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If it were anyone else showing up to spawn, unannounced and in full enchanted diamond gear, Rek would have probably turned tail and run. It's not that Rek is a coward but he decidedly wasn't feeling a long fight today, not with his only teammates being pant-less. He wouldn't realistically be able to call for help, his hands only hesitating over his invis pots because he catches sight of brown beneath the armour.
"Jaron?" Rek calls down, dropping from the cliff side he'd been perched upon. He lands the bucket clutch, Jaron's features lighting up in waves of excitement as he turns towards Rek.
"Parker!" Jaron greets back, jogging up to him. "It's good to see you, my friend! How have you been?"
If it were anyone else, Rek would take that as a warning. If it were anyone else, Rek would squint his eyes and back away slightly, reading into their words with an edge of caution to everything he says in this interaction from now on. As it stands, it's just Jaron, his smile lopsided only because it was unnaturally wide as a default.
"Good, good," Rek does still spare a quick look around the area, checking it as if he hasn't been the only one around for hours. "Are you alone?"
"Bacon and Planet are both working on plotting some major revenge plot against Team Awesome, I think," Jaron shrugs. "I wasn't really paying that much attention when Bacon tried to explain it to me. I've got my own plans for revenge anyway."
Rek hesitates. "Like what?"
Jaron pulls a carrot from his inventory, waving it around near manically. "Oh, you'll see. I'm sure you've already noticed."
A pig oinks not too far to their left, Rek turning to stare it down. It's eying the carrot in Jaron's grip, Jaron absently tossing it in the pig's direction. His grin widens when the pig starts to chew on it happily, his chest puffing up in pride.
Rek's got the memo. He's also heard enough of the complaints from his teammates to know how big of an issue Jaron's happily made himself. "Oh, that's cool."
"How about you?" Jaron edges closer, giving Rek a quick once over. "I see you're wearing pants now. Finally betray that weird team mentality?"
Rek can't help but laugh at that. "Oh, uh, no, no. Parrot gave me a pass on the whole pant-less thing."
"A pass to wear pants?" Jaron squints. "Doesn't that kind of defeat the point? You know... your team's whole gimmick?"
"I mean... are you on 3 hearts?"
Jaron pauses, lifting up his wrist to press a couple fingers to his pulse point. It's a few seconds of silence from there, Rek being slightly off put by the whole show. Jaron could just check the hearts physically printed on his wrist to know. Instead, he seems to have developed this odd skill of being able to tell just from the strength of his heartbeat. Rek also finds it odd that Jaron apparently just doesn't know his current heart count. Doesn't he keep track?
"Touché," Jaron drops his wrist. "Planet might be though. And we more got our name as, like, a founding thing. We aren't the 3 heart political party or whatever. We're a trio," Jaron starts nodding to himself. "Those are way cooler."
"Oh, really?" Rek leans forwards, catching how Jaron's eyes sparkle with this underlying mischief. "I'd think that parties with, like, balloons and music are way more cool."
Jaron tsks. "That's what the masses want you to believe. You can't fall for that propaganda, man! Trust me, from personal experience, trios are where it's at."
Jaron's nodding like he's just dropped some sage wisdom and Rek can't help but laugh at the unseriousness of it all. Jaron lights up when Rek does, grinning widely like he's just won a medal.
If it were anyone else- but it's not. It's just Jaron and he's smiling and Rek thinks he can trust it this time. Jaron with his constant dying, body surely a consistent ache of recently respawned. Jaron with his closely knit teammates, far too bonded for what this server stands for. Jaron with his strong set of morals, odd in comparison to Spoke and Ashswag and Redd and everyone else. Jaron with his bright smile, Rek thinking he's never seen him as happy as he is being on this team this season.
Rek reigns himself back in, sparing another quick glance over spawn. There are quite a few pigs floating about, now that Rek's paying attention. The lag is a mild thing, currently, weighing over his movements but not inhibiting anything or causing pain. It's exactly the environment Rek expects Jaron to thrive within.
"How many pigs are you planning to breed?"
And Jaron just chuckles, it sounding almost menacing. "Oh, Parker… this is just the start."