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Yes.
Tango knew.
He’d heard the jokes. He’d answered the questions. He was well aware.
Yes.
Tango was from hell.
Well, not, like, literal hell but according to the over-worlders it was close enough. The Nether was a fiery dimension of red, angry loud noises, citizens who’d try to kill you on-sight unless you were wearing something shiny enough to distract them, and occasionally you’d hear a shriek and know you ought to take some evasive maneuvers unless you felt like getting blown up by a fireball.
Yeah, Tango knew the Nether seemed like a terrifying and unforgiving place to the over-worlders. In some aspects he’d agree with them, he wasn’t about to sit here and argue that the Nether was all peace and love or something. But he was from the Nether. He was a nether-born, a blaze-born, he’d grown up on blood-red brick and spent his childhood taking cannonballs off craggy cliffs into the lava ocean.
Moving to the over-world to join the Hermits had been…an adjustment.
The sky was huge.
He didn’t think over-worlders quite got it when he said that.
It was huge. It seemed endless. The first few days he’d lived in the over-world he’d just spent the entire time with his neck craned staring at it. It was beautiful, and you could build anywhere and everywhere.
The Hermits were fast workers. Things began popping up before he could even blink, and he’d started work immediately to not get left behind. Being invited into a group such as the Hermits was a huge deal, especially for a little blaze-born who’d spent most of his life bouncing between various nether-locked worlds.
He was new.
He needed to keep up.
So obviously that’s what he was doing.
He’d gone off as Hermits did, picked out an area, started building, tried not to geek out too hard at all the new materials he had access too.
The first thunderstorm that had occurred while he was in the over-world, he’d spent in the cellar of his starter house, hiding beneath a fire resistance doused blanket, flares out of control, blaze-rods whirling frantically as the water pounded at the shuttered windows.
The sky was huge, and now it sounded like it was falling?
What the hell was that!?
Over-worlders insisted the Nether and it’s lava oceans was hell, but they put up with things like this all the time? Tango had even heard a few of them say they found the sound of rain and thunder to be soothing.
Soothing!?
Tango had needed the rest of the night to mentally recalibrate, and had set his new goal to getting enough material to build himself a nether portal ASAP. From there on, whenever the barest hint of dark clouds rolled over, he’d duck through the purple swirls of the portal set up in his cellar and hide out in the Nether till it was safe. It wasn’t a very densely populated Nether, considering the way the Hermits worlds worked, but it was still home.
There were other things about the over-world that set his nerves on edge.
Wolves were a little freaky at first, but he came around to seeing them as cute, cuddly creatures so long as you treated them right.
Sheep were fluffy monstrosities that made incredibly strange noises, but Tango also came around to them in time.
Cows had big round eyes, skeletons rattling in the shadows reminded him of his Nether fortress home growing up, and creepers still scared the life out of him when they appeared unannounced, but that didn’t seem to be a unique thing.
The Hermits were friendly and welcoming. Tango had been perhaps keeping a little too much distance from them, only really reappearing at the spawn village once in a blue moon, but he’d been assured that was ok.
Xisuma, the admin, had told him to reach out if he needed anything.
But Tango was fine!
Really!
A few things still caught him by surprise, and one time when he’d been stuck out in a storm he’d ended up hiding in a cobblestone box for three hours trying not to cry the entire time, but surely he’d get used to it. It was just an adjustment period, that was all. He’d settle down in due time.
Today, Tango was on a particular mission.
That mission was make friends.
Because he’d been here for nearly a month and outside of attending the one required meeting, he hadn’t really seen much of anyone. So he was headed along through the forest toward the base closest to his own, which belonged too…he didn’t know.
Maybe I should’ve paid better attention at that meeting?
Honestly, he’d been more worried about looking around at all the Hermits and trying to identify all the various subspecies they came from. He’d never met half of them in real life before, and while there were plenty of humans speckled around, he’d also spotted a deer hybrid, creeper mutant, fox hybrid, several avians…honestly, he was marveling all over again about why he was the one who received an invite.
A little blaze-born who’d built some wacky machines on a few nether-locked worlds…and now here he was.
Anxiety was already spiking his heart-rate, his blaze-rods were whirling faster than usual and hugging tightly to the crown of his head. His flares were crackling hot, and his tail was whipping nervously. He fidgeted his claws together, shoulders trying to slouch as he followed a barely-there path through the forest. He knew all the Hermits were friendly, but he was new, and he was still struggling to grasp some over-world customs and manners. It was all tricky. He’d been here a month, but this was his first attempt at actively reaching out to one of his neighbors and trying to make friends. Considering he planned to live with the Hermits for the foreseeable future, he really wanted this to go well. His eyes were burning slightly, and he quickly scrubbed at them with his palms, forcing a few painful deep breaths. Over-world air was colder than home, it sent a shiver down his spine, but he was getting used to it. He was already planning on rewarding himself with a trip to the Nether for a dip in the lava pool he’d set up in his little Nether vacation home by his portal when he got back. So he could put up a brave face for this.
He emerged from the clustering trees out into a flowery biome. He could hear some sheep in the distance and made out sleek white columns of some sort of structure half-completed. He shaded his eyes against the bright sun, so much brighter than the constant warm glows of the Nether.
Ok, here we go. Good first impressions.
“H-Hello?” He called.
There was a moment quiet before he heard the creak of a door.
“Hello, hello! Who goes there, is it my new neighbor?” A cheerful voice shouted back, and Tango felt his shoulders unwinding just enough.
He could do this.
The forest had weird noises he didn’t recognize, the sky was still really really huge, did he see storm clouds on the horizon? That wasn’t good. Oh, that really wasn’t good. Surely he’d have enough time to make it back to his base though, or his neighbor probably had a nether portal he could use worst comes to worst.
It’s fine.
It’s fine.
It’s fine.
Another sharp breath in.
“H-Hiya! Um, sorry I’ve been a bit anti-social.”
“Ah, that’s no worries! Where are ya?” The voice replied, and he could hear approaching footsteps through the trees.
Then, emerging through from the other side of the flowery field was one of the human members of the server. Tango recalled seeing him briefly at the start of world meeting.
“Zedaph?”
The blonde grinned brightly to him. “Yours truly! Just call me Zed, though, I never go by my full name. Tango! Welcome to the world! I really ought to have come seen ya, but the beginning rush really had me in a death grip for awhile.” He chuckled good-naturedly as he walked across the flower field to get closer. He wore a scoop-necked white shirt with a brown knitted cardigan overtop, the thick cables looked fuzzy and warm. Pale jeans and sneakers, his blonde hair was done half-up half-down, but the bun was barley clinging in there, and he had a sheen of sweat on his brow. He’d probably been working on his base when Tango arrived.
“It’s perfectly fine!” The blaze-born hurried to dissuade him, another spike of anxiety driving his flares to creep further down his shining blonde hair, nearing his scalp. He didn’t want to be a bother, either. Maybe he’d timed this wrong? Should he have sent a message ahead? Then, he hadn’t known who he was coming to see, so that wouldn’t work. Should he ask Zedaph for his com info? Did the Hermits just all have each others com info? Tango should have checked that before he’d left, before he was standing here with his breath suddenly a lot shorter than usual, and his eyes burning again. His stomach twisted, sickness crawling bitter up his throat and he swallowed it hard.
“U-Um, I just…didn’t mean to bother you, you must’ve been busy!”
“When aren’t we, around here? It’s not a problem, we’re all used to getting distracted, that’s most of the fun!” Zed’s voice was cheerful and calming, he didn’t give even the slightest hint that he was annoyed at being interrupted. That made Tango’s swimming sick sensation settle a bit, and he drew another breath to try and make conversation. Ruby red eyes were dragged away from Zed, his doe-eyed purple, up toward the horizon again. Dark clouds were shifting along, it didn’t look terribly close, but Tango had no grasp on how close they needed to be for the rain to reach, and he’d heard thunder and seen rain fall even when there were no clouds in sight, which was a terrifying experience. His breath hitched, and he twisted his claws tighter into each other.
“You ok, there, Tango?”
He jumped when Zed called his attention back down, and forced himself to make eye contact. “Ah! Right! I mean, yeah, yeah, totally fine! My bad! Just, uh…getting used to the over-world, y’know? Some stuff still catches my eye!”
Zed gave a low whistle, glancing cursorily back over his shoulder as if wondering what had so firmly grabbed Tango’s attention. “I’ll bet! I couldn’t imagine moving onto a nether-locked world, so I think you coming to live here with us is crazy impressive. If you ever need help with anything, you just let me know, yeah? I’m a hop, skip, and a jump away, after all!”
He jabbed a thumb toward his chest, still grinning, and Tango couldn’t help but find himself settled by Zed’s friendly, laid-back demeanor. Another few breaths that dared to grow deeper and deeper. He could do this. He was fine.
That was when he heard something buzzing near his ear.
He whirled around with a cut-off shriek and saw the massive creature hovering in the air, just a few inches behind where his shoulder had been. It was brightly colored, yellow with black stripes. Widely spaced shiny blue orb eyes that bugged slightly from it’s face. Long gangly black legs with tiny hairs covered in yellow specks. A set of pale wings were flapped at a high speed to keep it’s fat little body airborne, making that buzzing sound, and Tango screamed.
His flares burst to full strength, completely consuming his blonde hair and his blaze-rods tightened in as close as they could to his head. He scrambled a few steps backward, tripping over his feet and falling as trembling overtook his entire body, scared to the point he could hardly managed to move.
“Hey, hey, it’s ok! It’s just a bee!” Zed put his hands up disarmingly, eyes flying wide with shock at Tango’s reaction, but the blaze-born’s eyes were glued to the hovering monstrosity making the freaky buzzing sound.
“W-What’s a bee!?” He barely got the words out around a whine, and Zed hurried forward. Stooping down, he plucked one of the flowers from the many dotting the clearing and held it up.
“Hey, hey there, you want this right? Pretty tulip, isn’t it?” He said, and the bees attention immediately switched from Tango onto him. The blonde slowly backed away toward the forest, leading the bee along with him a few steps till he turned and threw the flower into the trees. The bee flew past him in pursuit, vanishing into the branches.
“Tango!” Zed rounded back over to him, the little blaze-born sitting on the ground hugging himself so slightly he could feel his claws through his shirt sleeves, nearly piercing skin. His flares were roaring hot, tears were burning against his eyelids as he squeezed them shut.
Everything was new.
Everything was scary.
He’d already been on edge just scraping together the courage to try and reach out to his neighbor, now here he was having a stars forsaken panic attack over something Zed had clearly seen as nothing but a minor inconvenience!
Even still, several whines worked up out of his throat, a typical noise of blaze-born distress, and he heard the thump of knees hitting the grass beside him.
He opened his eyes just in time to see Zed reaching for his arm,
“Don’t touch me!” He flung himself away.
Looking up, he saw the hurt momentarily jolt on Zed’s features, and he needed to talk, he needed to breathe, he needed to talk, he needed to breathe.
“I-I’m…burning.” He finally rasped out of his tightening throat.
Understanding replaced the hurt confusion, and Zed nodded a few times. His smile turned tense yet comforting as he sat back on his heels.
“Gotcha. You take your time. Nothings gonna mess with you, not so long as I’m around. Promise.”
That.
That was…nice?
Oddly protective, but nice.
Was that how all the Hermits were?
Tango hadn’t exactly gotten on close quarters with any of them yet.
But Zed seemed nice. He liked Zed. For so much as he could claim considering he was feeling at the moment.
He sucked down several more deep breaths, squeezing his eyes shut. Tried to ignore how cold the air was, tried to remember the nice lava bath he planned to take when he got back to his own base, remember he was safe here even if it was all brand new. He’d wanted to come here, and he didn’t regret it, even as things continued to ache with difficulty. He had to bear it, get through the adjustment, because he already felt in small inklings that this was where he belonged. This was where he’d be able to satisfy his creativity and curiosity, unlike anywhere else.
He forced a sharp breath out between his teeth and opened his eyes. Zed was still kneeling next to him, eyes flooded with concern, and when he saw Tango was looking at him his lips tugged toward a smile.
“Hello. You feel better?”
Worth it.
The blaze-born concluded as scarlet met purple.
“Y-Yeah.” He croaked, then he slowly, one finger at a time, released form how he’d been hugging himself. He raked his claws a few times over his head, trying to pat out his flares, return them to the spiky ends as opposed to his entire head, and they began to recede bit by bit.
“Sorry.” He mumbled, and Zed firmly shook his head.
“Oh no you’re not. You have no reason to be sorry. I still remember the first time I saw a ghast, I hid in a little nether rack box for a full hour before I even dared to come out! Then I high-tailed it straight back through the portal!”
Tango gave a broken giggle at the anecdote. “Oh yeah? They’re not so bad…just gotta tuck and roll.”
“Y’see, that’s insane to me! Not to mention flying in the nether, oh, took me ages to try that!” Zed waved his hands in an overdramatic display of his reluctance, and Tango laughed a bit harder.
“Aw, but it’s fun…you can weave around through the lava falls…first time I flew, I traded for a pair of wings at a nether hub as a kid. Didn’t have any rockets, so I just kept climbing the towers around the fortress and jumping off, then gliding all the way down and landing in the ocean…my pyre elders were so sick of all my whooping and hollering, kept yelling at me to keep it down.”
Zed’s eyebrows shot up. “Hang on, you landed in the ocean?”
Tango blinked at him, the last few tears clearing out with an itchy sensation left behind. Slowly, he uncurled from his defensive posture, letting his knees fall to either side and crossing his ankles.
“Uh-huh. Lava ocean. It’s everywhere.”
A noise of understanding came from Zed, before he laughed. “Wait, that’s right, you’re fireproof! I forgot!”
Tango found his lips tugging toward a smile again. Zed’s laugh was infectious, and he felt the humor trying to buzz in his chest. It replaced the swimming sickening sensation.
“Yup. But uh…I’m not…waterproof.” He looked past Zed toward the clouds again, which still seemed decently far away, but he had no idea how to gauge that.
Maybe he ought to finally ask?
“Is…is it safe? It’s not gonna rain?” He pointed, and Zed looked over his shoulder toward the sky.
“Oh! No, that’s much to far away for us to get wet, not like…”
He bit his tongue. “…wait. You’re not waterproof as in…water hurts you?”
Tango nodded. “Like lava hurts you.”
“Oh!” Zed’s eyebrows shot up, and he popped quickly to his feet.
“That’s good to know! Have you told X that? I mean, I’m sure he knows, he’s always read up on all of us, but…Stress! Oh, she needs to know too, she’s the medic after all, hm…”
He looked down to Tango, and then smiled again. “Are you cooled off?”
The blaze-born nodded without thinking. Zed stuck his hand out. “Come on then! Let’s go on a little world tour and properly get to know one another. Sound fun?”
Tango stared at the outstretched hand, then looked up at purple eyes again.
I can do this.
“Yeah, sounds great!”
He took Zed’s hand, mindful of his claws, and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. They headed off along a path Zed had cut back towards the spawn village, Zed talking all the way telling about the various Hermits and their exploits, and Tango already found the rustle of leaves more familiar, and the noise of the sheep pen recognizable this time.
This was where he belonged, even if it might take some getting used too.