#this is simply because I want joel and cleo to team | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wren-kitchens · 8 months

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hi i’m very abnormal over the idea of a joel & cleo team so I wrote this lil drabble hjfhd

it’s quiet.

this isn’t exactly weird for the first few days; what with the mandatory grace period before anyone turns red, the initial scramble for resources meaning most people typically don’t have enough to start a fight with much chance of winning, and the bases for each team being built—it all kind of creates a sense of community. which is laughable, because it’ll only take a week or two for tensions (and red names) to arise and soon the whole server will be a bloodbath.

the thing is- it feels weird. the quiet, that is. like it’s suffocating him somehow, which is even weirder because joel is definitely used to silence. whilst 3rd life consisted almost entirely of silence, stretched out over the weeks and broken only by the panting of his wolves, the warm closeness of magical mountain fell like shattered glass the second joel became red. the silence at night on the bridge felt like knives pressed to his throat.

but then there was etho, and then his bad boys, and the quiet was replaced by teasing remarks and unconvincing complaints and loud laughter and warmth. their beds were never cold for long, and their breathing was white noise in the night, and their hands would always find joel’s sometime in the night.

and now there’s.. this. his and cleo’s somewhat uneasy alliance, taken on at the height of day when they bumped into each other as they both tried to light the same ugly build alight (grian could do better than that—joel’s seen it. he was only helping) and decided that two arsonists on a team stand a better chance than two separate ones. it feels a lot less stable in the cold of the night, where they both pretend to believe the other is asleep, and their beds are opposite sides of the small hut they’ve constructed to block the worst of the wind.

joel has been trying and failing to sleep for the last two hours and, upon accepting the inevitable first sleepless night of the games, has resorted to planning various acts of malfeasance he and cleo could do after the sun comes up. he wonders if he ought to let on that he knows she’s not asleep so they can take advantage of the night to hunt some creepers.

all of a sudden, joel realises why this all feels so unnervingly familiar, and his stomach twists; it’s a red alliance. or- well, it’s essentially a red alliance—together until they won’t be, teammates to make things simpler or to reduce the eventual conflict, no actual reason for the allyship aside from a more efficient way to kill people. he can feel the blades begin to ghost his neck again.

it’s quiet. joel wants to scream until his lungs crack, to drown out that awful silence in something akin to cannonfire, to chase the insanity before he can get too attached to anyone who will leave. he wants to set the whole world alight, to obliterate it all- kill everyone who tries to stop him.

but he doesn’t want to disturb cleo.

#wren writes #joel smallishbeans #zombie cleo #trafficblr #the wolf joel saga #this is simply because I want joel and cleo to team #please and thank you?

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ssnowflowers · 6 months

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Grian's alliance with Cleo and Etho is so interesting to me. Because it's so different from every other alliance he's made.

The first alliance made in the Life Series for Grian is the Blue Sword Boys. And it's simply for a diamond sword. This sets an expectation that Grian needs to be useful for an alliance to be worth it.

His alliance to Scar, his desert friend, is built on him selling his life to Scar. An entire life, one of three deaths he gets before never being able to walk the world again. He gives it all to Scar. Because lives are valuable, useful. Servants are useful.

In Last Life, the Southlands are brought together through resources. You go red, there are no gifted lives bringing you back from the brink like in other alliances. You just go. Grian is forced out of the Southlands first, the home he built no longer his. Because by dying, he has proven he isn't useful.

His alliance with Joel is built on the fact that they are both red. That they need one another to survive. That reds live and die alone. They are loyal, because loyalty is useful. And their alliance ends when they stop being red. And it resumes once they are again.

In Double Life, Grian doesn't want to pair with Scar. He quite literally lets out a guttural scream of no. But it's easier to stick around his soulmate. Build Scar a base, babysit him. It's far more useful.

After a certain point, Grian stops viewing alliances as someone loyal. Someone who has your back. Simply, that it is necessary to have friends.

It's useful to have allies, so he jumps at the first opportunity. In Limited Life, he joins Joel and Jimmy because they invite him. He changes his skin, something he has never done before. He engages with bread bridge, he changes things about himself to look useful.

And then in the final sessions, when he loses Jimmy and Joel, he moves along quickly. He even says that Joel is a 'lost cause' and teams up with Pearl and BigB instead.

His wording is so specific too. Not allies, not teammates...friends. This is how he views friendship. A mutual exchange of usefulness.

It's why he's so desperate to make friends in Secret Life. He begs and pleads with people, when he is forced together with Joel he sticks with him like a clingy child, he builds the egg not because he likes it, but because a pretty base can attract friends.

When he asks if he can join Etho and Cleo. They just say yes. No second thoughts. And Grian is still trying to sell himself, prove why they should want him around. And Cleo just has on screen text (aka, inner thoughts) questioning why Grian is still trying to convince them? They've already said yes!

He's so stuck in the mindset of seeming useful, that he's now doing it even when no one is looking for him to be useful.

This is what sets his alliance with them apart from anyone else. He does not have to stick around, or cling to them. He can disappear for most of the session, and be fine.

Cleo and Etho help him out and he helps them in return. Not because he needs to be useful. But because he wants to. Because he has finally found people who just want him around because it's him.

It's such a large shift in his previous alliances, that I can't help but appreciate every little interaction. Because Cleo and Etho are his friends first. Not just allies.

#secret life #secret life spoilers #snow speaks #trafficblr #long post #grian

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tatertato · 4 months

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Can we have a small little list of everyone’s roles/parts in the circus? (My peanut brain is getting a little lost)

cirque de la vie AU powers/roles list!

i did a poll on the gem and pearl post on whether or not i should release a full list, and guess which option won!

the results came out really close, so if you want to wait for the comics to drop, i advise you to simply ✨look away✨

this list is going to be formatted as: Name - Circus Act/Role - Power

some will be on this list without their powers, or with ambiguous descriptions of their powers until i finish their backstory comics because i really do want those ones to be a surprise, so look out for the update!

some of them i am still on the fence about as well, so the comic may not always line up with this list in the future, but i'll do my best to keep it up to date.

with all that out of the way, let's get into it!

Management

martyn - manager/organizer - enhanced hearing

ren - $the funding$ - none he's just rich (some form of smaller nobility)

The Performers

cleo - knife thrower - doesn't have magic, but alive somehow??? (hint: it has something to do with bdubs...)

etho - magician - has magic but hates using it (rumor has it that only bdubs knows what he's hiding)

bdubs - doubles as knife thrower and magician's assistant - something to do with time. no one knows exactly what, but sometimes he disappears for weeks on end. scar usually steps in as the replacement.

jimmy - aerial acrobat - wings/flight

grian - aerial acrobat - same as jimmy, but sometimes scar says his vision is uncanny

scar - ringmaster - jedi mind trick (he can convince anyone of anything depending on how strong their mind is)

lizzie - underwater escape artist - don't tell anyone, but she can definitely breathe underwater. the escapes are still pretty impressive tho

joel - stilts (11 foot joel is canon) - no power, he's just lizzie's supportive husband (more kenergy than jimmy)

gem - happy clown - deer traits, mostly enhanced agility

pearl - sad clown - doesn't like elaborating, but she disappears during full moons...

scott - tightrope walker - read the comic when it comes out lmao

impulse - juggler - power still very much in development, but he can talk to/see/control ghosts to a degree (inspired by the phasmo streams)

skizz - strongman - enhanced healing

tango - fire breather - literally breathes fire. very high internal temperature, good for winters.

The Production Team

mumbo - lighting (it's still the late 1800s-ish so the lighting is very rudimentary- that said, mumbo is a bit of a genius, so the shows still look pretty amazing) - is almost an unlimited source of electricity (he's a little eccentric, makes a big deal about how much of a human he is, which has sparked curiosity, but never enough for anyone to pry into. grian seems to know something.)

bigb- concessions (he sells cookies!) - everything he bakes tastes amazing! (he swears that's his only power, but he has a habit of leaving rooms through doors that weren't there before...)

pearl (again) - sets and props, she decorates the stage!

joel (again) - makes the boxes and tanks for lizzie to escape from

and that is all! i might have some hermits or empires folks make cameos every so often, but this is the main cast!

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whattodoattheendoftheworld · 1 month

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Roomies band au

C!Cleo gives the energy of someone who has the singing voice of a god, but will unintentionally destroy any instrument they touch, while C!Etho gives the energy of someone who can play any instrument known to man with varying levels of successfulness while still being decent at all of them, but can't sing to save his life, so I propose this: a band au where they make little songs and such in their garage together.

Grian would get dragged into editing everything for them simply because he lives with them and they don't want to do it themselves. He especially hates editing anything Etho has created because his stuff, every single instrumental ever, is so much more to edit than Cleo's vocals.

They would post their songs on a YouTube channel Grian set up for them after Cleo bullied Etho into letting her.

All of their songs become emo the moment Etho gets his hands on them and Cleo allows it without resistance.

One of their songs is a platonic love/rant song Etho wrote about Joel and he always says that it can be about anything the listener wants it to, or makes a stupidly complicated story for what it's actually about, but it's really just about Joel and Etho can't lie about it. It's probably called "Neck Kisses" or something to match Joel's Spotify playlist. Of course, Cleo bullies him into releasing it since it unironically goes hard. (Think "You Stupid B!tch" by Girl In Red, but with less romantic undertones.)

The second Bdubs finds out about their little band/duo thing, he goes completely feral. He immediately becomes their #1 fan, makes merch for them and begs them to show him unreleased songs. I can't decide if it's actually because he loves their music or if he just wants to be supportive.

Joel, on the other hand, finds out about it and lovingly hates on them. Not publicly or anything and not really to Cleo - it's mostly just him making fun of Etho, so really just the usual for them. He calls himself their de-hype man nonetheless.

The merch Bdubs makes is surprisingly high quality for hand-made stuff, mostly consisting of shirts and jumpers decorated with song lyrics and names and maybe a few socks and some custom kazoos. He and Grian team up to make them an official merch website.

I like the idea of them just being like a small indie band that appreciates every like and nice comment they get, so Etho has some kind of heart attack when they hit a hundred subscribers. Of course, Bdubs convinces/forces them to celebrate the, albeit small, achievement and invites everyone even vaguely involved, so it's just Cleo, Etho, Grian, Bdubs and Joel cramped inside of Cleo, Etho and Grian's garage, drinking and eating snacks together and having a marathon of every bad horror movie they can find.

They also have a friendly rivalry with "Gem and the Scotts", (since someone commented that and I loved the idea) but don't really focus too much on rivalries since half of the band (Etho) is too busy obsessing over their de-hype man.

Thinking about it now, they probably started by making covers of songs made by bands like Paramore and Twenty-One Pilots, probably some Panic! At The Disco as well. Then Cleo came up with a song about something going on in their life and asked Etho to do the instrumentals for it. Asking him to do backup vocals for her taught them that he was awful at singing since he outright refused, leading to them teaming up to create the actual band.

They're one of those alternative/indie emo bands - like Fall Out Boy and such.

I have no idea what their band name would be- it could be something simple, like just "The roomies", but I feel like they wouldn't want to leave Grian out since he isn't actually in the band. Maybe he could play the kazoo or something??

I enjoy imagining Bdubs asking about what Etho does in the band since he has never thought about him being musically talented and Cleo just takes him into Etho's room - it's filled with different instruments and merch of different bands, like they all have their own special spaces and stands. Bdubs is flabbergasted.

Despite their friendly rivalry with "Gem and the Scotts", they don't really interact with them tons because Joel has this weird hatred for Scott that he has never ever explained - No one can ask about it either since he'll just start to angrily mutter names under his breath. Cleo has deduced that it must be because of something that happened in high school, but nobody knows much more than that, except Bdubs who keeps his lips firmly sealed. (Thank another comment for this.)

#hermitcraft #hermittblr #secret life #secret life smp #life series #life series smp #zombie cleo #zombiecleo #ethoslab #etho #grian #the roomies #bdubs #smallishbeans #band au #roommates au technically #sort of a college au #Should I just be editing this whenever I have a new idea?? Idk but that's what I've been doing lol #Might have to write something on Ao3 for this lmao

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cremdotexe · 3 years

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Villains of 3rd life: Analysis

I was bored, and though we all know basically everyone is a villain in their own rights, there are definitely some stand-outs. So I’m here to analyze some of them, this is in the context of 3rd life and not cc, of course. A very long post and session 7 spoilers under the cut.

Grian and Scar

I’m putting Scar and Grian together because they’re on the same team with the same goal, but I’ll analyze them both together and seperately, starting with Grian.

Grian dedicated his green life to Scar. It was all fun and games at first, but I believe while Scar’s first death was unintentional, and that he felt genuinely guity when it happened, Grian has twisted that into his advantage. He sets a lot of traps, and use Scar as the completely willing scapegoat. No wonder he didn’t die sooner, the red army still has faith that he was going to switch sides once he had died. BUT the thing is there’s a loophole in his agreement with Scar, and that is while he can leave, he doesn’t have to. And at this point in the war, who would? The red desert have quite the upper hand now, and Grian’s partnership with Scar has been more than successful. Grian knows this as well, so he teamed up with the hobbits and decides to stick with Scar, and that’s the smartest thing to do.

On to Scar, who has been a wild card this entire series. Etho described him as a wild animal, and while that’s can definitely apply due to his knack of just going rogue and attack people even when he’s at a clear disadvantage, what directly contradicts Etho’s statement is that Scar doesn’t actually attack wildly like say, Skizzle or Cleo do. Even when he was going up alone against the entirety of dogwarts, he managed to stall long enough to pretend to escape down under his bunker, then he ambushed them, almost killing Etho permanantly. He then lure Martyn over and that led him to his first death, then he ambushed Impulse. Yet everyone seems to see him as a non-threat just because people knows Scar’s biggest weakness is his own clumsiness, but what they don’t realize is that his biggest advantages are that not only is he actually quite smart and charismatic with his attacks and escapes specifically, but people keep underestimating him.

I have said it before and I will say it again, these 2 together is one of the most dangerous duos and they have been since the beginning. They work incredibly well together, and both of them have specific skill sets that let them live this long despite having a lot of enemies at the beginning. These two legitimately and quite literally gaslight gatekeep girlbossed their way out of the chaos they caused themselves, and they have been successful so far, which says a lot considering how much damage they actually caused.

Ren

I’m putting Ren here more as the ‘tragic backstory’ villain rather than the fullfedged villains that Grian and Scar are. At first, Ren has great intentions, but that all went downhill after Scar threatened him and the sand people successfully put him on yellow life. His villain arc, however, starts the moment he purposefully went red and went to people’s house, asking for an offering in exchange for loyalty, if he doesn’t get it, their names get put into the book.

Sounds familiar? What he was doing was EXACTLY what Scar did to him, and that led him to turn yellow. and now the rest of the server other than the red army refers to him as the red king and they see HIM as the villain. Ren’s been hunting down his enemies, and this became very clear in session 7. He declared war, and all of this was for a banner, all for their honor. Now, he’s at a disadvantage after a betrayal, arguably because he went red on purpose.

Speaking of betrayal...

Impulse

I count Impulse as a villain here specifically because of his motives. Impulse has been playing 3rd life in a very passive manner, he helps everyone and gain favors from everyone, getting on people’s good side this whole time, all because he wants to survive himself. From session 1 to 6 he had everyone, and I mean everyone warped around his fingers for a good while, and he was planning on betraying most of them, if not all. And while everyone knows something is up, the only one really distrusting him by the beginning of session 7 was Cleo, and Cleo is gone now.

What he said at the beginning of session 7 to the crastle really made his intentions clear. Impulse wants to come out on top, and in a way, he already did. He have good gear, good ally, and he was very willing to betray dogwarts without any hesitation. He even said he wanted death and destruction, he didn’t want people to just go to war with no pay offs, he wanted people to actually starts dying more than they already were. I wouldn’t be even a little surprised if he turns on Bdubs and Tango too, after all, he’s still on yellow and they were both red.

Out of everyone, I also think Impulse have the most drive to actually win the series, he’s still having fun of course, but he have a legitimately good plan. We’ll have to say where that goes.

Joel

Joel is dangerous in a different sense than the other 4 mentioned in this list because he seems to be going with the flow, so this one is going to be a bit shorter than everyone else’s due to the simplicity of his actions. He’s simply doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Everything he does is in his own best interest, he doesn’t actually care about alliance other than what’s convenience. Joel betrayed the dogwarts just so Scar would help rebuild his roof, he burnt down the hobbits’ wall just because he wants to. Like Scar, the only thing he really wants is to cause chaos, but unlike Scar, Joel does it for his own gain as opposed to for fun like Scar often does.

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Yeah, to be honest I just wanted to ramble and share my thoughts, it’s fun to type these down even if it makes me a nerd lmao. Minecraft war go brrrr.

#3rd life spoilers #3rd life #3rd life smp #3rdlife #3rdlifesmp #grian #goodtimeswithscar #rendog #impulseSV #smallishbeans #long post

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heeleys-the-musical · 3 years

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Ideas for Season 2 of 3rd Life

Happy one month anniversary of the ending of 3rd life season 1! I’ve still got the brainrot hard so please enjoy the thoughts that have been pinging around inside my brain like a DVD screensaver. In this post, I will present and defend changes I would like to see, storylines that could be used, and team-ups that I think would be entertaining.

Addition: Player Head Drops

If you watch Hermitcraft or Empires SMP, you may know of the Player Head Drops addon. For those that don’t know, it is a datapack that drops an item that is textured to look like a player’s head when that player is slain by pvp. This could add a new dimension to both roleplay and gameplay. For a morbid example, someone could mount the head of a slain enemy on a pike outside their base to warn off invaders. For more emotional impact, dead players would now have in-game remains so there’s an actual object to use when you bury your dead husband ally. For those less inclined to roleplay, the heads can be worn in the helmet armor slot and layer the texture over the player’s skin. This wouldn’t fool anyone at close range, but there is a lot of remote observation is 3rd Life. At a long distance, you can’t see a player name or its color, and in armor the only identifying feature would be the player’s head (this becomes more relevant in version 1.17 with the addition of the spyglass). Since helmets are banned, it wouldn’t be out of place to see someone heading out without headgear. Player heads could actually be used as an effective disguise. I think this change would add a fun new dimension to the game.

Plot Idea: Chosen One

In season 1, Martyn introduces the concept of some kind of divine being that is protecting and guiding him. The watchers mysterious voice seems angry that he did not win season 1, so why would they not redouble their efforts for the next try? Martyn is the chosen one, destined by the gods to be the last one standing in season 2. Ren is his head priest and they start a cult together (of course he has to team up with Ren again their dynamic is just *chef’s kiss*). I see Ren having a lot of fun with the ‘evangelizing preacher’ role. To convert people, they convince them of the concept of a shared win--if Martyn is the last one standing, everyone in the cult may consider that a victory. They could bring back Black Heart Altar and do more spooky blood sacrifices. It would also be really funny if they borrowed the ‘BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD’ meme.

A List of Potential Team-Ups

Grian and Etho: Etho is a lot more wholesome than we think. I know we were all psyched for a villian Etho arc after his tree burned, but it turns out he’s just a big softie. He constantly teased Bdubs and while he did fire missiles at the Crastle, killing was not his intention. Even when they were enemies, he never went too hard. Etho engaged in audio warfare and even says he doesn’t want Bdubs to die. He was loyal to the Red Army, but I think his heart was always with the Crastle. GRIAN, on the other hand, is a bloodthirsty gremlin who loves chaos. Scar may have guided the Sand Alliance, but Grian was the driving force. He got 5 kills while on his green life! I’m sure he would have gotten way more if he knew how to make working traps. Guess what Etho can do? These two would be a good team-up because they mutually simp respect each other and could play to each other’s strengths and weaknesses (and by that I mean Grain could lure Etho to the dark side). This would be a frightening team. Potential downsides: this may lead to Grian winning again. Counterpoint: the other players may recognize how powerful this team is and and take them out early.

Skizzleman and BdoubleO100: while these two didn’t interact much in season 1, they both have a level of voice control and manic energy that I think would play really well off each other. Could you imagine them in a yelling match? I would also add Joel to this mix, simply to encourage him to go crazy. His delivery of “THE RED KING DIES TONIGHT, FELLAS!” was in my opinion, the peak of his series, and the energy of this team could lead to more. As a counterweight, I would add Bigb to this team. He’s like a capybara; he just exudes chill. He could keep the team focused and prevent them from turning on each other. Someone has to be the responsible mom friend here.

Cleo and Scott: The Gays Star-Crossed Widows Alliance. I don’t know if these two have collaborated before, but It seems like these two get along really well. Cleo and the flower husbands had a secret alliance because they trusted each other, they had the widows alliance that never happened, and Scott even intended to put flowers on Cleo’s grave after she died. Plus, their dynamic is really fun. Imagine them running around heckling the roleplayers.

Jimmy and Scar: The Himbo Alliance. This one is kind of a joke but please just imagine this for a minute. Scar’s charisma stat is through the roof, and Jimmy is a trained MCC champion. Similar to how Scar performed in season 1, they could come off as so dumb and harmless that no one would expect them to come in from behind and sweep the competition. Honorable mention to Bdubs.

That’s all for now! I probably have more ideas but I just can’t put them into meaningful words yet. Signing off, this is a grown-ass adult who needs a hobby.

#3rd life smp #third life smp #haha hyperfixation go brrrr

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memryse · 3 years

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i’ve only watched Grians POV and Im working my way through Rens POV so I’m not like a 3rd SMP expert but your question was very interesting to me.

First of all, Zombie Cleo and Lizzie. She and BDubs had the best defensive base in the server and she clearly knows how to strategize. I think she and Lizzie could be one heck of a team because from what I watched on Empire SMP, Lizzie is a mischievous personality and she’s got hell of a grit. She literally gathered resources for hours upon hours mining coral for her coral castle, and she spent a good while making a very aesthetic river to the Jungle Kingdom. Lizzie is very good at designing things when she puts her mind to it.

Second of all, Scar. Just Scar. Whoever Scar partners up with, he’s genuinely so charismatic and also very good at coercing people. I remember several times he convinced people to give them their pants, chest plate, and shoes and he also had the balls to ask Ren for the enchanting table, which was Rens living. As long as Scar has someone behind his back, go anchor him, he gains a lot of confidence.

I don’t know a lot of the other members. I’d also like to say Grian would do well, but it’s genuinely so unpredictable until we see solid teams form. That’s what I adored about 3rd life. I feel like anyone can do really badly or really well depending on who they team up with, and how they interact with the other teams.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about it. So excited for Season 2.

WOO THESE ARE THE KINDS OF ASKS I LIKE TO SEE :D it really does depend on so many factors, you're right. it's fun to talk about the hypothetical alliances and how things might end up though :D and this way i get to come back to my pre-s2 posts and see how right or wrong i was about it!

hell Yes to cleo and lizzie. cleo's one of my top 3 bets (alongside pearl and martyn) - she's got great survival skills, and whilst she is impulsive, she knows when to take risks. mostly. the arson was kind of an outlier in that regard. when she lost her final life to the red army, though, that was a calculated risk (try and catch them off guard now, or just get steamrolled by them later) and it would have been fantastic if it had paid off. as for lizzie, yes absolutely she is so dedicated when she puts her mind to a project. she may not be the best at fighting, but she'll be fine with backup. she might team up with joel, but honestly i would love to see a team of the three girls, simply because all of them together would be unstoppable. like, pearl is a force to be reckoned with on her own.

and yeah, scar definitely needs someone to anchor to if he wants to do well. his problem is how easily he dies to natural causes, lol. there's no stopping him with that, he'll find a way no matter what. i would love to see scar and bdubs ally, personally, that'd be a fun combo. or mumbo, if the 17th player turns out to be him.

i hope grian goes out somewhere in the middle this time. he may be my favourite little chaos demon but he needs to spare some victory for the rest of them. i hope he dies in a really stupid way. <3 let him blow himself up at least once.

#*analyses 3rd life like i do mcc*#yes i analyse mcc for fun #something is wrong with me like that #ask #3ls2 #<< tagged bc i do actually want to come back to these posts later in the season

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