Author's Notes
Chapter twelve!
We currently have four characters, Thomas, Sarah, Eba and Simon.
You guys enjoying the story? I Hope so.
Anyway, here we go!
Eba's starting
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Once our meal was cooked, Thomas and Sarah had started grilling Simon. He seemed a bit flustered by the sudden onslaught of questions, but he handled himself very well. I'm not sure if I could've...
We learned that he is from the creeper clan, that he was a tinkerer and forger, and knew some things about redstone contraptions. We also learned that he was a whisperer. Thomas was intrigued "What's a whisperer?" "Well, it's a trait, or ability that some people get. But it's got some weird... rules. For example, I can only talk to creepers. They can understand me as well as I can understand them. I'm sure that if Sarah was a whisperer, she would only be able to talk to skeletons."
Thomas seemed satisfied with this. But I wasn't. "Umm... *munch*" I wasn't done eating. "When did you... *munch*... realishe that you where a wishperer? What doesh it... *munch*... feel like to talk to creepersh?" Simon smiled and I blushed again. "Well, it feels just like normal. Like learning a new language. Except I felt like I know creeper better than english." This was very interesting.
"Also, the first time I spoke to a creeper was in my old backyard, I was like... eight, I think. I had been toying with some pebbles and I heard it hiss. He was looking at me. So I hissed back. But it felt... weird. The creeper was as surprised as I was. He hissed and I could feel his voice in my head. I hissed back, but I understood what I said this time. 'Hi', was the only thing I could think of. He hissed and I heard him clearly. 'Hello. How can you speak to me?'. I smiled and hissed back.
'I don't know.' He made an attempt at a smile, which I found hilarious. 'I've never spoken to one of your kind. What's your name?' He sounded young, probably like, twice my age. 'I'm Simon. How about you?' I don't remember what he said. I was quite young. I do remember that we had a very long conversation, though"
I found this endearing and cute. Then I had a sudden itch on my head, like the back of my head. I scratched it, but it wouldn't go away. I scratched furiously, my head starting to hurt. "Umm... Eba?" Thomas and Sarah were looking at me with confused faces, but Simon just looked plainly interested. "I... ugh, it itches! I can't make it stop!"
Simon gently pushed my arms away from my head. He pulled out his pocket knife and it sprung a little hairbrush.
"Just gimme a second." He stated to comb my hair and the itching stopped. "Eba? I think you have an endermite problem." "What???" He lifted the comb of my head, and I could see that there were endermite scales on its little teeth. This is bad. Endermites aren't really that dangerous, but some can carry disease.
"Urgh, no! Ah, it itches so much! Help!" I was panicking now, on the verge of tears. Thomas asked, "What can we do?" Simon looked over at him. "Not sure. Combing is only half the solution. Endermites can warp too, so they just move out of the way until it's stopped. We need to give Eba a bath." I blushed deeply at the thought.
"I can bathe myself! Ooohhh... I'll warp to the lake." Simon jumped up. "No! If you warp, more endermites will show up. You'll have to walk." I did not like this. The endermites would be nipping at my head the whole while. "It's alright, Sarah can go with you." I looked at Sarah, and I found it funny that she was shocked by Simon's sudden decision. "I, uhh, sure. Yep, I'll go with Eba. Do you... Y'know what, I'll talk to you on the way." She stood up and held a hand out to me. "Th-thanks." She helped me stand up and we walked hurriedly towards the lake.
I hate endermites so much...
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Sarah
The walk was awkward at first, What with Eba's constant scratching and moaning. But eventually, I managed started a conversation. "So, uhh... have you had this problem before?" She blushed. "I-yes. Twice before. I know what I'm supposed to do to get rid of the endermites." "Okay... do you, umm, have to undress?" She looked at me in a weird manner, while still scratching her head. "Yes... I don't want my clothes getting wet." She said it matter-of-factly, but I wasn't irritated by this.
It was quite a long walk to the lake, and I knew Eba was having an awful time, but I didn't know what to do. I started humming unconsciously. Eba stopped scratching after a while, but I didn't notice. Then, and without thinking, I started singing in a low voice.
"...Once upon, a different life, we rode our bikes into the sky...
But now, we call, against the tide, those distant days, are flashing by...
Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes, hold back the river so I-I, can stop for a minute and see where you hide, hold back the river, hold back...
Lonely water... lonely water, won't you let us wander? Let us, hold each other...
Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes, hold back the river so I-I, can stop for a minute and be by your side, hold back the river, hold back...
Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes, hold back the river so I-I, can stop for a minute and be by your side, hold back the river, hold back... "
Once I was done, Eba spoke up. "That... wow. How... when did you...? I don't... urgh! I can't think straight!" I smiled, and she blushed. "Okay, try again." She cleared her throat. "That was beautiful. Where did you learn how to sing?" Now I blushed. "Well, I like it. I spent all lazy days listening to music and singing. My family lived near the town square, so there was almost always someone playing something. I like that song, and it's one of my favorites." She nodded, her itchiness forgotten for the moment. "How many songs do you know?" I smiled. "Not a lot... at last count it was probably like five, or something." She nodded again, scratching her head a little.
We were almost at the lake, now. Eba's scratching was quite funny, even though I knew how much of a problem that was to her kind. Once wereached the lakeshore, Eba stated to unzip and take off her hoodie, revealing a pink undershirt. I looked away out of embarrassment, even though I've seen this a thousand times. I take baths too.
I suddenly heard splashing, and when I turned around, I saw a fully naked Eba washing the absolute hell out of her hair. I mean, she looked like she was trying to remove the long purple strands themselves. I sat down on the shore, humming a different tune this time. Not sure which song it belongs to, but that didn't bother me too much. I looked at the blue sky above me while Eba was having her fun.
The clouds were chasing each other. I smiled at the thought. Hm, hm-hm hm-hmm, hm hm-hm hm-hmm, hm-hm, hm-hmhm, hmmm, hmm-hmm, hm-hm, hm-hm hmm...
"Sarah!" I turned to look for Eba. She looked like she was having fun out in the water. "Come in! The water feels nice!" I blushed at the thought. 'Aw, What the hell? It's not as if anyone is watching.' The thought made me blush deeper despite its logic.
I undressed myself and tentatively entered the water, wading towards Eba.
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Thomas
While Sarah was helping Eba with her predicament, I got to know Simon better. I was messing with some sticks and planks so I could make a crude shovel. I needed a shovel so that I could get to the stone layer, then if I could make a pick axe, I could gather some of the stone for further use and progress.
Simon found me using a sharp stone from a few days ago to shape a plank into the shovel head. "That's gonna take you a long time if you do it that way." I looked up. "I know, but it's the only way I can do it at the moment."
He nodded, then pulled out his pocket knife. It sprung out a small, serrated blade. "Maybe you could strip a stick while I carve the shovel head. Y'know, so it's faster." Now I nodded and picked up the stick I had brought with me from the storage shed.
I started stripping the wood with my stone while Simon carved out the shovel head carefully. We finnished rather quickly, but then we ran into another problem. "So, um... how did you plan to attach the shovel head to the stick?" I smiled sheepishly. "Honestly didn't think it would take that much. I thought that I could just strap it together with some wool or clay or something."
He made a mock frown and spoke. "I have an idea. We could do both, if we carved some slots in the wood so that they fit into one another. Then we use clay to seal it, and wool to strap it." I nodded. "Sounds good. Let's get to work on it." It took a couple of minutes, but we managed to make interlocking notches on each wooden part.
I had grabbed some clay and wool from the storage shed. It actually used to be our primary shelter, before we built up the house. We managed to complete our project and decided to test it. "Alright, let's go find the toughest patch of grass. If the shovel can tear through that, then we did a good job." Simon nodded, and we wandered around the plains.
It took a while, but we found some dirt that was very compact and dry. I used the shovel, and to my surprise, the dirt moved away with ease. "Hey! It works!" Simon had a huge smile on his face. "Let's go make a pickaxe!", he said, already running back to the house. I smiled and ran after him.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
20 minutes later
It took a while to design and then assemble the pickaxe, but once it was finished and tested, we were happy with the result. Now that I had someone to help me make tools and basic ones to start with, progress would take a lot less time.
This is also about the point when Sarah and Eba came back. They were barefoot, their boots and socks in hand. The rest of their clothes were wet. "Uhh, what happened to you guys?" Simon beat me to the question. "Oh, nothing" Sarah said. "We just took a little swim." Then Eba spoke up. "Um, yeah, and we... we didn't have towels. So now all our stuff is wet."
This whole situation was a bit awkward. "Alright then. I guess you'll have to get new clothes or something." Sarah smiled at me. "Yeah, but it's no problem. I could hunt down some cows to make leather armor and we could wear that while the rest of our clothing dries out." Eba nodded.
I told them about Simon and my achievement. They seemed overjoyed about it, but I think it was a little forced. Oh, well, at least they were happy. "So did the bath help with the endermite problem?" Eba nodded, blushing a little. "Ye-yes, it did. My head doesn't itch anymore." I smiled, then turned to Simon. "We should make tools for you too se we can go mining." He nodded, thinking it over. "Yes. I'll bring some low-key dynamite with me." This was odd. "I didn't think there was such a thing as 'low-key tnt'." Simon smiled. "Yep. It's like the middle point between fireworks and real explosives." I nodded, and we chatted around while the girl's dried out their less revealing clothes.
We went to bed early, and I kicked myself for not remembering to make one for Simon. He said he didn't mind, but I'm sure he was just being nice. I'll make a mental note. Eba had hung up her undershirt and was currently sleeping in her mostly dry hoodie. Simon actually offered Sarah his own hoodie so she could hang up her shirt. She blushed and thanked him for the item
We were all gonna be busy tomorrow.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Extra Author's Notes
I was honestly considering to remove this chapter entirely, thinking that it was too awkward. Oh, well.
Thank you everyone (especially you. I know you know who you are) for your wonderful support! Have a great day!
~ LeMafiaKreb