Work Text:
Purpled knew that he had to feed his alien instincts, he knew they weren’t something he could push down until they went away. But he was irresponsible, and he wasn’t in a safe environment. The server was torn apart, L’manberg blown up and so many deaths, so many injuries. He thought the amount of death and blood would be enough to satisfy the instincts inside of him but it wasn’t. Back in Hypixel days the constant bedwars matches would keep him satisfied, keep him a functioning human presenting person. Now the instincts were ebbing away at his consciousness, attempting to drag him deep into his instincts.
He walked through the server with Pun, his tail swishing at his feet, he was vaguely listening to what Punz was saying, it was something relating to the recently passed war. Punz said his goodbye’s eventually and Purpled seemed to get lost further in his own head. He coiled and uncoiled his tail from around his ankle attempting to self regulate, it was proving futile.
The smell of gunpowder from the explosions was still hanging in the air. Every aspect of the server at the moment was unsettling, danger still present, no one felt safe. He continued to walk, further out of the server’s centre, towards the tall treeline in the distance. Occasionally, he would snap back into his full consciousness and feel confusion as to where he was going but his instincts quickly took back control.
It wasn’t until he actively started hunting that he tried to fight against his own instincts. He tried to pull himself from that mind space. Tried to convince himself that he didn’t need to chase down the rabbit and that he could ignore the wild pig that he’d forced himself to walk away from. He could feel his alien features attempting to break out from under his skin, attempting to defy his conscious mind. It wasn’t good.
He managed to remain in this sort of dissociative state as night crept in and was finally beginning to feel more in control. That was until he heard the hiss of a creeper, being so out of it he couldn’t react in time and was thrown to the ground by the explosion, the stench of gunpowder overflowed his senses, it was accompanied by the metallic smell of blood. It must be his own, creepers didn’t bleed.
He was right in that matter, there was blood trickling down his face, he reached to touch it bringing his hand down to see claws. Fuck. He was too far gone.
Rustling in the distance, the low tempting groans of a zombie. Everything out here was triggering his instincts, he could only give in.
~
Tommy was in the woods to escape the smell of gunpowder, however, the stench seemed burned into his nose and the flowers nor the slightly damp moss managed to take an edge off of it. Tommy enjoyed the woods, the variety of flowers and mushrooms were enough to keep him occupied. He felt a sense of safety in the woods despite being surrounded by possible hiding spots for anyone that may be targeting him. He’d collected the equivalent of two bouquets worth of flowers, one he’d give to Niki as thanks for the bread and another for his house and enough mushrooms for a few portions of soup. The distracting nature of the task had made him lose track of the time, the sun was low, he could just about make it out through the trees. His vision bathed in navy blue. He equipped his armour and a torch so that he could at least try and make his way out of the woods.
The torch ultimately did not give off much light. Tommy could hear the sound of mobs, the guttural groans of zombies and the rattling of skeletons. He held his sword in his other hand, cautious of what he could come across. Five minutes of walking later (hopefully in the right direction) he heard a creeper explode in the distance.
Signs of life. Creepers didn’t explode due to mobs only players.
Tommy headed in the direction of the sound, remaining cautious of the fact that other mobs would also be heading that way. Whilst mobs were stupid they at least had some sort of awareness.
~
Purpled was unsure how many mobs he had torn through. His hands were coated in blood and his clothes stained in it. Not that it mattered, his clothes were torn through from the spines now protruding from his back and arms. His tail swished apprehensively as his lower eyes scanned through the darkness. The distorted static of an enderman was next to distract him.
“Young one, take control” it told him.
“I tried,” Purpled responded, his mother tongue feeling foreign when he spoke.
“You did not try hard enough,” it continued.
“You don’t have to deal with this,” Purpled hissed anger bubbling inside.
“Neither should you” it continued “If you took care of yourself and respected your heritage-”
A moment flashed and the enderman was screeching in pain, purple blood seeping out of a gash across its chest. The same purpled blood coated one of Purpled’s hands.
Purpled, inhaled and pulled away from the endermen, he pushed himself backwards, tripping over his own feet. His consciousness coming back to him as his breath sped up his vision blurring, purple mixing with red.
The sting of the gash on his face pulled him back to reality even more, he cupped his face with his hand, curling in on himself. His breathing still irregular. Over his harsh breathing he heard footsteps, human footsteps.
~
Tommy continued towards where he had heard the creeper explosion, he could also hear movement, sounds similar to fighting noises. Quick and agile footsteps, grunts, hisses. This person was fighting a mob. The harsh static of enderian was short to follow, two voices, one clearly from an enderman and one from what Tommy could only guess to be a player.
The second voice spoke enderian well but lacked the usual screeching undertone, it sounded like whenever Phil or Techno had tried to learn the language.
His thoughts were interrupted by an ear splitting screech. Tommy darted forward against his better judgement before hiding himself behind a tree. He heard the familiar vwoop of an enderman teleporting. There was just a player there now. Just a player, he would be fine.
Tommy stepped forwards catching the glimpse of a dark mass curled in on themselves. Blood on the floor, a purple tail.
“Purpled?” he frowned “Is that you?”
~
Tommy, that was Tommy’s voice, no Tommy can’t be here. He’s dangerous, he’ll hurt him.
Purpled doesn't want to hurt Tommy.
“Tommy?” he chokes out in enderian.
“What happened? What are-” Tommy’s voice faded off.
Purpled let out an involuntary half screech half whimper.
“Are you alright?” Tommy starts immediately rushing forward.
“NO” Purpled scrambled back his panic causing him to switch back to English “I’ll hurt you”
“You won’t” Tommy crouched down letting his knees rest on the floor, keeping his distance.
“I will,” Purpled defended, his attempt falling flat “I- when I get in this state-”
“You’re not there anymore” Tommy reasoned “You’re communicating with me and you’re aware that you may hurt me”
“I’m dangerous Tommy”
“Not anymore,” Tommy shrugged “That gash on your face looks nasty”
Purpled wearily pulled his hand away from his face, the claws had contracted. He turned his hand over making sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. He could now feel the night breeze filtering through the holes in his hoodie. The smell of blood was weaker but now it turned his stomach somewhat.
“My place isn’t too far, I can patch you up” Tommy said.
“Why are you trusting me?”
“You’re my friend, and you’re hurt,” Tommy said.
“I’m a killer Tommy”
“We all are at this point, it’s kill or be killed out there” Tommy offered a hand out for Purpled to take.
Purpled wiped his hand on his hoodie and took Tommy’s hand.
The walk back thankfully wasn’t long, tiredness had begun to overtake Purpled. He practically collapsed onto the bed Tommy let him sit on.
“What happened out there?” Tommy asked bustling around pulling together bandages and a cloth he was wetting “You were talking to an enderman”
“My alien side, it has enderian roots” Purpled explained taking the wet cloth Tommy passed to him and wiping his hands off “The hostile part, the instincts it has sometimes take control”
“There’s not much you can do about instincts,” Tommy said, tilting Purpled’s head up and carefully cleaning the wound decorating his head.
“I can, my instincts crave violence and blood” Purpled squeezed the cloth in his hands as he spoke, water dripping onto his pants “Hypixel, bedwars tournaments, they kept me in control, there are things I can do”
Tommy hummed in understanding as he patched up Purpled’s forehead with some gauze and medical tape.
“The enderman was telling me to take control, I neglect my instinctive side” Purpled confessed “I snapped at it, injured it, I shouldn't have done that, I’m going to be in trouble”
“Woah, woah, calm down” Tommy said softly, separating Purpled’s clenched hands.
Purpled hadn’t clocked his sped up breathing “Fuck” he cursed, rubbing the bases of his palms into his eyes.
“I think whatever you’re worried about you should leave it until tomorrow to deal with” Tommy reasoned “You need to take a shower, you stink of blood”
Purpled chuckled.
“You can borrow some of my clothes, just don’t get that dressing wet,” Tommy informed him “If you do I’m not redressing it for you”
“I won't,” Purpled rolled his eyes.
The shower was a welcomed warmth, he tried not to look at the red and purple tinged water as it pooled slightly at his feet. He didn’t get the dressing on his head wet, per Tommy’s request and changed into the clothes Tommy left. They were a bit short on him, he’d just outgrew Tommy so his ankles were slightly exposed. The pair were constantly fighting about who was the tallest, through frequent growth spurts neither of them held the victory of being the tallest for too long.
There was a pleasant smell in Tommy’s house coming from two bowls of mushroom soup sitting on the side, a roll of bread accompanying each. Tommy was already tucking into his. Purpled was short to follow, it was warm and silky, and the bread was soft as well.
“It’s Niki’s recipe,” Tommy said.
“It’s really good”
“You can have the bed tonight,” Tommy added.
“I can make my way back to my place” Purpled shut him down.
“Nope, you almost passed out on the walk back I’m surprised you survived the shower” a fond smile played on Tommy’s face.
“At least craft yourself a bed” Purpled said “There is space”
“Fine” Tommy relented.
Tommy crafted himself a bed after dinner and placed it a block gap away from Purpled’s. Once Purpled was finished with food Tommy was on him to get to bed. Sleeping was apparently the best medicine. It didn’t take him long to get to sleep anyway. Instincts were always draining and them all overtaking him at once only amplified the side effects. At least Tommy found him otherwise he’d be dealing with his injuries after he’d lugged himself home and passed out. Tommy was a good friend.