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007n7 was settled on the front porch of the cabin, sitting down on the steps.
He would’ve preferred the snow being mixed with the light of day, but he supposed he couldn’t get that here. He’d have to settle for the snow and the night. Luckily it was more serene than dreary this time around, the moonlight resting on the blanket of the world.
The day’s rounds had been…okay, he supposed. It was still multiple rounds spent in a death game, but it could’ve been worse. At least it was all the regular killer lineup, and at least his son wasn’t up for any “games” today.
He was shaken out of his thoughts by the distinct sound of hoofsteps, and for a moment he looked down to see if he was accidentally bouncing his leg without realizing it, somehow still not used to the legs he had now even though it’d been years since he used the GUI to make himself look even slightly more akin to C00lkidd’s species. Once he confirmed he was not, that made him realize there was only one other person who could be making that sound when they walked, and he turned his head to witness Dusekkar actually walking for once, staff nowhere in sight.
“...You out here to appreciate the snow?” 007 tilted his head.
“If you’d allow me to,” Dusekk laughed, “I’d like to take the time to appreciate the view.”
Unthinkingly 007 patted the area next to him, before realizing that was probably a little too casual and going to apologize, only for Dusekk to sit down next to him without a shift in expression.
They sat there for a long moment, both simply staring up at the stars in the dark, dark sky.
“...I think the only thing I’m gonna miss when we get out of here is the cabin,” 007 laughed, “It’s a nice one, I can certainly appreciate that.”
“Assuming we get out of here with it, I intend to allow people to visit,” Dusekk hummed, “What’s the worth of a nice cabin if you don’t let friends into it?”
“...Any progress on getting out, by the way?” 007 questioned, “I assume you admins would be talking about it.”
Dusekk paused for a moment, flame audibly crackling, before he just started laughing. 007 paused, puzzled, and let out an awkward little chuckle.
“Did I…say something funny?”
“Even though it’s softened, you still spit that word like an exploiter,” Dusekk turned to look partially at 007, “It’s just amusing to me that despite your actions changing, little bits still loiter.”
007 nearly shrunk into himself, wrapping the blanket he had brought outside around his shoulders a little tighter.
“A…Admins..?” he asked with a tinge of nervousness.
Dusekk seemed to realize the air of the conversation had changed, as he suddenly sat up with a whoosh of the flame in his helm.
“I…did not mean it in an insulting way!” he quickly added, “I apologize, I just thought it was an interesting part of your dossier.”
007 blinked at him. Interesting?
“Back to your question,” Dusekk continued on, “We are working on it, especially with suggestion. Do you perhaps know of a direction? Somewhere we can aim our inspection?”
Oh, he was being asked for his thoughts?
“Well I–excuse me while I…” he flicked open a GUI panel, scrolling through it, “I’ve been taking notes, you see. Ever since I first learned Kidd was here, I’ve sort of put my all into trying to get him out of this place, and all of us alongside him.”
He flicked through various walls of text, humming and pointing to certain bits.
“I actually had a very small talk with Veeronica the other day about this, we did think about bringing it up to everyone,” he tapped to open a folder up, motioning, “There’s…multiple powerful artifacts here. I already know from…prior knowledge that The Void Star is extremely powerful.”
“You are an ex-member of The Court Of Chaos, correct?” Dusekk prodded, “You left when there was a disconnect.”
007 momentarily hissed through his teeth, “Never a proper member of the Court, I’d say, but an ex-devotee of Noli…and…just ex of his. Both of those were called off when I found Kidd.”
Back…to the planning.
“The point is, there’s now four of the Heights swords, your staff, The Void Star, and The Necrobloxicon. Most of those items are on the other side of the lake, which is where the…very uneasy alliance comes into play. The issue becomes gathering all those items into one spot to see if we can do something with them.”
007 suddenly became self aware of the fact that he was rambling, and also the fact that Dusekk was notably staring at him with a very interesting look on his face.
“Ssssorry,” 007 momentarily hissed before clearing his throat, “I’m just spitballing.”
“You’re very knowledgeable," Dusekk nodded with a smile and a hum, “I like that.”
007 was nearly immediately taken aback. That…was not a rhyme..? Sure, he’d heard Dusekk not rhyme before, but it was mostly when information needed to be gotten across quickly, or when things were extremely informal. 007 paused and drew in a slow breath. Okay. Okay. Things that were quite a bit interesting were happening here tonight.
“May I interrupt your ramble?” Dusekk’s flame seemed to crackle in an almost nervous way, “I don’t think you need to worry about this at just this moment, I am sure we will all scamble.”
“I…?” 007 closed the panel, “Yeah, sure, go on.”
“I have been speaking to Builder on something that has been on my mind,” Dusekk spoke like he was leading up to admit something, “Halloween was…very unkind…”
“An understatement,” 007 made a laughing scoff.
“However I did come to realize something as I thought its events through,” Dusekk folded his hands together and stared very hard at the snow.
007 tumbled through what was going on, trying to think of where this was leading.
…Wait.
No, surely not, right? That would be so self centered to think was about to happen, and 007 nearly bonked himself in the side of the head to shake the thought loose.
“I…believe I may have fallen for you,” Dusekk finished, now very pointedly looking away.
…Oh gods, he was right.
OH GODS, A GOD…?!
“I–Dusekk!” 007 held back a horrid noise of surprise, “But you–I???? Dusekk?????”
“You are under no obligation to respond back in kind, Vulture!” Dusekk suddenly assured, “Perhaps returning those feelings to a god would be against your culture.”
007 sat staring for a long moment.
He…
…Oh. He had been thinking about that night on Halloween way too frequently. Not just the terror of it all, of knowing things were going wrong. Not just the horror of not being himself during the end.
But he kept thinking back, oh so firmly, to how gently Dusekk had carted him around when he was too injured to stand on his own. How Dusekk had immediately thought to protect him.
“...Well it uh…” 007 struggled to find the words, “Wwwwouldn’t be the first time I…was with a god, like I said earlier.”
Dusekk snapped back to face him, “So you…?”
“...Yeah,” 007 laughed, sinking into the blanket again, “I think I’ve fallen for you too.”
007 nearly had to flinch back at the sudden burst of crackling from Dusekk’s flame, thankful it settled down before he was grabbed in a hug.
There…could have been more to say. Could have been more of a discussion.
But 007 couldn’t think of anything further to say as he returned the hug, slowly breathing out and taking in the warmth from the flame right next to him.
…Maybe sometimes being here had its benefits.