Work Text:
"Oh... Honestly, I'm not too surprised."
Guest spoke out when he saw that a few wires were broken in a very secluded area outside the back of the cabin. He scratched the back of his head in confusion. The lights in the other cabins were the ones that were constantly flickering; it was already weird that all the lights weren't replaceable - that they were all connected to wires instead... But it's even weirder how the seemingly disconnected wires that held the lights might be connected to the small, old fuse box that was way more than 50 feet away. Maybe it was the ruler of this realm fucking with them, wanting to stick their necks out to the most illogical places something might be.
The guest was outside of the cabins with four others that were trying to find anything that might connect to the flickering power. He knew that Builderman was speaking to the other hardhats near the gate, but he was unsure who they are, what they were even doing or even where they were at right now. Builderman brought the two out after he did Guest, and he was too busy searching to even really look up from what he was doing.
The military man looked closely at the small box. It was small for a normal-sized hand to fit through, not a big and more muscular hand like Guest's. But he thought he could maybe still fix it himself. He just needed to remember where the wires were... And stick his hands through the small box. He moved his fingers to the right where he saw a red wire snapped in half. He grabbed the top with his left, and the bottom with his right - attempting to twist the two together so that they'd connect again. He curled them until he was sure that the wire was secure. His hands were being squeezed in the tightness of the area, but he wanted to fix this quickly. What if a round starts, and when Guest returns, the box isn't there? Guest moved his hands towards a green wire on the left, trying his best to grab it by memory.
Then he felt it, pure electricity. Guest tried pulling away as fast as he could, but he still got a burn on his left hand that went from his thumb's proximal down to his scaphiod. He winced as he assessed the new mark on his skin. Already seeing yellow form on his hand, he turned his view to the fuse box. Next to the broken wire was another one, but that one didn't have anything covering it. He must have touched it by accident. Guest paused his thinking, though, and decided to flip his hand around.
And as he thought, he had more burns on the inside of his fingers where he first touched the wire. The skin wasn't turning yellow, though, and it wasn't burnt off; it just seemed to swell up. He sighed loudly and slumped on a random tree stump, assessing the damage. He touched the blisters with his right hand - big mistake; this only made it sting more. His right finger went over to the more severe injury that went deeper, and was also starting to blister up as well. He grabbed the left hand carefully with his right, the strong, muscular, veiny-
Guest started to feel more upset over his situation. He suddenly felt disgusted, but not because of the burn marks. He laid his arm down on his lap carefully, not wanting to see it anymore. But it only gave attention to his legs, where he could faintly see the muscles from training and imagine the scars that were lingering from under his military pants. He turned his head towards the stars in the sky, and swallowed the imaginary bile in his throat. He hated this feeling, and he was sick of it.
He was a man. He was born as one, he's lived almost four decades as one... He's male. He doesn't understand why he feels this way over something so simple as a gender. It's not even a choice for him. The others - especially the younger ones - already figured out their gender at a reasonable time, when they were actively developing. Guest was old; his body was muscular and filled with war scars. What would be the point to try and be a woman if Guest was already chosen to be a man?
His mind wanders to the woman he has known. He loved his wife with all of his heart, but he wonders what life would be like if he and Daisy were switched via gender. Would he stay at home while she fought? It was a fantasy rooted in centuries of mistreatment and grooming, yet Guest found himself sometimes enjoying the thought of being at home safe, taking care of Charlotte. But then wouldn't Daisy be in this hell instead of her him? Maybe it was better this way.
Yet, he thinks back to before. Way before he joined the Army... He would have the same feeling that he didn't belong. He always brushed it off as being a Guest in a place mostly occupied by Robloxians and Bacons, that he was feeling that way because of the genocidal impact and negative outlook on his race. He never thought the feeling could be that and the thought that he wasn't comfortable with his body. Why would he ever really think of it that way when he had to deal with people discriminating against him, even in his youth?
Guest felt sick to his head all the way to the heels of his feet. Why do these feelings have to make him so awful and crappy? He brought his legs closer together and crossed his arms in between his flat stomach and way too muscular chest, yet cautiously to not crush his left arm. He tried breathing steadily, yet it was hard to do because of how bad his thoughts were getting to him. They seemed to only intensify each second as Guest closed his eyes tight, trying to hold back tears.
For Robloxia's sake, why couldn't he just have been born a girl?
Guest could see somebody's feet coming from the distance. She He didn't want to face them right now.
They came closer, but seemed hesitant in their movement. Guest was hoping they got the clue of her his distress and just left.
She felt a hand touch one of her way too broad shoulders-
"Hey! Oh, was I out for too long?" Guest quickly got himself together, trying to make an alibi that he was just resting with a huge smile on his face. He saw the person and was grateful to know which Robloxian was the one who visited him. They took back their hand, and put it down to their sides, androgynous fingers curling against her robes.
"🫵👌❓" Taph looked worried, pure concern on her face as they just saw Guest hunched over and looking like he was about to cry.
"Yes, I'm okay. I think I just dozed off, sorry. But I found the fuse box-" It was gone. The thing that brought this despair on him has vanished. He felt very upset, yet didn't want to linger on it much since pointing at a wall made him look like an idiot. "Oh... Let's just go inside! You all have looked everywhere, right? The lights will probably be back to normal after a few rounds."
He grabbed Taph's shoulder and started walking them towards the front of the main cabin. Taph was still concerned, yet Guest knew she wouldn't say much. They were always so quiet unless causing mischief and wanting to be comedic. If she were to tell, they might just not take it seriously - or not even hear them. This was just a hope for Guest's own mental state, but he guesses that won't be so far from the truth.
They make it to the front door, but before Guest could go inside, he gets stopped by instinct by one of the NPCs coming out of the secondary cabins.
"The lights are working again! It's a miracle!" They yelled before faceplanting onto the ground. Builderman - who was somehow still talking to the construction workers despite the convorsation had to have been going on for at least thirty minutes now - looked at the NPC in surprise. He looked around before his eyes landed on the pair in front of the door.
"Excellent work, thank you for fixing the lights." He smiled at the two. Taph tried to speak up about the situation, but was interrupted by another.
"I-I fixed it! I found the box! It's next to a tree over here!" Noob rushed towards Builderman, smiling. Builderman gave them a thumbs up, and it seemed that Noob was now a part of the conversation, talking with the others as the previous pair was now being ignored.
Taph turned to her left and found out that Guest wasn't at the door anymore. They looked in the main cabin and saw that Guest was walking up the stairs, head just the slightest bit lower than usual. Taph really wanted to follow him, maybe ask what was going on... But something stopped them before she could. Two Time was grinning at them from behind, holding both her shoulders.
"Hey Taph! Me and Chance are about to play Poker! I have no clue how to play it, but Chance said he'll teach us! Wanna try a round together?" Their grin was too much for Taph to handle as she nodded and gave a little - almost invisible smile. Two Time's grin intensified as they decided to ride on Taph piggyback style, laughing as they struggled to hold the cultist up. She managed, though, as they started heading to one of the smaller cabins via Two Time's request.
They'll bring it up to Guest, sometime.