#possessive tango tek

[vivianquill]

Okay. so. basic breakdown of the dragonfrost au goes as such.

You have Tango, a young adult dragon (young in dragon years, not mortal years) who lives in the deepfrost citadel-- or more specifically, below it. his hoard is below the burning dark, in a room that takes puzzles to get to. (think the control room puzzle).

He likes people, but has that dragon lifespan and semi-alien morals due to being. well. a heckkin dragon. He's lawful good, and while he doesn't seek out 'bad' people to do vengeance, he will test and judge and 'play' with anyone he comes across. He believes that adventurers are primarily greedy and selfish and will do anything for their own gain. proven time and time again by people trying to steal his hoard. No one has succeeded. ever.

The he visits the village at the bottom of the mountain a lot, and sees it as part of his 'domain' and under his protection. Mostly cause the people there are nice to him and just people trying to live and be good people, yah know? They have the Tango stamp of approval. The people there know 'Tango' as a odd wanderer who is the only one to survive going up to the Citadel, for some reason. They know there's something up there, and while some people suspect it's a dragon, but other people think it's other things, and what do they gain by angering whatever it is? Tango knows more than he lets on, surely. He's gotta be like, a spokesperson for the dragon or something.

Anyway. Jimmy is a canary Avian, and the little scraplet i wrote is more of a prologue-ish bit. Jimmy has a slight magic that lets him sense immediate danger, but the troupe he adventures with always underestimated him and never trusted his danger-sense. He was traveling with them because his family ended up in debt to some powerful people. He was the one who took it upon himself to work off as much of the family debt as he could manage, and as such-- adventurer. He sorta acts like 'the party npc' a lil bit. Jimmy isn't really a fighter, and is instead more useful for his connections and survival knowledge.

Jimmy caught Tango's eye because of his golden feathers and his danger sense magic and his high perception and insight. he also, after getting to know Jimmy more, despite his mistrust, and ends up convinced that the rest of the troupe is standard adventurer fair-- not worth much more than food for his dungeon. But he let them get all the way to the hoard as a test for Jimmy, and Jimmy passed. Tango murdered all the rest of the troupe, and took Jimmy as part of his hoard.

Because of this, Jimmy is now 'warlock', and Tango is his patron. It took a long while for Jimmy to sorta-- get over the murder thing. but that's fine! Tango's dragon magic, when forged through a warlock-patron connection, lets him slow Jimmy's aging, as well as give him other magic powers too. It wouldn't do to lose the only good adventurer he's ever met, after all.

After Jimmy finally comes around to being Tango's-- something. Friend? Ward? Treasure? Something. Whatever it is. Jimmy takes on a similar role to Tango. They take care of the town, and the citadel, and if any adventurers come by, Jimmy takes on the guise of being their guide. He whistles to Tango each night, telling songs of how he's being treated. If they don't treat Jimmy right, they get to be dungeon food. If they keep Jimmy safe and listen to his instructions all the way through the dungeon to the hoard, and only take what they truly need of the treasure, for good reasons, they get the chance to leave alive. But they have to get out on their own. Most people never do. But some do.

It brings stories of glory and treasure, attracting more adventurers, more players for the game. More business for the village. Tango changes the games and puzzles, keeping it forever new and challenging, but he never collects any more warlocks. he offers it, to a select few he's deemed as good as Jimmy, but none of them take it. Yet. Most of them have family to get back to, people they need to save. (like Jimmy did, once.) (They're surely all dead by now.) (He's lived for so, so long. Tango is the only one who knows him anymore. (The least he can do is soften Tango's edges for everyone else.) (Jimmy might be a canary in a cage but he can sing to protect the miners, right?)

It's fine. The village is thriving, and the adventurers get a chance, at least.

[seawaveleo]

he's decked out! like literally, he is decked out. he became decked out

[theminecraftbee]

Once again, Zedaph finds himself outside the closed gates of the Deep Frost Citadel, tapping his feet with annoyance. Honestly, by now you’d think the stupid thing would understand Zedaph always gets his way, when it comes to Tango, but no, Tango’s stupid base keeps trying to stop him.

“I told you, I’m not here to negotiate, I’m here to pick up my friend,” Zedaph says irritably. The gates of the base don’t respond, and don’t open. “I have a very important nap to be taking, I’ll have you know, and I will not be stopped by… by base chicanery!”

There’s a deep, rolling growl from somewhere in the bowls of the citadel. It sounds like ravagers.

“Oh, don’t you threaten me, you know I’ll run around and die in there all you want as soon as it’s ready. Not even afraid, am I? You’ve had your taste of the good old Zed flesh, but no sir, you aren’t getting me today. The high-voltage wires were a good trick last time I came to bother Tango, I admit, but it won’t work again!”

Another rumbling growl. Zedaph huffs. It would certainly be nice if Decked Out spoke in human to him, so he wouldn’t have to keep guessing. Even sheep would be better—Tango may have an affinity for beasts, but Zedaph only has an affinity if the beasts are also silly.

He makes an educated guess. “Yes, yes, I know you’ve ‘eaten him’ or whatever. Well I’ll have you know that Tangos have more nutritional value after watching me take a very important nap. And also dying. Its enriching. You like enriched Tango—okay, okay, that wasn’t the complaint, geez, you don’t have to shout at me. At this rate I’ll just use my pickaxe to break through the door, and then what will you do, huh? Nothing. You’ll do nothing, because you’re a big stupid building in the ground, and Tango was my friend first.”

A rumble.

“Haha, yeah, take that. We’ve been friends for years. You might be his magnum opus, but you’ve never made him sign a custom body pillow with your beautiful face on it, have you? That is the bond of men! No base can do anything about that.”

A louder rumble. Zedaph feels what he thinks is supposed to be fear and desire to wander into the depths and die or something silly like that. Zedaph isn’t certain, because it’s not as important as Zedvancements. This is one of Zedaph’s special abilities: if it’s not as important as whatever he’s doing right now, he’s very good at ignoring it until it becomes important. So, like, the Citadel is trying to lure him to his death, but that’s less important than taking a very deadly nap while Tango watches with horrified awe, so he’ll just ignore it until later.

Works every time.

“Listen, I’ll bring him back in one piece! Have I ever lied about that? I never do. He always comes right back to work, even when I do distract him, and he’s chipper again, right? I barely even disrupt things. Not that you could do anything if I did, of course, you hunk of stone and ice.”

Zedaph stares at the closed doors for a bit longer. He thinks this is about when anyone else would either die on the spot, or run away screaming, or maybe just come in and feed themselves to a ravager, but the that’s because the other hermits very frequently don’t have anything better to do than to get caught up in other people’s nonsense, in Zed’s experience.

Zedaph simply has so much nonsense of his own that he can out-stubborn even Tango’s base. Like he said: a special talent.

Slowly, as though greatly reluctant, the gates open.

“Thank you, geez! Was that so hard?”

Zedaph stomps through to the hidden access door of the Decked Out maintenance tunnels, grabbing one of the supplemental oxygen masks as he does. He sighs as he realizes that Tango, once again, has forgotten he needs to breathe. Hopefully, the fact Zedaph is currently keenly aware of needing to breathe on account of planning to not do that ten times in a row does not remind Tango.

He finds Tango taking a nap tangled in some high-voltage redstone lines. This time, Zedaph knows better than to touch them. It had been a mite embarrassing the last time. “Tango! Hey, Tango!”

“Wuh?” says Tango, eloquently. “I’m up, I’m up, level three’s almost done I swear—”

“Tango, get up, I have bedroom tricks to show you!” Zedaph says.

“I’m up! Zed? Oh hey! What are you doing all the way out here?”

“I told you. It’s urgent, Tango, urgent. I have bedroom tricks only you can assist me with.”

“Well, that’s a good time I wasn’t expecting,” Tango says.

“No, you idiot! Get your head out of the gutter, and come on! I have things to do!”

“Okay, Zedaph, geez, geez, lemme just—”

“I’ve already asked your stupid base,” Zedaph says. “It’s fine. Now, get out of those wires before I get shocked or something, and we’re going to go have fun.”

Tango slowly uncoils himself. “Right. I’ll get ready and—” Zedaph whips a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket. Tango pauses before smiling brightly. “Oh, you’re the best.”

“I really am,” agrees Zed, and he grabs his best friend’s hand and leads him out of the Deep Frost Citadel to show off his latest contraption. He turns around and sticks his tongue out for good measure at the base as they go. Hah. Take that. The best. There’s no beating it.

And there’s no keeping him away from Tango. Zedaph guarantees it.

[sneaky-geeky]

What if everyone in Limited Life felt their time differently. Lives not measured only in minutes and seconds, but in something else. Something unique. Something that had followed them though all the games before, and now counted down to their next death.

(4,283 words)

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For Grian, it’s the sun. He has a sundial, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, and whilst he knows how to read it, he’s not exactly clear how it’s meant to show him how many hours he has left. As far as he’s aware, and he double checks just to be sure, the sun is moving just as it always has, and under a cloudless midday, there should be only the smallest sliver of shadow. But that’s not what he sees when he pulls it out to check. The shadow is long and dark and tells him that it’s barely past dawn. He triple-checks the sun again, just to be sure, but it remains high in the sky, and so he turns instead to the horizon. There, only visible when he squints, is another sun, smaller and coloured a deep, dark red.

It rises quickly as his hours tick by, and soon he doesn’t have to pull out the sundial to locate it, hanging ominously in the sky. Even at night it burns, its harsh light a counterpoint to the moon’s cold glow, and a constant reminder of his times slow passage. By the time he turns yellow it’s nearing its height and begins to burn almost as bright as the other sun which had continued its normal rotations through the sky. And then it begins to descend and as his final life approaches, he gets to witness the most beautiful sunset. This small red sun which represents each moment of his life lights the very sky on fire, a blood-coloured glow which dominates the sky through night and day. There’s no escaping it, with each passing moment it sinks further below the horizon, and the sundial he now holds in blood-coloured hands shows him precisely how little time he has left. His own mortality hangs above his head in glorious colours, but he knows the rules better than anyone and he will break them however he has to to extend that sunset a little longer.

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For Scott, it’s the stars. During the days he can almost force himself to forget that now more than ever before, they are all doomed to die, but as the night closes in he has no choice but to face reality. During the first hours of this game, he notices no change, the night sky remains as illuminated as it ever was. His first sign that something is wrong is as he idly traces a constellation, but his eyes are caught up short as he notices that a star is… missing. He tells himself that it can’t be right, he must be looking at them wrong, or there’s some cloud blocking his vision, but no matter how he squints the star is just gone, and it only gets worse from there.

Each night the deep black of the sky stretches further, with fewer and fewer stars to break up the unending void. With each passing minute, another one blinks out of existence. He even sees it happen a few times, his heartbeat beating in time with the ticking clock inside him causing another star to burn away. As the hours pass and even he, once known for his mercy, is forced to do whatever he must to hold on a little longer, Scott realises that he no longer recognises the sky above him. The stars have become few and far between, leaving only the unkind void watching over him. He fights under unfamiliar constellations now, and as his time reaches its final gasping breaths, those last stars abandon him too. When his time at last runs out, above him hangs only the unknowable.

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For Pearl, it’s the moon. From the moment this new world began she knew that. The first night, before even an hour had passed, it hangs heavy and full and bright above her head. Nights like this one always made it hard for her to sleep, when the clear moonlight illuminated the world in silvers, and she chose to not even try and rest, instead lying in dew-soaked grass soaking in the light. For a second it brings her back to nights far up in a tower, alone save for the furred warmth of a dog by her side, watching the skies for any sign that she was not to blame, but that was another world. Here it’s a fresh start, and despite knowing otherwise she can manage to convince herself that she has all the time in the world as a full moon hangs above her.

It’s only because she was watching the moon so carefully that first night that she notices the changes so quickly. Even as her first hours slip away from her, the moon does too. No longer does it light up the world quite so brightly, and she can only watch as each night it wanes further. Under a dull half-moon’s glow she reaches her yellow life, and her minutes begin to tick dangerously low. She no longer has the time to lie back and simply relax, and her nights are no longer a time of pale light. Instead, she hunts for extra minutes through half-cast shadows, trying to slow the waning of the slender crescent she sees above her. As her final hours approach its light abandons her too, only a new moon left to watch over the same old story of their struggle against the inevitable. As her final death approaches, she is left with only memories of the full moon’s glow, and the knowledge that she will do whatever she must to return it to its full glory.

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For Scar it is, ironically enough, scars. He’s never exactly been great at staying alive, and that fact is clear for all to see through the reminders of those deaths which mark his skin. He’s not ashamed of them though. He knows his strengths, and he’s an expert at spinning the most dramatic tales of how he got each wound. It’s a surprise then, when he opens his eyes in this new world and finds only smooth, unmarked skin. The others notice, but don’t seem to think too much of it so Scar trie s not to let it bother him either. “New world, new me”, he thinks to himself, mind already spinning with potential schemes. Only as the first hours begin to pass does he realise what it means.

The first one to reappear is a blast mark down his left side from a creeper which had caught him completely unaware. Next, as time continued to tick, was a jagged mark on his right calf, the remnant of a broken leg gained in a sandy ravine a long way from here. Every few hours it’s another one: the mark of an axe slashing across his back, burn marks across his chest, claw marks down his forearms where the zombies had scratched at him. He knows what the final one will be when his time has all but run out; a scar over his heart where the line which once connected him to a soulmate had been ripped away. His scars are a sign of what he’s survived, but as each one comes back he knows that they’re also a reminder. No matter how fast he talks, what alliances he makes, his time is running out, and he’s never been good at avoiding death for long.

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For Jimmy, it’s feathers. He’d always hated when the others had made fun of him, called him cursed, or doomed, the canary of these death games. Every time he swore it would be different, but every time he died first, and every time it got a little harder to convince himself that it was just bad luck. He finds the first one before an hour had passed, a pale-yellow feather, almost golden in the sun. It’s caught in his hair, and as he flicks it away he manages to convince himself that the colour was just a trick of the light and he’d simply gotten a little careless whilst killing chickens. They come more frequently after that though. In his hair, landing softly on his arms, a flurry of them when he shakes out his jacket to put it on. Once there’s a trail of them, beckoning him into the woods and the fact that he decided to spend that day safely within his base is entirely unrelated. At least he can ignore them when his time is plentiful, but as time slips away, the reminder of his curse becomes more obvious.

When he awakens on his yellow life, he is greeted by a pair of wings upon his back, the feathers as vibrant as the name above his head. He can’t fly, of course, but the wings remain, a symbol of his role that’s clear for all to see. For a while he almost thinks that that could be the end of it, he has become the canary and he never needed a timer to beckon him towards his doom. But then the feathers start again. They don’t appear from nowhere this time, every golden plume which drifts past him now comes from his own wings. With each step, each passing minute, he loses more, and each yellow feather he sees is only a reminder of his own tragic fate. By the time he becomes red, his bedraggled and bloodied wings are those of a bird caught in a net, destroying itself in its own desperate struggle to find freedom. Every time he swore it would be different, but now more than ever time was not on his side, and his struggles will only quicken his own death.

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For Tango, it’s… nothing at first. He hears the others muttering about it at the beginning, in between the chaos of gathering resources and making alliances: the changes they can feel coming over them as the clock begins to tick, the constant dread of feeling time slipping between their fingertips. He feels nothing of the sort though, if anything he feels good! He’s got friends, supplies, and at least part of a base. Maybe, he thinks, this time it will be different, and something good will come out of these games.

Or maybe that optimism at the start was the cruellest part of it all. Without that joy, he wouldn’t have been able to notice the creeping anger which began to replace it. He tried to reign it in, to laugh and play along with the rest of them in pretending that nothing was wrong, but with each passing hour his control slipped away. Old hurts he’d thought forgotten rose unbidden to his mind. Time begins to slip away from him and the desire for revenge gets harder to ignore, the urge to find all those who’d betrayed and destroyed and left him for dead grows stronger. He finds himself seething with anger, remembering the people he’d thought of as friends turning their backs on him, the slash of an axe against his back, a home in flames before him. He can control it for now, but he knows that by the time his name is as red as the mist which begins to cloud his vision, there will be nothing left of him beside the rage.

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For Etho, it’s fire of course. It’s always haunted his steps in these games, and it’s only natural that it continues to do so. They all knew that their time was running out from the very first second, but no one else seemed to feel it the way that Etho did. Even at the start he couldn’t stay still too long lest the heat got too intense, and he tried to stay close to the team he’d found in the hopes that the babble of their voices would drown out the crackling of the flames. At least in the Nether he could pretend the heat was natural (and if he flinched at the sound of the popping lava at least no one noticed), but as the hours slipped by it got harder to ignore.

The warm tropical water of this place could do nothing to cool the fire which seemed to creep up his veins, and sometimes he found himself wishing for the familiar press of cold snow walls against his back, if only to give himself a moment of comfort. As green slipped into yellow what was once an uncomfortable heat across the back of his neck, would become a constant burning that was far too familiar. Even through the mask, every gasp would become like breathing in smoke. The pink light of a sunrise on the waves would appear, just for a moment, like a flaming inferno reaching towards him. He could hardly bear to enter the forest when every other tree seemed to burst into fire as he passed by it. He’d learnt the hard way that when the flames began, they would only spread, and with each passing minute they would only burn hotter. He could run from it all he liked, but when the timer got low, he knew that everything would burn.

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For Bdubs, it’s a clock. This comes as a surprise to no one, and he happily shows it off to anyone who’ll listen. It’s little more ornate than the one he usually carries, the gold bright and polished with delicate creeping vines and fragile flowers engraved around its edges, but this too is no surprise. The clock had always been a gift to buy his loyalty after all, and his loyalty is a beautiful thing. He soon realises that a clock is all the others see, however. Just a clock, with no strings attached.

As his time begins to tick, it is only Bdubs who sees the blood. The stains which begin to mar its edges as time runs down, the scrapes and dents and scratches. It continues to tick despite the damage, each movement bringing him a little closer to death. He finds himself holding it even closer than he normally would, almost hypnotised by its steady and relentless movements. He can’t wipe away the blood, can’t fix the damage that his love and betrayals have done but at least he can track the passage of his time and know how much he has left to devote to another. When his name is green, and even as hours pass and it turns yellow, he will give whatever he can, but he knows that one day that clock will shatter. When the hour gets late, he will do as he always has. His loyalty is a beautiful thing but just as fragile as a delicate clock face and when the clock stops ticking, he will be alone. He knows time better than anyone but now it’s not on his side, and he knows from bitter experience that loyalty alone will not save him.

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Joel doesn’t care what his is. He’s never been in these games to win, not really, and if anything he’s just waiting for his timer to get low enough that he can shed these false pretences. He makes alliances, builds bases, pretends to be civil, but he knows that it won’t last. He’s only here to fight, to kill, to feel the thrill of the hunt once more. The first time he went to grab his shovel and looked down to find a sword in his hand instead, it was almost funny. As the time passed, and it happened over and over again, however, he began to get an idea of just how his minutes were being measured.

After a few hours it became a challenge to swing his axe into the trees, to not take a few steps over and swing it right into his teammates’ unsuspecting backs instead. As time wore on it only got worse. In every passing moment he saw opportunities to kill, and something deep within him ached to see so many chances not taken. With the descent into yellow he gained some freedom at least, finally had the ability to strike back, to sate the biting hunger inside him. But as the time continued to tick it would never be enough, each kill would only hold it back for a time and even as his own death drew closer he would have no choice but to hunt for one more kill.

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For Martyn, it’s eyes. At the start, it’s more a creeping feeling of being watched than anything else, but at least he can blame that on the general feelings of paranoia which accompany these games every time. But as his time gets lower, with each minute taking him closer to yellow, it gets worse. Peering eyes become leaves or clouds or simply nothing at all when he turns to look at them properly, but he knows what he saw, and these days his own eyes are the only ones he can trust. He’s played many parts over these games: the loyal hand, the ally in the shadows, the spurned soulmate, but through every life they have watched and as time ticks lower, they stop even attempting to hide it.

Eyes watch him from the darkness of each restless night, and his every day is haunted by the peering eyes of figures he can’t quite make out. He still struggles against his fate, pointless though it might be, but soon even the eyes of his allies flash purple as he passes them by and he knows that everything he’s doing is only entertaining them more. When the sky itself seems to blink at him he feels his time running out fast, knows that the show is almost over. He could kill, draw their gaze away from himself a time as they go instead to watch the suffering of another, but they will always return. When his time runs out, he knows he will be surrounded by eyes uncountable, and he will have no choice but to perform.

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For Cleo, it’s flowers, and the rot which inevitably destroys them. For the first few hours they bloom wherever she goes, blossoms of blue and orange which follow in her footsteps. They find them creeping through the cracks in the makeshift base they’ve created, leaves and vines finding any gaps in the foundations and pushing inside. As their hours decrease, the flowers only increase in number. Trees seem to come into blossom as she passes, and if she spends too long in one place it becomes a riot of multicolour petals. She knows these games though, and from what she’s seen there are only two constants: decay and death. Alliances rot, leaving behind only hurt and thoughts of revenge, but even those teams which stand the test of time will eventually crumble as death claims them. There is no escaping the slow and steady passage of time.

As their name turns yellow, so too do the flowers which follow them, a sickly yellow which spreads across each petal. A creeping rot which withers the vines and eats away at everything it touches now follows her. Within just a few hours the flowers which still manage to grow in their path crumble like ash at even the softest touch, and instead of the colours, in her wake she leaves only grey decay. Time slips through her fingertips, life turns to death, and it is no longer only the flowers they created that decay away, but the entire world. Now the trees are brittle beneath their hands, a dark rot pressing up from beneath the bark, and when they stand still the ground rots away beneath their feet. By the end she is as grey as the dead world in which she finds herself, only her heart still beating a bright vibrant red. But whilst all else has decayed away, they still stand strong, and will continue to do so until the final hour.

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For BigB, it’s the shadows. The days are bright in this world, and it’s certainly warmer than any of the other times they’ve played these games, but even from the first day he can’t shake the feeling that it’s not quite as bright as it should be. Beneath the thick cover of the dark oak forest the dappled sunlight hardly seemed to reach him, and even out in the open fields there are shadows where there shouldn’t be. In another life he would have welcomed them, the shade providing cover for clandestine meetings and secret soulmates, but here it’s like the shadows are beckoning him and he doesn’t want to know what would happen if he listened to their call. If anything, the night is a relief, at least then he can convince himself that the darkness is natural, but each dawn the sun rises, his time ticks lower, and the shadows get a little darker.

As the hours pass, he realises that it’s not just in his imagination. Not only are the shadows deeper and blacker than they should be, they really are reaching out towards him, trying to pull him into their void. It doesn’t matter where the sun is, the shadows always lean his way and even down in the caves torches are no longer enough to banish the darkness. He knows his time is really running out when they begin to move. Shadows begin to writhe along the ground, cutting through the light like ink as they try to reach him. There’s nowhere left to run where they will not find him, and with the final minutes passing him by, he hasn’t got the time to left to search for another solution. It’s a familiar feeling, killing out of desperation to save his own life, but it’s a decision he’s made before and will make again if it buys him another few minutes in the light.

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For Impulse, it’s a pocket watch. He’s almost insulted when he first sees it. At first glance it’s a little too similar to a golden clock, glinting in the sunlight as he’s betrayed yet again, but as he inspects it again he realises that the similarities are only superficial. The face is beautiful in its own right, a delicate design of brass and a soft ticking noise which accompanies each movement of the second hand, but he’s more interested in what lies beneath it. When he finally manages to get some time alone and unscrew the back, however, the redstone inside is like nothing he’s ever seen, and even with his impressive talents, he can’t make heads nor tails of the miniature moving pieces. He spends some time fiddling with it, trying to understand the inner workings and figure out a way to quietly wind it back every now and then to give himself a little extra time, but whatever he does, the minute hand continues to move steadily forward.

For a while he thinks that’s the end of it, a complex little pocket watch that he always keeps close at hand, but as the time begins to pass, he realises that the ticking he can hear doesn’t originate from that at all and it’s only getting louder. It comes from all around him, the ticking of a life slowly running out, and soon it's impossible to ignore. With each tick, all he can think about is everything he has left to do: the allies he will leave behind, the plans left unfinished, the old enemies who still walk unpunished. He can’t die yet, but still the seconds pass him by. As the pocket watch he can hardly bear to put down draws closer and closer to its final chime, the ticking in his ears sounds more and more like a heartbeat, drowning out all else. It’s never been clearer to him that his time is limited, but he has never been one to leave things unfinished, and there are still things that must be done before the end.

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For Skizz, it’s only being able to watch as he is quietly and slowly abandoned. It’s something which has become all too familiar to him through these games. An army behind him, standing back and watching him charge in alone. A team he created, led, and then died for refusing to help him. But he was nothing if not an optimist, and at the start it was easy to convince himself that this time it would be different. As his friends gathered around him, announcing themselves his bodyguards, and promising to protect him he couldn’t help but laugh along, and even as he died again and again, he didn’t blame them. Their good intentions didn’t last long though, the good things never did in these worlds.

As his first few hours were stolen, he could see their attentions slipping away from him, leaving him unguarded once again. They weren’t doing it on purpose, he was sure, but as his time got lower it was like all memory of the alliances they’d once had begun to slip away. Even by the time his yellow life began, it was like the friendships he’d tried so hard to maintain were eroding, and he could only watch from the sidelines as the others fought to protect one another. He had never betrayed, had always given everything he could to his team, yet this was apparently his reward. Left behind by the very people who’d once promised to save him, his hours run down faster and faster. Then he really is alone, the others apparently forgetting that they’d ever been allied at all. Abandoned and afraid, he realises that there’s no one else he can rely on.

[puddleorganism]

Just realized I haven’t posted art in a while OOPS enjoy some fanart

I was possessed by the idea of tiny canary harpy Jimmy and promptly doodled and entire sketch page of him. This was the sketch I liked the best so I finished it! If people are interested I might finish up more of them

[Image ID: a digital illustration of Jimmy/SolidarityGaming and Tango/Tango Tek from the HermitCraft Empires crossover. Tango is dressed in a dark blue fur-lined robe and Shelby’s massive mossy witch hat. The brim of the hat dips down so half of Tango’s face is hidden, but you can see he’s smiling anyway. Jimmy is standing on the brim of the hat, small enough to fit in Tango’s palm. He’s covered in caramel-gold feathers with little bird wings tucked over his back and long tail feathers sticking straight up comically. He’s bent over so even though he’s standing on the top of the hat, his head is flipped upside-down and he’s looking at Tango’s face. In Tango’s hand there is a teeny tiny little cowboy hat, which Jimmy had dropped and Tango’s now holding up to him. End ID]

[mayvora]

Tango Tek!! I was possessed by fire. Its fun to draw. Lol. Anyways I'm not rly an artist so just take it as a silly thing :D

[amethystfairy1]

So I have a blazeborn OC from TTSBC and I have a few questions relating to their culture and stuff

Is the general bead meaning (Like colors, shapes, and knots) translated across all the pyres?

Are the pyres chill with each other or are they kinda territorial?

Do you have any set pyre names other than Tek, and if not, can they be kinda whatever?

Do they all have yellow skin? My OC has more orangey skin and I rlly don't want it to be inaccurate

Thanks! I wanna write some small stories of my OCs and so far we haven't seen too much on the blazeborn culture and traditions yet. Also I REALLY don't want to write and then suddenly a new chapter proves I'm wrong :(

ooooo OC!? That's so cool!!!

I'd be happy to answer!

Mostly the same, yes, except for the symbol at the center! For the Teks is literally Tango's channel logo 😆 But it would be their pyre symbol!

Depends on the pyre. The Teks are pretty chill because they're in the near-surface, where they kind of expect to mingle more often, but they are still relatively insulated and still pretty territorial and possessive.

I don't have any other specific pyre names set, but if I do ever have to come up with them I'd try to pick ones that are one-syllable like Tek. So maybe Sen or Ur or things like that!

They can totally have different shades of skin as long as they are along the orange-yellow spectrum! So orangey skin would totally work!

If you ever write anything and feel like posting or sharing pls do @ me or let me know! I'd absolutely love to read it!!!

[aquaquadrant]

aqua. aqua the. the chapter. aqua. ohooohm my gosh. th. if. if he cant have. the sun. he'll learn to love his shadow. ohhhhm y gosh. i i wasnt expecting a chapter for. like. forever, literally began to cry as i saw that there was a new chapter outta nowhere!!!!?!?!?!!??!!???!!!!! i am deranged. also. also etho loves. he loves the jungle. his. his favorite biome is the jungle. his favorite biome is the jungle it's one singular passing line but my attention has fixed onto it. h. he lov,es th,,e jungle,,,, its!! pathbubs crumbs!!!! i miss them!!! once again you've absolutely outdone yourself <3

ahem, back to normal- first off, i was wondering if you had any plans to implement angst regarding timmy finding out that bravo thinks of him as like, the second-best version of him? because while 'if he cant have the sun, he'll learn to love its shadow' could be quite sweet its also heeeeelllllllla toxic on bravos part. for timmy to find out that bravo thinks he's jimmy's lesser version and that he's only helping him/being friends with him/having a relationship with him because bravo couldn't have jimmy and is settling would be an Absolute punch to the gut... i mean timmy already has enough misery and trauma looming over him about to strike (please let my boy be okay in the end <3 i am... very worried. if jimmy is my son then timmy is my favorite traumatized nephew whomst i will shower with gifts and candy) but y'know,, just somethin to think about :)

oh! Also! you already have so many tasty parallels in htp (seriously, i am unhinged, as to say i am No Longer Connected To The Door Frame), but at the point where jimmy and tango were being restrained and jimmy mentioned almost choking on blood and then that he should've killed himself to spawn back at the ranch, i was totally thinking you'd parallel how tango escaped hels tek with jimmy choking on the blood,,,,,, then again, maybe the parallel went unfilled because jim's in a much more hopeful situation than tango was- a bunch of lethal and very pissed friends to defend him, nice home, etc.. yeah. And one more thing: kudos and applause and hip hip hoorays that you didn't choose to implement misunderstandings and have Jimmy even once doubt Tango or stop fighting for him. I for one have had quite enough of misunderstandings just for the sake of drama, and although tango's not the best at communicating, he's got unresolved trauma, and jimmy, thank the stars, does not jump to conclusions and instead trusts Tango and waits until more information is revealed. thank you so, so much for that. we love healthy relationships here <3 (*looks at bravo and timmy*)

Amazing writing as always, hope my deranged ramblings were at least clear to read, and i hope you have a stellar day! 💫✨⭐️

SAAAAALT THANK U i’m so glad u enjoyed it. the fact that etho’s favorite biome is the jungle is my favorite fun fact abt him bc then bdubs went and got all jungle-possessed in s5 and it just works SO well together :3

oh don’t you worry about the upcoming timmy angst. there will be Plenty. it will get worse before it gets better.

PARALLELS. YES. i’m always looking for opportunities to throw those in and it’s nice when they get picked up on.

and YEAH see i felt like if some total stranger showed up and accused tango of all these horrible things, it wouldn’t make sense for jimmy to believe him? and especially not the hermits, who’ve known tango for nearly ten years at this point. so really, the only one taking bravo’s words to heart is tango. he might not have been very mentally present but you best believe he heard every word :)

[fountainpenguin]

🥀 Sour Petals AU 🥀

A modern Hermit-Traffic AU with a little Hanahaki disease (as a treat)

Hermitcraft & 3rd Life SMP Series

More MCYT AUs

#ridwork guides

What Is This AU?

Mining? Crafting? Those days are far behind us, stripped away with the ores of a picked-over land. Today's generation would probably tear up before they terraform.

Living in the modern world isn't a cakewalk for anyone, and everybody's got problems under the hood. So when Lord Tek unveils a gauntlet full of challenges, grand prize being the right to possess both his prize ravager herd and the key to a fixer-upper castle, how could anyone refuse?

Get your Decked Out 2 on... I mean, anything's better than sticking around here.

AO3 Series

Blog tag - #Sour Petals AU

#ScarletPenguin for rating

Tone

A deep-dive into the highs and lows of messy relationships. The first (currently only) work in this series is rated M for language, themes, and implied sexual content. Other pieces will likely follow suit.

Drama and intrigue mixed with fluff, romance, a dash of passion, and a little angst. Everybody's got issues here, but Decked Out 2 will fix all that, right? ... We just can't all win.

Also a unique and serious exploration of a world where Hanahaki disease has its roots deep in local culture. Shout-out to good communication skills, gently letting people down, and saying "No" to anyone who tries to pressure you into something you don't want.

Figuring yourself out without putting that on someone else, my beloved...

Characters

Divorce quartet!

Clockers!

Tango and Mrs. T!

Mother Spore! ... I think he used to have another name

Hermitcraft ensemble! ... More details to come!

Ships

- Martyn/Cleo - Married in their late 20s and divorced a few years later when they allegedly caught Hanahaki disease for each other the same night. Which is, quite simply, Not A Thing.

Neither's quite nailed down what happened- Only that they fell apart. Now Martyn runs a flower shop and sells dye on the side. And Cleo? ... Those days are over. She's moved on. And if she hasn't, then you saw nothing.

-> NOTE - During their wedding, Martyn and Cleo bound their souls so they respawn together.

- Etho/Cleo - Let's hear it for the Clockers! After leaving Martyn, Cleo takes a couple years for themself before asking Etho out. Things... might've gotten out of hand.

- Scott & Pearl - Cohabiting before the alleged Nether Cheaters drama. Details unclear. I heard they were happy once?

Background couples we'll likely delve into later:

Ren/Doc (Married)

Tango/Mrs. T (Married)

Martyn/Mumbo (Briefly married, later separated)

Grian/Mumbo (... I'm not sure, but they have a kid)

Setting

A modern Hermitcraft landscape that leans into Season 6 and its themed regions, but with other seasons sprinkled in. A few Life Series locations are there too.

Martyn and his best friend Ren built the summer camp of Dogwarts from the ground up. Everything went south (or... north?) the moment they invited Cleo to give a presentation on wildlife.

Married couple Cleo and Martyn lived in Aqua Town before they split. She moved out to Cogsborough to study vex at Deep Frost Citadel. Next stop? An internship at Impulse's phantom sanctuary...

Is It For Me?

- Takes inspiration from canon, but definitely an AU. Features a blended setting and a thoughtful interpretation on how this world and its culture affects story events and character personalities

- Rating (M works; potential E)

- Large focus on divorce quartet (The good and the bad)

- Sex life and kink exploration

- Clocker pregnancy arc

- Chronic illness, disability, and ableism (Mostly themed around Hanahaki disease)

- Parental conflicts (Frustration, judgment)

- Occasional obscure references to Hermitcraft or Life Series. Shout-out to Ren's Stax-4-Stax tavern from Season 6!

- Work in progress! I'm making this up mostly as I go along. Feel free to leave comments and chat ideas with me!

Major Themes

Love, friendship, communication, consent, identity, self-exploration, risk-taking, putting your unique strengths to the test.

Plot Highlights

- Ren and Martyn run Camp Dogwarts every summer.

- Martyn runs a flower shop whose products shift depending on the divorced couple's affection for each other that day (or lack thereof).

- Decked Out 2! And you're invited!

- Cleo's stupid good at taxidermy.

- Team B.E.S.T. & T.I.E.S doing their thing. Bdubs works at a chocolate shop and Impulse runs a phantom sanctuary.

- Mycelium Resistance / Mother Spore arc. Wait a sec... mushrooms aren't a flower... Is this a new Hanahaki strain?

- Pre-Cleo, Etho adopts a kitten named Jellie. Later, with a son on the way, he needs to make a decision on whether she'll be safe around little Scar.

Ongoing?

This series debuted in the Hermitcraft Guess the Author event of 2024. It's ongoing with unscheduled updates. The only schedule we believe in here is whether the vibes are right.

I've greatly enjoyed it thus far.

Warnings, notes, and explanations below so readers can learn more about this AU. Don't like? Don't read.

👀 Take a Peek

New here? You might like to start with these:

There's only one work in this series so far!

Start Reading

Recommended ways to get into the full AU

🌄 First Written - Top 10 Hanahaki Life Hacks (#8 Will Shock You)

Martyn coughs up flowers for years after the divorce, making bank as a florist, dye salesman, painter... anything he can put his on-and-off Hanahaki disease to use for. Cleo just wants to move on.

A Cleo-centric multi-chapter that shifts between past and present as Cleo blends her summer fling with Etho with flashbacks of married life with Martyn.

What they had may have been messy, but it was theirs.

📅 Chronological Start - TBA

🗺️ Worldbuilding

Modern AU with limited mining and crafting, but hints of Minecraft mechanics in the tech. No inventory or magic in this one; going for realism.

We've got cars, grocery stores, corner stores, and subways.

Hanahaki disease is expected at some point in your life. Whether you work through it or call it quits is up to you.

Hanahaki is a chronic illness, but rarely terminal. It impacts your breathing and movement. People cough up petals, stems, and whole flowers (No blood, though)

Fairly realistic and non-magical mob biology. Ex: Endermen don't teleport, but they're boneless. I don't often portray tall, long-armed, solid-colored franchise creatures with funky eyes as nocturnal land squids, but it's weird it happened twice.

In line with Hanahaki themes, people in this world have an unusual connection with souls and love. Some people even link their souls during special ceremonies; Martyn and Cleo did this for their wedding. In this AU, such soulmates don't share pain, but they respawn at the same time.

-> For those unfamiliar, in Double Life SMP, Martyn and Cleo were randomly rolled soulmates, but lived separately.

Work in progress! :)

📋 AU Notes & Warnings

The first (currently only) work in this series is rated M for language, themes, and implied sexual content. Other pieces will likely follow suit or take it farther. Thus far, we've had:

Married life flashbacks

Kink exploration

Awkward condom shopping (I would have two nickels...)

Working through wavering feelings of attraction

Suspected cheating (Divorce quartet drama)

Chronic illness (Hanahaki disease slowly overtaking you or your loved ones)

Death (It's Minecraft. World has respawn, though it's implied some people have reached the end of their respawn abilities; the ability grows weaker as you age or if you have to drain lots of energy to recover from a particularly nasty death. Young characters will respawn)

This AU also touches on topics like Clocker pregnancy and Etho's wobbly feelings about being a dad.

We're mirroring Limited Life canon where Cleo claims he shot off while Etho claims she kicked him out.

- More MCYT AUs

- Want more info? Send an Ask!

You can create works based on this AU. Please cite me and/or the AU as appropriate (i.e. for things very specific to this AU). You are free to expand on ideas you've thought of thanks to my AU as a jumping off point. I'd love to reblog or link things to my AO3 works if I see them!

I write content with morally gray characters. Please don't portray my story events or worldbuilding out of context with intentional malice. As in, I request you do not post things created for the specific intention of bashing me or the AU

[prismadog]

some basic information for the players in my evo server prison au.

the way this is set up is:

Name - race: [zombie, human, elf, listener, etc] [x / x means hybrid] [??? means unknown] [tbd means to be determined] - conditions: [where they were before the Watchers transferred them to the Evo server]

some information I don't know yet because I either need to do a little research or I just haven't decided on it. for the conditions part - most everyone was added to the Evo server by the Watchers, but the Listeners / Jimmy have added at least one player (Scott).

some indented sections may have multiple names due to them being in the server already (aka original evo server players) or being brought in together (imp & skizz)

Original Evo server Players Grian - race: elf (because of his link skin in the beginning of evo) Jimmy Solidarity - race: Listener (previously human) Martyn IntheLittleWood - race: druid Pearlescent Moon - race: demigod? (child of the moon) BigB - race: ??? / tbd

Etho Slab - race: ??? / tbd - conditions: taken from his hardcore survival world

Cleo - race: zombie (previously human) - conditions: idk

Scar - race: human / vex - conditions: taken from the Hermitcraft server (early season 6)

Bdubs - race: human? / possessed by a demon (shadowdubs) - conditions: taken from Hermitcraft season 5 (tbd if by the Watchers or by the Listeners / Jimmy)

Impulse - race: demon - conditions: taken from the naked & scared server with Skizzleman Skizzleman - race: angel - conditions: taken from the naked & scared server with Impulse [note: both were dropped into the evo server in their underwear] [note: between seasons 12-13 of naked & scared]

Joel Smallishbeans - race: human / tbd - conditions: taken from his private world where he lived with Lizzie and their dog

Tango Tek - race: human / blazeborne - conditions: taken from the Hermitcraft server (late season 6 - early season 7)

Scott Smajor - race: starborne - conditions: he was a relatively small mass of stars floating around in space when Jimmy found him and brought him to the evo server

Rendog - race: human / canine - conditions: tbd

Mumbo Jumbo - race: human? - conditions: taken from his redstone testing world

Lizzie (ld)Shadowlady race: human / fae conditions: taken from the same private world that Joel lived in before he was taken from her

[ahautism]

assuming u probably already got martyn for that ask game sooooooo tango tek

i did not actually but tango of the tek variety it is :]

First impression - i think it must have been the kill tango competition in s6? i dont remember what i thought abt it though

Impression now - his silly noises and death games have captivated me. what the fuck is wrong with him.

Favorite moment - any time he and etho built and played games together in s7 is so important to me

Idea for a story - the inherent intimacy of asking someone to be the first to play your new game before its polished and complete and while its still messy and a work in progress (tangtho s7. im insane in them)

Unpopular opinion - stop drawing him as a twink wheres the flavor wheres the body hair

Favorite headcanon - possessed by/in a weird mutually parasitic relationship with decked out. hes one with that building at this point

Favorite relationship - tangtho tangtho tangtho!!! testing each others Games That Kill You can be a love language

[itstaisstuff]

Important note: All of this is pre-arc 3 theory crafting, we are a chapter behind at the point I am writing this. Also another note, idk how to fucking word anything here so

But basically Red Army Skizz. The probably possessed lad. That guy? Yeah, him. Wtf did he do and where tf did he go?

With Tango's Red Army related panic attacks, Bdubs saying Tango couldn't go back for someone despite trying (I think? I hope I remember that well), the nightmare of a blue room/hallway. Also adding the photos where someone is missing, it starts to add up a bit

Long story sorry: Author of if - then - else I swear to god if you hurt my boy

(also fun fact: we forgot Etho was part of the Red Army in 3rd Life when we started reading)

- Tek

This ↑↑↑↑↑

Yeah. Etho definitely has something to do with Red Army and im pretty sure he is the most aware of whatever is happening(excluding Martyn ofc) and thinking about Etho and Skizz connection i just. I hope there is something with them both being in Red Army in the past and Etho trying to talk Skizz out of this or something like this.

[carry-on-my-wayward-gays]

I posted 21,812 times in 2022

That's 15,532 more posts than 2021!

235 posts created (1%)

21,577 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@spongebobssquarepants

@rabbitindisguise

@oakskull

@mustachiomadness

@darkestday828

I tagged 1,434 of my posts in 2022

#shadow says a thing - 179 posts

#jimmy solidarity - 47 posts

#solidaritygaming - 42 posts

#empires smp - 40 posts

#should i make an answer tag? - 35 posts

#tangotek - 33 posts

#team rancher - 32 posts

#shadow likes this thing - 31 posts

#nicholaspwildeblog - 28 posts

#tango tek - 26 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#carcar‚ carley marie‚ little gremlin‚ tiny baby‚ baby girly‚ da baebaes‚ precious little girl‚ my sweetness‚ lil old lady‚ my babushka

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Imagine, if you will, fWhip getting inside Tango's head about Jimmy. "He's a corrupt Sheriff. Don't waste your time with him, he'll just cast you aside when he's done with you." And it all makes Tango's skin crawl. Just the way fWhip says it, it makes Jimmy sound like a heartless monster.

And Tango knows he isn't. He knows Jimmy is warmer than the sun and just as bright. His heart is pure solid gold and he deeply cares for everyone he knows, whether he admits it or not. Jimmy doesn't have a single bone of hate in his body.

But it still keeps Tango up at night. As he listens to the sculk whisper and the dripstone drip and the rails creak he can't help but think of the possibility that maybe Jimmy changed after Double Life. Maybe he is as fWhip describes.

So Tango sneaks away. He goes to Tumble Town late at night and is surprised to find his rancher still awake, though nearly falling asleep in the pews of his church.

"Hey," Tango says softly and fondly. The giant grin that takes over his face is purely involuntary. Jimmy is here, in front of him again. He could touch him, look at him, talk to him. He was elated to have Jimmy again.

Jimmy startles awake. He blinks sleepily at Tango and rubs his eyes, returning the same huge grin. "Hey you. What're you doing here?" Jimmy asks, standing up out of respect.

Tango's face falls. fWhip's voice rattles in his mind, echoing lies from the hurt heart of a bitter ex. And Tango feels gross and far too possessive admitting to himself that fWhip and Jimmy definitely had a fling of sorts.

"I uh, wanted to talk to you. Ask you something, really." Tango fidgets with the sleeves of his cloak. He likes the feeling of the embroidery running under the pad of his thumb.

"Oh? Ask away, I'm all ears." Jimmy gestures toward Tango. His brown eyes are still sparkling even with such a tense topic, even in such dim lighting.

"Um, it- So... fWhip has been.. saying some not so nice stuff on your behalf." Tango looks around, anywhere but Jimmy.

"Oh Gods," Jimmy groans, hiding his face in his hands and slumping back into the pew. "Listen, Tango-"

"It's not like I believe him! I don't I honestly do not!" Tango cuts to defend himself. He doesn't. He only works for fWhip and sleeps in his cave it's not like he's all buddy-buddy with the goblin. "I just want your side of the story."

"He violated my trust." Jimmy growls defensively. "He disrespected me and the Law. Believe me I hated firing him and he can deny anything he wants but the truth is he betrayed me. End of story." Jimmy's face turned sour quickly. Tango takes a step back, feeling sorry(?), guilty(?) for even thinking to bring it up. Obviously this matter was still a tender one.

"I'm sorry," Tango mutters.

Jimmy sighs, taking the hat off his head and placing it in the pew next to him. "No, you're alright. Sorry if I sounded like a dick, it's still a sensitive issue. I'm trying to move on but that's kinda hard when the issue is raking your name through the mud." Jimmy laughs.

Tango walks over and sits in the pew adjacent to Jimmy. "I get it. I just think he got inside my head a little too well." Something snakes up Tango's spine as he watches the way Jimmy reclines back and kicks his dusty boots up on the pew ahead of him.

"Yeah, he seems to have that effect on people." Jimmy mumbles. He turns to look at Tango. "You need to get out of that cave." He jokes.

Tango snorts. "What, already? It's been... a day.." A sudden horrific realization dawns on Tango. It's only been a day and fWhip has wormed his way into Tango's mind. No wonder everyone else is so hellbent on borderline torturing the Sheriff.

"Yeah. Being in the caves warps your sense of time." Jimmy grunts as he stands up, picking up his hat. "Why don't you come over tomorrow. We can build something, have an adventure. Ya know, ranch it up."

"Sounds lovely." It sounds like a dream come true. It sounds like everything Tango has ever wanted. It sounds like coming home.

"Great. I'll be here all day. Drop by whenever." Jimmy pats his hat onto his head and starts going for the door.

Tango watches him leave, takes in his figure and the way he walks. He watches the tassels that swag from Jimmy's outfit, watching the spurs on his boots spin and jingle. It's Jimmy. The same Jimmy he's known and loved. The only thing that's changed is costume. But Tango has also changed in that department, so he can't speak.

"I'll see you in the morning, Tango." Jimmy winks and walks out the door, leaving it open behind him. Tango was going to leave right after, so it was fine.

And Tango holds onto that wink, that smile, and the tip of that hat before Jimmy disappears into the night. He holds onto it all the trip back to Gobland, where he leaves it at the front door to pick back up in the morning on his way out.

686 notes - Posted October 27, 2022

#4

Can you. I mean. I'm thinking so hard about Tango finding Jimmy as or, Hell, even witnessing him turn into a toy.

Like Tango certainly did not leave Jimmy a toy in Double Life. He's never seen Jimmy be a toy in the past and for a few years the man was action figure material with his Captain America cosplay.

Tango assumes it's part of this season. Maybe it's for his persona. The bedroom walls around Tumble Town and the allay named "Buzz" are supporting evidence. But then he hears the taunting way everyone calls him a toy. It's derogatory, demeaning, an insult. He hears Jimmy's wails that he is not a toy, to stop treating him like a toy.

And Tango sees a pant leg tighter and stitch into Jimmy's skin. The Sheriff winces and stumbles for a second. Tango expects to feel the pain in his own leg but there's nothing - and he remembers they aren't in Double Life anymore.

When Tango stays the night at the new ranch for the first time, he invites Jimmy up with him. And the Sheriff agrees, happily following Tango in and sitting on the bed with the hermit.

They end up cuddling - somewhat. Tango is leaning into Jimmy's side and playing with the blond's plastic fingers. They've got joints that move stiffly to simulate knuckles but that's it. The whole limb up to the shoulder is cold hard plastic.

"When did this happen?" Tango asks, tapping Jimmy's palm to signify what he was asking about.

Jimmy hums and looks down. "Oh. That..." Jimmy mumbles. He leans his cheek against the crown of Tango's head and sighs. He can't feel the bite of the ice hair as his skin is now plastic. "It's new. Um... started a few months ago. At first it was just my hair."

Jimmy takes his hat off to show a full head of dirty blond yarn. Tango's eyes widen with horror. His rancher's once beautiful and soft hair was now scratchy yarn.

Jimmy puts his hat back on and pats it into place. "But uh, now it's spread to my whole body. Obviously. My leg is the newest change." Jimmy kicks out his leg, which just looks like stitched up denim filled with stuffing in the shape of a leg.

"How?" Tango whispers. He laces his fingers with Jimmy's and squeezes. He doesn't know if Jimmy can feel it.

"Oh you know. Gods make rules and humans helplessly follow them." Jimmy says bitterly.

Tango cranes his neck so he's looking up at Jimmy now. "I don't understand?"

Jimmy shakes his head. "Joel started it. He just wanted something to make fun of me for, and unfortunately this time it was because I reminded him of some toy cowboy. The changes didn't start until other people started ganging up on me. First it was the hair, then my skin, so on and so forth."

Tango is still for a while. He's horrified, angry, grieving for his soulmate. He wants to- to- to do something to Joel! Get revenge. Make him feel the same pain.

For a second Tango wonders how attached the god is to the child seen flying around Stratos, or the Spanish speaking man in the bamboo forest.

Jimmy kisses Tango's head, snapping the dungeon master back from his head.

"Don't you dare think about it." Jimmy warns.

Tango snorts. "How'd you know what I was thinking about?"

"I just do. You're my soulmate after all." Jimmy says warmly.

Tango laughs softly, squeezing Jimmy's hand again. His face falls when he feels hard plastic under his touch and not a gentle, calloused hand.

"Can you feel? Like, anything?" Tango asks bluntly.

Jimmy purses his lips. "No. Nothing besides my body changing."

"I'm sorry." Tango murmurs.

"Hey it's not your fault. You didn't know, and I highly doubt you could've stopped this, sunshine." Jimmy reassures, squeezing Tango's hand back.

"Still. It- It's awful. It's not right. You're a human being, Jimmy. You..." Tango trails off. Tears prick at his eyes and he blinks them back.

He ends up sighing. "I can kick his ass if you want." Tango smiles.

And Jimmy barks a laugh, quickly devolving into giggling and snickering.

"No. I can kick ass myself just fine."

979 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

#3

Sometimes Ghost wakes up without Soap in his arms. It shouldn't be something to panic over but with what they do for a living - and when Ghost definitely remembers falling asleep with Soap next to him - it freaks him out a little bit.

Of course Soap is always fine. He can take care of himself. But still Ghost gets out of bed and goes searching for its partner.

Usually he finds Soap in the bathroom or getting something to drink or coming in from outside after hearing a noise and just wanting to be safe.

"There you are," Ghost will huff sleepily. It digs the heels of its hands in its eyes and rubs away sleep.

Soap will roll his eyes and finish up whatever he was doing when Ghost found him. "I'm a big boy, ya know. I can take care of myself." It's always delivered lightly, and Soap always goes and engulfs Ghost in a reassuring hug.

"I'm well aware." Ghost wraps his arms around Soap and rests his cheek on top of his head.

"Promise I'll stop scarin' ya." Soap mumbles into Ghost's chest. Ghost leans against a wall and pulls Soap with it.

"I don't think you will." Ghost whispers back.

They'll go back to bed and Ghost will practically wrap his whole body around Soap to make sure he doesn't leave until morning.

They never talk about Ghost's fear of losing Soap while asleep. They never acknowledge what could happen while Ghost was unable to fight back. And they never plan to.

Ghost doesn't get much sleep the rest of the night.

1,201 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

#2

You cannot tell me this isn't the moment Ghost realized how down bad he was

1,236 notes - Posted November 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

"I've misplaced my horn." "No it's ok!"

"No one's going to set fire to this, we're all fine." "No no, that's definitely not happening."

"You haven't been angry since, right?" "No there's no rage just beautiful memories of happiness here."

"The way I look at it, that is my work, this is my homestead. This is where I rest my head." "I like that a lot."

"I thought you were going to be like "I'm out of here"." "No no I can't pass up Rancher love!"

JIMMY NOT GETTING MAD AT TANGO WHEN HE FINDS OUT TANGO IS STAYING AT GOBLAND.

JIMMY TRYING TO COME UP W A COMPROMISE SO THAT TANGO CAN STILL STAY IN TUMBLE TOWN BUT TANGO SHUTTING THAT DOWN BY SAYING HE KEEPS HIS WORK AND HOME SEPARATE.

JIMMY CALLING TANGO "RANCHER" AS HE LEAVES.

JIMMY TELLING TANGO TO MAKE HIMSELF AT HOME AND TANGO IS SAYING THIS ALREADY IS HOME.

THEM.

2,140 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

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[galaxygermdraws]

So. I discovered multiple fics by @mawofthemagnetar (who is. rlly good at writing plz go read their fics im begging you) and. this one got me good. I love creepy hivemind-y possession fics, and anything where Zed is a main character gets me excited, so naturally when I saw that? I was basically in love. So i drew fanart of void possession stuff. I did take some creative liberties, like making the pupils less visible than they should be(since Zed’s pupils were described as a thin purple ring). but yes plz go read this fic i am begging

(reblogs with tags/comments are appreciated. Please go give the author support and love and all that. Their fics are amazing and who knows, may draw more art for them because there are some s c e n e s)

[binibiningdarna]

Tango tek, Lord of Deep Frost

Dude got hit with lady bone demon possession

[tauntlvajy]

My Hermit Academia (MHA) file #1 (QUIRKS)

CLASS 1-A STUDENTS (HERO COURSE) (22):

Hypno T. Ized, quirk: Hypnoparalysis (when he looks at people with his right eye and activates his quirk, he can paralyze said people, same goes for his left eye but with hypnosis, the time limit of these two abilities is currently unknown. if used too much he will get a migrane and in extreme circumstances; start crying blood)

Joe Hills, quirk: Poetic Imagination (he is allowed to create anything his imagination can think of as long as he says it out loud, he has found that talking in poems makes the item stronger, if he overuses his quirk he'll lose his voice)

Cleo Zombie, quirk: Wake the Dead (this allows her to raise the dead but only if she knows the corpses name, side effects include being able to see and communicate with ghosts and becoming the undead yourself)

Xisuma Z. Void, quirk: Commands (in a specific radius, he is allowed to do anything to one person of his choice, going over makes him heavily nauseous, the max he knows he can do is five people before he collapsed and became sick for the next week)

Mumbo Jumbo, quirk: Redstone Control (being able to manipulate redstone only to an extent he thought this quirk was virtually useless before he found out since most artificial items are powered by redstone he can control all of those too, it only works in a certain radius, he can go past but he will faint afterwards)

Etho S. Lab, quirk: Ice Age (he is able to create and manipulate ice to a powerful degree, however consequences include only having moderate control over it, otherwise it's his emotions doing all the work, however he is also partially made of ice therefore cannot handle summer and hot temperatures well)

Vin T. Beef, quirk: Weapon Summon (he can summon swords, axes, pickaxes, shovels and hoes from will but the material they are made of is affected by what he's holding, only a range of materials work, he can summon at most two at a time, he is not sure if he can go over that)

Doc M. 77, quirk: Explode (Being able to create explosions from thin air will come with consequences, he takes damage whenever he explodes something, the amount usually depending on the size of explosions, the normal sized ones that he uses daily barely affects him since he built up a pain tolerance)

False Symmentry, quirk: Combat Copycat (she can copy quirks by touching someone for 5s as long as it's a head-on combat quirk such as Wels' or Doc's quirks, there doesn't seem to be a limit for how many quirks she can copy)

XB Crafted, quirk: Hallucnations (using his imagination he creates hallucinations that affect everyone in a certain radius however this only works if the people are not aware that they are hallucinations)

Iskall Kallium, quirk: Sniper (while he can shoot bullets from his index fingers, his left eye is also a laser scope, damage to the left eye made his aim a little rusty but he can still get most of his shots in)

Jevin Slimirs, quirk: Slimeshifting (his quirk causes him to be made of blue slime which lets him morph into anything however he keeps his slimy skin in all forms, his body can also split into chunks and seperate from each other, he is not limited to any amount or size of chunks)

Stress Monster, quirk: Mother Nature (she is one with the plants, they listen to anything she says and she is also partially made of them however they stop being under her command once their roots seperate from the dirt)

Ren Diggitydog, quirk: Houndshaping (he can turn into any sort of dog/wolf, however including that he's also able to do things no ordinary dog could)

Bdubs DoubleO, quirk: Sleep (he can make any amount of people go to sleep immediately however if he does too many, he will pass out)

Tango Tek, quirk: Helldemon (he is able to turn into a creature resembling a demon with the ability to morph and create fire or lava but if he overuses his quirk he will start overheating and may get heatstroke)

Scar Goodtimes, quirk: Overpowered (this quirk allows him to become 'overpowered' however when he's not using the quirk he is bound to a wheelchair, overuse of this quirk can cause permanant weakness to him so he only uses it in small bursts, just enough to let him be stronger than normal but not enough to cause damage)

Zedaph Plays, quirk: Animorph (he can gain the body parts of any animal he knows about, he cannot replace his head [facial features are replacable] otherwise he will lose his conscience, an accident with his quirk when he was younger caused him to be stuck with ram horns)

Impulse Sive, quirk: Time Management (he can slow down or speed up time however this causes him to have a bad sense for the concept of time due to him unknowingly speeding up/slowing down time when he was younger)

Cub Fan, quirk: Body Hop (he is actually a ghost but no one knows that, he possesses people for an unlimited amount of time and hops from body to body able to override their current conscience and replacing it with himself, he is currently possessing his corpse and does not have a need to eat, sleep, drink or breathe)

Grian Fletcher, quirk: Wing Set (he has 2 sets of wings that he alternates around, they give him different abilities, Elytras, for everyday uses and Watcher Wings that give him the ability to create and manipulate bedrock but as of now very little of it)

Wels Knight, quirk: Body Blades (it allows him to turn his limbs [and possibly other parts of his body] into blades, the size and strength all depend on how much stamina he has)

Keralis, quirk: Luck Flip (whenever he flips a coin and it lands on heads, it means whatever attack he makes will hit, if it lands on tails his attack will be deflected and hit him instead, it’s a 75/25 chance, the 75% being heads but sometimes he can push the boundaries of his quirk and make it 100/0)

TEACHERS (HERO COURSE) (1):

Tin F. Chef (HERO NAME: TinfoilChef), quirk: Wrap 'n' Bake (he can cover people with tinfoil he creates, the foil then starts baking the person alive, usually he doesn't use too much of his quirk in case he properly harms people so he usually only causes small burns to villains, enough for them to get arrested

CLASS H-1 STUDENTS (SUPPORT DEPARTMENT) (2):

Gemini Tay, quirk: Horn Vines (she has deer horns and legs, vines grow from her horns which she can grow and move to her will)

Pearl E. Moon, quirk: Microscope (she can zoom in at large amounts at a time however if she uses her quirk too much her vision will be temporarily impaired)