19
It was a few days into being forced to be together that Tango realised his friendship with Impulse was over. He'd known from the start that Impulse was, like most of the server, suspicious of Cub and Scar. But it was when Tango mentioned a meeting of all the vexlings on the server that he truly knew.
'Nu-uh. That's not happening,' Impulse decided. 'I'm not going into a room with that many murder suspects. And after the NHO stuff as well.'
'What?! Impulse, I've told you we're innocent a billion times! We're your friends.' Tango snapped back.
'2 hermits are dead. I don't feel safe around you. Any of you. I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you kill me. Or anyone else.'
'You don't feel safe around me?' Tango fought down a wave of anger the vex weren't helping with. 'I thought you told me you'd always trust me, and would stay by my side when you found out I was a Vexling. Don't you remember that?'
'Hermits are dying, Tango.' Impulse broke free of Tango's grip. 'And it could only be the work of Vexlings. I'm not changing my mind, whatever you and Skizz say, you hear me? Vexlings are dangerous. I'm not letting you meet with them. Goodbye.' Impulse left the room, slamming the door behind. For a moment, Tango just stared at it, before turning to his communicator.
You whispered to FalseSymmetry: my base tonight. Vexling meeting. To discuss everything in private
You whispered to cubfan135: my base tonight. Vexling meeting. To discuss everything in private
You whispered to GoodTimeWithScar: my base tonight. Vexling meeting. To discuss everything in private
'Tango!' False called as she reached Tango's base that evening. 'Hey!'
'Hey, Falsie. What's up?'
'Not much... worked on my base. Avoided Hermits I know I'm going to argue with... I can't believe so many hermits really think it was Vex activity.'
'I can...' Tango replied, glancing at Impulse, sat fuming in the corner. 'Why not blame the Hermits who've been dealing with vexification for years and know how to handle it? Yeah, I'm sure that makes sense.'
'I for one, having seen the actions of far less civilised vexlings than you two, and Cub and Scar, really don't think this is how they'd go about murder.' Wels joined in the conversation with. 'They like spectacle. Something that'll scare the server into obedience. Instead of making it so ambiguous as to whether they even caused the deaths or not.'
'Yes! Thank you, Wels. Finally a hermit that understands... oh! Scar! Hey there! And Cubby! And Joe!'
'Why hello there, Tango!' Scar landed, putting on a smile. 'How's everything going over here?'
'Oh, just peachy. Aside from Impulse revealing that he's a huge coward and the continued suspicion after we've ruled ourselves out so many times...'
'I'm refusing to acknowledge that Grian exists until he admits he was in the wrong for telling Cub, to his face, that he didn't trust him and wasn't letting us be together.'
'What?! That's bullshit!' Scar nodded at Tango's reply, turning to Cub.
'Yep. But we don't care what Grian says, do we Cub?'
'Yeah.'
Attention, and not long after, concern, turned to Cub. It was clear he hadn't been sleeping, his hair a tangled mess, his clothes ragged.
'Cub?' False frowned. 'What happened? Was it the other hermits?'
'Nah, I've been alone. Haven't seen anyone except Joe and Scar. I've had enough of everyone else.'
'He hasn't slept since Hypno died. He wasn't really sleeping before then either.' Joe explained.
'I can handle not sleeping.'
'No you can't, Cub. You know you can't.'
'If I try I'll just get more nightmares... anyway, what are we here to discuss?'
Tango tried to find the right words to say as attention turned to him again.
'Well... a lot of hermits believe the murder is due to vexification, and that one of us, mainly Cub, killed them. I just wanted a place where we could just discuss, without, y'know, getting into an argument about whether Vexlings are soulless freaks or some similar crap.'
'It's Ren. 100% it's Ren,' False figured. 'He argued with Hypno, he's been acting off since this whole thing began. And we've just been caught in the crossfire.'
'I also argued with Hypno,' countered Cub. 'It lined up very well with me maybe being possessed.'
'Then Ren's framing you. He was hiding out nearby, saw an opportunity, and attacked. Do we really believe that he was with Beef.'
'I think, if it isn't the ConVex, they're being framed. Someone knows they're going to be blamed for this, someone who's already got a grudge.'
'Ren has a grudge on us? What have I ever done to him?!'
'He's close with Doc so he might've heard the NHO story and decided to get revenge for that.'
'And we know Ren takes stuff too far... being a maniacal monarch last season proves he certainly has some capacity for taking stuff too far.' Joe added.
'And in Third Life... hey, wait, maybe we could ask Martyn what he thinks of this. He was Ren's right hand man that whole time.' Tango suggested.
'Yeah, that's a good idea.' Scar agreed. Tango began messaging, when False suddenly thought something.
'Is forced possession an option?'
'That's... highly illegal.' Wels frowned. 'No hermit would have access to something like that, right?'
Cub and Scar exchanged a glance.'
'Ren does.' Scar muttered. Attention turned to him. 'He threatened me with it last season. When he was king. To force me to do stuff for him.'
'We told Xisuma, and he said he'd handle it...' Cub explained 'But the thing is, Ren wasn't around to even sneak me any of it after the fight.'
'Who was there?'
'Only Xisuma was close enough.'
'Wait- shit- Xisuma handled it after Ren had some. What if he kept it?' attention turned to False, then Joe as he rebuked.
'How would that work with Jevin's death? He found clawmarks.'
'Or he only said he did,' mumbled Scar. The room went quiet, the truth slowly sinking in. Cub was the first to speak.
'Xisuma could've made me kill Hypno.'
'Xisuma could be the murderer.'
:)
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