#poor doc yes but also poor xisuma

[shepscapades]

Someone gets it :(

[martuzzio]

The idea of Ren joining the Amputees-Only club sounds so bittersweet... cuz before he knew they were having fun, but also knew that they were allowed to have a bond like that. He never expected to join them.

I can honestly imagine in his first few meetings there's a few times where Ren just cries, poor guy...

Rendog's first Amputee's Only Club Meeting (written under the cut because this one is longer than normal)

Despite what the universe seems to think, Doc is a pretty easygoing guy. Yes, he does look scary as hell and yes, he was a mob boss at one point, but that doesn’t mean he’s a violent person. Well, he’s violent when he needs to be, but that doesn’t mean he enjoys it. In reality, his favorite moments are all from quiet parts of his normal, boring, daily life as a hermit.

In these everyday moments, Doc likes to process things. He likes to sit in the greenhouse and watch the bio bees work alongside the robot bees. He likes to brush his fingers on the plants and let his half-robotic brain process the data into something that resembles touch. He likes to listen to Grian and Etho chat as they work.

He observes small moments like these because that’s all he really does. He takes in data and processes it. He uses the processed information to judge his surroundings and react accordingly. Sometimes this means that he uses his data to laugh at his friends who make dumb jokes. But sometimes he uses the data to run, hide, or fight back. When all you do is process data to keep yourself alive, it becomes very hard to ignore incoming information.

This is how Doc eventually locates Ren. He wasn’t planning on finding where his longtime friend wheeled off to, much less go searching for him, but Doc unfortunately decided to take a more leisurely route to the bridge and his camera eye caught the slight movement anyway. Doc has to give it to him; the man knows how to hide. The werewolf is in a lesser-used community room, curled into a dusty couch that’s been shoved into the corner. The chrome wheels of his temporary mobility aid reflect off of the window overlooking deep space. Ren has his left leg drawn up to this chest. His stump of a right leg rests on the couch cushion, shunned. Ren’s obviously hid because he doesn’t want to be found, but unluckily for him, Doc was specifically altered to notice things.

Ren’s flinch when Doc claps his hand on his shoulder is almost unnoticeable. Ren looks like he’s either been crying or had a bad allergic reaction to the dust. Doc assumes the former.

“Cub was working on your new parts earlier today. They look pretty sick,” he ventures.

Ren looks like he has the entire universe on his shoulders. “That’s wonderful,” he mumbles. He opens his mouth as if to say more, but instead sighs and slides his eyes shut.

Doc plops down on the couch and slings his arm over the back of the rest. The action makes Ren recoil again, this time more visibly, and Doc pointedly ignores it. Instead, he says, “As much as I want you to come see what Cub is making, you will go to him when you feel like it. There is nothing you need to do right now besides heal.”

Ren barks out a wet laugh. “Bro, I appreciate you so much, but how can stumps heal?”

Doc’s cybernetic hand twitches in sympathy. “You know what I mean, man, and we both know it.” Doc replies. He looks down at the sliver of space between his leg and Ren’s and chews his words. Ren shifts his gaze to Doc’s arm, then to gaze directly at the creeper’s face.

Doc feels uncomfortable in a way he’s never felt before. All of the other amputee hermits were already amputees when they joined the crew. They had time to heal, be angry, and let go in their own ways. He did, too. But now, with Ren sitting next to him, suffering through the same kind of anguish Doc felt when he first woke up from being operated on, Doc suddenly doesn’t know how to act. How do you comfort someone who literally lost a third of their body? As much as Doc knows what that feels like and as much as he wants to help his friend, he might not be able to. He might not ever be able to.

It’s the single most heartbreaking thing that Doc’s realized in a long, long time.

This revelation causes the duo to sit in silence for a long while. Then, Doc gets an idea. His eye shifts to look at his friend. Ren narrows his eyes tiredly but waits anyway.

“The Amputees-Only Club meeting is in a few minutes.” Doc murmurs. Ren is silent, but he plows on. “I think you should come,” he pleads. “I think everyone would be very happy to see you.”

Ren’s throat clicks as he swallows. “I’m sure they would.”

“I would be very happy to see you.”

Ren’s eyelids squeeze together. “I know you would.”

“Then let’s go,” Doc insists as he pushes himself to his feet. He turns around and smiles as much as he can at his friend, still curled up on the couch. Ren gazes exhaustedly back. “I think it would be a good idea.” He wishes his smile weren’t so frightening.

Ren moves to rub his eyes with his hands but remembers he’s missing one of his arms a little too late. The resulting crumpled expression immediately burns into Doc’s deep storage memory. “I don’t know, Doc.” The werewolf manages after a long moment. “I appreciate you trying to help, but…”

Doc understands. Of course he does. When he first joined the hermits, the idea of a weekly club meeting exclusively for amputees sounded farfetched at best and belittling at worst. Hell, he didn’t even think there were enough amputees on the team to warrant a club. Imagine his surprise when three other people showed up to his first session, all excited he was there to hang out with them.

With this in mind, all he can do is repeat, “I think it would be a good idea.”

Ren stares up at him, and in that moment, he looks as old as Xisuma. But then he gently closes his eyes, inhales slowly and shallowly, and motions for Doc to drag his mobility aid closer. Doc complies immediately.

The journey to the meeting room, like every other journey on the Hermit Craft, is long. It’s made even longer because of Ren’s inexperience with his aid, but Doc doesn’t dare to offer his help. They eventually end up in front of the elevator that Doc remotely called beforehand with his brain chip. When the doors open, Doc lets Ren wheel in first.

Ren is silent in the elevator. Doc tries to catch his expression, but his friend’s unruly hair blocks his vision. “We’re playing cards tonight.” He mentions.

“That’s what you do at every Amputee-Only Club meeting.”

Doc shifts his eye back to the elevator door. “…Correct.”

Ren doesn’t reply.

When the duo finally reaches the Club meeting room, Doc pauses outside for a moment instead of directing his brain to open the door like normal. He glances down at Ren again and murmurs, “if you don’t want to go back, or to your room or something, that’s—”

“It’s fine,” Ren interrupts. He sounds defeated. “We walked all the way here, so we may as well go.”

Doc activates the door without another thought.

The door slides open and reveals the club room. It’s small, smaller than the average community space on the Hermit Craft, but it feels warm. The soft yellow color painted on the walls matches pleasantly with the yellow of the couch cushions. Joe definitely was the one to orchestrate that. There’s a small kitchenette in the corner that’s set up to have nice views of outer space. Various game tables fill the rest of the room, a few surrounded by five chairs. Doc wonders if Ren will notice the new chair addition. Maybe he already had.

The most interesting part of the space, though, is the people within it. TFC is bundled up on the couch, snoring pleasantly and covered in at least ten blankets. His usual plate of cookies is already half eaten. Iskall is standing at the kitchen counter, fiddling with a teacup filled with a mysterious bright pink liquid. His outfit has a few suspicious-looking singe marks at the hem. Finally, Scar is sat at the poker table in the middle of the room, crossed legs resting on an adjacent chair. He’s sorting through a pile of yellow and orange chips. To Doc’s continued wonder, the stack of bright blue cards resting near Scar’s elbow have miraculously not been knocked onto the floor yet.

When the doors open, Scar and Iskall look over. Ren immediately shifts at Doc’s elbow. Doc waits a moment to let Ren speak if he wants to, but when his shorter friend remains silent, he clears his throat in a grinding noise and announces, unnecessarily, “We’re here.”

Scar is so excited that his eyes have turned into little slivers of green. “Ren, I’m so happy you decided to tag along!” He kicks one of the chairs out from the table and clonks his foot on it for emphasis. The blue cards wobble on the edge of the table but still refuse to fall. “Sit down! Iskall can get you something to drink. Have you ever played poker?” He leans forward with the question. “It’s difficult, but I think it’s fun!”

“Uh, I haven’t.” Ren replies awkwardly, still at the door alongside Doc. “I’ve never even heard of it before.”

“Yeah, I would be surprised if you knew about it. It’s one of those old-timey games from TFC’s era.” Iskall says from across the room. He is now by the couch and is gently patting TFC’s fluffy hair to wake him. “Don’t worry that you don’t know. We’ll teach you.”

Ren tries and fails to make a pointed noise of interest, but he still seems intrigued. Doc feels the knot in his chest loosen a little. He rolls his shoulders to relieve some tension and moves to sit down. By the time he turns his head to look back, Ren is already wheeling forward to join him but looks lost as to where he should sit.

“Howdy, Ren. Sit next to me so I can teach you, but I’ll only teach if you’re willing to listen.” TFC, now awake, grumbles good-naturedly as he heaves himself off the couch. With his large frame still wrapped in a dozen blankets, he looks like a huge bear compared to Iskall. Which is impressive, Doc thinks, since Iskall is nowhere near frail. TFC’s metal prosthetic clonks on the floor as he walks over to the poker table. As he sits down across from Scar, he says, “There’s no point in just sitting there and gawking at us. Grab a seat.” He uses his leg to nudge the chair to his left.

Ren blinks and maneuvers his aid to let him sit down next to the astronaut. TFC procures a blanket from his pile and offers one to him. Ren, after slowly settling in his chair, accepts the pink fuzzy blanket. Doc accepts a purple one.

TFC lances over to Ren as he saves the blue cards from the edge of the table. “Poker’s good fun. You’ll get it in no time.” He snorts and flicks his gaze to Scar, who is busy stacking the chips into a pyramid. “This one always makes sure we have a great, long game.”

Scar looks up and winces minutely in a false apology. “Sorry about that.”

TFC chuckles. “Boy, I’ve never had better games than when I play with you.”

Scar’s grin almost sparkles. TFC and Doc grin back and Iskall hides his laugh in his shoulder.

“Anyway, ready for your first game with us amputees?” TFC brings the conversation back to Ren, who suddenly looks a lot more uncomfortable.

“I,” he begins, his eyes flicking to TFC, then Doc, before looking down. “I, well, uh…”

The table is silent. Iskall is staring at the table with his hands in his lap. TFC sighs and begins shuffling the cards. Doc, as much as he wants to clear the air somehow, can’t seem to find a way to do so. Scar just looks sad. He looks right at Ren, almost through him.

Ren stares back, eyes wide.

“You don’t want to be here.” Scar says quietly, finally. It’s not a question. Ren’s choked response makes the ex-convex smile slightly. “You can say so, Ren. You’re not going to hurt our feelings. None of us want to be here. But, as much as we may want to, we can’t change what happened to us.” He falls silent again as he looks at a particularly twisted scar on the back of his left hand. He rubs at it harshly with the pad of his thumb before Iskall stops him. “This might be selfish,” Scar continues, softly, “but I’m happy that I at least don’t have to sit in here alone.”

For a long moment, the table is silent. Then, with a rush of noise, Ren makes a sound like he’s dying. In a certain way, Doc thinks, he is.

“I don’t want to be here,” Ren confesses as his open mouth contorts and tears roll down his face. “I don’t want to be here.”

All Doc can do is wrap his arms around everyone else, encasing Ren and his other amputee friends in his embrace, and wish he could do more.

[aurabird]

A Search For Belonging

Chapter 5: The Meeting

Time has past, and now Xornoth gets to meet the rest of the Hermits.

Ao3 Link | Masterpost

---------------

The days that followed went by almost too fast for Xornoth but he had been given a clear bill of health. He was still very thin, but with the food and meals he’d been provided he’d at least gotten to a point where you could no longer see his ribs. His sprained foot had also healed and he was now able to walk around normally again.

Today, however, he was nervous. It was time for the entirety of Hermitcraft to have one of their annual meetings and his subsequent introduction to the rest of the Hermits he had yet to meet.

Xornoth went through the wardrobe at the clothes Grian had given him on his first day awake, all nicely hung alongside several pairs of pants the avian had sewn for him so he wouldn’t have to constantly borrow pairs from another Hermit.

Once changed into what he hoped was presentable attire Xornoth looked out the window. Several chairs had been set up in an open plot near the Swaggon, and already he could see Hermits beginning to gather.

He was astonished by the amount of races made up the group; from humans to hybrids and everything in between. He could see impulse laughing with a blonde half-elf wearing grey and red and a sheep satyr dressed in a white coat, Grian seemed to be talking with the two other members of Boatem and a werewolf. Over in a corner looming like a vulture was someone who had armor identical to Xisuma’s own but crimson instead of pink. The black visor of the individual’s helmet showed red eyes behind it, the glass almost giving them a glowing effect.

When Grian had said X’s brother liked to play the role of a dramatic villain he hadn’t been lying.

Eventually, once all the Hermits had gathered and settled down, Xisuma began to speak.

“Hello everyone and thank you all for coming. We have a few topics to discuss today and an announcement at the end of the meeting.”

Xornoth zoned out as he listened to the discussions; mostly about recent projects, future plans, and possible events. A lot of them went off topic and descended into banter and jokes, but nevertheless, everything that was being addressed was eventually resolved.

“Alright, if no one else has any other things to add, I would like to give the announcement.”

Xisuma’s words snapped him out of his mindless daze and back to being alert. This was it, this was where he’d be introduced to everyone. He took a few breaths, he could do this, everything would be fine.

“Hermitcraft has always been a place of new beginnings and a safehaven for those in need of a home. About a week ago, Grian and Impulse found an elf in critical condition washed up on the shoreline of Boatem; he comes from a land far, far away from here and like many of you has a past that he wishes to hide from.”

Murmurs came from the crowd; some were full of confusion, others of excitement.

“Why wait a week to tell us this?”

“Because he needed to recover first. You should have seen him Doc, poor guy was terrified and almost on the verge of death.”

“Ooh, I’m sure they’re an absolute darling! It’s been awhile since anyone joined us!”

“Wait, you’re adopting yet another person?!”

“Yes, Exiel. You’ve been around long enough to know that’s how things work here.”

“I was wondering what the big secret those two were hiding was, I thought it was some crazy cult nonsense.”

“Boatem is not a cult!”

“You have a hole into the void and sacrifice things to it, mostly yourselves amusingly enough.”

“Actually, out of the three of us, it’s mainly just Scar.”

Xisuma cleared his throat to silence everyone before speaking once more, “Everyone, please welcome our newest Hermit, Xornoth!”

At his cue, the elf in question timidly left the house, feeling tons of eyes instantly lock onto him as he made his way to X’s side.

The comments and murmurs stopped once he was in position and he nervously looked at the crowd until he caught sight of Impulse and Grian, who gave him reassuring gestures.

His anxiety was further calmed by Xisuma’s hand on his shoulder, “You’ve got this. Go on, introduce yourself.”

Xornoth took a few breaths before speaking, “It’s...It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet all of you. I’ve heard so much from Grian and Impulse about Hermitcraft and...and I’m really glad to have found a place where, despite the horrible things I was forced to do in my past, I am treated like a person and not a monster.” he paused a moment before continuing, “I do not know what it means to be a Hermit, but I hope that with your help that over time I can learn.”

Cheers erupted from the crowd at that, filling Xornoth with warmth as he fought back happy tears.

“And that concludes the meeting. If you’d like to introduce yourselves to our newest member and make him feel welcomed you may do so now, but please try not to overwhelm him.”

Not all the Hermits were able to stay and talk, but those that did have to leave offered Xornoth their names and welcomed him with the promise of hopefully getting the chance to talk more later.

It was the two other members of Boatem that first approached him for actual conversation, one of them a man with a face bearing three diagonal scars dressed in a maroon suit and a strange hat; in his arms was a grey and white cat that didn’t seem at all pleased to be there. The other was a tall man with a mustache dressed in a fancy suit that was easily able to meet his gaze. If his memory served him right, Grian had said that their names were Scar and Mumbo respectfully.

“Well hello there!” Scar greeted, extending a hand for Xornoth to shake, a gesture that the elf was quick to respond to, “My name is Scar, owner of the wonderful shop that is the Swaggon and this is Jellie! Welcome to Hermitcraft!”

When Xornoth had clasped his hand into Scar’s own he felt a strange energy from under the man’s skin, one that was definitely a type of magic. He couldn’t quite pin down what it was.

Mumbo extended a hand next and Xornoth was quick to realize the faint red powder of redstone coating it, “Mumbo, somehow the CEO of Boatem’s shopping district and firm believer of peace, love, and plants.”

“It’s a pleasure, Grian and Impulse spoke about you two a lot during my recovery and I look forward to hopefully interacting more with you in the future.”

Before either of the two could reply, a short man with a wide and goofy grin showed up in a hoodie made out of moss, the glasses on his face making his eyes seem far bigger than they probably were. “Bdubs, Hermitcraft’s master of sleep, breeder of the finest horses, builder of mountains, and resident time king!”

Xornoth tilted his head in confusion, “King?” he questioned "Grian said nothing about kings on Hermitcraft."

“He likes to call himself that because it makes him feel important to make up for his height.” Scar cooed with a sly and teasing grin.

Those words seemed to strike a nerve in Bdubs, “I’ll have you know that I am very tall standing at 5’10 thank you very much!” he then turned back to Xornoth, “Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and introduce myself, if you ever are in need of a horse, a redstone contraption, or just want to chat then shoot me a message or come on down to the Big Eye’s bay!”

After the departure of the trio, Xornoth met many other Hermits eager to speak with him. Answering questions within his comfort zone when asked and trying to get used to the kindness being shown to him.

He met Ren and Doc of Octagon and inquired about the strange technological modifications they had that went far beyond anything he’d seen in the Grimlands. Doc, apparently, was well known for his innovation and skill with redstone and was the one that designed the strange technology. The creeper hybrid reminded him very much of Count Fwhip, just without the eccentricities and the fact his nature was more on the lines of insane than chaotic.

For a werewolf Ren was surprisingly laid back, the machine in his chest a method of substituting for internal damages respawn magic had been unable to repair after the Hermit had been attacked in the last area the group had called home. Xornoth found that the two of them got along quite well and Ren offered to help him out with anything he may need.

He met the half-elf and the sheep satyr (Tango and Zedaph respectively); the duo were close friends with Impulse and often hung out as a trio. Much like the said individual, they were both inclined in the complexity that was redstone however, unlike Doc who vowed to try and break every law in the universe, they used their skills for fun and chaos.

A duo by the names of Xb and Hypno tried to coax him into an IOU, something of which Grian and Impulse had both warned him about as such a simple piece of paper was dangerous in the wrong hands, their sly delivery and charismatic tones had almost succeeded in convincing him.

False and Stress were a delight to talk to, the latter offering him a visit to her home for tea and cookies if he ever felt like it and the former offering to spar with him if he ever needed to vent frustration or wished to practice. A knight by the name of Wels also extended a gesture for a sparring match should Xornoth be up to it.

Etho was a rather…strange one, his attire reminding Xornoth much of the many assassins that had been dispatched to kill him, but the man himself extremely nice by comparison; albeit mischievous and chaotic. His roommate Iskall, the bearded man with a mechanical eye and arm similar to Doc’s own, was loud but no less friendly despite his ramblings about how diorite was a horrible material and should be burned.

Xornoth neglected to mention how it was a staple type of stone in Rivendell architecture and that he himself quite liked it.

His meeting with Cub caused a chill to go down his spine at the strange aura of chaotic magic that seemed to radiate from the man, a magic that was identical to that of vexes. Xornoth realized that it was the same type of magic he'd sensed from Scar. Were the two of them hybrids? Unless it was some kind of illusion or glamor spell, they both looked pretty human to him.

The last duo he met was Cleo and Joe, a zombie and…something definitely not human despite appearances. Cleo was only mildly terrifying at how fiery and prone to violence she was and Joe was…interesting. Speaking with fancy words and forming sentences that with a few changes could pass off as riddles or nonsense. Nevertheless, they spoke of their castle in a flower forest and the former spoke of her ability to animate armor stands with magic

Eventually, the crowd died down and Xornoth found himself collapsing against the side of the Swaggon out of sheer exhaustion, his gaze looking up at the countless stars above him as he tried to pick out familiar constellations in the sky. He wasn’t used to talking so much since he’d not spoken beyond a few words during his time as a fugitive unless it was to plead asylum to one of the rulers that he had hoped would take him.

“Tired?” came Xisuma’s voice as the voidkind sat down next to him, he nodded before speaking.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve really had so much interaction, what with my past and all. I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything honestly, everyone was so welcoming and kind despite having only just met me today. I’m still not used to it and I think it will take a while before I am.”

“That’s just how the Hermits are, we can sympathize with each other because we all have things we want to leave behind us. From traumas to servitude under tyrants, to even wishing to escape a monster they once were. Every Hermit has a history and not every one of them is open about it. As the one responsible for the Hermits and the safety of Hermitcraft, I know everyone’s story but some of them I've sworn to keep secret from anyone besides myself and the one who trusted me with the information.”

Xornoth looked at his hands and arms, the scars left behind by Exor’s corruption would never fade, a constant reminder of who he once was. “Does it ever get easier?” he asked, “Does the pain of the past ever go away?”

Xisuma didn’t reply right away, seemingly contemplating an answer, “Some wounds may never heal completely, but they just may heal enough to be manageable. We are a family, Xornoth, and you are now a part of it as well; the burdens you bear no longer have to be faced alone.”

“I don’t even know where to start though Xisuma. I know Grian is going to take me on a tour of the continent tomorrow but I already see the amazing structures you’ve all built. I’m not like the rulers of my homeland where I can build with my own two hands, everything I ever created was with the aid of twisted magic.”

“Then we’ll teach you, no matter how long it takes.” XIsuma got to his feet and extended a hand to help the elf off the ground, “Go and get some rest, Xornoth. You’ve had a long day.”

Xornoth wrapped his arms around him, “Thank you, X for everything you have done for me.” he said before ending the embrace, “Goodnight.”

With that, Xornoth made his way back to his house, climbing into the bed he’d grown to love over the past week.

Tomorrow, he would get to see the continent beyond the familiar surroundings of Boatem, one of the first steps to truly becoming a part of Hermitcraft’s society. After that, perhaps he could find a place to start building a megabase of his own.

[carminite-wyrm]

A Genshin Impact Hermitcraft AU Idea, God Help Me

Last year, on September 28, a particular gacha rpg game was released and I, occasionally regrettably, fell straight into playing it. In honour of the fact that this will mean I have lasted nearly a whole year (I got the game a week after bc uni) determinedly not spending any money on Genshin whilst also trying to roll good characters…here’s a bunch of Hermitcraft Genshin AU ideas that I initially came up with at roughly 2.40 am.

The general idea of this AU is that the Hermits end up in a new world that has Genshin-esque mechanics, on top of the usual Minecraft shenanigans. So, Visions and stuff. Also, we’re gonna just…briefly ignore the actual Genshin lore in regards to how Visions and Gnosises (Gnoses?) come about, for this one.

Post-S8, the Hermits are travelling to a new world, ready for another season.

The moment they arrive, it is clear to them all that…something is different. Something is vastly different with this world, for all that it appears much like the previous servers that they have lived in and travelled to. There is something of a…presence to it, in a sense.

When the Something Different doesn’t appear immediately, being the demigods/almost-deities that they are, they go about their days, setting up starter bases, gathering the basic resources and tools, the usual beginnings.

Things change when Doc wakes up one morning after a hard day at work building a new redstone machine, to find a small glowing chess piece lying next to his head, crackling with an ethereal purple light

Upon picking it up, he feels a burst of energy, almost like that one time in the previous world where he and Ren built a lightning-summoning tower

However, the changes it has wrought become apparent later that day when Scar comes out of nowhere with the recording of a creeper’s tell-tale hiss and explosion, and Doc sends him flying backwards with a startled blast of lightning

At first, they chalk it up to ‘Something Funky With Doc’s Current Project’, but after some tests, some experimentation to confirm if it was a one-off reaction…they end up confirming that they may have found out what the Weird Thing about this season’s world is

The duo go to Xisuma with their findings, and, to their collective surprise, X can’t find anything blatantly broken in the server’s code, but he does find a few interesting lines within.

By all appearances, this is not a glitch, but simply an intended feature of the server

Seven lucky hermits, designated as Archons in the server code, will receive a Gnosis, an artefact of elemental power that the server can assign, given to the ‘player who best suits the element’

The server notes speak of how the power granted (and represented through the chess-piece-shaped item) will grant the receiver the capability to shape the land around them

By random chance, other players on the server will also be gifted a Vision, a somewhat lesser artefact that will still grant them a form of elemental power

Given that the Hermits are practically gods in their own right, considering they are already capable of shaping the worlds they arrive in as they see fit…are more curious than worried, at this point

They agree to keep an eye out, to see how chaotic the sudden acquisition of elemental powers will turn out

The next person to receive a Gnosis is Grian, who delights in the bursts of wind he can use to buffer his flight, gliding across the server with naught but the turquoise magic the server has seen fit to grant him

After that, most of the Hermits soon receives some sort of Elemental power from the server

A Summary of Who Gets What (That I can think of so far):

Doc: [Electro Archon]

Can summon lightning, without need for a trident, a thunderstorm, or a machine that can generate an ongoing thunderstorm for as long as its activated

Can also generate an Electro shield, though it does require his active concentration to maintain for longer than a few seconds. This shield appears like a charged creeper’s aura, except purple

Capable of generating a thunderstorm at will, but rarely does it on account of mob spawning dangers

Has found that by channelling a low level of Electro energy, he can in fact power redstone machines just by tapping them/being in close proximity to them

This has proven to both be a blessing and a curse, considering that on occasion, when startled, he has short-circuited some of his machines

Grian: [Anemo Archon]

Generally, uses his powers as a free rocket boost for flying around the server

Upon finding out that he can use the Anemo energy to create pockets of energy that can boost flight, he takes to leaving them all over the server, in convenient locations to make flight that much more efficient

Yes, he absolutely sets up a fancy elytra course that makes use of his flight-boosters to send players rocketing around a course at breakneck paces (poor Scar experiences many instances of kinetic energy)

Bdubs: [Geo Archon]

Suddenly, making mountains and other works of major terraforming is a lot easier

Certainly, he still prefers to sculpt them and detail them by hand, but bringing the basic shape of the mountain forth by brandishing the power of Geo is something that he can do with ease, in this world

A new shop pops up in the shopping district rather quickly after this realisation: Bdub’s Landshaping Service, Now offering quick terraforming at a budget price! (it is, in fact, a service that makes him quite the amount of money)

And when he wants to sleep, without the other hermits breaking his bed? A glowing shield of steadfast golden magic takes care of that.

Gem: [Dendro Archon]

The patch of the server that Gem has claimed for herself quickly springs to life as plants of all varieties grow to surprising proportions, energised by the power that she now can radiate

The effect is most notable in and around her home, of course, but wherever she travels, the plants grow more vibrantly for days afterwards

Adding a forest of birch around her house takes little more than a thought, a fact she uses to prank some of her friends, those who in the last world were rather vocal about their dislike of non-stripped birch

Another power Gem finds herself with is the ability to summon vines even without a surface for them to initially grow upon, and thus it is not uncommon to see Gem building or resting in a hammock of woven vines

Cub: [Cryo] (cannot make up my mind if I think he’d be Archon material or not)

Gathering powdered snow has never been easier, as instead of waiting for a storm to form and last longer than it takes a Hermit to get into the nearest bed, he can simply clap his hands together and a lump of snow shoots out from just above his shoulder.

It does hurt, getting hit by the sudden snow barrage that Cub is now capable of, but except for the occasional snowball fight, his newfound snow-creation ability is used for making increasingly more insane mob farms and snowy building decoration

False: [Pyro]

The magic her Pyro Vision grants her doesn’t become apparent, not for a while, until she visits the Nether for the first time in this world

A mis-swing in a bastion, and suddenly a horde of piglins and hoglins are chasing after her, and there isn’t enough time to pillar away.

She readies her sword and shield, ready to fight, and suddenly her blade crackles to life with bright flames, unlike the fire aspect enchantment in that it actually is on fire.

Every attack she lands, whilst her sword is alight, seems to invigorate her, return strength and stamina that was lost when she had first tried to flee the enraged inhabitants of the bastion

Xisuma:

The admin is one of the few to not receive a Vision or a Gnosis

Quietly, he does admit to being relieved, considering his powers as an admin are already much greater than that of the other Hermits, for all that they are still his equals

And then, one day, whilst X is placing his diamonds to sign up to one of Grian’s newest competitions, he feels a rush of foreign magic, so unlike the familiar ordered pulses of server code

The blast of wind that comes with a swing of his sword, much later whilst he is mob-farming, is greatly surprising, if not unexpected.

The funny thing about all these new powers, granted by the server itself in the form of artefacts that can easily sit in one’s palm, is that for all they are miraculous on their own, the natural capabilities of the Hermits are already enough to rival them

In the hands of an ordinary person, an ordinary player, the powers from this world would bring them close to the near-omnipotence of Creative, could even be the driving force of server-wide conflict.

Powers such as these, while they can build great things, can so easily be used to destroy, to cause war and destruction, and in other realities, they have.

Perhaps whatever trick of fate that caused the server to be capable of granting these powers hoped to create that conflict, to see what would happen when only a few of their number were gifted such strengths.

Later, when the initial surprise and rush to test out the limits of the server’s granted magics dies down, Zedaph approaches Xisuma, one of the few to not possess an artefact of elemental magic, with an observation

Zedaph notes that, from his studies of the Hermits’ new powers, almost all of them are oriented vastly towards combat, whether they be summonable blades of frost, elemental shields, or even the ability to soothe aches and hurts

And even though the Hermits have all found ways to make those powers work in the ways that they wish them to, it does not take away from the fact that the likeliest original purpose of this server’s magic was for fighting

Any other server, any other group, Zedaph quietly says, and there would more than likely have been bloodshed, given the inequality in the range of power granted

At the end of the day however, unexpected gifts of power or not, the Hermits, at their core, are a group that creates and innovates, a band of friends that shape entire worlds with naught but their own ideas and willpower, and regardless of what powers they now possess in this particular realm, that will not change.

[sweetest-honeybee]

Hi,

I’ve been scrolling through your Poultry Man AU, and I love it — the concepts and storylines are great, and the art is amazing. I have a few ideas for it, but obviously you don’t have to take them.

1. Aerial stuntman Grian, or some variation of that? Flying is a big part of his identity on Hermitcraft, but he’s a ‘normal citizen’ in this, so he’s probably not going to have wings. Maybe he did something like that for a while and eventually quit, but when everyone started targeting him, he decided to start doing it again (unprofessionally), if only to evade potential attacks. It’s much easier to do that when you’re in the sky.

(...and it’s great for pranking people.)

It’s also another reason why people think he’s Poultry Man. Flying around like that is a very ‘hero’ thing to do, and Poultry Man is literally a superhero associated with birds.

Bonus: Maybe Milo knows about this, and gets Keralis to make some sort of elytra suit? But that doesn’t have to happen. If it does, though... yet more suspicio. Especially if Milo has one himself.

...Also, Grian definitely has a pet parrot called Professor Beak.

3. False as part of the police, too, probably involved in the physical catching of criminals (not the big villains, though, the police leave those to the heroes). She’s one of the best PvP-er’s on the server, so it works that way, and I don’t think you’ve done much with her, so this could be a way to incorporate her into this.

Also, Cub is the Chief of Police, and I feel like they would work really well together?

4. False, Grian, Cub and Ren having taken part in some sort of Olympic-adjacent event (because of MCC. It would be different, though, and they’d probably specialise in one thing, like in the actual Olympics). The event doesn’t have to be as famous as the Olympics, but it definitely wasn’t just confined to Hermiton, due to people all over the world (the YT community) taking place.

It probably wouldn’t come up much in the AU, but I think it might be a nice little detail to add, and would fit with things like Stuntman Grian and Criminal Catcher False (if she specialised in something similar to PvP). It would also give Cub and False a common background, which might’ve lead to him employing her as aforementioned criminal catcher.

5. Something happening to Ren to turn him into Cyber Ren, like he currently is in S8. Yeah, Cyber Ren could just be another doppelgänger, but I feel like this could have a lot of potential for character arcs and storylines. What happened to him, and who did it? How does he react to it? Does he become some sort of cyborg hero?

Anyway, thanks! And yeah, I love this AU.

This is gonna be a long answer here we go XD

Aerial stuntman Grian would be cool! Also he can have wings just fine, ren’s got dog ears and a tail lol. That would make it seem like he were poultryman bc poultryman also has wings (not all the time, they can just kinda appear I guess). So not only because of trying to evade the attacks, but that could be another factor into that as to why everyone thinks he’s poultryman. I like it!

Also, I’m not sure Milo would be able to get him an elytra suit, not unless Keralis had some spares that were too small for Xisuma to use. But yes, if he were to get one, it just piles onto the theory of him being poultryman. It would be incredibly funny to try to explain to people XD

He’s just sitting there like “I know I’ve got wings, I know I can fly, I know I have some connections with Poultryman, I know I have a suit made by Keralis, I know I like birds, I know I’m an aerial stuntman, and I know I do some hero-y stuff BUT-“

He definitely has a pet parrot name professor beak

False would absolutely be a part of the police force with Cub. I’m surprised nobody suspected that she was a hero, given that she’s got some skills and seems a little stronger, more agile, less human than other people. They would work incredibly well with each other :D (or maybe she’s that way bc of some Vex magic Cub uses sometimes)

While it’s not a huge thing that I’ll go over, the idea of the MCC being like the Olympics in this world is actually a really awesome idea that I hadn’t really thought about until now. Contrary to your suggestion, I think it should be a worldwide event. Maybe there’s also like a spronsoring system where heroes can sponsor different teams and whatnot and even use the event as a way to potentially paid with other potential heroes or hire a sidekick.

As for Cyber Ren, who says he wasn’t knocked out and kidnapped by Doc himself? More or less following that episode he did, could’ve been brainwashed n stuff still, then turned into a cyborg. Could still happen ;)

On a side note, I’d love for him to be a hero or a villain. I mean villain Ren and poor little ol’ Renbob? I like the angst potential :3

[hmshermitcraft]

Also,,, awkward high school au time!

Their school has a valentines day dance, and everyone is tripping over themselves to ask one another to go.

Kerlais writes a really sweet note and plants it in Xisuma's locker. (X doesnt celebrate it normally. But this year, he will for Keralis.)

Zedaph buys his boyfriends flowers. Tango gets them chocolates. Impulse gets the plushies. It's sappy and over dramatic in the best way possible.

Grian and Mumbo both agonize over how to ask one another without the other one catching them. They're both oblivious idiots and catch one another in the act of sneaking gifts into the vents of the other boy's locker. Queue the spiderman meme esque pointing(And Iskall losing his mind laughing. He memes the hell out of them in the group chat.)

Iskall get's Stress' locker combo from False. (in exchange for Doc's. Wonder why?) He gives her a sweetheart succulent with a note asking her to be his valentine. She accepts by giving him a pink carnation. (She uses BDub's place in student council to make it happen, as student council is the one handling the carnation sale.)

1/??

-🦊

2/?

Ren leaves a bouquet in Etho's locker. Poor Etho has a panic attack over it. (His ex from his last high school did that- it ended horribly.) He thinks it's a sick joke. X and Ren are sent to bring him back to class and Ren has to explain it was a genuine thing and he didnt mean any harm. (Ren vows to make recieving gifts mean positive things for Etho.)

Joe writes Cleo a really cheesy poem and reads it to her in the hallway. She punches his arm lightly and accepts. Then Joe gives her a really sweet love letter. She tears up when she reads it later.

False leaves a note in Doc's notebook when he leaves their sports rec class. He finds it later and is absolutely baffled until he lets BDubs read it. He leaves her a note in her locker later on his way to engineering. (He keeps her original note- he's a jerk, sure, but he isnt heartless. And False is about to find out how much of a softie he can be.)

Scar and BDubs joke about the dance the whole time they do the carnation sale, then Scar mentions how he actually loves Valentines, and doesnt have anyone but Jellie to celebrate with. BDubs shyly asks him to the dance. (It takes Scar a moment to realize this isn't a joke. Then he accepts, genuine blush and stutter and all.)

Wels begs False and Stress to help him with a boquet. They do, on the condition that Wels presents it to his Valentine to Be during Drama. Of course, they're doing costuming, and Wels has to give it to beef while he's half dressed in a purple suit. Beef, thinking its Wels getting into character, jokingly tells him to give it to his college in crime, Stress as Lady Crimson. He is Decetive Plum after all. (Their school is performing Clue). Wels explains it's a serious gesture and Beef apologizes and takes the bouquet and accepts his offer with a kiss to the cheek. (The drama teachers, Steph and Mat, don't have the heart to tell them off seriously. Steph has to be the one to tell them to save the sap for between classes, but she's nice about it. They gush about how cute it is after class.) ((Yes, Steph and Mat from game theory. I apologize if this isnt allowed. They're only here for this one headcanon verse.))

TFC and Cub, being the awful yet hilarious teachers they are, are taking bets on the whole thing. And they volunteer to chaperone (as dates, they joke. The students love the bit they have going. Cub even gets TFC a box of chocolates.)

I think that's everyone. 2/2. Sorry its long!

-🦊

What a chaotic bunch! Let’s hope Cub and TFC can handle them...

[poppytea333]

Here is all of the Grian incorrect quotes I have so far, some of them are made up while others I switched up a bit. Also I have a headcanon where Grian is kinda of depressed after leaving Evo, I also have a headcanon where Grian and Doc are rivals but still cares about each other (short of, it's like. If one gotten hurt the other would say some rude comments and the other would just go along with it). I also have another headcanon that Grian, Npg, and Robo Grian are all brothers and that even though they fight they do care for one another. Grian is the eldest of the brothers while Robo Grian is the smartest of the three and then there is Npg, the innocent and dumb one but is also the mischievous one besides Grian. Also yes I do ship Npg and Ex (There will be a lot of different ships in here as It turns out I am a mutilshipper).

Disclaimer: These incorrect quotes will have reference to death, depression, cuss words and such. These are surely just for fun! Please don't take this literal, also can someone please give Grian a hug and a break. It looks like he needs one.

---------------------------------------------------

Grian to Npg who currently has tnt: Um, excuse me sir. Where did you get that? *Noticed that Npg has disappeared* Um o-okay, this is fine.

Grian: If you're over 5'10, or 5'10 you are a tree, if you are under 5'10 you are a squirrel. Find your tree, claim it. It's your tree now.

Grian to Mumbo: Listen, I don't know when to shut up but when I do. It's probably because I am thinking about what I am doing with my life.

Grian to Doc: I will kick your ass so hard that you would be yeeted to the Nether.

Grian talking about Doc: Ok, how do you politely tell someone you want to hit them with a brick?

Joe: One wishes to acquaint your facial featured fundamental item used in building walls. Repeatedly.

Grian: That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

Iskall: Fuck, Mumbo is going to kill me I fucking lost Grian

Iskall: *Sees Grian with TnT* Grian! Grian! Grian no! *Sees Grian fly towards Doc's base* Grian! Grian! Grian no! Goddamnit, Grian! 

Joe: Consuming 85 chocolate bars, 70 cups of coffee, 13 consecutive shots of alcohol, 2 ground cherry bits or 1.59 gallons of water is enough to kill you.

Grian: Oh. Neato. 

Grian: Hang on, I gotta do a trip to the grocery store. 

Joe: Grian no-

Grian: Time to go to sleep….

Anxiety: Sup bitch

Grian: Wha-

Sleep: Hey gurl, you taking the shift tonight?

Anxiety: Yup

Sleep: Great! *Walks away from Grian's bed*

Grian: Wait, where are you going?

Sleep: I don't know, somewhere? *Leaves the room*

Anxiety: Have fun! *Turns towards Grian with a smirk and jumps on top of Grian's footboard.* 

Grian: *Breathes in* I hate you

Anxiety: Fair enough, so here's a list of what has gone wrong in your life so far

Grian: Hold on! I'm having one of those things

Grian: A headache with pictures?

Iskall: Holy shit

Mumbo: He's having an idea

Grian: You're literally a Disney villain!

Robo Grian: Oh, I'm the villain?! 

Grian: Yeah!

Robo Grian: You left me with…. *points to Npg who is currently trying to eat Redstone* That guy!!

Grian: 

Robo Grian:

Grian:

Robo Grian:

Grian: Okay, yeah…. That's fair

Grian: *Taps table*

Doc: *Taps table to respond*

Xisuma and Cub: *Walks in* 

Cub: What the hell are they doing?

Xisuma: Morse Code

Grian: *Aggressively taps table*

Doc: *Gets up from his seat* YOU LITTLE BITCH! TAKE THAT BACK!

Doc to Grian: Kill yourself

Grian: Kill me yourself, you coward

Npg: All I want for Christmaaaass is-

Robo Grian: *Busts through the doors* Some GODDAMN PEACE AND QUIET!

Grian: *Accidentally cuts himself while cutting an Apple* Ow…

Doc:  Are you okay?

Grian: Ye-

Xisuma: *Busts in the kitchen with medical supplies* IS MY CHAOTIC GREMLIN OF A SON OKAY?!

Iskall and Mumbo: *Also busts in the kitchen through the window* DOES OUR SON NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED?!

Grian:

Doc:

Scar: *Walks in the living room to see Mumbo in all diamond armor and is equipped with a diamond sword and shield* What are you doing?

Mumbo: It's a war

Scar: What?

Grian, Tango, and Iskall: *Busts in through the living room door with sears in their hands*

Mumbo: NOT MY MUSTACHE YOU FIENDS!

Grian: *Screaming in his bedroom*

Mumbo: *Comes in the living room where both Scar and Cub are at*

Scar: Why is Grian screaming?!

Mumbo: He also took that "Which hermit are you" test…

Scar:

Cub:

Mumbo: 

Cub: Let me guess, he go-

Grian: *Busts through the living room door* I FUCKING GOT DOC! 

Impulse: Hey Grian, I have a question.

Grian: Lay it on me.

Impulse: If a marijuana plant were to consume another marijuana plant, would it be called cannabis-ism?

Grian:

Impulse:

Grian: WHAT THE FU-

Xisuma: So you're telling me that you went to a factory FULL OF GRIANS…

Iskall: Horrifying, I know

Xisuma:.... And you only got ONE GRIAN!?!?!

Iskall:

Xisuma:

Iskall: X…. Do you know how twisted that is?

Scar: Well I would've liked a Grian.

Mumbo: I would've liked a Grian too!

Doc: I would've hated a Grian.

EX: I would like a Grian… just so I could have s-

Iskall: Please don't

Xisuma: *Thinking* Why must I have a brother like this?

Doc: You're younger than me, because I remember dropping you on your head when you were a baby.

Grian: Well, what were you dropped on then, your face?

Doc: *Thinking* Fuck, he knows-

Kidnapper: We have your son.

TFC: Grian?

Kidnapper: Yes

TFC: *Looks behind him to see that most of the hermits are gone and turned back towards the phone* Yeah, good luck with that. *Hangs up*

Kidnapper: That's strange *Turns towards a tied up Grian* Anyways, looks like your little family isn't coming to help yo- *Sees the Hermits already had Grian untied and they all have weapons*

Kidnapper 2: Oh shit

*Screaming could be heard in the distance*

Joe: My hobbies include reading, reading, more reading and *turns towards Grian with a sword* killing people who won't let me read.

Grian: *Runs away, screaming* AAAAAAA!!!!

Joe: EDUCATION! 

Grian: Okay, so maybe I didn't get a healthy amount of sleep, but can other people do this?

Grian: *Stands up and immdentally blacks out*

Grian: *Sits back up after several seconds* I'm good!

The rest of the hermits: Grian, what the fuck?

Grian: MuMbO! I mIxEd RedBuLl wiTh CoFFeE aNd NOw I cAN SeE thE SOUnDs… SHoULd I wOoRrY?

Mumbo:

Mumbo: Grian, I swear to Notch-

Iskall: mUmBy! dO yOU WanT sOmE Co-Fe-fE? gIaIn MaDe iT!!!

Mumbo: *Screaming internally*

Doc: The floor is hating Grian!

Everyone: *Jumps onto an object*

Grian: *Bleps and falls to the floor*

Everyone simultaneously: GRIAN NO!

Ngp: Hey Exy! 

Ex: *Is drinking Coffee* Hm?

Npg: You wanna Netflix and Chill~?

Ex: *Spits out his coffee and is blushing madly* NpG I dOn'T tHiNk YoU kNoW wHaT tHaT mEaNs-

Grian: *Laying on the couch* Fuck I want to die…

Joe: Language, Grian!

Grian: *Smirks and gets up from the couch* Heckity heck, I cRaVe death!

Joe:.... Are you okay Grian?

Grian: Today, I. A grown-ass man. Started crying at Petco, because they had a cat whose birthday is today. And the sign said she just wants a birthday party and because I'm a grown-ass man… I bought her… *Pearl comes up to Grian who started petting her* and now I'm gonna give her the BEST GOD DAMN BIRTHDAY EVER!

Joe: If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands! *Claps his hands*

The Hermits: *Claps their hands*

Grian: *Doesn't do it*

Joe:....

Joe: Now who am I going to fight first.

Grian: *Chases after Iskall* Stop!

Iskall: SHOOT! *falls over and Grian falls on top of him* Grian! Get off me! I have to tell Mumbo you are sick!

Grian: Never! Mumbo will just go to 'Dad' mode!

Iskall: Fine then, I'll use my emergency call….

Iskall: OW MY EYE! I THINK I NEED SOME REPAIRS!

Mumbo: *Busts through the door* I WILL PHYSICALLY FIGHT WHOEVER HURT YOU!

Iskall: Mumby! Gri's sick!

Mumbo: Oh no! My poor baby! *Runs after Grian who gotten off of Iskall and started running away*

Grian: No! 

Npg: *Gives Ex a friendship bracelet* I made this friendship bracelet for you!

Ex: *Blushes* You know, I'm not really a jewelry person….

Npg: You don't have to wear it-

Ex: No, I'm going to wear it forever. Back off *Hisses*

[chromations]

Does any Hermit vary drastically between your AUs? Like, personality or physique wise?

oho!!! yes!!! doc, ren,etho, iskall, and i believe. so. i co-own the war au (from my friend Chrome) and the voidskall au (from my friend shadow) doc: in the war au, he gets a bit power hungry and violent against the hippies. very mean, lashing out, basically make doc very violent, remove most his good traits since he's so caught up in the disappearance of the nho. in hardcore jungle he is very smart, learning things very quickly and picking up on body movement and cues. he wears a thick green cloak, no lab coat, and his robotics are wrapped in vines. throughout the story i plan to make him go a bit,,, returning back to creeper. like full on feral. redstone soda: he's a tamed creeper, just like the other aus. and has an immense hate for birds and roses/poppies

 etho: redstone soda, he's an aetherkind. i havent done much in the story about it but thats spoilers if i talk bout it here. :). harcore jungle: f as t, precise, a bit cold but long hair with an undercut? m. love. idk about war au and voidskall tho. 

ren: due to me loving ren so much. he. i love he. but in hardcore jungle: ohohoh man. hes a werewolf and nobody knows. hes a feral boy. he is f as t. he is strong. i love he. this man? perfect. except for the fact he wants to murder. war au: OHOHOH MAN. He's like. hes insane at the point the story was last updated. literally.. hes werewolf. he fuckig whimpers himself to sleep oh goD the hippies need hugs in that au. all of them. theyre all going insane from being trapped. oh ofgodogdfg in redstone soda he is a dogman. common knowledge on the server, just a big ol dogy man :) he is friendly. he is huggable. he is dumb but KIND and he can COOK and ;o i love this man. and in uhh.. what else. oh yeah! 

SoTRP and Voidskall!! in voidskall he has two different rens, one from another universe sorta? idk. but there's Den, who is Void!Ren. and there's Phen!Ren, who's a phoenix man :>

 and in SoTRP, he's Phen!Ren as well, amnesia and all because he does not recall there being an icebird!mumbo in this world or kitsune iskall. personality wise? in SoTRP hed bully void into self care. he fucking saved him from dying and :) in an au of voidskall, where Den and Void die due to voidhounds, Ren accidentally kills Den when trying to protect him but actually shoots fire at him. he hides away, and while the other void hermits fight over whos the leader now, he and Avrian (void grian) talk it out. 

Avrian says he should be leader, and due to avrian being the one with the role of appointing new leaders, ren agrees and gets the signature golden tattoo. but he regrets it and hides in the void. but he goes insane, and rips off his feathers, cuts off his wing, just anything to get rid of his bird side. but its useless. he cant  do it. so his feathers start sticking together due to blood, tail feathers turining gold and into one long tail which he also dyes silver, his ear feather solidifying and turning into a horn the color of his skin, and his other wing becoming metallic and curved. 

his skin is blue, hair silvery. he bids farewell to avrian and hops into another universe. another world. because he has a new name. his name is now Den. and hes now an evil hermit in Redstone soda. 

 iskall: war au, hes on a77's side. he has adhd. hes scared of doc. hes just scared for his friends, scared for grian and ren. just scared. but he works for a77, believing his friends will get better. but they dont. Cleo and Joe help him out, they spend time devising a plan to find the hippies. until cleo gets bitten by a zombie horse, hides for a week, and when joe finds her in the snow, bleeding, and now a centaur, iskall panics and goes into the hippie commune, a mask on and ready to find em. he gets chased by a big spider aka ex. ends up close, but unable to find the hippies. 

 hardcore jungle: man. hes scared man. sure, he has the most comfort with bdubs, zloy, pixl, and ely in a treehouse. but hes scared for his friends. scared of the dark :( poor man needs break. 

 SoTRP and Voidskall: thats the name, he's voidskall. hes an ass. hes cold, turned from the void. he hates the voidhounds, wants to escape. but he cant. he has the shackles. but Ren helps the best he can, with his phoenix friend cuddling him sometimes. the heat, the warmth. hes barely felt it, being in the void. but he loves the warmth. also he needs SELF CARE GOSH DAMIG NNSJfksf 

 redstone soda; hes got an evil alternate known as Eskall. eskall despises shad (the nether being). hes been nearly mind controlled by glowshrooms. he knows what hes talkign about. but eskall ticks and fidgets by scratching himself, he cant focus. he accidentally prevents his redstone from working. iskall helps him out throughout the days of s5 loading in. also iskall is given the feathered protector, basically a legendary blade from the aether. he found the blade in the end when end busting with mumbo, but xisuma and siren actually told him what the blade was for and he was like "Ohhhh". 

also he is strong and i headcanon he works out with grian and false on weekends.

 bonus:

 cub: he is neutral in the war au, but he favors the hippies and tries to find them, working himself to sleep. in redstone soda, a part of his soul, disembodied (CubVex/CubBan), has the ability to split people into two (emotions/personality trait wise), and fuse people (eg: Doc and iskall in s5). Cub is aetherkind as well, and finds himself with the hermits in s5, waking up in scars base. because the evil hermits tried to kidnap him sorta, but badtimes was like: ok no not for us. give him to scar.

 scar: redstone soda au. he does not react well with potions. his scars? netherkind dealt those to him. hes been scratched by jellie on his hands. he scratches himself to keep himself awake as well (not healthy guys. but this is also me self projecting so). hardcore jungle au, the vex live in the crystal on his choker. he nearly died from the vex (chapter 2).

 war au, hes docs right hand man. hes just not enjoying the whole thing, but going along with it because hes too afraid to say no, and he is also under the guide that things are gonna be okay. 

 cleo: war au. shes on a77s side. she is a centaur some point through, though this is unwritten. she becomes a centaur because she is bitten by a zombie horse during research. she does not like being a horse. 

 mumbo: war au. hes more on a77s side, but also against, but also sorta not for the hippies. neutral, working against cub. he took as poultry man because he missed grian as well. he took one of cubs drones and with stress's help, he reprogrammed it for himself. also he has gone a bit insane if i say so myself also the meanie took iskalls adhd meds. dont do that folks

 also in redstone soda i will proceed to introduce grian as a shark man. because i love shar ks andi love grian :D whoa h i did not mean for this post to be so long-

[fluid-quartz]

its almost 2 am, i make poor life choices, and i just wrote a small ficlet based on @welsfight ‘s post about how ex eats and the weird theories that stemmed from it. i thought about putting the biggest part of it under the cut cause its like ~1800 words but i dont feel like it whoops

so without further ado, i present to you:

THE HERMITS AND THE MYSTERY OF HOW EVIL X EATS

It was a nice evening out, as they all sat around the campfire. Tango was sitting almost inside of it, roasting marshmallows for everyone that wanted them, and the others were just chatting with each other, about some of their projects and plans or simply about things that had happened.

Cub was looking pensively the whole time, as though he was trying to figure something out.

“Hey guys? Strange question, maybe, but… Do you ever wonder how Evil X eats, what with that helmet that never goes off?” The conversation around him dulled, multiple Hermits just staring at him for a moment.

“That… is a very good question,” said Zedaph as he jumped to his feet. He sensed there was a great game show in this, probably. “Ladiiiieeeeees and gentlemeeeeeen! Welcome to the first episode of How Do They Eat?! This time, we’re discussing Evil Xisuma!” A few of them chuckled, shifting in their places a little to be able to properly see Zedaph, who had just completely taken on his game show host persona, including putting a little desk of brightly coloured concrete in front of him.

There was only murmur for a moment, and then Bdubs stood up, dramatically clearing his throat.

“Well, I think he eats nutrient pills that he pops through a coin slot. So he can still have a balanced diet, you know?” As he spoke, Keralis’ eyes grew even larger than they already were.

“Slot machine? Did you say… Slot machine, Bubbles???” he said, not-so-sneakily looking around to see if Evil X was around somewhere. Iskall just laughed, and Bdubs looked at Keralis with judgment in his eyes.

“No, no, you can’t play slot machines on Evil X, he puts a cork in the coin slot when he isn’t using it.”

Keralis wanted to go against it, but Zedaph was quicker and louder.

“That’s an interesting theory you got there! But… Are there others? Surely you must have wondered before how he eats. Come, don’t be afraid to speak up!”

Doc immediately raised his hand, then stood up to speak.

“Guys. It’s obviously a teleportation ray. He just points at food, and it reappears in his mouth or stomach, depending on how lazy he’s feeling. It’s the simplest scientific explanation.”

“That’s a load of bullshit, Doc. It implies that he needs to eat, and we all know he’s secretly a robot. He just hasn’t shown it yet, right, guys?” Biffa interjected before anyone else could speak. There was some muttering about it, until Zedaph once more took over.

“Biffa, I appreciate the input, I really do – yes, yours too, Doc, don’t worry – but for the sake of the game, let’s assume he eats.”

“But what if he doesn’t? What if… What if he’s immortal! Immortals don’t eat, right?” Keralis butted in enthusiastically.

“Well, then we wouldn’t be playing this game, right? So! Theories! I personally think he can just remove a panel of his helmet, and then sucks it in like a vacuum cleaner. Or like Kirby, that might be closer to reality. They are both red, after all.”

“Kirby’s pink, Zed.”

“I don’t care, Tango, I haven’t heard you name a better theory.”

All eyes in the circle were suddenly aimed at Tango, who almost dropped a batch of marshmallows into the fire.

“Uh…. I uh… Maybe his helmet is just fused to his face? So like, it opens up when his mouth opens?” He sounded a tad unsure of himself, having to think up a theory on the spot. Still better than kirbying, though. Stress immediately started bouncing up and down on the ground, her hand raised high into the sky.

“Oh, oh! What if the glass part of his helmet just opens, so he can drop the food in?”

“Or the top. It could also be the top of his helmet that opens, like a fishbowl,” interjected TFC’s gruff voice. He sounded amused, though. Very much so.

“Wouldn’t that just create a very big mess? For all we know the bottom half can just open up separately from the rest, so he can just eat more or less normally,” Wels shrugged, looking over at Zedaph once more.

“Those are all very valid theories. A bit boring, though, and plain! There’s more points to be got with creative theories!” He was smiling widely, looking around at the others. Then he pointed at Iskall. “You! Iskall! What is your super mega awesome theory of doom?”

The swede looked bewildered, and thought for a moment. Then they could almost literally see a redstone lamp going on above his head.

“An airlock! Like in spacecrafts! That’s why the bit in front of his mouth sticks out a little, it’s so that food can first get surrounded by the Right Kind of air before it gets to him!” He was beaming, thinking his theory was the most clever one out there. Until Mumbo spoke up.

“Uhm… Iskall? How would he get the food from that airlock into his mouth?”

“I don’t know, maybe he just like… tilts his head backwards and hopes for the best?” Around him, various Hermits were laughing. The mental image of spooky, scary Evil X desperately trying to make a cookie fall into his mouth and failing horribly just did that to someone.

“Oh! If we continue in that vein a little… You know how items sometimes just kind of clip through walls? What if that’s how he gets food inside of his helmet? By having it just clip through? Sometimes it would just get stuck, though, out of his reach,” Impulse mused, smiling widely.

“Gosh, that would be soooo difficult to clean, though!” Stress sighed.

“Then he can just clip through some cleaning supplies as well, don’t worry about it.” Impulse chuckled, then stuck out his tongue at the face Stress made.

From the other side of the campfire, Jevin’s voice suddenly popped up.

“You know, I bet he eats enderpearls like eggs.”

The murmuring that had been present completely died down as he looked around, completely serious. Zedaph opened and closed his mouth a few times.

“That.. That wasn’t even the question, Jevin! Do you have any theories about how he eats instead?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I do. I think he just… He either boils them, and eats them with the crunchy scale, or maybe he just sticks a straw in to slurp up the insides. Evil X seems like someone that would do that.”

“ABOUT HOW HE EATS IN GENERAL, JEVIN, NOT ABOUT HOW HE EATS ENDERPEARLS!” Zedaph sighed, then shook his head and facepalmed. “Anyone else. Literally anyone. Please.”

Python mumbled something in response, too quiet for even the people around him to hear properly.

“Could you repeat that a bit louder, please?” Zedaph asked, and Python looked him straight in the eyes.

“… maybe he vores?”

“No. Nope. Cursed theory right there, ladies and gents. Python, please go sit with Jevin to think about your sins, and maybe you won’t go in the dunk tank.” He pointed over to were the grinning slime man was sitting, and Python stood up with a shrug, faking disappointment and fear for the dunk tank. Then Mumbo raised his hand.

“Okay, so, what if his helmet functions the same as Darth Vader’s mask? What if there’s just some kind of mechanical cheese grater that he can just put food through, so it can go through his helmet and into his mouth without too much trouble?” A bit of muttering sounded here and there, once again with sounds from Stress about how horrible that would be to get clean.

“What if… What if he just like… Photosynthesizes, man… like a flower, getting nutrients from the sunlight and from putting his feet in the dirt… how nice would that be, man...” Ren said, his drawl slow and relaxed.

“Ren, I think you had too many of those mushrooms, your Renbob is showing. Though, I think it’s quite obvious. He just uses a feeding tube to get his food in, or perhaps a straw and blendered food. It could simply go through a small hole in the helmet.” Scar then popped a few unroasted marshmallows into his mouth before continuing. “That way, there’s no mess at all.”

The theory earned him some nods, and then Cleo stood up. Slowly, to get the attention of everyone around.

“While all of you have great ideas, I think it’s obvious how it works. Evil X just eats like Sandy the Squirrel, from Spongebob.”

“And how would that be, Cleo?” Impulse asked.

“Well, he just… puts food into his mouth through the bottom of his helmet, where it connects to his armor. Of course, that means he has to open up his armor a little bit, but that’s done easily enough. I bet he has a zipper too.” She smiled widely, with a look in her eyes that said that she knew full well that there was no way that her theory was correct. It made Joe sigh dramatically.

“What is wrong with all of y’all?! He would just take off his helmet and eat like a normal person!” False raised her hand.

“I gotta stop you there, Joe. We both know that he can’t breathe Overworld air unaided, like X can’t either. So, let me propose the following: He takes a whiff of his inhaler so he got air for a little bit, then he takes off the helmet and he just starts shoveling in as much food as he can before putting his helmet back on. And then he repeats that until he’s done eating.”

“I can live with that,” Joe said, and then he looked over at Zedaph. “That seems like a good and valid theory, right?”

“It certainly does, Joe! But… Since we’re nearing the end of the episode, why don’t we ask X for some clarity? If anyone knows, it would be him. Let’s see how close we got, everyone!” He then proceeded to pull Xisuma to his feed, and pushed him to be behind the host desk. It made the admin chuckle, but he took on the role that was apparently expected of him.

“It’s quite simple, actually,” Xisuma started, “Just like me, he can use a breathing tube so he can just take off-”

He then got interrupted by Grian yelling “STOMACH MOUTH! STOMACH MOUTH!” repeatedly at the top of his lungs, because he couldn’t quite believe how easy and boring the solution was. Xisuma looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, and then he just shook his head as the Hermits around started laughing. He loved those idiots.

[redstone-sun]

Yes. Also plz look after yourself hon you're way too important to be laid flat I hope you feel better soon

alsdkjfs thank you so much???ANYWAY. SO. Grian and Mumbo are the main characters because of course they are. The POV sticks mainly to Mumbo because of course it does. Grian is a mostly-private detective who runs around London solving cases(most of the time) and at some point decides that he should hire someone to write down his exploits. Enter Mumbo, a struggling author, who jumps at the idea to get PAID for something. They solve a couple cases (including the Jangler case) before Grian gets the bright idea to solve the biggest mystery of the century: the body swapping serial killer Jack-of-Smiles. Of course, with London the way it is, it’s very hard to kill someone(that’s just how London works) but Jack makes do. The two set out to solve the case and run into a ton of hermits along the way(I have a character post I’ll reblog here in a sec). Cub and Scar run the Vexation and are allied with the Masters of the Bazaar. Joe is a poor writer who is rich in favors and secrets. Iskall is a constable who is a physical representation of “I can’t break the law, I AM the law.” Stress is an overworked courier who is sick of rats. Xisuma is a crime syndicate leader. False is a ring fighter and a member of the Black Ribbon which is basically a murder club. Doc is a doctor in…something…and is Seeking the Name. Ren is a young rake who runs messages for Doc and is a high ranking official in the currency exchange. Special guest appearances by Keralis the devil who is also known as Rally and Bdubbs(Braeden “Doubles” Oleander) the Seeker who returned from his quest with the Sevenfold Knock as well as Kakujo(not a hermit), who hangs out at Polythreme and has a very fast ship. UH YEAH THAT’S ABOUT EVERYBODY I’VE INCLUDED SO FAR, ASKS WELCOME

[shepscapades]

GOD DAYUM

So the part 5 thing huh? Welp IT'S GOOD I LOVE IT

Because X is my blorbo I just wanted to point out some things here

MMMMMMMM HE HAS LONG HAIR??? I mean *looks at my posts* long hair fits him absolutely [Still not sure if he has long hair or not but looks like he has his hair tied in a ponytail or in a bun, I don't know it just looks like it on the second image]

[oh and also he called him "Doc" again, instead of Docm which I don't know what could mean in this situation yet, but one day it'll probably make sense as we get more parts]

This Etho right here looks either terrified or confused, and I think it's because

X is going to go absolutely crazy and he's scared that X is now in control [based on the "you dropped your crown king'' caption that might refer to Etho who isn't the attacker anymore but could also refer to Xisuma which I'll explain later]

or

2. He finally snapped back into his senses

or

3. he sees X without his helmet for the first time and his good 'ol computer brain is like '??????? Who tf is that"

"you dropped your crown king" could also refer to X as his helmet got destroyed in process [being the crown] and from what I know, we don't know the reason for why X wears helmet in this AU. The most popular headcannon for his armour and helmet is that he's a voidwalker and can't breathe in the overworld, we don't know if it's a thing in this AU but if it is that could mean that now he's powerless, he "dropped his crown" - he became weaker, powerless against his enemy. Also Doc looks kinda scared, or maybe just surprised after seeing X's face for probably first time. [if he's scared, then he's probably aware of Xisuma's condition when it comes to air]

NESTLE CRUNCH

But also poor Doc he looks horrified

ALSO

*looking for lore through old posts* huh these seem familiar... WAIT

AND THE DATE THOSE WERE POSTED

[it's in Polish sorry, but it says 13th October]

SO THE COMIC HAS BEEN SKETCHED OUT SO EARLY?? Damn those really take long to do, I mean I was aware of that fact but It's been like 3 months since those sneak peeks have been posted and WOW THAT'S A WHOLE LOT OF MOTIVATION YOU HAVE HERE SHEP

[also only now noticed how in this panel Etho's body sketch is red as a sign that he's the danger in Doc's eyes and Xisuma's is green/blue. Oh and in the first sketch X didn't have his hair visible in the visor hee hee ]

So yes, loved it, even if there were only 3 images I still think it's amazing ! We got to see your Xisuma a bit [he- he handsome -makes big eyes]

Sorry for the long ask again!! just!! excited!!

Now I'm going into my drawing cave as I'm full of inspiration already bye bye <333

(also also to reiterate, I have no idea how long part 6 will take since I just kinda have rough storyboarding for the rest of the comic, and classes just started up again— this is my exhibition semester so most of my drawing energy will be prioritized for my grad gallery… we will wait to see how much energy I have left by the day for destruction :3)

ALSO ALSO ALSO! “You dropped your crown king” was absolutely me trying to find a silly caption for what’s supposed to be a serious/dramatic part of the story while also referencing the fact that Xisuma’s helmet shattered/fell off— there are many conspiracies and clues to be had here but I just wanted to clarify that that line is not one of them SFKDFGHJ

I will therefore also not directly respond to anything else being discussed here BUT thank you as always for sharing your theories and analysis!! It always makes my day >:D

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 29

Summary: Wels has a bit of a...discussion...with The Lord of Darkness

Characters: Wels, The Lord of Darkness (Hels, Ex, Xisuma, Tango, Doc, Keralis, Beef mention)

TW: Wels gets attacked so uh there’s that I suppose but nothing overly descriptive or gorey

——————

Wels didn’t know where he was. He was floating in darkness, nothing around him, nobody there. Everything was deafeningly silent.

You’re one of my best soldiers, Wels.

He turned to look around, finding nobody.

Why do you want to run?

He turned again, eyes landing on something in the distance. Tall, had red eyes of some kind, and weirdly enough, whatever shadows the creature was made of, they still stood out on the Void where he was. It was painfully obvious that sea shanties weren’t getting this to quiet down. He opened his mouth anyways, finding that no sounds came out of it.

Weird.

Wels didn’t panic, not yet. It wasn’t worth panicking yet when he still didn’t know what he was here for. Lashing out would probably just try to make the situation worse and fuel that weird other side of him that seemed to crave violence. That must’ve been what happened before he blacked out again, but this time not returning to any familiar sights in the overworld. Then one particular memory stood out to him among the rest he tried to recall before this moment. Beef, Xisuma’s base, the obsidian cell, Doc complaining about how loud he was singing….what time was it? Had it been hours? Days? But nonetheless, he remembered the name of this vile creature.

The Lord of Darkness.

You remember me, don’t you, Wels.

The Lord was now by his side, clawed fingers trailing over his neck. Briefly, a sting shot through his throat and he gritted his teeth. With a cough, Wels let out a pained noise, then a gasp, then a growl, and finally he spoke.

“Why am I here.” He snapped his head towards The Lord. The creature laughed.

“You best not question The Lord of Darkness. Your little twin is beginning to realize that those efforts are futile.”

Wels raised a brow, The Lord stepping to stand tall in front of him. “Helsknight?”

The lord scratched at his chin thoughtfully. “Yes, he’s falling soft. He failed my tasks, so he’s being punished for his disobedience.” In his palm, The Lord generated a small glowing figure of Hels and another of Wels. “I might as well let you in on my little secret since you’ll never be revisiting your body permanently ever again.”

“Wait what? You can’t do that!”

A sinister chuckled left The Lord. “Oh but I can, watch.” The figure began moving, the little Hels growing wings and hovering above the other little knight. “Hels used to be my champion, my strongest soldier. He was fueled by more rage than I’ve ever seen in an Evil Hermit.”

Then, the Hels figure lost its wings and fell back onto his palm, looking around with confusion while the Wels figure drew his sword. Quickly, the sword was lifted above its head and brought down on Hels. The two dissipated into smoke.

“But you, you’re stronger. You have more will than anyone, I believe you could potentially replace him.” The figures reappeared as life sized holograms a few feet away from them. “So I’m using you to punish him.” A figure of Xisuma and Evil Xisuma also generated. “And these two as well. Evil Xisuma also failed my tasks so Xisuma will do my bidding.”

“What are you doing to us? How do you play a role?” Wels asked.

“Simple, I use their malicious energy to fuel you and Xisuma. Without that, they’re nothing and really,” he laughed, ”they will die but who am I to care about that.”

Wels was only further confused. “Then why isn’t Xisuma here?”

“Because, my dear knight,” he pulled Wels’s chin upwards, claws just barely grazing his cheek. “They don’t know what’s happening to him, yet.”

The world shifted around them, bringing them to the roof Toon Towers. A bit away from them, there was Tango curled up painfully and Wels saw himself standing with the bloodied sword. The redness of his eyes was so disturbing, even if he’d seen them on Hels. The scene began playing as if it was in fast forward, Ex killing Tango, Wels panicking, Xisuma and Doc landing on the roof. After a second, it slowed down again. Wels was tied up, the knight expected as much. Though, he did notice that Xisuma didn’t seem like himself. No red eyes or snarky insults, but practically felt it in his own face when X threw a punch at past-him because of a mere insult to his brother. After witnessing another punch being thrown, Wels had figured out what The Lord meant.

“Oh no….” he muttered. “He’s still in the overworld, isn’t he.”

“Yes, on his way to see Evil X now, in fact with your friend Keralis. I made my own little introduction to them in that cell. Impulse and Doc were easy kills.” The Lord pulled up a screen displaying Hels leaning against Ex on the ship, noticeably very tired and if Wels knew anything, he simply just looked sick. “Yesterday, he visited Evil Xisuma to discuss some private matters of their own.” The Lord began to laugh. “He thought a mere confession of love would break him out of my grip.”

“Confession of love? I thought he-“

“He’s all of your hatred, yes, but you Hermits seem to have a habit of changing my little minions. Evil Xisuma especially, I’d say the two have been quite….” The screen changed to the two Evil Hermits sharing a kiss. “Intimate.”

“Oh. Well, at least he’s happy, I suppose?” He glanced at The Lord. “Is that supposed to make me hate him or something? I don’t really have a problem with,” he gestured vaguely, “all that.”

A soft chuckle was heard from The Lord and he shook his head. “No, no, but it’s useful information for my scheme. Soon enough, they’ll be dead as long as I use you and Xisuma. And with you two, I’ll destroy your world.”

“Why do you want to destroy the server,” Wels interjected. “Every time someone from Hels comes here, you always have this intent to just….destroy everything we love.” He glared at The Lord. “And every time, you’ve failed.”

“I’m not the one failing, Welsknight. They do.” The Lord made the images and the figure around them dissipate with the wave of his hand. “I come from a world made of all hatred and malice. In Hels, it’s our responsibility to influence your world, since not everything is sunshine and rainbows.”

“And your point is?”

“We have our intentions and you have yours. If you met our world, just one at a time, you’d want to destroy it too.” He moved to stand beside Wels, staring off into The Void with the knight.

“We wouldn’t,” Wels muttered, his hands balling into fists. “If you know what happened then you should know that Xisuma’s reaction to Evil X was not to kill him or destroy the world he came from.” He stepped away from The Lord, eying him angrily. “You know what he did?”

“Oh, please humor me, Wels. What did he do.”

“He took him with kindness.”

“He banned him, Welsknight, one of the worst possible things that could happen to any of them. And he would’ve done the same to each and every one of us.” The Lord stood taller, eyes glowing a brighter red.

“And he realized his mistake.” The knight stomped with his continuation. “And we took him in with fairness, a promise. That we would never hurt him or anyone he considered a friend.”

“Watch your tone, boy.”

“And for months he’s grown! He’s not your little puppet anymore!”

“I said….” The Lord lifted his hand, fingertips glowing an every red, a ball of light emitting from his palm pointed towards the knight. “Watch your tone.” That said, the ball of light shot from his pal and knocked Wels back with a force to throw him at least twenty blocks.

He landed on his back on some kind of surface in The Void. Solid ground of some kind knocked the wind out of him and he turned over weakly with groan.

“You know I’m right,” he spat. Wobbling in the process, he stood up and turned to face The Lord of Darkness. “You’re attacking me because you know we can change Helsknight for the better! All of the Evil Hermits for the better!” Another blast sent him flying even farther away.

“You Hermits! That’s all you do! You steal my subjects away from me, changing them from what they were destined to be! Do you even know what you’re doing to the world by doing that?!”

Shakily, Wels pulled himself to his knees. “It’s,” he coughed, “It’s not their destiny.” He turned to The Lord. “They’re not made to be pulled around by chains their whole lives! You’re starving them of freedom!”

More balls of energy came and went, throwing the knight every which way. He was right, he knew he was with the confidence of a thousand men. Where they were, this was his mind. He should be the most powerful here, more than The Lord of Darkness, be he wasn’t. Farther and farther he went until The Lord decided he had enough of pathetic attempts at changing Wels’s mind. He stomped over to the knight who took another hit, just barely standing once more, and picked him up by the neck.

“You will regret this, Welsknight. Your world and everything you love will be gone once and for all and me and my minions will roam free of your pathetic lives. You all won’t be around anymore, destroying the balance.” Wels kicked and scratched at The Lord’s cold, dead hands around his throat but to no avail.

“You- you don’t need them for balance-“ the knight croaked. With that, the hand around his neck tightened further and it brought a whimper from him. “You’re wrong….”

“Am I? You don’t sound so sure, Welsknight.”

“I-“ He sputtered as he finally realized he couldn’t breathe anymore. “I can’t-“

“I think it’s time you sleep again, Wels.”

With a sickeningly crimson glow around the two of them, he closed his eyes knowing that this was probably the last time he’d be fighting his inner demons. He was exhausted in his own mind. Hurt, angry, guilty, just wishing for everything to be over.

He thought of Hels. How he finally found his own home and happiness and how it was going to be torn away from him. He thought of Beef, how he dragged him into all of this. Xisuma, Tango, poor Tango, the sight of the injured demon was still fresh in his mind. Impulse and Doc were killed by The Lord of Darkness, probably suffering as they speak. Wels began to feel like he’d done more harm than good, even if it wasn’t in his control. He was losing the trust of some of his closest friends who just wanted to help him out of this state of mind. It felt like a worthless attempt to fight any longer. He couldn’t change anything even when he wasn’t under false control.

So, with those final thoughts, he gave in. His mind still screamed at him to not let go but what was it worth if he tried. What did he gain from splitting headaches and aching limbs and just fighting. Who was he saving when it only brought more distress.

Maybe Xisuma would have better luck fighting off the voices in his head.

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 28

Summary: Doc and Impulse respawn in Hels and meet a particularly familiar Evil Hermit.

Characters: Doc, Impulse, BadTimesWithScar :3

TW: None

———————

Wherever they respawned, it wasn’t their beds.

Groaning, Impulse and Doc pushed themselves off of the cracked stone which, contrary to how cold it usually was, was quite hot to the touch. Not enough to burn but enough to make it uncomfortable to continue laying on. As they sat back on their legs, they looked at each other with worry before turning their heads to scan the scenery around them. At first, they assumed that they were in the Nether, for whatever reason. But the sheer lack of disproportionately placed chunks of netherack and really any mobs at all cancelled those assumptions. They were on an island sat in a vast sea of lava, nobody else around. Looking up, the two discovered there was a sky. A very dark, red, muddy sky, but there was no bedrock at the top as far as they could see.

Doc stood, deciding to take some kind of action quicker than Impulse. He patted himself down to find his communicator but turned up empty handed with a growl.

“Impulse, is your communicator gone, too?” He asked while he looked around again for any signs of life. Nothing more than an obsidian tree behind them tipped with glowstone. With a step back, the creeper could see a portal of some kind in it, but completely unlit.

Impulse on the other hand checked over himself for his communicator but, like Doc, also came up with nothing.

“Nope.”

Putting his hands on his hips, Doc huffed. Okay, no communication with the other Hermits and they were stranded on some random island after being killed by The Lord of Darkness. Come to think of it, this could be the place where The Lord of Darkness resided. He thought back to a conversation he had with Xisuma weeks before. Xisuma told him that Hels said he was from a place lit only by fire and lava. Could this be the place? The Hels dimension? But where were the other Evil Hermits if this was the place, didn’t they have a home here somewhere?

The creeper grumbled to himself. Questioning everything wasn’t going to help him, nor Impulse, for sure. They needed to find a way off of this island and back to the overworld. He turned to Impulse who hadn’t stood yet, just watching Doc while he looked around the place. The poor guy did look a bit shaken up and that also reminded Doc….

“What happened when you opened that door?” he asked.

“Um, well there was that weird shadow creature-“

“The Lord of Darkness.”

“Right, that. Wels was just kinda staring at me but he looked really surprised. Like wide, bright red eyes. But, after a second, these huge shadowy hands just came at me and,” Impulse gestured to himself. “Went inside me. It felt like all of my organs were being ripped apart. After that, I was out.”

Doc nodded along to his recap, trying to piece together any kind of useful information from it. All he could come up with from his own experience afterwards and given their current appearances, they had no armor or weapons. Just in case, he pulled up his inventory as Impulse did the same. Yeah, no weapons, not even any food either. Knowing The Lord of Darkness, that thing wouldn’t hesitate to let them starve.

“Okay then,” Doc muttered. “Got nothing, but I think I know where we are.”

Impulse perked up. “You do?”

The creeper nodded. “Kind of, but it’s a solid theory. I think we’re in Hels.”

“....Hels like…..?”

“The dimension, Impulse.” The other nodded with an ‘oh’. “But, if that’s the case, there’s more Evil Hermits here somewhere and they're probably not nearly as nice.” Really, it set the bar pretty low to say that Helsknight was nice by any means, but whatever didn’t kill them on sight was what he was considering to be nice at the moment.

Impulse only became suddenly curious. “Weirdly enough, I….kinda wanna meet them. Imagine like yours is a red creeper,” he snickered.

“Ha ha, this is serious, Impulse. We need to find a way out of here. I’m wondering if we’ll just respawn here by jumping into the lava….”

“Oh, you’ll die, but not by lava.”

The two snapped their heads to the voice, Impulse standing and joining Doc near the tree. However, they were only overcome by surprise at the figure standing at the edge of the island.

“Scar? No wait, evil Scar,” Doc concluded.

The man snorted. “Smarter than ya’ look. Name’s BadTimesWithScar. Friends call me Oscar, but you two,” he eyed them pointedly, ”are not friends, are you.”

It was odd seeing the face of their friend look so downright cynical. All of the scars that Scar had over his face and neck were still in place on this alter ego. BadTimes was dawned in a similar outfit to what Scar usually wore, the brown jacket and creamy white button up complete with a hat. Only this one wore black and all of his clothing was tattered to some extent. Spikes littered the tops of his shoulders and the man wore fingerless gloves. It was almost like a weird punk version of Scar. But he didn’t look like he planned to play games.

“If we’re not friends, why are you here?” Impulse asked. BadTimes just rolled his eyes.

“Lord said I need to to take ya’ to Hels,” he shrugged. “You try anything fishy, I have your head. Got it?” They nodded hesitantly. “Good,” he finished with a sly grin. Really, it only made them miss the overworld more than anything.

BadTimes walked closer to the edge of the island where lava bubbled and popped on his boots. He gestured to the vast pool of lava. “Down there’s the castle, but you need wings.” He pulled elytra from his inventory, shoving them into the others’ chests. Yeah, they really wanted to go back to the Overworld. They were already beginning to miss Scar’s kind nature.

As they put on their elytra, they were surprised at how each set of sings just looked the same. BadTimes threw on his own and deep black bat-like wings spread across his back as did Doc and Impulse’s wings. Really, Impulse naturally had very dark wings but they were feathered and tipped with yellow. Doc’s wings usually were a set of one natural green webbed wing and a robotic counterpart.

BadTimes stepped aside with a sinister smirk. “After you, boys.”

“But won’t we-“

“Nope, hop in.”

Hesitantly, the creeper decided to go in first, mostly expecting the Evil Hermit to just prank them by letting themselves die in the lava. He took a running start and jumped, diving into the lava and spreading his wings when he found that he wasn’t in it for more than a second and he was falling. Giving them a few flaps, he steadied himself in the air and hovered there, noting that they didn’t need rockets. The stark difference in scenery down here was also mind boggling. He flew back up and through the lava to show Impulse that he was completely fine.

“Impulse, you have got to see this.”

Excited at Doc’s sudden wonder for whatever was on the other side, and that he wouldn’t die, he jumped in as well, BadTimes following after him. When he finally spread his own wings after falling for a second, he gasped at the scenery below him. There was greenery and a castle of some kind littering the area. If he was correct, Helsknight said at some point that nothing grew in Hels.

“I thought nothing grew here,” he commented.

BadTimes didn’t spare him a glance, his eyes also on the scenery below. “Everything down there is artificial. Just some fake greenery I put around because I hated the red. Hate plants too, but better than nothin’ I guess.”

That also made Doc curious. “Did you terraform all of this land?”

That brought a proud grin to BadTimes’s face and he held his head a little higher. “I did.”

With that, he dove down and flew towards the castle. It stood tall among burnt villages and destroyed farms of many kinds. Really, if nothing grew here, they didn’t need farms, but who was to say anyone didn’t come to the overworld once in a while to steal a few things. Doc and Impulse followed behind him. Within a few seconds, the trio landed in front of the doors and BadTimes glared at the guards who opened the doors with a growl. Doc and Impulse just glanced at each other with some form of concern set into their faces. They kept to following BadTimes, but halted their walking at the sight of who was on the throne.

“GRIAN?!” The two yelled in unison.

“Evil Grian,” BadTimes corrected. “That there is NPC Grian. Got more raw power on his own than the majority of Hels. He’s our Champion.”

NPC Grian looked towards them with a plastered grin. “Hello! My name is NPC Grian. Would you like to learn how to build a rustic house?”

Initially, the two snickered at the automated phrase, but the NPC, they found, was not red eyed like the other creatures in Hels. BadTimes wasn’t either, actually. His eyes were a bright, almost glowing, yellow-green and the NPC’s eyes were one of the brightest shades of blue they’ve ever seen on a player.

And they’ve met Wels.

Unlike Grian’s outfit or anything really similar to it, NPC Grian wore fairly formal attire. He was dressed in a black and red vest trimmed with gold and a creamy white shirt underneath which the sleeves hung inches away from his elbows. He stared at them expectantly, probably waiting for their answer.

“You say no, he’ll force you to build forever,” BadTimes whispered to them. “You say yes, he’ll go easy on you.”

They looked at each other, then meeting the NPC’s gaze. “Uh….sure?” They answered in unison. The piercing gaze lifted, a genuine smile brought onto the NPC’s face.

“I like you two!” He cheered. “That is just a test. Since you said yes, I am letting you wander around for a few hours before The Lord of Darkness tells me what to do with you.”

Well, it wasn’t building for all eternity, they thought. Impulse nudged Doc’s arm with his elbow.

“Doc, we can meet the other Evil Hermits, see what’s going on around here, get some help,” he muttered. The creeper nodded, turning to BadTimes.

“Seeing as we're allowed to roam, why don't we meet other Evil Hermits.”

BadTimes grinned, glancing at NPC who nodded, then turned back to them. “I don’t see why not.”

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 23

Summary: Tango goes to have some cake an hot chocolate with Stress.

Characters: Tango, Stress, Xisuma (Doc, Hels, Wels, Keralis, Impulse mentions)

TW: None I don’t think?

————————

They were all in shock at the event.

Xisuma was seething.

Doc was pulling Beef and Wels out of the cage.

Tango had shot the arrow, much to their surprise.

Hels was still stuck in his other state of mind, not showing any signs of returning to his usual sadistic self. Tango’s hands were shaking from shooting his friend for any reason that wasn’t to just mess around. But again, it wasn’t Wels. It was a weird substitute for Wels that apparently had more willpower than he did and that really said something.

Thankfully, the knight was unconscious now. Only one arrow wasn’t enough to kill him and that’s what he hoped for. If Wels died and respawned, while he wouldn’t be too far away, it was safe to assume whatever that thing was had control over him and would have him flying off somewhere else in the opposite direction. Really, at some point it would come out to be a stupid plan. They’d message everyone to capture Wels on sight and given how spread apart everyone was across the map, hiding spots weren’t too evident. A search team of about twenty odd people would find him within an hour at most.

“Tango, are you alright?” Xisuma asked him. His head snapped towards the admin.

The demon exhaled shakily. “I shot him,” was all he said, still staring at the scene in front of him.

“I know, I know, but you did the right thing, Tango.” Xisuma’s voice wavered too much for Tango’s liking. He seemed just as panicked as everyone else was. Yet, his hands were balled right around his sword and his eyes showed none of the usual softness behind his visor.

Tango shook his head, disregarding that statement. “I shot Wels, X.” He gestured vaguely at the knight. In the spur of the moment, he forgot that it was Wels simply being controlled, firing at him instinctively. But after it all, it was still his tiefling friend.

“Yes, you did. But you also just saved Beef from being hurt more than….that.” He gestured vaguely and then put a reassuring hand on Tango’s shoulder. “You can leave if you like. You don’t have to be here.”

Well thanks, Tango wanted to say bitterly. Not quite what he wanted to hear, but Xisuma had a point. A shaking mess of a demon who could now barely hold his bow wasn’t too useful in this situation. Before Tango could accept the invitation to leave, the admin was already typing into his communicator, presumably asking for more help. His hands dropped to his sides defeatedly.

“Okay,” he muttered, taking one last look at the unconscious pair. “Keep me updated?”

“Will do.”

With that and a quick pat on the back, the demon rocketed away from the sandstone building. While he flew, he took out his communicator to see who was coming to help in his place. Preferably more than just one person, he thought. Probably someone fairly close by. Thankfully, he doubted Stress would be accompanying them and her hot chocolate sounded quite good right now.

<Xisuma> We need some backup at Beef’s base

<ImpulseSV> I can lend a hand

<Keralis> Me too

<Keralis> On my way

Well, at least they had people who Wels didn’t just try to kill an hour earlier. Tango was still a bit shaken up by that. So, he decided to visit Stress, seeing as she wasn’t accompanying them. Rather than taking the Nether Hub, he opted to take the long route to think and simultaneously clear his head. He kept thinking about Evil X for some reason, but that was justified quickly when he thought back to Xisuma.

Knowing the admin, he could probably just ask about it later, but he didn’t really want to press into matters that weren’t his, jokingly or not, given what’d happened earlier on from doing so. He also wondered about Evil X and how nervous the guy looked before flying off to his base. Poor dude, maybe Tango should’ve at least tried to understand what happened. After all, Xisuma was rare to anger and when he was, Tango didn’t imagine that it was pretty, be it cold silent glares or outright rage.

Nonetheless, it would probably leave you upset with yourself more often than not.

Slowly, he crept up on the familiar giant butterflies crawling around on the jungle trees and the pink topped buildings. The butterflies glanced at him but continued their activities. He landed on the glass rainbow to get a better view of the surrounding area. The demon looked around, not initially finding Stress, but after a few more seconds his eyes landed on the familiar pink cardigan. Strange, he thought she’d still have the T-shirt on, but who was he to judge when that landed him in a mess on its own.

At the sight of her, he grinned and glided down to the pathway where she was.

“Hey Stress!” He waved.

She turned to him. “Oh, Tango! Fancy seeing you here. I thought you were with Xisuma.” She tilted her head in question. “At least I thought anyways. Saw something goin’ on, I assumed you stayed with him.”

“Uh, yeah, I was. Then things got a little heated so I left,” he answered.

Stress nodded. “I saw they needed some backup. Mind telling me what happened? Nobody really knows what’s going on besides the few of you.”

That’s right, they hadn’t really explained in chat, or to anyone else really, what was happening with Wels and Hels. Tango grimaced at the thought that Wels would probably be waking up soon and lash out again. He didn’t want more people to be hurt, especially not Beef. Beef was such a nice guy and genuinely wanted to help both knights. He didn’t deserve how much he was hurt by it. And Impulse was there too now, and that was an accident waiting to happen. He didn’t want one of his closest friends hurt.

“Tango, you alright there? You’re spacin’ out a bit.”

The demon shook his head, ridding himself of the previous thoughts, and coughed awkwardly.

“Well uh, you know how Beef has that cloning machine, right? And Wels used it?”

“Vaguely, but yes.”

“Well, something’s gone wrong recently. I mean, not that it hadn’t before after he used it but worse this time.”

Stress began leading them inside her brewery, nodding along to him. “What happened the first time?”

“Ah, apparently it made this evil clone, I dunno if he met you yet-“

She perked up happily. “Oh, you mean Hels! Yes, yes, he’s a very interesting fellow. Very cooperative, too, I had to care for him because he came in from HelsCraft lookin’ like a mess.”

Tango raised a brow, suddenly interested in what she had to say instead. “Looking like a mess? Nobody really mentioned anything about that when they came over. Just said Hels wanted to meet me and moved on.”

“Oh yeah, had a dagger in his stomach and everythin’. Looked real painful but he’s a tough cookie.” Stress smiled as she sat the demon down on some stairs near a small kitchen she had built earlier on. Not too great for the overall area and stuck out against the few stands but she apparently recently put one in each of her builds in case of events like these, or just to keep baking convenient. “Care for some cake and hot chocolate? No offense, but you look like a mess, too. Could use some sugar.”

And always prepared with sweets.

Tango snorted. “Sure.” He sighed, continuing his story. “Anyways, so after all that, apparently he and Wels began like….switching places? Hels is becoming nicer and Wels….” he trailed off, grabbing Stress’s attention.

“What about Wels?” She leaned against the counter thoughtfully.

“He….came over because he shut himself off from everyone and I pestered him with some trades. But, after telling him that his offers were crap, he tried to kill me.”

Stress fumbled with the cake knife as he said that, her face twisting into worry. “Kill you?! Why on earth would he try to kill you over a trade?!”

The demon shuddered, the knight’s smirking face burning into that back of his mind. “It wasn’t him, Stress. He keeps being taken over by this….weird dark force or something. You should’ve seen his eyes, Stress, they were as red as mine!”

“Oh, goodness. Are you….alright? I mean, we all saw earlier that Evil X killed you, though. We just assumed he was causing some mischief.”

Tango shook his head. “Wels nicked my wing and I just,” he pushed his hands away from him, conveying a falling motion,”fell right into one of the towers.” He circled his arms around himself. “He didn’t help me. I couldn’t speak ‘cus I was hurt. But, I guess just by coincidence, Evil X came over and just….he said something about just going ahead and killing me and after that I was in my bed.”

Stress had momentarily forgotten about the cake and mugs sitting next to her, invested in his story. She had a hand over her mouth in sad surprise. “Did- did anything else happen?”

“Ah….Evil X came in, said Xisuma needed me to come with them. We go back up and Wels has these nasty red marks on his face but he’s still all evil and whatnot. Doc had him tied up and they just left. Suma wasn’t looking too good though.”

The lady eyed him curiously. “Not looking too good?”

“He was looking like he was gonna pass out. He said something about how he apparently hit Wels, something else about not affording to lose another Hermit.” Tango perked up. “Hey, do you know anything about that? I mean, I’ve been here for a while and the servers changed and stuff. Some people left, but he said it like….someone died or something. Like permadeath.”

Stress shook her head with pursed lips. “No, sorry Tango. Is there more to the story or do you want to eat some cake now.”

Slightly, Tango smiled. “Cake first.”

With a grin, she cut him a slice and moved to get some milk and cocoa beans for the hot chocolate. The two fell silent while she worked, pouring the milk in a small pot and placing it on top of a furnace where some heat began growing. She began to hum absentmindedly and cut herself from cake as well. Within a couple minutes, the milk warmed and she finished up grinding the cocoa beans with sugar.

“You like yours with whip cream and marshmallows, luv?” She looked up at Tango who was busy picking at something on his shirt, probably just to pass the waiting time.

“Hm? Oh yes, that’d be nice. Thanks, Stress!” The smile on his face grew and Stress couldn’t help but to warm at the sight of it. At least she had a knack for cheering up her friends with her recipes.

“Right then, they’re done!” She placed the cake and hot chocolate on a tray and had the demon follow her to a lounge-like area through a painting. Well, he’d never seen this before. Looks like she had a whole bunch of surprises.

“This is my private room to chill out once in a while, don’t tell anyone. I have a bunch of these.” She sat on a pink sofa tucked into one end of the long, thin room. “Given what on earth happened to you, I’m deeming you worthy to see it,” she added with a smile. Tango sat on the sofa as well, feeling how plush the cushions were.

“Guess I’m just that messed up now, apparently,” he chuckled. “Thanks again, Stress.” He took the cocoa happily.

“Anytime! If you need a sit, just come right on over.” She took a sip of her cocoa. “I really do hope Wels gets better though. And Hels too. Can’t imagine being kicked out of your own dimension.”

“Me too, Stress, me too.”

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 16

Summary: Beef and Doc begin a plan to bring the two knights back into balance.

Characters: Evil Xisuma, Helsknight, Doc, Beef, Wels mentions, Xisuma mentions, Impulse mentions, etc.

TW: None

————————

Ex was confused when he couldn’t find Hels at his new base after finally finishing his tasks with Impulse. He didn’t think the man was too interested in simply visiting other Hermits without some sort of personal gain or without Ex in general.

Well, a step in the right direction he supposed. Though, now he was lonely and needed someone to bother and the majority of the Hermits were busy with their projects. Even Xisuma which Ex hardly cared enough to huff about.

That was if the knight hadn’t gone back to Hels.

With the waiting game came more spiraling thoughts. Back and forth his mind went between over a hundred different ideas.

And yet, he stilled on one. The new knowledge that he in fact liked Hels romantically. Loved him, even. At least he and Xisuma thought.

While Hels was beginning to warm up to Ex much more than he thought was even possible, it still lingered in his mind that the entity wasn’t exactly made of anything good. Romance being one of them. Wels was more common to be the one lightly kissing the knuckles of the ladies and shower others in compliments. Hels merely made snarky insults.

But that wasn’t the case now, he knew. That was certainly odd to him. Hels was showing more liking to praise and general affection be it a pat on the back or a light punch to the shoulder. He even began reciprocating some himself and Ex, despite really knowing the other for just less than a month, knew that even that wasn’t very like him.

Maybe with the lack of status as the Champion, he might’ve thought to finally put in some effort to be kind. Not to mention that if he continued with the plots to destroy the server like Ex did, he too would get banned to the void until he mustered up enough power to return again. And that in itself was a hefty task that Ex didn’t want Hels to ever go through.

Emerging from the lava burned. Summoning ghasts was exhausting. Trapping Xisuma in other games was just not worth the trouble he went through to make it happen. Especially since it was all for nothing and in the end, it was just better to be better. Do good and whatnot, help the hermits, apologize to Xisuma.

Possibly, that could be what was happening but Hels hadn’t really existed for so long. Not long enough to really constitute for some kind of redemption.

And again, Ex could be waiting for nothing. The knight could’ve just made it seem like he was staying and be nice but he could’ve just found another way back to Hels and Ex would be back to square one trying to make more friends again and the other evil Hermits weren’t exactly the nicest bunch.

Though it was a thought in the back of his head, he pulled his communicator from his pocket and simply decided to contact Hels.

<EvilXisuma> Hels where are you

It was already strange how long it took to respond. At least a good minute or two.

<Helsknight> I’m fine if that’s what you’re asking. With Beef.

Again, strange. Maybe he planned to finally talk to Beef. But he wanted to be sure everything was alright with the knight.

<EvilXisuma> Can I come over there

<Helsknight> Sure.

As he threw on his elytra, his communicator buzzed again. Must’ve been one of the other Hermits but he wasn’t fond of stacking notifications. Before lifting off, he took one last check on it.

<Welsknight> Beef why is Hels with you? I said for him to stay away

<VintageBeef> Checking up on some things

<VintageBeef> You should probably come here too. Somethings up.

<Welsknight> No.

Last Ex checked, Wels would’ve gladly come to the butcher’s village if it was urgent. He knew the knight was a fan of his own time but he’s not the type to reject such a request. It also got Ex thinking about what Hels was doing with Beef. If he was with Beef and something odd was happening, did Hels have something to do with it?

Especially since Wels wasn’t acting like himself. And Ex hoped that he was just in a bad mood from losing all of his stuff for the third time that season.

He took to the skies with that thought and it took no time at all to land directly in front of the building that held the cloning machine. He could hear some kind of conversation, though not enough to understand what was happening just by eavesdropping. But that wasn’t what he was here for. He came to see what was going on for himself.

He didn’t quite prepare himself for what he saw though.

Beef, and Doc surprisingly, we’re at Hels’s sides while the evil hermit sat slumped on a table at the back of the room, noticeably uncomfortable with the situation. Now this was unusual and he hoped it had nothing to do with the machine that was evidently repaired with finer craftsmanship. Sadly, Ex was wrong.

“What’s going on here?” He asked.

The two other men glanced at each other with slight concern and that only made Ex’s stomach churn. Beef made a gesture to the scientist to ask him to explain. Doc sighed.

“Well, to be blunt, something went wrong with that machine when Hels over here was created. That or the fact that he inhabited the vessel after it was created but we don’t know if this is what caused whatever is going on right now.”

“Does that have to do with why Wels-“

“Yes, that’s why Wels is being an asshole,” the butcher interrupted. “And Hels is being nicer. Nicer than what would be normal anyways, and emotional. Not quite Wels, I’d say, just not as rude.”

Ex glanced at Hels but the knight avoided his gaze with a frown. “Hels, are you alright?” he simply asked. Wordlessly, the other merely shook his head. “Yeah that’s really odd, especially for him. What do we do then?”

This time again, it was Doc’s turn to answer. “First, we need to get Wels over here. He’s meeting up with Tango and that’s just an accident waiting to happen. Ex, can you go get him?”

“Can do. Uh….He won’t kill me though, right? He’s not that evil yet?”

Something about the tone of the question made Doc’s face twist a bit. “I dunno yet, why?”

“You realize I can’t respawn, right? He’s a thousand times better at PvP than me, too.”

The scientist huffed. “All I can say is that you need to fly as fast as possible if anything happens but I doubt it will. Beef said it’s only been happening for about a week so I don’t think he’s that far yet. No offense, but I’m more concerned for Tango here.” The butcher nodded to say he was too.

Ex only deflated at the last sentence. “Right, right. I’ll get going then.”

“Just please be careful, if he can’t come here then there’s a possibility that this will go downhill,” Beef added.

Ex nodded and unfurled his wings, taking off to the Toon Towers. That was where he assumed the pair would be. Otherwise, he’d be looking for hours. If he asked in chat, Wels would probably just interject and try to move them somewhere else.

Poor Hels. If Wels hasn’t done the stupid cloning thing when the machine was still choppy, none of this would’ve even happened. Hell, Hels probably would’ve never had a vessel if it was all done right the first time, he thought. It wasn’t fun to think about given his current boy problems, but it was plausible.

As he came up on the towers, he could make out the faint silhouettes of two people on the roof of one of them. One quite obviously laying on the ground and the other….

The other with a drawn sword.