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“So Saparata is executed,” Parrot says, and Mane thinks the extra sparkling on his crown is a little too egotistical for him, “We all agree on that.”
There's scattered agreement over the big, over-the-top table they're all seated at. Mane knows that Horace probably built the entire thing while drunk off his ass. It’s not as Horace Altman-like as the man usually makes his builds.
In all honesty, Mane doesn’t want to be here. He isn’t really concerned about server politics, it doesn’t matter to him whether a parrot or a white blob is on the throne, as long as he gets his pay from scattered around kills. Since his mercenary work wasn’t bothered by either people sitting on the throne, he really just doesn’t care.
He isn’t concerned about politics, however, he is concerned about his dumbass of a little brother.
Mane sighs softly, his ears flattening a bit on his head. He remembers when Flame had stumbled into his cave, blood crusted and dried on his armor, his dreads messy and unkept, collapsing on his knees and dry heaving onto the ground, blood getting hacked out of his mouth. He remembers rushing to Flame, splashing regen on him and carefully unstringing the armor that seemed to be fused on the other’s body.
He remembers, after nursing Flame back to decent health, how angry he had been when Flame had told him about Parrot and Cindercrest.
Mane hasn’t always been the best older brother, he knows he’s not going to win any awards in the near future, but it still pains him when he hears about people that look at Flame, his little brother, the man he had taken in and raised as his own, as a weapon, as if he isn’t his own person with feelings and a future above PVP.
Flame had wanted to go and help Parrot take his throne back, and as the great concerned older brother he is, Mane tagged along. It helped Mane to see Flame begrudgingly rolling his eyes and actually taking care of himself for once instead of jumping straight into fights, and if Mane has to, he’ll give Flame the whole ‘you are not only PVP’ talk again because it feels like the loser hadn’t internalized anything.
Mane snorts, Flame’s such a chud.
Flame elbows him hard, as if he knew what Mane was thinking about, and Mane has to tense his entire body in hopes of not getting knocked over because, he can’t lose aura to his loser of a little brother hello??
“Alright! Next order of business, how are we going to handle Arachnid?” Parrot nods over to the girl at the side of him, Reina Mane thinks her name is. She nods back at Parrot, scribbling something into a book. “I was thinking—”
“If I may, Your Majesty,” a smooth voice says, cutting through Parrot’s suggestion. He can feel Flame tense up beside him, Parrot deflating slightly. Mane’s eyes flick over lazily to the man across the table and his eyes widen slightly because Mane recognizes this guy, both through Flame’s complaints and scattered whispers in mercenary hotspots.
It’s a rumor that mercenaries speak about behind closed doors. They whisper to each other hurriedly, if the Pirate King offers you a job, your set for life. You are given riches that people can only dream about, a place to live that will only keep on getting better, jobs that not only give you money, but entertain you in ways that a mercenary can only hope for.
“I believe that you are the last person who should be deciding what happens to Arachind,” Jaden continues, an airy tone of indifference surrounding him. Mane swallows thickly, briefly wondering if he was dreaming. Mane never actually believed that someone like him existed, someone who could almost kill Flame and continue living, someone who could keep mercenaries in business by just the snap of his fingers.
Jaden had always seemed more like a myth than a man, and Mane wonders if he can weasel his way on Jaden’s good side if he just starts saying that the guys his best friend.
He narrows his eyes underneath his blindfold, yeah, that is something he could definitely pull off. Sorry Flame, I need that bag.
“And what,” Flame scoffs, but Mane can tell that he’s about to start steaming, and he loosens up the collar of his shirt, already grimacing at the thought of breathing in copious amounts of smoke, “You’re the first option?”
“Yes Flame,” Jaden says condescendingly, and wow they really don’t like each other do they? Not his circus, not his monkeys, but it is funny to watch, “I do think I am the first option, along with the other people who actually dealt with Arachnid.”
Parrot’s jaw is clenched so tight, Mane thinks a vessel will pop out any time soon, “Fine.”
“Parrot–” Flame exclaims, his arms posed in a way that Mane knows he’s about to start waving them around to prove a point, so Mane nudges him lightly, in hopes that when he starts, he won’t smack Mane in the face. That would be a major aura loss!!
“Jaden’s right Flame,” It looks like it pains Parrot to say that, and there's something so gut-wrenchingly sad in his expression that it makes Mane feel a little funny, “We weren’t apart of taking Arachnid down, so it’s only fair to the people that actually did help to make the decisions of what happens next.”
Flame huffs, slouching back into his seat as Jaden nods at Parrot, turning his attention to the spider-hybrid next to him.
“Yungy,” Jaden flicks his ear, and the Yungy guy hisses out in mock pain, playfully cradling his ear. Jaden’s eyes crinkle over his mask in a way that Mane assumes is a smile, “You chill with taking over The Caves?”
“Wait what?” Flame’s carting teacher shouts from where he’s sitting, “I thought we were dismantling The Caves completely?”
“Are you stupid bro?” Egg’s face is flat as he says it, and Mane wonders briefly when the seraphim turned mean. By the bewildered looks around the table, he assumes it’s a new development, “The Caves are people’s home, and they follow a strict code. They aren’t going to merge with Parrot’s kingdom just because you defeated their leader.”
Jaden’s eyes are soft as he turns to Egg, his hand snaking up and ruffling his hair, “Chill Egg, Codmaster will be there no matter what.”
Egg splutters, his abnormally pale cheeks flushing a bit red in embarrassment, “Yo, bro, yo, chill on the hair!! You're messing up the aura!!!”
Jaden laughs, ruffling Egg’s hair a bit more before leaving him alone. Mane’s eyes are fixated solely on Wemmbu, wondering when the dragon would step in, grab Jaden’s arm and twist it for even thinking about touching Egg, but Wemmbu remains seated, watching them both with a soft, almost fond expression on his face.
‘Huh, character development,’ Mane thinks, ignoring the sharp pain he gets thinking about how his student had improved without him being around.
That was the goal, Mane repeats to himself, closing his eyes slightly. You were trying to teach him something, stick to it.
“The Caves will remain as their own faction,” Jaden continues, leveling a glare in Parrot’s direction, “If any of you have a problem with that, The Great Sea would be more than happy to address your complaints.”
Parrot clenches his jaw tighter, but doesn’t say a word in defense. Mane can admit it’s a good threat, Parrot’s armies and tech are significantly weaker because of the consistent attacks, whereas The Great Sea hasn’t had a proper war or conflict since The Law.
“Great,” Jaden deadpans, turning his attention back onto Yungy, Egg, and Wemmbu. His gaze visibly softens when he looks at the dragon, “We’re sliming out Arachnid, right?”
“Obviously,” Yungy scoffs. Wemmbu rolls his eyes mockingly at Jaden, and Egg snorts, amused. “The only question is how.”
“It would be greatly dissatisfying if we were to just mace him,” Egg mutters. Mane has to stifle in a snort because holy shit that kid still talks like a walking nerd emoji.
Jaden sits up suddenly, a gleeful sparkle in his eye that Mane can tell leaves a bunch of people on guard. Flame reaches for his sword, Flame’s carting teacher not-so-obviously organizes his inventory. Even Mane feels an urge to reach for his spear, but he tramples down on it. He wasn’t going to let his next paycheck slip through his fingers just because he was a little bit jumpy.
“Y’know the purge?” Jaden asks, and Mane does an entire double take because what? A purge? Since when hello???? He can tell nobody else really knew anything about it because Flame’s gone completely still, Parrot’s hands stopped wringing together uncomfortably, and Flame’s carting teacher looks up in alarm, surprise written all over his face. Mane’s eyes quickly find Wemmbu, and he can’t help but note down how tired the dragon looks. There are new scars decorating his arms and face, and his eyes are a sharp, bright, blue.
Mane realizes, cold suddenly and harshly sweeping through his body, that Wemmbu hasn’t said a single word during this meeting.
“What purge?” Parrot asks, something sharp in his tone. Yungy and Jaden continue communicating with each other through meaningful looks, not bothering to spare a glance at the king. Wemmbu looks over disinterestedly, before focusing his gaze over to Egg, his ear pointed in a way Mane knows that he’s keeping tabs on everyone’s conversations on this table.
“The arena is still around right?” Yungy nods at Jaden’s question, a small grin on his face slowly spreading, “Great, let’s drop him in it. I’ll grab some of the pirates and put them in the arena with the sole purpose of killing him. If he manages to get out alive, we give him the whole congratulation spiel then slime him out.”
Wemmbu snorts. Loudly.
“Holy shit that’s evil,” Yungy has a sharp smile on his face, his pupils narrowed into slits, his grin stretching from ear to ear, “I love it.”
“You should drop Mugm in there,” Egg adds, waving his hands around nonsensically, something sharp in his eyes, “He’ll figure out how to make it fun.”
Jaden laughs, “I’ll drop both Mugm and Wyll in there, just for good measure.”
Wemmbu makes a face at the mention of this Wyll kid, his nose scrunching up in distaste, before his features smoothen out, a deadpan expression on his face when he looks at Jaden.
“What?” Jaden shrugs, faux innocence plastered all over his posture, “If Arachnid manages to survive both Mugm and Wyll, he’ll already be basically begging for death. Me, you, and Yungy can finish him off.”
Mane is shocked by the casual cruelty that all of them are amitting. He remembers that Wemmbu had always struggled with being cruel. The kid could pick up a sword and fight but he would always choose the way that was mostly painless for his opponent. Mane had tried reasoning with him, saying that sometimes just killing the opponent isn’t enough, sometimes you need to resort to more violent ways but Wemmbu had always remained adamant on not breaching the line of torture.
‘Whatever,’ Mane thinks, slightly bitter, ‘Just another thing Wemmbu never listened to me about.’
Egg was a whole other beast. That kid could have lifted up a sword, swung it, and dealt absolutely no damage whatsoever to nobody. It didn’t help that his entire thing was ‘lover, not a fighter.’
Looking at the two of them now, he’s surprised that the two of them are freely able to listen in on a conversation about torture because well, Mane might be a hermit but he’s not an idiot. He’s heard of Mugm and Wyll, the reputation the both of them have, the fear both of them induce whenever mentioned to a certain group of people.
Dolphin’s a good companion whenever they get drinks together, and the horror stories she’s told Mane about the two of them are enough to wince at the mere thought about what this Arachnid guy will go through.
“Yo Quackitus,” Dolphin jabs her elbow into the side of her stomach, sharing a meaningful glance with Mane, “Mane had a question about Mugm.”
Quackitus looks up, haunted eyes boring into Mane’s, “I hate obsidian.”
Mane can’t help but think that this new found apathy in both Egg and Wemmbu is somewhat related to Jaden. He doesn’t know how the duo became a trio, but with Jaden added into the equation, they all seem way more cruel about the way they go about things.
Mane shakes his head softly, ‘You're reading too much into it.’
“So Arachnid’s taken care of?” Parrot looks painfully uncomfortable about the entire conversation, his wings stiff behind his back in a way that Mane knows is how avians show that they're out of place.
“Yes Your Majesty,” And yikes. If Mane thought the hostility between Jaden and Flame was bad, the amount of animosity Jaden is radiating when talking to Parrot is ten times worse. It seems that it didn’t escape Parrot or his friend, because Flame’s carting teacher is narrowing his eyes over his sunglasses and there's a flaming bow in his hand ready to shoot.
“Got a problem?” Flame’s carting teacher says, and Mane closes his eyes and feels the remaining olive branch that was tentatively being held up snap as Yungy bares his teeth out and hisses, Jaden narrowing his eyes at the bow, a sword materializing into his hand, and Wemmbu sitting up straight, placing a shulker down at his feet.
“Theo,” Parrot hisses out, grasping the cockatiel's wrist, “Please be civil, we can’t afford—”
“Theo right?” Jaden cuts through Parrot’s plea easily, and Mane can tell Flame’s gearing up to fight, “You're incredibly loyal to a person who tends to get his friends killed.”
Mane sucks in a breath as Parrot grows pale. The temperature in the room shot down after Jaden’s comment, and Mane can tell Flame’s already grabbing his sword, ready to pounce on the other side of the table.
“Excuse me?” Theo splutters out, pure rage plastered onto his features, “The fuck do you mean by that?”
There's something sharp in Jaden’s eyes that makes Mane jump into fourth gear. He’s not the best at dealing with these kinds of situations at all, he’s more of a ‘punch it and it will go away’ kinda guy but whatever Jaden’s going to say will be stupid and add more fuel to the fire and Void Mane just wants to go back to his cave with Flame and make sure that the kid is okay and fed and safe and not worried about anything related to PvP at all—
“I’m shocked,” Jaden deadpans, staring right at Parrot, “That Theo hasn’t gotten shot by an arrow yet.”
“How do you know about that?” Parrot blurts out, effectively steamrolling over whatever Theo was going to say, “Leo’s dead, Jumper’s with Spoke, and Derapchu is missing. How do you know about that?”
“Jaden bro,” Wemmbu rasps out, his voice croaky and tired. Both Flame and Mane’s heads snap over to him, but Wemmbu’s eyes remained solely on Jaden, “It ain’t worth it man.”
“No, how do you know about Nufuli?” Parrot’s eyes are wide and frantic, his voice coming out breathy and hysterical. Wemmbu facepalms, and Mane can briefly hear a comment underneath his breath about ‘useless avians.’
“Get his name out of your mouth,” Jaden snaps, his hands slamming on the table, the wood splintering against the force, “You have no goddamn right. In fact, why are we even here? None of us give a flying fuck about Saparata, we don’t care about what happens to you or your kingdom, and we certainly don’t need your opinion on how to handle our own shit. In fact, half the reason why we were even in this goddamn mess was because of you. You and that stupid fucking blaze-hybrid who couldn’t get his head out of his ass fast enough.”
“Now that I mention it,” Jaden continues, slightly hysterical, swiveling around to face Wemmbu and Egg, “Why haven’t we tried killing any of them? Especially Flame? Like why are we keeping Flame alive when he was the entire reason all of this bullshit even happened? Egg wouldn’t have gotten captured if Flame’s stupid-ass hadn’t gone after him then decided to double down and attack all of us. Not to mention, him being a raging hypocrite this entire goddamn time, why haven’t we slimed him the fuck out??”
Mane’s about to scoff, about to turn his head to Wemmbu and jab a thumb in Jaden’s direction, maybe mouth a ‘get a load of this guy’ for good measure until he realizes, albeit suddenly, that Wemmbu looks contemplative as he listens to Jaden’s rant. He opens the shulker box at his feet and pulls out a fishing rod, one that Mane now recognizes as an orbital strike cannon.
Holy shit, he’s going to blow us all to bedrock.
Flame can tell, judging on the way that he had jumped out of his seat, shield guarding his body, a windcharge ready in his dominant hand to clutch, a sharp barb on his tongue ready that Mane knows from experience that will hurt the ego badly. Other people around the table take similar fighting positions, ready to help and protect Flame which warms Mane’s heart in a way that he doesn’t want to admit.
Wemmbu just stares at the fishing rod, looking at it with almost a curious gaze.
“What are you suggesting?” Wemmbu asks, his blue eyes glinting in an almost manic type of glee. Theo yanks Parrot out of his chair, his glare sharp as he uses his body to shield the king of any damage.
“I’m suggesting,” Jaden spits out, “That we kill Flame and anyone who bothers to get in the way.”
Mane watches, with a building dread echoing in his mind, as Wemmbu smiles, a cruel, dreadful thing. He raises the fishing rod in Flame’s direction, the ball at the end sparking with flames as he brings the rod down, his blue eyes glinting with glee.
“Dear God,” Egg mutters, his fingers nimbly moving to enclose around Wemmbu’s wrist, preventing him from bringing the rod down. His face has faux irritation in it as he sends a barely heated glare to Jaden, pure amusement in his eyes. “Flame made a mistake, so what? We all make mistakes. He was just doing what he thought would help Lomedy, should we really blame him for doing what he thought would help his friend?”
He sends a meaningful look to Wemmbu, who looks unsure, before he shrugs, pulling the fishing rod back to his side, letting it disappear into his inventory. Mane feels himself let out a relieved sigh, the tension in his body releasing slightly, Flame still looks on guard, his shield raised up slightly in defense but Mane doesn't think anyone blames him for it.
“Seriously? ‘We all make mistakes?’” Jaden scoffs, but Mane can tell by his eyes there's a smile threatening to be on his face. It’s clear that Jaden and Egg are arguing with each other in a playful way, but Mane can’t help but wonder what could possibly be playful about this. “If Flame really did do this all for a farmer, we slime him out too. tweedledee and tweedledum can die together, two birds with one stone.”
“You should listen to Egg–” Parrot begins, before he shuts his mouth from the glares that both Wemmbu and Jaden send him.
“Don’t talk about Egg,” both Jaden and Wemmbu snap in unison. Theo sends a bewildered look to Flame who just shrugs, but Mane can tell his eyes are narrowed underneath his blindfold. Egg just rolls his eyes at both of them, something fond on his face.
“Don’t sweat it Parrot,” Egg says, a kind, painfully nice smile on his face. “These two idiots are just jumpy.”
“Just jumpy?” Wemmbu says incredulously, pouting slightly, “Me and Jaden have half the mind to slam you into a cushioned room in The Great Sea and keep you there!”
Parrot flinches minutely, a distant, anguished expression on his face. Mane pretends not to notice, it's none of his business.
Flame jumps in shock when the doors to the meeting room open, and Mane’s holding his spear out faster than anyone can blink, aiming it at the man who had just strolled in. Arcn simply regards the spear with a brief look of distaste. A voidling trails in after the demon, his golden tiara glinting underneath the glowstone lights.
“Yo, chill spitfire,” the voidling’s nasally voice cuts through the tension, a grin fixated on his face, his hands held up placately, but the voidling’s eyes are violent and ready, “We aren’t here to hurt anyone.”
“Mane, Flame,” Arcn tilts his head cordially in greeting, “Long time no see.”
Arcn looks different since the Empire days. He’s more relaxed and easy, his sword hung loosely around his hip. It makes sense, Mane supposes. Towards the end of the Empire, everyone was on edge. Zam seemed to have snapped at everyone, hellbent on the theory that everyone was out to get her. Flame, Mane, Arcn, and Peentar often found themselves at the end of her short temper, and oftentimes would have to protect themselves against an unprovoked attack. Against his own rational thinking, Mane can’t help but feel happy for his old coworker. Arcn seems to be doing well for himself, and Mane feels a sense of nostalgia seeing him again.
The nostalgic mood he was feeling is dashed when Arcn faces away from him, the pirate symbol on his shield easily identifiable.
“Arcn, Tai,” Jaden says sharply, and Mane watches as the easy posture turns into something more rigid and soldier-like. He’s quick to face Flame, motioning him to come closer to him, mouthing a quick ‘pot up’ Flame seems to understand, quickly moving to the side of Mane that he wasn't always able to cover correctly, “Report.”
“Arachnid’s secure, Captain,” Tai grins, his canines sharp as they peak out, “Left him with Falcon, void knows what that guy will do.”
Jaden nods, standing up, “Make sure Mugm and Wyll aren't busy. I need them both to help deal with Arachnid.”
“Aye Aye, Captain,” Arcn says, and both he and Tai send nods in Wemmbu and Egg’s direction, Arcn sending one last smile to Mane and Flame as he leaves. Tai slows down at the door, holding the doorframe as he sends a glare to Parrot, his blank eyes boring into the king.
“Hd’s probably going to kill you one day,” Tai says simply, and he’s out the door before anyone can really process what he just said.
“Well,” Egg says, after a moment of silence. He gets up from his seat, stretching a bit as his head wings ruffle slightly, “I believe that’s our cue to leave?”
Wemmbu nods, sending a smile at the seraphim. Egg starts heading to the door, Yungy falling into step beside him, his Australian accent ringing out in the echoing chambers as he yaps.
“You know how to drain right?” Yungy asks, waving his hands around a bit. Wemmbu’s eye twitches, and Jaden lets out a small chuckle, patting Wemmbu on his shoulder, squeezing slightly before heading out the door. Wemmbu follows, making a move to close the door behind himself but there's something strange in the way he’s been acting this entire meeting, something strange about his friendship with Jaden because it's supposed to be Wemmbu and Egg, not, Wemmbu, Egg, and Jaden, and Wemmbu wouldn't ever let Mane be close to him or Egg the way that Jaden’s easily able to do and why couldn’t Wemmbu just listen and trust him—
“Wemmbu,” Mane blurts out, surprising himself. Wemmbu freezes, the door halfway to closing but Mane can't make himself talk for some random reason because it’s just getting stuck in his goddamn throat—
Wemmbu closes the door completely, and the silence afterwards is taunting, suffocating and painful.