Currently full of Blockmen

Hope I get better soon. AO3 Account

[kyuqtq]

Capprico of Nature, Caprice of Man

masterpost

Relationships: Tango & Bdubs, Tango & Zedaph, Tango & Keralis, Tango & Bdubs & Keralis

Tags: Apocalypse AU, Sea Monsters, Season 8 Groups

Summary: In a world long flooded, humanity has learned to survive on floating cityships. One such vessel is Big Eyes, crewed by Tango, Bdubs, and Keralis, and life is… hard. But hey, at least they have each other. 

How long can they really keep it up, though?

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[kyuqtq]

A gift for @pyrriax as part of the @mcytblrholidayexchange !

Full disclosure I restarted about 4 times and then got really hyperfixated on crochet, but! I finished and I think it came out pretty good

Trapped in an Unyielding Orbit

Summary: The void has been following (haunting?) Planet for a while now. No one else seems to realize that they can't escape its cold gaze.

Characters: Planetlord, Spokeishere, Ashwagg and Zam very briefly, Jaron and Bacon mentioned

Tags: Haunting, Paranoia, Planet uses they/them pronouns, Spoke uses it/its pronouns, Cannibalism, Temporary Character Death

Word Count: 1852

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Something has been following Planetlord, something dark and looming and never quite there when they turn around to try and catch it. Something that causes their stars to shrink in closer to their head as though it will pluck away their hearts one by one. Their teammates don't believe them, even when they feel it in the room as they all work together to regear. Bacon and Jaron just laugh and shrug off their worries, even though they know they're being followed. They don't know what to do, because it feels like the void is pressing in on all sides around them, like at any moment they're going to be swallowed whole. 

They shiver, feeling the now familiar chill that happens whenever it’s back. There are eyes staring into them, as though it’s looking into their very soul, watching the way their stars circle their head. They look out of the corner of their eye, trying to catch a glimpse of it, but as always, there’s nothing but a blur of motion. They can’t focus on this right now, they have plans, they’re meeting with Zam in less than an hour for some girl talk, they can’t be freaking out about this shadow while trying to convince Zam to not be afraid of Mapicc. 

It would weaken their argument, at the very least. And if they can’t convince Zam that he’s safe(r) with them, then he’ll never lower his guard enough for them to be able to follow him to the Eclipse base. They go through the nether portal, feeling the all encompassing heat for only a moment before they feel the chill of those eyes on them again. They shiver, pulling their hoodie closer to them as they begin the journey along the nether roof. Sometimes, when they’re alone like this, they can almost hear a voice whispering to them, asking about their stars, asking where they’re going and why. Asking about their teammates, and how easy it would be to get rid of them. Asking what they would do if they were alone. They actually answered that one before, snapping that they would revive them, it’s not like they’re short on materials, not like they don’t have time.

The void found that hilarious, a booming laugh followed by taunts and mirth. It's never actually hurt them, but they don't know if that's because it's waiting or because it's just messing with them. They just want to stop feeling this cold, this on edge; they're sick and tired of being the bug trapped under the magnifying glass.

They leave the nether, trying to ignore how they can almost feel breath on the back of their neck. It must be in a good mood today, as it gives them space as they talk to Zam, only reappearing towards the end. They feel it's (probably) metaphorical fingers wrap around their shoulder, and then the strangest thing happens. 

Zam gets scared.

And that isn't that strange on its own, Zam gets scared all the time these days, paranoid to the point of poor health, but he's staring right past Planet's head, right over his shoulder as though he can see something that no one else can. Planet opens their mouth, ready to ask questions: what is it, what does it want? But Zam cuts him off with a smile that seems even more forced than normal.

“Anyways, I feel great now, Planetlord. Thank you for your help and for talking to me. I will, uh, see you again. At some point.” Zam is scared. Terrified even, at whatever he sees over Planet's shoulder. He doesn't even give Planet a chance to question him, hopping on his horse and riding off towards the nether portal.

Planet has so many questions. No one has ever acted as though they can see their… ghost? the demon haunting them? The void that's going to swallow them whole when they die…? Bacon and Jaron have never seen it, teasing them whenever they try to bring it up as though it's some kind of prank. But, for whatever reason, it allowed Zam to see it, and it terrified him. 

Granted, everything these days scares Zam, comes with the whole “Mapicc hunting him for sport” thing.

Still, it feels like they were given a hint, or something. It chose to show itself to Zam for a reason. What does Zam know that Planet, or Bacon or Jaron, wouldn't? He's more involved with the factions of the world right now, taking a stand against duplicated items and now the gods popping up around the world. Could it be that simple? Does it have to do with the God Mobs? Planet doesn't know, and they aren't sure if they're going to get an answer, with the way it refuses to show itself to anyone other than Zam.

Planet sighs, walking along the path of spawn, feeling the weight of the void's stare. They have plans, things they need to get done, but instead they're always worried about when, not if, the thing turns hostile. Everything goes wrong eventually, so even though nothing has happened yet, they know that things will turn.

They hop down a small ledge, feeling the claws of the void tug lightly at their jacket as they land. And then they hear the hiss. They barely turn in time to see the creeper before it explodes. They can feel as one of their stars fades as their vision goes dark. This is just their luck, dropping down to two hearts. and in such an embarrassing way too.

They wake at spawn. One of the others must have moved the bed and forgot to tell them again. They're lying in the grass, taking a moment to regain their bearings before they try to recover their items. In the distance, they can see Ashwagg as he shows off his newly discovered flight to another unsuspecting member of the server. They watch halfheartedly as they consider their new predicament. They have more than enough netherite, hell, they're pretty sure they have a couple more hearts lying around that they could use. But more importantly, dying like that affects people's opinions of them, and their team. They aren't weak, but it's easy to write them off as not being a threat because of the silly (normal) ways they die. Eventually, Planet's going to change that, they have very big plans for the future, but right now they mostly just want to have fun.

As they watch Ashwagg, the sky grows darker. Alarmingly quickly, the sky is blotched out and covered in darkness. This has to be it. The void finally finds them weak enough that it's coming to finish them off. It's like a warden's blindness amplified by a thousand. Ash looks up, panic and confusion flashing across the static of his face. 

And Planet realizes, oh, this is real. 

Ash can see the darkness. Whatever this void is, it’s visible to the world. It has a tangible, physical presence that other people can see and feel. At least this way, if they're banned off the server before they have a chance to get more hearts, people will know what happened to them and they won't have to cover their face in embarrassment if or when their teammates revive them.

As the world goes black around them, two clawed hands of void reach out towards them, turning into an inky black form with a rainbow headband. Its eyes are pure white, a stark contrast to Planet's own form, and as its mouth opens it seems to tear the space around it apart.

“Hey, have I got just the thing you need, Planet Lord.” The voice is cocky and drawn out, a wide grin forming on its face. “Since you had your little… accident.”

“What…?” Planet trails off, there are too many questions they want to ask. 

“Your creeper incident.” It steps closer and Planet tries to scramble back. It's like they're pinned in place, they can't bring themself to move even an inch. “But you are going to owe me, can't just be handing out this sort of thing for free.”

It holds out its hand, a small iridescent orb pulsing in a rainbow of colors sitting innocently on top of its palm. As it moves closer to Planet the shape changes, becoming closer to one of their stars. It's offering them a heart. A genuine one, not one disguised just enough to pass a trade. 

“What do you want for it?” Their voice doesn't shake, they're forcing out their standard lowkey persona even as something this powerful stands before them. It has the power to plunge the world into darkness; what could it possibly want from them?

It laughs, a booming laugh that feels like it's sending pins through their hands and feet. “Let's just call it an… IOU. A favor for me to cash in later, doesn't that sound fair to you?”

If it was any normal player, an IOU would be a very dangerous thing to give out. Telling someone you'll do whatever they want in the future is, well, stupid, frankly. But this is even worse, there is something wrong with the figure standing in front of them. They open their mouth just to close it again as they think about how much harm it could force them to do.

“I'm waiting.” It whines, drawing out the words like a perturbed child who was told they could go home in five minutes ten minutes ago.

“Fine. Okay.” They don't want to make it mad, not when they really need the heart and it could decide to kill them at any moment.

“I knew you would end up seeing things my way! Open up, Planet Lord.” The void lunges towards them even faster than they could have imagined it moving. Grabbing them by the skull and forcing their jaw open.

The star morphs into a beating heart, and as Planet is made to bite down on it they wonder how the thing manages to have such an influence on the appearance of hearts. The blood runs down their chin, inky and thick as they chew. They feel as the star they lost reforms, their heart count returning back to three. The void smiles at them, mouth tearing open into menacingly sharp teeth. They brush the blood from their face with the back of their hand, ignoring the way that it shakes slightly. 

The void laughs, cheerful and spine chilling, and it steps away from them. The figure fades away into the darkness, leaving Planet with a whispered “don't forget our deal, Planet.”

The darkness fades away, leaving them sitting in the middle of spawn with no trace of anything happening other than the smear of blood on the back of their hand.

“Planetlord. Planet.” They look up quickly, seeing Ashwagg standing above them. “What was that?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Their mouth moves without them being in control of it. The air on their skin is warm, but there is a bone deep chill in their core.

[pyrriax]

pray to a god who is not listening

Summary:

Finding himself in a safe place turned sour, Zam turns to the one thing they can't take from him: praying to something which cannot hear him.

Relationships: Implied PrinceZam & Mapicc & Roshambo Word Count: 1368 Notes & Warnings: Religious themes, this fic has a bit of a weird format but I hope it reads alright ^_^

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

my gift for @kyuqtq for the @mcytblrholidayexchange !

[pyrriax]

pray to a god who is not listening

Summary:

Finding himself in a safe place turned sour, Zam turns to the one thing they can't take from him: praying to something which cannot hear him.

Relationships: Implied PrinceZam & Mapicc & Roshambo Word Count: 1368 Notes & Warnings: Religious themes, this fic has a bit of a weird format but I hope it reads alright ^_^

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

my gift for @kyuqtq for the @mcytblrholidayexchange !

[pyrriax]

pray to a god who is not listening

Summary:

Finding himself in a safe place turned sour, Zam turns to the one thing they can't take from him: praying to something which cannot hear him.

Relationships: Implied PrinceZam & Mapicc & Roshambo Word Count: 1368 Notes & Warnings: Religious themes, this fic has a bit of a weird format but I hope it reads alright ^_^

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

my gift for @kyuqtq for the @mcytblrholidayexchange !

[pyrriax]

pray to a god who is not listening

Summary:

Finding himself in a safe place turned sour, Zam turns to the one thing they can't take from him: praying to something which cannot hear him.

Relationships: Implied PrinceZam & Mapicc & Roshambo Word Count: 1368 Notes & Warnings: Religious themes, this fic has a bit of a weird format but I hope it reads alright ^_^

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

my gift for @kyuqtq for the @mcytblrholidayexchange !

[pyrriax]

pray to a god who is not listening

Summary:

Finding himself in a safe place turned sour, Zam turns to the one thing they can't take from him: praying to something which cannot hear him.

Relationships: Implied PrinceZam & Mapicc & Roshambo Word Count: 1368 Notes & Warnings: Religious themes, this fic has a bit of a weird format but I hope it reads alright ^_^

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

my gift for @kyuqtq for the @mcytblrholidayexchange !

[kyuqtq]

A gift for @pyrriax as part of the @mcytblrholidayexchange !

Full disclosure I restarted about 4 times and then got really hyperfixated on crochet, but! I finished and I think it came out pretty good

Trapped in an Unyielding Orbit

Summary: The void has been following (haunting?) Planet for a while now. No one else seems to realize that they can't escape its cold gaze.

Characters: Planetlord, Spokeishere, Ashwagg and Zam very briefly, Jaron and Bacon mentioned

Tags: Haunting, Paranoia, Planet uses they/them pronouns, Spoke uses it/its pronouns, Cannibalism, Temporary Character Death

Word Count: 1852

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Something has been following Planetlord, something dark and looming and never quite there when they turn around to try and catch it. Something that causes their stars to shrink in closer to their head as though it will pluck away their hearts one by one. Their teammates don't believe them, even when they feel it in the room as they all work together to regear. Bacon and Jaron just laugh and shrug off their worries, even though they know they're being followed. They don't know what to do, because it feels like the void is pressing in on all sides around them, like at any moment they're going to be swallowed whole. 

They shiver, feeling the now familiar chill that happens whenever it’s back. There are eyes staring into them, as though it’s looking into their very soul, watching the way their stars circle their head. They look out of the corner of their eye, trying to catch a glimpse of it, but as always, there’s nothing but a blur of motion. They can’t focus on this right now, they have plans, they’re meeting with Zam in less than an hour for some girl talk, they can’t be freaking out about this shadow while trying to convince Zam to not be afraid of Mapicc. 

It would weaken their argument, at the very least. And if they can’t convince Zam that he’s safe(r) with them, then he’ll never lower his guard enough for them to be able to follow him to the Eclipse base. They go through the nether portal, feeling the all encompassing heat for only a moment before they feel the chill of those eyes on them again. They shiver, pulling their hoodie closer to them as they begin the journey along the nether roof. Sometimes, when they’re alone like this, they can almost hear a voice whispering to them, asking about their stars, asking where they’re going and why. Asking about their teammates, and how easy it would be to get rid of them. Asking what they would do if they were alone. They actually answered that one before, snapping that they would revive them, it’s not like they’re short on materials, not like they don’t have time.

The void found that hilarious, a booming laugh followed by taunts and mirth. It's never actually hurt them, but they don't know if that's because it's waiting or because it's just messing with them. They just want to stop feeling this cold, this on edge; they're sick and tired of being the bug trapped under the magnifying glass.

They leave the nether, trying to ignore how they can almost feel breath on the back of their neck. It must be in a good mood today, as it gives them space as they talk to Zam, only reappearing towards the end. They feel it's (probably) metaphorical fingers wrap around their shoulder, and then the strangest thing happens. 

Zam gets scared.

And that isn't that strange on its own, Zam gets scared all the time these days, paranoid to the point of poor health, but he's staring right past Planet's head, right over his shoulder as though he can see something that no one else can. Planet opens their mouth, ready to ask questions: what is it, what does it want? But Zam cuts him off with a smile that seems even more forced than normal.

“Anyways, I feel great now, Planetlord. Thank you for your help and for talking to me. I will, uh, see you again. At some point.” Zam is scared. Terrified even, at whatever he sees over Planet's shoulder. He doesn't even give Planet a chance to question him, hopping on his horse and riding off towards the nether portal.

Planet has so many questions. No one has ever acted as though they can see their… ghost? the demon haunting them? The void that's going to swallow them whole when they die…? Bacon and Jaron have never seen it, teasing them whenever they try to bring it up as though it's some kind of prank. But, for whatever reason, it allowed Zam to see it, and it terrified him. 

Granted, everything these days scares Zam, comes with the whole “Mapicc hunting him for sport” thing.

Still, it feels like they were given a hint, or something. It chose to show itself to Zam for a reason. What does Zam know that Planet, or Bacon or Jaron, wouldn't? He's more involved with the factions of the world right now, taking a stand against duplicated items and now the gods popping up around the world. Could it be that simple? Does it have to do with the God Mobs? Planet doesn't know, and they aren't sure if they're going to get an answer, with the way it refuses to show itself to anyone other than Zam.

Planet sighs, walking along the path of spawn, feeling the weight of the void's stare. They have plans, things they need to get done, but instead they're always worried about when, not if, the thing turns hostile. Everything goes wrong eventually, so even though nothing has happened yet, they know that things will turn.

They hop down a small ledge, feeling the claws of the void tug lightly at their jacket as they land. And then they hear the hiss. They barely turn in time to see the creeper before it explodes. They can feel as one of their stars fades as their vision goes dark. This is just their luck, dropping down to two hearts. and in such an embarrassing way too.

They wake at spawn. One of the others must have moved the bed and forgot to tell them again. They're lying in the grass, taking a moment to regain their bearings before they try to recover their items. In the distance, they can see Ashwagg as he shows off his newly discovered flight to another unsuspecting member of the server. They watch halfheartedly as they consider their new predicament. They have more than enough netherite, hell, they're pretty sure they have a couple more hearts lying around that they could use. But more importantly, dying like that affects people's opinions of them, and their team. They aren't weak, but it's easy to write them off as not being a threat because of the silly (normal) ways they die. Eventually, Planet's going to change that, they have very big plans for the future, but right now they mostly just want to have fun.

As they watch Ashwagg, the sky grows darker. Alarmingly quickly, the sky is blotched out and covered in darkness. This has to be it. The void finally finds them weak enough that it's coming to finish them off. It's like a warden's blindness amplified by a thousand. Ash looks up, panic and confusion flashing across the static of his face. 

And Planet realizes, oh, this is real. 

Ash can see the darkness. Whatever this void is, it’s visible to the world. It has a tangible, physical presence that other people can see and feel. At least this way, if they're banned off the server before they have a chance to get more hearts, people will know what happened to them and they won't have to cover their face in embarrassment if or when their teammates revive them.

As the world goes black around them, two clawed hands of void reach out towards them, turning into an inky black form with a rainbow headband. Its eyes are pure white, a stark contrast to Planet's own form, and as its mouth opens it seems to tear the space around it apart.

“Hey, have I got just the thing you need, Planet Lord.” The voice is cocky and drawn out, a wide grin forming on its face. “Since you had your little… accident.”

“What…?” Planet trails off, there are too many questions they want to ask. 

“Your creeper incident.” It steps closer and Planet tries to scramble back. It's like they're pinned in place, they can't bring themself to move even an inch. “But you are going to owe me, can't just be handing out this sort of thing for free.”

It holds out its hand, a small iridescent orb pulsing in a rainbow of colors sitting innocently on top of its palm. As it moves closer to Planet the shape changes, becoming closer to one of their stars. It's offering them a heart. A genuine one, not one disguised just enough to pass a trade. 

“What do you want for it?” Their voice doesn't shake, they're forcing out their standard lowkey persona even as something this powerful stands before them. It has the power to plunge the world into darkness; what could it possibly want from them?

It laughs, a booming laugh that feels like it's sending pins through their hands and feet. “Let's just call it an… IOU. A favor for me to cash in later, doesn't that sound fair to you?”

If it was any normal player, an IOU would be a very dangerous thing to give out. Telling someone you'll do whatever they want in the future is, well, stupid, frankly. But this is even worse, there is something wrong with the figure standing in front of them. They open their mouth just to close it again as they think about how much harm it could force them to do.

“I'm waiting.” It whines, drawing out the words like a perturbed child who was told they could go home in five minutes ten minutes ago.

“Fine. Okay.” They don't want to make it mad, not when they really need the heart and it could decide to kill them at any moment.

“I knew you would end up seeing things my way! Open up, Planet Lord.” The void lunges towards them even faster than they could have imagined it moving. Grabbing them by the skull and forcing their jaw open.

The star morphs into a beating heart, and as Planet is made to bite down on it they wonder how the thing manages to have such an influence on the appearance of hearts. The blood runs down their chin, inky and thick as they chew. They feel as the star they lost reforms, their heart count returning back to three. The void smiles at them, mouth tearing open into menacingly sharp teeth. They brush the blood from their face with the back of their hand, ignoring the way that it shakes slightly. 

The void laughs, cheerful and spine chilling, and it steps away from them. The figure fades away into the darkness, leaving Planet with a whispered “don't forget our deal, Planet.”

The darkness fades away, leaving them sitting in the middle of spawn with no trace of anything happening other than the smear of blood on the back of their hand.

“Planetlord. Planet.” They look up quickly, seeing Ashwagg standing above them. “What was that?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Their mouth moves without them being in control of it. The air on their skin is warm, but there is a bone deep chill in their core.

[savviathan]

Gem pushes a couch into the lobby of Decked Out, directly in front of the door.

She sits down, soul lantern in hand, and coughs expectantly. She waits a moment. She coughs louder.

It feels like the stone around her sighs outwards with an edge of Tango’s rasp in its voice, and the door to Decked Out opens on its own accord.

“So, do you want to start, or should I?”

The stone constrict again beside her, tensing up like pursing its lips. It looks around, blue light burning brighter on the snow layers, then in the egg hunt room, and then settles again down by the stairs. The pistons beneath the floor hiss, and Gem feels something like the cold burn of ice touching skin.

“Then I will start.” She smiles, holding her head up high.

Somewhere, the stone cracks. Her lantern flickers frantically, flames dancing around and almost dying. Gem only shakes her head.

“I’m not very happy with you, you know.” She starts, putting her free hand on her hip. “But I’m going to be cordial. For your sake. This is a therapy session.”

Decked Out’s doors whine.

“One of many if you keep this up.”

Everything seems to still. Then, Decked Out slowly, painfully, releases the pressure in the room. Suddenly, a card is pulled from the deck:

STUMBLE

Gem laughs, hard.

As much of a hard ass Decked Out can be, it still holds Tango’s breath, and his eyes, and his heart, and his sense of humor. It still carries its creator’s vision. That sort of thing is easy to forget sometimes, between all of the ‘killing you’ thing. Speaking of that. Gem settles further into the couch.

“So. As you know, I’ve been running a lot recently. I’m on a quest to get good.” She pointedly ignores Decked Out’s snickering in Tango’s voice. “And I would like to run deeper, but I just can’t seem to find any keys. What gives? Why are you so angry with me?”

At that, Gem gets a startlingly bigger reaction than she had anticipated. It feels like there’s someone sitting on her chest, and the walls close in, and then back out, and the lanterns flicker, and the shop shuffles its contents, and, and—

“Okay, hang on!” She yells, and Decked Out freezes. Literally; she can see her breath coming out in puffs, now. “Well, that’s a lot to unpack.”

Decked Out begins again slowly, reshuffling the shop contents back to where they used to be. Cards pop up and down, and a shard reappears, and Tango’s weird dungeon lackey hood stays just where it is in the corner.

“Is it tango?” She asks tentatively. Decked out laughs back at her incredulously with Tango’s voice.

“Is it me?” And beyond the opened doors, decked out whistles. “What did I do?”

Decked out quiets.

“Nothing. Okay, I’m not following.”

Decked out’s doors groan. It seems to fiddle with the latches quietly, thinking, gears and redstone turning in its head, then clicks rapidly. The doors shut in Gem’s face.

“Hey, just because it’s hard to explain yourself in a language that—“

“Take your items or I’ll feed them to the ravagers.” It interrupts her, loudly, and the lanterns flicker by the stairs. The freezing temperatures leave the room.

“Oh.” Gem says, standing up and following it around the corner. Though, she supposes, following is probably the wrong word. It’s more like, lets it guide her to where it wants her to be. Or something. She’s not a master with communication of card games, she’s good with staggering textures in the walls, and driving a sword into Etho’s chest.

Decked Out clicks the redstone beneath her feet. She stops. It’s led her out to the front of the Deepfrost Citadel, next to Scar’s impromptu line, in the middle of the night and the freezing chill. She stares up at the imposing walls and spikes.

“What exactly am I looking for here, buddy.”

The wind whistles around her. Decked out is utterly silent, out here, unable to talk and seek in a way that matters. It knows this. Down below, mobs walk around in the snow, zombies, skeletons, Gem recalls when hoards of phantoms swooped in from the tops of the towers and attacked the few that were talking outside. It would be nice if someone could take care of that, really, and spawn proofed the area. But Tango couldn’t do that all on his own, could he?

Oh. Wait.

Gem stares back down at the spot Decked Out has taken her to, to the outsides where it cannot touch, where other creatures brush past its domain, unwanted. Gem thinks of treasure drops around the dungeon, and finding no keys, and Etho’s chuckles as he makes sure to compliment her before he runs. She thinks of getting past the gauntlet seven times over, and the comments about her appointed title, Geminislay, that tango gave her, and Decked Out has surely known.

Inside, Decked Out’s flames brighten, welcoming her back inside but never past level one.

“You don’t want me to have keys because you want me out here, don’t you?”

And the air around her, whistles, sings. The lantern she’s still holding, the one she’d brought for the therapy session, dances around in the air as it whips past. Gem sighs.

“Come with me.”

She steps inside, and feels the flames brighten as she passes, and the stone press outwards as to give her more room, and the room goes cold again as she makes it to the top of the stairs. She sits back down on the couch in the lobby, closes her eyes, and releases a breath.

“It’s my turn again.” She begins, and Decked Out is quiet.

“I recognize your feelings. I understand what you mean. I want you to know that, firstly.” She pauses for a moment. “But I am not Tango. I am not a fool.”

Decked Out laughs, again, boisterous and knowing.

“But I know that if I want to play, this relationship must go two ways, healthily. And I definitely want to play.” Decked Out hums at that, a droning sound, but it does not move. Just thinks.

“So I will protect you, where you cannot. I will be your gargoyle.” She giggles.

The citadel is a castle, after all.

“But I would like some keys. And I would like them fairly, nothing extra.” She pauses. “And also, it would be really funny if you messed with Impulse. Make him get a little tilted.”

The flames brighten. The walls seem to thrum with excitement, and a smile.

“So we’ve come to an agreement?” Gem stands and sticks her hand out.

Decked Out rushes cold hair to her fingertips. Gem smiles brightly.

“Then Geminislay joins the dungeon!”

Decked Out’s door nearly breaks itself trying to fly open.

And somewhere deep below, in Decked Out’s redstone guts, the dungeon master shakes his head fondly.

…

[Author’s Note:] I want to also give huge credit to @slashmagpie, whose amazing idea it was that Gem was the gargoyle of Decked Out. He also let me borrow this silly concept of a fic idea from him and write it. Thanks magpie!!

[dmwrites]

It was said that the Decked Out dungeon was alive.

The hermits, gathered in the halls and cubbyholes of Decked Out, talked about this factually. The dungeon was laced tradition and superstition.

The hermits said it ate people, that it craved blood. Some hermits had lucky cards or items, others touched parts of the dungeon before going in. They all joked about the dungeon having a crush on Etho.

Hypno thought this was all bullshit.

And while he wasn’t one to diss other people’s superstitions (at least not in a hurtful way), the way some of the hermits talked about the dungeon was… weird.

Hypno could only shake his head and stay quiet. “It’s chance! Chance and RNG and skill! The dungeon is a machine, not some beast in need of hermit butts to keep it satisfied!” He wanted to say. But he didn’t say anything, just stuck to the sidelines, quiet and thinking about his own runs, what he could explore next.

Regardless of differences, the hermits could all agree on one thing: decked out was addictive. Hypno had spent more hours then he cared to admit in the dungeon, just so he could be near the place, hear strategies. And he liked to play, had a bit of a knack for the dungeon itself. Phases one through three had been tons of fun, tons of exploration and death and success. But Phase four…

“Damn it!”

Hypno wondered if there was a death speedrun record yet for Decked Out, and if he’d just done it. Killed by Skill Issue almost as soon as he’d cleared the first room. The whole week had been like this, he hadn’t succeeded once.

“Too bad, man.” Hypno could hear Cub saying from beyond the door when he respawned.

“Appreciate it, man. Ugh!” Hypno hit the button to open the door and went to sit on the floor next to where Cub was leaning against a wall. “I’ve had such bad luck this week!”

“That sucks. Maybe the dungeon is just mad at you.” Cub suggested, looking down at Hypno.

Hypno put his hands to his face. “Cub, what?”

“Well, you know, I mean, of everyone here, I think you and I have penetrated the dungeon the deepest.”

“Don’t say it like that, please.”

“It’s the truth, though.” Cub continued. “You play that dungeon rough, and maybe it’s tired of you. Wants the annoying bug named Hypno to get out as fast as possible. And how to you get rid of something that’s annoying you? You smack it.”

“The dungeon isn’t alive, Cub.” Hypno said, looking up at him. “You do know that, right? It’s just a game.”

“I dunno, man…” Cub looked down at him. “I pay my respects to the dungeon… maybe you should consider it too.”

It dawned on Hypno, in that moment, just how much the sculk had spread across Cub’s skin, curling into his eyes and staining his skin an inky blue. Hypno shivered, and wondered just how Cub was “paying respects” to the dungeon.

——

Hypno went again as soon as the dungeon was ready. He and Cub hadn’t said another word since their brief conversation, and Hypno could feel Cub’s eyes on his back, watching him in silence. Those glittery, dark eyes. The door closed in between them, and Hypno tried to shake off the kind of damp, uncomfortable feeling on his skin.

“Right, hard mode, let’s do this.” Hypno murmured, pressing the correct button from the list and placing his shulker box. A minecart appeared, and down into the dungeon he went.

The problem was, with the minecart ride, was that it was far too long, with too much silence for thoughts to creep in. Of all people, Hypno hasn’t expected Cub to be one of the hermits treating the dungeon like a living thing. But then again, Hypno reasoned, was Cub really all Cub right now? But regardless of who was in charge of Cub’s form right now, Cub ran the dungeon great most of the time.

But he’s just good at the game, a little voice inside Hypno argued.

But so are you… another voice argued back.

The minecart ride ended, and Hypno was facing the doors of the dungeon. He took a deep, centering breath, tightened his bandanna. The dungeon isn’t mad at you, the dungeon doesn’t have feelings, it’s a building, Hypno assured himself.

He grabbed the compass- a simple level one- and snuck his way thought the icy rooms and halls. He had an ear out for ravengers, but something was different. It smelled different. Rather then the kind of cold that blocked out everything, the air smelled stale, but slightly metallic. Hypno smelled his shirt- it wasn’t him, although he was sweating like crazy. A ravenger suddenly roared, barreling around the corner, even though Hypno was out of sight. Hypno ran, jumping over the river of souls and into the crypt. He had half a mind where this compass location may be, and pounded down the stairs. He wasn’t sure what it was, Cub or just a feeling, but he didn’t want to be here too long.

He found the compass location and threw it in, getting his own bandana artifact. The second he picked it up, the dungeon groaned, metal against metal, ice against ice. He could hear ravengers bellowing, running towards him. Hypno looked around, but there was nothing that suggested this was all some kind of prank.

“What is happening?” Hypno asked himself. He tightened his bandana, took a deep breath, and ran back up the stairs, only interested in leaving this place.

The coffins around him were rattling, someone was pounding against the stone. He could hear vex screeching, even though he was nowhere near max clank yet. He kept running, sure of his way.

Ravengers lunged at him.The walls were contracting, shuddering violently as the dungeon screamed in his ears-

He fell onto the pressure plates that marked the exit, scrambled to the short chute that would send him to the end of the dungeon, and maybe he could get out and touch some grass or something. He jumped down into the hole, taking deep, gasping breaths as he fell. And he kept falling. Before he could really process that this was a far longer drop then any other time he’d finished the dungeon, he hit a puddle of water with a splash.

“Yeah, dungeon isn’t happy with you, man.”

Cubfan stood before him, like he’d been there the whole time. The room Hypno had landed in was caked in sculk, all shimmering and almost bulging outwards towards him.

“Where are we, Cub?” Hypno asked hesitantly, trying to steady his breathing, slowly moving to stand on solid ground. Every instinct the dungeon, and life in general had taught him was that something was very, very wrong.

“The Burning Dark, of course. You’re a smart guy, I bet you knew that already. The dungeon thinks you’re smart. Hates that you’re smart. Hates that you don’t fear it like you should.” Cub paused, and in that silence was the heartbeat of the dungeon. “Are you scared now, Hypno?”

In a place so void of information, with only sculk and the creeping realization that Cub was not here to save him, Hypno’s mind raced, but came to no conclusion.

“No.” He lied.

“The dungeon is hungry, Hypno. You die a lot, but you haven’t died for the dungeon yet.”

A sword was in Cub’s hand, and suddenly it wasn’t Cub and a creepy room, but a ravenger named “nothing, they survived decked out!”. But there was no button and door here, no pretend savior. Hypno was going to die, sacrificed to the dungeon by this person who wasn’t all Cub. Hypno straightened his bandana. Well, if this was going to be how this went down, he wouldn’t let the dungeon have the satisfaction of his fear.

“Do you know how sculk works, Hypno?” Cub was advancing, in slow, meaningful steps.

“No.” Hypno looked him down, didn’t move.

“The more you kill, the more it spreads.” The room was covered in the stuff. How many hermits had come here to die, be sacrificed to keep the dungeon happy?

“We could just leave, my guy. Touch some grass, talk to other hermits. You don’t have to do this.” Hypno said, but he knew his words only absorbed into the sculk. Cub was in front of him now, sword between them.

“Run. Maybe you can escape again.” Cub rasped.

“No.” Hypno replied. He didn’t move. Not even when the blade pierced his heart. He fell in place, sinking to the floor that would take his sacrifice. He could feel Cub kneel beside him, take the bandana off his head.

“You’re so annoying, Hypno. Can’t even die like everyone else.” It wasn’t Cub speaking.

——

Hypno woke up in the Decked Out bed. He gathered his stuff, his deck, and flew away as fast as he could. It wasn’t until the citadel was out of sight that he realized that his bandana hadn’t respawned with him. He shivered, not knowing what that really meant.

[theminecraftbee]

Tango makes a terrible, terrible face as he walks into Grian's new creation. Bit rude, he thinks that is, but whatever. Grian waves his arms out, getting ready to show Tango more than he'd shown him when the practice room was still in-progress, when Tango says:

"What did you do to it?"

"Huh?"

Tango shudders. He folds his arms over himself and looks at Jellie the ravager. "What did you do to it. To this place. Why is it... warm?"

"I mean, it's not really warm, see it's all white so it actually doesn't retain heat very well, even with the froglamps, so I had to do some work to make sure the temperature was appropriate for heavy physical activity while not risking frostbite the way the actual dungeon does, and..."

Grian trails off.

"The point is that it's mostly just, I don't know, mild temperature? Unnoticeable temperature? The fact you commented on it is weird."

There's a strangely echoing quality to Tango's voice as he steps back again, against the door to the practice room. "It's clean."

"Yeah. I mean, that's the aesthetic, isn't it? Wiped clean of everything but the ravager, the water, and the drowned. None of the distractions. Good for practicing, you know?" Grian squints. "You should like it. You said you'd like it. Wanted people to be able to practice so they'd do better at the dungeon."

Tango shudders again. "You've wiped clean the ravagers, too. I can't... touch her."

"What?" Grian says, baffled.

"What have you done to this place," Tango says.

"Listen, I won't have you insulting my clean room," Grian says. "I cleaned it of all the dungeon bits. It's nice and easy and white and understandable. I won't have you corrupting it."

Hm. Not sure where that one came from, he realizes. Probably a bad sign. He'd certainly guess as much from Tango, who is staring at him with something akin to horror.

In a voice that echoes like a card readout, Tango says: "You won't do this in the dungeon. You'll feed us what's left from this. Or I'll have to ask you to move it."

Grian rolls his eyes. "Geez, yeah, I won't touch the actual dungeon! I already broke the sound test room, I'm not breaking any really important redstone. Now, do you want to see the drowned dodging room or not?"

"I'm horrified to find out what happened to the drowned, if this is your ravager."

Grian looks between Jellie's blank stare and Tango and throws up his hands. "Nothing! I did nothing to her! I have no idea what you're on about!"

"It's like you bleached their insides," mutters Tango. "Bleached everything. It's not natural."

"Not natural? Like you're one to talk!"

"I need to know. Show me," Tango says.

"Right then. Take off your armor first, I don't want Jellie getting thorned or something, then let's practice some dodging and get in there. Then you'll see this is a perfectly normal set of eerie white rooms and leave me alone, right?"

Tango makes a face.

"I don't know why I bother. Honestly. You'd think I'd done something weird," Grian says, and then neither of them talk much, on account of the ravager trying to chew their faces.

[kanda-franca]

My web weave for dive out of nothing (and into more) by @ahautism.

An amazing amazing fic you have to read it!!! So grateful to be paired with him!! This is for the e!false and oli enjoyers!!!!

Sources under the cut

(1) Oli: Thumbnail from Oli’s “Trapped in a cage” Stream | Green day textpost @tomsmusictaste | Shoo out the clown trope on tvtropes | Left Behind - Naked Pastor | Nothing in life matters meme | the horrors persist but so do i via @escuerzoresucitado | transparent lute on pngplay | Icarus Falling, - Kyra Markham | A boy playing the lute - Hendrick Ter Brugghen | Interior with lute player - Charles Caryl Coleman | The Lute Player - Jan Van Bijlert | Here I Am - The Crane Wives

(2) False: (edited) Silenius from the band, Summoning | The Monster you created - Josephin August | Hunger Makes Me - Jess Zimmerman | Constantly Reaching @archbudzar | Gears PNG on downloadclipart | Bloody hands on webstockreview | False’s clocktower on Empires S2 Episode 9 | Amy Pond’s house on Doctor Who: Eleventh Hour | Minecraft nether portal on wallpapercave | Here I Am - The Crane Wives

[mrfroag]

Here's my piece for @mcyt-hc-writing's wonderful fic Out To The Galaxy Steady She Goes! I had so much fun trying to visualize some of the amazing ships and designs from the au. Pspspsp you should all go check it out :DDDD

Special thanks to @sand-stinger, @mcyt-hc-writing, and @leopardmask-ao3! I had a blast working with you guys! o//

[eyelessfog]

[ID: art of Pearlescent Moon, Gemini Tay, and Impulse SV, standing against a dark blue background and holding flashlights. Pearl wears a white tee, jeans, and a blue jacket with a moon patch. She looks nervous as she shines her light to the left. Gem, to her right, wears a green shirt tucked into blue shorts, and a matching blue jacket with a plant patch. She looks suspiciously to the right, eyes following the light of her torch. The girls are holding hands. Impulse stands behind them, back to the viewer. On the back of his blue jacket is a patch of a cartoon ghost in a wooden bowl. His torch is shone upwards, illuminating the words "just get to know me" at the bottom of the image, this is followed up with "now that I'm dead" in brackets. END ID]

My art for @mcytblraufest!!! This is the cover art for @vampireautism's fic, Just Get to Know Me (Now That I'm Dead).

[@jestroer did a super cool piece of art for it too!!]

[beemovieerotica]

I know people on tumblr looove stories of underwater cave diving, but I haven't seen anyone talk about nitrogen narcosis aka "raptures of the deep"

basically when you want to get your advanced scuba certification (allowing you to go more than 60 feet deep) you have to undergo a very specific test: your instructor takes you down past the 60+ foot threshold, and she brings a little underwater white board with her.

she writes a very basic math problem on that board. 6 + 15. she shows it to you, and you have to solve it.

if you can solve it, you're good. that is the hardest part of the test.

because here's what happens: there is a subset of people, and we have no real idea why this happens only to them, who lose their minds at depth. they're not dying, they're not running out of oxygen, they just completely lose their sense of identity when deep in the sea.

a woman on a dive my instructor led once vanished during the course of the excursion. they were diving near this dropoff point, beyond which the depth exceeded 60 feet and he'd told them not to go down that way. the instructor made his way over to look for her and found a guy sitting at the edge of the dropoff (an underwater cliff situation) just staring down into the dark. the guy is okay, but he's at the threshold, spacing out, and mentally difficult to reach. they try to communicate, and finally the guy just points down into the dark, knowing he can't go down there, but he saw the woman go.

instructor is deep water certified and he goes down. he shines his light into the dark, down onto the seafloor which is at 90 feet below the surface. he sees the woman, her arms locked to her sides, moving like a fish, swimming furiously in circles in the pitch black.

she is hard to catch but he stops her and checks her remaining oxygen: she is almost out, on account of swimming a marathon for absolutely no reason. he is able to drag her back up, get her to a stable depth to decompress, and bring her to the surface safely.

when their masks are off and he finally asks her what happened, and why was she swimming like that, she says she fully, 100% believed she was a mermaid, had always been a mermaid, and something was hunting her in the dark 👍

[saint-starling]

holy shit its 🐠🥼 fis

after lots of speed-editing and not a lot of sleep the first thirteen (13) chapters of “there are many downsides to being a marine biologist” (aka fis au) are LIVE!!!

that's 24,676 words of fis so far. we're 40% of the way through! there will be a short break for a day or two as i do things like "bake some bread" and "talk to my partners" and maybe even "play minecraft." but we will resume shortly with a much more normal posting schedule of one chapter per day probably.

lots of u have been very very nice to me about this fic so far and i greatly appreciate every comment and kudos that has been left already. thank u for joining me in docmartyn fish yaoi hell.

[mackdizzy]

For 2023 Summer MCYTBlr AUFest, [ @mcytblraufest ] I made a cosplay music video to accompany @kyuqtq's Last Life Heist AU Fic "Revenge Best Kept Stolen", which you can read right here! It's an amazing fic, I'd highly recommend checking it out! This event has been such a joy to be part of. This video has become my pride and joy--I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it!! [I do want to apologies for any fic-inaccuracies shown in this video, I didn't have the most time ever and there wasn't any place I could go that had snow, for one--and sue me for using the wrong skin as a basis for Jimmy's outfit. Still, tried my absolute hardest!] [Dedicated to my mother, who helped me make this IMMENSELY and has CARRIED ME through this event, especially the stressful parts.] [Editing using WeVideo !]