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Halloween had come and gone, but Jevin was still decked out in his boney-slime costume. It had been nearly a week since the group went trick-or-treating and he was still finishing up his candy. Since then, the group deemed him responsible enough to take care of himself, so he’d had little interaction with other hermits.
Jevin leaned back on the couch, letting his pet Pickles swim around in a glass tank the size of a fish bowl. He watched the axolotl contentedly. Well, almost contentedly.
Maybe it was the excess of candy that made him want to run around the server. Really though, who could blame a twelve-year old? It was in his nature to want to visit with other people that weren’t slimes. Like, no offense to his slimey brethren, but the conversations he had with them were one sided and boring. Staying here was trapping in some ways, whereas hanging out with his friends might help release some of his pent up energy.
Part of him wished his friends hadn’t convinced him to die the night before Halloween just because trick-or-treating would be more “fun” if you were little. Sure, seven-year old Jevin may have loved it, but twelve-year old him regretted the move, because now it felt like no one wanted to see him anymore.
Of course, typically when the hermits were between ten and sixteen it became awkward to visit, as they were no longer in need of constant watch but they were too young to be put to heavy work. By then everybody could tell that there was a difference from child them to adult them, and everyone knew how things should be, making the conversations kinda tense. But it wasn’t like Jevin didn’t want to see others.
He popped another candy—this time a life saver—into his mouth, the slimy parts of him immediately absorbing the treat. Ever since he was left alone, he always felt so hungry. And he knew it was due to boredom and the fact that he was living on sugar alone, but quite honestly, he didn’t care. He didn’t care much for anything at all.
The thought left him feeling gloomy.
While lounging around watching a tv series on his comm, he got a message from Cleo asking what he’d been doing today.
<iJevin> - - - -> <ZombieCleo>: Eh, nothing much. Just chilling
<ZombieCleo>: You have been eating more than candy, right?
<iJevin>: You’re not my mom :P
<ZombieCleo>: Don’t be giving me that tone, mister :)
As much sass as Jevin wanted to give, he had to admit that it was nice just getting a message. Cleo knew he wasn’t entirely responsible. She knew he couldn’t be alone forever. Just the one message made him feel a little secluded.
<iJevin>: Say, mind me coming over to your place in a bit
<ZombieCleo>: Sure, but I can fly over if it’s too far
<iJevin>: Nah. I want to get outside anyway
<ZombieCleo>: Alright. I’ll see you!
Jevin held up his pet. “So Pickles, what should we bring over to do? I’m thinking we go over with a few surprises. You know?” The little axolotl gave him a derpy smile. “You like that? But maybe also a trick… you know… like rotten flesh!” Jevin nodded Pickles’ head for him.
“In the water you go!” he said as the axolotl gave a splash in his tank. “I’ll be back later!” He strapped on his elytra carefully, knowing that if he was careless, he wouldn’t hear the end of it from Cleo. She’d mother him, and despite him knowing it was out of love, he didn’t like that side of her. Of course, right now he only wanted one side of any hermits, and that was the child side… Really there was only one way to get what he wanted.
“Hey Cleo!”
“Ahhh!” She gave a jump at the sudden sound. “Jevin—ah!—you scared the living daylights out of me.”
“Sorry,” he said, obvious smile in his voice.
“So you wanted to hang around here? Because I don’t think a cemetery is the place for young slimes to associate with the undead.” She gave a toothy grin, her teeth a bit yellowed either from being a zombie or from excessive candy, he didn’t know which. She too had gone trick-or-treating, but as the adult of the group—still collecting herself some chocolate, of course, because she could.
“Oh come on, I’m not scared. And it’s no longer October, so nothing’s going to get me.” He sat down on an azalea bush, the flowers wilting underneath his slimy form.
Cleo continued work around the area. “So you wanted to come visit me?”
“Yeah.” He swung his legs. “It’s a bit lonely back at home.”
“Has nobody stopped by lately?”
“No. Stress came around and said hi once I think, but nobody’s really stopped by.”
Cleo went from planting more bushes to stooping right in front of him. Then she picked him up and held him in a hug, putting him down quickly because despite being made of slime, he was quite heavy. “You alright, Jevin?”
“Yeah. Better now that I’m out here.” He looked at her, hoping Cleo could see he wasn’t lying, and actually meant he was fine now. “I brought something for you. A bit of a game, if that sounds fun.”
“Mkay. What’s your game?” The two sat crisscross on the grass and mossy ground.
“I’ve got a few… temptations you could say, for you. Not too big of a deal, but I thought it could be fun. So, I’ve got on me five shulker boxes, and they’ve all got a bunch of different prizes. One of them can be yours if you’re willing to part with a few of your items.”
“Hmmm. Alright. What do you need?”
“3 items from your inventory.”
After a minute of searching, Cleo tossed him a few items from her random inventory.
“Alright. And if you’re cool with me enticing you with a couple more boxes…”
“Bring it.” She stared right into his eyes and into his soul.
“Two boxes if you explode yourself. Your stuff will all be fine; I just need you to die for me.”
She paused for a moment. Jevin knew what giving up a life could do to someone. Everyone had to think about the cost and how it would affect others. “Sure,” Cleo said after a moment of contemplation.
And it was fun seeing her laugh as she died. She genuinely enjoyed it, as most did, to the rush of the explosion and the boom and the sudden respawn, because even if it hurt, part of it was so relaxing from going from a mode of constant responsibility to a mode of highly recommended dependence.
“That was fun. That was really fun, Jevwin.” Of course, with a death to Cleo meant the owo voice was coming back, but he didn’t mind as it was funny.
“Well thank you for playing with me, Cleo. But… before I give you your three boxes, I have a final offer…”
The now much smaller Cleo gave a look of excitement. “More?” There was an almost hungry look in her eyes, like her zombieness was taking over.
“Yes… If I can have ownership of your church… you can have the last two boxes.”
“The church?” She tilted her head, fire red-orange hair flowing down and getting in her face.
“Yep.” He moved the hair back from her face, getting only a little bit of slime in it. “So what do you say? I won’t change anything from the outside. Just the inside.”
She gave a grin. “Why yes, Jevwin! Jowo and I would love you to live closer!” She gave him a hug, tighter than her usual from a more bubbly excitement.
“Well then, here are your boxes.” Jevin placed all the boxes in front of her, and watched as her face lit up with excitement. That was the point of killing. It was notorious that the younger the hermits were, the better the reactions.
“Thank you! I love it! And Jowo will too!” And at the thought of Joe, she gave a little confused, almost upset expression. “Oh nowo…” she said in an almost breathless voice.
“What is it?”
“Jowo… he doesn’t know… he doesn’t know I died to the tnt… and he may be mad that I died and he’ll have to watch over me again… and I don’t want him to be…”
Jevin looked down at her before he fully got up to leave. Then he picked her up, returning the hug similarly to how she’d given it to him only a little while back. “Well, I’ll tell him before anything happens. It’ll be okay.”
“Thank you.”
After a little more hanging around and explaining what went on to Joe, Jevin flew off in high spirits. Today was already looking up.
~~~
Next stop! None other than FalseSymmetry, working on a side project house. “Hey Flasey!” Jevin flew in landing a bit roughly. He’d restocked his inventory full of shulkers specially arranged for her.
“Ah! Who’s there!” False swung her sword right in Jevin’s face.
“You’re the second person I’ve gotten today!” Although Jevin wasn’t trying to startle anyone, he felt proud for his almost sneaky behavior.
“So what’re you doing over here?” False continued rummaging around the shulker boxes she had laying out, presumably looking for blocks she’d need to finish up her build.
“Just flying around the server, meeting up with everyone, you know.”
“Alright. Well hello then. I’m afraid I’m not doing anything super interesting at the moment.”
“That’s alright! That means I’m not pulling you away from anything important.”
“Oh?” She looked up from her “work”. “What is it?”
“I’ve got a little game for you, if you’re willing.” Jevin sat down on the multitude of shulker boxes.
“Sure… what’s this game of yours?”
“I want this box, and all of its contents.” He tapped on the box he was sitting atop of.
“But you don’t know what’s in…” False stated baffled.
“And I’ll give you one of my shulkers in return. It’s filled to the brim with tons of goodies!” he said excitedly. He could tell False could hardly deny this just from how excited he was, no matter if she was confused.
“Al-alright.”
“Cool. Cool. So I’ve got 5 boxes on me. You can pick whichever you want.”
Once False made her selection, he went on to the fun part. “Now then. You can get two more boxes for an easy game of take off your armor and let me kill you with a trident.” He smiled encouragingly. “It shouldn’t hurt too much. Pretty painless and it’ll only benefit you.”
She considered this for a moment, more confused if she was still hearing him right. “So… you’re wanting me to die so I can get prizes…?”
“Pretty much!”
“Sure. Why not?”
They went on to her house, where he did attack her with his trident, and it more amused and tickled False than it did cause her immense pain. He’d went through the work to make sure his killing devices were enchanted with the less painful of enchants. He’d hate to cause any harm to his friends.
But when she came back in respawned she looked a bit confused, or upset. She got the short end of the stick with the age she respawned as, so that could’ve been what threw her off. “That-that was lot,” she managed to say a bit brokenly.
“Are you alright?” He went up to her in a rush, worried he’d ruined their fun, or rather, his fun and her confusion.
“Y-yeah, I’m ‘right. Just lots. Tired.” She sat against the wall. “Shulker box?”
He looked at her a bit softer this time. “I’ve got two more for you if you’d like.”
“Maybe…”
“Now you can say no, but I’m wondering about the upstairs of this place… can I own it?”
She waited to respond, more out of tiredness than hesitance. “Sh… sure. But not done yet…”
“That’s fine. You take your time.” He plopped down next to her and wrapped a squishy arm from the less bony side of him around her. He noticed she was nearly falling asleep against him in only a minute.
“Sor-sorry… sleepy.”
“It’s okay. You sleep.” He picked her up and found the bed she’d respawned in, and moved it inside. Carefully he laid her down and pulled up the blankets. “I’ll stay here for a bit until someone else stops by, alright?”
“Mhm.”
~~~
xB was busy at Horsehead Farms, probably restocking the area as usual, keeping up with the IOUs and payments made. He didn’t acknowledge Jevin’s presence. As Jevin had successfully startled two, he decided to keep up said streak. Slowly walking across the grass, letting his feet melt into the mud, and hardly moving them to make noise, he inched closer and closer. Until he called, “Hey xB!”
xB jumped. “Oh hey Jevin! Didn’t hear you there.” He laughed lightly, almost awkwardly if Jevin looked into it enough.
“Another hermit I’ve startled today. You guys are too easy.”
“Yeah… I’m not super observant.”
“Makes you an easier target.”
“That’s true.” xB walked around a bit across the grass, seeming to not know what to do with himself.
“You busy?” Jevin asked.
“Not really. Have anything you need in bulk? We’re kinda finished with the whole IOU business now.”
“No, I’ve actually got a trade for you, if you don’t mind me making a request. You got say, six or so items on you?”
“Well, most of its junk, but yeah.”
“I’ll trade you some items for a shulker box crafted by yours truly.”
“Oh… Well, I guess I can agree with an offer like that.” xB tossed some items at him, not really thinking through how much he was getting rid of.
“You gave me too much.”
“Oh. Well, that’s okay. Like I’m tipping the waitress, right?” He laughed, obviously referring to quite a few conversations he’d been in previously.
After xB picked out a box, it was time to get to the interesting part. “Now… this may be asking a lot, but would you like to die for another two boxes? It’s just a death to lava, and most of your gear will make it out even if you didn’t put it away.”
“I—uh—sure? You’re not setting me up or anything? You work for Ex right? I can’t really trust you, right?”
“Sure you can! And at the moment, I’m not worried about “work”. This is just a little game. A temptation game.”
xB hummed before responding, “Well, I guess I’ll amuse you just this once.”
“You may want to set your spawn,” Jevin told him after already giving him the taste for the burning sensation.
“Yeah, that’s true.” After the two messed around, looking for a bed and then realizing there were none, so then crafted one, Jevin finally got his chance to burn xB.
“You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” xB laughed a bit, this time it did sound nervous. Jevin poured the lava around his feet. “Oh. That’s hot! Oh!” He jumped around a bit, in shrieks of pain and laughter. “Oh! This shulker of yours better be worth it!”
“It is!”
After a few seconds more, xB disappeared in a puff of smoke and his Netherite items flung out in the lava. Jevin picked up the items and scooped up the lava.
xB came walking over, limping a bit. “Ow… that—that burns.”
“Still?” xB nodded. “Oh! I’m sorry.” Jevin held out his arms to the now tiny xB wearing an oversided hoodie. xB fell into the embrace, being treated his age right away. “Are you alright, xB?”
“It burns… like a dragon’s fire.”
“Yeah, I bet. I’m sorry, buddy.”
“It’s okay. I like dragons. And horses.”
“Yeah. I can tell. Which of those two horses is your favorite?” Jevin pointed over to the giant heads of horses.
“The brown one.”
“Really?” Jevin asked. “His eyes actually scare me a bit.”
“Really?” xB looked right up into his eyes, perhaps getting too close in Jevin’s space, but he wasn’t going to mention it.
“Yeah. I like the white one though. Do you think I could build a house in there?”
“Maybeeeee…?”
“Maybe I give you all five of my shulkers to do it?”
“Weally? Really weally?”
“Yep. How does that sound.”
xB gave an exaggerated nod.
“Here. These are yours then!” Jevin placed out all the boxes in front of him, and xB looked through them like it was Christmas. While this was going down, Jevin messaged Hypno, telling him what he’d done and that xB was probably going to want him over in a bit. When Hypno stopped by, Jevin said fairwell and went home to gather more shulkers for his visit with Doc.
~~~
“Ah… Jevin, I’ve been waiting for you,” Doc said, back turned from Jevin.
“How’d you do that?”
“I—The first time I tried it, it wasn’t you—” Doc answered in a little chuckle. “So you wanted to meet up about something?”
“Yep. I’ve gotta game for you.”
Doc gave a challenging smirk. “Bring it.”
“So, I’ve got these five shulkers in my inventory, each one hand picked for you, and I’ve got a few offers for these items.”
“Oh? And what is this offer?”
“Three items from your inventory.”
“Alright. I’ll be honest; I don’t have much for you.” Doc rummaged around his inventory until he threw a few items that could be deemed as junk in front of him.
“Still fulfills my request. Now then, which of my five boxes would you like?”
“Uh… four,” he answered with enough confidence showing that Doc felt he was picking the right number.
“Now then, I’ve got another offer for two boxes.” So far Doc had taken to the game the easiest, whether he just understood the concept of this game or was willing to do whatever weird thing Jevin put him up to.
“Yeah?”
“Fly up, without armor, and fall to the ground face-first.”
“Oh… wow. You’re going all out.”
“You’re not scared… are you?” Jevin grinned. Although this game was rather stupid, he was actually pretty interested if Doc was actually willing to die for a box of junk. “I mean, you don’t have to—”
“No. I’ll do it,” Doc interrupted. “A little challenge doesn’t bother me.” He slipped out of his Netherite armor. “So a nose-dive you say?”
“Yep. Super simple.”
And, to his surprise, Doc’s pride of not backing from a challenge over weighted his knowledge that being in the position of a child was going to be horrible. Jevin, along with everyone else, knew how much being competent and strong meant to Doc.
Items scattered across the ground, and in a moment a much younger looking Doc came up. “Ow… that… that’s gonna leave a mark.” He seemed to be luckier than the others, probably landing about six or seven on the age scale.
“You alright?”
“Yeah. Fine… just a bit unexpected.” He could hear the strain in the other’s voice, as if he was trying to not let it show how much the abrupt change was taking a toll on him mentally and physically.
“It’s fine if you’re not,” Jevin said again. “I shouldn’t have convinced you to do all that.”
“No—No it’s fine. I wanted to do it. Shulkers please.”
“Alright. If you’re sure. Now, I’ve got one more offer if you’re willing to listen.”
“Sure.” Jevin could tell he was obviously done with this game, and probably wanted to take a long nap in silence without having anyone worry about him.
“I want a bit of space in that spectacular Octagon of yours.”
He saw Doc rub at the creeper-side of his face. “I—As much as I want to say yes, Ren would be mad.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Nah. Don’t worry ‘bout it.” Doc heaved in a breath.
“You sure you’re alright?”
“Y-yeah. Always fine.”
“I know this death stuff is a lot on you. You sure?”
Doc turned away. “I said I was fine! Just—just leave. Keep my prizes here and just leave, alright?” Instead of flying away, Doc moved to the edge of the Octagon, letting his feet dangle over the water.
Jevin waited for a moment before closing in the distance between them. “I’m sorry, Doc. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
“I’m not upset, alright? I don’t get sad.” He could see Doc force on a pout.
“Yeah, just like the rest of us, you’re super strong and don’t ever have any feelings.”
“I don’t!”
Jevin didn’t push for a moment. “Can I give you a hug?”
For a moment Doc just gave him the silent treatment. “Fine,” he said at last, giving a bit of a huff. Ultimately he did let Jevin give him a tight hug, where he sat on the older one’s lap and buried his face into his slimy chest.
“Feel better?” Jevin asked after a minute.
“Yeah… sorry.”
“Me too.” He gave the shorter one a few rubs against his back as he felt Doc start to wind down. The sun was setting. Tomorrow they’d be an age older… an age closer to normalcy.
Doc started to snore quietly as Jevin made a call to Ren, softly speaking of what had occurred. He asked Ren if he could take Doc from there.
And after that, Jevin left the place knowing that even if he did hurt Doc’s feelings for a moment, Doc probably had stuff pent up already anyway that he needed to let out.
~~~
The next day rolled around. Today he was supposed to meet up with Tango. Tango was one of the others that went out of his way to die that fateful night, so Jevin thought catching up with someone around about his age would result in the best fun.
“Hey Tango!”
“Jevin!” Tango waved from the entrance to Fefe’s mountain. “You here to talk about this game of yours?”
“Yep. I’ve got an offer you won’t be able to resist.”
“And what if I do?”
“Then you’ll be missing out,” Jevin said confidently. “But I’m almost one-hundred percent sure you won’t be able to miss out on this.”
“Alright…”
Jevin proceeded to explain his little game, and although Tango had his hesitations, he threw out his items, sharing his greatest treasure of all: The Tree Hat.
“Ohhhhh. This is cool. This is worth all my shulkers!” Jevin told Tango as he tried on the costume.
“I know, it’s great right!”
“How many people have you gotten with this?”
“Well I first showed it to my buddy, Impulse. But there was no one else on besides him so I had to wait a day before scaring other hermits…” Tango then proceeded to ramble about his different adventures with the tree hat. Something about just talking with Tango felt so fun and freeing. This had been what Jevin was missing out on all week.
After a long time of talking, and then convincing Tango to rename Fefe to Fefei, he flew off, happier than he had been before. The hermits were happy with what they got, they probably got the hugs and attention that they needed, and Jevin felt he could survive the rest of his days before he’d be fully functioning again.