#most grians are pretty competent

[syn4k]

really bad hc x mianite crossover au: tr lands in s10 and nobody really knows how

iskall and stress recognize jordan from vh and they're all like "ayyyy!". jordans been to mcc with a few of the hermits also so he's the most familiar of the five with them and overall pretty comfortable here. hes chilling

sonja meets gem n pearl and they instantly hit it off and start scheming

wag is like "HOLY SHIT IS THAT ETHOSLAB" and quickly ends up sharing notes with the builders, especially bdubs and grian, who share his habit of "yes, and"ing stupid silly bits. i feel like he is constantly on the run from the poe poe for distributing illegal materials (stupid amounts of speed potions for free) and starts a racketeering scheme with cub just naturally

tom is having the time of his life running around and causing so many problems, especially since nobody seems to get actually pissed off when he pranks them. he shows up in random peoples bases out of nowhere and gets panic-stabbed very frequently because of this. he does not care. he gets along great with everyone because he is funny and strange and chaotic. grian picks up on this early on and silently marks him as a Threat To His Role Of Chaos Maker and thus a Rival until tom is like "mate do you wanna go prank people" and hes like "oh okay this is a Friend. Yes"

meanwhile tucker, who is extremely suspicious of all of these scarily competent people and does not trust them at All despite their attempts to befriend him, eventually dissapears into the mines to get good and get diamonds and runs into TFC, who 1. scares the shit out of him and 2. instantly clocks that this is a Scared Kid and responds to his panic with dry humor, which somehow works

[alienssstufff]

LAST LIFE APOCALYPSE AU MASTERLIST

A very intensely written Life Series au by ME!

All general updates questions and lore can be found in the #last life apocalypse au tag! This post in particular will act as a masterlist regarding the timeline, worldbuilding and lore of the au. I wish to (hopefully) keep updating this post as more characters and arcs are revealed. 

IMPORTANT YOU VISIT THIS LINK FIRST BEFORE ENTERING (It’s pretty): > Last Life Apocalypse AU Intro (Talks about the mechanics)

Now without further ado - lets begin:

TIMELINE (Summarised)

The timeline of the AU is defined by two major arcs:

The past PROLOGUE 3RD LIFE that is the childhood of majority of the cast (location: their childhood town)

LAST LIFE PRESENT day that takes place in the woods (the main event - when the Apocalypse starts)

These are arcs that involve most if not all of the cast members from their respective seasons.

[BETWEEN ARCS] Between these arcs occur smaller events - big to some but not on a scale to affect everyone. This is the transition period after the cast graduate from Middle School and go their separate ways before reuniting (by fate) in the Last Life Woods. Events that happen in the between arcs take inspiration from the CC’s other respective series beyond the Life Series.

Some current inspirations: Evo SMP, Hermitcraft (various seasons), Scar’s TCD series, Bdubs’ SOTF. More about their involvement as updates progress.

[SCU SPIN-OFF] Consider this as an epilogue describing the state of the planet decades after the main cast has died. Not considered a ‘major arc’ as it is not focused on the main cast but exists solely for worldbuilding purposes (because I like it :] ).

WORLDBUILDING

Setting of Last Life takes place in the woods, think of American national parks or camping grounds on a road trip, or the Walking Dead (the telltale game not the show)

CLIMATE: Generic American woodlands climate but with a less generic winter weather. As the situations for the player’s get more dire, so does the environment around with forecasts for an oncoming snow blizzard from Magic Mountain as the world fades to white.

It is also during this time of year and climate where a creature known as the Wither is rumoured to roam the lands. It is a cryptid that unlike most woodland creatures, the Wither wakes from hibernation only during the Winter when it is cold enough and feasts on a very specific carnivorous diet. In reality this is known as the Patient 0 of the Bogeydisease, born and mutated within the labs of the Research Facility, leading to the downfall desolation of what is now known as the Abandoned Observatory.

MAIN LOCATIONS:

SOUTHLANDS (Camp Southlands) - Were once a popular camping hotspot before the apocalypse. The people who survived there were once camp counselors (Grian, Impulse, Mambo, Martyn, Jimmy). The grounds acted as both a family resort and a summer camp for kids  where they are divided into one of the five factions supervised by each counselor: -MARTYN Counsellor of Athletics and house of the GREEN CATS -IMPULSE Counsellor of Cooking and house of the YELLOW SUN BEARS -JIMMY Counsellor of Safety and house of the BLUE DOGS (formerly blue canaries) -MUMBO Counsellor of Crafts (shop) and house of the BLACK MOTHS -GRIAN Counsellor of (shenanigans) Arts and house of the RED BIRDS

FAIRY FORT (Fairy Fort Reserve FFR) - A geographically enclosed area dedicated to protecting the land and the endangered animals that are shelter there. Ownership of the Fairy Fort was passed along the generations of Lizzie’s family tree. The people who survived there are park rangers with Lizzie as their lead. They have current beef with the Southlanders as there are many things they disagree with and compete against.

ICE FORT (Shade-E-E’s Gas) - As it’s located near the center of the map, the ethubs ‘Ice Fort’ is one of the only ounces of urban infrastructure out in the woods. Upon arrival of the Apocalypse, it is a fortified Shade-E-E’s gas station barricaded by the only employees Bdubs and Etho (the manager). It once acted as a pitstop to drivers and travelers alike and is the only place in the woods that has a working cellphone tower and final connection to the outside world dubbed as “Etho’s Tree”.

TEAM BEST HIDEOUT / ROCKTAPUS (Abandoned Observatory/Research Centre) - An abandoned observatory squatted on by Skizz that doubled as a bunker that was originally built in preparation for a nuclear fallout. Upstairs the observatory contains secret government documents regarding information about the Bogeydisease and the Wither cryptid - Indecipherable to all except for Tango who understands them. Downstairs the bunker’s monitors are linked to several surveillance cameras in the woods.

GASLIGHT GIRLBOSS GATEKEEP (Scottage Club) - A retreat saved for the rich and elite. While the Scottage Club has its HQ here, holiday properties of its patrons are scattered all across the map (the secret green lives hideouts).

MAGIC MOUNTAIN - Kept off limits just for how dangerous the place is, no one ever goes there. Rumor has it the mountain has magic capabilities that can drive a man insane. The last human sightings near Magic Mountain were two lone hikers who by arrogance wished to conquer and come back surviving the woodland’s most treacherous point. And while they were never seen again, they say if you look very closely with a spyglass, you can catch glimpses of a small, broken up hut at the top.

THE NETHER (NETHERLANDS not-the-country): The NETHER is the closest town over from the Last Life woodlands and is home to facilities such as a Fortress Dept Store and a camping & fishing shop known as The Bastion. While hypothetically the cast could escape the woodlands to live in the Nether, it is because of the high value resources that can be found in these stores that attract both surviving scavengers and zombies alike - making the town very dangerous to defend.

The ‘nether portals’ in this au are the vehicles each team has on them to travel between locations. The Nether may be the closest town there is, but even walking there on foot is extremely dangerous - especially considering the apocalypse and the harsh elements.

BOGEYDISEASE

For legal reasons, I dropped biology in highschool as soon as I could - I do not know shit about diseases and how people develop medicine. This is a fictional disease. TLDR; I am talking out of my ass.

[Origins of the Bogeydisease and the L.I.F.E antidotes pending (secret!)]

Transfer of the disease in its early stages of evolution could only be transferred if bacteria had direct contact with the host’s bloodstream. At best (?) in small amounts the host would experience a fever and shivering. At worst the host would feel extreme fatigue, most likely dying of starvation/dehydration due to it being unaware of their hunger (and fatigue - the disease manipulates the brain into thinking the host is not fatigued). 

Nature of the disease (well.. virus) as it continues is designed to adapt with the changing environment. While most samples were not able to survive its effects, some victims of the Wither’s bite would survive and exhibit a second stage of the disease’s effects. If the host were to survive the initial stages of the disease, once the disease has fully adapted to the body of its host it would evolve in order to prolong its survival. This is evident by physical alterations of the host’s appearance.

Not just physical changes but behavioural as well. The host would act more akin to serving its natural instincts, more inclined to the hunt and the tendency to keep itself alive. 

People who are in the second stages and beyond of contracting the Bogeydisease are considered Red Lives. It is possible to cure Red Lives out of the Bogeydisease as long as the disease has not evolved to its later stages. WHEN a person is cured using a L.I.F.E antidote they may experience side-effects [explained in the INTRO]. In some instances, ex-hosts may retain some of the traits afflicted when they were Bogey.

Later stages of disease evolution. The disease and its hosts show strong similarities to how rabies can be passed between hosts. And based on how a host reacts to the disease, hosts of the disease are classified into two types:

Host is overwhelmed by the effects of the disease and dies early. If the body and surrounding scene are left untreated, the disease will continue to live on in the decomposing body and grow a special fungus that feeds off the remains. The fungus and its disease reproduces by its spores which allow the disease to not only infect the environment around but also proves the possibility in contracting an airborne variant of the disease.

Host grows accustomed to the effects of the disease exhibiting the aforementioned loss of higher brain functions above (incapable of reason and rational thought). Movements grow erratic, constantly moving as a means of maintaining fixed body temperature. For colder climates the diet of hosts relies on feasting on warm bodies. Failure to do so will induce drowsiness in the host, placing them in a slumber in order to regain energy and try again. Hosts also show signs of excessive salivation and occasional bleeding. Direct exposure to any of the host’s bodily fluids is another method in contracting the disease.

[ REMINDER THIS IS AN ONGOING AU , MORE TO BE UPDATED ]

[mochiwrites]

(secret husbands) Thinking about the sewer cats era and all the lil thieving escapades they'd probably go to together

I imagine they went together each might and theyd constantly be competing and maybe even steal from each other for funsies but still help one another<3

Also i think scar went to steal the plane alone only that one time just so he could extra impress everyone (mostly grian tho >:3)

YEAHHHHH god I adore the sewer cats stuff

scar and grian have the biggest competition going on between them of who can steal the Best Thing and they’re so silly about it. like they definitely go to get stuff together but the Entire time it’s like “oh I don’t know how you’re gonna top this scar, my thing is pretty cool” “yeah well my thing is even cooler, you’ll be blown away”

they totally make some sort of bet on who can get the most points/steal the cooler things

and when scar steals the plane??? grian’s jaw on the Floor. he takes his loss like a champ

(impulse and bdubs have a front row seat to all of this. save them)

[katalyist]

This is my third time trying to explain my theory about Grian being a Watcher even before Evo so please someone stay with me.

We are all familiar with the «He was never meant to be there, he was only meant to watch» phrase (that didn't change my brain chemistry at all) right? Now, someone has always being... Odd about it, maybe the fact that is was the answer of «Why are you so sent on Grian?» that Martyn said. Everyone just kinda agree that it was refered to the life series, but what if the answer is that Grian wasn't supposed to be there even before? In Evo.

Because Evo Grian marks almost all the things of a watcher since... Day one? First, well, he was the admin so he had the power around the server, he was supposed to keep track of changing the versions (so he must have had a little bit of knowledge that the Watchers weren't that dangerous to let them participate in the changes of versions).

Second of all, he was very isolated from the rest of the members since the beginning, he was the one that lived further away from everybody else in a version where you couldn't run, there wasn't minecarts or horses or a way to get there quickly.

Third, he wanted to have access to everything. With the station to go from spawn to his base and the secret tunnels under it that were supposed to connect with everybody base (he abandoned the project pretty quickly but that isn't the point tho).

He has always been a prankster, but he hasn't never been the one that does the easy pranks, no, Grian send BigB to a journey with riddles and rhymes only to getting back to his base to activate a tnt trap. He make a treasure hunt with no treasure at the end (well technically it was but if you picked it, it would activate a trap). He trap his secret tunnels when they were compromised and told people to send comments to the other people on the smp tricking them to go see (poor Jimmy). And that isn't counting his multiple 'just tnt it' pranks. Also, he liked messing with people when they were streaming, when he could watch them.

He also didn't wanted to obey the Watchers, twisting their rules and breaking them, didn't the listeners say something about the Watchers thinking they are above everyone else? That they don't have to give explanations?

And one of the things that just scream Watcher behavior it's how he made a entire escape room for Taurtis to complete, with everything you could think, riddles, mind tests, rooms with puzzles... Just because he could and he wanted, just for his enjoyment.

If that isn't a Watcher thing at this point I don't know what it is! And it could explain in the Evo lore why he was so calm to go with the Watchers after defeating the dragon, he was even excited to have the opportunity to watch what all his friend were gonna do even if he wasn't there anymore.

So yeah, part of my theory says that he is a Watcher from the beginning, if he knew or not that's a different history. The important part is that:

He stayed. He is there.

Grian is a player (or at least pretending to be one) like the others, he participates like everyone else, the rules apply to him too. He wants the rules to apply to him he wants to be like everybody, even if that means pain, break promises, break friendships, even if it means that he is only surviving.

But his constant effort to connect, to stay present is not something that beggings in life series, as you might have noticed, it started in Evo. His nature competing with what he really wanted for the control.

Using the same examples to his Watcher behavior:

He isolate himself to almost inmediatly trying to find a way for people to visit. And when he finished most part of his base structure he abandoned it, he say something like "I want to be more close to spawn, I feel like I have no idea to what is happening there" and went there to build Evo town.

Most of the time he gave people something in return after a prank/situation that he feel unfair, when the property police blew up on accident he build a new one, and he always apologiezed.

After the Watchers punished him once he didn't break the rules and he warned Taurtis about not doing it. Even when he always found ways to twisted or steal from them.

In the game that he made Taurtis play it was a prize at the end: A cake, dumb, but a prize that seem fair and that he knew Taurtis was gonna like, and he didn't lie.

So maybe when They took him back he was excited at first, new things, to see, to learn, to explote. Maybe things he forgot completely.

But then there was the rules, watch but not participate, watch and create but never involve yourself with the players. Maybe They had the hope that teaching him again there ways was gonna make him stay, but we know Grian, he gets bored quickly.

So he escaped and now we are in the life series. I'm not gonna extend to much here, I reblog someone else talking about how Grian is making an effort to stay there instead of going back and the implications that it has about The Watchers moving everything just to make him miserable.

But why? Why they want him back? Why is he so important to them that he can't be replaced or forgotten to live like a player?

And here I add the popular theory/headcanon of Grian being the first player to become a Watcher. Because that makes him important to them, it makes him a success, something to study, to see how far he can go.

But he isn't cooperating with them, the worst of their character: Watchers always want to do things their way.

In conclusion: Grian as always been a Watcher and the Evo SMP proves it. How this impacts everything else? I don't know!

Thank you for reading, this is my third time writing this because i don't know where the drafts are (if you haven't notice I'm quite new to this Tumblr thing) and i lost two of my rants there.

[life-winners-liveblog]

Story time? Story time! The translation might be a little off but the singing flower is an interesting one, I promise

A king had two children, a boy and a girl. Since he was old, one day they told them "to the one that will bring me the golden ball I'll give my kingdom".

The two kids left and arrived at the woods. There, they saw two roads; the little boy took the one to the right and the little girl the one to the left.As they already looked for some time, the boy having found nothing but the girl found the golden ball.

They came back to where the road forked and the boy was jealous of the luck his sister had.

"Give me the golden ball" said the boy

"I cannot"

"Give it to me or I'll kill you"

"You will not get it"

Then the boy killed his sister, dig a hole and put her in it. He took the golden ball and brought it to his dad.

"Where is your sister" asked the king.

"I don't know, she stayed in the wood" lied the boy.

But on the little girl's grave grew a rose bush with a pretty bush. A shepherd, going this way, take the flower and put it in his pocket. The rose began to sing.

"Shepard, shepard

It's my brother that killed

To get the golden ball

It's my brother that killed me

To get the golden ball"

The shepherd got scared and brought the rose to the king. The shepherd took the rose in his mouth and it began to sing. The king did it too, and the rose again began to sing.

"Father, father.

It's my brother that killed me

To get the golden ball

It's my brother that killed me

To get the golden ball"

The king called his son and made him put the rose in is mouth too.

"Brother, brother

It's you that killed me

To get the golden ball

It's you that killed me

To get the golden ball"

And the king understood everything . He asked the shepherd to guide him where he found the rose, and began to dig the grave. But, as soon as he began, the little girl was alive again. The king was happy to see his daughter again and put his son into a bag, throwing him alive to the water.

- General

Scott: I did not expect that ending... It's surprising.

Grian: Guess It's time for another story?

Scott: I've done 2nd reign then 4th reign, I think we could do some 3rd reign literature...huh

Grian: Is there a problem?

Scott: 3rd reign literature tends to be poetry so I don't know what stor- wait nevermind, I know just the one! Once upon a time there was a wise king, the king on birthday made an announcement: he invited the 10 strongest and most powerful witches of the land to prove their worth in front of his court and him and the winner would become the kings personal spellcaster granting them riches and resources others wouldn't even dream of.

Scar: Ohhhhhh! Magic battle!

Scott: The 10th witch, powerful in the arts of the flame, never arrived to the challenge thinking herself above such competitions, and the 9th felt too insecurr to partecipate, leaving 8 witches to compete-

Grian: Stupid decision really.

Scott: The first challenge was easy, the witches had to find a diamond needle in a muddy plain. The 8th witch, the witch of ice and snow appalled by the tought of reaching into the mud quit the competition, while the 7th witch, the witch of the deserts, was incapable of finding the needle in the mud and was eliminated.

The second challenge was slightly more complicated, around the forest were scattered magical items that had to be found. The 6th witch, surrounded by the power of the sea barged into the forest without plan and was never seen again, the 5th witch covered by the smell of dark magic and undead attracted the attention of the forests spirits and was eaten by the forest itself.

The time for the third challenge came, the witches had to convince the kings daughter of their worthyness trough speech alone, the sound of ticking clocks that accompanied the 4th witch annoyed the princess and she was denied, the 3rd witch covered in vines and blooms was also denied for her fake flattery had enraged the princess.

The fourth challenge was the biggest, two dragons had been terrorizing the kingdom and had to be slayed. The 2nd witch armed with the gift of lightning attacked the dragon head on and managed to defeat it but her brash actions left her wounded and poisoned to die little time later. The last witch however was full of wisdom and she had known the dragon was not attacking the village for evil, but only because of a curse, so instead of slaying the beast she freed it from the curses influence and the dragon indebited swore his loyalty to the kingdom. The Witch was immediately made the kings spellcaster for she had not only accomplished the tasks but she had also gained the kingdom a powerful ally.

[nullvoidface]

Wall!AU Main Three

(CuteGuy Villain AU)

All art in this post done by the lovely @shr00mgum

Read the fic HERE

Grian, pseudonym - CuteGuy

Hybrid-Status: Presumed avian

Not much is actually known about Grian as he keeps things to himself.

He was never a member of The Hermits, only working as a vigilante side-kick to HotGuy at most.

Five years ago he disappeared (and was presumed dead) due to The Wall incident. Now he’s back in the desert and more secretive than ever.

He’s extremely focused on his plan, which will be revealed in due time.

He’s currently struggling with balancing being on the run and trying to make it big as a villain.

Though he doesn’t want to kill anyone, focusing much more on sending a message.

He’s got one foot in the past, and one in the future. Plagued by overthinking every current moment as well as remembering his past and trying his best to suppress what once was and justify to himself what he’s currently working on.

Random fact: Grian once tried to make Mumbo the mayor of El Santuario. It didn’t work.

(Song I associate with Grian: AJJ - A Big Day For Grimley)

Mumbo Jumbo, Pseudonym - None at the moment

Hybrid-status: Human

Mumbo moved to the desert with not a penny to his name after being kicked out by his parents at 16 due to him being trans. This turned out to be an awful idea as had it not been for the mad scientist known as Doc, he probably would’ve spent more than a year as homeless. Doc picked him up off the streets after hearing about the kid’s redstone abilities that he used as a smalltime-villain.

After a few years working for Doc, Iskall decided to take him in. The two worked together on various projects, and would primarily do bank heists/robberies to earn enough to get their weapons company up and running.

Mumbo was caught by The Hermits, and due to his young age they decided to offer him a new chance to get “on the right path” (possibly due to Scar taking a liking to him).

He grew close with The Hermits, but after the loss following The Wall, he went back to Iskall. The two have worked and lived together since then.

He’s struggling quite a lot with the fact that Grian is back, part of him is convinced it’s all a dream, or maybe he has finally lost it. He sleeps less, his appetite is gone, our poor Mumbo is not doing great when we first meet him in the fic.

Random fact: Mumbo faints at the sight of blood

(Song I associate with Mumbo: PUP - Totally Fine)

Scar, Pseudonym - HotGuy

Hybrid-status: [CLASSIFIED]

Growing up in El Santuario, Scar was a pretty active kid and went onto become a skilled archer, even competing in other parts of the continent. However, this eventually came to a stop when Scar fell ill with an unknown disorder.

He decided to challenge himself to become a hero, starting out as a simple vigilante with a bow and arrows, he could be found perched on rooftops saving him from close-combat.

Eventually he was recruited into the Hermits and quickly gained an even larger fanbase than before. He had quite a hold on the media as well, and when Xisuma had to leave El Santuario for a few months Scar was picked as the man in charge.

This, however, was when The Wall appeared. He had kept close to Grian as usual, until he was forced to split from him.

Some media sources blamed Scar for the loss of an unofficial Hermit, leading Scar to leave the Hermits for a while until he could finally be convinced to rejoin the group.

When Grian was gone Scar focused more on unravelling the ties of the criminal network that runs through the city like blood vessels. This is done completely outside of work with the Hermits as the government refuses to fund his search for answers. “Surely it’s tied to Grian somehow, right?”

Scar is appalled that a new villain would ruin Grian’s “good name” and considers CuteGuy a rival.

Random fact: Scar’s cat Jellie has been the employee of the month every single month except for one. This was because Tango brought donuts in on his shifts for the entire month.

(Song I associate with Scar: Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill)

[ethogirltournament]

Joel and Bdubs: They have to be included 😭 and let's be honest, one of them's winning.

Fundy: Pretty sure he's admitted to having watched every Etho episode for years in a stream once.

Scar, Scott and FireBreathMan: His one and only MCC team. Not quite sure how well they apply, but the fact that Scott literally bent the rules just to include Etho says a lot, I think.

Tubbo is in the same boat as Fundy. A total Ethogirl.

Grian and Mumbo: Definitely less of a fanboy and more of a friend, but I could still see him being considered an Ethogirl.

Doc: "To me, he is the most legendary Minecraft player that ever existed..."

Gem: Are threats of murder a love language?

Wattles: Never watched them, but they did comment on Etho's videos and called him king.

Tango: Loves Etho's creations. Ethogirlies unite.

JAMES CHARLES????? COMMENTED ON ETHO VIDEOS????? Not a crossover I expected.

Rekrap: Also a fan.

YouTube: YouTube itself has commented on Etho's videos. I feel like it'd be really funny to see YouTube compete as an Ethogirl.

Mr. Beast and Awesamdude: Certified Ethogirls.

There's also Grandayy and Pearl.

There are probably more, but these are all I can think of off the top of my head. How many or which ones of these you wanna use is completely up to you, but I thought I'd share as many as I could think of in case it could help 👍

Fundy, James Charles, YouTube, Scott and Gem are my personal favorites (barring Bdubs and Joel because come on they're winning), though, either because I find the idea of them even being in the competition hilarious, or because they've proven themselves to be certified Ethogirlies.

Using a bunch of these! The James Charles one is crazy though, I gotta see this

If anyone knows the video he commented on please lmk!

[sixteenth-days]

18 & 29 for the ask game?

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

oh fuck man this is hard there's so many. uhHH. there's a lot of parts of fta i think are really good, though a lot of them are more than one line. this one mr. wolf is maybe my favorite:

There’s something in the air here that sets my teeth on edge and makes them sharp. It makes my fingers itch. There’s something sticky under my fingernails. (Pause) False. It’s good False isn’t here. False and her eyes. (Pause) What did Scar say about my eyes, again?

also one from just the other day but for something prosier i am actually really happy with the last line of i bet you never expected me, originally i had a few more lines after this but i cut them and im REALLY happy with the result i just think it hits really good.

He rolls his eyes upwards so he doesn’t have to look at the camera. The studio lights are blinding. “I don’t believe you.”

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic.

went digging through the Notesapp Folder where i do all my work and found this bit from a fic that will almost certainly not be properly written but IS pretty fun. if written it would be an au of chuubos marvelous wish-granting engine where instead of a complicated machine theres a hole. in the ground. that you throw diamonds into

“Huh,” Pearl said. “That’s… weird.” “What’s weird?” “Have I got pupils?” Grian blinked. “What?” “Look,” she said, tugging him around to face her. Her eyes were two flat slates of silver, ringed with white. “Have I got pupils?” “Nooooo,” Grian said slowly. “Are you… supposed to?” “Well, I did last time I checked!” “Grian,” Mumbo hissed anxiously. “You don’t think this is some sort of Wishing Pit side effect, do-" “Of course not,” Grian said. “The Wishing Pit never has unexpected side effects.”

i also found this bit from the start of. a season 6? 7? fic, which i think was gonna be mostly abt grian and jimmy's first post-evo meeting at mcc? i honestly dont remember most of what i had intended for this one

Xisuma: Heads up, everybody, Scott’s going to be stopping by to hand out invites to the next MCC! Xisuma: He said he wanted to talk to False, Ren, Cub, and Iskall, but anybody who wants to say hello, feel free to swing by spawn. Grian glanced up from his phone, eyebrows raised. “Who’s Scott?” “Oh! I forgot you wouldn’t know,” Mumbo said. “Scott- Smajor is his actual, like, legal name, I think, but everybody calls him Scott, I don’t know why- he runs this big championship event that’s made up of a bunch of little minigames, with lots of people from different worlds competing.” Grian hummed thoughtfully. “I like minigames,” he said. “Oh, you’d probably have a grand time, honestly,” Mumbo said. “Too rich for my blood, personally, but Scott had said he was looking for more hermits to play- it was just False and Ren last time. Want to go say hello?”

[zodarii-dae]

Just finished watching 3rd Life!!!! I was a bit busy so I couldn't do it as quickly as I wanted to but I made it.

I watched Grian's pov as you suggested and holy fuck was that a ride. I have Thoughts.

Grian and Scar. Scar and Grian. Those two shared a braincell and Grian had it for most of the series.

Grian I think had the most kills out of anyone by the end of it??? Guy really thought he could use Scar as an excuse to satiate his bloodlust without losing any lives. He was 100% correct.

Scar had a lot of kills too, didn't he? Especially in the Dogwarts war. Even if he is the goofy boss to Grian's competent right-hand man, it was nice to see him get down to business as well.

"Your Honor, he pleads /j."

I'm focusing a lot on Scar and Grian here, but I would also like to give a shoutout to Jimmy for being the first person out. From what I hear it's pretty on-brand for him and it makes me think Scott was his Grian. For a second I thought it was Cleo tho.

The Battle of the Red Desert was painful to watch lmfao.... Scar pulled the lever, Grian. Wrong time tho.

Can't be good at building without being good at demolition. Grian really likes TNT, doesn't he. Just pray he never improves at redstone, I think it's best his traps stay broken.

I learned from a comment section that Impulse was killed for a clock that belonged to him in the first place. Rough going, buddy.

Scar's second death had me wheezing.... that's how you know he had some sort of plot armor on, no matter what Grian might say, cuz no way in hell did that guy become the first red name and stay alive for 2nd place.

That was the most Canadian fistfight I ever did see. Scar's muscles did not help.

Grian I see is associated with a bird sometimes? I don't know the reason for that but I find it interesting considering he killed himself by jumping off a cliff.

All in all....... yeah I really liked it!!! I have only watched Grian's pov tho, so if you recommend checking out any other POVs, I could do so. Not sure if I'll be able to watch any of the other Life seasons soon, as I might start dipping into, y'know, Hermitcraft/Empires (thanks to you, really!), but we'll see.

This was long. Yeah. Uhhhh Wings of Fire: A Guide To The Dragon World is coming out October I think I read the excerpt I'm excited ok bye-

nice! glad to see you again :D.

desert duo my beloved. absolutely they are two halves of a whole idiot. grian is the designated braincell holder.

grian kills and maims and we love him for it. i love his maniacal laugh whenever he gets a good kill. like a cartoon villain.

scar is goofy and silly and also bloodthirsty. he's so much fun. he can go from himbo to terrifying red life so fast.

yup, very on brand. poor jimmy. scott is kind of his grian? he's definitely the green to his red, and smart to his stupid, but their vibes are pretty different from grian and scar. they're husbands rather than boss and right hand.

i cannot physically express how disappointed i was when the explosion didn't kill anyone.

the real best duo, grian and tnt.

impulse's death... oh i feel so bad for him. you could hear him starting to say bdubs' name as he died. i had to stare at the wall for like five minutes after that scene.

the only reason scar lasted so long was because of grian. if they hadn't teamed up, he would have died much quicker lmao.

oh the fist fight. oh the cactus ring. oh god.

grian is usually depicted as a parrot hybrid. i'm not sure why, i think it started as a hermitcraft fandom thing that bled into his other stuff. people often fannonized as birds falling to death is one of my favorite things. i can't get enough of it.

if you want to watch more povs, i would recommend martyn or scott. martyn's is good if you want to understand the dogwarts side of things, and scott's is just one of my favorites.

i haven't watched any hermitcraft myself, but i plan to one of these days. empires is one of my favorite smps, and really what got me back into mcyt. if you ever do get around to watching the other life series, i think you'd enjoy them!

i'm also very excited for the guidebook! i haven't read the excerpt though.

[angelonasher]

i have an au (another one)

How do people talk about au's they have?

Usually they do it with little art things but art and me aren't cooperating very well- and im also not very good at visualizing details so making visual designs for stuff is kind of very hard for me ;-;

So yeah au its actually the most details for an au ive ever thought of in a short amount of time- i dont know what to name it so giving the general plot and hoping ya'll have some ideas?

Ofc my brain suddenly doesn't know how to explain things okay here you go:

worldbuilding:

So in the general ~world~ there are two "types" of technology, dark tech and clean tech. Dark tech has been banned by the government(s) for various reasons (oh its bad and people can make nukes oh oh evil ai oH the unethical experiments with it that totally weren't done by us oOh DaRk its clearly evil), and while clean tech has a more pristine futuristic vibe, dark tech in much more advanced

Redstone is considered a branch of dark tech, and whether or not its banned/what regulations it has varies from place to place

(The visual vibe of dark tech im not sure how to describe, but this entire au was inspired by the thumbnail of doc's robot battle video so uhm i guess kind of the vibe of the butterfly. It's like. A weird mix of cyberpunk and steampunk, if that makes any sense.)

Some people weren't too happy about the ban, considering many were: sentient/sapient androids and ai's; cyborgs; bionic people with cybernetics that either were essential to their life, would kill them upon removal, or greatly improved their quality of life; organic cyborgs (the term for hybrids such as golems, blazes, etc), or had their entire career on science/tech

So they ran way and made their own city. which, don't get me wrong, is a giant city. lots of connections with other dark-tech places. it definitely has a name. for sure. yeep.

It's made in this mountain where there was a giant crack inside, with houses underground, above ground, in the walls of the crack/cliff-face, above the mountain, and in the sky/towers way above the mountain

The government isn't too happy about this city's existence but because of *ahem* certain people who live there, they leave the place alone.

very summarized plot thing:

Every ten to thirty (haven't decided exactly when) years the [dark-tech city] hosts a competition of skill in technology. robotics, computers, cybernetics, weaponry, the works.

The exact details of the competition differ every time, the details of previous competitions kept vague. but everyone knows you gotta be good with tech to win, and you have to impress the judges with your inventions just to have a chance at competing.

The prize?

No one really knows. but it’s- something. something great. Resources and knowledge and equipment and something that’ll let the winner(s) achieve whatever dreams they may have in that little noggin of their's.

And its coming up soon.

Get creating :)

characters :D :

aka the people who i have a vague idea of their role/personality in this au for. 

“Name they go by” (real name/ what their friends call them) [no paranthesis if they don’t have a fake name]

Grian (unknown): 

An infamous name in the undergrounds, known for his skill in robotics. Never seen in person; appearance and species unknown. He’s rumored to have won the [technology competition] once before, but is entering again.

Npg: 

A little guy who works around Grian’s shop. He’s a sentient android made by his name-sake. His movements are a bit wonky, and he tends to have a goal-driven one-track robotic mindset, but his voice is pretty emotive and he even has synthetic skin!

RG (Robot Grian): 

The latest of Grian’s sentient creations, he has transparent casing to show off his components! His voice is- lacking, but he makes up for it with his realistic movements, “brain,” and expressions. He runs Grian’s shop and tends to be a replacement for the guy whenever he’s wanted/needed in person. He’s a bit more- sarcastic, then Npg.

TV (Impulse):

A prototype cyborg who has a penchant for dark tech. Having a sentient AI living in his head makes him a bit strange, but he’s just a nice guy! His eyes being yellow lets you know he’s the one in control. He’s entering the competition with the hope of being able to build a separate robot body for Skizz.

Skizz:

The sentient AI living in Impulse’s head, technically a cyborg. Look, he didn’t want to be here either. Or sapient. But he is, so he might as well be Impulse’s friend while following his programmed objective of keeping the guy alive. He can communicate through either his screen (that usually displays their left eye), Impulse’s voice, or the speaker on the side of their head. Blue eyes means he’s the one in control.

Tek (Tango):

Little gremlin tech man doing little gremlin tech man things. He’s a cats-folk*, of the that-cat-is-a-spawn-of-hell type. (And he’s proud of it.) He’s best friends with Impulse, Skizz, and Zedaph and is competing as a team with them for the same goal. He’s technically better at robotics than Impulse, but he’d never admit it.

*cats-folk are a strange hybrid mix of feline and some aquatic fish creature. They sometimes contain organic-cyborg features.

Zedaph:

Science man doing sciencey things. Skilled in robotics, redstone, and even code, Zedaph is a close friend of Impulse, Skizz, and Tango. He’s not officially in the competition, but he is helping out when he can. [I wish I had a longer description for him but he’s not that developed yet. Btw this is your sign to go watch Zedaph he’s criminally underrated and his style of videos is unique.]

K. Jumbo (Mumbo):

A newer name in the dark tech business, a mustache man building robots. He’s somehow nailed down making the sentient AI part and mass weapons of destruction, but he’s not that great at actually building the body, and tends to buy parts and instructions from Grian’s shop. He originally joined the competition as a chance to make a name for himself, but has since then teamed up with Scar.

Scar:

Strange man with his strange cat. A bionic human with a penchant for strangely wholesome violence. He’s mastered using and making mechanical crossbows and guns. He doesn’t know a lick of redstone but is pretty skilled at robotics. He joined the competition in hope to find more options for replacing his cyberntic parts, and has since then teamed up with Jumbo. No one knows if Scar is his real name.

Grumbot:

The first sentient AI Mumbo ever (accidentally) made, he lives inside of a communicator. Originally supposed to be a randomized option picker, he enjoys roleplaying, which is something Mumbo still has no idea how it got into his programing. He’s basically Mumbo’s son.

Jrumbot:

The second sentient AI Mumbo ever (accidentally) made. He needs to stop doing that. Also his son.

Sparrow (Owen):

An un-finished prototype cyborg unwillingly a cyborg, skilled in robotics. He has a bit of amnesia, so he can’t actually remember how he became half-robot, but he knows it sucks, given the control the programming has over what he does vs what he actually wants to do. He joined the competition in hope of finding some way to fix himself. (It seems the program is becoming somewhat sapient. That’s bad, right?)

Smajor (Scott):

Owen’s roommate and best (only lol) friend, he has a basic knowledge in robotics/cybernetics. [I haven’t decided what he is but I know he’s not human. Sorry Scott I don’t have more to say about you yet 😞]

Docm77 (Doc):

Creeper-goat-cyborg man. Also part butterfly but that’s (almost) all robotics baybe B) He’s another famous name in the tech space, even more so than Grian. He specializes less in sentient creations and more in world-breaking and physic-denying inventions. He’s intimidating in reputation and appearance but actually a really chill guy who enjoys gardening. Joined the competition because why not, he already has all the supplies he needs. (He may or may not be one of the reasons the government leaves them alone. He is on several watchlists.)

RK (Ren):

Ren-diggity-dog, it’s your local bionic hybrid. He’s part canine but also has a bit of sniffer origin in him. He’s also the owner of the only sniffers in [dark-tech city]. Extinct six-legged creatures are hard to get your hands on, y’know? He’s in the competition on Doc’s team, and although it's somtimes hard to believe, he does have a decent knowledge in robots, specifically cybernetics.

Slabs (Etho):

A famous name in the tech space, the bionic zombie-hybrid that’s actually pretty chill. He’s skilled in robotics, making weapons, and using them. He’s not officially on Doc’s team, but he does help out. He has won before. (He’s not running away from the responsibility of fatherhood if he’s technically their adoptive uncle, stop lying.)

Bdubs:

Loud short teen who sometimes hangs out with the cool redstoner guys. He’s Etho’s sister’s son, not Etho’s. Not at all. It’s just his personality that makes him call him Etho dad. His past-times include sleeping at a very specific time every night, becoming a spawn of hell if his sleep schedule is disturbed, bother watch people doing tech stuff, and brag about his older brother Scar, his mom Cleo,* and his mom’s friends.

*If it's unclear; Cleo and Etho are siblings. Cleo adopted Scar and Bdubs from the streets, who are siblings, and since Etho was living with Cleo at the time, he kind of became their dad, even though he’s technically their uncle. Etho left to live with the cool tech guys in their cool tech tower, and Scar (being an adult) left on his own but often visits Cleo and Bdubs. Bdubs lives with Cleo, but he sometimes hangs out with the cool tech guys in their cool tech tower too.

Martyn:

Funky little dude Ren found hiding in a box somewhere. Not sure how he got up the insanely tall tower, but Ren decided to adopt the guy into the found family jazz they got going on. He’s a bit traumatized, but that’s nothing some good ol’ friendship can’t fix. He’s some sort of bug thing. Cool wings, though.

Cleo:

With zombie genes much more present than her brother’s, Cleo has a name for herself as an amazing seamstress and armor-stand artist. (Armor-stand is a type of robotics art that I just made up.) She somehow deals with her two chaotic sons and her younger brother who still comes to her whenever he needs help. (So much for him being independent.)

Gemini (Gem):

Gem, also known as GeminiSlay, is a bit famous for her fighting skills. Oops. An anterled folk and Cleo’s and Lizzie’s roommate, Gem enjoys picking on Cleo’s brother and consistently beating him in the fighting realm to make sure his ego doesn’t grow too big. Unfortunately, her good heart has her taking pity on the poor souls that are Joel and Jimmy whenever Lizzie is unavailable. (Absolute beggars, those two.)

Shadow Lady (Lizzie):

A curious cats-folk that rooms with Gem and Cleo, Lizzie has the unfortunate fate of knowing Joel and Jimmy. Seeing as she’s one of the very few people that knows them in good relations and Gem only tolerates them half the time, Lizzie usually keeps them from killing themselves, and helps with the inevitable backlash of them doing the stupid thing she told them not to do.

Joel:

Better at what he does than his over-confidence would seem, Joel likes guns. He likes shooting them even more, so he does that. He gets in trouble for stealing and/or destroying stuff, gets Jimmy in trouble because he dragged him into it, and then goes begging to Lizzie for help. It’s a relentless cycle, but he does it, because he’s good at it. And he also gets paid for it. He somehow keeps on meeting tech-people.

Jimmy:

Helps Joel with his heists because Joel claims they’re related somehow and therefore he has to. He can be a bit un-confident or over-confident at times but has a geniunely good aim with guns and mechanical-crossbows. And bombs. Joel’s not allowed to use bombs anymore so he makes Jimmy do it, and then throws a bunch himself. He somehow keeps on meeting the tech people Joel meets.

and uhm i think thats it?

[mrfroag]

any chance you'd be willing to share why you made some of the design choices for the scret soulmate fusion?- it always facinates me to see why artists do certain things and your design is especially cool👀👀👀

!!!!!!!!!!

Oh watch out you've unlocked the froag unskippable cutscene you're not safe from my abnormality about rocks now >:))))

For real though, there were a couple reasons I picked Apatite for the secret soulmates fusion, but. I'm going to put this under a cut because this WILL be long:

I'm honestly not sure how people usually find rocks to look for for gemcyt fusions, but for me the thing I found most simple was to just. Scour geological and gemology websites for any information I could find about blue gemstones. I had a couple criteria in mind- since Grian and BigB's current designs are opposite ends of the blue spectrum (Bigb leans more ultramarine/warm blue, while Grian leans more turquoise/colder blue) I wanted to look for a stone that ideally had a good mixture of the two, and preferably with spotting or interesting color patterns to sort of match the speckled nature of blue quartzes [also I wanted to potentially give them freckles. I'm a weak guy]. So I spent a few hours looking around on various websites, comparing gemstones for their hardness, chemical properties, what their cuts were, etc? I probably went a lot deeper than I should for. A rock to make a funny little fusion guy out of, but it was basically me squinting information about a rock and thinking "hmm. can I see secret soulmates in this rock" until I found some that clicked. By the time I was done with that I had Apatite, Sodalite, and Larimar as my top three potential choices, and eventually picked Apatite:

Number one, it looked like a really fun gemstone to pick colors from!!! It has a lot of interesting color patterns, and I especially liked the little bits of gold you could pick out in it, which would be fun to mess with. And secondly, Apatite is actually pretty fragile as far as gemstones go- it only has a rating of 5 on the Mohs hardness scale, and isn't often used for jewelry because of how brittle and easy to break apart it is. And that was a little interesting to me. Grian and BigB choose each other as soulmates, they trust each other, they go against the fate of the game to swap gifts and resources and be together. But there's also the way in which at the end of it, Grian still kills Ren and doesn't even realize he's killed BigB until it's already over. Something about the way that even if they choose each other that isn't enough to change the way the game goes, or fully break the other alliances they have. So, it was kind of inchresting to connect that fusion to a rock that's a bit softer.

In terms of the actual DESIGN for Apatite though, it was mostly just me messing around sketching until I hit something interesting? I knew before I picked the gemstone that the weapon was probably going to be some kind of bubble contraption- I was originally going to go for some kind of detachable bubble sword where you had the physical hilt, and then a bubble/water blade that could shift shapes, but that was before I dug into BigB's design and found out he actually uses a chakram [which is a sick as hell weapon btw]. So it ended up being the perfect shape for a bubble wand fusion!!

The chef theme was a silly little homage to how Secret Soulmates started because Grian and BigB exchanged little cookie gifts and promised to exchange food, and also just because. Look at these two goobers. I feel like they'd be moderately competent chefs together and it made me giggle to think about, so I went with it! Plus, having a little chef theme and tilting the bubble wand so that you could move it a bit like a frying pan, giving it exploding bubbles that could look like food- it sounded like something a little goofy and silly, which is the main theme I was going for lol.

The three sets of arms was honestly more of a whim kind of thing- I'm still sketching out and designing this dude in my brain so i might add on or take stuff away later when i give it a second pass. But I knew I wanted at least one of the sets of arms that Grian contributed to be water hands? Firstly because it'd be kind of fun for a silhouette, it'd match up with the chef theme (give this guy so many sets of hands he can be his own sous chef), and also because it'd kind of match up with the trickster, multiple sets of repeated limbs motif that other Grian fusions like marblegroves' Charoite design have, which I thought would be cool. Gonna be real most of it is because I thought it would be cool or funny.

I think that mostly covers it so uh. Hope you enjoyed unskippable cutscene if anybody has made it this far criminy. Hands you a gold star or something I guess if you're down here ^-^"

[hmshermitcraft]

Cleo is one of the most feared pirates to ever step foot on to a ship. They're pretty sure her reputation might get lowered if her crew ever find her and Grian cuddling in their sleeping quarters. If they wants her right-hand in her bed, that's her business.

They all know better than to acknowledge the arrangement in front of Cleo or Grian, of course, after one memorable incident where Grian overheard the gossiping. Nobody knows the full story of what happened to those sailors, but the things they were calling Grian... It likely wasn't good.

The truth is, Grian is plenty competent himself. The two make a strong pair, regardless of what they do in Cleo's quarters. The crew are more than happy to have them lead the ship.

[wixelt]

So Gem is supposed to show up at one of the temples, as is Iskall. You said that Gem lands in a swamp, but that brings to question what she's actually doing when they arrive, as does Iskall. One of them should probably be stuck on a green tile in the first temple and the other would end up traveling disguised with Valeriana.

I think Iskall's familiarity with redstone traps would make the fact that the first temple doesn't behave comparatively properly would frustrate the heck out of him and get him stuck, while we'd need someone with a deep understanding of powers to help ground a very panicked Gem.

This would mean Gem might show up at the Bizarre Baazar, but she's hidden so that none of her face or hair is visible and she may have even retracted her antlers to hide better.

Anne may strike her as odd, but a human being here doesn't at first mean much, at most it means others got pulled through that wierd rift. Until she senses her power from the music box.

She may attempt to steal the backpack but someone gets to it first, and she probably competes against Anne for the bag. Both lose to Hop Pop probably, and Valeriana explains the full situation and how they'll be able to get her powers put of the stones but Gem won't be able to interfere until they come looking.

The next time Gem would be seen would be the second temple, at first as a familiar shape in the treeline that leads the hermits away from the temple grounds so that Anne can be tested without trial breaking interference. She probably manages to serve as a distraction long enough for the rest of the group to make it part way up the mountain, but depending on who is with them (probably False since Stress and Anne are both here) she's probably caught pretty quickly.

Going to take these in-order. I know there's a follow-up, but i'll address this first, then correct anything contradictory on the next reply. Call it seeing my train of thought in progress. :P

Gem & Iskall's reunions with the larger group are intended to come at the temples. The plan was that Gem be already at a temple, whilst Iskall's visiting a different one by chance when the group gets there.

The mental image of Iskall getting annoyed by the first temple's traps & getting himself stuck is hilarious, & solves the timing issue in a more realistic way. He's been there for about a week - unable to move from the spot - by the time Anne & Marcy turn up with False, Mumbo, Grian & Etho in tow.

Cue Grian laughing his butt off, to Iskall's irritation.

As for Gem, while the idea of her hanging with Val is great - & that's just the right person to help her, I feel - there's some parts of the above idea that don't work without big changes to Season 1 as it is currently.

So this is what i'm thinking:

Gem turns up in a swamp/near one of the temples & - after her depowerment induced panic attack - runs into Valeriana. Being the wise person she is & perhaps knowing more than she lets on, Val agrees to help Gem & brings her along in disguise.

Gem thus learns a lot about the grand scheme of things long before any other main character, though Val keeps some pieces to herself, as Gem's reunion comes sometime in Season 2 & it'd derail things beyond what's already planned for some things to come to light early.

But she's seemingly not with Val when the spooky newt travels to the Bizarre Bazaar, because if she was, there'd be no way a reunion wouldn't happen. If False goes with Anne & sees her, that's an instant reunion, while even Anne alone would start enough of a conversation to eventually lead to a reunion (Gem's only seen amphibians up til now, so she would notice Anne as an anomaly).

So when False - who would be there out of curiosity - & Anne visit Val's stall, Gem's coincidentally elsewhere in the Bazaar. Its a tragic comedy of almost-meetings, & Val doesn't help as she's very much the sort to make sure things go a certain way by only telling Gem there were "others" at the stall when its far too late for them to go back & track them down.

And Val didn't get names, anyway. You know damn well if Gem heard the name "False", she'd book it back down the road no matter what.

Thus this means there's no direct encounter, though maybe the theft of Anne's backpack turns into a bit of a chain of different folk stealing from each other as the group chase it down. Maybe Gem's one of the figures briefly holding the bag in this chain - having sensed a familiar power inside it - but is stolen from immediately & is too disguised/out of view for False/Anne & her to notice each other.

Val tells her they're leaving before she can make a second attempt.

When Gem later realises her friends might've been there, she kicks herself, but does get that talk from Valeriana about there being "a way of things", & that she'll see her friends again soon enough.

Which does mean her final, actual reunion with the others comes at the second temple. She doesn't know how she feels about leading the Hermits (definitely False, but i'm curious why also Stress, beyond maybe the Swamp Gals connection?) away from Anne, but she complies & Val tests Anne alone.

She gets a bit of flak for it, afterward, but the others are too happy & relieved to see her to be bothered by it for more than a few seconds.

After this, Gem may still stick with Val still due to unfinished business, but eventually leaves her on good terms & is with the rest of the Hermits by sometime before Season 2's end.

Now, onto the second post...

[onawhimsicot]

Dude I love? Love. The TTEI fic. I've already been recommending it to friends. And I don't normally comment on fics and things, but since I've said all of this to six different people already I'm just -- going to gush in here a bit I hope you don't mind. :3

So first off, you write Tango's voice super well! His internal monologue as well?? And it was just endlessly funny and fitting to me that he gets to make -inators and -ificators because -- like yeah that makes sense what a fun way to integrate one of this quirks as a CC. And also?? Making him competent while still keeping him silly?? That is one of my favorite tropes period, and the fact that you then extended the same thing to Jimmy-- I adore.

Also also all the other characters as well?? Etho and BDubs?? I could read an entire fic of whatever the heck their shenanigans are. The intervention was adorable, and giving Etho an almost Lawful Evil vibe with him trying to balance crime in the city was a really cool take. How earnest BDubs was when he asked Tango if he was lonely?? Oh my god.

Also The Parrot, Grian. Amazing. The fact that he can (limitedly) steal powers was so so cool, and also an interesting way of busting him in while still giving him a reason to be vulnerable a few minutes later. That was such a fun balance to strike and facilitate so much for the story-telling and I love how it balanced things. Also him and Tango's banter, and him and Jimmy's banter, was also just really good??

Also?? The reveal of Tango's powers at the end?? Hi hi hi hello it did not even occur to me that he could have something besides the -inator-ing I was so pleasantly surprised by all of that. You also had me speculating that maybe The Warden might Be Tango from another universe [a bit like the PnF movie where Doofenshmirtz is actually competent] or that it might be Hot Guy coming back as a villain, which was a heck of a lot of fun to speculate even if that's not how the plot panned out. Just proves you got my brain spinning while reading.

Just.

Yeah.

Super cool.

Anyway! Love your work! Love the way you write! I think I read in one of your other asks that this is the first thing you've posted since 2020? Man! What a gem! I'm so so glad you finished this and shared it with the community, and I hope you got as much joy from the creation as I got from the read. Just, honestly, awesome work 💜 thank you for creating

omg thank you SO MUCH, i saw your super kind tags earlier too and was planning on saying thank you for those once I got the time to, and now you've sent the most lovely ask TOO? And you're recommending my fic to people?? I'm on the floor clutching these to my heart, crying ;___;

Gonna gush right back at you bc I will infodump about my writing at a moment's notice so sorry for the long post akjdshf

THANK YOU FOR LIKING MY TANGO VOICE, THAT MEANS A LOT TO ME <3 I'm so glad to hear that because I care soooo much about characterization. I have such strong opinions on how certain characters should act. But then at the same time, this is such a goofy AU with such specific circumstances that make everyone act in a very specific way, and I just want to keep cramming in all the jokes I think of. So once I got to the end, I was like ......oh dear, I hope he still stayed Tango aksdjfh. This whole AU pretty much just spiraled out from 1. Tango likes Dr. Doof and 2. Tango can be pretty (jokingly) judgemental about the "right" way to do things? Like he judges people for using "dirty" methods like TNT duping, or this one time Grian was mining quartz near him in a livestream, Tango was like ??? I can GIVE you quartz from villagers, ill do it for free, you don't need to live like this??? So I put that part of Tango's character in the spotlight and I ran soooo far with it.

Once I'm done taking a break from this AU, I would really love getting into what's going on with team B.I.T.E.S! They have sooo many secret identity shenanigans going on between them, it'd be really fun to dive into what's up with them lol. I'm sad I had to cut the Impulse scene I had planned because it would have explained a little more about what's going on with Wraith at least! I definitely want to try and add it as a deleted scene, if I can figure out how to write the rest of it.

Re: the Warden omg lowkey I was thinking of the PnF movie a little bit!! I started running out of time in the event so I wasn't able to set some stuff up about the Warden that I planned to do throughout the fic unfortunately!! But the Warden was always going to be a sort of non-character: I didn't want to invest too much time in making an OC for a fanfic, and because whoever the main antagonist was, their main role was always just going to amount to: get wrecked by the trio. I couldn't bear making anyone from canon be the punching bag haha. For a while, I even thought I'd just get some random "ice villain" name, slap it on, call it a day. Then I thought I'd, at the very least, make it a Minecraft reference, one that had a connection to Tango: the Warden. One of the things I had planned on making more clear was this idea that Tango thinks someone wants to steal his nemesis because he thinks they're coming after his Brand, which is a very silly thought. And then it would end up being a little bit true when the Warden finally made an appearance with the "Hey you let out the guy who was gonna be my nemesis" line lol.

So the Warden is very much based on icy blue dungeon master Tango and Decked Out from Hermitcraft. He's not literally from another dimension like in the movie because the implications of that are way too huge for a oneshot lol, but he is kinda meant to be an alternate version of Tango. I don't want to say he's a narrative foil because I did not set it up enough to deserve using that cool word lol. But it makes me really happy that you brought up the movie because I definitely was thinking of the parallels!! I'm sorry I really didn't give him that much of a spotlight when you speculated so much!! Hotguy IS kinda accidentally a red herring, isn't he?? omg I didn't think about how misleading that would be, I'm a little aghast!! That was more meant to be a vague "I'm setting up for a future Hotguy + Parrot/Cuteguy side story" aksdjhf

Genuinely thank you so much for taking the time to write this super kind and detailed ask full of all this analysis, it means so very much to me <3 You've made me feel so happy about my writing :D I did have a lot of fun creating this, and seeing the reaction from the community has been so gratifying!!!

This is literally the most ideal response I could have ever gotten, I am framing it and hanging it up in my heart <3

[erstwhilesparrow]

oh good i love doing this. fic recs (primarily traffic series, a handful of empires and hermitcraft, and exactly one (1) origins smp) under the cut!

Traffic Series:

Close to Your Chest; foxgloveblue (cornflowerdye) - AU where Joel and Etho are the last ones standing at the end of Limited Life. If I had to pick one word to describe this, it'd be cinematic. It pays such attention to how light falls on things and people and the prose is gorgeous and their Joel + Etho is beautiful.

Bad Habits; SemperAeternumQue - Character study focused on Pearl after Double Life. Huge fan of how it acknowledges that the players go on / continue to do lighthearted things after / between seasons but also cares about the marks the games leave on people. Feels very quietly thoughtful, confident, and lonely in a way that suits Pearl very well.

these old ghosts; Thunderbirds_and_Lightning - Team Rancher Pacific Rim AU, with Flower Husbands as backstory. Breaks my goddamn heart every time I read it, but it's brilliant. Action sequences and specificity and beautiful prose and the type of gut-punch sentences that make me want to hug every character but especially Jimmy Solidarity.

everything anyone ever ignored; Sixteenthdays - AU where taking the last of someone's time in Limited Life causes you to acquire their traits. Snapshots of people coping with this to varying degrees of success. It's lovely. If you are not already aware that Sixteenthdays is an extraordinarily competent writer, what are you doing. Read this and learn.

I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet; the_hypercube - Mean Gills relationship study. Scott and Martyn can't stop seeing their past relationships in each other -- it makes breakfast together sad and complicated and full of thorns. I love the vibes of this one -- they're both good at the game and trying to keep it together but you can see the cracks and it is the most delicious thing.

Stop; KieIsWrite - Time stops for Martyn after Limited Life. Haunted by Scott's memory, he does not handle this well. Mind the tags. Quiet and visceral and horrifying in a way that creeps up on you. So gorgeously written I kept it open in a tab on my computer for weeks after first reading it so I could be reminded of it intermittently.

With All Due Zeal; savannah_owl - Not long after joining up, Ren is rushing around trying to get everything done at once while Bigb scrambles to keep up. Really really sweet. They do some tactical fishing together. Captures their mannerisms and voices super well.

Gallant; zornographic - Grian, grievously injured, is happened upon by Etho, a wandering knight. The worldbuilding of this fic is deeply compelling, and the use of language is such fun -- it feels like watching someone dance? The sort of thing where you can tell no motion is wasted and the person dancing has absolute control and awareness of where and how their body moves. Like that, but with writing.

Empires:

mists in the dog-days; darubyprinxx - Pixlriffs shows up unannounced in Sanctuary. Reading this fic feels like reading a poem; it's just SO pretty. Every other turn of phrase is astonishing and lovely, and it gives me SUCH feelings about Sausage and Pix meeting after all their warring and antagonism and just... sitting with how they feel about each other and work around each other now.

when we're wearing thin; artanogon - Scott shows up on Sausage's doorstep after freezing Gem and asks to be hurt for what he's done. Sausage offers him kindness instead. Friends-with-benefits fic!! It's very tender and very good! Sausage knows about not deserving forgiveness and being given it anyway!!

Hermitcraft:

you cannot square a circle drawn in blood; wizardlover - Scarian Sangfielle AU. You don't need to know Sangfielle, just understand that the vibes are dark fantasy / western gothic horror and it's fucking immaculate. Follows the development of Scar and Grian's relationship as they explore the world of Sangfielle and take turns getting each other out of trouble. (wizardlover does great Scarian just in general; worth checking their other work out as well!)

Normal People in Hell; SlashMagpie - Bdubs discovers Hell (Twitter). In many ways, a meditation on parasocial relationships and Minecraft roleplay. In many related ways, utterly horrifying (extremely complimentary). Mind the tags!

Origins:

Soothing Natural Energies by Rebalancing External Wealth, Today, At Rekindled Flames Marriage Therapy Conference; antimony_medusa - Heists and hijinks galore. I don't even go here and I still think this is the funniest thing. Please read this.

you know, what with both guess the author and the au fest big bang ending recently, there are a LOT of great new fics out there, i bet! also it's been a bit since i've done a lot of hc fic reading, so... hey hermitblr and also adjacent fandoms (trafficblr, for example), got any fic recs?

i'll start with three fics i've been reading recently:

i'm like very behind currently on writing_and_worrying's comms au, but it's an EXCELLENT fic that makes really fun use of the medium! i'm not sure how to describe it other than "the comms logs of an increasingly tangled knot of sci-fi horror". it's great.

speaking of aufest: i read Tangotek Evil Incorporated by onawhimsicot and it's a spectacularly fun fic! in which tango is a very ridiculous cartoon supervillain who has to go rescue his nemesis, jimmy, with help from jimmy's partner, grian. made me laugh out loud a few times. big recommend.

finally, snake's always gonna be one of my favorite hermitcraft writers, and i've been reading Lost On a Starlit Sea lately to prove it again. in which iskall and zedaph are astronauts who go on a mission that appears to be going quickly awry thanks to secrets being kept from them. looks very fun!

however, that's only three fics out of the MANY MANY that have been posted lately - y'all got any fic recs you'd like to share? i'd love to hear them! i'll reblog any lists that get put on here but also i'm hoping there are a lot of suggestions in the notes. (also, feel free to promo yourself or if, say, you were on a big bang team, feel free to promo the author you worked with for that!)