#I need to write about mumbo too actually I miss him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wren-kitchens · 1 year

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I DID IT I FINISHED IT WE WIN THESEE

uh anyway here’s a mumscarian christmas fic that was meant to be posted on christmas but I entirely misjudged how long I take to write fics lmfao

(i’m very proud that I did actually finish this, it’s been A While in the making)

no cws that I can think of, but ofc please tell me if you want me to add anything! (the end may be a bit rough, frankly I just wanted to finish the damn thing lmao)

“don’t you trust me to wrap anything?”

“no, I absolutely do not after last year.”

“oh, c’mon mumbo, you know it wasn’t my fault your tie got burnt.”

scar peers around the door upon hearing grian and mumbo’s conversation from the hallway.

“what’s this about mumbo’s tie?” he asks, before registering the sheer mess in front of him. “oh my goodness! it looks like a stocking threw up in here!”

there’s wrapping paper all over the floor, tape stuck to every ledges surface, candy canes strewn across the table, along with their discarded wrappers. a strong smell of hot chocolate fills his nose, and he wonders what on earth he’s missed.

“hi scar!” grian beams. “we’re wrapping presents- or should I say, mumbo’s wrapping presents.” he pouts. “he won’t let me.”

“yeah, because last year-“

“that was entirely unrelated!” grian protests.

“he put the wrapping paper next to a candle and almost burnt my base down.” mumbo tells scar. “‘luckily’ all that actually burnt was my favourite tie.”

“oh, i got you a new one.” grian says. “it’s your new favourite tie, you said.” he grins.

mumbo rolls his eyes, almost sickeningly fond, and scar thinks he knows why it’s his favourite. a little pang of jealousy tugs at scar’s heart. he ignores it.

“anyway, do you want to join us?” grian says. “i’m sure mumbo will ruin your fun as well.” he says, glaring jokily at mumbo.

“oh, don’t worry, I much prefer scar to you.” mumbo says, laughing at grian’s outraged squawk.

“scar come sit next to me.” grian says. “I like you more mumbo anyway.”

the heat in scar’s face is definitely more than the turned-up-too-much heating’s doing. “i’ll sit next to both of you.” he decides. he can’t tell if he’s imagining the excitement in their faces or not.

scar plops himself down in between the two. “there, now you’re both unhappy.” he beams.

“I wouldn’t say that.” mumbo mutters, so quietly scar is fairly certain he wasn’t supposed to hear.

he replies anyway. “oh, i’m so glad to hear it, mumbo.”

mumbo’s face turns a little pink, and grian grins at him.

‘you aren’t subtle.’ grian mouths.

“neither are you, g-man.” scar ruffles his hair, laughing as he squawks in protest. “you seem not to notice how I have superior hearing.”

“what, ‘cause of these?” mumbo taps the tip of scar’s pointed ears. scar feels himself go red. “mr elf.”

grian gasps. “oh! of course! you’re an elf!”

“I am not wearing a stupid hat.” scar says immediately.

“what, like cat ears aren’t a stupid hat?” grian says.

“hey!” scar pouts.

grian nudges his shoulder against him. “i’m only joking. you’re a very pretty kitty.”

“thank you, birdie.” scar puts an arm around grian’s shoulders.

“don’t call me birdie.” grian says halfheartedly. he shifts closer and wraps a wing around scar and mumbo.

“why not? it’s cute.” scar grins. “you’re cuteguy aren’t you? it’s on brand.”

“grian is very cute.” mumbo contributes. “scar is very pretty.”

“and mumbo is very handsome.” grian finishes.

“we might need some mistletoe in here soon.” scar jokes. both grian and mumbo blush.

“I bet mumbo wouldn’t trust me to put it up.” grian leans his head on scar’s shoulder and pouts at mumbo.

mumbo rolls his eyes. “you’re the one who burnt my tie, mate!”

grian makes a sadder face, and mumbo sighs. “it’s in the box with the tinsel.” he says before adding, almost as an afterthought: “scar make sure he doesn’t destroy the house.”

“on it boss.” scar gives him a mock salute. mumbo grins and returns to wrapping the gifts.

scar follows grian through to the other room, where he is rummaging through a large plastic box. when he looks up at scar, he has glitter on his cheek.

“i’m here to make sure you don’t burn the house down.” scar tells him, feeling a tad out of place.

grian grins at him. “no promises.”

“mumbo would kill you.” scar says.

“he would never let me live it down.” grian says, something fond in his voice.

scar feels himself smiling before he registers the action. “you two are gone for each other.”

grian blushes furiously, and drops the bauble he was holding. it bounces off the edge of the box and rolls across the floor. “scar!” he hisses.

“what?” scar says, voice innocent. grian glares at him. “oh, but c’mon, am I wrong?”

“you- well, partially!” grian says, indignant.

scar folds his arms, amused. “oh yeah?”

“yes!” grian exclaims, still careful to keep his voice quiet. “in case you haven’t noticed, he does not like me.”

“oh come off it.” scar scoffs. “he absolutely does!”

whilst scar already knew for a while that mumbo and grian loved each other, something inside him aches to have it confirmed.

“i’ve known him for,” grian pauses, frowning. “uh. a long time, at least. anyway, my point is that I know him better. and he just definitely does not.”

“well, i’ve had to deal with you two making goo-goo eyes at each other for years, and I can say he definitely does.” scar grins.

grian gives a small huff and turns back to rummage through the box. “you’re a hopeless romantic.” if scar didn’t know better, he’d say grian’s voice is affectionate.

“why’s the mistletoe in a box anyway?” scar moves from the doorway to peer over grian’s shoulder.

“it’s plastic.” grian supplies. “poisonous to cats.”

“and birds?”

from where he’s stood, scar can see a faint pink spread across grian’s cheeks.

“that might be another reason.” he mumbles. “mumbo got it last year.”

“mumbo-“

“yes, yes, I know.” grian says quickly.

“and you think-“

“I know, in fact.” grian says, standing up with the mistletoe.

scar smiles. grian has glitter in his hair now. “you’re really pulling off the sparkly look there, g.”

“what?”

“you have glitter all over you.” scar says.

grian huffs. “there’s glitter everywhere.” he says, ruffling his hair. a shower of sparkles floats onto the floor.

scar bites his tongue. ‘it makes you look even prettier’, he wants to say. he doesn’t; it’s not his place to say anything like that to grian.

“is that all of it?” grian asks.

“not quite.” scar chuckles. “you have some on your cheek.” he gestures on his own face. he wants to cup grian’s face and wipe it off with his thumb. he doesn’t.

grian brushes it off, and looks at scar expectantly. “gone?”

“yep.” scar says. it sounds too short, so he tacks on, “so, where’re we putting it?”

“above the door.” grian says. “there’s a hook there, so I don’t need to mess around with it.”

“can.. can you reach the door?” scar says, following grian back to the living room.

“yes!” grian says, his wings puffing up indignantly.

“no.” mumbo calls from the floor.

“I absolutely can!” grian protests.

to (dis)prove his point, grian stands on his toes and tries to tie the mistletoe’s ribbon onto the hook above the door. he is very clearly too short for it, but apparently determined to tie it himself, flapping his wings in case that might help.

“grian, I think you should get scar to help.” mumbo says.

“I can reach it!” grian is now trying to jump to tie it, unsuccessfully.

“sure you can, g, I believe in you.” scar jokes.

“scar, can you pick him up?” mumbo says. “this is painful to watch.”

scar wraps his arms around grian’s waist and hoists him into the air. grian gives a squawk, his wings puffing up again.

“scar!” he exclaims.

“c’mon, you can reach it now.” scar tells him, grinning.

“you- are- a- nightmare.” grian tells him, face flushed.

“i’m not putting you down until you put it up.” scar says.

“I hate you both.” grian says, but he reaches up and finally manages to tie the ribbon.

“there!” scar smiles, putting grian carefully back onto the floor.

“you suck.” grian is scowling at him, but scar can tell he doesn’t mean it.

“you’re very light.” scar notes.

“yeah, uhm. bird bones.” grian says. he’s avoiding scar’s eyes.

“well!” scar throws an arm around grian’s shoulders. “we can’t leave our moustached friend sitting on the floor alone, can we?”

“well, i’m actually finished with wrapping.” mumbo says, standing up.

“oh, wonderful!” scar beams. “we can make gingerbread men!”

grian and mumbo share a glance.

“don’t worry, they’re already baked.” scar says. “I know you two are atrocious at cooking-“

“rude.”

“fair.”

“-so I brought them to decorate!” scar says.

“arguably we’re worse at decorating.” mumbo says.

“speak for yourself.” grian tells him.

“ah, but the good thing about decorating cookies is that, no matter how bad you are, it’ll still taste good!” scar says.

“that’s lucky.” grian nudges mumbo.

“well come on, come on!” scar says, leading them into the kitchen. “I got a bunch of new cookie cutters recently, so there’s some of every kind!”

“oh, wow, scar.” grian says.

laid out on the countertops are three trays of gingerbread cookies. there really are some of every kind: gingerbread people, snowmen, santa hats, presents, holly, baubles, stars and mistletoe.

“I have frosting of every colour as well.” scar beams.

“how do you find time to do all this?” mumbo says.

“oh, I bake for fun.” scar says, moving to get the bag which has the frosting in. “it’s relaxing.”

“you have clearly never baked with grian, then.” mumbo says.

“hey! I am an expert baker!” grian protests.

“we’ll see about that.” scar grins, and holds out the piping bags. “choose your fighter.” he puts on a deeper voice.

grian rolls his eyes. “you’re a dork.” he says, taking the red bag.

mumbo smirks, nudging his shoulder against grian’s.

“what?” grian says.

mumbo mutters something in grian’s ear that makes him blush pink.

“shut up.” grian says, turning to the cookies.

“you didn’t deny it!” mumbo crows, grinning.

“observant as ever, mumbo.” grian says. “fine, yes I do. happy?”

“very.” mumbo says. his eyes don’t seem to agree; there’s a shadow of something like longing behind the teasing glee.

“this is not an understandable conversation.” scar says, beginning to work on a snowman.

“you’re just not on our level.” mumbo bumps his hip against scar’s. “not as smart as we are.”

“oh yeah, insult the guy who brings you cookies.” scar grins, pretending to take the trays away. “i’ll just be going then-“

“no!” mumbo grabs his arms. “i’m very sorry, you’re very clever and smart.”

“and..?” scar prompts.

“and very handsome.” mumbo smiles.

“thank you.” scar puts the tray down. mumbo’s hands are still on his arms.

neither of them move. scar’s heart is in his throat, and he feels a little like he could throw up as mumbo’s eyes drift to his lips. in a good way.

but, as scar remembers with a stab of guilt, he doesn’t have a say in this. he knows grian and mumbo like each other. scar isn’t about to get in the way of that because of some- childish whim.

scar takes his hands off the tray, and mumbo moves backwards. grian smirks at mumbo.

“you can shut it.” mumbo mutters, and grian laughs.

scar goes back to the cookies, keeping his eyes on the decorating.

he tries to ignore how mumbo is close enough for his hip to brush up against scar’s every so often, and how grian keeps giggling at mumbo’s attempts at frosting in a ludicrously sweet way.

“no, that doesn’t look a thing like him!” grian is saying. “you should know, you keep staring-“

“you’re such a hypocrite!” mumbo cuts across. scar can see him flushed pink out of the corner of his eye.

“I never claimed not to be.” grian says.

“alright, look- scar,” mumbo moves even closer, and scar looks up. he’s holding a gingerbread man, dripping with green, yellow and brown frosting. it looks like it could have a face, if you squint.

“yes?” scar says.

“do you think this looks like you?” mumbo says. grian is laughing behind him.

“hmm.” scar has to press his hand against his mouth to keep from joining grian. “well. it could be?”

mumbo pouts.

“oh, but it does look very nice.” scar is quick to amend.

“no it doesn’t.” grian says. “scar, for someone so mean about building, you sure are kind when it comes to icing gingerbread.”

“I give constructive criticism.” scar corrects him. “and mumbo needs all the support he can get.”

mumbo makes an offended noise, and scar laughs at it.

grian is grinning. “so if I made that-“

“I would let you know what a mess that was, yes.” scar grins. “he’s not the one who insists he’s ‘not a builder’ even after-“

“those are flukes!” mumbo protests.

“scientifically you need like, three tries at an experiment and if it’s the same result each time, you can consider it proven.” grian pipes up. “i consider it proven that you are a good builder.”

“agreed.” scar says. “you were officially a good builder after season eight, i’d say.”

“now it’s officially official.” grian nods.

“well, I mean-“ mumbo is pink again. grian laughs.

scar goes back to the cookies. he’s making good progress; if he could just get rid of the aching in his chest, he’d be on track for a perfect christmas!

however, the two people directly causing said aching do not want to leave him alone. and, maybe, scar doesn’t mind too much.

the ‘maybe’ turns into a ‘definitely’ as grian peers at scar’s cookies, resting his chin on his shoulder as he does.

“well hello there.” scar grins.

“how do you do that?” grian asks.

“years of practice, g-man.” scar tells him.

grian groans. “why does everything need practice?”

“‘m afraid that’s just how it works.” scar says, voice embarrassingly fond. “not much you can do to cheese it. though, I suppose if anyone could it’s doc.”

“i’ll have to ask him later.” grian says.

“do you mean blackmail?” mumbo presses close to scar, who is starting to feel like he must be dreaming.

“noo.” grian scoffs, unconvincingly.

“do you just pester him to get what you want?” scar says.

“well, it works.” grian grins, wrapping his arms around scar’s waist.

scar’s face is burning, and he can’t seem to stop smiling as he works on the cookies.

“you’re a menace.” mumbo says to grian. “there, how’s this?” he holds up another gingerbread man, globs of red, black and light brown on this one.

“depends what it’s supposed to be.” grian says. “if you wanted a shapeless blob, you’re doing fantastic.”

“it’s supposed to be you!” mumbo pouts again.

grian cackles. scar might die. “i’m kidding, i’m kidding. you’re very talented mumbo.”

“too right I am.” mumbo says.

“alright, let me show you how it’s done.” scar says. he tries to reach over to the gingerbread men, but grian stays resolutely in place.

scar chuckles. “g, I need to get them.”

“you can get them.” grian says, not moving. if anything, he tightens his grip. “I can just also stay here.”

“you’re right mumbo, he is a menace.” scar says. “would you mind passing me a couple?”

“oh, but scar, you’re ever so comfortable.” mumbo says, putting his head on scar’s shoulder.

“oh my god.” scar buries his face in his hands, if only to hide how red he’s gone. “you two are as bad as each other.”

“i’m kidding, i’ll get them.” mumbo smiles.

grian mutters something that sounds vaguely like “suck-up.”

mumbo moves back over almost immediately, and scar starts to decorate the cookies.

“is that me?” grian asks.

“mhm.” scar says, now working on his jumper. if scar were to look up, he’d see grian sticking his tongue out triumphantly at mumbo.

but he hasn’t, so he doesn’t.

“how on earth..?” mumbo murmurs as scar pipes on the face.

“ta da!” scar smiles, and moves onto mumbo’s one.

“that’s so cool!” grian exclaims. “you’re so cool!”

scar feels himself blush. “why, thank you, g.” he pauses before asking, “is there any reason you’re both attached to me?”

“you’re warm.” grian explains, as mumbo says “penguins.”

scar stops, and looks up at mumbo. “penguins?”

“you know.” mumbo says. “they all huddle together for warmth.”

scar laughs. “alright, we’re penguins then.” he says, returning to mumbo’s cookie.

“don’t penguins propose by giving each other rocks?” grian says.

“they do.” scar nods. “they mate for life.”

“that’s sweet.” mumbo says.

scar doesn’t answer, focused on getting the tie just right. he hears grian laughing quietly next to his ear, and honestly that is not helping.

somehow he manages to keep the lines straight, and fills it in before asking grian, “what are you giggling about, mister?”

“you do this thing when you’re focusing.” grian says. “you stick your tongue out a little. it’s cute.”

“I feel like i’m being made fun of.” scar says, though inwardly he’s bouncing up and down, squealing.

“you know i’d never.” grian says.

“just for that, your giggle is cute.” scar shoots back. a moment after he’s said it, he realises it sounds less like an insult and more like a compliment.

“he’s cuteguy, I think that’s the point.” mumbo says. “to be cute.”

“and I do a very good job at it.” grian preens.

mumbo smiles. “you sure do.”

“done!” scar announces, looking proudly at the two complete cookies.

mumbo peers over scar’s shoulder, and gasps. “oh! dude!” he looks up at scar, beaming. “that’s so cool!”

“that’s what I said!” grian nods. “scar, you are a wizard.”

“oh, you say that now, but on last life-“ scar is cut off by grian laughing.

scar can’t help smiling. “so, as you two seem to prefer being penguins over decorating, shall we just eat these and watch a movie?”

“yes!” grian jumps back from scar, almost running towards the door. “you stay here, i’m gonna set it up. don’t come in until I say!” he calls from the hallway.

“looks like we’re doing that, then.” mumbo chuckles.

“what movie do you think he’s putting on?” scar says, getting out a large bowl and tipping the gingerbread men into it.

“oh, I know he’s putting the muppets christmas carol on.” mumbo says, moving to help scar with the cookies. “he loves that film.”

“it’s a classic!” scar says, and mumbo groans. “oh, don’t tell me you don’t like it!”

“I don’t dislike it,” mumbo says. “i’ve just seen it a million times.”

“all the more reason to enjoy it!” scar moves closer, and says in a low voice, “that, and you like the person who enjoys it that much.”

mumbo blushes scarlet. “what- where did you get that idea from?” he doesn’t really say it; it’s more of a squeak.

scar raises an eyebrow. “you wanna go there?”

“no.” mumbo admits. “okay, okay. just- don’t tell him? I don’t wanna ruin anything.”

“of course!” scar says, thinking privately that it would definitely not ruin anything at all. “but-“

mumbo groans.

“-he definitely likes you back.”

“he doesn’t.”

“who says?”

mumbo rolls his eyes. “i say. and so does common sense.”

“well, I say that he’s been making goo-goo eyes at you for years now,” scar nudges mumbo with his shoulder. “and what’s a more romantic time than christmas?”

“valentines day.” mumbo says, grinning as scar sighs in exasperation. “look, i’m not oblivious. for instance, I know you’ve been making heart eyes at him since at least boatem.”

scar almost drops the bowl. “whaat? noo, not at all!”

it’s mumbo’s turn to give the withering look.

“look, I know for a fact, that he does not like me.” scar says. his heart clenches as he says it. “and I am certain he likes you.”

“yeah, yeah, he totally wasn’t attached to you just one minute ago.” mumbo says.

“he’s just like that.” scar says.

“he’s not.” mumbo says. “he’s only ever done it to me before.”

scar pauses. “he’s been doing that since 3rd life, for me. I just thought he did that to everyone.”

mumbo smiles. “he once told me he does it to his ‘favourite people’. welcome to the club.”

“oh.” scar can’t hide the smile that’s found its way onto his face.

“you can come in now!” grian’s voice calls from the living room.

mumbo bumps his shoulder against scar’s. “come on. don’t wanna leave him waiting.”

and in scar’s chest, there’s something there, put there by soft smiles and gentle nudges and kind eyes.

scar already knew he’d been crushing on both of them for a while. but now..

well. now, scar is fairly certain he’s tripped and fallen headfirst into love.

so scar picks up the tray and tips the rest of the cookies in the bowl, making sure to place the gingerbread grian and mumbo on top, not bothering to hide his smile.

“if you don’t hurry up, i’ll start it without you!” grian tells them.

“we’re coming, we’re coming!” scar calls back, following mumbo down the corridor.

mumbo opens the door, and stifles a laugh as he sees grian. “you comfy?”

scar snorts. grian is wrapped up in at least three blankets, sat on the right hand side of the sofa, looking very pleased with himself.

“you look very huggable.” scar says as mumbo plonks himself next to grian.

scar follows suit, and sits on the left side of mumbo, putting the bowl on the side table.

“hang on, I need to test that theory.” mumbo says, and scoops grian up.

grian gives a shriek of laughter as mumbo half-lifts him into the air, then plops him back down onto the sofa, holding him like a teddy bear. if scar is mildly flustered over mumbo’s strength, that’s between him and the void.

“yep, very huggable.” mumbo concludes.

“mumbo!” grian squawks, also looking very flustered.

“good to know that tone isn’t reserved for me.” scar grins.

“it’s reserved for both of you, because you seem to enjoy lifting me up.” grian says, pointedly looking at scar.

“look, in 3rd life, you couldn’t see very far! if I lifted you up above my head—which I can because you’re very light—you had a better vantage point!” scar defends. “i was protecting us! and you won, so you’re welcome.”

“we won.” grian corrects. “and it was not because you put me on your shoulders.”

“it was definitely because I put him on my shoulders.” scar mutters to mumbo, who grins.

scar turns to the tv and sees-

“aha! mumbo, you were right.”

mumbo follows his gaze. “oh, muppets again?”

“it’s amazing!” grian says.

“it is surprisingly accurate to the original tale—narrator and all.” scar says. “I mean, of course there’s only one marley and it’s fezziwig not fozziwig, but essentially it’s incredibly similar.”

“whose side are you on?” mumbo says.

“i’m impartial.” scar says cheerfully.

mumbo rolls his eyes. there’s something fond behind the way he smiles, something that makes scar’s chest glow with warmth.

“okay! scar, did you bring the gingerbread?” grian says.

“that I did.” scar says proudly, passing the bowl down to grian.

“mumbo, you are sat on the remote.” grian says, taking the bowl.

“i wasn’t sat on it, I was sat next to it.” mumbo protests, handing grian the remote.

“thank you.” grian grins, and starts the movie.

“are you gonna share any-“

“shh, it’s starting.”

scar finds himself shuffling slightly towards mumbo as the opening credits start to play. he finds it harder and harder to hide his smile when mumbo pulls him closer, wrapping an arm around his waist.

scar learns that grian likes to sing along to the songs, and that his voice is kind of amazing. mumbo bends down and mutters something about ‘ariana griande’.

“is that who was vouching for sahara in season six?” scar asks.

mumbo grins. “yep. grian’s twin sister.”

“you mean, this whole time-“

grian shushes them.

“this whole time, your ‘celebrity’ sponsor was just grian’s twin??” scar whispers, affronted.

“yup.” mumbo says.

“well now I feel better about not having a celebrity sponsor.” scar says.

mumbo grins at him, then turns back to the movie. scar’s gaze lingers for a moment, before he copies mumbo.

scar is half asleep, now leant up against mumbo, when he feels a hand running through his hair. he looks up to see the man in question starting a braid, apparently not realising scar was still awake.

“what’cha up to?” scar smiles lopsidedly.

mumbo blushes pink and drops scar’s hair. “nothing.”

“you can play with my hair, if you want.” scar says. “I like it.”

grian mutters something to himself, looking away.

“what, are you jealous?” mumbo elbows him.

grian gives an unconvincing scoff. “no.”

“oh, g-man, you are!” scar exclaims.

“i’m not!” grian protests. “I have never been jealous in my life, and I can’t believe you-“

“g, do you want to play with my hair?” it’s not quite deadpan, but it was supposed to be.

“maybe.” grian is practically glaring at him, blushing.

scar laughs. “okay, i’ll- oh!”

scar gives a little yelp of surprise as mumbo picks him up, shuffles to the side, and plops him in the middle of the sofa.

if scar was flustered earlier, he’s verging on a heart attack now.

“you- you are very strong.” scar fans his face. yep, he’s definitely awake now. “how are you so strong?”

“sorry, i should have asked.” mumbo says, looking apologetic. apparently, he has mistaken scar being very much in love for discomfort.

“no, nope. it’s fine.” scar’s voice is higher than it should be. “it’s very fine. couldn’t be finer.”

grian is smirking at him.

“are you sure?” mumbo says.

“I am entirely sure.” scar assures him. “I am simply amazed and dazzled by your spectacular strength, mumbo.”

“ah, well, of course.” mumbo grins. “I mean, as you should be.”

“exactly.” scar smiles. “now,”

he shuffles down on the sofa, so his head is lower. grian makes a poorly stifled noise of excitement and immediately starts a braid.

“I love it when your hair is long.” grian says. “it’s so pretty.”

“aw, thank you, g.” scar says, trying and failing not to blush.

mumbo has gone back to running his fingers through scar’s hair. “agreed.”

scar is fine. he’s just watching the movie and isn’t feeling incredibly not-platonic feelings about his two best friends playing with his hair and is totally definitely fine.

“so, specifically why do you two like this movie so much?”

scar doesn’t answer, too busy being completely fine. luckily, grian answers for him.

“because it’s an amazing film! it’s a humorous retelling of a classic that barely strays from the original plot, andincludes the narrator in an involved way.”

scar hums in agreement. “and it has amazing songs.”

“and it has amazing songs.” grian nods.

“well, I can’t disagree with you there.” mumbo says.

“g-man, can I steal a blanket from you?” scar asks.

“you’re just gonna fall asleep.” grian pokes him in the shoulder.

“i’d never!” scar puts a hand over his heart, mock offended. “honestly, to suggest such a thing of me-“

about an hour later, scar is woken up by a loud noise that he can’t quite pinpoint. there’s hurried shushing, and scar cracks an eye open.

“I told you-“ mumbo starts, then glances down at scar and stops.

“well hello there.” scar says, voice still sleepy.

grian huffs a laugh. “was I right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” scar rubs his eyes, looking up at grian.

“you nightmare.” grian smiles at him.

“please, i’m a dream!” scar grins lopsidedly. “you love me!”

“he doesn’t love you enough to be quieter when I tell him you’re about to wake up.” mumbo says.

“oh, i’m so offended, g!” scar puts a hand on his chest dramatically.

“i’ve seen you sleep through everything!” grian protests. “I assumed you weren’t a light sleeper!”

“so you’re saying you’ve slept with me a lot?” scar smirks.

grian smacks his arm with the back of his hand, and scar laughs. “scar!”

“what? I was just asking a question!” scar says innocently.

“menace.” grian grins at him.

“scar, I can’t think of many people with a dirtier mind than you.” mumbo says, starting to braid his hair again.

“oh, you must have completely missed ren and doc last season.” scar says. “they put me to shame, I tell you.”

“I think i’m glad I missed them.” mumbo says. “you’re bad enough.”

“your tiny hat was the best part of the season.” grian says, cackling as scar protests.

“it was not tiny! I had a massive hat!”

“not at the start.” mumbo says, laughter in his voice.

“it was a very sweet little hat.” grian says.

“you guys suck.” scar says, heat in his face.

grian reaches a hand down and essentially cups scar’s cheek, tracing along his scars with his thumb. “your scars all stand out when you blush.” is all the explanation he gives.

“oh.” scar can’t really manage much else.

“scar,”

“mm?”

“why are you an elf this season?” mumbo asks.

“well, why were you all ‘peace love ‘n pants’ last season? it’s fun!” mumbo looks sceptical and scar adds, “and I know you guys like my hair.”

“I still think we should have made you wear an elf hat.” grian says absentmindedly, hand now running through scar’s hair.

“I still think we shouldn’t have given you control over the tv.” mumbo mutters.

“well, I think I shouldn’t have given grian the gingerbread bowl.” scar says. “are there any left?”

both mumbo and grian go quiet at that. but it’s not really the guilty kind of silence (though it is partially), it’s something.. almost embarrassed. shy, scar thinks.

“that’s a no.” scar decides.

“well,” is grian blushing? he looks like he’s blushing. “there are two left.”

grian’s hands move from where they were stroking scar’s hair to pick up the bowl. scar sits up to see the cookies that he decorated placed carefully at the bottom of the otherwise empty bowl—the ones of mumbo and grian.

“we, ah. didn’t want to eat them.” mumbo admits. “we felt bad.”

“aw, you guys.” scar grins, a rush of warmth in his chest. he wants to hold them close and never let them go. “you’re so cute.”

grian laughs and blushes, but mumbo looks even more nervous.

“I should. um.” he’s looking down. “I should tell you guys something.”

scar frowns. “are you okay?”

“do we need to hide a body?” grian adds.

“it- i’m fine, and. no bodies need to be hidden.” mumbo is speaking haltingly, like he’s trying to find the right words. “I just, um. well, i’ve been meaning to tell you guys something for- for a long time. but, I don’t know, I was scared?”

he looks up, and there’s something apprehensive behind his eyes. scar can’t help worrying—is he alright?

“scared?” grian asks gently.

“I didn’t know if i’d.. if i’d muck it all up, if I told you.” mumbo says. “and I honestly don’t know why i’m telling you now.” he gives a chuckle. “I suppose I don’t want to.. keep you in the dark, maybe.”

scar’s voice seems to be stuck in his throat.

“and, you know, avoid me until the day we die if I have mucked it up.” mumbo says, a touch of humour to his words. “but, um. I love you. both of you. a great deal, i’d say.”

scar might be gaping at mumbo, mind reeling. mumbo loves him, loves them. and all this time, scar was chiding himself for even hoping for this, for imagining something that could be-

mumbo clears his throat, and scar zones back in to see mumbo’s expression turned to something reserved and hidden. he doesn’t know, scar can’t believe it, he doesn’t know how much scar loves him.

“and based on your expressions, I have misjudged.” he chuckles again. but now it’s only to fill the silence. “sorry, I shouldn’t-“

“mumbo,” grian’s voice interrupts. “I love you too, you idiot.”

scar is suddenly aware with how much hope he had that grian might feel the same way about him, but of course he doesn’t, of course-

“and, um. well if we’re doing confessions, scar-“

scar looks over at him, chest full of an almost desperate want.

“I love you too.” grian smiles, nervous.

“oh.” scar breathes, and both mumbo and grian look- they look so nervous. “i- this isn’t a prank, right?”

mumbo manages a grin. “definitely not.”

“how- how long?” scar asks.

“god, scar,” mumbo half laughs. “season seven, at least.”

grian nods along with him, face flushed. “at least since the desert.”

“you mean- this whole time i’ve been worrying myself silly, and you-“ scar pauses, taking in the realisation. “you wanted me? too?”

“i- well, I don’t know if you’ve met yourself,” grian says. “but you’re a very wantable person.”

“um, to- to clarify, do you.. feel the same?” mumbo asks hesitantly.

“yes, of course i do! you two saw those cookies-“ he points at the gingerbread men. “-and didn’t realise? i’ve done my own fair share of staring, i’ll have you know.”

“you heard that?” mumbo looks mortified.

“well, i didn’t realise what it meant until right now, but-“

“oh gosh.” mumbo buries his face in his hands, and scar laughs. something unclenches in his stomach as he does.

“if it’s any consolation, mumbo,” grian is blushing as he says it. “I have also spent most of my time staring at both of you.”

“that- that arguably makes it worse!” mumbo’s voice pitches higher. “because now I know that every time I was like ‘no they can’t have been looking, I just want them to have been looking’, you actually were!”

“I cannot believe neither of you knew you liked each other when you basically almost kissed earlier.” grian says.

it’s scar’s turn to blush now. “you- wh- that was noticeable?”

“yes, it was noticeable, you spoon.” grian says. “why didn’t you? it’d have cleared this up faster.”

“well, I didn’t want to intrude.” scar says meekly.

“‘intrude’?” mumbo looks up, pink in the face. “on what?”

“you two, of course.” scar says. “I was under the impression that you two liked each other—because it was fairly obvious, I must say—and I didn’t want to get in the way!”

“you thought-“ grian splutters. “you- as if we- scar!”

“what? I didn’t know!”

“how?” mumbo half laughs. “we were attached to you at any given moment.”

“I just thought that’s how you were!” scar exclaims.

“I- well I guess, specifically around you guys.” grian says.

“you can hardly blame me then!” scar says.

mumbo grins. “it’s a shame you’re so handsome, scar, otherwise we wouldn’t have confused you by falling in love with you immediately.”

scar blushes and grian cackles.

“it’s so much better now you know.” scar says. “‘cause now you know i’m not just an idiot, i’m just an idiot around you guys.”

“ah, well, you’re our idiot now.” mumbo wraps an arm around his waist.

“doed that mean i’m allowed to kiss you?” scar says, looking up at mumbo from where he’s leant up against him.

mumbo turns beet red and stammers something before landing eloquently on, “you- I mean- definitely, yes.”

scar smiles, something gentle and smug at the same time, and presses his lips against mumbo’s. the kiss is short and chaste, but scar feels like his heart is going to burst all the same. his lips are soft and warm, and scar could just about die.

he moves back and laughs at mumbo’s incredibly flustered expression.

“are you alright?” he grins.

“very.” mumbo says. “very very alright.”

“I hope I get a turn soon.” grian says.

when scar turns to him, his cheeks are flushed and he looks almost shy, though determined.

“oh, of course.” scar winks, and moves closer.

grian is the one who closes the gap, and scar can’t help smiling into the kiss as he feels grian’s hand against his cheek. his chapped lips rub against scar’s, and he can’t help thinking the feeling suits grian remarkably well.

“I knew your lips would be soft, but jeez.” grian says when they move apart.

“right?” mumbo agrees.

“what do you mean you knew?” scar’s face is hot.

“it wasn’t just your eyes I was staring at, scar.”

“oh.” scar could explode.

“anyway, mumbo come kiss me.” grian says.

“gladly.”

by morning, the cookies are eaten, and mumbo has a newfound appreciation for the muppets after grian and scar took it in turns to kiss him every time he complained about the movie. they ended up sleeping on the sofa, sprawled across it, limbs and bodies tangled in the blankets, hearts intertwined.

the hermits delight in teasing them, grumpily exchanging diamonds they bet on who’d confess first—no one expected mumbo, to his indignance. the news spreads alarmingly fast to the members of the life games, who all are very happy for them and agree that mumbo was not the person they expected to make the first move.

(in the end, they put the plastic mistletoe to good use. but that’s not for the others to know.)

#mumscarian #redscape #mumscar #scarian #grumbo #why does mumbo/scar have two names I will never understand #no wait it has three #scarbo #when I get polls i’m gonna make one on which name ppl actually use and only use that one #anyway I love them #christmas #<-Very Late but shhhh #hoax writes #i’m actually so proud that I finished this omg #will be on ao3 later and probably more edited at that point lmao

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sunofaraven · 3 months

Note

What inspired Love Death + Grumbot?

Sorry for sitting on this ask for so long! This was a way harder question to answer than I anticipated, and I apologise in advance for the very long post XD

I started working on LD+G back in January 2023, just after the end of the Hermitcraft/Empires crossover event. I had just finished writing Soulbound, my first fic, and I was itching to start another. And... I was missing Mumbo. Grian was missing him too and Emperor Grumbot was ready to destroy a whole universe just because Mumbo wasn't in it; I was defenceless against the "I miss Mumbo" brainrot.

The initial idea for LD+G was more of a gritty, steampunk, two dudes and their cryptic robot son against the world thing. I wanted to write an apocalypse fic (I've actually got several original novels that are apocalypse/dystopian novels--I am only a little addicted to the genre...), and Cub was doing his whole sculk thing on empires, so it seemed as good a cause for an apocalypse as anything else. You can see all this in the very first notes I ever made for the fic:

But, see, I LOVE zombies. I blame The Last of Us. I'd spent 2022 trying to play through the second game and getting frustrated with its cynical take on the world. It just doesn't feel believable to me that humanity would be at each other's throats. Sure, people are scared and impulsive, but it takes a lot for the average human to hurt another. Our strengths lie in our adaptability and how we support each other in times of need!!

Anyway, once I veered away from steampunk and started down the zombie route, a big inspiration for some of the characters was Hybbart's Rancher Apocalypse AU (I blame them entirely for my Ranchers obsession tbh). They also had some pretty fun ideas about the role of sculk in an apocalypse, and since I come from a biology background, the opportunity to have a symbiosis between zombies and sculk was just SO much fun for me.

So then, why did it become a story about grief? Well... I felt pretty trapped in my personal life at the time, so initially LD+G was both a way to process that and some much-needed escapism. I don't remember exactly when or why I decided that Grian was infected, but I do remember writing like I'd been possessed in early 2023. I wrote a whole list of scenes/moments that I wanted it to contain and then the plot just kinda... fell out of me one day.

To be melodramatic about it, I have written a lot of novels in my life, but none that felt so akin to bleeding out on the page as this one did. I needed to write this story, to have a place to channel my emotions as well as my eternal mcyt brainrot. I wasn't mourning a person, exactly, I was mourning my own perceived lack of agency and trying to gather the strength to end a whole chapter of my life and start anew.

So I wrote about love, I wrote about death.

And I wrote about Grumbot.

#Sorry about how chaotic this ended up as - hopefully I answered your question somewhere in there XD #Also shout out to Station Eleven which I watched last summer #it gave me a lot to think about around humanity's relationship between trauma and art #Also also I am totally okay guys - change is hard but I did it and am much happier!!!#Regardless of what I write in the future - LD+G will always hold a special place in my heart #ask #love death + grumbot

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pixiemage · 2 years

Text

Widely accepted Hermitcraft Headcanons I’ve discovered since joining the fanbase last winter:

[ADD MORE IF I MISSED SOME!]

(DISCLOSURE: I’m currently 80% of the way through S7 and I’ve seen Grian’s POV of S6 (and his Evo series) but other that than I haven’t watched other HC seasons. All my knowledge of these comes from what I’ve seen, and Tumblr.)

- Grian has wings. This is an indisputable fact. Sometimes they’re white/gray like elytra, sometimes they’re like parrot wings (S7 Pesky Bird~), but they’re always there somehow. Often he’s also portrayed as a bird hybrid, since the concept of Mob Hybrid Hermits is an exceedingly popular one.

- (Less common addition: Grian is/was a Watcher, something that carried over from his Evo SMP series, though this headcanon is hit or miss depending on who’s drawing/writing him.)

- Mumbo is one of the few totally human people on the server, and half the art I see draws him with redstone dust stains on his clothes. (Also, the occasional headcanon of radiation burns accompanies this.)

- (I’ve also seen Mumbo portrayed as an enderman hybrid due to his height.)

- Stress is technically human, but she’s also a witch. Seen this one a lot, perhaps in relation to her potion shop in S7? Like I said that’s the only season I’ve seen in depth (beyond Grian’s S6) so that’s my only connection lol. But I love it! You need a healer? Go to Stress.

- Doc - of course - is half creeper, which may or may not have a hand in why he’s often morally gray in most HC plots. I often see him drawn as a centaur of sorts as well, with four legs like a creeper has. (Not sure if I love or hate this concept lmao)

- Doc is also part goat, a la S7. Hence the horns we see in like every drawing of him. Amazing.

- Tango is often portrayed as a blaze hybrid, though I’ve also seen him drawn as a kind of demon. The red eyes and fiery color palette work well for both options, though I’m partial to the blaze theory.

- Impulse - though usually drawn as a normal dude - is also sometimes seen as a sort of friendly demon. Not sure if that’s to do with the nickname Tango uses for him - “Impy” - or just the fact that the fans seem to like the idea of Hermits with wings. Though the fact that his first appearance on Hermitcraft involved the other members summoning him in with a summoning circle most definitely adds to this headcanon.

- Zed is a sheep hybrid. I’ve got no friggin’ clue where this one’s from but I’m here for it anyway. (EDIT: I’ve been told it probably has a lot to do with a game show he made during Season 5 called “Is That Sheep Looking At Me?” which sound hysterical and I can’t wait to see what that’s about)

- Scar is a vex hybrid, which is also part of why he was able to use “magic” at the start of Season 7. As far as I know this comes from ConVex, which was a S5 thing, but that’s all I know on the subject.

- (Cub, too, is sometimes a vex hybrid, due to being the other half of ConVex. Though this depends on the artist.)

- Xisuma is a Voidwalker, though I’m not entirely sure what that is. Apparently this is different than a Watcher and (obviously) has something to do with the void, but while I’ve seen this concept in passing in fics, I don’t have a basis for where this came from outside of Xisuma’s username, Xisumavoid. (If anyone can explain this to me I’d appreciate it! It sounds cool even if I don’t fully understand it!)

- I’ve ALSO seen the “Xisuma is a shapeshifter” or “Xisuma is a bee/axolotl/strider hybrid” because of how many different mob-based skins he’s used over the past few seasons.

- Ren is a werewolf or a canine-based shapeshifter. Friggin’ love this idea actually, and I’m never sure if this is solely based on Ren’s name or on something he did in a season I haven’t seen yet, because knowing him he’d totally have a wolfman character somewhere in his repertoire.

- Bdubs - and this is a headcanon I discovered more recently and it makes sense - is a phantom hybrid. He’s so finicky about sleep, and if he’s kept awake during the night he gets in a pissy mood because of it. I don’t see him drawn with any features from phantoms often, but behavioral habits show up in fics a lot. (Though a part of me finds this one funny because it also feels a bit backwards - phantoms are AWAKE at night and Bdubs abhors night time - but hey, maybe phantoms are just trying to kill you because you’re keeping them awake with your late night thoughts lol.)

- xB is often some kind of water creature hybrid, like a guardian or (occasionally, more recently) a glow squid. Super cool concept in my opinion.

- Joe may look human, but he is decidedly not normal. Either he’s some sort of humanoid cryptid, he has undefined psychic abilities, or he’s just in tune with the universe in a way most people aren’t.

#Hermitcraft #Hermitcraft Headcanons #Hybrid Hermits #Hybrids #HC HC

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aslitheryprinx · 2 years

Text

Based on this post by @petrichormeraki

(I really shouldn't be writing this- I need to be working on the chapters for my own story- but I couldn't resist! I think this is also my first official hermitcraft writing... Neat!)

CW: insomnia, mild anxiety, intentionally avoiding sleep

Goodnight, Moon

The "bed-sacrificing" thing was mostly a joke. Not sleeping at all was terrible for your health. So when Mumbo saw the deep bags under Grian's eyes, he was a little concerned.

"Have you not slept at all?" He'd asked Grian in passing once.

"Nope!" The other hermit had chirped, eyes slightly glazed. "Gotta do my part as a mooner!"

"Grian, you know that wasn't-" Mumbo tried to say, but the bird hybrid cut him off.

"Besides, can't research the moon if I'm asleep! I'll see you later, Mumbo!"

And with that, Grian launched himself into the air, using a rocket for speed.

Mumbo sighed. He'd need backup for this.

***

Usually the person missing from a boatem meeting was Mumbo; not this time. Today, Mumbo had been the one to call the meeting, and one mischief making hermit was conspicuously absent.

"Are you sure we should be leaving Grian out of a meeting?" Scar asked, concerned. Pearl and Impulse seconded that.

"It's not about Boatem," Mumbo explained. "It's about Grian."

"How he's not sleeping, right?" Pearl guessed.

Only Scar looked surprised at the news, but he'd been away from Boatem more often than not the past few weeks. He likely hadn't seen how exhausted Grian looked.

"He looks more like a zombie these days," Impulse said. "I tried to get him to take a nap yesterday, but he just brushed me off."

"That sounds pretty bad," Scar said.

"It is," Mumbo said. "Which is why we're here- it's time to stage an intervention!"

"We show up to his house and refuse to leave until he sleeps?" Scar asked.

"We'll tie him to the bed if we have to," said Pearl cheerfully.

***

Grian rubbed at his eyes. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the observatory, peering up into the sky. The sun had set a while ago; the moon should be coming into view soon, even sooner now that it was so massive.

It had been even harder to stay awake today than usual. He'd gotten into a rhythm for a couple of days, was tired a lot less, but today his energy had dipped back down to an all time low.

He'd thought about curling up in bed once or twice, but the rumble of the world always made him resist.

The mooner thing may have been mostly a joke- he knew for a fact the others had still been sleeping even if they'd tossed a bed into the fire- but he wasn't doing this for the mooners.

The moon was getting steadily bigger. Steadily closer. He needed to know what was happening so he could find some way to fix it. He couldn't do that if he was sleeping through the night. He had to do this, for all of their sakes.

A knock at the observatory door startled him. He leaped to his feet. It was likely one of his fellow boatem members, although he'd never had any of them visit the observatory before.

When he opened the door, he froze in shock. The entire Boatem crew was at his door.

"What on earth-?"

"We're staging an intervention!" Mumbo blurted. The other hermit looked nervous, but determined.

"Hello to you too?" Grian said in confusion, before the words actually registered. "Hang on, a what?"

"You're right, he does look bad," he heard Scar whispering to Impulse. He tried not to be offended.

"Grian, you haven't slept in at least a week. Maybe more," Pearl said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well- that's-" Grian stammered. He glanced behind him. Why'd he have to make the observatory with only one exit??

"You need to sleep," Mumbo said, his eyes round with concern.

Grian's wings twitched with anxiety. They didn't get it! He couldn't sleep, he couldn't stop researching. They were all in danger. Sleeping and ignoring his duty to research this was putting him- was putting his friends- at risk!

He glanced up at the opening in the ceiling. He could probably make that...

"Oh no you don't!" Pearl said right as he leaped up. She lunged, managing to grab his ankle as he took off.

"Pearl!" He complained, unable to lift both of them. She was small, but so was he. He might be able to get enough lift with the help of a rocket, but before he could grab one, Mumbo grabbed his other ankle.

"Grian! You're being ridiculous!" He said, exasperated.

Grian sighed and let himself drop. He didn't even hit the floor, Pearl and Mumbo easily catching him. They didn't set him back down, and he crossed his arms, trying not to pout.

Scar and Impulse had come inside and were placing down a bed in the corner of the room. He squirmed a little in the apparent captivity of his friends, nerves bubbling up at the sight of the bed.

"You need to sleep, mister," Scar scolded, pointing a finger at him. He said it lightheartedly, but his brow was furrowed with concern.

"Seriously dude," Impulse said, voice soft with worry. "You look half-dead. You can't keep going like this."

"There has to be a reason you're forcing yourself to stay awake, right?" Pearl asked. "And I know it's not the mooners."

"No," Grian sighed. "But it is because of the moon."

Four expectant faces turned to him, although it was hard to see Pearl and Mumbo since they were still basically carrying him.

"You all know it's been getting bigger. I think it's actually getting closer. Which is really bad, obviously. I need to figure out what's happening so I can fix it!" His voice rose as his frustration built. "And I can't do that if I'm sleeping the night away!"

There was a long silence. For a second Grian thought they might understand, and let him get back to his research. But the concern on their faces didn't vanish.

"Grian," Mumbo said, very softly. "You know we'll help you, right?"

And suddenly Grian felt very foolish.

"There are five of us," Mumbo continued. "You don't have to stay up every single night researching this. We can help. We can all take turns, even."

"Oh," he said, voice small.

His friends exchanged exasperated looks.

"I'll watch the moon tonight," Scar offered. "I'll tell you every single thing I see!"

"You can puzzle it all out in the morning," Impulse said.

"Alright," Grian said weakly. That was pretty reasonable. Honestly, why hadn't he thought of this before?

Mumbo slipped his arms beneath Grian's and lifted. Pearl was lifting up his ankles. It seemed they intended to carry him into bed.

"Do I have no dignity left?" He protested half-heartedly. "Am I not even allowed to walk now?"

In reality, he was so exhausted that he could probably fall asleep now, without even being put to bed. It was embarrassing, but he appreciated it.

"No leg privileges for you!" Pearl teased. He huffed. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

He was placed gently on the bed, and while the idea of sleeping still made him feel tense, the soft sheets were quickly making him relax.

Grian felt the blankets being pulled over him. He opened his eyes, not even realizing he'd closed them. Scar was tucking him in. There was a mischievous grin on the man's face. Grian shot him a glare, but he just grinned wider.

To his surprise, instead of leaving, the rest of Boatem started settling in around him. Scar wheeled over to the center of the observatory. Pearl leaned against the wall, Mumbo sat on the floor, and Impulse actually sat on the edge of the bed.

"Guys?" He mumbled, confused.

"We're not leaving until you're asleep," Pearl informed him.

Grian tried to roll his eyes, but it felt like too much effort. His eyelids were really heavy for some reason.

"Y' don't have to," he murmured sleepily.

"We know," Mumbo said softly, but Grian didn't hear.

After over a week of avoiding it, sleep had finally caught up to him.

Grian drifted off into a peaceful doze, reassured that his friends would be there to help him.

#hermitcraft #hermitcraft writing #boatem #grian #hermitcraft fic #mcyt #mcyt writing

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votederpycausemufins · 3 years

Text

All my knowledge is of hermitcraft and the stuff people have written for the Hermit!Tommy Au but I kept having this idea and needed to write it. I also think i got a bit out of character halfway through because it was supposed to be short, but i vibed with it too much so now it’s long and maybe not 100% accurate but it’s still angst followed by fluff.

also @petrichormeraki wanted me to tag them when i posted this.

Tommy had been with the Hermits for a while now. He hadn’t really kept track of when he first arrived, but it had at least been a few months. Otherwise, time was a mess. The Hermits has all but legally adopted him and all the joy that came from them caring for him made time seem to fly by.

Doc was fun to be around because while Tommy was perfectly fine never going back to the SMP, the way the man acted gave Tommy a small bit of familiarity in a good way to his past life.

He likes hanging out with False, mainly for sparring. Never anything deadly, but even if there wasn’t a need for Tommy to constantly look over his shoulder, it was good to keep from getting too rusty.

He doesn’t really hang out with Zedaph as much as Zedaph hangs out with him. Normally the Hermit would come out of the blue with something new for Tommy to try. Flicking levers over and over for something that would normally be as simple as using a furnace just became fun for Tommy, especially if he had energy pent up.

Xisuma is someone Tommy doesn’t run into much, but the fact that he doesn’t is something Tommy finds comfort in. Even as the server admin, the man is very down to Earth. Nothing like Dream ever was.

And then there’s Grian. Tommy got along with all the Hermits fine and of course there were some he preferred over others, but Grian took the cake for him. When he first showed up, Grian was the one to give him a place to stay at his old hobbit hole. Professor Beaks had been left there and still used to the SMP and scared for his life, Tommy hid the pet bird as leverage for his own safety. When Grian found out, he mostly shrugged it off, but the tens of chickens in the hobbit hole the next day was proof of retaliation.

Tommy didn’t understand the underwhelming response at first, but responded in kind, using the eggs from the chickens Grian had left to egg the Hermit’s base. When the builder nearly broke the door to the hobbit hole, Tommy grabbed his axe, ready to fight for his life, but was taken aback by the cheerful look on Grian’s face.

After that, Grian had practically taken Tommy under his wing. He showed Tommy how to build more effectively with cobble, eventually managing to get the teen to have some variety. Grian also brought Tommy along on his various chaotic endeavors, leaving behind chickens, mycelium, and possibly some missing doors.

The two chaotic red wearing Brits got along so well that they sometimes spent entire weeks together. Because of that, Tommy was all too aware that the Hermits participated in MCC as well.

It made sense. A few of the Hermits vaguely recognised him when he showed up in Hermitcraft and a few of them looked familiar to Tommy. That had made him feel a little safer since now these people weren’t complete strangers, but it did complicate things. Every so often, the portal to MCC would open and the Hermits participating would go through. The closest Tommy would get to the portal was just before the Hermits left, occasionally giving a ‘Good luck Grine!’ or something similar to Grian as he went through. But after that Tommy stayed as far away as he could manage.

The portal there led to MCC. And from there, there was a portal that led to the SMP. If Tommy could get to Hermitcraft, others could too. And that idea was terrifying, no matter who it was. Dream was a worst case scenario, but even if it was Tubbo. Tubbo had exiled him, and even if they were still on good terms after that, Tommy could have visited at some other MCC, but he didn’t, and that idea likely wouldn’t go over well, especially since otherwise, people probably thought he was dead and Tommy didn’t care to correct them.

But compared to all those other times, today was very different. Today Tommy wasn’t at the sidelines to help send off the other Hermits, he was one of the ones being sent off. They had taken every precaution. Mumbo had rebuilt his Spookification chamber for Tommy with some alterations, specifically removing the firework method of alteration. The teen was also dressed for being on a team with Grian as the Cyan Creepers, so his familiar red and white shirt was missing. But under Tommy’s costume, he still kept the chain necklace holding his compass. He refused to part with it, though made sure he would be hard to access to keep from glancing, knowing at the championships, it wouldn’t be spinning wildly anymore.

With a comforting pat on the back from Grian, he and the other Hermits walked through the portal. The crowd of people that were on the side almost immediately overwhelmed Tommy, making him think that it was a bad idea all over again, but the sight of the two other team members for the Cyan Creepers reassured them, especially as they lined up for the cameras for some fun and silly times. Then once the games began, he was too focused on winning to think of much else.

Before long, the championships were over. They had come in fifth, which was a bit disappointing at first, but on the other hand, it was still pretty good and kept the spotlight off of him. When dodgebolt began, Tommy stood next to Grian, but with a crowd of people, a good game, and no perfect place to sit, the both of them wandered for a better vantage point.

At one point, Tommy managed to push his way right up to the edge of the viewing ledge. It was the perfect place for a while until the action moved, causing everyone to decide it was the perfect place. Enough people moved nearby that Tommy was worried about falling into the pit below, and he almost did before someone pulled him back.

Tommy was ready to thank whichever Hermit or even other player helped him but the words died in his throat when he faced the person who grabbed him. He knew that mask and neon green color. And there was no reason for him to help Tommy unless-

“I finally found you!” Dream spoke. He raised his voice to be heard over the crowd, but not too much to draw the attention of others. Tommy froze as he definitely heard the words. But there was no way for Dream to know, he didn’t look at all like normal.

“I-I’m sorry.” Tommy tried not to stutter, hoping just the situation of being grabbed would excuse it. “But I don’t think I’m who you’re looking for. I’m new here. Unless you’re greeting me for being new.” It was something he prepared before in his mind after Grian brought up the possibility, but it felt sloppy putting it to use.

“Oh don’t lie Tommy. I know it’s you. I guess you got lost, but it’s okay, you can come back now. I got rid of the exile for you. Aren’t you glad?”

Tommy was glad for the mask that covered Dream’s face. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see Dream’s actual expression. “How did you-” He started to speak, but Dream cut him off, poking Tommy’s chest, right where the compass was.

“Weren’t you paying attention to the teams? Tubbo got put with me. And between games he just happened to glance at his own compass. And wouldn’t you know it, it led me right here.” Dream held up the compass that belonged to Tubbo. It looked damaged, and it was recent. Tubbo likely didn’t want to give the tyrant admin the compass, but lost it to Dream anyway.

“Give that back to Tubbo!” Tommy shouted at Dream, trying to snatch it from him.

“Feisty now, aren’t you? We can take care of that when you come back. I’ll also give it back to him if you come with me.”

Tommy froze. There was no way he was going back, but what could he do? Everyone was focused on dodgebolt, and he didn’t want his appearance to have caused more trouble for Tubbo.

Tommy glanced at the crowd one last time before reluctantly nodding. Dream grabbed his hand in a painful clench and dragged him out of the crowd towards the SMP’s portal to leave. However, just before reaching it, Dream stopped. Tommy, who had been looking back at the crowd, hoping someone would see what was going on, turned towards the portal to see Grian standing in front of it.

“Heya, where do you think you’re going. MCC isn’t over yet. Dodgebolt it still going on.”

Tommy expected Dream to just push past Grian or even give some sort of retort, but the actual reply was shocking. “Uh, n-no, just… have to head back early. Th-the game delays made things run over. A-and we’ve got to get b-back for… something else. Don’t w-want to be late for that.”

Dream’s words made Tommy so shocked he forgot to breathe. Dream was scared, no he was terrified. And he was terrified… of Grian. Tommy looked back at the Hermit who stood unflinching in front of them.

“Really? I could have sworn that you were here when I arrived, and that kid wasn’t. And he definitely came from a different portal. I know since I was keeping my eye out for my teammates. So why’s he going with you?”

“I uh…” Dream struggled, struggled, to give an answer, letting Grian continue. “That’s what I thought. C’mon kid, let’s go back to the crowd. You can stay with me until it’s over then I’ll help you find your portal back.”

And Grian took Tommy away without any retaliation from Dream. Tommy was left in awe. Grian wasn’t even an admin in Hermitcraft but Dream was terrified of him. It was amazing! But at the same time, it made Tommy spiral a bit.

When everyone returned, Grian had made sure Dream left before the Hermits and Tommy did so Dream couldn’t watch Tommy leave. Tommy stuck to False’s side as they walked through the portal, Grian being the last to come through as he continued to act as a guard. When he tried to comfort Tommy after his run-in with Dream, he understood when the teen responded he just wanted to go home. The championships were exhausting enough without a scare like that.

The next day, Tommy hung out with False. And then Zedaph, and then Doc. Grian noticed immediately, but didn’t pay much mind to it. He noticed since Tommy had spent a full week only hanging out with him, so the sudden absence of the boy was noticeable, but it made sense that he would want to hang out with the others.

After that, Grian didn’t pay too much attention to the lack of Tommy until he ran into him while stocking the barge. Tommy had been buying something at the store when Grian flew in. He nearly dropped his diamonds in trying to leave in such a hurry that it finally concerned Grian. The builder started visiting other Hermits Tommy tended to visit and ask about him. No one really noticed much other than Tommy dodging any questions about him possibly going to hang out with Grian.

Grian decided to leave it alone, and he was definitely going to, but after another run in with Tommy, he threw that decision out the window. Grian normally wouldn’t have done this, but after trying multiple times to just talk to Tommy and being unsuccessful, the builder had to essentially corner the teen.

Immediately, Grian regretted it. Tommy was trembling, obviously scared, holding a sword in his hand. He carefully tried to point out that Tommy didn’t need to have his sword out, but instead of just putting it away, Tommy just threw it on the ground, also throwing down his other gear. Grian had heard of Tommy doing this before with the other Hermits, so he immediately recognised what was going on and dived to grab the gear. It scared Tommy more, but Grian wanted to make sure nothing ended up destroyed.

“Tommy, calm down, I just want to talk. Did I do something wrong? I mean, obviously I must have, you look scared out of your mind every time I’m around you. But I can’t think or anything I did and I don’t want this to keep happening. So can I know what’s going on?”

Tommy didn’t speak for a while. He just looked defeated and terrified. Grian called in some of the other Hermits to come help Tommy calm down, though at first it didn’t help. But over time, Tommy finally did stop looking so terrified and they moved to somewhere he would feel less cornered. It took more coaxing after that, but finally, Tommy explained himself.

“He’s scared of you. Dream is… actually scared of you.”

“Yeah, I’ve killed him once or twice. Plus my full name is Lord Grian Dreamslayer, so it’s kind of in the name.” The builder tried to say it as a joke, but it didn’t seem to lighten the mood.”

“He’s the admin and he’s scared of you. And you… I’ve been hanging out with you.”

Grian nodded. “Well yeah, we do fit together well. ...Did he say something at MCC to make you think I didn’t like you?”

Tommy shook his head. “N-No. You’re right, you’re fun to be around. But dream likes… liked messing with me. And tried to train me. And I hang out with you more than I had with him, and I’m more like you. I-If you’re somehow more powerful than him-!” The rest of the words stopped in Tommy’s throat, choking him up. Stress was nearby and gave Tommy a careful hug for comfort, which helped him a little.

Grian waited a little bit for the tension to calm slightly before he spoke. “I don’t know exactly what Dream has done to you. You’ve told us a lot, but you obviously haven’t told us everything, and telling us isn’t the same as experiencing it. But let me tell you that I’m not going to do what he’s done to you. I remember how you were the first day we found you. And I see how you are now- well, how you were a few weeks ago- and I’m happy. Happy because you’ve been happy. You’ve been safe and cared for here and it shows. I don’t want to force you to be anything, I want you to be you. Sure, I’m powerful enough to kill Dream, but I’m not going to use that power on you. I’m only going to use it around you if it’s to keep him away from you.

“And! And! It’s just because of how your server is. Here we can go to the end. We don’t have a set amount of lives. We build massive structures and sell totems for a single diamond each. We fight Withers for fun and make farms with them. We farm just about anything you can think of. And Tommy.” Grian paused, making sure Tommy was paying attention. “You may be from somewhere far off that none of us old Hermits have seen, but now you’re here. And new home or not, that makes you a Hermit too. Sure you can be like me. Or you can be like False or Doc or Scar or Mumbo. But so far, you’ve been pretty you. And that you is a Hermit.”

Tommy took a few moments to process it, but the message seemed to get through to him. With that, Grian stood up with a smile. “Now I get that you probably don’t want to hang around me much right now. It makes sense. Maybe hang out with some other Hermits and learn some new stuff to get your mind off of things. Plus, I also did some talking around looking for you, and got you this.”

Tommy’s eyes practically sparkled as Grian placed down some music discs. He greedily grabbed the treasures and stuffed them in his inventory, looking up just to see Grian flying off. Taking on Grian’s idea, Tommy decided to go with Cleo and try to wrap his head around those armor stands again. While he wasn’t a pro, he did manage to make one scene of the hermits all holding weapons and surrounding an armor stand in lime leather armor. Grian was right. He was a Hermit. And he wasn’t going back. At least, not permanently, he thought, clutching his compass. Maybe, there would even be another Hermit like him.

#hermit!tommy au #hermitcraft #hermitblr #dreamsmp #tommyinnit #grian #mcc #docm77 #falsesymmetry #zedaph #xisuma #dreamwastaken #stressmonster101 #angst and fluff #still not a fan of how dream's persona eminates someone... problematic

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echotunes · 3 years

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Hello hi please give me your thoughts on last life Martyn lore. DUDE I thought he was like, one of the only "good" people on the server, because in the last episode he acted genuinely concerned with Scott about the possibility of a wither on the server, but then BAM! Secret Alliance to ✨the moon✨ (and conveniently Ren)??? Literally none of the Southlanders have a *clue*, I don't even think anyone brought up/noticed how he was missing a life after he came home?? Ohoho I love this man

HELLO ANON. DO YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED (/j but thank you for enabling me)

I'm not sure about the "good" people thing because morality on Last Life is dubious anyway but I do get what you mean, he did seem to have people's best interests at heart mostly. (and also just didn't want Grian to have a Wither because that's bad news for everyone really)

I do have to mention that the Southlanders did notice his life was gone, it was just cut out of some of the POVs. It's in Martyn's and Impulse's, when they're about to do the life trading circle thing

Impulse: Wait, when did Martyn die? Martyn: No, I didn't die, I got cornered. Impulse: Huh? Martyn: Yeah, I got cornered by the fairy fort lot. They basically tried to accuse me of burning down the place and then, yeah. It was basically, they were either gonna kill me or I just give them a life anyway, so I thought rather than causing too much drama and getting into a fight, I just had to give it out. Mumbo: I feel like it would take a lot for me to give my life, actually. Martyn: It was a 3v1 situation. And then they had Cleo lurking around as well, and as you can see, Cleo is now back up to yellow.

So he's obviously just making things up here, but he mentions in his POV that he thought it'd be good not to lie about the fact that the fairy people involved, just cover up the actual reason why he gave them the life. They're then interrupted by Lizzie getting Spooky Scary Skeletons in chat as Scott gives her a Wither skull, and continue their life trading circle, so it ends up not being discussed further.

Anyways! Yes! Martyn lore! There is SO much that I constantly think about. There's his "lore voice"/entity thing that carried over from 3rd Life and his teaser video on Twitter that shows up sometimes and I just. have so many thoughts about it. very long post up ahead

There's the Twitter video, which I was actually just having another look at, and I noticed that--

Long have we waited.. A hunger grows.. Surpass them all.. Take friends for foes.. Live not for others.. Invest in one.. For if they fall Ere will be done!

--abbreviates to LAST LIFE! he gave us the name of the series before it had even started what the hell

Then there's him seeing Ren in session 2:

Sacrifice those that landed Lessons acknowledged Can claim flags among ashes..

not sure about these three lines :( messing around with an anagram solver gave me LAST ACT but i highly doubt that that was intentional. not sure what these are about. they might just be literal but i'm still having a hard time interpreting them. There does seem to be a general theme of the entity wanting Martyn to win Last Life at all costs, "lessons acknowledged" might be about him learning his lession from 3rd Life where he got too attached to Ren and was no longer willing to betray him to win. not sure though

Help another Never doubt

this abbreviates to HAND

When in need Traverse each route

and this to WINTER

so! interesting! huh. (i am so incredibly normal about renchanting duo /lie)

Next, there's him talking to Team BEST in session 4:

Tell a lie.. Sow the seed Undermine Know and free It must be done!

This abbreviates to TSUKI (月 / "moon" in Japanese) and also doubles as the voice telling him to sow doubt among the others, because this is followed by him writing a note to make Tango distrustful of Impulse

At the end of session 4, Ren and Martyn talk with the Lore Filter on screen and do some vaguely cryptic roleplaying. Notable quotes are "The dog, the shadow, the roots. We make this place burn." and "They will feel it all under the eye of the moon." The dog is obviously Ren, the shadow might be Lizzie, and I suppose the roots might be Martyn? because inthelittlewood? tree? plant? roots? I don't know this one is a bit of a stretch and I'm not entirely sure what he's talking about here but it sure is a thing that he says. And then the other quote is another moon thing!

Next session, Jimmy steals Martyn's life during the Southlands' trading circle thing, and the entity shows up while Martyn is chasing Jimmy:

FORGET THE RULES THE OPPORTUNITY RETRIEVE IT NOW THE REST WILL AGREE END THIS BETRAYAL DO NOT LET HIM ESCAPE!!!

don't see any code in here, and I think this one was pretty literal anyway - get his life back by any means necessary, or kill Jimmy so he can't have it. That seems in line with how the entity has acted so far - win Last Life at all costs.

One interesting thing is also the fact that his lore filter shows up for no reason when Scar puts him in a hole underground while telling the Southlanders about his soul shop and it seems so unnecessarily cryptic?? why is the Lore Screen on you are sitting in a dirt hole sir

He also has some fun robes for the Shadow Alliance that he's now secretly a part of! would you look at that! what's that on the back?

IT'S THE MOON KANJI 月 AGAIN!

and then the last, and perhaps most interesting, instance of the lore voice is at the very end of Martyn's episode 5:

Why do you linger so? You wish to join the Shadow? [white jack-o-lantern face and fire appear on screen] Boo! (evil laughter) A DEMONSTRATION IS IN ORDER LIGHTS EXTINGUISH BEGIN THE SLAUGHTER OUR WILL BE DONE!

genuinely what the fuck does this mean. ok, breaking it down.

"why do you linger so? you wish to join the shadow?" the entity wants to know why he's hesitating to join the fairy people. this doesn't make sense, though! he already has joined them! what are you on about! unless this about fully leaving the Southlands in order to join the fairy people? but that'd just be a bad move tactically since he's currently acting as a double agent for them to spy on the Southlands so I really have no idea

the jack-o-lantern face, the fire, and the "boo!" are probably just to scare him. jack-o-lanterns and "boo" fit together. fire is scary. there's already some weird shit going on with fire this season (invisible fire, green fire, Mumbo glitching to still be on fire post-lava death, all that fun stuff). the evil laughter is just concerning

and then the text is in all caps and i have NO CLUE what it's about. "a demonstration is in order - lights extinguish - begin the slaughter" WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THERE!

and then there's "our willl be done!" which just lines up. so far we've had "ere will be done" (which makes no sense grammatically but was probably in part because there needed to be an E at the end for the LAST LIFE abbreviation), "it must be done", "our will be done"

And there's 3rd Life, too! We had a couple instances of the lore voice in that as well, and in 3rd Life, they seemed more active (and spoke in plural, notably).

"It is not yet your time Green one.." when his life flashed before his eyes when the house on Monopoly Mountain exploded

(a lot of differently pitched voices overlaid) "It's time. Get him, zombies! Here he goes!" during the Battle of the Red Desert when some husks pushed him into lava

"Reluctant to fall Eager to rise Answer our call When next you rest your eyes.." after he died to the skeleton chasing the banner

"After every winter There comes a spring The banners burn The songbirds sing Vanquish them all Then ally with none This is our call Our will, be done" after he died to Impulse during the battle at Skizz Point and went red

"We are not pleased... Change is in order Our will be DONE!" after his death in the Battle of Dogwarts

So, what do we take from this? Well, the 3rd Life voice(s) spoke in less code, and seemed to want him to go red so he could do their bidding, which in turn seemed to be winning 3rd Life.

We don't know who this entity(/entities?) is and we don't know why they want Martyn to win this series so badly.

Notably, they want this at all costs in both seasons - in 3rd Life, they wanted him to end Red Winter ("after every winter there comes a spring", "the songbirds sing") and betray his allies ("the banners burn", "vanquish them all then ally with none") to win, and in Last Life, they want him to win ("surpass them all"), not focus on allies ("take friends for foes", "live not for others"), and generally win and have as many lives possible at all costs ("FORGET THE RULES").

...And then he gives a life to Ren in Last Life. That doesn't line up at all, does it? Of course, he might just want to get the fairy people to trust him, but it also does genuinely feel like he's trying to be loyal to them. He's betraying the Southlands for them and gave them one of his lives - which the lore entity is bound to dislike! As I just said, they didn't like his alliance with Ren in 3rd Life, urged him to either get that life back from Jimmy or ignore the rules and kill him, and generally want Martyn to win at all costs. So I hardly think they'd approve of him giving one of his precious lives away - especially not to Ren of all people.

And then at the end of the episode, he's evidently being threatened and/or shown horrible things - as a punishment for giving away the life, maybe? He's defied the entity in both 3rd Life (by not betraying Dogwarts) and Last Life (by giving one of his lives to Ren), and both times involved Ren. So I'm very interested to see where that's going to lead.

I'm not entirely sure about all this - you've very much just enabled me to ramble about Martyn lore and make theories as I go along - but I really do think that I might be onto something here. cc!Martyn did say we would find out who the entity is this season. We'll figure stuff out eventually. But it's all absolutely fascinating to me and if anyone else wants to talk to me about this stuff, please please do because I absolutely love taking this apart

#mcyt #last life smp #inthelittlewood #llsmp #last life spoilers #echo.txt #text #echo.asks #anon #itlw lore tag #life series

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kozzax · 3 years

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so recently the folks over at @petrichormeraki have been working on a silent tommy au because of a few asks talking about mute!tommy. and one of the things that’s canon in that au is the fact that xisuma is the only mortal hermit. i took this as free reign to work out why each of the other hermits is immortal. some of them are gods, some of them are demigods, some of them are supernatural beings, but none of them (except xisuma) can be killed through feasible means.

because of the sheer amount of immortal hermits there just to live out immortality in peace, i like to think hermitcraft is sometimes referred to jokingly as ‘the retirement zone’ by other immortal beings. most mortals outside of hermitcraft wouldn’t know the hermits are all like... gods and shit.

hermits + their immortality under the cut because oh god this was supposed to be a fast post but i accidentally wrote... a lot. whoops!

Grian is a watcher. He was a watcher before he joined hermitcraft. That’s... just. Canon Grian Lore TM. Not much to explain with him.

Cleo and Joe are both immortal by virtue of no longer being capable of being mortal. As both of hem are undead beings (cleo a zombie and joe a ghost), killing them again isn’t... possible. In addition to this, at some point during their afterlife, they managed to gather enough power between the two of them to be labelled as the “Twin Gods of Life and Death”. Which one is life and which one is death? That depends on the day.

Cub and Scar are definitely not gods. But the deals the two made with the Vex are almost more of an insurance on their immortality. The Vex protect their ConVex as a dragon protects its hoard. Not only can the two of them hold their own in a fight, but their respawn is insured by the fact that even if they were to permadie, the Vex would bring them back anyways.

False is the Queen of Hearts, Heads, and Body Parts. She’s also a vampire. In a similar vein, Ren is a werewolf. Both of them can only be killed through very specific means, and neither can die of old age. Throughout their many years in the worlds, they’ve gathered tons of skills and allies. Although now they’ve both stepped down, content to enjoy their peaceful lives and chill out in Hermitcraft, each of them was once a ruler of their respective factions. The ‘queen’ part of False’s title was never just a title.

Etho was granted immortality by a council of gods, after they took a liking to his interesting antics and kept an eye on his longstanding worlds.

Doc, BDubs, Beef, and Etho (again) were all brought to Hermitcraft as the last ‘mortal’ members to join. The general idea was that maybe they could give Xisuma some company and relief from the antics of his immortal and godly friends. This did not happen. Instead, the universe decided it was going to give all of them godly powers in their own right. Etho himself may have been immortal, but he and the rest of the NHO all grew infinitely more powerful after leaving the jungle of season 5.

Stress is a dryad. She can control and warp the nature around her in strange and beautiful ways. In addition to this, were her body to ever get fully destroyed in a way that would prevent her from respawning, a new body would instead form for her out of the nature wherever she died. This is how ice queen stress came about in season 6.

Impulse actually bullshitted his own way into immortality. Where most of the other hermits were either brought into it by someone else or born into it, Impulse actually discovered the secret of immortality while he was trying to figure out how totems of undying were made. He now knows how to create totems and how to become immortal, though he won’t tell anyone else if they ask. Part of the process of creating totems involved...

...Tango, who is a demon. As a demon, his powerset includes but is not limited to both pyrokinesis and an affinity for very very large and very very deadly animals. He doesn’t use those abilities on Hermitcraft often, but they’re in his skillset for sure.

As a byproduct of the immortality, Zedaph showed up in the current timeline. His immortality is... strange, because it’s not technically immortality. Zedaph, as a person, is mortal and can die. Zedaph, as a being, though, is one of billions of Zedaphs in the universe; each of whom is nearly identical to the others; and whenever one Zedaph dies, he is replaced instantly with a new Zedaph; a functionally identical Zedaph to the one who died. Nobody’s quite sure how this process works, but Zed claims it’s through “time travel”.

Jevin, as a slime, can actually inhabit any portion of his slime that he wants; no matter how small the amount. Even if he were limited to one singular molecule of slime, he could still exist around that molecule and regenerate slime until he was fully present again, though it might take a little while for him to complete that process. The only way to kill Jevin is by fundamentally altering the chemical makeup of every single molecule of slime he’s ever had anywhere. It simply won’t happen. He does use his abilities to get out of conversations, if he’s feeling particularly annoyed at the time.

TFC is potentially one of the most interesting hermits, in his prior responsibilities. It’s easy to forget that he’s not mortal, considering how frighteningly average he acts in his day to day life. One peek into any of his bunkers, though, and you’re hit right in the face with a bold reminder. TFC used to be one of the gods responsible for shaping the very worlds players would walk on; more specifically, he was in charge of cave systems and mineshafts for a long time. He’s retired from that life and is having a lovely time in Hermitcraft, just vibing.

Wels gained his immortality through a deal with the patron god of the kingdom he grew up serving. He made this deal as a young knight and watched for decades as the kingdom grew and prospered, Wels himself known far and wide as quite probably the best warrior of them all. After being dismissed honorably by the kingdom, as he’d been protecting them for many decades now and the rulers honestly felt he deserved a break, the god he’d made a deal with finalized this immortality. He joined Hermitcraft not long after, and has taken up a spot doing his part to protect the hermits.

Iskall was somewhat of an enforcer, for the gods. Were a god to be acting particularly out of line, Iskall would be called in to bring them to the council for trial. Sometimes his targets came peacefully, sometimes he’d have to use force to bring them in. No matter what he had to do, there wasn’t a single target he missed. He both can and will kill a god if he must. Technically, Iskall’s still on call, but generally councils don’t call on him unless absolutely necessary anymore.

Hypno made a deal with a god many years ago, trading his mortality for the ability to see hundreds of thousands of alternate paths for the future. He wanted to chronicle them, and he still spends one or two days a week writing out winding paths of the future. When he’s not working, he wears his bandana to cover up the third eye that allows him this insight. This helps him focus on the now, rather than the futures that may or may not be.

Xb is an eldritch being with reality warping abilities. He has them under fairly good control, most of the time. They really only become an issue when he gets too much pent-up magical energy at once; examples of this being things like season changes. His season 7 base is built around what happens when he needs to release. It’s a post apocalypse world, and the apocalypse was him.

Mumbo is definitely both magical and immortal, but the specifics of his powers are incredibly unclear. The hermits know it has something to do with redstone, maybe, and that the unpredictability of Hermit Challenges are a reflection of his strange and confusing powerset, but nobody’s really sure where his immortality stems from. Every time you ask him he gives you a different answer. The mumbonis are all different joking theories as to where his powers came from.

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callmecyan · 3 years

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First time doing something like this so here we go I guess?

Hermittober Day 1 - Wings

List by @/ink-ghoul

Since I don’t know how to draw I decided to write! I have some headcanons at the end so ye :D

It was the start of a new season, season 7, saying he was excited wouldn't even be close to describe how he was feeling. Grian was so, so happy and excited, it's like the last season was all a dream he had, a good dream, he couldn't believe it was real. He was here, he's part of hermitcraft, he is a hermit. And it's awesome, just like when Mumbo told him that Xisuma wanted to talk to him, that he got invited there.

He was so nervous the first season, even when he was at the war, even when he was the one who started it, he was so scared that he could be stepping over a line. But god it was so much fun, and everyone was so nice.

He was living in the jungle now, with other hermits as his neighbors, Scar, Mumbo, Stress and Iskall. And it was amazing, as much as he had to get used to mining and grinding again, he loved it, he felt like as the season kept going everyone would focus more and more on their own individual big projects, that this beginning was nice, he would see the others quite a lot and they would chat and help each other and it was just amazing.

Something he found out is that the meetings they would have, that he thought were monthly meetings just so X could see how everyone was doing, were way more frequent at the beginning of the seasons. So everyone could talk about their plans, if they needed help with anything, plan mining sessions together, or even to just chat about anything, and of course for X to check on them. At first he thought it would be a bit awkward since he really didn't really knew much about all the things they had on hermitcraft or even knew anyone besides Mumbo, but they proved him wrong once again, everyone was so nice to him and he even remember the hermits ‘fighting’ to see who would get introduced first, who would show him around etc.

They decided to meet up where the shopping district would be, he directed himself to the center of the island where he could already hear some of the voices. As he got closer Mumbo and Scar were the first one to notice him and they started waving at him, he wasn't the last one to appear, some people were still missing from the messages he saw on the communicator.

He placed himself between Mumbo and Scar as he greeted everyone. He could feel Scar looking at him, so he looked up with a questioning look

‘'What's up?’’ Scar seemed a bit embarrassed, and he could feel some of the hermits looking at him too.

‘‘Uh- just- uh your wings? They- it's not purple anymore?’’ and he finally realised ‘oh’.

He could feel Mumbo holding a laugh at his side and he could feel himself blushing a bit out of embarrassment, he put a hand on his neck

‘‘Yeah, I- uh I kinda forgot to tell you guys this is actually my bad. But my wings change whenever I’m in a new smp, world or somewhere that I wasn't before. You can say they kinda ‘adapt’ themselves into what I’m doing and working on basically, its weird really, not even I understand much of it I just got used to it’’

‘‘So’’ - False started, and he could see how the others were curious but probably afraid to ask, maybe scared of offending him accidentally?- ‘‘Do you know why they were purple before? Or you like- you don't know the reasons?’’

‘‘Uh it depends really, like how I said most of it I can try and break it down to why they would look like that, but it's never something certain’’ - he was trying to figure out how to explain things in a way that, hopefully, would help the others understand- ‘‘I think they were that purple color so it could look like an Elytra, I mean it was basically the first time I found out and even had contact with one, and I don't know, maybe because i really didn't know any of you guys? So it was kinda the way my wings found to ‘fit in’ I guess? So they would be similar to everyone else?’’ - as he looked at the others he could see how they were thinking about it, probably processing everything he said or trying to understand his explanation.

‘‘Knew’’ He heard Xisuma saying, he looked over to the admin and he could tell he was smiling.

Grian made a confused sound, he heard other hermits laughing a bit and he heard Mumbo saying under his breath ‘‘oh my god’’

‘‘You said you didn't know any of us, but you do now. You’re part of the hermits, you are part of the family now’’

‘‘Yeah’’ he felt Scar putting a arm over his shoulders and basically giving him a side hug ‘‘you dont troll someone with a zombie spawner on the first day of the season if you ‘dont know’ them’’

He couldn't help but laugh ‘‘aw c'mon Scar it was funny, you can't hold that against me the entire season’’.

He saw Scar putting his other hand under his chin as he pretended like he was considering this possibility ‘‘hmmmm nope! I think i can do that’’

After that everyone started laughing and the meeting continued, with a lot of them asking about his wings, how they look in other places, and it was fun, it was home, and he's so happy to be part of this family.

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Some of my headcanons around the wings

Grian - his wings, as said, change depending on where he is. For example if he goes on somewhere his wings already ‘adapted’ themselves then they change to that.

Season 6: light purple wings, similar to the elytra color.

Season 7: parrot wings, the red ones with the yellow and blue details.

Season 8: a very dark blue very similar to black.

Creative worlds: white fluffy wings.

Watchers: he had two pairs of wings, in a darker purple.

Stress - unlike Grian, she can't ‘carry’ the wings outside of Hermitcraft, its a specific thing from Hermitcraft. Like when players have specific skins to specific smps? If that makes sense?

Stress wings are bug themed unlike Grian who has bird ones.

Season 6: dragonfly wins, with very soft light blue and pink.

Season 7: blue morpho butterfly.

Season 8: cicada wings with green and the golden-ish color.

#its been a while since i wrote so sorry if its bad #InksHermittober #hermitcraft #grian #writing

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hermitcraftheadcanons · 3 years

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Scattered AU Conclusion

To tie up the Scattered AU, I have written a short conclusion. I can't even express how much I've enjoyed working with all of you on this, and once again I have to say I've been absolutely blown away by the number of contributions there were. I am so happy that this idea was loved, and I hope all of you continue to take joy from it even after the official end of the event. Once again, thank you.

I tried to cover as many Hermits as I could here, but my energy ran out partway through. Feel free to add on an ending for anyone I've missed. Also, it's worth mentioning that this conclusion is not the only possible ending and does not overwrite any other endings submitted for the AU. This universe is a multi-branched thing, and the timeline of the story is flexible depending on what makes you happy. With that being said, I hope you enjoy this small effort to keep up with all your boundless creativity. 💙

After a long discussion, the Hermits decide to stay in the season 8 world instead of starting a new one. They will take this broken wreck of a place and turn it into something beautiful, just like they have every season. They will heal alongside the world they created, fixing what glitches remain as they support each other and make their best effort at recovery.

Impulse settles in the desert, with Tango and Zedaph close by him. The hot air stings his transformed body, but he is more than done with water for now. Maybe one day he will return to it - but not this season. For now, he keeps the air in his base humid, learns to build with sandstone, and invites his friends over often. Sometimes they talk about the things they all went through, but mostly, they just talk about all the normal things friends talk about. How their day went, what might be causing Tango's latest farm to malfunction, how Zed is going to pull off his next wild plan... they're just glad to have each other back. They're just happy to not have to be alone and afraid anymore.

Cleo is rezombified with the help of Joe, Stress, and False, as soon as they can manage it. Nobody really understands why she wants that, but no-one really needs to - it's her choice. It's what she needs to feel whole again. Seeming vital and normal to the outside world is not nearly as important to her as being herself is, and the others are glad to see her back to her former undead glory. Returned to her familiar form, she laughs and jokes in a way much more alive than she ever seemed when her heart was actually beating.

Jevin keeps every single axolotl he found on his and X's journey through the caves. His mind returned slowly back to normal after Xisuma fixed the plugins, and focusing on the adorable creatures helped him to control the lingering aggressive tendencies as he recovered. Now, when another Hermit seems to be having a hard time, he'll let them borrow an axolotl to take care of until they feel better. It helps to ground them and give them a sense of control, and reminds them all how lucky they are to be alive in this strange, updated world.

Scar struggled. For a long time after the events of the early season, he struggled. He claimed he could control this new level of Vex power, but more and more, he felt as though he was being subjected to it rather than using it. He could feel himself slipping more and more every day, and it scared him, so much that he couldn't even say anything...but the others noticed. Cub's own connection to the Vex told him that this wasn't a sustainable way for Scar to live. Together with Mumbo, he formed a plan. Using Mumbo's new Evoker power, they summoned the Vex that was controlling Scar and broke its hold. Scar is more vulnerable to deals with the Vex now, and it will be a long time before he can visit the End again without feeling weak, but he's more than happy to feel like himself again. Eventually, TFC talks him through his fear of the End - talking himself through his own fear in the process. He offers to go with Scar the first time he decides to return. Both of them find the obstacle more manageable with a friend.

Ren, Grian, and Doc find themselves drawn to each other even after things go back to "normal", not wanting to be alone again. In fact, many of the groups that formed in the more than a year since the world started remain intact. Whether for comfort or protection, or just sharing resources, the Hermits continue to rely on each other. That trio specifically has something new in common - with Grian's new foxlike features, they are all mob hybrids now. They share experiences and support each other, and they can often be found gathering around a fire to tell stories. None of them particularly fancies the cold anymore.

After all that they went through, nobody feels very strongly about banning Evil Xisuma again. His crimes are so far in the past by now, and it feels wrong to condemn him to a future of darkness and isolation when he's already gone through so much of that this season. He doesn't live on the server permanently, preferring to wander off and cause mischief elsewhere, but when he does visit Hermitcraft he stays with Hypno. They bond over a desire to stay on the outskirts and a persistent fear of flowers. They live in a base in the ocean, not a blossom in sight.

XB and Iskall live in the jungle, close enough to see each other but far enough so they don't feel pressured to talk. Both of them feel slightly guilty for getting separated in the desert, but neither of them want to be the first to apologize. Their conversation happens in stops and starts, not in one big rush - but they get there. Eventually, they get there.

Etho drifts. For what seems like an age after the glitches are fixed, he drifts. He talks to the Beetlejhost, sends messages through him sometimes, even manages to manifest in a way others can see occasionally - but that takes a lot of energy. Mostly, he just drifts. He hovers especially around Xisuma, who works for hours on fixing his code. The world can't be considered fixed until everyone is here. Nothing can be fully right until all of his Hermits are safe. It's the hardest admin challenge he's taken on yet, but it's worth it. When he gets to finally hug Etho again, it's worth it. When he brings him to the shopping district and presents him to the other Hermits with tired eyes and a grateful heart, here and real and alive again, it's worth it. It is more than worth it.

Nothing will ever be the same again. That much is obvious. Though the world was fixed and the season went on, the physical changes and emotional wounds are too lasting to be erased, no matter how much time goes by and how much the Hermits support each other. No matter what, the things they went through are unforgettable. Nothing will ever be the same again - but it doesn't need to be.

What is broken will heal back differently, what was changed will be adapted to. New things will be created, new habits will be formed, and for each new fear and trauma there will be a new kindness to match. It won't erase what happened, won't make the pain of the past any less real - but it will help. Healing is not a return to one's original state. Healing is progress. And, together, the Hermits are making progress.

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And, there it is! The inbox will stay closed for another day after this (because I do occasionally need a break), and then it will be open again for regular Hermitcraft headcanons. If you have made any art or writing for the Scattered AU that hasn't been posted yet, please feel free to send that in too! Chances are if you just tagged this blog without sending me a link, it probably got lost in the flood of notifications.

#hcraft #hermitcraftheadcanons #hermitcraft #hermitblr #scattered au #mod shade

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archetypal-archivist · 3 years

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Xisuma and Evil X- A Hero By Any Other Name

So. This happened. You ever get the urge to write 9000 words of Evil X and Xisuma as brothers that in a Super Hero AU where the government is corrupt and runs all the heroes into the ground in the name of “protecting the most people possible”? With lots of Evil X making poor choices to help out his exhausted hero of a brother? And then have that story end up taking over your life for about a week until you can get it all out? Yeah. Yeah, glad I finally finished this but gosh darn am I double glad that I can move on to other projects.

Also on AO3.

__________

A story in which there are two little boys, a pair of twins by the names of Evil X and Xisuma. Xisuma is good and kind and responsible, everything that his mother ever wanted and more. Evil X was the mistake, the additional child their parents didn't want nor could afford to have. Their parents had run the math, knew the risks, knew that if they penny-pinched enough, they could afford to have the child they always dreamed of. Evil X threw their maths into chaos, and if they wanted one son, they had to take both.

Evil X and Xisuma knew that Evil X was a mistake, that his presence was why their family could never afford to go to the movies, why they couldn't buy school lunches like all the other kids, why their parents were so stressed and tired and cruel. Still, Xisuma was glad that his brother existed, even if it made his parents' lives harder. He wondered if that made him a bad son.

In time, Evil X and Xisuma were left alone by everyone in their lives and until all they had are each other and the void that their parents left them with when they had to look them in the eye and tell them that they couldn't take care of them anymore. Even now Xisuma thinks that the void raised them better than their parents ever did, teaching him and his brother to lie through their teeth, be sneaky, be cruel.

In the orphanage and the many foster homes that followed, Evil X did his best to take care of his twin as a sort of penance for screwing up the life Xisuma could have led. In return, Xisuma lied and lied and lied to the matrons and the well-meaning children about anything and everything he needed to. They don't need anyone but each other. (Truth.) They are happy. He is everything that Evil X needs, Evil X doesn't want a family. Xisuma is enough. (Lie.)

(Gods, don't take his brother away.)

Xisuma grew up with lies on his tongue and smiles in his eyes, warping himself into the golden child, larger than life. Evil X grew up in the shadows with bruised knuckles, a bruised heart, and eventually, scars across his face from a fight gone bloody and wrong. He was protecting Xisuma, the scars were worth it- his brother accepts them with an odd little smile on his face and a shattering in his eyes. It is a moment that stays with them long after.

---

Eventually, foster homes turn into streets and dumpsters, and long nights spent under the covers together are turned into nights spent up in the branches of trees in the park. Xisuma makes friends with the pigeons while Evil X pretends not to like their feathered neighbors. They curl up the same though, bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces high in their bower. Made for each other, quietly shaping themselves around their twin so as to better protect them and shield them from the cold.

Evil X comes home to their tree with stolen sweaters and wilted flowers and popcorn kernels from behind the movie theater so that the birds don't starve. Xisuma meets him with tears of wonder in his eyes and fire dancing on his fingertips.

Xisuma has magic. Evil X tries not to be jealous. As it turns out, he has very little to be jealous of when it's revealed that there are many other people who have magic throughout the city- or rather, "superpowers." It's like something straight out of a comic book, if that comic book resembled something like Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" or the Transformers IDW continuity.

People start dying. A lot of people. Those with powers that make them look monstrous are feared, hated, and eventually outcast. Those with powers that are useful are drafted to fight wars and heal people for hours and hours with no rest in the hospitals. Xisuma sells himself to the city officials behind Evil X's back and in return, he and his brother get a cold glass and steel apartment and food enough that they will never starve again.

Evil X begins to build up muscle, fleshing out and growing tall and strong. He hates it, hates his body, because Xisuma never becomes more than whipcord strength and whispered words- down-turned eyes, up-turned lips. Reassurances that he's happy, really, truly. So obedient, his brother, the ideal filial son to the system that Evil X could never bring himself to be. They train the civilian out of his twin and mold him into a leader, a real proper superhero.

They don't give his brother lunch breaks. They need his power too badly, they say. There are people dying and they need his strength.

Gods, it makes him sick.

Xisuma's slight figure hides in his brother's shadow when they are at home, and Evil X does his best to wrap around him until the "monsters" of the world can't get him. Evil X lets Xisuma's flames dance across his fingertips and tickle his face, their gentle warmth driving out some of the chill in their big empty apartment. On truly special days, they go to the park to feed the birds. The higher ups don't like that, of course, insisting that Xisuma under Evil X's care is like using his spark for a kerosene lamp, contained, stifled, unable to help anyone in any way that matters.

The city wants a bonfire. Evil X growls and tells them no, but Xisuma just smiles and his eyes shatter a little more as he goes with them willingly, offering himself up as kindling. His superhero name is Matchstick of all things, and Evil X knows his brother well enough to know that he picked it out himself.

A nod to the fact that he is destroying himself? An inside joke and an apology in one, maybe. It breaks his heart too much to think on it.

---

With time, the rules and roles become a little clearer and the war begins to solidify. Basic rights for those with powers is still in the works, but Xisuma is able to start eating a little more. Evil X makes him protein shakes to take with him to work anyway.

The heroes are this: Matchstick, Reaper, Ivy-Over, Xenon, Spatter, Shank, Krypton, and Trigometric. Xisuma, Cleo, Gemini, Tango, Vintage Beef, Iskall, Impulse, Cubfan.

The villains are this: Armistice, Zyon, Ooze, Clockwork, Poultryman, Valkerie, and Lumesce. (Welsknight, Etho, Jevin, Mumbo, Grian, Stress, Pearl- but our hero doesn't know this yet.)

Evil X sits on their shared bed and holds his twin in his arms, listening to him talk about work with troubled eyes.

Reaper. Cruel, with a tongue like a knife and teeth even sharper. She eats her enemies whole and seems to enjoy the taste of blood. Somewhere in the dark of the building is a man named Joe who whispers comebacks and threats to her for her to use in her next fight. She has not seen him free or unshackled in three years. Around his neck is a metal collar, an irony too bitter for her to speak of often. Xisuma hopes they treat him well.

Ivy-Over, blinded by the glitter and shine of heroism, still firmly thinking the best of her political overlords. Naive. Carefully herded off the battlefields as soon as her fights are over so that she never sees the casualties her massive vines leave in their wake. Xisuma worries that one day the illusion will be broken and with it her mind. She seems like the kind of person who could regress to using entrails as a skipping rope if pushed far enough. Evil X does his best to reassure him, but the lies turn to mulch in his mouth.

Xenon and Krypton, a duo that never let the higher ups split them up or force them to fight alone. Together they share a record for the fewest recorded injuries, as well as a certain fierceness in their eyes as they volley explosive balls of shadow and light between them, bouncing them back and forth to build up velocity before letting them loose on their enemies. Still, the people whisper about how much more help they could do if they were simply separated, able to cover more places at once. At night, Xisuma hears them crying, bundled tight in each other's arms and mourning their missing third.

Shank, their sniper. Supreme accuracy, a consequence of his self-built bionic eye and his special laser rifle. The higher ups are murmuring about what he could do if more of him was bionic. What improvements could be made to his body? How many more lives could be saved? (How many more "monsters" could be put behind bars?)

Splatter, their brawler. A sip of blood and he hulks out, his strength becoming all the greater the more he drinks, so the higher ups give him all the blood he could stomach and more. They never tell him where it comes from, and he's too afraid to ask. (He was a butcher before this whole hero thing, he had explained to Xisuma once. He knows what animal blood tastes like. What they give him is definitely not animal blood- and sometimes, it makes him feel sick. He always was allergic to steroids.)

Trigometric, who bent reality into fractals, who seemed just a bit more broken than the rest. He actually liked his job, and that perhaps made him less of a hero and more of a monster. (Mr. Goodtimes was a head of government of some renown, famous for his power plays and his campaign that favored brutal action against those that the city condemned. Trigometric called him "Scar" with affection on his lips and that was perhaps scariest of all.)

It's terrifying hearing about his twin's coworkers and their varying flavors of unfortunate and unstable, even worse when he has to stay at home and watch the news to see if his brother has survived to see another day against the violent protests and the drug rings and mobs and super villains.

Because there are super villains. He even meets one.

---

The pigeons need feeding. Life or death, whether Xisuma is around to remind him or no, the pigeons need feeding so every Tuesday and Saturday Evil X goes to the park with a bag of bird seed. It just so happens that one sunshine-filled summer day there is someone there before him. Crouched close to a few pigeons, at first he thinks the figure is just dressed in a purple cloak, but when the figure stands up and stretches, the cloak separates to reveal a pair of brilliant purple wings. Poultryman.

Evil X has seen his brother come back from fights and he knows that while Poultryman is a figure of some renown, his battles rarely cause collateral damage- that's more the hallmark of his partner Clockwork. So when Poultryman turns to face him, trademark white mask over his eyes and an odd expression on his face, Evil X just glares and walks up to him to dump the bag of bird seed on the super villain's feet.

"For the birds," he says tersely before spinning on his heel, preparing to walk away. The sound of bright, cheerful laughter has him pausing and the sound of wings meeting the dirt has him turning around. Poultryman is on the ground, rolling around in the bird seed and laughing his head off, clutching his stomach and flapping his wings wildly, which only makes even more of a mess.

"Pffftt- hahaHAhAHaH! Oh gods, your face! If I couldn't tell you were so pissed off to see me I wouldv'e thought this was the greatest prank ever!" Oookay? Evil X crosses his arms, unimpressed and left with a sneaking suspicion he is being made fun of.

"And?" Poultryman lets out a last few wheezing gasps before smoothly rolling to his feet, mask askew and utterly covered in dirt, grass, and bird seed. The local pigeons have, surprisingly enough, not scattered just yet.

"And that was brilliant! Tell me, are you the one who's been feeding the birds around here? The pigeons have been dying to introduce me to their 'friend' and I've been eager to meet them ever since. Well, the word translates more to family but there's some non-pigeon implications mixed in there, so friend works a little better. I don't think my feathered friends have quite yet figured out how to buy their own bird seed. You don't look like a pigeon anyway."

"No. I am not a pigeon," Evil X sighs, shifting his feet but keeping his posture defensive. If he remembers right, Poultryman never did any real damage but he apparently came off to Xisuma as a little unhinged and he'd rather not test the super villain's good mood. "And yes, I feed the birds around here. Can I go?"

Poultryman tilts his head to the side, going abruptly silent and still, all emotion wiped from his body language, expression, and voice. "That depends. Would you like to make Matchstick's life a little easier? I have a deal for you."

---

It goes a little something like this.

Clockwork and Poultryman schedule a raid on a local food processing plant, hoping to take their newest shipment of tin. Matchstick and Splatter are in the area and are called in to help. It's a poor match up to begin with, with Splatter's strength not doing much against Clockwork's robotika and Matchstick- while able to keep up with Poultryman in the air, barely- can't seem to land a solid hit on the villain. It doesn't help that he seems to be limited in how hard he hits, too conscious of what his flames might do to Poultryman's vulnerable feathers and of just how high they are in the air. Clockwork, meanwhile, is free to pilfer what he and his partner please from the plant.

However, despite the lack of damage the super heroes are able to do, the villains do even less. To Evil X, that is all that matters.

In another part of the city, a group of civilians meet in an abandoned railway car, dry docked in a train yard with its rusted frame resting on several heavy blocks of wood. The door is chained shut, but that means little when the underneath has a hole cut into it and if one is determined enough, crawling inside is easy. There, they exchange moth-eaten blankets, half-broken appliances, tattered clothes, and the tools to fix them. Money. Documents.

Evil X brings food. The government promised food unending to him and his brother, he may as well take advantage of it.

A deceptively normal-looking man with glasses and a deactivated metal collar around his neck brings a stack of books in, most of them picture books for the children. Another man, this one with green skin and robotik prosthetics, brings a stack of battered but newly repaired mobile phones, gaze shifting around nervously, as if scared to be caught there. Evil X makes a quiet note of the men but moves on. Theirs is not a story he feels like tampering with today.

When Xisuma comes home to find Evil X laying face-down in bed, fast asleep, he just smiles and tucks himself in beside his twin. Today is the first day in a long time he had come out from a fight unscathed, and tomorrow he will share the good news with his brother. For now, he sleeps.

---

In time, Evil X becomes a staple of the Homeless Enforcing Principles, which quickly gets abbreviated to the rather unimaginative "HEP." He wonders in the back of his mind if a certain man in glasses had something to do with the name, but decides not to bother with that quickly enough. He has enough on his plate as is with his newly adopted duties.

You see, when you get a diverse enough body of people together from all echelons in the city, and then put them into a rather small space, they begin to do what every group of friendly strangers like to do on the train- start complaining. Sometimes it's about the new "neighborhood watch" starting trouble on the corner of 6th and Fruit, sometimes it's about the new increase in taxes their boss wants to implement, sometimes it's about the stock that slips through the gaps when the trucks come to restock the supermarket.

Between him and his twin, Evil X never really was the one for idle chit-chat, but he knew lies just as well as his brother did and public speaking was just lying with a pretty bow on top. Stock begins to get left off of inventory sheets and put into the hands of the needy. The "neighborhood watch" get pointed towards the parts of the city that actually need their help (conveniently drawing the attention of the local law enforcement, who can actually do something about the problem).

He begins to donate more and more food to the cause, waistline thinning in the process. He thinks he likes his figure better that way.

As Evil X puts more time into his new project, crime rates don't exactly go down, but the number of people arrested for stupid reasons certainly does. The other members of HEP begin to bring in their friends and family and the pool of resources and talents grows, expanding outside the walls of their train car and out into people's basements, gas station parking lots, metal trash bin bonfires in the park. Little pools of community, and for Evil X, wellsprings of information.

Clockwork and Poultryman are some of the first actual super villains to come to the meetings, this time under the names of Mumbo Jumbo and Grian, but they are not the last.

---

Armistice arrives hanging off of Lumesce's shoulder one night, his metal body forcing her to drag him along on the ground, shredded legs unable to hold his own weight. She cries steady tears of light, seemingly near-physically pained at being unable to further help him. Evil X watches quietly from the background as Grian looks up and over the bonfire from where he is tending the jagged gash in the unconscious Mumbo's leg.

"Wels. Pearl. Got you too, huh?" The carefully kept-up cheer is gone from the man's face as the duo settle down by the fire, sprawling out in a rough heap.

The woman, Pearl, nods wearily, pulling off her hood and wiping at her face, glowing tears staining her black jacket. "Yeah. Trigometric decided he wanted to come and 'play' for a bit, seems he finally caught on to the illegal clinic I was running down in Mr. TFC's basement. I was lucky enough to get an anonymous tip that he was coming, but Wels got caught in the crossfire for defending me." Grian nods back, eyes distant.

"Give Mumbo a hand with his leg, I'll go grab the last of our tin for Wels to eat so he can patch himself up. E-X?" Evil X straightens up at the winged man's attention. "Call up Keralis and see if you can't get some hew housing sorted for Mr. TFC. I doubt his house survived in the crossfire and you might as well fix it for him with my permission and funds rather than just sort it out behind my back and try to sell it to me as an 'investment' later." With that parting remark Grian stands up stiffly and flies away, leaving Pearl to make her way over to his partner, healing tears already streaming down her face so that she can start to fix the wound.

On the other side of the fire, Wels reaches down and rubs at the sharp and twisted metal of the remnants of his left leg, expression lost and weary. "Things can't keep going like this, so many of us are running on fumes by this point. Something has to change." Expressionless, Evil X just turns away, pulls out his cellphone, and begins to make a few calls.

He carefully ignores the twisting of his heart in his chest.

The next day, Mr. TFC has a room in a decent hotel and Evil X sits on his perfectly white couch staring at his overly large TV, watching the news. Armistice and Poultryman are fighting against Matchstick and Ivy-Over, dashing in and landing a few hits before retreating to the shadows, then running up to repeat the process again. The fight ends with both sides retreating, the heroes to the hospital, the villains to skies with Poultryman straining to bear both Armistice's weight and the load of cash stolen cash in his arms.

Grian's going to pull a wing muscle again, Evil X just knows it.

Xisuma leaves the fight unscathed. Gemini isn't nearly so lucky.

---

The next super villain he meets is mostly on accident, a random encounter more than anything. Tired of lounging about all day, if you call making connections and surfing the internet doing fuck all, Evil X decides he hates himself a bit more than he usually does and decides to go job hunting. A quick internet search later and he finds himself standing outside an abandoned warehouse on the North docks. He and his brother never had much more than their birth certificates and social security numbers to their name, so shady suited him perfectly fine.

A man steps out from behind a corner dressed in a hospital mask, black pea-coat, and a sailor's breton cap as white as his hair. Evil X freezes, eyes going wide as the familiar-looking stranger goes bug-eyed to see him right back. Then the man shifts his weight to his back foot, crossing his arms and wincing playfully, very real trepidation lurking in his posture.

"Uh, you wouldn't happen to by Matchstick's brother, would you?" Evil X takes a careful step away from the man, who he now recognizes as Zyon from watching the news, one of Xisuma's more common foes. His own research proved that the fellow had ice powers to put an iceberg to shame, which was ironic considering that he was secretly the business mogul Etho, who ran a shipping company helpfully named "Titanic Inc." It was doubly ironic since "Zyon" was notorious for causing problems for "Etho," who then claimed the insurance payouts when the boats eventually sank.

That the boats that sank frequently carried weapons, junk food made with GMO ingredients, and weirdly enough, socks, was of little consequence to him, but he kept that amusing tidbit in his back pocket for later. (The sailors on board were... collateral. And a nonissue. Anyone who signed up on a ship run by "Titanic Inc." deserved what they got.)

(Their deaths were not his concern.)

"Yeah, that's me. And you're Zyon- or rather, Etho." Zyon chuckles nervously.

"Yep yep, that's me. And you're very firmly on the 'no touchie' list around here, so I'm just gonna gooo...." Zyon flinches as Evil X suddenly attaches himself to his wrist, expression steely.

"List?" It's more statement than question, but it has Zyon gulping back a frantic giggle anyway.

"Oh no, I'm not messing with that one. Let's just say you should take that up with your brother and leave it at that. Get too deep into that mess and someone's gonna end up regretting it- and I'm not that dumb, that's for sure!" With that parting remark, Evil X finds his feet frozen to the ground and Zyon running off, dropping the black pea-coat of Etho to reveal the icy blue Kevlar ninja suit of the super villain underneath.

Bemusedly Evil X watches Zyon vault up a stack of pipes onto a nearby roof, then off towards the city where he could better better disappear.

Hmm. Seems like he needs to step up his game.

---

He runs into Ooze at the supermarket. Apparently they both prefer the green grapes to the purple ones. The more you know.

---

It's his encounter with Valkerie that really sets things off.

Xisuma comes home one day, tears streaming down his face and his gloves covered in blood and dust. He crumples in a heap at Evil X's feet where he sits on the couch and drops his face into his twin's lap, trembling. His arms dangle at his sides, blood dripping from his fingers onto the sterile white carpeting.

"Four dead found in a park near here. All teenagers, just having fun. Just. Just fucking kids! She ruptured their ear drums and they bled out because they couldn't move to get to safety. Gods E-X, their eyes... They looked so scared..." Evil X stays quiet and runs his fingers through his brother's hair, heedless of the muck clinging to the ends. Xisuma shakes himself to bits in his hands. "They were just kids. We couldn't do even do anything but clean up the mess afterwards."

Xisuma pauses, hesitant, before choking out- "That could have been us. Had we still been on our own, that could have been us." Ah. So that's it.

"We're safe, you know. Whoever Valkerie is, she won't get us here."

"But we don't know that! What if you're out shopping and she's at the market, or if she gets on the news and her scream works through the TV? What then?! I can't-" The words die in his twin's throat and Evil X gulps back his own.

I can't lose you. It's a phrase that's crossed his own mind more than once.

"Okay. Okay. I'll stay home until she's caught, okay? Get delivery or something, I don't know. And I'll keep the TV off, the radio too. Shhh. Shhhhh. I'll be okay." Xisuma struggles closer, shoving his face into his brother's stomach and getting snot and tears all over the both of them. Evil X doesn't complain. It's a lie and they both know it, but they've lived lies before, are used to it. What's one more, in the face of that?

To be fair, Evil X gives it a few weeks before he makes his move, and he knows he'll be fine so really it's only half a lie anyway.

---

Feet crunch against gravel as Evil X approaches the woman kneeling in the center of the abandoned construction site, hands over her mouth, eyes scrunched, biting the flesh of her thumb to keep her sobs held in.

"Hello Ms. Valkerie. Grian's told me about you."

The woman whips around, eyes wide and bloodshot at his sudden appearance, before she shakily lowers her hands from her mouth to clutch at the fabric of her pink cardigan. "I'm- I'm not some monster, got it? I'm just Stress, j-just- I'm just me! I don't want to hurt anyone!" Her voice goes shrill and thin towards the end and Evil X hides his wince, although apparently not well enough because she immediately slaps a hand over her mouth again, eyes watering anew.

"Okay. It's okay, Stress. I'm here to help," he placates, lowering himself down to sit next to her in the dirt. Around them, rusted I-beams and concrete pillars rise, giving them some semblance of privacy. The full moon lurks overhead, casting them both in a silver glow. "You're life must be very hard, hm?"

Stress nods, expression wary.

"And retail is very- ha- stressful too, I imagine?" Here a little grin leaks out from behind her hand. "All those customers whining on and on about discounts. 'Oh, I have a gift receipt why can't I return this?' Like, lady, you opened this box. 'I'm gonna talk to your manager!' Lady, he's just gonna say the exact same thing."

A stifled giggle and a whispered "Worse! I work in the women's clothing department." Evil X gives a mock gasp, face going wide and shocked.

"So you don't just have to deal with fussy customers- you deal with fussy suburban soccer moms!" Stress tips forward with the force of her muffled laughter, tucking her damp face into the curve of his neck and putting her full weight on him. Hesitantly she clutches the tail of his shirt with her freehand, then a little tighter when he makes no move to shove her off. Evil X just wraps a gentle arm around her shoulders.

"Some of those customers must make you want to go home and just scream, huh." Her laughter tapers off, but she nods, quiet. "So you go somewhere empty and abandoned and scream your heart out so you don't kill someone." Another nod, a little hitch in Stress' breathing. "And you scream and scream, so glad to release some of your pent-up feelings, but oops. It turns out there are people there anyway. And your screaming just killed them. You've become a murderer and the police brands you accordingly."

The hand in his shirt tightens, tugging. "I- I didn't want to hurt them! I didn't want to hurt anyone! But- but it just happened and then I was running, and no one saw me so I had to just go to work the next day, a-and. And-"

"And now you're the wanted super villain Valkerie." His hand smoothes up and down her back as her breath hitches again, once, twice, and then wetness against his neck.

"Valkerie is such a stupid name, anyway. I'm not escorting anyone anywhere, let alone to Valhalla. I just scream and. And they're dead."

Evil X hums quietly. "You must be very tired."

"...Yes. Yes." The moon slips through the sky for a while and they drift with it, lost in thought. Evil X stares up at it, squinting against its light to try and figure out what time it is, if Xisuma is likely to be home yet. The gravel is harsh against his knees.

Then. "Things can't keep going like this. I'm so tired, all the time these days. It's just work, day in and day out, and all this stress." She pulls away then and Evil X watches as Stress scrubs at her face, expression going cold and determined. She stares him straight in the eyes, but something about her still seems lost, like she's gazing through him. "Something has to change or else someone is going to get themselves killed."

He tilts his eyes head, considering, thoughtful, with a well-hidden edge to his voice.

"I think I could help with that."

---

The morning news. Four calls placed, a frantic brother reassured, Stress is sitting a cafe on the corner of Elm and 5th. Her gut flutters with nerves but Evil X can see her expression is calm from her position in the background of the shot. The news anchor is a pretty blond-haired, blue-eyed young woman blathering on about how the cafe apparently is the oldest one in the city and some other historical nonsense. Out of shot of the camera, a desperate, dog-eared petty thief is running for his life down 6th street, the hulking figure of Spatter hot on his heels.

They round a corner, onto 5th. Past the cafe, the startled reporter, the public shrieking as their morning is disrupted. Stress nearly throws up as her heart launches itself into her throat but she's... There's a plan and she's going to stick to it.

So she stands up, small and in the background of the shot, but her bright pink jacket makes her stand out. She opens her mouth, expression going scared like a civilian's, and screams just as she had been told to. It's not for long, barely a second or two all told, but it's enough to have the people near her cringing away, blood trickling from their eyes and from where their fingernails dig into their skin in trying to cover their ears.

Spatter freezes in his tracks, pupils mere pinpricks as the sudden outpouring of blood triggers something deep and wild in him. The camera shakes, the frightened camera man ducking down to avoid notice but carefully recording what's about to happen, as if sensing that whatever happens next is about to be important.

The hero turns towards Stress, eyes wild, and although she's scared out of her mind, she stands her ground. Her voice barely even shakes as she speaks.

"S-stop. Stop running, can't you see you're scaring people? You nearly ran me over!" In the eyes of the camera Stress looks like a frightened civilian gone civil defender in pink, the morning light casting her in gold and the cafe's shadow creeping over Spatter's massive, muscled-out form to cast him in darkness and grey. The lack of harsh lighting makes it even more obvious when he starts sniffing the air, darting eyes pausing on all the bloodied hands and finally resting on the woman who caused the damage.

The world has insisted, long and loud, that he is a hero and with that comes certain ingrained responsibilities. Stress is Valkerie. Splatter fixes his gaze on her and with a snarl, he moves.

The camera catches it in perfect, awful clarity when his arm goes through her stomach and her blood starts pooling on the floor. Her expression is so betrayed.

From his place on his clean, white couch at home, Evil X turns the TV off.

---

Stress is buried with honors and all media depictions of Valkerie as a monster cease as the streets are made "safe" from the super villain. Instead, news programs and talk shows take up a new crusade, this one against the "heroes" that protected the city and the governing bodies that controlled their movements. Mr. Goodtimes has his name dragged through the mud, and each day his brother comes home with stories about how frazzled Trigometric is, Evil X has to hide his smile.

Seeming to pick up on the way things are turning, Clockwork disappears from the public eye while Poultryman steps up the showmanship, making more appearances in public spaces to egg government buildings and steal petty amounts of scrap metal from junk yards and factory scrap heaps. The heroes that give chase, usually Xenon and Krypton, end up causing more damage than they actually prevent.

Ivy-Over- shocked at the public outrage about the apartments left in shambles after her particularly brutal battle against Zyon- rather predictably ends up snapping, although not in any way Evil X expected.

She ends up going to the news and telling them everything. Public outrage rises anew.

There's a riot in town square and Matchstick and Reaper are sent in to stop it. Thirteen people die, kindly Mr. TFC one of them. Xisuma comes home, collapses into Evil X's arms, and cries.

Things have to change. And so they do.

---

Midnight and two figures meet on a roof top somewhere overlooking the domed silhouette of city hall. The first wears a set of armor shaded in green and grey, a purple visor over his eyes and an oxygen-filter over the lower half of his face. The second figure has wings, stretched wide to block out the light of the crescent moon above.

Matchstick. Poultryman.

Xisuma. Grian.

Matchstick tilts his head to the side, drawing himself up to his full height to loom over the far shorter villain. "The status quo is falling apart, Poultryman. Does the deal still hold?"

Poultryman rolls his head to make it clear he had just rolled his eyes, the purple insignia on his mask flashing to display his annoyance. "Yeah yeah, I've spread the word to the others and they're not as crazy as the news likes to make 'em out to be. No one has hurt your precious 'E-X,' nor do they have any plans to. Too much trouble to mess with beyond trying to keep him out of whatever crime scene we'll be making, and that's hard enough as is. Your brother has a habit of making himself hard to track and it's getting... troubling."

The hero's posture suddenly goes as stiff as his namesake, smoke starting to hiss from the vents carefully built into his suit. "Troubling?"

Violet wings flap once, twice, before pulling tight against Poultryman's back and not for the first time, Matchstick curses himself for never bothering to learn what his various wing positions mean. The villain in question just rolls his shoulders back and settles into a careful parade rest that gives nothing away, expression pensive.

"Xisuma..." Matchstick flinches back, the careful line between them wavering at the name. "What exactly do you about your brother?"

A hesitant head tilt and he taps his fingers along his leg, thinking back to when he had last spent more than a few fleeting hours with his twin at a time.

"He likes sweet foods, even if he pretends he doesn't. Has more money invested in Derp Coin than he probably should. Likes red and black but gets fussy if anyone calls him a goth. Never seems to sleep, or eat regular meals, but he never seems to forget anything either. Best brother I could ever ask for- he loves me, I know that for sure. All the important stuff. Why?"

A wisp of cloud drifts overhead, casting a brief shadow over the pair, and in the sudden darkness Matchstick could swear that Poultryman had pulled a frown. Then the moment passes and the villain is back to his usual inscrutable self, the only emotion in his body language being what he had put there intentionally. His wings remain tight to his back.

"Then I think you might be in for a bit of a surprise one day, Matchstick. Here's to hoping you can roll with the coming storm."

---

Evil X is beloved by the HEP network. Regardless of Grian's intention in putting him in contact with them- or even why the villain knew of the group to start with- his repeated contributions to their food stocks made him an opening among them and his ability to make and exploit connections made him their hero. If you were desperate, hungry, in need? Evil X could get you whatever you needed at the cost of a simple favor.

When it came to the price of a life, a favor is a small thing to ask indeed. Is it any wonder that they became so loyal to him? So when Evil X began asking questions about some of the city's more sensitive secrets and its shadier underbelly, it was only natural that they told him.

From the tall man with green skin, he learned the best places to dump things so that they disappeared. From a sleepy-looking fellow with a bandana, he learned the locations of the best drug dealers, and from those dealers he learned of their suppliers, their manufacturers, the places where heroes never walked. From the man with glasses, he learned about the back doors and hidden routes through the biggest, most important buildings, the places where they held people until they could make them disappear.

And with this information, Evil X's services expanded even further. Drugs for the addicts, as contaminant-free and trust-worthy as he could find them. Ways to make people appear and disappear in the eyes of the law (and the occasional abusive spouse). Alcohol, cigarettes- and most importantly, information.

Or rather, black mail. If you wanted to know something on someone, Evil X became the person to go to. Months of careful manipulation had spread his name and his reach through all levels of the city and people from all walks of life took advantage of her services, although usually all meetings were held over the phone and through a voice changer fashioned to look just like his twin's mask. The secrecy only increased his popularity, as people just love a good mystery and a grey-shaded crime boss made a lovely story indeed.

And soon, this caught the intention of another of the city's fabled figures- the mad scientist who lived deep in the underbelly of the city, a place where no light shone. The man, the myth, the legend... Void.

But then, myths never were all that accurate, especially with things like names.

---

Curly blond hair, brown cardigan, a ripped white lab coat. Calculating purple eyes and a wide, wide eerily white grin. Short and stocky with a complexion like a ripe peach, the blue light coming off the lights overhead casting hazy shadows over his form, everything about the good doctor is simultaneously creepy and a soft sort of handsome- he has to say, he's impressed. The mythical Zedaph lives up to the city's dark rumors of him and he says as much, which prompts that grin to grow all the wider.

"Ah, hello Weaver! Y'know, I kind of thought you'd be shorter. And down here a lot sooner, I almost could say I missed you~!" Evil X balks as the scientist steps forward and grips his chin to tilt his head down, purple eyes wandering over his scarred features.

"It's not like you make yourself easy to find- and that's not my name." Zedaph shakes his head, leaning his face up with just scant inches between them.

"Little spider, you might be pretty good at hearing things but you're awful at listening. If you have large enough ears, you'd find you're just about the most talked about thing in the underground these days-"

"Do spiders have ears...?"

"-so like it or not, your web is big enough that people have been spotting it in odd places, which means your twin will probably catch on soon. Which means..." Here Zedpah spins away to walk to the opposite wall, pressing a few buttons on his tablet which make the underground laboratory brighten considerably. Evil X tries not to feel bereft at the sudden loss of contact. "Your plans are gonna have to hit double time. And I love me a good speed potion!"

Speechless, Evil X just nods as the scientist opens a previously hidden door and pulls out a laptop case from inside, turning to present it to him with a fiercely proud expression on his face.

"Knock 'em dead darling. I can't wait to see you rock their world~!"

---

What does the end of an era look like? It's not a sudden collapse of civilization, people screaming and running through the streets. It's not the violent murder of the governmental leaders or riots against the past order. It's not as clear cut as all that. Nor is it so subtle that people look around one day and go huh, as the world around them had shifted beneath their feet without their notice. Indeed, there are many who saw the tide rising and were all too happy to watch the waters sweep in and away.

It goes like this.

The super villains go missing. First one week goes by with no wild scheme or dangerous incident, then two, then three. The higher ups are frantic with worry, running constant meetings and keeping the super heroes out on the streets for as long as they could without the heroes themselves rioting. It keeps Matchstick out of the way of Weaver, and at the moment, that's all the thought he can afford to spare his twin. It's for the best, really. The next step is important.

Across every government-issued computer in the city, an email is issued out. Personalized, first middle last name, parents' names, chidlrens' names. An alphabetical list of every law the person in question had broken in the last ten years, the number of witnesses who saw them do it, sometimes video footage or photo-copied documents if the crime was serious enough to warrant more concrete proof. What the punishments for those crimes would be. What could be done, if those punishments were waived for money or fame.

Nearly a thousand people get an email in the span of 24 hours. (Evil X never wants to write another email ever-fucking-again. None. Ever.) The heroes also receive an email detailing what laws were broken by denying them rights, food, decent living conditions and overtime pay, as well as the names of several lawyers who would work for them for free if the email was shown to them within three days time.

Every email is emblazoned with a web-like logo with a bright red "X" sitting in the middle like a bloody spider. Though some plucky tech people attempt to track the emails back to the sender, their every attempt is rebuffed by the impossible firewalls built into the computer the messages were sent from. As imagined, chaos in its most understated form ensues.

The city officials scramble to keep their sinking ship from falling apart and the little people kept cooped up in square offices and cell blocks come crawling out of the woodwork to jump ship. Some of the heroes, such as Xenon, Matchstick, and Shank try desperately to hold things together, but others like Reaper head for the nearest legal office and hole up with a team of vicious prosecutor attorneys. Meanwhile, the civilians go about their business, unaware of what is going on in the ivory towers far above their notice.

Xisuma comes home to fin their apartment empty, and although betrayal sits like a rock in his gut, his guts still squirm with desperate, aching fear. (No... please, no.)

The super villains make their reappearance with flair, setting the stage for the next act. Each one takes to a corner of the city, working in pairs to capture civilians and hold them hostage en mass, their efforts to wide spread for the remaining heroes to deal with in one go. From here, walking along a quiet street and watched by hundreds of frightened eyes- a captive audience- Weaver makes his debut as he makes his way to the city capital.

Tall, whip-thin enough to make his proportions lean more towards slenderman than super model, and dressed in red and black armor with a matching helmet and visor, Weaver cuts an imposing figure as he makes his way up the white marble steps of the capital building to where a nervous-looking reporter stands. She straightens up at his approach though and with a nod to her camera crew, she starts asking questions just in time for Poultryman to swoop in and land beside the newest super villain, expression stern but a clear presence of support.

In his hands a laptop is clutched.

---

The demands are simple in theory, but Xisuma feels his heart thunder in his throat at every point on the list.

The week would be split into three types of days. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays would proceed as normal and the heroes and villains could go at each other as they pleased. Fridays would be reserved for the villains to do as necessary without hero interference under the caveat that no blood would be spilled, and Sundays heroes could have the same. Tuesdays and Saturdays, no one would fight, a proper break for everyone.

The villains would keep to their side of the bargain, Weaver says darkly as he stares directly into camera, just so long as the heroes kept to theirs. And measures would be taken for anyone who chose not to comply. Xisuma's brain goes fuzzy with static as the super villain makes a few other demands, something about fair wages and from when to when each group could operate, but his gaze remains locked to where he can just barely make out his twin's face through his visor. The words filter through him, dismissed into a soft numbing blur.

The air suddenly feels chilled on his skin, fingers twitching in his lap, a rough, twisting feeling in his gut like the bottom of his stomach just dropped away. He feels trapped, unable to move from the couch, from the wrong side of the screen. Oh, he thinks hazily to himself, he's about to be sick. Hmm, ought to do- something. About all of- of this.

Gods... What did his brother do?

---

An era ends like this- Poultryman sweeps Weaver away in his arms and in his place, Evil X comes home. Xisuma watches his brother come through the door, eyes glued to his brother's face even as Evil X places his keys on the table by the door and takes off his shoes. There's a gentle realization bubbling up that this is the first time he's seen his brother's bare face with his own eyes, without the tint of a visor between them, in far too long. His twin's got paler as of late, making the eye bags and scars stand out all the more.

"You're home." The words hang in the air and Evil X sags at their weight, leaning against the door as if to prop himself up for the conversation to come. His arms hang behind his back, a laptop case dangling in his grip.

"You know this isn't home any more than the tree was."

"We- we were supposed to be safe here. This was where we were going to stay!" Xisuma is going red now, rising up from the couch in his anger, and Evil X watches him with the dredged-up calm of a man resigned to drowning. Good, anger he could handle.

"You thought this was where we would stay, got us a nice, normal apartment that looks like it's out of a fashion plate without asking me. You think I like staying in this pretty white bird cage that you bought by selling yourself to the most corrupt people around? This place isn't any safer for us than the tree was, and at least in the park we had company!"

"Says the one who fell into bed with the literal bad guy! At least here you weren't getting into fights every other week."

"No, now you're the one doing that!" They're shouting at each other. They never do that. An acrid taste fills Evil X's mouth and he gulps it back, along with a few words he just knows he would regret if he said them. A deep breath, a slow in and out. "Look, just. Don't be a hypocrite, okay?"

Xisuma pauses in his wind up for a proper tirade, eyes wary and wet. "What?"

"You aren't the only self sacrificing moron here."

"...Oh." Yeah. Oh.

Here Evil X takes another breath, resisting the urge to hold it, then extends his arm to show his twin the laptop case. "Hey."

Xisuma folds his arms behind his back, looking at his feet and then up again, shuffling back a step. "Yeah?"

"Got you a present. You always were the best of us, so. Here. It was the last part of the deal I kinda set up, a kind of fail-safe slash card to add to your deck. This laptop has evidence of my entire operation, every backroom deal, every piece of black mail, every person I've had killed or vanished or what have you. Everything I've been up to for the last however long. And... it's for you to read. It's not gonna be fun, but like, I trust you so it's okay. If you read this and really, honestly think I've crossed a line you can't forgive me for, you can turn this into the police and... I'll deal with whatever you choose to do with me. No loop holes, no take-backs."

Here Evil X leans his full weight against the door and lets his arm swing back down to his side, gaze sliding off to the side and a melancholy smile curling at his lips and pulling at his scars. "I trust you. I trust you. It... It'll be okay, yeah? Just make whatever choice you need to. Don't hesitate." He doesn't promise anything, keeps the words 'I'll be okay' from spilling into the air between them, but instead allows a careful submission to enter his posture, head bowed and figure loose and hanging.

It... might not be alright, but it will be right and that will have to be good enough. (It has to be.)

Xisuma chokes, a sob rising in his throat as his brave, strong brother gives up before his eyes. The air in his lungs freezes solid at the thought of having to choose whether or not his twin lives or dies, because that's what this is, he can't pretend that the city wouldn't execute him at the slightest chance, agreements be damned. His gaze tracks wildly from the laptop case to the top of his brother's head to the window, as if trying to see if anyone could be watching, could make the choice for him.

It's not fair. It's not fair, why him, why? He was so good, tried so hard- his heart is loud in his ears, breath rattling in and out in wheezing gasps- sobbing now, utterly sobbing. Evil X doesn't look up, doesn't try to comfort him. Won't even move, gods.

Fuck it.

Evil X startles, back banging against the door as Xisuma rushes forward and rips the case from his hands, only to chuck it into the far corner before throwing himself into his arms. On instinct Evil X catches him and holds him close just in time for Xisuma to bury his face in the crook of his neck and burst into messy, tearful sobs. They shake together and Evil X lets his head thump back gently against the door, eyes hazily gazing up at the ceiling.

"It's not- *hic*- it's not fair! I didn't want this!"

"I know. I know." He runs his hand over his twin's back, his taller form bowing forward to shelter his brother's smaller one. Somehow, even now it feels like Xisuma is the larger one between them, solid and warm in his arms.

"Why do I have to choose? I never wanted this! Why?! Why would you do this for me?"

"You're my brother. I love you." A gasping, wet sob against his neck and his twin lets out a moan like a dying cow, low and agonized. Evil X focuses on a soot mark on the white ceiling, tears stinging his eyes and running down his face to plop softly into his brother's hair.

"But why?!" Screaming. Gods, he can't-

"I love you. I love you." Rocking now, back and forth, gentle, just as he had when he had come home from beating up the men who had tried to lay stomp out his brother's heart, scarred and beaten and bloody. I love you, he had said then, and he repeats it now.

Later, much later, Xisuma will have to boot up the laptop and read through its contents. He will try to burn it, first, but Zedaph's work is more durable than most and Evil X will watch as his twin will dump his emotions into his flames, desperately trying to stoke them hotter and brighter. Later, a choice will have to be made.

But for now, Evil X will hold his brother, warm and safe, and let him cry.

#minecraft #my writing #fanfiction #hermitcraft #xisuma #evil xisuma #evil x #pretty much all the hermits actually

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