#any time he ends up causing cub's death is a personal attack on me actually

[dogboymutual]

hi so i found a video compiling every happy tree friends episode together and now i'm having such a fun time watching them and getting angry at a fictional blue moose

what do you MEAN he rarely if ever dies even (and sometimes especially) if the deaths involved are almost entirely his fault. what do you MEAN he has a higher kill count than The Killer Character (the character they made specifically to kill other characters). what do you MEAN he keeps getting employed despite his laundry list of catastrophic damages he himself previously caused. what do you MEAN his incompetence directly helped cause the only canonical suicide in the series. what do you MEAN he's one of the creators' favorite character

[wannabe-fic-writer]

Natasha Romanoff x Reader : Prove Me Wrong

Summary: She can trust you, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

Warning: 18+ Mental Health, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Violence, Smut

Chapter 2

****** 

Coffee. You use to drink it every morning but that became a bad combination with the wave of emotions you took on. In which you switched to tea. It doesn’t have the exact same effect as the coffee did but it worked perfectly in it’s own way.

Pouring the hot water on the teabag causes a swirl of transparent brown to fill the mug. The steam that rises warms your hand and you release a sigh.

Being distracted means you get startled when dishes start clattering behind you. You jump, spinning around to see who came into the kitchen without you noticing. Only to instantly relax when you see Steve and Rhodey.

“Hey guys.” You smile and wave.

Both men give you a smile and say good morning. 

A small conversation breaks out about some threat over in San Diego. Not knowing anything about it, and it being none of your business, you just fix your tea and a bagel while they chat. And when they’re done Steve is more than willing to get his session started.

Your last session with the man ended with him heartbreakingly sad. The topic of Peggy arising and being addressed.

He’d admitted to you that he considered going back. After Thanos, when he had the stones, he considered staying in the past to be with her. 

When you asked why he didn’t, he told you a number of things. Two important ones making the decision for him. One, when he found her, she was on a date with a man who would later become her husband. And two, despite his regrets over the past, he had things waiting for him in the future/present.

He had built friendships with Tony, Natasha, and Sam. And he had Bucky, his best friend since the beginning of time, or at least Steve’s time.

During this session you ask him how it felt to move on, not just from his second chance with Peggy but even before that, when he woke up from being frozen.

He’d started to tell you how hard it was and how he still doesn’t think he has. But he’s interrupted when his phone rings.

Much to your dismays, he has a mission he’s been called on and has to leave.

Before he walks out you stop him,“ you want some happy?” You seriously ask with a joking smile.

That’s how you’d described your powers to him, after he didn’t get the broader description the second time. You told him that you could take away his hurt and pain and give him happy.

Steve shakes his head,“ I’m good actually. Thanks though.”

Usually, with the busy schedules and occupied minds of the team, you have to go in search for your next patient. With Bucky you don’t. In fact you find him waiting just down the hall when you step outside your office.

Even though he wasn’t eager to be sharing his memories and feelings with you, he always made it a point to show up. You appreciated it.

You wave him over and he’s quick to walk down the hall. Bucky steps in behind you and sits on the couch as you shut the door. Despite the comfortability of the furniture he sits up straight, hands rubbing his knees.

When he glances up at you, you smile comfortingly. You sit in your chair, crossing your ankles as you hold on to your fresh cup of tea.

Like always, the super soldier remains nervously silent. It was a few sessions ago that you came to understand why. He isn’t nervous because of you, it’s the idea that he should know what he’s feeling and felt.

The man hasn’t processed an emotion properly in decades only to just recently be introduced to the concept of explaining his emotions. Plus the added anxiety of letting it all in.

Knowing he won’t be the first to speak you ask him,“ you want anything to eat or drink?” 

He’s quick to shake his head. Then looks directly in your eyes, for the first time today,“ do you, um, have any cracker jacks?” 

“I do actually, they’re in the cabinet to the left of the mini fridge.” 

After he’s gotten two boxes, he turns away, before grabbing a bottle of water and then going to sit. 

If it weren’t for Steve you wouldn’t have had any. The man said it reminded him of the “good old days,” getting cracker jacks when he went to see baseball games. Steve usually eats his with a Coke.

“Me and Steve use to buy a bunch of these and sneak them into baseball games. They were always cheaper at stores than the stadium.” 

A fond, nostalgic, smirk plays on his lips and you smile as well.

“Are you also a Dodgers fan? Steve spent our whole first session talking about them.”

When he chuckles you feel good about yourself and focus on his answer.

He nods,“ yeah, I like the Dodgers, but I think the Cubs are better. I used to like the Yankees simply out of loyalty to New York.”

“Do you not like the Yankees anymore?”

A sigh falls from his lips,“ no. They’re not the same. Then again, nothing else is either.” Before you can ask anything else he continues.“ I didn’t really know how to feel about missing decades of time. For a while I just pushed it aside, especially since I didn’t remember anything.”

His long pause makes you a little anxious. He’d started to open up without much from you and you didn’t want that to stop, you couldn’t help if he chose not to continue.

You ask,“ what changed?”

“Steve.” It’s a quick answer. Obviously he’s given this particular topic some thought.“ After my memories started to come back I realized I wasn’t alone in being so out of place. Steve missed just as much time as me and after I got better, after Thanos, it was nice to have someone to remember with.” 

Throughout the session you let him do most of the talking. Every so often he starts to shut down so you prompt him with an easy to answer question that seems to guide him into opening up even further.

By the time it ends, you’re incredibly happy with the progress. Seeing Bucky’s troubled and stressed expression drives you to asking him if he’d like you to take it away.

He was hesitant at first, you know it’s because of his experience with mind altering tricks. You assure him that it’s nothing like that. You don’t take his memories or thoughts away, essentially you pull everything he has to be happy about to the forefront.

Your powers aren’t permanent on anyone but it helps.

The man accepts and while he doesn’t leave with a bubbly smile on his face like Peter does, you can see that his eyes are lighter.

“Thanks for the chat Doc.” He smirks playfully when he mentions your title.“ And thanks for being patient with me.”

You shrug,“ thanks for letting me.”

After he’s left, you sit back down and finish off your tea. 

According to you schedule, your next patient should be Natasha, but that hasn’t been a thing for months.

You can’t help but wonder if it was something you’d done that made her not want to even try. Thinking about it, you’d done nothing but be kind to the woman, offering your help at first but then just telling her you would only listen if that’s what she wanted. Each attempt at reaching out failed miserably with the woman’s emotionless denial. 

One long glance at her name written in your notebook lit something in you and you knew you couldn’t just give up on her.

******

Natasha moves her body effortlessly. 

She uses attack combinations and take down moves that at, one point she thought was too hard to execute, without even thinking.

Which is good. If she, even for a second, allowed too many of her thoughts to break through she’d never stop. She’d become distracted and give her opponent too big a shot to take her down.

If she focuses on anything but doing these moves perfectly she’d fail and she can’t have that.

Yet another groan from the person underneath her causes a smirk to form on her lips. 

“Jesus Nat, we’re sparring you’re not trying to kill me.” 

She lets his wrist go and rolls off his back before offering him a hand.“ I think your retirement is setting in Barton.” She teases.

Rolling his eyes, he rubs his wrist,“ what? I’m in the best shape of my life.” The man mockingly pulls a karate pose.

Natasha laughs, making Clint smile widely. 

With him knowing her so well, it’s good to see the woman happy. Still he hears the heaviness in the laugh and knows that there may always be something holding her back from being genuinely, completely happy.

Part of him wonders if talking about everything would help her. He knows it helps him and he doesn’t miss the light air that’s seemed to encompass his other teammates lately.

Clint formed a greater appreciation for you over that fact. It was about time the team took a shot at healing themselves instead of ignoring their issues to fix the world’s. 

He wasn’t pleased, and still isn’t, to see his best friend so opposed to the help. Natasha is strong but she’s still human and holding everything in the way she does isn’t healthy. 

“Alright,” with yet another groan, he steps off the mats,“ I need to get home or I won’t have a good spot for movie night.” 

He salutes to Natasha’s wave, figuring the woman is going to be in the gym for a while. 

The door almost slams into him with the force that it’s thrown open. Stepping back, he just barely avoids getting hurt.

You stand on the other side, your determined expression slipping to one of shock when you realized you might’ve hit him.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t know you were right there, are you okay?” You rush out.

Chuckling, he nods,“ all good, didn’t even graze me. What’s got you in such a rush?”

As if remembering why you’re there, you go back to being determined.“ Is Miss Romanoff in here?”

“Uh, yeah, she’s over on the mats.”

Nodding with a smile, you march past him further into the gym. 

Clint presses himself against the wall with every intent to listen in, whether Natasha knows he’s there or not. 

The woman is already looking at you when you step into view, trained eyes watching your every move as you approach. An eyebrow quirking in question when you stop at the edge of the mats.

“You didn’t show to our session Miss Romanoff.” 

She’d never heard someone’s tone be equally as warm as it is accusatory. 

She makes no effort to reply.

Moving forward, you step on to the mat, her eyes flickering to your shoe covered feet, then back up to your eyes to see how close you are now. Far enough away to not be overstepping any boundaries but close enough for her to see the fire in your eyes.

Admittedly Natasha is fascinated with seeing the emotion in your eyes. Ever since you got here she’d seen nothing but your perky, optimistic, “everything is going to be alright” attitude. Like this, she feels as though she’s seeing a new, slightly intriguing side to you.

“I know exactly what game you’re playing Natasha,” the way you say her name nearly makes her shiver. She’s not intimidated, but she could be.“ I’m sure you sized me up and categorized me as a certain type of person the second I got here but I can tell you now you were wrong.”

Her head tilts in the slightest, amusement flickering through her eyes. 

You continue,“ I am not going to accept you giving up on yourself.” That right there erases the amusement. Her expression hardens.“ I don’t know anything about you but the fact that you actively avoiding coming to see me is very telling.”

For the first time, since maybe your third day here, Natasha speaks to you. And you’d be lying if you said her voice isn’t as sexy as it is scary.

“Whatever you think you’ve figured out, you haven’t. And this power move that you’re trying to pull isn’t going to work.” Despite her control over her words you feel the emotions pouring from her statement.

The agitation radiates off her and sets your powers alight, almost enough to make you back off. Until you feel it. The smallest, microscopic, bit of fear. It’s buried behind her annoyance with you, and a mountain of other things, but you feel it.

“This isn’t a power move Miss Romanoff. This is me letting you know I’m not giving up on you. I don’t know what it’ll take to get you to come to your sessions but I’m going to try everything I can until it happens.” She’s glaring now but that fear hasn’t left.“ Tony gave me your very detailed file,” she stiffens,“ but I didn’t read it.” Que her surprise.

Her frown this time is a mix of curiosity and annoyance.

“When you come to see me I want you to be comfortable. I don’t want you to think I see you as whoever is on those papers. You will simply be Natasha Romanoff and I will accept whatever you’re willing to give.” You smile softly at the woman and step away.“ I’ll schedule you to come see me on Friday’s, that day is free for me so I will have more than enough time to chat. And you can try avoiding but I will come find you.”

Not leaving even an inch of room to argue, you turn and leave, giving Clint a little goodbye on the way.

It’s quiet for a moment. Natasha and Clint both processing what just happened. Clint gets it first and steps around the corner to look at his best friend.

“I didn’t want to push you into seeing her but after that,” he puffs out some air,“ I think it would be really good for you to go see her. She obviously cares, if that whole thing was to go based off of. She just wants to help, at least let her try.”

With one final smile, he leaves.

Standing on the mats, Natasha thinks. 

You were right. She did categorize you as the type of person who would just accept that she wasn’t coming. And if what you just did was any evidence, she was wrong.

******

taglist: @username23345 @muffliat-o @nat-km-mh 

[futurebicon]

Tree Branch

Injury, blood

“Baby, please be careful.” Remus called up to Sirius, who was scaling a tall rock with scattered holes.

The holes to climb were all naturally made, formed perfectly for climbing. The walls about 50 feet tall.

“I’m being careful, Re. I’ll be fine” Sirius tried to reassure him with little success.

Remus watched nervously as he made his way to the top. Letting out a breathe he didn’t realize he was holding when he was finally on flat ground.

“See, love. Perfectly fine.” He smiled down at his boyfriend.

“Don’t get cocky Cap. You still have to get down” Dumo reminded him. The older player was practically having heart attacks as he watch all the boys try to climb the tall rocks without cracking their head open.

“You act like that’s hard” Sirius called down.

“Jump” Finn shouted.

Remus hit his arm.

The team was all gathering to watch him. He was the only one who was able to make it the whole way up.

Sirius smirked and walked to the edge, sitting down and turning around, lowering himself to a foot grip.

A few moments later they realized that the grips at the top where feet apart.

“Can you climb back up and go down another way?” Adam suggested.

“Can’t reach anymore.”

He reached his foot out far to try and reach a cubby. His other foot not secure enough.

It slipped, the force and surprise cause his fingers to let go.

“Sirius!” Remus scream mixed with the shouts of the team.

Sirius landed on a piece of rock that jutted out, he stumbled and gripped tightly to a large crevice.

“I’m good” he smiled down at them.

Remus’s physically hurt, his heart stopping when he fell. “Fuck I can’t watch” he shook his head, laying on the ground and staring at the sky.

Sirius climbed the rest of the way without a problem, the grips closer.

He jumped the last 5 feet to the ground.

“I hate you. Don’t fucking scare me like that” Remus stood up and wrapped him in a hug.

“Sorry, babe. Didn’t mean to” Sirius hugged him tightly. Even though he didn’t show it, the fall had really shaken him up.

“Now that that near death experience is out of the way let’s go.” Leo called out, already walking down the path and disappearing behind the rock.

A few seconds later they heard a shout.

“Baby” Finn called out, all of them running to see what had happened.

Leo was sitting on the ground, cradling the right side of his head.

“Are you okay? What happened love?” Finn ran to his side.

“Hit my head” he muttered.

Sirius looked over and was met with a downed tree branch inches from his face. “Jesus fuck” he cursed in surprise.

If was hard to notice, if you aren’t paying attention you walk right into it. Three branches jutted out, varying in size.

“Did it get your eye?” Dumo asked him. The youngest players hand was cupped over his right eye.

“No my head” Leo’s words were slurred.

Remus stepped forward and crouched down in front of him. He reached up and moved Leo’s hand away from his face.

Everyone inhaled sharply at the sight.

There was a decent sized gash on his temple, blood dripping out of it.

“Baby” Finn breathed. Logan pressed his lips to his boyfriends uninjured temple.

��Any of you have anything I can use to wipe the blood or wrap it with” Remus turned to the concerned team.

Everyone dug through their pockets to find something but came up with nothing.

“Can he walk back?” Logan asked him fearfully.

“I don’t feel comfortable with that right now. It looks deep and he’s bleeding steadily. I don’t want him to get lightheaded or pass out. Plus the fact that he could have a concussion. If it was a shorter distance I would probably be okay with but it’s a 5 mile hike back. Once it stops bleeding so bad or when we get something to wrap it with I’ll see if he can.” Remus told him, inspecting the cut as well as he could. “How are you feeling?” He asked Leo.

“Hurts really bad. I’m tired.” His words slurred.

“Are you lightheaded or dizzy?”

“A little” he rested the middle of his forehead on the edge of Finns shoulder.

“Okay, alright. Umm-“ he tried to figure out what to do before turning towards the team. “Does anyone want to walk 10 miles to find something that I could wrap it with?”

Everyone volunteered.

“Wait, would a shirt work?” Sirius asked him.

“Yeah that would work. I don’t think a whole shirt though.” He nodded before think about it more. It would be too tight around his head if it wasn’t long enough.

“Here” Sirius ripped his shirt, revealing his abdomen.

Remus definitely did not find that extremely attractive.

“Thanks” he somehow kept his expression the same, not wavering at all.

He turned back to the injured person.

“Leo, can you lift your head so I can see the cut better?” He asked softly.

“Dizzy” Leo answered.

“I know you are but I need you to lift your head.”

He lifted his head slowly.

Remus wiped the bleeding cut with the edge of his boyfriends white t-shirt as carefully as he could. Leo let out a high pitched whine and threw his head back, not wanting Remus to do it again. He would off hit it against the rock behind him if Logan hadn’t had his hand on the back of his head, massaging his hair to try and comfort him any he could.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know it hurts Nutty, I know but you can’t move, okay?”

Finn and Logan kissed his head and cheek, whispering comfort in his ear. Both of them holding his head now.

He whined when Remus touched it but didn’t move.

Remus wiped away the blood, more quickly flowed out.

“It’s pretty deep.” Remus confirmed what they were all thinking. He took the fabric and wrapped it around the cut, tying the bloodied ends around the back. The front quickly turned crimson.

“Damn it.” Remus muttered.

“Re” Sirius ripped more of his shirt, now revealing his six pack.

Remus took the fabric and folded it into a thin rectangle, wrapping it over the wet bandage.

“I’ll have a small first aid kit in the car and a medic one at the campsite. I’ll see what I can do then.” Remus backed away. “Do you think you’ll be able to stand?”

“Yeah, I’m not that dizzy anymore. Just a little light headed.” He told them, his words clearer.

“That’s good. Just tell me if it gets worse and we’ll stop”

Leo nodded in agreement and, with help from his boys, stood up slowly. He staggered slightly, quickly insisting that he was fine.

They started the walk back to the cars. Everyone split up, still in view of everyone else but taking different rocky paths that all linked together.

Sirius and Remus stayed with the Cubs, walking slightly behind them but still close enough incase Leo needed Remus.

Remus looked over at Sirius, raking his eyes over his body shamelessly.

“See something you like babe?” Sirius smirked, seeing the look in his eyes.

“Definitely” Remus smirked back before his face turned serious. “Please, for the love of god, consider wearing crop tops.”

“You know, the looks actually kind of growing on me.”

“Good”

Remus watched the Cubs disappear around a corner, he looked around quickly before pressing Sirius against a rock forcefully, his hand behind his head.

“Now that I think about, I think I will buy some crop tops” Sirius pulled their lips apart after a few seconds before continuing their quick makeout session.

They made it to the entrance 2 hours later, only having to stop a few times to let Leo rest.

“I think I’m just going to check it at camp.” Remus told him when they got to the car, noticing the teens pale face. “I don’t think there’s going to be much I can do.”

“Okay. I’m feeling a lot better. I’m not that dizzy anymore, just tired.” Leo told him.

The Cubs had rode with Sirius and Remus anyway so after Leo got pats on the back from the team they all piled in.

“Why are you smirking or is it something that I don’t want to know?” Sirius asked the younger boys, looking in the mirror.

“Remus likes you in a crop top.” Leo smirked even more.

The two blushed.

“Why would you think that?” Remus asked, trying not to react.

“Cause Sirius has a hickey he didn’t have this morning. And you two disappeared for a little.” Finn told them their observation.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t” Remus said.

“The team medic was having sex the other the captain while I bled out.” Leo shook his head.

“We did not have sex” Sirius exclaimed. “We only made out a little bit.”

“Whatever you say” Logan ticked his tongue.

“I’m lot lying” Sirius insisted.

P.S. everything written happened when my family and a bunch of family friends went to see a bunch of rocks while camping.

@lumosinlove

[prismarine-parrots]

Tree of Life Notes

Would this technically be a masterpost? Not sure what that entails so let’s just keep it as notes.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 3.5 Part 4 Part 5 (1) Part 5 (2) Notes

The basic ideas of ToL- function, plot, what happens to who... basically while I was writing ToL me jotting down everything I could think of to try and make this make sense XD

-in this AU, everyone's life force is tried to a tree. These are special trees that relate to the person.

-link to the Google Doc with everyone’s tree designs... except for a few I’m not sure of still (taking suggestions for those, comment on Google Doc!)

-whenever the player dies, the tree takes a small amount of damage eg. a leaf falling

-many deaths in a short amount of time can lead to the tree becoming more visibly unhealthy, but normally if you wait a couple days without dying the tree will heal itself and go back to normal

-the trees can be moved by using a special axe, similar to the armor stand book or the wrench tool. It's a iron axe that is enchanted and when you break one part of the tree, the entire thing disappears and it drops one sapling. When that sapling is replanted it grows immediately. While the sapling exists as an item, the hermits will still PROBABLY  respawn, but there is a lot more risk of perma-death or having complications.

CAUSES

1. Grian joining from an old version server brought glitches unknowingly (catalyst for all and at his never worked properly in the first place)

2. The ConVex using Vexnos to Thanos-snap the server probably doesn't help at all

3. Lag from all the redstone keeping the trees from healing (MUMBO?)

4. Exploring the world as much as the hermits have (literally like 30,000 blocks in multiple directions wow) has started to cause world corruption (like broken chunks and such)

This is a mess

HOW THEY FIX IT:

-no clue

-Xisuma rolls back the server to a time where this wasn't an issue? (Grian would still be dead/on his way to dying)

-EX becomes a hero and gives his life force to heal the others (originally plan but I couldn’t make it work so that was scrapped)

-heal them like you do a zombie villager?? Wait for the tree to die completely then use a potion/healing item on it to revived it? (This one!!)

CASUALTIES

-Grian is first death

-Wels dies soon after

-TFC dies but not a lot of people realize because he's still in his bunker

-Evil Xisuma nearly dies??? Or does?? (Yes he does)

-Xisuma gets sick but they solve the problem before he dies

-False tries to be a tough cookie and suck it up until she collapses and dies on the spot

-Doc dies right at the end but puts up a serious fight

-Tango dies

-Zedaph dies

-Scar dies and Cub is not okay

-xbCrafted dies

-Python dies

LIVING PEEPS (read: Dead-Only-On-The-Inside Peeps)

-Mumbo (he’s worse than he lets on)

-Jevin

-Xisuma

-Iskall

-Cleo

-Stress

-Rendog

-Cubfan (oops I’m sorry)

-JoeHills

-Impulse

-Jessassin but he doesn't know what's going on anyway so

**list is not comprehensive (as in I'm not sure I have all the hermits listed lol)

-not everyone knows what's going on. TBH some people probably don't even know about the trees in the first place, and some may have just randomly died or didn't know people were perma-dying in the first place. These are mainly the hermits that are actually hermits and dont do many collabs/I don't watch enough to feel comfortable writing/don’t do HC anymore in the first place XD

Hermits that are actually involved in the issue (AKA the ones I'm writing)

-Grian

-Mumbo

-Iskall

-Xisuma

-Stress

-False

-Cub

-Scar

-Ren

-Doc

-Tango

-Impluse

-Zedaph

-Joe

-Jevin

-Python

TIMELINE

-Iskall, False, Mumbo, and X discover Grian and his tree are sick

-Grian explains what he knows but passes out before he can finish

-everyone panics and tries to figure out how to heal him, calls Tango, Joe, Doc, and Stress to help

-Grian dies

-(side)Ren get footage of Grian's death message and keeps it in his video not sure of it's seriousness, Recap has it as the main part of their video and literally the entire fandom freaks out

-(side)almost all of the hermits go silent until this issue is resolved. Not everyone knows what is going on and are doing their own thing, so they continue to make their content until maybe some of them randomly die too. Innocence is a blessing. These hermits are Jessassin, xbCrafted, Python, TFC, and probably some others because I might shorten my list of hermits because that's a LOT of characters to write

-Xisuma calls every possible to a meeting ASAP to address the issue and figure out what caused it and how to fix it (they're assuming they can still get Grian back rn XD)

-no one knows what the heck happened, most people haven't touched their trees/forgot they existed

-Jevin is late and bursts in in a panic, saying that Wels isn’t waking up

-they get to the bone arch between shopping/modern districts on the way to medieval/industrial before they get the seat message that Wels had died

-they devise a plan to look for a cure, start preparations for a lot of traveling

-False gets exhausted and collapses, dying on the spot as her tree unknowingly gave out

-they start their mission to stop this madness

SOMEHOW—

-Scar and Cub go to the Woodland Mansion to see if any old books or artifacts there might have anything to help the situation

-They fight some Vindicators and start looking for what they came for

-Cub realizes that something is off with Scar and Scar says that he's not feeling well

-Scar suddenly sinks to ground but is still conscious

-Cub starts to panic and tries to help Scar

-Scar explains that he hadn't been healing properly after taking damage and assumed that his tree was broken as well, but had been hoping he could play it safe and hold on until they healed the trees but the fight with the Vindicators had really taken it out of him

-Cub tried to get Scar to heal but it isn't working

-Scar says something really sweet and brotherly to Cub before closing his eyes and going limp but still having a smile on his face

-Scar died.

SOMEHOW-

-When Tango's tree starts to die he goes insane and goes feral/demonic and starts attacking everyone with he demon features (horns, claws? Wings? That's a headcanon tho)

-in the frenzy Tango kills Python (I think I said he died earlier but I'm going with this here for sure)

-Tango pins Doc

-Impulse kills Tango before he can kill anyone else

-they find a clue that they can find a cure at a set of coordinates

-coordinates turns out to be EX's hideout

-EX is dying, Xisuma's tree is affected but he is safe until EX dies

-Xisuma convinced EX to help them to keep EX from dying

SOMEHOW-

-EX dies. Originally I had it that EX is some sort of salty anti-hero and gives his life to help but I couldn't find a way to make that work so he just ends up dying. Does he respawn? Idk up to readers

-they find a cure and head back to the settled areas of Hermitcraft. Some of them go and raid everyone's storages for potion ingredients to make harming potions and splash healing potions.

-Doc and Ren fly around the server and set up beacons (existing or new) to have regen activated

-Doc is killed by phantoms

-the cure is finished and tested

-Grian lives!!!!!!!!! :D

-Impulse goes to revive Tango and Zed

-Ren revives Doc

-Grian revives Scar

-Mumbo goes to get Cub and help him out

-Cub lowkey wants to die until he sees Scar and then yay no more dead Scar and dead-inside Cub! 🤠

-Jevin revives Wels

-Iskall, Stress, and Cleo revive False

-Joe helps out Xisuma, then they go revive TFC and Python

and that's all I had written down? Did I forget anyone?

-all this happens over the course of one very stressful week :D

[woollycapybara]

Through a Cavern, Darkly

He was a young cub again, a small tabaxi child running for his life. His body ached from the effort, but his fear would not let him stop. Cuts and bruises also hurt, infections setting in. But the dark skinned elves had set his villiage ablaze, had slaughtered his tribe.

And they were chasing him through the jungle.

Obsidian Mask leapt over a fallen log and winced as he landed, his ankle threatining to give out. He heard a thudding sound into the log behind him, and there was an explosion of spliters right next to his head. An enchanted, and poisoned, crossbow dart and nearly driven a hole through his head.

He was on the move again, his lungs burning. His eyes watering. His fear threatening to consume him.

If the drow didn't get to him first.

********

Mask awoke in a cold sweat, tears stinging his eyes, and his stomach in knots. He had his nightmare again, a horrible retelling of the night a drow raid had destroyed his villiage and slaughtered his people. The dream always ended there for Mask, as he had short collapsed under the small amount of sleep poison that had knicked his cheak. The poison was so potent that even a grown dwarf would have a hard time shrugging off so little a dose.

Obsidian Mask used his magic to draw water from a hole near where he slept, and he bathed himself, throwing off the horrible dream along with the sweat. Today was a training day, and to Obsidian Mask, no day was better than a training day.

The tabaxi teen walked out of the alcove that was his room, his dark vision not needing much light to find his way around the twisting corridors.

He was going to meet his teacher, the powerful deep druid Fala. Fala was an orc, a rare one for her people's standards. She was tall and fierce, her face always contorted in a scowl, although to Mask she was one of the sweetest persons he had ever met. She was a druid who lived in the Underdark, and she was as powerful a spellcaster as she was a warrior. She could easily strike you down with a spell from the earth or a strike from her deadly axes.

Today was combat training, and so Mask had donned his chain shirt and his scimitar and belt of daggers, Eins, Zwei, and Drei. He was moving as silently as death, as Fala had taught him to move.

She taught Mask many things. Her druidic teaching were of the Circle of the Spore, a circle that saw death as just another stage of life. They would use life, death, and even undeath, for as long as the natural order was preserved, all was right with the world. Undead were simoly a tool to aid in the passing over to death, and undeath was never to be used to escape the natural end of one's life.

Fala had also taught Obsidian Mask how to be as stealthy as possible. Mask was confident that he could sneak up on almost anything that lived in the Underdark, minus a few inhabitants.

As Mask turned the bend, he caught the smell of something unusual. He dropped into a crouch, his blade silently drawn into his hands. Mask moved from shadow to shadow as silent as death as he approched the training hall. The smell was somewhat familiar, and Mask felt bile rise up in his throat. He turned the final corner, and it was all that he could do to keep from crying out.

There stood Fala, twin axes out casually by her side. The tall orc woman's scowl was on her face, and Mask knew her well enough to know when it was actually a scowl of anger.

There stood at least ten drow warriors, their weapons out, and grim expressions on their beautiful faces. Three drow already lay dead by Fala's feet.

"It ain't like you dogs to to face me head on. S'pose you figured stealth wouldn't work on me once these three rogues were taken down to quickly." Fala kicked the corpse with her boot.

Already one of the drow warriors were poised to attack, but another one, a female in robes, stepped forward. She spoke broken Orcish, and said "Great Fala. Forgive the intrusion to your lair. But we have business with you."

"The only business a dark elf has with me is to be a stain on my blade." she replied cooly.

Mask needed to move, but his body would not let him. These were kin to the dogs that had slaughtered his people! If it were not for Fala finding and nursing him back to health, they surely would have killed him too.

And now they were attacking Fala!

That brought cold rage to the tabaxi, and he used the shadows to cover his movement towards the collection of fighters.

Drow had the best darkvision of any race, but Fala had taught Mask how to bend the shadows to make him as invisible as the night. Mask was closer now, and in addition to the ten fighters, he saw another robed figure with a wand in hand standing next to the female. Mask jad seen wands like that before... They contained lightning bolts thst could destroy buildings and blow people apart. The memory of such wands being used on his people steeled his resolve.

Mask spoke a soft word to the earth, and up he went, moving along the wall as if he was walking on flat ground. He moved his way to the ceiling and froze. Two drow with those damned hand crossbows were up in the stalactite, and were aiming at Fala!

As silent and as quick as death, Mask moved in beside the drow. He saw that they were floating, while he was upside down, running on the cacern ceiling.

Mask was behind one in an instant, and Eins dug into his back while his arm holding his scimitar wrapped around the drow's throat, silencing the death cry.

Mask was not fast enough to stop the blood from dripping on the wizard's cheek.

The drow priestess saw the blood on the surprised wizard's face and screamed "Attack!"

Fala moved into a graceful dance of death, but Obsidian Mask did not have the time to watch his master fight. Already the other floating drow was aimimg their weapon at Mask. They fired, Mask taking cover behind a stalactite. It exploded under the magical might of the crossbow and dart, and the spray of earth caused Mask to lose his concentration on his spell. He moved quickly, grabbing the dead but still levitating drow and hoisting himself up. He smiled grimly as he used the drow as a floating walk place. Anither bolt stole his mirth, inches from finding it's mark in his hide.

He kicked off a stalactite, riding the floating body of the drow he killed past around a large stalactite. His tail grabbed a hold of the mound and he flung himself and his "mount" towards the other crossbowmen. The drow's eyes widened in disbelief, and he shot his final dart at Mask. He parried the bolt away from his flank and slammed home, driving himself and his blades into the belly of the drow, slamming him into a stalactite. It shuddered under the blow, and soon fell free, crashing into another drow down below.

Mask was down in an instant, rolling to absorb the impact of the fall and coming into a defensive crouch.

Ten drow lay dead at Fala's feet, and aside the wizard and priest, Obsidian Mask saw more pouring out from the tunnels.

"Get you that wizard, boy." Fala bade Mask.

"Yes, master." And he was off.

********

Xal'vin was astonished with the Orc. Never before had he seen someone fight and cast with such grace before, and beautiful death followed each of the druid's movements. She had even infected the corpses with spores, and zombified drow had truck down some of his best fighters.

Sin'dori was besides him casting her cleric spells, but Fala had brushed off most with sheer willpower.

Sin'dori had ordered Xal'vin not to cast, to save his magic, but it was obviously a foolish mistake now.

Xal turned to unleash a bolt of lightning, damn the priestess, but the command word got caught in his throat.

Mask was on his prey, dodging past the blows of the fighters and coming up right next to the wizard.

Xal'vin cast a spell, dimension door, and he was through it and off safely to the side before the crazed tabaxi got his blades in him.

The wizard turned to the room, his sight falling on Fala engaging more fighters, and leaving them dead in her wake. He shook his head and started his spell casting. Lloth damn Sin'dori, he was going to kill the Orc before any more of his force fell to the ugly creature!

Suddenly, a bright flash caught the wizard's attention. He turned and gapped in horror. A small mist was around the tabaxi, a tell tale sign of the misty step spell. And his hand had pumped forward, his own magic turning the dagger into a powerful bolt of lightning.

********

Mask did not retreive Eins from the wizard's corpse. He had no time. He was on the move again to aid his teacher. She faced off against the priestess in melee combat now, twin aces battling twin maces. More of the drow forces surrounded the battlefield as corpses, but the tabaxi knew there were still some skulking around.

He would end their lives before they could interfere with his master's battle.

********

Mask was cleaning his blade of drow blood, grim satisfaction that he had taken some measure of revenge for what was done to his people.

"You fought well." Fala said to him after she had cleared the battlefield of blood and dead bodies.

"I owe it all to you, master."

Fala chuckled to the tabaxi she raised. "Master no more. You have earned the right to call me Fala."

Obsidian Mask beamed with pride, but suddenly grew solemn. "My apprenticeship is over?"

"Yes, boy." Fala sat next to her student and embraced him. "You are almost a man now, not the kittle kitten I found near death."

Mask knew what was coming next. And a lump welled in his throat. "And now... My pilgrimage must begin." He stood up suddenly, cold anger flashing in his lavender eyes. "I don't want to leave, master! My place is here, with you!"

Fala stood and placed her strong hands on his shoulders. The tears welling in his eyes pained her, but she knew what had to be done. "You fear you will lose me to, just like your villiage."

Mask turned away, but Fala's calloused hand force him to look into her grey eyes. Her own fires burned within, as well as her own tears. She spoke evenly though.

"You need to explore the world, boy. A small hole in the earth with Fala the Deep Druid is not a fitting place for you to spend your days. We will see each other again, and when we do, you will be stronger, and I prouder of my student whom I so deeply love."

It was all Mask could handle. He broke out into a cry, and Fala held him in her arms. Despite his bobbing shoulders, the druid could feel the strength eminating from this one.

Oh the things he will do.

********

Mask was out by nightfall, his light sensitive eyes not yet ready to face the harsh rays. He was wearing Fala's last gift to him, fine mithral armor that made not a sound despite the chains and plates. It was a gift she had prepared, though how she had came about it, Mask could not begin to guess.

His water skins refreshed by a nearby pound, Obsidian Mask took off into the wide world of Toril in search of new friends, new enemies, and new adventures.

[sorayahigashikata]

Chapter 58: "YOU HAD ONE JOB."