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“Hey! You- you two!”
Branzy managed to put some force behind his voice, well aware of how much of an old man he looked as he approached the two latest residents of his island with his cane.
Wifies was the only one of them without the courage to meet his eyes, the dog hybrid’s own empty and the defensive sort of silent he got as he stared at the floor. It was always a little sad to see. Branzy preferred when he got caught and started laughing.
Flux, on the other hand, turned and glared at Branzy like he wasn’t currently a guest two times over.
“What, old man?”
Branzy hadn’t needed that callout either. He’d already acknowledged it, he didn’t need to be called out by someone at most two decades younger than him, and a kill list thoroughly proportional to his age.
Shooting Flux a scathing glance that actually managed to make him shut up into seething silence, Branzy looked over at Wifies, still zoned out and eyeing the floor, and raised his eyebrows.
“I’m not even- even going to address that. Wifies, is he allowed to touch this?” Branzy softened his voice, the tone he used to coax Wifies back to the moment, when he was losing track. “I’m not mad. But I told you, if you wanted-“
“He’s not. Flux, go… just go over there.” Wifies pointed, vaguely, and sighed, shooting an awkward look at Branzy, before leaning back against the workbench and kicking at the ground in a habit he’d picked up from Branzy sometime in the last year. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m sure he didn’t break anything.” Branzy looked over at Flux, looking increasingly chastened and flustered when Wifies didn’t take the hit for him. “Did- did you?”
Flux shifted, from the opposite corner, and narrowed his eyes. For a long moment, Branzy waited, in genuine curiosity as to if Flux would throw something physical at him, or just words. He’d be a fool to do either, but Branzy knew not to overestimate people.
To everyone’s relief, Flux sighed, and dropped his gaze like Wifies had, muttering.
“No. All I wanted to see was the crystals.”
Branzy looked back, and Wifies gestured to one of the formulas he’d been working on for some kind of rocket-propelled spear, designed to release a substance which would solidify into a piercing weapon mid-air.
“Huh. Good choice.” Smiling, he turned back to Flux, who suddenly looked even more cagey at the abrupt good humour. “I- I can show you how it works?”
“What’s the catch?”
Everyone around here was so paranoid. Flux wasn’t even from Unstable, so Branzy didn’t even know what to make of him. He’d been trying, slowly, to encourage Wifies into taking things that were offered and asking if they weren’t. But everyone he saw treated opportunity like a military negotiation. It was a little exhausting.
“You… don’t mess with my equipment again?” Branzy offered it brightly, but there was a hint of real stress he couldn’t keep out of his voice. This was a laboratory. Wifies was trusted, because Wifies was the only one who knew how some of his more complicated machines worked, but Flux knew nothing and acted like he didn’t, a lethal combination if Branzy had ever encountered it. “And we all sit down and eat dinner for once?”
It was a lost cause, he knew, trying to enforce a schedule on any of them. He certainly hadn’t had one, until Wifies had teleported back into his life, one prison and bird down with no intention of doing anything for himself until it killed him.
That had been the first thing in years to make Branzy get everything back in order. He’d been relearning how to cook, more than various types of mushroom stew and occasional fish, and he had a whiteboard of mealtimes, prep, and suggestions. Wifies had started adding to it, a few months ago. Quietly, not even smiling when Branzy noticed, but he made food, too, sometimes. Things with strange ingredients Branzy only occasionally had around. Things that looked like traveller’s food, but tasted better than the consistency made them seem.
Now, he needed it all. Wifies was easy. Wifies, Branzy just needed to keep an eye on to make sure he didn’t wander off in the middle of the night to dig his own grave, and so he didn’t get snuck up on and given a heart attack.
Flux was difficult.
Flux didn’t know how serverguests were meant to behave, apparently, given how he seemed to have nothing but unstrained resentment towards Branzy. Unprompted, too, which was almost insulting, if Branzy hadn’t spent his life around here being underestimated and talked down to.
He could have a little respect, though. He respected Wifies, purely because Wifies had been the one to talk Branzy into asking Parrot to let Flux stay with him, while Saps was recording. It had been a very convincing presentation, and Branzy was weak to Wifies actually looking like he wanted something with a kind of conviction he got maybe once a month.
Branzy still wasn’t sure why, though. When the first thing Flux had done was greet Wifies as the Director, and Branzy had seen the dog hybrid’s tail freeze between his legs, and his eyes flash something dangerous.
But, since, they’d spent a strange amount of time with each other. Branzy was still wary. It had only been a few days, and he didn’t know if Flux knew Wifies well enough to fully be trusted. He’d rather keep an eye on both of them.
Flux, at least, for all his annoyances, had the twin gifts of being somewhat fascinating, and temporary.
He was only here for as long as Saps was in the centre of the action. He could have joined any time, at least since Parrot had taken power—as Branzy had only recently learnt from the latest dark-haired enigma in his life—but he’d wanted to be here for Saps. And, like Wifies, he had reservations about mingling with the general server population.
Branzy was going to need to make it clear again sometime soon, that his island wasn’t universally available for anyone who wanted to hide from Parrot. Just… Wifies. And his friend. And Clown. And Ferre, maybe, and Mugm, that one time he’d arrived in a dishevelled state of disgust and said he wasn’t going near the other two for another month.
His circle, then. Which Flux wasn’t yet a part of.
“Branzy.” Wifies’s fingers circled just below his elbow, squeezing like a cuff for a single moment, long enough to jolt him back, catching a note of amusement. “Flux said yes.”
“I did not say yes, I said-“
“You said yes.” Wifies was eerie-calm, a kind of contented assurance he’d been relaxing into over the few days Flux had already been here. Branzy suspected it was the ease of power, a weaker mind he could play with without fear of breaking anything.
Flux scowled, then rolled his eyes, and nodded, only a little sullenly. Progress.
Branzy wasn’t about to mess with Wifies. On both a personal-protection basis, and a casual trust that took less effort to give than it would to withhold. If he thought Flux was easy and harmless enough to push around without sending him spiralling, it was probably doing him no harm to have an outlet. He couldn’t do it on Branzy, although that might have been for lack of trying.
“Alright!” Branzy grinned, falling back on cheerfulness, when all else failed. He’d need some help anyway, he couldn’t do this demonstration with his cane and alone. “Flux, could you get that rod? Wifies-“
“Here.” Wifies handed him a dropper already filled with the clear beige liquid, and Flux a metal stick about the length of his forearm.
“…you’re so helpful to have around, have I- I mentioned that?”
“Mhm.” Wifies’s lips twitched, but he leaned back on the desk, and nodded like a… like a conductor, about to watch a performance begin. Branzy swallowed his first thought, eyes flicking away. “It’s fine, Flux. None of this is dangerous.”
Frowning, Branzy glanced around, making the classic mistake of doubting Wifies’s words. He’d definitely been working on some kind of acid around here, if that was dangerous, he didn’t know what was.
Except it wasn’t here. Branzy spotted it on his sample shelf, and a small breath of laughter slipped out, before he caught himself. Wifies must have baby-proofed, before bringing Flux over here to pretend to let him choose what he wanted to look at. That was sweet.
Turning his attention back to Flux, standing stubbornly like he was expecting to be told to go away soon, Branzy reached out with the hand not on his cane, nudging his hand to hold the stick at the end, pointed away from both of them. After a moment of resistance, Flux allowed it, eyes flicking up to Branzy in doubt that went almost entirely unnoticed.
With a careful hand, Branzy dropped the solution onto the metal, concentrating for the first few seconds, until it hardened just as intended, with a small hiss of air, forming an arcing crystal. Then, he looked up, spying a fasciation in Flux’s eyes that bordered on sadistic enthusiasm.
“Is it sharp?”
Branzy nodded, smiling, feeling Wifies’s eyes idle on him as he built outwards, creating what amounted to a rudimentary spearhead made of tiny crystals, razor-sharp in every direction and only a fraction larger than the volume of the dropper.
“Don’t touch.”
Flux nodded, still a little wonderingly, and stayed quiet as Branzy set the dropper back down, and Wifies took the rod without even being asked, scraping the crystals into a sample canister and the rod into a basin.
“Are those… replicable?”
“Mhm. Working on larger scale.”
“Protection’s off if you get involved in mainland wars.” Wifies’s voice was quiet, and warning, and Flux’s delight dimmed by a fraction, a fresh scowl flickering over his unscarred features. “You can leave whenever you want.”
Easy words to say. Branzy wondered if Wifies had practised saying them to a mirror.
Flux didn’t even seem to notice the enormous efforts being made in the direction of his personal liberties. He just sighed, eyed the crystals a little wistfully, and shook his head.
“No. I’m just here for Saps.”
“Are you- going to join him?”
It might be an impolite question, but Branzy couldn’t help himself asking it, curiosity burning white hot behind his possible rudeness. He didn’t even know why Flux had chosen now to be here. Or why he was here for Saps, in particular.
Thankfully, Flux didn’t seem insulted. In fact, there was a strange sort of calm over his eyes, for once, peace behind his darkened expressions.
“Maybe. He’s my fugitive, after all.”
Wifies was notably quiet. Branzy could feel something wrong, just behind him, but not wrong enough to disturb. Just that calculative, grieving sort of quiet, a type of upset that couldn’t be fixed with words. He’d let it lie, for now.
“Does- does he know you’re here?”
After his little crystal demonstration, Branzy had a little spare good will to burn through. Maybe he could get enough information to leverage Flux into a civil relationship.
“No.” Another smile, gone in an instant, like smoke in the wind. “He can find out eventually. Wifies… suggested I come see what he was doing.”
Flux nodded to Wifies, giving the credit where it was due, and Branzy glanced over, with just barely raised eyebrows. Wifies betrayed nothing, merely nodded, and returned the conversation to the two of them.
“So… you came through world spawn? How- how is it, with Parrot?”
“Not for much longer. Not if Saps gets his way.” For a moment, Flux looked proud, and something strategic and vicious flashed in his eyes. “No more outsiders.”
“O- oh. Is that what he’s…”
“He’s closing Spawn.” Wifies clarified, in a low voice, sharp silver eyes cutting from one of them to the other. “And…”
“And Parrot’s fighting him.”
Oh.
Oh.
Branzy blinked, and nodded, the pieces slotting into place. Flux looked unbothered, satisfied, even, in a vicious kind of way. And Wifies was quiet.
Keep your enemies close. Flux might be enjoying the free stay on the most changeable server Branzy knew, but Wifies was doing something. Keeping an eye on one of Saps’s few known associates. Keeping himself in touch, with a little swaying power under his thumb.
Branzy was going to need to talk to him, if his home was about to be used as a hostage situation.
In the end, he just hummed, recognising and storing the information. That was Clown’s strategy, and he hadn’t fallen foul of diplomacy yet.
“…huh. Well. I- I won’t worry about any of that, I guess.”
“No need to, I’m sure, when Saps’ll win any day now.” There was a burning violet pride in Flux’s eyes, and Branzy was momentarily worried for how he himself came across. If he’d been younger, angrier, and dressed like a fantasy war general. “He’s got everyone on his side, and no one wants Parrot’s kind of change.”
“You say that…” Wifies was doing admirably well to be staying so calm, even as he headed for the door, ears held carefully in a way that even Branzy couldn’t read him from. “But no one likes staying in the past.”
Branzy watched him go, and swallowed, nervous. He needed to follow him. Wifies must know Branzy would never let him walk off like that. He shouldn’t be too upset about it.
But, for now, he could flick his attention momentarily back to Flux, and offer a small, scared smile he hoped would appeal.
“I- I’m sure his army knows what they want. Now, uh- if you’d excuse me…”
——————
It took Branzy almost half an hour, to find Wifies.
That was nearly a new record for him, and he wasn’t happy about it. He should be getting quicker with this, not slower. He couldn’t just let the dog hybrid disappear like that, it was irresponsible, and panic-inducing, and it stressed him out for the rest of the day.
But, for once, Wifies genuinely didn’t seem to want to be found. It was a chilling reminder that, inevitably, Branzy was only allowed as close to him as was permitted. He could bribe his way past, with offered cake and hugs and new types of crutches. But, even if Wifies had his weak points, he’d built himself impenetrable walls.
Branzy still found him. It was a relief that was almost dizzying, when he finally tracked down the wayward puppy, finding him sitting on one of the spare bedrooms’ balconies. The one normally reserved for Mugm, actually. Ferre and Clown didn’t… need their own rooms. Branzy just had to make sure his own bed was big enough.
Anyway. Wifies. Finally.
“…There you are.” Branzy let out a small breath he’d been holding for too long, coming to a stop with his hand resting on the doorframe. He’d discarded his cane, sometime while searching, in the interests of efficiency, and was coming to regret it now. Adrenaline made him forget vital things about his body, sometimes. “Thank- thank god.”
“I’m fine.”
“…was- wasn’t even going to ask.”
“You were.” Wifies’s face was barely visible, but it still flickered, for a second, his defences down far enough for his emotions to leak through. “Don’t.”
There was a moment of thought. Branzy inhaled, again, and took his hand off the wall, making his way over to the open balcony door. He was halfway there, when Wifies spoke again, softly.
“…please.”
Branzy bit his lip, trying not to smile. Instead, he approached Wifies carefully, combing fingers gently through the dog hybrid’s hair to warn of his presence, before settling beside him, looking out through iron bars on his meagre domain, that felt so much smaller with three of them.
“You… you know what I need to ask.”
“I know what I’m doing. I know how dangerous he is.”
Wifies didn’t take his eyes off the horizon. He didn’t need to, normally. But for once, Branzy hadn’t received an answer to the question he’d anticipated.
“I- I wasn’t too worried about that, actually.” A breath of laughter, and Branzy should have felt worse than he did, for making light of Flux so easily. “I- I was going to ask if… if you were planning on using him. Against Saps.”
It hung heavy, any restfulness leaving the air between them. Wifies’s ear twitched, his eyes hardening, and the fingers curled loosely around one bar tightened. Branzy could feel the resentment, for him even asking. For thinking so little of his companion out here, to think he’d let himself do that.
But it was Branzy’s job, to think of Wifies how he didn’t want to himself. If he had a tendency to be blind to his own control, Branzy needed to ease his claws out of whatever he’d clung onto to cope.
The lack of answer was telling enough. If it had been just five, maybe six months ago, Branzy would have received an unhesitating lie. But things changed. One of the things Wifies had always allowed himself was his own attachment.
Branzy held out his hand, tentatively enough not to let Wifies think he was trying to rob him of any sort of power. It paid off, too, when after a moment, a hand only a few shades warmer than his own slipped into his palm, holding on loosely.
“I- I see it. It’s a good plan.” Encouragement first, then the disappointing bit. It didn’t work, but it gave Branzy a structure. “Did- did you realise?”
A small head shake. Branzy squeezed their hands, once. Wifies could talk to him.
“…not at first.” Wifies’s words were careful, and Branzy’s heart ached. He’d been stuck with them for too long, whatever thoughts must have accompanied this looping for too long, trapped inside his head. It must have hurt, after a while. That was how things took hold, in him. “Then, it… didn’t seem like a bad idea.”
“You… know I can’t let you do that?”
Wifies offered a sad nod, and Branzy could sense pushback coming. He held on, anyway, waiting.
“It would work.”
“That doesn’t mean you can interfere.”
“I was… only going to use him if… if he somehow…”
“Parrot.” Branzy leaned closer, stroking through the ever-so-slightly tangled fur of Wifies’s ears until they twitched. “Is- is not your problem. With me so far?”
Leaning into the soft, almost clinical touch, Wifies nodded again, surrendering to his instincts so Branzy could try to work him through the thought that had gotten so stuck inside his head.
“So… if Flux’s whatever-the-frick he is happens to win this war, you- you can trust Parrot to have his own plan, can’t you?”
“I can.”
“And you will. If- if he knows you’re alive, he’ll be scared. We- I know he doesn’t need to be, but- but he will.” Branzy rested his chin on Wifies’s head, for a moment, then moved away, trying to coax Wifies’s eyes into meeting his. “And he won’t be able to deal with it on his own. Which he will, because he- he’s an insane genius, just like you.”
“He’s not like me.”
“M’kay. You’re smarter, then, we both know that. So you’re smart enough to know that Saps doesn’t stand a chance.”
“But…” Wifies’s eyes flicked away, desperation clouding his voice, and eyes, and judgement. “I can help. If... Flux is here, then I can-“
“Do absolutely nothing to interfere with the mainland?” Branzy held up their clasped hands, eyes wide, serious, and conspiratorial. “I do not want any more birds on my island. Ever. Leo was- so annoying.”
“I think Leo’s dead now.” Wifies’s lips twitched, a little of his own unfulfilled grief exhaled along with a short laugh. “I’d be fine, wouldn’t I?”
“Oh, for sure. Clown loves you.” Branzy squeezed his hand, again, grounding Wifies in the silly, soft moment. “But I might die. And- I would rather not. So no armies, and no more kidnapping birds anywhere near me, please?”
“I- I am like him, aren’t I?” Wifies laughed, again, blinking a thin sheen of tears away. “Taking hostages too quickly.”
“Mhm. And- and you know how it feels! So- no manipulating wars from my house? Is that a deal?”
“…deal.”
“Should Flux go home? If you- if you can’t-“
Wifies shook his head, looked away, even if he glanced back, his smile lingering.
“That… wouldn’t be fair. He can stay. Sorry. For…”
“Accidentally planning to take a hostage? No- no problem.” Giggling, Branzy leaned back, rubbing his knee with his free hand. “Can’t say I love him.”
“…nor here. He likes traps.”
“Oh, thank you. I need- something to talk about with you guys. What- what do kids like, these days?”
“Murder.” Wifies scoffed, his hand slipping down the railing, until he managed uncurl his fingers entirely. “War. Each other.”
“Hey, I think those are universal.”
“My mistake. I forgot you date outside your age bracket.”
Branzy made an offended noise on impulse, before realising he’d been baited into exactly that, and rolling his eyes dramatically. Wifies just grinned, absurdly pleased with himself for such a childish dig.
“I- I did not ask him to be-“
“That’s not an excuse.”
“He’s more into it than-“
“Freaks.”
“Ugh. Kids mock their elders, these days.”
Wifies really did laugh, then. Like he hadn’t laughed in too long. Enough that Branzy glanced over, worried, because he was hilarious, but that hadn’t been that funny. Wifies seemed ok.
“Sorry. I- don’t mean that. Clown’s not… that much younger than you.”
“Oh… no, don’t- don’t worry. I- I try not to think about it.” Wincing, Branzy remembered why he didn’t think about it, and reassured himself with the fact that he was siting beside one of the few other people on this server uniquely placed enough to be worse off than him in the complicated-relationship department. “And- hey, you shouldn’t be thinking about that either, you know.”
“Too late.”
“…dammit.”
“It’s mating season again in three weeks.”
“Ok- no, nope, ew, why- why do you know that? No, please, I- no. Absolutely not.”
“Ha. You would hate the things I know.”
“…I wouldn’t. Not when its you.”