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“I just gotta open it.”
Ranboo knelt down in front of the chest, keeping his movements slow and deliberate. He had to stay in character. He could sense the small stream camera hovering somewhere above him, even if he didn’t dare break character and look up.
He let out a breath, stretching out his hands and positioning them on the chest lid. Ranboo had planned this moment for a while now; this was too important to mess up.
Ranboo pushed the lid of the chest open, and gazed down into the dark interior. He breathed in and out, letting himself ease into his role. Ranboo would let his emotions take over now, and hope that they helped him portray a convincing character.
“No.” He whispered, his voice shaking slightly as he reached into the chest, groped around, and drew out a familiar object.
The disc gleamed in the shaft of sunlight that shone into the cave, its neon green center giving away its significance. Ranboo held onto the disc for a few more moments, waiting for the stream camera to focus on it, before letting his hands go limp. The disc slipped through his fingers and fell gently to the crudely uncovered dirt ground.
“No.” Ranboo muttered again, raising his hands to clutch at his hair instead. Distress filled him, even if he knew that it was all an act. Tommy—that is, the character Tommy—would be furious if he found out, wouldn’t he? “No, no, no.”
“It can’t be.” His voice cracked slightly on the last word. “No, that can’t—” Ranboo found himself gasping for breath, his vision wavering and blurring. He forced himself to push on, to continue feeling.
“No…” The word sounded more like a sob, as Ranboo curled into himself, hiding his now watery eyes from the stream camera. The tears started to fall, the realness of them startling him slightly.
With a start, Ranboo realized that it was time to cut to a black screen. He fumbled for the button hidden in his sleeve and pressed it, only relaxing when he heard the click of the stream camera shutting off.
He sat there for a few moments, catching his breath. Ranboo had already prepared the final screen, complete with the self-made GIF he was so proud of. He didn’t have to worry about that.
It always surprised Ranboo how natural acting came to him. He didn’t have any acting experience whatsoever when he first joined the DreamSMP lore, so he didn’t really know what to expect.
Ranboo certainly didn’t anticipate just how many emotions that acting would bring. He always made it a point to try and express everything his character might be thinking and feeling. And Ranboo always found himself overwhelmed with trying to be everything his character was. He still committed himself to his lore though, and made sure to give his viewers as much content as possible.
Ranboo let out a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He could let go of those emotions now. He didn’t have to make himself feel pain or despair anymore. Finally moving from his position on the ground, Ranboo pulled up his invisible screen and clicked on his StreamLabs. He chuckled to himself as he saw the messages in his stream chat, all with varying degrees of panic and astonishment, and tapped on the side of the screen to unmute himself.
“Thanks for watching, guys.” Ranboo said, smiling as the chat began spamming ‘HE’S BACK’. He hoped his voice didn’t sound too tired. “I hope you enjoyed! And remember, this is all acting. I’m completely fine, so don’t worry about me! I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” With that, he clicked the button to end stream, and watched as the screen disappeared.
Ranboo relaxed again, leaning against the chest in the dirt. He really did hope that his viewers enjoyed the lore, especially with the amount of effort he put into it. He raised a hand to his eyes, rubbing away the tears that were still there. “Can’t believe I actually cried this time.” Ranboo laughed quietly, but stopped once he realized his voice was still slightly shaky.
“Ranboo?” He jumped slightly as he heard the voice, glancing around the poorly dug dirt cave. “Up here!”
“Phil!” Ranboo called back, recognizing the voice. “I’ll be up in a moment!” He pushed himself off the ground and picked up the disc from the ground. It was only a copy, not the original TommyInnit disc, but convincing all the same. Minecraft VR truly was amazing, with its full immersion technology and incredible amount of details. Ranboo stared at the disc for a moment longer, before switching it to his offhand.
Ranboo looked around the cave for a moment, grimacing as he anticipated filling it all in again. He’d have to do that soon, and he’d been planning on preparing some things for his next lore steam too. But first, Ranboo would talk to Phil. Then he could get to work.
Ranboo emerged outside the cave, blinking in the full daylight, as his gaze landed on a familiar figure. Phil was standing above him, peering down from his spot on the level ground. “Hey Phil!” Ranboo smiled, albeit still a bit shakily.
“Hi mate.” Phil was looking at him a bit weirdly. “Are you good?”
“Uh, yeah?” Ranboo stared back at him, slightly confused. “Why are you asking?”
Phil shrugged, scrutinizing Ranboo even more closely. “Just, you know. Your lore thing.” He looked pointedly at the cave behind the teen. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Oh.” Ranboo suddenly realized how he must look right now; disheveled, dirt-covered, and probably still with tear tracks on his face. He flushed a bit, looking away from Phil’s probing gaze and trying to inconspicuously rub at his face. “I…yeah, I’m fine.”
Phil smiled, looking a bit relieved. “Good to hear, mate.” Casually, he materialized a stack of steak into his hands, and started munching on a piece.
“Frankly, your lore terrifies me.” The older man continued between bites. “Don’t know how you do it.”
Ranboo laughed sheepishly, pulling up his inventory and stashing the fake disc away. “I don’t really know either. It’s just natural, I guess.”
The older man nodded thoughtfully, finishing off his steak and making the rest of the stack vanish from sight. “I’ve never been a good actor myself.” Phil mused, looking back down at Ranboo with a thoughtful look on his face. “Anyways, I was thinking of going adventuring. You know, like the good old times. Maybe find some mineshafts. Do you want to come with?”
Ranboo perked up, smiling at the prospect of an adventure. Maybe he could even use his trident. He loved flying with that thing.
“Oh! But…” Ranboo suddenly remembered what he’d planned to do, and deflated slightly. “I was going to cover up the holes in the ground. And also prepare for the next lore bit.” He grimaced a bit as he remembered how much he’d need to set up for one of his next lore streams.
“That can wait, can’t it?” Phil was giving him a strange look again, full of mixed concern and disapproval. “You’re working yourself too hard, mate. Take a break.”
“Oh.” Ranboo frowned at the ground. “But I…well, I just want to make it all as good as possible.”
“It’s already good, mate.” The teen heard a thump next to him, and looked up to see that Phil had jumped down into the hole with him. The older man smiled warmly at him. “In fact, it’s amazing! I wasn’t kidding when I said that I don’t know how you do it. It’s gotta be hard, trying to show all those different emotions.”
Ranboo nodded, a sudden lump in his throat. It was nice to talk to someone who really understood all his hard work. Yes, there were thousands of users on Twitter and other platforms that praised him, but it just wasn’t the same. “Thank you.” He said, a bit embarrassed by how much Phil’s words had affected him.
“Don’t overwork yourself okay?” Phil continued kindly. “You deserve a break.”
“Okay.” Ranboo mumbled, looking down at the ground. Phil really was kind. To his horror, he felt tears rising into his eyes, and desperately tried to blink them away before the older man noticed.
But it was futile. He heard Phil let out a small, albeit fond sigh. A moment later, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. Ranboo made a small sound of surprise as Phil pulled him down into a hug, the teen having to hunch over slightly so that the older man could reach him.
“You’ve done so well already.” Phil rubbed Ranboo’s back consolingly, and he could hear the smile in the older man’s voice. “Have I ever told you that I’m proud of you?”
“Yeah.” Ranboo laughed softly, shakily as he melted into the hug. “Yeah, you have. Thank you.”
Phil just hummed, showing that he had heard. “You’re a good lad. You’ll go far one day.” They stayed like that for a few more moments, with Phil’s arms wrapped around Ranboo and the teen bending down slightly to hug Phil back.
After a while, Ranboo pulled away, hurriedly wiping away his tears. “Thank you, Phil.” He said earnestly, giving the older man a shy smile. “I needed to hear that.”
“No problem, mate.” Phil replied, just as sincerely. Then he grinned, much more mischievously than before. “Now, let’s get going. I’m not good at this sappy crap. Besides, I actually wanted to find some materials for a prank.”
Ranboo laughed, slightly surprised but also amused. “I guess I should’ve expected that from you.” He joked.
Phil looked pleased at being able to make the teen laugh. The older man materialized a bucket of water into his hand, and dumped it onto the ground. Instead of soaking into the dirt, the water stayed on the surface, defying all logic yet looking strangely natural.
“You have your trident?” Phil asked. Ranboo nodded, pulling his gleaming trident out from his inventory. The teen stepped into the water, wincing slightly as it seeped into his shoes and soaked the bottom of his pants. But Ranboo ignored it, raising his trident and drawing it back.
Ranboo threw his trident up, aiming for the sky. Except when he let go, the trident didn’t leave his hand. Instead, he was propelled up with the trident, out of the hole and straight into the air.
He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a whoop of joy, elation filling him as he soared high above the land. The wind ruffled through his bicolored hair and the sun shone warmly onto him. As his momentum disappeared and he began to plummet down again, Ranboo switched his trident for a bucket of water. Just as his feet met the ground again, he threw the water down below him, leaving him drenched but unharmed and grinning widely.
A shout of glee from above was Ranboo’s only warning before Phil splashed down next to him, looking just as excited as the teen. “Tridenting is sick!” Phil exclaimed, pointing an empty bucket at the pool of water and automatically sucking all of the water into it.
Ranboo laughed, already raising his trident again, already feeling so much lighter than before. “Let’s go!”
Phil smiled fondly, giving Ranboo a firm, friendly pat on the back. “Let’s go.”