Chapter Text
Yet another day where Manepear drags himself to that stupid shady ahh city, the one he still didn't bother knowing the name of.
All he knows is that this city is where people come to find him to give him jobs. Mainly targets to kill, but you won't catch his ass complaining; because when the moolah calls, the moolah calls.
The lion also knows that the people here— specifically the normal citizens — know how to mind their own business, and he liked that a lot. So, he stuck around.
It has been close to two years since Manepear left the main server, finding sanctuary in odd places here and there for a few months, until he finally settled down in the now beloved cave of his.
If you asked him 'do you miss the main server?' his answer would be an immediate 'FUCK no'; the lion was more than fine far away from the main server's drama and unnecessary politics.
Plus, he was having so much fun doing whatever nowadays, sure sometimes in the emptiness and safety of his own house he'd feel a pang of loneliness, but the lion doesn't concern himself with his lack of Pride.
Who even needed those anyway, lmao?
Not him! Duh.
The specific place where people camp out to get a chance at hiring him is called 'The Black Cauldron', which is exactly where he was sitting at the very moment.
It was a poorly lit bar… or wait, diner— No, that's still not right. Oh, whatever the hell it was! It was a place that had good food and well paying employers and that's the important thing. That's all that Mane cared about.
The place was filled with all kinds of people as usual, given that it was the biggest establishment in town, not to mention the staff was well loved by the locals or something like that; Mane wasn't really up to date with social relations between all these random people.
Black Cauldron, true to its name, had a bunch of cauldrons around the place for different purposes that Mane checked out once because he was bored then never again; it made his boredom worse. They were mainly decorative pieces.
It isn't like Mane came here for sight seeing anyway, the thing that kept him hooked to this place —aside from the jobs— is the divine food they served here.
Not only did they sell good dishes but they are also at very reasonable prices that ended up being cheap considering how rich he is. So, that's a plus.
Speaking of food…
He was about halfway through absolutely devouring his steak when a cloaked random ass person rudely sat in front of him, on the same table, where Mane's food was at.
The lion held back a threatening glare; this could be one of those aforementioned well paying employers… and it's not like they could see him glaring; the blindfold hid his gorgeous, amazing, charming violet eyes. The lion decided to keep chugging down his food until the guy remembered they had a tongue they could speak with.
The person— unlike their entrance — politely waited for Mane to finish his dinner.
Manepear adjusted his blindfold after wiping both hands with a wet tissue, then subtly gestured for a waiter to collect his mess.
Only after all of that was taken care of did the person finally spoke.
"Hello, Manepear." They greeted the hybrid ominously. Are they seriously trying to aura farm right now?
"Bro, we do not know each other like that. State your business with me and be on your way, I gotta sleep early; you know how it is, keeping myself healthy and stuff." The assassin quickly interrupted whoever it was in front of him, and definitely not because he was rushing to go sleep for fuck's sakes, he just didn't wanna waste time on ominous ass behavior.
The person flicked off their cloak, revealing an elegant looking voidling.
Because of course it was a voidling; Only they had time to act ominous and mysterious. Mane subtly rolled his eyes. At least they were stupidly rich… usually.
The voidling smiled at the —outwardly— lack of reaction, as if revealing their species was some grand secret that Mane was honored to know. The smile itself gave Mane bad vibes. Then again, most people coming and going through here reeked of bumness and stinky ahh aura. He honestly should be glad this person at least had a good perfume on, not too sharp so it didn't irritate his sensitive nose.
"As expected, you really don't waste time… which is good for me."
Mane was about to interrupt them again to hurry this along, —he was especially impatient today because the Black Cauldron ran out of his favorite juice. The reminder pissed him off again— but they quickly continued, as if sensing his foul mood.
"I want you to kill someone for me." They slipped what looked like a wanted poster on the table, and Mane's annoyance vanished to make room for surprise as his target's face was revealed.
Wemmbu.
Life is kinda funny that way, huh?
Why is it that he keeps getting reminders of his failures wasted time?
A bleached eyebrow ticked upwards as his eyes tracked the lines of the picture. It was Wemmbu, alright.
The lion hated that he could point out the differences made by two years of separation.
The way Wemmbu's face looked sharper, the glint in his deep green eyes fiercer, his hair was definitely shorter —and Mane had to hold back when he saw it; the dragon was known for the love and pride he held in keeping his long hair, so this didn't make much sense to the lion— and his wings stretched out a bit more than before.
The dragon looked like he was ready to take on the world if it came down to it.
Why must he pay such close attention?
Gross.
…..
"He is quite dangerous, as I'm sure you know. So, I'm willing to pay a hefty sum for his head."
Oh, right. This idiot was still here. Oh man, this is gonna be one long fucking night.
Also, what were they even talking about?
"Wait, wait— What do you mean by that?", Mane's delayed reply didn't seem to faze the voidling since they misunderstood what the lion was concerned about.
"Let me specify then… I will give you a shulker of netherite gear that's fully enchanted, two shulkers of golden apples, and a shulker of different kinds of useful potions."
Manepear momentarily forgot his confusion and annoyance, in the back of his mind he could vaguely hear what sounded like heaven gates music, and a little louder he could hear 'I just hit the jackpot' song… He certainly fucking did.
But, he had to lock in and act like it didn't make his mouth water. Mane had to play this right and he'll worry about Wemmbu later. He had a voidling to scam.
And you maybe wondering why he's choosing to scam the hybrid instead of just doing the job like usual; well, he didn't want to waste even more time on a guy like Wemmbu.
That chungie probably still doesn't listen to anyone but himself, still blinded by his own arrogance and unable to grow. Mane's faith didn't fucking matter, all he cares about now is getting his promised price and call it a night.
While his thoughts brewed behind his eyes, hidden by the blindfold, the silence between the two stretched and felt heavy with anticipation. The voidling shifted after a few minutes, seems like they were losing patience, and probably felt apprehensive thinking things like 'Is the price too low? Was Mane upset because he thought it was too cheap for him?' and most importantly something like: 'Gosh, Manepear has so much aura I wish I was like him!'
The lion had to try his best so a giggle didn't slip out at the last part. Dear God, he needed to lock in.
"Look, I get it, this is a big ask", the voidling finally broke, the lack of anything from the lion made them desperate, Mane wondered why they wanted Wemmbu gone so bad— Oh, wait, he didn't actually care! The voidling went on, completely oblivious to Manepear's thoughts, "But, I promise you I will pay it all! Hell, I'll even give you my mace!"
Mane finally let a sharp grin stretch on his face, there it was, the moolaaaaahhh. Oh, he was eating good.
"Mace, you say? Hmmm… It's tempting, but you said it yourself; this is too much risk! Even for me." Hell no, it wasn't. He could probably one hit Wemmbu, he ignored the small annoying weird ass voice that spoke doubts and disagreed with that thought.
The voidling seemed nervous the longer Manepear went on, ohhhh if only they knew what was coming!
"How about this… You pay me the shulkers upfront, I bring back proof of Wemmbu's death, then you give the mace! I know, I know— I'm a genius."
The voidling paused, and the lion could almost see the cogs turning in their head.
It took about a minute before the voidling finally sighed, resigned. Yep, he won!
"Fine, but you better show me damning proof of Wemmbu's death!" Their face contorted threateningly.
"Yeeeshh, why do you want the guy gone so bad anyway?" Mane subtly bit his tongue right after the question slipped, why the fuck did he ask bro? He doesn't caaaare!
The voidling tensed as they seemed to recall something unpleasant, "He killed many people I cared about."
Skill issue, Mane thought to himself.
"Ah, my apologies; I forgot to introduce myself!" The voidling's expression smoothed over with the new topic, the lion's tail subtly swished in irritation; he really didn't care about this person or who they were, just that their pockets were heavy and he wanted some of that weight.
"My name is Astrum, it's a pleasure doing business with you, mister Manepear." Oh, yikes, this person is really doing the most. Welp, whatever. He was getting paid good, the lion could play along.
"Yeah, yeah. Now, are you gonna give me the info I need? Also the payment; I ain't leaving anywhere without the shulkers in my enderchest."
Astrum chuckled at his impatience, much more at ease now that the lion took the job… well, 'took the job'. "Yes, of course. But we should go to a more… secluded area; just in case."
Mane could at least appreciate the caution, even if it was pointless; everyone here knew who he was and what kind of jobs he takes, no one would dare even look at them wrong.
"Aight, bro. Follow me."
About twenty minutes after Astrum left him to go back to wherever the hell they came from, Mane was finally back to his beautiful, amazing, cozy, lovely and awesome house underground.
Expertly avoiding a stray arrow shot from his beloved and much respected skeleton in a cage, the lion made his way inside and opened the nearest enderchest he could find.
The sight of the newly acquired shulkers of riches made him reveal all his teeth in a manic smile, this was truly what life was all about!
If he could kiss himself, he would. That was such a good exchange he didn't even have it in himself to insult the voidling he scammed.
Speaking of…
Astrum was really hell bent on making sure the lion got actual proof of the dragon's death, such as his weapons or something personal that could only be obtained through killing the kid, whaaaat a pain. But he could figure something out.
After all, getting another mace sounded like a great idea.
No, he's not greedy. What are you even talking about?
On top of that, turns out, they didn't even have information on where to find Wemmbu exactly, which made the lion huff threateningly; way to make his job harder (ignore the fact that Mane wasn't gonna actually go for Wemmbu anyway…) but they quickly redeemed themself by spouting some bullshit about 'King Parrot' who was apparently a friend of Wemmbu's?
Since when did that kid have friends outside of that guardian chungie?
… Meh, who cares.
Information was information, and Mane was gonna act on it after he gets some good freaking sleep!
The lion was shoving two pancakes in his mouth early in the morning when it came to him like a prophecy to an oracle…
Flamefrags!
Of course, his ambitious little brother would be a more reliable source of information than anyone else!
Certainly better than 'King' Parrot, Mane really wasn't about to talk to that guy. He was fully ready to walk around the main server blind over talking to Parrot; the avian would probably get all up in his business and get in his way.
Flame was the perfect way to avoid both situations.
Gosh, he's just so smart and cool.
The lion ate his breakfast a bit faster, he started to feel more excited now that he was planning on seeing his Pride Flame; it has been a few weeks since the tiger came in begging for his training.
He wondered if he dealt with Law. Shit man, did he need to keep a low profile so those idiots didn't get on his tail?
He just can't have anything simply, can he?
Whatever, if he reached Flame they can just take out anyone who got in his way.
Mane made a quick work of washing the dishes from breakfast, then headed to his room to grab a change of clothes along with his blindfold.
It was always more convenient with the blindfold; people were less wary of his sharp gaze, and the sun didn't blow his eyes right out of their sockets… win-win!
His clothes were light, and durable. Something efficient for the long travel and resistant to any struggle from potential fights.
He packed two more outfits in a bundle, alongside three spare blindfolds threw the bundle in a half full shulker that was dedicated to holding his golden apples then threw the shulker back in his enderchest which he stored in his inventory alongside six other enderchests.
The lion made sure he had restocks enough for at least a week; he wasn't sure how long this will take and it wasn't like Astrum put a deadline, which was fine by Mane because he liked taking his sweet time.
Even though he didn't like the thought of going back to the main server, he hoped it would be tolerable, at least.
After double checking his stuff, the lion left the cave, blowing a kiss to the caged skeleton who immediately took the chance to attempt shooting Mane's head off.
It obviously didn't work because the lion leisurely skipped away, his patronizing laughter echoing behind him through the cave.
Horses were actually such life savers, the lion shivered at the thought of walking the whole way back to spawn, oh hell nah.
He would've used his elytra if it had mending, but sadly he's still stuck without the enchanted book. Maybe he could convince Astrum to add it to his payment if they had any.
"You, stop right there!"
Out of nowhere, a group of players in diamond armor jumped in the way he was riding towards, their second biggest mistake.
Their first was having the audacity to see him and think they could take that fight. Not that he was going to waste his time here.
The lion urged his horse to run faster, the idiots saw the way he sped up and some of them panicked and ran to the side.
The unfortunate morons who stood their ground —and Mane really did respect their resolve, but next time they should think before trying to take fights with people clearly way above their pay grade— were ran through, not dead but injured and shocked.
The horse huffed exasperated, as if having to run over people for Manepear was truly such an inconvenience, it made the lion cackle and pat the horse's neck.
Aside from that, the ride to spawn was overwhelmingly underwhelming, and way too long; the sun made way for the moon hours ago. And while the lion did have short breaks, both for his and the horse's sakes, he still felt the drag of sleep steadily descend onto his shoulders.
He slowed down in a random forest, the lion didn't need to worry about monsters because they rarely ever spawned anymore, especially the closer he got to spawn. And given the thick trees that seemed to hug each other, he wouldn't have to worry about players either, if he was subtle enough.
So, with a temporary camp set up, the lion curled up for a few moments before stretching his limbs out, star-fishing on the grass and staring up at the sky through the gap in the tree leaves.
It was blissfully quiet, save for the occasional breeze that whizzed through the fallen leaves and bushes.
It reminded him of the past, although this time he lacked the warmth of his clingy little brother… He would've flipped his shit if Mane called him that out loud.
And there it was, again; the pang that dulled his mood. He found himself hating his innate need for a Pride, for company, for someone to lean against and joke with.
It was stupid, and unnecessary; he was perfectly fine on his own, and freer than ever.
So, why does he keep remembering how it felt to hug his brother while he slept? Why did he have to miss the way he trusted the tiger cub to watch over as he slept the night away?
Gosh, he was really losing the plot. Time to sleep.
And Manepear vehemently refused to admit that he so dearly missed when it was 'them' against the world, instead of just 'him'.