False's Mailbox!!

[falsesymmetryzine]

FALSEZINE OFFICIALLY OUT NOW !

After an incredible nine month effort from out 47 contributors, the Falsezine is now LIVE and free to download on itch.io! With 148 pages, the FalseZine features pieces from Hermitcraft Season 2 to Hermitcraft 11, Empires, CowboySMP and much much more in between ! Thank you to all the contributors and mods involved in the zine. (Keep an eye out for their pieces over the next few days!) And last but not least, a Happy Birthday to False herself ! Thanks for inspiring us all :D

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little frown but then he nods and sighs]

Fine.. I’ll head over

[he won’t. It’ll be the most detour of detours]

[he chugs the rest of his tea (not much left), standing up.]

Thanks for taking the ice cream. If you had rejected it I don’t know who else I’d have shared it with

[falses-mailbox]

”really? Not even like- doc-?”

she asks, taking the cups and carrying them as she quickly brings them to a sink, setting them inside before walking back.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he frowns a bit more at the mention of doc]

I haven’t seen him in a month. Wasn’t at his house last time I checked, and i tried messaging him but no reply. Can’t share ice cream with a man who is missing

[he speaks about it casually, like it’s not something he’s panicked a bit about. He’s sure doc is fine, but it’s still worrying when you can’t find him]

So yeah, don’t know who else I would have gone to

[falses-mailbox]

“Oh that’s.. that’s worrying. Hope you find him-“

she replies, a bit sorrowful. Now she felt bad for asking.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’m sure he’s okay! It’s doc, he’s probably just doing something crazy that’ll take over hermitcraft

[he tries to lighten the mood a bit, chuckling]

[falses-mailbox]

”hmph, probably. But we both know what happens when you try to take over Hermitcraft, don’t we?”

she smirked, knocking his arm with her elbow.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he gets a bit dramatic, a hand over his heart, a loud sigh]

The hermits just.. weren’t ready for the beautiful system I made as king

[he laughs quietly, unable to keep in character. He knows he was a terrible king]

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah, uh huh.”

she playfully rolls her eyes.

“I doubt any hermits will let Doc try if you can’t even hold us up.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean I managed to hold that throne for a while

[he pauses, thinking]

Though, doc is a bit more.. insane than I was which might cause issues-

[falses-mailbox]

”let’s just pray he’s on haitus and taking a break-“

she mutters. They’re at the entrance to her base now.

“thanks for stopping by! Make sure you go heal yourself the best you can.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

he's probably just taking a break, yeah..

[he gives a smile, reachibg over to give her a quick side hug]

ill be back when im healed. then we better go for metro mayhem

[falses-mailbox]

”promise is a promise. Hold up your end and I’ll gladly hold up mine.”

she grins, accepting the hug and gently hugging him back, careful not to disturb the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Yeah.. ill hold up my end

[he’ll get to it soon. Soon meaning like after as much procrastinating as possible]

[he gives her one last squeeze, then shoots off into the sky, flying away

[falses-mailbox]

she watches as he flies away, giggling to herself as she walks back into her base. She's concerned, she really is, but she's also glad that this isn't affecting mind too much. At least for now.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little frown but then he nods and sighs]

Fine.. I’ll head over

[he won’t. It’ll be the most detour of detours]

[he chugs the rest of his tea (not much left), standing up.]

Thanks for taking the ice cream. If you had rejected it I don’t know who else I’d have shared it with

[falses-mailbox]

”really? Not even like- doc-?”

she asks, taking the cups and carrying them as she quickly brings them to a sink, setting them inside before walking back.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he frowns a bit more at the mention of doc]

I haven’t seen him in a month. Wasn’t at his house last time I checked, and i tried messaging him but no reply. Can’t share ice cream with a man who is missing

[he speaks about it casually, like it’s not something he’s panicked a bit about. He’s sure doc is fine, but it’s still worrying when you can’t find him]

So yeah, don’t know who else I would have gone to

[falses-mailbox]

“Oh that’s.. that’s worrying. Hope you find him-“

she replies, a bit sorrowful. Now she felt bad for asking.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’m sure he’s okay! It’s doc, he’s probably just doing something crazy that’ll take over hermitcraft

[he tries to lighten the mood a bit, chuckling]

[falses-mailbox]

”hmph, probably. But we both know what happens when you try to take over Hermitcraft, don’t we?”

she smirked, knocking his arm with her elbow.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he gets a bit dramatic, a hand over his heart, a loud sigh]

The hermits just.. weren’t ready for the beautiful system I made as king

[he laughs quietly, unable to keep in character. He knows he was a terrible king]

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah, uh huh.”

she playfully rolls her eyes.

“I doubt any hermits will let Doc try if you can’t even hold us up.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean I managed to hold that throne for a while

[he pauses, thinking]

Though, doc is a bit more.. insane than I was which might cause issues-

[falses-mailbox]

”let’s just pray he’s on haitus and taking a break-“

she mutters. They’re at the entrance to her base now.

“thanks for stopping by! Make sure you go heal yourself the best you can.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

he's probably just taking a break, yeah..

[he gives a smile, reachibg over to give her a quick side hug]

ill be back when im healed. then we better go for metro mayhem

[falses-mailbox]

”promise is a promise. Hold up your end and I’ll gladly hold up mine.”

she grins, accepting the hug and gently hugging him back, careful not to disturb the sculk.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little frown but then he nods and sighs]

Fine.. I’ll head over

[he won’t. It’ll be the most detour of detours]

[he chugs the rest of his tea (not much left), standing up.]

Thanks for taking the ice cream. If you had rejected it I don’t know who else I’d have shared it with

[falses-mailbox]

”really? Not even like- doc-?”

she asks, taking the cups and carrying them as she quickly brings them to a sink, setting them inside before walking back.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he frowns a bit more at the mention of doc]

I haven’t seen him in a month. Wasn’t at his house last time I checked, and i tried messaging him but no reply. Can’t share ice cream with a man who is missing

[he speaks about it casually, like it’s not something he’s panicked a bit about. He’s sure doc is fine, but it’s still worrying when you can’t find him]

So yeah, don’t know who else I would have gone to

[falses-mailbox]

“Oh that’s.. that’s worrying. Hope you find him-“

she replies, a bit sorrowful. Now she felt bad for asking.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’m sure he’s okay! It’s doc, he’s probably just doing something crazy that’ll take over hermitcraft

[he tries to lighten the mood a bit, chuckling]

[falses-mailbox]

”hmph, probably. But we both know what happens when you try to take over Hermitcraft, don’t we?”

she smirked, knocking his arm with her elbow.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he gets a bit dramatic, a hand over his heart, a loud sigh]

The hermits just.. weren’t ready for the beautiful system I made as king

[he laughs quietly, unable to keep in character. He knows he was a terrible king]

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah, uh huh.”

she playfully rolls her eyes.

“I doubt any hermits will let Doc try if you can’t even hold us up.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean I managed to hold that throne for a while

[he pauses, thinking]

Though, doc is a bit more.. insane than I was which might cause issues-

[falses-mailbox]

”let’s just pray he’s on haitus and taking a break-“

she mutters. They’re at the entrance to her base now.

“thanks for stopping by! Make sure you go heal yourself the best you can.”

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little frown but then he nods and sighs]

Fine.. I’ll head over

[he won’t. It’ll be the most detour of detours]

[he chugs the rest of his tea (not much left), standing up.]

Thanks for taking the ice cream. If you had rejected it I don’t know who else I’d have shared it with

[falses-mailbox]

”really? Not even like- doc-?”

she asks, taking the cups and carrying them as she quickly brings them to a sink, setting them inside before walking back.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he frowns a bit more at the mention of doc]

I haven’t seen him in a month. Wasn’t at his house last time I checked, and i tried messaging him but no reply. Can’t share ice cream with a man who is missing

[he speaks about it casually, like it’s not something he’s panicked a bit about. He’s sure doc is fine, but it’s still worrying when you can’t find him]

So yeah, don’t know who else I would have gone to

[falses-mailbox]

“Oh that’s.. that’s worrying. Hope you find him-“

she replies, a bit sorrowful. Now she felt bad for asking.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’m sure he’s okay! It’s doc, he’s probably just doing something crazy that’ll take over hermitcraft

[he tries to lighten the mood a bit, chuckling]

[falses-mailbox]

”hmph, probably. But we both know what happens when you try to take over Hermitcraft, don’t we?”

she smirked, knocking his arm with her elbow.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he gets a bit dramatic, a hand over his heart, a loud sigh]

The hermits just.. weren’t ready for the beautiful system I made as king

[he laughs quietly, unable to keep in character. He knows he was a terrible king]

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah, uh huh.”

she playfully rolls her eyes.

“I doubt any hermits will let Doc try if you can’t even hold us up.”

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little frown but then he nods and sighs]

Fine.. I’ll head over

[he won’t. It’ll be the most detour of detours]

[he chugs the rest of his tea (not much left), standing up.]

Thanks for taking the ice cream. If you had rejected it I don’t know who else I’d have shared it with

[falses-mailbox]

”really? Not even like- doc-?”

she asks, taking the cups and carrying them as she quickly brings them to a sink, setting them inside before walking back.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he frowns a bit more at the mention of doc]

I haven’t seen him in a month. Wasn’t at his house last time I checked, and i tried messaging him but no reply. Can’t share ice cream with a man who is missing

[he speaks about it casually, like it’s not something he’s panicked a bit about. He’s sure doc is fine, but it’s still worrying when you can’t find him]

So yeah, don’t know who else I would have gone to

[falses-mailbox]

“Oh that’s.. that’s worrying. Hope you find him-“

she replies, a bit sorrowful. Now she felt bad for asking.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’m sure he’s okay! It’s doc, he’s probably just doing something crazy that’ll take over hermitcraft

[he tries to lighten the mood a bit, chuckling]

[falses-mailbox]

”hmph, probably. But we both know what happens when you try to take over Hermitcraft, don’t we?”

she smirked, knocking his arm with her elbow.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little frown but then he nods and sighs]

Fine.. I’ll head over

[he won’t. It’ll be the most detour of detours]

[he chugs the rest of his tea (not much left), standing up.]

Thanks for taking the ice cream. If you had rejected it I don’t know who else I’d have shared it with

[falses-mailbox]

”really? Not even like- doc-?”

she asks, taking the cups and carrying them as she quickly brings them to a sink, setting them inside before walking back.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he frowns a bit more at the mention of doc]

I haven’t seen him in a month. Wasn’t at his house last time I checked, and i tried messaging him but no reply. Can’t share ice cream with a man who is missing

[he speaks about it casually, like it’s not something he’s panicked a bit about. He’s sure doc is fine, but it’s still worrying when you can’t find him]

So yeah, don’t know who else I would have gone to

[falses-mailbox]

“Oh that’s.. that’s worrying. Hope you find him-“

she replies, a bit sorrowful. Now she felt bad for asking.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little frown but then he nods and sighs]

Fine.. I’ll head over

[he won’t. It’ll be the most detour of detours]

[he chugs the rest of his tea (not much left), standing up.]

Thanks for taking the ice cream. If you had rejected it I don’t know who else I’d have shared it with

[falses-mailbox]

”really? Not even like- doc-?”

she asks, taking the cups and carrying them as she quickly brings them to a sink, setting them inside before walking back.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he nods, smiling back softly]

Just come talk to me if you ever decide you’ve changed your mind

[falses-mailbox]

”yeah! Totally-“

She probably won’t

“anyways, Cub is.. online! Go talk to Cub. Then we’ll do your metro mayhem runs.”

she explains, putting down her empty teacup

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he lets his legs swing back back and forth under his chair]

thats fair. i mean, i didnt even notice and we've been friends for a while.. so you're doing pretty alright. if you ever want to learn more though, we could always do something like-

[a pause, thinking.]

like an hour where we read together. and you just try harder and harder books. improve slowly, and we wont even have to talk! just read nearby each other and hang out

[falses-mailbox]

she smiles for a moment.

“maybe another time, but thank you.”

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[rendogs-mailbox]

Do you want to learn more?

[he takes a sip of his own tea. His tail flicks behind him as he talks, still a happy guy]

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m happy with what I know- I don’t really want to go through the trouble of learning more-“

She tries to brush off the subject. Embarrassed.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[rendogs-mailbox]

… what books can you read?

[any kind of teasing tone has slipped out from his tone, now just soft and curious]

[falses-mailbox]

”eh-! Like- I guess the basic ones everyone knows- I know enough to pass by-“

she explains, almost going a little defensive. She sips her tea again, calming her down.

“maybe not the best- but not the worst.”

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[a little bit of an eyebrow raise at the stammer]

You sure? If I hand you a book you could read it?

[he keeps his voice joking and light, tail wagging]

[falses-mailbox]

”…depends on the book-“

she mutters, almost trying to hide behind her teacup

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

I wouldn’t give them any credit-

[he laughs, then pauses]

Wait, can you read-

[falses-mailbox]

”y-yeah! Of course again, you didn’t strike me as extremely blunt and surprised me-“

she stammered.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Grian

[he grins back]

You give him something to read and he stares blankly at it- might be just his eyes though.

[falses-mailbox]

”y’know, I like to give the hermits some credit-“

she pauses, smiling. A little guilty

“but yeah-“

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You know, thinking about it, I doubt that many hermits even know how to read..

[he takes a sip of his own tea]

[falses-mailbox]

she laughs a bit at that

“which hermits are you referring to-?”

she grins, curious.

[falses-mailbox]

[he brings ice cream]

[no ghast or wings, he had walked here, too worried it’d spill. He had gone to the hub, trying to see if the sculk would disappear once off hermitcraft (it did, but came back the moment he returned) and got ice cream while he was there, two cones]

[he walks into false’s base, yelling in hopes to get her attention so she could come to him instead of him continuing to be a spill risk]

FALSIE! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!

@rendogs-mailbox

You hear a rocket fire, before she glides down past you with her elytra, nestling hitting you. She lands and turns, walking up to Ren, smiling.

“hey dude! Whatcha got there?”

she asks, though she does freeze a few feet away, avoiding the sculk.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[seeing her stand so far, as if terrified of the sculk growing on him, makes his heart hurt. The sculk that had started growing on his face pulses, and his eyes- his eyes weren’t the right colour, faintly more teal, a bit cloudier than normal- look down at his gloved hands, knowing sculk grows underneath.]

[he offers her one of the ice cream cones]

I got you ice cream

[falses-mailbox]

”aww.. thank you-“

she comment, reaching out and taking the ice cream gently, but quickly. She takes a few licks and smiles. She looks back up.

“I assume it hasn’t gotten any better?”

she asks, her voice filled with pity.

[rendogs-mailbox]

No

[it’s gotten worse. Every breath, every heartbeat, it kept him alive now]

I still need to reach out to cub

[he should have done that by now but the thought of getting rid of the sculk made him feel scared.. he isn’t sure why he feels scared]

It does disappear when I’m in the hub though, so it is just a problem on the server

[falses-mailbox]

”okay.. maybe a game glitch. Why haven’t you reached out to Cub yet? I thought you said you’d do that since your last visit-“

She mentions, her eyes darling around at the sculk before returning to his face. She feels horrible looking at him.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I’ve been busy

[he doesn’t tell her about the fear. Mostly because he doesn’t think it’s his own fear, and admitting that out loud- he can’t do it]

I’ll get to it soon!

[he tries his own ice cream, having not eaten any yet. He had been waiting to share with her first]

[falses-mailbox]

”I understand projects and friends and well.. certain games and other servers- believe me I do, but when you’re here you should definitely prioritize your health before working on anything. For everyone, including yourself.”

False comments, looking at him with concern.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I mean, it’s not like I’m dying, I’m still healthy! Still breathing and heart still beating!

[and the pain is only mildly excruciating, a constant burning in his body that his mind has slowly tuned out]

[falses-mailbox]

”But that’s gotta hurt- right? And don’t even think about lying again-“

She sighs, staring at him, only mildly upset.

[rendogs-mailbox]

.. it hurts a bit, yeah- but it’s kinda like my brain has given up on feeling it? It only hurts when I think about it!

[like now. He’s definitely thinking about it now, and it’s hard to keep that happy smile when it hurts like this]

[he distracts himself with ice cream]

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s.. mildly concerning but okay-“

she mutters, also going back to the ice cream.

“besides that- what else is going on with you? You still have Grian’s games, right? And we both know Cowboy SMP just ended-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its fine. Better than constantly feeling it

[he takes a few licks of the ice cream as he thinks]

Not much… looking to see if any new servers are being opened, might catch up on misadventures.. mainly grian’s game right now though, yeah. They’re strangely fun for… yknow.. death games-

[falses-mailbox]

”glad your enjoying it. Do you want to come inside? Sit down, maybe?”

she offers, stepping to the side.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he perks up a bit, tail wagging behind him]

Yeah! That sounds fun..

[he starts to wander to inside her base, walking slow to make sure she leads- it doesn’t feel right to just lead the walk into someone else’s home]

[falses-mailbox]

she leads him to a small table on an upper level, and offers him to sit down, before sitting down herself.

“Say, you’ve tried metro mayhem, right? Impulse’s minigame?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he sits down, still working on his ice cream. It’s mostly gone now- a mix of eaten and melted. His tail wags a bit faster at the mention of metro mayhem, a big smile on his face]

‘Course I tried it- I think nearly everyone has at least tried now. Trying to get under 12.. I think I’m almost there!

[falses-mailbox]

”that’s great-“

she says, cutting herself off with a lick of ice cream.

“how many shortcuts you using?”

she curiously asks.

[rendogs-mailbox]

As many as I can get in a run. Scar showed me through a bunch of them the other day..

[more ice cream eating]

How are you doing in your runs?

[falses-mailbox]

”I’d say pretty good! Have a solid path with a few shortcuts, but I might change it a bit.”

she explains, suddenly biting her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[he winces seeing her bite the ice cream. He can practically feel the cold against his teeth, and shivers]

What’s your current time goal?

[falses-mailbox]

”trying to get down to 11 stacks, maybe 10! But its a bit if a stretch-“

she explains, remembering her last run. She’s under 12 by a little, and still made a mistake. She sure she can do it.

[rendogs-mailbox]

You’ll have to teach me the secrets that got you to 12

[he’s still at 13, almost at 12. Last time he played was mainly people helping him with the parts he struggled on, hadn’t done a proper run in a while to see if he could get the time he wants]

[falses-mailbox]

”only if you heal yourself first! You know I’m going go to be relentless about this.”

she jokes, though her words are serious.

[rendogs-mailbox]

It’s not healing, it’s just seeing if cub can even heal it-

[he sighs, all big and dramatic like]

I’ll go soon.. but you have to promise you’ll run metro mayhem with me right after

[he holds his paw out, like for a pinkie promise]

[falses-mailbox]

she stares for a moment, debating.

“y’know what? Sure.”

She smiles, giving him the pinky promise with a soft smile.

[rendogs-mailbox]

[his smile widens, tail going fast behind him]

Alright!

[that means he has to reach out to cub now. Boo]

[he’d do it though. Make false happy]

[falses-mailbox]

“What shortcuts are you taking, though?”

she asks, finishing her ice cream and beginning to eat the cone.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Well I can’t give away all my secrets.. but there is the one in mine and doc’s-

[hand motion of going over something as he thinks]

Where you go over it all. Dude, I’m so disappointed neither of us caught that being possible, we tried to make no shortcuts!

[falses-mailbox]

”don’t worry, I think I accidentally did the same with mine.”

she reassured. She knows a few people were running on top of her build instead of running through, or even through the shortcut.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Next time we have a game like this, we all need to make sure there’s no way to go over. Slow them down

[he chuckles]

Or make shortcuts just for ourselves and sell our secrets for profit

[falses-mailbox]

“What’s better than fixing things? That’s right, scamming.”

she grins, laughing at herself.

“but no, in all seriousness it doesn’t make too much of a difference, just rather annoying they don’t stop to admire the little traps I put.”

she finishes her ice cream.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Its be nice to get some extra cash, maybe we sell keys for a shortcut so its only a one use thing. We could be rich false!

[he chuckles, finishing off his ice cream as he listens to her]

I’ll go extra slow through your section next time, spend all my time admiring it just for you

[falses-mailbox]

”go reeeeeaaallly slowly, take a moment in the scenery, won’t ya?”

she jokes, waving her hand around.

“also, let’s keep that in mind for next time. Steals are easier than effort.”

She notes.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Ill go super slow. It can be the run that we go together, then you can point out all the details to me

[he loves this, loves chatting with her]

[falses-mailbox]

“maybe we could race, once or twice. Y’know, after looking around? Person who finishes first gets to see the time and if it’s better, change their current time.”

she suggests. She was beginning to strategically think about pathways, routes, anything.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I think you’d probably end up winning

[he chuckles, knowing there’s a few shortcuts he’s been struggling to get through properly, missing the jump no matter how many times others guide him through it]

[falses-mailbox]

”but wouldn’t it be fun?”

she offers.

“Maybe you learn a shortcut, or at least how to do a shortcut by following me-“

she explains.

[rendogs-mailbox]

I had the experts walk me through it, i think ive learned most shortcuts, just not how to execute them

[his ears flick, then he smiles]

A race would still be fun

[falses-mailbox]

”then we should do one sometime. It’s official.”

she grinned softly

“need something to drink? I can get water or tea if you’d like-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

We’d need to do a proper race later too. One I could actually win

[he grins]

I’d happily do a running race around the server with you

[and probably actually lose, as he’s getting used to his new disadvantages]

Tea sounds good!

[falses-mailbox]

”I’m sure we can plan a race.”

she mentions as she gets up and goes to grab some tea. A few minutes later she comes back with 2 fresh cups, handing on over to Ren.

“that race could also be a makeshift new server tour, if you think about it. I mean, how much has changed?”

[rendogs-mailbox]

probably a lot.. i cant think of the last time i actually went around the server on a tour! a lot must have changed

[he takes a small sip of the tea, quickly realising it might be a bit too hot to drink currently. he sets it down for now, letting it cool off]

[falses-mailbox]

”I mean, back then my base wasn’t nearly finished, and now not only is it done but I’ve added a giant tree and I’m working on the back of my base. Not to mention the others like Mumbo probably finished the majority of their base.”

she mentions, waiting for her tea to cool down.

[rendogs-mailbox]

i don't know if ive added much, i think ive mostly just grown the biome

[he tries the tea again. slightly less burning]

i think the majority of us have to have added a lot recently, ive seen a lot of cool stuff while flying over

[falses-mailbox]

“alright, so metro mayhem, races, tours, what else do we need to do?”

she laughed. Sipping the tea

[rendogs-mailbox]

actual work, probably

[he laughs as well, tail wagging behind him]

maybe we make a minigame out of our race. force hermits to run around the server with us

[falses-mailbox]

“oh I’m sure they’d love to do that.”

she sarcastically draws out, but she’s smiling the whole time.

“I can’t think of one person who’d run around the server with us and not be annoyed by, y’know- twaddles-“

[rendogs-mailbox]

Honestly, I think if we aim at the competitive members of the server, they’ll run with us no problem. Give them a time, a route, and people to beat and we’ll have an amazing race

[he grins, all sharp ouppy teeth out in a big smile]

[falses-mailbox]

”hopefully that works. Maybe we add little structures here and there and see if someone can find and count them all.”

she suggests, sipping her tea.

[rendogs-mailbox]

Maybe we put little signs on the structures and test the hermits speed reading skills. Pretend that it’s important information and see how much it slows them down

[he chuckles]

[falses-mailbox]

”oh yeah no surely they’ll love that minigame.”

she grins. Sipping her tea.