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Twixxel needed to stop right now.
He had arrived yesterday, after a series of messages and calls Mob truly didn’t realise were left in the first place had gone unanswered,
He had entered his house, taking notice of out of place objects and disturbing the environment of his things.
Twixxel had opened the curtains, making the windows visible, taking great care to mention the cracked windows and broken hinges.
He had suggested things to do, all of which were outside of Verity’s recommendations.
Mob didn’t argue with Verity when all of their ideas were shot down with half-assed reasoning.
Why would he? Verity’s whole job was keeping him safe. What reason was there to doubt him?
Then Twixxel had taken notice of that.
He began asking Mob why he listened to “That weird… yellow… thing?”
He walked up to Verity, cluelessly, poking and prodding at him as if Verity was some… thing to be messed with
“The fuck even is he, Mob?”
Well to be honest, that one was a valid question.
Mob had always assumed that Verity was some kind of AI assistant but now, looking back at that claim, he considered the idea that Verity was something more humanistic. Or animalistic, more likely.
Luckily, Verity had answered that one, vaguely but still truthfully.
“I am Mob’s personal helper friend!”
Mob adored the sunshine Verity usually held in his voice.
Twixxel took this as validation to ask more sarcastic questions.
“Who asked you bitch?” He joked, laughter evident in his voice.
Verity laughed along, Mob didn’t. He swallowed and nearly choked on it
“Don’t..” His voice trailed off.
How on earth was he meant to tell Twixxel that he needed to just… stop… everything.
Stop touching his stuff, stop opening windows, stop messing with Verity.
Twixxel had turned his body to face him, still primarily staring at Verity though, some odd mix of curiosity he knew was familiar from when he himself had first met Verity.
It filled him with an unexplainable sense of dread.
It felt like Twixxel was messing with Mob’s very foundations.
“Mob? You good?”
No
“Yeah… Are you- Why… why are you here?” He’s been stuttering a lot recently, he’s not really sure where or when he picked that habit up. Especially with all the time he spends with Verity, the most fluent being that could probably ever exist.
Twixxel fully turned to face him now, suddenly serious.
“Nobody’s heard from you in over a week… Was just… Wondering…” He stopped talking, but the implications were clear.
He thought something was wrong with Mob.
In a strange, sickening way, he hated the concern.
Obviously, they wouldn’t understand he was doing well if he hadn’t answered their calls but it still… bugged him… in a way he couldn’t really articulate.
How could they think for even a second that there was something wrong when he had Verity?
He walked towards the windows, brushing past Twixxel’s shoulders on the way over while thinking of a response.
He felt Verity’s eyes on him. His reply was important.
He stepped onto the window ledge, too short to otherwise reach the top of the curtains and drag them back down.
The room was once again, enclosed in darkness, but at least now he didn’t have to look at the poorly patched windows.
“I’m -”
“He’s great!”
Mob heard Twixxel’s head snap towards Verity, and then slowly turn back to where he was standing by the window
“Umm.. I- I asked… Mob… Are you okay..?”
Weird.
Why was Twixxel asking him again if he was okay if Verity literally just told him that he was doing great?
He looked towards Verity. One thing he disliked was how his expression always displayed the same yellow face. There was never any subtle indication on what he should say on it.
“I’m great”
He considered for such a short time that it was near insignificant the possibility of himself… not… being great. That was stupid though, Verity just said he was.
Twixxel seemed satisfied, if not a little confused.
“Cool… I was also gonna ask if you wanted to go mining! I saw a cool looking cave around 100 blocks left if you wanted t-”
“There is no reason to go mining in that cave, friend! There are no diamonds, lapis or even any iron left!”
..
“Oh. I mean… fair enough… Either way, wanna go Mob? It could be cool to just explore either way!”
…
“Why though?”
Twixxel looked at Mob, there was some kind of expression on his face similar to disbelief and confusion, but not quite completely either of them.
“Just for fun.” He sounded even less confident that time
Mob glanced at Verity habitually, just for a second.
He looked back at Twixxel, who was now staring at him with a look only describable as pure concern and fear.
If anything, Mob should be the concerned one, what was the point of going against something Verity said just to look at some cave?
“Don’t look at Verity”
He was speaking in a different tone now, as if he was testing something.
Mob stared at Twixxel, not looking at the yellow orb in the corner of the room.
“What do you want to do?”
Mob nearly glanced away before catching himself and placing his eyes back in front of him
The curtain wasn’t hanging straight.
He couldn’t stop looking at it
“I don’t mind… If verity say-”
“No, what do you want to do?”
What was he trying to do here? It was obvious that he just wanted to do whatever Verity wanted to do.
“I don’t mind” He settled on this. He wanted to cater to both of his friends, sure, but he didn’t want to take part in this weird conversation any longer
“So you don’t mind going to the cave?”
“I mean-”
“Did you know caving is considered to be an extremely dangerous activity!” Verity suddenly blasted. “Even merely entering a cave puts you at risk of severe health issues stemming from factors such as-”
“Verity, shut up, I'm not asking you.”
Mob froze.
Holy shit.
What the fuck was Twixxel playing at?
He could hear his heartbeat in his ears.
He could feel verity looking at him, even though Mob wasn’t returning it right now.
“He’s.. He’s” holy shit “He’s only trying to help!”
“NO.” Twixxel shouted, suddenly erratic “No. He’s been dictating everything you say and do the moment I've got here!”
Twixxel continued,
“Can you make a fucking decision? Anything that isn’t you being pushed around by a yellow THING”
Shut up. SHUT UP. Twixxel SHUT UP.
He felt his mind screaming those words at him, he wished Twixxel could read his thoughts and take the hint. Stop. Talking.
Mob broke and looked at Verity, hands beginning to shake again, he held them together to stop it.
“Stop looking at him, look at me, i’m a fucking person and im not trying to control your every move-”
“Mob, Twixxel is being extremely aggressive, would you like me to-”
“Shut the fuck up, Verity”
Oh my god oh my god oh my god Twixxel please please stop talking
Mob was still looking at Verity, his face was still so stupidly unreadable, he tried to stare at him helplessly, hoping that Verity would understand the situation he was in, that he didn’t want to go against him in any way.
“I- I … Don’t…”
He felt he could barely hear the conversation anymore. His pounding chest reverberated throughout his body, his head felt like it could explode.
He wanted an out, he wanted to leave
He needed Verity to tell him to leave.
He needed-
“Mob, can you give me and Twixxel a moment, please? I think there are some wheat seeds outside that still need planting.”
He knew that voice. It was Verity’s, obviously, but it was more than that. It was that voice. The voice that told him something has been seriously, seriously, fucked up.
“Oh you’re telling him to leave his own house now? Unbelievable.”
Mob tuned that out, he turned around and all but ran through the door, stopping to gently close it behind him.
He hoped that the closed door would prevent him from hearing whatever they spoke about, Heaven knows he didn’t want to know.
Unfortunately he wasn’t lucky enough to go without hearing uncontextual parts of the argument.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”
He mainly heard Twixxels angry screaming.
He knelt down onto the mud, hands shaking uncontrollably as he reached for the seeds.
“I am what is best for Mob.”
He wasn’t hearing anything.
“YOU AREN’T ANYTHING. YOU WEIRD CONTROLLING FREAK”
He wasn’t hearing this.
He reached for the packet of seeds again, he hadn’t registered dropping them the first time.
“I am EVERYTHING. I DO EVERYTHING.”
Mob froze hearing Verity shout.
He covered his ears like a trembling child. It didn’t do anything to block the attack of voices he was hearing.
He stared at the floor
“I GET IT NOW.” Twixxel laughed.
It sounded awfully bitter and Mob felt sick just hearing it.
“HE DOESN’T LISTEN TO YOU BECAUSE HE WANTS TO. HE LISTENS TO YOU BECAUSE YOU FUCKING PSYCHO WON’T LET HIM DO OTHERWISE”
“HE-”
Twixxel cut off Verity. Mob flinched so hard he felt physically ill.
“HE CANT LIVE WITH YOU IN HIS LIFE.”
“HE LIVES BECAUSE OF ME”
“What the FUCK does that MEAN?”
He was so tired.
He picked at a loose thread on his shirt.
He wrapped it around his finger until his circulation cut off.
“MOB LIVES. BECAUSE. OF. ME.”
Verity continues before Twixxel has a chance to reiterate
“MOB BREATHES. BECAUSE I TELL HIM HE’S ALLOWED TO.”
He squeezed his hands over his ears tighter.
He wasn’t hearing this.
“MOB EXISTS HERE, BECAUSE I WANT HIM HERE, EXISTING.”
There was a deafening gasp somewhere, Mob heard it.
He pretended he didn’t
“I-”
He heard some noise, strained and choked from Twixxel.
He looked around, trying to distract himself, discovering that the world had gone blurry. He had started crying. He was so pathetic.
He noticed the corner of the seed packet was bent.
He forced himself to wonder when that had happened
“IF I ASK MOB TO JUMP, HE DOESN’T ASK HOW HIGH, BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT ONLY THE HIGHEST HE CAN JUMP IS GOOD ENOUGH.”
There were no more noises coming from Twixxel.
There was a sudden thud.
Like something dropped to the floor.
Mob looked at the seed packet.
He didn’t remember dropping them… again.
“I know… What’s best for him.”
Mob felt like he had been reminded of something important.
No matter what Verity did, it was in his best interest.
Verity knew best, He knew everything, that was common sense to him.
Twixxel just didn’t understand that.
Most people didn’t.
And even though his heart still felt as heavy as lead in his chest,
Even though he no longer knew which tears on his face were old and which ones were new,
Even though he had to close his eyes shut tight to avoid the sight of… everything… on the floor of the house,
He still walked back inside.
Back to Verity.
Back to his foundation.