#baby bird grian jumpscare ....

[ahllohehn]

Some Grian doodles based off designs suggested in this post (thank yuo for sharing)

// designs from @sweetaru1 & @fence-time

[writing-the-end]

Chapter 34- Masked Marauders

Previous Chapter

Once again, this was all written during the first week or two of hermitcraft season 7, so none of these mega bases of the jungle hermits have been built, and unfortunately Ren hadn’t moved into the mesa yet. If he had, I’d definitely put him in since i know Ecto loves Ren! 

Speaking of Ecto, have a wee bit of Ecto angst. I feel the need to say, mostly to ease my own anxiety, that in no way to I believe any of this that I write- this is all part of the story and exclusively their minesona. Ecto is an amazing and awesome person that deserves love and good friends, and I hope none of this causes issues. But I also know we all love angst here. 

Ecto belongs to @cooler-cactus-block   (sorry the ‘at’ system won’t show up your current one)

Red belongs to @theguardiansofredland​

This isn’t the first time Ecto has gotten lost on her own. Suddenly losing sight of Scar and the others didn’t bother her. She just kept going in the direction that they were before, following the sun towards the northwest. Just like she would in her desert.

Her home. What was her home. Has the blizzard stopped? How deep is everything she ever loved, everything she ever lived for, buried? How much has survived? The desert had been Ecto’s home her whole life. It was a place for surviving, a land so different from anywhere else. Where no trees grew, where dunes replaced hills and sand replaced dirt. It was a unique place for a unique person. A person that didn’t fit in other places, that people always thought of as strange. 

Through the dense leaves, Ecto hears a noise. It sounds like a zombie, but higher pitched. A baby zombie? Those little things are fast, ankle biters with a vengeance from beyond the grave. Ecto pulls out her sword, sunlight reflecting off the enchanted iron blade in speckles that shafted through the dense canopy. The groaning is getting closer, but it’s not the only noise out there. 

She also hears a soft hush, and a chuckle being swallowed back down. She’s really started to hate this feeling, of being watched all the time. The next grumble of the high pitched zombie noise, Ecto takes off towards it. She’s done sitting and being spied on. “Face me you coward!” 

Ecto bursts through the greenery, wielding her sword to fight off the zombie. Instead, her entire body near escapes the pull of gravity when she’s the one surprised instead. A massive bird, with a yellow feathered face and red plumage jumps back at her. “Pesky bird!” 

Another, much smaller blue parrot echos the larger one, before returning to the zombie noises it’s been mimicking. Once Ecto has regained her sense of sanity, she realizes that she’s not looking at two birds. She’s looking at one bird and a human with a bird mask, blonde hair peeking out from behind the yellow and grey. While the two birds are giggling at their jumpscare, Ecto recognizes that voice. “Grian?” 

Grian pulls up his mask, wiping away the tears at his eyes. He’s embraced the Jungle Bandit lifestyle, using leaves, flowers, and feathers to make a more practical version of his hippie attire. He’s a part of the jungle, swinging from vines and foraging from the land. At least until he gets started on his first megabuild. “Ecto, is that you? What are you guys doin’ back so soon?” 

“I lost Scar.” Ecto pulls herself up from the ground, wincing as her wound stretches against the movement of her body. Blu got her good, but she’s not going to let any of her aches stop her. Scar’s bandages definitely are helping hold her together. What she wouldn’t give for some cactus to chew on though. 

“Ah, yeah this jungle is really confusing. A whole new world is confusing, period.” Grian sets his mask to the side. “So how did everything go once you guys got back to your world? Did you get to that stronghold you were looking for?” 

“Yeah, we got there. But everything went downhill from there.” Ecto groans, thinking off all the horrible things that have happened. This journey should have ended when they reached Avon’s stronghold. Instead, the worst part just began. “Most of us don’t have a home to go back to anymore. We’ve just been...walking.” 

“Wandering.” Grian hums, noting the forlorn note in Ecto’s voice. He doesn’t want to push her for more information. It sounds like it’s painful just to think about. A fresh wound, physically and emotionally. Grian isn’t very good with sad emotions, but there is something he is good at. Getting people to smile, to feel joy. And he remembers Ecto’s spunky attitude from Area 77. “Hey, do you want to help me prank some of the other hermits? I have some plans but I really need a second hand to help me out.” 

A mischievous glimmer sparks in Ecto’s eyes and soul. “You want me to help you get into trouble?” 

“I want to have fun. And there’s no harm in a little bit of trouble if it’s all good natured fun, right?” Grian picks up his mask, and even offers Ecto one as well. Green, like a cactus. 

And the jungle bandit had a partner in crime. Two pesky birds- and Professor Beak- flitted through the jungle, clambering over low trees and high vines. They return to the small pond that Grian and Scar share. Scar isn’t home, which is exactly what the two were hoping for. Larry already had his mustache, but with two cheeky minds put together he soon also grew a pair of arms to twist said stache. They flee as soon as the job is done, and the snail has gone through a sudden evolution to gain hands. 

Throughout the jungle, the two leave odd signs and statues. Roses growing from trees, markers pointing to nowhere, trees left completely bald. At one point, the two run across a strange structure in the woods. Stone and jungle wood ring the cultic center, where two fires burn at a steady, endless pace. “I have no clue what this is, and I’m afraid we may be snooping around something we shouldn’t be.” 

“You people sure like your cult initiations.” Ecto muses, before escaping the strange altar in the middle of the forest. 

With Scar already well pranked, Grian had to turn his attention to one of the many other inhabitants of the forest. The jungle bandit would strike everyone- even those he just learned are his neighbors. The pair manage to find their way to Stress’s base, devilish grins and cocky giggles reaching through the masks as they near. Professor Beak imitates them, laughing as well. 

“Oh, carrots. Don’t mind if I do.” Grian pulls up the crop, ready to be harvested. He chuckles to himself as he plants one back into the warm, moist soil. “Pesky bird. That’s why you always harvest your crop.” 

“Do husks appear in jungles as well?” Ecto questions through a mouthful of cocoa beans. She only ever had these a few times before, the sweet chocolate melting in her mouth. Grian looks over, surprised to see the tan colored zombie floating his way towards the two.

“No...he must’ve wandered into the jungle from the nearby mesa.” Grian starts to get an idea as he watches the hapless creature, so slow in the water.

Ecto perks up. Mesas mean one thing to her- cacti. “There’s a mesa nearby?” 

Ecto’s already wading through the shallow water, despite not knowing where exactly it is. “Whoa, hold up. Let’s put this lost guy to good use. Then we can check out the Mesa.” 

Grian and Ecto manage to wrangle in the lost husk. Ecto has had years of practice toying with the mindless mummies, and kiting this one was no different. Except instead of baiting it into a cactus trap, she brought it into a lead held by Grian. Together, the two drag the husk into the depths of Stress’s base. 

Grian has more of an idea what to do from there, and the husk as well as Ecto just observe him with open mouths and empty eyes. The husk can’t even think, but Ecto’s thinking about the mesa. It’s not a desert, but it’s close enough. She can’t wait to escape this humid, dense forest. She’s used to being hot, but not this sticky kind of hot. 

Grian steps back, hauling the husk into a hole and silencing him. And right above the husk, Ecto places down Stress’s magenta colored bed. “What is the point of this?” 

“You know how hard it is to sleep with monsters around.” Ecto frowns, but Grian just continues. She has no trouble sleeping with monsters, she’s used to them at this point. “It’s simple, but it’ll definitely frustrate Stress- I can practically hear her grumbling about it now.” 

“Can we go to the mesa?” Ecto isn’t really interested in pranking anymore. It was fun, and Grian is fun, but she wants to see the mesa. The closest thing to her home she’ll have seen since the blizzard. 

Grian catches on, realizing that this is more than just an impatient friend. Ecto tries to keep a face of indifference, but every time she turns away, he can see it. Sadness. Loss. A desire to go somewhere she can’t find. When she thinks he’s not looking, he can see her smile disappear, especially from her eyes. She’s mourning something. “Let’s go to the mesa. I think we’ve had our fun here.” 

The bandits flee the scene of their crime, Grian guiding Ecto eastward, to the mesa. But it’s not long until Ecto is stumbling past him. She can smell the arid land from here. It’s earthy and warm, with a crisp scent of sand and dust. It cuts through the rich scent of detritus the jungle traps in among the humidity, calling her. 

Ecto escapes the clutches of the vines and trees, busting out into the sandy mesa next door. She leaps from a tree branch, rolling across the sand as she lands. The grains stick to her clothes and skin, embracing her with their warmth from the unobstructed sun. Ecto digs her fingers into the orange sand, watching the broken rocks fall between her fingers as she holds them up. Sand has never been such a welcome sight. 

She remembers what can only grow from sand, and snaps her head up. Mesas don’t seem to grow cacti as fervently as deserts do, but she can see a few growing on a mound of sand in the distance. 

Grian isn’t sure he’s ever seen someone so happy to see a mesa biome, or even a cactus. He’s grown so tired of all the cactus his farm has been producing, he’s drowning in the spiny plant. Ecto returns to him, bouncing in her boots and holding one out. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to have them. I forgot how sweet cactus juice is.” 

“You actually eat that stuff?” Grian questions, taking the piece that Ecto is offering him.

“It’s the easiest way to get water in the desert.” Ecto takes a look at the few cacti she was able to acquire. They’re in rough shape, with brown blemishes and weak spines. She’s not sure if they’d even be able to hold her weight at this point. She turns her gaze to the horizon, but she doesn’t see any more cacti. Either they haven’t grown, or they’ve already been taken by other hermits. 

Grian’s quick to notice what Ecto is looking at, looking for. “I have cactus at my hobbit hole. Actually, I have more cactus that I know what to do with. Do you want some of it?” 

The joyful smile all across Ecto’s face is all he needs to see. It warms him to see someone so happy over something so simple. To give joy to a friend, to another person is all Grian wants to do. He tells Ecto to wait, and go jogging back into the jungle. He’s faster at climbing through the jungle than her, and it’ll be a pleasant surprise when he returns with his bounty. At his home, Grian digs through every chest in his cactus farm, pulling the collected material before it can be put into compost. He’s stuffing the succulents into every pocket and pouch he can find in his new hobbit threads, even tossing aside his tools and supplies to make more room. At this point it’s as much about getting rid of all his overflowing cacti as it is making Ecto happy. 

Ecto hears Grian swearing before she sees him. Mostly because she was looking for his blond hair, but all of him was hidden behind an entire armful of cacti. So much cacti, Ecto isn’t sure if she’s seen that much at one moment. His clothes are stretching with the weight of the plant, and each one is precariously stacked on top of the others in his arms. Even Professor Beak is carrying his weight in cacti. “What do you even plan to do with all this? I mean, I’m not complaining. It freed up so much storage for me, but I’m curious.” 

“I’m going to jumpstack!” Ecto cheers, taking as many cacti as she can hold and starting her tower. She didn’t get to do this in the last hermit world, so this feels especially exciting. Building her monolith in a completely different world. Not just another dimension, another world. She’s careful to position her feet under her, in between the spines before hopping. While there is space between her and the cactus, she places another one. She lands perfectly so that the needles just barely scrape her shoes, feet light as a dancer’s. 

As Ecto stacks higher, Grian can only watch as she’s shadowed by the sun, dropping and blinding him until she’s reached beyond the sun’s rays. It’s not until Ecto has run out of cacti that he realizes she has no way to get down. She has no elytra, nothing. 

And yet, she jumps. Ecto has become a pro of surviving falls that would normally kill other humans. She doesn’t need fancy wings or magic.  She sees Grian scrambling across the sand below, but she tucks into a tight ball and rolls across the sand as she hits. It’s jarring, but it doesn’t kill her. Even though it’s still sunset, Ecto swears she can see stars. Apart from that, she’s still gaining control back when she hears Grian. “What was that?!” 

“I needed to get down.” Ecto hums, standing up with a sway and brushing the sand off her scarves. 

“What about using water? Or scaffolding? There are better ways, Ecto!” Grian grabs her by the shoulders, still shocked by such a ridiculous stunt. He hasn’t seen anyone so willing to defy death since Cub during Demise. And even he eventually lost that battle.

“Water is hard to find in the desert. And why build more than necessary? Look, I’m fine, and this is the most direct way.” Ecto’s face pinches up at the suggestion. She shrugs Grian’s grip off of her shoulders, turning around and looking back up at her art. One monolith stands tall above the jungle trees, spines scraping at the untouched sky. Her build may be the tallest yet. 

Grian can only chuckle, shaking his head and shaking away the nerves. “You’re quite the weird person, Ecto.” 

Weird. Ecto knows that she’s different. She thinks different, acts different from the normal. She’s decided that she won’t change. . It’s a flaw she can’t erase. And people abandon her for that. Disregard her, turn on her. But what about Grian? He is strange like me, but his friends still stick around. Why do they all leave me? Why does he stay around even now?