#not sure if i would say that he’s my favorite swede though……. hard to replace dino as fave racing swede

[httpiastri]

bad pic but

saw this and just went 🥺 “våran favoritsvensk” there on the right side means “our favorite swede” 🥺🥺 mclaren you’re so sweet

[cobradoesmcyt]

Black Rose (2/4)

Here comes the second part! And “New town, new me” is way more shipy then I remember it being. Anyways, here’s part two!

Grian hummed happily as he walked around New Hermitville, it had been two weeks since he arrived here and he honestly couldn't see how he'd ever be able to live without the peace of the village. It was so serene and calm most of the time, and even when Bdubs was running around planning new builds and looking for materials it was nice. Over the two weeks he'd gotten very comfortable around his two new villagemates, way faster than he thought he would, and he now knew some interesting quirks about the two.

Keralis liked to take it slow and enjoy the scenery, so he tended to keep a camera on him at most times to capture most of those sceneries without staying there for hours. Not that he also didn't do that, because he definitely did, but it was more common he just took pictures.

Bdubs liked telling stories, they ranged from funny and joyful to somber and sad ranging between everything in between. He usually told them when he was doing mindless work, like making room for a new build in the village, but at times he sought out either Grian, Keralis or them both to tell them a story. His most common audience was Grian and his gardens, seeing as Grian usually stayed there and relaxed, making him an easy person to find and tell stories to.

Equally they had learnt stuff and quirks about him, like how he loved taking care of animals and how said animals seemed to love him. Also how he was a good tailor, and how he seemed to just be able to know your style from just a quick look. Another interesting thing was his gardens. He had three over all, but two of them had smaller patches of flowers over it and the last one was just one big garden of plants of all kinds. One of his favorite patches of the gardens was the one filled with poppies, when they asked him about it he told them it was for an old friend.

In a flower pot sitting next to the entrance of the big garden was a wither rose, at first Keralis and Bdubs had been apprehensive about letting him have it but after seeing that it did him no harm they let him keep it (turns out Grian had developed a slight immunity against the black flowers, so one wasn't enough to hurt him anymore). It now served as a reminder as to how he got where he was now, that and his new appearance.

The first notable difference he had was the black patches covering his skin, they were mostly on his arms but it was all over his body. Other than his arms, his face and hands were the most notable. His fingertips were a black that faded back into his normal skin tone before they reached further than his fingers. His face was the most obvious, since all of the bottom part of the right side of his face was black. His right eye had also been affected, swapping the black and white of his eyes around. So his pupil was now white and sclera was black, though his iris was still a breathtaking violet. His wings now also had black speckling along the tips, but only on the top.

The second difference was his clothing. Sure he loved his sweater and casual pants, but he was starting a new chapter in his life so it was time to try something new. His red sweater was replaced by a red open cardigan over a loose white shirt. His gray pants had been replaced by form fitting casual sweatpants. His black sneakers had been replaced by short heeled shoes (he wanted to be taller than 5 feet, which he now is with the shoes...barely) which were also black.

And the last difference was his hair. He had let it grow out, which didn't take very long since his hair grew very fast, and it was now pulled up in a loose bun. He was also wearing a headband with fake flowers, the flowers were all pastel and they varied from blue all the way to pink.

He had gotten very positive feedback from his two new villagemates, both enjoying the style and color pallet he'd chosen. The changes had happened around the start of the second week, so he'd only had the clothes for a bit.

Breaking himself out of his memories he walked up to the river's edge and sat down, he usually went down to the river almost every morning. He enjoyed the water, since that had been his momentary distraction back before the wither rose garden situation. He let himself get distracted by the clear waters before him, world momentarily forgotten. This was another thing he's noticed, he's now more relaxed now. He isn't jumping around getting ready to prank someone, though he does still prank Bdubs and Keralis from time to time, nor is he staying up late working on builds.

Sure he still worked on builds, but it was mostly sketches and small things. He supposes he's just content relaxing for once, he's always been so riled up and itching to do stuff all the time that he's kinda forgotten what it's like to relax properly.

Grian would have thought for longer, had it not been for the sound of rockets approaching. He quickly rushed up from the water and into one of the new Hermitville gate towers. He hid in the tower, but made sure to still be near a window so that he could see what was going on. And once he looked his eyes widened.

Just behind the entrance gates stood Iskall, and he seemed to be agitated. This couldn't be very good, what was he doing here?

"Keralis! Bdubs! Can you come here? I need to talk to you both!"

Said two Hermits came jogging from the village, curious but welcoming expressions on their faces. It was Bdubs who initiated conversation further, "Good day my good sir! What can we do for you?"

"Have you seen Grian?" Asked Iskall, the Swede glancing around all the while.

"Grian? No, can't say we have." Said Bdubs, grateful that he'd gotten a bit better at not showing he was lying, "Why do you ask?"

Iskall huffed out a breath, shoulders sagging, "Grian disappeared two weeks ago, no one's seen him since. No death message has appeared, not since those of him withering away stopped."

"Why would you think he was here?" Asked Keralis, head tilted to the side. "Why not some place with a lot of wither roses?"

"We've already looked everywhere where those are," sighed Iskall, "But there are some wither roses missing from Sahara so we think he made a spot somewhere and used them there, we just can't find it."

"Well we wish you luck finding him." said Bdubs, "We promise to look out and tell you if we find him."

Iskall regarded them for a few seconds before nodding. "Thank you both, have a nice day."

"You too!" Called Bdubs as the brunette flew away.

Grian waited a few minutes before making his way out of the tower. I looked up at the direction where Iskall had disappeared off to, a frown on his face, "Why is he here now?"

At the two’s confused faces he elaborated, "Why is he looking here now? This is quite a big landmark, being you guys’ base. So why is he only looking here now?"

"Maybe he hasn't started looking up until now?" Asked Bdubs with a shrug.

"If that's the case, then why haven't they been looking before now?" Questioned Grian, hunching in on himself as dark thoughts entered his head. "Do they not care about me?"

Keralis was quick to come and comfort him, "No, of course they do. I'm sure they have a good reason." He rubbed Grian's back gently. "We can ask about it during the next Idea meeting if you'd like?"

"Please." Whispered Grian, burrowing into Keralis' gentle hold.

"Ok, then we'll do that." Cooed Bdubs also wrapped his arms around the small Hermit. "Now how about we cuddle for the rest of the day? I think you might need to relax a bit."

The rest of the day was spent much like Bdubs had said, full of cuddles and laughs. By the time the sun was setting Grian had mostly forgotten about Iskall's earlier visit, much to the relief of Keralis and Bdubs. They watched as the small dirty blond fell asleep curled up in between them, their faces turning to frowns as soon as they were sure he was asleep for real.

"I hope Shashwamy doesn't ask too many questions tomorrow," mumbled Keralis, "I don't think I can lie to him for long."

Bdubs placed his hand on the others forearm in comfort, "I'm sure he won't talk about it for too long, he'll probably want to focus on Idea more than talk about that anyways."

"You're probably right, I'm just worried I guess."

"I am too." Admitted Bdubs, "We both know that if the Hermits were to force themselves onto Grian he'd probably go back to the mindset he was in two weeks ago. Hell, technically they're the reason he was there to begin with!"

"Hey, don't be too hard on them." Said Keralis, "They probably didn't notice."

"Which is even worse if you ask me."

Keralis sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We can't just judge them without hearing their side first. They are our friends too, they deserve us to be fair to them."

Bdubs didn't reply and simply laid his head down on the brunette's shoulder. In turn said brunette rested his head against the raven haired man's own, but not before he took off his glasses and hat and put them on the small coffee table in the room.

Tomorrow would be an eventful day, but right now they had nothing to worry about. No important talks to have, no meetings, no nothing, just calm bliss. They treasured these moments, no matter how many they had.

Keralis let out a loud yawn before following his cuddle-mates to sleep, he was ready for whatever tomorrow may bring. Especially if it meant that Grian could start mending his friendships with everyone, he could clearly see how much his small friend missed them.

Over in the Sahara meeting room one chocolate brown eye and one cybernetic blue eye looked at a framed picture of the three Architechs on opening day, the eyes then turned to another framed picture, this one more recent. It was taken almost a month ago, and it was also of the trio. Nothing looked too different, at least it did until he took a closer look at the eyes.

There was a big change in Grian's eyes from the first picture compared to the second one. In the first the violet eyes were bright and full of joy and life, but in the second picture the eyes were dull and almost completely lifeless.

He'd done this, hadn't he? He and everyone else on the server. They had broken, and if not that then at least cracked, the kindest person alive. They had made joke after joke, not bothering to see if it was ok or not. And in the end, that's what took him away from them. Sure, he was still on the server, at least according to Xisuma he was, but they couldn't find him.

Perhaps that was his fault, for not starting to look sooner. But he just couldn't believe Grian just left everything he'd made and ran, even when he saw the broken communicator. Ren had given him hell for not telling everyone Grian was missing, honest to god missing, before now. The ex-hippie has been disappointed, but not mad surprisingly. When asked about it he said, "Can't be mad at him(Iskall) for something I've done too. So I'm choosing to be disappointed in what he, and only he, has done."

The search had started just under two weeks after Grian disappeared, and no luck yet. He wasn't in Hermitville, nor in new Hermitville (heh, if he only knew), or any other place that was searched.

So for yet another night Iskall fell into a fitful sleep, worrying over his dirty blond friend and where he could be. The Swed just hoped that Grian was safe and happy, that's all he wanted him to be. And Grian was both of those, so Iskall had what he wanted.

Even as everyone went to sleep, or at least most of them, the server was still slightly abuzz. The tension from the talks that would happen the next day in the air. Hopefully everything went ok.

Who am I kidding? This is Hermitcraft! Nothing usually goes ok. So who really knows what will happen?