Chapter Text
When he heard his sister approaching his room, Ghoncl made little effort to wipe the residual cocaine off of his cloak. Ever since the Radiance had been defeated, the Pale King had outlawed the use of Silverweed and the plant had disappeared as quickly as its craze had begun. Unfortunately for Ghoncl, that meant that Hornet's temporary usage of Silverweed was no more, and she was back to being a heathen in Ghoncl's eyes. He coughed up a particularly large clot of blood just as Hornet appeared round the corner of the doorframe.
Her brow creased in pity and disappointment. "Are you still sulking? You're a knight now, for God's sake."
Ghoncl lazily rolled over so that his bleeding ass was facing her. A hot fart singed his anal cavity and it almost reignited his former passion. Almost.
"As if you would know, wet beast. She wasn't your grammy."
Ghoncl's adoptive grandma, Seer, had sacrificed herself in hopes of destroying the Radiance. It had worked and had allowed them to land the final hit on the goddess, but it had left Ghoncl's heart and very soul in pieces. He had been broken up over it ever since, even though his king-father had knighted him and his siblings and taking special care to pronounce Ghoncl the 'Dope Knight' at his own request. He thought it would've been what Seer wanted, but she wasn't here, was she? Nothing seemed to ease Ghoncl's pain, not even the heroin he'd smuggled out of Deepnest.
Hornet continued to glower at him. "She'd have wanted you to get the fuck over it, surely?" She sighed. "Ugh. I'll never understand the mind of a stoner."
Slapping his forehead for the sake of it (and letting a bit of cheeky piss out in the process), Ghoncl leaned back and coughed directly into his sister's face. "I could beat up your baby brother," he sang.
"Sure," Hornet shrugged, seemingly unbothered by his threat. "I could kill you right now, but I can't. Dad wants you up now. Says there's some shit in Dirtmouth he wants us to deal with."
"Uh," Ghoncl replied numbly as he shoved a large lump of condensed crack into his mouth and chewed it, much to Hornet's disgust. "Sure, I guess." Maybe it's give his empty soul something to focus on.
***
When the siblings arrived in Dirtmouth (after picking up Hollow on the way), the first thing they noticed wasn't Zote shooting up next to his girlfriend Bretta. At the far west of the town, in the direction of the Howling Cliffs, were a series of red tents in varying sizes. For the first time in a while Ghoncl felt a tiny spark in his stomach. Now this looked interesting. Beside him, Hornet groaned whilst Hollow began to shake. Without waiting for his siblings, he began marching towards the tent with his fresh pair of moobs on display, ignoring Elderbug's warning. When he stood in the doorway, the smell of many many drugs filled his nose and he inhaled deeply. There was also an undertone of piss, but that didn't matter to Ghoncl. He entered.
Instantly loud rap music blared and almost burst his eardrums, but he was too numb to care. In fact, Ghoncl began to vibe to the cacophany and almost began twerking, but someone put their hand on his shoulder and he turned. Towering before him was a thin, greasy-looking bug with red eyes and a long black cloak. On his arm was a patch, tightly fastened with duct tape. The bug's lips were peeled back in a wicked smile - Ghoncl noticed that this bug also had bleeding gums. Overall he looked as if he were trying to cosplay the vampire protagonist from the popular teenage novel Midnight.
Then the vampire bug spoke.
"Well, well, what have we here?" His voice was so deep and abrasive that Ghoncl was sure he smoked at least three packs a day. Impressive and yummy. "You look like a little addict. Welcome to the travelling home off Grimm's Gammy Gang, ran by yours truly."
Grimm looked as if he wanted to say more, but a bout of loud coughing made him double over, causing him to spit out his cigarette in the process. Ghoncl caught it and took a few puffs himself. Holy shit. What was in it? He'd never tasted tobacco this good before. Before he could ponder it any longer, Grimm had recovered and grabbed Ghoncl's head with his long, greasy grippers. He bent down and pulled the cigar out of Ghoncl's mouth with his teeth.
"Thank you, little pothead," he rasped, returning the coffin nail to his own mouth and adding another for good measure. "Right then. Would you like to meet the boys?"
Momentarily forgetting about his woes, Ghoncl nodded and Grimm led him down a corridor and into the main room of the tent. Spread out in a circle were several interesting-looking bugs: a buff, black and red one who was leaning over a DJ mixer; a curvy female termite with the fattest ass Ghoncl had ever seen; a tall horned bug dressed in green, and a small fluffy moth-like creature with no limbs. At the centre of the tent were an assortment of red candles, emitting a fragrance that turned Ghoncl's mind to wet shit. He'd certainly not experienced something like this before in Hallownest, not even in Deepnest, and he was going to make the most of it.
The fat-assed termite noticed him first. She began to make her way over, but had obvious trouble moving. Every few seconds she would let out an almighty fart and blood would trickle out of her exposed asshole, but she didn't seem to care. As she batted her false eyelashes at him, Grimm leaned into his ear.
"That's Divine,: he whispered, "though we call her 'The Bleeder'. Cannibalism never did agree with her." He gestured to her bloated body.
The mention of cannibalism didn't even phase Ghoncl. Instead he was focusing on Divine's massive rack. Divine, clearly having noticed this, winked at him as she came forward.
"Mmmm, hello little stoner boy," she purred, her voice just as abrasive as Grimm's. "I see you're interested in my...breasts."
Ghoncl felt a feeling like electricity shoot through his body. "Yes, mamasita," he slurred, chewing on his blunt. "How much?"
"Hmmm, well, you'll be paying a hefty sum to rent out the Bleeder," Divine replied as Ghoncl fingered her rack with his bleeding and bruised fingers. "Though if you're as much of a pothead as you look, then I'm sure you'll have no trouble paying up-"
The fat-assed termite was cut off as the sound of Hornet's accented voice sliced through the smoke-laden air. "Ghoncl! What the fuck are you doing?!"
"Sister!" The air in the tent was beginning to have its own effect on Ghoncl and his worries began to ebb away. He sidled up to Hornet and tried to drag her towards the Gammy Gang, but she slapped him away and drew her needle at the group.
"State your name and purpose," she commanded. Beside her, Hollow covered his ears.
"Oh, there's more of them!" Divine rasped, but Grimm silenced her with a butt plug to the mouth.
"The name's Grimm, and welcome to my Gammy Gang," Grimm announced. He bowed and Ghoncl heard his spine crack. "We serve as recreation for weary travellers."
Hornet squinted. "Recreation. Right. Elaborate."
Grimm walked up to Hornet, the patch on his arm clearly exposed. "You ever tried scopolamine? Once you go sco' you never go back."
"That doesn't even rhyme," yelled the deep-voiced bug hunched over the DJ mixer.
Grimm coughed and threw a cigar at him. "Quiet, Brumm!"
But Hornet had heard enough. "So you're another cartel? Enough of this. Off with you."
At her words Ghoncl snapped out of his tent-air-induced trance. He'd only just met the Gammy Gang, but his stoner instincts were telling him that they held the key to relieving him of his grief and pain. He stumbled forward, almost tripping over himself in his haste to change his sister's mind. "Sis, wait!" Ghoncl coughed up some phlegm and it landed directly on Hornet's cloak. "They aren't a cartel, I promise! Please give them a chance. I think their drugs could help me get over Grammy!"
Hornet's neck fur bristled and she ground her spider paws into the earth. It was true, she wanted Ghoncl to get over Seer's passing, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that everyone dealt with grief in their own way - the same thing had happened when Dryya had called Hornet's needle 'dumb'. Hornet hadn't gotten over it. She looked at her brother, and then back at Grimm's posse. Had she judged them too harshly? After all, they weren't exactly doing anything suspicious - at least no more suspicious than 90% of the goings-on in Hallownest - and PK would want some proof that they weren't to be trusted. She would have to give them some sort of chance, she conceded.
Hornet sighed, allowing her neck fur to lie flat. "Ugh. You know what? Fine. But if I catch you doing anything suspicious, you shall be driven from our territory immediately."
Grimm nodded, and the sound of more vertebrae cracking and popping could be heard. "Thank you, miss. We shall not disappoint."
Turning to her younger brother, Hornet saw Ghoncl's face light up, even though his eyes were still lidded from his particularly rampant rec time. Perhaps these newcomers would help Ghoncl after all. She owed him that, at least.