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otterwithaknife · 2 years

Text

~spoilers for gideon the ninth~

"I know how you can win."

Jimmy's voice is unusually serious. Tango looks up from his notes—he's never revived a warden before, but it's his son, come on—to see his cavalier sitting on the ground, facing away. A cow is resting its head on his lap, and he pets it absentmindedly. For someone whose job is to fight and be strong, he has an unending capacity for gentleness. It's one of Tango's favorite things about him.

"Yeah? How can we win, Solidarity of the Gaming variety?"

And look. Tango's not a fool, at least not most of the time. He knows the difference between you and we. But hopefully this is another Category Five Jimmy Moment and there's no stupid plan cooking in that head. Who knows? For all the time he's had Jimmy, Tango still can't always read that man.

Jimmy turns to face him, startling off the very exasperated cow, and takes a golden apple out of his inventory. "Don't—"

Tango makes an odd sound between a retch and a cry. "No, man. No! If we die, we die together. I'm not just gonna leave you like that, I took the same vows that you did! One flesh."

"One end," Jimmy finishes, more out of reflex than anything. "That's not what it's for. I...I'm not a very good cavalier, am I?"

"You're the best. I wouldn't want anyone else."

Jimmy's getting all indignant, which Tango knows to mean he's frustrated. "You know that's not what I meant! I won't be much help in a fight against Scott or Grian or Etho."

"Hey, come on..."

There's so much that Tango doesn't know how to say. That it doesn't matter if Jimmy's a poor fighter because that's never what he meant to Tango as a cavalier. That after two seasons cut short, Jimmy deserves to make it farther this time. That he doesn't know who he is without his cav, and he's scared to find out.

The first time they died, Tango respawned a few seconds before Jimmy. In the brief absence of the soul bond, crackling nether flames leapt to fill the vacancy. When the ranch burnt down and he wanted to do—something, it was Jimmy who stopped him. Tango wonders sometimes, if he didn't have his cav, would he immolate the world and use himself as fuel? Would the coal mine catch fire?

"It's true," Jimmy insists. "And I know we said anything but last, but Tango, you could actually make it! You could make them take you seriously."

"Not without you, dude!"

"Well, it wouldn't exactly be without me..."

"What? Like a ghost? Jimmy, no, stop."

"Lyctorhood, Tango," he shouts, exasperated.

They stare at each other for a long moment as Tango processes. And then, with lungs full of embers, he says, "No. No! I can't—I can't do that to you, are you kidding me?"

"You'd be unkillable. Think about it—"

"I won't! How can you ask me to do this?"

"You could win, Tango. We could win."

"Not like this," Tango insists.

There's a reason no one on the server has ascended to Lyctorhood, not even Pearl or Cleo, who hate their cavaliers. The thought of it alone sends violent shudders down Tango's spine. He’s torn between distress at the idea and rage that Jimmy would even suggest it.

"Listen to me," Jimmy says, half pleading and half angry. "When the coal mine gets dangerous, that's when the canary dies, right? Well, you need to be dangerous now more than ever."

Then he blows through his horn. The song releases a bit of tension in Tango's shoulders like it does every time. It's the melody of his cav, standing next to him in, well, solidarity.

No response comes. They stopped expecting one long ago, but it's still a brutal reminder that despite the tenuous red alliance, they have no other friends on this server. These people would kill them, rob them, burn their ranch down, and they'd do it with a laugh. They're the punchline to a worn-out joke, not a potential threat.

It's not unbelievable that they'd target Jimmy first and kill him for the meme.

In that moment, Tango understands Jimmy perfectly. Because if he could, he would die to keep his cav alive. Not just for Jimmy, but himself as well, because it would finally mean something.

Jimmy will still die first, but he'll do so on his terms.

Tango embraces his cavalier; after a surprised beat, Jimmy squeezes tight. He’s strong and solid as a cav should be, but the weight is comforting. Tango’s gonna miss that.

“I’ll win it for you,” he whispers in a voice already hoarse with tears.

“For us,” Jimmy corrects.

“For us.”

Tango accepts the apple of out Jimmy’s proffered hand and takes a bite.

SolidarityGaming was slain by TangoTek

<SmallishBeans> lol

<Smajor1995> What just happened??

<ImpulseSV> not again!

...

<Grian> Tango?

Some time later, he has gentle brown eyes where there used to be solid, saturated red. He reaches, and a desiccated paw rips through a graveside catalyst, the closest thing to remains it has. Far below, Grian shrieks as soul lanterns shudder out and sculk blocks wither and die. A skeleton turns to dust in front of Scott, who watches as something draws the particles away. Back at the ranch, a massive rib cage materializes as heart tissue glows blue and begins pounding in an unearthly mimicry of life.

The coal mine burns and burns.

#double life smp #trafficblr #traffic smp #solidaritygaming #solidarity gaming #tangotek #team rancher #dlsmp #dlsmp fic #life series locked tomb au #life series #idk how much sense this makes to folks who haven't read gtn slash tlt but #enjoy!#kat.txt #my writing #i don't even remember my tag for that anymore whoops

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