#what do you when you get your friends into fable smp?

[m0rninglatte]

Have these FSMP tumblr, y'all can have early rights

[C!Fable - M0rninglatte

C!Icarus - @snakey-sanders]

[heyhay13]

Lightning Round QnA!

We had over 250 questions in the form and we focused on ones that were very open to anyone in the cast. So specific detail questions got left out :(

Here's a lightning round of questions to answer for y'all and my ask box is open if you have more!

Rae/Heyhay Questions

What happened to Icarus's birds?? We know Rae said he'd take care of them, but with the birds being wacked and Icarus whole memory type thing, what would happen with that.

Sherb and I talked about this a bit and landed on the birds seeking out Rae and he builds an aviary for the strange new little friends following him around. I might even write a fic for it!

Heyhay how long did the scrapbook (shown at the end) take to be made?

I worked on it for nearly a month and a half between organizing with the artists and making it myself!

How did you come up with Vaeh's Name?

It's from Fenris' sister Nevaeh!

Will you continue to cosplay the characters after this?

Absolutely!

To Rae/Hayhay: what was your favorite memory to make in the Always Remember Book?

I think probably all of the wedding details. I loved talking with my friends to plan out the details and outfits SO MUCH and a lot of the poses are based on my own wedding photos!

Are there any plot lines that you wish you could have done or explored more in depth, but couldn't due to time?

We initially had some ideas for finding a few more Telchin temples, including Project Protetus. I really like building the temple/facilities so that would have been fun!!

How did lore planning/pre stream work?

We usually plan out rough ideas for a stream in dms and then meet 30 minutes before a stream to go over everything, dry run some things like flight paths, and do sound checks!

Out of all the characters on fable smp, which one do you think you could win in a fight against?

Ven lol

Will we see other versions of the fable characters in other smp's like Bound?

You might >:3

If your character didn’t ascend, what would they be the god of? And if they did ascend, were there any other domains they could have been the god of other than the domain they got?

Rae's took FOREVER to actually land on. I was really stuck on wanting something that felt more correct than Knowledge and we tossed around a lot of ideas until landing on Wonder.

How much of the relationship constellation was planned?

Literally only Raax and Ocie's original partners (Rust, Jerry, Shawn) were planned! The others came about naturally as the lore progressed.

Did Rae ever get better at baking/cooking?

YES! At least slightly-

How old is Rae in the time period that Rye made in Rae’s epilogue

Not an exact age for Rae, but his epilogue takes place when Vaeh is roughly 4-5 years old.

The first two seasons have “names” (endstone reset and skulk reset) but what would be season three’s?

I like to think it'd be called the "Last Reset"

What is your favourite kind of fanfictions written about your character? (Tropes/themes/etc)

I'm a massive sucker for Hurt/Comfort fics-

Clarification Questions

What was that one gold aura building near the temple of creation in S1?

It was a build from Sherb's hardcore world at that time!

Why did Rae remember Icarus? I thought everyone was supposed to forget but I might’ve misunderstood

Rae remembers Icarus as a child up until when Icarus' first death would have been! Isla would also remember Icarusa as a child as well.

Was the release me book from season one written by fable?

Yes!

What is Haley? She came back from the dead but no body ever said if Midas made her come back or if she was a god.

Midas brought her back, switching her and Fable's places so he would go back into Purgatory

Why couldn’t Haley see quixis’ changes from purgatory?(and fable)

There is no record of Quixis in the Akashic Records. This is also why Icarus is missing from the records in Rae's epilogue!

General Questions

Are you guys gonna do another smp where its everyone as the same cast?

Nope, not with this exact cast at this time, but we all are on a bunch of other smps you can check out! Mer, Bound, Siege, and more!

Is there a reason behind all of the seeds you use in Minecraft? Or is it just the first biome that pops up is the new setting for the season?

We actually look really hard for a good world seed that we like. For season 3, we really wanted a good spot that the tree could be near the ocean and this seed worked out great for that!

Will we be able to have a world file of S3?

YES - it's coming soon!

[c-ronus]

ok I've seen alot of people give kind of there story of how they got into fable so to the best of my memory here's mine:

Tw: mentions of death and cancer

So i found fable around 3 strikes that was my first lore stream that I remember and I found fable in general when I was about to go into my first year in secondary school and I was alone I had no friends from my primary school with me and I was scared that I'd be bad at making new friends. (spoiler I was and am) I was scrolling on tiktok and I kept getting this videos of an smp called fable smp and there was this one cosolayer that I recognised from their technoblade cosplay (I used to watch cosplay compilations on YouTube before tiktok) so I followed them and didn't think much of it.

A little while later I was on twitch waiting for an mcc to start and I saw someone streaming and I recognised not only the cosplay that they were in but also the user name: sherbertquake56 so I decided to check them out and they where bloody awesome.(I started following them on November 28th 2021)

Then 3 strikes happened and I was hooked I joined the discord and was just chilling watching sherbert perspective, but then I got busy with school and was struggling to keep up but I tried my best, it didn't help that I could never watch them live but that didn't stop me. But over the next few months I did kind of stop watching it was coming up to Christmas and I had alot of exams but then in April I'm not sure exactly what dragged me back but it was heyhay, who again I recognised from the cosplay compilations I used to watch spicificly the dream XD cosplay as that was the first cosplayer that I saw that looked like me, so on April 8th 2022 I was dragged back into fable then later in June 6th 2022 I found ghosty, and those where my people and I was happy, it was summer and it was great.

But then around half way through my second year at school my best and only friend left and I was alone, again but again I found so much comfort in watching fable on days when I truly thought I had no one and it was like that for a while. I finished out my second year and I want alone anymore, although physically I was still quite lonely I had friends, Fable brought me first Bean and from there it cascaded into so many people I now consider family (rora and wonder to name two) and I was ok with that I knew I wasn't alone and that I had people and is still have them so much so that in a few days (4 days from when I'm writing this) me and bean will have been together for a year and that's unreal to me.

Like everything tho it wasn't ment to last, that summer my family found out that my granny had cancer it hit everyone like a pile.of bricks, it seemed like she was doing well, we had her so much longer than we thought we would, but in December we lost her and fable was there again but so we're my friends.

I'm now almost finished my third year at school and in 2 weeks I have my first set of state exams and although there won't be any new fable stories to watch I know that the streams I've come to love and find comfort in will be there and so will my friends. I'm still not great at makeing or keeping friends but I think slowly I'll find all of my people and it will be good.

So thank you fable smp, to the cast I can't wait to see what comes next from you in your next story or adventure! and to the community, over all I was very quiet with my presence in this community like I am with all of them but in my little corner I was so bloody loud about it and I can't ask for a better community for that!

wewo this was fun :3 (ok I'm done being sappy about fable I promise)

[snow-lavender]

*cracks knuckles* okay i am once again asking for you to vote for my beloved minecraft blorbos. although honestly i've seen people looking for a tie sweep so that at each round the challengers just keep amassing more members and that's really funny, but for that seaside needs to gain back about 15% of the vote. so, once again:

let me gush about my fable blorbos so that i can convince you to vote for them

i went over themes and motifs in my last propoganda, but just as a refresher: ocie is the anthropomorphization of the ocean, and chaos is a dead person who, and i am quoting directly here, "jumped out the afterlife's window" and stumbled back in to life. neither of them should exist, and they foil each other in how they cope with that. ocie wants to go back to being an unfeeling mass of water, and chaos does everything in their power to prevent dying again.

this time i'm going to give some of their iconic moments to show you what these characters are like in terms of humour

they first meet when chaos falls out of the sky for unknown reasons, and lands in the water in front of ocie. they introduce themselves. ocie is understandably freaked out.

in that first conversation, ocie asks what chaos is, like as a profession. chaos replies "a vibe".

later, when looking for food:

O: "there's no animals...i mean there's, i guess people count as animals?"

C: "i mean, I would like something that i could eat without questioning my morality."

O: "fair. i mean, there's a lot of people...like one or two going missing isn't gonna cause much-"

C: "yeah, but then i'll feel bad. and i don't like feeling bad."

O: "okay, L????"

another member of the town seeks out chaos after hearing she's a mercenary. they hire her to kill him if he starts hurting people. chaos then becomes this guy's best friend, but is still 100% down to murk him the whole time.

chaos build an entire town. (it's a gorgeous build) ocie learns about power structures and decides the town should have a king. she thinks it should be her because she's like that. chaos decides it should be them because they actually put in all the work. they decide to have an election about it because it's a minecraft smp.

they tie and decide to become co-kings, and then decide they should get married.

C: (After reading poetry) "is that not who we are?"

O: "aww"

C: "aww"

O: "that's going on our platonic wedding vows."

(laughter)

C: "we should- we should honestly have, like, a proper coronation ceremony. slash and/or wedding. once i finish building the castle."

O: "are you proposing to me?"

C: "do you wanna get married?"

O: "sure."

C: "Yeah, okay! then i'm proposing."

(more laughter)

later, when ocie's son steals a crossbow and shoots her boyfriend with it, chaos does nothing to intervene, instead laughing the whole time.

both of these characters are 100% the "I'm using humour to avoid thinking about my problems because if I don't I'll have a breakdown" types. later in their story, ceci discovers they are actually dead and spirals about it, leading to this exchange

O: "so you were just dead and now you're not???"

C: "and then i- so here. step two, of staying alive. if you do die, simply don't. and i? simply didn't"

O: ch-chaos. that's- no- you can't just not die!...you can't just...not die?"

C: "i got better?"

O: "you definitely- you can't just get better!" (laughter)

C: "i got better."

O: "no, okay. give me your hand. lemme- i've never felt for a pulse before but-"

C: "i don't have one. not today at least. i did the other day! it seems to come and go."

O: "that's not healthy! that is not supposed to happen!"

C: (strained) "i know! i know!"

i might go into the serious stuff more at a later time, but these characters have such a profound effect on each other, not teaching each other to be human, but reflecting the ways in which they are not. they have very deep moments together, working through strain in there relationship effectively. they are both SO mentally unwell, but in ways that complement each other perfectly (story-wise, at least) I love them so much, please vote seaside. tie sweep.

Aero and Lennie (Challenger SMP) and Michael and Mantis (Real Life) vs Ocie and Ceci Chaos (Fable SMP)

Aero and Lennie propaganda: I’m one of them and I think they’re cute. They live together. One of them has experience rebuilding her home after losing it (Lennie) and the other has not yet realized they’ve lost their home (Aero). The end (Aeros home) scares Lennie but she’s devoted herself to following aero anyways. I animated them dancing last year and they kept stepping on each others feet. https://youtu.be/qpEVqVXjUzc They’re sapphic. They deserve the world. Michael and Mantis propaganda

Ocie and Ceci propaganda: Canon QPR! They got in an argument about who should be in charge of their town, had an election about it, tied, and then decided to be co-kings and QPR about it. Neither of them are supposed to exist, and they are quirky and weird together to cope. They are so chill with murder too, the vibes were impeccable :) (i miss them so dearly)

[dodo-begone]

Wanna be Friends?

Pairing: Yandere!Purpled x Reader

Request: YOOO I SAW YOUR REQUESTS ARE OPEN THATS AWESOME. OK SO YOU DID SOME REALLY GREAT YANDERE TEENS HEADCANNONS RIGHT? HOW ABOUT A SORT OF CONTINUATION OF THAT BUT FOR PURPLED? CAUSE I FEEL LIKE HES OFTEN COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN OR OVERLOOKED SO TO HAVE Y/N AKNOWLEDGE HIM WOULD BE LIKE A DRUG TO HIM. OBVIOUSLY PLATONIC AND ALL BUT I FEEL LIKE THERES SO MUCH POTENTIAL WITH HIS CHARACTER. OK HAVE A GREAT DAY

Word count: 960 (just call it 1k)

Warning: yandere thinking

A/n: this wasn't as yan as i was hoping it'd be but,,, I just wanted to do it like this

Tommy had been yapping about this “new friend” of his. It was annoying. Well, Tommy could be annoying, but him repeatedly talking about this mystery person wasn’t helping his case. He talked about them so much that the others started to speculate who the person was.

Were they kind? Funny? Mean? Bossy? Were they super tall or short? A hybrid? Where were they from? How’d they meet Tommy of all people? And so many others. The questions just kept circling around and the answers warped whatever image the person was depicted as originally. Purpled wished that they hadn’t gotten so invested without actually knowing the person. Slowly the description became outlandishly horrific. Just the biggest monstrosity one could think of.

Weeks went by and the talk hadn’t slowed one bit. It was a staple conversation topic at this point. A very annoying and overused one, at that. Politely, he listened and gave some input on this person. All in a joking manner, of course. He hoped the others were doing the same, but he was disappointed when it seemed the opposite at times. But it was easy to ignore.

Then the fabled day came; Tommy’s new friend was coming to the smp. Everyone was on edge, excited to meet the newcomer. The talk about the new resident? Yeah that grew exponentially. That was the only topic that day. It was like nothing else existed.

Purpled could care less, though. He had things to do. Well “things”. Yes he wanted to meet this new person, but there was so much hype over them. It’d be rude to aid the others in overwhelming them. So he’d just sit on the sidelines, waiting for a chance to properly talk to them. They must be so tired after such a long journey.

He didn’t have to wait long to meet this person. Right beside Tommy was one of the sweetest-looking people he ever had the fortune of viewing. They were happy chatting, laughing loudly at some jokes (he thought they must’ve been jokes). All he could do was stare in awe, they looked so much better than what descriptions the others had made up. You looked over in his direction and gave him a sparkly smile and a wave. He must’ve been staring for too long, but he waved back nonetheless. His embarrassment had to be covered somehow.

Unfortunately for Purpled, it wouldn’t be so easy to hide his embarrassment. When he waved back, you broke off from Tommy’s side and made your way over to him. Internally he was sweating and screaming. He must’ve fucked up. You’re gonna think he’s such a creep for staring at you- shit you’re almost here.

“Hey there,” you smile wider, eyes sparkling from excitement. “Your purple jacket looks really nice. Who are you? You look super cool.”

Honestly he was not expecting an introduction like that. Starting off about his hoodie was a polite conversation starter, but it just felt odd. Yet you look so excited about talking to him. “My name’s Purpled,” he replied. “What’s your name?”

“My name,” they parrot, pointing to themselves. Purpled nods, and they had the audacity to look shocked. It was cute, and the action made him laugh. They laughed along with them. “Well my name is-”

“What’re you doing?!” Low and behold, here comes the party-pooper, Tomminnit himself. Tommy somehow managed to combine stomping and sprinting together, rushing his way back to your side. His loud voice startled you, making you jump and turn toward the sudden intrusion. Moments later Tommy stops by your side, giving a glare to Purpled before addressing you. “I thought you wanted a tour of them smp?”

“I do,” you give him a nervous smile. Why would you be nervous of Tommy if you two were friends? That didn’t sit right with him. “I just saw this guy, Purpled, and I kinda got distracted. I just wanted to talk to him-”

“Oh come on” Tommy was exasperated by your inattentiveness. “You said that you wouldn’t get distracted again!”

“I didn’t mean to,” you tried to defend yourself, yet your defense was covered by Tommy’s fucking voice.

“You also said that last time. You couldn’t live a day without me, I swear. Don’t worry, the great Tommy will watch out for you. Now come on, let’s continue the grand tour!” Tommy didn’t even finish his sentence before he was dragging you away by the wrist.

Stumbling over your feet trying to keep up with the tall brit, you look back towards Purpled. You give an apologetic smile along with a wave goodbye. Once you were pulled away from sight, specifically around a corner, Purpled started to ponder about the short interaction you shared.

Your actions were so endearing; you got so excited and invested in something so quickly that you just had to investigate. Yes that could lead you into danger here, but that could be easily taken care of. He could just protect you. Not only were you so curious and accepting, but you smiled the entire time. It was a small action, an insignificant one at that, but it made him feel loved. All of your attention was focused on him the entire time. If it wasn’t, then it was for a short time before being solely focused on him again.

Looking back at the corner you disappeared behind, he let his thoughts wander further. You were such a nice person, a rarity on the smp. But only time would tell if your actions were a facade. He wished they weren’t but that’s the reality of the situation. Yet he was so excited for what the future held for you two.

He could just sense it; you two were going to be best friends.

[dreamsclock]

“have you heard the story of atlas, dream?” techno asks. dream falters.

[a writing thread inspired by this art ;-; all dream smp roleplay characters!]

(show the original art some love !! the artist is epic :D)

“have you heard the story of atlas, dream?” techno asks four months after prison, and dream falters.

“the titan that held up the sky,” he says, wrapping the cloak around him tighter for warmth. “i know him.”

he’s pretty sure he knows where this story is going: skin prickling in premeditated irritation, dream keeps his calm. he likes spending time with techno away from everyone, but if there’s some moral-of-the-story bullshit about him and atlas, he’s not sure he wants to hear it.

“one of the last titans,” techno agrees, his voice low and droll. it’s comforting after all these months. “who held up celestial spheres after being defeated in war. that was his punishment for being on the losing side.”

dream bristles. “i sense a moral in this story.”

techno glances to him. there’s something indecipherable written in his gaze. “oh, do you now?”

“well, i think i know where you’re going with this.” dream rolls his shoulders, pulls off the cape. “a guy loses a war and has to carry the burden of the world around or whatever.”

he smiles. it comes out bitter.

“it doesn’t take a genius to work out what you’re referring to.”

techno raises an eyebrow. “what if i told you you were wrong?”

“am i?”

“you are.” techno holds his gaze; dream doesn’t let it drop. “atlas was a titan, man. a god.”

“i know—”

“and you’re not.” techno’s gaze grows firm. “you’re not anything flashy like that. you’re just some guy.”

surprise flits through dream’s chest. “but—”

“i mean, i know you’re cocky, but this takes the cake,” techno smirks, breaking some of the tension, “comparin’ yourself to a god? really, dream?”

dream flushes. “i mean, when you put it that way…”

“look, man, fables and myths are for gods and titans and those sort of people. we normal people don’t have stories to follow or myths to live up to. we just live.” techno glances away. “you’re not atlas, dream. even if you thought you were. you’re just some homeless dude who lives in my basement and listens to me talk about myths, that’s all.”

dream clears his throat to dispel sudden emotion making him sound hoarse. “that’s all i am to you?” he asks teasingly.

it clears the air. techno rolls his eyes and gets to his feet, offering dream a hand up like he does every day. for the first time, dream accepts it.

“dude, if you’re looking for some sappy ‘we’re best friends’ speech, you’re not gonna get one,” techno tells him. “i’m still waitin’ on you building your own house instead of living like a loser in my basement.”

despite techno’s words, dream grins at him. techno grunts.

“you look pleased about something.”

“i’m gonna tell you a story next time,” dream says grandly, “maybe greek mythology, maybe something else entirely. haven’t decided yet.”

“the guy gets the memo he’s not a god and instantly gets a thousand times happier then speaks about his wattpad fanfictions. it’s a miracle, chat, i can practically see his mental health improve from here.” techno sounds pleased despite the sarcasm. pulling the cape around his shoulders, dream leads them both home.

“i want a good story tomorrow, dream,” techno tells him, “i want to be amazed.”

“you will be.” dream smiles to himself, as techno’s house appears in the snowy distance. “it might even have a happy ending.”

[arts-and-drafts]

Reconnaissance (Hermit Tommy AU)

(hooo boy here comes the start of a very long project, in which wrongs try to be righted in more worlds than one. This is a slight continuation of the fic Vulnerable, so maybe check that out of you're confused. Enjoy!)

TW: Death

-

Legend has it that the End connects all worlds.

There is countless spawns, countless new worlds created every second, but there is only one End. The End connects all threads of the wide, wide universe, and if you go far enough, you can see the start of other civilizations on pale islands farther out than the fabled badlands. If you go far enough, if you traverse the End more than any have before, you can start to see beginnings.

Xisuma knows this is all talk. But all legends start in truth. The End is where the admin begins his search.

He's surprised to find Tommy's old world very quickly.

There are few worlds that are completely closed off from the End, and of those few only one is still actively inhabited.

The Dream SMP. The name can't be a coincidence.

Xisuma turns to the world's history now, the hardest part of locating the world now over. It's then that Xisuma learns the best news; the world is regularly open to MCC, and that means a way in.

He tells only Tango of his plan, prepares him for the worst. If Xisuma leaves and doesn't return, Hermitcraft won't have an admin, and the world will die. It would be irresponsible to leave with that much responsibility on his shoulders, but Xisuma would not ask any of his hermits to go in his place, and he reminds Tango firmly of this when the mod protests his decision.

Xisuma spends the next month teaching Tango how to take up the mantle of admin while Xisuma is gone, and before the night of MCC he relinquishes the power in its entirety to his closest confidant. The transfer of administrator leaves both Xisuma and Tango out of commission for quite a while, Xisuma's body struggling through the sudden withdrawal of magic and Tango's attempting to adjust to the influx of power that came too quickly for him to process.

Xisuma departs while Tango rests, leaving the unsure promise of return in his wake in a book and quill before he steps through the portal to MCC.

Xisuma knows where to go. The portal to the Dream SMP has been reignited since the scare last time, and the former admin easily slips through the gateway during the hubbub of the event.

xisumavoid joined the game

<FoolishG> o/

<Ranboo> who

<ItsFundy> wait what

<xisumavoid> Hello. Do any of you know a Dream?

<awesamdude> Who are you?

Xisuma stared at his communicator screen. He chose to not disclose his reasoning for his arrival, on edge because of Tommy's state he was in when he found Hermitcraft. These people could be extremely dangerous.

<xisumavoid> I'm Xisuma, I'm not going to stay long. I just need to speak with Dream. This is his world, correct?

Silence.

Xisuma nervously tucked his communicator away. This world had set him on edge enough; his ability of perception was not as heightened as it used to be since his admin abilities were passed over, but he could still feel that the magic of this world was strained and warped.

The magic of Hermitcraft that he was used to felt light, warm, like a summer breeze on a perfect day, with small snaps of explosive energy that came from volatile and powerful players all in one space. It was generally pleasant.

This world felt...dull. Dull and stretched out too far, as if there wasn't enough magic to go around. What little there was felt tainted somehow, wrong in a way that Xisuma could not describe.

It was suffocating. Xisuma wanted to be out of there as quickly as he could.

The former admin looked around, cringing slightly at the awful mess of cobblestone and dirt and wood planks that made up a wall all around spawn. Besides the crude structure, spawn was abandoned and uninhabited.

Odd.

Xisuma chose not to dwell on it too much, and turned to a crack in the wall where he could leave the box.

He ventured out to a forest of spruce, nothing to be seen for 10 chunks in every direction. All that was in Xisuma's render distance was untouched trees.

The hermit tried his communicator again.

<xisumavoid> Where is everyone? There are no structures close to spawn. Can someone offer coordinates?

"Why are you here." Came a voice in response. Xisuma jumped out of his skin, whipping around so fast he nearly fell off the wall.

A creeper hybrid stood a few blocks from him, clad in ornate golden armor that Xisuma could tell was imbued with enchanted netherite. The look on his face was as cold and intimidating as his netherite sword clutched firmly in one of his paws.

"Uh--hello! I'm here to see Dream." Xisuma replied warily. "What's your name?"

"Sam." The hybrid offered bluntly. "And I can't let you see him."

A flicker of confusion disrupted the growing unease in Xisuma's mind. "I'm unarmed, I promise-"

"It's not for him." Sam cut him off, and Xisuma swallowed his words.

"...I don't understand." Xisuma said, getting the feeling that his wariness of the new server was not nearly enough as it should be. It was then that the hermit noticed Sam deflate, only barely, but enough for Xisuma to see that the hybrid was crushed with guilt.

"...He killed the last person that tried to talk to him." Sam explained lowly. Xisuma blinked. "For your safety and the server's, I can't let you see him. I don't know you, and I don't know if you're here to break him out."

"I'm not worried about dying, I--why is it a big deal?" Xisuma asked carefully. Sam's head snapped up to stare at him with hollow eyes, sending a shiver down the hermit's spine despite how close he was with Doc.

"...It was his last life." Sam said, slowly and deliberately, speaking as if it was terrible taboo to utter the words.

"You can't respawn here?" Xisuma asked, his unease pitching. There was respawn magic here, he could feel it, this wasn't a hardcore world.

"We can." Sam explained curtly. "But if we die and it's important, it's...that's it. We only get three lives."

Sam then looked down, and Xisuma noticed how tired the hybrid suddenly seemed. His paw clenched the hilt of his sword so tight that it shook in his grip.

"Tubbo only had one left." Sam muttered thickly, his voice full of regret and bitterness. Xisuma's stomach dropped.

"...Tubbo is dead?" The hermit realized, slowly. Sam looked up, his eyes now very suspicious as he looked Xisuma over again.

"Who are you? Why are you talking like you know Tubbo and Dream?" Sam interrogated, lifting his blade. Xisuma didn't even blink, his mind fuzzy with the static of shock and disbelief. Tubbo...was dead.

"I...came here for Tommy." Xisuma answered distantly. "He...I wanted to bring Tubbo back to him."

The color drained from Sam's face, but in Xisuma's state he really didn't have the energy to process the look of shock.

"Tommy's alive?"

_

"Tango, look into my eyes, only my eyes."

"No, nope." Tango jerked away from Keralis's hypnotizing stare. "Nice try."

"Tango," Keralis said again, his voice a disappointed purr. He really was laying it on thick. "I just want to know where Shishwammy is."

"He's doing important admin stuff, I told you!" Tango said, his bark having no real bite. Xisuma instructed him exactly; no one was to know where he went. X didn't want any of his hermits to follow him into that world of destruction.

Tango kept it locked, just as he promised, but Keralis was making it so difficult.

"Look, Keralis, I'm really tired. Can I please go back to resting." Tango tried. Keralis's huge eyes stared through him for a couple seconds, but then the hermit visibly backed off. Tango breathed a sigh of relief.

"...Get well soon, sweetface." Keralis hummed reluctantly, turning and shooting out the opening to Toon Towers. Tango watched his silhouette get smaller and smaller on the horizon before turning back to his bed.

What he told Keralis wasn't a lie. His bones felt like they'd been individually hit by a ravager from all the magic that now flowed through him. The humming of every life force in Hermitcraft had been giving him a nonstop headache.

He'd definitely gained more respect for Xisuma's role in their world after experiencing what that truly meant, but he always worryingly came back to the reason the power was given to him in the first place.

It'd been radio silence from Xisuma's end since he left for the SMP, but Tango could still feel his life force pulling at his mind, distantly. It was a very odd sensation, but knowing his friend was still alive and connected to Hermitcraft gave him comfort.

Still. Tango was out of his element, and he hoped Xisuma would return as soon as possible.

Splashing sounds of water gradually became louder and louder to Tango, making him throw an arm over his face in annoyance. He just wanted to sleep, void's sake.

"Tango, my friend! How are you, big man!" A punch to the arm startled Tango into nearly falling out of bed, Tommy's signature loud 'pah-HAH' following his scrambling attempt to get upright.

"Oh, shut up!" Tango said, a traitorous smile growing on his face while Tommy giggled.

"What do you want, Tommy." Tango sighed exaggeratedly. Tommy shuffled in place, a poorly hidden look of mischief in his eyes.

"...You have any TNT?" Tommy reached, and Tango pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course. "What for."

"I wanna scare Zedaph when he goes to bed with an explosion noise!" Tommy grinned, all coyness instantly abandoned. Tango locked eyes with the excited kid.

"Tommy, get your shulker boxes." Tango ordered, and Tommy gave a cheer, bolting for the ender chest in the corner. "All right! Gonna do fucked up shit, we're wrongens!"

"Hey, no swearing in front of the kids." Tango chastised goodnaturedly, prepared to say "you" when Tommy asked what children were around.

The question never came. Tango turned away from digging through his chests of gunpowder to check if Tommy had heard him, all humor fading away when he noticed the kid frozen in place looking down at the contents of his ender chest.

"Tom?" Tango asked, approaching with enough speed to not startle the boy. He peered over Tommy's head when there was no response, and found what looked to be a lodestone compass gripped in Tommy's scarred hand.

"...Tommy?" Tango tried again, hesitantly laying a hand on the kid's shoulder. "What's up?"

"It's." Tommy choked, and Tango tensed in alarm when he noticed tears threatening the boy's eyes. "It's not moving-"

"What?" Tango asked, and a stake was driven right through his chest when Tommy looked up with the most crushing expression of despair Tango has ever seen in his life.

"Tubbo's--" Tommy's face screwed up, the tears finally falling. He turned back to the still compass, caving in on himself to press it to his chest. A pitiful, grueling wail grew in the boy's throat, and Tango's eyes widened as he put the pieces together all at once.

That was a soul compass, and it was still. Whoever was on the other end was still as well.

Tommy's best friend was dead.