#anyway. i will never stop thinking about. whatever was going on between xisuma and evil xisuma in season 8.

[theminecraftbee]

hermit horror week day 4: season 7 or taken over

Xisuma slowly blinks at the console logs for the server again. He's very tired; he's been collecting blackstone again, and it's very tiring, collecting blackstone. He's been building a lot of pretty houses, and stocking a lot of shops, and he hasn't had time to look at the console much recently. He probably shouldn't be now, because he's tired, and tired people make mistakes.

He makes a lot of mistakes; he's silly like that. A big derp. It's why he has to be careful, since he's been tired so much lately. He definitely shouldn't have the console open.

It's just, earlier Impulse had a question, since his moss farm kept lagging, and Xisuma thought it would be easy enough to try to find the root cause of. And he did find the root cause of it--Impulse's farm is too fast and his storage simply doesn't keep up with the amount of moss--but there's... some other things...

He blinks again at the dates on the server files. The last edited dates. Slowly, he clicks again on his own player data, and tries to make sense of what he's reading. Files like this, they aren't really meant to be that human-readable. It's--well, it is mostly json, so it's mostly human-readable, actually, but a lot of it is still encrypted, for player safety, which would. Maybe explain what he's looking at? He thinks? He's--well, he does have root access, is the thing, because he's the admin, but he still shouldn't be able to look at any player willy-nilly.

He's a little too much of a derp to be trusted with that. He probably shouldn't even be looking at his data! It's just. That last edited date. Xisuma doesn't edit his own player data. That way lies madness. He's, uh, pretty sure he knows some people who went a little mad doing that. So the fact of the matter is--well, it's not the only file that's been edited recently, he tells himself. Just because it's a lot of memory files that seem to have been edited, as well as access permissions--that's... normal enough for a new season, right?

He's...

He doesn't notice his other self walk up behind him.

"Oh, hey Xisuma. You finished gathering materials for our next build, then?" Evil Xisuma says. All of Xisuma's hairs stand on end.

"I mean, I've gathered enough to get started," Xisuma says.

"Pity. I was really hoping you'd manage to get everything. I thought maybe we'd finish today, but I guess we can't now."

"I--you're right. I'm really sorry."

"No, no, don't worry, don't worry, my friend," Evil Xisuma says. "We probably couldn't have finished today anyway, even if you said you'd try for it."

Xisuma's heart is in his throat. "Sorry, my head's just been. You know how I am. Silly me, forgetting things."

Evil Xisuma shakes his head. "It's awfully lucky I came back this season. Think of all the important things you'd be forgetting without reminders!"

Xisuma looks down and away.

"Gosh, and now you're... playing around in the admin console?"

"Oh!" Xisuma says. "It's, er, nothing really big..."

"Can I see it?"

He barely resists the urge to close out of his player data and hide that's what he'd been looking at. He doesn't know why he wants to hide it. It's not like--well, if Evil Xisuma got mad about it, it would be... right, wouldn't it? Because, well, Xisuma knows full well he shouldn't be looking at or editing his own player data. Editing your own data is the way to madness, and Xisuma, well, he's been so tired lately. He could easily accidentally hit a button. He could easily accidentally hit delete. He has root access, after all.

His heart is in his throat again. He shuffles his feet. "Sure," he says, finally. "I, er, I promise, I wasn't doing anything. I just noticed the last edited date on, uh, files that aren't automatically created by the system? And I thought, gosh, that's weird. I'd only been in there to check on Impulse, really, after he'd had some lag issues. I was just finishing up. It's nothing--the date's weird, though, right? That's all I was noticing."

He watches Evil Xisuma's fingers scroll through all of Xisuma's data. It's not quite fast enough that Xisuma isn't sure he's reading it, and suddenly, Xisuma feels very small.

Finally, Evil Xisuma hands Xisuma's tablet with the admin console open back to him. Xisuma looks down, and Evil Xisuma has closed out of the player data again.

"You just forgot the last maintenance date," Evil Xisuma says.

"Really?" Xisuma says.

"Oh, yeah, for sure. You're so tired lately. You silly derp. You've just been forgetting things easily. You should really get more rest!"

"Oh, but then we won't finish our projects," Xisuma says.

"I guess we wouldn't," Evil Xisuma says back.

"It's just--it's. Most of the time, access permission for player memories isn't edited during maintenance, and I just--I don't remember putting your name down?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Xisuma tries to think.

"I don't know," he says finally, small, unable to meaningfully articulate anything about what's wrong with it. "I guess it only makes sense, if I'm forgetting things so easily."

"Exactly! Gosh, we make a good team," Evil Xisuma says, and he smiles at Xisuma. Xisuma crookedly smiles back.

"Yeah, we do," Xisuma agrees.

"Don't pull that out again unless I say so, okay?"

"Okay," Xisuma agrees automatically, and then he knows he will not. It makes sense. If he was upsetting himself over nothing like this, why, imagine what he'd do if he could open it whenever? He'd just constantly be upsetting himself!

"Now, my friend, let's return to building the Evil Empire."

"Let's!" agrees Xisuma, and just like that, the entire encounter slips from his mind.

#hermithorrorweek2023 #a bee fic #hermitcraft #xisuma #evil xisuma #emotional abuse #mind manipulation #(like genuine warning for emotional abuse here albeit like. somewhat subtle manipulation type.) #if this fic is late in my time zone. no it isn't. #anyway. i will never stop thinking about. whatever was going on between xisuma and evil xisuma in season 8. #anyway. ANYWAY. god one day i'll write the Very Dead Serious Take on that plotline. maybe this is one piece of it. #anyway the horror here is only barely the implied possession it's more the implied. emotional abuse. #GOD i will not stop thinking about the implications of that storyline whether intended or not #like. i'm forever like. did he INTEND to imply the abuse that so many of those cutscenes imply #or was he just trying to write evil xisuma acting like a villain? #anyway this isn't how i'd write evil x for any season that isn't season eight specifically btw you can blame it on jeff if needed

[ceaderblocks]

The Devil’s in the Details Ch. 6

Chapter One // Chapter Two // Chapter Three // Chapter Four // Chapter Five //

Read on A03

Created alongside @thematrixmutual

Join the discord here!

Cub knew it was wrong. He <em>knew</em> helping Scar carry the AFK Xisuma to the End was wrong (was he really AFK?), and he knew Scar shooing him away to hide Xisuma screamed bad. But he did it anyways, because Scar was his best friend.

Except Xisuma had been missing for three days now, and Scar was adamant he didn’t remember helping with the prank. Scar was also avoiding everyone, working at night and skipping social activities to work on the strange black tower in the shopping district.

He was still working on the large black pillar in the shopping district when Cub flew by, determined to catch him in person. It looked almost finished, imposing and dark against the other shops. Scar was at the base, humming as he dug through some chests. The sun was setting, and the torches began to let off some light.

“Scar,” Cub said, and the other builder jumped, smacking his head against the chest lid.

“Oh! Cub!” Scar said nervously, rubbing his head. He avoided eye contact, choosing to look at his scuffed shoes instead.

“I haven’t seen you in a while.” Cub said softly, placing a hand on Scar’s shoulder. He wasn’t wearing his jacket. “How’re you?”

“Busy as always,” Scar said, gesturing vaguely to the tower and still avoiding looking Cub in the eyes. Cub frowned.

���Are you okay, though?” Cub asked, concerned. Scar’s behavior was off.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scar said, tugging on a pigtail nervously.

“You aren’t, though.” Cub said softly. “Scar, you’ve been acting strange lately.”

“Have I?” Scar frowned, looking concerned. “Guess I’m just tired.”

“Grian and False found both their bases aggressively terraformed, and they both said they hadn’t requested or paid for it. Black pillars have popped up all over the map. Jellie’s been sleeping at ConCorp. With me.” Cub said. Scar looked surprised at that final note, and finally looked at Cub.

Green eyes. Cub thought. Not blue.

“Is that where she’s been?” He asked, ignoring all the other points. “I was worried, I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Jellie never sleeps with me.” Cub continued. “Please Scar, tell me what’s wrong.”

Scar looked away again. “I can’t. I’m sorry, Cub.”

“Three days ago, you and I moved an AFK Xisuma from here to the End. He hasn’t returned, and you refused to let me know where you put him.” Cub said, and watched Scar turn from sadness to confusion to horror.

“Scar, something has been seriously wrong for a while, hasn’t it? Since we both fell into the Void a week ago?”

Scar bit his lip, on the verge of tears. He wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and nodded.

No jacket. Green eyes. Pigtails. Cub noted to himself.

“I’m really sorry Cub. Once I finish this build it’ll all go back to normal, I swear!” He said, and turned away, kneeling on the ground and re-opening the chest.

“Scar! Please!” Cub begged. He was so damn worried.

“Cub, I can’t-“ Scar suddenly fell quiet, doubling over and clutching his head for a moment before blinking rapidly and jerking upright, slamming the chest lid shut.

“Scar?” Cub asked, concerned. Scar turned to him, looking forlorn.

“Can we not talk about this?” He asked, an annoyed tone to his voice. He put a hand on Cub’s shoulder, leading him away from the tower. “Let’s do something else. Golf, maybe? We haven’t played golf in a while.”

“Scar-“ The grip on his shoulder tightened, and Cub fell silent, looking at his friend, panic leaping in his chest.

Blue eyes? Scar just had green eyes. What is going on?

“… Golf sounds great.” Cub finished, and Scar (this isn’t Scar) smiled, pulling his pigtails from his hair and re-arranging it into a ponytail.

“Super,” Scar said enthusiastically, pulling a rocket from his inventory. “Race you there?”

“Sure.” Cub said, hesitantly grabbing his own. “Should we invite some people to join us?”

“I think it’ll be a fun game between just you and I,” Scar said. “Besides, we haven’t gotten to have some quality time together in a while.”

“Right,” Cub said. “Of course.”

He needed to find out what was going on, and if he had to do it by being close to the enemy, so be it.

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

The End was cold, as it usually was. Xisuma could usually spend lots of time in it just fine, but extended periods would even make the most well weathered Hermit a little chilly.

Xisuma was freezing.

Oscar had put him in Adventure mode, able to survive but not interact with most things. Xisuma had paced around the small cell, trying to get warm before realizing he was getting hungry and the Oscar hadn’t left him with food. He had then taken a few moments to figure out where he was. Xisuma came to the conclusion he was under an End Island, iron bars confining him to the small seven by seven block area. Oscar hadn’t left any food or water. Just Xisuma, his helmet and the emptiness of the Void. The doppelgänger had even taken his comm box.

“Bastard.” Xisuma had snarled, kicking an end stone through the bars and retreating to a corner to try and huddle and save body warmth.

That was a few days ago, now. Well, Xisuma thought it was a few days ago. Keeping track of time had never been a strong suit of his, and it was harder when there were no day cycles. It was also hard to focus when you were starving and freezing to death. He had stopped being nauseous from hunger a while back, the gnawing at the inside of his stomach taking second place to the violent shivers that wracked his body. He was exhausted but refused to fall asleep. Death had never bothered the Hermits before, but Xisuma was confident he wouldn’t wake up if he let his eyes shut.

A bright flash of white made Xisuma wince and weakly covered his eyes. Great. He was having hallucinations now. That’s cool.

“Finally.” A familiar voice said, and Xisuma uncovered his eyes, struggling to sit up. “It was terrible being banned. Nice of you to let me back.”

“Evil Xisuma?” Xisuma whispered, not willing to believe his eyes. There was his counterpart, dressed in red and stretching, seeming to not have taken notice of Xisuma quite yet.

“The one and only. Hey, where the fuck are we? The End??? God, you really didn’t want me to destroy the server if we’re all the way out here, huh.” EX said, touching his toes.

Xisuma was speechless. Evil X was banned. He shouldn’t be able to come back, let alone be summoned to him in this prison cell. This was definitely a hallucination. It had to be.

“Speechless, Xisuma?  I know, it’s cause- oh shit,” EX said, finally looking at his counterpart. “Dude, you look terrible.”

Rushing to his side, EX helped Xisuma sit up and lean against him. Xisuma shut his eyes, dizzy from the lack of food and water.

“Fuck, Xisuma.” EX said. “You didn’t unban me, did you?”

“No,” Xisuma said. Evil X dug through his inventory for a moment before pulling out a water bottle and some bread.

“Here, start with this. Slowly.” EX cautioned. Xisuma tore a small chunk off the bread and nibbled on it. His stomach growled. He felt sick from eating.

“If you didn’t bring me here, who did?” EX frowned, looking around. “Are we in a prison cell?”

“I don’t know who brought you,” Xisuma admitted, swallowing some water. “And we are. Scar’s evil counterpart put me here.”

“Hey, he’s stealing my style.” EX said. “I’m supposed to be the only evil twin here.”

“He’s dangerous.” Xisuma cautioned.

“And I’m not?” EX said. Xisuma chose to take another bite of bread instead of answering.

“If you’re here, you’re probably stuck in adventure mode with me.” Xisuma said.

EX frowned, opening his inventory. “Uh, no. I’m in survival. I have some stuff from last time and- holy shit Xisuma!”

“What?”

“I have admin controls!” EX said, thrilled. Xisuma perked up.

“You do?”

“Yeah, look!”

Evil Xisuma threw open a command screen. Xisuma was shocked. How was this happening?

“I haven’t been able to access this shit since season one.” EX said, typing in some commands. /give <Xisuma> golden carrots [64].

Xisuma gaped in surprise as 64 golden carrots popped into his otherwise empty inventory.

“Hell yeah,” EX said. “Now I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

“You need to help me,” Xisuma pleaded, grabbing onto Evil Xisuma’s arms. “Please, EX, the whole server is in danger.”

“You always say that when I’m around too,” EX snarled, looking unhappy.

“This is different.”

“How so?” EX asked.

“This evil version of Scar-“

“Oscar.” EX said.

“- right, Oscar, he's taking over the server by replacing Scar. He’s building towers everywhere and forcing the land in unnatural ways. You didn’t replace me, so- wait.” Xisuma stopped his explanation and struggled backwards, EX cocking an eyebrow.

“How do you know his name?”

“Because he spoke to me in the Void? Dude, we’re both results of Void death mis-happenings. He promised me admin powers if I came and helped him.”

Xisuma clenched his jaw. “And here you are with admin powers.”

“Yeah,” EX agreed, but he looked confused. “But I told him no. I thought you brought me back to help fuck him over or something. I’m not sure why I have admin abilities.”

“You gave that up?” Xisuma was rendered speechless for the second time.

“Hm?”

“You gave up being an admin and getting revenge on the server?”

“I’m not a dick,” EX snorted. “I just want a bit of mischief. Y'all are to uptight for your own good. Oscar’s a full-blown asshole. He wanted to ‘ruin everyones lives’ and ‘replace everything with death’ or whatever. Not my style. Anyways,” EX pulled up his command screens again.

/set gamemode creative <Xisuma> /give cheats <Xisuma>

Xisuma felt better instantly. The cold that had frozen his limbs dissipated, and the hunger gnawing at his insides left. He felt energized and alive for the first time in many days.

“Thank you,” Xisuma said. “Really, I mean it.”

“Can I ask a favour from you?” EX asked, suddenly looking very serious. Xisuma nodded, unsure once more.

“Let me live with you all- peacefully. And also let me kick Oscar’s ass.”

Xisuma snorted in laughter and smiled, sticking out his hand. Evil Xisuma took it, shaking it.

“Deal.”

#xisumavoid #xisuma #evil xisuma #scar #goodtimeswithscar #cub #cubfan135 #sorry for the late chapter yall #just started uni again lol #the devils in the details #ditd #we reaching that climax sooooon #olive writes

[triple-a-enderdragon]

Meet the Locals!

Hermits, in this AU, come in three different flavors; avatars, those who were given magic, and those who have magic of their own. 

Avatars: Hermits who have had the (mis)fortune of being chosen by an Element, beings who represent different aspects of the world (more on these guys later). Avatars can channel the power of their Element and have certain related abilities. This is elaborated in each individual avatar’s infodump.

Given: Hermits who have obtained magic via other superpowered beings other than the Elements. Their powers and abilities vary greatly.

Personally Obtained: Hermits who were either born with their magic or obtained it without the intervention of any superpowered being. Again, their powers and abilities vary greatly.

Hermits! In (kinda) alphabetical order!

Bdubs: Flavor 3; can manipulate space and distance, but in small areas. He can make these changes “permanent”, most prominently in his builds; or temporary. He mainly uses it as a way to travel more quickly and safely between locations. The larger the area, the longer the time held, and the more dramatic the change, the faster he tires out. However, the small area of his builds and the subtlety of the magic used makes these permanently sustainable.

Biffa: Secret flavor 4; but he’s the only one. He has no “real” magic, but his stubbornness to not die is magical on its own. Biffa originally came from an...interesting world. It was a hardcore world, meaning perma-death. This world had a gladiator-style arena that he never left (until he left that world). He was thrown into fights constantly, which led to the almost total (violent) removal and replacement of his fleshy bits. He is about 90% cybernetic and can become a bloodthirsty little monster. That’s why he’s on the Strike Team! Known as the Berserker, he is the frontal assault in most confrontations, drawing the attention away from the flankers, Iskall and Python. His fighting style may seem random and haphazard, but it is well structured and takes full advantage of his metal body. As an ST member, he has special weapons, two axes and a greatsword.

Cub: Flavor 2; Bestowed with Vex magic alongside Scar and is an OP. Cub, besides having handy mechanic-exploiting knowledge, has some control over the elusive magic of the Vexes. He knows not of the true nature of how he and Scar came about it. Cub’s speciality is utility magic and he mostly uses it to test the limits of the world around him. Because the magic can be volatile, he (and Scar) must use a focus or risk great damage to himself. Cub’s focus is a fairly small sphere of translucent quartz that, over time, has grown small cracks of a suspiciously light blue material.

Docm: Flavor 1; Avatar of Redstone, whether she knows it or not. Frankly, whether he knows it or not, either. ~Once upon a time~, Doc was a regular researcher, doing regular researcher things. Until one day. An explosion rips through the facility, fusing several things together. Two of those things being Doc and a creeper. Also, he lost some body bits as well. This explosion drew the attention of Redstone (an Element!), who had been watching him closer than she normally would (read: at all), took pity on him and replaced his lost body bits with some snazzy redstone bits. Needless to say she didn’t expect that would make him her avatar. She then went back to minding her own business. Or, at least, trying to. Something about Doc is just...captivating. Can’t be this avatar business. Oh no. ANYWAY. Doc can manipulate redstone. Fun! He can also feel the circuits and how they work, allowing him to make incredibly accurate diagnoses of other hermits’ redstone circuits. He also has a weird and exceptional way with a channeling trident...

Evil Xisuma: Flavor 1; Avatar of Void, kind of an accident. EX came into being when Void made a very bad mistake. Void saw all these Elements with their avatars and decided they wanted one. (bad reason, but oh well.) Xisuma just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It would have gone smoothly (if X consented. He probably would have), but someone else didn’t. The world guardian smacked Void back into their place, but not before they took a bit of X with them. The piece of X’s soul that Void stole became EX, kind of an avatar, kinda not. EX lives in the void of the End, between the death layer and Oblivion. He catches (and sometimes collects) whatever falls in. If hermits ask nicely, then he may return some items they have lost, but he rarely does this as most of their things aren’t collection-worthy. His favorite collection is of souls, those that somehow ended up below the death layer.

False: Flavor 3; Has powers over enchantments. False is the champ of PVP; the only other hermits that can hold their own against her is Iskall and Biffa. Her preferred weapon is the bow, in which she is unparalleled. Some time ago, between world 4 and 5, she (and Iskall) were pulled to The UHC to compete. False won (no surprise), but she was forced to stay behind to watch Iskall fight through (and win) the next round. During the upset of his “win”, she slipped away to the 5th world. False hasn’t told him what she saw in that 2nd UHC. Switching gears, False is Commander of the Strike Team, and so that is her alias. While very capable at PVP, she is the only member who can strategize on the fly; such that she takes her super special bow to high ground and controls the field as a chessboard. If things get really dire, she can supercharge the enchantments of one (or all) of the boys and essentially make them unstoppable for a short period of time. She cannot do this for very long and is completely vulnerable the entire time. That’s why Wels is there!

GTWScar: Flavor 2; Bestowed with Vex magic alongside Cub. Scar is the one to bring Vex magic down on him and Cub. He knows it is not a gift, but a pact. In order to gain the protection of the Vex, he had to essentially pledge himself to them. His relation to them is very Avatar-like in nature. Most of the time he can do his own thing, but occasionally the Vex will guide him to do something, as stated in the pact. Where Cub has the less intrusive utility magic, Scar has the more intense evocation magic. 

Grian: Flavor 1; Avatar of Air. Has wings! Now, I know what you’re thinking. ~Evo~, right? Well, I grant you but a taste and nothing else. Grian lived in Evo for a while, went through all that, became a baby watcher and everything, then vanished. A certain something has found the crown jewel to its collection. A trade, it proposed. You can come and join me. No unnecessary restrictions will be upon you. No benchmarks. No goals, other than your own. In return, you will be a blank slate. I will not tolerate a being tainted by Them. I guess it was a bit taken aback by how enthusiastically Grian agreed. He remembers nothing of Evo (except that something happened), or of the deal. He is the brand new avatar of Air, as he had shown exceptional flying skills and no fear of heights. Without the need for rockets to stay airborne and an inherently curious personality, Grian has very quickly become the air equivalent to Iskall’s ground scouting. 

iJevin: Flavor 3; Has various slimy powers. Slime has alchemical properties. Jevin is a slime. Full stop. Okay, not full stop. But he is a slime, just a really weird, blue, potentially one-of-a-kind one. He wasn’t created in a lab, but he was found and dumped in one to “be studied”. Unfortunately for the researchers, Jevin was also very sentient. And sentient slimes don’t like to be “researched”. So he left. He managed to (very poorly) disguise himself as human and waltz out the door. Whilst exploring worlds, he discovered some very interesting properties of his slime. When used in potion-making, it can enhance the properties of the potions significantly. To the annoyance of the other hermits, he prefers to make poisons and other negative-effect potions. They have to coerce him to make more beneficial ones. The other hermits don’t know their drinking Jevin-juice. Shh, don’t tell them.

Impulse: Flavor 2 & 3; Is an OP and has mob wrangling powers. More useful than it sounds. Impulse seems to just have a way with mobs. Unlike Ren or Cleo, he can’t control or talk to them; which makes this even more mysterious. Mobs just...behave differently around him. There’s a reason he always has a trading hall within days of getting to a new world.

Iskall: Flavor 1; Avatar of Diamond. A bit unhappy about it. (jus’ a bit). Iskall’s early days hail from hardcore worlds, where he had to hone his PVP and tracking skills to survive. Between worlds 4 and 5, he (along with False) were pulled into The UHC. He and False had two very different experiences. Long story short, in a battle against another skilled PVPer, Iskall lost his left eye. Upon winning, he became MIA for several hours before following a trail, left by False, to the hermits’ fifth world, now sporting a shiny new eye. This shiny new eye gives him control over all things diamond. If it’s gear he made, full control. If it’s gear someone else made, partial control. He can detect other people if they’re wearing diamond gear. He can also detect diamond ore in a 5 chunk radius around himself, 16 if he’s concentrating. All these cool abilities come with a downside; if his eye is removed, he will not survive long without it. Iskall is a member of the Strike team, dubbed the Hunter, due to his unmatched tracking skills. Along with Python, he is a flanker. Iskall’s preferred weapon is the glave, because polearms are awesome. Also, how can he thrive in such cold biomes? This man’s a walking furnace I tell ya. The downside is that he can’t stay in the Nether too long or he’ll start to overheat.

Joe: Flavor 3; Can cast Suggestion at will and always succeeds. Basically, Joe can subtly influence peoples’ emotions, always in the interest of safety and diplomacy. Okay, that’s not entirely true; he also does it to confuse and befuddle. He’s very good at that. Another thing he’s good at is healing. Joe is the resident medic. While other hermits, (Iskall and Wels), have rudimentary medical knowledge, it’s mostly field dressing. Joe has a more extensive knowledge of long-term treatments. He is the one wrangling Jevin to produce beneficial potions.

Keralis: Flavor 3; Hypnosis. Look into my eyes. Nothing but my eyes. Keralis can captivate one person at a time with his gaze, but once captured, he cannot look away without breaking his hold.

Mumbo: Flavor 3; Can alter reality, but doesn’t know it. Whatever he believes will happen (or not), will happen. Mumbo may possibly be the most powerful hermit; he can unknowingly alter the outcome of whatever he’s thinking about just by believing in his new reality. The catch? He can’t do it at will. Thus, he can never know about it. The only person who knows about it is Xisuma, and only after some intense investigation over several worlds. Aside from that Mumbo is well-versed in redstone, and is better at it than he thinks. His problem? What he thinks becomes reality.

Python: Flavor 3; If he doesn’t want to be seen, he won’t. No matter what. Not invisibility, I swear. Camouflage!! Python was apart of someone’s attempt to make attack creepers; an unsuccessful venture. You’d think he’d be more chameleon or something with how well he can blend in with his surroundings, but no. Python is a member of the Strike Team. While he’s not as good as Iskall at tracking, Python is (predictably) better in the stealth department, earning him the alias Assassin. He moves much like a viper, striking with his twin daggers before his target has time to react. He works exceedingly well with his fellow flanker, Iskall, to take down all sorts of enemies.

Ren: Flavor 1; Avatar of Life. Can speak with animals and can turn into a massive grey wolf. ‘S pretty cool. Ren came to be an avatar out of desperation, and Life was the only one who could help him. It’s not quite what he expected, but it’s pretty cool all the same. He can communicate with animals and can even, at the right moment, become one. His favorite shape to take it that of a grey wolf. 

Stress: Flavor 1 & 3; Lucky girl! Or is she? Avatar of Water and a certain magenta surprise later on. Stress became Water’s avatar almost as a second thought. There’s a reason she’s known as the Ice Queen and not the Water Queen; Water neglected to give Stress full access to her powers, as the Element is much like Redstone; keeping to herself. Not that this hinders Stress in anyway, she is still a force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t feel the cold and experiences no ill effects from prolonged exposure.

Tango: Flavor 1; Avatar of Fire. He ain’t too happy about it either. Tango became and avatar in a similar fashion to Ren, except he turned down Fire’s proposition, saying he’d rather die. To which Fire replied, “You are in the Nether. You die here, you are mine irregardless.” Needless to say Tango’s still a bit salty about that whole ordeal. At least he can spend more time in his favorite dimension, the Nether! Impulse and Zedaph often find him taking a dip in lava or sleeping in a bed of his own flames. On the heat scale, if Iskall is a furnace, then Tango is a miniature sun.

TFC: Flavor 1; Avatar of Earth; but at this point, they’ve pretty much become one. Tfc is the wrangler of the other Elements as Earth is the oldest one around. At this point TFC and Earth have bonded to the point where they are almost indistinguishable from each other. Of course, hermits can still tell if it’s TFC or Earth talking. Usually it’s TFC; Earth only comes out when absolutely necessary. Since they are bonded together so completely, TFC can bring out the pure, raw power that Earth has to offer, something that no other avatar can claim.

Wels: Flavor 2; Made a pact with an entity eons ago. He can never be defeated as long as he is protecting someone. Well, not so much a pact as a promise. Wels gave his word to this entity that he would always protect those who need it most, and in return the entity’s power would shield him from death for as long as he protects someone. Even with this protection, he has to be careful; once the conditions have passed, he will succumb to any fatal wounds he sustained over the fight. To counter this, Wels has gotten incredibly skilled at defensive battle. He may not be an attacker like the rest of the Strike Team, but his sword and board tactics have come in handy more times than one can count, earning him the alias Bastion. False owes him her life several times, when he protected her as she unleashed her magic.

Xisuma: Flavor 2; Admin! Admin powers are granted as host of each world’s resident guardian. Xisuma handles all of the behind the scenes, keeping an eye out for anomalies, sending Iskall to investigate “visitors”, generally making sure everything is running as smoothly as possible. A while ago, X had a runin with Void. Long story short, EX came into existence and left X missing a piece of himself. Because of this, he often finds himself forgetting simple things, like conversations or bits of projects. He has also had to enhance his helmet to help his breathing, as he now finds the overworld and Nether atmospheres to be too oppressive.

Zedaph: Flavor 3; No magic can affect him. That’s it. Even Mumbos’ reality-changing ability can’t touch him. Zed is the much-needed keystone in the midst of all the magic running around this world. Even he doesn’t know the full extent of his magic-negating ability, except that it hasn’t truly been tested yet.

ZCleo: Flavor 3; Due to a glitch years ago, Cleo is now a zombie. She can talk sense into undead mobs. Cleo was once a normal person. Well, as normal as she gets. What I’m saying is she wasn’t a zombie yet. But a glitch happened years ago at the exact moment when she (and other people in different worlds) died and respawned, trapping her between life and undeath. She took this very well, immediately trolling any hermit she could find. Cleo has expressed a preference to being undead, as the only mobs she has to worry about now are creepers and spiders. Occasionally a limb will fall off, but she takes it in stride.

#hermitcraft #hermitcraft au #lore #hermit lore #time to strike back #ttsb #third stop #AND WE'RE OFF

[minedcrafts]

/ban

Myself, @quartz-slab, and @endstone-brick are back with another fic! We actually started this one a while back, but then we all got distracted by other things and only managed to finish it now.

---

Xisuma was about ready to start tearing his hair out over this build. He just wanted to work on a design for a new shop, but apparently, that was too much to ask today. It had been two hours now, and nothing he did looked right. He’d switched the block palate three times already and was starting to lose count of how many times he’d built and torn down this same stretch of wall.

Whatever that number was, he was about to add one more to it. With a long, drawn-out groan of frustration he removed the blocks he’d just placed down and backed up to see if he could find out where he was going wrong.

He narrowed his eyes at the half-completed wall like he could glare it into not looking awful. There had to be something he wasn’t seeing. A section that was too wide, a detail that was off center, a color that was throwing everything else off. He knew it was there, but he couldn’t fix it until he found it, and it was proving stubbornly elusive.

“Maybe if I move those windows over a block?” he muttered to himself after staring at it for several seconds. “No, then they’d be too close to that pillar…”

Leaving and coming back with fresh eyes would probably be the smart thing to do, but he was determined to get this design finished today. This little shop was not going to get the best of him.

The soft swish of an elytra passing low overhead derailed his train of thought, and he automatically turned to see who was interrupting him, just in time to see them throw a potion at him. He quickly dodged out of the way, but didn’t manage to avoid the splash entirely.

For a moment he thought he had, because he didn’t feel any different. Then he looked down to check if it had hit him and realized that he was completely see-through.

Someone laughed behind him, and he whirled around to see Scar sitting on top of his unfinished build. He was wearing his vex mask, so X couldn’t see his face, but he could clearly hear the grin in Scar’s voice when he spoke. “Sorry, X, guess I didn’t see you there!”

X drew in a deep breath in an attempt to keep his annoyance from spilling out. It didn’t work. “You think it’s funny to make people disappear, do you?”

“Well-.”

“Why don’t you try it, then.” Without waiting for Scar’s response, X raised a hand and snapped his fingers, causing the other hermit to abruptly disappear from view.

After a moment, he sighed, shoulders slumping as some of his annoyance faded away. Banning Scar like that wasn’t a reasonable response to such a small prank, and he knew it. The potion had already worn off, and it wouldn’t have done any harm even if it had hit him full on. Maybe he did need to take a break if he was going to react like this to a simple joke.

Another snap, and Scar reappeared with a loud gasp. He tugged off his mask, dropping it onto his lap so he could press his hands against his face, and took several deep breaths before he spoke. “What was that?”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have banned you like that. I guess I’m just a little testy today,” X apologized.

“No, that - that place. It was so weird, it felt like... I was floating in an empty void, and I couldn’t move at all. It was… really unnerving.”

“I didn’t realize it was that uncomfortable; no one’s ever actually told me what it’s like.” Not that he’d really banned anyone before. Well, other than Evil X, who he’d banned a week or two ago. Why hadn’t he said anything about it, anyway?

Oh. Oh right.

Oh no.

His eyes widened in realization. “I- I need to go,” he blurted out.

“What? Where are you-” Scar cut off when he saw that X had already rocketed off on his elytra. “Huh, wonder what that was all about.”

---

Right next to the unfinished movie studios, X stumbled as he landed in a hurry. Regaining his balance, he hastily raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

Evil X appeared a few feet before him and immediately dropped to his knees. He placed one hand on the ground to support himself and clutched the other to his head. He was breathing heavily, and as X drew closer, he noticed that Evil X was also shaking. Seeing someone that was normally energetic and chaotic look so vulnerable was… very strange, and it sent a shiver down X’s back.

X stopped right in front of his counterpart. “Evil X?” No response. “Evil X?” he called again, “You in there?” He reached out and tentatively placed a hand on Evil X’s shoulder.

Immediately, Evil X shot up and pushed X away. “Stay back!” He backpedaled a few steps, but disorientation from standing up so quickly caused him to fall back down almost immediately.

Evil X was nearly hyperventilating now as he sat on the ground, his eyes darting around rapidly. Eventually, he focused his gaze on X. He tried to glare, but couldn’t hide the fear and panic in his eyes. “D- don’t come near me! You... you put me in that wretched place, and now you bring me back, for what? To taunt me?” He let out a hysterical laugh. “Who’s the ‘evil’ one now?”

Despite his harsh words, X could tell that Evil X was completely overwhelmed; He was shaking like a leaf, and his voice didn’t contain the sharpness it usually had. X felt a pang in his heart as his normal animosity towards his evil twin dissipated somewhat.

Carefully, X made his way towards Evil X again. He crouched down a short distance away, doing his best to appear as nonthreatening as possible. “Hey, I’m… uh, look - I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that being banned was… this bad.”

“Don’t lie to me! You know what that place is like, why else would you send me there?”

“I didn’t know,” X insisted. “I’d never banned anyone before, there was no one to tell me what it was like.”

“So I got to be your test subject, huh? Lucky me,” he spat.

“That’s not…” X trailed off, unsure what to say. Evil X wasn’t entirely wrong, seeing as he was the first person to be banned, but he hadn’t sent him there to find out what it was like. He’d been annoyed and tired and generally not in the mood to deal with Evil X’s nonsense, so he’d decided to skip the confrontation entirely and deal with him later - and then ended up completely forgetting about it.

Evil X speaking in his raspy voice again broke him away from his thoughts. “So, what are you waiting for?”

“Waiting for what?”

“To ban me again!” Evil X yelled, his gaze brimming with hostility. “Why won’t you just get it over with? I know you want to.”

“I don’t! What kind of person do you think I am? I’m not evil like -” like you, X started to say, then cut himself off. That wasn’t helpful right now. “Look - I’m not going to ban you again. If I’d known what it was like, I never would have left you there in the first place. No one deserves that.”

“Yeah, sure,” Evil X muttered, voice just barely audible, before continuing in a louder tone. “What are you here for, then? If you’re not going to ban me, just go away and stop bothering me.”

X hesitated. It didn’t feel right to leave his counterpart alone when he was so clearly upset, but at the same time, there didn’t seem to be anything else he could do. “Are you sure-?”

“Are you deaf? I said go away,” Evil X snapped, cutting him off.

X sighed. “...Alright.” He pushed himself to his feet and stepped back, legs stiff from crouching for so long. After staring at Evil X’s scowl for a moment, he finally turned around and started to walk away.

X turned around the corner of one the studio’s buildings, then stopped. He couldn’t just leave Evil X alone - that could go sour in multiple ways. He leaned up against the wall and mumbled to himself. Maybe he should get someone else to keep an eye on his counterpart. But, at the same time, he didn’t want to drag anyone else into this mess. This was his fault and he should be the one to deal with it, but Evil X wouldn’t talk to him now. You’ve really gotten yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place, huh X? he said to himself.

As X contemplated what to do, a soft sound suddenly broke through the silence of the studio. It sounded vaguely like...crying? No, that couldn’t be right. The only person around was…

X peeked around the corner and was greeted with the most contradictory sight he’d ever seen. Evil X had his arms curled around his legs, and he was sobbing quietly. Evil X, who had tried to destroy the server more than once! It didn’t seem real to X, but it hurt to watch anyway.

He took a half step forward, his automatic instinct to comfort his counterpart conflicting with the knowledge that Evil X didn’t want X anywhere near him right now. What if he made it worse? But he couldn’t just leave Evil X to cry alone. Against his better judgment, X approached Evil X again.

X stopped about a foot away from Evil X, his counterpart having not noticed him yet. His mind raced as he tried to decide what to do next. Tentatively, he placed a hand on Evil X’s shoulder.

In response, Evil X yelped and shot upward. He spun around, his eyes widening when he saw X. “What?” His voice cracked as he spoke. “Why are you still-”

Before he could continue, X suddenly wrapped him into a hug, causing Evil X to fall silent. X had intended to try to console him, but all he could get himself to say was “I’m sorry.”

Evil X was unable to respond for a moment. At first, he just stood there stiffly, before slowly raising his arms. For a moment, it seemed like he might push X away, but then he awkwardly returned the hug. Before he knew it he was crying again, his grip around X tightening.

Once Evil X was all cried out, X carefully let go of him and stepped back. “Better now?”

Evil X wiped his face with his sleeve, keeping his eyes lowered. “...Sorta.”

“Well, that’s a start.” X shifted slightly, placing a hand behind his head. “Since this mess is kinda my fault, I think I’m obligated to help you now.”

For a moment, Evil X looked like he was going to protest, but he instead responded with “What do you mean?”

“I can’t just leave you out here, and as far as I know you don’t have a house. So uh...  you can stay at my base for now, if you want.”

“What?” Evil X said in surprise. “You’d actually be okay with that?”

A smile formed on X’s face. “As long as you don’t freak out every time I approach you.” He outstretched a hand. “Deal?”

“...Deal.”

#hermitcraft #xisuma #goodtimeswithscar #scar #evil xisuma #my writing

[ask-elementalhermitcraft]

A Sun-Warmed Love

(1.8k, fluff, mod seagrass)

Anyways, it doesn’t matter. He’s just here for the warmth and the safe space where nobody bothers him. Not the cats. Definitely not the cats. [an evilxisuma/Z centered fic where he finally gets to be happy.]

tw: cursing

He’s not sure when it started, really.

He’s noticed a lot of other hermits on the server have pets—some have dogs, some have cats (some have too many cats, Cleo, he’s looking at you), and some have the odd parrot or other tamable mob. It’s nice, sometimes, to go over and visit them, he guesses. Better than doing nothing with his time.

But it doesn’t matter. It’s just to occupy his time. Just something to keep him not bored out of his fucking mind, he tells himself day after day.

He repeats it as he finds himself at Scar’s place more and more often, hanging around his weird base or lounging about in little magma-water-heated alcoves in the cave or especially, in his Room O’ Cats.

It’s so weirdly mesmerizing to stay there, just perched on a little block of wood that he’s got on a high place and watch the cats run around and over their own feet. They meow, he throws them some more salmon, they meow for some more, he meows back in a more angry tone and feels fucking stupid. Rinse and repeat.

Scar drops by sometimes, re-fills the salmon chest, says hi to him and then goes to do whatever kinda world-destroying terraforming he’s going to do next. Probably going to destroy an entire ecosystem for a palm tree, or whatever he does in his spare time.

At least he gets to use the catroom.

It’s really nice in there, he’s loath to admit. There’s a little room out of the way with glass windows and smooth stones that heats up in the winter and stays cool in the summer, where the cats love to take naps. He’ll never admit it, but sometimes when he’s overwhelmed he’ll take refuge in there with a cat curled up on his lap and snooze the day away.

Ah, to live life as a cat. No worries, except getting salmon. Must be a nice life.

Anyways, it doesn’t matter. He’s just here for the warmth and the safe space where nobody bothers him. Not the cats. Definitely not the cats.

—

Xisuma eventually finds him, when he’s taking one of his Designated Nap Days, and he’s very angry about being disturbed. “Woah, didn’t expect to find you—”

“Just want you to explain one thing. Just one little thing.” He’s angry now. He’d been looking towards his—HIS NAP TIME, not his cat time, thank you very much, and Xisuma had somehow found him out.

“Uh, yeah, what did you—”

“Why the hell are you here? Disturbing my Specific Time For Sleep? Just curious,” he says. He hears a hiss from below, looks at the cat he’s petting perhaps a little too hard, and forces himself to relax his tension. It helps him feel better, maybe, in a weird way.

“Just wanted some coral Z, no harm meant. Although, I didn’t know you liked cats…” Xisuma trails off. Probably just realized the dozen or so cats who were staring at him hungrily, smelling the salt of the sea still on his skin and by extent, fish. “Y’know what? Think I might leave you to it. Take off for the day. Exit the premises. Vacate the—”

Xisuma leaves in a dash, trying not to further anger the cats. Z laughs, anger almost completely dissipated. “Hey, kitties, don’t take it too hard,” he calls out, tossing another one onto a dish for them to tear apart. One small grey one creeps up to him, licking around his hands for anything it might’ve missed. He holds up his hands in surrender. “Nope—nothing. Too bad for you.”

That’s when it decides to sit down between his legs and stare at him like that might magically make the fish appear. “Cat, no,” he chuckles. The sun’s pleasantly warm on his skin. He kinda feels like one of those cats stretched out in a puddle himself.

“Not gonna give you any. Don’t fuck with me.” It still stares at him.

“You don’t understand the English language, do you? Don’t have a quite firm enough grasp of the Queen’s English?” He smiles. It’s nice to talk to something that can’t really understand nor really wants to.

Z lets out a steady stream of how he’s been doing, how other hermit’s bases are going, how much he hates the sheer Ugly of this one makeshift build that Wels had made because, really, he understood it was makeshift but couldn’t he at least put in the effort to make it look nice? Just a little?

He lets all of the casual small talk he’d wanted to make for so long but didn’t know how to spill out to the cat still sitting patiently between his legs. It’s blinking slowly at him, and the setting sun is golden and warm and kinda lovely out the window, and the whole room seems to be relaxing and sinking down into a kind of subliminal space.

His voices trails off, his hand stops petting, and the cat has long since curled up at his side against the wall.

In other words, he’s fast asleep.

—

Z wakes up the next morning in a slow, steady kind of way—quite unusual for him. He’s wondering why he doesn’t feel his bed beneath him, when he scans his surroundings and realizes—Oh. He’s not at his bed.

Son of a bitch, he’s fallen asleep in the cat room. And Scar’s standing in front of him, chuckling. “So, got a good rest in there?” he says.

“So what if I have?” It’s unnecessarily defiant, probably, and he knows that but he’s been caught sleeping in the cat room. His dignity was on the fucking floor. Oh, the horror.

“Not anything against you, just asking: did you want to take Boo with you? The one cuddled against you? She’s a sweetheart, and I think she likes you, and also I have too many cats. Please.”

Z scrambles for words. “I—uh—what—”

“Cat or no cat, Z?”

~

In his defense, he was panicking at the time. Also, he did not make good decisions when he was panicked. Two very important factors, he thought, that led up to him doing two things:

1. Teleporting away with the cat still snoozing in his arms, and

2. Avoiding Scar for the next couple weeks. Which unfortunately meant no Cat Room.

He’d panicked, and now he had a cat in his little base with no way to feed it or take care of it.

Fuck.

Cats liked salmon, he knew. So he asked around, borrowed a fishing rod, and spent hours fishing to nab some fish. Turns out that he could get some pretty decent fish when he focused, he thought. Luckily enough, the cat seemed pretty happy with whatever fish he managed to catch—although, he did notice an odd preference for just straight up stealing his apples from his hand and nibbling on them just enough that it was annoying. (Or endearing. He didn’t quite know.)

He got a nicer bed for the cat than his own, grabbed some wool from Joe, talked to him (which he didn’t really want to do but was a necessary evil and, as it turns out, not so bad after all), and it turned out the damn cat liked his bed better anyways. Whatever.

Z got the cat some nicer toys, some new contraptions to mess around with. He contacted Mumbo for some help with it, and Mumbo rushed to the tiny little base like hell was on his heels. He then proceeded to spend the next hour cooing over the cat who was soaking it up like a sponge. Annoying, to be sure, but he was helpful and the cat seemed to like him so Z let it slide.

And throughout all this, he avoided Scar like the plague.

—

And of course, when he least expected it, he saw him.

“How’s Boo treating you? She’s being a well-behaved girl?” Scar said, nodding to him from across the shopping district where he was doing some weird stuff involving floating water blocks and gray crumbling plants.

“What? She’s not my—I don’t—Boo’s not my cat!” Z sputtered. This was why he had avoided Scar, he thought, to avoid the embarrassment.

“You sure? She seems to like you, and you seem to like her as well, don’t you?”

“I mean, she’s a cute cat, but I shouldn't be in charge of a cat! I don’t even like them that much—Wha—WHERE’D YOU COME FROM?” Z cried out. For Boo herself, the demon of a cat, was twining around his ankles and mewing for food.

“See, she likes you!” Scar laughed. Sounded a little messed up, but. A Laugh.

Z hopped from ankle to ankle, shifting his weight in the hopes that Boo—no, the CAT—would leave. She just purred more determinedly. “No, she likes my food.”

“Well, if you’re that determined not to admit it…Godspeed, friend. May you rest in peace.” Scar gave him a mock salute and spun back around, but not before adding one last comment. “Oh, also, bring her by again to the Cat Room! Her siblings miss her.”

“What—SHE’S NOT MY CAT!” Z called to his retreating form. “I—Fuck.”

He looked down. “Cat, why must you make my life a living hell.” She just meowed.

“Oh, alright. I’ll grab you some food. Hold up,” he sighed.

—

It’s about two months later, and he’s pretty sure he’s got a cat now. She follows him everywhere, meows at him constantly, and sleeps next to him.

It’s surprisingly…not that bad. She keeps him company when he’s lonely, lets him rant to her without a word, and demands love and attention in the way only cats can. It’s kinda nice to have something like that.

It’s still annoying, yeah, but Z’s starting to think it’s edging on the side of endearing now.

Her fur’s super soft, probably from all the brushing, and if she were a person, her dating profile would probably say “likes to take warm naps in the sun.” They’ve been stealing away into Scar’s Cat Room together sometimes now, to visit her siblings and to take a nap every now and then. It’s starting to form a new kind of normalcy in his life that he’s actually kinda liking.

The only truly frustrating part is her name.

She won’t respond to anything else besides Boo. It’s like she’s been goddamn trained, despite the fact that she’s a cat. He’s been trying out name over name, trying to find something cool that sticks, to no avail.

“Enderman?” No meow.

“Blade?” No meow.

“Slasher?” No meow.

“Ghast?” No meow.

“...Boo?” Furious meowing. He begs for mercy to whatever heavenly beast cursed him with a grey cat that only responded to Boo.

Better than no cat, he reasons. Better a sweet, cuddly, talkative, soft cat than no cat.

#elemental hermits #elemental hermitcraft au #ehcau #elemental!ex #elemental!z #evil xisuma #xisuma #xisumavoid #goodtimeswithscar #scar #writings #hermitcraft #tw cursing #mod seagrass #hello!!! we're sorry we've been a little quiet u__u #i've gotten really badly sick #i've gotten something out tho! and i hope u enjoy! #it's a cute kitty fic =v= #i MAY be projecting my love for cats onto here! #anyways i hope u enjoy everyone! i've got another exciting angst fic im writing atm #once i get over this plague i'll work even harder on it!

[prismarine-parrots]

Tree of Life Pt. 4

Originally posted: 12 Mar. 2019

In the endgame now

...I just watched Endgame yesterday but thAT WASNT INTENTIONAL MY HEART—

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 3.5 Part 5 (1) Part 5 (2)

Sorry for the repeat of last part at the beginning, like I said 3.5 wasn’t part of the original story so it was only mentioned before

The small group floated at dusk to the small cave base in a multitude of boats.

It was a bitter irony, really, that the only reason the party fit in this bay was because nearly half of them were dead and not coming back as far as they knew, or grieving so much they couldn't continue onwards.

It was with a solemn, firm thunk as Xisuma was the first to climb onto the dock from his boat that he was sharing with Impulse, who had been silently grim himself as he traveled alone of his trio.

"Is... this the place?" Jevin asked slowly. Joe Hills flicked the map to straighten it and looked at the terrain of the cliff side, then at his map.

"I believe so," Joe confirmed.

X closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I hope we find the answers we're looking for..." he murmured under his breath.

The rest of the hermits heard him, but said nothing. Their numbers were crushed and it was obvious that Xisuma had been trying to be the leader he sometimes just wasn't. He may be the server admin, but that was because he had the technical know-how of how to run the server. He wasn't the emotionally strong one (that was Doc) or the strategic one (Cubfan, who looked like a ghost himself after losing Scar.) But X had taken the responsibility upon himself because of the duty he felt to fix this mess, and the fact that his role as admin has to have SOMETHING to do with all of it.

"Let's go," Doc climbed out of his boat like a soldier and marched into the cave.

"Doc- Doc! Are you sure that's a good idea? We don't know what, what horrors await us in there?" Joe protested.

Iskall was right behind the creeper cyborg, being in the same boat (literally) as him. The Swede looked back over his shoulder, his single eye sweeping over the remaining hermits in a vengeful dark gaze.

"We've already seen some messed up stuff in the past week, Joe. You weren't there for Grian, but he was messed up before he died. False just collapsed and died right in front of us. Tango went feral and starting acting like a real demon! And then if anything, I know we all saw how broken Cub was..."

There were small glances of grief and worry as each death was recounted. Stress had squeezed Cleo's pale green hand when False's dramatic, early death was mentioned, and Impulse winced at the memory of seeing one of his friends have to be killed with a sword to keep him from hurting anyone else after he had already stabbed Python with his horns.

Python died soon after as well.

"If there's ANY chance of at least keeping the rest of us from perma-dying, and MAYBE revive everyone else, we have to take it!" Iskall claimed firmly.

X knew that Iskall and Doc were right. He knew they ALL had to be as strong as them if they were going to fix everything. Even though there was a crushing pain every time one of those messages appeared on their phones, they had to keep going or every one of them were going to die.

X joined the two leaders and waved on the rest of the remaining hermits.

"Let's go, guys. For everyone."

Then Doc walked forward, followed by Iskall, X, Impulse, Cleo, Stress, Jevin, Joe and Ren. They were that was all that was left of the outstanding hermits, except for Mumbo who stayed at the main Hermitcraft Isle to watch over the people who died there, and Cub who decided he couldn't go forward after Scar died and went back to meet Mumbo.

The cave they had entered was clearly manmade and had a attempted terraforming job on it, but it was sloppy and easily noticeable. There were far and few torches to light the tunnel on the inside, making their passage spooky and tense.

"This is kind of like inside the Team S.T.A.R. base," Ren noted quietly, "just no labyrinth."

X chuckled. "Very glad for that. I'd much rather have a straight path than trying to actually navigate those ramps."

"How do you think we felt?" Iskall demanded.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you guys were on G-Team, heh." Doc taunted subtly.

"Are you trying to say something, DocM?" Joe immediately accused.

Doc smirked and raised his hands in a surrender gesture while Impulse was grinning with humor.

"No no, of course not."

"Why would you even suggest such a thing?" Impulse added cheekily.

"Humph. Just remember who won the war, alright?" Jevin reminded. The S.T.A.R. veterans shared a look.

"Only if you remember who destroyed you in Hermitgang!" X shot back.

There was a gasp from the G-Team members.

"How dare you!"

"Ow, my dignity has been stuck once again!"

"Well played, well played..."

"And only if YOU remember who made a counter strike to that malicious attack! I do not stand for these crimes to go without justice! I do not understand how you all can let them get away with that!"

"...what, Joe?"

Joe was fuming at the mention of the rap while everyone else was either confused, or still confused but laughing anyway.

Suddenly the ground dropped from beneath the group as they walked, getting a collective yelp as they fell a few blocks downward.

"Hey! Who did that?" Stress bounced back to her feet and yelled.

"Shut up, the whole lot of you! Just- just be quiet, for once!"

The hermits looked to each other in confusion.

"Did that sound like...?" Cleo left her question hanging and looked to Xisuma.

The turtle man sighed. "Looks like my clone is back in action. What do you bet he has something to do with the trees?"

"Too much," Iskall agreed grimly as Ren starting digging a staircase up the other side of the pit.

"X, you get to deal with him," Doc growled, not meaning to sound aggressive, but everyone was on edge again after what happened with Evil Xisuma last season.

X silently climbed the staircase and poked his head over the top. The hallway extended just far enough that the pit was hidden in the dark spot between two light sources, but looking now they had actually reached the end of the tunnel and it opened up to some sort of base with chests on the far wall.

X looked down at the hermits looking up at him and held a finger to his helmet in a shush gesture before climbing over the edge and going ahead while the rest of the group climbed up.

"Come on, come on, let this work, what else could that baffoon do that I can't that might reverse this? Ugh, those hermits, I hate them, and I know they dislike me, but this is a cruel way to get rid of me..."

X leaned around the corner to indeed see his alter ago hovering over a brewing stand. Well, not really hovering, and his feet were on the ground and he was leaning heavily on his right arm. While EX's back was turned to the original, it wasn't hard to tell that something was not right. Looking around EX's base, X saw a large screen with some familiar looking GUIs on it and a small device on the desk next to it.

I was wondering where my old phone from last season went off to. Guess I know now.

"Come on- yes!" EX took whatever potion he was brewing and chugged it without a second thought. He grimaced and wiped his mouth in seeming disgust and waited a few seconds before groaning.

"Check custom healing potion off the list... I hate sweet things, UGH..."

“Except cookies,” Xisuma chuckled under his breath with humor. Evil X liked cookies probably a bit too much for his own good, and personally X had wondered if he had been the Jangler before it was discovered to be Scar.

EX gasped and tried to spin around, but lost his balance and ended up pinwheeling his arms, knocking over his brewing stand, and fell hard on the floor. He scooted backwards, still favoring his right arm, and looked up at X with an odd mix of fury and fear.

"You! Stay back, leave me alone! Come to watch my demise? You're crueler than I thought, Xisuma."

X stopped for a moment. Evil Xisuma, scared? If him? Something was very wrong then.

The green-clad man looked over his double. Everything about him seemed to be normal, except that his left sleeve was torn and there was a graze across it. It looked to not be a fresh wound, and X slowly realized why EX was so freaked out.

"You're affected by it too..."

"What? This isn't you hermits' doing?"

"Of course not! You may be a pest but we would never try to perma-kill anyone!"

"Perma-kill?"

X sighed and sat down cross-legged across from EX and took off his helmet.

Time to be the serious leader with this man.

"Yes. People are dead because of something happened to the life trees on the Hermitcraft server, and we don't know what do to about it. If you're affected by it too and have been doing research... I think we need your help."

Xisuma's phone buzzed twice in his suit pocket- a normal text message, thank goodness.

EX's stolen phone vibrated across the room as well and the message appeared on screen.

<Iskall85> are we really trusting this dude?

Both the Xisumas looked at the screen with a sinking feeling.

"What do you say?" Xisuma asked his clone.

EX stared deadpan at X through his red visor.

"Why are you asking this? I could easily kill you."

"Yeah I know. I don't like you either, not one bit. But half the server is dead and we're stumped for solutions before the entire whitelist is wiped from existence."

EX looked at X for a moment more before closing his eyes and taking off his own helmet, revealing the same face as the man before him.

"Alright. Just this once, I'll help you. Never again after this!"

<Iskall85> seriously?

"Yes Iskall!" Xisuma yelled. There was hushed laughter, and Iskall's obvious voice as he protested the teasing. EX scoffed and muttered something under his breath before heading back to his desk. The rest of the hermits slowly entered the room, varying between wary, distrustful, or curious.

Xisuma nodded to them and turned to the screen EX was at and started scanning the waterfall of information that flowed up as the alter ego brought up what files he did.

Points falling, coordinates of placed location, status effects, chunk coordinates, error messages, time of activation... these have nothing to do with one another?

"What is going on here...?"

——————————

Word count: 1950

Holy heck I didn't kill anyone this time?

TBH I don’t like this part, I changed my plans and didn’t kill EX here so the relevance of this is questionable. But there needed to be a calm chapter, so this works.

Life goals, literally

#hermitcraft #xisumavoid #evil xisuma #iskall85 #docm77 #joehills #stressmonster #zombiecleo #renthedog #ijevin #tree of life au #ToL #becca writes