meteor752

[meteor752]

Larping is painful actually because once you come home your thoughts are overtaken by the larp and all the characters in the campaign but there’s no fics or fanart or anything because there’s a total of forty people in the world that know about it and you can’t talk about it to anyone including the other larp people cause they intimidate you so you just sit with your brainworms and suffer

[meteor752]

I made the Bamboozlers red skins in Hero Forge, cause believe it or not I can make things other than fan kids lol

(Ignore how Lizzie’s outfit is kinda trash, my options are a taaaaad bit limited for shorts)

I wanna make more players and skins, so if anyone has a suggestion then I’d love to hear it

ALSO

Bonus Mumbo :)

[meteor752]

Thank you Scar very cool

[meteor752]

I think it’s very important as you grow older and stop keeping up with the new population little kids shows, is that you still have a favourite character. Like I’ve never watched an episode of Paw Patrol in my life, nor do I have any plans do, but god do I get excited every time I say that lil green clad mutt

[meteor752]

Y’all see that? Y’all see that thing they’ve got on their arm? Yeah, that’s their prosthetic, after Sam cut their arm off

They also then joined a cult to spite him after the breakup (Aka the arm incident), held a speech about how you can never trust anyone during a banquet that was held as a ploy to kill people, threw a Ghast tear at Sam, who felt the need in that moment to tell Ponk how beautiful he find them.

There was also a whole love triangle thing with Foolish Gamers, where like both were trying to get with him to make the other jealous

No one does it like them, vote Awesamponk

[meteor752]

No but like actually why does season X Cubfan look like he’s gonna take you to The Factory after you just failed your flight school graduation test

[meteor752]

@that-tall-queer-bassist

I hate the met galla. None of those people are important to me. My horsey is important to me.

[meteor752]

You know how in some aus of the life series, only the winners every remember what happens during the games, and to everyone else it’s just kind of a blip, as they go back to Hermitcraft and whatnot.

Well, considering that after Scar’s victory is Secret Life he never left, what if him, and all evidence he’d ever existed, was just fully erased from everyone’s memory?

Pearl and Grian return to Hermitcraft after the series ended, both a bit disoriented, and head off towards Scar’s base to help explain what’s going on, as getting your memories back can be very stressful.

Except, the plot of land that usually contains Scarland is back to its original state, before he started his terraforming and such. Extremely confused, Pearl sends a message in the public chat asking about it, and only get confusion back.

That land’s always been empty.

No one built a theme park this season.

There’s no one here named Scar

Both now fully panicking, Grian and Pearl frantically fly around the server, asking everyone in person about Scar, because surely they can’t be serious. But Xisuma confirm that there’s no one whitelisted on the server called Scar. After convincing him to let them check the chat log history, they find that every message sent by him is gone as well. It was as if he’s never existed.

[meteor752]

I like the idea that a lot of fics and such use, that each winner gets a wish, or a request of some kind, so I’m just gonna yoink that

So yeah, as a sort of “reward”, each winner is supposed to get a wish after their victory. The key word here is, supposed

Grian doesn’t get a wish. This has more to do with him being a watcher than anything

Scott’s wish actually ties into another theory, that each winner gets a say in the next series (we’re not running with it for the other ones, but we are here). Because of the deceitful and hateful natures of his series, Scott wished for unity and friendship in the next game. This is why Tae & Nha was chosen for Double Life

Pearl wished to have Tilly with her in the winner’s lounge

Martyn wished for Ren to be in the next game. Unfortunately, Gemíín and Vdari are bastards, so Ren only returned for one session, temporarily possessing Tango’s body, so Martyn didn’t even realise it was happening. Grian was less of a bastard tho

Scar hasn’t died yet, and hasn’t even properly met Vdari, so he hasn’t been given a wish

Cleo didn’t get a wish, Arhmék just didn’t bother

Joel wished to have Lizzie with him in the winners lounge. Grian wasn’t able to fulfil this request, but he was able to give them a temporary meeting in a pocket dimension, for a short period of time. He regrets not being able to do more

Scott wasn’t given a second wish, because Quevik got involved and refused it

So yeah, only four winners have actually gotten their wish granted. Or like, three and a half

The Watchers, my take on the lore

I love me some characters, and I love me some lovecraftean entities, so this was honestly inevitable

Most watcher lore seem to kinda group the watchers together as one entity, with very little room for individuality for them, which I think is kinda boring, so you know I’m changing that for funsies. This is not gonna be based on Martyn’s lore fully, I’m gonna keep some elements and then just kinda run with it because why not you know lol. Also I’ve only watched a little of EVO, but it’s not really gonna be based much on what happened in that series anyways.

So Grian, or Xelqua or whatever, created the concept for the games when he first became a Watcher, but despite that he’s not the actual gamemaster. Every series has had a Watcher in control, who’s been looking over the games, made sure they ran smoothly, and also occasionally meddled. With the existence of eight games now, we’ve therefore met eight Watchers.

First we’ve got Ihcá, the gamemaster of Third Life. Ihcá is very by the books, to an almost scary degree. You give them a task, they will complete it exactly as you asked it to be completed, no funny business. It’s because of this that the rules of Third Life are the most simple, the initial pitch for the life series was just that, three lives, red life you get bloodthirsty, once you’re out you’re gone. Unlike the other Watchers, Ihcá did not spice this up to any degree, as they saw no need to. They are cold, distanced, and keep to themselves.

I also wanna go over the relationship every gamemaster has to their respective winner, which is an interesting case for Ihcá, since their winner is not only a fellow Watcher, but also someone who broke the rules of the game. Grian and Ihcá could not be more different, and they never really cared much for him, even after he ascended to Their ranks. What did matter to them however, was when he killed three people with a trap, even as he was a green. If it had been anyone else, Ihcá would have taken them out right then and there, but Grian does have immunity against their powers thanks to his status. They do resent him for ruining their game, but it’s not something they mull over. As I said, they’re quite detached.

Next we’ve got Quevik, the gamemaster for Last life. Unlike their predecessor, Quevik changed up a lot of the initial design of the games, all to make it worse and more brutal for the players. The difference in the amount of lives you start with to spark more jealousy, only one enchanter to encourage stealing, and of course, the boogeyman, a seed for deception and betrayal. Quevik is creative and adaptive, they saw what the players focused on in the first game, and went in hard on it. They thrive in chaos and unease, and especially likes to feed on loneliness, hence the rules that Red Names were to be shunned from their teams. To them, Last Life was perfect in every way, except for one.

This is to no one’s surprise, but Quevik absolutely detests Scott. Just like how Grian defied Ihcá’s rules, he had defied Quevik’s, and they were not happy. The betrayals that the boogeyman curse brought was to their absolute delight, their favourite players were easily BigB and Bdubs because of it, but here stood Scott, refusing to take the life of his teammates, and instead going down to red. Quevik heavily considered just killing him right then and there for his infringement, but since it was right before the final session, they allowed him to live, just for the possibility of him betraying his allies in the final battle. Not a day has gone by where they haven’t regret that decision, you can still sometimes Hear them grumbling about it.

Tae & Nha is the watcher for Double Life. Tae & Nha is an interesting case of being two entities, but still only being one individual. They function very strangely, often switching between which primary voice to use when speaking, especially when interacting with players. Watchers feed on all emotions, and one of their favourites is confusion. For Tae & Nha, the soulmate system was a very obvious choice. After all, they are two entities with one “soul”, so they just took from their own experiences when designing it, made it easier. Most of the soulmates pairs were made random, but they did customise some things, such as Martyn’s separation from Ren, and Grian and Scar being together. So simple, yet effective way to torture them both.

Just like the winners before her, Pearl broke the rules of the game by not sticking to her soulmate, even if it wasn’t by choice. But despite that, Tae & Nha love her. From the beginning, Tae & Nha knew that there would only be one winner, and that the despair that the final pair would feel when they found out they would have to fight and kill the person they had spent all season with would be delicious. But Pearl delivered that devastation and more in the very first session, and retained it throughout all the series. Scarlet Pearl was such a delight to them in fact, that they let her keep some of those feelings even after the series ended, and the next one began. They delight in their winner, and the suffering they let her keep.

For Limited Life we have Gemíín, one of the most powerful Watchers in the roster. Gemíín is also one of the most daring ones, taking the concept that was first laid out by Grian and changing it up a lot. They’re kinda the opposite to Ihcá, and the rest of the Watchers in general, always thinking outside of the box. They are however more short tempered than most of their kind, and more quick to jump to extremes, especially when it comes to punishments. Why do you think Grian was unconscious for an entire session, or Cleo and Pearl got possessed? It’s not a good idea to piss Gemíín off, they won’t kill you but they will get to you.

There is no place this is reflected better than with Martyn. The Listeners favourite, one of the biggest nuisances back on EVO, and just someone generally disrespectful. The previous three may have mainly let him be in favour of not interfering with the games, but Gemíín is more spiteful. Taking away his beloved king was the easy part, but it wasn’t enough for Gemíín. Throughout the entire game they were whispering, whispering words that they knew that he would Hear. Encouragements, lies, threats, just about anything. Two out of three victors lost their humanity to win their series, and Gemíín was aiming for a third. A goal which they achieved, as Martyn struck down his own ally, and backstabbed his way to the top.

The Secret Life gamemaster is Vdari, who’s almost on the same power level as Gemíín. Vdari did what no other Watcher had done before and involved themselves directly in the series with the role of “The Secret Keeper”. Going into Secret Life, Vdari had a very similar mindset as Quevik, in that they looked at the previous series to see what was the most effective, and doubled down hard on that. This being, deception, and resentment. The series is built around lies, around unstable alliances, around not being able to trust one another, and without regeneration, a simple punch, push, or even just a friendly nudge is huge, and grudges will be held. An unfortunate side effect of the series structure is that Vdari stretched themselves extremely thin, with needing to constantly keep track on every player at all time, to see if they failed their task or not. Because of this, they tended to pay less attention to the players who’d already finished their tasks, which meant that when Scott and Lizzie traveled to The End they payed them no mind, which is why they weren’t able to stop Lizzie from falling into the void, thus ending the Canary Curse. They tried to do damage control, killing Jimmy as quick as they could, but in the end it didn’t matter. The other Watchers were…not happy.

And maybe they could’ve made sure that no one would have died before Jimmy, if they hadn’t been so preoccupied with Scar. Vdari had Seen Scar in previous seasons, and the way that he would get when pushed over the edge, and more importantly, the way that that would affect Their dear Grian. So Vdari made him the villain. They kept him in isolation with his tasks, forcing him to do more and more vile things to his fellow players. What Vdari hadn’t expected was how fun it would be to see Scar suffer, how much enjoyment one can get from being the reason a person breaks. They hadn’t intended for him to be the winner, but they were so delighted when Pearl fell, so delighted in fact that they kept him alive, instead of going to the winners lounge with the others. It’s truly a win win situation, Vdari gets to keep their tortured pet around, and the other Watchers are satisfied with poor Grians confusion and devastation over his absence.

Then we’ve got Armhék for Real Life, who is quite different from the previous gamemasters , in the way that they truly just wanted to get their game over with. They like doing one thing and one thing only, Watch, and is not interested in actually running a game, but was unfortunately forced to because it was their turn. They gave the most half assed attempt, just reusing the Third Life formula, but distorted the players visions and messed with their limbs, all to make them all die quicker, and then just set them loose. Since Vdari had already broken the canary curse, Armhék didn’t make an attempt to uphold it (Honestly, they probably would have broken it themselves cause they truly did not care). But yeah, their lack of any and all effort worked out in their favour, and Real Life is the shortest series that has taken place thus far. Every other Watcher is very annoyed.

If you somehow got the ability to ask Amhék who won their game, yeah they’d have no clue, Cleo means nothing to them, which like considering the way that Vdari is toying with Scar, that might be the best outcome for her.

And then, Wild life, with the surprising gamemaster of Grian himself. It was a controversial decision to let him lead the next game, but despite being a runaway, he’s still a Watcher, and so it was decided to let him hold the reins, under close scrutiny of course. Grian’s decision to lead the games was rooted in one simple fact; fun. The last couple of games had been rough on all of them, but especially the victors, so Grian designed Wild Life to be differing and fun to play. His only mistake was the snails, that turned out to be way deadlier than he thought, and so he ended that session early, which was an almost fatal decision, as the Watchers do not enjoy having their entertainment cut short. It was agreed that Grian could continue with the series, as long as he would never do anything like that again.

It was because of Grian’s attempt to keep the games friendly and fun, that Joel became the first victor since Last Life to win his game with his sanity intact, which we applaud. It’s once again something that the Watchers scold him for, but since it’s technically not a requirement to break your winner, it’s not something they can condemn.

And then, finally, the gamemaster of Simple Life, Zghula. Somehow, Zghula being chosen as the next gamemaster managed to be even more controversial than Grian, because Zghula was young. And I mean, really, young. There is no official ranks amongst the Watchers, but They all can tell who among them is more powerful, and therefore deserves more respect, and a lot of these powers come from experience and age. The best way to describe it, is that Zghula is basically the Watcher equivalent of an intern. They’d only ever Seen two games prior to Simple Life, so when it came to designing it they were very inexperienced, especially when it comes to the limits of what Players can take. Like, Armhék’s game was short on purpose, but for Zghula it was a complete accident. They just had no idea that a flat world could be so deadly, or that a few simple mobs were strong enough to take half the players to red. So yeah, whoops. Also, no one told them about the canary curse, and since no game they’d witnessed had had it, they didn’t even think to have Jimmy die first.

Somehow, Simple Life managed to bring shame not only to Zghula, but even more so to poor Quevik. Because not only was their victor someone who defied his game, no, now they had to share him with another, much weaker, Watcher. Like I said, not a day has gone by where they haven’t regretted keeping Scott alive for the final session of Last Life.

Other Watcher things!

The two EVO watchers have not been gamemasters, and therefore were not included here. I do headcanon them to be the two strongest Watchers, and so the de facto “leaders”. They are the ones who chooses who’s the next to lead a game, though as a Watcher you can put in a request to do so. If you’ve been chosen, you can’t refuse. The EVO watchers are named Kvī (Watcher 1) and Jagail (Watcher 2)

Kvī and Jagail are the two that came up with the idea of having death games in the first place, and are also the makers of the curses. Some of them, like Jimmy’s canary curse or Grian’s widow curse were planned from the beginning, while others, like Tango’s Inferno curse and Joel’s Red Haze curse came up as the games progressed. If a gamemaster fails to uphold a curse, without Kvī and Jagail’s explicit permission to break it, there will be dire consequences.

The reason for the blindfolds is mainly to keep them grounded. When wearing it, a watcher can still see everything around them, but if you’re for example hiding behind a wall or something, they can’t see you. If they take off the blindfold, they immediately get omnivision, and can see everything on the server. They for the most part tend to keep their blindfolds on, as they can otherwise be overwhelmed, but when leading a game a gamemaster always keeps their blindfold off

The blindfolds also make them more approachable and appealing to players, as when they’re off, all their multitudes of eyes can be seen, so they mostly keep them on the few times they actually approach a player. If they’re aiming to intimidate or scare however, the blindfold is always off

The reason Grian doesn’t wear a blindfold is that since he wasn’t “born” as a Watcher but ascended into their ranks, he doesn’t have the omnivision They have, at least not to the same scale

Grian is not the only person in their ranks who’s ascended, though he is the only one who’s ever rebelled, ever

The Watchers all have individual voices, but when one speak they all speak. If two Watchers were to be having a conversation, both of them would be saying all the words, but the one who’s actually speaking’s voice would be more prevalent than the other voices. It’s very confusing to listen to, and if you’re not used to it you will mix up who’s saying what.

Watchers tend not to speak much tho, as they are technically a type of hive mind. Their thought, opinions, and feelings are all shared between one another, so they rarely find a need to say anything to each other.

All the Watchers were made using Hero Forge

Also if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask :)

[meteor752]

Hermitcraft Pokémon teams

Some based on builds aesthetics they’ve had, some based purely on vibes

If you’re confused about a choice I’m happy to explain it

Yay :)

Bdubs: Hoothoot, Mudsdale, Galarian Rapidash, Shroodle, Wormadam, Leafeon

Beef: Miltank, Smeargle, Wyrdeer, Pawniard, Taurus, Breloom

Cleo: Parasect, Alolan Marowak, Seviper, Leavanny, Female Meowstic, Phantump

Cubfan: Malamar, Cofagrigus, Shiinotic, Liepard, Heliolisk, Blacephalon

Docm77: Gogoat, Meadow Vivillion, Klingklang, Elektrode, Iron Jugulis, Drampa

Etho: Alolan Ninetails, Raboot, Mimikyu, Wishiwashi, Glaceon, Wyrdeer

False: Braviary, Hawlucha, Mienshao, Luvdisk, Gallade, Tsareena

Gem: Sawsbuck, Ceruledge, Houndstone, Gorebyss, Empoleon, Ursaring

Grian: Chatot, Zorua, Swablu, Shiinotic, Solrock, Dachsbun

Hypno: Hypno, Malamar, Zebstrika, Torracat, Dwebble, Poliwhirl

Impulse: Rotom, Morpeko, Alolan Golem, Pom Pom Oricorio, Throh, Impidimp

Jevin: Shiny Gulpin, Muk, Goodra, Quagsire, Solosis, Basculegion

Joe Hills: Shuppet, Ludicolo, Zigzagoon, Shedinja, Elgyem, Xatu

Joel: Wooper, Mudbray, Claydoll, Revavroom, Inkay, Sentret

Keralis: Conkeldurr, Timburr, Espurr, Mabosstiff, Meowth, Sableye

Mumbo: Thievul, Kricketune, Murkrow, Gourgeist, Gliscor, Male Jellicent

Pearl: Lunatone, Ursaluna, Rockruff, Pidove, Shiny Absol, Frosmoth

Ren: Lycanroc Midday form, Lycanroc Midnight form, Iron Valiant, Aegislash, Vivillion Archipelago, Sudowoodo

Scar: Decidueye, Meowscarada, Florges, Sandyghast, Delphox, Macargo

Skizz: Arcanine, Togekiss, Sawk, Sensu style Oricorio, Bewear, Hatterene

Tango: Infernape, Rotom, Baile Style Oricorio, Alolan Sandslash, Rapidash, Pansear

Wels: Corviknight, Escavalier, Armarouge, Aegislash, Bastiodon, Kingambit

xB: Huntail, Herdier, Lapras, Sandshrew, Darumaka, Bunnelby

Xisuma: Xerneas, Trevenant, Mandibuzz, Shiny Quagsire, Combee, Carracosta

Zedaph: Mareep, Wooloo, Pu’a style Oricorio, Kecleon, Orthworm, Audino

I made a rule to myself of no legendaries, mythical, or ultra beasts, but keen eyed readers may have noticed two exceptions to this rule. Xisuma gets a legendary because, well it’s literally the X Pokémon, and he’s the admin so he gets admit privileges

Cub has a Blacephalon because it’s the firework Pokémon, it pair well with his friendship with Scar since the poor guy doesn’t like clowns, and also Cub would open an ultra wormhole, catch a pokèmon, and then be so fucking casual about it later. He can handle an ultra beast

But yeah if you have any better suggestions I’d love to hear ‘em :)

Bonus, Hermitcraft type specialists:

Normal-Beef

Grass-Bdubs

Fire-Tango

Water-xB

Electric-Impulse

Flying-Grian

Fighting-False

Ice-Etho

Psychic-Hypno

Poison-Jevin

Ghost-Cleo

Rock-Pearl

Ground-Cub

Dragon-Doc

Bug-Xisuma

Steel-Wels

Dark-Mumbo

Fairy-Scar

Yay :)

[meteor752]

Etho’s trauma portion failed to mentioned that he is actually trapped in a continuous loop of death games and have been for years now, and that there’s deities that are torturing him and his friends to feed on their emotions

White Hair and Trauma Brawl Round 1; Poll 31

remember, voting is based on swag, trauma, and favoritism!!

trauma and propaganda under the cut!

Trauma! 

Isana: Immortal, saw his sister and everyone he loved die. Created the ability for people to have powers, saw that ruin peoples lives. Had his body and memories stolen, started living another life. Was acused of murder. Was burned alive because of said acusation. Had to live as a high schooler after his adulthood, which i think is the worst trauma of all

Etho: Burnt to death in game one. Repeatedly saw his husband turn bloodthirsty and crazy, with reluctance to stop it in the second one. The time he tried to, it ended up resulting in his husbands death. Burnt to death in game three. Was bullied relentlessly by everyone in game four, including the war goddess that possessed his ex wife for a bit (also accidentally blew up his children) in game four. Was turned into a zombie in game five and nearly killed the two people closest to him. Accidentally blew himself up game seven.

Propaganda!

Etho: He literally revolutionised the art of redstone back in the day, he’s in a polycule, he loves horses, he was temporarily a weeping angel, and most importantly, he’s Canadian

[Isana did not receive propaganda. rip.]

[meteor752]

Hi so @meteor752 and @pancho-pinto came up with this idea (post is Meteor's) and I immediately lost my mind. I wrote this instead of studying for my econ exam and listening in most of my classes <3. AO3 link -> [x]

Your Lies in My Head, Your Truth in My Heart

Tango was nearly home when it happened. A sudden burst of nausea, a wave of dizziness, and then he was somewhere else entirely. Huddled under a tree with his back against the trunk. An enderman stood right in front of him, surrounded by people. Joel. Grian. Martyn. Scott. And, worst of all, himself. 

He wasn't seeing through his own eyes, he realised. The only other option was that he was staring out of Jimmy's head. These were his loved ones he was seeing, after all. And that enderman… Tango knew immediately what was happening here, and a rush of fear shot through him.

"Jimmy!" he tried to call, but he couldn't move his mouth, the sound getting caught in his throat. 

"Look at you," Grian scoffed. "Hiding, cowering." His voice dripped with disgust, and Tango wanted to hit him, even though he knew it wasn't really Grian standing there. This was the enderman's attack taking effect.

"Probably for the best," Scott said with a sneer. "You'd probably die immediately if you tried to fight it."

"No!" The word sprung from Tango's - Jimmy's - mouth, unbidden. Panicked and hurt. 

"You'll kill me, too," the Tango standing there reminded Jimmy. "You've done it before, after all. Died stupidly, taken me with you. I’m going to die a worthless death, because of you." 

"No!" This time, Tango was trying to scream it, but Jimmy wasn't moving, like he couldn't trust himself to open his mouth. "It's not true! That's not true, Jimmy!" But his insistences never made it out of his own head. 

"You never could do anything right," Martyn agreed. 

“Admit it, lad,” Joel said. “You’re pathetic. Everyone else can see it.”

"Don't listen!" But Jimmy was listening. And there was nothing Tango could do about it. 

Then Jimmy moved, apparently determined to prove them wrong, but his first attack missed the enderman entirely, giving it an opening to lash out at him. Tango gasped silently as a whole handful of hearts fell away in one go. 

The illusions laughed at Jimmy's efforts, all except the fake Tango, who shouted, "You're killing me! I trusted you!" 

"I- I'm sorry!" Jimmy gasped, looking away from the enderman for a second to reach towards Tango, to try and make it right. "I'm sorry!" 

But Tango pulled away, and if the look in his eyes - in his own eyes - hurt Tango, he could only imagine what it was doing to Jimmy. 

The enderman took advantage of Jimmy's moment of distraction, attacking and taking more hearts. Back where he knew he was actually standing, Tango moved his body at the same time as Jimmy moved his, both jolting and crying out in pain. 

Despite the awful situation, Tango couldn't help his burst of pride as Jimmy immediately sprung into action, landing four attacks in quick succession on the enderman. That was his soulmate winning the fight! He was absolutely destroying the enderman, even as it did its best to destroy him instead. Every time Jimmy moved, the people he loved laughed at him, mocking everything from his form to his strength to the tears Tango could feel on his cheeks. He was shaking, his vision was blurred, his health and hunger were both low, but the enderman only managed to hit him once in return. 

Jimmy retreated back under the tree, and Tango managed to get control over his body back on the path home to pull out some food and eat. Their hearts started to tick up, and Tango felt Jimmy's shoulders lose a little tension as they were pulled further from death.

But what Tango could clearly see was a tactical decision, the illusions saw Jimmy's retreat instead as cowardice. 

"Well, finish the job!" Grian urged, exasperated.

"It'll kill me!" Jimmy protested immediately. 

That's it, Tango thought. Stand your ground. 

It was Martyn who spoke next. "It wouldn't if you were better." His laugh was mean, nothing at all like how it usually was. "You're so useless."

Tango was going to claw Martyn's eyes out the next time he saw him. He didn't care anymore that it wasn't really him saying these things, he hated - hated - the way they were all talking about his Rancher, and someone would have to pay. 

Scott grinned and leaned against Martyn, and Tango felt Jimmy tense. He thought of whatever he'd had going with Scott in Third Life and decided that no matter what Scott said next, he was already a dead man. "I'm glad we're not teamed anymore. I would hate having to babysit your sorry self for another entire season. I hated it the first time around, after all."

"Tell me about it," the fake Tango sighed, leaning his arm on Scott's shoulder. Although the gesture was innocent enough, there was a certain intimacy in the touch that made Tango feel sick, especially as he watched his doppelganger say, "You're exhausting. I can't believe I've made it this far with you."

"Stop," Jimmy begged, dropping into a crouch and pressing his back further into the treetrunk. "Stop, please!"

"Why? It's true." Joel said the words matter-of-factly, his tone casual, and that somehow was meaner than if he'd snapped or sneered. 

"I know!" Jimmy was shouting, fighting sobs, and Tango wanted to grab his face and scream that it wasn't, that he wasn't useless or exhausting. "I know it's true, okay?! I know! But please, please, just stop!"

No! Tango wanted to yell. No, it's not true! I love you! Don't listen, it's not true, Jimmy!

But of course, Jimmy couldn't hear him. All Jimmy could hear was the Tango he was seeing. "Maybe if you could kill that enderman, you wouldn't be entirely useless."

If Tango had been there, he would have grabbed Jimmy's arm to keep him right where he was, but there was nothing he could do. Trembling all over, Jimmy emerged again from his shelter, determined to prove himself to a Tango who would never be satisfied, and Tango could only hope the few hearts they'd managed to regain would last. 

Jimmy was smart about it, holding up his shield to ward off every one of the enderman's attacks, keeping it at as much of a distance as he could, slicing with his sword every chance he got. The creature was still attacking, though, putting way too much force onto Jimmy's already weak shield, and after only three hits, it shattered with a crack that sounded like a death toll. 

It's okay, Tango wanted to assure him. It's okay, it doesn't matter if we die here, you'll always be my Rancher, I don't care.

Jimmy knew he was a goner. He knew, without a shield and with minimal hearts, he wouldn't win this fight. Tango knew he knew, because Jimmy turned to the Tango that wasn't there, like he just wanted to see his face one last time. Tango's heart cracked. 

His Rancher was going to die alone, and he couldn't even garner the strength to get to his feet and run to him. He couldn’t even try.

Jimmy opened his mouth to say something - to apologise, probably, knowing him - but Tango spoke before he got the chance. "I never loved you, and I never will. You killed me twice now. I'd still be on yellow if it weren't for you. I hate you."

No! No, that's not true! 

The enderman came in for the kill, and across the server, two Ranchers screamed in pain and fear and grief and defeat and anger. 

Tango woke up with a jolt, head spinning, gasping for breath. Instinctively, he looked across for where Jimmy should be respawning any second now. Instead, he found only a wall of chests. He was back on Hermitcraft, back in the Deepfrost Citadel, and Jimmy was nowhere to be seen. There was a burning pain in his chest, like his heart had been cleaved in two - the soulbond had been broken.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he gasped, leaping out of bed. He wasn't thinking straight, wasn't thinking at all. All he knew was that he had to get to Jimmy. He didn't care how, he didn't care if it was impossible, he had to try. 

Jimmy had died alone. Not only that, Jimmy had died alone thinking Tango hated him! He had to fix that, he had to find him. 

Not pausing for a second, he burst into a run. As soon as he was outside, he pulled out his rockets, opened his elytra, and flew towards Grian's base. It was empty, of course it was! Panicking and desperate, he flew to Scarland next, thinking maybe Grian was there, but it was just as deserted. 

That was when Xisuma found him. 

"Tango? What's up?" 

Tango whipped around from where he'd been punching a wall. "X! Where's Grian?"

"He's not back yet. Why, what's wrong?"

Not back yet. Of course, because he and Jimmy were the first ones out, no one else had died yet, it could be ages before he returned. 

"I need you to take me to another server!" he demanded, balling his hands into fists to try and hide their shaking. 

X blinked at him, confused. "What? Why?"

"I have to find Jimmy! I have to see him!"

"Jimmy? You mean, Grian's brother, Jimmy?"

"Yes!" Why was he being so slow? Why was he just standing there asking questions instead of doing his voidwalker magic and getting him out of here? Didn't he understand how important this was? Could he not see how Tango was moments away from screaming? 

"I can't do that, Tango. Messing with worlds for no reason is-"

"It's not for no reason!" Tango shouted, then stopped when X flinched back. He took a second to catch his breath and rein his rapidly growing anger in before continuing. "I have to see him. Please, X, it's important."

"I'm sorry, man. I can't help you."

To X's credit, he really did sound sorry. But Tango couldn't bring himself to care. "Then I'll find someone who can!"

He shot off, heading in the direction of perhaps the only person left on the server who could do something for him. 

"Gem!" he called as he landed at her base. 

She rushed out to meet him, grinning. "Tango! You're back! I missed you!" Her feet stalled when she saw his expression. "What's wrong?"

"I need you to take me to Jimmy."

"Jimmy? Why, what do you need him for?" With Grian and Martyn and Scott's voices still echoing in his head, Tango couldn't help but hear dismissal in Gem's tone, and it took everything in him not to lash out at her for it. 

"I have to see him. Please, Gem." He was fully aware that every ounce of his desperation was currently being channeled into his voice, but he didn’t care. If anything, it would help his case. 

But Gem’s face fell, and Tango's heart dropped, shattering as it landed on the floor. 

"I am so sorey, Tango. But it's too dangerous. If there was some way I could do it safely, I would, but it's risky enough that I'm going back and forth. Bringing someone with me..."

That was it, then. By the time Grian or Pearl arrived, it would likely be too late. Jimmy would let the resentment fester and build until there was no way Tango could bridge the gap. He'd already as good as lost his Rancher forever. 

His legs buckled, and he fell to his knees, the pain in his chest getting so bad he could barely breathe. Gem gasped and rushed to his side. She was speaking, but Tango couldn't hear her. Nothing mattered anymore. What was the point if his Rancher stopped caring about him? 

*

They were going to Empires. He wasn't supposed to know, but when the Rift had opened, Grian had told him. It had been the first thing that had made him genuinely smile since Double Life had ended. They were going to Empires, and he was going to see Jimmy. 

Every day in between receiving the news and standing in front of the giant portal was a mix of terror and excitement. He'd been having nightmares of the moment his illusion had told Jimmy he hated him for months - he couldn't only imagine how bad it had been for Jimmy, and he was certain Jimmy would hate him for it. Tango couldn't blame him. What would he do if he arrived there and Jimmy started attacking him? He'd never fight back, he knew that, but would he really just stand there and let Jimmy kill him?

Probably. 

Now, they were standing in front of the Rift, and Tango was shaking. 

"Ready?" Pearl asked him, grinning slightly. 

Tango swallowed and nodded, not sure he'd be able to speak if he tried. With a deep breath, he stepped through the portal. 

*

Gem told him where to find Tumble Town, and he arrived alone, only to find Jimmy already talking with Grian and Scar and Scott. 

Tango went still when he saw Scott. His hand itched to draw a sword and kill him there and then, but he doubted Scott would be as open to that idea as Grian had been when he'd learnt about the enderman. So he just froze instead, staring at the back of Jimmy's head, not sure what to do next. He couldn't help but notice the tightness in his Rancher's shoulders, the way he was angled towards Scar rather than the other two. He couldn't move. 

But then Scar spotted him, grinned, and called out with a wave, "Hi, Tango!" 

Jimmy stiffened, and Tango's heart stopped for a moment. He swallowed. 

"Hi, Jimmy." 

Jimmy didn't turn. Didn't say anything. 

“Let’s give them a minute,” Grian suggested, and he and Scott ushered a confused Scar away. 

Now alone, Tango released a shuddering breath and started walking towards Jimmy. He stopped at Jimmy's shoulder, just behind him, so the sheriff wouldn't have to look at him if he didn't want to. He slipped a hand into Jimmy's and, when he wasn't shaken off even after a few seconds, pressed a kiss to the back of his shoulder. 

"It wasn't real," he whispered, not sure if he was helping or hurting. "It was the enderman showing you that stuff. None of it was true."

Still, Jimmy didn't turn. 

"I don't hate you, Jimmy. I'm sorry, I tried to come sooner, I wanted to come see you straight away, but I couldn't, I'm sorry. I-" Tango paused, terrified his next words would just make everything worse, but needing Jimmy to hear them anyway. "I love you, Jim."

Jimmy let out a breath, hesitated, then finally faced Tango. His eyes were shining, just a little. He wasn't smiling. 

Tango braced himself, ready to be snapped at, ready for Jimmy to demand he leave his town, his server, and never return. 

There was a breath, a beat, in which neither of them said anything. 

When Jimmy spoke, his voice was quiet and hoarse. "I killed you."

Tango shook his head, reaching out to take Jimmy’s other hand. "No, you didn't. The enderman did."

"I should've-"

"You should've nothing. You did your best, you fought the enderman, you nearly killed it! There was nothing you could have done differently." A single tear escaped onto Jimmy's cheek, and Tango reached up and wiped it away with his free hand. "I couldn't have asked for a better soulmate. Feeling the bond break was... the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with." 

Jimmy finally released a sob and pulled Tango into a hug, and it was like he’d wrapped a bandage around Tango's heart. He didn't hate him! He was happy to see him! Tango clung to his Rancher, barely able to believe it. 

He leaned back to look up into Jimmy's face. 

The taller man was beaming at him. "You'll always be my soulmate. My Rancher."

An overjoyed laugh broke free from his mouth, and he buried his face in Jimmy's shoulder to hide his stupid grin. Jimmy laughed and held him tight, like Tango would disappear if he released his grip even a little bit.

"I'm never looking at an enderman again," Jimmy promised. 

Tango's voice was muffled by Jimmy's jacket as he replied, "That should be a given anyway."

"Ah, you know me."

Tango sobered up and looked back up at Jimmy. "I do know you. And I know you're still thinking about it, but you're going to pretend you're not. But you don't have to pretend. I'll always love you, no matter what you think or feel. You can tell me."

Jimmy's chest rose and fell, and though he said nothing, Tango knew Jimmy was agreeing when he pulled him in even tighter. 

“I’m never letting you go again,” he warned. 

Tango laughed out loud. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[meteor752]

How so the halos work since they all seem to be themed around the games

whhat does the halo of a watcher who hasnt hosted a game look like?

The changing of the halos is Kvī and Jagail’s doing, as both a way to tell who the gamemaster is during their games run, but also as a sort of “reward” for having hosted one. (One exception here is Grian, whose halo was changed after he won). Only those two have the power to alter a fellow Watcher’s appearance like that, though they mostly use it when a player has ascended, to “help them conform”, so to speak

There are other Watchers with their own unique halos, but the vast majority of them just have what’s known as a “standard” halo, aka just an outer ring, and an inner spiked ring. Basically just remove the hearts and decorations on everyone’s halos, and that’s basically it

They’re a bit like the gold stars you give to children when they’ve done something good honestly, they’re fun and flashy, but ultimately they hold no weight lol

[meteor752]

Do the different watchers represent anything? Because some of them seem to feed on different emotions, so are they like, deity of that?

One thing you gotta understand is that despite their power and appearance, the Watchers are not gods, or anything akin to it

Different Watchers preferring different emotions to feed on, is like you and your friends preferring different flavours of ice cream, it all comes down to taste and preferences

[meteor752]

The Watchers, my take on the lore

I love me some characters, and I love me some lovecraftean entities, so this was honestly inevitable

Most watcher lore seem to kinda group the watchers together as one entity, with very little room for individuality for them, which I think is kinda boring, so you know I’m changing that for funsies. This is not gonna be based on Martyn’s lore fully, I’m gonna keep some elements and then just kinda run with it because why not you know lol. Also I’ve only watched a little of EVO, but it’s not really gonna be based much on what happened in that series anyways.

So Grian, or Xelqua or whatever, created the concept for the games when he first became a Watcher, but despite that he’s not the actual gamemaster. Every series has had a Watcher in control, who’s been looking over the games, made sure they ran smoothly, and also occasionally meddled. With the existence of eight games now, we’ve therefore met eight Watchers.

First we’ve got Ihcá, the gamemaster of Third Life. Ihcá is very by the books, to an almost scary degree. You give them a task, they will complete it exactly as you asked it to be completed, no funny business. It’s because of this that the rules of Third Life are the most simple, the initial pitch for the life series was just that, three lives, red life you get bloodthirsty, once you’re out you’re gone. Unlike the other Watchers, Ihcá did not spice this up to any degree, as they saw no need to. They are cold, distanced, and keep to themselves.

I also wanna go over the relationship every gamemaster has to their respective winner, which is an interesting case for Ihcá, since their winner is not only a fellow Watcher, but also someone who broke the rules of the game. Grian and Ihcá could not be more different, and they never really cared much for him, even after he ascended to Their ranks. What did matter to them however, was when he killed three people with a trap, even as he was a green. If it had been anyone else, Ihcá would have taken them out right then and there, but Grian does have immunity against their powers thanks to his status. They do resent him for ruining their game, but it’s not something they mull over. As I said, they’re quite detached.

Next we’ve got Quevik, the gamemaster for Last life. Unlike their predecessor, Quevik changed up a lot of the initial design of the games, all to make it worse and more brutal for the players. The difference in the amount of lives you start with to spark more jealousy, only one enchanter to encourage stealing, and of course, the boogeyman, a seed for deception and betrayal. Quevik is creative and adaptive, they saw what the players focused on in the first game, and went in hard on it. They thrive in chaos and unease, and especially likes to feed on loneliness, hence the rules that Red Names were to be shunned from their teams. To them, Last Life was perfect in every way, except for one.

This is to no one’s surprise, but Quevik absolutely detests Scott. Just like how Grian defied Ihcá’s rules, he had defied Quevik’s, and they were not happy. The betrayals that the boogeyman curse brought was to their absolute delight, their favourite players were easily BigB and Bdubs because of it, but here stood Scott, refusing to take the life of his teammates, and instead going down to red. Quevik heavily considered just killing him right then and there for his infringement, but since it was right before the final session, they allowed him to live, just for the possibility of him betraying his allies in the final battle. Not a day has gone by where they haven’t regret that decision, you can still sometimes Hear them grumbling about it.

Tae & Nha is the watcher for Double Life. Tae & Nha is an interesting case of being two entities, but still only being one individual. They function very strangely, often switching between which primary voice to use when speaking, especially when interacting with players. Watchers feed on all emotions, and one of their favourites is confusion. For Tae & Nha, the soulmate system was a very obvious choice. After all, they are two entities with one “soul”, so they just took from their own experiences when designing it, made it easier. Most of the soulmates pairs were made random, but they did customise some things, such as Martyn’s separation from Ren, and Grian and Scar being together. So simple, yet effective way to torture them both.

Just like the winners before her, Pearl broke the rules of the game by not sticking to her soulmate, even if it wasn’t by choice. But despite that, Tae & Nha love her. From the beginning, Tae & Nha knew that there would only be one winner, and that the despair that the final pair would feel when they found out they would have to fight and kill the person they had spent all season with would be delicious. But Pearl delivered that devastation and more in the very first session, and retained it throughout all the series. Scarlet Pearl was such a delight to them in fact, that they let her keep some of those feelings even after the series ended, and the next one began. They delight in their winner, and the suffering they let her keep.

For Limited Life we have Gemíín, one of the most powerful Watchers in the roster. Gemíín is also one of the most daring ones, taking the concept that was first laid out by Grian and changing it up a lot. They’re kinda the opposite to Ihcá, and the rest of the Watchers in general, always thinking outside of the box. They are however more short tempered than most of their kind, and more quick to jump to extremes, especially when it comes to punishments. Why do you think Grian was unconscious for an entire session, or Cleo and Pearl got possessed? It’s not a good idea to piss Gemíín off, they won’t kill you but they will get to you.

There is no place this is reflected better than with Martyn. The Listeners favourite, one of the biggest nuisances back on EVO, and just someone generally disrespectful. The previous three may have mainly let him be in favour of not interfering with the games, but Gemíín is more spiteful. Taking away his beloved king was the easy part, but it wasn’t enough for Gemíín. Throughout the entire game they were whispering, whispering words that they knew that he would Hear. Encouragements, lies, threats, just about anything. Two out of three victors lost their humanity to win their series, and Gemíín was aiming for a third. A goal which they achieved, as Martyn struck down his own ally, and backstabbed his way to the top.

The Secret Life gamemaster is Vdari, who’s almost on the same power level as Gemíín. Vdari did what no other Watcher had done before and involved themselves directly in the series with the role of “The Secret Keeper”. Going into Secret Life, Vdari had a very similar mindset as Quevik, in that they looked at the previous series to see what was the most effective, and doubled down hard on that. This being, deception, and resentment. The series is built around lies, around unstable alliances, around not being able to trust one another, and without regeneration, a simple punch, push, or even just a friendly nudge is huge, and grudges will be held. An unfortunate side effect of the series structure is that Vdari stretched themselves extremely thin, with needing to constantly keep track on every player at all time, to see if they failed their task or not. Because of this, they tended to pay less attention to the players who’d already finished their tasks, which meant that when Scott and Lizzie traveled to The End they payed them no mind, which is why they weren’t able to stop Lizzie from falling into the void, thus ending the Canary Curse. They tried to do damage control, killing Jimmy as quick as they could, but in the end it didn’t matter. The other Watchers were…not happy.

And maybe they could’ve made sure that no one would have died before Jimmy, if they hadn’t been so preoccupied with Scar. Vdari had Seen Scar in previous seasons, and the way that he would get when pushed over the edge, and more importantly, the way that that would affect Their dear Grian. So Vdari made him the villain. They kept him in isolation with his tasks, forcing him to do more and more vile things to his fellow players. What Vdari hadn’t expected was how fun it would be to see Scar suffer, how much enjoyment one can get from being the reason a person breaks. They hadn’t intended for him to be the winner, but they were so delighted when Pearl fell, so delighted in fact that they kept him alive, instead of going to the winners lounge with the others. It’s truly a win win situation, Vdari gets to keep their tortured pet around, and the other Watchers are satisfied with poor Grians confusion and devastation over his absence.

Then we’ve got Armhék for Real Life, who is quite different from the previous gamemasters , in the way that they truly just wanted to get their game over with. They like doing one thing and one thing only, Watch, and is not interested in actually running a game, but was unfortunately forced to because it was their turn. They gave the most half assed attempt, just reusing the Third Life formula, but distorted the players visions and messed with their limbs, all to make them all die quicker, and then just set them loose. Since Vdari had already broken the canary curse, Armhék didn’t make an attempt to uphold it (Honestly, they probably would have broken it themselves cause they truly did not care). But yeah, their lack of any and all effort worked out in their favour, and Real Life is the shortest series that has taken place thus far. Every other Watcher is very annoyed.

If you somehow got the ability to ask Amhék who won their game, yeah they’d have no clue, Cleo means nothing to them, which like considering the way that Vdari is toying with Scar, that might be the best outcome for her.

And then, Wild life, with the surprising gamemaster of Grian himself. It was a controversial decision to let him lead the next game, but despite being a runaway, he’s still a Watcher, and so it was decided to let him hold the reins, under close scrutiny of course. Grian’s decision to lead the games was rooted in one simple fact; fun. The last couple of games had been rough on all of them, but especially the victors, so Grian designed Wild Life to be differing and fun to play. His only mistake was the snails, that turned out to be way deadlier than he thought, and so he ended that session early, which was an almost fatal decision, as the Watchers do not enjoy having their entertainment cut short. It was agreed that Grian could continue with the series, as long as he would never do anything like that again.

It was because of Grian’s attempt to keep the games friendly and fun, that Joel became the first victor since Last Life to win his game with his sanity intact, which we applaud. It’s once again something that the Watchers scold him for, but since it’s technically not a requirement to break your winner, it’s not something they can condemn.

And then, finally, the gamemaster of Simple Life, Zghula. Somehow, Zghula being chosen as the next gamemaster managed to be even more controversial than Grian, because Zghula was young. And I mean, really, young. There is no official ranks amongst the Watchers, but They all can tell who among them is more powerful, and therefore deserves more respect, and a lot of these powers come from experience and age. The best way to describe it, is that Zghula is basically the Watcher equivalent of an intern. They’d only ever Seen two games prior to Simple Life, so when it came to designing it they were very inexperienced, especially when it comes to the limits of what Players can take. Like, Armhék’s game was short on purpose, but for Zghula it was a complete accident. They just had no idea that a flat world could be so deadly, or that a few simple mobs were strong enough to take half the players to red. So yeah, whoops. Also, no one told them about the canary curse, and since no game they’d witnessed had had it, they didn’t even think to have Jimmy die first.

Somehow, Simple Life managed to bring shame not only to Zghula, but even more so to poor Quevik. Because not only was their victor someone who defied his game, no, now they had to share him with another, much weaker, Watcher. Like I said, not a day has gone by where they haven’t regretted keeping Scott alive for the final session of Last Life.

Other Watcher things!

The two EVO watchers have not been gamemasters, and therefore were not included here. I do headcanon them to be the two strongest Watchers, and so the de facto “leaders”. They are the ones who chooses who’s the next to lead a game, though as a Watcher you can put in a request to do so. If you’ve been chosen, you can’t refuse. The EVO watchers are named Kvī (Watcher 1) and Jagail (Watcher 2)

Kvī and Jagail are the two that came up with the idea of having death games in the first place, and are also the makers of the curses. Some of them, like Jimmy’s canary curse or Grian’s widow curse were planned from the beginning, while others, like Tango’s Inferno curse and Joel’s Red Haze curse came up as the games progressed. If a gamemaster fails to uphold a curse, without Kvī and Jagail’s explicit permission to break it, there will be dire consequences.

The reason for the blindfolds is mainly to keep them grounded. When wearing it, a watcher can still see everything around them, but if you’re for example hiding behind a wall or something, they can’t see you. If they take off the blindfold, they immediately get omnivision, and can see everything on the server. They for the most part tend to keep their blindfolds on, as they can otherwise be overwhelmed, but when leading a game a gamemaster always keeps their blindfold off

The blindfolds also make them more approachable and appealing to players, as when they’re off, all their multitudes of eyes can be seen, so they mostly keep them on the few times they actually approach a player. If they’re aiming to intimidate or scare however, the blindfold is always off

The reason Grian doesn’t wear a blindfold is that since he wasn’t “born” as a Watcher but ascended into their ranks, he doesn’t have the omnivision They have, at least not to the same scale

Grian is not the only person in their ranks who’s ascended, though he is the only one who’s ever rebelled, ever

The Watchers all have individual voices, but when one speak they all speak. If two Watchers were to be having a conversation, both of them would be saying all the words, but the one who’s actually speaking’s voice would be more prevalent than the other voices. It’s very confusing to listen to, and if you’re not used to it you will mix up who’s saying what.

Watchers tend not to speak much tho, as they are technically a type of hive mind. Their thought, opinions, and feelings are all shared between one another, so they rarely find a need to say anything to each other.

All the Watchers were made using Hero Forge

Also if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask :)

[meteor752]

I need to talk about this because it’s driving me crazy. So they added a thing to the Endermen in the Minecraft Movie, in that if you look them in the eyes, not only do they attack you, but you also hallucinate like, the people close to you projecting your insecurities, which made me vibrate in my seat from excitement cause oh my god. The implications from that, that Jimmy’s Double Life death wasn’t just that he panicked with the enderman, but that he was overwhelmed disoriented by people like Grian, Joel, Martyn, abs most importantly Tango, calling him weak, a failure, pathetic, but no longer in that funny joking way, but with actual cruelty, malice, and disgust in their words. That the last thing Jimmy saw before he died could have been Tango blaming him for their death. My poor boy

Also one of my friends, @pancho-pinto, added the idea of since damage is transferred through the soulbound, so would the effects, and so Tango would either experience his own hallucinations of Impulse, Zed, Skizz, probably Jimmy, thinking that it’s real and they’re actually saying those things, that those are opinions they have of him, right before unexplainably dying, and also not knowing that it even was Enderman hallucinations because Jimmy was on a different server, and he was holed up creating Decked Out during that time, avoiding the friends he saw in those visions and wouldn’t find out until probably the crossover,

-OR, Jimmy’s hallucinations would transfer to him, and he’d see his soulmate’s insecurities on blast from his friends, from him, and be unable to help him, and wake up on Hermitcraft after dying with the knowledge that not only did Jimmy die alone, he died thinking that Tango would hate him

So like yeah, pick your poison :)

[meteor752]

The past winners showing up in the winners lounge one by one as they’re taken out, all buzzing with excitement to have a new friend join them, only for then Grian (Grumpy) and Scott (Smug) arrive at the same time, and Joel tries to kill him on sight