hermitcraft writing dump ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

worms and wither roses

grian's gaze was directed at the giant lava lake below. if he fell in, there would be zero hope of getting his items back. ignoring his fears, he turned back to evil x. "well, do you have any stone or dirt by any chance? flowers?" he asked. "they're important."

evil x shook his head. what did he need flowers for? "i don't have any of those things. i threw the last nature bits i had into lava after i'd been... left here." he kept it vague, tip-toeing over the topic of xisuma to avoid any questions.

grian nodded. "i see... i guess we'll have to make do with what we have; i left my shulkers at home." the hermit said sheepishly. he quickly gathered some netherrack and soulsand, frowning slightly at the quiet yet audible wailing coming from it. "oh! gravel!" he proceeded to dig some up. "we'll also need wither roses..." he said. "my shop stocks them. i'll be right back."

before evil x could say anything, the hermit spread his elytra and rocketed away, leaving evil x alone again. after half an hour, evil x had begun to wonder if he'd just been ratted out. the thought made him shudder.

it was an hour before grian returned, a cluster of black petals poking out of a shulker box. grian himself looked a little ruffled. "sorry it took so long; my shop broke."

"must not be very functional." evil x chuckled lightly. relief hit like a wave, but he tried to hide it. "so, what do we need the flowers for?" he tilted his head slightly.

"we'll get to that in a moment. what we need to do first is to dig a little hole." grian equipped his pickaxe and began to tear out some of the netherrack from the ground, until there was a 3-block deep hole. the architect continued to explain how to build this... shrine..? until everything but the wither roses had been used. when the two had finished their work, a statue of wormman's face stood before them, accompanied by a pit of soulsand.

evil x stared at it for a moment, and looked back down at grian. the hermit stared as well, his expression unable to be read as anything short of nostalgic. "so, about those roses?"

"oh, right!" grian blinked sharply. "what you need to do is plant one in the soulsand every day, in a row. if you're lucky, you'll hear him calling your name." he explained.

"err.. grian?" evil x said quietly. "there is no 'day' in the nether." he twiddled his thumbs a little.

grian thought for a moment. "do you have your communicator? i'll just remind you."

evil x nodded. "alright. i assume you have more things to attend to?"

"ah.. yeah, actually. i'll see you around!" he chimed. "don't forget to check messages!"

with a quick wave goodbye, evil x watched the red-sweatered hermit soar away. he pulled one of the wither roses from a pile grian had left for him after they finished the shrine, and planted it carefully in the sand, a small smile on his face.

--

a week and a half had passed since grian's first visit.

evil x's communicator buzzed in his pocket. he hadn't been up to much, only bartering with pigmen for pretty shiny things. he pulled the communicator out. it came from grian, as expected. the hermit had been very good at making sure evil x stuck to their plan, which was probably a good thing.

don't forget the flower!!! the message read. evil x powered the device off and shoved it back in his pocket. he strolled over to the shrine. ten flowers, all in two neat rows. he planted the eleventh one, and waited. nothing. "no luck today, i guess..." he sighed.

just as he turned away from the shrine, he heard a muffled voice, from underground. he'd usually assume it's just a ghast, but if it were, it must've been a pretty british ghast. he turned his head, and went back to the shrine, assuming that's where the voice came from. anticipation welled up inside him. he dug away at the flowerless patches of soulsand, and came face to face with a very bright pink mask. "wormman?" he asked. he couldn't believe it.

"evil xisuma! hello! please get me out of this hole." the masked hero requested.

evil x chuckled. "sure thing, buddy." he dug away at the soulsand, until wormman was able to free himself. "so, it's been a while." he kept it cool, but internally, he could barely quell his glee.

wormman cocked his head. "really? i could of sworn it was only a week..." he finally started to look around, taking in his surroundings. "apparently, i'm bad at math. anyways, what have you been up to? what season are we even in?"

"welcome, wormman, to season six."