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“We could make the house a massive obsidian box…” Wemmbu theorized as he kept fumbling with the fork in his steak.
“Okay, how do we get a lot of obsidian?” Egg interrupted him, peeking out of the small aquarium atop the table, his eyeball fixated on the demon's face.
Wemmbu paused, hand freezing mid movement. He did not think this through.
“By going to The End.” he slowly answered, “And we're fourteen million blocks away from The End.” That realization made him facepalm.
Eggchan made a quiet affirming noise and leaned back in his chair, “Exactly. We need to figure something out, Theobald will be back soon.”
Wemmbu rolled his eyes and with a bored expression shoved a slice of steak in his mouth, “Nah, we're not in that much of a rush. Chill out, dude.”
Wings on Egg's halo wavered a bit and the dozens of eyes that littered it rolled back. Eggchan was nervous, he could tell.
Theo was weaker than him, he was sure of that, if Wemmbu was in the mood to fight that foolish bird wouldn't stand a chance, especially with how reckless he was being with challenging one of the best players in the first place. However, as much as he hated to admit that, he was a bit drained after the mafia was defeated, all he wanted was to enjoy the server for a while: finish his and Eggs ugly little mushroom cabin, perhaps fish a bit, enjoy the peace and quiet of being this far away from spawn or civilizations in general.
Wemmbu took another bite and glanced around. Lame pale oak walls and a crooked mushroom rooftop - results of two people who couldn't be worse at building attempting to make a home for themselves. He shouldn't care for this ugly place, shouldn't give a flying frick about whether it gets blown up by the bird but he did.
Their cabin was barely a house and definitely not a home but the thought of Theobald blowing it up until nothing but a crater was left was anything but pleasant. Another piece of meat ended up in his mouth.
Of course he didn't want to give Theo what he wanted after he ruined his moment of peace, all he needed to do was to think what to do with the guy. Not right now, he truly did believe that they weren't in that much of a rush, but eventually he will.
His silver fork scraped the surface of the, now empty, plate.
Wemmbu barely spared it a glance before standing up, “Egg, it's your turn to do the dishes.”
“Brother, when is it not my turn?” Egg whined and shook his head, “Whatever. You better do them next time, I'm not your personal maiden dude.”
All Wemmbu did in answer was stick his tongue out mockingly over his shoulder which made Egg stare at him with a flabbergasted, almost offended, look.
The place greatly lacked furniture. He planned on making some more and placing what they had that day, Theo ruined those plans as well, so why waste time if all of it will blow up soon? All they had set up was the aquarium with their axolotl, table and a few chairs, cauldron and beds, the rest of their belongings were stacked all over the territory in a messy way. Small stuff to make any apartment feel lived in.
Egg got up with a sigh and walked over to the cauldron with their plates and silverware. Wemmbu lazily followed him with his gaze, eyes fixated on the back of his friends ‘head’.
Now, everyone who knew about them also knew that Egg was practically harmless, a chungie if he was being honest, a weak spot and an easy target, however people who just met them seemed intimidated by the angel's appearance rather than Wemmbu's. He couldn't really blame them for that - Egg was a freakishly tall, lanky creature with an eye for a head, golden halo covered with eyes and three pairs of wings on it. A gross, kinda gory bundle of muscle and nerves underneath the neat official clothes. Creepy, off-putting, ghastly sight, a being comparable to something like an eldritch terror. He terrified players while all he did was peacefully stroll around the server. And washed his dishes sometimes.
The demon quietly hummed as he finally switched his attention away and walked over to a corner full of discarded decorations. An oval mirror in a beautiful golden frame was leaned against the wall. He crouched down near it and wiped the dust off with his sleeve.
Standing next to him, to an untrained eye, Wemmbu looked like the less dangerous one. Sure, the pale skin had a lavender tint to it and his eyes were the color of The Void. Also the horns, one broken and one still sharp and shiny. A trained fighter would pick up that he was more than he looked, would notice the scraped hands from the sword’s handle and how his biceps were rather well trained because of the constant mace use. The average player would see a short, purple-haired imp. Not a threat to be avoided, not at first sight.
He lacked something.
“Hmm…” he hummed, squinting at his reflection.
Something distinct, something that would differ him from the mass of players. Some way to stand out even more, preferably something that would add that ‘intimidation’ factor.
Wemmbu racked his mind around people he knew.
As much as he couldn't stand Theobalds guts right now, he had those stupid sunglasses on all the time. Even during combat. And that was something distinct purely to him.
FlameFrags and ManePear had their blindfolds, they were truly brothers to the bone, even their accessory was similar despite their falling out. Mane was long gone, nobody saw the orange cloth for months at this point, however people still shivered in fear when there was as much as a glimpse of the black one.
PrinceZam during her prime always wore that large, ridiculously so, golden crown. It towered above everyone and everything, even a person much taller than Zam felt insignificant compared to the sheer power that seemed to emanate out of them.
ClownPierce came up in his brain, however his entire psycho-jester-serial-killer shtick was way too much in his opinion, too try hard. It did what it was supposed to, that freaky smile made people plunge their swords into themselves because they wanted to die quickly and not be toyed. People were intimidated, yes, but not because of his appearance but because of his reputation.
He needed to start small, to build his signature look brick by brick. Carefully and slowly so that his image doesn't end up in the same place as this cabin.
What was something people recognized him by? He would assume that it was the tiara he got back during the time he had that colony under his control or the horns, at least that what he himself would remember if he was in their place, howerer one thing people seemed to have engraved in their minds was his grin of all things. A grimace he always made while fighting.
He's pretty sure he'd seen some simplified drawings of him on signs and walls that had that smiley face plastered on it.
Huh.
Perhaps he does know what he's missing.
Wemmbu tilted the mirror sideways so that he could see Egg without standing up.
The angel was done with the plates now and was carefully putting his white gloves back on. A small smirk appeared on Wemmbu's face and his friend almost physically sensed it, turned his head towards the mirror and made eye contact.
“Dude, what are you staring at?”
“Egg, do you have steady hands?”
Eggchan's wings fluttered, but he just stood motionless and confused, “What?”
“Are your hands steady?” Wemmbu repeated, now much slower, separating each word with a pause, “Yes or no, bro?”
The angel groaned, “I heard you the first time, no, I mean, what? What do you want of me this time?”
Wemmbu clicked his tongue and whipped around to face his friend, “Are they or are they not?”
“I- I guess yes? Brother, what are we doing?!” the tone of his voice got higher and the eyes on his halo darted around the room in a quiet panic.
“See, it wasn't that hard after all, was it! Good, that's good.” Wemmbu clapped and nodded, still ignoring his friends questions
The demon jumped to his feet in one motion and began pacing around the house, attempting to find what he needed.
During his time on a server he had accumulated quite a bunch of different types of jewelry. Some were gifts from other people, some he found decorating the corpses of his foes and decided to keep for himself, some stolen from vaults. At this point his wooden box was literally overflowing with pieces he rarely got to show off: golden earrings encrusted with redstone, emerald pendants and diamond brooches, whatever a heart could desire was hidden inside.
Wemmbu was quietly mumbling while rummaging through the box. A memory of PrinceZam giving him a small dark purple box was a distinct one. It happened when she was handing him materials to build the colony, a small token really, but he had kept it neatly stashed for all these months anyway.
“Earrings? Really?” Wemmbu lifted an eyebrow, “I mean, sure, my ears are pierced, but are you for real?”
“You don't have to take them if you don't want them.” The emperor rolled their eyes and barely noticeably lowered her hands with the small box inside.
“Nah, nah, I will, I'm just surprised, that's it.” Wemmbu waved his arms in an apologizing manner, “They're nice.”
PrinceZam nodded affirmingly and smiled wider. She took one of them out of the soft cushion inside of the box and held it up to the windows. Sunlight passed through it and fractured, like this Wemmbu could see that the material wasn't black but actually a purple-ish blue.
The demon's mouth opened a bit, and Zam picked up on that.
“Labret studs, made out of pure obsidian. A delicate, yet a gorgeous accessory.” Zam explained, “I'm glad you like them.”
The last time he wore them was when he was dropping nuke after nuke in the sky above that wretched excuse of a civilization. They would do the job.
“There they are! Yo, Egg, remember those?” he yelled over his shoulder and held up the studs.
The angel leaned in a bit, attempting to see from that far away, “Wha… Oh yeah, I do! But why do you need them? Dude, I'm lowkey scared, what are you planning?”
“Nothing! What did I tell ya, chill out. Nobody's gonna get harmed.” Wemmbu tossed the earrings up and caught them back in his fist, “Get your sewing kit. I know you have one, old man.”
“The what.”
Perhaps he'll regret it eventually, but right now he was as sure of this decision as he was of himself.
Egg was holding up the biggest needle he'd ever seen, his usual white gloves replaced by rubber ones and body language all tense and snappy. His wings were pulled tightly to the halo and it looked like this was the most nerve-wracking experience of his life. A huge contrast to how leisurely Wemmbu was sitting, criss-cross and relaxed.
He was giddly smiling, two small dots marked above his upper lip, tail almost wagging impatiently on top of the bed sheets.
“Are you like, a hundred and one percent sure you want me to do this?” Egg sheepishly asked, “And you won't smash me to death if I mess this up?”
“You won't though. Won't mess up.”
“What can you even… Like, do and not do while those things heal?” Egg stalled while he prepared himself, Wemmbu could tell, but decided to entertain his friend nonetheless.
“Ehh, if I remember right…” Wemmbu scratched his horn, “No smoking or alcohol for sure, which… I do neither, so who cares. I'm pretty sure there was something about no spicy food. Nothing I can't handle.” he shrugged, “Now chop chop, get to it.”
Egg let out a long sigh, “Here goes nothing… Don't you dare twitch or I'll gather all of the evil from this server and lead it right to your bedside myself.”
Eggchan shifted into a more comfortable position and Wemmbu swears that the angel stopped breathing completely, “On the count of one, two…”
The demon barely winced when the needle passed through, initial pain wasn't that bad, actually screwing the stud was way more unpleasant. Egg slumped and exhaled, visibly cheering at his success, “Okay, now the other one if you're ready.”
“Bro. I asked for this and now you think I'm gonna chicken out when we're halfway done?”
“Hey, I don't know! What if your Achilles heel is needles of all things and you're about to pass out?”
“Dude.” Wemmbu stared at his friend, “Be so for real right now.”
The second piercing, now that he actually knew how it felt, was taken even better.
Obsidian studs felt foreign, unusual. Something cold against raw flesh usually meant that the situation was really bad, it meant a stab wound that would leave a nasty scar or an arrow plunged somewhere deep but this time neither of those were correct answers.
“Do they hurt? ‘Cause if they do we'll need to get moving now to get to a nearest medic before your lips fall off.”
“Dude, of course they do, duh, it's literal holes with a piece of stone stuffed inside. But I'm like, almost certain that it's normal amounts of pain.”
“What do you mean ‘almost certain’?!” Egghan screamed and Wemmbu fell back onto the bed in a fit of laughter, “I don't wanna be responsible for your death!”
“Bro, I'm not dying! It's just a piercing, oh my God, Egg!”
Wemmbu picked their mirror up and stared into it. Obsidian glistened with each little move, catching highlights from the few torches. Symmetrical, neat job, especially considering how Egg had absolutely zero experience in this field.
He covered his actual eyes with his hand before turning to Eggchan and giggling, “Does it look like a lil smiling face?”
“Yo, what, it actually does. Yooo, that's God tier levels of aura.” the angel agreed.
“I know right! And you were worried!”