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Running into Loppezz, in the caverns no less, was an absolute accident — he didn’t even know she was in the civilization. There were hundreds of spiders roaming around the underground civilization, how he managed to miss a literally glow in the dark cat, was a mystery.
Nevertheless, Wemmbu can get why she was avoiding him — because of their background, and whatnot.
But, Wemmbu could see — from the few days he was watching over her — Loppezz remained quite alone, avoiding the other spiders altogether. Understandable, of course — but he won’t let that happen.
Not after prison — where her shoves and words were agressive and rough, the sheer audacity to do all that, and still wear the armor he gave her when her snow civilization came crashing down via hundreds of TNT.
Not after said snow civilization — where he helped her, or well, tried to help her get her home back. He’ll admit that he wasn’t trying too hard, and underestimating his opponents, which was probably a factor on why it blew up in the first place. But he couldn’t just leave her with nothing, he gave her spare armor, tools, and looked back thrice while flying away to see if she was crying.
He doesn’t want to acknowledge him visiting his own civilization right after.
And especially not after.. the underground civilization — where they bonded, reluctantly, on his part. Where she remained bright, despite the situation, with the other.. two.
..God, he hated remembering this part — more than anything.
So, after contemplating it for around three days — he dropped down in front of her door, knocking thrice.
The door opened for a moment, before quickly slamming shut — that is, if Wemmbu didn’t slip his arm in the crack of the door. Thank having armor for making sure his arm didn’t gain a dent he needed to fix.
“Come onnnn Loppy, I just want to talk.” He chimed, not moving to push the door opened for, even if he was strong enough to break it. That, and because he can literally just mine into the house.
“No—“ her voice grumbled, slightly strained as she pressed the door against his arm, not knowing if it was doing any damage.
Wemmbu rolls his eyes. “Then, I’ll just talk out here.” He hums, tail flicking in a teasing manner — ignoring the staring that he felt behind him at the weird situation. “How’ve you been?” He asks, sounding way too casual.
“Good enough, now leave.” The alien cat huffs — not pushing too hard on the door anymore, more so to make sure Wemmbu got the right idea that she didn’t want him to get in.
“Mm.. no,” Wemmbu hums, his tone light, almost teasing. “Kiiiinda want to stay here a liiiiiitle longer..”
Loppezz fell quiet after that, but Wemmbu didn’t think about it too hard.
“I’m not.. here to ask of you to go on a mission— Yungy would be the one doing that if it were the case, hah,” he laughs, head wings flicking slightly at the awkwardness of basically talking to a door, but let’s be honest, he’s done a little worse than that. “Just.. here to..” he paused, not knowing what else to say after that.
What was he here for, anyway?
To check up on her?
To make sure she was okay?
To ask her to join their little group of idiots with odd reasons why they were there?
To chase the feeling of familiarity in a space too cramped for the emotion of comfortability?
The weight of the door slowly lifts off of his arm — he looks up, slightly surprised.
“..You’re here, and you don’t even know why?” The pink haired girl mused.
Wemmbu stared for a moment, taking in the alien cats current situation — bandaids, bandages, and a mix of iron and copper armor. So, not great.
“..Yeah well- when’s the last time I knew what I was doing?”
“Since when did you have a conscience?”
Daily check-ins and long conversations about nothing became the norm for Wemmbu after that. Mostly because he didn’t know what else to do but hang out with lower level spiders because the royals didn’t know what fun meant.
Visiting Loppezz wasn’t really a secret — Wemmbu told Jaden where he was going just in case he needed Jaden to save him again, but the pirate never truly followed him. Just watched the direction his name tag was going, before leaving him alone.
Today, though, something was different — while discussing the price of enchanted books with Loppezz - overpriced as hell, by the way - there was a soft knock on the door.
“..Are you expecting anyone?” Wemmbu asks cautiously, grabbing Gambit, who was leaning on the wall, before rising up to a battle-ready stance.
“No.” Loppezz answered shortly, also standing up, grabbing the netherite sword Wemmbu had given her the other day.
“Right, then— yo! Who’s out there?” Wemmbu yells, the concentrated ball of wind in his other hand hovering, ready to elevate him just in case.
Thankfully, there wasn’t a reason to do so.
“Wemmbu, it’s me bro.” Jadens voice calls out, a little uncertain sounding. Wemmbu perks up, before the windcharge disappears back into his inventory. “Jaden,” he breathed out, relieved.
Loppezz stiffens next to him, her tail puffing up in alert. Right, the two weren’t on the best terms.
“..It’s fine, he won’t— he’s harmless, don’t worry.”
“I heard that.”
Wemmbu rolls his eyes, watching how the nervousness rolls off of the alien cat in waves, hand still clutched tightly around the hilt of the sword. “I won’t let a fight break out in here, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Loppezz eyes him, before the sword slowly lowered, not dropped, just there, as a safety measure for herself — good enough. Wemmbu turns to open the door, the doorknob clicking as the lock released — he peeks through the small crack, and sees a silly sight.
“Why on earth do you have a cake— where did you even..?”
“Yungy helped getting the ingredients.”
Visiting Loppezz in her home became a small routine — one that Arachn1d didn’t bother intervening, because of how harmless Loppezz was in his eyes.
As if Loppezz couldn’t beat him in terms of endurance— the fragile old man. It’s a miracle Wemmbu hadn’t tried to attack him.. yet.
“Dude, I can feel your malice, calm down yo.” Egg huffs, the grip on his wrist shaking a little as Wemmbu laughed, dragged him towards the bottom feeders level. The fire resistance might run out in a few moments, he’ll have to remind Wemmbu to renew it in a bit.
“We wa we wa,” Wemmbu chimes, hopping down a few blocks, landing on stone with a click as his modified heels softened his landing. “Drop down,” he hums, placing water for the other to land on.
Their walk continued shortly after, Wemmbus grip on Egg a little looser now that they’re walking on the lower levels — he had a short window of time to get Egg caught up on the current situation.
Also because he was currently getting stalked because Arachn1d didn’t trust him with Egg.
What a pain.
“Egg?” Loppezz blurts out, ears perking up at the sight of her old friend — Egg waves, familiarity washing over him. “Hey bro? Wemmbu didn’t tell me you were here.” He laughs lightly.
Wemmbu let go of Eggs wrist after a moment, walking into the alien cats home — Jaden was already there, carefully sharpening his trident.
Egg drops to the carpet next to Loppezz, a conversation immediately sparking between the two. The words a familiar melody in Wemmbus ears.
Some part of him aches in confusion and grief overlapping at the feeling of a missing voice. One that never really disappeared when Rejoice died.
Jaden settles opposite of the two talking, tugging Wemmbu down on the carpet next to him, giving him enough space for comfort.
Wemmbu sits down a little closer than expected, a deep, long inhale occurring in his mechanical lungs.
“..I missed this.” He admits to the wind — the water responds quietly, after a moment.
“I figured you did.”