#grian -- would run around giggling even more

[firequeenofficial]

Grabbing this with both hands and running with it. (Wild Life spoilers to follow)

Scar never left Secret Life. All the other winners died at the end of their series: Grian jumped, Scott got Watchered, Pearl got exploded, Martyn ran out of time, Cleo got creepered. All died and were taken out. But not Scar.

No, Scar was left behind. Why might that be? What possible reasons might the Watchers havre of punishing Scar like this? What would cause them to keep the man Grian would choose over all others trapped like this? Are they really punishing Scar? Or is it perhaps someone else that they're mad at? Someone who's felt less and less Watcher-y as the seasons went on. Someone who's been more human each season. Someone who had far less involvement in Secret Life's mechanics than in the other seasons.

Maybe Grian tried to leave the Watchers. Maybe he tried to defy them. Maybe he was slowly, subtly, shedding the Watcher part of himself like an old skin, hoping they wouldn't notice. But they did.

They noticed, all right. But they couldn't punish Grian directly. No, that wasn't nearly cruel enough. They had to target the ones he loves, instead.

So on top of putting the Secret Keeper in Secret Life to keep an eye on Grian and the others, they also turned the whole server against Scar. They gave him tasks that make him the villain, that ruin his relationships and leave him alone and scared. And they make sure he wins and that he stays alone and scared. No way out, no way for anyone else to get in. No visitors but the occasional Watcher who comes to snack on his despair and make sure he's still there.

And they make sure Grian knows. They make sure he knows what's happening, and that it's his fault. If he'd just complied, if he'd just stuck to the plan, if he'd just embraced this intrinsic part of him, this never would have happened. Scar would be free. And then they tell him the next part: they would keep trapping the people Grian loves until he has no one left, or until he rejoins them fully.

It's no choice at all, really. Because Grian is far too human, and far too attached to his friends. He can't risk anything more happening to them. He can't lose any more of them.

After a brief negotiation, Grian concedes.

He spends a year designing the next game, determined to get it right, to prove to the Watchers that he's one of them, that he's not holding back. It's intricate, and fragile, and detailed, and awful, but he can't stop. He can't let the Watchers think he's trying to protect his friends from them, or from himself.

When they get antsy, he releases a small game, one that doesn't take any effort, one that doesn't last long. He's the first to die.

Finally, the game is ready. The Watchers are eager and curious: He's been working on it for a full year, and dropping hints for months now. The game starts, and Grian's friends can tell he's different. Mumbo hears something *other* in his giggles. Jimmy notices a gleam of purple in his eyes. Scar can't help but feel he's being especially distant and hostile towards him. None of them comment on it.

The first wildcard hits, and Etho is taken aback by how blatantly Grian mentions that he knows what it is, by how desperate Grian seems to be for Etho to figure out what it is and how it works. He's different, Etho thinks, and spots the barely visible eyes surrounding Grian. He says nothing.

People start dying, and it's all Grian can do to contain his gleeful giggles, the fear and confusion fueling him. By the time session 3 rolls around, his friends have given him so much power simply by panicking that the snails are almost no effort at all.

And this is when the deal he struck with the Watchers after Secret Life comes into action. He'd had only one condition - or at least, only one he could get them to agree to: the people he loves most couldn't win. They couldn't even come close. Pearl had been dropping steadily, but session 3 was what made all the difference. Jimmy, Scar and Mumbo started losing lives so fast that Grian worried the Watchers were taking them out right then and there (Jimmy was never a worry in terms of winning: the Watchers were furious at him for breaking free from the Canary Curse in Secret Life, and would never let it happen again). Pearl died plenty more too, ensuring her protection. When Mumbo asked for a life, he refused. That would only raise the danger.

The one people Grian was worried about were Gem and Joel. He'd known, from the moment they teamed, that it would be an issue. Alone, both were formidable opponents and more-than-competent survivors. Together, they'd be unstoppable. He had a sneaking suspicion Joel would start taking himself out soon, but Gem... she simply wouldn't die. When the snails didn't get either of them, Grian set the reds and yellows on them. Using underhanded methods Grian refused to admit he was proud of, Jimmy managed to take Joel out, but not one of them managed to get Gem.

He needed her to die. He needed her to stay away from the Watchers' grip, to stay safe. He needed her gone. He didn't care what he had to do, what he had to sacrifice. Fully under the Watchers' influence, he didn't care what happened to him; they were his games, these were his pawns. Nothing could touch him, and when they did, he saw it coming. All he could think about was getting Gem and Joel out of his series. But no matter what he or anyone else tried, Gem was still alive.

He had to be sneaky about this. He had to put her at the ultimate disadvantage.

So he gathered Mumbo and Skizz together in the open and, under the guise of trying to get them an extra life, he explained a plan to him. He didn't know if it would work, and he didn't particularly care. That wasn't his real plan, anyway. His real plan involved the others all around him. The reds and yellows that weren't his teammates, that were just as hungry for death as he was. Without saying a word to them, he got almost the entire server interested.

They all went to Gem and Joel's base. Surely, with so many, she couldn't possibly get away.

And yet, again and again, the attempts on Gem's life failed. Mumbo died. Skizz lost a valuable weapon. And still, Gem wouldn't die.

Until she did.

It was Martyn, Martyn of all people, who managed it. Technically, the kill went to Ren, but it was Martyn who masterminded it, who set it up.

And yet, it was Gem who decided she would die now. Gem died, not because the others were good enough, but because they weren't, and she felt bad for them. She was on the track to winning, Grian's deal notwithstanding, and she felt bad about it.

And Grian hated it. Because it wasn't supposed to go like this. She was supposed to be safe! She was supposed to be left alone! And yet, the Watchers were protecting her, carrying her to victory in the complete opposite way they carried Scar.

And there was nothing he could do. He couldn't risk defying the Watchers again, and he couldn't risk warning her or Joel or anyone else. The only person who had an inkling of what was happening was Martyn, who knew almost as much about the Watchers as Grian himself did. But the Watchers hated Martyn: Grian couldn't be seen being friendly with him!

Grian returned to his base with Mumbo and Skizz, hating the way the day had gone, even though every single person had died at least once by now. The only purely good thing that had happened was Jimmy and Scar giving him an excuse to take them out of the game as soon as possible, and he was itching to take that excuse. If he couldn't protect Gem and Joel, he would do what it took and sacrifice what he needed to protect Jimmy and Scar. Pearl would sort herself out, he was sure of that.

His friends would be safe. He didn't know what he'd do otherwise.

Did grian feel more watcher-like this season to anyone else? Sure he controls what the wildcards are and all that... but did you notice him being more overconfident.

Both his deaths this session was due to him being careless... like he wouldn't be killed. Like he feels invulnerable. (Who else is popularly portrayed as arrogant? The watchers!)

And the canary's curse. He told jimmy he would make sure it comes true. ( Who made the canary's curse? The watchers!)

I feel like the watchers have regained some influence on him. Something gave the watchers more influence on him this season... maybe something in the last life series. Who won the last life series? Scar...

[ahllohehn]

Mumscarian....

Scar looked up longingly as he spectated the chariot race from below, his fingers unconsciously fiddling with his wheels as if he had the urge to do something but knew well that he wasn’t actually capable of doing anything but to stay in place.

He gaped in wonder as Grian and Mumbo effortlessly dodged and flew around the skies, sometimes shutting his eyes and flinching when he saw them take an arrow from an adrenaline-high Skizz on another chariot.

If he looks closer, he would see that Mumbo was anxiously muttering to himself while also half-screaming and half-laughing at Grian to stop annoying Ren and Cleo enough to be targeted as neither one of them had the actual capability of returning their violent attacks. Not that Grian seemed to listen as he cackled like a maniac and continued to throw colorful smoke bombs into the other competitor’s faces. 

It looked like a difficult battle. A fun, difficult battle.

Scar flexed his fingers eagerly.

He wanted to join them. But no matter how much he wished, he knows he’s not fit for the skies. He’s not even fit for the ground!

Scar’s expression took on a more solemn turn as the chariots slowly got further and further away, probably to finally do the racing part of the competition and get to the finish line on the other side. The only thing that had him slightly smiling was the sight of Grian and Mumbo excitedly flying ahead of everyone. It was obvious they’d win if they kept at it.

That is, until they suddenly stopped mid-air and let everyone pass by them, causing Scar to widen his eyes in disbelief and confusion. What are they doing?

He expressed his confusion with a look towards Grian and Mumbo in the sky, who had turned to look down at him with a determined look. When they had met eyes, Mumbo pulled on the reins of their pegasi and their chariot roughly landed nearby Scar, who had to wheel himself back with a fearful squeak so as to not be run over.

The two chariot racers were then on the move, Grian went to get a hold of the reins while Mumbo jogged over to the boy on the wheelchair with his arms out, “Come on, Scar! We gotta win the race!”

Scar blinked confusingly. Win the race? But they were literally down here with hi– 

“Huh-? Weh- WHAT-” he yelped and sputtered in confusion as Mumbo took him and carried him up in his arms. Scar felt dizzy from overwhelming confusion as he was hurriedly carried to the chariot, kept secured in Mumbo’s arms.

The unclaimed demigod looked over to Grian for answers to his unsaid questions, but the son of Hermes was also equally as unhelpful with explaining and only flashed a mischievous grin in response, “Hold on tight!”

Then the chariot was off to the skies again, with Scar in tow this time, the same Scar who thought he wouldn't be able to even find himself up here. He couldn't help but scream. Grian and Mumbo laughed gleefully the entire way, they may be determinedly half-busy trying to catch up to everyone else, but they were also going at a pace that wouldn't possibly hurt Scar.

Scar did eventually get over his initial surprise and fear, slowly giggling more and more when he realized; oh gods, I'm flying. I'm up here.

And when they were able to catch up to the others, who seemed surprised at the sight of Scar clinging onto Mumbo but quickly and willingly included him into the race anyway, Scar felt like he wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

Whether the three had won that race or not? I’m not telling you, but Scar definitely felt like a winner being in the company of his loved ones in the freedom of the winds and skies. 

[hopepetal]

Part two of my desert skies au with @applestruda! You can read part one here :)

Reblogs are appreciated :3

--

Standing on the edge of the rocky outcrop, Grian took a deep breath as the cool air rustled through his hair. The breeze here was stronger than it had been in the Isle of Dawn or the prairie, bringing with it the scent of rain and petrichor. Gazing down at the trees surrounded by clouds, Grian was lulled into a sense of relaxation and calmness by the quiet peace of it all.

“Whew! Bit more chilly here, huh?” Scar’s voice pierced through the quiet, and Grian glanced over at his companion as he shivered dramatically. “The wind’s really whippin’ out here.” 

Grian snorted, amusement colouring his tone. “This isn’t bad compared to some other spots, but it has caught some moths off guard. I quickly learned that I had to hold on a little more tightly when it came to this part.” With that, he held out his hand. “I trust you not to let go.”

Scar saluted, before taking Grian’s hand. The sensation was already becoming familiar, and it made Grian’s chest feel warm. Happiness, he supposed, was a rare sensation when dealing with moths who ran off upon seeing anything remotely shiny– and in Sky, there were many such things. Honestly, one would think his job description was babysitter instead of guide.

“Ready?” 

Grian and Scar took a few steps then jumped off the outcrop, spreading their wings to catch an updraft before tucking them in close to dive into the tunnel made of clouds. The wind whistled past them as they shot through the first section of forest, spreading their wings once more to slow themselves down for their landing in front of the stone archway. The landing was a little rough, causing Grian to take a couple quick steps in order not to pitch forward, but they made it in one piece. 

“Oh, wow!” Scar giggled, stretching his wings out wide. “That was crazy. We should do it again!” He ran his hands through his wind-tousled hair, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “We’ll do that again, right?”

Grian stretched his wings as well, groaning lightly. “Ahh, if you stick around long enough I’m sure we will.” He offered his hand again, and led Scar down the path to the large stone wall. “Right, just have to light this little thing…” He reached out and pressed his candle’s flame against the blue gem, waiting for the light to activate the gate. 

Scar watched with the same fascination as before, jumping when the gate began to rumble open. “Oh! Ohh, that's fancy!”

Grian giggled. “It's just a gate, Scar…” He led Scar through the gate, the sound of rain hitting the ground an unfamiliar but welcome noise. “It's been too long since I’ve been here.” He glanced over at Scar, who was staring up at the cloudy sky. “Forgot what rain looks like, huh?” he joked, to an unusual silence.

Scar seemed to jolt back into himself, shaking the thoughts out of his head with a sharp jerk of his head. “Maybe! C’mon, G, let’s go!” He let go of Grian’s hand and jumped right out into the rain, letting out a surprised honk when he landed face first in the giant puddle that had collected in the middle of the area. “Oop!”

Grian didn’t even have time to shout a warning before Scar had his wonderful moment of grace, but he was quick to rush forward and help Scar up, leading him to the next gate and wrapping his arms around his companion. “Goodness, don’t go charging into the rain like that,” he murmured as his wings shimmered, “you’ll lose your light that way.”

Scar leaned into the hug. “I have you with me. I'll be okay! My light is in your hands!” He pulled away. “Thanks for that, G!” 

Grian sighed. “Absolutely not. If you go running off into the rain, your light goes straight back into your own hands. I will not take responsibility for you being a goof.” He stepped forward and placed his candle near the blue gem embedded into the gate wall, watching as the light traveled up. The gate opened without much fanfare, and Scar once again took Grian's hand and followed him through the gate. 

The forest was beautiful, Grian had to admit, but it was still dangerous. Rain dripped down from the trees that stretched toward the cloudy sky, pooling on the ground in light-stealing puddles. Luckily for them, the roots of the trees provided cover, and little light sources had been set up ages ago, long before Grian made his first trip through. 

He squeezed Scar's hand gently, glancing up at his green winged companion. Scar seemed enthralled by the area, head turning all around as he tried to catch every last bit of the sight. “It's so blue,” Scar whispered, as if speaking too loudly would break the scene. 

Grian chuckled. “Yeah. Very blue. Is blue your favorite colour?” He glanced at Scar's wings. “I would've thought it was green.”

Scar honked happily, flapping his wings. “I love all the colours! They all work so well and…” He paused, as if rethinking something. “...except maybe this like… purplish red? I dunno. Something about the colour makes me feel ick.”

Grian tilted his head slightly. “Magenta?” he asked, confused. “Well, to each their own.” He raised his face to gaze out at the forest once more. “Right. See that tree? We're going to run there and stop to recharge. I don't doubt we could just run through, but that won't be the case in the actual forest and I want to show you what to do ahead of time.”

Scar nodded. “Right! Lead the way!”

Holding Scar's hand firmly in his own, Grian ran out into the rain, feet splashing in a puddle before landing on wet grass. The rain pricked against his skin and wings, cold and draining. Pushing himself a little faster, Grian reached the light source under the tree with a gasp. For a moment, he let the light warm him before he relaxed. 

Scar's voice cut through the warm haze brought on by the light. “Whew! That was excitin'! You good, G?” 

“...yeah. Thank you, Scar.” Grian took a deep breath. “Right, then! Let's go!”

They made it to the gate unscathed, without falling into any puddles. Grian opened the last gate, a strange feeling of excitement building in his chest. It had been a long time since he had seen her. He couldn't help but let out an excited honk, rocking back and forth on his feet. 

Scar glanced over. “You're excited,” he noted, curiosity in his voice, “may I ask why?”

Grian stopped rocking, meeting Scar's gaze. “Oh! Well, you remember how I said I was a guide?” He waited for Scar to nod. “Well, I'm not all too good with the Forest. It's huge, and there are a lot of places to get lost in. Tiny cracks and crevices, you know.” He led Scar through the gate, continuing to talk. “Luckily, I have a friend who lives here.”

“Why would anyone live here if it's so dangerous?” Scar asked, to which Grian shrugged. 

“She's just like that. Always has been a little crazy.” 

A familiar voice interrupted their conversation. “Now, you two fellas wouldn't happen to be talking about me, would ya?” 

Grian lit up, taking Scar's hand and running to the gazebo. “Pearl!” He let go of Scar's hand to throw his arms around Pearl, honking excitedly. “Pearl, hey! Hello!”

Pearl honked back, her call echoing and deeper than Grian's bird one. “Heya Griba, long time no see!” She twirled him around before setting him back down and offering her light to Scar. “Hey there, stranger.”

Scar accepted her light, eyes shining. “Well, hello there! I'm Scar. Nice to meetcha! I've been traveling with Grian for a bit, to catch all those winged lights!”

Pearl laughed. “Yeah, he's obsessed with them.”

“As if you don't go insane whenever you see something shiny,” Grian shot back, though his tone remained light hearted. 

“Birdbrain,” Pearl retorted, giggling. She examined Scar, eyes landing on his wings. “No moths this time?” she asked, “I thought that's what you stuck to.”

Grian scratched the back of his neck, laughing nervously. “Funny story about that, really. I thought he was a moth. Turns out he was just really bad at flying.”

“It's true! That's how I got this!” Scar pointed at the crack in his mask proudly. “Face first into a wall. Bam!”

Pearl nodded sagely. “We’ve all been there. Griba especially.” She dodged Grian’s half hearted smack, laughing at his annoyed honks. “Right! I heard you boys needed a guide through the forest. Lucky for you,” she added, “I’m the best forest guide there is.”

Grian crossed his arms. “The only forest guide. Trust me, if I could find someone else who knew the forest as well as you did I would–”

“–Which is why you were so excited to see me and jumped into my arms,” Pearl interrupted, “because you just hate me so much.”

Grian covered his face with his hands, groaning. Scar giggled at the banter, looking at Pearl. “Well, I think you're amazin'! I'd love to be guided through the forest by you!” 

Pearl held out her hand. “Come on, then! Let's get some winged light!”

“I'm not too sure how I feel about you flying,” Grian muttered, taking Pearl's hand and gesturing for Scar to take his. “Last time we flew together…” He grimaced. “At least you don't fly in the forest, I guess.”

Pearl glanced back at Grian. “Oh, maybe you don't fly in the forest. I'm a little different.” 

“Pearl? What does that mean–?”

Without another word, Pearl spread her wings and jumped off the edge of the cliff, honking as Grian shrieked in terror. Scar was just as happy as Pearl was, judging by the spamming of honks he let out as the trio soared through the air. 

When they landed safely tucked away under tree roots, Grian immediately turned to Pearl. “What was that?!” he demanded, shaking off stray droplets of water from his wings. “You aren't supposed to fly in the hidden forest, you'll lose your light and–!”

“Grian.” Pearl's voice was uncharacteristically serious. Not the kind of serious that came alongside anger, but a gentle kind of serious. “Look at me. Look at Scar.” She gave him a moment to look between the two of them. “We're not moths. I know this area better than I know you. I would never–” She squeezed his hand gently– “put you or Scar in danger. Okay?”

Grian was silent for a moment. “Yeah,” he murmured. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Pearl. And, uh, sorry about that.” He shrugged slightly, trying to play it off. “Guess I'm just a little too used to being a guide, huh?”

Scar squeezed Grian's other hand gently. “Yeah. C'mon G, get out of teacher mode.” His joking remark helped lift the mood, and Grian squeezed Scar's hand back in appreciation. “Alrighty! Let's get back out into that rain!”

Pearl laughed. “Hold on there, give me a second.” She pulled out her umbrella, taking a moment to open it. “This should protect us from the rain.” She glanced over at Grian. “Does this make you feel better?”

Grian stared at her. “If you had that, why didn't you take it out in the first place?” 

Pearl shrugged. “Didn't feel like it.”

Grian spluttered indignantly, but was unable to form a sentence before Pearl took his hand and dragged them all back out into the rain, laughing as they splashed through the puddles on the ground. Scar honked excitedly as they ran, holding tight to Grian's hand. 

Pearl took off the ground with an echoing honk, and Grian had to admit he was impressed with how she maneuvered through the air. She had certainly gotten better at flying since Grian had last let himself be led by her, which had turned out to be the biggest mistake of his life. Needless to say, he hadn't let her forget about the incident in the valley ever since.

Of course, she wasn't as good at flying as he was– but that was unfair to her. Grian had a reputation for being sky's greatest flier for a reason, and it wasn't like anyone was going to take that title away from him any time soon. Flying was as essential to Grian as light was– perhaps even more so. He didn't know what he would do if he wasn't able to fly. 

Pearl spread her wings and pulled back as they landed in front of a shining winged light. “Here ya go! First light of the forest, just for you!”

Grian's wings fluttered as light shimmered down from the proximity to the winged light. Holding out his hands, he brought the winged light toward him, feeling warmth spread through his entire body. The winged light disappeared into his wings, and Grian let out a content sigh. 

Next to him, Scar had done the same, cupping his hands and bringing the winged light close. “Oh, well isn't that just lovely?” Scar murmured, letting the light seep into his wings. “Ooh, it's so warm!” His voice was filled with the same kind of awe Grian heard in moths, and for some reason it made Grian want to take Scar's hand and never let it go. 

But that was a very odd thought, and Grian shook his head slightly to clear it from his mind. Turning himself slightly to face away from Scar, Grian cast his gaze out over the hidden forest. From the high vantage point, he could see the vast expanse of the forest stretching out in every direction. 

It was then that Grian realized that Pearl was amazing.

Well– that was a lie, he had known this ever since they met, when they were faceless and nameless and she took his hand to lead him through the afterlife. But it was just now, gazing out at the forest, that Grian really understood. The forest was a dangerous place. Full of twists and turns and dead ends, hidden cracks and crevices tucked away in the dark. It was the one place that Grian couldn't guide moths through– and the place Pearl lived. 

“Ahem. Care to join us, or are you going to spend the rest of forever staring at the rain?” Pearl's voice shook Grian out of his thoughts, and he turned to see her holding out her hand. “We have an entire forest to go through, Griba,” she reminded lightheartedly. 

Grian snorted, taking her hand. “Yeah, yeah. Lead the way, Pearlie.”

Scar took Grian's hand, pumping his other hand in the air with an excited honk. “Woo! Here we go!” 

It may have been raining in the hidden forest, but the group's laughter was like sunshine. Scar and Pearl became close friends incredibly quickly, and much to Grian's horror, Pearl began telling the most embarrassing stories about her and Grian's time together in sky. All of which were vehemently proclaimed false by Grian; he had never been a good liar, and Scar told him as much with a giggle. 

Their time together was far too short, and the three of them found themselves standing in front of the temple soon enough. Grian reluctantly let go of Pearl's hand, Scar still holding onto his. “Thank you so much for guiding us,” Grian began earnestly, trying to keep his voice from trembling. “I've missed you a ton. It was nice to catch up with you.”

“It was nice to meet you!” Scar added on, “I hope we can travel together again soon!”

Pearl nodded. “Of course! And Grian–” She held out her arms, and Grian practically threw himself into them. “Oof!” She staggered back a few steps, laughing. “You better come and visit me, mate. It gets lonely in the forest.” She ruffled his hair, earning an indignant squawk. “If you don't visit me, I'll have no other choice but to come to you. And no one wants that,” she joked. 

“I will,” Grian promised, pulling away. “I'll visit you so much you'll get annoyed with my presence and never want to see me again.”

“Impossible.” Pearl glanced up at the temple, her gaze following the glowing jellyfish that bobbed and spun midair. “Well, I suppose this is goodbye, then.”

“How about see you later?” Scar suggested. “We'll be back, after all! The dynamic duo, Grian and Scar! Don't worry!” His voice took on a dramatic tone as he bowed. “We'll be sure to grace you with our presence again soon!”

Pearl laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah, yeah. See you later, then. And have fun!” 

Grian took Scar's hand, and with one last wave goodbye to Pearl, took off toward the temple. 

It was time to leave the forest, and enter the valley of triumph. 

[mochiwrites]

an mmau drabble.

( mentions of unconfirmed character death )

reblogs do more than likes!

Scar sits in a park.

His cane rests against the bench beside him as he leans back into the seat, eyes taking in the scenery around him. He watches the happenings of natural life, seeing families out with their children, couples going for a stroll on the path. A man plays frisbee with his dog, and Scar nearly becomes well acquainted with said frisbee as it nearly smacks his head. He catches it in time, the man running up to him with an apologetic smile as Scar returns it.

The man has sandy blond hair, and for a moment, Scar’s eyes play a little trick on him.

He sees brown instead of green, a red sweater instead of the plaid button up.

Scar feels a bit numb as he passes the frisbee off to the stranger, who runs back to his dog and throws it in the air again. Scar’s eyes follow the movements of the frisbee, watching how it soars through the air.

He entertains a fantasy, just for a little bit. One where he’s watching not a stranger, but someone he knows very well. Someone who is his other half. He entertains a world in which nothing ever happened to them, and Scar never needed a cane on the hard days. He entertains a world in which there is still a plastic ring on his finger, maybe even a real gold one, and he is the happiest man on Earth.

The frisbee is caught midair by the dog, who happily runs back over to its owner, the plastic firmly between its teeth.

It’s been eight months since everything happened. Two months since Scar tried to find Grian with no luck. It’s been two hundred and forty-three days since Scar was left behind, and sixty days since he was forced to face the very possible truth that Grian was dead.

He hasn’t heard anything about the apartment, no sight of Grian anywhere even remotely nearby. There hasn’t been a single trace, not even a small clue. The thread is gone, and Scar might have missed his window of opportunity forever.

Nearby, a group of pigeons land on the ground, picking through some crumbs spilling from bags on the ground. They coo and jerk their heads, and Scar looks over at them. Something tugs at his chest as he sees one of the pigeons lift its wing to poke its beak through the silver-gray feathers.

It feels like grief.

(“What do you say to getting a cat one day?” Scar looked down at the man curling into his arm, a curious expression on his face. “A new home, new pet. A lovely little companion for us!”

Grian snorted as he pulled the blanket up to cover his bare skin from the chilly air. He rested his head on Scar’s arm, looking up at him. “I think you’d spoil that cat absolutely rotten.”

“What?!” Scar made a playfully offended gasp. “I would never do such a thing!”

“You would.” Grian grinned at him. “There’d have to be a limit on treats though. The cat’s health is important.”

“Of course, of course!” Scar nodded along before his face softened. “You’d get a cat with me?” He didn’t mean for his voice to sound so wobbly, but sue him, he was an emotional guy! The idea of getting a cat with his boyfriend made him happy!

Grian looked at him with a look that on the surface screamed annoyed, but Scar knew better. He could see the fondness in those brown eyes, the slight quirk of his lips. “Obviously. Someone’s got to be the responsible Cat Dad.”

“Cat Dad!” Scar couldn’t help but gasp before bursting into tiny giggles. “And hey! I’d be a very responsible Cat Dad!” He playfully squeezed Grian’s side in retaliation. Grian laughed in return, getting comfortable against Scar as he was pulled closer to him. Scar moved to rest his chin on Grian’s hair, pressing a kiss there first. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“Mhm. Do you have any animals you’d want to adopt?”

Grian moved his head to rest more comfortably under Scar’s own as he hummed in thought. And then, “A parrot.”

Scar chuckled, “I should’ve seen that one coming.” He was fully aware of Grian’s love for birds, how much they meant to him.

“We’d have to keep Professor Beak away from the cat though,” Grian replied, and Scar couldn’t help his fond little laugh at the bird’s name.

“Professor Beak?” he questioned. “Gosh G, has anyone told you how cute you are? I can feel my little heart just melting!”

“Professor Beak is a perfect name for a bird!” Grian exclaimed defensively, moving to look at him. Scar could see how pink his face was. “It’s sophisticated and elegant.”

Scar only melted into further laughter. Grian grew more embarrassed by the man’s reaction, squawking some kind of defense for himself. Yet all Scar could focus on was how much he loved the man in his arms.

Silencing Grian, he used the arm around him to pull him forward until he could kiss him. It was something sweet, loving, and light. Grian sighed against him, a content noise as Scar held him within his arms.

When they pulled apart, Scar grinned, “A cat and a bird then.”)

They never got the bird. Scar never got Grian, and he probably never will, with the man quite possibly being dead.

It’s not something he’d put past Them.

He watches as one of the pigeons takes flight, seemingly uninterested in the pile of garbage on the ground. Scar follows the bird as it flies, and he can’t help but wonder. If Grian really is dead, perhaps in his next life he’ll be a bird. It’d be a beautiful gift, for the man to finally have the wings he envied so much.

It was something Grian used to talk about a lot, having the ability to just fly anywhere, any time. He was envious of it, of that much Scar was certain. Grian had always seemed so trapped, and not even Scar’s shitty apartment could break him free of his cage. There were nights where Scar often wondered who held the key to Grian’s chains, who kept him grounded and clipped his wings.

Maybe such kindness shouldn’t be offered to the man who left him to die. Who betrayed him. Yet Scar found himself giving it to him anyway. He’d give Grian a lot of things, he thinks. Forgiveness could be one of them, depending on the reason. Besides, Scar is too tired to hate. He’s too tired to be angry and hold contempt. He doesn’t think he could even if he wanted to.

Besides, he thinks he let it all go the moment he realized Grian could very well be dead. He still held out hope for the man, but two months and… maybe it was time to move on (Scar knows he never will. Not when a piece of him will always belong to Grian. Maybe it shouldn’t, but Scar is a man in love, even now).

He’ll just have to bury his need for answers and live.

As he watches more of the pigeons fly away, he hopes that Grian is among them. He hopes that Grian has his own flock to call his family, and that he is able to soar in the skies like he’s always wanted. Scar hopes that wherever Grian is now, he is happy. He hopes it’s a lot better than where he was.

Scar certainly knows he’s much better than where he was.

And even if it’s not with him, there’s a part of him that hopes Grian can finally fly free.

[blocksruinedme]

HIGH LIFE

LET'S GO

WHO WOULD BE FUNNIEST STONED (i started this as tags and made a post of them)

grian -- would run around giggling even more

joel -- get real locked down and quiet and maybe he's going to kill you

jimmy -- keeps falling out of his seat laughing, he's useless but adorable

martyn -- just fucking going OFF on some shit and you think you're too high to understand but actually he's skipping words he's too excited

scott -- just chills the fuck out closes his eyes and chuckles at things other people are doing

bdubs -- everyone decides he's not allowed to and goes along with it after 15 seconds outrage. bakes cookies.

scar -- hyperfixation takes over will not talk about anything but disney or star wars i'm serious nothing

Cleo -- little giggling fits but it's unclear what sets them off

impulse -- sitting with scott chilling

etho -- incredibly silly just off the walls silly it's so adorable no anxiety just silly

skizz -- says GENTLEMEN at least every sentence as he Comes Up With Plans that aren't going to happen

tango -- hyperfixation but instead of talking about it he's doing it and ignoring everyone else

Ren -- wants to get really philosophical about everything but can't quite keep it all together - some parts are pretty cool

pearl -- gremlin gremlin gremlin

bigb -- you discover bigb is actually always a little bit stoned

lizzie -- wants to cuddle and sing a capella karaoke (so just singing but she won't admit that)

mumbo -- tries to write down ideas he has for stuff but can't make the words work and gets sad

gem -- hangs out near impulse and scott, is chill except when she has an opinion about someone else's conversation and shouts it, unasked for, then looks very pleased with herself.

the next life series will be called HIGH LIFE and every time you die you have to smoke a ☁️🍃WEED BUNT‼️‼️😈

[errorryx]

unraveling — part three, season ten

read on ao3 | read part one | hermitcraft, 2.9k words

this is the third and final part of my fic for MCYTblr AUFest! once again, if you haven't read the first part, please check it out for more info about this AU. enjoy this infodump about plant-based fibers disguised as a minecraft fanfiction!

—

Ever since Pearl began expanding her original starter base, she’s been working on some kind of big secret project.

It probably has something to do with her choice of theme this season. Or maybe it's an even bigger, more spectacular redstone machine than the already very impressive Dyeduction. Whatever it is, Pearl’s determined to keep it a secret, which means Gem is even more determined to figure it out.

She watches Pearl from a distance, using her spyglass. Pearl’s base is developing into a labyrinth of different structures, with so many entrances and passageways wedged into tight corners, each building blending together into a larger whole. It’s getting big enough that Gem can get lost in it. She gets turned around even from afar, watching Pearl enter a building and emerge somewhere completely different a few minutes later.

This morning, Pearl seems to be harvesting some of the many different plants around her base. She clips back the fast-growing vines that crawl up the sides of her buildings, wades through dense fields of flowers to uproot entire plants, and even collects bark from the bushes and trees. Gem can’t imagine what she’s doing with it all, and she’s even more confused to see Pearl deposit her harvest into a large pool and leave it there.

After a while, Pearl spreads her elytra and rockets off in the direction of the shopping district. Gem takes the opportunity to poke around her base and investigate directly. She stops at the pool first, which has a small channel out to the river, not quite wide enough for a boat to pass through.

When Gem steps into the pool, the water only comes up to her knees. The bottom is full of different stems and leaves, weighed down by rocks to keep it from floating up to the top. Nearby is a small hut filled with shelves and shelves of the same plants in various stages of drying.

Gem has been toying with the idea of a proper scientific investigation for a while now, and clearly Pearl is the perfect subject. She takes a recording device out of her pocket and begins to describe her surroundings.

“This is Dr. GeminiTay in the field, reporting on my observations at PearlescentMoon’s base. Recently, I've observed several anomalies in Pearl’s behavior, and I came to the conclusion that I must analyze her natural habitat for hints as to what may be causing this…deviation.” Gem nods, proud of herself. She sounds so professional! “It appears that Pearl has been soaking plants in water, then letting them dry. The purpose of this behavior is as of yet unknown.”

Nearby the pool and the shed full of drying plants is a building that Gem knows has been here for a while, but she doesn’t think she’s ever been inside. The top floor is full of more plants in the next stage of the process, whatever process that is. One one side is a pile of fully dried plant material, and on the other side is a heaping pile of fibers and several chests stuffed to the brim with very tiny wood shavings.

Gem relays this information as best she can into the recording device, then takes a staircase down to the basement, which is much larger than the room above. The center of the room is taken up by several large spinning wheels, each hooked up to a redstone device that Gem doesn’t even bother to try and make sense of. Presumably they help automate the process, though they all seem to be shut off right now. Gem is tempted to flick one of the levers to see what happens, but she’s not Grian. She has more self-control than that.

Though, it would be really funny if she broke something.

Gem peeks outside to make sure Pearl isn’t back yet, before running back to switch the lever on, giggling to herself. The wheel starts spinning, but since there’s no fibers or threads on the spool, nothing else interesting happens. She’s disappointed, but also relieved that she didn’t break anything. She flicks the lever back off and moves on.

Pearl has hung several picture frames around the room, but instead of artwork, the frames contain embroidery projects. The largest of them reads live laugh love in familiar cursive lettering, surrounded by a border of leafy vines. Most of the others are textless, with designs of different plants and flowers.

A large table on the left side of the room is covered in dozens of small scraps of handmade fabric. Some are of higher quality than others. None of them look like the sort of crochet pattern that Gem’s used to seeing on Pearl’s body. Pearl must be trying to branch out with her projects, and these are some of her first attempts. There’s another embroidery project hanging right above the table, the only other one with any text, which reads, Start small.

Beside the table is an ordinary loom, and next to it, a larger, more intricate version constructed out of several different types of wood. Normal looms are only used for banners, but Pearl’s handmade loom seems to be built for broader purposes. On the other side of the loom, in the back corner of the room, is an iron door without any visible way to open it.

At this point, Gem can safely assume that she's found the room where Pearl keeps her mystery project. Clearly it's some kind of fiber art—or several different kinds at once, from the look of it. But all the things she's seen so far are just pieces of the puzzle, and she still can’t figure out what Pearl’s making.

Her only remaining option is to see what’s behind the locked door.

Now, Gem could easily go home and construct her own lever to open the door, or just break through the wall herself, but that’s no fun. She’d much rather figure out how to use this secret door the right way. Knowing Pearl, it’s not a special kind of lock that only she has the key to, but some kind of thematically relevant puzzle that anyone can figure out if they try.

So Gem tries. For a good long time, she looks around the room for hints. She stops in front of the table of scraps, looking at the embroidered message. Start small. It doesn’t quite fit with Pearl’s sense of interior decoration. The live laugh love one is clearly a joke, a reference to last season, but there’s nothing about Start small that holds any sort of meaning to Gem.

Unless it’s meant as a clue.

In a moment of inspiration, Gem stands on her tiptoes, reaching over the table to take the frame down from the wall. She looks over to the door, but it hasn’t moved. When she flips the frame around, she can see the messy backside of the stitching, plus a hand-written note from Pearl, reading, smaller than that.

Definitely a clue, then. Gem switches on her recording device and begins to narrate. 

“The wild Pearl is known for her cleverness,” she tells her imaginary peer-review science board. “One of the defining behaviors of a Pearl is to set up puzzles for her friends. It’s important to provide her with enrichment by participating, which is why I’m doing this, of course. Not because I’m nosy.”

She paces up and down the room, the reassuring rhythm of her footsteps against the floor helping to clear her mind. That is, until she steps down on a block that makes a strange metallic clanking sound.

Gem may not know much about redstone, but she knows a hidden hopper when she hears one. The spot where she’s standing is just a few blocks away from the door. All she has to do now is figure out what to throw into it.

“Pearls are practical creatures,” Gem says. “This Pearl would not choose something rare or difficult to access as the key to a door she uses all the time. It’ll probably be something inside this room.”

Start small. Smaller than that. The answer’s sitting right in front of her. Pearl doesn’t start a crochet project by jumping into it blindly and hoping for the best. She plans it out beforehand, making patterns and testing out stitches. All of the different test swatches on this table are her way of starting small, practicing for the big project she’s making.

Gem grabs one of the scraps of fabric, dropping it on the floor above the hopper. The door opens with a loud clank, and she enters the room, holding her breath in anticipation.

She’s not expecting Pearl to actually be inside. She knows for a fact that she saw Pearl fly off, though admittedly there was plenty of time for Pearl to sneak back into this room while Gem was wandering around her base. But the surprise of Pearl’s presence pales in comparison to the shock of what she’s making.

Pearl is hunched over a player-sized figure made up of many different kinds of fabric, lying on top of a large worktable. Only one of its arms are attached, the other sitting right beside the empty shoulder, and both legs end just below the knee, still unfinished. Most of the fabrics look coarser than the soft wool yarn that Gem is used to, but there’s no mistaking who it’s supposed to be.

“Oh. My. Gosh.” Gem blinks several times, unable to believe what she’s seeing. “Pearl, are you multiplying?”

Pearl laughs, sitting back and looking up at her. “Do you like it?”

Gem takes a few steps closer, taking it all in. The new Pearl’s plastic button eyes have been replaced with wooden ones, and her hair is a mixture of several different textures and shades of brown. She’s wearing a white postal jacket like the one Pearl’s wearing now, but this one is made out of a more refined version of some of the swatches in the previous room.

When Gem commissions new outfits to fit her themes, she doesn’t spend much time thinking about the work that goes into it behind the scenes. She just pays their exorbitant prices and assumes they must have worked very hard. Now, having seen all the steps in Pearl’s process, she’s baffled as to how her clothesmakers are able to deliver their finished products so quickly, or how Pearl herself has gotten so much done without anyone noticing.

“It’s beautiful, Pearl. It’s so detailed.” Gem can’t think of anything to say that doesn’t feel like an understatement. “Have you been working on this all season?”

“Only since I decided on my solarpunk theme,” Pearl says. “It shouldn’t take me much longer. I’ve processed most of the fibers that I need already, and that’s the slowest part.”

“I have so many questions,” Gem says. It’s a little disconcerting to see this new version of Pearl in an unfinished state, looking so much like Pearl does now, but lifeless and incomplete.

“I can explain it to you if you want!” Pearl looks excited at the prospect. “There’s a lot of steps, but if you break it down it’s actually pretty simple—”

“Have you been hanging out with Mumbo recently?” Gem asks. “None of what you’re doing is simple, Pearl. This is very complicated!”

“Already had a peek around my base, did you?” Pearl tuts in mock disappointment.

“It’s only fair! You don’t get to complain after what you did to my base with all those pickle messages.”

“Ah, well.” Pearl shrugs. “You may have a point.”

“What is it for, anyway?” Gem can’t help but notice that Pearl isn’t making these modifications to herself, but to an entirely different entity. “Why do you need another you?”

“Gem!” Pearl laughs at her. “You got all the way to this point and you still haven’t figured it out?”

“What do you—Oh. Wait.” Gem blinks. “Are you—you’re building yourself a replacement body?”

“There you go,” Pearl says. “We got there eventually.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Gem says. “How do you get yourself into a whole different body? Can you turn back after you’re done? If you can just go around switching bodies, what’s stopping you from being a—a pig, or a sheep or something?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Pearl says, waving her hand dismissively. “I just, y’know…” She pauses, frowning. “Well, I—hm, okay. I’m not sure, actually.”

“You’re not sure?”

“I don’t know how it works,” Pearl says. “It just sort of happens. Like how everyone gets new outfits to stick through respawn.”

“That’s normal, though. Everyone does it!”

“Yeah, but how?”

Gem opens her mouth, then closes it again. She doesn’t know. How does she not know?

She feels a little dizzy from how fast her thoughts are racing. Gem pulls up a chair and plops herself down, trying to get her thoughts in order.

In this world, and in every world since she spawned, there have been rules. They vary from place to place, and they can be changed, too—even bent or broken. Gem knows people who break the rules—some of the most infamous rulebreakers in the world reside on this very server with her—but she’s never counted Pearl among that number.

And, now that she thinks about it, that seems like an oversight on her part. Gem has known Pearl for longer than most of the other Hermits, and she can’t remember ever questioning how Pearl came to exist in this form, this version of herself that Gem’s always known.

Gem has never broken the rules, or at least, she’s never knowingly attempted to do so. She’s happy where she is, building and mining and fighting the normal way, seeking out challenges from within the confines of what’s supposed to be possible. She’s amazed by the accomplishments of her reality-bending friends, but that sort of thing has never interested her.

Now, standing on the edge of what seems to be a rule-breaking realization, Gem wonders if this is how they felt—Etho, or Cleo, or Doc, or Pearl, apparently—any of the Hermits that ever asked the right questions, or put the pieces together, or stumbled upon a loophole in the rulebook.

She clings to the fabric of her lab coat in wonder. What kind of force tethers this silly costume she’s wearing to her own body? Why does it stay with her even after death? How does any of this make sense?

Is everything just a—

“See, you can't question these things,” Pearl says, bursting through her train of thought. “Or it all falls apart.”

“Falls apart?” Gem asks, alarmed. “What does that mean? That sounds bad. Is it bad? Have I broken the world?”

“No! No, of course not, don’t worry.” Pearl rests a soft hand on Gem’s shoulder. “Well, maybe a little bit, but it’s fine. Nothing that can’t be fixed.”

Gem puts her head in her hands, taking a deep breath. It helps, a little. “This is—a lot, Pearl.”

“Here, let me show you something.” Pearl holds up a swatch of fabric, which Gem is reasonably confident in identifying as crochet, though she doesn’t know the specific stitch. “It’s like this. The fabric holds itself together just fine if you leave it alone, but when you pull on the edges…” She does just that, and the first row collapses on itself, then the next, then the next. “Things start to go a bit wonky. But…” She pulls out a crochet hook and starts stitching, rebuilding the row she’d just unraveled. “You can make them right again, if you learn how. It can go back to normal. Or, well, normal enough.”

“But what about people who don’t want it to be normal?” Gem asks. “How do they deal with it?”

“You’ll have to ask them about it,” Pearl says. “That’s not how I do things. I prefer to patch the holes I find rather than explore what’s inside them.”

Gem leans her head against Pearl’s shoulder. “This really hurts my brain.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Gem. I didn’t mean to push you into this.”

“It’s okay,” Gem says. “The fact that I made it through two and a half seasons of Hermitcraft before getting here is probably pretty impressive, right?”

“It’s not for everybody,” Pearl says. “Like Grian, for example.”

“Grian?”

“He noped out of it even harder than I did, you know. Did it so well that I’m not sure he even remembers anymore. I don’t want to bring it up with him, because if he did forget, I think he meant for it to be that way.”

“Huh. I had no idea.” Gem lets out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know if I want to go his route or not. Or your route, or some other route. I feel like I know way less about the world than I did this morning.”

“You should probably talk to someone other than me about it,” Pearl suggests. “It’s different for everyone. But whatever you do, it should be your own way, not someone else’s.”

“My own way.” Gem smiles. “I like the sound of that, whatever it is.”

“Don’t stress yourself out over it,” Pearl warns her. “I know the way you are. Take your time, Gem. You have basically forever to figure it out.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” Gem wraps her arms around Pearl. “Thank you, Pearl.”

“For what?”

“For explaining stuff,” Gem says. “For being my friend. For being so cuddly, too. You are so soft.”

“Aw, you’re welcome.” Pearl hugs her back. “Would you be mad if I got less soft, though?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gem says. “I love every version of you.”

Pearl laughs softly. “I love every version of you too.”

—

if you read this all the way through and enjoyed, please consider reblogging!

<Previous part

[fountainpenguin]

#Riddle Watches Traffic - Secret Life Session 4 POVs - This post contains Joel, Grian, Etho, Martyn, and Scar commentary

Joel POV (My first POV for this session):

Joel, the ex-Shrek, running around dropping lines from "All Star" in conversation is everything I could have wanted.

Joel: If you were a color, what color would you be? Pearl: Red.

Can't argue with that.

Lizzie: You like my path? Joel: I do. Is it going to link up with mine? Lizzie: We've got connecting paths now. Joel: I didn't realize we were that close. Lizzie: To touch paths. Joel: I know we're married, but come on... It's getting a bit crazy now.

slkdjf Joel really does not want to be touchy-feely with anyone this season huh?

Okay I switched to Grian's POV because Joel came up to the rest of the Mounders and they were all giggling and telling him to go talk to Grian, so swapping my liveblog over:

Grian POV

?? Grian's task was to bait a yellow into believing his task was singing everything he says, that feels kinda unfair to the yellows because it doesn't give them a way to call him on it, does it? slkdjf

That is really funny he needs to get someone to call him out in order to succeed, though.

Grian's really good at like, recapping and/or giving context (like pulling up his screen to walk the audience through exactly who the Yellows on the server are). Thanks G.

sldkfjs Scar singing back to Grian... They are soulmates, your honor.

Cleo, trying not to bust up laughing: How long do you have to sing for? Grian, singing: I don't have to sing! It's a choice~!

Grian chasing people and singing while they run sdlkfjsd... Mumbo like "Please stop following me! I don't want to deal with your singing anymore!"

sldkfjsd can we make a reaction clip out of Grian sadly singing, "I am mortally wounded~"

Grian is SO GOOD at this baiting game, though. Despite needing to get a yellow to guess his task, he takes off running as soon as Joel shows up, then when Joel starts talking to him he clams up. Master of manipulation; what a deLIGHT!

sldkfjs the hilarity of Joel smugly calling Grian out and then Grian takes out his book, sighs loudly, and trots off to the Secret Keeper... and hits success instead of fail. omg.

Joel immediately adding "My world's on fire; how 'bout yours?"

Grian: "You are all terrible friends and that's what I needed <3"

lskdjfsdk Scar being like "Wait, that was your task? I thought we were just being musical." Your honor, they are soulmates.

Does... does Etho have my "reference previous seasons / fake moment from previous series" task suggestion?

Switching back to Joel:

slkdfjsldkjfksdl in Joel's POV, there's a bit of lag so when Joel confronts Grian, Grian suddenly bolts across the bridge at light speed and it's hilarious.

Switching to Etho because dying of curiosity:

Etho making cute benches outside his shack.

Cleo: Oh, there there... I was going to pat you, but then I realized... Etho: Pat me with a sword? Clean slice through the head?

sdklfjsdfj househusband Etho strikes again?? Cleo accidentally whacks him with a sword and he immediately spins around like "I'm sorry- I'll do the dishes, I'll do whatever you want! No more, no more!" Love that for him.

Love how Etho said "Aha" after looking at his task even though he hadn't even received that suggestion yet.

You nerds really gonna be like "Etho and I aren't romantic" and "We're besties" and then put a single bed inside your house, huh? What am I supposed to do with that.

?????? Martyn giving Etho the assignment of gaslighting someone into believing a fake moment from the previous series? Does Martyn have my suggested task or did we just same brain on that one? lol.

[More liveblogging under the cut <3 #Long post]

Switching over to Martyn POV because curious:

skdlfj wow Martyn's video is super loud after coming from Etho's. Just gonna turn my sound down there.

??? Martyn does not have my suggestion so I guess he and I just had the same brain wave. Alas. Here were some suggestions I put in Tango's Session 3 comments, for anyone curious:

Reference events from past Life series at least 4 times in conversation with other players (Ex: "This reminds me of that one boogeyman kill in Last Life; remember when X happened?") - [Some ideas that come to mind are that it would be funny to pester players who missed seasons by lightheartedly teasing them about events they weren't around for]

Alternatively: Convince at least 2 players that a falsified event happened in Secret Life or a past Life series [Ex: "Haven't you seen the fanart of this? I'll send it to you later." / "Remember, we were all there? Oh, you didn't play in that series; I guess you wouldn't know."]

?? They took the world border out of the Nether. Untapped escape routes in Hell.

I appreciate "mayor" Scar chasing the Big Dogs away and telling them he was going to send them to the pound.

(Loud sigh). Scar upset with Martyn for peeing on (dumping water on) his base. Martyn is running amok. Unrestrained.

slkdjf Martyn admitting he had read a lot of tasks in the past week and was thinking he'd probably end up taking someone else's idea. Y'know what, good enough for me. Whether we same brained or he read that, I'm satisfied. Also Etho saying "Martyn, you should write tasks because that's a great idea." I'll take it, slkdfj.

Watched a few minutes more of Martyn, he's talking with Joel and I have nothing to say atm, switching back to Joel:

Joel so sad when his cows get loose.

I appreciate how Martyn allowed Etho to buy his silence but then he runs to Joel and starts dropping hints.

slkdjfs Joel nailed his lyrics, good for him.

Joel working on his farms before pressing the success button is mildly stressing me out. (Oh, he was waiting for safe day).

sldkfj Etho giving Joel a chance to take a guess at him and Joel phrasing his words specifically as "Was your goal to bait a yellow into guessing you're saying 'Aha?'"

I always admire Joel's commitment to getting the right colored resources, especially wood. He takes so much pride in his builds even in the deathgame.

One of my other task suggestions was to break game rules for part of the session and I used the example of wearing a helmet. If Scar has that task, that will be quite funny. He's being super sus about that helmet and even talking like "I can take it off! I'll take it off right now" which would line up with my 50% of the session suggestion. I'll have to check on him next.

Gem's Yellow life heterochromia.

lskdjfslkjdf Boat Boys, my beloved...

Etho, parking a boat and making eye contact: Joel. Get in. Joel: The fandom's gonna go crazy, Etho. We can't do this. Etho: We're reliving the past, Joel, right now. Remember the good old days, just me and you? Joel: I do. The Relation ship. Etho: Riding the boats? Etho: ... Back when you cared about me.

skdjf I had to pause to start writing that and it really does just keep going, huh?

Joel: I still care, Etho. It's just... Etho: You still care? We hardly see each other anymore. Joel: I know, I know, but that's because I'm with the Mounders now. Etho: Well, this is where the relationship ends.

What is in Etho's Secret Life water; he is SO clingy and mushy with Joel every episode.

Joel calling Scar out for breaking the rules... is this my task, I am so curious.

Kind of surreal watching this play out. Definitely picking up the vibe that the players screened tasks together before putting them in and so they've got "rule breaker" as a possible option in their minds and that's why they're so quick to jump in and call Scar out on that TODAY despite the fact that he was also breaking rules in previous episodes. Very curious.

Martyn's calling a meeting, seems like a good time to pop over and check on Scar's task. Episode title is him calling himself a server villain so it might not be my task, but that's very funny anyway. Let's see.

Alas... It is not my "Break the rules for 50% of the episode" task suggestion, but the task he does have is really clever (Do the opposite of what people tell you to do).

Gonna bounce back to Joel and finish his episode and return to Scar later, but that will be a fun watch <3 Still getting the vibe that they screened my task ideas and maybe we will see it another day. We shall see.

I like the mental image of Scott looking up, covered in mud and dirt, as the Task Force comes barreling over the hill like "We caught you mud-handed!!"

Also enjoy the mental image of Joel catching Gem at the bottom of his water slide.

Joel @ Gem about The End: How come they went? I wouldn't go. Gem: idk, bunch of improv nerds. They just kept saying 'Yes.'

Yeah that tracks.

Gem: I just saved you a heart. I don't think I have to give you one.

I love how Joel is always like "Everybody likes me because I'm really popular." Like that's his actual dialogue. He's so fun to write and it's always funny to remember that he really is just Like That.

Congrats to Joel for finishing a nice fence around his base, lighting it up, and chopping down the trees to prevent skeleton spawning! He's doing pretty well this season.

MARTYN FIRST RED... He fell out of the world. what an idiot /affectionate.

Jimmy too... Jimmy. Jimmy, my man who has been out first four seasons in a row... is also on red life now... Jimmy, you are playing a DANGEROUS game.

Done with Joel's POV, switching to Grian's (after leaving a nice comment and a like on his video ofc <3)

Grian: The reds work slightly differently, but I'll explain that when we get our first red. Me: ... ah.

It's fun to see how careful and skilled Grian is. He's been a very high-heart green name for several episodes and it gives me 3rd Life vibes again.

That said, he lost a bunch in the caves... but I get why, gotta do the mining. Oh geez, zombie kid with a sword hits hard. Ouch.

Loving his dramatic music, though. It was interesting a few months ago when I went back and started binging some early Hermitcraft episodes, because you never appreciate the skill these guys have with subtle music until you compare them to their older videos which feel more awkward and empty. gg.

Holy GEEZ, Grian's dropping hearts like mad. Also watching him panic as his hunger meter drops because he's out of food is super funny. Yeah, that'll kill you.

Grian Session 4 would be a good early watch with that kind of tension... Also I love him limping into his base and devouring berry after berry.

Scar unable to take off his helmet because everyone keeps going "?? Take off your helmet!" and he can't.

The hilarity of:

Grian: Can I use your enchantment table? Scar: YES! ... Wait........ Grian: /turns around Scar: Noooo... Grian: /cracks up

Scar indicating he's okay with Grian using the table by using a sarcastic sing-songy voice to tell him it would be a bad idea to use it skldfj

Scar following Grian's instructions but doing so with a delay while Grian stands there confused sdlkfj

Grian: Scar said I could use it! How else would I know you had it? Cleo: ?? Why would Scar be in charge of our enchanter? Grian: ??? He said it was his??

Etho telling Grian to give his heart to Cleo slkdjf. Etho just really wants to be affectionate to someone.

Grian: What do I have to do to be friends? I hate living in that egg.

lskdjf obsessed with the besties roommates getting a third wheel roommate who brings them golden carrots.

Etho: You've been burning down your bases every episode. One rule: If you move into ours, you're not allowed to burn it down.

<3 Builder roommate!!

slkdfjsk they outsourced the bed shrine to Grian.

Etho: Cleo, you're really going to get along with Grian. He likes burning things too.

Obsessed with Grian asking why Etho waterlogged his chests and when Etho explains it's to prevent TNT damage, Grian just pauses and goes "I have made the right choice." sldkfj. Grian and Etho and Cleo team up! Very exciting; what will they do?

Grian asking Scar if he's okay and Scar saying "I'm neutral." skldjf. Scar is so good at this.

Loving Grian going to visit BigB for his obligatory "let's find out what weird stuff he's doing" commitment (and dragging Scar after him).

slkdjfskldj wheezing:

Grian: Why is Tango hanging around? Mumbo: ??? That's a bit rude? Someone partaking in a conversation and you're like "Why are you here?"

Watching Martyn eyeballing The End advancements in the chat while I know he's this close to dying from jumping in The End is stressing me out.

Mumbo: Grian, let's play a game. You stop. Grian: /stops Mumbo: /takes off running

And there go Martyn and Jimmy...

?? How interesting that red lives can't immediately PVP other players, but that's hilarious that they're supposed to have a never-ending chain of harmful tasks to complete. POV, you get possessed by a bunch of spirits who don't want to release your body. Time to add that to my Secret Life 'fic collection...

Grian's POV is done, going to leave him his like and comment, quickly wrap up these recaps, and sign off for the night.

Etho time:

Coming back in to Martyn's gaslighting suggestion... picking up what Etho does from here. sldkfj that really is my task he suggested, but Etho interpreted it differently. Fun to watch though. Also hilarious that Etho started claiming he came up with the Aha bit. sldkfj. Everyone in this series is nuts.

Shout out to Bdubs: "I want to be Yellow just for the barks."

slkdfj love Jimmy pointing out that in Last Life everyone was cracking up over Aha jokes but now everyone is just sighing at Etho.

Etho possessed by dead Southlander ghost :(

I like Etho asking if Grian wants a bread bridge because it really does sound like he's just bringing up "dead memes."

wheezing at Bdubs like "Wow, someone made the whole world in this short of a time?" and Scott jumps in like "Only a Bad Boy could do that." slkdfjlsdjf

Martyn: I meant something else but :'D (GG)

slkdfjsdljfskl screaming at BigB like "I forgot I was supposed to report to the Heart Foundation."

Etho: I'm a horse girl too. Cleo: I mean, that's what I call Bdubs.

lskdjfsldkjf Impulse jumpscare. Haven't seen him show up in any of my POVs yet. Will probably circle back to him later this weekend.

That wraps up Etho's POV, switching over... I have been watching Minecraft for like 3 hours straight.

Bdubs in Etho's comments launching a "formal complaint" against Etho sldkjfs. That's friendship.

Speedwatching Martyn and then Scar and then we rest.

Picking up 15 minutes into Martyn's episode:

Joel, about his wife: Oh, Lizzie. I forgot her. Not like she's an important part of my life or anything. Martyn: Old news, old news. Separation of work and life.

I do find it funny that Etho was bouncing around like "Joel, want to take a shot at me?"

The "Scar never stood trial" screen is cracking me up.

Again, RIP Scar unable to take off his helmet because everyone kept telling him too slkdjf.

I love Martyn and Pearl going back and forth like "You just told me to give my base a big butt and then walked off."

Martyn: I'm waiting to hand in my task in case I lose hearts so I can recover. Curse of knowledge: ...

<3 Pretty Heart Foundation cherry blossom heart and cool globe in the background.

sldkjf Impulse urging everyone to gift Skizz hearts. The guilt. They are BFFs, your honor.

Martyn's dramatic music while Scar takes off running slkdjf.

Big brain move by Martyn for swiping Mumbo's horse while sussing out his task.

Welp, this is as far as I got before someone came in and pulled me from my computer, which of course restarted in my absence and closed all my many incognito tabs with my videos :') Ugh. Thank goodness for auto-saved drafts though or I would have lost this after 3 hours of watching.

Posting now and if I have anything more to say about Martyn or Scar, I'll do so in another post!

[angeart]

With interest, Grian watches Scar heave breaths and clutch at his chest. The surrounding caves full of lava pops and hissing mobs fall away, bringing them somewhere dark and misty instead. The ground is smooth and pitch black, some blocks of it gently floating away in a way that’s entirely disturbing; a picture of a quiet and broken world. Glancing appraisingly around, Grian takes a step away from Scar, swishing his tail impatiently as he waits for him to calm down.

“Gee, Grian. Can’t you bring us somewhere nice for once?” Scar huffs out breathlessly, still slightly bent forward. His messy brown hair falls into his eyes, partially covering up his expression.

Grian itches to step closer and push Scar’s hair away, so he can see his face in full. “I can’t,” he lies, a hint of sulkiness in his voice. His nose scrunches up a little as he wrangles the strange urges nestled in his heart, and he takes one more step decidedly away from Scar.

 Taking a final deep breath, Scar straightens up. “Can’t or won’t?” he presses.

“Can’t,” Grian insists, even though the words feel like gravel in his throat under the scrutiny of Scar’s gaze. There’s something in Scar’s eyes as he looks back at Grian, and Grian can’t quite identify it—something veering on expectant. Something hopeful, maybe. Something strange. His tail sharply swishes again, agitated, and he blurts out: “What are you the most afraid of?”

“What?” Scar startles, visibly flinching under the abrupt ambush.

“What are you the most afraid of?” Grian repeats, pinning him down with his gaze. “We went through plenty things. You scare easily. But what is The Big Bad Scary Thing for you? I can’t quite figure it out.”

Scar feels his heartbeat in his throat. He purses his lips and stays silent.

They stare at each other.

Swish, swish, swish. Grian’s tail flicks from side to side as he waits.

Scar thinks Grian might explode if he won’t give him something. He releases a breath, wilfully loses the staring match and stammers out: “I—I’m not telling you that!”

Grian’s tail droops, suddenly weighted as he pouts. “Aw, why not?”

It’s a display of innocence, but Scar knows he’d be barking up the wrong tree if he wanted to find a shred of innocence in the demon that stands in front of him. (And yet a part of him wants him to willingly let himself get deceived. A part of him wants to think that it’s not as impossible as the rest of him makes it out to be.) Gritting his teeth, he pulls up every defence he can muster; unease sings in his veins, ready to be called upon once again in this dreamscape, always so, so very close to surface here. “You’ll use it! You’ll use it against me!” he accuses.

“I’d never,” Grian says simply, his lips twitching into a toothy grin.

“Pfhshs, you would, you absolutely would, you menace!” Scar protests, taking a stumbling half-a-step back, as if having physical distance ever helped him in here. (It never helps. Sometimes he feels like closer is the only right place to be. Like the further he runs, the more danger he’s in.)

The familiar sound of giggles bubbles out of Grian; his eyes are bright when they meet Scar’s again.

Running on some faulty setting, Scar’s heart skips a beat at the sight. He blames it on adrenaline—on the constant looming feeling of awaiting terror; on the lingering fear that so stickily clings to him whenever he dreams—but somewhere deep down in the pit of his stomach he knows that’s not it.

He watches Grian quiet down again, eyes grazing the surrounding dreamscape almost contemplatively. There’s a small tilt to Grian’s head as he thinks, a curve to his throat and jaw that makes Scar’s fingers twitch. He pries his gaze away and forces himself still, instead watching the world slowly float away around him and get swallowed by the void.

Is that what’s going to happen to him if he keeps standing here?

Dread curls through the spaces between his ribs at the thought, even though he’s aware it’s better than most alternatives.

Grian’s hum interrupts his thoughts, and the dread in Scar’s chest grows thicker and more insistent.

“I noticed,” Grian starts musingly, “that you don’t usually dream about other people.”

Scar blinks, trying to regain his footing in the seeming randomness of the topic. “So?”

“Well, most people dream about other people in their lives now and then,” Grian notes. His dark eyes hold Scar hostage. “Bad dreams, you know. Them getting hurt? Or getting hurt by them? Things like that.” His tail swishes. There’s something both grim and intrigued in his expression as he continues hungrily watching Scar. “But you don’t.”

There’s a flash image rushing through Scar at those words: Mumbo, drenched in blood, sobbing helplessly as he collapses on the floor and curls up on himself. Scar, hovering around him, not knowing how to help.

He tries to cover up the shakiness of his breath with false bravado. He isn’t going to let Grian have that.  “I don’t see anything wrong with that,” he retorts, his voice carrying only a hint of his fraying nerves. He doesn’t think he could bear that kind of nightmares.

Grian cocks his head, eyes still lingering on him in that scrutinising way. “Is it because you don’t have anyone? Is that what you’re secretly afraid of? That you’ll die completely alone?”

Scar’s brows pull into a bemused frown. “Are you insulting me?”

“What?” A genuine confusion disrupts the intensity of Grian’s gaze.

“I have friends!” Scar huffs out defensively.

“Wait,” Grian shakes his head, feeling like he’s suddenly two steps behind Scar in this conversation. “Why would that be an insult?”

This whole time, Grian thought there’s simplicity in fears. Everyone was scared of something. And Grian did so very much enjoy putting his hands in that particular jar of honey, so tantalising and rich and sweet. There was fascination in watching it all unfold, so raw and terrible. Seeing the frantic urgency, the rising swell of overwhelming emotions ready to consume. Yet at the end of it, there was nothing. Always, always. Inevitably, it’d end. They’d all wake up.

All but him.

They’d wake up and none of it would ever be real.

He was just playing. It didn’t mean anything.

Scar is looking at him as if maybe it meant something.

“Well, you’re—” Scar starts, a baffled edge to his voice. Wasn’t it obvious? He thought it was obvious. But Grian keeps looking at him with that same confusion etched into his features, and so Scar fumbles for a way to put his knee-jerk thought into coherent words. “You’re saying I might die alone. Isn’t that kind of like suggesting that I’m unlovable?”

There’s a beat of silence when Grian parses through his words, slots them somewhere within himself.

Scar can’t tell where Grian’s slotting them. He just wants to be understood, and for them to move on.

But Grian doesn’t swiftly move from it quite like Scar hopes.

His tail once again gravitates straight down; his wings droop and his bat-like ears twitch and pull back. “Oh.” It’s a small sound, timid and fractured and just a little bit guarded.

Scar watches Grian’s face scrunch up again, in a way that’d be completely endearing if it wasn’t so alarming. Because Grian doesn’t usually make a face like this. He’s sulky, sure, and he’s chaotic. He cackles and sighs and swishes his damn tail and—

He shouldn’t look timid. He shouldn’t look like he’s about to get hurt.

“Grian…?”

When Grian speaks, his voice is even quieter, cracking with something unsure. “I didn’t know it’s…” He stops, the words hitting some dam within him. I didn’t know it’s bad, is what he almost says. His frown deepens, and he’s not looking at Scar anymore; he’s staring at the ground, as if it held the answers he so desperately needed. “I didn’t…” He trails off again, sheepish. I didn’t mean that you’re unlovable hovers on the tip of his tongue, but he bites at it until it dies in his throat.

A sharp urge to step closer and lift Grian’s chin sears through Scar.

Before he can do anything, Grian lifts his head on his own accord and meets Scar’s gaze.

Grian’s dark eyes are full of some deep pitfall, a ravaging emotion that Scar fails to identify.

“Am I?” Grian asks, words imbued with painful desperation. Am I unlovable? echoes through him, thrums through every part of him with the wild force of his heartbeat.

He shouldn’t be asking this. Why is he asking this?

It shouldn’t matter.

Why does it hurt to think it?

He should be coating the words in sharp edges. He should be using them as knives. He should be digging his claws into Scar, mocking him that yes, maybe Scar is unlovable. He should be trying to see if that scares him. If it hurts.

Isn’t that what nightmares should be about?

But instead, Grian’s the one in pain.

And yet.

And yet it looks like Scar is hurt too, somehow, anyway. There’s a faint fragrance of fear in the air, an unfamiliar tinge to it that Grian can’t quite pinpoint.

A part of Grian wants to stay and figure it out. It wants to indulge in the way Scar looks right now; it wants to step closer, to put his sharp, clawed fingers against Scar’s pulse point and find out what makes it beat like that.

The other part of him is cacophonic and loud, ringing alarm bells and frantically trying to get him to run away.

Run away from what? Run where?

This is his world. This is his place.

He isn’t supposed to hurt here.

He isn’t supposed to hurt here.

He doesn’t realise his breaths are turning rapid and shallow; his heart is throwing a tantrum, causing havoc within him. All he knows is that he has a strong urge to hide. To protect himself. To stay safe. Deeper, deeper in the dreamscape. That’s where he should be. That’s where he needs to go.

He steps away from Scar and with wide eyes and too-loud heartbeat, he watches Scar follow.

“I’m done playing for today,” he lets him know, the words raspy and wrong as they barely make it past the lump in his throat. He doesn’t wait, doesn’t give out any more chances; he turns around and runs.

The ground rumbles in the wake of his footsteps, walls pulling up behind him, blocking Scar’s path to him and rendering him unable to follow.

[siriannatan]

“You’ve worn those clothes for the last week, you’ve got to change.” “You just want to see me naked, don’t you?” - Grisuma

I felt this urge to write some Grisuma so I did

As with the whole series, the prompt was found over on deity-prompts

AO3

Four seasons. Grian's been part of Hermitcraft for four whole seasons. And has never seen Xisuma's face. He's heard multiple hermits - Doc, Ren, Jevin, even Scar and Mumbo call their admin handsome but could never confirm it for himself. No amount of bugging, pestering and general mischief got X out of his dumb helmet. The only time, it'd seem, he changed was between seasons or bigger updates. Never when Grian was borderline stalking him out of boredom.

But, finally, in his fourth season, Grian came up with an excellent idea. He just needed to catch X asleep, which wasn't easy but Grian could be patient if he wanted to and after a whole week managed to catch X snoozing in his storage area and... Drew a funny face on his visor with a permanent marker. And barely managed to escape before X woke up and just went about his day as if there was nothing on his visor... Did he not use it to see?

Anyway, Grian followed the admin the whole day and no one. Absolutely no one pointed out the winking cat face on X's visor. No one. Doc did chuckle a bit but said nothing. Keralis was Keralis so it was unclear if his giggling was that or the drawing. Cleo just straight-out ignored it and didn't react at all.

By the evening time Grian was fed up and just marched into X's base. “You’ve worn those clothes for the last week, you’ve got to change. Staying in this thing all the time can't be good for you," he announced, marching in with all the confidence and annoyance he had in him.

X tilted his head and... reached up to his helmet as Grian tapped his foot on the ground. "You just want to see me naked, don’t you?" X chuckled and pulled his helmet off.

To say Grian was stunned would be an understatement. Long white hair tied into a messy bun with quite a bit of it just hanging around X's face. Dark, fluffy-feathery long and pointy ears twitched as X inspected his helmet's visor. But Grian was not really paying attention to that. What got him frozen were all the scars on X's face. He wanted to run his fingers along the dark marks he easily recognised as left by his own kind... Not that he was proud of being one or ever said anything. But that also helped him recognise what X was under his suit. A voidwalker. He thought they were gone long before the EVO disaster yet here was X...

"Grian? What happened to my visor?" X asked, levelling Grian with a stern glare of dark purple eyes.

"No idea," Grian lied with a wide grin. "But it looks cute... I should go..." he added and was about to leave before X grabbed his arm. "X?"

"It's late, I'm not letting you fly all the way to your boulder after all the trouble you went through to get my helmet off," X's voice was more and more amused. And made Grian want to curl up into a ball and hide in his wings.

"You knew?" he whined as X pulled him along to wherever his bed was hiding.

"All along, and I agree, the drawing is cute," X admitted with a grin that had Grian blushing.

Everyone was right, Xisuma was darn handsome under his helmet and maybe it was good he kept it on during their little exchange with Empires guys. And suspiciously cuddly in his sleep and damn hard to get away from.

[peskyfag]

You asked for hermitshipping headcanons, I come running!

SwedishBeans: Joel is the confident one. This is kind of funny, because Iskall is the better people reader. Iskall is fully aware its mutual, but is too nervous to make a move. Joel is just crazy enough to make a shot on the dark.

SmallEtho: whenever Joel says something stupid, Etho will look at him with the most "dead inside" expression ever. Meanwhile, internally, he's giggling like a 12 year old school girl with a crush. This still happens even when they've been dating for YEARS. Joel can tell tho, and thus continues

Mumscarian: Scar has the best puppy dog eyes known to man. Grian will groan, while Mumbo will try to ignore it, but at the end of the day, Scar will get his way.

Ethubs: despite not dating, they've been obviously pining for so long that it's become normal for other to refer to them as boyfriend's or husbands. They got so used to it that they stopped correcting people. Sometimes they refer to each other as boyfriend or husband just because they're so used to it

xBeans: Joel makes xB blush SO HARD, but xB would never ever ever admit it, and does his best to always cover it up. He regularly makes people laugh at him because of it.

ZITS: People around them genuinely do not know wether or not these four are dating. Sure, they flirt, they kiss each other on the cheek, they make dirty jokes. But at the same time, they call each other dude and bro exclusively, noones ever seen them so much as kiss or even hold hands. ZITS discovered this, and have started abusing this and just confusing the rest even more. Whenever someone asks them, they give confusing non-answers like "I don't know, are we?" Or "It sure looks like it, huh?" Or just say it with such a tone of voice that noone knows weather its sarcasm or not. The only person who knows is Gem, because she walked in on them on accident. She has decided to join in on the fun and will pretend she also doesn't know.

Mumskall: the last person to know they are dating was Mumbo.

YAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR HCS!!! i loved them so so much i love receiving asks :3

apologising for the late response bc i had too much notifs ;;

[soupjcat]

The Past, The Scarred one won't tell

by Soup_Jcat on Ao3

A TCD au inspired by @stiffyck

Aka Mumbo accidentally time travels but falling through the rift and gets into the past and long deleted server of The crafting dead... And finds Scar.. the past Scar... The past Scar never words to anyone, not even Xisuma.

...Giving a piece of Chapter one and two below this line...

Chapter one snippet

Mumbo turns to look at Grian.. whoops his hand went into the rift… but it does nothing so far.. “sorry… what were you saying?” Mumbo says in a polite yet friendly manner also because he felt bad for accidentally ignoring Grian.

“Be careful… I don't have a way back to wherever it's connected to..” Grian says with a chuckle at how distracted Mumbo seemed earlier..

Mumbo pauses realizing where his hand is… “uh… right”

Grian giggles, “it happens! How ‘bout we look at Grumbot for a while? You-...” Grian pauses.

But as cliche as it is… it was far too late.. to change that a obvious worst case was just… there.. coming.. doing it's thing

Grian and Mumbo gasps as the rift turns a red… like blood moon red… Grian yells, “Mumbo! Get away from there!” He seems concerned and also confused at how and why the rift was red…

Mumbo was about to pull away but in a blink of an eye he got sucked in and the rift… closed…

“MUMBO!...Mumbo!... Mumbo…M-mumbo…. But he just… he just came back… this can't be happening!... I need to call X… void how'd this happen!? Mumbo please!”

Grian cries, weeps even….. His friend who was already gone for a long time just got back Yesterday! What in carnations is this luck!?

Chapter two snippet

Mumbo's thoughts were quickly shut off as gunshot sound rumbles and ricochets off of everything …. Mumbo full on froze… he's never heard a real gun since being on Hermitcraft because of its rules about real firearms.. there are reasons most servers don't allow guns in the last 5 years… that sound shook Mumbo to his core, not a doubt about it… Mumbo's adrenaline spiked but up to max as he quickly realized the amount of zombies rushing to the sound…. Mumbo runs in a random direction away from the zombies… he's so glad he's been biking so much or else his endurance would be gone and dead by now…

Running probably was the right thing to do… but he was stupidly going away from only one group of Zombies so quickly he got in the middle of everything… a building caught his attention..

Mumbo runs as fast as his lanky legs can go… he jumps through a building and breaks a window before he blocks it with boards before checking around for more areas a zombie can come in… but he froze once more when seeing… a teen.. a kid… a KID!!! turns to him and aims the gun at him. The kid has bandages and scars everywhere, he also had a old used green bandana around his neck… brown eyes, starking emerald green eyes and elven like traits…

“...who.. who are you?... A zombie not lacking a brain?..” The boy says harshly while holding the gun…

[ahautism]

i love democracy

can u write a little uhhhhh gem and pearl ^_^ <- yuri agenda

The second she appears in the world, Gem knows this is totally her sort of thing. Which might be a concerning thing to say about a game where you brutally murder your friends, if she weren’t GeminiSlay.

Still, there’s something about it that just feels right to Gem. Like she belongs here. Of course, that very well could be Pearl beside her, hand in hers before they’ve even started, and 14 more of her friends circled up, waiting for Grian to do… whatever it is he has to do for them to take the plunge. Start from nothing and survive. Hopefully kill, too. Gem takes a deep breath, squeezes Pearl’s hand, and gets the gesture returned. She can do this.

The game starts with no more fanfare than Grian yelling “Bye!” and everyone scattering their separate directions to get started. To her surprise, Pearl doesn’t let go of her hand, running with her as she picks a direction and goes, eager to see what the world has to offer within its borders.

“Wow, I knew I had a reputation, but I didn’t know it was that good that you’ve already decided to team with me.” She jokes, giggling and looking back at Pearl. Pearl laughs too, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“What can I say? I’m not about to pass up teaming with GeminiSlay!” She says, and it would be normal, but something about her expression is… world-weary. A little scared. Huh. It’s just a game, right?

Gem stops chopping down a tree to fully turn and face Pearl.

“What is it?”

Pearl sighs. “Look. Everyone already knows you’re scary with a sword, which is great! But… scary isn’t always useful if there isn’t someone on your side already.” Her voice quivers a little. “I don’t want that to happen to you, Gem. You need allies in this game.” Pearl’s voice is a million miles away, in a different world, presumably one very much like this one. Gem tries to break the tension.

“Oh, I’m sure I could take them if it came down to it.” Pearl lets out a scared, hollow, just slightly bitter laugh.

“So could I. It won’t matter.” For the first time, Gem isn’t sure what she’s gotten herself into. It’s a game, right? They’re all her friends, they know she’s not… evil. There’s something in Pearl’s look though, red starting to tinge her brown eyes around the pupils, not evil, but… scared. A defense mechanism. A shield being raised. It makes Gem a little more wary, more willing to heed Pearl’s advice.

She gets the horrible sinking feeling that Pearl knows what she’s talking about firsthand.

So, instead of arguing, she cups Pearl’s face in one hand, takes her hand in the other, and looks up at her, trying to calm her.

“Hey,” She says. “I’m not going anywhere, okay? It’ll be us. They won’t even stand a chance against us.” She pauses. “As long as we actually start gathering supplies.” Pearl laughs, moment broken, hint of red receding from her eyes, and together they head off to win a game. And if Pearl is a little more untrusting than she would be on Hermitcraft, Gem files it away for later, and resolves to keep Pearl’s heart safe this time.

[frozenjokes]

Signing Back In, Apparently - 11

Prev/Next

Mumbo was stuck between words and phrases, struggling to parse out the right combination that would get his point across. Don’t you dare die. No. You better not die because I’m not done with you. God, definitely not. Don’t die, but it’s not because I care about you or anything, it’s just that I’m very invested in picking your brain. Right, that, but shorter. I’m going to be very mad at you if you die! Do you really care about anyone, or is it all a charade? I’ll pester you on your deathbed, I swear it! If you die-

Mumbo felt Grian’s hand pull on his sleeve, followed by a more forceful tug when Mumbo did not budge. Apparently, his reluctance was not appreciated. Grian flew into Mumbo’s line of sight, dangling upside down in front of his face, “Stop your ogling, we’re going to fall behind.”

“I am not-” but Mumbo’s protest ended abruptly when Grian spun him around, pushing him toward the rest of the group who had long walked away.

“We aren’t lucky enough for Scar to get himself killed here, let’s just see what this place is all about and try to have some fun, okay?”

“Fun, huh? We’ll see,” Mumbo rolled his eyes with a smile, faking resistance to Grian’s pull for the sake of it.

“Anything is more fun than angsting over Scar all day. I’m starting to get on Impulse’s train. I heard Cleo mention something about games? Come on, I want to catch up and listen!”

“I’m walking, I’m walking. Don’t let me slow you down.”

“I won’t ,” Grian grinned, and Mumbo recognized the glint in his eye far too late, unable to dodge out of the way before the other ghost scooped him up with a triumphant yell, running off with Mumbo locked in his arms.

“Ah, and of course there’s Decked Out, but I don’t know if that will be too much for a first visit. Ghosts can’t die of course, but Tango’s monsters will do quite the number on you before they spit you out back here. I’m not allowed to play, which is stupid, but I have almost been eaten before, so I guess I understand,” Cleo rambled on, hardly noticing Grian and Mumbo’s arrival. Her lantern cut through the dense fog, but its light didn’t seem quite as necessary as the dirt and root floor turned to stone, and then to road. Despite the forest’s thick, foreboding appearance, it didn’t seem to stretch very far.

“ What is this?” Pearl breathed, prompting Mumbo to look up and see that everyone else had stopped. He followed their gaze and fell into the same awed stupor. The landscape had done a complete 180; instead of gnarled trees and gray muddy roots, there were grand buildings, streets, lights, pop up shops- color. This was a city- some sort of wild metropolis even, contrasted heavily by the emptiness of it all. No one was here, but people should be, shouldn’t they? Mumbo squinted. Were there even ghosts?

“Welcome to the shopping district!” Cleo swung her arms wide, laughing after another moment at their stunned expressions. “It’s a bit more busy at the start of a season when everyone is here building, but late in the game, it’s mostly just ghosts stopping by to pick up ungodly amounts of concrete for their new projects.”

“How- ghosts-“

“Oh right. Well, if you haven’t already run into a tree or two on the way here, you wouldn’t know ghosts can touch stuff here. You guys can’t even phase through anything that was made on this island, it’s all solid. Basically, if it was born, grown, or made here, you can touch it and it can touch you. You’re essentially solid except for a few cases like outsiders coming in.”

Mumbo, leant down to touch the road. To really touch it. They weren’t just walking on the ground out of habit, they were really walking on it, and it in turn supported their footsteps. All four of them seemed to realize this at once and in a frenzy started to touch everything ; every tree, every lamppost, every wall. Feeling crevices and not moving through them on accident. Pushing and feeling a surface push back. It was magical. Based on Cleo’s hardly muffled giggles, it was probably also very silly.

“They built all this?” Impulse took a step back, unbothered by Cleo’s chuckling, and Mumbo was shocked back into a second state of awe. His focus was no longer the ground, by the sky, and the peaks of the grand buildings that mingled in its clouds. If ghosts could be solid, they could also create, couldn’t they?

“Yup. And most of these projects are all done by just one or two people. Ghosts here love locking themselves away and working on projects for months on end. Oh, and if you think all this is impressive, just wait until you see the indivisible bases . They are massive. This island is massive actually- a lot bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. It’s weird, right? Well, you’ll see.” Cleo put their hands in the pockets of their trench coat, sighing loudly, “Yeah, if you’re dead, this is the place to be. Come on, let’s see if we can find anyone hanging around. If not, I’ll go and introduce you to Joe.”

Things started out manageable. The first ghost they ran into walking the streets of the shopping district was a smaller guy named Bdubs, who had fashioned himself clothes made of moss. Real moss. Moss that grows on the ground being touched and worn as clothes by a ghost that should not be able to touch and wear things. They saw his horses, his incredible steampunk-esc base filled top to bottom with impossible amounts of detail, and it was at this point Mumbo was beginning to become hopelessly overwhelmed. Seeing a ghost ride a horse was enough to make his brain short circuit, so when another ghost arrived via blasting themself through the air with a firework rocket, Mumbo had just about been set over the edge.

Zedaph was his name, apparently, but he talked so fast at a time where speech comprehension was failing in Mumbo’s brain, so not much stuck. Apparently travel by firework explosions was just.. normal here. Maybe it was time to sit down. Well, the others didn’t seem to think so. Grian launched an assault of questions Zedaph and Bdubs seemed delighted to answer, only to be interrupted by Cleo letting Zedaph know that these ghosts came attached to a human, and that he better go and find him before Cub kills him.

“Four ghosts on one human! Oh, Cub better share!”

When Zedaph blasted off into the clouds, Mumbo relaxed his shoulders, hoping for a chance to sit and process every new discovery, but Zedaph must have told everyone he saw on his flight there were new ghosts in town, because it wasn’t long before all four of them were thrust into a whirlwind of activity. It was almost comedic the way they were passed from person to person, each revealing some new and frightening quirk about this place. There was Tango and his massive dungeon, what looked like a chunk of earth that was just deleted out of the ground and lived in by a man named Doc, an icy castle with a built in boat race and flight course by a False Symmetry, and so many more unbelievable places built by ghosts whose names Mumbo was starting to struggle remembering. And the games. There was a whole card game featuring the inhabitants as units, with massive arenas built for the sole purpose of playing. Games where the purpose was to fight and be the last (functionally) alive. If you’re dead, what’s stopping you from making things dangerous? Nothing, apparently!

It was a lot. Too much, really. In the past, what? Two, three hours? Mumbo had probably said a total of four or five words, if any at all, just trying to get a grasp on this new world. It was wonderful, yes, but it was also starting to feel relentless. Mumbo began feeling frightened that no one else felt the same way. Anxiety thrummed at his fingertips as doubt trickled in. He needed to stop. Sit down and breathe and take it in at a slower pace. He opened his mouth, waiting for the words to express themselves, but there was nothing on his tongue, nothing in his throat, in his lungs. And suddenly, they were walking, they were all walking to their next destination, but Mumbo couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t-

He wished Scar was here. No! He-

“Mumbo? Hey, are you alright?” Grian’s voice was gentle. A tone that was meant just for the two of them, not to draw any attention. Grian reached out his hand and Mumbo flinched from his touch, only to grasp back like this anchor might slip away if he didn’t hold tight. He didn’t mean to stay quiet. He didn’t want Grian to get the wrong idea (what was the right idea?). Please slow down. Mumbo recognized the gears turning behind Grian’s eyes, the careful consideration.

“Hey, we’re gonna sit out for a minute, alright? You guys go ahead,” Grian called, signaling more specifically to Impulse. The other ghost turned, looking surprised before a worried concern hardened in his gaze that felt like needles on Mumbo’s skin. He was disrupting something good- why couldn’t he just keep up.

“Is something wrong? We can wait,” Impulse said, tapping Pearl’s arm. Mumbo met Grian’s eye. He wasn’t sure what he wanted Grian to take from it.

“Don’t, it’s fine. I’m just getting a little tired, but if I need you, I’ll come find you.” Grian turned back to Impulse, waving with a small smile. With a gentle assessment, Impulse nodded, exchanging a word with Pearl that Mumbo didn’t catch, and continuing forward with Cleo. Mumbo let out a long breath. Still no words. Grian lingered for a moment before pointing out a bench where they could sit. That sounded nice. Mumbo relaxed his grip on Grian’s hand.

“This is a lot, isn’t it. I wasn’t lying, I am getting tired. I don’t remember the last time we’ve done so much together. Maybe the four of us need to get more creative on the faction isles.” Grian leaned back with his eyes closed, humming to himself to fill some of the following silence. “I think I could get used to it. Being tired. Feels human.”

“I’m sorry.”

Grian looked up, but quickly relaxed back into a small smile, “Don’t be. I’m glad to take a step back, especially if it’s to hang for a moment with you. What’s up?”

“Overwhelmed, I think. Kind of.. I don’t know, I’m kind of a lot of things.”

“I can second that one, pal.” Grian looked to the ground, momentarily distracted by a pebble in the road. He grinned as he kicked it. “This place is.. unreal I think is the right word. Unreal. You know something crazy I noticed? I don’t think I could tell you how any of these other ghosts died.”

“Grian!” Mumbo forgot his own ache for a moment, startled into an upright position, “I don’t think that’s any of our business, is it?”

“Well no, but I’m nosey,” Grian kicked his legs, throwing his head back in a sly smile. After a moment, he straightened up a bit, brows furrowing, “I mean, I just noticed because none of these island ghosts have marks like we do. I just thought all ghosts would, you know? And these guys just.. they just looked so happy.” Grian’s smile fell, expression tightening into something strained. “It made me wonder if we could heal too.”

“Oh.” Mumbo’s whole body froze, his own anxiety flaring back into place. That was certainly an idea. Grian held him in careful scrutiny, and Mumbo wondered if Grian had seen part of his body crack. He wasn’t sure himself. “I don’t think that’s in the cards for us.”

Grian shook his head ever so slightly, “I thought you might say that. But I don’t know. I mean, being around Scar all the time isn’t doing any of us any favors. You know, I never thought I’d say this, but I think I might be starting to give up on him.”

“What? How do you mean?” Mumbo didn’t like the way his chest tightened, as if he was about to lose something deeply important. There was companionship in the goals they shared. Based on their big conversation before being forced to Scar’s side, Mumbo had thought Grian was still invested. Had he misread his words? It wouldn’t be the first time.

“I don’t know. I’m angry , of course I am, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop being angry, but I’m also just scared? Tired? Maybe apathetic is a better word. It feels like every time I get close, Scar just finds another way to bring me down with him. I’m not really sure yet, but.. I mean.. if we had the opportunity to just leave him behind and start something new? I think I’d take it in a heartbeat. Just, never see him again. Never worry about where he’s at or what he’s doing.”

“Move on?”

“Do you mean like Impulse says? To whatever afterlife is next? That, I’m less sure. Maybe this is silly considering the state of us, but I’m not ready to die. Scar took so much, but I’m still here . And the people I love are still here too. And there’s still things I haven’t said that I need to, but I don’t know if I can if..” Grian looked away, only sparing a quick glance in Mumbo’s direction before planting his eye on the cobbled ground, “I need everyone to be in the right place to hear it. I want to be on the same page.” There was something about the way he said everyone . Something that made it seem like the word he wanted to say was you.

“I’m not in a good place,” Mumbo felt the need to affirm it, to make sure Grian knew. Of course he knew. The resigned look in his only good eye all but confirmed it.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for. Honestly, I hope you find it soon, so we can start to get on our own way. But, uh, could you do me a favor?”

“What is it?”

“If you find out. Why, I mean. Why he killed us. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me even if I ask. I just can’t shake the feeling I’ll be worse off knowing. Like the forbidden fruit, right?”

“Wow, you really have changed,” Mumbo breathed. The words felt chalky on his tongue. Why did it ache?

Grian laughed, something sad, “Yeah. I think so. You changed too; it feels a bit like we swapped places. I only wish I.. I wish it happened sooner. Maybe if I hadn’t been so obsessed, I could have stopped.. I don’t know. Maybe I could have come between you and Scar. Done something .”

Mumbo wasn’t sure what to say to that. He wasn’t sure if anything could be done. Certainly not now. He closed his eyes. This had to end. “I’m going to try, Grian. I’m really going to try. I’m close, I think. I’ll be cold, I’ll just ask, and then maybe I’ll have the closure I need to just. Get over it.”

Doubt colored Grian’s face, curving his frown. “I don’t think it’s hopeless, Mumbo.”

“What?”

“I think we can heal. I don’t think it’s hopeless. And I’m worried you’re going to get really hurt before you figure it out for yourself. I don’t think I can stop you- no one would have been able to stop me when I.. nevermind. It’s just a warning, alright? Please be careful.”

“Grian, please expl-“

“I have tinnitus, Mumbo. Like, really bad. And that sounds so stupid to say, but I’m dead, I should not be able to have tinnitus. I don’t even have any prolonged pain- none of us do! We are ghosts! We shouldn’t! But Scar has it too. I know he does, I just know, and we both got it when- when whatever happened to me happened with the scream. When I hurt him, it hurt me. I don’t know how much more on the nose it gets. It’s just freaking me out, thinking about what could happen to us.”

Mumbo paused, taking a long moment to let that sink in. A warning indeed. But he didn’t want to hurt Scar, so that couldn’t happen to him. He wouldn’t let it. He would be careful. “Thank you, Grian.”

Grian nodded, looking small. Mumbo leaned over, wrapping him in a hug. Whatever Grian had been that day, it had been deeply afraid, a fear he still carried close. Mumbo hadn’t even considered any physical complications; is that why Grian had fled? Had the scream hurt him just as badly as it had hurt Scar? And then, just as potent as Mumbo’s own loneliness in his mission was a deep relief. Grian was done. He had been burned, but now he would stay away, possibly long enough for the injuries to scab over. To heal. Maybe it was possible. Maybe, just as soon as Mumbo got what he needed from Scar, he could join him in trying.

Maybe.

[mochiwrites]

ngl when I saw the cinematic all my brain could see was Scar picking Mumbo up and spinning him he was that excited.

so I May have gotten a little bit Too excited….

“Where’s Scar?” Grian asks, jogging over to Mumbo, who meets him halfway.

Mumbo looks down at his communicator, reading Scar’s message once again. His brows furrow, “He said he’d be here soon, but he’s gone and made us wait a whole day!” he laughs, looking up at Grian. “I mean, he doesn’t even live that far away!”

“How much do you want to bet he lost track of time? Or flew in the wrong direction?” Grian cracks a grin, causing Mumbo to chuckle.

“Well it’d certainly be on brand for him,” he agrees.

Just then, there’s the sound of rockets overhead, and the pair lift their head up. Scar flies in, elytra shining on his back. “Hellooooo!~” Scar sing-songs as he lands, a large excited smile on his face.

“Took you long enough!” Grian looks at him, a teasing lilt to his voice. He’s grinning, as is Mumbo.

“Oh well you know… haven’t seen either of my amayzin’ boyfriends since they went on their trips! I had to make sure I was up to snuff,” Scar replies, looking between them. “So, what’s the plan?”

After explaining everything to him, the three of them break. Mumbo’s drone hovers in the air, recording everything. Grian runs to his rock while Mumbo runs to the vault, and Scar flies into the air.

Their first attempt is… well, forgive the pun, a bit rocky. Scar takes too long to reach them, and Grian and Mumbo get tangled up in a silly dance while waiting for him. Scar manages to die somehow, and Mumbo starts laughing so hard that he also falls and dies as well. Scar seems to be quite delighted over the state of Mumbo’s gear, much to Mumbo’s displeasure.

They get themselves set back up, and go for attempt number two.

Their second attempt is a lot more successful. Scar times it perfectly with Grian and Mumbo, and they all meet on the bridge. Scar cheers as he lands and doesn’t waste any time in picking Mumbo up by the waist.

“Scar!” Mumbo cries, startled. His hands fly to Scar’s shoulders, gripping them. Grian laughs as Scar spins Mumbo around.

“You’re finally home!” Scar exclaims jovially. His green eyes are lit with pure joy. After he spins Mumbo he sets him back down. While keeping hold of Mumbo, he reaches for Grian, who easily moves with him. “You’re both back from your trips!”

Mumbo isn’t quite sure who leads them into it (it’s Scar, it’s definitely Scar), but they fall into some kind of messy dance together. It involves quite a bit of stepping on feet and tripping. Their dance is a little awkward, with Scar swaying them both and trying to spin them around. Grian nearly falls off the edge of the bridge, causing Mumbo to laugh.

Their laughter rings out into the open air, letting it be carried by the winds. Scar holds on to both Grian and Mumbo tightly, and they hold him.

By the end of it, they’ve moved to hold each other, as Scar offers them both kisses. Mumbo smiles, “I missed you both.”

“Awww, we missed you too!” Scar exclaims, squeezing both Mumbo and Grian in his embrace.

Leaning into him, Mumbo offers him a teasing look, “So much so that you tried to summon me, right?”

Sweating, Scar glances over to Grian for help. But Grian just so happens to be looking away, oblivious to Scar’s silent cry for help. He looks back at Mumbo, “W-Well, would you look at that! I think I hear Jellie calling my name!” He moves to grab his fireworks, letting go of them both.

Mumbo and Grian burst into giggles, keeping Scar from flying off. “Scar he already knows!” Grian exclaims, taking hold of his sleeve.

“What?! Noooooo!” Scar laughs, stilling in their grasp. He looks at Mumbo pleadingly, “Promise you’re actually chaffed to bits about it and not creeped out?”

“Totally chaffed to bits, mate,” Mumbo hums, causing Grian to burst into a new round of laughter.

Scar looks at Grian in confusion, who goes to explain he said the phrase wrong again. And as they get into a new discussion, Mumbo watches them. Chest swelling with love for his two spoons, he finds himself feeling quite at home.

[poetthewriter]

Hi! I'm not sure if you're taking requests or not but I had an idea! Would it be possible to do a bdubs x reader oneshot? Just some fluff or HCS will do! <3

Ello I would love to write for you this is actually my first request<3 please give me feedback and tell me how i did and how to fix and improve

If you request agian feel free to become someone on my anon list just leave an emoji

𝒜𝓁𝓁ℯ𝓎𝓈，𝓉ℯ𝒶𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓉ℯ，ℴ𝓇 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓃ℯ𝓇𝓈

𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬=𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬&𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐬🌶🥕🌽

limited life : Bdubs x reader

Here we are again, three hearts stain my arm and a clock on my communicator set to twenty four hours starts counting down. we once again stand in a circle and on the count of three we all run away from spawn, cowering around the area I pick up food, sugarcane and herbs along with an abundance of items that I will be sure too use later on. the whole server will be sure to team up with people soon so I better start looking out for who will be my ally's and enemies for this run through, my first thought is Bdubs as hard as it is to remember certain things about the last seasons I always remember Bdubs and how he has been loyal and kind to me even if I haven't been on his team so after I go mining he will be the first I search for.

17 diamonds, about a stack and a half of iron aswell as 33 gold is quite a good turn out for only a half an hour of my time and its certainly enough for a chest plate, a pair of nice new pants, and a sword. while I was in the caves a message had popped up on my communicator saying that Scott had killed Skizz and that another boogieman would be chosen so on my way out I better be sure to watch out and make sure that I stay weary of the people I keep around me, finally I can leave the caves to find my hopeful ally or maybe even teammate, as I reach me final steps I hear a voice above me as I lay on the grass, my eyes shoot open and I zip right up off the ground to look at who's talking to me.

"Timmy. . ."

"AHAHAHA WHAT HAPPEND TO YOUR HAIR" I yell out giggling at Timmy's slicked back hair, Tim's face changes as he looks down, an annoyed face covers him before speaking to me.

"what are you laughing at Y/n" he mumbles as Grian and Joel come behind him wearing matching outfits before I can say anything to them a message pops up again.

Skizzleman was slain by Bdoubleo100

shock covers all our faces again as we realize Skizz is now on around nineteen hours of time left, the boys stand there a little longer as more chats pop up including one saying "rematch at spawn NOW" typed by Skizz.

yells and chants are heard across the server and no one is in sight I run to the fight happening on the mountain as the suited man swings one last time before Bdubs falls to the ground and disappears, reappearing a few meters away from the fight circle. skizz walks towards the revived boy and starts attacking him again swinging and punching trying for even more hits but then i see skizz pull out a sword, it shimmers as he lifts it up and i run towards them slidding down just blocking the sword from hitting bdubs, i push skizz away well bduds clings and falls to my back i turn around and grab him running away well leading him to a little den in the hills of a meadow, I lay him down agianst the dirt and stone walls of cave and look around the land for crops and flowers to use in helping him.

red bloody cuts covered in yarrow to stop the bleeding as well as many other herbs and flowers blended nicely are now placed in a pot with boiling water over a hot seeping fire, a wooden tray with fresh honey, sugar and butterfly pea flower petals lays beside me and I start to place pieces of ice from a few biomes over on Bdubs bruises, he slowly shivers awake. I can see that he is looking at the moss bed and rhubarb leaves under the spot he lays and I now see him look at me, his eyes look confused and they shine at me I feel as if he is speechless at the moment.

he starts to lean towards me and he pulls me into one of the most heart felt and strong hugs I've ever been given he just lays his head into my shoulder, "thank you" he whispers, I just sit there hugging him back I don't exactly know what to do but I just cant seem to let go something just feels familiar.

"I was trying to find you, I just knew I needed someone like you on my team but I didn't expect to find you like this" I say quietly while chuckling but he still doesn't look up.

a few minutes go by and we finally get up and start walking around the forest as the sun slips away from the sky, we talk and talk about what ever we can including the odd days in this game and how its different then the other seasons as well as our ally's and who we might be able to trust, soon enough everything goes quite and he starts up again in a different tone.

"i was looking for you"

we continue walking but he just looks at me, why me? why was he looking for me? did I do something? I question and wonder off into my thoughts but I snap back when he hands my a tiny bouquet of wild flowers

he slowly looks down and starts to slowly talk again "i feel this way every season... i always want to be around you. its like i NEED to be around you even if we are not teamed". he spits as he tucks himself in to his sweater all embarrassed.

"really?" I just question I feel a little rosy as he continues to ruffle out but I cant help my self but saying that I was looking for him as well.

we sit down at a flowery river side and just look up, "I love you, you know that right? and I think more happened between us in previous games but I don't remember".

"why do you think more happened, what do you think happened between us".

"because I feel as if I love you like your oxygen, you are someone I know even if I cant remember how I know you" i fumble out.

"I think we know each other better then we remember to because I don't think I would want to kiss you if you were just a person I could trust", my heart jumps a little as he turns to me placing his hand behind my ear into my hair and he pulls him self in close to my face, we just lay there and the thing I've been waiting for him to say finally comes out of his mouth.

"want be my partner?"

"of course, lets go home"

[ghostlee]

NSMDMAMDJ JOEL BEING ALL GIGGLY AND WHIMY ABOUT IT /POS I LOVE THAT MAN WITH MANIA

Omgomg wait but I hc Joel to be a bug he just FITSS as a bug yk?? And like so he has antennae and the lil bug wings. (Me thinks the wings are damaged and he does some stuff to like fix it like how Toothless has the prosthetic in HTTYD, and it gets removed for the life series sorry I'm rambling abt this it just upsets me seeing ppl draw Grian and Jimmy with their wings tied that looks PAINFUL so I think of more natural reasons)

Soo so so the antennae are like sensors on actual bugs right?? So that means that they're super sensitive................ I'll let you guess the rest of it

(Maybe Etho found out during double life, and it was one of the few places he could tk Joel without feeling it because he doesn't have any antennae himself)

- 💫

AWWWW That is so cute!!

Yesss I wish they found other ways to keep Grian and Jimmy from using wings in the life series without tying them or having them be hurt.

I could 100% see Joel needing to take off the wing, maybe he still has like one left but he can’t fly with one so the prosthetic just gets left back in hermitcraft sorta thing.

It’s super cute to think though that the Antenna are ticklish tho hahah, even just like the wind blowing a bit to strong can get Joel giggling and I feel like the hermits didn’t know why he was randomly giggling when the wind would blow at first. But then one time Grian and Etho were sitting with Joel when the wind starts blowing really hard and Joel starts giggling and tries to cover his Antenna and Grian and Etho are both like. “Wait they are ticklish??” And Joel gets all flustered and is like. “WhAt, no you idiots it’s not tic-“ as the wind blows again and the hermits watch them like twitch as Joel starts laughing again and runs inside the nearest building.

Grian going “uh huh. It’s okay for them to be ticklish Joel. My wings are ticklish and here, Ethos fox ears are ticklish, watch.” As he like reaches over to Etho to lightly fluff Ethos fox ears for the boy to burst out laughing as his ears press back against his head and he leans back away from Grian going “Hehehehey.”

Joel tries to fight a smile watching Etho and Grian interact before he’s like, “yeah okay they are ticklish, don’t tell anyone else though.” With a small pout as he crosses his arms and playfully looks away.

Another concept I could see happening is like Etho and Joel is DoubleLife tickling each other and Etho manages to pin Joel and is watching his Antenna twitch and move around while his eyes are focused on them. He then goes “can I touch them Joel?” And he feels the man below him like freeze before he relaxes some and goes. “30 seconds.” As Etho grins and slowly drags his index fingers over them and Joel melts into giggles as he fights to not grab Ethos hands.

THEM THEM THEM