#AT THE END GRIAN WAS IN CHAT AND SAID IT WAS INCREDIBLE | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cactuupng · 10 months ago

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I hope it's still okay to talk about traffic!Mumbo

A lot of the times,it's either Grian or Scar or Martyn that's popular within the life series fandom,but Mumbo's my favourite character so I'm glad that you like him a lot as well!

I just love that Last Life kind of started so good for him,with the Southlands,the aha jokes,the base and farms,but then he and Grian had that moment on the bridge and would only be red with Grian,who wanted him to join him SO BADLY,if he killed Mumbo fair and square.

Then Mumbo turned red and went INSANE with the end crystals.He was forced out of the Southlands (I think),he was trying to attack so many people,and didn't hesitate to push Impulse off of the SAME bridge that Grian tried to kill him on.He still joined up with fellow reds but he kept moving through different people,until he met up with Jimmy,a fellow Southlander,and died in his home,by the hands of one of his closest allies.

He's just kind of a tragic character that's different to the usual angst of the life series,somebody who wanted friends but lost them all and went insane and bloodthirsty because of it.

This might not make sense,or just feel like a basic explanation of Mumbo's Last life journey,but still,it was nice to talk about him and I love your art of Mumbo!

Yes yes yes YES!

I absolutely love traffic!Mumbo because the more you rewatch his povs, the more tragic he seems to become.

Like you said, it started out great! He got a group of friends, he got 4 lives, jokes - everything was perfect! But then the Bastion happened, and he lost his first life. Okay, that's scary! He hadn't died on hardcore before, so it's weird and was definitely a lot more terrifying than if he died on Hermitcraft.

He calls for help in chat, asking if someone, anyone, can come help him get home and protect him. He buries himself underground, waiting for Martyn and Jimmy to come back for him. No one comes, though, leaving him to wait. He's completely alone for the night, terrified to go out in case a mob hurts him and kills him again.

Mumbo's rightfully upset at them, commenting how the "aha" is traumatic to him now and how he can't do it due to not having a spyglass anymore. Meeting up with Grian, Mumbo makes a jab at himself about burning and dying, clearly still upset.

Then he dies again at the hands of, again, lava, but this time it was because Scar poured it on him. His friend from another world, killing him just like that, not really caring. He respawns, but he stays burning. Mumbo tries to jump into the water, trying to distinguish the weirdly non damage taking flames, but they don't disappear no matter what he does. The others don't comment on it, as if they can't see it. He's still burning. It's still warm.

and THEN THE GHAST BRIDGE?? INCIDENT HAPPENS??? Mumbo only heard talks about red names and how they can't team with non reds, only seeing Joel act that way. He's never experienced this. So it's incredibly distressing when he watches his best friend die in front of him, going down to red. He leaves a sign at the bottom, saving Grian's stuff and pleading for him not to hurt him, because hey! I saved your stuff! I'm your pal!

The whole conversation makes me sick, because Grian clearly isn't fully trying to kill Mumbo off. He wants to be friends with him, of course, but he can't kill him. Grian resorts to making pathetic attempts to drop him, but of course it doesn't work. He backs off the moment Mumbo tells him that he will join him if he kills him fair and square. Mumbo wants to join him, he wants to stay friends, but only if Grian does it fairly. Grian doesn't. He can't.

I'm skipping through everything to when Mumbo turns red because MUMBO ON HIS RED LIFE IS CONSTANTLY ON MY MIND BECAUSE OH MY GOD. This man is not used to this amount of bloodthirst. He's a killer, of course he is. His middle name is Killsalot god damn it! But he's not used to it being this much. He immediately goes insane, not hesitating to hurt, to explode, to push the limits. Seeing how Ren and BigB were scared of him if he even went NEAR them with something explosive, it filled him with power. "I like having this power!" he says, absolutely ecstatic of how he can do what he wants.

All this power comes with a cost, of course. Mumbo coming back to the place he called home, meeting face to face with Grian and Impulse. He shouldn't be here. They tell him that in the face. Mumbo tries to protest, to talk about about how he somewhat already was exiled already, but his voice gets quiet as the realisations hit him. He cant come home. Grian exiles him right in front of him, telling him that he should leave. He does, but not without doing what red names were meant to do. Destroy. Scare.

Back on the ghast bridge, Impulse and Grian are there. Mumbo doesn't hesitate to push Impulse off, laughing. Grian's upset, yelling at him while Mumbk tries to explain himself. Mumbk tries to do Grian's old tricks of breaking the floor beneath him, but he can't. Grian can now, though, not afraid to protect himself as he starts scaring Mumbo. All Mumbo fan do in turn is to apologise repeatedly, saying "sorry" over and over as if he didn't mean to do ehat he did, running away.

He keeps burning the flame. He keeps making the flame larger and larger and larger until its too much, until he burns himself down to ashes. He flies too close to the sun as he watches Jimmy die in front of him, realisations crashing over him after hitting his best friend of what he's done now, running away before turning back, hoping that he didn't follow. Grian did, though. He always does.

It ends with Mumbo getting stabbed in the chest as he feels himself dying. Not dying in the way that is on Hermitcraft, the way that it is back home. No. He's dying.

Mumbo has a constant theme with burning in LastLife. His first deaths relating to burning in lava, coming back permanently burning due to a glitch after his second one, his third happening right after exploding an end crystal right in front of him, his love for end crystals in the first place...

I like to associate him with a burning candle flame that just got too big, slowly burning himself down until nothing but a puddle of what once was remained.

#i didnt even touch on Ahasbands #there were some special moments in Mumbo's pov that make me sick #idk if any of this makes sense he just means a lot to me #ANOTHER association is Icarus but it isnt that big #He flew too close to the sun (Grian) and burned down because of it #LL!Mumbo Jumbo my burning star #also fun fact all of his player caused deaths were done by hermits #Scar took his second life #Etho took his third #and Grian took his final one #fun!#and all his deaths were somewhat witnessed by either Martyn or Grian or both #who are the two closest people to him in this season #and who are very strongly associated with the Watchers #cactuu talks

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onebraincell-itmiebcraft · 7 months ago

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Liveblogging real life part 2: Joel (it's been 12 13 days) (already watched)

Okay so maybe we'll do the liveblog-every-five-minutes-unless-something-crazy thing also idk if I should link this up to my intro post (idk how) or reblogged my og one with this oh well we'll figure it out why am I eating AGAIN doing this

I got inspired after rewatching secret life my beloved for the umpteenth time :P

Okay ep. 1/finale is hilarious and new "series" 😭

Joel why did you point out the cursor I can't take my eyes away

First batch

Joel jumping then immediately keeling over in nausea:

Idk how to respond to that but it struck a chord within me, how true

BigB wholesome waving but it also looks like his arm is BENT I can't get over VR arms man 😭

Punching BigB because he's so tall is so real tbh + love the smash cut to Gem being salty

Headpatting + baby-ish voice "little gem/Ren/skizz" what a gentleman makes me think of the try not to cry challenge or Jimmy's crazy christmas series where he says Joel is a crybaby and Gem says he's a romance guy in a mental gymnastics train of thought

Grian throwing his head back from the outside?! Cryptid behaviour

The real life vids don't make me motion sick but Joel making retching and vomiting sounds does NOT help it makes me sick by proxy or something I hate being disoriented and nauseous too buddy

There's probably a video out there of someone comparing regular mc to vr because vr just hits different like proportions wise

Joel noises

Love this Joel-Gem duo already idk how to describe it just fun

Also Joel having to process out loud he won't throw up on Gem I remember playing Richie's plank experience or whatever years and years ago shit was REAL

Joel's inventory becoming disorganized with things that can be stacked together :(

Hey what gem said kinda reminds me of what grian said :D at the end of his episode awful :DD

Poor Joel he's battling his height complex alongside his motion sickness (rip bozo poor little meow meow)

I think almost everybody had the problem of facing the wall dude, it's okay it's very silly

Water foreshadowing (he will swim with his future gang and become incredibly sick)

Geminislay that pig

Wait till Joel learns about lying down‼️‼️

JOEL STOP MAKING NAUSEOUS SOUNDS I'M GONNA FROW UP 👹

"...Falling in powdered snow" kinda reminds me of this short story I read in grade 9 English class "The Bamboo Trap" protag fell in The Bamboo Trap™ and got bitten by big ass spiders or something the idiot, also I think got published in the same anthology as the most dangerous game 👊

Joel admits to weakness

Weird ass snow, someone built this or something?

Joel with his arms out looks so silly, so does gem

Oh gem how graceful with the figure skating history 👊👊👊✌️👉✌️✌️🤜🤛🤛🤜🙏

Lol they learn about the wrist chat

Second batch

Jimmy, oh iconic Timmy

Shield (why did I write this again?)

Bi shoes, love seeing gem's skin wearing the bi shoes I forget about it every once in a while and when I see it again it's a pleasant surprise

Vr players learn to pvp

When you use the shield to block in first person it looks kinda stupid dude

Campsite vibes tbh, I really like it.

Bee spotted 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 what is it doing

Shaky controller cursor over top chest plate I feel you

Falling irl indeed (recursive mention about plank)

LOUD holy moly Joel is loud (not negative)

Healf being something people can't look at at all times is actually a kinda funny mechanic

Smajor friendship aww when will they team up (did I forget about a series)

The poor beg for bread, we live in a society ✊😔

Grian killing??? Since when??? (Sarcastic)

Batch three

Peace and love is why they haven't died yet 😘

Arms again! Weird looking things

Hand gesture reminds me of that one diamond scar short with etho's greedy "I want the diamond" voice

Flint and steel? Weird looking thing

Omg red club looks like bugs, the way the trio gossips about them ♥️

Right no out messages...

Can't believe the most motion sick man gets in the water not once but TWICE this ep

Does he know

Where did the horse thing come from

Can't remember if I mentioned this but when the sword swings without critting in VR it looks so silly it pokes

A bugs life: the sequel

Club: deadly euphemism

Sword 😐

Something about jimmy doesn't get burnt...

Why is Jimmy jiggles the only one with a wooden sword???

Strong words from a man on the verge of mania 👀

Lol knowing impulse breaks the ground under Joel big brain man going for the kill

Something about the disappointed way Joel says "scar!" And scar stabbing him in the first caused this

Tim is so British he says "get in" so much

Joel, again exasperated, cries out "where's all my stuff?!"

Funny Minecraft men, my favourite funny Minecraft men

My god seeing from Joel's perspective his second death is from zombie

I think Joel was about to saying bluming + the cover behind house + the constant begging for his stuff back + violence as an answer (he hits men)

Oh scar up to no good again

JOEL GETS IN THE WATER AGAIN!!! MOTION SICKNESS WIN!

Joel and scar just did mitosis stop being scared of biology 🙄

What was Mr solidaritygaming doing in that hill and said yes to did he finally get iron?

Aw the silly arm motion I love greeting people with spirit fingers reminds me of that

GOON SQUAD?! (neuron activated)

Famous moment

Oh more famous moment here comes the smallidarity kiss

Love Tim's body language once again the sharp smooth head turn to grian he's like a cartoon character

(what grian mean they are suited and booted he cut this part out I don't remember the other povs 😢)

Leave it to solidaritygaming himself to be the most homoerotic straight man there is of course + Joel is still patting him on the head? + Timsel being cringefail needing to jump multiple times on ONE BLOCK + Joel did NOT need to lean that much he looks like he's powered by springs + Jim's arms always being so tight together. Makes him. Look like. An old granny??? + Joel IMMEDIATELY checking his wrist afterwards like it's a Tuesday and he's on break + homophobic GRIAN + impulse's dad delivery one liner

The more I watch smallidarity kiss the more bizarre and asinine it becomes to me 😀

When did Joel learn to button jump (he WAS mental for jumping irl irl)

Okay Joel cut out that canary comment why don't you 🙄🙄🙄

WHACK 💀 SHAKE YOUR HANDS REAL FAST 💀💀 JOEL SCREAM #3997 💀💀💀

Fond of Joel's cadence of saying "hello guys!" And "I'm coming in boys!" And "HAHA!" oddly musical

Okay aaaaaaand he dies worst ranking ever good for him the end

Idk if I should liveblog scar next or watch Ren because I've already watched up to skizz + me 'ead 'urts oh well

#real life smp #real life spoilers #real life #rlsmp #rl #rlmblr #rlsmp liveblogging #am i the only one using that tag #smallishbeans #liveblogging

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bluiex · 2 years ago

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Well good thing I also had this chapter done so it can happily be posted! I’m really happy people seem to like this au! I will admit this chapter was pretty rushed when I made it (even though it took me sic hours to write lol). Enjoy!

As is true for all stories, seeing only one perspective will leave many questions unanswered. Some things will appear black and white. So to get more insight, we must start looking through other sides.

Mumbo was staring down at Scar with worry in his eyes. He had seen his friend freeze up and slowly look to the other Winter, with wide and distant eyes. It felt as if his soul had vacated his body and his body was a tomb that had long been raided and discarded.

Perhaps it was nothing, thought the Redstoner. Surely, Scar must be fine. Maybe he was simply experiencing what Mumbo had felt when they had met up with Skizz? Yes, that would make sense. If he got jealous over another Autumn, then it’s not out of the picture for Scar to get jealous over another Winter.

“… Scar?” Mumbo said his name quietly, not wanting to spook him or let the other two know that something was wrong with him.

Scar’s eyes darted to him immediately. Almost instantly, Scar had latched on to him, burying his face into the crook of Mumbo’s neck, with his arms wrapped around the Redstoner, tightly. And, well, Mumbo certainly wasn’t complaining about having Scar in his arms.

“You ok?” Mumbo whispers into his ear, having his arms wrap around Scar’s waist.

“….” Scar was silent for a moment. “Yeah. Just want your attention.”

Mumbo couldn’t help the small chuckle that left his lips. “You don’t need to have any worry, you always have my complete and utter attention.” And he meant it. It was hard to keep his attention off of Scar and Grian. The two of them were just so perfect in every way.

“That’s nice to hear.” Mumbo couldn’t see his face but could feel Scar’s face start heating up and a smile forming. It made Mumbo incredibly happy to make Scar happy.

“Those two teamed up or something?” Mumbo looked up to see BigB and Skizz talking amongst themselves.

“Nope! I’m pretty sure they’re just in love with each other!” Skizz chuckled, and soon BigB joined in. “Ah, before I forget, I’m going to put the coordinates for spawn in chat that way everyone else can find it.”

That is a good idea, Mumbo bitterly admitted to himself. And while he could have definitely thought of that himself, he was very busy with a very cute man in his arms currently! Yup, that’s definitely why he didn’t think of that.

“That’s a good idea, Skizz,” Scar had lifted his head from where it was nestled to speak to Skizz. Mumbo was just a tad miffed by this, but said nothing. At least Scar was still in his arms, and that’s all that matters.

“Thanks. It looks like everyone is starting to head over,” Skizz replied while looking at his communicator, probably reading everyone’s replies.

“Sounds good. So Skizz told me you both were Autumn and Winter, respectfully. Any specific people you’d like to team with?” BigB was looking at them both with a smile.

Mumbo felt himself match the smile, it was too infectious to not do so. “I’m hoping for Grian and Scar, but Scar doesn’t want to team with Grian so I’ll probably be with Grian unless we’re the same season.”

“Yeah, I’m hoping for Cub or Pearl on my team. And Mumbo too, of course,” Scar answers, making a point to not look at BigB.

“Ah, I see. That makes sense,” BigB looked a little awkward and Mumbo wondered what had made sense. Later, Mumbo will punch himself for not asking more questions. “Yeah, I’m also interested in teaming with Grian, like Mumbo. I’m not sure about other teammates, but I’d definitely be happy teaming with you, Mumbo if it ends up being that way!”

“Yeah, same!” Mumbo wasn’t quite sure if he was imagining it but he thought he felt Scar tense under him. The only thing he was sure of, was Scar leaving his arms and instead wrapping his own arms around himself. This made no sense to Mumbo as he was sure his arms were doing a great job of holding Scar. Curse his arms for failing him at this moment!

Before any potential complaining could take place, all four of them could hear voices approaching. Staring in the direction of the noise, Mumbo was able to make out False and Fwhip. Man double F names coming together.

“Hey hey, everyone!” Fwhip greeted the group, giving them a wave and a smile.

“Hey, Fwhip!” Scar greeted him with his beautiful, stunning smile. “Hey False! Welcome to the spawn party!”

“Welcome you both! What roles did you two get?” Seems like Skizz was curious about what everyone got. Mumbo wasn’t judging at all, but he did seem to be trying to find out things about everyone.

“I’m an Autumn, and False is a Winter,” Fwhip answers him. And like, did everyone get either Winter or Autumn? Did Grian somehow manage to forget to give people the Summer and Spring roles?

“Huh…” BigB blinked at them. “Well, um, Scar and I are also Winters while Skizz and Mumbo are also Autumns.”

“What?” Honestly, Fwhip was expressing verbally how Mumbo felt. Because what are the odds that half of the Winter and Autumn folk have met up.

“So we’re all Winter or Autumn right now?” False asks, probably to clarify for her brain. Not that Mumbo could blame her.

“Looks that way,” Skizz agrees.

And there was the awkward silence. It seemed like no one knew what to talk about now. How could Mumbo assume this? Well everyone was looking around while staying silent. Definitely awkward.

The next to arrive was Bdubs, who was alone. And well, of course their luck was just as awful as the rest of them.

“Bdubs!” Scar was smiling so happily at him and Mumbo was very much not jealous!

“Scar! You all who aren’t Scar!” Bdubs greeted them, but did greet Scar with a hug. “Looks like I’m right on time for the party!”

“You sure are! What season did you get, Bdubs?” Scar looked so excited to see him and like, why? Mumbo’s taller than Scar and his arms were strong and big enough to keep Scar warm and safe! So why did he have to be happy seeing Bdubs.

“I’m an Autumn!” Bdubs looked so proud of himself. The rest of the group stared at Bdubs with an indescribable look of dumbfounded. Bdubs looked at all of them, a little confused. “What is my season just so amazing, you don’t know what to say?”

“No…” Skizz is the one who responds. “It’s the fact that you’re the fourth autumn here. We’re all either Autumn or Winter.”

“Huh?” And there was now another flabbergasted person in the spawn area. “Did Grian forget to code the other roles or something?”

“I’m honestly considering it,” Mumbo really was. Is there really such a coincidence as great as this?

“It is strange that none of us are Summer or Spring,” Skizz nods to himself. “But there’s also quite a lot of us so it’s not improbable that the Summer and Spring people are just not here yet.”

“Suppose we’ll just have to wait and see,” Mumbo shrugs.

And wait they did. At some point they all started sitting around spawn. Mumbo sat next to Scar who was also sitting next to Bdubs, and resting his head on Bdub’s shoulder, which most definitely did not bother Mumbo in the slightest. Nope, not at all.

The next duo was Lizzie and Joel. When asked, Lizzie said she was an Autumn, which almost made everyone lose their minds, however Joel said he was Summer so it was good confirmation that Skizz ended up being right. Also, apparently the two of them teamed up immediately. As soon as they figured out they were different seasons in fact.

Mumbo wished he could find such amazing love like theirs. It was just so pure and beautiful. And Mumbo really wanted that with Scar and Grian, it hurt.

The next person was Doc, who was a Spring. Thank goodness for that. Then Sausage who was a Summer. Katherine was next who was also a Summer. Cleo and Pearl were both Springs, and were distinctly not looking at each other. Next, Grian arrived.

Mumbo actually got off the floor when Grian arrived, so did BigB. Scar looked over at Grian with an unreadable expression, before turning his attention away. Mumbo thought it was strange that Scar hadn’t even greeted the short avian, but figured that he might’ve been tired.

“Grian! It’s great to see you! What season did you get?” Mumbo gave Grian a big hug, which was reciprocated.

“I’m a Summer. How about you both?” Grian seemed to also be talking to BigB, as he did end their hug to give BigB one.

“I’m a Winter,” BigB answers, smiling widely. “Which means we can be teamed in this game!”

“Yes!” Grian seemed very happy by this discovery. Well, Mumbo couldn’t remember a time they’ve teamed so it makes sense that they might want to team with each other?

“I’m an Autumn, so we can also be a team!” Mumbo smiled at them both.

“Oh this is amazing! This will be the best team ever!” Grian pulled up his sleeves and stared at them. Mumbo and BigB gave each other a look before staring with Grian.

That’s when the magic began. On Grian’s arms, their names began forming. Mumbo’s name was orange while BigB’s was an icy blue. BigB rolled up his own sleeves to see Mumbo’s name in the same color and Grian’s in yellow. Mumbo followed suit, and yeah their names were there in the same color.

“Oh, does this show who’s teamed with who?” Mumbo was amazed at the coding that went into this. Not to mention, the names were in different fonts, almost looking like they wrote the name themselves.

“It sure does! Now we just need a Spring and we’re all good to go!” Grian cheered. “Hmm, I wonder who a good last teammate would be. Do either of you guys know who the Springs are?”

Why wasn’t Grian asking about Scar? No, nothing happened, Mumbo. You’re just overthinking things! They’ve teamed up plenty of times, it makes sense that they want to hang around with other people.

“You two figure that out, I’m going to speak with Scar for a quick second,” Mumbo tells them. Grian gives him a thumbs up before going on his merry way.

Mumbo walks over to Scar who was still sitting next to Bdubs, but Bdubs was preoccupied talking to Cleo. From the short bit he picked up from their conversation, it sounded like the two of them were planning to team together. Good for them.

“Hey, Scar,” Mumbo greets him. Scar gave him a glance before looking away.

Cub had just arrived to the group, so Mumbo figured that he was quickly checking who arrived. However, he was proven wrong when Scar got off the ground and made his way over to Cub, his arms outstretched and he embraced Cub. Mumbo couldn’t deny the fact he was a tad upset that Scar had chosen to ignore him but he hoped it was just excitement of seeing Cub.

“Cub, I’m so happy to see you! What season did you get? I’m a Winter!” And well, it made sense Scar was so excited. He did say at the beginning that he wanted to team with Cub.

“I’m a Summer,” Cub chuckles, seemingly so pleased about having his arms full of Scar. “Does this mean you wanted to team with me?”

“Absolutely!” Scar smiled at him so brightly. Seriously, he really is like the sun.

“Then, I’d love for us to be teamed.” Cub smiled down at Scar like he was the most precious thing on this earth. And, well, that wasn’t far from the truth.

Mumbo moved back over to his two teammates who were still discussing things. Mumbo basically tuned them out and began paying attention to spawn again.

There were four pairs that were talking to each other basically, and if Mumbo had to assume, they were all either teamed or planning to team. There was False and Doc, Cub and Scar, Bdubs and Cleo, and finally Lizzie and Joel.

Martyn came, he was a Winter. He went over to Cleo and Bdubs, and seemed to join their conversation. Then Jimmy, who was a Winter, got there, and Lizzie excitedly dragged him to her and Joel’s little group. Etho was next, he was a Summer, and was kidnapped by Bdubs’ group.

It didn’t take long for that group of four to say their goodbyes to the rest of everyone and leave. The first full team it seemed: Etho, Cleo, Martyn, and Bdubs. That team could be troublesome in the future, but we’d just have to wait and see.

Zed got there next, a Spring, and he naturally migrated over to Skizz. Ren and Pearl got there at the same time. Ren was an Autumn while Pearl was a Spring. Grian seemed to zone in on Pearl as soon as he heard she was a Spring but Scar got there before he did. And Scar’s little team became one of three. Ren was immediately taken by False and Doc. Quite literally, as Doc forced the dog hybrid into his lap. So there were now four groups looking for another member.

False approached Katherine, who happily agreed to join their group. One group out of the race. Then Impulse and Tango joined the group looking… well, they definitely looked like they had seen better days. It was very clear what they were up to. They both had hickeys over their necks and their hair was messy and their faces were very red.

“Oh, what’s this?” Grian had a smirk on his lips while looking at the two who very clearly just got it on. “Did the Shadowman already attack?”

Tango smirked back at Grian, looking incredibly pleased with himself. “I sure did. Honestly, I had such a nice ride on him.” He sent Impulse a wink.

“And you just let him, Impulse?” Mumbo couldn’t understand why Grian wanted details of their sex life.

“Well, yeah? Not like there’s anything wrong with that?” Impulse answered, looking and sounding a tad confused.

“Oh, did I forget to mention that?” Grian made that face when you’re smiling in shock. “Ah, well I should mention that the Shadowman’s victim is unable to get it up for the rest of the week..”

Impulse’s head whipped around to glare at Tango. “What?! I can’t get hard for the rest of week?! It’s day one!”

“I didn’t know that there were consequences!” Tango defended himself. Sigh.. Can’t believe Grian would forget to mention such an important thing…

“Oops, my bad..” Grian whistled, looking away from the duo.

“Is there any way to indicate who you’re teamed with, at least?” Impulse was glaring at Grian, which he definitely deserved.

“Yup, their name will appear on your arm!” Grian meets Impulse’s glare with a smile. “However, if their name doesn’t appear, it means that there’s too many teams and you have to join one of them, Which should be now since there’s three teams here who have three people, two who have four, and one that has two. And the maximum amount of teams is six.”

“Oof…” Tango looks away from Impulse. “Sorry Impy…”

Impulse sighs. “It’s fine, Tango. Not your fault, it’s Grian for not explaining things sooner.”

“Now that we got that out of the way, what seasons did you both get?” Grian asks, and oh right. Their team still needs a Spring.

“Impy’s a Winter, and I’m a Spring!” Tango answers for both of them.

“Oh come on! We were so close to Team ZITS!” Zed pouts from where he was next to Skizz. “Why couldn’t you have been a Summer, Tango!”

“I don’t get to choose that!” Tango was now pouting too. Team ZITS would have been a nice team. If only it worked out perfectly for everyone.

“Wait, Tango, our team needs a Spring!” Jimmy exclaims in excitement. Mumbo could see Tango’s face light up at that. Mumbo never knew the two of them even talked to each other before.

“Well, we have our group then!” Joel stood up from the ground. “See you nerds around later!” And the four of them were off.

“Ah, guess us four should leave too,” Doc says to his group. And then there were three groups left in the center.

“What seasons is each group looking for? Because we have two people unpaired here and then someone else who knows where.” Mumbo honestly couldn’t even remember who had yet to show up, and since Grian didn’t mention it, it’s possible he doesn’t remember either.”

“Our group is looking for an Autumn,” Cub answered for his group.

“Our group is looking for a Summer,” Skizz spoke up for team ZITS minus Tango.

“Ours is waiting for Spring. What seasons do you both have?” Grian asks Sausage and Fwhip. And, Mumbo was just realizing something, why did all the Summer people speak up? Like only them?

“I’m an Autumn.”

“I’m a Summer!”

Fwhip and Sausage had responded at the same time of each other. And well, it seemed that the mystery person was for their team.

“Fwhip! Looks like you're joining the best team!” Scar happily welcomed Fwhip with welcome arms. “We get to team up now without me having to murder you cuz of Jimmy!” What was that supposed to mean?

“It’s good to have you on board, Sausage,” Impulse gave Sausage a pat on the back, welcoming him to team ZISS?

“Thanks for having me!”

Both teams went on their merry way. And Scar had.. Scar had said goodbye to the other team. But not his. Nor him. Scar was ignoring him. What right did Scar think he had to be upset that Mumbo teamed with Grian and BigB when he chose to team with Cub and Pearl!

The three of them sat around spawn, waiting for their last member to finally join them. Grian had pulled up his communicator to look for who it was. But for some reason, even after the other two looked at it, their small brain cells couldn’t actually figure out who it was.

Well that was until he finally showed up.

There he was alright. Scott Smajor in the flesh.

“Scott! Finally! We’ve been waiting for you to finally show up!” Mumbo could tell Grian was quite upset with having to wait so long for their last member to show up.

Scott looked around spawn and saw no one else was there. Seemed like he at least could place together that everyone else got teamed up and sighed. “Guessing that I’m stuck with you all?”

“Stuck with us?” Mumbo couldn’t help the offense in his voice. They waited so long for him and this is how he responds?! How absolutely rude!

“Sorry, not talking about you, Mumbo,” Scott apologized to him, but still. “I just didn’t want to team up with the cheaters but it is what it is.”

“I’m sorry. The. What?” If Mumbo’s attention wasn’t on Scott enough earlier, then it definitely was now. He almost missed the scared look that Grian was sporting in the corner of his peripheral vision.

“You don’t know?” Scott gave him a pitying look. “Last game we had soulmates, who most people were in a romantic relationship with. And they both cheated on their soulmates with each other.”

“Who were their soulmates?” Mumbo’s mouth was becoming dry. Please tell him not Scar. Please don’t say Scar.

“BigB’s was Ren.” Ah either False or Doc would get vengeance for Ren. “And Grian’s was Scar.”

Mumbo’s head whipped to look at Grian. He knew he was glaring daggers into his head at the moment, and well, at least Grian had some shame. But nothing could quell Mumbo’s rage now.

“Grian… You cheated on… Scar…” It was all clicking. Why Scar wouldn’t look at BigB, why Scar didn’t want to team with Grian, why Scar wouldn’t speak to him.

“Look, Mumbo, calm dow-”

“CALM DOWN?! YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN?! I JUST CHOSE TO JOIN YOUR GROUP OVER SCAR’S BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU TWO WANTED SPACE! I COULD HAVE HAD SCAR IN MY ARMS RIGHT NOW BUT I AM NOW STUCK WITH THE MAN WHO CHEATED ON HIM AND HIS AFFAIR PARTNER!” Mumbo’s anger exploded. He could physically feel himself become red in the face with anger.

He felt a hand go on his shoulder, he turned around quickly and saw that it was just Scott. Scott who was blameless in this. Mumbo forced himself to calm down a little.

“I can’t believe you. Both of you.”

“I’m sorry, Mumbo,” Grian reached out for him but Mumbo smacked his hand away. Using his other arm, he wrapped it around Scott’s waist.

“I’m not the one you should apologize to.”

Hehehe. I love angst fresh in the morning hehehehe.

-Cys

WAAAH MUMBO FINDING OUT ABOUT DOUBLE LIFE STUFF my my heart *lays down* god this is getting so good

#bluie gets an ask poggers #long post #seasonal life au

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halorocks1214 · 2 years ago

Text

an uphill climb (i'm feeling sorry)

Fandom: Double Life SMP, set in Hermitcraft

Pairing: Grian and Scar can be seen as either Desert Duo or Scarian

AO3 Link in a self-reblog

Word Count: 4528

“What? What else did I do?” Grian seemed genuinely panicked.

Oi, Scar was starting to see what dealing with himself must be like. Seeing someone disregard their personal safety like an oblivious buffoon was hard to watch, “Dude, you seriously don’t see anything wrong with you using your wings like a disposable shield? How would you feel if Jimmy did something like that, or if Pearl used her moth wings in the same way?”

As per every death game they've been in, bad habits have been formed out of temporary necessity for suvival. It'll be a little tougher to break them when the animosity levels are the highest they've ever been, but at the end of the day, it was the two of them. That had always been more than enough.

Breathing in the air of the Hermitcraft server, Scar felt at home.

He knew there was going to be a lot of work with readjusting from the death game, but after you had already been in two of them, learning the flow recovery gets easier. He had heard Xisuma was in contact with another distant player—Scar thought he heard the name Pixels or something?—alongside Doc to see if they could figure out what kept dragging their poor servermates away from them. No shade to their incredible skills, but it was obvious that they hadn’t found any solution yet.

In due time, though, in due time. Hopefully, “third time’s the charm” would come into play and they wouldn’t awaken in the middle of a random field scared out of their wits again. Man, the bonds of the souls and the Warden guarding the enchantment table… Scar shuddered to think about it. He wasn’t sure if those factors made this go-around better or worse.

But! He was back on a safe server, so for right now, he could chill. He should probably check up on Mumbo. The poor guy had to be freaking out, especially after he personally got to see what the games were like the second time around. Gem had already been chirping up a storm in chat about Impulse and Pearl being back, and he was pretty sure that it was Zed that zoomed through the air above him on his way to Tango’s place a few minutes ago.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps crunching in the grass and zombies being slaughtered was heard in the distance. It sounded like it was coming from Grian’s place even. After a brief moment of his anxiety levels shooting up, Scar had the idea to go say hi to his friend. Sure, they weren’t on the best of terms this time (if they ever were, really), but it wasn’t as bad as the second go around!

It was starting to dawn on Scar that the second game might just hold the title for “Worst Experience One Could Ever Go Through” for a long time.

Walking over to the edge of the hill, Scar opened his mouth to call out to Grian but paused at the sight of something—not horrific exactly, but heartstopping nonetheless.

Grian’s wings were around his body completely and were being clawed at by the zombies. The zombies would get a few swipes in, sometimes even hit Grian, and then Grian would retaliate by opening them up slightly to swipe at the mobs to kill them. Oh jeez, there was even a skeleton in the vicinity! Scar let out a wince as an arrow barely grazed Grian’s fragile limbs.

Pulling out his own bow and rushing over, Scar was at a loss for words. What in the world was Grian doing?! His wings were delicate, even the most minor of injuries could wreck them! The two of them might not be buddy-buddy right now, but Scar knew when to be an upstanding person and do the right thing! Especially when the cause of said thing was being monumentally stupid!

Nailing the skeleton before he stopped running, Scar managed to get right in front of Grian right as the rest of the zombies died. When the noise of violence withered away, Grian brought his wings down and blinked at Scar, “Oh, hey. Didn’t realize you were over here.”

… Really?

Grian was blatantly putting his wings in harm’s way, and that was all he would say about it?

Wait, Scar needed to pause. Grian was a sneaky fellow; if Scar got angry and up in his face, he would definitely and effortlessly find a way to get Scar to drop the subject. Despite what people may say (Grian included), Scar was not one person that owned a silver tongue in their partnership. Scar needed to be careful about how he approached this. Maybe he didn’t even need to raise the alarm bells.

“J-Just dropping by to make sure you’re okay,” Scar semi-bluffed. “It’s always a rough trip getting back, you know? Had to see you were in one piece.”

Grian nodded, depositing his weapon into his inventory, “Fair enough. I’m a little nauseous, but otherwise unharmed. Don’t think any portal complications will arise.”

Ah, so Grian was in a daze of sorts. Not particularly responsible, but not a crime. He probably would be back in tip-top shape after getting a good day’s rest. Scar would write this day off as a fluke, “That’s good to hear! Be sure to be careful, though, would hate for random mobs to get the drop on ya’.”

Grian paused at that like he could smell the suspicion from a mile away, before rolling his eyes and heading back to his base, “Gonna be hard not to be after what just happened.”

Not untrue, Scar thought to himself, “Of course.”

Then he was left alone once more, left to ponder the events he just witnessed. Okay, recap everything in order. They just got back from their latest death game romp, Scar was on his way over to check up on Mumbo, saw Grian out of the corner of his eye in the middle of combat, watched his friend’s wings get injured, and then he helped Grian fight the rest of the mobs and had their little conversation. Grian mentioned being a little tired, which most likely explained the lack of care he normally had around his wings.

Pretty straightforward, Scar surmised. He couldn’t be too mad about their interaction when he originally expected it to be lowkey hostile for other reasons. Worse, he honestly expected to be shunned and disregarded by Grian like he was in the game. With all that out of the way, Scar figured he could let it go and relax a little.

---

Except it happened again.

Scar was out at his farm gathering crops to make into more sustainable food when he saw Grian flying in over ahead. With a hand on his brow, blocking out the rays of the sun, Scar squinted at his buddy as Grian landed outside the giant rock-thing, stretching his wings after what seemed like a long flight. Scar opened his mouth to yell hello but quickly changed his tune at the sight of a skeleton hiding away in an unlit side of the rock. “GRIAN! WATCH OUT!”

Grian jumped at the sudden and panicked voice, the sound of a bowstring being pulled registering in his ears. As he turned, he also noticed the skeleton but knew he would not be fast enough to properly dodge the arrow heading his way. This time, Grian would not be able to get out of there with just a graze.

Scar gasped as Grian brought his wing up again, the limb tanking the projectile without a care in the world. Then, leaping into action, Grian slashed the skeleton, killing the mob in two hits. Scar took this time to run over, and by the time he was next to Grian, Grian was already hastily trying to pull the arrow out.

“Grian, calm down,” Scar soothed, holding his hands up like he was placating a frightened animal. “You know as well as I do that could just make it worse.”

Grumbling, Grian remembered to take a deep breath and to break the arrow into two pieces. Now he was able to slide the stick out without resistance, though, the way he was aggressively biting his lip probably didn’t help his pain levels. Scar couldn’t help but tense in sympathy.

Grian was breathing heavily, one half of the now-broken arrow clenched in his fist as the other half lay on the ground at their feet, “Thank you for your help. I can handle the rest from here.”

“What?” Scar had to be losing his mind. “Don’t you want a little help? Your wing is injured, and you’ve mentioned how it’s a little more difficult to reach hard-to-reach places when you’re by yourself.”

Grian finally dropped the other half, kicking the pieces of the broken projectile away, “Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve done it plenty of times by myself, both a long time ago and quite recently.”

There was the hostility Scar was worried about last time, “Grian, you just had an arrow sticking out of one of your wings. Maybe we aren’t on the best terms, but I’m right here and have helped before-”

In disagreement with that, Grian actually attempted flying away, to which he only got about a foot off the ground before remembering that he had a giant injury on one of his wings making him cry out in pain. He managed to land on his feet but tripped just enough to almost fall over. Thankfully, Scar was right there to prevent his stumble from becoming that. He then, for some reason, fluttered his wings, wincing at the pain that was still there, somehow perplexed at the fact that his injury didn’t stop hurting just because he wanted it to.

“Grian,” Scar chastised. This was past the point of playing nice; Grian was being actively dangerous about this and Scar would not stand for it. “Can the basic fact that you need to keep your wings intact outweigh your annoyance with our relationship right now for five godsdamn minutes before you ruin the limbs like you did that other thing?”

A brief flash of hurt placed itself on Grian’s face, making Scar pause and let go of his friend in shock at his own words. Before he could rectify what he said, Grian was already skedaddling away into his base to work on his injury the way he wanted to: by himself. Which was the exact opposite of what Scar wanted to achieve.

Well, shit, that went spectacularly. Scar would probably need to apologize at some point, if only to get rid of his guilt, but right now, Scar wanted to do something else first. Namely, put together the last few minutes to figure out what in the world is happening.

Why did Grian react so aggressively to Scar’s presence this time? He had already known Scar was aware of this “habit” of his, he saw Scar after doing it that one day! Unless…

Unless he didn’t actually.

It hit Scar that maybe because Grian’s wings were up and covering his line of sight, Grian couldn’t have seen Scar. That, coupled with the genuine feeling of exhaustion he was having, he could have easily bought Scar’s lie and not thought twice about it. Now that he has concrete proof of Scar’s awareness, he can’t fiddle his way into a convincing excuse.

Oh yes, something was definitely up. But that just brought back Scar’s worry about why he was doing this in the first place. What could convince Grian to casually hurt his wings in such a way? He was still aware that just one meticulously placed injury could ruin his chances of flying forever, correct?

A meow came from his feet, and Scar slightly relaxed at the feeling of fur brushing against his right leg. Bending over, he picked up his beloved cat who must have found her way over here to say hi into his arms, and petted the back of her ears, “Oh man, we’re really in it now, Jellie.”

---

Scar ended up apologizing in a very unconventional way.

Also not intentionally, but hey, two birds and a stone or whatever.

Not that Grian was one of the birds! Quite the opposite, actually. Scar was ironically one of the birds this time.

Scar had been letting a creeper trail after him as part of a prank on Doc when Grian’s voice sounded in the air, making Scar lose focus on the mob so he could physically watch Grian swoop in. Could you blame him? He was thinking he was hallucinating at first.

However, Grian landed close enough so that when the creeper started hissing, both men’s eyes widened at the realization of their combined mistakes. Scar noticed that Grian was lifting his wings to shield like it was second nature to him, and Scar responded by doing something that was very much not second nature to himself: proactively dodging something trying to cause him harm.

Tackling Grian to the ground, the creeper was loud as it exploded against his back, singing his hair and clothing. Thankfully, Scar managed to get enough distance to make it only a light burn of sorts, but that didn’t change the fact that it hurt. Or that it must have looked spooky enough to get Grian into his Mother Hen phase once more.

“Scar!” Grian’s voice was barely heard over the ringing in his ears. “Scar, say something for the love of gods. This isn’t funny, you can’t- I can’t handle doing this to you again, so please-”

Well, some of Scar’s questions were being answered, but not all of them.

Sitting up, Scar firmly but gently shoved a hand over Grian’s mouth, leaving him enough room to breathe through his nose, “Gri, breathe in for four seconds.”

Grian didn’t blink, he was too frazzled for that, but he did freeze before following through on Scar’s demand. Once that step was done, Scar let his face go to let him breathe out through his mouth. Then he was calm enough to finish the breathing practice himself, and once that was done, Grian stood up and offered Scar a hand to use as help. Honestly, Scar only took it because he was so out of the loop of everything that just happened and how quickly it felt like it occurred.

It could also be because the ringing in his ears still had yet to fully go away, but Scar digressed.

Once he was standing up, both Scar and Grian nervously fidgeted in silence, unsure of what to say. It wasn’t too long before they spoke at the same time, perfectly in tandem. Scar was slightly first, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sor- wait, what?” Grian’s brain record scratched in real-time. “Okay, hang on, I think we need to back up a few steps. What are you apologizing for?”

Scar let out a huff, “For what I said that one day about ‘ruining our relationship.’ That was uncalled for. Even if we need to discuss some of our, er, current and previous actions, I don’t need to do it during a distressing moment that was already making you feel bad.”

Grian blinked a few times before shaking his head, “No, you-” Grian took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. “Apology accepted, I guess, but just because your timing was poor doesn’t mean it wasn’t true. I haven’t been the best toward you, this past week and during those death games. I’m just sorry it took me throwing a tantrum to realize it.”

Scar felt a small, sad smile spread on his face, “For what it’s worth, apology accepted too.” A pause for dramatic effect, “But only if you explain exactly what it is you’re apologizing for as well.”

Grian flinched a little, “No, that’s fair. Scar, I’m sorry for leaving you in the dust and brushing you off so much recently. You’ve just been trying to be a good friend and I’ve taken advantage of that, which isn’t fair.”

Er, not what Scar was going for, “Okay, I appreciate you acknowledging that, but that wasn’t what I was necessarily thinking about.”

“What? What else did I do?” Grian seemed genuinely panicked.

Grian became purely offended by the mere notion of that, “That would be terrible! Pearl especially, if those caught on fire or exploded they might disintegrate complete-”

Scar grabbed his hands to shut him up, “Then what makes you different?”

Grian’s mouth was slightly open in disbelief, his uvula flexing as he struggled to come up with what to say. Eventually, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and downturned his head to stare at their feet, “... I don’t think I’m different. I know it’s not good for me.”

Scar scoffed, “No offense, but it’s hard to think that when you were just about to use them to tank a creeper blast with them.”

“I didn’t have any other choice during the game!” Grian blurted out before yanking his hands back and covering his mouth.

It was too late, though. Scar heard what he said and the emotions it created were not pretty, “What? Grian, did someone force you to injure your wings for something? Who was it? Don’t tell me it was another Hermit, I thought we were all better than that-”

Grian grabbed Scar’s shoulders, making him turn back to give Grian eye contact as Grian explained, “Scar, answer this question: you don’t have wings, right?”

… “I’m pretty sure I don’t?”

“Yes, you don’t, but I do,” Grian continued, squeezing his shoulders for emphasis. “In the last game, we shared our pain. All of our injuries, big and small, transferred to the player we were bonded to.”

Scar still wasn’t sure where this was going, but he nodded instead of verbally responding.

Grian mirrored his nods, “Then think about it this way: what do you think might happen if a limb I had you didn’t have got hurt or injured? Do you think the pain would find a way to transfer itself or would the bond just glitch out and you wouldn’t feel anything? And if the latter were true, then when we were separated a lot, you wouldn’t have to worry about feeling my scrapes all the time, yeah?”

It hit Scar like he flew straight into a brick wall with his elytra.

“Oh gods. Oh gods,” he leaned forward to grip Grian’s shoulders himself, albeit way more tightly. He felt like throwing up. What did he do? Be petty and hurt Grian by standing in snow because he felt neglected while Grian was actively putting one of his most prized possessions in harm's way for Scar’s sake? Seriously, what was Grian achieving for himself by getting his wings scratched and torn? Nothing, and that made Scar the absolute worst-

“-ar, Scar breathe,” Grian’s voice broke through Scar’s haze of panic. A shaky exhale escaped Scar’s lips as he reluctantly found it in himself to come back down to reality. Oh, Grian was still speaking, “Scar, everything I did in that world was by my own choice. You don’t need to feel bad, you shouldn’t feel bad. Like I said, I knew it was bad for them, but I did it anyway, and now I’m reaping the consequences.” Grian brought his hands back to himself to mess with the end of his jumper, “I mentioned that it’s sometimes hard to think we’re really back in our safer servers, so I guess I still feel the need to ‘protect’ y- us the same way I did in the other server.”

Scar caught that stutter, but inferred that he should not say anything about it, “That doesn’t make me feel better. What if something irreversible happened to them? That would have happened because you were doing something for me. We were upset with each other so much that we didn’t want to be near one another and yet you still protected me in your own way.”

Grian grimaced, unsure of how he can make this better before a lightbulb moment hit him, “Well, I haven’t preened them in a long time. And you’re conveniently right next to me.”

Scar took that a little too literally, “I don’t think cleaning them next to a creeper hole is a good idea.”

“No, we’d go to one of our bases first,” Grian laughed, happy to see Scar still being Scar.

Ah, that made way more sense, “Riiight. I’m guessing it’s off to your place?”

Grian hummed, “Actually, I think yours would work better.”

Scar was surprised at that but quickly got over it as the two of them flew to that destination. Grian tended to get his wings preened by just about any of the Hermits, but after their first journey into the death games, he found himself gravitating toward Scar more. He wasn’t sure if it was because of muscle memory or because no one else felt right anymore.

Getting inside Scar’s base, Grian found the nearest rug and flopped onto his knees, moving to sit cross-cross afterward. Scar jumped at the large noise the initial impact made, “Jeez, Gri, calm down a little. We’ve had enough unnecessary injuries on your body recently.”

Scar tossed a pillow at him, nailing him in the back of the head. Grian rubbed the static from his hair, bringing the cushion to hug at his chest, “Well, hurry up, and then we don’t need to worry about it anymore.”

Scar didn’t need to be told twice. Sitting behind Grian, he got to work brushing through the limbs and bringing them back to their clean glory. He flinched a little every time at the sight of a new scar in between all the feathers (he wasn’t there to help he wasn’t there-), but when it got to be too much, he noticed one of Grian’s hands over Grian’s shoulders, waiting for it to be grabbed. Without thinking, Scar did so, bringing back a familiar memory in the process. He let it wash over him when he went back to using both hands to preen Grian.

“Scar, I know you’re in here,” Grian called from the doorway. Scar made sure to stay absolutely still. He was already so big; any movement would probably give away his location.

Which didn’t matter when Grian left the door open as he walked in, offending Scar so much that he just had to shoot up from his hiding spot and yell at him for it, “Grian! What did I say about leaving the doors open? It’ll let all the hot desert… air in…”

Grian’s smug face said he knew exactly that was what would happen. Now he turned back to shut the door, leaving Scar flabbergasted in the middle of the room, “With that out of the way, how’s about we get back to what we were doing?”

Scar gained enough of his bearings to shake his head, “Scott should probably be the one to do it now. Jimmy and I can’t, we’re too…” Dangerous was such an easy word to say, and yet Scar found it hard to do so for some reason.

They were in the middle of Grian’s weekly preening session. Scar was in charge of helping him out due to their partnership. (It would be rather difficult for Grian to work for Scar when his wings were in disarray after all.) However, that one time, Scar was having an off day—Dogwarts sent a message to him requesting to meet, and he wasn’t sure if it was a trap or a genuine attempt to connect—not focusing all too well. Before he could help it, his (gray and so very large) hands accidentally yanked a few feathers out instead of just readjusting them.

Nothing permanently damaging, but enough to make Grian wince so loud it was almost a cry, sending a pang of regret and guilt through Scar’s chest. He quickly excused himself, ignoring Grian telling him to stop, and went to hide out in their main building. He assumed Grian would just go to someone else to finish the job. He honestly even hoped, Grian keeping his wings clean was important. Clearly, he was wrong about that.

“Scar, do you think you’re the only one that has ever gone a little too hard in cleaning my wings? I’ve almost forced Mumbo to wear oven mitts sometimes, you know,” Grian teased, making Scar turn bashfully away. “Besides, we’ve been putting off preening them this week, so the sooner we get it done the better. Wasting time making it over to Scott would be kind of dumb.”

Darn, he made a fair point. Scar sighed, watching Grian sit on the edge of one of the beds, “Alright, I suppose that’s fair.”

For the rest of the preening session, any time Scar’s hands shook in uncertainty, Grian reached behind him from over his shoulder to let Scar grip that until the shakes went away.

“Scar?” Grian’s voice broke through his memories. “Are you okay?”

Blinking, Scar was abruptly aware of the wetness on his cheeks. Shit, when did he start doing that? He was getting it all over Grian’s feathers too. “I think I got everything.” At least he finished the job before completely losing it. He tried turning away, aggressively wiping his face to get rid of any evidence, but it was futile. Grian was already moving around to be able to drape a wing across his shoulders in silent comfort, Grian’s own eyes misting slightly as well.

Scar sniffled, “How did we let it get so bad between us?”

“I don’t know,” Grian let out a quiet, wet laugh. “I’m pretty sure someone could make an entire theater play based around our relationship, though.”

Scar giggled, his tears finally slowing down, “I’m sure Wels would love to tap into that.” Leaning his head over, Scar rested it against Grian’s shoulder, “Isn’t he into that sort of Greek tragedy-esque-type stuff?”

Grian made no move to push Scar off. In fact, he just wrapped his wing tighter around Scar, taking the opportunity to place his cheek on the top of Scar’s head, “You say that like Joe isn’t right there.”

Scar managed to face palm despite the position he was in making it hard to do so, “Oh man, what am I saying? Thank gods you’re there to keep me on track.”

Grian let a grin tug at his lips, “Thank gods indeed.”

Then it was just them, sitting in the quiet like they did so often on Monopoly Mountain. There was no need to fill the air with mindless talking. They didn’t need to prove anything to each other more than they already had. The only thing that would break it was one of them coming up with an idea, just like Scar had and was going to say right now.

“Hey, Gri?”

A beat of silence, “Yeah?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda pooped. Wanna make a bed and put it next to mine for old time’s sake?”

Another beat of silence, one that was slightly more optimistic, “Yeah, I think I would love that actually. How else can I annoyingly kick you for taking up too much space?”

“Hey, watch it. I can force you to sleep in the cacti again if you’re not careful.”

Scar never actually made Grian follow through with that the first time he threatened it. This time was just as empty. It was obvious that it would stay that way for a long, long time.

#mcyt #traffic series #hermitcraft #grian #goodtimeswithscar #desert duo #scarian #my GOD i grinded this out #my post #my fic

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linxkly · 2 years ago

Text

Another grian liveblog! i really enjoyed the last on i did so here’s another :)

(this ended being really long I’m so sorry)

grians merch! go check it out! I bought one and I’m very excited for it to come

HE DID IT my boy pressed the record button I’m so proud of him

I love the little yell of happiness he did away from the mic after he said that

Hermitopia!!

thank god he’s addressing the whole “grrr im being forced to watch another series thing”

THE HERMITS ON HOLIDAY BUT THE CAR BROKE DOWN OR SOMETHING IS SO PERFECT OH MY GOD

THE STORY THE LORE

the hermits have been busy busy busy

poor grians the leader of all this

return of the grian empire, but he learned how to share and collaborate with others

he’s visiting Katherine!!

aww he didn’t actually interact with her :(

OLI AND HIS LUTE ELYTRA I CANT

oh no the rocket shortage begins

that’s,, a lot of scaffolding

like,,, a lot a lot of scaffolding

but it looks cool from a distance!!

built height empire,,, but they’re all tiny

I like it, picasso

bouncing villagers!

aww noooooo pls don’t crash the empires economy I like their barter and trade system

they’re getting gunpowder from jimmys place

apparently this whole storyline was fabricated just so grian could get on this server and annoy timmy

oh poor impulse has been left behind bc he don’t got no wings

ah. he has taken a stack of jimmys gunpowder. he know owes???? timmy

they’re going to joeys instead now

but before they leave tumble town they’re placing an intelligence test,,, in the form of a button on top of tnt,,, with a sign saying press me,,, in an empire where jimmy and scar are hanging out,,,

oh no

grian feels bad for impulse, and now they’re walking together

grian has found joeys gator villager

he is confused

he has found the pesky bird villager!

THE LAG JOKE

OH NO THE LAG,, JOEYS GUNPOWDER LAGGED INTOHIS INVENTORY

grians elytra broke, oh how the turn tables

impulse left grian

impulse grian and cub are now chatting about the AWFUL LAG ON THE SERVER OH NOOOO

THE RETURN OF TAG??

oh no they’re playing tag on the empires server

LORE VILLAGERS

grian that’s respiration. not unbreaking

LORESICALS??

oh no grian you let the villagers out

AVADAKALORE I CANT

WINGARDIUM LEVILORESA

STUPIFILORE

EXPECTO PALOREM

EXPELLILOREMAS

ALOHOLOREMA

he spent so much time yelling lore spells he forgot which enchant he was trying to get

unbreaking loresome???

these puns are giving me AHA flashbacks

HE GOT UNBREAKING III

kdbdjfjf you can hear impulse underground cheering

I love seeing all the hermits work on the same thing all at once this is incredible

ooh visit to pix

he’s using pix’s machine to age his copper

he gets to press a button!!

poor guy is worried about breaking David

there’s a sheep trying to eat his waffle

oop he’s borrowing fwhips sign style

building timelapse of a hermit induction machine and tag look at him go!

hermitssss stop bringing your lag to other servers!!

GRIAN WHAT WERE THOSE SOUNDS

scar snuck up on him

they’re messing with the lasso jimmy gave scar

I like the idea of the worlds largest bubble

clearly there was a mishap in communication rip scar

ooooh scar becoming the first hermit!

hermitgeddon??

awww he’s little!!!

just a tad smol

“IM A LITTLE BOY WHY AM I A LITTLE BOY”

oh poor fwhip saw things he shouldn’t have

awww little grian!!

they’re bdubs!!

imagine being smaller than a goblin lol

THEYRE SHORT KINGS

all the hermits have been busy busy bees

ok ik it’s shocking they’ve done all of this so fast but I have to keep reminding myself that this is at least 10-13 people working on hermitopia at around the same times ofc it’s going to be pretty quick

but it’s just still so immpressive

it’s cubs turn to be hermitified

THE JANGLER HAT??

hermits vs empires tag oooh

go watch grians vid for the full tag explanation, bc if I’m completely honest, I don’t really get it

grian is a hermit irl??

episode ends with grian laughing about his irl height rip

and that’s a wrap! these are so much fun to make :)

Idk how often I’ll do these but I might do them for sausage bc he uploads at normal times for me it’s nearly 3am I might pass out after uploading this lmao

#grian #hermitcraft #empires smp #empires smp season two #empires x hermitcraft #liveblogging #links liveblogging #i kinda love making these #might start doing them for sausage #hermitblr

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ssilentwillow · 3 years ago

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Hermatrix Updates: Doc’s Episode 26

Unfortunately, I slept through the decoding of this episode. Fortunately, the r/hermitcraft discord never sleeps! All the info comes from there; I highly recommend joining it if you want to get in on the solving.

The episode starts off with Doc noticing that alongside blocks, players are beginning to levitate as well. The gravitational effects seem to be getting worse. When flying near the Odditorium (the building housing the moon rock), Doc notices amethyst crystals growing out of it.

Doc meets up with Ren, and following up from the previous videos, the two set out to kill Mumbo. They end up killing six hermits total: Mumbo, Grian, Cub, Keralis, Joe Hills, and Impulse. They place the heads around the moon rock. The voice from the rock fades, and nothing seems to happen (though the amethyst crystals do grow and the slow fall/jump boost has become permanent). At the end of the episode, the voice returns, saying to kill Ren, and then Doc. This makes 8 heads. Upon doc’s death, they discover a book.

Now we get into the decoding. Doc prefaces this decoding session with this message, which is.. not stressful at all!

Rest of it under the cut; this is getting long.

The nonsense in the Minecraft book turns out to lead to a ZIP file containing a Minecraft world download. It’s password protected. With a little bit of help from Doc, the password is discovered to be “WAKEUP”.

The world download leads to a small build in the same style as the rest of the octagon builds. It has 8 observers, all facing up. We can assume that the player heads need to be placed here, but doing so in the world doesn’t do anything. A little look into the redstone shows that when all the observers are activated, some pistons are retracted and tnt is set off, creating a pit in the middle of the build. This is incredibly simplified because my small brain cannot understand redstone.

There’s a lightning rod at the bottom of the pit. If you throw a channeling trident at it with the weather set to thunder, it creates the same lighting storm effect shown earlier on the Hermitcraft server.

I’ve attached some images of the build here:

That seemed to be all we had to find from this episode. Doc said in the chat that he’d probably have to build this next, but he said some other.. interesting messages, as well.

So. We might have doomed the hermitcraft server. Who knows! I am incredibly worried!

#hermitcraft #hermatrix #docm77 #rendog #hermatrix updates #willow rambles #LISTEN DOC CANT JUST DANGLE CLUES IN FRONT OF US AND EXPECT US NOT TO SOLVE IT. THIS JS NOT OUR FAULT #tw unreality

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go-learn-esperanto · 2 years ago

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When it comes to reaching ccs about the Harry Potter stuff... look I don't want to jump straight to stream chat but. The odds are decent that Lizzie and/or Joel are quietly on Tumblr so I guess we could post under their tags and blindly hope either they see it or someone else relays the message. I guess if someone has a Twitter account they could do Twitter stuff I don't know how Twitter works uh. Look there are a lot of issues with asking someone to address discourse live, this is how you get half thought out opinions and poorly worded language and people doubling down on iffy stuff but I'm kind of out of ideas. Maybe if the stars align just right one of them will come to Tumblr and then we send an ask about it? I mean like Grian does usually do a bit of chat reading at the end of every MCC like that's the best time I could think of to contact him but again maybe the response we want is not the response from someone who just spent several hours being incredibly stressed and under a lot of pressure and also please give the correct answer and come to grips with something that large swaths of the internet still haven't fully reconciled with after (months? years? what is time anymore) in the next two minutes or you and your friends will all be cancelled. What if we use carrier pigeons-

Yeah! We don't want to cancel anyone but really it's difficult to reach them.

@/elytrans gave the suggestion of going to Grian's business email, and honestly it might be the best option. But even then I don't know if he would see it. Is he the one that runs it? Will he automatically consider it spam since it's not business related? And whoever does it has to do it in the most cordial way possible just to let him know we're not attacking him or trying to cancel him or whatever.

The other option for Grian would be Reddit of all places, but he goes there maybe once a month if not more? The chance of him seeing it are slim. I know he has Instagram but I can't help with that I have never used it in my life and I'm not sure if it would be the right place.

For Lizzy and Joel just hoping they're on Tumblr won't do much. The maximum it will do most likely is that more people in the fandom will be aware of the problem which is mostly a good thing unless someone in the fandom decides to deal with this in the worst way possible (threats, insults, cancellation... You name it).

I don't know a lot about Impulse's social media usage. Honestly I only know about Grian's and a bit about Cleo and Joe.

But as you said talking about this in chat seems like a horrible option. If it were Joe probably not but for Grian it definitely would. You wouldn't be able to convey why this is something important in a small message and it's not exactly the place or time for such delicate discussions. It's MCC for crying out loud.

It's a bit of non ideal situation we're stuck in.

#ask #discourse #grian #impulsesv #ldshadowlady #smalishbeans

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condorclaw · 3 years ago

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Grian has the worst time of his life over Monopoly (ft. Jimmy, Grian, Joel, and Gem)

- Jimmy hit 300k subscribers before the game began! His chat had no mercy on him however and said he was going to lose again when Jimmy claimed he was the best at Monopoly

- Grian is about 15 minutes late to the stream once more because he decided to pair socks. He apparently even sent an image to everyone ("He's gone upstairs and literally emptied the sock drawer on the bed to show us.")

- Grian’s screen is blurred, and despite all his attempts, it remains blurry for the rest of the game ("I'll just take my glasses off, it'll feel natural!")

- Throughout the stream, the monopoly money is referred to as “monopolls”. This name is switched on and off at random

- "That makes you look like an idiot, not a nerd. A nerd knows stuff."

- "Let's start a trend." "What about the trend of you losing every game you play?"

- Grian makes it incredibly clear at every given moment that he does not want to be here.

- "I'm angry and it's only the beginning." "It's the socks." "At least you're not in bloody jail!"

- "All I've done is pay rent to Joel, and look, I'm now going to pay rent to someone else.”

- "It's a good thing you're not in Last Life anymore." "You killed me!"

- "I will give all my properties for one dollerydoo so I can leave this game."

- "How do I leave?" "I've been asking that for the last several minutes."

- "You got $10, how do you feel?" "Like I wanna leave."

- "How does Grian have $1000?" "Because I haven't been able to buy anything!"

- "Grian, how do you feel?" "Let me out."

- "Jimmy if you think anyone is teaming with you after this, you have another thing coming."

- "Is there any trades you want from me, Grian?" "I want to leave this game."

- "You know the Arthur meme? Like the fist? That's me."

- *completely monotone* "I would've gone to the ends of the earth."

- "It hurts my soul every time Grian lands on something he has to pay for." "I feel like at this point, he's devoid of all emotion."

- "Grian, did that make you happy?" "Yeah, I still wanna leave."

- "This is the start of my villain arc."

- Gem and Joel begin threatening each other in Empires when they’re the only two left. ("I'm turning into a villain on empires, Joel, I'm burning down your megabase.")

- "This is like being poisoned." "Except not as fun."

- Grian, Joel, and Gem all made a pact before the start of the game to make Jimmy lose.

- "Why is this auction in silence? Yell at each other!" "One's Canadian and one doesn't care."

- "Do not give him that train station." "I won't." "Jimmy, I'll give you my brown and some money for the train." "Deal."

- Jimmy forgot to put the money he wanted in for a deal and got scammed for a lot, much to the delight of everyone else. ("Don't you dare put houses on your property with the money that's supposed to be mine!")

- Grian owes Jimmy money at one point, and he combats it by giving all his properties to Joel in exchange for a dollar. He then proceeds to give all his money to Gem in exchange for a dollar. He gives the remaining dollar to Jimmy, and files for bankruptcy.

- Joel insists on flaunting his wealth as much as possible

- “Damn it feels good to be rich.”

- "Oh no, hope I don't land on those horrible reds. Just kidding, I own those."

- "Watch me land on Community Chest. Oh, it's my train station." "Shut up, Joel!"

- "Hi chat, I'm losing. Did you think I was gonna win?"

- Joel placed 1st, Gem placed 2nd, Jimmy placed 3rd, and David placed 4th!

#mcyt #solidaritygaming #grian #smallishbeans #geminitay #jimmy's multiplayer streams #my post

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blocksruinedme · 2 years ago

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Stream Report: SolidarityGaming Minecraft Live, October 15 2022

Hello I watch a lot of streams and why not share highlights? Jimmy and Grian did a very fun stream today for Minecraft Live! I recommend it. I love watching the two of them mess around, they are, as Jimmy said, "really really really really good friends", and I love watching people be silly with their friends. AND GRIAN MENTIONED WATCHERS. *ahem*

Highlights

11:23 Best "Grian is late to Jimmy's stream" excuse ever - he was late cause he couldn't decide why he was going to be late and asked Jimmy's chat to vote amongst options. I just love how good friends Jimmy and Grian are! <3

28:29 Jimmy & G are in Gem's montage and they were VERY excited, it's super adorable.

38:09 Grian didn't know he was going to be in the montage somewhere else, he's adorable

54:34 Grian just casually mentions The Watchers. (i hear rumors there's a second one but idk where). Grian, you're doing this, right now, with all of this happening with you and empires, with that video you posted on the anniversary of his last evo episode with the watcher symbol flash, Grian McGrian if you do this, if you bring the watchers back in, I'll.... be incredibly grateful lol.

1:16:54 Grian very excited for this Warden opera, it's cool

1:24:23 Grian begins an extensive series of "would you rather" questions, which he's been doing since they went to Germany to see BigB last month, and continued last night at Lizzie's big birthday party (there's awesome photos on various social media). There is some really top tier Grian cackling and faux freaking out and yelling at Tim. It escalates across the rest of the stream, I was shouting in there, in the end Jimmy did a poll, Grian's option lost, and eventually chat got Jimmy to make a new poll so Grian could win (but he was RIGHT and he should SAY IT)

And some links from youtube user iCarma in Jimmy's comments (can you link to a youtube comment, am i missing it?)

Keralis 12:33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jnTlZBjhQ0&t=753s

Gem 28:29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jnTlZBjhQ0&t=1709s Katherine (very brief) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jnTlZBjhQ0&t=2243s

Grian (also short) 38:09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jnTlZBjhQ0&t=2289s

Pearl 31:54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jnTlZBjhQ0&t=1914s

Stress 33:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jnTlZBjhQ0&t=2025s

#stream report #mcyt #jimmy solidarity #solidaritygaming #grian #watchers #grian talking about watchers #please don't let this be a tease GRIAN #you can't just mention the watchers #did jimmy forget about watchers or not hear what grian said?#the world may never know

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bookworm-2692 · 2 years ago

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I watched Grian’s episode first since last greens and thus probably gonna get hunted. Which happened, it was brilliant.

The fact that the episode started out with the two of them almost killing each other (getting to 3 hearts and then to 1 heart after healing in between) was just. Wow.

Scar making Grian cookies for him to give to his secret soulmate, and Grian denying everything??? Incredible.

Also when the reds were threatening Scar in chat and Grian is just like “joke’s on you, Scar can’t read” like oh my god incredible. And Scar said nothing to refute it, it was great.

I love that the thing that gets Pearl to be like “yeah alright” is Desert Duo offering her a cactus as a torture device.

And a second boat escape??? Wow!

It is really funny how early in the episode was a very heated conversation between Joel and Grian and then after Grian is red they’re just chilling and chatting before Scar starts burning things.

Joel trying to kill Scar and Etho going “we can kill Grian to kill Scar” and Grian’s just like “just do it. I can’t take it anymore just kill me I can’t deal with unhinged Scar” and that acceptance probably saved his life??

I love that the divorce quartet, the last remaining non reds, all show up to the funeral hosted by Grian and Scar. The last time divorce quartet saw Desert Duo they were on green but now red. I love that they could do the funeral together and I hope Jimmy and Tango were spectating that and recording it bc I wanna hear their reactions to the funeral.

Also isn’t this episode literally the first time since the end of episode 1, when they had their divorces, where all four of the divorce quartet have been hanging out together? That’s great story telling. They’ve all individually interacted with each other but not as a group until everyone else was red.

And then the dripstone trap actually worked!! My jaw literally dropped like oh my god. First try it worked?? And Grian accidentally killing his secret soulmate due to the red haze of bloodlust stopping his thinking. Just. Wow. Grian started the episode saying he wasn’t sure where he stood with BigB and ended the episode holding a private funeral for him, so I guess it ultimately didn’t matter…

Also guys. I’ve heard so much on here how traps almost never work, and this episode we witnessed TWO traps working?? The skulk sensor TNT trap which killed Scar, and Grian’s dripstone killing Ren.

Wow. Just wow. This episode was incredible. I loved it so much!

#double life smp #also when Scar changed to his red skin and Grian was like ‘why did you have this ready’ lmao like obviously he made all three skins ahead #of time and just didn’t have time to change to yellow skin but obviously you can’t wait until you die to make the next skin

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duckmumbo · 3 years ago

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Hello! Anon from the last ask game here, I'm just here to say that writers are cool and amazing and talented and other things like that :]

You guys are an inspiration to others and deserve all the kudos in the world!!

(this was supposed to be longer but i'm not good with words so yeah just drop your fav fics below! /nf)

- 🐇

Anon are you trying to get me to cry because let me tell you you are very close to succeeding /pos

But honestly it's readers like you that make us have the motivation to keep writing and share our stuff with others, getting positive feedback is honestly one of the best feelings lol

Fic recs under the cut because I have absolutely no self control and enjoy way too many fics

recs are in no particular order, though most of the dsmp recs ended up towards the top and most of the hermitcraft ones ended up towards the bottom somehow

If You Give a Bunny a Carrot by ImperialKatwala

Origins SMP setting, Bunnyblade has a tragic backstory and learns to trust again, incredibly cute and I may or may not have almost cried

the world of clinic (series) by bonesandthebees

dsmp hero/villain au, SBI (minus Tommy) are villains, Ranboo and Tubbo are vigilantes. Lots of found family, finally read it after seeing all the posts about it on twitter and omg it's so good I fully understand the hype

Healing Is a Four Letter Word by Hypno_Cat

Hermitcraft, Watcher Grian ends up becoming the local forest cryptid and relearning how to be a player

(Dragon) Riders in the Sky by SilverWing15 (or honestly just about anything by them)

dsmp dragon rider au, Shroud is a baby dragon. Mushroom Henry is a dragon. Friend is a dragon. Need I say more?

Platonic Divorcees and Going Out To Lunch: Purpled's Guide to Adopting an Alien by KiwiFruitWritings

dsmp, Purpled centric, Quackity and Techno both try to become father figures to him, honestly absolutely adorable and I need more of this in my life

The Life and Times of Michael Underscore-Beloved by ImperialKatwala (honestly the entire series but especially this one)

dsmp, just complete fluff, sbi and bench trio are all Michael's family and it honestly made me cry a few times

No time like the Present by LuckyPhantom

dsmp, Phil adopts Techno directly from the Nether, absolutely adorable and i love the piglin culture in this fic

Plumage by SamWasNeverHere

Hermitcraft, Mumbo grows wings after eating Grian's soul and has to learn how to use them. Absolute fluff, plus winged!mumbo my beloved

"the wheels on the bus" by sparxwrites

Hermitcraft, it is a terrible day in the void, the Watchers have found you, and you are a very, very pesky bird

of broken pasts and healing hearts (series) by sky_blue_hightops, Spannah339

Hermitcraft, Grian recovering from the Watchers, lots of hurt/comfort

quis custodiet ipsos custodes by andtheuniverse_said

Hermitcraft/HBG, Fruit asks Grian/the hermits to help Illumina, Watchers are up to shenanigans again

the slow and lengthy process of un-traumatizing your local birb friend (series) by HaloRocks1214

Hermitcraft, yet another "Grian recovers from the Watchers" fic, except this time he ends up with an emotional support dragon, need I say more?

The Lone Wolf and the Hermit by SilverWing15

Hermitcraft x dsmp, Tommy ends up in season 7 and is also a wolf for reasons i do not remember. very funny and also cute

i can be the one you call (series) by mayflowers07

Hermitcraft, hurt/comfort series revolving around every single hermit, basic premise is the hermits have a code phrase that, when said, causes everyone to drop everything and rally around the hermit that said it. one of the very first mcyt fanfictions i read, and honestly still probably one of my absolute favorites, i cry when reading a good chunk of this series

this better be good by raiiyynn

Hermitcraft x dsmp, Purpled ends up in hermitcraft and causes chaos. told entirely through chat messages, and is a WIP but it's still really funny

Anything To Hear You (Say It One More Time) by mgrnn

Hermitcraft, Etho ends up in a life threatening situation and calls Bdubs so he won't die alone, Bdubs is determined to save him

A Day Off is Needed by Sharo

Hermitcraft, the hermits just have a nice fun party and chill, very nice vibes

Sticker War by darkleweather

Hermitcraft, hermits play "put the sticker on the doc", need i say more?

puddle-jumping by Sixteenthdays

Hermitcraft x Empires SMP, HC!Gem ends up in Empires after escaping from the moon, Empires!Gem tries to help her get back

One Quiet Day by TheNightSkyObserver

Hermitcraft, Xisuma just vibing on top of a mountain, absolutely adorable

Lost in the Void's Embrace by ambered

Hermitcraft, Xisuma-centric, the world glitches and Xisuma ends up with amnesia, Scar ends up missing time, and Iskall ends up with major headaches. Surely this is all a coincidence?

#fully meant to answer this earlier but i havent had a chance to hop on my laptop until just now sorry #listen this isn't even all of the fics i could rec theres still ~150 dsmp fics i have bookmarked i could look through #but this was getting incredibly long so i decided to cut it off there #ty for the ask!#ok tag time #fic recs #answered #🐇 anon my beloved #honestly most of these i feel like a good chunk of y'all will have already read #but does that matter no im reccing them anyway :)

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sleepless-in-southlands · 2 years ago

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hold them up to the light

Ao3

Chapter thirteen of This Predacious Song, my multidimensional big bang fic! It’s a Mumbo-centric Hermitcraft/Last Life fic heavily featuring violence, blood, trauma, and horror-like themes. It is hurt/comfort with a happy ending. Please follow the embedded title link or the ao3 link for a complete summary and list of warnings for the story as a whole

Chapter thirteen’s title from Trista Mateer

Grian had left shortly after Mumbo called himself a monster, saying he had to get someone. Mumbo had assumed he was going to grab a different hermit to sit around with Mumbo, unable to keep interacting with him, until he made a second attempt at getting his communicator and saw that Grian had left the server.

Did he need to get away from Mumbo that badly?

Mumbo, for his part, had largely remained on his bed, aside from grabbing his communicator. His plans to server jump had flown out of the window after Grian’s visit, unable to bring himself to do that to Grian. Although, from the looks of it, Grian might have preferred if he did.

“A monster? Wh- Mumbo, no, I said you might have thought that, not that you are that!”

“Well, either way, you were right, weren’t you?”

“No! I was very much not right! You’re not- you’re not a monster!”

“Grian, I never treated Last Life like a game, not for a second. And I did the same in every death game server I’ve jumped into these past few months. As soon as I’m in, I treat it all like its real, and then I murder players without a bit of hesitation. What sort of person does that?”

“But they’re not real. No one’s actually getting hurt. And- and if they do, they all signed up for it.”

“And if I had hurt someone outside of those games? The amount of times I’ve unthinkingly tried to attack you, or any other hermit, and only been stopped because I don’t carry weapons… it’s not just in the games.”

“You were spending all your time in those games! Of course you reacted the same outside of them. That’s natural. Ren’s done it, and Pearl’s done it, and Scar’s done it, and I’ve certainly done it- does that make us all monsters too?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why does it make you one?”

“It’s not just that, Grian.”

“Then what am I missing, Mumbo? What’s the secret? Where’s this monstrous recipe?”

“It’s- it’s everywhere! Killing Bdubs, and killing Impulse, and ruining the Southlands, and all the death games, and avoiding everyone in Boatem, and scaring Xisuma, and- and- and everything!”

“...I need to go.”

What other reaction could Mumbo have expected? He laid it all out for Grian, past anything the builder could forgive or wave away, and he had made the smart decision to abandon Mumbo. Really, after everything Mumbo had said, everything he had done, it was no surprise Grian felt he had to leave the server to get enough distance between the two of them. Mumbo understood.

“So, do either of you know why Grian wanted us to come here, or…?”

“Well, he seemed off somewhere in a hurry, I figured he needed someone else to take shift watching over Mumbo.”

“I just decided that if Grian runs up to you and yells something really loudly and also incredibly vaguely, you do it and worry about the prank you walked into afterwards.”

The sounds of Impulse, Scar, and Pearl talking reached Mumbo before they did, Impulse holding the door for Scar to wheel in with Pearl following. Their conversation died when they realized Mumbo was awake, sitting in the center of his bed and idly fiddling with his communicator.

“Mumbo! You’re up!” Impulse said first, smiling as the group moved to approach his bed.

“I am, yes, hello.” Mumbo greeted somewhat awkwardly. Aside from Ren and Grian, he hadn’t had a chance to talk with any of the hermits since being brought back to the server on the cusp of permadeath, and he hadn’t exactly had a seamless chat with any of the hermits in quite a while.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what brings us here, would you?” Scar asked, sounding brighter than he had the last time Mumbo heard him speak. “Grian was very unhelpful in explaining why we’ve all been gathered here together today.”

Mumbo ducked his head at the question, avoiding the groups’ eyes. He was tired of lying to his friends, but telling Grian the truth had been harder than he expected. Especially when it had been followed by Grian running off with barely a word, so clearly disgusted with Mumbo there was nothing he could say.

It was selfish, but now that Grian knew, they all would sooner rather than later. They didn’t need Mumbo to explain it to them. He could have these last few minutes where they were still willing to talk to him, be near to him. He could allow himself a few minutes of selfishness.

Mumbo didn’t need to see the others’ faces to feel the way the other Boatem members began to frown at his silence, glancing amongst themselves. One of them likely would have spoken up if it weren’t for sudden distortion of the world to the side of the room, incomprehensible shifting of space signaling a teleportation.

The distortion faded as Xisuma appeared in its place, admin communicator in hand. He hit a few buttons on it before he looked up, surprise visible even through his visor as he noticed the group. “Impulse, Scar, Pearl? What are you doing here? And Mumbo, how are you feeling?”

“Just fine.” Mumbo answered after a moment of silence, realizing everyone else was waiting for him to speak before themselves.

“Any issues with your glitch injuries?”

Mumbo shook his head.

Xisuma nodded once, looking somewhat satisfied with the response. “Alright then, everyone else?”

“We’re here because Grian told us to be here.” Scar said, shrugging. “He didn’t really say why.”

“Odd.” Xisuma checked his communicator. “Grian messaged me asking that I come here with no explanation as well. I had thought something had gone wrong with Mumbo, but seems not.”

“Doing the same as I have been.” Mumbo confirmed, ignoring the fact that his recent state could hardly be considered not-wrong. Thankfully, everyone in the room ignored it with him.

“Well, there must be some reason Grian wanted us here.” Pearl said, though she didn’t get the chance to expand on the thought before their group size expanded instead.

(Distantly, Mumbo noted the first floor of Grian’s starter base was beginning to become a bit crowded. Seated on the bed, in between everyone, it was hard to see the entirety of the room. Which hadn’t been a problem until it suddenly was very much a problem.)

The newcomer was Bdubs, pulling off an elytra as he hurried into the building. He didn’t realize how many players were there until after he had closed the door and taken a better look around the room.

“Oh. Hey guys.” He tugged the elytra the rest of the way off, looking sheepishly at everyone in the base as he shoved it in his inventory. “I thought this might be an emergency… no one tell Iskall.”

Impulse laughed. “Your secret’s safe with us. If it’s alright though, can I ask why you decided you needed to be here in such a hurry to get here?”

“And can I ask if it had anything to do with Grian?” Scar tacked on.

Bdubs raised an eyebrow. “You guys too, huh?”

He was met with a chorus of agreements.

“I should’ve guessed he’d be up to something.” Bdubs said lightly as he stepped further into the base, not helping with Mumbo’s developing space issue. “But I thought there might have been something with Mumbo.”

Mumbo sighed, feeling a pinch melodramatic. “Why is that the common assumption?”

The looks he got from the collected hermits did nothing to help his exaggerated mood. “You’re all being rather rude to the injured one, here.”

His plight got a few laughs out of the group, which Mumbo supposed he could appreciate. He couldn’t remember the last time he had simply joked with any of the hermits. It was nice. He’d miss it.

The silence that fell after the laughter was broken by the sounds of six different communicators rapidly buzzing at the same time, every player fetching theirs to see what the messages were.

Grian joined the game

InTheLittleWood joined the game

SolidarityGaming joined the game

“Now Grian’s getting non-hermit players too?” Xisuma wondered out loud.

“Not just any non-hermit players.” Impulse noted, looking over towards Mumbo. “It seems Grian’s reassembled the Southlands.”

Pearl frowned. “That still doesn’t explain why he wants us all here.”

While the others remained confused, however, Mumbo was finally putting the pieces together. Bdubs… Impulse… Southlands… Boatem… Xisuma….

“I think… I should go.” Mumbo muttered under his breath, startling everyone in the room as he moved to the edge of his bed and stood up. As expected, he immediately began to sway, and at least two sets of hands (too many hands) half-pushed, half-helped him settle back on the bed before he could take so much as a single step. Someone- someones?- was trying to ask him something, but all he could hear was a buzz of static and voices.

It took a long few minutes for Mumbo to get back to processing anything, and by then Grian had returned, standing near the edge of Mumbo’s vision looking grim but determined. Jimmy stood near him, clearly hesitant about what to do. Martyn was already in front of Mumbo, crouching down and frowning as he looked Mumbo over, eyes skimming over what glitch injuries and bandages were visible.

“Back with us, Mumbo?” Martyn asked, apparently catching the moment Mumbo managed to pull himself out of his head.

Mumbo nodded as he looked around the room. Most of the hermits had stepped away from his bed, giving him more space, but there were still too many of them for that to reassure him entirely, too much of the room he couldn’t see with them blocking his line of sight.

“Grian, maybe we should give Mumbo some time-”

“No, no, I’m fine.” Mumbo cut Martyn off, turning to look tiredly at Grian. “Just… just get this over with fast, please?”

“Oh, Mumbo, you spoon.” Grian mumbled in response, ignoring the increasing confusion from the others in the room as he walked over to stand next to Bdubs, Mumbo’s gaze following him as he went. “Bdubs, do you hate Mumbo for killing you in Last Life?”

Bdubs’s expression shifted rapidly from perplexed to panicked. “What?! Of course not! Why would you think I did?!”

“I don’t, I promise.” Grian told him, moving from him to stand next to Impulse instead. “Impulse? Same question.”

“Same answer.” Impulse responded defensively, glaring at Grian. “Did you call us all here just to accuse us?”

“I didn’t.” Grian answered Impulse the same as he did Bdubs: vaguely. If Mumbo wasn’t so busy trying to figure out what his angle was, what he was trying to do, he might have found it funny. “Collective Southlands: do any of us hate Mumbo for breaking the alliance? I, for one, do not at all.”

Impulse still looked upset by the questioning, but his tone wasn’t angry when he said, “I don’t hate Mumbo for anything.”

“I think it would be a bit hypocritical of me to hate Mumbo for something I helped with.” Jimmy joked weakly, adding, “And, even if it wasn't, no. I don’t hate him for the fall of the Southlands. Or anything else.”

“I don’t hate you either, Mumbo.” Martyn said quietly, still frowning when Mumbo turned to look at him. “Is that… is that why Grian’s asking all this? Do you think we hate you?”

Mumbo didn’t speak, only looking away again, trying to avoid everyone’s gazes. It didn’t matter. His silence was answer enough.

“Boatem, Xisuma,” Grian started, voice quieter as well, as if now that the ‘secret’ of his questioning was out he didn’t need to try as hard to hold the group’s attention, “I think you know what I’m going to ask.”

“Like I said. I don’t hate Mumbo for anything, Last Life related or otherwise.” Impulse.

“Just as Impulse said. There’s nothing to hate you for, Mumbo.” Pearl.

“After everything you did to help us? Mumbo, of course I don’t hate you.” Scar.

“I don’t hate any of my hermits. Just worry for them.” Xisuma. Something in Mumbo’s chest tightened at still being considered a hermit.

As everyone said their piece, Mumbo saw Grian come to crouch in front of him with Martyn in the corner of his eye.

“See? None of us hate you, Mumbo. None of us are upset with you, or think you’re something you’re not.” Grian’s voice had quieted even more, and despite how sure he had sounded only moments ago Mumbo could now hear raw desperation in his voice, as if he didn’t know what else he could do if this didn’t work. “Please, just… just let us help you.”

“It’s not… it’s not that simple-”

“Yes it is.” Mumbo didn’t have the energy to turn his head anymore, only listening as Pearl cut him off. “Whatever you’ve done, or whatever you think you’ve done- we don’t hate you Mumbo. Not for this. Not for anything.”

Pearl’s statement was supported by hums and nods Mumbo could only half-see, each and every person in the room agreeing with her, with the idea there was nothing Mumbo could say now- or ever- that would change their minds. There was no anger, no hatred, no disgust to be found in the room. No monsters.

“Less people.” Mumbo felt like he less said the words and more breathed them, closing his eyes. “I can’t- there’s too many people.”

Somehow, both Grian and Martyn were able to understand him, and Mumbo let the sounds of the players being asked to leave and doing so float around him. There were no complaints, no arguments. Xisuma murmuring that he’d be just outside if they needed him.

When Mumbo opened his eyes again, the space was nearly empty compared to how full it had been. Grian remained where he had been in front of Mumbo, with Scar sitting a short distance behind Grian. Martyn had moved, standing close enough to the door Mumbo had the suspicion he wanted to stay but wasn’t sure if he should.

With only three other people, it was easy to see all the walls and corners of the room again, see that there was nothing and no one hiding in shadows and waiting to strike. The need to check in Hermitcraft, of all places, still made Mumbo feel foolish, but he couldn’t deny the way it made it easier to breathe again.

“Checking for hidden attackers?” Scar asked, chuckling at Mumbo’s wide-eyed look of a response. “You’re not the only one who had a bad time after a Life game, you know. I’m well-acquainted with the shadow people.”

“...Yeah?”

Scar nodded. “Consequence of putting my first base in a huge, open, well-lit desert. Going from that back to visual-obstructions-everywhere Hermitcraft… well, it wasn’t fun, that’s for sure. Never going to do that again.”

Grian glanced back at Scar. “Didn’t Magical Mountain cause the same thing?”

“I thought what was said in the LL meetings was supposed to stay in the LL meetings.” Scar replied, though his tone was lighthearted. “But, yes, alright, shame on me. At least it was easier the second time.”

“How did you… get over it?” Mumbo asked, wincing at his phrasing even as he said it. He found it doubtful it was something one exactly ‘got over’, but at the moment it was the only way to put it that came to mind.

Scar didn’t seem to mind the word choice regardless. “With a lot of time, mostly. Getting used to a server where no one really wants you dead after spending so long in one that’s exactly the opposite isn’t really a fast process. But the more time that passes with no one attacking you, the better it gets.”

“Sleepovers also help.” Grian added, good-naturedly letting the apple Scar got from his inventory at random and threw at him for the comment bounce off his shoulder.

“Chivalry is dead.”

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

“That doesn’t make you nice! It’s my turn to talk to Mumbo about terrible death game things.” Scar said amusedly. “Anyways, Mumbo, as I was saying with absolutely no additional input from other sources-”

“I’m right here.”

“-sleepovers can also be helpful, for nights where the shadows are just a bit… too dark. Being with other people can help a lot in general.”

“I see.” Mumbo said, fiddled with his communicator for a moment before continuing. “Thank you, Scar, I didn’t realize…”

“That some of the other lifers might have gone through the same things you were going through?” Grian offered when Mumbo faltered on finishing the sentence, smiling a little. “I told you, Mumbo. You’re not alone in any of this.”

Mumbo hesitated a moment before asking, “Even… thinking you’re someth- someone terrible?”

Although he was certain everyone in the room had heard- and understood- his slip of tongue, Mumbo was thankful for the fact none of them decided to comment on it.

“It’s rather common.” Grian admitted. “Comes a bit hand-in-hand with death games, I think.”

“Guilt too.” Martyn spoke up from where he had taken to leaning against the wall near the door, a look Mumbo was more than familiar with briefly crossing his face. “Eh, at least in my experience.”

“I think most lifers would agree with you, Martyn.” Grian confirmed. “Or I do, anyways.”

“I’ll make it three.”

Mumbo glanced between the three. “So we’re all familiar with the, er, feeling?”

“More or less.”

“And yet I’m the only one who ended up,” Mumbo gestured vaguely at himself as a whole, trying to keep his tone light; he wasn’t making an accusation, just an observation, “like this?”

“We all had our own battles after the Life games.” Grian half-answered. “And, besides, we had help to lean on.”

“After Third Life, me and Grian had, well, you, Mumbo.” Scar reminded.

“And I had Ren, both after Third Life and to invite me to the Hermitcraft LL meetings.” Martyn chimed in.

“Meetings that all lifers, hermit or otherwise, had access to.” Grian looked at Mumbo meaningfully. “But not all chose to attend.”

Mumbo forced himself to not turn away and avoid Grian’s gaze. With all that Grian had done and was doing for Mumbo, he deserved that respect, at least. “I… I wanted to be able to help you all. Like last time. I didn’t want to be the one who had to be helped too, so… I tried not to be.”

For just a moment, Mumbo dropped his eyes to look at his hands, the single moment from months ago that had, if not entirely, assisted in bringing him to this point, still playing out perfectly in his mind’s eye. “And I think I would’ve been, really, until… I realized I was bleeding.”

There weren’t any glitch injuries on Mumbo’s palms, but he could still feel the redstone scratch he had sustained that fateful day caving. He could still see the flakey mineral falling off of it only to reveal red still present, red that wouldn’t go away, red that dripped and flowed and stained, and for a single moment Mumbo could’ve sworn he once again heard his now useless heart beat.

Grian’s hands reached out, slowly, and layered over Mumbo’s, and the memories slipped away from the forefront of his mind in an instant.

“I’m sorry, Mumbo.” Grian said, and before Mumbo could interrupt he pushed on, “Not for not noticing. Sorry because this never should have happened to you. The blood mod never should have stuck. You never should have had to deal with the struggle of fighting your own mind and your own body. Even as lifers, none of us know what that must have been like.”

“Like… like even the universe knew there was something wrong with you.” Mumbo tried to describe, and Grian curled his fingers lightly around Mumbo’s hands.

“The universe doesn’t know anything.” Grian said it like it was a fact, like nothing else could be truer, and if anything dared disagreed he’d fight them himself. “There is nothing wrong with you. You’re just hurting like we all were after the games. You wanted to help us, and you did. Now let us help you.”

The vast majority of Mumbo wanted to say no. To refuse Grian, yet again, to go back over the points that were no longer relevant in reality but still felt like they should be. After so many months of trying to do what he thought was helping them, of staying as far from them as he could get, of not even entertaining their offers to give him anything, the thought of just saying ‘yes’ now, as if it were just that easy, felt almost like a trap.

But Mumbo couldn’t bring himself to say no again, if for no one’s sake but Grian’s. All Mumbo had wanted to do, from the start, was help him, and Scar, and every other hermit. Staying away hadn’t done that. Nearly permadying hadn’t done that. If this was what they wanted- if helping him would help them- then Mumbo wouldn’t say no. Not again.

“Alright.” Mumbo lightly squeezed Grian’s hands. “Since, er, my method’s not really been working at all, has it?”

Grian blinked, seeming a bit surprised that Mumbo had actually said yes, but the confused expression was quickly replaced with a grin. “No, not especially.”

And then Grian was moving forward, pulling Mumbo into a hug, and oh, yes Grian’s method of help was much, much better than Mumbo’s.

Grian shifted to sit on the edge of the bed as Mumbo leaned more into the hug, not sure how he had forgotten the simple yet absolutely necessary joy of caring, genuine touch. After a moment, Mumbo could hear the sound of wheels pushing slowly along the ground and footsteps following them before two more pairs of arms came to wrap around him as well. The touch was light at first, unsure, testing Mumbo’s limits, but when he didn’t try to pull away their holds tightened, surrounding him on every side in a way that felt safe, not suffocating.

For the first time in a long time, Mumbo allowed himself to believe there was still hope for him.

#hermitcraft #last life #mdbb fic #m.y funky words #mfw: this predacious song #chap13: we have reached...... the comfort <3

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sweetest-honeybee · 3 years ago

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Down to Dust

Chapter 4

Fic Summary: Grian will have to keep the dragon egg secure for the Watchers. But, they’re not the only ones who want it. On a completely unrelated note, Mumbo will have to deal with a version of himself thats only amplified by his No Killing mindset.

Chapter Sumamry: Mumbo was surprised to find that Grian was right when he said the egg was magical.

TW: Slight electrocution I suppose, and descriptions of lightning

Word Count: 2415

Notes: Again, the two farms are in the overworld, not in the Nether or End for the sake of the fic

Enjoy! And this one deserves a Read More because it’s long lol

——————

By the end of the next day, Mumbo had finished his first farm and half of his second farm. Much to his surprise, the egg didn’t bear any harm. It was strangely quiet recently but it didn’t bother him any. At the moment, it was in his inventory should anyone come by and see that he had it. It’d ruin his plans and he didn’t want to give up the egg just yet. Really, he could probably keep it forever. It had been completely safe and comfortable- or, as comfortable as an egg can be- since he stole it. Mumbo called that pretty responsible.

Who was he kidding, Grian would kill him eventually if he never found it himself.

He laid down the last of the comparators for the third row, focused more on finishing his farm than overthinking the egg situation. If all went well so far, they should be able to work on their own if he flipped a lever. The redstoner pulled the egg from his inventory and held it up to his face.

“I think everything looks about right so far, yeah?” He turned the egg as if there was a face to show his work. The egg quite obviously never spoke but it helped to explain the redstone and find the flaws in his contraptions.

Nothing seemed out of place. The first row’s test went swimmingly and by replicating that a few more times, all should go as planned when he tested them together. With his luck it may not happen but he could stand to be a little optimistic at least. Mumbo went on to build the last of the uniform rows and easily finished another quarter of the farm. All was down to just encasing said farm in a wall of glass to avoid the items spilling over the sides.

He stood back once more with his hands on his hips, the egg now by his feet. The redstoner was proud to say the least. He looked down at the egg which only sat stock still. Leaving the egg, he turned to dig in his chest for more materials.

Unbeknownst to him, however, the egg wouldn’t stay still for much longer.

“Glass, glass, where on Earth did I put the glass?” He mumbled to himself. He continued to rummage. Eventually, he pulled away from the chest with an internal cheer. “Of course it was next to the pistons.”

He swirled back around when he began to hear small pops from behind him. As he did, Mumbo’s eyes widened. Small purple sparks crackled every so often at the base of the egg and quickly began to grow in size. The egg itself launched into a fit of rapid vibrating.

“Oh! Uh-oh!” He dropped the glass next to him, shattering upon impact, and hurriedly jogged to the now terrifyingly lively egg. “Please tell me you're supposed to do that!”

The redstoner hesitated, going to touch it, then pulling away with a worried whimper. Mumbo didn’t want to touch it but he panicked as he was at a loss of what to do. The egg was calm for weeks before now. Even Grian would’ve said something if the egg had done something like this before Mumbo stole it.

Ah…Grian did tell him it was a magical egg.

Mumbo only thought Grian was joking to keep him from taking it. He’s never seen a dragon egg do that! It was just from the update, he suggested to himself. Eggs were just suddenly powerful and might destroy his days of work. He laughed nervously and pulled at his tie. It didn’t matter what he thought, the small sparks were now large bolts that shot their way into the ground. It singed the grass around it, turning it to a coal black. He had to back away from the egg’s ever expanding radius of energy.

“Oh what do I do- what do I do?!” Then, the obvious idea appeared and he palmed his forehead. “Grian!”

The redstoner fumbled to get his communicator from his pocket, almost dropping it several times. He miss-clicked several icons with petrified fingers and growled in frustration. Only when he finally opened the chat, the egg ceased its episode with an immediate halt. He looked up from the screen with caution and took another step away from the egg.

The area fell silent. Not a bird’s chirp or leave’s rustle broke the blanket of stillness that suddenly washed over everything. It wasn’t a comfortable silence, though.

He inched forward with small steps, clutching his communicator. Seconds passed, then a minute.

“H…Hello?” He said tentatively. He stuck a leg out, poking at it with the tip of his shoe then retracting his leg once more. A sigh escaped his lips. “Good, I guess that’s over with then.”

But it wasn’t. The egg was hardly finished as the bolts started again, much much larger than their already massive size they reached before it stopped the first time. Mumbo shrieked and attempted to retreat back to his chest. It took no longer than five seconds before a wave of the purple energy resonated through the ground and absorbed into the two farms. It knocked Mumbo from his feet and onto the grass, sending an electric shiver through his body.

He shielded his neck with his arms and waited. He only turned over when the sounds of roaring pistons caught his attention. But, that was hardly what he worried about as he watched in awe- good or bad, he wasn’t sure yet- at the effects of the egg’s sudden show of magic.

Both farms were activated and running faster than any farm he’d ever seen. Items upon items flowed down water streams and into stacks of chests. Some items avoided their intended route and simply floated in all directions above the farms. It was loud, incredibly loud. Mumbo nearly had to cover his ears as he initially cowered from the noise. However, he soon pulled himself to his feet and slowly approached the over-efficient farms.

A violet haze emitted from the redstone, replacing its originally reddish color, and from the cracks between each set of stone bricks. Each block crackled and hissed with energy, and it almost felt as if he were gaining some of that energy himself. Small bolts fizzled out over his suit. He lifted his left hand and turned it over, watching as sparks flew over and down his fingers to their tips.

To put it simply, it was a beautiful and supernatural sight. He wasn't sure how to react. His own heart was still racing- from the energy around him or his nerves, he also didn’t know.

While in the middle of the two farms, he glanced back at the egg which no longer twisted and turned, but sat with slowly flowing violet streams of energy penetrating the ground. Much like the hum of a conduit sounded from it. Now, it seemed very calm in contrast to its earlier fit. Mumbo assumed- for obvious reasons, really- that the egg powered the farms despite the contraptions having been able to power themselves via redstone. It was captivating and he couldn’t help but to become curious about what was inside the egg that would’ve given it so much power. That or had it already been created with it. Either way, he yearned to learn more about it. It could be revolutionary and improve efficiency immensely.

Although, the event was short lived as the egg’s energy flow sputtered and dissipated, leading to the farms shutting down with it. Mumbo looked up as items began to rain over his shoulders when they fell. But, he was hardly bothered. At this moment he realized a few things.

His farms worked, thankfully; The egg held an amount of power that could power several farms; Mumbo wanted to keep the egg for even longer to experiment.

Of course, he still wanted to eventually return it but as someone who couldn’t kill anything, the egg could help him for the time being...He already had many ideas popping into his head by the second. It only made him giddy for what was to come. He ran over and scooped up the egg with an ear-to-ear grin, holding it up to his face.

“You, my friend, are one wicked egg,” he complimented. Then, he put it in his inventory and prepared to fly home. He’d clean up the mess later.

As he rocketed off to his base, he noticed his red sweatered friend sitting alone on the roof of his house. Even when Mumbo flew by, Grian didn’t wave or nod up to him or really even look at him. Piquing his curiosity, though he should just go home and avoid confrontation, he landed behind Grian and carefully stepped down the slope of the roof.

“Hey! Haven’t heard from you much today,” he greeted. Mumbo was only met with silence. “Are you okay?”

After a second, Grian twitched when he realized that someone was talking to him. He turned his head to where Mumbo crouched down next to him.

“Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking. This is my thinking roof.”

The redstoner hummed. “Ah, don’t wear yourself out then,” he laughed.

“You should try it sometime with that empty head of yours.” The avian chuckled dryly and looked back to the setting sun, the small smile falling from his face.

“Thanks,” Mumbo replied, initially with a smile himself but found himself meeting Grian’s frown. He waited a few seconds before speaking again. Then, he tapped his fingers on the deepslate. “So...what’re you thinking about?”

“A lot, honestly. It's still the beginning of the season, I’m sure everyone is.” He waved a hand dismissively then looked at Mumbo. “What about you? Have you been thinking about anything?”

Mumbo snorted, attempting to lighten the mood. “Thinking isn’t good for me. I overthink when I do and it hurts my brain.” He paused. “But, if you’d really like to know, I’ve been thinking about the egg.”

This made Grian perk up. “What about it? Do you know where it is?”

The redstoner hesitated. Not yet, he can’t give it up just yet. “What? No, not at all. But, I had a question.”

Grian deflated, then looked away with his chin on his arms, legs tucked to his chest. “Alright, shoot.”

Mumbo’s stomach twisted. “I uh- maybe now isn’t the best time actually. You know, while it’s missing and all.” He cracked a half smile.

“Yeah, while it’s missing,” the builder scoffed. “Just ask me, I’m sure I can answer.”

“Ah- um, sure. Why...why is the egg so special to you? I understand sentimentality, but it just seemed more…” He sighed. “I don’t know. I wondered maybe- maybe it uh… did something, you know? You said it was a magical egg. Maybe you could tell me about it?”

He heard a low chuckle from Grian. “It’s just some stupid egg, it’s not magical.”

“I- oh.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that was disappointing for you, wasn’t it,” Grian sneered. The two stopped. Grian pulled his head up and Mumbo furrowed his brows. “Nevermind, I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry. Just stressed.”

Mumbo stood and tightened his jaw, ignoring the builder’s excuse. “You know, you’ve been real onto me about that egg. Why don’t you tell me about that instead or go bother Scar. Every conversation I have with you now is just accusing me of taking it.”

Grian thought back to what Aisling said, then his last thought before he came to the roof. “Because maybe I saw you sneak into my house and steal the egg. And maybe, I don’t know, it’s my stuff.” He stood and faced Mumbo with a finger to the redstoner’s chest. “And maybe it’s because you are an insanely terrible liar.”

The other was at a loss for words, opening his mouth then clamping it shut repeatedly. The tips of his ears reddened in embarrassment. Of course Grian probably saw him take it, anyone could’ve. But why didn’t he say anything before? Satisfaction? Did he want Mumbo to just admit to it?

It didn’t matter now, the jig was up and all of his plans for the egg were now down the drain.

“I- I’m sorry,” was all he could muster. “I didn’t think it was such a problem.” He looked down at his shoes. “You…have been acting differently since it was gone, I didn’t think I made you mad.”

The avian sighed in relief and put a hand on Mumbo’s shoulder. “I’m not- look at me,” Mumbo lifted his head, “I’m not mad. Really, I’m not. A little annoyed, maybe, but not mad.”

“But you just scolded me like a toddler!” The redstoner whined.

Grian laughed. “Because you have to do that when a toddler lies to you. But, I’m not angry at you, at Scar, or anyone else. I want to tell you why that egg is important, I do, but it’s not the time for that, yet.” He patted his friend’s shoulder. It was clear Mumbo had more questions but decided to avoid them. “So, where is it?”

“Ah- well, I should warn you first about something.” Grian’s eyes widened. “No, no! Nothing happened to it! But um- well, it’s not ‘just some stupid egg’, it’s one seriously powerful egg, dude. What kind of dragon did you fight?!”

“...Excuse me?”

“Yeah! It powered two of my farms at once, did this huge explosion thing with a bunch of lightning, and it was awesome, but the egg-”

Grian took a hold of Mumbo’s shoulders roughly. “Mumbo, did it do anything to you.” The builder was suddenly very serious, as if Mumbo would die if he said yes.

So, of course he lied. “No? I was well away from it.” Grian let go and crossed his arms with a raised brow. “I was! I ran away because I obviously didn’t want to die.”

The other sighed. “Good, I need it now, then.”

Mumbo pulled it from his inventory, hesitating to give it back. Then, he put it in Grian’s outstretched palm. With nothing more to say, he waved goodbye and glided back to his van. Grian watched as he did and once the van’s door slid shut, he looked down at the egg. While he inspected the egg, he noticed a new detail to its shell that made his stomach sink.

A cursive two letter initial, MJ.

#long post #hermitcraft #down to dust #grian #mumbo jumbo #my fic

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mamahersh · 3 years ago

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The Road to Hell (is Paved with Good Intentions) Chapter 5

“Season 8 was well underway, and the server’s first conflict is bubbling just under the surface. But BDoubleO can’t worry about that right now because he has an Etho to find so they can work on the Horse Course together. However when Xisuma calls a surprise server meeting on behalf of EvilXisuma, BDubs gets his answers about where Etho’s been in the worst way possible.”

(CW: angst, blood, gore, torture)

Chapter rating: M

Back to the rescue team and those left behind, focusing on BDubs and a surprise Mumbo Jumbo! (Bet you weren’t expecting Mumbo angst.) Thank you all again for your interest! As previously mentioned, if you enjoyed this, I was directly inspired by this fic over on AO3.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 6

BDubs knew it was going to be hard trying to find where Etho and EvilX were hiding, but he neglected to remember how nerve wracking it would be with the added challenge of hearing his communicator go off every time someone died. Admittedly, it had only been the two times thus far, but checking and seeing they were both Etho made him want to go insane. The only boon they had, paradoxically, was the same curse keeping Etho stuck in that hell hole: that they were able to respawn in the same place they had died in. This at least meant that their progress wouldn’t be undone at a moment’s notice because someone died and got sent to their base halfway across the map in the opposite direction they were searching.

After he had checked his communicator to see the death message, “Ethoslab was slain by Ethoslab whilst trying to escape EvilXisuma”; BDubs decided he would stop watching chat completely. If someone died, he knew they would be fine, and he really didn’t need to know how else Etho was going to suffer till they found him. Plus, he had Doc keeping an eye on Etho for him. And he had Beef by his side, plus the Big Eye crew supporting him. He just had to keep reminding himself he wasn’t alone, it wasn’t the jungle again, he had his people with him.

“Hey BDubs, you see anything yet?” called out Tango, flying by on his own elytra. BDubs startled in the straps of his elytra, and focused more on the ground below.

“I got nothin’!” he called back, swooping to the back of the formation the big eyes crew had made to check the area stretching from the girls’ southernmost border to the northernmost border of Cleo and Joe’s shared territory. They had decided to first fly over their assigned strip of the x coordinate line to see if there was anything obviously wrong from a bird’s eye view. After that, depending on the results from the other search teams, they would dig down in strategic intervals to be as thorough as possible. They had calculated the size of the room based on the video feed before they had left, and so they planned on digging straight down every 9 blocks along the axis. As crazy as that was, they were hoping with forteen hermits all doing it at the same time equally spaced along the line, they would be able to find Etho within an hour or two. (This all assumed that EvilX hadn’t been lying, but this was the only thing they had.)

——————————————————-

Mumbo hated every decision that had led him to this moment. He hated every decision that others have made on his behalf that had led to this moment. (That was a lie, he blamed himself completely. Even though Grian had had the idea to institute him as the CEO of Boatem, it was still his final say as to whether he would actually complete the role assigned to him. It was his decision to step up to the plate and lead them at this critical time. Everything that was happening was entirely his fault.) As he watched, horrified, Etho having to stay strong without anyone by his side; Mumbo thought he would throw up. If he didn’t faint first that was. (How pathetic of him, that he couldn’t handle the consequences of his actions.) He stood miserable in front of the screen, promising himself the least he could do was watch every moment Etho was without help and in pain because of him.

Beside him, Xisuma frantically typed in his admin console, seemingly trying in vain to undo whatever EvilXisuma had done to the respawn mechanics. To his other side, TFC stood stoically, seemingly unaffected by what he was witnessing, though Mumbo was sure that if he looked over, he’d be able to see the disguised pain in TFC’s eyes. Behind and a bit to the side of Xisuma was Joe, who’s pain was obvious to see, but stood strong despite it. (Mumbo wondered why Joe was here at all, till he remembered how close Joe was to Xisuma). To TFC’s other side stood Doc, who looked about one more Etho death from finding a way to crawl through the screen and detonating in EvilXisuma’s face. And to Joe’s other side stood Scar, sympathetic tears trailing down his face and holding himself in a way that Mumbo knew he did when he was particularly missing the comfort of Jellie the cat.

Mumbo watched as Etho poofed back into existence, arm that he had mangled looking noticeably more mangled than before.(Though there was something off about the restraints and his arm’s relation to them that Mumbo couldn’t place. It didn’t help the camera’s resolution wasn’t quite perfect clarity, and a bit of a wide shot, so details were a little difficult to pick out. Though it didn’t stop them from seeing the next part just fine.) Once Etho was back, EvilXisuma punched him in the face, hard enough they could see a tooth fly out of his mouth.

“You will regret that,” stated EvilXisuma, just barely loud enough to be picked up by the camera. (Mumbo knows Etho would normally have replied with something like, ‘you already said that’, but, well…)

“Any updates Xisuma?” questioned Doc, still staring intently at the screen looking for any clues as to the whereabouts of the the torture room.

“He’s still goin’ strong Doc,” replied Joe instead, peaking over Xisuma’s shoulder to see what he was up to. “You got any new clues?”

Doc growled under his breath. “No.” He sounded bitter to Mumbo, all acid and sharp edges.

“I can’t tell, but there’s something different about his arm I think,” said Mumbo hesitantly, nervously watching as the rest of the group stared intently up at the screen to see what he meant.

Scar spoke up, “I think I see what you mean. His arm isn’t quite aligned correctly with the chair arm, right?”

Mumbo nodded, pointing at Etho’s arm on the screen where it seemed to almost intersect with the cuff and was bleeding profusely. “I don’t know how, like if it was just a natural consequence of trying to move his arm in that direction as he died and respawned, or if it was just a one time fluke; but he seems to have gotten his wrist intersected with the cuff on the armrest and the stake from earlier seems off center.”

As Mumbo was trying to explain, EvilXisuma had begun to focus on Etho’s fingers, and starting on the opposite hand to the one they were observing, he began to break them individually. Mumbo was selfishly happy that he didn’t have to focus on Etho’s pain for a moment as he allowed himself to fully focus on the potential puzzle in front of him.

TFC suddenly spoke up, voice coming off as gruff. “Hrm, this is good and all, but it depends entirely on EvilXisuma not noticing this little update; which we’ve done a pretty poor job at not letting him on. What with him more than likely able to hear us, and all that.” Doc muttered a quiet, “fuck” under his breath in response, and they all held their breath as they waited to see if EvilXisuma would say anything.

Instead of saying anything, he continued to methodically snap more of Etho’s fingers, causing the group to flinch in varying amounts at each wet snap. However, as Mumbo was trying to take in details not relating to Etho’s pain, he could tell that the mic was picking up EvilXisuma’s muttering. But Mumbo didn’t have the super amazing hearing that someone like Ren or Grian had; but he wondered if one of the other people in the group here had more sensitive hearing. “Anyone able to make out what he’s saying?” muttered Mumbo.

Doc hissed a quiet affirmative, and muttered back, “Yesssss, but I need to focus. Please everyone be quiet, thanks.” Everyone but Xisuma nodded back, who was too busy still trying to figure out what EvilXisuma had done to the code to notice anything else around him.

Mumbo did his best to both suffer the consequences of his actions, while at the same time he couldn’t stand watching one of his fellow Hermits in that much pain. He could no longer distract himself, as he couldn’t make out what EvilXisuma was saying, and there were only so many times he could try to determine how many pixels on the screen related to the walls were just stone or his imagination trying to give him impossible answers. EvilXisuma had finally finished with Etho’s left hand, and he now moved to the right before he took a noticeable pause. Mumbo held his breath, hoping beyond hope that EvilXisuma somehow hadn’t noticed Etho’s weirdly placed hand. But that was an impossible wish after all.

“Well well well, how have you managed this then?” Evil Xisuma appeared to poke the part of the wrist that seemed to be poking part way out of the cuff. Mumbo couldn’t help but notice that Etho seemed so gone that he barely flinched at what should have been an incredibly painful jostle. “I’m interested in seeing how you struggle with this.” Evil X nodded at Etho. “Yes, I shall let you struggle. But we still have about 9 more bones to break, so on we go.” With that, he kneeled in front of Etho and started snapping the fingers on Etho’s right hand. Each wet snap ended with a muted whine and shudder from Etho, who seemed to have zoned out far enough that any reactions seemed mostly involuntary at this point. EvilXisuma seemed quiet for the first few snaps, before he went back to muttering in a just barely audible way. Mumbo could only assume that EvilXisuma was unaware that his mic sensitivity was set too high, and thought he was muttering in such a way as for those of them watching the stream would be unable to hear him. That, or it was an unconscious habit, and didn’t even realize he was doing it. Either way, Mumbo continued hoping he would continue to do so, so that maybe he would let something slip and Doc could post it in chat.

Meanwhile Doc had been listening closely to what EvilX had been saying, but none of it thus far had led to a clue. Most of what he was muttering were curses and the terrible things he planned to do to Etho. Honestly Doc wished he couldn’t hear what EvilX was saying, just so that he wasn’t obligated to continue listening to see if that scum slipped up. But the chance of catching something important was too high, so he went back to diligently listening to the stream, mentally cursing at every suppressed gasp or whine or wet snap from Etho.

EvilXisuma made quick work of Etho’s fingers, and seemingly tired of Etho’s lack of responses decided he needed to kill him. However, because he was feeling particularly vindictive, he gutted Etho, guts spilling over his knees before he disappeared in a flash of red. Mumbo, morbidly curious how the game would register the death, looked down at his communicator. “Ethoslab was slain by EvilXisuma.” He was selfishly grateful that the server messages were that generic. He watched further as Etho poofed back into the chair, though as before his killing blow hadn’t followed him through respawn, but all his previous wounds did. Mumbo looked very carefully at Etho’s wrists and saw that he had managed to get his wrist farther out, and the stake seemed almost completely out of his arm. Unfortunately for Etho, respawn managed to break him out of his trance, and he seemed far more present and aware (and in pain) for the moment. The only positive that Mumbo could see was that EvilXisuma seemed to have either turned off the speakers on his end, or was ignoring them completely. But Mumbo could only hope that either Doc would hear something soon, or the search parties would stumble across the hidden room soon; because he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could watch.

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