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thetomorrowshow · 1 month ago

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Whumptober Day 12 - Starvation

title: eve or the serpent?

fandom: hermitcraft smp

cw: starvation

“Please.”

Cleo growls at him—at Joe, they trusted him, they can't believe that they could ever have trusted him—

“It's safe, I promise.”

“No, it's not,” Cleo snaps, even as her stomach stabs through with lancing pain.

An apple. An apple is all that Joe holds out to her, and Cleo doesn't know if he's the serpent or if he's Eve but they know that to partake would be the end.

“Cleo.”

They had given him their name. That's how much they had trusted him.

They were so terribly, terribly stupid.

Joe was different, she'd thought. They were friends. They were inseparable, as nervous as it made everyone in town.

The artist’s daughter and the púka. What a foolish pairing.

Cleo still remembers when they met—as she strayed a little too close to the forest during recess, kicking a rounded pebble along in the grass, only seven years old and already well-versed in avoiding the fair folk. She carried a cold iron ring, a protective charm in the necklace that was commonplace for children, a salt packet in her pocket and enough knowledge to recognize and keep away from any fairy circles.

This fairy wasn't what she'd expected, though.

He was a little boy, with goat horns and dirty clothes, tears pouring down his face as he tried fruitlessly to pull his leg free of an iron trap clamped around his ankle.

He was bleeding, blood trickling down between his toes, and he blinked up at her with big, golden eyes and she knew that she wouldn't leave him, fae though he clearly was.

“You can call me Scully,” she had said, because of course she had been taught to never give her real name.

The little boy couldn't have been older than six, and Cleo's chest puffed up as the oldest and therefore the one in charge, and she set the fairy free.

You aren't supposed to do favors for the fae, but Cleo didn't know that.

When the boy showed up a week later as she played at the park and helped her spin the merry-go-round, she just thought she'd made a new friend.

He became Joey when he turned up one day with tall ears and a thick tail (they had read an an alphabet animals book the day before, and he had been enraptured with the kangaroo), and she had laughed and told him he was too small to be a real kangaroo, but maybe he could be a joey. She carried him around in a makeshift sling like a mama with a pouch, both of them giggling the whole time.

Everyone in town avoided them. Cleo's father was angry at first, then scared, then resigned. It makes her want to smile, remembering the fear in his eyes slowly fade to tired acceptance the first time Joey had come to dinner, when she was around eleven, and they had caused far too much chaos together without a word of communication between them.

For the most part, it was just Joey and Scully, together against the world. Cleo didn’t mind that she didn’t have any other friends. She had Joey, and Joey he stayed until Cleo was fifteen and Joey was too young of a name (he was a teenager too, hair long and face scrawny and floppy dog ears hanging down to his cheeks) so he became Joe.

“Don't tell him your name,” her father had said, again and again and again, once he gave up on trying to argue with her. “I won't stop you from having a púka as a friend, but never give him your name, all right?”

Cleo should have listened to him. She should have taken that one piece of advice, even if she ignored all the rest.

It was her eighteenth birthday when she told him her name.

They had thought, at that time, that they might be in love with Joe. They hadn't felt so close to anyone ever, so they gave him their name in case something was truly there.

Joe had gone still, his golden eyes blinking owlishly at her (an apt description, his mouth beak-like, his ears pointed and feathery). “Scully—you shouldn't—”

“I don't care,” Cleo had said brusquely. “I'm Cleo. Freely—”

Joe cut her off with a hand to her mouth, head swiveling around to make sure they were alone.

“Don't say that,” he had implored. “Never say that. Freely given can be accepted by anyone, Scully.”

“But there's no cost. You don't owe me anything.”

Joe had just let his hands fall to their shoulders, concern writ in every line of his face. She had always been able to read his emotions so well, no matter what face he wore.

She had loved him, but not like that. She had loved him as her closest friend, her Joe, who had always been there.

Even now, he's here, at their side, at the end.

The traitor that he is.

He had carried them, taking the form of a horse as he so often did, through fields and over streams and into the forest, and Cleo had known the way and had laughed and enjoyed the wind on their face until everything went dark.

They awoke in a labyrinth.

A maze of twisted trees, Joe nowhere to be seen.

She wandered for days. She had so trusted Joe that she had neglected to pay any mind to wherever he took her, and that had clearly been her downfall.

She walked, and walked, and walked, until she was faint with hunger and thirst, until she had collapsed and could barely even crawl.

Days, she thought. It felt like months, but it was probably just days.

Laughter rang from the trees around them, and they covered their ears. This was what she’d always been warned away from as a child—a fairy circle, sometimes a dance, sometimes a maze, always a disappearance.

There was no way back home. There was no way of telling how long it had been out there, if anyone they loved even was still alive.

All she knew was that it had been long enough for her to die, and now—if Joe wouldn’t stop pressing this apple into her face—she will.

She doesn’t want to eat it.

“Please, Cleo,” Joe begs, and they register vaguely that Joe never uses their real name. She had given it, but he never used it.

Not until he was trying to make her do something that would change her forever.

“I . . . I don’t want it,” they say, lacing their voice with every ounce of venom they possess. “You . . . you. . . .”

“I know,” Joe says, and Cleo thinks he might be crying for some reason. There’s a shift, and then their head is in his lap, and Cleo can’t help from melting into him as his fingers gently comb through her hair.

She was nine the first time she practiced braiding on Joe, and he had made it extra long just for her to practice.

He learned how to braid, as well, and she gave up on braiding her own hair and just let him do it whenever the fancy struck him.

His hands are more familiar in their hair than their long-gone mother’s. Isn’t it cruel, to find comfort in his touch now?

“I’m sorry, Cleo, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry it took me so long. But you need to eat something, we need to get you out of here.”

“But—but—”

She turns away as he presses the apple closer. Her stomach jerks with piercing pain again; her breath is stolen from her lungs.

“I know,” Joe says again, his voice soft. “I know. But you have to. I’m sorry, but you have to. Then we can find our way out, okay?”

If they eat that apple, they might never die. They might be bound to Joe forever.

Is that worse than starving to death?

Cleo looks at the apple out of the corner of their eye, glaring at it. “I don’t . . . I don’t like . . . Red Delicious.”

The apple changes in front of them, Joe just twists his hand a little and it’s green, a little bit of condensation dripping down it in the most appetizing way.

“Granny Smith, your favorite,” Joe murmurs, his free hand still caressing their hair. “We can leave afterwards, I promise. But you have to eat.”

Cleo closes her eyes.

A tear slips out.

Then they take a bite.

#whumptober2024 #no.12 #starvation #hermitcraft smp #fic #hermitcraft #hermitblr #zombiecleo #joe hills #zombiecleo fanfic #mas writes #fae!joe au goes brrr #if bdubs was in this au he'd be a pixie #just so everyone knows #i actually have written a follow-up from joe's pov #that'll be out in a couple of days i think #ok back to the homework grind #lmk what you think #love you guys

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errorryx · 4 months ago

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unraveling — part one, season eight

read on ao3 | hermitcraft, 2.2k words

This fic was written for the MCYTblr AUfest (@mcytblraufest)! My artist was @ghastspidergwen, who made this beautiful doll for the AU! please go give that post lots of love, it would mean the world to me <3

—

There are two new server members this season, and for most of the hermits, this is their first look at either of them. It’s probably a little intimidating for Pearl and Gem to be stared at from above by everyone else, but it’s difficult for most of them to remember to be courteous about it, because they're too busy staring at Pearl.

Players on Hermitcraft have always come in all different shapes and sizes, but none of them have ever been anything like Pearl. She’s a player like the rest of them, that much is obvious, but her body appears to be made out of wool, rather than any sort of organic material. Her eyes are buttons, and she has soft fuzzy antennae protruding from her hat that look like feathers.

Pearl stares back up at them, a slight grin on her face. She has yet to do much in the way of moving. Finally, when it comes time to introduce herself, she hops up to join the rest of them, moving around as easily as any other player.

Eventually, one by one, the hermits come to the conclusion that everything must be in order after all. They graduate from staring to sneaking occasional looks, and they do their collective best to treat her like any other player.

Because if there’s one thing Hermitcraft is known for, it’s things that defy logic with their very existence. And in that respect, Pearl fits right in.

—

Shortly after the Boatem Pole incident wraps up, it occurs to Mumbo that he’s gone and joined another club for the season—and that one of the other club members is a newcomer that he’d really like to know more about.

He figures Grian is his best bet for information about Pearl, seeing as he’s the one who invited her to the server in the first place. Mumbo finds him offloading his inventory into the start of what’s sure to be a formidable chest monster, and asks, “You know Pearl pretty well, right?”

“Of course!” Grian says. “We’ve been friends for years.”

“Has she always been…you know.” Mumbo carefully considers his choice of words. “Did she use to look any different?”

Grian shrugs. “Maybe.”

“You don’t know?”

“A lot of people have looked a lot of different ways over the years.” Grian closes the lid of the chest. “You can’t expect me to remember everything.”

He has a point, unfortunately. “What about since the last time you saw her?”

“You mean ten minutes ago? I doubt she’s changed much since then.”

Mumbo rolls his eyes. “Before today.”

“That was…a couple months ago, I think. Or a couple years. One of those.”

Sometimes, Grian is an extremely frustrating person to hold a conversation with. “I just want to know why she’s made out of yarn and stuffing!”

“Oh! Why didn’t you just say so?”

“Because—” Mumbo stops, realizing he might be equally at fault here. “I thought it would be rude.”

“Well, to answer your question,” Grian says, “I haven’t the slightest idea why she’s like that.”

“You never asked her?”

“I thought it would be rude.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” Mumbo points out.

“Excuse you! I don’t go around asking why you’ve got that mustache.”

Mumbo strokes the mustache in question, feeling a little self-conscious. “I think it’s a nice mustache.”

“Me too,” Grian says. “I also think Pearl looks nice the way she is.”

“So do I,” Mumbo agrees quickly. “Really, I do.”

“Glad we agree!” Grian pats him on the back, and Mumbo leaves even more confused than before.

—

Grian’s still thinking about his conversation with Mumbo when he goes to ask Pearl for help with a build.

The build in question is actually a prank on Mumbo, but that’s not why it’s on his mind. In the few weeks since they spoke about Pearl, it’s occurred to him that there is something a little different about her—he just can’t quite put his finger on it.

“Have you gotten a haircut recently?” he asks her. “It looks nice.”

“Don’t be silly,” Pearl says. “You can just tell me you like my new wings!”

Right, of course. The wings. Grian feels a little embarrassed that he didn’t realize. “I do quite like them,” he says. He knows that Pearl’s wings have been there since the beginning of the season, it just hadn’t occurred to him that they were new. Like he said to Mumbo, he doesn’t keep track of these things.

“I appreciate it.” Pearl pokes him in the shoulder. “I like yours too, you know.”

“Yeah, well—” He rolls his eyes, his feathers instinctively fluffing up at the acknowledgement. “They aren’t exactly new.”

“I still like them!”

“Thanks.” Grian takes a closer look at her wings. They’re grey moth wings with a similar texture to the fabric that makes up the rest of her body, though they have more detail than any of her clothes. With such a small wingspan, they shouldn’t be aerodynamic enough to get Pearl off the ground, no matter how little she weighs. “You can’t fly with these, surely.”

“Not with that attitude I can’t.”

“I’ll be very impressed if you manage to prove me wrong.”

“Oh, yeah?” Pearl walks outside through the left-side door, and Grian follows through the trapdoors in the center. “Watch this!”

The way she rises is odd, to say the least. Grian is intimately familiar with the process of taking flight, and he’s pretty sure Pearl’s method violates the laws of physics. It’s not so much that she’s flying as it is that she’s being lifted, like an invisible hand is pulling her up by the feelers and holding her there, letting her dangle inelegantly in midair.

“Ta-da,” Pearl says, spreading her arms open.

Grian squints up at her. “When did ‘Suma give you access to creative mode?”

“I’m not cheating,” Pearl says, offended. She turns her back in midair, displaying her wings, which are slowly flapping back and forth. She begins to bob around in the air, sort of like a slow-motion hummingbird. It’s only marginally more convincing than her initial ascent.

“Fine,” Grian agrees, if only to get her to stop. “You can fly. I’m impressed.”

Mostly, he’s disturbed. His wings itch just looking at her.

“Thank you,” Pearl says, and much to Grian’s relief, lands beside him. “So what’s this about a tree war?”

The vague plans that have been taking place in Grian’s head will require flight for them both, but he really, really doesn’t want to watch Pearl hover like that ever again. “First things first,” he says. “Let’s get you an elytra.”

—

Keralis is no stranger to the unusual. He knows he’s a little unusual; people tell him so all the time! And unusual things are constantly happening around him, only some of which are his fault. But Pearl is really something special.

The first time she comes to visit, Keralis ropes her into a scheme he’s just come up with, which is to get a clock from Bdubs so he can do some interior decorating. This is only part of his motivation—he takes to the extraordinary like a moth to a flame, and there are many extraordinary things about Pearl. He wants to discover them all.

Like her player head, for instance. Normal player heads, dropped in the event of a player's death, have a very simple effect: when equipped, they give someone the physical appearance of that player from the neck up. Usually they don't feel like anything, but Pearl’s head behaves a little differently. The first time Keralis tries it on is a very disorienting experience.

He and Pearl continue to meet up over the course of the season, hatching various schemes to try and swindle Bdubs out of even more clocks. Tango joins them for their third meeting, and Keralis wears his Pearl head again. It still feels very funny, and he decides that sharing is caring. “Here, put on a Pearl head!” Keralis says, throwing Tango his spare.

Tango puts it on, and now two Pearls are looking back at him. “Is it supposed to feel like my head is full of cotton?”

“Yes, that is perfectly normal,” Keralis assures him. “You get used to it!”

“He’s right,” Pearl agrees. “I’m very used to it.”

Keralis squints at her in suspicion, but he currently has buttons for eyes, so he’s not sure if anything actually happens. “Was there a time when your head was not full of cotton?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Pearl says, “what with the cotton in my head and all. Makes it hard to remember these things.”

Keralis respects and admires that Pearl wants to maintain an air of mystery, so he laughs along. But he does not quite believe her.

—

On the day they decide to tear down an entire castle and rebuild it on Bdubs’ mountain, Keralis and Pearl wind up killing each other for fun midway through the project. Mumbo arrives with his end crystals to further complicate things, and after several rounds of recreational murder, Keralis puts on Pearl’s head again.

He knows what to expect by now, so the strangeness of it doesn't catch him off-guard. The interesting part comes when Pearl retaliates by putting on one of his heads. Keralis isn’t sure what he expected, but it’s not a knitted version of his own face staring back at him, complete with oversized black-and-white buttons for eyes.

“You've got a lovely head on your shoulders, Pearl,” he says. “Not terrifying at all.”

Mumbo turns to look at her too, and jumps about a foot in the air. “Good heavens!”

“What?” Pearl says, the picture of innocence. “Have I got something on my face?”

She blinks—and, come to think of it, Keralis can’t remember whether or not he’s ever seen Pearl blink before. Maybe he has, and he never noticed, but it’s hard not to notice when her eyes are so much larger. Mumbo seems to notice the same thing, because he asks, flabbergasted, “How on earth did you just blink with button eyes?”

Pearl does it again, twice in a row. Keralis is no closer to understanding how she does it, but he’s all the more invested in watching her to find out. “How do you blink with your goopy eyes?” Pearl asks.

“Oh, very easy. We use our eye muscles!” Keralis tries to demonstrate, but finds himself unable to do so. “Sorry, one second.” He pops off the Pearl head that he’s wearing and bats his eyelashes. “See?”

“Muscles, right. I’ve heard of those.” Pearl stretches her arms up to her head. “You used to have some, right, Mumbo? Do you still have ‘em?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you’re a potato? Last I checked, potatoes don’t have muscles.”

“Yes, but surely…” Mumbo looks down at his arm, poking the skin—the peel?—around his wrist. “Oh, dear. Do I have muscles? How am I meant to tell?”

“I know!” Keralis draws his axe. “We can slice off a little piece of you and look inside!”

Mumbo goes faintly green, resembling a poisonous potato. “I would really rather you didn’t.”

“No, I like this idea,” Pearl agrees. “Aren’t you curious, Mumbo? I know I am.”

“And we could also find out what your head looks like on Pearl’s head,” Keralis suggests.

Mumbo sighs. “Fine,” he says. “But only because I strongly suspect you’re going to do it anyway.”

“I promise I will be careful,” Keralis says, crossing his arms behind his back. “Just a teeny tiny slice.”

“I don’t want to watch.” Mumbo holds out his arm and looks in the opposite direction.

Keralis cuts into Mumbo’s arm. Unfortunately, he misjudges the amount of strength needed to cut through a potato with a large axe, and ends up slicing off Mumbo’s entire hand. “Oopsy-daisy.”

“Ow,” Mumbo says, as Pearl picks up the hand from the ground. He sounds more annoyed than agonized. “Really?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay! Five minute rule, remember? You will be good as new after a nice respawn.”

“He’s potato all the way through,” Pearl reports, showing the hand to Keralis. “You don’t even have bones, Mumbo, see?”

“Can I get that respawn now?” Mumbo asks, still refusing to turn his head.

“Of course!” Keralis slices him through with the axe, then does it again. The hand that Pearl’s holding disappears, as does the rest of Mumbo, who pops up at the nearby respawn bed while Pearl picks up his player head from the ground and plops it on.

Similarly to Keralis’s head, Mumbo’s head on Pearl’s body is made out of interwoven material with button eyes. This time, however, the yarn has been replaced by what appears to be little strips of potato peels.

“Well, that’s distressing,” Mumbo says, summing up what they’re all thinking.

“I can’t see what this looks like,” Pearl says, “but it smells like raw potatoes in here.”

Her specification of raw gives Keralis an idea. “I wonder if we could put Potato Boy through a furnace?”

“I think I’ve had enough scientific experimentation for the day,” Mumbo says, gathering up his things from the chest. “I need to put an end to this whole potato business as soon as possible.”

After he leaves, Pearl walks over to the crafting table. “We could put his head through the furnace.” She crafts a furnace and sets it down, taking off the Mumbo head. “Aw, it won’t go in.”

“Too weird for normal Minecraft,” Keralis says, shaking his head.

Pearl laughs. “Story of my life.”

—

Next part >

if you read this all the way through and enjoyed, please consider reblogging!

#aufest 2024 #pearlescentmoon #mumbo jumbo #grian #keralis #hermitcraft #my writing #my stuff #no shipping in this one btw (by request of my artist!)

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firebug-mother-nicknamed-me-this · 9 months ago

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✨️Welcome to my Grian HeadCannon rant✨️

Hi, so I'm writing this on my phone while watching Hermitcraft. Lol. These are thoughts that have been bouncing around my head for a while.

-Grian's wings-

I think they shapshift. Think about it. We, the audience and the artists, are constantly making different variations of Grian. Either through the art itself or through headcannons. "Cannon" wise, we are the Watchers, and We gave Grian his wings.

There's Parrot Grian, which is pretty much default Grian at this point. Then there's white winged Grian, which could either be a dove or a chicken. Theres the desert birb Grian because of Life series Desert-Duo. There's the recent King Fisher Grian because of his fishing addiction this season. Then there's his Watcher form, which usually ends up being biblical accurate angel. Which I think the multiple wings are the different kinds of bird avian hybrid We make Grian into. (This will probably be the only "original" thought that's been going through my head. The rest of this is me compiling HCs I've heard/seen/watched and have been brimming full to talk and analyze, tho the analyzing will probably be a different post lol)

-Grian's Family-

There's a lot of HCs when it comes to family connects to Grian. There's YHS background that left him as an abandoned kid in Japan. Nadia225 gave Grian adopted Mafia parents, which is really cool, and you should watch their videos because they're really talented. And they gave Grian Bio-parents where one is a Water and the other is a Listener. And they're royalty. There's HCs of him being adopted by Philza (which honestly makes no sense to me because I think Grian is older than Philza. Character wise too.) And then He gets adopted by Xisuma. So parental figure-wise, there are a few to choose from.

Sibling wise... that's even bigger. There's the classic Jimmy and Pearl. There was one of Scar and Pearl being sibs to Grian. (The sibling dance animation that I can't remember the youtubers name to credit) There's Etho, through choice, with Nadia225 (or that's how I've interpreted their interactions lol). And then there's Martyn who gets thrown in, too. (But this just might be me.) Back to parent Philza, Grian gains Wilbur, Techno, Tommy, and occasionally Tubbo as younger brothers. I guess We see Grian as a big Family dude. (^○^)

Extended family tho... I have yet to see anything about aunts and uncles, not even grandparents, and my brain isn't coming up with anything.

Parent Grian always ends up adopting Tommy, but I think I've seen at least 2 fanfics where it was Tubbo instead.

-Watcher Relationships-

It's so weird. Like. Do We have a Feral Sibling relationship with Grian. Or are We mortal enemies. Is he traumatized by Us, or has he fully accepted being a Watcher. Like, I love the angst fics as much as the next Watcher, BUT PLEASE, I NEED MORE POSITIVE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN US, would love any fic recs anyone has, lol.

-Martyns cannon-

I still need to actually research this one, but at the end of Evo (Grian pov) it is /heavily/ implied that Grian joins the Watchers, seemingly by choice. Then I moved on to hermitcraft 6-9 and binge watched that. So if there's any Martyn Cannon that can be added on plus his "headcannons" feel free to do so!

Other Hermit HCs on the way. :]

#grian #Hermitcraft #hermitcraft headcanons #my 2 cents

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thefireintheshadow · 7 months ago

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don't ask questions

[sequel to come downstairs]

“I’m worried about Grian,” Gem said thoughtfully, swishing her legs back and forth in the water. She liked to hang her bare feet in when she wasn’t fishing, still be connected to the river.

“I don’t think you need to worry about him,” Pearl replied, and her voice sounded a little lower, like she might be getting sick. She’d been off today, but Gem hadn’t been able to really put her finger on why.

Things were weird. Grian had torn apart his secret room and hadn’t come out of his base for days. She’d thought he would feel better getting the mending book but it was almost like he was hungover from it.

Or, he was sick, and now Pearl was getting sick too. Illnesses tended to travel quick around Hermitcraft considering everyone was so close.

“He’s just been so reclusive, which isn’t like him,” Gem continued. “He hasn’t even checked his mail. I tried to bring him some soup but he didn’t even seem to be listening to me.”

“He’ll be fine,” Pearl said, and Gem turned to study her, really look at her.

Her forehead was a bit shiny, was she sweating? “Are you okay? You sound like you might be coming down with something.”

Pearl sighed. “Gem, you should really stop asking so many questions,” she said, and smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Just, go about your business, mate.”

Off. Wrong. What the hell was going on? “What is that supposed to mean?” This was Pearl. Her Pearl. She’d never been so, cryptic so…ominous.

“Well, gotta get back to work,” Pearl said, slapping her knees before getting to her feet. “Later, Gem.” She didn’t come in for a hug, or wave or wink or even look back, and Gem shivered despite not being cold.

Over the next few days, Gem watched Pearl. She tried to be casual about it, just dropping by the post office, sending her funny messages, trying to see if her friend was getting sick or how she was acting.

Pearl just got colder and colder. Gem tried to visit with Grian but he wouldn’t even open his door anymore.

She finally lost her patience, deciding to talk to someone about it. Hermitcraft had been so quiet lately, it was eerie. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Mumbo around, and usually he was zinging about doing some kind of weird task.

“Etho,” she called, hoping she still sounded casual and friendly as she landed outside of his house. It was gorgeous, of course, because he had to be a redstone genius and an artistic builder. Was there anything this man wasn’t good at?

She blushed. No, there really isn’t, she thought, thinking back to their last sparring-turned-sex match.

Usually he responded to her call pretty quickly, with a teasing “Geeemmm,” but there was nothing. She’d thought for sure he was home, he’d said earlier in the chat he was working on his storage system.

“Knock knock,” she called, letting herself into the house. Just beyond the threshold, her heart stopped and her legs turned to lead at the sight of red splashed on the floor.

Not redstone. Not redstone not redstone not-

She sank to her knees. Why was there blood on Etho’s floor?

A folded piece of paper lay next to the splatter, corner of it soaking up a blotch of crimson. She reached for it with shaking hands, unfolding it, and her pulse roared in her ears at the words scrawled across it.

stop asking questions, gemstone

Gem didn’t bother knocking – she kicked Grian’s door in.

“What the hell?!” Grian mumbled, squinting as light from outside bathed the dank space. He clutched a blanket to him – had he been sleeping on the floor?

No time for that. “I need to know what the hell is going on right now,” she demanded, and tossed the bloodied note onto the floor in front of him.

He blinked at it, cringing away as if it might bite him. “I told you-”

“I know what you told me, and I want to hear the truth now,” she snapped. “Pearl’s been acting super weird, you’ve been acting super weird, and now Etho is…” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Etho is gone and it’s because of me. And I think you know why. So spill.”

Grian stared at the paper, still not touching it. Gem huffed and knelt on the floor, unfolding and flattening it on the floor.

“Gemstone,” she said. “Skizz calls me Gemstone. I can’t find him anywhere, and his chests have cobwebs like he hasn’t been back to his base in awhile. The last time I saw him, he was hanging around here, before you started locking yourself inside like an agoraphobic.” She glared at his quivering form. “Tell me. What. Happened.”

Grian rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, groaning softly. “I…” he ground out. “Beef has gone fucking crazy. He thinks he works for some fish mafia and he had Skizz torture and murder Mumbo in front of me.”

Gem’s blood ran cold, and she sat back hard on her ass, bringing a hand to her mouth. Out of all of the things…she hadn’t expected him to say that. She didn’t know what she’d thought, but…not that. “Beef?” she asked dumbly, unable to fully form sentences.

Beef was one of the sweetest guys around. Skizz too, for that matter. And Pearl. Her Pearl. Who had warned her not to ask questions. What had happened to them?

“He told me to rip down my cod sculptures because…void, I don’t know, Big Salmon, it’s all so insane. And Skizz looked…” Grian gnawed at his fingernails, gaze darting around everywhere but at her. “He looked like a fucking fish, Gem, his eyes…” he trailed off with a shudder.

Her heart thumped hard against her ribs. Pearl’s forehead, she’d thought it was shining with sweat but…had it been scales? Was she infected with whatever thing was happening to Skizz?

“Grian, they have Etho,” she choked out, and her voice sounded so weak she hated it. But she couldn’t say the words without tears pooling in her eyes, without her heart threatening to shatter into a million pieces. What were they doing to him? There had been blood left behind, his blood, they could be-

She gritted her teeth, taking in a deep, ragged breath. Panicking wouldn’t help anything. “Do you know where they are?”

“No, no,” Grian said, voice barely above a whisper as he drew his knees to his chest, clutching the blanket back around him. “I did what they said and I just…I did what they said.”

She wanted to shake him. Scream at him to get his shit together. But she didn’t think that would help. Mumbo had been his everything. To have that happen, in front of him…and given his state they’d clearly terrified and traumatized him with more threats.

No, Grian wouldn’t be any help to her. She’d only endanger him if she tried to bring him in on this…this what? Rescue mission? She didn’t even know where to start looking.

If it were Beef, Skizz, and Pearl, she was outnumbered, and that was if they hadn’t recruited any more people. She was pretty sure if she needed to she could hold her own against Beef and Skizz in a 2v1, but not Pearl. Her bestie was skilled as hell, and…god, it was Pearl. Could she fight her? Potentially kill her?

Her heart clenched, and she dug her fingers into her hair, tugging at the scalp. How had this happened? Images popped into her head, unbidden, of Etho, hurt. Bleeding. Worse.

A strangled cry tore out of her throat. Etho. She’d burn the entirety of Hermitcraft to the ground to save him. Yes, she would kill Pearl if she had to. If she had to.

But she’d need backup.

“Gem, sheesh, you scared the crap outta me,” Bdubs gasped as he game around the corner of his shop with an armload of scaffolding. “Wanna come play-” Whatever he’d been about to ask her to do died on his tongue as his expressive brow furrowed with concern. “Are you okay?”

She must have looked wild, her hair mussed from tugging at it and her eyes still red from the little bit of crying she’d allowed herself before leaving Grian’s.

She didn’t answer him right away. She studied his face. His skin. His eyes.

He didn’t feel off. Her gut told her he was himself.

“Gem,” he repeated, dropping th scaffolding on the ground haphazardly. “What happened?”

“Have you seen Beef lately?” she asked, voice coming out hoarse.

His brows furrowed further. “Beef? Not in a few days. He was wearing a snazzy pink suit.”

She shivered, imagining a sick suit made out of fish scales. “Something’s happened to him,” she said. “And Skizz and Pearl. They killed Mumbo and traumatized Grian.”

“What?” he gasped. “What? No. Beef?”

She’d known this would be the reaction because it had been hers, too, but she was impatient. Every second that ticked by was a second they could be hurting Etho, or worse.

“They have Etho,” she said, urgency in her usually carefree voice. She didn’t even recognize herself anymore.

“No.” Bdubs’ arms fell slack to his sides, and he shook his head slowly in shock. It was a lot to process, she knew. “No.”

“They do. I need to find them and save him and I need you to help me.”

He made a strangled noise and looked at her helplessly, desperately. “Are you sure? Gem, I – Beef? Skizz?”

“There was blood on his fucking floor, Bdubs.” She drew the soiled note from her pocket and shoved it flat against his chest. He fumbled for it and stopped breathing as he read the words.

“Jeezus,” he breathed, and lowered the paper, looking lost. “What do we do?”

Her gaze hardened. “We find him. And do whatever it takes to get him back.”

They landed at the top of Joel’s massive staircase almost in unison.

“Joel!” Gem called, impatient to get past the storytelling part so they could get on with the finding Etho part.

“Sup, Gem?” Joel asked from up on one of his ledges, reaching up to smear glow ink on one of his decorative signs. “Hey, Bdubs.”

Before Gem could open her mouth, Bdubs cried, “Etho’s in trouble!”

Joel dropped down to the cobbled street, not even wincing at the fall damage. He straightened and drew his sword. “Where?”

Gem filled Joel in as they traveled, and he stayed silent, eyes hard. She’d never seen him so serious, jaw gritted, without a hint of that playfulness he always wore. It might have concerned her but he didn’t feel off either. This was Etho.

If anyone would go to the ends of the earth with her for Etho, it was Bdubs and Joel.

“So we should go to Grian’s and kick his door in,” Joel finally spoke, and Gem shook her head.

“I already did that, he’s been as helpful as he’s able,” she said.

“So where are we blumming going?” he demanded.

“Doc’s,” she said, veering her wings slightly to the right. “Bdubs said he heard something about him trying to blow Beef and Skizz to hell.”

“They made him build some salmon monument,” Bdubs added.

Gem might have snorted at that before all this, the thought of anyone trying to make Doc do anything. But now all she could hope for was some kind of clue.

They landed in the swamp, next to a giant machine that Gem couldn’t fathom the purpose for. But she didn’t spare it another glance when she saw the crater.

And Pearl, standing at the edge of it. She clutched her stomach as if she were going to vomit, and when she turned her head Gem recoiled – she looked almost alien, her eyes too far apart, bulging, flesh shiny and sparkling in the sun.

Joel stormed forward, sword firmly in hand. “Where’s Etho?”

“Joel, wait!” Gem cried, grabbing his arm. Pearl looked like she was in pain.

“Let him do it,” she rasped, and her voice sounded deep, like her throat was too thick. “Before it takes over again.”

“What’s happening to you?” Gem breathed.

“Big Salmon,” Pearl moaned, clawing at her stomach. “It made me…it made me…” She doubled over, groaning, and Gem couldn’t help it, even though she knew it was stupid to get too close, it was Pearl. Her Pearl.

“Gem!” Bdubs cried as she lunged forward to catch her best friend.

They crumpled to the grass, Pearl half-limp in her arms. Up close, she smelled putrid, like rotting ocean, her eyes glassy and mouth looking painfully stretched.

“Pearl,” Gem whispered, running a hand over her slimy, matted hair. “Where have they taken Etho?”

“Coords,” Pearl gasped, “pocket.”

Gem rifled in Pearl’s slacks pocket, the fabric damp and sickeningly slick. Somewhere behind her, Bdubs retched, and Joel moaned, but Gem focused on finding the tiny piece of paper in her pocket, pulling it free.

“You have to kill me, Gem,” Pearl pleaded, “I can’t – I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t-” She cut off on a moan, curling in on herself, and Gem’s heart broke.

“She killed Doc,” Joel called, voice with an edge of hysteria. “He’s-”

Bdubs retched again, and she realized they had been looking over the edge of the crater.

“I didn’t want-” Pearl shrieked then, fingers clawing at Gem’s shirt, and she reacted instinctively, shoving her sword through flesh and bone, spearing her best friend on her diamond blade, and a sob racked her body as Pearl’s limbs went limp.

She fell back, and Gem went with her, burying her face in her postmaster clothes, uncaring that they reeked of rot and bile, mingling with the coppery scent of blood now because she was dead-

Gem screamed, she couldn’t keep it in, she screamed til her throat was raw and it hurt-

Arms pulled her back and she thrashed, flailing, sloppy, her sword hit the grass, but it wasn’t an attack, it was an embrace, and Bdubs and Joel were there, and they held her as she cried for the fucking wasteland the world had become.

“Where do we look now?” Bdubs asked, wiping furiously at his eyes once Gem had calmed down enough to disentangle herself from them.

She uncurled her fingers from their death grip on the paper in Pearl’s pocket. She blinked back the last of her tears as the scribbled numbers came into focus.

“She said they’re here,” she said hoarsely.

“So what’s the plan?” Bdubs asked.

Joel stood up, swinging his sword in a sharp arc. “Fly in and fuck shit up.”

“Tempting, but Bdubs is right,” she said. “If they’re possessed by this salmon thing too...”

“We can take Beef and Skizz,” Joel scoffed.

“But it’s not Beef and Skizz,” Gem argued. “It’s this thing that’s possessing them. Pearl went feral.”

“And they could be going feral on Etho right now!” Joel cried, voice crazed.

Bdubs clenched his fists. “Stop it.”

Gem got to her feet, facing Joel. “I get it, okay? I can’t stop picturing…” She shuddered. “But we’re no help to him if we fuck this up. We might have the element of surprise here, and we should take advantage.”

“Or it’s a trap,” Bdubs pointed out. “As if they’d think nobody would come after Etho.”

“So I fly in and fuck shit up, and you two use the distraction,” Joel said, tapping his sword against his thigh impatiently.

Gem shook her head. “No, it should be me. If it is a trap, it was for me. They won’t be expecting you guys.”

“So I’m supposed to just sit back and blummin’ watch?” Joel cried.

“No, you’re supposed to save Etho,” she said, staring him down.

“Gem, no-” Bdubs said, but she whirled on him, eyes blazing.

“You want a plan or not?” she snapped. “That’s the plan, take it or leave it. His best chance is if they think I’m alone.”

Silence. They knew she was right. Gem knew the risks, knew they cared about her. They also knew that she was willing to die to save Etho. Because they were, too.

Joel curled a hand around the back of her neck and pressed his forehead to hers. “Fuck them up.”

Bdubs grasped her hand and squeezed. “GeminiSlay,” he said hoarsely.

“Get him out,” she whispered, struggling to keep her voice steady.

Joel stepped back and nodded. “We will.”

Gem soared closer to the coordinates and her heart sank. They’d been expecting her. Beef and Skizz stood on what on any other day would have been a beautiful grassy island in the middle of the ocean, a crumpled form between them, white hair splattered with blood.

No. No, no no no… Her gut roiled, vision going red with rage, and she drew her sword while still in the air.

“Careful, Gem,” Beef called, and Skizz grabbed a fistful of Etho’s hair, exposing his slender throat, flashing a glittering blade too close, too close to her love’s perfect skin.

She skidded her landing, holding out a hand, voice strangled. “Don’t!”

“Drop the sword, Gemstone,” Skizz said, and what was wrong with his voice, and his face looked horrifying, he was farther gone than Pearl, so distorted he looked more fish than man.

“Didn’t I tell you she’d come?” Beef asked, his hands clasped together behind his back as if this were a casual business meeting.

Etho looked dazed, bruised, one of his cheekbones purple, his mask gone, eyes glassy. He hissed as Skizz wrenched him closer, writhing a little, arms bound cruelly behind his back. His coat was gone too, leaving his arms bare, his black shirt ripped in places, fuck, what had they been doing to him?

“Drop the sword,” Skizz snapped, pressing the blade under the slope of Etho’s beautiful jaw.

She dropped her weapon, diamond thumping uselessly in the grass, and prayed that Joel and Bdubs would stay away for the time being. This was too precarious of a situation, one slip and all was lost.

“Gem,” Etho rasped, “get out of here.”

Not a chance, she thought, and silently begged him to just stay quiet.

“No, she wants to party with us, huh?” Skizz drawled.

“I want you to let him go,” she said firmly, hoping it was firm, hoping she didn’t sound as fucking terrified as she felt inside.

“I didn’t have high hopes for Pearl convincing you,” Beef mused, and at the mention of her name Gem’s gaze flicked to him. “She didn’t take as well as Skizz here.”

“Loyal to the cause, boss,” Skizz chirped.

“Pearl’s dead,” Gem choked on the words.

“Yes, I assume she is if you’re here,” Beef replied, still calm as ever. “I’ll cut straight to the point, Gem, Big Salmon wants you on our side.”

He was delusional. She could have almost laughed at the absurdity of it all, if Etho wasn’t bleeding on the ground. If her friends were still alive.

“This is a hell of a way to proposition me,” she said, flicking a wrist in Etho’s direction.

“We thought you’d need some motivation,” Beef said.

“All you’ve done is severely pissed me off,” she replied. She tried to sound strong, in control, stall for fucking time because she didn’t know what to do.

“You asked too many questions, and pissed off the big boss,” Beef said with an almost apologetic shrug. “I had to take steps. The best way to motivate someone is to threaten something precious to them.”

As if for effect, Skizz kicked Etho in the stomach, and Gem screamed as he doubled over. “Stop!” she cried, and took a step towards them, but Skizz quickly resumed his original grip, jerking Etho’s head back as he grunted in pain.

“Ah ah ah,” Skizz sang.

“What do I need to do?” she asked, head swimming. Even if she pledged her allegiance to Beef right now, how could they trust her? They weren’t going to let Etho go just because she declared she was on their side.

“Just a little procedure,” Beef said, holding up two fingers close to each other. “But you have to be a willing participant. Hence the motivation.”

The word procedure swirled in her brain. Of course it wasn’t just pledging her loyalty. They were going to turn her into whatever Skizz was, whatever Pearl had been.

“Gem, no-” Etho gasped, and there was a sickening crunch as Skizz slammed his boot down on one of his legs.

“Stop hurting him!” Gem cried, and tears threatened because this was all so hopeless, what the hell was she supposed to do? The longer this went on the more he suffered. “Just tell me what I need to do!”

Beef grinned, stepping aside and motioning to the ocean behind him. “All you have to do is walk in there. Big Salmon will determine your loyalty.”

Gem’s head swam as she gazed at the sparkling water. “How do I know you’ll let him go? I know what happened with Mumbo.”

“You don’t,” Beef said with a shrug. “But Skizz can just kill him now in front of you, if you prefer.”

“No,” she held out her hands. “No. Please. I’m going to do what you want.”

She took a step towards the water, despite not wanting to leave him. Guilt gnawed at her guts. Etho was here because of her. Because she hadn’t listened to Pearl. Pearl was dead now, also because of her.

“Probably best to leave your gear,” Beef added, and it didn’t sound like a suggestion, but a requirement.

Gem stared at Etho as she unclipped her elytra and let it fall to the grass.

No, he mouthed, his voice either gone or staying silent to avoid more broken bones. His eyes were desperate, pained, and it broke whatever shreds of her heart were left.

She dropped all her armor, emptied her inventory, none of it mattered anymore. “I love you,” she whispered, because she knew he’d hear it, and it was just for him, and she didn’t know if she’d ever get to say it again.

She turned towards the water and it bulged – bulged? – and she froze in shock as something emerged. It was a monstrosity, like a giant fish had been through the nuclear apocalypse, with sickly pink-green scales and lopsided gigantic eyes. Its mouth puckered at the edges, like ruched fabric at the bottom of a dress, and its mouth was mottled and black and smelled like death and decay.

She knew she had to go in there. She didn’t know how she did. The thing didn’t quite talk, but she felt its essence sliding around the surface of her brain, leaving a slick feeling in its wake. She shivered.

She knew it wanted her to walk into its mouth. It wanted her to become a part of it. She also knew if she didn’t, Etho was dead.

At least if she did, he had a chance, however slight.

“Gem!” he screamed as she stepped up onto its pulsing, spongy tongue. She didn’t look back. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep going if she did.

The rancid lips closed around her.

“-it’s not gonna work, Bdubs!”

“-they’re too close together-”

“-plan was if Etho wasn’t RIGHT THERE-”

“-she’s not gonna want us to-”

“-fuckin’ just go they can’t take all of us-”

“They’ll kill him!” Bdubs roared, and Joel’s mouth snapped shut. He’d never seen his friend so angry. Playfully annoyed but not proper angry. “I want to rush in there too, but we have to be smart.”

Joel let out a frustrated yell, scrubbing a hand down his face. They were perched on a tree a safe distance away, Bdubs having convinced him to stop and look through his spyglass to get a lay of the land.

The lay of the land didn’t look good. From what they could see, Skizz had Etho and Gem stood before Beef, her sword nowhere to be seen.

With only ocean between them and the island, there was no way to get closer, no cover, no way to have any element of surprise.

Joel knew Bdubs was right. But he hated not knowing what to do. He hated all of this. He was used to just running headfirst into danger and hoping everything worked out. It had gone fine for him so far but this time…this time other people’s lives hung in the balance. People he cared about deeply.

“I know what to do,” someone said, and both men startled, and it sounded like Grian but not Grian at the same time.

How could it be Grian?

Joel looked down at the water, and it was Grian, only he looked…wrong. His eyes were pure black, too large, glassy as if staring into space. He was standing in the water as if having just emerged, hair plastered to his forehead, dripping everywhere.

“Grian, what the hell, man?” Joel asked, and it came out far less forceful than he’d meant it to be. He hadn’t thought anything else could shock him today. He’d been wrong.

“Fly high above the island where they can’t see you,” Grian continued in a monotone voice as if he hadn’t heard anything. “Divebomb them as accurately as you can. Focus on Skizz, you will have to be fast if you want Etho to live. I will take care of the Salmon.”

The hairs on the back of Joel’s neck stood on end, suddenly struck with the feeling that this wasn’t Grian. That something else was using his mouth.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Follow my instructions or not,” Not-Grian said, then began to retreat into the water. He didn’t swim, didn’t turn, just began to move back, deeper, deeper.

“Wait!” Bdubs cried, but there was no response, and Grian’s head went under the surface, disappearing into the dark. “What the hell was that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Joel said, brandishing his sword. “It’s a plan, and it’s the only plan.”

“What about Gem?” Bdubs asked, voice strained.

“Gem knows what she’s doing,” Joel replied, and though guilt twisted his guts at the dismissal of his friend’s safety, he wasn’t wrong. When she’d parted, they’d both known that she was willingly going into a situation that would likely kill her. Their priority was getting Etho out. And he wasn’t going to shatter her last wishes, make her risk be in vain.

“Got rockets?” Bdubs asked, sounding defeated.

Joel nodded sharply, pulling out his stash.

Etho felt like he was dying. As the fish monster’s lips closed around Gem, he screamed, fuck whatever Skizz would do to him. His body was already so broken, but nothing hurt worse than losing her.

His mind tortured him, replaying the look on her face before she turned away from him, the cold fear in her eyes as she’d whispered I love you. He knew Gem. Knew when they’d taken him that she’d come. Knew that she’d do anything to save him, even sacrifice herself.

Knew that Gem loved fiercely, her stupid, beautiful, selfless heart. She had to know he was dead anyway. Beef wasn’t going to actually let him go. But she’d taken the chance, just in case, and even though he hated it, he understood. He would have done the same in her shoes.

Fuck if it didn’t destroy him, though. He hoped that they would end him fast. Hoped that she wouldn’t emerge as some brainwashed fish monster that they’d make kill him. He didn’t want that to be the last thing he saw. He didn’t want her fear to have been the last thing he’d seen, either, but at least she was still her.

He closed his eyes, imagining a better time, being wrapped around her, the feel of her kisses, her soft mewls when she’d bury her face into his neck.

Somebody shouted, and it was as if time blipped. One second, Etho was on his knees, scalp burning beneath Skizz’ grip, diamond blade kissing his throat, and the next he was on his side in the grass and Joel was there, looking feral, covered in blood, holding Skizz’ disembodied deformed fish monster head in his hand.

Etho opened his mouth but couldn’t make words. He met Joel’s eyes, and what the fuck was Joel doing here, and how did he just appear and-

Beef screamed, angry-sounding, and it was jarring after hearing him so calm and collected in the face of all of this insanity for so long. Etho arched his back, ignoring the screaming pain in his body so he could see what was happening.

Beef was on his knees, one of his shoulders spurting blood, his arm in the grass, still twitching despite being removed from his body.

“You – you fucking bastards deserve-” Bdubs grunted as he swung his sword, “-so much worse than this!” The diamond blade connected with Beef’s collarbone, and he wrenched it through and down, slicing him in two.

Etho’s brain short-circuited. Joel and Bdubs were here? How? Where had they come from?

“Eefo,” Joel said, working at the ropes bringing his wrists behind him, and it sounded so strained, so fucking defeated.

Bdubs limped over, collapsing to his knees next to Etho’s face, muttering obscenities under his breath. “-fuckin’ landing sucked,” he huffed, and then his hands were on Etho’s face, brushing his hair from his forehead.

“Gem,” Etho rasped.

“Where is she?” Joel asked as he gave up on trying to untie the ropes and sawed through them instead.

The relief in Etho’s wrists and shoulders was palpable but his heart rate tripled as he gripped Bdubs’ forearm. “She’s inside the Big Salmon,” he said, and the wide-eyed stare of his friend held utter confusion. “Behind us. In the water.”

“Etho there’s nothing there,” Joel said, uncharacteristically gentle, as if speaking to a frightened child.

Bdubs opened his mouth, but before he could say anything an inhuman screech pierced the air, making them all wince. Bdubs’ jaw dropped open and he gripped Etho’s shoulders, dragging him into his arms as if to stand up and run. But his legs had been hurt from his fall, and Etho knew he’d be useless with one of his calves broken let alone all of his other injuries.

But it turned him around, at least, and he could see what they were gaping at. The Salmon was back, or whatever it was, the giant fish monster that had eaten Gem, and it wasn’t alone.

Blood pooled in the water as another monster breached the surface, this one shades of beige and – was that Grian on its head?!

“Grian!” Joel yelled, but Grian didn’t react, didn’t move, he was like a statue on top of the thing as it lunged for the Salmon monster with razor-sharp teeth.

“Is that a fucking cod?” Bdubs breathed, and of course it was, anything was possible at this point Etho couldn’t question any of it.

His concern was that Gem was still inside the Salmon. Was she still alive in there, if they could…get in there?

“Gem is in that?” Joel asked, pointing to the Salmon with his sword, apparently on the same wavelength.

Etho could only nod. He wanted to go, too, and he hated that he couldn’t. As if reading his mind, Bdubs tightened his embrace, as if to hold Etho back, as if he was fucking going anywhere.

Joel took off running for the water, but at the last second the Cod-thing lashed out with a giant fin, slapping him back, sending him sailing back into the grass.

The Salmon took advantage of this and lunged, burying its own rotting teeth into the Cod’s side, and Grian screamed, or something screamed and it came out of Grian’s mouth. Etho didn’t thing Grian was Grian anymore. He didn’t think anything was fucking anything anymore.

The Salmon held fast even as the Cid thrashed, but then it flinched and began to shudder. It disengaged from the Cod, slithering and quivering, and then its eye began to bulge and it looked like it was going to explode and then a bodyemerged, covered in blood and viscera and wielding something and it was Gem, oh god, Etho wondered if he were hallucinating because how was she here-

“Gem!” Joel cried, and he saw her too and Etho’s heart soared with hope.

She leapt from the twitching Salmon onto the Cod, grabbing Grian around the middle. “Let him go!” she shrieked. “Leave us alone!”

The Cod tried to shake her off, but she held fast to Grian who seemed attached to it somehow.

“Let him GO!” Gem roared, and finally Grian tumbled, and she curled around him as they hit the water.

Etho’s ears rang, panic shrieking in his blood, and he did struggle against Bdubs this time, his busted body be damned.

“No, you can’t,” Bdubs grunted as he held him tight against his chest, and Joel was running again, and Etho thought the Cod monster would just smack him again, devour Gem and Grian and he’d have to lose her again-

But the giant fish retreated, disappearing into the bloodied water and leaving the dead Salmon beached, gills still fluttering but growing weaker and weaker.

Joel splashed into the waves, dropping his sword and reaching down into the water, dragging up first an arm, then a torso, then another body came up under the other arm, and it was Gem holding a very dazed-looking Grian, his eyes finally the normal size, face fear-stricken as he coughed and sputtered.

Joel hefted Grian into his arms, waving Gem off. “I’ve got him,” he said, “don’t I, buddy? You look like shit.”

“Fuck you, Joel,” Grian rasped, and received a laugh in return, and that fucking laugh made Etho’s heart clench because if Joel was laughing everything was okay now.

And Gem was running towards him, soaking wet, still holding whatever the hell that weird weapon was, and she dropped it when she fell to her knees in front of him, sobbing as she threw her arms around both him and Bdubs, crushing them both in a desperate hug.

“Careful, careful,” Bdubs chastised as Etho groaned, even though he didn’t want to, he didn’t care how much pain he was in, she was here, she was alive.

She pressed her hands to Etho’s cheeks, staring down at him, as if she couldn’t believe it either.

“What the hell is that?” Bdubs asked, toeing the slick thing she’d dropped.

“One of its ribs,” she replied, without taking her eyes off of Etho.

And he laughed, even though it hurt. She’d been swallowed by a fish monster and ripped out one of it’s fucking ribs before using it to bust out its eyeball from the inside. Void, he loved this woman.

“You’re a lunatic,” he rasped, even though he’d meant to say I love you.

She seemed to get it, anyway, because she kissed him.

His heart slowly stitched itself back together. Because if Gem was kissing him, everything was okay now.

[read on ao3]

#hermitfic #hermitblr #hermitcraft #hermitshipping #gemtho #big salmon #cw violence #cw gore #cw language #cw blood

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single-malt-scotch · 9 months ago

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Given we are two episodes in to bdubs this HC seasons I will ramble a tad about his format this season and the timeline/comparisons to past ones!

Let's talk in parts for a second. For thumbnails. I didn't really know what to expect tbh. He's been going more minimalist in thumbnails for a while now- HC S9 and Create have very simple thumbnails very focus on the builds (if they occur in the HC video). Go from season 7 HC to now and they've changed a Lot. S8 was simple too if you take away the color overlay. But S10 is mega simple. There isn't even a title on the thumbnails!

Then intros. S7 and S8 would randomly have an intro of "welcome to hermitcraft!" And sometimes none at all. S9 started "welcome to hoymicraf" (how do we spell this) consistently. Additionally all those seasons had some intros beginning with some third person camera to start a scene (more consistent as time went), or without that intro in season 7, 8 and 10 we'd also just start in first pov while bdubs is already in action. Additionally intro music was always very energetic, and so far what we heard in his first s10 intro (and based off the time lapses) we are getting something way more chill. Ep2's intro is one of those exceptions for the specific scenarios that happen sometimes. The choice of situational music.

General editing? Kinda crossed over with intros here because intros have very blatant editing with music and camera etc. Tbh the biggest thing to any season is music choice, which changes how things feel entirely. Past seasons had faster paced songs in intros and many building segments had orchestral, so on. The way those building segments play out has slowly turned into bdubs cutting it up to fit the beat of music, which is most apparent now in S10 and bwb S3. For S10 I feel like this enunciates the calm music even more as it puts emphasis on what is the louder/more striking note of the song. Through S10 episodes right now we have seen more use of replay mod in more than just the intro. Usually wide shots with music. Thought out compositions and wide shots often showing scale of things around him. Even purposefully taking moments to stop and pause and linger on the shot. Definitely more cinematic, and completely different with his it slows down.

It is interesting to see what some people might feel is a total 180! Considering I have seen the flow of his format for so long "slow" is not unfamiliar but because he has grown so much as a commentator he handles this very well. It's not "old inexperienced commentator" slow. Because you can tell if you pay attention he isn't different from who he has been in recent years. He's always the same and going this direction is done w the same level of development and experience. Hes still silly, he's still got energy. It's just presentation! It feels different a lot by how he's editing.

Even so it makes me wonder Why. Was his previous loud style and high energy more aimed at when his kids were just born and very little, and he had an obvious shift to making his videos possibly more appealing to children and be child appropriate? Has he 'mellowed out' for any particular reason? If you watch him a lot, especially his Livestreams (the member ones rly) bdubs thinks hard about his building skills. He is genuinely an artist aiming to improve every day and I think he's gotten a lot back into really expressing his thoughts and feelings regarding the art. It's been a gradual focus returning I have seen. Perhaps he has decided to lean into this more on purpose, and in doing so that shifts his focus away from what people felt was "childish" acting. But it's important to remember, as a bdubs lover, the analysis here isn't actually one to say he's "changed" because he hasn't. As a content creator he knows what he's going for and to some level has consciously made these changes. We still got bdubs, he's just doing it different. And honestly if you were turned off by the energy of S9, I highly recommend giving this season a watch if you want something more artistic, and good discussion about building process.

#hermitcraft #bdoubleo100 #bdubs #hermitblr

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thecoolerliauditore · 1 month ago

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I really liked your analysis on the discourse around flower husbands and I would like to give my personal perspective from someone who’s been here since the end of third life.

The fandom was 100% still reeling over from negative effects of no shipping in the hermitcraft fandom. The majority of life series fans came from hermitcraft as well, after all nearly all of the players in third life were hermits. You could joke about treebark and maybe scarian being gay but I remember seeing a lot of homoerotic art being tagged “THIS IS NOT SHIP ART ITS PLATONIC” and later on a few of those artists would post shipping art without fear. If you had a romantic interpretation of a relationship in third life, you would quickly chalk it up to being friends. Shipping was still uncomfortable territory for many. Maybe because they didn’t like shipping themselves and weren’t expose to it or maybe they did but was still feeling the effects from others in 2019/2020.

Flower husbands you couldn’t chalk it up to just being friends. If you didn’t like shipping you can make everything platonic but you would look like an idiot trying to say that they were “good friends” or “roommates” in third life. No, Scott and Jimmy were known as husbands, they did it themselves. Not the fans, the creators themselves. Yes there will be dramatic and angsty ship art of the two. For everyone else? Not really. Like I said, people would have to explicitly say it wasn’t ship art between Ren and Martyn or Scar and Grian. If you didn’t want that type of art you just wouldn’t look at Scott or jimmy’s tags. Simple as that.

As time went on I would say around double life shipping had coursed its way back into the fandom. Having a romantic interpretation of Treebark was fine, just properly tag it and everyone was chill. Same with Scarian, hell, I would say the shipping lens started taking over more than the platonic one lol. And with double life having soulmates, that gave the shipping culture a big boost. You don’t like it? Well it’s gonna be hard to avoid Bdubs or Impulses tags when they’re making “honey imm home!” jokes or BigB and Grian literally in their own words “cheating on their soulmate for their secret soulmate” Grian saying “I’m gonna take your man” is just fuel to the ever growing fire. If you didn’t like shipping then buckle up because double life was fruity as hell with nearly all of the creators. Mother fucking Joel Smallishbeans made a ship called “The Relations” and put Etho’s face on his skin’s shirt. You couldn’t avoid shipping at all when the creators are also the ones doing it.

So shipping is wild spread now and more accepted. As for flower husbands well you couldn’t really make the ship more than “tragic gays with fluff and angst”

Scarian you could make it toxic, you could make it healthy, you could make it whatever you want because it was never “canon”. Flower husbands was built in a time where shipping was uncertain and a lot of their early day works was either them being fluffy husbands together or tragic yaoi. To make one of them toxic it was out of the question.

I however could not tell you why it’s only Scott being the “toxic” perpetrator in flower husbands. Could be an individual’s bias and own experiences, could be how they view the creators, maybe a bit of projection or maybe they have only been exposed to toxic!scott that branching out to toxic!jimmy, something that’s extremely rare, might be hard and they don’t want to put the work in to make it themselves.

In conclusion, flower husbands was the only way you could ship in early days of the life series because you couldn’t ignore the romantic relationship Scott and Jimmy portrayed. If you did with other relationships it could easily be chalked up to being friends and if something could be seen as shipping you HAD to disclose that it wasn’t. Flower husbands was allowed but dear god if you said a king and his hand was tragic yaoi you would have been sniped.

People are attached to a ship that was the “acceptable” ship so having a negative interpretation can be viewed as bashing the ship or worse one of the creators (most often Scott) but now that it’s more open to other interpretations people are rightfully be a bit protective.

Also also if you have found any posts interpretation Jimmy being the toxic person with his relationship with Scott please do share. I haven’t seen any posts like that and I’m quite bored of toxic!scott within flower husbands shipping. I need a little bit of spice in my life you know? Anyway, have a good day.

Yeah this is pretty much what I assumed, ty for the peer review 💪

I think I didn't make my point about Jimmy clear, my bad -- my point was that making FH toxic was always discourse that reflected back onto Scott, instead of Jimmy. I don't think it's the Jimmy fans up in arms was what I was trying to convey.

I personally see Scott as abusive towards Jimmy and have held this view since my first watch of Scott's 3L POV. I feel like it's almost hard not to arrive at this conclusion if you approach it in the same way you approach other ships. i.e. I've never seen someone storyboard the "go back and get the sugar cane!" sequence from episode 1 and have it not read as anything other than that (btw if anyone knows any way of making this scene not horrifying I'd be genuinely curious)

As for toxic jimmy posting, I'm not the biggest fan of these interpretations because I operate by a different school of thought when it comes to this series and I've found some arguments for Jimmy being toxic in the past a little uncomfortably reminiscent of irl victim-blaming but that being said who am I to get in the way of people making stuff they enjoy. I'm not the FH/Scott maintag 🤷‍♂️

There's this guy who's posted a few things in the FH tag that I find fun.

Their posts range from the usual FH fluff to Jimmy cheating on Scott and Scott leaving Jimmy for someone else.

This one's a personal favourite.

I would also love it if I could summon this anon for you I think you guys could workshop smth together

But other than those specific examples I have definitely seen more vague posts that imply Jimmy mistreats Scott, you might wanna hit up the Scott/Tango shippers? Snowbugs, I think their name is? Lots of memes in there about just ditching Jimmy lol

#asks #long post #discourse

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plumadot · 8 months ago

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I used to follow you on ig way back in the day (like starting in 2015/16 if I remember correctly?) but when I switched over to tumblr I lost track of a lot of really cool artists. So I was super excited to see your art in a reblog and realize hey, that username and art style look familiar! I would’ve followed your blog again regardless, but it was also a super nice surprise to see you into hermitcraft/life series stuff which is an interest of mine as well! Love seeing them all in your style

ahhhhhh hi that's amazing :OOO i think it would've been a biiiit later since i haven't had this username for that long (or you've identified me by simply my nickname and art style which is even more amazing kfjdkgj) either way hi!!! i'm happy to have you back!!!!!! :D <3 <3 <3 thank you so much and also welcome and stuff heheh <3

#ask

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blockmenmakemecry · 10 months ago

Text

HELLO

You can call me Blocks!

Or anything, I'm really not too fussed

I am a writer and artist!

Please if you're interested in anything I do tell me!! Ask me questions!!!

I have autism and my current ongoing hyperfixation has been minecraft, for literally as long as I can remember

Since it was released?

I am currently in love with these MC series!! Please talk to me about any of them!

Hermitcraft

Left Behind

Life Series

Series I'm not quite over yet

Achievement Hunter King Series (but I can't bring myself to rewatch them)

Yogscast (like moonquest and yogslab, they make me cry atm lmao)

I am quite unwell so I'll do my best to stay off tumblr when it's bad so I don't go reblogging some sad or possibly upsetting stuff!

I am not savvy at Tumblr so one day I may change this post to be more readable/accsessable with tags and what not

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foxxology · 2 months ago

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Not that anon, like not at all istg, and you don't gotta reply to this bc Im too old for fandom drama and have no beef w you (but do want to see the actual anon's response. Im nosy, sorry)

But I feel like they're probably referring to that one artist that got into a ton of drama for being proship, doing weird art of pairings (as in, age up/down characters to where one is an adult and the other is underage, super into noncon, that sorta stuff), did nsfw of hermitcraft + adjacents, then ended up kinda vanishing after idk what. I don't have twt so no clue what went down there, but have seen their art in some tags under a different acc so ik they're still around

I only vaguely remember this bc if Im not wrong, you defended them at the start cuz they were getting cancelled for smth else, then it became a shitstorm when people went looking for shit and... I think was the reason you distanced/left the fandom? either way don't blame you bc I also followed them and didn't really know anything about it until way later on, which is when I just unfollowed + blocked (both past + current acc)

so if they chicken out and don't give an answer, this would probably be my guess as to what they meant?

that would be genuinely ridiculous if ppl want to call me an "apologist" for saying "even the bad people dont deserve death threats and doxxing" then i guess thats your prerogative

when things started i wasnt aware of the full extent, so i still extended my sympathy for the things they were going through (death threats, doxxing, etc). when i finally found out the full scope of their actions and behaviours i cut them out of my life. i still stand by the message that nobody deserves legitimate threats of IRL violence

#i made a whole in depth announcement about it on my discord back in december 2023 #and they were blocked long before that too #this WILL be the last time i talk about them

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spiderziege · 4 months ago

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Hii I would like to know how you got into Hermitcraft (if you still remember), and also your home address and credit card information

(Jkk i just can't think of two other interesting things to ask)

hmm remember in 2022 when a bunch of dsmp artists switched over to hermitcraft? i guess i was part of that too. i was kinda aware of hermitcraft since 2020 but was never really that interested cause i didnt know any of the ccs. i think the fanart is what convinced me to start watching tho (specifically i remember some of @/picckl's moon big fanart & @/purusims' life series fanart)

i watched grian at first, and i think i watched the life series before hermitcraft, while double life was happening. actually i made my first proper fanart almost exactly two years ago, just missed it by a few days lol

to get an answer to the other questions you'll have to defeat me in a swordfight unfortunately. we shall meet at dawn

#the whole 'og minecrafter' thing is always a bit funny to me cause like. i watched mcyt since 2013 but only ever the german ones #so id never heard of ethoslab or ldshadowlady ever #im still only vaguely aware of captainsparklez #ask games #also gotta say the whole moon big thing was really funny to experience from the sidelines without context

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hccn-overseer · 1 year ago

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I 13, 7/12/2 23 - The seer

Issue Masterpost About the Overseer

Hello, everyone, and welcome to a very special edition of The Overseer. We would like to begin this week by including a trigger warning for kidnapping and very heavy talk of it. Please consider your own health before reading if this is a topic that is sensitive or triggering for you, and take care of yourselves above all. Normal issues resume next Wednesday, so see you then! - Staff of The Overseer

This week’s issue is accompanied by a PDF version created by the lovely C̴͇͆ẖ̶͂e̶̛̬e̶̜͘r̸͇̀! Pick it up here to check it out!

Now onto othe news n the cut!

W̷e̵e̷k̵l̷y̴ ̴W̸e̸a̷t̴h̵e̸r̷ ̵R̴e̵

The Hermitcraft Charity Event!

By Ỉ̸͍l̶̥͋e̶͚͑a̸̮͠ Zei

Well welcome back to The Overseer™!

Today’s talk will be about the Charity event that was held here on Hermitcraft server not long ago and specifically about the games that were built for it.

The games that were built were:

Basalt Assault by non-other than Tango of The Tek variety

Battle Bane by Etho Slab (Ethos Lab)

Bucket Rush by Ex-I-suma-Vojd (Xisuma Void)

Derailed by ImpulseSV (author definitely didn’t laugh alot about the game name.)

Dunk Tank by CubFan one tree five (spelling mistake is for a reason. It’s funny.) (One of the game by him was also Total Chaos!)

Ice Bucket challenge by non other than queen of heads, hearts and body parts! (False Symmetry!)

The Horse course by The married couple (Etho and Bdubs)

And the finally, the last but not the least: Panda Rescue by GTWScarrrr (GoodTimesWithScar!)

Let’s see what some people think of those, shall we? [Quotes taken directly from subjects]

“I dropped my popcorn as soon as Basalt Assault started, and I wasn’t even sad! The game was worth dropping my popcorn tenfold. In fact, I’m gonna go home, make some popcorn, and drop it on the floor in *honour* of the game.”

“I was working in the Entity the day of the event so I couldn’t watch it. But I kept hearing bang after bang outside the window. It was terrifying, but invigorating. It’s impressive how an event can make you excited even if you’re not watching it.”

“I almost pooed myself when the first bang in basalt assault went off – it was bloody terrifying. But a 10/10 show nonetheless.”

“The whole charity event was an absolute blast and it was amazing seeing Hermits and the community come together as a whole to raise money for Gamers Outreach, which was the charity they chose to support! It was absolutely a blast how much was raised all together‼”

“So I will say battle bane because I am an Etho girl and it was great to see it being played.”

“i don’t know why but i got very much into bucket rush, definitely one of the highlights for me. Its hard to describe the feeling but watching was a mix of being extremely funny, extremely stupid, and extremely nerve racking.”

“i have got to say i have a soft spot for horse course, it was such a funny game to watch since No One seemed to know what they were doing. A few of my coworkers and i heard of the racket that was leading to the games, and i had seen the games before they were played, i remember myself along with some other people were crowding around to get a glimpse of the games being played. because of that and the non-stop energy i have got to say watching and experience some games up close has got to be a special experience for me."

Well it certainly seems like people like these games and the Charity event as a whole! I certainly do and I’m glad everyone came around to help with organising and helping the event to happen.

That would be it for now! Join us again in reading next .

ADV RT MEN S

By J̷̺̚a̴̧͝m̷̖͗í̸͕ê̴̠ Uncle Rob (He is now everyone’s uncle)

—̸—̵—̵—̷—̵—̵—̷—̴—̴—̸—̸—̵—̶—̶—̴—̴—̸

If you’re like me and not artistically inclined, then feel free to stop by Painted Wings. They’ll paint your elytra any colour you want! It’s like tattoos but for wings. Don’t you want to spite your parents just a little?

—̴—̸—̵—̴—̵—̵—̶—̶—̵—̷—̶—̸—̵—̵—̶—̴-̵

Are you good at getting plants to cooperate? Cool! I haven’t been able to grow anything since 9th grade biology. If you want to gather at a totally safe space this Friday the Garden Club will be behind Impulse’s shop.

—̵—̴—̷—̴—̵—̶-̴—̶—̵—̶—̵—̶—̷—̴—̷—̵—̸

Do you like the Scar Safety Services? Well, I identify as a threat. Be sure to call your local Scar UNSAFE Service office to get your base fixed up and ready for any type of visitor.

—̵—̷—̴—̶—̸—̴—̷—̴-̸—̴—̸—̸—̷—̵—̷—̷-̶

G̸͙̓ă̵̞m̴̖̔è̷̤ŝ̵̳ ̵̭̂à̷̖n̴͎͛d̸͓̉ Fun and Games

By Kidnapper (Fizzello)

What's a better way to appreciate our many contributors this week, by making a word search using their names! The goal is to find all the names at the bottom of the word search. And if you see any "questionable" words in there; do what anyone would do. Ignore it! You can't see them if you don't acknowledge them.

Good luck, fellow citizens!

Did you find all of them? Congratulations! Did you not find all of them? There's always next time! Did you find some words you probably shouldn't have? No you didn't!

Anyway, onto the answer key!

Wow, that's a bunch of names! And no other words. If you see anything circled that is not one of the names; ignore it! Those are errors that were not able to be filtered out in time for this week's paper. And nothing else!

Nothing else.

Weekly Weather Report

By Nes

Due to unforeseen circumstances we are unable to report the weather how we typically do, however you’ll be pleased to know this week we here at The Overseer offer you an indepth look on the weather in a basement!

Thursday - Basement is expected to be damp in the morning, dew is likely to seep through the cracks in the ceiling. Hopes are high it will dry up during the day so we don’t soil our socks… again. High is estimated to be a cool 5C down here thanks to the air conditioner we were so kindly provided.

Friday - It continues to be damp in the basement, luckily today there appears to be minimal leakage from the upper floors. However the air conditioner is either broken or has been unplugged, leaving us at a miserable 20C temperature throughout the day.

Saturday - As the days pass I would like to humbly suggest that whoever kidnapped us get someone down here to look at their basement, as there is a lot of leakage due to the rain today. With a high of 17C, we are in dire need of more buckets.

Sunday - Rain continues into the morning and fills the basement to about waist level for most of us. Good news is the air conditioner is back on and gives us a lovely breeze and a high of 10C.

Monday - False alarm, air conditioner was broken by the flooding. While the rain has stopped, what replaced it isn’t much better. It’s rather dry in the basement if you ignore the flood, and we have a high of 30C.

Tuesday - Flood is mostly gone today thanks to the work of everyone tossing buckets out the small window we have. Sun appears to be out, the conditioner continues to be broken, and it is a high of 34C, hopefully that will help dry off our clothes.

Wednesday - It did not help dry off our clothes. Instead they smell rather musty, no one is amused. Air conditioner continues to be broken, skies continue to be clear, and we have a high of 40C today. 0/10 would not recommend staying in the basement.

Editor's Note: Found these scraps of paper lying in my office along with the other articles. Not sure if I'm supposed to print these too but at this point I'm too afraid to ask. At the back of one piece of paper it says 'Astrology Corner'

And that's all for this week's news folks! Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week!

#tw kidnapping #tw kidnap mention #issue #hermitcitizen #hccn fun and games #hccn advertisements #hccn weather #hccn astrology corner

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