#but grian had no idea how to do it himself

[blueishspace]

Looped Sun 15

Loop #451

Mumbo wasn't sure about trying out Double Life, especially in a null loop like this one...but Grian had asked and he wasn't able to say no. So there he was, ready to see how this would go down.

TangoTek was blown up by a creeper.

Solidaritygaming died.

Mumbo didn't expect Tango to die the same way so he had to assume they were unawake this time around. It had been a while since they looped together now that he tought about it. Oh well.

Skizz: Hey man!

Mumbo: O-oh! You are here too?

Skizz: Sure thing!

Mumbo: O-oh...have you found your soulmate yet mate?

Skizz: No, have you?

Mumbo: ... Not really. Do you think...?

Skizz: No hurt in checking! Come on dude, punch me!

Mumbo: Oh pants! Uh... here you go?

Turns out they were soulmates, guess it made sense since the other pairs seemed to be the same.

Mumbo: I see skeletons!

Skizz: I'm on them!

Mumbo: Try not to die please?

Skizz: What's up!? What's up!?

Mumbo: O-oh I'll help!! Wait for me!

Well, they didn't win...not that he expected them to. It was lots of fun though.

Loop #453

Pearl had loved her first Avatar the last airbender loop, Katara had been a great teacher and she still used waterbending often... She didn't like this specific Avatar loop though, mostly because she was stuck as a fish.She got it of course, moon spirit, PearleascentMoon, sge wasn't stupid... but still being a fish in small small pond while swimming in literal circles is mind numbing.

Then of course came the general who tried to kill her, which was rude by the way, and she had to deal with him...fortunately chaos magic still worked as a fish.

Loop #457

Grian: And that's Uno.

Jimmy: No! No! You can't let him win.

Tango: I got nothing...

Mumbo: M-me neither. Scott?

Scott: ...Pearl? ... I'm sorry, +4.

Pearl: Don't worry mate, I got you. +4.

Grian: What!? Noo! Pearl why!?!

Jimmy: And It's my turn!

Grian: Ok, what if we traded?

Pearl: Go on.

Grian: I'll give you one of the red properties so you can get the monopoly if you give me that one.

Pearl: So you can get a monopoly too?

Grian: It's a win-win.

Pearl: ... Sure. Here you go.

Grian: I hate this. I hate life.

Mumbo: O-oh!

Scott: Look at the bright side.

Grian: What bright side?

Scott: Jimmy is sucking so bad.

Grian: You what, you are right. The game of life is my favorite now.

Jimmy: Wha- hey.

Tango: I mea ... He's not lyificating.

Jimmy: Rancher, you too? Betrayal!

Mumbo: Oh ...ok... Before blank all we had was blank.

Pearl: Ooh a double.

Scott: I have an idea but I also hate it.

Jimmy: I ...don't like this game...

Tango: Well, here goes nothing.

Mumbo: Ok let's see... Before s-sexy pillow fights all we had was gladiator fights? I don't get it...

Pearl: Yeah that was just boring.

Grian: Listen, I had 0. Absolutely 0 good cards.

Jimmy: I like this one a lot better.

Grian: Timmy ... Timmy this is not a game, It's Mumbo's tarot card.

Jimmy: I stand with what I said. So what did I get?

Mumbo: Oh! That's the... that's the fool.

Jimmy: Nice! ... What does it mean?

Mumbo: Youth... and luck...it depends.

Loop #459 (part 1)

Jimmy: Uh, were are we?

Tango: It looks like a dungeon entrance?

Jimmy: Well, I got that.

Scott: Oh fuck I know what loop this is. This is bad.

Tango: You do?

Scott: This is fear and hunger.

Jimmy: ... Oh...I heard about it. The very non pg one?

Tango: Are the two of you going to share.

Scott: This... We can do this, It's not a null loop or anything. It should be doable.

Scott: It's...really dark. Darker then the game.

Tango: I can have my flame hair on, it might help.

Jimmy: Or I could do the sun incantation? Make my hair glow.

Scott: No, no. You need to sing for it to work, we can't risk your throat getting tired too early on.

Jimmy: ...Alright.

Tango: Aren't you like a god of order Scott? Can't you do anything to help?

Scott: Not really, my divinity here is really diminished for some reason. Probably the influence of the old gods.

Jimmy: Wait I hear a voice!

Tango: Uh!? Where!?

Jimmy: It's...

Jimmy enveloped himself with a thin layer of Listener magic.

Jimmy: That way!

Tango: What-

Scott: Since when are you a Listener?

Jimmy: Pretty early on in my loops, it happens sometimes. Oh, I hear it again. It sounds young!

Tango: A door?

Jimmy: We obviously need to get to other side!

Scott: Let me try something.

And in a flash of blue Scott is gone... A few seconds later the door opens with Scott behind it.

Scott: The tesseract still works.

Jimmy: Is that a little girl?

Tango: Why is she in a cage? Scott?

Scott: ... It's complicated...just help me get her out.

Tango: The cage doesn't look too hard to breakificate. Just pull a bit and uh... It's harder then it looks. I'm going to melt it-

Scott: And risk molten metal getting on the girl?

Tango: Point... I'll just use an axe.

Jimmy: Hello there! Who are you?

Girl: ...

Jimmy: Right uh... I'll introduce myself first if you want.

Girl: ...

Jimmy: Right, I'm Jimmy, that's Tango and that is Scott.

Girl: ...

Prev Next First

[regularconvexheadcanons]

*Oh I love how you expanded now I need to throw more at ya!*

OKAY SO- First fluff! :D Scar is the one to Actually purr like a cat compared to Cub! But both sound more than happy when with the other. Like purring big cat meets sated Siren.

Ohoh and! The way they learn! Cubs experiments are on everything else since he's got himself down pat right? What more could he learn? Apparently a l o t when one Mr. Goodtimes and the Vex is added to the mix!

Scar though? He learns like every second without knowledge is dying. From Vex to Spawners to his own Redstone that he tries to upkeep and remember- and his biggest monument to that is not only Scarland but the *c i t y* he built with Cub. They're matches in ways that nulls any other Hermit. (Scars hair is soft, hes warm, hes a perfect weight, a living reminder to care for himself, and the purrings nice to Cubs own humming)

It's not hard to see them silently watching each other like bugs under a rock. It's their favorite past time!

Now for Angst!

Scar being more "helpful" to Cub when they come back from Double Life - It was already bad last time from Last Life, a shaken Scar calling for Cub but- each sound like an Allay longing to get Out to get Free to be Home- that die as he clings to Cub.

In order to make things fair, Scars very much limited in how much the Vex can Know what hes going through- except Cub. Soulhalfs mean he can take the time to channel to Scar, watch from his eyes, and unfortunately one of the times that Cub first sees in a session? The first time Scar catches Grian cheating on him with BigB. It's also the first time Cub is Flooded with Vex *Anger*- not quite Rage, not yet- but he's unable to stop looking like a bloody Vex until the Song has to be used, claws in his hair, sharp rows of teeth cooing to Cub in his ears.

When Cub has had enough of Scar being to timid, so scared of Existing around Cub, he basically kidnaps Scar. Takes him to a woodland mansion, kills the Evokers that'd try to take them, and croons to Scar until there's nothing left in Scars head. Did Scar want to he comforted like this? Yes. Yes he did but he knows to put up a fight, to show hes Alive in a way that matters, or else Cub would take drastic measures. Scar soaks in the attention- unaware of Cub deleting Grians messages to him while Scars finally resting.

It's for his own good. And Cubs selfishness.

ooooooh

Scar purring and Cub humming? Yes. Absolutely. I can so see that. And only the other can hear it as well.

Them loving to learn stuff has now given me a headcanon that Vex are really REALLY curious. And Allays, which is why they always stray away from where they are. And Cub thinking he understands people, and science, until the Vex and Scar come along and completely blow his mind

Yes. They do love hugging each other, and are perfectly suited to each other. It’s adorable. They can just curl up next to each other, and know the positions where they’re both comfortable, and fall asleep next to each other, humming/purring to each other.

Scar helping Cub and being around Cub a lot after Double Life? Yes. All the yes. So much yes. He wants to prove to someone that he’s not annoying, he’s helpful, he’s friendly, Grian had the problem, right? This isn’t Scar’s fault, surely.

Scar being able to call/communicate with Cub from afar? Again, so much yes. I already headcanon that either can intentionally summon vex where the other is so they can talk to the other, or warn them, or call for help. But the idea of it happening unintentionally when they’re stressed, or being able to use vex to spy on the other? And Cub only seeing the worst moments in the Life Series when he tries it and getting incredibly upset as every vex he summons, or is summoned to him, is just shrieking, and terrified, or angry, or upset. even needing to go to a safe room to calm down? I love it. It’s so angsty. And it fits with my soulbound vexling lore already, of course they’d both be able to control the same Vex, they became vexlings because of them.

And Cub hearing the Song of the Vex to calm him down? Yes. And then kidnapping Scar, taking him as far as he can and just caring for him for a few days afterwards? Ohhh yes. I headcanon that after every life series or stressful session, Cub handles Scar’s injuries, and calms him down. But, after just how upset Scar became in Double Life, forcing them to be alone AGAIN because Scar just isn’t calming down, and he can’t cope with thinking about it? Oh I love it.

[angeart]

[To the Rest of Our Lives Together, Unafraid]

absently, he fidgets with the ring freshly on his finger, as scar's jaunty whistling reaches him.

they're married now.

really, truly married. for life.

for lives. because they're going to have multiple. they're going to have an endless number of them, all of them shared, bound and meant to be together.

--- Scar here

[liloinkoink]

one thing i think people get wrong about Martyn in the life series is he really isn’t loyal

like yeah, we all know him as the Hand, following the Red King as far as their shared grave, but that is… truly the outlier and not the norm with him

i mean, let’s take a brief look at other seasons. i can’t speak to Secret Life, as it came out when i was incredibly busy and i haven’t yet had time to watch it, but what about the others?

he won Limited Life because he’s a chronic traitor! he betrayed Scott, his ally for the whole season, so that he could win, and said he’d been planning it / wanting to do it the whole session. spent a whole season protecting and helping Scott, and laughed in his face to betray as soon as he saw a shot to do so

Double Life was a whole mess of Martyn and weird loyalties. just one example: he spent all of the first session hanging out with Pearl in favor of even looking for either of their soulmates, with no regard for how he’d been putting his soulmate in danger. when their soulmates dumped them due to being ignored all session and stormed off, he dumped Pearl just because. one session in and he’s betrayed both his soulmate and his day one alliance!

Last Life he teamed with the Southlanders and then made the Shadow Alliance in secret, so he was on two teams and never truly committed to either. he tried to kill Grian basically immediately when he got boogeyman, for example, and in the final fight he tried to lure Ren to himself by offering to team and then tried to blow Ren up

of course, i’m simplifying and ignoring a lot. he doesn’t earn the loyal reputation for nothing. he does a lot of things to help his teammates, like giving a life to Ren in Last Life, trying all season to win Cleo over for all of Double Life, or working to protect Scott for all of Limited Life. it’s not like Martyn doesn’t play the part of a loyal friend well, but, well.

the thing about Martyn is that he’s selfish. he’s basically always going to prioritize his own survival over anything else. he’s never going to roll over and die, especially not for another person. he’s good at looking loyal, because having allies will help you survive, and he knows making outright enemies is a bad idea. he knows he can’t make it obvious he’s a traitor, because then he’ll certainly be killed. but, when it comes down to the wire, he will generally bail at the last minute to save his own skin rather than protecting the people around him. when his loyalty is tested, nine times out of ten, he will not only fail, but do so completely without remorse

it doesnt take a lot to become Martyn’s ally, and once you’ve got a foot in the door, he will take his allegiances seriously (at least, to a point). but it takes effort to really earn Martyn’s trust. and, even when it looks like you have, there’s no guarantee he won’t yank the rug out from under you if he decides having you alive is more detrimental to his survival than seeing you dead

and yes, you can especially see all of this in Third Life. Martyn was absolutely not instantly ride or die for Ren—for a lot of the earlier episodes, he won’t say he’s on Ren’s team or that he lives at Ren’s base, and often tells other players he’s simply Ren’s employee rather than teammate and that he’s wandering or homeless. he trusts Ren so little due to Ren’s inability to keep a secret or stand up for himself that even Ren acknowledges in the third session that Martyn is probably going to leave him and find someone else. Martyn’s loyalty had to be earned, and it very nearly wasn’t. if Ren had taken a session more to grow a spine, Martyn probably would have left

but Ren became an ally that Martyn could rely on, who could stand up for himself and keep secrets. it became more beneficial to Martyn’s survival to have Ren around, so he stayed with Ren for the rest of the season, and committed hard to their kingdom. Ren earns Martyn’s trust by becoming a more dependable ally, and because of that, Ren earns Martyn’s loyalty…. probably

(half related, bc i want it in the post and i don’t know where to put it: after the execution, two sessions after Ren officially earns Martyn’s loyalty, Ren admits to being genuinely convinced Martyn was going to take him out of the series as soon as Ren gave him the chance!)

because yes, even here, even after Ren earns his trust and Ren trusts Martyn to execute him and they become King and Hand, Martyn was okay with killing Ren to save himself. Martyn has said he was going to betray Ren in the final session of Third Life. his entire plan was that when he and Ren hit the final 5, he was going to kill Ren. end Red Winter, usher in Red Spring. even the most loyal version of Martyn was a traitor!

now, you can decide for yourself if you believe he could have actually gone through with this—he and Ren were 6th and 7th out of the game, after all. maybe he wouldn’t have been able to steel himself. maybe his loyalty would have, for once, been too strong to kill Ren.

but it’s very possible that even the most loyal version of Martyn—the version of Martyn who has created this “loyal” image of Martyn in fanon—was only loyal because he died too soon to show his true colors

[theminecraftbee]

"Well hello there Secret Keeper!" Scar says, chipper. "It's a bea-ut-i-ful day today here on the Secret Life server, and I'm here for my daily hearts for winning! I have to say, it is gorgeous today. Really a lot easier to keep the rain away without other players, what with sleeping through the night not being a problem at all! Did you know, by the way, that sleeping and rain are connected? I didn't until recently, but by golly, they sure are! Can you imagine? The world is full of so many strange things."

The Secret Keeper, being a big dumb stone statue, doesn't reply. Scar's beginning to think it's just rude. It sure replies whenever he hits the button, which is the first step in his morning routine these days. He's gotten better at dodging damage, really, even with the nearly infinite hearts! He's just not so good at dodging skeletons and creepers and such that he shouldn't top off every day.

He hits the button. He feels his health return to him. He gets a new task: Win Secret Life.

He snorts, a little bitter, to himself as he reads it and folds it into his pocket. "You know, I don't know if I'm lucky or unlucky that you're such a moron that you don't know what winning means. Your machine is broken."

No response, again, because the Secret Keeper is, as established, a big old dumb rock. Well, whatever. Besides, if he lingers on resentment and upset for too long, it might catch up with him! He's certainly let it catch up with him before. Why, a few days after he'd won, when he really had it sink in that he was for-real alone on a server covered in lightning burn marks and blood, he had a bit of a breakdown! There was sobbing, screaming, yelling at the world, the whole works! And when no one responded then, well--

"Did I just call you a moron? I'm sorry, I didn't mean that!" Scar says. "You know how I get sometimes. The world is beautiful and warm, but sometimes it gets a little hard to breathe around here! Now, where were we... oh, right! The trading post terraforming project! Now, we hit a bit of a snag the other day, what with the wandering traders I'd caught all sort of--dying--and all that, but luckily, more of them might show up any moment, and they really are vital to making the place feel alive and breathing. So today we're taking a break from that to build up some trees!"

He waves his arms like someone is listening. He'd like to imagine someone is. Grian told him he won--just because all the ghosts are quiet now doesn't mean they aren't there! And if that was a moment of temporary insanity, well, he probably--he needs to think it's not, is the thing! He absolutely needs to think it's not.

He hums and gathers more logs. His makeshift tree farms are pretty nice, if he does say so himself. He pauses as he hears distant howling and sighs. "I guess we will also be spending today cleaning up the wolf population! I swear, I have no idea what those people were thinking making a wolf spawner. A man takes a nap for a day and then the entire server is overrun with stupid white animals! And you know, I do hate having to cull the things, but, well, you know me. I've learned how to kill pretty well, I think, and really, dogs are easier to kill than people."

He grabs a sword from his chest and sharpens it. He keeps it perfectly clean so that there isn't too much blood on it. Good thing, too; most of the blood would probably be his. He's a bit clumsy, after all. He cuts his fingers on it all the time. No matter how well he bandages up his hands, he just keeps making them bleed, drip, drip, dripping blood on every path he walks down. No matter how hard he works to clean up his massive building projects, the little splatters of blood follow him, so he's sticking to dark colors where he can.

The flowers will probably show the blood, he thinks. The flowers and trees he's building. Hopefully, the blood doesn't stand out too much. It feels wrong, in a world where there are no bodies.

He stands up. He heads in the direction of today's pack of unwanted pests. He sighs. "You know, I know your question is, well gosh, Scar! All the previous winners died. When are you going to finish it off and kill yourself? And wow, that's a pretty dark question. You should be ashamed of yourself for asking, really." He laughs. It's not funny. Who cares.

Instead, he shakes his head.

"And, well, you have to understand. I'm not done building yet! I can make my base so much nicer looking! And besides, you're still handing me hearts. If I get hurt, I can just come back and get more from you! If you want to die, you have to kill me yourself. You fucking cowards!"

No response.

He sighs. "Well, that's enough of that for today. Sorry, I'm feeling kind of morose. It's all this sunshine! Can't be good for a man. Did you know populated servers rain more often than unpopulated ones? It's true! It's because people don't sleep enough. But here I am, getting all the sleep I need. Now, time to go kill some dogs and build some trees! I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon, can you?"

His hands hurt. He ignores it. He ignores a lot of hurt, these days. It's not like it's hard.

[mochiwrites]

“G!” Scar grins as he sees the other approaching his train. He jumps down the ladder, landing with wobbly feet as he makes contact with the ground. “Just the birdie I was looking for!”

Grian lifts a brow, “Oh? What a coincidence. I was looking for you as well.” His wings flutter and twitch in response, folding neatly against his back. “Got any diamonds to spare?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve run out of diamonds again,” Scar tuts as he shakes his head in disapproval. Grian grimaces in answer, earning a disappointed sigh from the zoo keeper. “For shame, sir!”

“Just be happy I’m not skimming from the top of Ore Mountain again.” Grian squints at him, crossing his arms over his chest. “Can I borrow a few or what?”

Scar makes a show of thinking about it, dramatizing his hum and tapping his chin. “You happen to have amayzin’ timing, considering I had something to give you.”

“Oh?” Grian tilts his head, looking at the other with curiosity. “Do I get the diamonds too?”

“Oh yes, of course, of course!” Scar joyfully nods, his warm smile not doing a single thing to cover up his salesman voice (as Grian has so lovingly dubbed it). “This would be an exchange of goods, after all! It’s only fair you’re compensated for your time!”

Grian stares at him for a second, eyes just shy of a squint. He doesn’t think there’s really an exchange going on, considering he’s not giving Scar anything in return; besides his presence, that is. He could point out to Scar that this isn’t an equal trade (barely a trade at all, really), but where would the fun in that be? He kind of wants to see where Scar is going with this.

Plus if he really feels bad about whatever this is, Grian can always find some way to repay Scar later.

Wings fluttering against his back, he shrugs. “Okay.”

“Great!” Scar beams at him, clapping his hands together. “Alright, I need you to stay perfectly still, no twitching a single feather, mister! Oh, and close your eyes too!” he directs the avian, earning an odd look from Grian.

“O…kay..?” Doing as told, Grian closes his eyes, curious. It’s definitely some surprise Scar has for him. But what is it? And why? He hasn’t missed any birthdays or anniversaries, has he? Maybe he can take a little peek… Scar never said anything about keeping his Watcher Eyes closed.

As if reading his thoughts, he hears Scar exclaim, “Yes that includes your funky magic eyeballs too, you pesky bird!”

Drat.

Grian sighs, resolving himself to the agony of waiting patiently. How horrible. Scar should feel terrible for making him wait like this. The build up is killing him! He’s eager with anticipation!

His breath stills as he feels Scar’s presence get closer to him. Grian can feel the warmth of his exhales as he releases them, all gentle and soft. Scar makes a few concentrated noises, and Grian can imagine the way his tongue pokes out from his mouth just slightly. He waits before feeling something being carefully set on his head, gentle palms combing through his hair. The feeling is followed by soft lips against his nose, as well as a little laugh as he scrunches his face.

“Okay, now open your eyes!”

Grian squints against the sunlight as his eyes open again, having to blink a few times before he looks at Scar in front of him. It takes him a second to notice anything different, setting a hand on top of his hair as he looks at the zoo keeper. He feels soft petals under his fingers, and finds that Scar has a crown made of sunflowers nestled in his hair. “Flower crowns?” he asks, confused.

“I made us matching ones!” Scar exclaims, his smile growing impossibly larger. “See I got the idea from Pearl after talking with her about doing a gift shop for the zoo—because you can’t have a zoo and no gift shop, that’s criminal!— and then bayum, it hit me! I’ll sell flower crowns as one of the items since I’ve got sniffers!” He gestures with his hands as he speaks, and Grian is captured by every word from the brilliant man. “I don’t even have a single enclosure of the zoo done yet but oh Grian I got so inspired, I had to do something with the idea!”

Grian can’t help his fond look as he sets a hand on his hip. “So you made some flower crowns?”

Scar eagerly nods, “Yup! I made them with you in mind so… who better to share the first try with than my pretty bird?”

The feathers on Grian’s wings fluff up at that. “You’ve got to be the biggest sap I know,” he sighs, although he finds the gesture incredibly sweet. “Though I have to ask, how is this an exchange? I’m not giving you anything.”

“Sure you are,” Scar argues, turning to set down his ender chest. “I get customer feedback and a free excuse to see you smile!” He looks at Grian, pleased, before ducking down to dig into his ender chest.

Grian decides right then and there that he’s going to kiss this man silly. Then he’s going to properly repay him.

(And if Grian leaves him a small arrangement of flowers on top of the shulker box of sniffer eggs? Well. Scar knows exactly who they’re from.)

[silvers-not-home]

rewatching double life right now but through jimmys pov and just realized how violently ill rancher duo makes me /aff

like there's no way there's a duo THIS healthy in this series. the whole fucking point of the life series is betrayal and deception and blah blah blah all that jazz but rancher duo never did any of that. they always told eachother their plans, ideas, schemes, where they were going. and even if they didn't cough cough jimmy going into the deep dark cough cough he still came clean and told tango anyways. we have someone who's death is such a staple in the fandom/series that it's become a whole thing and someone who's death you go "oh yeahhh i forgot about that one, how'd he die again?"

they're both so ignored and the fact that they pay so much attention to eachother literally makes me sick to my stomach /hj /aff

like i don't know much about flower husbands but like. i know it probably wasn't.. the healthiest of any of the ships so take my words with a grain of sand here. jimmy was practically invisible to scott no hate love him to death but c!scott IS on my hit list and tango is just so blatantly ignored by the watchers and other members sometimes i literally forget he's there and when i do my autism shoots up like a firework.

jimmy is mocked in a /lh way but we're talking abt their c!versions so that might not be as lighthearted as you think c!jimmy sorry bud so much to the point no one takes him seriously and tango is so forgotten that no one takes him seriously. though they might not be taken seriously when they're together they're still known throughout the server. jimmy has what tango doesn't: patience and less impulsive thinking. and tango has what jimmy doesn't: rage and more tactical thinking.

while tango is going absolutely apeshit over the ranch burning down and everyone is basically taunting him, making him even more upset as if either of them need that jimmy is the one to hold tango back. he doesn't want him rushing in not because they share health and trying to keep himself safe desert duo im looking at you, you toxic bastards /aff but because he genuinely CARES about him. because when they go after scar and grian they want to be prepared and logical about their attacks. he'll still listen and follow through with tangos plan but not when they don't have one, he was so excited to bring the warden to grian and scar because he genuinely believed that they would get revenge the safe way (as safe as you can get anyways)

and when the plan backfired he didn't get mad or upset at tango. he helped him through it with the knowledge they could both die just by one small slip up but damnit if he's gonna take them out he's standing tall next to him.

they never got mad at eachother. not when the plans backfired or when jimmy died and lost all his stuff and had to travel across the whole server just to not get his stuff back or when jimmy went into the deep dark, putting them both in danger or when tango got them both killed in the FIRST EPISODE, activating his curse again (i know it wasn't technically jimmy that died but he still lost a life so i'm counting it anyways shut up)

because grian would've been pissed (talking about character versions still stick with me here) at scar if the roles were swapped, probably would've kept him at their base for the whole damn season actually. but jimmy listened to tango, obviously he was upset but never at tango. he just wanted to know what lead up to that and from that they made a plan.

the difference between team rancher and desert duo is when scars falling grian yells out for him, not because he cares about scars safety but because he cares about his safety.

meanwhile when tangos falling jimmy jumps after him while screaming his name, making sure that if he's going to die it's tangos name staining his tongue and without the selfish intent of keeping himself safe.

because when grain looks into scars eyes he only sees himself. meanwhile when jimmy looks into tangos eyes he sees tango looking back.

[wszczebrzyszynie]

i do have a question but first I just wanna say oh my GOD I LOVE YOUR SPACE MINING AU SO MUCH!!! The vibes, the story, the characters, everything!!!!!!

and my question: do you have any plans for Scott? He's been mentioned a couple times but hasn't been given much information other than being Jimmy's divorced husband. Do you have any concepts for him? How did he handle his and Jimmy's divorce? Your au makes me go so crazy in a good way <33

Scott is not a prominent character and doesnt really show up that much; he doesnt really have a reason to, as he lives and works on a space station somewhere in the solar system. More info related to him below (and thank you for the kind words! Im glad so many people like this au!)

Space stations themselves arent really fullfilling the same role in the au as they do for us? Theyre bigger and made to fit a lot more people in. A lot of the planets arent habitable for the long run but are otherwise rich in resources, so there are usually small bases on the planet itself (for active mining) and one in space; Scott works in maintance (mostly plants and food related... things. I imagine something like the gardening mechanics from subnautica) on one of those space stations. Thats how he met Jimmy; they got along, dated and then married very quickly, which went well for a while, until it just... didnt. natural falling out of love i suppose. Scott handled it better than Jim did, but that has less to do with their view on the relationship and more with the fact that Scott was Jimmys only hm, normal close person. The divorce left Jim with a middle age crisis at the age of max 30 and Scott with a very awkward ex-husband friend, because despite everything they still keep in touch. Scott is sure Jimmy would go insane if they didnt. Scott is also very much aware of Jimmys weird criminal semi-family (met both Grian and Pearl on the wedding. not sure if Pearl was invited but even if she wasnt she let herself in and they got along insantly. And then had a falling out around the time of the divorce so you can imagine Pearl as Jimmys first and best divorce hype woman), and later of Tango, but he just... doesnt care. Teases Jim sometimes about turning them in so his life can get even a bit better, but he wouldnt... probably

The space station is not exactly his dream place but it works well enough; he loves the no-gravity space and space walking, so everywhere in more or less open space is a good enough choice for him. Hes fine with taking care of the food and whatnot too. Hes not really into gardening but he likes when things Work Well and Look Pretty, so he does his job pretty well. Hopes to one day leave for something more

Less on Scott and more on Jimmy, but i think its a good thing to mention when talking about their relationship: if Scott for some reason offered, Jimmy would come back to him, but not vice versa. Theyre both very confident about the choices they take in life; in Scotts case its because hes actually good at planning things out and can be 100% sure about what he does with himself. He has a stable life that he worked hard on himself and knows what his options are. In Jimmys case its because hes proud and if he wasnt forcing himself to be as confident as possible about what he does at all times he would probably break. That man has very little idea about most things in his life but would rather eat dirt than admit that. That being said the loneliness would make all of this crumble the second Scott says something. It changes later on but thats the headspace Jimmy starts with in this au! desperate

[mkaroy]

thinking about life series scar… what’s new…

thinking about desert duo because they break my heart actually. this is gonna get into au territory btw so like this is all my own canon but i must put it out into the world.

like how grian shut down scar in last life and they both went about their separate lives after 3rd life and scar kinda took that as “you didn’t mean that much to him in the desert as he did to you” so he kinda distances himself from grian a tad

by double life, i personally think that he had a little inkling that his soulmate was grian, but knowing he might not want that scar tried to go in an independent direction and leave grian to his own devices, and he’s so incredibly happy when he does realize that grian is laughing and giggling and OKAY with being partnered with him, AND THEN grian actually isn’t all that okay and starts cheating on scar and that’s when the wonderful method of avoidant attachment begins

another small note, have you noticed that scar (the character, again, this is gonna get confusing) often has a fake friendly persona that he shows off to most people, and often times it’s only his allies that he speaks his truth to. he has this disney like salesman persona who’s incredibly friendly and well rounded. anyways back to what i was getting to. he never truly trusted anyone which is why i think he had that persona, so when grian betrays him AGAIN, he just starts using that friendly persona on everyone, never truly making attachments to anyone

anyways this is all leading up to can someone write fanfic of grian becoming growing my concerned for scar in secret life. because what a way to round this out. grian is in fact the only person that really asks scar how’s he’s doing during one of the toughest parts of his life, and do you ever think that grian might be a little hurt that scar felt the need to give him diamonds to keep his secret even though he probably wouldn’t have told any yellows?? am i crazy?? absolutely. this is minecraft roleplay i’m talking about. like the entire time scar latches onto this idea that grian isn’t trustworthy, and that opening up his heart to people will ONLY result in him getting hurt in these kind of games??? but the entire time grian did care and put his trust in scar and thought scar felt the same and then REALIZED HE DIDNT IM RAHHHHH!! SHAKES YOU!!

also hey irls. ignore this. i’m not real.

thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[salemoleander]

It goes like this:

Scar seeks Grian out as soon as they respawn on Hermitcraft. Congratulating, reminiscing. Holding him when he starts to shake. (He was already forgiven before Scar stopped breathing.)

Bigb reaches out quickly- to check in, to see if he's okay. Says he had fun, as hard as it was- says he'd come back. There's an anxious quality to his messages that Grian is pretty sure wasn't there before. It's hard to remember that people ever acted differently; hard to keep straight who they were and who they all became.

At a time too late for visitors to really be wanted, Cleo comes knocking. She's not done feeling the emotions of what happened, but there is an understanding between their and Grian's sharp, bitter edges. Survival and love, twined together. She thanks Grian for letting her experience that kind of loyalty. It's as close to forgiveness as he'll get; he accepts with gratitude.

Skizz and Impulse arrive together two days later to see him - the over-loyal martyr and the under-loyal spy, happy they could play together. Skizz is easy; he forgives outright and out loud, with a declaration that he knows Grian tried his best to make things fair and fun. Pulled aside while making tea, his apology to Impulse is more concrete: a promise of future loyalty.

He receives a short message from Joel, requesting that next time he have more chances and reason to kill. Next time.

The moon is rising, and Bdubs is online, which means something is terribly wrong. One flight and several hours of coaxing later, Bdubs is close to the edge of sleep. He tells Grian he loves him; loves Cleo, loves Tango, adores them all. Would have wasted so much time not knowing everyone, without this game. Forgiveness is beginning to feel like nausea.

Jimmy doesn't acknowledge there's anything to forgive; dead too soon to know how painful things became. Still, he says 'No hard feelings'; still, he hugs Grian so tight at the next MCC his ribs creak.

Etho doesn't say anything, but he sends over a book of suggestions and ideas for the next series. He nods at Grian once, sitting at a campfire with his focus rapt on Ren telling a story, and Grian knows what he means.

Outside his front door one day is a large floral arrangement from Scott, with a note that only says "Thanks for the game". It is filled with poppies. Grian stares at it for far too long. He does not bring it inside.

Tango insists they play minigames together, talk, tour bases. And finally, he says so very casually that he had fun, and would like to play again. Have the chance to win. Grian knows he will do it all again. (Grian suspects Tango will not win, and he knows winning isn't worth it; he keeps those pieces of information to himself.)

Martyn writes a week later. He is grateful for having met Ren; bitter grief still sits in the gaps between his words. He say it was all worth it. Grian is too relieved at the forgiveness to call him on the lie.

Ren takes the longest. Several weeks come and go before Grian happens to cross paths with him. At first every word sticks like ice in his throat, but gradually the tension cracks and jokes seep through. Grian takes the plunge and apologizes for killing him (Scar did it, but by then the division between their actions was a technicality.) Ren says that given how it ended, there is nothing to apologize for.

He asks if Grian has forgiven himself, yet, for the end. There is an answer, but not one Ren will want to hear, so he just shakes his head.

Grian wakes from a dull, dreamless sleep and begins jotting down ideas for another series the next day.

[azuritethehermit]

my favorite kind of grumbo is mumbo growing wings after stealing grian’s soul. make it as angsty or fluffy as you wish :)

Wait okay that's a cute idea, In my mind Grians wings are from being a watcher and not from the whole Parrott thing canonically. (They're fun to draw in fanart though) It's just how I think so. So anyways here's Mumbo freaking the fuck out.

(DISCLAIMER: I'm not writing about the real people and only the minecraft personas they portray on the screen)

When two souls become intertwined, there's not much you can do to stop what comes next. Especially when someone takes a soul to protect. All he wanted was to keep Grian safe. He didn't want this to happen.

The tall mustached man gazes into the mirror, at the small purple and gray wings beginning to spout from the base of his back.

"This cannot be happening," He mutters to himself. He decides he needs Grian here because he'd dealt with this before.

He picks up his phone and dials Grians number stressing out, it rings for a fre seconds before Grian picks up. "Hii Mumbo," He says in his usual chirpy voice.

"Grian." Mumbo pauses for a moment, "I need you here right now." Hes going to have a panic attack. His back aches from the sprouting feathers.

"Okay, I'm coming. What's wrong?" Grian says slowly trying to calm Mumbo down over the phone.

"You'll have to see, I'll see you in a minute." Mumbo hangs up the phone. Going back to look in the mirror, he does a little spin, still trying to take this in.

He hears a knock on the door and rushes to go get it still shirtless. He opens the door to a very worried looking Grian. "Mumbo? Are you okay? Why are you shirtless."

He grabbed Grian by the hand. "Just.. come in. " He pulls him in and then shuts the door behind him. "Grian, I-." He pauses and then turns around. "Grian, I'm growing wings like you." He looks back at the smaller.

Grians face drops. "I didn't know that could happen." He whispers almost to himself.

"Ugh, Grian, this is all your fault!" Mumbo still in apparent distress just starts yelling, it scared Grian he wasn't used to Mumbo acting like this.

"My fault!?" Grian yells back, and then he stops, "How is this my fault?" He looks hurt of all people to blame Grian should be the last.

Honestly, Grian had no idea the watchers would even want Mumbo as one of them. Unless... they don't know yet. That's impossible though, they're know, all see all.

Mumbo stops in his tracks, "You're right. This isn't your fault" He pauses and then puts a hand on Grians shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"No, Mumbo, it's okay. You're clearly stressed." Grian smiles up wrapping Mumbo into a hug.

"How do I fix this?" Mumbo whispers into Grians hair almost teary eyed.

Grian sighed, "You can't. I'm sorry. I can help you embrace it, though?" Grian says, reaching for the wings. He places his hand on them delicately.

Mumbo nods as Grian pets the small pretty feathers. "They look good on you."

He pulls Mumbo out of the hug and smiles at him. He knew the watchers would want him soon, Grian wouldn't let him go through what he had too. He'd keep Mumbo safe just as Mumbo was attempting to keep Grian safe.

They just care about each other too much for their own good. It's like nothing else matters.

[good-chimes]

Cub takes over the Permit Office

A short textual recap of the Succession-style coup Cub just carried out (Timestamp: Grian s10 e21 14:40-29:30)

Grian, Scar and Skizz all receive a mysterious summons to a disciplinary hearing to discuss ‘restructuring’ at the Permit Office.

Scar and Skizz turn up thinking they’re in trouble with Grian. Grian, who has received two warnings for completely unfair reasons like ‘not doing his job’, knows he’s in trouble with Mysterious HQ Person (Grian, terrified but curious: Is it Doc??).

Waiting nervously, all three of them agree that their collective efforts are a shambles, a mild blame game ensues, also a horse is here and they can’t kill it because Judge Bdubs would object.

A flying figure approaches.

To Grian and Skizz’s surprise and Scar’s delight, it’s Cub.

Cub times his slow-falling potions to sink slowly and dramatically to the ground in a completely horizontal position. (Cub: Hello, boys) (Scar: Hello, God!)

Cub has a red tie and a gold name tag and performs an immediate show of dominance by taming the horse and handing out golden apples.

Scar: yeah that horse was—

Cub: it’s my horse now

Grian, eating the apple: He’s trying to butter us up. Skizz, don’t eat the apples.

Cub: Grian, I have some excellent news for you, my friend. You’re fired.

Grian: I’m what—

Cub: And also rehired! To a lesser position.

Grian: So I’m, what, assistant permit manager?

Cub: assistant TO the permit manager.

Cub: that’s me.

Cub: I’m sorry you had to find out this way

Grian: [into his hands] I’m so relieved I hate this job so much

Grian: IT’S NOT FUN AND I CAN’T CONTROL IT. LOOK AT THE SHOPPING DISTRICT. THERE’S POP UP SHOPS EVERYWHERE.

Grian: even I’ve got a pop up shop!!

Cub: Grian and I share a similar sentiment, which is that the permits shouldn’t exist

Cub: which is why we both have these jobs

Scar: But… but it was you two who came up with the idea of permits in the first place!

Cub: yeah

Cub: but you were supposed to enforce it

At this point it should be noted Cub has variously a) claimed he's been sent by the higher ups and he didn't want to do this but, boys, he has to, b) claimed he is one of the higher ups, c) claimed he's 'quite high up but not so much' d) vehemently denied that there exists anyone who has a fancier name tag than he does

Cub forces them into an immediate tour of the shopping district

There really are pop up shops everywhere

Cub: Alright, here's some TNT.

Grian: er! wait! I dunno—!

Cub: What.

Grian: Maybe we should give people some warning?

Cub: Hm

Scar: We did! We have a thing! I built a redstone countdown clock! [waves at the contraption of stacked red-yellow-white pillars he spent several weeks on]

Grian: Scar, that HASN'T MOVED SINCE YOU BUILT IT

Scar: It does move! It's just going slowly!

Cub: We need to move faster.

Scar: I can adjust it. This is 2024 advanced redstone. I can change it. [flies off]

Skizz: Can he really—

Grian, resigned: He's just going to mine it. [Scar mines it]

Skizz: Can I take a shot at him?

Cub: Fire away, Skizz

Grian: I'm not sure about this new management!

Meanwhile Cub has been contemplating the nearest popups in a critical way.

Cub: I'm going to be honest, I'm part of this glass collective, and even I want to see this one blown up.

Grian: Look, boss, what if we put a big billboard up that says 'Pop up purge'... certain date.

Cub: Hm.

Cub: That's very reasonable. I was just going to blow stuff up, but if you want to do that, I think it's a good choice.

Grian: How much time are you giving them, boss?

Skizz: Well, that's what the timer was—

Scar: I HAVE A TIMER! IT'S COUNTING DOWN!

Cub: We want to do this lickety-split. Let's go two weeks.

Grian: [repeating to himself under his breath] Two weeks!

Scar: I'll program the redstone!

Cub: You program it in, Scar. Grian, you make the billboard. Skizz…

Skizz: Yeah?

Cub: …you keep on keeping on, baby.

Cub: You've been the background of this whole operation, Skizz.

Skizz now dramatically attempts to get them to a high point so they can look at the layout of the shopping district, a simple task stymied only by the fact Scar and Grian both refuse to take any instructions unless they come from Cub

Cub then orders that pop up shops will be confiscated to Scar and Skizz's enforcement office. Grian very curious about the punishment for permit violations. Scar suggests banishing violators to the far reaches by Doc's 'shooty-offy cannon'. Cub approves this exile penalty enthusiastically.

Cub: Alright.

Grian: There's a storm comin'.

Scar: [looks up at the blue sky] Really?

Skizz: Us. He means us.

Grian: It's more like a moderate breeze.

Skizz: Well, that's official, we're under new management! And the tone I’m getting is that Rub-a-Dub-Cub is not messin’ around.

Cub: You guys gotta get to it.

[Actual in-game storm starts]

Grian: There is a storm coming.

Scar: A storm of pain!

Grian: [to Cub] I'm so relieved. I couldn’t keep control of any of this.

Cub: It's alright, Grian. [PEAL OF IN-GAME THUNDER] We'll keep people in line.

Grian: It feels like the permit office has taken a really dark turn

Cub: Nah, it'll be fine. People will care about their permits! [MORE THUNDER] People will comply :)

[linkito]

Kiss Prompt Scarian 30 …as comfort? :3 -🎀

ange asked for this as well, so it’s gotta be hhau, right? ft. some unused dialogue from our Big RP™

Scar hates seeing Grian like this— curled up and miserable, wings tucked so tightly against his back that they may as well be invisible. His hands fidget with the ribbon tied around one of his wrists, body mostly hidden under the length of his cloak. He’s pressed up into the wall in a way that can’t be comfortable and Scar just can’t take it anymore.

He needs to do something.

“Grian,” Scar tries, and though his ears droop slightly when Grian barely twitches in response, he still continues. “Did I ever tell you about my idea for a cookie shop?”

Grian does perk up slightly at that, but it’s mostly to cock an eyebrow in confusion, wondering why Scar would possibly think to bring up such a thing now of all times.

They hardly ever talk about Hermitcraft. And for good reason— it usually results in nothing but pain.

But something about Scar making cookies brings warmth to Grian’s frigid, aching heart, and despite his better judgement, he mumbles, “…cookie shop?”

Scar smiles, feeling successful already and deciding to ride that high. “Yeah, and I was going to bake them myself! None of that villager crap.”

Grian doesn’t reply directly, but he nods, eyes now regarding Scar with renewed interest, glad to tether his attention onto something that isn’t his own self-loathing and despair.

Scar is happy to take what he can get. He also scoots in closer to Grian, craving the closeness, just wanting to be within his orbit. It takes a moment, but Grian returns the casual affection by idly running his fingers over Scar’s knee, which is more than enough to keep Scar going on with his daydreamy nonsense.

“I was gonna grow out my hair and have this whole elven theme going— live in a tree, work right out of my house.” Scar runs a hand through his messy hair, noting that it’s already begun to grow out quite a lot, even if it looks nothing like how he would have intended. He probably looks more like some sort of goblin than a lustrous-haired elf.

Grian chuckles softly, pulling Scar out of his thoughts. “What, like a Keebler Elf?”

“What’s a Keebler Elf?” Scar asks, entirely genuine.

That gets Grian to laugh fully, and even if Scar doesn’t understand why, it makes his heart about melt. He loves Grian’s laugh. He doesn’t get to hear it enough these days.

“You know,” Scar adds, feeling cheeky now that he’s already earned this small victory. “I had a particular cookie in mind that I bet you would have loved.”

“Tell me,” Grian says, eager for more of this delightful distraction.

Now that he’s got him, Scar begins a long-winded explanation, theatrical and exuberant: “Well, I make a delicious chocolate chip cookie, of course, but you can’t have those—“

“I’m not allergic to chocolate, Scar.”

“You’re not??” Scar gasps, earning a small eye roll from Grian (he’s still smiling though, so still a win). “Well no matter! Because I had an amayzin’ idea for incorporating chorus fruit into the icing for sugar cookie.”

“Chorus fruit, really?” Grian replies quietly, now weirdly finding himself craving the odd, purple fruit that he likely would have never eaten otherwise. He feels the edge of doomed nostalgia begin to creep in, but only for a moment because Scar keeps talking, snagging his attention back to this fantasy of a quaint little cookie shop.

“Yeah! A treat and a surprise!” Scar exclaims proudly. “One little bite and zzzzzooooop!”

Grian laughs again, weaker, but still amused by Scar’s antics. He wants to let the daydream linger, to picture bright purple frosting and a fantastical treehouse without feeling a sense of great loss of what could have and should have been. He struggles, but Scar’s smile keeps him grounded, leaves him leaning in, gravitated toward that unbridled joy he somehow manages to hold onto.

But maybe his sorrow still shows through, because Scar leans in closer, presenting that smile so it fills all of his vision. “You know what I was going to call them?”

Grian blinks, barely able to process anything other than the closeness of Scar’s smiling face. He manages a small shake of his head, eyes still anchored on Scar’s bright green ones.

Scar’s smile widens, seeming incredibly pleased with himself and whatever this answer may be.

“Elven kisses,” he coos, closing the distance and pressing their lips together, softly, like a feather brushing over skin.

The name hardly makes sense, if Grian is being honest, but he doesn’t care in the slightest. Something about the prospect of a simpler time, where Grian is surrounded by the fresh smell of cookies and a beautifully woven treehouse and the image of Scar presenting him with that name just as proudly, a shy little blush scattered across his cheeks.

He should have kissed Scar a long, long time ago, he thinks, somewhat sadly.

But Scar’s lips are on his now, and it’s possibly one of the only good things left in this wretched nightmare of a server— an uncomplicated affection, something genuine and pure. Something gentle and loving when everything else is coarse and cruel.

Grian moves, grabbing both sides of Scar’s head with desperate, yearning hands, and kisses him fully, hungry for the comfort of Scar’s breath against his own, lips intertwined, passionate and unwavering.

Alive. Alive. Alive.

He feels Scar’s mouth curl upwards into a joyous smile, pressed into his own, private— theirs alone to enjoy— and for a moment, everything feels like it might be alright.

For a moment there’s sweetness dancing across his tongue, and Grian willingly falls into the illusion of its simplicity.

[goldstargloww]

canary curse things. thinking about canary curse things

i'm hesitant to say the canary curse has been broken—what, no, of course it has been, jimmy died second instead of first, and the canary curse is all about dying first— okay hear me out i swear i make sense

my thought is that patterns can change. patterns aren't always static ones. just because something new happened this time around doesn't mean the pattern's been broken, it may have just changed its rules a bit.

joel had a pattern of having no true allies up until double or limited life, where it instead became a pattern of being isolated, for example

now, before we get into the canary curse specifically, let's talk about some other patterns

scott and martyn tend to drag themselves as well as their allies up the leaderboard. they both tend to outlive their allies. grian tends to kill his allies. ...i feel like i should put more here but that's all i can think of right now

now, the way i see it, is scott, martyn, and jimmy in particular all have some sort of weight to them. positive meaning they drag themselves and their allies up the leaderboard, negative meaning the opposite. scott and martyn have a positive weight, whereas jimmy has a negative one.

what i think's happened here is that martyn and jimmy's weights have tugged on each other, and as a result, martyn turned yellow and red first instead of much later on, and jimmy died second instead of first.

jimmy's pull is strong, i think, and so he tends to die first every time. just because he tends to die first every time doesn't make that a rule, though - it just makes it a pattern, one that's been broken. the pattern that hasn't been broken, though, is jimmy being one of the earliest to die, and jimmy dragging his allies down the leaderboard with him.

jimmy died first in 3rd life, and dragged scott down to 10th, and scott finally turned yellow right before jimmy died. jimmy died first in last life, and dragged mumbo down with him, and they were a similar color pretty much the whole time. jimmy died first in double life, and dragged tango down with him. jimmy died first in limited life, and joel died quickly after. jimmy died second in secret life, and dragged martyn's color down with him.

martyn, though, doesn't die yet, because of his positive weight. he's often tugged further up the leaderboard, and so while jimmy may drag his color down and martyn ends up first yellow and red, martyn still manages to stay afloat.

martyn is stubborn is the thing, lmao. he stays alive out of spite and just because he wants to, and so he does, and he makes sure he does. now that the stakes are higher and one wrong move could mean losing everything, he's being a lot more careful than he was earlier on.

and let me just reiterate for a second - he's stubborn. once he's got an idea, he's locked onto that idea until he gets it done or literally can't anymore. martyn will drive himself up the wall before he gives up on something and even then he'll need convincing or more likely a distraction. he didn't give up on ren in third life til he died and couldn't do anything anymore. he didn't give up on trying to kill scott in last life til he died and couldn't do anything anymore. he didn't give up on getting a diamond chestplate in secret life until he got it despite how much it cost him in the end. outside the life series, even, i'm rewatching rats right now- martyn will try to climb a wall over and over and over until he gets it or something gets in the way. he'll be texturing a model and complain to chat about how painful it is and still decide to spend the next hour and a half getting the damn thing done even though he should've logged off for bedtime 2 hours ago. (yes martyn i am calling you out, enjoy)

and so martyn doesn't die! he's yellow first, he's red first, and all other red names die, but martyn doesn't. because yeah, maybe he's impulsive, but he's in this for himself and himself alone and there's no way in hell he's dealing with a wither and a warden that's just killed three people. (he did try and steal the kill though. martyn do you remember what happened last time you tried to steal the kill, you fell into the void and died)

jimmy isn't as stubborn. jimmy's a lot more forgiving, a lot more lenient, and as much as he's being more aggressive this season, he's reckless about it and impulsive and his reputation isn't helping him here.

jimmy lets things happen to him. as upset as he might act about it, he never actually does anything about it, and it gets him killed. he's afraid to break the rules, he's afraid to make people uncomfortable or upset or hurt, he starts genuinely tearing up at the thought of pulling a bait and switch on skizz, and that's the kind of thing martyn does on a daily basis lmao

jimmy is forgiving and passive, martyn and scott don't forget so easily and aren't afraid to make people upset, grian's somewhere in between.

[theminecraftbee]

as my frankly slightly embarrassing level of hyperfixation on survivor continues, I find myself trying to combine my two current interests in new and exciting ways. having fun imagining what the various hermitcraft guys would be like in survivor. some thoughts:

doc would ABSOLUTELY be one of the “villains” of the early season, strong and good at survival but terrible social gameplay. he would think he has fantastic strategic gameplay and his attempts to strong-arm camp to do what he wants are for the benefit of his tribe. his TRIBE would decide after about three days that they want him dead. not the first boot because he’s too good at challenges to go first but the first moment he fucks up at all he’s Gone. does not make it to the merge. is confused and frustrated by this the entire time.

scar, by contrast, is one of those players you watch and whisper to yourself “he can’t keep getting away with this”. he’s in like three mutually-exclusive alliances, but he’s so likable and charismatic you can kind of forget that his whole thing is lying to everyone all the time. every tribal council he’s in SOMEONE proposes him as the weak link in challenges and every time he’s managed to convince the tribe there’s some other, better boot. there’s probably at least one player (maybe grian) who knows he’s lying to everyone, is harboring a grudge, and has no idea why everyone keeps on going along with this man’s schemes. definitely makes it to the merge but from there it’s a toss-up if he makes it to FTC or if his dalliances come back to bite him. if he makes it to FTC though he has higher odds of losing in jury to everyone who he betrayed than he does managing to pull off a win, especially if his FTC is with people who can put challenge wins or loyalty in their speeches to the jury.

cleo strikes me as a player who ends up with an early alliance that she is doggedly loyal to until the end. probably fun to watch because her confessionals are sarcastic and she’s unafraid to insult her fellow contestants, but her loyalty to her day one crew makes her storyline come across as heroic. probably one of the better challenge players and would help carry her tribe, though she probably wouldn’t “lead” it. I can see her being the final surviving member of her alliance either in her tribe or post-merge, but I can’t see her wheeling and dealing into a new alliance if hers doesn’t end up as the majority alliance; instead, she does everything she can to save her allies, and then she goes out. a season she’d win is one where she’s in the majority alliance, seen as a lesser threat when she gets to the merge by the other players, and manages to go to FTC having made no one mad and with at least a few good plays under her belt. otherwise I see her as a late boot, but going out with her allies.

grian would make people MAD, but not in a “get rid of him immediately” way like doc. a bit of an agent of chaos, but if anything would set off grian’s bossy project manager instincts, survivor would. ends up kind of the “leader” of his tribe, both for good—he’s hard to boot early—and for ill—he pisses people off and he’s a very visible threat. I think he’d be good at finding idols and is good enough at keeping himself around. his survival I think depends on the willingness of other alliances to believe him when he flips his vote to save his skin and how good he is at keeping immunity; i think there’s not a world where he can manage his threat level well enough not to be targeted, but I think there’s a one where he manages to keep himself around despite that. if he makes it to FTC he either wins by being able to honestly say he had the best game or loses because the jury’s bitter against him, no in-between.

iskall would be one of the capital-c Characters of a season I think, whether he goes early or late. he’s friendly, decent at challenges, and, most importantly to the producers, just weird as hell enough to make good tv. probably gets more screen time than his gameplay deserves because he’s pegged as a potential fan-favorite. another player who makes a few close early alliances and sticks to them, but less doggedly loyal than cleo and more likely to seriously consider flipping. he DOESN’T, but he thinks about it. I don’t see him as a post-merge player honestly, I don’t think his strategic play is great, but I do see him as someone who gets to come back for another season to try again.

joe is already a capital-c Character. I think he’d be someone who is way too stressed out by survivor gameplay to play well, attaches himself to an alliance and then is Terrified for the rest of the game of messing up. however he’s ALSO fun as a guy and probably just Says Shit during tribal councils. that saying shit either gets him further than his gameplay would deserve or gets him booted SUPER early. he does not regret getting booted early; he wouldn’t quit but he would decide that it’s better for his heart to not be on the island. I think he’d be a surprise sleeper at challenges; not so much physically strong as someone who is VERY good at all the mental ones.

and these are just the ones I have thought of off the top of my head if anyone else has opinions. please share. this is fun.

[alsofrozenjokes]

obligatory wing preening fic

Grian was molting.

He had been for the past week, and in that time Scar had hardly seen him at all. Not that he was too disappointed, really, Cub had said that Grian got moody during molts, and given that ‘moody’ seemed to be a default for Grian, Scar was in no hurry to see that.

Though, maybe that was unfair. Grian had a reason to be upset after he’d told Scar he was going to do better, Scar’s fault, one hundred percent, he knew that, though.. Well, he wasn’t exactly sure when he could have spilt that big of a secret, especially when Grian was.. interested.. in his alter ego, but regardless, he had a reason to be upset! Scar understood! But lately Grian had been nice. He’d been lovely, really. Scar just loved being HotGuy with CuteGuy, even in a time where he was struggling to love any version of himself at all, where he resented every alter ego that stopped him from being Scar, that kept him from knowing who ‘Scar’ was. He still didn’t know, truthfully. He had very little idea, but he felt like he might be getting closer when he was with Cub in his apartment, hanging out, laughing, laying on each other..

But Grian had been nice. Scar didn’t go very much out of his way to see him outside of work, but he didn’t necessarily feel the need. Grian didn’t go much of anywhere, so he was always around when Scar was with Cub, teasing, chatting with Cub about chores, pretending that whatever he and Scar had wasn’t extremely strained and awkward. Though, in a way, pretending made it more real, and when they were superheroes, they were hardly pretending at all anymore, fighting crime and being awesome and loved by all.

Apparently though, Grian had somewhat irregular molts, and this made him moody and itchy and generally antisocial according to Cub. And respectfully, if that information was coming from Cub, Scar wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. Though, the sentiment did live equally with Scar’s sympathy. Apparently Grian shed most of his feathers all at once, leaving sections of bald spots and itching as the pins grew in. He had a history of plucking as well, a desperate attempt to speed up the process according to Cub, but that really made things worse, and Grian had to wear covers to help curb the temptation, even when he was home. Apparently they had all sorts of wing sweaters, which Scar thought was adorable, a suspicion that was confirmed when Cub sent him a picture.

Grian did not look happy in the picture. He also didn’t look like he knew it was being taken. Scar wouldn’t be snitching, that was for sure. Anyway, all of this was the reason that Scar was petrified at a text from Cub in a groupchat with Grian.

‘Do you want to come over?’ Scar said yes before the second text came through.

‘This is the height of Grian’s molt, and it’s about now I help get rid of the keratin sheaths.’

‘My favorite time of the year :)’

Grian butted in immediately, ‘Glad someone’s having a good time.’

‘I am.’ Cub didn’t miss a beat. Scar put his phone down before either of them could say anything more. Was this- was Cub inviting him over to preen Grian’s wings? Well, maybe they were both inviting him, Grian was on the groupchat, and he didn’t say anything.. Maybe molting was different from preening? Though the way Cub said it, it certainly sounded like he planned on touching them. Touching Grian’s wings, oh god, yeah, Scar was not doing that, he’d been hit in the face enough times to know how this would go down.

But he said he’d go. Cub was expecting him and Grian- well, Grian probably didn’t care much either way, but Cub was expecting him! He had to go!

But what to do for an avian that was molting.. Scar didn’t know many avians. He didn’t know much about the species at all. They had wings. He knew that. And lots of sharp bits. Lots of sharp bits. Eugh. Maybe he should bring a peace offering? Flowers? People liked flowers. Avians were people. Birds probably also liked flowers. Maybe if Scar brought a bouquet of flowers and stood quietly in the corner of the room there would be minimal violence. Peace offering. Oh! And waffles! Frozen waffles, Grian liked those! Yes, perfect, this would be perfect.

Scar didn’t see Cub’s face when he opened the door behind the massive bouquet of flowers and waffles he was holding, but he could imagine it wasn’t anything less than positively thrilled! Despite his impaired vision, he knew the apartment well enough by now to navigate to the coffee table by the couch, however that didn’t stop Cub from fretting over him, pulling him in the right direction and generally being adorable.

“Scar- this really wasn’t necessary-“ Cub tried, but Scar waved him off in a grand gesture.

“It was no problem at all! Everyone needs a little pick me up, especially when they’re feeling under the weather.”

“He’s not sick, Scar.”

“He might not be, but you’re injured!” Scar turned on Cub, only half teasing, “Look at you in that mysterious cast with that mysterious broken arm, you might never recover!” Scar set the flowers down, humming as he passed off the plastic bags of frozen waffles to Cub.

“Doctor said I’ll be fine in two more weeks. The healing is faster with..” Cub trailed off, looking into one of the bags, “These aren’t going to fit in our freezer.”

“It won’t heal if you’re cursed! And you very well might be cursed! I wouldn’t know! You won’t tell anyone how it happened!” Scar stopped when Grian snorted a soft chuckle, noticing him for the first time.

“I’m not dying, Scar. Ya goof.” Grian hunched himself up on his arms from his place on the floor where he’d presumably been laying face down on a pillow and blanket. He was shirtless, wings splayed out behind him- wings- oh god he looked terrible! “What’s in the bags?”

“Grian! You look like a porcupine! What happened? Your- Where-“

Cub groaned while Grian laughed, letting his head drop back on his pillow. Scar was startled when Cub yanked his arm, “Scar, I told you he’s molting. Don’t be a dick.”

“I- I didn’t-“

“It’s fine, Cub,” Grian huffed a laugh, shaking his head, “I know I look like a half-plucked chicken. Or a porcupine, whatever. Most avians don’t shed so many feathers at once, Scar, but molts are never pretty.”

“You look, fine, Grian,” Cub insisted, but Grian wasn’t having it,

“I’ve lost so many feathers that I can’t even fly. I look diseased. I know it and you know it and Scar knows it. Right, Scar?”

Scar startled, caught stuttering between a wolf and a bear, both of whom were staring at him intently, “He- just a little. Maybe a little sickly, a little-“ he stopped when Cub patted his shoulder, rolling his eyes. Still, Scar bit his lip, glancing back and finding his escape, “I’ll put these away! If they don’t all fit I’ll just keep the rest at my house,” he said quickly, snatching the bags of frozen waffles back from Cub and retreating over the couch to the small kitchen.

“Wait, what’s in the bag-? You have a house!? Where’s your house? What’s your address? Why haven’t we been invited to your house, you’re at ours all the time!” Scar ducked away, embarrassed, but Cub seemed to have his back, answering the first question to a resounding oOooOoooOoo from Grian. Score.

Cub sat down next to Grian on the blanket and the two of them began to talk about something or another, though Scar was a little preoccupied with the freezer which.. was admittedly quite a bit smaller than he remembered. The damn thing was a pain to open as well, always getting stuck on who knows what. Yeah, he.. he was going to have to bring a couple of these boxes home. Most of them, probably. Hm. Did he have room in his freezer for this many waffles? Oh dear.

When Scar tuned back into the conversation behind him, he was pretty sure Cub and Grian were speculating about his house and all the rich people stuff he had in it, which, quite honestly, was not a topic of conversation Scar wanted to indulge in, so instead he stood stiff in the kitchen, vainly hoping he’d be forgotten about and Cub would finish preening Grian’s wings and everything would be fine.

“Hey, Scar? Whatcha doing?” Darn. Busted. Cub looked up from where he was sitting at Grian’s side, wing in lap.

“Oh! I was just watching.”

“Watching? From all the way over there?” Cub sounded amused, clearly unaware of the great danger here. Grian was laying face down, saying nothing at all.

“Yeah! Moral support and all that.” Scar gave his patented double thumbs up, though it didn’t seem to have any effect on Cub.

“I could do with some actual support. You don’t want to come see?”

“No thanks.”

Grian snorted while Cub scoffed, a sound that pierced the veil of Scar’s bleeding heart. “He doesn’t bite.”

“I do,” Grian lifted his head to say it and Cub pushed it right back down into the pillow.

“He doesn’t. He’s just itchy. You’ll make his day with a little scratching in the right place, he just melts into the floor. Just wait until we get him in the shower with the jets.” Cub tried a smile, but must have realized just how apprehensive Scar was when he didn’t budge, only shifting his weight from his place in the kitchen. The silence lingered long enough that Grian lifted his head, confused, but he let it drop again when Cub continued to work his hands through his feathers. “Let me show you how, at least. It’s cool, I promise.”

The urging, bordering on desperation, was what made Scar finally crumble. Cub wanted this, clearly he wanted this, wanted Scar to be part of it, and Scar would have trouble denying anyone in that aching state. Truly, Scar didn't know why this was so important, but the least he could do for now was to sit on the arm of the couch, cautious to keep some distance, but close enough to watch. Cub’s soft relief, radiant on his face, eased some of Scar’s anxiety.

From his perch Scar watched as Cub brought his fingers back to Grian’s wings, meticulous as he felt around the spiny little feathers. Grian relaxed under his touch, both of them quiet as Cub squeezed the spines, pulling the white bits away and revealing a brand new feather.

“These are pin feathers,” Cub said, like he knew Scar needed the reminder, “They grow in under this keratin bit, and when they’re ready it kinda crumbles off, leaving a new feather. Avians can do most of this by themselves, but molting is a bit more intense of a process when you lose so many of your feathers at once, and the parts where the wing connects with their back is a lot harder to reach. It’s nice to have a friend in all cases.”

Cub continued on, not looking at Scar as he worked. He was so gentle, touches light and calculated, never lingering. Even when he was brushing away the little white shards, he hardly touched the feathers, treating them as if each one might break with too much force. Scar was so enraptured with Cub’s hands, he hardly reacted when the other spoke again, fingers grazing a stubborn looking pin feather.

“This one’s not ready. If the shell doesn’t budge, don’t mess with it. Grian could use the reminder as well. He isn’t very patient, even when it hurts, so that’s just another reason why I’m here instead of him.”

Grian made some sort of grunt in protest, but stopped when Cub began to scratch an area of tightly clumped pin feathers, groaning into his pillow instead. The clear relief of the action pulled on Scar’s heart, Cub’s small smile doing him in completely. A mix of curiosity and longing pulled Scar from the couch, sitting with some apprehension at the tip of Grian’s other wing, though his hesitation melted at a soft, gentle glance from Grian, smile just visible from beneath the pillow.

“Won’t be able to reach me like that, Scar.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

Grian snorted, rolling his eyes before turning back to being face down, wing on Scar’s side lifting just slightly before flopping back down.

“Well, if you do eventually feel like helping, you should keep a few things in mind,” Cub hummed, casual, but there was a weight there that caught Scar’s attention. “Avians have backs and shoulders that are a lot more sensitive than ours. Don’t pet. It’s akin to the sensation you might have if I ran my hand right down the middle of your back, but more intense. More.. loaded, I guess. Like if I was running a hand down your thigh, y’know?”

“I- Oh-“

“Save it for the bedroom,” Grian mumbled, continuing on to say something entirely unintelligible before piping up, “or I’ll report you to HR.”

“I’m not going to touch you!” Scar squeaked with a small jump, maybe a little too defensively, because Grian looked up, confusion, or maybe concern etching itself across his features.

“I.. I know. I mean, you can, it’s not.. This isn’t the same thing. It’s like getting poked, or having a bug brushed off your back, or- I don’t know, humans don’t necessarily have an equivalent grooming activity-“

“Brushing hair.” Cub cut in, grabbing Scar’s attention back from sparks of fear, “It’s like brushing hair. Working out the knots, parting it correctly, having it cut or dyed or blow dried or braided. It’s like hair. Like family.” Scar blinked, shoulders slackening before he nodded, tension easing.

“Yes,” Grian sighed, relaxing again, “It’s like hair.” He paused, not taking his eyes off Scar even as Cub continued working on the right wing, which looked almost finished at this point. “Have you ever grown your hair out, Scar?”

“Uh, no. I haven’t,” Scar said, feeling awkward as he ran a hand through his own hair, thin and messy as it had always been, after the accident at least. (Easier to refer to a terrorist attack as an accident, better not to think of it at all.) He never liked his hair very much. Always hard to control, hard to hide. Stressful more than anything. He couldn’t imagine it long. “It’s always been short.”

“Mine too! Honestly, it’s unruly enough as it is, and flying would be a complete nightmare with it long and everywhere.”

“You could just tie it up,” Cub suggested, “Most do, don’t they?”

“Guess so. It’s a lot of hassle though.”

Cub snorted, shaking his head, “Every part of your daily routine is more hassle than I could manage in a lifetime. I can barely find the motivation to brush my teeth most mornings, yet you’re in the bathroom for hours.”

“Cub used to have long hair,” Grian flashed Scar a grin as he changed the subject, snickering when Cub groaned. “It was fantastic. You peaked in college.”

“It was not. I was experiencing free will for the first time away from home, and I made many mistakes.”

“Do you have pictures?” Scar perked up, Grian saying yes at the same time that Cub said no. Grian sat up to grab his phone, wings raising in turn with his excitement and hitting Cub in the face while feathers brushed past Scar’s nose.

“Oops,” Grian pulled his wings back in, though he didn’t sound very sorry at all, “Let’s see here..” he started scrolling, Scar peeking over his shoulder while Cub got to his feet, moving to sit instead by Scar’s side. Cub scowled as Grian let out a squeak of delight, practically shoving a picture of the two of them together in Scar’s face. It struck Scar how young they looked, even though physically Grian didn’t look very different at all- it was a change on another level, experience, new life lived, challenges overcome. Oh! And Cub had long hair!

“Look at you and your little bun! Oh, that’s so cute!”

“It’s not.”

“It’s adorable,” Grian sang, sighing as he flipped through other pictures, “It was hot that day, we were mini golfing in the summer, but I bet I have pictures with it down as well. Went just past his shoulders, it was great. Cub has great hair, it’s thick and it was so soft when he used to take such good care of it.”

“We have different memories.”

“Ah! Look! He let me braid it this one time-“ Grian proudly presented to Scar a picture with Cub in pigtails, looking just as unhappy as the present Cub was now.

“Cute!”

“Delete that.”

“Oh! Here it is long! We were bowling, us and Mumbo- Cub was the only one who could throw the ball straight. I told him Mumbo and I needed the bumpers, but he didn’t believe me. No men have ever done it worse than us, Scar, it was just gutter after gutter. We didn't even have half the points Cub did combined.”

“I don’t think I’ve been bowling,” Scar mused to no one in particular, but shrank in on himself when Grian jumped up.

“Seriously?”

“I- no-“ Scar shrugged to deflect the high energy, a little more uncomfortable when Grian’s demeanor changed from shock to.. Scar wasn’t really sure, though he looked uncertain, glancing away with wings tucked back, “I mean, I don’t think I’ve been mini golfing either, definitely not since- I mean, I guess I probably have a few times before college, but I don’t really count it.”

“You don’t count the first eighteen years of your life?” Grian snorted, failing to notice as Scar faltered and Cub tensed, “Not sure you know what ‘Never Having Done Something Before’ means, bud.”

“I.. Yeah,” Scar mumbled, Grian blinking as he noticed for the first time something was off, “Sorry.. ‘s just different.”

Gears turned in the few seconds of silence, Grian bringing a hand (clawed, sharp) to his mouth when he finally seemed to realize. “No- It’s fine, my bad. I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay.” The silence was heavy. Then, out of nowhere, Scar felt like he was suffocating, sudden, like a train had crashed off the tracks and barreled into him head on. “I- ‘xcuse me for a minute. Just need some air.”

Scar never felt clumsier as he hurried to the front door, thrusting himself out of it while firmly keeping his eyes on the ground. Stairs had never been so uneven, but he wasn’t sure he could stand to take the elevator, to stay still for even a moment, to face anyone that tried to catch up with him.

Outside air was a blessing, the breeze a gift from the highest heavens, but still, Scar had little oxygen to breathe, little coordination of which to move, but there were no benches, so instead he stumbled his way to the rundown parking lot across the street, sitting on a curb stop at the head of one of the many empty spaces. Why was this happening? Why now? Why did everything have to be so hard so much of the time? Why couldn’t he just be normal?

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the shadow of someone sharp fell across the tar lot, long, imposing, snaking its way forward. Sharp feathers, talons, teeth, words that bit and snared and dark eyes like slits, wholly unpredictable and utterly terrifying on a good day, or maybe this was just a bad day and Scar’s world was too warped to differentiate. Either way, it was awful it was Grian. Where was Cub? Why did anyone need to come down at all, but out of all people, why Grian?

“Hey,” there were no hard edges when Grian spoke, sitting on the curb stop across from him at least eight feet away. If Scar could stand to make himself look up, he might see how Grian’s posture was low, how his wings were tucked tightly at his back.

“Hi,” was all Scar managed. Grian shifted his weight.

“Is something.. not good? Between us?” Grian paused as if expecting an answer, but Scar didn’t know what to give him. “I mean..” Grian continued in the lack of response, “It’s always been rocky. I know that. I know most of that is my fault. And I think- that isn’t to say- we’ve both had our moments, I think. I really- I think it’s safe to say we’ve both been hurt. And I know I’m a lot of the problem a lot of the time. I know it. And I’m sorry for it, I really am, I don’t think you deserved half of the shit I put you through, you really aren’t any of the things I thought of you- well, there’s more, at least. There’s a lot I didn’t know. I assumed poorly of you for a lot of the wrong reasons. I know it, I just..”

Grian paused for a long moment, longer than what was remotely comfortable, but Scar felt a little too numb to care or speak.

“I thought we were doing okay.”

Grian waited. Scar did not answer.

“Are.. are we not? Doing okay? I know I haven’t seen you in a week or so, but at work- HotGuy and CuteGuy I mean. It’s been great. I’ve been having so much fun, and you look like you’re having fun too. Is- is the teasing too much? I can dial it back, I just thought we were getting along, having fun with it. Are you not having fun?” There was a strain there, the kind that hurt a little too deep to ignore. “Scar, I need you to tell me if you’re not having fun. Please.”

“I’m- HotGuy- It’s fun. Work is.. it’s better than it’s been in years. Maybe it’s better than it ever was in the first place. There’s nothing wrong with CuteGuy.”

“But I- I am CuteGuy, Scar. I don’t understand. Is something wrong with me?” Scar did not answer, he didn’t know how, but the sudden intensity of Grian’s distress nearly folded his lungs over, “What’s wrong with me?”

“I don’t know,” the words fell from his mouth like a whisper, “I don’t know. I’m scared. I’m just scared.”

“How do I fix it. Please. Tell me how to fix it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

“I am. I think I lied to you. I think I said all these things about making this work, about making us work, and I want it, I want so badly to make it work, but everything about you is so sharp, and I can’t stop being afraid when you see me. HotGuy doesn’t care. HotGuy isn’t worried about any of it, but maybe that’s because it’s CuteGuy. I can’t stop being- I can’t stop splitting people up. I can’t just be one. I wish I didn’t care. I don’t want to care. I want this to work so badly-“

“Scar-“

“I don’t want to hurt you, Grian. I know I’ve gone and inserted myself and all my dumb problems into your life but I really- I never meant to intrude on you- I never wanted to hurt you! I just can’t stop lying-“

“Scar, you’ve made my life better!” Grian nearly shouted to be heard, to cut Scar off, to make himself be known. Quieter, he continued, “You’ve- you’ve made me better. You’ve challenged me, you’ve forced me to confront all sorts of nasty shit within myself, and you’ve made me better. And I-“ Grian stopped for a second, biting his lip hard as he glanced from his feet to the ground and back again, looking just about as lost and frightened as Scar felt.

“You’ve made me better, and along the way I think you paid the price for it. I think- I was so- I’m not a very good person, Scar, and you saw every nasty, ugly instinct I have in my arsenal, you’ve seen all of me, and you’ve- Micah- hurt me, but even then, you never wanted to. I don’t think you ever wanted to. You might’ve saved my life, then. Micah, you, whoever. Who knows where I would’ve ended up. But everything I’ve done, I only ever wanted to hurt you. Keep you away from me, from Cub. So I.. it’s okay. It’s okay, if you don’t like me. If you don’t want to like me, don’t want to hang out with me or touch my wings or whatever. It’s okay.”

Once again Grian waited for Scar to say something, and once again he couldn’t bring himself to. He couldn’t even find the words. In his absence, Grian continued.

“I know you know that Cub and I.. You can’t have him without me around. That’s not going to change, and I don’t think you could even dream of trying to change it either, you’re a good guy, I know it, but I.. For what it’s worth, Scar, I can try to stay out of your way. If you’re comfortable with CuteGuy but less so with Grian, then- I can try. It’s the least I can do. I think you’re good. You’re good, you’ve helped me become someone who’s a little more worth something than he was before, and I think in a way, you help Cub too. I bet a lot of people you meet are better because of you. And I- I really respect you.”

The silence was long. Grian might’ve been crying, but Scar couldn’t quite tell, he couldn’t tear his gaze from the cement. His mind felt like a whirlpool, and he was drowning in the middle of it. But he didn’t want that. He didn’t want Grian to dip out of his life forever. He just didn’t want to be afraid, but he didn’t know how, but maybe- maybe it was okay. Grian wasn’t angry that Scar had lied, or at least that Scar couldn’t will his body and mind to love him like he so desperately wanted. It was okay. It was okay.

“Grian?”

“Yeah, Scar.”

“Can we still be friends?”

“I’d really like that.”