Impulse had heard of lands beyond the border, beyond the oceans, and most of all, beyond the clouds. Under the influence of several rounds of the Moonlight Tavern's Specialty Spidereye Cocktail it seemed plausible enough, but now that he was sober and lugging around a full inventory filled with rather precious and expensive items, it was starting to seem a lot more like a pipedream than anything.
"Oh, you have got to see it, man!" the mysterious Netherborne had said, "The Aether it- it's incredible! Flying blocks, mobs that you can't find on regular biomes,and it's sobeautiful!"
Perhaps he was being hasty, perhaps he was being greedy, but all Impulse could think of in that moment was taking as many strange blocks as possible and using it for his various farms.
"Hey, I don't blame ya," the blond laughed after gulping down an entire mug of the aforementioned cocktail, "I woulda done the same thing."
And so here he was now, abandoned after the man had to go on the run for...something. Impulse didn't even get his name, 'I doubt it would've helped much but it could've been something at least, ' Impulse sighed, he understood that life can get in the way of things sometimes but he had no clues to go off on aside from the various snippets that Impulse could recover from his drunken haze on that one faithful night.
"...beyond the Farlands-
"...gonna need a rocket or a plane at least-
"...can't reach with an elytra-
"...need a lot of fire and cold protection."
Not even the letter that the (probably) Blaze hybrid left behind gave any concrete clues.
"Hey man! It's your drinking buddy from last night, thanks for letting me stay the night btw. Finally didn't have to freeze in the stupid overworld for once. I know we made plans to find the Aether together and everything but I'm afraid I can't fulfill my end of the deal, I'm a bit of a wanted criminal ya see. Nothing super bad (morally speaking), mind you, but unfortunately the Sentinels don't care much for that kind of thing. If you wanna go find the Aether on your own then that's perfectly fine, just be sure to keep this book on ya just in case you end up somewhere without any respawn magic. If you're not then just keep it anyway, ya never know where life takes you, ya know? Salutations and good luck!"
Impulse initially didn't want to go on this journey at all, he liked his peace and quiet after all, but his curiousity ate at him everyday 'til he's finally had enough. He did all the research he could and pieced together as much as he could from their humble town library, and yet it still wasn't enough.
The only place left he could think to look was back to where it all started.
"Why 'ello there, the usual?" asked the bartender.
"Yes, please," Impulse sighed a heavy sigh and slumped over the counter, "And make it ice cold."
"Yes, sir."
The tavern was rather empty which wasn't much of a surprise given it was 10:15 on a Monday morning -- too late for those who drank 'til the sun rose and too early for those who drank 'til the sun set.
One of the advantages that Impulse had as an independent redstoner was the fact that he can take a vacation whenever he pleases without much worry aside from waning customers. Luckily, though known mainly locally, Impulse's customers are loyal to a fault an would not mind waiting for his eventual return (besides, he wasn't the only redstoner around town should they need help).
"Tough week, eh?" asked the ram hybrid(?) whom Impulse has been a loyal customer himself to.
"It's still Monday, Zedaph," Impulse said to him with a half exposed eye.
"And yet you're here drinkin' in the middle of the day, lookin' like some Watcher put obsidian on you," Zedaph said while brewing the concoction, "Normally you only do that when all your contraptions are failin' miserably."
Impulse snorted, "Well, you got me there."
Zedaph set down Impulse's drink in front of him, "So, you wanna talk about it or what?"
Impulse took a sip, "It's nothing really, just about to go looking for a place that may or may not even exist after my supposed-to-be-partner abandoned me."
"Oof, that's rough, buddy."
"Eh, can't really blame him," Impulse waved an unfocused hand, recalling the various stories of faceless avatars descending from the heavens to bring 'balance' to servers, "Sentinels. You know how it is ."
"Ah," Zedaph hummed, "Any clue what he did?"
"Who knows, man, could be anything," Impulse shrugged, "All he said was that it wasn't anything super bad...morally speaking, anyway."
Zedaph hummed, "How specific."
"...mmmyeah," Impulse took another sip, "Anyways, I'm not here just to drink. I'm trying to figure out where he got his information from and he seemed like a regular here so..." Impulse waved a vague hand, "Not sure how we never met, though."
"Ooh, a regular? What's his name?"
"...I don't know," Impulse confessed.
"...you don't know?" Zedaph raised a brow, "You're supposed-to-be-partners and yet you don't even know the man's name?" the cheeky blond scoffed, "...and here I thought you were a polite young man."
"Hey, I am polite!" Impulse protested, "It's just that- when you're drunk, things just. Get forgotten, y'know?"
"Ah, I see, a bond forged in alcohol -- the strongest kind there is," Zedaph said with a sarcastic flair.
"Don't sass me!"
"Do you remember what he looks like at least?" asked Zedaph.
"Blond, pointy-eared, red pupils, red sclera, probably Blazeborne," Impulse hummed, "...red shirt, some kinda vest...and that's about it, I think," Impulse shrugged.
Zedaph placed his fingers on his chin, "Ah, Tango of the Tek Clan." he hummed, "Yeah, I know him. He usually comes during winter, which I suppose is why you two never met. He heard about the jack-o-lantern festival and wanted to see it this year. He's homeless but he's got a few haunts I can list down for you later."
Impulse hummed, "Hm, I see, thanks, Zed. Do you know if he raided any ancient libraries or wells of forbidden knowledge or..?"
Zedaph replied, "If he has then he hasn't said anything about it," then muttered, "well, either that or he only did when he was absolutely smashed..."
The bartender thought for a moment and seemed to have come to a realization, "...hey, hang on a minute!You never really said where you were going in the first place!"
"Oh, the Aether," Impulse said as casually as he could.
"The Aether."
"The Aether."
"W-"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time, okay?" Impulse put his hands up exasperatedly, "And I have a feeling finding him would make things a little bit easier, so can you help me? Find him, that is."
"'fraid I can't, mate, got into a bit of trouble and now Graph won't let me out of her sight for at least a couple weeks," he took a glance at Graphoniac, who glared at him warily, and gave a sheepish smile.
"Aw man."
"Look at the recruitment board maybe?" Zedaph shrugged, "There's got to be at least one idiot out there who's willing to help you."
"Hey! But also, good idea!" Impulse took his mug and stoid from the bar stool , "Thanks Zed!"
(also just in case, dont be fooled by the space gradient zedaph is still very much white)
this is pretty ooc for the both of them considering in this au mumbo would just immediately stab someone if they were going against his boundaries and zed, while curious about vampires, would never just straight up grab someone's mouth and poke around it just to see more, but i decided to draw it anyway cause i liked the sketch lol
