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“....And this concludes our report!” Bdubs said triamphantly, capturing Ren’s focus once more. If he was being honest with himself, Ren was barely paying attention to the report, he was able to catch bits and pieces but nothing sounded interesting. His focus was elsewhere, like how he should be working on his new build than be cooped up in the castle.
But he urged on, after all this was only the uneventful, boring bit, “Thank you for your report. I will be returning to my quarters.” Ren explained, making his way toward the corridor.
Walking down the hall, he couldn’t help but think of all of his projects that he had put off while he declared himself king. Sure, it was fun and it did create some interesting plot points in the story, but Ren was exhausted. On top of that he hasn’t been able to see his husband in a while and he was beginning to miss him very badly.
Doc informed him in the beginning that he wasn’t interested in being part of the roleplay, and Ren had respected his lover’s wishes and kept the play and his personal life separate. However, he didn’t expect that this would have taken so much of his time. For void’s sake, the only time he’s not pretending to be king is when he’s making a new build. Even when he’s able to hang out with other hermits, sometimes they don’t separate Rendog from Ren the King, and though it was fun to act the part at first, it gets tiring when you just wanna chill with your friends and avoid responsibility.
On top of that, he noticed that his wedding ring had become more loose around his finger. Sure the whole thing took a lot and he’d typically busied himself on his off days, but he didn’t think that it had gotten to the point where he’s losing weight doing it. Afterall, his friends would usually let him know when to take care of himself. Nevertheless, Ren made a mental note to get Doc to resize it. Or maybe he needs to start eating decently again, who knows?
Taking off his crown and his mantle, Ren caught a glimpse of himself in the vanity mirror. To everyone else he may have looked fine, but to him he can see his appearance looking very abnormal. His hair was very oily, his stubble showing up on his face making him look too off putting to his liking, reaching to his face he caught how unkept and long his nails looked. When was the last time he showered?
Maybe it did get away from him a bit. Placing his crown and ring on his dresser top, Ren made his way toward the bathroom to refreshen himself.
He carefully made his way through the window, watching over his shoulder from time to time to ensure that none of the King’s guards were watching him. Grian managed to sneak into the castle through the King’s window, for weeks he’s been unable to find where the King kept the hermits' currency, so his best bet was to search from inside the palace, top to bottom. It was a huge coincidence that he ended up in the King’s room, but quickly rejoiced when he discovered the King’s prized jewels and accessories were displayed on his dresser.
Grian looked around the room and down the hall, taking note of the running shower behind one of the doors. Opening one of the shulkers, he carefully placed each item in the shulker making sure none of them got tangled. He started thinking about their worths, maybe he can trade some of the jewels with the villagers at the trading hall.
Once all the items were safely in his posession, he began raiding the closets and drawers, only taking things that may seem worth value, not really caring about the mess. When he was satisfied with his haul, he compiled all items into one shulker and made his way out the window. It was only a matter of time until the King figured out that he was the one that desecrated his room and raided his possessions.
Feeling the smooth edge of his rasor blade against his cheek, Ren maticulously removed the last remaining tubble from his face. Satisfied with the outcome, he wiped his face of any remaining cream and started getting dressed. He opted for his usual attire and thought of calling his husband and plan a casual date night as well as to actually catch up with him.
Ren opened the door and immediately stopped in his tracks, his dresser top askewed and his belongings thrown around without care. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes, he knew that there were hermits after his possessions and were willing to resort to petty thievery to get it back.
He shook his head and began putting away any clothing or furniture that was thrown. He took note of the many missing items, thankfully it was only stuff that he acquired while being king and not his usual attire. Those items were salvageable.
It wasn’t until he reached his dresser top that he began noticing all his jewelery missing, including his wedding ring. Ren tried not to panic and began looking around his room, wishing that it fell in some obscure location. The more he looked the more stress began to build up, eventually throwing articles he previously saved, hoping it was just hidden somewhere.
It was no use, it was obvious that his ring was nowhere to be found. Ren swore under his breath, berating himself for ever losing something so sacred. Pacing his room he thought of some potential hermits that may be responsible for the distruction. The Soup Group? It was a long shot but he needed to start somewhere.
Quickly grabbing his elytra and rockets, Ren made his way toward a window and set toward his first and hopefully final destination.
Landing on the bridge that connected Pearl’s and Impulse’s base, Ren made his way toward Impulse’s storage room. If there was one thing he could rely on, it was the fact that Impulse was in his base most likely working on some redstone build. Relief temporarily washed over him when he caught a glimpse of his shapeshifting friend working.
Impulse and Ren made eye contact and Impulse took a battle stance, still interpreting Ren as ‘King Ren’, “So you’ve come alone? Very brave of you to–” “Have you or your group been to the castle recently?” Ren didn’t have time for games right now, especially knowing what was on the line.
Impulse was taken aback but quickly regained his composure, “Who’s to say that we have?”
Ren was getting frustrated now, “Dude, I’m not playing right now. I’m asking a serious question, did you guys go to the castle or not?”
Impulse looked at his friend, skeptical. Only now realizing that Ren was not acting out a bit and actually came to him without his crown or mantle, not even his signature sunglasses. This must be serious if he didn't have enough time to grab his sunglasses or even bother to grab them, “I mean, I haven’t been to the castle but I can ask the others.”
Ren nodded and Impulse left to probably send out a message to the rest of his group. Ren stood in the big open room, unsure what to do with himself, just hoping that atleast one of them had his ring. He couldn’t stop the pit of dread growing in his stomach, Doc had personally crafted that ring back in season 8 when they decided to become more serious. Losing that ring was losing a piece of Doc as well as disrespecting all his efforts he made for him.
Ren had to get a grip, he was letting the bad thoughts take over. Sure Doc would be disappointed if he found out but he’d never do anything drastic.
Would he?
“Alright, I just sent out a message to the girls. They should be here soon.” Impulse said, Ren nodded.
“Now, do you wanna tell me what this is about or do you wanna wait for everyone to get here?”
Ren sighed and looked away, “I lost my wedding ring…”
Impulse gave him a puzzled look, “And you think it was one of us because…?”
“My room was trashed by the time I came back. I took it off before taking a shower and when I was done, not only was my room ransacked but most of my jewelery was gone too, including my ring.”
Impulse crossed his arms, “This is a pretty serious accusation Ren.”
“I doubt there was any malicious intent behind it, it likely got caught while they were going through my stuff.”
“But still, it was in your room.”
Ren shrugged, “I guess. That just comes with being everybody’s enemy.”
Some time had passed before Gem and Pearl showed up, upon seeing Ren with Impulse, they drew their weapons and readied themselves for any upcoming battle. Only for Impulse to confirm that Ren was here for something else other than diplomatic reasons.
When questioned about their whereabouts, both Gem and Pearl confirmed that they were not at the castle when the raid happened. Ren was back at square one, he had a list of people to question but didn’t know who to start. On top of that, there was no guarantee that the ring could be salvaged by the time he found the culprit. He could go on the server comms to narrow down his search, but then Doc would see the message and he didn’t want to think about that disappointed look he’d give him if he found out.
Ren felt a hand on his shoulder, looking back he could see Impulse, “We’ll find it man.” Ren couldn’t help but scoff at the idea, “Yeah, when it’s sold off to some villager or something.” He paused and shook his head out of shame, here he was asking his friends for help and doing all they could and he was snapping at them. Why was he getting angry at them? He was the one who lost the ring in the first place?
“I’m sorry, bro.”
Gem perked up, “I can call Grian real quick.”
Grian? Grian! How did he forget about Grian, he’s part of their group too. Well, sort of, but he’s one of the few hermits that are currently standing against ‘Ren the King’. The more he thought about it, Grian would absolutely pull a stunt like this.
“Please, if you will?” Gem nodded, already dialing Grians number. “Quick question, what does the ring look like?”
“Um– It’s a silver band with emeralds around it and some black engravings surrounding it.”
“Give me a minute to talk to him and I’ll get back with you.” Ren had no arguments there, not that he could. Gem walked toward a corner, seeing that she was able to reach him, “Look mate, if he doesn’t have it we’ll have to do a server search for it. And hopefully that person still has it.” Pearl explained.
Ren dreaded the thought of having to face his husband over this, he knew that Doc would understand if he explained what happened and he knew that Doc would make him a new one if push comes to shove. But it was the promise that ring held, their bond, and he lost it, that ring was his vow of their love and commitment to eachother and he wasn’t able to keep that promise.
He must have stared off for too long because he suddenly felt arms wrapping around him, looking down he could see Pearl gently embracing him, “Please don’t beat yourself over it, you didn’t know any better.”
But that was it, he should have known better. He knew that people were ‘coming for him’ and he should have known better than to put his most valuable items on display. Ren placed his hand on her shoulder, weakly embracing her back but the uneasy feeling was not making him able to return the gesture fully.
Gem came back from her conversation, “Ok, Grian was at the castle. He’s coming here to return the ring but it’s buried with a bunch of other jewlery stuff.”
Ren was able to breathe a sigh of relief, regardless if it was tangled up in whatever chain, there was still a chance that his ring was in there. “Ren, are you doing alright mate?” He didn’t realize that he was still holding on to Pearl and released her from his grasp, very embarrassed by his behavior.
“Sorry…”
“Don’t be.”
Footsteps echoed in the cave, the group turned to see Grian holding a sulker box with a very guilty look on his face, “All the jewlery should be in here, I tried to organize it but it got jumbled while flying.” Ren could care less at the moment, he opened the shulker and found a messy array of accesories. He and Grian took their time sorting and detangling the items, bit by bit.
They were half way through the shulker, carefully untangling and separating each item. Ren didn’t think he had this much and wished he didn’t just to make his life easier. “Is this it?” He looked up and almost cried with joy. He’d recognize those black engravings surrounding those emeralds anywhere, Grian gave his ring and Ren almost collapsed from emotional exaustion.
“Ren, I’m so sorry. I– I didn’t know–” Grian stammered, guilty look returning.
Ren looked at him and sighed, “I know it was an accident and all. But please just steal from the cellar from now on, and not my room.”
Grian chuckled, “I can do that.”
Ren placed his ring on his finger, obviously it’s still loose on him but in that moment, he’s just happy that it’s back. He knows that it was supposed to be harmless fun but Ren couldn’t help but think of the reprocutions that came with it. Just today he almost had his ring sold off and if it wasn’t for the fact that he wasn’t wearing his majesty’s attire who knows how everything would have played out.
No.
His friends were better than that, sure they’d probably think that it was a bit but it wouldn’t be too far from the interaction they were having. Regardless of the outcome, Ren needs to be more careful. And maybe playing a dictative ruler wasn’t the brightest solution.