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safetyrat · 2 years

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[ranchers, hc x empires, 1.3k]

There have been weirder things going on with Grian in the past, Tango had thought, the hermits have very much gotten used to weird. And so, he really couldn’t have bothered with the glowing rift that had opened up underneath the base of floating rocks. What? It was just a glorified nether portal, really! No need to think about it.

He was very much regretting that sentiment as thirteen faces belonging to complete strangers stared back at him.

Well, eleven strangers, actually. There was also a girl that resembled Gem, wearing a golden tiara instead of a rich rack of antlers. She busied herself with dusting off her long gown from the dirt in the cave, something that made her revolutionary counterpart eye her suspiciously.

On the other side, a more disheveled version of False sat pressed against the stone walls, eyes flickering with paranoia over each of the hermits. They had decided to leave her be for now - she looked like she could use some space.

The cave had become a loud and busy place quickly, the sounds of rockets going off ringing in both his ears. Somewhere to his right, Tango could hear a strongly accented voice chatting up Pearl excitedly, who looked a little lost at the proposal that she was supposed to be a goddess.

The actual god, who took up a sizable amount of the space with his 11 foot frame, used his booming voice to announce to everybody that some sheriff was actually just a toy. Behind him, Tango spotted Grian peeling a goblin away from Grumbot, as he made himself a little too familiar with the machinery.

The real chaos came from the hermits themselves, however, who scurried from place to place as they tried to organize a solution to this situation. Ren had attempted to take command at first, but it became clear quickly that nobody was listening to him. It even seemed that more people agreed with Scar’s suggestion to just hotguy their way out of this problem.

Either way, the first thing they managed to establish was that the portal was a one-way trip. No matter what had been tried so far, it refused to open again and let their guests go back to their home dimension.

And so, all that they could do was provide them with a place to stay, for the time being.

“So?”

It was Impulse who landed next to Tango, most likely having noticed how he was standing around a little uselessly.

“Gah! I know what you’re thinking, I’ll help, I was just trying to get an overview, you know?”

Impulse laughed.

“I wasn’t reprimanding you, my dude. Just checking in, have you been asked to house anybody yet? There is a list going around making sure everybody is taken care of.”

Tango raised his eyebrows as he looked around the room once more. Sure enough - there was a girl in a big witch hat staring intensely at a slip of paper that was held in front of her by Cleo.

“Can’t say I have,” he answered. “Don’t imagine anybody would want to live in the citadel, anyway.”

“Well, they might need to get over themselves there. Not all hermits have space to offer, nor are they ecstatic about rooming with a stranger,” Impulse sighed.

Tango took a second to think about it.

"Alright, put me on there with the note that they better like it chilly."

It turned out Impulse had been right, about half an hour later. Despite there being plenty of overzealous builders declaring that they could raise new buildings out of the ground in no time, when it came to places to stay at right now, there really was just enough.

Meaning that every single spot would need to be filled. And judging by the discussion that was loudly occurring in a circle of both guests and hermits, Tango could guess which choice was the least popular. He sneaked himself a place in the group.

"No! I already said I'll live there! What's some ice castle to the sheriff?," Tango just arrived in time enough to hear a guy dressed in cowboy gear declare. He had taken off his hat, revealing messy blond hair, and was fidgeting with it in his hands. His angry glare was directed at a man with brown facial hair standing opposite him - Pix, as Tango had learned - who rested his face on his hands in frustration.

“Jimmy, we talked about this. Your mesa is the hottest place on the server, you won't be used to it at all. I’ll do it.”

Tango immediately recognized Pix’s words to be true. The sheriff's skin was tanned and rugged, with warmth radiating off his cheeks that he must have brought with him from home. Or maybe he was just that invested in the argument, even if it seemed a little silly.

“I can take it! Who do I think I am, a weak man?”

Yup, invested was a kind word for it. His deep brown eyes carried a sense of pride in them that was very fragile, if his snarky way of defending himself was anything to go by. Nevertheless, his chest was as puffed as can be, and his arms were crossed in a way that…

…In a way that was incredibly familiar. Tango felt a weird ache in his stomach, suddenly. He chose to ignore it.

“You guys can’t keep underestimating me. Do I have to remind you that I’m-”

“That you’re the sheriff, yeah yeah, we got it”, the tall god, who was sitting cross legged on the floor, interrupted with an eye roll. “How about you go and be a good little toy now and let Pix live out his Elsa fantasies, okayy?”

Jimmy took in a gulp of air to start another rebuttal, but he didn’t get far.

“It’s fine! He can live with me,” Tango yelled instead.

Several heads turned towards him in a second.

Ah. He really did not know why he said that.

“I mean, really it isn’t that cold and…”

As he tried to backpedal and come up with a reasonable excuse he glanced up sheepishly, only to catch Jimmy’s eyes staring straight at him.

And there was that ache again. It’s just that this time, he saw so much more in those eyes than misplaced pride. He couldn’t dare to name it.

It was Pix who interrupted that moment with an awkward cough.

“Well, if you are both sure?”

Jimmy tore himself away as if he had been burned, only offering a quick nod.

“Yeah, lemme, um,” Tango tried to get back some control. “Lemme show you where you can stay?”

He was followed wordlessly, until they made their way out of the cave away from the people, and then wordlessly some more. There were needles and pins desperate to escape out of his fingertips, but he couldn’t bring himself to start the conversation.

At some point, Jimmy had quickened his pace and overtaken Tango, startling him by standing directly in front of him. He came to a halt. The sheriff’s gaze weighed heavy on his skin, a goosebump following each inch that was carefully observed, read like the most fascinating poem.

Tango didn’t like it, he decided. He didn’t know anything about poetry.

But then Jimmy smiled at him, hesitant and crooked, and he could feel the strings that had been tying him to the ground, that he had not understood since they had appeared, slowly become loose. Or maybe they just pulled into a different direction now, the direction in front of him.

“Hey, I’m sorry, but have we met?”

Jimmy sounded earnest, more so than Tango had ever heard anyone sound. He almost choked on his own answer.

“...No, I don’t believe we have.”

He couldn’t even begin to explain the clump in his throat that was telling him it was a lie.

#hermitcraft #empires smp #hc x empires #tangotek #jimmy solidarity #mcyt #my writing #fanfiction #double life smp #trafficblr #team rancher

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