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aroacepotatoo · 1 month ago

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fics finally out people!!! (Took my dumbass long enough)

Really happy to finally released this, it took way to long… (tumblr version below btw :3)

the flame and the flower

Chapter 1: falling into the field

"what?" Tango questioned, "Are you serious?!"

"Unfortunately..." Zed sighed.

"You've gotta be kiddinggg!" he whined, "You can't be out of redstone at a time like this!"

"Look I'm sorry Tango, but that's just the reality. I can't leave my shop to get more until tomorrow, so your just gonna have to wait."

Tango wanted to pout about it, but at this point he knew it'd get him no where. He sighed, "Oh geez, what am i meant to do now? The project I'm working on is almost finish and seeing it just sit there till tomorrow is gonna drive me crazy!"

"wellll, if your really that desperate, then i might have a solution for you." Zed said.

Tango's face lit up, "Really?"

"Mhm! There's a cave nearby here to the right that's quite small." he started, "It's not the cave i go to, but it does have a lot of materials last time i checked, and there was a surprising amount of redstone too, especially considering it doesn't go to deepslate."

"what does any of that have to do with my situation?"

Zed handed Tango an iron pickaxe, "what I'm saying is that, if your really in desperate need of redstone, then you can go there! Last time i checked, nobody else has even touched the place!"

Tango smiled at his best friend, "Oh my gosh, thank you so much Zed! I don't think you realize how helpful this is!"

Zed smiled back at him, "No problem!" he said, "Have fun with whatever your working on!"

"I will!" and with that, Tango walked off along with Torchy. Thankfully, Zed's shop was close to the edge of town, so he didn't have to try and avoid people. when he made it to the edge, before stepping on the grass, he instinctively flinched, suddenly fearing that he'd cause a forest fire by accident. He tried to push that fear aside though, but no matter how much he did, he still didn't exactly feel comfortable touching the grass, so he just opted to float to the cave instead. Torchy seemed to notice too, but he didn't make a comment on it.

As he started traveling through the forest, he quickly started regretting not asking Zed for more clear directions, because he was kind of confused. He admitedly wasn't too familiar with the forest, despite the fact that he'd lived next to it basically his entire life, so he didn't exactly know where he was going. Zed said that it was nearby to the left, but that's pretty vague all things considered. Oh void, he's lost, isn't he?! Oh who is he kidding, he's totally lost! He'd pasted by the same tree about ten times at this point, he has no idea where he's going and he doesn't even know how he got here!!

Tango started to panic a bit, fidgeting with his hands to try and calm his nerves. His tail flicking back and forth quite quickly, kicking up the loose grass on the ground. He doesn't really know what to do, his mind is just a blur of worry as he started thinking of every possible terrible outcome of this. Getting mauled by a bear, falling into a pit and starving to death, drowning in a river, getting attacked by wild animals, getting murdered and no one hearing him scream! There was thousands of ideas, and while a good third of them were quite unlikely, he couldn't help but overthink things.

He sat down next to the big tree and took a deep breath, "Oh void, what am i gonna do now..." he softly said to himself, "I have no idea where i am, let alone where home is..." he face planted into his knees and dramatically sighed. Torchy tried to comfort him by lightly patting his shoulder.

"Do you have any ideas Torch?" Tango asked him.

Torchy sheepishly shook his head no. Tango sighed, "I thought so." he stood up again, "wellll, i have no idea where we're going, but i guess we should keep on going?" he looked at his wisp for some form of reassurance. He nodded and hesitantly, they continued to travel into the forest. He was being quite cautious with every step, constantly look at his surroundings. But he wasn't paying much attention to the floor and suddenly--

Tango tripped and fell down a hill. Thankfully, it wasn't too big of a fall so he didn't get to hurt, there was just some scraps and bruises on his arms and knees. Torchy was also fine too, he can float after all and seem more concerned about Tango more than anything, asking him if he was ok.

"Yeah, I'm fine Torchy!" he insisted, "The fall wasn't that bad."

when Tango finally bothered to look up, he was surprised to find himself in...a flower field? Or, it seemed to something like that anyway. The place was covered head to toe with flowers, almost every kind under the sun to the point that it didn't seem natural. There was petals falling in the sky too. In the center of the field was this little mountain with what seemed to be a front of a house in the middle with a platform. There was also what appeared to be a lower level of house at the bottom of the mountain, there was another door and an outdoor storage area from what he could see. Close to him was a pond that look so clear he's pretty sure he could see his reflection. To be honest, the entire scene looked straight out of a fantasy novel. And Tango couldn't help but admire the place before standing up and dusting himself off.

And out of the corner of his eye, on top of the platform, stood a figure that seemed to have wings. He couldn't see it well from this far away, and when he turned to squint at the figure, it was gone. whatever it was, they must've left or something. Maybe they live here, or maybe it was stealing from the house? Either way, its none of his business and he's more concerned about getting home then being nosy. He started walking forward, trying to find some form of stairwell or path that could maybe lead him closer to home. He starts to wonder who even lives there though, i mean, there's got to be someone, right? This place doesn't really seem abandoned, sure there's vines everywhere, but it seemed liked someone still lived there. There was smoke coming out of the chimney of the house and he could see the lights on in there too. There has to be someone, righ--

"Hi!"

Tango shrieked and fell backwards. A canary stood before him when he looked up, offering they're hand, "Oh my void, I'm so sorry, are you ok?"

He was confused, but he took their hand never-the-less, "Y-yeah, I'm a-alright."

"Sorry for making you fall...again..."

"D-don't worry about it, I'm o-ok!" Tango insisted. It was at this point he actually took a good look at the avian. They had golden wings that faded into black at the tips, frizzy blonde hair with flowers in it that was tied into a messy bun, an off white sweater that sagged slightly off of their shoulder and these jean shorts that had different patches of fabric sewn onto the it as if to patch up holes. They were covered in a couple of scar and some dirt, the scar that stood out to Tango being one on the upper left side of their chest that kind of looked like a star, and they had these crystal blue eyes that looked like the colour of the ocean.

"...S-so, w-what's your n-name?" Tango awkwardly asked.

"Huh?" they questioned, until something clicked in their head, "Oh, OH, RIGHT! Sorry i forgot, my name's Jimmy! Nice to meet you!" he offered his hand out again.

Tango has admittedly always hated hand-shakes, and even though it kind of seemed impolite, he didn't shake his hand and just responded, "N-nice to meet you too! Name's Tango."

Jimmy seem a little confused as to why he didn't shake his hand, but he didn't question it, "Say, how did you end up here? Not many people ever really, y'know...v-visit me." he seemed a bit embarrassed to admit the last part of his sentence, his face lightly blushing.

"Oh, y-you see i-i was going into the forest to find a cave my friend told me about, and as you saw i uhhhh...k-kind of tripped and f-fell..."

"Oh, i see. Are you lost?" Jimmy asked.

Tango was embarrassed to admit it, but he really was lost, and maybe this guy can help him, "I-i...a-am lost. L-like, i don't e-even know where h-home is kind of l-lost."

"I figured." Jimmy seemed to have an idea before he spoke, "Say, do you...want to clean yourself up in my house?" he asked.

Tango was entirely confused, "H-huh?"

Jimmy seemed to catch how odd his offer sounded, his face flushing red as he was visibly flustered, "I-i m-mean, y-your c-covered in di-dirt f-from the f-fall, s-so i-i j-just t-thought yo-you'd want t-to c-clean y-yourself u-up i-is a-all!" he awkwardly chuckled.

"O-oh, i s-see." he was going to answer, but he suddenly had a question, "w-wait, d-do you l-live here?"

"Yeah!" Jimmy smiled, "I've lived here for years in fact! It's nice being connected to nature but it is quite...isolating..."

"Isolating?"

"Y-yeah, i d-don't r-really...h-have many f-friends." he admitted, "I mean i have my siblings, and i love them! B-but, they d-don't visit often, so most of the time i basically just have my cats."

"You have cats?"

"Yeah!" Jimmy nodded, "They're both taking a nap in my nest right now, but their wonderful! I love them with all my heart, but outside of them, i don't really have anybody that i see often. It is kind of my fault though, even if the curse isn't..."

"You're cursed?" Tango asked.

"Unfortunately..." Jimmy sighed, "Look just, let me show you." he picked up a red flower from the ground, hesitating for a second as if he felt bad about what he was about to do. He touched the flower regardless though, and suddenly, the flower started to wither and die and after less than a minute, it was fully dead. It looked pale, basically gray, and the silence during the entire moment made it feel so...eerie.

Jimmy tried to act cool but the guilt was paint all over his face, "...T-t-tada." he said, seemingly trying to lighten the mood, a shaky smile on his face that was lopsided.

Tango couldn't help but be a bit horrified by what he just witnessed, but considering Jimmy said earlier that this was a 'curse', and he knows better than anyone how it feels to have dangerous magic that's hard to control, he doesn't wanna make the poor guy feel bad about it. "O-oh, t-that's...c-cool!" it wasn't intentional, but he felt himself slightly back up a bit.

Jimmy took notice to that, "Oh d-don't worry! I-it c-can't hurt p-people as far a-as i k-know!" he reassured.

That bit of information sort of calmed Tango's nerves, but he couldn't help but notice the perfect opportunity to make a joke. And sure, while it might not be the most appropriate time to say it, he wanted to lighten the mood a bit and maybe calm Jimmy's own nerves, as he seemed nervous and even scared himself, "As far as you know?" he questioned, smiling so as to make it as clear as possible that he was joking.

Jimmy giggled, "well what do you expect me to do? Go ahead test it out on people!?"

"I don't know." Tango shrugged, "But as an inventor with wild magic myself, i feel like it'd be fun to experiment with that. Y'know, just to figure out what it's capable of."

"Y'know despite my curiosity, i don't think i wanna know what you've done with your magic when you say things like that."

"I would say the same thing about you but you seem wayyyyy to sweet to ever hurt anybody sunshine."

"A-- Hey! I could hurt somebody if i wanted to!" Jimmy huffed, he acted offended but by his smile he seemed more amused than anything, "I just...don't want to is all. But i could take like...five people and kill them if i really wanted to!"

Tango didn't exactly get it, but he couldn't help but smile at how Jimmy had perked up. And his positive and welcoming energy was just so...infectious.

"But anyways, do you need directions?" Jimmy asked.

"Uhhhh yeah, do you know where Hermonica is from here?"

"Yeah!" he pointed to a path to the left, "Follow that path and take a left when you see a beehive and you should get there!"

"Thanks!" Tango picked up his pickaxe from the ground, "Oh, and do you happen to know where any caves nearby might be?"

"You mean the one you were looking for before you fell into my house?"

Tango got kind of embarrassed that he mentioned that again, his face lightly blushing, "Y-yeah, that..."

Jimmy giggled, "well, if its the one i think you're talking about, if you take a right at the beehive instead, you should find it!"

"Great, thanks a bunch for the help!" Tango smiled.

"Oh no problem, good luck on your adventures!"

"You too!" Tango started walking towards the path.

"Oh, and Tango?" Jimmy started.

He turned around, "Hm?"

Jimmy seemed to suddenly get a bit shy and flustered, but he tried to keep his cool, "I-if y-y-you...e-ever w-wanna c-come and v-visit, i-I'd l-love to b-be...f-friends."

Tango was caught off guard by the offer, his face flushing red, "R-really?"

"Y-yeah! Y-you seem l-like a c-cool p-person, a-and I'm k-kind of l-l-lonely i-if I'm b-being h-honest s-so...i-I'd love t-the c-company." he had this goofy smile on his blushing face. He was fidgeting with his sweater sleeves seemingly to sink some form of nerves.

Tango couldn't help but smile back at him, he looked off to the side and tucked a piece of his hair behind his ear, "I-I'll...consider it."

Jimmy smiled and waved at him, and with that, he walked off on a path. He starting thinking to himself as he was walking, and he had a lot of question. who was that guy? How the hell did he get the curse? How long has he had the curse?! why does he live in the forest? How long has he lived there? There was a bunch of questions in his mind, and while some were pretty tedious and easy to answer, he was really curious. It's not everyday that you meet a mysterious avian in the forest that's apparently very lonely and has cats and a curse. But out of all off the question he had in his head, there was one specific one he had to himself;

was he going to come back?

And admittedly, despite the fact that Jimmy was a complete stranger, he genuinely wasn't sure.

#life series #traffic life #art #writing #ao3 fanfic #fanfiction #traffic fic #trafficblr #traffic au #ranchers duo #jimmy solidarity #tango tek #solidaritytek #I love ranchers they’re so silly <3

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