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You’re laying by the Void Below, one arm hanging over the edge of the bedrock ledge, staring up at the hole above, thinking about nothing. Or maybe everything? Hard to find a difference these days. It’s quiet… until there's footsteps down the tunnels, alerting sensors as they come into the room. Stars shifting, coat shuffling, a cool breeze underground. They take a seat on one of the other ledges. Perpendicular, right angles.
“Hey.”
“Hi. What’re ya doing?” it asks, letting its feet hang off the edge of the bedrock. They kick back and forth like they’re splashing through water.
“Just layin’,” you respond with a shrug, turning your attention back up to the ceiling. There’s the faintest stream of sunlight filtering down to where you’re at, refracted by the water in the garden and casting an orange shimmer over the deepslate. Pretty…
“Just laying, without armor or an elytra?” they ask again, aiming a swing of their boot towards your leg. You let it connect and then glare at them for it.
“You can’t really expect me to die to a something down here dude-”
“No, no, not what I meant,” it says, waving a hand at you. “Though honestly you definitely would be the one to find way to die to a mob all the way down here-”
“Woooow, okay. Rude.”
“ -but, I meant more like, you seem like you’re about to just roll over and fall in.” You have been thinking about it, can’t deny that. Impossible wind brushes over your fingertips as your arm hangs down lazily into the nothingness below. Yeah, you were thinking about it.
“I dunno, maybe,” you reply, aiming your own kick at them. It doesn’t land. You let your leg hang down now too, half of you reaching down to something you can’t ever get to.
“Got anything valuable in your inventory?”
“Concerning questions from you as always,” you sigh, pushing down the little flip in your stomach like you’ve practiced. Don’t assume, don’t get your hopes up.
“Doesn’t answer it though,” they say, scooting along the bedrock till they’re nearly sitting on your side of the ledge.
“Nope, nothing of interest on me.” You don’t need to check your inventory to know that it’s empty. Your head tips to the side and some of your hair spills over the edge to join your limbs. Neither of you say anything. It’s a stalemate where you both know the outcome, just waiting to see who moves first.
“So?” you finally prompt.
A hand grips your leg and the world drops out from underneath you. You laugh, scramble to grab onto something as you fall; an arm, a horn, the hem of a coat slip past your fingers. It’s all ripped away with the sound of a rocket before you find anything solid. You die with an extra star in the sky and wake up in a bed that isn’t yours.
Take a moment, let your pulse settle. The rush of wind is fading already, replaced with the steady buzz of your comm.
cosmicCascade didn't want to live in the same world as void_c
<void_c> whered you respawn
You hadn’t set your spawn down in the little alcove when you’d walked down without your gear. Maybe it slipped your mind, maybe you hadn’t been planning to go over and over again till the chat filled up with your rising death count this time.
<cosmicCascade> surface
You should get up. Your gaze lands on the far window as the sun fully sets, orange rays filtered through the stained glass, making new patterns on the banners. You should really get up. One of the cats is laying on the desk, tail curled up and ears drooping in peaceful slumber. You really need to get up before…
“Well this isn’t your bed.” Fuck, yeah, before that. You scramble to sit up, put distance between you, but you're stuck between them and the window. Why the hell did they respawn, why didn’t it just come up the tunnels or fly up or-
“Hey, hey, just an observation not a judgement!” they try to say but you are not listening, too busy climbing over to the end of the bed to hop out. There’s hands on your arms now, you freeze instantly.
“Just an observation,” they say again, slowly, like they’re trying not to spook an animal. “Not a judgement.” You glance around the room, looking for anything to take your attention away right now. The bed creaks.
“Okay?” It’s leaning closer now and you know if you try to back away again it’s going to get even more in your space, so you nod. Okay. You don’t say it outloud but you force your shoulders to relax from where they’re stuck by your ears.
“Are you going to try to bolt again if I let go?”
“...No.” And you mean it, even if you still kinda want to. You’re working on that. The grip on your wrist loosens a bit but doesn’t pull away fully. Instead you get tugged ever so gently back to where you were laying before.
“Come on, it’s almost night anyways.”
“Okay,” you manage out loud this time. There’s not much room, there’s calcite digging into your shoulder when you try to lay on your back, the covers don’t stay warm. It’s the best night of sleep you get for a while.