Conflicting Lives- Update (NOT A CHAPTER)

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 3: Plans Put Into Place

Word count: 2262

It had been about a month and a half since the agency meeting. Scythe and Joel made a plan to slowly stop going out as much, but waited for about a week of usual chaos before they actually slowed down.

Joel had also spoken with his partner, Etho, that was “looking into him” on behalf of the agency, and they came to a sort of compromise about what to give and what not to give to Voidling and iWork; Joel would tell Etho some of his routes and what directions he usually heads in, and Etho would simplify and brief it in a way to seem like he was observing the paths, not being told them.

Scythe spoke to his two friends as well, first to “Storyteller.”

~~~~~~~~~ Five Weeks Prior ~~~~~~~~~

Scythe was waiting on the patio table of the small café, admittedly a bit anxious. He knew Lunar wasn't always the most timely, considering she lives in Wynnra and the small shop was located on the western-ish side of Hermiton. Thankfully, he saw them walking up to the café just as he was starting to get the most anxious, and she sat down across from him at the small metal table.

“So I’m going to assume this isn't just a catch-up brunch?” Lunar asked after the waitress came by and got her drink order.

Scythe sighed, “As much as I wish it was, no it’s not.” He shifted in his seat, nervous and unsure on how to start the conversation. 

“Stop that,” Lunar said almost as soon as he started fiddling, “I know what you do when you're nervous. We’ve known each other for years, Scythe.” He silently cursed himself for being so anxious about such a little thing.

“Void, I really wish you didn't know me that well sometimes,” Scythe said after taking a deep breath. “I do want to catch up, but there is also something that’s come up that I feel like we should probably talk about too.”

The waitress came by to deliver Lunars drink with a smile, and asked if he would like a refill, to which he accepted and she took the cup away. “I’m going to assume this ‘something’ is what V contacted me about a week and half ago?” Lunar asked as she took a drink.

“Yeah, exactly that actually.” Scythe wasn’t very surprised that she knew what he meant. It wasn't all too hard to guess anyways. “Joel has already talked with Etho about what they’ll give to V, but I thought I should probably talk to you and Augustus before things get too far in.” He had turned his head down as he spoke, Scythe realized, and looked back up to Lunar looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite read.

After what felt like days, they finally replied, “Alright. I suppose we can start with the route info. If I could ask though, what did Joel and Etho come up with?” she looked expectantly at Scythe.

“Oh. yeah no problem, I don’t really know everything but i can tell you what I do know.” Scythe said after a few seconds of silence. “If i’m remembering correctly -- and don't quote me on this -- but Joel was going to give Etho our normal routes and what directions he left in after, and Etho would turn it into a sort of way where it was like he observed the info, not asked for it.” He realized that probably sounded strange to a normal person and quickly added, “If that makes any sense at least.”

Lunar slowly nodded, likely making a plan for how she would do something similar to get the information to Voidling, then looked back at Scythe with an expression mostly unreadable, but with a tint of curiosity. “Please dont look at me like that Crystal, come on.” he complained.

And Lunar laughed. Crystal was a nickname Scythe had given to them when he was younger, and lived in Wynnra. The nickname didn't seem to make sense to anyone not close to Lunar, but if you knew her like Scythe did, it made all the sense in the world. When the pair were younger, Lunar would always wander about in the middle of their adventures, and almost always came back with a handful of small crystals. As this kept happening as they got closer to Junior High, Scythe started calling them Crystal, and the name still stuck, 8 years later.

“Damn I haven't heard that in a while.” Lunar said when she finally stopped laughing. “That is exactly how I know it's been too long since we last talked, Scythe, I stopped getting used to Crystal again.”

Scythe chuckled too. “What were you thinking about Crystal? I know you too and that look means you had something in that head of yours about this whole situation.” He looked at them, and she looked down slightly before locking eyes with him once more.

“Maybe we could do a similar sort of thing to what Joel and Etho are doing, but maybe since I’m usually in Wynnra, it’s a bit more obscure. Kind of like I had someone travel to the area for me to scope out the situation, since it's hard to get there myself. Information does change the more it gets passed on after all, so it can't be all too suspicious can it?” She finally said after a few more moments of thought.

Scythe was honestly kind of surprised that he didn’t think of something that seemed so obvious sooner. But yet again he often got that kind of feeling when Lunar was talking, maybe he was just stupid but who knows. “That's… actually really smart. I’m not surprised that you thought of that, I'm more surprised that I didn’t.” he chuckled when he finished, realizing just how stupid that probably sounded.

Lunar laughed too and teased Scythe a bit, making him pout and try desperately not to laugh. They discussed their plan further, and ended up just hanging out for most of the afternoon.

When they said their goodbyes and headed to their own homes, Scythe thought about what he would do as a plan for his other friend, and decided that tomorrow was better than trying to get it done today.

~~~~~~~~~ One Day Later ~~~~~~~~~

Scythe heard a knock on his door, and opened it to reveal Augustus.He had been sitting and watching the TV for the better part of an hour while waiting for him to get there.

“What’s up man? Thanks for having me over!” Augustus said as he stepped in and pulled Scythe into a quick hug. The two guys laughed, and walked further into the dorm room to sit on the couch.

“Not a problem dude, but I only wish I asked you to come over to have fun.” Scythe confessed. That much was true, he did wish that he called Augustus over just to hang out and probably play some video games, but he didn’t. When he looked at Scythe curiously and a bit confused, he continued, “I know you mostly do Weapon Development* stuff, but I’m also pretty sure you got contacted by a certain someone about a week and a half ago.”

As soon as he mentioned being contacted, Augustus’ demeanor very noticeably changed, there wasn't going to be much fun today, at least not without this discussion, and he read the room and changed himself to match (something he did quite often to be honest). “Yeah, I did think that was a bit strange. I wasn't expecting it to be about information, especially from Voidling, but even more so about you.” Augustus said at last.

“Yup. Joel too. I've already talked to Crystal, and Joel has already talked to Etho, but I wanted to maybe try and work out something with you as well.” Scythe said, and Augustus looked back up at him. It took a few minutes for him to respond, but at least he did. “That makes sense. What do you have figured out already?”

Scythe exhaled, not even realizing he was holding his breath a little. He explained once more what he and Lunar went over together the day prior, as well as what Joel and Etho had worked out between themselves. It took a few minutes to clear the couple of questions that Augustus had, but eventually they were able to start making a plan of their own.

“Alright, that all makes sense. V asked me for more of the type of damage and stuff that you guys do, and not so much the routes or anything of that sort. I'm guessing he did some research into what I usually do, and I guess I would be the guy to talk about weapons and fighting styles rather than other kinds of info.” Augustus said.

“That checks out. He did say in the meeting that he had done some research of his own, so I guess I can try and get you that. Maybe we can spar a bit? I have no clue how I would describe the way I fight so maybe just mock-fighting would be more useful.” Scythe reasoned. It made sense to him, and the two often though similarly, so Augustus was bound to get where he was coming from. “If you need, I could ask Joel if he can stop by as well, or we could see if the two of us would be able to convince security into letting you into the training area of the Agency building, and we can spar there. Pretend like we’re training in case we encounter ourselves or something.”

Augustus was silent for a minute or two, mulling over what he could do. “Sparring would probably be best, since I'm usually too busy otherwise to actually go and watch what you guys do. Though, he didn't ask for how you fight per say, but rather what kind of damage you guys do. I'm sure I could maybe fit some sort of fighting information in there, like maybe you argued with each other or something and fought a little bit, but other than that I think I might just tag along in the shadows these next couple of nights. Would that be alright?”

Again, Scythe wasn't necessarily surprised b6 how smart his friends could be. After all, he was kinda dumb most of the time, and thought more in the moment, than thinking ahead. “Yeah I'm sure that’ll be fine. I’ll text Joel real quick to make sure he knows and is good with that too.” And he did just that. Within the next minute, Joel had responded with conformation, and they were good to go.

For pretty much the rest of that entire day, Scythe and Augustus just hung out in the dorm room, playing games and poking fun at each other. Augustus kept going back to fighting games, specifically to absolutely wreck Scythe at them. Scythe would always complain and just button mash his way through them, but it was still a lot of fun for the both of them.

~~~~~~~~~ Present Day ~~~~~~~~~

Scythe walked out of the office of one of his professors. It was one of the days he had his class with Scar, but this professor was for the class after Scars. The one he had missed a little under two months prior because of the sudden Agency meeting. Thankfully, his next class of that day wasn't until several hours later, and he was especially thankful for that when his phone buzzed.

New Message from Spore: All recipients to report to the Agency Building ASAP. Details will be discussed once everyone arrives.

Well, Scythe can’t say that he wasn't expecting it to be an Agency message. Swiping the message away, he pulled up his messages with Scar and asked if he got the same thing, which he did once more.

Scar wasn't always the brightest, but he also wasn't as dumb as Scythe, so he guessed that Scythe was going to ask for transportation there so he wasn't exhausted. Scythe laughed to himself and replied with a “yes please,” then start3 walking towards Scar’s classroom so they could be on their way.

It only took the two men about 5 minutes to get to the Agency building, compared to the 20 it took Scythe on his own. He was forever grateful that Scar knew him as well as he did, but not too well either, and he told him that he owed Scar something, and wouldn't take no for an answer then he was told not to worry about it.

At last they got there, and as they were getting out of the vehicle, Scythe realized he didn't have his outfit or his illusion up, and Scar seemed to notice in the same moment as well. “Oh shoot.” Scar said as he realized. “Is it going to be too hard to put up a skin and the clothes illusion?” he asked worriedly,

“It shouldn't be since I haven't been teleporting, but I’ll have to tell X that it's all an illusion when we get in there. Hopefully I can just whisper it to him.” Scythe said, sighing. Scar mumbled an alright in response before getting out, and Scythe had to focus a little to get his illusion right before he stepped out as well.

Walking up to the building, Scythe could tell that it definitely wasn't going to be easy to put up this illusion, especially for how long the meeting was likely to last, but he’ll get there when it comes to it.

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Can we take a second just to admire cc!Joel Smallishbeans. Like my guy is currently on two smp's, he keeps up with Hermitcraft, he is somewhat present on SOS. Also his base is incredibly detailed, its large, and he has gotten really good at armor stands out of nowhere. He updates an average of once a week, he took a vacation to Japan and still managed to keep up with Hermitcraft.

He can follow the bit and has an uncanny ability to stop himself from being the butt of the joke. Like for example the neck kisses thing was at first a kind of 'ha ha that's really weird Joel' then he leaned into it so hard that now Etho is the one obsessed with Joel's neck kisses and both of them are obsessed with each other and its not just Joel.

And the whole ieseki harem bit too?? Like he has half of the server around his finger cause of a bit.

Also he is actually kind of good at tricking people? Like bro convinced three (I think) people that Etho built the statues not him.

Hes funny as hell and also he is like really bold? Like my guy posted himself singing a Minecraft parody to 'Money Money Money' he makes Hollywood level intros in Minecraft. His intros are the best by the way always have been. They're more elaborate now and they are really funny but there was a charm to when his intros were him standing in front of a horse hilling machine with no acknowledgment of it.

Joel appreciation post completed

Well thank you for sharing your random idea, and I'm glad you like it as well!

Fanon swap!

Could you do Watcher Skizz pls

Watcher Skizz, at your (untimely) service!

I actually had a lot of fun drawing this! The concept of Watcher Skizz is new to me but I also really love it because of that!

Here's some progress pics as well, from the base I used as inspo to the final product!

I didn't have the lineart as a separate layer so I dont have that but I would've put that if I did-

Conflicting Lives Character Art

Hi there! Here are all the official (and some unofficial but really cool) art of my Hermitcraft/Life Series Hero and Villain AU, Conflicting Lives! All links are in order from when I originally posted, from top to bottom. Have fun looking at them all! Most are digital, but those that are traditional are marked in (parentheses)

Jealous Joel (Civilian Joel SmallishBeans, Traditional)

Chroma Charisma (Villain Scott Smajor)

Xelqua's Watch (Villain Grian)

Scythe's Many Lives (Civilian, Hero, and Villain Scythe)

Blocking Blaze (Villain TangoTek)

I love the little pearlo you made me thank you so much!

So Gang this artfight I may have gone on a draw every Pearlescentmoon design i could find crusade and there is a lot of Pearls and here they are with a note of who designed them.

Solar Punk Pearl by @noeysnowy

Itty bitty kitty pearl (also grian and jimmy) by @noctisvixen

Knight Pearl by @applestruda

Supervillain Pearl (civilian form) by @scythegameing

Star eater pearl by @skimmeh

Vigilante AU Pearl by @rhapsoddity

Luna Moth Pearl by LizzieLied plus my mcyt oc

Full moon pearl by Echothefreak

Villain Scar AU Pearl by @thebear7777

Ghost Acolytes AU

guys hear me out

Ghosts Subspace and Vine Staff! What will they do?

More Below! :D

So, the premise of the AU is this: Vine Staff and Subspace both died. Vine from her curse, and Subspace of poison during his fight with Medkit. How sad. Ghostwalker, for his own set of reasons, attempts to revive them. Just straight up and down, stick their souls back in their bodies and call it square.

It doesn’t… quite work.

So now he has two ghosts he doesn’t know what to do with and can’t very well get rid of.

He handles it well. (just fucking lies to them)

So yeah, now there’s just two ghosts wandering around being told they’re part of some divine plan that does not exist. What could go wrong?

More art:

I'm doing a thing again..- (gods please save me- /j)

(tis but a sketch, he will look better when I'm done with what i doing)

Anon ask, I promise I see you

I just won't be able to draw him for a little while probably. But I do see you, and I love it so much.

Everyone look at me. Closely.

If after crazy EVERYTHING that happened with Grian and Joel across the Life Serie we do not gather together and finally decide a duo name for them, I will commit crimes.

As a show of good will, I propose Bloodhound Duo, but I am very open to. Better names. I am bad at names guys.

the chosen aesthetics of the various redstoners fascinate me. tango and impulse are tinkerers of various mechanical marvels. doc is the industrial revolution personified. mumbo continually casts himself as a silicon valley startup guy. its just. Interesting