#grian do be a sad boi

[teddy-bear-d]

I lost motivation to colour it but here we go! The beginnings of a Teen Beach Movie - Limited Life au!

[sarioh]

the best thing abt being an etho viewer is that when you watch the guy who uploads twice a month and doesnt participate in anything ever you learn to never get disappointed. its all about the little victories (getting excited about him showing up in someones stream for 0.3 seconds)

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

Hermitcraft / Life Series Fic Recs

Because I love so many of them...

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

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

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

Updating Fics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Completed Fics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[strifetxt]

My Stupidest Intro Yet! | Hermitcraft 10 read on ao3

This is a story about love. About drama. About murder. About being really tall and handsome. A story about clicking the subscribe button. But mostly, it's a story about Joel. (written for @extremetimedchallengeexchange)

The scene opens on Hermitcraft Season Ten. We see the wide expanse of Magic Mountain, and the glittering cyberpunk city that rises from its face. As we zoom in closer, he comes into view: our very tall, very handsome, very talented protagonist.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Oh, [FAMILY FRIENDLY CENSOR] off. Let a man take a break, would you!

The audience may note that it’s been nearly a week since our protagonist’s last video went out, and that Editor Joel has bills to pay.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Look, I worked hard on that last recording! Do you see the size of that skyscraper? It’s the biggest thing I’ve built all season, and gathering all those materials took blummin’ ages. Can’t you bother some other Joel for a change?

Tragically, there are no other active Joels at the moment, so Hermit Joel will have to pick up the slack.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: What?! There’s no way that’s true. Oi, other Joels, what are you lot all doing?

GOD JOEL: Don’t look at me. My series ended ages ago, remember? Some Lore™ happened and I ascended to heaven to be tall and sexy for eternity.

KING JOEL: Same here. Season over. Definitely wasn’t because of anything bad happening though.

GOD JOEL: You literally got so sad you died.

KING JOEL: Hey, I wasn’t the one who made that canon. You did that.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Okay, I get that neither of the Empires Joels are available, but surely there’s someone else. How about SOS Joel? He's been active at the same time as me, right?

SOS JOEL: Oh, did you not hear? I blew up.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: What? You had such an easy job, you were just there to do challenges and goof around! You barely even had to do any building! What do you mean you blew up?

SOS JOEL: Look, the server was going to be ending soon anyway, so I figured, may as well go out with a bang. And boy, did we! Took out nearly the entire rest of the server too; I still don’t know how they managed to get the coins to bring all those people back.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Okay, fine. How about you, Life Series Joel? Surely it’s about time for you to have a go?

LIFE SERIES JOEL: Nope. Grian says he’s still working on it.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Ugh. Well, when you get there, can you try to at least make it to the finale again? Give the people some more content, come on, seriously.

LIFE SERIES JOEL: I don’t care how far I get as long as I can finally outlive Scott.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Fine, whatever. What other Joels are there?

Look, you’re just going to have to face the facts. You’re the only Joel active right now, which means you have a video to record. Do you want the Joel who tells people to subscribe to starve?

JOEL WHO TELLS PEOPLE TO SUBSCRIBE: [sniffles] Please subscribe?

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Oh, god, don’t cry, Joel who tells people to subscribe. I promise I’ll get to it, but— Listen, it’s a lot of pressure, being the main Joel! Surely there’s gotta be one other Joel out there with an active series.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Wait a second...

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Where’s Hardcore Joel?

Er, sorry, don’t know who you’re talking about. You mean 100 Hours Hardcore Joel?

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: No, not blummin’ 100 Hours Joel, I know he’s dead. I mean singleplayer Hardcore Joel. Remember? Over two thousand day world? That huge End Island transformation? That Joel?

Riiiiiiight. Um. Yeah, he’s not here.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: What do you mean he’s not here?

Listen, it’s not my fault. You’re going to have to talk to Editor Joel about that one.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Aren’t you Editor Joel?

God, no. Could you imagine, me being that idiot?

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Well, then, who the heck are you?

I’m just the Joel who’s narrating this scene.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Whatever, just get me Editor Joel on the line. I demand to know where Hardcore Joel’s gone!

Time freezes, as it is wont to do while Editor Joel speaks.

EDITOR JOEL: Editor Joel here. I can’t believe these idiots have made me step in. I know what you all think of me, but I do have a life, you know. I had a lovely day hanging with Oli just now, in fact. We went to a nice cafe. But no, none of that matters because I have to fix all the other Joels’ stupid problems before they’ll record any footage. Whatever, they can’t hear me since I’m speaking from the future. I’ll just put Hardcore Joel in and let him explain himself so I can go spend time with my wife.

Time resumes, and Hardcore Joel appears.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Wow, thanks, Editor Joel, I’m sure whatever you said was really stupid and useless like it always is. Anyway, hi, Hardcore Joel. Fancy seeing you here.

HARDCORE JOEL: Oh, yeah? I’m sure it is, since you basically killed me.

There’s a murmur of ‘oooh’s from the other Joels present.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: What do you mean I killed you? You never died! You left off your last video saying you were going to be doing another huge project and then just disappeared!

HARDCORE JOEL: Yeah, I did. Because you know what happened the next month? Yeah. You were born.

The other Joels gasp dramatically in shock.

HARDCORE JOEL: That’s right. As soon as you started Hermitcraft, there was no more time for me. I mean, do you have any idea how long it takes me to record a video? The last one wasn’t even a major project, and it still took more than 150 Minecraft days over the course of, like, weeks! And I had to keep stopping in the middle to AFK at my own farms that I built, and gather my own materials by hand! You have no idea how easy you have it with your stupid shopping district—

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Hey now, the shopping district only helps when people stock their blummin’ shops. Also, I’m poor. Do you even have a concept of being poor without an economy?

HARDCORE JOEL: [shakes his head] Look, I’m not trying to fight here. The point is, your whole existence basically took me out of the game. You can’t afford to disappear from Hermitcraft for weeks at a time just so I can grind out some ridiculous megastructure in a single episode. You get way more views by doing way less. That’s just numbers, baby. In fact, with how long Hermitcraft runs, you might just have to be the main Joel for a long, long time.

There’s a moment of silence as the Joels contemplate this harsh reality.

HARDCORE JOEL: Shut up, Narrator Joel. God, you’re almost as bad as Editor Joel.

[muffled grumbling]

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: But...surely there’s room for more Joels somewhere, right? I can’t be the only Joel forever!

LIFE SERIES JOEL: Hey, man, don’t worry. I’ll still pop up from time to time, as long as Grian keeps making games.

GUESS THE BUILD JOEL: I might get to make a video here and there!

KING JOEL: My series might be over, but I’m still around, one way or another. They even put me on a TCG card!

GOD JOEL: I’m still incredibly sexy.

MCC JOEL: I’ll be even stronger once we finally replace our Starlink Internet!

HARDCORE JOEL: I know I said you killed me, but really, it’s not so bad not being an active Joel anymore. And who knows, maybe if the inspiration hits just right, and we get some time here and there to chip away at it, I might come back now and again.

And so, Joel of Hermitcraft learned that even if he might be the only Joel currently making videos, he would always be supported by every Joel that came before him.

JOEL OF HERMITCRAFT: Aww, thanks, guys. You’re the best Joels a Joel could ask for. Especially you, Joel who tells people to subscribe!

JOEL WHO TELLS PEOPLE TO SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe!

[ahllohehn]

HERMITS AND THE OLYMPIANS MASTERPOST (07/31/2024)

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Hermits and The Olympians/Emperors of Olympus is a Hermitcraft/Empires SMP based Percy Jackson AU based off my art and headcanons!

(Please do not use the tags for other PJO AUs as I use them to specifically label what's based off mine.)

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Seperated by art/doodles, headcanons/discussion, fanfics:

# 1 MUMBO PORTRAIT # 2 GRIAN, PEARL, SCAR & MUMBO ART # 3 HaTO FAN CREATION GUIDELINES # 4 GEM, CLEO, DOC PORTRAITS # 5 ETHO & BDUBS THANK YOU CARD # 6 STRESSMONSTER THANK YOU CARD # 7 CAMP EMPIRES FIRST APPEARANCE; BAD BOYS DOODLE # 8 OUTDATED CAMPERS GODLY PARENT SUMMARY # 9 CHIBI MUMBO THANK YOU CARD # 10 GRIAN CLOSE UP # 10.5 WATCHERS CAMEO??? # 11 BDUBS & SCAR; DEMETER CABIN'S HONORARY CAMPER # 12 RENDOG PORTRAIT # 13 MUMSCARIAN / RE: AU SHIPS # 14 IS THERE A CANON PLOT? Answer: I stick with what is canon to me, but I do not force others to follow so. As I am too lazy to do an actual plot. # 15 CHIBI STRESS & MUMBO # 16 BDUBS..? # 17 ETHO PORTRAIT / 1ST AU FICLET # 18 I JUST THINK THEATER KID ARES KID REN IS FUNNY # 19 JOEL AND LIZZIE; SOULMATES IN EVERY UNIVERSE # 20 ORACLE GEM...? # 21 oh snappers! (LOW QUALITY ETHO DOODLE) # 22 AT THIS POINT, DIONYSUS, ARES, AND APOLLO SHOULD FIGHT TO THE DEATH TO SEE WHO GETS CUSTODY OF REN # 23 SKIZZ & IMPULSE PORTRAITS / HEADCANONS # 24 ZEDAPH PORTRAIT

# 25 Camp Oracle’s Journal; Hermits and The Olympians # 26 GRIAN - THE DEATHLY ACTIVITIES MANAGER # 27 ISKALL & TANGO PORTRAITS # 28 KERALIS & XISUMA'S PERSONALLY MADE CAMP PIN # 29 I REALLY LIKE MAKING FUN OF REN /AFFE # 30 I ALSO REALLY LIKE INCLUDING MARTYN INTO THE MIX /AFFE

# 31 TREEBARK ARE MY BOYFAILURES # 32 RENDERED CAMP LOGOS (PNGS IN DISCORD SERVER) # 33 SHELBY & SCOTT PORTRAITS # 34 ETHUBS MY BELOVEDS :) # 35 INTRODUCING: GIGGS # 36 RE: CAMP EMPIRES AND CAMP HERMITCRAFT DOUBLES # 37 LET OLD MEN BOND LIKE OLD MEN (ETHO & TANGO) # 38 OFFICIAL HaTO DISCORD SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT # 39 MYTHICALSAUSAGE PORTRAIT # 40 XISUMA PORTRAIT # 41 HaTO FIRST COMIC SHITPOST # 42 FALSE, KERALIS, & BEEF PORTRAITS # 43 WELS & HYPNO PORTRAITS # 44 MUMSCARIAN FIRST MEETING DOODLE # 45 WHY IS WELS AN ATHENA KID? # 46 HOW IS GEM THE ORACLE # 47 HaTO SECOND COMIC SHITPOST (PRIDE MONTH) # 48 DESERT DUO ANIMATIC; INSPIRED BY BEAN'S TRAITOR SCAR FIC

# 49 MARTYN PORTRAIT / HEADCANONS # 50 IF SCAR WERE TO BE APHRODITE'S.... # 51 REN VS JARS # 52 LIZZIE PORTRAIT # 53 HaTO SCAR & GEM EMOTES # 54 HaTO CHIBIS BOUQUET DOODLE # 55 GRIAN AND HIS SON # 56 KATHERINE ELIZABETH PORTRAIT # 57 MUMSCARIAN MATCHING ICONS FOR PRIDE # 58 HOW ARE YEAR ROUNDERS GETTING EDUCATION? # 59 SHINY DUO MATCHING ICONS # 60 AROACE PEARL (PRIDE MONTH) # 61 BISEXUAL CLEO (PRIDE MONTH) # 62 CAMP CUDDLE SESSIONS # 63 TREEBARK COMEBACK # 64 When Does a Man Become a Monster?; Hermits and The Olympians

# 65 BOAT BOYS MATCHING ICONS # 66 WHAT DOIN'? CAMP HERMITCRAFT EDITION # 67 "I'M A CHILD OF DIVORCE" GESTURES TO ETHUBS # 68 MORE ETHUBS HEADCANONS CUS IM GAY AND SO ARE THEY # 69 DO NOT ANGER THE NON-ZOMBIE WOMAN, MR. ETHO # 70 NATURE WIVES # 71 I COMPLAIN ABOUT THE HEPHAESTUS CABIN'S ABILITIES # 72 TREEBARK MATCHING ICONS # 73 OLI PORTRAIT & HEADCANONS # 74 IT'S NOT ME IF THERE'S NO ETHUBS # 75 WELCOME TO HERMITCRAFT: GRIAN TEXT ADVENTURE # 76 GEM'S ORACLE CAVE TOUR

#77 THE BOYS (+ GEM) GO SHOPPING FOR SUITS #78 PEARL CHARACTER CARD #79 Camper Files; Hermits and The Olympians #80 STRESS PORTRAIT #81 CUBFAN PORTRAIT #82 FWHIP PORTRAIT

#83 PIXLRIFFS PORTRAIT #84 RANCHERS #85 WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH TREEBARK IN MY INBOX? #86 IDK HOW SAD I'M SUPPOSED TO MAKE SCOTT #87 LONG TIME, NO NATURE WIVES? #88 AREN'T WE ALL A LITTLE SILLY FOR GRIAN SOMETIMES? #89 I HOPE YOU ALL KNOW I JUST BE SAYING ANYTHING ATP

# SECOND MASTERPOST LINK

OTHER HaTO Related Links:

HaTO Roleplay Blogs Masterpost by gem-the-oracle HaTO Archive of Our Own Series HaTO Discord Server

[amethystfairy1]

Whats your headcannons for would would be most to least drunk easily?

I'm gonna assume this question is applying to the TTSBC cast!

Ren can barely have one drink before he gets tipsy.

Jimmy can hold his very well, shockingly enough, so can Grian and Joel. This may or may not have to do with some stupid stuff they did while they were in their bad boy phase, they don't wanna talk about it and they sure as hell don't want Doc and Etho to find out about it either 😆

Gem could drink anyone under the table, Pearl is average, and Impulse is a total lightweight.

Scott and Martyn are both giggly flirty drunks, but that shouldn't surprise anyone...of the two of them Martyn holds his liquor better but they're both decent.

Doc and Etho barely even show they're drunk if they do drink, which they do very rarely to be fair.

Tango can't hold liquor at all, and Zed gets sad and clingy when he's drunk so it's probably best for both of them to just not bother..

I think that's about everyone I can imagine off the top of my head 😅

[yeahiamjustalittleguy]

can i request reader x hermits (seperate) ? like reader has a bunch of old scars and on a hot day they wear a tank top and expose all of their scars? completely okay if not AND TAKE CARE OF URSELF🫶

Okay, let me tell you, as someone with quite a visible scar on my face (I was a very courageous and dumb kid) and a few less visible ones on my hand, I get asked about it so so often and this request hits hard and I have decided to put my whole soul into it as headcanons. I've just picked a couple hermits I feel would have different reactions to it so here u go!

HEADCANON:

Grian

This boy is not going to mention it, like, at all

He has his own bad memories and sad backstory so he understands that you might not want to talk about it

The only reason he would ever talk about it would be if you ever showed any discomfort or insecurity about it

If you just never talked about it he wouldn’t either

Maybe at some point he would reassure you about yourself if you’re both deep in a relationship, but he would never explicitly mention the scars 

If you do mention them at all, it depends on how you approach it

He knows how to tell situations very well and I think he would still be careful about it

If you approach it humorously, like it doesn’t affect you then he will too

Maybe ask you where some of the bigger ones are from and expect you to tell him some good stories

If you get uncomfortable about them, or insecure he will reassure you

“I love you no matter what” or “I think they make you look cool”

He will always be supportive

Mumbo

He does try his best, but the moment he sees you he can’t help it

Shock on his face as he clearly looks you over

It’s clear he is concerned, and if you’re alone he will ask you about it

Stuff like if you’re okay, if you ever want to talk about it or if you need anything

If you reassure him you’re fine, he will totally dote on you after he is done being shocked

Will kiss your exposed scars and talk about how pretty or handsome you are to him

He will totally try to spend extra time with you, both because he learned a new thing about you that makes him love you even more but also because he is secretly making sure you’re totally okay

Even if you say you are, he would rather make sure

He will keep a little bit of a closer eye on everything you do and every little emotion you display just to keep himself sure you’re really okay

Either way he loves you how you are

Scar

This fool, this dumbass man

He cannot keep his mouth shut at all

He thinks communication is so much easier and better than having to just bottle things up or keep guessing what everyone else is thinking

So he just mentions it, asks where they’re from if you’re okay with him asking

He tries to guess it, if you’re not

The guesses will start out super detailed stories that are so far fetched as to ease you into it

“So this one is obviously from a wolf attack, where you managed to fight off 3 wolfs the size of the moon with nothing but your bare hands”

Then he will slowly try to reel it in and guess them more accurately

If one is sort of a piercing one, he will say you lost a duel in a bow fight

The one on your arm? That one is a cut from training your sword skills

He is just spitballing, trying to get it right

Either way he will pester you until you open up to him, he will not let it go

He thinks it’s so cool and really makes you look tough

Will ask you to protect him since you’re so strong

Will also definitely trace your scars whenever you are idle and he has the chance to

Even if you ask him not to, it just happens and he will laugh it off

He starts to slowly like them, the more he sees them

Every rare moment you show them, he slowly appreciates them more and more 

Really weird but he has favorites

He just loves them to be honest

It makes you so uniquely you

Etho

No matter what he will start out by making some sort of snarky little comment

“Did you fight your kitchen drawer and lose or something?”

It’s not mean spirited at all, it’s supposed to be humorous 

He just likes to approach things with lightheartedness and jokes 

He knows it might be a serious topic, but his objective is always to turn it into something fun or less serious to try and make you feel better about it

He won’t dote on you or reassure you like the others unless you open up about it

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you the way you are, his love is just more subtle like that

It’s small things you wouldn’t immediately notice about his reaction to it

Sometimes he will look at one of them and imagine the pain or maybe even accidentally imagine the person who might have given it to you

It’ll make him look at them with hatred, but it’s not directed at you even if it would seem that way

He’d make up little fantasies of revenge in his head to clear the thoughts

At this point you might even be the one who will have to reassure him that it’s no problem anymore, if it ever even was 

Bdubs

He will instantly be all over you, and no matter your approach he will be excited

Unless you just start straight up crying he won’t notice if you’re sad or insecure about them cause he is just so excited about seeing a different part of you

He’s the same as Scar where he wants to know where every little scar comes from

If it’s serious he will of course reassure you, but he will definitely also compliment them no matter what

He just think they suit you, and in the end Bdubs is sort of just a hopeless romantic

Anything that is a part of you, he loves it

Anything that is you is beautiful

Which in turn makes your scars beautiful too

He feels closer to you, looking at them because in the end it tells your story and your past, making him feel like he is closer to it 

It’s something he’s probably been sad about before, that not every inch of your life is tied together, that there are parts of you that he can’t be a part of which is before you met

But seeing the scars can help him understand that part, and sort of relate to you in a way that he finds very intimate

So of course he will pester you about them any given time they are on display

He does love them, just as much as he loves you

Pearl

She’s definitely the most careful out of all of them, at least out of the ones who want to approach the topic at all

As much as she is a rambunctious personality she is also an extremely caring thoughtful individual 

And as much as she doesn’t want to overstep her boundaries she also has to know you’re okay

So she approaches it very head on, but she picks her words very carefully

“I don’t know if you ever want to talk about it, but I’m willing to listen if you ever want to tell me anything about your scars.”

That’s all she ever says about it, and at that point it’s up to you to go to her about it

She wants to be as respectable to you about it as possible

She has the mindset that she doesn’t need to know if you don’t want her to know

As long as she’s sure you’re okay now, your past doesn’t matter to her

For what she thinks about them look wise, she does think they suit you

It’s not going to change how she thinks about you, knowing you have a few scars

And she has a couple herself so it doesn’t really matter

She still loves you

Tango

Tango is probably the one with the roughest reaction

He is pretty emotionally driven, and just seeing something like that on you genuinely breaks his heart

It’s almost like he is going through the pain you went through with every single scar at once

He’s almost just,,, getting teary eyed seeing you and you might get confused at the looks he is giving you as you see each other

You probably won’t understand exactly what is going on with him and he simply takes your hands in his and he stares at you before embracing you in a warm hug

He wants you to feel physically that he is there for you

“Where are these all from?”

You cannot get out of a heart to heart with this man, and even if it’s all from totally normal and uneventful encounters he still thinks it’s very serious

Even if it was not traumatic like, at all, just you at some point being in pain is awful to him

Just the few times you’ve gotten hurt while on the server with him has been awful for him so to know you’ve gone through pain that’s left scars is unbearable

He doesn’t like your scars, hands down I will just say it

He hates having a constant reminder that you experience pain because he wants nothing but happiness for you

Obviously it’s delusional to think you’d never experience anything bad, he knows that, but he still wants that to be the case so bad and having to see it every time just sucks for him

That’s not to say he doesn’t think you’re still beautiful, he does, he thinks you’re amazing

But he does just wish you’d never have to go through that 

Xisuma

Oh boy

His first thought, and I am sorry to admit this, would be how hot that is

He loves that type of thing, he can’t help it

This guy loves a man/woman with a story to tell, and scars to show

BUT that does not mean that the next thought isn’t slight worry

He’s been through it all, considering he is experienced with every kind of server and an admin who has had to consider all kinds of walks of life and he knows what some servers are like

That in itself has lead to him being very observant and mindful, and he also knows exactly how to handle it no matter what

He won’t ask, he will wait for you to come to him, if need be

If you do explain them, he will take it from there. Sad? He’s got just the right words to assure you that you’re both safe and that it changes nothing in his opinion of you (It does.. He finds it so hot)

Happy and uncaring? He is making the best jokes you’ve ever heard about it

There is no losing with this blessing of a man

[solargeist]

When grian enters a relationship with Scar he makes it so apparent that Mumbo is coming with him but not because he is involved or that Scar and Mumbo have to be together but just that Grian is a many of many talents and one of them is being a sad wet blanket boy for multiple men in either platonic or romantic ways.

-Lunar

Mumbos there for moral support

At first, Mumbo doesn’t want to go, like, Grian I don’t rly want to see you kissing on Scar

And Grians like, do u want me to kiss u too ?

[st4r-fruitz]

for my next trick, i will explain boat boys as if youve never heard of them, but im sick and cant be botherd correcting my spelling mistakes:

boat boys forst origionated in this minhecraft server grian (their frined) amde called double life. double life is the thirud season of an on going sereies called the life series or, some poeple call it the traffic series bcuz the lifes u get go from 1-red 2-yellow green-3. anywasy so bopat boys are joel and etho(eefo). they wweere paierd in doubl;e life. on he first day they got to know eachother and they made some jokes and stuff, it was niv]ce. actuually they ar ecalled boat b hoys bcuz they went arounf the server in boats. like, on land. it was very funny. the seconf session joel made a big boat for them to live in called the "relation-shipo", (get iot, get it? nudge nudge). etho went tyo the warden and joel sount very concerned as he did so. i dont remeber much abouyt double life as ive been binging limited life for 3 months now. they died due to a trapped nether portal. the perotral had lava spilled aorunf it. it was very sad.

also inportant fact: ther forst time etho and h=joel ever in terected on the whole entire life series they were in boats. they were both riding in boats. are u joking me. THATS SO FUCKING POETOIC WTF CHBFSHVBSHJBJHVKS

onto liml li9fe. they firat saw eachorther in the forst session. etho said "oh so ur gonna make a boat with a new friend now huh?" bcuz joel and jimmy had planned to live in the water. etho was very jealous ogf this, it made me sad. then joel saw etho ina boat with a co2w and joelk saidn "CANT BELEIVE YOUVE REPLACED ME WEITH A COW EEFO!!!" and etho responded with "he keeps me company atleats" AHAHDBFBHVBHWJJVSB JKSNNOOO. anyways in session 4, etho KILLDED JOEL!?!?!?11?!?!??! it was vwery cool actually. joe, clutchedf a fall, and etho landed in huis clutch water and saidf" YOU SAVED ME. YOU SAVED ME JOEL, SO NOW I CAN KILL YOU" that was very cool of etho. even joel daid himself to etho "the fact you landed in my own water bucket trick" i thionk thats everything improtant in liml life?

then serect life. oh, secrect life. my beloved. my onbe treu savior. save me secret life, save me. so, the two sigificant events of secrect life between bgoat boys i can remeber are 1: joel and ehto hop in ab baot otghter and joel goes "we cant do tjis ehto, the fandom will go crazy" (true( then vthey go for a lottle ride untill they are fiorced to stop by a blcok in. their way and ehto goes "well tjis is where the relatiopnshoip ens" HDGBDFISBFCHBES 2: scott is talk9ng abt his task for the sessions=] which is "say i love you to three plkayers and get them to say ot back" so rheyre discussing who would say it back, andf scott goes "i love yoy " to etho and he goes "thank you?-' HAHAH ayways so one thing leadfs to another and etho is on joels front door stepo saying to joel "i loive you" and joerl responds "uhh ok eefo i know youre obbesed with me i saw u made me the thiumbnail for ur fist bvidoe but cmon ehto calm donw" and etho is sad NSJDWBHJSDCJH im sad jusbjbfdn. its alot.

and now the decked o0ut stream. (ik th9s. was before secret life SHUTUPSHGUTPU) so, jimmy askes for a kiss from joel before he does his decked oyut run. joel goes "yeah sure. on the neckk" and jim goes silent till joel goes "WAIT NO ON THE NECK- I MEANT THE CHEEK IM MEANT THE CHEEK" nd it li9ke this hwole meme for the whole event. jimmy startes sing "etho and joel, sitting in a baot" and etho goes "kissing on the neck"!!!!!GSUGDEGUSDVJ!!!!then when they are at rens ice biat thgingy joel and wehto are sitting nect to eacher in thjeor boat s and etho goes "AWH GOTTA COVER UP MY NECK " joelsays "I DONT KISS [PEOIPLES NECKS!!!" then joel scooches up to etho in his boat and joel goes "schooching up to ya etho " and etho goes "his hand slowly reaches into my hair" LIKE EHTO IS HEE WRITING A WHOLE FANFIC OKKKK ETHO I SEE YOUUU. anyways rhat was very funny.

anyways. hermitcraft. oh boy. theres a lot and i will prpbaly misss a lot too but oh well its later and im sick and tired so SUCK IT UP. ill just do dotpointrs of the things i remeber.

etho sees jols banners and really like sthem and asks j]him for trhe pattern, whoch leads to many books which may or may nboit have been signed with neck kisees.

etho makes statues of jpel them pretemds oit wasnt him. joel rrqally liukes the statues and adds thjem to the front of hios nade awith his tori gate

etho so happens to be talk9inmg abt joel and joel hears him and goes "alsways talking abyt m,e eefo"

joel and etho are talki9ng and theres a camle and etho goes "joel mjust reallt like camels ciuz they goit the loonnnggg necks" and joel syags "oh for goodness sake" (ilobve when joel says oh for goodness sakes its like one of his mottos ayt tjis poibgt it so funny )

thatys all i camn remeber i migjt add mre when i thin k of it

thanks for taking the time to read this if u did (and u even could, oops) i doubt many people will make it down this far with reading it, so congrats i guess!! you get.. nothing-

[theminecraftbee]

okay you saying Three and Grian would clash makes me wanna see a multi-dimensional smash up where they meet

I MEAN SAME, one of my most self-indulgent desires is this, and i'm trying to remember if i've talked about this before on the blog or just rambled to my friends about it, lol. because it would be INTERESTING. there would be a lot of emotions going on there, it'd be messy!

because like, okay. so on grian's end: three is very clearly the bad ending, to him. this is the ending where the watchers erase grian and leave behind a strange little weapon who does stuff like "starts following orders when stressed", which is like, in grian's mind, the opposite of grian's behavior. and yeah, sure, three insists it isn't grian, but that doesn't make that not fucked up to grian, and probably also like... i don't know how good grian would be at seeing past that, you know? (bonus points if this grian is, himself, a standard "grian is a watcher who left" construction, because, you know, woof.)

but meanwhile, three like, has known identity hangups about grian. three would already be in a frustrated state of "i am NOT grian though" like, from the jump. but three would ALSO be forced to look at the version of the world where grian stuck around. and in some ways, three would look at that and see all the things its existence prevents, which would suck! but it would ALSO be a scenario where... so the thing is, the only version of grian that three knows is the posthumous version. the version that got lionized in death. this idealized image of the man. and i feel like three would see grian and find him... disappointing, in comparison, because ANYONE would be! but that'll also sure be a Thing.

(additional bonus points: grumbot. things that are DEFINITELY on the list of "things three didn't do in its own timeline and if mumbo did three treated wildly differently", and also on the list of "so do you think the human weapon with identity issues might identify with that robot or what" and also given that the rift remains one of the easiest crossover excuses on hermitcraft, oh man, oh boy. anyway.)

how would this end? I DON'T KNOW. i haven't managed to actually WRITE this self-indulgent thing although i have looked at all my friends with wide sad eyes about it in case any of them do, lol. but rest assured I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS GREATLY.

[thatstoomanysausages]

DEVASTATING UPDATE BUT ALSO FUCKING CRAZY (Tomodachi Life):

(If you want me to add any Hermit or MCYT in particular then just ask and I will probably do it. If you want a particular romance then I can also fuck with the genders if needed.

But these motherfuckers have too much autonomy so they may not get together (as demonstrated today))

- Tango is here‼️‼️

- RANCHERS FRIENDSHIP ESTABLISHED

- GRIAN AND TANGO 100% FRIENDSHIP BBGS‼️‼️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

- Impulse and Tango at 17%… yikesss😬😬

- but SKIZZ AND TANGO AT 95% FRIENDSHIP

- Timmy, Joel and Grian top 3 most popular islanders bbgs🔥🔥🔥🔥 bad boys 4evah

- GUYS IM KILLING MYSELF SCAR HAS A LOVE ISSUE

- IF ITS NOT GRIAN I WILL KILL MHSELF

- ITS JOEL

- WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

- I’m not letting it happen

- I’m gonna sob he’s fucking sad

- REN IS IN LOVE

- REN AND PEARL??????

- OKAYYYYY

- YEAHHHHHH THEYRE TOGETHERRRRRR

- Scar is fuckinf devastated

- I’m pampering this motherfucker to get him to calm down

- I will get endgame Scarian even if it takes upsetting Scar 1000 fuckinf times by rejecting his love advances.

- MORE LOVE FROM PEARL

- SHES PROPOSING TO REN ALREADY DAMN GIRL ITS BEEN FUCKINF 10 MINUTES NOT EVEN FUCKING WITHT YOU

- I HATE HELPING TO PROPOSE BHT THEYRE TOGETHERRRR YEAHHHHHHHH

[mochiwrites]

after the hermits find out that they’re married i feel like scar and grian r extra pda couple around everyone to rub it in, “oh my dear husband mr. goodtimes” and pet names up to eleven, they’re just super soft, hanging off each other and cuddling up, super sweet, most hermits are happy for them (bdubs def long suffering telling them to get a room, he’s seen enough of them being handsy to last a life time/lh). mumbo is sad he didn’t get a chance to be the flower boy (“i thought we were buttercups :’{( (that’s his moustache) ) also i feel like for their vow renewal grian is like, okay compound interest wedding gifts and vow renewal gifts are to be given in a lump sum fjdkdk he’s broke

DBFNTJTJTHTG YES

they kiss in front of the others at least once a day /silly

but they’re very openly cuddly and sappy, and the hermits are like “how did we miss this????”

I think when it comes time for an anniversary or vow renewal, the hermits want to have an actual wedding ceremony for scar and grian. because when they actually got married, they didn’t have a proper wedding. and also gem and pearl just might kill them both if they Don’t let them do a ceremony

grian and scar absolutely take the excuse to milk the others for diamonds and gifts though <3

[life-winners-liveblog]

Watching Double Life session 2

P5

Martyn: Phrasing????

Pearl: ...

Grian: And I tought that Scar waa bad.

Pearl: It wasn't phrasing, just... thinking of Ren made me think about taming wolves.

Scott: You made it sound like you wanted to tame Ren.

Pearl: Details.

~~~~~~

Grian: I'm sorry, did Ren really?

Scott: He saw you go into powdered snow and he just assumed you were ...what was it again?

Cleo: Sacrificing herself to a dark spirit!

3L!Scar: ... Our Ren did call us hippies and that didn't really make any sense either thinking about it.

Grian: ... Wait yeah, that does make zero sense.

Martyn: What do other me's even see in this guy...

Scar: Anyway, I think that sounds like a fun activity!

Pearl: Hmmm...

Scott: No! No evil spirit summoning! We aren't letting any of that here, nope!

~~~~~

Scott: Really trew other me under the bus there Pearl.

Pearl: It was Tilly! Of course I did! Not like he didn't diserve it.

Scott: ... Jury is still not fully decided on that.

Pearl: Scott-

Scott: ...

~~~~~

Martyn: You know , you repeatedly saying you are doing great to the air surprisingly makes it seems like the opposite.

Pearl: I did went a little bit crazy, not like you can talk, not the way you were when you first arrived.

Martyn: Oh don't you-

Pearl: What? So you can say whatever but I can't? What's this mate?!?

Martyn: I...

Pearl: What? I can't hear you.

Martyn: It's...different.

Pearl: Is it? How?

Martyn: ... I...you're right.

Pearl: Uh eh what?

Martyn: Still going to be petty about it ...just, tell me if I go too far.

Pearl: Uhhhhh... works...for me...

~~~~~

Cleo: Well other me is terrified.

Scar: Oh yeah!

Cleo: Huh.

~~~~~

Scott: ... That was akward.

Grian: And kinda sad...

Scar: Being alone for a long time sucks.

Martyn: But that fake pity? That fake pity is the worst part, it wasn't towards me but it was so infuriating.

~~~~~

3L!Scar: Boat Boys! I was there when they first arrived in the loser void!

Pearl: Really? Nice.

~~~~~

3L!Scar: Well, that death was... something.

Cleo: It only took an enderman, wooow.

3L!Scar: They are more dangerous then they look.

Pearl: ... I'm going to look away for this last part of the session...

Scar: Uh? Are you ok?

Martyn: Is this the Ren thing?

Pearl: Yes...

~~~~~

Grian: ...

Scar: ... something...wicked? ...*he flinches*

Cleo: ...excuse me? ... Even I'm very confused, I'm not used to being confused.

Scott: What!???? Huuuuuuh?!?

Pearl: ... yeah...

Martyn: What the fuck is wrong with this stupid ass looking guy?!?

Cleo: And I oop.

3L!Scar: Martyn defending Pearl? This is...

Grian: Unheard of, Impossible?

Martyn: I never understood why other me's like this bufoon so much but this is a new height of stupidity.

Scott: I'm having a fever dream, that has to be it.

Martyn: I just... made me angry.

Previous

Next

First

[frozenjokes]

Mumbo Doesn’t HATE Furries, But He WILL NOT Go Back To Jail

Mumbo’s phone didn’t ring very often these days. He didn’t care at all to speak to much of anyone, far preferring to text, though he didn’t do much of that, either. These past couple years were lonely, certainly, but in more ways than one, loneliness was far less stressful than his prior alternative. There was peace in loneliness, in his one bedroom apartment, on his laptop, playing games and talking on forums. It was quiet. He liked quiet. He liked this.

When his phone did ring, 9/10 times it was a spam caller, so 10/10 times, Mumbo would end the call with deft fingers, hardly looking at the number. If someone really wanted to reach him, they’d call back. Though, this time, his phone did ring again, a rare and unwelcome occurrence, especially now, since Mumbo was quite focused on the game he was playing and didn’t particularly feel like stopping. So again he hung up, again without looking, huffing at his computer screen.

When it rang a third time, Mumbo groaned out loud, canceling the call before the first ring concluded. There was only one person who called more than twice in a row, and Mumbo did not want to talk to HotGuy. Mumbo didn’t actually want to talk to HotGuy ever, but that didn’t stop the superhero from calling him over and over until he picked up. A battle of wills, one Mumbo had yet to win because seriously, he could waste thirty more minutes ignoring HotGuy’s calls, but then that was thirty minutes of his time he was forced to think about HotGuy, and even if he turned his ringer off, he would still see HotGuy’s name calling when he looked down to check the time, and then he’d feel bad, his conviction would crumble, and he’d pick up, so really, might as well just get this over with.

On the fourth call, Mumbo eyed his phone with great ire, then promptly fell entirely out of his chair with a squeak.

That- That wasn’t HotGuy-

Mumbo scrambled to his feet, his desk chair ending up being a horrible choice to steady himself, and he toppled over as the wheels slid out from under him. Getting to his knees, he hit his head on the underside of his desk, and needed to lay on the floor for a second to recover before moving more slowly, carefully, on this treacherous journey to his phone. All this to say, he did not make it before the ringing ended automatically. Though, Mumbo didn’t even get far enough to pick up his phone before it rang a fifth time. Immediately, he answered.

“Grian! Goodness, you are persistent, aren’t you? Sorry I didn’t pick up right away- In the restroom I was, couldn’t answer the phone. Don’t feel bad though, about calling all those times I mean, it’s good for me, sometimes I don’t look-”

There was a lot of feedback from Grian’s end, the kind of sound Mumbo remembered well from times Grian would pick up the phone while flying. Mumbo always hated talking to him like this, unable to hear most words in lieu of the wind. Wasn’t Grian ever afraid of dropping his phone? “Mumbo!” Grian sounded out of breath, almost heaving, “I don’t feel bad.”

“Ah! Good then, that’s-”

“I want to catch up. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it, pal? I miss you. I want’ta catch up. Would that be fine? Was thinking about you lately. Sound good?” The noise came through sporadically, and predictably, Mumbo understood less than half of what was said. In the sky, Grian had two volumes; mumbled garbled nonsense, and LOUD, which would always make Mumbo flinch. He’d probably scold him over it if it hadn’t been so long since they’d talked. Boy, that was a little sad, wasn’t it.

“That sounds great. I’d love to. When-”

“What’s your address?” Grian’s voice came through so loudly over the wind, Mumbo couldn’t claim he hadn’t heard correctly. Even still, he wasn’t sure he had. Surely Grian hadn’t meant what Mumbo thought he meant.

“You- You want to meet now?”

“Yes. At your house. Right now.”

“Grian, it’s 11:30 at night!”

“Is that a problem?”

“I-” Mumbo shed a somewhat guilty glance at half empty coffee across his desk, mostly forgotten, but certainly not drunk at a reasonable time. Regardless, he and Grian knew he wasn’t sleeping anytime soon. “I guess not- wait.” Mumbo steeled himself, taking a firm breath, “You’re not running from the police or anything, are you? Because I told you, I’m done, retired, no more of this, and I won’t let you talk me into anything either, I’ll send you right on your way.”

“No! No, not that, promise. I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t.”

“There’s been some interesting stuff in the news about you lately. You sure? Not coming to recruit me, are you? I swear, if HotGuy sent you-”

“No! Mumbo, no! Please, I just need a friend.”

Mumbo took a step back, physically and mentally, closing his eyes. No need to go off on the man, not when they hadn’t talked in years. Grian had always been impulsive regardless, this wasn’t exactly out of character.

“Okay. I’ll text you.” Mumbo bit his lip, quite the bad habit given his sharp teeth. Was Grian okay? He sounded winded, but it was a little hard to tell, and flying could be pretty intense exercise.. Mumbo wasn’t sure. This just felt so odd.

“Be there soon.” Grian hung up as he finished the sentence, and Mumbo sighed, navigating to Grian’s contact to give him the address. But as he was hitting send, finger just about pressing the button, he got another call, accidentally accepting it at the same time he sent his text.

He didn’t even see the contact before the speaker exploded into noise, “MUMBO!” HotGuy wailed from the other end and Mumbo groaned, falling back in his desk chair with a hefty thump.

“What do you need.”

“Mumbo, I think I just made a huge mistake and I don’t know what to do! I-I met this guy, and I met him as HotGuy and my normal person identity, and he hates HotGuy but really likes normal person me, and tonight we just had this moment, y’know? He told me like every crime he’s ever committed and all about how he doesn’t feel crazy with all those alter egos and I was just like wow! I don’t want to feel crazy anymore. I want to be known! I want to be seen! So I took the mask off and told him exactly who I was and then he screamed and ran away and then I had a panic attack and I’m still kind of panicking, but I also don’t regret it?? I’m glad I did it! I’m glad he knows! I’m relieved!”

“Great, what’s the problem then, bud?”

“He screamed and ran away!”

“Could be worse.”

“I do not think it could be worse! Five minutes before that we were talking about being a polycule! Well. I was talking about it a little more than he was. It’s complicated. I don’t actually completely understand what’s happening here, but like, he’s kinda in love with his roommate, right, and I’m also a little in love with his roommate and we were going on dates and I think his roommate likes me too but then..” Mumbo started to tune HotGuy out as another call came in, from Cub, what the hell? It had been- fuck, at least ten years since they’d talked- Why? He didn’t even know Cub still had his number.

“HotGuy, buddy, I gotta let you go. Got someone else on the line.”

“Wait- But I’m not-“ Mumbo didn’t wait to hear the rest, hanging up a little more aggressively than probably warranted. He didn’t much care.

“Hello?” He asked, somewhat timidly. Cub had always intimidated him, even when he, Mumbo, and Grian had shared an apartment junior and senior year of college. They had never gotten along quite as well as Cub and Grian did, though, maybe that’s because Grian was the easy sort to talk to, comfortable, at least in his opinion. He could be prickly, but he was fun as well, the type of extremely bad influence that draws you in. Goodness, maybe catching up was a bad idea. Mumbo pursed his lips. But Grian seemed to have changed his tune, at least a little, switching from Criminal to Still A Criminal But Government Approved This Time- maybe it would be fine?

“Hey, Mumbo, sorry for calling so late,” Cub said in the same monotone drone that Mumbo remembered well; that made him so nervous sometimes, but this time, there was a bit of an anxious edge, “I know it’s been awhile, but Grian called me and told me he was visiting you, and he didn’t say so, but I think he’s upset, and I just wanted to make sure- I don’t know,” Cub sounded so lost for a moment, and Mumbo felt his own anxiety fall away. Well, the Cub-related anxiety anyway, the Grian anxiety was alive and well.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I was a little confused when he called me as well, I won’t lie.. I can’t tell you if he was having a hard time, I can barely hear when he’s flying, but-“ Mumbo stopped when his phone started to buzz, seething, “One moment please. I Will Call You Back.”

“Uh-“ Cub sounded a bit startled, “Yeah, man, sure.”

Mumbo hung up, reeling on the other line, “HotGuy. Stop. Calling me.”

Mumbo was pleased to hear stuttering over the speaker, but the satisfaction didn’t last, turning to guilt when HotGuy started to speak, “I- I’m sorry! I’m just having a bit of a crisis here, I needed to talk to someone and- I don’t know- I always just think of you-“

“HotGuy.”

A small pause, then a meek, “Yes?” nearly as quiet.

“I will call you back, but later. Maybe tomorrow. I am dealing with something right now, and you are stressing me out.”

“You’ll call me back?” The change in tone was jarring, HotGuy lighting all the way up and his voice ablaze with what Mumbo could only describe as unadulterated joy.

Mumbo grit his teeth. “Yes. I will call you back.”

“Okay!” HotGuy didn’t miss a beat, any distress that was previously there, gone. Mumbo got the distinct feeling he had just been conned. “Bye, Mumbo!” And not a moment later, HotGuy hung up. Mumbo sighed deep, redialing Cub’s number.

“Hi. Sorry about that.”

“It’s no problem,” Cub spoke quickly and quiet, half mumbling, “Did you say Grian called you tonight? Just wanted to make sure.”

“Uh,” Mumbo hesitated, wondering if he was about to get Grian in trouble, “Yeah, about fifteen minutes ago he did.”

Mumbo heard Cub exhale loudly through his nose and cringed, very much not wanting to be in the middle of this, but Cub didn’t sound frustrated when he spoke, “Okay. He told me otherwise, but I think.. I don’t know what he’s thinking sometimes. I know you know how he can be sometimes, and really, he’s been better lately- I guess I just mean to say if this is too much for you tonight, shoot me a text. I’ll come pick him up. I might be a while if you live far; we don’t have a car right now, but I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

Mumbo shook his head, a bit alarmed, “No, no, you don’t have to. If need be, I’ll drive him home. I’m just as much of an insomniac as I was before, this won’t be a disruption for me..” Mumbo trailed off, feeling bad for even thinking to ask, but anxiety always got the better of him and- damn it, his lip was bleeding again, he had to stop doing that- “You don’t think he’s in trouble, do you? With the police, or any other superhero business.. I- I won’t send him away or anything, but I really don’t want to get tangled up in anything, those days are firmly behind me.”

Cub was quiet for a long moment, clearly taking the question seriously (which Mumbo appreciated), but the silence was also driving him a little crazy. Finally, Cub answered, painfully honest, “I don’t know. I really don’t think so, and I believe that Grian respects you enough to keep that business out of your hair.. He really feels awful about what happened to you, and I know-”

“Please, don’t. I’d rather not discuss it.”

Cub gave a small noise of assent before continuing, “To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what could have happened. Could be as small as a perceived humiliation that he just can’t quite cope with, or as big as.. Well, he’s had to confront a few things about himself in the past few weeks, and change is never easy. Maybe he just needs some space from me. We’ve had some pretty intense, uh, relationship dealings.. It’s not important. He’ll tell you if he wants. But to answer your question, it’s been a bit since Grian has been in trouble with the police. I can’t say for sure, but I really don’t think he’d be dragging something like that to your doorstep. He certainly won’t try and talk you into anything, I’m sure of that.”

Mumbo managed to let go of the breath he’d been holding. “Okay. Thank you, Cub. I should go now, tidy up a bit, but I’ll text you if anything happens.”

“Okay.” There was a bit of a pause, the distinct kind of silence that held unspoken words, so Mumbo waited, though he didn’t need to wait long. “I don’t think anything will happen. I just worry. I just wish he would tell me the truth sometimes.”

Mumbo nodded, though Cub couldn’t see. “I understand. Bye, Cub.”

“Bye.” Cub hung up, and Mumbo was left a moment to breathe. But only a moment, because seconds later, his phone rang once again. Grian. Mumbo picked up.

“I’m here.”

“Alright. I’ll buzz you in. Come right up.”

And Grian wasted no time, scaling the stairs in what must have been record time and knocking on Mumbo’s door no less than a minute later to Mumbo’s great distress. His place was a bit of a mess- no one had visited him in ages, though, Grian wasn’t likely to care. Mumbo took a deep breath, allowing himself to relax. This was fine. This was exciting! It really had been too long since they’d seen each other, and maybe if Grian had really turned himself around, they could even be friends again.

All that hope dropped right through his stomach when he opened the front door.

“Grian.”

Grian looked startled, genuinely so, as if he wasn’t standing in Mumbo’s doorway in full costume, chicken mask tucked conspicuously under his arm. Even his wings were painted, for goodness’ sake, this is not what Mumbo wanted tonight. “I-” Grian seemed to understand what Mumbo was looking at a moment later, looking thoroughly embarrassed, as if he had accidentally shown up at his door dressed as Poultry Man- You know, at this point, Mumbo wasn’t even surprised. “Would you believe me if I told you this is a fursuit.”

“No!”

“Well then you would be wrong, because it is, and has served me well through many cons. She’s a little old, could use some touch-ups, but I take good care of her, and have for years. Did’ja know Poultry Man is a hen, Mumbo? I bet you didn’t. There’s a fun bit of trivia for you.” Grian invited himself in, pushing past Mumbo like he wasn’t even there.

“I- I don’t care if it’s a fursuit or not, Grian!”

“Kinda sounds like you do. Y’know, I didn’t take you as the type to make fun of furries; a bit low in my opinion. I thought you had more class than that, I’ll be honest.” Grian set the head down on the arm of Mumbo’s sofa, then looked back, eyes blinking wide as if noticing for the first time how upset Mumbo actually was, “I’m serious, though. I’m not in trouble, I just wanted to run HotGuy around for a bit. I had a couple things to talk to him about, and I wanted him to know about the other stuff I do in my spare time. No crimes committed tonight, not one,” Grian released a shaky breath, looking distant as he turned his gaze back to the mask.

Mumbo didn’t feel much better. “I don’t really believe you, Grian.”

“I-” Grian turned, having the gall to look angry, but the expression didn’t last, maybe in part due to Mumbo’s own dark look. Still, Grian shook his head, shoulders hunching, “That’s fair. This was stupid of me, I’m sorry. Wasn’t thinking. This was an impulsive thing, dumb. Shouldn’t have called you. I’ll go.” Grian scooped up the head of his costume, turning back toward the door.

“Damn it, Grian, don’t do that.”

Grian’s eyebrows twitched, anger maybe, or distress; his expression was shifting too much to tell. “What? You want me to go. You didn’t want me here in the first place, not like this, and I still came exactly like you told me not to, like a fucking asshole, because I just wasn’t thinking. I’ve done enough, Mumbo, I shouldn’t have come.”

But Mumbo stood in Grian’s way, anger and conflict fighting with the deep desire to see him, to reconnect, to meet and not fight. If Grian left, hating himself, things would be as they always were. Or maybe they’d be worse, their ties severed completely. Mumbo didnt want that. And he promised at least to Cub he’d drive Grian home, but Mumbo didn’t really want that either.

Maybe this had been an accident. A stupid accident, showing up as a long-time criminal, but if Grian had really been so upset like Cub suspected, maybe he wasn’t thinking.

“Tell me about the suit.”

Grian startled, blinking up, “What?”

“Your fursuit. They’re characters, right? They’ve got names and stories I thought, at least some of them do. It’s, uh- sorry, I don’t know the terminology. Does yours have a story?” Mumbo took a seat, giving himself and Grian room to breathe. Grian stared for a moment, body stuttering in his confusion, before sitting on the floor. That was just fine.

“Uh, well, she’s- her name is Adelaide. She’s kinda.. well, she’s not a great person. She’s just.. angry. All of the time. And a lot of things get under her skin, a lot, but what gets to her the most is feeling like other people don’t take her seriously. Drives her mad, really. Makes her feel completely out of touch with herself, with humanity- I know she’s a chicken, just bare with me, okay?”

“I’m baring! I’m baring! Go on.”

“Well, she’s so angry, and it makes her feel less than human. She feels very primally animal, like a wild dog or starving coyote or something- again, metaphorically- this isn’t about like furry racism it’s just- ugh, I’m embarrassed. This is embarrassing.” Grian drew his hands over his eyes, and Mumbo frowned.

“Don’t be, please. I’d really like to hear about it.”

“The story is so old. I kinda got into this stuff after college, just kept it to myself. It needs about a thousand reworks.”

“Well it means something to you, doesn’t it?”

Grian chewed on his lip, reminding Mumbo to stop biting his own. “Yeah. Guess you can tell it hits a little close to home. I just don’t like her very much anymore. I don’t want to be like that. We’re out of touch.”

“That’s fine, Grian. I’m not trying to psychoanalyze you through the chicken character you made ten years ago.”

“Ten years.. Oh god, don’t say that,” Grian gave a small chuckle and Mumbo risked his own, grateful for the ease in tension.

“You don’t have to tell about Adelaide if you don’t want to.”

Grian cringed inwardly, and Mumbo threw up placating hands, worried he’d done something wrong, but Grian only laughed, “Sorry- That was like- super weird for me. To hear someone else say her name out loud, I mean. I don’t know how to explain, but it’s like this person that has lived in my brain for years just got plucked right out and looked at. And I felt it. In my brain.”

“I’m sorry for touching your brain then, mate, ” Mumbo chuckled with the smallest roll of his eyes, “I’m serious though, I feel like I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“You’re not. You’re perfect, I’m just- a little painfully me sometimes- not- I don’t mean to self deprecate, I just can’t tell a story. But I would like to try. If that’s okay.”

Mumbo nodded, “Sure.”

Grian took a breath, and then one or two more. “Adelaide.. She feels out of touch with the world, and she starts to wonder if maybe things would be different if she was a rooster, right? Maybe she wouldn’t be so angry all the time, and maybe people would start to take her more seriously. She’s already got a pretty large cone; that’s the red thing on chickens’ heads by the way, hens also have them, lots of people mistake hens for roosters because-” Grian cut himself off, looking embarrassed, “Anyway, she’s been mistaken for a rooster before, and she’s always liked the idea of having spurs, which, again, are a rooster thing, they’ve got sharp bits on the backs of their legs. So she decides she’s going to give it a shot! See if anything changes. Surprise, this does not solve her anger issues.”

“I figured.”

“Yeah. She’s not treated exactly the same, but she has these different challenges she wasn’t expecting, and she’s pretty reactionary when things don’t go as planned, and is still getting into a lot of fights. She holds her own, though, especially with the new knives on the back of her talons, and one night after a fight outside a bar, she’s approached by this guy, and he tells her he thinks she’s got talent for this kind of thing, fighting and stuff, and that she could earn quite a bit of cash doing it professionally. Cock fighting, essentially. Do you know what cock fighting is, Mumbo?”

“The.. blood sport? Don’t they tape knives to roosters and make them fight until they die?”

“Yeah, essentially. It’s pretty awful stuff, and very illegal- it’s illegal in this universe as well, though the chickens in the ring aren’t actually fighting to the death. Deaths do happen though. It’s shady business, and Adelaide knows that, but she also sees an opportunity here for release, and she’s excited by it. She wants to do this. All under her alias as a man, of course. And so she signs on. Calls herself Poultry Man, which, yes, in a universe where chickens are humanoid, is a ridiculous name, but she doesn’t care. She does care when the audience is betting against her though; she’s smaller than most of the other roosters, and a little feeble looking, so without knowing anything else about her, gamblers think she’s going to lose a lot of her first fights. And that really pisses her off, because, again, she hates being discounted.”

“So she kicks ass.”

“Yeah. And she’s an amateur fighter, but up against other amateur fighters, she’s quite the beast to behold. So she causes quite a few upsets, and suddenly there’s this ‘rooster’ that came out of nowhere and people love her. Life has never seemed so perfect. Yeah, she’s an animal and she’s violent and angry, but that’s okay here. And.. well.. this is kind of where I fall out of touch with the story. Originally, she starts climbing up in the ranks and becoming this more well known cock fighter, but that just doesn’t make much sense to me anymore, and honestly, feels a little cliché. I want her to be challenged sooner, not because she’s met her match or anything and has to rethink this when she can’t win easily anymore.. I don’t know. I want her to change, but I want it to come from herself, you know?

Mumbo hummed to himself, giving it some thought. “What if she kills someone? Early on, but after all the upsets. It’s an accident, but maybe it has something to do with the homemade spurs, right? They’re sharper or longer or something that gave her an edge, and it doesn’t matter to anyone else, it doesn’t even matter that the guy is dead, but she’s never killed anyone before. And that could stop her in her tracks, you know? Really shake her, make her ask if that’s what she really wants.”

“Ooh..” Grian tapped his lips, eyes distant, “That could do it. I feel like I’m so desensitized sometimes, I didn’t even consider..” Grian pursed his lips, “Nevermind. I like this. And she could try to get away from this place, but people like Poultry Man, too much to let him leave. The ring is all sorts of shady anyway, she might have signed some sort of contract and didn’t even realize. By the time she tries to get out, it’s too late. And suddenly, someone who’s never been afraid to die before is petrified, because what if she dies like this, angry and bitter and a murderer, and she never gets the chance to change.”

Mumbo raised an eyebrow at that, and Grian jolted up, catching the look before Mumbo could hope to conceal it, “You said you weren’t psychoanalyzing me!”

“Hey, I never said anything.”

“You say things with your dumb face just as loudly as you speak words!”

Mumbo gasped in mock offense, turning his head away, “How dare you! I’ll have you know, this face is not nearly as dumb as it was a few months ago when I nixed the mustache, and here I was thinking I was finally starting to look normal again.”

“You- You shaved it? Why?” Grian wailed and Mumbo laughed, sighing contentedly.

“Had a bit of a crisis. Was an impulse decision I'm afraid, very impulsive. Truly a tragedy. And you should’ve seen me after, goodness, I was speedrunning the five stages of grief like my life depended on it, and just when I thought I had accepted it, it would start all over again. You would’ve laughed until you ran out of air to make fun of me.”

“I would have cried, Mumbo!”

“You would have laughed!” Mumbo pointed an accusatory finger, and Grian did laugh, resting his hands behind his head and leaning against the arm of the sofa with a sly look.

“I probably would have laughed.”

“Uh huh. I would have sent a picture in a complete panic and you would have called me just to laugh at me. And maybe you’d feel just a bit bad and try to tell me it was fine, but then you’d see the picture again and start cackling just like you do, and I’d be in complete ruin.”

Grian huffed, though the smirk never left his face. “Maybe then it would be your fault for sending me the picture. Since you know so much about how I’d react. Speaking of, do you have one?”

Mumbo gasped, affronted, “Even if I did, I would not show you!”

Grian snickered, slinking up onto the couch, “So you do have one,” he grinned, sharp teeth on full display, “I bet you haven’t changed your phone password since we were in college. A few months ago, hm?”

“Grian!” Mumbo yelped, scooching to the other side of the couch, but Grian crawled after him, stalking like a cat. “You don’t even remember it I bet. You don’t remember anything!”

“How about you hand over your phone and we’ll see just how much I remember,” Grian spoke silkily, batting his eyelashes, and Mumbo scowled, sticking out his tongue, however, was distinctly not ready for Grian to actually pounce, screeching as flapping wings battered his face and talons poked holes in his shirt. Perched on his shoulders, Grian bent over Mumbo’s head, snatching his phone out of his lap (dropped as Mumbo tried to protect his face with his arms) and entering the password with a few swift clicks. Grian did not move from Mumbo’s shoulders when he finished, apparently satisfied, and unceremoniously dropped Mumbo’s phone back at his knees. The flapping stopped when he got his balance, and Mumbo grumbled, shutting off his unlocked phone.

“Point proven. You know I hate when you do that, right?”

“Steal your phone?” Grian asked, innocent, and Mumbo rolled his eyes.

“Sit on my shoulders. This has never ended without me getting hurt. You losing your balance, hitting me in the head, digging into my shoulders, pulling my hair, scratching my face-”

“Hey, hey, it’s been a while since I’ve done any of that! Years, even!”

“Yeah, only because we haven’t seen each other for that long, I’m sure nothing has changed. This night is going to end with bloody scratches across my face, guaranteed.”

“I’m offended.”

“Good!”

“I’ll forgive you if you show me that picture.”

“I am not-” Mumbo stopped himself, eyebrows furrowing in thought, “I’ll show you..” he began, careful, “if you tell me what you’re running away from tonight.”

Grian quieted, his talons digging a little in Mumbo’s shoulders, “Alright. But you show me first because this might kill the mood.” He shifted his weight, leaning forward expectantly, and Mumbo relented, starting the scroll through his photos to find the picture. As expected, the moment Grian laid eyes on it, he cackled, flapping his wings for balance then falling off Mumbo’s shoulders altogether in a giggling heap.

“It’s really not that funny.”

“But you look so distressed! So- so upset! Your upper lip, oh no! Mumbo! You poor thing!” Mumbo did not get the sense Grian actually felt very bad, curled up and snickering as he was. “A Mumbo without his mustache,” Grian continued, almost dreamily, “That’s a cruel world, a cruel cruel world.”

“Alright, alright, it’s your turn then,” Mumbo batted at a wing that flew a little too close to his face, and Grian giggled, sighing before spreading himself out to lay down properly, talons draping over Mumbo’s legs. It was comfortable, a thing like this. Like decades old friendship. Like nothing had changed.

“Okay.” Grian began with conviction, raising his hands in a vague gesture, “I’m going to need you to imagine you’re me, alright? Not only are you me, but you are me who has been off his meds and faffing about in therapy for a few months, so you’re a me who isn’t in a good state. So you’re me. And your roommate, Cub still, finds out you’re a somewhat prolific supervillain, confronts you about it, and your brain just short circuits, so you run away determined to make your own life worse somehow in order to not think about what just happened ever again. Hey, wait a minute-“ Grian stopped, turning an accusatory glare Mumbo’s way, “How did you know I was CuteGuy?”

“Uh, it was pretty obvious, mate. Especially the recent stuff with you on the news and all those clips of you talking. Can’t say you make a massive effort to disguise your voice, and even mostly covered by that mask, you’ve got a pretty recognizable face.”

Grian groaned into his hands. “That is so annoying.”

“In all fairness, I wouldn’t have guessed you were Poultry Man like, ever. The mask that covers your whole head and the fact that you never speak in costume makes you near impossible to identify. Continue, though.”

Grian huffed, grumbling something inaudible to himself before going on, “Fine. Okay. So you’ve imagined you’re me and you’re having a bit of a crisis.”

“I’d rather not be having a crisis, but for you Grian, I’ll pretend.”

“Thank you. So you go to this bar, and it sucks, it’s awful, it’s everything you were looking for, and you meet this guy, and maybe you cried or something, and he’s kinda worried about you, so then you make a complete fool of yourself at his feet, like bad, like beg to go home with him- yes, in that way, and also ask him to buy you drinks and probably other extremely embarrassing awful vulnerable things because you’re having a crisis and you don’t want to go home and face it.”

“Yikes. Can’t believe I did that.”

“Exactly! Yikes. But this guy is very nice, he’s very very nice, and when you tell him you can’t go home, he says he has a spare room, and that you can have it as long as you need, and right now you’re desperate and you’re having a crisis so you just say yes, but later when you’ve calmed down a bit and you’ve gotten a little sleep, you realize how lucky you are that you met such a nice guy, and you’re so unbelievably grateful, and you still aren’t ready to go home, but this guy doesn’t mind, he likes having you around, and even though you do eventually go home and talk about your problems with Cub, you and the guy from the bar stay friends, and you go over to his house to hang out with him and watch movies and bake cookies and it’s fucking awesome.”

“Yes. I can see it. This guy is great.”

“Yes! And what’s best, is that you really feel like you can tell him anything. So whatever’s on your mind, you say it, and you know what’s on your mind a lot? HotGuy. YOU HATE HOTGUY. He’s arrogant, egotistical, does zero research on basically every sponsor he takes, he’s careless, he’s stupid- seriously, he is so fucking dense and people just eat that shit up and it drives you CRAZY. It has for months! You sit and doomscroll in your room and you just see clips of him acting like a fucking idiot and everyone in the comments is like ‘oh my god, he’s so cute!’ ‘oh my god, I hope I can meet him one day!’ ‘oh my god, I wish he would talk to me that way!’ So you start making burner accounts just to leave hate and argue with people-“

“Okay, you know, I was on board until that last bit-“

“-but it’s not enough! It’s never enough for you, so you decide to punch someone about it, and then you keep punching people and you call yourself cUtEgUy to satirize him and eventually you punch enough people that you get his attention, and guess what? HE’S A FUCKING ASSHOLE.” Grian took a deep breath, centering himself, and Mumbo didn’t dare speak. “But it’s okay. Because the nice guy from the bar doesn’t like HotGuy either. And he’s more than happy to listen to you and even commiserate a little bit. And you feel great! You feel great. Cub doesn’t care very much about superhero stuff so he kinda spaces out when you start ranting, but also- forgot to mention, you can’t actually throw shit fits about HotGuy around him anymore, BECAUSE HOTGUY WANTS IN HIS FUCKING PANTS!”

“Wait- wait-“

“I KNOW!” Grian shrieked into his hands, completely misunderstanding the meaning behind Mumbo’s bewilderment, “So HotGuy, who you hate, gets eyes for your roommate, who you’re in love with by the way, and you have to watch the two of them bumble about- well, Cub doesn’t bumble, but HotGuy bumbles, god, he’s so fucking pathetic around Cub I just want to tear out my fucking hair- But. But. It’s okay. One: Because you have the guy at the bar, and you’re pretty sure he likes you as well, and maybe while Cub is putting himself out there, you can too, and it can all be great. Two: You are a mature adult, and you can talk to other adults about how you’re feeling, and be honest with them, and even though you don’t like HotGuy, you’re willing to admit he’s not as bad as you first thought, and that you’ve been unfair to him, and you’re going to try to stop being such an asshole.”

Grian paused, but it was not the type of pause that invited conversation. And even all these years later, Mumbo could spot an incoming Grian explosion from a mile away.

“And you know what HotGuy says to you? After all that?”

Mumbo stared. Grian didn’t need an answer.

“HE AND MICAH. ARE THE SAME! FUCKING! GUY!!!” Grian beat the couch with his fists, and Mumbo moved to give him the space to do so, pretty sure he could assume ‘Micah’ was the same as ‘guy from the bar.’ Hm. Yeah. He didn’t need to speak, Grian seemingly far from done. “How am I supposed to be nice to him now. How am I supposed to go to work? What the fuck is wrong with him! Seriously, what is wrong with him? I swear to you, I swear, Micah is a completely different person- and I’m not being unobservant either, they have different mannerisms, completely different voices! I pegged them as brothers, and Micah told me I was right, he told me this horrible tragic backstory and how the two of them had grown apart and couldn’t mend their relationship- it was so real Mumbo. Their- personalities, I swear to you, different. And what breaks my brain the most- HotGuy was talking total shit about himself for weeks. WEEKS. I don’t- does he just fucking hate himself? What is happening? Why did he do that!? That is an Objectively insane thing to do. Is this like- revenge? Is this karma? Was this some sort of elaborate plan by him to fuck my head??? I want to kick his shit in! I want to cry.” Grian collapsed limp into the sofa, an arm, wing, and leg hanging off the side.

Mumbo considered him, unsure whether or not he should speak. But Grian looked thoroughly burnt out, his assault on the couch along with the tirade seeming to snuff the fire. Now, he just stared blankly at the ceiling, not moving, not crying, just.. gone.

“Do you want a hug?” Mumbo couldn’t offer much more, but it seemed to bring Grian back, the other side-eying him through lidded lashes.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, and he sounded just as winded as he looked, “I just don’t have a back up plan anymore. I don’t have anyone. Anyone that isn’t Cub, I mean, and this whole- my whole plan depended on Micah. He was going to take me out tomorrow. Help me make friends. We were going to-“ Grian cut himself off painfully, unable to finish. His wings quivered. Mumbo’s heart ached for him.

“You know my boundaries now, Grian. I know you do, and I can see that things have changed pretty drastically since we’ve last talked.. I know it. And I don’t know everything, obviously, but I.. it really feels like you’re trying to turn yourself around. Like you’ve made a lot of progress. I’m proud of you, Grian.” Again, Grian eyed him from the side, and Mumbo hoped he could tell he was being genuine. “Listen.. If you need a friend, then you’ve got one in me, alright? You’ve got one here.”

Grian was still for so long, Mumbo wasn’t even sure if he heard, but then Grian was up, and in a flash of feathers, strong arms were locked around his waist and fuck did he mean it when he said strong, christ, it was a good thing Mumbo didn’t actually need to breathe. Grian didn’t seem to notice, nor did Mumbo see fit to tell him, instead wrapping his own arms around the shorter, tight above the base of his wings.

Grian sighed, something deeply shaken. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” And Mumbo meant it. God did he mean it.

[ahllohehn]

hi hi hello, i know its a hermitcraft au but.. it would be kinda silly if theres a crossover with empires, im going to say something but its a spoiler of the books (ig) so, warning about that. but basicly i was thinking about the camp jupiter and empires being from there. i dont know if u even thought about the crossover (sorry i love the crossover, it lives in my brain rent free) but i wanted to say this really bad cus it was the second thing that come to my mind (the first being how beautiful ur art is)

but really ur art is gorgeous i srsly mean it, it make me want to destroy every bit of it and use it to make fire so i can cook my soup/pos

Thank you so much ;;; That's a really clever idea! Never thought to include that crossover, but it would actually make sense

Have some more fuel for your soup: some Hermes/Mercury Cabin Bad Boys?

-> Joel who prefers to visit Camp Hermitcraft these days because they enable his pranking tendencies

-> Jimmy who's sad he's not trusted enough to visit Camp Hermitcraft so he started calling every Hermit a 'Camper Thief'

-> Grian who goes to Camp Jupiter to pick up Joel or to pick on Jimmy despite not needing to do so.

[azuritethehermit]

Could you please write something angsty to do with the soul sharing in season 8 and Mumbo removing the waffle recently, it is such fanfic material

Maybe along the lines of Grian feeling his soul return and checking in on Mumbo to confirm his suspicions, and then confrontation? 👀

Pretty please

I've been feeling very angsty lately, maybe its the teenager in me. Im going to pour all my feelings into this

It's a little short and it has a happy ending but it is angsty.

(DISCLAIMER: I'm writing abt their personas and not the people in real life.)

Mumbo felt bad. Really bad. He had been avoiding Grian and Grian knew it. It hurt his feelings. He didn't know what he did wrong.

He wanted to ask Mumbo, but he knew it would only bring them farther apart.

Grian then felt a small surge of energy, and he knew what had happened. He knew it was over. Everything they had fought for, everything that they had worked for. It was all gone when Grian felt his own soul return to his body.

He almost imagined it couldn't be real. Everything wasn't over, was it? Mumbo was his best friend, maybe more than his best friend he didn't really know, but now that was all gone.

The best Grian could do was suck it up and talk to Mumbo, but he was so upset. He was angry and sad, and he felt so many emotions at once that he didn't really know what to do. All these thoughts swirled through his head of their relationship, whatever it was, being over and gone just like that.

There had to be some logical Mumbo explanation for this. Sure, they hadn't talked in a few weeks, but he didn't think Mumbo would just stop protecting his soul.

He had half a mind to march himself over to the Magic Moutain Shopping District. He knew Mumbo would be in that damn lab. It was all he ever did anymore was testing, testing, and more testing. Of course, Grian was upset he'd been losing out on valuable moments with Mumbo, and it seemed like Mumbo didn't even care.

So he honestly couldn't think of anything else to do except ask Mumbo. He picked himself up off the ground and realized he would have to do it. He knew he would have to tell Mumbo how he felt about him in order for him to understand where this is all coming from.

He quickly flew into the air, his wings picking his weight up off the ground, easily flying the short distance over to where Mumbo would inevitably be. And there he was, Grian saw Mumbo, he was attempting to tend to the sludge and cancer, that was the green liquid the side of the laboratory was spewing out. The ground and plants seemed to have mutated down the spot where the green sludge ran out. It disgusted Grian in a way, but not enough that he cared more about it than Grian.

Grian swooped down quietly. He wanted to say something, but he wasn't quite sure what that was he wanted to say.

"Mumbo," He said out quietly.

"Grian." Mumbo turned to face the boy, Mumbos appearance almost frightened Grian. He looked tired, more tired than usual, like he hadn't slept in days, and he had these two silver strips of hair drooping down his face. He seemed to stand a couple inches taller as well.

"What had happened to you?" Grian blurts out quietly without thinking.

"To me? I feel great. Better than ever." Mumbo grinned down at the small avian, his teeth showed the sharpness of them apparent.

"You don't look good?" Grian said even quieter this time.

"What?" Mumbo said, confused, cooking his head to the side. "No Grian, I feel amazing."

Everytime he said it, Grian felt a stinging pain in his chest, like his heart was being ripped out of his body and he couldn't control his feelings anymore.

"So you feel great?" He almost seemed to shout his voice, getting louder and louder. "I don't feel great, Mumbo. What happened to us?" Grian asked almost pleading.

"I felt it, Mumbo. I felt you give it back." Grians eyes started to form tears and he almost couldnt stand here and look into the eyes of a man he barely knew anymore.

"Give what back..?" Mumbo said. A few seconds passed by, and the realization dawned on him. "Your soul? Grian, no, I-" he placed a large hand to the back of his head, feeling the place where the little criss cross should be.

"I had no idea." He said quietly.

"You had no idea?" Grian was starting to get upset again, "you had no idea after everything we've been through together?" Grian asked him, taking a step through the atomic sludge to be closer to Mumbo.

"No Grian, you don't understand, I didn't give it back." He placed his hands on Grians shoulders, "I would never, you know I love you."

"Love me? You haven't been around in ages. It feels like you've forgotten about me. Like I'm just old news, is that it Mumbo? Am I old news? Are you gonna throw me away just like all this." He gestures around to all the pollution he's created. "You made your choice a long time ago, and I'd hate to think you were going back on that."

Grian takes a deep breath, and Mumbo just stands there he has an almost horrified expression on his face. "I still have yours." Grian reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little trinket. It holds Mumbos' soul.

"You're not getting it back." Grian grips it in his hand, "You're not getting it back because I love you, and I always have."

Mumbo looks petrified, like he doesn't know what he's done. What Grian just said to him felt like a confession of love, a declaration one might say. "Grian, I-" Mumbo pauses. "I don't know what to say." He looks down, and for a moment, he waits, and then he grabs one of Grians hands.

"Please," Mumbo breathes out, "give me one more chance. I'll treat you better this time." His other hand drifts up into the others' hair, feeling the matching criss cross he used to have.

"I'm scared of you, Mumbo." Grian says quietly but enough that Mumbo can hear.

"You trusted me before, trust me again. I can be a better holder for you." Mumbo says gently, squeezing the others hand.

Grian thinks for a second before squeezing his hand back. "Okay." And with Grians permission, Mumbo pulls him into a kiss. The kiss was passionate enough that both could feel the energy surge in a stupidly romantic way.

After a few moments Mumbo pulled away and Grian looked at him, he looked less tired. Still the grey streaks were there but he felt the tallers scalp and there were the scars. Grian smiled before pulling Mumbo into a hug.

"I'm so sorry" Mumbo breathed out.

"Never leave me again," Grian said just as breathily, and he had a hint of fear behind the words. Of course, he wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them. There was nobody he loved more than Mumbo Jumbo.