#joels are clay statues

[saym0-0]

hm i think after the rapture joel only tried to use his soul magic (not magic, according to him) once, in esmp s2, where he used the last of his clay he took from mezeleas stores during the rapture to create 'god joel', and never again because he was so worried that it wouldn't work (not that he told anyone that). until he joined hermitcraft and began sculpting again at last. thats his armour stand dabbling hehe. maybe soon he'll start experimenting on transferring his soul to his new sculptures. they're not mezelean clay clones but maybe they'll work :33

[silverskye13]

It's been awhile since Joel has been on a desolate server. That's by design. He goes a little mad, you know. Well, he goes a little mad anyway, but there's something about that old scavenger Lonely that creeps him out, alright? It circles him like a buzzard, always in the corner of his eye. Drives him places. Gotta keep moving or it'll bite you. Gotta keep moving.

He gets back to building. It's quiet. It reminds him of the end of the world.

Joel shakes his head. He scowls at his shaking hands. He looks around. He can see the water, a river full of life running to a distant sea. There's no cloud of black and red on the horizon, there's not even a bloomin Jimmy or Fwhip around.

"Jimmy was here," Lonely croaks like a rook on a tombstone. "Recently."

"Shut up." Joel says to himself, because Lonely isn't here, isn't real, it's never real. All in his head, isn't it? An empire of him.

Gotta keep building. That's what he's good at, building. The compulsion of hand and hue and height. He builds a shop. No one stops him. He leaves a note for its neighbor because she's not there. No one is here. Just himself.

"It is so much like the End," Lonely tells him, and it's voice is the melody of a vacant goddess. "Do you think they'll recognize you when they come back?"

"Shut up."

"You're the only one talking, Joel." Lonely laughs like dying fish on a bone-dry seabed. "Obsessed with me, are you?"

Joel gets back to building. Building was always easy, all compulsion and thoughtless movement. Making life with his hands. Sculpting.

"I'm not a sculptor here," he whispers to himself as his hands reach for clay. It yields to his touch, grabs him back with greedy hands like the mud that devoured the sea goddess's castle.

"You always made me such beautiful things," Lonely croons, and he can feel it like a crown on his head, like a cloak on his shoulders. "I didn't remember a single one of them, did I?"

Joel is standing in front of a statue he's sculpted. His hands are heavy, and he's been crying. He looks up at a goddess, whose vacant stare can't see him, but it is the harmless vacant of creation, and not the terrible vacant of a love lost forever.

"I've missed you Joel," Lonely whispers, with the voice of his goddess, in a world that ended far away. "Why did you stop visiting me? You didn't abandon me, did you, love?"

Joel closes his eyes, and grits his teeth. "I can't forget you."

Joel flies away, like he could outrun that circling scavenger. Though still he sees it out of the corner of his eye.

He needs to find something to build.

[dantetel1028]

Binge watching Joel’s pov for hermitcraft 10 finally and holy shit I am definitely a smalletho shipper now (personas not people!!!)

The whole etho statue thing was absolutely hilarious and definitely ship worthy and then when etho made the Joel statue in ep 13 I just. I can’t help but imagine a like au or something with etho being a sculptor and making Joel out of marble or clay.

[inkie-does-whump]

Dude u should really do smth with Joel's Mad King of Mezelea" arc where he carved statues and molds himself out of clay and stone over and over.

Ngl, I didn't start watching Joel till season two of Empires so I had no idea about this. I must do research... Yes. Good idea. I should include this...

[rosegoldenatlas]

The Temple (Pt 5)

Hermitcraft was so different from the Empires. It was so full of life and it was chaotic and it was just so much.

He wasn't used to it anymore. He wasn't sure how he felt about it all. It was hard for him to feel alone like this, when he built so close to so many people.

But some twisted, wrong thing inside him recoiled at how much not alone there was. The same part of him that couldn't help but force him to look over his shoulder every second during the death games. The same part of him that didn't dare explain why it thought everyone was either going to leave him or kill him. The same part of him that thought up the idea to gauge out his heart and offer it to a goddess.

And wasn't that sickening? That he had spent all this time trying to escape the feeling of loneliness but without it he felt revoltingly overwhelmed?

He needed to ease the feeling, of course he did. He was a puppet pulled by strings of fear and overwhelm. So when he built hiss city, the buildings were tall and close together. If he stood within his city, he couldn't see the outside. He couldn't feel overwhelmed if it was just him and his city.

Every once and a while, someone would look for him. But it was just one person, he could handle them with his wide smiles and boasts. They would ask where he had been and he would say that he had just been caught in a project again.

One person every once and a while turned into three or four people consistently visiting and talking to him. He spoke in wide gestures and teasing words to them.

He was happy, he was scared, he was alone, he was overwhelmed with so many people. He was a thousand opposing things and it wasn't stopping any time soon.

He knows she said she wanted time and space. But she had said she was almost ready to talk. Maybe he could...

Before he knew what he was doing, his arms were full of familiar materials and he was building a small temple at the base of the mountain. A familiar one.

When the building was finished he didn't even stop to admire it before he was running back to his storage to pull out his clay.

He worked the statue from muscle memory, he didn't feel like he was there as he touched up each part of her crown and tail. He hardly noticed what he was doing when he began to paint the dried clay.

The next part had to be fine separately first, then the basket of prismarine, painted and complete would be put into her- prismarine basket?

He dropped the clay basket onto the stone floor and didn't look down as it shattered. Instead he looked at what he had built.

The temple. The same fucking temple. The same on he had-

His hand grasped the piece of his shirt that hung over his heart. His breathing was thin and rapid.

Why did he build that? What was wrong with him? What part of him thought that she would appreciate this as his new temple to her? Was he fucking stupid? He must be if-

"You alright Joel?" A voice said from behind him, in a panic, he spun around to face it, axe in hand.

Cleo. It was just Cleo.

Instantly, the axe was gone and his face went from panicked to relaxed. "I'm alright Cleo. Just tired from sculpting all day." He said, looking into her eyes, that was a sign of trustworthiness right? Eye contact?

But she wasn't looking at his face, her gaze was firmly on his chest. He glaced down and his eyes went wide.

A few of his shirt buttons must have come undone when he grabbed at it. Fucking idiot.

He swiftly buttoned his shirt back up and looked back into her eyes, which now met his. "What are you doing here anyways?" He said easily enough.

"Why are you acting so weird?" She asked bluntly. Always straight the point with her.

He grinned wider as if it would make him more credible "weird? I always act like this Cleo. What are you here for? Need anything?"

She looked down at his chest for a moment, then back up at him. "Some of my chat said you were good with statues. So after my stream I came to check it out."

He nearly double over in relief when she decided not to push. "Uh yeah. I've been doing clay work for a few years now. This once isn't finished yet." He picked up the clay shards as Cleo looked over that statue.

"This is really impressive. What do you use to sculpt like this?" She asked.

"Clay mixed with melted terracotta, then I shape using my hands and fresh water." He said absently. He can't just tear down the whole thing now, Cleo was already worried about him, that would be suspicious. Maybe he could just add something new to it to make it feel different.

"Oh, who is this anyway? I haven't seen axolotl features on someone since X customized his suit a year or two ago." She asked, examining the tail on the statue now.

His wide grin turned into a soft smile. "That's my wife Lizzie, the ocean goddess. She doesn't take that form anymore though. The funniest story has got to be our wedding, had it while a-" he swallowed, why couldn't he say it? Still? He clenched his teeth and kept talking even as his stupid fear ripped at his skull "-a literal demon named Xornoth was prancing around killing everything. Tried to spook me while I was asking Jimmy to be my best man" He chuckled, better to die with the lot than live alone.

Cleo looked at him, curious "really? Who else had to deal with that?" He paused to think for a moment.

"People you would know? Uh Scott, Jimmy, Lizzie, Gem, and.. Pearl I think. Didn't really talk with anyone. And I wouldn't ask them about it, nobody likes to talk about it. When we came back on Empires 2 they all flat out pretended it wasn't real." He told her, sitting down and beginning to work the clay again, maybe he should just build something easy, he's sculpted himself a thousand times over.

Cleo sat down next to him. "Why do you talk about it then?" She pulled out a small piece of fabric and a needle and thread.

He paused, he didn't know what he should say, a thin ocean breeze rushed past him into the temple and he couldn't help but relax. "Because I'm an idiot. Or well- technically I was smarter than them at first. I just don't care now." He began to shape the clay into something vaguely humanoid "you see, demons are weird, they can't really hurt you specifically until you acknowledge them. I only knew this because one of my gods Jeremy would not stop hating on them whenever I did cult services."

He carved out eye sockets and textured the hair. Cleo was sewing her own humanoid plush as she listened. "So when Xornoth showed up, I ignored it like you're supposed to. And I couldn't tell anyone else to ignore it because then I would be acknowledging it. So it attacked everyone else and all of our kingdoms until it was just me. Like.. Just me. So then next Empires, they ignored him out of paranoia of him coming back and frankly I would rather die before all of them rather than be the last one alive. Plus I think Xornoth is too weak to kill me right now after the whole sword debacle." He explained. He dipped his hands into the filthy clay water and toughed up the Mezalean kings suit before grabbing a fire charge and breaking off burning pieces of it to rapidly dry the statue.

"So what's with the scar? I don't think anyone final killed you in life series like that so its gotta be a final kill from somewhere else right?" She set down the piece of fabric, it was a stuffed plush now, one of a baby creeper.

He picked up some of his paints and dipped his hand in, he never bothered with brushes, and began to paint his sculpture. "Its.. personal. But let's just say it was stupid and my wife didn't appreciate it." He chuckled. "Can you make me some magenta paints? The dyes and thick potions should be in the lime shulker. Five dyes to two potions." He washed off his hand and began to paint the gold and lime portions.

Cleo nodded and began to mix the paints, "I won't ask again." She said firmly. And then "You have a very unique way of mixing your materials. You clearly know your stuff." She complimented.

He laughed and began to paint the skin. "Its whatever. I've been around for a longer time than I look. You get it, being undead and all."

They let the silence hang between them as he finished painting and dried it again. "Anyways. Don't tell anyone about all of this. Okay? You should go. I still have to finish decorating the temple and I have builds to finish"

Cleo nodded and began to help him clean up his paints. "You sure? I can help, surprisingly you're not too bad of company when your not pretending to be the best at everything."

Another laugh, "no, after I'm done with my projects I'm probably going to pray. Even when she's mad at me I can't help but go back you know?"

"Yeah. I get it. See you around?"

"Probably not"

Cleo left.

He stayed.

[deityoftherain]

sculpting memories - Smalletho Soulmates & Sibling Bad Boys Fantasy AU

Rating: Teen

Relationship: M/M, Gen

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Status: Completed Oneshot

Word Count: 8,285

Summary:

Joel was content enough with his life as a sculptor, sticking around his hometown. Sure, it got a little lonely when his brothers were out exploring with their soulmates, left with only his creations and whatever managed to travel over the soulbound he shared with his soulmate to keep him company. A soulmate he's never met, and likely never will if he stayed where he was, according to his brothers.

He ignored their advice, forcing himself to accept fate in exchange for his own comfort. He was fine as things were. Obviously.

Luckily for him, and as a relief to Grian and Jimmy, fate had a different plan for Joel, showing its hand the moment a handsome stranger took refuge in his studio...

I wrote this for @i-got-hit-by-a-planet through the @mcytblrholidayexchange event! I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it :D

You can read the full fic under the cut if you don't want to reroute to AO3 <3

Joel could be cheesy and go on about how sculpting always came easily to him, but that would be a lie. Sculpting wasn’t just something he picked up one day and was suddenly a master at, no. Just like everyone else, he got himself an apprenticeship and worked his way to the skill level he was at now. 

What Joel could claim, however, was that he was really fucking ambitious. He always strived to create far beyond his skill level, which only pushed him to get better. He improvised, adapted, and overcame any challenge he faced until he was satisfied with the result. 

To be fair, he was a very slow learner at first. Like, astronomically slow, but as he worked day in and day out, that changed. Joel became more familiar with how the clay worked and the methods passed down from mentor to apprentice. 

He was actually quite quick now, all things considered. Joel could create small and simple cups, bowls, and vases within a few minutes, those of which became his source of income. Traveling traders would buy some of his wares and resell them beyond the territory of Woodland Forests. 

It was a steady gig, at the end of the day. It was certainly more steady than the freelance work he preferred. The freelance work was more interesting, of course, taking another’s ideas and making something beautiful out of it, but it wasn’t consistent. Consistency was necessary to support oneself. 

His favorite creations, however, were the ones that he made for himself. Joel liked to indulge himself after his work was done, taking the clay and molding faces and creating landscapes on vases. They often came to him in glimpses from his soulmate’s eyes for he’s never seen much of what he’s created for himself. Joel’s soulmate, after all, was what inspired him to sculpt in the first place.

Joel knew he had a soulmate far before he ever understood the concept himself. For as long as Joel could remember, he was bound to his soulmate. The connection was never strong enough to contact them with any sort of intentionality, no, but it was enough for Joel to deduct what sort of person they were. Their souls were connected to one another, after all, destined by the universe. 

Not all soulmates were romantic, but each was a life partner. Sometimes, soulmates were platonic, sometimes queerplatonic, occasionally familial, or something else under the sun. A soulmate didn’t complete another person, nor were they meant to dictate the other’s personal life, but a soulmate was a partner, someone meant to perfectly fit in their soulmate’s life like they had always been there.

And, in a way, they always have.

Joel knew deep within himself that his soulmate was to be his partner in the romantic sense. He didn’t know how to explain how he knew, he just did. His brothers would always laugh at him for being so… mushy. Grian did, at least. Jimmy occasionally laughed too, mostly relieved not to be the one teased at that moment, but Joel would always glare at him and he’d shut up quickly.

“What do you think your soulmate would be like?” Jimmy wondered out loud, though the question was directed at them both. He laid with his back to the floor and his legs on his bed. His yellow wings were sprawled out beneath him, a genetic trait from their mother’s side of the family.  

“Stupidly oblivious,” Grian huffed bitterly, arms folded across his chest as he sat with his legs situated to look vaguely like a butterfly. His macaw-banded wings– also from their mother’s side– were folded into a heart behind him, feathers brushing up against the wall. 

“Well, duh.” Joel rolled his eyes, tail like a wolf’s flicking once to the left before sweeping to curl around his right side. He was the only one of his brothers to inherit the wolf genetics from their father’s side of the family. “It’s Scar! He’s always had his head in the clouds. That, and he can never sit still, which says a lot considering he uses a wheelchair to get around.” 

“And sometimes crutches!” Grian rushed to his soulmate’s defense, despite the fact they all knew this and that Grian’s response was half-baked at best. 

“You should tell him you’re soulmates,” Jimmy suggested for the thousandth time. “I would want my soulmate to tell me if they found out.” 

“Grian’s not going to do that,” Joel cut in, already knowing the truth. He poked Grian’s side with his foot, earning a squawk of protest and a swipe at his leg. Grian missed, and Joel continued, “We both know that Grian’s too much of a chicken.” 

“I am not!” Grian tried to defend himself, face turning red with embarrassment. “I just… we’re too young to start any sort of romantic relationship. I don’t even know if he wants that. I’m just giving him space to try and figure it out.” “You’re fourteen?” Jimmy pointed out, brow furrowed. “Fourteen is a perfectly reasonable age to start courting, especially if the intended target is your soulmate!” 

“Not the point!” Grian dismissed Jimmy, but Joel ignored that fork in their conversation.  

“Really?” Joel deadpanned at Grian. “Scar Goodtimes? Mr. Physical Affection Extraordinaire? The fucker that makes innuendos all the time and pretends to not know what he said?” 

“He just doesn’t think before he speaks,” Grian murmured half heartedly. He cleared his throat and raised his voice to direct the conversation away from him. “What about you, Joel? Any closer to finding yours?” 

Joel clamped his jaw shut and averted his gaze. He didn’t want to talk about it. The air in the room soured from playful to tense. Luckily, Jimmy saved him, speaking up to talk about what he’s gathered about his soulmate through their connection. 

It had been a good several years since that moment, over a decade, in fact, and Joel still didn’t want to talk about it. The glimpses of his soulmate’s life that he was granted by the universe depicted lands far from his home in Woodland Forests. They featured faces of people he didn’t recognize with landmarks he didn’t know where to begin to locate. 

Finding his soulmate would require adventure and travel, but Joel had no interest in such a thing. Joel was a homebody at heart. He liked the predictability of his life. He enjoyed the connections he has with the other residents of Woodland Forests. He relished in the sense of community and solidarity clear between the townsfolk. And, while he wouldn’t always admit it, Joel loved and appreciated his family, no matter how much he teased them or they teased back. They knew this, of course, Grian often calling him a mother hen, but taking care of his younger brothers was just the birth-assigned task each eldest child was given. Joel couldn’t abandon them if he tried.

…even if they frequently encouraged him to go out and explore like they each had done many times before.

“Come on, Joel!” Jimmy whined, draping himself against Joel. The taller was lucky Joel was strong because they would have both otherwise toppled over, cracking their skulls open on the rough earth. “Please?” 

“I said no,” Joel huffed, irritated at Jimmy’s persistent questioning. 

Jimmy flopped off of Joel, jutting out his lower lip in a pout. “But it would be so much fun! Do you plan to stay in this kingdom forever?” 

“Yes,” Joel replied, dry and blunt. He turned on his heel and left Jimmy there, not intending to humor his brother any longer, and that was that. 

What purpose did he have to leave? He liked it here, and he had no desire to enter foreign lands and potentially land himself into trouble in another kingdom. His bad-mouth and anger issues had gotten him into enough ruckus over the years. He had no desire to widen the amount of available jail cells he could spend the night in.

Besides, Joel had set up a comfortable life for himself in Woodland Forests. Occasionally, his family expressed worries of him being too lonely or too isolated or some shit like that, something about how they couldn’t always be around and had their own lives and soulmates, but Joel always waved their concerns off. He was content with his clay and the pieces of his soulmate the universe chose to deliver to him. Plus, how could he be lonely when he had customers and the other townsfolk?

Speaking of his soulmate, they must be experiencing some sort of adrenaline rush because Joel felt wired up, hurried, and out of breath despite barely moving for the past hour or three. Extreme or strong emotions were often shared between soulbounds, which always gave Joel a bit of whiplash no matter how long that sort of thing had been occurring.

“I don’t know why I’m so sad!” Jimmy wailed in distress, tears rapidly flowing from his tear ducts and wetting the front of his tunic. His body shuttered with each breath as he hugged himself tightly, fingernails digging into his shoulders. 

Joel tried to comfort him the best he could, but there wasn’t much any of them could do. If Jimmy couldn’t pinpoint a reason for such emotions, then they were likely being shared through his soulbound, meaning Jimmy had no control of the sensations. It was mostly up to Jimmy’s soulmate to get their act together. 

Still though, Joel couldn’t bear it to see his youngest brother so upset, so he pulled Jimmy into a hug and combed his fingers through Jimmy’s hair, muttering gentle reassurances reserved only for tender moments. 

The door to his shop swung open, forcing Joel out of his memories. His wolf-like ears twitched to attention as his gaze snapped to the intruder. Joel barely had time to process what happened as the stranger ducked behind a cabinet and curled as small as he could in the corner between the wall and the cabinet. Their hair and fur were snow white, not surprising once Joel came to the conclusion that they were an arctic fox hybrid. He’s known other fox hybrids, but never an arctic fox, so that in itself was interesting, but also what the hells was he doing in his workshop? 

“Uh, hello?” Joel narrowed his eyes at the other man, crossing his arms across his chest. “The place’s closed. Come back tomorrow.”

The arctic fox hybrid had a black mask over his nose and mouth, covering most of his face, but the fear in his wide eyes shined with enough emotion to make up for the concealed parts. “Please hide me!”

Joel gaped at him in disbelief. Who did this guy think he was, telling him what to do? Joel scoffed at the ridiculousness of this situation. “Hide you?”

“Yes,” the other nodded quickly, voice no more than a whisper. “Don’t tell them I’m here. Please.”

Joel furrowed his brow at him, which only had the other flick his fox-like ears back and pathetically beg for Joel’s aid using only his eyes. He was clearly not from here, based solely on his accent and the fact Joel knew everyone in this part of Woodland Forests. Joel sucked in his lips, struggling to resist such a pitiful plea. His brothers always did this sort of shit too, and Joel was rarely strong enough to refuse for long.

Am I really going to do this? Joel wondered to himself as he sighed heavily, absentmindedly tugging his long hair out of its ponytail and then redoing it to be more secure. “Fine, but I demand an explanation after.”

“Deal,” the arctic fox hybrid was quick to agree to the terms, somehow shrinking back into the corner even more.

Joel averted his gaze from the stupidly handsome man and walked to the door to his workshop. He had thought he had locked it, but apparently not. This time, he ensured the door was not going to budge without inhuman strength. The sign on the door indicated that he wasn’t taking customers or commissions at the moment, so it would hopefully deter whoever was after the stranger.

The arctic fox hybrid’s breathing hitched in his throat door as shouting grew closer to the door, but they both were deadly silent by the time someone rattled the doorknob in an attempt to open it. “It’s locked! He must have fled further down. Come on, before he gets away!” 

Joel waited until he couldn’t hear them anymore before pressing his wolf ear against the door. He could feel his own heartbeat, though he wasn’t sure why because he wasn’t scared! What reason did he have to be scared? He hadn’t done anything wrong! Why was anxiety pricking at his skin so furiously?

Eventually, Joel backed up from the door and turned around. He didn’t bother to look in the stranger’s direction, simply gesturing for the other man to follow him toward the door in the back, one that led up to a small loft above his workshop. Joel was about to enter when he paused to glance over his shoulder, checking to see if the other was following him.

He was not.

Joel raised an eyebrow. “What are you waiting for?” “You–” the arctic fox hybrid squinted, obviously confused, “you want me to come with you? You’re not kicking me out?”  “Does it look like I’m kicking you out?” Joel rolled his eyes. Hadn’t his intentions been obvious? “Come with me before I kick you out and you take your chances with whoever is after you. This better not bite me in the ass, by the way, or you’re going to regret it.”

Joel didn’t wait this time, climbing his way up the spiral staircase to his studio flat. The flat wasn’t very big, but it was plenty for one person– maybe two if they were comfortable being in close proximity– complete with necessities and not too much more. Truthfully, it was all he needed, and he utilized the space well. While it may not be his main passion, Joel could confidently decorate with the best of them.

In an attempt to be courteous, Joel gave his guest– the stranger seemed to have been upgraded from intruder to guest in Joel’s mind within a short timeframe– space to take everything in. He retrieved the kettle off the counter and filled it up with water before stretching toward a nearby cabinet to fetch a pouch of magic fire dust. There were many ways to bring a kettle full of water to boil for tea, but fire dust was Joel’s preferred method.

“Do you need help?” his guest offered, suddenly appearing behind Joel and startling him. Joel cursed loudly, and his guest apologized, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Uh, my name is Etho, by the way.”

“Etho?” Joel parroted, eyeing him up and down. “That’s not a name you hear everyday. Did your parents name you after the then-baby prince of whatever that kingdom is called? The one to the west, I think. Are they fans of them or something?” “Something like that, yes,” Etho chuckled awkwardly with a half-hearted shrug.

“Bet they felt all fancy and foreign,” Joel joked, finding himself slipping into a far too familiar territory with someone he didn’t know. “Etho, so exotic I can’t even pronounce it like you can. Accents, ey?”

Etho’s expression morphed into an almost fond one, the look he gave Joel making him feel strangely but wonderfully warm. Joel didn’t quite know how to handle that, nor the butterflies in his stomach or the intoxication that came just from a masked smile. The blummin’ smile reached his eyes, and Joel found himself wanting to take a peek or five under that mask of his.

“It’s okay,” Etho assured him. “I find it cute.”

Cute. Joel studied Etho, somewhat warily but also a smidge flustered, before flicking his ear and turning back to prepping the tea. “I’m Joel, by the way.”

“Joel,” Etho repeated with a single nod. “I like that name. It’s nice.” “Thanks.” Joel had almost expected Etho to make unsolicited comments on his name next, but none came. It almost infuriated Joel, wishing Etho would take the mickey out of him like he had to Etho.

Not sure what else to say, silence fell between them. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it wasn’t very great either. Etho simply stood there awkwardly as Joel finished the tea, too close for comfort, but not close enough to properly make content. It was strange– Etho was strange– but Joel couldn’t find it in himself to be too bothered.

Once Joel poured the tea into the cups, he led Etho over to the two-chaired table Joel often spent meals eating at alone. That was, if his brothers didn’t come over, anyway. If they did, he pulled out a spare chair he could fold down and tuck away in a multitude of locations. It was currently slid under his bed.

“So,” Joel started once they settled down, green eyes piercing into Etho’s soul, “are you going to tell me why you’re on the run?” Etho blinked rapidly at him, as if surprised. Perhaps he was. Something in Joel was confident that he was, but he didn’t linger on that thought. “How did you know?”

“You broke into my workshop, ducked behind the nearest cabinet, and begged me to keep you hidden,” Joel deadpanned, unable to resist rolling his eyes. Was this fox guy dumb? “Plus, I know everyone in the greater Woodlands, and I don’t know you, so d’ya wanna tell me what you were running from or where you were running from? Maybe even a why, may I be so lucky.”

Silence seemed to echo off the walls, as impossible as that was, each moment feeling impossibly stretched thin before Etho shook his head. “I don’t want to say.”

Joel scoffed and took a sip of his tea. “So you’re a coward.” “I am not!” Etho denied, the part of his face Joel could see around his mask flushing pink with embarrassment.

“Mhm, yep, sure,” Joel agreed dryly, swirling the liquid in his cup. 

Etho averted his gaze, and Joel allowed quiet to fall over them. He had expected the hush to be awkward and full of tension, but it felt oddly… peaceful? It was strangely comfortable, like they were meant to be together as they were. Just… existing beside each other. Did the arctic fox hybrid have magic? Was he bewitching him somehow? Did Joel even care if he was or not?

Joel was halfway done with his tea when he broke the silence to ask, “Do you not like tea?”

“Huh?” Etho asked only to answer his own question before Joel got a chance to respond. “Oh, I do, I like tea, I just…”

“What? Are you scared?” Joel teased, a smirk growing on his lips. “It’s not poisonous, if that’s what you’re scared about. If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you already, or handed you over to the people looking for you.”

Etho crossed his arms over his chest, ears flicking back for just a moment in a way Joel honestly found really fucking adorable. “I’m not scared of you.”

“Oh yeah?” Joel raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Prove it?” “Prove it?” Etho repeated in disbelief. 

“You think I’m joking?” Joel didn’t back down from the challenge, staring him dead in the eyes. 

Etho sighed in defeat with a slight shake of his head. “You’re impossible.”

And perhaps Joel was impossible, as it were, and he knew many would agree, but there was… something on Etho’s face that felt… fond? Was Joel reading that correctly? 

“Yet you love it,” Joel shot back in a near automatic response.

Etho chuckled and… yep, the something was definitely fond. “That I do.”

Creases formed by Etho’s eyes, like he was smiling underneath the mask, which only made Joel want to smile back. They were bickering, sure, but it was simply playful, maybe even fun. Warmth spread throughout his limbs as his heart beat just a little faster.

Time seemed to slow down as Etho started to remove his mask. Breath caught in Joel’s throat as the other peeled away the fabric to reveal what he looked like underneath. Joel had thought he was stunning before, but damn. His tongue darted out to wet his lips as Etho raised the tea cup to his to take a sip.

Joel averted his gaze for less than a second before meeting Etho’s eyes again. He wasn’t a coward; he could look some blummin’ guy in the eye! He studied the now-maskless man carefully, hiding the action by sipping his tea and maintaining idle conversation.

Etho was peculiar, but Joel didn’t find that fact necessarily bad. He had a scar over his left eye, a wound that must affect his vision in some sort of way. The eye almost looked bloodshot or like one of Joel’s clients– an albino cat hybrid– but it was less of a crimson or scarlet, and more blood red. His unaffected eye reminded him of Grian’s slightly soulless irises.

Neither Etho nor Grian’s eyes were truly soulless, but the inside joke had lasted between the brothers far too long at this point for Joel to forget. He and his brothers tended to be the kind to hold onto terms like that for reference later, especially if the term in question was stupid, funny, or an unintended innuendo.

Next thing Joel knew, hours had passed, the sun long gone below the horizon. They moved from the table to the “love seat”. It was a two-cushioned couch, meant for only two people, but Joel, Jimmy, and Grian have made it work when none of them were in the mood to sacrifice the prime spot and sit on the floor.

“Tim, get your boney hip away!” Grian shoved Jimmy away from him and toward Joel, which only resulted in protests from Jimmy and the loss of Joel’s couch space. 

“Jeez, man! Grian!” Jimmy tried to slap away Grian’s efforts to avoid being forced off the couch. “I wasn’t even that close! Stop shoving!” 

“Don’t make me kick you both out of my flat,” Joel threatened, resisting Jimmy’s intrusion in his space and pushing him back towards Grian. 

“You wouldn’t do that to your favorite brothers!” Grian countered, wings fluffing out. 

“You’re my only brothers,” Joel deadpanned, his wolf-like ear twitching. “And yes, I would. Would you like to test me?” 

“Guys!” Jimmy whined as he was seesawed back and forth between his older brothers. 

…it didn’t always work.

Etho and him fit just well on the sofa, and it helped that Joel didn’t mind when they brushed against each other. In fact, Etho’s touch felt electric, perhaps magnetic, drawing Joel in despite his reservations. As someone who wasn’t huge on physical contact from others, that desire caught him off guard. He didn’t fully know what to do with himself, but that didn’t stop him nor Etho from shifting closer and finding excuses to come into contact.

“Stop touching me!” Joel ordered in a whine, maybe eight years old. 

“I’m not touching you!” Grian’s finger hovered over Joel’s skin, close enough Joel’s hairs could inform him of where Grian was touching without him having to look. 

Joel smacked his hand away, but that didn’t deter his brother. “Yes you are!” 

“No I’m not!” Grian continued to be a nuisance, as most younger brothers tended to be. 

That memory occurred so long ago that Joel couldn’t recall how it ended.

Either way, even when ignoring the physical, Joel still found it odd how easy Etho was to talk to. It was like they had known each other their whole lives, and were just meeting to catch up. Joel had never gotten along with a stranger this well, especially when he wasn’t doing his best to behave. Sucking up to authority to hide that he was a menace in every other situation was more of a Grian tactic than his. Joel was more likely to be unapologetically himself and suffer whatever consequences came with that.

Not that Etho was an authority, hells no! Etho was an equal; they were on the same playing field. They just fit together like adjacent puzzle pieces. Etho seemed to get him, and Joel relished in the fact that his quips and teasing were well-received. As Etho grew comfortable, he began reciprocating the jabs in his own witty way. 

Joel loved hi- it. 

“It’s getting late,” Joel announced with mild regret, finding himself not wanting the night to end. Stars, was he falling for Etho already? His brothers would never let that go if they knew. 

“That it is,” Etho acknowledged with a slight frown.

His eyes followed Joel’s gaze to the skylight he had installed, positioned to allow for sunlight while maintaining privacy from those walking around outside. The day’s light was far gone now, but the stars were visible and he didn’t have to worry about onlookers, and that was more than enough for Joel. 

The stars were truly gorgeous this time of year, bright and twinkling on the cloudless night. Maybe Joel would be able to show Etho at some point. They could find a nice place to lie down and stargaze… would Etho enjoy something like that?

What is wrong with me? Joel cried inwardly, wanting to shove his face into his hands and half-groan half-scream his feelings out. Instead of groan-screaming, he tried to muffle a yawn into Etho’s shoulder before hugging Etho’s arm like a stuffed animal and using his upper arm as a somewhat-boney pillow.

“Are you planning to stick around?” Joel asked in a sleepy murmur, more hopeful sounding than he would have preferred. He shifted so he could observe Etho’s reaction before expanding on his previous question. “Sticking around Woodland Forests, I mean.” “Maybe.” Etho hummed non-committedly, a falsely innocent grin tugging at his lips as his gaze pierced down through his soul. “Why? Do you want me to stick around?”

Sly fox, Joel’s mentally accused with feigned annoyance, like he wouldn’t do similar in Etho’s situation. 

“As if!” Joel scoffed, though he made no effort to move. “I just wanted to know if you planned to use my shop to coward again or not.”

“It was not cowering,” Etho corrected, nay insisted. “I was simply using the resources at my disposal to avoid an undesired situation, like being smart and clever and stuff.”

“Sure,” Joel rolled his eyes, though there was no bite behind the motion. He struggled to hide how happy he was, which was easy considering the weariness that pulled at his limbs. It was past his bedtime, as he had woken early that day to work on his sculpting.

If Etho said something else, Joel didn’t catch it, half-slipping into unconsciousness. Perhaps he would have fully entered the dream realm, but something alerted him enough to jump with a start, forcing Joel back into the awake world. He partially sat up, brushing his hair out of his face– when had he let it down?– as he blinked rapidly in confusion. “Huh? Wha?” “Shh, it’s okay,” Etho soothed, arms securely around Joel as he whispered into his ear. Joel settled back down and Etho’s fingers returned– returned? How did he know that?– to combing through Joel’s brown locks. If Etho were anyone else, Joel may have been embarrassed, but… no one had to know. Not when Joel wanted it so bad, wanted that comfort. “Sleep, don’t worry. I got you.” A soft ecstasy covered him like a warm blanket, constant and overwhelming, but also secure and not too much to handle. Joel wasn’t sure if the emotion was dulled by his half-awake state, or if it was just another thing that his soulmate unintentionally shared through their soulbound. Before he could think about it too hard, Joel lost hold on his intelligent thoughts, slipping into the world of the unconscious.

If Joel had taken a moment to step back, perhaps he would have noticed the signs earlier. Grian and Jimmy teased him for being dense, but how did they expect Joel to connect the dots when Etho’s presence was so natural, much like he had been there the whole time? There was no “adjustment period” or significant effort put into getting used to living together. They just were. 

“What inspired this?” Etho inquired one day, not too far in the future. 

“What inspired what?” Joel responded with his own question, shifting his attention from his busy work– from creating bowls to sell for profit– to Etho. “Hold on, give me a second, and I’ll look.” 

The arctic fox hybrid had spent a lot of time watching Joel work, as if he were studying techniques with nothing but his vision to aid him, but, those past few days, Etho turned his focus elsewhere. Instead of watching Joel create, he studied previous creations of Joel’s instead. 

Many sculptures perplexed him, Joel could tell, but Etho denied the claim whenever Joel brought it up. Etho had reassured them that they were very good, just vaguely… familiar. Joel shrugged, not often having an answer for him. Perhaps the illustrations he committed to sculpted pottery weren’t as unique or specifically detailed as he thought his imagination was, not if Etho had seen such works before. 

Joel got to a stopping point, wiped his hands with the designated rag, and got up to join Etho where he was gawking. He froze as his gaze landed on a sculpted boat, one of his most prized creations. Joel had spent well over a month dedicated to specifically it– tending to every detail he could possibly think of including– so long that he even gave it a name. 

“The Relation. The relation-?” Etho read off the lettering Joel had meticulously added as a little inside joke to himself. Joel had thought it was hilarious, at the time, and Etho must have thought so too by the smile creased by his eyes. “The Relation Ship! Aha, I get it. That’s clever, I like it.” 

“Thanks,” Joel grumbled, carefully picking up the boat like it would break if he looked at it wrong to locate it somewhere else away from Etho. 

That must have confused Etho, for he scrunched his nose and tilted his head as if trying to view the situation from another angle. He didn’t protest Joel’s action, however, something Joel appreciated. Etho was good about that, not pushing Joel’s boundaries when it came to something clearly important to him. 

The Relation Ship wasn’t for other people to see, only Joel and his soulmate. His brothers hadn’t even seen it! Perhaps that was a little overprotective of him– perhaps silly or childish were better words– but The Relation Ship was one of the only things he and his soulmate shared! 

Joel hoped it was something they shared, at least.

No one could ever truly know what would be shared through one’s soulbound. One could make an educated guess or a half decent prediction, but nothing was for sure. Just because Joel saw flashes of sketched boats through his soulmate’s eyes via the soulbound link didn’t mean his soulmate received any notice of Joel’s recreation. 

He sometimes worried that they’d never see it, but that thought saddened him too much to linger on…

Okay, anyway–

There were times Joel and Etho simply existed together, doing their own things or working on nothing at all. Parallel play, he thought Etho called it when referring to that time at some point. He wasn’t sure, but either way, that wasn’t the point. The point was that Etho had started to hang around even while Joel sculpted, but not always to watch this time. Instead, Etho brought down some parchment from the loft that he had paid for himself and sketched whatever he fancied.

Despite Joel’s jabs at Etho for being a lousy freeloader, he was actually anything but. He did persuade Joel into letting him stay with him at his flat for free, despite all logic and good sense, but Etho strangely didn’t disappoint. Etho made himself useful, helping keep the flat clean and going out into town for odd jobs. Apparently Etho was handy with redstone– a sort of magical technology Joel only knew the basics of– brushing off the skill as just a hobby despite his expertise. He raked in more than enough money to earn his keep.

Based on what Joel knew about his handiness and tendency to be creative in his crafts of choice, he shouldn’t have been surprised when Etho asked, “Can you teach me?” 

“Teach you?” Joel prompted, raising an eyebrow. “Teach you what? To sculpt? To be as hot and sexy as me?” 

Etho snorted in amusement, tail swaying idly behind him, though all he said aloud was “Yes.” 

“To be hot and sexy? That’s not a teachable skill, unfortunately, for you would have come to the right place. Luckily for you, you already do fine– just not as good as me, of course,” Joel joked lightheartedly before answering what he assumed was Etho’s real question. “If you want to learn to sculpt, on the other hand, you’ll have better luck with a master.” 

Etho mulled over Joel’s response for several heartbeats, so long that Joel hadn’t expected the conversation to continue any further. He had gone back to what he was doing when Etho spoke again, “Are you not a master?” 

Pride bubbled up in his chest as he straightened his posture and wagged his tail, beaming brightly at Etho. “Not officially, no, but I’m flattered you think I’ve mastered the craft already.” 

“Have you not?” Etho glanced at some of Joel’s nearby works that he decided to keep when they were finished, skeptical of Joel’s not-yet-mastary. 

“Ha!” Joel threw his head back in a dog-ish– wolf-ish?– bark. “Hells no.” 

They both filled a hole in the other’s life, one that neither of them fully realized had been empty. Joel found himself enjoying the company, something he’d been missing with his brothers off doing their own things. It didn’t help that Joel tended to isolate himself in his studio, zoned in on his projects and nothing else. Business transactions and small talk had nothing on a genuine friendship. 

Without his brothers there as often, he had no one to watch after or drag him out to do things he claimed he didn’t want to do. Joel hadn’t realized just how lonely he had become until he got a taste, much like a sip of water after unintentionally slipping into dehydration. He just couldn’t get enough.

Now, It had been a little over a year since Etho had entered his life, and Joel was eternally grateful for it. His lonesome flat had become more lively with Etho’s things added among Joel’s and sketches Etho had gifted Joel pinned up in a gallery to decorate the walls. It was perfect, their relationship was perfect, but their understanding of their status was… admittedly embarrassing, to say the least.

“What do you mean he’s not your boyfriend?” Grian exclaimed a little too loudly, flabbergasted.

“Quiet!” Joel growled under his breath, rough and rumbley as a byproduct of his wolf genetics.  “I don’t need the entirety of Woodland Forests in my business!”

“Fine!” Grian huffed back, mildly irritated at the correction, but not enough to refuse submitting to Joel’s request. He repeated himself, this time at a lower sound level. “What do you mean he’s not your boyfriend? Haven’t you two been dating this whole time?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy agreed with Grian, seemingly astounded by this news, “I thought you had found your soulmate and started dating him, and just didn’t want to tell us directly yet for some reason–”

Joel pursed his lips, ears flattening back against his head. He didn’t want to admit anything, but with his brothers looking at him so expectantly, and, well… there wasn’t much they could hide from each other for long. “We haven’t talked about it.”

“It?” Grian parroted, the word pitching up an octave with his disbelief. “It? Joel, I can’t believe you–”

“Why not?” Jimmy cut in before Grian could say more, face all contorted and bewildered. “Don’t you like him?” “Of course I like him!” Joel snapped, face growing red with embarrassment and shame. He groaned, leaning forward as he tangled his fingers in his hair. The tug on his scalp was just enough stimulation to distract his mind from blowing a fuse and doing something he’d regret. 

“Then what’s the problem?” Grian questioned, not granting Joel any empathy. “You like him, you’re soulmates, you’ve been functionally dating for months now– what’s the issue? Honestly, where is it, ‘cause I don’t see one.”

“It’s not that simple!” Joel claimed with a desperate wail, tugging harsher on his scalp. Jimmy shifted closer to Joel, taking a more sympathetic approach. He wrapped his arm around his shoulder and rested his wing against the back of his torso, but he didn’t say anything. Not yet. “You of all people should understand, Grian, with Scar, and with–”

“Yes, and I’d be the first to admit that I was an idiot in my youth,” Grian deadpanned, before sighing. “Joel, I would have saved a lot of heartache if I just was transparent with Scar years ago. I am passing on that advice I had to learn the hard way for you and your soulmate–”

“I don’t even know if Etho is my soulmate…” Joel murmured defeatedly, hands dropping from his unstyled hair to his lap. He curled his tail close to his body, so tightly that the end of the wolf’s tail was close enough for Joel to fidget with the end of it. “Not for sure, anyway. I mean, I have a hunch, but how can I really be sure when–”  “But you want it to be true, don’t you?” Jimmy spoke up, far more caring than Joel deserved. Joel was supposed to be the responsible, mature caregiver of the trio. He wasn’t supposed to be the one needing help. That wasn’t a job for the youngest nor the middle child, yet here they were… 

“Of course I do,” Joel’s voice cracked as he squeezed his eyes shut, tears trickling down his cheeks. “How could I not? I mean, I love– like him! Stars, how could I not like him? I wish I knew, for this… infatuation is such a problem.”

“I can’t believe you just called what you and Etho have an in-fat-u-a-tion,” Grian drawled out that last word. “You two have been living like a married couple for months! I don’t know how else to tell you that that is not ‘infatuation’, mate.”

“Even if it was, how is that a problem?” Jimmy leaned his head against Joel’s shoulder, arm still wrapped around him as he idly twirled and curled Joel’s hair around his fingers. “Does he not like you back like that? Or do you mean to say he’s not a romantic soulmate? A platonic one, perhaps? I have a friend like that, you know, and there’s nothing wrong with it, they’re happy–”

“Our relationship is anything but platonic,” Joel corrected, smiling weakly at the thought of what they had being anything else, as if it were amusing or something to entertain themselves with. No one looked at only a friend like Joel and Etho looked at each other. Joel’s smile fell and he bit the inside of his lip with his canine teeth. “I just… I don’t want to fuck it up.”

Grian took a deep breath, presumingly to calm himself down before he allowed his annoyance at Joel’s dumbassary to influence his comments anymore. “The only way you’re going to fuck it up is if you don’t do anything about it.”

Jimmy nodded briefly in agreement. “At the end of the day, it’s better to know than to live in this limbo of inbetween.”

Joel didn’t respond right away as he mulled over their words. He sniffed as he dried his eyes with his sleeve. “When did you two grow up and get so wise?”

Grian and Jimmy didn’t respond with any sort of actual answer, instead mwah-ing kisses all around him in between cooing playful sentiments at him. Joel swatted them away lightheartedly, not using most of his strength so he didn’t accidently hurt them. “Oh, enough you two! Fuck off!”

His brothers only giggled in response, and Joel couldn’t help but join the chorus. 

They were right though. He had to do something about it. If he didn’t, he feared he might burst.

That was a bit of an over exaggeration, but he’s always been good at those.

Joel had gotten his wish to show Etho the stars properly fulfilled multiple times before, stargazing even becoming one of their favorite pastimes. Etho had built a reputation for himself, meaning he got rather busy, and Joel still maintained his business, but they tried to find time to stargaze at least once a week, even if it was from the comfort of their flat. 

It didn’t matter to Joel if they went out to lay in the grassy outdoors or if they chose to observe the constellations through the lens of their flat’s skylight. As long as they got to have that time, he was content. Honestly, as long as Etho acknowledged Joel’s existence, he was over the moon.

…maybe he had fallen for the arctic fox hybrid a bit harder than he first guessed.

Huh. Anyway– 

Now Joel’s never done yoga or anything, but he was fairly confident that their stargazing had that same sort of meditative effect. Ever since Etho and Joel decided to make stargazing a regular event, Joel’s found himself less quick to anger or prone to explode. The urges and impulses were still there, of course, but they had… dulled. They’d become more manageable. 

Joel couldn’t recall the last time he’s gotten in a tiff with a merchant or pissed off the guards enough to spend the night in a cell. Maybe his brothers had been right this whole time. Maybe having something– someone worth coming home to actually did help. Joel had always been too full of himself– too arrogant– to actually ever take their advice.

Speaking of his brothers’ advice…

“Etho?” Joel broke the silence cautiously, though he didn’t yet lift his head from Etho’s shoulder.

They two laid under the skylight staring at the stars with pillows supporting their heads and a large blanket draped over them to share. Etho laid flat on his back with his arm under Joel as Joel sandwiched his right arm between them and rested his left arm on Etho’s chest, hand over his sternum.

Etho didn’t respond at first, making Joel worry he had fallen asleep just as he had gathered his nerve, but those anxieties dissolved once Joel shifted just enough to see Etho’s face only to find it flushed pale pink. The pale pink always looked so lovely against the snow-white of Etho’s hair and fur, and Joel found pleasure in eliciting a blush from him. “Whatcha looking at?”

“You.” The word flowed from Etho’s lips so smoothly that Joel had half the will to deny its genuinity. 

Joel’s own blush killed any notion of doing so, however. “Okay, sure, yeah. Whatever you say, Etho.”

Etho’s breathing hitched, followed by what Joel could almost swear was an “Oh, snap–”  

What a blummin’ dork, Joel couldn’t help but think, huffing a laugh. “You okay there?”

“Yeah,” Etho whispered airily out as he turned his head to bury his face against the base of Joel’s hair, his fingers absentmindedly messing with the ending strands. “Yep, yep, everything’s okay here.”

Joel kept his hair well-maintained, a requirement for being allowed long hair as a child, and he has simply kept it up into adulthood. Fidgeting with it became a staple for not only himself, but his brothers, and apparently anyone else who managed to get close enough, proved by Etho.

Their unplanned detour led to Joel momentarily forgetting the intentions he had for tonight so, instead of using the silence as an opportunity to bring it up again, he stayed quiet, simply enjoying Etho’s presence. 

For better or for worse, Etho pressed a close lip kiss against the top of his head before speaking again, “I’m always a sucker for how you say my name, no matter how many times you do it. Actually, I’m just a sucker for you in general, to be honest.”

Joel detached himself from Etho’s torso, sitting up and looking down at the fox hybrid, ignoring the way Etho made his heart flutter like nothing else. The sensation only became more intense with their soulbound. Was he making Etho feel the same way?

Etho rose to sit up alongside him, a glimpse of fear on his features. Joel resisted a frown, instead deciding to tease his soulmate– his soulmate!– by leaning into the “Eefo” pronunciation that came with his native Woodland Forests accent. 

“What a cheesy romantic you are, Etho,” Joel jested with faux and playful disgust. Ugh, when had he become such a sap for this man?

“Could you blame me?” Etho didn’t wait for an answer, cupping Joel’s face gingerly. Joel melted into Etho’s hold, letting his eyes flutter close. He placed his own hand over the one cupping his face, partly to help support the weight of his head and partly to nonverbally convince Etho to not let go. 

As this happened, Joel did his best to ignore the way his tail involuntarily wagged like an excitable dog, thumping against the blankets with a dulled thump, thump, thump. As bad as that was, he worked even harder to get his brothers’ childhood teases about him really being part dog further away. Joel didn’t need their comments in their head right now, as deserved as they may be.

Stars above, how had he managed to delude himself of Etho’s feelings when he acted like this? 

“Can you blame me,” Etho asked again, “for being sappy when I have you as a soulmate?”

Joel’s eyes flew open as his body went all tense and rigid, hand falling to his side. “You knew?”

“I’ve had a hunch for awhile,” Etho admitted, scratching the back of his neck and not looking Joel in the eyes, “but I wasn’t sure, because you never said anything, but, uh, yeah.”

Laughter bubbled in his chest and spilled out of him, less out of joy and more out of shock. Joel’s unexpected laughter must have caught Etho off guard for he hesitantly checked in with, “Your reaction confirms that we are, right? And that you’re… good with it, and want me too– want me like I want you– and–?”

“Yes!” Joel tried to contain himself, but he wasn’t very successful. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over. “Yes, of course, you beautiful, blummin’ idiot.”

“I– You really have a way with words, don’t you?” Etho replied sarcastically, though no negativity could be detected among the sarcasm. “I’m, like– I’m getting mixed signals here, Joel.”

Joel rolled his eyes affectionately, throwing his leg over Etho’s legs so he could practically sit on his lap facing towards his soulmate. Joel tugged on the collar of Etho’s top until they were close enough for their lips to brush and for Joel to feel Etho’s breath on his face. He didn’t try to contain his tail this time, and Etho didn’t appear to either. 

“You talk too much.” Not true in the slightest, especially with Joel being the more talkative one out of the pair, but logic and rationale weren’t exactly on his mind at the moment. “You should do something about that.”

Etho pulled Joel flush against him, using the fat just above Joel’s hip bone to secure his grip. His lips parted briefly, as if he were going to respond with some sort of witty retort. Before he could get anything out, Joel traced his tongue against the ridges of his sharp canines, effectively attracting Etho’s attention. His soulmate’s pupils dilated, their mutual desire only amplified by their soulbound.

Their lips collided like two forces of nature fighting to consume the other. They devoured each other, intoxicated with each give and take, getting lost in their venture for pleasure and bliss. The ever present want refused to die down now that it was given what it had yearned for for so long. Joel knew it would be difficult to stop once they started, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

It was difficult for Joel to differentiate where he started and Etho began, especially with the building sensations they traded back and forth. Joel understood his brothers actions and mindset in accordance to their soulmates a whole lot better now, a realization that brought a strange sense of enlightenment. 

Euphoria pulsed through his veins, and he never wanted to stop. Not when he’s wanted so long, not when they have needed each other for so long…

Neither he nor Etho knew what the future held for them, but something told Joel that, as long as they had each other, they were more than ready to take on the challenge. Joel wanted nothing more than to see where life would continue to take them. Etho was worth it and more, after all, but don’t tell him Joel said that. He would tell Etho himself in due time, but the proper words could come later. For now, though, Joel enjoyed what they shared, and he knew Etho felt the same, and that was more than enough for him.

If you got this far, please like and reblog, and maybe even kudos and comment over on AO3! Thank you kindly, I appreciated it <33

[battyskorpyionn]

i WAS going to lock in and do something completely unrelated to what im about to yap about, but i just had a thought

ok so you know how some people depict S1 esmp joel as a clay figure? just had a thought about that

since if joel is made out of clay, would he die naturally like a human? or would he only die if cracks formed and grew to a point where it couldnt be fixed and he just had to accept it as is?

would joel be forced to lie there, shattered on the ground as he has no other choice but to wait for the last bits of his conscious fade into nothingness? Or would he just grow 'old' and die naturally, like his body getting weaker due to weathering and old cracks from previous battles being to grow bigger because of that?

if joel was made out of clay, he wouldn't need to eat, drink or sleep. Or maybe he would need to, but not alot. I doubt a living clay statue would need to consume stuff often.

Maybe the conscious he has, allowed him to feel emotion so he could be more 'human'.

but the real question is, if joel is clay, then who made him? His creator? The one that allowed him to see the world? Its unlikely that joel made himself.

But oh well. Empires smp is over. All what i said is nothing but theories, headcanons and questions. I still find it interesting though.

[jeewrites]

jee | writes periodically | throws clay regularly

she/her. 40's. infj. asian diaspora.

Fic Taglist is open. 18+,MDNI

Hold Fast Series Masterlist | Frankie x f!reader | Triple Frontier AU Series Summary: Frankie gets picked up at Redfly's Bar by a powerlifting girlie. Status: Ongoing (last updated 12/1)

🌈 Sunshine and Rainbows 🌈 | Dave York x f!reader | Equalizer 2 AU One-Shot Summary: What if Dave survives the fall from the watchtower? (WC: 10.1k) Status: Complete; written for @burntheedges's Roll-A-Trope Challenge

Something Sweet 🍰 | Marcus Pike x reader | The Mentalist One-Shot Summary: Marcus Pike moves into the apartment across from your grandmother. (2.2k) Status: Complete; writn for @jolapeno's Dearuary Challenge

Brainrot in my drafts folder that may see the light of day... eventually? Joel Miller x ceramics!reader Series Frankie Morales x yoga teacher!reader Series

Drafts/WIPS of my clay things. Testing out a masterlist and a taglist based on feedback from this post. So yeah, ceramics taglist is open!

General Acacius Mugs

WIP Post #1

Cup/Tumbler Dev

WIP Short Tumbler

WIP Tall Tumbler

Gladiator II Amphora Dev

Poll for Image Selection

Thank you for stopping by!

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

i just spent the last. several hours. fiddling with the classpects for Sburb Life because im a perfectionist

im still not 100% happy but i think this is a lot better

Grian - Session leader, Prospit dreamer, the Sylph of Dream in the Land of Bread and Sand. Client player Jimmy, server player Scar.

Scar - Prospit dreamer, the Thief of Heart in the Land of Rock and Cacti. Client player Grian, server player Mumbo.

Mumbo - Derse dreamer, the Seer of Flame in the Land of Sparks and Current. Client player Scar, server player Pearl.

Pearl - Derse dreamer, the Witch of Hate in the Land of Love and Snow. Client player Mumbo, server player Gem.

Gem - Prospit dreamer, the Aide of Space in the Land of Blooms and Frogs. Client player Pearl, server player Scott.

Scott - Derse dreamer, the Rogue of Time in the Land of Stars and Bridges. Client player Gem, server player Joel.

Joel - Derse dreamer, the Saint of Rage in the Land of Cliffs and Carnivals. Client player Scott, server player Etho.

Etho - Derse dreamer, the Mage of Truth in the Land of Wool and Secrets. Client player Joel, server player BDubs.

BDubs - Prospit dreamer, the Priest of Void in the Land of Keeps and Clocks. Client player Etho, server player Impulse.

Impulse - Prospit dreamer, the Guide of Hope in the Land of Coal and Bones. Client player BDubs, server player Tango.

Tango - Prospit dreamer, the Sage of Mind in the Land of Heat and Bulls. Client player Impulse, server player Skizz.

Skizz - Prospit dreamer, the Maid of Blood in the Land of Lakes and Cherries. Client player Tango, server player BigB.

BigB - Derse dreamer, the Heir of Ice in the Land of Fissures and Chocolate. Client player Skizz, server player Cleo.

Cleo - Derse dreamer, the Bard of Breath in the Land of Wind and Marble. Client player BigB, server player Lizzie.

Lizzie - Derse dreamer, the Knight of Life in the Land of Trees and Axolotls. Client player Cleo, server player Ren.

Ren - Prospit dreamer, the Prince of Peace in the Land of Shadow and Stillness. Client player Lizzie, server player Martyn.

Martyn - Derse dreamer, the Dame of Light in the Land of Eyes and Coral. Client player Ren, server player Jimmy.

Jimmy - Prospit dreamer, the Page of Doom in the Land of Clay and Dust. Client player Martyn, server player Grian.

also explanation of the custom classes and aspects under the cut

Aspects:

Truth - Truth is the aspect of discovery and revelation. The Truth-bound are difficult to fool, and keep their focus on what is in front of them. They act with practicality, and the aspect itself is tied to rational thought. Its counterpart in the fabric of Paradox Space is Dream. At their best they are rational and calm guides for their friends; at their worst they are uncaring and judgemental.

Dream - Dream is the aspect of lies and imagination. The Dream-bound live in worlds of their own, and their goals are not always obvious to those around them; the aspect itself deals in the nature of falsehoods. Its counterpart in the fabric of Paradox Space is Truth. At their best they brighten the room with their imaginative nature; at their worst they are frustratingly absorbed in their fantasies.

Peace - Peace is the aspect of calmness and protection. The Peace-bound are dedicated to maintaining the status quo, and preventing quarrels amongst their friends. The aspect itself deals with stagnation, love, and comfort. Its counterpart in the fabric of Paradox Space is Hate. At their best they are mediators and lovers who hold their allies together; at their worst they are resistant to change and even oppressive.

Hate - Hate is the aspect of emotion and strength. The Hate-bound hold grudges easily, and will tear down the things they see as being in their way. A Hero of Hate would rather die than allow something that hurts them to continue. Its counterpart in the fabric of Paradox Space is Peace. At their best they are firebrands and leaders, working against oppression; at their worst they are spiteful agitators unwilling to let things go for the greater good.

Flame - Flame is the aspect of change and discovery. The Flame-bound are seekers of the truth, though they are prone to flying too close to the sun and being hurt by that which they seek. They would rather burn the world down and build a new one than try to fix the one that exists. Its counterpart in the fabric of Paradox Space is Ice. At their best they are great artists and leaders, inspiring their allies to change that which they must; at their worst they destroy themselves and those around them with their quests for things beyond their reach.

Ice - Ice is the aspect of isolation and steadiness. The Ice-bound put up walls around themselves, pushing people away to protect themselves and cutting their emotions off. A Hero of Ice is likely to have few true friends, and none who they allow to see every facet of themselves, out of fear. Its counterpart in the fabric of Paradox Space is Flame. At their best they are reliable and steadfast, a source of stability for their allies; at their worst they are cold and unwilling to stand up for themselves, locking away their true thoughts.

Classes:

Saint - Saint is an active class, and its passive counterpart is the Priest. A Saint lives their life by the rules of their aspect, using the structures it sets up to climb to the top of a world they see as ruled by its teaching. As the role of a Saint is highly tied to their aspect, their role in a session varies heavily - A Saint of Life or Space, for instance, will likely be a strong driving force behind the group's success, while a Saint of Doom or Ice may spell the end for the session by their very nature.

Priest - Priest is a passive class, and its active counterpart is the Saint. A Priest allows the rules of their aspect to spread out from them, allowing themself and their allies to use its nature to their advantage. A Priest's aspect will often come to typify much of the session as they spread its teachings amongst their fellow players.

Dame - Dame is an active class, and its passive counterpart is the Aide. The Dame defies the very nature of their aspect, and often bear little resemblance to the archetypal player of that aspect. Their journey through the session is often highly personal, a struggle directly between them and their aspect, though once they are at the end of their journey, they are a force to be reckoned with, having taken the aspects of it that benefit them and left the rest behind.

Aide - Aide is a passive class, and its active counterpart is the Dame. The Aide is a gateway for their aspect, letting its nature out through themselves to defy the enemies of the group. They are highly in tune with their aspects, though not always in a way that others will immediately recognize. An Aide's involvement in a session is often as an unlikely leader, giving the other players something to rally behind when they feel devoid of the Aide's aspect.

Sage - Sage is an active class, and its passive counterpart is the Guide. The Sage is a student of their aspect, seeking to understand everything about its nature; rather than having the information to understand their aspect, like a Seer, a Sage is restricted to seeking understanding through more traditional means. Sages often become the most knowledgeable within their sessions, throwing themselves into their personal quests and embracing the role of the tactician with gusto.

Guide - Guide is a passive class, and its active counterpart is the Sage. The Guide seeks their aspect in order to bring it to their allies; they will often be a confidant and a source of aid or comfort for their allies. A fully realized Guide released into Paradox Space will often come to act as a sort of tutor for another player of the same aspect. Within their sessions, Guides are a centerpoint for the group, assisting other players wherever and however needed.

[watcheraurora]

A Life UnRemembered

Author's Note: Hermitcraft is... unique 1.7k words

Based on all the art of character!Joel not seeming to know why he built a shrine to the Ocean Queen. It's all gorgeous

—

Joel wandered his base. He liked how it was coming along. He enjoyed the resource gathering and the building. He enjoyed spending time with the Hermits. They were all so comfortable with each other that he couldn't help but feel welcome even though he was new.

But there was something needling at him. Something he couldn't quite remember.

He strolled down the stairs to the temple he'd built. The empty dais in the center where something should be enshrined. Pulling some clay out of his inventory, he slapped it down onto the dais and started to sculpt. It had been a long time since he sculpted anything.

He turned his brain off and let his hands just go where they wanted. Somewhere else in the world, Cleo would be proud of him. As the other major small-scale sculptor, they knew how much work it took to make statues this small, rather than huge with blocks. That was the easy way. Small amounts of clay around an armor stand were much harder and more fiddly.

Hours passed while he tugged at that needling feeling that he'd forgotten something. Trying to free it from where it was buried.

Nothing. He couldn't remember what it was he'd forgotten.

Two hours after beginning, he leaned back from his sculpture, stretching his back. Clay was caked under his fingernails.

Before him, he'd made a statue not quite to the scale he felt it should be, but he hadn't brought enough clay.

The statue was a woman. Tall. Lithe. Powerful. She had the regal bearing of a queen in some coastal kingdom far away from his cherry tree mountain. A trident slung casually in the crook of one elbow. A circlet resting above her brow that he'd jammed a diamond into the clay for effect while sculpting. The circlet had coral branches twining off at the woman's temples. She had long, flowing hair. He needed to paint the sculpture, but he already knew her hair would be pink. Her eyes and skin would be blue. The flowing gown a soft... lavender, maybe? Lilac?

A long axolotl tail extended from the base of her spine and up into the air, coral fanning off its ends.

And held gently in her arms, a much smaller man. Joel knew he'd paint the man's shirt purple. The crown in his hair gold with an emerald embedded just above his forehead. The sash green.

Why he knew those colors as easily as he knew his own hands, he wasn't sure.

Before he could lose the inspiration, he flew to the shopping district, landing hard at Pearl's dye shop. He scrambled to get his diamonds out of his Ender chest and bought every color he'd need. Dye wasn't exactly paint, but if he mixed it with a few other ingredients, he could make it work.

His Elytra's membrane snapped in the wind with the speed of his flight. He ran into his landing in the little hut he'd started his base in, scrounged up the last of the materials he'd need from his unbelievably disorganized chests—not his fault someone had come and messed with them—and soared back down to the shrine.

He painted quickly. Faster than he sculpted and certainly faster than he built.

When he finally stepped back, he was covered in paint and there was dried clay all over him. Creative projects were always messy with him.

He was breathing a little hard in the heat of the mid-afternoon, hair clumped on his forehead with sweat.

"There you are," he breathed, a tiny smile touching the corners of his mouth. He set his paints and brushes down.

The woman had come to life, in the clay and the color. Her deep blue eyes glittered. The gills on her neck looked delicate, despite being made of clay. The coral fans on the end of her tail were vibrant pink, her hair pastel. Her face shone with love and kindness, yet the fierceness of a true warrior of unknown power.

"Who are you? Why don't you leave my mind? Why don't you leave me?"

Because the smaller man in her arms, with his royal purple doublet and green sash—

He'd sculpted and painted himself.

The green in his hair that refused to dye out, only just starting to maybe grow in pink with this new world he found himself on, if he looked hard in the mirror (though he admitted that could have been an irritated scalp from him pulling so hard to try and dye it). The shape of his nose and his face. He'd sculpted himself without meaning to or trying.

Why the crown? Why the sash?

"Who was I then? Who were you to me?" he asked the statue.

The woman didn't respond.

Joel knelt before the statue on one knee. Even that felt oddly familiar. Like he'd taken a knee before this woman before. Maybe more than once.

"No..." He looked down at his hand. At the ring that remained on his finger no matter how many times he respawned or the situation that caused him to respawn. Simple and strong. If he took it off to build and then fell, the ring would be there when he came back. Always.

Tango had hypothesized it was a wedding ring. He had one himself. Tango had lived in Hermitcraft for a lot longer than a good portion of its other members. Since the second incarnation of the world. He hadn't always had his ring—gold and solid with a flaming red ruby and pale sky blue sapphire nestled against one another. It had appeared only a few years ago in the middle of a season after a jaunt off-world. Around the same time Joel and Etho met, though the memories were blurry. But since Tango had been on Hermitcraft for so long, he had lots of hypotheses. The world was isolated from the greater multiverse. Even the creative version of each Hermitcraft incarnation ran so closely parallel to the real world, its effects were the same.

But Tango had spent a late night telling Joel about his ideas of the multiverse while everyone else slept—the two of them awake to build a redstone machine and finish a building respectively. Each of them could create their own worlds elsewhere. And Hermitcraft's effects would no longer apply to them out there. But they all struggled to remember anything beyond Hermitcraft when they came back.

Tango thought they both might have a spouse. Somewhere out there on another world. Waiting for them. Spouses that the barrier between Hermitcraft and the rest of the universe didn't let them remember.

Could she be...?

Joel looked up at the statue.

The woman had webbed hands. She couldn't wear a ring.

"Are you my wife?" he asked. "Were you my wife? In another life? Or are you still? Somewhere out in the multiverse?"

The statue continued to be silent, looking down on the tiny version of himself with a face full of love and care. But the still-wet paint made those deep blue eyes glitter. Almost bittersweet.

Joel reached up, as though to cradle her face. To reassure her that It's alright, love. It won't be forever. I'll always come back to—

He couldn't reach her face. He'd made her too tall on the dais for him to reach without his scaffolding—that he'd already torn down.

He pulled out his communicator.

/w PearlescentMoon: Want to come see what I did? I think you'll like it

He didn't expect her response to arrive so fast.

<PearlescentMoon> whispers to you: Sure! OMW!

He only waited for a few minutes before he heard the snapping of Elytra membrane and Pearl ran to a stop on the flat area before his stairs. "Joel? Where are ya, mate?"

"In the temple!" Joel called back.

Pearl appeared at the entrance after a moment. "Hey!" she greeted, taming her long hair after her flight.

"Hi," Joel replied. He gestured to the statue. "I'm not as much an artist as you are, but I tried."

Pearl approached it curiously. "Oh my... mate, this is incredible. It's beautiful."

"Thanks," he said.

"How'd you pick the Ocean Queen?"

"The what?"

"Well that's who she is, isn't she? The Ocean Queen? Demigoddess of unlimited power over the sea?"

"I have no idea who... what?"

"Oh. Did you just come up with it, then?"

"I just let my instincts guide me through it."

"Hm. Maybe she's calling to you, mate. From beyond the stars." Pearl looked toward the setting sun, hidden as it was through the temple's structure.

"Maybe." Joel was less than convinced. "Tell me the story?"

"It's an old legend. From... I dunno, thousand years ago? Surprised you've never heard of it." Pearl leaned against the entryway frame, folding her arms. "Does the Cod King ring any bells?"

"Distantly?"

"That's the Ocean Queen's baby brother. She watched over his egg before he hatched after their mother died..."

—

"Lizzie?" Joel called, pushing open the door to Lizzie's base on SOS. "I'm home!"

Thundering footsteps met his ears. Lizzie appeared, the last of her armor falling off of her, a few bits of sculk caught on its edges. "About time!" she exclaimed, rushing across her kitchen and throwing her arms around him. "How's Hermitcraft been?"

"Fun," Joel said. He didn't have much to say beyond that. His memories of Hermitcraft were... hazy. At best. He remembered emotions. Some jokes. Lots of laughs. The vague shenanigan here or there. But nothing detailed. "I've really missed you." He held onto her tight, burying his nose in her hair. It smelled vaguely like sea salt and coconut. The cool metal of her wedding ring rested against the skin of his neck where her fingers threaded into his hair.

"I'm glad you're here. How long are you staying?"

"As long as I can. We knew when I accepted the invitation that it would be hard for me to travel more. But this was an opportunity too good to miss."

"I know. And I'm proud of you. But I miss you."

"I miss you too." He kissed the side of her head. "I'll stay for at least a month."

"Good."

[saym0-0]

he is sculpting. look at him go.

[hermitcrossovers]

WAIT WAIT FOR THE JOEL N ETHO TATTOO SHOP AMD POTTERY SHOP AU

What if Ethos scar is actually a tattoo in this au? Like maybe it has a mixture of eyes and flowers in it?

Also I think Joel as one(1) tattoo, and that is of a small boat on his thigh, it has some flames on the bottom as well, Etho has a matching tattoo as well (/ref to double life) (Joel also absolutely hated the feeling of getting the tattoo and refuses to get any more, much to Grian and Jimmy's sadness)

I think Grian has a sun tattoo on the back of his neck, matching with Pearl and Scott, who have a moon and star tattoo respectively. Grian also has a waffle tattoo somewhere as a ref to an inside joke among his friends

(also if you want scarian in this au, grian and scar have matching tattoos of a desert)

Cleo would work at Mezalea (ref to her statues) and Joe would work part time at Mindcrack! Cleo has a sleeve of snakes and flowers as well!! Ngl I don't watch Cleo or Joe so idk what tattoos they would have other then Cleo's sleeve.

Jimmy actually has a pretty big tattoo of a wave with a cod and a axolotl swimming together in it on his right thigh! (Lizzie matches with him!!!) Jimmy also has a tattoo of small wings on his back (canary curse ref)

i feel like etho would be really into the patchwork style of different little tattoos that are just inside jokes and chock full of references. a column of hardcore hearts down his spine for every uhc season he has been in; gold for the seasons he won.

etho brags all the time that he is the only one who has a matching tattoo with joel. grian has been caught bribing joel to get matching tattoos with him on multiple occasions. he will succeed. one day. probably. maybe.

the celestial tattoos are from winning the short-term dnd campaign ran by grian. grian was too busy to do the more in-depth world-building for the campaign the majority of it ended up being created by the players. martyn's symbolism from the last game they played was so heavily debated that his tattoo got delayed.

grian's waffle is on the base of his skull, hidden by his hair so he has to lift it up out of the way to waffle' someone.

while cleo does work with clay when she begins her project to better help understand scale and shapes. her final works are made out of stone and metal with such care to detail that her works seem life-like at first glance.

jimmy takes a bit of prodding to get tattoos done, while excited to get more ink done. the pain makes him a little hesitant to go for more bigger pieces. around his ankles are flowers that scott picked out after his death in third life. scott has similar flowers around his ribs.

[liixnt]

You said you needed help with Joel's power right? Maybe it could be talking to animals (specifically dogs?) Like he can understand them and they understand him? That or something involving electricity as a ref to Esmp S2? Actually maybe he can harden his skin and make it like harded clay? As a ref to the popular clay statue HC that people have for Esmp S1 Joel?

i think i'm going to go the mezalea and 3l sort of route. like he can take energy from plants to get a temporary buff. either something strength related (3l) or defense (mezalea) the thing is when he does it, the plant dies so plays into the azalea, dead bush and butterfly thing. (plus hes literally dating martyn in this au so hes got plenty of plants lmao)

[rosegoldenatlas]

The Art of Armor Stands

Okay Minecraft/hermitcraft/empires headcanon.

Armor stands would be considered an art form in Minecraft. Depending on the size they could be statues or stuffed animals. So based on the players personal preference the statue would be made of different things.

For example: Cleo. Her armour stands have a wide variety so a material like cloth would be easier to use. So I imagine that her statues and armor stands in lore would be made of leather, wool, and other fabrics. Like mannequins or stuffed dolls. They took time at first but with practice thy were quick and relatively easy.

On the other hand Joel did armor stands during empires S1 a lot. Not as crazy as the things that Cleo did obviously, but he still dabbled in the craft. His armor stands and statues were made of clay, terracotta and wood. They all took time and they weren't nearly as flexible and had a lot less variety.

On a completely different note, when Joel joined hermitcraft (in lore) and saw Cleo's armor stand magic he fell into the old hobby and picked it up rather easily because he used to do something similar

[leopardom]

can I join in on the ask games? 👉👈

go to a zoo with but not allowed to steal any animals, try to build tiny clay dragon statues with, go to Ikea with with the goal to only buy the one thing you went there for and nothing else, having to keep from going skinny dipping in a freezing-temperatures lake

jure, jere, jan, joel (or kris if you don't wanna include BC)

go to a zoo etc: Jere

build tiny clay dragon statues with: Jan

go to ikea: Joel. honestly i just wanna see what he'd get his hands on idk why i find this mildly interesting lol

having to keep from going skinny dipping: Jure even though he'd end up doing it because fuck it 🤷‍♀️

[jellyfishmika]

joel just wanted etho to be nice to him. he needed etho there for him through all the hard times, why did so much bad stuff happen to him? thank goodness etho was here for him.

i'd imagine while joel was making his hidden room in ethos base, he stumbled onto ethos shrine by accident, horrified yet happy? if etho cared about him that much to make a shine, surely joel wasnt worthless... it doesnt matter if he was terrified of some of the drawings etho had of him, he had happy ones too! it'd all be okay.

if etho did find joels room, he'd lock the two of them in there for hours. finally, a safer more soundproof area for etho to use joel to his fullest! how sweat of joel. //>w<//

joel would definitely get used to begging etho for anything now, he just wants to make him happy! sometimes he'd just start begging for etho, to do anything he doesn't even care, he just needed the other so he knew etho still cared.

some of the stuff in etho's shrine made joel... well it reminded him of when he first joined the server. it made him feel gross. he didn't know etho had always wanted to do this stuff to him. did it start getting like this back in the life series? or was it only when he joined hermitcraft?

on the other hand, etho had an entire shrine just for him! and with how much stuff was in it? oh, etho still added to it daily. a shitty quality version of the song joel made for his honey shop was placed carefully on a shelf, a clay figure of the glow squid statue joel made, and an entire map of joel's base, updated to the most recent changes. some people might've found it creepy, joel a few months ago would have shut himself away for weeks just seeing this. but now? it was the sweetest thing ever. etho really did care, so much. everything he did for joel was out of love, even if it hurt, this was just proof of how important he was!

oh etho would 100% try and corner joel in that secret room if he ever found it, keeping him locked away from everyone else, just the two of them! joel's still not really used to etho just taking what he wants from him, shaking and crying the entire time. and a soundproof room? oh joel knew what he was doing building it, he wanted etho to abuse him in there :P just so he could scream as loud as he wants for help, no chance anyone would hear them!