If I have to suffer from sunburn due my own hubris, so does my ocs. You have no idea how much I’ve missed the disaster husband.)
It was a less than ideal situation.
She had to make a quick run to the Nether, just in and out for a stack of glowstone, and a bit of soul sand and magma blocks if possible.
But one thing led to another and what started with one very stubborn ghast, ended with a group of angry piglins giving chase after her golden gauntlets broke, which wouldn’t have been that bad if the ghast hadn’t previously burnt the rest of her armor.
Al had managed to get enough distance to jump through a different portal, one she and Finn had built long ago to cut the distance to a Badlands biome. It was a very long trek from home, but at this rate Al rather deal with a couple zombies and creepers than go back through hell unequipped.
The moon was high up in the sky, so it was just a matter of minutes before any mobs started tracking her, she was about to dig a hole and call it a day when a blue spot caught her attention.
There against the sea of red stones a bright blue tent, one she had memorized the patches and stitches of after the countless times it had been set outside hers and Finn’s home. It felt like an oasis in the middle of the desert, a slice of calm after the storm. Llamas must have seen her too because as soon as she started walking towards the tent, they stood up in unison, softly grunting and whatever the noise llamas do is called. The wandering trader must have been warned by the small commotion, the fabric door moving slightly to the side as Al spotted the glint of a potion.
“Fancy meeting you here stranger”
She greeted with a smile that did not match her disheveled state, tips of the hair scorched, ash sticking to her clothes, not to mention the bright red tone of her back skin, arms and bit of face.
Al always struggled reading what was truly going on in Tom’s head, but right now the usually playful man looked worried. It was an odd look on him. There was a pause, then a frown, a look of recognition, and back to a frown, except this one looked angrier than before.
“My love, did you go to the Nether with no armor?”
It was not a question, it was an accusation.
Al lifted both arms in mock surrender, trying to smile to hopefully keep the situation from scaling.
“It looks worse than it is, I promise! I got into a bit of a mess but I’m fine, nothing more serious than a small sunburn.”
Tom lips curled slightly down, yeah he was not buying that. Before Al could insist, or react, Tom had lifted a hand and placed it fully on her very tender shoulder. It was true it wasn’t worse than a sunburn, but it was a very bad sunburn at that. The touch even if gentle had sting, making her flinch and barely hold back a wince of pain.
“…”
“Nothing more serious than a small sunburn, hm?”
He was definitely upset, Al could only look to the side to avoid the piercing green eyes.
“…Maybe a second degree sunburn.”
She muttered, she hated making others worry, sure she had been turning more and more irresponsible, taking more risks, getting out of her comfort zone, but she made sure it never got too bad, with mixed results.
Al heard Tom let out a soft sigh, the hand on her shoulder carefully caresing the damage skin before lifting away.
“Come on in, I’m not letting you stay the night out here, as tempting as it is”
The trader muttered the last bit in villager, he didn’t talk it often when not among the other villagers but Al had started linking that he did when upset or startled.
She didn’t try argue, taking a hold of Tom hand before he could walk away, giving it a soft squish. He hesitated, but returned the soft squish before letting go to open the tent and hurry up inside.
Can we get a reintroduction to the Minecraft crew?
Oh yeah that actually sounds like a good idea Anon, it has been a long while and there’s probably a lot of new people.
For context I follow loosely the events of Minecraft Story Mode but in an “Everyone Lives AU”, with variations here and there, but mostly influenced by stuff I made up while playing minecraft with Fizz.
Most of my old art is in my old blog and hidden because it's very old, but I might repost some stuff for safe keeping purposes.
I'm gona start with ocs and then canon characters:
Alondra “Al” (self insert sona): She is a builder with griefer tendencies of the explosive kind. She lives with one of her best friends, Finn ( @popfizzles sona) next to a small village. She used to be very shy but has grown to love adventuring and griefs illager outposts for fun.
Zombie + Syrup: Alondra's pet parrot. He is a lil menace who has fun scaring unsuspecting people by making mob noises (his favorite being zombie groans, hence his name). Syrup is a small kitten Finn gifted Al, she enjoys following Zombie around.
Tom (oc co-owned with Fizz): A wandering trader who one night snuck into Al and Finn's ranch and ended up becoming a frequent visitor. He never told them his name so they just started calling him Tom. He is a man of many secrets that refuses to set in one place, and tries really hard not to get attached (with doubtful results).
Gaunt: Blacksmith armorer illager. Due to poor eyesight, he spends most of his time working at the forge in the Mansion, however, he is just as deadly in a fight as any other illager. Doesn't participates on raids, however he got his sight set on the ender griefer that keeps sabotaging the nearby outposts.
(Evoker): Evoker illager and one of the heads in the nearby Woodlands Mansion. A shady individual up to no good who enjoys the pain of others. He only leaves the Mansion for big raids, he prefers to stick to his library and study of dark magic books.
Carrot, Mason, Rob (co-owned with Fizz): Villagers in the village Finn and Al live close to. Carrot and Mason are the only survivors of a previous village that was attacked by an illager patrol and with the help of Finn and Al rebuilt their village along with survivors from other villages. Meanwhile, Rob is a young blacksmith that Finn and Al cured as a baby zombified villager and then immediately ran into their nether portal (I don't think we ever picked an exact age for him?) he somehow survived but is now obsessed with going back to the Nether one day.
Canon characters:
Lukas: Builder and rising adventure writer. He and Al met during the Wither Storm mess and remained close after. They got a bit of a mutual pining/highschool lovebirds situation going on.
Aiden: A complicated situation. Before the Wither Storm Al used to admire the Ocelots building skills. She never really interacted much with Aiden until Sky City, and Aiden never paid her attention until he realized how close she was with Lukas.
Axel: The griefer and Al are something close to frenemies, Al thinks Axel can be a bully and mean for no reason, but he is also an extremely loyal friend of those he cares about. Axel is determined to keep pushing Al buttons to lean more into the fun a bit of chaos can bring.
Magnus: A sort of adoptive father figure. He was the first to see Al's potential in the griefer area and love for fireworks. Much like Axel, he also enjoys pushing Al's buttons and dragging her along some griefer shenanigans now and then.
I was originally going to draw this but lost the motivation to do it so text it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Before becoming a wandering trader, Tom lived in a savanna village nearby a dessert where he had the cleric profession. He would work on all types of potions and different remedies, occasionally going out on short trips to gather ingredients, but nothing to crazy, getting the harder things by trading with explorers that would go by the village now and then.
However that didn’t last forever. One night a zombie hoard took the village by surprise while everyone slept peacefully. When Tom heard the screams half the villagers were gone, most dead while a few others had started to go through the fast and painful infection into zombies. It was either locking himself in his home and pray the day would come, or risk making a run for it. As the door started giving in, Tom rushed to make a weakness potion and took a golden apple he had been saving for a special occasion. He wasn’t sure it would work, he had never seen anyone being cured, but there were books and records about it.
Everything happened too fast, the door broke down, zombies rushed in, he made it past by a miracle, getting bitten and scratched. Then he ran, as fast and far as possible until his body turned in pain, as he looked for a dark cave the sun wouldn’t reach and with the last remains of strength, he used the potion and bit the apple just as his last bit of humanity vanished…
… Tom woke up in a dark, humid corner, mind foggy, unclear, clothes shredded and skin full of scars left behind by the reversed zombification. He was once again alive and breathing, and having lost everything except his humanity.
Got hit by big nostalgia yesterday and really wanted to draw them today. I am very happy to see I haven't lost much practice drawing them, tho I think I'll probably do some design adjustments to Alondra and maybe a ref for Tom? I am unsure still.
Anyway I really really missed these guys. Fingers cross my fixation finally settles in this lol.
hey i know it's probably been Literal Years since you posted that three part illager comic but - why does Nurm call Tom Mercer?
I was actually scrolling through my MCSM tag a day or so ago so this is serendipitous because this had been on my mind too hkhsjgs
I always headcanoned that Villagers are named after their professions (perhaps Nurm got a different name in the Common language when he left with Jack, symbolizing starting a new life perhaps).
Tom is the name he goes by! Whenever anyone asks, he just goes, "Call me Tom." And as for how Nurm calls him; Mercer is just another word for merchant, someone who provides goods.
