Three Bs
Beauty, Bullet, Bumpkin
Zind : [Friends]
Zind : [I need help]
Boothill : [Where ya at muddle-fudger]
Boothill : [I'll forkin haul ya ass outta there]
Argenti : [Stay strong my friend!]
Argenti : [We will be there!]
Zind : [Whoa whoa whoa it's not what you guys think it is]
Zind : [Sorry for the misunderstanding but my life is in no danger]
Zind : [Friends, I think I'm in love]
Zind has shared an image
Zind : [I think I found my sweetheart]
Zind : [Anyone here has any experience or wisdom to share on how to woo a girl?]
–
"What's with the roses?"
"I thought girls love flowers?"
"For Firefly, huh?" Silver Wolf immediately deduced Zind' intentions. "Bruh, you really are turning into a simp for her, don't cha?"
"Can you blame me? When she's such a perfect girl?"
"True…" Silver Wolf had no choice but to voice her agreement with his statement on this matter. "All the best, bud."
"Not going to be my wingman? I'll invite you to our wedding."
"If you want to dream you should head for Penacony," Silver Wolf sassed back at him in reply. "Don't say that I didn't warn ya, she really doesn't like bugs and flowers tend to attract bugs. You get what I'm saying?"
"Drats," Zind muttered and took out his phone to quickly ask for more advice. "Nevermind then, Plan B. Thanks man, you're a lifesaver."
"Don't sweat it."
–
Three Bs
Beauty, Bullet, Bumpkin
Zind : [It didn't work]
Zind : [Her bff told me that she hates bugs and flowers attract bugs, which is why she's not into flowers all that much]
Argenti : [I'm awfully sorry, friend. My proposition backfired in the worst possible way]
Zind : [It's k. No harm was done and you had the best intentions]
Boothill : [How about you make her a muddle-fudgin' romantic candle light dinner]
Boothill : [Girls like that stuff]
Boothill : [The folks that adopted me used to do that on their anniversary. It was so fudgin' sickeningly sweet that it nearly gave me forkin' diabetes]
–
"I wasn't aware you could cook."
"That's something that I just realised recently. Did nobody here cook their meals? The fridge's practically empty and the only things I can find are those pre-made or ready-heat meals. That's not what I would consider a proper meal."
"I'm only good at making pastries, Bladie's hell bent on dying, Firefly nearly burnt down the kitchen thrice, and Silver Wolf survives on junk food."
"Q-forkin-poth. How did you guys survive for as long as you all did?" Zind was truly appalled at what he just learnt from Kafka. Blade and Silver Wolf, he could understand. He still doesn't fully know Blade's past beyond understanding that he's an immortal that yearns to die, and he knows that he cannot realistically expect a suicidal man to want to eat to live and a hardcore gamer to live on a healthy diet.
But how on earth did Kafka and his sweet Firefly survive without eating three proper meals a day?
–
Stellaron Hunter Family (LOL)
Stick to the script or Elio would kick your ass lol
Zind : [Since our fridge is as good as empty]
Zind : [I'm doing a grocery run]
Zind : [Place your orders guys]
Silver Wolf : [Chips please]
Silver Wolf : [Blade says that he's not picky]
Silver Wolf : [He will happily eat even poison as long as it can kills him lol]
Silver Wolf : {Chibi Blade stabbing himself sticker}
Firefly : [You can cook?]
Firefly : {Impressed Silver Wolf sticker}
Firefly : [I'm not picky too!]
Kafka : [Surprise us]
Zind: [K. And Sam?]
Zind : [Wait, why is my cool mecha bro not in our chat?]
Silver Wolf : [He's a mecha bro, a cool mecha bro doesn't need a chat to know what our next plans are]
Zind : [True]
Firefly : [?]
Firefly : [That's not true…]
Silver Wolf : [Does Sam ever need to be included into the chat to know what's going to happen next?]
Firefly : [No…]
Firefly : [But]
Silver Wolf : [Then I'm right. Lol]
Elio : [Remember to get some cat food]
Zind : [?]
Zind : [Cat food?]
Zind : [We have cats?]
Elio : [Just stick to my script]
Zind : [What's this got to do with a script?]
Elio : [Have you read the signature for the group chat?]
Zind : [Aye aye captain]
–
"Welcome back! Do you need help?" Firefly immediately went to offer her assistance the moment she saw Zind returned with several large bags of groceries in tow.
"It's fine, I can handle this," Zind confidently proclaimed and effortlessly lugged those bags to the kitchen as Firefly followed behind him. "What do you want to eat for lunch?"
"Umm… I don't really know… whatever is easiest for you to prepare?" Firefly meekly answered as she assisted Zind in unpacking the grocery bags. "Wow, that's a lot of food– ah."
"Careful," Zind reminded her with worry when he saw how Firefly dropped the packet of meat with shaky hands. He picked up the packet for her but he couldn't help but notice how odd her hands were shaking, which led him to recall the words Silver Wolf told him that day.
Firefly, she… Her body's not exactly in the best of health for reasons that it's not my place to disclose.
"Are you… okay?" He hesitantly asked. "If you are feeling unwell–"
"I-I'm fine!" Firefly quickly reassured him. "It's just…"
"You don't need to hide your hands behind your back. I can see that they are still shaking a little. Is there… anything I can do to help?"
"Uh… Ahahaha… I guess my secret is out…" Firefly gave an awkward laugh but she also understands that the affliction that she suffers from is not something which she can hide from her newest partner forever, and she never intended to hide it from him. She told him about the strange condition known as the Entropy Loss Syndrome, how those suffering from it will experience an irreversible chronic dissociation of their physical structure.
She told him how it means that those afflicted with it will slowly fade away, and the entire process is barely noticeable to others. They could still run, jump, and talk as usual. Everything seems normal, but then they would start doing everything slightly slower than others…and then even slower than that, until eventually the lines between their body and the entire world become blurry. They won't be able to tell reality from dreams because they have all been shattered.
"Is there no cure?"
"Don't worry, I'm diligently following the doctor's orders."
"So there's no cure," Zind read in between the lines, knowing that the kind hearted girl was trying to avoid the question so that he would not worry about her. "Technology has advanced to the point that we can warp through space and make almost all sorts of sci-fi nonsense a reality but no cure has been found for such a condition? I find that hard to believe."
"It's a genetic disorder, something carved into my genes. It's not something that can be easily rectified," Firefly gently coaxed. "Thank you for worrying over me, Zind, but please do not worry. I'm also doing everything I can to survive."
"I will look around for a cure," he promised. Seeing that Firefly doesn't really wish to dwell on this topic any longer, he quickly changed the topic of conversation and continued with unpacking the groceries. Firefly stayed to help out, eager to learn how to cook from someone who does and it's an opportunity that Zind immediately grasped.
And then he took out the cat food that the boss whom he had never yet met asked him to purchase.
"Why does our boss want us to get cat food anyway? I haven't even seen a single cat fur in this place the entire time, much less a single cat."
"Um, actually–"
"Meow?"
Their heads swivelled to where they both heard the sudden meowing. Lo and behold, a black cat with big yellow eyes stared right at them from where it had unknowingly perched itself on the surface of the table.
"... I take back what I just said. We actually have a cat."
"Zind, that's actually–"
"Meow~"
Firefly's body froze, not from her entropy loss syndrome, but at the fact that the leader of the Stellaron Hunters actually meowed at them. She's one of the earliest members to join the hunters but even she had never seen Elio acting like a cat despite taking the form of one.
"Aww what a cute kitty cat. C'mere kitty, c'mere," Zind cooed and beckoned the black cat to come over and Firefly felt as if her world had been turned upside down. There's no way Elio would–
"Meow~"
– come over like a real cat and enjoy the head scratches that Zind gave him… She took it back. She took it all back. Is this really the Elio that she's been working under? Has a real cat replaced the leader of the Stellaron Hunters?
"What's your name?" Zind gently lifted the cat up in his arms, cooing at it the entire time, unaware of the shocked look on Firefly's face as his back happened to be turned towards her. Firefly slowly shifted her gaze to the black cat in Zind's arms, and she knew that the black cat had to be Elio when that familiar look of intelligence in its eyes met her gaze for that one short moment.
Do not expose my cover
She could read what Elio wanted to convey with a single glance and so everything that was at the tip of her tongue was reluctantly swallowed back down her throat. What's going on? Is the world ending? Maybe the next swarm disaster is near? Why on earth would Elio allow somebody else to treat him like the cat that he took the form of?
"Do you have a name?" Zind wondered aloud. "Hey Firefly, do you guys have a name for the cat?"
Firefly's mind had not yet resumed functioning and was torn between lying or telling the truth. Her tongue simply let slip the answer.
"Elio."
"Huh? Isn't that the name of our boss?"
"I-I mean…" Firefly quickly tried to find a way to lie her way through when she saw the glare that Elio was shooting her out of Zind's sight. "U-U-Uh it started out as a joke! Yes, a joke! We couldn't help but notice that Elio and the cat bore some resemblance to each other in the way they s-stare a-at you so we jokingly named it Elio… Elio himself was also fine with the name… hahaha…"
If Zind had paid closer attention he would have noticed how Firefly's forehead was breaking out in cold sweat, how her body was fidgeting uneasily, and how her fingers were repeatedly curling and uncurling uneasily behind her back. Thankfully, Zind bought the impromptu lie that she weaved under Elio's silent threat and the case was closed.
"Are you a boy or a girl?" Zind wondered aloud and nobody was expecting for Zind to suddenly lift Elio up in his hands to get a better look at the area between the cat's hind legs, an unexpected act that even the Destiny's Slave could not have possibly foreseen. "Let's see…"
"MEREOOOOW!"
Chaos ensued.
–
Three Bs
Beauty, Bullet, Bumpkin
Zind : [I miscalculated]
Boothill : [What the fudge went wrong this time]
Zind : [It actually worked out]
Zind : [My sweetheart wanted to learn how to cook so we had some quality time together]
Zind has shared an image
Argenti : [What an elegant feast that both of you had prepared!]
Zind : [Yeah somehow we ended up cooking for everyone who lived under the same roof as we do]
Zind : [So the romantic candlelight dinner didn't happen]
Zind : [But at least I think we had grown a little closer in the process of preparing the meal]
Zind : [She looked quite happy too]
Boothill : [One step at a time, partner. You will fudgin' make it there someday]
Zind : [Also]
Zind has shared an image
Boothill : [What the forkin' fudge happened to you]
Argenti : [Those claw marks were dangerously close to your left eye. You could have lost your eye. What evil beast did that?]
Zind : [Got scratched by a black cat]
Zind has shared an image
Zind : [This lovely furry bastard]
Zind : [I swear it can understand what I'm saying]
Zind : [My personal theory that it's a shapeshifting alien in disguise. I just have no proof]
Zind : [Btw]
Zind : [I have 2 questions]
Zind : [Does anybody know any doctor that can cure entropy loss syndrome?]
Zind : [And does anyone know where I could get some catnip?]