#but Puffy is now aboard the Gream protection train

[darkeninganon]

Look, more Gream (Ghost Dream). No warnings this time, just Puffy and Gream. :)

Ranboo stood in the doorway, staring into the- in his opinion- ugly green room. His beloved particles danced around, whispering warnings and doubts about the ghost that occupied the room. Ranboo did his best to ignore them, but they seemed to know more than even he did, just like...

Ranboo sighed, thinking about his enderwalk state. He had wanted answers, and now he'll likely never get them. Unless he took the risk and performed the ritual. He really didn't want to do that. Perhaps he should go back to asking himself about it.

"Hey Ranboo, you good?"

The half enderman shrieked, tail puffing up as his pupils expanded. He froze for a moment, gaze slowly sliding to Gream, who was leaning back in equal surprise. The ghost had gotten less skittish and fearful of the three teens, no longer apologizing for the slightest infraction. "Fine. Just... thinking." Ranboo supplied, slowly relaxing once her finished speaking. "Do you have plans... for today I mean? I've been here long enough, Phil and Techno are going to get worried at this point."

Gream shook his head. After his scare with the Warden, he wasn't too keen on going out and being found.

Ranboo sighed, "alright. Just... try not to melt anything, okay? Spruce is getting hard to find."

"Right. Sorry." Gream watched as the half enderman nodded and left, disappearing into the massive mansion. As much as he wanted to explore the little country Tubbo had set up, he couldn't find the energy to do so. Still...

Gream wandered the halls, making his way to the basement with a pick-axe before he started digging. Snowchester still didn't have a nether portal, and even if he didn't set it up, he could at least gather the supplies. Mostly obsidian. And diamonds. He needed to learn to be self-sufficient for when they finally caught the man with the gold tooth and locked him away.

Locked him away where though?

Gream jolted, laughing loudly. "I'll get stuff for a prison! Oh, that's going to take so much netherite! Yeah! Layers of water, lava, obsidian, and netherite, and no way to get out!" He stopped, humming in thought. "But, the food will have to be good... cakes? No... Maybe steaks, carrots, soup... not potatoes though. Ew." He'd never say anything, but he really, really hated potatoes. He smiled, happy that he came up with an idea for what to do with those people, locking them away and not having it end in bloodshed.

The prison would have to be massive, and it would also need a courtyard for exercise and sun. It would also need plenty of clocks; keeping someone locked up without any idea of how much time was passing was just too cruel. He should know. Gream stopped. Why should he know what that was like... how long had he been missing? Was it months? Or was it years? Perhaps it was only weeks. Gream shook his head. He couldn't dwell on the past.

He stopped digging, letting out a squeak of surprise as he came to a cave system. His surprise was quickly replaced with glee. This was the perfect place to find coal, ores, lava, and so many other things! Gream took off down the cavern, bouncing on his toes as he scoured the walls, ceiling, and floor for various materials.

Gream stopped dead in his tracks as he came to a wall of lava. Lava falling into a deep lake of more glowing lava. Something about the curtain of melted rock made him... he didn't like it, at all. He wanted it gone, but also not. Gream shook his head, walking around the flowing magma, careful not to touch it. Finally reaching the far end of the pool, Gream realized he forgot a water bucket. Of course he forgot something so simple. With a sigh, the ghost headed back out the cave, climbing the tunnel he created and heading towards the villager trading hall. He'd trade for iron, there were enough emeralds in the chest; he had found it with the help of Ranboo after the Warden had visited. He stopped, spying Michael playing dully with a chicken. A literal, living, breathing chicken. Gream stared, the little pigling looked... sad in a way. Gream ran to the villagers, plan forgoteen, instead grabbing wood and sticks from them. He immediately ran to a clear area, setting up the materials as he took a moment. He had no idea how to built a table, but by the church of prime, he was going to try!

It took probably an hour of Gream contorting himself to finally get one of the four needed legs finally attached to the table. As prime as his witness he was never building another table ever again. A snorting giggle distracted him, turning, he saw Michael standing in the doorway. "Laugh all you want. I'm building this so you have something to play with other than that chicken of yours." The piglin giggled again as Gream set about trying to attache another table leg, finding it much more difficult than the first. His fight with the table stopped as he heard a noise. Did the front door just open?

He was about to call out when whoever had entered beat him to it.

"Michael? Where are you buddy?"

A woman was in the house. Was she friendly? Sure Ranboo and Tubbo wouldn't allow her to know about Michael if she was bad, right? But... Ranboo was pretending to be friends with the Warden, who was working for the man with the gold tooth. So, maybe she was actually allied with the man with the gold tooth.

Clacking hooves on wood knocked Gream out of his own thought. He sent a look to Michael, pressing a finger to his lips, begging the piglin to stay quiet. Gream then ran, ducking into one of the many random closets in the house, leaving the door open just a crack, watching as a sheep-woman came into the room, a little female piglin following close behind.

"Oh, there you are! Where're your dads?"

Michael stared at the woman, silent for a moment. "'Boo went to the other house, 'Bo is out with Uncle!"

"Oh, well that's..." She trailed off, seeing the partially-built table  and tools left out. "If both of your dads are out, who's building this?" She pointed to the project, thoroughly confused.

"Green!" Michael chirped happily, looking to where the ghost was hiding. Gream shook his head, praying the woman didn't look over and see him.

The sheep woman stared at the little piglin boy, face contorting as her confusion grew. "Uhhh... who's Green?"

"He's a ghost! He lives with us now." Gream could have screamed.

"Uh huh... Do Tubbo and Ranboo know about him?"

"Yep! Uncle brought him over. 'Boo doesn't like him too much though."

"And why's that?" She asked, kneeling down to be eye level with the child.

"He likes the color green. His room is green! 'Boo thinks it's ugly."

The woman smiled, ruffling the little fuzz on the piglin's head. "Aw! Well, he can't control what colors people like. Anyways, what's he building here?"

"I dunno. He said it was so I could play with something other than Cluckers." As if by magic, the chicken whose name had been spoken came running, stopping once it reached Michael's side. Immediately Michael began bothering the chicken, the little piglin girl joining in.

The woman huffed out a laugh, standing back up. "Well, how about I help this... Green person, huh? Any idea what he needs?"

"Nope."

"Alright." The woman sighed, looking around. She huffed slightly. "He could have at least left some notes or something... uh... alright, I'm going to get glass and some stuff, alright?" The two piglins nodded, still playing with Michael's pet. The woman turned, leaving the room. Gream stared at the doorway, glancing at the two distracted children before darting out and following her. He kept far enough away that he was sure she wouldn't notice him following her, but so that he could keep an eye on her and see where she was going.

He followed her down the stairs and out of the house. Why was he even doing this? Sure, he had some plans today, but this was much more fun... for some reason. Part of him wished he had a trident, he felt like that would make this whole game even more fun. So caught up in his own thoughts, Gream failed to notice the woman had turned around, freezing as she stared at him.

She then took off at speed he would have thought impossible of someone wearing netherite. He followed, struggling to keep up with her as she jumped into the tunnel and sped off. He didn't have a trident, or any gear to help him, so he had to run across the top. He gave the prison a wide berth, thankful for when the woman finally turned away from the foreboding building to follow a wood path. The prime path, if he recalled correctly.

He continued to follow her, skidding to a halt and ducking behind a sign as she stopped and spun around to face him. He knew she could still see him, but that wasn't the point. It was the principal of the game. What game? He didn't know, but he was having fun. And surely she was as well, since she hadn't yet attacked him.

She stared, head tilting. It was like she couldn't fathom what he was doing. She spun around and took off again, Gream running after her, jumping down the stairs to make sure he didn't lose her. She was so determined to lose him. But, that was part of the fun, right? She did her best to lose him, and he did his best to make sure that didn't happen.

She stopped again at the community house, this time he just ducked to hide by the doorway, peering around the corner at her. She still looked confused. He was somewhat confused too; he'd never thought about chasing someone like this before, but something about her just filled his brain with the need to play with game. She ran to the community portal, leaving him to stand there until she faded from the overworld.

He followed her through, taking a moment to look around. She had gotten a decent head start, or, at least, she would have if he hadn't looked up and seen her looking down at him. It took him another moment or two to find the stairs, running up them to catch her just going up a ladder, higher above. He followed, finding himself on the roof of the nether. Weird.

"How are you out?"

Gream spun, finding the woman standing not far off. She was facing him, axe drawn and pointed. "I... What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, Dream." She looked furious, but... scared and sad? Why was she shaking so much?

"Sorry... I thought..."

"You thought what?! You could just... Just go back to things being like they used to?!"

"I don't... I'm not..."

"What, Dream?! What is going on here?!"

"It's... isn't it just a game?"

"A... game?" Her rage seemed to grow at this.

"Me following you."

She stopped, as if turned to stone right then and there. Her face morphed into one of shock, like she hadn't expected him to say that. "I... You think this is about... You think... Dream, what's going on?"

Gream shrugged. "I was bored... I wanted to build a table for Michael, but then you came by, and I was still bored, so I decided to follow you. That sounds really dumb..."

"No! Uh... But, how are you out?"

"Out of the house? I walked. You saw-"

"No, I mean..." She was quiet now, looking at him closer. He squirmed under her harsh gaze, her strange eyes scrutinizing him. She paced around him, holding the axe close. Like most people on this server, she was decked out in fully enchanted netherite. Somehow though, he felt... calm? Like he didn't need to fear her or worry about her using those weapons against him. "you... Are you dead?"

Gream shrugged. "Yeah, guess so. Why?"

Her hand flew to her mouth, covering it as she gasped loudly. Tears slowly fell from her eyes. "No... who... how?"

Gream tilted his head. Why did she care? "I'm... sorry but... who are you?"

The woman coughed, barely holding back a sob. "I'm... I'm Puffy... Mama Puffy... You're..."

A memory came to his mind in that moment:

He stared down at her, kneeling on top of the blackstone tower. He needed help building those stupid walls, but... by Prime, he wasn't about to ask anyone for help. Puffy though, she was sweet and loved to help. Maybe if he asked for obsidian she'll give him a lot... She was talking to her flock though... something about a "duckling". Wait, why was she looking at him? Oh...

Gream hugged Puffy, letting out a cry of joy. "Puffy!" He was faintly aware of the yelp she let out, surprised by the sudden gesture.

"Uh...You... you remembered?" Her voice cracked, finally caving and openly sobbing as she hugged him back.

"I remember following you... I needed obsidian and thought you could help..." He failed to notice the way she cringed, glancing away from him. He held her shoulders, pushing her away until the she was at arm's length. "Why did I need to build walls? It had something to do with the man with the gold tooth, right?"

Once again her face contorted into confusion. "What? No, it... it was because..." She trailed off, staring back at him. "Have... you seen the L'Manburg pit?"

"Yeah, pretty messed up whoever did that, right?"

She was silent, staring at him for a long time. A sullen smile crossed her face, "Uh, yeah. That... It was. You were going to build walls around L'Manbug... to keep it safe..."

"From the man-"

"Yes. From the man with the gold tooth." She sighed, slowly patting his head. He nuzzled into her touch, smiling beneath his mask. "Why... You know, let's get back to this at another time, alright? We... we have a table to build, after all."

"Right!" Gream jumped away from Puffy, running to set up a boat. He missed the way Puffy frowned, pulling out her communicator and sending a message to Tommy:

You whispered to Tommyinnit: We need to talk.