#if i wake up tomorrow and hate this drawing i WILL do unspeakable things

[runnerfiveready]

Shoutout to backgrounds suddenly working in my favour 🙏

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Acting Out

so this was inspired by the stream Tango did on 29/06/21. first of all, go watch it bc it’s one of the best streams i’ve ever seen. extremely entertaining. and this thing does contain spoilers for it.

but essentially my brain went “what if that stream… but angst?” and so this was born :)

…

Tango trudges all the way back to the boatem village, with nothing but unenchanted iron armour and a nearly broken iron sword. The whiplash of emotions he’s experienced tonight has all but drained his energy AND his inventory. Now, he has nothing left to lose.

Tango steps out of the portal and immediately heads for Impulse’s house. He digs through the chest that holds the random pieces of enchanted diamond armour that Impulse looted from the End and puts on a full set, not even bothering to check the enchantments. As he heads outside, he happens to glance over and spot an empty area that he knows used to hold something important. “Oh, wow, look at that. Nothing there.”

“Hi,” says Pearl cautiously, appearing from near her house. “Um… isn’t that Impulse’s armour?”

“Maybe.” Tango’s tone oozes with passive-aggression. “By the way, that’s a great area over there. A real great area. Nothing built there, not even lit up.”

Pearl follows his gaze and glances back at him, realising what he means. “Oh, uh…”

“Tango?” Impulse approaches them, glancing warily between the two. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for my stuff,” Tango replies. “Is that too much to ask? Are you boatem folk in the habit of murdering people and holding their stuff hostage forever?”

“I’ll remind you that not only were you the one to kill first, you were also the one to steal first,” retorts Pearl.

“I just wanted Scar’s hat. What’s the big deal?” Tango shoots Impulse a scowl. “Where did Timmy go?”

“What?”

“Timmy. The pig. Lived in an amethyst hut. Sound familiar?”

“Oh! Uh…” Impulse shoots a worried look at Pearl. “He’s… um… He’s fine. We… We just…”

“Just what?” Tango takes an aggressive step closer to Impulse, before shaking his head and turning away. “Oh nevermind, don’t worry about it. All fine.”

“Tango, you’re scaring me,” Impulse says slowly. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah! Yeah, all good!” Tango gives an exaggerated grin. “I’ve only died, what, five times in the last half hour? Lost all my gear twice, gained and lost an unspeakably important advantage, and now I’m back here and it turns out my best friend may have murdered my pig? That’s nothing. I feel nothing.”

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” says Pearl firmly. “We’ve all gone a bit too far tonight but it’s time for you to go home. I’ll drop your stuff off tomorrow.”

“What, giving up?” Tango says tauntingly. “We didn’t even get to fight properly today, Pearl.”

Pearl’s voice hardens. “That can be arranged.”

“Pearl-,” Impulse starts.

“I’m sorry, Impulse, but he’s barged in here uninvited twice tonight and now he’s waltzing around in YOUR armour. I can’t just let that slide.”

“Ah, I think I’m just gonna go.”

Tango starts to walk off but Pearl steps into his path, drawing the string back on her bow. “Tango, leave Impulse’s armour.”

“Oh, you want me to leave it? I’ll put it back right where it belongs.”

He moves close to the boatem hole and throws a couple of apples into it.

“Stop it! Just give the armour back.”

Tango just grins at her. “But I’m putting it back where it belongs.”

“I will push you in this hole,” Pearl threatens. “Is that what you want?”

“Go ahead,” Tango taunts. “Hit me in. It’s only Impulse’s stuff and a bunch of crappy iron gear. Do it.”

As Pearl hesitates, Tango lunges for the bow in her hand.

Then Impulse appears out of nowhere and barges into Tango, knocking him backwards into the hole.

Tango fell out of the world

He respawns back in the underground part of his base.

The first thought in his mind is I don’t think I’m getting my stuff back.

He gets up out of his bed and starts rifling through his chests. There’s not a lot of iron in there, and there’s even fewer diamonds. Maybe letting himself fall into the void with his backup iron gear on him was not a good idea.

His communicator buzzes.

<impulseSV> Are you at home now, Tango?

Tango rolls his eyes and decides not to reply.

Unfortunately, he’s so engrossed in his stewing emotions that he misses the telltale hissing sound until it’s too late.

Tango was blown up by creeper

When he wakes up, Tango finds himself not on his bed but on the cold grass floor, and he doesn’t have the energy to get up. He lies still, letting his emotions bleed out onto the grass.

That’s his seventh death in less than an hour. Essentially one death per ten minutes. He’s utterly exhausted, mentally and physically.

He doesn’t want to play this game anymore.

<PearlescentMoon> Tango, are you okay? Do you need help?

<impulseSV> Are you okay?

Tango ignores his communicator going off.

<impulseSV> Tango, please answer us. We’re worried about you.

<impulseSV> Okay, coming over.

After a while, Tango heaves himself to a sitting position and checks his communicator. Realising his friend is probably almost to his house, he gets to his feet and heads for the stairs, but it’s too late.

“Tango, are you okay?” comes Impulse’s voice from the doorway.

Tango pauses and gives a sigh. “I’m fine. I didn’t have anything on me to lose.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Impulse moves closer to him and places his hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been so weird tonight and I’m more than a little worried about you.”

Tango shoves Impulse’s hand away. “Leave me alone.”

“No.” Impulse takes hold of Tango’s shoulders and tries to hold him in place. “Tango-!”

Tango fights against his friend, trying to shove him away. “Get off me! I don’t wanna see you!”

“Talk to me, buddy!” Impulse begs. “Please!”

“Leave me alone!”

“But WHY?! Why do you suddenly hate me?!”

“I-!” Tango breaks off as tears threaten his vision. “I can’t be your enemy in another war, Impulse! I-I just can’t!”

Impulse freezes. “What…?”

Tango can’t help a sob. “It just feels like another war is brewing and we’re gonna end up on opposite sides AGAIN and I just can’t do it, Impulse! I can’t fight you again!”

“Tango…”

Impulse falls silent as he realises that this explains his best friend’s actions tonight. When something is seriously bothering Tango, he goes a little stir crazy and starts acting out. A similar thing happened in the early stages of season 6’s prank war and season 7’s turf war. Tango clearly senses that another conflict is about to arise, and it’s making him anxious.

“You don’t have to fight me,” he murmurs, holding his best friend close. “I won’t let it go that far, alright?

Tango buries his face in Impulse’s armour, trying to hold back tears. “I’m sorry… I was so stupid tonight…”

“No, it… it’s okay.”

“It’s… never been this bad before. My acting out. I just let myself go where my weird impulses took me and… I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I’m so sorry you have to put up with me.”

Impulse rubs his best friend’s back soothingly. “It’s okay. But if it happens again, I need you to tell me, okay? If you ever feel like this again, talk to me. I can help you get through it and we can avoid another situation like earlier. I’m always here for you, man. You know that, right?”

Tango slowly nods. “Th-Thanks.”

“No problem.”