I Think Kei Is More "why Should I" Whereas Tobio Is Very "why Not"

i think kei is more "why should i" whereas tobio is very "why not"

Third Eye Blind

Some of Skizz's scars are actually Eyes.

Some that were Eyes are actually scars.

And some started as one and...became the other.

Secondary forms- be they extra limbs, a whole body transformation, just a quick shift in height or eyecolor- are just as usual on Hermitcraft as they are anywhere else in the multiverse. No one questions it when BDubs occasionally becomes a tree, or a shrub, or something in between. That last one's mostly because someone made fun of his height and he's decided he's done being a person for a while.

No one questions Impulse's disappearing and reappearing horns, in every state of trimmed or untrimmed they could be. Granted you don't often see Tango's blaze shards, but that's because to get them his hair must also be on fire and Tango deals with a lot of stuff that fire isn't terribly friendly with.

Sometimes something sleek goes by in the water and it's Gem, of course it's Gem, it's wearing a wide sash around its waist and it has a diamond sword.

Skizz fits neatly with his fellow hermits in this way. His peek a boo wings are the most obvious secondary thing about him, as is his halo with its blue crystal inclusions and sharp thorns, an obvious weapon that nonetheless only ever seems to circle lazily about his head, sometimes a single hoop, sometimes two. Impulse confirms for a curious False that he's seen as many as seven, though he's not sure if they're just projections of the original or extra copies.

The Eyes, though.

The Eyes are...sorta. Spooky.

They fit in the same category as Cleo if you think too hard, or what's beneath Etho's mask, or why precisely Doc has creeper parts. Still a part of their friend, nothing he can change, yet an indication of past and tragedy that no one wants to remind him of.

Since the zombie hoard incident, Skizz has opened more Eyes a couple times- on his arms, mostly, just quick blinks to help him confirm information, a lapis wink that's there one second and gone the next.

It explains the lack of sleeves nicely.

"Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" XB had once asked, exasperated after Skizz managed to foil an arrow prank seven times in a row.

"Nope!" Skizz tells him. "I used to, though."

"You used to?"

"Yeah! I got rid of it."

XB doesn't ask any more questions, but Mumbo nearby hears it, and he wonders.

He of course brings his wonderings to Grian.

Grian, who fearlessly lands on the tip of Skizz's pyramid and peers over him, about to ask another awkward question, emboldened by how far he and the angel have come.

From this angle, he realizes he can see it.

Or where it used to be.

There is a spot on the base of Skizz's neck that is a starburst of scar tissue, a webby knotted mass that looks like chewed gum popped all over. There's a clear indentation in it, a spot where something would have been.

Something like an Eye.

"What's up, G?" Skizz asks, and Grian blinks at him.

"Skizz. Your eyes don't all do the same thing, right?"

"Right." Skizz moves another block. "They read other light levels, mostly. I don't think I've got the same range as Doc's terminator eye, but he can just add new software whenever, I'm stuck with what I've got."

"Um. Okay." "I stabbed it out." It's said like Etho would say it, or Impulse. Matter of fact, quick. "It's how Command told me what to do. Not control me- they didn't need an Eye for that- but how they issued orders in a way I could understand and interpret."

Grian swallows weakly. "Oh."

"It's been a long time, G. I mostly forget about it." A brief pause. "Well. It's been on my mind lately, but." Skizz looks up. "Grian I want you to do me a favor." "Yeah?" "Don't feel sorry for me." "Skizz?" "Don't. I made it. I lived. I got off my beacon before it killed me and I can't say that about a whole lot of my siblings. This?" he gestures at the view from the top of his tower, at Gem's lighthouse and Scar's trees and the distant shopping district. "This is more than I could have ever imagined, Grian. More than I thought I'd ever get."

Skizz hops up beside Grian, sits down.

"What is Hermitcraft to you, Grian?" Skizz asks.

"Uh- it's- it's home. It's family." Grian looks up. "It's all these skies and all the laughter and, being harassed into putting backs on builds and watching new things be created it's so much."

Grian looks up at Skizz. "What is it to you?"

Skizz smiles. "It's a very old soldier's very happy ending, G." Skizz says. "And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the entire multiverse."

He wraps the smaller man in a one armed, one winged hug. "So forget about it, okay? Scars are scars. I've got 'em. You'll get 'em. That's just life. Besides. I've got more than enough Eyes to compensate, and so do you."

Grian sniffles and laughs. "Mine don't count."

"Ah, that's right. Only above a certain height limit."

"Skizz!" Grian laughs. The angel gets up. "Come on, G," he says. "There's gotta be someone worth hawkeyeing out there somewhere." "I..do have some TNT." "HAH! Reliable as Bdubs' clock. Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

And a very old soldier and his avian friend take off into the sapphire sky, leaving cares temporarily on the earth below.

56 notes View Post

bottledslothhat

3 months ago

Etho in his own video: here’s me terraforming! Some fun facts about beavers!

Etho in Beef’s video: i have learned how to mail bombs to government offices. It’s using my permit for bombs and bombing them!

2K notes View Post

bottledslothhat

4 months ago