#The woke mob are getting to sheep land

[mikaikaika]

Blue Sheep Maxggs saw a dirt dick so beautiful not only he started crying he also turned gay

[spruceplank]

Glitch06

First // Previous //Current // Next >> --------- Also on ao3!

At first it wasn’t noticeable. Maybe the blocks you just broke would suddenly go back to where they had been. Maybe your hits wouldn’t connect with the mob you were hitting. Then it slowly got worse and worse. And then the world around them started to vanish.

And that was only the beginning.

“Falsie?” someone was calling her name, who was it? They sounded familiar, “You back with us Falsie?”

Groaning she rubbed at her head. What an awful headache, “Ugghhhh what happened?” 

Blinking against the light she tried to adjust to the seething brightness and searing pain in her head. Good lord had someone dropped an anvil on her head?

“Hey False look at me please?” Xisuma, that was Xisuma’s voice to her left. She turned to look at him and was taken aback because his visor was off? Xisuma rarely took that off. She could count the number of times it had happened on her two hands. “Whatever is was seems to be gone now, how do you feel Falsie?”

“I, I feel like someone dropped an anvil on my head.” she rasped out slowly looking around the room. Xisuma, Ren, Wels, and Joe took up most of her field of vision. They were in her bedroom, and there were a lot of people in here. 

“Is Falsie good?” Iskall walked up and peered over Joe’s shoulder. 

“Yeah aside from a bad headache,” Xisuma explained, “how’s Grian?”

“Still unconscious,” Iskall looks worriedly over his shoulder, between him and Joe she could see Grian slumped against the wall with purple wisps flying around him. Mumbo and Zedaph were frantically talking to Cub and Scar. Off to the side Doc stood with Tango and Impulse who were speaking between themselves. “No one can really figure out what happened.”

She looked around at all the other hermits worriedly, “Guys what happened?” 

None of them looked at her, except Ren who had yet to stop staring at her face since she had woken up. 

“Falsie, is it really you this time?” He stared at her in disbelief, voice quiet in a way that she cannot remember ever hearing before. 

“Of course it’s me, what are you -”

Shes immediately cut off by a body slamming into hers and a loud wail. She barely stops the back of her head from hitting the wall. She awkwardly starts to rub his back as he sobs into her shoulder. What, what happened? She forgets to breathe as her eyes catch up to her brain and she remembers how he looked. Red angry scabs cover most of his face and neck. What had happened? 

The others startle at the sound and turn to look at her. Across all her friends faces she can just see the instant they see her they all seem to calm down. Ren continues to sob and there’s nothing she can do but stare blankly at the air and worry for her friend.

She looks up at X and meets his eyes, “X, what, what happened?”

X only looks sadly at Ren before looking back at her, visior gone she’s able to clearly see the exhaustion on his face and the worry in his eyes. She can hear it in his voice, the tired defeat, when he speaks quietly, “Actually, we don’t really know what happened. We were hopping you could tell us.”  

And so she does, once Ren calms down a little at least. She had started her day out like any other. Getting up, checking her messages, gathering things she would need for that days project. She’d set off down to her mines and was messaging Ren about plans they had made for later in the day. She’d mined for a while and got an inventory full of goods and decided to head back up. She had stopped responding to Ren because trying to type with a full inventory was a struggle and he could wait for a response until she walked back up out of the mines. Yet on the way back towards the stairs she saw a diamond sword laying on the ground. Tossing some coal out of her inventory she picked it up. The second she grabbed the hilt a voice seemed to echo inside her head. Though it was quiet, it was all she could hear in a strange voice that didn’t sound like anything she had ever heard before, “ᴡᴀᴋᴇ ᴜᴘ”. 

“Then the next thing I knew, I woke up with a splitting headache and everyone gathered around worrying.” she explained. 

“A sword, just lying there?” X repeated back to her, baffled. 

She nodded, “Yeah it was really strange.”

“Did it look enchanted or anything?” Impulse asked.

She thought about it for a moment and then shook her head,“Not that I could tell, what happened to the sword?”

“It’s vanished.” Tango cut in from where he was leaned up against the wall, “When Grian killed you it didn’t drop with the rest of your items, it just vanished.”

“When Grian? Why did Grian kill me!” 

Tango looked over at Grian as he spoke, “We just had pinned you down and then we managed to tie you up so you couldn’t maneuver the sword. Then once Grian and X showed up, Grian just… something happened.”

“What does that mean?” 

Zedaph shuffled and looked at the ground, “Itw… it was like he wasn’t even Grian anymore…” 

There was a pause. Everyone seemed to shuffle around unsure of what to do now. X, ever the leader, spoke up, “Well I don’t think we can really get answers on that front until he wakes up, so-”

“What did the voice sound like?” Scar interrupted. She looked over at him and he was staring directly at her. She knew, only from that look in his eyes, that somehow he had heard the exact same face.  

“What was that Scar?” X asked. 

“The voice that said wake up, what did it sound like?” Scar repeated, searching her face for the answer they both already knew. 

Maybe for the others in the room or maybe just so they would both know for sure she answered, “Distorted. Glitchy. Ominous. Creepy.” 

“I think I heard that voice too.” Scar admitted softly. 

Cub looked worriedly at Scar, “When you were stuck in that chunk?” 

“Wait, when what happened?” Joe asked. 

Everyone looked to him to explain. He really didn’t want to. He didn’t want to relive that for even a second. But they had to figure out what was going on. And now that voice had spoken to False as well. Jellie purred in his arms and curled up closer to him if that was even possible. Jellie was here with him, he could do this. So he took a deep breath and explained what had happened.

He’d stopped along the way to Hermitville to renovate another village he had found. He had wanted to try out some ideas and after renovating the village in a futuristic modern style. He finally felt all set to head out to Hermitville. Him and Jellie were just walking through the taiga, enjoying nature and taking it slow. It was nice out and it was nice to just walk for once, but something happened. 

He took a step and the ground beneath him vanished in a flash. The entire chunk he had just stepped into became just empty space. .For a minute he was just frozen there in midair. He couldn’t see anything. He assumed he was floating, he didn’t feel like he was falling. But without sight he couldn’t be sure. And then the noise started. It was a horrible buzzing noise that was just at the end of his hearing range. His ears were ringing within seconds. After a few minutes it started to become painful. He thought he’d lose his hearing at the rate things were going. But the buzzing ended after what felt like an eternity, and something much much worse took its place. 

He could hear everything. The animals in the distance, cows mooing, wolfs barking, and sheep baaing. He could hear the wind in the leaves, the sound of things walking over the grass and dirt, and worst of all, he could hear Jellie. Jellie who walked in circles, back and forth, back and forth meowing sadly at where he probably was. Then that would fade and the buzzing would return.

It felt like an eternity. That he was stuck there. In pitch black darkness. Unable to move or even scream. Just the sound of his ears ringing or the world he had vanished from around him. He didn’t even hear Cub or Xisuma arrive, the ringing in his ears too loud to even think. One second he had been trapped in stasis. Cold, alone, and terrified, and the next he was on the ground. Cub reaching out to him. As the ringing in his ears faded out, and Cub’s voice started to flow in, there was a voice from what felt like everywhere, the universe itself, “I sᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ”

There’s a heavy silence as he finishes his story. He’s only grounded in reality by Jellie’s soft purrs against his chest and Cub’s hand on his shoulder. Anything that would’ve been said though is quickly pushed aside when theres a soft groan from behind him. He shifts and sees Grian’s eyes blink open. 

However, no one even gets a word out before Grian’s eyes fly open and Scar can see the panic in them. Before he can even speak Grian has already thrown his hands out and the strange wisps of purple magic that had been in the air around him while he slept gather in his palms and pulse outwards. 

He doesn’t even have time to react as he’s thrown from his feet. It’s only years of stumbling while holding Jellie that he manages to maneuver so he falls backwards instead of forward onto Jellie. The breath in his lungs is knocked out as he hits the ground hard. Jellie jolts awake and meows loudly. Across from him he sees Mumbo, who landed less gracefully, face down and was slowly sitting up rubbing his head. In a cascade effect they have all seemed to have been knocked over. Those like him and Mumbo, closest to Grian, had fallen over completely, while those like False, across the room, only seemed started by the pulse of magic. 

He feels different when he starts to come to. Someone nearby is talking but he can’t understand what they’re saying. What he does understand is the magic in the air around him. It’s mad at him for forgetting about it for so long. It seems to dance in the air around him agitated about something. Its trying to talk to him but he doesn’t remember how to speak that language. He can feel it around him though. He tries to listen to it but he can’t really quiet get it. Blearily he tries to open his eyes. He can make out vague shapes in front of him and in his half awake state he can clearly see the magic that’s dancing around him. Then like he’s known the language his entire life, he can hear what the magic has been trying to tell him. In an urgency he can only recall fear from it calls to him, “wake up”

Maybe its the confusion, the abundant magic, forgotten things he can only recall echoes of, but something in his gut is terrified. And without even thinking about it, he sends the magic around him pulsing outwards. 

The loss of energy that comes from it brings him back to his senses as he hears several grunts and yelps as people fall over around him. Truly opening his eyes this time he finds himself sitting in a room full of his fellow hermits, most of which are on the ground in some form due to the magic that just bowled them over like sticks. 

“Uh… hi?” he greets awkwardly, not really knowing whats going on. He wants to say more but his and every other hermit’s communicators ding simultaneously, the way the only do when someones died. Pushing down the chilling fear that still has yet to release its grip on him, he pulls out his communicator only to be hit with a awful sense of deja vu. 

iJevin was finished off by Biffa2001 using [¡!フㄣㄣĿㄣㄣ:フリ]

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 2X07 - Child of the Moon

...Do I seriously have nothing better to do than just sit around writing long ass reviews for a show that already ended?

...Well then, I suppose ANITA LIFE!

Shut up, you love them. Now go under the cut for some actually semi-intelligent thoughts!

Press Release

Ruby’s fear about turning into a wolf during the first curse-free Storybrooke full moon is confirmed when one of the town’s residents is viciously murdered, and Ruby is the prime suspect; Decker - aka King George - threatens to expose David as a shepherd, not a prince, and not fit to run the town as sheriff; and Leroy stumbles upon some treasure in the Storybrooke mine that could help bring Mary Margaret and Emma back into our world. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Red Riding Hood finds a kindred spirit in Anita (Annabeth Gish), a charismatic and mysterious leader of a pack of humans who, like Red, turn out to be wolves.

General Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness

Past

Red’s journey in this episode is so well put together. The insecurities established in “Red-Handed” and then re-established here about her half-wolf identity acts as a great source of conflict. You can see how that sense of fear is decreased as Red spends more time with the wolfpack, and after establishing that bond, gets tested against an equally powerful bond with Snow. This is a great conflict because it’s entirely character based and expands on what we already know about Red.

Present

Not all segments need a message to work, but their needs to be some level of growth, and while it does happen to Ruby, it’s only through being given information and a pep talk that she’s able to reaffirm her control over her wolf form. While I genuinely liked this segment for it’s plot, characters, pacing, and the broader story, I feel like Ruby was somewhat sidelined in her own episode because what is reinforced is never gleamed through her own experiences or anything that she learns about herself. It’s David who investigates the mystery and he and Belle who never give up hope while Ruby largely defaults to regarding the situation as her fault until David gives her the evidence to contradict that. While I commend Ruby for being a realist and very mature about her situation, I wish that there had been a moment where she attempted for her own happiness (Think like a “Let It Go” moment) or if there was a moment that she noticed that called her murder into doubt.

Insights - Stream of Consciousness

-Those mine crystals look so bad! XD

-You better not be driving after drinking that beer, David! You’ve got a kid in the car!

-I’ll take those 38 lasagnas!

-Ruby is so amazingly mature. She understands her capabilities, but takes into account risks as to protect others.

-Snow is one hell of a fighter!

-Also, I can’t help but feel like that’s the first time Snow ever saw her wanted poster (This is before she met David). Look at that amazing frustration and sadness in her eyes as she’s seen how Regina has scarred her reputation. And that’s all before she and Red even converse about it moments later. Great acting, Ginny!

-I can’t get over how great Red’s costume is. It’s perfectly balanced between being something that gels with the classic fairytale while still looking like something a young adult would wear.

-Stranger stalking Red: You might want to get your eyes checked for jaundice! XD

-”Wh-wh-what are you doing here? Where’s David?” Damn, that hurt just watching it. I can’t even imagine how Regina must feel hearing Henry all but reject her comfort. :(

-”He got an emergency call this morning and asked me to look after you.” Good job, David! That was very good pushing aside your hatred of Regina for Henry’s sake!

-I just realized that Ruby is essentially Elsa in this episode! XD

-Ruby is fucking tough as nails! We’ve got to get her into a Street Fighter movie or something!

-I really want to know more about Quinn! The actor played him very well and he has this air to himself of both a vagabound and someone with something a bit deeper to him. Like, he’s an octave down from Killian on the drama-meter.

-”Is this some kind of trick?” Red, don’t follow the man into the scary basement until he answers that very important question! Didn’t Granny teach you stranger danger?!

-I want to live in an underground castle! Holy shit! I’d have all the space I want, stay cool, AND avoid other people! Hell to the fucking yeah!

-”I’m your mother.” My season 4 vibes and her later attitude are compelling me to say “I don’t care.”

-”It’s Billy’s truck.” “Who do you call to tow a tow truck.” It’s my personal headcanon that Billy’s truck is Mater from Cars. XD

-”I certainly never cared what would happen to them after they woke up...until now.” I love that look Henry gives Regina as she says this. It’s such a subtle Regal Believer moment.

-”Sometimes in sleep.” Why do I feel like that line was specifically put there for ass covering?

-”Once one controls something, one no longer need fear it.” Another instance of a villainous character (Though not in this episode!) giving the moral of the episode! That said, I wish it was said to Ruby herself, but I’m not peeved about that. Also, Rumple’s posture is incredibly comforting as he crouches to Henry’s level and gives him the necklace for free, giving some nice pre-confirmed Grandpa Gold feels.

-Charming! Good job calling out your cursed self for his shittiness!

-It may just be the result of my recent foray into the MCU, but I am getting some crazy Ego vibes odd of Anita.

-”That thing. That she-wolf.” George, you are the WORST.

-”Protecting your friend instead of everyone else.” He literally has her locked in a jail cell! It’s not like he’s forcing her to roam free!

-That was a great display of a Gopro camera on a wolf!

-I like how the montage was unclear about the exact amount of time it took between Red’s entrance into the castle and that latest transformation.

-George, you have the tiniest fucking group possible for this rebellion! How successful do you really think you’re going to be?

-I like the visual cue that the wolf gang sleeps like a pack.

-”Of course not.” I love how Snow clearly doesn’t believe that Red’s pack will hurt her, but still wants to be supportive of Red.

-”David see the good in you.” Ummm, what about you, Belle? Girl, you know I love you, but you already know all about Ruby’s goodness! She took you in!

-”I’m sort of an expert when it comes to rehabilitation.” Ummm, I’d say you’re getting there, but expert is a little too much.

-”I need to pay for all I’ve done.” Umm, Ruby. Your old village couldn’t kill you. What makes you this the D-List Storybrooke mob will do any better?

-I don’t know why, but I find it so funny that King George’s cursed name is “Spencer.” I think it just makes me think of iCarly.

-”May you always run free below the moon’s pale light.” This is a really well written line and I wish we could’ve heard it again outside of this episode.

-I like how in the D-List Storybrooke mob, only one person had the common sensibility to bring a fucking flashlight!

-Granny! You could’ve killed someone! That was a big Michael Bay-worthy explosion! I can only hope you sensed that that building was abandoned beforehand otherwise you’d have a body count!

-So someone in the D-List Storybrooke mob calls out “we’re not sheep,” and I’m just laughing because they followed George on a fucking dime!

-So I love how this is more or less David’s arc in “White Out” as well! XD

-George is so fucking confident about that hat, like there aren’t at least a couple of other magical items in this town! XD

-Also, how the hell did he get the hat?

-Red’s monologue in the final leg of the flashback has me thinking: What happened when Red and Granny reunited after the events of this flashback? There must’ve been some serious resentment on Red’s part and I wish we got to see how that resolved itself.

-Ruby, not that that run isn’t well earned, but you owe Belle on hell of an apology!

-Snow, your clothes are so clean right now! Did you find a laundromat in the Enchanted Forest?

Arcs - How are These Storylines Progressing?

Storybrooke getting Snow and Emma back - We gain one method of communicating with the EF and lose a way of getting there. I find that this arc is pretty good so far. The steps feel appropriately paced and I enjoy that the arc actually has a dead end. It makes for opportunities to use more characters (Ruby, King George, and Jefferson) and given them growth while allowing for the plot to feel more like a journey.

Rumple’s Redemption - I pointed this out in “Insights,” but Rumple’s more comforting attitude towards Henry, especially since neither knows they’re related yet, is a good follow-up step to the redemption that Rumple’s attempting for himself that was established in “Broken.”

Favorite Dynamic

Red and Snow - Red and Snow’s friendship has always been this nice delight, and in this episode, there’s a marvelous setup and payoff to it. Snow is beyond supportive to Red, understanding her and yet still fighting for a future where they can be happy and safe together. Like, she risks traveling by Regina’s bloodthirsty men for Red and is willing to give the wolfpack the benefit of the doubt for her! And even whe Red opts to stay with the wolfpack, Snow is nothing but understanding and gives a very in-character reason as to why! Honestly, I’m borderline shipping these two because they’re so good together!

Writer

Last season’s human home runs (Ian and Andrew) are at it again. The writing for this episode is largely great, using very rich dialogue and a good theme of taking control of your own life to deliver two well put together segments.

Rating

10/10. This is a legitimately great episode. It’s entertaining, and our mains are in fine form. The lore of the OUAT world is used well, as it contributes to the story in the past segment and not just the plot (An important distinction). While I take a small issue with a less impactful Ruby in the present, it simply doesn’t take away from the incredible storytelling that goes on elsewhere throughout both segments.

Flip My Ship - Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

Billy/Ruby - While I never thought much of them in “The Price of Gold,” their bit of flirting is absolutely heartwarming and Ruby’s grief following Billy’s death is so sad.

Red Beauty - These two! These fucking two! Belle and Ruby are just the two most supportive beans in the world! Also, “think of it as girl’s night.” Am I the only one thinking about how chains and whips can be quite exciting, especially when one’s hungry like the wolf?!

()()()()()()()()()

Sorry if this review was a little simplistic. Sometimes, there’s not a lot to say about an episode other than “this was good,” and I didn’t just want to say that a million times, but next time I’ll make like that episode’s title and see how “Into the Deep” I can go! For now, thank you for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting this project together and giving my reviews a home on their page!

Season 2 Tally (67/220)

Writer Tally for Season 2:

Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis: (20/60)

Jane Espenson (17/50)

Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (20/50)

David Goodman (10/30)

Robert Hull (10/30)

Christine Boylan (7/30)

Tags: ouat, once upon a time, watching fairytales, ouat episode code, ouat rewatch, jenna watches ouat, ships mentioned

Operation Rewatch Archives

[madewithonerib]

The Dangerous Heresy of Christian Nationalism Brian Zahnd

The insurrectionist attack upon the Capitol on January 6 was the most disturbing American moment since 9/11.

Like millions of others I watched this awful event with grief-stricken horror on live television. As an angry mob of aggrieved Trump supporters surged up the Capitol steps, I saw among the flags and banners a “Jesus Saves” sign. My first thought was, “that’s what it means to take the name of the Lord in vain.” Among the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, white supremacists, and QAnon theorists, there were Christian nationalists who honestly believed they were somehow serving Jesus by participating in a violent insurrection. On January 6 we saw the danger of Christian nationalism on full display.

Christian nationalism is the idolatrous conflation of Christian faith with American patriotism. Those under the sway of Christian nationalism essentially confuse America for the kingdom of God. The Bill of Rights is held as sacred as the Beatitudes and the Second Amendment is as revered as the Second Commandment (“Love your neighbor as yourself.”). Baptismal identity is eclipsed by national identity and rightwing politics overshadows the Sermon on the Mount.

I don’t place too much blame on rank-and-file Christians who have departed from the true faith for the idolatry of religious nationalism — they are the inevitable disciples created by forty years of evangelical nationalism. But I do blame the pastors, preachers, and false prophets who have led the sheep down this disastrous path. Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., Pat Robertson, Paula White, Robert Jeffress, and all the rest share a deep culpability in the distortion of Christian faith into the heresy of religious nationalism. They should know better. I know the world of Christian nationalism well. I was in it for a long time. One of the speakers at the “Prayer To Save America” rally just prior to the attack on the Capitol was on our pastoral staff sixteen years ago. On January 6 he stood on a platform with a worship team amidst flags festooned with slogans like, “Stop the Steal,” “Fight for Trump,” and “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms.” With the practiced cadence of a preacher this Pentecostal pastor said,

“We’re not fighting for a victory, we’re fighting from a victory! We serve a resurrected Jesus! Does anybody think America is worth fighting for? Does anybody think the Second Amendment is worth fighting for? Let the District of Communists know you’re here! Come on patriots!”

The crowd roared. And then attacked the Capitol. That “serving a resurrected Jesus” could be employed as a battle cry for a violent insurrection reveals the depth of distortion the gospel is subjected to in the hands of Christian nationalists.

As I said, I know this world well. I began to follow Jesus as a teenager during the Jesus Movement of the 1970s. But by the 1980s the Jesus Movement was over, the Religious Right was on the rise, and I went along for the ride. I went along for the ride because I had been lulled to sleep. But in my mid-forties I suddenly woke up. An alarm clock had gone off in my soul. In an astonishing way I realized I was tangled up in red, white, and blue. I thought, how did we get here? We didn’t start out as radical followers of Jesus only to end up being duped by a cadre of prosperity gospel hucksters and religious right power-mongers!

So I revolted and rediscovered (at great cost) the counterculture faith I first knew as a teenager. Though the road back home was sometimes painful, I’ve never once regretted my decision to return to the radical roots of a counterculture Christianity. It was a costly decision, but like the pearl of great price, it was worth it. And it’s why I wrote Postcards From Babylon: The Church in American Exile.

The most needed theological correction for American evangelicals at the moment is to learn to see America not as a kind of biblical Israel, but as a kind of biblical Babylon. Once we see America as a kind of Babylon — a superpower that seeks to encroach upon the sovereignty of God — then we can learn to live as faithful exiles in an idolatrous culture. This is the lesson set forth in the book of Daniel. It was also the experience of the early Christians in the Roman Empire. By virtue of their baptism they became exiles in the land of their birth. Their total fealty was pledged to Christ alone. Allegiance to empire was incompatible with their Christian confession.

Followers of Jesus have no business storming the seat of government to overturn the results of an election. We confess that Jesus is Lord and that is the reality we seek to embody. As believers we are called to the peaceable way of the Lamb — regardless of who occupies Palatine Hill or 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The kingdom of God is already among us. As followers of Jesus we persuade by love, witness, Spirit, reason, rhetoric, and if need be, by martyrdom — but never by force. The violence we saw on January 6 came about in part as the result of Christian leaders preaching religious nationalism — and nothing could be more contrary to the kingdom of Christ.

When I wrote Postcards From Babylon in 2018 I did so from a compelling sense of urgency — I felt I had to respond to the crisis of fidelity within much of the American church. But I could never have anticipated that it would be even more relevant in 2021. And that’s why I’m so enthusiastic about the documentary film Postcards From Babylon. Filmmakers David and Kathi Peters have done an outstanding job with this project. The urgent task of our current moment is to call a church being seduced by the Siren song of nationalism back to its first love. In the film we hear from noted Christian scholars, thinkers and leaders like Walter Brueggemann, Shane Claiborne, Lisa Sharon Harper, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Pete Wehner, and Scott Hancock. I’m honored to be a part of this important project. Postcards From Babylon is a beautiful way to re-evangelize Christians with the good news.

[mianite-season-3]

Unofficial Season Three - Chapter 3

Calm Before the Storm

Jordan’s mind whirled as he was thrown in and out of fragmented sleep, punctuated by nightmares of suffocation and attacks of mobs whose colors were wrong. His heart raced and it took him almost half an hour every time he woke up to calm himself down out of his frantic state. The process repeated, and did nothing but exhaust him. Deep breaths turned into gulps of air as he was pulled back into unconsciousness and his vision blurred as he drowned over and over again.

It only got marginally better when he was awake, and the only thing that grounded him to reality was Tom’s hand that occasionally brushed against his side as the other man slept or Tucker’s leg that was somehow invading his space. Jordan cherished the physical touch, grounding himself on it and reminding himself that he was not alone.

Finally, he gathered the energy to fling open his eyes and stay awake. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes, scrubbing away a trail of dried tears off his cheek as he scanned the room. Nothing had changed. His friends were all still fast asleep down the line of beds, with both couples now holding each other tightly in their sleep. The dogpile of wolves were still fast asleep in the corner, with the addition of Silly who’d curled up beside Alpha.

The man sucked in a deep, agonizingly slow breath. Then another. And one more. He focused his senses in on the mundane. The wrinkling of the bedsheets as Tom flipped onto his other side. The soft snores coming from the opposite side of the room. The soft blanket that Jordan was rubbing between his fingers.

Then, a sound invaded that wasn’t part of the mundane. Shuffling footsteps he realized, approaching from right outside the door. He quickly laid back down and pretended to sleep, though there was no chance of that now.

A petite shadowy figure appeared in the entrance within moments of him lying down, which transformed into Star’s white clad person once she turned towards one of the bookshelf walls. Jordan watched as she carefully made her way over to one of the bookshelves, furthest away from him, partially obscured by Tucker’s foot.

The small girl stood there for a while, holding something in her hands and staring at it while facing the wall. He kept his breathing deep, feeling almost as if he were intruding on a private moment.

That is, until Tom kicked out in his sleep and nailed him right behind his knee. Jordan cursed inadvertently and Star’s head whipped around, her golden eyes glowing brighter than he thought was possible as he curled his knee to his chest. He silently cursed his friend for being both a restless sleeper and a strong kicker.

“You were awake... the whole time?” Star hissed. Cautious, the older man sat up and nodded slowly.

“...Why?”

“Huh?”

Golden eyes rolled. “Why are you awake? All of your friends passed out the instant they got into bed.”

Jordan grabbed at the edge of the blanket, twisting it and fidgeting with it. “I... just can’t sleep. Bad dreams.”

Something in her expression softened. “Yeah, they suck.” Star turned back to the bookshelf, tapping her thumb against the spine of the book in her hands as she thought. Suddenly, she slide the book back onto the shelf with a satisfying clunk and headed towards the door, glancing over her shoulder at Jordan as she left the room.

“If you really can’t sleep, I can show you something cool.” With that, she left.

The man stared at the doorway for a second before looking around at his friends sleeping peacefully beside him. He should try to get some sleep. None that he’d gotten so far would hold him over for the next day, he was sure.

But the thought of facing his nightmares again pulled him out of the bed and sent him cautiously padding after the strange teen with the golden eyes.

  “Star?” he called out quietly after he left the side room. A waving shadow from the other room caught his attention, and he poked his head into the room. Vibrant colors and bright light assaulted his eyes and he squinted against the natural beauty.

He’d gotten a quick look of the room before, but as he stepped past the threshold he realized he hadn’t fully comprehended how beautiful a farm and grassy green field was ever before.

Star had everything organized, with crops like wheat and carrots planted in nine by nine plots while melons and pumpkins lied past them in rows. She had sugar cane and cactus growing in efficient configurations and as he moved further into the room, posts of jungle wood with cocoa growing on them popped out.

“It’s so... normal in here,” Jordan mumbled to himself, brushing his fingers against a fully grown wheat crop in wonder.

The teen stepped out from a little room a bit ahead of where he was stood and caught the last part of his comment. Her head tilted to the side in mild confusion. “I mean, I don’t know if normal’s the word... But there is beauty in it, I guess.”

“But... the world outside is so... so...” Jordan waved his arms emphatically to prove his point. Star just stared at him.

“The world outside is so... what?” She stepped closer to him, curiosity and humor in her shining eyes. She clearly thought he was some kind of crazy, or at the very least sleep deprived.

He blew out a breath of air and a strand of hair fluttered into his face. “You know, it’s so... not normal! All the blocks are out of place! There’s no grass, or trees, or beaches, or anything!”

The girl’s stare got more incredulous. Then she broke a smile and laughed. “Oh, I get it. Nice joke.” Star brushed past him and nimbly hopped around the crops and waved for Jordan to follow her. “C’mon, let’s go.”

“I’m not joking, Star,” He added, following after her and taking extra care not to trample any crops. “This land is weird, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“And I suppose you’re also going to try to tell me the sky is yellow and creepers are red.” Star rolled her eyes at the impossibility.

“Hey, red creepers exist!”

The teen snickered as she lead him past a fenced in pasture with docile cows, bleating sheep and clucking chickens padding around. One pig looked up as they passed, quickly deciding the humans weren’t there to feed it carrots and going back to sniffing at the ground.

Jordan reached out a hand and rubbed the ears of a sheep that stuck its head over the fence, smiling when it bleated happily in response.

“Up here,” Star said, one hand on a ladder against the wall. She swarmed up it like a monkey and was soon out of Jordan’s sight. He quickly followed her up, his eyes suddenly assaulted by darkness as he blinked rapidly to regain some sight.

He nearly fell back down the ladder as he blindly grabbed out for the next rung and grabbed at thin air, but his muscles froze and kept him stable.

“Star, what is up here?” His voice echoed back at him and a thought came to him. “You’re not gonna kill me, are you?”

A snort answered his question. “If I was going to do that, my wolves would have ripped you apart the minute they surrounded you. Gods, you’re paranoid as well as crazy.” Jordan couldn’t tell if she was teasing or not. He decided she was, for his own sanity.

It wasn’t like he could do anything about it if she did choose to kill him, anyways.

Soft rays of silver light suddenly flooded the area, and Jordan took in a one by two hallway that lead towards a glass window. Golden eyes hovered as Star poked her head out from behind the wall, silently inviting him forward with a wave.

He cautiously clambered up onto the floor and approached the glass, gasping as he looked out.

The land was in shadow, with only the full moon on the horizon casting dull silver slivers onto the hills. Mobs upon mobs shambled around, and he watched an enderman grab a wooden block from a hillside and carry it proudly.

“Isn’t it pretty?” The teen sighed, gazing wistfully out at the dark quilted world. He nodded slowly. “I come up here every now and again, when it all gets to be a bit too much. Calms me down.”

“How can you be calm when there’s that many mobs down there?” He asked, gesturing to the posse of skeletons not far from what he remembered as the door.

“They can’t get at me. I did have an enderman steal a piece of my door once though, that skeleton’s arrow hurt like a bitch.” Star rubbed the joint between her shoulder and collarbone, and let out a long sigh.

They stood in silence for a while, each admiring a different part of the scenery. Jordan was still marveling at the fact that Star didn’t seem fazed by the amount of hostile creatures just outside her door, even though it was near amounts he only remembered seeing during the blood moon in Ruxomar. He studied her out of the corner of his eye.

This girl had been through a lot, clearly. If the nonchalant attitude towards past injuries wasn’t clue enough, the way she carried herself was a dead give away. Her hand was never far away from the iron sword at her side, which glowed dimly with enchantments. She stood tall and from what he could tell, she was well-toned beneath her white armor. And more than anything, she was closed off. Jordan couldn’t really get a read on her, at least not as much as he would have liked. She gave off a similar feeling that Martha or Wag did, where they had a lot of baggage but no inclination to tell anyone what was bothering them.

Although, Jordan realized, she wasn’t nearly as good as the other two were. As the teen took in a shaky breath, he noticed her shoulders shuddering and a tear running down her cheek, illuminated silver by the setting moon.

Unconsciously he found himself gently placing a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort her as best he could.

She stood still for a moment, then ripped away from his touch and stepping back, wiping her face furiously with her sleeve.

“Please... don’t...” Star’s voice wavered, and she rubbed the spot he’d had his hand on with her opposite arm. “Don’t touch me.”

“Sorry...”

Her eyes bored into his mind as Star stared at him, her mind racing a million miles a second. “I think you should go back to your friends now.”

“I don’t know--”

“Go! ...Please...”

He jumped as her voice cracked, and took no time to retreat back down the hallway. Once again he fumbled with the top of the ladder, clinging tightly to it until both his feet were planted.

As he descended, he thought he heard a small cry echo out from above him.

  He squinted as he placed his feet back onto the grassy ground of the farming area, comforted by the snorts and scuffling of the penned animals. A chicken came strutting over to him and regarded him with its dark beady eyes. Jordan could almost hear the chicken mocking him with its cluck.

“Do you know what’s up with her?” he asked the animal, who only tilted its head and pecked at the ground in response. “She’s so hard to understand. She shows me her secret little hidey hole and then like five minutes later asks me to leave.”

The chicken clucked.

“I know, it is kinda rude isn’t it?” he commented, reflecting on the fact that he was talking to a chicken. “Why she gotta be darude?”

Jordan chuckled at his stupid joke. The chicken wasn’t amused. It walked away, and the man stifled a yawn.

He rubbed at his eyes and made his way back out of the small paradise, into the chest room and back into the side room where he crawled into bed and curled up, asleep in mere seconds.

Jordan didn’t even notice when Tom’s arm found its way around his waist again, as the younger man searched for something close and familiar.