#do I put this in the grian and mumbo ship tag?

[idgo-incarnate]

Hermitcraft fandom....

...what do you think of my Biblically accurate Grian and Mumbo?

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

Hermitcraft / Life Series Fic Recs

Because I love so many of them...

I'll split the fics into completed and updating fics, and try to only recommend currently updating fics (i.e., not abandoned). I'm going to write a little about why I like each fic and what the general vibes are - so this is also a kind of review I guess?

I've tried to @ the authors if they have a public tumblr. Sorry to anyone who didn't want to be tagged, I can remove any @ if you ask (or if I have embarrassingly tagged the wrong person). Anyway, enjoy, and I appreciate reblogs because I want as many people to see these fics as possible!!

This ended up being incredibly long so I'm putting a divider here. Click to keep reading!!! Also, fair warning: shipping ahead! Some fics will have mild sexual content, please read the tags if you are unsure <3

Updating Fics

I have already recommended Help Me To Breathe, lost in the dark (he's got a heavy heart), and There Are Monsters Nearby in this post, so I won't explain why I like them a second time, but definitely check them out!!

Death's A Good Gig by @mawofthemagnetar is probably going to be finished by the time this post gets to you, reader, but I'm putting it here anyway. It's short and sweet, one of my favourite representations of Zedaph (or, Zedeath) I've read, and just a joy to experience. If you like grim reapers and discussions of unions, this one is for you. Also I need more Zedaph in my life.

Look, I'm Sorry, Please Stop Scaring Everyone by @cat-in-the-desert reminds me a lot of a particular TV drama I liked when I was younger, which followed a similar premise. This fic follows Mumbo (vampire) and Grian (ghost) as they get up to various housemate shenanigans and meet their local magic-expert and salesman Scar. This fic is fun, but still includes a nice amount of Feelings and hinted-at Angst which I really love. It's lighthearted, but never boring.

It Hurts To Hope by Inquillitory is my favourite of the "Grian crash lands into Hermitcraft and causes problems for everyone" genre. Seeing how many fics there are with that premise, I think that says a lot. It handles Grian's weird Watcher stuff really well. Honestly, I just want to know what happens next!

killing the boy in the tv by @raspberrystruck is like a sickfic on steroids. If you want Grian with so much past trauma he forgets how to function in society, this is basically the fic for you. I really love how hybrid traits affect the characters' interactions in this fic, and how everyone is kind of messed up because of the imbalance Grian brings. It is wonderfully descriptive in all the right places!

Love Me Like I'm Dead by @daniofcrows is such a gem. You know how hard it is to find good Xisuma whump? It's impossible. I absolutely love how Xisuma and Evil X are characterised in this, and I am obsessed with the unique take on hanahaki disease which I have never seen handled in this way before. The balance between flashbacks and present day is maintained wonderfully and I cannot wait to continue reading this one. Wow.

Oh, you wanted me to do a verse? by @bugbbear is... kind of indescribable. It's horror. It's comedy. It's the apocalypse. It's boatem. Scar eats someone. One of the most interesting and unique apocalypse stories I have read. Slowly updating but worth the wait, in my opinion. This one NEEDS more attention.

So Much For Stardust by @a-plethora-of-peters is basically one of my all-time favourites. Which is a damn good achievement seeing as I don't usually read ZITS fics. Like, ever. In this fic, Skizz is a human abducted and hurt badly by aliens, now recovering in the care of good aliens who don't know how 'sentient' he is. Every update of this one makes me smile, it is wonderful. I love how the characters are written and how the different perspectives are shown. It is just great.

Solar Waltz by @raspberrystruck and aroundtheclock is a brilliant and very very sad regression fic. I love fluffy regression fics as much as the next guy, but this one just... hits different. The hurt/comfort levels are off the charts. Grian is so damn cute the whole time, while also being harrowingly complicated and sad. I am so ready for whatever comes next.

Tango's Castle of Cards by @evilrat-sabre is the one where Tango is a BUG. He's just a little guy (horror). This one is so beautifully written, with poetry-type interludes and perspective changes that really make everything feel so much more impactful. Finding out your buddy is a murder bug isn't the easiest thing in the world. I love this so much.

Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU} (series) by @amethystfairy1 is basically one of the series of all time. I know I keep saying that but it really really is. I love a good fantasy au, and I love an au with hybrids even more. In this world, hybrids are treated like slaves, but it isn't all doom and gloom for the main characters of each installment. There is a lot of hurt/comfort and the different stories feed into each other in really interesting ways. I try to read as much as I can, though I've missed a few because my emails are buggy. Definitely worth reading these fics, especially since now they're all starting to come together!

Completed Fics

Solving Counting Sheep by @theminecraftbee might have rearranged my brain chemistry a little. Another strong contender for 'fics that inspire me to kill Grian', this time with a more concrete notion of "replacement". Three is my favourite fucked up living weapon. It's so rare to find Evo fics in this day and age, too. This fic had me immediately clicking on every update as soon as I got the emails.

Rescue Fire by @imaginethat0327 is one of the most unique takes on a fictionalised life series game that I have ever read. The whole concept is explained in a realistic and easy-to-follow way, as we learn what's happening with the characters. There are several brilliant storylines happening in this one, but my particular favourites are Jimmy & Tango, Joel, and of course Scar & Grian. This fic is full of whump and, well, read the tags, it isn't always pleasant, but those are my favourite things ever. Definitely worth checking out this fic and its currently updating sequel.

don't you know about me? by takenbadgering is a wonderful comedy of errors with just the right amount of angst for a realistic setting type of fic. If you enjoy polyamory miscommunications, rave aesthetics, kandi, school teacher dynamics, and a lovely blend between grumbo, cubscar, and mumscar, this is the one.

Eventually the Birds Must Land by @milo-hypno follows a polyam ship I would have never thought of, and I cannot believe how much I loved it. This married-as-friends fic premise is wonderful, and captures the main trio (Grian, Mumbo, Impulse)'s personalities so well, while balancing them with the incredibly terrifying descriptions of the Watchers and their power. There's a lot of angst here, but it is ultimately hurt/comfort to the maximum degree. I loved reading it as it updated. Yay for gay marriage!

From The Archives (series) by @sixteenth-days was the absolute inspiration for my own Comms AU, and I will never forget its influence on me. As someone basically unfamiliar with TMA, I thought this series might be hard to follow, but it was not! I read all 57 parts in the span of two days, and I think it altered my brain chemistry. Please read it, even if (especially if) you don't know anything about TMA. The Cleo and Grian storyline lives in my head rent free. I mean it. This is horror at its finest. Also there's an audio series of this fic being released rn, which is very cool.

SUPERCRITICAL by @masque-of-plague hits different. It is such a wonderful take on the superhero/HotGuy trope, and it gets so super dark at some points! This one really takes swings at it's fictional government, which of course I love, while at the same time building this brilliantly emotional relationship between Scar and Grian. I do enjoy a bit of enemies to lovers, but the actual plot mixed into the story makes this one extra special. It is thrilling, with action that I don't get to see too often! Great work.

I am weary with contending! is one of the mumscarian fics of all time. From 'this house has people in it'-type horror, to magic gone wrong, to childhood trauma, to attempted assassination, to gender fuckery, this fic has it all. Usually I don't go for convex siblings, but this one is good enough to get a pass from me. Amazingly detailed worldbuilding alongside a brilliantly creative story.

It Spreads by @foxxology may not count as a fic, actually. It's a comic. But it's posted on ao3 so it counts. I was obsessed with this one as it was updating, honestly. It rocked me to my core. The art is phenomenal. The writing is brilliant. I love sculk.

Luck of the sea by Sleepy_Duck is a lovely take on mermaid and human interactions, with Grian as a marine life conservator and Scar as a very neglected mer. This one takes us emotionally in all sorts of directions, and offers lots of hope for the future of the characters. I heavily enjoyed this fic - if you like mermaids and marine biology, check it out.

there are many downsides to being a marine biologist by donnerstag is another mermaid fic but with a pretty different vibe. First of all, it follows what I would consider a rarepair Doc/Martyn. Second of all, reading this as it updated was a thrilling experience that nearly made me cry at certain points. I love how the relationship builds in this fic. It is honestly amazing. The whole idea of experimenting on a sentient sea creature, learning that he can communicate, then losing funding and having to save him from being dissected?!?! It's crazy. I love it.

Thus concludes my fic recommendations. I hope you enjoy at least some of these, and consider reblogging to spread these wonderful fics around <3

[logosbot-tm]

I'm not even a shipper but I did see a post (and several tbh) about Mumbo's death in wild life being turned into Mumbo being a rebound/replacement for Scar??? It's so weird even as a nonshipper I know Grian and Mumbo have been iconically Like That (and everybody knows it and jokes about it) for years. I'm convinced a chunk of this fanbase just skips through video

I will say that I'm not fully sure why this was sent to me, but yeah, I've seen it too. Gonna take off the shipping goggles for a hot sec.

(More below the cut...like a lot more, this ended up as a long ass ramble)

Mumbo's treatment within fandom is rather... odd, in my opinion. He gets pushed to the side a lot, he's treated as if he's pathetic (which yes, Ik that the "wet cat" thing is a joke, but when he's consistently portrayed as pathetic you start to wonder), he's treated as a replacement/rebound for Scar, Grian and his interactions are spun into being about Desert Duo (yes, I've seen this happen multiple times, its weird), disloyal, completely incompetent, and when he died he was immediately talked about as "The new canary".

Which

1) That was Jimmy's curse, why are you trying to apply it to someone else who doesn't fit?

2) No, Mumbo wasn't the first one out when the curse was first broken, that was Lizzie

Mumbo and Grian's friendship is also treated as Not As Important As Desert Duo™️. Grian being distraught about Mumbo's death? Nah, let's focus on Desert Duo being friends instead. Grian bringing Mumbo (and Skizz) back to life? Let's focus on the fact that Scar and Grian flew around together (which is cute don't get me wrong). Mumbo killing Grian after being instructed to do so? Let's talk about how this a Desert Duo parallel.

Hell, Grian and Mumbo's friendship isn't even the biggest "victim" of being twisted as only existing to further the Desert Duo narrative. The friendship that has been most affected by it (within fandom ofc), is Grian and BigB's friendship.

Which, is even odder to me. Grian and BigB have known each other for ages, Grian went and looked for BigB himself (because He Wanted To Be Secret Soulmates), Grian said in 3rd life that he didn't want to kill BigB, and the two of them have known each other for long as hell and have even travelled to Sweden together irl (wayback in like 2017).

There's a lot to say about the fandom's treatment of BigB but yeah, not what this post is about.

It's very difficult to interact with fandom content within both the Life Series and Hermitcraft nowadays. You can't escape Desert Duo or Scarian, even if you try. A lot of the time another ship tag, duo tag, or character tag ends up clogged with Desert Duo/Scarian stuff, and if you block the tag it gets filled with blacked out post saying "This post contains Scarian, do you want to see it anyway?" (<can't remember the exact wording), and often UNTAGGED Scarian/Desert Duo posts pop up in other tags, often tagged with another ship that has nothing to do with the post (<Seen this happen a few times in the Grumbo tag). The Scaridarity tag is filled with Scarian posts, which makes it hella annoying to go through/follow that tag.

And yes. Grian and Mumbo have been a duo since... 2017? 2018? Somewhere around there. They're genuinely close as all hell, having gone on a roadtrip together, and having travelled to Sweden together. They both put references to each other in their videos all the time, they have a robot son named after their (at the time) duo/ship name, and in the life series they've been on a team 2/3 times + they always base closely on Hermitcraft (more than once they've linked their bases, more than once they've had a messaging system).

But nowadays that's largely ignored/pushed to the side, and for a little while there was this odd idea about a "Grumbo divorce".

Which, yes I know it was a joke, but also...what???

On the Hermitcraft server, the Hermits doesn't interact all the time. It's literary called /Hermit/-craft. Often, this is because the Hermits are busy with their own projects, things irl, or they just don't interact. This doesn't mean that a ship is getting "divorced" or anything. Hell, it's a ship. The shipping shouldn't be your main focus when watching a video. The shipping is just something for fun.

So yeah, it was weird to see the "Grumbo divorce" jokes be made, when they're still very close, and Are Still Like That™️ about each other.

There's also this odd thing I've noticed within the fandom, where people can't let Grian and Scar do things on their own without twisting it into Scarian.

No, I promise that in the escape room video that Scar wasn't in, Grian didn't think at all about the fandom's headcanon that Scar is a vex.

All this being said, I also have to say that:

I don't hate Scarian. Does it frustrate me? Yes! Very much so.

But that's because of the fandom. I am a Scarian shipper, I enjoy Scarian, and I enjoy Desert Duo a lot. The fandom has made that experience a lot less enjoyable, because of the weird treatment of other people, because you can't escape it even if you try, because everything gets twisted into Scarian/Desert Duo all the time.

It's frustrating, because it's barely the Hermitcraft or the life series fandom anymore, it's basically the Scarian fandom.

Which, fine, I get it. Its the biggest ship, and I understand the enjoyment of it, nothing wrong with that.

But there's other people on both servers, other duos, other teams, and I promise you everything isn't about Scarian all the time.

I think that Scarian shippers/Desert Duo enjoyers mainly watch Scar's videos, with shipping goggles already on, and then they watch Grian's. They read into things that genuinely doesn't matter, all to further the narrative of Scarian. (I'm not saying everyone does this, or that they do it on purpose, but it comes across as such.)

I can't say that I haven't read too much into something because of a ship, hell, I've been here for Mumbo and Grian as a duo since before the duo even existed.

But to me it feels as if it's going a tad bit too far now.

I keep seeing more and more people get frustrated and tired of Scarian/Scarians, and I get it entirely. I see this happen from multiple corners, from multiple people.

Also, Grian and Mumbo are a duo to such an extent that the Hermits comment and joke about it, hell, even non-Hermits do that. I mean Tommyinnit straight up said "You (Grian) and Mumbo come as a pair".

I'd also like to mention the odd treatment of Grumboers from Scarian. Yes, I know that some Grumbo shippers have entered the Scarian tag just to hate on it, don't do that. Just... genuinely, don't do that, what the hell are you even doing actually.

But when Scar said that people were "Annoyed with him and Grian teaming together all the time" (Which they haven't done. They've interacted a lot, which ain't surprising. They're p good friends), there was an odd wave of posts I saw that blamed Grumboers?

I assure you, that whole thing wasn't our fault. People who've complained about that have done so in the YouTube comments, on reddit, and ofc some have done so on twitter (which is just an awful cesspool of negativity, which is why I don't use it).

It's not our fault. A lot of Grumbo shippers are also Desert Duo enjoyers/Scarian shippers. I mean, I am.

There's also this odd narrative that "Grumbo shippers never experienced this much hate when Grumbo was the biggest ship"

Which is just blatantly false.

In the past, people got hate and death threats for shipping. Didn't matter what you shipped, you got hate for it.

At the time, there was a bunch of posts, much more negatively charged than this one, where people went "This isn't the Mumbo and Grian fandom, stop treating it as such." There were a lot of posts about how Grumboers were annoying as all hell, and how we clogged tags. There were straight up hate posts being spread, often by the majority of the fandom.

Shipping with in the Hermitcraft fandom wasn't accepted at all, and Zombiecleo got bullied of off tumblr for saying that she didn't care if people were engaging in shipping.

I'm glad that shipping is accepted now, because by god it was an awful time, but don't say that "Grumbo shippers never had it this bad". We had it a lot worse. Shippers as a whole had it a lot worse. Don't pretend like it didn't happen, and don't try to act as if it's only Scarian shippers that have been hated.

In all honesty, I'm just tired of all of this. Like really tired. I'm tired of seeing everything get twisted into Scarian/Desert Duo, I'm tired of the ignorance of the fandom's past, and I'm tired of seeing hate aimed at any ship/shippers

But I do think that its time to leave the desert. It's not fun to be in the fandom anymore due to the behaviour. Sure, keep shipping, keep having fun. But for God's sake please stay in your lane, tag your things properly, and please stop trying to force Scarian/Desert Duo upon everyone.

I don't think that the hate is deserved, but everything isn't about Desert Duo.

This is most likely the only time I'll make a post like this, and I'm only making it because I'm finally fed up and tired.

Thank you for the ask.

[whereispearlescentmoon]

Hello!

I’ve been on tumblr for a while now and have just recently started posting - specifically Pearl fanart - but I have no idea how main tagging works. does it have something to do with the first tag? Can there be more than one?

Just, any basic thing people should know about main tagging.

I would really love to know in order to make sure I don’t accidentally cross any boundaries Pearl has put down.

Main tagging just means tagging something with “Pearlescentmoon”. It’s considered the “main” tag because it’s all encompassing. Pearl herself is on tumblr and checks that tag regularly, which is why she has asked that any shipping content of her not be tagged with “Pearlescentmoon”. She’s also asked that people are careful about specifying when stuff is about her character rather than her.

The big tags to keep in mind when making ship are “hermitshipping”, “empiresshipping” and “trafficshipping”. Hermitshipping for Hermitcraft, Empires for Empires SMP and trafficshipping for the Life series. Another one is “TrafficYuri” which is specifically for any combo of Gem, Lizzie, Cleo, and/or Pearl. If someone blocks all of those tags, they generally stop seeing most of the ship stuff. And If someone looks for these tags they will find all of their shipping goodies!

Generally speaking the main ship people have for Pearl is Gem. The ship tag for this is “GemPearl”. The platonic tag for when you are just drawing the two of them as friends is “Shiny Duo”. Sometimes people will tag a post as both when it is more ambiguous whether it’s shippy or not. Sometimes people tag explicitly romantic stuff as Shiny Duo, which Pearl has said is kind of up to the fandom to police on our own, which is totally fair.

The only ship I personally post, and one that I feel is fine to go in the main “Pearlescentmoon” tag, is Pearl and her irl partner, Karnasas. The ship name for them is either PearlKarn, Pearlnasas, or Karl, I choose Karl cause it’s funnier.

Generally speaking these are the other tags for the most popular ships vs friendships vs sibling headcanon (from what I have been told so I might be wrong or missing somethings):

Pearl and Cleo: Ship-Pearleo, Friendship-Moonrot (I’ve seen this used for shipping too)

Pearl and Tango: Ship-PearlTek, Friendship-Ruby Duo, Sibling- Firemail Siblings(I’ve only ever seen this used once but it was on the big Pearl family headcanon bracket)

Pearl and Etho: Ship-Pearltho, they didn’t have a platonic duo name I could find

Pearl, Etho, and Tango: Ship-Poly PET, Friendship- PET Postal/The Deepfrost Court

Pearl and Scar: Ship-PearlScar or ScarPearl, Friendship-Sunflower Duo, Siblings- Snowblings

Pearl and Scott: Ship-MajorMoon, Friendship- Galaxy Duo

Pearl and Grian: Ship-GriPearl, Friendship and Siblings-Skyblings

Pearl and Mumbo: Ship-MumPearl/celestial nonsense. They don’t have a platonic duo name I can find.

Pearl and Sausage: Ship-MythicalMoon, Friendship-Arena Duo, Family-Arena Cousins/Siblings

Pearl and Lizzie: Ship and Friendship- Shadowmoon

[trafficblrpolyamshipbracket]

Welcome to TPSB!

Hello everyone! I have not seen a ship bracket dedicated to polyam ships, especially for ships in the Traffic Life Series / Empires / Hermitcraft sphere (and occasionally other adjacent smps) so I am creating one. Obviously, this is characters not creators and this is for fun/entertainment, so please keep this lighthearted! Now, may the most beloved polyam ship win!

Current Blog Activity: TPSB V3 Finales has ended! Vote and create propaganda to help your polyam ship of choice win the TPSB V3 Finale!

The V1, V2, and V3 Brackets are concluded, but I will still reblog old ship propaganda and etc. Feel free to make celebratory art of the winner and tag me! I will reblog with the TPSB propaganda tag! I don't mind promoting people for the creations they've worked on :p

TAGS

#tpsb polls

#tpsb info

#tpsb propaganda

#tpsb update

#tpsb other

INFO

Polls are set to one week and I'll post the next wave of polls soon after it ends.

If you tag this account with propaganda, I will reblog it. If it is nsfw propaganda, I will tag it with the #NSFW tag for minors/people who don't want to see it to filter out if they so choose. If it is not quite NSFW, but rather suggestive, I’ll take it #cw suggestive. Haven't run into this yet, but this is in place just in case.

Feel free to put propaganda in the ask box once the shipping starts and I will clear the queue as often as I can! I will also reblog literally anything people comment that aren't hidden in tags or whatever else, so keep that in mind.

No ship bashing/shaming please! I would like everyone to vote for a ship and not against a ship, for it's more fun that way. Not every ship is everyone’s cup of tea, but that just means you stay away from ships you don’t like. As long as it’s safe and legal, ship and let ship :D

I accept ship nominations as first come first serve, no matter how rare or bizarre it may seem to you. If you want to make sure your favorite polyam ship hits the bracket, throw it in the ask box :D

If there is a ship name attached to it, it is usually because the person who nominated the ship used that ship name. Not all ships have ship names that I know of/that I was given so they may be “wrong” or whatever else. Feel free to leave a reply or throw it in my ask box for me to add a ship name if one has it.

Once we get to the end, if all runs well and people enjoy this, there is a chance to run another bracket with a new set of submissions. New ships can be added and old ships who lost can make a comeback.

The bracket is created at random. There is only intervention in round one if the ships pitted against each other are the same plus/minus a person or if the ships feel too unevenly weighted. If so, I dragged one ship and threw it up or down and left it where it landed if that was better than before. I am human, though, and will miss stuff/make mistakes, so don't be upset if something isn't quite how you want it. This will place popular ships against each other, but I can always run another bracket after this one to give your favorite polyam ship another chance against other ships :D

Winning ships do not get run again. They claim their spot in the Winners list and then get to rest to allow other ships to have a chance to shine :D

This account is run by @deityoftherain who uses they/fae/star pronouns. As one may expect, be as wonky and fun with your headcanons and such when doing propaganda :D

CURRENT BRACKET

WINNERS

V1: Mumbo/Scar/Grian aka Mumscarian

V2: Scott/Jimmy/Tango aka Flower Ranchers

V3: Impulse/Tango/Skizz aka Poly Arizona Dads

[kiwinatorwaffles]

I found This is About a Stuffed Bird bc of you and its one of my favorite fics ever. Do you by chance have more suggestions?

hermitcraft/mcyt fic recs? :0 let's go!!

i get a lot of my fic recs from other friends since i don't really go out and search on my own all too much for this fandom. but there are lots of great works out here! i will be listing out some of my favorites :3 mostly hc but a couple general mcyt ones that i think are an excellent read no matter what. all of the fics i'm listing will be genfic without ships!

also i just realized a lot of my bookmarks are grian-centric which is funny i guess because i am admittedly quite picky about content of my other favorites and grian just tends to have the most content in the fanbase. hope that'll be alright

(i hope some of my friends and mutuals don't mind me tagging them for their works)

hermitcraft longfics:

the last days of the free angel of carrows by @theminecraftbee - loved stuffed bird? here's another great longfic by second! this one is about joe and cleo in an urban fantasy mystery setting. again, second writes our beloved hermits into an captivating au!

leaping and hopping on a moonshadow by @lunarblazes - a fantasy au by luna my beloved! pearl suddenly gains magical powers and goes on a quest to find her long-lost friend grian who might know what's happening to her. she meets a lot of familiar faces along the way!

Recall by @redwinterroses - hey, i was the artist for this one! :D mumbo goes missing, so grian and scar search for him. they find that grumbot has been up to some... things along the way. the fic isn't finished but i think the chapters red put out is worth a read if you don't mind leaving off on a cliffhanger because it really is super interesting

dramaturgy by wormcity - a universe where gem and pearl join in a season 7 that was never finished. mumbo became the mayor, but the turf war went so very wrong afterwards. admittedly i have not finished reading this yet because ummm short on time xD but it's super interesting with a lot of layers of drama(turgy hahaha)!

hermitcraft short fics/oneshots:

for trying. by @autistic-evil-xisuma - a stuffed bird universe oneshot of x and xisuma during their lab days. great if you want to be sad over the doomed brothers again :D

the wheels on the bus by sparxwrites - a hilarious post-s8 oneshot about grian being a little shit towards the watchers. one of the first fics i've read from this fandom and i still love it

a body is an object by ruffboi - grian is a mimic, and pearl's arrival in s8 shakes him up. she hasn't seen him in a while and is quite upset to learn that the grian she knew died a long time ago. a great read for familial connections and conflict of friendships!

Goatman and the Rift by TheDepressedCanary - doc's eldritch powers start acting up when the rift appears. what shenanigans will ensue?

other mcyt fics/crossovers:

late at night, when the stars don't look quite right by @lunarblazes - an excellent empires s1 and hermitcraft crossover longfic, where grian lands into the server and is discovered by pearl! very great worldbuilding and relationships, i especially love the dynamic between gri and pearl and pearl and gem :D

every new discovery is just a reminder by amaranthinecanicular - grian begins pulling alternate versions of the hermits from the life series into the server. he does save a lot of them, but at what cost? it does end on a cliffhanger but this is genuinely one of the most captivating oneshots i've ever read... argghhh

The Fair and the Brave and the Good by @slashmagpie - an afterlife smp longfic centered around the shelby, scott, and sausage. i have never watched afterlife smp before in my LIFE and this is still one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. the characters and worldbuilding is impeccable and perfect if you like something dark with themes of hope and renewal.

Two Can Keep a Secret (If One of Them is Red) by anonymous secretmcblog - a 3L oneshot! ren suspects grian has stockholm syndrome with his pact to stay with scar, but his expectations are wrong. a truly excellent read and one of them first fics i've read! i still go back to reread it from time to time

dog at the door by fluffy_papaya & iamsolarflare - a longfic where doc and ren take a trip on a van on their way to s8. ren, however, is not quite himself, and doc has to learn to befriend the red king.

devil town is colder in the summertime by @bananasofthorns - a oneshot from a 100hsmp/life series d&d au! team BEST ventures into a cursed evil fucked up forest. uh oh.

Interview with the Aftermath by @ranchersrevenge (wanderlasts) - the last life contestants are invited for an interview. the responses vary greatly.

stars, smoke, and stolen car keys by wormcity - a 100hsmp modern au oneshot where grian, scar, and joel go on a hike. it doesn't go quite as they expected.

the beehive state by amaranthinecanicular - a dsmp oneshot after wilbur moves to utah. tommy visits him, and the two reconnect. i have to say i stopped following dsmp a long time ago but this fic made me BAWL. i don't even think you need to know any of the characters that well to really enjoy just how amazing the writing itself is

Can't Go Back (This Time) by @duckmumbo (musicaltvbooks) - soup group goes end raiding and accientally finds themselves in afterlife smp. nothing goes wrong, surely! also admittedly i havent finished reading this either but roy i swear i will. this is a great read nevertheless and the soup group dynamic is impeccable!

TommyInnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii - on the train of dsmp fics, this is the superhero au longfic that inspired my own hc superhero au, vdhau. it's a lot of funny shenanigans with tommy and his friends. the fic does take a dark turn at the end, but that can be skipped entirely (as said by eneli herself) if you just want the wholesome aspects.

if you don't mind a little self promo, here are some of my fics!

it takes two to play (the game of mutual secrecy) - the aforementioned hermitcraft hero au. this installment is centered around xisuma and evil x as brothers resolving their issues through hero work and solving the mystery of welsknight's disappearance :D there are other works that are set in the same universe if you're interested for more!

how to form the ultimate besties dynamic: an unreliable tutorial by hypnotizd - a oneshot! hypno is a warlock who goes treasure hunting under the sea. he meets a guardian who later becomes his unlikely friend.

smoke and mirrors, the hunt perseveres - grian's arrival in empires s2 unwittingly brings the watchers' suspicions with him. cue jimmy freaking out and a lot of shenanigans.

ballad of etho’s lab - my newest installment! a oneshot about etho's storied life as the redstone god.

i'm also currently working on the sequel to the game of mutual secrecy and a new (well not exactly new since i made concept art for it) au called private detective gem tasey! these will likely be released sometime late january or february. have fun with these fic recs! i haven't been reading as much lately but i hope ill be able to find more if anyone else asks in the future. cheers!

edit: the fics are out! here they are!

hiding in plain sight (the meaning of trust) - sequel to the hermitcraft hero au! it follows an escaped lab rat trying to acquaint themselves with human society while avoiding suspicion and making friends with familiar faces from tgms ;D

private detective gem tasey: a rotten mystery in london - a hermitcraft detective au where gem gets hired for a case that spirals completely into drama and politics!

[a-sociopath-do-your-research]

Hello Everypony :3

finally doing one of these, lol

💙About me!💜

Welcome to my blog for,,, everything! No sideblogs around here we die like men/j

My name is Oliver, but you can also call me oli! (ive got other names too, but that's the main one, check my pronouns page for the whole list!)

Xe/Void/Fox/It/They pronouns but get silly with it, i dont mind!! (except she/her)

We're a system! We dont talk about it a lot but sometimes it comes up yay!!

important post you should read!

Other important post to read before interacting with my content!!

I write and draw tho i am better at writing, lmao

Any violence mentioned in my posts is either as a joke (as crude at it is, any Italians can back me up its common jokes over here) or towards a fictional character. I do not wish harm on actual real life people.

If you @ me in a post for no reason/without being mutuals you'll get blocked

@inky-drawings is my lovely girlfriend whom i love very much<333

@azamonvoid is my sib from another crib whom if i dont see soon heads will start rolling<3

@lmanburgseulogy SUPER AMAZING person (cough im copying part of the intro from bug), also my twin o7

@willthemicrowave AMAZING DUDE. Tem you're super cool

❌DNIs❌

cc!Wilbur and/or cc!Dream Team supporters. If i ever post about them its the characters.

-> also, if you see me reblogging from someone who supports them, please warn me!

Anyone who engages in discourse, esp syscourse. I do not care, let people live. Any interaction about it will be ignored and/or deleted. This isnt the place for it.

People in poppytwt/blr. I understand some people write it or engage in it to cope, but it personally just makes us uncomfortable. Thank you.

Just in general hateful people. Transphobes, terfs, homophobes, misogyinists misandrists ect ect. It is not that hard to leave people alone, and if you can't, get out.

✨ (main) Fandoms!! ✨

Hermitcraft/Life series!! My faves are Grian, Etho, Impulse, Zed, Jimmy and Mumbo (not in that order)

-> i engage in shipping the characters, quite a lot,,, if it makes you uncomfortable this ain't the place for you lol

DSMP! my mains are sbi (especially twinsduo you will always be famous to me,,,,), and sometimes feral boys!

-> i dont care most of those people are problematic now, my au just took a general outline of the smp then rewrote everything. There is barely any connection w/actual canon

SCU/Slimecicle cinematic universe!! Blame @alliumsmybeloved for this/j

Hollow Knight! Quirrel, Hornet, Hollow and Ghost are my faves!

-> nothing much other than i hate the traitor lord with a burning passion, lol

and many, many more!! Including percy jackson, portal, ect - these are just the ones im hyperfixating on the most lately!!

⚠ Terms and conditions? ⚠

I'm ok with flirting but ask first just to be sure!

autistic silly little guy. Sometimes i get too much, feel free to tell me if i exagerate and get weird!

-> be nice about it tho, please,,,

send asks send asks!!! They're so silly i love em<333

i do take requests on doodles, headcanons, snippets ect!! It just takes me a bit sometimes to answer!

I have a dsmp/hermitcraft/qsmp/ect au im working on, my magnum opus/j, go check it out it's @the-caladrius-au RAAHHH

I write about the characters, never the ccs.

💬Tag guide!💬

#Oli talks! -> silly tag for everything of mine, rambles,art, writing, reblogs (sometimes,,,)

#shift talks! -> like the above but for shift, one of our other alters :3

#Will talks! -> I think you get where I'm going with this

#Olis faves -> fav posts and/or posts i want to look back on!

#Oli writes -> pretty self explanitory, for when i write :3

#Oli draws -> for my art n doodles!

#Mutuals my beloveds -> Moot tag!!! For asks or when i talk with/about my mutuals! (if i forget to put it in a post with you, feel free to tell me!)

#nonnies my beloveds -> anon asks

#Beloveds! -> posts about/with @inky-drawings and/or @azamonvoid

#higgs Field au and #HFAU -> posts about my dsmp x Hermitcraft rewrite au

#the multiverse system -> stuff about our system!

#the horrors saga -> the horrors,,,,,, I just wanna write,,,,

#Twinsduo crumbs -> any and all Twinsduo content because I'm normal about them (lie)

#sillytick -> tag for @cao-tick ::3

#dr.dejekyll -> tag for @genocreative / @hydehydejeykll ::3

-> if i forget to tag things properly feel free to remind me!!!

the mumbo "quite simple really" picture was made by @starlightzora

[plain text under cut]

Hello Everypony :3

finally doing one of these, lol

💙About me!💜

Welcome to my blog for,,, everything! No sideblogs around here we die like men/j

My name is Oliver, but you can also call me oli! (ive got other names too, but that's the main one, check my pronouns page for the whole list!)

They/It/xe pronouns but get silly with it, i dont mind!! (except she/her)

We're a system! We dont talk about it a lot but sometimes it comes up yay!!

important post you should read!

I write and draw tho i am better at writing, lmao

Any violence mentioned in my posts is either as a joke (as crude at it is, any Italians can back me up its common jokes over here) or towards a fictional character. I do not wish harm on actual real life people.

@inky-drawings is my lovely girlfriend whom i love very much<333

@azamonvoid is my sib from another crib whom if i dont see soon heads will start rolling<3

@lmanburgseulogy SUPER AMAZING person (cough im copying part of the intro from bug), also my twin o7

@willthemicrowave AMAZING DUDE. Tem you're super cool

❌DNIs❌

cc!Wilbur and/or cc!Dream Team supporters. If i ever post about them its the characters.

-> also, if you see me reblogging from someone who supports them, please warn me!

Anyone who engages in discourse, esp syscourse. I do not care, let people live. Any interaction about it will be ignored and/or deleted. This isnt the place for it.

People in poppytwt/blr. I understand some people write it or engage in it to cope, but it personally just makes us uncomfortable. Thank you.

Just in general hateful people. Transphobes, terfs, homophobes, misogyinists misandrists ect ect. It is not that hard to leave people alone, and if you can't, get out.

✨ (main) Fandoms!! ✨

Hermitcraft/Life series!! My faves are Grian, Etho, Impulse, Zed, Jimmy and Mumbo (not in that order)

-> i engage in shipping the characters, quite a lot,,, if it makes you uncomfortable this ain't the place for you lol

DSMP! my mains are sbi (especially twinsduo you will always be famous to me,,,,), and sometimes feral boys!

-> i dont care most of those people are problematic now, my au just took a general outline of the smp then rewrote everything. There is barely any connection w/actual canon

SCU/Slimecicle cinematic universe!! Blame @alliumsmybeloved for this/j

Hollow Knight! Quirrel, Hornet, Hollow and Ghost are my faves!

-> nothing much other than i hate the traitor lord with a burning passion, lol

and many, many more!! Including percy jackson, portal, ect - these are just the ones im hyperfixating on the most lately!!

⚠ Terms and conditions? ⚠

I'm ok with flirting but ask first just to be sure!

autistic silly little guy. Sometimes i get too much, feel free to tell me if i exagerate and get weird!

-> be nice about it tho, please,,,

send asks send asks!!! They're so silly i love em<333

i do take requests on doodles, headcanons, snippets ect!! It just takes me a bit sometimes to answer!

I have a dsmp/hermitcraft/qsmp/ect au im working on, my magnum opus/j, go check it out it's @the-caladrius-au RAAHHH

I write about the characters, never the ccs.

💬Tag guide!💬

#Oli talks! -> silly tag for everything of mine, rambles,art, writing, reblogs (sometimes,,,)

#shift talks! -> like the above but for shift, one of our other alters :3

#Will talks! -> I think you get where I'm going with this

#Olis faves -> fav posts and/or posts i want to look back on!

#Oli writes -> pretty self explanitory, for when i write :3

#Oli draws -> for my art n doodles!

#Mutuals my beloveds -> Moot tag!!! For asks or when i talk with/about my mutuals! (if i forget to put it in a post with you, feel free to tell me!)

#nonnies my beloveds -> anon asks

#Beloveds! -> posts about/with @inky-drawings and/or @azamonvoid

#higgs Field au and #HFAU -> posts about my dsmp x Hermitcraft rewrite au

#the multiverse system -> stuff about our system!

#the horrors saga -> the horrors,,,,,, I just wanna write,,,,

#Twinsduo crumbs -> any and all Twinsduo content because I'm normal about them (lie)

#sillytick -> tag for @cao-tick ::3

#dr.dejekyll -> tag for @genocreative / @hydehydejeykll ::3

-> if i forget to tag things properly feel free to remind me!!!

[lif3s3ri3sgr3mlin]

Oop I'm back y'all , sorry for like actually abandoning this place T-T

you can call us *drumroll please* Charlie or Nix or Wisp or Teàrlach!! we don't really care lol mentally 17 y'all don't need to know my chronoage :] they/neos/xenos [ get creative , don't be boring ] uhhhh we're queer and yes trying to piss you off thank you !! expanding on that we are genderfluid if put into basic terms and pan aroaceflux , masc and androgynous terms please and thank you !!

literally pro do what you want we fr don't care [ like bro just don't tell people to keys ok , like that's just low lmao ] follow YOUR dni we might follow yours idk man /srs

we like very obviously like the life series and will I repeat WILL participate in hermitshipping :3

oh yea maybe some com-shipping too lololol we use tone tags cuz we're cool and uh oh yea I have anxiety and like anger-issues and maybe bipolar so like mb if I do weird shiitt T-T /silly

we ship billford, fiddlestan, fiddauthor, some others I forgot, scarian, flower husbands, grumbo, Jimmy x grian, cleo x lizzie, gem x pearl, Etho x tango, scar x mumbo, probably more T-T , proud quinter [WoF] shipper, blue x cricket, Glory x Tsunami, Starflight x fatespeaker, I WILL SHIP DARKSTALKER [WoF] WITH ANYONE INLCUDING MYSELF [ahem sorry about that], uhhhhh I'm lazy moving on T.T

you can spam asks to me and message me just like if you're too suggestive ima let you know and block ya sorryyy /srs

btw I read the dsm-5 for fun so like take that into consideration that that's the kinda person you're interacting with

bye bye weirdos/things/beings/gremlins/and obsessive friends [ I'm watching you right back ]

[fr try and find my other secret accounts /jjj [can

be srs if you want lolol]]

[coldwind-shiningstars]

hello! :D ao3 wrapped ask game: any combination of [6, 9, 16, 29] ?

6: Favorite title you used: It's a chapter title, but “The Cradle of 100 Years of Bliss” from @stripedroseandsketchpads and my TGCF Utena AU.

9: Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? Gotta be BigB/Grian I think, I definitely consider myself A Scarian Fan but it's the Main Fandom Ship so BigG kind of snuck up on me? Listen, they're so sweet, and they're having a great time, even if they are both cheating on their partners. Hard to top a ship where you make eye contact in the relationship therapy waiting room (you are attending relationship therapy with your partner because they know you are cheating but not who with).

16: What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? I only used it twice this year but “unreliable narrator,” I tend to have trouble with the additional tags but basically all my narrators are unreliable!

29:Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? Can I just say all of cam account parenting? It's so fun format wise and I think I did a good job Conveying The Themes (sexism, metafiction.) otherwise, I'm offering this bit from the upcoming chapter of The Time We Get This Right (double life locked tomb AU):

“How are you so good at this?” Scar asked, eventually. “My fingers always get all tangled up.”

“I noticed,” Grian said, laughing at him. “I don't know. I just used to braid a lot of grass, or flowers for flower crowns, and things, just to have something to do, you know? And I always wanted long hair, I just don't want to grow it out. It'd reach my chin and just look awful and then I'd make Mumbo cut it.”

Scar turned as far as he could with Grian still holding his hair, and clasped his hands. He practically had stars in his eyes.

“I could grow it for you right now!”

Grian scowled and nudged him back around.

“No thank you,” he said. “You keep offering things like that, you know I'm never going to take you up on it.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I don't trust you, for starters! But also I've never really liked using necromancy on living people. It freaks me out. I know you do it all the time but you just don't hear about anyone else using it like that.”

Scar put a hand on his chest. “I'll have you know I've never gotten a bad review, mister!” he said, all affected offense. “No unsatisfied customers here. And, anyway, you let me use you as a flesh puppet the other day –”

Grian shrieked “STOP” and physically covered his mouth with one hand. Scar laughed at him behind the barrier.

“I'll do it if you never phrase it like that again,” he said.

“Really?” said Scar. His eyes got even bigger. He moved away from Grian's hand. “Oh, Grian! You won't regret this. No unsatisfied customers! If it doesn't work out we'll just shave your head and try again.”

“No, we won't,” Grian said. “Hold still, let's try and get this done before you say something else that makes me change my mind.”

[that-tall-queer-bassist]

okay i have so many thoughts on this that im actually going to put them in text not tags

So I often take titles very seriously, especially if im helping a friend (like @/blocksruinedme) out, and my answer? It depends on what the fic calls for.

this is the same for summaries, i dont do summaries in only one way because that would be doing an injustice to the fic.

Each fanfiction that i post needs something different. Sometimes it needs some joking tags to prepare the reader for a lighthearted fic, sometimes it needs a chunk of prose in the summary to set the expectations for flowery descriptions, and the title is absolutely crucial to this.

Lets see some examples, shall we?

closer to another shore by remrose is a scarian fic i just finished reading (highly reccomend btw, it was very good) and its got an appropriate name! its named after a poem (i believe, which is copied/linked into the end notes) and its lowercase. The fic has a tone of heartache and hope, something serious for the most part. it's got a weight to it, and takes itself seriously, and this tone is present throughout the whole fic but also in the title! it's a good title that fits very well!!!

SUPERCRITICAL by MasqueofPlague (@masque-of-plague) is an amazing superhero/reporter fic (again, scarian) and once again, the title is very fitting! Sounds like a superhero movie, and fits the energy of it well with Grian starting out very critical of HotGuy and his superhero-ing, and really just sets up expectations nicely while also keeping to the theme.

Hello, World by cricket_toast (@toasted-cricket) is a cyberpunk au with AI Mumbo and Netrunner Grian and the title!! fits so well because computers but also the very put together serious vibes of the beginning before things... get weird ( >:3 ) and I think it matches the tone very well!

to all the ships at sea by mxMallory ( @mxmallory ) is a Smalletho (also with Clethubs <3) fic that has its setting in a lighthouse, and the title captures the energy of it well, with a palpable loneliness and longing in the first few chapters that gives way to a lighter tone once we get introduced to a bucket of seal (still love that line Mal <3)

Maybe You Like Danger by BlocksRuinedMe (@blocksruinedme) is a second person pov smalletho fic, and it captures the premise in so few words, setting you up for the contents easily, and letting it take up the space it needs to with the capitalization. It demands attention, and sets up that expectation with itself. (also one of the few second person pov fics i like, and makes me Feel very intensely) (hi vee)

and because i feel like i should give an example of a title i came up with, one of my most recent (nsfw) fics is called "You smell like... carrots." because i was inspired by that canon quote to write a (honestly kind of ridiculous) fic. But the title is goofy! It sets you up for a goofy premise, without giving you false expectations! It fits, it sets the tone, and it made me laugh (which is something i wanted from that fic).

Each fic has different needs, because each is unique. Sometimes metaphors are the way to go, sometimes a line from the fic, and sometimes its a description! (see "5+1" fics, or the name of the AU (like The Pirate Witch by me))

And that's my thoughts on titles, i hope somebody enjoyed that, or at least the mcyt fic recs XD

okay. fic writers. let's talk about titles.

i personally am of the eternal lowercase crowd except for one (1) exception...i wanna know your bias and why!

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

What the hell is going on with those eyes, huh? (A hc359 update)

Confused? Find the Masterpost here, and read the first four installments in the series before this one! In this installment, I try my best to make Grian's life as miserable as possible!

CW: discussions of death, surgery, medical equipment, body horror, mild dehumanisation (accidental(?))

So, despite Cub doing research and experiments on that fun little wall with eyes in the Hermethus' hidden storage, Grian is the only one who actually touched those eyes when he discovered them. He just relayed the fact that it gave her an electric shock to the others so they avoided touching it.

Several weeks have passed since Grian talked to mission command, and those several weeks have been... painful. The crew is being unfriendly and uncooperative, barely keeping the place together as they drift further into deep space. Worst of all, Grian's arm has been hurting like hell, and she just can't figure out why.

Not that she talks to Scar or Cub about it, or asks Mumbo for any medical information or any scans. She is quite content to never talk to them again, actually. They probably all hate her for keeping secrets from them.

And then, one day, Grian wakes up to find small raised bumps across her arm, barely visible but as uncomfortable as ever. It's weird, but he assumes it's some kind of allergic reaction or a side effect of being in space for too long. Something that will go away. But, pressing on the little bumps and feeling the skin of her arm, she notices how solid the raised areas are. Kind of squishy, but solid.

It's not itchy, more like growing pains mixed with pins and needles. And the feeling goes deep, into the muscle and bones. Like something is latching itself into him, taking root.

(That is exactly what's happening, but Grian does not know this, and so she says nothing)

Eventually, the bumps across his arm start to form cracks on the skin, which look like faint scars at first but then become deeper, clear indications of eyelids. These developments happen so fast Grian barely has time to contemplate telling someone. She even hides it from Mumbo's camera-eyes.

Then, the eyes begin to open, and Grian thinks maybe he messed up.

It's not like she can see out of them... most of the time. But it's freaky. And what if more start spawning? What if they are, under the skin where he can't see? Hundreds of eyes growing inside her? She's scared the crew will mutiny, or something, because of the obvious alien infection, but he can't stay quiet now. He has to tell them...

She hides it, still, for a few more days, wrapping her arm with bandages. The fabric feels horrific against the freshly-sprouted eyes, especially because she can't control when they open or close. It makes her nauseous just looking at them. She can only tolerate it for so long.

A crew meeting is called. Grian just rips off the proverbial band-aid all at once and hopes for the best, absolutely terrified that the crew will turn against him even further.

The first reaction is a sort of general shock. But then, surprisingly fast, the crew go straight into Science Mode. Scar is a biologist, Cub has been running experiments on the wall-eyes, Mumbo... well, he's still kind of mad at Grian, actually, but he's also an AI with access to all the knowledge of humanity (sort of) so he starts searching for similar cases in old medical files.

Scar is very curious in a practical kind of way. He asks if the eyes can see, if they're connected to anything, if they have their own nervous systems, etc. Cub really wants to run some tests. and Grian feels more like a specimen than a person at that point, so she agrees and lets Cub take him to the lab. Scar wants to tag along but Cub doesn't let him, telling him to stay put and let them know if the ship starts exploding or anything crazy.

It's... not too long before Cub grabs a scalpel and tries prying one of the eyes out. No warning or anything. Grian screams and slaps him in the face. Serves him right.

They have some painkillers stocked up, so Cub offers those to Grian because he... really wants to do a bit of a vivisection, to be honest. Really wants to get under the skin and see what's happening. He just momentarily forgot that Grian can feel pain. Silly mistake to make, of course.

It takes some convincing, but Grian hesitantly agrees to a short operation. She's still awake during the procedure, though he's drowsy and her arm is numb. There's a little bed surface to lay down on, so she doesn't fall over or anything. Cub is relatively careful, making an incision on the skin and looking inside with a mini camera - taking scans as he does so - before sewing the wound up and moving on to an eye. It will be easier to analyse in isolation, as well as better to see whether it dies or not when separated from Grian's body.

The eye is cut away cleanly, and in an instant Grian is shocked with pain, riveting up her arm like fire. She lashes out with no control, hitting Cub in the side of the head. Something inside her, something that isn't her, screams in pain and anger.

His vision flashes between normal sight and the shattered dozen perspectives of the eyes... including the one so neatly cut from her flesh. In the moment, he feels like he's dying. Life draining away, slowly but still too fast.

Later, he realises the feeling came from the severed eye, as it was dying. But even knowing this, inside her something is broken. Missing. Dead.

Grian relays that she might be, uh, innately connected to the eyes now. He's like 'bad news i think cub killed a part of me' (and Mumbo gets to make a sassy remark about being dead) and thus things are more complicated.

They dont know whether the eyes are malicious, or invasive, or symbiotic. Scar wants to do some research into that. He specialises in animal behavioural phenomenons and is really interested in what kind of relationship the eyes have to Grian- are they like fish or barnacles attaching themselves to sharks? Are they more like parasitic worms? Are they trying to feed on Grian and eat away her body? Trying to become one with her?

This is all really interesting to Scar. I mean, he also wants Grian to be safe, and they need to know whether they should remove the rest of the eyes or not, but... it's a bit of excitement in an otherwise particularly doomed trip.

Overall, Grian feels like her very obvious depressive cycle might be about to get worse, but at least the crew are talking to her. Even if it's just because she's a new thing to experiment on...

Remember when she used to have authority? Yeah, she doesn't really miss it either.

[bubbytheliverstealingskeleton]

Heyoo Hellooo

I use thon/thons & neos, but they/them is also okay (neos are preferred tho)

My names Bubby but honestly you could call be anythin

I’m a chill guy I think. maybe. kinda. Most of the time I think

I do art, writing, comics, other stuff- I technically can call myself a multimedia artist because a do a lot of stuff with a lot of different materials but idk it also just feels way to fucking formal for like tumblr, all you need to know is I do a bunch of stuf

epic pronouns page -- > my other neos

Im also in the process of making my own website for like a personal portfolio but its no where near done yet. I'll update this with its link when it is actually done

This is my personal blog!!!! Here are my art and Nsfw blogs

Art: @liverstealingskeleton

Nsfw: @thedarkgevilgubby

Table of contents I suppose

My Tags

DNI/BYF

Main/Special interests + sub catagories + favorite little guys/ships in each

My oc shit

Au's for all my fandoms

Anything else to be added

My tags:

- #my art, my artwork n doodles, all that stuff

- #Bubby’s projects, for random projects I have

- #bastard can talk, my talking/rambling tag

- #bastard of a skeleton, my sona/me

- #webtrinkets, my little collection of web things that I’ll prolly put on my website

- #keeping this for later, things I’m keeping for later/ later use

- #.wip, tag for my WIPs

- #.headcannons, for my headcannons

- #.ask, ask tag

- #fave, favorite things, I’ll go back through my reblogs sometime and put more in there eventually

- #boomer/#hlvrai boomer, the boomer tag is for things I’ve reblogged that are the boomers, hlvrai boomer tag is for my art I’ve done of them

Block any of these if you want

DNI

[Do not Interact]

I don’t really have any DNI I mean I do but people will interact regardless

Idk man I’ll block you if I don’t like ya there ya go

I will say I’m not touching anything proshipping or anti or any of that shit with a fucking 30 foot pole. I don’t ship incest or pedo shit or any of that

My stance on it is I don’t ship it and I don’t think it’s good to shit it but I’m not going to fuckin stop anyone or go after anyone because I have better shit to be doing with my time

BFY

[Before you follow]

little warning before you follow me:

- I don't tag most things I reblog so there wont be trigger or content warning tags on them, its my house I chill here uh sorry. I do tag trigger and content warnings on things I post myself.

- I mass reblog things sometimes do not be afraid

- also to go with the above, This is my personal blog I use for everything so if you follow me for art only you uhh might not want to. You will see me complaining and randomly doing shit. Also I do have an art blog

- I reblog some Nsfw-ish stuff and some of my art will have like artistic nudity n reference sheets can have nude base bodies with tits 'n junk

- I have certain ships and things I like, if you don't like them then be wary I guess just, like, don't be an asshat about what I like

- I generally don’t check blogs of people who follow me unless you look like a bot. Don’t look like a bot and you don’t get blocked.

- I will say I block freely and will block for any reason but that’s normally if I like find you in the wild. Like. In a tag or on my dash or smthin. Again I generally don’t block if your just looking at my shit

- To go along with that I used to/am kinda in fandoms or watching the media that is attached to them. Such as DSMP or Hazbin Hotel, those two for examples because they specifically are like in so many fucking dni lists I see and also because they do appear on my fandom list [they have explanations attached tho]

Main/Special interests in order + sub categories:

+ my favorite little guys and my ships

Minecraft

- MCYT: Minecraft YouTubers

- MCSM: Minecraft Story Mode [Ivor, Soren, Aiden, Petra, Romeo, Isor [ivor x soren], Jestra [Jesse x Petra], lukden [Aiden x Lukas], [Romeo x Fred], theres also probably other ones]

- HC: Hermitcraft [Grian, Mumbo, Iskall, Xisuma, EX, Grumbot, Grumbo [Grian x Mumbo], Architects [Grian x Mumbo x Iskall], Hex [Hels x EX] treating everyone as characters, im not shipping the cc’s together]

FNAF: Five Nights at Freddy's [Michael Afton, Nightmare Foxy, Music Man]

- DSAF: Dayshift at Freddy's [Dave, Jack, basically the main cast of DSAF 3 because they are all awesome, davesport [dave x jack[oldsport]]]

FO: Fallout

- FNV: Fallout: New Vegas + its cut content [Benny [Gecko], Dr. Mobius, Yes Man, Victor, Yesvic [Yes Man x Victor], Bencade [Benny x Arcade Gannon], Kingcade [Arcade Gannon x The King], Benny x The Courier]

- FO4: Fallout 4 [unfortunatly][not really][It was the first fallout game I played I still love it][my own copy is fucked up by mods tho] [Paladin Danse, Nick Valentine, Danse x Sole Survivor, Nick x Sole, Danse x Nick, Danse x Nick x Hancock]

Ninjago [Lord Garmadon, Morro, Lloyd [specifically like the first 5 seasons for lloyd and first 4 for garmadon], i-its- my ninjago ships are complicated and all interwoven for the most part so heres the simple ones, emperor garmadon x vinny, past!Garmadon x Clouse, Pythor x Scales, Greenflower [lloyd x brad] but in a queerplatonic way]

HLVRAI: Half-Life but the AI is Self Aware [This isnt under HL1 because I veiw these two as different things][All of the cast is great but specifically: Dr. Coomer, Bubby, Boomer [Bubby x Coomer], Goomby [Bubby x Coomer x Gman], Gubby [Bubby x Gman], and like a complicated polycule between Tommy, Gordon, Benry, Forzen, and Darnold]

HL1: Half Life 1 [Walter/Glasses model, Einstein Model, Gman, Headcrabs, Houndeyes, Snarks]

- OF: Opposing Force + BS: Blueshift [Adrian Shephard and Barney Calhoun despite being technically silent, BS: Walter, In my heart I believe that my solider oc Carol is cannon in every variation of hl media, she is the radio operator you find in OF that's radioing the instructions you hear in HL1 during the airstrike puzzle]

- HL1 Beta [the earlier models are all funny little guys]

- USS Darkstar

- FM: Freemans Mind [Gordon Freemind is really the only guy here but I do like him]

- generally a lot of HL1 related stuff [sorry hl2 fans but I like this ones gameplay and style more]

- GF: Gravity Falls [Stanley, Fiddleford/Old man McGucket, Standford, Bill I guess, all of the cast is great but my favorites are mostly the old guys, Fiddlestan [Fiddleford x Stanley], Fiddauthor [Fiddleford x Stanford], Billford [Bill Cipher x Stanford], no idea what their ship names are > Dipper x Pacifica + Mabel x Pacifica]

- KLK: Kill La Kill [all of em are cool as hell, I don’t know their ship name because I’ve basically never interacted with this fandom but ryuko x mako]

specifically 90’s, 80’s, and 50-60’s Sci-Fi

space, Ocean creatures

Other things that I’ve been interested in, in the past + not main/special interests:

Genloss

BATIM: Bendy and the Ink Machine [Sammy Lawrence, Norman Polk/The Projectionist, Alice Angle/Susie Cambell, Henry Stein, Sammy x The Projectionist, Alice x Allison]

HL2: Half-Life 2 [Barney Calhoun, Isaac Kleiner, Lamarr, Kleiner x Eli Vance but in a sad way]

THSC: The Henry Stickmin Collection

TF2: Team Fortress 2

Titanfall 2

Ultrakill

Trollhunters

UT: Undertale

HH: Hazbin Hotel - I fixated on Hazbin Hotel for a time but it was only because I really wanted to redesign them and I kinda wanna know what happens in the show im sorry dont fucking dogpile me im just curios

DSMP: Dream SMP - also Dream SMP back in 2021, I don’t generally interact or have anything to do with this fandom anymore and don’t really care I’m just trying to make a comprehensive list of my fandoms

DBH: Detroit Become Human - this is also another controversial one, I don’t interact with the fandom, I’ve never played the game, and I understand the criticisms for it, I just like the characters and the idea the plot was attempting

Again please don’t be a dickwad to me about fandoms/content I’ve liked or enjoyed before if you don’t like it then just like Leave??? You don’t go up to random people in the street and insult them for liking something just cause you overheard them talking about it like with a friend or someshit

My oc shit:

I don’t have all of these tagged or anything and I’ve not even uploaded stuff for some of these yet

TOW - The Ocean Waves to Me Outside the Windows - my main oc story that I’m trying to turn into a comic, it’s Sci-fi merpeople, mostly

Abbreviation: TOW

Tag: #The Ocean Waves to Me Outside the Window

——

Mincera Universe - Minecraft but it’s space and planets, TOW, DS, +EXDS takes place inside this universe, once I actually post stuff the Mincera tag will be on all stuff in the universe

No abbreviation right now

Tag: #Entire Mincera Universe

——

DS - Dead Stars - Minecraft space but focased on an Enderian runaway royal and their experiment criminal boyfriend

Abbreviation: DS

Tag: #Dead Stars

——

TKC - To Kingdom Come - My other main oc story with also happens to be Minecraft which revolves around the two protagonists Akki and Lucie except one of them is also an antagonist

Abbreviation: TKC

Tag: #To Kingdom Come

——

GDLT - Guarding Dogs Lose Themselves - Consisting of Lost Dog, Dog Tags, and Dog Fight, it’s my main fallout 4 oc’s, RT/Paladin Rattail’s, backstory

Abbreviations: GDLT, LD, DT, DF

Tag: #Guarding Dogs Lose Themselves

——

ATKTH - Ain’t that a kick in the head - Consisting of How Lucky Can One Man Be and Ain’t Love a Kick in the Head, aka my fnv courier Coon’s story n stuff

Abbreviations: ATKTH, HLM, ALK

Tag: #ATKTH

——

RR - Ram Rot - my stupid little silly little edgy mostly robot guys Altern and Thrasher, little sex bot and War bot guys I made entirely for fun and then proceeded hit them with the angst beam

Abbreviation: RR

Tag: #Ram Rot

——

MG - Murderous Ghosts in Abandoned Apartments - my freshmen year English creative writing assignment in which was supposed to revolve into a slow burn story but idk when I’ll pick it back up

Abbreviation: MG

Tag: #MG

——

OH - Oleader/Hex/My little guy in VSMP - My little guy for a server I play on, they’re a little mooshroom ex god

Tags: #Oleader/Hex, #VSMP

——

EXDS - Extended Dead Stars - it’s just extra DS content from different characters, specifically the only story is revolving around a mer guard named Scourge, and a Vex named Torvus, this stuff is also set in Mincera

Abbreviation: EXDS

Tag: #EXDS

SGM - SciGM - Silly Sci-Fi gmod story I made, I’ll probably make this into a few little comics

Abbreviation: SGM

Tag: #SciGM

More oc stuff to be added in the future, also once I finally post stuff about my ocs, because I am notoriously bad at it, I’ll attach links to the tags

My Aus

This is mostly for tag abbreviations I guess

HLVRAI:

HLVRAIMM: Hlvrai Monster Mash - Halloween guys/ they’re all monsters/creatures

Rotting Code/Rot: code is fucked up and rotting and like game not doin so goodly

HL2au: hl2 au which technically came before the teaser but I revamped it afterwards, fucked up dr Coomer final boss

Alien science team: They all alien boys

Gravity Falls:

5 years late au: Stanley is 5 years late to Gravity Falls

This baby is so much still under construction but I cannot for the life of me remember what else I wanted to put here so yeap this is the end of it

I’ve left this fuckin post in the drafts too long now so it’s gettin posted

I’ll finish it later

[kingofthewolvez]

Apologies in advance to the HC fandom for being a Cringe Fail scene kid <3

[the-somwthing]

Trafficblr fan here not hermitblr unfortunately, here’s my try at this sowwy if I forget some

Scarian: Scar/Grian

Flower Husbands / FH: Scott/Jimmy

Cledubs: Cleo/Bdubs

Treebark: Ren/Martyn

Jizzie / Shadowbeans: Joel/Lizzie

Redwood: Martyn/Mumbo

Ethubs: Etho/Bdubs

Shadowrot: Lizzie/Cleo

Pearleo: Pearl/Cleo

(I’d love to finish that yuri triangle with shadowmoon but I don’t remember if that is ACTUALLY the ship name. Is pearlizzie a name?? Gonna have to check that one.)

Scarishbeans: Scar/Joel

Gribeans: Grian/Joel

Grumbo: Grian/Mumbo

Solidaritek: Jimmy/Tango

Biggri: BigB/Grian

Redscapes (or is it just redscape?): Mumbo/Scar

Smalletho / halfslab: Joel/Etho

Impdubs: Impulse/Bdubs

Cletho: Cleo/Etho

Smallidarity: Joel/Jimmy

Solidarian: Jimmy/Grian

(I would assume the joel/jimmy/grian name would be smallidarian, but I am not comfortable stating that as fact without checking)

Majorwood: Scott/Martyn

(I think I’ve seen Bigpearl as BigB/Pearl but it’s been so long idk)

Clethubs: Cleo/Etho/Bdubs

Tangpulse: Tango/Impulse

Smallwood: Joel/Martyn

Majordubs: Scott/Bdubs

Majorbeans / Scottishbeans: Scott/Joel (to be clear, I picked the name scottishbeans and want it to be the main name cuz I like it. If you look in the majorbeans tag there are 4 posts, 2 are mine and the other 2 are requests by anons. That makes me the only public shipper of this and also half the content is called scottishbeans so I think it’s fair to put that version of the name on the list even tho most the fandom doesn’t know it) (side note they’re also called supernova! But as a ship name I think that would cause tagging issues)

Joelpulse / Impishbeans: Joel/Impulse (similar story here except less. There are more people shipping this one and I’m the only one calling it impishbeans, but I don’t like the name joelpulse and I’m technically like a fourth of the shippers LOL)

Smalldubs: Joel/Bdubs (no dramatic story, just wanted to add that I like to call it bdoel for fun! But I think smalldubs is the proper name)

Smallethimpdubs: Joel/Etho/Impulse/Bdubs (I made this one, made a post about it and there weren’t any major objections soo)

Solidslab / Slabidarity / Jimmetho: Jimmy/Etho (ok so my sister and I ship this and we’ve been flipping between slabidarity and jimmetho, but I’ve discovered ONE mention of it being called solidslab. No other names. I have no idea what’s going on.)

Zombiebird: Cleo/Jimmy

Bigslab: BigB/Etho

Bigbeans: BigB/Joel

Grityn: Grian/Martyn

Gritho: Grian/Etho

IF ANYONE KNOWS THE NAMES FOR THESE PLEASE HELP:

Cleo/Martyn (WAHH IM SO MAD CUZ I LITERALLY SHIP THIS BUT I CANT REMEMBER THE NAME!!! DEADWOOD? WOODROT? GAHH IDK!!!)

Martyn/Jimmy (AGAIN I SHIP THIS AND KNOW PPL WHO DO TOO BUT I DONT KNOW THE NAMEE)

BigB/Ren (they’re literally soulmates but I don’t remember seeing their ship name. Bigren???)

Edit: I forgot (I was thinking about it way further up the list) REN/LIZZIE!!! WHAT WAS THEIR NAME AAHHH

Any of the ones with Gem, or Skizz, I don’t think I have any of theirs here wtf (and I’m missing a lot for others like tango and impulse and such)

OKAY THAT’S IT!!! I do not feel comfortable giving names to ships that I do not ship myself, so I will NOT be making up new combinations. That being said if anyone ships BigB/Bdubs PLZ tell me you call it DoubleB that would be so fun. But we must wait for someone to ship it before giving it a name imo. Give me a day and I might lol but I’m not gonna force myself just to name it haha.

hello hermitblr/trafficblr

I need a list of ship names please. as many combinations as you can :) it's for a project hehehehe.

[cobradoesmcyt]

Black Rose (1/4)

First real post back and it will be the first fic of a four part series! And this particular part is called “We won’t let you wither away”. Also there is a ship, though it’s quite subtle but I’m still tagging it because why not?

Also I was asked to do this: @gridoc 

Grian fell into the water under the concrete machine, which had once again been destroyed. This had already happened four times, this being the fifth. And honestly, at this point he could care less. He couldn't be bothered to fix it again, to rebuild it just to see it fall apart before his eyes. Grian didn't care that the water was soaking through his red sweater, he just wanted to lay still and not do anything. He was peaceful watching the waves beneath him splash up on the rocks and land, the gentle stream of the collection part of the redstone contraption caressing his cheek gently. He didn't realize how peaceful the ocean, or water in general was, maybe he should take more breaks.

Just as he was dosing his communicator went off, startling him out of his previously sleepy state. He sat up slowly, grumbling as the gentle stream of water parted jaggedly, so unlike it had done when he was just laying still.

Sahara's broken again. What did you do?

It was from Iskall. Short and simply, such a normal thing for both him and Mumbo to ask their shortest member. But oh so hurtful to said member. Sure, Grian might take it with a smile, but why can't they see the hurt in his eyes? The seriousness and pleading when he asks them to stop poking fun at him and actually do something? Oh no they can't, they're too busy making fun of him.

Sure Grian knows it's all in good fun, but his friends seem to forget one big thing; You can't poke holes in something forever and except it to stay hole, it's going to break eventually.

And they had poked too many holes.

Tears filled Grian's eyes as he clutched the communicator in his hand, Iskall's message still on screen. He glared at it for a few seconds before throwing it at a rock wall with a loud shout. Months of anger making him throw it hard enough to easily shatter as soon as it made contact.

And just like that all the anger was gone, instead replaced by true and utter sadness and grief. He waded over to the concrete wall and rested his head against it, his fist coming to bang on the wall as he cried.

He didn't want this, this isn't what he wanted! He wanted to be happy, he though he was happy. But he was just fooling himself, he hadn't been happy for ages.

Everyday was filled with reminders of what has happened. War, competitions, infiltrations you name it. But he didn't want to remember, he just wanted to forget. But his fellow Hermits just kept reminding him, over and over again. He was so tired of it all, it was all too much.

They never focused on the actions Grian did, it was always the actions Grian did with others. And he was so tired of it all.

He stopped banging his fist, it was starting to really hurt, and just sat there crying his heart out. He doesn't know how long he stayed there, nor did he care. He just sat there, resting against a concrete wall as he let his tears dry. He wanted them to see his actions, to see him. But how?

A sudden idea came to him, Wither roses. It was a creative way to die, and strangely beautiful. To die in something that usually represented love, which now only meant despair and death. Maybe this would make them see him.

So he left his comfortable place in the water and made his way back to Sahara. He knows Iskall has wither roses up there, so he'd easily get them.

He got the roses and then made his way to the Dragon Bros bunker. On his way he grabbed a bed, as to set his respawn point. He then placed wither roses all around the bed, giving him the easiest way to die over and over.

He set his spawn point on the bed, and before he started the cycle he changed a few settings. Instead of announcing every death, it'd only announce every ten one.

He then stepped onto the small area of black roses, laying down as he felt the effect wash over him. It wasn't the same kind of peaceful-like the water had been. This was peaceful in the way that he knew what fate that awaited him, and it put him at ease. So it was with a calm smile as he withered away for the first time of many. He soon puffed into existence again, the process starting for real.

It didn't take all too long for someone to find him, only thirty two hours. And it wasn't someone he expected to see.

He had thought it would be Mumbo or Iskall who would find him there, but instead it was Keralis and Bdubs. The two stood in shock at the top of the quartz stairs leading down into the main room, and Grian stared right back. At least until he withered away once again.

The two immediately jumped into action, Bdubs running and picking Grian up from the wither rose covered floor and getting him as far away as possible as Keralis destroyed them all.

"Why?" Whispered Bdubs sadly, tears streaming down his tan face, "Why did you do this to yourself?"

"I-I wanted you to see me and my actions as-as that, mi-mine." Croaked Grian, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"But at the cost of permanently scarring yourself?" Asked the raven head quietly, referring to the black patches of withered skin on Grian's arms.

"Did you s-see my actions?" Asked the dirty blond back, not answering the question. He smiled as Bdubs and Keralis both nodded, "T-the-Then my answer is yes, ye-s it was."

"It shouldn't be," cried Keralis, big eyes shedding tears like waterfalls, "You shouldn't feel like you need to hurt yourself for us to see you, that should never be a thing!"

"Would you have seen me if I didn't do this?"

It was such a simple question, but it hurt the two older Hermits greatly. Because no, they wouldn't have. They probably would only share a few passing words with Grian,never once realizing that something was wrong.

Neither answered, deciding to instead wrap the hurting Hermit in a hug.

After a few seconds of hugging Bdubs pulled back slightly, "Do you want to come to new Hermitville with us?"

Grian thought for a few seconds, before finally asking, "Can I have a garden? One just for myself?"

"You can get as many personal gardens as we can fit, Kotek, if that's what you want." Said Keralis, gently running his hand through Grian's tussled locks.

"Then I'd like to come live with you."

And so they all left the bunker, all headed to the village owned by the two older me. Grian was riding piggyback with Keralis, the younger notably more calm and tired then before they left. As soon as they arrived they took him house hunting, he eventually found a house he was allowed to remake a bit to better suit his taste.

It only took him a few days to adjust to living with the two, and he was having such a good time too. Between gardening, taking care of animals and hanging with his saviors he was way happier than before. He had even started talking to them why he had done what he did.

And they were understanding, sitting patiently and listening to him, comforting him when they saw he needed it.

It was no longer Keralis and Bdubs of New Hermitville, it was now Keralis, Bdubs and Grian of New Hermitville. Or NIA as they like to call themselves at times. It stood for N for nHo (Bdubs), I for Idea (Keralis and Bdubs) and A for Architech (Grian).

And all of them couldn't be happier. Sure Grian still felt like using the roses from time to time, and sure he still wasn't ready to face anyone else yet. But he was getting better, and his now two new close friends couldn't be prouder of him for it.

[vitamx]

the iron door: chapter 1

[ Also read on AO3! ]

---

 grian had made quite the first impression when he had entered the hermitcraft server.

 carrying a body bag that clanked whenever it moved in the slightest- some hermits even said it moved by itself- it was obvious as to why that was.

when xisuma had asked, he had simply grinned and laughed, saying it was an incomplete project he couldn't possibly leave behind.

 what kind of project? a redstone one.

so that bag is filled with redstone parts? not exactly.

then what is in the bag? i told you- an incomplete project. nothing dangerous, don't worry...

there might have been a day or two of suspicion, but the minute that body bag disappeared somewhere unknown, no one really seemed to question it.

especially not when he had started a chain of events that led to a chaotic game of tag, a pickle shop with no exit, and after that came prank after prank after prank... and after that, there was the prank war, and the architechs, and sahara, and the build-off...

 needless to say, with such a chaotic server, it was easy to forget something as minuscule as a large bag with, most likely, iron and redstone parts in it.

however, one fateful, chilly afternoon mumbo had received a flurry of messages from his good friend grian.

  grianmc: do you remember the bag i brought with me into the world?

 mumbojumbo is typing...

 mumbojumbo: why yes, i do!

mumbojumbo: you said it was an "unfinished project" right?

grianmc: yes yes

grianmc: this may sound a bit odd but can you,

grianmc: keep an eye on it while im away for the week? like... just some regular maintenance checks

grianmc: nothing too difficult, promise

  curious as to whatever (likely horrid and broken) contraption grian had been working on over the season, mumbo agreed without much thought.

  mumbojumbo: sure i can!

mumbojumbo: where are you going?

 grianmc is typing...

 grianmc: just to an old server. to check up on things

grianmc: and thanks. i mean it

grianmc: i also made some recordings and stuff to help, uh

grianmc: guide you through the maintenance checks and stuff

 grianmc is typing...

 grianmc is typing...

 grianmc: the, project, is in the sunken ship- the one that was my starter base.

 grian mc is typing...

 grianmc: dont freak out when you see it

  the last message made mumbo pause, his fingers hesitating over the keypad of the communicator as he typed out his own response to it.

  mumbojumbo: why would i freak out?

  > grian has left the world.

 mumbojumbo: grian?

  ---

  that night, mumbo had flown over to the sunken ship-in-a-bottle, as grian had instructed.

although his clothes got quite damp from the trip down, which left him in a sour mood, the comforting, almost rustic atmosphere calmed him down greatly and nearly instantaneously.

 the plain, simple garden in front of the ship was also still well taken care of, even after nearly a year and a half of the season starting.

 wringing out his tie and hair, mumbo quickly shook the water off of himself, hugging himself to warm up as best he could.

 as he entered the actual shipwreck itself, a strong scent of wood filled the room. although it was cramped and rather small, was very cozy and welcoming.

entering the next room over, mumbo's eyes landed on a sign that was placed above an iron trapdoor- on the wooden floor in front of it was a stone button.

  mumbo

(or whoever might have come here instead):

push the button and go down the ladder

to check on the project

 placing his foot on the button, mumbo pressed down and quickly climbed down the ladder, which seemed to go on for quite a long while. the pathway down was dark and cold, unlit and chilling to the bone.

by the time he had reached the end, he could see void particles rising through the floor and felt the familiar, faint tug of the void.

  in front of him was an iron door.

  the iron door's windows were blocked with stone, and there seemed to be no button or lever to open it.

 the room he himself was in was hardly decorated and was made entirely of stone and gravel and dirt.

the only light source was a redstone torch placed in the corner of the room- how there were no mobs that had spawned, mumbo did not know.

 but as he stepped closer to the iron door, he began to hear a faint noise.

ignoring the unease he felt, mumbo pressed his ear against the door...

  and he heard breathing.

  whirred, raspy, and heavy breathing, pressed against the other side of the iron door.

the breathing came out in near gasps, the breathing seemed desperate and hysterical.

 mumbo quickly stepped back, uncertainty swallowing him whole and leaving him with nothing but dread and unrelenting unease.

 stumbling backwards, mumbo nearly tripped over a small device that lay clattered against the floor.

upon closer inspection, he saw the faint outline of a communicator, a dim red light overlaying the screen.

upon the darkened screen was a simple audio file, titled "MCHECK_01.mp3".

 with only a few seconds of hesitance, mumbo opened the file, and turned the volume up.

  "um... hello, hello? is this thing on?"

  grian's voice echoed throughout the empty room.

  "ah, good! so, erm... hello! this is grian, though i hope that's obvious. thanks for taking on the job, um- whoever it is that accepted."

  mumbo slowly sat himself on the cold ground, gaze unwavering as he stared at the iron door.

  "now, i know it's super dark and all down here, but... think of this as rule #1. DO NOT! i repeat do NOT! put any more light sources in here than there already is. he- i, i mean it doesn't like bright lights. at least not in this state."

"its just a simple NPC, so it shouldn't be too dangerous to maintain. if you go through the door, which, uh, you'll have to make your own button or lever- two of them actually, it should be slumped against the corner all broken-machiney like."

  mumbo paused the recording, slowly pulling out a button from his inventory.

 grian said it wouldn't be dangerous- plus, what were the chances that grian would make some sort of dangerous machine that would harm him? close to none, he'd say.

he firmly pressed the button aside the door until it was fully mounted on the wall, and held the palm of his hand over it, reluctant to press it.

  he pressed his ear against the iron door once more, hand slipping away from the button on the wall.

  the breathing was gone; the room was dead silent.

  letting out a breath he was unaware to have been holding, mumbo picked up the communicator on the ground and firmly pressed the button, stepping inside of the other room.

 the door shut with a clink, and once again he was met with a dark room with a single redstone torch in the corner.

the only difference he could see was that the room was made of spruce wood and logs, and was much more narrow than the previous opening.

  the floor creaked beneath him as he reached out to grab onto the redstone torch propped on the wall.

  so far, he did not see any machine- though it was more likely that said machine was just in the other corner, which had no light reflected onto it.

bringing the torch closer to the other side of the wooden room, mumbo stalked forward with caution, squinting his eyes to try and make out any outline of a machine.

  what he stumbled across was more complex than any redstone contraption he'd ever seen.

what he came upon was a disturbing sight that sent shivers up his spine.

  collapsed in the corner of the room was a replica of grian.

  the side of its face was sprawled open, revealing its internal metal skeleton, and oil and redstone were bubbling down the side of that skeleton's mouth, staining its iron teeth.

 its eyes were cast downward, dull and black, and the bottom half of its shirt was torn off, revealing an iron ribcage with missing bolts and cut wires, burn marks and scratches.

 its right leg up to its knee was missing entirely, red and blue uneven wires sprawling out across the floor. its hands were missing a few fingers.

  it was hard to look at an NPC replica of your close friend and call it an... well, "it".

especially in the condition it was in.

  shakily leaning down and placing the torch upon the floor, never looking away from the machine, mumbo pulled out the communicator and continued playing the audio file.

  "...so, you probably saw it, and freaked out a little bit, am i right? well. i guess it's pretty normal to do that- sorry for the scare. i guess we can just move along with the maintenance check ASAP, huh?"

  the head of the machine creaked ever so slightly, turning to look at mumbo the minute his eyes looked downward.

  "for now, you can just push any parts of its body that have... popped out, so to speak. sometimes it's its face, sometimes it's its arm... i think its locks are kind of broken. all you gotta do is push it back into place until it clicks. after that, just make sure it's powered down all the way- the power button is on the back of its neck. if it's green, press and hold until it turns red."

  the recording ended; the communicator shutting off by itself.

 looking up at the NPC, he froze up, eyes locking instantly with black and empty eyes.

hadn't it been facing towards the ground...?

  no, no, he must have just been imagining things, there's no way the broken down and tattered machine in front of him could have moved.

it was as still as a stone, unmoving and unwavering.

  swallowing a lump in his throat, mumbo reached his hand forward, pressing against one of the three sections of the NPC's face, and clicked it back into place.

reaching both hands out this time, he swiftly pushed the other pieces of its face back, retreating his hands the minute the pieces clicked into place.

 why was he so nervous? there was nothing to be nervous about.

it was just a broken machine, nothing more and nothing less.

 pushing its head forward, mumbo peered behind the NPC, a chill running down his spine as he saw a bright green button on the backside of its neck.

recalling grian's instructions, mumbo quickly pressed the button, holding it down for one second, two seconds, three seconds, and finally-

  "HELLO, MY NAME IS NPC GRI-AN- NPC GR- NP- N- N- N- N-N-N-N-N-"

  jumping back with a scream, mumbo fell onto the floor, scrambling away from the NPC fearfully, its voice screeching loudly and its body twitching sporadically.

his heart beating loudly in his chest, and he locked eyes with the reddened irises of the machine before him.

 after a few more seconds of jittering and glitchy screaming, the NPC seemed to shut down completely, its eyes flickering back into nothingness.

  mumbo heaved, stumbling up to his feet once more. after quickly and skittishly checking to see if the power button was red (which it was), he quickly ran to the iron door, slamming a button down and opening the iron door immediately.

elytra equipped and rockets in hand, mumbo flew upwards and out of the sunken ship as fast as he possibly could.

  even as he reached his base, he could feel his heart racing still.

 ---