AU has been sitting on my mind of Phil, hardcore adventurer, cryptid of the nearby town and all around anti social immortal(?) setting up shop and selling/trading all the shit hes collected during his travels
Like the End is a place on real survivalists can travel to, its not like its physically impossible or theres some kind of "worthiness trial" its just hard as fuck to actually get back alive
Give me Phil living out in the woods, coming into town like once a month, selling obscure and extremely rare chorus fruit and dragon materials and then fucking off for another month
Imagine you hear about this guy who could potentially get you an end crystal and you picture this really buff broody like 7 foot warroir fit to be able to survive the End and it's just.
Phil.
In his bucket hat selling end stone for a couple curious builders
Like thats so funny to me
Hes the neighborhood cryptid, its like fae rules with asking him about stuff. hes not good or bad hes just phil. Its hard to tell what exactly he is, as "probably human" isnt exactly a comforting phrase
Theres an sbi spin i could add onto this, of like phil seeing this kid try to steal some stuff when hes not looking and instead of turning him in for stealing he just rolls with it and asks offhandily that while the kids at it he could help him unload some other wares. If he lets the kid grab some gapples for himself thats neither here nor there. The kid sticks around his stall the next few months and some gradual trust builds. His name is Wilbur, and for a 15 yr old hes pretty good as manning the stand while Phil goes on break.
Then Techno travelling around as 16 yr olds tend to do in these types of worlds and hearing about a strange man whose face is always a little too blurry, the cloak on his a back a little too bulky and his grin a bit too sharp and how apparently, he conquered the End and decides to go meet him.
