Has no one ever seen "I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now,"? Really? I'll be honest, I'm disappointed.
No cookie for you.
"I'm going strip mining." Mitch announced after staring at a wall for ten minutes.
"Don't die." Ashley called.
"Thanks for the advice." Mitch said sarcastically, starting his mine downwards. He had to be extremely careful and place torches often. Couldn't have any mobs spawning. He descended at a steady pace, stopping to mine some resources every once in a while. Soon he was on prime diamond area and ready to search.
Within twenty minutes Mitch had picked up redstone, iron, lapis, and a vein of gold, but still no diamond. He sighed and was just about to give up when something blue caught his eye. Mitch gasped and turned towards the lava pool. Sitting there were four visible diamonds. He rushed over and began placing down blocks to ensure he wouldn't lose his prize to lava. In all he had found seven diamonds, a rather large vein. He smiled as a feeling of usefulness washed over him.
Mitch decided to bring back another surprise for Ashley in order to prove his true worth. He placed his crafting table and eagerly and made his choice tool. The lava around him brought him to his prize as he began mining, and mining, and mining. After a good five minutes he had collected enough. After crafting the item, Mitch skipped back to the surface.
"Honey, I'm home!" He called out.
She rolled her eyes. "So you didn't die, I take it?"
"Not a scratch." Mitch proclaimed. "I brought you a present."
"Is it a penguin? Otherwise I'm not interested-" She gaped as Mitch out down the enchantment table. "Where did you get that?"
"I made it all by myself. See, I'm useful."
She chuckled. "Never would've guessed. Hey, how much gold do you have?"
"Ten raw." He replied.
"Hand it over. We're going to get you back to full health." He did as she asked and she put in in the furnace. "We need to starts acting things up and heading to the surface. If we don't start killing people now they'll become stacked and expect us. How many levels do you have?"
"24."
"And how many diamonds?"
"4."
"Enchant two swords, level 12 for each. I'll enchant a set of armor for both of us. Do we have bows?" He shook his head. "Shame. Get to it, then."
Mitch came out with a Sharpness 2 and a Sharpness 1 Fire Aspect 1sword. He gave Ashley the Sharpness 2 sword and kept the fire for his own. He liked flame and figured she'd prefer the stronger sword, anyways. They packed up all of their materials afterwards and began to dig towards the surface as carefully as possible.
Ashley hit a layer of dirt and punched through it as quickly as possibly. "Crap," she muttered, replacing the block and darkening the room.
"What's wrong?" Mitch asked from below her.
"It's the middle of the night and there's a ton of mobs out there. We can't leave yet."
"What do we do?" Mitch asked.
Ashley looked around and sighed. "I guess we wait." She dug out a small area and sat down. "May as well turn off your recording, we're going to be a while."
Mitch nodded and sat down across from her. They sat in silence for a few moments as Mitch messed with his microphone, but he eventually broke the eerie feeling. "So, you're really good at this UHC thing. Have you played before?"
"A couple of times." She smiled as if reminiscing. "I have to practicing my PVP skills somehow, keep the haters off my back."
"I know, it's rough." Mitch nodded. "As soon as you mess up they're breathing down your back."
"What do you mean, "when you mess up?" If I win they tell me I did it all wrong or that my strategies are cheap or that everyone let me win. But hey, I guess it's all part of the job. Wish they'd put it in the description." She sighed and laughed pitifully.
"You really seem a lot nicer when Jerome isn't around." Mitch commented.
Ashley chuckled. "You are so naive. Mitch, I am a female in a male-dominated area. You have to be tough, present yourself as someone not to be messed with. Otherwise you will be crushed by an onslaught of oppression and boob jokes."
"Oh." Mitch hadn't thought of that before. Did people really do that? "So you aren't actually some badass chic who gives of the image of being able to kill anything she wishes?"
Something flickered in Ashley's eyes, but she blinked it away. "Not particularly. I'm actually a bit shy and I don't find joy in killing things."
"What do you like then?" Mitch asked. He didn't know what was true and what wasn't.
"Penguins, cake, hunger games, and singing I guess." Ashley laughed. "Not much more to the real me then that."
Mitch thought of a lesson his father had given him when he was merely 13. "Facades," he had said, "are the key to ruling a kingdom. You must have a good poker face. A great weakness is when leaders show emotion in their face, so you must be able to read and not be read. Study your enemy without giving anything away, son."
"What do you mean by facades?" Mitch had asked.
"You must create a reputation for yourself. If you are weak, make others think you are strong. If you are strong, don't give away your best strategies. The key to success is being one step ahead and taking the enemy by surprise."
Mitch supposed Ashley was doing the same. She was hiding her flaws to ensure her success, and Mitch had to admit she was doing a pretty good job. Why was she telling Mitch this, though? She just gave away her whole plan to someone she'd known for two days.
"Why are you telling me?" Mitch asked.
Ashley studied Mitch for a moment. "There's something different about you. When you talk to me, you don't see me as a girl. You see me as a person, and I can tell. Though some of the other members of Team Crafted are nice, I can tell they are a bit weirded out with a girl being there."
"Does Adam know?"
"You act like this is some big secret I tell everyone!" She frowned. "It's like... You know how your personality changes when you record? I do that, just nearly full-time. Not a big deal."
"Yes, a big deal!" Mitch insisted. "You shouldn't have to change who you are to be successful. Be yourself, and people will like you. No gimmicks, no nothing."
"Oh really?" She raised an eyebrow. "You should try that sometime yourself."
Mitch's eyes widened. Did she know about him and Jerome? No, she couldn't. She must've been referring to something else. "What?"
A look of sadness washed over her face. "Oh, nothing. Let's restart the recording." She smiled slightly and pressed the one button. "And we're back with some more UHC guys-"
So I'm sick again. Yay (when did I ever stop being sick?) I'm really excited because I get to write SO MUCH FLUFF in either next chapter or the one after it.
SO MUCH
~Scarlett