#My one regret is that this preview image does not make it obvious Impulse was just waxing poetic about tasty emeralds

[fountainpenguin]

"They're alive, they're awake, while the rest of the world is asleep ... Below the mine shaft roads, it will all unfold..." (x)

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New Criminal Experience chapter today!

Chapter 3 - “Spotted”

Read on AO3

Start from Chapter 1

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Mumbo and Impulse arrive in Evernight City... If they manage to shove past BigB and the rest of the raiding party at the gate, it'll be a night of drinks and fine dining for them! Impulse deserves something nice for being such a lovely escort this week, I reckon.

Of course, it's never that simple... is it?

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

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Spotted

Three evenings later…

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Sunset lasts forever in the empty Between dimension. It paints the pink sky all rose petal-red. The desert flatness made it worse, though they're starting to tip into valley land now. That will block most of the sun. Impulse calls the biome a "dry valley," specifically. This isn't Mumbo's first trip to Evernight, but he lets Impulse ramble on about nature and rocks and snow… and it does take his mind (however briefly) off the fact that one of the llamas meandering behind him is full grown while the other is stumbling along on baby feet, her scarlet blanket much too big for her.

"What about this one?" he asks Impulse at one point, indicating the narrow valley they're walking through now. "Dragon-made or wither-made, do you reckon?"

All the land is brown and gray. In some places, the ground scoops so dramatically, Mumbo's certain he wouldn't believe Impulse even if the guy does insist their path was carved by dragon paws. Most of the rocks are pointy, but they're following a thin, semi-trodden path that's at least easier on the llamas' pads. The valley's origins may be a mystery, but the path certainly isn't. This came from other wandering traders. Certainly not Evernight's teleporting natives. When Mumbo pricks his ears, he can hear the distant sounds of minecart wheels in a shaft deep underground. The echo is familiar. It's half-tempting to take a detour and look for redstone dust to collect. Especially if no one out here's using it.

But then… If it were easy to access, other wandering traders would have pinched it long ago. Mumbo resigns himself to keeping on the path with llama reins in hand, hearing out Impulse's every rambled story. In response to his question, Impulse turns a full circle. He starts walking backwards for a few seconds with hands tucked away in his overall pockets. Mumbo waits to see if he'll trip on his tail. Impulse tilts his head. Maybe he too is listening to the echo of the empty world around them. The valley breathes in sunset quiet, apart from the occasional bounce of a rock skittering downhill (tipped by prowling mobs). Down south, the creepers are built like leopards with lithe bodies, pale colors, and fat snowshoe paws. Gleaming eyes size them up. Still, they make no move to approach. Mumbo watches one lick its haunch while an enormous vulture shuffles its wings overhead.

"Technically the valley's natural, actually," Impulse finally says.

"How can you tell, mate?"

Impulse lifts one arm to point. "Old ripple marks way up there. See 'em? There used to be a river running through this place. My guess is the Ender Dragon used commands to drain the water from every chunk in a certain radius around the city. For her kids' sake, I guess. Or half her kids? I actually don't know if endermite hybrids can swim." Then he crouches down and picks up a black and white stone. "I mean, yeah… Some of these rocks are pointy, but you can tell a lot of them had their edges smoothed away across the centuries. That's running water doing its thing."

"I suppose that makes sense… Reckon a boat ride there would've been nice, though."

"Mmhm." Impulse bounces the pretty stone. "How do you say 'stone' in Illager?"

"ᓭℸ ̣ 𝙹リᒷ"

"Geez. I don't think I could pronounce that if I tried."

"What's your native tongue?" He never did ask. It didn't seem the right time to bring it up after Impulse stared so uncomfortably at his to-do list weeks ago.

"Ooh…" He toys with the rock, sliding it between his fingers, and shrugs. "Technically I was raised to speak Ender, but we phantoms accent it with chirps and whistles. You know how we get about contact calls."

"Ah. Ender… Yeah, I can't speak a word of that."

"Really?" Impulse looks back. "So you can't understand dragons? Or does the Wander Dragon speak Illager?"

"Nope. My mum's never been one to coddle her offspring and she's too proud to stoop that far. If we expect to get anywhere in this world, we learn from others or pick it up while traveling ourselves. I'm sure someone in Little Sun could've taught me, but there are just so many languages out there, I didn't know where to start."

Impulse pats his shoulder in sympathy. "Well, I know you've been to Evernight before, but if you need any help understanding the locals, I'll be right with you. They use teleporting as a punctuation mark. Even Skizz laughs at my accent because I substitute wing flaps in for that… but I know enough to get by."

They lapse into quiet again, at least content with it this time around. Mumbo is tired and sore. Impulse is hungry and cold. This late in their travels, his thermos of souls is dry as the valley around them. He keeps glancing sideways. Mumbo catches him lick his lips and clear his throat more than once. That is…

… It's a bad, bad combination of 'tired and hungry' when one of you's a wandering trader on a mission 11, nearly 12 days from your species' spawn temple and the other in the pair is a phantom hybrid. But thus far, Impulse hasn't mentioned it. He keeps a polite distance, walking in front. The speckled rock disappears in his pocket. Like some sort of habit, though, he keeps twisting and untwisting the cap of his empty thermos. It bounces in his hands.

Oh dear…

Eventually, the man will have to eat. Not even soup will take the edge off phantom hunger for that long. Mumbo paints on a smile anyway, forcing it out when Impulse turns. "Almost there," he says, like a sinking ship. It's all been heat and sand and mesa blocks for ages, until the biome shifted and blanketed them with nothing beyond dry rocks and patches of never-melting snow. After a moment's pause, Impulse inclines his head.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, we're almost there, dude. I think we'll see the first buildings around the next bend. I can fly up and take a look if we want." His eyes glint gray in the rosy sunlight, sparking with glints of green every couple seconds. "You feelin' homesick yet?"

That's not… him looking for an opening to take me now, is he?

[Cnt'd on AO3 - Link at top]