” He says, getting up and dusting off his hands. He only received a pleased-sounding coo in response. Gazing at Shedletsky, the bird man looked half asleep.
“Thaaank you Buildsyyy.” Shedletsky says, shuffling over to lay on his side. He holds out his arms, looking expectantly at Builderman.
“Must I really? Yer a grown man Shed…”
“Pleeeeeaseee?”
With a soft chuckle, Builderman complies, lowering himself onto the bed and into Shed’s arms. Shedletsky wastes no time and pulls the shorter man into a hug, holding him close as though he were an oversized plush toy. He leans in and gives Builderman a brief kiss before breaking away with a giggle, drawing a surprised gasp from the engineer, who immediately appeared a few shades redder.
“Love ya.” Shedletsky says with a grin, burying his head in the crook of Builderman’s neck.
“.. I love ya too.”