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creationofacentury · 2 years

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Tiny problem - P2

Summary: The hermits has an emergency meeting while Scar and Grian trying to calm the crying Scar-ling. (Wow would you look at that, it’s only p2 and we are having a filler chapter. Daily dose of mini hermits, Self-indulgent af, be careful.)

Relationship: Friendship!

Character: BDoubleO100, Docm77, FalseSymmetry, GeminiTay, Grian, ImpulseSV, Keralis, MumboJumbo, PearlescentMoom, Renthedog, GoodTimeWithScar, Xisumavoid, Zedaph, ZomebieCleo

Notes: This is strictly about their MC personas, DO NOT take this seriously, DO NOT harass them with these works. Don’t re-post. (Reblog are welcome!)

P1 (Recommend reading part one first.)

“So what you are saying is that if we die, we have a child.” Doc says with one eyebrow raised, “How does that work? And why?”

“You skipped a lot of details, but yeah. Couldn’t sum it up better myself.” Xisuma tap on something in front of him and gestures the spawn area around them, “As you guys can see, the server is very laggy lately. I think the amount of information it processed broke something, but I can’t pinpoint what exactly went wrong.” Xisuma stops at that. Everyone is quietly waiting for him to go on, except for Mumbo, shuffling his feet on the ground and holding the egg like it’s a bomb. “I may need some time, so before I figure out what’s wrong, I need you guys to stay safe and don’t die.”

“Do we wrap Scar in bubble wraps?” Bdubs asks.

“But for how long? That’s a bit inhumane.” Ren says hesitantly.

“No, Ren,” False state, “I don’t think Bdubs actually meant it.”

“Ooo I mean it! With my whole heart!”

“Peeps, live as normal as possible is the goal, and wrapping Scar up isn’t really a realistic thing to do.” Xisuma reasons. He is still searching franticly in his communicator.

“I don’t understand, where does the child come from?”

“Zedaph, you see, when two people are in love-”

“NO REN, I swear to- you are doing this on purpose!” False yells.

Xisuma is very used to this, so he just continues: “When we die, normally there’s a head drop, right? But I...” Xisuma saw something in his communicator and frowns, “The egg Mumbo is holding right now was with his inventory drops when he went to get them. And the same thing happened to Scar, and that one has hatched already. Now you have one too, Zedaph.”

Zedaph observe the egg in his hands, “Instead of head drop, now we get eggs? And they hatch?” Xisuma nods. “Fascinating. So cool...”

“This the opposite of cool,” Cleo mumbles, “No one here knows a thing about taking care of a child, how is this cool? It’s a disaster, I tell you.”

A shriek comes out from Mumbo. Everyone turns to look at him. The egg in his hand glows so bright it’s hard to see what happens. A loud sound of something cracking-

“Oh my word.” Mumbo utters.

“Oh my word.” The little boy in Mumbo’s hand mimics, staring Mumbo with wide eyes. He’s in a suit (of course he is in a suit), and it looks ridiculous.

“That’s so weird...” Keralis is in awe, walking towards Mumbo to get a good look.

“I think we should plan for a supporting system.” Gem suggest. “A nursery, maybe?”

“Yeah, even if we are careful, there will still be accidents. Prepare ahead is a good idea, I am on board!” Ren pipes up.

“Then we take turns talking care of the nursery?” Pearl asks.

“Yeah! That’s a good idea!” Gem bumps Pearls shoulder and turn towards Xisuma. “X, should we vote?”

And everyone agrees. Gem is the one responsible for the construction of the build, since this is her idea.

“Brilliant. I will try my best to fix it as quick as possible.” Xisuma close his communicator. “For now, please stay safe, guys.” And the meeting ends.

GoodTimeWithScar had never been this afraid in his life. Welp, he’s- nervous, probably, so it’s not afraid. But the bubbly feeling in his chest does feel like afraid to him. He need his baby Yoda, which- he left the baby Yoda at season 7. His Baby Yoda was so small and cute and such an adorable gremlin-

The little Scar-ling- that’s what Scar decide to call him- haven’t stop crying and whatever Scar does the tears just keeps rolling. Scar just realizes, maybe not- not baby Yoda, perhaps. Because baby Yoda is also a child. He really can’t deal with another child-egg-thing (that could actually hatch-) right now.

“Are you doing okay, Scar? X told me I should help you.” Grian walks though the door and greets Scar.

“Grian! Oh my gosh, yes, the kid haven't stop crying! What do I do?”

Grian looks like he doesn’t know, either. “I think you, er...” He reaches his hands out to adjust Scar’s posture. “Does this feel right? I think you were holding him wrong, you should make sure your one hand is under him-” The Scar-ling suddenly cries harder. Grian looks like he is totally freaking out now. “I- I don't know! Scar, what do we do?!”

“Uh, hush little baby, don’t-” Scar tries to sing a lullaby. Doesn’t work. The Scar-ling now looks like he’s hyperventilating. “Ahh!” Scar panics and shoves the child into Grian’s arms.

“Scar! What-”

“He- I panicked!”

Grian gives him a frantic look, and start to rock the child, “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day,” Grian sings gently and let the Scar-ling’s head rest on his shoulder. “Little Jonny wants to play...” He pat the child’s back with carefulness, and keep singing in a silent voice.

Scar is...strangely mesmerized, watching intently as the child gradually calms down, and he smiles. He tries to catch Grian’s eyes. Grian raise his gaze and gives Scar a questioning look, but his singing continues.

After a while, “Scar, is he asleep?”

Scar checks Scar-ling’s face. “Yeah.”

“Good, my arms are sore.” He passes back the child to Scar very carefully.

Xisuma peeks in, “Hi, Grian, Scar, the meeting’s over. Is everything alright? Sorry I had to exclude you guys, but I was worried little Scar would be overwhelmed by the people there. ”

“It’s fine. The little guy is asleep.” Grian straighten his back and massage his upper arm, “How did the meeting go?”

“We decided to build a nursery, Gem is in charge of it.”

“Oh, okay.”

“And Mumbo’s egg hatched, by the way.”

“It hatched?”

“Yeah, I think I am a father, now, Grian.” Mumbo walks in with the little Mumbo sitting on his shoulder. “This is so surreal. Ah- My hair!”

“Hey, how come your youngling are so quiet? Mine was crying the whole time until-”

“Scar, lower your voice, you are going to wake him up!”

“Well look at you two, fight like a married couple.” Mumbo quips. Grian is having none of it, “Mumbo Jumbo, you better watch out for your copper. Or the door of your vault, ‘cuz something will happen to them, I promise.” Mumbo looks alert, trying to come up with a response.

“I am really sorry, I will fix this as quick as possible.” Xisuma says dejectedly.

Scar was going to comfort Xisuma when the little Mumbo on Mumbo’s shoulder jump down onto Xisuma’s helmet, slides down and block Xisuma’s face. “Ah-!” Mumbo yelps, trying to grab the child. Xisuma gets very still.

“Don’t be sad.” It sounds small and high-pitched. The little Mumbo hugs Xisuma’s helmet.

“Aww, he is comforting you!” Scar melts.

“...Thank you, little one.” Xisuma gently grabs the child and put him on the ground. He gives the little Mumbo a pat on the head. “You guys take care okay? I should start fixing this right away, I will see you guys later.” Xisuma walks out of the door at that before Scar can say a word.

There’s a silence after Xisuma walks out. Then Scar remembers: “Wait- What? Mumbo, your youngling can talk?!”

“Youngling? Oh, um, yeah, yours can’t?”

The Scar-ling wakes up to the shouting. He look at Scar for one second and starts to cry, reaching for Grian.

“Scar! What did I tell you?!” Grian chastises Scar and takes the child with a almost practiced manner. rocking the child with quiet murmur. The Scarling’s cry turns into sniffling in mere seconds.

“How- Grian, how are you so good at this?! You have only hold him once!”

“Shh, Scar, you are scaring him!” Mumbo whispers. Oh he is doing this to irritate him.

Scar thinks to himself, this is nonsense, I am so offended. But the smile still creep up on his face anyway.

Previous - P2 - Next

what is this

While writing this, I did some research, and I got inspired so much by @theminecraftbee. Poor Jevin, I can’t help but laugh and feel bad for him at the same time. (Also if you see this, thank you so much! High chance that I saw Jevin’s egg disaster and got inspired and started the story without realizing it was you! Wait- is this allowed? Tell me if not!)

Anyway, I grind out part two! To be honest, not really satisfied with this, but I can’t think of anything better for this scene at the moment. I may revisit this and make some changes in the future, but for now, this works.

Did I mention that in the previous part, hermits couldn’t stop calling Scarling ‘it’? I personally find it very funny, because they are just so unfamiliar with children they call a child ‘it’ thought it’s weird since it was written by me who finds their own joke funny it’s cringe. I also hesitated over whether or not to post this for a while. Welp. Imma just roll with it like a irresponsible failure that I am and how is my note longer than my fic

But seriously, thank you guys so much for the likes and reblog! I read every tags and comments in the previous part, and I am overwhelmed with the responds it got. 200 notes! That’s so surreal to me. Thank you!!! Feel free to point out spelling mistakes and weird phrases and whatever, I really need it ;-;

(Also there are some people that mentioned Zedaph’s ‘too lat’, glad you guys like it!)

edit 5/18: omg how could I forget the bubble wrap idea came from @pixie-mage’s comment on the last part! Thank you sm my friend!!

#tiny problem #mini hermits #hermitcraft #hermitcraft fanfic #bdoubleo100 #falsesymmetry #geminitay #grian #impulsesv #mumbojumbo #renthedog #goodtimewithscar #xisumavoid #zedaph #I decided not to tag the hermits that doesn't have a lot of screen time so sorry in advance

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hmshermitcraft · 1 year

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(Suggestive)

Grian knows of the stories about beautiful mermaids, about sirens luring sailers and bakers and clergymen to their death.

There's the story of one mermaid -he doesn't remember their name- who was hated for... not killing people?

An undead gorgon-mermaid (which, frankly, he thinks is awesome) who. Did nothing.

Nothing bad, anyways. Apparently, she always sculpted. Would draw in the sand with stick and on sides of ships and ocean-adjacent buildings with squid ink.

But for some unknown reason, she was hated extra by everyone.

"I just know she took him," a widow tells Grian while he delivers fish to her "she took my husband!" "Even though the actual mermaid who took your beloved is well known!" Is what he wants to say.

He doesn't.

It had truly been an accident, honest! He'd just wanted find where is fishing line was stuck, so he could head home for the night.

That had been his plan, wading through the shallow waters searching for it.

What was not apart of that plan, however, was for a very large, unseen hand to wrap around his ankle and pull him down into the much deeper, deadlier water.

The hand is way too strong to be human, and there's no struggle from whatever is pulling for it to be an air-only creature.

He's brought into a little underwater cave, with surprisingly thriving greenery, and an absurd amount of treasure and art.

He doesn't expect for his almost-killer to be the gorgon mermaid.

"Hello, Darling," the gorgeous- (no, she tried to kill you, bad Grian!) Giant of a woman coos. "What's your name?"

"Grian," he stammers out, choking on his spit because this woman is stunn- no, bad.

"Grian," she parrots like she's trying the name on her tongue, seeing if she likes it "that's a lovely name, fitting for such a lovely man. Sweet little star."

He hadn't seen it before -being certain you were about to die takes away some ability to think clearly, it would seem- but the zombie isn't wearing anything.

At. All.

Normally, he doesn't mind. People, mermaids included, should be allowed to dress how they want in the privacy of their own home.

But, y'know, he's never seen someone so pretty and oh void he's staring.

For using her tail to swim and doing low-effort work compared to other people, the gorgon is beefy.

She looks like she could crush him.

"Why-" he coughs, because there's still water in his nose and mouth and lungs "why didn't you kill me?"

"Silly," she curls her huge mermaid-half around him. He realizes that it resembles that of a snake, as opposed to a fish. It bends and twitches like a snake, at least, "i never planned on killing you." She finishes wrapping around him, resting her heav- no, bad, stop don't think about it, stop- on up of his head. Arms slinking around his chest.

"Then why did you bring me down here, surely killing me would be a sign of killing-talent, killing one of the most feared pirates."

"Well," she starts, "you see, i like you."

"What?"

She giggles (giggles!) a low 'humans are so silly' as she continues talking.

"I like you, i've seen the way you want to defend me, how kind you to the ocean, and, well, i just think you outright gorgeous," she cradles his head in a hand that is so big her fingers overlap each other. "And i think we both benefit from this."

"From what?"

"You leave, leave this town and these people who i know you don't like. You set sail for whatever place you wish, you get my art and treasure to do with what you want, and in return, i get to come with you!"

That's not an awful idea, all things considered.

He has been wanting to go somewhere else for a long time now, to leave this little town full of rude people and unforgiving policies.

"What do you get out of this? I've done too many deals to know that forming a deal without all the rules in place is a bad idea."

"I get to come with on whatever adventures you go on," she has this... look in her pret- no!- eyes that makes Grian's wet shirt feel like it's clinging tighter to his skin.

"And i get you as well. However i want."

"Uh," he says, oh-so elegant "i'm a person. That's called trafficking."

"Oh, dear," she coos, pushing his head up with a large thumb to look into her -fine, he admits it!- gorgeous eyes. "Don't feign ignorance now. Not when we both know what i mean."

It could work, he gets to pick where they go...

He could build a place for them to hold each other, a little place for them to dock.

He could figure out what food she likes, her favorite colors, her favorite sounds.

He could listen to her stories, just like how he hopes she listens to his.

"Deal." They shake hands.

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

That was 7 years ago.

For 7 years, he's been with her, in all manners.

He got to build a place for them to hold each other, a little place for them to dock.

He got to figure out what food she likes, her favorite colors, her favorite sounds.

He gets to listen to her stories, just like how she listens to his.

She swims up the side of hi- their ship, gorgeous green and blue tail behind her.

"Bedtime, darling."

"Hang on," he grunts, "trying to get these ready for tomorrow."

"That can happen later, Baby," she reaches up and snags his ankle, a familiar routine at this point, and pulls him down.

He doesn't fight it- he knows she'll win, and he's too weak a man emotionally to say no to her.

She gave hims gills somehow, on the side of his neck-

"It's something we can do to our non-sea-fairing mates," she told him "neat isn it?"

-So he can breathe under underwater with her.

She brings them into the little nook he built, the little sea-nest he made, he filled it with scraps of seaweed and pretty rocks, she filled it with treasure and artifacts and memories.

His wife wraps around him, snake-like tail fitting around him snuggly as she surrounds him.

"You know, love," she rests the hand with the wedding ring on his chest, he picks it up and kisses it "i think we should renew our deal tonight."

"Yeah?" He hums, "remind me what our deal was again?"

"I'd get to go with, on your time on the sea." She pauses, kisses his lips gently "and i'd." A kiss, "get." Another kiss, "you." A third kiss, "however i want."

His wife never fails to stun him with her beauty and way with words and actions.

"I don't have any 'no's to that" he stares at the love of his life with a look he hopes can confess his love for her, "just be gentle?"

Cleo laughs at that, with sharp teeth and clawed, too-large hands and bright eyes promising a limp tomorrow.

"Not a chance." She flips him onto his back.

TL;DR: Grian gets kidnapped and gets an undead-sea-serpent-mermaid-gorgon dommy mommy who makes sure he sleeps on time :)

Sometimes, they reminisce about their first meeting and laugh together as Grian brushes through Cleo's hair. It seems like so long ago, when Grian thought Cleo was simply terrifying ("And hot." "And hot.") Now, he knows all sides of her. He's proud Cleo trusts him enough to be vulnerable sometimes - that they can both trust each other completely. He couldn't imagine his life going any other way.

#hermitshipping #ask #grian tag #zombiecleo tag #greo #suggestive tw #long post #mod 🎀#weekly theme: mermaids

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activate-shadow-of-the-window · 6 months

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Hermittober Day 26 (Late): Spy

Martyn was pretty sure that Etho actually hadn’t gone off his rocker.

Unlike his red-tricolor brother, the ambiguous canid was making some sense. Concentrated creation magic could do weird crap in small amounts, and he shuddered to think of what it could do in large enough numbers. If a single little shard could be the catalyst for summoning a Breeze…

“…how much would be needed to control a Warden?”

Etho hastily scribbled some equations next to the diagrams. “Let’s see… maybe a hundred of those tiny ones, or thirtyish large ones around the size of a hand. I don’t know what quality whoever’s doing this has, but if they’re all as nice as the one Hypno had, thirty might be overkill.”

Just then, Mini, who had happily moved inside with the pile of sculk machinery when the storm picked up, poked his head from the room where they’d put the fugitives. “E’s awake and singing, folks. They seem really spooked. Can I take the blindfold off?”

Grian looked at everyone else before nodding. ”I’ll take it off, Mafia. Stay out here with Informant and Republic. Who wants to do the interrogation with me?”

Martyn’s hand shot up, followed by a more tentative Impulse.

“I can’t have you stealing all the thunder, brother!”

“I’ll do it too. I can play the muscle.”

Mini nodded, ducking back into the room before leading Salem and Joeyish out. The former was carrying the delicate Sensor board, while the latter had the massive Shrieker terminal in his arms. He was also complaining loudly.

“Why can’t I be a part of the interrogation?! I’ve got plenty of menace!”

Salem snorted. “Republic, we need to stay safe because of our skills. And I don’t care if you heard that, mask-wearer—“ she threw her voice towards the door “—cause we can hold our own in a fight!”

A dejected sigh answered her. “I don’t intend on fighting any more.”

Martyn blinked as he approached the room. “Wow, he’s more defeated than I thought.”

Catching sight of E, his suspicions were only confirmed by their appearance. Their mask had been removed so that Tango could perform what he called ‘field alchemy’, which seemed to have healed whatever damage they’d taken in the battle, but also given their eyes a look of jaundice and their skin a yellow pallor. That is, if they didn’t have those attributes already. Martyn wouldn’t be surprised if they did, as their overall sickly color was emphasized by hollow cheeks and seemingly endless eye bags under tangled red-brown hair and matching stubble.

E stared uncaringly as the three entered, their eyes only showing fear upon catching sight of Impulse’s massive cavalry sword. “So. Grian, Martyn, and Impulse. Am I correct?”

Grian returned their stare with his own level gaze. “Yes. We have some questions for you.”

“Shoot.”

Impulse, without a twitch in his expression, hoisted his crossbow from his back, unloaded the firework, stowed said firework in his belt, loaded the crossbow with a normal bolt, readied the crossbow, aimed it upwards, and fired it. The crossbow flashed with enchantments, runes glowing purple, as the arrow split into three and all three stuck deep into the stone ceiling. As two of the projectiles slowly vanished into violet light, Impulse finally broke his silence with a tentative smile.

“Did you think that was cool?”

E laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, that was cool. And accurate.”

Martyn cleared his throat as Impulse holstered his crossbow. “I agree. Now for the questions. What is your goal?”

E sighed and straightened a bit. “My goal… is to repay a debt to a few someones with very lofty goals of their own.”

“Multiple someones? Who are they?”

“Yes, at least three. I only know the appearances of two, and I can tell that the other one… is the mastermind. All are illagers, of the far eastern mansion in the snow. One is a vindicator with a hair-trigger temper, and the other is an iceologer with charm. The last was really tall, and, well, I can’t explain this, but they smelled like an evoker. They stank of spirit magic. Reeked of it. But I’m just one part of their plans.”

Grian tilted his head, making the ‘curiosity pose’ that warned of heightened interest. “Oh? Who else is in on it? And how do you know?”

E smiled a little. “Well, I was planning to backstab these guys. Take the emeralds and magic shards and run. So I did a little snooping around the mansion, with the help of some little vex. I found records of communications between the illagers and a ‘spy’, as well as between them and a ‘supplier’. I know not who that spy is, but I do know that the supplier and spy both are connected to the Duchess Cleo.”

Impulse frowned. “Cleo? Why would she… wait. The eastern mansion’s specialty is, uh, puppeteering, right?”

“Yep.”

“And Cleo’s into puppeteering herself. And you know who else is a rather well-known manipulator?”

“…I’ll bite. Who?”

“The Lord Bee Double Oh, who also happens to be the liege-lord of Welsknight. And thanks to his… outgoing nature, I’m almost certain that he is currently visiting the Duchess.”

#horizon to horizon au #fanfic #fanfiction #hermitcraft au #microfiction #hermittober #hermitcraft

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grain-my-beloved · 3 years

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Yknow what? I'd actually go so far as to say that, as much as ive seen it complained about, it's actually pretty hard to "UwU" or "Woobify" Grian within the context of yhs.

I mean. It's possible if you go really extreme with it, but it's hard.

Grian at his core is actually a primarily decent person most of the timeand is a primarily innocent party in most things. One who goes through a Lot.

If you really think about it Grian's moral compass isn't too far off normal basic human morality. He's often anxious and hesitant when faced with any involvement in criminal activity, he's frequently dismayed and offput by suggestions of violence (the less deserved the more dismay is expressed as well), he's disappointed and frustrated at seeing the people around him do fucked up things, he's almost always polite with a good head on his shoulders when faced with a kind or reasonable person. Even well into ts, long after first coming back to Japan, Grian is still incredibly uneasy and fidgety with the suggestion that he take part in violence, I mean, remember that time he, Taurtis, and Sam were tasked with killing Geode and Grian not only initially tried to refuse outright but then checked in shakily with the other two multiple times just to confirm if they were really going to kill someone. Grian's typically the character most likely in the entire series to be incredibly put off by and very hesitant about doing bad things (especially to people he's not one million percent certain deserve it).

And while one could argue that we can't really praise his moral compass for being hesitant about involving himself in crime/wrongdoing when he often ends up participating anyways. Actions speak louder than words and all. However I disagree. The fact that Grian vocally does not wish to be involved in this kind of thing and has proven to behave on the more reasonable and polite side when acting independently in relation to likewise level headed people....is Very important. In fact, in actual legal cases, oftentimes a factor in trying individuals is the question of whether they would commit the crime in question indepently or under normal circumstances. This is the basis for necessity, duress, and insanity pleas, amoung other's. People who would not act the way they did in a certain scenario under normal circumstances are often liable to be judged favourably in their actions. In fact, speaking of duress pleas, Grian's got a pretty solid one for a lot of his actions. The times Sam or Yuki held a knife to his throat or the times police threatened to kill him if he doesn't comply with orders or any alike incidents. In cases where duress isn't applicable to Grian's behaviour there are oftentimes incidents in which an outright case for violence in self defense can be made. In fact, most of Grian's circumstances leave him very viable to be judged sympathetically on a legal standpoint. The fact that he was a minor, the fact that he had no apparent history of violence or crime, the fact that he was in a severely abusive relationship with a criminal and entering said relationship marked the start of any sort of criminal behaviour from Grian, any criminal behaviour from Grian always being in a group setting never lead by himself, the fact that he always clearly and openly protests when pulled into these group settings, the duress and self defense pleas that are applicable to pretty much all incidents in which he does engage. Which are also all factors that can and should be accounted for on. a moral basis as well, obviously. And like, Grian has a reputation for being arrogant, cynical, and rude or whatever, but he's really not. He very rightfully calls out other people's horrible bullshit and makes snappy remarks towards his abuser but that's the opposite of a problem and Grian's proven himself more than capable of reasonable civility towards reasonable people. Grian just isn't the selfish arrogant disrespectful criminal that he's sometimes implied to be and in fact he's largely innocent- or absolvable, if you'd rather- in most of the things levied against him. Grian's not a literal saint giving to the needy and taking care of orphans in his spare time but he's a decent guy overall???

And hey, speaking of that super abusive relationship Grian landed in. Let's not forget the impact of that situation. Sam was undoubtedly abusive towards Grian. He threatened Grian's life various times, he basically told Grian he was nothing compared to Taurtis, he shoved plastic down Grian's throat and laughed when he choked, he got Grian locked up in solitary confinement through complete lies just because he thought it'd be entertaining I guess, he forced Grian to kiss an abnormally large amount of people against his will (some of these instances sam recorded despite being asked not to), he himself tried to make out with Grian without consent while Grian was sleeping in his own private room, he forcefully dressed Grian up in feminine cosplay meant to be ~attractive~ complete with fake breasts, he lied to Grian about the gender identity of someone Grian dated as a joke (his words) and lightly mocked Grian afterwards, he locked Grian in a basement for three days straight and it's unclear whether or not he was planning to let him out anytime soon, he dragged Grian into a closet with school staff despite Grian's very vocal distress and discomfort then scolded Grian for considering reported it when this staff member made uncomfortable comments on the outfit Sam had forced Grian into, Sam offered to give Grian to another guy who made a similar uncomfortable comment later on as part of some trade, he consistently dragged Grian against his will into criminal activity whether by threatening him, tricking him into participating, or just altogether falsely implicatng him, amoung Many other things. And every step of the way Sam did his best to completely gaslight Grian. He used every gaslighting technique in the book. Telling blatant lies (for example, "i would never stab taurtis", "you are taurtis", "grian's crazy and he stabbed taurtis"), he denies doing shit to Grian that Grian knows damn well he did ("i would never stab taurtis"). He hard projected his bs onto Grian (from blaming grian for 'making' sam do awful shit sam did to claiming grian actually fullstop did the awful shit sam did). He was just constantly trying to turn people against Grian (convincing yuki and taurtis to back him up in calling grian a bad manipulative friend and insisting he needed to apologize for 'making' sam horrifically abuse him. arriving in the police station and instantly without hesitation telling them grian was crazy and dangerous and pinning his own crimes on grian. having taurtis back him up and help scold grian for getting mad about being locked in the basement for days). Telling Grian he's crazy (taurtis incident again, solitary confinement incident, the time sam kissed grian without his consent while he slept and grian got mad). Telling everyone else that Grian's a manipulative liar (taurtis incident again, solitary confinement incident again). Yknow. Gaslighting. Sam was just so unbelievably abusive. In like. Every possible way. Which adds a LOT of trauma to Grian. That on top of his parents abandoning him as a little kid too because we couldn't leave it at severe abuse.

Grian's not a bad person. And he's certainly a very sympathetic person. Which is why it would be hard to woobify yhs Grian. It would be hard to make a very sympathetic very sad character egregiously sympathetic and sad. His whole arc is getting abandoned by his parents, going to visit his friends, and getting violently abused and forced into a multitude of disturbing activities against his will for an extended period of time.

One could argue that sure Grian isn't a bad person and sure Grian's got a pretty sad life, but certainly a lot of people are guilty of making Grian more helpless and scared and generally 'pathetic' than he is in canon.

To which I reply...not really?

Grian already doesn't have half the fight response people ascribe to him throughout the series. That was a whole other post but honestly Grian's response to traumatic situations is very frequently to cave to them and he's got a much stronger submissive streak than people often admit. I mean, Grian was asked to dress up as his best friend who just got stabbed "to make things less awkward and make me feel better" and he did it within ten seconds of being asked without the others even needing to threaten him at all. Grian does express quite a bit of despair, fear, and submissive tendency in canon when faced with dangerous or traumatic situations. And while it's possible to go a bit too far with that if you consistently leave out the token fight entirely, I see people swing way too far un the opposite direction way too often. There's a reason Grian never actually killed Sam in canon. There's a reason Grian never made a serious attempt to get him arrested for his crimes. There's a reason Grian never just left. When Sam found Grian after he ran out of the gym during the Taurtis incident? Grian didn't lunge for Sam. There was no serious altercation between the two. Grian scrambled back and tearfully babbled platitudes while shoving plastic down his own throat on command. And even beyond that, a lot of the interpretations accused of making Grian too helpless/scared/'pathetic' are works that involve Grian processing trauma years after the fact. Which. Even if Grian was the most aggressive on edge fighter in the history of trauma responses during the traumatic events? People don't process their trauma after the fact the same way they instinctively respond in the moment. Even if Grian never shed a tear throughout any of the traumatic ordeals he experienced, it would be far from unrealistic behaviour for him to still process after the fact by panicking and sobbing his eyes out regularly. Which, again, Grian wasn't even all that fight oriented while it was happening so panic and tears isn't even super far removed from his actual in the moment responses let alone processing after-responses. It's just. It's really hard to "UwU" Grian tbh. He's a decent person, he went through hell (his own words actually), and he was never even really very effectively aggressive when he did. And while it's possible to dip too far into that territory, far more often I see things swung egregiously far in the other direction.

#yhs #yandere highschool #yhs grian

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theres-an-impulstor-among-us · 3 years

Text

the fall of the red king

again, not a request. just an idea that intrigued me

what if, instead of charging into the crastle and dying, Skizz had stayed outside and Ren had been the Dogwarts red to die instead?

no i’m not in denial about Skizz’s death idk why you’d think that

…

“I’m going in!” Skizz roars, charging for the crastle door.

Ducking under a flaming arrow, Martyn pursues him and catches his wrist by the door. “No! They’ll slaughter you!”

Skizz tries to pull his wrist free. “Let go of me, Martyn! My bloodlust is HUNGRY!”

“We can’t afford to lose you, Skizz!” Martyn says pleadingly. “You’ve already taken two lives today; that’s enough for now!”

After a moment, Skizz growls and nods. “Fine. But I wanna shoot someone.”

He and Martyn rush back out to join the others and both start firing arrows up at the crastle.

Within seconds, a flaming arrow hits Ren in the shoulder, causing him to yell out and stagger back a few steps.

“The golden apple, Ren!” Etho yells at him. “Eat it, quick!”

After yanking out the arrow, Ren scoffs down the golden apple, which heals him a fair amount. But he’s still dangerously exposed.

“Look, Impulse is up there!” calls Martyn suddenly. “He’s with them!”

Skizz stares up at the crastle in horror. Sure enough, he can see Impulse through one of the slit windows, firing arrows down on them alongside Tango, Grian, and Bdubs.

“Impulse, what are you doing?!” Skizz bellows.

“I’ve chosen my side!” Impulse’s voice yells back over the noise of battle. “This is where my allegiance lies now! Sorry, Skizz!”

Skizz’s eyes flash red, red hot fury surging through his whole body. “I’m gonna kill you!”

“Don’t fight angry, Skizzle,” Ren snaps at him, momentarily distracting himself from the fight. “Don’t let-!”

He breaks off with a yell of pain as a second arrow strikes him in the chest.

“REN!” Skizz screams in horror, watching Ren fall.

Martyn immediately dashes towards his king but now he’s distracted too and an arrow hits him in the side, sending him down.

As Skizz freezes in horror, Etho springs into action and dashes towards Martyn, using his shield to protect him from further arrows. “Skizzle, go to Ren!”

Managing to shake himself out of his stupor, Skizz rushes to Ren’s side and hurriedly drags him behind one of the stone hiding spots Etho made on the battlefield. Ren’s skin was already grey but it seems even more so now, so pale that it’s almost snow white. His hands go to the arrow in Ren’s chest, ready to pull it out, but something stops him.

Ren’s eyes are closed, his chest still. But it’s not until his communicator buzzes violently that Skizz realises what’s happened. The shot went straight through Ren’s heart. On his lowered health, he never stood a chance.

Renthedog was shot by Grian

Skizz’s stomach drops. His king is dead. Forever. He’s never coming back.

And it’s all Skizz’s fault.

“We gotta get Martyn back to Dogwarts!” calls Etho suddenly. “Skizzle, leave Ren for now and help me with Martyn.”

“I-I can’t just leave Ren’s body behind!” cries Skizz.

“We can come back for it, Skizzle. If we try to take it now, we’re gonna lose more lives!”

Skizz knows that Etho is right. Reluctantly rising to his feet, he dashes over to Etho, who’s still angling his shield over Martyn. “Get Martyn back to Dogwarts,” he says urgently. “I’ll cover you.”

“Okay.” Skizz nods shakily but determinedly. “Stay safe.”

“You too.”

Skizz carefully lifts Martyn to his feet and slings Martyn’s arm over his shoulder, supporting him. Martyn’s face is pale and his breathing shallow. Skizz doesn’t know if he’s even registered Ren’s death.

“I got you, buddy,” he murmurs, starting the journey back to Dogwarts. “I got you.”

Thankfully, Etho’s cover gets them out of range of the crastle, so they’re able to speed up and get back to Dogwarts within minutes. Skizz and Etho take Martyn down to the underground area and lie him down on his bed.

“What do we do now?” Skizz asks nervously. “Do we need to take the arrow out?”

Etho nods. “Yes. Go get something to stop the bleeding or he’ll bleed out as soon as we take it out.”

Together, Skizz and Etho manage to remove the arrow from Martyn’s side and immediately begin treating the wound, preventing any major blood loss. Apart from a sudden and terrifying scream when the arrow was wrenched out of his body, Martyn doesn’t react to anything they do. He remains semi-conscious and feverish throughout their treatment of him, constantly stirring as if about to wake up.

This makes Skizz very nervous. “Is he gonna be okay?” he asks, as Etho is finishing winding the bandage around Martyn’s side. “I mean… he’s… he’s really out of it. Is this normally how people react when they get an arrow yanked out of them?”

“Honestly, I don’t really know. But his wound seems to be healing already and his skin is less pale, so those are good signs. I think he just needs to rest and he should be fine.”

“Good.” Skizz exhales in relief. “Good. Is it okay if I stay with him?”

“Absolutely,” Etho replies. “I was gonna suggest that, actually. I’ll keep watch outside.”

“Okay. Good luck.”

Etho nods back to him and, after briefly washing his hands, leaves the room.

Skizz pulls up a chair beside the bed and sits down in it. Martyn seems to be asleep now, to his relief. It was far more scary when he was semi-conscious and restlessly twitching. Now at least he’s getting some rest.

He wishes he could get some rest too. He’s exhausted, physically and mentally. But he can’t. All he can think about is Ren, and how he died right in front of him. How Ren’s body is still out there by the enemy base, all alone. The crastle people might have taken it and hung it up on the outside of the castle as a symbol of triumph or revenge.

Skizz knows he let Ren down badly. And that guilt will keep him up at night for a long time to come.

Finally, after what feels like days, Martyn stirs and lets out a soft groan.

Smiling with relief, Skizz watches his eyes slowly open and register him. “Hey,” he says gently. “How you feeling?”

Martyn gazes back at him with hollow eyes, and instead of answering Skizz’s question, after a pause, he asks one of his own. “Ren’s dead, isn’t he.”

Except it’s not really a question.

Skizz’s soft smile falls and he gives a sombre nod. “I’m sorry. I-I was too slow.”

Martyn leans back and squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds, before letting out a quiet sigh. “It’s not your fault. We were always going to lose someone in that battle.”

“It should have been me, though. I should have-.”

“No.” Martyn sits up again, wincing quietly as he does, and shakes his head firmly. “Don’t do that to yourself, Skizz. Ren made his choice to fight alongside us right in the line of fire, despite knowing there was a chance he would die, because he valued our lives just as much as he valued his own. He wouldn’t want you to wish you’d died instead.”

Skizz hangs his head and says nothing.

After a moment, Martyn reaches out and pats his shoulder. “Has he been buried yet?”

“No, I… I had to leave his body behind to get you outta there alive,” Skizz replies quietly.

“Then as soon as I’ve recovered, we’ll go get it together,” Martyn says. “We’ll give him a proper funeral and say our goodbyes, just the three of us. Okay?”

Skizz nods slowly and grasps Martyn’s shoulder. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re alive, buddy. When I saw that arrow hit you, I… I was so scared that I’d lost you too.”

“Hey, it’ll take more than just a little arrow to take me down.”

“You literally lost your first life to an arrow.”

“After it took THREE players to get me down to half a heart,” complains Martyn mildly. “I was about twenty blocks from Dogwarts when I died. If it wasn’t nighttime, I would’ve made it.”

Skizz grins weakly. “Uh huh, sure.”

The two chuckle but quickly fall silent at the same time, their thoughts travelling back to their fallen friend.

“What do we do now?” Skizz asks quietly. “We don’t have a leader.”

“We’ll be our own leader,” says Martyn. “You, me, and Etho will make one hell of a team. We’ll avenge our king, no matter what it takes. But until then, we carry on as normal, make them think they’ve defeated us.”

Skizz nods firmly. “Alright, yes. Anyway, I should let you get some rest. I’ll be right outside if you need me, okay?”

“Okay. Thanks, Skizz.”

Skizz gets up and heads to the door but pauses and glances back at his friend. “I just want you to know that the loyalty I have for you is just as strong as the loyalty I had for Ren. I’m with you ‘til the end, okay? No matter what.”

Martyn gives him a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’m with you too.”

After a moment, Skizz leaves and shuts the door behind him. He sits down on the other side, leaning against it, and buries his face in his hands and cries. His grief for Ren is finally pouring out.

Unbeknownst to him, Martyn has lain back down in his bed and closed his eyes, crying quietly for his fallen king. He can see that Skizz is suffering just as much as he is but he knows that they’ll get through this.

Their grief may be strong but their loyalty is stronger.

#3rd life smp #3rdlifesmp #skizzleman #inthelittlewood #renthedog #rendog #vaunna writes

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slimesidian · 3 years

Note

Sorry for asking again but do you have any head cannons for any of the hels hermits?

First off, don't apologize! Answering asks is really fun for us over here so keep em coming!!Secondly, this is a long post so I apologize for the amount of reading you're gonna have to do.

For starters, Helscraft is not a mirror to Hermitcraft, but rather the mirror to MC. Lonecraft is Hermitcraft's Helscraft counterpart. The Overworld in Helscraft is more like the Nether in normal MC, and the Nether in Helscraft is more like the Overworld in normal MC. Every MC server has a Hels counterpart.

Hels Grian(HelsGri): If you thought Grian was chaotic, then HelsGri is a bringer of destruction. He pulls dangerous pranks on anyone to prove he's not a weakling and that he deserves to be on the server with the other Hels Hermits. He has Grian's ego, destructive nature, but he also has Grian's clinginess and need for attention. This led him to accidentally befriending HelsDubs(this friendship was an accident but me n Mod Obsidian love them a lot so-). He planned on using HelsDubs at first, but he couldn't bring himself to do it because HelsDubs reminds him of someone he knew before this server. He despises the other Hels Hermits and will only align with them if it means he can cause mass destruction. He has black wings that turn red and orange near the bottom, like fire.

Hels Bdubs(HelsDubs): He's Bdubs' optimistism taken to a dangerous degree. He's forced himself to be positive despite the fact that everybody uses him due to his over-destructive loyalty. He hates living in Helscraft and honestly wants to live in an empty version of Hermitcraft, one without the Hermits that remind him so much of the very people he hates. Not long after he officially joined the Hels Hermits, he realized he should just deal with his lot of being used by everyone, and he should be optimistic about that. At least he isn't useless, he tells himself… So he forced himself to smile with his own powers, which are little threads that he can force into someone's mouth to make them smile. He can take them out of the mouths of others but not his own. He also has phantom wings and a phantom tail.

Hels Scar(HelScar): Unlike normal Scar, HelScar isn't ashamed of his true nature(whatever a Hels Vex is like, it's 100% times worse than regular Vex). He lets his powers be known and uses them to keep others beneath him. He is greedy and power hungry and rules with an iron fist. There is almost no way a resistance could form under his rule, and the only person with more power than him is HelSuma(who isn't Evil Xisuma). HelScar has no moral issues regarding mind control so he will mind control others to get his way. The only time he doesn't mind control someone is HelsDubs, since HelsDubs is so unquestionably loyal. HelScar was actually the one with the idea to run for mayor, and he forced HelsDubs to help him with it.

HelsKnight: Considering what we know from canon, HelsKnight has been staying in the S7 nether since early in the season. He's currently possessing the body of Wels' identical clone, suppressing any and all of the clone's free will to try and survive. HelsKnight despises Hels, yes, but he hates Hermitcraft even more. The only things he actually likes are violence, rap music, and power. He's basically taken Grian's upside down mansion for himself, claiming it as his castle since Grian never comes back for it. HelsKnight's helmet feather is actually his hair, which is fire, and it will burn worse than any normal fire.

Hels Impulse(Indulge): The leader of Team PIL, he has no limits to what kind of insane stunts he will pull, and has no regards for who he hurts doing it. He looks identical to Impulse, but most Hels Hermits don't look exactly like their Hermit counterpart. Indulge hates when he is referred to as "Hels Impulse'' because he believes he is better than Impulse in every way. Instead of giving the others Totems to keep them from dying, his Totems take a little bit of their souls and give them to Indulge, which allows him to stay alive longer. The only physical difference he has from Impulse is that he allows his dragon parts to be visible.

Hels Zedaph(Phedaz): Phedaz, or Daz, is the brains behind Team PIL. His contraptions are much more (intentionally)deadly than anything Zed would make, and he, like Indulge, has no regard for who gets hurt in the process. He lets his Wither hybrid side be known, and it leads him to kill any trace of life within his reach. If he ever found a way into Hermitcraft, any natural plant life would die beneath his feet.

Hels Tango(Limbo Lag): The test dummy of Team PIL, Limbo comes from the Helscraft version of the Nether, which makes him naturally weaker than any of the Helsians. He has fire powers, but the fire is cold instead of warm, and will freeze whoever it touches. He doesn't have a regard for who he hurts, just like Indulge and Daz, but unlike them, he has to use metallic enhancements to make himself strong enough to hurt others(i.e. his metallic hands and metallic eyes). He is sensitive to the Overworld in Helscraft, and it makes him even weaker than he already is. Daz and Indulge use this to an advantage, which is why Limbo becomes the test dummy of all their dangerous stunts. If Limbo was at his full power, he'd probably hurt them twice as bad as they hurt him.

-Mod Slime

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rayveewrites · 3 years

Text

Ray Hijacks the Team ZIT Ghostbuster AU Again

So @shadeswift99 made a few posts a while ago about a Team ZIT(S) ghostbuster AU, And then I may or may not have hijacked the post to add in ideas for most of the other hermits because why not.

Now, back then I was spitballing ideas and making them up on the spot, which is admittedly my usual writing process, but hey.

That said, I've had more time to think about it, and then last night I blacked out for a few hours and came to with a Google Doc filled with short bios for all of the hermits and a handful of hermit-adjacents. Now, this rapidly turned into an urban fantasy AU in my hands, but hey. It's fun.

This is in alphabetical order, with alternate personas (EX, Helsknight, Beetlejhost) beneath their original counterparts when applicable:

Bdubs

Lives in an old mansion in the woods alongside Doc for reasons known only to them. Bdubs works as an interior designer, with a side gig as a freelance hairdresser. His eyes are unnaturally large, similar to Keralis’, and he is at least partially a plant. Completely feral and frequently gets in trouble for having knives on him at all times. He and Cleo have a thing called Knife Club which makes everyone else nervous. Nobody messes with Knife Club. It’s not worth it. Sunbathes frequently.

Beef

Is a perfectly normal human being. He works as a butcher with a side gig as a graphic designer specializing in album covers and spends his free time playing pokemon and dragging Etho along to social events. He was the first person to spot the cryptid, and the first person who Etho approached of his own accord.

Biffa

Is a ghost possessing a robotic shell. Biffa is from the future. While initially his main goal was to get back home to his own time, Biffa has since made friends and settled down into a new life running a cafe specializing in a wide range of teas. He’s quite content with this, and has actually found himself far happier than he was in his own time. While his nature means he can see, hear and touch ghosts, his body was built specifically for a disembodied soul to be in the driver’s seat, and he doesn’t want to risk another taking control. Also, he has more important things to do than have fistfights with ghosts.

Cleo

Is a ghost possessing her own dead corpse. Her nature allows her to see, hear and touch ghosts. Can and will fistfight spirits. She works as a teacher, so she’s usually busy, but occasionally in really nasty situations the Beetlejhost will drag her in to break a ghost’s legs. Does sculpture in her free time, and is actually really good. The only one who can wrangle Beetle to any real capacity, and she’s learned to keep him on a fairly short leash. Housemates with Joe, and Keralis also pops in pretty frequently. Has Knife Club with Bdubs. Has an enchanted flower crown that prevents her from decaying further; a gift from Beetle. Recently started learning magic in the form of necromancy and illusions. Has an ongoing ‘feud’ with Zloy, in which she temporarily traps his soul in random inanimate objects every now and then.

Cub

A bit of a ‘mad scientist’ archetype, Cub’s experiments are not exactly the most ethical, though they’re at least more professional than Doc’s. Responsible for the creation of Jevin. Cub gets possessed stupidly easily- sometimes willingly- and can usually handle it himself but sometimes has to call for help. Has a magical method of communication with Scar for exactly this reason. Has a day job as co-owner of a business called ConCorp, which he started with Scar. Has probably broken the Geneva Convention.

Doc

Was presumably human at one point. Now an abomination. Repeated experiments on himself have resulted in a massively changed facial and foot structure, a body covered in mottled green scales, claws, and goat horns. He lost half his face in one of his experiments, and constructed a new cybernetic one. He lost his right arm fighting God. Killed said god and would do it again. Lives in a mansion in the woods with Bdubs, though nobody’s really sure why. Owns a casino because of course he does. Also a living crime against fashion, because the man refuses to wear anything other than his tattered lab coat, torn jeans, and crocs.

Ely

Runs the local radio station. Nobody’s ever seen him in person, and nobody knows where he gets people’s voice clips for his remixes. Probably a cryptid. Maybe a ghost. Seems pretty chill, despite the blatant invasions of privacy.

Etho

Is a cryptid. Lives out in the woods in an abomination that can barely be called a house. Has never been seen in anything other than full Kakashi cosplay. Tends to keep to himself, but occasionally lets Beef drag him along to social events, often with Doc and Bdubs. Nobody really knows what his deal is. Probably not human. Probably.

False

Used to be part of an illegal underground cage fighting ring, until she earned enough to buy her way out. Having grown up in said ring, she struggles to adjust to normal life, but living in a town where the barista is a robot and the local tailor has wings makes it easier. She now has a job as security at Doc’s casino, alongside Iskall.

Grian

Is either an angel or a demigod, but nobody knows which. Has wings. Is both a tailor and an architect. A complete gremlin who has elaborate masks of various birds and will wear them to commit crimes. Eats seeds. Messes with everyone else’s plants. Lives in Jungle Wood Flats. Volunteers at the local theatre.

Hypno

Has three eyes, but hides the third one under a bandanna at all times. Can see ghosts with it. Had problems with sections of plumbing randomly getting clogged and also making very weird noises, and eventually called Team ZIT when the plumbers couldn’t find the source. Was prepared for ghosts, but wound up with a slime creature instead. Works in a $2 store for some reason.

Impulse

Is fully human. The most sensible member of Team ZIT (which admittedly isn’t saying much), Impulse has a day job as a freelancer building custom PCs and fixing broken tech. Agreed to the whole ghostbusting deal because he was bored, mostly. Was the first one to meet Skizz face-to-face, and is the one to own that particular place outright. Gets possessed every now and then, usually by larger spirits. Used to run solely on caffeine and chronic anxiety until Zedaph started getting on his case about his sleep schedule. Now he runs on less caffeine, more sleep, and the same amount of chronic anxiety.

Iskall

Was part of a cloning experiment to create the ultimate hitman, and was the only known one to both survive and escape before the whole thing was shut down by the authorities. Their eye and arm were replaced with cybernetics in order to increase their already enhanced abilities, and they were chased by said authorities, eventually winding up on Mumbo’s doorstep and becoming Mumbo’s problem. Now works as security at Doc’s casino, alongside False. Lives at Jungle Wood flats. Occasionally volunteers at the local theatre. Does bonsai as a hobby.

Jevin

Is the slime creature in the pipes. Hypno lets him live with him under the condition he stops blocking the plumbing and making weird noises at 3 AM (Jevin still blocks the plumbing and makes weird noises at 3 AM, just not as much as he was). Has taught himself to take a humanoid shape, and likes having fingers. Sleeps in the bathtub because he can. Was created from a vat of chemicals in a secret lab underneath the house, which used to be owned by Cub. Doesn’t really talk to the man in question that much, but will occasionally refer to Cub as his father for the sole reason of watching him go through eight existential crises in three minutes. Has a glock.

Joe

Head librarian at the local public library, and has read a lot of books on Supernatural Things. Is a veritable fountain of exposition if you can figure out what he’s saying or have Cleo along with you to threaten the integrity of his shins. Has never been seen in the same place as the Beetlejhost. Are they the same person? Are they entirely separate beings? Is there a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde-type situation going on? Who knows!

Beetlejhost

Literally nobody really knows what his deal is. Nobody. Team ZIT ran into him on a call that they expected to be a false alarm and then he decided to follow them home. Spends most of his time being a minor nuisance in the most bizarre ways possible. Is implied to be responsible for the Ever Given getting lodged in the Suez Canal, but never confirmed. When he’s not bothering Team ZIT or getting them out of tight spots, he’s usually pestering Cleo, the only one who can keep him in line. It’s not really known if he and Cleo have a history or if they’re just Like That.

Keralis

Is a ghost haunting an architecture firm, and is mostly bound to the building, though he can travel to other buildings the firm has built, which is, uh, most of them. Initially only able to do small things- mostly writing notes or drawing diagrams- he eventually meets the Beetlejhost when the latter follows Mumbo to work one day for shits and giggles (he wanted to see how long he could mess with Mumbo before the man noticed. As it turned out, about a week, and by the end it was Iskall who noticed). After a couple of days in which Beetle teaches Keralis Ghost Things™, he scares half the office when he finally manifests for the first time. Has unnaturally large eyes and nicknames for most of the workers. Has no idea how he died or what his unfinished business might be. Very knowledgeable about architecture, and his input is usually very much appreciated.

Mumbo

Is a perfectly normal human being who does IT at Keralis’ architecture firm. Lives at Jungle Wood flats and spends most of his free time tinkering with tech and trying to keep Grian and Iskall out of trouble, which is a losing battle. Has a large, beating golden heart in his flat. He’s not really sure what its deal is, but if he feeds it apples it produces enough power for the entire building. Oh, and if he forgets to feed it for an extended period of time it starts draining his bank account. It’s really weird.

Pixlriffs

Was a perfectly normal human being until he died protecting a certain Russian zombie and became a perfectly normal ghost. Was a reporter in life and is a reporter in death. Runs a blog alongside Zloy about the local goings-on, supernatural or not. The blog’s the type where unless you live in/near the town you most likely won’t stumble across it, but they do have a small following of outsiders who assume the blog’s just a work of fiction. His unfinished business is to prevent Zloy from doing anything particularly stupid, a constant battle. Is able to go more places than Zloy due to being incorporeal, but respects people’s privacy. He’s bound to Zloy to a certain degree, not being able to go beyond a certain range of his friend. The range is pretty big, though, and he has plenty freedom of movement.

Python

Had a run-in with the fae as a kid, in which he accidentally pissed one off. In retribution, the faerie challenged him to answer a riddle or he’d be turned into a snake. Python’s answer was partially correct, so the faerie only transformed him partially. Python is fairly chill, though he strongly dislikes the cold and starts hissing if anyone disturbs him during Sun Time™. Sometimes Bdubs, being partially flora, joins Python for Sun Time™. He’s not venomous, because, you know...python. Also, he has a mildly disturbing habit of strangling rats and mice and then eating them whole, but he can’t help it and just tries not to do so when he has company.

Ren

Is a werewolf. He’s pretty chill regardless of form, though it’s only been recently he’s been comfortable enough leaving his ears and tail visible. He works as a lumberjack. One time Pixl introduced him to Monty Python’s Lumberjack Song and it quickly became his favourite thing. He spends most of his free time volunteering at the local theatre because Ren is absolutely a theatre kid and nobody can convince me otherwise. Gets possessed every now and then. Lives in Jungle Wood flats.

Scar

Works as a landscape developer. Gets possessed absurdly easily, though not quite as frequently as Cub. Has a magical method of communication with him. Technically co-owns ConCorp, but isn’t as involved. His cat, Jellie, is very obviously an eldritch abomination in feline form and he is comedically unaware of this. Lives in Jungle Wood Flats with Grian, Iskall, Mumbo, Stress, and Ren.

Skizz

Is the ghost haunting Team ZIT’s office. He was murdered by someone he’d thought was a friend who was trying to use his place to hide from the cops, and he’s stuck around, haunting the building. His unfinished business is to make sure nobody else uses the building for anyone shady, but the ghost rumours tended to chase most people off. Eventually he gets used to having Team ZIT around, and when Tango admits he doesn’t really have anywhere to go one day, Skizz eventually makes the decision to finally unlock the still-furnished upper floor for him. He’s bound to the building, but Impulse learns that carrying Skizz’s old vest with them allows him to leave. After that, Skizz sometimes accompanies them on missions and occasionally just hanging out. He’s usually more helpful than the Beetlejhost is.

Stress

Is a witch. Stress lives in Jungle Wood Flats and works as a doctor who specializes in supernaturally caused injuries- Team ZIT are some of her best customers. She also sells magic potions of various kinds, and has a side gig as a florist. She’s 90% of the Jungle inhabitants’ impulse control. Also has cryokinesis.

Tango

The Team ZIT member with a car. He gets possessed with frankly ridiculous frequency, but claims not to believe in ghosts for a long time (and keeps up the bit for even longer). Has developed various signals to indicate when he’s being possessed again. The strongest one, a rather nasty demon Cleo and the Beetlejhost had to team up on, left him with his glowing red eyes. He didn’t really have anywhere to go before Impulse bought the office, and tended to sleep on the couch or in his car until Skizz decided to let him into the upper floor, where he now lives alongside Zedaph and Impulse.

TFC

A now-retired ghostbuster, TFC calls in Team ZIT one night when he finds himself in over his head against a ghost with a grudge. He winds up becoming a bit of a mentor figure to the trio, usually coaching them over the phone if they’re not sure how to deal with one of the stranger spirits. Lost his leg years ago in a fight with a poltergeist that could have gone better, and now has a robotic prosthetic made by Doc.

Wels

While Team ZIT was out investigating some rumour or another in the woods, they came across a large stone box. Following video game logic, I guess, they then decided opening this large stone box sounded like a fun idea. Well, Tango and Zedaph did. Impulse was a bit more hesitant. The box actually held a medieval knight who’d been put in an enchanted sleep for centuries by his demonic doppelgänger, and was very much not prepared for modern life. Team ZIT took him to Xisuma, who happened to live closest, and Wels is currently helping out on the farm and trying to adjust to life in the 21st century. He can understand and speak modern English just fine because magic. Volunteers at the local theatre quite a lot.

Hels

Is Wels’ doppelgänger. Technically a minor demon. Won a fight with Wels and sealed him away for centuries as a result. A recurring problem. His real motivation is that he really desperately doesn’t want to go back to Hell, but he’s too proud to admit it. Lives in the woods with EX, who’s basically his only friend, though the weirdo with the brown cardigan keeps pestering him about his backstory and feelings for some reason. Has minor pyrokinesis.

Like Biffa, XB is also a ghost from the future, though it seems to be a different timeline than Biffa’s. His unfinished business is preventing the apocalypse, but he has no idea how to do that, no idea if he’s in the right timeline, and is pretty sure he’s gone back a lot farther than he probably should’ve. Also, there’s the whole paradox issue, where if he prevents the apocalypse he never has a reason to go back and prevent the apocalypse, so he doesn’t prevent the apocalypse, so he has to go back and- he tries not to think about it too much. He mostly just hangs out in an abandoned house on the edge of town and vibes.

Xisuma

Is a beekeeper. Nobody’s ever seen his face; when he’s not in his beekeeping outfit, he’s either wearing a helmet, or (more recently) an extremely lifelike and detailed animal mask (is it a mask?). Actually a shapeshifting alien, he crashed down to Earth after a scuffle with his evil clone and was stranded because Earth doesn’t have the right tools or resources to repair a spaceship. These days he’s actually found he’s happier tending to his bees, selling honey, and helping his friends out, and probably wouldn’t leave Earth even if he could. It’s a simpler life, but a pleasant one. He bonds with Biffa over a shared love of tea and being stranded in a technologically inferior world and finding a home.

Evil Xisuma

Is Xisuma’s clone. Feels that if everyone’s going to call him ‘Evil’ he may as well own it. Shot his original’s spaceship down in a scuffle but wound up being brought down with him. Currently hides in the woods. Generally more of a minor nuisance than an actual danger. Used to spend his free time bothering X but has gotten put off by Wels, who has a problem when it comes to evil clones. His friends consist of Hels, who is a terrible role model, and Zedaph, who’s trying to help him work through his problems behind everyone’s backs. Can summon lightning because he deserves it.

Zedaph

Is the reason Team ZIT is ghostbusting in the first place. He’s a sheep shearer by trade, but that’s a fairly seasonal thing and ghostbusting is more fun anyway. Has somehow never been possessed, and claims it’s because he’s always standing next to Tango. He makes sure the other two gets enough sleep Because we all know they can’t be trusted to do it. Probably has some sort of really bizarre and situational magical powers he is thoroughly unaware of. Qualified to be a licensed therapist. Made friends with Evil X at one point, somehow.

Zloy

Like Cleo, he’s a ghost possessing a corpse. Unlike Cleo, there’s a good chance it’s not his corpse. Eh, it’s not like anyone else was using it. Runs a blog with Pixl, because why not. Was already a zombie when he met Pixl, who was still alive at the time. His body is a bit more decayed than Cleo’s, but it’s fine. His goggles are enchanted with the same preservation spell; it’s not really ever explained where he got them from. Has no regard for privacy but is fortunately unable to turn invisible or phase through walls due to inhabiting a physical body. Both can theoretically physically fight ghosts and has enough time to physically fight ghosts, meaning he would be a valuable ally if he could be bothered. Lives in a graveyard. Has an ongoing ‘feud’ with Cleo, in which he puts jabs at her on the blog. Once spent a week as a (very sarcastic) floating potato.

Hermiton

Is the name of the place they all live in/near. Located in an ambiguous location in an ambiguous country, Hermiton is technically large enough to be considered a city but has Town VibesTM. Supernatural going-ons are a fairly normal part of life, and a good number of inhabitants aren’t humans. Despite this, the wider world seems mostly ignorant of the existence of ghosts, magic, etc. I’m not too sure about geography, but it’s surrounded by forest in most directions and in a warm enough climate to not have snow in the winter (so Python doesn’t, you know, freeze to death). Most people don’t tend to bat an eyelid at strange-looking people walking down the street or serving them at the store; they’re used to it by now. There are several theories as to why Hermiton specifically has so much going on when it comes to the supernatural- ley lines, secretly the resting place of some long-forgotten god, et cetera- but it’s actually more of a case of ‘people who have supernatural traits hear rumours of a place where a lot of people have supernatural traits and go there in search of answers/a place to belong’. This doesn’t exactly explain where all the ghosts came from, but hey. Nothing’s perfect.

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mamahersh · 3 years

Text

The Road to Hell (is Paved with Good Intentions) Chapter 5

“Season 8 was well underway, and the server’s first conflict is bubbling just under the surface. But BDoubleO can’t worry about that right now because he has an Etho to find so they can work on the Horse Course together. However when Xisuma calls a surprise server meeting on behalf of EvilXisuma, BDubs gets his answers about where Etho’s been in the worst way possible.”

(CW: angst, blood, gore, torture)

Chapter rating: M

Back to the rescue team and those left behind, focusing on BDubs and a surprise Mumbo Jumbo! (Bet you weren’t expecting Mumbo angst.) Thank you all again for your interest! As previously mentioned, if you enjoyed this, I was directly inspired by this fic over on AO3.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 6

BDubs knew it was going to be hard trying to find where Etho and EvilX were hiding, but he neglected to remember how nerve wracking it would be with the added challenge of hearing his communicator go off every time someone died. Admittedly, it had only been the two times thus far, but checking and seeing they were both Etho made him want to go insane. The only boon they had, paradoxically, was the same curse keeping Etho stuck in that hell hole: that they were able to respawn in the same place they had died in. This at least meant that their progress wouldn’t be undone at a moment’s notice because someone died and got sent to their base halfway across the map in the opposite direction they were searching.

After he had checked his communicator to see the death message, “Ethoslab was slain by Ethoslab whilst trying to escape EvilXisuma”; BDubs decided he would stop watching chat completely. If someone died, he knew they would be fine, and he really didn’t need to know how else Etho was going to suffer till they found him. Plus, he had Doc keeping an eye on Etho for him. And he had Beef by his side, plus the Big Eye crew supporting him. He just had to keep reminding himself he wasn’t alone, it wasn’t the jungle again, he had his people with him.

“Hey BDubs, you see anything yet?” called out Tango, flying by on his own elytra. BDubs startled in the straps of his elytra, and focused more on the ground below.

“I got nothin’!” he called back, swooping to the back of the formation the big eyes crew had made to check the area stretching from the girls’ southernmost border to the northernmost border of Cleo and Joe’s shared territory. They had decided to first fly over their assigned strip of the x coordinate line to see if there was anything obviously wrong from a bird’s eye view. After that, depending on the results from the other search teams, they would dig down in strategic intervals to be as thorough as possible. They had calculated the size of the room based on the video feed before they had left, and so they planned on digging straight down every 9 blocks along the axis. As crazy as that was, they were hoping with forteen hermits all doing it at the same time equally spaced along the line, they would be able to find Etho within an hour or two. (This all assumed that EvilX hadn’t been lying, but this was the only thing they had.)

——————————————————-

Mumbo hated every decision that had led him to this moment. He hated every decision that others have made on his behalf that had led to this moment. (That was a lie, he blamed himself completely. Even though Grian had had the idea to institute him as the CEO of Boatem, it was still his final say as to whether he would actually complete the role assigned to him. It was his decision to step up to the plate and lead them at this critical time. Everything that was happening was entirely his fault.) As he watched, horrified, Etho having to stay strong without anyone by his side; Mumbo thought he would throw up. If he didn’t faint first that was. (How pathetic of him, that he couldn’t handle the consequences of his actions.) He stood miserable in front of the screen, promising himself the least he could do was watch every moment Etho was without help and in pain because of him.

Beside him, Xisuma frantically typed in his admin console, seemingly trying in vain to undo whatever EvilXisuma had done to the respawn mechanics. To his other side, TFC stood stoically, seemingly unaffected by what he was witnessing, though Mumbo was sure that if he looked over, he’d be able to see the disguised pain in TFC’s eyes. Behind and a bit to the side of Xisuma was Joe, who’s pain was obvious to see, but stood strong despite it. (Mumbo wondered why Joe was here at all, till he remembered how close Joe was to Xisuma). To TFC’s other side stood Doc, who looked about one more Etho death from finding a way to crawl through the screen and detonating in EvilXisuma’s face. And to Joe’s other side stood Scar, sympathetic tears trailing down his face and holding himself in a way that Mumbo knew he did when he was particularly missing the comfort of Jellie the cat.

Mumbo watched as Etho poofed back into existence, arm that he had mangled looking noticeably more mangled than before.(Though there was something off about the restraints and his arm’s relation to them that Mumbo couldn’t place. It didn’t help the camera’s resolution wasn’t quite perfect clarity, and a bit of a wide shot, so details were a little difficult to pick out. Though it didn’t stop them from seeing the next part just fine.) Once Etho was back, EvilXisuma punched him in the face, hard enough they could see a tooth fly out of his mouth.

“You will regret that,” stated EvilXisuma, just barely loud enough to be picked up by the camera. (Mumbo knows Etho would normally have replied with something like, ‘you already said that’, but, well…)

“Any updates Xisuma?” questioned Doc, still staring intently at the screen looking for any clues as to the whereabouts of the the torture room.

“He’s still goin’ strong Doc,” replied Joe instead, peaking over Xisuma’s shoulder to see what he was up to. “You got any new clues?”

Doc growled under his breath. “No.” He sounded bitter to Mumbo, all acid and sharp edges.

“I can’t tell, but there’s something different about his arm I think,” said Mumbo hesitantly, nervously watching as the rest of the group stared intently up at the screen to see what he meant.

Scar spoke up, “I think I see what you mean. His arm isn’t quite aligned correctly with the chair arm, right?”

Mumbo nodded, pointing at Etho’s arm on the screen where it seemed to almost intersect with the cuff and was bleeding profusely. “I don’t know how, like if it was just a natural consequence of trying to move his arm in that direction as he died and respawned, or if it was just a one time fluke; but he seems to have gotten his wrist intersected with the cuff on the armrest and the stake from earlier seems off center.”

As Mumbo was trying to explain, EvilXisuma had begun to focus on Etho’s fingers, and starting on the opposite hand to the one they were observing, he began to break them individually. Mumbo was selfishly happy that he didn’t have to focus on Etho’s pain for a moment as he allowed himself to fully focus on the potential puzzle in front of him.

TFC suddenly spoke up, voice coming off as gruff. “Hrm, this is good and all, but it depends entirely on EvilXisuma not noticing this little update; which we’ve done a pretty poor job at not letting him on. What with him more than likely able to hear us, and all that.” Doc muttered a quiet, “fuck” under his breath in response, and they all held their breath as they waited to see if EvilXisuma would say anything.

Instead of saying anything, he continued to methodically snap more of Etho’s fingers, causing the group to flinch in varying amounts at each wet snap. However, as Mumbo was trying to take in details not relating to Etho’s pain, he could tell that the mic was picking up EvilXisuma’s muttering. But Mumbo didn’t have the super amazing hearing that someone like Ren or Grian had; but he wondered if one of the other people in the group here had more sensitive hearing. “Anyone able to make out what he’s saying?” muttered Mumbo.

Doc hissed a quiet affirmative, and muttered back, “Yesssss, but I need to focus. Please everyone be quiet, thanks.” Everyone but Xisuma nodded back, who was too busy still trying to figure out what EvilXisuma had done to the code to notice anything else around him.

Mumbo did his best to both suffer the consequences of his actions, while at the same time he couldn’t stand watching one of his fellow Hermits in that much pain. He could no longer distract himself, as he couldn’t make out what EvilXisuma was saying, and there were only so many times he could try to determine how many pixels on the screen related to the walls were just stone or his imagination trying to give him impossible answers. EvilXisuma had finally finished with Etho’s left hand, and he now moved to the right before he took a noticeable pause. Mumbo held his breath, hoping beyond hope that EvilXisuma somehow hadn’t noticed Etho’s weirdly placed hand. But that was an impossible wish after all.

“Well well well, how have you managed this then?” Evil Xisuma appeared to poke the part of the wrist that seemed to be poking part way out of the cuff. Mumbo couldn’t help but notice that Etho seemed so gone that he barely flinched at what should have been an incredibly painful jostle. “I’m interested in seeing how you struggle with this.” Evil X nodded at Etho. “Yes, I shall let you struggle. But we still have about 9 more bones to break, so on we go.” With that, he kneeled in front of Etho and started snapping the fingers on Etho’s right hand. Each wet snap ended with a muted whine and shudder from Etho, who seemed to have zoned out far enough that any reactions seemed mostly involuntary at this point. EvilXisuma seemed quiet for the first few snaps, before he went back to muttering in a just barely audible way. Mumbo could only assume that EvilXisuma was unaware that his mic sensitivity was set too high, and thought he was muttering in such a way as for those of them watching the stream would be unable to hear him. That, or it was an unconscious habit, and didn’t even realize he was doing it. Either way, Mumbo continued hoping he would continue to do so, so that maybe he would let something slip and Doc could post it in chat.

Meanwhile Doc had been listening closely to what EvilX had been saying, but none of it thus far had led to a clue. Most of what he was muttering were curses and the terrible things he planned to do to Etho. Honestly Doc wished he couldn’t hear what EvilX was saying, just so that he wasn’t obligated to continue listening to see if that scum slipped up. But the chance of catching something important was too high, so he went back to diligently listening to the stream, mentally cursing at every suppressed gasp or whine or wet snap from Etho.

EvilXisuma made quick work of Etho’s fingers, and seemingly tired of Etho’s lack of responses decided he needed to kill him. However, because he was feeling particularly vindictive, he gutted Etho, guts spilling over his knees before he disappeared in a flash of red. Mumbo, morbidly curious how the game would register the death, looked down at his communicator. “Ethoslab was slain by EvilXisuma.” He was selfishly grateful that the server messages were that generic. He watched further as Etho poofed back into the chair, though as before his killing blow hadn’t followed him through respawn, but all his previous wounds did. Mumbo looked very carefully at Etho’s wrists and saw that he had managed to get his wrist farther out, and the stake seemed almost completely out of his arm. Unfortunately for Etho, respawn managed to break him out of his trance, and he seemed far more present and aware (and in pain) for the moment. The only positive that Mumbo could see was that EvilXisuma seemed to have either turned off the speakers on his end, or was ignoring them completely. But Mumbo could only hope that either Doc would hear something soon, or the search parties would stumble across the hidden room soon; because he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could watch.

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

Text

The next chapter is going to be the last chapter. It’ll mostly end on a happy note, though there will be something at the end :3

@petrichormeraki @helleborusangel

Grian was glad to finally finish sorting through all the paperwork, narrowly missing Lynn arriving with another Watcher to discuss his kids. He dragged Grifter along with him and made a portal back to his base, glad that it seemed everything would be calm for a while. Until Grifter screamed.

Grian was sure it was just going to be a chicken left over from Hermit Challenges since those always seemed to appear at the worst times. Maybe someone wearing a chicken head who happened to be around. But instead, there was actually someone standing there. Someone Grian ever so vaguely recognized.

“H-hi there person I haven’t seen before. I’m Grian and that’s Grian and we cloned oursel-” Grifter quickly tried to say, but then freaked out as a chicken appeared next to him.

“Don’t lie. I already know what’s going on. I don’t like it, but you’ll get out mostly scott free. This time.”

“Ha ha ha... “ Grifter weakly laughed, glancing at the chicken to his side. “Hey, so is Mini-”

“Go home before I change my mind Ze.”

“Um, I actually changed it to-” Grifter started to speak before the chicken next to him hissed, making him jump and then make a portal back to helscraft.

Grian looked away from where his copy stood to where Punch was floating. As a Watcher, Grian could feel the death magic radiating off of the man. The man signaled to the chicken which hopped over to him and fluttered its way up to his lap where he pet it like a villain would their cat. “So. Xel I presume?”

After seeing how Punch had responded to Grifter correcting him, Grian just nodded. “Yeah.”

For a moment, the man just stared at Grian before smiling. “Well I’m sure you’re much better than my nephew. It’s a shame that your guide ignored you all those years ago.”

Grian had no clue what was being talked about. “Guide? What guide?”

“Something that could be discussed another time. You have more things to worry about. I’m sure your mother won’t be happy about me sticking around here too long, so I’ll leave you with a gift.” The man looked down to his chicken. “Kokatori, why not stay with Xelqua for a bit?” The chicken clucked once before hopping back down to the ground and standing next to Grian. “If anyone asks, you got it from a guy named Pablo.”

Punch looked like he was about to leave, but then at the last moment to turn back. “Oh, and by the way, I’d check your calendar if I were you. It’s currently May.”

Grian was left puzzled for a few moments as Punch disappeared. May? What did it currently being May have to do with anything. The only thing going on was closer to the end and- Grian pulled his comm out and checked the date. They had been so focused on the mess of the past week that Grian barely registered the days were actually passing. “I NEED TO FIND MUMBO!”

Mumbo watched as Grian was using Watcher magic to multitask. He had explained everything that happened while Grian was gone to him, and the builder was glad to be filled in, but before Mumbo could ask much, Grian pulled out a calendar, his communicator, a book, and also a lead which he put his new chicken on. “Grian, are you doing okay?”

“NO!” Grian stressfully shouted at Mumbo, making him take a step back. Had something happened? Was someone hurt again? Was it the boys? “I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF GRUM CAN EAT CAKE!”

“I’m… sorry what are you talking about?” Mumbo asked, a bit calmer but much more confused.

Grian thrust the calendar into Mumbo’s face. “It’s currently May 21st! We have less than a week to get everything ready!”

“Ready for…?”

“Are you- GRUM’S FIRST BIRTHDAY!”

Mumbo’s eyes widened at Grian answer. “Oh my word! That really is just around the corner, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I already had some plans in place of course but now it’s basically all out the window since there’s more family and friends involved to invite. Right now the only thing taken care of is presents!”

“Right, and did it get delivered?”

“Of course it did! I hid it in a por- I HID IT IN A PORTAL! THE BOYS COULD ACTUALLY GET THERE NOW!” Grian yelled, freaking out.

“Okay, calm down. It’s going to be fine. If we need to, we can hide it somewhere else. And I’m sure even if we don’t move it, it’s going to be perfectly fine. I doubt either of the boys will manage to get in there.” Mumbo did his best to calm Grian. “I know the boys wanted some people to visit today. Possibly you can get those people to come and we can find time to ask them more about who else the boys might have gotten close to and get a guest list that way.”

Grian was glad to finally finish sorting through all the paperwork, narrowly missing Lynn arriving with another Watcher to discuss his kids

Grian snapped his fingers at the idea before putting almost everything away. “That’s a great idea. Let me message Tommy on the change of plans. You said they wanted Fundy and Michael?”

“And Michael’s parent since he’s young. Parents? I’m not completely sure, I’m sure all those time problems didn’t help.”

“I’m sure they didn’t.” Grian remarked as he finished sending a message. “There. Now I guess we wait for Tommy to respond.” And he didn’t need to wait long as a message arrived. “Okay! He says I can pick them all up, though I might need to search a little for Fundy. But I’m sure he’ll want to visit Iskall at the very least.”

“Oh, that’s right! There’s one thing I forgot to mention.” Mumbo spoke up, making Grian’s head whip in his direction. “It’s maybe a little concerning, but I’m sure it will be fine. It… it just looks like Grum might be skittish around Iskall again. It makes sense after everything that happened of course, but better I remember to tell you now and not let you find out yourself.”

“I guess you’re right about it making sense. It sort of was like he got… void he got brainwashed again.”

“Hey, he managed to do well on his own. Might not be the best way to take after you, but it’s still good he took after your survival skills.”

“Oh ha ha. I don’t have survival skills.” Grian rolled his eyes. “The amount of times I’ve dive bombed or exploded myself. I mean, You know how many times I died testing my minigame mister ‘Watch This’.”

Mumbo chuckled for a moment. “Not one of my finer moments. But I meant about when you were growing up. I know it’s not your favorite time, but you made it through that part of your life. Grum was able to do the same.”

“I wish he didn’t have to. I wish neither of them got stuck there.”

“I’m sure no one did. But they did and got through it, and that’s what matters. So let’s just work on making sure they know everything’s fine now. Go pick up Tommy and the others.”

“Alright. And thanks for the talk Mumbo.”

“Always.”

Jrum was practically bouncing off the walls when he saw Michael. Grum was a bit more reserved, but was also pretty excited. It seemed Michael was a little nervous being in such a new place, but Jrum was quickly at the ziglin’s side to reassure him. To the side, Fundy was currently admiring the marvel that was the spawn area. Since Jrum had gone with their friend, Grum made his way to the hybrid. “Um, hi Fundy.”

“Wh- Oh hey Grum! How’re you doing?”

Grum rubbed his arm. “Better. Thank you for helping me out when everything was happening. You didn’t need to.”

“Of course I did. You’re a kid and what Dream was doing was seriously fucked up.” He got a look from Grum. “Well, okay. Maybe I wouldn’t have normally, but he kept getting me involved and Iskall knew you, so it was kind of different.”

“Well, thank you very much for that.” Grum said, hugging Fundy. “Well, I bet you want to see Iskall’s tree.”

“Oh hell yeah! Where’s the Omega Tree?”

Immediately Jrum was back next to them. “I can take him there! I’ll also see if Iskall is there or can get there soon! You can play with Michael while we’re gone!”

Grum nodded and looked to Michael. “Do you think that your parents will let you follow me through the nether to a place to play? I know a safe path and Dad assured me if something were to happen, you would absolutely safely respawn.”

Michael snorted before running over to Tubbo and Ranboo, interrupting their conversation with Tommy. Grum followed him over to elaborate on whatever he would say, or just translate in general. When they were told of the idea, Ranboo and Tubbo weren’t entirely sure about it, but Tommy put in a good word. “C’mon, Grian and Mumbo let the bots run around on their own all the time. This place is safe, so he’ll be fine.”

“I guess… but only if you two stick to the overworld. The nether might be faster, but it’s also dangerous.” Tubbo relented.

Grum thought it over. They would need to take a boat over to where they were going, and there would be a bit of a trek through the jungle, but there was a path they could take. “Of course! We will do what we can to stay as safe as possible. Now…” Grum pointed to the bubble elevator. “Up the tube!”

Michael followed behind Grum to get to the surface and the bot crafted up a boat for the two of them. As Grum rowed, Michael looked around at everything around them. Though there wasn’t too terribly much in the ocean in the direction they were headed, there were enough large builds that could still be seen to keep Michael in awe.

Eventually they landed and Grum led them through the jungle. “The best place to play is in Uncle Scar’s village. It's got plenty of buildings to work with and the style is perfect for games! And then nearbyish is Larry the snail and the magic arrow.”

Michael oinked a quick question and Grum elaborated as they walked. When they finally reached the village, Michael quickly ran into it and started exploring, Grum quickly following behind the ziglin. Though the buildings themselves were interesting, Michael decided the best thing were the small mushrooms that had built along the path.

“Yeah! My Daddy really likes those too. He also found a haunted bed when he owned the place for a bit. I wonder if it’s still haunted. Ooo!” Michael pretended to be scared before laughing, and then the two went off to play in the village together.

Back at spawn, Tommy was still chatting with Tubbo and Ranboo when Grian arrived. “Hey, have you guys seen my boys?”

“Yeah, Jrum took Fundy to Iskall’s and Grum went with Michael to play.” Tommy answered. “Why, is something wrong?”

“No, I was actually making sure they weren’t around.” Grian looked to Ranboo and Tubbo. “Are you two willing to come back with Michael in like five days? It’s going to be Grum’s birthday and maybe Michael can be one of the guests?”

“Oh hell yeah, you two need to come. It’ll be so pog!” Tommy said, hoping they would agree to visiting again.

“I guess we probably can, but it’ll also depend on how today goes.” Ranboo answered, Tubbo agreeing with him.

“Okay good.” Grian nodded, writing something down. He then looked over to Ranboo. “Do you have any idea some of the people the boys were close to when they were stuck over there?”

“Sometimes I barely remember my name.”

“Hmm, alright I guess I’ll have to ask Fundy.”

“Hey, I do know one thing.” Tommy piped up. “Or maybe two. Wil’s also a big music lover, so there might be something there. The other bit you probably aren’t going to like though.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. What is it?”

“Pretty sure Grum’s favorite uncle is Techno now.”

Grian was just silent as he contemplated the answer. Tommy nervously glanced at his friends before taking a slight step back, worried about how exactly Grian would react. When the avian’s wings started puffing up, Tommy was sure they would need to run, but instead Grian just took a deep breath. “Alright. Fine. I was already planning to invite him since he’s family and all. Yep. It’s fine. Totally fine.”

“It doesn’t sound fine.” Tubbo spoke up, and Grian quickly looked at them with a glare, though he was still smiling.

“Nope. It’s absolutely completely fine.” Then Grian sighed. “Well, I guess I’m going to find Fundy and ask him some questions. If you think of anything else, just message me.”

Tommy agreed before the avian flew off and then looked to his friends. “Alright, so this is probably the best excuse to show you around the shopping district since I’m going to need to pick something up. And if you guys want to buy something, just say the word, I can spare some diamonds.”

“Are you sure? We could get our own-” Ranboo started to speak up, but got stopped by Tommy.

“Nah, don’t worry. I’ll probably earn back whatever I spend in like a week. Probably from one of the redstoners.” Then Tommy led them to the bubble column. “Now let’s go. Oh, and Ranboo, if you need some armor to help with the water, just grab one from one of the stands. That’s what they’re there for.”

“You mean… the full netherite armor?”

“Yep.”

“Something tells me even I won’t have trouble forgetting all of this.”

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #hc x dsmp #grian #watcher!grian #grian xelqua #avian!Grian #hels!grian #mystery character #the watchers (evo)#mumbo jumbo #grumbot #jrumbot #tommyinnit #tubbo #michael_beloved #michael underscore beloved #itsfundy

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melon-wing · 3 years

Text

The Void [Gren]

[Fanfiction Masterlist]

Ren really enjoyed the company of their newest member on the server. Grian was overall a nice addition. He was so open with all of them and spread fun everywhere he went. Sure, Ren had been on the receiving end of quite a few pranks, but he really didn’t mind that much.

There was a quiet noise and he looked at his communicator, putting his shovel to the side.

Grian fell into the void.

Ren winced. Again? Now that he thought about it… How many times had it been this week? He knew Sahara needed an ungodly amount of Shulkerboxes, but why send Grian, when he was so unlucky?

And not just this week. Since they had cleared the path to the other dimension that same message of Grian dying had come up again and again

The first time he had seen the message pop up on his communicator, he hadn’t been bothered at all. A lot of Hermits had managed to fall into the voids if their Elytra broke, they went out of rockets or just simply lost orientation. Or in the beginning when they needed to bridge over the endless nothingness.

But this? This was getting weird. It was as if Grian fell into it every time he went to the end. And it worried Ren. Falling into the void wasn’t a quick and painless death. It hurt like hell and it took really long.

<Ren> You alright, G-man? Need any help?

It took Grian a while to respond and Ren could just envision it: Grian lying on his back, being still a little out of it from respawning.

<Grian> I’m fine. I just miscalculated the landing.

<Ren> Need some help to get your stuff back? I can help you grind a bit.

Ren waited. The answer took unusually long. it had just been a nice offer since Ren knew how much it sucked, falling into the void and losing everything. Finally, there was a beep and Ren already got up, expecting to be called away to help.

<Grian> It’s fine. I had most of my stuff in my Enderchest already. That was really lucky.

Ren raised an eyebrow at that. Hadn’t Grian also said that to Mumbo a few days ago… Ren was pretty sure he had heard this a couple of times already. Now the question was, did Grian make that up as an excuse so nobody needed to help him or did he really put all his stuff away because he was so prone to dying.

<Ren> Alright! Maybe we should go to the End together next time. Then I can make sure you won’t fall! You really should take part in the buddy system we got going on.

There was no reply this time and Ren sighed. Grian always went to the end alone, declining every offer for help. Heck, even Doc in the middle of their Civil War had offered to accompany Grian when they had run into each other at the End portal.

If Ren ever met Grian at that portal, he swore he would make sure to stick to his side no matter what Grian said.

Weeks passed and Ren grew more and more worried. Sure, Grian was completely normal and healthy, but the constant deaths in the End still kept going, sometimes more often and sometimes few and far in between. And Ren was pretty sure that Grian didn’t even go to the End when there was a long time of him not dying in the void.

They had been getting closer and closer during the season and Ren had seen Grian fly around, easily landing on a tiny block mid air at almost full speed. This wasn’t a person who would miscalculate a landing or run out of rockets at the wrong time. Grian was too graceful for that, too good.

Ren looked at Grian through the flames of the campfire, his flower crown slightly crooked, but a bright smile on his lips. And Ren couldn’t help but smile as well when Grian looked at him, eyes sparkling.

“Well, thanks for this lovely evening Ren”, Grian said, a slight blush on his cheeks as he got up. “We really should do it again soon. But I really need to go now. Sahara needs a ton of Shulkers again and Mumbo and Iskall are busy with the redstone and-”

Grian stopped when Ren suddenly grabbed his hand, keeping him from moving away.

“Don’t.”

“Ren, what…?”

“Don’t go into the End. Or don’t go alone. You can’t… I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’m worried. All this dying can’t be good for your health.”

Grian smiled. A sad smile and he gently tore his hand from Ren’s grasp.

“I’ll be fine. I know what I’m doing.”

“But-”

Grian put a finger against Ren’s lips and Ren could feel the heat rising to his cheeks.

“I promise, I’m alright.”

And as if he had known that Ren would still be too stunned to react he took out his rockets to take off quickly. By the time Ren had snapped out of it Grian was long gone. Damn. How could he let his stupid crush keep him from staying by Grian’s side like he had vowed to do?

Ren quickly jumped up, going to his RV. Of course Grian had kept all his stuff on him already while Ren had to get his Elytra and rockets first. And in which chest had he thrown it again? Damn, he hadn’t paid attention earlier, too nervous from the fact that he had managed to invite Grian over to a fucking dinner date.

It took him way too long. He knew Grian would be gone by the time he arrived. That still didn’t stop him from rushing towards the End portal. When he stepped into the End, the main island was deserted. Well, deserted except for a bunch of enderman.

Ren put his head back slightly, trying to pick up a noise or a scent in the wind. His senses were slightly better than the average human’s and the full moon was close. It was faint, but Ren would recognise that scent everywhere. Grian! He dashed to one of the portals and threw an Enderpearl inside to get whisked miles and miles away.

He searched everywhere. Endcity after Endcity. Sometimes he picked up Grian’s scent, but it got less strong by the minute. Ren was falling further and further behind. And then, when he hit the next Endcity he lost the trail altogether. Damn it! He had wanted to protect Grian. He wanted to be there for him.

With a sigh Ren let his head hang low and trotted back out of the building to look for one of the Endportals. It took him a while, but then he was standing on the Main Island again. And a familiar scent hit him full force. Grian! Ren jumped up the stairs leading to the main area and then he stopped. There was Grian, kneeling in front of the portal leading home, not wearing any of his equipment, an Enderchest standing next to him.

Ren stepped closer, quietly until he was behind Grian.

“Grian… Are you-”

Grian’s head whipped around fast and Ren gasped. There were trails of tears on Grian’s face and he looked so small and scared.

“R-Ren. I didn’t think you’d- I thought you were… Why are you here?”

“I was worried.”

Grian smiled, if only a little and then got to his feet.

“I’m… I was just…”, Grian seemed to search for the right thing to say, his eyes slowly traveling slightly to the left and Ren already knew then. He was able to read Grian by now. Whatever left his mouth next was a lie. “I sprained my ankle a bit when I missed the portal. I hit the ground too hard. I’m… It’s a bit better now. Why don’t you go ahead and jump in and I’ll be right there behind you, yes?”

“No worries. We can jump in together. I can carry you.” He’d believe that lie if it meant he would be able to get Grian to the overworld again safely.

“I…” Grian’s hands were shaking as he spoke, his eyes darting to the portal, a haunted expression on his face and that’s when it hit Ren. For whatever reason Grian was scared. Scared of…

“You never once jumped into this portal, did you? You jump into the void on purpose to get back to your spawn point.”

Grian flinched and Ren knew he’d found the answer. This was the reason Grian died so often in the End. It was his way home.

“Why, Grian? Why are you so scared of going in there? We all do it. It doesn’t hurt. It’s safe. It’s-”

“I don’t want to leave.”

Ren knitted his eyebrows in confusion at the statement. It seemed so random.

“I don’t want you to leave either, but the portal will just transport you home.”

Grian shook his head and tears welled up in his eyes again, he was holding himself now, his whole posture seeming so small and uncertain, so unlike the confident and cheerful Grian that Ren had fallen for.

“The- The last time... I jumped into it before. They took me.”

“They?”

“The Watchers…” Grian’s voice was barely above a whisper but he sounded so scared as if saying the word too loud might call the ones he was talking about.

“Watchers? But they are nothing but an Urban Legend. A myth. They’re not…”

Grian sobbed and Ren stopped talking. Something changed in the air between them. A red haze surrounded Grian and suddenly his eyes were glowing golden and black wings appeared on his back. And on Grian’s arms glowing markings appeared, lots and lots of drawings of open eyes, all seemingly staring at him. Ren gasped and stumbled back a few steps, which in turn made a grim smile appear on Grian’s face.

“I look like a monster, I know. When I jumped into the portal I lost everything. They turned me into this. What if they take me again? I don’t want to leave this world. I don’t want to lose everyone. And I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. Not you. And now you know I’m a monster and everything will be different and you’ll leave me and-”

Ren rushed forward, his arms moving around Grian, careful not to disturb his wings, pressing him close to his chest.

“I’m here. I won’t leave. Ever. I love you.”

The shaking stopped and Grian raised his head slightly, looking at Ren. And while his eyes might be glowing golden, Ren could still see the emotion in there. Hope.

“You do?”

“Yes. And no matter what, I’ll protect you. I don’t know what happened in your last world, but Xisuma’s magic is strong. He has made sure nobody and nothing can get into our world. You’re safe here.”

“Are you sure…?”

Ren nodded and then stepped up to the portal, guiding Grian to go with him, both of them standing on the edge.

“I won’t force you to jump in, but we can do it together.”

“Yes, please.”

Grian’s hand was shaking and Ren pressed it reassuringly as he took the last step needed, pulling Grian along with him.

He felt the magic of the portal wash over him and then the hand in his was gone as he landed on his soft bed in the RV. Respawn points. Fuck. Of course he wouldn’t stay with Grian. They hadn’t set the same respawn point.

Ren jumped up and ran out of his RV, hurrying to get to Grian, praying that he was still there. Just as he was about to kick in the door of Grian’s RV it opened and Grian stood there, back to his normal self, wide bright blue eyes looking at Ren.

Both of them just stared at each other for a second and then Ren pulled Grian into a hug once more, holding onto him as if he never wanted to let go.

“Thanks, Ren…”, Grian muttered into his shoulder and then turned his head slightly to be able to look at Ren. “I love you too.”

#🍉 stories #hermitship #hermitshipping #gren #🍉 advent calendar #this is probably the last one :P #unless creativity hits me tomorrow for my unfinished ones

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betweenlands · 4 years

Text

? ? ?

[ a fic written for @mine-sara-sp‘s shadow people au, specifically the “season 7 shadows” au-of-an-au. fun fact, simplysarc did a series with zedaph once. ]

content warnings: possession.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 00

Okay, so they’re still working out all the issues with the shadow mob - apparently it wasn’t supposed to become a new form of artificial intelligence, who’d have thunk it? X managed to do some admin stuff and port the old shadows over, though, so I’ve still got Merino.

A lot of the new shadows have turned out, uh, concerning though? Bdubs got a plant monster even though the whole nHo plotline was two entire seasons ago, Grian’s is - well I don’t know what Grian’s is, but it’s got wings and eyes on it. Honestly, even Joe’s new one seems sort of off-putting for some reason. Keeps staring at me.

Or maybe there was just something on my face that day and he was too polite to point it out?

Whatever the case, I kind of want to get my hands on some shadow equipment as soon as possible, mostly so I can fend off Grian’s double-trouble shadows. Which means I’ve gotta head into the shadowlands as soon as possible, and I figure I’m gonna do it right now before my new shadow ends up sentient and has back pain from me trying to get a full armor set.

Also, I’m taking notes, because that’s the difference between science and screwing around.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 01

I have to admit, I was really worried about going into the shadow temple and doing the whole summoning thing considering that so many people have gotten big spooky monsters as their shadows. I guess the devs wanted to buff them because some of the stuff that happened with people’s shadows, like Shadoc and Murmur?

But, you know what? Everything went great! Sort of. Okay, so I didn’t actually see my shadow because I double-summoned it as quickly as possible and then leapt right on into the shadowlands. I’m sure it’ll be fine - it seems like you can hit any yellow-colored shadow with the scythe to get out, and guess what I got on my first run of the shadow boss! And… the second one. And the third one.

I think it’s probably a guaranteed drop.

I had to leave after three fights, though, because it turns out they definitely nerfed the livability of this dimension when they updated the Nether to be more homey. If you stick around for too long, you start getting slowness; stick around even longer, you get a really slow version of wither. Supposedly there’s a third drawback, something about the bottom of the shadowlands. I didn’t read the update notes too closely.

Anyway, I’ll have to go back soon, I want a full armor set and I only managed to get the chestplate - you know, the piece of armor I probably won’t use most of the time. Oh well, having spare scythes isn’t that bad.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 03

Full armor set obtained. Also, I think the third consequence for staying in the shadowlands too long is bugged. I got the slowness and wither effects in the middle of finishing off the last boss, and when I headed back to leave, it looked like something was rising from the bottom of the abyss?

But the animation sort of… looped, glitchily, like the amorphous blob of shadow was only consuming the bottom layers of the shadowlands repeatedly and not actually advancing upwards. So, yeah, it might be bugged.

I did get hit with a killer headache when I left the shadowlands this time, though. But hey, I don’t actually have to go back there for a good amount of time when I have the full set of gear, so I don’t have to worry about getting a post-shadowlands-exploration headache for a little while.

Merino’s been staring at me like there’s something wrong, recently, I’m not sure what’s going on. I tried to ask them and they just said it was nothing.

I guess it’s nothing to worry about, then. Maybe they just want me to get back to herding sheep so they can kill them again, like old times. I’ll do that.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 04

Okay, maybe there’s something to worry about. Thing is, Merino’s not the only shadow that’s been staring at me. Now it’s Joe’s new shadow - Joyful - tailing me, and Puzzler - Grian’s brand-new bastard - is always watching me specifically when it’s not being creepy at Grian.

I’d assume they’re jealous of my really cool clothing, but the shadowvex are normally all over that kind of thing and both the old and new ones are… I think they might be avoiding me? Which would be super convenient if not for the fact that it’s very out-of-character for them to outright avoid people.

The other thing is that… I still have that headache from exiting the shadowlands. Maybe that’s the third consequence, is a really long-lasting headache that can’t be cancelled out by milk? Either way… ugh. Just, ugh, I’ll start seeing what might cure it.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 05

I’m going to talk about the not-interesting part of today first, because I know someone’s reading these notes and I think it’s more fun if I add narrative spice to their poking and prodding.

Yeah, that’s right, buddy, I’m talking about you. I don’t know who you are but I know you’re reading this. (Are you Joyful? I think you’re probably Joyful.)

Anyway, boring parts first! I went into the shadowlands again to test something - turns out, the headache debuff might be a thing that happens when I’m not in that dimension, because the moment I teleported there, it went away. That was a real relief, honestly, because I’d had a rough morning. The glitchy stuff at the bottom of the abyss was still glitching, everything seemed as normal as a weird dark hellscape could be.

So, about the rough morning…

I was heading out to the shadow temple to do more shadowlands testing when someone grabbed me by the back of the collar. Biffa’s old shadow, Apex - I could tell it was him and not the nearly identical new one, on account of his visor being up and his eyes being blue. And, y’know, him lifting me up by the collar.

Basically, we had a talk - apparently, according to him, there’s something very bad in the bottom of the shadowlands. He called it the “old shadows” and told me that since I was there so often, I should be extremely careful.

He said even the Vex were scared of it. I told him that the old shadows seemed to be glitched, because last time I saw them they were only rising up to a certain point (and my trip inside later proved it). Apex just dropped me, and shook his head, told me to be careful again.

So yeah, Joyful, there’s your juicy tidbits for the day. While you’re reading these, d’you mind helping me clean my desk? It’s the least you could do in exchange for me letting you snoop around my stuff.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 06

Something really weird happened.

Grian’s been menaced by Puzzler a lot lately, and I sort of ended up running into one of those menacement sessions? I figured I should chip in and help out, so I butted into the conversation and tried to be obnoxiously cheerful, as Puzzler plays nice around anyone that isn’t Grian.

The second I popped out of the bushes with a “he-LLO guys!” though, purple shadow jerk’s eyes widened - all of them, even the ones on its wings - and it took a step back. Eyes flicked from me to Grian and then back again.

“He’s dangerous,” it told Grian, and then flew off.

I have no idea what that was about, because it’s not like I’m particularly skilled at PvP or even PvE, and I don’t have a special creepy shadow like Joe (or any shadow besides Merino, actually). Grian didn’t seem to know what was going on, either, but he thanked me for the help.

My headache flared up as soon as he approached… went from background annoyance to full-on migraine. Grian seemed worried, but I told him it was really just a me problem and that I’d be fine.

After that, I headed out to the shadowlands for a bit, because my head just wouldn’t stop pounding and I needed a break from it. I didn’t do any dungeon-crawling this time, just sat on the uppermost layer and stared into the abyss.

It didn’t stare back because, y’know, it’s a pit, pits don’t have eyes, but the cool air made me feel a lot better and when I returned my headache was less bad.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 07

So apparently the person reading my notes isn’t Joyful, because I confronted him today and he seemed… super, super on edge, but about something entirely else. Apparently, he’s got some sort of outcome-controlling power, except he can’t use it on me. He says that he blanks on the words whenever it comes to me.

He said I should be careful. And then my headache flared up again, particularly badly this time, and Joyful got concerned and said he’d leave me alone for the time being.

I tried to track down Puzzler again, since it seemed to actually know what was going on with me, but nobody’s seen Grian’s shadow around in a while, even Grian himself. From what Grian says, Puzzler might have gotten desummoned somehow, and nobody really wants him resummoned except for the shadowvex.

I really hope I don’t run into desummoned Puzzler in the shadowlands next time I go, because that would be even worse.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 07.1

Maybe the old shadows are rising. The glitchy abyss seemed to have risen up a little more than before - I was going to leave off the week’s entry before, but I wanted to make note of this before I forgot to do so.

I didn’t see Puzzler anywhere, though.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 08

Still no sign of Puzzler. Good riddance, Grian says. But now, in addition to the other shadows, even the jerks like Apex and Jigsaw are starting to avoid me, and I’m really not sure why. I don’t think I’ve changed much as a person, and none of the other hermits have come up with anything.

Joyful used to sort of watch me from around corners, and now he’s intensified that activity. If he wasn’t reading my notes before, then he definitely is now. So, uh, hi - please stop staring at me, and actually talk to me? I promise I’m not going to start a fight.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 09

I woke up and my mouth tasted like oil.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 09.1

Okay, I don’t remember writing the first part of this entry, so I guess I must have woken up really early, written it, and then immediately fallen asleep again? Best guess, I might actually be sick - between the headaches and now me feeling a little woozy while in the overworld, I’ve probably gotten a very mild version of the bends.

So I stayed in bed today, drifted in and out of sleep as a couple of the other hermits stopped in. One of them - the guy that stuck around the longest - was Joe.

Apparently nobody’s seen Joyful around for a few days…

I’m not an idiot. Something’s wrong.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 09.2

Snuck out of bed to check the shadowlands. The old shadows rose another few blocks. I watched the abyss for a few minutes, glad to be rid of all the weird illness symptoms, and then I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. They didn’t push me, so I just let them leave it there for a minute more…

And then I turned to look up at them, and there was nobody there. The hand still felt like it was on my shoulder, but nobody was actually there.

I should probably not go to the shadowlands again.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 10

So, I’ve abstained from going to the shadowlands for a while now, but shadows keep vanishing, and my bends keep getting worse and worse. It’s the new shadowvex, this time, they’re just straight up gone-gone. Can’t be summoned even to go into the shadowlands.

Man, this new mechanic is really buggy.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 10.1

I caved.

The abyss has risen higher.

It’s not staring back yet.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 11

I keep waking up places that I don’t remember going to sleep. I’ve decided this is way too dangerous, because I’m pretty sure I’m the reason that shadows keep vanishing. So far it’s been mostly the mean ones. I don’t want them to get at anyone else, either one of the nice shadows or one of the actual hermits.

I also don’t remember writing the entry for 10.1, so it’s safe to say that something is horribly, awfully wrong. And it’s probably my fault…

I have a dumb idea - I’m gonna see if jumping into the abyss does anything. Maybe it’ll reverse all this if I die to the mechanic? Also, it’d be my first death on this new server, and that’d be a pretty neat way to go out.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 11.1

So I’m standing there, fully prepared to yeet myself into the abyss, when I feel a hand on my shoulder again. And this time, when I turned around, there was something there.

I’m pretty sure it was my shadow, because it had the same proportions as me, only it was absolutely as pitch-black as the abyss below. I couldn’t make out any details besides yellow eyes and the glint of sharp white teeth when it spoke.

“Not yet,” it told me.

And now I’m back in the overworld somehow. My mouth tastes like oil again.

ZEDAPH - S7 - 12

Xisuma’s gone.

...My eyes have always been yellow, right?

ZEDAPH - S7 - 13

It told me, one last thing, the place I should go when it’s all done.

Craterville.

I’m going to see an old friend.

#THIS IS NOT CANON BECAUSE IF IT IS THEN HC WOULD BE OVER.#RIP THE FUCKING SERVER #yt #txt #shadow people au #zedaph

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prismarine-parrots · 5 years

Text

Grian (Short Story)

I don't count this as angst because it's really technically not but it's going to be interesting to see reactions >:3

The pressure of the cable connected to the back of his neck disappeared and he immediately started his usual startup procedure. He found that the codes running through his mind before he really woke up was much smoother- but also more complicated than he remembered... even if that wasn't much more than a feeling since he wasn't technically conscious yet.

"You alright there?"

He slowly sat up before releasing a breath. He felt so loose? He had never been able to do that before.

"How do you feel?"

"...Loose. Flimsy," his voice was soft, barely a whisper- how? He had always only had one tone.

"Yeah, welcome to your muscles actually communicating with your brain. Amazing how then human body is when you're actually functioning. Now get up, I'll teach you the basics. You have a lot to learn before you can completely your half of the deal. I hope that three weeks straight of completely rewriting your shoddy code was worth it."

NPC Grian's eyes finally focussed to see the person he had made the deal with for this to be possible. Glancing down, seeing his body laying on the bed, then seeing his savior sitting looking bored in his rolling chair.

He held up a hand and wiggled his fingers. He had never had this type of maneuverability- it was strange. It was foreign. It was a miracle.

NPC Grian grinned.

Objective set.

—————

Grian was sitting in the cool shade of the Sahara storefront. They had recently installed a noteblock loop playing some soothing music and tables and chairs and a café in the previously-empty space up top, and the mass amounts of white concrete and large windows kept the inside of the building cool in the rising summer heat.

Grian didn't have much to do today- the building of Sahara was done, his latest advertising campaign had been completed, his base was finished except for the spur-of-the-moment interior builds, and all of his friends and current collabs were offline. He decided for once to just take it slow and chill instead of be going, going, going with his chaotic energy.

He took a long, slow sip of his tea- really just heated water with crushed flowers and a couple of flavorings, but it was still good. He closed his eyes, content with the peaceful quiet that surrounded him.

But suddenly Grian got shivers down his back. His soft smile fell as his eyes snapped open and body froze. Nothing has changed, as far as he could tell, yet something felt wrong and all his half-developed survival instincts were on high alert.

"Hello?" Grian called out. He set his cup of tea down and rested his hand above his phone in case he needed to pull out a weapon from the virtual inventory.

The Sahara Café stayed silent.

Grian realized that it was too quiet- the noteblocks has stopped playing.

But the noteblocks were looped.

"Whoever's here, this isn't funny..." Grian called. He didn't want to look down and check the player list to see if one of the redstone pranksters were online. He slowly stood up, waiting for someone to make themselves known and announce that they got Grian good and then continue on with whatever they needed from the builder.

There was a slurp sound from behind Grian. He spun around, only to be met with a face way to close for comfort- an evil smile and malicious glint in his red eyes.

Grian nearly screamed.

"YOU—?!"

Then there was a whoosh and something hit Grian in the head. He crumpled to the ground, dazed and disoriented. He tried to get up, but his limbs wouldn't respond.

"N... no... I won't..."

A rough cloth of darkness consumed his blurry vision, and Grian irritatedly realized they had tied a sack over his head like a cliche kidnapper.

He tried to stay conscious and to fight back, but his arms only slapped the ground pitifully instead of push himself up and his legs only stubbed his toes instead of kick the double. He felt his wrists be tied together and his entire body be picked up.

Grian's head knocked against something in the sudden movement he was blind to. Despite his clever skills and fast wits, they were useless when he was out like a light.

—————

Iskall had noticed something weird going on with Grian for the past few weeks.

It wasn't obvious, but little things. The way Grian would freeze and his eyes would go hazy for a second or two before he continued with whatever he was doing. The way his normally lively movements recently seemed a lot more controlled and calculated. There was rarely that little hop Grian did when he was excited, or the skipping while he walked with someone to a new location. But he sounded fine, and acted normally- flew with mass amounts of rockets, danced with parrots, hummed some of his little ditties from the beginning of the season. Iskall had brought it up with Mumbo, but Grian's closest friend hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary.

So Iskall hadn't brought it up again. As much as he wanted to let it go and allow himself to assume that he was over analyzing things, his gut wouldn't let him. Something just didn't feel right about Grian- which was weird, because usually nothing felt completely normal with that little gremlin.

Iskall was fixing up the Sahara ordering system to connect Mumbo's item transport tube as he was finishing that up. He had just finished recording the clip that would go before this when he got a text from... the War Talk channel on their communications?

DocM77: is Grian alright? He just asked me what kind of a blank space he's in and if it's a war prank

Zombiecleo: the war is over? It has been for a while?

DocM77: which is why I'm concerned

ImpulseSV: where is he? I don't know of any reason he'd be at the war zone, but maybe he sprang a leftover trap like he did with that TNT right after the war ended

DocM77: he says Sahara???????

Iskall looked up and in the direction of the warehouse. He quickly put two and two together, and his doubts were basically confirmed as he realized his bad feeling may actually be right.

Iskall85: there's an infinity room in Sahara. He built it. I think something's up with Grian.

DocM77: so then why is he confused about being in one of his own pranks?

Iskall put his phone away and crawled out of the hole to the redstone and took the elevator up the second floor and marched out the path to the warehouse. Along the way he passed Mumbo and called out to him.

"Mumbo! We need to go interrogate Grian, you're coming with me!"

"What? Why?"

"Just come."

Iskall took no time in leading Mumbo to the main meeting room and telling him to sit down before sitting in Grian's chair and reaching over the armrest to hit the button. The duo fell from their seats and into the infinity room, where Grian was curled on the floor with wide eyes.

"Grian?! What happened?!" Mumbo demanded and immediately dropped to his knees.

"I- I don't- all white, no difference— does not compute—" Grian stuttererd fearfully. Mumbo had a confused look cross his face as he hesitated in helping Grian up for a moment.

"It's just your infinity room. You build this yourself?"

Iskall narrowed his eyes at Grian's panicked face as the builder immediately tried to get himself together.

"I-I...? I mean, yeah. I just, uh, woke up here and was confused. I thought I had died or something crazy," the strawberry blonde chuckled awkwardly, pushing himself away from Mumbo.

The mustached man and the Swede shared a concerned look.

"Now, how do we get out of here...?" Grian asked, looking around and infinite walls nervously.

Mumbo gestured to Iskall, tapping at a nonexistent phone, before pointing to Grian who as looking away and covering his eyes, then pointing to himself.

What the heck? Was Iskall's first response, before he realized that Mumbo was trying to say. Text the others, he'll try to restrain him or something.

And so Iskall did that while Mumbo talked to Grian, pretending to feel around the walls for a hidden button or something before Iskall got a confirmation that the other hermits were coming and Mumbo "accidentally" fell down the hole in the floor to the sub-infinity room. Iskall feigned surprise and jumped down with him, and then they called up to Grian to tell him it was safe to come to come down and that there was an exit down here.

"When he comes down, we wait for him to bounce and then we grab him," Iskall planned under his breath.

"Are you sure we need to be that drastic? This IS Grian," Mumbo questioned.

"Who was scared out of his mind in his own infinity room? I've been seeing other weird things about him. I'm getting to the bottom of this," the Swede growled. He knew on the inside he was trying to hide his worry with aggression, but that feeling of wrongness was only growing stronger each minute something was wrong with Grian.

The builder bounced down and after disappearing through the white ceiling a couple of times, Iskall lunged and tackled Grian to the spongy ground.

"Ah! Iskall! What the heck?!"

"Alright, game's over, what's up, Grian? Why you acting weird?"

"Nothing's wrong with me! I'm fine!"

"I think I'm with Iskall in this one, Gri. Something is wrong. The war has been over for a couple months now, and you made the infinity room maps forever ago. How could you forget? I... I don't know, Gri, and I'm scared to find out what else you've been hiding from us that's not normal," Mumbo said quietly. Grian looked over his shoulder at his friends. Iskall cringed inwardly at the shocked look on Grian's face, but he held firm, knowing that Mumbo would cave in before the issue was solved.

"Let's head up, the others should be meeting us upstairs." Mumbo suggested nervously.

Iskall nodded and held Grian's hands behind his back and lead him up the water column to the normal part of Sahara. There were some of the other hermits wandering the warehouse- Doc, Cleo, Impulse and Tango.

"Grian! Iskall? What's going on?" Tango asked.

"Grian's acting up, and I don't trust it," Iskall summarized.

"This is completely uncalled for..." Grian muttered. Tango, Mumbo, and Cleo all seemed to agree.

"Grian is our friend, Iskall. No need to put him in in handcuffs!" Cleo exclaimed.

Iskall shook his head. "I just... I don't trust him right now. Things don't make any sense."

"Give the man a chance to explain himself? Maybe he hit his head or something and has amnesia..." Tango offered.

"Don't give him an excuse to get out of this!" Iskall snapped. Grian had been rather quiet this entire time, and the Swede didn't like it. Another thing out of character for him. Normal Grian would have been yelling his head off right about now.

Doc's good eye was narrowed and he was glaring at either Iskall or Grian, it was hard to tell.

"Iskall, let him go."

Doc's voice was dangerously low and steady, and for once the hitman actually listened to the hybrid scientists. Grian immediately stepped away from Iskall, shaken eyes glancing over his shoulder...

Only to walk into a headlock by Doc.

"HEY!"

"Doc, what are you doing?!"

"Stop it! You're choking him!"

The two were on the ground and the others had jumped back while Grian struggled weakly against Doc's green arm and the creeper hybrid pinned him to the ground. Iskall rushed forward and pulled against Doc.

"Doc! Let him go! Too far dude! I was just being yelled at, now you're going past me!"

Doc sat back and released Grian's throat and the builder immediately gasped for air.

"What the heck, man?!"

Doc's face was neutral. "I don't think Grian has an LED in the back of his head," he announced firmly.

This caught everyone's attention.

"What...?" Cleo breathed and slowly approached the mess of limbs.

Iskall hesitantly glanced over Doc's shoulder, feeling like this was an invasion of privacy but also a needed investigation.

Indeed, there was a red glowing LED light, along with a single small port lined with silver, just under the hem of Grian's sweater.

"What in the world?" Tango asked, suddenly turning to Grian. The strawberry blonde hadn't moved further, as if he weren't sure how to react beyond this point. Tango kneeled by Grian's face. "What's going on, Grian?"

The demon then jumped back in surprise and Iskall reached out to instinctively help him. Tango's red eyes were wide and arms pressed against his chest as if pulling away from something disgusting.

"Red eyes?!"

Cleo's head shot up. "But isn't that only a demonic trait?"

Tango nodded while Mumbo slowly drew a distressed breath.

"That's not Grian... That's NPC Grian... I'd only heard about him once before..." the redstoner explained slowly, not taking his wide eyes off their false friend.

Iskall watched as "NPC Grian" suddenly threw Doc off him as if it were nothing (which was no small feat) and got to his feet. He scanned the gathered hermits and Iskall shivered as he made eye contact with unnerving red eyes on his usually-chipper friend. They were bright and calculating and malicious and excited, nothing like the soulful dark-brown-almost-to-the-point-of-black that belonged to Grian.

"Finally, I've been so bored of pretending to be that organic version of me. Grian is so boring! All he does is yell and cry and try to talk to me. And all he ever seems to do here is fly and build and talk. Does no one appreciate calculated thinking time anymore? But I'll admit, with a fully-organic body, one needs a lot more time to function than basing everything on numbers. Anyhow, I should really be going, I need to catch up with some friends..."

NPC Grian casually waved and turned on his heels to walk out.

"Get him!" Cleo yelled and chased after the false Grian. Doc was already a step ahead and was aiming his electified trident at the fleeing figure and Tango seemed to be chanting in something or another- Iskall honestly had no idea. He didn't have any idea of what to think of any of this.

Mumbo slowly turned to the last Architech with genuine fear.

"Iskall, if that's not Grian..."

"Then where is he?"

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

Word count: 2430

This turned out longer than I thought it was going to. It's also very stiff and awkward :/

And I'm not doing a part two :P but if someone wants and ending bad enough, go ahead and make up your own!

#hermitcraft #becca writes #grian #npc grian #mumbojumbo #iskall85 #docm77 #tangotek #zombiecleo #cliffhanger

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

Text

Welp, let’s see how much people hate me at the end of this. I doubt anyone will see the ending coming until it’s too late. but also, yay chapter 20! maybe i might actually take a break @petrichormeraki

When Ghostbur returned once more and mentioned he found parrots in the place, Mumbo started getting things ready. Parrots meant Grian, so they needed to move now, before they lost him again. He packed up shulker boxes and everyone got geared up.

As they got closer to the building, at Tommy’s insistence, Mumbo created a flying machine for the blond to ride in as an ‘intimidation tactic’. He wasn’t sure why the boy held his arms out as it started to fly off, but Mumbo did feel a little intimidated.

Since the machine was slower, the rest of them waited a little bit to advance, making sure to take a more stealthy route since attention should be drawn to Tommy. They always made sure Tommy was about a chunk ahead of them. Not too far they couldn’t easily get there if he was attacked, but far back enough the magic from their potions could be seen.

Dream lifted his head up in confusion at what sounded like the noise of pistons. They were distant, but sounded like they were getting closer. It reminded him of when Ranboo had come to visit him in the vault.

He looked out the door, but couldn’t see anything, until he looked up. In the air was some monstrosity made of pistons, observers and slime blocks. And on top, sitting in a boat, was Tommy, who was currently t-posing. “What the-?”

“Hey there green bitch!” Tommy shouted down as a way to inform his currently invisible friends. “You visited me so time to return the favor.” Both of them just stared at each other after that, the flying machine being a little slow. “Uh, that didn’t go quite as well as I imagined.”

Dream rolled his eyes. At the very least this was something new and it looked like there were still some things he needed to teach Tommy. If he could just finally get the blond to follow orders, everything would work out great and- a sword appeared out of nowhere and slashed at Dream. He was confused for a moment before he saw the particles that signaled an invisibility potion.

Tommy jumped down from the machine, unsure how to stop it as it continued to fly off. He joined whichever of his friends was attacking Dream, turning it into a two on one, possibly more but even Tommy wasn’t sure how many invisible people were fighting the admin.

Mumbo slipped into the house with two others while Dream was busy fighting. He didn’t quite know how easily he could be heard from outside, so he started whisper yelling. “Grian! Grian?! Are you here?!”

Someone tried to shush him. Mumbo was pretty sure it sounded like Philza. “Sorry that I’m worried about him! But calling for him might actually help!” Mumbo gave another stage whisper.

“Hey, are we whispering so the parrots don’t hear us?” Ghostbur asked, coming through a wall and surprising Mumbo.

“Where are they Ghostbur?” Philza asked and the ghost pointed.

Mumbo walked in that direction and was met with a spruce door. He opened it up and there he was. “Grian!” The redstoner ran over and opened the cage, carefully pulling him out. “Grian are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Behind him, Philza and Ghostbur came in. Grian chirped happily and Mumbo fished out some pumpkin seeds which were quickly gobbled up. “Are you sure that’s him?” Philza spoke up, and Mumbo looked over at the other avian.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Philza gestured to the room around them and this time Mumbo noticed all the other parrots that looked nearly identical to the one he was holding. As he stared, the parrot pecked his hand and Mumbo loosened his grip. “Sorry about that.”

Philza walked closer to Mumbo and inspected the parrot. “What told you it was him? Is there some pattern you’ve gotten used to or…?”

Mumbo shook his head. “No. He didn’t even know he could completely change into a bird until around a week ago when you told him.”

“Then how did you know it was Grian?” Ghostbur asked, looking at all the other parrots, finding a liking to one with a larger amount of blue feathers which he tried to give what looked like blue dye.

“I… I just knew.” Mumbo answered. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was Grian, but to him, it was obvious. “Now, can you help him change back to normal? I’m not sure he knows how.”

“It should be easy.” Philza answered. “Changing back is much easier since it’s your natural form. But essentially it draws on the same properties as shifting your wings away.”

Grian just tilted his head, then ruffled his feathers and pecked at Philza when he tried to get closer. “Grian, please. He’s just trying to help.” Mumbo tried to calm the parrot, which seemed to work and the bird moved to perch itself on Mumbo’s shoulder. “Alright, let’s get out while we still can.”

With their invisibility potions worn out, Mumbo and Philza put on armor and started to leave the building. They were surprised to find that Dream was nowhere in sight. But that would hopefully make things easier. “Alright, let’s hurry back before anything tries to stop us!” Mumbo started running off, hoping everyone else would follow, which they did.

After they reached a midway point to rest as well as create a small shelter as it started to snow, Grian started chirping. Mumbo assumed that was him asking for words to mimic, but then Quackity grabbed Grian and pulled out a sword.

“What are you doing?! Are you mental?!” Mumbo quickly pulled Grian back, not caring about being pecked.

“What? It’s Dream’s pet. It would help send a message.”

“He’s not Dream’s pet! Did you not hear a word of the plan from earlier?!”

“Quackity, even if they belong to Dream, you shouldn’t kill it.”

Mumbo held Grian just a little closer. He caught Tommy’s confused look before the blond spoke. “Tubbo, him I can understand not listening, but you? He’s not a pet, he’s my brother.”

“Your brother’s a parrot?”

Mumbo grabbed Tommy and pulled him back. “Raise your hand if you think this parrot is Dream’s pet.” Mumbo wasn’t surprised when everyone but him, Tommy and Ghostbur raised their hands or had some other signal of affirmation. “Tommy, I think I know why their eyes are like that now.”

“Well fuck.”

“Please, calm down. He’s uh… not Dream’s pet. He’s mine and just… stole him? I mean, I couldn’t put him on my shoulder if he wasn’t my pet, right?” Mumbo hoped the reasoning would get through to them, and he was glad when it did.

It happened again a few more times, but Mumbo was glad to note that Grian seemed to be able to sense it and gave some chirps as a warning.

Dream became more frustrated as time went on. At this point Tubbo should have come back to return the parrot. Everything else had been going right so far other than the Watcher magic on Tommy making him a little too open to suggestion. Perhaps that was the problem. Tommy was holding everyone up.

Well, suggestions were much easier to do from afar, so possibly calling in Sapnap for that favor would do. But he was a bit trigger happy when it came to killing pets. And likely no one else would be nearby.

Dream sighed and grabbed his gear. If you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself.

The moment the snow stopped, Mumbo had them on the move again. But it had still taken a while and Dream easily caught up. With so many people, it was hard to see just who held the Watcher. “You have something that doesn’t belong to you Tommy.”

“Doesn’t belong to you either green bitch!” Tommy shouted. He looked like he wanted to attack Dream, but Mumbo held him back. He also had to keep a hand on Grian as he started chirping and almost flew off.

“That so? Seems like it has a better idea. How about you shut up for once?”

Mumbo watched in horror as the magenta color filled Tommy’s eyes again and he found he couldn’t speak. “Tommy! No, snap out of it!”

He didn’t see as Dream tilted his head at the unfamiliar voice. The redstoner was just glad that Tommy was able to shake his head and go back to normal. “What the fuck was that?!”

Dream asked his own question. “Who’s your new friend Tommy?”

Tommy just cursed at Dream, not giving an answer. So Dream asked one of the others, who gave up Mumbo’s name. “Hmm, Mumbo Jumbo.” Dream said, toying with the name as he said it. “Well then, seeing as how that changes things, better let things calm down for the family reunion going on.”

“Wouldn’t have needed it if you didn’t end up kidnapping my brother!” Tommy yelled back angrily.

“Right, that family reunion counts too.” Dream’s comment confused Mumbo and Tommy. The latter of the two pulled out an axe as Dream walked forward. “Hey, calm down. I’m not going to try anything if he won’t. Besides, I’ve been waiting for someone to show up.” Dream took another step closer and then held out his hand. “So Mumbo, the name’s Dreamon.”

Mumbo stared at the outstretched hand then up at the mask. Grian chirped on his shoulder and that reminded him of what this person had done, so he refused the hand. “Fine, I guess Drista really is the only one that’s willing to hang around me if time has told me anything.”

Mumbo’s eyes suddenly widened. “Are you telling me you know Drista?”

Even with the mask in the way, Mumbo could see how much Dream smiled. “Of course, why wouldn’t I know our sister.”

#tommyinnit #hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #mumbo jumbo #grian #grian xelqua #avian!grian #dreamwastaken #still not a fan of how dream's persona eminates someone... problematic #vault gods (vault hunters)

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