Chapter Text
It places a bowl of soup in front of her.
No, he. He keeps on forgetting that. It upsets him to no end whenever he forgets the most basic things about himself, but he guesses it doesn’t really matter with It there to assist him
It tells him everything he needs to know, his name, Mob, and that It is Verity, his helpful assistant, and his…friend.
Mob doesn’t exactly have the memory to tell him how friends are supposed to act, but with his ‘semantic’ memory—as Verity referred to it—he can tell friends do not act like this. Like at all.
Verity proves his train of thought correct by dipping a spoon into the soup and bringing it up to Its mouth to blow on it. Soon after, It’s cupping his cheek and gently pressing the spoon to his lips.
Briefly, a memory flashes through his mind. Reminding him of how once, before the ‘Incident’, he hid his unhinging jaw from Verity. It was pointless anyway, It would have found out eventually. It knows everything.
A hand cups his cheek, and he looks up at Verity. Focusing on Its mouth—never the eyes, not even the nose, maybe he would have been able to before.
“Mob, dear, open your mouth.” When It says this, it releases a series of clicks and chirps.
Mob opens his mouth quickly, not wanting for his Duettist It to be disappointed. Verity smile moves from Its typical grin to a soft line as It feeds him.
Whenever Mob swallows, Verity caresses his cheek, running his hands through the fur of Mob’s cheek. It coos at him, and—although he wouldn’t admit it—Mob’s tail wags a bit.
His eyes flutter close as he allows himself to be cared for—something he struggled with in the early stages of Verity’s care, but eventually Verity helped him take to the idea. Indulging in the warm soup, the calming voice of Verity, and It’s hand on his face.
Soon enough the bowl is empty, and It placed the spoon in the bowl. Its free hand moves to cup his other cheek. Running Its fingers through the curly black fur that coats Mob’s body.
Mob feels himself begin to purr, though it’s a ragged thing, probably because of his wounded throat. Which…he still doesn’t know exactly how he got. He knew it was because of the ‘Incident’, but didn’t get much more information, other than that it was very bad.
Verity gently eases knots out of his fur, and lets out a considering hum. “You need a bath.” It murmurs.
Mob’s purring halts, he glares—or as much as he can while staring at Verity’s mouth—and sticks his tongue out at It. It chuckles with an amused smile. “It’s true, my dear Mob.”
Mob’s releases a grumbling gecker to show his displeasure, but when Verity begins to lightly scratch through his fur, he begins to purr even louder than before and his tail wags faster.
“It’ll be fine, Mob. You told me, before your…Incident, about enderman bathing in dust. So don’t worry about me attempting with water.”
Mob barely hears the words as he pushes his face further into his Duettist Verity’s hands, as his entire body rumbles with ragged purring.
——
Sand pours into the tub from the bucket It holds. Verity places the bucket aside as It studies the sand for a bit.
It had seen Mob bathe before. Endermen didn’t feel embarrassment towards acts such as that. Verity, seeing Mob bathe, had noted how very messy it was.
Verify knows now, due to that past experience, that It is going to spend a while sweeping the floor to get it sand free. It doesn’t mind, anything for Its dear Mob, but it certainly wouldn’t be a fun experience.
Perhaps It could convince Mob to try help clean? The enderman had seemed to want to do more than eating and laying around, and It knew before the…Incident, that Mob didn’t enjoy sitting still for long periods, or doing nothing.
Verity would ask later, currently It needed to actually get Mob in the bath. It stands up from where It had been leaning on the tub, and begins to walk to Mob’s room—it wasn’t really a room, as it was simply a bed in the middle of the first floor, but Mob likes it, so Verity decided it would be a bad idea to change, plus it allowed It to be closer to Mob even when doing mundane things.
Soon Verity reaches Mob’s bedside, and It takes a moment to admire the sleeping beauty. Mob had never been a still sleeper, quite the opposite in fact.
Mob was always twisting and turning in his sleep, and it was always a sweet thing to see. Although it was troublesome when Mob was healing from his Incident, as he would accidentally tear healing wounds or pull out equipment by his squirming.
Verity looks over Mob now, who is currently in a twisted position with drool coming from his mouth. It was so cute seeing Mob sleep so deeply like this. It loved seeing him so vulnerable.
Verity reaches out to gently move a stray curl behind Mob’s ear, which twitches—ever sensitive—at the touch, before moving to wipe the drool from the enderman’s chin.
Mob releases a drowsy chirp, one that is used by enderman to identify another, and Verity caresses his cheek before responding with a chitter. Identifying Itself as his Duettist.
Immediately after identifying Itself as such, Mob pushes his face further into Verity’s hand, and his tail begins to twitch. Verity lets out a pleased rumble, before focusing back on the task It came here for.
“Mob, dear, it’s time to wake.” It coos, running Its claws through the black fur of Mob’s cheek.
Mob grumbles, mostly drowsy chatters that show mild displeasure. Mob squirms in his sleep, instinctively pushing more into Verity’s hand.
Verity sits on the edge of the bed, leaning down to Mob’s ear, “Mob, wake.” It murmurs before drawing back, lightly tracing the ear with Its finger.
Mob’s ear twitches a little and a slurry of sleepy chirps come from the enderman as he opens his eyes to squint at Verity.
It resists from cooing at the sight of Mob looking so sweet, his emerald eyes a sliver as he stares at Verity. “Good morning, Mob.” It makes sure to release a few trills to keep Mob calm—it was always a thrill to see Mob go docile and accept Its care due to his instincts being so much stronger than they were before the Incident.
Mob grumbles, but sits up. Verity leans to peck his cheek and forehead, causing Mob to let out a purr. Verity chuckles, “you have to bathe, Mob.” It mutters.
Mob huffs, but eventually swings his legs over the ledge of the bed and goes to stand. Verity quickly stands to assist Mob, who gets up on wobbly legs.
Unconsciously, Its mind pulls up a short video of a fawn attempting to walk in Its sight. It quickly dispels the video from its vision and hides a laugh as It assists Mob by letting the enderman hold Its arm.
Mob lets out a chitter that shows irritation, and Verity leans down to peck Mob’s forehead, releasing a chirp to calm him. Mob grumbles, but nuzzles Verity’s shoulder with his cheek.
Verity’s smile widens, and It rubs Its cheek on the top of Mob’s head, which makes the enderman’s tail wag slightly.
They stop at the bathroom, and Mob stares at the sand, his tail begins to wag even more. Verity helps him walk over to the tub and Mob climbs in.
Verity sits down on the ground beside the tub as Mob begins to strip.
A shirt hit Its face and It released a jokingly displeased chatter as It pulled the shirt away. Mob cackles before dropping to roll around on the sand.
While the enderman twists and burrows into the sand, Verity begins to fold up Mob’s discarded clothes. Its mind instinctively pulls up a short description of dust bathing and a video of a chinchilla doing such in Its sight.
Verity quickly dispels the media away from Its sight, fighting a giggle at the thought. It glances up at Mob, who is purring loudly as he continues to wriggle in the sand.
Mob doesn’t have much shyness around nudity, as is natural for an enderman—even if, by what Mob briefly hinted at before the Incident, he was mutated. While most players don’t take much notice of it, as they’ve become so desensitized to it, but endermen don’t wear clothes.
The main reason players don’t care all that much is because endermens reproductive organs are not visible. This is because their fur covers any sign of it, as well as the fact endermen have naturally flat chest unless breastfeeding.
Endermen, like most animals, do not have any social stigma against nudity. Mob had once told It, before the Incident, that he only wore clothes to comfort other players, plus it helped protect him against the rain.
After…the Incident wasn’t exactly the most exciting time. It was a hands on learning experience of enderman instincts while trying to keep the enderman from injuring himself further by moving.
Verity is drawn out of Its thoughts by a chattering noise. It’s eyes quickly dart to Mob, and feels Itself warm at the sight of Mob’s wide emerald eyes peeking over the edge of the tub.
“Are you ready to get out?” Verity asks, putting aside the folded clothes It had in Its lap while it was thinking.
Mob nods, standing up wobbly, and Verity swiftly grabs under his armpits and pulls him out of the tub to lean against Its side.
It begins to lead Mob out, but is stopped when Mob lets out an irritated eek. Verity frowns at Mob, “is something wrong, Mob?”
Mob halts his movements, and tugs Verity’s wrists until the AI stops as well. When they are both still, Mob hands quickly move to grasp Verity’s shoulders for stability before shaking off like a dog.
Verity blinks at the dust that falls from Mob’s fur, before noting that it must have been excess, and not needed. Before internally sighing at the idea of having to sweep this all up.
Eventually, Mob stops his dog-like shake down, and nods once, apparently incredibly satisfied with himself.
“Are you good now, Mob?” Verity says with a raised brow, and Mob nods once again with a chirp.
“Good, well it’s around time for bed anyway.”
An irritated growl is all Verity gets in return.