"Say wallahi we're riding this." [1]
"I swear I told you to stop making up words."
"Heh. No." Will's shoulders shake with laughter halfway through saying that. "Ha…it's not a made up word first, but more importantly, why..." He starts to break down laughing, but manages to get the next words out. "wha...why do we actually have a whip?! hahaha..." He begins to double over.
"...I…" Iris seems to struggle to speak. "...stop. Just say words like a normal person." She throws her hands up to her head before exaggeratedly pointing at the van in front of the squad. "What does whip even mean?!"
"You're probably pointing at it." Amber says.
"Hey, what's wrong with Loxy?" Noya lightly smacks Will's arm after saying that.
They're standing on a dirt road in the middle of a vibrant grassland, trees are green, sun is shining along with most of the prerequisite ambience that would induce a jovial mood into any would be travelers.
Perhaps one of them is having too many jovialities...
Will is wheezing, more so squeaks coming from him due to the lack of air, he ignores Noya's action in favor of falling onto his knees, then the floor in the fetal position. The ground visibly trembles from the sheer weight of his armor crashing down, kicking up a small puff of dust.
"...Will." Noya refuses to lower her head, glaring at Will's crumpled figure on the floor. "You done yet?"
"Ah..." A sharp inhale. "Hehehehahaha...." More laughter. "Oh..." He finally peters out. "Nn...no...no, heh, no I don't got any thin' more to say, oh my stars...." His voice is unusually high-pitched. "Ain't...no...way!"
He stares up into the bright blue sky. Amber's head slowly came into Will's focus.
"I'm not seeing the joke." She plainly states.
"Oh, yeah, um." He scratches his head. "Big, ginormous, inside joke. You... it's something you had to be there for. Had to." He mutters this next part: "...Jani, you could never bro..." [2]
He sighs before sitting up.
"Okay, got the giggles out, I'm sure y'all are familiar. Um..." Will shakes his head. "Phoh, alright, so this is how y'all roll up? We ridin' in this jant?"
"Yes, we're..." Noya pauses. "...riding in this jant..." She says that very slowly, almost like she's reading off a strange script.
Noya looks at Amber who lackadaisically waves a hand in the direction of the van.
The van in question is a bright green van with many windows on the side and a sunroof, nothing spectacular on the outside at least.
"I can show you around Loxy now, we'll be riding that ja-" Noya shakes her head. "riding it so you may as well know what's up."
Will gets onto his feet and begins walking towards the van, Noya following closely behind.
"...so do you actually know what those words are?" Iris, who is hanging behind along with Amber, tilts her head towards her and whispers.
Amber, still looking at the two heading towards the van, doesn't turn her head and is still blankly staring forward.
"Nn. Context clues, think of the focus at the moment." She responds.
"...tch." Iris clicks her tongue.
Iris stares on as Noya pulls open the side door to the van.
"This is pretty much where we live." She theatrically tries to wave him inside, instead Will is stood there like a statue.
"Uh..." He does nothing for a few more seconds before reaching up and pulling off his mask with one hand, using the other to rub at his eyes, the mask is slipped back on without revealing any of his face.
Will takes another long look at what he's seeing.
"...what." He reaches behind himself and pulls a sword out of, quite literally, nothing.
Iris and Amber get full view of his hand grasping at what appears to be thin air before it's wrapped firmly around the hilt of a bright green sword, the metal solidifying in his grasp. The sword itself possesses a golden sheen to it and looks just as bright as the surroundings. [3]
He brings it to his chest and taps the tip of the sword against himself exactly five times in a row, the sword's golden sheen gradually dimming as if its energy is being siphoned away, then he reaches up and puts the sword behind him again, reality making another compromise by having it promptly disappear.
"Those pockets are pretty big, huh?" Noya smirks.
"Only the largest for me." He mutters before actually responding. "Ay, Noya, I'm quite sure I'm not tripping but I never know these days, this your crib?" He waves towards the open door.
"...you know I'm waving you inside, right?" Noya nods before beginning to wave her arm in a circular manner towards the open door. "You aren't curious?"
"I am but like, what the carp is this?" Will steps inside, the car not buckling the least bit under his weight.
He steps inside, Noya following close behind.
"He said he'd explain it later." Amber says.
Iris glances to the side and sighs.
"It's not like we have all day." She shakes her head. "We should get moving, but first, one of us is going to need to stick around in the back with him. There's only 2 seats up front..." She states.
Iris then slowly turns to face Amber.
"...you think I don't want to?" Amber is still staring forward.
"Wha- really?" Iris seems taken aback. "It's just..." She trails off.
"Seems interesting."
"Well, if you're really that curious, then during this hour trip ask some questions. I...trust you know what type?"
Amber saunters forward and to the van.
"You want it to be an interrogation..." She says nothing more as she walks to the door.
Before she can actually make it, some muffled voice can be heard inside, then Will exits the vehicle quickly.
"Okay, okay, all that's neat and I like the set up but what the carp?!" He turns around to shout that into the van and then walks to the back of the vehicle.
The van itself is windowed which only confuses Will more because he can see the inside and it just...
"Doesn't make any sense, man." He mutters to himself as he gets behind the vehicle and holds his hands out. [4]
Almost as if measuring it's dimensions, he inspects the vehicle for a few seconds before throwing his hands up in sheer exasperation.
He's about to say something else until he notices Amber silently slipping into the van, before he can call out to her, he spots Iris walking towards the van.
"...ah...hehe." He sighs first before chuckling to himself.
Will holds a hand up like he's asking for assistance.
Iris's steps falter for a moment before she forces herself to pick up pace, walking towards the passenger seat.
"Hey, buddy." His voice calling out stops her in her tracks.
She pauses, her gaze lingering on the passenger side window before she turns, a reluctant sigh escaping her as she walks towards the back of the car.
Along the way, she looks inside the open cabin door of the van, which is essentially a bedroom.
A two-tiered bunk bed along with a spare bed off to the side. A couple of cabinets and a closet, the standard for a home of three people, with personal effects and blankets haphazardly arranged. It wouldn't look out of place in a genuine house.
Iris spots Amber on the top of the bunk bed, she perks up but loses a little of the initial excitement upon seeing Iris.
Iris grimaces, tilting her head towards the rear of the vehicle. Amber nods, then lays back down on the bed.
She quickly shut the side door and walks towards the rear of the van.
"...hitting the world tour, huh?" As she rounds the corner, she hears Will's voice before she can actually see him, he's currently looking off into the picturesque grassy landscape, not bothering a glance at her.
"We're about to get going, so yes." She shrugs.
She follows his gaze and spots nothing of interest. Seconds of silence stretch between them...
...
...
"OoOoOo~, the spirit of CEO meetings all over you~" He says it quietly.
Will's words cause Iris's lips to draw into a thin line, her eyebrows scrunching together in response.
...
"...OoOo~" Iris coughs midway. "The power of elaboration compels you." She tries to mimic his previous tone, but falters midway, the first few syllables sounding strained and painful.
Will pauses at that then snorts.
"Ay, fairs."
Iris dismissively waves her hand.
"Look, I've got a question, you said you're the knower so that's why I called." He says.
"Is it about the van?"
"Yeah."
"...well." Iris looks up. "The van itself is made entirely of magical parts. It took a lot of Wishing Boxes, but we managed." Certain memories come to mind for her.
"Uh huh. uh huh." He brings his left hand up and mimics writing on it with his right hand.
"Uh..." Iris shakes her head. "That's how Loxy came to be."
"Sounds about right, so..." He leans against the back of the van, staring at her. "How does it work?"
"It's magic." She quickly replies.
"...yeah?" He waves his hand in a circular manner.
Iris simply sighs and leans against the van as well, staring pointedly at him, her attempt to relax evident.
It takes a couple of seconds of this continuing before Will's hand stops. Slowly, very slowly, armor plates subtly grinding, he turns to face Iris.
Iris raises an eyebrow at him.
Only now does Iris get a good look at him. Just him and her.
They both lean against the van in slouched postures, though Iris's feels more forced. Even so, she has to crane her neck to meet his eyes. Her height only reaches his broad shoulders.
The mask he wears is clearly the work of a master craftsman. It looks life-like. It's a shame such talent was used to carve such a terrifying visage—a caricature of a fierce, red-faced demon—worn by... well...
The mask may cover most of his facial features, it cannot hide his eyes, they're a plain brown. Nothing more to them. Her own eyes are a vibrant red, almost every Trekker she's ever met has a similar shine to them, this guy though? Doesn't have it, doesn't have either.
Well, Iris notices something in them—a glint.
'Probably the sun, or some other light...' She thinks, yet the thought won't dissipate.
His eyes aren't dead or flat, nothing of the sort, the same light every other Trekker has just feels a lot more subtle. Less pronounced... Even though... the way this guy talks... and acts?
'Mm... that doesn't sound right at all,' she concedes, her mind struggling to reconcile his demeanor with his seemingly ordinary eyes. She expected...more...in whatever way that could come.
Will clearing his throat gets her mind back into the moment. [5]
Will doesn't say anything, nor does Iris. He slowly brings up his hand, lowering every finger except his pointer.
He points at himself first then points at her, alternating between the two multiple times until Iris perks up.
"Mhm." He hums as he continues the finger pointing before nodding his head up once.
Iris closes her eyes and smirks, then opens them and reciprocates the nod.
The understanding keeps them silent for only a few seconds before Will breaks the stare-off, chuckling, then erupting into laughter.
Will presses his hand against the mask, muffling his laughter.
Iris releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding, a snort escaping shortly after.
"Ah...no, of course not, can't laugh too much in a day." Will eventually stops laughing though. "Let me just say it, how about that?" Iris repeats the circular motion he made earlier. "Yeah, sounds about right. Look...It's just really funny."
He waves a hand forward into the distance.
"Between you and me, who's going to get the elaboration they want?" He says.
"I-"
"Nobody."
Iris is about to say something more but simply opts to shrug in response. She eve-
A loud honk startles the two of them out of their conversation.
A second shorter honk reminds them who's doing it.
A third is a telling of how long they're continuing to stand there.
"Hey! Come on, what're we doing back there? Times ticking!" Noya honks the horn an extra two times for funsies.
Iris waves at him to follow her as she goes to the passenger side of the van, Will follows close behind.
She pulls open the side door and gestures for him to go inside whilst she goes towards the passenger seat up front.
He jokingly holds two fingers up to his eyes and then points them at her, she shakes her head and opens the passenger door.
Iris gets into the seat and feels the van starting up as she does.
"Close the door back there!" Noya shouts out.
There isn't anything separating the two seats up front and the blatantly space manipulating 'bedroom' in the back, but it is large enough for a shout to be needed.
Iris hears the door slamming shut and the parking brake being released. [6]
"Alright, I'm assuming we're heading towards that Monolith in the forest?" Noya asks.
"That's the closest one, yes." Iris says. "Can't take another day to rest for it, ideally with help, we can get the Wishing Box and get something out of it so we don't go broke." Iris forces a laugh out of herself.
The car begins to move as Iris reaches towards the glovebox, about to pull out a journal with financial records...
"With help, huh?" Noya's voice stops her.
Noya doesn't say anything more until Iris looks at her.
"So...about him." Noya is still looking at the road, but is tilting her head enough to let Iris know she's paying attention.
"What about him?" Iris slowly says.
"What were you two doing back there?"
"Wha..." Iris pauses. "What do you mean?"
Noya simply reaches up and taps the rearview mirror. Since it's a van they're driving, the mirror itself is also magical, it wouldn't be able to actually show what's going on behind them if it wasn't.
Iris remembers using a Wishing Box to make it so it could display the rear properly, Loxy isn't exactly drivable if it can't...
"Okay?..." Iris seems confused.
"Well, I can see what you two were doing, but I can't hear it. Ya know?" The way Noya is talking...
Iris's head feels a little hot.
She slowly looks up at the rearview mirror which displays a perfect angle of everything happening behind the van.
'Huh.' Iris can see what she's talking about now.
"Just...staring at each other." One of Noya's eyebrows is raised. "What was that about?"
"Eh..." She tries to think of a reason, she can feel her cheeks heating up. "We were talking."
"Yeah, I know that, I could see it in the first like fifteen seconds. I'm talking about the minute afterwards."
'Minute?!' Her mind swims in a pink haze.
"N...no way, no, I..." Iris's foot is rapidly tapping against the floor.
Noya has her right hand covering her mouth, her body is shaking and the sound of chuckling is still audible.
"Aren't you moving quick..." Noya mumbles.
"Noya-!" Iris leans over and lightly jabs Noya in the side, now she's not even muffling her laughter. "It's...I don't know, I guess..." Iris speak with little conviction in her voice. "...I just thought that I could get a...feel on him?"
"Hah, you were certainly feeling something."
Iris opts to stare daggers into Noya.
"Alright, alright." Noya holds her hands up in faux surrender while looking at Iris. "That's enough, but you can't get a read on someone like that. It's been like, a couple of hours, maybe give him more time?"
Iris sighs.
"...yeah, I'm just...a little..." Iris pauses.
'Noya isn't smiling anymore, that's good, and she looks...she...why can I see her fa-' Her eyes shoot open.
"NOYA, THE ROAD!"
Noya snaps to attention and frantically grabs the wheel.
"Ooohh...hold on guys!"
Iris desperately grasps onto a nearby armrest as Noya wrangles the van into a straight line on the dirt road where it was previously swerving into an entire forest.
The van lurches and Iris is promptly pressed into the window by the force, the sound of many objects in the 'bedroom' hitting the floor rings out, along with a much heavier vibration being sent throughout the entire van.
Eventually, Noya gets the vehicle back into a slow drive forward.
"...ah..." Noya looks sheepishly forward, not daring to look anywhere else.
"Ow..." The voice of Amber echoes out.
Iris pushes off the window and looks behind her seat.
It's a mess back there of strewn objects laying about but the most important thing is Amber lying face down on the floor and Will crouching over her attempting to peel her off the floor.
"Chief, you good?" Will prods at her side with a finger. Amber only groans in response, he turns around to face Iris. "Yo, I'm only on this because y'all are too, I can just run if you're going to be on hooligandry up front. Wallah, don't test that."
Iris won't even bother to unravel that.
She's appreciative of the bailout, not the form it came in but still appreciative, but of course...
'O...God of Grace...' She cradles her face in her hands. 'Can I even be made fun of without things going bad?'
Authors Notes (Love my voice, infatuated type action, uh… lemme cook.)
[1] No, this is not a one time gimmick slang word, he will keep using this as is proven later in the chapter. Now, why does he know words in Arabic when he is not from Earth? Think of it like a manga author notes or something, read more to find out! Now, what is there to read more of? Good question, gimme a week.
[2] Jani is a friend of his, very close one, you'll hear more about his past in time but they're G's.
[3] Since this story isn't from his perspective and he won't just go around explaining what he's using, I'll do him the favor and do it for him. This is the Florid Zombie Sword. It is a sword in Hypixel Skyblock that can heal ecah time you right click for a max of 5 times. I'm explaining this because this is a one time gimmick item that I'm pulling for this scene, probably won't ever use it again so no harm in just telling you what it is. In the future for crucial items like his armor and main weapon, I won't explain those. He can do that himself.
[4] Any Stella Sorahead would've seen what the inside of Loxy actually looks like and it's pretty normal. But it conflicts with the side story of the New Star Guild inducting the Tyrant into their guild, where in that scene Loxy is like a whole bedroom, so I compromised by having the already magical vehicle just blatantly fuck with space. It just felt funnier to me.
[5] So this scene does actually last a minute. Just, straight, minute of them both staring into eachother's eyes. Very loving, very demure, romantic tension? Zero. She's so locked in she doesn't realize Will is barely containing the giggles. He was willing to continue for as long as Iris was.
[6] Wished for a parking brake, didn't wish for seatbelts. Priorities.
Anyways, thanks for reading this far, wallahi seeing y'alls likes and comments after a bad day at work makes me feel a spark in my chest. Please keep it coming, I need something to come back to for tomorrow, I'm going to be in the trenches.