#<- who’s suprised tho rlu

[dmwrites]

“So, okay, question.”

“Answer.”

Jimmy snorted. “Shut up.” He nudged Tango playfully, who proceeded to dramatically scream and topple off of the log they were sitting on top of. Jimmy shushed him while dying of laughter, pulling him back upright. “My goodness, and they’ve been calling me a drama queen.”

“I am the drama-est of all drama queens, emphasis on the drama.” Tango replied, dusting the sand off of his witch hat.

Jimmy looked to him and smiled, shaking his head. Between the hustle and bustle of Tango’s witch training and Jimmy’s law-upkeeping duties, they had found it hard to really spend some time together, just Team Rancher. But Scar had intervened, telling Jimmy he needed a “cute date night” and set up a small campfire area for them. Jimmy was still trying to figure out why Scar had told him to “have fun with the boot knocking” with copious winks.

“Anyway, I was going to ask a question.” Jimmy said.

“Right, yes, okay, I am listening.” Tango replied, even going so far as to put his face into his hands to look at him.

“You know, since you, and a bunch of the other double life guys came, it kind of brought back up some old memories, old questions I thought I’d never get to ask you about.”

Tango nodded. “Kinda weird to think about, some soulmates like Impulse and Bdubs and Grian and Scar, got to see each other after it was all over. I really did think I’d never see you again, buddy.”

“Same!” Jimmy said. “I mean, it just seemed like it was all done forever, until the next game, and it wouldn’t be the same like it was.”

“Well, I mean, to be fair, nothing will ever be the same as it was in double life ever again… that’s what makes the games so unique, I guess.” Tango said.

Jimmy was quiet for a moment, watching Tango’s face in the flickering firelight. He didn’t like that Tango said that. He didn’t like that Tango was right. A cowboy and an ice witch sat in friendly silence, the silence of two people who knew each other in a way that no one else ever would, because such a thing could never been replicated, much less brought back to full life. And of course, Jimmy had had a sinking feeling of it, when Tango said he was going to help fwip with his redstone and Shelby with her spells… time had held the ranchers in a strange limbo while in double life, but it, sadly, marches on, leaving the memories of golden summertime at the ranch just that: memories.

“I was wondering what you said. When it was all over. Like, when you, when we, died for the last time. Because we were apart, it was sudden. I said I was sorry, for the record. To you.” Jimmy said after a long silence. The nighttime and the fire, thankfully, made long silences more acceptable, and Tango didn’t seem to notice any kind of sad yearning in Jimmy’s demeanor.

Tango rubbed his chin with his hand, sighing. “You’re still here? It’s over. Go home. Go.” He chuckled quietly. “It’s an old movie quote, it kinda just popped into my head and I kept repeating it. It was funny, at the time, but the longer time went on the sadder it made me feel. Not even quite sure who I was talking to.”

“It’s over. Go home.” Jimmy repeated. There was another long silence, interrupted only by the crackles of the fire. They looked at one another, these two people from different worlds, brought together and torn apart by the strange cruelty of fate. “But what is home, really?”

“I don’t quite know, buddy.” Tango replied.

Jimmy turned away first, back towards the hypnotic movement of the flames. “I don’t know either.”