Chapter Text
After a brief loading screen, you realized you and Selma were now both in the twilight forest. You looked around, taking in the dark landscape filled with tall coniferous trees and hundreds of glowing fireflies. In the distance, you could see large mushrooms, patches of flowers, and a blue river. A few seconds passed as you and Selma took in the view before you were joined by the Koury siblings.
“Oh my gosh this place is so gorgeous!” Exclaimed Weston.
“Look at all the fireflies!” Kalynn said in agreement.
“This is just like Twilight!” Selma added.
“Edward!!!!” Kalynn responded.
“Guys, I’m not gonna lie, I was team Jacob…” Weston said.
“Personally, I was team Alice. She was the best Cullen sibling, hands down.” You chimed in, causing Kalynn and Selma to nod in agreement.
“Alright, did we have a plan? What are we gonna find here?” Weston said, turning around and starting to walk away.
“I think we should collect anything cute that we see.” Said Kalynn.
“I want some of the firefly jars, and also maybe a cute pet if we can find one!” You said.
Suddenly, a dog appeared next to you. “OMG, who is this magical beast?” Weston asked.
“That’s my dog, Jacob, like from Twilight.” Selma responded as you all continued walking, eventually coming across a small clearing full of various flowers and other plants.
“Guys, look at all these pretty flowers and these glowy mushrooms! This place is seriously the cutest!” You exclaimed, picking as many as you could in order to decorate your house later.
After you had picked your fill of flowers, the four of you ventured deeper into the twilight forest, occasionally pausing to laugh at Weston as a glow worm appeared on his face or as he jumped into a deep well to see what was at the bottom. You also worked on collecting firefly jars and logs from the different trees, as well as any generally cool things you came across.
After a notification sound from Discord, Kalynn told the rest of you: “guys, Schlatt is in the forest!”
You felt your heart do a flip in anticipation, looking forward to once again chatting with the charming guy from the previous night. He was admittedly a little hard to read, chill and easygoing one moment and then loud and boisterous the next. However, you were still intrigued by him, and you wanted to get to know him better.
“Let’s go find him!” Weston exclaimed, and you all set off back towards what you assumed was the direction of the portal you had originally come through. After a bit of walking, you all discovered him at the top of a hill, surrounded by fireflies. His Minecraft character turned around when he heard you approaching, and he crouched once in greeting.
“JSchlatt! You came!” Weston cried.
“Yeah!” Schlatt replied, “ooh… you got a bug on your face, man.”
“That’s what I said!” You laughed.
“Look what I got!” Kalynn said, placing down a cicada she had found on the ground a few minutes earlier.
“Did you know the United States is about to have a swarm of 100 million cicadas?” Schlatt asked.
“I did, actually,” you responded, “but did you know that some of the cicadas are infected with a sort of zombie-fungus-sex-virus thingy? It’s crazy! It’s like The Last of Us except they’re cicadas and instead of eating people they just get really horny and their genitals fall off.”
“Happens to me all the time.” Schlatt quipped.
“Is that real!?” Weston asked.
“Unfortunately. And it’s also turning them gay; it causes the males to make the noises of females in order to attract other males and have sex with them, except they can't because their genitals have already fallen off!” You told the others, laughing.
“That also happens to me,” Schlatt joked once again, “I can show you some time if you want.”
“Oh! Well, off to find some goblins or wizards?” Weston asked, changing the subject. The rest of you nodded and followed him as he set off into the forest in a different direction than you had come from. At this rate, it was not going to be easy to find the portal to get out of that place.
“You know, this is a pretty dangerous place. I don’t know if you guys know what you’re getting into-” Schlatt said, right before Weston and Kalynn walked into a horde of monsters and started screaming. “This area is kinda infested with little buggies and other mobs.”
The five of you worked to kill the dangerous mobs that were attacking you and Selma’s dog, eventually defeating them all and collecting the slime balls and other items they dropped. Afterwards, Schlatt asked, “did you guys not see that big ol’ cave? You just walked right by it!”
“OMG! Let’s go check it out then,” Kalynn said, as she, Weston, and Selma all walked over to the stairway in the side of a hill that led down into the cave. You decided to stay on the surface with Schlatt, already having done enough mining for the day.
After a brief moment of awkward silence, Schlatt turned to you and asked, “so, how is the SDMP treating you?”
“It’s been great so far,” you replied. “Everyone has been so kind and welcoming, although there are a few… interesting characters.”
“Yeah, this server is full of freaks.” Schlatt responded. Then, after a few seconds, he added in a kinder tone, “most of the people are really nice, though. I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the crazy sh*t people have come up with in just a few weeks.”
“Me too! Everyone is so creative and funny. It’s a little intimidating, I have to admit. I don't really feel like I belong”
“You shouldn’t be. I think you’re pretty funny,” Schlatt said softly. Suddenly, you heard the voices of the others in the distance, coming up from the cave.
“Funny for a woman, I mean.” Schlatt said loudly, as Selma and the Kourys emerged from the cave entrance. You were a bit taken aback by his abrupt change in demeanor, but you figured he probably just wasn’t as comfortable joking with you since you didn’t know each other that well.
“Oh my gosh! What is that?” Kalynn exclaimed suddenly, running off into the trees.
“That’s called a deer.” Schlatt responded as the rest of you followed her towards the creature. Weston and Kalynn began to freak out, frantically asking how they could tame the deer and trying to figure out how they could take it home. A moment later, the deer burst into flames before floating up in the air and dying. You all turned to look at Schlatt, who was holding his enchanted neptunium sword in his hand.
“You! Are! Sick! In! The! Head!” Weston yelled, as Kalynn asked “why did you do that!?”
“No look, he’s delicious!” Schlatt responded, dropping two pieces of cooked meat on the ground.
“That’s disgusting!” Kalynn said.
“That’s evil!” Selma added.
“Yeah, animals are friends, not food!” You chimed in.
“I’m going to walk in this direction until I find another one,” Weston declared. He started to walk away, and made it a few blocks before letting out a loud gasp.
“What?” Kalynn asked.
“It’s the Ted Nivision castle!” Weston exclaimed, looking at a large stone structure in the distance. “No, it’s the Modern Family mansion!” You all started running towards the building, until you spotted something out of the corner of your eye and once again stopped in your tracks.
“AWW! Look, it’s a little bird or something! I think it’s a crow!” You said, and the others gathered around you, trying to feed it seeds or figure out how to tame it. Weston began making squawking noises to try to lure the crow towards him, and to your amusem*nt, Schlatt soon joined in, before starting to go “pspspspspsps” at it like it was a cat. With their attempts seemingly futile, they eventually both gave up on befriending the crow and you all started off once again.
The five of you walked along the edge of a meandering river, enjoying a brief moment of silence. Kalynn and Weston walked ahead, looking around at the scenery. You and Schlatt walked behind them, slightly more cautious as Schlatt held his sword out to ward off any potential dangers that might have been hiding in the forest. Selma trailed behind the rest of you, her unfortunate Australian wifi connection causing her to lag and freeze up every few seconds.
After a little bit, Weston sighed dramatically. “Ugh, it’s nice being in here with you, ya know?” He said, looking at Schlatt.
“Yeah, I feel like we can really… be ourselves in here.” Schlatt responded.
“I know, I feel like I can just take everything off and be one with the world!” Weston exclaimed.
“Yeah, I think you should.” Schlatt agreed, stopping suddenly and staring at Weston.
“Alright,” Weston said, before putting on a full suit of armor and then taking it back off again.
“Oh my god. Wow,” Schlatt said. “That was hot. Who wants to go next?” He asked, turning to look at the rest of you.
“Don’t look at me, bud.” Kalynn responded, turning to face Selma.
“Nope.” Selma said, looking at you.
You sighed as the group stared at you. “Not. Happening.” You said in a monotone voice, dragging out your words for comedic effect. The others turned away in disappointment, but Schlatt continued to look at you, not saying anything.
“Well, let’s keep looking for some animals or little goblins to hang out with and take home,” Weston declared. You all followed after him as he continued deeper into the forest. Eventually, Kalynn let out a surprised gasp. It was an adorable little bunny!
“OHMYGOD it’s so cute!” You cried. “I want to take it home!” You all started to brainstorm ways that you could capture the animal and take it home, eventually realizing you could craft a lead with some string and a slimeball, which you already had in your inventory. However, you were one string short of being able to craft a lead. You, Selma, Weston, and Kalynn all began to search for cobwebs or other sources of string that might be available in the twilight forest, and you were so preoccupied you didn’t notice that Schlatt had left until he came back, bunny in tow.
“I got your bunny.” He told you gruffly, dropping the leash so that you could pick it up and start to lead the bunny yourself.
“Thank you so much!!” You responded gratefully, smiling at the man through the screen.
Conflict seemingly resolved, the group continued walking, at some point picking up a crow for Weston and a deer for Selma thanks to the two more leads that Schlatt had in his inventory. Weston decided on the name Dodson for the deer, after his old swim coach, and the name Crowie for the crow. As for your new bunny, you didn’t have any ideas, so you asked your chat; eventually, you settled on the name Daffodil.
You all continued to explore for about ten more minutes, cracking jokes and admiring the scenery. Eventually, you all realized that you were hopelessly lost.
“Erm guys… I think we might be a bit lost.” You said in a goofy voice before continuing, “does this tree look familiar to anyone else?”
Meanwhile, Schlatt was messaging Ted, who agreed to hop in the portal near his house and send his coordinates in the chat to help guide you all back. Soon enough, you had all reached the portal, and you all said goodbye to Schlatt, who had decided to stay in the forest for a little bit longer. After some struggling, you managed to get the three animals through the portal, and you all headed your separate ways back to your own houses to put away your new treasures.
Once back at your area, you began storing the items you had collected in your chests, before grabbing your building materials and starting to work on a rough outline of your future house, all the while narrating your actions to your chat.
Stifling a yawn, you looked at the time, and realized you had been streaming for over four hours. You became more aware of the strain on your eyes from your monitor and the crick in your neck from staring at a screen for hours on end without a break.
“Actually guys, I think I might hop off for today. I need to go outside and touch grass. Real grass, not just the blocky stuff.” You said. You stayed on for only a few more minutes, answering messages from your chat and finishing things up on the server. Finally, you closed your game and turned off your stream.
Sighing, you rubbed your eyes and leaned back in your gaming chair. It had been an exciting, yet tiring day full of adventure and new friends. You had really enjoyed the quirkiness of Weston and Kalynn and the more calm demeanor of Selma. You had especially enjoyed spending time with Schlatt, as you were discovering that under his brash exterior was a sweet and thoughtful interior.
