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Theo comes back into the throne room after taking a breather.
“Hey, Parrot?” Theo called, “Some people are outside, and one of them says they're an old friend of yours.”
Parrot, who was obviously trying not to fall asleep after another attack on the kingdom from Cindercrest,
“Did you recognize their usernames?”
“Yeah, I think one of them was Spoke and his little sidekick, Mapicc, I think? and someone else
“Spoke?” Parrot wondered, “Bring them in,” he continued
“I mean, alright, if you say so.” Theo leaves the throne room to fetch Spoke and Mapicc, and whoever else was with them is
Theo comes back a few minutes later with Spoke and Mapicc with Jumper in tow.
“Uh, here they are…”
“Spoke? Jumper?! What happened?”
Spoke ignores the question in favor of greeting Parrot like normal, “Hey, Parrot! I honestly thought your kingdom would’ve been thriving, but I guess not…” he mumbles the last part.
“No- what, Spoke were in the middle of a war?” Parrot exclaimed, “Where have you been?”
Spoke thinks about how to explain everything that has happened to Mapicc, Jumper, and him.
“Well, to start, we've been with Jamato in the farlands, so we had no way to know what was happening, and then we got put into a prison where Jamato manipulated everyone to be divided while also pinning the blame on me and put me in there because he thought I was a “Danger to the server”, and the only thing we have is almost broken armor, I dont even have my other chestplate..”
He mumbled the last part and risked a glance at Mapicc before turning back towards Parrot.
“Well, sorry, I didn’t show much concern about the whole NULL situation. I didn’t think it would get that bad,” he apologized while running a hand through his hair.
“Don't worry about it, Parrot! You had a whole kingdom to take care of!” He giggled
Spoke knew he was acting differently than normal, but hoped no one would say anything about it.
After talking to Spoke, Mapicc, and Jumper, Parrot brings Spoke to the Armory to get new armor for him and the others. It was mostly silent, aside from the sound of Spoke grabbing armor.
“Hey, Parrot... “
“Yeah, Spoke?”
Parrot turns to look at Spoke, whose eyes are facing the ground.
“Do you... Think Jamato was right about me?” he said, but not quite loud enough for Parrot to hear.
“Could you say that a little louder? I couldn't quite hear you.” He responded
“Do-do you think Jamatos right? about me being a danger to the server?”
Parrot is silent for a few seconds, processing what Spoke just asked him.
“No,” he says eventually. “I don't think you are.”
Spoke finally looks up at him with a look of surprise in his voidless white eyes.
“Really? You don't think so? Even after everything I've done? to you? to the whole server? How don't you hate me?” He shouted
“Spoke, you know I never hated you, I mean, yes, you might've been annoying, but I never hated you, and I don't care what JamatoP says,” Parrot sighs. “Spoke, he’s wrong about you, you're not a danger to the server, you're just—” Parrot gets cut off with a laugh. A laugh that sounds manic
Spoke, who is doubled over laughing manically
“Spoke?” Parrot whispers, confused as his laughter slowly dies down
“Oh—oh my, anyway, Parrot, guess what? I got a mace–
“What— Spoke—” Parrot started only to get cut off
—And it almost got taken away! But honestly, I don't even know how to use this thing!” Spoke laughed
Parrot had a look of surprise on his face. He didn’t expect Spoke to act like this.
“Spoke, what are you saying? Why’d you just cut me off?” More laughter from Spoke.
“You know, the only reason Jamato probably let us escape is because he knew that he would catch us again and then finally kill me, Jumper, and Mapicc.” Parrot stares in shock as Spoke avoids eye contact with him. “Spoke,” he started carefully, “what are you talking about? He tried to kill you guys?”
Spoke freezes when he realizes he said more than he intended, “C-can we talk about this later? Or preferably never? I think that would be better—” Spoke gets cut off when Theo walks in
“Hey, Parrot, you good? You’ve been in here for a while. Is everything good?”
Parrot took a look at Spoke, who was looking down at the ground,
“Theo, everything's fine, we’ll be out soon. Don’t worry,” Theo, though obviously concerned, followed Parrot's orders.
Once Theo walked out, the room was silent beside the sound of… soft sniffles?
Parrot looked back towards Spoke, who was quickly wiping his face.
“Spoke…?” Parrot was hesitant to speak; he’d never seen Spoke act like this.
Spoke laughed weakly while still wiping his face. Parrot slowly walked closer.
“I-i was—I was going to tell them! Really, I was!!, but-but so muchh was happening and-and I never got the chance, but t-then Jamato made it sound like i-i was manipulating them— I wasn’t trying too, please Parrot you have to believe me, I—” Spoke freezes when Parrot holds him.
“Spoke, I might not know the full story, but I believe you.” He pauses as he thinks about his next words. “JamatoP is wrong about you.” Parrot hears Spoke’s shaky breathing and holds on tighter
“P-parrot, Im fine!” Spoke tries to reassure, voice cracking, “You don’t have to do this.”
Parrot says nothing and continues holding him.
Even when Parrrot does eventually say something: “Spoke, just shut up.”
Spoke’s face was one of shock as tears slowly streamed down his face.
Parrot sighs as Spoke oh-so-slowly relaxes in his hold. Together, Parrot, with Spoke’s help, can stop Cindercrest, and Spoke, with Parrot’s help, can fix whatever issues Spoke has with his friends, new and old.