Amethyst's Hermit-A-Day May 2024
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Beef had lived his whole life in the under-city. He was old enough to dimly remember the Anarchy, but he’d still been a kid back then. His parents had shielded him from it well enough, and he’d grown up in the near-surface. It wasn’t as though he escaped the pressure…especially considering the crazy conspiracy theories still spouting from his buddy who made a habit of dumpster diving...ahem, that is, researching the old lab trash heaps in the Depths. He was pretty happy with himself though, with his butcher shop in the near-surface, with his steady regulars and occasional foot traffic. Perhaps he was also a strapping young man suffocating beneath bedrock, but he didn't feel his lack of breath. Maybe he could've made it in the over-city, but the acclimation program just hadn't been for him. This was good enough. They were all walking a knife's edge, but Beef had been walking it for as long as he could remember, so he felt settled enough.
So yeah. As far as he was concerned, life was not so bad.
{In which Beef sells beef, Joel gets flustered over his wife but what else is new, and some conspiracies are best proven by rooting around in twenty-four-year-old garbage}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 1: VintageBeef)
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Xisuma was used to depending on his helmet, by now.
It was thanks to this thing that he could work, move, and carry on day to day normally without wheezing, without constantly feeling just shy of suffocating. Weak glamor used to be a death sentence in the under-city, but Xisuma was born in an age of upheaval, that much was for certain.
Didn't feel much like the final steps of a revolution when you were sitting in a stiff plastic chair in the out-patient section of the labs medical wing.
But then, Xisuma was used to this, too.{In which Xisuma gets a check-up, Jevin tries to nag, but he's not nearly as good at it as Stress, and it's a few deep breaths, then back to work.}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 2: Xisuma)
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Zed was currently on his knees in front of the nature elf, clasping his gloved hands together, looking close to tears.
This happened every year or so.
Zed was a Master Smith and a very young one at that. His skills were top-notch, but considering he was from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, it had taken him a big break to showcase himself and gain the renown he now wielded.
That big break had come in the form of the Slayer. A mercenary who specialized exclusively in assassination requests, who had a perfect completion rate, and whose name scared lesser folks into hiding.
That mercenary had commissioned him, at the age of sixteen, to forge her a new broadsword.
Now, Zed was pretty proud of the job he’d done. The sword had been the best he possibly could’ve done back then.
But that had been nearly ten years ago. And yet here again was Gem, pulling the massive broadsword from the sheath on her back and holding it out to him with the sort of innocent smile that shows she knew exactly what she was asking of him.
"Fix it!"{In which Zed receives no mercy, Gem likes what she likes, and Pearl and Tango take five}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 3: Zedaph)
Series
- Part 3 of Amethyst's Hermit-A-Day May 2024
- Part 36 of Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU}
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CA-CHUNK
CA-CHUNK
CA-CHUNK
The ride in the railcarts didn't bother Keralis anymore. He was scrolling on his phone for every tight turn and plunging slope, doing some very important research. XB was his sounding board, as per usual, and the poor man certainly hadn't consented to it but then again, it wasn't like Keralis planned on giving him a choice. He needed the help! This was very important! After all, how else was he meant to woo the love of his life than with some world-class pick-up lines?
{In which Keralis researches, XB contemplates murder, and Xisuma is still to dense to even realize what's going on.}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 4: Keralis)
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The under-city was a place constantly growing, trapped within stone...they needed to expand, yet where was there to expand to?
It was difficult to open up new passageways; the folks working within the mining sector needed knowledge of the under-city, of its many winding tunnels, where it was strong, where the walls weakened, where the force of bedrock held, where the stone might crumble away.
It wasn't as though TFC thought he was anything particularly special, even if the labs had insisted to the contrary when they'd approached him a few years ago. Those bright young faces trying to rebuild their world after Anarchy...and well, if a few more swings of a pickaxe from an old man like him would help the city he'd watched collapse put itself together again, then he could put off retirement for a couple years more.{In which TFC knows the tunnels, the labs need his help, and a redstone pallet and a steady salary certainly help, but he was convinced from the moment they said he was the only person who could do the job.}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 5: TinfoilChef)
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Jevin was of the generation that had come up just after the Anarchy. He remembered that time; he’d been a young child, but he could pick up dim recollections if he tried. It had been terrifying. Most slime mutants lived further from the main cavern or even in the Deep Dark, so his family hadn’t been directly impacted, but then…what did that even was mean, anyway? Everyone got hurt.... and wasn’t that a lackluster way to put it?
Jevin had enrolled in the medical program at the labs to help people stop hurting. He didn’t have some big tragic backstory, or some deep-seated reason, it was just…well, maybe it was just things like this? From seeing people around him who were damaged from this dangerous city, from knowing every step he took and every breath he took was something to be grateful for...and sometimes, you didn't need some big reason to do something.
Just wanting to help was perhaps the biggest reason of all.
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 6 - iJevin)
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It was nothing new.
Another tavern, another customer Scar was schmoozing with, and where did that leave Mumbo? Sitting in the corner keeping an eye on the elf from afar, with Grian sitting beside him. He was used to this sort of scene. It was the same song and dance he'd performed countless times, especially since he'd started running with Scar, leaving behind his days in the mercenary guild. Choosing, after years of convincing himself it was impossible, to pursue his ideal. Become a paradox, a conflict within two words. A gentleman rogue. Apparently, all his work was paying off, because while he was oblivious, Grian had certainly picked up on the lovely lady with her eyes on him from across the tavern floor.{In which Mumbo gets hit on, Grian has no social awareness, Scar is busy swindling, and definitions can be boiled down to just a couple words.}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 7 - Mumbo Jumbo)
Series
- Part 7 of Amethyst's Hermit-A-Day May 2024
- Part 29 of Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU}
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XB considered perhaps he would strangle Keralis. He'd been enduring the terrible pick-up lines the human flung at him, trying to guide his friend toward just being honest about his longtime crush on their co-worker. Then again, perhaps calling it 'endurance' was downplaying how hilarious he found the entire situation. It wasn't like he didn't get a good laugh out of it every time, and considering the colorful cast of characters he worked with, he was well used to chaos rumbling along the rails. From Jevin sprinting in flinging medkits into carts for him to direct to the Depths, to Keralis rolling in screeching perhaps the least fitting nickname ever at the top of his lungs, at the back of a train of supply crates, well...it was never a dull moment.
{In which XB loves his job, Xisuma is still clueless, and a com system would be a great addition to the labs}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 8: xBCrafted)
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"How to rise from the floor, when it's not you I'm rising for." by Amethystfairy1
Fandoms: Hermitcraft SMP
09 May 2024
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Skizz had felt a lot of pain in his day.
He wasn’t about to claim he was particularly worse off than any other avian. In a lot of ways, he was better, and for that, he was grateful in some twisted way. Maybe that was just kind of lost on him at the moment, the grief still to much to bear. All of it cold and heavy and mounded up on his shoulders, as he was made to remember with a starling clarity was it felt like to have a blade break his skin.
But he wasn't forgetting. He would never allow all that kindness, something so difficult to find, to go to waste. He knew his name. And one day, he'd get out of this hellhole. He'd never be able to face him, wherever he was amongst the stars...if he didn't at least try.
{In which Skizz gets cut, you shouldn't reuse bandages, and memories are enough for him to bitterly pull himself to his feet again.}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 9: Skizzleman)
Series
- Part 9 of Amethyst's Hermit-A-Day May 2024
- Part 41 of Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU}
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Stress, perhaps ironically, was used to the stress of her job.
The other medical officers, all technically her subordinates, but then, the labs didn’t really do heavy-handed authority considering their current director was allergic to that sort of thing, were hurrying around in a sort of controlled chaos. Redstone thrummed in the walls of the medical wing, lighting up display screens and red dots appearing, turning green or yellow depending on the status and level of urgency of the request for aid.
The under-city was dangerous place.
It was also a place without hospitals.
Stress knew for every person she saved, another two went without the treatment they needed. But if she let that sort of attitude win, then three might go without, and she wasn’t the type to allow that.
Everyone she could reach would get a helping hand. That sort of determination had led to her becoming head of the medical wing in the first place.{In which Stress is stressed, Jevin is dependable, Iskall is a menace, and hopefully glamor codes haven't rolled over yet this week}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 10 - Stressmonster101)
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“I could've showed you all the scars at the start, but that was always the most difficult part.” by Amethystfairy1
Fandoms: Hermitcraft SMP, 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series
11 May 2024
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The ocean breeze was salty.
The brilliant blue water stretched as far as she could see. Pearl was an avian, she was used to her view being obstructed long before her actual vision ran out, and yet she saw all the way to the horizon. It was balmy and hot, salty air she could taste, and her dark eyes continued tracing the horizon line with some sort of swelling sensation in her chest.Gem had brought her here just to see the ocean, she was sure that's why she'd taken the job. The nature elf was kicking and splashing through the water with her skirt hitched up to her knees, without a care in the world. And Pearl's hands were scarred and callused, but so were Gem's. And Pearl's talons were blood-stained, but so was Gem's sword. Yet Pearl thought Gem was beautiful.
Then what, stars above and earth below, did that make Pearl?{In which Pearl tries to try new things, Gem goes splish splash, and really, sometimes all it takes is a happy coincidence.}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 11: Pearlescentmoon)
Series
- Part 11 of Amethyst's Hermit-A-Day May 2024
- Part 6 of Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU}
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Always Watching by Amethystfairy1
Fandoms: Hermitcraft SMP, 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series
12 May 2024
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Pearl was pretty used to running solo. She had her twin brother and cousin over a lot, and more recently her best friends, Gem and Impulse, had been braving the trip above bedrock to come see her. She worked odd hours, and the smaller news agency she published for basically let her run around the city as much as she pleased so long as she brought back some good material, which she always did. It was a comfortable routine, but still, it could get lonely. That's why, when she notices the apartment across from her own has the door left ajar, with a couple beat-up suitcases and moving boxes in the hallway, she can't resist having a little peak.
After all, it would be really nice to make friends with her new neighbor.{In which B has hops, Pearl goes cleaning lady feral, and this seems like the beginning of a grand friendship indeed.}
(Hermit-A-Day May Day 12: Friends of Hermitcraft - BigB!)
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Cub liked this cafe. The one that Scar frequented near campus was nice, too, but it got busy and loud fast. Cub wasn't always in the mood to deal with that, but sometimes he did want to do something other than just go to work and then go home. Today in particular, he was glad he did. It wasn't easy; sometimes, his vision would play tricks on him in the brightness of the over-city, so far removed from the pitch-black world he'd been raised in. The only light occasional flickers of turquoise skulk flora growing over the stone. They'd tried to warn him that day, just the same as every day before, tried to protect him as they always did, his only friend in the world. Friend being quite an overstatement. It had been too loud, too bright, he'd been too slow, and had it been anyone else well...Cub wasn't sure if he'd still be breathing today.
Much less breathing fresh air.
Yeah, he was glad he'd stopped by the cafe today. It was good, for once, to run into a familiar face.{In which Cub can't have heard that right, Sausage is a ray of sunshine even if neither of them had seen the sun before, and they have 26 years of catching up to do.}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 13: Cubfan135)
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The two of them were a mess.
A half-blind mobster who could turn violent in a heartbeat and an experiment who’d nearly been driven mad then turned to the very work that had created him.
There was no reason they should’ve survived, much less managed to stay together all the while. There had been so many moments they’d nearly broken. It had all been so much, they’d butted heads over the major decisions they were making, and as hard as it was to believe, they were barely even adults at this point.
Doc was twenty. Etho was still just nineteen.
They had no right to work.
But work they did.
And it was moments like these that made Doc think it had been worth enduring it all, for a cramped apartment that may as well be a penthouse, and his everything held safely in his arms.{In which Doc considers, Etho is flirty when he's exhausted, Cleo and Wels don't get paid enough (do they get paid at all?) and they still have a lot of work to do.}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 14: Docm77)
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The world was a blur of redstone circuit lights.
False hurtled downward, wings closed in tightly to her head. The tiny set of wings on her head, dark brown edged white, occasionally snapped this way or that to direct her as she dove downward. Her eyes watered from the speed, her teal zip hoodie was left open and pulled down to her elbows for the force of the air pushing back against her. A red striped tank top and well-loved jean shorts, beat-up red sneakers that had seen better days, but they weren’t worth replacing just yet.
Her pale blonde hair was tied into a ponytail, whipping behind her as she hurtled down, down, down, eyes tracing the narrow dodges of bridges, jutting out balconies, till finally, she opened her wings.
So what if she had to stay out a little later after school than she was technically allowed, waiting out the busier air time, to do this? It wasn't like Pix was going to be home before the night cycle fell anyway. She had the time. She knew was she was doing. And free falls were exhilarating.{In which False falls, Fwhip tattles, and Pix is a very good, very tired, very overworked Father.}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 15: FalseSymmetry)
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He turned on his heel and threw his hands up, extending them outward, palms forward. His eyes lit from the inside with black glamor sparks. His dark brown hair was chopped short, the few stringy bangs that framed his face were sticking from sweat. It really was just rotten luck.
Then again, it wasn’t like Wels had been blessed with much good luck lately.
Anarchy. It was a mess, and the world sucked, plain and simple. Wels' number one goal most days was to not end up dead, and to be frank, he didn't really care about much else. No matter what sort of proposition he received, he was better off running solo. Maybe he'd take this job with the fox hybrid for a week or two, but that was it. That was all he could risk.
Wait...has it been twenty-five years already?
{In which Wels gets recruited, Etho smooth talks, and maybe together they can make the world suck a little less}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 16: Welsknight)
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There were a lot of things that had changed.
It was mindblowing to think when Etho had time to stop and think, that he'd been with Doc almost double the time he'd been alive when they'd first met. Set off a chain reaction for better or worse. Funnily enough, those had also been words they'd given to each other when rings were exchanged, which, wasn't it stupid to still feel oddly warm and fuzzy over that? This year would be their twentieth anniversary, which made him feel old, but brush that aside.
They weren't who they used to be. A couple of thieves. A couple of scammers and liars and violent little souls who were angry at everything around them. Or, well, ok, maybe he was giving them too much credit there. They were probably still all of those things, if not a bit more under control...just a bit.
But idiots in love? That hadn't changed. Through a rebellion, a restructuring, through literal Anarchy, and through the much more terrifying days of marriage and parenthood. It never changed.{In which Etho reflects, Doc is half-asleep, and married with kids was never on the agenda, but then again, neither was a rebellion, and they'd handled that just fine.}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 17: Ethoslab)
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Joe’s Hyper Shack was a popular place, and Joe was very proud of it. It was the most popular coffee shop in the university quarter of the city, and was always bustling with activity, though it did have it's moments of tranquility. He made drinks that went from sugary flavor bombs to motor oil that had the Joe Hill's guarantee to keep you awake for twenty four hours straight...those did great during finals week! He made fun of his longest-running employee for being a wannabe goth boy, he decorated with psychedelic colors, and he played his favorite game in the world. That is, considering he was the owner of a coffee shop across the street from a university, he'd been witness to many 'hey, let's grab coffee' situations over the years. He'd grown adept at nailing down when couples were a sure thing or if they were bound to fall through. And nothing made him happier than suckering Hypno in to betting a couple bucks on his hunches.
{In which Joe Hills sells tasty motor oil, Hypno clashes colors, and Scar and Grian are to wrapped up in each other to realize they just lost Hypno twenty bucks}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 18: Joe Hills)
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Ready or Not by Amethystfairy1
Fandoms: Hermitcraft SMP, 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series
19 May 2024
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Grian had convened with Pearl and Jimmy for a preening session. All had been well, the same usual relaxing time spent with his sister and cousin, but one thing had led to another, which had led to this. All on the offhanded mention that Grian had made about his recent rescue at the hands of Hot Guy. He’d been explaining to them how Hot Guy had been so caring toward him, carried him back to his apartment and everything, and they’d been prodding at him because the way he was talking made it sound like he’d developed an instantaneous crush on the superhero. Then things had taken a turn.
People loved Hot Guy...maybe they could find a way to love them, too? It had spiraled from there.
{In which Pearl designs a costume, Jimmy panics but what else is new, Grian goes on a test flight, and Scar finds out he has some adorable competition.}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 19: Alt Hermits - Hot Guy and Cute Guy)
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“These golden ashes turn to dirt” by Amethystfairy1
Fandoms: Hermitcraft SMP, 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series
20 May 2024
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Yes, Gem was a nature elf. Yes, she was also a mercenary. Specifically a bounty hunter. Her borderline obsessive interest in studying swordsmanship had been quite unpopular in the Southern Elven Territories, where she was from, and eventually, she’d struck out from there to make her living in the human kingdom of the old continent. She’d learned the basics of her nature spells, and despite common misconception, the spirits didn’t abandon you for murder.
Their love was unconditional. Unlike most people. Elves were a solitary sort. It wasn't that Gem necessarily disliked that aspect of their society. It was more that she was sick of getting looked at in such an odd way for having a blade on her hip. Besides, elves didn't exactly live in villages...they didn't exactly live anywhere, really, they drifted through the forests. They only really gathered at the spirit wells or some other villages for the education of the young, and that was rare.It was all very liminal. Gem didn’t like that. She preferred cold hard coin.
{In which Gem breaks a record, a legend is born, and all she really cares about is the pay raise.}
(Hermit-a-Day May Day 20: Geminitay)
Series
- Part 12 of Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU}
- Part 20 of Amethyst's Hermit-A-Day May 2024