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It’d only been a few days after the two exploiters had decided to try and break Sword Fights on The Heights, wanting a challenge and the rush of annoying a very well-known admin, Telamon—God of wrath, the worshipped deity of many cults and churches, ruler of Telamon Islands and—well, you get the point.
So, considering that, it had gone about as well as you’d think; horrible, that is.
Turns out; the God of Wrath doesn’t enjoy those who mess with his territory! They were lucky enough to have gotten out with minor injuries; A few bruises here and there, a small cut on the arm, a part of Seven’s left horn chipped off—Wait, what?...
The brunet stared at himself in the mildly cracked mirror of the dorm bathroom. Groaning in exasperation as he tugged at his own hair, other hand typing commands into his GUI, though none of it seemed to make a difference.
Inhaling deeply, he let his hand fall from his hair and instead grip the sink, eyes focusing on his expression only for him to quietly wince at how worked up he looked, pathetic—in his own words.
Turning his attention to the c00lgui he saw a glimpse of something red and black; his tail, lashing in a sporadic manner. He paid it no mind, it didn’t surprise him that it’d been acting erratically, whether that be from his interface acting up—courtesy of the admin’s “temper tantrum” (as they called it, it really was not that serious, dude)—or from his own irritation at the situation.
He grabbed the panel and held it closer, pushing his glasses back up properly—they’d been slowly sliding down his nose—he really looked horribly disheveled, huh? His hair had become tangled and messy from how he’d been gripping at it in frustration and he’d lost track of how long he’d been in here.
He tapped away the “command not found” message, instead looking back into his code to see if it had any bugs, or unwanted viruses—maybe a zero or one he’d misplaced and overlooked? Yet, he ended up empty handed.
Once again, he typed in the command bar “;regenerate 007n7”, and once again, nothing happened. The bruises he had gotten from the whole thing, having been an after thought ever since he ran the command first, healed. But the chip in his horn? Still there.
After an internal debate and a lot of staring at himself in the mirror he finally left the bathroom, tensing and untensing his fingers in an attempt to get rid of the lingering pain of gripping the sink so harshly—really a bad idea.
He bit the inside of his cheek as he let himself essentially fall into their couch. Noli, looking up from their laptop only now, tilting his head in curiosity at his roommate’s display.
Seven felt his tail wrap itself around his ankle while he inhaled, maybe he shouldn’t show such vulnerability to the other? Maybe he should just accept that his GUI was faulty, or that his horn couldn’t be fixed?
But hesitance had never been his thing, not really, at least. Impulse, however, acted as his twin, the other half of his personality, if you will.
“Noli!-”
“Sev?”
That sealed it for him, yea, this was a horrible idea, too bad, he’d already opened his mouth. Time to see this through.
He thrust the c00lgui into his friend’s hands, holding no regard for the laptop still sitting on the other’s lap. “Could you—No, you HAVE to look through my code,” he took a breath, the other blinking at what seemed to be the start of a ramble, “I can’t find any mistakes myself but there–” His fellow exploiter sat up, placing their laptop to the side, grabbing the GUI and placing his hand over Seven’s whilst doing so.
”Is this about your horn?”
As he processed the thought—his mind running slower than usual—his eyes darted from Noli’s hand to his tail, which had wrapped around the other’s calf, instead of his own ankle.
Turns out, that moment of hesitation was enough, considering the moment he opened his mouth, his roommate cut him off, “Y’know, I don’t think it looks all that bad, kinda badass, actually.” Seven blanked, not at their words, but at how he grabbed his horns, not rough or an attempt to hurt him, just simple acknowledgement.
When he’d gathered his bearings he had to consciously assure that his sharp and sudden intake of air wasn’t all too noticeable and the warmth creeping up his neck was hidden.
Casually swatting his roommate’s hand away he huffed, “Right, and you aren’t saying that just to make me feel better, totally.” He felt a small shift in the air, it made him tense slightly. “Still, I GUESS it’s appreciated…Or something.” Noli laughed at that and he found himself wishing the sound didn’t have the effect on him that it did.
Seven smiled, trying to ignore the soft ache in his chest.