Chapter Text
Mobs spawned less and less as they got closer to the water, but that didn’t mean that the few that did spawn would leave them alone if they got close enough.
Knowing this, Wifies was listening for the slightest disturbance in the leaves, in the grass, in the bush. He wouldn’t pretend that he didn’t do that already, but whenever night fell, it became more of a conscious effort.
50 blocks until they saw water, Wifies paused, sword forming in his hand.
“Wifies?” Hummer walked over, standing beside the player. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s quiet.” Wifies scanned the forest. Behind them, Parrot did the same. “I can’t hear many mobs.”
“Maybe we’re close enough to the ocean, now.”
“The spawn rates dwindle to nothing at 25 blocks, not 50.” The leaves started moving merely seconds before the wind.
A spider died to Parrot’s axe, and the avian player walked over to Hummer’s left. “The ocean makes mob spawn rates lower?”
A soft hoot from above them made Wifies relax just enough, but his sword remained in his hand.
“Yeah! It’s a deep ocean, so even Drowned avoid them,” Hummer explained, his love of his home world seeping into his tone. “I’ve seen maybe one Guardian? But it despawned after I looked away.”
“How deep is ‘deep’?”
“Try 6 times deeper.” Wifies started walking again. They needed to get moving before the creeper 10 blocks to their south-east wandered close enough to become a problem.
Parrot scoffed, rolling his eyes as he and Hummer caught up. “Oceans don’t generate that deep.”
“They’re also not supposed to change spawn rates.”
Although unable to make eye contact with Wifies, Hummer glanced between them. “I’m assuming they’re also not supposed to stretch more than a thousand blocks across?”
“No.”
Partially due to their synchronization, Wifies glanced back at Parrot, expression carefully blank.
Parrot simply stared at the earring. Wifies felt the weight.
He didn’t mean to, but his best- former best friend was staring at him with such suspicion that it stung.
“Unstable has a deep ocean at 20,000, 20,000, but that’s just ‘cause it’s unstable.” Parrot shifted his gaze to Hummer, who was silently embarrassed at having not realized the uniqueness of his home world. “I’ve never seen a deep ocean on any other server.”
“You haven’t been on quite as many worlds,” Wifies offered in explanation.
“Neither have you.”
“I’ve had a lot more time to in the last year.”
“And you’re telling me you’ve seen another deep ocean?”
“Four of them, actually, not counting this one.”
Hummer’s sigh cut off Parrot’s rebuttal. “Guys, please. I don’t want to listen to you both arguing over something right in front of us.”
Wifies, feeling the sword disappear from his hand, didn’t stop walking, pretending not to notice the way Parrot stopped and stared. Reaching the edge of the waves, he reached out, letting the waves of the water wash his hands.
Hummer walked past him, just deep enough to have only his head above water. Wifies watched the TV head for a moment before splashing his face with water and sighing.
“Parrot?”
The avian stopped reaching for the door to Hummer’s house, glaring at Wifies who stared in return.
“The shulker boxes should have what you need. The books in the library are the reports Hummer found-”
“Not both of you?”
“Hummer’s been looking longer. It’s more his research than mine.”
The avian let out a disbelieving hum. “How did you two even met?” Parrot’s fist tightened around the handle of his axe, the avian not yet feeling safe enough to put it away.
Wifies wished he would. They both knew he couldn’t hurt the avian player without hurting himself. Throat closing at the mere thought, Wifies looked away, to Hummer, who was still relaxing in the water. “I sent him an email about the Leviathan, and he sent me his home world address.”
Parrot was silent for a moment, opening the chest next to the door. It had boats in it, if Wifies remembered correctly. “You really expect me to believe that?”
“If I expected you to believe me, wouldn’t I say something more serious sounding?” Wifies smiled as Hummer spun, a fish or maybe a crab darting around his legs. “You could just ask him, you know, if you don’t trust me.”
“I trusted Jumper,” Parrot countered, “and you held her spies over her head.” The chest closed harshly. “How do I know you haven’t done the same to Hummer?”
Wifies, holding back a flinch, didn’t answer for a moment, because really, there wasn’t a way for Parrot to know. There was one thing, however, that he could say with complete certainty.
But Parrot had already opened the door and left. There wasn’t a reason to say it, if no one was going to hear it. It was probably for the best.
With a quiet sigh, Wifies waded into the water, letting the cool temperature settle into his bones.
Hummer waved to him, his other hand remaining under the water. “It’s a hermit crab,” he mentioned, holding out his hand to Wifies.
“It’s missing its shell.” Wifies reached out but didn’t touch either the crab or Hummer’s hand.
“Yeah. I was looking for one, but there’s not many this far out.” Hummer gently passed the crab to Wifies before diving down.
The crab pressed into his hands, although not painfully. It was as if the creature felt safe in his hands. A part of Wifies questioned why. He wasn’t a good person, nor was he the best choice to protect it. But the crab in his hands seemed so... calm.
Hummer popped out of the water, splashing Wifies and holding out his hands. “Found some! I’m not sure if they’re the right size though.”
Wifies looked at them for a moment, watching as the crab walked from his hand to Hummer’s. “I wonder how this one ended up without a shell. Didn't you say that hermit crabs usually line up to see if certain shells are the right fit?”
“Usually...” Hummer nodded. “I think this one was too far out to find the others, though.” Wifies hummed. The crab chose its shell before letting itself be taken by the gentle currents.
The currents always seemed much calmer near Hummer, the waves themselves refusing to get too chaotic. It was safe—much safer than what Wifies deserved.
“Are we going to wait for Parrot out here?”
Wifies flinched at Hummer’s question. He’d been avoiding thinking that far ahead, trying to avoid forcing Parrot to join them. “I don’t know what we should do. He obviously doesn’t trust me, but I feel like if I try to make him trust me, I’ll just end up manipulating him.”
“Well,” Hummer started, tilting his head, “you managed to get me to trust you without manipulation, right?”
“But you’re also more of a trusting person,” Wifies countered, his lips twitching up into a small smile, but like a drop of water gliding off a leaf, it fell in seconds. He couldn’t help but look back at the shore, at the house his former friend was still inside. “Parrot... not so much. Especially after what I did.”
There wasn’t a window to the upper floor, nor to the lower floor. Even if Hummer couldn’t have known while building, it was a relief, to Wifies, to see nothing but a nametag.
“Maybe we could just... head to the ship? I left a compass in one of the shulker boxes that leads to the boat. I’m sure he’ll find it.”
Hummer placed a boat next to them, hopping in while Wifies’ eyes were still turned towards the shore. He offered his hand, and with a bit of hesitation, Wifies took it.
It stood out to him, the way Hummer always seemed dry, whether in water or out of it—another anomaly about the player he thought of as a friend.
After Wifies glanced back one final time to the house, Hummer started rowing towards the ship.