#anyway consider the alternate ‘tango is consumed’ timeline where instead o becoming a part of the machine

[theminecraftbee]

so I know I went one direction with “decked out eating tango” already but now I’m rotating the idea of. something a little different. something more like—tango’s been getting hungry, lately. it started in december, after zedaph ran the dungeon for the first time. something that clawed against the inside of his stomach. he could ignore it, then, but if he had to think, that’s when he started getting hungry.

but it’s gotten worse, and worse, and worse. scar keeps on dropping in and then throwing cookies at him. zedaph makes disapproving noises and forces him to go on picnics. one time, impulse dragged tango on a tour of all the food on the server. but the thing is, it’s not that he’s not eating? he’s missing some meals, sure, but every single hermit who calls him out for occasional missed meals is a hypocrite and they know it. if anything, though, when he remembers to eat, he’s eating more. he’s so hungry. he’s so hungry.

but he’s losing weight anyway. and he decides to ignore it. he doesn’t know what else to do. he sits down with xisuma quietly one day to make sure he gets more calories than normal, and then he ignores it. he keeps working. if something’s wrong, surely it can’t be that wrong. he’s just—cold. the tips of his fingers and ears are cold. and his stomach always hurts. and frankly, if he’s desperate to finish decked out, finally sets a date even though he doesn’t think it’s completely ready, well—

he’s not sure, exactly, actually. he just knows he needs the hermits to run it. and that after that, maybe he’ll find time to figure out why he’s had shaky hands and blurry vision and cold fingers for the past two months. why he’s been hungry for longer.

he has more cookies shoved at him by scar on opening day. he goes through them nervously. they don’t do anything for him, really, but they do momentarily make him feel better, and make it easier to pretend he doesn’t need to be mother-henned. (despite the jokes, he can take care of himself, and he does actually leave the cave, and he’s trying to figure out what else could be wrong so he doesn’t really want more well-meaning jokes about missing meals. he knows. he knows.)

he curls up above decked out, once scar starts his run. he takes a deep breath. he touches the wires, lets some part of his mind leave his body, and he watches scar run the dungeon.

a growl, from somewhere, rises deep in tango’s throat.

he watches scar lose. watches scar’s body fall to the ground at a ravager’s feet.

spend enough time amongst beasts and become one, he thinks, to whatever extent he is even capable of thinking in that moment. it’s not much, though. the amount of thinking he’s capable of, as his body moves practically without his input, is not much.

because tango suddenly knows exactly what he’s so hungry for.