━━━ ⸝⸝ ━ ⟡ ━ ⸝⸝ ━━━

” (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠) “

━━━ ⸝⸝ ━ ⟡ ━ ⸝⸝ ━━━

Your shoulders slumped as you leaned into the table of the main cabin, burying your face into your hands with a drawn-out groan.

That last match? A disaster.

A flaming, two-minute-long disaster.

Your ability fizzled the exact moment you needed it, and you were hunted down like some pixelated chew toy—by 1x1x1x1 of all killers.

Your adrenaline literally radiated off you in waves.

Two. Whole. Minutes.

You let out another groan, muffled into your palms. “I hate it here.”

Your little pity spiral was interrupted by a light tap on your shoulder.

You peeked through your fingers like a creature emerging from the depths, squinting to see who dared poke the emotional wreck.

It was Taph.

You blinked.

Oh right—new guy.

Quiet, weirdly polite, and way too fast for someone wearing a long robe. You tilted your head slightly as he raised both hands to sign something, and—yep.

Floating emoji again.

“🫩❓🤲🛝🤝.”

You weren’t fluent in his emoji-speak yet, but the gesture was clear enough.

Comfort? Distraction? Weird slide-themed handshake? Maybe all three.

He pulled something out from behind his back—and you lit up.

Your favorite item. One barely any survivor knew besides you and Chance (because he begged you show him).

“You brought this?” you asked, grinning as he handed the item to you. “Dude. You legend.”

But the second the excitement wore off, your brows furrowed. Wait.

“How’d you know I liked this?”

Taph froze like a deer in headlights.

You watched as he looked anywhere but at you, shoulders creeping up like he was trying to vanish into his robes.

Your eyes narrowed.

“…Wait.”

“Wait-wait-wait—”

“DID YOU BLOW UP MY CABIN?!”

Taph signed something fast and panicked. The emojis floating above him now read: “😬🧨😓💥💨.”

It was an accident!—… maybe.