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#cleo never even implied it was etho
coral-kryptic · 11 months
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bdubs be really not denying the boyfriend allegations huh...
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This is mostly me rambling and being confused about a part in Cleo's and Grian's episodes, but I... I don't think Cleo really Gets it when she talks about the Mounder's loyalty, like she says/implies they're not very loyal.... but..... I think back to the other seasons and all 3 of them were loyal (2 to her at one point), maybe not completely in the same style as her loyalty but, they were loyal. They are all Desperately loyal. The way loyal people betrayed are. Desperate.
It comes up in their episodes a lot. "Mounders for life." People expect Joel to uuuuhhh go slightly feral, but he never goes after his group. When Gem tries to get him to guess Pearl's task he's the first one to purposefully waste his guess on her. He never attacks them as red. He trusts them with stuff like his enchanter and spawner, and Every Episode since joining them goes and does the bonding question he started. Bdubs runs around with Etho and Cleo because of course he does, but when it comes to choosing he stays with the mounders. When Gem comes with her boogey curse task, Bdubs does Not go after Pearl. He tries pushing Gem and then Impulse away from Pearl and Joel, until Pearl blows up and then neither are there for when Joel is killed. When Martyn says to be a Big Dog means renouncing your old alliances, Bdubs says no. And he traps Etho/Cleo/Grian's base, knowing full well, commenting on the fact, that it might kill Etho or Cleo. And Pearl? Pearl's never gone after any of her teammates. Not in past seasons, not in this one. She constantly pushes she wants Joel or Bdubs (and slightly Mumbo) to win. When boogey or red, she doesn't go after them, even offering that when she's down low, they can perma-kill her for the hearts. But I think the biggest Moment that really showed their loyalty was when Mumbo turned red and attempted trapping their base and such. They don't make any comments about him leaving or betraying them. There's surprise and a bit of "Mumbo!", but Pearl mentions almost directly afterward that if he'd asked they would have helped him. Mumbo goes after them, and they still want to help him.
There's another post out there about how the last 3 Mounders didn't go after Mumbo, because they know how it feels to get kicked out of the group when they go "red", and I think those are the points Cleo/Etho/Grian & to an extent Scott remember when saying the Mounders aren't very loyal. I mean the biggest, and most likely influence, is Pearl in Double Life. Cleo and Scott remember Pearl "not caring" about the whole soulbond deal and then going slightly crazy, and Pearl remembers being left for... not being around.
All the perspectives show relationships and people in varying different lights, and so there will always be some difference, but I still find it so odd that it's Scott and Cleo to call out the Mounders "lack" of loyalty.
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firekit21 · 1 year
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Life Series Incorrect Quotes
Ren: Isn't it a bit dangerous?
Joel: Ren, please. We've been in a lot of unexpected predicaments before and we always escape unhurt.
Ren: ...
Joel: Okay, we sometimes escape unhurt.
Ren: ...
Joel: Alright, we escaped unhurt once... Then we hurt ourselves on the way home.
Skizz: Who's in charge here?
Martyn, shrugging: Usually whoever yells the loudest.
Grian: Why is there blood everywhere?
Scar: I may have aggressively poked someone with a knife.
Grian: You stabbed someone?!
Scar: No, no. I aggressively poked someone with a knife.
Grian: Remember, Jimmy, don't do anything I wouldn't do.
Jimmy: I think I crossed that line when I got a date.
Lizzie: I was put on this earth to do one thing.
Lizzie: Luckily I forgot what it was so I can do whatever I want.
Bdubs: Thanks for not telling Etho what happened.
Mumbo, dumbfounded: I wouldn’t even know where to begin trying to explain this.
Grian: I left instructions for everyone while I'm gone.
Scar: Mine just says "Scar no."
Grian: I want you to apply it to every possible situation.
Impulse, after having a nosebleed: Welp. Time to wash the blood off my hands.
Lizzie: Fellas, I gotta know for science. Is the opposite of red green or blue?
BigB: Technically a mix of green and blue?
Lizzie: So blurple.
BigB: That's implying you're mixing blue and purple.
Lizzie: Would you rather have fucking bleen? MOTHERFUCKING GRUE?
BigB: You were confusing before but now I'm scared.
Scott: Let’s play 20 questions, you start.
Jimmy: What’s your favorite color?
Scott, laser fucking focused:  Triangle, do you like men?
Grian: Pros and cons of dating me.
Grian: Pros. You'll be the cute one.
Grian: Cons. Holy shit, where do I begin-
Jimmy: Do you know that we are made out of atoms?
Jimmy: And atoms never touch each other.
Jimmy: So in my defense, officer. I did not punch this kid.
Cleo, to BigB: Are you peanuts? Because I want to boil you alive.
Tango: Stop failing.
Skizz: Don’t tell me what to do! I'll fail right now!
Skizz: *Succeeds*
Skizz: Dang it!
Scar with a gun to Ren's head: What happens if I pull this trigger? Heaven?
Ren: Bold of you to assume I'll go to Heaven.
Jimmy: As someone who has a long history of not understanding anything, I feel confident in my ability to continue not knowing what is going on.
Pearl: I am a responsible adult!
Gem: *raises brow*
Pearl: I am an adult.
Cleo: I love murder mysteries!
Martyn, trying to impress them: I've been a suspect in four murder cases.
Ren: Martyn and I are so close we even share a toothbrush.
Martyn: We what?
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thecoolerliauditore · 2 months
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deeps breaths. scott suggesting to cleo that she could get etho to die for her, as psychotic as it is (classic scott moment), is interesting to me not because of scott's behaviour, but because of cleo's. Her refusing to kill etho out of sentimentality implies. to me at least. Cleo is aware to some point that killing someone for your own sake (even if they come back) is Hurting Them and she doesn't want to hurt Etho like that.
Yet Scott doesn't get that sentimentality, scott is forever her ally and never her friend. Thinking about how, in limited life, she not only killed him herself but let him continuously die for scar and bdubs as well. A dynamic so normalized bdubs suggests asking him to die again the moment they're in need of time, as normal as slaughtering livestock for meat.
And it makes sense because Scott encourages this behaviour (just look at double life) and Cleo enables it. This is not me trying to say that Cleo abuses Scott, Scott is after all the one who keeps instigating, but I do think she is to some degree taking advantage of his fucked up mentality and constantly enables him to get worse.
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oh-snapperss · 2 years
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Promise I Held (Just Out of Reach)
hi guys. this is a cowrite by me and @tunastime, a continuation of our hot tea fics we wrote a few months ago. you don't have to have read them to read this, but it adds to the experience!
words: 3788
warnings: none
read on ao3!
On the top of a large, grey-white slab of rock, a figure looks to the sky.
Bdubs is sitting on the warm rock face and wondering when the sun might set. He sighs. The air in his chest feels short. He chews at the inside of his cheek and wonders when the sun will set, not because he needs it but because he wants it. It’s the only solace he gets here, and it’s the only solace the games give him in general, even when he doesn’t sleep, and even when he’s not allowed to. He’s not allowed to sleep here. The nights are too short to warrant it, and there’s too much killing going around, coupled with the fact that his clock isn’t visible to him. To see his time he has to stand by the river edge and crane his neck to even glance at the ticking seconds, and keep doing the mental math. He’s close to yellow. He can feel that at least. Maybe he’ll get lucky. Maybe there’ll be another chance to get a boogey kill. Some extension on his life. Something he’ll have to get for himself this time, it seems. He’s trying to be patient, something he’s gotten too good at doing, even with the short string it hangs from.
He’s waiting for Etho to come back.
It seems like a hopeless cause, but something deeply entrenched and rooting around in his chest believes otherwise. Etho comes back, doesn’t he? Not necessarily crawling, but something of the sort, standing off to the side, waiting to be welcomed back with a kicked-dog expression. So Bdubs is waiting for him. 
“When will it be enough for you?”
Cleo’s voice is a cut through his train of thoughts like a cleaver. He turns, bracing his hand on the rock to support himself. She’s standing behind him, hands on her hips. At least he has Cleo, he thinks, as a warm tumbling thing rolls around in the empty space of his chest. He turns back around, expression souring.
“Never.”
The it is self-explanatory. It is whatever Etho gives him in lieu of an actual partnership, or an actual apology. They’d exchanged those, once before, after everything. So is he really to blame for thinking this might go a bit differently? That Etho might be beside him, instead of over the crest of the hill, playing house with the remnants of a team he used to be a part of? They’ve gone and replaced him with his better half. Dead weight. The it is the strings of affections Etho tries to tie together. It’s I love you never said but implied. It’s how they’ve always functioned, except in places they know are truly safe. Bdubs doesn’t mind that. But how is he supposed to not yearn for it, even here?
“He’s not coming back, y’know,” Cleo adds. She’s not moved any closer. Bdubs shrugs. He’s too busy watching the sky start to go orange at the edges
“Doesn’t matter,” he says shortly. Cleo huffs. She doesn’t say anything else, and neither does Bdubs, even when her footsteps have long since faded back to their cave.
Bdubs is waiting.
It’s an action he’s gotten very good at.
The good thing, though, is that night comes quicker than usual. It’s something about rotation, or sun’s rays, some science-y thing Bdubs would need to work out much longer than a few minutes to completely understand. He watches the sun brush the horizon for only a moment before he turns away, and the stretch of orange above it. 
Etho never came back. His boots crunch against bits of pebbled stone and granite. So it’s his job to find him. He’s good at that, too. Just keep walking. Walking. Walking. Soon enough he’ll find something, right? Anything?
He pokes his way down, minding the way the stone turns to dirt and dirt to grass. Just beyond the next hill he can see a tall stone structure. He’s not sure what about this place feels so much more alive than previous games. There’s a nervous energy to the air, like a static charge. He makes his way over the hill.
He can see someone at the top of the tower as he manages down the other side of the hill. He hears grumbling, some unmistakable noise only Tango could make. Wading the short way over to the sandy bank, Bdubs stands, looking up on a particularly nicely textured tower, all things considered. He’s tempted to reach out and touch it, but Tango hears his approach. He leans over the edge of the tower, peering over at him.
“Tango!” Bdubs squints at him, smiling. 
“Bdubs?” Tango leans a bit further. “What’d’you want?”
“I, uh…” He stops short. For all his big game, wandering around like he’s made up his mind, Bdubs still isn’t sure exactly what this is going to give him. Closure? Hope? Anything? He’s been standing here silent. Better say something. “I’m looking for Etho.”
“Mm.” Tango jerks his head to the left. He keeps his tone neutral, though, and besides, in the cover of nearly night, Bdubs can’t really tell what he’s thinking anyway. “He’s over at the farm. The uh—the box, there. Why? What’d’you need ‘em for?”
“Just to chat.”
“To chat?”
Bdubs nods.
“Yeah. I mean it.”
Tango shrugs. He seems to believe it. Bdubs isn’t lying anyway. It’s not like he could actually do something right now.
“Alright. Enjoy your talk, man. Lemme know if you need somethin’.”
Bdubs thinks he sees the swish of a tail before Tango ducks away, back to moving stone bricks around. Bdubs nods. Right. Left. To the farm. The “box” as Tango had put it. He can see the outline in the torchlight.
Making his way over, Bdubs steels his expression, trying to sooth frazzled nerves. He makes his way through the beach and around the side of the hill, toward the mass of dirt and granite that resembled its namesake.
Down the stone steps, walled in by the border and the box itself. Bdubs can hear the mobs within fighting, falling, dying. It’s a familiar sound, the clattering of bones and groans of undead… hissing of creepers and the crawling spiders. Not to say a pleasant sound, but… it’s something reminiscent of better times, at least, when time and death meant nothing. 
He’s shaken from his thoughts at the bottom of the steps, where the entrance to the farm lies. There’s a hole, and a rickety ladder into darkness. He shakes his head, but doesn’t hesitate to descend, rung by rung until his ankles land in water. Eurgh. It splashes up to his knees when he turns to get out of it, and he shivers—not cause he’s cold, but… he’s a little cold. 
Even with his soaked boots, and aching arms from the climb down, he falters before fully stepping away from the water and towards his… friend, partner, lover… Etho. Who hasn’t bothered to acknowledge him, save for the hand straying toward the diamond sword at his side and stiffened back. His other hand keeps busy, gathering gunpowder from the chest and placing it straight onto the crafting table.
“Etho?”
This time, his only sign Etho knows he’s there is that both hands go to craft TNT, and his posture gets about as bad as Bdubs knows it usually is. Other than that, Bdubs is ignored, and he frowns, a prickle of hurt creeping through. Dead weight. Did Etho think the same? 
“E-Etho?” Bdubs’ voice falters, and he winces at the crack in his usual facade of boisterous bravado. 
For the first time since the timer started, at least that Bdubs has seen, Etho pauses. Just a heartbeat, just long enough to acknowledge Bdubs’ presence. But the moment passes, and Etho resumes his work, not even bothering to turn to Bdubs as he gathers gunpowder and crafts more of the TNT. 
Gather, craft. Gather, craft. A terrifying rhythm of coming destruction, and Etho won’t look at Bdubs. His hands are too busy, and Bdubs’ own flutter about uselessly before he settles on leaning against the wall and watching. Even then, he picks at the sleeve of his shirt, biting his lip before trying again.
“You’re… you busy right now?” He keeps his voice quiet, as if any volume might shatter the peace and walls both have built up. There’s water dripping from the rocks above his head and he holds back from wrinkling his nose when a drop lands on it. 
“Got things to do,” Etho mutters, turning back to the collection chest. A wrinkle appears between his eyebrows—empty. 
“Of course, of course…” Bdubs tracks Etho’s calloused hands as they pack away the last of the tnt. There’s a spark in Etho’s eyes as he does that Bdubs doesn’t particularly like—it feels wrong, and far too similar to the same spark a flint and steel might make. “Do you have a minute?” (Or a few?) 
“Do any of us?” Etho’s tone is light, but to Bdubs, there’s almost a beat to each word, a tick-tick-tick of seconds passing, of life draining. Etho steps forward, and so does Bdubs, but then Etho steps right past him to the water and ladder, not even sparing a second to look into Bdubs’ eyes.
And so Bdubs follows helplessly, just like he always does, once again grimacing at the water pooled around his ankles before he starts up the ladder after Etho. “W-Etho, c’mon…” 
Up and up and up into the starry night above, up the stairs, past the base and into the woods. Step, step, step, step. Tick, tick, tick, tick. 
“Watcha doin’, Etho?” 
“Resource gathering.” 
“It’s the middle of the night… shouldn’t you be sleepin’?” Bdubs raises his eyebrows, trying to keep up with Etho’s quick march. He’s really too short for this–not that he’ll ever admit that out loud. 
“Shouldn’t you be, sleep king B-double-o?” Etho side-eyes him, raking his gaze down to where Bdubs stumbles over his own feet. 
“Oh, come on…” Bdubs grumbles, but Etho’s right. “...wanted to see you?” 
“Wanted to see me?” Etho sounds teasing and entirely uncaring. “Shouldn’t you be with Cleo ‘n Scar?” They’ve reached a point, lit up with few torches. There’s a rudimentary tree farm ahead, ready to be harvested, but surely Etho isn’t just using his precious tnt, is he?
“Oh, tell me you aren’t just blowin’ it u-”
Bang! It’s lit and fired off before Bdubs can finish his sentence. While Etho heads forward, dragging his axe from his back to harvest and collect, Bdubs backs up a couple steps. 
“Etho, please look at me-” 
“I can hear you just fine. I gotta collect this stuff, ‘dubs.” 
And that’s just it, isn’t it? It’s frustrating, and so very Etho, and none of it makes sense, because Bdubs just wants to talk to Etho and he wants Etho to look at him even if it’s just for two seconds, would he please just acknowledge, or sit down, or-
Two short breaths, then one deep, and Bdubs thinks maybe he can fix this. Maybe-
He leaves Etho to his farm, staying within sight to gather sticks and wood. When he drops to the ground to place it all, to make a fire, twigs push into his knees uncomfortably, the ground itself damp and cold. It’s awful, and it’s worth it to light the campfire, to place that rickety old tin kettle he’d brought with him. The kettle trembles in his grasp, a memory of a time with it hadn’t been his, it had been theirs. He waits to use it though, wanting to bring Etho over first. 
But then Etho walks out, glances over, and just shakes his head, like it means nothing, like it never did. He scrambles to his feet, the kettle left empty on the ground. He makes it over to Etho before he can walk away fully, out towards the river nearby. Once again staring at the ground over Bdubs, Etho tries to slide past, but Bdubs just can’t help it, heart aching in all the worst places. 
“Please-” Bdubs’ hands fly out, then halt just before touching Etho. His plea is quiet too, but Etho hesitates to move away and Bdubs reaches fully forward to take both of Etho’s hands in his. He runs his calloused fingertips over the backs of Etho's hands, gently turning them palm up with his thumbs. Scars cover Etho’s hands in angry red ridges, and Bdubs traces over them without a word, keeping his eyes on them instead of Etho’s face. He doesn’t think he could possibly look at Etho right now, not when Etho could shove him away, call him dead weight or laugh it off or-
But he doesn’t, and Bdubs barely catches the soft, too-fast intake of breath from Etho. Another moment of memorizing the palms he already knows by heart, and he closes his hands fully, squeezing them tightly. 
“Just-come sit down. Please?” He won’t take no for an answer, tugging Etho forward with both hands until they’re next to a couple rocks near the farm. “Here.” 
Etho’s eyes squeeze shut, stressed in the way Bdubs sees when he’s worked too long on a project without sleeping, or the times in the snow fort he’d thought Bdubs hadn’t seen in the nights spent across the fence. “I shouldn’t.” 
“Just a few minutes.” (Just tonight. Just for tonight.) 
He doesn’t miss the way Etho tenses, or the shuddering breaths he takes. 
“Okay,” he sounds tired, already shifting his weight from leg to leg. 
Bdubs doesn’t let go of his hand, though, as he pulls Etho with him to the unlit fire. It’s funny, in some type of way, that he came prepared thinking that Etho would say yes, when every other part of him knew Etho would say no. He drops to the ground, Etho still standing at his side, to light the fire. It takes a second to catch, but when it does, Etho is dropping next to him. He holds his hands out in front of him, palms turned toward the heat. Bdubs takes his time setting up. It’s a process he’s seen Etho follow too many times to count on his hands. If he’s being honest, he’d originally brought the set for himself, knowing a day without it would leave him grumpy and nonfunctional. Being able to share it with Etho now was a luxury he’d surely taken for granted back home. Now it, for this small moment, was all they had. 
He fills the kettle halfway with water from his canteen, tosses in the tea leaves, and sets it in the coals. Chamomile. His preferred stuff. He watches the kettle for a second, listening to it start to rumble. Then he glances at Etho. Etho glances up, like he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t. His eyes flick across the dark sky they both know will soon be gone, replaced with the sun and a bright, scary blue. Bdubs sighs.
“Mind if I join you?” Etho extends one of the mugs towards Bdubs, and Bdubs takes it gratefully, hands curling around the heat of the mug. Then Etho sinks to the ground on the other side of the campfire, legs crossed. He places his mask on the log next to him.
I love you, I made you tea.
Etho hasn’t taken off his mask, yet, but he’s just at the side of the campfire. His familiar, left-hand spot to Bdubs.
Bdubs fishes two cups out of his bag—the last bit of the set. As much as he would rather wooden ones, the metal ones will have to do. He lifts the kettle as it starts to boil, and pours out a cup of tea. It smells strong enough as Bdubs lifts it. Then, he holds it out for Etho to take. Etho finally looks over, and his eyebrows furrow.
He’s still wearing his mask.
Bdubs swears he doesn’t flinch.
There, he takes another small wooden cup from the satchel and turns back to the pot. The metal tin is lukewarm at best, and only a few long wisps of steam rise from the cup’s surface, but Etho cradles it in both hands. With a deliberate slowness, he turns to Bdubs, and extends his hands.
Etho takes the cup, and Bdubs feels their hands knock together awkwardly as he tries to grab it from him. He manages the last bit of a wheezing sounding laugh, and pretends not to notice Etho’s eyes squinting shut for a moment.
Etho sits with his tea for a moment, holding it in the cradle of his hands. Bdubs knows the motion—he saw it a long time ago, before Etho got comfortable with him. He lowers his eyes to the second cup, and Etho seems to relax after a second. He hears him sigh tiredly. Bdubs stares into his newly poured cup of tea and chews his bottom lip.
“Etho...” Bdubs says, still looking up into the sky. Etho turns his head to him, and in the light of the fire, he can just see the profile of his face, tipped back. Etho’s eyebrows raise questioningly.
“Yes?”
“I want to offer you a proposition.”
“Etho?” He asks. Etho hums. “I want to offer you a proposition.”
Etho laughs. The sound is warmer than he’s expecting.
“I can’t run away with you, B,” he says, and his tone stays light. Bdubs feels his stomach turn over—both in a good and bad way.
“Hey!” He swings out, trying to catch his arm and failing. “I never said…”
But that is what he was going to ask. Etho’s stolen the words right out of his mouth. He takes a sip of tea. The chamomile is bitter without honey.
“It’s not that I don’t want to…” Etho starts, and it sounds an awful lot like a rejection. Bdubs shakes his head. When he looks over at Etho, his leg bounces nervously. He’s not looking directly at Bdubs, but over his shoulder instead, eyes occasionally flicking over to his face. His mask is forgotten, hooked around his ear, and his mouth is a fine line. 
“You just can’t,” Bdubs finishes. “Look, I get it…I do, I promise.”
Etho sighs. It’s a weary sound Bdubs doesn’t hear often.
“I don’t think it’s good for us,” he manages, turning the cup in his hands. Luckily for Etho, Bdubs is watching his hands move, rather than studying the pinched expression on his face. 
“No, Etho, it’s fine,” Bdubs says, despite the way his chest hurts when he says it. “You don’t have to make excuses.”
Silence stretches between them. Bdubs watches Etho turn the cup, like he’s studying the contents, and Bdubs feels his chest start to stuff up with cotton. It’s a lingering silence, like a sticky heat, something tangible, like a thread. He wishes he could reach out and cut it with a knife, but Etho coughs, and the stillness goes back to being the sound of crickets and water lapping at the shore a few paces away. There’s a shock of cold to the air. The fire fights to warm them both.
“Bdubs,” Etho starts. The words are slow and deliberate. “You don’t take this seriously. You're just treating this like it's a game." 
Bdubs makes a noncommittal noise. "Well that's what you're supposed to do, isn't it?” He shrugs. “In the title and everything…"
Etho shakes his head. There’s that silence again. At least it’s shorter this time.
“I can’t come with you.” Etho doesn’t look at him. Bdubs shrugs again.
“‘S fine…at least finish your tea, will you?” The words are half-caught in his throat like he’s coughing them out. The dregs of his tea have gone cold in his cup, but he knocks back the contents and grimaces as he swallows. It’s better than nothing. Etho nods. He drinks slowly, even as Bdubs knows his tea has cooled, and even as the thread taut between them pulls at them both. Just one night, right?
“Just one night,” Etho says. Bdubs shuts his eyes.
“Right.”
Etho leans forward, still holding his cup. Then, he stands, brushing his free hand on his pants, rehooking his mask over the other ear. The expression Bdubs manages to catch is pained, tight, uncomfortable. Etho curls and uncurls his hands. 
“Thanks for the tea, ‘Dubs.” Etho sounds unsure, like he might be looking for something else.
“Sure thing.”
Etho’s back is turned to him, now, where he stands at the very edge of the flickering light the campfire gives. And he’s about to leave, and they’ll meet again, sure, and pretend, and play two different games, and then they’ll go home and pretend to play the same one. He blinks back tears, because he knows, he knows Etho’ll come back to him, eventually. It’s just a game. Staggering to his feet, he stumbles towards Etho out of time–tick, step, ti-step, tick, tick, step. Even with his fumbling, loud movement, Etho doesn’t flinch, staring down into his cup just emptied, rather than the woods promising resources, or the stars that no longer promise safety. 
He shuffles forward, to rest his forehead against Etho’s back. It fits just between his shoulder blades, pressing against the thin padding of Etho’s jacket. 
For a second, Bdubs rests, and it's as if nothing's changed at all. For a moment, he holds his breath, and feels as if time stops ticking. It's over, though, as soon as it starts. Just one day.
He reaches up, hardly daring to breathe, until his fingers just barely brush against the arm of Etho’s jacket, tracing along his elbow. Part of him wants to wrap his hand fully around, wants to tug Etho around to face him, to beg him to stay with him, even if it means sacrificing their time. He knows better. He knows Etho loves him, and he knows it’s not enough, not in the game. So instead he stays perfectly still, save for his shuddering, unsteady breaths. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, and he means it. 
Etho’s own breaths are out of time, too. Just for a few seconds, but it’s enough. “I’ll see you after, ‘dubs.” 
Bdubs doesn’t watch Etho walk forward. But he certainly feels the pull and the cool air on his face instead of fabric. Behind him, the fire splutters back into nothing, and the creeping chill against his back sets him shivering. He drags his hands up and down his arms quickly, trying to warm himself, and rather than linger and stare at his failed proposition, he steps forward in the direction of his bed. Step, tick, step, tick, step, tick. 
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fountainpenguin · 2 months
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🐛 The Pantheon of Silk and Plays 🐛
A semi-medieval Hermit-Traffic fantasy AU where gods of silk balance the needs of nature with those of cloth civilians.
Inspired by a Cupid/Psyche retelling ft. Etho/Cleo.
Hermitcraft & 3rd Life SMP Series
More MCYT AUs
#ridwork guides
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What Is This AU?
11 spirits oversee the kingdoms of Livestock, Hunting, Fishing, and Grain. They nurture plants, bring the rain, chase the herds, and keep the land in balance.
Cleo Clocker was raised from death not by the god of healing, but by a trickster spirit who's kept an eye on them ever since. Being far too clever for your own good has its perks... but it comes with a cost if you live beneath a pantheon where pride and jealousy rage.
AO3 Series
Blog tag - #Silk Plays AU
Character List - All gods and their masteries (& map)
Tone
Mostly romance and fluff with bits of angst, drama, and comedy mixed in.
Characters
Mortals - Namely Cleo, Scott, Pearl, and BigB. Some others I can think of are Ren, Skizz, Stress, Tango, and Jimmy (Minor appearances planned).
Pantheon Gods - Other members of Hermitcraft & Life Series ensembles
Shout-out to demigods Scar and Bdubs 2.0. And all of Martyn's kids, but shhh...
Ships
- Etho/Cleo - In their roles as Cupid and Psyche parallels. Cleo seeks guidance from Etho (god of trickery and innovation), who assists as best he can.
Joel/Lizzie - Lizzie is caretaker of the moon and visits Joel when it's full, but leaves him as it wanes. Playing into tide themes since Joel is a sea god. They're the only deity/deity couple in the pantheon and flirt a ton. They're very passionate. I don't know how to tell you they express this by ripping each other's bodies up.
-> It's fine; it's actually standard intimacy protocol in cloth world
- ?? I wouldn't call it a ship, but Etho and Joel have a very weird relationship given that Etho used to be Joel's left hand before tricking him into cutting it off. Etho has body image issues and Joel has... Etho trust issues.
- Many of the gods are charmed by Cleo and flirt with her, even proposing and promising great things if she accepts them (Ex: wings or immortality), but it's a Cupid/Psyche AU so we know where this is going.
- Raise a glass for Martyn (god of hearts and husbandry) and his infinitely divided consciousness that's present wherever there's intimacy.
- Martyn/Cleo - Martyn's weirdly jealous-resentful-overprotective of Cleo since he's god of healing and she was raised from the dead by someone other than him. Cleo tries to avoid him, but sometimes needs his assistance.
-> As allusion to them being soulmates, Cleo tricks Martyn into a vow that he has to answer any question she asks if she's willing to get increasingly intimate with him. Cleo keeps that in her back pocket as her anxieties about never seeing her husband's face get stronger. Martyn's generally grumpy about how dangerous a vow like that is and tries to keep her out of his temple.
- idk if it's a ship, but Mumbo likes stealing Grian's sacred robes and it's implied Grian regularly dances at Mumbo's theater. Probably because Mumbo's holding his soul hostage, but shhh...
- Grian is hinted to have a mortal lover, who I like to think is BigB (though it probably won't be stated).
- Background relationships, particularly among royalty.
Setting
A semi-medieval world with 4 large kingdoms. Castles are small- It would be an insult to build them grander than a god's temple. Stories take place in "the basin kingdoms" (as opposed to the neighboring Great River kingdoms).
There are 11 gods in the local pantheon, with temples spread through the region. There were 10 up until Etho's ascension, and there could potentially be more in the future.
NOTE - Mortals can speak freely to the spirits, who are usually visible and found in their temples. Also, civilians are allowed to cross kingdom borders to speak with spirits, though you travel at your own risk.
Etho's mountain has snow while Martyn's mountain (nearby) is grassy, implying godly influence affects the environment. Generally the land is good and prosperous so long as people respect the deities.
Map
Is It For Me?
- The spirits are addressed by their titles instead of their names. Ex: Etho is "the god of trickery and innovation" while Joel is "the god of sea and fire" and Gem is "the goddess of rain and prosperity."
-> It may feel awkward or confusing to read, but my character list has everyone's name next to their mastery.
- This AU's works are written in an old-fashioned storytelling style, which affects both dialogue and details. Here's a snippet:
"Hear, hear," said the second in good humor, drifting after him. He did not hide his wings, nor the squish of his soft shoes across the dirt. "Why dabble you in mortal affairs? Something vexes you." "Terribly so. I've given my favor to that mortal I saved two years back. I promised my aid tonight." "You tell me nothing." "I tell you enough. Go your way."
-> Martyn occasionally "breaks character" as a nod to his character's lore of visiting worlds. Sometimes his actions or dialogue feel off for the scene, like him eating pie with his fingers while the other spirits are more presentable.
-> This AU's Martyn isn't visiting; he belongs just as much as anyone else. It's just a nod to his lore because it's funny.
This AU plays into mythical and medieval vibes. Cupid and Psyche's story is already one of ambiguous consent, so prepare yourself for that kind of vibe.
Major Themes
Cunning, confidence, power, kindness, empathy, trust, hard work
Plot Highlights
- Cupid/Psyche parallels
- General vibe of "if the deities are bored or offended, people will suffer." Where CAN'T you take that?
- 10 longstanding gods accepting the uncomfortable addition of someone new who crawled out of the depths (so to speak)
- Kingdoms balancing their strengths and needs, sometimes with aid of spirits and sometimes in more political ways
- Etho likes shapeshifting into both predator and prey to mess with people, especially in the hunting kingdom
- Grian is easily charmed by music and dancing. Bro is a Minecraft parrot
- Cleo completes quests for all the spirits and their reaction is "Mission Status: SICK"
Ongoing?
This series debuted in the Hermitcraft Guess the Author event of 2024. It's ongoing with unscheduled updates.
It may not be very long, but I have several pieces in mind and I've enjoyed it thus far
Warnings, notes, and explanations below so readers can learn more about this AU. Don't like? Don't read.
👀 Take a Peek
New here? You might like to start with these:
There's only one work in this series so far!
Start Reading
Recommended ways to get into the full AU
🌄 First Written - The Candles We Light (and Should Regret)
Cleo has never seen her husband; the father of her children. He only visits in the dark. (And the tales that came before). A Cupid/Psyche-inspired AU.
- Great introduction to the AU as Cleo travels a lot and impresses many people.
- My goal here was to throw readers into a world where they can hopefully pick up the lore without much struggle, with depth to explore later
📅 Chronological Start - TBA
🗺️ Worldbuilding
- This world isn't closely connected with Minecraft. There are still mobs, resources, and weapons, but there's no inventory or respawn.
- Spirits embody nature and abstract concepts. Mortals can freely visit and speak to them. Spirits are generally kind and patient.
-> The vibe I'm going for is "The deities are like YouTubers and the mortals are subscribers. The spirits like impressing them and don't really have reason to be mean. Imagine they all live in a neighborhood, sometimes annoying each other but usually coexisting peacefully."
- Other spirits exist outside the basin kingdoms.
- Cloth characters will die if they become wet and rotten (or if they burn). The god of sea and fire is particularly feared as a spirit of destruction.
-> Crying can be a death sentence. For some reason there's liquid in these doll people. I think of it as some kind of soul juice.
-> In my cover art, Cleo (who cried herself to death) has stitch marks under both eyes, as well as one side of her chest and areas she rubbed her face.
- Characters do have hearts, but it's a bit ambiguous (Think living doll that still has a cloth body). Adding more to someone's design (or unraveling part of them) is pretty intimate. Unraveling someone completely and weaving them on a loom to put them together again is VERY intimate, and not done casually.
-> "Weaving" and "loom" are vocab terms definitely implying intimacy in conversation.
- The god of the ocean (Joel) and god of travel (Mumbo) are separate spirits. Saltwater (Joel), freshwater (Gem), and snow (Etho) are under separate gods, so you can see where the complexities come into play. lmao, ocean god has no power over boats.
-> Completely coincidentally, that's under Etho's domain (Boats are manmade objects and fall under innovation). RIP god of wood and metal (Iskall) constantly getting their mastery yoinked around.
📋 AU Notes & Warnings
- Based on the original Cupid/Psyche story penned by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis in the 2nd century, although art depicting Cupid and Psyche predates it.
- Potentially ambiguous consent (in line with common stories of some deities)
- Intimacy. Potentially M or E stories in the future, but the vibe leans more towards intimate body unraveling than traditional sex
- Minor death mentions (Very few since people don't respawn in this world)
- More MCYT AUs
- Want more info? Send an Ask!
You can create works based on this AU. Please cite me and/or the AU as appropriate (i.e. for things very specific to this AU). You are free to expand on ideas you've thought of thanks to my AU as a jumping off point. I'd love to reblog or link things to my AO3 works if I see them!
I write content with morally gray characters. Please don't portray my story events or worldbuilding out of context with intentional malice. As in, I request you do not post things created for the specific intention of bashing me or the AU
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automaticdata · 7 months
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out of curiosity what was that reddit post you mentioned on the mcyt quadrants post? i don't really use reddit so i've never seen it, but i'm curious to see the specific comment that sparked your theory:0
It actually wasn't just one comment, it's ... kind of a mix of a lot of different factors.
The reddit post I was referring to is here.
Some examples of the negative comments toward the Scar/Grian/Mumbo team up:
"A lot of comments are talking about this, so maybe it’s more popular than I realized, but the “boys club” of Grian, Mumbo, and Scar kind of grosses me out and can feel pretty exclusionary." (this one imo is the worst one I saw for negativity)
"The Grian-Scar-Mumbo collaborations have gotten so overdone that I skip half of them these days."
"Oh, Grian-Mumbo-Scar need to collab less, they are pretty much taking up the spotlight."
"I really think he needs to collab with more people. I genuinely liked that he collabed with etho, cleo, stress, even zedaph in season 6 and 7. These are fun to watch and genuinely I want to see of them. However, I am tired of the near basing with mumbo and scar."
(There was also some general Grian negativity, but that's not relevant to my theory and one of those comments will definitely make me go on an unrelated tangent if I quote it here.)
The reddit thread actually got locked and there's a mod post addressing it here. On that post, they say the hermits contacted the mod team directly about the post, with one of them saying the following:
"The thread caused a lot of pain to Hermits. Especially to one in particular and that person is already having a rough time right now. At the end of day we are only human. Criticism and suggestions are always important and good to hear even if it’s tough. But that felt like a pile on. A lot of us are having a hard time right now and stuff like that can be very demoralizing."
As for my "Scar definitely saw the post", one reddit user tried to find a silver lining and see some positivity that came from the post, and Scar commented on the post with the following:
"I'm going to be 100% honest and say that thread did more harm than good, especially at the start of the season. I hope people keep in mind that no one is a robot and can take a pile on of negativity all at once and come out better. Suggestions and feedback are always important and good to hear even if it’s tough. But there's a way to do that and that thread was not it." [source]
I know that doesn't seem super pissed like I may have implied, but considering Scar's comments on the subreddit are usually super positive and happy, that comment is just huge shift in tone from his usual comments.
My final piece of "evidence," if you can call it that, for my theory are the dates:
Reddit post: March 14th 2022 Mumbo's last Hermitcraft video before his hiatus: May 15th 2022 Double Life begins June 17th 2022
But yeah, if you put Double Life in the context of that reddit post, I think Grian's scream of "NOOOO" when he was paired with Scar makes a lot more sense. If he created Double Life as a creative way of getting away from the default Grian/Scar/Mumbo team up and then his plan fell apart with the game pairing him with Scar, him being so upset makes a lot more sense.
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Tommyinnit and Hermitcraft- Heartstone P.2
So, a little while back I wrote piece titled Tommyinnit and Hermitcraft- Heartstone (linked here) which was inspired by the works of @petrichormeraki and @redorich, who popularized the AU of Tommyinnit from the Dream SMP getting dropped into Hermitcraft somehow and summarily getting adopted by the entire server. I, in my infinite wisdom, decided “yes, but also angst” and spat out a solid 1500+ words with a cliffhanger at the end because it was getting ridiculous and I had yet more to write. This is another 1500+ words of continuation. 
-----
It's not easy, knowing things. Joe knows more things than most, and oh, how it eats at him sometimes. He jokes with Cleo that between the two of them and their dogs, they are perhaps the leading experts on being chewed on, but she never laughs at that joke. He can't help but wonder why, his thoughts drifting as he lies still and silent in her arms, curled up together on his bed in the winery. Her orange hair tickles his nose as he moves to bury his face in her shoulder a bit more, her cool breath ghosting over the sticky tear tracks that still line his cheeks. All the things that remain unsaid lie between them, but their silent agreement binds them together tighter still. And indeed silence is the name of the game, however much he wishes it wasn't necessary- everything will work out in due time, he knows. But oh, how it aches that he can't say anything more on the matter, not even to her.
"Cleo?" The zombie woman makes a soft inquiring noise, politely ignoring how his voice cracks on the syllables. "Are we doing the right thing?" Her grip tightens again, almost crushingly so, and Joe goes limp at the implied rebuke. Be it right or wrong, his silence must be ensured- he knows so much that if he said anything, it'd all come pouring out. A real modern-day Cassandra, verbal fountain and harbinger of doom in one. No, best to stay cryptic when he can and silent when he can't- and if even his silence fails, Cleo is there, sword in hand, ready to keep him quiet.
He should not take comfort from that. But here, wrapped up in his best friend's embrace, utterly at her mercy and all the safer for it... He does anyway.
-----
Joe and Cleo aren't in a romantic relationship, but it would not be amiss to call them platonic life partners in this universe. Joe has been seeing things for as long as he can remember, the exact mechanics are strange and baffling at best, and if he tries to actually do any Science to figure out how this stuff works, the magic changes to spite him. It's led to a lot of unfortunate visions of peanut butter and how the server generally tends to misuse the stuff (Etho sometimes using it instead of slime in a sticky piston is a milder example), so after enough peanut visions to make him allergic on principle, Joe tends to just let the visions come as they may. The only hard-coded bit that comes with them is that anyone living who hears his prophecies won't believe them and will have something bad happen to them as a result. Cleo, being a zombie, is a special exception to the rule. She's only alive in the most technical of senses, so while bad things still happen to her if she hears Joe speak about his experiences, she at least will believe him.
Which is why she is so determined to not know more about whatever is going on with Tommy. When Joe had rushed in a month ago, tears streaming down his cheeks and glasses barely hanging onto his face, she had merely put down the book she had been reading and had opened her arms wide to him. Convincing him that she would not betray his trust or break his heart had been hard, but she had known it was worth it. How can it be anything but, when Joe had looked at her then as if she was the most precious being on the planet and had immediately thrown himself into her arms, bursting out into troubled tears? He offered to tell her the full story, eyes wet and longing, and her long-dead heart ached at the trust he is giving her- but she is far too selfish to give that up. So she had turned him down, smile on her lips.
Even when he whispered, voice hoarse, that they wouldn't be seeing Tommy for a while. Even when he shuddered and shook in her arms, fragile as glass in her grip. Even when he begged her to ask, just ask, please, it's too much... She did not ask. If she asked, he would tell her, and then she would be hurt and his heart would break because it would be his words that had hurt her. She would not, cannot, will never inflict that upon him, or let him inflict that upon anyone else. (Of all the heads in her collection, the one she has most of is Joe's.)
She simply asks him if there will be a satisfying ending, and when he says yes, she asks no more. Everything will be okay, in the end. So long as there is that much, so long as she has Joe in her arms and the comfortable silence stretches out between them, then she will be content.
(At the foot of their bed, deep in Joe's winery where the barking is muffled and the light cannot touch them, there lies a chest of heads. Inside it, nestled among the many faces of the dead, rests an old iron sword bearing the name Hush. It's blade is rusty from disuse, but if Cleo ever decides that she isn't satisfied, well. There are ways of dealing with that.)
(Things will be okay. She'll make sure of it.)
-----
Philza was no stranger to death. A veteran of a hardcore world, where even the very earth was out to kill him, he had seen his fair share of deaths and had dealt out even more. Usually just to the local mobs and wildlife, but there was still the occasional player dropped into his world by the cruel hands of the Void as a sort of "apology" for leaving him alone, bereft of his sons. As if some random strangers could ever fill the Void in his heart.
Most of them had wandered off upon seeing him, more interested in escape than any companionship he could offer them, and he'd inevitably see their death messages in the otherwise silent chat a few days later. Others would approach him, some curious, some desperate for kindness- he gave them none, was often intentionally cruel just to drive them away. He had the Void in his heart and the Void had him, and he ached and ached for what he could not have. Anything less would be a pale imitation, a mockery of the love he was desperate to return to. He tried not to think about how those kind strangers would also come to meet their ends, often more messily than those that had decided to leave him be to begin with.
Then there were the rare few with... less than gentle intentions. (Blood for the Blood gods, no matter the universe.)
Theirs were the deaths he regretted the least, but the blood still gave him nightmares. For all that he loved his sons, he never understood their love for glory, be it found in conquering other nations or the sticky ooze of a dying foe. Maybe that's why he had spent so much of his time with his elder sons when he returned, the Void finally releasing him from his hardcore prison. Just a father's attempt at understanding, even if it left his youngest at loose ends.
But the problem with loose ends, he had come to find, is that the world had a way of setting them to rights- either by tying them back into the grand narrative, or by cutting them out entirely. For months after Dream had come to him, apology on his lips and charred shoe in hand, he had believed that Tommy's fate had been the latter. He had  mourned his son as if such was the case, weeping openly at the news for the first time in years. (He wasn't the only one, though- Technoblade was an only child now and he was not taking it well.) It was only when Tubbo came to him with his compass to ask about its ever-spinning needle that he felt a spark of hope, for a compass that spun was not a compass linked to a dead soul- simply a lost one. Such hope was justified when, six months later, Technoblade burst into his house with a snarl on his lips and a smile in his eyes. Tommy had returned.
And as Phil stood, back straightening and wings spread wide, hope bloomed in his chest like hanahaki, choking him with love right down to his core. Tommy had returned, despite everything.
And Philza would not let him go again.
-----
For all that Tommy might have been... gone for at least a month now on the Hermitcraft server and life has significantly slowed down for all involved, by no means has it stopped entirely. The shops are still stocked, the torches are replaced when the old ones burn out, Hermits still go out and see each other, if less often than before. Xisuma, in fact, instates a series of mandatory meetings every week or so as a way of making sure that everyone is still alive- a bit of reassurance that no one else has died in the time interim. Even the hermits who prefer to keep to themselves show up, such as Tinfoilchef, Joe, and Cleo, although the latter two remain distinctly separate from everyone else on the server during the meetings, their refusal to take a side alienating them from the rest. Grian, broken though he may be, also comes, usually in the arms of Iskall or with a vacant smile on his face depending on the state of his mental health on the given day. His presence is also alienating, as most of the hermits don't quite know what to say around him and thus will give him and Iskall a bubble of space to themselves during the meetings. Mumbo is the only one to cross the divide, standing loomingly tall at Iskall's back, as if daring anyone to say something potentially hurtful to either of his friends.
Frankly, the entire concept of weekly meetings is a bit of a mess. Xisuma stands at the front with Keralis at his back, voice and posture more and more tired with every meeting and Keralis standing just a bit closer, a silent show of support (ready if his admin ever needs some physical support too). The prognosis is usually a mix of dull stuff and hopeless stuff- lag is better than it has been in years, the Chestmonster shop is out again, Tommy still has not been... found. It's not exciting exactly, but the tension during the reporting stage is palpable as everyone waits to hear if something else has gone wrong. It's a bit like being on the front lines- horrible, drawn-out minutes of tedium as everyone holds their breath, waiting to see if another bombshell will drop but knowing that they have to be there, because some warning is infinitely better than seeing a death message in chat one day and not knowing if that person will ever make it back.
In addition to this is the tension that comes from the server being split in three- the believers, the mourners, and those too damaged or too caught up in their own narratives or too neutral to swing to one side or the other.
The meetings are where the most near-fights happen, and Xisuma is so, so tired of having to be the sane one these days. (The benefit of a helmet, he's come to find, is that no one can see you cry.)
(He doesn't take it off much anymore.)
-----
It's after one such meeting that Zedaph finds himself cooped up in his base, eyes burning with unshed tears and feet dangling out into the Void as he sits at the bottom of the hole in his base, the one that goes straight to bedrock and then even further still. The chill is a welcome distraction from his own inner turmoil, and for all that it's dangerous to be sitting so near to the edge of the world, he can't find it in himself to move away form its cold comfort. After all, Tommy can't have died permanently, right? So sitting there is perfectly safe. He has to believe that. He has to.
The meetings are tough on everyone, but sometimes Zedaph wonders if they are a bit worse for him than they are for the rest. It can't be normal that the first thing he does after every meeting is burst into panicked tears as soon as he gets back to his base, as he's certainly never felt such deep fear and relief after the meetings they had before the Incident. And yet, as soon as the iron door of his base sncks shut behind him, he drops down into the Void hole, sits at the edge, and bawls his eyes out. It's kinda funny- he's shed more tears in the last month than he has in his entire life so far. And all for a boy he had known for less than a year.
During this particular day, however, something odd happens. When he sits down for a good cry, it feels like there's the slightest of breezes coming off the Void beneath his feet, chilling him right down to his bones. It's cold, yes, but a welcome relief as he feels a bit like he's burning up from the inside out. Every moment he spends with Tango and Impulse is stifling, as with them he has to shove himself into a hateful mold he never wanted for himself. He doesn't like being angry, and being angry alongside his best friends is hardly any better. If he had it his way, he would have curled up in bed and simply slept the horror away, only waking when the nightmare was over and he could go play mini golf and Among Us with Tango, Impulse, and Tommy again. Instead, his love for his friends demands that he supports them in all their endeavors, even if their goals these days seem to run a little closer to "get them all killed" than is comfortable.
But yes. The breeze. It feels like ice on his skin and sends every nerve in his legs buzzing. It has a distinct smell to it too, like TV static, ozone, and that sensation you get after you brush your teeth and go take a big gulp of cold water. It's... odd. But vaguely comforting. And as the tears finally well up in his eyes and drip down his cheeks, as he lets himself sob for all the friends- both new and old- he's lost, he finds that it's exactly what he needs.
And if Zedaph would only listen a little closer, let himself see beyond his broken heart, perhaps he would hear the whisper on the wind, too.
Everything will be okay. I'll make sure of it.
-----
Evil X has his own troubles to deal with. He had been present when Tommy had died, if watching from the wrong side of their dimension. Lost in the Void with nothing better to do, he had often found himself watching his friend go about his day. With space and time being as screwy as they were in the Void, he could find himself taking three steps and then would be watching Tommy go from sleeping over at BDub's base to having "breakfast" with Rendog. So when Grian and Tommy had gone out End-busting that fateful day, of course he had been watching.  And that was all he could do- watch- as he saw his best friend fall to his apparent death, that little line of code that signaled "perma-death" flashing once, twice, and then glowing a deep, ominous red.
But that wasn't the end of it, even as his dull and bruised heart stuttered in his chest at the sight.
Like a redstone pulse lighting up everything around it, that red glow set off a cascading chain reaction that rippled up and down Tommy's code until it eventually trailed out to wherever his code stretched out into the Void. There, it must have severed something because before he could even call for help, his friend's code yanked inwards and away, slingshotting the whole mess into the distant darkness beyond, leaving naught but a vague impression on the inside of his eyelids behind. It was... awful. One of the scariest things he had ever seen, perhaps second only to watching his brother, stern-faced and cold, send him off to the Void once again. But for all that it hurt to see that red glow and watch in mute horror as the server he had once tried to destroy shake itself apart at the seams, there was still hope.
The code was gone, yes, but not unraveled, not destroyed. Merely... transported. Moved. Like a file being sent from one computer to another, or a player teleporting between servers. Tommy's code vanishing like that was cause for alarm, yes, but somewhere out there in the vastness of the Void, it lingered still- and it had left a faint impression of itself in its wake. That meant there was hope.
Evil X- and by proxy, his twin Xisuma- were voidwalkers, beings specifically designed to see, understand, and even modify the world's code. Were he anything else, he surely would have perished by now, his consciousness scattered across the Void as it was. And having been in exile for so long, he had gotten to be adept at seeing the seams between worlds and reading the truths of existence as the Void had intended for her children. If anyone could follow that faint trail, could get Tommy back, it would be him.
For the first time in a long time, Evil X had hope. And hope is a vicious motivator indeed.
-----
TBC :)
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Heyo, reporting back to request a continuation of a continuation of a continuation, if you wouldn't mind! Aka, please more 3rd Life Villainpulse angst, I'm so invested (and very curious as to whether his latest murder attempt was an actual success, or if he really should have stuck around to verify the death...)
i genuinely rly love this! i’ve got such plans for it now that i think i’ll make it into an actual proper fic.
i’ve also now posted it on AO3, titled Stand For Nothing! link here
Impulse is getting concerned. It’s been over five minutes and no death message in chat. It should’ve happened by now. He had been worried about being found near the scene of a death — it’d already been about five minutes since the meeting and someone would’ve gone to find Skizz, so his items would almost certainly be found — but now he’s starting to think he should have stuck around anyway and made sure the job was finished.
He had been intending to stay here at his villager trading centre until the death notification came up and then he would run back to Dogwarts and play the distressed best friend.
But no death message. So his plan has to change.
When he makes it back to Dogwarts, he finds Ren standing outside the Renchanting building, his face pale. When he spots Impulse, he quickly beckons him. “Impulse! For the love of god, where’ve you been?!”
Impulse blinks. With no death message in chat, what can Ren be so worked up about? “W-What? What’s happened…?”
“Skizzle’s been attacked! We heard an explosion outside our walls and when we went to check, we found him out there, passed out. He’s in a critical condition but Martyn’s with him now and hopefully he’ll recover.”
Impulse can only stare at Ren with an open mouth and a pit in his stomach. Somehow, in all the possible outcomes he pictured for this scenario, he never imagined Dogwarts would actually find Skizz alive. After three perfect murders, it seems he got careless.
“O-Oh my god,” he manages to choke out. “C-Can I see him?”
“Not yet, but Martyn will tell us when we can.”
Ren takes him down into the living area under Renchanting. There, Etho is pacing back and forth in front of a closed door, clearly deep in thought, but he glances up as Ren comes in. “Ren, you found him.”
Ren nods, even though it wasn’t really a question. “Any word?”
“Not yet. Martyn has three healing potions in there with him though, so I’d say Skizz’s chances are really good.”
Impulse has to strain to keep his expression steady at that. “G-Good. That’s good.”
Something changes almost imperceptibly in Etho’s expression, but Ren, clearly not noticing, rubs Impulse’s back reassuringly. “He’ll be okay, Impulse. Don’t worry.”
All Impulse can do is nod, not trusting himself to speak.
Finally, after what feels like hours, the door opens and Martyn appears, his body blocking the view inside the room. “He’s awake,” he reports, a very serious look on his face. “Ren.”
Ren quickly ducks into the room, but when Impulse starts to follow, Martyn blocks him. “Not you,” he says coldly. “Etho, stay with him, please.”
Impulse’s heart freezes. There’s only one reason Martyn would stop him from seeing his injured best friend.
Skizz has told him everything.
He takes a step back and bumps into something behind him, causing him to jump.
“What’s going on, Impulse?” asks Etho casually, an only-just-discernible undertone of danger in his voice. “You seem a little tense.”
“My best friend almost died,” Impulse replies coldly, but even he can tell his words are unconvincing.
“Indeed. I wonder how that happened?”
“I don’t like what you’re implying, Etho. Why would you have any reason to suspect me?”
Etho just folds his arms and says nothing, infuriating Impulse. “You said I was the only person on this server you really trust!”
“That was before I joined these guys. I’ve had a weird feeling in my stomach about you for a while, Impulse. Something hasn’t felt right since this whole thing started, but I assumed it was just me trying to apply rationality to this irrational world. But one thing never changes, Impulse. No matter how much you try to change it.”
Impulse falls silent, scowling at the ground. He’s already given away too much in his tone and expression.
He glances sideways at Etho, who has his eyes fixed on the door Ren and Martyn went through. Realisation dawns on him: Etho isn’t expecting him to put up a fight. Etho thinks he has nowhere to go.
Now is the time, then. He can’t afford to wait any longer; when Ren and Martyn come back out here, it’s over. Impulse knows he can’t take on three people at once. This is his last chance to escape alive.
So when Etho shifts position a few seconds later, Impulse strikes. Before he can react, Impulse sweeps Etho’s legs out from under him and shoves him into the wall as he’s falling. Without waiting around to see the result of his attack, Impulse takes off running.
He makes it out of Renchanting and is just about to run down the hill towards the crastle when an arrow whizzes by him, nicking the sleeve of his t-shirt and causing him to lose his balance. Suppressing a scream, Impulse topples down the hill and lands in the shallow river at the bottom. He tries to continue onward but has to stop as he puts weight on his left foot and realises he must have twisted his ankle during his fall.
Gritting his teeth through the throbbing pain, he looks up in time to be able to dodge another arrow fired at him by the figure on top of Dogwarts’s wall.
He has to keep going.
Every step on his left foot is agony but he pushes himself on, half-galloping down the hill on the other side, the crastle in his sights.
“Bdubs!” he shrieks as he draws near, his heart racing. The Red Army is likely right behind him. “BDUBS!”
The person he’s calling rushes out of the castle over the drawbridge just in time to catch Impulse as he finally loses his balance and pitches forward.
“Impulse! You’re soaking wet!? What the-?!”
“Th- They’re coming for me,” he croaks. His eyes flicker up and he spots two faces in the windows on the second floor. It’s time for the performance of his life. “Dogwarts turned on me! They think I killed Tango and Cleo a-a-and made you kill Joel!”
“What?!” gasps Bdubs. “That’s ridiculous! Why would they think that?!”
“I-I don’t know but th- They’re gonna kill me, Bdubs…!”
“Not on my watch!”
Bdubs quickly ushers Impulse inside the crastle and into the waiting arms of Jimmy. Together, the two guide Impulse upstairs and lay him down in the bed Grian has placed in a position safely away from the slit windows.
“What happened, Impulse?” Bdubs asks softly. “How did they turn on you?”
Impulse takes a shaky breath. “Something happened to Skizz. He… He got attacked. Then he told everyone it was me and that I’d killed Tango and Cleo and manipulated you into killing Joel.”
“First of all, that’s utterly ridiculous,” Bdubs snaps. “I killed Joel because he was about to kill you. And second, why on earth would you want to kill Tango or Cleo?”
“I-I think you might’ve been right, Bdubs. I th-think Etho was responsible for Cleo’s death. And now he’s got Dogwarts trying to make me a scapegoat.”
Bdubs’s gaze darkens. “Despicable little-.”
“BDOUBLEO!”
“Stay there,” says Bdubs.
He strides to the window, flanked by Grian and Scott, armed with his crossbow. “What do you want, Ren?”
Down on the ground, having left Skizz in the care of BigB, stand Ren, Martyn, and Etho, staring up at the castle. The latter two hold bows, while Ren is armed with a sword and shield.
“We know Impulse is hiding out in there,” Ren announces, with the regal but dangerous air of a king. “Hand him over to us, Bdubs.”
“No way in hell,” Bdubs snaps back. “He told me everything!”
“We can guarantee you he did not,” responds Martyn steadily. “Not the truth, anyway. He’s using you, Bdubs.”
“YOU’re the ones using HIM! As a scapegoat!”
“Impulse isn’t the angel you think he is, Bdubs,” Etho says darkly. “You’re protecting the person who killed Cleo.”
“No, YOU killed Cleo,” snarls Bdubs. “And I bet you killed Tango too and tried to blame it on me! You’re just trying to frame anyone you can so you can get away with it!”
Despite the pain and stress he’s experiencing, Impulse can’t help feeling proud of himself. The seeds of doubt and suspicion he’s sown between Bdubs and Etho are paying off now.
“Bdubs.” Ren’s voice drops slightly as emotion creeps into his tone. “He attacked his best friend and left him to die. If we hadn’t found him in time, Skizz would have succumbed to his injuries alone and terrified in the middle of nowhere, murdered by his own best friend.”
“What exactly is Impulse’s motive supposed to be, here?” Scott asks suddenly. “You say he killed Tango and Cleo, orchestrated Joel’s death, and tried to murder Skizzle. Why exactly would he want to do that?”
“Skizz claims Impulse said it was because Tango “knew too much” about something,” Martyn says. “Some kind of secret that Impulse is keeping. And that Cleo’s and Joel’s deaths were “necessary to push the war forward”. That’s his motive, Scott. Impulse wants war, and he doesn’t care who he hurts to get it.”
“We ARE talking about the same Impulse, right?” demands Bdubs. “Our Impulse? The sweetheart who wouldn’t hurt a fly? Are we sure Skizz didn’t just misremember? He's a little unreliable like that. Maybe he said it was someone else who-.”
“Don’t you dare!” Martyn bursts out suddenly, his voice filled with the most venom anyone had ever heard it. “Don’t you DARE say that! You weren’t there, Bdubs! You didn’t have to fix his broken ribs and his fractured neck and his shattered arm! You weren’t there when he finally woke up after several minutes of crying out and panicked breathing like he was having a nightmare! You didn’t hear the way he cried, how terrified he was when he told me what happened, the raw agony in his voice! That’s not the demeanor of someone who MISREMEMBERED! Skizz has gone through hell today and it’s all Impulse’s fault! So I’m not leaving here without his head, in one form or another!”
“YEAH!” Ren yells in agreement, hitting his sword against his shield. “No more arguments. No more wasting time. If you don’t give us Impulse right NOW, we will declare war on you and take him by force.”
Inside the crastle, Impulse’s heart skips a beat. This is it: the moment of truth. Either everything he’s been working towards will finally come to fruition… or Bdubs will hand him over and he will die.
Bdubs straightens up, a steely look of determination appearing in his eyes.
“Then consider us at war.”
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mamahersh · 3 years
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The Road to Hell (is Paved with Good Intentions) Chapter 7
“Season 8 was well underway, and the server’s first conflict is bubbling just under the surface. But BDoubleO can’t worry about that right now because he has an Etho to find so they can work on the Horse Course together. However when Xisuma calls a surprise server meeting on behalf of EvilXisuma, BDubs gets his answers about where Etho’s been in the worst way possible.”
(CW: angst, mild torture)
Chapter rating: T
Nice long conclusion chapter to make up for the short one yesterday! From BDubs view, plus nHo hurt/comfort (emphasis on comfort)!
As in all the previous chapter posts, if you’ve enjoyed the ride I took direct inspiration from this oneshot on AO3! Please give them some love and appreciation.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6
It had taken days before Xisuma figured out what EX had done to the server that had caused the respawns to break in the way that it had, and how to fix it. However, figure it out and fix the problem he did, and with respawn mechanics back to normal, everyone who had died and respawned during the glitch was able to reset their health completely. And properly set their respawn points as well, since part of the glitch seemed to be that people’s respawns were being set as they were dying. But the biggest adjustment in the days after EX had caused havoc was trying to help Etho recover.
While Etho seemed relatively ok once he was able to talk again (his tongue and all his other lingering injuries were fully healed with the fixing of the respawn, though figuring out a way to get him to respawn was both more difficult and less difficult than BDubs had expected); BDubs was hearing from Iskall that all was still not right with the world. Normally, Hermits would let current season basemates/regional allies/faction mates do the heavy lifting of any emotional or mental stress that a particular Hermit experienced on the daily unless the Hermit asked for help from specific Hermits. But in this case, BDubs felt he should invite Etho to an nHo reunion/get-together. Even if Etho didn’t necessarily need the reunion, BDubs knew the rest of the nHo did. 
They had all been in various states of hysterics by the time they had gotten Etho out of the restraints and the death loop he had been locked in. BDubs had been the first person to breach the room, with Iskall and Beef right behind him. Beef had blocked up the water to stop the cycle as Iskall and a recently arrived Cleo began breaking restraints while BDubs clutched Etho’s freed hand (thinking back, he probably shouldn’t have. Etho’s hands had looked hardly better than the rest of his mangled flesh. He also wasn’t sure how they managed to get his wrists detached from the cuffs, as his arms and wrists were still solidly clipping into the restraints). Hypno had fiddled with the camera and looked over the speakers, before he managed to get everything deactivated and convinced the remaining Hermits to gather at Cleo and Joe’s base. By the time the Hermits were assembled at Joe and Cleo’s base, and Etho had been safely transported from the floating box, Doc was a hissing mess, Beef was greener than normal as his stress seemed to activate the alien transition, and BDubs had resorted to constantly checking his clock (a nervous habit he had picked up from 3rd Life, but the less he thought about that hell server the better). Etho had been quickly whisked away by Iskall to their shared base, but was just as quickly relocated to the Spawn Egg; as neither had wings, and Etho wasn’t nearly healthy enough to try and scale his own base in the sky. Plus, being at the Spawn Egg had the added benefit of easy access by the rest of the server so that other Hermits could stop by and check in on Etho’s progress while they all waited for Xisuma to fix the respawn mechanics. BDubs stopped by once while Etho was recovering. It was a little out of his way when trying to visit the Yes Wings Club, but figured he might as well since he hadn’t seen Etho since they had saved him 2 days before. 
Etho looked about what he had expected to be honest. Since they were worried about whether a normal respawn would register his tongue being gone as normal if they healed it properly with potions, the other Hermits had determined to wait on healing him till after he had properly respawned. That left him bedridden till the server was fixed though, which no one was happy with. BDubs was told later that supposedly Etho had understood during the few times he was lucid enough to listen to someone during that time. While he had been there though, Etho had been solidly asleep, Iskall asleep himself by Etho’s bedside. BDubs had taken a moment anyway to sit on Etho’s other side and just quietly talk to him about what he had been up to in the day or two since they had saved him. Iskall had come to briefly to see who had been talking, before settling back into his chair to rest.
BDubs had left pretty quickly, if he were being honest. Seeing Etho as vulnerable as he was left BDubs feeling a bit ill. After that, it had only been a day or two more of anxiously waiting for Xisuma to fix the server before they had been able to get the other Hermits respawned properly. (There had been several deaths during the time the respawns had been on the fritz, including a couple during the search from fall damage.) But when it came to Etho, they had tried to explain what needed to happen during one of the next times he was awake, but he had been becoming more unresponsive the longer he had been bedbound. So with heavy hearts, it had been decided that Etho needed to respawn as soon as they could decide a way to do so. After much debate between Iskall and Xisuma, it was decided that a quick anvil to the head would suffice.
It was told to BDubs later that Etho had respawned a few paces from the bed he had been sleeping in at Spawn looking incredibly confused and lost. It took close to a half hour to explain what had happened to him before him and Iskall went back to their shared base. And if Iskall was to be believed, it sounded like Etho hadn’t slept since the first night back. Which was almost a week ago. Not that many of the other Hermits were doing better. From the sounds of the grapevine, Mumbo still blamed himself for what had happened to Etho, and despite apologizing and promising Etho a cut of all his profits that season to make up for his decision (which he had been told Etho had forgiven Mumbo for and told Mumbo to keep the profits as he was just respecting Etho’s choice) he insisted on trying to find ways to make it up to an increasingly exasperated Etho. (Which BDubs noted was somewhat out of character, since Etho almost never missed a chance to keep someone in his debt and exploit them for his own projects). Other than Mumbo, Doc had been reported also to not have been sleeping as much, but instead he worked on his most recent engineering marvel. Beef had been throwing himself almost entirely into setting up his own shop outside the Derpcoin market to sell his own brand of non-evil cat food. BDubs knew that Beef was taking the whole: “Derpcoin is actually evil not even a meme” thing incredibly hard, since his whole thing this season had been going over to the dark-side as an alien (which BDubs still didn’t understand how that had started in the first place). BDubs himself was doing just fine thank you very much! Sure, he’d been struggling with sleeping at night himself (every time he closed his eyes he could see Etho strapped to that chair and drowning again), and yeah, he’d been trying to work on the shopping district by the mountain instead of the Horse Course (he had heard from Iskall that Etho had been working on something outside the base, and BDubs had a sneaking suspicion he knew at least one of the projects Etho’d been working on). But he definitely wasn’t nearly as bad as the other members of the old nHo. Definitely. He couldn’t lie to himself, they were all having a bad time. 
So, as BDubs was wont to do, he took things into his own hands and sent invitations to all the nHo members to come by his base for a get together. The date was set, and he visited every member in person leading up to the event to make sure they were coming, no excuses! (He knew it was particularly urgent as when he went to check on Etho, he finally found him sleeping in one of BDubs’ builds next to the horse course, and when he got Etho awake, he cracked exactly 0 height jokes until he tried to get Etho to come by later and it was a height joke every minute. The height jokes were BDubs’ way of figuring out how nicely Etho wanted to play. The less the better.)
But now the day had finally arrived, and BDubs welcomed each one of his friends into his base with open arms and a smile. First to arrive was Beef, seeing as he was closest. Then Doc. Then as BDubs was debating messaging Iskall to find Etho for him, the man himself showed up on BDubs’ doorstep. Everything went off without a hitch in the beginning. They all were able to reconnect and chat about bases and projects they were working on; Doc with his redstone magic he was getting from his friends on another server, Beef and his efforts to create a new kind of cat food, Etho and his many projects ranging from an inventory sorter to the horse course, and BDubs with his latest shop attempts in the Big Eye Crew shopping district. (It was good to see Etho making fun of BDubs’ attempts at making a redstone shop. Etho hadn’t heard of it yet, and it was a delight to see him light up while joking about what BDubs could possibly make with redstone that even someone like Grian couldn’t do themselves.)
It all comes crashing down when Etho asks Beef more about the cat food. Specifically what was wrong with the old cat food. 
Now Beef hadn’t expressly said that he had been working with EX for having a cat food stand at the Evil Emporium; but he had implied that his previous cat food flavor would be going on the back burner. What they all had assumed was that Etho at least generally knew most of the gossip on the server. But what BDubs should have guessed was that Etho had been very absent this season, and unless the current events were directly affecting his plans, he had never been one for being up to date on server events. So BDubs should have guessed that Etho asking about cat food would only end in a bittersweet ending.
“So Beefers, you said something about your cat food getting a new recipe… What happened with the old recipe? Not up to snuff?”
“I will have you know that all my cat food is premium and delicious, and I will not have you slandering it in this way,” replied an overdramatic Beef. 
The nHo chuckled at his antics before Etho came back with, “Well if it wasn’t the quality then what was it? Now you have me intrigued.”
Beef shrugged. “I just wanted a cat food to really call my own is all.”
Etho gave him a look. “Wouldn’t the other cat food be yours too?”
“Well…” Beef looked deeply conflicted. BDubs decided to say it for him. “He was working for the Evil Emporium since he started to change into… I guess it’s an alien?”
Etho stilled at the name, and the rest of the group held their breaths. “Ah,” he replied, suddenly tight as a bowstring.
“Which is why I’m making a new brand of cat food, one which I’ll be selling from a shop near my base for diamonds,” soothed Beef, trying his best to keep Etho away from bad memories.
“I can see why you changed brands then,” replied Etho through a forced calm. He was not subtle in the least however. Bdubs wondered if the hurt in Etho's eyes was from the idea that his closest friend had supported the monster that had hurt him, or the idea that his friend would completely change his plans for the season due to one off script incident? Bdubs had a feeling it was definitely the former.
(BDubs had asked Xisuma after all was said and done if he remembered anything leading up to them being in front of the screen at his base. X had said the last thing he had remembered before that was meeting up with EvilX to discuss business strategies before blacking out after their customary greetings. He explained it had happened before, but he had somehow never thought much of the memory gaps. However, he agreed with the rest of the Hermits that had talked with him about it that it was a problem that would need to be investigated because it sounded like mind control. And a player that could control the server admin was a force too powerful to allow free. Or at the very least, a player that needed to have some very hard limits as to what they could do placed upon them.)
“You know, Etho, have you been ok?” asked Doc hesitantly. BDubs hoped that Doc knew what he was doing, because Bdubs was definitely lost.
Etho looked a bit like a cornered animal at the moment as he looked between the 3 of them like they had betrayed him. “Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?”
Doc gave him a look that BDubs thought was completely justified. “Etho, you went through an incredibly traumatic experience only a week or so ago. It is completely fine if you aren't doing ok.”
Etho sighed. “And what would you even do if I wasn't ok?”
Doc gave a hissy whine and moved from where he had been situated to sit close beside Etho. “Well, we'd figure out what we can do to make it a little closer to being ok.” He looked down at his lap. “I know I've been struggling with sleep recently, so I understand at least if you aren't sleeping either.” Etho looked vaguely stricken.
“You were part of the group that was watching, weren't you?” BDubs watched as Etho began to close off. Doc just nodded miserably. “And the two of you?”
BDubs felt gutted, knowing that Etho either didn't remember him breaking in to save him and holding his hand; or was purposefully ignoring the memory. “I stopped you from drowning more by blocking up the source block...” muttered Beef, looking pretty hurt himself.
“I found your enclosure and got the search party together to come finish breaking you out; and was there next to Beef when he was saving you,” finished Bdubs, a bit more of the hurt shining through because he couldn't hold a poker face even if his life depended on it. But also, Etho needed to see that he wasn't alone, in a lot of ways.
Etho looked appropriately chastised, if also incredibly grateful. “Thank you, all of you.” He leaned lightly into Doc's shoulder; the most affection he would normally show to anyone. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you 3, so thank you. Thank you so much.” They all politely ignored the sniffling coming from behind the mask, though Beef situated himself on Etho’s other side, and BDubs decided to try and strategically place himself on the floor in front of Beef so that if Etho wanted to lean a leg against him, he could. BDubs was so tempted to drape himself over Etho’s legs, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Etho probably wouldn’t handle being immobile in a sitting position well for the foreseeable future. However he was vindicated when his hair was playfully ruffled by an Etho hand as the 4 of them devolved into just sitting with each other. 
BDubs should have guessed that Etho wouldn’t stay down long however, as Etho (after inconspicuously wiping the corners of his eyes dry) said, “so, who wants to help me prank the Boatem Crew?” BDubs could feel the devious smile creeping across his face.
“Now you’re speaking my language Canada boy!” Etho wheezed a quiet laugh above him. 
“You sure you want to be slinging that kind of slander at me short stuff?”
“SHORT STUFF?!?!” BDubs got up in a huff. “I’LL SHOW YOU SHORT STUFF, YOU DAMN BEAN POLE!” Beef, Etho, and Doc all burst into chuckles, leaning into the couch as they tried to get themselves under control. “YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY, DO YOU? Ooooooh, you are all playing a dangerous game!”
Etho and Doc proceeded to laugh harder, leaning against each other. “What are you going to do BDubs, bite our ankles?” asked Beef before breaking down laughing again. 
“I’LL BITE YOUR ANKLES JUST WATCH ME!” and with that, BDubs was all over Beef, trying to get a solid shoulder punch in, but being thwarted at every turn. A stray punch at Doc, and suddenly everyone but Etho was rolling around the floor trying to playfully murder each other. Etho wheezed in laughter at their antics, and expertly avoided getting added into their mischief by eventually hopping up a ladder to the next floor and watching from the opening.
Eventually they managed to settle down, and by the time they had gathered themselves enough, it was night time. BDubs, with a lighter heart than when he had let in all his friends earlier in the day, said goodbye to them with promises that if Etho really was serious about pranking the Boatem Crew, the nHo would be right by his side. They left one by one, first Doc (who complained that he was already behind schedule on his build), then Beef (who playfully recommended Etho come help him run his shop if he wasn’t too busy helping Iskall dye prismarine), and lastly Etho. But before Etho departed, he said, “you know, I already thanked you, but I feel I should do it again.” He met BDubs’ gaze. “Thank you so much for finding me. I don’t know how that would have ended if you hadn’t caught sight of that place”. 
BDubs was humbled by Etho’s gratitude, though he still replied with, “You’re my friend Etho, of course I would give it my all to find you. I’m just happy we were able to do so before it was too late. And if you ever need to get away from it all, it’s pretty nice out here once you get past all the big eyes.”
Etho wheezed a chuckle in response, a hidden smile brightening up the corners of his eyes. “Sure, I’ll keep that in mind. You take care of yourself now, you hear? I don’t want to be hearing of too many shenanigans from you, ok?”
BDubs laughed in response, and nodded. “Can do! And you do the same, ok?” He let the humor drain a bit, a more serious tone shining through. “If things get bad, please let someone know. Doc knows what happened, and he would be able to tell you who else was there that you could talk to if you needed it.”
Etho nodded. “Yeah, yeah. If it gets bad I always have Iskall and you guys.” Etho glanced at a clock in his inventory. “Looks like I should be off. If I start now, I should be able to get back before sunrise.” Etho waved goodbye as he turned to go.
“Stay safe! I’ll see you around then,” called out BDubs as he watched Etho quickly jog to the nearest source of water. Then, once acquired, he flew with the flick of his trident, starting his way back to the nether portal so as to make it back to his base safely.
BDubs went to bed that night content knowing that if Etho ever needed the help, he knew who he could reach out to.
-fin-
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goosedawn · 3 years
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i've never listened to Friends At The Table (though it's on my list now, dnd campaigns podcast wooo!) what would the storyline of the crossover entail? with the HermitCraft characters i'm guessing it's chaotic and interesting 😊
:0!!!! :DDD!!!!!!! if u end up giving it a shot i hope u enjoy it! they dont actually play dnd, they play a bunch of other tabletop games which are all really neat also! (also if u need a suggestion for where to start if/when u get to it, feel free to drop me an ask)
the story follows the typical structure of "group is sent off to do tasks for money, and eventually realise something bigger is going on" so i am largely following the plot in that way, where groups of adventurers are sent out to investigate a series of towers that appear to have some connection to the gods of the world. ajhsjjejhfhjef most of my thoughts about the au are more character based,, so instead of a proper plot summary i can give details and thoughts on where some of the hermits fit into everything so far (while. trying to avoid the big twists revealed in the podcast ig,,?) i also ended up including some sleepybees (sbi + beeduo) in the au but im still not 100% sure on where they fit in (as in i have too many ideas djhdkndnj)
ANYWAY uhhhh some spoilers for the universe im basing this off of, under the cut cos it got long :'D
context/setting:
the specific arc/universe that this au is set in is the one from Seasons in Hieron (SiH) which is their fantasy season! (its. its long,, this arc spans i think. 3 seasons? plus a short interlude season)
the setting was previously a traditional fantasy world that had some sort of great catastrophe (the Erasure) happen, and the current world is after people have rebuilt a new society! its described as "post-fantasy, post-post-apocalyptic" its very fun and subversive and afhdjfbj the worldbuilding is just. real good :>
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characters:
im still figuring out where different hermits fit into the au but i am basically taking aspects of various characters from the podcast and splitting roles and traits to hermits, so its all mixed up! also,, there are just. so many hermits,, i have not found places for all of them (not even most of them i dont think) but here is what i have so far:
impulse and zedaph work in the New Archives (a series of huge warehouse-like archives run by the orcs of this world!) impulse is an orc, zed is not! impulse works to retrieve artifacts for the archive, and zed,, hes just kinda there. learning and experimenting with pattern magic (a type of magic done by arranging and rearranging things in specific configurations, often they are obscure and weird things like "27 brown birds in a tree, 5 table legs, 500 buttons, 16 steps to the east" etc.) when the story finds them they are studying a fallen tower in the center of the Mark of the Erasure (a location still showing the effect of the great cataclysm that befell the world)
tango vaguely takes the role of Ephraim, prince of something or rather,,, idk man hes cool and has fire powers, very anime. his powers were a gift from the gods, and he goes on to hv close relations w them! he meets up with impulse and zed later on and become fast friends obviously
joe is an expert in pattern magic, and is on the run from the archives after having stolen a pretty nondescript notebook. its a nice notebook! hes just a human guy. he writes and recites poetry in order to do pattern magic using the notebook!
cleo hails from the city of *Nacre*, where people get multiple chances at life. people from there can get killed but will exist on as zombies, then if they are killed again, they exist as ghosts, and then they pass away fully. she is an undead pirate captain that joe somehow manages to sway over to their side ahjbhfbjf,, she is hunting down the lost prince/king of Nacre.
wels is a pala-din (pal-ah-deen, rather than paladin), a sort of living marble statue that serves one of the gods in the pantheon.
scar is ofc, a wizard! it. it should be noted that wizards dont really exist in this world, people who perform and study magic are mages, not wizards,, "wizard" is kind of a weird term to use sjbdbjhfjjhb scar takes place of The Great Fantasmo in the podcast, and similarly has an invisible assistant! he doesnt seem to remember much of his past...
cubfan works in Velas, a fishing town where the story "begins" he does not enjoy talking to scar, and seems to be sad whenever hes around. perhaps scar reminds him of someone, or perhaps of better times...
tfc hes a priest aagsuijdjhkdgjdkihwhjvd i swear theres a reason for this later,, the role of the npc alyosha is somewhat split between tfc and cub!
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others i have thoughts on but im not settled on yet:
im debating having xisuma as part of the pantheon, but if not, he would be a druid so he can shapeshift into animals sjbakjnsnfjb he would take the general role of Fero in the story, but would also be kind of split with evil x, who captures... a certain stubbornness and deepset frustration Fero has in later times.
etho could take the place of Samol, the first god to exist. he is the embodiment of this world, and is kind of isolated and strange wbhshjhbdbhjdjbdkjn,, strange /pos. hes also. kind of dissapearing though... i wonder why :)
while theoratically i could have xisuma as samol cos. yknow. admin. i think the vibes and role just fit etho better
and... if i had etho as samol i think it could be fun to have doc and bdubs as other members of the pantheon, if u go with their dynamic from the start of s7 they even fit the divorced couple vibe two of the gods have /lh /hj (nho pantheon pog..? maybe. theres a total of 5 deities in the pantheon tho...)
im leaning toward either false + stress or maybe gem + pearl pairs for two of the goddesses in the pantheon, but thatd probably depend on if i can find a better place for them ;P
techno and phil take the role of red jack, and techno is a Huge Oni Dude >:] in canon red jack has a cool horse!!! it fits!! hes also. heavily implied to be kinda immortal?? anyway. im torn on this because techno and phil ALSO fit the roles of some of the player characters, with relation to the missing prince/king of Nacre but im still working things out,,
no matter whats up with them, ranboo takes the role of bluejay, redjacks son, meeting up with tubbo and tommy who take the place of benjamin, the son of one of the player characters. tubbo and tommy kind of. get sent to another dimension to keep them safe,,? and live in a lie for many years before they are brought back.
when i first thought about this au, i also thought about the whole. sending child off into fake dimension to live life, and of course. i thought about. grumbot ofc and originally planned to have mumbo or grian take the place of that player character abhdfvnbrvbn but it also implies one or both of them would be paladins (not pala-din! just the normal religious knight) AND have connections to tubbo and tommy which is. funny but ehhhh idk.
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and that. maybe probably somewhat incoherent train of thought is what i have for the au so far! its. still very much a work in progress so thank you if you stuck through all that!! ive still got a lot to think abt in the au,,,, lots to figure out ;P hopefully i can iron it out a bit more in the future, but its fun to think about for the time being
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[COMPLETE]
Hrrmitcraft AU (Hermitcraft villager AU)
...this started as a throwaway joke, but I guess we're doing this for real now! Might as well go with it. (I'm going to put summaries instead of direct quotes this time to help with length)
- The Hermits all live in or near a large Minecraft village
- Xisuma is a wandering trader who stops by every few days to trade and share stories of his travels. Nobody really knows where he lives, and they've never seen him actually sleep.
- Cleo was zombified a while ago and cured only partially. She is safe to be around now, but she still looks like a zombie and has occasional thoughts of attacking her neighbors.
- Stress is a witch who got lonely and moved into the village with her cat.
- Cub and Scar are villagers who were turned into illagers (1/10 chance of happening when a villagers health is brought low enough). It is unknown whether this was an accident, or if they orchestrated the incident in an effort to gain Evoker powers.
- Grian is a nitwit who spends his time pranking the others
- Joe works two jobs as a leatherworker and a librarian. Why? So he can have both a lecturn and a full cauldron.
- Beef is a butcher
- Impulse is a workaholic carrot farmer who just. Doesn't. Stop.
- Zedaph is also a farmer, but he spends most of his time 'farming' things that aren't actually farmable in the hopes of discovering a new crop
- Doc is a cleric, and so was Cub before becoming an illager. They take a scientific approach to potion brewing, and they developed the potion that cured Cleo. (Cub is still pretending to be a cleric after becoming an Evoker to blend in. Doc hasn't noticed yet.)
- False is a reformed pillager who now guards the Hermit village, crossbow at the ready.
- Iskall is a weaponsmith
- Bdubs is a mason. He really likes fancy and interesting blocks, and he's one of the first and most excited to greet Xisuma when he comes back with new trades
- Mumbo was originally an armourer, but he switches jobs a lot. Nothing really seems to fit, and he's a bit distracted by trying to mess with the redstone Stress gives him sometimes. He hasn't managed to create anything usable yet, but he's heard players can, and he's determined to try.
- Mumbo likes to help out when the others are overwhelmed with their own jobs, since he doesn't have a set profession
- Zedaph lives next to the sheep pen and has an understanding with them. He's figured out how to lead them with wheat and he uses them in pranks sometimes.
- in his experimenting, Zed discovered how to farm mushrooms in caves. He now gives them to Beef for making stew.
- in addition to being a cleric, Doc is also an armourer and the only one mentioned so far with the ability to make redstone work. He uses this skill to make cybernetics for anyone who needs them. He must have made some deal with something powerful to get his abilities extended like this, but at this point it's unclear who or what that might be or what the cost of the arrangement was.
- Beef isn't actually a shepherd, but he really wants to be. He spends a lot of time with llamas, getting them to trust him. He especially likes hanging out with X's llamas when he's in town, even if it makes him run a little behind on his travel schedule.
- Doc got his arm when a player found him injured after a creeper accident and decided to fix him up. He learned redstone using the arm as an example, but was missing the ability of a player to actually make it work. He made a deal (implied to be with Herobrine) at great personal cost to recieve this power. (Unclear exactly what that price was)
- there is at least one player in the Hrrmitcraft world, but the Hermit village is very far from spawn so the player has never been there. Doc and possibly Xisuma are the only ones who have seen the player.
(edit: there are two players in the world: the more compassionate one Doc encountered, and a much more efficiency-minded one who imprisoned Wels in a trading hall)
- Bdubs goes around the village every night making sure everyone is indoors and safe from mobs. He ends his rounds each day with the long, excruciating task of trying to get Impulse to stop farming and actually go to bed. He is hilariously and annoyingly persistent.
- as a consequence of his deal, Doc is very slowly developing creeper-like traits (an aversion to cats, slight gunpowder smell, green veins creeping up his arm). He hides it from the others and tries his best to deny or ignore it. (This may not be the only or the most severe consequence, but it is the most immediate)
- Grian has a pet parrot that X brought him from a far away jungle. He talks to it and has trained it to do simple tasks like pulling levers.
- Cleo used to be a leatherworker before her zombification, but can't do it now
- Tango is an iron golem who was accidentally given the ability to speak. He protects the village with False and hangs out near the farms with Impulse and Zedaph
- Keralis is an ex-wandering trader who got tired of life on the road and settled down. He used to travel with Xisuma sometimes, or at least their paths would cross often. Now, Keralis is a mason who spends his spare time trying to figure out bees.
- Etho is a cartographer who keeps to himself, often going days without seeing anyone other than Beef, Bdubs, and Doc. Xisuma uses his maps on his travels, and is willing to overlook how impossibly accurate they are in spite of Etho never being seen leaving the village.
- xB is a fisherman who's heard tale of Guardians in the deep waters. He wants to go find them, but Xisuma won't let him, fearing for his safety on the open sea and on the journey to get there.
- Wels uses his experience of being zombified and cured over and over again to help Doc and Cub cure Cleo
- Hypno is a fisherman, and he has a rivalry with Jevin the leatherworker. They argue over which is the smelliest after a long day of work.
- Hypno and xB talk on the docks sometimes while mending nets and lines. Hypno claims to have traveled the sea before, but won't say what happened. The hope of hearing the story gives xB a reason to stay, and the way Hypno gets when he asks about what happened gives him a bit more caution about following the horizon just yet.
- Ren is a shepherd. He's named all of his sheep, and his house is the first place they go for shelter in a storm. He has multiple outfits that he makes out of their dyed wool, and he loves to try out new colour combinations. He may or may not have taken some of Jevin's dyes for this....
- Joe picked up leatherworking after Cleo's zombification, since her fingers are now too stiff for delicate tasks. She's still very knowledgable though, so they work together a lot. Being able to keep doing her job with a friend is one of the main reasons she was able to accept and adjust to her new way of life.
- Evil X is a pillager captain who tricked Xisuma into leading his patrol to their village. They camped out on the edge of town and started launching raids on and off for several weeks. Tired of the attacks and feeling guilty for his part in causing them, Xisuma eventually lead the patrol on a chase after himself and trapped them in a cave.
- Scar was a cartographer before he became an Evoker, and he still does some of the work. Etho is the only one who knows his secret, and he's agreed to keep it if Scar helps him with mapmaking. Scar is the one to research for the details of the maps, since hostile mobs see him as one of their own, so he can leave the village safely.
- TFC is a (technically) retired weaponsmith who moved to the Hermit village after his own village died out. He makes weapons to help False guard the town, and he has a friendly rivalry with Iskall.
- TFC started out as a toolsmith, changing jobs after he left his original village. Before that, he made pickaxe after pickaxe and dreamed of exploring the caves, even though he knew it was far too dangerous.
(this AU was created by multiple lovely people through asks! I encourage you to scroll through the #Hrrmitcraft AU tag to see more details)
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AU Raffle: Cryptid AU!
[COMPLETE]
The result of the random selection was the Cryptid AU! Multiple people suggested this, so I'm looking forward to hearing all the ideas and extensions you guys will come up with. This will be a masterpost collecting them all, and it will be pinned for the duration of the AU.
Original suggestion: "For the Raffle. Cryptid AU. None of the Hermits are truly human and they all are really powerful cryptids that are hiding their true nature. The catch! Every Hermit thinks the other Hermits are totally normal and they are the only cryptid one. Hilarity ensures with everyone trying to explain the extrange things that keep happening "
Some ideas I came up with:
- every Hermit is a cryptid or monster of some kind, except for Grian, who is fully human and completely clueless about everything that's going on (suggested by a previous ask)
- Team ZIT is an investigation group trying to prove the existence of cryptids, but each one of them is subtly trying to sabotage the investigation to hide their own cryptid-ness. None of the three know the other two are also cryptids. Hilarity ensues.
- Xisuma probably knows what's going on with everyone, but he's not saying anything
- Mumbo is doing an absolutely horrible job of hiding that he's a cryptid, but somehow people still don't notice. Iskall is probably the closest to figuring it out.
- VintageBeef has already figured out that Keralis isn't human, but Keralis is bribing him to keep quiet
I hope that's enough to get the ball rolling! Send in your ideas using asks, and I'll put them down here!
If you need ideas about which cryptid would fit best with which Hermit, this list may be helpful.
Anonymous Additions:
- I feel like xisuma should be some kind of shapeshifter
- cleo was brought back to life by a family that loved her very much- or at least, that was what they tried to do. in reality, they brought a completely new soul back in the body of a deceased relative. cleo felt uncomfortable around people who thought she was a different person than she was, so she ran away and eventually befriended the hermits bc she just felt ~drawn to them~. she disguises her bloodless skin and lack of body heat with thick clothes and lots of makeup
- Cleo, of course, is a zombie, but she also has ties to Cthulu that she doesn't really try to hide, but that people overlook all the time. I'm just saying, an avatar of an eldritch being having to be a zombie kinda makes sense...
- Cthulu needed a body, and this kind family was nice enough to supply one! It was kinda their fault really, praying to ancient gods and making deals without reading the fine print. Cleo might feel guilty, but it wasn't on her, not really
- cryptid au: joe isn't a human, but a changeling: a shapeshifting, nonhuman entity that evolved to invade human families like a cuckoo. he has the ability to bend light to make illusions, but he normally just uses his powers to make himself appear human. however he does like to make all lime green things he sees invisible, for the lulz
- What about mumbo being a vampire, it just introduces the idea of so many odd behaviors that the others are just oblivious to
- What if ren is a werewolf(I know it isn't original) and he just thinks of the other hermits as his pack and is therefor very protective of them
- Obligatory Ren is a Werewolf for the Cryptid AU. He is acts like a gigant puppy when he is in wolf form. Nobody questions why sometimes they found a gigant wolf trying to play fetch with them. But nobody is complaining. Everyone talks about it and Ren is just upset because the gigant pupper has never come to see him. Surprise!! Not even Ren knows he is a werewolf
- idk if your still doing cryptid stuff because i don't really know how this works but,, what if everyone thinks that Grian Is Something when he's not. They keep trying to figure it out by asking him weird questions or trying to get him to do weird stuff, but he still stays completely oblivious. And then since Xisuma knows what everyone is, he thinks it's hilarious trying to watch everyone try to find something that isn't there.
- Cryptid au: Doc has made it obvious that he is a cryptid like, he explains it so obviously even an idiot would tell that he's one, But no one has figured out yet. So after the 15th time of explaining things he decides to present how he's a cryptid, by making a goatess.
- For the au, I have 2 ideas for grian, either he is very outspoken about not believing in the super natural, or he very much does believe in the supernatural, either way he unknowingly befriends multiple cryptids and is very confused
- Cryptic AU: Tango has fire for hair, and no ones really questioned as to why?
- What if false was a siren, just because it seems like an interesting idea (my addition: Wels would also make a great siren)
- Stress seems like the type to be an elf, graceful and cheerful, and of course admiring nature's beauty
- What if Impulse was mothman, I like this idea because of the whole team zit being paranormal investigators and they just go looking for mothman on one trip, and Impulse is just standing there probably feeling a bit awkward
- If Impulse is Mothman and he can fly and Tango is like a fire demon that controls fire, is only fair that Zed is an aquatic Cryptid. Maybe related to a lake monster or he is a Sea Serpent
- Yeti Iskall getting used to the hot environment of the Jungle??? Maybe?
- i have no clue how this works but etho is related to ningen in a way (Antarctic sea creatures from Japanese folklore)
- Joe's poems seem to stick in your head, echoing around for hours after you hear them, ringing between your ears. Their subjects vary, but they often seem eerily prophetic, warnings encased in rhythm and rhyme. Sometimes you swear you can hear the soft scritch of a pen on paper, before you realize you are the only one around.
- Wait how the hell would jevin hide that fact he's a slime? Better yet how do the other hermits not put to and to together? Through I think jevin probably wouldn't even bother trying to hide it, I mean he's a huge blob of slime how would you not be able to tell
(my response, summarized) Jevin inhabits a body of slime because that's the easiest way to hide his true form. "Jevin" is a non-physical entity that can possess other lifeforms by destroying their will. He chose a slime this time because it was easy and inconspicuous.)
- Cryptid au: Team ZIT have a headquarters and they all pitched in to commission Etho to make their door bell chime, the ghost busters theme, and afterward interrogated Etho to the ground.
- Doc is not a creeper with cyborneticts. Doc is the AI that came with the cyborneticts and over-wrote the conciousness of the creeper. Figured that making Doc something else would be too dificult so maybe subverting what he is with what we got alredy is enough (like you did with Jevin)
- I am putting this here for vampire mumbo in the au because the thought will not leave my head. It's dark, and mumbo's eyes seem to reflect light very well, his canine teeth seem just a bit too long and sharp, they seem to be stained red,was he always this tall? Something about him seems off, he seems very elegant in this darkness.
- cryptid au: when joe was young, he was ignored so much that he turned invisible. you can still see his shadow but you could look directly at him and not see him there with the best tools. he disguises himself by staying quiet, using text to communicate with the other hermits or by covering himself with clothes and masks so nobody would be able to see his body even if he wasnt invisible.
- For the au I think that Iskall could be a dryad because of his base this season
- Imagine if you will: Tango leaves town for a bit so the team ZIT can't do their "investigations". Impulse gets bored and decided to pretend to kidnap Zedaph in mothman-form. When Tango returns, Zedaph tells him how he almost was kidnapped by Mothman (and is over-exaggerating on every detail)
- What if in the au there is a situation where team zit is in some sort of danger, and so each of them just independently decide that they have to reveal the fact of their cryptid selves, and they just collectivly think,"huh. Okay." And after they are safe, they just talk about it as a group
- Beef is big foot.
- Biffa looks like a robot or cyborg, which one? He won't say. Maybe its because its neither, maybe he's just a walking body with a mind, maybe he's just a suit of armor roaming the world, maybe a spirit or ghost from the past, maybe a mob whose inhabited and pilots the body, maybe he's just Biffa. Only he knows, but he won't say
- Cryptid AU: I’m just imagining zedaph or tango throwing a bell at grian in an attempt to “capture” him under the suspicion that he’s part fae or something at a server meeting
- About Cryptid!Wels, sometimes, when the night is dark and the world is silent, you'll hear it; a soft voice in the darkness. You can't help but listen to it as you get lost in the song, swaying to the melody as your foot moves to the beat. The song gets louder and your feet are more frantic as they seem to take you somewhere. Suddenly, the voice stops singing and so you stop moving, and when you open your eyes you find yourself on the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. The siren lurks near
- Doc isnt a Creeper with cybrog parts but a robot made to look like a creeper, that arm and eye? yea just exposed parts from years of just not caring enough. He's waiting to see when someone will call him out on it. So far, only TFC and X but they like to watch how long this will go. Doc isnt even hiding anymore, he loves to mess with Grian by making remarks that imply he's a robot but Grian just can't figure it out
- tbh I love the idea of Joe as a regular human who just acts super cryptic and strange, and has a bit of skill at poetry. others try and figure out what he is, and he's just vibing in a corner, the last one anyone would expect to be the sole normal person on the server
- Cryptid AU. Joe and Cleo as the ‘One Bagel. No!! Two bagels!’ Vine. Joe being the one that asked and Cleo ignoring Cthulhu
- Joe starts sharing different ideas of what he could be, and only Cleo knows (mostly... she's the closest at least). Joe's mystery is a Hermitcraft classic, greeting every hermit except X, who still only has what Joe's told him to go on. He delights in the chaos he causes
- Scar is a poltergeist, he hides it well. One time Grian caught him using his powers, after scar fessed up, in private, they both bring some amount of chaos to the server, but not to much so the ZIT crypt hunters, name in progress, don't know about the chaos, thus not puting the duo in danger.
- Mumbo might be a vampire, but it isn’t for blood (at least, not anymore). Only Grian has come close to figuring it out, and it’s due to seeing how refreshed and satisfied his friend looks after being around 2+ groups of people. If only he would just straight up and ask. - 🦊
- Rather last minute but do you have any ideas of how Evil Xisuma could fit into this? Would he be a shapeshifter as well. A copy of X's true form? A demon haunting Xisuma? Just X's pesky brother? There's a handful of ideas I can't personally decide what would fit best. Maybe none of them at all, who know?
Cryptid Au. Xisuma shapeshifts for fun. Thats how we get Turtle!Xisuma, Beesuma and Stridersuma. All hermits just assume X changes his suit because they have never seen his face so there is no way for them to know he shifts. Also clasic headcanon that TFC is Herobrine and he is just laying low in Hermitcraft after years of going around worlds. Everyone knows the legend about Herobrine but have not connected the dots yet because TFC is just everyone’s grandpa. No way he could be Herobrine.
- @/ivi-prism
- While most might assume that Grian would be a harpy, its actully Scar. He's incredibly flexable in Human form, hes able to manuver his foot behind his head, and moret than once has Cub walked in on Scar with a living fish in his mouth. He never questioned it because "Hey, Vex magics weird."
- Imagine- sytyr Zedaph and Fae Impulse walking in on Willowwisp Tango who,because willowwisps are typically tiny, shrunk in response to panic and is now stuck in a caldron. I think that be hilarious. Just the idea of impulse going-"YOUR A CRYPTID?" while Zed just "WAIT I KNEW I DIDNT BURN THOSE PAPERS!" Which leads into a discussion of ZIT internal sabotage, and suddenly ZIT invesigation changes direction from "Are cryptids real" to "Is anyone else a Cryptid cause this cannot be a Coincidence"
- @/crypticalwitch
- Cryptic AU: Tango can also control his hair, to an extent. He can slick it back, but it still looks like burning embers. It's a bit mesmerizing
- Cryptid AU: Cub was a normal guy, maybe with some weirder interests, before the Vex. "Playing" with their magic too much is what made him a cryptid. So maybe he understands that the other hermits aren't exactly "human". But it isn't his business, and it means they don't question what the Vex get him into, so he just doesn't say anything about it
- Cryptic AU: Team ZIT's strongest evidence for Grian is the fact he's a master with an elytra, especially since he first said he "might use it a little bit" for long journeys. He's flown into a dark hole in a dark wall that's barely big enough to fit him multiple times, with ease, among other risky stunts that would get other hermits killed. The fact there's not much else to go on, besides his pranking zeal only matched by Zed himself, drives them up the wall
- Cryptic AU: when you stay out too long at night, you might start to feel watched. You'll turn around and nobody is there, but still you feel eyes on your back, and the breeze always seems hot and brushes your neck like too-close breathing and a hand. Finally, you catch it: a familiar figure that stands too stiffly, always just too far away to name. Then it vanishes with an airy shriek, and phantoms descend from the stars. Bdubs did always say the worst things happen in the night.
- Cryptic AU: Impulse's smiles are just a little too big. If you look at one too long, you feel as though it's stretching wider and wider, the cheery shine in his eyes twisting into a hungry gleam, but then you blink and he's back to normal ol Impulse and you question if you really saw anything. That time you saw his smile glinting in the darkness just beyond your bed must've been a nightmare. Your imagination.
- Cryptic AU: Don't look into his eyes. Look in, and you will see the universes. Billions of stars, trillions of futures, all impossibly swirling together, hauntingly beautiful. You'll fall down, down, down through the glittering spirals, until with a breathtaking snap you're on your knees, on solid ground. You're lucky he doesn't want to keep you, like others might. The lives and worlds you glimpsed will echo through your mind, weave through your dreams. Do not fear. Do not look into his eyes.
- The mountain is his territory. If you enter it unbidden, he will ensure you leave, lucky to keep your life. His contraptions are nonsense, seeming to serve no purpose other than to confuse. They distract from how the air crackles on your skin, how it tastes of storms and thunder. They distract how, from the corner of your eye, Zedaph's limbs are too long, fingers with too many knuckles and legs with too many knees. All angles and bones, like his designs. Do not look too closely at his garden.
- Everyone learned not to ask about him. Mostly because in trying to form the question, you'll find the words slipping from your mind. So Tango's hair burns, his eyes are red cherries. In the darkness he glows, the embers of a forgotten fire. His skin is always hot, almost feverish, yet he isnt sick. If he gets too close to lava, the illusion fades, reveals the magma that forms his skin. Illusion? No, that was just a burn. He relishes the smoke and rubble of explosions. Control. Always controlled.
- xB doesn't mind being away from the other hermits. It's quiet there; far enough away that most aren't bothered to prank him. He doesn't like surprises. Surprises get people hurt. Gets his friends hurt. His guardians appreciate the still predictability. The calm. Yes, he prefers to sit back, quiet, and watch. If he looks too long, bad things happen. So he observes it all, never focusing too much on one detail, never letting them go unseen. It prevents surprises.
- Because that last one wasn't all that clear, xB is a guardian-based cryptid! While nothing seems inhuman about him at a glance, he has a close affinity to water, and when threatened the spines he hides with his clothes will stick out. (Guardians only spawn in water, but they actually don't suffocate in air! Though their desperate flopping is a sad sight to behold) Plus, laser-eyes
- Xisuma wasn't always able to change his form as easily or drastically as he can now. But by now, he's forgotten his own face. Now, he'll feel his skin, his body begin to itch with the need to change. He's glad the hermits don't seem to care when he does. Keralis's mimicry was a surprise, but a welcome one. He feels less alone. Loneliness is how he would lose himself. He's scared of that possibility.
- When he sleeps, he walks through the minds of those whose eyes met his, as if it were his own dream. He'll hear their thoughts as if they were his own. He doesn't like this. It feels like an invasion. He feels like a parasite, and maybe he is. Whoever he dreamed through last, they seem exhausted and jumpy after, while he feels energized, near invincible. It's through this ability he knows their deepest secrets, but they aren't his to tell. Sometimes, he wishes he could understand. (Xisuma pt 2)
- Cryptid AU: another reason that Grian cant possibly be a human is his clothes. Just. How does he have something for every occasion. He even has a janitor one? Why did he have that? This "man" doesn't own a single closet yet has at least 20 different costumes-- not to mention you blink and he's changed! Wh- he had a REAPER costume for himself AND SCAR???
- @/basaltdragon
- Cryptid AU: Grian used to be against cryptids because of Sam (YHS) and his bunny attributes, but has since accepted the fact Sam was just a bad apple, and cryptids as a whole are neutral/good.
- Your heart, it beats, like redstone ticking away within you. He knows redstone through and through... so why not you too? Every pulse sent though the machine of your body is one more reason for him to reverse engineer you. But he restrains, takes a step back, as these machines could never be put back together.
- He's been here since the beginning; not of Hermitcraft, but everything. Watching as the game evolved over the years... He smiles at the thought. His hair now matching his eyes - like harsh reflective snow - he recalls these memories fondly. As his eyes fade to their piercing blue, he sighs, for this is home.
- When any of the other Hermits (at least the ones with blood) get injured, Mumbo has to step away. The need for their blood, their lifeforce, is too overwhelming.
- @/12u3ie
- Cryptid AU: with the team ZIT headquarters I thought of something similar to the TEA headquarters from season 3. Probably more confusing, colourful and chock full of even more excessive redstone doors. Why not add another elevator? Where's the coffee machine? Maybe the next room over? Was that corridor there before? I don't know. What's the use of that room? What's behind that door? What's behind you?
- Cryptid AU: with the whole burning hair thing on Tango, another explanation for why no one questions it. That's just Hermitcraft, people just assume he either royally messed up a redstone machine, or succeeded completely, you never know with Tango. Or maybe they think they're sleep deprived. They haven't slept in a while, Bdubs has been reminding them to do so. What were they doing? Maybe they should go home instead. Whatever they were doing can probably be done later. What were they doing?
- @/the-royal-bat-snake
- If joe is a changing then he is some kind of fae folk or as the irish and the Scots call them "the good neighbours" he could like anything, from a human, a small man, like knee height or a small green impish or goblin esque creature. Also changlings were the very old fae folk, not just the babies (humma women were stolen to be nurse maids cus fae folk cant make milk, also stolen to be mistresses) I know a lot of irish faerie lore so if you want to know anymore
- @/whatschooldoesntteachyou
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