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It’s one thing to randomly die in a world after taking damage all day from someone else. Yes, it’s one thing to die before everyone else.
It’s a completely different thing, to see the person you’re partnered up with at the height and appearance of a kid .
That wasn’t… right. Grian never said there was going to be any other mods… right? He didn’t just overlook it, because Jimmy could really see himself as the person to forget a detail like that, despite its significance.
Either way.
His soulmate was Tango, and Tango was a kid, interestingly enough.
“Hi… Tango.” Jimmy sat down next to him, leaning against an oak tree. “So, I guess we’re soulmates, huh?” He tried to talk like it was normal, despite the fact that he was looking at a teenie tiny kid right now, with no clue what to do or why it was happening. Was his mental age the same as always? Would Tango even want to talk to Jimmy right now? What was he thinking? (What with being the height of what Jimmy was willing to guess was a five or six year old.)
But Tango didn’t scream or cry or say a word. Just nodded and frowned as he crawled back to where Jimmy was, leaning against the same tree, finding the need for the support of it more than Jimmy.
“So, what happened, a few minutes ago? What’d you die to?” Was death a sensitive topic with kids? Should he leave it until later?
This was probably a dumb idea. What was Jimmy thinking?
He should just… contact someone, maybe. There were plenty of capable folks here, right? And Jimmy didn’t really fit under the category of capable, if his friends’ teasings had anything to say about it.
“Creeper blew me up,” Tango said, sounding much younger as well, which was to be expected. He was also rather annoyed, if his tone said anything.
“But you feel okay, right? No residual pain or nothing?”
Tango shook his head.
And really, Jimmy would be worried if he was feeling any pain right now, because that would mean a. the respawn mechanics of healing weren’t working and b. Jimmy wouldn’t be feeling all the different pains Tango was. Right now Jimmy was extremely glad they both shared pain, given he’d be able to sus out any injuries faster, and be able to keep up with Tango’s safety a little easier.
“Well, that’s good.”
A silence lapsed. Usually Jimmy could fill something in. Usually he was around people who would talk over him as well. So silence was unusual, and very uncomfortable given the circumstances he’d rather forget.
“I hate creepers,” Tango said at last, when Jimmy couldn’t find anything worth saying. “And stupid glitches .”
The sheer fact that Tango wasn’t taken aback made Jimmy wonder if maybe being a kid wasn’t exactly new to him on the whole. And calling it a glitch meant that Grian didn’t code it into the game…
“Tango, by chance, do you think you know what’s going on?” Again, probably a poor question to ask a kid, but Jimmy needed answers.
Tango nodded, much to Jimmy’s surprise. “Bad X made a glitch on Hermitcraft where we were kids when we die.”
Jimmy wasn’t sure if he understood, but it sounded like he could ask one of Tango’s friends for a better explanation if he needed one. “So this is… not super out of the ordinary?”
“Nope!” Tango jumped up and pulled Jimmy to his feet. “But we’ve gotta get all our stuffs back before they despawn, and then we’ve gotta tell the others! Maybe somebody else will die soon too!”
It was a very morbid thought, if Jimmy actually thought about the words Tango was saying. But it sounded like he wasn’t too bothered with it, and actually forgot that they were on limited lives (or just really didn’t want to think about it).
But needless to say, they went in search of their items, and Jimmy found Tango to be rather optimistic about their lot in life.
Things took a turn for the worst when they found the items to have despawned. So much for that.
“It’s alright though! Not like I had too much to begin with!” Jimmy said. He stooped down to let Tango ride on his back now that they’d been walking for a while. Given they didn’t have anything to their names, Jimmy thought it’d be best if they went to where he supposed there were bases and seek shelter. There he might be able to get insight on this… kid glitch of sorts.
“But we have to start all over,” Tango whined in response, losing his optimism as the day waned on. “And I already had some armor!” He leaned his head against Jimmy’s shoulder, and the position made it harder to carry him, but at least he didn’t have his arms around Jimmy’s neck, resulting in somewhat of a choke hold.
“Look on the bright side! We’ll get to visit some of your friends and see how they’re doing! Maybe they’ll let us stop by for a night or so.”
Tango seemed a bit more contented with that, agreeing to visit Impulse or Grian or Scar… whoever they found first.
Luck would have it that Jimmy ran across Impulse and Bdubs, both who were getting the starts of a foundation down at the side of a mountain. And it seemed Tango was rather happy at seeing the both of them, as repeatedly he called out their names until both acknowledged his presence and said hi back.
“Jimmy! Tango! What brings you two here?” Bdubs asked, somehow refraining from showing surprise at the sight of a tiny Tango.
“We lost all our stuff and we’ve got nowhere to go,” Tango said, shaking his head sadly.
“Oh, that’s a shame,” Bdubs answered, speaking to him with ease, talking at Tango’s level and not down at him.
Tango seemed to really like this, as he climbed around Jimmy and managed to jump on Bdubs, nearly toppling the three over in the process, though it seemed Bdubs was at least mildly prepared for that to happen.
“If you, uhm, wouldn’t mind letting us stay for the evening, if nothing else. And uh, explaining to me what’s going on? Tango said you guys dealt with a glitch back at home?”
Bdubs, while managing to keep a grip on Tango as he climbed around until he got on his shoulders, managed to answer, “Yeah, sure. Don’t got much of a place yet, of course, but we’d love to help.” His words were a bit muffled and strained, but for what it was worth, Bdubs didn’t seem too annoyed.
“We can explain all that weird glitch stuff too,” Impulse said, giving Bdubs a glance as he said the words. It seemed like there was probably going to be a longer conversation about this new discovery once Jimmy and Tango left. “But first, we’ve got to get the outside of the base done and then we’ll head in for some dinner.”
And so it was that Bdubs helped by watching over Tango, getting most of the energy exerted out of him, and Jimmy helped Impulse on base work in whatever ways he could. After they made it to a good stopping point, the four went into the small, very much so work in progress house, and got to talking (Tango still climbing around like crazy, only sitting still when he sat in someone’s lap — usually Bdubs’).
“So, this glitch?”
“Yeah, that happened to us last season on Hermitcraft,” Impulse said almost nonchalantly, getting started on some soup for dinner. Likely mushroom based, given the aroma. “Xisuma’s younger brother decided it’d be a good idea to stir up trouble, so he messed with the respawn mechanics. I can only assume when the moon crashed, which is a whole other story for a different day, that his brother ended up here and has glitched this world as well for the fun of it. But that’s just my guess.”
It didn’t really explain everything , but it was the cliff notes, and Jimmy now got the general story.
“So… what do we do about getting Tango… back to normal?” Jimmy asked.
“Just got to wait it out. The aging cycle’s pretty quick, and if we’re lucky, faster here even. He should be capable of taking care of himself in about a week.”
“This is Tango we’re talking about,” Bdubs said, and despite the annoyed words, he said it with a smile. Right now Tango was building with a variety of rocks that had been torn down when creating this house.
“True.”
The room got a bit quiet for a moment as Impulse focused more on cooking, and Bdubs seemed to be thinking a bit deeply on the matter. Though silence didn’t last long, especially with four people. “Hey, you don’t think everybody has to know about the glitch, do they?” Bdubs asked, a mild chaos deep within him that Jimmy could barely pick out.
“What do you mean?” Impulse looked over at Bdubs for a second, and by the concern in his face, he too sensed the mild chaos in him.
“Well, if we don’t tell anybody, then this glitch’ll catch ‘em by surprise when they die! And it’s not like it’d be too difficult for them to figure out. What are the chances that there’s a pair of soulmates who both haven’t seen what the glitch does?”
Impulse shrugged, not seeming to mind if they told the group or not.
“You think they won’t notice Tango is… younger than normal?” Jimmy still hesitated to use the word “younger”. Really, out of all things to be thrown into, this was the oddest one. He shouldn’t be that baffled though, considering he’d had his fair share of modded. In comparison, there were way worse and wacky things.
“That’s true,” Bdubs said, almost sad about the prospect that soon the whole server would know of the glitch. “We could always just keep him out of the way. It’s not really safe for him to be roaming around alone anyway, and it’d be great fun to see some other people die and freak out for a moment.” Bdubs didn’t seem to be devious when Jimmy first met him, but now he was really seeing the mild chaos he wanted to create.
“‘sides, gives me a reason to take a break to hang out with Tango anyway.” Bdubs smoothed out a few more stones, carving them into something that was stackable and getting them to a slicker texture so the likelihood of Tango hurting his hands on them was far less. When he’d get one done, he’d add it to the small tower being built, which was quickly growing to the size of Tango (who, if Jimmy looked hard enough, seemed to already be taller than he was this morning).
“If everyone knows about the glitch, they’ll probably refrain from being as reckless too,” Impulse mentioned quietly, ladling out the mushroomy stew.
At his saying that, Bdubs looked over at him. “Is that your way of saying I’ll be taking all our lives?”
Impulse gave an almost amused look. “Well, I wasn’t going to take them before either!” He continued his work getting soup into bowls, after serving four, putting the rest in a separate container. “I’m good at staying alive, and I’ll be more aware knowing the costs. You weren’t too good at staying alive last go around the lives.”
Bdubs hummed, nodding in agreement instead of yelling at his face that it wasn’t true. “I was all over the place last season. It was pretty fun though.” He poked at Tango. “This guy over here helped a lot . Gave up his lives so many times for me.”
Tango nodded solemnly, making Jimmy stifle a laugh just because the sight was that funny. He’d never seen Tango solemn, let alone as a child, and both together was almost too much.
“Don’t have to do it any more though. No more giving lives and no more Skizz to make me give lives.” He stuck out his tongue, which Bdubs returned in silly retort. The two didn’t seem to hold a grudge about the series though, and instead were able to tease about it.
As the two continued to reminisce about the last series as well as continue to build up Tango’s mini castle, Jimmy helped Impulse out with crafting a table, chairs, and wooden utensils to support their needs for dinner. It was nothing fancy, but they were able to get it finished before the soup cooled off terribly so.
“So is there anything else I should know about this glitch-thing?” Jimmy asked. Part of him was still nervous about it, not really sure how to go about referencing it, and how to even handle a younger Tango.
“I’m not really sure. Some people act really differently though, being a kid and all. And some need more attention than others. I’m sure you and Tango will be fine though.”
Jimmy nodded slowly. “This is all… pretty strange, to be honest.” He gave a small, bit nervous grin.
“It’s different. But you’ll figure it out. And if you need any help, we’d be happy to pitch in. I’m sure anybody would be.” Impulse gave an encouraging smile in return. Then he got to work, finishing setting the table.
With that small bit of encouragement, Jimmy found it a little easier to feel at rest. There wasn't anything they couldn't handle.