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Ceres loathed him.
They couldn’t explain it. It was something about the way things always seemed to work out in his favor. The deities’ perfect fucking boy.
Of course, they tried not to think about him too much. He didn’t consume their every waking thought. They weren’t some.. some loser whose life had been stomped on.
That motherfucking magician and their acts They had it so good.
Ceres envied him.
Liber, who had it all. Liber, who never seemed to falter in their line of work. That was supposed to be /him./
The deities were supposed to adore him! Not that asshat.
What did they see in him anyway? He’s pathetic, even a moron could see that Liber had no idea what they were doing. It was an accident that got them into this ordeal, after all.
Ceres despised him.
…Which is why they wanted to do something about it.
—
Liber opened their eyes, groaning. They ached, but in the best way possible. Gods, this feeling was intoxicating.
Liber was sore.
They stretched, releasing a yawn and sitting up in bed. Not that they needed to sleep in the first place, but the magician liked to anyway. Ever since they’d arrived on Polus at least, it felt nice to pretend to be… mortal.
Liber swung their legs over the edge of the bed shakily, taking notice of the covers messily drawn away on the other side. An amusing indicator of who had been there the night before.
They stood up, making a noise of discomfort before reaching for the book on the bedside table. The pain was snapped away… sort of. That was the easiest way to put it. They hummed, grabbing hold of the cane leaning against the wall before making their way towards the kitchen. Passing Lee’s room, the faint drone of white noise came from inside. Quite the stark contrast to Story’s obnoxious snoring from across the hall.
He ignored them both, pressing onward and arriving at the kitchen.
“Good morning,” They mumbled. Liber, head down, prepared themselves some tea.
They were surprised to be met with silence. Nobody was in the kitchen at this hour.
Not exactly unusual, he thought. Something continued to nag at him, however. The magician grasped their mug, taking a small sip. No breakfast was set out, no dishes in the sink… strange. He wondered if the pair were still asleep.
A quick portal to Lar’s room revealed that they were in fact, not. The bed wasn’t even made, which was more concerning. He always made his bed when he got up. Liber squinted, taking in the rest of the room. Nothing was out of the ordinary apart from the bed itself.
Thinking of a way to solve their disappearance, the magician clicked on their walkie talkie. They were met with static, and a beeping noise close by. One walkie appeared to be under the bed.
He dragged it out, picking up the small device. Its dark green color was stereotypical to that of a children’s toy, but it was surprisingly effective for its purpose. Liber turned it over in their hand, noticing Arun’s engraving on it. The trio each had one, with their respective color and/or initial plastered in marker.
This was Lar’s room, so, they could only assume the venison kept his on it’s person.
Liber radio’d in once more.
“Hello? Either of you? Where is everyone?”
They didn’t give a shit if they were called nosy for it later. Plenty of times the two had just turned out to be in specimen or medbay fooling around, but something felt stranger about this time. Several signs were enough to induce panic within the magician, but they remained level-headed.
The walkie was static for a few seconds. They never really expected a response from Lar’s, considering his mutism. Liber usually picked up translations instead, all the deer had to do was sign.
…But strangely enough, the device recieved a call-back. The sound of a beep filled the small dorm, and he blinked in surprise.
“…Lar? Arun?” He repeated into it.
“Hello, Liber!”
What he’d expected to be one of their voices was replaced by an unfamiliar one.
“You’re still there, aren’t you?” They called through.
He mumbled. “Who-“
“Oh, good! Very good. Alright then.”
He could hear them clear their throat, but things didn’t become any clearer on his end.
The voice carried on,
“You’re probably quite confused—I mean, you don’t know me very well. I know you, though! That’s all that matters, really.” A chuckle. “Anyway. You’ll have noticed the absence of some allies around you, hence the reason for this cute little phone call.”
Their blood boiled. Who the fuck was this?
“—You’re probably starting to get upset! Oh, my, how does this stranger know about my peers? How do they know that I can’t find them?” They sobbed in mockery, before coughing. “Eugh. I hope you don’t monologue like that. You should have some more respect for yourself… or don’t, I don’t really care. I digress. Your boyfriends are with me. Not by choice, to clarify, the red one is actually pissy. I can see why you like him.”
“What the hell do you want? Why are you doing this shit?” They spat, gripping the walkie.
“I don’t want anything. I used to, I think, but i’m past that now. Maybe I want to see you suffer. Maybe I’m just bored,” They yawned. “The answer is unclear. Either way, this is a game now! (Ooh, fun.. right?)”
“Motherfucker. Tell me where you are this instant, or I’ll—“
“Ah, ah, ah.” They could be heard smiling through the tone. “That’s not how these things work, Liber! I’m disappointed. Here’s how this is actually going to go,” A pause.
“—I’m not going to tell you anything. Anything apart from a name and a universe, that is—yes, i know what you can do—extremely relevant to my cause. You’re going to seek out that name and do whatever I say to ‘em! Fuck the deities, I’m off of their radar.” The voice hummed.
Liber was in disbelief. They fell silent, heart squeezing itself.
“—What about your partners, you ask? They’re gonna hang with me! We’ll get to know each other a bit, and if you do something I’m not a huge fan of, they’ll likely pay the price. It’s just a little motivator, you see. D’oh, how cute it is to see someone so powerful make attachments! Actually, I’ll let them say hi. One of them, at least.”
A bit of shuffling, before Arun’s voice leaked through. “LIBER!” They shouted.
“Arun— holy fuck, where are you? Just tell me, and I can—“
The engineer yelped, and the walkie was wrangled back out of their hands. The stranger cleared their throat once more.
“No thank you. As I was saying—“
Liber frowned.
“—I give you a name and a universe that corresponds. You seek them out. I give you instructions. You do it without making me wait. That’s it! That’s the game! It's almost too easy. You really ought to work on… not being so much of a pushover? Eehh… I don’t know what to call your situation. It probably sucks regardless.”
A laugh sounded, dying down just as quickly as it had begun.
“I hope you make the right choices. Au revoir, Liber.”
A click.
Their walkie fell to the floor, clattering.
Liber paused.
Liber sat.
Liber sobbed.