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fromthedeskoftheminister · 4 months

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Chapter 2: Simulations still have Consequences - Now on AO3

It’s a stinging ache in his hand that brings him back to himself. Tango blinks, absently notices that there is the taste of ash in his mouth along with a sharp pain in his throat. Also a slight ache in his wrist, a wet pain in his knuckles and a mild headache now that he is thinking about it. He blinks again. He’s lost time, but he doesn't know how much or why. There are more empty tubes than there were before and no one is around in the central bay which means getting everyone else out has been put on pause for a moment because....

He goes down the line. Ah. Doc's out. And given the number of prosthetics and other cybernetics the man has? Well, the hermits on welcoming duty are probably having a time of it wrangling the good doctor away from his lab and or into medical. Depending. Ok. So, he's lost some time, but not as much as he thought but why did he?

Frantic motion draws his eye and he turns slightly to see Jevin waving at him. Confused he waves back. Jevin goes formless for a moment, slumping slightly before literally pulling himself back together. It’s... relief? Tango thinks as he watches Jev pantomime breathing at him. Which is good if a bit weird, given that Jevin is quite literally a slime and breaths through diffusion and not with lungs on account of not having any? Tango himself is breathing normally, despite the weird taste in his mouth and the pain in his throat.

He sees the moment that Jevin realizes that he’s not comprehending. The slime pulls in on himself condensing ever so slightly before wibbling and pointing to the pod kitty-cornered from him. The pod where all Tango can see is someone’s back from where they're splayed-out face down on the floor.

Short term memory kicks in. It hits him.

Impulse. Impulse collapsed. Impulse collapsed and Tango is trapped. He's stuck waiting for his tube to depressurize and THERE ARE NO HERMITS OUTSIDE THE PODS IN THE MAIN BAY.

He breaths in, breaths out, ignores the little jet of flame that escapes through his clenched teeth. Jevin clearly sees it and pushes himself closer to the glass, watching unblinking with unmistakable worry.

Ah. Ok. That's what happened last time. He lost his cool, lost control, and probably burned off the extra oxygen in his pod. Right. That tracks. It also explains his sore throat and mild headache. He breaths in again, holds it, and exhales a long steady stream that this time, thankfully, comes out flameless. He points at Impulse’s pod, cocks his head in question, and makes exaggerated breathing motions. Jevin nods and flashes him a thumbs up. Right. Ok. He runs his clawed through filamentous blond hair, before tugging slightly on the strands as he thinks. Impulse will be fine, he tells himself. He's breathing normally, or so Tango is choosing to believe. Jevin would...well…probably notice if he wasn't. Hopefully. Maybe? Dang it, there has got to be something that he can do other than just waiting.

Staring vacantly across the room Tango starts mentally running through his options, discarding most of them just as quickly as he thinks of them. His eyes suddenly refocus on Impulse's Pod. Had Impulse moved? Tango couldn’t be sure. Was what he thought he saw just the product of wishful thinking? No. There it was again. That was definitely movement. Tango held his breath and leaned forward, hoping that it was Impulse pushing himself upright before jumping back as far as the pod would allow. The back of Impulse's shirt started writhing and roiling as if something was trapped and trying to escape. Had Impulse somehow managed to pick up a bit of the void? Was that even possible?

He waved at Jevin and pointed at Impulses pod, head cocked in a questioning matter. The shrug and mildly disturbed look he got in response did not fill him with confidence in the slightest.

As suddenly as it started, the movement stopped. Tango held his breath. One, two, three... And when nothing happened, he let it out. Clearly whatever that had been, it was over. Unfortunately, it being over didn't seem to be bringing Impulse any relief however. Tango winced in sympathy as Impulse endured a full body shudder before rolling over, seemingly curled over his knees in discomfort or pain. The entire thing was hard to watch and Tango laid his hand upon the glass wishing yet again that he could do something.

His hand clenched reflexively as he observed Impulse’s suffering through yet another spasm. He now could see a visible wet patch spreading on Impulse’s back. A glossy black mass oozed out from under, or was it through, the shirt. It sat there mostly contained before it ungulated violently, throwing itself outwards, shredding the shirt in the process. It collided against the walls of the glass tube with, what was probably audible in the main bay, a wet squelchy thud. The mass rose up and strained against the glass and hung suspended for a moment before collapsing inwards completely hiding Impulse from view.

Startled red eyes met his shocked black ones and Tango didn't need to be able to hear to hear Jevin's startled exclamation of "What in the Hels?"

The black mass obscuring Impulse from view surged upwards yet again, this time punching through the glass as if it were mere paper. Glass and warped copper framing seemed to hang suspended in the air as time seemed to crawl to a stop. Tango was frozen in place as he watched the scene advance in fits and starts like bad stop-motion animation. The dark mass continued to expand upwards. Flashes of light caught and rebounded off of the slowly falling shards of glass reminiscent of torchlight on deepslate diamond ore or nether stars on black concrete. Despite being unable to hear through the tube Tango’s mind conjured the sound of distorted chimes as fragmented metal and glass hit the grating on the floor one by one.

Jerkily the darkness expanded and finally seemed to reach its fullest extent. It unfurled from its previous amorphous mass to reveal, not some sort of void parasite, but instead a pair of massive wings. The wings flexed slightly into a stretch of some sort. The odd angle and lighting of the room highlighted wing bones of gold tipped with gilded claws and dark purple swirling patterns within the wing membrane. Tango could only stare in awe. While he knew Impulse had wings, he’d never seen them. Not like this. In fact, he couldn’t recall when he had last seen Impulse's wings at all.

Suddenly, time seemed to snap back to normal like a broken tripwire. Everything came crashing down all at once to the floor; glass, metal, wings and all. Tango stared, uncomprehending as he watched the wings falling, heading straight for the jagged edges remaining on the broken pod. To his horror there was no visible attempt at all from Impulse to control their descent.

Tango slammed his hand down on the emergency release button, clutching the console as his legs threatened to give out under him. He didn’t know if he had made it in time, or how he had managed to get out of his pod in the first place. The new ache in his knuckles gave him some idea about that, however. He turned, relived to see that his not at all thought out action had in fact worked. The broken remains of Impulse’s pod were receding into the floor with a grinding whine.

The rest of Hermits sat or stumbled out of their own pod ports as the emergency release sequence continued. He didn’t pay much attention, certain that they would be able to get his, or someone else’s, attention if another medical emergency occurred. Ignoring the noises as the pods released and retracted he pushed forwards, limping towards Impulse’s pod.

Distracted as he was by examining what he could see of Impulse’s wings for punctures and tears, Tango completely missed stepping over the lip of the pod dock and pitched forward with a startled noise. Only a quick twist prevented him from landing atop his buddy. Luckily now that he was down on the floor it was the work of a moment to brace Impulse's head with his legs while using his clawed fingers to press themselves against Impulse’s neck, just below his pointier than normal ears.

He waited, a moment, now two. There was nothing, nothing at all that he could feel under his fingers. Not even the up down motions to indicate breathing. And then, Impulse let out an audible whimper despite the clear lack of a pulse. He pushed his head into Tango's hand and Tango wishes for an extra hand so he could smack himself in the face. Right. Ok. Nonstandard biology. He manages to shift his position slightly, detaching his shirt from Impulse’s horns, before moving his hand to the middle of Impulse's back, right between the wings. He waits, steadying his own breathing as he focuses on the movement under his hands. There. Breathing. And… Thud-bump. Thud-bump. Thud-bump. Heartbeat. Faster than normal, but steady. Breathing itself is also shallow, but unobstructed and regular and Tango hisses out a sigh of relief. Right. Now that he’s found it he can monitor the pattern.

"That sounds promising, dude." Comes Jevin's voice from right beside him and Tango jumps. Or well as much as he can situated as he is letting out a splutter of sounds. He twists slightly, and there Jevin is, standing at the lip of the pod dock. "Sorry. Impulse alright?"

Tango shrugs and moves his hand from Impulse’s head, sketching a couple of glyphs into the air. "Probably not?" he offers as orange and blue sparks follow his fingertips forming two disconnected corners that he separates with a quick flick. He waits for the parallel lines to start to form between them before he continues. "I mean, he’s breathing and his heart rate is steady even if it’s faster than a one tick pulse but this really isn't normal so clearly somethings wrong"

"No kidding."

There's a pause and when nothing more seems forthcoming Tango's attention returns to the floating design in front of him and the words spilling across it, scrolling almost faster than he can read them.

"...thought he was human." someone else murmurs from behind him and Tango snorts at that.

"Impy? Human? Well he does like his glamours." He says offhandedly then freezes. Glamours. Shit. Maybe? And scrolls back several lines. "Someone call Skizz." he demands, frantically scanning the code in front of him, all humor gone from his voice.

"I’m on it" another voice says

Tango does not pay attention as he rereads that last line of code. He vaguely notices a gentle be-doo-do be-doo-do comes from behind him, getting closer. Tango still isn’t really paying attention, focusing instead on Impulse's spine as he gently taps down it. He swears slightly as pale lavender and gold glyphs glimmer into existence. They look ragged and worn down. None of them appear to be at full strength with a few only barely visible. Some of the glyphs that Tango knows Impulse should have are either shattered or have disappeared entirely. That’s clearly not good. As he watches, another fades out, then breaks with a sort of audible snap, and Tango can feel Impulse's jaw start to rearrange itself from where its pressed against his leg. Oh Crap!

Tango breaths in then breaths out a steady stream of white blue flame. He reaches into the conflagration and twists a thread free and looks at it for a moment "Devs beyond I hope this works" he mutters and brings it down, touching it to the weakest of the glyphs. Blue white meets gold, and the entire line flares. It pulses, once, twice as the lilac that should be royal purple is overwhelmed and replaced but now a regularly flickering blue as Tango feeds more of the fire woven thread into it.

It seems his action was just in time too, as a number on the main display for Impulse ticks over to zero.

Suddenly an excited "PERALIEPOP" sounds right next to his ear. "Whazzup Buddeh?"

"Skizz." Tango all but growls cutting off any response Pearl, of course its Pearl, might give.

"Top?" comes the confused voice of Skizzleman from the comm next to him.

"Can you call Impulse?" He asks, watching the depleted number, waiting, hoping that it'll tick up.

"Dippledop? Sure, why? Isn't he with you?"

"Nonono, I mean Call Impulse," he says, emphasizing the last two words.

He can almost hear Skizzleman's blink before what he has asked for clicks, "OH! Oh. Yeah. What's wrong with Professor Dippledop?"

"Best guess? Cascading Glamour failure? With," he squints at the lines he'd highlighted, "Aural exhaustion and a compounding geas? I think? I'm not fluent in this, man. His glyphs and mine are very, very different things."

"But are they holding?" Skizz asks over what sounds like chests or shulkers being flung open.

"No. I'm holding them for him. He's out, Skizz," Tango mutters.

Tango breathes a surreptitious sigh of relief as the number finally starts to tick upwards.

"Right." The sounds of more shuffling comes over the line. "Ok. I’ve got everything. Give me 5 minutes to set up then drop your hold, unless you wanna come with him."

"Can’t. Someone's gonna have to summonificate him to season 8 when we get there."

"Gotcha, gotcha buddy. Right, set a timer, I'm doing this on the dot, Catch ya later Pop n Top."

There was a click as the call disconnected and Tango took another glance at the glyphs on Impulse's back. They were pulsing now, in time with the slowing heartbeat.

"Ok." he announced to the room at large, "Now he'll be Ok." he looked up at the crowd of hermits who had gathered around him. "Or he will in 5 minutes. No one suffering decomp sickness? I didn’t bother to check what the levels were at before I hit the release."

"I've set a timer," Said Pearl. "And we're fine, but you need some bandages, mate"

Tango blinked at her, "What?"

"I got it," said Zed pushing through a group of hermits carrying a small white box.

"But I'm fine?" Tango protested as Jevin gestured towards his foot.

"You're really not dude, you left a trail."

"I left a what?"

Jevin doesn’t answer, just gestures. Tango looks back at the rest of the bay. It’s more of a mess than he realized. Shards of metal and glass are scattered across the room, radiating outwards not only from Impulse's pod but also from his own. A strange colored goopy trail of footprints appears on the concrete by the central console and then disappears again on the grating. He squints at it, confused to see what looks like blood mixed with suspension fluid.

"Who's bleeding?" he asks confused.

"You, Tango. Foot. Now!" Zed says.

Well that answers that question Tango thought.

"Kinda attached to those Zed."

"And we're kinda attached to you. Foot. Now."

Tango's prevented from answering as Pearl states, "Tango, let go whatever it is you’re holding for Impulse in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1" and an alarm goes off, shrill and right in his ear.

Tango winces and pulls his hands back, swiping through the thread that’s now trailing off into nothing and it fades. The glyphs on Impulses back fade slightly, but no one gets a chance to see by how much because moments after he's let go, there’s a “vworp” and all that’s left where Impulse was is a shower of purple particles, redstone dust and a few gold nuggets.

There’s a moment of stunned disbelief, and Tango can feel everyone’s eyes on him as he stands, scooping up the redstone and gold which he pockets. He'll figure out the enscryption on the gold later so that he knows where he’s gonna have to summon Impulse from, but his job is done now and he is very aware that his foot hurts.

"Ow!" he says looking down at it, and at the smear of blood that is oozing out from under his right foot.

It’s his ow that breaks the spell apparently, as the hermits around him start clamoring for answers as Zedaph tugs him to sit grabbing his foot and holding it hostage. Looking at this crowd of goofs that he calls family it’s all Tango can do to not laugh as most of them try to reign in their curiosity as they take turns making sure everyone else is all right some of them clearly itching to address the winged elephant which is no longer in the room. He knows he needs have to give some sort of answer for them eventually but it can wait, he thinks with a wince as Zedaph removes a piece of glass from his foot. He just hopes he can come up with something reasonable explanation wise until he has a chance to talk with Impulse and figure out just how much his buddy is ok with the other hermits knowing.

Magical Emergencies of the Big Moon Variety

Summary: Not everyone adjusts well to being unceremoniously ejected from a collective simulation. Even if it only lasted for approximately 6 months ship time, it certainly felt a lot longer. Some of the adjustments that need to be made are minor in nature. Others… are a bit more serious and require outside assistance which youd think would be hard to come by in space. Look familiar? Unedited Pt 1, Unedited Pt 2,

Read the edited version on AO3

Tango spread his fingers against the glass his hand flexing absently as he greedily drank in the sights of his friends and family. He couldn’t tell if the relief that he was feeling was from the simple joy that his family were all in fact alive and in, uh, various states of wellness or from the more selfish realization that he hadn’t failed in his quest to blow up the moon. The simulation had ended quite abruptly, moments before moon-fall. If Tango had to guess, the resulting cataclysm had catapulted them back into their bodies and awareness of the real world without so much as a by your leave. From his vantage point it was very obvious that some of them had not handled the transition well at all.

His eyes drifted down the line of Hermits as they all waited, with varying levels of patience, for the Pods to finish draining and equalize to the internal atmosphere of the Hermitheius. Bdubs was pressed up against the glass, as close as he could get to the center of the room and by default the rest of the hermits, eyes wider than normal. Their gazes met and Bdubs’ grin nearly split his face in two, eyes watering. Tango flashed him a quick smirk and a thumbs up. His focus wandered again, this time seeking out the third member of their trio. Keralis was sitting peacefully on the floor of his own pod making faces at XB, but he offered a wave of his own when Tango managed to catch his eye. Basemates accounted for, Tango turned his attention to the rest of his friends. From where he was already looking, it was easiest to find Zedaph, skipping over and noting a few empty pods in the process. He’d been a bit concerned for Zed, isolated as he had been for the entirety of the simulation but there was no way to tell what was going through his buddy’s head normally let alone right now. In fact, Zed was still sitting back to the room and staring out the window closest to his pod into the void of space, just as he had been since Tango had awakened.

A fine mist of condensation floated across the room before dissipating. Tango traced it to its source finding what looked like a joyous cacophony of noise as Bdubs’ upon release from his pod had launched himself into the arms of a mildly surprised Etho. Tango was unsure exactly why as he had spotted the other man hovering near Bdubs pod for as long as he had been aware. Etho hadn't been the only one present either, even if he was the only one currently lingering. Iskall, Stress, Wels and TFC had left the simulation early and Tango had seen all of them as they wandered through, checking in on everyone before wandering off again. Wels had even stopped to chat when Tango had waived him down while waiting for his pod to finish draining.

It was hard to communicate through glass without communicators but luckily his pantomimes and pidgin sign language had been fairly easy to understand. At least Wels had gotten the gist of what Tango wanted to know, and had been fairly obliging in his explanations. The five hermits who had ended up leaving the simulation early had simply opted to remain out of the simulation rather than constantly hopping back in and out again during the long trip to Season 8. He’d also managed to convey that he and Stress had had been working on a project with Iskall. It was when Renbob had wandered through that Wels had left to chase the hippie back to his bed. Tango wasn’t put off by the abrupt ending to their acted out conversation. Earlier Wels had indicated that both Renbob and the Goatfather had worked themselves to exhaustion trying to make sure that Boatem had made it out safely as they had been last group to get booted. It had been a much more complicated and trying process than anyone had been prepared for and none of them were sure exactly where the problem had originated. Something, something, resetting respawns, sleep deprivation and maybe the void but there wasn't much of a chance for any elaboration before Wels darted off to play nurse in shining armor.

Even with the heads up, Tango would have probably been the most concerned about the members of Boatem. Pearl had swum to the top of her half-drained pod and was floating on her back, legs pressed up against the glass and watching the room upside down seemingly giggling at random. Scar seemed entirely unperturbed and unphased as he waited for his pod to drain, not that he was paying any attention to the rest of the group. Instead, he was sitting cattywampus on the floor of his pod, legs stretched out in front of him, cooing at Jelly who was batting ineffectually at his fingers through the glass. Mumbo on the other hand was standing straight up in the dead center of his pod, nervously running his hands through his hair and avoiding all eye contact despite the fact that he couldn’t seem to stop glancing around at all the people in the room with the exception of Grian. Speaking of Grian, he was also standing in the center of his pod, blank and expressionless, seemingly staring through everything but still watching it all. It was rather eerie and reminded Tango uncomfortably of how Grian had been when he had first joined their merry band of misfits. Still, that was a problem for another time and quite possibly another bunch of hermits. Tango was going to have his hands full as it was, trying to help Zed who was still staring out the window; and that didn’t even account for Impulse.

Out of everyone, it was Impulse who was concerning Tango the most not that he could put his finger on what exactly was sending up the alarm bells. He didn’t look worse off than anyone else in Boatem sitting as he was on the far side of his pod. His buddy was slouched slightly with his back against the glass and one arm loosely resting on a bent knee. From where he was across the room, it was impossible to make out any sort of expression on Impulse’s face but from how it rested against the glass, turned upwards and eyes closed it was probably safe to assume that there wasn’t one.

Tango frowned slightly, as he made eye contact with Jevin and gestured over at Impulse. Jevin thankfully, got the picture and after a moment put his hands together on one side of his tilted head in a pantomime of sleep. Tango let out a sigh of relief but his worry did not abate and he continued to stare. While he wanted his buddy to get some much-needed rest, really Mumbo how was sleep deprivation supposed to help prevent Moon Big at all, Devs sometimes Boatem made him despair, something was still wrong. Something just… felt off. He could feel it in his bones, as Impulse would say. Still, he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly it was.

Another puff of condensation due to the release of pressurized air floated through the room. Another Hermit’s pod had finished equalizing. Probably Cub? Tango glanced over, and yep, that was definitely Cub, sharp teeth, tattered wings and overly blue eyes and all, moving as if he was expecting there to be simultaneously more and less gravity than there actually was. That was certainly interesting. Hadn’t Cub also attempted to escape Moon-fall by going to space? Thoughts wandering, Tango jumped when his gaze returned to Impulse only to find one cracked eye blearily peering at him.

Tango couldn’t help himself as he threw his arms up and cheered, “IMPULSE! Hey! There you are!”

There was no response, not that Tango had expected one. He knew Impulse wouldn’t be able to hear him but still a wave or something would have been nice. His arms fell as Impulse continued to stare, not at him but through him, before the heavily lidded eyelid slid shut.

“Impy?” Tango said, mainly for his own benifit.

Both eyes opened this time. Had he not been so worried, Tango would have lost it laughing. Trust Impulse’s hatred of that nickname to cause a reaction even when the other couldn’t hear it. Tango didn’t relish the hilarity of that for very long however, as Impulse’s head dropped ever so slightly, the lights of the room hitting at exactly the right angle for him to catch an unobstructed view of eyeshine from not normally yellow glassy eyes.

Oh.

That.

That was bad.

That was so very very bad.

“Impy?” he tried again mentally cursing the slowness of the tube’s equalization cycle, as he caught his buddy's gaze.

One eye closed, followed by the other before opening again, one after the other in a strange facsimile of a blink. That was weird, even by his standards and the feeling that something was wrong only grew. But Hey! He definitely, somehow, had Impulse’s attention. Because that? That was a response. It had to be. Tango watched as Impulse blinked, once more, this time a lot closer together and looking a lot more like normal. Progress!

“C’mon Impy!” Tango crooned. He’d take Impulse being annoyed with him if he could actually get a coherent response. “Up an attem buddy! You can do it!”

Impulse could not in fact do it, and Tango watched in horror as Impulse’s eyes closed and he listed sideways, sliding down the glass and smashing his face on the floor of his pod.

And

Tango’s

Vision

goes

WHITE

#hermitcraft fanfic #hermitcraft season 8 #moon big #crossposted to ao3 #finally beta'd #Starring #tangotek #impulsesv #iJevin #Zedaph #Pearl | PeralescentMoon #Skizzleman #mentions of the whole dang Hermitcraft ensemble and then some #and now we return to your regularly scheduled content warnings #non human hermits #of an undescribed plethora of origins and species #unreality #ala matrix style shenanigans #sickfic #hurt/comfort #passing out #injury #body horror #is it still body horror if its completely natural to the person in question and just really surprising and disturbing looking to others #just asking for uh.... future reference?#and now for something completely different: A Disclaimer!#the characters you see before you are intended to be the block people personas/characters and not the creators themselves #ive simply borrowed their likeness for my and hopefully your amusement #And so that's it #there it is

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 4 months

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ao3 wrapped [writers edition]

How many words have you written this year?

How many works did you publish this year?

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

What work of yours has the most hits?

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

Favorite title you used

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

What work was the quickest to write?

What work took you the longest to write?

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

What’s your longest work of the year?

What’s your shortest work of the year?

What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

Your favorite character to write this year?

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

Which work of yours have you reread the most?

How many kudos in total did you get this year?

Which work has the most comments?

Did you do any collaborative works this year?

Did you write any gifts this year?

Did you receive any gifts this year?

What’s your most common category?

What do you listen to while writing?

Favorite work you wrote this year?

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Biggest surprise while writing this year?

#yeah sure why not #ask meme #ask me things!

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 4 months

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The unassuming growth of moss on a rock

Find it on AO3

Moss!etho. I hope.

He leaves bits and pieces of himself behind everywhere he goes.

Sometimes it’s intentional, a slow steady creeping thing as he relaxes and sprawls and takes his time investigating and incorporating the new resources that he finds. He wanders through the structures of himself, part of but separate from the world he lives in, emerging where he chooses depending on what he wants to look at. It startles the others sometimes, when he decides to check on his far flung pieces. After all, to them, he simply appears from nowhere and past experiences have taught him that redstone is much easier to explain than his own workings. Not that he hasn’t tried. Doc and Stress were the only ones to even slightly understand the last time he tried.

Other times it’s… really not. Intentional that is. He…. Sheds. for lack of a better term and as embarrassing as that sounds. those bits are carried off by the winds and the rains, settling wherever they find a place. Most times, they land in places already familiar. New to him but places he’s already existed. Those he leaves alone to grow for the most part. Sometimes they land and anchor in interesting places. The Badlands, the Modlands, the Deep End once or twice, and when the whim takes him he’ll do as he always does and grow himself anew then wander off to explore once more. Sometimes, he ends up being carried, unintentionally for the most part. Those normally die off on their own but others he maintains. Not much, or to any great depth, but it’s a very unobtrusive way to keep track of his friends. Very few of them know enough to notice the green fuzz he leaves behind when he inhabits an area for too long. Those that do…. Well. He knows Doc for one, has simply forgotten or doesn’t care if he hasn’t.

Interesting places and interesting people doesn’t always mean things are safe for him to grow. Still the risk and reward are often worth occasionally losing pieces of himself. Life is like that sometimes. He stares down at the book in his hand. Grian‘s Life experiments even more so. 3rd life had been a happy accident, he had simply been curious to see what so many of his friends had been doing in those unassuming plains away from Hermitcraft. Last Life had been happenstance. Double and Limited life had been intentional. The chance to play, to grow, to experiment, without worrying about wasted resources because he would loose that piece anyways? And the knowledge gained? It’s worth the emotional stuff he thinks as he signs the invitation book to let Grian know he’s accepted.

Task done, he relaxes spreading his toes into the dirt beneath him once more leaving minuscule traces of himself behind. One thing still puzzles him as he turns back to digging up clay for the bricks he needs. Given everything that happened in the life experiment He still doesn’t know how to feel about Cleo‘s awareness and apparently willingness to continue to carry him.

Hello hello! I dont know if ive been here yet but!! Dont mind me spreading some moss etho arctic bdubs propaganda here :> for the fanon swap that is pffffffff

(if i have been i apologize! Ive got some memory issues going on and ive been sending a lot of these out ehdhehdhrh)

Hi hello! You’ve not sent me anything yet and I appreciate the hermit propaganda. I am a writer tho and not much of an artist and the idea of moss etho was so very very fascinating that I’ve now written a bit on my phone as I sit in transit. I’ll be adding it on to this post via my writing tumblr in like a couple of minutes. Couldn’t do much for the arctic Bdubs bit though, sorry about that. He’s not one of my hermits and I do not trust myself to get his voice right. I’m not even sure I got Etho down, but I hope you like it anyway.

#answered asks #inqueries answered in a vaguely reasonable timeframe #hermitcraft fanfic #ethoslab #hermitcraft fanon swap #moss etho #non human hermits #crossposted to ao3 #detritus from the desk #from the desk of the minister #i hope you like this kiwi #it ended up being more lichen etho than moss etho but the idea grabbed me so here you go

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 4 months

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Magical Emergencies of the Big Moon Variety

Read the edited version on AO3

Tango couldn’t help himself as he threw his arms up and cheered, “IMPULSE! Hey! There you are!”

“Impy?” Tango said, mainly for his own benifit.

Oh.

That.

That was bad.

That was so very very bad.

“Impy?” he tried again mentally cursing the slowness of the tube’s equalization cycle, as he caught his buddy's gaze.

“C’mon Impy!” Tango crooned. He’d take Impulse being annoyed with him if he could actually get a coherent response. “Up an attem buddy! You can do it!”

Impulse could not in fact do it, and Tango watched in horror as Impulse’s eyes closed and he listed sideways, sliding down the glass and smashing his face on the floor of his pod.

And

Tango’s

Vision

goes

WHITE

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 4 months

Text

Magical Emergencies of the Big Moon Variety

Read the edited version on AO3

Tango couldn’t help himself as he threw his arms up and cheered, “IMPULSE! Hey! There you are!”

“Impy?” Tango said, mainly for his own benifit.

Oh.

That.

That was bad.

That was so very very bad.

“Impy?” he tried again mentally cursing the slowness of the tube’s equalization cycle, as he caught his buddy's gaze.

“C’mon Impy!” Tango crooned. He’d take Impulse being annoyed with him if he could actually get a coherent response. “Up an attem buddy! You can do it!”

Impulse could not in fact do it, and Tango watched in horror as Impulse’s eyes closed and he listed sideways, sliding down the glass and smashing his face on the floor of his pod.

And

Tango’s

Vision

goes

WHITE

#moon big #hermitcraft fanfic #hermitcraft season 8 #hermitcraft #crossposted to ao3 #been a minute #happy moonfall day everyone #impact day?#i dunno which is better #2 years since the moon crashed and moon big still lives rent free in my brain #originally wrote this last year #was happy enough to share earlier this year #but now its finally edited and on ao3 #Starring #tango of the tek variety #impulsesv #Welsknight #iJevin #mentions of the whole dang Hermitcraft ensemble and then some #and now we return to your regularly scheduled content warnings #non human hermits #of an undescribed plethora of origins and species #unreality #ala matrix style shenanigans #sickfic #hurt/comfort #passing out #and now for something completely different: A Disclaimer!#the characters you see before you are intended to be the block people personas/characters and not the creators themselves #ive simply borrowed their likeness for my and hopefully your amusement

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 9 months

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Aimless in the Starlight

Summary: They say curiosity drives people. And that drive starts with trying to figure out what you don’t know. But when you don’t know what you don’t know, much less the things you know you’re supposed to know everything ends up a bit of a muddled mess. Read it on Ao3! Vaugely Beta’d by the marvelous OceanstoForests!

****

“There’s…” Voices were talking, people were nearby but the blackness was all consuming and comfortable. It was so easy to ignore them and slip back into it. A slightly disjointed and gradually increasing pounding noise made it impossible to remain there for long. The voices were closer now, an indecipherable murmur before the word „Ceepeaer?“ came through.

No, that wasn’t needed whatever it was. What was needed was the darkness and it was a struggle to stay in its safety. And then there was pressure, lightly as if searching for something, and a different voice saying "Pulse is there, but slow. Still not breathing?"

Oh. Breathing. That was supposed to be happening. Probably. People were more comfortable if one was breathing. But if breathing was happening then the comforting darkness would go. More hands, slight movement, and then sudden heavy pressure. It relented but not for long. It was there again, then it backed off once more, then again, and again and then the choice was taken as a sudden forced influx of air kick started that whole breathing process, catapulting him out of the darkness.

He shot upright, not acknowledging his near collision with the two voices as everything flooded in, assaulting him with a cacophony of sensations. He was aware of everything from the recycled and stale air to the bright florescent lights catching and throwing little daggers into his eyes before he had closed them. Adding to the overwhelming assult was the ever present and inescapable low thrum that he could both feel and hear sitting on the metal grate as he was. He cracked his eyes open just a sliver, registering only the colors of pink and jade before squeezing his eyes closed once more. He couldn’t even look at them. It was all too much and he went back to trying to ignore all of the everything that was happening but it was futile. A deep breath caused something in his chest to spasm and he lurched forward, hunching over himself and coughing up a storm as his lungs tried to vacate his body.

Despite the suddenness of his movements, the voices apparently didn’t think of him as much of a threat, which was a thought that made no sense, why would he be a threat, for there were cool gentle hands on him, encouraging him to stop curling in over himself with a soft “Nonono, don't hunch over, that won’t help. They really don't sound good, Dan Heng. Are you sure you did it right?“ While another set of hands braced him slightly and rubbed soothing circles into his back.

A quiet mhm came from behind him, Dan Heng must be the soothing circles, as he tried to reassure this pair of people that he was in fact fine before another bout of coughing overtook him. The voice from before returned. “Seriously, ok, try to match my breathing, it’ll be ok.“ A hand moved his from the floor to something warm, someone's chest maybe, and it continued “In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. In, two, three, four, Out, two, three, four.”

He couldn’t say how long it took him to recover his breathing, everything felt heavy and slow but they stayed with him as it calmed down and the sensations became more manageable. He tugged lightly, and the hand holding his released and he took another deep breath. Still not looking at anything he pulled himself to his feet with minor assistance from whoever it was beside him. “Thanks” he said, or tried to, but all that came out was a rusty sounding croak. He winced and looked sheepishly at the pair who had sat with him.

“Cat got your tongue?” Pink asked, lightly teasing and his eyes were drawn directly to the pink and blue bedecked person before him, “Or is my cuteness so great that you’ve forgotten how to speak?”

A heavy sigh came from beside him and he turned ever so slightly as Jade, Dan Heng maybe?, passed him something cool. He stared down at the strange container of clear liquid in his hands in mild confusion. What exactly was he supposed to do with this? His confusion was apparently rather evident as a hand reached over and twisted the narrow top which came off easily. “Stop pestering people about your “cuteness” March, much less when they’ve just regained consciousness.” Grey eyes met blue and Jade gestured to the container. “You should probably drink that. It’ll help.”

Right. Yes. Drinking liquid. He nodded and raised the container to his mouth. He’s not entirely sure what drinking entails exactly but his body apparently does and he manages to take a small sip with little difficulty. The liquid is cool and to his surprise it has some sort of taste, but a very mild one that he wouldn’t be able to describe at all. Jade isn’t wrong either. It does help, his throat feels much better after clearing it once he's actually able to get out comprehensible words “Thanks.”

“There we go!” Pink cheers. “Right ok, you were unconscious. We should check that everything’s all right then! How’re you feeling?”

“Sore.” He says simply, taking another small sip before gesturing to his chest and head.

“Makes sense, makes sense." Pink, March he corrects himself, says peering up at him "Your pupils seem normal, so I don't think you're concussed but just to be sure, do you know where you are?”

He's in a room? Somewhere? No, that's probably not what the question asking. It’s kind of obvious that he's in a room given that the other two here too. They probably want something more specific, like where the room is. Does he know where the room is? He frowns slightly as he ponders that. No he doesn't think that he knows where this room is. And... that's… probably not normal? Based on how the question was asked, he should definitely know where this room is. But the more he thinks about it the more he realizes that he doesn't remember where he is. In fact he doesn't seem to remember much of anything at all. The... only thing he can remember with any sort of concrete accuracy if he can even call it that given how hazy the memory is, is a vague conversation with a pair of women, one of whom he knows. He's not entirely sure of that given that he cant remember anything else about her or even her name before everything sharpens and the one that he knows tells him to listen. There's more to the memory than that, he's sure of it, but that's for later because he's found the important part. He does in fact know where he is. Sort of. “A… space station?” He offers hesitantly.

The pair exchange an undecipherable look. "Well, you're not wrong." March says "D'ya know the name of the station?"

He blinks. "No? Should I?"

"Well, yeah!“ March says "More importantly, do you know your name?"

Ah. His name. Hm. Yes. Sure he can tell them his name. Because he has one of those. Does he have one of those? He should right? People have names. The silence stretches and he can see the worry growing the longer he doesn't give an answer and finally he sighs. If he has or has ever had a name, its not something that hes currently aware of. "Its... I think..." he sighs "I don't remember it. I don't remember much of anything at all, actually."

"Nothing?" March pouts up at him "C'mon, can't you try a little harder? For me?"

He doesn't bother to try to fight the slight smirk that he can feel forming on his face. "Oh well, if its for you, absolutely." He's joking mostly, but with nothing to lose does in fact give it another shot. Still, nothing new is forthcoming and his smirk falls and he shakes his head. "Sorry, I've got nothing."

"Ah well, no worries!" March says with a cheerful shrug. "If you don’t know who you are, I’m sure we'll be able to find you in the staff directory or guestbook! We just gotta check them!“

"Medical first." Jade, no Dan Heng, says, though they’re not looking at either of them. "We should have someone from medical take a look at you first." Their attention is on the hallway and room beyond, hand gripping, is that a staff? No, Dan Heng is holding a spear, though he doesn't remember seeing it a moment ago.

"Ooooh Yeah! Medical first." March agrees cheerfully.

"Regardless, its nice to meet you though the circumstances could be better." The other continues, turning back. "I'm Dan Heng, and that's March 7th. Are you feeling steady on your feet? We should probably get moving."

He nods. "Its nice to meet you too. I…" he pauses to take stock of himself. Nothing feels off outside of his aforementioned soreness. "I feel mostly fine. Where are we going?"

"The master control zone. Everyone else has evacuated there already. Lead Researcher Asta asked us to check for stragglers and people who might be trapped by the Anitmatter Legion."

"Ah." There was a pause as he digested that information fiddling with the lid to the partially empty container in his hands. "Wait, who's Lead Researcher Asta?"

"Only the super cutest researcher in charge of this space station." March answered, as a crystalline arch started forming between her hands. "Actually, she might know who you are! She knows everyone here."

"Oh. You really think she'll know who I am?"

"Well, I sure hope so, It's kinda hard to be in charge if you don't know your employees after all."

He blinks as he thinks over that. "I work here?"

March stares back at him. "Don't you?"

He exchanges a startled look with Dan Heng who sighs. "March, he doesn't remember anything, how exactly is he supposed to answer that?"

"In that case, I definitely hope Asta knows who you are because if she doesn't then we've got bigger problems."

"I think we have bigger problems already" Dan Heng said as a muffled boom echos from somewhere outside of the room. He pulls a palm sized rectangle out of a pocket, checking it for something. "March, can you escort him there? Arlan's still out of contact, I'm going to go look for him."

"No problem!" March grins, and Dan Heng meets her eyes, nods once and strides off without another word, rounding a corner. A soft hiss echoes through the room and the sound of explosions and fighting grows louder for a couple of moments before the same hissing noise cuts it off again.

„Geeze, that guy. C'mon Nameless Stranger,“ she says with a slight snicker "Lets give him a minute to clear part of the path then get you to safety."

"Nameless Stranger?" he asks

"Well, I have to call you something" She retorts and he nods. That's fair enough he supposes, as they round the corner into the next room themselves.

"Why is it funny?“ he asks absently as he finally figures out how to reseal the liquid container.

He can hear March's grin. "Because I‘m a Nameless Stranger too!“

That... doesn't make any sense and his head snaps up to stare at the other. Grey eyes meet pink and blue, searching for something. There’s a joke there he thinks, but he can’t figure out what it’s supposed to be. The longer he thinks about it the more confused he gets. "I thought your name was March?“

"Yep!" She responds cheerfully. "March 7th, She/hers!"

"Then… how are you nameless?“

Her smile softens slightly and he’s not entirely sure what to do with the sympathy or the sudden understanding that he finds in her expression. "It’s a joke, that I’ll have to explain later. Or make Dan Heng explain. He’ll do a better job of it.“ She falls silent for a moment. "Really nothing at all?“

He shrugs, suddenly uncomfortable with everything and returns to fidgeting with the container in his hands. The liquid inside shifts as he rotates it, changing the balance and he plays with the shifting weight for a few moments. The silence grows and he can’t stand it. "What are these things?" he asks, gesturing to the various pedestals scattered across the room. Some are shattered or destroyed, their contents strewn across the floor. Just enough of them are intact that he can tell they’re supposed to be displays of some sort. None of them are familiar, but he keeps looking, hoping that one of them may be.

"Madame Herta's collection of Curios." March replies, "No idea why she keeps them all, they're just collecting dust here, but I'm no genius so what do I know?"

"Who's Madame Herta?"

"The woman who owns this station" March says, glancing at something on her wrist. "Ready to go? I think we‘ve given Dan Heng enough time“

"Sure" He responds, his empty hand finding a pocket as they move through the room. Fingers touch a rounded metal corner and he pauses. What is... its the work of a moment to pull the strange rectangle out of his pocket. Its very similar to Dan Heng's device, but that still doesn't mean anything to him.

"Everything ok?" March asks, and he realizes that hes stopped moving.

"Uh, March? What is this?" he asks, holding the thing out to her.

She gasps. "You have a communicator?"

"I... guess? It was in my pocket."

"No no, that's perfect! Turn it on! It probably has some information on it! It might even tell us who you are!"

Well all right then. He glances down at the little rectangle with a newfound curiosity. "How?"

"Just, tap the screen!" She says wandering back over to peer at it with him.

"Like this?" He does as instructed, and to his surprise it works, a small white dot appearing on one side. They wait, and it clears up slightly forming a sharp looking and stylized four legged creature that runs across the screen. A trail of white and purple dots are left behind and eventually they stretch forming a two toned line. The creature clears the screen and moments later the line flares. He looks at the screen in puzzlement as he tries to figure out what exactly this is but once again, nothing. The boxes mean nothing to him at all. But apparently they mean something to March.

"That's the cutest start up I've ever seen. I have got to figure out how to make mine a cute little puppy. Can I?" She asks, pointing at the screen. He nods, holding it out slightly, but to his surprise she doesn't actually take the device. Instead, she pulls his hand down slightly so that she can see better and pokes a small box with a black circle on it. A empty white window pops up and she frowns. "Well, no photos at all, so that doesn’t help, but..." she says, flicking the white window away and poking another little picture. This time she lets out a little cheer "There we go! I found it!“

"Found what?"

"Well, all communicators are registered to individuals. And this one is registered! And that looks just like you, so its gotta be yours right? Its nice to meet you Caelus!"

He blinks and looks down at where March is pointing. Caelus. That... feels right and he doesn't try to stop the smile from forming on his face. "It's nice to meet you too March 7th."

He doesn't know how long they stand there grinning at each other like idiots but a soft hiss has the both of them looking up and Caelus blinks in surprise as a hexagonal panel that he thought was part of the wall slides away revealing a black and wispy figure bedecked in armor and oversized arm blades. March’s expression turns serious and he can see her gaze sharpen. "Caelus, DUCK!" she says suddenly, darting around him, snapping her fingers as a blue shimmer covers her. The sudden change in demeanor is startling and before he's registered exactly whats going on hes on the floor watching as March raises the crystal arch that she’s been holding. Light glimmers connecting the two ends and a glittering pink arrow forms in her hand as she draws the bow back, letting the arrow fly. Something behind him screeches and the next thing knows, March is in front of him offering her hand. "So we may have given Dan Heng too much time. C'mon, we gotta go."

He nods, and takes her hand as she helps him up, but her back is to the open hexagon and he can see what she can’t as the body she just caused dissipates into black mist. Which, he will be thinking about later when he has more time because that does not seem normal to him at all. Not that he knows what normal is at all. A pair of floating orbs of energy with three weird flanges block the passage. One is generating a smaller ball of something and before he can think about it, he moves, using March’s assistance to lunge forwards. He’s not really thinking at all as the container in his hand goes flying, nailing the energy generating orb disrupting whatever it was doing, shattering and spilling liquid everywhere. His hands brush the floor, grabbing something sturdy with a decent weight, and he swings with all his might, hitting the first orb into the second with a solid smack. It falls to the ground after hitting its fellow, the shell shattering as the energy inside starts to dissipate . A shower of pink sparkles takes care of the second orb, apparently evaporating it and he turns to see March lowering her bow.

"Wow!“ she exclaims, glancing at the stick he’s holding. "You’re pretty good with that curio. We‘ll have to ask forgiveness later for using it. I think we‘re gonna have to fight our way out.“

He nods silently, trying to catch his breath. Just... what was that? He has no answers but running his hands over the strange stick is rather grounding. It fits comfortably in his hands, almost as if it was made for him. He watches with moderate curiosity as the etchings he can feel light up chasing his fingertips as he traces them. A small tapping noise grabs his attention and he glances over to see March only slightly impatiently giving him a moment. Right. Theyre in danger. "Sorry." He offers, taking another deep breath and standing up straight. "I’m ready now. Lay on MacDuff“

March turns to go, then glances back at him "What?“

He shrugs, no longer in the mood for talking. Hes not entirely sure where that came from or what exactly it meant either.

She grins not at all put off by his sudden silence. "Another mystery, then. Don’t worry Caelus, we‘ll figure it out“

Her promise fills something inside of him. Yes, he promises himself, we will.

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 10 months

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Forgotten but not Lost

NOW ON Ao3

Unknown Life Series Season 4 sometime early march? Cubfan? Fwip? The bunnies are a goin folks. Have…. Whatever this is?

Unbetaed.

Forgotten but not Lost

They’re all just standing there. In a circle around a campfire. Its the first time that hes done this, Scar knows. It is not the first time he’s done this. He’s just as sure of that.

Keep reading

#slightly more reasonable time of day reblog!#trafficblur #limited life #goodtimewithscar #cubfan135 #grian #traffic life series ensemble cast #no not that life series SMP the other life series SMP #speculative fiction originally written right before limited life came out #and before we had confirmed who was in it and what the mechanism was #challenge mode how many epithets can you put names to #and now we return to your regularly scheduled content warnings #threats of eating sentient beings #non human characters #screwy memory #fae bargains #And now for something completely different: a disclaimer #the characters you see before you are intended to be the block people personas/characters and not the creators themselves #and also all rights to the characters belong to their respective creators #i am simply playing with them for my and hopefully your amusement

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 10 months

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Simulated doesnt mean without Consequence pt 2.

Its a quarter past midnight and we tumbl down the site, yeah yeah yeah, the feeds are finally resting, good times bad decisions. yeah yeah yea, Its a quarter past midnight, and fic is getting posted.

Part 1 can be found HERE

Part 2: Coming Soon to an Ao3 Series near you! Simulated dosent mean without Consequence It’s a stinging ache in his hand that brings him back to himself. Tango blinks, absently notices the taste of ash in his mouth, a sharp pain in his throat, a slight ache in his wrist, a stinging pain in his knuckles and a mild headache. He blinks again. He’s lost time, but he doesn't know how much or why but there are more empty tubes than there were before and no one is around in the central bay which means getting everyone else out has been put on pause for a moment because....

Frantic motion from the corner draws his eye and he turns slightly to see Jevin waving at him. Confused he waves back. Jevin goes formless for a moment, slumping slightly before literally pulling himself back together. It’s... relief? Tango thinks as he watches Jev pantomime breathing at him. Which is good if a bit weird, given that Jevin is quite literally a slime and breaths through diffusion and not with lungs on account of not having any? Tango himself is breathing normally, despite the weird taste in his mouth and the pain in his throat.

He sees the moment that Jevin realizes that he’s not comprehending. The slime pulls in on himself shrinking ever so slightly before wibbling and pointing to the pod kitty-cornered from him. The pod where all Tango can see is someone’s back from where they're splayed-out face down on the floor.

Short term memory kicks in. It hits him.

Impulse.

Impulse collapsed.

Impulse collapsed and Tango is trapped. He's stuck waiting for his tube to depressurize and THERE ARE NO HERMITS OUTSIDE THE PODS IN THE MAIN BAY.

He points at Impulse’s pod, cocks his head in question, and makes exaggerated breathing motions. Jevin nods and flashes him a thumbs up.

Right. Ok. He runs his clawed through filamentous blond hair, before tugging slightly on the strands as he thinks. Impulse will be fine, he tells himself. He's breathing normally, or so Tango is choosing to believe. Jevin would...well…probably notice if he wasn't. Hopefully. Maybe? Dang it, there has got to be something that he can do other than just waiting.

Staring vacantly across the room Tango starts mentally running through his options, discarding most of them just as quickly as he thinks of them. His eyes suddenly refocus on Impulse's Pod. Had Impulse moved? Tango couldn’t be sure. Was what he thought he saw just the product of wishful thinking? No. There it was again. There was definitely movement in Impulse's Pod. Tango held his breath and leaned forward, hoping that it was Impulse pushing himself upright before jumping back as far as the pod would allow as the back of Impulse's shirt started writhing and roiling. As if something was trapped and trying to escape. Had Impulse somehow managed to pick up a bit of the void? Was that even possible?

He waved at Jevin and pointed at Impulses pod, head cocked in a questioning matter. The shrug and mildly disturbed look he got in response did not fill him with confidence in the slightest.

As suddenly as it started, the movement stopped. Tango held his breath. One, two, three... And when nothing happened, he let it out. Clearly whatever that had been, it was over. Unfortunately, it being over didn't seem to be bringing Impulse any relief however. Tango winced in sympathy as Impulse let out a full body shudder before rolling over, seemingly curled over his knees in discomfort or pain. The entire thing was hard to watch and Tango laid his hand upon the glass wishing yet again that he could do something.

Another spasm from Impulse, this one accompanied by a visible wet patch on the shirt had him throwing himself violently against the glass. A wet, glossy black mass oozed out from under the shirt erupted from Impulse's back. It collided against the walls of the glass tube with what was probably audible in the main bay, with a wet squelchy thud. The mass rose up and strained against the glass and hung suspended for a moment before collapsing inwards completely hiding Impulse from view.

Startled red eyes met shocked black ones and Tango didn't need to be able to hear to hear Jevin's startled exclamation of "What in the Hels?"

The black mass obscuring Impulse from view surged upwards yet again, this time punching through the glass as if it were mere paper. Glass and warped copper framing seemed to hang suspended in the air as time seem to crawl to a stop. Tango was frozen in place as the scene advanced in fits and starts like bad stop-motion animation. The dark mass continued to expand upwards. Flashes of light caught and rebounded off of the slowly falling shards reminiscent of torchlight on deepslate diamond ore or nether stars on black concrete. Despite being unable to hear through the tube Tango’s mind conjured the distorted chimes as fragmented metal and glass hit the grating on the floor one by one.

Jerkily the darkness seemed to reach its fullest extent. Instead of an amorphous mass it unfurled to reveal not some sort of void parasite but instead massive wings. The wings flexed slightly, a stretch of some sort. The odd angle and lighting of the room highlighted bones of gold, gilded claws and dark purple swirling patterns within the wing membrane. Tango can only stare in awe. While he knew Impulse had wings, he’d never seen them like this. In fact, he can’t recall when he had last seen Impulse's wings at all, let alone shown off to their fullest extent like this.

And then just like that, time snaps back to normal like a broken tripwire. Everything comes crashing down to the floor, glass, metal, wings and all. Tango stares, uncomprehending as he watches the wings fall, heading straight for the jagged edges of the pod and there's no visible attempt at all from Impulse to control their descent.

He’s distantly aware of a shattering noise, a new ache across his knuckles and a momentary sharper pain in his foot as he scrambles across the room. Tango detours slightly by the central console on the way and slams his hand down on the very obvious emergency release button. That takes care of the immediate danger to Impulse's wings. It also has the side effect of releasing everyone else and the room is full of hissing as all the remaining active pods start to decompress, their glass enclosures starting to slide into the floor. He’s got no time to check on everyone else, as he rushes over to Impulse's pod as his friend’s wings crash to the floor. Hopefully, the glass had retracted enough so that they won’t be cut by the jagged edges. Tango stumbles slightly over the lip of the pod and only a quick twist prevents him from landing atop his buddy. It’s the work of a moment to brace Impulse's head with his legs while using his clawed fingers to press themselves against Impulse’s neck, just below his pointier than normal ears.

He waits, a moment, two, and there is nothing, nothing at all. But despite the lack of pulse Impulse lets out an audible whimper. He pushes his head into Tango's hand and Tango almost smacks himself in the face. Right. Ok. Nonstandard biology. He shifts Impulse slightly before his other hand moves to the middle of Impulse's back, right between the wings and he tries again. He waits, steadying his own breathing as he focuses on the movement under his hands. There. Thud-bump. Thud-bump. Thud-bump. Heartbeat. Faster than normal, but steady. Breathing itself is also shallow, but unobstructed and regular and Tango hisses out a sigh of relief. Right. Now that he’s found it he can monitor the pattern.

Tango shrugs and moves his hand, sketching a couple of glyphs into the air. "Probably not?" he offers as orange and blue sparks follow his fingertips forming two disconnected corners that he separates with a quick flick. He waits for the parallel lines to start to form between them before he continues. "I mean, he’s breathing and his heart rate is steady even if it’s faster than a one tick pulse but I mean this really isn't normal so clearly somethings wrong"

"No kidding."

"...thought he was human." someone else murmurs from behind him and Tango snorts at that.

"I got it" another voice says.

Tango makes a noise in response, uncaring of who exactly is doing that as he rereads that last line of code. He vaguely notices a gentle be-doo-do be-doo-do comes from behind him, getting closer. Tango still isn’t really paying attention, focusing instead on Impulse's spine as he gently taps down it. He swears slightly as pale lavender and gold glyphs glimmer into existence. They look ragged and worn down. None of them appear to be at full strength with a few only barely visible. Some of the glyphs that Tango knows Impulse should have are either shattered or have disappeared entirely. That’s clearly not good. As he watches, another fades out, then breaks with a sort of audible snap, and Tango can feel Impulse's jaw start to rearrange itself from where its pressed against his leg. Crap.

He breaths in, breaths out a steady stream of white blue flame. Tango reaches into the conflagration and twists a thread free. Tango looks at it for a moment "Devs beyond I hope this works" he mutters and brings it down, touching it to the weakest of the glyphs. Blue white meets gold, and the entire line flares. It pulses, once, twice as the lilac that should be royal purple is overwhelmed and replaced but now a regularly flickering blue as Tango feeds more of the fire woven thread into it.

And just in time too, as a number on the display ticks over to zero, and an excited "PERALIEPOP" sounds right next to his ear. "Whazzup Buddeh?"

"Skizz." Tango all but growls cutting off any response Pearl, of course its Pearl, might give.

"Top?" comes the confused voice of Skizzleman from the comm next to him.

"Can you call Impulse?" He asks, watching the depleted number, waiting, hoping that it'll tick up.

"Dippledop? Sure, why? Isn't he with you?"

"Nonono, I mean Call Impulse," he says, emphasizing the last two words. He can almost hear Skizzleman's blink before what he has asked for clicks, "OH! Oh. Yeah. What's wrong with Professor Dippledop?"

"But are they holding?" Skizz asks over what sounds like chests or shulkers being flung open.

"No. I'm holding them for him. He's out, Skizz," Tango mutters. He breathes a sigh as the number he’s been watching finally starts to tick upwards.

"Right." The sounds of more shuffling comes over the line. "Ok. I’ve got everything. Give me 5 minutes to set up then drop your hold, unless you wanna come with him."

"Cant. Someone's gonna have to summonificate him to season 9 when we get there."

"Gotcha, gotcha buddy. Right, set a timer, I'm doing this on the dot, Catch ya later Pop n Top."

There was a click as the call disconnected and Tango took another glance at the glyphs on Impulse's back. They were pulsing now, in time with to the slowing heartbeat.

Theres a general murmmer of all goods, and a couple of doing fines and he nods, attention dragged back down to Impulse who still isnt.

"I've set a timer," Said Pearl. "And we're fine, but you need some bandages, mate"

Tango blinked at her, "What?"

"I got it," said Zed, pushing through a group of hermits, carrying a small white box.

"But I'm fine?" Tango protested as Jevin gestured towards his foot.

"You're really not dude, you left a trail."

"I left a what?"

"You, Tango. Foot. Now!" Zed says.

Well that answers that question Tango thought. "Kinda attached to those Zed."

"And we're kinda attached to you. Foot. Now."

Tango's prevented from answering as Pearl states, "Tango, let go whatever it is you’re holding for Impulse in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1" and an alarm goes off, shrill and right in his ear. Tango winces and pulls his hands back, swiping through the thread that’s now trailing off into nothing and it fades. The glyphs on Impulses back fade slightly, but no one gets a chance to see by how much because moments after he's let go, there’s a “vworp” and all that’s left where Impulse was is a shower of purple particles, redstone dust and a few gold nuggets.

#hermitcraft fanfic #tango of the tek variety #impulseSV #iJevin #pearlescentmoon #zedaph #Skizzleman #and now we return to your regularly scheduled content warnings #non human hermits #of an undescribed plethora of origins and species #unreality #ala matrix style shenanigans #space horror #theyre still in space and this is absolutely a result of moon big #sickfic #hurt comfort #ish? i mean he gets help but theres not a lot of active on screen comfort #body horror probably #And now for something completely different: a disclaimer #the characters you see before you are intended to be the block people personas/characters and not the creators themselves #i make no profit off of the work presented before you #im simply playing with the characters and caricatures for my and hopefully your amusement #crossposted to ao3 #part of a collection

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 1 year

Text

Unknown Life Series Season 4 sometime early march? Cubfan? Fwip? The bunnies are a goin folks. Have…. Whatever this is?

Unbetaed. Title and Ao3 Link eventually when I edit it.

They’re all just standing there. In a circle around a campfire. Its the first time that hes done this, Scar knows. It is not the first time he’s done this. He’s just as sure of that.

Keep reading

#morning reblog #trafficblur #life series smp #life series season 4 #fanfiction #goodtimeswithscar #cubfan135 #grian #life series ensamble #i know nothing #this isnt even a prediction or anything #but i saw a rumor or a theory or whatever that cub might be in the next season #and lo here i am #at the whims of the bunnies that have gripped my brain

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fromthedeskoftheminister · 1 year

Text

Forgotten but not Lost

NOW ON Ao3

Unknown Life Series Season 4 sometime early march? Cubfan? Fwip? The bunnies are a goin folks. Have.... Whatever this is?

Unbetaed.

Forgotten but not Lost

They’re all just standing there. In a circle around a campfire. Its the first time that hes done this, Scar knows. It is not the first time he’s done this. He’s just as sure of that.

And yet, something here is wrong about the tableau before him. He’s never seen these people before in his life. Yet somehow he knows them. Not well, but still its stuff that he should not know about any of them. The werewolf? wolf hybrid? he doesnt know which and hes not sure why thats the questionable point when he knows the man is?was? royalty. Theres also something whispering in the back of his mind about frozen blood and an affront to good taste. To the wolfman’s right just where he should be is his right hand, the one who hears. The Fey is next, chatting quietly with a Demon no animosity present at all. The survivalist is blatantly listening to their conversation while he lightheartedly taunts an Omen whos trying to ignore him in favor of the conversation hes having with the Forge spirit. A Dragon gives him a smile or perhaps its the flash of a fang when their gazes meet.

He returns the grin, threat and greeting all in one before moving on. Theres the innovator, the timekeep, and his other half? former other half? his betrayer? his... The whispers are incoherent. Theres too much there and no time to piece through it at all. His gaze skips over a blank space, before landing on the puppetmaster, Fate’s favorite fighter, and completes the circle with a couple of people the whispers dont have much to say about at all. A glint, and Scar’s attention is drawn not to the pesky bird that the whispers have entirely too much to say about but to the blank space next to him. A space which is now occupied. A space which as always been occupied and Scar knows that this is what’s not... quite right. Black eyes with a spark of electric blue in their depths meet his own hazel evenly as they take each other in. The slightly rumpled young scientist across from him seems content to just study the strange company they both have found themselves apart of. Yet, something about the way he holds himself, the lack of surprise at his own presence here or the appearance of the others, suggests that he knows more than they do. And that the smug trickster finds it funny. And its just as obvious that he knows that Scar knows because he gets a sly half smirk directed his way the longer they stare at each other. It’s Scar who breaks first. “You have something of mine” he states, surprising himself. He doesn’t know how he knows this, he doesnt know where the other man got it, the whispers arnt talking. Theyve been strangley silent since their eyes met, and Scar knows that hes never met the man before in this life. Yet his statement, while attracting everyone elses attention, including a startled squawk from his former soulmate, is simply met with a widening grin that reveals far too many sharp teeth for the mouth they’re in. “I do.” Theres a pause while the rest of the group very loudly tries to figure out exactly when this blank space arrived but cannot to their vexation. “Did you want it back?” Scar almost nods and reaches out a hand before stopping abruptly “What happens if I take it back?” A shrug “You Know what you Are and you are Unfettered and Unbound in what you Can Do” Scar peers at him mulling that over. “I heard those capital letters Sir. What happens if I don’t take it back?” “I keep ahold of if until you decide you want it back” “Its not a limited time offer?” “Ehhhhhhhhh.” the noise is accompanied by a hand wiggle “It is a limited offer” “But not a limited time offer?” “No.” Scar hmms. “You keep it. I think I’ll have more fun figuring things out without it.” The other man nods and looks slightly wistful but accepting, as if he had already known what Scar would choose but had hoped otherwise. Their conversation is interrupted by a cough and the Instigator says from somewhere to his left “And with that cryptic conversation out of the way, lets get on with it shall we?” *****************************************************************************************************

Its later that same day and Scar has since learned that the blank space’s name is Cub and the one responsible is Grian, along with a host of other names which are frankly a lot easier to remember than the epithets that the whispers were offering when he stumbles across the pair of them arguing about something in the forest. “Listen, Grian” Cub says, clearly done with whatever is going on here. “We’re done. You’ve got resources to collect and so do I. But before I bounce, riddle me this; what is a watcher to a vex?” The words mean nothing to Scar, but Grian apparently does as do the whispers. He can feel their tension and can see just how tense and pale Grian has gotten, before he grits out a “I dont know” “Dinner and a Show” Cub answers before turning around and striding off deeper into the dark oak forest. “So step lightly, little watcher, before someone takes a bite”

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