big fan of hermitcraft and the life series. i love me some angst about minecraft block men. please send me angsty fics about minecraft block men.
this blog is just for hermitcraft, the life series, and maybe other minecraft smps in the future if i get into them.
check out my ao3! I now have 6** fics up, and I plan to keep writing more! please send me asks about my fics - if you have questions, comments, or anything like that, i would really appreciate it!
I'm currently working on a fic called someone loved, never known, in which pearl is searching for someone whose entire existence has been erased to almost everyone else. That is, everyone but Scar. Please check it out!
my doodles are all under #patchy art! i don't make full art pieces since i don't normally have the time. these doodles are really just for fun!!
please sends asks or message me! I love talking about hermitcraft and the life series ❤️
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hi! i've been reading someone loved never known (starting ch10!) and i wanted to say that i think it's absolutely beautiful :) the concept is so devastating in the best way, and i really love how it centers on the platonic connection between scar and pearl--they're truly one of my favorite duos, and the way you write them feels so natural and real!! it's one of my fav fics of all time, and i love how you explore the feeling of loneliness and loss through the different characters. it feels so raw and real, and personally, i feel like it's captured some of my own experiences so well. all that to say, i'm loving it a lot, and i'm excited to see where it goes in the future!!
hi!!! thank you so much for your kind words - it genuinely means so much to me when people tell me they love my fic, or that they feel themselves reflected with the story. a lot of it is definitely coming from my own experiences dealing with grief and friendships and loneliness. the platonic relationships are so important to me in this story.
i haven’t been active on tumblr lately but opening up and seeing this absolutely lovely message is so wonderful
The last one I posted was in 2024. There will be repeats! Apologies in advance to the lovely authors who are yet again being pinged by me, especially those who do not go to this fandom anymore. Keep up your awesome work I love you.
Blue titles are completed works, Green titles are frequently updating works (roughly once a month or more), Orange titles are slower-updating and works on hiatus (you should still read them though! That's the point of the list!! And 'slower-updating' isn't meant to be an insult, some of the best fics I've read have been slow updaters, and I am one myself) Sorry if the colour coding makes it harder to read, I tried my best.
Fics are going to be organised by rating this time around, so explicit fics will feature at the bottom of the list. Please bear in mind each fic's rating and tags before reading. I will give short descriptions of each fic/reasons why I love them.
Feel free to reblog, and add your own recs if you want. I have my biases so I can't cover every great fic!
Also, authors tagged are the authors listed on ao3. If I couldn't find their tumblr, I just use their ao3 username, and if there's more than one author, I have used whoever is listed on ao3 as the first author. If you know an author who wasn't tagged because I couldn't find their account, just let me know in the comments or an ask :)
Not Rated
Help Me To Breathe by @angeart - I will never not recommend this fic. It is a brilliant and hauntingly detailed depiction of mental health, trauma, and physical pain. Following Scar and Grian mostly, in a Hermitcraft where death mechanics glitch out and deaths start feeling painful, bringing back traumatic memories of third life. This fic is also how me and Ange became friends, so it will always be special to me for that reason. It's also insanely long, like, several novels long at this point. So, like, sit back and enjoy the pain. ALSO go check out Ange's other works, all her stuff is wonderful.
Oh, you wanted me to do a verse? by @bugbear - This fic straight-up inspired me to write a film. I'm not even kidding. Without this fic I wouldn't have been inspired to make my grumbo apocalypse au, which I then turned into an original screenplay. Reading this fic is an experience. Every strange image and uncanny beat make it all the morer interesting and unique. I've never quite read about an apocalypse like this before, and doubt I ever will again.
Keeper of my Heart by SweetTUniverse - Scar is a zookeeper, Grian is an avian. Hybrids are seen as animals and Grian is at the zoo after being rescued, but Grian can mostly understand Scar and thinks Scar is trying to court him. Lots of pesky bird shenanigans in this one. It's a really sweet and fun read with plenty of dramatic irony, that has definitely hinted at bigger things happening too. Really excited by every update this one gets.
General Audiences
I Know The End by @desertduality - This fic is actually the reason I decided to make a new rec list. It is living in my mind rent free currently and I don't think it'll ever leave. Basically, kid!Scar comes through the rift into Hermitcraft s9, and he is from the zombie-infested and permadeath-y TCD world. Adult Scar has to deal with both the resurfaced trauma of seeing his younger self, and the issue of no one knowing that the kid is him, AND the moral dillema of whether he should send the kid back to save himself, or let the kid stay and risk being erased from history. Like a really fucked up Back To The Future. I love it. I am crazy about it. The writing is really really good too!
Bared Teeth by Wywrd_Artemis - This one is a really fun siren x fisherman AU featuring scarian & Gem. Grian may be a little stupid but honestly I would also let siren!Scar eat me idc. The enemies to lovers element is really well done and fun to read! I'm a sucker for mer/siren AUs- even had to cut a few out of this list because there were too many- but I think this would hit with anyone who likes scarian being slightly weird and violent. Yay!
that's life by @fionajames - Another great example of griangst. In which Grian has escaped a cult, fled the country, and stumbles upon his old friend group again. This one is packed with emotion, anxiety, pressure... it feels like a tidal wave coming up to hit the sand. The cult stuff is fresh and tense, the relationship stuff is deeply warming. Hurt/comfort to the max! That last update made me crazy and now idk what to do with myself. Yippee!
Teen and Up
Death's A Good Gig by @mawofthemagnetar - Quick, fun, but super endearing. I just love this fic for the characterisation that is made within a limited space. Need more BAMF Zed in my life actually. Death has a union and problems occur because the bosses are dickheads. Wonderful stuff. The rest of the fics in the series are also of a similar vibe and quality!
Look, I'm Sorry, Please Stop Scaring Everyone by @cat-in-the-desert - This fic follows Mumbo (a vampire) and Grian (a ghost) as they get up to various housemate shenanigans and meet their local magic-expert and salesman Scar. Who is also friends with some ghost hunters. This fic is fun and goofy at times, but still contains pretty strong emotional beats which I find really compelling!
Love Me Like I'm Dead by @daniofcrows - I never thought I could get so invested in an Xisuma-centric fic, but this fic really spells out a lot of how I would go on to characterise Xisuma and Evil X in my own headcanons and works. I absolutely love how Xisuma and Evil X are characterised in this, and I am obsessed with the unique take on hanahaki disease which I have never seen handled in this way before. The balance between flashbacks and present day is maintained wonderfully.
Tango's Castle of Cards by @evilrat-sabre - Tango fic of all time. Basically formed how I see Tango's character and basically everything about him. The horrors are scary and beautiful and tragic. The poetry is a nice touch. The characterisation goes crazy. Tango is so bug about it.
Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU} (series) by @amethystfairy1 - In this world, hybrids are treated like slaves, but it isn't all doom and gloom for the main characters of each installment. There is a lot of hurt/comfort and the different stories feed into each other in really interesting ways. I try to read as much as I can, and what I have read has been amazing. I am particularly fond of Scar's wagon and the absolute band of misfit disasters hitching a ride. Do note that while most of these fics are rated T, some carry other ratings and warnings! There's also over 60 works so probably don't try to read them all in one sitting.
solving counting sheep by @theminecraftbee - Completely altered my brain chemistry and makes me feel crazy emotions whenever I think about it. Bee has written some really great stuff in general but this one holds a special place in my heart. Grian is dead and Three The Autistic Living Weapon is here now instead. No one is happy about this. Yay! Deals a lot with identity and grief which as we know are my favourite things. Well worth a read if you haven't before.
Rescue Fire and A Kindling, Of Sorts by @imaginethat0327 - Both brilliant fics, both had me reading basically as soon as an update dropped. Rescue Fire is a look at a more deadly life series, featuring manipulation and drama and bloody demises. A Kindling follows the aftermath, medical interventions included. The original characters in A Kindling are super compelling, as much so as the hermits and lifers. And I don't go to the other fandoms involved but I found their stories engaging too! Really good stuff if you like pain and torment.
Eventually The Birds Must Land by @milo-hypno - Polyamory win! These idiots get a good ending! This fic is so everything to me. I love a fic that gives me a new ship to be insane about, and this one did that very, very well. This married-as-friends premise is wonderful, and captures the main trio (Grian, Mumbo, Impulse)'s personalities so well, while balancing them with the terrifying descriptions of the Watchers and their power. There's a lot of angst here, but it is ultimately hurt/comfort to the maximum degree.
From The Archives (series) by @sixteenth-days - When I first read this one I had not listened to The Magnus Archives. It kind of pushed me to do that. And for this, I will forever be in its debt. Also it inspired my comms au so you can't blame me for loving it dearly. If you like creepy horrors and spooky scenarios you will like this series. It is a lot to get through but each installment is pretty bite-sized so it is easy to binge. As I did. One of the series of all time.
SUPERCRITICAL by @masque-of-plague - A delightful take on the superhero/HotGuy trope. It gets so super dark at some points! This one really takes swings at it's fictional government, which of course I love, while at the same time building this brilliantly emotional relationship between Scar and Grian. I do enjoy a bit of enemies to lovers, but the actual plot mixed into the story makes this one extra special. It is thrilling, with an amount of action that I don't see too often!
Trust, Snails, and other Cryptid-Taming Tactics by anonymous - Gem finds traces of a strange entity on Hermitcraft, which seems to be followed by weird and pesky snails. This is such a fun and cool concept, with Grian not being a hermit but rather an intruder on the server, slowly learning to communicate with Gem while hiding from the others. There is so much to love here but I have to give a shout-out to the wonderful worldbuilding and the way the fic is formatted!
Double Negatives by Guiper - This one does crazy things to my brain. Grian dies then comes back wrong because he's too much of a fool to talk about what kind of creature he is. Now he's fully creature-ificated and deeply troubled and everyone thinks he's very very dead. And he kind of is. But not really. This one is so fun to read, and I especially love the descriptions of minecraft-y things like inventory and code. And how certain things become inaccessible to Grian, leaving him disabled in a sense. Great stuff, the tactile descriptions are also wildly good.
Healing Starts With Asking (series) by BlootBluet - While the series isn't yet complete, all fics currently in the series are! This one follows Grian as he tries to heal from his traumatic past as a pet/slave. There are works rated G in this series, but due to the subject matter I err on the side of the higher rated fics. This one is just some really good griangst and hurt/comfort. Good stuff!
Keep it to yourself by @reddean - I am such a sucker for 'estranged best friends/lovers are forced to live together' kind of stuff ngl. Grumbo are so so stupid in this but it is all so damn understandable and oh it feels so bad. Crunching them up in my hands because I love them too much. The angst... the hurt/comfort... the everything. This fic is really good if you like to cry. Or if you like grumbo. Or if you like good writing.
Only Human by @fynnfynnfynn - When this fic updates I literally always drop everything just to read it. I'm bad at commenting but I wish I could beam my thoughts directly into the author's mind because no words can describe how much I love it. Oh Mumbo my poor tormented morally grey sad little guy. I will admit I have not yet read the other fics in this series but the good news is that this means you don't need much extra knowledge to dive into this one! I will posit an extra warning for child (and adult) sexual abuse in this fic, since it is rated T but goes into some pretty dark topics. It's really, really well written and just a brilliant exploration into morality when you stand to benefit from a corrupt and oppressive system. 10000/10.
someone loved, never known by @patchiesocks - Pearl knows someone is missing from her life, but no one else seems to understand or remember who this mystery person was. Until she meets Scar. This fic is absolutely stellar. It's the sort that I need time to prepare to read, because it is pretty emotionally devastating in many ways, but it also has lighter moments. This fic is what happens when one character haunts the narrative, but that character is also not there. It's really unique and I love every moment. I have no clue what will happen next and that is the most exciting part!
To Be Haunted (GIGGS Phasmo AU) (series) by Vivid_Comet - I've read a few GIGGS phasmo AUs but this one is my favourite. Scar and Grian's trauma from their past agency is such an interesting spin on the dynamic. That and adding Gem in as a last-ditch way of saving the team. Again, this series isn't finished, but every fic so far is. The lore around the revival patches and the effects of revival is super cool.
to teach a bird to trust by @froggiestarrock - I just finished catching up on this fic! Really enjoying it so far, especially Grian's characterisation and how bad he is at talking about his feelings. The discrimination against hybrids feels really real in this one. Scar is also delightful, super good characterisation especially as he flips between panicking that he's helped commit a crime, and forgetting it all because he has a big stupid crush. These fools will be the death of me. I love them!
Mature
lost in the dark (he's got a Heavy Heart) by @definitelynotshouting - An absolute masterpiece of emotional writing. This fic deals with themes of identity, loss, trauma, suicidality, grief... it is a direct inspiration for my own watcher/listener series and was one of the first fics I read in this fandom. Every sentence is filled to the brim with tactile, emotionally-loaded language which serves as a great vessel for the reader to connect with the characters. It is honestly just wonderful.
So Much For Stardust by @a-plethora-of-peters - If you read any one of these fics, make it this one. I basically never read ZITS fics and yet here we are, one of my favourites of all time is a ZITS fic. This lives in my head rent-free. The way translation and language is handled throughout is really great, very thoughtful and interesting. If you want to read about Skizz getting alien abducted and then getting alien healing and then falling in alien gaylove then this one is for you, basically.
don't you know about me? by takenbadgering - Just a wonderful comedy of errors in a realistic setting. A bit of angst, a bit of a laugh, a lot of polyam wins. Always stays high on my cumscarian agenda. If you like the alt club scene then this will hit. I do not go to clubs but it still hit. Love it.
Luck Of The Sea by Sleepy_Duck - A lovely take on mermaid and human interactions, with Grian as a marine life conservator and Scar as a neglected mer. This one takes us emotionally in all sorts of directions, and offers lots of hope for the future of the characters. I heavily enjoyed this fic - if you like mermaids and marine biology as well as hurt/comfort, check it out!
there are many downsides to being a marine biologist by donnerstag - Another mermaid fic but with a very different vibe. First of all, it follows Doc/Martyn, which is a ship I hadn't read before this but really enjoyed. Second of all, reading this as it updated was a thrilling experience that almost made me cry at certain points. I love how the relationship builds in this fic. It is honestly amazing. The whole idea of experimenting on a sentient sea creature, learning that he can communicate, then having to save him from the very institution you work for... yeah, this eats.
All Our Shadows Suggest the Sun by theteaandbiscuits - What if HotGuy was a retired and traumatised hero and Grian was a journalist and their lives have crossed paths multiple times and everything is bad? This fic dares to ask these questions. I love it!! The way the relationships develop in this one is so interesting, and though it's a slower updating fic, I find myself drawn back to it time and time again.
Eat My Inhibitions, Make Me Whole by @frozenjokes - Mumbo is a freakin creature that eats people but he feels sad emotions about it and Cub tries to help in his own weird way. Cumbo WIN!!!!! I truly love them so much it's ridiculous. The rest of this series is also delightful, just be aware of the explicit rating. Some really lovely Cub and Mumbo characterisation that I think fits so, so, so well. Rest of this authors stuff is also great, check it all out. NEOW.
Long Long Way From Home by Paranoid_Pug - Everyone needs a good bit of whump in their lives, right? This was my go-to whump fic as it was updating, though it has been a while since it was finished. Following Grian and Mumbo after being kidnapped by Evil Scientists basically, it stands out from other similar fics with a creative plot and descriptions that kept me deep in the characters' psyches. Just great whump, well executed and a good bit of story to it.
Maybe This Is How It Starts by @silentending - Just a really cool dive into a different kind of hero/villain AU. And yes, the villains are the good guys. Classic. I love this fic and the ones that come after it because they deal with the emotional conflict that exists within being an individual a minority group that has been manipulated and changed into aligning with your own oppressors. Adding in the element of memory confusion is an excellent touch!
Midnight Strangers by @seriouslycalamitous - You don't need me to spell out how good this fic is. I know you don't. But in case you haven't heard, this is another one of the 'the villains are the good guys actually' fics, though that description kind of diminishes it a little. This fic does a lot more than that! It's a love story! It's got some actually chilling torture scenes. It makes me happy because I get to see Smajor suffer- [I get hit over the head with a chair]. Anyway, this fic is wonderful. Cute and scary and emotional and fun all at the same time. A scarian modern classic. Thank you!
The Love Of A Killer by @otherworldlyhope - Oof. Yeah, this one is a bit angstier than my usual go-to fics, honestly. But god dammit, I saw serial killer Scar and detective Grian and I needed to know everything. And that was a good choice because this fic eats and leaves no crumbs. Except maybe the crumbs of my shattered heart. Don't go into this one expecting to be happy by the end, but do go into it expecting lots of action, tension, and extremely stylish writing. My #doomedyaoi.
Tomorrow's Never Promised by Paranoid_Pug - Every time this one updates it throws me through another twisting loop. In a world where witches are outlawed and executed, Grian is a knight and Scar is a prince. They develop a romance, but Grian is torn between his care for Scar and his moral compass as he sees a friendly witch suffer under the kingdom's hand. Plus death timeloop. Plus rejection. Plus power dynamics. Plus [redacted for spoilers!]. It has everything. And the writing is stellar once again. Do I even need to say more? Go read it!
Wiping dental records clean, is this carcass even me? by RoughCourseAndGetsEverywhere - Explorations of grief and trauma? In a Ben fic rec list? I am so surprised and shocked! But seriously, this fic is amazing. It starts with Grian being missing, Mumbo dealing with the grief... badly... then Grian returning, having a lot of his own trauma, then BOOM life series shenanigans, Scar having a crush on both of them, Grian feeling guilty, everything's a shambles! This one has some lovely descriptions and the emotional beats deliver very strongly. Scar, Mumbo, and Grian all have amazing characterisation but Scar's really hits for me. The fic has only just started to peel back the layers for him and I am loving it so far.
Explicit (You Have Been Warned: This Section Contains NSFW and/or extreme violence!)
There Are Monsters Nearby by @uhohbestie - I mean, if you haven't heard of this one already, I fear you may be living under a rock. The ultimate scarian fic. Absolutely destroys me every time I go back to it. 'Travelling with your ex in the zombie apocalypse' is already a great concept- actually one so good I think this could easily be an original work- but on top of that it is brilliantly written. It leaves you wanting more yet feeling satisfied at the same time.
Blink and You Miss It by @kimchikitty07 - Basically my favourite vampire!Mumbo fic ever. Absolutely inspired me to make one of my own, too. But mostly just a really fascinating look into a world where, like, yes hybrids sometimes get hunted and killed and discriminated against, but also, vampires are seen as a virus/plague/not even close to human. It's so much worse for Mumbo. The writing is really emotive and draws you into the characters so well. Eagerly awaiting the next installment!
fault lines by januarymorning - another Xisuma fic? In my fic recs? Well, this one is about other hermits as well. It's about their past bad experiences with admins/what they've heard about admins and how they expect Xisuma to hurt them... and then how they ultimately trust him to do things to them for sex reasons. Honestly just good porn with plot here. A lot of plot! And it's well written with some really nice characterisation- of characters I don't read often.
Silver Bullet by PuckParty - Omegaverse where Grian is an omega (and son of some rich folks) who has been on strong and dangerous heat/scent supressants his whole life, and Scar is a therapy Alpha hired to help him control his scent and hormones. The whole therapist/patient aspect with Scar's morals getting tested is really fascinating, as is the societal implications brought up throughout the fic. This is what I love about the omegaverse.
What to Expect When You're Not Expecting by @screamingfangirl - This fic and its sequel (and spinoffs) are really quite popular, but still worth mentioning imo! Another omegaverse fic, this time with a totally different vibe. This one focusses on Grian's cryptic pregnancy after he bonds with Scar during a shared rut/heat in Double Life. The emotions, the drama, the distress, the hiding of feelings, the lack of communication... oh this fic has it all! It has some really interesting characterisation- I find Scar's particularly compelling- and the concept is just great drama fuel honestly. Love reading it, also love reading the sequel. Shoutout to the WTEWYNE discord server also. I barely talk there but you guys rule!
And that's it! (For now...) This took way longer than I thought it would but I was reminded of a bunch of fics I love AND I sorted out my subscriptions too. So really it was a win for me.
Thanks for reading ^-^ go show these fics some love in their comments!
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An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Gem, a struggling Researcher studying methods of channeling enchantments, is at her wit’s end: none of her experiments seem to go anywhere, and the ones that do blow up in her face. She’s falling behind her classmates and struggling to find something that works. As a last ditch effort, Gem tries using a strange red rock Scar, a notorious scammer, gave her - only, it actually works. In fact, it works too well and Gem is on the verge of a magical breakthrough. Now tasked with finding more of this redstone, Gem meets Scar’s source, Mumbo, and learns of an ancient civilization, hidden deep underground, with massive supplies of and research on redstone.
Accompanied by Pearl and Impulse, Gem sets off to find this ancient city, only to realize there’s something much darker at play. Maybe there’s a reason why redstone, why this entire city, was left buried, hidden in the depths, for thousands of years.
~
I was part of the @soulsmake event as a writer! I worked with the incredible @soldierkitten on creating a magic system using minecraft mechanics as a baseline, that slowly developed into being a story about discovering the secrets of an ancient civilization and what happened to it. This AU is pretty focused on exploration and discovery.
The culmination of the work on my end is the fic Hidden in the Depths, which will follow Gem as she discovers ancient secrets and magic far beyond what she thought was possible, alongside a cast of colorful characters. The first chapter was posted today so please check it out!
Cat made some incredible art (which will be posted soon) of character designs and other lore bits so keep an eye out. Working on this together has been an awesome experience! Thanks for being an awesome soulmate! 💜
I love your fic thanks so much for writing it! Is there any funny headcanons about someone loved never known you want to share?
ooh headcanons!! that's tough bc since it's my fic, any of my "headcanons" are technically canon within the world itself (even if it's never mentioned in the fic). but, i did look at some of my notes/planning docs to see what silly lore/character bits I have that aren't ever mentioned in the fic itself, or things that are only mentioned briefly:
Impulse feels bad that Skizz gets excluded from soup group nights so he always sneaks some leftover soup to Skizz after Pearl and Gem leave or to take home with him, in secret. Gem and Pearl DEFINITELY know about this. Impulse is not slick or subtle.
Tango and Zed are roommates. It's a horrible combination because they both have the tendency to get hyperfixated on things, so when both of them get super focused no one will hear from either for days at a time. also, there's at least one minor fire a week.
Ren is the president of his and Doc's HOA.
Bdubs is a lawyer. Don't ask how he got his law license because he certainly couldn't tell you.
Cleo went to art school but realized that selling overpriced drinks and the ability to pet cats is way more profitable.
Doc, Etho, Bdubs, Beef, Ren, and Cleo all met in university, though only Doc and Bdubs really do anything related to their degrees. At least one of them dropped out (you can guess who).
Pearl and Joel are locked in a years long prank war that neither can remember who started or why it started.
Gem and Pearl watch reality TV shows of varying levels of quality together and make fun of the contestants. Their favorite is the Great British Bake Off.
Cub has singed his eyebrows off multiple times with his fireworks. Scar has photo evidence.
Speaking of, Scar has a lot of blackmail on Cub, but it goes both ways.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
