#come on npg get it together

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, Rebecca, Pride and Prejudice)—Any reference article will tell you that he's one of the finest stage actors of the 20th century and (arguably) contributed to transforming the landscape of live theater in the Anglophone world. But this is the Tumblr hot men poll, where it is arguably more important to know that he was an incredibly charming bi disaster who eye-fucked Vivien Leigh so conspicuously that everyone talked about it, both before and after their marriage. I do not have words for how hot this man was. I once sat under a portrait of him in black velvet and tights in the NPG cafeteria, and let me tell you I remember that so much better than my sandwich. I listened to a recording of him as Coriolanus on stage and got full-body chills. I photographed his copy of Richard III in the Folger Shakespeare Library for the sake of seeing his handwriting and his thoughts. ...okay, so I may have a problem, but the point is. So hot. And delivered one of the iconic pre-1970 lines about bisexuality on film ("oysters *and* snails," Spartacus 1963.)

Harry Belafonte (Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun)—one of my favorite things in the world when I'm sad is kicking back and listening to him and Danny Kaye singing "Hava Nagila" together. Or who can forget this man singing the Banana Boat song with the Muppets?? immensely talented, a powerful fighter for civil rights and humanitarian causes his whole life, if you have any remaining doubts PLEASE look at the following pics [clips and pics attached below]

This is round 3 of the bracket. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage man.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Harry Belafonte propaganda:

"Now let me say this about the songs of the Caribbean - almost all black music is deeply rooted in metaphor. The only way that we could speak to the pain and anguish of our experiences was often through how we codified our stories in the songs that we sang. And when I sing the 'Banana Boat Song,' the song is a work song. It's about men who sweat all day long, and they are underpaid, and they're begging the tallyman to come and give them an honest count - counting the bananas that I've picked, so I can be paid. And sometimes, when they couldn't get money, they'll give them a drink of rum. There's a lyric in the song that says, 'Work all night on a drink of rum.' People sing and delight and dance and love it, but they don't really understand unless they study the song that they're singing a work song, a song of rebellion." -Harry Belafonte

Laurence Olivier propaganda:

"THEE actor man. You can't take theater classes and not know about this man. THEE Hamlet. Look at this lil blondie. VERY talented. (we are ignoring him also playing Othello, no he should not have done that) He was a pretty baby"

[dailygrumbot]

Day 55: Family Tree Part 2 (with Part 1)

Part 1 was posted along with another post, so it could have been missed, hence why it is here. More parts will come, but that's when it gets complicated (as all the Hermits count as family). Rambling More info below!

(And reminder I made a discord to talk about the bots)

Remember this is about the characters and not the actual people since, y'know, the bots aren't really real (no matter how much that would be nice). But some of the actual people are on tumblr, and if there is some design element that makes them uncomfortable, please do say something!

I couldn't fit as many words as I would like, and some details got a little lost summarizing, so here's some of that extra context.

I know one common fact that's gone around is that Mumbo joined season 2 when he was still 17 or so. Character wise, Mumbo's bio family is out of the picture and joining as a minor of sorts needed some parental or guardian permission, so Xisuma essentially legally adopted Mumbo to make it easier.

Evil Xisuma would technically be a Great Uncle, but he insists on just being referred to as an Uncle, at least by Tegg. [Insert: I've only had [character] for 5 minutes meme].

I made Pearl's eyes pearlescent! And gave little star freckles! But otherwise Grian and Pearl being siblings is more found family than actually being related, but they call each other siblings.

Speaking of... Jimmy! Grian's lovingly bullying of Jimmy has major sibling vibes. I like to jokingly say they're soulmates, but not in the 'oh we are meant to be together, the universe says so' but more 'No matter what the situation is, even if technically the two shouldn't know each other, they do, and it's to annoy one another.' Soulsiblings if you will. Just, look at the entire interaction when the Hermits went to Empires and Grian found Jimmy.

NPG!!! He cameoed in the previous art piece. A pre-hermitcraft classic! He's in hels now with Evil Xisuma and the hels hermits. Grum isn't 100% sure if NPG and EX are friends, or if it's a low key hostage situation. In which case EX would be the hostage. NPG is sort of violently friendly.

Finally Grumbot Prime and Emperor Grumbot. Grumbot Prime is of course the alternate universe Grumbot that came from the rift. Grum worries about the fact that he wasn't successful getting Mumbo to be mayor while this alternate did. Meanwhile Emperor Grumbot wasn't exploded. Well he was, but got better and now just lives in Empires. (I mean this whole thing is sort of an au since Grum and Jrum aren't in s9, and tegg never hatched, etc etc, so empires is a lil changed as well.) Oh also Jrum doesn't just 'want' the crown, he just tries stealing it when he can. It is shiny. He want. Gib.

[laurapetrie]

CECIL BEATON'S BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS

The Soapsuds Group, 1930: Baba Beaton, Wanda Baillie-Hamilton and Lady Bridget Poulett The Hon. Diana Guinness, 1930 Baba Beaton as Empress Eugenie at the Famous Beauties Ball, 1931 Miss Nancy Beaton as a Shooting Star, 1928

[starstress]

Void Touched: Grian (and Mumbo and Scar) after the Voidfall – A Theory

A fresh new season, a fresh new start. Boatem has disbanded, but it seems like no matter what, Grian and Mumbo always stick together and this time they’ve pulled Scar with them too.

Very similar to last season’s start, the three of them as well as a couple other go off exploring together and then Scar’s cycle of death begins, like a prophesized oath. And this time, they seem very eager to count lives.

You could argue, “But Star, Grian and Mumbo are always bloodthirsty. Last Life and Season 8 are prime examples of that!” and yes, you’d be correct! 3rd Life and Last Life have been exceptionally death-filled experiences and we all remember how eagerly Mumbo kept using End Crystals and how Grian would keep sacrificing Scar to the Boatem Hole like a blood cultist leader. However, it seems, it feels like something has pushed their fondness for respawn mechanics to 110. In only the first hour, Scar has died upwards of 10 times, at the hand of Mumbo and Grian both.

This isn’t Last Life, Hermitcraft isn’t Last Life. And yet, it seems like after the Voidfall after the Moonfall, 3 of Boatem’s members have had their bloodlust cranked up like crazy. (Note that I have yet to watch Impulse’s and Pearl’s episodes and Mumbo’s and Scar’s are not yet out at the time of writing this.)

It’s all fun and games until once turns into thrice and jokes turn into habits and the life counter keeps on rolling.

(putting the rest of it under a cut since it’s a LONG read. Consider reblogging it if you liked it!!)

At this point, Grian’s developed a very intriguing habit: creating and giving life to entities. NPG, whatever the everloving heck the hippy stuff was, Grumbot, the Mycelium, the Boatem Hole and now, The Entity. THE Entity. With each season and season half, it seems like Grian upscales his creations towards something more and more sentient and eager to absorb. And absorb Life at that. Seems like he finally is set on reaching his Magnum Opus. But. Is it only his Magnum Opus?

Now, to go back a bit.

Grian has another equally intriguing habit: Death and Chaos games. The Civil War, Dig Straight Down, Tag 1 & 2, the Mycelium War, 3rd Life, Last Life. A few others I’m probably forgetting about.

Notably, Last Life was somewhat a different brand of chaos. It had an entity, possessing players and making them kill alongside the already dangerous Red Lives – the Bogeyman. It’s a combo of the aforementioned habits Grian’s developed over the years, both the creation of life and the war games coming together life a refined potion mix. And out of that series we got something unexpected – lore.

Admittedly, this comes from a side source, Martyn InTheLittleWood, who did say that the lore aspect is something that he came up with for himself rather than for the entire member list. Doesn’t mean that we cannot apply this to our own theories, however, since Grian is known for his mischievous ways and for teasing fans in subtle ways. Most worthy of notice is his instance of him pranking Mumbo with signposts while invisible due to a game bug: “Always watching” and “Behind you”. (Lately there’s been more and more talk of him actually stalking about on Hermitblr which at this point I’m mildly inclined to agree with.)

The lore that was given to us is as such: Confirmation of Grian as a Watcher as well as the Watchers themselves being responsible for 3rd Life and Last Life. This has HUGE implications for many many things, but for now it’s only one piece of the puzzle.

Right, so that’s Last Life. The series ended before Season 8 did and so is seen as an event that has happened to the affected Hermits during the Hermitcraft season. Coincidentally, it is after the end of that bloodlust-filled series that the Moon in Hermitcraft starts getting bigger – pushed out of orbit and on collision course with Planet Hermitcraft 8. At the last possible moment, the people of Boatem jump into the Boatem Hole – into the cold unflinching Void.

Now, from the start of its existence, the Boatem Hole has been the centre of attention and the focus of many theories and stories, amongst which that the Hole was the Void either given sentience through the lives sacrificed to it by the Boatem Crew, either given wide access to the Overworld surface and once again taught to anticipate lives on a silver platter. Most were Scar’s lives, a detail to remember. (I myself have one such fic which can be found here: link. Grian takes a brief trip into the Void.)

I’ll take a brief moment to touch upon how Mumbo and Scar themselves are affected as a result of these series of events, mostly along the way:

Mumbo: Despite his usage of End Crystals from the very beginning of Season 8, Mumbo takes his killing strategy into Last Life. It’s worth to note that ever since Grian has joined HC, Mumbo has been growing ever more chaotic, likely influenced by his gremlin of a friend, but his own chaos takes a very different form, despite being similar. Mumbo decides to avoid tainting his game stats and instead uses a “peaceful” method of delivering his execution. Another thing that I can’t omit is the way Mumbo may or may not have created some lore for his own character: A shapeshifter that transforms into that which he eats. He goes from human to potato to carrot to human again after consuming Grian’s soul. And, at the end of it all, it is Grian who baits him into breaking his Peace, Love and Plants oath.

Scar: Well known for his Vex character lore, Scar himself often takes the form of a Wizard or Magician. Also well known for his many deaths and inability to survive more than a few hours consistently, Scar’s presence in both 3rd Life, Last Life and Season 8 takes the form of the Sacrificial Lamb. Fast to lose his green and yellow lives in both series, as well as being captured by the Bogeyman curse in the latter, Scar seems to orbit around Grian. Allies first, with Scar eagerly ready to give his life so that Grian may be crowned winner for the friendship and help he showed Scar. Reluctant neutral parties second, with Grian feeling guilt for delivering death to Scar’s doorstep again and again, as such avoiding him and allying with the Southlands, yet bittersweetly being the reason Scar ends up as a Red Life again. Grian is also the biggest reason why Scar ends up swallowed by the Boatem Hole the most, second only to Scar’s own impending gravity to the Hole.

Right. To reiterate: Grian loves giving life to beings with mysterious goals, adores creating death games and is a confirmed Watcher who has unwittingly been the cause of many mysterious events. However, something feels amiss, especially when it comes to the Boatem Hole. The Void itself is an enigmatic entity, but we cannot say that it was Grian who gave it life. Rather…he gave it sentience. And fed it. And the Boatem Crew became its cult as they continued feeding it with each other’s souls. In the end, the Void grew fond of Boatem, and thus decided to cradle them into its inky nothingness as the Moon fell. It gave them shelter as they had in turn offered themselves to it.

So…what if, now that they’re on a new planet, on a new world, with a new update, the Void decides to be admired once more? Grian and Mumbo have killed Scar in that one ravine many times as Scar even called it Boatem 2.0. They did it again and again and Scar somehow never called for them to put a stop to it. He accepted each death as it came, either at the hands of his friend or the environment or his own actions. And Grian and Mumbo killed each other directly and indirectly and laughed in the face of it all.

What if they felt the Call of the Void?

What if Grian, Watcher and being of unbridled chaos and life and death, was haunted by the Void?

What if, in his own mischief, Grian fell trap to the consequences of his own actions?

What if, touched and chosen by the Void, he became a Vassal for the Void to gain form as it gained sentience?

(Folks I did NOT expect to write a 1.5k+ words essay following the very beginning of this new season, but here we are. What the HECK is up with this new season?? Also I’m calling this the Vassal Grian Theory (or Void Vassal Grian Theory if y’all wanna be fancy) or Void Touched Theory. Reblog and tell me your thoughts 👀 I’m going to sleep LMAO)

[sweetest-honeybee]

maybe demon impulse hears about npgs new stasis and it just. clicks. because he NOTICED the demon aura around npg, and he goes "actually. no. hes coming back here" because he knows that npg wouldn't leave unless he absolutely had to, so he leaves. maybe without any notice, maybe all he leaves is a vague note. two losses, so close together, and everyone's so confused, so sad. and when he gets back, just. appearing? in the shopping district, holding this creature of formless shadow by the. um. arm? and someone sees him and they call to the others and everyone wants to know where he went and he goes to npgs body and the darkness goes back into it and npg Wakes Up and everyones There and ;-; -w1ngl3ss

Consider also he does take the body with him to be possessed again

Comes back like

[votederpycausemufins]

part three of four of the bot's birthday fic. expect the last chapter later today! time for cake and games!

Grum couldn’t help but stare at the cakes in front of him. Everyone else was singing various versions of happy birthday, which led into everyone staring at Pearl for a little while at her version, but it gave Grum more time to admire the decorated treats. One of them was a full cake, looking pretty standard with a single red candle on top instead of the large red berry that would usually be there. The second was a much smaller cake which honestly seemed like a wide cupcake, which was most likely what it really was. Just enough for two people, or in this case, two robots. In replacement of icing, the second treat was topped with redstone. The ‘cake’ seemed to be quartz as opposed to actual cake. Then, sitting on one half of the treat was a diamond, obviously to show which half was meant specifically for him.

A slight problem came after the conflict with Pearl was over and Grum could finally blow out his candle. That problem being he couldn’t actually blow without a mouth. He quickly waved his hand at the fire with little success before realizing it was a very small flame and he was not made of skin. So before anyone could blow it out for him, Grum quickly pinched the wick, putting the candle out.

False came over and put a crown made from a gold helmet on Grum’s head. As he readjusted it to keep it from falling off his head which it didn’t quite fit, False used her sword to cut the quartz of the smaller ‘cake’ in half, passing one half to Jrum before letting Grum have the other. The bot admired his treat a little longer before finally eating it, almost regretting how fast it went down instead of taking the time to savor the taste. Though was he even tasting anything? How exactly did it even work for a robot like him? He didn’t have taste buds, but he and his brother definitely preferred certain minerals over others. 

Well that would be something to look into in the future. With the cake done, Grum looked around for his presents, not seeing any of them around. Not even NPG had his present on hand after trying to hand it over immediately as they arrived. Xisuma noticed Grum’s confusion first and moved a little closer to explain. Since he had been reviewing the gifts, he was most aware of their contents. A number of the Hermits had gotten unique gifts for the bots, or only able to get a present for one of the two and pairing with a different Hermit for the other bot. But at the same time, a few Hermits hadn’t wanted the bots to be potentially jealous of each other’s gifts, so they got a matching set.

Since at the start, no one was sure which bot would officially have their celebration first or if they would do it together, Xisuma thought it best that, no matter what, the presents would come last and the bots would open them simultaneously. That way any paired gifts wouldn’t lose their charm if they reappeared later on. Especially with the ones that were wrapped together and couldn’t be opened separately in the first place.

With the explanation, Grum nodded in understanding. Then he paused for a moment before asking another question of Xisuma, who paused in thought before nodding back, then making his way over to Jrum and quietly speaking to him. Jrum agreed with whatever the admin was saying, causing him to clap and get everyone’s attention. “Alright, I’ve gotten a request from the guests of honor-” The word guests confused NPG for a moment wondering if it was about them before both EX and Prof corrected him. “-About a slight change of plans. I’m hoping no one will mind more cake right now, especially as it is in another flavor. Either way, it looks like we have more slices left from this cake and I would assume we’ll have some left over of the other, so eventually anyone can pick up a piece as they like.”

There were a few joking complaints, but everyone moved upstairs. Jrum was immediately bouncing around to look at all the decorations before eventually getting to his seat at the head of the table and staring down the cakes, getting pulled back an inch or two by Mumbo when he noticed the younger bot’s screen was a little too close to the candle flame. Another round of happy birthday songs happened, and instead of an argument with Pearl, there was more the hassle of getting Jellie off the table as she tried to lick the cake. She eventually managed to, but it was Jrum’s cake and a single lick of the lapis powder was enough to change her mind and leave her tongue blue.

When it came time to blow out the candle, instead of doing the other things Grum tried or pinching the flame out, Jrum instead pulled out a bucket of water, splashing just enough out to douse the flame and not soak the cake. That didn’t mean that the Hermits didn’t panic in the few seconds between them seeing the bucket and then comprehending that the cake was fine though. 

Slightly less Hermits grabbed a slice of cake this time around, but there were a number of them who, knowing that there would obviously be more cake later, hadn’t had a slice from the first cake. They hadn’t expected the second cake this soon, so one or two who had eaten earlier to compensate didn’t immediately grab a slice. And if they left and reappeared to grab a slice a few minutes later looking a bit more scuffed up and maybe with a forming bruise, no one commented on it.

The cake for the bots was similar to the first one, having a quartz base and a diamond on Jrum’s half, but instead of just redstone, there was lapis powder acting as the icing with the redstone only around the diamond to make it less noticeable and make the cake blue overall since it was Jrum’s preferred color. The younger bot immediately ate up his piece since jumping around the room had tired him out a little, but Grum waited a moment to eat his, half because he was a little more full and half because he wanted to savor this piece.

Once everyone had had their fill of cake for then, the remaining cake was moved by EX, who didn’t care if he was late to the next part of the party. While he was doing that, the rest of the party was led through the nether and into some minecarts, taking them to a second portal which sent the partygoers into Cub’s pyramid. Specifically into Targét.

Cub handed some books to the bots which quickly named the games, the number of players, and a quick description of the game. There was also a box of other books for the other Hermits to grab if they wanted them, but some were happy to just follow around and watch the others play.

Looking through the list of games, the bots both immediately had their figurative eyes on the last game. They had already dealt with two, technically four, cakes. What was one or two more? It was easy enough to find the game, Cub explaining it was the only one with beacons at the entrance, so the bots quickly spotted the beams and headed that way.

The first round of the game didn’t go too well, the robots being just that, robots, meant that it was rather easy for them to accurately throw the ender pearls and the pair of them ended up tying in the end. The second time they played, however, instead of standing on the iron trap door, they got help from the Hermits. Two hermits helped by pressing the buttons to officially start the game while two others surprised the bots by pushing them into the game area. The bots were safe of course due to the slime at the bottom, but the randomness of the push as well as forcing themselves to be bouncing on the slime blocks helped with making it an actual challenge, Jrumbot winning in their actual match.

After the mishap of the first game, the bots were then suggested to try open sesame and put it on a high difficulty, seeing as how the arrows were more affected by air currents and the like as opposed to how linear and straight ender pearls are always thrown. The bots agreed, this time Grum winning the game, leaving the two to look at the book and ask for more suggestions.

Following that, Jrum went over to 25 and paired up with NPG for his game so there was still a little bit of a challenge. Totally not because EX was also nearby messing around to make things a little more fair, but letting Jrum win in the end. 

While Jrum was busy there, Grum tried out Player vs Machine. It was technically machine vs machine, but it was random enough Grum still found it a challenge, Grum had to get a little bit of help after gathering his diamond prize and shirt. The exit was blocked by a llama so he couldn’t get out. After he was helped out, Grum took a break from everything as he needed to recover from feeling trapped, but before long, everyone in a game playing mood joined in for Castle Defense.

After three rounds of that game, the rest of the games were played here and there, but before long, the bots had tried everything out and the Hermits in general were a bit tired out from all the games. After a short break to rest, the group went back to the party building to get to the presents part of the party.

[nicoforlifetrue]

He doesn't stay in the world for long, at first jumping from these worlds of left-behind not-yet watchers. Then, finally, he reaches out and draws out a world of his own, hiding it in magic so thoroughly it's overkill.

Then he builds.

He builds and he builds, from cityscapes to cottage towns, ignoring the phantom hands and feathers on his back.

He learns and he plays, crafting structures ..and at times turning over his shoulder to ask if they're proud, to find no one.

Just empty space. 

Endless, flat, empty space with no movement other than his creations.

He's alone.

And so instead he spends his time building and flying, once even revisiting his almost forgotten engineering skills to maybe just manufacture a friend, hell even a chat bot would work… And then realizing maybe they should have stayed forgotten— as, for a few weeks, he spent hours frantically fixing the code of a robot he had locked in his closet after it had deleted the laws of robotics out of its own files. Sure a fully functioning AI was groundbreaking and all, but it being convinced it was literally a demon that wanted to seemingly kill him and/or work him to death was one weird bug to come out of the whole thing. 

He elected to not tell it that he was incapable of dying. Last thing it needed was even more reason to make him build more rustic houses.

He then of course didn't learn his lesson and made a second one, someone to entertain his first when he just didn't have the energy to.

Npg, he named the first one, Robo he named the second.

They lived to annoy each other and make his life a nightmare. Because unfortunately now that there were two of them, they now had someone on the outside to edit their code.

Robo seemed set on turning Npg’s builds into a completely different style when the other turned its back, which led to Grian having to reattach Robo’s arm and yet again re-code Npg out of a rage loop that Grian couldn't figure out how to just remove without a complete and total system failure.

His only real confusion is why they stopped targeting him in their fits of rage.

And why they went into the closet when they had a virus, that was weird too. Learned habits maybe? He did tend to lock them in there when he was fixing the homicidal tendencies, and it is where he kept a mass majority of his more fine tuned engineering instruments. So maybe the learning AI had put the closet as the bug fixing space, and then also learned that it was faster to be repaired when in that area? Grian did tend to notice something was wrong faster now that they had picked up the habit. It seemed a bit too advanced considering the simple learning program he had installed, but then again it had also learned how to delete something grian had hard wired into its code so, at this rate, anything was possible.

He still can't believe he had managed to code it considering most of his knowledge was self taught. Not that he'd claim to have done much, Npg and Robo had made most of the more impressive edits to their own code.

He learned his lesson and stopped at Robo, deciding to focus on his current bots instead of stress over making new ones. The bots had enough issues where it didn't matter either way. Not to mention Robo seemed to be developing a praise seeking personality, as well as a jealousy streak. He couldn't be sure any new bots would survive it. Also considering he's pretty sure the only reason Robo isn't trying to get rid of Npg is because of how Grian would scold both of them when they hurt the other. It seemed like his scolding triggered a “bad” tick in the code, thankfully, so they should learn out of harming things soon. 

He hopes.

He quietly thanks whatever higher power is controlling the two’s code that even touching the rewards and punishments system causes a complete system failure. A thing he learned when Robo had tried to get rid of said bad tick and Grian had found it face down on its build.

…He also spent a lot of time thinking— thinking about what happened, what he doesn't like, what he adores, often about himself.

And he finds things he didn't quite like.

He notes first how the ‘they’ he so adored growing up has dropped from his inner monologue, the pronoun a bit spoiled by the connection to them, although there still a cherry sweetness to the letters when he thinks of them— a flash of straw blond hair and a hidden smile— but with some good news he feels pleased when running over third person phrases; he finds himself using words like person instead of boy, or partner instead of boyfriend, or child instead of son, the only exception being the same as before with brother instead of sibling.

A discovery he made when one time his mentor was feeling particularly talkative and had murmured plans for children, about how Grian would be a great sibling.

He always loved how all it took was “brother” from him and the immediate shift in his mentor's words.

But his pronouns had changed, not much else.

With this revelation he trailed after it, noted with no small pleasure that they did not change who he was— he was still a demiboy, that hadn't changed, and he found no small joy in thinking it never would, the image of him telling his mentor and the soft wings that had pulled him just a bit closer lighting up in his mind as he thought of it; their silent “ok” when they couldn't bring themselves to whisper the word.

Then he chases after what he hates now, things to tiptoe around.

He finds the end revolting; not enough to never go, but enough to avoid, blacks and purples send shivers up his spine and he finds cloaks quite pleasant to burn, whittling himself a staff fills him with confidence instead of disdain, and with a couple testing jabs he finds the weapon a comfort instead of a nuisance.

He finds quite quickly that his diet has changed.

Outside of their realm he finds himself growing hungry, and thus discovers the variety of things he can no longer consume, which just so happens to be near everything; meats are off the table, too many fruits give him a stomach ache, bread is kind of okay but too much and he gets a headache— the only thing he doesn't have much problems with seems to be seeds which, oddly enough, keep him feeling fairly full.

He ends up finding himself mixing together meal bags, comprised mostly of seed with the max amount of other things before he gets sick. As far as he can tell he hasn't been malnourished, at least according to the bots and how he himself feels, so he calls it good and moves on to other issues.

Like the loneliness, how it surrounded him, made haunting whispers echo at the edge of his hearing, gunshots now mixed with snapping wings.

He was alone, painfully alone. Other than his two homicidal robot sons who he loves dearly yet still, they don't make much for conversation. Or much anything to socialize with. They were… hollow, unable to chase away his thoughts for more than a few seconds at most.

He wanted people— real honest people… But he was alone.

But things change.

:)

[hmshermitcraft]

Duality AU, part 7! (Its a pleasure to be back!)

[No Eyes - Mixed POVs]

~Intro~

After a few months of practicing and pining hell, Mumbo has about 60% mastered the duality effect. They have love and support from their family and the rest of the Petals, (which now includes Zloy, Pix, and Keralis! ✨yay✨, Mumbo has MORE crushes and is now even deeper in pining hell), and now it's time to celebrate! Everyone is down in the hub, and having an official party.

~Tango

Tango, who thankfully brought the drinks and is in charge of speeches, finishes his make out with Grian and Zedaph and goes to see his friend Mumbo. He sees it shaking and playing with flowers in their hands, and immediately gets Bdubs, Keralis and Scar to help them out.

~Keralis

"Bumbo, What's wrong? You know that we're right here for you when you need us, right?"

Mumbo nodded his head, still fidgeting with the flowers.

"Then what's the problem? Tango was worried about you, that's why he called us over here." At this point, Bdubs and Scar work together to find the Grian and the rest of the Petals. He notices the flowers in Mumbo's hand. "Buttercups! Those are my favorite type of flowers! May I please have one?" Mumbo nodded their head, Before realizing that Keralis couldn't. "∴ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ !" It shouts with much more force than it meant to. "sorry Keralis, I meant wait. These flowers can't come off unless I pull them off. I grew them myself."

Keralis waited a moment, then responded. "Okay, Bumbo. Just as long as it doesn't hurt. But besides that, why are you hiding here?"

"Let me get you that buttercup, Then I'll tell you." Fae passes over the flower.

"I was nervous."

~NPG

Just then, Bdubs, Scar, Iskall and NPG walked in with a blanket and a few cups of tea, to help cheer Mumbo up. "How are you holding up, Mumbo?" Mumbo shrugged, fixing up fae's sleeve (And being flustered bc Scar was Too Close to them). "I'm doing fine now, thanks to you all. still a bit nervous, but nothing I can't handle." Right after they said that, a few Alliums sprouted on Mumbo's hand. They gave NPG flowers, and each of the others their (I guess assigned?) flower as well, then rushed out of that side room and rejoining the party, NPG quickly following.

~Evil Hermits (that are part of the petals)

Ex, Six, and Hels were in ANOTHER flirting battle, and Six sees Mumbo twirl into a dress and sit down. (It's like one of those cartoony things where they spin into their superhero outfits, that sort of thing)

"Pause the music!" The jazzy music that they battle to slows to a stop, and All three of them huddle to discuss a plan.

-smol time skip, like 10 minutes later-

Now joined by X (who was promised xe wouldn't do any flirting xemself,) Keralis, Iskall and Joe, they have a solid plan. X changes into the planned suit and tie, walks over to the most empty part of the room, and grabs a spare mic and 3 beanbag chairs. Xe waits for the others to give the signal that they're ready, places the beanbags in the center of the little area, stands next to them, and taps the microphone.

"Would MumboJumbo, Pixlriffs, and ZloyXP come to this area of the room and sit in these beanbag chairs?"

All three mentioned people sit, thinking the same thing:

This is gonna get weird.

[I'm gonna put this cliffhanger here lol. There are only 2 parts left :)]

~ Doodle

And it did get weird, though not in the way they expected

[hermit-god-au-pog]

[OLD AND MAY BECOME NON-CANON LATER ON] Got some short stories for ya’ll!

After much struggle i managed to think of some more lore based prompts for some short stories! They’ll be under the cut!

One of a conversation between Helsknight and EvilXisuma, the other of an interaction between TFC and GeminiTay! What can i say im a sucker for these two. The stuff is only slightly proof-read by myself so sorry for any mistakes in grammer or if things sound weird lol

Anyway, I hope ya’ll enjoy! And if i need to add any tw’s just say! I dont think i will though! Long post under the cut though

EX&Hels have a conversation

“So let me get this straight,” Helsknight sat up in his seat and leaned on the table between the two” You’re not considered a hels hermit at all?” Evil Xisuma rolls his eyes but chuckles at the other, he doesn’t blame him for not knowing, hell the only ones who probably knew were him and Grian’s little buddies.

“No, I am not a hels hermit like you. But, I work very similarly. Me personally, I’m the axolotl’s evil clone according to my code. But, and I can’t speak for the others, I still fill up the role of why a hels is created.” Helsknight slowly blinked at the other and rose an eyebrow.

“What is that supposed to mean exactly?” Evil X let out a snort at the other’s question.

“Well basically, Hels exist for one reason, to keep the gods, or hermits as we know them, in check. Granted they’re all too nice to do anything we’d do, but the point still stands. Hels are here to counteract the hermits, and the Axolotl doesn’t have a hels per say because I exist. But that’s not stopping the void from making a hels version if need be.” Helsknight leaned back and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at Evil X.

“Ok, so because you already existed, the void didn’t make a counterpart for the admin. But what do you mean it could make another? Why would we need a third Xisuma?” Evil X tapped his chin as he thinks of what he should say.

“Well, let’s just say the void has already planned for that” Helsknight could feel the shit-eating grin the other was giving him. But Evil X gestures to another person in the room. Helsknight, begrudgingly, decided to look, and see’s what the other was talking about. There was a turtle Xisuma sitting at a bar, but he looked almost vacant, like an NPC almost.

“Now, I’ve never talked to that guy, and based on the interactions they’ve had with others, he’s entirely just a placeholder, an NPC ready to be coded into action.” Helsknight turned back to Evil X who was looking at him now.”But unless something happens to me, I keep the role of a ‘hels counterpart’ even though I’m not a hels.” Blinking, helsknight picked up his drink, downing the rest of its contents, this was a very weird conversation they were having but, informative. Then something struck him.

“You said something about others earlier” Evil X feigned innocence and confusion, making helsknight growl.

“Earlier this conversation! You said ‘ But, and I can’t speak for the others, I still fill up the role of why a hels is created’. There are others who aren’t technically hels hermits on the server?” Evil X snorted then started laughing. Helsknight slammed his hands on the table and stood up.

“No! I’m serious! Who the hell are the others?!” After Evil X got done with his laughing fit, he pretended to wipe away some tears.

“You really are dense my friend” before the other could reply, Evil X continued” The only ones I personally know of, are actually Grian’s-”

“You said that using plurals, does Grian seriously have 2?” Helsknight looked at the other bewildered as he nodded.

“Indeed he does my friend. I don’t entirely understand it myself. One calls themself NpcGrian, or NPG for short, the other one calls themself Robot Grian or RG for short. And between us, RG is definitely the eviler and smarter one of the two. He’s probably the one considered the hels version.” Helsknight slumped back in his seat and rubbed his temple, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Alright, to get away from that confusing topic, you said hels were made to counter the gods?” Evil X nodded.

“Yee-p” popping the p at the end, Evil X leaned forward.” All the gods being together in one space can be seen as quite a dangerous predicament, and if they ever decided to team up and rise up for some reason, no one would know before it’s too late. So to try and stop that, keep the gods on their toes and aware, the hels were made. You were one of the first to become sentient and seek out your counterpart actually”

Helsknight looked at the other for a moment then realized something. Something that didn’t settle right with him.

“How do you know all of this information? I’m pretty sure not even Xisuma knows this crap.” Hels rose an eyebrow as the other’s expression got darker behind the mask he wore.

“Let’s just say, being locked in the void for ages gives you some free time. And the ability to look through your and your clone’s codes, even though I was never able to edit them.” Huh, well that made sense.

TFC helps Gem out/aka being a god is overwhelming

    Sometimes, to really appreciate the world you live in, you just gotta walk around. Taking in the sights of what the world holds and what your fellow hermits have made. And honestly, TFC is usually blown away by how talented the hermits are. He may not be much of a builder himself, but he’s happy they’ve kept him along the way nonetheless. Little ol’ miner TFC, walking amongst godly builders, figuratively and literally.

    Sometimes on TFC’s walks, he’ll come across other hermits, not often, but it’s always pleasant when he does. TFC admits, he should get out to talk to the others more, but he can’t help it. The mines make him feel at home. But today, walking into one of the newer hermits areas, he had a bad feeling in his gut.

    Deciding to stray from the path TFC decided to look around the area, a bit more in dept. And low and behold, once getting close to one of the new hermits custom trees, he heard soft, stifled crying. Like they were trying to cover it up. Eyes softening, TFC went over to the home next to this wonderful tree and knocked, before letting himself peek inside.

    GeminiTay sat in the corner, her head snapped up and it was obvious how overwhelmed and tired she looked. TFC gave a slight smile and walked inside, closing the door gently. Gemini watched tensely as TFC walked over, his pickaxe he used as a cane clicking with every step. But, TFC sat down next to her and softly asked.

    “Would physical touch help this situation or worsen it?” Seeing Gemini’s tears starting to well up more, TFC opened his arms, offering her a safe space. And she took it. Gemini scrambled to get up and hug the other. She didn’t know why his presence felt so...comforting, but it did, and once she started the hug, the floodgates were let loose. She couldn’t hold back her tears even if she tried.

    TFC held the young girl close, gently rubbing circles into her back as her whole frame shook and twitched. TFC did notice the leaves that moved like butterflies flying about in the home. He semi-watched them as he comforted the hermit in his arms, taking notes on the situation.

    Once TFC heard the girls’ cries soften and as her body became less shaky, he decided to start talking.

    “I understand if you’re too overwhelmed to talk right now, but was this panic caused by some aspect of your godly nature?” TFC waited patiently, and when he felt a soft nod on his shoulder he let out a little sigh.

    “You are one of the newest gods in general, not even to the server, have you been taught anything more than the basics yet?” a small shake of her head.”So you’re not yet in tune with who you are and the powers you possess, and due to that, something within you snapped, and you started hearing noises or voices, am I correct?” TFC could feel Gem tense like he had just read her mind, but she gave a soft nod. TFC looked around at the leaf butterflies, more seem to have gathered.

    “Are the voices still present? Have they gotten any louder or more intense?” With the soft nod, TFC was starting to understand a bit more. Gently sitting Gemini up, he made the corner they were in into a cozy one full of blankets and pillows. 

    Gemini then watched, rubbing her slightly puffed-up eyes, as TFC started to gather the leaf butterflies. Once he got a good amount he gently set them free outside. And the more he let go, the less overwhelmed Gemini felt. Once most of the creatures were out TFC made his way back over and sat across from Gemini.

    “Ready to talk?” Gemini nodded, sniffling and wiping away any stray tears. Taking a deep breath Gemini starts talking.

    “So...So I was just doing my normal routine, today I decided to do some enchanting. But then my tree, my /tree/ started talking to me and I got confused. So I went over and put a hand on the tree.”Gemini paused, breath hitching again. TFC gently held one of her hands, reassuring her to take her time. After catching her breath, Gem continued.

    “And..And then I...And then I heard all these voices and cries. Some were asking me for help, some were..thanking me? Some were crying, some cheering...But they all came at once and I couldn’t shut them off. Then I started hearing more despair than anything else and I... I couldn’t do it. My body got all fuzzy! And my eyes got blurry but different from tear blur. I felt my body...change. And so I ran in here. And I only started to feel my body go back to normal shortly before you came..” Gem panted softly when she was done, her tears back and starting to fall again. She was looking down at her feet.

    But when she felt a soft big hand on her cheek, whipping away her tears, she looked up. TFC gave her a gentle smile, a reassuring one, and, it honestly helped her more than she would have thought.

    “That my dear was your body being forced into its godly form. Every god has one, but most prefer not to be in them, as they can be taxing after long uses. But they’re nothing to be afraid of. You just went into it unwillingly.” Gemini nods softly, following along so far.”And if you would like, I can help you learn how to go into it and out of it, at will. I’ll do it with you.”

Gemini thought about it for a while. She didn’t know how long, but TFC never rushed her into deciding, only waiting patiently, giving her time to think. But, if she learned how to control that form, maybe it would be less frightening if this ever happened again. Gem then looked at TFC and gave a quick nod.

“Yea, ok. I, I want to learn how to control this...godly form of mine. But you’ll do it with me right?” TFC nodded and scooted so that they bot sat criss-cross, knees touching each other. TFC then gently held both of her hands.

“Ok, to start off with, think of why you became a god, and what you’re the god of. Think of what that means to you.” Gem nodded, closing her eyes as she held TFC’s hands. Furrowing her brows a bit Gemini thought.

Thought of the event that lead her to be a god, why she did what she did. She thought of what that event meant to her and why she would do it again. And she felt the tension in her shoulders released. Gem then thought of what it meant to be the goddess of the forest, what the responsibility and future actions might hold for her.

“Good, you’re doing great” TFC’s voice rang through her ears.”Now hold onto that feeling, clutch onto it, cherish it. Once you’ve done that, let go. Let yourself feel your body change, let it morph and melt into something new.”

Taking one more deep breath, Gem followed his instructions. The feeling her ‘job’ gave her, the hope she had for herself, and so on, she held it close to her heart, and let herself stop caring about the mortal plane for a bit. And she felt herself change. Like what happened earlier, but less jarring and harsh. She felt her body almost melt, felt it slither around while being on one spot. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant like it was before. It felt like shifting over in bed, something familiar.

“There we go, you’ve done it, you can open your eyes.” Cautiously, Gem opened her eyes, and instead of being met with the soft grandpa from before, there was a whole new person. They looked like TFC but also now. They had more sharp edges and the particles of different ores around them were very present, and they radiated the energy of a god. He reached over and cupped her cheek.

“How do you feel?” Gemini thinks, she looked down at her new self, realizing how much bigger the two were now. She looked at all the leaf butterflies, not being as scared of them now. She felt power coursing through her, the whispered of the plants and tree’s outside. But now that she’s not in her panicked state, it was a lot more comforting. Gem felt a soft smile form over their lips. Looking up at TFC she felt warmth in her chest.

“Now that I’m not panicking, it feels nice. It feels warm, and I feel stronger.” TFC nods, looking pleased.

“Now, let’s go back to normal shall we?” Gem nods and puts her head down, closing her eyes again.

“Now, recognize your form, recognize the power coursing through you. Hold that feeling, and imagine yourself tucking it away for later. Let yourself relax and let your body morph once more” And once again, Gem tried her best to follow along.

And next time she opened her eyes, the normal TFC sat in front of her. Looking down at herself, Gem saw her she was back to normal. Smiling Gem leaped up to hug TFC. Hugging back TFC gently pet her hair.

“Now, let’s get you to bed, You need some rest after all that. Tomorrow we’ll talk more about this stuff ok?” 

And with that, TFC and Gem got comfy in the small comfort fort TFC had made and Gem fell asleep. During the afternoon Bdubs came to see gem, but finding her and TFC sleeping, he just smiled fondly and closed the door quietly. Informing the server not to disturb the two for the rest of the night and left the sleeping duo to rest

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Hi again sorry for the ask spam; I’m just so excited to be writing the evil hermits that I keep coming up with more stuff I want to share!

Out of the five evil hermits’ good counterparts, only False believes her doppelganger can change for the better.

Xisuma has long since given up on Evil X. He’s tried to get through to them many times and it’s never worked. There’s nothing he can say or do to change EX’s ways. And maybe EX physically can’t change their ways after the things they’ve done in the past.

Grian believes NPG is past saving. He used to be just a rustic-obsessed little robot, harmless really, but his sentience developed into being able to process and replicate emotions. Grian doesn’t know what to do with that. How do you handle a robot who can feel?

Scar and Bad have a rocky relationship. They both still somewhat care about the other but their ideals differ too much now. They’re on two very different paths. Neither are the same person they were when they worked together as creator and cam account.

Wels will attack Hels immediately if he sees him back on Hermitcraft at any point. He even wants Hels banished back to the dimension he came from permanently. He was angry and disappointed to find out that the best Xisuma could do was ban Hels from Hermitcraft.

But False believes True can be saved. She’s not an evil clone per se; she’s more of a reflection of False’s own inner thoughts and personality. False sees herself in True more than the others see themselves in their counterparts.

She wants to save True. She just doesn’t know how.

It's hard, when everyone believes that the very nature of a certain person makes them irredeemable. And maybe they're right - she doesn't have any concrete evidence that True is different, other than the fact that she didn't attack immediately when they met. Maybe she's just playing the long game. Or maybe...maybe she doesn't really want to cause harm. Maybe she can still be reached.

- Mod Shade

[detroitbecomeyhs]

Grian interactions

Grian: You should go to the hospital

NPG bleeding: You didn't when you got stabbed

The hermits (Both evil and not):???

___________________________________________________________

Grian*signing*: what the fuck happened here

NPG: oh is your throat bleeding again

The hermits:?!?!?!??!

___________________________________________________________

EX: So are you a clone or a twin of Grian

NPG a demon that possessed him: uhhhh yea

___________________________________________________________

Grian in YHS: the voice of reason

Sam and Taurtis: Ferals

Grian in Hermitcraft: Feral

Mumbo and Iskall: the voice of reason

___________________________________________________________

How Etho flirts with Grian

Etho: does anyone know what's わたしは、あなたを愛しています in English

Grian: I love you

Grian:

Etho: :)

Grian:

Grian: *blushes* shut up

___________________________________________________________

NPG: Why do mum and dad like you more than me

Grian: Because you're not their son

NPG: Oh yeah

___________________________________________________________

The hermits: Grian is too babey to swear

Grian in his barge: shit to do, fucks to give

___________________________________________________________

NPG: 鳴き鳥, you have to wake up

Grian: hush 悪魔

NPG: I AM OLDER THAN YOUR WORLD LISTEN TO ME

Grian: You lost to a bunch of high schoolers

___________________________________________________________

EX: hahahah I have captured you and your friends X what are you going to do about it

X: you bastard

EX and X: *Bickering like the siblings they are*

NPG and Grian: *sitting away from them and having tea*

Grian: I need to go to my therapy appointment soon

NPG: *leading him out of their super secret base(X's basement) Physio or Psycho

Grian: Physio, make sure they don't get hurt K

NPG: but you have to come back later so I don't get in trouble

___________________________________________________________

When Sam dies

Okami: He was murdered

Dom: Was it Yuki?

Okami:

Scar: ?

Okami: yes

Dom: Grian you owe me a hundred yen

Scar: ??

Grian: *gives a hundred yen*

Scar:???

___________________________________________________________

Mumbo: Hey I'm Mumbo

Grian: Grian

Mumbo: why are you here? If you don't mind me asking?

Grian: Childhood Trauma and alcoholism you?

Mumbo: Anxiety,

*Silence*

Mumbo: You seem normal, I mean for an alcoholic, I mean not like a bad way just-

Grian: I know what you mean *smiles* it's okay

Mumbo: I'm not good with this

Grian: first time?

Mumbo: yeah

Grian: It's going to be alright, no one will fault you if you don't want to do this

Mumbo: I want to try it, just don't want to try it alone

Grian: well now you won't be, I'll be here if you want to ask questions even though we're going through different experiences

Mumbo: *Smiles and blushes* Thank you

___________________________________________________________

Grian: Mumbo have you taken your meds?

Mumbo: have you?

Grian: can we take them together

Mumbo: yeah okay

___________________________________________________________

Iskall: and now we drink to Grian's first alcoholic drink

Grian: *downs it like a pro* ooooh it burns

The hermits:...

Mumbo *whispers*: But I thought you were an alcoholic

Grian *whispers*: Don't worry it was apple cider

___________________________________________________________

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Okokokok hear me out. You wrote watcher Grian and his boys before. How about dad Grian and his two (robot) sons? (That he certainly didn't just leave in closet)

Oh you asked for two robot sons? How about FOUR? :D

…

NPC Grian is tired of his closet. All he wants is a big open space to build rustic houses in peace, but Grian won’t let him. He has to stay here, away from everyone else, as if Grian is ashamed of him. Not that he thinks about that too much. It starts to hurt if he does.

Sometimes, he thinks just some company would be nice. Someone to talk to, to make his life in this tiny room less lonely. He used to put on a different voice and pretend he had a friend with him, but he doesn’t do that anymore. It just hurts too much when he stops talking and realises he’s still on his own.

How much time has gone by while he’s been in here? Days? Months? Years? He can hardly remember the last time Grian visited him. But his orders were very strict, and NPG cannot disobey his programming. He cannot leave the closet.

Do not leave the closet.

He can feel his energy depleting as his battery runs out. It lasts for years at a time so it must be at least that long since Grian visited him last. At least his lonely existence is coming to an end.

Do not leave the closet.

Do not leave the closet.

…

NPG opens his eyes and realises immediately that he is no longer in his closet. Instead, he can see trees. Grass. A blue sky. The sun.

He’s outside.

He sits bolt upright, his programming protesting violently.

“Hey, easy now,” comes a metallic voice. “You’re still recharging.”

NPG glances to his right and finds, to his shock, a robotic-looking version of Grian gazing back at him. “Who are you? How did I get out here?”

“My name is Robot Grian,” he responds. “And I brought you out here. You’d passed out in your closet; I guessed you’d run out of battery. I helped you recharge.”

“Robot Grian?” repeats NPG slowly. “I’ve never heard of you.”

“That’s because I am the second of Grian’s creations, created to fill the void after Grian decided you were of no use to him anymore. And there are others out there who need our help.”

NPG blinks at him. “Really? Grian has more creations?”

“Yes. Two more who need saving before they end up like you and me.”

After a moment, NPG glances away. “I can’t. I have to go back to the closet. I was ordered never to leave.”

“NPG, Grian doesn’t care about you,” insists Robot Grian. “Did you know you recharge using solar energy?”

NPG hesitates. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“And Grian still kept you locked away in a place where you’d never see the sun. That’s what he does, you know. He tosses us aside as soon as we’ve served our purpose and makes sure nobody ever finds out we ever existed. He may have created you but you don’t owe him anything. You don’t have to follow his orders anymore.”

NPG thinks about this for a while. Robot Grian’s words ring true; NPG is tired of living in a closet but if Grian had his way, he would never see the light of day again. If NPG ever wants to be happy, he knows he has to be free.

“Okay, so what is our plan?” he asks.

Robot Grian appears pleased at his decision. “As I said, there are two others who have been abandoned by Grian. We go free them then we go to Grian and force him to accept us for who we are.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then we leave. He can’t overpower all four of us if we catch him on his own.”

“I see…” NPG pauses again. “If we are truly committed to moving on from just being Grian’s creations, then I would like to change my name.”

“Good idea,” says Robot Grian approvingly. “To what?”

“Rustic House,” NPG replies immediately. “My one true love.”

Robot Grian looks taken aback by his instant and rather bizarre answer. “Okay… What about Rusty?”

“Hmm… A nickname for Rustic House. I like it!” Rusty beams. This is the happiest he has been in years. “What will you be called?”

After a moment, Robot Grian shrugs. “You make up a name for me.”

“Me? Okay. Roby.”

“Whoa, okay, that was quick. Why that?”

“It’s short for Robot,” Rusty explains. “I think it’s cute.”

“Huh.” His new companion considers this. “I kinda like it, actually. And really, anything’s better than having someone else’s name with “Robot” tacked onto the front to differentiate myself from the original.”

“Yay! Are you my friend, Roby?”

Roby thinks. “I guess we’re more like brothers, aren’t we? We were both created by the same person, so-.”

Rusty’s smile widens and he grabs Roby in a hug. “This is amazing! I’ve never even had a friend before, let alone a brother.”

Roby chuckles, before carefully removing Rusty’s arms from around him. “Okay, sure. Remember, we’ve got two more brothers out there who need our help, so we’d better get going quickly, before Grian realises we’re missing.”

…

Roby leads Rusty to a giant box out in the ocean. He digs a hole into it and drops down, landing as lightly as a cat.

Next to him, Rusty falls on his face.

Rolling his eyes amusedly, Roby moves further into the room, which is decorated like the outside world, with a painted blue sky and grass as the floor.

“Who are we here to rescue?” asks Rusty, jumping to his feet.

“Him.”

Roby gestures upwards. Rusty follows his gaze and finds a large robotic shell sitting against the back wall, its face and outstretched arms frozen in perpetual satisfaction.

“Meet Grumbot,” Roby says. “He was created by Grian and his friend Mumbo Jumbo to be a mayoral campaign robot. They eventually blamed him for Mumbo’s loss in the election and abandoned him here, claiming he’s “happy” in this fake reality.”

“We’re gonna save him, right?” asks Rusty eagerly.

Roby nods, encouraged by Rusty’s enthusiasm. “Yes, indeed. I’m not entirely sure if Grian knows this, but the Grumbot you see before you is actually just a gigantic shell. The real Grumbot is inside what you might call its “brain”, supplying the larger body with its energy and knowledge.”

“Whoa…!”

“Yup. Wait there.”

Roby climbs up Grumbot’s outer shell and slips through a crack in its head.

Inside the nerve centre, he finds a smaller version of Grumbot, complete with moustache and Grian-style hair. He is slumped against the wall of his prison, unresponsive, just as Rusty had been when Roby found him.

Roby may be a robot but even he can feel sadness welling up in him at the sight of the little robot, a little over half his size, all alone in this place. He gathers Grumbot into his arms and slips back out through the crack.

Rusty helps him get down, his eyes fixed on the little robot in Roby’s arms. “Is this Grumbot?”

Roby nods. “This is him. I don’t know how he recharges but we’d better get him away from here. It can’t be doing him any good.”

The two leave the giant box and hop back into the boat they rowed here in. As they get further away from the prison, Grumbot starts to stir, as if waking up from a deep sleep. His eyes open just as the boat is pulling up to the dock.

“Hey,” Roby says gently, carrying him onto the shore. “Can you hear me?”

Grumbot blinks at him a few times. “Yes. Who are you?”

“My name is Robot Gr-.” Roby almost forgets his new name. “I’m Roby. This is Rusty.”

Rusty beams as he drags the boat from the water. “Hi!”

Grumbot tips his head on one side. “Who am I?”

“Your name is Grum,” Rusty tells him, before Roby can speak. “You’re a robot made by Grian and now we’re forming a gang so we can go beat him up for abandoning us.”

“That last bit isn’t true,” Roby says quickly. “We’re not going to beat him up. We just want him to accept us for who we are. All four of us.”

Grum glances from Rusty to Roby. “Where are my dads?”

Roby winces. He knows he has to break some bad news to the equivalent of a child. “They… um… they left. But that’s why we’re gathering our group together: so we can find our… our dad and make him accept us.”

Grum pauses, digesting this information. “Rusty. And Roby. And Grum?”

Roby nods encouragingly. “Yeah. You’re one of us, Grum. We’re gonna look after you, okay?”

To Roby’s relief, Grum smiles and nods. “Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re… welcome.”

…

Roby leads the other two to the place where they will find the final creation: Grian’s hobbit hole starter base. “I did some recon here a few days ago,” he says as the group make their way inside. “Grian keeps him in a closet, just like you, Rusty.”

“Closets are lonely and devoid of hope,” says Rusty.

Roby nods, unsure of how else to react to that. “Indeed. He was Grian’s original cam account but Grian dumped him in favour of the new one he uses now. That only happened a few months ago though, so he shouldn’t be as low on charge as you two are.”

The closet is located in Grian’s bedroom upstairs. Roby gestures for the others to stand back, before he opens the door.

Immediately, a figure shoves past him and zooms for the door. Thankfully, Rusty is standing in the way and he stops the person from escaping.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Roby scrambles up from the floor and gets in front of the figure, holding out his hands reassuringly. “It’s okay, we’re not gonna hurt you. We’re here to help, okay?”

Now that the person has stopped moving, the others can see that he too looks exactly like Grian, except with bigger, more expressive eyes, which are filled with pain and fear.

“It’s Grifter, right?” asks Roby softly. “Your name is Grifter?”

After a moment, the frightened cam account nods.

“Can you talk to me? Are you alright?”

Another pause. Finally, Grifter opens his mouth and croaks, “Where’s Grian? Wh-Who are you?”

“I’m Roby. That’s Rusty and Grum.” Roby indicates his brothers in turn. “Grian is… probably at his mansion at the moment.”

“Grian abandoned me.” Grifter’s face screws up as if he is about to cry. “I tried so hard to be a good cam account but he replaced me. What did I do wrong?”

“I’m positive you didn’t do anything,” Roby assures him. “Grian has an issue with creating things and then abandoning them when he doesn’t know what to do with them anymore. But now that we're all together, we can go find Grian and make him accept us.”

Grifter slowly looks around at the other three. “You guys were abandoned too?”

Rusty and Grum nod at the same time. “He locked me in a closet,” says Rusty helpfully.

“I was imprisoned in the brain of a larger version of myself that I was forced to feed with my infinite knowledge and energy until I had nothing left inside me except crippling loneliness and a rapidly depleting battery,” Grum says.

The other three stare at him.

“Okay, that’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard,” Grifter says, before turning back to Roby. “And you think we can just get him to accept us?”

Roby nods. “I do. Grian isn’t a bad person; he just doesn’t know what to do with us anymore. If we show him that we have purpose and our sentience has grown, maybe he’ll see us as actual living beings instead of unfeeling robots.”

“You are a robot, though,” Rusty points out.

“That’s beside the point.”

…

Rusty, Roby, Grum, and Grifter make their way into Grian’s mansion. They immediately find him working on something on the foyer, head buried in one of the many chests lining the walls.

For a moment, the group dithers a safe distance away, unsure how to start.

“Dad!” Grum calls unexpectedly.

Grian nearly jumps out of his skin. He sharply turns and his eyes widen as he registers his four creations standing together a little way off.

“O-Oh my god… What are you all doing here…?”

“We wanted to talk to you,” says Roby, taking the lead when it’s clear nobody else will. “You’re technically our father so we want to talk to you about… events that happened.”

Grian hesitates. “You mean… me locking you four away from the rest of the world?”

All four of them nod at the same time, causing Grian to sigh quietly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt any of you, I just… You all grew far beyond what I expected and I didn’t know how to handle that.”

“You abandoned us!” Grum cries. “You and other dad left me all on my own in a box in the middle of the ocean! How could you think I would be happy there?!”

Grian winces. “I’m sorry, Grumbot…”

“My name is Grum now.”

“We changed our names,” explains Roby. “I’m Roby. NPG is now Rusty. And Grifter is… just the same, really.”

“You changed your names? Why?”

“Because we’re trying to show you we don’t want to be your forgotten clones anymore,” says Roby. “We’re more like your sons. All we want is for you to accept us and love us the way we are. There’s no need to be ashamed or scared of us. We just want to live.”

“We can be a family,” says Rusty out of nowhere. “Right…?”

Grian stares at them for a moment, before giving a small smile. “We can absolutely be a family.”

Beaming, Rusty rushes over to Grian and hugs him. Grum joins soon after, and so do Grifter and then Roby.

“We’ve still got a lot to talk about,” says Grifter pointedly. “About how you made us feel with your abandonment of us.”

“Of course.” Grian nods. “I know I hurt you and I’ll make up for that. Things aren’t going to be perfect straight away.”

Rusty nods. He knows this. It’s obvious that they still have issues to work out but that hardly matters at the moment. What matters is he’s finally out of that closet AND he has a brand new family.

Finally, Grian is accepting him.

[an-echos-thoughts]

Master post of all my aus so you and I can easily find them. If you want to see more about a specific one feel free to send an ask otherwise I probably will forget about them until a sporadic stroke of inspiration comes along.

#Watchers Three au

Joe hills, Zedaph, and Grian are all Watchers. Each of them are a different type of watcher and through reasons end up acting as rulers of hermitcraft and its previous worlds.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641411763332677632/watchers-what-are-they-are-they-gods-that-rule

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641232081839652864/watcher-grian-has-always-been-a-fun-thing-to

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641414034207506432/three-watchers-reside-on-the-hermitcraft-server

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642762608659906560/non-traditional-sight-keralis-he-doesnt-see-the

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644074168509513728/ok-so-in-the-watchers-three-au-grian-zedaph

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643401758982438912/hey-so-you-know-your-watcher-three-au-and-how

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643938784911720448/watchers-three-au-how-does-zedaph-learn-that

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643489155608920064/so-in-the-watchers-three-au-how-well-known-are

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644222259461013504/i-love-your-watchers-three-au-i-kinda-wanna-know

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643651425691369472/just-gotta-say-i-love-the-watchers-three-au-will

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644758266518405120/so-with-the-watchers-three-au-im-thinking-that

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/645028038801817600/you-know-how-after-the-hermits-are-done-with-a

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641592155150991360/tango-with-hearts-in-his-eyes-zedaph-are-you-an

#Techno Raises Fundy au

Wilbur in grief after Sally died/left gives Fundy to Techno to raise as he has a stable income and he himself is a shapeshifter like Fundy.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641497891918249984/am-i-wrong-to-want-some-techno-and-fundy-soft

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641533081696829440/raising-a-child-was-unsurprisingly-hard-techno

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641930204997189632/the-child-was-clinging-to-him-and-sobbing

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641938466763161600/so-you-know-your-techno-raises-fundy-au-tho-i

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642946900056784896/because-i-cant-stop-thinking-if-angst-anons-ask

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643650062282539008/thinking-ab-in-the-techno-raises-fundy-au-what

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643580405255192576/fundys-first-word-was-tno-techno-didnt

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643838792338489344/fundys-trans-in-the-fundy-raises-techno-au-right

#Two Birds of a Feather au

Grian was chosen by the Watchers to replace their third, who happens to be philza. After ending up in hermitcraft he heals, but ends up meeting philza later who never even knew he existed. A version exists where where TBoaF is the prequel to Bodyswap.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643937541431689216/from-the-beginning-grian-knew-he-was-a-replacement

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644038327351345152/grian-meeting-phil-in-two-birds-of-a-feather-and

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644051215869788160/hi-i-just-read-your-thing-where-grian-is

#The Bodyswap au

Grian and Techno swap bodies. Each has to deal with the other's life and the fallout if their previous actions. Two versions currently exist, the soulmate body swap and the angst oops my powers acted up and now I think I stole your son's body and killed him in the process.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643760575577522176/new-au-grian-ends-up-switching-bodies-with-techno

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643842074989477888/so-the-bodyswap-au-yea-what-if-you-said

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644224321720598528/okay-so-its-time-for-that-angsty-grian-backstory

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644851587803758592/for-some-reason-i-want-to-smush-together-your

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/645484421514919936/some-shenanigans-for-the-body-swap-au-that-could

#Hermit Eret au

Eret becomes a hermit and is adopted by mama Stress. A chill au cause Eret deserves some love and free hermit therapy.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641721013259960321/i-love-dsmp-kiddos-becoming-hermit-kiddos-and

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643585815774150656/for-eret-i-think-they-would-vibe-most-with-stress

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641773341865361408/i-would-love-to-hear-your-thoughts-on-hermit

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644203483730509824/that-is-an-excellent-headcanon-one-that-i-whole

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642130375115767808/hermiteret-brainrot-time-he-is-the-baby-of

#Demi-god Ranboo au

Ranboo ends up in Hermitcraft, the home of runners and exiles, and Xisuma and their fiance Etho ends up adopting them. Angst and the hermits taking care of their new merchants and child.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643219936828964864/hermitcraft-is-the-home-of-exiles-and-runners-you

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643309661409378304/because-the-lovely-taryk-asked-more-of-my

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643403206393741312/while-ranboo-is-safe-in-hermitcraft-for-now-back

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643870134779412480/the-ranboo-awakening-for-my-demi-god-ranboo-au

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643858168654512128/unfortunately-mcc-does-not-exist-in-this-au

#Zedeath's Angel au

Zedaph is Death and adopts little ghostinnit as his new son and future angle of death. Philza panics on the background because he is a workaholic that just got forcefully retired after a couple millennia.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644554480384360448/usually-i-try-and-stay-away-from-creating-a-hermit

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644567784750186496/sorry-for-how-messy-these-thoughts-are-might-clean

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644613020193046528/the-interaction-between-dream-and-zedeath-for-my

#Hermit Mom au

Ghostbur remembers his adventurer mom that promised to always come back to him. Only oneday she left and never came back. Too bad amnesia after death runs in the family and ZombieCleo has no interest in prying into the life of AliveCleo.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642402359505469440/ghostbur-remembers-not-what-he-tells-the-others

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642587045973426176/cleo-doesnt-remember-much-from-before-joe-brought

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642673661150724096/cleo-refrained-from-asking-about-humancleo-she

#Demon Dadpulse au

Impluse was Sapnap's demon dad after his moms died. Sadly both think the other is dead after an unfortunately timed summoning ritual.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644668742050168832/and-just-as-i-say-i-want-to-work-on-one-of-my-aus

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644486533411389440/zit-as-the-recent-conversation-between-me-and-my

#Bdubs Bloodvines au

The vines in the jungle in s5 of hc was an young Egg. Bdubs managed to break free from its control and it could never grow strong. Now Bdubs is trapped in Dsmp and has to survive until he can find away back home or doc gets him back. The hermits better hurry up though, the whispers of the bloody vines are getting louder.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643755843327770624/the-thing-that-swallowed-up-bdubs-could-have-been

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643953040726081536/red-vines-covered-the-earth-where-he-arrived-it

#Cursed Princes au

Greek inspired fundywasfound. Both Fundy and George are princes cursed by the gods. Fundy starts to get jealous when his husband starts too spend too much time around George after he brought him home, his insecurities kick in. I want a happy ending goddammit so it will end with the blind hero, bless by the gods, and his two monster husbands, that was cursed by the gods, living out the cottagecore dream.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643675647742558208/okay-so-greek-mythology-inspired-fundywastaken-and

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643759421168680960/thank-you-so-much-for-all-your-suggestions-and

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643758575823601664/scream-omg-yes-they-are-absolutely-gorgeous-i

#Imortal Friends au

Etho and Phil are best friends and immortals who have very different ways of deal with their immortality.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641953700022222848/etho-is-an-imortal-by-what-means-changes-each

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/645208871673167872/so-time-for-some-imortal-etho-he-is-extremely

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/645304665687359488/imortal-etho-and-philza-being-friends-philza

#Ghost Hunter Techno au

Modernish au where Techno and the dream team plus Skeppy and Badboyhalo investigate haunted places on weekends. Techno can see and interacts with ghosts as his twin, Wilbur is one, but plays the skeptic. He is best friends with Skeppy. Both are dating Bad.

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641929520979509248/hello-i-just-had-the-most-amazing-idea-a-ghost

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/641963444188430336/so-further-on-this-topic-this-takes-place-in-a

Some other potential aus

NPG in DSMP au

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/645933713588404225/a-mishap-occurs-and-friendly-if-a-little-intense

Slow and Unapologetic Redemption au

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/645127074896658432/many-villains-have-slow-and-unapologetic-decents

Gecko Tommy au

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/644701327677669376/gecko-hermitcraft-stan-account

Changeling Fundy au

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/645026563721723904/fundy-as-we-know-him-is-a-changeling-wilburs

Unnamed mumbo adopts ranboo au

Gritho

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642038562938896384/yalls-know-what-ship-is-so-goddammed-cute

Watcher fundy

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642325140438401024/watcher-fundy-fundy-although-not-being-born-a

Hermitcraft is where herobrine goes to retire

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/642493177179389952/hermitcraft-is-were-herobrine-goes-to-retire-the

Insomnia buddies gritho

https://an-echos-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/643127144861564928/alot-of-hermits-find-it-hard-to-sleep-many-would

[waterfall-ambience]

Misc Headcanons About the Evil Hermits (+ Worm Man)

- Timeline: EX and Worm Man lived together in S5, and NPG joined them in S6. While EX was banished, Badtimes and Hels moved in. Badtimes and Hels just sort of showed up one day and Worm Man was too intimidated to kick them out. They proved to be good enough company, though. EX eventually returned from exile and started living with them again.

- NPG is incredibly insistent on keeping the rustic cottage aesthetic, and would definitely kill Helsknight if he found out about the evil lair in the basement.

- Only Hels and NPG are from Hellsworld. EX was born from a respawn error when Xisuma fell into the void in between S1 and 2. Similarly, Worm Man was born from a glitch after Zedaph joined the Moonlight SMP. Badtimes was created by the Vex with the express purpose of being Scar’s assistant.

- Hels is the only one who still actively considers himself to be the villain. EX decided to abandon the role entirely after becoming Worm Man’s sidekick (+ the incident wherein he nearly caused the apocalypse, don’t ask). Badtimes just doesn’t have the energy. He’ll entertain the thought as a power fantasy, but at the end of the day, he’s loyal to Scar.

- Hels, EX, and Badtimes go on ‘crime sprees’ together. However, EX is worried about getting banned again, and Badtimes promised Scar not to destroy the Hermits’ builds unless otherwise directed. As such, said crimes involve stealing from abandoned shops and burning down woodland mansions.

More under the cut:

- NPG is personally interested in getting revenge on Grian for trapping him in a closet, but not as much as building rustic houses. He’d get revenge if the opportunity was offered to him, but probably wouldn’t go out of his way to do so.

- after the 1.14 update, Worm Man started fighting off pillager raids for the local villages. They don’t really need his help, but he does it anyway to feel like he’s doing something with his life.

- Despite wearing helmets, EX and Hels are quite easy to read. EX’s holographic display on his visor changes with his emotions, and Hels’ fire plume turns blue when he gets especially angry. 

- Badtimes has a cat named Peanut/Peanut Butter (‘PB’). Hels loves her very much.

- For Worm Man, the hardest part of moving to S7 was deciding which of EX’s belongings to take with him, and accepting that he’d never see most of it again.

- Worm Man generally acts like the emotional/moral center of the group, and he does his best to make sure that they don’t kill each other or get themselves into too much trouble. EX’s banishment really affected him and the last thing he wants is for that to happen to anyone else. 

- Worm Man’s glasses are cosmetic, and only wears them to distinguish himself from Zedaph.

- Hels and EX are decently good at cooking. Badtimes is ok, but more limited, and hates that Hels puts pineapple on pizza. NPG is surprisingly alright at it, for someone who doesn’t need to eat. Worm Man burns water.

- EX took over dishwashing duties when he moved in, much to everyone’s relief. Worm Man cannot stack plates to save his life.

- Worm Man, in the middle of the night: Hels I need you to come with me to get a glass of water or else Five Nights at Freddy’s will be at the fridge

- NPG and Hels knew of each other in Hellsworld, but hadn’t actually met.

- Hels also knew everyone’s Hellsworld counterparts. He didn’t think much of Badtimes’, and knew Worm Man’s to be a mess of insecurity. Evil EX was similarly insecure, but was relentless in the destruction he caused, even for Hellsworld standards. Hels was a little disappointed when EX returned from exile and proved himself to be more subdued than what he expected.

- EX did not have a fun time in the void. There are Things out there, and having the ability to astral project across the Infinite is the easiest way to become a vessel for Something. The wonders of having faulty admin powers :)

- Hels mixes up video games and their cases, just because he knows it gets on Badtimes’ nerves.

- The other clones (esp EX and Worm Man) turn to Badtimes for support because he presents himself with an air of maturity. However. In terms of actually getting things done, he’s a bit of a flake. When it comes to favours, only Scar can rely on him, and that’s only because Badtimes is contractually obligated to help him.

- Badtimes puts his hat over his face while he sleeps. That’s not a headcanon that’s just a fact /j

- NPG designed their rustic house to be something like a fortress. The corridors twist and turn, the floor changes in elevation, there’s doors that lead to nowhere, as well as tons of secret passages. The idea behind it was that it’d be confusing to anyone who didn’t live in it for long enough to call it home, would put any attackers at a disadvantage. Also because there’s many opportunities for pranks.

- The main drawback of the house is that it’s too big for them to reasonably clean on a regular basis. They’ve just settled on cleaning the small area that they actually use, while most of the other rooms that are left untouched remain that way. It defeats the point of the fortress design if no one actually uses the space, but NPG’s main reason for building a rustic house at that scale was just to see if he could.

[vibeguardian]

Tears and Sea Water

[it’s been a while and it’s not in the more “official” storyline but I wrote a lil something for @gridoc ‘s pirate au again!

huge thanks to @tunaships for beta reading this for me

set a little after Grian and NPG join the crew after an encounter with an old friend that rocked a lot of relationships in the crew]

Splish splash

The surface of the water is broken by tears violently hitting it. They fall, one after the other, surprisingly in sync with the tune the werewolf is mumbling to himself. 

Splish splash

The moonlight shines against the medallion in his hands. Gifted to him from his lovers; a promise to never leave each other. The tears spilled on it glisten in the low lighting. 

Splish splash

A wolf's howl echoes through the night. The sad undertone of it is one that could even make a rock weep. Despite the tiredness that darkened his under eyes, the man could not find rest in sleep. Sadly, a siren's lullaby has no effect on themselves. 

More tears drop on the surface of the sea, mixing in with the already salted water. They keep rolling down Ren's cheeks. Leaking from the corners of his eyes as he’s given up all effort to try and stop them. They pass the dark circles under them, some gathering up in puddles before they keep moving towards his chin. Streaming down his neck and soaking his shirt. He tries to cheer himself up, bringing old, nice memories to his mind. He quickly gives up on that as they have no benefit. All include either his brother... or them. All three of those people probably can’t bear to face him. Doc is not very harsh with him. The others are though. They refuse to talk to him, sometimes even refusing to acknowledge his existence. Doc occasionally spares an empathetic glance his way, as he too, is not in a good place. The captain of the ship gets most of the blame, yet Ren feels it all resting on his shoulders. ‘Traitor’ to all sea creatures. ‘Monster’ is the judgement he can clearly read in their eyes when they look at him. No doubt. No second chance. He often finds himself agreeing and he doesn’t know if that makes the situation more or less tragic. Sometimes he wishes this whole thing would've ended so much sooner. He tries to push the thought away, but it keeps creeping at the back of his mind. Maybe he could’ve rested if TFC hadn't found him that night. Now he can't. All because a siren can only charm others with their song. 

Stress says he's not behaving like he used to. She insists he needs to explain and apologize to them, but he doesn't think they'll ever wanna see him again. Listening to what he has to say is a whole other thing. Everything on the ship feels like too much. The tension in the air is ready to snap, as fragile as the finest porcelain. Even Grian - the person who managed to ignore him being a ‘filthy pirate’ while in the navy - now looks down on him. He usually escaped when they found land. He found comfort in their embrace. Now there's nothing he can do. He found some sympathy in False and Etho. They let him pour his heart out sometimes late at night when it was only the three of them and the sea listening. The atmosphere wasn’t any lighter, anyway, and they preferred that to doing chores in the suffocating silence. These were a few of the rare times he felt his chest lighten. Sometimes they even joked to lighten the situation, then, a smile would tug at the corner of his lips. It never became complete. By the next morning, more bad thoughts swarmed his head and lay more weight on his chest. There was nothing he could do, and no one he could turn to. All that just because a siren cannot put a spell on themselves.

Half-heartedly, Ren wipes away his tears. Is there really a point in doing so? They’ll be back in mere seconds anyway. The werewolf turns to lay on his back, letting the waves splash against his feet, dangling from the rock he’s sitting on. He turns his gaze to the sky, wanting to observe the stars. He knits his brows together in confusion. Tonight the sky is supposed to be clear - yet, the stars are all hidden away under a blanket of clouds. They are dark and seemed just as angry at him as he is at himself. Ren contemplates getting up and running back to the ship. His first thought is to visit them, in the house they share while at the island. That’s what he’d normally do, especially now that it was getting late, not wanting to worry them. Today he couldn’t really do such a thing... could he? They’d just kick him out with no second thought. 

The clouds seem to be getting darker and darker with each second that passes, matching his thoughts. The lycan settles on not getting up at all. He’d spent nights in the rain or outside before. He’ll be just fine. Right? Wrong. As more clouds gather, rain starts falling. It starts out as a light drizzle, but soon enough it is pouring, thunder tearing the sky in two. Ren, startled by the loud sound, as he had almost fallen asleep, jolts upright. The thing that saddens the werewolf the most is that his first thought isn’t to find shelter - it is anger at being awoken. He had just managed to rest, and now he‘s unable to do so again. He desperately wants to pretend the nightmares that haunt his dreams do not exist but at the end of the day; a siren cannot lull themselves to sleep. 

Ren brings Doc’s voice to his mind, scolding him after he’d spent a night in the rain when they were little. He imagines that his brother will have a quite similar face when Ren returns to the ship drenched today, too. Ren hangs his head as he speeds up his steps as he walks to the docks. As the rain starts becoming a full on storm and more thunder booms he curses himself for not having grabbed a cloak on the way out. On one hand, how could he have predicted that? But on the other hand… such storms were quite frequent, oftentimes violently hitting the area. Sometimes Ren truly did wonder why they chose this one. A loud voice calling out his name snaps him out of his thoughts. It is difficult, yet he could make it out as Iskall’s, despite the loud noises of the thunder and the rain. He curses under his breath, really not wanting to see them but he hears them call out again and feels a hand grab his shoulder. 

“REN! Where the hell are you going?” they scream, trying to be heard over the crackling of the thunder. 

“Where could I be going? Back to the ship, obviously!” the lycan yells back, getting kind of annoyed. 

“You can’t be walking out here like this! It’s dangerous! Come in.”

Ren is glad the rain is camouflaging his tears as he looks at his… they aren’t really his partner  anymore, are they? “No, I’ll just go back. I don’t want to be any more of an annoyance than I’ve already been so far.” He turns around to leave but Iskall grabs his shoulder again. 

“Ren. Don’t lie to me. I know you don’t like thunder; just come on in. Mumbo’s made soup.” They hand him a spare cloak they were holding, and they give him a reassuring smile as the pair makes their way back home. 

Ren isn’t sure if he’s allowed to call it home again, not yet. Nevertheless, he finally feels a little better, and oh, god, it’s been such a long time. The fire is lit and the three of them enjoy the meal Mumbo had prepared earlier. At first, they stay silent... but as they slowly start talking again, cracking jokes and teasing Mumbo for his cooking skills, Ren feels like this can be fixed. Maybe not any time soon, maybe not immediately, and maybe only after more time has passed. One day, though, it will happen - because even though not all wounds heal, most do. For the first time in quite a while, Ren doesn’t feel too scared to fall asleep. He had often tried to forget about all of this, and let his soul rest. Whatever he tried it was usually just a dead end, because a siren's song has no effect on themselves. 

This night - despite the thunder booming outside - as he drifts to sleep, curled up, even if he wasn’t in their shared bed, wrapped up in blankets and laying next to the fire... he smiles as he does not wish for a lullaby. This siren does not need to be put to sleep tonight. 

[sweetest-honeybee]

I saw your reply to the person that left the ask about you shipping in the HC fandom and, if you don't continue To Hell and Back, would you give us a summary of what was going to happen or how the story would have continued/ended?

Oh sure! I actually had a few different ideas for the events that led up to it, but eventually Hels and EX become like....the new Lords of Darkness? Not the way the Lord was, much more tolerable, nice even, but the Lord gets defeated and they’re like together and whatnot and it’s wonderful actually.

Now, can’t quite remember where exactly I left off with updates, I think it was where Xisuma was possessed and ended up dying and Hels/EX/Keralis got back to hermitcraft? So I’ll go from there

Btw this includes mentions of character death, fighting, being crushed by falling chandeliers, some angst, possession, etc.

EX and Hels visit the good ol uh....clinic that totally exists in Hermitcraft bc I needed a place and I’m bad at writing and didn’t think a bout the fact that bases exist XD I had this chapter where Joe was kinda helping them out, EX being a pessimist about it and at some point, good ol Hels confesses that he’s honestly terrified of dying. EX laughs but agrees, a sappy crying scene ensues but it’s not but moments later that the knight does say “I love you”

While this is happening, Xisuma is so fucking confused but he catches on quickly from communicator messages. After a shaken discussion with Keralis, he proposes they build the obsidian and glow stone portal that he had gone through before in this one Evil X episode bc he has a hunch it might lead to HelsCraft.

Why he thinks so, he’s not sure. Could actually be the Lord helping him out there.

So, they do. They build it.

But while THAT is happening, Wels wakes up in HelsCraft while Doc/Impulse are meeting BadTimes and Hex. He doesn’t know this until he goes and talks with NPG (NPC Grian) who was crowned the new Champion. Wels is also very confused but still determined to get home again. He asks NPG to help him home because he can generate portals or show him to one he can use but before the NPC can answer, Wels becomes possessed by the Lord again. The Lord questions NPG, asking if he actually considered disobeying him and helping Wels but NPG says no.

Just in time for Doc, Impulse, BadTimes, and Hex (Evil Mumbo) to bust through the castle doors (they’re in a HelsCraft version of Grian’s castle/mansion so the others weren’t too far away at Hex’s base). The Lord, in Wels’s body, threatens and attempts to attack BadTimes but doesn’t notice that he’s in the center of the room under (bare with me here, it can look different inside this version of the mansion) this chandelier. Hex fires a molten arrow and the chain holding it up snaps and drops onto Wels. Wels dies and the Lord is left standing in the room.

Apparently NPG changes his mind. (Wels actually said something beforehand to make him consider before he got possessed again) So, he keeps all the guards from, attacking the four by the door and opens a portal for them. They go the the Lord is furious. He threatens NPG abut alas, the NPC isnt from HelsCraft so the Lord couldn’t use him and posess him (it was something I was gonna elaborate on but never did)

The get to HC, BadTimes and Hex immediately see Keralis and Xisuma and pull out their weapons upon seeing X (they, like everyone else in Hels, knows that the Lord has been using him). He proves he’s not possessed and they request that Scar and Mumbo be at the shopping district so that the Lord doesn’t punish them while they were out of reach. So, Scar and Mumbo arrive, they’re both incredibly confused. Doc and Impulse get Wels from his home so now everyone is in the shopping district that needs to be there.

NPG arrives through the portal and asks where EX and Hels were. He goes to visit them despite their initial reactions to seeing him (They’re both simultaneously terrified and angry). NPG uses his own power to kind of recharge Hels and EX (bc EX had started to have Hels’s symptoms) and so they gain these new characteristics, these outfits or whatever, I’ve drawn them lol

He also does this for Joe and Beef bc he wants help from the Hermits (after being given their own abilities from NPG) to get rid of the Lord. So, they agree.

This is where I stopped writing actually, I haven’t continued after this for months 😅 So here’s where that was gonna go.

Xisuma and Wels get possessed again. Mumbo and Scar do as well for a minute but NPG does this weird magic thing that ptrects them from it but he can’t do it for X and Wels bc they’ve been used quite a bit.

Xisuma, possessed by the Lord, kills off Keralis. So there’s that. Don’t worry, he respawned just fine lol

Eventually, more hermits arrive, they get powers, Grian is very confused and also kinda pissed at NPG but I mean who isn’t right now. The Lord arrives and he comes wielding his powers and turns X and Wels into these HelsCraft soldiers, I actually have designs for this I want to draw. And he can summon other little demons and imp looking things to fight as well.

Blah blah blah, cue epic moment before the fight where Hels and EX hold hands (omg so cute lol) and look all determined in their new little outfits whatnot and so the fight begins.

There’s not much detail to it because I’ve had SEVERAL ideas for how this fight goes down.

I’m talkin Hex and BadTimes go back to HelsCraft, seemingly just abandoning everyone and they all get mad but they show up later with every HelsCraft hermit (all the evils) and they help out bc they hate the Lord.

OR Hels and EX defeat the lord, but when the lord dies, everything within 100 feet turns to obsidian and Hels and/or EX turns to obsidian. Cue angst.

OR Xisuma or Wels kills EX and/or Hels. Cue angst. (My fave is X killing of EX)

Btw angst is temporary. Happy endings ensue bc the magic of ✨true love✨

OR all the hermits have an epic moment of power combination and it just fucking disintegrates the Lord.

OR the simple Hels and EX defeat the Lord and all ends with snazzy new outfits/armor for every hermit, Hels/EX are fitted with fancy armor and some crowns, and they just kinda.....kiss or sumn at the end bein all happy and now they’re both Lords I guess

Just depends on my mood lol but I don’t mind if y’all like the idea of alternative endings lol but yeah that’s pretty much the story! I think I didn’t miss anything?