#<- cant wait to only have grian and scar in the tags

[bloop-im-a-frog-now]

If The Gods Were Kind — village pt.3

We are at the 5th part! Woohoo! And we finally get to meet Grian! And we’re almost done the world-building bit before we actually get to the hurt/comfort. I say almost because I think there is still two more parts (one I haven’t finished writing, but I’m getting there!). 

So, have fun with arsonist Scar, bc he is best Scar, you can’t change my mind <3

Master Post

— —

Content warnings: Internalized ableism. Scar is having a time <3

He heard cries in the distance as Bdubs gloated about stealing one of their stone cutters, whatever that did. A dirty blond man with a shining gold chest plate and huge parrot wings that had their primaries cut and were missing patches of feathers ran towards them. He sensed how the others went on guard, meeting a new person in this little world. Impulse was the first one who greeted the man.

“Hey!”

“I’ve been alone for so long,” the newcomer whined. 

The name tag “Grian” hovered over his head. His eyes were green, like everyone else, he had a long nose, and his hair curled around his cheeks, wet with sweat. He was about Bdubs’ height, stout figure with warm sand skin. Impulse shook his head in sympathy. 

Scar immediately tossed the flint and steel to the avian (while he couldn’t name every flower, his memory unclogged when it came to species and monsters’ names) and yelled towards the village:

“Grian burned down the village, it was him the whole time!”

Said man gave him a bewildered look and Scar snorted. 

“Gree-an,” he muttered.

Scar raised his eyebrow. “Is that not what I said?”

The rest of the group laughed, and Cleo shook their head. “No, you said it like Brian, but with a ‘g’.”

Scar blinked. “Oh,” he turned to Grian, “sorry about that.”

Grian gave him a smile. “It’s fine.”

“You wanna burn a village with us?” Cleo asked him as if she was asking about what kind of tea he wanted. The man stammered, completely thrown off guard by the situation they put him in.

Bdubs laughed at the suggestion. 

“Jeez Grian, you little rapscallion, going down to burn villages like that?” Scar tutted, a big grin betrayed his disappointment.

Impulse turned to the avian. “Grian, you don’t wanna go over there.” Everyone circled the newcomer, nodding to Impulse’s statement. Grian gave him a skeptical look. “They’re not very welcoming. We, on the other hand—”

“We’re the most welcoming people you’ll ever meet,” Cleo interrupted him.

“Bdubs, do the honors,” Impulse said, bowing to give Bdubs some place to put the vibe machine in the center of the circle they created. “It’s time.”

Bdubs nodded and placed the jukebox in front of everyone. Grian gasped as Bdubs inserted the disc. Impulse and Cleo started to sway to the rhythm, and Scar let out a relieved exhale.

“I immediately feel a whole lot better.” 

It wasn’t a complete lie, but it sounded dishonest in his mind, immediately glancing at the others to see if they caught his dishonesty—it didn’t seem like it. While the crutches helped relieve some ache in his lower body, a wave of fatigue drowned him, his arms shaking, and he didn’t understand why. He sat down a few moments ago, he should be fine. Maybe he could sit down on the ground, just as a respite.

Unfortunately, as the others rocked to the crackling music, a long black figure appeared in the corner of his eye. He clutched the handles of his crutches and turned his gaze towards the jukebox. 

“Guys,” his voice quivered, “be careful.”

Impulse and Bdubs stopped dancing. “Uh oh,” Impulse muttered, lowering his gaze as well. Grian and Cleo gave confused looks to Scar.

“There’s an Enderman vibing with us.”

Bdubs continued to dance, making sure to look only at the jukebox. Everyone followed along, and Impulse chuckled nervously.

“That’s okay, he can vibe with us.”

“He’s invited, but he’s also scary,” Scar laughed nervously, unwilling to move or look elsewhere. 

He knew monsters around here were dangerous. He didn’t comprehend the freeze response his body gave when he spotted the creature, but he wouldn’t complain. He tried to eat some fish, his hand trembling and almost dropping the food. He put it back in his inventory, making a mental note to eat later to ease the tension that was now spreading to his lower neck.

“Where,” Grian paused, slowing the movement of his hips, “where were you guys? Do you have a house somewhere?”

“Yeah, we do,” Impulse said absently. Scar dared a peek and saw Impulse crafting a boat. 

“You’re welcome at any given time,” Bdubs assured.

“We’re the refugee camp,” Cleo explained. “A refugee station.”

Bdubs walked in front of Grian, uncertainty in his steps. “G—is it okay if I call you G?—” Bdubs didn’t wait for an answer, “—there’s kind of a natural—” he glanced behind Scar, and groaned in frustration. “Okay, what are you guys doing here?!”

Scar looked behind him to find Etho walking nonchalantly towards the jukebox while Tango skipped around them singing “kumbaya”, his tail waving back and forth. 

“Every time we’re trying to have a conversation, these guys—” Impulse pointed at the overjoyed Tango, “—interrupt us.”

Tango laughed, and Scar took the record out of the jukebox, moment ruined. He saw Bdubs whispering to Etho until Grian cackled. 

“He really wants that horse, huh.”

“I want that horse so freakin’ bad,” Bdubs sighed dejectedly, looking at the horizon. Scar followed his gaze and saw a white horse eating grass. Cleo joined Grian in the laughter. 

Bdubs and Etho bickered about the horse. Their conversation bored Scar, so he occupied himself by putting the disc back and concentrating on the music. Then, an idea struck him. Etho and Tango were here with them. That meant that the dark oak tree was unsupervised.  That meant he could destroy the village even more. 

Scar glanced at Grian. He was idly listening, rocking side to side in tempo with the music. He stepped closer to the avian and whispered to him.

“Do you have the flint and steel?”

Grian paused. “Uh,” he patted himself and then looked in his inventory, “yeah, here.”

Scar grinned as he snatched the flint from Grian’s hand. He placed his finger to his lips. Grian raised his eyebrow, skeptical, and then shrugged as Scar trotted to the tree. He heard footsteps behind as he got closer to it.

Etho stepped in front of him, arms crossed. How did he move so fast?

“Oh, hey Etho!” Scar greeted, his hands getting sweaty.

“Maybe you should go back to the kumbaya party over there,” Etho pointed at the huddle group. Cleo was the only one Scar could see, but he simply walked past the masked man, trying to be casual.

“I just saw something I needed to do over there,” Scar walked closer to the tree, but knew he had to be more vigilant with Etho watching him with hawk eyes.

“Did you now? Is it something to do with this hole over here?” Etho nudged his head to one of the many holes in this village. 

Scar hesitated. “Nah, something to do with the sheep, they just—”

“The sheep look fine to me,” Etho shrugged. He still went into the sheep pen to check on them.

“Yeah, the sheep are fine,” Scar saw Tango walking closer to them in the corner of his eye. His arson plan would have to happen later. “They’re eating grass and they look happy.”

“Careful Tango, he has the flint and steel,” Etho warned.

“Oh, I know,” the blazeborn replied, eyeing Scar who got closer to the tree even with all the eyes on him, “I don’t trust him.”

“I was just inspecting the tree,” Scar pouted, patting the trunk even with the dirt blocking his way. He rested the crutch against the barrier of dirt and reached. Only to immediately retract his arm back, as the soreness restricted his arm movement, wincing. 

Tango playfully shoved him out of the way. “Take your burnie-burnie elsewhere.”

Scar laughed at that. He went to the back of the village, where he first came in, and flicked the flint and steel on the wooden supports of the house. Tango tried to grab him and take him somewhere else, but Cleo and Bdubs came to the rescue, distracting the blazeborn. Scar fled and continue to flick flames over the wooden structures.

“Scar, the villager is in there!” Bdubs exclaimed when he realized which house Scar was burning.

“He’s got speedy-burn!” Tango whined as Cleo laughed, not helping in the slightest. Scar appreciated that, even when he realized there was only one villager in this world.

“Oh, the only villager is in there.”

“Oh indeed,” Cleo mocked.

He helped Tango putting out the flames, feeling a bit bad. It seemed villagers were very important, and he didn’t want to ruin everyone’s fun. Just nudge them a little. 

“Well, you know, their villager is on the outskirt of the village,” Cleo informed, standing taller. Scar shot an eyebrow at her, joining them and Bdubs. “They can’t always protect it.”

“Oh,” Bdubs realized, but looked at the horizon instead. Scar and Cleo followed his gaze and saw a big group of people huddling in the same spot. 

“It seems Grian caught the attention of Etho and Impulse,” Cleo mused.

Scar hummed.

“They won’t be sharing any secrets without me involved,” Bdubs said determinedly, almost running to join the group. Cleo huffed and followed him.

Now, everyone was distracted. Everyone had their backs to the dark oak tree. Scar’s fingers twitched on the handle of his crutches and he passed behind the houses in order to reach the tree. He winced every time the sticks crunched dried leafs and grass, but no one turned back.

When he reached the dark oak tree, he leaned his crutch against the trunk, lit up the flint and steel and approached the flame to it. He took back his crutch, a big grin on his face as he joined the others.

“Nothing’s happening here,” he heard Etho’s voice. As he came around the house blocking his view, he realized Bdubs had some sort of glare on his face, surrounded by Etho, Grian and Impulse. “We were talking about grandmas.”

Grian and Impulse nodded as Bdubs huffed. They were up on a hill and while Scar really didn’t want to strain himself anymore, he did want to see the tree burning at a great view. He started climbing up the hill, switching to his cane to lean on something. He didn’t understand why his hips were attracted to the core of this world, or why his legs couldn’t rise up like he commended them to. 

Thankfully, Tango saw his struggle and helped him after asking if he could. 

“What’s this about grandmas?” Scar asked when he reached the top of the hill. 

But everyone ignored him, very much focused on distracting Bdubs. His gaze looked back at the burning tree, the flames already consuming the leafs. The smell of smoke burned in his lungs, making him cough, but he still snickered when Etho finally saw the flames. 

“Oh, you—” Etho slapped his arm, running to his tree as everyone laughed. “My tree!”

“Oh, it’s burning!” Scar laughed.

“The worst,” Tango chided.

Scar moved closer to where everyone was standing, the house finally out of his view from the show. Etho desperately tried to put out the flames, to no avail as the flames danced on the leafs and roared around the bark. 

“The history lost forever,” Tango lamented. The tree engulfed in flames and Etho grew more desperate. 

“You should’ve let us chopping down,” Cleo chimed in, “that’s all I’m saying.”

Scar turned around, and switched to his crutches as he addressed Tango. “Really, you should’ve,” he said, unapologetic. “‘Cause really, we could’ve had more dark oak saplings, which would've given us more dark oak and everyone would’ve been happy.”

Tango groaned and Grian sighed and joined Etho. “Etho!” he called. “It’s gone.”

“Yeah, well, now, nobody gets it,” Tango said, frustrated. 

And the tree turned slowly into ashes as Etho placed the blame on Bdubs, as everyone lamented they wouldn’t have this rare wood anymore, as everyone just watched it burn while Etho still tried to keep the tree intact. Scar had successfully raided the village and no phantoms came to bother them.

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[braxiatel]

Hi hello hi I just caught up on equinox and it's making me insane I have so many thoughts I'm just going to throw all of them at you beloved mutual. Also I listened to the Hades ost while reading this and I think it rewired my brain chemistry. Also Equinox spoilers below dear readers.

QUITE FRANKLY I do not know enough about Ancient Greek myths because it was never an area of interest for me but never the less I have been GRIPPED. Atherix was like "I hate cheating stories and I am Making An Exception for this one" so of course i had to read it and now I am simply perched like a bird staring down at this it is fantastic. Oh my god I cannot wait for everything to run through the fan here.

Scar and Grian are SUCH a mess and it is a DELIGHT. You have truly captured the Vibes here my lord. The fact that Scar remains loyal for SO LONG after Grian stops paying attention to him and keeps a shrine to his husband and grian is just. GOING BEHIND HIS BACK. AUGH. MY HEART CANT TAKE THIS. and then SCAR being like "you know what i deserve it" far be it from me to cheer on someone cheating on their spouse but FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS MAN YES YOU DO. ESPECIALLY considering how Grian vs Scar's cheating parallel each other like Grian is LYING to himself and hurting both himself AND bigb in the process whereas Scar is FINALLY happy with Mumbo while S T I L L feeling the pull back to Grian and the way ALL of it parallels double life and how Grian and Scar see alliances and contracts as completely different and play the game different can anyone HEAR me I am SCREAMING

GOD I WANT TO SHAKE THEM ALL IN A JAR!!!!

And the fact that Mumbo is Etho's son [I think. I think I understand this dynamic correctly] is going to make me GNAW MY OWN ARM OFF ETHO MY BELOVED!!!!! AUGH HIS CHARACTERIZATION IS SO GOOD IM GONNA GO INSANE. I AM THROWING MYSELF OVER A FAINTING COUCH.

AND THEN BIGB'S NYMPH...TIE. BRANCH. THING BEING INSIDE GRIAN'S GARDEN BUT THE ONLY PRE-RELATIONSHIP THATS TAGGED IN MUMSCARIAN!!!! I AM SO SCARED FOR BIGB OH GOD

Oh my god and the way redstone works here has my heart. Delicate devicess that can blow up and be made big and complex its just so. Mwah. Mwah mwah mwah. I love redstone so much.

AND THEN ALL THE SOFT REDSCAPE WHERE MUMBO IS WORRIED BECAUSE HES A DEMIGOD THIS POOR MAN IS GONNA HAVE LIKE. 3 IDENTITY CRISIES TO GET TO THAT MUMSCARIAN TAG HUH. "I hate the gods I am a demi god i love a god I love two gods oh god[s]". My poor mumbo jumbo. Whump on him some more I love it.

AND JUST THE DESCRIPTION OF THE UNDERWORLD AUGH ITS SO!!!! The way you describe it is so vivid and yet also like ever shifting in my mind which tbf is how I would picture the actual underworld anyway and I just DLKFHSAFHKLADFKLHA I AM GOING MAD

AND CUB!!!! CUB MY BELOVED OH YOU HAVE CAPTURED HIS 'WAY TOO CHILL' ATTITUDE SO WELL GOOOOOOOOOOOOD. The scene between cub and grian i was just like GET HIS ASS!!!! GET HIS ASS!!!!!!!!!!!

AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH THE FACT THAT IM OUT OF EQUINOX STUFF TO READ NOW. SOB. I CANT WAIT FOR ME

Hello beloved mutual Stitch <3 Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, I spent all morning being excited about this ask!

Thank you, yes! Double Life was the first life series I got to watch live, and I am just. I'm not over any of it tbh? at least 1% of my psyche is at all times devoted to screaming about this canon soulmate AU.

And honestly? I feel the same about cheating stories. But then cc!Grian said "I want to hang out with my bestie, so I'm gonna make my little guy be into his little guy" in double life and was then like tragedy! pain! despair! and I ate that shit right up.

Scar really did go "I can have a little gay summer flirt for myself, as a treat :)" and then turned around and fell Hard for Mumbo. Way harder than I think he thought he'd be able to with a mortal. Not that that's something he thinks about much, of course. Mumbo is just Mumbo to him, he doesn't care about what he is. Scar you really should tell him you're a god. You really should do that my dude.

Yes Mumbo is Etho's son and it was entirely accidental 😂 I was like "Well this is who Mumbo is in the AU and then a couple of days later "Oh I know who Etho is" and then it took me like an hour from there before I made the connection.

Top 1 reason I need mumscarian to become canon in this au soon, btw:

[ID in alt]

me in fic: redstone is so cool I love it so much redstoners my beloved me in mincraft: *sobbing, weeping, wailing as I rebuild an item sorter for the third time*

Honestly? Yes. Mumbo is just here trying to live his life meanwhile a tidal wave of god politics is building in the background. He's gonna have A Day when everything gets brought into the light. I'm sure he'll be Fine about his boyfriend of many years being something he's terrified of, though... right?

I am looking very hard at Cub's current lore, because that could be relevant for a future equinox thing and I badly want an excuse to bring him back.

Thank you < 3 I wrote a sentence on my WIP just now, just for you.

[ID: she grins, teeth like jagged shards of iron]