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Purpled was entirely sick of the life he led at the moment. He was constantly on edge teetering between being perfectly fine and the worst point he could be at. The SMP had not provided its promise of stability and friendship. He struggled with any sense of belonging and felt like there was consistently a target on his back. Everything he thought he knew always seemed to collapse in on itself, people would backstab you at a moment's notice if the right person asked or paid up. He’d constantly thought about leaving but something tied him down to the SMP he didn’t know what, but it made the idea of leaving begin to sour. Maybe it was the sense of belonging he had once felt, maybe it was the people, Punz, his brother or Tommy. Tommy had been one of his closest friends before the SMP then they grew apart through the L’manburg wars and what followed.
Today was no different to a usual day. He started off the day walking Dogchamp, the dog had been a lifeline for him through this whole experience. Purpled walked the same path everyday and he would spend time standing on the path above the crater of L'manburg, the first place he’d really called home. He stepped up onto the ridge surrounding the path and let the fronts of his feet hang off the edge, he wouldn't fall. Unless he wanted to. Dogchamp wandered behind him, up and down the path as if he were keeping watch.
Purpled felt a gaze burn into the top of his head, his antennae twitched under his helmet. He tilted his head back looking up, there was a figure on the obsidian grid, watching him. He took a step back from the ledge and whistled Dogchamp over. He began on his walk back to the UFO, the wooden planks underfoot turning into grass, cobblestone and back to wooden planks. The feeling of eyes on his back didn’t leave, not even when he was back inside of the UFO.
The feeling of being watched didn’t escape him, it irked him, he didn't feel safe in his own home, he couldn’t take his helmet off, couldn’t let his non-human attributes breathe. It was overwhelming. He loitered around the UFO for a while, restless pacing that Dogchamp whined at.
“Fuck it” he cursed “Dogchamp, I’m going out come on”
Dogchamp got up from his place at the end of Purpled’s bed and made his way to his owner’s side. They left the UFO and Purpled scanned his area, searched the surroundings, there was no person, only the odd mob.
“I’m just paranoid aren’t I?” he directed towards Dogchamp.
The dog only tilted his head before yawning.
Purpled exhaled shakily “You can go home if you want bud”
Dogchamp snorted before turning and heading back to the UFO. Purpled continued walking, subconsciously he ended up back at the crater. He stood on the edge and stared down the darkness of the night making the bottom almost impossible to make out. The fall was long, you’d die on impact, no one would know he would lose a life, he’d just respawn, the chat message would be gone by the morning. Nobody would care enough anyway, he was just Purpled, he didn’t have family, he’d isolated himself to a point where he didn’t have anyone who checked in on him regularly.
He’d done it to himself.
The bottom of the crater was taunting him.
He turned away, a heavy weight of eyes still lingered as he returned to the UFO. He couldn’t shake the feeling so decided to ignore it. He still didn't sleep but approached the next day with some semblance of caution. Well more than usual. He was getting ready to take Dogchamp on his bi-daily walk. As he approached the bridge decorating the crater of L’manburg a figure stood at the other end, his first assumption was that it was the person previously stalking him but his antennae still sensed someone watching him.
“Purpled, my man” a chipper voice called out. It was Tommy. Purpled hadn’t spoken to Tommy for the longest time, they were close during the early days of the SMP he wasn’t sure what happened they just drifted.
“Tommy, long time no see”
Tommy had reached him by now and bent down to fuss over Dogchamp who immediately surrendered to the attention, pushing his head into Tommy’s hand.
“I need to talk to you” Tommy said, his tone hushed.
“Where?” Purpled matched the hush.
“Out of earshot”
He had also noticed the other presence.
“What have you been up to?” Tommy picked up the small talk at a normal volume.
“Nothing much, doing odd jobs, grinding”
“Ahh, grinding to become rich, I see how it is”
Tommy led him along the prime path, they eventually ducked into a tunnel that Purpled had no idea existed.
“Dream is stalking you” Tommy said the moment they were concealed.
“Why would he do that?” Purpled frowned, he hadn't done anything to warrant hatred from Dream.
“He has a plan, he has this crazy plan to get control over the server” Tommy gestured as he spoke.
“Okay”
“He’s targeting ‘attachments’ in his bunker on an island he has displays set up for things people on the server care about” Tommy explained “Most of the things were items like my discs but for some people it was more, he wants to steal Dogchamp”
The words hit like a brick.
“He can’t”
“Exactly, I don’t think he knows but I know Dogchamp is the only thing you have left from your home planet”
“So how do you plan to stop this?”
“I’m leaving the SMP, come with me?” what should’ve been a statement posed itself as a question.
“Why? What about Tubbo?” Purpled addressed the matter of Tommy’s best friend.
“He’s got Snowchester, he’s got Ranboo and Michael” Tommy started “I have nothing, it’s all been taken I just want a safe place to live, raise my kid, I can’t do it alone though”
“I-”
“What’s the worst that’ll happen?” Tommy starts “Purp, you have nothing holding you back, Punz? He’s under Dream’s control, he’s his puppet and I know you don’t hold sentiment to anything else”
“Except you” Purpled admitted honestly.
“Except me” Tommy reiterated “So if I leave what will life here be for you, with a bounty on your back and no one to turn to”
Tommy had hit the nail on the head, whatever bond the pair had developed before war and during war hadn’t faded away despite their separation. There were nights where Purpled missed the presence of his friend being in the next room knowing he could go and seek comfort from him. He could get that all back.
“When do we leave?”
A shadow of a smile crossed Tommy’s face.
“Before the sun rises tomorrow, I’ll come and get you”
Tommy was true to his word. It was an hour before sunrise and Purpled was packed, Dogchamp was ready and Tommy was at the bottom of the UFO. Purpled had spent the night rigging his bases so that if someone entered now the entire thing would explode, he thought it got the point across well.
Tommy waited with two horses, two packs and a spider hybrid in a fabric sling attached to Tommy’s back. The child had black skin, several eyelids and red features like hair streaks and stripes on the skin.
“Shroud’s asleep, I didn’t think it would be good to wake him up” Tommy addresses “Let’s go”
Purpled petted the grey horse Tommy had brought for him, the horse leant into the touch. It was obviously tamed well. Purpled, signalled Dogchamp over and lifted the dog up onto the horse, Dogchamp lay on the front end of the horse. Purpled climbed on afterwards. Tommy started off and Purpled followed. They remained silent until the sights of the SMP began to lose familiarity and they were travelling through untouched terrain.
“So where abouts are we headed?” Purpled asked.
“Wherever the wind takes us” Tommy teased, he looked lighter. Purpled could understand that, but until he was situated and protected he wouldn’t feel the same.
“Seriously”
“Of course not, we’re heading to the mountains, there is a settlement up there, it will take at least two weeks of travelling, but there is a steady trade system up there and it’s very safe”
“Hard to be safe in the mountains” Purpled replied, it was true, you could be targeted from both sides and backed into a corner “It’s also cold up there”
“You are a chronic hoodie wearer the cold wont hurt you, also it’s very safe, not many people know about it”
“How do you then?”
“A great man never reveals his secrets”
“Ok, then tell me”
“Do you not think of me as a great man?”
“No Tommy, I do not”
“Fine, when I was younger and travelling with Phil, Techno and Wilbur we camped outside of the village, I found it, they didn’t, it’s buried deep in the mountain and has an open top, the buildings there are incredible” Tommy spoke enthusiastically, “The people there call themselves Hermits, and they said that I can come back whenever”
“You trust that they are still there and will keep their promise?”
“Yep, Grian, he told me to ask for him when I got there” Tommy replied “He knew something about me that I didn’t, he wouldn’t tell me what but said that I was always welcome”
“Well I hope this Grian guy extends his invitation to me”
“He will, if he doesn’t I’ll just tell him we’re married”
“I would never marry you” Purpled huffed.
“Don’t say it like that” Tommy whined.
They continued on in silence for a bit longer.
“How did you acquire a child?” Purpled asked, the question had been eating away at him.
“He showed up in my house” Tommy replied matter of factly “He’s a very sweet kid, he calls me mom because he struggles with his T’s”
“Very nice, how old is he?”
“I’m not quite sure, I think he’s almost four”
Purpled personally didn’t think that anyone his age should have the responsibility of a child but Tommy’s accidental baby acquisition was less of a choice. Silence overtook again and it remained that way for a while, by now the sun was reaching the tops of the sky and was starting to beat down harshly on the travellers. Purpled felt his antennae twitch under his helmet, they were often more reactive to the sunlight. The reality of being free from the SMP hadn’t quite settled in yet. Dogchamp whined in front of him, the dog sick of being kept still.
“You could probably let him down now, we are far enough out” Tommy addressed the sound.
“Go on, down you go” Purpled addressed Dogchamp, he made a clicking sound and the dog jumped down onto the ground and padded alongside the horses keeping up with ease.
“He’s well trained,” Tommy commented.
“I’ve had him since I was born so I’d hope he would be” Purpled responded.
“How is he still alive?” Tommy frowned.
“He’s from my planet, if you get an animal companion at birth they live with you and die with you” Purpled explained.
“So Dogchamp will live until you die, then he dies?”
“Not quite he kind of disappears, goes to the void and returns as another alien’s companion”
“That’s cool”
“It is”
They mulled in silence for a bit longer, the bird sounds, cicadas and whistling of the breeze in the tree branches punctuated the air nicely.
“Mom, Mommy” came a sleepy voice from Tommy’s back.
“What’s up big man?”
“Where are we going?”
Purpled was surprised that Tommy had kept Shroud entirely in the dark, then again who was he to judge.
“We are moving homes,”
“Who’s he?”
Purpled glanced over and saw three sets of red eyes at varying sizes staring at him curiously.
“That is Purpled”
“Oh you’ve told me about him, did you know he has more than two eyes? like me,” Shroud announced excitedly.
Tommy’s head snapped over to look at Purpled.
“You have more than one set of eyes,” Tommy stated.
“Yes, they do different things to normal eyes, I’m assuming Shroud’s are the same”
“Can you see in the dark with them?” the spider hybrid asked eagerly “My second set are good at that and my third set help me see things that are further away”
“Mine don’t quite let me see in the dark, they are infrared, they detect heat sources,” Purpled explained, unintentionally taking on a calmer tone with Shroud.
“And I’ve never seen you use them” Tommy stated.
“Because I didn’t want them to be abused, you know what Dream was like, he wouldn’t let Phil fly or anyone go to the end, I don’t know what he would have done to my eyes” it was true, Purpled had considered giving up keeping them concealed but Dream’s speciesism to hybrids made him wary that he may not have a second set of eyes anymore if they were public knowledge.
“Yeah I get it”
“Is that why we left?” Shroud asks. The spider hybrid is now mostly out of his position in the back sling and was clinging onto Tommy even more.
“Partly yeah” Tommy replied.
“Mom, I’m hungry,” Shroud complained.
“There’s food in the pack on the left, you can go grab it” Tommy started “Remember that Laika doesn’t like her stomach touched though”
“Yeah, I remember,” the spider hybrid then fully climbed out of the back sling and scuttled on the side of the horse to get into the pack secured to the left of the horse, he rummaged around before emerging with a small loaf of bread and some dried mutton.
“Did you steal these horses from Technoblade?” Purpled asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“You wouldn't name a horse Laika”
“Ah, yeah I did, yours is called Pelidas I think” Tommy guessed.
“Do you mean Pleiades?”
“Don’t tell me you know Greek mythology shit” Tommy groaned.
“Just a bit here and there, the Pleiades constellation is also called the seven sisters”
“Why do you know this?”
“Prime forbid I have interests” he started “Actually, Fundy made me watch Treasure Planet with him and Pleiades is the main characters middle name, he told me about it”
“That’s nice, I thought you just squirreled away in your UFO until someone offered you money”
“You know I care about more than money”
“Yeah, I do” Tommy snorted “Shroud you better not eat all that food, some of it was meant for me as well”
Purpled looked over to the spiderling who had the last piece of the bread in his mouth and a couple of pieces of dried mutton left in the other hand. He held back a smile at the kids actions and raised a finger to his lips promising his silence in the matter. They travelled all day passing through several villages, each one interesting Shroud immensely. Purpled supposed the kid hadn’t seen anywhere outside the SMP before. They stopped their journey as the sky became overtaken by orange. They were in the middle of a thicket of trees so were at least protected from most wanderers. They set up camp for the night agreeing to sleep in shifts Purpled taking the first. The night was long and there was a chill to the air despite them not being anywhere near the mountains and this settlement Tommy was on about.
The next morning they packed up and got going again. Purpled walked on foot for a chunk giving Pleiades a rest from some of the weight, Dogchamp walked alongside him. Purpled also found himself engaging in a lot of conversation with Shroud.
“So you are from a different planet and so is Dogchamp?” Shroud confirmed with a still questioning tone.
“Was that a question or a statement?”
“What’s a statement?”
“Not a question, like the sky is blue, that’s a statement” Purpled explained “Tommy do you not teach him stuff”
“No, he’s still young he doesn’t need to know anything much yet”
Purpled shook his head disapprovingly.
“Shroud, do you know your alphabet or how to count to ten?” he asked the kid.
“I can count, mom counts all the time when he’s knitting” Shroud started before proceeding to count all the way up to twenty five.
“I’m impressed” Purpled admitted “Now what about the alphabet”
“Is that letters?”
“Yep”
“I’m not good at those”
For the next hour or two Purpled taught Shroud the alphabet. The kid was endearing, whilst Purpled walked Shroud rode on Pleiades instead of being strapped to Tommy or sitting in front of him. Purpled kept a hand on Shroud’s back and his other empty in case he needed to swipe up the hybrid to prevent him from falling. He was starting to see why Tommy couldn’t part from the kid. If he thought about it, if Purpled still lived on his home planet he would’ve been set up for an arranged marriage at this point. He was seventeen, if he hadn’t found someone he wanted to spend his life with by now his parents would’ve set him up and often in his culture kids came not too long after marriage. Thinking about it, Purpled is glad to not be put under societal pressure, he doesn’t think romance is for him.
“ABCDE-” Shroud was now singing his alphabet loudly with a smile on his face.
Tommy looked annoyed, that made Purpled smile.
That was how their time travelling went. During the two weeks Purpled teamed up with Shroud to annoy Tommy. To the spiderling, Tommy was Mommy and Purpled had ended up as Purps. It was slightly endearing. Tommy and Purpled had also got closer again, they bonded over late night chats around a usually burnt out fire or dealing with aftermath of a pretty bad nightmare, they gained a deeper understanding of each other. Purpled learnt about Tommy’s fear of being left alone, Tommy learnt Purpled’s fear of being forgotten. They dove into each other's complicated pasts and found that they were more alike than they had assumed. Purpled was the most glad to cross the server border, the weird staticky feeling provided him with comfort knowing that they were out of Dream’s domain and that Dream’s rules didn’t apply to them anymore. He was happy to shed his helmet and let his antennae breathe and even open his lower eyes occasionally.
“Here we are” Tommy declared, he dismounted Laika and headed up to what looked like the mouth of a cave.
“Tell me we aren’t moving into a cave” Purpled started “I travelled two weeks for this”
“No, of course not” Tommy continued, “You might want to go on foot, the ceilings aren’t the highest in the cave”
Purpled did as instructed dismounting himself and then helping Shroud down, the kid scurried over to Tommy scaling the other teen and clinging to his back. Dogchamp walked diligently alongside Purpled. Tommy led them through the cave, there was a waterfall on the left and vines dripping from the ceiling, it was of similarity to a lush cave but lacked moss or drip leaf. If you were attempting to cave you probably wouldn’t go much further. After about five minutes of walking Tommy headed through a wall of vines, it led into a back passage of stone that unwinded eventually to expose a light source. Purpled spotted a tripwire set up and grabbed onto Tommy pulling him back.
“What was that for?” Tommy asked.
“There’s a tripwire” Purpled pointed “It could be a trap”
“Don’t worry Purpled, this is their version of a doorbell”
“An alarm?”
“Yeah, technically it lets the hermits know when people have arrived” Tommy explained “It will probably be better to trigger it then go in without warning them”
Without any comment from Purpled Tommy hooked the tripwire with his foot and to Purpled’s surprise all that rang out was a goat horn, how someone had set that up he did not know. Tommy pushed forward and they exited out into a building that looked like a greenhouse, it was made of mostly glass with quartz detailing, the interior had a few chests and some welcome messages that Purpled didn’t have the chance to read. A person was entering or well a few people. One in a strange looking mask, another with parrot wings and the final with bright hair and deer antlers.
“Tommy, is that you?” Parrot wings started.
“It’s been a long time, Grian” Tommy smiled.
“I thought your wings would’ve come in by now” Grian commented, both Tommy and Purpled frowned in confusion.
“What?” Tommy verbalised the confusion.
“Don’t worry about it now, I’ll tell you later” Grian shook his head.
“Hey, I want to-”
“Who’s your friend?” Grian interrupted.
“That’s Purpled,” Tommy replied.
“I can speak for myself Tommy,” Purpled butted in.
“What brings you here?” Masked guy asked.
“Well, Grian offered me a place here should I ever come back” Tommy said.
“Grian!” Masked guy sighed.
“It’s Tommy, X, you were fond of him when he visited as well”
“I didn’t say no, you’ve just given the same offer to how many people?” X sighed.
“So?” Grian asked.
“Yes, Tommy and Purpled can stay”
“And Shroud” Tommy chimed.
“Who’s Shroud?” Grian frowned.
Shroud who had tried to hide himself behind Tommy eyed Purpled who held out a hand to the hybrid. Shroud darted across to Purpled and clung onto his arm.
“Oh, you’re so cute” the deer hybrid crouched down.
“Well, I think introductions are due” X started “I’m Xisuma, suma, X, whatever you want to call me, I have a very loose role of being the one in charge of everything”
“He gets all sorts of pronunciations” Grian chimed in “I’m Grian”
“I’m Gem” the deer hybrid spoke up.
“Tommy already said but I’m Purpled, Tommy and I go way back” he filled them in hoping it would gain some trust points.
“Shall we get moving? We’ll start off in the shopping district, get you a place in the hotel, then I’ll call for a meeting so proper introductions can take place” Xisuma started.
“What about the horses?” Tommy asked.
“You can put them in the stables by the hotel, Bdubs will be happy to meet them” Grian started.
Their bizarre group of people made their way out into what was called the shopping district. Purpled had to admit it was beautiful, fun, filled with diverse shop fronts, easy to traverse and it had a very strong sense of community, something that even the community house hadn't managed to reach. The hotel was a quaint building, Xisuma explained they often didn’t have people stay there, whilst they were offered separate rooms Tommy and Purpled agreed to share one.
“I’ll send out a message for a meeting, we’ll have it in the town hall” Xisuma explained “We’ll introduce you guys and you can pick a spot to call home then we’ll get you hooked up with a comm and a nether link, this place is bigger than it looks”
Purpled nodded.
They again followed as they were led to a very beautiful town hall built out of spruce with accents of warped wood and blackstone. The building itself didn’t fit into Purpled’s expectations of a meeting place, instead of a large meeting table or a podium layout there were couches, armchairs and beanbags surrounding a large coffee table. Grian immediately collapsed onto a beanbag, Gem took up place on one of the couches nestling into the arm of the couch, Xisuma also took up a spot on a different couch. Purpled decided on an armchair with a clear view of the door, Dogchamp laying next to it, Tommy took a beanbag near Grian and Shroud stood looking confused. Purpled patted his lap and Shroud came running over clambering up. The spiderling snuggled into Purpled, Purpled carted a hand through the younger's hair.
It wasn’t long before hermits started flooding in. A woman with moth wings who immediately located Gem and took up place next to her, she was accompanied by a further two people, a blonde lady with steampunk goggles on her head and a wolf hybrid with dark ears and a dark tail. After them came a group of older looking men, one with a bright yellow i on his shirt, another with flaming hair and the third with darker hair and a loud laugh. Next a blue slime hybrid which Purpled didn’t know was possible, a guy in armour that looked like it came from a couple hundred years ago. Then a guy in a moss cape accompanying a guy with white hair and a zombie hybrid with bright orange hair. Next a group of a guy in a suit, a shrek rip off and a pink haired lady. Then a group of normal looking guys and finally a creeper goat hybrid and a guy with a cat on his shoulders.
“I think that’s everyone” Xisuma started standing up to speak “Alright, we have some new residents joining us, some of you might remember one of them, if you guys want to go ahead and introduce yourselves”
Tommy stood up “Hi, I’m Tommy, I visited a long time ago, this time I’m back permanently, escaping my old home”
Purpled stood up Shroud attached to him still “I’m Purpled, I’m an alien and Tommy asked me to live with him, we are from that same place, but I’m originally from hypixel” he started before remembering Shroud “This is Shroud, he’s three and he’s a spider hybrid, he’s Tommy’s kid-”
“And practically yours at this point” Tommy interrupted.
“And the dog is Dogchamp” Purpled sat back down.
“Thanks guys, they’ve already met me, Gem and Grian so why don’t we start with Impulse” Xisuma suggested.
“Alright,” the guy with a yellow i on his shirt stood up “I’m Impulse, I am one of the servers resident dads” he smiled before sitting back down.
“I’m Skizz” the guy next to him said “I’m very funny” the fire hair guy rolled his eyes.
“I’m Tango” the fire hair guy said “I’m a redstoner, I have a minigame Decked Out, come and check it out at some point”
The blonde lady with steampunk goggles was next “I’m False, I was on anarchy and hypixel for a while so Purpled I recognise your name from the top bedwars rankings”
Purpled flushed as attention was drawn to him.
The wolf hybrid was Ren. The Zombie, Cleo. Then there was Zedaph, Xb, Joe, Keralis, Hypno and Wels. The creeper goat hybrid was Doc, another insane redstoner. Then Scar, Mumbo, Cub, Pearl and Jevin. Finally, Bdubs the man in moss, Etho, another redstoner, and Joel and Lizzie who were married.
“This is our map with everyone’s locations noted down,” Xisuma said, handing a map to Tommy and to Purpled.
From introductions Purpled did not want to be near False considering she’d already heard of him and that couldn’t be good. He was interested in the redstoners so maybe he could find a base near them or maybe Cleo, from their attitude Purpled thought that they may get on well.
“Purp, do you mind if I live near Grian?” Tommy spoke up.
“All good with me, I was thinking about the spot open next to Cleo” Purpled replied “What about Shroud?”
“Well, we’ll see each other in the days, we could have him every other week” Tommy suggested.
“Sounds good”
“How old are you guys?” Impulse asked.
“Seventeen,” Tommy replied.
“That was a pretty concise custody agreement,” Impulse commented.
“Thanks” Tommy took the compliment.
Both boys were marked on the map. Cleo offered to take Purpled to see the spot, he couldn’t say no, he was interested after all. Dogchamp followed at his heels and Shroud decided to head off with Tommy.
“So I’m assuming the server you and Tommy came from wasn’t all that great” she started
“Understatement of the century” Purpled huffed.
“Did you at least build something?” they asked.
“I built a UFO”
“That sounds pretty cool, you could maybe build another”
“It was cool, had bubble elevators and everything but I’ll probably build something different, symbolise a new start” he shrugged.
“If you need materials or suggestions I am quite open to providing”
“Well, I want to keep a space theme, it’s kind of my brand, reminds me of home”
“So, how about, a planet or maybe a crashed space ship, that might be cool”
“Maybe, I’ll have to think about it more” Purpled admitted “What’s this place like then?”
“Well, X is a great admin, he’s more of a friend than an admin, we pretty much have free reign to build whatever we want” Cleo explained “The only rules are to not grief other people’s builds and no pet death”
“Good, we had a pet war on our server” Purpled sighed.
“Pet war, that sounds awful”
“The admin was a bit insane, we had full blown wars between countries, one that Tommy tried to establish with his brother”
“Well, things are much more relaxed here” Cleo said “This is about where you would be”
“There’s more space than I expected”
“Do you want any building materials to get you started?”
“Not that I can think of,”
“We can plan out your base a bit more if you want, I’m used to helping other hermits with blueprints”
“Maybe a bit later,” Purpled shrugged.
“Sure, has everything been alright so far?” Cleo asked.
“Yeah, I’m just getting used to it all” Purpled replied “Plus I’m still worried slightly”
“What about?”
“Our last admin getting here, or even anyone from our old place” he rolled his shoulders back uncomfortable at the thought “There was a reason we left that place, even if it took a few years to pluck up the courage”
“That sounds scary, maybe you should mention this to X” Cleo suggested “He might be able to do something about your admin, or if that’s too big of a step maybe talk to False she came from anarchy so has experienced bad admins”
“Thanks, I’ll think about it, it’s all a bit overwhelming being here, I left rather impulsively”
“Nothing bad about that, Hermitcraft is a nice place to be and we are always welcoming to new comers”
“You are all strangely kind,” he chuckled.
“Once you’ve settled in you may be subject to a few pranks and teasing so it won’t be pure kindness your entire time” Cleo said.
“Thank Prime”
“Prime?”
“A god, Tommy developed a religion” he shrugged.
“Right, anyway, let me know about any building ideas, I will be very happy to help” Cleo smiled “Also, you’re antennae are very cool”
“I will,” Purpled nodded “And thanks”
After that he decided to head back to the hotel he and Tommy were staying in. When he arrived and pushed open the room to their room, he was surprised to see Shroud immediately hurry over to him. Purpled reached down to pick up the spiderling who snuggled into his grasp. Tommy was laying on the bed curled in on himself. Purpled moved to sit next to him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I was talking to Grian” Tommy started “And you know how he mentioned wings?”
“Yeah,” Purpled nodded.
“I’m a hybrid, probably a crow like Phil because of genetics and shit, but he thinks my hybrid code was locked by Dream” Tommy explained.
“I’m sorry” was all Purpled could muster himself to say.
“Not your fault” Tommy shook his head.
“Do you want some time on your own?” Purpled asked.
“Yeah, I need to talk to Xisuma about it anyway” Tommy said, completely butchering Xisuma’s name.
“Alright, I’ll see you later” Purpled said “Come on Dogchamp”
“Where are we going?” Shroud asked.
“Exploring,” Purpled replied.
“What about mommy?”
“He needs some rest and to do adult things” Purpled replied “Do you want to say bye before we go?”
Shroud nodded so Purpled put him down and the kid ran over to Tommy’s side.
“Bye mommy, see you later” he said before hugging Tommy.
Once they exited the hotel and were stood back in the shopping district Shroud spoke up again.
“Where are we going, Purps?”
“I don’t know, where do you want to go?” Purpled asked in response.
“Um, deer lady, she liked me,” Shroud replied.
“Alright” Purpled pulled out his map and located Gem’s base fairly easily “We’re going this way” Purpled said spinning in his heels to face the right direction “Do you want to be carried or do you want to walk?”
“Walk,” Shroud said.
“Great, lets go”
“Purps?” Shroud asked after a minute.
“What’s up buddy?”
“Are we staying here forever?”
“Maybe” Purpled replied, truthfully he would like to but his and Tommy’s track rates for staying in places weren’t too good.
“Good, I like it here,” Shroud declared.
“We haven’t been here all too long”
“I don’t care” Shroud said before running after Dogchamp who had taken the lead of their trio.
Purpled chuckled to himself and watched as the kid chased Dogchamp. Dogchamp played along, running in circles around Shroud who giggled every time the dog hit him with his tail. They made it to Gem’s base pretty efficiently, Shroud knocked on the door excitedly but the moment the deer hybrid stepped out of her house Shroud lost all his confidence and hid behind Purpled.
“Hey Purpled” Gem smiled before crouching down to reach Shroud’s level “Hi, Shroud”
“Go on buddy, go say hi, you wanted to come here” Purpled pushed Shroud forward.
“Hi” the spiderling begrudgingly said.
“He is so cute,” Gem said to Purpled.
“Not when he sings the alphabet,” Purpled teased.
“You know your alphabet?” Gem asked Shroud.
He nodded.
“Well, how about you come in, I have some friends inside and I’m sure they’d love to hear you sing your alphabet” Gem said offering a hand out to Shroud.
Shroud turned to look at Purpled for approval. Purpled nodded and Shroud ran forward taking Gem’s hand. Purpled followed the pair into Gem’s base. There were people on the couch, if Purpled remembered correctly, Skizz, Tango and Impulse. He waved awkwardly and took a seat on one of the chairs.
“Hey Purpled” Impulse started “How are you settling in?”
“Alright, I’ve discussed base plans with Cleo already”
“That’s fun, what are you thinking?” Impulse asked.
“A planet, maybe one crashed into the ground” Purpled said “It would have to be a small one though”
“That sounds awesome” Impulse complimented.
“Thanks”
“Hey, if you need any redstone help, feel free to ask either me or impulse” Tango added.
“I will,” Purpled nodded.
“Purps, can I sing my alphabet now?” Shroud asked.
“That’s what we came in for now wasn’t it” Gem answered instead.
Purpled nodded, Shroud took the permission and very excitedly and loudly sang his alphabet for the room to hear. He got a round of applause that he loved, he was definitely Tommy’s kid. Shroud was happy to dash around Gem’s sitting room and play with Dogchamp whilst Purpled warmed up to the hermits more, it was fairly easy considering they were all extremely welcoming. After an hour or so, he left with Shroud and Dogchamp to check in with Tommy. He seemed in better spirits when they arrived back at the hotel.
“I’m assuming you are more familiar with your situation now,” Purpled said.
“Yeah, I’ve talked with X, he said we can deal with my code once I’m more stable, it's a long process but it’ll be worth it at the end” Tommy said “Also, he dropped off comms,”
Purpled reached over and grabbed the purple comm. “I see he took liberty with the colours”
Tommy laughed softly.
“I think we’ll be alright here,” Purpled concluded.
“I think we will,” Tommy agreed.