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Parrot’s been having the worst day of his life, apparently.
His wings twitch in annoyance as he settles down on the stairs in front of the temple, elbows propped up on top of his knees. He’s made absolutely no progress with this whole goose chase—nothing, it was almost laughable how much he trusted Clown’s quests to give him any clues in the first place, but it ended up being his last resort. He had no other leads to where the others were.
Rekrap, Jumper, Kenadian, Leo, and Derapchu.
They had all seemingly vanished without so much as leaving a single trace, going radio-silent. He’s as stumped as he was before this whole ordeal happened.
Now, any hope he had left on finding them was crushed.
The diamond was meant to be the last puzzle piece, he was so, so close to figuring out where the five of his friends went—but of course, it wouldn’t be that simple, it couldn’t be. Boosfer and his crew just had to ruin everything he and Egg were working so hard for, continuously prodding at them for information throughout the duo’s search and threatening them. And they ended up succeeding, Kier and Dev had just ran away with Leo’s diamond, pretending to play dumb to lower their guard and swipe it right under their noses.
Prized possessions.
That’s all that Boosfer cared about, it was enough motivation for him to pour in the same amount of effort into searching for the trinkets like Parrot and Egg were doing. Just so he could get his hands on it and make a profit, a business that thrived on selling what wasn’t his. Sentimentality was at the bottom of his concerns, in fact, he openly mocked the avian for even caring so much at all. Parrot wanted to oh-so desperately swing his sword at the guy, having to watch Boosfer and his two sidekicks ransack what was once Rekrap’s base.
He briefly recalls him and Egg being referred to as a “combo meal” by Boosfer with the whole bird theme they seemingly had going on, and Egg had to shortly calm Parrot down from picking a fight that he’d definitely pop a totem from.
(And Egg was right; what could they have done about it, armorless?)
On Clown's orders, they had been accustomed to giving up their gear to the gamemasters at the start of every quest, and as of right now? He heavily regrets doing so. Neither Parrot nor Egg were especially great at combat; far from it actually. The two were the paragon of brains over brawn, with intelligence being their (one and only) strong suit. Which proved time and time again to be more trouble than it was worth, always leading them to be cornered in suboptimal situations such as this.
Parrot taps his feet on the steps restlessly, drumming his fingers on his knees absentmindedly as he thinks of a plan, anything the two of them could do to retrieve the diamond back. Maybe he could tell the Gamemasters—Spongs and Jaden? But he couldn’t really rely on them actually being at their stations whenever he and Egg checked, sometimes they were even outright missing from their posts.
“Lowkey, I’m just glad those guys didn’t kill us.” A low voice starts behind Parrot, growing closer as footsteps makes it way towards him. Short rustling followed before the voice was right beside him, laced with concern. “Bro, you alright?”
It was none other than his best friend, Egg.
“Egg,” Parrot turned to look at his friend sitting beside him, the guy’s stare patented with worry as the book he carried around sat neatly in his lap. Parrot had told Egg to jolt down world mechanics since he was still fairly new, and after a while; it eventually became a habit for his friend. The avian sighed, “They stole our last chance, bro. We’re never going to be able to find out what happened to the others—for all we know they could be hurt, or trapped or-”
Dead by now, those words went unsaid.
He feels a weight rest on his shoulder, a hand.
Parrot finds himself tensing at the touch, “Take a breather, bro.” Egg reassures him with a small pat, and he ends up relenting; relaxing at the small gesture. “Have you seen them? They’re strong, yo, they wouldn’t go down without a fight.”
After hearing Parrot say nothing, Egg continues.
“Leo, Jumper, Ken, Rek, and Derap? Bro, that is a goated lineup.” Egg blinks, before correcting himself, “Well, maybe not Derap, but they've gotta be sliming Clown out right at this very moment, Parrot. Ken’s probably already designed some contraption to have them escape by now.” Egg describes it with such confidence that Parrot may as well believe him, “That’s why Clown doesn’t want us two to find them, because he’s knows that if us—the two biggest birds—do, then yo, he's cooked.”
“You cannot be serious, bro.” The avian chuckles weakly, imagining a scene where all five of his friends actually stood a chance against somebody like Clown. He couldn't help but huff fondly at the scenario.
Egg snickers, “Yo, don’t underestimate them!”
(But as his imagination starts blurring the lines between the rather exaggerated scene—to Leo earning a nasty stab to the stomach, Ken being caught in a flurry of arrows, and the rest conforming to similar fates in the hands of Clown, he can’t help but get this heavy, awful feeling—)
He stands up abruptly, the flutter of his wings barely missing a surprised Egg, making a sound akin to a chuff after getting caught off-guard. “We need to tell the Gamemasters about what happened with Kier and Dev, Egg. That’s all we can do.”
Parrot’s about a third of the way down the stairs before Egg stops him, and he briefly registers the hold his friend has on his wrist. He turns to squint at the guy with a glare not directed at him, but rather at the thought of Kier and Dev getting further away with each passing second they stay here. Fortunately, Egg reads his expression rather clearly and loosens his hold on the avian’s wrist; in favor of holding his hands up in mock-surrender instead. “Sorry, sorry,” Parrot subconsciously softens his gaze, “It’s just—I don’t think that’s a good idea, dude.”
He blinks, “Huh? Why not?” Were they in trouble?
Egg scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, “Y’know how Spongs and Jaden are, they wouldn’t care at all, and I've been observing.” Parrot rose a brow, “They act like it’s a hassle even being near us, bro, it's like they’re focusing on something else entirely.”
…Parrot does agree with Egg on that front, not once did the supposed “gamemasters” show even an ounce of effort into the wild-goose chase Clown had sent them out on, despite literally being hired to do so. And if he understood what Egg was implying, then:
Would it be that farfetched to believe this was all just a distraction? Had Clown been lying to them with a fake promise of finding his friends?
Egg stares blankly, studying him as the bird’s expression slowly came to a realization. “Does bro finally get what I’ve realized? Oh thank goodness.” The guy proclaims, clasping his hands together in a faux prayer.
Promptly realizing Egg was mocking him, Parrot rolls his eyes with an exhale, “Okay, okay, whatever bro. You're not all that.”
“Alas, a bird is nothing without the egg it once hatched from.”
“Bro, what are you saying?”
Yet, despite his external annoyance, he can't help the smile that creeps up on his face. Sure, he’s partially annoyed that it took him this long to figure out this was all just a red herring, and even more so at the fact that Egg didn’t tell him earlier. But after he realizes asking for help from the gamemasters would probably just be a lost cause, Parrot begrudgingly sits back down beside Egg, who looks more than content with simply sitting there—choosing to flip through the pages of his book. (Egg looked a tad smug too, but Parrot decidedly ignores that.)
And thus, the two relaxed in a tangible silence, accompanied only with the sound of leaves rustling and pages flipping.
This should’ve been a waste of his time, Parrot thought. That he should be out there; trying to retrieve back the stolen trinket that was now in the hands of Boosfer and his goons.
Yet, as he looked at the guy beside him—his best friend being at ease, he couldn't help but relax. Letting the sound of his friend's writing lull him into a sense of security. When was the last time he took a moment to wind-down? He couldn’t remember.
(The writing momentarily pauses once the writer feels a pair of wings wrap behind him, the owner of which quietly staring off in the distance. And with a grin, the writing continues again.)
Now that Parrot thinks about it, his friend definitely needed a break. He's been at it for a few hours now; completing quest after quest alongside Parrot without stopping. Egg had been complaining about his legs after all the walking they had been doing, mainly during the time when they had to find a singular poppy in a field of flowers—his friend had given up an hour in and promptly laid on a patch of oxide daisies, defeatedly. He chuckles at the memory, how he had to force Egg back up on his feet then, before he too, was pulled and plunged face-first into a world of flowers. Which ended with the fragrance of flora clinging onto their clothes, persisting even until dusk settled.
So naturally, if his best friend needed a break, Parrot needed a break too.
He's dismissed his exhaustion in favor of finding clues about his missing friends. In consequence of his actions, he figured that him feeling fatigued more often was probably a result of living off of the bare minimum of sleep needed per day, much to Egg's dismay. He snickers to himself, Past him would’ve definitely disliked the idea of taking a break of any sort, preferring to be always on his feet; remaining vigilant even when he was perfectly safe. But slowly, those mannerisms faded over time. Ever since he invited his best friend on the server to help with Spoke’s cryptic puzzle a month ago—which ended with Egg getting trapped in a chunkban—it was no secret that Egg had rubbed off of him.
He'll welcome this fact with open arms, and even if his best friend was a little dense at times, Parrot would protect him; as best as he could.
“Y’know Egg, maybe once you hatch, you’ll be as big of a bird as me.”
“Dude,” Egg miffs, “you ruined the moment.”
(And so, when Clown tells Parrot he was the last key needed, and that them finding each trinket was enough to pass the quests despite missing Leo's, Parrot can’t help the huff that leaves him with Egg’s I told you so shrug.)