#weird little hermits rise up

[s1renidae]

"mutuals" this "groupchat" that. where is the love for weird little hermits. where is the appreciation for losers who dont talk to anybody ever

[chaosduckies]

Rising Tides (Chapter 1)

So basically this is just a piece for Mermay. A very late piece, but if you guys like it, I’ll continue it! Honestly, this is very fast paced, and I’m very sorry, but it is STRESSFUL out here.

Word Count: 2.8k

CW: Mentions of Death, A little bit of violence (just getting chased my a shark), that’s pretty much it I think!

1-Nico 

The ocean was a dangerous place. Even for someone who has lived here their entire life. 

Living in the ocean meant knowing how to survive on your own. It meant knowing just how desperate other creatures were to survive. I knew that. I knew just how much of a light snack I was. I knew that I was small. Incapable of being strong or even giving one glare at someone and making them swim away with their tail fins behind their backs. 

Such is the life of a very, very insignificant, mer like myself. 

The little reef I lived in was small, but quaint. My parents love it. I don’t live very far from them. Occasionally I would go over and have dinner with them. Even if I wasn’t hungry. They would ask how my day was, and I would say: “It was good.” we would catch up since the last time we ate, and then they’d ask me if I finally made any friends. I would tell them no. 

Today, really wasn’t a good day. 

My job for the community was to gather kelp. Weird, right? Only some mers eat kelp, like myself. I’m weird. But that’s besides the point! I gather some at least once a week and give it to another person who just delivers it somewhere I don’t even know. I feel like I should probably figure that out, but I’m pretty sure that didn’t really matter- 

Everyone had their own designated job to do for the community. We didn’t have any currency, but the people who lead us told us to do our part, and usually mers are very reluctant to listen so, no one complained. It’s not like I didn’t like my job. Every time I eat I think to myself “Maybe this is the same patch I picked myself-“ Stupid, right? But, everyone has their jobs so they can keep on peacefully living in this community. Though, sometimes it’s not all that great. 

Some mers don’t like each other. When a fight happens, they like solving it civilly so it doesn’t encourage anymore to happen. That’s not it for my case. A lot of people don’t like me. Not because I did something wrong to them. Nonono. I could never hurt a person. Even if I tried. It’s mainly because people outcast people with brightly colored tails. Like mine maybe? They say it’s a liability. That it’ll only get me killed if I’m ever on my own. They’re probably not wrong either. 

Despite my parents having a dark purple colored tail, mine was a bright purple. It’s not good at all for camouflage, it reflects some sunlight when I’m closer to the surface, and it’s just basically like a sign to other mers saying “Hey! I can very easily be killed from a large predator!” And no one wants to be with someone like that. As for the soulmate thing? Despite humans having to find their one true love, mers just have to make a few friends, and if the universe decides that you were meant to be with someone, then there would be a matching tattoo on your wrists after a single contact. Again, weird, right? 

——————

I was swimming off to my small, but humble house hidden inside a huge piece of coral. I don’t even know how I found this place, but I remember loving it because it had a perfect view of the sun above the ocean, and it was far away from most people except for the occasional kid who was just exploring. It was a nice place. I just carried up some sand here made it look nice and decorated with some shells I find while gathering kelp. Turns out you can make a decent home if you really try hard enough. 

There were two shells I had today, a nice light blue one that was probably just a piece of an old clam shell, and a mixture of an orange and yellow one that came from a hermit crab that abandoned its home. I was going to give these to my parents later since they also love seeing the bright colored shells, but they were too scared to travel far from the little village we live in. There are predators out there that would love to snack on a helpless mer, and no one was going out unless they knew they could live on their own or they were hunters getting fish for the others. My parents were none of the above. They preferred the village life. They practically new everyone here and they were both soulmates. And here I am the entire opposite. What a great son I am, right? 

I grabbed a little satchel from my home and started to slowly swim off to my parents. The sun was setting, the water above reflecting a bright orange hue. It was a nice evening. Hasn’t been like this in forever because of all the storms happening above. It’s a wonder how those fishing boats humans have stay afloat when all the waves are just trying to rock them over. Well, maybe it’s because they have some help from other mers or something like that. It wasn’t unheard of. 

The path to my parents’ humble abode was lined with clumped up seaweed and some colorful rocks. Their house was dimly lit, but I knew that they were still awake. My mom was probably making some kind of bag while dad was eating happily in his chair. I swam in. 

“Hey mom.” I mumbled. 

“Nico! Your plate is on the table!” She cheered back at me. She was always happy to see me. Even if I came at least two times a week to visit. I was old enough to take care of myself. Or… at least in the community we live in. 

I looked at the plate on the table, shook my head and swam into the main room where they were doing just as I had imagined. Mom was almost done making a very small bag that she would probably give to one of her friends. I looked through my own bag, grabbing the two small shells I found and placed them on one of the side tables near my dad. 

He inspected them before smiling to himself. I knew he liked them more than my mom did. He said he used to bring buckets back home to his parents and just have a collection to himself. I see why he did. It was fun to find some. Better than sitting around the house all day and not having anything to do. 

I stared at the matching tattoos on both of my parent's wrists, slightly rubbing my own. I knew I wouldn’t find someone who would actually like me. I can’t even picture myself with anyone else. It was the sad, but indisputable truth. And I’ve accepted that fact. 

——————

The next morning, I woke up with my dark hair in my face and streaks of light I shining through some cracks in the little coral cave I lived in. I forced myself up, lazily rubbing my eyes. What should I do today? The question practically begged for an answer. I could just go swim around, but that does’t really sound all that fun if I were being honest. I mean, people would just sit and stare at me all day or do the exact opposite and whisper hurtful comments and rumors about me. Not that I really cared about that though. I said to myself that once I was able to, I would move away from here and just live on my own. 

Today I felt adventurous though.  

I grabbed my little satchel, and headed out, the morning sun still rising above the waters surface. The ocean felt great today. Today just felt like a good day. Something that’s rare to come by when you’re all on your own. 

Where was I swimming out to you may ask? Well, for your information, I was currently heading outside of the community I live in. It’s not like it’s prohibited, but most mers don’t find a need to venture out further when they already knew what was out there. Predators, other mers, food, fish, water. There really wasn’t anything new to find out here when you’re in this ocean. I guess what they really feared were the sharks that were found near the area though. But most don’t even bother with us. Mostly because no small mer like myself is crazy enough to venture out here alone. Yeah, I’m crazy enough. 

To a large shark, I’d probably be like, half it’s size. Most likely shorter. A purple tail is a sign that you’ll be a small mer, but big enough to be on your own. I was the exception though, given that I had a brighter color and was actually the size of like a small human basically. Yes, I was made fun of by some old classmates and sometimes my parents when I was still a pup, yes I know I’m small, and yes I can reach the top shelf on the counter (I mean I can swim so-) 

Swimming along the ocean floor along with the many overgrown plants and small anemones where I saw several clownfish leave to go get whatever is was that they needed. I had found a huge coral reef far into the ocean, there were tons of colorful fish everywhere I had looked. 

I want to say it was maybe an hour long of just roaming and admiring the many colors of the reef I had just found before my eyes drifted off to something big and dark in the distance. I squinted, slightly swimming closer where, for some reason, none of the fish dared to do. 

Filled by my curiosity, I swam towards the large object, wondering what it was. It was a long ways from the reef. It was dark, only seaweed and some kelp patches were the only plants. There were some starfish and snails, some crabs, but that was all the life I could find. It seemed like this part of the deep ocean was pretty much deserted. Strange. 

I kept going, seeing that the object I was looking at looked like those metal ships humans make, except it was wooden and had a bunch of holes. I swam cautiously in, minding that this was a place far away from home and there would basically be no hope in escaping a shark or something if I encountered one. I took a look at my tail, still bright when the waters here were dark and the sun was covered by a layer of seaweed. This would be fine. Nothing was going to find me here… Hopefully. 

The shipwreck didn’t leave much behind. Just some broken pieces of old wood and some old pictures. I doubt there would be anything of worth in here honestly, but I kept on looking, fueling my curiosity. What else was I supposed to do? If I do end up finding something maybe I can show it off to the mers back at home and maybe then they’ll stop ridiculing me and making fun of me for having a bright tail. There is no way I was the only mer in the entire ocean like this! 

There was a room that looked much like an office. Broken pieces of a desk, a little container that once held ink. What I was really intrigued about was the little open chest that revealed a round pice of flattened gold. I grabbed it, studying the rust colored piece of metal. Humans used this as currency once before, right? I’m sure they don’t use whatever these were anymore. Or if whatever I was holding was even a kind of currency. It just seemed like something a human would use. 

I stuffed the gold piece in my bag and continued looking. At least until I saw a large shadow swim fast in the corner of my eye. I kept my arms close to my chest, keeping my breathing controlled before I overreacted. It was probably just a big fish… yeah. Just a really, really big fish that can swim amazingly fast. 

I saw the same shadow swim by again, but this time it bumped into something, making me let out a little surprise yelp. I immediately clasped my hands over my mouth, hearing another thunk! Before I saw the full shadow of whatever the hell was outside. It was a shark. A huge shark. And it looked hungry. 

My hands were shaky, I couldn’t move. I wasn’t going to die, right? I didn’t actually think something like this would happen! I thought those were just rare occurrences that people were making rumors about. Was I actually going to die? No. There has to be some way out of this. 

Looking around, I found a small little crack I could probably fit in if I really tried. I swam slowly closer to it, noting that the thunks outside were getting closer. Please let me get out of here alive… I kept telling myself as I hurried to fit myself in the tiny crack. As soon as I was out, something fast was coming my way, and I was swimming just as fast to get away. 

It was hard to swim when you were in a life or death situation. I never realized that until now. I stole a glance behind me, letting out a weak yelp when I saw the sharks mouth open wide. Great. It seemed like I could fit perfectly in that thing. Imagine being killed by those sharp teeth- No don’t think about that. Not right now at least. 

The water around me only grew darker as we headed deeper into the ocean. There were some small caves, but I didn’t want to really trap myself in there. I had no idea why this shark was so desperate in the first place. It was so much bigger than a regular shark, couldn’t it find something else to eat other than a mer? Like a big fish or something? 

Eventually I realized why the shark seemed so interested in me. They like bright colors. I remember being told something like that when I was younger. It’s just great that my tail is just sooo bright, right? Wow I am so unlucky. My only hope to lose the shark (Who was gaining on me really fast, ohmygoshwhatdoIdo?) is to somehow lose it in a cave or something. Hopefully there was a small space I could get into that the shark couldn’t. And of course hope I don’t run into anything else that was hungry. 

There was a huge cave in front of me, and I took my chances. I felt the sharks jaws snap behind me, just mere inches from snapping on top of my tail. I shuddered, but kept swimming fast, trying to find some kind of small cave to fit myself into. Please oh my gosh I’m getting so tired I don’t want to die-  Stop thinking like that. I’m not going to die. At least not today. 

Just a couple feet ahead of me, I spotted a tiny hole that looked like it could fit me if I squeezed in fast enough. I stole another glance, seeing the shark right there behind me. I let out a scream, grabbing the bag around my neck and throwing it back at it. It slowed it down just a tiny bit, but it kept after me. Maybe just enough time to get myself safe. 

“Pleasepleasepleaseplease.” I muttered to myself, not noticing that something big moved in the dark. 

Right before I could fit myself through the crack hopefully leading to a small cave, I felt a sharp pain in my tail, The part I actually needed to be able to swim. I was forced out, seeing that it was caught in between the sharks sharp teeth. It let go for just a split second, before a loud growl was heard, making the shark almost instantly swim off. Tears stung my eyes (Weird because we’re underwater right?), but I blinked them away and stared at my tail fin, seeing all too many rips and tears. It hurt so, so much. 

That was when my mind had finally clicked and wondered why the shark had left in the first place. The growl. The two huge sets of dark blue eyes trained on me. The slight hue they gave off. Oh. It was just a really, really, really, huge mer. The ones that eat other mers? That destroy community’s for no reason? The one’s that were outcasted? That’s just wonderful. 

I tried swimming away, but the tears in my fins didn’t let me, making me whimper like a lost puppy. My breathing was fast, as I stared back into the eyes that would soon be the death of me. Oh I am so going to die. 

And suddenly I was encased in darkness again. 

——————

Yayyyy new characters. No worries, the giant mer is good. But oh noooo I totally didn’t hurt Nico’s tail on purpose for future purposes… Okay but I feel bad for my little mer. I’m not that sadistic.

But anyways, thank you guys for reading this little Drabble, and of course I know it’s not my best writing, but I was rushing and it’s just these last few days of school that are KILLING me. I hope you guys liked this, and thank you for reading!

[seafoamreadings]

week of sunday august 27th, 2023

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: if it feels like a bit of a lead weight on your soul all week, that's a saturn thing. this week's full moon in your 12th house is conjunct saturn, so you have a lot of feelings and it can seem like they're dragging you into a viscous horrible fluid by a lead anchor on your feet or concrete shoes. it isn't all as bad as it feels. the way out is to accept it, maybe retreat into a sort of hermit mode, sit with and listen to the emotions. on the other side of the full moon you start to float back up.

taurus: uranus goes retrograde in your sign. more retrograde phenomena are to follow next week. meanwhile also a full moon in pisces suggests a quiet night or two or several at home, even though socializing can be beneficial on ordinary full moons. this is not one. the stereotype that weird things happen and emergency rooms are more busy on full moons has to do with lunar antics like this.

gemini: focus on your home life, your family of origin, and your ancestry this week, especially if you have ancestral wounds or trauma and no one but yourself to heal your lineage. retrograde activity supports you in this work. it's not always fair that you have to do it, but you can heal the past and the future.

cancerians: the pisces full moon is one you can connect to viscerally as a water sign. but be advised it is conjunct saturn within a couple degrees and this can make it feel heavy and mundane compared to ordinary pisces full moons. therefore it likely takes on a melancholy tone and is less energizing for you than you would prefer. yet you're just as psychic and intuitive as ever, if you commit yourself to listening.

leo: you are the only sign i think this week's full moon on saturn REALLY benefits. if you have a magical practice or if you love to manifest, whatever you work on under that auspice gets plunked down into the 3D earth by heavy saturn. if you're not that sort at least launch a project or work on a goal or wish on a star or something!

virgo: a full moon in pisces highlights your relationships. maybe they go a little nuts. maybe YOU go a little nuts. that's okay. saturn keeps things somewhat realistic although if you refuse to see certain truths you may find things get more depressing than they needed to. try to keep your chin up! saturn brings wisdom when you work with him. that can lead to brighter times.

libra: be advised that if you've been neglecting your health in anyway it is likely to force you to deal with it this week due to the full moon conjunct saturn. and if it isn't about health it's about some aspect of your daily life, perhaps something you thought was too boring or ugly to bother about until now.

scorpio: many MANY changes are brewing in your life right now, in almost every facet of it, this week and next. fortunately you're the zodiac's alchemist, no question. don't neglect to turn the lead of this week's saturn vibes into gold, by hook or by crook. life is a spell and you are, certainly for now, the cauldron.

sagittarius: like your opposite sign gemini, you're slated to do ancestor work this week. if you're not typically the family genealogist you may find yourself deep in research or stories about your family's past. some will be good and others not so good. you will see how it affects you psychically, and find ways to heal. for you a bright light is cast on a dark shadow no one has acknowledged in a long time, in your lineage or your earliest years.

capricorn: keep a notebook or something close by this week. the astrology brings you inspirations and brilliant ideas and yet, so saturnine as the week is, if you wait too long to get it out of your head it will become too heavy to extract.

aquarius: retrogrades of your ruling planet are long and in the end just part (almost half) of the texture of life. but the one starting this week is a little unique as it occurs among many other retrogrades. furthermore the moments (days) surrounding the station either direction are typically strange. and by strange i mean not in a gradual way, but lightning bolts of things too serious to be coincidence. at the same time, the full moon in pisces cautions you against irresponsible spending or hiding your values, although it may be tempting.

pisces: a melancholy, saturnine full moon occurs in your sign this week. don't let any depressive episode drag you down, at least as well as you can help it. douse yourself in golden sunlight, and gold jewelry, and you will likely also respond very well to silver, and to music. especially if you can find something upbeat and happy to listen to (or compose!) or at least something catchy.

[yusuke-of-valla]

Insane thoughts about non-SEES characters

You've brought up Mamoru before but I just think the fact that he ultimately drops out of high school to go work in a factory would raise a lot of question in Minato's head about what he should do in order to take care of the siblings.

The kids Yuko coaches in her Social Link are about Yusuke's age.

Hamuko misses Minato's summer track/kendo/swim meet because she's in Inaba with the volleyball/tennis team.

Maiko is everyone's friend. She can be pen pals with the younger kids after moving away.

You have the really funny opportunity to have Naoto cross paths with Rise while she's in town for the show that ultimately gets canceled due to the Hermit Shadow.

The Temperance Link is shared but the fact that Hamuko can actually make items during it and Minato can't leads me to believe that he just sucks at sewing. Hamuko makes little dolls and purses for the kids.

Bunkichi and Mitsuko give them even more snacks for the rotating cast of children that they keep bringing to the bookstore.

One of the Culture Club options - and the only option in Reload - is Art Club. Keisuke, Minato, and Fuuka can all be in Art Club. (Keisuke does show up as president of the Photography Club in Junpei's link but can be easily replaced.)

Maiko and Bunkichi are both among the people who get lost in Tartarus.

I knew about Maiko and Bunkichi! I remember thinking that's a really cool way to tie your social links into the main plot

Maiko also ends up friends with Ken I think during the Kyoto trip and while the teens are in summer school they have their own little weird adventure.

Wait hold on we can combine these Maiko getting kidnapped happens during the Kyoto trip and the kids+Koromaru stage a potentially ill-advised rescue trip (they're fine)

I love the implication that Minato just sucks at making things. There's probably a gendered analysis to be made about how Hamuko can cook and sew in her social links but Minato can't but in my heart it's just because Minato's cringe (speaking of, Sumire deserves to be the unofficial third memeber of Fuuka's cooking club)

Speaking of unofficial club members I think Yusuke hears that Minato and Fuuka are in the art club and is just fucking vibrating but doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to impose and then Minato invites him along and he is soooo excited to be able to make art with Minato and half the time no one understands what he's saying because he's been devouring art theory textbooks since he could read but he still takes the first thing Minato drew and gave him and keeps it under his pillow for good luck (idk how much of an Art Nerd Keisuke is but I feel like even without Madarame's influence Yusuke talks like an art history grad student at age 8 so he may or may not be able to follow.)

Club trip to the art museum you have never seen a child more excited outside of a candy store

Kasumi and Sumire train with Yuko even though her kids are a little older because they can keep up and Kasumi really wanted to

Naoto and Rise meeting early on would be so funny I think Naoto should do something incredibly embarassing and after Naoto is a complete badass In Persona 4 because he already has a Persona Rise is like "wait didn't you fall into the fountain at Pawlonia Mall two years ago"

I do think Minato and Hamuko being worried about not doing enough to support their siblings is a part of their arc because. You know basically being in charge at age 8 and having a really unstable home life but I have not narrowed down a vibe I like for both of them. I think Minato seeing Mamoru and thinking maybe he's been too happy to be distant and let the others do their own thing would def be interesting though

[ti-girl1226]

“Yeah” - hermit!tommy

hermit Tommy blip because someone told me I did a good job on my last one. This is where Tommy may or may not get another parent, also he owns a flower shop because I said so. Also the meaning of the flowers are all at the very end I used google so if I got something wrong please tell me. Also ps I did do a little something for technoblade here, and he is briefly mentioned. Also remember this is cannon Tommy from the dream smp not any other series, and the relationship portrayed isn’t how I think real life Tommy and techno saw each other. Just wanted to make that clear. Also Tommy in his mind refers to grian as dad and if you want to read how I imagine that happen go to my page it’s called “The reason Tommy didn’t take his pain meds” it’s a bit darker than this one, but go read it it’s good.

Tommy sits on the on top of the flower shop he created, in the shopping district of Hermitcraft. He holds a small arrangement of flowers in one hand. Pink Carnations, they reminded him of his brother, technos, a friend’s acquaintance hair. The stories he told and the way he told him. The way he could use a sword, it was like it was a dance. Though the acquaintance isn’t here now, he wouldn’t even talk to Tommy in his dreams. He puts it in the back of his mind to make another arrangement for later. One that holds Acanthus, Pink Carnations, Bay tree, maybe he could add Valerian like he had with the arrangement that he is holding. He looks at the white Valerian, it reminded him of the white streak that used to be mixed in with his blonde hair, he remembers the time that the hermits offered to dye his hair. He remembered how happy he was when the streak was finally gone. He remembers the similar purple streak that Grian covered up. It reminded him of the purple Columbine flower that sits in the arrangement he’s holding. He looks at his arrangement as a whole the Pink carnation, purple Columbine, the Valerian, with the surrounding green of Ivy, and Basil. Tommy sits there zoning out thinking about the past, for a while, time move on as the sun rises over the shops, he hears the rockets and elytras going. He doesn’t flinch like he used to. 

“Tommy? Are you okay?” Asks a the familiar warm voice of scar, Tommy thinks Tubbo would have loved to have met him, they would have gotten along well.

“Tommy, how long have you been there?” A different voice asks. No Tubbo would have liked him more, Tommy thinks, he would have loved to rant about his redstone contraptions. Hell I think he’d never stop talking, me and dad (Grian) would have to pull Tubbo and Mumbo apart so they shut up.

“Tommy?” The voice of a father, or atleast who he considers to be a father calls out. 

“Yeah?” Tommy says turning to Grian, snapping himself out of his day dreaming. 

“You are tearing up, and you weren’t responding. Are you okay? I know it’s hard we can go back and tell the others to wait we don’t have to have a party if you’re not okay. We can do it tomorrow instead.” Worry is strong in Grians voice as he talks. 

“I’m good, just… remembering the past. Saying goodbye” Tommy says looking at the arrangement in his hand. He placed them down. 

“Pink carnation, purple Columbine, Valerian, Ivy, and Basil” say scar looking at the arrangement, there’s pity and comfort in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Tommy mumbles as he looks at it.

“Do you want a hug.” Asks scar. It’s weird, thinks Tommy, to be so venerable, he’s never gotten a hug from scar. Grian once ranted about how nice his hugs were and how even though scars usually in his wheelchair, scar would sometimes use the walking device that doc made for him, Tubbo would love to meet doc too. Grian told the story of how the very first time Scar got the device he went around and give proper hugs to everyone on the server who wanted one.

“Yeah.” Tommy says accepting the hug from scar. It’s warm and… homey, it reminds him of the cabin he grew up in, and how when it got cold him and his brothers would come together in a big group hug near the fireplace to get warm. 

Bonus  

After Tommy let’s go of scar he swears he sees an achievement pop up “new parent unlocked.” Tommy quickly rubs his eyes, and it’s gone. Maybe it was just him imagining things

uncoded things:

So the arrangement that Tommy is holding is supposed to mean something along the lines of “I’ll never forget you but I’m ready to move on from our friendship and I wish you well.” The Pink carnation meaning I will never forget you. Purple Columbine meaning Resolution. Valerian meaning Readiness. Ivy meaning Affection, Friendship, Fidelity. And finally Basil meaning Good wishes. this is for kinda the past of the dream smp Tommy moving on. The party that is mentioned is the one year of Tommy being on Hermitcraft. The second one was kinda an homage to technoblade with the Acanthus, Pink Carnations, Bay tree, and Valerian. Acanthus meaning The fine art, Artifice kinda referencing the Greek mythology that techno is known for. Pink carnation again meaning I will never forget you. Valerian meaning Readiness but this time more for the readiness that techno held both as a character but also a person. And finally Bay tree which represents glory.

[journeysfable]

Interesting stuff that Pearl said in her stream today

Lore talk starts at around 00:55:20, ends, comes back at around 03:6

Feel like it’s interesting to note that she starts talking about this after saying that the shiny golden goose looks like Pix’s dodo. But I’m likely reading too far into it.

Summary

-Hermit Pearl doesn’t remember Empires Season 1 -Said just “Yes” to someone in Chat saying “’Until we meet again’ but Saint Pearla’ doesn’t remember” -Empires Pearl was not a god during Season 1 -Pearl might not write a book of her lore or anything because she likes seeing peoples interpretations of things so feel free to ignore all this and make shit up lol -Pearl intended for her season 1 ending to not be the ending of her season 1 character. -Pearl doesn’t know if she’s gonna be doing Double Life stuff during this crossover

Transcripts of what she said because Twitch clips are weird and I think it’s good for people to hear it from Pearl herself instead of having it just be filtered and shortened from me Note: I have an audio processing disorder. It picks up on noises well but I struggle to sort them into words sometimes

“So just to kinda give you a little bit of insight if you don’t know about that season, what’s happenin’ with this attire right here, is I’ve come through the portal, alright? So I’m attached to Season 1, ok? I’m a Hermit that’s gone through the portal into the Empires world and I’m wearing the clothes of my Empires Season 1 character. In lore, to give you guys a little bit of insight, my character does not remember, my character does not remember Empires Season 1, my character is Hermit Pearl, ok? So it* doesn’t know what all this is about.”

*I think she said “it” but I don’t think it’s ok to assume that those are actually her characters pronouns unless Pearl says so. She probably said “it” because her character is not a real person. (I’m not even entirely sure she said “it” but it really doesn’t sound like she said “she” or “he”)

“‘But Santa Perla doesn’t remember’ yes laughs yes”

“Ok yes so there was a question about like was I a god in Season 1. Answer is: No. That’s the short answer, no. Umm, what Sausage has done is... This is very much lore description thing here. What Sausage has done this season, uh, and how he linked up Afterlife and Empires is, um, I was in Heaven, Sausage came to me from Afterlife, and uh, that heaven was the castle from Season 8 in Hermitcraft. If anybody recognized it. And I was up there, and he died in Afterlife and came up and met me in the castle, and that’s how that all came about. And then Oli also included me in that segue from Afterlife to Empires, too. So that’s where that came from. But uh, in Oli’s- in Oli’s perspective I kicked him off the cloud down into the world laughs. By the way, that wasn’t the case, he’s just making it up. So that’s why Oli has a bit of a distaste towards Santa Perla and why Sausage likes Santa Perla. For me my character is just normal old me laughs. But technically it has been canonized that I am a saint. And apparently, um, there’s-there‘s a couple of interesting references that are on this season of Empires as well.”

“The story was being created before I myself was creating it. And I’m very happy about that. I definitely wish I had more time to refine that story but, um, everyone like, really liked it by the end of it, and now it’s like ‘well I could technically bring it back. Technically. I-loo- does anyone kn- anyone who watched the first season, did anyone notice how I titled the last episode?  Just wondering. Because I titled that episode with future intentions in mind... That wasn’t a- that wasn’t just a ‘ohh everything has ended oh dear’ that was intended. Uh, and it actually worked out perfectly that Lizzie wrote ou- read out in the book. Something about the golden age rising. Kinda like that. That wasn’t intended. Um, it just fit in perfectly.”

“I don’t 100% know if I’m gonna take in Double Life stuff”

[venalos]

@rathalascendant, cont.

"I can imagine."

A surprisingly tender statement, considering Marina's earlier severe tone. Perhaps it helped that she paid no attention to the unorthodox Felyne, whose fur was bristling at her earlier comments.

Getting into an argument with some weird alley cat was simply far too beneath her, regardless.

She tossed more kindling into the newly lit fire, feeding the flame until it was big enough to burn on its own. She then picked up and carefully placed the flame on a pile of firewood, stacked in a pyramid-like shape to let the fire slowly burn down in a way that should last the entire night if everything went smoothly. Even if something went wrong, she could always make a new fire. Marina was no stranger to minor mishaps.

Marina stood upright again, rising to her full height and towering over the Felyne, the Wyverian, and even the two Pukei-Pukei. Her steely gaze hovered across them, from one to the other, then she turned to the camp entrance and simply left. As she did she said nothing more than the simple order of, "Stay."

She was gone the next moment.

Marina acted as though she had no reason to explain herself to complete strangers. She would have been somewhat justified had it been genuine, of course, but only a little -- anyone with even half a brain would know that doing so was exceptionally rude. However, it would help in the long run. She knew there was no point in growing fond of people and Pokémon she would soon part ways with. That was beside the point, however; she and the lost souls she rescued needed to eat. Thus, out into the wilderness she went, dead-set on filling bellies.

As she walked and walked, she would collect anything that caught here interest.

By the lake shore she picked up some Scatternuts (for the bird wyvern twins). Then she pulled out her fishing rod and cast a line, quickly reeling in a Sushifish. Ascending the mountain she gathered fresh Mountain Herbs. A Giadrome and its pack sprang out of nowhere, menacing her. A fine addition to any meaty stew.

She reached the mountain's peak in record time, a little under two hours. There she spied her true prize: the shedding of a Kushala Daora. She smiled a rare smile, knowing that Khezu liked to deposit their young inside (for some reason). Perhaps she could find the local Veggie Elder, that grumpy old coot, and have him make a special treat...

It took another two hours for Marina to return, most of which had been spent on sniffing out the elderly hermit. She stepped back onto camp none the worse for wear, a Giadrome carcass slung effortlessly over her shoulder, both it and the fish kept fresh by the cold tundra air. Once again her cold gaze fell upon the lost group as she approached them, unceremoniously dropping the dead 'drome to the ground.

"I'll prepare dinner."

Even saying what should have been a warm and welcoming line, her words were still as cold as the surrounding air.

[staringamassivemistakeintheface]

So. Decked Out, huh? As I’ve said, I have never been so obsessed with one particular thing. It’s been the only thing on my mind. And this was accidental at first, but I ended up doing some form of writing snippet based on different happenings of each day of phase 1. As usual, I make no guarantees about quality, and in fact, some of them aren’t even finished. But I did the thing anyways. :)

Day 1 (unfinished)

As Tango waved goodbye to Gem and watched her leave the Citadel, he had to take a minute to pinch himself. Today hadn't been a stress-induced hallucination or a weird dream. He'd actually opened Decked Out to the Hermits and watched about two dozen different runs. It had been easy enough to fall back into the habits of a developer, identifying a problem and correcting it to the best of his ability while complaining about the ravagers. But to watch Scar struggle with a compass for several minutes, and to see people placing bets on Etho's success in the dungeon, it felt surreal. He locked the door that let players into the game, more for a feeling of closure than any necessity. Little routines and habits like that had fallen to the wayside in the long months of building and testing and troubleshooting the game, and he'd honestly let more important things slip as well. Things like sleeping regularly, or eating three meals a day, or spending time outside. On the rare occasions when he exited the Citadel, the sun always seemed too bright and the perpetual late spring weather felt unbearably warm compared to the chill of his artificial cavern, a sorry state for a blaze hybrid.

Day 2 (kinda unfinished)

It was rare to see Tango outside his Citadel. Even now that Decked Out was open to play, there were still things to iron out and a fourth level to finish. But after the massive success of the past two days, he felt justified in taking a night to himself. He left his robe and armor in the basement, only taking an elytra and a few rockets to fly up to the top of one of the taller towers. He needed something to remind himself that there was a world outside his little hole (massive, really). As he walked to the balcony, the server was awash in reddish-gold twilight. He hadn't seen a sunset in months. The sun slowly sinking beneath the horizon was, in that moment, the most wondrous thing he'd ever seen. He'd forgotten how the rocks of Grian's base appeared purple in the dying light. The way that Pearl's alien landscape stood out against the deep blue dusk sky was almost magical, like he was seeing it for the first time.

Day 3

The dungeon was happy. Its Creator had poured so much love and so much effort into it, so how could it not be pleased when new players finally entered its depths? Despite its cold (or scalding) tunnels and deadly hazards, it loved each and every person that came through the door clutching their compass like it was a totem. Without people to explore its halls and discover its secrets, it may as well be a hole in the ground, purposeless and empty. And though the players died, fleeing a ravager or simply not watching their step, they respawned laughing, joking with each other, comparing notes, and eager to go right back in.

  Its Creator was working on some minor issues after the day's runs were finished, muttering under his breath as he added a room between levels. The dungeon was content, consciousness spread thin as it relaxed under its Creator's hands like a cat in a sunbeam. As it soothed the frustrated ravagers by the entrance and chittered at the Wardens, its Creator was mulling over joining the players on their runs. The dungeon almost shook in its happiness, ravagers grunting in surprise as all the hazard doors slammed wide open. It was meant to be ran, to put players to the test and watch them rise to the occasion, and to give that experience to its Creator? It couldn't ask for any greater honor or joy.

Day 4

The ravager known as Tango's Cough was frustrated. That was nothing new, as ravagers have incredibly short tempers and spend most of their lives riled up. But the past few days had been not only maddening, but confusing for the beast. It had been used to being largely unbothered, with an occasional appearance from the burning player to chase it back into a spot. Ravagers weren't necessarily meant to be alone for so long, but they also weren't meant to live this long in the first place. So, it made the most of a life away from the Illagers and settled into the cold tunnels around it. 

This routine was recently disrupted, with other players entering the ravagers' territory. As infuriating as the intrusions were, these players were easy to deal with; lost, defenseless, only a small piece of metal in their hands. The ravager called Cough was particularly eager to take out the foolish explorers, lingering in bottlenecks and other tight spots. And for a while, it worked. The invaders would die without any loot in their pockets, screaming in fear and appearing just as frustrated as the beast that killed them. But even this new routine was quickly starting to turn. Ravagers weren't particularly skilled with facial recognition, but even Cough could note what players could dodge it and go further into the maze that the burning player created. Just today, a player skirted its attacks and got far enough that the message of their demise was from one of its brethren on another level. The intruders were learning, rendering the ravagers' bulk and brute strength useless. They still ran screaming, but they made it out more often than not, leaving Cough to bellow at the door that they left through. It was frustrating to say the least.

Day 5 (kinda unfinished)

It wasn't unusual to hear a rocket fire far too close to Grian's base, but it was fairly late in the evening for Scar to drop by. Equipping his armor (a habit born out of being hOtGuYed one too many times), Grian walked out onto the bridge. He wasn't sure who he was expecting to see land in front of him, but a frazzled-looking Tango wasn't it. The blaze wasn't often seen outside the Citadel, and now that Decked Out was open, he was more reclusive than ever, either spectating runs or fixing the bugs that cropped up.

   "Uh, hey, Tango! What's up?" Grian did his best to sound casual, but outside of the dim lighting of Decked Out, Tango was really a wreck. The shadows under his eyes were far too bluish to be healthy, and this was coming from someone who once joined a cult based around sleep deprivation. His fire was burning unusually bright, and he couldn't seem to stop fiddling with his comm. Tango met his eyes, and the near-desperation in the other man's gaze killed any joke he was going to make.

  "How do you stand it, Grian?" His voice was a bit rougher than usual. Tango wasn't usually one to skip straight to the point like this. Worry crept up Grian's spine, wings already puffed up from concern for his friend.  

 "What are you talking about?" There were several things Tango could've been referring to (leaving his base unfinished, regularly getting sniped by Scar, living close enough to the Perimeter to hear Doc's manic laughter), but nothing came to mind that would explain the tension in the blaze's posture. He sputtered for a second, seemingly surprised that Grian even had to ask.

    "Y'know, them!" And oh, if Grian's blood didn't turn to ice at that statement... he didn't need to look at his wings or see his eyes to know that both had flickered purple. He frantically opened his senses, looking for the weight of Their gaze and Eyes on this poor man, who didn't ask to be tormented here, so far away from the Life games... 

 "Uh, Grian? Why are you doing the spooky eye thingy?" Tango sounded confused, which was understandable, but he just said that They were bothering him... 

 "Wait. Do you mean capital-letter Them or lowercase them?" Grian's feathers were definitely thoroughly ruffled by now, and he sensed a headache coming on. Because Tango could be referring to Them (don't invoke them, not even here), the beings that had torn him apart and chased him for years, forced him to pit his friends against each other every few months. Or he could merely be complaining about—

"Oh, lowercase! Dude, I am so sorry, I really should've specified!" Or he could be complaining about the watchers, the thousands of voices and wisps of color that latched onto many notable members of the community.

"You just about gave me a heart attack, Tango! You know I don't stream as much as you do!" Grian gave Tango a punch on the shoulder, light but with just enough force to hurt for a few minutes.

"Yeah, that one's on me. But really, they are so obnoxious! I had nine thousand watching me today, and they would not shut up about the offhand map. I know it's glitchy, for Coders' sake!"

Day 6

Vex magic is renowned for its intricate nature, being the most difficult form of arcana for a player to learn. Cub had been the one to fully delve into its mysteries, exploring the bond between the magic and its user as best he could. Scar? He didn't have the patience to leaf through dusty old tomes for hours on end. He let Cub do the research and let him know if he was about to do something incredibly stupid. The two of them left the masks in Season Six, and if Cub got his way more often than anticipated, or if Scar's eyes flashed silver during a sales pitch... well, no real harm done.

   A major component of Vex and Illager magic revolves around the concept of possession (in the legal sense). A mansion's Vex are the literal property of its Evokers. ConCorp did so well because they believed they were owed every diamond of profit they could make. Conversely, Allays are so sought-after because they relinquish that part of their magic to their master, not owning anything unless given it.

   This part of the lingering Vex magic in Scar's code, the urge to possess and the control over what's his, mostly worked on a subconscious level by Season Nine. It only really came in handy at the start of a season, when looking for Jellie's new host. It hadn't exactly been an inconvenience, though.

    At least, not until now.

   When Scar had figured out that each artifact represented one of the Hermits, he was delighted. Upon initially finding the Death Loop, he'd laughed about his artifact and proceeded to book it out of the dungeon. He recognized the totem on a chain as his, and though he didn't mean to do anything with the drops of quicksilver magic in his veins, he'd bound the artifact to him regardless. He quickly grew tired of like drawing to like when he was trying for higher-value runs, only to pull the totem once again. The second he expressed distaste with the artifact, the magic dissipated and he found Joe Hills' item next.

   This is why he left the research to Cub.

Day 7 (kinda unfinished)

Decked Out's sentience was something of an open secret. Nobody really discussed it, because it sounded crazy to say out loud, but it was evident. After the opening day had finished, the redstone lines had been humming unusually loudly for hours, similar to a cat purring. Etho's poor luck with hazard doors was hard to explain away, as well as Zedaph's five consecutive level two runs.  On the rare occasions that Tango had socialized with the other Hermits during the build process, he'd talk about the dungeon as one would a beloved yet stubborn pet. He kept her running smoothly, and she never lacked for anything. Besides, the feedback you get from sentient creatures is miles better than anything machines create.

   Most of the time, that is.

   "Come on, do you have to do this now?!" Tango's frustrated groan echoed through the dungeon's maze of redstone as he tried yet again to set up his cam account. As had happened the past three times, the plugs that the camera relied on sparked and shut off, power diverted elsewhere. A hazard disk played somewhere, the quiet crackling sound akin to a teenager grumbling under their breath. The blaze rolled his eyes, giving the control panel a light whack.

   "First the map, then level two respawns, now I can't even see the lobby? I thought you were enjoying all the attention!" He took a second on his communicator to let Hypno know about the technical troubles, grinning despite himself upon seeing the man's chat flood with excited greetings. Decked Out had become a much bigger phenomenon than Tango had ever anticipated, and witnessing thousands of people flocking to the Hermits' channels to follow their runs warmed his heart. As if reading his thoughts, the distant snuffling of the rogue warden drew just a little closer, as if guided to him.

   "Really, honey, what's the matter?" As he put his hand on the control panel like it was a child's shoulder, a mild shock hit his wrist, just by his comm. It wasn't meant to hurt, Tango knew what it was like when the dungeon wanted to lash out. But he got the point nonetheless. 

 "Are you jealous of the attention we're all getting?!" He couldn't quite keep the incredulity out of his voice. A lone frost ember toot played somewhere by Level 2. The cameras were starting to function again, with an occasional fuzzy feed of the map area outside or Hypno and Pearl chatting in the lobby, but Tango knew better than to leave something like this unaddressed.

   "You do know you're the star of the show, right? People are praising your design and intricacy to Aether and back, while I'm still mocked for dying to a berry bush. And don't give me that look, I merely followed your vision." As Tango talked, he began sorting through redstone lines, trying to get the cam account fully online.  

 "You're not a player, and the world download isn't ready yet, so people can't come to you directly. But rest assured, there are thousands of people who are just as obsessed with you as we are." A little treasure ding played just as he got everything sorted out, map loading and lobby in full focus.  

"Besides, it's entertaining to see Etho beating the washed-up allegations. Are you sure you don't have a crush on him?" He teasingly nudged the wall with his elbow, laughing at the dungeon's offended rumble.

Day 8 (unfinished)

See, Grian had wanted to support Scar. Really! MCC was a big deal, and just a fun event to watch. Scar and Martyn on the same team made for a wildly entertaining time as well. So he joined the spectator account, watching Purple wade through Bingo and cheering on his friend all the while. But as Scar dug down to bedrock, Grian's one remaining shard was burning a hole in his pocket. He'd had such rotten luck with level 2, and there was still so much of the dungeon to see...

[ow-anteater]

I DEMAND THAT YOU TELL ME OF YOUR MEN. YOUR DUDES. YOUR LOVELY OCS!!!

🥺 you wanna hear about them 🥺🥺🥺

Okay so Vermont and Kass are weird in that they started as kind of a joke inspired by two of my dragons on the petsim Flight Rising. And then they kind of crawled into my brain and became - first of all became people I guess - and also got full personalities and also a story I’d like to write for them. Homegrown blorbos with the weirdest meta story basically

So Vermont is the longhaired one, full name is Vermont James and he … he started as a spoof on Indiana Jones? He’s a chronically overworked historian on the good days and a weird lumberjack hermit in the bad periods. Funny and sly with a very strong loner streak, worse with his words than he’d like to believe and a tad prone to falling into an us vs them mentality if the people close to him are mildly inconvenienced threatened

Kass’ is short for Kassem and he doesn’t really have a last name atm. Decidedly bookish, has written a bunch of children’s books and a lot of longer adult very poetic scripts he’s never had the guts to pursue publishing for. Generally shy but very sharp when he wants to be and unendingly curious. Suffers from a bit of a restless heart if he’s stayed too long in the same place and can thus be a little flighty to be around

In universe they’re something akin to elementals, Vern is fire with strong ties to the sun and Kass is water and the moon. The world is basically magical realism and a couple hundred years ago they did partake in like your full out ‘grand battle for good and evil’ that wrecked and splintered the magical world. Since then, every time their own power has recuperated enough for powerful factions in their world to start paying attention to them again, Vermont wipes their magic away, basically uses it all up in a single surging ritual that leaves them borderline mortal the first couple of years and also keeps them out of all magical conflict. All of this is technically a spoiler since these resets also deletes most of both their memories

It’s about fleeing, it’s about responsibility, it’s about loving people enough to make decisions for them that really aren’t yours to make, it’s about being soulmates partly out of necessity and I think so much about them and write none of this fucking book I could be writing dnndndjsjdksk

Also very much considering just setting up an OC blog at this point hdhdjjks

[jkbabiey]

In your ask, you have to include: your initials or your first name (wtv you prefer); your pronouns; your sun, moon, and venus signs; your love language; a word that you would use to define yourself; your favorite song at the moment.

Hi!! :)

My name is Bridget (B.S)

My pronouns are she/they!

love language quality time maybe???? gift giving? I’m sorry I haven’t had any relationships so I have no real idea lol

creative or ambitious maybe!

fave song the only living boy in New York by Simon and Garfunkel or Annie’s song by John Denver :)

Thank you so so much!!!

Hi Bridget!! So glad you joined the game!!

𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞:

Appearance

Your cards: King of Swords, Queen of Wands, Queen of Pentacles, The High Priestess

Very light skin. Curly dark hair. They may have a lovely smile or look very pretty when they laugh. That could also be related to the sound of their laughter. You may enjoy the way they laugh. Pretty hands and feet. They may have long fingers and you'll enjoy playing with their hands. Long lashes?? A lot of moles are along their whole body, or maybe they have freckles. They have a very cute vibe to them. Very cottagecore, idk. They may also have a big scar on the body, from a previous surgery, or something like that. A short and thick neck. May be a Taurus rising (idek why that came up, I'm not even looking for astrological placements, but that still came to me)

Personality

Your cards: The Tower, Judgement, The Chariot, The Lovers, The High Priestess

There's something different about this person. They have been the weird kid throughout their school years. They have a perfect sense of what is right and wrong and always tend to do the right thing. I'm getting that they don't care about trends. They won't do something they disagree with just because everyone else is doing it. But they won't judge anyone for doing anything they feel like doing, even if it's wrong. Like they won't judge their friends for doing wrong things, but they won't do it themselves. They are a very ambitious person. Romantic and old-fashioned. May not be the most open-minded person tho. They have a formulated opinion on EVERYTHING.

Career

Your cards: The Hermit, Page of Cups, Queen of Cups, Justice (rev)

At the time you meet this person they will be working at a job they love. This is a job that requires them to think a lot and to have new ideas. Something related to creativity. At this job, they work alone and they don't like to work with other people. I don't think this job will pay as much money as they would want and probably not enough to compensate for how hard they'll work. They may work in the artistic area, maybe painting, or acting.

Communication Style

Your cards: Page of Swords, The Chariot, Ace of Wands (rev)

They talk with a lot of enthusiasm and are very lively. They talk a lot and their voice is very cheerful. They always want to talk about something new and are very curious. They are always asking questions. And they have a very big thirst for knowledge. The way they talk may be a little confusing and many will get lost in the conversation because just a few people can keep track of the talk and understand the way their mind works. They have a very cheerful voice but I don't feel like it's high-pitched. More low-pitched voice, but still very cheerful and lively.

Love Language

Your card: Strenght

I'm getting physical touch here, tbh. This person will like to touch you, in a sexual and a non-sexual way. They will love to hold hands, hug, to kiss. Cuties :)

I hope you liked your reading, Bridget!

[copperbadge]

I’ve been listening to a podcast about Rasputin lately (two, actually, but one is older and more on the “comedy” than the “history” angle). One of them said something that made me think -- a lot of what we have regarding Rasputin is either oral history or written by his enemies, who wanted to slander both him and a woman (the queen Alexandra) who lost power during a revolution. This is not to say Rasputin was a good person, because he was not, but the specific way in which his story was warped means that he could have been and we would still have thought he was a terrifying quasi-immortal sex wizard for most of the 20th century.  

It’s not a 1:1 comparison, but it occurred to me that this is exactly what could have happened to, say, a Jedi who spent time with a princess in the days of the Old Republic. It’s a little bit funny if it’s Anakin, but it’s fucking hilarious if after Padme’s death and the rise of the Empire, all the rumors and legends and stories about a politician’s pet wizard and possible lover were centered around an influential, experienced Jedi...like Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Fucking imagine if R2 rolls up all “Yo I need to talk to Kenobi” and Luke goes “Like...the weird mystic advisor to the princess, that Kenobi? I’m pretty sure old Ben Kenobi isn’t him but he might have his email address” and they go off to see the random desert hermit who immediately says “Oh yes I am in fact that Kenobi. But it’s cool, I definitely did not do most of what they said I did and I’ll deny the rest.” 

And Luke’s just left there like do I tell him about the song that calls him Alderaan’s Greatest Love Machine? Do you think he can pop his head off his body like in that one movie about him? Is there a polite way to ask if the rumors about his monster dong are true? There isn’t, right? 

[creationofacentury]

Tiny Problem - P1

Summary: After the Easter egg hunt, everyone gets back to their normal life. But a strange thing happens to Scar, and it appears that they might or might not have a tiny problem. (This is basically a crack fic. Kind of. It’s hard to explain. Just daily dose of mini hermits, I guess) 

Character: Renthedog, Grian, GoodTimeWithScar, Xisumavoid, ImpulseSV, Mumbo Jumbo, PearlescentMoon, BdoubleO100, Zadaph and FalseSymmetry (mentioned once) 

Relationship: Friendship!

Note: This is strictly about their MC personas, DO NOT take this seriously! Do not harass them with these work.

<GoodTimeWithScar hit the ground too hard>

<ImpulseSV: oh no scar>

<Renthedog: derp!>

<Mumbo: lol>

<GoodTimeWithScar: I had 96 levels>

<ImpulseSV: oh no>

After that the chat goes quiet. Scar is definitely once again the season champion on the death count, Ren thinks to himself. Not that there’s a competition, but that is just really “Scar”. Chuckling, Ren goes back to work, trying to find a big enough desert, because the amount of sand he will need is crazy. After a short while, the chat seems to go off again. Ren resists for a while then gives up, landing on a tree. He fish out his chat intercom; the last message was from fifteen minutes ago.

<GoodTimeWithScar: uh>

<GoodTimeWithScar: i have a problem gs>

<GoodTimeWithScar: guys>

<GoodTimeWithScar: come to my tree asap>

<ImpulseSV: omw>

<PearlescentMoon: one sec>

Honestly, the quest to find the dessert is getting a little boring. Ren marks down the coordinates, then flies toward spawn.

“...understand, how did this happen?”

Ren can makes out Pearls voice from a distance, he glides toward the sound- some hermits are already there, it seems. People are not running around, so it’s probably not something disastrous. Not, you know, wither or something.

“Hey guys, what’s happening?” He lands beside Bdubs, who is jumping up and down to see what’s in the circle.

“I heard people chattering so I am here!” Bdubs tells Ren. “I- hmm- this is getting on my ne- Guys! Let me see!”

Ren is very curious. “Hey, guys.” No response. The hermits in the circle are talking rapidly, voice muffled, so Ren raises his volume a little. “Guys- GUYS!”

Everyone is suddenly quiet. Then, there’s a tiny, squeaky, small and unsure, sound, that almost resembles someone sobbing.

The whole circle of people, which contains Scar, Impulse, Pearl, Xisuma and False, turns to look at him with their eyes wide. Bdubs grabs the chance and squeezes in the circle.

Ren feels uncomfortable, “Uh, sorry for yelling, but-”

A cry interrupts he mid-sentence, everyone turns to the source of the sound, which Ren can now see is in the middle of the hermit circle-

There’s a little figure that looks just like Scar.

-

Stock the boulder/Entity, checked. Grian opened his chat to see if he missed any message. Oh. Wow, what’s going on? He scrolls through the message while taking off into the air, and the sight of the crowd grabs his eyes. He flies towards the gathered hermits.

“Hey guys! What did I miss? I turned off the chat, and-“

“Ahhhh! It’s alive!”

Except for Bdubs’ shriek, there’s also a child’s cry. Grian frowns.

“Bdubs! Why did you poke him?!” Impulse shrills.

“I didn’t know it is alive!” Bdubs defends.

“It’s crying, what do you mean you didn’t know it’s alive?!”

“I was very curious! And, I did it very gently!”

“Okay, guys. What is going on?” Grian tries to interruptl. He sees Scar bending down, and rises with a little figure in his arm- okay. What the heck?

“What’s that?” His voice is a little too high and he doesn’t like that.

<Mumbo fell from a high place>

The cry is getting louder and louder by seconds.

“Shoot, I didn’t think this through-“Scar’s panicky voice is also very high. And Grian is sure now, that’s indeed a little child. What in the world is happening? “Someone hold him for me! Hold him- quick quick quick it’s so slippery I am going to drop him-”

“Give it to me-“Impulse reaches to hold the child, though the way he position his hands looks too weird for that to be safe.

“Guys, calm down-“ Xisuma is struggling to be heard.

The little child slips through Scar’s grabs and falls straight past Impulse’s hands. Everyone screams.

Thud. 

“I got him!” Ren exclaims, with his abdomen now on the dirt floor and his hand angled awkwardly underneath him. Grian can feel the headache rising.

<Mumbo: is the egg a new thing from the easter egg hunt?>

<Mumbo: sick>

Xisuma is the first one to read the message, “Oh no, this is not good.”

Grian goes to check the message as well. “Uh, why? I don’t understand- is this bad? Why is this bad?” He asks Xisuma, but doesn’t get any answer. Xisuma looks like he is seeing something in front of him, which Grian know is probably server’s code or something- wait. Is something wrong with the code?

<Mumbo: is it normal for the egg to be moving?>

Even through the mask, Xisuma looks like he might throw up.“Okay, um-“ 

<Xisumavoid: Everyone, we are having an emergency meeting. Whatever you do, DON’T DIE! Come to spawn immediately>

Xisuma stares at his own message for a while.

<Xisumavoid: Bring the egg, Mumbo>

Xisuma exhales, a huge sigh that sounds like it’s coming from a hundred-year-old man.

<Zedaph: too lat>

<Zedaph suffocated in a wall>

“Oh for goodness’ sake.”

-

Next

I had like. A vision I wanted to show. But that quickly got lost in one of the void gaps in my brain, and this is what’s left. I can’t write a bunch of people in one place together, apparently.

Hope whoever found this had a laugh with Bdubs trying to poke the little guy. I love Bdubs so much but he is really hard to write... Also, Impulse just gives me a very strong vibe of a father figure, you know, kind of like Philza in a way? But instead of being calm, he is hype. Yeah. I don’t know. That feels wrong. Where am I going with this I think I am too tired for this

No one beta read for me, so feel free to point things out! Like, phrasing and stuff? That would be much appreciated! Thank you for reading.

note: my english is so broken

[redorich]

Does Wells know? I assume this takes place during the time before he hopped onto season 7, so does he know that 6 ended?

The rain patters erratically on the kitchen window. Ghostbur's yellow sweater sleeves are rolled up his forearms as he helps Wels with the mucking of his house; thankfully, no gutting is necessary. Wels had been very uneasy about making a guest do manual labor, but it needed to be done and Ghostbur insisted that he'd rather help.

As Wels heads back upstairs to put on some clothes that aren't vaguely whore-ish pajamas, Ghostbur starts gathering all the dead plants he can find on the ground floor and placing them by the door. Given that it's still raining, he'd rather not try putting them outside. By the time Wels gets back, Ghostbur has gotten most of them already.

"Why are they by the door-- oh, you probably don't want to go in the rain, since you'd melt, huh?" Wels says, still standing on the last stair step and leaning against the balustrade.

"I'm sorry, I hope that's okay," Ghostbur says.

Wels's face softens. "You're doing more than enough already."

It feels... weird, that someone accepts his limitations and takes them in stride. It's very much a contrast to the culture of the Dream SMP. On that line of thought, Ghostbur wonders what the culture of this Hermitcraft Six server is like.

"So... are you guys called hermits because you all hide from everyone?" Ghostbur says as he snatches a roll of garbage bags from underneath the kitchen sink.

"No," Wels says, biting the pad of his thumb thoughtfully. "Normally you can spot one or two of them around somewhere... Maybe they're all hidden away in their bases because of the weather?"

He opens the front door, setting all the plant pots with their sad little dead shrubs outside one by one. Ghostbur, meanwhile, opens the ice-box (are fridges not a thing here, or is Wels just old fashioned?) and winces at the contents and their fumes. He hastily begins to stuff everything into a trash bag.

"I'll probably take a look around the server after we're done here and see if I can find someone to introduce to you," Wels says jovially, "everyone here is a wonderful person, all the hermits are very talented people! I think you'll like it here."

"I'm allowed to stay here?" Ghostbur asks in his most infantile, owl-eyed voice.

Wels sees right through it, less because he's got a good eye for it and more because he's the only one who's ever bothered. "Of course you are. Lots of hermits have come from all sorts of places; I'm sure your background isn't the weirdest!"

Ghostbur ties off his trash bag, having emptied the ice-box, and prepares a new bag for going through the pantry. He doesn't rise to the bait, and says nothing about what his background actually is.

Wels shrugs to himself. The curiosity burns at him, but Ghostbur seems nice enough. He grabs Ghostbur's first garbage bag of spoiled goods and sets it outside. This way, he'll be able to get rid of it all in one go instead of running back and forth in the rain.

"You've got some coffee that's not gone bad, and your coffeepot is still clean; mind if I put on a pot?"

Wels hums. There are several reasons Ghostbur might want coffee when the sun is undoubtedly already setting behind the storm clouds, but Wels isn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth on this one. "Make some for me, too, please?"

Ghostbur putters around in search of coffee filters, and Wels has nothing better to do so he pulls them out of their drawer and hands them over. He leans in close to the warmth of the coffeepot as Ghostbur does the same, and indulges in the way their shoulders brush as he tries to settle his own unease.

The hermits are around here somewhere. They have to be, right?

The moment passes and the two continue their cleaning, but soon enough they're mostly done and the sun is setting and if Wels doesn't go out and look for people now, he doesn't know if he ever will.

Ghostbur watches with worried white eyes as Wels stands in the doorway, ready to take off. He doesn't question what Wels's elytra is or what it does, nor why Wels has a shulker box which he can use so casually for carrying around literal garbage. Server culture must be different in Hermitcraft Six, and that's not the important thing here.

"You'll be alright?" Ghostbur asks. He clutches a steaming mug of coffee in his hands, hunched over it like he's not half a foot taller than Wels.

"I'm not the one who'll melt, remember?" Wels laughs. "It's fine; I'll be back soon."

He leaves, and Ghostbur waits.

And waits.

And waits.

And waits.

2:13 in the morning server time is when Wels finally comes back. The sky is black, with little flashes of lightning in the distance, and Wels is soaked.

His long blond hair is plastered to his head, and little rivulets flow from his crown down his neck and into the collar of his plain gray shirt, thin and far too cold and completely drenched to the point that it's the same color and opacity as Ghostbur. Ghostbur reaches out to do something, to help in any way he can, but it's not the water that makes him hesitate; at least, not the rain.

Clear streaks of warm water spring from the knight's red-rimmed eyes, tracking down his face. It looks wrong for a man so kind to be so distraught.

"I can't find them," Wels says. "They're all gone."

[arrowflier]

Prompt: Some silly pop culture argument and Lip and Mickey teaming up against Ian. Later Ian and Mickey have an extended playful banter about the same and laugh it out.

Little old hermit me trying to think of something😂:

Sorry it's ancient history lol but here we go.

Mickey is standing halfway out of the trailer out back, one foot on the step and one still on the cracked floor, when he hears the commotion. Voices, inside the house, rising with every word.

He slips through the door quietly, catches it before it can bang shut, easing it closed with a quiet click as the noise grows louder. He can recognize the voices now, Ian and the idiot brother he’s out here babysitting for in the first place, and he stomps toward the house with all the irritation that a man with baby drool on his shirt and a monitor in his hand can muster.

And he’s ready to take sides and take someone down when he swings the back door open and steps into the kitchen, only to find the morons in question huddled over the family laptop at the kitchen table, screaming in each other’s ears.

“All that time with your eyes in books ruined your vision,” Ian exclaims with a shove to Lip’s shoulder. He tries to grab Lip by the hair, but there isn’t enough of it anymore, and his hand slides over his brother’s eyes instead before it’s shaken off.

“Fuck you,” Lip retorts, trying the same move on Ian and succeeding thanks to the length Mickey insists his boyfriend keeps. Lip pushes Ian’s head down by the hair, shoving his face right in front of the old, flickering computer screen, and says:

“Look again. It’s blue and black, dipshit.”

Mickey blinks. What?

Ian manages to knee Lip in the balls and struggle free while he hisses, but instead of putting space between them, he steps closer until their chests bump together in some sort of macho bullshit that Mickey just sighs at.

“Who you callin’ a dipshit, moron?” Ian goads his brother. “I’m not the one that’s colorblind here.”

And Mickey still has no clue what’s going on, but he’s tired and the baby is sleeping and he doesn’t have the energy to figure it out right now. So he pushes himself off the wall he hadn’t realized he’s leaned against, and puts himself between the fighting Gallaghers with his face to Ian’s.

“Jesus, calm the fuck down in here,” he demands, twisting his head to look back at Lip once Ian immediately backs off. “Just got your kid down for a nap, screamo. You’re welcome.”

Lip has the grace to look abashed at the mention of his child. When Mickey holds out the baby monitor, he takes it.

“Yeah,” he mutters, “thanks.”

And it’s not really enough, but Mickey will take it.

“What the fuck are you two fightin’ about anyway?” he asks, moving toward Ian where the other man had collapsed onto a three-legged dining chair.

“You looked like you were about to murder each other, and as fun as that might be, seems like a weird thing to do over…what?” He glances at the open laptop, sees a picture pulled up of a party dress. “Fucking online shopping?”

“It’s a whole thing, Mickey,” Ian starts, but Lip cuts him off, coming closer to turn the laptop toward Mickey.

“What color do you think this is?” he asks, out of nowhere, and Mickey squints.

“Blue,” he answers easily, and the way Lip grins and Ian scowls makes him tense. “What, was that a trick fucking question or something?”

“Nope,” Lip answers, smug. “Got it in one, all done here.”

“Look again,” Ian urges Mickey, grabbing Lip by the arm before he can leave. “Are you sure it isn’t white and gold?”

Lip scoffs, and Mickey obediently looks again. He takes long enough that the brothers settle, watching him intently, then leans back and says,

“Why the fuck would you think that thing was yellow?”

Ian pouts.

“Didn’t say yellow,” he grumbles. “Said gold.”

“Yellow, gold, what-the-fuck ever,” Mickey says. “Something wrong with your eyes, hotshot?”

“Hey, I have twenty-twenty vision!” Ian protests, Lip laughing behind him.

“Sure,” his brother says with a nod, making his way to the door again. “That for the twenty concussions you got playin’ soldier as a kid or the twenty black eyes your boyfriend probably gave you over the years?”

“He beat you up more than me,” Ian whines, and Mickey can’t help it. He laughs. Hard enough and long enough that Lip escapes through the back door before he stops, and Ian is so busy looking at him with hurt eyes that he lets his brother go.

“What are you lookin’ at me like that for?” Mickey says once he’s finally got his breathing steady again, and the pout on Ian’s face almost sets him off anew.

“Supposed to be on my side,” he mumbles.

“What, this side?” Mickey asks, plopping down on the very edge of Ian’s chair, forcing the other man to make room so he doesn’t fall to the floor. He grabs Ian’s arm and brings it around his own shoulders, tucking himself into him more firmly, and adds:

“Yeah, I like this side.” He wiggles his ass in the seat, their hips bumping together. “This is a good side.”

“Good,” Ian returns, amused and smiling now. “Cause you gotta stay there, even if you disagree with me.”

“Fair enough,” Mickey accepts. “But I just got one question.”

Ian hums, inviting, and Mickey smirks.

“You think my eyes are gold, too, mister twenty-twenty?”

It gets a laugh, short and sharp, and Ian’s fingers jabbed against his ribs. Mickey twitches, but those fingers gentle quick enough, stroke up and down along his side.

“Nah,” Ian answers, looking down into Mickey’s eyes with softness in his own. His tone has shifted, dropped, and Mickey shivers when he bends forward to rest their foreheads together.

“Gold isn’t worth nearly enough.”

Mickey swallows.

“Fuckin’ sap,” he murmurs, letting his head fall back on Ian’s broad shoulder, bringing their faces closer together.

“For you, yeah,” Ian breathes against his lips. Mickey leans in, leans up, ready for his kiss, when Ian suddenly stands and leaves him scrambling to keep his balance.

“But it’s still white and gold, though,” Ian calls out on his way up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Mickey growls, and chases after him.

“If you don’t want your balls to be as blue as that dress, you better take that back!”

[archetypal-archivist]

Tommyinnit and Hermitcraft- Heartstone

So this builds off of the whole "Tommy has somehow found himself on Hermitcraft after the exile arc" thing that got really popular with @redorich and @petrichormeraki on tumblr. Basically it's an excuse to give Tommy therapy and 20+ parent figures. One thing that's a common thread in those stories is that Tommy is shocked that Hermitcraft has infinite respawns and all of the hermits are quick to reassure him that he really won't perma-die in their world. And I had the thought- well, what if he wasn't in their world anymore? And thus came forth 1500+ words of angst~

It begins like this. Evil X is stuck in the void, alone and with no one to talk to. He misses daylight, he misses touch, he misses hearing voices other than his own. One day, he sees something get shot through the void as if by slingshot, leaving a trail of code in its wake, tethering the whatever it is back the way it came. This is Tommy, and while he begins to get adjusted to Hermitcraft and company, Evil X watches as the string of code begins to imprint itself into the void, and eventually learns that he can interact with it, albeit only on the most superficial of levels. On Tommy's end, he slowly begins to heal from his time spent in the war zone that is the Dream SMP, making fast friends with Grian and several of the other hermits in the process. He goes pranking with his newest, winged older brother figure, laughs at the antics of Impulse, Tango, and Zedaph, builds a cobblestone tower with BDubs, etc. But for all that he's healing, such a process isn't linear. No one on the server can truly understand just what sort of stuff he has been through, and so he often finds himself alone, trying to deal with his wildest emotions by talking to himself.

One day, however, a little voice in his head starts talking back. It's rough and gravelly and not very nice at first, but it's faint enough that he chalks it up to his imagination and moves on with his life. He follows Stress around like a duckling for a day, plays squire for Welsknight, and has a roaring panic attack after an unfortunate spar with False leads to him getting flashbacks to the Pit with Technoblade. He retreats back to his tower for a good cry, and in the midst of his tears, he hears the voice again. This time it's a bit nicer, sounding unsure and a bit panicky as it tries to encourage him to stop crying, god this is awkward, kid, it'll be fine. Wait, are you a kid? You seem tall for a munchkin.

This time, Tommy knows that it isn't his imagination, but half of his old server seemed to have voices in their heads so he really isn't all that alarmed that he seemed to have developed one of his own too. And he does something that no one else does when Evil X reaches out- he starts talking back. It's rough going, at first, especially since both of them have abrasive personalities, but eventually they settle into a rough estimation of friendship that means more to them then they are willing to say. From Evil X's perspective, this is the first time someone has actually listened to him and hasn't been turned away by his violent streak, his bad manners, and lack of proper social skills. For Tommy, this is a chance to vent to someone who seems to understand his pain. It helps that neither of them are inclined to ask too many questions. Tommy, on his part, has no clue that Evil X is an actual person and not a voice in his head, while Evil X can't bring himself to ask why Tommy has left a trail of code in the void and why it's all so glitched. He especially fears asking about the perma-death clause that seems to naturally have occurred in his code.

He will come to regret this choice.

The day is like any other, at first. He begins his day with a slice of sweet melon and then flies off to whatever hermits are awake at the time to "share a meal with them." Really, it started as an excuse to make sure that Tommy was eating at least one meal day, even in his most dissociative of states, but has since turned into an opportunity to eat weird things in front of people to see their reactions. (Etho is his favorite. He's always up early and half the time, asks to try a bite of whatever Tommy is having. They both agree that spider eyes taste a lot like sour boba.) From there it's off to the shopping district to restock his dirt shop and claim his share of the profits from the hole-digging service he runs with Grian. After that, there's just enough time to complete an order or two and collect more cobble and dirt before he has to meet up with Grian to go on their biweekly End Busting session. The two usually have a lot of fun as they go about it, Tommy jokingly shoving Grian off the platform only for his adopted brother to catch himself and fly up to join him on the narrow platform spanning the emptiness once again. Every once in a while, Grian mock-threatens to do the same in return, but he knows better than to actually attempt it after he did it once and had had to catch Tommy when he started screaming and even after they had gotten back to solid ground, he wouldn't stop for the better part of half an hour.

On habits die hard, after all. Tommy may have been told time and time again by everyone on the server that infinite respawns are a thing, yes really, but he still has a hard time believing it. He actually has a rather insane number of levels racked up- even more than Xisuma, which is impressive- because in all the months that he has been on Hermitcraft, he hasn't died once. It's a combination of survival skills taught to him by Philza and his own paranoia which has kept him alive for so long, and most of the hermits agree that it is rather impressive, if not entirely healthy for him to be so scared of dying. (Doc once offered to kill him as evidence that yes, it really is safe here and you will respawn, but for all that death by crazy redstone machine might of been cool, Tommy took a hard pass on that. Grian low key took exception to Doc offering to kill his adopted little brother, really man? Not cool.)

Anyway, Grian and Tommy meet up in the End and start off bridging with the insane amount of cobble that Tommy has stored up. Usually Tommy is in front, placing the stones, and Grian is in back, watching out for any sign of a slip up, but this time they decide to switch it up a bit, head in a new direction, play around with who's doing what this time. It ends... poorly. They bridge out into the black, on and on and on, farther into the void than they ever have before. Slowly, the islands of floating white stone stop appearing with such frequency, but they become larger in size and stranger in shape. Every once in a while Grian will see what he swears to be a glowing white mountain of Endstone in the distance, although Tommy calls bullshit each and every time. They chalk it all up to bad luck and going nuts from boredom, but really, neither one of them knows how to quit while they're ahead. As the islands disappear altogether and all that remains to orient themselves is the tenuous lifeline of cobblestone beneath their feet, the unthinkable happens.

Grian slips. And Tommy, taught compassion by the very world that will now kill him, reaches out to save him.

For one, brief moment, the two brothers clasp hands- and then Grian's weight pulls Tommy right over the edge and down, down, down into the void below.

Grian fell out of the world.

Tommy fell out of the world... and into a new one.

----

Xisuma wakes up late that day. He's been doing that a lot, if he's honest, given how late he's staying up most nights finishing up builds and the like. Those hours of sleep have to come from somewhere, after all, and he's far from an early bird. He gives into the impulse to relax a bit, drinking some tea sweetened with just enough honey to rot his teeth, and then heads off to his computer room to start up his duties as admin for the day. It's the red lights that alert him to something being wrong, and at first, he thinks it's just one of hermits' cam accounts being buggy again. Perhaps it got shut off while the hermit was bridging through the void and the hermit in question simply hadn't retrieved it yet? But who would name their cam account Tommyinnit? The looming dread sits cold in his gut as he flicks his fingers to open up his admin panel... Best to check, just in case.

The death messages are clear enough- Keralis had just perished to a ravager yesterday, likely Tango's from Decked Out if he had to guess. Zedaph had been slain by a piglin twenty minutes ago. And Grian and Tommy had fallen into the void. But if that were the case... why had only one of them respawned?

On Grian's part, he comes to with a lingering chill deep in his bones and an awful headache. The bed underneath him is warm and the sheets are a soft rosy color, likely one of the ones in Scar's magical village if the persistent smell of spruce is anything to go by. He winces against the light filtering through the window and turns to the side, squinting at where Tommy had placed his blue bed right next to his, apology on his lips for his stupid mistake. The sheets are undisturbed. Huh. That's weird, he could have sworn that he and Tommy had set their respawn points at the same time. Maybe Tommy had just forgotten and he was back in his base or at spawn? Grian rises to his feet slowly, giving his body time to adjust to the colors and sounds of the Overworld, then flaps his wings and takes off to go looking for his Tommy.

He doesn't find him.

---

The reactions to Tommy's "death" are many and varied, although for the most part, the hermits are split into two camps- those that think Tommy is gone for good, and those that think he may still be out there somewhere. For the first few days of Tommy's disappearance, most everyone is in the latter camp. Xisuma spends hours upon hours scanning the code, becoming increasingly more frazzled and terrified as his lack of sleep gets to him. Tango and Doc join him in the endeavor, although none of them have any luck or are able to spot the piece of code that caused the problem. No additions, no changes to the text, nothing. Grian leads the other team, those who set out on foot and one wing and with pick in hand to scour the world for their youngest charge, taken from them too soon. They begin in a grid pattern, setting out in ones and twos to search the whole world, but as the distance increases, the neat, orderly flyovers turn into frenzied boosting as panic starts to get the better of them. Some of them hold onto their composure better than others, but Grian ends up flying over the same patch of forest three times because he can't see for his tears. False, Impulse, Welsknight, and Beef cross the Nether, fighting their way into Bastion after Bastion and leaving Nether portals in their wake. In their tracks comes the fliers- Grian, Ren, Iskall, and BDubs. Each one takes a portal and does a sweep through the corresponding patch of Overworld before picking a direction to continue the search. Cubfan, iJevin, and Scar take to the seas, Mumbo, Stress, xB, and Zedaph to the End, Etho down into the depths of the caves below. Strangely enough, there are a few hermits who don't join the search- Keralis, who got the unlucky task of taking care of Xisuma and the others searching through the code, Tinfoilchef, who doesn't provide a reason but everyone gives him a pass because of his age, and Joe Hills and Zombie Cleo, who refuse to explain themselves.

Eventually, the searches dry up. Eventually, some of the hermits admit defeat. Hundreds of thousands of blocks out from spawn, down to the bedrock below, beneath sea and sky and every place that lacks the sun. How far is too far? For Xisuma, enough is enough. Tommy is dead. The search is over.

He stops looking. And soon, others do the same.

And the tone of the server... shifts.

For the first time that any of them can remember, a person has perma-died. Sure, they've all heard the rumors, of servers where infinite respawns is not the norm, of servers where the world glitched and a creeper is supercharged enough to damage a player down to their code. But they'd never thought that one of their own would be on the receiving end of such a curse. And to the hermits, the possibility of dying themselves suddenly becomes all too real. The constant flying is the first to go, and for those that insist on it anyway (outside of Grian, who has wings), checking the elytras' durability becomes more than just a habit. Eating spider eyes and other junk is out of the question, now it's golden apples or nothing. The Nether is all but abandoned, as is the End, and everyone on the server either groups up so that they are never alone, or retreats into their bases, becoming true hermits befitting of their server's name.

The joy that had once been so characteristic of the server is gone, and in the hearts of all, there lingers the dread that any one of them might be next- although, there are still those that hold on to hope that Tommy may not be as gone as he seems.

---

The hermits who think Tommy is dead for good and have stopped searching: Doc, Etho, Xisuma, Welsknight, Grian, BDubs, Cubfan, TinfoilChef, Stress, False, Iskall.

The hermits who think Tommy is still out there, alive if still missing, and that the search should continue: Keralis, Mumbo, Tango, Vintage Beef, Impulse, Zedaph, Joe Hills, Zombie Cleo, Scar, Rendog, xB.

Doc and Etho are old. They don't like to admit it, but they've been around since the beginning, back when players were first learning how to jump servers and communicator technology was undergoing its first upgrade. They've seen a lot and know well by now that dead is dead. Tommy is dead. All that is left to do is mourn and move on, and they have shed their tears already. Call them cold for it, but in the face of a kind of drive that can keep a man going after his entire server has burnt down around his ears (Mindcrack will be missed), they know they need to keep moving forward. There are enough broken messes on the server these days, and it is through their efforts that shops remain stocked and the torches don't burn out. They hold onto normalcy with an iron grip and hope that some day, the rest of the hermits will join them in rationality.

Stress too has a comparatively healthy approach to all of this. She doesn't want it to be true, god no, but so far everything is pointing in the direction of Tommy being dead for good. She eats a couple dozen bowls of ice cream, has a some good cries, doesn't leave her base for a week, and even afterwards she can't bring herself to wear pink for a while. But she's mourning. She's accepted things. She lets her heart break, and as time passes, she lets herself heal. And that's enough for her.

Scar is of the opinion that Tommy is still out there, and while he clings to that hope with all his might, it's fragile and Cub just knows that his best friend is going to be cut to pieces when that hope inevitably breaks. So he takes Scar aside for a quiet conversation, to break his heart before the world can break it for him. Afterwards, Scar stops talking about Tommy as if he's coming back, but his smile is never as bright as it was before. And Cub's heart breaks too.

Team ZIT swings the exact opposite way as the rest and are firmly of the belief that permadeath is impossible and thus Tommy must be alive. The three of them aren’t known for their impulse control at the best of times, and with so many hermits having given up, the trio is rightfully vicious about the fact that the others, in their eyes, have abandoned their friend. Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango all kind of feed into one another and start doing lots of dangerous stunts, as if daring the universe to permakill them and prove them wrong. If one of them does something, the other two join in and escalate things, which gets impossibly dangerous very, very fast. Tango is furious, Impulse is bitter, and Zedaph is straight up heartbroken that his other friends would give up on another of their number. They do things like fly incredibly high, go cliff jumping in the Nether only to catch themselves at the last minute, and sprint across the End bridges. If they have doubts, they never voice them. Even when Tango feels like he’s burning up from the inside and wonders at his newfound hate. Even when Impulse is utterly terrified but goes along with things anyway because Tango is doing it and he can’t bear to leave a friend alone. Even when Zedaph looks at his friends and can’t help but feel scared of and for these strangers wearing the faces he knows so well. Even then.

Team ZIT often gets dragged into and starts lots of screaming fights with the other hermits who believe Tommy is dead, especially Doc, BDubs, xB, and False. False especially gets vicious, as while pvp is no longer permitted on the server, her tongue is as sharp as any blade. She believes firmly that the others are trampling on Tommy’s memory by insisting that he isn’t dead and she is determined to make them stop. And if they refuse to give up their foolishness? Well, all she might have left is her words but with them she will make them bleed.

xB and Vintage Beef are as close to neutral as you are going to get from those that get into regular arguments. xB thinks Tommy is dead until proven otherwise, while Beef thinks the exact reverse. As some of the more chill hermits, they often get dragged in to play negotiator so that the fights don’t turn physical. And some days, when someone says something particularly hurtful, they’ll close themselves up in one of xB’s bunkers and drink until they can no longer remember why they ought to be enemies. It’s hardly healthy, but they both agree that it’s better this way. Better to forget than to hurt, after all.

Grian is… somewhat the same. Sort of. He was traumatized by Tommy, the boy he adopted as his little brother, dying before his eyes, and he can’t help but blame himself. That is, when he can remember that Tommy is dead at all. After the fall, Grian’s mind was badly broken and he couldn’t accept that his little brother was dead for the longest time. He fell into two weeks of deep depression, barely eating or drinking, and eventually Iskall came and took care of him when he realized that he hadn’t seen his buddy in ages. Iskall nursed Grian back to health, only to feel his heart shatter in his breast when Grian turned to him, eyes feverishly bright and tone childlike, asking where Tommy was. The winged man’s mind couldn’t cope with the loss so it had shut down entirely, making him forget the tragedy that had occured. Iskall had deflected then, frantically trying to figure out what to say, but after a few days of Grian wandering about in a dreamlike state, his memory came back to him and he collapsed in on himself once more. The winged hermit is now locked in a loop of this, while poor Iskall is stuck trying to keep his friend alive and relatively sane.

Iskall, for his part, thinks Tommy is well and truly dead. In part because of his own certainty, in part because anything else would be even crueler for Grian. He doesn’t resent his friend for his break downs, just quietly bundles him up and clutches him close, coaxing him to eat and bathe, to put down the guilt and realize that it’ll be okay, the world won’t end with Tommy gone. He gently tries to nudge Grian down that path of acceptance of Tommy’s fate, and though he faces many setbacks, he tackles each one with a special kind of patience born of platonic love. They’re bros, despite everything. It’s only right.

Mumbo is, weirdly enough, on the side of Tommy being alive. Iskall doesn’t exactly approve and while he and Mumbo sometimes get into whispered arguments over it, they try to keep their little disagreements from Grian. Both of them only want to see their friend happy again, and will do just about anything to make it happen. For Mumbo, this means putting together crazy redstone contraptions to try and find Tommy again, as he’s certain that Grian’s little brother is still out there somewhere- and he has a piece that might prove it. Iskall comes over one day, face drawn and haggard from a night of soothing Grian through another set of screaming nightmares, only to find Mumbo waist high in redstone wiring, all hooked up to a strange portal design that looks too much like Doc’s infinity portal from season 6 for comfort. At the top of the arch is Tommy’s compass, needle whirling about like a hurricane, and while the portal isn’t lit, it does give off a faint blue-black glow. Iskall is frightened that Mumbo is tampering with something that could get him killed and Mumbo rushes to reassure him that no, the compass was specifically linked to Tommy so if Tommy was really dead, it would have been reset, right? He’s merely borrowing that tie to try and figure out where the two ends lead. Iskall is less than sure about this, especially since Mumbo is just as drawn and pale as he is, if a bit more covered in redstone, but they agree that fighting is pointless. They care about each other and about Grian too much to put any of them through that sort of pain- and besides, there’s more than enough fighting on the server already.

Ren too thinks that Tommy is alive and he is one of the ones who gets into regular fights. He’s a lover, not a fighter, but something about this whole situation just burns him up. When the pressure gets too much, he goes flying, tracing over those old familiar trails they searched so long ago, trying to see if there is anything they missed. There never is.

Welsknight has made his peace with Tomy’s death, though the server tends to forget that he and Tommy were closer than most. He alone knew that Tommy was once upon a time a boy called Theseus (a name given to him shyly when Tommy had asked him if there were any great heroes with that name that didn’t die). He alone knew Tommy’s love for horses, or that he would spend hours whispering horror stories to them when he thought no one would hear. Tommy was his squire, and although he had accepted the tragedy, he still wept for the hurt it brought him. He alone knew of the little grave he had dug under the willow tree in his castle courtyard and the headstone he had placed there, engraved with Tommy’s true name, death date, and supposed date of birth. He couldn’t have been more than 17, and perhaps that was what hurt the most. Every morning at dawn, Welsknight brings a bouquet of flowers to that little grave and says a prayer before disappearing into the morning fog. The flowers are always the same- forget me nots, for remembrance, violets, for devotion, and clover. (Think of me).

Tinfoilchef stays out of it- always has and always will. He’s too old to rush about searching or to feel as wildly as the others do. He feels, of course, but more so as the mountain does, steady and strong despite the winds that tear at its surface. Tommy is dead, but then, so are many of the people he has known in his life. It’s best to just keep plodding along.

BDubs is a mess. He had never spoken of it, but long before he had come to hermitcraft, he had had a daughter- a beautiful baby girl whose heart was too big for her chest, and she had died for that difference. He had grieved for years, but eventually the peace of the hermitcraft server had left him soothed, if a bit different than before. Tommy had been another chance at fatherhood, not that he could ever bear to call the teen that, even in the privacy of his own mind. Instead, he had taught the kid to build cobblestone towers that weren’t entirely offensive (if shaped a bit oddly) and had been the first to volunteer any time Grian was out and Tommy needed a place to spend the night when the nightmares were particularly fierce. They had so many fun sleepovers like that, and staring at those awful cobble towers in the distance, BDubs can’t help but bawl his eyes out at the memories. He waffles between taking the towers down or leaving them up- they really are ugly, and the feelings in his chest that they inspire are even more so, but somehow, he can’t bear to see them gone. Instead, he dries his eyes, flies off to grab a shulker of cobble, and sets about adding a few more to their number. A final remembrance for the boy he would have gladly claimed as his own, if only he hadn’t been too late. (He ends up building a lot more than a few).

Joe and Cleo are somehow the only ones who are actually neutral in the whole mess. Whenever they are asked their opinion on if Tommy is truly dead or not, the pair simply smile mysteriously and refuse to comment. Joe always seems to know more than he lets on and Cleo is his closest confidant, after all. Despite the anger and tears directed their way for refusing to commit to either side, the two keep their silence. (They know the truth of the matter, after all. Everything will be okay in time).

Xisuma has given up. Tommy is dead, and there is nothing he can do but spend days and days going over the code with a fine tooth comb, trying to find the glitch that cut the life of their youngest member short. Keralis takes it upon himself to take care of his long time friend, but it’s not an easy task, not when the other is so determined to make sure that such an incident never happens again. And Keralis can’t find it in himself to complain, especially since he is laboring under the impression that Xisuma agrees that Tommy is still out there and is trying to find him. It is only when Keralis mentions it in an aside, thanking the admin for his dedication, that Xisuma breaks the illusion and explains. Tommy isn’t just dead, he says tiredly, his very presence is well and truly wiped from the world’s code. All that is left of him is the faint impression his code had left behind, and trying to read it and understand what went wrong is a bit like trying to read small letters that have been drawn out in dry sand. Even for a voidwalker like himself such a task is near impossible, and Xisuma can only do so much. The needs of the many above the needs of the few- best to secure those he can now than worry over those that are gone beyond his reach. And Keralis can’t help but look at his friend with new eyes, a fleeting sense of betrayal in his heart. He had thought better of his Shishwammy, and he says as much. 

He cries while Xisuma watches on in solemn, mournful silence.

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TBC  :)

[mrpenguinpants]

Genshin: Royalty AU [V1]

I’ve been a hermit ever since covid dropped lol. Yes, you’re doing social distancing right. Imagine going outside? Ptff, what a weird concept. But I’m happy you’ve stuck around for so long despite the constant brainworms I have. Oho?? More crumbs 👀 Lemme just crack my knuckles real quick. I’m throwing a reader in just so I have an excuse to tag everyone haha. These are a lot more scuffy compared to my usual HCs but let me brainrot for a sec. 

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Genshin: Holding Hands [V1]

Genshin: When you’re cold [V1]

Genshin: University AU [V1]

Genshin: Roomate HCs [V1]

Genshin: Mythos AU - Cat Xiao

[Masterlist]

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[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@youaskedfurret​​ @diaxfeliz​​ @wintergreen-aix​​ @aethwie​​ @thegayrubberducky​​ @lovelykittycatmeow​​​ @yuunoagivesmelife​​ @dokidokisama @rokipersonal​​ @minakohasmanyhusbandos​​ @strwbrry-lia @tigerpriestess​​ @yuu-yuukurotsuki​​  @qimiie @onowie​​ @hanniejji​​​  @mikeysbike​ @unionwitch​ @musekala​ @sunnshiii​ @stanzastic​ @akaasea​ @xoneaboveallx @adoring-ghost @asheseiler @childelover @dilucsz​ @dai-tsukki-desu​ @thicmitten​ @nonniechan​ @htnicayh​ @genshins1mpact​ @morthecreator​ @aanne2601 @aklxojjk​ @fulltimeventisimp​ @legionqueensav​​​ @castinluckgamer​​​

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Zhongli

Your first impressions of Zhongli was that he was an egotistical and selfish brat. To be fair, you might have adopted some of those qualities yourself but you were both children at the time. Your sister, Guizhong, was tasked to take care of Zhongli in place of his parents which lead to your first meeting with the infamous Imperial Prince. At first, you were excited to finally meet someone who was the same age as you and Guizhong was always so kind. But when he turned to face you two, he just asked if Guizhong was supposed to be his concubine. You weren’t sure whether to gag or throw your shoe at him but Guizhong quickly intercepted before you could do anything that could get you killed. It’s only until you spent more time with him that Zhongli tells you that he has never had someone care for him or want to spend time with him without some alterative motive. 

Zhongli radiates sheltered child from birth. To outsiders, he seems really slow on normal everyday tasks but that’s because he’s never had to worry about doing mundane things. He’s always had someone else to do them for him that when he’s out in public, he just stands around and waits for someone to help him. It’s incredibly awkward for everyone in the situation when Zhongli forgets to bring mora and just stands off to the side until one of his servants comes to pick up his check. That’s how Zhongli got such a bad reputation of being a spoiled brat despite being a well-mannered and polite man. When he drops something he just turns to look at you, back at the object, then back at you. You have to pound it into your brain that no, Zhongli is not a lazy and he isn’t trying to be insulting, that’s just how he’s lived his life. When you tell him he is fully capable to picking things up, because what if he dropped something important when he was older and the wind swept it away, he pounders the thought as if you’ve just explained the meaning of the celestials to him that you give up and just pick it up for him. 

A Prince from Mondstadt named Venti used to come to Liyue for playdates while their father’s talked business and politics. He was the complete opposite of Zhongli but you genuinely liked him. While he was a bit more bolder and hyper compared to the calm and quiet Zhongli, he would always try and get Zhongli out of the palace and outside. You end up missing so many fun and interesting things when you’re locked up in your study room. How can the next Emperor care about his land when he doesn’t even know what it’s like to live there? It was the first time you and Zhongli went out just for fun and you might have gone a bit overboard in hindsight, but Venti’s personality and the feeling of freedom to do anything was addicting. Plus, watching Zhongli’s reactions to all these new feelings made him feel a bit more human. While you knew that Zhongli would do everything for Liyue, you never got the impression that his heart was in it. 

From then on, you and Zhongli try and carve some time out of his schedule to go down to the streets and have a little bit of a break. When you both built kites and scaled all the way to the mountains to fly them, it was the first time you’ve seen Zhongli be bad at something. He always had such elegance and perfection whenever his teachers asked him to do something but as soon as the kite took flight, it would stumble then come crashing down. Zhongli had the most heartbroken puppy expression on his face that you couldn’t help but burst out laughing. While you’re on the ground gasping for air and probably have the most ridiculous expression on your face, Zhongli smiles gently as he looks at you then back to Liyue. The moment is ruined when Guizhong comes running towards you both and scolds you for sneaking out. 

While it’s somewhat annoying when other attendants in palace gush about how well Zhongli is growing into becoming the next emperor, both in smarts and appearance, you have to somewhat agree with them in some places. If you want to know the history of Liyue or how to properly place a tea set, he can tell you in incredible detail. However, when it comes to social cues and interactions, he’s awful at them. Everything is treated a business deal that it makes everyone somewhat nervous or uncomfortable that you’re internally dying at any social event he goes to. But despite the awkwardness, he has a lot of admires that frequently send him letters of marriage or adoration that you have to shift through. It makes you a bit uncomfortable reading the flowery language but it surprised you a bit how many people have the misconception that Zhongli planning to have you as his spouse. When you mention this to Zhongli as a joke, he returns to his thinking pose and he contemplates the idea before nodding and agreeing with the letters. He proposes to you right then and there and it’s such a sudden development that your brain has finally broke and you pass out. 

Venti

Venti is one of those royalty types that spends so much time outside and away from his duties that he’s basically thrown his cape and crown to the wind. The first time Zhongli visited Monstadt, his first impressions of Venti were him singing to a crowd. While Zhongli doesn’t understand why Venti would spend his time on music rather than his studies, they still get along well. Mostly because Venti has a very easy going personality, even if he’s a bit blunt, but whatever comments he makes fly over Zhongli’s head. Unlike him, you’re the complete opposite. You’re a knight in training with an earnest heart that wants to protect the City of Mondstadt with your entire being. While you don’t necessarily hate Venti, because he never asked to be born into the royal family, you can’t help but get frustrated at his nonchalant attitude towards everything aside from alcohol and music. 

Your first meeting with him was during your time training under the Favonius Knights. You wanted to get a bit more practice late in the night when Venti stumbled upon you bullying a poor wooden dummy before he announces his arrival. He laughs a bit at your fumbling as you quickly get into a proper kneel but he waves it off saying it was unnecessary before he asks what you’re up to. You’re in mid-explanation when Venti cuts you off with a yawn and you can feel the irritation creeping up on you as you snap back why he’s outside instead of inside the safe walls of the castle. Your irritation grows even further when Venti smugly grins, patting himself on the back from getting a rise out of you, before he reaches into the bag you just noticed he was carrying to produce sheets of music. 

While his teacher’s drone on and on about the production of wine, he is busy writing songs in his textbooks. While he understands the importance of his role, he thinks the people can rule themselves just fine without his help. He wants to leave his crown and become a bard and live an ordinary but free life. How he’s always sneaking out to go explore without the world constantly breathing down his neck. Whether his posture is correct or if he’s memorized the history of berries wouldn’t matter. Honestly, Venti is weighing his options of either staying as a royal or leaving everything behind to pursue the life he wants. When he finishes his heart-felt speech he expects you to give him those same pitiful and woe is you eyes but you’re just angry. You can understand his sentiment, living a life that you never asked for isn’t fun, but suddenly packing your things and jumping ship would only cause chaos and conflict. At least have some sort of replacement before you leave damnit. 

Now it’s your turn to be surprised, rather than taking offense to you, a nameless knight, basically insulting the him, the Prince, he lights up in excitement. He rips his cape and crown off before he’s shoving them onto you before you can even say anything. He’s almost bouncing on his feet as he tells you that you can freely take his crown and become the next in line. You have no idea how that would work but he mentions that he knows a man named Albedo that can help change your appearance to look like him. That way, you get to protect the City you love so much and he get’s to live the life he’s always wanted. It’s completely fool proof with no flaws whatsoever! Except for the fact, that he is jumping way too far to conclusions, he’s shoving his responsibilities onto you, and most importantly, you don’t the first thing about Venti and how to act like him. 

Before you know it, Venti has dragged you to meet his Father to personally appoint you as his personal knight. He doesn’t take no for an answer even though you aren’t qualified at all to be protecting someone of high position as him but Venti’s always been a handful that someone needs to watch over him. You have no idea how one night managed to throw your entire life into this chaos but you’re not sure if you can even get out of this situation at this point. 

Kaeya

It all happened so suddenly. You and him were playing in the gardens when his father rushed in and took both of your hands and dragged you to the border to Khaenri’ah. The land you were both used to seeing, the friendly baker that would always give you both sweets, or the magic that used to flow so freely was transformed into red cubes. You were both scared and confused but as you both reached the border oh Khaenri’ah, a large gate that leads to the above world of Teyvat, his father tells you both to run as far as you could and never look back before he pushed you both in. It wasn’t until years later that you both discovered that a corrupted god had taken control of Khaenri’ah. Now, everyone believes that the Khaenri’ah prince is dead because he’s been missing for so long and whatever hope Khaenri’ah has is gone. For his own safety, he had to change his name to Kaeya and you both found yourself at the gates of Mondstadt. 

It took a lot of adjusting for the both of you but Kaeya especially. Your mother had dropped you into the care of Kaeya’s family for a short while before everything went downhill. She was a bit on the neglectful side but she was still your mother and you knew she was alive. On the other hand, Kaeya lost his entire family and nation in a single moment. Whatever pure happiness and bright personality he used to have quickly regressed until he was a shy and quiet kid. You know he blames himself for what happened even if there wasn’t anything he could have done but he’s grown a fear of outsiders so he tends to avoid other children his age. Instead finding comfort in playing with the funny looking abyss mages and slimes that are on the outskirt of Mondstadt. While he doesn’t seem bothered by the weird comments other people make of him, you know deep down he does get hurt, that it makes you so mad that you end up lashing out. 

You end up getting into a few fights as Kaeya patches you up. He scolds you and says that he doesn’t need you to go so far for him is when you make him a promise that you’ll protect him with everything you have. It’s the first moment since everything happened that he seems to gain back that life in his eyes. He blinks at you before he chuckles sheepishly and comments that you can’t even tie your shoes correctly do you stumble a bit. You’re a bit embarrassed at your sudden proclamation but stand determined about it. You both end up making a pinky promise to stay by each other’s side until the very end. 

When you’re both older and in the position of Captain and Teacher in the Favonius Knights is when he seems to be a bit more open. You both end up gaining a reputation of the laid-back Calvary Captain that bother’s the strict but kind Teacher. He’s always waltzing in the middle of you class to tease you before you end up throwing something at him to get him to stop embarrassing you in front of new recruits. You end up getting back at him with your woe is me acting and push all your paper work on him. Since he loves spending so much time in your class, he should know how to do all your paper work right?. Despite all of this, if anyone needs to find Kaeya or you, you’re basically a packaged deal. Always attached to the hip. 

Kaeya knows deep down, at some point he’s going to have to go back to Khaenri’ah and save his people but he’s conflicted. While he knows it’s selfish that he get’s to live a life of freedom, he wants to be selfish. Not just for him but for you as well. You’ve both basically lost everything and now that things are okay, he doesn’t want to give that up. While you both promised to stay together until the end, you’re the only person he has left and he doesn’t want to rope you into his mess or have you worry about him. He’s heard of the blond traveler in black and blue that is searching for the lost prince of an unnamed kingdom, knows that the peaceful life he has right now will come to an end, but he pushes it aside. Besides, there are more important things to attend to. Today might be the day he tells your students about how you fell into a lake because you got scared by a frog. 

Jean

Jean is incredibly dedicated to her role and to her people because she’s genuinely a good person and wants to see people happy. Especially her sister Barbara. She’s a bit awkward and clumsy in her execution but she has a lot of heart. Being her personal knight, you know just how hard she works and you admire her greatly for her ideals and nature. She has such a professional and gentle façe when she’s out in public but as soon as she’s behind closed doors, she’s collapsing into your arms as the world lifts for a short while. You chuckle a bit amused at how different she appears to the outside world, how the ever prime and proper Princess wakes up with a rat’s nest, how her favourite food is pizza, or how she throws these 7 inch heels out the window as soon as a ball is over. 

Due to Jean’s kind-hearted nature, when it comes to more pushy people she can’t seem to say no to. Travelers or citizens that think they can take advantage of the Princess is what makes your blood boil. While she isn’t stupid and knows that people are taking advantage of her, she wants to extend any help she can. Not for her public image but because that’s how she is. While it warms your heart that people like her exist, as her knight you can only let so many things slide. When some shady peddler tries to lead Jean somewhere, you’re already stepping in and smilingly sweetly as you grip the peddler’s hand in a death grip and not so subtlety say that he better have a good excuse for why he wants to drag the Princess away or there might be a problem. 

When Jean is overworking herself and nearing her breaking point is when you step in. You may be her knight but you’re also her friend and you know when it’s time to stop her destructive habits. She might complain and reassure you that she’s fine but you don’t accept that. If she was “fine” her temperature wouldn’t be the same level as a pyro slime and she wouldn’t have such dark circles under her eyes. It’s a simple bend and lift to carry her in your arms that she ends up stuttering before going pink and let’s you carry her to her room. While she’s screaming into her hands, you’re preparing medicine and everything she’ll need to make a full recovery. 

The hardest times for Jean is when her Father constantly pesters her to find a husband. Jean is an independent person and while yes, while being a workaholic isn’t against help, but she doesn’t believe she needs a husband just to make her entitled to rule her kingdom. Besides, Jean is secretly a hopeless romantic. You’re very tight lipped about secretly finding her love story books hidden under her bed unless you want to see her self-combust. You try your best to comfort her but there’s not a lot you can do for her situation other than offer words of reassurance and try and get her mind off things. While you’re patting her on the back she’s looking at you as if you’re the most oblivious person in the world. 

Albedo

Albedo is a renowned alchemist that helps royal families with their problems with the use of his intelligence and abilities in alchemy. Something that only a few people can do throughout Teyvat, you being one of them as well. At first, you had admired Albedo and his abilities and saw him as a bit of a role model for young alchemist. Until you actually met him in person. He’s pretty much an emotionless void of a person that he comes off as extremely unempathetic when he listens to the woes of royals. While you sort of agree, the problems that royal’s commission you for are completely ridiculous and selfish, he doesn’t have a moral compass and if he can benefit from it. He’ll do it, no matter how questionable it may seem. 

Maybe it’s because you have a little sister figure in your life to stir your moral compass but it still get’s you irritated. It’s always a joy to see Klee when you come back home from your travels that whatever bad mood you were in suddenly washes away. But when you knock on Alice’s door only to have it open to reveal Albedo holding Klee in his arms does your world come crashing down. Klee is completely ignorant to your internal screams as she scrabbles out of Albedo’s hands to give you a hug and take your hand in hers as she leads you inside. You can almost feel the inner workings of Albedo’s mind as he stares at you blankly as Klee shows you the new art she drew.  

You both don’t mention or talk about it even when you happen to cross each other’s paths outside or you both end up seeing each other at Alice’s home. It’s a bit funny to you, to the outside world Albedo seems so aloof and untouchable, and yet you’re here watching him get tired from chasing Klee around and trying to stop her destroying her home with her bombs. It almost makes you smug when Klee listens to you better than Albedo, it might seem a bit petty and small but you don’t care. He ends up getting back at you when he ends up one-upping you in front of the royal court. He does a quick scan of the room before his eyes land on you and he shoots you a small smug smile before his face returns to it’s neutral expression. You’re clapping along with everyone with the most strained smile you can muster. 

You manage to find out from Klee that Albedo enjoys drawing that the next time you see him, you ask if you could see him draw something or if he had sketches on hand. You’re fascinated by his drawings, more so than his actual research discoveries, as you look at the tiny details he’s managed to capture. Outside of Klee, no one’s really been interested in his drawings that he can’t help but feel a little flustered when you’re gushing about his work. It’s different from people praising his alchemist efforts, you’re not someone whose staring at him like he’s on a pedestal when you say you like his drawings, and it feels genuine. He offers a small smile and says that if you’d like, he’d love to show you some more sketches. 

You’ve never noticed it until other people bring it up but Albedo seems close to you. Usually once he’s done his business he leaves but if you happen to be around, he sticks around a bit longer just to speak with you. How he seems comfortable to relax in your presence and even leans in closer. How he complies with your requests without any benefit to him. You’re not sure what type of relationship you hold with Albedo. You don’t think you’re friends but you’re definitely closer than acquaintance. If taking care of a a hyper active walking bomb doesn’t bring two people closer than you don’t know what does. But at the end of the day, you find you don’t really care. Not everything needs to be labelled and categorized like things are in alchemy. People don’t seem to understand but you always duck out and escape before you’re questioned further about your personal life. Unbeknownst to you, Albedo is watching you go as he ponders your words. 

Childe

Childe is such a clown. He’s an assassin that doesn’t know the first thing about being subtle and is just in it for the fighting. He’s really just an incredibly egotistical bastard that likes being friendly with his targets, just to see their shocked expressions when it’s him that comes to take their life. He’s actually a pretty down to earth guy. While other assassins in the Fatui either have tragic backstories or some sad pitiful tale, Childe just laughs at them. His family is still alive and he’s never had any true hardships in his life. He’s pretty disliked for this reason but he’s a skilled enough fighter that it somewhat makes up for it. 

Just when Childe’s life is at its peak, is when he slips and falls into the abyss. For the first time, he had to face against a threat and in a situation he has no control over which is completely foreign to him. He barely manages to survive until he’s saved by an unknown figure that goes by the name Skirk. While he’s grateful he’s still alive, facing his mortality for the first time gives him a lot to reflect about. Thus he makes the impulse decision to train under Skirk and grow stronger until he’s able to climb out of the abyss. That’s when he meets you who was travelling with Skirk for the same reasons. Your first interactions with this unknown teen is him challenging you to a fight, just for you to throw him over your shoulder as if he weighed nothing. You expected him to get angry or cry but instead he’s standing right back up and grinning like a psychopath as he asks for another fight. You’re looking at Skirk with the most, are we seriously bringing this child with us? look. 

From then on, it’s been the three of you travelling through the floors of the abyss. Skirk tells you the stories of this place, how it used to be a great nation before corruption cause the citizens to be morphed and transformed into monsters. You and Childe learn how to fight alongside Skirk against these monsters until it ends up becoming a competition between you and Childe on who can kill the most monsters. Skirk is a bit worried that when you both are back into the outside world, if he should be worried about how morbid you both might appear. But while you’re both yelling at each other who actually landed the last kill on the regisvine while the hilichurls are cowering in a corner does he just accept that things aren’t going to change. The world will just have to accept it. If you both actually teamed up, and you have before, he thinks you both would be unstoppable but you’re both too stubborn. 

Despite your rivalry, Childe still has his big brother instincts that whenever you get hurt he’s huffing over you like a mother hen as he scolds you for being so reckless. You’re ignoring the fact that he’s bleeding out while you have minor cuts because you don’t want a crybaby Childe on your hands. Even the harsh conditions of the Abyss, you both find ways to entertain yourself. Childe always challenges you to a fight every second of the day and he always ends up with a sore back when you knock him off his feet. And he always makes the joke that you’re sweeping him off his feet which ends up with him screaming bloody murder as you charge at him. It doesn’t help when he’s still yelling comments behind his shoulder that you might get mistaken for a gorilla when you’re both outside that Skirk has gotten so used to this that he simply ignores the attempted murder going on behind him. 

When you’re both strong enough to climb to the gate of the Abyss, Skirk feels almost like a proud parent. Giving you a head pat and a hard slap to the back for Childe does Skirk wave you both off. You’re trying to mask your tears as Childe grins and promises to see you on the other side, that you’ll definitely meet up in the future no matter what. But when he finally returns to the Fatui, works his way back up to being an assassin, he almost thinks Skirk is laughing at him when he realizes that his first target is you. Not that he’s bothered by it, he'll be happy to see you again and see if he can finally beat you. 

Baizhu

Baizhu is the most suspicious doctor in the history of all doctors. Some citizens aren’t even sure if he’s a qualified doctor but alas, he’s very good at his job and is a lot more tolerable compared to the Alchemist Albedo so that’s how he’s been able to keep his job. He works under the Liyue emperor so even if citizens had issues with him, it’s not like they could do anything in the first place. People aren’t sure whether he’s joking or being honest when he explains what he’s been privately working on behind the scenes. From experiments to rituals, they are taken aback but Baizhu just smiles and says he’s just kidding. Being his assistant, you have to constantly reassure others that Baizhu is a bit of a sadist and likes to get a rise out of people. Besides, why would a doctor be so interested in those type of things? It’s incredibly unnerving but no one questions it. They won’t know what to do in the first place if their suspicious are correct. 

While Baizhu knows how to do his job, he’s always sending you to do the dirty work. From getting medicinal plants up on the very top of mountains or bringing cranky old men their prescriptions, whenever you’re done one task he’s got three more for you. He could at the very least take the trash out while he’s busy doing nothing. At least the job has a few perks. You’ve always had numerous health issues and while Baizhu’s reputation is a bit on thin ice, you wouldn’t trust anyone else to look you over. He’s a bit weird about it, you’re pretty sure Baizhu will never love another person emotionally but when it comes to the science behind a human body, he’s absolutely smitten. He tries to reassure you that he does care for the wellbeing of Liyue but you wave it off at him trying to butter you up before he asks something ridiculous of you. 

You and his snake, Changsheng, do not like each other. You think she’s an annoying and bratty snake that Baizhu needs to throw into a jar to shut up while she thinks you’re a complete nuisance and doesn’t understand why Baizhu keeps you around. Baizhu has tried to get you both to reconcile but it always devolves into a petty argument of back-handed insults until Baizhu has enough and tells you both to quiet down. To be truthful, both of your hatred towards each other stems from two completely different reasons rather than disliking each other’s personality, but you can never bring it up to Baizhu. It’s not a conversation anyone wants to have. 

If he has one positive, it’s his adopted daughter Qiqi who is just an absolute sweetheart. She’s shy and prefers to follow after Baizhu and you like a lost duckling. While Baizhu might be the worst boss in this history of all bosses, it makes you grin smugly internally when Qiqi chooses to stay cuddled in your arms instead of his. Qiqi is 95% the reason why you stay in this job, not that Baizhu would ever let you leave, because you’ve genuinely grown fond of someone for the first time the same way she has for you. You bring her along whenever you need to give prescriptions to citizens just so she isn’t stuck in within the same four walls and the locals love her. From her forgetful nature or how she shy’s behind your legs whenever someone new approach's you both. It’s so cute that people tend to ignore the floating rumours that Baizhu is reanimating his previously deceased family. 

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I have no idea if I’m just uncultured or if “Always and Forever” Au’s are a thing. I hope you all like this 👉👈 it’s kind of messy and all over the place and I lowkey don’t know if I like my brainrot (there’s a lot of issues ik). I kinda want to do a part 2 where I include other characters but let me know if that’s something interesting? Oh and feel free to add to this, I’d love to hear your ideas.