Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem


Envy couldn't help but notice the long pause, and the uncomfortable silence after their words, and they couldn't help but feel their face burning slightly, for some reason. Was there something wrong with their name. Aaliyah, too, hadn't seemed to keen on it, when introducing them to others. Envy had chosen it almost on the brink of death, but even after all that, the name still applied. Envy's body curled in thought.

"W-well," they stuttered, a little awkwardly. Envy felt the need to explain themselves, for some reason. "See, I c-can't... y'know... do, the things that ordinary Gembounds do, and it sucks. L-like eating and drinking. Mamma thought I was gonna die. It's because of this-" the weasel opened their mouth wide as they possibly could, tongue lolling to show them the glittering marble at the back of their tongue. "-it ruins everything."

Then Envy closed their maw, arching their spine again and settling their front paws on the ground close to their hind paws. They looked uncomfortable. "But I th-think things are gonna get better now..." Though their voice suggested that they doubted it, they hoped so. Still, cold claws of dread siezed their stomach as they thought about their next meal.

They felt a quick bout of nausea brewing in the pit of their stomach, seemingly in response to the fear, and swayed on the spot where they stood, closing their eyes and bracing themselves against the ground to wait for it to pass.

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."


@flicker

Flicker peered awkwardly down the back of Envy’s throat for a moment and saw a shiny gem lodged down there. She sat back, wondering about something that had been bugging her for a while. Other Gembounds seemed to have their gems in a place that others could see. Even Envy’s was technically visible. And yet… the coyote had never seen her own gem. And she’d definitely looked for it. It just didn’t seem to be anywhere. And that really, really bothered her. Did she even have one? Was it possible to not have one?

She couldn’t focus on that for very long because she just realized that at some point, Envy had said the word “die” and she was suddenly very concerned for her little friend. “What?” she said, blankly, which very obviously showed she hadn’t been paying too much attention. Oops. Envy then seemed to be… effected by something, and Flicker watched in concern as the weasel swayed back and forth. “What’s wrong with you?” the coyote asked, eyes widening in concern. “Are you okay?”

On instinct, she released a spell, one that could control a Gembound’s heart rate, thinking that if she just calmed her friend down a little, they might be better. What ended up happening was extremely frightening for Flicker. Suddenly her own heart started to beat very quickly, but very erratically. She sucked in shallow breaths, standing up in alarm, but then stumbling back into a sitting position. She let out a terrified whimper, yellow brown eyes rolling in fear as her heart pounded in her chest in fits and starts.

Just about at the time that she thought she might literally die, her heart seemed to find its natural rhythm again. She’d fallen onto her side at some point, and now she lay breathing hard, but correctly. Her gaze found Envy’s and she just lay there with a “what the fuck just happened” look on her face.

@Envy

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem


Envy barely heard the echo of Flicker's voice through a haze of dizziness and nausea, and as focused as they were on keeping themselves from vomiting, they didn't reply at first. "Dizzy... sick... It'll go away," they groaned with some difficulty, though their words seemed to be directed more towards themselves.

As the nausea gradually began to dissipate, Envy was finally able to stop swaying, and their senses were finally able to wander, bringing them the sounds of Flicker's ragged breathing. with their vision slightly blurred, they opened their eyes to slits and then wide, blinking slowly. They stuck out their tongue, baring sharp little teeth in an effort to get rid of the bitter, metallic taste that clung to it, however impossible that may be.

They saw Flicker in front of them where she'd been standing before- except that she was now lying sprawled on her side, panting ragged breaths. To Envy it seemed to take forever for her to return to normal- and when she began to calm, the little weasel slunk closer, hesitation apparent in their arched back and lowered head. Although fear was also present, the little one seemed curious more than anything. They reached Flicker's main bulk and, rising onto their hind paws, tugged at her ears as though that would help anything. Meeting Flicker's gaze at last, Envy felt their paws drop back onto the ground, releasing a tension they didn't quite know had been there.

"What did you do that for?!" Envy demanded, as though Flicker had planned the whole incident. With the scare over, they felt dizziness again flowing in, and found themselves dropping onto their belly and covering their head with their paws. They felt a sudden, inexplicable rage brewing in their stomach, causing it to churn uncomfortably. They also realized that they didn't like seeing Flicker in such a situation and that only added to their confusion. The strange cocktail of negative emotions caused Envy to burst into tears, sobbing into their paws. "Idiot!" they yelled, directed at nobody in particular.

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

@Flicker

Flicker vaguely felt Envy tug at her ears, but as she calmed down, more feeling began to re-enter her body. She looked at the weasel with shock written all over her face. “I have no idea what the hell just happened,” she said, after finally catching her breath. “That was terrifying. I thought I was gonna die.” She sat up as Envy yelled at her, demanding why she’d just done what she had. The coyote opened her mouth to respond but suddenly Envy was down on the ground with their paws over their face. They were… crying! They called her an idiot between sobs, but Flicker didn’t care. She didn’t even care about the fact that she’d almost died. She just felt so bad for Envy…

“Hey,” she began gently, and then hesitated, unsure of what to say next. “I… I’m fine now. I’m sorry.” To her horror, Flicker felt her own tears coming on. “P-please don’t cry…” Her lower lip quivered but she held it together as best she could. What was going on? Did she really like Envy that much? She barely knew them! Maybe she just couldn’t stand the sight of other Gembounds crying…

@Envy

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem

Envy could barely hear Flicker over the pounding of their own blood in their ears. Whatever it was going through them right now, they decided that they didn't just not like it. They hated it. But there wasn't much they could do to stop it, so they just lay there, waves of sickness sweeping through them, sobbing quietly as they yelled croakily to themselves. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot..." With each word spoken, a thick black mist seeped out of their mouth until they were once again shrouded, blissfully hidden away from the outside world by the nervous energy coursing through them which, somewhere along the way, had manifested itself into magic. With their eyes covered up, their bright purple glow was hidden away and they became a small lump of congealed blackness, almost invisible in the dark.

Some time passed before Envy finally raised their head to Flicker's comforting words, their cheek fur damp and their movements twitchy. They fidgeted on the spot, tail trembling, body occasionally curling. The dark clouds began to dissipate, leaving in their place a tiny weasel standing droopy and sad.

They sniffled, poking out their tongue.

"Crying? I wasn't crying," they croaked, although they knew as soon as the words came out that they weren't fooling anyone. Their voice became high-pitched and nervous, anger fading. "I don't get it," they whined. "That felt so wrong. Why did it feel so wrong?" Truth be told, they still felt sick, and gulped repeatedly as they strained not to throw up. "M-make it stooop..."

They covered up their face again, waiting for the total darkness to quell the waves of nausea. They wanted to yell at flicker again, to call her selfish and stupid for making them feel like this, to make her feel bad for this. But as soon as they opened their mouth, the words deserted them, which only made them angrier. They fidgeted some more, all the nervous energy coming out in a flipping, bouncing and rolling burst of energy, then finally ending with them sprawling onto their side. They huffed. "This is stupid."

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

@Flicker

Flicker had no idea what to do for her new friend. Especially since Envy didn’t… seem the type to want help. She sighed, and then suddenly held her breath as she smelled the bile in the back of the weasel’s throat. “At this point, maybe you should just throw up. It might make you feel better. Honestly.” Flicker scrunched her face up in disgust at the thought, but she was being dead serious. But then suddenly Envy was bouncing and rolling around, as if severely angry, and the coyote jumped out of the way. When she looked again, the weasel was flopped on their side, muttering about how stupid this was.

Flicker carefully laid down somewhat close to the weasel, feeling worn out by all these emotions. “Sorry,” she muttered again, still unsure of what had even happened. Had… had her Magic caused her heart to go crazy? If so, how? That hadn’t been her spark Magic… So what had happened? Whatever it was, she definitely never wanted to try it again. “Maybe we should just forget this ever happened.”

@Envy

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem

Envy grumbled quietly to themselves. "No! It took too long just to get it in there and then I'd starve," they retorted. "Besides, I feel better now. See?" They stuck out their tongue and opened their mouth as though that would help anything.

They looked on as Flicker lay down beside them, and pattered closer, to lie warmed by her fur, their bony hide close enough to brush her healthier one. They shivered and laid their chin on the ground, tail still flickering. "Mmph," Envy acknowledged their apology with a soft grunt, raising their head slightly from the ground. "Sounds good to me. I don't wanna feel like that again..." Although some lingering emotion remained and clouded their heart, resulting in occasional sniffles or small twitches, they felt far better than they had earlier, and they didn't seem to have mastered the art of holding grudges yet.

After a long pause, the small weasel raised their chin, a nefarious grin creeping over their face. "But you're still an idiot!" and they burst into childish laughter.

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

@Flicker

Flicker silently acknowledged with a smile that Envy had padded over to lay closer to her. It was still strange, this feeling of… friendship. The only other Gembounds she’d interacted with had been Roone and that stupid goose. Roone hadn’t been bad, but she hadn’t really befriended him like she had with Envy. And, of course, the goose had… well, the interaction they’d had hadn’t been fun, let’s just say that. Flicker remembered with a cringe that the goose had actually made her cry. And now she’d made Envy cry. Well, that made her feel terrible. Good going, she thought to herself.

She did manage to laugh, though, when Envy jokingly called her an idiot again. “Yeah,” she agreed. “That was pretty stupid… Whatever it was… I’m definitely never doing that again.” Suddenly, she felt very tired. The act of almost dying of heart failure was rather exhausting. “Hey, I need a nap. You don’t have to stay here but, man, I’m beat.” She lay her head on her paws, stretched out, and closed her eyes. “We should hang out again, next time without all the almost-dying and almost-vomiting, cool?” With a grin, she began snoring almost immediately…

[Exit Flicker]

@Envy

Envy
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem

Envy continued to giggle, falling into silence only when Flicker announced unexpectedly that she was going to sleep. Envy tilted their head, opening their mouth to reply, only to be greeted by soft snores. They lay where they were for a while, held hostage by the promise of warmth among these cold stone buildings.

Envy felt like they wanted to protest, the memory of their emotional outburst still fresh and raw in their mind, but then they found they couldn’t, and that confused them. Flicker almost dying hadn’t been fun at all, but... maybe if that didn’t happen, meeting up again could be nice? They knew that they definitely didn’t want to go without seeing Flicker again ever. They’d never felt this kind of want before, and Envy found themselves starting to like it.

Envy lay in the warmth until their throat began to dry and their paws began to itch. Then, and only then, did they set off into the darkness, straining to remember the way they’d come...

-Exit Envy-

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."