#anyway it’s so cool guys i did redstone for the lights so they can turn on and off

[whumpy-wyrms]

just spent 4 hours building Anton’s lab in minecraft and i’m done and it’s soooo cool you guys it’s just like how i imagined (obviously as close as i could get cuz it’s minecraft). gonna build Anton’s cabin above it next but i’ll probably post screenshots of the lab tomorrow so you guys can actually see how i imagine it (cuz it’s hard for me to draw it). if anyone wants to join my world and explore it (bedrock edition only, sorry) feel free to message me!!! like seriously i don’t bite!!!! i love playing minecraft with people :DDD

[kishdoodles]

If you have the time Please infodump about darkwoods smp (or if someone already has just point me in the right direction and I can go find it!)

hiii twirls hair Darkwoods SMP is a private mc server I play on with friends ^_^ The lore is that it started based off the events in 3rd Life, and this post by @martynsimp69 goes into a lot of stuff since its founding (I wasn't there)

But heeey if you want to learn about my character I'm sticking all that under a read more teehee!

I got a character named Redac on there and he's a seraph who was born into and knows only everything that exists on the internet :] Darkwoods is like, their vacation arc. He's taking a break from The Horrors™️ to play a little bit of Minecraft. He's a photographer and avid farmer :D I got a cozy cabin and a farm and all ^_^

(There's also a castle next to my cabin that my partner started and I finished. It's not important to any story or whatever it's just a cool castle B) here I'll show it off more)

Pre-Darkwoods Redac had breaks in between The Madness™️when he tapped into a connection to a half-broken headset that Spain (@thefluxqueen)'s character Snake wore. You can find out more about Snake here besides the stuff I'm gonna cover in this post ^_^ When they arrived onto Darkwoods and built their house Snake moved into my backyard. Into a hole in the wall. It's awesome btw it's just this (intially) (That was it that was the whole house)

At some point Redac Got a Job (first 2 pics). We love employment !!!!! They only had to sign their soul away to his employer Arctic ( @parasiteking ) . Surely nothing will come of it [Clueless]

Anyways yay peace and normalcy all was well 👍 Whoa where did this maze come from. (Another post more in depth about the Abyss by Spain, but from a technical perspective rather than story)

In lore this maze (titled The Abyss) popped outta nowhere. It's a dark, dark maze made out of black concrete and sparsely lit by redstone torches. I love it so much. I spent an hour and half ish in it?? Turned off all my lights. Past a point Redac’s arm got too bright for me to even look at. It’s so awesome.

Eventually one day Snake had disappeared. Redac was concerned, of course. One of the oldest friends he knew was suddenly MIA with no traces to be found. The abyss gave them some suspicion as to what happened, and with that as a lead he went to go find them.

He did not return.

The truth was Snake, possessed by the first Abyss, built another one. It was worse, and Redac lost his life in it in pursuit of them.

What was left was Kish. Whoa yea turns out Redac was possessing c!Kish the whole time it's kinda crazy. Kish’s first exposure to Darkwoods was being ejected at the entrance of it. Through following signs and lights managed to go home to where they presumed they lived.

Upon opening the door to their cabin they were greeted with Redac’s will (which you can read here). And that’s currently where we’re at presently! Kish made a grave for Redac outside the cabin, and is continuing the pursuit of this “Snake” person, as well as his employer “Arctic”, for some answers (and keeps a journal about it!)

Here are some other posts by other people in the SMP! You can ask them about their characters too! I’m sure they’d be happy to answer ^_^ Other posts I don’t mention can also be found in the #darkwoods smp tag too :]

Final note GWAHH Spain @fluxydrawings beloved drew my guys LFGGG I love mcrp sO MUCH

[helliontherapscallion]

Warmth (Adrenaline Junkie Part 6)

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3     Part 4     Part 5     Part 7     Part 8     Part 9     Part 10     Part 11     Part 12     Part 13     Part 14     Part 15     Part 16     Part 17

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: Self harm scars, mentions of panic attacks and hallucinations

Word count: 2,842

(A/N): This takes place about 6 months after the last chapter. Also, I was heavily inspired by Toothless’ prosthetic, I’m really excited to write more about it : )

You hummed to yourself as you walked down the cobblestone street of the village. The village was probably one of your favorite places to visit; it had quaint little shops and stalls decorating the main plaza that you adored, it was always interesting to see what’s being sold today. Though you always wore your cloak to cover your wings (well, wing and a now-feathered nub) whenever you visited to avoid the stares, you still regularly visited the main plaza for the shops. 

The first time you visited after the incident was about a month ago with Wilbur, you two were looking for something to cook for dinner. You were trying to get used to having your wings out again, so you were wearing the jacket with the slits in the back that you always used to wear. 

The feeling of people staring holes into you was a feeling you forgot about. You always got stares whenever you went into the village because of your wings, but now it felt like more and more people were staring at you as you passed them, probably because of your nub. Though some looked at you in pity, most looked at you with disgust.

You could hear children asking their mothers what happened to you. Their mothers would take one look at you and shield their children away from you staring at you with disgust. You even made one kid cry when he saw your wing; you didn’t blame him, you still couldn’t look at your nub without tearing up. An hour hasn’t even passed before you were asked by a police officer to leave because you were causing a disruption and being indecent in public.

Wilbur was pissed. “They’re fully clothed and they didn’t even talk to anybody, so how exactly were they being disruptive or indecent?”

The officer firmly held her ground, looking up to Wilbur’s tall form. “Sir, the people are complaining and it’s my job to make the public feel safe and comfortable. Look,” she sighed, “I really don’t want to have to ask them to leave, they’re not doing anything to directly threaten people. However, they are causing a disturbance with their,” she wrinkled her nose, “their thing, so I’m going to have to ask them to leave.”

“You have absolutely no right to tell them to leave. They-”

“Wilbur, it’s fine. I’ll leave,” turning back to the officer, you calmly stated “I’m sorry for causing a disturbance ma’am. It won’t happen again.”

She curtly nodded and stood watching you, probably making sure that you left the main plaza. Before you could turn to leave, Wilbur stopped you.

“(Y/n)-”

“No, Wilbur. It’s alright, I can wait outside the village for you.”

He sighed, looking through his leather satchel. “No, you won’t have to wait for me. We’ve got enough food for dinner anyways,” shooting one last heated glare at the police officer, he reached down to grab your hand. “Let’s go.”

He drug you quickly through the village with you having a little trouble keeping up with his long strides. Once you were out of the village, he slowed his pace and walked with his hands shoved in his pockets.

“(Y/n), I’m sor-”

“Don’t be Wil. It isn’t your fault. I honestly was expecting to get kicked out earlier.”

“Still, it’s not fair to you. You didn’t ask for this.��� 

“I know Wil, I’ll just wear my cloak next time I visit.”

He didn’t say anything to you after that. The rest of the walk home was shrouded in an awkward silence. 

Another part of the village you loved was the library. It had tall shelves filled to the brim with all sorts of books and various cushioned furniture littered randomly amongst the maze of shelves. Whoever would walk into the library would immediately be hit by the strong scent of parchment and wood as soon as they would walk through the twin doors. You would usually browse books about redstone, but you had a different agenda today.

Today, you were looking for a book about leather working. You wanted to make a leather prosthetic wing so you could at least glide through the air. You weren’t sure if it would work though. From what you’ve read, nobody’s attempted to make a prosthetic wing. It made sense, being a hybrid was rare in and of itself, let alone a winged hybrid. 

You missed flying more than anything. You would give anything to be able to be in the air again. You felt jittery and restless without flight. Sure, Philza took you on some flights with him every now and then, but it wasn’t the same. You yearned for the independence and liberation it gave you to fly alone.

After you found a book and checked it out with the librarian, you hastily set out for home. You were walking with a giddy smile on your face and a bounce in your step. Several people gave you strange looks as you passed them, but you were in too good of a mood to care. You finally figured out a way you could possibly fly again. 

When you got home, you headed straight to your workshop to get to work on your prosthetic. Several blueprints were hung up around your desk, some for your TNT launcher (which you finished a few weeks ago) and others contained ideas for an automatic farm. Your pride and joy was hung up in the center of your bulletin board. It made you extremely happy just by looking at the prosthetic sketch.

Your redstone lamp illuminated the space in front of you as you focused on cutting a large strip of leather in front of you with great concentration. You needed to get the measurements exactly right, equal sized wings are integral for stability midair. The prosthetic was going to be about the same size as your left wing with thin iron rods giving the wing structure. You planned on making it identical to a bat’s wing with a few minor changes in shape to match your other wing. Once it actually was structurally sound and working, you would add proper joints so you could wear it around and decorate it. Until then, you’re making adjustments.

When you were done, you moved on to crafting and melding together the iron rods. Putting on your goggles and thick leather gloves, you used a bit of lava your family kept stored in another room in the basement to fuse the thin iron rods together. You carefully dipped one end of two rods into the bucket before pulling it out at a certain time to hold the molten ends together until they cooled. You repeated this process until you were melding the last piece on.

“HEY BITCH, DINNER’S READY. GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT!”

Yelping, you dropped the mold onto your desk. You picked it up in a panic without paying attention to where your arms went. Unknowingly, your sleeved arm was pressing up against the scorching iron of the bucket of lava.

“FUCK YOU YA FILTHY GREMLIN, A LITTLE WARNING WOULD’VE BEEN NICE!”

He started cackling. “FUCK YOU TOO! NOW GET UP HERE BEFORE I EAT YOUR DINNER.”

“YOU BETTER FUCKING NOT. I SWEAR TO- FUCK!”

You felt the nerves on the side of your forearm screaming as you yanked it away, leaving the crisp remains of a part of your sleeve stuck to the iron bucket. Two pairs of footsteps boomed down the steps and got louder as they rapidly approached you. 

Wilbur’s deep voice worriedly called out to you. “Shit, (y/n) are you alright? Let me see.”

Before you could protest, he gently grabbed your wrist and pulled the sleeve of your jacket down. Adjoining the light burn, small horizontal scars and some fresh cuts lined your forearms. Shit, they were never supposed to find out.

Wilbur’s hand froze, gripping your wrist with an iron grip. You hissed at the feeling of some of your cuts reopening, causing him to quickly retract his hand. He now had his hands hovering over your arm unsure of what to do with them.

“(Y/n), wha-” Tommy cut himself off once he saw the panicked look on his older brother’s face. Following his gaze, his wide eyes met with your cuts.

You sighed, prying the goggles off from your face and pulling the gloves off from your hands. You put on a calm exterior, contrary to what you felt on the inside. They were never supposed to know. “Listen, you guys weren’t supposed to find out about this. None of you were. Please don’t tell Dad or Technoblade, I don’t need more people knowing.”

Tommy spoke up with an incredulous look. “(Y/n), what do you mean? We can’t just not tell them.”

“I know. Please, do it for me? Everything’s finally going back to normal and this will just make everything worse again. I promise I’ll stop, I swear.”

The two brothers looked at each other silently contemplating what they should do. On one hand, you were their sibling and you were hurting yourself. They needed to tell their dad that you were cutting. You only had two lives left and you could kill yourself doing that. Philza and Techno could help. On the other hand, they wanted you to feel normal in your own home. You were right in the fact that everything was starting to feel like it did before the incident. Plus, they would gladly help you through it.

They looked back at you with apprehensive expressions, speaking at the same time. 

“(Y/n), we’re not gonna tell Dad or Techno.”

“We’re telling them.”

Tommy whipped his head up to look at his brother angrily. “Wilbur, we need to tell them.”

“Tommy, no-”

“Are you fucking stupid? Of course we have to-”

“Tommy. We don’t because I’ll be taking every sharp object away from them tonight. We’ll watch them and check their wrists to make sure that there’s no new cuts and they stay clean. We’ll help them.”

“But- they,” Tommy gave a frustrated sigh. “Fine. But we at least have to tell Techno about this. He can help us.”

Wilbur glanced at you with apologetic eyes. Before he could speak up, you interrupted him. “...Alright, as long as Dad doesn’t find out. He has enough to stress out about and he doesn’t need to worry about me again. Now, can we go upstairs for dinner? We’ve been down here for long enough already and Dad’s probably wondering why. Tell him that I’m gonna go clean up.”

Without giving them any room to argue, you speeded up the stairs and into your room. Closing the door and leaning your back on it, you let your calm facade drop into a panicked one. Shit, what if Tommy tells Dad? What were you supposed to do then? He’ll take away what little freedom you had left and you’ll be sinking into the depths of your depression again. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock and Philza’s voice. You held your breath as you prepared yourself for him to tell you that he knows your secret. “Hey hun, Wilbur and Tommy told me that you burned yourself,” you let out a relieved sigh. “Do you need me to look at it?”

Panic once again flared in your bloodstream. “N-no Dad, it’s just a little burn. I’ll be down in just a second I’m changing.”

“You sure? I can get you a potion.”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“...Alright,” he sounded skeptical. “Just hurry up, dinner’s getting cold.”

The sound of his retreating footsteps sounded like music to your ears. You closed your eyes and took a few deep breaths before you moved to put on a long sleeved shirt. 

Dinner was uncharacteristically quiet without Tommy, you, or Wilbur talking. Philza tried to carry the conversation with you four, but only Technoblade gave full responses. You, Tommy, and Wilbur only supplied a few words to a conversation when prompted. 

Technoblade was suspicious. Sure, you and Wilbur were quiet sometimes, but Tommy? Tommy’s always loud and rambunctious. Something’s wrong, but what? What could’ve happened when Tommy and Wilbur went to go get you for dinner? They weren’t gone for long. He did hear you screaming profanities at Tommy for scaring you and overheard Tommy telling Philza about how you burned yourself, but how is that something that would shut you three up? He was going to confront his siblings after he finished tonight’s dishes. 

Meanwhile, you, Tommy, and Wilbur were in your room. You were giving them your iron dagger.

“Is this all?”

“Yeah, Tommy. That’s all, search my room if you don’t believe me. I wouldn’t mind, I don’t have anything to hide from you anymore.”

They did just that. Looking under your bed, in your drawers, in your closet, and in the chest you kept for your supplies. You watched them propped up on your bed. While you were angry with yourself that you were so careless, you felt warm that they cared about you. They were great brothers.

After they were done turning your room upside down, Wilbur plopped down next to you and Tommy threw himself over your legs. You three laid there for a while just enjoying each other’s presence. It was nice to spend some time with your brothers, you didn’t get much free time to spend with them because you spent most of your time in your workshop.

The silence was broken by Tommy. “...So, how do you wanna go about telling Technoblade?”

“I’m… not exactly sure. Do we even have to tell him?”

Wilbur pursed his lips. “Even if you didn’t want to, I’m pretty sure he knows something’s up. He’s good at picking up on social cues.”

“Well if that’s the case, I might just wait until he comes to me. It’ll be easier.”

Your door swung open to reveal your piglin hybrid brother. He looked at you with a single eyebrow raised as his ear flicked. “What were you planning on telling me?”

Tommy and Wilbur looked at you expectantly. You shifted your body closer to the wall making room on your bed for him. He walked over and stiffly sat on the edge of your mattress. He gestured for you to talk to him. You slowly slid your sleeve down and showed him your arm. Besides his eyebrows slightly crinkling, he was as stoic as ever when he reached out to grab your wrist for a better look.

On the inside, the voices were almost as loud as when you died. They were nearly incoherent as several angry voices mixed together yelling at him for not noticing anything was wrong with you, the kid he vowed to protect when you first stole his crown and replaced it with a homemade paper one. Outside of the voices, he was furious at himself, he was supposed to protect you. He ran his fingers along the raised lines, gently tracing over every scar and scabbed over cut as if memorizing where every single one lays.

His monotone voice was gruff. “How long? Why?”

“About eight months now. I-I didn’t feel anything for a while after I respawned and I realized that pain helped me feel. It helped ground me when I hallucinated or had panic attacks.”

“...Do you feel anything now?”

“Yeah, I’m getting better Tech. I’m hallucinating less and I’m getting better at managing anxiety attacks. At this point, it's just a habit that I can’t drop.” 

“Do you want to drop it?”

You fell silent. You never really considered stopping before. Before, you would do it to give yourself something to focus on when you were overwhelmed, but now you would do it out of habit. It somehow felt wrong when you skipped a session and it usually threw your entire day off. You would feel drained for the entire day if you didn’t do it. It was one of the only consistent things in your life.

“(Y/n), c’mon you don’t want to keep doing this, right?” Tommy asked before Wilbur reached over and slapped him upside his head. 

“I think,” you breathed out, unsure of yourself, “I want to get better.”

Techno looked at his brothers. “Did you two take their blades?”

Tommy held up the iron dagger and wove it around haphazardly in the air. Techno reached over and pocketed the dagger before discarding his golden crown and placing it on your nightstand. He took off his weighted fluffy cloak and neatly draped it over a nearby chest. He maneuvered his body so that he was laying on your other side and wrapped a lazy arm over your chest. 

With Wilbur on your right side with your wing draped over him, Tommy laying on your stomach with Wilbur reaching down to hold him, and Techno pulling you close to his body, you were pleasantly warm. You were slowly drifting off, being lulled to sleep by Techno’s slow heartbeat. You blissfully fell asleep surrounded by your brothers’ love.

Inspo for the cuddle pile (credit goes to og artist, zillychu): https://zillychu.home.blog/tag/heart-squad-cuddle-pile/

Taglist (comment if you want to be added):

@acecarddraws  @goldenstarofthunderclan  @ravennightingaleandavatempus  @dirtydiavolo  @yeiras-world  @immadatmostthings  @hee-hee-haw  @jackalopedoodles  @m1lkmandan  @vanhakirja  @im-a-depressed-gay  @coolleviauchihadreamerlove  @questioning-sanity  @camisascam

@bongwaterflavoredgatorade  @kakamiissad  @jayistrash  @lifestylesleep  @speedymaximoff  @sun-shark-tooth  @appetiteofapeoplepleaser  @starchildnatalya  @kinismanditory  @dragons-lurk-here  @rinzyx05  @the-wandering-pan-ace  @sparkling-gayyyy  @angelic-scent  @shinipii  @dont-hug-me-im-a-fander  @izzydimensional  @used-avocado

[theguardiansofredland]

Error 404

Hey! I wrote the first two chapters of that Hermitcraft fic!! A few things you should know before reading:

I made Mumbo’s real name Miriam. Yes, i know his name is Oliver but I want to stress the fact that this is not about the real people and does not mention the real people at all. This all takes place in minecraft. This is fiction.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy chapters 1 and 2! Chapter 2 will be under the cut

Please let me know if you want me to continue!!

Chapter 1

Operating system online. Please wait while the system is loading…

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Welcome online Model V.1.0

A small chime of completion echoed throughout the spherical base. Once black and empty eyes now lit with a red glow. The A.I. jerked to life, stumbling slightly as it tried to catch itself. 

“Where am I?” it thought, scanning the area for any useful information. There was a tree in a small pool, and a bed right next to it. The entity cocked its head to the side, staring at the water. Hesitantly, it gently poked the surface of the pond, mesmerized by the ripples echoing on the surface. It proceeded to stare at the water for another 3 hours. 

The entity finally stopped gazing into the pond when it noticed that the light from outside this room had faded. Odd. Where was the light? Shouldn’t it just always be there? It blinked and stood up from it’s crouched position and peeked outside. An endless inky night sky, dotted with stars stared back at it. However, it found this not as cool as water ripples and turned around to look at the pool again. 

That is, until it saw a small envelope on the bed. How had it not noticed before? Oh yeah. Water ripples. The entity tilted its head once more and sat on the bed, staring blankly at the envelope. On top were the words, Please Open and Read -Mumbo. Mumbo? That was a silly word. Why would an envelope be signed by a Mumbo? The entity picked up the envelope, and examined it, flipping and turning it every which way. After a long time of simply looking at it, the entity finally opened the envelope. To which, a letter fell out onto its lap. The entity finally made a sound in the form of a squeak. It blinked several times before curiosity finally came over it and read the letter.

Dear A.I. Mumbo Online,

If you’re reading this, hooray! It worked! You’re alive! However, if you’re reading this, it means that I am no longer in this world. A shame really, I would have loved to see you up and moving. Anyways, you probably have no idea what you are or what’s even happening. Well, you’re a robot. But not just any robot- A robot replica of me! Your creator! My name is Mumbo. Well…. That’s what I go by at least. You can use that name if you want. Or you can use my real name, Miriam…. You can kind of see why I go by Mumbo now. Anyways! You were made in an effort to preserve my presence on the island, and to continue my work after I’m gone. There are others on this island, please go and visi-

Blah blah blah boring. The entity, rolled its eyes and tossed the paper to the floor. Why did its creator have to ramble for so long. It sat there, eyes locked on the floor for quite some time. Did he say other people? Fascinating. Its gaze shifted to the outside sky, still black and and inky and boring. Without any thought, the entity stood, and made its way out of the small bedroom. The envelope fell to the floor as the bed shifted. The entity not noticing the small flash drive labeled, Memories, falling out onto the ground. 

Chapter 2

The vast, expanding sphere of white and gray everything colored the structure. The hum and clicking of redstone contraptions filling the air with sound like white noise. Soft glows from blue lanterns cast the area in a soothing blue light, complimenting the darkness that surrounded everywhere else. 

The entity wandered the sphere aimlessly. Where was it supposed to go? Was there an exit? Why did one guy need so many chests? Why did one guy need this much space? It sighed, and mindlessly started opening chests. One had many different shades of glass, while another contained nothing but an endless ocean of melons. Why did he need so many melons!! What did he do with them?! It closed the chest in confusion. The mere idea of what this insane hoarder did with all this stuff made it overheat.

One box, however, stood out to him. It was a red box that opened in a stupid way. Needless to say, the entity spent an eternity just opening and closing the box. It wasn’t until it accidently knocked it over, did it see the contents, now strewn across the floor. Dust? Okay this guy was insane. Why was he hoarding dust. It crouched down to scoop the dust back into the weird box but stopped when it noticed the items hidden beneath the dust. Red torches, some weird machine boxes, and a plate thingy with slider. What was all this stuff? 

The entity tried opening the weird metal cube box things, but couldn’t. It pouted, now confused and done with trying to process this information. It kicked the box over and went back to wandering this place and looking through everything.

Eventually it found some rockets, and some mechanical wings. With nothing better to do, the entity strapped the wings to its back and tried to fly. It was not successful. Perhaps it needed a running start? Flight does require speed and drag. 

With a heavy burst of speed the entity ran towards the edge of the base, holding its arms out like a child would when playing pretend airplanes. It leaped off the edge and-

Fell. It fell faster and faster towards the water’s surface. However instead of screaming like a normal person, the entity stared emotionless down at the ocean. Right before crashing into the salty blue abyss, the wings on its back opened with a loud, mechanical chink. The now opened wings, let the entity glide and fly like a seagull or a rock thrown really far. And just like a rock, crashed through a window into a stranger’s home.

[rendiggitydog]

Blast From the Past

The start of a mini-series!

-Chapter 1/7-

The blast from town center sent a shockwave across the whole world, sending the hermits into a frenzy. Almost instantly, the group chat was flooded with messages, and hermits flew from all corners to the scene.

A large crater had appeared in the shopping district, in front of the statues of Tango and Cub. The smoke was still clearing as everyone peered over the edges of the hole.

Xisuma, feeling confident his armor could protect him from possible foreign substances, slid down the sides of the pit, hopping over rocks as he made his way to the center. The smoke began clearing, and a figure could be seen lying in the rubble.

"Hello?" X called cautiously. "Are you alive?"

"I'm real knackered..." The figure sat up slowly, revealing himself to the onlooking group. He sported a big black moustache, with messy back hair that brushed the tops of his ears. His shirt evidently used to be blue, but wasn't anymore, and his jeans weren't much better. His shoes looked nearly worn through on the soles. With wide eyes, he observed the large group watching, and then turned to X. "Where did- how- who are you?"

"My name is Xisuma, what's yours? Where do you hail from?"

"Name's MJ. I think I got too buzzed, this is a wild fever dream..." He glanced at the group peering over the side of the hole, and examined X's armor with skepticism. "You'd think I was a swigger, the things I'm imagining..."

"You aren't imagining anything. This is Hermitcraft! We all live together and have fun. Shall we climb out of this hole, then?"

The pair made their way out of the crater, where Joe met them with a glint in his eye, but a worried expression. "Howdy MJ. It sounds like you're from the 1950's, am I right?"

"Yeah, '51. Ya make it sound like it isn't '51?" MJ wrung his hands.

"No, it's 2019. How bizarre..." X mused.

MJ ran jittery fingers through his hair. "Man, this blows. I don't- and there's- colors everywhere, and- and you're all just like me-"

"I mean, I don't exactly look like you," Doc chuckled.

"Nah, you don't get it. Where I'm from, I'm it. Sometimes ya run into a pig- a creeper if you're unlucky, but that's it. The whole world is grass and trees, as far as the Farlands. It's quiet, being the only one... aware." MJ went quiet, rubbing his arm.

"So you live in a Classic world... How interesting..." X began pacing unconsciously.

"Are you sure it's Classic? He knows creepers, weren't they added in Indev?" Joe quizzed.

"Nope, Classic. Depends on the version, but he probably knows pigs, sheep, zombies, skeletons, spiders and creepers."

MJ nodded at the only words he understood in their conversation. He was still fairly certain he was dreaming.

"Also, he's using 1950's American slang in a British accent- that error was removed in early Indev."

X nodded quickly. "You're right, I forgot about that."

"Can we all get to bed? We don't want phantoms killing MJ, who knows where he would respawn." Scar pulled out a couple beds, which hermits promptly hopped into.

"Phantoms? Why we gotta sleep? Are The Phantoms a gang?" MJ asked quickly as the rest of the hermits led him to the Stax-4-Stax Tavern.

"The longer you go without sleep, the more phantoms spawn, and they're deadly." Grian explained. "When was the last time you slept?"

"....never?" MJ watched the dark sky anxiously.

"Oh yeah... Let's get inside, quick!" Grian shoved him inside. The phantoms screeched, making Grian chuckle and MJ shudder.

—

The next morning, MJ was full of chaos and concern. Now fully rested for the first time in his life, he began to realize his situation. He anxiously danced around the small room of sleeping hermits for a few minutes, before he mustered enough courage to creep out the front door.

There was so much color in this strange world- even the grass looked different from what he knew. His head spun on a swivel as he took in everything he possibly could.

He started low, running his fingers through the long grass and smelling the colorful flowers scattered across the ground in front of the building. A chicken wandered across his path, so he decided to follow it wherever it went.

The chicken, followed by an intent MJ, meandered to the shore by the ocean, which MJ noted, was filled with seaweed and assorted swimming creatures.

As they wandered further inland, MJ drifted away from his chicken guide, stunned by the variety of blocks in the buildings towering around him. He poked his head into a red striped building, but ducked out just as quickly when he couldn't name the shiny blue rocks or cylinders in the wooden boxes.

As he stepped out, however, something shot over his head with a loud explosion, sending him to the floor in a panic. The creepers were in the air, too?

"Heya! Enjoying my store?" A man fell out of the sky holding one of the striped cylinders. His hair was golden and shimmered in the light, along with his bright red eyes. His ears and teeth were pointy, and his combat boots completed the intimidating look. "What are you doing on the ground?"

MJ glanced around carefully, motioning the man to crouch down next to him. "There are creepers flying around here!"

The man gave him a blank stare, then laughed, standing up again. "Oh man, that's priceless! You mean me? Using a rocket to fly?" He pulled out a so-called rocket, and it exploded in his face, sending MJ into another fit of shakes. "It's okay, they're harmless!"

"You can fly?" MJ asked cautiously, afraid the answer might include more explosions.

"Let me show you!" The man crouched down, preparing another rocket, but stopped when he saw MJ's petrified expression. "Well, maybe we should start smaller. How about the Cherry Store?"

The man, who MJ learned was named Tango, lead him patiently to another store, this one made of wood. Wood was more familiar to MJ, although this wood looked entirely different to what he was used to.

"Look, this stuff is called redstone," Tango explained, displaying a nicely packaged bag of redstone, ready to be purchased. "You can make lots of hardware with it, which you can use to make machines!"

MJ opened the bag, running his finger through the red dust. Some of it sparked, glowing slightly. "What can you make with the parts?"

"Well, you can start small with an automatic fish farm, or you can build an iron titan, or you can make something like Sahara! Let me show you, it's super cool!"

Excited again, Tango led the way to Sahara, a large building in the side of the hill. After showing MJ the interface, they staircased up to the second level to get a look at the modules.

"Iskall made all of these himself- crazy, right? Grian tried to help, but he's definitely the builder of the Architechs," Tango laughed.

MJ walked down an aisle, marveling at the large machines. They were made of small parts MJ couldn't name, but he knew they were made of redstone. It was all incredible, but MJ didn't understand a bit of it- he considered himself more of a builder anyway.

"Oi! Trespassers!" Grian, as MJ remembered from yesterday, soared through a broken window. He smoothed his wild sandy-blond hair, a wide grin across his face.

"Don't mind us! I'm just showing MJ around!" Tango waved.

"Oh! You should come see my base, MJ! It's super cool!" Grian bounced excitedly. He had a lot of energy, MJ gave him that. Not usually his cup of tea in friendships, but beggars can't be choosers.

"I'll leave you two to it then! Xisuma wanted me to work on some code with him today anyway. See ya!" Tango flew away with another explosion, causing MJ to jump.

"Hm, I suppose you're not much of a flyer, huh?" Grian observed. MJ simply shook his head. "Guess we'll boat over!"

MJ carefully stepped into the boat Grian made, with Grian clambering in after him. They rowed out into the bay, MJ watching as the shore faded into a shimmer at the horizon. "Here we are!"

MJ turned around and was stunned by the white building towering over them. Grian hopped out of the boat onto a glass bridge, motioning MJ to follow. He carefully did so, being sure his shoes were dry enough that he wouldn't slip.

"This is my base! Sorry it's kind of a mess, I have a chest monster problem," Grian giggled and soared down into the center of the tower. He rifled through a couple of the chests (as MJ had just learned they were called) and flew back to MJ with arms full of mysterious items. "Here's a starter kit!"

Grian tossed the items on the floor and sorted through them, giving MJ a run-down. "So that's full iron tools and armor, a stack of golden carrots, a stack of torches, and an elytra with rockets to get you started! Does that look alright to you?"

MJ nodded, entranced by the items- especially the strange golden carrots.

"...You don't talk much, do you?" Grian stared into his eyes. Despite his brown eyes being almost black, they sparkled with love and innocence.

MJ cleared his throat. "Ah, I guess I'm still feeling a lil buzzed from... however I got here." He shrugged, carefully picking up the gifted items.

Grian opened and closed his mouth several times, and then settled with a confused smile. It looked strange on his usually-energetic face. "Feel free to set up your base anywhere that's open. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to text anyone." He handed a small black box to MJ, which he held with reverence. "It's a phone- just press the name of who ever you wanna talk to."

"Thanks," MJ hesitated. "By chance are you a greaser? You don't have any beef, do ya?"

Grian cocked an eyebrow. "Maybe? You won't need any beef though, the golden carrots are way better for your health."

"...are you booted, dog?"

Grian blinked. "I think you have different slang in Classic, because I don't know what that means..."

"My bad. Just, nevermind. I'll leave ya to it. Thanks for the setup!" MJ, embarrassed, hopped in his boat and paddled off, avoiding eye contact with Grian. The guy was weird to say the least- MJ wondered if that was why he lived in the ocean alone. Hopefully he hadn't killed his reputation by talking to Grian, and he could find a more helpful person tomorrow...

[ragehappysecretsanta]

Author: http://rayaotic.tumblr.com

Recipient:  http://airrichan.tumblr.com

Summary:  Matt couldn't think of the right words to tell Jeremy about the whole feelings thing.  So, he decided to not use words.

Warnings: N/A

WordCount:  1621

Now, there’s been plenty of interesting things that Jeremy has witnessed.  He’s fought a dragon in the void and everything.  But he could honestly say that was the first time he saw what was essentially a mound of netherrack with legs.

Looking at the legs, he recognized the boots as Matt’s.  So either this thing stole his friend’s shoes, or it’s just Matt carrying a comically large amount of netherrack.  Which, honestly, is pretty easy to figure out.  “Hey,” Jeremy called out.

The mound stopped on its path and rotated towards him, as if anybody could see anything through all that.  “Oh, hey!”  Yup.  Just regular ol’ Matt.

Walking up to him, Jeremy sighed dramatically.  “Y’know, I figured it was just you, but I was also kinda hoping it was some weird new monster.”

Careful not to drop anything, Matt tried to only laugh a little.  “Nah, I’m just working on some stuff.”

Really, anything that warranted carrying around netherrack in such large amounts at once was probably going to be pretty interesting.  “What kind of stuff?”

“Don’t…  Don’t worry about it, it’s a surprise.”

“C’mon, Matt, you’ve known me for ages, I won’t tell anybody.”

He started leaning as if to try looking Jeremy in the eye somehow, then decided against it as the weight of the whole mess shifted with him.  “Look, I swear you’ll be the first to see it.”

“You mean after you make sure Geoff thinks it’s good, right?”

“No, I mean you’re gonna be the first one I let see this.”  Matt shuffled his feet for a moment.  “I’d shake on it, but if I let go of all this, I’ll probably suffocate.”

Jeremy blinked for a second and stepped out of Matt’s previous path.  “I’ll take your word for it.”

-

Geoff looked up and down the corridor again.  “Yeah, looks great.”

Matt tried wiping his hands on his pants, but remembered he was wearing gloves and decided to suffer.  “Really?”

He gave Matt a good pat on the back.  “Dude, you always do an awesome job.  Of course it looks good.”

“Aw, thanks, man.”  Slightly hurried, Matt starting glancing up to the position of the sun and back to Geoff.  “So… is that about everything?”

“What, you in a hurry?”

Matt stiffened slightly.  “What hurry- I mean, what makes you think I’m in a hurry?”

Geoff took a step back and took a good look at Matt.  “Uh, everything?”

That’s fair.  “Look, just…  Just don’t tell anybody anything, alright?”

Raising his eyebrows a little, he leaned in closer to Matt.  “Yeah, I won’t, I promise.”

“Great.”  Without missing a beat, Matt only turned around and ran the other direction.

“Wha-”  By the time Geoff had a sentence put together in his head, he was already alone.  “... Well, how am I supposed to accidentally spill all your secrets now?”

-

Jeremy had just closed his door for the night when he heard knocking.  “... What?”  Cracking open the door, he peeked through.  “Oh, hey Matt.  What’s up?”

The surrounding torches were just bright enough for the redstone grounded into Matt’s cheeks to not give away how nervous he was.  “I, uh, wanted to show you something I’ve been working on.”

Opening the door wider, Jeremy’s eyes widened a little, too.  “Is it that new building Geoff wanted?”

“No, no, this is, uh…  A personal project.”  Matt clasped his hands together.  “And it looks a lot better at night, so…”

He rubbed his eyes and stepped back out to join Matt on the edge of the logo.  “Sure, dude, lead the way.”

“Awesome!”  Just before turning around to head towards this mystery build, for just a moment, Matt looked… giddy?

Luckily for Jeremy’s sleepy self, that didn’t exactly translate into walking fast.  “Sooo…  What can you tell me about this mystery build?”

“Well, I can tell you that telling you it looks cool at night was already too much.”

“Overly complicated way to set off fireworks.  Gotcha.”

“Nope!  No.  Definitely not.”

A good laugh was just what Jeremy needed to wake himself back up enough for this walk.  “So-”

“Don’t just guess more, dude, we’re almost there.”

“Alright, alright.”

After a couple more minutes, Jeremy nearly ran into Matt when he stopped abruptly.  “Here it is.”

Leaning past Matt, Jeremy mostly just saw some weird blocks jutting out across the ocean, seemingly in random placements.  Glancing up and around, though, he noticed more sticking up into the air.  “Okay, so…  What is it?”

Spinning around, Matt offered a hand to Jeremy.  “You kinda have to walk through it to see.”

After Jeremy took his hand, Matt started walking backwards, leading him into the center of the formation.  It looked practiced, but Jeremy noticed him trying so hard to not look to see where he’s going.  “Hey, uh, if you’re nervous, you can just show me another time-”

“No, no, I’m fine.  Check this shit out.”  A few more steps, and Matt’s boot landed on a tripwire.  A click, and a click, and some of the blocks around them set on fire, the orange light complimenting Matt’s red.

“... So this is what all that netherrack was for?”

“Told you not to worry about it.”

They laughed, and as they laughed they started walking again.  More and more of the structure was set ablaze, every few steps after every few steps, until Matt stopped just before a pressure plate at the end of the walkway.  And then, they stood.  Jeremy let go of Matt’s hand to look around at all the lights around them, while Matt carefully watched his (joyful) expression.

Jeremy faced Matt again.  “Dude, this is awesome!”

Matt brought a hand up to fidget with the edge of his hood.  “I’ve been trying to figure this thing out for a while, honestly.”

“You did amazing.”  Looking around again, Jeremy noticed something.  “Hey, doesn’t this seem… heart-shaped?”

“Uh… what makes you say that?”

“Well, hearts are pretty recognizable I think.  So it’s kinda hard to accidentally make one, too.”

Matt’s fidgeting hand moved to pull his hood to cover his face a little, although it didn’t make much difference due to his cheeks very literally glowing.  “I, uh, see where you’re…”  Rather than finishing his sentence, he turned 90° left and stepped down into the water.

Grasping one of his hands, Jeremy kept him from fully stepping off the platform.  “Dude.”

He let his weight shift to the foot in the water, only looking back slightly when this made the stitches throughout Jeremy’s arm start tearing loose.  “What?”

“It’s alright, Matt, get back up here.”

“... No.”

“Dude, really, it’s cool.”  Matt stopped leaning away so much and turned his head to better see Jeremy.  “Honestly, I kinda hope it’s supposed to be a heart.”

Stepping back onto the walkway, Matt fully faced Jeremy again.  “You do?”

Taking Matt’s other hand now, Jeremy looked into his eyes.  “Well, yeah.  Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I kinda love you.”

“Wait, really?”

He gave Matt’s hands a gentle squeeze.  “Yeah, I do.”

Still not looking away, Matt pressed a foot down on the pressure plate behind him.  And soon after, a dozen fireworks shot into the air above them.  “I… I love you too, man.”

Jeremy watched them with just as much awe as he watched the fires, before he started to laugh.  “So it really was complicated fireworks, huh?”

Matt wrapped his arms around Jeremy’s shoulders and pulled him close.  “Shut up, dude.”

-

Considering how excited he was, Matt was kind of surprised with how well he slept.  And he knew he was very well rested, because when he heard knocking on his door, he wasn’t annoyed by it in the slightest.

“I’ll give you those directions in just a sec, Ge-”  As Matt opened his door, he instead saw Jeremy.  “Oh, shit, hey!”

“Hi!  I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“I was just about to get up anyway, dude.  What’s up?”

Jeremy shuffled his feet a little.  “So, I wanna do something cool for you, too…”

“Which you absolutely don’t have to.”

“I’m going to, shut up.  But, uh…”  He brought his hands out from behind his back, revealing a massive bundle of wildflowers.  “This is all I have time for right now.”

Matt looked between all the colors of the flowers and Jeremy’s smile, and suddenly felt hyper-aware of how much he must look like he’d just woken up.  “Oh, gods, thanks, man.”  Gently taking the flowers in one hand, he tried to brush his hair with the other.  “You wanna come inside for a bit?  It’s way too early right now.”

“Yeah, absolutely!”  Awkwardly tiptoeing, Jeremy slipped past Matt, careful not to knock the flowers out of his hand.  He looked around the room and gave a soft sigh.  “I really don’t come here often enough, do I?”

“Well, I mean…  I’m hoping last night made it clear enough for me, but you can come over anytime.”  The two looked into each other’s eyes for quite a bit, until Matt coughed and turned towards a bench along his wall.  “Uh, here, have a seat.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy said as he sat down.  Waiting for Matt to join him, he started to laugh.  “Oh, gods, everyone’s gonna be so confused once they find that.”

He smirked a little as he set the flowers down gently on the bench beside him.  “Don’t worry, I’ll rig it with explosions by the time you guys get back-”

Quickly moving from casually sitting to being bolt upright, Jeremy pointed at Matt.  “Don’t you dare, Matthew!”  Slowly lowering his hand, he did the most blush-adjacent thing a zombie could manage.  “It’s really great.”

Matt blinked his surprise away and smiled.  “You got it.”

[mcsmrandomness]

Story Mode Christmas Day 7: Decorating

It was their first Christmas in the treehouse.  It should be totally fun and exciting experience. But as usual, Olivia was stressing about it.  She fiddled with redstone circuitry at the base of the tree.

It shouldn’t be this hard. In all the books she’s read, putting up Christmas lights should not be this difficult.  But she’d been tinkering with this now for half the day and still hadn’t managed to get all the lights working.  Some blinked while others were out entirely.  There was no complete working string to put up.  Jesse, Reuben, and Axel had gone into town to purchase the rest of the decorations, and they were probably having much more fun than she was.  She tested another light string.  This one didn’t light up at all.  Ugh.  Even the Ocelots made this stuff look easy, and they were just learning like she was.  Could she do anything right?  I mean, they’d already lost a building competition to the Ocelots once, and she, Jesse, and Axel were not nearly as good builders as those guys were.  She’d been trying to learn redstone, and she was getting better at it, but she obviously couldn’t do something as simple as making lights.  She set down the repeater she’d been working with and sighed.

“Olivia!”  Axel called from a distance.  Turning around, she noticed her friends approaching.  Axel had a tree slung over his shoulders, while Jesse was carrying bags of various other ornaments and decorations.  Reuben was wearing a striped red and white scarf around his neck.  Axel started waving wildly.

She waited in silence as the trio approached.  Once they reached the tree, Axel set the Christmas tree down, while Jesse climbed the ladder to put the bags inside.  “So,” Axel turned to her, “any luck with the lights?”

Olivia snorted.  “Ha!  I wish.  I’m absolute crap at this.  I haven’t even managed to get one full string working, and I’ve been at it for hours.  Why do I even try anymore?”

“Oh come on, Olivia. You’ll get it!  You always do!”

“What’s going on?” Jesse called from inside the treehouse. He stuck his head out of the trapdoor hatch in the floor.  Reuben’s head joined his a second afterwards.

“She still can’t get the lights to work!”  Axel shouted much louder than he needed to.  “But that’s ok, it will just take her a little longer than we thought!”

“More like it will never happen,” Olivia mumbled under her breath.  

Axel didn’t hear her. “Anyway, we need to get this Christmas tree inside!  Do you think it’s offensive that we’re putting a tree inside of a tree?”

“I’m pretty sure the trees don’t care, Axel,” Olivia deadpanned.

“I’ll help you get the tree up here,” Jesse explained.  He began climbing down the ladder with Reuben in his arms.  “Meanwhile, keep working with the lights, Olivia.  You’ll get it!”  He reached the base of the tree and set Reuben down on the grass.  The pig let out a high-pitched oink.  Jesse walked to where Axel set down the tree.  “Here, you’re going to have to help me carry this.”  

Axel picked up the tree easily.  “There. Now what?”

Olivia stopped listening as Jesse explained the plan for getting the spruce tree up the ladder. She turned back to her circuits and lights.  Maybe if she just…nope.  That failed. How about…

She lost track of time fiddling with the redstone and reading her manual.  Before she knew it, the sun had sunk even lower into the sky. It wasn’t quite sunset, but it was pretty close, maybe a couple hours away at most.   Axel and Jesse had been inside all day decorating with Reuben.  She assumed the tree was up by now, fully decorated, and the house was probably just as fancy.  Meanwhile, she had made little progress.  She had now successfully lit one strand, but there were two lights that flickered occasionally.  Deciding it was close enough for now, she began wiring another strand.  There was just one problem: she couldn’t remember what she had done to the first one to make it work.  So, she was forced to study the other strand of lights, which took up even more precious time.  Jesse and Axel were wrong; obviously she couldn’t do it no matter how hard she tried.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear Jesse climb down the ladder and approach her.   “Any luck?”

She jumped slightly.  “Oh, hi, Jesse.”  She tried to sound enthusiastic, but she couldn’t.  “It’s going…not so great.”

“Nothing yet?” Jesse frowned.

“Nothing.”  She shook her head sadly.

She noticed him turn to the light strand she had mostly finished.  He pulled the lever, and the lights lit up.  Except for two.  “Well,” he smiled, “I wouldn’t say nothing.  Look at this! It’s so cool!”  He beamed.

“Yeah.  Cool.  Except for the fact that I can’t get the entire string to light up.  I’ve been trying all day, and it’s not working.  I should just quit.  I’m useless at redstone.”

Jesse put the lights down, but they still continued to glow.  He rounded on her.  “That’s not true!  You’re great! I mean, you got that one string to work.”

Olivia huffed.  “Yeah, that one strand.  And even then, it’s not perfect.”

“Olivia, you’re not useless at redstone.  Not everyone can do what you just did.  It’s incredible!”

Suddenly, Axel shouted from the treehouse, “Hey, guys!  I got the dispenser loaded!”

Olivia’s head snapped up. “In the house?  Axel, are you crazy?!”

“Nope!  Just awesome!”

Thankfully, Jesse decided it was time to get involved.  “Axel, if you burn down my treehouse-”

But Olivia was already climbing the ladder.  Before she even knew what she was doing, she had dismantled the entire machine.  Axel complained loudly.  “Aw, come on!  I worked hard on that!”

“And you can do it again,” Olivia stated.  “Outside the treehouse!”

Sighing dramatically, Axel grabbed the dispenser and fireworks and headed outside.

“See?”  Jesse was behind her again.  “You were a pro at dismantling that just now.”

“Right.  I can break things easily, but I can’t build them.”

“But you can!  You have!  You even showed Axel how to build the fireworks dispenser.”

“Big mistake, by the way,” she muttered, though she was smiling.  “But building a redstone lamp is easy, building a fireworks dispenser is easy.  But making several strands of working lights?  Not easy.”

Jesse opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly closed it.  He unexpectedly grabbed her hand and pulled her to the ladder.  She reluctantly followed him, and he began making his way down the ladder again.  When they reached the grass, Jesse let go and immediately darted for the lights.  He frantically started rearranging the redstone, clearly not knowing what he was doing. Her heart pounded.

“Jesse!  What are you doing?  You can’t just do that!  The circuitry is delicate!  No, you need to have the repeater next to the-” She stopped mid-sentence.  That was it!  Her hands were flying as she shoved Jesse out of the way and began working the wiring again.  In about five minutes, she had fixed the strand and began working on the next one, and the next, and the next, until all five strands were completely functioning.

She turned around to find Jesse smiling widely.  “Oh, come on, Olivia.  See?  I told you that you could do it!”

“Later!  We need to get these lights up before the sun sets. Where’s Axel?”

In no time at all, the lights were strung along the house and across into the trees.  As the sun sunk lower onto the horizon, the lights seemed to glow even more.  The woods were lit up, and it was beautiful.  Reuben oinked at Jesse’s feet and then squealed excitedly, and she knew why when she felt the first drop of cold hit her nose.  Snowflakes had begun to fall.

“Man, this looks amazing, Olivia!”  Axel stared happily at the house.

“It sure does.  It’s surprising what you can do when you actually believe in yourself, even if it’s just for a second.”  He glanced in her direction, and she elbowed him playfully, shaking her head.

“Shut up,” but it was hard to keep a straight face.  Finally, she relented.  “Thanks, Jesse.”

“Hey, I’ll be happy to mess with your stuff anytime if it helps.”  He gave her a quirky grin.  “What are friends for?”

She could only smile as the four of them watched the moon rise and the snow fall in the soft glow of the forest.