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It’s amazing what people will let you get away with, Joel thinks to himself every time he pops over to Xisuma’s base for a visit, when they’ve decided you’re normal ahead of time. How many things can be waved away.
Last time he was here, Xisuma’d just had some of the copper golems walking in endless loops between the same two chests as “quirky decor”. Now, he’s literally got a shop full of them selling their own inactivated brethren. With said frozen robots lining the walls, just silently staring through the dark at anyone that enters. In an effect that Xisuma explicitly says is meant to be creepy. And then laughed.
And everyone thinks it’s fine.
In comparison, everyone’s convinced that Something is Up with Joel, no matter how much he tries to tell them it’s fine and normal. Even before he says anything, they’re all glancing at the ground as if they could see through it. They barely even look at whatever he’s actually trying to show them that he’s built. What, he’s not allowed to be colorful and cheerful and making the happiest place ever? Typecasting much?
And, look, even if there was something going on around Joel’s base, there’s absolutely worse things than making use of dead horse heads to create magical rainbows! The horses are already dead, and even that only hurts them for a moment, but it’s not like not using the heads for things will somehow bring the horses back to life, is it? At least there’s some practical purpose to it! Whimsical, too! Doesn’t that count for something?
Meanwhile, everything Xisuma makes is not just a horror story if you think about it, but it’s ongoing. The baby cow isn’t just made to stay a baby, that’s fine–but endlessly chasing its buried parent in a loop of searching that will never resolve! All for a bit more animal animation around a base that’s already full of them!
And Xisuma just laughs, and nods, and explains the mechanics behind it. Joel understands the mechanics (mostly), it’s just the casualness with which Xisuma presents it all. Like it’s the most natural kind of scientific inquiry there ever was, trying to figure out if it worked better with baby villagers or whatnot. The ease of a man so accustomed to getting away with things that he doesn’t even know he’s doing it anymore. No one suspects Sweet Old Xisuma of anything!
Still. Xisuma’s bundle shop is pretty sweet, and educational. And it is handy to have somewhere to drop off all the leather Joel gets from acquiring his “rainbow magic sources”.