Penguoncat132

I will just post about like my thoughts or whatever. No theme.

[penguoncat132]

I'd like to update anyone who's been reading my Hermitcraft story on here. I haven't updated it in a while because I had exams, but exams are done now. However, I won't be adding to it anymore on tumblr b/c I just find it too much hassle. The whole thing is on AO3, and will continue to receive updates on there, so follow this link if you would like to continue reading:

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

[hinsts]

part 4!

[penguoncat132]

Here's part 4! I'm sorry this is a bit late, I had college work, and then the Empires finale dropped and I was struggling to figure out whether I should stick as close to canon as possible or just go wild with it. Eventually I decided on the latter cause why not. When it was written, I then ran into some issues with Tumblr which I eventually got around by just posting on my phone instead of my laptop (still not really sure what was happening). Anyway, this has been out on ao3 for a few days.

Also, this was originally meant to be the final part, but I had an idea and extended it a little bit. Hope you enjoy!

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The spell, as it turns out, was to be performed in the fields just beyond the walls. Apparently, spells like this would usually be done at the top of the tower, but this one required more space than that, especially if Gem wanted to watch, which she did. They’d created a clearing for themselves, and then lined the perimeter with amethyst, redstone and copper ingots. What exactly any of it did she had no clue, but the Wizard seemed confident in it.

Her Counterpart and Pearl were both sitting inside the circle, the Wizard reading from a hefty, fancy-looking purple book. Gem herself stood just outside the circle, watching intently, and had been instructed not to enter, lest she interfere with the magic.

“Okay, I’m ready. Pearl?” The Other Her spoke suddenly. Pearl simply nodded. They both closed their eyes, and the Wizard started a chant, nothing like reading straight out of the book like she had been doing before – it was deeper, and more confident. It seemed to echo across the clearing, where there had been no such echo before. The next few minutes were just like that. The two of them sitting there motionless with the background noise of the chant. Gem stood right outside, observing. The spell itself was in some foreign, probably archaic language that she didn’t know, so it's not like she could glean any info as to how it actually worked.

It was probably about ten minutes before the spell was finished by her estimate. At the very least it was enough for her to feel her legs start to ache, and chose to sit down, back against a large tree and listen to her surroundings. It was something she had learned to do early in life, and always relaxed her. Going beyond the intrusive chant directly in front of her, she could hear, almost feel the forest and all the things that called it home – the birds chirping in distinct tones, the rustling of leaves as some creature searched for roots, the scratch of a squirrel’s claws on tree bark as it scrambled across the branches. Dead leaves floated through on a gentle wind, and sunlight pierced the slight mist that had gathered, and shone a spotlight on the space where the ritual was taking place.

All of a sudden, the Wizard stopped chanting, and the two inside the circle opened their eyes and looked at each other, then at Gem. A smile pulled at both of their lips. Pearl was the first to say anything,

“I know where you’re going.”

They all stood, and were pretty quickly on their way back to the main tower. She had so far had very few chances to appreciate the sprawling beauty of this place, but as they came back over the hills, and through the gates, she got a good look at the sparkling purple landscape, dominated by the massive building which – by this point, she had gathered was a school – detailed streets, and well-manicured vegetation. A smile started forming slowly, as a small part of her was pleading with the rest of her to stay here, even in spite of all the pain she would feel being so far from her friends. “It’s okay,” that tiny portion of her mind spoke, “You can make new friends. These people seem nice.” She pushed that voice as far down as it could go, and tried to focus on reaching the new world.

They ended up flying up to the elytra landing platform near the base of the Wizard’s tower, Gem filing in behind Pearl and the Other Her, but none of them were expecting to see someone else waiting for them. A man wearing a black jacket and dark trousers, both smeared with redstone and grease, was pacing the room with his hand covering his chin. Heavy goggles sat on top of his head, and his hands and feet were covered by thick gloves and boots respectively, all of which combined to make him look like some sort of mechanic, although so far she hadn’t seen anything in this world that might need a mechanic to fix it. Wrapped around his neck was a crimson scarf, which was only slightly more striking than his red hair. The Wizard was the first to notice him, being the first one inside. She took a sharp breath in, but Gem was already inside, and he had already heard her, perking up and turning around,

“Gem! I’ve been…” he trailed off as he spotted Gem, trying to hide behind Pearl, although her antlers kind of gave her away. “Uh… Do you have a twin sister you never told me about?”

“Dammit.” was all that the Wizard gave as a reply, followed quickly by an exasperated sigh.

They took several minutes to explain everything that had happened in the last few days to the man – Fwhip apparently, whose voice sounded familiar, and it took several minutes before she was able to place him as the voice who she had overheard speaking to the Other Her when she first got here. It was then that he started to tell his story, glancing at her every once in a while as he did so.

“Shrub tried to attack me,” Silence fell over the room like a stifling blanket, “I was just figuring out a new contraption when she showed up – I heard the voice first in that demony way where it seems to come from everywhere, so she was definitely corrupted. She was telling me to accept Xornoth or leave, and I tried to fight back, but she beat me to half a heart and it didn’t even seem like she’d broken a sweat, and I knew I wouldn’t do any good being stuck in a death loop, so I ran, and just came to the first place I could for help.” His speech had been getting steadily faster, as well as increasingly strained as he talked. He was breathing heavily by the end of it.

“Wait, corrup– who’s Shrub? And did you say a demon?” The words were out of Gem’s mouth before she could stop herself, but she didn’t entirely regret saying them. After all, if she was going to be staying here until they could perform the spell, she would rather know about a demon than not.

The Wizard had a hand resting on Fwhip’s wrist in an attempt to calm him down, and looked deep in thought. Instead Pearl, who had up to this point been leaning casually against the wall, spoke up “We have a demon, he’s corrupted some people before, we thought we’d locked him away, but now he’s back. That’s pretty much it."

The Other Her seemed to finish some sort of internal calculation, “I think we should focus on getting you home first,” directing a look towards her, ”You’ve been through enough, and I don’t want you to get caught up in this,” and then speaking to the other two, “We’ve dealt with this before, we can do it again, but only after Gem is safe. Agreed?”

She thought she saw Pearl’s mouth opening to sound her agreement, but couldn’t be sure, as a voice manifested from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, full of malice and hatred, like a knife forcing its way into her mind,

“Did you honestly think you could hide from me here?”

Gem felt her chest tighten. Everyone was frozen in fear for a moment, until suddenly they all sprung into action. The Wizard turned to her and gave a few quick words in an intense tone, with a staff appearing in her hand from nowhere, “Don’t let her see you.” And then all three of them were gone, out the door, and she was alone in the tower once again.

[iloveyoumcyt]

[penguoncat132]

Part 3 is here! Sorry I'm a bit late with this one, I've had a lot of college work, and I was waiting for an account on ao3. Speaking of which, this story is now available on ao3:

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

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It was a few hours before She got back. In that time, Gem had explored the whole tower, starting at the top with a rather unfurnished bedroom, and working down the spiral staircase – onto the second floor where she found a rustic kitchen filled to the brim with food, including five fully baked cakes (FIVE?), and then finally down to the main living room which contained a cozy fireplace and a library full of books. At first, the prospect of having something to read excited her, but that hope was quickly dashed when she started to read the titles – "The applications of netherite in armour strengthening," "The study of amethyst induced magic enhancement," what was this stuff? She certainly never would have imagined any version of herself reading these. She even spotted one that didn't even have a title, instead showing a strange symbol shaped a bit like a nether portal, but with two of the corners separated from the rest. Having decided against doing some reading, she instead raided the kitchen, and remembered the five cakes in the cupboards. They may have been a little stale, but they still looked and smelled delicious. Cakes in hand, she then sat by the fireplace and ran through her memories of all her friends, gorging herself all the while. Building the swamp lump with False and Stress, The Big Eyes reminding her how great she is, riding around on Sun and Moon with Pearl... although she tried to avoid it, the cake ended up being a little saltier than intended.

It was only the better part of an hour before voices wafted in from outside again. Gem perked up as she identified them as Pearl and herself (it felt a little weird to say that), and laid down the cake currently in her hand, which was only the first. She hadn't even made it through a single one, although it was amazingly tasty. As they approached, she wiped off the crumbs, and knelt on the couch, facing the door. A few words were exchanged – she didn't know what, before the door opened, and The Wizard walked in first, followed swiftly by Pearl – not her Pearl, but definitely similar.

She was covered head to toe in distractingly reflective golden armour, with vibrant deep green leaves intertwined, holding the plates together. Even her helmet was an intricate weave of gold and vegetation. Across her back was strung a large sword which also bore a hilt decorated in bright gold and green. Despite all that was different, her face was exactly the same, a stark reminder of everything she left behind on that world. The hazel coloured hair, the bright blue eyes – she hadn't known what she was going to say when they met, but in the end her mouth refused to make noise, and instead they simply stared into each other's eyes for a moment that seemed to stretch to infinity, until a tear began to roll down her face.

"Gem," Pearl was the first to break the silence, maintaining eye contact, "What..."

"Let's just sit down and explain," The Wizard quickly moved to take a seat on the couch, and Pearl followed, sitting on the other end from Gem, with The Other Her inbetween. She continued to nibble on a slice of cake as The Wizard began to talk

"A few months ago I started hearing a voice when I slept. It was faint, and difficult to make out, but something was drawing me towards it." She could still feel Pearl's gaze scrutinising her. "I tried my best to listen and talk, but all I got was snippets. Short sentences at best. So I created a spell to enhance the voice – and it worked! It worked so well that we could see each other, and even have full conversations," she motioned towards Gem to indicate her part in the story, "She told me about her world, and I told her about mine, and—"

"Wait, her world? Like she's from another dimension?" Pearl interrupted.

"Exactly! Although you could just ask her – she's right there."

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Her gaze seemed to soften at that point – less scrutiny and more intrigue.

"Anyway," The Wizard continued, "We became friends, and it was all great, until one day she told me about something weird that was happening." She paused for a second, probably for added effect, "The moon was getting bigger." Silence blanketed the room. Gem continued to snack on the cake as she watched Pearl put her chin in her hand and her brow furrow. The Other Her pushed on with the story, saying "I taught her how to build a portal to get through to here if she ever needed to evacuate, and over the months it became increasingly clear that she might actually have to use it."

At this point Pearl interrupted a second time, "What effects exactly were there? I mean, how bad was it?" This time it was clear she had directed the question at Gem.

She took a shaky breath before answering, "Earthquakes, people floating up, blocks floating up. Eventually the blocks stopped coming back down as well." Pearl sat back in her seat pensively. "It got so bad I had no other choice but to come through the portal, and now... now I'm here."

"And we need to get you home, right?" Pearl guessed.

She shook her head. "My home is gone. But my friends have gone to another world, and I need to make it back to them."

"I can get her to another world," The Wizard spoke up, "but I need to know where I'm sending her first."

"Is this where I come in?"

"Yes. There's another Pearl from the other world who can tell us where she is. I can perform a spell to exploit the same link that connected us two—", indicating Gem and herself, "—so you can speak to the other Pearl and find out where they are, so I can send Gem home."

Pearl was nodding thoughtfully. "Alright. Where are we doing this spell then?"

[penguoncat132]

I just discovered that Grian's real name is Charles and I feel so cursed with this knowledge. Please somebody erase this from my memory

[penguoncat132]

So, I accidentally deleted part 2, but luckily I had a back up. Here it is again. :)

Part 1:

Hello, I know I haven't posted in a while, but I had this idea and just had to write it. Also, I haven't written very much in the past, and

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She didn't know how to respond to that. How should she respond? How could she respond? Her eyes started to water and in the end, all she managed was a wavering"I – I left False behind."

The Wizard looked on with sympathy. "Come inside. We wouldn't want you being seen out here," before turning and walking towards an entrance into the cliffs. It was only once she turned around in the doorway and gave an expectant look that Gem realised she hadn't yet moved, and hurried inside.

The interior was quite cozy. After a fair few stairs, they stepped into a small bedroom with white walls, and several chests and countertops. Plants were dotted about in flowerpots giving the space a vibrant pop of colour. A basic enchanting setup, which she thought was nowhere near as detailed as her own, was settled into one corner. Two beds were pressed against the walls, and a cat that matched the walls in colour rested on top of one of them, beady yellow eyes watching lazily as they entered the room. A gentle airflow moved through the room, as one wall around the corner was open to a small balcony with a sudden drop.

The Wizard turned to her when she was standing in the middle of the room, and started talking, "You can't stay here for too long. I have my own problems to deal with, and you probably want to get back to your friends anyway. I'll start looking through my library, see if I can find a spell to send you back. That's ok with you, right?" She looked on expectantly.

"Yeah – yeah, that's great," seemed to be all that she could muster in response. Her logical mind knew she was probably still in shock, adrenaline still pumping, so her speech might not be the best.

"Great—" the Other Her replied, "—Stay here. Don't let anyone see you. I'll be back in a bit to discuss what I've found." And with the sound of a rocket, Gem was the only one in the room. Apart from the cat of course. Gem distantly heard her land somewhere above, before choosing the unoccupied bed and laying down, feeling herself sink down into the mattress that felt so much like a comforting bed of moss, and closed her eyes. After all, she had been through a lot, so she probably did deserve some rest...

When she woke, the sun, previously about to set, had been replaced by the moon, just about visible through the window. It definitely felt odd to see the moon so small again.

The Wizard paced the room, hand held to her chin thoughtfully, and mumbling something under her breath. Every now and then she would pick up a book from one of the shelves, read over it for a second, and then put it back down, only appearing more frustrated.

She didn't even seem to notice Gem, until she pushed herself up and swung her legs over the bed. They looked into each other's eyes and she saw tiredness, defeat, and a little exasperation.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, brow furrowed.

"I've found a spell that can transport you back to your friends' new world—" her shoulders seemed to loosen as she said it "—but I need to know where it is in relation to this one."

That definitely threw a spanner (or maybe a moon?) in the works. Gem had never even been to the new world, let alone knew where it was, and especially in relation to another one she'd only spent half a day in.

"Is there a way we can find it?" She got a frustrated sigh in return.

"I could go into extradimensional space and look through all the worlds by hand, and I might hypothetically find it, but that could take years – I might be dead from old age before I find the right one!" The words swam through her head, most of the complex ones flying straight out, but she got the gist. She wasn't going home until they located the new world.

"So how could we find its location other than trial and error?" The Wizard's hand moved from her chin to the back of her neck and she started to rub absent-mindedly.

"You can't." the statement felt worse than having to leave the old world. At least then she had some hope of seeing her friends again. "Not unless you have someone on the other side to show to you." And it took a moment to become realised, but that statement lit a flame of hope inside of her. Recalling the conversation she had heard earlier,

"We're gonna need to gather our allies. Scott, Pearl, Joey, Sausage. If we all show up together she'll have no choice but to give it up," she felt herself brighten, and stood from the bed suddenly, startling the Other Her.

"There's a Pearl in your world." She watched recognition and hope dawn on her face.

"There is."

"Pearlescent Moon."

"Yes."

They both realised immediately what they had to do. Wizard Gem pulled some spare rockets out of a chest and approached the balcony, then turned around.

"You can wait in the library if you want. It's got some books to read if you're bored. If you've got rockets that is."

"I've got rockets," she confirmed. The Wizard turned, jumped, and flew off into the night having barely heard her reply.

She buzzed with excitement for a few minutes, as only one thought moved through her head: I can see my friends again.

[favoure]

rb to give him a pat on the head

[penguoncat132]

Hello, I know I haven't posted in a while, but I had this idea and just had to write it.

Also, I haven't written very much in the past, and especially never anything Hermitcraft related, so constructive criticism is welcome. I don't know if I'm going to make this a series, or just a one-shot, but if I do continue with it I can't promise a fixed schedule.

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Gem scrambled into the hapharzadly assembled portal and willed it to transport her as fast as it possibly could, although she knew it already was.

The Moon. It's here. Have to escape. Hope False doesn't find out.

And then she was gone. She had left behind the cottage core vibes, the swamp lump, the Base, even Cow. All of it. The whole world, gone, probably forever. She even felt a little sad about the places she'd never paid much attention to, like Zed's lab, the Big Eyes, Joe and Cleo's castle. And now, she emerged into... Where was she, exactly? It didn't look like anything she recognised, although it did feel familiar, in a strange sort of way. It might be something to do with her link to that Other Her - the one who spoke to her through dreams, and instructed her to build the portal in the first place. She would know what to do, for sure.

Wherever this was, it was gorgeous. Buildings all over the landscape sparkled with amethyst - an unusual choice, but it worked - a grand tower of solid dark brick rose past even the towering cliffs, and off in the distance another large building that might be a fortress, or a school of some kind, or perhaps a library asserted itself over the landscape. Two albino dragons patrolled the skies above, and from the portal she could just about spy one more coiled up ontop of (what she assumed was) the main tower. It appeared to be asleep, smoke billowing out of its nose.

Down below, Gem heard voices next to the lake. Suddenly, she remembered to stay hidden, and crouched behind a nearby rock. It didn't completely hide her antlers, but it would be good enough - probably. Once satisfied she wasn't going to be seen, she strained to hear who was talking.

"Ok, I'll admit it was a mistake to help her take it from Scott. Can we move away from blame and start asking what we can do about it?" That was a voice she didn't recognise. Male.

"Well, we're gonna—" That voice she recognised. The one from her dreams. The one who got her here.

"What is it? Gem?" The other voice again.

"Nothing." She sounded a little distracted now. It was subtle, but she knew her own voice. "We're gonna need to gather our allies. Scott, Pearl, Joey, Sausage, if we all show up together she'll have no choice but to give it up. We can take it by force if necessary. She doesn't have any allies."

The other Gem had sensed her, she must have. She instinctively shrunk back a little behind the rock, even though it wouldn't do much.

"Alright, I'll talk to everyone, we can arrange to meet again as a group another time. See you later." And then, with the distinctive sound of a firework rocket going off, he was gone. Nevertheless, she didn't dare move - not yet.

She listened as the other Gem ran around for a few minutes. Sometimes she heard the opening of a door, or the Wizard talking to a villager or other mob. She started to wonder if maybe she was wrong, and hadn't been sensed. Eventually though, the other her made her way up the path and approached the nether portal. Gem stood up from her position behind the rock and they locked eyes.

They had seen each other a few times already, but it felt different this time. More real. Looking at her was like looking into a mirror; they had the same curly but long auburn hair, the same large green eyes, and pasty white skin. The only difference was in their outfits - the Other Her wore ornate, flowing green and purple robes that looked quite comfy (and expensive), and a purple hat so large it seemed to almost fall off her head. She, on the other hand wore only the overalls that she happened to be have on when she was forced to evacuate, her hair a mess, and face probably covered in dirt. It made her feel a tad underdressed, but given the circumstances it was very low on her list of concerns.

"So," the Wizard spoke after a moment, "It happened."

[sparrowsocks]

also subscribe to technoblade

[penguoncat132]

So I've been looking for a job for a while with no success, and then last week I went for dinner with my family at a restaurant. There was me, my parents, my brother, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle. It's a family business, and they guy who runs the place just so happens to be a friend of my uncle - and also the most quintessential Italian guy you will ever meet. As we're leaving, I decide to ask him quickly "Out of curiosity, do you have any jobs?". And this guy goes - "Ah, you want a job? I can give you a job. Just come in tomorrow, any time from 11, and I'll give you a job." And I'm like ??? Ok? I guess?? So I go into his restaurant the next day, and it takes 5 minutes. It's not even an interview. He tells me "You'll be clearing the tables, and polishing the glasses", (as well as a bunch of other stuff, but I don't remember exactly what he said). He took my CV and didn't even read it. When he was done he said "You start tomorrow at 11AM". I then I asked him how many hours I would be contracted to work - his answer? "As many as you want! You can work 20 hours or 30 or 40 if you want to! Whatever you want!". So yeah, that's the story of how I got my second ever job.

[penguoncat132]

I hate when your time off feels like no time at all. Like I've been out of college for like a month now cause of summer holidays and it's halfway through. And then I'm gonna go back to college and it's gonna be so monotonous and less fun.😡🏫📕

[penguoncat132]

Humans are space orcs: The Placebo Effect

This is my first time writing anything HASO related, and I don't have much writing experience in general, so constructive criticism would be appreciated.

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Pyastook rose from his chair and extended his neck - a clear sign of concern - as soon as Zach strode out of the human quarters.

Several standard cycles ago, their crewmate Natalie had fallen ill with some as yet undiagnosed sickness, just after finishing an exploration mission, and although they were heading as fast as they could to the nearest hospital, it would still be weeks before she could receive treatment.

"Zach", Pyastook inquired,"Is she going to survive?". Human expressions were notoriously difficult to read, even for someone who spent a lot of time with them like himself, but he was fairly sure that the current emotion on display - head down, arms crossed, and brow furrowed - was not a positive one. "Well" Zach replied,"We don't know what's causing it and even if we did we probably wouldn't have the medicine to treat it. As for the severity - I couldn't tell you. Plenty of diseases go from slightly nauseating to downright deadly overnight. We'll just have to hope we can get to that hospital in time. I gave her a placebo for now, but..." Zach trailed off, staring at the floor.

"A placebo?" Pyastook scrambled for his personal tablet to make a note. Was this some form of new medicine the humans had neglected to share?

"Yeah, I mean, it's just a sugar pill, so I don't know how much it's gonna help."

Pyastook raised his head (the equivalent of a human cocking theirs) and asked "How is a small amount of sugar going to do anything?"

Zach seemed to undergo several emotions in a split second before speaking once more, "Oh! Sorry, you must not have placebos. It's a weird quirk of human biology. Basically, if we're treated with something that has no physical effect, but we genuinely believe that it helps, then we recover faster than without it." Frantically, Pyastook did his best to record this staggering revelation on his tablet, and then stopped to properly absorb it. "So, you can heal yourselves without any proper treatment... by just believing in something that has no tangible effect?" Zach made a sort of head-bobbing movement and responded "To an extent." Upon seeing Pyastook's look of astonishment, he added "It's a mystery to us as well why it happens, but it most certainly does, and I'm glad for it."

Zach then headed towards the cafeteria, having seemingly moved on to thoughts of a steaming cup of coffee, but Pyastook was no longer listening. If he could just get the clearance to start testing this newfound human ability... The leaps in medicine this could inspire!

[penguoncat132]

I find it utterly baffling how people can object to fighting climate change because of "The economic cost", because if you refuse to pay £1 today, then the price will have increased tenfold in 100 years. (That's not an actual concrete figure, I just made it up, but the point stands that you will have to pay more in the future if you don't pay now).

[penguoncat132]

The thing that annoys me most about climate change is that no-one in power seems to actually, genuinely care. Like, they make promises, and even active changes towards reducing the impact of climate change, but only so far as it helps their PR. As soon as the public is satisfied with a given government or corporation's contribution to reducing climate change, they stop making progress towards a carbon neutral world.😡😡🏭🌎

[nocontextdiscord]

[penguoncat132]

Looks like the deodorant companies are getting desperate. Like that's not an appealing flavour. Also when you open it, the bit where you put your hand is directly in front of the spray nozzle. Like what kind of s****y design is this?

[penguoncat132]

Update: it actually smells not bad.