Chapter Text
Matt has known this child for about an hour and everything he learns about him makes him even more concerned.
It starts like this.
“—got no fucking clue what kind of portal it was. It definitely wasn’t a nether portal.”
“Nether portal?” Matt interjects.
“You know. The Nether.”
“I can’t say I’m familiar.”
“This server’s so fuckin’ weird.” Matt can hear the ruffle of Tommy’s shirt, indicating that he’s shaking his head, probably from disbelief. “Okay so do you know what lava is?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. So imagine a place where instead of water there’s lava. And instead of grass — or whatever the fuck — it’s this red rock that’s super hot and jagged. And also sand that has souls in it. And also these giant ghast bitches who shoot fireballs at you. And also a bunch of piglins who want all your gold.”
“That sounds… unpleasant.” It sounds quite literally like Hell, Matt doesn't say.
“Fuck yeah it is,” Tommy says with a scoff. “But like there’s also shit you need down there. Like netherite. And blaze rods.”
“Why do you need it?”
“Well, netherite’s the strongest thing there is. When you’re in a server like the one I was in, you need good gear. And blaze rods are for enchanting.”
“Enchanting?”
“Prime, what do you guys even have on this server? Yeah, enchanting. Makes your armor or tools better.”
“Better how?”
“I don’t know! Lots of ways. There’s a bunch of different enchantments you can add that do different shit. Makes them stronger or faster or unbreakable.”
“I see.” Matt pauses, taking a moment to process the boy’s words. “What did you mean when you said when you’re on a server like the one you were on?”
“It’s… it’s just a lot. Like it fuckin’ sucks sometimes kind of a lot. You never know when someone’s gonna grief you—” Matt makes a mental note of the description of griefing Tommy had briefly mentioned, “but yeah the admin is a fuckin’ dick. He’s meh meh meh, you can’t sell drugs. Meh meh meh you can’t establish your own country. I’m declaring war on your nation and being a little pussy bitch about it.”
“Declaring war?”
Tommy sighs loudly. “Yeah. It was a whole thing. There was the War for Independance and then the Pet War and the whole thing with my discs — don’t ask, like literally, don’t ask — and then the Doomsday War and then, well, there wasn’t exactly a country to fight for anymore after that.”
Reluctantly, Matt asks, “why not?”
“There wasn’t a country to fight for anymore,” Tommy repeats slowly.
The implications of the statement are horrific and Matt can’t even begin to know where to go from here.
“It’s all good, big man,” Tommy says. “‘s’all in the past, innit? Besides, Prime had her reasons.”
“You mentioned Prime,” Matt says. “If I may ask, is that your… God?”
“I don’t like to think of her as a God, especially because the Gods I’ve met have all been dicks. Except XD. He was alright.”
“You’ve met Gods?”
“Yeah,” Tommy shudders. “I don’t recommend it.” Tommy looks around. “I’m guessing you don’t have Prime here on this server.”
“Though I’m not an expert on religions, I can’t say I’ve heard of Prime.”
“I need to build her an altar so her power can travel with me,” Tommy says, suddenly getting up. He goes to the window and places some coins on the sill. “Welcome to the services operated by Twitch Interactive, Inc. (collectively with its affiliates, “Twitch” or “We”) consisting of the website available at https://www.twitch.tv, and its network of websites, software applications...”
“Is that… a prayer?”
“Scripture,” Tommy says. “From the TOS, I. Introduction.”
The equivalent to the Bible Matt assumes, though it sounds oddly like a Terms of Service agreement.
Tommy finishes his murmured words and pulls the coins back from the windowsill and pockets them again.
“You don’t leave them there?” Matt asks curiously.
“No,” Tommy says. “Church Prime is a for-profit religion.”
Matt at first is taken back and repulsed at the implication before he realizes that his interpretation clearly is from a capitalistic mindset. Profit can be interpreted in many ways and perhaps it is a give and take, offering something to his God without it being completely sacrificial. It seems that what Tommy asks for is protection, not asking for more than the presence and guidance from Prime unlike the greed that many Catholics harbor as they ask God for selfish, implausible requests. Prime seems like a kind deity.
“Now,” Tommy says. You wouldn’t happen to have any food, would you? Because I’m fuckin’ starving.”