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Tango was up and ready in the early hours of the morning. He had barely gotten enough sleep beforehand though, too excited by what today meant. Today was one of the very few days non-members were allowed onto Hermitcraft. So any family, friends, or significant others were welcome and whitelisted for today only.
Tango never really gave these days much thought before. He didn’t really have any family outside of Hermitcraft. So he never had anyone to meet him on days like today.
But ever since Double Life, a certain tiny avian had met up with him on every possible day he could. Tango grinned just thinking about his soulmate, already planning on all the stuff they were going to do today. Of course, a tour will have to be first. This was the first family and friends day on season 10. He had so much to show him, he couldn’t wait.
In fact, unable to sit around any longer, Tango put on his elytra and flew over to the world spawn, where everyone would be popping in when it was time. He landed, only to notice he wasn’t the first one there.
“Oh, hey Joel!” Tango greeted one of the newest members of their little family. He unequipped his wings and walked over to where Joel was standing.
Joel looked back at him and smiled. “Hey Tango!” He waved back, he looked just as excited as Tango felt. Maybe even more so. It only took Tango a moment to remember why Joel would be waiting here.
“Waiting for Lizzie?” Tango asked, crossing his arms as he decided to wait next to Joel. Joel nodded, the smile not leaving his face.
“Yep! I’ve seen her off and on, ya know, since I was doing SOS for a little while but…it’s different here on Hermitcraft. This’ll be her first time here on season 10 and I can’t wait to show her how far I’ve come already.” Joel explained, his eyes shining bright and determined. Tango couldn’t help but smile too.
Joel had quickly proven, to all of them, that he was a hermit through and through. Not that he had anything to prove, of course. But the more time he spent on the server, the more he built, the more he interacted with everyone, it was obvious Joel had been meant to be here all along. And Tango couldn’t help but find himself excited for Joel to show that to Lizzie.
“I’m sure she’s going to love everything you’ve done here.” Tango said and Joel smiled at him in thanks. “I’m actually feeling sort of the same way. I’m planning on this big tour to start off the day, even before we get to anything else.” Tango admitted with a hand rubbing the back of his neck.
Joel tilted his head, his smile turning into a look of confusion. “By the way, who is it that you’re waiting for anyway?” Joel asked.
It was Tango’s turn to be confused. “You don’t know?”
Joel raised an eyebrow. “This is my first season. Of course I don’t know.”
Tango shook his head. “Sorry, sorry, I just thought it was obvious? I’m waiting for Jimmy.”
Joel blinked, processing the name. And then his eyes went wide. “Wait, Jimmy?” He didn’t need to clarify which Jimmy. There was only one that the two of them knew. “But, why-oh. Double Life.” Joel answered his own question, remembering the season that had changed the way some people would see another forever. Like with him and Etho, for example.
Tango nodded. “Yep. Double Life. I know the whole soulmate mechanic is long gone but…I don't know. I still feel this connection to him. And he feels the same. And…well, we get along really well. Jimmy has become one of my best friends too.” Tango admitted, a bit sheepishly. It was strange to think that without being paired up in Double Life, Tango and Jimmy might still be acquaintances at the most. Because at this point, Tango couldn’t imagine his life without Jimmy in it.
Joel’s expression softened and he patted Tango on the back. “Yeah, the guy grows on you, that’s for sure.” Joel said, as one of Jimmy’s other best friends. “It’s kind of cute how excited you are to show him around.”
Tango flushed a light red, turning his head away. “Heh, I’m just…you know, excited like you are.”
Joel grinned. “I can see that. I’m sure Jimmy will love what you have to show him.” He said, repeating in a way what Tango had said to him earlier about Lizzie.
“I hope so.” Tango was excited but still always a little nervous to show off what he’s done. But Jimmy had loved Decked Out 2 and, though not as impressive, he was sure Jimmy would love the factory he was working on as well.
Suddenly, Xisuma touched down in front of them, a screen of code up in front of him as soon as he landed. “Ah, good! You two are here already.” He typed a few things. “It looks like you two are the only ones expecting a visitor today. All set?” Xisuma asked and with a nod from both Joel and Tango, Xisuma typed something else. “Here we go then.”
[LDShadowLady joined the game]
[SolidarityGaming joined the game]
Tango watched as Lizzie and Jimmy finally popped in. Lizzie immediately ran over to Joel and they shared a quick hug and kiss. Though Tango was barely paying any attention to them, his focus was on the tiny avian hybrid. “Jimmy!”
Jimmy looked up, a grin on his face. He fanned out his wings and took off, flying over and hovering in front of Tango. “Tango!”
Tango held out his hand and Jimmy landed in it, folding his wings back in. The two couldn’t stop grinning at each other.
“Oh, get a room you two.” Joel said jokingly as he himself refused to let Lizzie go. Tango decided to throw it back.
“You two first.” He said with a smirk. Lizzie laughed and Joel rolled his eyes. A small laugh came from his hand and suddenly Tango’s attention was back on Jimmy.
“And we lost them again.” Joel said with a laugh and started gently tugging on Lizzie’s arm toward his base. “Come on Lizzie, I’ve got a lot to show you.”
“Oh, I’m so excited!” Lizzie said with a large grin. They’re voices faded away, leaving Tango and Jimmy standing there alone. Xisuma had also taken off shortly before Joel and Lizzie had.
“So, how have things been?” Tango asked as he started to walk back to his own base. He kept his hand held out in front of him, as Jimmy was still standing on top.
“It’s been great! I was on SOS for a while, I think I told you about that?” Jimmy asked, trying to remember. Tango nodded.
“Yeah, you did. And Joel talked about it a bit too. Heard you went out with a bang.” Tango grinned. Jimmy laughed sheepishly.
“It was mostly Joel’s idea, honestly. But it was really cool. We took out ten people!” Jimmy exclaimed and Tango’s eyes widened.
“ Ten !? Dude, that’s amazing!” Tango praised and Jimmy’s feathers fluffed a bit at the praise.
“Heh, yeah. Of course, my series ended there. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way I don’t think.” Jimmy looked proud of himself and seemed to look back on his time on that server fondly, which Tango was happy about.
“What about you?” Jimmy threw back. “How has season 10 been so far?”
Tango hummed. “Amazing. Honestly, it’s been nice getting back into the swing of things.” Especially getting back into actually doing things other than working on Decked Out 2. Don’t get him wrong, he loved what he did, but it was nice to take a break from it. “I’ve actually been working on this factory, but we’ll get to that. I’ve got a whole tour planned for you!” Tango said with a grin and Jimmy couldn’t help but grin back.
Finally, they arrived at his starter base. Jimmy’s eyes widened as he looked up at it and Tango noticed with a proud little smile of his own. “This here is my starter base.”
“ This is your starter base?!” Jimmy exclaimed and then flapped his wings and took off from Tango’s hand. Tango watched as he flew up and around it, getting a good look. “I seriously still can’t believe you said you weren’t a builder back in Double Life.” Jimmy said as he came back down, hovering in front of Tango again. After seeing Decked Out 2 and this, it was clear Tango’s building skills were very good.
Tango waved off his praise. “I mean, I’m proud of it. But I’m still a redstoner at heart. There are still a ton of people out there better than I am at this kind of thing.”
Jimmy crossed his arms, looking a bit annoyed at Tango’s belief. “Sure, you might not be the best. But you’re still really good! Don’t sell yourself short.”
Tango chuckled but was thankful for the praise. “Thanks. I’ll try not to.”
Jimmy nodded firmly and then went and settled down on Tango’s shoulder. The light but familiar weight was nice to Tango. “Now come on, I gotta see the inside!”
Tango took him through the inside of his base, feeling proud when Jimmy only had nice things to say about it. He even ooh and aah’d which made Tango laugh. In fact, after not seeing each other for a while now, they were both very giggly with each other. Just happy to be together once again.
Once Tango’s starter base tour was done, he moved on to his factory. “Now remember, I’m only really just getting started on it.” Tango prefaced and then showed him around.
Jimmy was gobsmacked by the amount of redstone. “This is insane! You’re insane!” Tango just laughed at that, a little maniacally too, to add to the bit.
“You never even saw the inner workings of Decked Out 2. Now that I would admit was a little insane.” Tango said.
They continued on and after Tango finished showing him everything he had built, he went on to the rest of the server. Going from the shopping district, to magic mountain, to the neighborhood, and everywhere in between.
By the time they had finished, the sun was just starting to set over the horizon.
Tango looked up at the sky and let out a little sigh. “Welp, looks like we gotta start heading back to spawn.” He didn’t really want the day to end, knowing that meant Jimmy had to leave for another undisclosed amount of time.
Jimmy hummed, a little saddened by the thought as well. But then he got an idea and he stood up on Tango’s shoulder, keeping his balance by placing a hand on Tango’s neck. Tango frowned in confusion on what Jimmy was doing. “What are you-?”
He was cut off. “I’ll race you back!” Jimmy suddenly exclaimed and then jumped off Tango’s shoulder and flew high up into the air and in the direction of spawn. Tango watched him go for a moment, trying to process what had just happened.
“...H-Hey! No fair!” Tango laughed, jumping into action and panicking at the lead Jimmy already had. “I don’t even have my wings on!” Tango quickly equipped his elytra and used a rocket to take off toward Jimmy.
For being so small, Jimmy sure was fast. Despite being a canary, he was more like a hummingbird in that regard. Zipping and zagging all over the place and sometimes hard to keep up with. Tango let a few more rockets go off in quick bursts and managed to catch up to the tiny avian. Tango hovered above Jimmy and Jimmy, noticing the shadow, looked up with a surprised expression.
“Better pick up the pace tiny!” Tango yelled with a laugh over the rush of air and then let another rocket go off, sending him further than Jimmy.
“Hey! No fair!” Jimmy repeated Tango’s words, also unable to keep from laughing. He flapped his wings even harder, pushing himself further to try and get ahead.
Unfortunately, with Tango using so many rockets in such a short amount of time, Tango ran out and was steadily slowing down as he glided. Tango was hoping he would still have enough of a lead to win but then he saw a blur of yellow pass him by. Jimmy turned back with a grin. “See you at spawn!” He yelled and then took off even faster.
Jimmy made it to spawn first, diving down and hovering above the ground. Joel, Lizzie, and Xisuma, who were already there and waiting for them, looked at Jimmy in surprise. “Yes! I won!” Jimmy exclaimed, a large grin on his face.
“Won what?” Lizzie asked, curious at how fast Jimmy had come in from the sky.
“And where’s Tango?” Xisuma questioned, wondering where the other hermit was.
Jimmy turned to the two of them. “Oh, Tango is-” He was cut off with a yelp as suddenly he was encompassed in two large hands that had come barreling toward him from above. Tango had used whatever momentum he had left and dive-bombed Jimmy, using his hands to trap the avian inside and also to protect him from the brunt of the collision. He didn’t want to actually hurt him after all.
Tango skidded but managed to land on his feet with Jimmy safely cupped between his hands. “I’m here!” Tango answered, having at least heard the question. “Me and Jimmy here were just having a little race.”
Tango opened his hands up so now Jimmy was sprawled over his cupped hands. The tiny avian gave him a deadpan expression but Tango could barely take it seriously with how frazzled Jimmy looked from the quick grab. Jimmy crossed his arms but couldn’t keep the small smile off his face, which told Tango everything was fine.
“I won though! Fair and square.” Jimmy said as he sat up and tried to fix his hair.
Tango rolled his eyes and poked Jimmy on the chest. “Not sure about fair, pipsqueak.” Tango said. “Considering you had a good 30 second head start.”
Jimmy huffed, pushing the finger away playfully. “Says the guy who used a stack of rockets all in a row.”
They looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.
Joel, Lizzie, and Xisuma, who were still all watching, couldn’t help but smile at the sheer joy Jimmy and Tango seemed to be experiencing by just being with each other. It made Xisuma feel bad that he had to break that up, but he had to send them back to their own servers.
Maybe, eventually, Jimmy and Lizzie could join them more permanently in a couple of seasons. He was sure Joel and Tango would stop at nothing to convince the others to let them join. And he can’t exactly see any of his hermits saying no either.
He put away that thought for another time though, and cleared his throat to gain Tango and Jimmy’s attention. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s time to send Lizzie and Jimmy back.” Xisuma said sadly.
Tango and Jimmy let their laughter peter off and looked at each other at the reminder that it was time for Jimmy to leave. “I had a great time today.” Jimmy said, a smile on his face. He refused to be sad. They had been happy all day today and he refused to be sad for their last few moments.
“So did I.” Tango said, his smile a bit softer as he gently cradled Jimmy in his hands. “Can’t wait to do it again soon.”
Jimmy nodded and leaned into Tango’s touch for a moment, soaking it up, before standing and taking off to go stand over by Lizzie. Who had also said her last see you soons to Joel and was now standing away from him.
“We’ll see you again soon. I’ll make sure to let you know when the next family and friends day is here on Hermitcraft.” Xisuma said as he opened up his code log.
They nodded and then with one last wave, they were gone.
[LDShadowLady left the game]
[SolidarityGaming left the game]
Tango was sad to see Jimmy go, but he couldn’t deny the amazing day the two of them had together. His comm dinged suddenly and Tango grabbed it from within his pocket and took a look at it.
SolidarityGaming whispers to you: Miss you already <3
Tango grinned.