#so lets take some dogwarts talk

[theminecraftbee]

25 for the wrapped drabble!

25: "Bremen", PigPen Theater Co.

It was part of the plan, everbody would stand On their hind legs, hands holding high the other Like a tower of brothers, and the one on the top Would crow warnings and call in the morning And call out the storm that was coming The one on the bottom would steer 'til the road was clear And people would learn to rejoice and to fear our coming

It is, ironically, a mild, wet temperature over Dogwarts, the sort of weather that mostly feels dreary rather than being properly cold, or snowy, or icy, or any of the sorts of things that the kinds of people who claim to bring forth winter would be expected to have over their fortress.

"Oh, come on, you've gotta be cheating!" says Skizz, throwing his cards down on the table. They're stained a strange purple. "Dippledop, tell them that he's cheating."

"I mean, I don't know, Skizz," Impulse says. "You aren't good enough at cheating to have taught me how to spot it..."

"I mean, you're the one marking cards," Martyn says idly.

"You know I can't help it!" says Skizz. "It's my ender-what's-its. My purple scales. My, my general, uh, what's a good word for it -"

"Ourple," Etho says.

"What?" Impulse says.

"He's ourple," Etho says, and then doesn't elaborate at all.

"You know, if you're going to accuse me of cheating, why not accuse him?" Martyn says. "I mean, look at him. He's wearing a mask while we're playing poker. That's basically against the rules."

"I don't have a face, man," Etho says.

"Did you mean -" Big B starts. Impulse puts a hand on his leg. Big B stops.

"I'm just saying," Martyn says, as he takes the distraction as an excuse to palm one of the cards using and replace it with a king he's been keeping in a pocket. He knows the king won't be suspicious largely because he's been keeping track of the cards Skizz has had, and the king he's about to put in his hand is the same one that Skizz had three hands earlier.

Martyn is going to win, like, so many meaningless favors from people who are all definitely going to die before Martyn can call them in, but hey. He's definitely going to die before he has a chance to worry about it, either.

(At one point, it had been about winning. He's good at cheating.)

"You know what, yeah! That is cheating! Show us your face, huh, Etho?" says Skizz, pointing dramatically. Big B snorts into his cards.

"Uh, I mean, I don't know, man," Etho says, putting his hands up and nervously backing up. "It's like - you know I don't take this off..."

"Actually, yeah," Impulse says. "I sorta wanna see you try to keep a poker face. Take it off, Etho."

"Woah, woah boys. I know we're all friends here, but I don't know if I'm ready for a strip tease," Martyn says, which makes Etho turn bright red, and also makes Big B flustered enough that Martyn can see his hand. Okay, that's not a threat. Not that Big B's a threat to anyone, really, but he's still green for a reason.

Skizz isn't a threat for a completely different reason. His heart's right there on his sleeve. He has a shit hand this round. He gave that given that well away the moment he drew it.

That leaves Etho and Impulse to figure out.

"I - oh, geez, guys," Etho says. "I -"

"Take it off!" Skizz starts chanting. "Take it off! Take it off!"

"I'm - I like you guys, but I'm not taking off my mask!" Etho says. "Impulse, Impulse, we're buddies. You should understand!"

"Yeah, but like..." Impulse says, before shrugging. "I mean, if it really upsets you, I guess... Guys, maybe we should stop."

"Naw, don't try to talk him out of it!" Skizz says.

"Haha, you know, I want to see it too," Big B says. "It's a bonding thing, right?"

"Oh, well you can't argue with the bonding thing, now can you," Martyn says.

"Guys," Impulse starts saying, and then there's the sound of a creaking door, and everyone stops at once as the courtyard changes from dreary and wet to a certain chill. If Martyn didn't know any better, he'd say it's the chill of the grave, but there hadn't ever been any for him, so. Probably not.

Instead, it's just...

"My loyal Dogwarts," says Ren, quietly. "What is all of this commotion about?"

"We're playing cards, My Lord," Martyn says immediately. "See?"

He shows his hand to Ren. Ren chuckles.

"Well, laddie. Show me how you win at cards."

Well, the answer to that's 'by cheating'. But he can't really show Ren that, now can he? He's got to keep some things in his pocket. Besides, it's not like any of the favors in the pot matter.

They're all gonna die before they matter. Some of them already are.

Martyn loses the hand to Impulse. He collects the favors with a sheepish grin. Ren barks out a laugh. "You'll get them next time, laddie."

"I'm sure I will," Martyn says.

"Mom, Ren's playing favorites," Etho whines.

"That's - that's unbecoming a knight of -"

"Yeah, Ren's playing favorites," Big B says.

"I mean, dudes, uh, I mean - my loyal Dogwarts -"

Martyn laughs so hard that he forgets to pay attention, and loses the next hand too.

[kaihuntrr]

FLOWER HUSBANDS FIC: Coral Reefs and Cigarettes (working title) Prologue designs!

ALRIGHT! Hello everyone, in this post I’ll be sharing (and talking!) about the development of my multi-chapter fanfiction flower husbands au, based on @vyeoh ‘s punk x prep au! I’ll be starting off with the characters we meet in the prologue; the divorce quartet!

We open the prologue at the tail-end of last life, aka one of their school years. I wanted to focus on this, as while the fanfic is on the re-budding relationship between Scott and Jimmy, the side plot focuses on friendships, and of course, the friendship in mind are on the Divorce Quartet.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at these designs!

(I used a more simpler style so I can get these concepts across!)

The designs of the Quartet as a whole are supposed to mimic their soulbounds/ besties and with each other! I wanted each of them to have a distinct style but also keep them connected. It’s a tough challenge (considering I always do fantastical designs) but I think I did pretty well!

Moving unto them individually, I can talk about their character and designs! Starting with

Scott S. Major.

The richest and smartest kid in school

Has a reputation (family) in the area

Studies marine biology + gardening

He’s usually sweet, but approaching him is a nightmare. Imagine a Regina George-type character but a lot more sassy and open with his remarks

He loves to spoil his friends

DESIGN

Cold colors with a red and gold contrast

Keepsakes of his “alliances” (important relationships) as accessories (Jimmy’s poppy, Pearl’s moon necklace/belt chain), has yet to receive something he could use from Cleo and Martyn

Feminine outfits + heels are a go-to for him (is still a bit short)

The preppiest looking one out of the four

His body type is petite! (He’s still the dominant one in the relationship tho)

Pearl Moon.

The “newest” of the four (a nod to her being introduced in Last Life)

Has been friends with Scott before high school online

Art student

Loves studying the stars/ constellations

Lanky and tall

DESIGN

Muted red tones with a dark blue and green contrast

Heterochromia eyes

Lesbian + graphic design is my passion pins (from Cleo) on her polo shirt (mimicking Scott’s blazer(?) )+ moon hairpin (from Martyn)

Hoodie has a wolf skull on it ;)

moon/star-inspired makeup (done by Scott!)

Cleo Zombie

The one who hypes up the chaos/ also the most grounded

Could kill you, doesn’t hurt a fly

Not entirely sure what they’re studying

Sportsy! Probably basketball

Interested in zombie-type fiction

DESIGN

Green (mimics Martyn) with blue and orange contrast

Nonbinary choker and pendant + dog tags from a relative

The most “jock” out of all of them, the black shirt has a ribcage design

Blue orchid from Scott, jacket from Martyn, piercings from Pearl (well, scheduling them to get it)

Large/ bulky

Martyn I. Woods

The friendliest and most sociable

Theatre kid (obviously), loves the dramatic

Jokester/ class clown

Loyal to a fault

Has information on every student due to his social skills

DESIGN

Green with white and black contrast

Dogwarts (his theater group, now disbanded) bandana ;)

Studded white belt and chains from Scott, white boots from Pearl, and hasn’t received anything from Cleo yet

Mimics Cleo with the vest

Average, some muscle

STOKED to introduce you all to the beginning of this story, who else is excited? >:D!

(ps, if y’all have ideas for the title of this work I’d love to hear some!! I need it lol)

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

Hello,,, pretty please discuss renskizz at me as I've never heard of these two paired before today,,,, I'm so curious

HI absolutely can do. and i'm gonna come in with CITATIONS on the quotes in this one because i have a normal amount of emotions about these two.

so, first of all, the reason you've never heard about renskizz is because 1. not enough people are skizzleman fans and 2. their best season is third life, which is also the season where the insanity going on between ren and martyn gets the most attention from the average viewer (and from ren)

this is not an entirely one sided dynamic, because ren has an innate ability to be romantic with every single one of his friends, but like i said, most of ren's attention is on martyn, and skizz is so obsessed with this guy from day one, so it oftentimes feels one sided, or at least like skizz cares significantly more about ren than ren cares about him. but let's got into it!

so all this starts in literally the first episode of third life. while martyn is technically the first person ren recruits as an employee of renchanting, skizz is the first person ren recruits to follow him. they first encounter each other early in the first session, when ren is out in the rain and dark right near skizz's ugly ass house. skizz attempts to save him from some mobs and does a bad job, but offers ren some shelter from the storm. once inside, they do a small trade- ren asks if he can have skizz's leather, for his upcoming enchanting business, and he gives skizz a golden apple in exchange. skizz thinks this is a way uneven trade, and now skizz is tied to ren forever (all this happens around 6 minutes into skizz's first third life episode).

skizz and ren meet back up later in the first session, after ren has begun to establish renchanting more clearly, and after he's begun to recruit etho. ren, etho, and skizz decide to go check out the desert together, and this is where skizz has his first death to an enderman. every single one of skizz's deaths in third life is about ren, somehow, btw!

from there, while skizz doesn't immediately move into dogwarts, he's on their side from day one. skizz and ren (and jimmy but this ain't about him) both die to the enchanter trap. skizz is red, and ren is about to go red with the whole red winter thing. also, it should be noted- skizz looses all of his stuff to the enchanter trap. in the aftermath, bigb gives him some gold armor and half broken iron tools, just so he can make his way home safely.

when martyn kills ren to usher in red winter, about half the server initially assumes that martyn turned on ren, including skizz. skizz assumes that ren is in danger, and that he needs help. it takes him a hot second to get there (partially due to his extremely shitty armor), but he's the first person to arrive at dogwarts after this happens (about 15:25 in ren's episode 9). he shows up shouting for ren to get behind him, saying he's there to help, to protect him, with his INSANELY SHITTY ARMOR AND WEAPONS. skizz gets talked down pretty quickly, but there is no way he would've won a fight with martyn if he actually needed to get into it with him. but he's willing to do it anyways in order to keep ren safe.

once he has everything explained to him, however, skizz is instantly down. skizz's favorite thing in the world is to be a "loyal sword" (direct quote describing himself, from impulse's first episode of secret life around 14 minutes in), and ren allows him to do that so completely, in a way not a single other alliance of his ever has. skizz is willing to put his entire life and all his decisions in ren's hands, and ren is willing to take on that responsibility. both of skizz's kills in the first season are entirely to protect and support ren. does this blind faith in ren always go well for skizz? ehhhh not necessarily. but his final death, which is under ren's banner, and sees him shouting "i love you guys and i hate them" to the red army, isn't actually at ren's command. in fact, it's explicitly against ren's command, but it's skizz's final show of loyalty to and care for ren and the red army, and a decision he makes entirely on his own. so even though it kills him, he can't blame ren for it, and there's no animosity between them come the start of last life.

in the wake of skizz's death, ren also gets TWO WHOLE FINAL KILLS with the sword he named in skizz's honor, which i would just like to note. ren wields skizz as sword long after he's gone.

THEN we get last life. moments get a lot sparser here because they're on different teams, but there's important things to note. namely, that two of skizz's three deaths that season are to ren!

the most insane of the two, to me, is when ren boogey kills skizz (in skizz's episode 4). skizz is on edge when he arrives at ren's base, but he's immediately drawn in by ren anyways. they both spend the entire conversation being sickeningly sweet to each other (with skizz complimenting ren's build over and over and ren constantly complementing skizz's appearance and telling skizz he loves him). and the thing is, skizz knows from basically second one that ren is the boogey. he has that feeling when he walks up, and he knows ren is just a nice guy, but he's still very on edge the whole time, and it's obvious from how he's constantly running around/trying not to stand in one place so he can't get trapped. BUT REN MANAGES TO TRAP HIM ANYWAYS!

and not only does ren manage to trap him, but skizz CAN'T EVEN BE MAD!!! like, he dies and goes "oh, i hate him", "he's the worst", "i am broken hearted" but he also knows it's his own fault for trusting ren so wholeheartedly ("he went fishing, and he got me" "i walked right into his trap, he got me"). even while he laments having died to the trap, he's still complimenting ren's abilities in regards to building it and his charisma in getting skizz to fall for it, and it's SO FUN, i love it. skizz simply cannot help but be nice to people, but it really is clear here that he has a huge soft spot for ren. he's holding a grudge, but he can't help but compliment ren the whole time he does it.

and then, of course, there's skizz's final death. skizz and impulse come up on ren's tower after lizzie kills bigb. ren is on guard, because he's a green surrounded by three reds (though lizzie leaves very shortly after killing bigb), but he doesn't make any moves on them. it's skizz who takes the first shot, firing on ren while he reminisces about ren killing him at this same tower as his first death of the season. the two engage in a fire fight for a bit, with my favorite part of the interaction being:

ren: what do you want skizz? skizz: i want blood! (skizz's episode 7, 23:50)

it's extremely reminiscent of a conversation the two of them have in third life multiple times over. skizz repeatedly tells ren that he wants blood, that he needs to kill, once he goes red. the last time he says this is before he runs headfirst into his own death. this is a sentiment ren is deeply familiar with, and before, this need for blood was channeled into protecting ren. now, though, ren's on the other side of it, and it is scary. ren's constantly asking that skizz just leave and not make him retaliate. for all that he's terrified, he doesn't actually want to kill skizz here if he doesn't have to. or at least he doesn't want to try when he's so outnumbered and scared.

the fight continues, and skizz is doing the same thing he did in response to ren's boogey kill- complimenting him. he tells impulse over and over how skilled ren is, constantly saying that they're up against a master, even as ren is actively running away from the fight. he has an insane amount of faith in ren, and he always has. even when that faith in ren should be shaken, either because they're actively trying to kill each other or because ren, frankly, looks like a coward this whole fight, skizz can't help but be impressed with ren, and his faith remains strong. eventually, ren gets backup from cleo and scott, and skizz decides to run, but as he runs, ren works up his courage and shoots him dead. skizz is mad, but he's not mad at ren, he's mad at himself for not being able to kill anybody.

and then the two of them get separated. skizz isn't in double life, and ren isn't in limited life or secret life. and everyone has talked about how weird martyn gets in the absence of ren, but it happens to skizz too. both skizz and martyn are trying to fill the hole ren left in their lives in limited life, but they're doing it in different ways. martyn is trying to find someone (scott) to replace ren as someone he can be truly loyal to and skizz is trying to fill the hole ren left as leader, as king, not by finding that leader in someone else, but by stepping up to fill the role himself. and it doesn't work out for either of them!

skizz doesn't explicitly say that's what he's doing in limited life, but it's very clear, with the most notable example of this being skizz, just like ren, giving up his life to one of his "soldiers", by handing them an axe and saying "i need you to kill me for your own good". just like ren.

and i will say- this is not a limited life exclusive thing. skizz tries to recreate the red army in last life too, with team BEST, and it doesn't really work out there either (though it certainly goes worse for team BEST). so come secret life, skizz says "maybe i can't be ren, maybe i need to find someone else i can trust to lead me" and he TRIES in the first episode of secret life. he says, explicitly, that this is what he's doing (in the "loyal sword" conversation mentioned above, and in the small bit of conversation that proceeds that, which is around 18:40 in scott's first episode). but he can't find a single person willing to fulfill that same role, so he steps up to do it again. and it fails again.

and here's the thing about skizz trying to fill ren's shoes, trying to recreate what he had with ren and the red army every single season since then. that's how i've been interpreting skizz's actions for the entirety of the series, but also SKIZZ EXPLICITLY SAID THAT'S WHAT HE WAS DOING.

(quote starts at 1:08:01 in the imp and skizz episode about secret life)

"it's just in my nature, i'm like, i just don't- i don't care about winning. but- but i- but i'm not gonna- i'd be lying if i said it wouldn't be kinda nice. and i wanna- and i do wanna last, and i wanna be competitive, but i'm really more focused on having a great time and putting together good content, and creating alliances that are very, very strong, and are a brotherhood. like what we did with the- i mean, every season. from BEST to TIES to uh, to the Heart Foundation, like it's been a really strong family, really strong brotherhood that uh- that i've really enjoyed that- that journey in creating. and it started with ren and martyn in season one."

IT'S ALL BEEN MODELED ON DOGWARTS! IT'S ALL BEEN DOGWARTS FOR HIM THE WHOLE TIME!!! skizz has been desperately trying to recreate what he had with ren since the moment he no longer had it anymore and i think that's insanely interesting. and i choose to interpret that obsession with ren as romantic because ren and skizz are. like that. and cannot refrain from calling each other hot or telling the other that they love them or what have you, but even if you don't want to interpret it as romantic, i think their dynamic is INSANELY interesting and i need more people talking about them.

[liloinkoink]

Fic ask meme: I wish you would write a fic of lamplight Ren’s thoughts when he first meets Martyn 🥺🥺 -rem

[ask meme: i wish you would write a fic where...]

The first sign that Ren’s life is about to start again is the sound of shattering metal. The second is the protest of old hinges, and the third is splintering wood.

The man who enters the room doesn’t wear a mask like the ones who put him here, which is enough for Ren to like him. He steps back to the door, breaks off a chunk of wood, and holds it into the fire. 

Ren isn’t sure where the man is planning to take him, but it doesn’t matter.  

Ren takes the lifeline with both hands and lets the man pull him free. 

They don’t go very far. The man circles the room once, quietly concentrating, though Ren isn’t sure on what. As he searches, Ren focuses on him. 

The man is exhausted. He looks like he’s been punched in both eyes, and has to switch which hand he holds the torch in several times as he circles the room because the act of holding it up seems to tire him. He seems to be looking for something. Whatever it is, not only does he not find it, but he’s so focused on searching that he nearly walks right into the statue of Ren—the last bastion of a useless god, drenched in darkness even when its patron is made of light. 

He stares at it blankly, circling around to see its face, holding Ren up to look closer. Ren reaches toward it, but the man pulls his hand away before Ren can touch the stone. 

“Are you still here?” the man asks, and Ren’s attention whips back to his face. The man stares directly into the stone face of Ren’s statue, as though he’s trying to meet Ren’s eyes. The man’s talking to him? “You’ve been stuck here a really long time, huh? When was the last time someone came down to talk to you?”

I’m here! Ren wants to say, but all that comes out is a crackling. He tries anyway, insisting I can hear you. I’m listening.

“Listen, uh. We’re in a pretty similar spot right now. I don’t know who put you down here, but there’s bad people running around your place now,” the man says, and oh, does Ren know that already. He doesn’t need someone to come down here to remind him how he’s failed to save even his city’s corpse. 

Does he want Ren to save Dogwarts? He’s come to the wrong place. The city-no-more doesn’t need a worthless god. What use is a prayer to Ren?

“They’re keeping me here,” the man says, pleading, “and I’m running out of options.” 

Oh. 

“If you can help me escape, I’ll follow you,” the man continues, “I’m not really a paladin, but I’ll see what I can do.”

A paladin’s oath is nothing to scoff at. A lifelong bond from a god to a mortal, a promise of devotion in turn for power and protection. Most paladins study under their gods’ churches for some time before making the sort of oath this man offers now.

To offer this at first meeting, before even offering his name? This is a desperation Ren knows. The last time he felt if, he gave up his form to save a city already burning. The first time he felt it… 

This is the sort of desperation that drives a mortal man to set himself alight in search of godhood. 

“Neither of us have better options, so…”

Ren is the pointless god of a dead city. 

But surely, surely, Ren can save just one man. 

Who would Ren be to turn him away?

The basin goes out, the fire inside snuffed without a sound. Martyn jerks back, startled, but he can still see, if barely.

Nice to meet you, paladin, Ren says, Let’s leave.

“Oh,” the man—his paladin—breathes. He holds the torch with both hands, and Ren can feel the way they tremble, even as he looks past Ren toward the statue above him. “I didn’t really think you could hear me.”

I told you I was listening! Ren wants to say, but he’s a bit too giddy to be properly chiding. 

“Oh, man. If I knew you could hear me, I…” his paladin trails off, “Wait. Am I watching this now? Am I supposed to build a temple or something? I’m not really a builder… If I get out of here, I’m going to be the world’s worst paladin.”

His paladin looks down at Ren, and Ren would give anything to smile at him. Only the worst for the world’s worst god. 

[dvskf4llz]

why is it so difficult to find someone who writes for the life series?? the ones i do come across are consistently inactive ;-;

anyways, i have a request!

this one will mostly carry angst and fluff of the third life variety regarding dogwarts and desert duo because i'm not seeing a lot of them seen here as opposed to twitter, lol!

okay, so! gn wolf hybrid!reader was part of the desert people due to an empty promise of resources.

scar continuously asked for "favors" from the reader, but one fatal favor ends up taking reader's first life.

an outraged reader later confronts the two about their lack of assistance. reader then leaves the duo and seeks out dogwarts for comfort...and maybe revenge down the line.

yeah, this one is pretty long, so feel free to skip this one if you want!

make sure to take care of yourself and drink water!💜

Ooo I love this idea! I will do it just bc!

I plan of re-writing all of my oneshots first once I post the 13 other oneshots I have in my drafts-

3𝓻𝓭 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮 𝓢𝓜𝓟 𝔁 𝓖𝓝!𝓦𝓸𝓵𝓯𝓱𝔂𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓭!𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻

My Revenge...

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

Warning ⚠! This oneshot will contain the following: angst, death, arguing, angst to fluff, mentions of being taken advantage of. Please dni if you're not comfortable with these!

You see, your friend Grian was literally begging you to join 3rd life. You were denying at first, but after a whole day of Grian just trying to persuade you into joining you gave in.

Once everyone had joined the server, Grian started explaining the rules. Once he finished, everyone went their own ways to collect resources.

You, Grian and Scar had met up in a desert. You 3 decided to team up, you guys called yourselves "The desert trio". Thankfully, you guys were still Green.

As a few days went by, scar would constantly ask you so many favors. Almost 6 favors per each day. You didn't wanna say no since he had done a lot of your favors before, but he was asking A LOT of favors.

A specific favor Scar had asked you to do, was come with him to grab some snow from the snowy mountains. You figured it would be easy to do since you just had to collect snow, so you 2 went on your way to the mountains. While using your shovel, you didn't realize that Scar had 'Accidentally' let loose of a goat. You ended up getting head-butted by the goat and off of the mountain, you just saw Scar standing at the edge with a guilty look.

When you had respawned, you got up and saw that 1 of your [eye color] eyes were replaced with Yellow. You now had a yellow streak on your hair, indicating you were now on yellow life.

You then immediately went outside of your base seeing Scar and Grian sitting next to each other. You rushed over to them and when they looked at you they had a guilty face, Scar tried to apologize but you just yelled at him.

"[Name]- I'm sorry I had to-"

"No Scar! I am done doing your stupid favors! All of your goddamn favors have always made me risked my life! And now I did lose my life! You didn't even try to run over to me! You just allowed to goat to head-butt me off a tall mountain! I always help you and Grian! but you 2 never help me in return!"

"I was the boogey okay?! I didn't have anyone else!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! You could've just told me and I could've helped you! Did Grian know about this?!"

You yelled at him and he nodded looking down.

"SO YOU JUST DECIDED TO KILL YOUR OWN ALLY JUST BECAUSE YOU SAW ME AS AN EASY PREY?!"

"[Nickname] it's not like that.."

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS. YOU TELL GRIAN AND NOT ME?! BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO KILL ME?! I COULD'VE HELPED YOU SCAR! IF ONLY YOU JUST TOLD ME! You know what! I'm leaving this Alliance! Don't come near me. Don't try to talk to me. I'll find another alliance."

"Wait [Name]!" The 2 men yelled out to you while you were just running away, they decided not to try and chase you anymore. They felt extremely guilty.

You soon came to a stop, you went under a tree and just sat down on the grass. You were slightly crying, you couldn't believed they betrayed you. They betrayed your trust, they only used you.

When you looked up you ended up seeing a bunch of mobs around you, you got your sword out and start hacking at them. Your sword was beginning to break, after a few more swings at 1 one of the mobs it broke. You looked around to see even more mobs coming for you, you started running. You ended up outside of dogwarts, You saw Ren coming out and his eyes widened when he saw you. He immediately rushed you inside, he had taken care a lot of the mobs but there were still a few left.

Ren looked at you worriedly, he was confused why you weren't with Scar and Grian. He had also remembered seeing his communicator saying that you had died. He asked you what had happened, you took a seat and began explaining what had happened. After explaining, Ren looked at you feeling bad that you had to experience that.

He opened his arms out seemingly asking if you wanted a hug, you immediately hugged him and started sobbing. He began to stroke your hair and rub your back, while slightly rocking you. Martyn came in and held a confused and concerned expression, Ren just had that expression that made Martyn understand what happened.

He rushed over to you and also went to hug you. As you calmed down, Martyn gave you some water.

"thanks..." You said quietly after drinking the water.

"I.. I don't wanna go back there.." You said softly, looking down. Ren nodded, knowing how you felt.

As a few days went by, you had been living in dogwarts. You had avoided talking to Scar and Grian during those past days.

A thought came across you one day, what if you got revenge on Grian and Scar?

And so with that thought, you began to plan your revenge. You let Ren know about it, he offered to help you out which you accepted.

After a few days of planning, you had finally finished. You and Ren had collected everything that was needed for this to work, you just had to set it up.

Thankfully, you were able to avoid Grian and Scar during those days of planning. It was a bit hard since they always tried to come up to you, but you were able to either way.

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A little context: your plan was to pour down a crap ton of minecarts with TNT right on top of where Grian and Scar would be. If it didn't work, that's fine! You did plant a bunch of tnt under their desert.. sooo... Yeah! (It doesn't make sense but bare with me- you guys can just change it to whatever u want TT)

(Or you could just change the back up plan to stealing Pizza)

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

Once you and Ren had finished planning things, now you had to wait.

Your plan would fall on the 2nd of June, the Sun would still be rising at the time you and Ren would set up the plan....

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

*CLIFFFHANGERRRRRRRR*

A cliffhanger bc why not :D

Dw I'll make a part 2 to this after a few days ;)

Y'all gotta be patient- ik you guys are rlly fkin patient tho so like TT

All I'm gonna say is, for part two that it will contain fully detailed fighting scenes! There will include two endings: 1, The reader (you) will successfully have their revenge. 2, the reader fails to get their revenge (something else happens aswell but you'll have to wait for that 😉)

ANYWAYS!! go drink water, go eat a meal, get some darn sleep and have a wonderful day. <3

(p.s, I'll post lil' sneak peaks of part two every now and then)

YOU ARE AN AMAZING PERSON! DON'T FORGET THAT

(T⍑ᒷ ∷ᒷꖎᒷᔑᓭᒷ ↸ᔑℸ ̣ ᒷ 𝙹⎓ !¡ᔑ∷ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ∴𝙹 ∴╎ꖎꖎ ʖᒷ 𝙹ᓵℸ ̣ 𝙹ʖᒷ∷ ℸ ̣ ∴ᒷꖎ⍊ᒷ, リ𝙹 ᓭ!¡ᒷᓵ╎⎓╎ᓵ ℸ ̣ ╎ᒲᒷ.)

[mosscloakenthusiast]

Treebark Week day 6 - win/lose

It doesn’t hit either of them what has happened when Ren kills Grian. 

It doesn’t hit them as they walk back to Dogwarts to regroup and plan their next move.

It doesn't hit them as they realise how late it is and settle to rest in the cave under Renchanting. They sleep in shifts. Because it hasn’t hit them yet.

It hits Ren when he checks his comms to see who’s left. Martyn is asleep. He could kill him, he’s asleep, can’t defend himself. He doesn’t. He doesn’t share with Martyn his realisation.

It hits Martyn when Ren starts acting more relaxed, more domestic, working beside him rather than insisting that one of them stays on watch. He wants to pretend it hasn’t. Let them live like this forever. He knows he can’t.

—

They both realise that the other knows. They both wake up each morning to the sounds of the ghosts on the wind, begging for a fight. They try their hardest to ignore it.

Without people to rule over, Ren slips from The Red King back to Ren, who happens to be red. Without a king, Martyn loses his position as The King’s Hand, becoming Just Martyn once again. It does very little to appease the red in both of them, but it is nice to just be Ren and Martyn, who don’t have a banner or domain or title, just each other and the fast-setting sun.

Ren and Martyn love each other more than they could ever properly express. Ren and Martyn don’t have to worry about keeping their people safe, or making deals, or Grian’s hidden bombs. Ren and Martyn are a single togetherness against the echoing empty world.

Not a word is spoken when they start sleeping in the same bed. It’s for warmth, for protection, nothing more, they tell themselves. They both know it isn’t true. They both keep it to themselves if they notice how inseparable they become, rarely in separate rooms, knees touching under tables, holding hands and not letting go. It’s so they know they haven’t lost each other, they say.

At some point they feel able to talk about what has happened again, talking of wars and scars and beheadings. They realise that, if they’re honest, it was never The Red King’s kingdom. It was always Ren and Martyn’s. Always.

When they kiss it feels as easy as breathing. As if they’d always done it, just off-camera. They stop making excuses for not crafting an extra bed and always holding hands and wanting to be so close. They feel almost at peace. They get better at ignoring the ghosts.

They tell eachother everything, pretty much. Loud stories told under a burning sun as they replant their crops, confessions whispered in the dead of night. They forgive and they hold each other close and they repair anything broken from the times they found the hardest.

Ren doesn’t tell Martyn that with each day that passes he feels the scar on his throat grow larger, threatening to rip open. He doesn’t tell Martyn he’s been killing small animals to keep the bloodlust at bay, that the red in him begs for a death, even if it’s his own.

Martyn doesn’t tell Ren the eyes he feels settling on his face, the force pulling him to Watch. He doesn’t tell Ren about the part of him that cleans his axe every day, practices the motion of bracing to be killed.

— 

It hits Martyn when Ren takes his hand and pulls him outside to the Altar.

It hits Ren when Martyn hands him an axe and kneels.

It hits them that this always had to happen. They’ve both been preparing for this, without telling the other.

It hits them when they’re both begging the other to kill them that they were never going to get away with living.

They argue. They scream at each other. Sit softly and hold hands and the axe lies between them like a promise. 

Martyn caves. Part of him knew this would happen, he will always do what Ren asks. He thinks, he hopes, that death is better than winning and being left alone. That Ren forgetting he exists is better than remembering he no longer does.

Ren feels familiarity kneeling on the Altar. He doesn’t feel afraid. He has been ready for this for a long time. It’s even the same axe.

Martyn hates himself. But he can’t let Ren down.

—

It hits Martyn that Ren is dead. And he is alone.

[indigo-flightly-falls]

Indigo you should tell me about Dogwarts

-@10piecechickenmcnugget

*tail starts wagging at incredibly high speeds*

As a warning this post is going to be all over the place and long because I Have Thoughts about these blockmen.

So first off, they are so fucking loyal to each other. I am stressing that because they came together during 3rd Life. The season of loyalty, but also betrayal. Dogwarts is the only team besides Flower Husbands to have not turned on each other at any point at all. (besides Martyn planning to betray Ren. But that's not canon so-)

And also they're just so fun to watch? Like you see them in any non-dogwarts pov and you think they're scary and they know what they're doing at all times, and then you watch a dogwarts pov and they're. goofing around. Ren and Martyn are roleplaying while Skizz and Etho do their own thing. BigB is somewhere. Maybe in the caves. Do they have a plan? No. But they're going to fight anyway.

Also they had a snowball fight with Grian & Scar at one point. During Impulse's 6th episode at the end you can see it. They called for a snowball fight in the middle of a war. What was happening.

And on the note of Impulse, Ren, Etho & Skizz all trusted him. Martyn was a bit suspicious but he trusted Ren's judgement. They all let Impulse into the group because he gave them some arrows. And where did it get them? Impulse killed two of them. Martyn's second life and Etho's final life.

Also Etho & Impulse during 3rd Life is actually just tragic. They were friends for a while, and Etho never distrusted Impulse until the end of episode 7. They were based together. They literally lived together. And the Impulse is a traitor. And he permakilled Etho in the end. And then until Limited Life they were basically enemies. (Traffic! Etho & Impulse is a topic for another day tho)

Actually if I'm talking about duos and how they interacted, Etho and Skizz. They've never not been teamed and they're so fun to watch. They just have a way of working together and it's amazing to watch. Most underrated traffic duo in my opinion. Like, they were working together at the end of episode one. They've been teamed the entirety of the traffic games and I think that's really interesting.

Actually Etho & Skizz seem to mirror to Ren & Martyn. They had basically never interacted before 3rd Life, but they've always allied together afterwards. They've both partaken in a execution of each other, to give an advantage to the team (Ren was killed by Martyn so he could actually attack Scar instead of being forced to only use self defense, and Skizz was killed by Etho so that Etho could have a bit longer to live). I am going crazy about this whole thing

I don't have as many thoughts about BigB because I'm still currently working thought his pov so take a very mini rant:

I love the traffic fandom, I do but like. STOP EXCLUDING BIGB FROM DOGWARTS. Yes, he was absent during session 7. He was still part of the team. He's a red banner. He's also always been teamed with Ren. Dogwarts, The Fairy Fort/The Shadow Alliance, the Box Boys. They've always been teamed and I think more people need to acknowledge that.

You've probably already heard a bunch about Renchanting. I love them but like. Could people stop filling up the Dogwarts tag with just Renchanting? Please? Please stick to your own tag. I just want content of my five silly guys.

And going back to Dogwarts as a whole, they react so fast to everything. Like that time when Etho went out to try to rob Desert duo and got killed? Within like three minutes, max, almost all of dogwarts was there. They prioritized Etho's wellbeing over anything else in that moment. And when Martyn killed Ren, Skizz was ready to fight Martyn without a second thought. And when session 8 started, and BigB was vulnerable, they all went to make sure he could get out from the caves without dying.

And also a fun fact I will never get over, Skizz forged the Red Winter axe if I'm remembering correctly. Skizz's impact on that whole thing is so direct, but next to nobody knows about it. And another thing I remember, is that when Skizz stormed the Crastle, nobody went in trying to get the axe. They all went to stop (or at least help) Skizz, who rushed in. His bloodlust overcame everything else, and he ran. But not before giving everyone a golden apple. Which was also the last thing Etho ate to try to keep himself alive.

And I remember seeing a comment about both sides losing at the end of session 7. Grian & Scar seemed like they lost because two people on their team died and the desert trap didn't work. Dogwarts was out numbered. They had lost a teammate to being permakilled, and one to being a traitor. They were 3 against 8. And then 4 against 8 by session 8. But they were still outnumbered. There was next to no way they could've won. Maybe if Skizz hadn't died, they'd have more of a chance. Maybe not.

It's two years to late to wonder about what-ifs anyways.

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

Flower symbolism time :DDD

Also known as I have a list of flowers that make me think of dogwarts.

Alliums - strength, you're perfect Catchweed - Clinging, do not let go Pink hyacinth - harmless mischief Forget me not - Do not forget me, remembering, links to the past Black rose - beauty, farewell, impending death Yellow rose - caring, platonic love, welcome back, friendship Meadow clover - Revenge, I promise Ivy - Endurance, dependence Holly - Defense, difficult victory attained, enchantment, good luck, am I forgotten Yew - Leadership, silence, honor Zinnia - Absent friends, friendship, loyalty, thoughts about absent friends Yucca - A friend in need, best friends Immortal flower - Cheerfulness under adverse conditions, immortal remembrance, eternity Bluebonnet - Forgiveness, self-sacrifice, survival pink bluebonnet - memories of those who died, struggle to survive Garden heliotrope - Devoted attachment, devotion, eternal love Dogwood - Durability, duration Cedar - Goals, I live for thee, I live you you, think of me, strength Milkweed - Hope in misery

....I think you get the point. These guys have a lot of flowers.

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

Anyways it took at least 45 minutes (probably closer to an hour) but here's my thoughts on Dogwarts :D

Now my laptop is begging for an update so if you don't hear from me for a few days you know why (<- has a laptop that hates updating).

[galaxyofender]

It was just another night watch around Dogwarts, just like any other one, when Ren realized something about himself.

He was not a man, nor had he ever been. Not that he ever complained when his fellow hermits talked of him in a masculine manner, it wasn't like he or the hermits knew anything else. But under the glow of the moon and the chilling winter air, the truth was clear to Ren, now that he looked at it. A woman, that is what the Red King was.

She knew it, perhaps always did and just never dared to think much of it, and she knew the hermits would take her and her newfound truth with open arms, yet… Oh, her Hand was the issue. Her Hand, who she held dear to her heart, she didn't know how to tell him. Ren knew well, her Hand loved and cared about her as much as she did back, and despised the thought of changing it. She couldn't bear it, the thought of Martyn changing the way he treated her, or even abandoning her in the worst case.

But, she knew Martyn was anything but stupid, he would realize it eventually. He'd take it well, Ren hoped. Like mentioned before, Martyn loved her deeply, knew his… King? Queen? Uh, That is something to be thought about later– The point was, he knew his leader like the back of his own hand. Too well, perhaps, Ren wouldn't be surprised if her Hand had figured it out before she had.

But for now, she'd keep it a secret from him. She couldn't tell Martyn the truth, at least not yet.

–

Martyn offered to Ren to sleep in a same bed, saying they both could use the rest and knowing their iron guardians and villagers would alert them should something attack. She –who had not had a truly restful sleep since the night her head got chopped off by Martyn, haunted by nightmares of her own blood and the sheer horror in her Hand's voice each time she dared close her eyes for any considerable period of time– accepted the offer without a second thought.

To be telling the truth, the bed was a tad too small for two grown adults, but Martyn insisted and Ren couldn't say no to him. So here they both were, with Ren resting her head on Martyn's chest, feeling the steady heartbeat underneath her ear. He played with her hair, running his hand in its long brown, trying to get his liege to rest. Martyn's other hand was intertwined with Ren's clawed one.

"Is there something wrong, m'lord?" Martyn asked, being able to tell something was off with Ren. Somehow, the title stung now, even after hearing it out of his mouth more than a hundred times by now.

"It's all well, my Hand, do not worry about your liege, I promise." She said, a lie and somewhat of an affirmation to herself, but even she didn't believe it.

"Ren, I can tell something is wrong. You can tell me." Martyn gently squeezed her hand, almost a reassurance in its own way.

"It's fine, dude, don't worry about me," Ren replied gently.

"Your ears, Ren."

"What about them?"

"They're droopy." Martyn's hand let go of Ren's hair, now reaching for soft dog ears, flat against her head. "You can trust me, just… Please, tell me."

Ren doubted. Martyn knew her too well, any lies would immediately be caught, however… Maybe the earlier it was said, the easier it'd be. "Martyn, your King is not a king at all." Was all that she said, knowing he would understand her words.

"But you are still–" Martyn cut himself off, realizing what Ren's words may have meant. Somehow, it just explained how strangely avoidant she had been acting the past few days. "Oh. Oh."

"Yeah," Ren laughed.

"So… my Lady now, then? Is that what you meant?"

She nods. "I'm… I'm your Queen now." Ren could not have ever felt freer than when those words left her mouth.

"Mine all the same," Martyn smiles. It was the truth, Martyn did belong with Ren as much as Ren belonged with him. "Still Ren or some other name?"

"I– I did not think of that, my dude. Ren will do for the time being, I do think."

"Ren, my Queen." Martyn added, fondly. "I like how that sounds."

"I do too," Ren yawns, the time of night hitting her now. She makes herself comfortable in Martyn's arms. What to do about her own appearance, if she even wanted to change it at all, and how to tell the rest of the server, that’d be a problem for tomorrow.

“Goodnight, my Lady. Rest well.�� Was the last thing Ren heard, before sleep turned everything a pleasant quiet and dark.

[stressedbisexualtm]

"Aghhh!" 

   Scott turns, watching Gem's braid swing in time with her sword.

   She's been at it for at least a couple of hours now, swinging a wooden sword at a training dummy set in the middle of their base. Not like she needs the combat practice; she had been excellent against monsters so far and Scott's heard that she has quite the knack for sparring back on Hermitcraft. Still, he knows it's not the same as fighting in 

these games is. 

   Y'know, he thinks, maybe Impulse or I should train with her instead. 

"Hey Gem!" He calls out. "Still beating up that poor, defenceless armour stand?" 

   She pauses and looks over at him. "Ha-ha, very funny, Scott." 

   He giggles. When he gets closer he sees how out of breath she is, her face tinged red and her eyes drooped in exhaustion. 

"Man, you've... really been going at it, huh," he gestures. 

   She takes a moment to respond. She might be catching her breath, or deciding what to say. Probably the latter. 

"It's just..." she begins. "It's just that I don't know how you all do it." 

"Do what?" He asks. 

"Do.. this! This whole 'red life' business. It's so hard, because all I want to do all    the time is kill and fight, and you and Impulse and everyone walk around like it's no big deal and- and.. I don't know. I just want to know how you all do it." She looks up at him, brows pinched in frustration. "How do you all walk around like nothing's the matter?" 

   Scott opens his mouth to respond, and closes it again. He remembers his first game.  Hell, even his second. 

   The first time around he knows he was spurred mostly by revenge -- all he wanted was to avenge Jimmy and beat Dogwarts. He supposes there was natural bloodlust, but he knew that wasn't the sole factor for most people. The second time... was rougher. Last Life was a harsh game with harsh rules, and intense red-life bloodlust came with that. At the end, all he wanted was to win. He doesn't know if he would've killed Pearl, but he certainly wasn't above the notion. (He'd done it in the next game, anyway.) Limited Life was easier. He hadn’t wanted to win, and he knew what to expect at the end of the game.

"Time, I think. Most of us have already had a go at it four times, so we've learned how to distance ourselves from it," he eventually responds. Until the end, he leaves out. 

Gem makes some sort of frustrated grunting noise. 

"That's a horrible answer!" 

"What did you want me to say?!" 

"I don't know!" 

   Scott sighs good-naturedly and rolls his eyes. 

"Well, we could always ask Impulse," he throws out. 

   Gem sighs. "No, I think he's out mining or something. I don't want to distract him." 

"We've probably got cows to breed or.. cookies to bake. Something to get your mind off being a red life." He smiles. 

   She lights up. 

"Oh my goodness yes! Oh I would love to make cookies Scott you have no idea - can we make them pink?" She immediately grabs Scott's hand and rushes towards the house, paying no mind to her wooden sword or the training dummy. 

"Sure," he responds. 

   As they gather the ingredients Gem talks about all sorts of things; what to have with the cookies, how many baby cows they got today, what potion to throw at Impulse when he gets home... 

   Scott smiles. She's having fun. That's all any of them could ask for in the life games. He smiles, and lets her drag him through the base for the rest of the day, making cookies and having fun. 

new fic! im basically a famous author now

[cocoabats]

omg omg i love that art SO much!! Can you tell us more about the pale white horse au??

Gladly! I'm planning to draw way more stuff for it so nice to see someone interested <3 Just keep in mind I'm not a writer so this may be a little bit chaotic and hard to read

tw for 3l typical major character death

Scar attacks Dogwarts after they kill Pizza, they get into a fight and Grian gets a cut on his face. His yell of pain actually throws Scar off and he dies calling Grians name.

Martyn wholeheartedly believes getting rid of Scar was all Grian wanted and that he's saving his friend so he talks to Ren and they agree to invite Grian to join them. Grian is... not doing good at this point, he's very much shell shocked, he managed to bury Scar but all he has left of him are his cracked sword and the Dogwarts flag Scar stole from them. He later wears that very same flag.

So Grian absolutely not dealing with his grief and all the contradicting feelings he still has about Scar decides he still owes him his green life and decides to use this opportunity to gain Dogwarts trust and strike them when they don't suspect it.

So he joins them, fights for them and rekindles friendship with Bigb who is the only person he genuinely cares about in Dogwarts till the end. They fight Crastle and Flower Husbands and they win but Grian loses his green life. He cracks just a little bit, finally coming to terms that he really cared about Scar and it's way too late to do anything about it other than finally put his plan into motion.

So after the war is over Grian goes through every single person in Dogwarts and kills them. Bigb is the only person out of all of them that he cares about and he talks to him, tries to have him on his side in some way but Bigb is too loyal to Ren so he joins the rest of his companions. Finally Grian slays Ren on the very same altar he lost his yellow life, using the very same axe Martyn has used and he's just... done.

Martyn wakes up knowing something is off, he finds all the bodies and he starts understanding what happened and he hopes he can still save Ren but when he gets there it's already too late. He immediately takes Grians yellow life in anger but he's unable to kill him completely and he lets him go. Grian decides to end it the same way he did in 3l and Martyn who only wanted to have all his friends around him is completely alone.

There's a lot more small details we talked about and a bunch of things I'm probably forgetting rn but this is the main plot of the au. Really really sad but I really enjoy the tragedy, no one here is evil, everyone is just trying their best but in the true 3l fashion their best is never enough.

[rosaacicularis]

… you mentioned a mafia au in your tags… 👀👀 perhaps maybe you would to share it 👀👀 pretty please 👀👀

oh anon, i would love to <3

scar is a marksman/sharpshooter, he has near perfect accuracy from like really far away. his code name is hawkeye (because of course it is)

grian knows everything one can know, for everything that is brought up, he knows the five w’s and then some. his code name (because again, of course) is the watcher.

mumbo (code name: vampire) is the clean up crew. disposes of bodies, cleans up blood, glass, weapons. he can be given the bloodiest crime scene, and he’ll leave cleaner the new.

bdubs is a sleeper agent (code name: the sleeper, nickname: sleeping beauty), he can go undercover for years at a time. nobody knows how he does it, nobody wants to.

bdubs bring a case to grian and scar, who then have to go undercover to infiltrate dogwarts. they go undercover as a couple and are forced to be in a fake relationship. scar and grian have had horrible crushes on each other for literal years. everybody else can see it but they are just pining away (they both know, they just don’t want it to interfere with work).

martyn figures out that there’s something off about grian after a few meetings. grian feels guilty, because he’s the reason it failed. so, he goes off alone to take down dogwarts to make it up to everyone. scar, mumbo, and bdubs freak out, because unlike grian, they don’t have all the information in the world…. but perhaps they know someone who might.

pearl, aka the prophet, and grian grew up together, they’re as thick as thieves, as close as siblings. so scar, mumbo and bdubs take a trip and ask her about where grian might be.

they find him, and he gets mad because he caused all of it, he’s going to fix all of it. he doesn’t want his friends to be in possible danger because of his mistakes. they all camp out in his motel room but he and scar are up in the middle of the night. they sit outside, looking up at the stars and they talk and maybe kiss occasionally, but scar convinces grian to let them help, that it wasn’t his fault. they make a plan to take them down, from the outside this time, and it works almost flawlessly.

almost because grian is hurt, and because of that scar leaves his station to make sure he’s alright, which means the fate of the operation is in the hands of bdubs and mumbo, who aren’t ever really on the scene as it’s happening. grian tells scar that he loves him, thinking that he’s going to die. scar calls mumbo over to apply pressure to grians wounds while he takes care of the rest.

grian wakes up in one the beds they have in their med-bay, scar is holding his hand, sitting in the chair next to him. grian smiles and squeezes his hand. scar wakes up and they kiss and get together officially, because they basically were already and there’s no point in needlessly breaking their hearts <3

[moon1ee]

Here, have this 3rd life scarian fic I finished writing EXACTLY when the hermitcraft finale was posted that talks about Scar's attachment to his builds--

This is for @threeowlsinatrenchcoat 's request for a scarian fic//

The bunker was oppressive and smelled of blood, but Grian didn’t mind. It got the job done, even if it wasn’t as pretty as the desert tower, even if it didn’t give him the same sense of pride.

Grian didn’t mind the bunker, but he knew Scar hated it. The man had never been good at hiding his emotions, and the way he frowned at the bare sandstone floor of the bunker and the low roof was indication enough. Scar had cared for the desert tower more than Grian, always spending his free time simply sitting in it, but he’d still agreed with Grian’s plan to blow it up.

Grian wondered why.

Grian wondered why he himself still stayed with Scar, even though his debt was repaid. His eyes were yellow now. He didn’t need to be here. He could leave, go back to his ugly little hobbit hole, to the crastle, to the hobbits, maybe even to Dogwarts. He could be of use to them. They were an intelligent group. If he joined them, they had a better chance of winning then he did with Scar.

There was no point in staying here, with this madman. There was nothing keeping him here. Stockholm Syndrome, Martyn had said offhandedly, and bitterly Grian wondered if that was what it was. And yet, he had never been Scar’s prisoner. The only thing binding them together was Grian’s misplaced sense of duty. Scar himself had offered Grian the chance to leave anytime he’d wanted.

Grian stared at Scar’s sleeping form, curled on the single bed in the bunker. The majority of their resources had blown up with the tower, and they’d only had enough wool to make one bed, which they’d taken turns using. Scar’s brow was wrinkled, his mouth curled into a frown, completely unaware to the waking world. Grian could leave, right now, and Scar wouldn’t notice until it was too late.

Grian stood, putting down his netherite sword he’d been sharpening, taking a single step backward. Another. Slowly, he opened the trapdoor that led to the tunnel outside, and crawled out.

When he finally emerged out into the empty, dark night, the first thing he saw was the crater blown into the desert. Another one of his cocky plans that had failed. Scar had loved the desert, been obsessed with it, had spent night after night simply running across it, chasing rabbits and laughing while Grian watched from Monopoly Mountain, shaking his head. And yet, Scar let Grian trap the entire thing. Scar let Grian do whatever he wanted.

Let’s kill Ren, Grian had said, when all Scar wanted to do was steal a cookie. And yet, they did.

Let’s declare war, Scar. Let’s blow up our home, Scar. Let’s make a monopoly over dark oak, Scar.

Scar would have gone along with whatever Grian said, if only to keep him happy. If only to keep him.

Grian turned to look back at the bunker, where Scar was sleeping, unaware. He sighed. “What am I going to do with you, Scar?” he muttered. He ran a hand over his tired face.

A rabbit hopped by at his ankle, and unthinkingly, Grian thrust his sword out, spearing the rabbit in the eye. It dropped onto the sand, dead. He frowned, staring at it. They were running out of food anyway, he supposed, and Scar loved rabbit. Maybe he’d stay out and do some hunting tonight.

When he arrived back at the bunker an hour later, a handful of rabbit corpses in his hand, quietly closing the trapdoor behind him, Scar was sitting in the bed, bare back turned away from him. “So,” he said flatly. "You’re back.”

“Oh,” Grian said. “You’re awake?”

Scar turned to look at Grian, and his eyes were angry. “I’ve been awake for the past hour. Where were you?”

“I—” Grian gestured to the rabbits in his hand. “I was out hunting.”

“In the middle of night,” Scar said, eyes narrowing.

He shrugged. “They come out at night,” he said, getting more and more uneasy. Why was Scar acting so cold suddenly?

“Right,” Scar scoffed. “And you definitely weren’t planning on leaving.”

Oh.

Grian looked at Scar, properly looked at him for the first time since the Battle of the Red Desert, looked at his slumped shoulders and downcast eyes. Oh.

He set the rabbits onto the floor, and stepped forward. “Scar,” he said slowly, “I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t considering it.”

Scar scowled, and turned away from Grian, and Grian grabbed his shoulders and turned him back to face him, determined to drill some sense into the man’s thick head. “I said I considered it,” he said. “Because I’m free now, aren’t I? My debt is repaid. I could leave.” He paused. “But then I realized I could have always left, anytime I wanted. Scar, really, you couldn’t have stopped me if I’d left. But I didn’t want to, and I still don’t. Because—” He stopped. He’d said too much, and now Scar was looking at him with those infernal puppy eyes, and Grian didn’t know how to continue, or, he did, but he was afraid to say it, but he didn’t need to, because Scar pulled him into a hug anyway, burying his face in Grian’s shoulder, and Grian was uncomfortably aware of the fact that Scar was not wearing a shirt.

“Don’t leave,” Scar pleaded, still holding desperately onto Grian like if he let go, Grian would simply disappear. “Never leave. Please.”

Grian let himself sink into the embrace. “I won’t,” he promised. “I’m not going anywhere, Scar.”

Don’t leave me, either, he thought, but didn’t say. Don’t die, Scar. Don’t leave me alone.

Scar let go and smiled at him, and Grian felt something inside of him choke at the sight of it.

“Did you get rabbit?” he said, craning his neck to look at the spoils lying on the floor. “I love rabbit.”

Grian laughed, suddenly completely tired. He tried to stifle his yawn, but Scar sent him a knowing look before yawning as well. “Come on,” he muttered, pulling Grian into the bed. “Let’s sleep.”

“Scar,” Grian protested. “It’s your turn—”

“Come on, Grian,” Scar insisted. “You’re tired, I’m tired, and there’s enough space here for the both of us.”

There was definitely not enough space for both of them, especially with the way Scar liked to stretch out across the entire bed, but Grian was too tired to care. He let Scar shove him under the ridiculously thin blanket, and squeaked in protest as the other man immediately wrapped himself around Grian. “Scar—” he said, strained.

“Shh,” Scar muttered, face buried in Grian’s sweater. “Cold. Sleep now.”

“You know, if you actually wore a shirt, this wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Hm. Probably. G’night.”

Grian rolled his eyes, but subsided, because outside it was freezing, and Scar was a comfortable warmth.

The battle was not over. Dogwarts was probably planning battle strategies and another attack at this very moment, but for now, Grian didn’t care. He let himself have this brief moment of comfort for as long as the world would let him.

//I'm not even joking, I finished this fic, checked youtube, and all the hermits had uploaded the finale just FIVE minutes prior. And I was like Damn. I hope nothing bad happens.

pspspsps i crave reblogs and notes in the tags pspspsps

[memryse]

i am deeply interested to hear your thoughts about Scar and Grians relationship in 3rd Life. Like I have so many feelings about that dynamic, I can’t just articulate them very well due to my Doo-Doo brain.

AHAHA. AHAHAHAHA. THEM. THE DYNAMIC EVER. MY BELOVEDS.

godddddd i love their dynamic so much i am SO INCREDIBLY SORRY for how long this has ended up being (i lied. i'm not. i love talking about them. i'm not even putting a read more you can all look at this)

so it was clear to me from the start that scar wanted to team up with grian - he went out of his way to ask grian, specifically, to take over the desert with him. grian said no at the time, but it's funny how these things work out, isn't it?

then you have grian on his green life, and scar on his yellow life. grian's conscience is a strange thing, he'll sign his life away to someone out of guilt if they die accidentally, but regular murder is completely morally fine by him and he feels zero guilt whatsoever about any of it. he's not happy about it at all though, to the point that his fellow blue sword boys actually think about mercy killing him just to free him. i suspect he didn't mind the monopoly part of it (he had his own plans for various monopolies before allying with scar), but i don't think he really planned on living close with anyone at all, seeing as he started off his own base right at the start, let alone someone as chaotic and carefree as scar, who he has to keep an eye on constantly lest he take his armour off and die. scar, meanwhile? he's just happy to have a friend :D especially one who he can drag around on his insane quests :D

scar dies again, and their dynamic shifts again. while grian is still technically in scar's service, scar is now an asset to grian as well - he's the one pushing every murder plan. he reminds scar of the fact that he can be ordered to make traps (which, if you ask me, seems like a very arbitrary rule that grian created on the spot because he wanted to kill people) and comes up with the concept for it. scar is a distraction - both times, allow me to remind you that grian first tried digging underneath dogwarts. it works the second time, and grian is far happier about taking three lives than even scar is - scar just wanted to take bigb's cookie, really. which really highlights how empty scar's threats were, how he made all these claims about feeling nothing but bloodlust and joy when people die, how whimsical he was in reality. this repeats again and again, like grian building the bubble elevator trap in the crastle. at this point, and for most of the series, they have this really great dynamic where scar is the one who seems dangerous, and grian is playing the part of the tired lackey who has no choice but to follow him, but scar is harmless by himself and grian is the one pulling the strings.

and then grian dies.

and he doesn't leave scar.

at some point along the way, grian developed a genuine fondness for scar and his antics. perhaps also spurred on by the fact that his alliance with scar means that scar's enemies most definitely want grian dead by association, and he doesn't have anywhere else to go, but mostly this is genuine loyalty to scar. as shown in the final episode, when they're up in the air and grian says "is this it? the moment where we show our true allegiance - to each other and that's it? we turn on everyone?". and scar agrees! and everything goes smoothly, until it's just the final three - grian becomes apprehensive once impulse dies, conscious of him being the only remaining yellow life out of four people, but he never expects scar to betray him. i mean, we all expected grian to betray scar at some point, right? never the other way around.

but scar does. it's down to the final three, and scar turns downright scary. he says "whoever gets the no-kill pass, i don't kill" - and while he himself doesn't kill grian, he lets bdubs do it, and he stands completely still. watching and laughing. all he says is "oh, wow". blinded by the bloodlust and need to eliminate a yellow life? a moment of weakness and greed? both? idk, but it's messed up!

he realises that he's fucked up soon after though, bdubs just does not work as an ally for him. admittedly this was a disagreement over watch types, but, well, it sowed the seeds of doubt in scar's mind and he decided on a plan to betray bdubs - which he does, but not until after grian has come out of nowhere, screaming about betrayal, seething with rage and hurt. it's too late for scar to tell grian about his plan, but he helps him kill bdubs without a second thought.

then it's just the two of them, and scar is entirely ready to lay down his life and let grian win. he's realised that he only got this far because of grian - while grian was the one who literally owed a life to scar, scar owes grian many of his in exchange, for all the dumb deaths he saved him from.

but grian can't do it.

we all know how that final fight went. they make their peace with each other, and scar dies contentedly. the ghosts have gotten the fight that they wanted.

and grian - grian who seemed to have plans to live alone, to form monopolies by himself, to not be in it to befriend others - can't live in such a lonely world. and it hurts me! so very much!! grian never saw the value in friendships like scar did - he talks about the reputation board with derision, he tries his best to sabotage or at least complain about scar's alliance attempts, but ultimately it's his loyalty that is the strongest, and it's their friendship that made the finale what it was. god. what a duo.

(bonus fun fact: martyn and bigb abandoned their plans to save grian from scar after hearing grian laughing after killing three people. they concluded he had a case of stockholm syndrome and was beyond help. lmao)

[strifesolution]

Wait I heard somewhere that Martyn was thinking about doing ADVENTure again and thought about inviting Ren. I'm thinking about Ren learning more about Martyn and seeing InTheLittleFrost properly (I headcanon he saw some of InTheLittleFrost in 3rd Life but didn't really have the time to really take it in y'know?) and maybe meeting Martyn's Aunt and Uncle

Like I don't even know if that initial thing is true I just like thinking about this anyway

The blizzard is getting worse.

Ren holds onto Martyn's hand like a lifeline as they trek through the layered snow, darkening sky and sheets of snow falling making it harder and harder to see in front of him.

Just a little further to the station, Martyn kept saying. Each time with baited breath, quieter, and quieter. Just a little bit further.

And then Martyn stops. Ren feels it as he tries to step forward, but his companion lingers behind. He turns, surprise in his features as Martyn gives him a sheepish look.

"I- I really should've...explained this beforehand." He starts, voice weak. Ren lurches forward to hold onto him.

"What's wrong? Stay with me-"

"I didn't think it'd happen this quickly, I'm sorry."

And Ren's getting scared because Martyn's talking like he's dying or something and Ren is not having that on the way to a holiday vacation. Martyn manages a shaky smile.

"Toby will explain-"

"Dude, what are you talking about?"

Martyn's hand slips from his grasp.

He reaches, but in the split second of disconnect, a wave of snow sweeps between the space, and Martyn's gone. No crunch of boots on snow as he steps away, no fading of his form behind the sheet of falling flakes...simply nothing.

And Ren is alone.

The howling of winter wind fills his ear, heart beating in his chest as he squints through the storm, for something, anything, any sign of life.

And there is nothing,

Until there isn't.

"Hello, Rendog."

The voice comes loud and clear through the blizzard, a gap in the whistling wind. It's hollow and familiar all the same.

"...Martyn?"

"Not quite."

Turning in circles, he searches for the source of the voice, looking for anything to indicate something was really there.

"We haven't met properly, you and I. I suppose this is our reintroduction, after you've only felt my presence before."

"I don't know what you're talking about, or what you did with Martyn, but-"

The voice cuts him off.

"You didn't think Red Winter was his- my first experience with what the cold can do, did you?"

And finally, right before his eyes, with a gust of wind, a figure appears a few feet in front of him.

Cold, silver skin, frost tinted hair, warm winter clothes.

But Martyn all the same. It's strikingly familiar to how his Hand looked on his last life, but instead of the harsh blood-red of Dogwarts, he’s turned to brittle blue snow at dawn.

They stare at each other in silence. The ice-cold copy of his partner does not break his gaze. There is a mischievous glint in his eyes, childlike, as his lips turn up into a half-smile. He feels like he’s being mocked.

There’s a sound in his head, not unlike a beating heart. It gets louder and louder, closer and closer, as he and the frozen figure who has replaced Martyn stare each other down. Suddenly the sound is overwhelmingly loud, a tingling feeling in his chest as vibrations shake the ground. There’s a light through the storm, a high pitched screech, and oh, that sound isn’t in his head. It’s a train.

Through the fog, the locomotive reveals itself, track and platform to board completely covered by the snow, as it chugs to a stop just behind where Martyn’s doppelganger stood.

"That's our ride. Surely I- my warmer self, explained this part?"

He had. That's what Martyn said, before this lookalike replaced him. The station isn't far.

Ren does not give the imposter the satisfaction of an answer. His eyes flick to the train, a massive old fashioned steam engine who’s whistle blares over their confrontation. He holds his ground. Waiting for answers. Waiting for whatever weird reality he’d ended up in was over.

"HEY! Are you two getting on or what? You know Sandy will chew our head off if we're late!"

They both jump, as a head pokes out one of the train windows from the cart ahead of their platform, leaning halfway outside. Peering through the storm, the figure is a baby-faced looking brunette human, wearing a warm scarf not unlike the one lookalike Martyn wore. He waves enthusiastically for a moment, until realization dawns on his face, and his hand drops.

"Oh, did Martyn already transform?"

Ren finds his voice, and calls out in confusion. "...Transform?"

"Oh-" The stranger smacks his head with the palm of his head. "Did Martyn not tell you?" The man throws an accusatory glare at the lookalike, to which not-Martyn shrugs with a smug expression.

"Don't give me that look, I don't control what flowers-and-sunshine me does. Usually."

"Can one of you dudes PLEASE tell me what the heck is going on?"

Not-Martyn and the nameless train passenger share a look, one he couldn't help but recognize as one he'd shared with Doc, or Iskall, or False. One of silent friendship communication.

And then both of them burst out laughing. Not-Martyn sounds so much like the real Martyn does, and he feels fuzzy headed.

Ren is really beginning to think he's missing out on a joke.

"Okay, okay, we will, but we can't be holding up an entire train like this." The brunette explains through stifled laughter. "Come aboard first... Ren, right?" At his blink of recognition, he grins. "Take that Martyn, my memory is good! Anyways, I'm Toby." He gestured to the open train cabin doorway behind from where he leaned out the window.

Ren follows his hand to where not-Martyn is halfway through the door, leaning halfway on it and holding his arm out as if to let Ren go on first.

He'd been through a lot of weird stuff over five and a half seasons of Hermitcraft and lived, but weird supernatural experiences outside of it were a bit out of the norm. He's ready to believe he's passed out from bad frostbite and this is just a wacky dream.

"Hot chocolate's getting cold, guys!" Another new voice echoes from inside the train, and Toby pops his head back into the carriage.

"Last call, Ren." Not-Martyn says.

The tips of his ears are starting to freeze, and he actually is going to get frostbite if this is real.

And hot chocolate sounded really good right now.

With a deep breath, he steps towards the platform, definitely not ready for the next 25 days.

[skitter-kitter]

Please talk to me about monopoly mountain and any ideas you have about them I want to hear about it

MABSKSHSKWHAJ thank you for the ask!!! You’ve unleashed a demon that’s been marinating for like four months

Third Life

Scar didn’t have any scars before getting blown up. Grian feels bad when he sees the burns coating the left side of Scar’s face.

Because of the scars his smile isn’t perfectly symmetrical, which makes it look like he’s smirking when he’s smiling. But he is usually smirking anyway so no one really notices

Scar’s legs are already a bit weak and prone to collapsing under the heat, so when he breaks his legs in the fall from the ravine it makes every step painful.

Despite the pain, scar takes his time walking to the ravine. After all, Grian’s friendship means everything to him. He won’t let some pain stop him from keeping his best friend.

Scar was perfectly happy not being murderous as a red life. The world was perfectly happy to let him not be murderous. It was Grian that pushed him to set traps and kill people. It was Grian who did the first kill— not Scar.

Scar sheared off some of Pizza’s fur before her death, and kept it to make something cool later with it. In the end, he dyed it for his and Grian’s shields.

Scar doesn’t remember much of the Dogwarts fight. He remembers sitting up in the sky with Grian. Watching him smile and laugh as chaos reigned below them.

Scar washed Grian’s blood off his hands as quickly as he could. He couldn’t bear to look at it any longer than needed.

After he went red, Scar gave up on winning.

Last Life

When Grian haggled a life out of Scar at the start, Scar was genuinely expecting them to team up again. He kept waiting for Grian to ask to join him again. It never happened

Scar’s magic is real and he is unwarrantedly lucky because the world likes him <3

After he drowned, scar kept the crystals chained to his body so it would never happen again

After his lava death, scar constantly smelled like smoke.

Scar made a grave for Yellow Snow under his base (can’t let enemies see he cared)

He also made a grave for Monopoly Mountain beside it after he turned red

Scar and Joel would never hurt each other

Grian had had the bloodlust of a red the whole season because he won third life

Scar has wings. I will not elaborate

[mochiwrites]

maybe for your (insert rlly long name that i can’t spell /Ih) mafia au what’s rens and martyns relationship like ?? 👀

!!!!! an excuse to ramble about character dynamics hell yeah :D

(note: I will be leaving out details because I do plan to eventually write some stuff for them <3)

so, ren and martyn have an.. interesting first meeting. martyn wanders into ren’s restaurant and sits in the very back of the building. he doesn’t order anything, he just sits.

and so ren leaves him alone until it’s time to close and martyn is the last guy there. he goes over to talk and well… it becomes very clear that martyn doesn’t want to leave.

next best thing? “I’ve got a couch with your name on back at my place if you want, my dude.”

oddly enough? martyn agrees. so they go back to ren’s place and they talk and get to know each other and martyn sleeps on his couch. the following morning he wakes up and hears ren on the phone with someone, and he sounds upset about business.

see, similarly to 3rd Life, martyn starts out trying to promote ren’s “business”. he starts advising him in decisions, recruiting people to join ren’s side and his beliefs. eventually dogwarts grows p powerful thanks to martyn.

and ren is grateful to him, let’s him continue staying at his apartment (at some point ren suggests clearing out his spare room for martyn. except right as he clears it, martyn ends up sharing ren’s bed and never takes up the spare room as his own.)

sharing a bed (and room) is helpful for when martyn wakes up from a nightmare, crying and whispering apologies to someone for failing them. ren holds him the whole time, and he tells martyn that they’re going to do better, that martyn will never have to fail anyone ever again.

because… martyn has a dark past. ren learns it slowly, and a lot of things about martyn start to make sense. why he’s so good at… listening.

their relationship is built on trust, a lot of it. it takes a while for them to get that way, considering for the first six months of them knowing each other it’s the two of them learning about the other.

martyn learns how ren likes his coffee, and ren learns how martyn likes his eggs. stuff like that. and slowly, ren starts calling martyn his right hand man, he starts putting trust in him.

they start to trust one another with their weaknesses and they build that silent communication. the hand squeezes, the looks.

ren trusts martyn to help advise him and to not overstep (he did once, and it was the only time that spare room was ever used). they’re a little clumsy with each other in the beginning, but as they move along they become a pretty solid pair.

and no… they haven’t confessed. despite behaving as a couple, there has been no talk of feelings. there will be, and jimmy will be the one to push martyn to say something.