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MABEL KNOCKED ON Lucas' door three times, the girl turning to glance between Mike and Dustin on either side of her as she soon stepped back to rejoined them.
A long moment of silence passed before the door slowly swung open to reveal an unimpressed Lucas, the boy's exasperated eyes sliding between the trio as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "What do you want?"
Mike said nothing for a second, Dustin reaching over Mabel to slap his shoulder as a silent order to coax out his apology.
Mike just let out a reluctant sigh as he refused to look at Lucas and murmured, "I drew first blood, so..."
Holding his hand out as a relatively kind gesture, Mike finally slid his eyes up to meet Lucas', Mabel smiling at the attempt.
Lucas stared at Mike for a moment, unconvinced, before drawing his eyes down to his outstretched hand.
•
Lucas paced back-and-forth in front of the trio, purposefully dragging out his acceptance of Mike's strained apology for dramatic effect before finally redirecting his attention back to the group. "Okay, I'll shake."
"Great!" Mabel enthusiastically cut in, emphatic eyes dancing between the boys as she gestured to the two theatrically, "Now that we've all forgiven each other, let's just move on and get back to finding El-"
"On one condition," Lucas steadfastly interjected, effectively shutting down Mabel's attempt to reconnect the party and causing her to blow out an exhausted breath and cross her arms over her chest in defeat, "We forget the weirdo and go straight to the gate."
"Then the deal's off." Mike sharply contradicted his suggestion.
"Fine!" Lucas shouted.
"Fine!" Mike matched the aggressive energy.
"No, no, not fine!" Dustin furiously cut in, both him and Mabel sick of their petty arguing already, "Guys, seriously?! Do you even remember what happened on the Bloodstone Pass?"
Mike and Lucas shared confused looks as they each shrugged, not recalling the event, while Mabel just blankly stood there, perplexed eyes shifting between them quickly, as she still had no idea how the game worked.
At their collective bewilderment, Dustin just blew out a long breath and elaborated, "We couldn't agree on what path to take, so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one. And it all went to shit, and we were all disabled!"
