#grian did not expect to survive on his own

[angeart]

hhau rescue rambles - part II

>> part I here // hhau masterpost here <<

The hermits are here to take Scar home but Grian is gone and Scar can’t leave without him, even if the others would promise to look for him. (They won’t find him, they won’t, they won’t. Scar knows how vast these forests are. He knows how many hiding spots there are tucked away if one knows where to look.) (They don’t know where to look.)

They’re not listening to him. He’s half-feral and panicked and desperate, barely making any sense. He keeps saying he needs to find Grian, but he looks half-crazed, clothes stained by a huge amount of blood and—

If it looks, a little bit, like he’s just in frenzied denial of some grief? That maybe something happened and Grian isn’t here anymore? The world is permadeath, after all. The rescue party isn’t sure what to think.

Of course they promise to look for Grian. Of course they’ll try. But first, let’s get you somewhere safe, Scar.

Scar panics and backs away and says he isn’t going anywhere until they find Grian. He’s so so afraid they’ll take him away and he’ll never find him. (He keeps imagining that wretched scream he heard that very first day he found Grian, a year ago. How close of a call that was.) (He thinks of finding him after the mimic incident, barely surviving. Wounded and bloodied and ready to collapse.) (He thinks of Grian sobbing as he begs Scar to never leave him again.)

He can’t leave him behind. He can’t.

He won’t.

He’s done everything he can up to this point and if this is his last fight? Then damn it, he’s going to go out swinging. He is going to find Grian. Even if he has to fight his saviours. (They’re enemies if they’re trying to separate him and Grian—) 

He growls and lashes out and his vex magic comes through. The hermits are stunned and a little bit afraid and a whole lot confused. They’ve never seen him like this, hair white and claws ready to tear. (Cub, especially, is terrified of this development. Knowing that if Scar pushes himself too far in his vex form, he could die.) 

They try to placate him, calm him down, reassure him. They try to get the damn teleportation bracelet on him. They keep telling him they can take him home, it’s okay, Scar, it’s okay.

It’s not okay.

He isn’t leaving without Grian, and he isn’t trusting anyone else with this.

So he runs.

He runs from his friends—from people he loves with all his heart; people he thought he’ll never see again. Runs from the promise of home and safety and this hell being finally over. 

He runs, because he can’t take the salvation if he can’t share it with Grian.

Everything’s a bit of a blur as he rushes through the forest, looking for something to tell him where Grian is. He’s fully in his vex form, senses sharp and heart panicked, calling out, desperate for Grian to reply. 

There’s no answer.

Scar sees it, then: a handful of ripped-out feathers and blood.

His heart jumps into his throat, but he laser-focuses and starts following the trail. The world feels askew around him, his steps urgent, his breaths hovering near growls that want to threaten the whole forest if anything dares to hurt Grian more. (He hopes Grian’s still out there.) (He has to be. He has to be—) (Why is he not replying to Scar’s calls, then?)

Scar’s aware that if he can follow the trail of blood, so can others. He needs to be better than them. Faster. (He needs to be a better hunter than them.) He knows that if he’s following the trail now, maybe someone already followed it. (He tries not to let that thought in. That he might be too late.) 

He’s trailed by the hermit rescue party. They scramble in his wake, trying not to lose him. They lag behind, losing sight of him, but Cub staggers to follow his vex bond with Scar, like a tether, trying to hold down the swell of warning anxiety at the fact that Scar is in his vex form. Scar looks feral, he lashed out and ran from them, clothes stained by blood and hair white—

Them following just makes Scar feel hunted. His instincts go haywire and put him more on edge. 

He keeps going.

He keeps calling out, too. Uncaring that he’s attracting every hunter in the vicinity. He can take them. He will happily attract them to himself if that means they won’t go after Grian instead. (The fact that he’s searching for Grian gets a bit tangled up in him. The fact that if he succeeds, he’ll just be bringing the hunters to Grian fails to quite register. He’s not thinking very straight.)

Hermits hear those wails, echoing through the forest. He sounds like a wandering spirit. 

Inhuman. 

Lost.

 --

Grian is hurt. Hand pressed against the spot on his side that bleeds, he sits curled up, pressing himself into some bushes for a moment of reprieve—just a moment, just a little bit, please, please.

He hears Scar’s calls from far away. He hears them, and his heart tears itself to pieces.

He is terrified and hurting, and it feels dangerously close to a despair-filled memory.

 He tries to shield himself from it. There’s a reason he ran. There’s a reason why Scar should stay away from him. He can’t— He shouldn’t— He—

Scar draws closer. Grian can hear his sobbing and heaving. His pleading, so heartrendingly desperate. “Grian please. Grian answer me.”

Grian finds himself cautiously standing up, every muscle taut. His heart is rabbity fast, fear clogging his throat. 

He doesn’t mean to answer. He really, really doesn’t mean to. (He needs to keep Scar away.) Yet a distressed chirp slips through anyway, like a terrified call, begging for Scar.

The sound of it pitches something in Scar. His sobbing changes to panic and dwindling hopefulness. “Grian…?”

There’s a tinier chirp then. Scared. Still involuntary.

Grian is so so afraid and he should know better, but a part of him is desperate for Scar.

The moment he sees Scar, though, the futility rips through him. No. He isn’t meant to— Scar shouldn’t be near him. Because Grian’s been gone so shortly and yet the hunters have already found him. He’s already gotten hurt. He is a beacon.

He can’t stay near Scar. It’ll get Scar hurt. 

It’ll get Scar killed.

(Everything good that stays near Grian dies—)

He needs to get away from him.

He backs away. Tells Scar, in a wobbly voice, not to approach.

Scar doesn’t care. He needs to get to Grian. He needs to get to him, they can go home, this can all be over. 

Running on some faulty reasoning, Grian tries to get away. It’s useless, he is in no state to outrun Scar—he can’t bring himself to fly and he’s bleeding, dizzy on panic—but he feels like he needs to try, anyway. 

His feet feel heavy beneath him, the world unsteady. Scar is behind him and Grian’s heart begs him to stop, turn around, and burrow into his arms. (He can’t he can’t he can’t—)

It takes only a couple of steps for Grian to trip over some roots, the world as cruel to him as ever, sending him plummeting harshly down in a rough tumble of leaves and limbs and feathers. A pained, fearful yelp gets punched out of him on impact.

Scar’s next to him in an instant, kneeling down and gathering him in his arms. Crying as he buries Grian in a hug, terrified he might try to run again. Frantically telling him, “Grian, it’s over, it’s over, we can go home— Please—”

Grian’s sobbing against him, held in place, unable to understand what Scar is saying. He just wants Scar to get away from him and stay safe. (Grian can’t be safe. He’s been doomed from the start. He’s been doomed this whole time.) (He’ll end up like that bird. Dead, with wings ripped off—)

The words “it’s over” mean nothing to him. All he manages to choke out is, “There is no— There’s no home anymore.” They’ve had their safety ripped away from them over and over again. They’ve been showed that they can’t have a home anymore; this world will not allow it. Nowhere is safe. Nowhere is safe, as long as Grian’s wings are bright violet and attached to his spine. 

Scar insists, a series of reassurances, words tripping over each other as he tries to keep his hold on his voice. He says they’ll be okay. He says they don’t have to run anymore. Please, Grian, we can go home.

But it’s not a concept that exists anymore for Grian; it refuses to register in his mind, words sliding right off him, incoherent.

What he knows is this: he failed to protect Scar, and they don’t have a home to go back to, and Grian is sure the hunters are about to show up, any second. He’s so tired and terrified, and he needs Scar to be shielded from this fate. He needs him to be safe.

Scar isn’t letting go of him. His grip is firm as he continues to plead with Grian. He doesn’t want to be rough, he’s never been forceful with Grian, but he can’t let go now. Even as Grian paws at him and tries to push him away. 

Grian’s crying so hard; his efforts to get free are all frantic and urgent, yet half-hearted. (He wants to give in and bury himself in the protectiveness of Scar’s arms.) (He wants all of Scar’s promises to be true.)

And yet something tips askew.

Because Scar’s never been forceful with Grian.

He was always so gentle. He’d never grab him like this, with so much force. So much insistence.

Grian is hit with a dizzying, nauseating thought. Is this a trap? Is this a mimic?

Grian starts chirping. More of those distressed, scared noises as he can't get free of Scar's grip.

It’s the first time ever that Scar won’t heed Grian’s requests to be let go. Not even if Grian says it hurts. He won’t let go he won’t he won’t. He’ll drag him home if he has to.

Grian’s scared and confused, all his thoughts are jumbled, running on rampant trauma responses and unadulterated panic. He can’t deal with any of this. He keeps trying to wrangle free and push Scar away (is it even Scar???), begging him to let go, but it’s so horribly weak. It’s almost nothing. He just chokes on sobs and hyperventilates. (He feels caught.) (He feels like Scar will get killed because of him.) (He doesn’t know what’s happening.)

It’s awful. It’s wrong. It’s— It’s not what it’s meant to be. 

This should be easy. This should be the best day ever! They can go home! 

Instead, it’s like a panicked final showdown and Scar feels like it’s him against everyone. The hermits weren’t listening to him (Grian needs him, he needs him, he needs him), and now Grian isn’t listening to him either. (He can’t comprehend what Scar’s saying at all, and isn’t that so heartbreaking?) (Scar is desperate to get through to him. To calm him down enough so that this could be anything more than Scar forcefully holding him as Grian chokes on panic.) (The kind of panic he should never feel in Scar’s arms—)

Voice breaking, Scar pleads, over and over again. Please, Grian. Please. It’s okay. It’s okay, we can go home, we’ll be alright. It’s me. It’s me, I got you, we’re gonna be safe.

It’s the kiss he presses to Grian’s hair that tips the scales a little, just enough for Grian’s chirps to mute, his sobbing drifting off into softer cries. He goes limp under the affection, still terrified, still trembling and choking on air, but now he’s pressing himself against Scar instead of trying to get free. 

“G, do you understand what I’m saying?” Scar begs in a wavering voice, unbecoming of his feral appearance. He holds onto the magic prickling along his skin, alert for any sort of danger, anything that so much as tries to approach and hurt Grian. His hands are still clawed. His hair is still white. His veins are still stuffed with unending desperation. 

Nothing is over yet. 

It should be. It should be, but it isn’t.

Not yet, not yet.

 The hunters find them before the hermits do.

-- part III here

[jellieland]

This is somewhat inspired by some of the fics @theminecraftbee has written.

---

Two figures watch, from a nebulous nowhere, as Scar stands, alone, in the remains of his destroyed shop.

"I'm sorry," he says, mournfully, to no one.

"You Know," says the first figure, "I Really Wasn't Convinced When You Pitched This One."

Scar does not react. He cannot hear them.

"Yes," says the second, with an air of long-suffering patience. "I Do Know. You Were Very Vocal About It."

"...I really wanted to try and make some friends, this time." Scar, simultaneously right in front of them and a great distance away, sighs and looks up at the sky. "Oh, well. Nothing to be done about it now!"

"I Have Come Around To It," says the first.

"Good," says the second. "I Knew You Would."

They watch Scar start to sort through the mess.

"They Forget They Have A Choice," says the first. "It Is Fascinating."

They move on.

The move on to ash.

Skizz and Tango and Bigb stand right in the thick of it, quiet.

"You try to do one nice thing," says Skizz.

His hands curl into fists. He glares at the smoldering remains of the heart in front of him.

"You try to do ONE nice thing!" he yells, and punches one of the last remaining bits of wood.

Brittle from the fire, it breaks.

"Yeah, well! I guess this is why we don't," says Tango, resigned.

"It was always gonna happen eventually," says Bigb, voice level.

"They Always Try," says the first. "They Always Keep Trying."

"Yes," says the second. "They Chase Each Other In Circles Until All Of Them Are Dead. They Give Themselves Their Own Tasks."

"That Is Not What I Meant," says the first. "But That Is Also True."

They watch the three members of the Heart Foundation stand, for a while, in silence.

And they move on.

They move over to the mesa.

Martyn is standing inside his house, that used to be Jimmy's house too, facing the three chests on the wall labelled "TIMMY", "MUMBO" and "MARTYN".

He is talking animatedly, and gesturing. "-and I kept trying to get them to follow me there, but nobody was taking the bait. Honestly, you guys would've laughed at me. But it-"

They let the rambling fade into the background.

"A Good Dog," says the first.

"Yes," says the second. "He Does As He Is Told."

"-and I've honestly been feeling a bit left out today, isn't that funny? But- Bdubs said, he said he would join me next week, so-"

They move on.

They move to the cobblestone castle, in the side of the hill.

Grian is cooing over a small magma cube named Etho's Dishwasher.

Cleo and Etho are leaning against the staircase watching him.

"Are you both alright?" asks Cleo.

"Sure, I'm fine," says Etho.

"Me?" says Grian, turning around. "Oh, I'm good, I was being a total coward. I just hung around at the top of that tower by the Secret Keeper for ages and none of them ever thought to look up."

"Really?" asks Cleo, amused. "Some of them I would expect that of, but I'd think Gem would be a bit more on the ball."

"Well, apparently not," says Grian.

He turns back to the magma cube, and they settle into quiet.

"I Would Have Expected More Of The Alliances To Have Fallen Apart, By Now," says the first.

"Loyalty Is At Its Most Interesting When It Is Stretched," says the second. "These Three Know It Will Never Last. They Know That All Of Them Are Aware Of This. That Is Why They Are Still Here. They Know How Much They Can Care Without It Being A Lie. And Then Privately, They Care More Than That Anyway."

Eventually, Etho sighs. He looks tired.

He glances from Cleo, to Grian, and back, and after a moment of hesitation, speaks. "I, uh. I'm glad you two survived." He shifts awkwardly, and continues before they can respond. "I thought they were going to try and make me kill you, at one point, and- Grian, I don't know if you know this, but Cleo is scary when she's getting revenge. I did not want to have to worry about that."

Cleo laughs, slightly, and gives Etho a look of the deepest affection. "Well, I did die, is the thing, so thanks for reminding me of that."

"No, no, you knew what I meant! See, Grian? See what it's like?"

"Uh huh," says Grian, raising an eyebrow. "Well, thanks for not killing us."

Cleo frowns at him, suddenly curious. "Grian?" they ask. "Are you the only one who didn't die today?"

Grian opens his mouth, then stops to consider it.

"Or- no, wait. Martyn." says Cleo. "Well. Well done either way."

They watch the trio for a little longer, and then they move on.

They move to Scott.

He is alone, in a forest somewhere.

He is leant up against a cliff face, staring down at the floor.

"None Of Them Even Died, This Time," says the first. "Not Permanently."

"No," says the second. "It Was Controlled. Directed. There To Even The Playing Field. We Can Just Ask Them To Do That, Now, And They Will."

Scott draws his knees up to his chest, and rests his head on his arms.

He doesn't move, or shout, or cry.

He just stays there, quiet.

Eventually, they move on.

They move to the Secret Keeper.

Gem is standing there.

She is looking at it.

"If She Had Decided To Fail At The Start," says the first, "She Most Likely Would Have Lived. She Lost So Much More, Taking Things From Other People, Than The Nothing She Would Have Lost In Failure."

"Yes," says the second. "That Is My Favourite Part."

They watch her.

"Anyway," says the second, "She Would Not Do That."

"She Wouldn't?" asks the first.

"No," says the second. "She Understands Why It Is My Favourite Part."

Gem smiles.

"Thank you!" she says to the Secret Keeper. "That was a lot of fun!"

"You Are Welcome," says the second.

Blood on her hands, Gem turns and leaves, grin as bright as the sun.

They watch her go.

[forestfiresandfics]

Tragedies

Is third life a tragedy? In literary terms, a tragedy is a specific plot line with its own requirements. It’s not what we think of as a tragedy in the common sense—that is a story with a sad ending. Not all stories with a sad ending are tragedies. 

What distinguishes a tragedy is the protagonists failure. The plot of a tragedy is one where the main character makes choices that will ultimately lead to their downfall. Macbeth pisses off the one person who can kill him, Frankenstein abandons his creation and it becomes resentful, Jason cheats on his sorceress wife and then surprise pikachu face when Medea gets her revenge. It’s the result of an imperfect protagonist, often villain protags, but also anti-heroes or byronic heroes. Really, anyone who has flaws, which is everyone except the paragon archetype. 3rd life is full of imperfect characters making mistakes constantly. But do those mistakes dead to the their own downfall? 

I’ve defined the protagonists before, but for the purpose of this discussion, I want to talk about Grian and Scar separately, since two characters cannot share the same tragedy (it’s their own mistake after all). There are a couple other characters I want to talk about as well, as you might imagine. So what are Grian and Scar’s downfalls? Everyone in 3rd life has one, so what is theirs? For Scar, the answer seems to follow a tragic trope quite solidly, his death is his downfall. But did his mistakes lead him there? Answer: not really! Scar’s greatest ‘mistake’ is his betrayal of his partner. But his death isn’t the result of that. In fact, when he offered his life in apology, Grian doesn’t take it. Scar’s death is actually the result of the two of them being back on better terms. Their relationship can never be what it once was, but they go out crying and laughing and talking about how much fun they had. Scar’s mistakes don’t lead to his death. His redemption does. 

What about Grian? Where is his downfall? There are three moments that could be considered his downfall, being betrayed, killing his partner, and his own death. I think the betrayal is simply the lead up to the real fall, and I think that killing Scar is the real fall—with the suicide being the result of that fall. Do his actions lead him to that conclusion? Answer: sorta? You could argue that his mistake really was getting close to anyone in the first place. He knew he would have to finish the game, so he shouldn’t have let himself get attached to anyone. But his actions aren’t really “mistakes” in the tragic sense, rather, he simply follows the rules of the narrative. Grian more than anyone is simply passively following the plot, rather than being an active member in it. The only part that wasn’t in the plan was having to kill a friend—not just a competitor. So this one is arguable.

Now I talk about Scar and Grian a lot in these discussions of narrative structure, and because as the protagonists, theirs is the POV you are expected to make these assessments from (a tragedy is inherently about the main character, after all. If an antagonist falls, that’s simply comeuppance). But I do still want to talk about the primary antagonist: Ren. And it’s because his storyline really is a perfect tragedy. He starts out just trying to survive, he sets up a business, tries to gather resources and alliances that way, gets dragged along by Martyn who has to show him how to survive. But as things start going well for him, he gets the idea to expand. He has lots of allies now, lots of supplies, why not get everyone in on this? Ren’s hubris leads him to splitting the server in two, and though at first they dominate the fight, each battle they lose a little bit more. His actions have brought once-enemies together all for the sake of defeating him, and he is killed by the person he was trying to protect himself from. His mistake was forcing the partnerships into larger alliances, and it lead directly to his downfall—his death and the death of his kingdom. It’s a very neat and tidy tragedy.

The other notable tragedy is Scott’s. His mistake comes quite late, and his downfall comes immediately after. He does well, plays it smart all the way up until Jimmy dies. And then he loses his head a little. Goes after revenge over anything else. He doesn’t wait for other allies to join him, doesn’t stick with the group as they are gearing up for a larger fight. No, he simply goes to kill Skizz on his own (with Joel, who happened to be there), and then gets killed alone and surrounded. His mistake was simple—going for revenge instead of working with the alliance. But It gets worse when you consider his pact with Cleo. He hadn’t wanted to leave his partner, but he did have a plan B if anything ever happened. And instead of leaning on that plan B, he gets himself killed for revenge. And Cleo ends up dying alone too, doing something similar. So with Scott, we see a more subtle tragedy. 

There are a few more individual POVs that have tragedies included too. But more are just sad. Impulse playing the field, making everyone question where his loyalties are, only to then prove to be strongly loyal to his original alliance—and then HE is the one betrayed? What are heartache. BigB relying on agreements made earlier, before the war, and ending up with an audience as he gets killed instead? Devastating. But not tragedies in the strict sense. 

And similarly, neither is the cactus ring a capital T Tragedy. No one’s mistakes lead them there. Their love and their loyalty did. They overcame everything together, and ended up at the end together. The fact that no matter what they did, this couldn’t be avoided, that this was ordained, that it was fate. That is what makes the cactus ring so heartfelt. They did everything right, at least in the end, and they still ended up here, in a bloody duel to the death. 

Masterlist

By the way, anyone can add to this series if you want! Tag it 3rd life literary analysis, and the one rule is you gotta treat it like a proper analysis haha

[katalyist]

Other of the reasons why the dead of the bad boys was so different and tragic (well, everything about it is, but you get the point) it's that Grian was willing from the beggining to give his time, he was willing from doing something different that any other of the seasons: Sacrifice himself instead of others.

Like, when Jimmy was climbing the ladder with Scott he says it but both Jimmy and Joel ignore him because Scott is here to give Jimmy time, why sacrifice his time like that? Even when it was a good idea because if Jimmy die with an hour they don't have time to get him more (that is what ended happening).

And with Joel, he repeats to him multiple times to not go out on a killer rampage because if he died he was gonna be alone, and when he is at seven minutes and repeats that Joel needs to kill him until he convinces him to do it.

He was doing everything he could to keep them alive and ended up alone. With the burned of being alive, to live because that was what they wanted.

I want to point out also the parallels with Last Life, because in that one Grian did the opposite of this one and get the same result: He sacrificed The Southlanders to stay alive.

And maybe this shows how much the hole thing of 'being red' stop important when it comes to allies because everyone felt what it was being the last one standing. In Last Life the moment one of them turned red they were exile from the group and couldn't come back until they were yellow again and Grian was willing to have someone with him, or to be back, try (in joke) kill Mumbo so he is red too, scam Scar to take other of his lifes, stay with Joel so he isn't alone... And by the end it was him the one killing his own teammates to survive until he lost Impulse and ended being the last one of the Southlanders without real friends, real allies, pushed to work with the rest of the reds in a makeshift alliance (that is kinda what happend this session, Grian knows he is gonna end alone, and tries to make an alliance with the only people they haven't attack to much, not really because he wants but because he needs to).

And maybe this is other thing that makes it tragic! Because to be honest I was one of the people that expected the bad boys to break apart after three episodes, maybe four if they could stay in green. I was expecting Grian to work behind their back at some point or leaving them the moment he received a better alliance. I was expecting him to refuse giving his time to anyone of them. But it didn't happened.

All of them finally had an alliance of people they can trust. Of people similar to them but different.

And then three were one.

And one has to survive.

[rokiixd]

Hermittober Day 4 - "Bound"

ao3 link at the bottom

one would think that being bound to another soul would change their own life, as well as their soulmate. tango didn’t think so. to him, the bond forged between him and his soulmate was simply another cruel joke forced upon them by the gods that put them in this gladiator’s pit of a world. but that was all before he met his soulmate.

despite their initial hesitance, tango and jimmy rapidly grew close. after only a day on their scrappy ranch, a connection beyond their temporary soulbond had formed. neither of them were truly aware of it– they’d owed all shared feelings to the soulbond. but deep down, far beyond the surface of their consciousnesses, there was a thin, glowing thread that joined them.

in a way, the bond between their souls prevented them from realising their own fates. even when tango had felt more than just an occasional twinge of pain, he attributed it to the unstable magic that was used to link the two of them together.

but again, that was before all this happened.

oh, what’s “ this ”, you ask?

well, this all started when a little bird told tango of a place far away, free of the constant cycle of chaos and bloodshed that the gods threw at them. and on a whim, (and without any knowledge of where he was even going in the first place) tango had invited a certain rancher to join him in his endeavour for peace.

tango hadn’t expected jimmy to actually show up at the bus stop. for all he knew, their relationship during the life games was just a temporary means of survival. after the games, they had barely spoken to one another, let alone go on adventures to mysterious worlds (even if they were meant to be peaceful).

jimmy had fallen asleep on the bus to pelican town, and despite his careful demeanour, tango found himself slowly drifting off as the bus cruised on.

~⭑☆☪☆⭑~

they’d arrived at the town sometime in the afternoon, the sun blazing bright above them as they stumbled groggily out of the bus. when they’d entered the town, tango had briefly explained to the mayor that they were here on behalf of their friend (who apparently, was a regular visitor) and were going to live on his plot of land for the foreseeable future.

with that taken care of, the two dragged themselves to grian’s farmhouse.

his house was, unsurprisingly, beautiful– well designed, cosy, and appropriately decked out in decorations of all sorts. but at this point and time, tango cared the most about the king size four-poster bed that sat in the bedroom. jimmy apparently agreed, seeing as he’d collapsed on the bed next to him.

~⭑☆☪☆⭑~

[winter 24 year 2]

tango wakes up to the soft rustling of feathers. for once, jimmy had woken up before him and was getting dressed– but not in his normal denim button-up. for once, he’s wearing a sweater (and that sweater happens to be tango’s favourite oversized knit sweater but no one has to know that), and now overalls on top of it.

tango really doesn’t think his day can get any better– and it’s only just begun.

today is technically tango’s turn to go feed the animals, but if he’s going to be completely honest, he really doesn’t want to get up right now. so, he stays in bed while jimmy brews a pot of coffee for the two of them.

but then–

a twinge of pain echoes in his right hand.

and from the kitchen, jimmy curses loudly in a tongue that not even tango knows.

tango frowns, glancing at his hand.

he rolls out of bed and makes his way to the kitchen. jimmy is standing at the sink, running his hand under the faucet.

“show me your hand.”

“aren’t you gonna ask if i’m okay?”, jimmy teases.

tango huffs impatiently and takes hold of his right hand. and there it is– a patch of pink skin on his hand.

“did you burn yourself?”

jimmy nods.

and then he realises.

“tango, did you feel it?”

tango nods.

and then it clicks.

their bond had never been from the gods.

i love you, he wants to say, but the words are stuck in his throat. jimmy opens his mouth as well, but all that escapes is a sob. tango takes his other hand, lacing their fingers together– and jimmy takes the initiative. he presses a soft kiss to the knuckles of their joined hands, and tango nearly breaks right then and there. he squeezes jimmy’s hand once, then throws his arms around him, nearly knocking them both to the kitchen floor with the force of the embrace.

tango kisses him, sweet and agonisingly slow. he doesn’t think he could ever bring himself to stop.

jimmy doesn’t think he can either.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50578279

[raichett]

what a wicked thing to do

AU where Third Life was nothing but a dream, and none of the people in it were ever real - except Grian, the dreamer. Can also be found on AO3 here.

1. Grian wakes up. He’s not expecting to.

He’s in a hospital bed - white walls, beeping, a bit chilly - it’s unmistakeable. There’s a woman by his side: Pearl. 

That’s my sister, he thinks, numbly. He’d forgotten he had a sister. He’d forgotten what a hospital was, and most of the machines that he now recognises.

He forgot a lot. And what he remembers is tainted with blood and sand.

2. “You’ve been in a comatose state for the last eight weeks, Miss Griande,” the nurse tells him, using his deadname but since he’s not out publicly he lets it slide. It also shakes him a bit: no one there called him anything but ‘Grian’. 

“Eight weeks,” he repeats, numb. His voice is too high, too breathy, even though it’s strained with lack of use. It feels wrong. It doesn’t sound like how he thinks he should sound, how he’s used to sounding.

“There was an incident with the lighting equipment,” Pearl tells him gently. “It crashed down on the stage while you were on tour - no one died, but several were badly hurt, including you. Your agent has already hired lawyers - they’re suing, but don’t worry about any of that, it’s all in hand.”

Grian looks at her, feeling overwhelmed. I died, he thinks. Three times. 

“I’m glad you’re awake,” Pearl says, happy tears at the corners of her eyes. 

Grian, suddenly, horribly, wishes he weren’t.

3. Grian goes home with Pearl after a few days. He struggles to sleep through the night; Scar isn’t there to hold him. His bed is too empty, the place by his side too quiet, and - 

Scar’s dead. Grian killed him. But Scar wasn’t ever alive in the first place, and now it’s all tangled in Grian’s head.

“Who’s Scar?” Pearl asks him one morning as they sit at the breakfast table. Grian’s still struggling to eat, and not all of it can be put down to having been on a liquid diet for the last few weeks.

Grian freezes.

“He was...” Grian struggles to say it. How does one describe Scar? The man was larger than life, despite not owning one. (Or despite owning three, and losing all of them.) “From my dream,” he settles on. 

“From your coma?”

“... Yeah.”

4. The fans are clamouring for his attention since it was announced that he awoke from his coma. Grian can hardly look at Twitter, at the constant begging for some sign of life from Ariana’s personal account. There’s an official one, run by his team, but it’s the personal Twitter and Instagram that people are spamming. He doesn’t think he can stand the thought of opening his inbox.

No one wanted him this badly there. Except Scar, perhaps, but even Jimmy and Scott - both gone the same way as Scar, disappearing into nothingness, existing only in warped memory of fragile dreams now awoken from - hadn’t been so attached that they hung on his every word.

Finally, Grian types out, Physical therapy isn’t very fun but I’m doing well everyone! Please be patient with me xxx and posts it. On his Ariana Griande Instagram, he posts a selfie of himself in front of a window, smiling cutely and holding two fingers up in a victory sign.

Most of the fans gobble it up, but Grian, scrolling through the comments like he knows he’s not supposed to if he wants to keep his sanity, sees a few people noting that he looks thin, pale, not himself. They’re worried, and probably right to be.

I don’t feel like myself, Grian thinks. I feel like someone else.

What is the space between who you were and who you have become? When did the transformation occur? Or can you only come out the other side and say that you survived? If you did, of course. Survive, that is.

5. “I want him, I want Scar,” Grian cries into Pearl’s neck as they sit on the bed, Pearl embracing him tightly after another nightmare of the desert and the cactus ring and the cliff of Monopoly Mountain. “I want him back.”

“I’m sorry,” Pearl says, helplessly. Tears wet her pyjama top collar as she holds her brother close, his limbs still weak as he recovers from their atrophy, nowhere near ready to take to the stage again yet. “He’s not - Scar’s not here. He can’t be here. I’m sorry.”

“He was mine,” Grian chokes out. “He was mine and I killed him!”

“Grian,” Pearl says, trying to be gentle, trying to find the right words, but the right words don’t exist, “he wasn’t real. He wasn’t ever real.”

“But I loved him,” Grian whispers, broken and small. He looks up at Pearl desperately, begging his sister to try and understand. She won’t. “Pearl, please, I didn’t - it’s not - but I - I loved - ”

“Gri...”

“But I loved him...”

[loveroped]

Scar wonders what's so bad about this. About everything.

So bad that the option of considering seemed like a curse many had been killed with. Maybe they were and Scar was the next victim. Maybe Scar was the one putting the curse.

The deep sea had been his home for however long he can remember. The swallow of water that fueled his limbs in ways that air couldn't. Sucking out oxygen from places others wouldn't have survived in. He thrived in the water and he never considered being elsewhere, that somewhere might be better than his own home.

Objectively he knew, he was low, they were high. A fact you would've been taught from the moment you were born. Stay where you belong because you're not sure what they would do to you if you live in a world that wasn't yours.

He thrived and he lived and he did not question.

But now he did. He didn't question if this was his home, no not at all. Forever this would be the place where he'd dwell without the trouble of existing.

But he wondered if it might be worse than he thought it was. That the way the light seeped through the particles and illuminated whatever floats and falls, wasn't enough. That the light the moon reflected was better than the shine of the pearls on the ocean floor.

That the lillies and buttercups were better than the seaweed and coral.

Scar thinks they have to be, because why else would he have looked at Scar which such disgust. Such foul hatred that sunk deep through the algae and tore up the ground.

Scar's head hurt and he had never felt this uncomfortable in his own skin. He's not sure what he expected and he's not sure what he wanted. His heart felt too big in his chest and it was building up to something Scar didn't know how to handle.

Something was worse and something was better. He didn't understand Grian and why he acted upper when he was just as low as Scar. Why Scar was a parasite and Grian...

He's not sure what Grian is anymore.

Someone he should've found comfort and love in but instead he got a spear that stabbed through the skin he managed to build up in all his years of living. Tore him apart in words he should've expected.

Scar wonders what's so bad about his home. So bad about him. So bad that people would rather drown in it than consider that life thrived there.

So bad that not even merfolk think they should be here.

The water swayed him like a crib but Scar did not want to be held. He did not want to be comforted by what could've killed someone else.

His home was his home and he continued to thrive.

But when he breathed, his water tasted like poison. Poison he grew himself.

[cattimeswithjellie]

LimLife Finale Predictions: Revisited

I made a bunch of predictions last night about how Session 8 was going to go. Let's see how I did!

Scar makes at least one kill but still goes out before the break, probably losing his last life to a failed water bucket clutch. (This is a partial gimme, based on his Twitter post.) False! Scar did lose a life to a bucket clutch and he did get a kill, but not the way I predicted. Oh well.

Bdubs will at least attempt to give someone time, despite having very little of it himself. Smart money is Etho, maybe Cleo. False! Bdubs was not a lender or a borrower, the only Clocker who did not get any time from Scott. And there was almost no Ethdubs interaction in the finale.

Scott will give Cleo 30 more minutes of time. True!

A Red Pack will form within the first half hour to hunt down Scott and possibly also Martyn. At least one person will go out as a result of the ensuing chaos. False! The first half-hour was much calmer than I expected, and Scott and Martyn splitting up and making allies in each faction saved them a lot of grief.

One of the Nosy Neighbors will lose time to one of their own traps. Partially True, but only in the sense that Impulse got mad and killed them about the minigame trap.

Someone will lose their last life to fall damage in a very stupid way (in addition to the aforementioned failed clutch). TRUE TRUE TRUE!!! OMG, Tango and Grian, you poor pathetic little splatted wet cats. I love you, you are the worst.

There will be a bloodbath at spawn, either a large trap or players attempting to win more time by death-looping the newly respawned. Partially True, there was a lot of killing at spawn and a large trap was set there, but the two were unrelated. Scott also deliberately did not spawn camp Impulse at the end of the game.

No bases will survive even mostly intact, but the Sub Sandwich Cake will not become any more broken than it was at the end of Ep 7. False, most of the bases took damage but nobody went on a rampage against real estate like in Double Life. Also some substantial sabotage-related damage befell the Moldy Sub.

Impulse will be the last remaining member of TIES. True! Well done, Impulse!

Cleo will be the last remaining Clocker. True, though only by a matter of seconds.

The recording session will go longer than three hours but less than four. Unknown, nobody has mentioned a recording time yet.

So final score, four True, four False, two Sort Of True, and one Who Knows. Not too bad, really! I declare myself a new Oracle of Life Series.

[tuesday-teyz]

What would have happened if it was Theseus that left instead of Wilbur

Like i know in the lore and his character at the time he would have never left if ot wasent with somebody

But if he did

Where would he go/what would he do

At first i was like "well of course he'd be a pirate"

But hes like 11 or younger at that time so would he really know how to and would anyone let him

And also what would he bring with him?

Warning: this scenario gets a bit heavy!

If Tommy was to run away, alone, he'd probably stowaway on a ship rather than pay his way into one, because, while he might have enough money on him, nobody's going to take a child passenger without questioning where he is from. Let's imagine that this ship just happened to be one sailing across the ocean, and the crew weren't happy when they find this boy hiding and eating their supplies a few weeks into the journey. Tommy, eleven years old, scared and weak, tries to tell them that he's a prince of the Antarctic Empire. The captain does not believe him, and gets rather angry with the boy after a few days of him being tied up to the mast and repeating the same thing like a mantra. They cut Tommy's tongue off.

When the ship finally reaches their destination on the other continent, Tommy manages to escape. For days he survives out in the streets all alone, in an unfamiliar city, among unfamiliar people, stripped of his ability to speak. Stealing is bad, he has been taught, but Tommy is so, so hungry. He slips an apple from a fruit vendor, picks up the scraps people leave out for dogs. Sometimes he gets chased away, but never caught.

Every night he hides in some crates at the seaside, looks out to the ocean, where far, far north is the Antarctic Empire. Tommy doesn't want adventures, not anymore. He wants Wilbur to sing him to him and Techno to hug him and that Phil would tell that everything is going to be alright. He wants home.

Tommy whistles to himself for comfort every night, like a little songbird he is. On one of the evenings, he realizes that it's his birthday, and he is meeting it in a filthy alleyway with nothing but a chewed-on peach for food and drink, hundreds of miles away from his family. Tommy can't help it; his whistles waver and he bursts into tears.

What he doesn't expect is for another voice to pick up on the abandoned tune - and for that voice to belong to an avian with bright parrot wings.

Tommy had seen him before, a few times. The man would scout around the market, buying his own things, and not pay attention - or rather, pointedly looking away - when Tommy would steal a loaf of bread from a stall nearby. They sing back and forth to one another for hours, until Tommy's throat turns sore and he is too tired to try and run when the man comes near him.

"My name is Grian," he says, and he sounds kind. "Do you want to come with me?"

[acerace]

Purple did absolutely phenomenal it's appreciation post time

First of all Grian raised 1.1k pounds to help complete building the school in Ghana he previously fundraised for! And he's making a separate donation of his own for cancer research <3

Also Grian's video description is "Grian on MCC with Grian Scott Joel and FRUITY B" LMAO

Pre game banter my beloved Grian going "Joel as much as we want to win mcc, today we're here to find out which one of us is the nerf!" only for Joel to say it's Scott and for Scott to do the worst on the team in the end, and Grian going "as a birthday treat I'll carry Fruit to victory" and later Illumina in Fruit's chat saying if HitW was picked he'd start using up the internet so Fruit would win lmao

Then individually holy heck, entire team top 15???? Fruit 3rd Joel 6th Grian 11th Scott 14???????? My streamers popped off!!!! Their teamwork was phenomenal and their energy was high and humourous- every game someone joked about Scott playtesting maps ("yeah I've played ace race with the new tridents THAT WAS A JOKE THAT WAS A JOKE SLASH JAY SLASH JAY") or Fruit and lava ("I'm getting flashbacks" "the key to Survival Games is not to put yourself in lava"). The callbacks to previous MCCs (Wilbur's burning building, Joel spilling water on his keyboard, return of the gong etc) and the special stuff for Fruit's birthday!! The random interactions with other Players- Grian calling Tubbo his hero for voting Build Mart, Pearl calling Grian Griba during DB and sneaking around during the break, Grian and Pete being excited together for Purple DB, Martyn randomly showing up?? Phil mistaking Scott for a fan in TGTTOS and hitting him and then Grian and Phil smacking each other while Grian just laughed for a minute straight <3 every Joel and Oli interaction <3 Scott and Joel cheering for Callum when he popped off <3

Onto the games themselves;

They had incredible teamwork and communication and finished second in Grid Runners almost entirely as a result! Their skills really shown with the tower and prison challenges as they effectively communicated what to do- Fruit did the parkour and called out which pistons to activate, and in the building room Grian was able to immediately tell the others what to do- "make an iron golem, then put the blue on the hand".

Sky Battle being an unexpected victory?? Hello?? Like when it was selected Grian went "this is going to kill my motivation" and asked if he could just yeet himself off. Then they won the first round only for Fruit to instantly fall off the first three seconds of round two lmaooo. "If you take care of the bridging, I'll follow you to death" ok Mr. Roleplayer calm down Grian this isn't 3rd Life. Grian getting 6 kills including Punz and Tommy?? Scott taking out a whole team iirc with an enderpearl to attack from behind and going "if I'm not in Callum's top ten plays!"?? Grian and Scott saying they were "channeling Technoblade" >>> the rest of the event. Joel being terrible at bridging and everyone laughing at him. Grian coming THIRD in SKY BATTLE and first on his team while Fruit placed last!! Then Grian saying he was pumped after the game after expecting it to ruin his mood <3 joking about Fruit being their nerf and that Grian really was going to carry them to DB <3

Parkour Tag was one of their worst games and they didn't even do badly! Grian going "don't worry guys I'll go hunt Blue, I'll step up", Scott telling Fruit he'd hunt the last two teams (incorrectly) saying "it's red and pink" "oh G-d", Joel wanting to hunt Oli specifically then getting all of Green in 20 second as all of Purple survived to the end! Grian saying he'd call out for Scott and Joel immediately talking, and Scott telling him to shush. And of course "we didn't stop when Wilbur's building was on fire why are we stopping for a pee break"

Grian joking he only liked his team because they'd win, Scott asking if their friendship meant anything, Grian being silent, Scott indignantly going "I gave up my bed for you the other weekend!" then Grian immediately and sincerely saying how much he appreciated them (soft moment, made me 🥺) (also hello was that from the Mumbo Jimmy Scott meetup?? Was Grian there?? Was it for his birthday?? Scott pls I wanna hear the story)

TGTTOS and Grian being right at the front with Phil and Pete for Terra Swoop Force and then missing the podium, falling underneath it and getting stuck, losing first place </3 pain and suffering I tell you. Grian getting third on the second map, Fruit popped off as usual, Grian and Phil smacking each other under the plane and Phil hitting Scott instead of a fan, Grian mistaking Dream for Fruit and trying to follow him, Scott refusing to punch the Simmers or Niki <3 Scott saying he thought they removed the breakdown map "because it was hellish" lmaooo

The break and Pearl and Tommy standing by Grian <3 Pearl messing with him <3 Hermits my beloved every tag on every post about that moment is "they're siblings your honour" and they're right

Grian coming back, saying "ok let's unmute and hope it isn't Survival Games" only for Joel to immediately say "it's Survival Games" as Grian starts to fake-cry. All the Dreamslayer jokes. Survival Games starting very dodgy with them getting like no items and running into Pink early before they got absolutely stacked like hello?? Fruit had Feather Falling boots and a Quick Charge crossbow and he and Grian had Punch II bows! Fruit had speed and regen the entire end fight! Fruit and Joel POPPING OFF and winning SG!!! Lowkey the spiritual successor to MCC9 Blue Bats our beloved

(Pete and Martyn <3)

Ace Race!! Scott frantically shouting "SLASH JAY" after joking about the map. Fruit Joel and Grian all did the big skip at the end, Fruit twice despite never doing it before! Grian going from 21st to 9th and then messing up with the new tridents and falling back to mid 20s </3 the entire team doing super well and Fruit only being a tenth of a second off Callum's time! Build Mart brought mild panic but that didn't stop them at all- they were in their element in the confusion and it showed! First overall baby!! Tubbo singlehandedly ensuring Build Mart was picked and Scott telling everyone to stream Life by the Sea to say thank you!! Grian called Tubbo his hero! Fruit was a great floater and the entire team came together to work on the gold builds, giving them the lead!

Sands of Time and Sand Daddy! Why! And wow Grian really did not hesitate there huh. But really they did amazing as well, even with Vexes killing Grian instantly (I've decided that was the Convex actually <3) and Scott's "oh purple opened a vault- OH WAIT THAT'S US" lmaoo. Grian walking into a room of locked doors, one with a ravager and another with a lot of coins, randomly flipping a lever and getting the coins before realizing what could've happened?? Joel doing the word puzzles, Grian calling Fruit over to do the lava chain parkour and Fruit clutching it up as a Vex attacked him!! Each team member earning 1k coins!! Scott shaming Sapnap for throwing a tomato at Niki <3

And then in Dodgebolt we saw the return of Grian "it's a team game, everybody gets to shoot" Hermitcraft, with the new quote of "we ride together we die together". Them going into DB by saying how much fun they had playing together <3 Scott saying he didn't mind Pink winning because Dream would be donating to cancer research <3 Grian turning to the audience and dramatically looking to the heavens <3 Dodgebolt was amazing- Grian body blocking for Fruit, Dreamslayer moment, Grian managing to kill 2/3 during a 1v3 during a panic attack. He deserves the world actually /parasocial. The others all asking Grian if he was okay and telling him to take his time when they realized he was serious about the panic attack. Congratulating each other after the event and talking about how much fun they had, plus all the money raised for charity <3

I, uh, apparently had a lot to say, so this is very long, but in conclusion

PURPLE PANDAS SUPREMACY

[apparentlyaminecraftstan]

Grian finds his soulmate while he's floating in the water, and Scar doesn't notice for a second.

It's not like Grian expected the guy to be exceedingly attentive. The first round of third life only went down the way it did because Grian made damn sure Scar wouldn't die. He made a promise and he kept it.

That doesn't mean he expects to accidentally hide their bond the entire first session. But he does, because Scar misses the several times Grian or Etho or Joel tries to tell him, and at some point Grian gives up, just to see how far the bit can go. Far, apparently.

It's annoying, at first, to be stuck with Scar again. Part of it is the practical part of Grian's brain. Scar dies, and he dies often. Thus, Grian is slightly annoyed, when he first realizes, because it's going to be another season worth of making sure Scar survives until the end.

And then it hurts. Almost a physical pain as he remembers facing off in a circle of cactus and winning only because his punches landed better. His consolation is that at least this time, that can't happen. It's all or nothing.

But he's not sure how Scar feels about that. It's not like they talked about it after the first round. They didn't talk about it after the second, either.

So Grian's voice sticks after the fifth or so attempt to tell him. And then he just...doesn't try again.

Scar spends half the time messing with the pandas and the other half complaining about the bond. Grian is careful not to take damage if at all avoidable, but the unlinked bond still aches in his chest like the certainty of death had back in the first round, in the ring of cactus.

Grian thinks they were soulmates then, too, but Scar never mentioned it, so it doesn't matter, really.

So he doesn't tell Scar, and ignores the ache while he builds farms and walls and chests and places dripstone on the walls because it looks cool as hell. It's fine, because Scar is safe enough playing with the pandas, now that he's not going after pillager stations, and Grian needs to get work done anyway.

And then the work is done, for the most part, and the session is running out, and Grian makes a choice. One way or another, Scar will know.

Grian wants him to hear it from his own mouth.

So he asks Scar to stand beneath dripstone. It's an old bit, not even a trick anymore. Scar knows how it will end, but he doesn't make the connection.

Scar isn't looking at him, the first time it hits.

Grian snaps his name, body like a live wire as the time slips away. Scar makes eye contact, and Grian drops the last of the dripstone he has.

The wounds open on his skin as a mirror of Scar's.

They're staring at each other, so Grian sees the moment Scar makes the connection. It's with only a hint of betrayal that Scar asks how long he's known, why he didn't say. There's no argument, no disbelief. Of course it's them, face to face and stuck together by whatever power watches over them.

(Grian ignores the crawling of his skin as he remembers hazy purple magic and the feeling of being seen.)

And then they head off. Scar protests, but it's thin and fake. They both know how this goes.

There may be no sand, no llama in a cobblestone box, no wall of cactus, but they're together again. And that's all they need.

[angeart]

hhau mimic arc rambles part I bonus: mimic's name [part I main rambles] [au masterpost]

the mimic has a complicated relationship with identity.

this comes from being what he is—a mimicry, a copy, he’s meant to take and assimilate features that do not belong to him, to constantly shift and change and be someone else. when we’re talking about big changes, those always come either from his immediate surroundings, or from things he knows by heart.

you’d expect him to know his original form by heart.

he doesn’t.

he isn’t sure he has one. he doesn’t know how to be himself. he doesn’t know how to shape himself into something that’d be purely his, without belonging to anyone else. 

the reason why he can’t easily shift out of his grian form when he’s with scar and grian is— well, he doesn’t want to, because it gets him more of scar’s attention, more gentleness and kindness and protection (or at least, that’s what he thinks; he considers those to be conditional) (in some ways, he’s right; scar’s weak to seeing any kind of distress on grian’s face, and the mimic is currently wearing that very face). but it’s more than that. it’s that he’s not familiar enough with any of his previous forms to know how to shift back into them.

he was forced to work for the hunters, in return for being spared and kept alive. his missions were usually quick little tricks. he never acquainted himself with any form the way he did with grian’s; never quite made any of them his home. each time, he was itching to shed them, to move on, to forget. (luring hybrids as helpless as you to a horrible death does that to you—)

he doesn’t remember his own name.

he isn’t sure he has one. out in the wilderness, struggling for survival, he didn’t need one. (there was no one to use it anyway.) the hunters always called him by what he was, instead of who he was. (the line is so blurred; he thinks it’d amount to the same thing anyway.) and the rest was a blur of stolen names that he’s taken as his own, grabbed and discarded, never permanent. (nothing about him ever was.)

now he’s with scar and grian. and they tell him he can’t look exactly like grian, but he doesn’t know any other way to be. (he tries. he tries, shifting around colours, even as most of him remains something that doesn’t belong to him. something that never was his to take. something that will be his, briefly, in a haze of lies and weakness potions and betrayals—)

he doesn’t have a name. he reacts to one that belongs to his shape, but they tell him he isn’t grian. they tell him he shouldn’t listen to that name.

he doesn’t know who else to be.

he never really thought about it. what does it mean, to be his own person? how does he separate himself from all of these fragments, all of these stolen things? how can he dig up something that’d belong solely to him? 

he tells them he’s lost. and they say, it’s okay. it’s okay, they can give him a new name. what would he like to be called?

he doesn’t know.

he doesn’t know, but he keeps listening to them talking about things he never knew. about birds and flowers and happiness. about kinder places. they tell him he can take any name he wants. anything he likes. anything that feels right.

quietly, he lets that sink in.

at some point before they met the mimic, grian looted a leatherbound journal off a hunter. he gifted it to scar, because he knew scar loved to sketch. except neither of them could bring themselves to as much as touch the quill that came with the little book. (they were sure it didn’t come from a bird.) instead, they learned how to make charcoal sticks, through trial and error. 

scar started filling the jounral, turning it into a sketchbook. in idle little moments, few and far in between, it proved to be a source of tentative calm. somewhere to channel all the crowding memories; somewhere to draw the lines of everything he never wanted to lose, everything he doesn’t want to forget.

there are drawings of boatem, littered across the pages. 

the mimic sees the sketched landscapes and beloved builds and cherished places. and scar talks about making life out of nothing, flowers and trees, cliffs and hills, everything just the way it should be for it all to thrive. listening to him talk, the mimic thinks about trees, roots deep in the soil, growing tiny bit by tiny bit until they’re able to withstand any weather, and— the trees here in this world? the ones he knows? they aren't pretty. but the trees scar draws and describes seem different. ready to live.

he looks at the sketches again. he points. he asks.

he gets his answer.

it’s three more days until he says quietly, one evening as they’re settling for sleep (scar and grian huddled together, and him slightly off the side), that he’d like that to be his name.

juniper.

juni.

(yoinked this from google, but: "The strength of the junipers tree is seen in it's capacity to survive in harsh and bare climates, growing out of rocks, and surviving in areas with very little water." aLSO “Junipers have the capacity to self-prune, shedding branches for survival, and its sap is rot resistant.”)

he spends the rest of the time with them with grian’s face but dull-brown wings and matchingly brown hair, and he calls himself juniper. 

he calls himself juni, until it’s time to become grian again.

and once that is all said and done, he—

he doesn’t think he wants to be juni again. being juni hurts. (juni isn’t someone who deserves to be loved. not after what he’s done.)(he doesn’t think he’ll ever be loved again, anyway.) (he wasn’t meant to be loved in the first place, either. it was grian. it was always grian, not him. never him.)

he decides not to be juni anymore. and he decides not to go after scar. and he decides—

the forest is big and looming and unfriendly, promising nothing but fear and solitude and death. there’s no good direction to go.

he stays still for the longest time, his back against a tree that scar’s pushed him into.

he stays, and he breathes, and he shivers, and he curls up, and he cries.

and then he moves, arbitrarily, randomly. moving forwards, lacking direction, letting go of the identity he so carefully worked to craft, to love, to make his.

he’s left with nothing and he can only blame himself.

(it hurts it hurts it hurts)

(it terrifies him)

and then— what happens to him after that? we’ll learn once i compile the remaining main parts of mimic arc rambles jxknbkj

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

The Song of Death

FIRST LAST LIFE WRITING!!! god this first session has inspired me SO much and i can't wait to see where this all goes!

...

The red writing is imprinted in his brain. Just two words, changing the objective and potentially the outcome of his first day here. And maybe even his entire game.

Finally, Etho breaks the silence: “You’re not the boogeyman, right?”

Bdubs shakes his head, keeping his voice steady. “No, no I’m not. Are you?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Unfortunately?”

Etho shrugs. “I dunno, it would’ve been cool to be able to just go ham right away and murder a person, but maybe it’s better like this. I mean…” He takes a slightly nervous step back. “If you WERE the boogeyman, you wouldn’t kill me right here, would you?”

“Why not?” Bdubs’s eyes flash briefly. “All alliances are off when you’re the boogeyman. And we’re not even allies.”

“We’re not?” asks Etho.

“Well, not yet. Do you wanna be allies?”

Etho thinks about this for a second. “Depends if you’re gonna kill me whether we are or not. I can take you murdering me but not betrayal. Not this early.”

Bdubs clears his throat. “Well, I’m not the boogeyman. So sure, I’ll make this alliance.”

“Really?” Etho says in mild surprise.

“Yeah. I like you. We can help each other survive the early game.”

“Huh. Okay, then! Guess you’re stuck with me forever.”

Bdubs snorts as he starts to mine further down the hole they’re in. “Forever?! I honestly doubt I’ll last twenty minutes with you.”

“Like I’m the annoying one in this partnership, Mr Five-Eight,” snickers Etho.

Sure enough, he gets the reaction he expected in a choked squawk from his close friend. “I’m five-TEN!”

“Uh huh.”

…

“Hey look, there’s Grian!” Bdubs beckons Etho over towards the enchanting table set up at spawn. “Grian!”

Etho follows Bdubs over to the table, where Grian is just pulling his enchanted boots back on.

“Hey, guys,” he says, his muscles tensing slightly. “You two aren’t the boogeyman, right?”

“I’m very sure Bdubs is not,” replies Etho confidently. “We’ve been caving together for about an hour and a half, most of it alone. He would’ve had no reason not to kill me.”

“I can say the same about Etho,” Bdubs adds.

Grian visibly relaxes. “Good.”

He takes off his chestplate and starts to enchant it.

“Hey Etho, you got the record?” asks Bdubs pointedly, setting down the jukebox.

Etho nods and slips the record into the box, causing the haunting song to start playing.

“What is that?” Grian snickers.

Bdubs crouches ominously. “This is the song of death.”

“Yeah, when you hear this song, it means somebody’s about to die,” jokes Etho.

Grian laughs. “Oh PLEASE tell me one of you is the boogeyman so you can actually do this.”

“I am.”

Etho doesn’t have time to process these two words before Bdubs charges at Grian and attacks him with his sword. Gasping, Etho hurriedly backs away, eyes wide with fear, as Bdubs continues to furiously attack Grian, who is so taken by surprise that he’s hardly able to get his shield up.

As Grian lets out a screech, Etho rushes towards Bdubs in a daze, totally unprepared for battle. The emotional part of his brain is screaming at him to do something, anything. Save Grian. Stop Bdubs. Just do someth-

Grian was slain by BdoubleO100

Adrenaline still coursing through his veins, Bdubs turns to Etho, opening his mouth to jubilantly brag about his kill.

But he stops as he registers that Etho has frozen, staring at him with terrified eyes, his body lowered slightly as if ready to bolt at any second.

“Etho?” says Bdubs hesitantly, reaching out towards him.

Etho immediately backs away a few steps, moving his shield into position to protect him. “Stay back…!”

“Etho, it’s okay!” Bdubs reassures him, quickly lowering his sword. “It’s okay, I’m cured now. I can’t kill anyone else. You’re safe, buddy.”

Etho watches him nervously. The spark of red in Bdubs’s eyes that Etho noticed when he attacked is gone now, leaving only genuine emotion. So after a moment, Etho relaxes, lowering his shield slightly. “You really were it?”

Bdubs nods. “Yup.”

“The whole time?”

“The whole time.”

As Etho pauses again, Grian reappears with all his stuff, looking more than a little disgruntled. “Tell me you didn’t know,” he snaps at Etho. “TELL ME you didn’t know he was it!”

“I didn’t!” Etho says hurriedly. “I promise, I didn’t know!”

“I didn’t tell him,” confirms Bdubs. “Etho had no part in this.”

Grian angrily turns on him. “He just stood there and let you kill me!”

“You really think he’s gonna get in the way of a boogeyman charging in for the kill?” Bdubs snaps back. “Leave Etho alone. He’s not culpable here.”

Finally, Grian huffs and turns away. “Fine. Just stay away from me.”

“Can do. C’mon, Etho.”

Etho dithers as Bdubs and Grian start walking away in opposite directions, torn between going with his ally and apologising to his friend. His former friend.

“Etho, c’mon,” Bdubs says again.

Etho quickly trots to catch up with his friend, shooting him a sideways glance. “Why didn’t you kill me, Bdubs?”

“Hmm?” Bdubs glances back at him. “What do you mean?”

“We were alone together so much. You had every opportunity to kill me. Why didn’t you, if you were the boogeyman all along?”

Bdubs is silent for a while, then he hops up onto a tree stump and gazes down at Etho with an odd expression. “Cuz we’re allies. And I want you to remember this for the future if you become the boogeyman.”

“Remember you not killing me?” Etho says with a frown. “I thought all bets are off when you’re boogeyman.”

“They are. What I’m telling you to remember is how many times I could’ve killed you but didn’t. You owe me.”

Etho blinks. “Owe you?”

“Unofficially,” clarifies Bdubs. “More like a gentleman’s debt. Just a promise that if you become boogeyman, you won’t kill me.”

After a brief hesitation, Etho scrutinises his old friend closely. “Really? That’s it?”

“Yeah. Listen, Etho; you’re one of my oldest friends. I want this alliance to go far. But I can’t fully relax around you knowing that you could kill me any time a boogeyman is assigned. Know what I mean?”

Etho doesn’t respond.

“And besides, there’s fifteen other people on the server you could go for,” Bdubs adds. “R-Right?”

Etho can hear the slightest hint of desperation creeping into Bdubs’s voice, and he realises now what this is about. Last season, Bdubs formed an alliance on the first day that carried him through until her death. He wants that again. Maybe he NEEDS it again.

And after being betrayed by Impulse last season, maybe Etho needs that too.

“Right,” he says finally. “But you won’t betray me, right? I know our alliances won’t carry through to our last life, but can we at least make a promise that we won’t kill each other immediately?”

“Why’s that, Etho?” asks Bdubs teasingly. “Don’t think you can bring yourself to kill a former ally?”

Etho hesitates. “Let’s just say… last season, I was faced with that exact situation and I froze, and it cost me my last life. I don’t want that to happen again.”

“Oh.” Bdubs falls silent for a moment, knowing exactly what Etho is referring to. “Well… okay, then. We may not be allies anymore once one of us turns red but I promise that I’ll spare you as much as possible.”

“Thanks, Bdubs. I promise the same.”

Bdubs grins at his friend and hops down from the stump. “Good. Now c’mon, let’s go make a base.”

Etho falls into step behind him. “So… was it scary?”

“Being the boogeyman? Oh yeah, it was terrifying. I kept thinking I’d turn on you at any moment, like I wouldn’t have any control over myself. And when I made the decision to kill Grian, I…” He hesitates. “I was so sweaty and nervous. So I don’t think it’s like Among Us with the whole imposter instinct to kill or being a red lifer with the bloodlust driving you on. You gotta genuinely turn on someone you care about and kill them to preserve your own existence in this world.”

“Wow.” Etho suppresses a shiver. “That’s brutal.”

Bdubs nods slowly, recalling the horror he experienced when his sword sliced through his friend. How Etho and Grian had both looked at him with pure fear after he did it. The guilt gnawing at him despite being free of the boogeyman curse.

“That’s Last Life.”

[lnterjection]

Wow, i didn't expect you also wrote an Hermitcraft fanfiction. I have wonder what angst are you pulled up on that series?

Politics Anon.

Well, I've written like 90k words worth of Hermitcraft fics, actually. For one, I'm the author of Maddening Circles, and I'm also part of the NHO (Non-Human Hermits Organization) Discord Server, which people familiar with Hermitcraft fandom fanfic might know.

My Hermitcraft fics are still listed on my account. Feel free to read them. Some even contain more worldbuilding.

I still watch Hermitcraft regularly, and while the series' tone is generally light-hearted and comedic, there's a surprisingly large well of angst to draw from if you take things more literally and seriously. Both the Dream SMP and Hermitcraft have large amounts of events that are very angsty when you take them as serious events of a story, and really funny when you take them as a literal block game. The difference between the two is that the Dream SMP treats itself as a serious story (mostly), and Hermitcraft treats itself as a literal block game. Hence, the difference in tone and "perceived" angst.

For example, let's consider some events in Hermitcraft's history and I'll present them in a more matter-of-fact way, detached from the light hearted attitude they're presented with.

- That time Grian and Scar committed human organ trafficking and dehumanization by breeding a ton of villagers, and then cutting their heads off, in order to submit the heads to win a competition with money as the prize

- That time Cleo made all the hermits fight and kill each other in the same competition while she laughed from a throne made of literal spider heads

- That time everyone started killing each other in general to win a giant pile of diamonds? Actually, they did that a lot of times

- That they made a death game where the goal was literally to survive until you got killed by someone else's trap and the goal was to be the last one standing and they did all sorts of really fucked up mind games on each other

- The like 20 times Cub or Scar or Doc or Mumbo or whoever else has done human experimentation on other Hermits

- That time everyone made a game out of trying to kill Mumbo because he had survived too long

- That time they had a court trial between a company and the people it had fucked over in an attempt to make more money, and during the trial people were bribing other people, taking drugs and drinking, commiting perjury, and trying to kill the witnesses (honestly it would be much easier to name the one or two hermits who hadnt commited a felony during that trial)

- That time Doc made a portal out of two portal blocks and diamonds and a ton of redstone shit I'll never have the fucking brains to understand and apparently its recreatable in a survival world by a survival player and it's so fucking cursed and one of Ren's characters just went in and never came out again and I think Doc encouraged him to go in as a test subject??? It's been years and I still cant wrap my head around the infinity portal

- The many, many times Hermits have lured other hermits (usually Bdubs or Scar) into traps or other dangerous situations to try and kill them

- That time Cub and Scar built a church and forced everyone to convert to their religion and pay taxes to appease them

- That time Cub and Scar created a giant monopoly and started trying to shut down everyone else's businesses

- Intentional sleep deprivation everyone has ganged up to inflict on Bdubs

- The like 3 cults Grian has started or something I cant keep track at this point

- The part where Mumbo declares his conscience is clear, he loves peace and love, and he hasn't kill any living thing, because he's mass producing end crystals to kill said living things instead of using his own hands and weapons

yeah these are just what i can remember off the top of my head but trust me there's plenty of angst to be found in hermitcraft if you think a little

[votederpycausemufins]

I said I had another chapter ready. so It's time to post that.

tagging @helleborusangel because they like my writing and @hermitcraftheadcanons since they and their community made the au.

now... with that out of the way, let's recap evo... wait shoot i mean hermitcraft.

“Pixlriffs! Turn on the tv!” Came a voice that followed a door being slammed open.

Pixlriffs turned around in confusion to see Zloy having barged in, panting with his goggles askew. “Zloy? What’s going on?”

“Just turn on the recap channel! Hurry!”

Even more confused, Pixl slowly turned to his tv and turned it on, switching to the channel that showed their recap show. “I thought you didn’t like watching our own shows. It’s not even a regular recap, it’s just going to be a clip show from the livestream. Why are you so-” But he cut himself off. Showing on screen was a countdown to the season eight day one recap. “What? But it hasn’t started. We haven’t recorded anything.”

“I know! I was with a friend and they turned it on and said they didn’t think it had started yet. When I saw the countdown, I ran all the way over here.”

“Do you think they just had a scheduling mistake? We might need to call the broadcasters and have them fix things up.” Pixl suggested, and Zloy shrugged.

“Let’s just make sure that’s the case and see which episode they’re actually showing. For all we know they mixed things up and this is just the season seven, day one.”

“I hope that’s the case.”

The two recapers watched the timer go down. Elsewhere, people were also turned into the episode. Some were pleasantly surprised by the supposed new episode. Others were confused thinking the schedule was wrong. Those who knew the hermits were confused, not having heard the new season was starting yet.

Then finally, the timer reached zero, and a familiar jingle started. And then a voice that was definitely not Pixlriffs spoke the phrase “This week, on Hermitcraft.”

“Wait, what am I doing in the nether? I just joined the world.”

Zloy and Pixl looked at each other at something they had never heard Keralis say. This was a new episode, but one they hadn’t made.

“A new adventure starts in season eight, new places and mobs to explore and see. And also Grumbot and Jrumbot are Hermits now. Welcome to the Hermitcraft recap! The show where no one is where they should be. My name is Toon Noah.”

“I’m Mysterious Goofball, and our writer is Pin Valentine. Today, we’re looking at everyone’s first day on the new season of Hermitcraft.”

The first person, Noah, spoke up again. “In this season, the hermits managed to update all the way to the second half of the caves and cliffs update even though that isn’t possible.” He explained what was going on in this season. “Everyone is scattered across the map and even in other dimensions. Monsters are tough, regen is off, and using chat is out of the question, so surviving is going to be tough.”

“At the very least, they can still respawn, so certain people have chances to escape. Escape what that is? Well, let’s look at what the Hermits have been up to.” Goofball said, sounding so nonchalant about what they were about to talk about.

“Starting with Xisuma, who’s started out in the deep dark. The admin’s helmet has been disabled other than necessary functions. His visor also gives him a little bit of light, so he’s not completely blind. Plus the fact that sculks are bioluminescent. But the warden is too, which has been able to find him a number of times.”

“Also in the caves in Jevin,-” Goofball spoke up again. “-who’s found himself in some lush caves. He’s got glowberries for light and food and the axolotls are pretty friendly. Plus, with enough searching, he was able to find a bit of wood for simple tools.”

“Speaking of wood. Some of the hermits have found themselves in the jungle.” Noah quickly commented before some audio from one of the hermits played along with its clip.

“Helloooo? Anyone around? Impulse? Tango? Hey is that Grian? Nope, just a parrot. Ugh, and here I am without any seeds.”

Goofball spoke up again when the audio finished. “Both Zedaph and Tango are in the same jungle, but the size of the biome as well as the amount of foliage means they haven’t found each other yet. Tango at the very least has started mining, and Zedaph managed to find a jungle temple and has already started on using the redstone from there for a melon farm.”

“How do you even make a farm out of that?”

“It’s Zedaph, what do you expect?”

“Well, as for the last of team ZIT, Impulse had found himself in the middle of a sea temple.” Noah spoke, as the video showed Impulse dealing with being underwater in such a place. “Between drowning and guardians, he hasn’t gotten that far away from his spawn.”

“In other aquatic news-” Goofball said, another clip from the hermits playing.

“If I never see coral again, it’ll be too- wait, is that False? False!”

“-Stress and False are also nearby to each other, both spawning in coral reefs. False was the first to escape, needing to just swim out of her spawn.”

“On the other hand, Stress was completely encased in coral and had to slowly chip herself out of the colorful prison. But by the evening, Stress was able to get to the surface and join False and an island, chopping down trees. They even started a wheat farm. But here’s hoping they don’t have to deal with drowned.”

“While she isn’t a drowned,” Goofball continued from Noah’s comment. “Zombie Cleo started out in a village. Normally, that would be pretty good, but being a zombie…”

“Leave me alone! I’m not going ta kill any villagers! I’m a zombie but I’m not that kind of zombie!”

“She’s been having an issue with the resident iron golem. With a bit of luck, she managed to hole herself up in a house which the golem isn’t going to destroy, but the villagers aren’t the happiest about it.”

Then Noah took over speaking. “From villagers to illagers, Mumbo Jumbo found himself alone in a woodland mansion, making himself the furthest hermit in the overworld.”

“Come on. Almost. Almost!” The video showed Mumbo running before he was killed by a vindicator. “Oh come on!”

After that, Noah continued. “He’s tried and failed many times to try and get out of the mansion, but eventually just started breaking the walls for tools.”

“The illagers aren’t really happy about it, but not like he’ll be going far, so I don’t think he’ll easily lose those tools.”

“Well at least he’s got supplies.” The video transitioned to a mountain top with three figures standing at the peak. “Grian, as well as new hermits Grum and Jrum are currently stuck on the top of a mountain, surrounded by powder snow. It’s pretty lucky that the three of them stuck together.”

“I’m not so sure of that.” Goofball spoke up, sounding a bit frustrated or annoyed. “While Grian tried to fly down for supplies to little success, other than fall damage, he hasn’t managed to die, using some sort of magic.”

“But it looks like the fall damage came in handy for Doc, who’s further down the mountain. He’s having a bit of trouble surrounded by goats, plenty of them being the screaming variety.”

Goofball spoke again, no longer sounding as annoyed. “Yeah, but while hanging out with them, he heard a different kind of scream and did something pretty smart.”

“Wait, what was- is someone close by? It sounded like someone just- wait! The death messages!” He pulled out his communicator and read the messages. “Grian died to fall damage! Grian’s up there!”

“I guess he is the scientist of the group.” Noah spoke, the grin he had on his face audible in his voice. “It makes sense he would be the one to figure things out. But even then, he still can’t easily get down the mountain himself with all the goats messing him up. My guess is he’s really regretting being the goat father last season.”

“Doc isn’t the only one getting familiar with the new wildlife though. Hypno has found himself in a large flower forest that has plenty of mooblooms. He hasn’t been able to kill any of them yet, and there’s only flowers and no grass for him to get seeds from, so while the place seems like it should be easy to survive in, it’s really the opposite.”

“The best idea he’s had so far is following some bees to find their nest and hopefully a tree attached to it. If only he knew he was actually really close to spawn, being the closest to it.”

Goofball took control of the conversation again “Well, that’s not entirely true as three hermits managed to appear at spawn, those three being Joe Hills, VintageBeef, and Etho.” And the three hermits were shown in what looked much more normal than everything else that had been shown so far. “The three of them pretty quickly figured out something was wrong and started to make spawn a safe place, also gathering supplies so they can eventually find the other hermits.”

“Except Etho got a bit ahead of himself.” Noah cut in. “He had a bad run in with some mobs and ended up dying, finding out his respawn is a bit different than others. But at the very least, he managed to find Ren.”

“Ren spawned on a cliff of a ravine. There’s no water at the bottom, and all the blocks in reach are stone, so it’s not the easiest to escape from. Still, with little else to do, Ren started slowly chipping away at the stone to escape the ravine, only to fall when Etho surprised him by suddenly respawning there.”

“Okay, I got through two more pieces of stone. At this rate, I can probably get to dirt before the sun is setting so- Etho- ooooooh!”

“At the very least Ren is respawning just fine,” Noah explained “So the two of them were able to help Ren escape the ravine, so he’s the third person to escape his spawn area.”

“Well, that’s not entirely true.” Goofball started to correct. “Before Etho helped Ren and even before Stress escaped her coral prison, Cub actually escaped the mesa mineshaft he spawned in. It was a little tricky with the cave spiders spawning, but he lucked out with the loot of a chest and was able to get a crafting table and pickaxe out of it.” Cub had found some iron, torches, a few seeds, some bread, and then used the wood of the mineshaft to get him on his feet in terms of survival. “With a few respawns, he took out the spiders and their spawner. He’s able to move around freely, but not wanting to respawn again, his hearts are a bit low, so he’s staying near the mineshaft for shelter.”

“Then, sort of nearby the mesa of course, is the desert, where the last two overworld hermits are.” Noah said, and there was the slightest ruffle of papers, like he was checking a script. “Both XB and Iskall are stuck in the same large desert, trying to find some source of food, water and wood. So far, the best they’ve found are the sticks from dead bushes. Out of the two, XB is doing a bit better since he’s found a cave for some sort of shelter, but Iskall’s much worse off,the sand messing with his one eye.”

“Between the heat, the sand, and my eye, I can’t even tell what’s real anymore. That cactus could be a tree or a town or- nope! It’s actually a creeper!”

And then Noah continued with a transition. “Getting even hotter now, let’s look at the nether. There’s only two hermits there right now, with different struggles to deal with.”

“Keralis is the first and lucked out a bit, landing himself in a warped forest right near a basalt delta, meaning he’s got up to stone tools. Plus, since nether gold ore can be mined with wood tools or better, he’s also got some gold boots to help with any piglins.”

“On the other hand, Welsknight is in a much worse situation. He spawned in a crimson forest and is having plenty of trouble with the hoglins.” And that was emphasized by a clip of Wels being killed by one of the mobs. “He hasn’t gotten too much wood before dying, but at the very least, he secured his spawn just enough he has some room to breathe. And hey, if he makes it out of there, he’s got a fortress nearby. But now to end this off, let’s head to the end.”

“TinfoilChef, or TFC is on the main end island, spawning on an obsidian platform just a few blocks from the edge of the island.” Goofball spoke. “It’s close enough for him to jump, but he still takes fall damage and has to deal with the ender dragon after that.”

“Not to mention the endermen too, which Scar is also having trouble with. He’s stuck on a smallish end island out in the further reaches of the end. There’s an end city nearby, but he doesn’t really have the means to get there. At the very least he’s got food from the chorus plants, but that won’t help too terribly much.”

“And lastly, there’s BdoubleO, who we’ve- who’s been lucky to not die so far being in a special situation.” Though they hadn’t been saying much, both Pixlriffs and Zloy noticed the slight slip up Goofball gave. “He’s currently looping in the end void, teleporting up to the top when he finally gets too low. There’s nothing in sight for him to know that though, so he thinks he’s just falling deeper and deeper. But hopefully he’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Well, that’s everyone, so that pretty much does it for this episode of Ev- Hermitcraft Recap. I was Toon Noah-”

“And I was Mysterious Goofball and our writer was Pin Valentine. If you’d like to see original content made by us, you can find us if you already know where to look.”

“Don’t forget to give this show a good rating and tune in next week for the next episode of Hermitcraft Recap. Thank you all so much for watching and good-Bye~!”

Finally, the screen turned black, signalling the end of the episode. The whole time, Pixl and Zloy had just sat there in shock, watching the episode and not saying anything. The thought of their show being taken over by some new people was scary enough, but the situations the Hermits were now in was so much worse.

Zloy was the first to move, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He had felt it going off during the episode, but had been too stunned to do anything. Apparently, he had missed multiple calls and texts about what had happened with the episode, who had been put in charge, what was with the hermits, and more related to the whole situation.

“We need to see someone about this.” Pixlriffs said, in a similar situation with looking at his phone. “Make sure people know we have no connection to this and hopefully also see if the studio knows who recorded this. I would also like to say that this is all fake, but…”

“Yeah, that footage looked way too real. I think the Hermits are actually in a lot of trouble right now.”

“Then let’s do something about it.”

[ruby-whistler]

yes, i’m writing third life fanfiction because i can

grian and scar have become my second favorite dynamic duo right after the memento mori boys and no i do not take constructive criticism <3

even if you don’t watch the series reading this would be appreciated!

all of this is platonic, including platonic hand holding - no real warnings, just bonding and emotional comfort :]

Grian walked up the stairs of the sandcastle, dragging step after step with shoulders hunched in exhaustion.

Despite the slight frustration at its size now, he’d taken a liking to the building. It had taken him days to make, not even counting the effort it took to collect all of the sand and wood. It looked beautiful standing on top of Monopoly Mountain, he had to admit, and the way the hastily crafted sandstone glittered in the light made it somewhat of a lighthouse in the desert, reflecting the moon’s rays at night when the outside was most dangerous.

He reached the top of one of the towers, and his tired expression melted into somewhat satisfaction upon seeing a pink sunset fall over golden trees, his friend’s brown hair softly blowing in the wind.

“Hey, Scar,” he said, hoping not to startle the other.

His legs were hanging over the railings leisurely, the close distance to a deadly drop causing an uneasy feeling to settle in Grian’s stomach; Scar slowly turned his head and gave him a smile.

“Hey there.” He shifted, staying seated on the carved birch. His eyes were glazed over, and his smile slightly slipped off his face into a more neutral expression as he turned his head back around to stare at the horizon.

The silence was nice, Grian thought. That day had been a lot, and adrenaline drenches you of energy quickly. Redstone was caught in the loose threads of his sweater, and there was sand in his iron boots. Running through the desert and struggling to get past their own defenses was like smears in his mind, stained with an echoing explosion and panicked shouts.

“Anything on your mind?” he asked after a while, setting himself down besides Scar.

“I... Grian, are you ever... scared of me, now that I’m a red name?” his eyes drifted over to his friend, heels banging on the walls below them, with no concern of dirtying them - and really, why should he care?

It wasn’t like they would last long. Who focuses on gunpowder in their hair when they’re standing next to a killer, bound by invisible chains?

Grian should stop concentrating so much on the details. It might cost him a lot, someday.

“I mean I don’t... I didn’t want to kill people before. I just wanted to have a monopoly, to- control the economy through an elaborate scheme. I thought it would give us better chances at survival.”

Grian opted to ignore the plural in the last sentence, and hummed in agreement. “And now?”

Scar’s clothing rustled, head tilted forwards with his palms laid bare on his knees. “I don’t know,” he responded, looking into them like he was expecting red, “it’s like I have a drive.”

A moment passed as the two looked ahead in thought, no rushing on their minds now that the day was over. The world moves slower when the battlefield is empty.

“Well, I guess... I’m still gonna be there, aren’t I?” Grian responded, arms heavy and leaning back on his hands.

The promise remained unbroken for now, and so did assurance he would be there for Scar, no matter if he himself wanted it or not.

Well, what was it really that Grian wanted? He didn’t know anymore.

He had simply wanted to scare everyone, just wanted to have fun, once, and it landed him here, in a game of survival, with a reluctant murderer whose time was running short. Life doesn’t listen to what you want, and sometimes that is the only constant.

“Tell me, Grian, do you get a... thrill, from taking a life?” Scar lifted up his head, prompting eye contact. “You didn’t have to propose the trap idea, we wouldn’t have taken three lives today.”

Grian looked back down, conflicting feelings stirring in his stomach. “Well...” he started slowly, a smile creeping into his eyes, “Smajor did call me a chaos incarnate.”

Something of relief, of amusement, of straight up baffled laughter coming out of him, so hard he thought his lungs would deflate - standing on top of the hill, looking down upon the crater of his own creation, destruction caused by the victims’ mistakes and sheer luck.

He didn’t think before that he’d call three people losing a life lucky.

“Well, maybe I’m rubbing off on you?” Scar interrupted his train of thought.

“Uh-huh, sure. More like the other way around,” Grian retorted, nudging Scar’s shoulder with a chuckle. “You’re more of a danger to yourself than to anyone else.”

Scar snorted, rubbing his shoulder with his other hand. “Yeah, says the one who took my first life on accident.”

“I mean, that only further proves my point, now doesn’t it?” Grian ignored the stinging feeling of guilt at the mention of his mistakes, pushing it back with a bittersweet smirk.

“Guess you’re right about that one. I still have a few people on my hitlist, though, and they better be ready for me to be a danger to them. Us, I mean,” Scar corrected.

It felt nice, though Grian didn’t know whether to admit it to himself or not. Maybe it would’ve been easier to choose who to be aligned with, but so far, it hasn’t been the worst to be here.

“Just keep in mind I’m not killing anyone, and I’m not getting killed to save you from being an idiot,” he commented.

“Me? Be an idiot? Never!”

Scar’s wide smirk sparked something like quiet determination. The blueprints for a small creeper farm lay folded in Grian’s pockets. The day might’ve been over for most of the server, but there was still work to be done. A couple more nights awake couldn’t hurt, he told himself through heavy eyelids and bruised hands weighing him down, sleep could wait.

“I’m going to get some water from the river. G’night, Scar,” he lied, pushing himself up to stand.

“Can you answer a question, and please be honest with me - would you still be friends with me if it wasn’t for the life debt?”

Grian stopped in his tracks, turning back to his liege to look him in the eyes, an intangible expression on his face.

“Is that an order?”

The light was dissipating from the sky, and scattered torches below them seemed to be getting brighter. The night approaching made the small castle seem safe; a beacon of peace, for now at least. Fingers rhythmically tapped on the balcony as Grian shifted, eyes fixed on Scar’s line of sight.

“I don’t think so.”

There was an air of uncertainty to the words, much like anything spoken that day. New developments always sparked doubts. It was strange, to pretend anything was evident.

“I don’t think I would be here with you if it wasn’t for the life debt, no,” Grian said, and he knew it was the truth, but it felt like a decision to admit it.

There was no bitterness or disappointment on Scar’s face. Perhaps something in between.

Grian shuffled closer to his friend, now sitting comfortably - or as much as the gritty sandstone allowed him to - and put a hand on his.

“But I... am happy this is how things ended up, I think.”

“I think so too,” Scar replied with a brightness in his voice.