HIYA PEOPLE
I"VE BEEN WRITING ALL DAY
AGAIN
LEZ GO!!
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Word Count: ~2.6K
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TW: none?
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POV: Xizara (MY BBY)
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The hot water pounded onto my back, washing away all the stress and aches out my muscles. For the first time in forever, I relaxed.
The water was turning brown as it ran down my body, taking all the blood, sweat, sand, and general grime off my body. I ran shampoo through my hair at least three times, and conditioner twice. I scrubbed my skin until it hurt and shaved my face, getting rid of the stubble.
(Don't ask me how he doesn't have a full on beard cause i dont know either)
After I was as clean as possible, I just sat under the water, letting myself enjoy this moment while it lasted. Eventually, though, I had to get out, and almost froze to death when I did. I'm surprised the water droplets didn't turn to icicles. I wrapped a towel around my waist and one around my hair like girls do.
In the mirror in front on the sink stood a completely different person than I was used to. I was thin, all my hard work of keeping my body in shape down the drain. Bags hung under my eyes and my skin was three shades paler, making my many scars stand out even more. I sighed, deciding to just brush my teeth and ignore my thoughts. The only thing that seemed to have stayed the same, of course, was the one thing I was insecure about before.
My gap tooth.
I finished and got dressed back into the armor I always wore. Xisuma had cleaned it, though, when I was in the shower. My now smooth hair shined under the light as I brushed through it. I hate how long it is.
I opened the door and walked out, back into the Clinic. Thankfully, Stress was the only one in here. She was putting newly cleaned sheets back onto my bed.
"Hey Stress?" She looked up.
"Hey! You're done!"
"Yeah...I was wondering, do you have any makeup or something that will cover, well, this?" I waved to my face, specifically the bags under my eyes.
"Oh! Yeah! Follow me!" She talked my ear off as we walked. "I was really pale when I was the Ice Queen," Not even gonna ask, "but I got a tan since I began livin' in the jungle! Me old makeup will work perfectly with your skin tone though!"
(aint that a coincidence -_-)
She practically skipped to her bedroom, with me trailing nervously behind. Stress began rummaging through drawers that overflowed with brightly colored makeup stuff. "Here!" The Healer pulled out a bottle thingy of what I can only assume is some sort of makeup. Her fairy wings fluttered in joy.
Man, this girl is happy.
She grabbed my arm and dragged me to a seat and pushed me into it. "I 'sume ya don't wanna full face right?"
"Uhh...no?" It came out as a question rather than a statement.
"Didn' think so!" Stress pulled out a pink sponge thing and squirted some liquid out of the bottle and began tapping it around my face, mainly under my eyes.
(I don't do makeup so if there is something that has to go before concealer or foundation or whatever it's called that you use to cover things, then pretend she did that first xD)
After only a minute or two, Stress held up a mirror to my face. I blinked in surprise and leaned back, not expecting a mirror to be shoved in my face. The makeup stuff she put on mostly hid my dark bags, but they were persistent.
"I know you can still see the bags, but that's the best I can do if you don't want the makeup to be too obvious."
"No, no! It's fine, thank you."
"No problem!" The Healer checked her communicator before vibrated her wings her feet lifting off the ground. "Come on! Xisuma is here waitin outside!"
She fluttered off and I raced to keep up. When we made it out of the building, Xisuma walked over to me and wrapped me in a hug. I didn't hesitate before hugging back. When we pulled apart, I turned to look at Stress' base, curious about what is was. I jumped slightly when I saw the huge skull with a flower crown staring at me.
X, of course, laughed at me, to which I shoved him away. He handed me an elytra and rockets.
"Ready?"
"Nope."
"Let's go."
I chuckled, following my twin into the sky and onto a floating island holding a nether portal. I gasped in surprise as I spun, taking in all the beautiful builds in the jungle. A large, intricate mansion. A small village with sparkling lights and bridges strung between tall, custom trees. A massive, overgrown, stone orange juicer surrounded by iron wrenches. An even bigger tree that towered over everything. A rainbow and freakishly large bugs. A tower that resembled the one from Star Wars in a black, custom biome. A giant drill and smaller vehicles scattered around it.
It was amazing!
"Who built these?"
"Well, this place," he pointed to the skull, rainbows, and bugs, "is Stress' base. The mansion is Grian's, the Avem with a red sweater. He joined last season. The ruins and wrenches is Mumbo's. The tree is Iskall. The Star Wars area is Ren. The village and drill is Scar."
I nodded, still trying to take it in.
"No more wastin' time, loves. We got places to be!" Stress sung as she hopped into the portal and disappeared. Me and X glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed the overly-happy girl through.
It was a short flight to the Shopping District portal, and once we got there, I froze. Xisuma and Stress went through, not realizing I wasn't following.
Is this really a good idea?
I guess nothing is anymore, so I just took a deep breath and stepped through.
I came out in the lounge area I saw before. I almost turned and fled when I saw most Hermits in the room, but Xisuma grabbed onto my elbow like he knew what I was thinking. Trying not to be too obvious, I scooted over so I stood behind X, hugging myself and studying my shoes.
Every player in the room turned to look at us, and I only shrunk in on myself more. I could feel their judging, cautious gazes staring me down. X noticed came to my aid by clearing his throat and speaking up. "We are heading to the Hub to hang out, grab something to eat, and run some errands if anyone wants to come."
"Is he going," Keralis' voice wavered as he said it. I cringed, hugging myself tighter.
"Yes, and so is Stress-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Iskall jumped in. "I'll come." They stood and walked over, not so subtly placing themself between me and Stress.
"Okay, anyone else?"
Els spoke up, but they made a noise that sounded similar to a keyboard smash brought to life. After a second, Hels spoke. "We're coming." They slid on their helmet over their messy, blonde hair.
The new Hermit, Grian, stood up, and I realized he was the one to help me on the island. "I'll come. Mumbo is too!" Mumbo looked up in confusion.
"I am?"
"Yep!"
The redstoner shook his head but followed his friend.
Boyfriend?
By the way they were acting earlier, I wouldn't be surprised. I glanced at the two, and quickly came to the conclusion that I shipped it. Judging by Stress' giggle and Iskall's smirk, I wasn't the only one.
Joe and Cleo stood and the Immortuos spoke, "Always lookin' for an excuse to go shopping." The way they walked over together, I could tell their friendship hasn't wavered one bit.
xB quietly stood and shuffled towards the portal, Keralis following. After a few seconds, everyone who wanted to go had stood, ready to go.
After them, Jevin, Hypno, False, Team Zit, Scar, and Bdubs joined us.
Xisuma made sure everyone was sure they didn't want to go, and together, all the Hermits going walked through the portal, with me trailing a good few feet behind them. When everyone was through, Xisuma turned back to make sure I followed. I hung my head and stepped through to the Lobby.
In The Hub, the Hermits were standing around, waiting to see who was going where. Stress, Cleo, and False decided to have a girls night and skipped away. Not before Stress gave me diamonds to get a haircut, though, even when I told her no. The others split away, going there separate ways, wanting to go to different places, leaving me and X alone.
They had made a decision to meet at a restaurant called Halo Steak House for dinner at 6:00, so we had roughly about 2 and a half hours before we had to head over there.
"You ready Z?"
I jerked up, looking at my twin and nodding. We walked through the crowd, which was noticeably smaller than yesterday, to a map outside. Xisuma searched up 'barber' in the search bar and several dots appeared on the map.
"This ones closest. Let's head there."
I just nodded again and followed X. It was a ten minute walk to get there, and when we got there, we were told it would be a fifteen minute wait. We decided to wait seeing as it would take longer to walk to another barber shop.
Forty-five minutes later, I walked out of the shop with hair now only barely making it past my shoulders, where I like it.
"It looks good. Especially now that it's white again and not grayish brown."
"Oi, shut up!"
(Do people say oi? I think so but i'm not sure...)
"For now," he laughed. "Where do you want to go now?"
"I don't mind."
"Well, you'll need more clothes. You can't really wear that to sleep." He gestured to my armor.
So that's what we did. Going to multiple shops and market stands buying me new clothes. I made a mental note to pay Stress and X back. When it came time to meet up with the others, we had about three bags of new outfits for me. Mainly pajamas and undergarments, but a few day clothes as well.
We ran by the Lobby and dropped our stuff off in the lounge, and headed over to Halo Steak House. A few Hermits were already waiting outside when we got there.
Keralis spoke up. "Shishwammy!" The dude ran up to X and hugged him, but surprised me when he pulled away from X and gave me a hug as well. I stood frozen, not sure what to do. Thankfully he hopped away before I completely stopped working.
Xisuma snorted at my expression. "Get used to it. K is a big hugger."
"I know. I just didn't expect him to hug me."
"Like I said, get used to it." He gave me a smile and pat on the back before pulling me over to the others.
Jevin waved at us. "Hey X, Z! We made a reservation. We're just waiting for everyone to get here."
"Great! Thanks!"
Els walked over to me, but Hels is the one who spoke. "Wow! We can actually tell your hair is white now!" I rolled my eyes as they laughed.
"Hardy, har, har," I deadpanned.
Wels spoke this time. "No, but seriously, nice cut g." He proceeded to slap me on the back of the head.
"Hey!" I yelled as I put a hand on their face and shoved them away. I burst out laughing, though, when they tripped on each other's foot and fell onto their back. They dramatically flailed out, landing in a weird position.
"I'm dead."
"We died."
"D-E-D, dead."
"Rest in pieces, us."
I doubled over in laughter at their over dramatic monologue, and the Hermits were close to follow. We grew even louder when concerned players only stepped over Els, who stayed still as a rock, to get into the restaurant.
"What are you guys doing?" The girls walked up to us, confused and slightly worried about our ability to adult.
"I died," Wels spoke without moving.
"Oh, well, ok then?" False's confusion doubled in size.
"Well, come on then! I'm hungry!" Stress skipped into the restaurant, pulling Iskall with her. Cleo gave False a look that only girls can pull off that screamed 'I told you.'
Huh.
Grian was quick to drag Mumbo in, and we began filing into the building.
Soon, we were sitting around a long rectangular table. I was at the end, with Els in front of me and Xisuma beside me. The Hermits were chatting and laughing while I sat silently, studying the menu, even though I've read it 3 times through and through already. I knew what I wanted, I just didn't want to join in the conversation.
"You know what you want?" My brother's voice startled me while I was in the middle of reading about their daily special, the potatoe soup.
"Huh?"
"Do you know what you are getting?"
"Oh. Oh! Yeah, yeah, I do."
"Well, what is it?"
"Um...the steak."
"That it?"
"No, I was going to order some mashed potatoes and mac n cheese. What 'bout you?"
"Their cheeseburger and fries."
"Really? That's so unoriginal."
"Well it's delicious," he pouted.
A middle-aged lady came up to our table, a notepad in her hands.
"Hi! I'm Beth and I'll be your waitress tonight! What would you guys like to drink?"
One by one, the Hermits ordered and when it came to me, they fell silent, waiting on me to order. I froze yet again, unable to do anything.
"Do you need more time, sweetie?"
"Oh! Nononono, I'm-you're-uh-I-um...Mountain Dew! Mountain Dew, please." I looked down, embarrassed.
"Would you all like to order now, or do you need more time?" The Hermits looked at each other, nodding, then turned to Beth, telling her they were ready.
Once again, the Hermits went around the table to order their food, minus Xisuma. He always orders when they are ready to leave so he can have warm food to eat when he gets home and is able to take off his helmet.
This time, when it was my turn, I didn't hesitate to tell the waiter what I wanted.
"Okay! Your food and drinks will be out in a few!" Beth turned and left.
When she was gone, Grian stood and held his hand out to me, and I just stared at him, confused.
"Give me a high five!" That didn't really clear anything up, but I hesitantly reached up to give him a half-butted high five. When I did, he yelled out "Mountain Dew buddies!" I chuckled at the hyper boy.
"I don't think it's a good idea to let him have that much caffeine," Hypno said.
"It's a great idea!" Grian rubbed his hands together, wiggling in his seat. Mumbo put his arm around him, trying and failing to calm him down.
My curiosity got the best of me and I nudged Xisuma, pointing my finger back and forth at the builder and redstoner, one eyebrow raised. X looked at them and shrugged. Wels nudged my leg under the table so I looked at him, and they were nodding their head, a grin splitting their face. I laughed.
I definitely wasn't the only one to ship it.
This time, when a conversation started, the Hermits pulled me into it, and I gladly joined in, joking along with them.
Maybe, just maybe, it won't be all that bad if I stayed.
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2 chapters in a day.
*sigh*
I need a life.
ANYWHO
Yall can probably see the ships forming ;) Some are more obvious than others tho!
And Stress and Xizara's relationship is only platonic and will remain that way! (you'll see why later if you haven't already guessed)
~Buh-Bye!! 💛💛