"I think you're just being paranoid dude."
"Of course I'm paranoid. (I've been paranoid since we met)."
"Yeah yeah, I get that. I just mean that this time you're like, irrationally paranoid."
"I don't think so. (Isn't all paranoia by definition irrational)?"
Tango huffed out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."
Tango and Tanguish walked side-by-side through the shopping district, moving quickly, trying not to be seen. Tango had yet to explain to the rest of the server that he and his hels were on speaking terms - friendly speaking terms - and the chances of Tanguish getting attacked just because of proximity were relatively high. Besides, Tanguish didn't really know where he was going. (Neither did Tango, but being generally lost together was better than being generally lost alone, so they traveled together.)
"I feel like I'm allowed to be worried," Tanguish said defensively, sweeping his gaze around the empty shopping district again. Most of the hermits were currently in the TCG pyramid battling it out. Something about addictive card games. Tanguish had never been big into those. Stealing cards was a gamble that rarely paid off. "He's been gone for three days."
"Yeah, and like I said, Welsknight has been off the server for months," Tango shoved his hands in his pockets and walked a little faster, his blue flame flickering a little brighter as he went. "Helsknight is probably just making up for lost time."
"For three days?" Tanguish countered, sculk-fuzzed eyebrows raising. "That's excessive."
"They used to fight like cats and dogs, dude."
"Yeah but it was always like, you know, disappear for an hour, die, poof back, kinda deal. Not just..." Tanguish flailed his hands at the air, demonstrating the current situation. "For three days."
In the distance, a massive octopus build loomed, it's tentacles slowly furling and unfurling like it was feeling the air. Just past it, nestled alone against the beach, was either the world's smallest castle, or the world's most castle-shaped house. Welsknight's house. It was incredibly on brand. Tanguish wondered why Helsknight never bothered to build a house like it in hels. Then again, Helsknight had never been big on decoration and comforts... or really anything that wasn't strictly utilitarian.
"Maybe they've gotten really bad at killing each other?" Tango asked with a shrug. "They're kind of out of practice."
"Helsknight fights people every day," Tanguish shook his head. "He's plenty good at killing people."
"Have we talked about your ability to pick out good friends? Like seriously talked about it?"
"Hels is a good friend."
"He kills people on the reg. You just said so."
"Isn't Geminitay's nickname Gemini-slay? (Also ZombieCleo, just, as a person)?"
"Touché."
"Besides it's not the killing bit I'm worried about." Tanguish continued, brow wrinkled worriedly. "I'm worried 'making up lost time' might mean something really unpleasant. (Unpleasant being like, pinning someone to the wall and breaking all their bones one-by-one or something. I feel like I've heard him threaten to do that before). I'm not -- I'm not Hels' keeper or anything, but I feel like a good friend would stop him from doing something like that, right?"
Tanguish looked at Tango beseechingly, searching for reassurance. Instead, Tango looked back at him with something between a wince and a grimace. Yeah, he probably could've worded all that better.
"Hels isn't a bad person."
"Uh-huh. Yep. I totally believe you there big guy."
"He's not! He's just--"
"--the kind of person who would tie someone to the wall and break every bone in their body. Yep. Gotcha. Hey, seriously, we need to talk about your choice in friends."
"Gemini-slay."
"Hey hey hey now! She just puts decapitated heads in her head room. No one suffers from that. Well. Not physically anyway."
"She has a head room." Tanguish frowned. "(Also like, everything Doc has going on)."
"Yeah but Doc just threatens. He couldn't follow through with any of it to save his life."
"Hels just--! Wait, how are you-- Can you read my mind?"
"No. Your internal monologue is just really loud. Like, really loud."
Tanguish makes a mental note to start thinking quieter. (Tango smirks, and Tanguish makes a double mental note about it.)
They made it three quarters of the way around the beach, walking in step with each other, spaced just far enough apart that their tails don't accidentally brush each other as they walked (Ice and fire, even blue ice-colored fire, have never mixed well) when a scream broke the otherwise peaceful afternoon air. Tango and Tanguish exchanged a horrified look, and as one dash the rest of the way down the beach towards Welsknight's house. Tanguish outpaced Tango in a handful of strides. They're the same height, but Tanguish spends his time running through cramped streets, while Tango spends his building Decked Out II.
Tanguish was the first one to come bursting through Welsknight's door, and as such is the first to witness the... Almost incomprehensible oddness happening on the other side. Hels and Wels are both standing on opposite sides of a table shoved in Wels's cluttered living room. There was a pile of blankets on the couch - obvious remains of someone sleeping over for the last few nights. Unwashed dishes were piled in odd places, leftovers long cold and stale on a few of them. There were, oddly, several half-drunk glasses of water scattered around - a trademark of Helsknight's when he was too busy or distracted to remember he had drinks already poured. The table was tipped over, cards scattered like autumn leaves across the floor. Helsknight is leaning against the nearby wall, face buried in his hands as he lets out a long, wounded-animal groan. Welsknight simply smirks to himself and picks up the fallen cards.
"That's thirty-six to three," Welsknight hummed pleasantly, picking up the scattered cards with a practiced patience. "You know, we could go buy you another expansion. Build a better deck--"
"No! No! You're cheating I know you're cheating!" Helsknight snapped, roughly righting the table. His hands were white-knuckled around its edges, like he was trying not to throw it over again.
"You've got a good deck in theory," Welsknight continued. "You're relying to hard on one win-con though. These decks function best with rapid damage--"
"I am not building a burn deck I'm not--"
"I'm not telling you to build a burn deck--"
"Are you serious right now?" Tango shouted, making all of them jump. "You're playing cards?"
Wels and Hels exchanged a glance, and then blinked at the two intruders as though they just noticed they were there -- which they probably had.
"Well I wasn't wrong," Tanguish said quietly, after the pause had stretched uncomfortably long. "They were doing something weird."
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