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stonegoesgodmode · 5 months

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Chapter Two

A Visit to GoodTime’s Cafe

Xelque enters through the back alley and changes, his wings disappearing into tattoo makings with ease. Grian runs his hand through his tousled blonde hair and puts his glasses on, the violet color easily being covered by a blue light that seems to pass through the glasses. Grian goes to the front of the shop, unlocking and opening the door. A few hours later, Scar comes in, carrying Grian's three refrigerated boxes.

Grian glances over from where he's cleaning a table, and he smiles. "Oh, Mr. Goodtimes, let me help you with that." He jogs over and takes one of the boxes. "A lot lighter without all the food, that's for sure."

“They definitely are lighter without the food.” Scar smiles at the baker. “Also, you can just use my first name.”

“My apologies, I’ll do that from now on.” With that, Grian then turns, heading towards the back. Scar trails behind him with the other boxes.

Grian sets the box he carried down on the counter before turning and taking the second box from Scar to place with the first. “Did you hear about that new vigilante?” the baker askes, “I saw his debut on the news last night.”

“I definitely heard,” Scar places the last box on the counter with the rest, “I was able to see the fight from where I was stuck in the traffic.”

“You saw? Oh my, was it scary?” Grian wonders, grabbing some wipes to clean the boxes off.

“I was prepared to ditch my car and run if needed.” The barista shrugs. “The only scary thing though was how ugly The Doctor’s face was.”

Grian pauses for a second before he laughs. “My, his face can be scary up close.” The baker suddenly gets a bit nervous. “Not that I’ve ever been close, just social media and all-”

“I certainly didn’t want to be any closer, my car almost got hit by a stray laser.” Scar failed to notice Grian’s sudden nervousness.

"I hope your Hot Guy merch wasn't damaged."

“I swear, I only have that one plush.”

Grian laughs as he puts the three boxes away, one by one. “Glady you are okay.”

“Of course!” Scar, rather dramatically, puts one of his hands over his heart. “Who else would buy mass amounts of baked goods if I wasn’t here?”

"I dunno, maybe that hero, Hot Guy. Man, I've seen him eat." Grian wrinkles his nose in distaste at a memory, one of Xelqua scoping out the personalities of the heroes of the city. "I understand a loaf of sweet bread but three full plates of it? Dunno how the guy can handle that much."

“Hey now,” Scar smiles at Grian. “I eat that much sometimes.”

"Three, filled to the brim, plates of sweet bread without getting full or tired of the taste?" Grian raises an eyebrow at Scar, looking him up and down curiously. "I mean.. You have a large frame but I don't see how anyone could do that. Guy's superhuman."

Scar’s pointed ears twitch and he laughs a bit. “I slightly feel insulted,” he jokes.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean to judge your body!” Grian’s face goes red from the embarrassment. “I apologize, that wasn’t a very professional comment.”

“I was kidding,” Scar admitted, “calm down, there is no reason to turn red.”

The baker hides behind his hands, turning away. “Still, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s all good,” Scar shugs, “besides, banter is fun.”

"I see.. Yeah, okay." Grian gives a smile again. "Hey, I was thinking about visiting your cafe. What's it like inside?"

Scar seems to get a bit excited at the question. “It's definitely one of the calm places in this city. Which is good, the amount of places here to relax just keeps getting smaller and smaller.”

Grian wrinkles his nose. "Villains and crime. Blegh."

“Not in my cafe,” Scar hesitates, “sometimes. The heroes will drop by for coffee at times.”

"Ohh, heroes? My, you're popular aren't you?"

“We make good coffee, no one can resist. Now, what is scary is that Kingdog has been there. Orders a Chocolate Latte, which is weird because dogs can't have chocolate.” Scar folds his arms as he talks.

Grian's expression turns confused. "Kingdog? Why- ..Y'know what maybe it's good if he poisons himself."

The barista sighs, “Saying he was attacking downtown the next day, we unfortunately didn't poison him.”

"How recent was this?"

“Oh, he comes in once a week, sometimes more.”

"..Oh." *He seems to relax a bit from a tense state he had grown into. "Do vigilantes ever show up?"

Scar shakes his head. “We actually haven't had a vigilante stop by. They must not be fond of coffee, or just not have the time or money.”

Grian hums, putting a finger to his chin. "Hmm, I'd guess vigilantes are afraid of heroes, since they're teeeechincally illegal."

“True, they kinda are not allowed to be doing that, which is stupid.” Scar huffs.

"Stupid?" Grian asks curiously. He moves and grabs some supplies, moving them to a sink.

“The government clearly picks where the heroes patrol, that would explain why they are always in high and mid class areas. Who is supposed to look out for the lower class if the heroes aren't allowed to and vigilantes are illegal?”

The baker smiles. "You get it." His tone has a soft lit to it. "Finally, someone who shares my views.”

“I say it how it is.” Scar shrugs.

"Y'know, I think we'll make good friends." Grian holds his hand out to shake Scar's.

“Good friends it is then.” Scar accepts the hand shake with a smile.

"How far across town is the cafe? I have off tomorrow so I'm thinking of showing up."

“Oh, it's only 30 minutes from here, so not too far. Finding parking is a bit hard though.” Scar folds his arms across his chest.

"I can walk." Grian shrugs nonchalantly.

Scar lighty smiles. “True, walking should take around 45 minutes from here. Not much longer.”

"Okay! I'll see you there tomorrow, then?"

“See you then, tomorrow's special is a Buttercup latte.”

“I'll look forward to it then." The baker nods.

“Well, see you tomorrow, have a good day.” Scar smiles before he turns to leave.

"Bye Scar!" Grian waves, energetically.

Scar waves back. “Bye Grian!"

Eventually, the next day rolls around. There's been no signs of Xelqua and no recent crimes. Scar adds the low fat milk to a customer's latte, making the foam shaped like a flower. He passes the drink off to the customer with a smile. He hears a ding from his phone, he pulls it out and checks the notification.

It’s a message, reading it, it says, "Just left, on my way on foot, also I got your number from the contract, it's Grian by the way."

Scar smiles before sending a message that reads, "Cool, see you soon. It's not busy here."

The front door then opens with a chime, and none other than Xelqua walks in, taking long and confident strides despite some heroes being in the cafe. Xelqua makes eye contact with Scar.

Scar stares for a few seconds, having not expected the vigilante to show up.Scar takes a breath before speaking in his customer service voice, “Hello, welcome to Good times cafe, what would you like to order?”

Xelqua confidently walks up to the display, humming in contemplation, then looking up at the menu. "I'll have today's special. Buttercup Latte." He looks back at Scar, crossing his arms.

“Okay, sir.” The barista turns to start making the latte, glancing at the vigilante in the reflection of the mirror every once and a while. “What kind of milk would you like?”

Xelqua keeps his eyes on Scar. It's almost unnerving. "Nonfat milk. I hate the bloated taste."

“Okay, sir.” Scar finishes up the latte with nonfat milk and brings it back over to the counter.

"How much?"

“That will be 5 dollars.” Scar sets the latte down in front of Xelqua with a smile.

Xelqua pulls out a five dollar bill, placing it on the counter and sliding it to Scar. He takes the latte gingerly and gives a cool smile. "Thank you, sir."

“Have a nice day, sir.” Scar takes the five dollar bill and puts it away in the cash register.

"Oh, by the way.." The vigilante raises his voice a little, so other people can hear. "My name is Xelqua. I expect to be a regular here."

Scar nods at Xelqua. “Be careful with your timing then, you wouldn't want to run into a hero.” He side eyes the table of low tier heroes, a warning to them to stay put.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry." Xelque turns, leaving the cafe gracefully.

Scar sighs, letting himself relax. That new vigilante.. he seems too confident for his own good. “He is going to end up getting caught being careless like that..”

A few more minutes pass, and Grian arrives earlier than expected. He seems a bit out of breath as if he ran.

“Oh, hey Grian, glad you could make it!” The barista smiles.

He approaches the counter, a smile appearing on his face. "I'm a bit early, I got excited and ran." He says.

“I can tell, you look like you ran a Marathon,” Scar jokes leaning on the counter.

"Well maybe not a marathon.. Oh, wait, that's an exaggeration."

“Yeah,” the barista lightly laughs, “so what can I get you. The menu is above me.”

Grian looks up, scanning it. "Ohh, you have pudding? I love pudding!"

“Yeah! We have pudding. We have tons of stuff.”

"The sticky toffee kind? That's my favorite!" Grian sees the price and pulls out his wallet.

Scar smiles. “I'm going to guess you want the pudding.”

"Yep!" The blonde nods.

Scar goes and grabs a serving of pudding from the fridge and brings it back, sliding it to Grian. “You are overly excited about pudding.”

"It's my favorite food, I haven't had it since I moved from Evo." Grian grins.

“I don't care for this type of pudding much,” Scar admits.

Grian pays and takes the pudding, grabbing one of the free plastic spoons and unwrapping it. "What's your favorite food at this cafe?"

“Personality,” Scar leans on the counter. “I honestly like the sweet bread.”

"Ah, you mentioned liking sweet bread yesterday."

“Sweet bread is good and goes with a lot of things. It tastes really good when dipped in hot chocolate.”

"Hot chocolate.. on a cooler day I'd like to have that."

“Hot chocolate is best when it is 80° outside.”

Grian laughs, scooping out a spoonful of pudding. A bright smile across his face.

“Hey,” Scar lets out a gasp, putting his hand over his heart. “I'm not wrong, it's the best time for hot chocolate!”

"We all have opinions," Grian says, taking a bite of the pudding. "Mm, this is delicious!"

Scar visibility cringes. “That pudding is just store bought box mix”

".." Grian’s expression suddenly turns downtrodden, "You're saying this is artificial?"

“No, but it's not made from scratch.”

"Aww.." Grian lowers the pudding cup. "I was really excited when I saw it. Oh well."

“There isn't anywhere to buy it made from scratch,” admits the elf.

"Back in Evo, it was made from scratch by one of my friends." Grian leans against the counter, taking another bite of the pudding. "I know you can't buy it cause Evo is practically across the world, but it was nice.”

“True, true. Thought box pudding is better than no pudding.”

"Also true." Grian continues eating, sticking near the counter.

Scar smiles as he asks, “So how has your day been so far?”

"Aside from this outing, not very eventful.. You?"

“Well, the new vigilante was in here.”

"Ohh, the winged one?"

“Yes, the way he was looking at me was unnerving.”

"Unnerving?" The blonde tilts his head curiously.

He was just…,” Scar pauses to think, “glaring at me the whole time. It was like he was looking into my very soul.”

"Glaring.. or squinting?"

Scar shrugs. “Don't know l, but it was uncomfortable.”

"I see.. maybe Xelqua needs glasses." Grian jokes.

“Probably, he was able to read the menu.” Scar looks above himself.

Grian looks up as well. "But the menu is all big and readable."

“Yeah, made it big so people in the back can read it when there is a line.” The barista looks back at Grian.

Grian hums, eyes finding Scar’s. "Smart.. mind if I use the idea for my bakery?"

“Go right ahead!” Scar cheerfully sounds. “It makes the rush hours easier.”

Grian nods with a smile. "Hey, mayb-" He's suddenly cut off by the noise of an explosion not too far from the cafe. Grian loses his balance from the resounding shake and grabs the counter.

Scar leans on the back counter, eyes wide. A quiet beeping coming from his fancy watch.

Grian looks over his shoulder, eyes wide. "What do you think that was-?" He stands up straighter. "A villain or an accident?"

Scar looks at his watch and stops the beeping. “Knowing this city, I'd say that it was a villain.”

Grian looks back at Scar. "You should get somewhere safe, quickly." He says, his warm gaze turning serious. He then turns to leave with the crowd.

“Stay safe!” Scar dashes into the back room. He changes into his gear, double checking his thing, then runs off, out the back door. Hot Guy adjusts his visor as he makes his way to the explosion. He spots the explosion sight and runs in, switching his visor into heat vision to try and find anyone.

Grian runs into an alley and throws his sweater off, letting his wings out and grabbing his boots from where he was hiding them. In the quick change, his glasses fall to the ground, one of the lenses cracking. Xelqua doesn't notice however, as he hides his civilian clothes and dashes back out from the alley. Not much seems to be damaged, but smoke fills the air, and the pavement of the road is cracked. Xelqua flies up and lands in the area of the explosion, smoke and debris in the area. He sniffs twice, looking around.

Xelqua finds it hard to see in the thick smoke, using his wings and ears as his guide. He has no doubt that this has something to do with The Doctor or his creepers.. or both. Xelqua climbs over a part of the rubble, his wings folded in such a way that makes him seem larger. He's wary, listening for signs of a monster, literally or not. Hot Guy stumbles on some of the rubble, spotting two people with his visor. Xelqua turns at the noise and is just barely able to make out Hot Guy's silhouette. He stalks closer, but is able to recognise the almost neon colors of blue and orange in his outfit. Xelqua relaxes a bit.

Recognizing Xelqua by the shape of wings, Hot Guy calls out to the vigilante. “TO YOUR RIGHT!”

Xelqua quickly ducks at the warning, just barely able to dodge a projectile. The projectile in question being a laser from The Doctor’s gun. The creeper-goat angrily yells out, “You pesky bird and elf!”

Hot Guy aims his bow at the Doctor, trying to get a good shot, only relying on the heat vision. Only relying on heat vision isn't the best thing in the world, but it was all he could do with the thick smoke in the air.

Xelqua spreads his wings and flies up quickly to regain himself. He lands on top of a light pole and starts thinking. "So smoky.. if only I had a giant fan. .. oh- Oh!" He then turns and flaps his wings, dispelling the smoke quickly, The doctor is there only feet away from where Xelqua was. Hot Guy Fires an arrow at the goat, after turning the heat vision off, now he can see.

Xelqua leaps back and reaches for his bow.. but he wasn't expecting to fight today, and didn't bring his bow or arrows. Xelqua curses himself and forms his hands into fists.

The Doctor, having dodged the previous arrow, smirks. “Someone came unprepared!” It's clear that Xelqua is his target.

Xelqua narrows his eyes and shifts into a defensive stance. Meanwhile, Hot Guy is still trying to sink an arrow into the doctor, but it's hard to find what is machine and what is goat.

Xelqua spits, disrespectfully, then smirks. Taking aim, The Doctor fires another laser at the vigilante, completely ignoring the hero. The avian drops down and rolls to dodge before he launches himself as The Doctor. The supervillain jumps to the side, out of the way, only for one of Hot Guy’s arrows sink into his shoulder. Xelqua lands haphazardly, taking a moment to steady his breathing.

The Doctor shoots a laser at Hot Guy as pay back for the arrow. The laser grazes his cheek, drawing blood, but Hot Guy keeps the arrows flying. Xelqua then tackles The Doctor and grabs at his hair to pull it. If playing dirty is what it takes to survive, Xelqua will gladly become dishonorable. Hot Guy takes that chance, sinking an arrow into the Doctor's side, making the hybrid hiss. Xelqua grins and kicks The Doctor's gun, flapping his wings to keep himself on The Doctor.Soon follows a clicking noise, indicating The Doctor's jet pack is about to activate. Making a quick decision, Xelqua decides he'd rather not get caught in any fire, and he jumps back away from The Doctor, and with that, The Doctor flees the scene, pulling the arrows out of himself.

Xelqua turns to look at Hot Guy. "You're bleeding. You should put a bandaid on that."

“I'll be okay.” The hero shakes his head. “Just one of the hazards of this job.”

"Makes sense. Bye now." The vigilante turns away.

“Till next time.” Hot Guy also turns and leaves. A ping sounds out on Hot Guy's phone.

Pulling his phone out, Hot Guy checks the message from Grian, reading, rather simply, “Are you safe?”

Hot Guy messages back, “Im safe, are you?”

The typing message appears before being replaced, “Lost my glasses in the crowd but otherwise I'm good.”

Hot Guy makes his way to the back entrance of the cafe, entering and gets changed. Scar wets a rag and outs it to the cut on his cheek. Soon enough Grian is walking back through the entrance of the store, squinting heavily. He may as well be completely blind.

“Oh! Hey, Grian!” Scar smiles at the baker when he sees him.

"Hi, Scarrr" Grian calls, moving towards what he's sure is Scar. It's not, it's just something that has relatively the same color scheme.

“That isn't me,” Scar giggles out.

Grian puts his hands on the object and backs up. "I can't see, I'm so incredibly farsighted-"

Scar puts the cloth he had on his face down. “Come on, let's sit you down.” He walks out from behind the counter and guides Grian to a chair by the shoulders.

Grian puts his hands in front of him, feeling the chair and sitting. "Sorry about that."

“It's fine, I'm sure the coat rack was happy with the attention.”

Grian groans."Oh, how embarrassing.."

“Hey,” Scar folds his arms with a smile, “could be worse, it could have been a person.”

"Yeah.. you're right. I need to find my glasses."

“They probably are not too far, I can help look,” Scar offers.

"I'd appreciate that,” the blind man smiles. “They're black rimmed, by the way."

“Okay, black rimmed.”

"They should be just outside, I hope.."

“I will be back then, Imma go look around the building.” Scar leaves through the front entrance, hearing Grian call out a ‘Thank you.’

Scar walks round the building, eventually spotting them in an alley. Why are they in an alleyway? Did Grian get pushed into it by the crowd? Scar bends over, picking up the glasses with a shattered lens, inspecting the damage. His eyes land on a feather sitting just a few feet away.

The feather is dark black, almost purple. Maybe that Xelqua guy ran through here? Scar pockets the feather and takes the glasses back to the cafe. Grian is sitting where Scar left him, fidgeting with his sleeves.

“Hey Grian, I found your glasses.” Scar walks over and holds the glasses out to Grian.

Grian takes them and puts them on. "Thanks! There may be a crack in them but everything sure is a lot clearer now." He looks up at Scar, no longer squinting as if he were flashbanged.

“That crack is nothing, could be worse.” Scar smiles, sheepishly.

Grian nods a little, putting a hand up to the crack. "The crack kinda kaleidoscopes things and makes it difficult to see. I guess I could go to the nearest eyewear store and get a new pair." Grian stands.

Scar offers an, “At least you can see where you are going now.”

"Eh, somewhat." Grian then smiles at Scar. "Thanks for helping me."

“It's no problem. What are friends for?”

"Welp, I'll be off now. Bye Scar!" Grian turns towards the entrance, waving.

“Bye Grian!” Scar waves, glad to have helped his friend.

Once Grian is gone, Scar lets out a sigh and pulls out the feather. It was rather beautiful, like Xelqua… It's definitely one of the smaller ones, maybe one of the marginal feathers. There's very soft pink streaks at the tip of it, almost unnoticeable.

“Why is he familiar...?” Scar goes and puts the feather with his gear, then starts the close up shop.

Despite only having four very short interactions with the vigilante, there's something about Xelqua that feels like Scar met him before.

WHATTT I'm making another Desert Duo centric AU (with the help of my friend!!! @stonegoesgodmode) bc I'm silly and bonkers all the time

It's inspired by kitsuneisi's desertduo vigilante AU and also vesperionnox's Hero Villain Desert Duet and like I have no idea what I'm calling it yet but LISTEN TO ME LISTEN okay

So BASICALLY BASICALLY It's a more futuristic based city AU (Stone and I get to make up stuff yayyy) WITH HEROES AND VILLAINS RAHHH

So listen, Grian and Scar right,, They're two business owners who partner right after Grian moves to the city of Hermitcraft from the city of Evolution (always referred to as Evo btw), but also, Scar is the hero Hot Guy, and Grian is the vigilante Xelqua (Sorry but Kitsuneisi just realllyyy inspired me yknow,,, like this AU was originally based off their AU I'm sorry don't get mad at me pretty please </3</3)

How the AU starts out basically, is Hot Guy battling The Doctor (Doc, in case it's not as obvious as it is it Stone and I) in the streets. Right as Hot Guy runs out of arrows and is about to get laser-blasted, Xelqua dives in!! Bird boy sends the laser gun right out of The Doctor's hand with a kick and lands a few feet away. (This is Xelqua's vigilante debut, btw!!)

Being suddenly outnumbered and unprepared, The Doctor makes his escape with his jetpack, and before Hot Guy can thank Xelqua, the winged vigilante is off.

Again @stonegoesgodmode is helping me a lot with this AU!!!! Ty for reading :DD

#Feathers Embers AU #Desert Duo #Desert Duo AU #Grian #GoodTimesWithScar #fanfic #hermitcraft #roleplay #story #docm77

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stonegoesgodmode · 6 months

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Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and the those outside of the binary! May I have the honor of presenting to you! The first chapter of Feathers Ember's! I have been procrastinating posting this. It has been probably a week since I finished this chapter. I am in the process of editing the next chapter of mine and Rach's roleplay. When will I get it out? Absolutely no clue! 2372 words!

Chapter One

A Hero and a Vigilante

The sun casts its bright light over the city of Hermitcraft. The sound of machines and flying arrows was all that could be heard on Perimeter Street. The Doctor and Hot Guy fought, pavement getting torn up. Helicopters broadcasted the fight.

Hot Guy knocks another arrow and lets it fly at The Doctor. “Just get Hot Guyed already!”

“You really think such a primitive weapon can defeat me!” The Doctor yells out as he raises his robotic arm to block the arrow.

As the fight escalates, a presence appears on top of one of the taller buildings. The man leans over the edge with his wings out for balance as he analyzes the fight. If things got worse, the new vigilante was certain he’d have the chance to step in and make his debut. Good and evil kept clashing, arrows and lasers flying.

“Ready to admit defeat yet!?” rang out The Doctor’s voice as he exchanged the cartridge in his blaster.

Hot Guy reached back to his quiver for another arrow, “Never!” He felt around for another arrow only to find that he had run out, a quiet, “Oh no,” falling from his lips.

"I guess this is it then." The Doctor raises his blaster, aiming for Hot Guy's head.

Xelqua leaps off of the building, letting his wings extend to slow his descent. With what speed he did have, Xelqua moves into a stiletto kick. He knocks the blaster from The Doctor's hand with speed. Boots slide on the asphalt, slowing Xelqua to a stop. He readies himself, violet eyes taking in the situation.

The Doctor grabs his wrist before calling out, “Whose bird is this?!?”

After watching the newcomer for a second, the elven hero realizes it's his chance to gather up some arrows, quickly getting to work doing so. The news helicopters turn their attention to Xelqua.

Xelqua looks up as the helicopter lights shine on him, giving a grin towards where he hopes the camera is. He pushes off of the ground and dashes towards The Doctor, lunging and grabbing at his coat in hopes of knocking him down. What Xelqua lacks in weight he makes up for in velocity.

The Doctor makes attempts to pry the bird off. An arrow ricochets off a mechanical part, so close to hitting flesh. Hot Guy readies another arrow, climbing on top of an abandoned car for a better angle.

Xelqua then drops himself, grabbing the end of The Doctor’s coat and running a circle around him before pulling the coat, sending The Doctor spinning. The Doctor almost falls over as he attempts to regain balance. The whole thing is really a sight to see.

Hot Guy sends another arrow at The Doctor, piercing the goat’s side, leaving him unable to fight. Xelqua pulls out a bow, one structured differently for Hot Guys, and knocks an arrow drawing back. Hot Guy’s eyes land on the avian.

The Doctor drags himself up, taking Xelqua’s aimed arrow as a silent threat to leaving. He takes off with his jetpack, which is covered in butterfly stickers, and flees.

Xelqua lowers his bow, watching The Doctor go. He then places his arrow back in its quiver on his leg, and presses a button on the bow which collapses it. Xelqua gives a blank glance to Hot Guy, then spreads his wings to take off.

“Hey! Wait!” Hot Guy tries to go after Xelqua but gets swarmed by people wanting to interview him. Xelqua disappears over a building without a word, quickly escaping the sights of the helicopters. After the crowd clears, Hot Guy picks up a feather that was left behind. “Who was that..?”

Hot Guy places the feather into his side bag. Aiming his grappling gun, he fires, letting the device pull him up onto the building next to him. Whether Hot Guy decided to find the new guy tonight or next patrol, there was definitely a conversation to be had.

Hot Guy pulls out his communicator and calls up his support team. “Did you catch where the bird went?”

“No, he is off the radar.”

“Ending my patrol for the day, contact me if you come up with anything.” Hot Guy puts away his communicator and checks the time.

Ah, right, the cafe stock. He is late to pick it up. The new partnership with the bakery that just opened, Dreamland Bakery, would be selling a good portion of their products to the cafe in order to promote itself. According to the contract, the owner of the bakery was a man named Grian Dreamslayer.

Hot Guy hops into his car that was parked in a nearby alleyway. He changes out of his suit and into a set of normal clothes.

Finally, Scar made it to the bakery. He was an hour late, not a good first impression. He lets the bakery doors close behind him, saying a simple, “Hello,” as a simple greeting.

A rather short blonde man in a bright red sweater and pink apron looks up from behind one of the bakery displays. He gives a warm smile, his eyes seemingly magnified by his round glasses. "Welcome!" He chirps, "Is there anything you're looking for?"

Scar approaches the counter, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry about being late, but I am the owner of the GoodTimes Cafe. I got stuck in traffic.”

The man frowns in thought, then smiles. "Ohh, Scar Goodtimes! Pleased to make your acquaintance. I understand the streets of Hermitcraft can be rough.. especially with those heroes and villains about." The man, presumably Grian, wrinkles his nose in dissatisfaction, then returns to smiling. "Oh, it's Grian, by the way. Grian Dreamslayer."

“It's a pleasure to make you acquainted as well. Finding good bakeries is getting harder and harder these days.” Scar returns Grian’s smile with one of his own.

"Well luckily enough, I pride myself on authenticity rather than mass product. You'll find nothing but grade A quality here, Mr. Goodtimes," Grian reassures.

“From what I've heard about your bakery, I'm sure your products are high quality.”

"Now about that pickup.. It's in the back." Grian turns and opens the little door from behind the counter, "Come on back!"

Scar follows the baker, glancing around. “This is a nice place you have here.”

Grian opens a door and hums in acknowledgement, "I definitely pride myself on it." He goes towards a counter where some refrigerated boxes are.

“I can say, everything certainly smells good,” Scar takes a deep breath, “definitely smells like a bakery in here.”

Grian laughs and grabs a clipboard, jotting some stuff down. "You seem like a good person, I hope I made the right choice in partnering with you.

“No one has regretted a partnership with me so far. That certainly is something.” Scar does a thumbs up.

Grian presents the clipboard to Scar and holds out the pen, “Sign here please.”

Scar takes and signs the papers as Grian lifts one of the boxes. Usually they would be quite heavy since they have technology to be cooled.

”Where is your vehicle?” Grian asks, the short man seeming to not struggle with the weight.

“It’s in the parking lot just across the street.” Scar sets the clipboard down. “Do you need some help?”

Grian looks over at the remaining boxed, “If you could carry one then that would be great.”

“I can grab one.” Scar goes over and grabs a box, surprised that the baker could even lift one of the boxes. One box alone was really heavy.

Grian stands on his toes and places his box on the remaining box, then lifts both up. He heads towards the back door and pushes it open with his foot. Scar follows, even more perplexed. At his car he sets the box down and opens the trunk.

Grian places down the other two boxes. He shakes his arms out from the strain of carrying them. "Whew- y'know maybe I should've made two trips.”

“Two trips would have been smart.” Scar sets the box he was carrying down and opens the trunk of his car. He moves a Hot Guy plush to the side to make room before putting the box he carried out inside.

"Thanks. Moving stuff into the bakery really taught me how to lift heavy," he claims. Grian then spots the plush. "Ohh, a fan of Hot Guy, huh?"

“Me, a Hot Guy fan? Nah.” Scar places the two boxes that Grian carried out into the trunk with the first. “I just happened to have merch- That's all.”

"I don't judge." He looks to Scar, then back at the plushie. "Disregard my statement, I do judge, the glasses are the wrong shape." Grian gestures to the fabric glasses on the plush.

“That is not a me problem, that is a who made it’s problem.” Scar picks up the Hot Guy plush, looking into the visor. “It also doesn’t have eyes.”

Grian lets out a laugh, “I heard that if enough people bully the company, they fix future merch. Not that I would really care for Hot Guy merch all that much.” He then turns his head towards the bakery. “I’m too busy running a brand new business.”

“Business first, right?” Scar waves at Grian with a smile. “See you next time.”

Grian waves back, “Great meeting you!” He walks back across the street to the Dreamland Bakery.

“Interesting dude.” Scar closes the trunk and climbs into the diver seat of his car before driving off.

Grian enters his bakery, and as it's late, he turns the sign to ‘closed’ as the last two patrons leave. He heads towards the back after locking the door and turning out the lights, then he removes his sweater. Two wing-shaped tattoos peel off from the open-back top Grian had underneath the sweater, and small wings sprout the same way on the sides of his head. Grian folds his civilian outfit after changing and he slips Xelqua's boots on, and he leaves out through the alleyway behind the bakery. He takes off into the evening.

Scar gets the baked goods to his cafe. Glancing over at his communicator he sees a new message. The bird was spotted at Entity park. He quickly changes and makes his way to the location, hoping he doesn't miss the bird.

When Hot Guy gets to the park he spots Xelqua in the distance. He's sitting on top of an odd structure that was affectionately dubbed "The Entity" by a group of people, which had rapidly spread throughout Hermitcraft's citizens. Xelqua doesn't seem to be too bothered at the moment, looking at a watch on his wrist.

Xelqua doesn't seem to notice Hot Guy at first, but as he gets closer, the vigilante turns his head and eyes Hot Guy up and down. He stands, his hands on his hips. Hot Guy stops at the bottom of the Entity, looking up at the avian.

“Hello?” Hot Guy’s voice is gentle compared to his fighting skills.

Xelqua tilts his head, small wings on the sides of his head fluttering in curiosity. He doesn't say a word, only acknowledging Hot Guy with a neutral squint.

The hero watches the vigilante for a few seconds before he continues speaking, “What are you up to?”

"Why do you want to know? Trying to arrest me for stealing your thunder?" He narrows his eyes further, skeptical.

Hot Guy raises his hands up in a mock surrender. “If I was trying to arrest you this interaction would not be going how it is.”

“Fine,” Xelqua crosses his arms, “but I still have reason to be wary.”

Hot Guy lets his hands fall back down to his sides. “Who are you?” He still kept a calm voice.

“I’m a vigilante,” Xelqua’s voice is full of agitation and his feathers ruffle,” and I have no interest in becoming one of you heroes!”

“Okay,” a stupid smile dances across the elven hero’s face, “I’ll call you Birdie then!”

Xelqua’s wings flare, and his violet eyes widen. “I- Okay fine,” he puts a hand over his face, slightly turning his head away, “my name is Xelqua…”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Xelqua.” Hot Guy gives a little wave. “The name’s Hot Guy!”

“Tch.” Xelqua raises his wrist to look at his watch before continuing, “Don’t you have citizens to take care of?”

“Currently, no.” Hot Guy shakes his head side to side. “There, luckily, isn't anything happening at the moment. Waiting for someone?”

The blacked wing vigilante rolls his eyes. “I’m looking around for petty crimes I can stop without getting myself injured.” Xelqua huff before continuing his explanation. “You heroes always stick to your patrols, so I’m here to take care of those in dingier areas.”

“So, I am interrupting?” Hot Guy slips his hands into his pockets. He kept his eyes on Xelqua.

“Uh, yeah, kinda,” came Xelqua’s mutter, “but it doesn't seem like much is happening.”

Hot Guy lets out a sigh. “It’s always quiet after a big fight. The chances of anything, even petty crimes, is really low.” The elven hero shugs.

“I see…”

“How is the view up there?”

Xelqua tsks and turns away, flaring his wings. He spreads them wide and prepares to take off.

Hot Guy reaches out a hand. “Eh, wait-”

The avian pauses before turning his head to the hero. “What is it?”

“Thank you for earlier…”

“Earlier? Oh, you mean with The Doctor.” The black feathered wings fold once more as Xelqua turns to face Hot Guy. “Listen, it wasn't anything personal. I did it because he is a villain.”

Hot Guy lightly shakes his head, some brown hair falling from his bun. “I know, but you could have chosen to wait longer.” To wait for Hot Guy to have been shot down for the count.

“What was there to wait for? The Doctor left and there were no casualties.”

“Still…” With that last word, the elven hero turned and walked off.

Xelqua watches, unamused. "Cold Guy," he grumbles.