#minecraft 8k

[sluttyminghao]

Congrats on hitting a new milestone!!

For the 8k celebration, how do you think the members would choose to propose? 🖤

seungcheol: probably hires out a restaurant and makes it pretty fancy, somewhere where there are no prices on the menu and everything is Expensive

jeonghan: I feel like he'd do something Huge like gets on one knee at sunrise whilst you're in a hot air balloon he hired for the morning, typical libra things

joshua: probably just something small, probably goes to your favourite cafe and proposes right then and there. why wait if he knows he wants to marry you right?

junhui: puts rose petals all over your home/apartment and is waiting for you on one knee in your tv room, surrounded by candles and petals with a cute grin on his face

soonyoung: hires out a movie theatre playing your favourite movie and pops the question right when something dramatic is happening on the screen

wonwoo: would set up a proposal in a video game, maybe Minecraft or animal crossing something cute, not sure how he does it but he pulls it off

jihoon: hides his proposal in a song and the lyrics, adds it secretly to your playlist and waits nervously until it plays and you fall more in love with him

seokmin: accidentally proposes when you're making out with him, it just kinda slips out and he's very embarrassed but doesn't take it back

mingyu: tries the ring in the champagne glass but forgets to tell you about it, you end up in the ER where he proposes very, very sheepishly

minghao: paints a stunning artwork for you to hang up, and hides the words "will you marry me?" within the paint, and probably loves that the painting can be kept forever for sentimental value

seungkwan: would make you breakfast in bed and try to write the four words with sauce, but it comes out a little messy so he just gives you the food and proposes cheekily

vernon: raps an entire mixtape for you and has hidden messages in them, one of which is asking you to marry him. he's a little embarrassed by it but its unique and you love it

chan: choreographs an elaborate dance that ends with him sweeping you into it, dipping you down and kissing you, before pulling you up and bending down to propose

[aquaquadrant]

from eden, part III

Word count: 7,972

Warnings: Nondescript death (in Minecraft), shipping (nothing explicit!)

Summary: When Tango agreed to join Double Life, he didn’t anticipate being soulbound to Jimmy- a player he hardly knows. And when their first meeting happens after he loses their first life, he figures the only way left to go is up. But he’s quickly proven wrong when feelings complicate the situation, and he finds that his greatest conflict might just be within himself.

A/N: I’m back with the next installment of my and @lunarcrown’s Hels to Pay AU! (more info and previous fics here) I really don’t know how these keep getting so long. I actually had to split this one up into two parts and it’s still almost 8k. This starts out following Double Life canon, but then diverges after session 1. Btw, I don’t use accurate Minecraft day/night cycles; I envision each session taking place over a normal 24 hour day, just so it’s easier to grasp the passage of time. Hope y’all enjoy, please reblog if you do! It means a lot <3 - Aqua

~*~

from eden, part III - babe, there’s something magic about you, something so tragic about you, don’t you agree?

~*~

Somewhere in Double Life, a player respawns in a tree.

He’s disoriented, an explosion still ringing in his ears as he blinks against the sudden sunlight. Leaves tickle his face- he jerks back instinctively, then his stomach lurches as he almost loses his balance, yelping in surprise. His mind is racing, rational thought struggling to surface against residual panic and adrenaline. Only a second ago, he’d been deep inside a cave fighting off a horde of mobs, and the next-

Clinging to a tree branch with one hand, he uses the other to pull up his communicator.

Tango was blown up by Creeper.

SolidarityGaming died.

The memory comes rushing back; fending off mobs, backing up beneath an overpass, the sudden appearance of a creeper in front of him as the air filled with the sound of hissing-

“No!” Tango wails, the drawn-out cry devolving into hysterical laughter as realization sinks in.

He’s just gotten himself- and his soulmate, because oh right, soulmates are a thing here- killed by a creeper. The first deaths of the newly generated world, in which the goal is to be the last pair standing. And it was a creeper, a stupid creeper of all things! Oh, what a horrible start.

Tango feels the flames of rage licking at him- the blaze rods around his head burning with fire- and forces himself to take a deep, calming breath before he sets the whole forest ablaze. He exhales slowly, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Well-”

“What happened, Tango?”

Tango’s ears prick at the sudden voice. Startled, he whips his head around- and nearly falls out of the tree in the process. He recognizes the voice, though he isn’t as familiar with its owner as he is with some of the other players in this world.

SolidarityGaming. Also known as Jimmy. Also known, now, as Tango’s soulmate.

And the guy Tango just got killed.

There’s something almost familiar about this. Their first real meeting, back on Third Life, involved Jimmy losing his life to Tango’s game of risk. They’d hardly spoken before that, and have hardly spoken since. And here they are now, reeling from the revelation that they’re soulbound and fresh off a death that Tango caused.

The Universe just loves messing with Tango, doesn’t it?

“Oh, hi! Hi!” Tango stammers out, disbelief still coursing through him.

“Um…” Jimmy sounds like he’s in shock, too. His voice isn’t far off. “Wait, where are you?”

Tango glances around. “Are you- are you here?”

“Yeah…”

Peering through the leaves, Tango’s gaze falls on a figure standing just across from the tree; a man with large golden wings. His wide brown eyes scan the little mountaintop forest, one hand raking through his dirty blond hair.

Tango carefully pulls himself up into a sturdier perch, poking his head out from the canopy. “How- what are the chances of that? I die, and now we’re linked, and now I- oh, cause you died too, I’m so sorry…” His shoulders creep up by his ears as guilt sweeps through him, his voice climbing a couple octaves. “I’m so sorry.”

Jimmy blinks up at him, looking stunned. And surprisingly, not angry. “How- take me through it,” he says, holding out a hand. “What’s- what’s happened there?”

“Uh, there was some caving…” Tango explains sheepishly, feeling his face heat up. “And then there might have been… about seven zombies and a spider, and a-”

Pain suddenly jabs Tango in the side; Jimmy’s just been rammed by a goat.

“You’re being butted!” Tango exclaims, scrambling down from the tree. 

“Yeah, lemme…” Jimmy is already backing away from the goat, eyebrows raised as one hand absently rubs his side. The goat, for its part, seems to have made its point and trots off into the forest. Shaking his head, Jimmy turns away from it.

Tango, standing in front of his soulmate for the first time, feels his stomach lurch with nerves. Jimmy’s a few inches taller, though his broad shoulders and well-built arms make him feel a lot bigger- as do the wings poking up behind him.

What an introduction.

Belatedly, Tango realizes they’ve both lost everything, and covers his face with his hands. “Oh no…” he groans. Oh, Jimmy must hate him already-

“So,” Jimmy continues, his voice still neutral even as he starts pacing around the clearing, “you just… you got blown up by caving?”

Tango nods vigorously, rushing to explain. “And then- and then I was focusing on the army approaching me from one direction, and uh… yeah. The ol’ ‘creeper from behind’ trick.”

“Oh… my gosh,” Jimmy breathes, his wings ruffling behind him as he paces.

“I am so sorry,” Tango murmurs anxiously. He scans Jimmy’s face for any indication of anger, but it’s still markedly absent. In fact, his expression is almost reminiscent of a smile- that same incredulous humor Tango was feeling, where all he can do is laugh at the situation.

“Right,” Jimmy says, stopping to face Tango. He sounds like his mind is going a mile a minute. “Let’s meet up in a bit- I need to go get my stuff before it- before it despawns.”

And just like that, they’re straight to business.

Jimmy’s surprisingly easy to talk to. They discuss how to proceed with getting geared up again- with only minimal scrambling and panic (which they even end up laughing about). Jimmy thinks he knows where he died, while Tango is, of course, clueless (should’ve been paying more attention, stupid). Jimmy doesn’t admonish Tango for killing them, brushing off his apologies and self-deprecating comments about it (“No, no, it’s gonna happen all the time today.”), gently redirecting whenever Tango’s frustration seeps through. And the only time Tango sees him truly upset is at the revelation that Tango’s lost his goat horn.

Which, all things considered, is a stupidly endearing reason to be upset.

By the time they split up to gather resources, most of Tango’s frustration has ebbed. He’s still mad at himself for being so reckless with their lives, and he isn’t looking forward to starting from scratch again, but he’s… cautiously optimistic.

Sure, they haven’t gotten off to the best start, and they don’t really know each other all that well. But nevertheless, it doesn’t feel like he and Jimmy will have any problem getting along.

And in a game like this, that makes all the difference.

~*~

“Should we…” Tango hesitates, looking down at Jimmy as he crouches by their furnace. “Should we- I mean, given that we’re linked… should we maybe make a little happy house together somewhere, and call it base?”

The light from the furnace’s flame flickers warmly across Jimmy’s face. “I think so,” he replies thoughtfully, tossing Tango an iron sword and a pickaxe.

~*~

“I’m not good with building at all, Tango,” Jimmy warns him, “so um-”

Tango pauses, crafting table in hand. “Oh, I was hoping you would say you were!” he exclaims, spinning around to look at Jimmy. “You’re not the builder?” For some reason, he’d just assumed Jimmy would know more about building than him.

“Wh- wait, you’re not the builder?” Jimmy repeats, a bemused grin spreading across his face as he realizes they both seem to have made the same assumption.

“I’m not a builder, no!” Tango laughs, smacking his forehead. “Oh, well. We live in a dirt hut.”

Jimmy’s laughing, too. “We might be in trouble, here…”

~*~

Tango pauses in the middle of the cave’s passage. “You don’t- you don’t have any piece- you don’t have anything, do you?” he murmurs, a sudden pang of guilt seizing him.

“No, no, I’m bare bones,” Jimmy says good-naturedly, stopping to glance back over his shoulder.

Despite the utter lack of accusation in Jimmy’s tone, Tango winces. “Here,” he tosses Jimmy his iron boots, “here, here, take some boots, at least. Because if you die, I die, so...”

Jimmy scoops them up, quickly pulling them on. “Thank you, thank you,” he murmurs gratefully.

“We’ll share whatever we’ve got,” Tango says, following Jimmy as he leads the way out of the cave. “It’s pitiful, but…”

Jimmy’s wings ruffle as if in silent agreement, scattering a trail of golden feathers behind him.

~*~

“My man said he couldn’t build!”

Jimmy’s sudden voice is filled with pure, undisguised admiration. Tango immediately feels himself flush at the compliment- plus the denotation of ‘my man’- and quickly laughs it off. “It’s a box, it’s a box, alright,” he says dismissively, dropping down from the wall- then sheepishly ducking his head when Jimmy yelps at the damage. “It’s not much…”

“This is good!” Jimmy says earnestly, patting him on the shoulder as he passes.

Tango huffs a laugh. At least Jimmy has a good sense of humor. “Thank you!” he says with mock pride.

“Crafting table for the step, look at this!” Jimmy excitedly hops up into the threshold of the house, his wings fluttering behind him.

Tango chuckles to himself as he follows Jimmy inside. “Oh, I know,” he drawls, putting on airs. “Super fancy, right? Look at this- multi block usage… I know, I know.” As if this silly little wood and cobblestone shack could even hold a candle to what the other people in this world are capable of building-

“It’s looking great, dude,” Jimmy says softly, his voice completely genuine as he stands back to look at the house. “It’s looking amazing.”

Tango rubs the back of his neck, his laugh suddenly a bit nervous as he realizes Jimmy is being sincere. “Feel free to uh… help out,” he says, pulling a face. “It’s a little bit uh, you know…” He trails off into some incoherent noises that more or less reflect his feelings about the current state of the build.

Jimmy just smiles and shakes his head. He hops back off the front step and pulls something from his inventory. “Look at my hand,” he says, watching Tango eagerly. “I got it.”

It takes Tango a second. “What’d you- oh! Look at you!” he exclaims; Jimmy’s returned from his travels with a bucket of water, which they need for farming. Tango breaks into a grin, putting his hands on his hips. “You go out on a mission, and you come back with goods. This is what I like to see, this is what I like in a partner. Well done.”

Jimmy looks rather pleased, ducking his head. “Thank you.”

Warmth blooms in Tango’s chest, reflecting the heat from his blaze rods. This day isn’t turning out half bad, after all.

~*~

“Tango?”

Tango’s ears prick at the sound of Jimmy’s voice, straining to make it out above all the clucking. “Yes?” he calls, starting to climb out of what he’s affectionately dubbed ‘the chicken hole.’

“Um…” Jimmy doesn’t sound too far off.

“How’s it goin’?” Tango prompts, climbing the ladder back up to the main floor of their house. He thinks he might see the top of Jimmy’s head through the door’s tiny window.

“Where are you?” Jimmy asks, his voice humming with anticipation.

“I’m in the house…?” Tango finally reaches the door and pulls it open. Then he gasps.

Jimmy is standing outside with four cows.

“Oh! You’re amazing!” Tango cries excitedly, jumping down from the front stoop as Jimmy starts laughing. “Oh, you are so- look at you! You have a beef army- look at this!”

“I have a family!” Jimmy beams, patting the nearest cow on the nose as it starts sniffing after the wheat in his other hand. “Welcome to the family!”

Together, they start the process of moving the cows inside- since they don’t have any kind of barn or paddock to put them in just yet. Tango eagerly informs Jimmy of his success with the chicken operation, which Jimmy is delighted by.

“We’re just raising animals now,” Tango laughs. That combined with the budding farm outside almost makes this feel like a normal survival world, like they’re just taking care of all the early game things rather than preparing for a death game.

“We’re good for something,” Jimmy jokes. “We’re good for something…”

“Ranchers,” Tango agrees. “Team rancher.”

He rather likes the sound of that.

~*~

By the end of the day, Tango can safely say he’s happy with their progress.

They’ve got a respectable wheat farm growing outside, right next to their mineshaft entrance. The cows have been moved to a little enclosure next to the ranch that Jimmy built, and the automatic chicken farm is chugging away collecting eggs.

They haven’t had any more mishaps, aside from Joel coming by to antagonize them and incidentally taking them down to two hearts. Jimmy was unsuccessful in his bid to get a goat horn from Grian, but Tango has promised they’ll work on that tomorrow. The chorus of horns going off every ten minutes is a potent motivator- Jimmy gets more and more distressed every time it happens because he can’t join in. Privately, Tango wonders if that’s an avian thing or just Jimmy’s dislike for being left out.

But it isn’t until the sun sets and they’re both standing inside the ranch, bidding each other good night, that Tango realizes there’s one very important thing they’ve neglected.

They have only one bed.

In all their travels during the day, neither of them happened to pick up enough wool to make a second bed, too preoccupied with cows and chickens and begging for resources to think about finding sheep. The single white bed pushed up against the wall suddenly looks blatantly, painfully small.

There’s an awkward pause as the realization settles over both of them.

Tango clears his throat. “Uh, I’ll just-”

“You should take it,” Jimmy says, at the same time.

They both stop talking, looking at each other expectantly, then letting out sheepish laughs.

“No, no,” Tango says, waving his hand, “go ahead and take the bed tonight, I’ll just- I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Uh, no, it’s okay,” Jimmy insists, “I’ll take the floor. You spent all day building this house, it’s the least I can do-”

“Nuh uh,” Tango cuts in firmly. “Look, I don’t really get cold, alright?” He gestures absently at the blaze rods floating around his head. “Just take the bed, okay, we’ll find some sheep tomorrow.”

Jimmy hesitates for a moment, clearly wanting to argue, but Tango’s expression must deter him. “Alright,” he relents finally. He glances away, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, thank you.”

“No problem,” Tango replies, relieved to have convinced him otherwise. He already cost Jimmy a life today; it’d feel wrong to rob him of a warm bed, too. Besides, Tango is more than used to going without one.

Jimmy flutters about the house, blowing out their torches as Tango gets settled in a corner. “Good night, then,” Jimmy offers, climbing into the bed.

“Night,” Tango says, folding his arms and tucking his chin to his chest.

The ranch lapses into silence- aside from the near constant mooing and clucking, of course. Tango figures he’ll learn to tune it out eventually- that is, assuming they stay here a while. This is a death game, he reminds himself. Even if things go well, they might not be here all that long.

In spite of the mild discomfort of Tango’s position, he feels himself nodding off fairly quickly, his blaze rods starting to dim. It’s been a long day of hard work, and he’ll need all the rest he can get for whatever tomorrow brings…

A creaking sound reaches Tango’s ears.

Tango’s fully awake in an instant, eyes flying open. His vision rapidly adjusts to the dark- a perk of being part nether mob- and he can just make out the shape of Jimmy, tossing and turning in bed. His wings are fanned out and tucked tightly against his body, like a massive blanket. Beneath the rustling sound, Tango can hear what sounds suspiciously like shivering.

“Jimmy?” he whispers.

The shuffling stops. Jimmy’s sheepish voice comes after a moment.

“... yes?”

“Are you cold?” Tango asks, sitting up.

Another pause. “... no?” Jimmy says, unconvincingly.

Tango frowns. The bed is against the wall that’s right next to the fence of their cow enclosure- and as a result, not fully sealed against the outside. Even the cows are huddled together in the corner, keeping each other warm with their shared body heat as wind blows through the holes in the outer walls.

Tango feels a cold prick in his own chest, the sensation taking him by surprise. Is he feeling Jimmy’s coldness through their soulbond?

“Uh, okay,” Tango says, knitting his brows together, “it’s just, you seem kinda cold.”

“I’m fine,” Jimmy says meekly. “Sorry to keep you up, I’ll be quiet-”

“No, no, it’s alright,” Tango reassures him. “I’m just wondering how we’re gonna stop you from turning into a popsicle overnight.”

Jimmy huffs a soft laugh. “Really, Tango, it’s- it’s alright. I’ll just suck it up.”

Tango chews on his lip, hesitating. “You know, I uh… I happen to function as a portable heater, myself,” he ventures, trying for a joking tone. “If you are in need of such a service, I mean…”

“Oh no, no, I don’t wanna impose,” Jimmy says quickly, sounding flustered.

Inexplicably, Tango feels himself blush. “Hey, it’s- it’s no problem,” he laughs, hoping to brush off the awkwardness of the situation. “I mean, it’d be more of an imposition if I woke up in the middle of the night taking damage from hypothermia, right? We’re soulbound, after all.”

“We are soulbound,” Jimmy murmurs, wavering.

“It’s not a big deal,” Tango insists. “Plus, neither of us will get any rest if you’re over there shivering all night. I can uh, I can sort of feel the chill, through our soulbond.”

“Oh.” Jimmy sounds taken aback. “Well, um, alright then-”

“Only if you want!” Tango adds hastily, not wanting Jimmy to feel pressured. “I just- you know, there’s no need for you to be freezing when I’m basically part furnace.”

That gets another chuckle out of Jimmy. “Yeah no, it’s alright, I…yes, that’d be nice, thank you.”

“Cool.” Tango rises to his feet and wanders over to the bed, fighting back a wave of awkwardness. “Um, hi. So- so how do we…?”

“Uh, here.” Jimmy shifts over to one side of the bed, tucking his wings close against his back. “Um… come on in? Oh- oh my gosh, sorry, that’s weird.”

Tango lets out a nervous laugh. “Right, here I come.” Then he immediately cringes.

What is wrong with him? They’re just two players, sharing a bed for warmth. And they’re soulmates, no less. They already share hearts, hunger, and actual lives- what’s a bed, compared to that? It’s fine, it’s nothing.

With that final thought of encouragement, Tango eases himself onto the bed. His knee bumps against Jimmy almost immediately, which leads to mutual whispered apologies and further readjusting, the bed creaking under their combined weight. As Tango moves to turn onto his side, he accidentally elbows Jimmy in the ribs- they both freeze and inhale sharply at the shared pain.

After what feels like an eternity, they finally get settled, laying back to back. The feathers of Jimmy’s wings tickle the back of Tango’s neck.

“Well, g’night,” he breathes.

“Night,” comes Jimmy’s soft reply.

They fall into silence.

Tango stares at the opposite wall. Where only minutes ago he’d been half asleep, now he’s wide awake- hyper aware of Jimmy breathing next to him, not daring to move. Jimmy seems to have stopped shivering, at least, which is good. That was the whole point, right?

The minutes pass like this, in silent stillness, until Tango’s exhaustion starts to win out over his nerves. His eyelids droop, blaze rods fizzling out and settling on the pillow. They tend to extinguish when he’s asleep, so he usually doesn’t have to worry about starting fires in the middle of the night- except for when he has nightmares.

But Tango has a feeling that won’t be a problem tonight. He just hopes Jimmy is able to get some rest, too, as he finally drifts off to sleep.

~*~

Morning comes soon enough, rousing Tango from a deep, dreamless sleep.

The animals are already clamoring to be fed and there’s light behind Tango’s closed eyelids, but he isn’t quite ready to get up yet. He’s pleasantly warm and well-rested, and surprisingly comfortable. For a moment he simply lays where he is, letting awareness slowly trickle back to him, soothed by the steady rise and fall of his pillow-

Wait. His pillow is breathing?

Tango cracks an eye open, and then he stops breathing.

Somehow, at some point during the night, he’d ended up curled against Jimmy, resting his head on the other’s chest. Jimmy’s wings have come up to cradle them, one arm awkwardly pinned under Tango’s shoulders while the other one is splayed above his head, across the pillow- and his hand is curled loosely around one of Tango’s blaze rods. He looks to still be sleeping deeply, his expression smooth and peaceful, eyelashes casting shadows across his cheeks.

Oh, they are way too close.

A million different thoughts and emotions rush through Tango, culminating in a feeling like an alarm going off in his skull. This is- how did this happen?! Oh, how embarrassing- when Jimmy agreed to share the bed he probably hadn’t anticipated cuddling. Tango can’t think of a time he’s ever been this close to another player, much less someone he doesn’t know very well. Soulmate or no, it’s not- he shouldn’t- 

His distress must be reflected in his blaze rods’ temperature, because Jimmy’s hand suddenly twitches. He lets out a soft groan, eyelids fluttering- he’s waking up.

Panic seizes Tango. He quickly closes his eyes, taking a slow, deep breath through the nose as he wills his blaze rods to dim, so as not to give him away. He manages to keep his breathing steady, despite how madly his heart is pounding, and desperately hopes none of his current anxiety is visible in his expression.

Tango feels the moment Jimmy finally stirs. He starts to roll onto his side and then freezes- his chin must be right above Tango’s head, because he actually hears Jimmy gulp. A shiver runs through his wings before they slowly lift away from the bed. Jimmy shifts in place, carefully slipping his arm out from under Tango at a snail’s pace.

Tango, for his part, pretends to be dead to the world. He does not want to confront the awkwardness of this situation if he can help it.

After a couple painstaking minutes, Jimmy manages to free himself. The bed creaks as he moves to get up- which makes him freeze, breath catching- before he finally gets a leg up and over the side. Tango feels the moment his weight leaves the bed, and then soft footsteps wander around the ranch. The cows start mooing with renewed insistence.

“Shh,” Jimmy whispers, his voice coming from over by the cow pen. The mooing stops as the air fills with the sound of munching. With the cows satiated for the moment, Jimmy’s footsteps move over towards the wall of chests. The slow creak of a chest opening and closing echoes through the room, before Jimmy’s footsteps disappear down the ladder to the chicken farm.

Relief sweeps through Tango. Well, he pulled it off. And if they don’t have to confront what happened, then it’s like it never happened at all.

He waits until Jimmy comes back upstairs and has been rummaging around for a few minutes to finally turn over in bed, sluggishly stretching his arms out. He makes a big show of yawning as he sits up, rubbing his eyes before looking around.

“Mornin’,” he greets Jimmy with a perfectly casual smile. “Sleep alright?”

Jimmy’s face reddens. “Yup,” he says stiffly, turning back to the chest he was sorting through. 

Tango hums his assent, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. There’s an uncomfortable tension in the room, but that’s to be expected. Once they get going and start the day, he’s sure things will go back to normal. 

A familiar sound rings out in the distance, making Tango groan. “And already, the horns- with the mocking- continues, as always,” he sighs, tossing the covers off.

Jimmy pauses for a moment, his shoulders hitching up, before he makes a noncommittal noise and goes back to his business.

Tango blinks. “So uh- whaddaya say we make that the quest for today, then?” he prompts lightly, sliding out of bed and onto his feet. “Acquire some horns?”

“Um- actually,” Jimmy says, without turning around, “I was thinking- I figured we could use some more iron, you know? So I was gonna do some caving.”

“Oh.” Tango feels his smile drop off his face- and quickly summons it again. “Uh- right, yeah, no worries. Just uh, hey- watch out for creepers,” he jokes, crossing the small distance to Jimmy’s side.

“Alri- agh!” Jimmy yelps when he turns to find Tango right beside him, feathers flying through the air as his wings flare out in surprise. He quickly tries to cover up his reaction with a laugh that sounds incredibly forced, sidestepping around Tango towards the door. “Right, right, yeah- I’ll be careful. Um, back in a little while, then.”

The door closes behind him with a jarring sense of finality, leaving Tango in abrupt silence.

Exhaling slowly, Tango pries open a chest to find himself some breakfast. This is fine. Jimmy’s probably just a little embarrassed about what happened last night, and needs some space. As long as Tango doesn’t bring it up, it’s sure to pass, and they can get back to business.

After all, he reminds himself, they’ve got a death game to win.

~*~

In Jimmy’s absence, Tango decides to make himself useful.

The ranch is in dire need of an upgrade. He starts construction on a second floor- a wonky watch tower hardly deserving of the name- and extends the wall past the cow’s pen a little more, to help with the draft. Dipping below ground for a bit, he gathers up enough cobblestone to build a perimeter around the ranch, carrying it right towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the ravine. And finally, he ventures out into the forest and searches until he finds a sheep.

(The second bed goes against the opposite wall from the first one.)

All the while, he stays on top of their wheat farm, making small but frequent harvests. He breeds enough cows to start harvesting beef and leather- which he uses to fashion himself a leather chestplate and a pair of boots to go with his iron leggings. Deciding to run with the ‘poor’ look, he stashes a secret barrel underneath their wall of chests to keep the majority of their resources in, leaving the chests quite barren for anyone who happens to come by to snoop.

And once he’s at a loss for anything more to do, he takes an axe out to the neighboring birch forest and collects some logs- without straying too far from the ranch, of course. He’s got a feeling the cows are going to be a target- most of the lifers spend the first day slaughtering any animals they come across- and with Jimmy in the mine, it’s up to Tango to protect their livelihood.

He’s about to put a sign up on their main gate when a new voice reaches his ears, a low muttering not far away.

“Although there is no-”

“Hello?” Tango calls, whirling around.

“... hello?” comes Ren’s hesitant voice.

“Hello, good sir!” Tango says brightly, scanning the surrounding fields.

There’s a big exhale. “Scared the living heck outta me…” Ren’s head finally pops up over the hillside, breaking into a wide, fanged grin. “Tango! Hey man! What’s happenin’ baby, what’s happenin’?”

“How are you?” Tango greets him, waving a hand. “Welcome to Team Rancher!” 

“Oh, hi!” In just a few strides of his long digitigrade legs, Ren’s come to stand beside Tango- towering over him, as usual. His ears perk up as he takes in the ranch. “Ooh…”

“I’m just- I’m just putting up the sign right now,” Tango says, scrawling ‘Team Rancher’ on the birch sign.

Ren hums, glancing back towards the forest. “Have you explored all these caves around here?”

“No, I haven’t.” Tango snorts. “I mean, just- does it look like I have explored caves? Just look at me.” He does a little spin to show off his mostly leather armor.

Ren laughs, ducking his head. “No, no, yeah…”

“That’s actually where Jimmy is right now,” Tango says, smoothing over his chestplate. Hopefully Jimmy will have found enough iron to get properly geared up-

“Oh, oh, alright, I see.” Ren tilts his head to the side. “Uh- you didn’t go with him?”

“... no?” Tango raises an eyebrow, forcing a laugh. “What, it takes two players to mine for some iron now? What’s- what do you mean?”

Ren holds his hands up. “I’m just sayin’, caves are dangerous, man. Though, I guess you’d know that better than anyone.”

Even though his tone was light and teasing, Tango bristles. “Oh, yeah? Well- well where’s your partner, huh?” he demands, putting his hands on his hips.

Ren gives him an odd look. “Bigb is back at Box, perfectly safe, thank you,” he replies. “You alright, man?”

“I’m fine,” Tango says shortly. “Why don’t you just run back to your soulmate, then? If everything’s so wonderful.”

“Um…” Ren blinks. “Okay, I’m gonna level with you, my dude. I came here to see if I could get ahold of some cows but clearly, there’s somethin’ else going on here that’s a bit more urgent.”

Tango squints at him suspiciously. “Wh- what?”

Ren gives him a knowing look, peering over the brim of his shades. “You havin’ soulmate troubles, dude?”

Tango isn’t proud of the squeaking noise he makes. “What? No!” he insists quickly. “No, no, not at all!”

“Really?” Ren asks, dubious. “Cause it really seems like you are.”

Tango exhales slowly, closing his eyes for a moment. “It’s- it’s nothing, alright? I’m sorry I snapped,” he says, his voice calmer. “Look, if you wanna trade for some cows, I think we can arrange something.”

Ren hesitates. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I…” A sudden thought hits Tango. “Actually, do you have any goats?”

That redirects Ren’s attention. “Uh, there’s some goats hangin’ out near Box, yeah?” he says, looking taken aback.

“Oh! Oh, good!” Tango exclaims, clapping his hands together. “Okay, uh, how about- how about two cows for two goats?”

“Yeah? You mean it?” Ren asks excitedly, his tail swishing side-to-side. “That’d be amazing, dude.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s do it.” Tango waves for Ren to follow him as he turns back towards the ranch. “Right this way, sir.”

If this doesn’t cheer Jimmy up, Tango doesn’t know what will.

~*~

Once Tango brings the goats back to the ranch and gets them settled in a new enclosure, the rest of the day is fairly uneventful.

Martyn wanders by at some point, lamenting his and Pearl’s rejection by their soulmates, Cleo and Scott. He asks where Jimmy is- probably looking to antagonize him- so Tango just shrugs and says, “Out.” That earns him a look with far too much sympathy in it for his taste, so he tells Martyn to take a hike.

Scar rides in on a beautiful dapple grey horse, inquiring about leather. He claims some kind of debt that Jimmy owes him, which Tango conveniently can’t confirm nor deny. Ultimately, Tango gives the leather to Scar just to make him leave, because he knows by now that Scar and chaos go hand-in-hand, and it’s not like they can’t spare it.

Then Pearl, inexplicably red despite having yet to lose a life, comes across the ranch to see if Tango knows where a dog is. He doesn’t, but she spots his goats and offers to tell him how to get horns in exchange for food of the cooked beef variety- of which he now has plenty. He agrees, and she informs him he needs to make the goats ram stone.

Tango files that information away for later and bids Pearl farewell. The horns still go off frequently, tempting him to try and get one of his own, but he restrains himself. It’ll be better to do it when Jimmy’s back.

It’s nearly dark when Tango finally hears footsteps coming up the mineshaft. He drops what he’s doing and rushes outside, jumping around the corner of the house.

“Heya, partner!”

Jimmy lets out a high-pitched shriek, sending up a spray of feathers. “Oh my gosh!” He clutches his heart, face flushed. “You- you scared me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Tango chuckles. He bounces on his toes. “So, how was the mining? Did you get all the good stuff and things?”

“Uh, well…” A bit shyly, Jimmy pulls his inventory up. “Only… a stack and fifteen iron ore.”

“Woah!” Tango gasps. “Oh, that’s amazing! Look at you!”

“Thank you, thank you,” Jimmy says, bowing his head. Then he takes a look around, his eyes widening. “Oh wow, look at you, you’ve been busy!” He cranes his head up at the ranch. “You even added a tower!”

“It’s not pretty,” Tango admits, “but hey, it’s something.”

“And does this wall go ‘round the whole perimeter?” Jimmy asks, raising his eyebrows.

Tango nods eagerly. “Uh huh, uh huh- and that’s not even the best part.” He grabs Jimmy by the wrist, tugging him around to the front of the ranch. “C’mere, c’mere!”

Jimmy laughs as Tango pulls him along, then they come to a stop in front of the goat pen. He blinks at it in confusion before a goat happens to spring into the air, high above the wall. His mouth falls open. “Oh… my gosh.”

“Mmhmmm!” Tango hums, quite pleased by the reaction.

Jimmy gives him a shocked look. “No-”

“Oh, yes,” Tango grins.

“You got goats!” Jimmy exclaims, clapping a hand to his forehead.

“I got goats!” Tango agrees proudly. “We’ve got goat technology!”

Jimmy rushes over to the front gate of the pen, wings flapping excitedly. “Oh my gosh, look at them! There’s a whole family!”

“Pearl came by earlier and explained the process to me,” Tango says, walking up next to Jimmy. “We’ve gotta get them to charge at us and then jump out of the way, so they hit that stone wall back there. And then- and then we’ve got horns.”

Jimmy pauses, giving him a sidelong look. “You- wait, you haven’t got one yet?” he asks, knitting his brows together.

“No, no, I waited for you!” Tango assures him. He sweeps out an arm. “Would you like to do the honors, sir?”

Jimmy stares at him for a moment, an unreadable expression flashing across his face as his cheeks turn red. “Um… actually, I- I’m kind of beat, you know?” he says, his tone far more stilted than it just was. He takes a step back from Tango, glancing away. “I was thinking about just… turning in for the night.”

The abrupt change in demeanor throws Tango for a moment.

Guess they haven’t moved past the bed incident.

“Oh.” He shakes himself, forcing his tone to stay upbeat. “Oh, yeah, sure! Sure thing. You’ve been mining all day, I bet you’re exhausted…”

He follows Jimmy into the ranch- though he keeps his distance. Jimmy pauses, his gaze falling on the second bed almost immediately.

“Ah, you got another bed,” he says, his voice a bit wooden.

Tango shrugs as he carefully steps past him. “Yeah, yeah,” he says, trying to sound nonchalant, “I said I would.”

“Right. Good.” Jimmy hesitates, fidgeting with his hands for a moment, before he seems to make a decision. “Um, Tango-”

“There’s food in the barrel under the chest,” Tango says as quickly as he can while still remaining casual, pretending not to have heard Jimmy. “If you’re hungry.”

He has a sneaking suspicion that Jimmy was going to tell him about the bed thing- which, unbeknownst to him, Tango is already fully aware of. So really, there’s no point in discussing it. The longer they pretend it didn’t happen, the faster they can just move on.

“Oh.” Jimmy sounds taken aback, glancing over at the chests. “Alright, great. That’s- that’s pretty clever.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Tango says, turning towards his bed. Normally, the compliment would’ve made him quite pleased, but right now he just feels empty. “Well, g’night.”

“Night,” Jimmy echoes.

~*~

Tango doesn’t sleep much that night.

Jimmy’s the first to rise in the morning- which is starting to look like a habit of his- while Tango remains stubbornly lying in bed for a while longer. He has one arm flung across his face to block out the sunlight, listening to Jimmy’s quiet footsteps as he shuffles around the ranch, taking care of the animals.

Eventually his guilt wins out over his stubbornness- it’s not fair for Jimmy to do all the work around the ranch. But just as Tango sits up, his communicator goes off, an identical beep ringing out from Jimmy’s comm.

<Grian> hey everyone, group meeting at spawn? 

<Renthedog> Feels kinda sus…

<Grian> no tricks 

<Grian> time out ok?

<impulseSV> Everything alright?

<Grian> yeah yeah don’t worry

<Grian> just need to talk about some things 

Huh. That’s interesting.

Tango clears his throat, looking over at where Jimmy is smelting up the iron from yesterday’s haul. “You seein’ this?” he asks.

Jimmy doesn’t completely startle this time, though he still jumps a bit under Tango’s gaze. “Yeah,” he murmurs, “weird…”

“What do you think, should we- should we go?” Tango asks, shifting to sit at the edge of his bed. “Could be a trap.”

Jimmy shrugs a shoulder. “Well, he said time out, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess.” Tango sighs, rising to his feet. “So uh, shall we get going?”

Jimmy nods, strapping a freshly made shield to his arm. “Yeah, let’s go.”

~*~

It’s an uneasy walk to spawn.

Tango is already on edge from the possibility of an attack, and Jimmy’s cold shoulder doesn’t help. His senses are on high alert as they make their way through the mountaintop forest, coming to a stop at the peak. 

They aren’t the first players here- Grian and Scar, of course, are waiting expectantly, speaking to each other in low tones. Impulse and Bdubs are also present; they’re holding hands and laughing about something, Impulse’s forked tail curled loosely around Bdubs’ waist. Impulse catches Tango’s eye and lifts a hand in greeting, which Tango returns with a nod.

They settle in to wait. Tango leans against the nearest tree, folding his arms across his chest, as Jimmy stands awkwardly beside him. Being at spawn is bringing back memories of their death- something Tango might’ve looked back on with fond humor if Jimmy didn’t seem so uncomfortable.

The rest of the players trickle in over the next few minutes. Scott and Cleo don’t seem particularly enthused to be here- nor are they pleased by the way Pearl slinks after them, a dog at her side. She keeps her distance, but her gaze keeps drifting towards them, clear yearning in her eyes.

Etho and Joel splash down in the middle of the clearing, leaping from the treetops to land the silly little water bucket trick they’re so fond of. Bdubs immediately brightens at their arrival and strikes up conversation with Etho, which Impulse contributes to good-naturedly as Joel eyes them suspiciously.

Ren and Bigb are the last to arrive, their base being the furthest from spawn, with Martyn having tagged along with them at some point. He seems content to remain on Ren’s other side, though he casts a not-so-subtle glance in Cleo’s direction.

“Alright, we all here?” Grian starts, scanning the little circle they’ve formed. “Okay. I guess we’ll get started. Uh, thank you all for coming on such short notice-”

“What’s this about, Grian?” Joel asks bluntly.

Grian gives him a look. “Right, we’ll get into it straight away,” he huffs. “So, I’ve noticed over the last several days that uh, bloodthirstiness seems to be at an all-time low. Now, I know it sometimes takes a while for these things to get started, but the general consensus I’m getting is that… most of us are pretty happy where we are.”

Martyn makes an outraged noise. “Well, that’s easy for you to say!” he exclaims, throwing his hands up. “You got paired with Scar, and I’m over here soulmate-less!”

“Who’s fault is that, Martyn?” Cleo calls pointedly.

“Alright, alright, settle down,” Grian chides them. “My point is that this season doesn’t feel like the other ones. The only deaths we’ve had have been from mobs- and we didn’t even have any at all yesterday. Theft and sabotage are way down, and I have yet to see a single trap being constructed.”

Bdubs makes an incredulous noise. “Wh- hey, is this- is this just a lecture about us not killin’ each other fast enough?” he demands, crossing his arms. “Cause uh- I mean, you better be careful what you wish for! I can- I’ll go nuts, if you want,” he threatens, his expression darkening.

The effect is somewhat diluted by Impulse chuckling and putting an arm around Bdubs’ shoulders. “Oh, he will,” he says, voice full of affection, “gotta watch out for this one.”

“It’s not a lecture,” Grian insists, exasperated. “I was just thinking that maybe we should change things up.”

“Wh- so you mean like a restart?” Pearl asks, not quite able to mask the hopeful note in her voice. Tango can see why that would be particularly appealing to her, as someone who had a falling out with her soulmate. It’d be a second chance, a chance to start again and not mess up this time.

Tango can relate.

“I would welcome that, actually,” Etho says, his motivation obvious as one of the only other yellow names.

But Grian shakes his head. “No, more like a rebranding,” he explains. “I propose that we end the death game. No more trying to kill each other.”

The group is silent for a moment.

Tango isn’t even sure what he’s feeling. “So… what would we be doing here, exactly?” he asks, frowning.

“Whatever we want,” Grian says with a grin. “For starters, I’d take down the world border. We could build wherever we want, make farms, go to the End. And most importantly, all our lives would go back to being infinite. No one gets eliminated.” His expression softens. “We just… live. Like it’s any other world.”

Scar subtly nudges Grian in the ribs, and Grian sighs.

“I’ll also unlock the enchanting table recipe,” he says, rolling his eyes. “So we don’t have to go to the Ancient City anymore.”

The clearing fills with chatter as pairs murmur to each other. Tango’s mind is spinning- he’s always loved a good death game, and was quite looking forward to this. But with the current state of things between him and Jimmy, he’s not sure it’d be worth it.

Jimmy leans forward, half-raising a hand. “Would our damage still be linked?” he asks, brows pinched together with concern.

Tango manages not to flinch. Of course Jimmy would want to know that, being stuck with the guy who got blown up by a creeper on day one.

Grian nods. “Yeah, it comes with the soulbond. I can give us back infinite lives, but we’ll all still be linked with our partners.”

“I dunno,” Etho drawls, his mismatched eyes utterly unreadable. “All the deception and murdering is pretty fun… and I’ve already got a survival world back home.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Grian says, holding up his hands, “if we did all agree to end the death game, no one would have to stay. We’d all be free to leave whenever we wanted, and travel back and forth between worlds. The bond only exists when you’re here.” He shrugs. “So leave if you want, I’ll ring you up when the next game comes. But don’t you think it’d be nice for us all to share a world without trying to kill each other for once?”

Cleo snorts. “Who are you,” she demands, folding her arms, “and what’ve you done with Grian?”

“Domestic life has changed you, Grian,” Scott drawls, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Grian’s wings flare out in what might be embarrassment. “Wh- oh come on, I know I’m not the only one who feels this way!” he protests, his voice a bit higher than it just was. “Scar, back me up, here.”

Scar’s eyes light up. “Yes! Yes, I think it’d be a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other better,” he says, clapping his hands together. “You know, us Hermitcraft people don’t really know the rest of you that well outside of trying to kill each other.”

“That’s a good point, actually,” Ren chimes in tentatively, scratching the back of his head as he exchanges a look with Bigb.

Bdubs clears his throat. “Uh, I, for one, would love to spend more time on this world, with my beloved,” he says, glancing up at Impulse with a broad smile. “I’m buildin’ a swimmin’ pool, and we’re gonna host a lovely party at our beautiful house!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m all for staying!” Impulse agrees readily, gazing back down at Bdubs with a similar fondness. “I think it’d be nice.”

Etho makes a show of rolling his eyes. “Oh come on, don’t ask the newlyweds,” he complains, his voice dancing across that line between teasing and actual annoyance. “Of course they’ll wanna stay.”

“You don’t, Etho?” Joel asks, sounding affronted.

“Look, we don’t have to decide right away,” Grian cuts in swiftly. He spreads his hands. “Take a couple days, talk it over with your partners, and then we’ll take a vote, alright?”

Mumbles of agreement filter through the group as they slowly start to disperse, going their separate ways. Tango catches Jimmy’s eye, only for the other to quickly turn away.

Well. This is gonna be a fun conversation.

~*~

Somewhere in Double Life, two soulmates walk in silence.

Tango can tell Jimmy’s thinking a lot about what just happened- his wings ruffle unconsciously every minute and he’s picking at his fingernails. He’s probably trying to think of a nice way to tell Tango he doesn’t want to stay and be soulmates with him, because he’s a nice guy.

Tango supposes it wouldn’t be so bad to just go back to Hermitcraft. Focus on his builds for a bit. Another season will come along soon enough, once the rest of these lovestruck fools get tired of playing house. It’s not like he’s lost anything more than a couple day’s time.

So why does the idea of leaving sit so wrong with him?

When they make it back to the ranch, Jimmy stops in front of the door. “Um, Tango-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tango says, managing a tired smile. “I suppose we should discuss-”

“Can we talk about this later?” Jimmy asks, his voice pleading. “I just- I need some time to uh, think about some things.”

Tango’s voice dies in his throat.

This is torture. Why can’t they just get it over with? Clearly, Jimmy doesn’t want to be around him anymore. Whatever day one warm fuzzies he might’ve harbored have obviously faded. They should just rip off the band-aid now, instead of prolonging the inevitable-

His communicator beeps.

<impulseSV whispered to you> Hey, can you come chat for a minute?

Tango puts his communicator away, exhaling slowly. “Yeah, no, no problem,” he tells Jimmy. “Take all the time you need. I’ll just uh, I’ll give you some space.”

He leaves without another word, and Jimmy doesn’t call after him.

~*~

[enpr-ss]

MCC Season 4!

I really like the stage set up!! It’s cool, unique, and gets the spirit of vanilla Minecraft in this game!!! If they break it 8k points I’ll be impressed. Why the moon landing. Why. They’re such boomers omg. “What’s going on? I don’t know! Huh?? What?? How do we do this?? Where do I go?” It's so funny. Tango hating RSR and BB lol. They’re so happy and so good at RRR!!! Tango and Etho, notorious game critics, complimenting it!! Etho being the only one doing useful callouts throughout MCC LOL.

LOL everyone fears Feinburg Haha meltdown got skipped hard. SOT!!!!

Wtf is wrong with Joel…. “I call Etho 'man', this is who I call 'babe'” and messages Jimmy. Kiss (Jimmy) Marry (Etho “I feel like he would be a good wife”) Kill (Iskall) “Do we want to kill the Pink team?” Immediate yes from Joel despite guilt from FBM and Scar. He popped off in Sky Battle! FBM launching Scar into a SW / Disney rant just to annoy Joel. I was not previously aware of the rivalry between FBM and Joel and the more I know the more hilarious it is. He’s so mean towards Pink and it’s great!!! The lag T BB clutch!!? Joel giving off Techno vibes with the over the top roasting while getting bullied by chat. FBM as the speedbridger!!! Joel always punching Jimmy off. And FBM punching Fruit off at the last part. They did have mercy on Pink though. Joel being Xisuma’s defense squad. Fruit is Gumi’s little meow meow. JOEL NO DONT LISTEN TO CHAT ABOUT MISSED SAND!!!! All the aimless wandering is making me nervous!!!! Scar is excellent sandkeeper. Rip the glitched puzzle. Xisuma somehow finding all the most dangerous things and FBM and Joel yelling at him to not do it.

Also I’m so glad that Scar chose another skin. Thank you Gem for your disapproval.

Xisuma is so good at not missing sand!!! I think he did very well for his first SOT and I think he only missed one sand. Really good.

The absolute bloodlust in sumo from Lime Llamas. And they just walked around the gate LOL. The Callum bullying is so funny, but then he clutched up!! That was a good SOT, especially since Iskall had 0 knowledge going in. Can't wait for the SOT vod review!!

[i-hope-this-is-a-phase]

✨Rei's Recs✨

It feels like we need to celebrate the beauty in the fandom right now, so here are some new fanfics that deserve love! All DNF fics for now (sorry my multishippers!).

Anyway, here they are:

Antagonists by Scoops (E | WIP | 21k+)

#mrpeg #baby fic My beloved Scoops' mpreg fic! Chapter two just dropped, and it's the bomb.

The Remedy to Everything by Simplysmitten (E | WIP | 122k+)

#abo #slow burn Updates every Mondays and Thursdays. It's beautifully written, and it makes me go insane :)

all the way by Anonymous (T | Complete | 688)

#established relationship #sex positivty Small, and it's so positive and sweet. A lovely quick read :)

respawn in the long dream by twostorms (T | Complete | 7k)

#speedrunning #friends to lovers I read this late at night, and I cried. It's so positive about Minecraft and Dream's impact on it.

going through the motions by hardtofindneuro (T | Complete | 8k)

#mental health issues #angst with a happy ending Beautifully tackles a really difficult topic. A fic to make you cry and laugh.

[antimony-medusa]

A Hundred Things You Have Not Dreamed Of

He was wearing a boar-face mask with bloody tusks. One of the lenses over the eyes had shattered, the light from a streetlight catching on the spiderweb in the glass. The swordsman tilted his head at the hawk, clearing his throat. “Yeah?” he said.

It tucked its talons behind its back. “Good evening,” it said obediently. Speaking was always a risk, no one wanted a noisy hawk, but it could take an obvious hint. The swordsman pointed the sword in its direction. “You work for The Brotherhood.” His voice was raspy. He seemed to want an answer. The rain dripped out of the hawk’s hair. “Not anymore.” “Oh.” The swordsman eyed it. The empty spots for weapons and gear at its belt, the scorch marks and slashes in its clothing, its meek stance. He cleared his throat again. “You ran?”

The hawk nodded. “Heh.” The swordsman lowered the point of the sword. “Do y’wanna stick together?” Or: Emduo Human Weapon Recovery Arc.

Status: 10/10 chapters, updated 26 July, 27,743 words

Fandom: Dream SMP

Characters: Technoblade, Philza

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Superheros/Superpowers only in the sense that there are evil AIM-style organizations, Alternate Universe - Mob Hybrids, Alternate Universe - Minimum Wage, I know these tags are really painting a weird picture, Dehumanization, Characters Treated As Dehumanized Human Weapons, Implied cannibalsm, Physical Abuse, Medical Abuse, Starvation, The previous six tags all in backstory, Quite a lot of writing about food, it/its pronouns used for dehumanizing reasons, Recovery, The inherent healing nature of eating junk food, philza minecraft has wings, Cuddling, Nightmares, This was supposed to be 8k but it got away from me, Embedded Images, Hurt/Comfort, The slow acquisition of realizing you're snarky, Queerplatonic Technoblade/Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Philza-centric, This is so self-indulgent to me specifically but that's fanfiction babey, superhero-movie level violence levels, Autistic Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Autistic Philza, Look they are Aut4Aut in this I didn't mean for it to happen it just did

I wrote something for @mcytblraufest! Here is the first chapter of the fic that's been lovingly described in my notes as "hunting hawk whump recovery" for the last two months. It's all pre-written, so there'll be daily updates till I get it all posted!

[mpregspn]

nine people you'd like to get to know better

tagged by @scabby-lasagne thank youuuuuuu <3

last song: Find a Way or Make One by Amon Amarth (#1 "ahah don't kys your so sexy" song)

favorite color: went on a beautiful walk today. green

currently watching: "Photographer" Charges $8K For Blurry Wedding pics | TikTok IS ANGRY!!

sweet/savory/spicy: SWEET

relationship status: "As single as it is possible to be" <- singler than that. sorry. undefeated champion of 27 years

current obsession: rtgame minecraft let's plays. for real. i'm not on twitch so watch the streams when they're uploaded on yt, i caught up with the last two this weekend (that's like 9 hours) and i can't wait for the next one. he has the nicest voice.

last thing you googled: "virus is it strand or strain"

tagging @mpregbillypilgrim @trials-era-sam @fastandferious @officialkendallroy @laertez @queenfansam @ghostsisters @caleblandrybones @spntrunk @brotherfather and anyone else who wants to

[oof-i-did-it-agaaiiin]

Saw a Minecraft meme on instagram that was “when you play with your gf but can’t get mad at her cause she’s just a girl” and the video is of the girl repeatedly dying via rookie mistakes. I foolishly checked the comments to find one single person who commented “hey, isn’t this kinda sexist?” And then over a hundred replies telling this guy he got no bitches. One comment said “dude chill it’s a meme, girls use the joke more anyway” and it had 8k likes. We need a cultural fucking reset okay I cannot keep doing this.

[syn4k]

my dream is to one day have the most basic unassuming desktop setup and then you peek underneath my desk and the worlds most crazy ass futuristic looking pc is chillin there. you ask me if it can run doom 8k. i answer oh dude idk i only use this to play Minecraft

[candycupdev]

I made an atlas of the Minecraft Multiplayer (SMP) Community - Full zoom in replies

This is my own repost. Original, full thread can be found on the bird app

view FULL SVG (you should pick this)

view 8K PNG (does not have unlimited zoom and is blurry as well so you can't find yourself)

TIP: While viewing the .svg, do CTRL+F in your browser to open the "Search Page" feature. Then type your name to find yourself. You might not be there at all lol, but if you are, good job. you made it

I'll explain the atlas a bit: The colors are assigned by a Community Detection algorithm (an algorithm that automatically forms communities, duh) The sizes represent the size of the SMP, in member counts. I ultimately went against assigning the sizes based on followership because i feel like it would be unfair, since some SMPs on this list are just so colossal, and twitter followers don't really paint the whole picture. So i want with this.

The placement of the community depends on how the specific community interacts with other communities. If a community is pretty close to some other community, they will appear closer to each other. Makes sense, right?

Here's the dataset i used (made by me): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18hsr-aZ-OeKcIP1iBxq2rbyiQrBdcnlPx0Hjf9rLVNg/edit#gid=0

Here's the link to the edgelist i made for this visualization: https://candycupgallery.github.io/minecraft_server_edgelist.csv

[morexlapis]

Oh also I had a dream where I switched & the dream alter made a blog with a DNI that includes people who enjoy games that have the same mechanics as Minecraft 😭 in fact they had an entire video of every single Minecraft mechanic.. and then I switched back in (with amnesia) to look horrified at an over 8K notes post of said video. They said something like “I can’t believe I have to make a video for this”..

[dazebrasrecs]

Batfamily Gen-Fic Recs

Incomplete fics or series marked with a *. All other works are complete.

__________________________________

Braaaaaaaains... by Wisetypewriter

Length: 14k / Rating: T / Genre: Humor / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary:  Jason Todd is legally – and biologically – dead. His family noted his lack of pulse at three in the morning, inside the cave, his body laid out on a table with medical instruments. No, really, tell him something he doesn't know. What else crawls out of a grave moaning and groaning? -- Or, Jason thought his family full of the world's greatest detectives was smarter than this. Apparently not.

Contour Lines by momoejaku

Length: 3k / Rating: G / Genre: Hurt/Comfort / Warnings: Injury Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Stephanie tries to get Damian to open up to her by forcing him to do her makeup.

The Dark Knight Strikes Back by audreycritter

Length: 8k / Rating: T / Genre: Angst/Fluff / Warnings: Blood Major Pairings: N/A Summary: If Bruce knew anything, he'd know one simply didn't finish Minecraft. Tim would have told him, but he didn't exactly expect him to actually play-- Bruce didn't play things. Dick remembers Bruce playing things. Jason does, too. There's a hard line between what Bruce was like before and what he was like after the, well, you know. The thing with Jason. Maybe it's time for that to change

Father's Day in a Graveyard by almondrose

Length: 1k / Rating: G / Genre: Hurt/Comfort / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: It's Father's Day and Stephanie Brown hasn't been seen all day.

found some peace inside yourself by incogneat_oh

Length: 1k / Rating: G / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A

Summary: And the silence stretches a little longer this time, because Bruce is hesitant to break it. He knows Jason well enough not to push too hard, to give him a few minutes to collect his thoughts. He’d obviously come here on a whim, but Bruce still can’t imagine why.

Gear Shift by audreycritter

Length: 3k / Rating: G / Genre: Slice-of-Life / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A

Summary: Damian is spending a summer day at the Kent Farm and gets caught in an argument. It's a little surprising. What's more surprising is that it doesn't ruin the rest of the day.

Girl, 19, just wants normal relationship with in-laws. by lysiabeth

Length: 4k / Rating: G / Genre: Humor / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: Stephanie Brown/Cass Cain

Summary: “I honestly just didn’t think about it. I’ve been helping out at the shelter for years now, I assumed everyone knew.” Steph said, and Titus yawned on a the bed, a loud whine, grunting as he pushed his head into Damian’s thigh. Damian stroked one ear, his full attention now on the dog.

Grade School series by KagSesshlove

Length: 100k / Rating: G / Genre: Humor / Warnings: Bullying Major Pairings: N/A

Summary: Imagine that Damian goes to a regular school full time. And has to do things that normal grade-schoolers have to do. This is his life now: pretending to be a normal 10 year old at school all for the sake of the public. But, honestly, the public would rather he not.

Growing Pains by incogneat_oh

Length: 2k / Rating: G / Genre: Angst / Warnings: Injury Major Pairings: N/A

Summary: "Haven't you read a book you enjoyed, Jason?"

I Used to Be an Adventurer Like You, Then I Took an Arrow to the Knee by audreycritter

Length: 9k / Rating: T / Genre: Drama / Warnings: Blood Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Stephanie was just on patrol and now she’s stuck somewhere, sometime, with Bruce. They bleed and bond and mostly try to keep each other alive— you know, just a Tuesday.

Lost Not Gone and Found Not Lost by  DawnsEternalLight and audreycritter

Length: 4k / Rating: T / Genre: Angst / Warnings: Temporary character death Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Damian Wayne is convinced that Tim Drake-Wayne is still alive after the events in Rebirth Detective Comics, Tim has returned and is dealing with...an unexpected welcome.

Minimum Height Requirement by Drag0nst0rm

Length: 2k / Rating: T / Genre: Angst/Humor / Warnings: Temporary death Major Pairings: N/A

Summary: Somewhere in the multiverse, there's a universe where letting his children dress up in capes and follow him into vigilantism seems like a good idea.Bruce is determined that it isn't going to be this one . . .  Despite his children's repeated attempts to convince him otherwise. (Or: "When you're eighteen, you can do what you want. Until then, no capes.")

* Never Get You Right by audreycritter

Length: 1k / Rating: T / Genre: Hurt/Comfort / Warnings: Child abuse Major Pairings: N/A

Summary: When Stephanie Brown was little, she would sit on her roof and watch the sky and wish that Batman would come save her. Then one day, he did.

Reservations by LemonadeGarden

Length: 11k / Rating: T / Genre: Angst/Fluff / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne

Summary: Bruce Wayne's kids make a high stakes bet to find Bruce a girlfriend. Clark is... not sure how he feels about this. What follows is a tale of romance, friendship, family, tractors, bullet wounds, Stephanie Brown's (frankly amazing) motorcycle, and too many PowerPoint presentation jokes.

Rules by audreycritter

Length: 1k / Rating: G / Genre: Hurt/Comfort / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: There is an unspoken rule at Wayne Manor concerning nightmares and it's there to make everyone feel better. No slash, much fluff, some mild memory angst.

Running Headlong into My Arms by gleesquid

Length: 54k / Rating: T / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: Violence, mental illness Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Bruce doesn’t like to credit one thing for saving his life, but if he did, it would be Haly’s Circus that Friday night in September, just as summer was beginning to die.

Safe Space by Cerusee

Length: 5k / Rating: G / Genre: Humor / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Turns out, Bruce and Jason aren’t quite on the same page about who’s parenting whom.  Bruce is going to need to clear some things up.

Serving Sizes Are a Myth by audreycritter

Length: 2k / Rating: T / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Stephanie and Bruce find a small area of common ground.

Sleeping Heartaches by audreycritter

Length: 5k / Rating: T / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: A winter patrol is cut short to take care of a baby. Damian isn’t prepared for it, or the conversation it leads to. And Bruce is pretty good with babies.

Spoiling a perfectly good kidnapping by Fishykarp

Length: 2k / Rating: T / Genre: Humor / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: The Riddler discovers that Stephanie Brown is The Spoiler. He kidnaps her in an attempt to figure out the other Bats' identities, and instead spends an afternoon getting called stupid for 1500-odd words

That One Hug Meme series by incogneat_oh

Length: 23k / Rating: T / Genre: Fluff/Angst / Warnings: Injury, illness, drug use Major Pairings: N/A

Summary: A series of one shot prompt-fills posted to tumblr, from a hug meme. Pretty self-descriptive, really.

What’s Love Without Chocolate by audreycritter

Length: 1k / Rating: G / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Stephanie tries to help Damian buy Valentine’s Cards for his fifth grade class.

White Christmas by LemonadeGarden

Length: 9k / Rating: T / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: Jason's been in the manor for a few months now. Bruce is a pretty cool guy, sure, but he's not exactly sure what to expect from him. And then they go to Siberia in the winter on a case. It goes horribly wrong, and then pretty well.

Yesterday's Voices by LemonadeGarden

Length: 49k / Rating: G / Genre: Fluff / Warnings: N/A Major Pairings: N/A Summary: While trying to take down a drug cartel that deals with memory altering drugs, things go awry, and Batman wakes up with no recollection of the last five years. As a result, his family must now race against time to find the antidote, while also having to deal with a Bruce who still thinks Jason is Robin. A Bruce who doesn't recognise most of them. A Bruce far less jaded and cynical than the one they're used to. A Bruce who still cares.

[patchesjam]

Something I find interesting is that even with the boost of multiple languages, qsmp streamers haven't gotten that big of jump in viewership.

Take foolish for example. He tends to get around 8k while hes on the qsmp and about 4k on anything else. Considering theres 5 different language four different languages, with over 20 creators, he really doesn't gain much in viewership. Obviously there are times when he has higher or lower but in general it seems to be around 8k while on the server

Whereas with dsmp, he has gained and retained thousands of viewers regardless of what he streams. Like how punz is in the thousands for viewership despite streaming valo and not even minecraft

(This is very general and obviously theres time for growth, but watching foolish rn at about 4k which he averaged pre qsmp is interesting because dsmp gave so many smaller creators immediate boosts. R.nboo being another example)

yeah completely agree i think its rly interesting i would guess because the main community involved now is probably the hispanic community, and although im sure they enjoy him/others on there why choose to watch something you cannot understand all the time? just as im sure english viewers enjoy the others, but dont actually watch outside of the qsmp - very much unlike the dsmp streamers

[dreblr-fic-recs]

Blood on the Carpet (It's Not You)

Writer's Summary

You whisper to Skeppy: Skeppy they’re trying to kill me

Skeppy whispers to you: The who and what now

You whisper to Skeppy: Dream and Sapnap and George! Are trying to murder me!!!

Skeppy whispers to you: What did you do this time

(or: An alternate take on the Minecraft Hostage Simulator, with an extra-large helping of drama and sads.)

~

Word Count: 8k

Status: Incomplete

Rating: Mature

Content Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

[hdqwalls]

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[dnfao3tags]

Monthly Fic Roundup - July 2022

that time of the month again :]

you know the drill, make sure to leave all the writers lots of love <3 feel free to rec ur own fav fics from this month if theyre not on this list !

— how did we get here? by snowdreamr (mature | wip | 8k+)

What would happen if Dream and George couldn’t hide behind the comfort of their computers anymore? How much of them would slip out? A friendship that slowly evolves into something else, until one of them breaks and can’t bear with his heart-piercing emotions anymore. Who would it be?

— down my arms, a thousand satellites by crabnap (teen | comp. | 8k)

Dream gets sick and George, to his amazement, is actually very soft and caring about it. Surely nothing life-changing will come of this.

— all's well that ends well (to end up with you) by sweeterthanandy (mature | comp. | 5k)

George doesn’t realize until he gets to Florida just how much he’s ached for Dream.  That’s what he calls it when he confesses: an ache. Not yearning or pining or elementary crushing, but a physical pain that was always there, dull at times and downright searing at others.  Decades of waiting, of willing, of wanting have stacked atop each other to build a bridge to carry him home. And now that he’s home, he finds that Dream’s good at healing that ache in him. (He’s really good at it.)

— every other freckle by angelbeachcat (expl. | comp. | 6k)

Florida brings to light the nature of the love Dream and George have for each other; sanctifying, obsessive, consuming. Dream wishes for togetherness in a way that transcends what is possible.

— For The Bit by biboyhalo (expl. | wip | 14k+)

5 times Dream and George get distracted during sex and the 1 time it actually matters.

— dreaming of you when i'm alone by aestheticzjm (expl. | comp. | 4k)

the one in which dream and george are strangers that meet on an anonymous online chatroom.

— got your brain fizzin' like cola by nervouswaltz (teen | comp. | 6k)

Dream's job is entirely uneventful. He manages a social media account for a billion-dollar company, plays too much Minecraft to be healthy, and gets to make several sexual innuendos and get paid for it. It's all very simple. Until the official Twix Twitter account replies to him, and things snowball. Just a little bit.

— Newton's Laws of Falling in Love by buildyourfences (teen | comp. | 4k)

George takes physics and his relationship with Dream into his own hands.

— The Dislocated Room by purestcinnamonroll (expl. | wip | 4k+)

The night before George leaves for Florida, he falls asleep with his mattress stripped bare, boxes packed, apartment empty. With the knowledge that tomorrow, everything changes. He has dreamt about this for so long that he thinks stepping into the humidity will feel akin to a memory, familiar through the sheer magnitude of his yearning. Tomorrow, he will move halfway across the world, Sapnap will pick him up from the airport, and Dream will be waiting for him at the doorstep. And he will finally be home. Except, when he wakes up, it's yesterday. And it keeps on being yesterday, again, and again, and again.

— come lay me down by jestbee (expl. | comp. | 4k)

Four in the morning is the perfect time for a confession.

— rest your eyes (and give your baggage to me) by twostorms (teen | comp. | 4k)

george knew, long before coming to florida, that dream isn't always the best at putting himself first. thankfully, george knows exactly how to take care of him.

— (tumble dry) start by jjuneviere (teen | comp. | 2k)

In Dream's opinion, the best time to do laundry is most certainly 2:30 in the morning.

— Inevitability of a kiss by Jinxiethefae (mature | comp. | 2k)

It was inevitable that they would kiss once George got to Florida, it was just a matter of when and where.

— hiraeth by wooowriter (gen | comp. | 6k)

The intricacies of love, the turmoil of distance, and the uncertainty of time.

— if you find me (will you know me?) by mooshrooming (teen | comp. | 10k)

Dream doesn't have any answers, but he asks a lot of questions.

— Suffocating in Patience by Jinxiethefae (gen | comp. | 3k)

Waiting for something that is out of your control is taxing on the heart especially when every fibre of your being just wants to exist with another person.

— Spin Silence Into Gold by realfriends (expl. | comp. | 37k)

A roadtrip from Orlando to LA, with many moments in between.

[xomoosexo]

8k sales is crazy low for someone as famous as dream though 😕 sad for him bc I think he was hoping it’d do proper numbers like bro was talking about charting in the top 20s

he's famous for minecraft. sometimes established celebrities put out a clothing line and it doesn't do well because they are jenifer aniston and they are famous for being on friends and not high low skirts