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Everyone has a reaper. Jaden's doesn't like it when the lights are left on at night, or the smell of saltwater. Which is funny, considering he is a pirate, but Wemmbu has never really cared for the little things like that.
"You've got the look." He says, plucking silvery threads off the grooves of his armor. Thin and shimmering in low cave light. He's awfully tense. Shoulders squared and jaw clenched, like the walls are about to peel off and wrap him up whole. Jaden stands up, the dust around his feet blow softly, haloing around his ankles.
"What look?" Jaden asks him, breaking the ring line. Wemmbu shifts, stiff and awkward. Jaden watches as the other flicks his wrist in the air in dismissal.
"That look."
Its obvious Wemmbu has something to say but doesn't know how. It's okay. Jaden is not patient, but he can learn to be. He stands at a distance. Not too far that Wemmbu would assume he wants to ditch, but close enough that he can still make out the faint smile lines on his friend's face.
"Okay," Jaden starts, "I've been thinking recently."
"Yeah, that's your thinking look."
He rolls his eyes. Trying hard to beat down a smile. "We're gonna need more totems soon. I don't trust Arachnid with making a farm, especially down here. I was thinking about heading up for a bit."
Wemmbu raises an eyebrow. Jaden tries really hard not to stare too hard at him. The dimly lit cavernous walls and single oil-light are a deadly combo. The yellow lambent glow of fire casting harsh shadows around his face. It makes him look severe, but Jaden's been with him long enough to see the Grey around him, under his eyes, hollowing his cheeks. The scrappy, hungry part of him that won't stay hidden, even underground and in the absence of natural sun. He is mystical, even in the darkness.
"Heading up." Wemmbu repeats slowly, as if testing out the words in his mouth. He scrunches his nose, clearly unamused.
"Yeah." He says. Then quickly after, "Join me?"
The so-called 'Scum' of the server makes a face. The ugly kind. Jaden immediately feels him he's shoved his foot in his mouth. Going about saying the wrong thing like it's his favorite past time. An awful, twisting feeling churns in his gut, like a low rumbling fire, or maybe a premonition of sorts.
"I…" Wemmbu looks around. His hands clench and unclench, fingers twitching around a non-existent handle. Jaden realizes, that he's looking for his mace. The one he had given to their catalyst of this all. "Arachnid will probably start shitting bricks or something. You know that the deal we made is kinda iron-clad or whatever, right? What if he like, kills Egg or something."
"Just because you wanted to farm totems?"
"I don't know, man. Dude's a loose canon."
"So were you."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means," Jaden tries. He really, really tries. "When have you cared about authority? Hell, back in Pirate Civilization you barely even followed my orders. Why the sudden change? What happened to all that big talk?"
For a second, Jaden swears he sees it. That flicker, that horrible glimpse into the crack in the wall. Wemmbu, in the shadows of oil-light, looks almost scared. Horrified at the imposition that maybe—just maybe. Jaden had him all figured out.
Then, as quick as it came, it disappears. A sputter of wind that picks up and catches the fire, hung low and dying. What replaced shortly after is a wide grin and manic glint in his eyes, one that promises danger. A desire to hurt and be hurt in return.
"I can see why you betrayed Flame, now." Wemmbu laughs, loud and shaking the walls of the cave. Dust trickles down from the ceiling, a slow burial.
Jaden glares. "It was mutual."
Wemmbu shakes his head, the crown on his head jostling with the movement. Strands of purple hair pulling lose from the behind, it spills over his shoulder, down his back. Jaden feels his hand twitch with the urge to tuck it in place. "Mutual my ass, bro. Like Flame would ever stay with you."
Ouch, is the first thing Jaden thinks of. Hot and stinging shame that rises from his neck and behind his eyes. Flame is— and always will be—a pain in his ass. The type of hemorrhaging damage that follows him everywhere. An omnipresent ghost, a footnote, a shadow. The type that lingers and inflicts upon every single good thing in his life. Upon their ruined ally ship from long, long ago. Upon Wemmbu.
Everyone has their reaper. Jaden is trying not to hate his, he's been through too much already. Wemmbu has his. They do not intersect.
"I guess you're just like me, then." Jaden says with a thin smile. Trying to gauge out how many wounds he can inflict before the body gives out.
Wemmbu's empty fists encloses around air. He raises it up, and Jaden's body falls into habit. He leans back, arms to his chest and braced for a fight. God, he needs this. He thinks about the first spark of contact, of bone against bone, flesh splitting flesh. Of torn lips and bruised capillaries. A physicality to it all, a constancy of language that he can speak fluently. Hit me. Hit me let me feel how much you care.
He takes a step. Jaden meets him halfway. Wemmbu crowds close, neck craned up to Jaden's throat. Sneering and squinted in zealous hatred. Jaden smiles beneath his mask, the impressions of it close enough that Wemmbu can see how the skin plucks beneath fabric. Close, close. Could be closer—
"Get the fuck out of here. See if I care. I'll tell Arachnid you ditched." Wemmbu spits at him. Jaden can only laugh.
"Go ahead. As if he would believe it." Jaden purrs. Arachnid is smart. He would know that Jaden would only leave if it meant trailing behind Wemmbu. The cursed chain that binds him and Egg. A sickening show of power that makes Jaden only slightly ashamed. After all, he is a pirate. Pirates are meant to protect their treasure.
Push and pull. Wemmbu clicks his tongue. Turns his heel and promptly walks out of the cave. Leaving Jaden in the dust.
It doesn't matter. He's got what he wanted. Jaden turns back, and sits where he was formerly stationed. Arms crossed behind his head, staring at Wemmbu's figure as it slowly fades over the distance. Flame can linger all he wants, betrayal or not. Jaden can have this. If Wemmbu wants to fight, he'll brace his own mace and shove it into his open hands. If Wemmbu wants loot, he'll go out crawling from the dirt to get it. If Wemmbu wants to leave, then he'll have to kill Jaden himself, that's just how it has to be.
Reaper or not, server-death or imminent war. He's patient, or at least in some definition, trying to be.