"You do know that you are allowed to be jealous, right? Just don't be a bone bulge about it." Zestil eyed his friend as they had their legs dangled over the ledge of a high cliff on his own planet. The new landscape was a lot nicer than it had been before he completed his quest line, but it didn’t hold his attention the same way Aarvus’ new look did. He had never seen the other troll’s eyes before; it was oddly vulnerable for him and he was well aware.
"N0, I'm n0t j=al0u$. I tru$t my Mat=$prit=." Aarvus sighed, glad that his friend was on the side he couldn’t even see from. He was overly aware of his presence, due to never having been able to see from that eye any way, but it felt more like a comfort than an irritant at the moment. The sound of his Matsprite’s snarl still rung in his ears; he didn’t even know humans could make sounds like that…. And when had she learned so much about troll mating culture?
"You can trust your partner and be jealous. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Really, the only time where jealousy becomes an issue is when the jealous one lets it overwhelm them."
Aarvus turned quickly to face Zestil head on and just gaped fully aghast at him, confused how he could be seen as the party in the wrong in this whole debacle. Honestly, the shifting of colors in the water below was starting to make him queasy any way.
“$inc= wh=n ar= y0u Mr. Phili$0phical?” he snapped, feeling verbally backed into a corner. “H0w wa$ thi$ my fault?”
Zestil barked out laughter until he ended up falling onto his back and shoved his hands behind his head to create a barrier between his scull and the stone beneath since grass hadn’t quite taken a hold yet on this world.
“I didn’t say it was anyone’s fault, man. Just that you didn’t really need to attack Mez like that. You kinda brought it on yourself.” He clarified, his eyes closed casually as he enjoyed the breeze.
Aarvus scowled down at his casual demeanor in the face of his own plight. Sure, his emotions got out of control and he probably did over react, but Mezzie could have taken him himself instead, it wouldn’t have bruised his ego so much at least. He had thought she was weaker than him by default, with her squishy body and lower blood caste…. At least if Mezzie had been the one to crack his horn, he would have had a good reason behind it, and it would have made sense. Astra wasn’t even a troll, and really wasn’t that much stronger than him in the first place, her doing it just felt so emasculating. Sure Nag rewound it for him, it was like it never happened, but still… everyone he knew knew about it. Saw it happen.
The image of her face looking back at him with fear and shock when she realized what happened flashed behind his eye but he dismissed it just as quickly as in came to mind. An annoyed clicking sound whirred to life from somewhere deep in his throat. Zestil snickered at the noise and grinned, but still refused to see the irritation in question,
“She did what she was supposed to as a good Moirail. You can’t even fault her for it; she acts more troll than you do.” That pissed him off even more, not because it was inaccurate, but because he was right.
“Wh0 =v=n t0ld h=r ab0ut that $hit? Wh=n did I $t0p b=ing =n0ugh?” Aarvus snapped, then immediately looked away from the other man and busied himself with the scenery once more, embarrassed that he still couldn’t control himself.
“She might have just grubled it man. And you still have your head up your dung shoot. It wasn’t even about you- and even if it was, you already have two quadrants with her. You’re acting like a wriggler.”
Aarvus scowled at Zestil and considered just punching him for his efforts, but decided one fight and two losses of friends was enough for one day and decided to choke down the slight.
“$h=’$ n0t a tr0ll th0ugh… $h= =v=n $aid h=r$=lf that human$ d0n’t d0 quadrant$.” He pointed out, his tone sufficiently calm, enough so he might have pat himself on the back for it if it were any other less serious situation.
“Yeah… but she cared enough to figure it out any way. Just give them some space man, you can go grovel later. I’m sure shes not gunna stay mad; not if her face was anything to go by.”
Back on Alternia, none of them had lived close enough to get a real feel on each other more than video calls would allow- that should have been some sort of red flag for them about Mezzie now that he thought about it, but retrospection was 2020. Now that they could hop between worlds thanks to Sburb, everything was pretty up in the air and unstable relationship-wise… platonic or otherwise.
“It’s not even like she was trying to replace you-” He peeked an eye open to stop Aarvus’ interjection before he could make it, “You never had that quadrant with her, don’t act like its the same. I don’t get why you’re so upset about it in the first place. Like, yeah, fight for what ya want, never gunna oppose that stand, but what is it you were fighting for?”
Aarvus sighed and ran his hand through his hair again, it was so weird having it pushed back like this, but honestly he didn’t care about It so much any more. It wasn’t like he was going to get culled over his eyes any more so he didn’t see the point in pulling it back down… actually, maybe he would since Zestil was giving him a look for rolling his eyes. Apparently he couldn’t openly do that anymore.
“I dunn0 man…. What if $h= lik=$ M=z m0r=?” He scowled at the thought of losing the only relationship he’d ever had to a high blood of all people. A high blood douche bag who couldn’t even fight him himself.
“It’s not the same. You know that. Try again.”
“N0, n0 it i$ th0ugh. I m=an, what if $h= =nd$ up liking him m0r= than a M0irail n0w?”
“Well, a territorial fight probably wasn’t the best move if you wanted to prevent that… Doubt it though… she likes fighting with you too much.” Zestil grinned up at his friend, confident that he knew Astra well enough to know she wasn’t about to drop quadrants with him even if she did end up filling a completely separate one. Aarvus was less convinced though, and frowned down at him.
“I d0n’t wanna ju$t b= a Ki$m=$i$ th0ugh…. And $h= $tart=d it!”
Zestil shrugged at the statement, “Then tell’er that. Also, don’t lie man, I was there too. You charged Mezzie first, her reacting to it isn’t her starting anything.”
Aarvus just frowned harder for a moment before relenting and his whole body drooped in response, letting out an exaggerated huff.
“Tell her in a few days. Yall need space right now. Cmon.” Zestil finished off, grunting as he got up from his spot on the stone cliff and started heading back to the denizen’s town, letting Aarvus follow him in his own time.
