Project: Neverbound (A Double Life AU fanfic)

12 - Doubting Ties and a Dead Monster

It's been a month since the bounds first came to the island. By now, everyone had heard of the fountain and it's magical properties, some made friends among the staff, and most of them had a routine schedule set up in the meantime. One thing was unanimous between all of them though: that they would stay a part of the project until their goal was met, and their goal right now was to be unbounded.

Grian stretched out his wings, the off-white feathers giving off a soft purple glow as they perked up. He yawned, getting up from his bed and feeling a familiar lump on his hand as he pushed himself up. He looked at his palm to see a bright purple eye staring back at him. For anyone else, this would've been a sight to freak out about, but for Grian, it was just part of his life now. He grabbed a pair of brown, fingerless leather gloves, little dots of dried clay lining the knuckles. He had no idea what is was about Watchers and clay, but even small amounts of the river sand always seemed to calm any sort of side effects the used magic had, so Grian wore the gloves often when it would act up, like now.

He already felt the eye shrink back into his skin, but he kept the gloves on just in case. As he changed into his iconic sweater and aviator goggles, he heard a knock on his bedroom door. Shortly after, when Grian confirmed he was decent, Scar stumbled in with Jellie in a small pouch. While Scar definitely preferred his wheelchair, he didn't need it to get around all of the time. It was recommended that he use it as much as he could, but on most days, his legs would work with him just well enough for him to walk around like an old man with a cane. If the mixed mob boss/broke gambler vibes were to get any heavier, it would be because of this.

"I got the invite this morning," he said, a smile running across his face. "It's a camping trip today, out in the woods just behind our house,"

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Grian said. "Are you gonna be able to go?"

"Yeah, but I might sit this one out anyway," Scar said, shrugging. "I'm not really a nature guy, y'know?"

Grian nodded. 

"And by the way, the WiFi's been really spotty this morning," Scar said. "I've been getting nothing but one bar since I woke up,"

"Yeah, BigB was complaining about that at their house yesterday," Grian said. "He said he'd see if he could tell anyone about it, but it might just be a thing down our street."

"Hey, if you're going to the camping thing you could ask around," Scar said, hearing a meow from Jellie as he stopped petting her for a moment to make hand gestures. "I'm sure someone else would've noticed it by now if it were everywhere,"

"I'll see about that," Grian said.

"Oh, and one more thing..." Scar said, slowly cutting himself off. Grian looked at him expectantly, obviously believing he'd say something, but the words were lost just as they were being formed. Or, more accurately, Scar didn't want to say them, so he quickly came up with something else to say.

"...Iii can't find Jellie's treat bag and I looked all over the kitchen for it, have you seen it anywhere?" Scar asked. Grian shook his head.

"Don't you usually keep that bag next to your bed?" The avian asked. Scar snapped his fingers in false realization.

"Yes! Sorry, I forgot," he chuckled nervously. Grian rolled his eyes playfully.

The two made their way downstairs, Grian helping Scar a bit with getting him and his cat settled in his wheelchair before heading outside and down the road. This was their routine at this point: Grian sticking around BigB to talk about whatever they wanted, and Scar hanging back with Ren to usually talk about Star Wars like the nerds they were. He enjoyed it for the most part, after all, Grian was never into the same kinds of things he was, so he never got the chance to talk about it outside of online forums where he'd never know anyone there as personally as he needed to be proper friends with them. But, much like with many other things, there came a feeling of... problems.