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#I don’t know what Zloy sounds like I’m so sorry
froggymarsh · 11 months
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Pixl is not having a good day.
It’s evident from the moment he enters the van- (it’s the only thing they’ve built in this world, they could do all of this outside but the editing equipment would get wet)- the automatic door gets stuck three times before Pixl simply brute forces his way through it. The door protests, fighting rather stubbornly on the middle bit, refusing to slide open, but Pix shoves it open and just as harshly forces it shut, making Zloy wince.
The lights are his next target- he swipes a hand down the wall that nearly shakes the entire van.
“Heya Pix,” Zloy greets, handing over the script. Pixl comes to sit at the table with him. The dark doesn’t bother him, there’s a window on the wall next to them, lighting the entire table through the blinds. And he’s a Zombie- it’s like Elsa, the dark never bothered him anyway.
“Zloy,” Pixl returns, shutting the blinds with a snap. He takes the script and starts looking over it, “we need to invest in some blackout curtains.”
“Can do,” he files that away for later, taps away at his recording software. Pixl makes a frustrated little noise and picks up a red pen.
Zloy doesn’t like red on his edits. It’s a bit too mean.
“Can you edit in blue?”
Pixl shoots him a glare and tosses the red pen across the room. Zloy watches it arc and land, clattering off somewhere under the couch.
“Are you okay?”
Pixl snatches a blue pen and continues his edit, his leg bouncing like mad under the table, “never better.”
“Usually you ask me before you make edits,” he reminds him, trying to keep confrontation out of his voice- he’s not the enemy here, he’s not mad, just worried.
“Just,” Pixl pushes a hand through his hair and gestures at the paper, “spelling. It was bugging me.”
Zloy notes the frustration- that spelling mistakes don’t usually bother him, unless he’s, well.
“No worries.”
They’re quiet after that, falling into the familiar rhythm of editing. Zloy taps away at his recording stuff, carefully setting out and plugging in the mic and making minor adjustments to settings. Pixl’s pen scratches, some harsher than others.
“I really don’t know how to spell this week huh?”
Pixl doesn’t answer.
That’s a bit worrying. Pixl’s always got a quip.
Zloy watches, waiting, taking silent notes- Pixl’s got a death glare on the paper that could rival Zombie Cleo’s. He keeps adjusting his hair, every flavor of unkept crossing his scalp.
His leg is bouncing. He keeps pushing his sleeves up and down like nothing is comfortable. He looks overwhelmed, piecing through a script in ten minutes that would usually take about thirty seconds for him to read through once. He looks an inch from falling asleep and about a million light years from ever touching a bed again. He looks like he might cry.
Zloy reaches over and takes back the script.
“Zloy,” Pixl snaps, almost like a wolf, baring his teeth for a single bite of the word. His pen caught on the paper, leaving a harsh line of blue from the middle to the bottom.
“We’re taking a break,” Zloy returns, no room for argument, pushing up from the table and dragging a chair with him to store the script on a high up shelf.
“But we just started,” Pixl complains, making no move to stop him. His leg keeps bouncing. He yanks his sleeves back over his hands.
“Makes it easier to take a break that way,” Zloy answers, tucking away the script and pulling out a box of the tea Pix likes, “less to clean up.”
“Don’t need it,” Pixl grumbles, glaring down at the table now, “just wanna get this over with.”
Zloy retrieves a kettle next, fills it with water, puts it on a burner. “Want to pick a hermit for us to watch?”
“I don’t wanna watch a hermit.”
“Then someone else?” Zloy pulls out two mugs- gag gifts they made for each other two christmases ago, “c’mon, Pix, work with me here.”
Stony silence. Pixl glares down at the table, eyes glossy with tears. They sit in bubbling silence until the kettle sings- Zloy fills their mugs and puts in the tea bags.
“Decked out is looking impressive,” Zloy tries, keeping his voice light, “and Mumbo’s back, running around on a pig.”
Pixl doesn’t answer.
“We could take a look at Scarland.”
Nothing.
Zloy starts humming the Mumbo AFK song.
When the tea’s ready he joins Pixl at the table again. Tears have dripped onto his sleeves. He looks disappointed by the mug.
“What’s wrong, buddy?”
Pixl pokes at the mug, “it’s dumb.”
“The mug?”
“No-” Pixl almost whines, wiping his eyes on one sleeve, “no, just- I’m dumb, I shouldn’t-”
“You’re not dumb,” Zloy interrupts, firm. “What’s wrong? How do I fix it?”
Pixl wipes his eyes again, slumps forward on the table with the energy of a ten year old who’s just been told bedtime is sooner than he wants it to be.
“I’m-” Pixl swallows, runs a hand through his hair again, rests his chin on one arm, “I’m a little too small for a mug. Right now.”
“Yeah?” Zloy asks, pressing gently, “afraid you’ll spill?”
Pixl shakes his head, a dusting of red at the tips of his ears and on his cheeks, “just. Small. A bit. Maybe.”
He clears his throat, folds his arms together. “Just think it’d be nice.”
Zloy nods, takes the mug and walks back to their cabinets, “sippy cup or bottle?”
“Bottle,” Pixl murmurs, then buries his face in his arms.
Zloy hums the affirmative and picks a bottle- one that’s long and clear and lightly patterned with sweet berries and foxes, both red and white. He transfers the tea and screws on the can on his way back.
He gently presses it to Pixl’s arm. Pix grabs it with a mumbled thanks but doesn’t drink yet.
“You’re welcome.”
Silence again, Zloy pulls his chair over, sips his tea and rubs Pixl’s back. He can’t tell if he’s crying or not. He doesn’t think it matters. He’s here, he’s got him.
Eventually, Pixl emerges, eyes red rimmed. He wipes away the wet trails on his cheeks.
“Wanna watch you,” he says, much softer than before.
“Yeah?” Zloy smiles, “we can watch me.”
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Already here with another chapter. Much shorter, but last one was long, so what do you expect?
au by @hermitcraftheadcanons and @helleborusangel gets tagged in my writing.
Thousands of people waited on bated breath as they tuned into what was likely to be the next episode of Hermitcraft Recap. Pixlriffs and Zloy had already made a public announcement that they had no idea about the new season or what happened to the hermits, only learning when they themselves watched the day one recap.
In fact, the two of them were on their couch, ready to watch another episode. Their hope was that this was some sort of elaborate prank and this week there would be no weekly recap and instead a reveal. But luck didn’t seem to be on their side, as a new clip started to play.
As a clip of Joe and Beef seeing a giant structure that had suddenly appeared started to play, both the recappers got notebooks ready. The intro started just the same as before, Zloy quickly writing down the names of Noah, Goofball and Valentine so they could look into their player records later.
From there, they again went from hermit to hermit, recapping all that had happened, though there was one thing that stood out to the recappers. In a few clips, a new structure was featured, one near most of the hermits. But it was completely ignored, other than either Noah or Goofball saying the hermit had ‘found something’ and then not elaborating.
A worrying detail was the fact that mob hybrids seemed to be acting more towards their instincts, such as Zedaph munching on wheat and Ren attacking Etho when he was hit. The other that a few of the hermits were gaining traits of the area they were stuck in, like Wels growing tusks or Bdubs becoming black like the void.
Speaking of those two hermits, both of them had found someone new. Wels of course had found his evil copy in the crimson forest, but the footage was cut off before he could be talked about much. Bdubs on the other hand had found someone hanging onto what looked like a mix between an end gateway and the things that had been appearing near others. Again, they couldn’t get much of the hermit’s reaction due to a cut taking them elsewhere, but it was enough to take note of, getting a description of a person in pink armor and white hair.
There were also two other new people who hadn’t interacted with other hermits, though these people the new recappers actually covered, them being Pearlescentmoon and Geminitay. Apparently they weren’t there on day one, but had been there most of the week. Gem was in a better situation than a number of the hermits, not being stuck somewhere or in a death loop, though she was still stranded who knew how far from spawn.
Pixl and Zloy took as many notes as they could, then the presenters said the thing they wanted to hear. “Now, rolling things back a little, some things have appeared at everyone’s spawn, the question is what they are.”
“With a few minor exceptions, every player has had these pillars appear at their spawn made of different blocks depending on the spawn.” Goofball was speaking, explaining the structures. “For example, in the deep dark, Xisuma’s pillar is made of deepslate. Meanwhile Hypno’s has birch and honeycomb.”
“Right now, the pillars only show each person’s spawn,” Noah picked up. “But over time they may lead to something more. Though right now, there are three exceptions.” Noah paused as there was a little bit of whispering. “Right. Four exceptions. The first two of these four are the most important, those being Beef and Joe’s pillars.”
“As you saw.” Goofball spoke up again. “The two of them found a large tower in the middle of spawn that was not there before. The pair briefly explored the tower to see what was inside, finding a parkour course leading upwards. Instead of following that up, they tried to build up with little success, and shortly after found a number of their harder to find items missing.” And the audio paused to show a clip of Beef and Joe finding all their diamonds and other similarly rare items gone.
“Possibly in the future they’ll try getting up there again. But eh, who knows when that will be. And with that marks the end of today’s Hermitcraft Recap. I was Toon Noah-”
“And I was Mysterious Goofball and our writer was Pin Valentine. If you’d like to see original content made by us, you can find us if you already know where to look.”
“Don’t forget to give this show a good rating and tune in next week for the next episode of Hermitcraft Recap. Thank you all so much for watching and goodb-”
The recappers had already both looked up at the television when the outro started, so many questions still left unanswered. If they hadn’t, they would have suddenly looked up when the audio cut out. Though it seemed to have stopped, the panorama of footage from the new hermitcraft season, if it could be called that, was still playing. Zloy was about to get up and check their sound when there was suddenly another noise from the tv, the sound of a crash that seemed to come from off camera.
Then one of the new recapping pair spoke up. “What are you doing here? Look, if you’re angry about-”
“Angry? Why would I be angry?” A new voice spoke up. It was familiar, but for the life of them, neither Pixlriffs nor Zloy could figure out who it was. “No, it’s a wonderful idea! In fact I want to help out with your recording next week. I assume you have general scripts for the upcoming events, yes?”
“I mean, yeah.” Goofball spoke. “But shouldn’t you-”
“Great. Now I think I want to talk about these player files. They shouldn't be- oh, you’re still recording, aren’t you? Shut that off.”
And a moment later, the episode finally finished, leaving Pixl and Zloy sitting quietly on the couch with their notebooks.
“Pixl, you were recording this, right?”
“Yeah. Want me to replay it?” He asked Zloy, who nodded. Pixl pulled up the recordings and replayed the recap episode, only to find it very different from before. The entire video was now replaced with a black screen and purple text scrolling across the screen.
‘Sorry for the inconvenience, but this episode cannot be rewatched. -Xelqua.’
“I’m guessing we want to add that one to the player list.”
“Already writing it down Pix. We’re taking this up the ladder tomorrow, right?”
Pixlriffs nodded. “At this point, it might be better to go now.”
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Friday Night Stabby best quotes part 14 - Legacy Peeps edition (05/03/21)
people playing in this game: Skizz, Joker, Impulse, Zloy, Logic, Poppy (PoptartKatze), Pearl, Chim (ChimneySwift), Sausage, Avo (Avomance). prox chat is off bc the game updated and crewlink didnt work
Chim: Okay, I’m here! Don’t start without me! Poppy: We just started without you. Zloy: We just started without you.
...
*Impulse reports Skizz’s body* Impulse: Hello hello. Somebody killed my blueberry friend. Somebody killed my blueberry friend and I’m sad! Zloy: Quick let’s think about it: who had the motive? Impulse: It was in electrical, by the way. Poppy: I was messing with wires. Logic: That sounds very ‘electrical’. Poppy: Not messing with bodies! I was messing with wires IN electrical. Pearl: That’s where the body was, Poppy.
...
Impulse: I’m just happy to be part of this crew :) Pearl: So happy you would stab somebody?
...
Sausage: You voted for me?! Logic, get outta here! I didn’t even say one word, Logic!
...
Pearl: Another body in electrical. Poppy, have you been playing with wires again? Poppy: I was… somewhere. Not in electrical, obviously.
...
Joker: At the beginning of the game, I went into electrical and did my tasks and left and then I went ALL the way around to the other side to do asteroids in weapons. Pearl: I actually believe that; I remember seeing you in there. Zloy: I’m sorry, I was not listening. I was too busy voting you out of the airlock.
...
Logic: *is the only one who voted for Sausage again* Sausage: Stop it, Logic! I hate you!
...
Zloy, during the round: This is a public announcement that ghosts can and should do their tasks. Sausage: Roger roger. Logic: Roger roger. Zloy: It’s a public announcement, you don’t need to roger roger if I’m speaking over the intercom.
...
Pearl: I think it’s Logic; all of us have been in the middle for the majority of the round. Zloy: I’m pretty sure Logic hasn’t been, so let’s yeet him. Impulse to his chat: Oh no. He’s getting yeeted.
...
Zloy: Joker, can I have my lime back, please? Joker: What, Zloy? What’d you say? Zloy: Can I have my lime back? Everybody knows I’m lime. Since Avo stole green. Avo: I didn’t steal anything! *changes colour to brown* Zloy: *changes colour to green* There we go. Thank you, Avo. Avo: You are welcome, sir. Zloy: See? This is how you make friends. This is how you establish connections. Joker: Zloy, we’re- We’ve always been friends, though.
...
Skizz: Okay, who was not doing tasks? We were down to one task for, like, a month. Joker: I want to say that I did all my tasks and that you should be proud of me. Skizz: Well, you WANNA say that but can you say it truthfully? Joker: I DID do all my tasks. Skizz: Well, atta boy. Joker: Are you proud? :D Skizz: I AM proud of you! :D
...
*body is reported* Avo: Who did it?! Skizz: You make one heck of a detective.
...
Skizz: I was 100% with Impulse, you’re absolutely right, but he cut into reactor and I went up towards upper engine. Avo: I did see Skizz in north engine. Joker: So you cut Impulse and then went up? Skizz: Okay! Well, you know what, don’t make me do it, Mister Joker! You’re adding all these extra words. Joker: Do what? You’re gonna kill me? Skizz: No, I- I could not be more- I’ve been playing with you a while. I have kind of a- It’s not fair, I- I’ve been playing with Joker for a while. This is how he talks when it’s him. Joker: What?! No it’s not! Skizz: And there goes the high pitched voice. Like a recipe. It’s like a RECIPE with you. Joker: You’re getting me confused with Impulse.
...
Chim: So we’re voting for Poptart? Wait- Poppy: No! I FOUND the body. Chim: Oh. But how do we know you didn’t CREATE the body?
...
Zloy: It’s like rock-paper-scissors. Skizzleman beats Joker, Impulse beats Skizzleman, Sausage beats… uh… what’s-his-face. Logic. Logic: What’s-his-face? What’s-his-face?!
...
Avo: There’s a green body! Mister Joker in electrical, just as I went into electrical to do my electrical tasks. Chim: That’s pretty sus. Skizz: That’s what he gets! Sausage: Self-report. Poppy: Self-report for sure. Avo: It is not a self-report. I can put my hand on my Avomancian heart and say it was not I. Skizz: Wooow, that was diggin’. Pearl: Very sus. Zloy: Yeah, I was about to advocate that there’s no reason to self-report on the first kill of the game but you changed my mind single-handedly. *votes* Skizz: Whoa, Zloy! We need a little bit more. Little bit more.
...
Avo: I’ve never been so hurt in all my life getting voted on that. Skizz: It was just Zloy.
...
Skizz: I don’t wanna wrong Avo again. Avo: I’d be very disappointed if you wronged me again, Skizz. Impulse: What if I wrong you? Cuz I saw you and Logic take off towards electrical together. Zloy and I were still chilling, dumping trash. Avo: I was dumping trash with you, Impulse! For goodness sake! Impulse: Yeah, then you and Logic ran off together and you killed him. Chim: Wait, what about trash? Impulse: Avo just called Logic trash because that’s who he killed. He was taking out the trash, you heard it.
...
Pearl: Make sure to vote, Chim. Chim: I did. I voted for “skip”. Whoever that guy is, he’s super sus all the time.
...
Zloy: So it was a double kill, which means that we’re operating with people who are really, really comfortable being around one another. Chim: Or there’s a sniper. Zloy: A WHAT? Chim: A sniper. You know… like, a long-barrelled gun that shoots bullets at a long distance. Zloy: We’re on a SPACESHIP! Chim: That’s a good point. I’m getting too immersed.
...
*Skizz and Pearl win as imposters* Zloy: Hey, remember when I said it’s competent people and my idea was that it was Skizz and Pearl because they were the only ones left who are competent? *everyone immediately protests*
...
Zloy: Double kill by electrical. SPARKS were flying. Joker: If I get imposter, I’m killing you first, Zloy.
...
Chim: I did a scan in medical. Impulse: Oh yeah? How much did you weigh? Chim: I don’t wanna talk about it. Impulse: What’s your blood type? Chim: What blood type is not sus?
...
Zloy: Chim walked right past a body. Chim: Oh I did? OH! That WAS a corpse, wasn’t it? I thought it was, like, a pet. Literally, no joke, I thought it was a pet. I didn’t even- Zloy: I’m completely certain that you are a crewmate and I still want to throw you out of an airlock right now.
...
Zloy: We had fun! Let’s go to medbay with everybody. It’ll be fun. You can watch your friends get undressed and scan themselves.
...
Skizz: Maybe when you undressed for your scan, Chim, Zloy saw something that you don’t want him to tell the world about. Chim: Well, I mean… ;)
...
Joker, getting voted out: Well, that’s rude.
...
Chim: You can’t spell Sausage without ‘sus’. Skizz: Are you saying Sausage is a… SAUSpect?
...
Skizz: I think he wanted a piece of the Skizz. He wanted a Skizz sandwich! Logic: Skizz, I would never do something like that to you! Never! Skizz: I was your first kill, homie.
...
Chim: I have a body to report! Zloy: Boy do you. Chim: What? Why would you say that, Zloy? Zloy: Nothing. Chim: You know about a body? Zloy: I’ve just been staring at your butt for most of this round. Chim: Yeah, why’ve you been following me? Zloy: I’ve been following you because I needed a buddy. *later* Pearl: So what we’re getting at is it’s either Zloy or Sausage? Chim: No, I don’t think it was Zloy cuz he was honestly on my booty the whole time. It was sus but wasn’t THAT sus.
...
*Avo kills Impulse and Skizz immediately walks in* Skizz, singing to the tune of Bad Romance: Whoaa whoaa whoaaaaa, your killer, he is Avomance. Pearl: What happened? Skizz: I walked into reactor as Avo is walking out and there’s bloody footprints as he’s walking away from the body. Zloy: I appreciate how extra you are.
...
Zloy: Look, you can always trust a man who is not afraid to sing Lady Gaga. That man has nothing to hide.
...
Joker: I found Poptart’s body in… Chim: In the cereal aisle? Joker: Yeah, in the cereal aisle. Haha. Um… Yeah, I found- Avo: THAT was sincere (/s)
...
Impulse: I do feel kinda bad sussing [Avo] last round too but- I mean, he KILLED me! So hey. Avo: You deserved it, Impulse.
...
Pearl: Could someone kill me? I haven’t been killed yet.
...
Chim: Where’s the body? Joker: It’s where you left it.
...
Joker: You were chasing me and then luckily, someone put up the doors and blocked you from getting to me. I also watched you stand on a vent, change your mind, and go the other direction. Chim: How do you know I changed my mind? You can’t see anything through my little spacesuit. And I was following you cuz you looked like a pro with your little party hat. I thought maybe you were going somewhere cool and I wanted to check out where you were going. Joker: You’re a horrible liar. I don’t even know you but you’re a bad liar.
...
Skizz: Lemme tell you something there, Pearly Pop. I know that you loved killing me; I know you did. So I want you to know HOW you killed me. See, what you did was- I was wiring the ship. ‘Kay? I was saving lives, I was busy saving lives. You punched me in the head and I turned around and looked at you and you shot me right in the face. That was the animation that showed. Pearl: That’s great :D I love it.
...
*vote ties between Chim and skipping* Skizz: Oh my gosh! Zloy: We were ALMOST free, everyone.
...
Skizz: I’m done. Is anyone else done? Joker: I finished my tasks again, Skizz. Are you proud? Skizz: I AM proud of you! Joker: Look at me doing tasks! Skizz: I’m impressed! Joker: Thanks, man :D
...
*Zloy’s body is reported* Avo: There’s a dead Russian outside navigation.
...
Zloy: The reason [Impulse and Pearl] are so good as imposters is specifically because they know when to shut up.
...
Avo: We don’t know that Pearl wasn’t a killer. Joker: Well, how do we know YOU’RE not a killer? Avo: You have my word as an English gentleman, obviously. Joker: You can’t fool me with your fancy accent.
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we got so much snow, why do i still have class today? I mean it was short, but why have it at all?
oh and you’ll like this one today @petrichormeraki
:)))))))))
“Holy fuck you’re my dad. The captain is my dad.” Tubbo was stunned, still trying to comprehend it. Crumb on the other hand already accepted it. 
“I’ve got a big brudder! Tubbox is my brudder!” She was running around happily and eventually decided to just sit on Tubbo’s shoulder.
“You’re the kid of a celebrity Tubbo!” Tommy slapped a hand on Tubbo’s back in celebration. “Does this mean I can be your plus one to fancy events and shit?”
“I’m not really that kind of celebrity.” Sparklez rubbed the back of his head. “I mean I’m well known, but that’s mainly because I travel a lot.”
“Sprinklez is definitely a celebrity!” Crumb said happily, her tail flicking about. “Millions of people know him! He’s been so myany places!”
“Wonder how Kara’s going to react to all this. ‘Oh hey Kara, remember how I wouldn’t be available for a few days and now it’s been longer than that? Well found my long lost kid!’ I mean it works, but that doesn’t feel right.”
“Is Kara my mom?”
Crumb, feeling a bit chaotic at the moment, answered the question for Tubbo. “Ye!”
“No! No she is not!” Jordan immediately shouted. “That proposal was for being her thousandth kill or something, not for getting married!”
“Honorary mom!”
Sparklez inhaled sharply before sighing to calm himself. “Yes, fine. If you want to think of her like that, sure. Don’t know how she’d react if you call her that though, so maybe don’t actually say it aloud.”
“How’d you even lose him?” Tommy spoke up. He knew Tubbo’s side of the story, but he was a child at the time and it was around ten years ago, so the details might not be accurate anymore.
“Tubbo was really curious as a kid. Always following me around everywhere no matter how much I tried to get him to sit still. He got interested in almost everything I did. We were visiting one world, Univcraft, and I was just driving around.” Grian’s feathers puffed up at the name of the world. “Tubbo was in the back in his seat, but was getting restless. Next thing I know, he had managed to unlock and open the door.”
“Did you keep driving?”
“No! Of course not! I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. Forgot to put park on at first and it started to roll away on its own before I could jump back in to fix it. Tubbo wasn’t in his seat so I assumed he fell out when the door opened but he was nowhere in sight. There seemed to be no evidence and the weirdest part was that he would have had to unbuckle himself from his booster seat and they were all still done up.”
Tubbo’s eyes widened. “I remember that! I… I think when I first realized I wasn’t in the car anymore, the first thing I was upset about was not being in my cool racing harness.” Tommy started laughing. “Hey! I was five!”
Sparklez couldn’t help but chuckle along with Tommy before pulling Crumb and Tubbo into a hug. “Both my ducklings are finally with me.”
“Duckling?” Tommy asked with a mischievous grin.
“I said Tubbo followed me everywhere. He also liked bees a lot so wore yellow half the time. He reminded me of a little duckling.”
“I remember wen Sprinklez cried wen we went to space an I followed him around in my yellow space suit!”
“Okay Crumb, don’t need to bring that up.”
“Hey, if you can say embarrassing shit about me, let her say embarrassing shit about you.”
Jordan winced slightly. “I guess that’s fair. So, what’s your life been like? I can tell you’ve been… active.” He vaguely gestured to a visible burn scar on Tubbo, which made the teen slump their shoulders a little. Tommy pulled Tubbo away into a protective hug and Grian put a hand on Sparklez’s shoulder.
“To put it lightly, they’ve been through hell. I’m pretty sure the only reason he’s doing as good as he is right now is because of Tommy. Don’t expect him to open up about everything right away. Give him space before you start asking questions.” Grian glanced over to the duo and Tommy gave him a quick thumbs up. “Trauma sucks, but having someone there to be supportive, even if you don’t know them as well as you should, is really helpful.”
“Thanks.” Sparklez gave Grian a short nod. 
“Well, I’m sure you guys will have a wonderful time together, but I still need to go see Xisuma and give him updates on… well, everything.”
“See ya Big G.” Tommy said to Grian before the avian was flying off.
Mumbo was trying his best not to completely panic, but he was slowly failing. “No no no no no. It has to be there! Why isn’t it there? Is it because of the ice? Is there something with ice?” Mumbo looked down at himself and still saw no symbol. “Maybe it was whatever Dream did. That’s surely something that wouldn’t be accounted for.”
“It wasn’t him, idiot.” Mumbo’s blood ran cold and he turned around to see Drista sitting on a chest. “Obviously it was you. I thought you knew VG and Watcher magic doesn’t mix.”
“This is. No. I, I’m not a Vault God. I refuse.”
“Again with the refusing. It worked before but it won’t now. I told you it was only a matter of time.”
Mumbo was in a state of complete disbelief, trying to find some excuse. Then his disbelief turned to anger as he thought of something. “No, this is your fault. You were keeping in contact with Dream. He said you were. You didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t do anything. But you did instead. And how did you do that? Became a Vault God.”
“Well tell me how to unbecome one.” Mumbo demanded. 
“You pretty much don’t. That’s why Dream was able to do what he did. Even exiled, he was still a Vault God.”
“Please, there has to be something.” Now he was starting to plead with Drista, hoping for some glimmer of hope for him.
She tilted her head from side to side as she thought about the question. “Well, technically you’re not completely official. In fact I’m here to bring you to that. Maaaaybe if you say something to them, you can get some exception.” She paused to shrug. “Who knows. They may just force you to be one.”
“And if I don’t go?”
“You’ll still be a Vault God, just unstable. Though I will say, you’re doing pretty well on your own.”
Mumbo didn’t care to ask what she meant. He had to go. If he went there was at least some percentage of a chance that he could go back to normal. If he didn’t, he would absolutely end up hurting Grian. “Alright fine. Where do you need to take me?”
Drista smiled and pulled on a mask that was almost identical to the one Dream had worn. “Just follow me.”
Grian spun the chicken feather that was his quill on the table as Xisuma talked. Sure, this was all very important, but the avian was already bored. He kept asking more questions that should have been answered already, but the admin was too focused on the answers themselves to think about the entire context. “I said that it’s going to be like another dimension already. You can’t get to other dimensions without a portal. Think of it like a third being tacked on. And fourth since they have their own nether.”
“What about their end?”
“Again, they haven’t seen it because Dream destroyed all connections to it.”
“And the Watchers?”
“Are combining groups and are adding in two new Watchers to keep things running smoothly.”
“Any previous relation with Zoy and Riffed?”
“Zloy and Pixlriffs, and no. Petrichor and Meraki are just helpful with world crosses. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Can I go yet?”
Xisuma paused, tapping his helmet where his chin would be. “Alright, but I’ll be sending messages to you, so look out for those and try to respond quickly.”
Grian nodded and passed the book and quill over to Xisuma with the notes he had taken. He then got up from his chair and stretched before flying into the air. Now that Xisuma was dealt with and Tommy was occupied, next was getting the kids from Stress.
The avian flew over the desert between Xisuma’s jungle and the one that he, Stress and others lived in. He smiled as he passed Mumbo’s base, though he had to steady himself when his flying became a little wobbly. He brushed it off as him just getting distracted and then landed near where Stress said she would be.
“Dad!” Jrumbot was running up to Grian and the avian picked up his robot son in a hug. “You’re okay again! Daddy was really worried about you.”
Grian quickly gave Stress a thankful nod for her looking after the bots. “Well it wasn’t the best situation, but he figured it out like the smart man he is. Now speaking of him, we should go see him. He needs some more cheering up and love. Think you can help with that?”
Jrumbot nodded and then Grian helped him onto his own back, right between his wings. As the younger of the robots held tightly to Grian, the avian picked up Grumbot and then thanked Stress before flying towards Mumbo’s base. As they approached, Grian suddenly felt much more tired than he had moments before, so much so that Jrumbot slapped his face slightly to wake him up so he didn’t crash.
“What?! Huh? Oh right, I’m flying! Sorry boys, guess the meeting with Xisuma took more out of me that I realized. At least we’re almost there.” And he landed at Mumbo’s base, only stumbling slightly.
“Are you alright dad?” Grumbot asked Grian, who gave a nod.
“Yeah, ‘m fine. Oh, that reminds me. Thanks for your help. We found Tubbo’s dad.”
“While I’m glad I helped, you shouldn’t be trying to change the subject.”
Grian sighed, having forgotten how well Grumbot could read him. “I’m fine. I just want to find Mumbo and then we can all go to the big bedroom and hang out there.” He helped Jrumbot down off his back and ruffled his wings before folding them “Mumbo! I’m here with the kids!”
There was no answer making Grian frown. “Maybe he’s tired like you and went to sleep?” Jrumbot suggested.
“Yeah, might be.” Grian then pulled out his communicator to send random messages to Mumbo to either follow the hum of the vibration of a message or to wake Mumbo up with the sound. He sent off one message and was just starting to type another when he got the error message. “Wh- Mumbo’s not here.”
“What do you mean not here?” Grumbot asked, worried by how worried Grian looked.
“I… maybe he went back to the other world? But everything’s connected now, that shouldn’t be an issue.” Grian continued to worriedly ramble. The bots looked at each other and then took Grian’s hands, pulling him to where Mumbo’s bedroom was and got him to lay down on the bed.
“Do we need to get anyone?” Grumbot asked. “Iskall or Stress? Possibly Xisuma?”
Grian shook his head. “We just left Stress’ place. She’s helped plenty. And Xisuma is busy with the world merge. Iskall… they might be available, but message them first.”
Jrumbot’s screen face changed briefly. “Okay! I did it!”
Grian nodded then curled up in the blankets. He really felt tired now and a bit woozy. He gave a groan. “Ugh… Dream was a Vault God and I was around him for who knows how long. Plus I went to visit again… maybe there’s magic sticking to me or around here.”
“Are you sick again?”
Grian gave a half hearted nod. “Yeah, now both of you come here so I can cuddle you. That’s the best kind of medicine right now.”
Jrumbot immediately jumped into the bed and curled up in Grian’s arms. Grumbot on the other hand, wasn’t as fast. “Contact with people is usually not a type of medicine and I’m sure us not being humans makes it even less effective.” But despite his comments, he also joined his brother in Grian’s arms.
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