#I LOVE PHIL WORKING WITH THESE TWO ADMINS SO WELL

[anartisticdreamer0]

phil is bullying Chayanne’s admin (01) because it is VERY obvious to him that Tallulah’s (02) usual admin is playing Chayanne.

ALL BECAUSE 01 HAS MISSED OUT ON OFFICIALLY ACHIEVING 100,000 POTATOES.

[rainbowchaox]

Analysis of Pissa So Far.

This is a essay looking at our favorite death dads and how their relationship changed and their different nuances from to start to most recent. This will primarily look at the major three times we had Phil and Missa interact from the start with being paired for the eggs to recently the Mexican Independence Party. So bare with me and come with me down memory lane.

I rewatched day 1 of the pairing up of pissa to mainly cope with CERTAIN lore that happened recently. And yes it’s as fluffy and cute as I remembered. But let’s start at the beginning. Before the pairing up Missa and Phil knew of each other casually like acquaintances. In real life along with in general their characters/cubitos. (Again major thanks for the server in general bringing all these wonderful creators together.) Anyways the first time Phil met Missa was when he jumped off the wall and gave them food. I like to imagine missa had a non-serious crush on the man. But they didn’t really interact. And it’s fair to understand why.

But then the egg event happened. Which honestly in my opinion was the best event to bring the Spanish and English sides together organically. And looking back now it WORKED. So back on track everyone goes to the adoption center and like most Qsmp events it’s total chaos. Phil chooses his ticket and when I rewatched it Missa literally like spammed clicked it to break it and get Phil. Atleast that is what it looks like to me. So we already have the seeds of simp Missa from the very start. Also can we all take a break and just realize they both got tickets with D? And literally they are Deathduo? The more I rewatch the pairing lottery the more I think it was rigged by the admins and not actually by chance. Every duo either had similar humor or charm.

Immediately Phil and Missa find out they both have D. And it’s casual no romantic undertones the cubitos are still getting to know each other. But Missa being a sweetheart immediately is like you can choose whatever egg. And I think this is when Phil starts to soften and gets majorly endeared towards the clumsy reaper. Like not a crush. Not love. But the seeds of the adoration and love we see from Phil down the road. The fact of the matter Phil let Missa choose Chayanne name. The fact literally the newly formed death family was being fluffy and saying chayanne will be the best egg while literally everyone was screaming in the background. Its the main thing that would later define the dynamic of the ship. The gentle understanding and teamwork. That would later be a staple whether you ship them platonically or romantically.

And chayanne is the best way to show why pissa was meant to always work. Chayanne personality and hobbies all came from his two dads (Literally the reason chayanne was interested in cooking so much was because Missa taught him to cook). And like Phil once he was thrust into parenthood with Missa immediately found him endeared by his assigned husband? The amount of times he laughed because of Missa. Another theme so important to why pissa works so well.

Missa is Philzas calm balm. He relaxes Phil so much. And that’s so rare for that to happen. So of course a hour or so in taking care of their son. Phil visibly softens and gets endeared to the man. Phil immediately starts worrying about missa when he left. Missa may have fallen first but Phil fell harder. Like more time Phil spends with Missa the more comfortable and at ease he gets. Missa fully was like I have the best husband ever let me casually call you pet names.

Not to mention two popular scenes burned into the minds of fans. The moment when Mariana called Phil my love and tried to steal him. And Phil being Phil immediately was I’m okay with my partner thank you very much. And both Missa and Phil cuddled close. I still think Missa fell day 1 but Phil was quickly getting a crush on his assigned husband. Secondly Phil literally invited Missa to bed.

Their dynamic was one of like relaxation of trust and just both trying their best for Chayanne. They easily slid into a cute dynamic as both got endeared to the others. And also in day 1 Phil never said platonic it’s only after day 1 he started using that. And only when he wasn’t with Missa. He is a repressed romantic guy struggling with a crush. Not to mention the crows practically grew so attached to Missa it was insane to see.

Anyways like most couples they had to both take care of chayanne until Missa canonically got kidnapped by wolves for four months. During the time Missa was there he was pining HARD for Phil. Calling him his love and darling in Spanish. Phil meanwhile keep saying it was platonic and most of the fans accepted that. But then Missa was gone.

And cubito Phil missed him so fucking much. It’s at this point I fully believe is when Phil finally realized he loved him. He kept referencing Missa. He made armor for Missa. He dyed his backpack black with a skull because of Missa. It’s truly my belief that Philza realized he fucking adored the man in Missas absence. He never gave up waiting for Missa. And Missa eventually kept his promise and came back to his family.

And this is when you see some of nuance or facets change slightly in their dynamic. The core is the same all the way back from day 1 but it does change. It somehow becomes softer and domestic. Sure Philza even before his grand realization in Missa absence SPOILED missa. Missa made him soft. But when the reunion happened? Somehow Philza softens even more. Somehow he spoils Missa even more. This is why I believe that Philza finally realized he loves Missa. Because there is a clear increase in the affectionate displays between them.

Philza and the rest of the server went on the mission once Missa appeared. It was legit like Philza forgot that he was a mission. Philza when Missa appeared immediately softened so much. Of course Philza isn’t angry he’s gone. He just missed his husband. And voila once asked by Cellbit “oh this is your husband?!” He immediately agreed. This is important because for months if someone asked about who is Missa he would always and never fail to say Missa is his platonic partner/husband.

But in the reunion Philza just said husband. Because in my opinion Philza fully thought of Missa his romantic partner. The fact that Philza showed everyone including Missa the skull on the black backpack almost like a bird showing off his feathers. And Missa was immediately all gushy. The fact he only looked at Missa when he said you can go into my boat. And felps not realizing the sorta of energy the two of them was having immediately was cursed to be a third wheel.

Like literally felps was in the back of the boat being all “just ignore that I’m here” when literally Philza and Missa were lost in their own fucking world. Gently flirting with each other. Felps was regretting majorly getting in the boat with them so no wonder he bounced as soon as possible. And literally they were left by themselves still on a mission to save people. But I won’t lie it was a date.

Just them loving in each other company. And Philza being so gentle and loving and protective towards Missa. Their dynamic at their core is the same yes. But it’s undeniably more romantic. And Missa side of the dynamic also changes. He starts trying his best to protect Philza. The man who has from the start been protecting him and their son.

Missa slowly starts to become more brave and actually comments on how attractive Phil is in front of him. (I can see your pecs….yes Missa we get it you love Phil). They are closer than ever. Phil also immediately accepts Missa as Tallulah other dad. Do you guys know how massive that is? He trusts and loves Missa so darn much to let him easily be part of his whole family.

And eventually Missa had to go for a bit. But the amount of pissa interaction we get during the renuion stream doesn’t end. We have loads more to dissect. Missa comes back in hope to see his son and new daughter but sadly they were sleeping but later on despite showing Tubbo around. Once he saw Missa was whispering to him in chat immediately left as soon as possible to get to his husband. Also Cellbit who was with him and tubbo was immediately like “oh you need to help your husband understandable” while tubbo was just like so confused.

Meanwhile before this Missa was crying wanting to go back to Phil. Phil is his safety blanket. Phil never fails to make him feel safe and secure and protected. There’s reasons why Missa fell so quickly. And they met up. And to bring up my earlier point above. What Phil does nest is one of my primarily reasons why I believe Phil fully realizes he loves Missa.

Yes Phil spoils Missa. It’s his love lanuage but all the gifts and upgrades he did late at night (which Phil made a mission to give stuff to Missa before he logged off.) and even the armor he made so long ago. The amount of spoiling and pampering just screams love, adoration, and affection.

And of course they get sorta matching backpacks. And of course Missa says he loves him so fast so the translator doesn’t pick it up. This leds to when Missa showed up by himself had a loony toon day before being called out by roier. He fully says he loves Philza. LOVES PHILZA. TE AMO. Romantic.

Most of the fans knew because just look how Missa acted. But once it was confirmed Missa feels romantic feelings for Philza? That’s when the majority starting fully accepting them as romantic soulmates. And started seeing Philza actions how they are. Romantic. (Though if you prefer them as platonic that’s also very valid).

The only reason a pissa wedding or confession haven’t happened is because Missa loves Philza so much he doesn’t want to make him uncomfortable or burden him with his feelings for him. If philza said let’s get married he would accept immediately. But knowing Phil he will say nothing about loving Missa because he is scared he won’t be able to be protect.

And more recently. The Mexican Independence Day party. I won’t lie the times they were together they were always flirting. They were so cute. And both in my eyes were getting brave with their love for the other in their own ways. Missa literally screaming VIVA TE AMO on stage when Roier said Philza. Or Philza making sure he follows Missa during the dance. The fact Philza was so gentle explaining the recent egg disappearance and made a comment of being shock that Missa came back (he misses Missa so much each time he is gone.).

And their dynamic switches slightly again. Because Phil the whole time was worried and hovering around Missa when ingesting everything lore at once. And Missa is again getting brave he fully said he going on a date with Phil. It’s romantic. There’s no way I can personally can see it otherwise (though again if you like them platonic you are hella valid). At the start there was seeds but their romance has grown. They love each other. They need to confess for my sanity. And I fully trusts that Missa will have some sort of role in saving his love. And maybe perhaps we can get a confession or wedding in the future-

[thesmpisonfire]

Q! Brazilians Background, Lore and Summary, as I could gather from Day One

Backstory:

Felps is at fault for crashing the boat, he didn't had a license for controlling the ship since he thought it was just like riding a bike

Pac, Mike and Cellbit already have a story together, Pac and Mike have been previously betrayed and saw friends die due to Cellbit's fault

Pac and Mike are a Duo, Do Not Separate

Cellbit and Felps have been friends for ages

Pac and Mike have a backstory when dealing with Herobrine, coming from an old rp series called "Herobrine: The Legend", where they started getting haunted by Herobrine at age 14, managed to banish it around their 17s, and then it came back to haunt them when they were 19, and its still around

Forever had a lover, Brunim, that looks eerily similar to Phil and it's the reason Forever is obsessed with Phil and took such a hit when Phil kept pushing him away

Q!Characters server lore and summary:

Forever has brought weed with him in the boat, and made a deal with Quackity to create a prison, lock up everyone, and get rich with a drug empire

Later, all Brazilians agreed to make a mafia without anyone else knowing

When Richarlyson was adopted, first thing they all did was teach him how to steal quick and then how to kill. That diamond sword of his is crazy

Forever didn't care much for Richarlyson at first, leaving him with the other 4

He went after Philza, finding him with Tallulah, Chayenne, Dapper and BBH. He and Phil fought when Phil offered to help him build a home, when Forever wanted to live with him

Forever then said he didn't want Philza as his sugar daddy anymore, and left their place crying

He then decided he'd build a prison and lock up Phil to force Phil to love him

Forever got tricked by Quackity at first into believing Tallulah was Q's child and that Phil had kidnapped her and vowed to help

Later, when Cellbit went find Forever, Quackity tried to convince him of the same. Cellbit talked to BBH and made a deal to get some itens or else he'd help Quackity get Tallulah, BBH payed him

Quackity and Cellbit fought, Quackity started berating all the eggs, and Cellbit stepped in when Quackity talked about Richas, saying Q only hated the eggs because he had none

Quackity jumped off the wall, and so Cellbit felt guilty and offered 1% of Richas' paternity to Q, who accepted

Meanwhile, Pac, Mike and Felps were almost dying to a LOT of mobs while trying to find a place to settle. Richas was honestly the MVP here bc he defended all 3 of them when they barely had armor and weapons

(Between these two things happening, Forever was trying to find Pac, Mike and Felps)

They regrouped and everyone grumpily accepted Q as one of Richarlyson's dad, they had settles over a couple of mounts and decided they'd build a big house complex on the hillside (A favela)

Suddenly, they saw a white man walking around and Richarlyson had disappeared. Out Of Character, what happened was that the mod Richas' admin was using crashed and he stopped looking like an egg, but Quackity managed to save it lore wise by saying it was Osito Bimbo/Cucurucho that had kidnapped Richas so everyone went with that as well

Richarlyson showed up fine couple mins later

While everyone went out to gather wood and food, Cellbit went with Richas to mine

As they were digging down, Richas fell into a cave, with Cellbit immediately jumping for him and managing to kill some mobs and get Richas out of there

He told Richas to not tell his other dads that they fell into the cave, but else they went down carefully

Cellbit met Felps building, and got him to go down with him and Richarlyson to the cave

This is when Richas died

Cellbit immediately held Felps to make up a lie to make up for their failure. They settled in saying a "Cloaked figure with white eyes, probably a Necromancer, invoked tens of Skeletons that killed them and Richas", hoping to take advantage of Pac and Mike's trauma with Herobrine to be believed

Cellbit's plan worked when Pac immediately asked if it was Herobrine who took Richas' life, but when Q overheard the talk he said it was probably Cucurucho again who killed the egg

After this, things became more chill with Richas. He stayed with Mike building their favela while Pac and Cellbit went down to mine

Here is when the things get a bit more freaky, Pac and Cellbit went all the way down to bedrock and found a weird, man-made cave system, lightened up with torches. It didn't seem like strip mining, since there were literally no holes in the walls that would indicate that an ore was mined out

They kept exploring and ended up lost and had to dig their way up

All the time they joked it was Cucurucho's tunnels and he was going to be upset with them

Meanwhile, Forever got back worried for Richas' death, and so he stuck around to help protect him

Felps, Mike and Forever made a farm, and also a bed for Richarlyson, plus Mike had made a canvas and painted Richas a nice painting of him :)

Someone trapped a chest they had next to the farm, someone they just saw a glimpse of, and when Felps opened the chest, it exploded and killed him

Time passed and soon BBH came by to see how they were, he then noticed Osito Bimbo watching them and Forever and Cellbit chased him down, since he started running. Cellbit got distracted by BBH calling him and Forever kept chasing

BBH warned that Richas was too vulnerable by sleeping in the living room since people could just kill him when they weren't looking

So, naturally, they build a secret room behind a wall and locked Richarlyson in there with stone since they had no means to build a fancy door

Cellbit then talked to BBH in private, since BBH had similar characteristics as the Necromancer Cellbit had made up (white eyes, cloak) and asked BBH to pretend to be the Necromancer to help him out

BBH agreed

They finally managed to build a security door, locking Richarlyson in there (it's NOT a captivity room) and then covering the door with a painting

They all logged out after that

Richarlyson got his life back since it was his first day

[snowed-leopard]

Okay Snow, you did the 9 mercenaries as birds, what’s next?

I’m making this as a sort of mini set of questions and answers about the whole shebang. No one asked but I’m telling anyways.

Anyways for next steps, I may make Saxton, Admin, and Pauling, maybe not, I already know what saxton would be if I did (emu, obvious), but I’m not sure about our two token ladies… I have some ideas for certain. This whole thing took a lot out of me being as fast as I tried to be, I’m a slow artist with limited time in my day for art sadly, so they’d be back burner for sure. At least until art fight references are done being made.

In the mean time I’d totally be down for people to ask me things about the au or request little scenes or doodles, or just discuss my choices! If you have birds you think would work as well I’d love to discuss it with you :) I don’t bite… usually. I promise!

What brushes did you use?

I stay pretty limited. I used procreate’s basic ink bleed brush (with a little stabilisation sometimes for my poor hands) for sketching and lining. I used procreate’s basic rectangle brush for almost all my coloring and rendering. Starting at spy’s piece (I think) I used the cloud painting rake from devin Elle Kurtz’s free cloud painting brush pack to add in details to the wings. It was easier than what I did in solly’s piece, which is all manually painted with the rectangular brush turned way down in size and took eons.

Also starting in spy’s painting I used the HSV sliders and my rectangle brush to paint in the deeper light and shadows once the flat render was done! It’s made my rendering a lot easier and more beautiful and consistent in my opinion. Over all my art skills have increased vastly.

For the more complicated poses and perspectives I made pose models in the free app justsketchme and used those.

Did you listen to anything while drawing?

Bear ghost, a lesser known rock band from Arizona, single handedly got me though this whole project, I had them on blast for almost every piece for at least part of its drawing. Please check them out on Spotify incredibly good and underrated. Dotab, big town banky Blaine’s rockabilly bbq, and necromancin dancin single-handedly kept me going in particular. I also adore sirens, peas and love, and funkle Phil.

Why were you so pressed to make these so fast?

I had for a week long trip I couldn’t bring my tablet along on starting the 13th, so it was either draw fast enough, or wreck my momentum and have a week before the last one. Boy howdy have I sleep deprived myself for this art. Worth it tho. I didn’t make it, I did kill my momentum, but I pushed through!

Can I redraw these / make fanart /anything based on this?

YES PLEASE I MAY BE AROACE BUT ID KISS YOU IF YOU DID ANYTHING WITH THIS. There is very little set plot to this all, so go bonkers. please just if you make nsfw, *dont* send it to me. If you make anything that isn’t, please *do* send it to me! My notifications are a little broken, so dm me a link directly if you want me to see it :3.

Why? Just why all… this?

Brain rot mostly. I like birds, I like avian au’s, I like team fortress, why not chuck it in a bowl and stir? And if I made one mercenary, I kinda gotta do all the others, no? Ain’t right otherwise…

[beckyblah]

No dude !!! The reason he doesn't like the tasks is the admin for chayanne is very busy and chayanne will die if they don't come online once a week. He very much loves chayanne and tallulah though, he doesn't want the actual eggs to go

I got this ask like. Days ago and have just been sitting on it because I was annoyed by it and my gut reaction was to be a bit rude and point out that this was sort of proving my point. But that’s maybe not entirely true and also shitty on top of it SO!

Instead I’m going to reply genuinely and start by pointing out that I didn’t stay that Phil hated the eggs. I said that his fans interpret his complaining about the egg event and tasks as him hating them. Maybe you’re actually agreeing with me in this ask and I’m reading the tone wrong? Not sure.

Secondly, I don’t think that he hates the tasks solely because of Chayanne/Cucurucho being busy, to be honest. He hasn’t been shy about saying that he thinks the tasks are too much work and has been ready to be done since the initial 2 weeks were up. I think this is a fair criticism from Phil, since he is dealing with two eggs and has no partner. However there’s many solutions to his problem - such as letting others babysit more often - that he isn’t taking advantage of. And I personally don’t like when he complains on-stream because it leads to people misinterpreting him and trying to “defend” him by complaining as well.

Thirdly, the admins are adults and if they had a problem with the stream schedule, they could also solve this. They’re the one running the show, so if any of them felt like their current workload was too much, they’re the ones who can decide to back off. Acting otherwise, especially for us fans, is a little strange imo. They’re not actually literally kids and we don’t know them or what’s happening BTS.

[koolfrogz]

Misconceptions Regarding MCC14

Recently there have been a load of misconceptions regarding many of the controversies that happened this MCC, especially on Twitter and Tiktok, so I thought I would make a giant post detailing these and why they are wrong so I can scroll through my dash in peace.

1. Hbomb purposely abused a glitch in HITW that got Illumina and Mefs banned from MCC on the practice server. 

This one can easily be broken down into three components: 1. Misinformation about the glitch itself 2. Misinformation about the Mefs and Illumina incident 3. When does abusing a glitch count as cheating?

Firstly, the glitch Hbomb used is actually very common in HITW and has been around since the game was first introduced. The devs know about it and have not made any complaints about it because the usage of the glitch itself is heavily luck based (depending on the ping of the player) and does not guarantee a win to any player who does get it. Take for example PearlescentMoon who has used the glitch repeatedly throughout many competitions (i.e MCC 11), yet has not gained any significant advantage through it because, again, there is still an element of skill required to use it. This glitch is not only known by the devs, but has been used before in HITW. It is not something new that Hbomb exploited as a means of getting ahead.

Secondly, the Illumina and Mefs situation is not at all comparable to the Hbomb one. Illumina and Mefs were using a completely different glitch which did guarantee a win to the player because it allowed the player to afk on the platform and allow the blocks to pass through them. They were not banned for exploiting this glitch, but rather reprimanded by Scott and the devs for not reporting it to them sooner. Mefs and Illumina are still allowed in MCC and only didn’t compete this time because the teams had already been formed.

Finally, in regards to the idea of cheating itself when using such a glitch, the idea that what Hbomb did counts as cheating is absurd considering past MCCs and the various glitches which have been abused as well. I’ve seen a lot of people mention the infamous Wilbur Glitch and I think its a perfect example. The Wilbur Glitch is from the game Rocket Spleef which was not played this MCC but certainly will be in the future. The glitch involves the player becoming stuck in a block and seemingly floating in the air allowing them to basically secure a win without admin intervention. This glitch is much more OP than the glitch Hbomb used, and we have even seen admins purposefully try to kill players for using it (i.e Philza MCC11). However, even when players have purposefully attempted to get it (Wilbur, Phil, Quackity, etc.), I have never seen the fandom react so negatively as to accuse them of cheating. It is not fair to accuse Hbomb of cheating when he abuses a glitch which has been in the game for ages and not do the same with your favourite creators who do a much more busted glitch as well. Personally, I don’t consider either of these cheating, but that’s my opinion.

2. They removed Parkour Warrior because Dream was too good. That’s not fair.

Okay, this one is very simple as its just not true. This falls under the assumption that Dream was the only player to finish Parkour Warrior which is not true (PeteZahHutt completed the course twice and was the first to ever complete it in MCC 6). While the reason the Parkour Warrior map was destroyed in MCC 11 is said to be that EpicLandlord destroyed it because “he was annoyed at how good Dream was at it”, this is mainly a joke (think of the Ranboo being banned from MCC situation, while Ranboo isn’t in MCC there’s no actual beef and he’s not actually banned.) Secondly, if you weren’t around for Parkour Warrior when it was still in MCC, or have only ever seen Dream or Pete’s POV, you might not know, but Parkour Warrior was a miserable game mode (think Build Mart/Bingo but ten times worse because there was no chance to improve your placement other than just being good at Parkour). The game was 10 minutes of pure rage and frustration from competitors, which while entertaining at times, wasn’t the best for content when only two POVs in the entire competition were deemed watchable. This also wasn’t good for a competition because it meant that only two teams at most were progressing (and by a large amount) due to one player while the rest lagged behind. It gave the teams which had Pete and Dream a huge advantage and made the game unfun and unfair to everyone else, so they revamped the game (to Parkour Tag) to make it an even playing field where everyone had a chance to win (in the spirit of MCC). 

3. Scott had an unfair advantage in the competition and should be removed from the Dev Team or the Participants List.

This one is slightly more nuanced and may not have a definitive answer. Yes, Scott does have a slight advantage due to being a part of the dev team in every MCC. However, this MCC was definitely an outlier in that fact. Scott has been known to share info and tips with his teammates in past MCCs, but it has not truly impacted their performance on a significant level because the players knew a majority of the information anyways (the game rules, maps, etc). This MCC was unfair because Scott had a bigger advantage than originally assumed (it doesn’t mean he did it with malicious intent, it just means there was a severe oversight when designing the maps and explaining the rules to players). Also, the idea that Scott was guaranteed a win because he was part of the Dev Team is ridiculous and untrue. 

Scott has always been treated on the same level as any other player and has not been giving special privileges because he helped work on the tournament. Take for example MCC 8. Scott was teamed with Tommy, Philza, and Wilbur, and they were doing very well! Then came (wait for it), Ace Race. Scott experienced a glitch which allowed him to remain with his Elytra activated for half the course and allowed him to skip over multiple checkpoints and placed him in first. However, by skipping over these checkpoints the game corrected his placement and put him in last. This was seen as not fair at the time and the Red Rabbits did complain, to which Noxite responded that there was nothing they could do and Scott would just have to finish the round as normal. This glitch severely impacted the Red Rabbits standings and possibly led to them not being able to compete in Dodgebolt that MCC. Yet, Scott was never treated differently than any other player throughout the glitch despite being a part of the Dev Team.

For the next MCC, I certainly think that Scott should be allowed to play as normal. I truly believe this MCC was a fluke, and although I too felt a little salty seeing my favourite go from 2nd to 30th, I believe that it is not worth getting up in arms about it because at the end of the day there is a whole season of competitions where any team has a chance to win. 

4. They should have restarted the round and allowed the participants to retry the map.

While I too would have loved to see a rematch for Ace Rae, I would like to say that I, and probably many of the people playing, knew that it wasn’t going to happen. Noxcrew is very strict about the way MCC is run, it’s why I think it works so well. However, this means that they will not budge on these rules even in the face of something such as this competition’s Ace Race debacle. In the entire time of MCC, Noxcrew have only once ever restarted a round. This was in MCC 7 during Battle Box after there were server issues causing extreme lag for everyone (and Wilbur and Magistrex blew up their own teammates). It was unlikely that they were going to restart the round due to the mistake, and honestly, it might’ve caused more trouble than good to reset the points and the entire round of Ace Race. 

5. The Spirit of MCC

This last one is more of a general statement than a misconception, but I would like to say that I have seen a lot of newer fans confused and upset about this MCC’s outcome. However, I would like to remind everyone that at the end of the day MCC is a for-fun tournament which brings MCYTs of every background to compete and have fun. Yes, there is an element of competitiveness as it is a competition, but it goes against the very spirit of the competitions to be toxic and rude in spite of not winning or placing lower than you expected. At the end of the day, it is a MC tournament that has no monetary prize other than a golden coin. It is immature to slander, spread misinformation, or send death threats and harassment over such a tournament and I wish shame upon anyone who’s first reaction to not winning or their team not winning was to do such a thing. MCC is a brilliant tournament that has changed the game for how MC Competitions have been done, and it is disheartening to see the hard work Noxcrew and Scott have done be disrespected as such. I hope next MCC the fandom can come together and make this the lovely fandom event it once was. 

[smallishbabes]

I love when Philza and Technoblade hang out during streams. You can tell they’re both comfortable talking to each other and can do so for hours if they could. They are such a powerful team together. It’s great rewatchable content when they’re just vibing.

After mcc 9, both escaped the gogy fest and they talked for about an hour together before everyone came back. Even Techno didn’t realize that he was still streaming and said his audience was third-wheeling the conversation. After the Nov 16th stream, when the role playing was over, they just chatted in Techno’s base. Philza tried to do some farming so he wasn’t just stuck afk in the base, and we get the origin of one of my favorite bits, “Philza LOOK OUT!” The moving stream was fun since even though the gameplay wasn’t as exciting, we still had such interesting moments like the free trial he had, the two monitor potential, and the art piece of a video. The turtle stream was talked about in the moving stream and I was super looking forward to it so when it came, I was so glad and it didn’t disappoint. So many Philza being more chaotic and Techno trying to stop him. The founding the syndicate stream was so funny since we get the “PHILZA NOOO” and table pog :). I can’t believe mcm10 was their first interaction since they talk like they’re already friends and work so well together to the point they break records. And then the Antarctic Empire. Oh my god there’s so much in SMPEarth. The villager trading stream, the weapons test, the treaty of pit debacle where Phil is just hella chaotic to the point that Techno has to drag him, nuking the adoption agency, when Tommy, Phil, and him talked after the war in their base, when both of them were chilling in Pete’s and Sophie’s stream talking about all sorts of things, when they captured the moon, and finally, when they took over the world together. They became the most powerful faction in the whole server to the point they upset the admins. I can’t express enough how much I loved them both in SMPEarth (especially since I still haven’t finished watching Phil’s streams on it). One of my favorite moments especially are the ones where Techno ends his stream and chills in Phil’s stream before he leaves.

There’s probably more that I’m missing and info I didn’t mention, but I’m just riffing off of my memory. I just like Philza and Techno’s friendship in canon and irl. They manage to be chill, funny, and powerful all at once. You love to see it.

[theblindgoddess]

Heyo, so like, I should be working on that scarian fic I told you guys about, but like, I'm instead going to tell you guys about a new dream smp au I have simmering in the back of my brain. But I don't feel like typing out the whole story for it right now, so like I'm just gonna give you guys the basic bare bones of the au and if you like I'll make a second post with more details I guess.

So this is a generation swap au, so like all the old people are young and all the young people are old. Mostly, some people don't get swapped because it just fit the plot better. I'm gonna give you guys a basic ish run down of all the characters, at the end will be a list of those I don't know what I'm going to with yet and if I don't list a character it's either because they don't have a place in the overall plot of the au or because I forgot about them. Also got some extra context, the server that they live in has been with out an admin for a while. One day years back the man just disappeared without a trace, and as such many different city states were made to have some kind of government and structure in the world.

Tommy

Part of the older generation now, and just in general the weird server hobo. His only friend is Purpled and the man has some serious trust and abandonment issues. The abandonment issues arise partly from the fact that this is also an experiment innit au. Tommy is basically a slightly magic robot with an artificial soul, and the scientists who made him would never fail to remind him that because of that he "isn't real" and that no one would love him. He eventually escapes and goes on to live a life in the real world. In the begining of the story, no one knows he's not human.

Purpled

Is one of the older ones and is Punz's older brother. Hes a mercenary and will do just about anything if paid enough. Tommy pays him very well. Purpled does care about Tommy as a friend and not just a walking wallet, and he tries to mitigate some of Tommy's worse habits, but ultimately takes that stance that it's not his business and if Tommy doesn't want to change them to just leave it alone.

Fundy

Fundy is now the tired parent of three. Man needs a break and is constantly having to clean up the messes his kids make. Sally is also his sister, and a fish goddess. Fundy is very much not a god of any kind and is a fox. No one understands it, least of all him. He is very tired of being one of the only responsible adults around.

Wilbur

Fundy's oldest son and the only biological one. Dont really have much for him yet, but he's there! If you guys have any ideas let me know.

Techno

MIDDLE CHILD TECHNO SUPREMACY LETS GOOOOOO! Fundy was just in the Nether one day when he found a piglin child sitting on the ground talking to himself and said 'guess I'm a father of two now'. When introducing people to Techno, Fundy will always refer to him as 'the only normal one'. Techno, the child with the murderous voices in his head chanting for blood, is Fundy's 'normal' kid.

Philza

Fundy's youngest kid, and no one really knows where he came from. He just kinda appeared in Fundy's house one day, covered in blood not his own, with a sizable number of crows surrounding him, and said 'im your problem now'. Fundy just sighed and went back to bed. These crows that follow Phil around are, obviously, servants to Kristen, the goddess of death. The crows follow Phil around because he is a tiny bit murder happy, and where there is lots of murder, there is lots of death. One day in the begining of the story Philza somehow accidentally finds his way into the realm of death, a place no living being should be able to go, and if they do end up there, they won't be alive for much longer. While their Phil meets Kristen the goddess of death and falls head over heals for her. Also, Phil is at that point in puberty where he is finally able to grow facial hair, and he is very proud of the soup strainer mustache he has.

Charlie

Charlie is a few years older then Tommy. We meet him later on in the story.

Dream

Dream is in the younger generation and has just moved to this server with two of his friends. Dream also has some minor admin powers. He just moved to a server who's admin went missing years ago. As you can tell, this is going to cause some trouble and attract the attention of some not nice people.

George and Sapnap

I know that they will be here and are Dreams friends, but that's about it. If you can give me some ideas please do.

Quackity

He's one of the youngest characters at 14. He was born in the city states of Las Nevadas, one of the most powerful and wealthiest city states. He is currently couch surfing inlue of having a place to stay and an adult to take care of him. Fundy has tried multiple times to convince Quackity to move in with him, because while he is very tired of his children he still understands that children need adult supervision and since no one else is doing it he has to be the responsible one. Quackity refuses every time and tries to avoid Fundy so he doesn't have to deal with that conversation. Quackity insists that he can take care of himself.

Tubbo and Ranboo

Tubbo and Ranboo have been married for many years now. Around the time they got married they removed themselves from civilization and have lived isolated in the snowy mountains since then, along the way adopting their son Michael, who is 10 when the story takes place. Later on in the story they move back to civilization per Fundy and Aimsey's request of help.

Punz

Purpled's younger brother and he becomes good friends with Dream, but that's all I have for him at the moment.

Karl

The Weird Kid™. Everyone is pretty sure that he has parents and a house to go back to every night, but no one knows for certain and every time someone tries to ask him he changes the subject. But one time Fundy was able to get some information on his living situation out of Karl, but when Karl started going on about sheep people Fundy gave up and went back to his own difficult children.

Schlatt

Jack, don't know

Here's the characters I don't know what to do with yet. I'll also list if they are getting swapped or not or if I don't know.

Schlatt is in his late teens and is the nephew of both Puffy and Tubbo. No one knows where his parents are. Schlatt lives with Puffy and generally just goes around causing chaos.

Niki, don't know

Puffy, don't swap

Aimsy, swap

Sam, don't know leaning towards don't swap

Ponk, same as sam

Eret, swap

Foolish, swap

Hanna rose, don't swap

That's it for now.

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Let’s talk: Coldplay x BTS - My Universe

by Admin 1

After theories and discussions that started all the way back in April 2021 among ARMY when Christ Martin had been in Korea, the day has finally arrived--My Universe is here and it is a hit. As of me writing this the song has already gathered 90 #1s on iTunes and had the highest debut on Melon Top 100 (#6) and the first idol group song to reach #1 since the chart reform (doing so in 11 hours). 

So then I called Phil, our fifth member, and Max Martin and said, ‘I think we’ve got a song to give to BTS.’ And they said, ‘Why don’t we hold onto it and give it to BTS.’ And then we started communicating with BTS and then went to Korea. — Chris Martin, NME interview

Sonically the song is a true collaboration of two legendary groups with neither losing any part of their identity. It sounds like a Coldplay song, but at the same time it also sounds like BTS, something that would share a shelf with Heartbeat, Mikrokosmos and a slice of Magic Shop. I won’t call myself an expert on Coldplay by any means. I own a few of their albums and I’ve been listening to them on and off for many years, but beyond certain songs and their general sound, especially the more recent one, my knowledge ends there. And yet, even based on that, everything in My Universe simply fits and works beautifully. It simply is a beautiful song.

Something I thought was a really beautiful touch was the song of the whale which reminded me of our lonely Whalian who so far sang his song all alone but now he isn’t alone anymore. His song did get heard in the end.

Now lyrically it is a love song, Chris Martin having described it as such as well, that talks about “difficult love”, one that may be forbidden or complicated due to other circumstances, just like is says in the lines that Namjoon sings and then harmonizes on with Jimin:

And they said that we can’t be together

Because, because we come from different sides

And really, at least in the context of Bangtan, a song with such a sentiment, such a message, that love transcends these different sides and other “barriers” makes perfect sense. Because of them being Korean and singing in Korean, many might find it difficult to give them a chance, to fall in love with their music, due to various reasons, and yet, once you do try and set aside your prejudices and opinions based on the popular “it’s cool to hate BTS” mindset, falling in love is truly one of the easiest things to do.

Thematically it also fits BTS so perfectly with mentions of the universe, stars, infinity, and lyricism that’s so romantic and poetic, you can’t help but wonder how they manage to think of these beautiful sentences each time. Hobi, Namjoon and Yoongi are credited on the song, and I really do think you can feel their lyricism in this, even if their parts may have been short, and yet it’s enough to know and feel that it is them.

Looking at Hobi’s verse there is so much beauty to it (translation via doolset):

나를 밝혀주는 건 What lights me up is

너란 사랑으로 수 놓아진 별 the star that was embroidered with love that is you

내 우주의 넌 Inside my universe, you

또 다른 세상을 만들어 주는 걸 create another world for me

This sentiment of a star that isn’t you but is made more beautiful because its been embroidered by you, a piece of you being added to it to make it more special. It’s so different from the usual thought of you being the ultimate thing, but rather that you being part of it is what makes it so beautiful, you being a part of that persons life, their metaphorical star, is what makes the difference. It also goes along beautifully with the final line from JKs second verse harmonizing with Chris Martin: We are made of each other baby. Made of each other instead of for each other, two equal parts of something united instead of two separate pieces that work for each other/together.

Another line that stuck out to me was one of Yoongi’s lines, being:

지금 이 시련도 결국엔 잠시니까 Because the trial we face now is just for a moment anyway

Whatever hardships we may be facing right now, in the grand scheme of a lifetime, they are temporary, will pass “after a moment”. It reminds me of his lyric from so far away, being:

dream 결국 시련의 끝에 만개하리 dream, will eventually be in full bloom at the end of hardships

This is something I love about BTS and their lyrics, that you can see certain themes and ideas appear again and again over time, watch as they change or evolve, or something is added to them. It shows how much care and thought that goes into their songs, into everything they write.

Now, as it happens every time, there is a discussion that could be had about the thing we know causes fights every time: line distribution.

As someone who adores Tae’s voice, I’m beyond happy that he got to have his moment in this song, on his dream collab with a band he's mentioned so many times that he’d want to work with them and that he likes. After so many other collabs and songs happened where he either didn’t make it on at all or only in the chorus, this is a beautiful moment.

On the other hand, as someone who has both Tae and Seokjin has their bias wreckers, I can’t completely ignore/gloss over the fact that Seokjin is only on the song in the gang vocals for the chorus and his one line before the rap part. After how magnificent he was on their Fix You cover, you would’ve thought he’d get more of a moment in My Universe, but he didn’t. But, in all fairness, while he only had one line, Tae only had two while Namjoon had one on his own and one harmonizing with Jimin (so let’s call it 1.5 lines). If you look at it this way, lyric wise instead of how long it takes to sing the line, there isn’t much of a different between these three.

Of course, if you compare Seokjin’s line with JKs two verses, that’s an entirely different discussion, but the same can in that moment also be said about Tae, Namjoon and Jimin. JK though is the main vocalist so this makes his amount of lines always different from the other vocal line members.

Something to note though would be that the song essentially ends singing wise at 3:11 but continues with instrumentals for 37 more seconds before it actually ends, since it is 3:48 min long. If they really would’ve wanted, in theory there was room to fit more singing, more lines, in but the choice against that was made for whichever reason, one we’ll likely never know. Since it’s a Coldplay song and none of the BH producers and staff are on it, the call likely was made by Coldplay, though seeing as this was treated as more of an equal collab instead fo a feature, I’d guess Bangtan had a little more of a say, or at least could voice their opinion, and yet the song sounds the way it does.

We still have the acoustic version and the supernova 7 remix to come so who knows if perhaps the distribution will change a little on those. Interesting though is that, thanks to the video Namjoon posted on twt earlier, we saw him record the opening verse along with Chris Martin, though ultimately the verse is only sung by him on the final version. I’m curious to see if the documentary will give us more details on all of this, and what we’ll get to see in general.

Generally what I find fascinating is how, depending on what device and with what quality, you listen to the song, you can discover more of the song, more layers and more voices. From discussions and gushing I know that most people say that the member harmonizing with JK on JKs second verse is Jimin, but I’ll be honest that for me it sounds more like it’s Seokjin, or even both. At the same time, some say that at the end of JKs first verse the line where he harmonizes with Chris Martin that they can hear Tae there as well, which I only do sometimes, which makes no sense, but it shows just how seamlessly their voices blend into each other and fit together, which is a good thing, the whole point of harmonies.

The thing that, for me, “saves” the situation when it comes to Seokjin is the fact that despite having only one solo line, he was still so, so excited for this song to come out, that he walked around with a polaroid picture of him and Chris Martin behind his phone case, and that now he even got Chris Martin’s guitar with a signature and “Jin Worldwide Handsome” written on it as gift simply because he said the guitar is awesome. So, for me, as long as he seems happy, I’m happy too.

When it comes to the lyric video we got that I thought was a really wonderful and fitting addition was this line at the end of it:

We Are AllOne In The Universe

instead of

We Are Alone In The Universe

It goes along well with Coldplay calling themselves and their fans, if I got that right, “One Big Band” while Bangtan have We Are Bulletproof : The Eternal and the idea that BTS and ARMY have each other and because of that we are not alone anymore either.

From anon: Lately, the BTS collabs have been so great. In a sense that the artists are so respectful of BTS and genuinely get along with them and speak so kindly of them. Megan, Coldplay, also Halsey supporting My Universe. Jason Derulo who?

I completely agree. Megan showed so much love and support, I mean, she literally fought for the remix in court, and then met the members in NYC. Halsey was one of the few that since their first arrival in the US showed them support and didn’t treat them like outsiders, and has been supportive ever since. It was really nice seeing them And then Chris Martin who went out of his way to go to Korea despite COVID and all the restrictions to meet the members and record the song with them, instead of going the more standard route of each group recording on their own and them putting the parts together remotely.

I love them, and we love them, and it’s been such a joy… So, I unabashedly and unashamedly feel really grateful for the song, grateful for the person that inspired the song, and grateful for the people we sing it with. — Chris Martin, Apple Music interview

We’ve heard a lot about Chris singing My Universe and also singing the Korean lyrics, but actually getting to hear it ourselves, so cool! It’s wonderful to see him embrace Bangtan in such a way, not only have them sing in their own language on the track but also, when performing, sing it that way as well instead of substituting it with the translations which would make it easier for him.

It shows that these are artists that really respect each other and see each other as equals despite all their differences. And that’s what makes My Universe feel like a song that is genuine and fits both perfectly.

[dreamsclock]

VERY GOOD DAY TO YOU SPARROW I HOPE YOU HAVE MUCH MUTUALLY ASSURED DISTRUTION AU JUICE

(it's my personal favorite)

To celebrate I offer you some brain worms like

-Wilbur breaking out Dream after Sam rejects his request to vist

-Wibur finding out the torture has been cranked up to 100000

-Wilbur, being Wilbur, takes advantage of Dream by acting like he doesn't know what Dream is trying to do

-Dream threatening Wilbur when he can barely function outside the prison,

-Wibur playing nurse, is he a good nurse ?? Maybe from taking care of Tommy and Tubbo when they were kids or is he more like "I hate that you're making me take care of you but I can take this time to get the admin on my side,"

This is incoherent but brain goes burrrrrr

YOOOO I LOVE ALL OF THESE IDEAS SO MUCH !!!! i hope you don’t mind me combining a few, as well as just adding general fun ideas, to write something out of it !!! i couldn’t resist :D

warnings: broken bones, injuries, trauma, torture implications, mental illness, mental instability, general mutually assured destruction toxic relationship awfulness, smoking.

Dream can barely see straight when he’s broken out, much less focus enough to give Wilbur any sort of coherent medical advice.

“Don’t worry!” Wilbur reassures him, cheer in his voice. “Phil’s surprisingly good at playing nurse, I’ve picked up a couple of things from him. First things first—”

He pulls out shears.

Dream’s mind blanks, and he passes out at the sight of them.

He only comes to hours later, semi-coherent and coming back to consciousness to hear Wilbur’s low steady soliloquy (oh god, is he going to do that all the time?), to the feeling of being swaddled with blankets and to the sight of a sign that helpfully says THIS IS NOT PRISON AND YOU ARE NOT (PROBABLY) DREAMING — which, very quickly, makes Dream wonder if that’s exactly what’s happened.

Fuck, he feels like shit.

“Oh, he’s awake!” Wilbur calls out in delight. “It’s about time. Here I go breaking you out only for you to collapse on me and leave me to do all the hard boring work. So much for being my partner in crime.”

Dream opens his mouth, tries to force the muddled words floating about his head to make sense. “Not your partner,” he murmurs, closing his eyes again and idly wondering if the prison would be better than whatever the hell Wilbur is (because it sure as hell doesn’t seem to be sane), “‘sides, I brought you back first. ‘S only fair you help me.”

Wilbur giggles. “It’s all about reciprocity, isn’t it?” He agrees, lighting a cigarette for himself before offering one to Dream. Despite his already scorched body from the lava and the wheeziness of his breath he’s terrified will be permanent, Dream takes it with a shaky hand and a wince. “You do a little something for me, I do a little something for you, and so on and so forth. Is that how you want to play? It’ll be a different from everyone else on the server, won’t it?”

Dream, very bitterly, conceded that point to him, because the rest of the server have always been far less focused on reciprocity than they have been getting whatever they can from him and twisting him into the remainder of what they need. An ally, an asset, a threat, a villain: he’s been transformed so many times over the months he’s almost forgotten who he really is.

“How about a time bomb?” Wilbur offers, like he can hear his thoughts (and maybe he can, because Prime knows what he’s learned in the Void), grinning like the cat who got the cream. “Might suit us better than playing the villain or the hero or anything in between.”

Dream stares at him, nonplussed between the sharp clarity of smoke in his lungs and the dull pain clogging up his mind. “Us?” He asks, shrewd, and Wilbur’s grin narrows, thins into a blade. “What do you mean, us?”

“Yes, us, I suppose,” Wilbur replied, “we’re basically two halves of a whole, aren’t we? Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s Monster—”

“Which is which?”

Wilbur laughs uproariously like he’s said something hilarious. “Well, that is the question, isn’t it? Which is the Monster: the scientist or the creature? Even that’s up for debate, because surely the man who turned the creature into, well, a Creature, is just as much as a creature as it is. It’s—”

“Wilbur.” Dream closes his eyes, already exhausted. “Please.”

“—a fascinating debate we’ll return to when you’re less grouchy,” Wilbur finishes with a charming smile that conceals none of his malice or mania, “but yeah, us! We’re going to work together, Dream. We’re going to bring this server to its knees. We can... We can rule over it together.”

Dream sneers through a drag from his cigarette, eyes hollow. “I don’t want to rule the server,” he says, “I never have. I want...”

I want my friends and family happy, he would have answered at the beginning, honest and earnest and in love with the world, I want to see them thrive.

Now? Something cruel curls in his throat, and he’s not so certain it’s the smoke as he is knowledgeable it comes from months of imprisonment and neglect and torture and hell. “I want to watch it burn,” he says, and Wilbur’s expression lights up, “I want it gone.”

“Well, even better,” Wilbur grins, eyes sparkling behind his glasses, “because what is a hero without a villain?”

Dream almost laughs. “Who’s the hero supposed to be out of the two of us?” He asks mockingly.

“Who’s the villain? Frankenstein, or the Thing he created?” Wilbur returns.

Depends on the narrative, is the right answer, the one they’re both all too aware of. They’ve both been victims and masters of the narrative at one point. Dream swallows down this answer, though, because he’s exceptionally worried it’ll lead to another spiel from Wilbur that he really wants to avoid at all costs. “You want to rule the server, I want to destroy it,” he says, “our goals conflict.”

“Well, doesn’t that make our partnership all the more interesting?” Wilbur teases. “Total control, total annihilation, don’t they both require the same methods? You can cause the chaos, I’ll pretend to smooth it over, and at the end of the day, we both get what we want. How about it?”

And Dream stares at his worst enemy, his oldest rival, the man he’d sworn once when he’d been more lucid to never ever do anything for. Wilbur stares back expectantly, hand out, smoke weaving above both of them in anticipation.

Finally, Dream sighs, moves his hand to shake Wilbur’s. “Alright,” he begins, “then it might—”

He jumps, pain lancing up his arm to his elbow and making him hiss, defensive and annoyed.

“Wilbur. You’ve set the bone wrong,” he accuses instead of agreeing, and Wilbur rolls his eyes flippantly, waving one hand in dismissal.

“Really,” his new ally says, “what’s the concept of wrong anyway? Right and wrong — they’re just words used to confine us, to limit us. Do they really mean anything, Dream?”

Dream prods his arm, suppresses a low groan of pain. “Yes,” he decides, “because whatever the fuck you’ve done to my arm, it’s wrong.”

Wilbur scowls, cheer and hyperactivity dying without preamble. “Let me try again,” he says, repositioning himself at Dream’s arm, “I’m going to break it again.”

“Don’t.”

Wilbur does.

For the second time that day, Dream passes out.

Just before he does, he thinks for the first (but certainly not the last) time that maybe this isn’t going to be as good a partnership as he’d hoped it would be.

(He can’t help but feel safe anyway.)

[archetypal-archivist]

Tommyinnit and Hermitcraft- Heartstone P.2

So, a little while back I wrote piece titled Tommyinnit and Hermitcraft- Heartstone (linked here) which was inspired by the works of @petrichormeraki and @redorich, who popularized the AU of Tommyinnit from the Dream SMP getting dropped into Hermitcraft somehow and summarily getting adopted by the entire server. I, in my infinite wisdom, decided “yes, but also angst” and spat out a solid 1500+ words with a cliffhanger at the end because it was getting ridiculous and I had yet more to write. This is another 1500+ words of continuation. 

-----

It's not easy, knowing things. Joe knows more things than most, and oh, how it eats at him sometimes. He jokes with Cleo that between the two of them and their dogs, they are perhaps the leading experts on being chewed on, but she never laughs at that joke. He can't help but wonder why, his thoughts drifting as he lies still and silent in her arms, curled up together on his bed in the winery. Her orange hair tickles his nose as he moves to bury his face in her shoulder a bit more, her cool breath ghosting over the sticky tear tracks that still line his cheeks. All the things that remain unsaid lie between them, but their silent agreement binds them together tighter still. And indeed silence is the name of the game, however much he wishes it wasn't necessary- everything will work out in due time, he knows. But oh, how it aches that he can't say anything more on the matter, not even to her.

"Cleo?" The zombie woman makes a soft inquiring noise, politely ignoring how his voice cracks on the syllables. "Are we doing the right thing?" Her grip tightens again, almost crushingly so, and Joe goes limp at the implied rebuke. Be it right or wrong, his silence must be ensured- he knows so much that if he said anything, it'd all come pouring out. A real modern-day Cassandra, verbal fountain and harbinger of doom in one. No, best to stay cryptic when he can and silent when he can't- and if even his silence fails, Cleo is there, sword in hand, ready to keep him quiet.

He should not take comfort from that. But here, wrapped up in his best friend's embrace, utterly at her mercy and all the safer for it... He does anyway.

-----

Joe and Cleo aren't in a romantic relationship, but it would not be amiss to call them platonic life partners in this universe. Joe has been seeing things for as long as he can remember, the exact mechanics are strange and baffling at best, and if he tries to actually do any Science to figure out how this stuff works, the magic changes to spite him. It's led to a lot of unfortunate visions of peanut butter and how the server generally tends to misuse the stuff (Etho sometimes using it instead of slime in a sticky piston is a milder example), so after enough peanut visions to make him allergic on principle, Joe tends to just let the visions come as they may. The only hard-coded bit that comes with them is that anyone living who hears his prophecies won't believe them and will have something bad happen to them as a result. Cleo, being a zombie, is a special exception to the rule. She's only alive in the most technical of senses, so while bad things still happen to her if she hears Joe speak about his experiences, she at least will believe him.

Which is why she is so determined to not know more about whatever is going on with Tommy. When Joe had rushed in a month ago, tears streaming down his cheeks and glasses barely hanging onto his face, she had merely put down the book she had been reading and had opened her arms wide to him. Convincing him that she would not betray his trust or break his heart had been hard, but she had known it was worth it. How can it be anything but, when Joe had looked at her then as if she was the most precious being on the planet and had immediately thrown himself into her arms, bursting out into troubled tears? He offered to tell her the full story, eyes wet and longing, and her long-dead heart ached at the trust he is giving her- but she is far too selfish to give that up. So she had turned him down, smile on her lips.

Even when he whispered, voice hoarse, that they wouldn't be seeing Tommy for a while. Even when he shuddered and shook in her arms, fragile as glass in her grip. Even when he begged her to ask, just ask, please, it's too much... She did not ask. If she asked, he would tell her, and then she would be hurt and his heart would break because it would be his words that had hurt her. She would not, cannot, will never inflict that upon him, or let him inflict that upon anyone else. (Of all the heads in her collection, the one she has most of is Joe's.)

She simply asks him if there will be a satisfying ending, and when he says yes, she asks no more. Everything will be okay, in the end. So long as there is that much, so long as she has Joe in her arms and the comfortable silence stretches out between them, then she will be content.

(At the foot of their bed, deep in Joe's winery where the barking is muffled and the light cannot touch them, there lies a chest of heads. Inside it, nestled among the many faces of the dead, rests an old iron sword bearing the name Hush. It's blade is rusty from disuse, but if Cleo ever decides that she isn't satisfied, well. There are ways of dealing with that.)

(Things will be okay. She'll make sure of it.)

-----

Philza was no stranger to death. A veteran of a hardcore world, where even the very earth was out to kill him, he had seen his fair share of deaths and had dealt out even more. Usually just to the local mobs and wildlife, but there was still the occasional player dropped into his world by the cruel hands of the Void as a sort of "apology" for leaving him alone, bereft of his sons. As if some random strangers could ever fill the Void in his heart.

Most of them had wandered off upon seeing him, more interested in escape than any companionship he could offer them, and he'd inevitably see their death messages in the otherwise silent chat a few days later. Others would approach him, some curious, some desperate for kindness- he gave them none, was often intentionally cruel just to drive them away. He had the Void in his heart and the Void had him, and he ached and ached for what he could not have. Anything less would be a pale imitation, a mockery of the love he was desperate to return to. He tried not to think about how those kind strangers would also come to meet their ends, often more messily than those that had decided to leave him be to begin with.

Then there were the rare few with... less than gentle intentions. (Blood for the Blood gods, no matter the universe.)

Theirs were the deaths he regretted the least, but the blood still gave him nightmares. For all that he loved his sons, he never understood their love for glory, be it found in conquering other nations or the sticky ooze of a dying foe. Maybe that's why he had spent so much of his time with his elder sons when he returned, the Void finally releasing him from his hardcore prison. Just a father's attempt at understanding, even if it left his youngest at loose ends.

But the problem with loose ends, he had come to find, is that the world had a way of setting them to rights- either by tying them back into the grand narrative, or by cutting them out entirely. For months after Dream had come to him, apology on his lips and charred shoe in hand, he had believed that Tommy's fate had been the latter. He had  mourned his son as if such was the case, weeping openly at the news for the first time in years. (He wasn't the only one, though- Technoblade was an only child now and he was not taking it well.) It was only when Tubbo came to him with his compass to ask about its ever-spinning needle that he felt a spark of hope, for a compass that spun was not a compass linked to a dead soul- simply a lost one. Such hope was justified when, six months later, Technoblade burst into his house with a snarl on his lips and a smile in his eyes. Tommy had returned.

And as Phil stood, back straightening and wings spread wide, hope bloomed in his chest like hanahaki, choking him with love right down to his core. Tommy had returned, despite everything.

And Philza would not let him go again.

-----

For all that Tommy might have been... gone for at least a month now on the Hermitcraft server and life has significantly slowed down for all involved, by no means has it stopped entirely. The shops are still stocked, the torches are replaced when the old ones burn out, Hermits still go out and see each other, if less often than before. Xisuma, in fact, instates a series of mandatory meetings every week or so as a way of making sure that everyone is still alive- a bit of reassurance that no one else has died in the time interim. Even the hermits who prefer to keep to themselves show up, such as Tinfoilchef, Joe, and Cleo, although the latter two remain distinctly separate from everyone else on the server during the meetings, their refusal to take a side alienating them from the rest. Grian, broken though he may be, also comes, usually in the arms of Iskall or with a vacant smile on his face depending on the state of his mental health on the given day. His presence is also alienating, as most of the hermits don't quite know what to say around him and thus will give him and Iskall a bubble of space to themselves during the meetings. Mumbo is the only one to cross the divide, standing loomingly tall at Iskall's back, as if daring anyone to say something potentially hurtful to either of his friends.

Frankly, the entire concept of weekly meetings is a bit of a mess. Xisuma stands at the front with Keralis at his back, voice and posture more and more tired with every meeting and Keralis standing just a bit closer, a silent show of support (ready if his admin ever needs some physical support too). The prognosis is usually a mix of dull stuff and hopeless stuff- lag is better than it has been in years, the Chestmonster shop is out again, Tommy still has not been... found. It's not exciting exactly, but the tension during the reporting stage is palpable as everyone waits to hear if something else has gone wrong. It's a bit like being on the front lines- horrible, drawn-out minutes of tedium as everyone holds their breath, waiting to see if another bombshell will drop but knowing that they have to be there, because some warning is infinitely better than seeing a death message in chat one day and not knowing if that person will ever make it back.

In addition to this is the tension that comes from the server being split in three- the believers, the mourners, and those too damaged or too caught up in their own narratives or too neutral to swing to one side or the other.

The meetings are where the most near-fights happen, and Xisuma is so, so tired of having to be the sane one these days. (The benefit of a helmet, he's come to find, is that no one can see you cry.)

(He doesn't take it off much anymore.)

-----

It's after one such meeting that Zedaph finds himself cooped up in his base, eyes burning with unshed tears and feet dangling out into the Void as he sits at the bottom of the hole in his base, the one that goes straight to bedrock and then even further still. The chill is a welcome distraction from his own inner turmoil, and for all that it's dangerous to be sitting so near to the edge of the world, he can't find it in himself to move away form its cold comfort. After all, Tommy can't have died permanently, right? So sitting there is perfectly safe. He has to believe that. He has to.

The meetings are tough on everyone, but sometimes Zedaph wonders if they are a bit worse for him than they are for the rest. It can't be normal that the first thing he does after every meeting is burst into panicked tears as soon as he gets back to his base, as he's certainly never felt such deep fear and relief after the meetings they had before the Incident. And yet, as soon as the iron door of his base sncks shut behind him, he drops down into the Void hole, sits at the edge, and bawls his eyes out. It's kinda funny- he's shed more tears in the last month than he has in his entire life so far. And all for a boy he had known for less than a year.

During this particular day, however, something odd happens. When he sits down for a good cry, it feels like there's the slightest of breezes coming off the Void beneath his feet, chilling him right down to his bones. It's cold, yes, but a welcome relief as he feels a bit like he's burning up from the inside out. Every moment he spends with Tango and Impulse is stifling, as with them he has to shove himself into a hateful mold he never wanted for himself. He doesn't like being angry, and being angry alongside his best friends is hardly any better. If he had it his way, he would have curled up in bed and simply slept the horror away, only waking when the nightmare was over and he could go play mini golf and Among Us with Tango, Impulse, and Tommy again. Instead, his love for his friends demands that he supports them in all their endeavors, even if their goals these days seem to run a little closer to "get them all killed" than is comfortable.

But yes. The breeze. It feels like ice on his skin and sends every nerve in his legs buzzing. It has a distinct smell to it too, like TV static, ozone, and that sensation you get after you brush your teeth and go take a big gulp of cold water. It's... odd. But vaguely comforting. And as the tears finally well up in his eyes and drip down his cheeks, as he lets himself sob for all the friends- both new and old- he's lost, he finds that it's exactly what he needs.

And if Zedaph would only listen a little closer, let himself see beyond his broken heart, perhaps he would hear the whisper on the wind, too.

Everything will be okay. I'll make sure of it.

-----

Evil X has his own troubles to deal with. He had been present when Tommy had died, if watching from the wrong side of their dimension. Lost in the Void with nothing better to do, he had often found himself watching his friend go about his day. With space and time being as screwy as they were in the Void, he could find himself taking three steps and then would be watching Tommy go from sleeping over at BDub's base to having "breakfast" with Rendog. So when Grian and Tommy had gone out End-busting that fateful day, of course he had been watching.  And that was all he could do- watch- as he saw his best friend fall to his apparent death, that little line of code that signaled "perma-death" flashing once, twice, and then glowing a deep, ominous red.

But that wasn't the end of it, even as his dull and bruised heart stuttered in his chest at the sight.

Like a redstone pulse lighting up everything around it, that red glow set off a cascading chain reaction that rippled up and down Tommy's code until it eventually trailed out to wherever his code stretched out into the Void. There, it must have severed something because before he could even call for help, his friend's code yanked inwards and away, slingshotting the whole mess into the distant darkness beyond, leaving naught but a vague impression on the inside of his eyelids behind. It was... awful. One of the scariest things he had ever seen, perhaps second only to watching his brother, stern-faced and cold, send him off to the Void once again. But for all that it hurt to see that red glow and watch in mute horror as the server he had once tried to destroy shake itself apart at the seams, there was still hope.

The code was gone, yes, but not unraveled, not destroyed. Merely... transported. Moved. Like a file being sent from one computer to another, or a player teleporting between servers. Tommy's code vanishing like that was cause for alarm, yes, but somewhere out there in the vastness of the Void, it lingered still- and it had left a faint impression of itself in its wake. That meant there was hope.

Evil X- and by proxy, his twin Xisuma- were voidwalkers, beings specifically designed to see, understand, and even modify the world's code. Were he anything else, he surely would have perished by now, his consciousness scattered across the Void as it was. And having been in exile for so long, he had gotten to be adept at seeing the seams between worlds and reading the truths of existence as the Void had intended for her children. If anyone could follow that faint trail, could get Tommy back, it would be him.

For the first time in a long time, Evil X had hope. And hope is a vicious motivator indeed.

-----

TBC :)

[strawberrylemonz]

Past and Present

Part 12

Part 13 [CURRENT]

Part 14

DT: @petrichormeraki @applepie1000 @jump-in-the-cadillac @ivorylin @sydneys-sketches 

------------

Tommy quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, but it was too late. The group in front of them turned to face the source of the group. Tommy mentally smacked himself upside the head as he pulled Fundy behind him, the Lovely Trio slipping behind him as Kristin and Grian stepped in front of Sam and Puffy, who held the children close. It wasn’t until three familiar faces made their way to him, that he felt like breaking. It wasn’t because Phil was there, concern and relief flooding his face as he looked over Tommy. It wasn’t because Techno was looming over them, facial expression unchanging, only betrayed by the several emotions going through his eyes. It wasn’t because of Ghostbur, because Ghostbur wasn’t floating there. He wasn’t even floating he was standing. There, standing with his hands stuffed into his pockets, stood Wilbur, who was very much alive. The three of them stepped towards the youngest member of their family, the one they missed so dearly, only to stop when he put his hands up in defense, stepping closer to the fox shifter behind him.

“Wilbur, you’re...you’re-”

“Tommy, you’re okay!”

Everyone on the Dream SMP frowned as Tommy made an “eh” noise, making a balancing movement with his hand as he peered back at the group behind him, all who, aside from Sam and Puffy, made similar noises and movements back at them. Much to their embarrassment, they were the only ones who found amusement to it. Regaining his composure, Tommy turned back to Kristin, giving her pleading eyes. She nodded before nudging Grian, who was already moving to pick up Theo. Clem smiled as she climbed into the embrace of her grandmother, hugging her with delight. After being reassured that the children were away from the group, Tommy returned his gaze to the members of his older server. 

“Let’s go to a more private space. I would very much like you all more if you don’t start anything unnecessary during my opening.”

Without waiting for a response, Tommy turned and, after ensuring Fundy was safely in front of him, began walking out of the cavern, everyone else following behind. As he waved to guests and Hermits alike, he led the group into one of the larger taverns. Taking out a keycard from behind the automated desk, he patted the robot working there before walking over to a large set of double door. Humming a tune that caught Wilbur’s attention, he inserted the keycard and pushed the doors open, leading the group in. He closed the door after the last two people, who happened to be a very disgruntled Jack and Niki. After everyone was sat down in their own seats, they all exchanged uncertain looks. Finally, Fundy decided it was best to break the silence. 

“So, I see the resurrection was successful.”

“Yeah, we managed to get Wilbur bac-”

“You have a son.”

Tommy saw Fundy stiffen beside him as the voice of Wilbur spoke up, quieter than they remembered. Fundy pressed his lips in a thin line as he peered up to his newly revived father. Giving him a little nod Fundy cleared his throat as he scratched the back of his neck. 

“Yeah, I do. He’s great, you know. Very smart and fun, sneaky too.”

“Do I know who your significant other is?”

“I wouldn’t call him my significant other, we aren’t together. He was very...the situation was...we didn’t work out. But, yeah, you know him. You all do, actually.”

“Who is it?”

“Dream”

Fundy quickly spoke the name, reeling back as he waited for the expected backlash. Hesitating for a moment, he almost believed that, much like the situation with Tommy, he would receive no backlash. He was, however, quickly proven wrong. The only other revived man there was the first to speak up.

“WHAT?!”

“YOU FUCKED DREAM?!”

“LANGUAGE!”

“THE FURRY FUCKED GOD, OH MY FUCKING ENDER-”

“George? George, can you hear me? Dude, blink if you can hear me-”

“When we said ‘suck it green boy’, we didn’t mean literally!”

“How did you manage to get him to-”

As the chaos began to rise, Fundy began to shrink in his seat, panic settling in. Taking note of this, Tommy frowned as he tried to settle everyone down. When no one responded to him, he grew frustrated. Getting annoyed, Tubbo sat up to yell at the source of the chaos, only to find that he was beat to it. With a loud foot stomp, a booming voice yelled over the chaos. 

“Will you all shUT UP?!” 

Silence filled the room as everyone turned to face the source of the yell. There, fists clenched tightly by her side, stood Drista. Everyone hesitated about her next course of action, as the eyes on her mask seemed to glow with her annoyance. As she sat down, crossing her arms and legs together, she huffed as she prepared to speak up once more. Much to her annoyance, however, the door to the room creaked open, a new presence creeping in. 

“Sorry I’m late, you all have seem to have forgotten me back on my server.”

Everyone watched as the figure approached, Fundy shrinking in his seat. Tommy stiffened in his own, one hand in Tubbo’s, the other clamped around Fundy’s wrist. Tubbo, on the other hand, glared at the floor as he held onto Tommy’s hand, as if that alone would solve their issues. The figure, now more visible to be Dream, hummed as he stood in between the three boys and the members of his server. Seeming to only focus on the three, he crossed his arms as he laughed.

“Wow, I didn’t think I’d see you three again. Tommy, Tubbo, it’s been years. Good to see you two in good shape. Fundy, I haven’t seen you in a little over two years. Didn’t think that I’d find you here, of all places. Did you all miss m-”

SMACK

Everyone stared in shock as Dream held onto his face, trying to keep his mask steady as he regained his balance. Once he quickly regained his composure, he quickly turned to face his “attacker.” Standing in all her glory, stood his sister, hands on her hips as she stood there, anger simmering underneath her mask. As she stood up straight, she hummed in acknowledgment as Lani walked up beside her, leaning on her for support. Holding her hand out, Lani smirked as Drista gave her a high five. The beginning of their best friend handshake was cut short, however, when Dream spoke up once again.

“Drista? When did you get here? Is this where you’ve been? Why haven’t you come by to visit me-”

“Oh, I don’t know, why did you never reach out to me? And if you had bothered to show up to the revealing of the park on time, you would have known where I’ve been. Now sit down and stay quiet so we can all catch up.”

“And none of you better try attacking! All guests are unable to do any form of pvp that’s not in any of the special arenas, so don’t even try!”

“Yeah, what Lani said!”

--------

The group was walking to the opposite side of Tavern Town, towards the booth games. Fundy was walking with Quackity and Karl, telling them of al the projects he had done since he last saw them. Not trusting her brother at all, Drista walked beside Dream, Lani joining in on keeping an eye on the admin. Tubbo was catching up with Ranboo, as well as timidly speaking with an unusually kind Schlatt. Humming as he walked in the front of the group, Tommy bopped his head as he replayed a song in his head. Opening his mouth, he quietly sang out the lyrics that swam in his head.

“He’s in your bed-”

“-I’m in your Twitch chat”

Jumping slightly, Tommy turned to see Wilbur, walking up to be by his side. Joining him in this was both Phil and Techno, the three of them as awkward as ever. Unsure as to what to expect from them, Tommy just gave them a nod of acknowledgment. As much as he wanted to embrace the three of them into a grand hug, telling them how much he missed and loved them, he didn’t dare to do so. After all the years they spent away from each other, he was able to reflect and forgive them for the wrong things they’ve done to him, intentional or not. What he didn’t know, however, was how they viewed him after all these years. Did they forgive him for all the troublesome chaos he caused, intentional or not? Could they find it in themselves to do so? He didn’t blame them if they didn’t, he wasn’t even sure if he would.

“You know, we thought that you had died, mate. No one had seen you in so long after...after L’manburg. And I know he isn’t family, but he practically was, so it was concerning when Tubbo went missing too. Then, out of nowhere, Fundy was gone overnight. I thought I lost my family, so I became desperate to get Wilbur back so that the three of us could get you all back.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, mate?”

“Why get us back? Why want us as family?”

Did he forgive them? Yes, of course he did. Doesn’t mean that he had to forget their actions, as well as the consequences that came from them. Doesn’t mean that he wasn’t allowed to question their decisions. He still loved them, sure, but he needed answers. He needed to know if they loved him back, if they loved all of them. He watched as Wilbur was in deep thought, trying to find the right words to say. He turned to see Phil, emotion running through his face as he stared at Tommy, not knowing what to say to his questions. The last person he thought would speak up, spoke up.

“We were blinded by our own emotions, Thes- er, Tommy. That’s not an excuse for our impulsive decisions, especially ones that put your life at stake, we know this. But we are family, as much as I tried to run away from that fact over the last few years. I let the voices and the power that I held as a pvp god distract me from my original mission.”

“Original mission? What was that?”

“Protecting you. Well, protecting everyone in my family. I have always been protective of my family, but the first night you were brought home changed how I handled that. The moment you laughed, I knew that I had to get stronger to keep all of you safe. I never thought that I’d use that strength against the very same person who brought me to want to become stronger. I’m not going to beat around the bush, we’ve been a shit family to each other these past years. We’ve hurt you, in ways that we may not even know. But, Tommy, if you let us, we can try to be the family you deserve.”

Tommy stared at his eldest brother, surprise painting his face. Blinking a few times, he switched his gaze over to both Phil and Wilbur, before returning it to Techno. Lightly biting his tongue, he took his gaze off of the pink haired warrior and faced the front, refusing to look at any of the three men walking beside him. Finally putting proper words together in his mind, Tommy spoke up once more.

“You all have hurt me in a handful of ways, that is true. But I’ve also hurt all of you, too. For all that, I’m sorry. As for not being a family, that can’t be solved quickly. This isn’t something we can speedrun into a healthy dynamic.”

“Tommy, we-”

“But that doesn’t we still can’t heal. If you are all willing to take the time and effort to work with all of us to fix our family, I’m willing to give you that chance. Oh, and Technoblade? You can call me Theseus, it is a part of my name, after all.”

Tommy couldn’t help but smile as the tension from the three men left their bodies, relief taking its place. Peering behind him, he made eye contact with his nephew, who stared back with worry. His worry, however, melted into a content smile as Tommy gave him a reassuring nod. Waving him over, Tommy smiled as Fundy excused himself, jogging up to be at his uncle’s sign. 

“Hey, Tom- Hey!”

“Haha! Look at you, being all amazing!”

“Can you not be an embarrassing uncle for five seconds?”

“Nope!”

Fundy rolled his eyes at his uncle, laughing for a while before standing up straight. Ducking his head in nervousness, he gave a shy smile and wave to his grandfather, as well as his other uncle and father. Before words were exchanged, however, a frantic wail filled the air, catching Fundy’s attention immediately. Taking a few steps in front of everyone else, he kneeled down with arms open. Running towards him was Theo, wide eyes as he reached for his father, who lifted him into the air in an instant. Burrowing his face into the neck of his father, Theo dramatically wailed once more. The concern that once filled Fundy and Tommy had melted away at this. They now knew that he wasn’t in danger, he was just overreacting. The two of them would bet anything that a certain gremlin was behind this. 

“Theo, what’s wrong, buddy?”

“SHE WAS GIVEN A SWORD, WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!”

Fundy and Tommy gave each other a look, both unsure as how to respond to that. A shrill shriek of joy caught the entire group’s attention. There, frantically swiping a wooden sword in the air, came a joyful Clementine at full speed. Running up to Fundy, she began to jump up and down, sword waving in the air, as she tried to reach Theo, who had managed to climb on top of his father’s head.

“DON’T LET HER REACH ME, PAPA!!! SHE’S CRAZY WITH THAT THING!!!”

Theo shrunk behind his father’s hat as Clementine reacted to his statement by growling at the fox hybrid. Sighing, Tommy scooped up the rowdy child, who squealed as she hugged the sword.

“Clem, ya can’t go around swinging a sword at your cousin. And don’t ever hug an actual sword, ever, dear god. I’d like you to keep your fucking limbs, Jesus Christ.”

Clem only responded to this with a giggly smile, turning back to face her cousins. Fundy rolled his eyes as he plucked his son off his head, cradling him in his arm as Theo hugged his father’s hat in his chest. 

“Clem, what do we say when we hurt someone or make them scared?”

“SUCK IT!!!”

“For fucks sake, Clementine, no. We say that to jackasses and assholes, not to your cousin. Try again, Clem.”

“Humph, sorry, TT.”

“Hm, okay! I forgive you, CC!”

Before the children, who were now conversing in their own secret language, were introduced to everyone, a concerned Grian and Kristin ran over. Once they saw the children, they physically relaxed. 

“Thank goodness they came to you guys, we nearly panicked when they ran. Things were going great, but then Clementine whacked Grian on the foot before turning her attention to Theo.”

“It’s what we expected, this is Clementine we’re talking about.”

“Grian? Is that really you?”

Grian stiffened as he turned to face Phil, Wilbur and Techno staring at him in disbelief. Rubbing his arm in uncertainty, he watched as Phil walked up to him. Eyes scanning his face, Phil let out a strangled noise as he threw his arms around Grian, never expecting to see his first missing son after all the years that passed by. Grian let out a sigh as he hugged back, a smile painted on his face. Pulling away, he let out a laugh as he turned to his brothers. Shooting Tommy a look, Grian snickered at the nod of approval given to him. Turning back to Wilbur and Techno, he let out a hearty laugh as he yelled out words that Techno knew too well.

“OH, I’M PRESSING THAT HUG BUTTON!!!”

“Wait-”

Tommy wheezed out a laugh as Wilbur and Techno were pulled into a group hug by Grian, the triplets finally being reunited. It wasn’t until they heard the choked up and shy tone that came when Phil spoke.

“Kristin? How, uh, hey! How up? What’s you? Shit, wait, no. How are you?”

“Really? Decades separated, and this is the greeting I get.”

“I didn’t mean to be-”

“At least buy me dinner, sheesh.”

[ura-writes]

Trampolinist - Part Two

Part summary: You encounter a few strange teenagers, discover blown-up ruins, and find out about who caused them.

Warnings: mild anxiety, thoughts of murder, blood, threats, lots of swears

A/N - I got a good few requests asking for a taglist for Trampolinist, so here it is! Just ask and you shall be added!

@lemonmochitea

@dad-ee-drea

@victoria-a567

Also, this is non-canon compliant, but only by a bit. I may change a few small details.

Hope y’all enjoy!

(Also, if you can find the movie reference I put in here, then kudos to you!)

——

A lingering curiosity sits in the back of your head for the rest of the week, not quelled by any amount of Bedwars or Skywars, which leave you exhausted in the evenings.

Even your dreams hold inquisitiveness.

How lovely.

Eventually you have to go back to your home world to check on your animals, repair your tools and the like. It’s tedious work, but nothing you can’t handle.

Boredom eventually sets in.

It’s unnerving. You never get bored of combat, of competition between your fellow players and teammates, but here you are, eyeing the list of servers on your grid.

Only two people are on the server at the moment, their names not available for whatever reason. You’d prefer to pop on when there were no people online, mostly to scope out the server, but you’ll take only having to deal with two people.

Hopefully they’re adults and not kids that recently learned to use portals.

You stick your pointer finger out, curl it like you’re dragging it down a wall; a ripple starts where your finger lands, slowly following its path downwards. It rips a hole through the fabric of woven servers, creating a direct link to the Dream SMP. You just hope that no one attempts to close the portal, as opening one in the first place takes a good deal of energy and effort.

A sight of spruce trees and misplaced dirt greets your vision through the rip in reality.

An odd spawnpoint, but whatever. You’re not one to judge.

In the corner of your eye, where chat normally sits, a message pops up.

TommyInnit: who the fcuck

TommyInnit: what

TommyInnit: NEWY PERFHSAON

Ranboo: ah yes, perfhsaon

TommyInnit: shut the fuck n up

You chuckle at the messages rapidly crowding the chat, watching them fade idly while trying to find a way out of the really weird spawnpoint, which is, for some reason, walled off by a combination of dirt, wood and stone haphazardly placed down, as if in a hurry.

Your efforts do not go unrewarded as you spot a section of the wall that sits lower than the rest, low enough to climb over if you try hard enough.

Perfect.

Feet hit the ground rapidly as you get a running start towards the wall, scrambling upward after you jump. You fall almost immediately off the other side.

“Ouch.”

“That looked like that hurt.”

You glance upward to meet heterochromic eyes, red and green contrasting with the curious face split in half by its black and white sides. A tail flicks behind the person as their crown slips a bit down their head.

“Wh—the fuck?”

The figure laughs at your reaction, offering a gloved hand out to help you off the ground. Hesitantly, you accept, being pulled up easily, and that’s when you realize that he’s a lot taller than you thought.

“Jesus, you’re tall,” you comment idly, brushing yourself off. “Thanks, by the way.”

“No problem. I’m Ranboo.”

You introduce yourself with your tag, which elicits a hum of recognition from him, much to your pleasant shock and surprise.

“You’re the person that Dream invited, aren’t you?”

“In the flesh.”

He laughs at your quip at him, smiling with sharp fangs exposed to the midday sunlight. No point in judging a person on their (potentially, anyway) monstrous features.

“Well, you probably need a tour—“

He’s quickly interrupted by a loud “hey!”

“Oh great,” you mutter, crossing your arms. Ranboo looks a bit sheepish at your cocked eyebrow and slightly irritated expression, scratching his bi-colored hair.

“That’s Tommy. He’s uh… well, Tommy.”

A teenager wearing a red and white shirt and jeans with battered sneakers comes sprinting out of the nearby forest, coming to a halt just in front of you.

“New person!”

“Yeah, and what are you, the gremlin that got fed after midnight?”

The kid sputters out a few protests against being called a gremlin, sprinkling a good few swears in his jumbled sentences that mostly consist of rambles.

When Tommy gets his bearings, he eyes your tag, squinting at it suspiciously before his eyes widen in recognition.

“You’re the bastard that beat the shit out of me in Bedwars! Get ove’ here—“

One of Ranboo’s arms shoots out to grab the lanky teenager with ease to stop his potential assault on you. You just brush your nails off on your shirt.

“Oi! Lemme a’em!”

“No, Tommy, remember what Tubbo said?” Ranboo lectures, tail flicking in annoyance, eyes trained on him. “Remember?”

“You’re one to talk about rememberin’.”

Ranboo cocks an eyebrow.

“No punchin’ people we don’t know unless they’ve hurt us…” Tommy grumbles. “Can ya lemme go now?”

Ranboo agrees, letting go of his shirt and summoning a journal and quill to write something down in, muttering that he’s almost out of ink.

“Anyway, how about that tour now?”

You smile at him.

Maybe you’ll like this place.

——

“...and this is L’Manburg… or what’s left of it, anyway. It’s still being rebuilt.”

“How’d it get destroyed?” you ask him. “It takes a lot of TNT, Withers and dedication to destroy a city this big.”

I should know.

Tommy eyes Ranboo.

“Hey, it’s your city. I’m not explaining it,” Ranboo defends against the wordless accusation. Tommy exhales with a groan and begins his explanation.

“Wil-Wilbur, my brother, went a bit insane a few months back, blew it all up with Technoblade’s help. Wil’s… well, he’s dead.” Tommy sounds indifferent about the death, much to your surprise.

You nod absentmindedly, setting your eyes on a slightly obscured poster that flaps in the wind. When you get close enough to pin it down it reads:

Wanted: Dead or Alive. High Treason, Inciting Violence, Unlawful Use of Explosives, Extreme Terrorism.

Reward: See Authorities

Below that is a well-painted picture of a man you somewhat recognize, wearing a red cape, a crown, full enchanted Netherite armor and carrying an axe that seems to shimmer in the light.

Technoblade. You’ve had a few run-ins with him playing Bedwars and Skywars, even teaming up with him a few times. He always seemed nice enough, and certainly a damn good sword fighter. He always knew when to run and when to stand and fight, when to attack and when to defend.

“What did he do?”

Ranboo starts to speak, but Tommy interrupts him.

“Blew the rest o’ this place up. Bastard ran after that.” Tommy all but spits the words out of his mouth, like they’re acid or venom. “Fookin’ coward.”

Well, I wouldn’t call ‘knowing when to run’ cowardice, but we’ll pretend I agree, child.

“No one knows where he is now,” Ranboo adds. “Except Phil, of course. But he’s pretty much silent about it. Won’t give up a word of information.”

Shouldn’t be that hard to find one man, you muse to yourself. Bet I could.

“Well, I’ll let you know if I find anything out,” you lie with a smile plastered on your lips. “Y’know, as a sort of gift to you as the newest member of the server.”

Hah, as if.

“We’ll hold you to that.”

You nod and say your goodbyes, walking towards the central nether portal while keeping an eye out for an ender chest so you can get some of your stuff. You know the admin will take your elytra away if it so much as comes into contact with the server’s air, so you decide not to risk it.

Spotting one, you make a small noise of triumph and dart over there, grabbing the shulker with your stuff in it, transferring it to your inventory with a practiced ease.

Armor adorns your figure, enchanted Netherite striking an imposing silhouette against the blackstone beneath your feet. You twirl your sword with a grin.

Now to find Technoblade.

——

Turns out, finding a piglin hybrid is not easy.

You scoured the Nether for any sign of him, any trace of fabric, of a broken pickaxe, hell even a piece of iron he may have held. The ability you hold as a Jumper not only allows you to jump servers, but also allows you to find people if you have something of theirs.

Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Nil. Absolutely jack shit.

How can one man be so difficult to track down?

Just as you’re about to give up, a barrage of curses at the tip of your tongue, a glint of iron catches your eye.

Odd.

Hopping over a cluster of Netherrack and scaring off a few baby Striders, you see a small circle of iron sitting in a pile of red dust, looking dented and beat up.

You huff and brush the dust off of it, titling your head to the side when it reveals itself.

A compass, pointing in one direction, working even in the Nether.

Standing up, you pocket it and head to the nearest portal, jumping through to the other side only to grab the compass out of your pocket as you walk to who-knows-where. It still points in the same direction as before, only moving when you do.

An irregularity in the metal against your hand inspires you to flip the compass over to look at the back.

What lies there makes you smirk.

Technoblade’s cabin. Phil’s compass.

This might be easier than you initially thought.

:)

[weallpartyatybcpatricksfuneral]

I'll be making this into a long fic, but for now I chose to keep it short. Hermitcraft x Dream SMP crossover

Title: button

Grian sat down at the oak wood table, brow furrowed. Another day, another failed attempt to reconnect to Hermitcraft. The strange glitch that had caused the border to fall in the first place must have been repaired, for the world border was back up and running. His communicator didn’t work outside of his home server, and Phil’s crows (who insisted on following the man everywhere, and who Phil had put up to the task of flying between the severs, trying to gather intel on the border glitch and if people were trying to find him) haven’t delivered any news. 

    The builder glanced out the window as the sun set over the horizon. Past that was Hermitcraft. His home. What was Mumbo doing? Scar? Iskall? Xisuma? How was the war progressing without him? Did anyone notice his absence? No, Grian, don’t get sad. Happy thoughts only...Happy thoughts. 

    “Grain!” 

    Torn away from his thoughts, Grian looked up to see Philza, his dark grey wings fluffed up in distress. “Wil’s sent a letter.” The avian said, holding up a piece of paper. 

    “Well, that’s good!” Phil had been under extreme stress these past couple of days since Wilbur hadn’t sent a letter in weeks and the past few he had sent were...concerning, to say the least. “What’s it say?” 

    Another letter should have been a relief, but from the look on Phil’s face, Grian concluded that this letter was everything except relief.

    “It’s just a date, time, and coordinates. November 16th, noon, with a set of coords in L’Manberg…” Phil’s voice trailed off as his dark emerald eyes scanned the page, over and over, as if he were looking for more writing than just a simple date. 

    “That’s tomorrow, innit?” Grian questioned, trying to distract the man from his distress. That’s how Grian ignored his. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. “I mean, you’ll be able to see your sons, check up on Wil?” 

    “Something doesn’t feel right about this, Grain.” Even after all this time together, Phil still called him Grain. Grian stifled a laugh, as it wasn’t the appropriate time to giggle. “His last few letters concerned me. He mentioned something in his last one about 11 and a half stacks of TNT.” Phil looked Grian dead in the eye and whispered, “Grain, I think Wilbur is going to blow L’Manberg!” 

    “But why?” Grian attempted to rationalize with the distraught Phil, who was now pacing across the room making stressed-out bird noises. “He won the election, shouldn’t he be content with that?” This type of stuff never happened on Hermitcraft. There were never serious talks of blowing up anyone’s builds, much less an entire country! The only time TNT is used is in pranks, and they always helped clean up after. 

    “You clearly don’t know Wilbur...He’s a force of chaos, I’ll tell you that. A creative little shit who always comes up with new ways to get what he wants. If he wants L’Manberg gone, then he’ll go to crazy lengths to achieve that goal.”

    Silence fell. 

    “We need to get to L’Manberg. Now. It’s about a day’s flight from here, and we need to leave now if we want to get there as fast as fucking possible.” Phil tucked the letter into the pocket of his dark green kimono and flexed his wings. Unlike Grian, who used the sleek and slim elytra to fly about, Philza had a pair of actual feathery wings. Upon arrival, Phil explained that he was a bird hybrid, also known as an avian. He had feathers on the sides of his face and neck with elfish ears. Back on Hermitcraft, every member of the server was human. 

Grian and Phil started out on their journey north, towards the world border of Dream SMP. The sun had risen, and the world border was in sight. Phil stated that Dream, the apparent Admin of the server, had agreed to let up the border for a few seconds to let Phil and Grian inside. Phil took a rest on a tree, breathing heavily after hours of non-stop flight.  

“You alright, Big P?” If Phil could nickname him Grain, Grian would nickname him as well. A smile twinged across Phil’s face. 

“Ahh...You sound so much like my youngest, Tommy. He says that to people too. You remind me of him so much. Right down to your red shirt and the aura of pure, unbridled chaos you emit.” 

Both men laughed. Grian really enjoyed Phil’s laugh, and despite how giggly and giddy the avian usually was, it had been a few days since he had last heard him laugh. Wilbur’s lack of letters had really spooked him. 

“Will you stay?” 

“Hmm?” 

“In L’Manberg. I mean, it’s closer to your sons.” 

Phil shrugged and drank a potion of strength, and stood. 

“I might, depending on what happens. If my theory is correct, and Wilbur is going to blow the place up, then I’ll probably stay. Just to help him out and help clean up y’know? Maybe I’ll be able to convince him to come home. Before you got here, I was...really lonely.” 

“Well, you won’t be lonely anymore! Since I can’t return home yet, I’ll be your friend so you don’t have to be lonely!” 

“Thanks, Grain.” 

“You’re welcome, Big P!” 

The two rose and started to fly towards the world border. Maybe Grian could make a new home on Dream SMP. The builder already started making plans for an epic build, having a vague idea in his head. However, he would have to inspect the landscapes available to see what his block palette would be and what style his build would be. Grian thought of his mansion back home and wanted to build something similar to remember it. 

“Oi! Grain! You there mate?” 

Grian shook his head as he was, again, dragged from his daydreams by Phil. They had arrived at the world border. “I’ve sent word to Dream, he should be letting us in soon.” 

“Alrighty! What kind of base do you want to build if you stay?”

    Phil just shrugged. “Eh. Don’t know just yet. Don’t want to start anything too ambitious, like a Hardcore project.” 

Grian kept forgetting that this man held the world record for the longest Hardcore run. Phil was only 5”4 and didn’t look that intimidating. He looked loving and fatherly, and Grian considered Phil to be like a father to him. But the man was a dedicated Hardcore player, and could easily take Grian down in a fight. It scared him, sometimes, about how little he actually knew about Phil. 

“Alright, mate, let’s go.” The blue striped border had been removed by the mysterious admin, and the two flew into Dream SMP. Grian felt a buzz from his communicator and pulled it from his pocket. 

<Grian joined the game>  

<Ph1LzA joined the game> 

Unlike in Hermitcraft, when a member joins the server (especially a new member), the entire chat would be flooded with ‘hello!’ messages. However, on the Dream SMP, there were one or two directed at Phil. How peculiar. Phil went silent as they flew over the woods and forest. In the distance, Grian could see what appeared to be a city. That must be L’Manberg. It wasn’t as big or as grand as some builds on Hermitcraft, heck his own base would have taken up over half of the area if he lived there. On a tall pole lay what Grian assumed was the flag of L’Manberg, inky black, with a fiery red arch and X. Interesting design. Phil didn’t go into the city, however, he flew towards the coordinates that Wilbur had written in his letter, his brow furrowed. Fireworks crackled and popped throughout L’Manberg. 

Grian landed with Phil, in front of a small tunnel that bore deep into a hill that was just outside the country. 

“It’s now or never. Grain, stay behind me.” Phil tucked the letter away and led Grian through the tunnel, and into a compact stone room. Carved into the wall were words. No, not just words. Lyrics. 

I heard there was a special place, 

where men could go and emancipate. 

From the brutality and tyranny of their rulers. 

Well, this place was real, you needn’t fret, 

With Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, fuck Eret. 

It’s a very big place, not blown up L’Manberg. 

MY L’MANBERG

MY L’MANBERG

MY L’MANBERG…

Those lyrics were carved all over the stone walls, and in the middle, was a stone button. In front of that button, was Philza’s eldest son, Wilbur. 

Grian had never actually seen Wilbur before, only in an old picture of when Phil, Wilbur, and Phil’s other two sons, Tommy and Technoblade, won MCC 4. In that picture, Wilbur wore a cute yellow sweater with a brown beanie, with a shimmering smile on his face. 

The man that stood before them now was not that person. It couldn’t be. Wilbur stood, hunched over a stone button, whispering to himself. He donned a brown trenchcoat and ditched the beanie. 

“What are you doing?” Phil asked.

Wilbur turned to face them. His eyes had no emotion in them, his smile no longer shimmered. Standing before them was an insane man. 

“I will admit,” Wilbur said. His voice sent a chill down Grian’s spine, “Do you know what this is? What this button is?” Phil’s speculations appeared to be true. Wilbur was trying to destroy L’Manberg. 

“Uh huh. I do.” How, how could Phil be so calm? 

“Have you heard the song? The song on the walls?” Wilbur’s fingers gently ran over the words ‘MY L’MANBERG’. His eye twitched, “I was just making a big point you know? About how there was a special place, it was a special place. But that's not there anymore.” Wil’s voice lowered to a hush. 

“It is there, Wil, it's out there.” 

“PHIL I’M ALWAYS SO CLOSE TO PRESSING THIS BUTTON! I’VE BEEN HERE LIKE SEVEN OR EIGHT TIMES--” Voices from above cut Wilbur off. Grian could hear footsteps above them. Wilbur turned his eyes to the stone ceiling and lowered his voice. “Oh they're going to come…I need to block this off.” Wilbur hastily piled blackstone bricks in the doorway, which not only sealed whoever “they” were out, but also sealed Grian, Phil, and Wilbur in.

“Oh Phil...I’ve been here so many times.” 

Numerous fireworks exploded outside. 

<Tubbo_ went off with a bang due to a firework fired from [Rocket Launcher] by Technoblade> 

“Oh they’re fighting, they’re fighting…” WIlbur whispered, sounding tired. 

“And you just want to...to blow it all up? You fought so hard for this land, Wilbur, and you just want to...destroy it all?” Phil tried to reason.

“I don’t even know if the button works anymore, Phil, I could press it, and it might--”

“Do you want to risk it? There is a lot of TNT potentially connected to that button.” 

Wilbur seemed to hear him. His breathing got heavier as he returned to that hunched over position over the stone button. What was this place? Nothing serious ever happened on Hermitcraft. There were no seriously high stakes, there were no serious threats, no serious danger. It was all in good fun. 

“There...there was a saying, Phil...by, uh, by a traitor. Once part of L’Manberg, don’t know if you ever heard of Eret, but he had a saying.” 

Wilbur looked up at Phil. Grian could see the familiar resemblance between the two, they shared emerald green eyes. 

“It was never meant to be.” Wilbur whispered that phrase, and pressed the stone button. 

[ao3feed-crimeboys]

And The Fandom Rejoiced (or Nice Job Breaking It, Hero) - the jury's still out

by trashyinferno

Philza (Head Gappler): So many applications, so little time, but I think we’ve come up with a set of well-balanced, fantastic teams that will create some truly spectacular work in the coming weeks! Here’s the list of teams!

Writer/Artist/Non-Trad Dream/pandasrcool/GeorgeNotFound halfnhalf/Tubbo_/Purpled The_Eret/AweSamSauce/nikibakes POGGERS4269/The_Blade/Lvjy

amber_run: someone get the tv tropes page ready. we’re about to get the new trope header for And The Fandom Rejoiced. or Nice Job Breaking It, Hero. one of the two.

Or, the one where TV Series: The SMP is taking the world by storm. In preparation for Season 3, Philza, admin on the fan site Gapple Gang, hosts a fandom event where one artist, one fic writer, and one non-traditional artist all work together to create a fan work.

(Famous) Fic Author Tommy is terrified when he's paired with musician Lvjy and artist The_Blade. The fandom is in shambles. Phil can't stop laughing.

Words: 4708, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Dream SMP

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo, Wilbur Soot, Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Phil Watson | Philza, Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)

Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit

Additional Tags: Social Media, Social Media AU, fanfic author tommyinnit, fan artist technoblade, fan musician wilbur soot, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Angst, TommyInnit Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot Needs a Hug, Phil Watson is a gremlin, and I love it, Author Is Sleep Deprived, what have I done?, the chaos, Ensues, Identity Reveal, First Meetings, San Diego Comic-Con, MCYT Fic Fight 2022, MCYT Fic Fight Team Mushroom

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/41100582

[votederpycausemufins]

God i love the trope of people who have animal traits going feral. So writing Grian is fun. I just realized that one time Grian said ‘I am the embodiment of twitch chat’ could imply those voices. i meant, it’s a stretch, but eh, whatever.

@petrichormeraki

Tommy hated how soon they were already gathered, preparing for another war. Hermitcraft was safe, the only wars were simply fun between friends. But now it was just like back on the smp. “I’ve got my disc box ready.” Tommy put the shulker in his inventory, looking over at Mumbo. “What about you?”

“I’m not really the best at these fights, so I’m just geared up and hoping I don’t die helping people out of here.”

“Help people out? What, are some of the hermits chickening out?” Tommy joked to lighten the mood, but it didn’t help.

“No. No one is going to just run off during all this. Grian’s our friend, practically family. But plenty of the people from your old world have been visiting. And with how you’ve talked about them, I doubt all of them will leave even though they should. And… Xisuma isn’t here. I don’t know how its supposed to work, but if he’s not here, we might not respawn.”

Tommy felt his blood run cold. He hadn’t thought of that. He could actually die. It had been so long since he was worried, having only one canon life left. He remembered Xisuma telling him he had ten, and every time he asked if a death counted, the admin said it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until election 2 that he thought it had to be canon when he finally realized that he was never going to run out of lives. No one was. But now he could. 

“Well, I know them best. I should probably help with that.”

“You’re a better fighter, if either of us is going after Grian, it should be you.”

“Look, how about we just both fly over there now and help get people out, and when the fighting starts, we fly back to give whoever was already fighting a break.” Tommy suggested, and Mumbo reluctantly agreed.

Grian was flying towards a new island, one he knew was going to have everyone that wasn’t supposed to be there. Maybe Tommy will be there too. No way, he’ll be after Grian. But some of those people were his friends, right? Don’t you remember, Tommy said they abandoned him, exiled him. He forgave Tubbo easily. That’s different. How? Oh shit what’s that. Did Grian build that? AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

Grian stopped listening and actually focused on the portal that had appeared in front of him. He hadn’t made it, especially since he didn’t have anyone to put there. So he tried to fly around it. It disappeared thankfully, but another appeared. Tubbo did say that cat was Tommy’s friend too. That was a cat? We could go and bring her back out. She might know where Tommy is! Oh that’s true! Grian dived into the portal.

“Oh look who finally dragged themselves home. It’s Xelqua.” Grian looked for the voice, then glared at them.

“You know I haven’t used that name since I was in your world Lynn.” Grian ruffled his feathers before preening them.

“Duck meat.”

“Mystic bitch.”

“Seed breath.”

“Rabbit freak.”

“Feather fart.”

“Pa-” “Grian, Lynn. Calm yourselves.” Grian stopped his insult to look at who approached.

“Sorry Zloy.” Grian said, rolling his eyes and then sticking his tongue out at Lynn.

“I saw that.”

“I know you did! What don’t we see?” Grian crossed his arms. Can he really boss you around like that? That dude is big. Bet you could- Grian shook his head to get those pesky voices to shut up. “Why am I here?”

“Pin was really upset that you left so early. Noah’s the only one that didn’t mind, but obviously you should have stayed longer.” Zloy spoke in a disapproving tone.

“Hey, Tommy is my brother. If Gxrgeous didn’t let things get this bad-” Grian started to complain, but Zloy cut him off.

“She doesn’t want to interfere like the rest of us.”

“Oh but Noah, Goof and Pin can? I’m a watcher because they interfered. You get more watchers by interfering.”

“And what, did you want Tommy to be one too?”

Grian felt his feathers puff up with agitation. “No! Of course not. I’m just saying she could have stopped things before they got to children being put in wars!”

“And here you are making more.” Lynn taunted Grian, making him even angrier.

“They started it by showing up in the first place to take Tommy! I only broke my promise to save him!”

“And what about now?” Zloy asked, drawing Grian’s attention back to him. “Why continue it?”

“Contin- What are you talking about? What, is Gxrgeous upset I’m helping out where she failed?”

“Pixlriffs, did you open up a window yet?” There was an answer of affirmation and suddenly Grian was staring into a watcher portal.

“And den we went to space! And dere were impastas and I got ta be one wit my dad, and we killed everyone and Sprinklez was so happy!” Crumb explained to Xisuma. The admin nodded along, half paying attention as he tried once more to access his admin panels and get them out of there.

“X! Where are we?!” Xisuma looked up and then around until he saw Iskall getting closer, falling from above with one of their other guests, Hbomb.

“I have no clue. I’m not getting any readings and I can’t access any admin panels to get us out of here.”

“Hey! You guys are my dad’s friends!” Crumb recognized Iskall, though she had only briefly seen him, and the other guy looked familiar, so that must have been who Sparklez said they just found. “We’ve been falling forever and it, well it was getting a little lonely but now we can share more stories!”

“Well, based on what was going on, might be something to do with Watchers with how Grian was looking. Though he was going to kill me when we saw him.”

“I have absolutely no clue what’s going on.” Hbomb spoke up, hoping the other three would have some explanation for him. Okay maybe just the two hermits, he wasn’t completely sure how much he would get out of Crumb.

“What does he mean with how I was looking? I’m just trying to hang out with my family!” Grian argued, making Zloy look a little confused.

“Grian, you started using your watcher powers to attack people. You threw those four in a Watcher portal, but as there is no new world prepared yet, they’re stuck in a place where no world exists.”

“What? But, I mean while I have trouble controlling myself when I’m using my watcher powers, I can remember everything once I’m a little more lucid. I mean, you remember the explosion.”

“Of course, Pixlriffs ran to me as soon as he noticed it was happening. Do you really not remember this going on?” Grian shook his head. “That’s not good. And we can’t look into it much if you’re here, so we’ll have to send you back.”

“Zloy, if you have to interfere, don’t let people get hurt.” Grian suddenly felt small and nervous, scared for his friends' safety. “And please, try not to let me go too haywire.”

“We can try, but until we know what’s going on…”

“I get it. But you better get Gxrgeous’ help too since this involves them now.”

“We will.”

Another portal appeared and Grian recognized the world of Hermitcraft on the other side. He didn’t want to go through, but if he didn’t now, he might never get to return. So he stepped through. Do you really think they know what they’re doing? Yoooo it was Zloy. Are you new, we’ve seen him before. We still need to keep Tommy safe, right? Hey Philza logged in. The dadza! Dadzaaaaaa. Guys, now I want pizza. What if he takes Tommy? Oh yeah, he shouldn’t be here either. Infinity portal time guys.

Grian sped up his flying, more determined to reach the island now.

Tommy was surprised to see a familiar avian as he and Mumbo landed on the island. “Phil? What are you doing here?”

The hardcore player looked surprised to see Tommy so soon. “I’m actually here for you Tommy. What’s going on?”

“Grian’s gone crazy and is apparently attacking people. I’m here to help get people back to the smp with Mumbo.” He moved to push Philza back through the portal. “So now is like the worst time for a visit.”

“Feels like it’s more of a perfect time to bring you back.”

Tommy, who was more focused on helping everyone else, suddenly looked over at Philza. “What? No, I’m staying! I’m staying right here! You should understand that! I’m going to help Grian! Just because you didn’t have him for like 15 years or something, doesn’t mean he’s not family!”

Philza grabbed Tommy’s arm. “And that’s exactly why you should come back. I saw him start going on a rampage because of you. What if this is just some of the same?”

Tommy shook his head. “That could just mean me leaving could make it worse.”

“Guys! I know your argument must be very fascinating, but I’m pretty sure that’s Grian flying towards us!” Mumbo yelled to get their attention and Philza and Tommy looked up to where the redstoner was pointing, Grian indeed flying towards them. 

Tommy yanked his arm away and started to pull out his shulker box when purple energy formed around the watcher avian and suddenly he was gone. Tommy’s eyes scanned the sky until a yell came from right behind him. When the blond turned, he had to crane his neck up to see the form Grian had taken. He looked like something out of stories he heard from one of the hermits. Angels with multiple wings and eyes covering them. Tommy could tell it was Grian, but at the same time, he didn’t.

“Dear lord.” Tommy heard Mumbo mumble. Grian was holding Philza in talons as a portal slowly formed made mostly of bedrock. Though Tommy was upset at his dad, he still didn’t want anything to happen to him. Fortunately the hardcore player could handle himself and stabbed Grian. He dropped to the ground and lost his health, but not knowing where that portal would lead, it was a better option. 

Tommy ran to his dad, ready to defend him, but the Watcher’s attention was drawn by another smp member who was trying to get to the infinity portal. With a swipe of a wing, Grian pushed the smp member into his own portal. A moment later he was going after someone else.

“Tommy, He’s after people from the smp.” Philza realized. “He’s going to go after you.”

Tommy didn’t want to believe it, but he knew the communicators didn’t work between worlds. That’s why they couldn’t find Xisuma or Tubbo. “Then let him, Tubbo’s gone. He’s got to be in there too.”

“No Tommy. If he’s after us, he won’t stop until we’re all gone. If you want to help Grian, you have to come home!” Tommy was pulled to look his father in the eyes. He hadn’t seen Philza look this scared in ages. And he was probably right. 

“Okay fine. Let’s go back.” Tommy nodded, and then followed his dad towards the infinity portal. Right before they could reach it, Grian noticed and dropped the person he was holding to go after Tommy, but before he could reach them, they had gone through.

The moment they got to the other side, Tommy regretted his decision. “What’s Dream doing here? Why isn’t he in the vault.”

“Tommy, come on, don’t be so harsh.” Dream spoke, trying to seem like no threat, but Tommy knew better and drew his weapon. “You came back with your dad, so as promised I won’t be too harsh on you.”

Tommy inhaled sharply, turning to look at Phil. “You were working with him?! Grian’s back there and you thought that bringing me back to Dream was going to be better than me helping my brother?!”

“Tommy, he-”

“I don’t want to hear it! I’m sick of trusting you! You always say you’re going to be there for me, but then you turn around and work with someone who’s going to hurt me.”

“Tommy, I’m your friend, I won’t-”

“Shut up green bitch. I’m going back!”

“No, you’re not going back Tommy. Once everyone comes back from visiting that little vacation world of yours, we can close the portal.” Dream spoke, sounding much too confident on something that wouldn’t be happening.

“Then we’ll have to close it now. If they haven’t come in now, they’re not coming through.”

Dream chuckled. “Oh I’m sure they’ll come through. I’ve got someone over there to bring them to the portal.”

“Kinda hard if Grian already got to them.” Tommy crossed his arms. “He’s tossing them in some weird bedrock portal and they’re disappearing. Unless Tubbo came back here.”

Dream stopped. That wasn’t supposed to be happening. “No, they were supposed to be put back through the infinity portal.”

It took a bit for Tommy’s mind to comprehend what Dream meant before he jumped to attack the former admin. “What the fuck did you do to Grian?! This is your fault, isn’t it?! Tubbo’s gone because of you!”

“It’s fine.” Dream gritted out. “He… the watcher messed with you. Saving you when you were falling. Ranboo didn’t have enough of his signature on him, but you. You’ve got to be around him all the time. I can use that.” Tommy tried to run, but Dream anticipated it. “Philza, grab him.”

Raven wings trapped Tommy. He turned around to yell at his dad, but there was just a blank look on his face. “What the fuck are you doing to my family?!” Tommy yelled, trying to escape the wings on his own with little luck.

“I’m just going to make sure everyone comes home and then we can go back to how things were before you ran away. And what better way to do that then to use the power of a Watcher.” Tommy wanted to argue again, but the handle of an axe crashed against his head, and the world went dark.