#Hermitopia AU | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sadagios · 16 days ago

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Icarus, and the Sunflower

A Desert Duo/Scarian AU about an avid player meeting his favorite, comfort character in a death loop video game.

I can’t write a fic, nor have time to draw comics like i used to, so we are doing bullet points on a tumblr post

PART ONE: BEFORE THE ALPHA TEST

2.1k words below the cut

SOME BEGINNING NOTES: - This AU is only character shipping, and references a lot outside the life series events (evo, hermitcraft, empires, etc). This is not meant to ship the CC’s themselves and if anything alludes to it, it is purely unintentional. - This is not canon-compliant ermmmm i do what i want and i will put every idea i have into this - Tags for this part? Game dev AU, Grian is whipped for Scar, some characters are real and some are fictional, this is only the prologue, absolutely not beta'd i only have one impulsive braincell

A. Gria

Gria is a single man in his late 20s; he works at a game company called E.V.O. Games (Entertainment Virtual for Everyone). He was an architecture graduate who dabbled in game dev in his spare time during his undergraduate studies. Although he didn’t pursue that path, he utilized his skills in level design. He used to work in several indie game companies, one of which was a company founded with friends, before he was hired by E.V.O. Games. He was excellent at his job, and his ideas and inputs always improved whatever project he worked on. Because of this, after a few years, he was promoted to creative director.

His latest project was “The Evolutionists’ Portal,” a 3D pixel-style puzzle game in which the player has to navigate the world to find portals hidden in each level, and these portals progress the game. With each portal traveled into, the world becomes bigger and more complicated, making each portal harder to find. However, with multiplayer, this task is easier through working together (and doing fun shenanigans together).

It had a buggy release, especially for multiplayer, but it built a decent player fanbase; the story itself was short and simple, but it was replayable thanks to its multiplayer mode.

For visualization, it’s 3D with a top-down perspective like “Pokemon Diamond/Pear/Platinum” but has gameplay similar to “Stardew Valley”

Gria and his team get along well, and he is quite close to some of them:

Martyn: an audio engineer. This is the first game he’s worked on since he was first hired in the company.

“Big B”: a VFX artist. He and Gria joined the company around the same time and bonded over stressful deadlines and annoying seniors when they started out.

Jimmy: the project manager. Although Gria takes a lot of joy in teasing him, he is hardworking and great at keeping everyone in check with the calendar. Out of everyone, he is the one Gria is closest with. He also works on another game by the company called “Empires.”

Pearl: an environment artist. She joined the company a bit later in the development. It is her first time dealing with pixel graphics but she did it incredibly well. She also works on “Empires” with Jimmy.

“Empires” is a free-to-play fantasy open-world action gacha RPG. It is the biggest game of the company and their title game.

For visualization, it’s just “Genshin Impact” and “Honkai: Star Rail”.

Recently, there was a buzz around that their game, “Empires”, will have a collaboration event with another big name. Gria was too busy and overworked to take notice of this, though.

The fruits of his labor later came as game nominations for “Best Multiplayer” and “Best Audio Design.” Gria was happy their work was acknowledged by players worldwide, even if they didn’t win.

B. Hermitopia

After so long, Gria finally took a week off. It was foreign to have no obligations for even a day. He doesn’t use this time to travel; instead, he sits at home and lurks on the internet to keep up with gaming news and updates. He uses the username “Xelqua” with a red macaw as his profile picture.

He stumbled upon a “Redstone tutorial” post by the user ”Potatonutshell”. Curious and intrigued by how such a complicated contraption is possible in a game (and bored out of his mind), he asked this user what game it was for. Potatonutshell briefly, and over-excitedly, DM’d Gria with a huge wall of text about this game called “Hermitopia 6.”

In the beginning days of his break, Gria spent time messaging this Potatonutshell fella, named “Mumbo.” Mumbo named himself after a character named “Mumbo Jumbo”, who is one of the most skilled “redstoners” in the game. He related heavily with the character and took a lot of interest in the redstone circuitry game feature as he is a programmer in real life. Gria thought the game was interesting, but not enough to install a 36 GB game for $39.99. He changed his mind when Mumbo told him more about the game, especially its base-building mechanic.

“Hermitopia 6: Hermit Civil War” is an open-world fantasy action RPG known for its base-building core mechanic. It is the sixth game in the franchise, and each game starts in a brand-new world. The player and the lovable NPCs are called hermits, a band of humans, fae, hybrids, and other species who live together on an island and work together to live a sustainable life amidst the hostile creatures that roam the world.

For visualization, it’s like “Skyrim” with “Baldur’s Gate 3” graphics and dialogue UI.

Gria planned to try it for a few hours, only humoring his new internet friend, until he met this beautiful NPC named “Scar Goodtimes” — a human-vex hybrid with scars all over his “handsome face and carved body”, as Gria would personally describe him. He was also a builder who lived near Gria’s very odd underwater base. Throughout the remaining days of his break, and his weekends after that, Gria played Hermitopia 6 religiously.

Scar calls him “GRIAN”, which was a typo error — Gria pressed enter early in the name selection screen and he didn’t realize it until Scar first mentioned his name 3 hours into the game. He can’t be bothered to fix it, though (and he's grown fond of it.)

Gria continued to play the game in his free time, slowly falling in love with the game as he kept on playing. He also kept talking to Mumbo, who he fanboyed about the game with. He found out that Mumbo lived close by too, so they hung out frequently and bonded over the game.

Gria: I genuinely thought you had a big mustache, y’know, like Mumbo Jumbo. Mumbo: I do too! It’s... it's there! [he shows his very faint mustache] It's there! Gria: sure.

Xelqua started off as a lurker, to an active Hermitopia fan account. He was interested in the base-building aspect of the game and shared his designs online.

Hermitopia is not a dating simulator. There is no romance mechanic in the game. Anyway, Gria installed (and tweaked) a romance mod because no one can stop him from flirting with his fictional vex boyfriend.

Mumbo: Grian, if I hadn't met you personally, I would've pictured you as a crazy Scar fanatic. Gria: Wha— How— I’m not crazy. Mumbo: You downloaded a romance mod just to flirt with Scar and commissioned an artist to draw a scene from it, and now you have it framed on your bedroom wall. So, Grian, I think that’s crazy behavior. Gria: … I do what I want, Mumbo!

Gria's love for the game and Scar grew more as another hermitopia game was released (Hermitopia 7). Then, he, as Xelqua, became a notorious name because of a supposedly harmless poll about the sexiest character in the game. He was known as the insane Scar fan.

He's got every Scar merch, though there isn't much Hermitopia merch released in general. However, if someone posts about a new Scar fan merch, a certain username might appear in their notifications, like a hound trailing a scent. Haters and trolls are also dragged to hell and back because, if they aren't regretful after being berated by this insane man, they will not be able to surf through the web in peace as long as Xelqua holds a grudge.

As insane as this Xelqua person is, Scar had become a popular character within the fandom, compared to his old status as an underrated sweetheart without much attention or fanfare thanks to Xelqua constantly (for years without missing a day) talking about him. Xelqua also organized or helped some Scar fan events and constantly supported merch creators with hermitopia merch (especially if it involved Scar.)

User Xelqua, about Scar: He is my little sunshine, my precious sunflower. He might’ve killed some men, but he was hot while doing it.

C. The Collaboration Event

Back to Game dev stuff, Gria isn’t open about his current obsession with his coworkers. When the collaboration event with the “Empires” games was finally announced, two representatives from the other company came to visit. “Skizzleman” has been a writer for Hermitopia since the 3rd game. A character from Empires, Gemini, will become a new character in the next Hermitopia game, and there will be a DLC that will add a new small map with many biomes and new materials. In Empires, Hermitopia characters will be featured in a limited-run gacha banner and a limited-time story event.

Now a Hermitopia fan, Gria tried to interview Skizzleman about the game (while making it not obvious how obsessed he is with it). Skizzleman was the one who wrote the lore for “Impulse” as well as most of his dialogue throughout the games.

Another representative for Hermitopia, the lead designer Joel, came to visit for the collab event. He is a fanatic of Empires and a diehard “Shadow Lady” fan, which is why he is so excited to work with E.V.O. Games for the collab.

Accompaniment art for this here: link

Gria was never into gacha games, but with a mix of Pearl and Jimmy convincing him to try the game they worked on (not to mention the fact that it is free-to-play), and showing him an initial sketch of what some hermitopia characters will look like in the game (this isn’t allowed, but Jimmy and Pearl found the thought of their serious coworker playing a gacha game amusing), he finally caved. Little did they know, showing a topless concept art of Scar is more than enough to reel him in.

When the collab update was finally released, Gria grinded Empires just to get Scar. He practically paid his own salary back to his company just to get Scar to max level and his additional skins. (He loved his new “HotGuy” skin the most)

With the release of “Hermitopia 8: Moon Collision” and the introduction of co-op multiplayer mode, Gria invited Pearl to play with him with the excuse that they're only going to see how Gemini looks in the game. Gria successfully got Pearl hooked on the game.

D. The Watchers Studio

Before Gria properly applied to a game company, he developed small-scale games with his high school friends. They called themselves “The Watchers.” He met them in a small art club and they bonded over their favorite games. Gria’s favorite game growing up was an old zombie game with a title he can no longer remember.

One of their unfinished games was “The Life Game.” It was a battle-royal death game where the players had to gather resources and have limited lives.

Two of their old friend group recently reached out to Gria to catch up. They said they wanted to work on “The Life Game” again and wanted to ask Gria if he wanted to join again. Of course, Gria already had a job himself, so he declined. However, he hung out with the two and checked in with their progress, nostalgia hitting him as they relived their old game ideas.

The two invited Gria to do an alpha test and asked him to invite any friends who might find it fun. Gria invited Jimmy, Pearl, Martyn, and Big B, as well as Skizzleman and Joel who he’s been acquainted with. He also sent an invite to Mumbo, who was unfortunately busy with his job at the moment.

To Gria’s surprise, the two had turned their game into a VR game. All seven of them played in a medium-sized studio, and although the game was fun, it was nausea-inducing, especially for Joel. They all lost to the Computer-AI characters, which concluded their Alpha Test.

After the meetup, the two lent them their CD copy of the game with the VR Headset they used (which was suspiciously generous of them).

Skizzleman liked the game a lot and asked if they could do it again sometime, which Gria relayed to his two old friends. Pearl shared the same sentiment but is too caught up with work which makes her unable to join their next session.

The gang kept discussing the game they played and its potential to become a hit with a little more polish. This made Gria feel proud of his old team and his past self, reminding him of the time he was passionate about making games despite his lack of experience.

With limited coding knowledge and a little help from Mumbo, he made a server to host “The Life Game” online instead of LAN. He sent copies to Mumbo and Pearl in case they’d join later. According to the two, the game had more improvements to it since the last time they played it, which was months ago.

Gria had a small voice in his head telling him this was a bad idea— well, he did get a bit sick in the last session, but everyone had fun. So, he ignored the warning bells and hit “Join World.”

This marks the End of PART ONE: BEFORE THE ALPHA TEST Next Chapter > PART TWO: UNFIXABLE ERROR

ENDING NOTES: I've been brainrotting and hyperfixating on the idea for a while now, and I don't know how to let it all out so I'm going to try out this format. Hopefully I could add more to this! Thank you if you've read this far into the post. :) Made a spotify playlist too in case anyone is interested (I'm still working on this though)

#desertduo #scarian #trafficshipping #hermitshipping #grian #goodtimeswithscar #life series #mcyt #AU - Scarian Death Game #<< i have yet to change this #my art #my writing #<< ?? if you could even call it that

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solarockk · 4 days ago

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can we know more about the bitter water au pls

im gonna rewrite here some lore dump from twt fjdhgh that i forgot to post here

the au does contain some horror and psycological elements! (mostly eldritch horror, grief/mourning and amnesia) also pls don't tag Gem and Pearl under this au, even if it doesn't break boundaries I'd prefer if it stayed in fandom spaces only. (I'm not sure how it works here on tumblr so please let me know if the shinyduo tag is fine to use or not, for the characters I'm gonna tag them as bw!NameOfCharacters mostly for organization)

now, for actual lore!

as the original post impliy the main story of the au centers around Shinyduo, sailing, and the horror of what lies beneath the waves

Gem currently works as a Fisherwoman at the minor port of Hermitopia, She owns a small fishing boat that Bdubs and Cleo fixed up for Her (Etho helped too but don't tell anyone that) and she makes just enough money from selling what she memages to reel in from the ocean to enjoy her simple frugal life in the small port.

her daily life changes drastically when one day out at sea she finds and unconcious Pearl floating among the waves, Gem fishes her out of the water in an hurry and is a little weirded out that Pearl (once awake) is completelly fine after spending gods knows how long lost at sea. Well, except the fact that she seems to not remember anything about her life except Gem's own name. (drawn here! "first meeting")

that is the basic premise, a silly Amnesiac trying to regain her memories and a gruff fisherwoman who feels resposible after fishing her out of the waves. but.. there are things that.. don't match in both their narratives? Why was Pearl in the ocean? why did she somehow remember Gem if they had never met before? ..did they never meet before? did they always used to look like that?

maybe in another life,, another time,,

#bitterwater au #shinyduo #my blorboos #i care for them #kind of a lore dump #don't worry there will be more #bw!Gem #bw!Pearl #bitterwater shinyduo au #mcyt #fanart #sol art

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lifeofalegacy · 21 days ago

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Life of a Legacy Chapter 1

The First chapter in a HotGuy and CuteGuy AU.

It had been two years since his sister Pearl went missing. In that time, Grian had done well for himself, earning a promotion to head architect at the company his good friend, Scar, ran. His best friend Mumbo was finally getting his urban agriculture project approved, and he'd heard they found a building to put it in. Even his younger brother Jimmy got a well-paying job working with foster kids for the city. But the pain still lingered. The type that came from family secrets he couldn't reveal to Jimmy, that came from his deformed wings, and from every day he remembered that Jimmy was all he had left. And the guilt that came from the family heirloom tucked away his drawer, the very cause of all of this. Little did he know Scar felt similarly. He took up moniker of Hero long after Xelqua disappeared, and he fell like he was really flubbing it. But when a new villain threatens Hermitopia, can Scar find the strength to trust himself? And can Grian finally accept the past as it was, and accept himself so they can move into a new future? Can he become the Hero Xelqua expected him to be? He had to. There was no other option.

The city of Hermitopia had been established many years ago, a utopia for those who could not fit into what society deemed “normal.” Before long it became a cultural center filled with feathers, tails, scales, and things that went bump in the night. These differences made it special, safe, and respect for all was able to sprout from such a loving world. No one species overtook the others, and everyone had a use within the community, from growing food to cooking, to delivering it, to organizing the land for the growers. Hermitopia was beautiful.

Then came the reckoning. Some stories claim it happened instantly, while others describe the destruction as a plague, spreading from home to home. But no matter how it happened, the reckoning nearly destroyed this utopia. Any species that wasn’t human fell ill, and the next generation born bore these illnesses. Some were manageable, like Vex’s ability to phase through objects no longer being under their control, now completely randomly. But others were deadly. It was always known when a Creeper hybrid died now, because there would be nothing left around where they were for a 50 foot radius.

All over the world, genetics were warped and played with, ending family lines and stopping new ones from forming. But through it all, Hemitopia persisted.

----

But for today, the past was merely that, and Grian paid it no mind. Rain poured from the sky, hitting the roof of the bus shelter he stood under with booming pings. On all days for the bus to be running behind, this was truly one of the worst.

Pulling his wings around himself, Grian tried to fight off the cold, frowning down the street. He knew that bringing a jacket to work was a good idea today, he’s even said it aloud to himself after watching the weather report. But of course, it was left behind, and now Grian had to suffer with what he did. He glanced down at his feathers, mentally lamenting about how long they were going to take to dry. The brown, scraggly down feathers clung close to the skin, sticking in an uncomfortable way, and showed just how small they were.

Grian wasn’t thinking of the past at this moment, but it sure was affecting him.

Finally, bright lights shone into the shelter, and Grian flashed a thankful grin at the driver as he got on, standing and gripping onto one of the support bars. Wiping his hand on his mostly-dry undershirt, he was able to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone, opening up a familiar text chain.

Coal Mine: Where are you?

Coal Mine: We did agree to meet at your place at 5:30, right? I’m not misremembering that?

Grian fondly rolled his eyes.

Pesky Bird: Yeah, the bus is just running late, I’ll be home in like 10 minutes.

Coal Mine: Your neighbors are looking at me weird. Where is the spare key again? I looked under the mat but it wasn't there.

Pesky Bird: On top of the door frame. I had to move it after Sheila’s dog got out and decimated the hallway.

Coal Mine: I think Arthur’s quite cute. He should be able to destroy your mat any time.

Pesky Bird: Get out of my home.

Coal Mine: No.

Pesky Bird: Yes. Insult me all you want but leave my decorations out of this.

Pesky Bird: I hate you.

Coal Mine: Love you too, see you in ten.

No one in the world could push Grian’s buttons quite like Jimmy could. Luckily, no one else was allowed to. It was natural at this point, the bickering and the teasing, formed from years at each other's throats, to needing each other more than anything.

Grian sighed and pocketed his phone, trying not to think about why they needed each other, how it was just him and Jimmy now. Hopefully Jim had gotten a vanilla cake, the one with cheap strawberry filling and much too much sprinkles on top. Jimmy had mentioned he’d taken off work today, heading down to the south point of the city to Netty’s for a cake. Guilt swirled in Grian’s head about how he wished he’d gone with, just to make sure.

The bus stopped outside of a very familiar looking building, and Grian hopped off, hurrying to get inside. Riding the elevator to the top floor, he stepped out to notice his welcome mat was skewed. Rolling his eyes, he corrected it and opened the door.

His younger brother was inside, a cake box teetering precariously on the counter as he’d discarded it to play with Maui.

“Hello Jimmy.” Grian said, flashing the other a smile as he stripped out of his wet sweater. “Weather is miserable today, isn’t it?”

“Definitely not ideal. Look at what all the rain did to my wings. I literally just redid them.” Standing up, Jimmy spread out his wings, and Grian paused his trek to the bedroom. The brown feathers were brighter now, flashes of gold peeking through, shining in the lamplight. “I really liked the way they turned out.”

“Well, I guess that’s something we can fix later. You want a towel?” Grian asked.

“Yes please.”

Opening the closet, Grian tossed Jimmy one before retreating into his room to change. The delay at the bus stop had left him completely soaked, and he had the creeping sensation that he appeared very wet-cat like.

Grabbing a towel of his own, he stepped back out into the living room, where Jimmy was aggressively scrubbing at his wings. “Be gentle, you don’t want to damage them.”

“I know, I just hate feeling them wet.” Jimmy’s wings now were almost fully yellow-gold, the towel he held having become a murky brown. “Can you get the back of them?”

Grian took the towel and got to work, easily drying off the rest of his wings and plucking a few twisted feathers here and there. “Done.”

A silence fell over the brothers, the monotonous tasks finished, and the rain still poured outside. Carefully, Grian sat next to Jimmy closely, trying to be a strong, reliable presence but also feeling like his whole world was tiny. Jimmy, in turn, grabbed onto his brother’s hand tightly, showing they were both there for eachother, neither having to bear the load alone.

“Netty, um,” Jimmy winced. “She gave me the cake at a discount when I went down there today. I thought that was nice of her.”

“That’s- that’s really nice of her.” Grian agreed, then sighed. “Might as well do this now then. I don’t have any room in my fridge to fit the whole cake.”

The cake really was beautiful, and fun, and everything Pearl had been. Even if Grian hated the taste of strawberries, he loved her, and could never justify any other flavor for today. She’d gotten the same cake every year since they were toddlers, insisting it had to be that way or the day wouldn’t be right. It was an abomination of sugar and creation, everything their sister had been.

“27 today.” Jimmy pulled out a pack of candles from his bag. “You think she’d want us to sing? We didn’t last year.”

“I’m not a great singer.” Grian joked, and lit the candle. “But it couldn’t hurt, right?”

Neither could make it through the song before tears clogged their voices, and Jimmy blew out the candles just before they melted into the cake. He turned away after that, wiping his face and trying to catch his breath. All Grian could do was stare at it, trying to remember if the song they sung was Pearl’s favorite one.

They ate the cake in silence, watching the rain pour outside the windows, remembering their sister in fond memories. The way she danced, and sung, and how easily designs seemed to come to her. Everything about Pearl was extraordinary.

And so was her disappearance.

When neither of the boys had heard from their sister in a few days, Grian had gone over to her apartment to look for her. What he found had haunted him ever since. Door unlocked, he had to immediately step around the overturned bookshelf. Pearl’s prized books and collectables scattered across the floor, something she would have never allowed. Her furniture was a mess too, a chair overturned, and rug crumpled as if something had been dragged over it. That was when he had called the police.

She was never found, and a month later the officers had her brothers clear out her home. They knew what that meant. No matter how much they were told to hold out hope, or that the police were doing everything in their power, they knew what everyone thought.

That was almost two years ago, just after Pearl had turned 25. Jimmy was her age now.

“Do you want help re-dying your wings? I still have the dye from the last time we did it.” Grian offered. He ignored the pang in his chest at the thankful look his brother gave.

Moving to the bathroom, Grian pulled out a familiar looking box, a smiling avian on the front, her wings poorly photoshopped into a plain brown color. No avian would be that excited about brown wings.

Once, Avians ruled the skies of Hermitopia, acting as messengers and delivery people, tying the world together. But nowadays, very few can fly. Most’s wings were too small, or their feathers refused to grow properly, staying a sickly shade of brown. They were grounded, wings no more than inconvenient decorations that reminded people of a time they never got to see. However, some Avians escaped the curse.

Jimmy’s wings were a brilliant, blinding yellow, his feathers strong and smooth. Though they were a tad smaller than they should be, he was everything an Avian used to be. More importantly, he could fly.

Grian moved to the front of his wings, touching up any places Jimmy had missed, trying to cover that blinding gold. He hated that he had to do that.

For their talent, Avians were often targets of groups that wanted to “restore order to the city,” and those that could fly were incredibly valuable. No one knew what determined a person’s fate about things like this, why out of two brothers, similar in every way, only one would bear the curse. So, in order to keep Jimmy safe, they pretend it was both of them that bore it.

Once done, Grian stepped back to take in his work. It was pretty good, no gleaming spots available. Jimmy continued to look at himself in the mirror with an unreadable expression upon his face, eyes dark.

“I want to look through some of her stuff.” He said quietly.

“What?”

“I know we said we’d leave it, because Pearl would be pissed when she came back and found out we’ve been messing with her stuff. But…” Jimmy trailed off, trying not to smear the dye onto any of Grian’s walls. “Can we open some of the boxes? Please?”

Grian managed to drag a few of the boxes out of his storage room, the ones that had the photos, the books, everything non wearable that made Pearl, Pearl. Everywhere she went people immediately knew who they were dealing with. A sharp tongue and watchful eyes, all wrapped in a kind and bright mind.

“I didn’t know she made these.” Grian said, flipping through some rudimentary scrapbooks filled with pictures of their family throughout the years.

“Yeah, she didn’t like people knowing.” Jimmy laughed, leaning over to point at a family portrait. “Apparently mom taught her when we were younger, that’s what the two of them would do when dad and us went fishing.”

“I do really like fishing.” Grian muttered, tracing over his sister’s handiwork. “It’s almost like a diary. Like, when she’s doing happier pictures, her work is looser, I can see more of her in it.” Flipping to the next page, he found the first photo without their father. Pearl’s work was sharp, and dark.

Grian closed the book.

“Hey G,” Jimmy said, smaller boxes spread out around him. “What was this? I remember it, but not well.”

Oh.

“That’s… that’s some of mom’s old stuff. Pearl took most of it when she moved out, you and I didn’t have the extra room.” Reaching down, Grian picked up an old box, and opened it to find a whole bunch of old pictures. Taking a few out and flipping through them, Grian handed them off to his brother. “Here’s some of the two of them from when Pearl was a baby.”

Jimmy flipped through them, and tears fell down his face. “Gods, the two of them are almost identical.”

Grian nodded. He continued to go through some more of the photos, going further back in time. A photo flashed in front of his eyes, and he frowned, closing the box and tucking it behind his back.

“Look, mom’s wing pattern is nearly the same too.” Jimmy traced the lines on their mother’s powerful wings, resembling those of an owl. Sighing, he placed the pictures on the ground and furiously rubbed at his face. “I can’t believe she didn’t show me these things.”

“Was there ever really a good time?” Grian asked, shaking his head and trying to hold back tears. “She had to move to the other side of the city for a job that paid decently, and you remembered how messed up the train system was that year. I guess it just kind of got buried from there. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Reaching down, Jimmy picked up a wooden box carved in hearts and swirls. Flipping it open, he found nothing. “Was this also Mom’s? I don’t remember Pearl having this when we were kids.”

A pause, where Grian was trying to ignore the sense of anxiety rising in his chest. “Yeah. I sent that off with Pearl because I didn’t want to risk you or any of your friends breaking it. Dad gave her that chest years before we were born.”

Maybe he had lied. But was it really lying if Jimmy had just assumed and he didn’t correct him? Grian had already gone through this box, pulling out anything he and Pearl had agreed Jimmy shouldn’t see. It made him feel dirty, the secrets. Pearl had promised she’d be the one to tell Jimmy, take the brunt of the anger and confusion. But now there was no Pearl. Just Grian, and the past he refused to think of.

“Are you sleeping over tonight?” It was incredibly rude, Jimmy was in the middle of saying something, but Grian just had to know. “Because, it’s dark, and the rain could make the roads slippery, and I just–”

“I can stay over.” Jimmy said. “I get it.”

“Cool. Cool.” That grief was creeping up his neck again, promising to throw everything away. “I’ll go start dinner.”

----

When Jimmy had finally fallen asleep, wrapped up in a massive amount of blankets on the couch, wings as brown as they should be, Grian remained awake. He laid in bed, trying to ignore the guilt that ate away at his chest. Finally, when he couldn’t handle it anymore, Grian rose and clicked on his lamp. He made his way across the room to his dresser, and kneeled onto the floor. Opening the drawer as if in prayer, the silent night was shattered by the squeaking of the wood.

In the drawer now sat the box of pictures from earlier in the day, laid out next to the matching ones. As well, the box had found a new place, reunited with what should be in it.

Carefully, Grian opened the box, and a faint pink glow filled the room. A dazzling microphone, handle carefully wrapped in pink silk laid inside. Carved into the handle were the familiar initials of their mother, and Grian looked away.

He’ll tell Jimmy soon. He had to. There was no one else.

----

Thwip!

A startled scream echoed throughout the docks, and the hero grinned, quickly descending the side of the shipping container he’d been hiding upon. Making his way over to the horned man pinned against a container with a swagger in his step, he flashed the other his million-dollar smile.

“Well Hell-o my friend.”

“You shot me!” The man screamed indignantly.

“Well, yes. But that is because you, have been up to some shenanigans. Some evil shenanigans. I got a tip off, which I’ve passed onto people with some higher authority, that you’ve got some unregistered goods in this container. Chemicals, sheet metal, and some pretty heavily regulated compounds that the dock authority usually only allow in when they’re here. Which I’m sure you know, without them here, it’s illegal to be transporting regulated goods.” Spinning the bow easily, Hot Guy cocked another arrow and pointed it at the man below him, smile gone. “So, why don’t you tell me exactly who you are working for?”

The man in front of him seemed nervous, but kept his mouth shut.

“Come onnnnnn,” Hot Guy was almost teasing him at this point, with no actual intention of shooting him. “If you just tell me now, I can vouch for you once the police show up. Possibly years off your sentence.”

Dread filled the trapped man’s eyes as he realized there really was no way out of the situation he found himself in. Finally, he broke. “I don’t know.”

“Really?” Hot Guy deadpanned, glaring at the other through his visor.

“Truly man!” He held up his hands. “I just work for the shipping company. Usually I have paperwork that tells me what I’m shipping and who it’s going to, but my boss told me that I don’t get any of that this time.”

“So your company will just ship anything without checking?”

“Not… usually.” In the distance, police sirens got closer and closer. “All I know is that whoever wanted this stuff paid a lot so that we wouldn’t ask any questions. Like, my boss was bragging about being able to pay off his house and buy a new one. That type of money.”

Hot Guy scoffed. “You sold your integrity for money? On illegal goods transport? Not even like, contraband. No, on sheet metal and industrial lubricant.”

“Hey, I didn’t even want to be here man! My daughter had a dance rehearsal tonight, but this order was ‘too important!’ For my boss, that is. Listen, I’m just a grunt worker, no one important. Making money is hard for people like me.” The man huffed.

The police were closing in now. Scar frowned, and lowered his bow.“Come on man. Don’t talk like that! Everyone is important, just in their own way!”

A moment passed, and the man could just blink in confusion, still limply hanging by his shirt. “Thank you?”

“You shouldn’t be feeling underappreciated.” He slid his arrow back into the sheath. “Why couldn’t it have been your boss doing this delivery? Why did it have to be a family man who just wants to support his daughter? Your boss shouldn’t be treating you this way.” Hot Guy’s voice was sincere, bleeding empathy and conviction.

It worked.

“I’m sick of this. I’ve taken too many falls for that man. Sure, he’s the only one that wanted to employ me because my kind is ‘dangerous,’ but that doesn’t mean I have to stay.” A fire filled him as the police cars pulled up to the docks. “I’ll talk. But I want protection.”

That… worked better than Scar expected. “We’ll see what happens.” The next moment, the police showed up behind him. “Well, best of luck to you.”

The next few minutes passed by surprisingly easily, with the man willingly walking into custody, and Hot Guy just discussed some of the basic details with the head officer. Finally, he was able to slip away into the night, scaling the containers and disappearing into the night.

“Did you get all that Cub?” Scar asked, clicking apart his bow and zipping up his suit to look just like a jacket.

“I did, and I’m not liking what I heard. If even the drug runners don’t know who they’re transporting for, then there’s not a good chance we’ll figure it out.” Cub sighed on the other end of the earpiece. “Someone big, that’s what we’ve got. Either way, how about you get back to base? It’s cold, and you shouldn’t be putting too much stress on your body.”

“Feeling good Cuberooni!” Scar joked, but as he said it, he felt his power falter, and he leaned heavily against his cane. “But I’m on my way.”

“Stay safe.”

Scar rolled his eyes. “Always.”

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5

#life series #grian #goodtimeswithscar #Superhero AU #hermitcraft #jimmy solidarity #avian grian #the watchers #life series smp

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featheredenby · 1 month ago

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The End? No, Of Course Not.

✨ I don’t know what part from the chapter to put here so I’m just gonna not. Also I managed to avoid writing a fight scene so good for me.✨

Written by: FeatheredEnby

Word Count: 1,013

Part Sixteen of: Show Your Fangs

A Superhero AU of Empires SMP/Hermitcraft/The Life Series

Scar crouches over the edge of the GFHA headquarters roof. He sits with his bow loaded with an exploding arrow, however it sits there rather lazily as he stares off into space. After all, there’s not much else he can do, well no, that’s a lie. Scar could be keeping an eye on the desolated city, he could simply ignore what the others told him to do, instead of keeping himself healthy he could run through the city and track down Grian.

It was agreed with Shelby, Lizzie, Gem, Cleo, and Katherine that it would be for the best if he was stationed on a roof and fought with his bow and arrows due to him being a good shot and his legs not being in the best shape at the moment. He sighs and looks down at the street, which someone darts across, suspicious. Scar clicks a button on the side of his visor and his vision zooms in on whoever it is.

Once he locks his eyes on them a large amount of information pops up in his vision, he jumps slightly, he’s never really used any of the special modes and it comes as a shock. Scar blinks a few times and starts to look at the information, first he sees that the person is human for the most part, then that they’re classified as a medium threat villain, and then he sees the names that are glitching over each other and realizes why there’s so much information in his line of sight.

The person running between mushrooms is none other than The Faker also known as False Symmetry, so another one of his friends has been living a secret, law breaking life, fantastic. Scar shakes his head, he doesn’t have time to dwell on these things. He has to save Grian. He shoots an arrow and in a bit of luck it goes through False’s sleeve and into the mushroom behind her which quickly starts to encase her in mycelium, he’ll deal with that later.

Scar decides that despite the fact that it’ll hurt like hell he doesn't want to sit and wait any longer. He stands up with pain shooting through his legs and climbs down from the roof. He then chooses to walk down the road straight to the GFHA headquarters.

Grian watches as everything happens around him. Pearl reveals her identity confident that no one can stop or will try to stop her. The mushroom people that work for her take turns patrolling around the city and Ren and Martyn essentially disappear.

And all Grian can do is watch, it’s as if it’s all he was ever meant to do with how much he’s stuck doing it day, after day, after day. One day however something different happens. Whatever is possessing his body walks down the road away from the GFHA’s building in Hermitopia. It turns a corner and standing there, practically dead on his feet is Hotguy or rather, Scar. He doesn’t look like he’s doing well at all, that idiot, Grian had told him to run to get out quickly but here he is.

Scar’s hair is tangled and his suit is slightly torn up, his visor is completely missing but the worst part is how clearly shaking his legs are. As the thing in Grian and Scar walk towards each other he can see the way that with every step he takes Scar winces or hisses in pain through gritted teeth. Grian wishes that he could run over and help but he can’t. All he can do is watch.

A mycelium thread grows out of the ground and wraps around Scar’s leg, it yanks him down and he collapses under the force. Grian’s head pounds, if he could at some level move he’d be punching something, probably the ground. His hands reach to his waist where a dagger sits. It’s pulled out into the spore filled air and Scar is lifted up by the stupid fungus that’s all around.

Despite clearly being delirious with pain, Scar tries to talk his way out of being killed by a mushroom, “Hey now, just put the knife down, there’s no need for murder.”

The thing that is not Grian speaks in a voice that does not belong to it, “And why is that dear Hotguy or is it Scar, can I call you Scar?” It doesn’t wait for a response, “Listen here Scar, until I kill you this vessel will never truly work to the best it can. All because of you.”

Scar shakes his head rapidly, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! G- Cuteguy has tons of friends.”

“Oh but you’re the only one he still feels like he has to make things up to. He’s filled with so much remorse and guilt that it makes me sick. All because of you.”

He shakes his head again, “That’s not true! You’re lying, this is just another one of the Red Witch’s schemes.”

The fungus cackles, it sounds like Grian’s laugh but distorted in awful ways. “Oh really? Because I’m the one inside his head and I happen to be the reason he became Poultry Man in the first place. He told you how it happened, how guilty he felt when he hurt you. At some level the guilt never leaves.”

It raises the dagger and the point pricks Scar’s cheek, drawing the smallest amount of blood. “But now, now I will destroy you then he won’t owe you anything and my vessel will finally work. Might as well give one of your winning smiles, this will be the last time that you can.”

The dagger cuts into Scar’s cheek and all Grian can do is apologize over and over and over again. Then something shakes the ground. Grian sees a magical bright blue shockwave spread out in all directions from the GFHA’s headquarters. He has no clue what it is. Someone runs to him and Scar and throws a potion in their direction, the thing possessing him screams. Everything goes black, it’s honestly peaceful.

#feathered writing #fan fiction #fanfic #show your fangs #grian #mother spore #hotguy #goodtimeswithscar

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hermitcraftheadcanons · 8 months ago

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Hello, was reminded of the Scattered AU today accidentally after misclicking a bookmark and was suddenly hit with nostalgia and love the AU had back then. Not only was it a delightful AU but the way the community rallied around it to make a story together was so amazing. I hope everyone who participated, or loved the content, or even just watched the AU form are doing well. I hope I remember it again years from now and still love it the way I was reminded of today.

Scattered.... what an incredible AU. I wasn't here for it. Not just as a mod- I wasn't even involved in the fandom yet when it was still ongoing. But I found it later on, read through everything, and loved every bit of it. It's only later, when Hermitopia happened, that I got to participate in a community AU for the first time, and it was amazing. And now I've ran one of my own.

The community here is absolutely wonderful. And Scattered has a special place in my heart, even if I didn't get to watch it grow.

-Mod Mleem

#not a headcanon #scattered au #mod mleem

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marabelle5 · 7 months ago

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Pearlescent Moon

Pearl's whole empire started this au idea.

Her little shop is called Gilded Helianthia Farms and she sells food! (And also hot cocoa in the winter)

She normally wears a hoodie dark blue with the moon phases on the sleeves. When she works in Helianthia she wears her cleaning lady outfit. She use to work as an art teacher at the school the next street over or as the kids today are calling it Hermitopia.

The kids call her- Queen Pearl, The Queen of Gilded Helianthia, Queen Pearlescent Moon, and Queen Moon

#pearlescentmoon #empires au #empires smp #Emperors of Empires street #hermitcraft #I will make a post about the superheroes soon #I'm also currently writing a fic about Gem and Pearl #Children of the town

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mintydotdoodle · 28 days ago

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hello trafficblr and hermitcraft tumblr, I am new here however I fear I am horribly wicked pilled and have been for awhile and will be making it everyone's problem....NOW HEAR ME OUT vaguely wicked inspired desert duo fic where Grian is Elphaba, hybrids/mutants would be the animals within oz/hermitopia. Grian is a hybrid with exceptional natural magical capabilities which leads to him being shunned. He then follows his younger brother, Jimmy, to Shiz/(idk what the alternative school name would be atm). I think it would be interesting to play around with Jimmy having underdeveloped wings or wings clipped to a dangerous degree. When Grian was born they attempted to fully remove his wings from his back to try to hide that he was a hybrid to save the family name as they are a family of political figures, they were unable to do it as his wings and magic worked on instinct to protect himself. So when the mother was pregnant with a second child they wanted to avoid another possible bird boy by doing something that would be an equivalent to chewing milkweed like in the musical, (I'd have to do a ton of research on this stuff but this is just base ideas). This ofc would backfire leading to Jimmy being born with underdeveloped wings which for one reason or another they can't snip off fully. But since Grian was already being treated as a sort of abomination by those around him he was an easy scapegoat and was blamed for somehow bringing hybrid blood into the family or something along those lines.

In this AU hybrids/mutants aren't fully like illegal but like the animals in wicked are treated as second hand citizens. So when Grian shows up with Jimmy, tensions are already high, but one thing leads to another and they then figure out Grian has magic and shit hits the fan. He would've been kicked for being dangerous if not for the fact the Watcher(s) take notice of his knack for magic and wish to use it. I'm thinking of instead of the watchers plural there's just one like a title kind of thing which then takes the place of madame morrible in the musical. Also! I'm thinking some hotguy cuteguy identity shennanigans allowing for Scar/hg to take the place of both Galinda and Fiyero. Which also like I said it wouldn't be an exact one to one retelling of wicked with names switched around, but rather would follow similar storybeats and arcs with some changes. Scar is trying to get The Watcher's attention as working with them is a shoe in for working with the hero commission which he's been trying to do for awhile. Another side note that just makes me giggle too is I unfortunately have Tango cast as Boq in my mind for the sole reason of the Broadway actor's inflection in certain parts of songs sounds like Tango and I cannot unhear it. I think it's also important to mention in this version in my brain with Jimmy as Nessa Rose, he does not become the brutal dictator of this AUs equivalent of munchkinland. He still fucks up on occasion and has stuff to learn and an arc to go through in the story but I didn't want to make him like full brutal dictator. Another casting note in my brain is that doctor dillamond is Docm77 because it just fits.

More just silly stuff with this concept that lives in my brain is that this all started with me listening to defying gravity and being like man....hot guy cute guy going separate ways because they both want to protect people in different ways (but then they come back together because I can't leave stories without a happy ending) But also dancing through life is so horribly hot guy coded in my brain, and I think scar would say "swankified" and still make it sound cool so...why have Galinda and Fiyero be different people when I can just have identity shenanigans This is all also a huge mix of inspirations even outside of Wicked, one being the DDVAU , and general fanart I've seen surrounding mainly hotguy cuteguy stuff, but also overall life series and hermitcraft stuff.

All and all let me know if I got anything wrong character or idea wise as I'm new here and still learning abt the fandom and all that jazz!

#trafficblr #life series #wicked #wicked au #desert duo #ddvau is an inspiration especially in world building #cute guy #hot guy #hermitblr #hermitcraft #hermitshipping

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