It was the cow that woke him, mooing in its need to be taken care of, and how dare Steve not be awake yet to feed it. He grumbled his complaint as he sat up, sleep clouding his thoughts. He threw off the blanket and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sighing sleepily as he stood, rubbing his face with his hand. He dressed himself, the same thing he wore every day, mining clothes. A teal t-shirt, and indigo pants.
He slid on his grey shoes before tapping his toes against the floor to make sure his feet were comfortably settled in the shoes. He wandered to the door lazily, swinging open the oak door with little effort as he wandered out of the house, the cow mooing again to try to get his attention again. He grumbled softly,
"Yeah, yeah I get it already."
He sighed as he finally got over to the chest outside of the pen that housed his cow, carefully opening and rummaging around to grab a bale of hay and a bucket, along with a stool. He opened the gate and wandered inside, shutting it behind himself with his foot. He yawned as he tossed the hay down in front of the cow, and it got to work with munching away. He set his stool down beside the cow, placing the bucket beneath its udders, and got to work milking her.
"This better?"
He offered cheekily with a little chuckle, the cow giving a little moo in reply.
"Yeah, I know, I know, it gets uncomfortable."
He hummed softly, pausing as he heard a soft rustle in the grass, almost like….
"Footsteps…?"
He mumbled softly to himself, glancing over his shoulder both ways, only to find nothing. It must've just been a rabbit or something wandering by, they did quite often enough so it wasn't unusual, besides they were quick anyways, and he wasn't surprised he hadn't seen it. He continued to milk the cow, nearly filling the bucket before the flow of milk stopped, sighing as he pushed himself up off of the stool, grabbing it and the bucket. He gave the cow a gentle pat before leaving through the gate again, replacing the stool where it had been. He brought the milk inside, placing it into glass bottles and putting them into the ice chest he had made, that way it wouldn't spoil as quickly.
He had to be crafty, but he had managed to make the chest in such a way that it wouldn't leak if the ice inside it melted, but it was insulated with lots of wool wrapped in string to make thick pads that kept it cool in there, so it didn't melt nearly as fast. It also kept the meat that he didn't cook preserved longer, so he had more food than he had before. He gathered some pork he had gotten while out hunting for himself the day prior, and cooked it, eating that along with some bread and some of the fresh milk.
He finally got up from the table he had been sitting at, and gathered his things. A satchel that would hold all the ores and such that he collected, an enormous amount without ever getting heavy, his inventory bag, a pick, and some torches. He also grabbed bread and a few apples in case he was out longer than he intended to be, which he usually was.
He headed out, waving to the cow who mooed a goodbye as he began down the path towards his mine. He hummed softly to himself, a tune he came up with as he went along, not knowing what else to hum, as he had never been exposed to much music, and the music that he liked happened to require a jukebox to listen to, and he didn't have one, or any music discs for that matter, so he resolved himself to humming his own little tunes that he thought sounded nice as he walked.
He finally reached the entrance to the cave that he had been digging in for quite a while now, but he was taking his time, as he wanted to be sure it was thoroughly cleared out of all the ores it had to offer. He stood at the entrance, taking a deep breath and smiling as the damp air filled his lungs, loving the smell it brought with it from the depths of the cave. He ventured forth, pausing briefly as he had an odd feeling, but he wasn't sure of what exactly it was. He shrugged it off as jitters from being surprised by that rabbit earlier that morning, and continued down into the cave.
He followed the path that he had made for himself, having lit the way with torches, the walls, floors, and ceilings bare of any minerals. He finally approached the spot where he had left off yesterday, getting to work with mining, placing torches as he went, being sure to have brought plenty. This was his favorite thing to do since he had just woken up in this place with no memories of anything except nothingness before that. He had grown to love the darkness but be wary of the mobs, and he got by, not without the occasional scrape or cut, or run in with a mob, but he did his best.
He mined and mined, taking a brief break to eat before mining some more, drinking from small waterfalls in the rock when he got thirsty. Eventually he ran out of torches, and he was getting tired, so he decided to call it a day, humming softly as he walked, happy to see that he had made it just before the sunset, and he would get to watch it go down as he got home. He yawned and stretched, pausing as his step faltered, and he heard a step behind him, almost as if they had been echoing his own…
He continued, hoping that they wouldn't notice that he noticed, wanting to honestly see if someone was following him. Currently he was on a section of the path that ran through a forest, dense groupings of birch and oak surrounded the path on both sides, perfect for hiding in, but just spread enough you could see between them, as far as he could without it getting misty. He faltered his step purposely to see if it happened again, and it did. Someone was definitely following him.
He continued again, like nothing had happened, whipping around suddenly, but nobody was there…. In fact nothing was there at all, just the empty path he had been coming from. He turned back around, and nothing was in front of him either, making him sigh and grumble. He must've just been imagining things after all. He glanced around through the trees, pausing briefly as his eyes caught something. Two softly glowing white lights far off, almost at the edge of the fog.
They got closer, and the silhouette of a person could be seen… So those were….
"Eyes..?"
He mumbled, growing concerned. He hadn't ever read anything about people with glowing white eyes except for…. But no that was just a kid's bedtime story meant to spook them into being good and going to bed on time… wasn't it? He had frozen in place, shocked to say the least, but snapped out of his stupor when he realized that this person or whatever it was, was coming right towards him. As they came closer, he realized they wore the same clothing as him, and it was definitely a man considering his build.
Teal mining shirt.
Indigo pants.
Grey shoes.
Oh no…
It was him
He turned and broke into a sprint down the path, not wanting to stick around to find out if any of those stories had been true. Honestly he was terrified. He ran all the way home, his breathing heavy as he leaned against the door to his home, trying desperately to catch his breath. Was that guy really… Herobrine? He certainly hoped not, especially not with the stories that floated around about him, his entire existence shrouded in darkness and mystery.
He slid down the door, groaning in annoyance, sliding his bag off and pulling his knees closer to his chest, his face in his hands
"For the love of Notch why…"
He grumbled, carefully getting up and peeking out of the window, relieved when he saw that he hadn't been followed back here, being sure to check the tree line as well, not wanting to miss him on accident and let his guard down when there was danger. He was relieved to see that he was, in fact, not hiding amongst the trees. He gave a little relieved sigh as he grabbed his bag, moving it to his materials room before running upstairs to bathe and get ready for bed. It had been a long day and he figured he deserved the rest, especially after the day he had and… Ugh… He didn't even want to think about what had happened with…
No, no he wasn't even going to mention it in his head. He grumbled as he stripped himself, looking in his mirror and glancing at the scars on his body from mobs and other things over the time he had been here. It was odd just to think about all he had been through. He had stopped after his shirt, grumbling as he grabbed a towel and fresh clothes, having to walk to the stream near his house. He went quietly, the sun still up, just barely over the horizon.
He stripped, humming softly as he waded in, cleaning himself head to toe, and getting out, drying and dressing himself before returning home. He had glanced around a few times, but he felt a lot better now. Maybe he had just been imagining things since he was so tired. Yeah that must've been it, that and the whole scare that morning. He entered his house, locking his door before turning and going up the stairs, getting himself into sleeping clothes before getting into bed, yawning softly as he curled up in his bed.
The torchlight of the room was soft and warm, and it further helped lull him to sleep, his breathing soft and even as he finally fell into a deep and restful sleep.
Yes Steven…
Sleep…
You'll need it…