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It had been a while since Twixxel made his presence very known after he caught Mob and Verity making out. Mob had been constantly telling Twixxel to keep his mouth shut about whatever he saw in the base when he arrived. He had been keeping his mouth as closed as it could be. Twixxel built a little home next to Mob’s massive base despite the fact Verity had been trying to convince Twixxel to move elsewhere.
The voidling found himself in another village. He had been taking notes the second he got here. Most villages he went to that were around the vicinity of Mob’s base had been completely wiped clean. No iron golem. No villagers. Nothing. Just a place that people used to call home before something came around to wipe them all out… or scare them out? He wasn’t exactly too sure. Twixxel bit down a little on the feather of his quill pen before scribbling something down.
Mob really doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into, does he?
Twixxel thought to himself.
He was also kind of thinking back to that day when he found Mob and Verity almost close to making out with each other again. He scratched the back of his head. Something was clearly wrong with the two of them and he couldn’t tell now if it was Verity or Mob. Or both. Honestly, their relationship seemed way too confusing for him to try and decipher and he is supposed to be the smart one.
It could take a baby to figure out that Verity was possessive of Mob, though. He wasn’t even allowed to breathe anywhere near him without the yellow ball (or, perhaps, the humanoid ball as Verity seemed to have kept the form Twixxel found him in) coming into the room and trying to get Mob’s attention away from him. Was he jealous of another guy talking to Mob? Was that it? Or was it simply just because he had been more used to the world being just him and Mob? There were so many possibilities for his behaviour.
His tail swished side to side as he moved over to one of the many pens in the village. There was nothing in there besides some traces of blood. Yeah, something came through here alright. He decided to scribble that down too with a little doodle of a sheep with X eyes. This was very concerning. He has been in this world for a few days and he already knows something is up. Mob called him here to find a way to destroy Verity but how is he going to do that when he can’t even properly observe Verity’s behaviour?
It seemed the AI knew very well what Twixxel was trying to do. He wasn’t trying to make it obvious. After all, Mob could have contacted him for numerous reasons. What if he just wanted to show Verity off? What if he just wanted Twixxel to hang out with him? …Well, it was suspicious that Twixxel would spend hours on end away from the base and come back trying to get Mob out somewhere more private so that they could talk. Ugh, this was SO annoying to think about. Having to be careful about things they shouldn’t have to be hiding.
Twixxel hummed a little under his breath. He tried to step forward but it felt like something was yanking his tail back. He raised an eyebrow. Did he get the thing caught on something again like he always does? God, he really has to be more careful about where he is walking. Twixxel turned around to try and free his tail before he noticed the brown business shoes.
His heart dropped, figuratively, to his ass. Twixxel looked up slowly to see the beaming smile of Verity.
“My, Twixxel, you seem to have gotten yourself stuck!”
Verity’s voice was clearly coated in venom. That smile he was wearing was less than friendly towards the voidling. Great. This was something he was going to have to deal with until the end of his stay, wasn’t it? At least Mob wasn’t around. It gave him a chance to find out what Verity really wanted from Mob and why he was acting the way he is.
“...Uh, yeah. Seems like I- have?”
Twixxel sounded confused before trying to tug on his tail to get it free. Verity’s foot only tread on it harder, which made the voidling wince out in pain. Seriously? Was Verity going to keep up this petty charade? He looked up at the other. Was this how Mob felt seeing this thing for the first time? He felt so tiny compared to the rest of the things within the world. Verity could crush him at any moment and leave nothing but a small stain.
“Could you, like, maybe stop that? Please? You’re hurting me.”
“Am I now? Oh, I’m so sorry!”
This bastard isn’t going to remove his foot, is he?
Twixxel gritted his teeth in what seemed to be anger before taking in a deep breath. Okay. There’s no need to get all mad at this thing, it’s definitely what he wants and he wasn’t going to be willing to give it to him. He just needs to focus on what Verity wants from him and how much information he’ll be able to pry out of him.
Before he could even open his mouth, Verity grabbed onto Twixxel’s tail and yanked it towards him. He yelped in pain and almost fell backwards onto the floor. Good thing he had great balancing or else he would have been done for. What was he trying to achieve with this? It seemed like Verity was analysing his tail.
“Verity, man, listen, I’m not trying to get in the way between you and Mob–”
“I know! Your tail doesn’t have enough meat on it.”
What?
What the hell was he on about?
Twixxel took this time to yank his tail back towards him, twitching in his hands out of pain as he let it droop onto the floor. The fluffy end of it curled up. Was he threatening him? Twixxel backed up a little bit and took a big gulp, sweat dripping down from his forehead. No way. No fucking way this thing was something Mob was into. He fully convinced himself that maybe Mob was just lying about his attraction to Verity so he didn’t die any faster.
Verity stared at Twixxel with a blank smile on his face. This thing that decided to infiltrate their world… he was going to try and do everything in his power to make sure Twixxel got scared enough to leave them both alone for good. It’d be a lot nicer to try and make Twixxel turn against Mob so that he didn’t have a reason to come back here. He’s an AI, after all, he should be able to calculate what he can do to get that to happen.
Twixxel kept his notebook in his coat pocket. He had all sorts of questions for Verity but now he knew next to none because of the pain that was shooting up his spine from having his tail almost crushed under someone’s shoe and it being yanked as hard as it could have been. Did Verity know already about his anatomy? About the extremely weak spots that he could use against him? God, that’d be embarrassing to think about if so. He didn’t want some entity knowing every part of his body.
“Verity, I have questions.”
Verity’s left eye twitched. Of course he had questions. That’s all they ever want to do. Frankly, he was getting quite sick of having to answer people’s questions other than his Mob’s because at least Mob showed genuine curiosity out of everyone Verity had ever encountered. What did Twixxel want? Diamonds? Netherite? A spot for a good base? He’d be more than willing to help him move far away from his and Mob’s base.
He analysed the taller humanoid.
“...Or, on second thought, maybe not.”
“That would be a great idea!”
Verity’s tone of voice was clearly still coated with the same venom as before. He walked up to Twixxel and patted him on the shoulder.
“Be a good boy, Twix, and keep things to yourself, yeah? And be careful out there! You never know what’s lurking in the dark!”
Verity began to hum a familiar tune before walking away, his hands finding themselves inside of his trouser pockets. Twixxel watched him before groaning as loud as he could. He blew his only and final chance to try and pry any information out of Verity. The pain in his tail and spine weren’t exactly helping him either. Maybe, it’d be best for him to camp out in one of the villager houses for tonight.
The next morning came. Twixxel groaned and stretched his limbs as far as he could before sitting up in the yellow bed that he found himself comfortable on. This was the first time that he had been away from Mob entirely. He wondered how well he got on with Verity after that thing left him alone. Hell, why didn’t Verity just kill him right there? He had every opening to and the only thing he did was threaten to eat him.
Maybe he shouldn’t be worrying about stupid things like that. Mob clearly had no problem with Verity like he made himself out to be so maybe they both were just perfectly fine on their own. Twixxel wasn’t willing to give up his investigation, however. He remembered that, within the letter, Mob had described something about a monstrous form that Verity sported when hunting him down at the watchtower. The form Verity had been taking on recently was nothing like that.
Mob described it as being lanky. It looked like Verity had not eaten in God knows how long with how malnourished the form looked. Its mouth was agape and its teeth looked jagged. Twixxel wondered to himself. Was this form something Verity took on only when he was hungry? Trying to scare Mob? He groaned to himself as he got up from the bed and went to rummage around in his coat to try and find his notebook to write it down.
He stuck his hand in the left pocket where he kept it.
Wait, where’s my notebook?
Twixxel began to sweat profusely as he dug around in the right pocket. Nothing.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He took it, didn’t he? While he was sleeping, no less. If Verity reads through that thing, he’s definitely going to make sure Mob and him regret every moment of living. His heart clumped up in his throat as he hurriedly put his coat on and opened the door to the temporary shelter he found himself in. He needs to find that thing before anything bad happens to Mob. Or him, for that matter, because he’d definitely be first on Verity’s chopping block.
His feet picked up the pace as he made his way back to Mob’s base. Come on, come on… is all Twixxel could think about before he got to the place. He peeked through the windows to make sure he was safe to go in before fiddling with the door. Looks like Mob and Verity went somewhere. Maybe mining? Exploring? God knows what, he just knew he had little time before they both came back. He opened the oak door as quickly as he could.
Where could that book be?
Honestly, with how big Mob’s base is, it could be anywhere. Verity could have hid it under the floor for all he knew. Twixxel’s tail thumped harder on the floor in panic as he began to check each nook and cranny of the house. The chests, under the bed, under the floor, in the crafting table, hell he even tried to check the upstairs area where Mob usually kept Verity. Where the fuck was it? Why is it not in the house?
He spent almost an hour there before giving up entirely. Twixxel was done for. Mob was done for. He found himself sitting at the edge of Verity’s “throne” with his head in his hands. He can only hope Mob isn’t in any danger.
“Mob.”
Verity’s voice spoke from behind him. They had been exploring for the past hour or so, trying to gather some resources as Mob had begun to run quite low on them. Mob’s ears perked up before he could turn around to face Verity, his diamond axe in hand as he raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, Verity?”
“Aren’t you concerned Twixxel might be doing things to work against us?”
He sounded genuine with that question.
Mob looked at him confused. Pfft, Twixxel? Working against them? Especially him? It sounded more like a joke than anything. He scratched the back of his neck, however, the more he thought about it. Well, Twixxel had been leaving his house for hours at a time and he hadn’t even returned back last night. He knew that Twixxel had been hard at work trying to find something out about Verity while he was trying his hardest to distract him.
Something about that made his stomach churn. After that moment he had with Verity, he has felt nothing but guilt for the past few weeks. Mob even had to stop himself from admitting that he told Twixxel to come here because of the fact he wanted to try and find a way to destroy him completely. He couldn’t figure his feelings out properly in the slightest about Verity anymore and it was starting to mess with his mind.
Did he want him gone? Yes. But at the same time, he didn’t. It was too much for him to handle on his own. He looked down at his diamond axe, which reflected his face back at him as he sighed as loud as he could.
“Verity, he’s probably just nervous. It’d be best to leave him at his own devices rather than bother him, dude.”
Verity stood there in disbelief as Mob turned back around to get some wood. Of course he dared to act oblivious. His hands twitched. In order to stop himself from doing anything drastic to Mob, he shoved them into his trouser pockets and breathed in and out. He shouldn’t be getting so mad at his Mob… no… he’ll come back to his senses some time. He was sure of it. He’d make sure of it.
Mob couldn’t help but sigh in relief when Verity didn’t push on it further. He simply just sat himself down somewhere on a stable enough surface to watch Mob work his hours away collecting all the resources that he needed. As long as he gets all of these, they can just head back to base and he can go to bed without worrying about what Verity is going to do.
Verity sat there alone with his thoughts. His hands were twitching. He had to do something about this. About Mob being so disobedient. He put his head in his hands as he breathed in and out. He can’t be doing this. This is unprofessional. He had to look his best for his Mob. Verity couldn’t be seen trying to ground himself in reality.
But he just couldn’t take it anymore.
“Mob.”
“What, Verity?”
“I know what you’re doing with Twixxel.”
Mob’s heart sank. Huh? What? His axe laid dormant in the tree stump as he slowly turned his head towards Verity. He was fucked, wasn’t he? Sure thing, Verity knows everything and Twixxel wasn’t really being too discreet with it, but how did he know what he was doing? Mob hadn’t been anywhere near Twixxel recently because of this yellow ball. He bit down on his lip as he looked away from Verity.
“I don’t know what you’re on about.”
If Verity wanted an admission of guilt, it wasn’t going to slip out of Mob’s mouth anytime soon. In the corner of his eye, he could see Verity’s eye twitch in anger. He could only feel himself gulp. Sweat was pouring down his head. He started to mess with the sleeves of his jacket. How long was he going to keep this up until he finally admits everything to Verity once and for all?
“Verity, please, don’t be mad at me.”
“It’s hard to be when you are lying to me.”
Verity finally got up from the surface he sat himself on. He’d slowly start to approach Mob, who would only back up in response. His tail was thumping hard onto the grass floor out of fear. Verity could smell it. And, oh, it was wonderful. He couldn’t help but lick his lips (if he even had any lips to begin with) at the sight.
Poor, helpless Mob.
Quivering at the thought of being hurt by him.
He had to laugh.
“I’m– not lying to you! I don’t know where you even got the whole lying thing, man, because I’ve told you nothing but the truth these past few days like you’ve wanted me to!”
Mob blurted out. He couldn’t even hear himself anymore over the thumping of his heart down his ears. His breathing was getting quicker. His legs were screaming at him to start running away from Verity but something deep within his soul was telling him that, if he did so, it would only result in death. Either from Verity or from something else entirely.
“Telling me the truth?” Verity could only scoff. “There’s nothing truthful about this, Mob…”
He’d throw a notebook onto the ground between the two of them. Mob raised an eyebrow and looked down at it before bending over to pick it up. Isn’t this Twixxel’s notebook? How the hell did he manage to get his hands on this? He’d start to flick through the pages before something fell out of it.
It was the letter he wrote to Twixxel that day before he had that encounter with Verity.
“You’ve been a bad boy, Mob. What am I going to do with someone like you?”
Mob could only feel tears form in his eyes as he closed them and groaned deeply under his breath. As long as Twixxel doesn’t get hurt, then I’m ready for whatever this thing throws at me is what he would say if he wasn’t scared shitless. He’d open his mouth a few times to try and say something but nothing came out. In all honesty, he didn’t know what to say that would calm Verity down in the slightest.
He was only imagining all the different methods of torture that Verity would put him through. It was extremely gruesome but it was something his mind couldn’t help but make up. God, the air here felt like it was suffocating. Mob didn’t even notice Verity get closer to him because his vision was going blurry. His legs felt weak. His breathing got quicker. No, come on, Mob! Pull yourself together!
But he couldn’t.
Verity was simply just watching this all unfold. An unnerving grin started to form on his face. Oh, how easy it was to simply break Mob with just a few buttons needing to be pressed. He’d put his hand softly onto the other’s cheek and wipe away the tears that were streaming down his face. Simply fascinating. He was wondering how far he could push this.
“Oh, Mob… don’t cry. I’m not going to hurt you. I can’t afford to lose someone like you.”
“This– this is so–”
Embarrassing. Humiliating. There’s no words to describe how much he hated being a sobbing mess in front of someone else. He didn’t even understand why he was crying over something like this. Mob tried to push himself away from Verity, wiping his own tears away as he began to try and ground himself back to reality.
“Let’s just go back home, Mob.”
Mob couldn’t help but nod.
He’d have to figure out what to do with Twixxel later.