#but also on xb I wasn’t quite sure why he was saying he didn’t like roleplay in relation to the above statement?

[simplydm]

Once again an instance of “where are you people (the hermits) finding these comments” bc xb’s latest video mentioned that ppl were saying that xb must hate iskall bc he didn’t get excited over the free coin he gave out in the mail like ??? Who even has the time to comment over that?

[haworthiaace]

Magic misfits! Did I update the masterpost specifically because of this fic? yes absolutely. A busy day for Scar, featuring TFC and some good ol’ Scar appreciation :]

The start of a new season was always interesting.

While TFC didn’t enjoy having to start from scratch every year or so; having gotten used to the comforts of late season riches, he did love the sheer amount of interaction that came with a new season. TFC was content to hear gossip about the others’ shenanigans while he stuck to what he was best at: mining. Some of the others called it cheating to use his earthbending down in the tunnels, but he called it cheating to be able to shapeshift, or use magic crystals, or any of the other crazy things the other hermits could do, so it evened out.

When he wasn’t down in his mine, TFC watched as all the other hermits scrambled to make the most impressive buildings and contraptions in as little time as possible. Many of his servermates placed more importance on finishing their creations than actually gathering necessities such as tools and armour. 

As if to prove this observation, the Boatem village appeared on the other side of the nether portal, populated with structures that were much too large considering it had only been three weeks since they arrived in this world. There was also a… tree? At least that’s what it looked like; a thin oak tree stretching up past the clouds and out of view. Looks like Mumbo and Grian were up to no good already.

“TFC! Up here!” Scar’s voice came from somewhere above TFC’s head, and he looked up to see the wizard (although he no longer wore his robe and hat) standing on a balcony extending from a truly massive wagon, one hand on the railing and the other extended above his head, waving enthusiastically at TFC.

He climbed the ladder up the side of the wagon, entering a sparse storage room. Knowing Scar, he either hadn’t bothered to move in yet or lost all of his things in a cave somewhere. Despite his powerful crystal magic, Scar still managed to die more than any other hermit, so the second option was more likely.

“Well hello there! Welcome to my humble abode, please take a seat.” Scar led TFC to a balcony, where he gestured towards a table and two folding chairs. Scar sat down, crossing his legs and folding his arms in his lap. “So, what brings you to our little village today?”

TFC raised an eyebrow at the question, confusion evident in his voice. “Because you invited me? We were supposed to have tea today.” 

Scar jolted in his seat, then proceeded to scramble out of said seat. “I’ll be right back! I have to go… feed Jellie!” This was quite obviously a lie seeing as Jellie hadn’t returned from her between seasons interdimensional travels yet. TFC’s laughter chased Scar into the wagon, where he frantically prepared the tea that he was totally planning on making because he definitely remembered his plans for the day. 

After about five minutes of mildly concerning crashing sounds, Scar returned with two steaming mugs of tea (decorated with cat faces, of course) and a plate of chocolate chip cookies - Stress’ recipe if TFC wasn’t mistaken. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, appreciating the tea and cookies. 

“So, how are you holding up this season, Scar?” TFC took a sip of green tea, looking out at the horizon.

“Oh you know, the usual. I don’t have my village anymore, but the magical misfits still come seeking my help.” He brought a cookie to his mouth and bit off half of it. “Not that I mind helping people!” He swallowed his mouthful before continuing. “XB was here last week convinced that he left his coat in season seven, but turns out it just ended up in one of Joe’s boxes.” He chuckled to himself, wiping crumbs off of his jacket as TFC stared at the distant ocean, lost in thought.

TFC broke the silence that had fallen. “You’re a good man, y’know that?” The wizard in question looked at TFC in surprise. He was used to ‘thank you’s, but the personal compliment caught him off guard. “You’ve created a safe space for folks from all sorts of places, and you’ve saved quite a few of them from bad people.” 

Scar looked down, smiling at his cup of tea. He spoke quietly, a departure from his usual boisterousness. “Thanks TFC, that means a lot.”

-

Scar was in the middle of catching TFC up on what he missed from day one when something red and very fast crashed into the balcony. The something in question turned out to be Grian, shimmering wings protruding from his back. Something must have been wrong, since winged hermits tended to refrain from flying early in the season, in the name of fairness.

“Scar we need your- Oh heeey, I didn’t know you had company over!” He leaned on the railing, his urgency replaced with a forced cheerfulness as he (quite obviously) pretended nothing was wrong. What was probably supposed to be an easygoing smile stretched too wide, and his voice was more high pitched than usual. “How’s it goin’?”

Scar, completely oblivious, responded excitedly. “Oh, I was just telling TFC here about our adventure in the geode with Cleo!”

Grian’s uncomfortable smile grew wider, and his eyebrows furrowed. “That sounds great, do you think you’ll be done anytime soon?”

“Oh well, I’m not too sure. It depends on when we finish all of these cookies.”

“Oh that’s just wonderful,” Grian’s wings started to twitch behind him, “did you make those yourself?”

Scar took a breath, preparing for a tangent when TFC cut in, showing the poor fairy some mercy. “Alright Grian, out with it. What’s wrong?” Scar stared at Grian, somehow surprised that this wasn’t a completely ordinary visit.

Grian let out a long sigh. “Thank you so much TFC.” He turned his gaze to Scar. “We need a little help with curse breaking.”

Scar set down his mug and gave Grian his full attention, preparing himself for whatever strange curse one of the fairies had set on some poor hermit. “Really? How are you two cursing people already? It hasn’t even been a month!”

Grian’s tangent was accompanied by wild hand gestures that made it difficult to follow what he was saying. “Well, Pearl came up behind Mumbo and spooked him, he shouted something about not sneaking up on him, and now whenever he turns his back on her she teleports directly in front of him.” Grian looked nervously over his shoulder in the direction of Mumbo’s van. TFC followed his gaze, and burst into laughter again.

Mumbo was standing a few feet away from his campfire, spinning in circles and doubling over in laughter as Pearl kept popping up in front of him. 

Scar pushed himself up from his chair, TFC followed suit. The pair headed to the door while Grian flew back down, Scar giving TFC a sort of briefing. “Alright, let’s go figure out what exactly Mumbo did before Pearl starts feeling particularly vengeful.”

-

It took two hours and a lot of trial and error (with TFC giving supremely unhelpful tips), but eventually Pearl could stand behind Mumbo again. At some point Scar accidentally applied the effect to both Grian and Mumbo, and he had to beg the two not to create a space time anomaly. But it was all fixed now, and TFC was sure Pearl’s revenge would be swift and cruel.

Scar made his way back up to the balcony, and the two continued their conversation. It was a good thing Scar had enchanted his mugs, something he had done back in season seven after his drinks kept getting abandoned and going cold.

After a few hours of peace (other than both Mumbo and Grian’s bases abruptly flipping upside down while the boys were inside), the pair was interrupted again by a voice behind them.

“Howdy, Scar. Oh, and howdy to you as well, TFC!”

Neither of them had heard Joe coming, so Scar jumped about a foot in the air while TFC nearly spat out his tea. It turned out that Cleo was there as well, looking quite a bit angrier than Joe, although that wasn’t too uncommon.

“Oh my goodness, Joe you scared the life out of me!” Scar held a hand to his chest and caught his breath as Cleo got right to business.

“Sorry about that Scar,” her voice was flat, and it was safe to assume that she was not, in fact, sorry about that. “But we have an emergency. It’s completely Joe’s fault, he-”

Joe smoothly stepped in front of his companion as he cut her off, “I wouldn’t say it’s entirely my fault, old magic is a fickle thing-”

Cleo shoved Joe aside, stepping in front once again. “He revived my leg!” She raised a foot off the ground and gestured at it with both hands.

Sure enough, both TFC and Scar looked down to see that Cleo’s right leg was significantly more flesh-coloured than the left, restored to what it presumably once was. 

Scar’s lingering panic was instantly replaced by an amused grin as he gestured to the leg in question. “Cleo, why don’t you just get your leg reinfected? It’s not like zombies are hard to come by.”

The pair stood still, just blinking. (Completely in sync, it was eerie) 

Cleo rounded on Joe and punched at his shoulder just as he raised a hand to deflect her fist. “How did you not think of that Joe?! I thought you knew everything there was to know about-” She gestured wildly about for a moment. “Everything?!”

“Shouldn’t you be some sort of zombie expert by now? How is that my responsibility?” The argument continued as the pair went back into the wagon and down the ladder. As they walked off, presumably to go find a cave, something occurred to TFC. He cupped his hands around his mouth to yell down at them.

“Cleo!” She turned around. “Don’t use Joe as bait!” 

She snapped her finger like a defeated cartoon villain, as Joe turned to face her and presumably gave her grief for this evil plot.

-

It was only about five minutes after Cleo and Joe left (preceded by twenty minutes of arguing) that the next problem arrived, as it often did, in the form of Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango arriving on the shore of the village. TFC found this odd, seeing as how everyone was now connected by nether portals, but he assumed there would be an explanation shortly, even if it didn’t make a lick of sense.

Impulse shouted up from the ground, the three of them clustered near the front of the wagon. “TFC, we need your help!” Well that was a surprise, not many people asked for his assistance other than Scar. “We made an oopsie and Cleo said we could find you here!”

As every hermit knew, ‘oopsie’ was a versatile word with these three. It could mean anything between making a minor mistake in a build to banishing Impulse for the fifth time. “What happened this time?” TFC stood up and made his way down the ladder, since shouting down at them wasn’t very efficient and they didn’t seem inclined to come up.

Impulse started twisting his hands together while Zedaph and Tango tried their best to look innocent behind him. It didn’t work. “Weeell, Tango wanted a terraforming job done around his base, so we made a little deal for it.” 

Oh boy. Not much good came out of magical deals, yet the other hermits continued to make them with each other. Demonic deals were especially tricky since the demon didn’t have precise control over their end of the deal, not that it stopped these three. “Tango offered me his first beacon in exchange for the job, and it turns out that a beacon is worth a lot more than I thought- it’s probably easier if we show you.”

“Quick FYI guys: firsts are very valuable in deals! It applies to you as well Impulse, not just the fae!” Scar called helpfully from his still seated position on the balcony.

-

They all ended up going over to Tango’s house/ shop, which was literally buried in a mound of dirt and stone, along with about three quarters of Bdubs’ giant moon house. That explains why they didn’t use the nether. 

The earth was offended after being touched by demonic magic, but after a long negotiation TFC managed to convince it that Impulse meant no harm, and it was happy to return to its prior state. Tango was mildly annoyed that he would have to do the terraforming himself and give Impulse a beacon, but it was better than the wrath he would have faced from Bdubs.

By the time TFC and Scar returned to the Boatem village, the sun was starting to dip below the horizon. While TFC admired the beauty of it, Scar just looked disappointed. 

“I’m sorry.”

TFC raised an eyebrow at the wizard, a frown making its way onto his face. “What do you mean you’re sorry? Did you do something to the tea?” 

Despite TFC’s attempted joke, Scar still stared at his perfectly polished shoes. “This was supposed to be a nice relaxing day to catch up, and people were just showing up left and right. I mean, we hardly got to spend any time together! Maybe I shouldn’t invite people over with all this wizard stuff going on.”

“But we did spend time together.” TFC’s rough hand landed on Scar’s shoulder, the latter looking up at the former, startled by the contact.

“Well yeah we had tea for a while but-”

TFC had to cut off Scar’s rambling or he would never get to his point. “Yes we had tea, but I’m talking about the rest of the day.” Scar seemed genuinely confused at this. “I helped you un-curse Pearl,” he did air quotes on the word ‘helped,’ “We watched Joe and Cleo argue together, and you came with us to fix Tango’s house.” Of course he didn’t do much other than laugh at Tango’s misfortune, but it was the thought that counted. “Just ‘cause it didn’t go to plan doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time.” After all, not much went according to plan on the hermitcraft server.

Now Scar was smiling. “So I didn’t ruin the day with magical misfits?”

“Not at all.” TFC reached for his mug and emptied it one last time, then stretched before heading out. “But now I gotta get going. I don’t like my chances against the mobs with my crappy iron gear.”

Scar waved once more as TFC disappeared into the nether portal. “Goodnight TFC! And thanks again, for everything!”

TFC smiled as he made his way through the nether tunnels back home. Scar did a lot more for the hermits than he realized, allowing them to be free with their magic in a way they couldn’t back home, TFC included. He’d created a home for all sorts of ‘magic misfits’ as Scar put it, and he performed an invaluable service, whether he realized it or not.

He’s a good kid. Just needs some reminding every once in a while. 

[mcytrabbithole]

The Crash (Chapter 1)

Part 3 of my Hermitcraft and Dream SMP fanfic about what would happen if they found themselves in a new mixed up situation together!

You can find part 1 and part 2 by searching up The Crash on my page! 

Tags: @shineisalive , @harley-the-pancake 

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2654

Waking up in a field wasn’t exactly ideal, especially for those who were actually in the field. Those in the field being Xisuma, Dream, Keralis, Tubbo, and Joe, as Dream would observe once he actually got a solid look around at the group. They were all scattered about the field, all of them slowly seating up and getting up as they got their bearings. One thing they noticed was that none of them had their Elytras and that their armor was gone, which just added to the list of oddities that they were currently dealing with.

Xisuma had sat up, but he wasn’t going to try to stand,” Who all is here?” He could tell that others were there, but he couldn’t figure out who all was there since no one had spoken and he still couldn’t see anything. Keralis had gotten up and was slowly making his way over to Xisuma, he figured that Xisuma was asking since he still couldn’t see, which meant Xisuma might need some help getting around,” Well, there is me, you, Joe, and two people that I do not know the names of...” Then Keralis looks at Dream again,” But I believe, unless my gorgeous eyes are fooling me, that you are Dream, yes?” Dream nods, focused on making sure his mask was all good and far too aware of the fact that he couldn’t talk.

“He’s Dream and my name is Tubbo.” Tubbo gives a small smile as he makes his way over to Dream, wanting to stick by the person that he knew in all of this. “And he’s been having trouble talking so I guess I’ll be speaking for the both of us?” Tubbo looks at Dream and Dream nods again, at least Tubbo was someone that Dream knew he could trust with speaking well for the both of them. Some people may think that Tubbo would not be the best choice to speak for them, but Dream had paid attention to Tubbo when he spoke. Tubbo could speak far better than a lot of people would like to think that he can, he just needs to be talking about the right thing.

Xisuma frowned upon hearing Tubbo’s words, Dream wasn’t supposed to be here and neither was Tubbo. If Dream was here then this meant a problem that was out of the realm of himself by a long shot. Dream was currently thinking something similar, knowing that if a problem like this had occurred then it meant that some was wrong. Both of their minds went to the same place after these thoughts, to their friends. Were they okay? Was anyone hurt? Had anybody been blinded or muted like Dream and Xisuma had been?

Luckily enough, none of their friends had been harmed, at least not physically. Though they wouldn’t find that out until later. While Xisuma, Dream, and their group tried to really figure things out, groups all over the place were beginning to wake up and realizing that things were wrong. That they were not in their respective SMPs anymore.

As people began to wake up and realize that things were wrong, one very lucky group got a much better wake up than the rest of them did.

This group beginning the group of TFC, Jev, xB, Purpled, Punz, Ponk, Alyssa, Callahan and Hypno. They woke up in the Shopping District, specifically right outside of the Town Hall. As they each woke up, beginning to look around to see where they were, they noticed the people that they were around. Purpled popped up from behind some of the bushes near the diamond trees and Ponk and Punz followed suit, looking like the Three Stooges for a moment.

Jev, xB, and Alyssa had woken up near the bottom of the stairs that led up to the entrance of the Town Hall and were trying to get up without falling down the stairs because they were all a little dizzy, though they couldn’t quite figure out why. Callahan and Hypno had woken up the furthest from Town Hall of the group, waking up in the middle area between the two boards in the middle of the main road. Which wouldn’t of been too bad, but when Callahan went to get up, he fell over and they jingling sound that the bells from his outfit made was pretty funny to hear.  

TFC had woken up in front of the Nether Portal that led to and from the Shopping District, which was currently a broken portal, and was trying to get himself up off the ground since he didn’t have his tools to help him get up. Luckily for TFC, the wonderful trio of the Three P’s had made their way over to help him since they could tell that he was struggling. TFC did accept the help, because he knew that he was most likely going to need it. Purpled helped him up since he got there first, while Ponk and Punz sort of stood back a little incase their help wasn’t needed.

“Does anybody know where we are right now?” Callahan signs this as he steadies himself, having finally gotten up without tripping again. Jev had made it to the end of the stairs, so he spoke up,” Yeah. We’re in front of the Town Hall in the Shopping District…but I get the feeling that you guys don’t know that because you’re not from this neck of the woods.” The others from the Dream SMP shared a look, they were all a bit confused, but they nodded.

“Yeah…you guys are from Hermitcraft though, right?” Ponk speaks up, he had seen some of them before from when they would go to MCC, since they’d be there to cheer on the members of the Dream SMP while the others would be there to cheer on those from Hermitcraft. “Yeah, that’s where we are now…which makes me wonder how you guys got here.” xB was wondering if something had gone wrong within the two worlds, maybe an accidental glitch that had caused a temporary collision?

“Do you think the others are okay?” Alyssa asks this from where she had sat down on the steps,” Dream looked like he was in pretty rough shape, but then again I think we all kind of did once we hit the ground.” Those from Hermitcraft looked at Alyssa, surprised by her words. “If I had to make a guess, you all blacked out after being hit with a wave of pain?” TFC had been led to one of the little benches outside Town Hall and was sitting down as he spoke. The members of the Dream SMP could only nod, all of them beginning to get a bit worried as to what was going on.

“Hey…” Callahan signs this, he looked like he had been thinking about something for a minute,” If we got separated like this, do you think the others are in groups like this? Or do you guys think we’re the unlucky ones that just got separated from the rest of them?” The group could only wonder this as they tried to think of ways to contact the group, which was made all the more difficult by the realization that the communicators weren’t working.

As the group within the Shopping District tried to figure things out, another group was waking up just near the valley of Tatooren, in the part of the mesa that was right by the jungle where the Jungle Crew’s respective bases were. This group consisted of Wels, False, Niki, Techno, and Tango, who had a pretty solid awaken compared to some of the groups. They woke up in a clearer spot of the mesa, though the sun was beating down on them like all hell, which was not idle, especially for Techno since he wears about four layers on his top half alone…aesthetic doesn’t save you when the sun beats down like that.

As they woke, the first thing they noticed was the heat, then they noticed one another. Getting into a sitting position was pretty difficult, but Wels was actually the first one who managed to sit up, which was impressive given the usual knights armor that he wore. As he looked around at the people laying around him, his eyes widened a little when he saw Niki and Techno. “Um…hi?” He was confused and also very aware of how hot he was thanks to the armor. 

“Hi.” Niki managed to sit up before Techno, which wasn’t too hard to do cause he currently looked like a turtle who was trying to get off of their shell. Which would’ve been pretty fun if it weren’t for the slight fear that Wels felt towards Techno cause he has heard plenty about him and he’s seen him in MCC. If there’s anyone that could genuinely go toe-to-toe with False, the best fighter they had, it was Techno, and that was a terrifying thought.

Tango had sat up and was helping False sit up, though once he saw Techno, his eyes got real wide, which was a bit insane given how big his already were naturally. “False, punch me.” Tango says this in the most serious tone he could possibly speak with. False raises an eyebrow at Tango, concerned,” Why?” She glances at Techno, it was just Techno, he wasn’t even that scary to her. “Because I’m seeing Technoblade in front of me so I’m probably hallucinating and even if I’m not then I don’t wanna be awake cause he is terrifying.”

“Glad to know that just by laying down and existing I bring some level of fear.” Techno finally sits up, with some help from Niki. “Ignore Tango, he’s being a fool.” False looks at Techno, she and him got along pretty well whenever they would run into one another at MCC, plus they both had acknowledged how strong the other person could be. “It’s fine, happens all the time…but uh…do you know where we are?” Techno tries to stand, helping Niki up as he does so.

“I’m pretty sure we’re still in Hermitcraft, if that helps.” Wels says this as he gets up, heading over to False and Tango so he can help them both up. “Hermitcraft?” Niki frowns, this was not good at all, they couldn’t afford something like this in the middle of a war,” But me and Techno were on the Dream SMP only a moment ago…how’d we end up here?” False frowns at Niki’s words, so something must’ve gone wrong on the SMP end and on the Hermitcraft end. “By chance, did you guys hit with waves of pain? Like ridiculous pain that made you double over where you were standing pain?” False asks this as she and Tango get up with Wels help.

“Yep. I’m guessing the same happened to you guys?” Techno sighs, taking off his cloak as he does so and folding it over his arm. He always hated mesas, got too hot and meant he had to drag his clothes along instead of wearing them. “Yes.” Tango tried not to think too hard about the fact that he was talking to Techno, cause he’d seen him at MCC’s, but he had been way too scared to actually ever speak to him. Techno was a legend for quite a few reasons, but the one that stuck out the most to Tango was the fact that he was a PvP god.

“Alright. So safe to assume that something has happened, maybe something happened to the code or there was a crash somewhere that couldn’t be handled because our dear friends who could handle it were too busy being doubled over in pain.” Techno suggests this as he looks around, trying to figure out where they could go form here. “So maybe our best course of action would be to head somewhere that we could all meet up at? Be able to figure out what happened?” Wels figured that if they could all meet up, they’d be able to at least figure out how everyone else faired.

“Sounds like a solid plan to me, Niki, you in?” Techno looked over at Niki, who had this strange look on her face. She was looking around, like she was looking for something. “Niki?” Techno would’ve raised an eyebrow, if he had had any that were visible. “Do you not hear that?” Niki looks at Techno and the others. What could she be hearing that would’ve gotten that reaction from her? Techno was gonna tell her no, that he couldn’t hear whatever it was that she was hearing, but then he did hear it. It sounded like crying, like a high-pitched sort of crying that made him wonder how Niki had heard it given that he knew he had better hearing than she did.

The other three was looking at Niki and Techno were absolutely mad…and then the sound got louder. It was coming from the jungle nearby. “We need to check that out.” Niki sounded worried, something about that sound was hitting her heart in a very particular way that she could not quite describe. She starts heading over to where they heard the sound coming from and the others followed suit because part of them were curious, but some were worried about what the sound could lead them too.

As they got closer, the sound became clearer. It wasn’t as high pitched as it had originally sounded, but it was definitely crying. It sounded almost like a…baby? But why would a baby be out here? Neither SMP had any babies in it, so what could be making that noise? As they tried to think of what it was, they came upon one of those jungle trees that was real low to the ground, the leaves were about a block above the ground, leaving a block tall gap between the leaves and the ground…and in that gap was whatever was making the noise.

Niki takes a step forward, now being the one closest to the tree as she bends down and takes a look to see what’s under the tree…and what she sees make her eyes widen, though the tone she uses when she speaks is soft,” Hello little one, what on earth are you doing down there?” The crying had stopped once Niki had appeared, now they could hear what almost sounded like a cooing noise. It sounded like a baby, but what could it be? “Techno, can you hand me your cloak, please?” Niki glances over her shoulder at Techno, who nods and hands her the jacket.

Niki was careful, gently moving as she took the cloak and made sure it was placed well in her hands before she reached into the little gap,” It’s okay little one, no one is going to hurt you…I just want to get you out from under there, okay?” In response, the thing in the gap makes another small cooing noise. She manages to take the cloak and wrap it around the thing in the gap, making sure it was wrapped up nice and tight before she gently pulls it out from under the tree. The others couldn’t quite see what was wrapped up in it, but whatever it was clearly wasn’t dangerous since Niki didn’t seem too scared of it.

“Hello little one.” Niki speaks softly, moving the bundle in her arms so she was holding it like a baby. Tango was the first one to take a step forward,” What is it?” The others were glad he had asked since they were wondering what it could possibly be. “I’m not quite sure…maybe you can tell me?” Niki moves the bundle a bit and offers it to Tango, who carefully accepts it from her, being careful as he holds the bundle like Niki had. He moves the cloak around until he can see the things face and his eyes widen at what he sees.

“Jrumbot?”

[pixelfun20]

Flower Fields: Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Notes: Again, all credit to @give-grian-rights (hope you don’t mind the tag!) for the concept! Thank you so much! Also almost forgot to post this on Tumblr rip.

No fighting wars, no ringing chimes

We're just feeling fine

Tubbo started out by building his starter base.

It was a concept he’d learned about while living with Xisuma, and it was quite a good one, too. After all, megabases worthy of Hermitcraft’s admittedly lofty standards often took months to build, and he’d need somewhere to live in the meantime. In Season 6, he’d neglected that fact, and had suffered his fair share of mob deaths before he put up four walls and a ceiling to protect himself, back when he’d left to live on his own. And that was with a small, quickly-thrown together base, not the project he was currently planning.

Still, even setting up the basics of his starter base took a few nearly sleepless days. Finally, the framework for the build, a treehouse spanning more than a few trees at the edge of the forest, was up, and Tubbo was finally able to place a bed down in safety and sleep for a solid fourteen hours straight.

Xisuma dropped by, quite literally, a day or so later.

Tubbo had been sitting in his quickly-expanding living room, sorting through the loot he’d gotten from yesterday’s day-long mining session when he swooped down through the half-finished roof. While he was still wearing his bee-themed armor, now there were two glider-like wings, shimmering purple, strapped to his back.

“Heya, X,” Tubbo greeted the admin with a wave, closing one of his chests. “You got elytra already?”

“Tango and I defeated the Ender Dragon yesterday,” Xisuma replied, touching down softly. Tubbo made an ‘ah’ sound, recalling the achievement he’d seen out of the corner of his eye the other day. Right; he’d forgotten about that. Trust X to be as efficient as possible and defeat one of the toughest monsters in the world just for the ease of travel.

“I’ll have to go endbusting soon, then,” he said, more to himself than X. Before the elder man could protest (ah, he was getting good at noticing when he was going to), he added: “Stress and xB have already asked me to go with them, so don’t worry , alright?”

“Good,” Xisuma sighed. “It’s never a good idea to go out on your own, especially since this’ll be your first time seriously exploring the End.”

Tubbo rolled his eyes good naturedly. To be fair, he hadn’t gone out to the End before it had been conquered before. He’d had a fair few trips last Season, mostly with X, but it was generally for the XP farm once it’d been set up. He’d never left the main island before. Now that he had considerably more freedom at the beginning of the Season, he was excited to go exploring.

“Anything bring you over?” He asked, changing the subject.

Xisuma nodded. “Yeah. A bunch of the others are getting together for some sort of wrestling tournament this weekend.”

“And I’ve been invited?!” He grinned, clapping his hands together.

“As the referee.”

“Ah,” he pouted. “Darn.”

“Don’t worry,” Xisuma chuckled, setting down a shulker box. “It can be a lot funner to watch sometimes; I’m just going to be part of the audience, too. I think Doc wanted you because he thinks he can bribe you.”

“He can not !”

Xisuma raised an eyebrow. “Area 77.”

“Oh, that’s not fair. I am completely unbiased!”

“And that was why you became their lawyer and not for all the cool experiments they had. I don’t think Cleo has forgiven you for defeating her in court.”

“No one can defeat Big Law,” Tubbo sniffed, faux-offended, and Xisuma laughed. “Well, I’ll show him!” He declared, crossing his arms. “I’ll just have to make sure he loses, then!” Xisuma blinked, and he laughed. “Kidding! Kidding!” Mostly .

“So you’re going?”

“Sure! It’s nice to see the Hermits all in one place, anyways. What’s in the shulker?”

Xisuma tilted his head teasingly. “What do you think? Someone had to get the supplies for our honey farm.”

Tubbo gaped. “You’re ready to build farms already?! Man, and I thought I was ahead of the game with just having my base halfway done.”

The armored man shrugged, looking about the partially completed build. “Well, you’ve certainly put more effort into this than me. Truly, your building skills are already improving. I love how you’re styling the roof with peaks like you are; it looks like it took a while.”

“My last house had a roof like that, too,” Tubbo reminded him, glancing up as well. It had become a tradition, of sorts, to build curved, peaked roofs onto his builds. Last season it had been one of the few things he’d built slowly to make look as good as possible. In all honesty, it was his own way of honoring the person who’d made it possible for him to come here, to have a life worth living once again. Rushing through the technique just felt disrespectful.

“Yes, but you’ve definitely gotten better.” Xisuma bent down over the shulker box, checking its contents. “Do you have any good ideas for where to make the bee farm? I’ll admit, I’ve been a bit too busy to scout out a good area.”

“Really? Then where’d you get these guys?”

“Tree farming in the desert.”

Tubbo snorted into his hand, and he could practically feel Xisuma’s embarrassment. “Well, you did say you hadn’t scouted out a good spot.”

“Indeed I did.”

“I can take a look around here and see what I can find. Meadows are supposed to be excellent places for farming bees, right?”

“Indeed it is,” Xisuma agreed. “Do you have plans for your megabase, yet?”

Tubbo nodded, grinning. “And trust me, it’s going to be awesome .”

............

Two days later, a chicken appeared in his base. Tubbo found it laying an egg in what was starting to become the base’s storage area, with one of his shirts nearly ripped to shreds in what appeared to be a makeshift nest.

There was a nametag wrapped around its leg. After some chicken wrangling and a few feathers to the face, he got a good look at it and realized there wasn’t a name written there, but a set of coordinates.

A set of coordinates rather far away, but who was he to turn down such an intriguing mystery?

With the chicken now renamed Wilbur and placed in a pen (he’d needed a chicken farm anyways), Tubbo set out that morning with a few supplies to find the spot he was looking for. After crossing a fair bit of forest and ocean, by the next day he’d found himself cutting his way through the underbrush of an overgrown jungle and wondering why in the world Stress had wanted to wait a week before going to get their elytra.

He pushed a few low-hanging vines out of the way, checking his communicator for the upteenth time. He was getting closer, now. This better be worth going out a few hundred chunks in the middle of nowhere—hey, wait a minute!

There was smoke in the distance. He could just make it out through the leaves, and now that he concentrated, he could smell it, too. Tubbo rushed forwards, pushing through the brush to see several man-made wooden pillars sticking out. As he pressed forwards, he made out a semi-stone floor, several chests, and a small fire in the middle, explaining the smoke.

“What is this?” He asked himself, looking around the place. The coordinates were right, and yet no one was here. Just this outpost in the middle of the jungle.

Tubbo walked around. There were some papers pinned to the wall, and a few dispensers lying around. Idly he pressed the buttons on them, already starting to form a plan to enact revenge on whoever made him travel over a day to get this place.

He pressed the button on the dispenser in the middle of the build and nearly got an arrow to the face.

Tubbo yelped, his reflexes, honed from a half year of training, the only thing saving him from a sudden death. A bell rang behind him, but it took him a few more moments to calm his racing heart.

“Not funny! You nearly took my head off!” He shouted to the jungle. Still, he didn’t leave, instead turning to the bell the arrow had his, examining it. Huh.

There were some cookies in one of the chests, probably left behind by whoever had actually built the place. He nibbled on it, only half hungry, as he tried to examine the place better.

“HERMIT CHALLENGES!”

Tubbo shrieked , dropping the remains of his cookie as the voice rang through the forest air. He looked around, trying to find the source, but found that he couldn’t.

“INITIATION!”

A diamond-clad figure dropped out of the vines above, landing with a firm thud on one of the ground dispensers. He nearly lost his balance before righting himself with a huff.

“Mumbo!” Tubbo exclaimed, a little annoyed but mostly impressed.

“INITIATION!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. “HERMIT CHALLENGES! YOU ARE BEING INDUCTED.”

“How long have you been up there?! It took me over a day to get here.”

“No matter, Mr. Tubbo! Congratulations! You’re in!”

“...Thanks?”

“Of course, my friend! You have been inducted into Hermit Challenges! Of course, you could have eaten the entire cookie—” he glanced down at the crumbs at Tubbo’s feet. “But besides that you have acted perfectly.”

“Wait, what is Hermit Challenges?” Tubbo asked, blinking. What? This version of Mumbo was almost nothing like the Mumbo he’d seen at Spawn a mere week and a half ago. Who used chickens to deliver messages? Or perch in a tree for supposed hours on end?

Okay, he had to admit, that last one was pretty funny.

“Oh, it’s a game I’ve made up,” Mumbo continued. “Iskall and I have already had a go at it, and I figured I’d invite you next.”

“...Alright, then. How do I play?”

“It’s simple! Write down three challenges and put them in the dispenser. Then we’ll pick one at random from each other.”

Mumbo reached into one of the chests on the ground, taking out a sheath of paper and passing three to him with a pen. Tubbo looked at him, and Mumbo grinned.

“Go on! I’m sure you’ll have something fun in that head of yours.”

Ah, he was right. Tubbo gave in with a smile, leaning back and thinking briefly about what he wanted to challenge Mumbo. A few ideas came to mind, and he quickly scribbled them down, pushing them into one of the two dispensers on the side of the small build, Mumbo doing the same.

“Alright, then!” Mumbo announced with a smile. “You go first.”

Tubbo stepped towards Mumbo’s dispenser and clicked the button, causing a slip of paper to slide out. He unrolled it, then read it out loud.

“‘Steal everyone’s front doors for the rest of the season.’ What? The whole season?!”

Mumbo laughed. “Oh, that one! Man, you got the hardest one from me!”

“Well, I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what you’ll get from me.”

“We’ll see,” Mumbo said with a chuckle.  He moved across the platform, and pressed the button the dispenser Tubbo had put his challenges in. The dispenser whirred, and then another slip of paper popped out. Mambo picked it up and read off of it, face contorting as he did so. “...‘Act like you don’t believe in the moon for the next two weeks, and claim the sky is a hologram put up by the SCA (Secret Chickens Agency) to keep us from seeing the real overlords- the sky chickens.’ What?”

Tubbo snickered at that, covering his mouth with one hand. Oh, he was proud of that one.

“No, seriously, this is awfully specific.”

“What? It’s funny!”

“Funny for you!” But Mumbo was smiling, and Tubbo grinned back at him.

“I’m going to be having a fun few weeks,” he giggled.

“So am I,” Mumbo agreed with a raised eyebrow, tucking the slip of paper away. He clapped Tubbo’s shoulder. “I suppose I’ll have to make up a good story to go with this prompt.”

“And I have some doors to steal!” Tubbo laughed.

“Whoever gets the first complaint in chat wins?”

“You’re on!”

[radicaldreamer017]

Finished chapter 3 and in the middle of chapter 4 (and things are getting spoilery) :

- found a few more heart to heart. It was quite funny to have Tora laments on feeling useless in battle after I benched him. Guess the game does expect you to bench him for the new character.

- I noticed how these scenes are voiced and involve several characters. In XB1, the scenes are silent and involves only two characters bonding. The voice acting is cool but I think they should have kept the two character bonding thing (group stuff is nice too… but so far, Tora has been starring in all of them… i’m afraid the game may push some characters forward more than others in these heart to heart).

- so, met Zeke (it’s Zek in french apparently) and his blade twice. He’s so over the top lol… i saw people comparing him with Bart from Xenogears, but Bart was down to earth next to him (then again, the over the top shonen humor in XB2 is quite new to Xeno… except maybe when it comes to mascot characters). Bart also had a heavy backstory and duty. That said, eye patch thing, trying to snatch your « weapon » upon the first meeting… I can see why comparaisons are made. I��m waiting to see who Zeke is beyond “comic relief guy” though.

- I don’t know if it’s just me but enemies feel quite spongey compared to previous XB games. In the first game, it was quicker and easier to beat a group of enemies. Not so much here (in fact, I’m dying a lot... and chapter 4 is pissing me off a bit because of this... too many enemies ganging up on you, all spongey... the most annoying thing is getting teleported way back and all enemies getting revived). In the first XB game, I was already going against uniques in the first 10 hours. I never bothered to beat a single one in this one and i’m past 30 hours in. Then again, I was battling uniques in XB1 because it was part of the quests and I knew they were giving capacity points too.

- I really like Uraya overall. The town gives me Skyrim (Solitude) vibe coupled with Baten Kaitos maybe (with a touch of Zora village from Breath of the Wild) ?

- speaking of this town… i’m still clueless where their king or queen even is… where’s the palace ?

- i’m starting to understand maybe why people feel frustrated when exploring in this game. It took me way too much time to understand how to get to Uraya’s main town (and I just quit yesterday playing chapter 4 because a piece of bridge fell while i was walking on it and the only path towards the next main story point I can see is blocked by blade skills i don’t have... that said, maybe this bridge will be whole again when I’ll return to the game... otherwise, that would be bullshit). I also understand why it can feel frustrating to have exploration blocked by requirements that are entirely linked to the blades you managed to get based on pure luck. But I can only encourage Monolith to explore player/environment interactions further. Maybe Zelda’s success will make their next Xeno/jrpg game a lot better on this front (I have lots of gripes about the new Zelda sure… but the way we could interact with the environment, using elements and all, wasn’t one of them).

- so far, town music is definitively more memorable/better than in XB1 (Mitsuda composed them, didn’t he ?).

- while I like towns better in this than XB1, i think it really was a mistake to take the social network thing away. It just makes townies a lot less endearing. It takes away the sense of communities the first two Xenoblade games had. It was really one of Xenoblade’s biggest strength imo.

- returning to Argentum made me realize how nice this place is. A callback to the Thames from Xenogears but with warm Ghibli aesthetics too (love the interior in the upper floors).

- the more I play Tiger Tiger, the more I like it... Dunno if it’s because I was craving for some actual mini games in the modern Xeno games (sick of the hunt/fetch routine) or because the mini game is legit nice. But locking Poppi’s entire upgrade system behind a single mini game probably sucks for anyone who hates playing it.

- I can send blades to expeditions now… between this and the pull to get blades system, the game feels very mobile gacha inspired (by the way, got a rainbow in FFBE the same day I got KOS-MOS). Not that the expedition system was invented by mobile games. It was in FF Tactics on PS1 after all. But the way the characters are sent to missions just remind me of FFBE.

- Also, people sure don’t mind giving command of their military force to a kid they just met lol (old person speaking uhuh).

- this theater thing was nice (and very Baten Kaitos looking).

- the last bosses were brutal… even being higher leveled than them… until I just switched Vandham for Tora (well see, perverted furball… you’re more useful than the big guy with the giant bird after all… crazy).

- speaking of them… I find them quite obnoxious. Maybe it’s the Nomura aesthetics… or the fact they kept wrecking my party… I did feel a bit sorry for Akhos (?) in the end though.

- Malos, or the Sephiroth school of villainy… wearing Gaignun Kukai’s face.

- Giant robot flashback… and a bonus Zohar with a pissy Mithra in it. I love how i’m trying to enjoy this game without comparing it too much to its heavy successors story wise… but the game won’t let me. Oh well…

- hi Mythra… it amused me how she went « fuck off ! I didn’t want to wake up ! I’m out ! » just after being introduced. Also, one of her lines was straight out of Xenosaga 3. As a Xenogears fan, her behavior also reminded me of the « coward ».

- Vandham’s death. I did like the character... but not enough to feel much during this scene apparently (losing the wind bird though... rude... but you get it back quickly anyway). People are not going to feel much when a character they just met dies (unless they’re known to have a close bond with the main character from the get go maybe... which is why killing Alice in Xenogears or Fiora in Xenoblade 1 felt more brutal despite happening very early... because they were introduced as the “childhood friend character/love interest/sister”). Especially if the character is a big bulky guy and the death quite cliché for this kind of character.

- also... did... did they bury him in a freaking concrete/stone ground ?

- I only just remembered Poppi broke at the end of the chapter. But she wasn’t that broken, it seems. They really didn’t make a big fuss about it.

- first time in forever since a character shared a bed with his obvious love interest in a Xeno game. But let’s not expect anything mature here. Mythra was just sleepwalking and happened to end up in Rex’s bed. So, yeah... the whole scene was an entire “you stupid pervert” joke you often see in harem animes (with “omg boobs in front of my face” reaction from Rex). That said, this darn hat that Dromach wears is a thing of glory. Highlight of the scene lol... Ah, and they also acknowledge Mythra/Pyra’s clothing being ridiculous in this scene.

- the whole “thievery” plotline was kind of filler. But still, I guess I’m glad those kids have a place to belong now. Guess I can see the Oliver Twist inspiration here (Takahashi said it was one of the works that made him want to make XB2). And now, the bird is back and Rex can have another 5 stars blade (though, I also managed to get Perceval for him, with a common core crystal).

- Speaking of new rare blade, I also got Boreas for Nia. But controlling Nia with him as her main blade kinda sucks. Boreas is so big that he almost takes the whole screen. But he’s a healer. That’s cool. That’s Nia’s main job.

- Muimui... I’m so glad you’re not the playable mascot character (really, even considering Tora). Seriously, this little guy is like... a nopon version of Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter (maybe it’s appriopriate, he seems shaddy). But higher pitched. And his name sounds kinda dumb, spoken out loud.

- I like Mor Ardain’s city. Reminds me of Nortune from Xenogears (too bad Mor Ardain’s Titan is a brown wasteland though... but hey, it is dying, after all).

- I really liked the cutscene introducing Mor Ardain’s “emperor”. The music was perfect, Morag and Brighid were there, I generally like child emperor/empress (like say, Larsa from FF12)... and I guess Morag is of royal blood now ?

- Tora’s background story unvealed... and I’m sure it was dramatic... but holy shit, I just wanted to laugh when seeing this small nopon holding a huge gun. Tora is like... Maria Balthasar as a male perverted Chuchu. It’s weird. Now, off to retrieve his giant rob... I mean, gothic lolita robot.

- Hot spring naked time... with convenient censor fog. I knew something like this was in ever since the first trailer. Some people managed to spot a keyword for a bath scene or something. Sigh... What should I say ? I like Persona and they did much worse with this kind of stuff. But it’s still pandering. I don’t even remember what the heck the girls were talking about (expect Poppi maybe... something about being waterproof ?).

- Second battle transition against Zeke was kind of funny. Rex gets bitchslapped by Mythra and the screen breaks, FF10 style.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Theory by a Nonny: Gregory Went Out Looking for a Doctor

Nonny says:

So this is my “Gregory went out looking for a doctor” theory. I originally sent this to another TD tumblr, but since this ask about Gregory on your tumblr started I decided to share it with you too so I can hear what you have to say about it. 🙂 Especially as you don’t believe Gregory went out looking for a doctor, it’s much more fun to share theories if two have different opinions! :D I apologize in advance if anyone in the TD fandom already made a theory like mine. I don’t have a tumblr myself and don’t keep up with all of the theories that’s around, I mainly read a couple of TD tumblr’s and try to make up theories on my own on my iPad. So if anyone else already have made a connection like mine - I’m sorry, I didn’t know. 🙂

This one is about Gregory and proof that he DID in fact go out looking for a doctor in 7x15. The actor himself admitted in an interview I don’t think we’ve talked about. So stay with me, before we get to this I need to sum up a couple of things first:

1. In 7x11 Negan killed the only doctor the Saviors had at the Sanctuary… 2. … so because of that in 7x14 the Saviors went to Hilltop and took the only doctor they had back to the Sanctuary so they could have a doctor. 3. Hilltop is now without a doctor. They need one.

Now… In 7x15 we can see Gregory in his office take up a map from his desk. It is a map of Virginia. As Gregory opens up the map and checks it he calls Cal into his office. He tells him “I’m gonna need you drive me somewhere… Yeah… You gonna wanna pack a bag…”.

So where was he going? A lot of fans thinks that Gregory went to the Sanctuary because of these 3 reasons:

1. In 7x16 Negan tells Sasha that “A little birdie told me that Rick and the rest of your people are up to no good.” and in the comics it is Gregory who betrays Rick and tells Negan about his plans. 2. In 7x14 Gregory and Trevor have a conversation after the Saviors have taken the Hilltop doctor. Gregory basically tells Trevor that as the leader of Hilltop he got to provide for his people and gain their trust otherwise he’s afraid someone might get crazy ideas and try to take over. Trevor answers with “If you’re having problems of that nature - come to see me. Anytime! I’ll arrange it so that you just tell the guard who you are and he’ll let you right in. As long as there’s no shenanigans afoot.” and Gregory replies with “There willl be none.”. Trevor gives Gregory a note where he has written something. One would think of a map to the Sanctuary since Gregory told Trevor he doesn’t know where to go. 3. Gregory is a douchbag.

I don’t agree with these (well… I mean… Maybe except from number 3… LOL MEAN!). I’m going to explain why:

We know from 7x16 that it was Jadis and her group what’s-their-name-who-can’t-talk that betrayed Rick (seriously, what’s their name? The Garbage people?). The Garbage people is not in the comics, so what we can see here is that this comic arc changed in the show (just a funny easter egg… When we first meet the Garbage people we get a closeup of a bird at their camp. Negan calls the betrayer “birdie”.). Gregory also didn’t know about Rick’s plans. Secondly, Negan didn’t know Maggie was still alive until he saw her in 7x16. After Trevor told Gregory he would come to the Sanctuary if someone tried to take over as the leader of Hilltop one would think Gregory would tell Trevor who would tell Negan about Maggie being alive, hiding and Jesus helping her and that they are the ones trying to take over the Hilltop from him (these two are obviously the ones he had in mind). But nope… Negan didn’t know Maggie was still alive. So no. Gregory did NOT go to the Sanctuary because in summary it was The Garbage people who betrayed Rick, Gregory didn’t know about Rick’s plans and he has NOT told Trevor-Negan about Maggie being alive. May I also add that Eugene told Sasha in 7x16 that it takes a couple of hours to drive from the Sanctuary to Alexandria. Hilltop is not far from Alexandria. Gregory would not need to tell Cal to pack a bag for just a a couple of hours drive. Trevor also told Gregory to not bring any other people with him to the Sanctuary if he went there and to wherever Gregory’s going he takes Cal with him, so he’s obviously not heading for the Sanctuary.

So here we go. The proof there is that Gregory DID IN FACT go out looking for a doctor for the Hilltop are as follows:

1. When the Saviors are together with Gregory in Dr Carson’s office at Hilltop to take Dr Carson with them back to the Sanctuary, Dr Carson tells Gregory before leaving “All of my charts are in order. You need to make arrangements for some kind of medical care here. Especially for my uncle and patients.”. Gregory answers “I will.”. 2. When Gregory and Trevor are talking about him going to the Sanctuary if someone will try to take over as leader of Hilltop Trevor tells Gregory to not stress. Gregory replies with “I would be a lot less stressed if you would leave my doctor.”. 3. In an interview with Xander Berkeley (who plays Gregory) he (pretty much) confirmed that Gregory didn’t go to the Sanctuary. The interviewer said Gregory went to the Sanctuary which XB replied “Well, I like to think that we’ll keep the audience guessing with Gregory. And one of the things that does make him entertaining and fun is that you can’t quite be sure where he’s headed next literally or figuratively. He does appear to be on his way somewhere there in the last episode that you saw him in, and he always seems to be headed somewhere a little other than what you expect. You’ll look back and you’ll see I wasn’t such a big douche-waffle after all. I was a good guy. Like I said, I’m not a bad guy [Proof Gregory didn’t go to the Sanctuary and betrayed Rick]. But what I will hold out hope is that I will continually be able to pull away new layers and show new colors and keep the audience constantly unsure of where I’m going to go next. One of his survival instincts is to keep adapting to whatever people want and need from him [DOCTOR!!!], and one of those things is going to be a certain element, even if it’s a little sleazy snake oil huckster charlatan charm and humor. That’s an element that we’re not finding in other places as much at this point. So that will be a fun place to go with Gregory wherever he goes.”. Read the FULL interview HERE http://www.blastr.com/2017-4-2/amc-the-walking-dead-xander-berkeley-interview.

Hilltop needs a doctor. Gregory did NOT go to the Sanctuary. In the interview XB also says that he has talked with SG about the character and he says Gregory won’t be a bad guy. XB says Gregory’s survival instincts is to keep “adapting to whatever people want and need from him”. HILLTOP NEEDS A DOCTOR!!!! KSHFSLFVSNSX!!!

So Gregory’s heading out to find a doctor. The most obvious place to go looking for one would be, even after an apocalypse, at a hospital. Now, there’s obviously hospitals in Virginia. But after following SG’s way to run a show I would think he would prick up the dropped storyline of Grady Memorial Hospital here considering EVERYTHING SHADY that has been around Coda, panels, contracts, actors, actresses, filming etc around Grady. There are tons of paralells with Grady, Hilltop and the Sanctuary. Then the obvious choice for a hospital in the show would be Grady me thinks. However, why Gregory chooses to go to Atlanta Georgia instead of some hospital in Virginia, there’s a few ideas. There are reasons to think he does in fact go to Georgia instead of staying in Virginia. First of all, Gregory is from Virginia or had been to Virginia before the outbreak. Add to this that most likely there are a couple of people from Hilltop that lived in Virginia before the outbreak. Gregory and his people know where the hospitals are in Virginia. So why use a map, right? No, he would'nt need one. Correct. And maybe Hilltop already had runs in all of the Virginia hospitals to find medication, supplies etc, so they know there are not any doctors there (maybe that’s where Hilltop first found their Carson doctors? Who Negan later took… First one, then two. And then it will be a third doctor at Hilltop!). If Gregory knows all of the Virginia hospitals are empty of doctors at this point, but knows that they DID find the Carson doctors at a hospital, he might think he can find another doctor but at another hospital, in the nearby state and THAT he would need to pack a bag for. And bring Cal. Because it’s a long way and dangerous and Gregory doesn’t have any walker skills what so ever as we saw with him and Maggie. So, if he’s going to Georgia/Atlanta, why use a Virginia map? I think he checks out the fastest road to take to get to Georgia. He would'nt want to leave Hilltop too long. Gregory wants to be in charge and being away mean someone else (Maggie and Jesus) will take over as leader (he was afraid that would happen) and adding to this the fact that he has barely gone out from Hilltop after the outbreak it makes sense he wants to do whatever he’s going to do as fast as possible. And if anyone after reading this would come up with the theory that maybe Gregory went to the Sanctuary to rescue Dr Carson and take him back to the Hilltop… I don’t think so. 1. Gregory is too much of a chicken to pull that off and he would need someone much stronger and bigger than Cal to bring down even a few Saviors (If you’re not CooorAAAL!) to take back Dr Carson / 2. Gregory and Cal doesn’t know how the Sanctuary looks like, how to get in without being seen and they don’t know where Dr Carson is. Sasha was different. Sasha had a map of the Sanctuary. She knew how to get in without being seen by guards. She didn’t plan to get out of there eventually either / 3. If Dr Carson disappeared Trevor would know it was Gregory who took him since Trevor knows how much Gregory wants a doctor. And even if Trevor didn’t think it was Gregory he would still show up at the Hilltop to look for Dr Carson since he knows the Hilltop was his home. And the writers aren’t that bad that they would go with that hide-cuz-the-saviors-are-coming-to-the-hilltop again like they did with Maggie and Daryl.

As an end to this sub I want to say that I think Gregory changed his mind about Maggie when she said that it’s never too late to change and saved his life. He also talks about her as a pregnant woman and he’s aware that she above all else at Hilltop needs a doctor now during her pregnancy. I think he decides to go out to find a doctor because that’s what Hilltop needs and he wants to be a good leader.

Thoughts?

@twdmusicboxmystery says:

Thanks so much to the Nonny who sent this in! You’re right: having opposing theories to discuss is always fun.

And can I say that this theory is very well thought out and I think you do a great job gathering evidence. I think you’ve shown very astutely that when Gregory left Hilltop, his destination was not the Sanctuary. (I especially love your detail about the bird at the junk yard. (Officially the group is called the Scavengers, btw.)

My one issue is still that I don’t see Gregory having the balls to make a journey all the way to Atlanta. Even if, as you say, and as XB said in his interview, Gregory is turning into a nicer guy and decided to do the right thing, I still don’t see him making a journey like that himself. He’d be more likely to try and send someone else who is better at surviving. 

But that certainly doesn’t mean your theory or your evidence is wrong. I was thinking as I read it that you’ve definitely found a lot of clues to Gregory + Doctor. As I said in a previous Ask, I’m not sure I think anyone will go back to Atlanta. I think our most compelling evidence is that Beth will show up in D.C. via Oceanside. I still think we’ll see stuff that happens in Atlanta (downfall of Grady, Beth at Terminus, etc.) but it will be via flashback. There’s such a “can’t go back” theme throughout season 4 and 5 that I don’t think anyone will actually “go back to a graveyard” as Carol said in 4x10.

So I think most of what you’ve gathered here is right and that you’re really onto something. Maybe Gregory will find a doctor but it will be more like finding him wandering around in the area with a certain blond, rather than traveling all the way back to Atlanta to find him. 

Of course I could be wrong. And if someone does go back to Atlanta, I’ll be tickled. Either way, you’ve made me very curious to see how this story line and set of symbols pans out. 

One more thing: I have seen spoilers that do put Gregory at the Sanctuary in S8. I can’t say for sure how reliable they are. If I read correctly they are both unconfirmed and also I don’t think they came from the main, big spoiler site, but from another one that’s less reliable. So we really can’t take them as fact right now. 

But, I wanted to say that even if they’re true, that still doesn’t mean your theory is wrong. Gregory might have set out to find a doctor. Any one of a million things could happen (and we all know Gregory isn’t the best survivalist) that could have led to him ending up at the Sanctuary. 

So like I said, we’l just have to see how it all pans out. Can’t wait to find out. Thanks so much for sharing this theory with us, Nonny. You’re a natural! Xoxo! 💖