#poly nho4

Doc has never been a fan of being in white rooms for long. Sure, the look of them can be nice; pristine and clean, like some hospitals.

Until his memories decide he can’t have a fun time, and all of a sudden, his entire body is screaming, telling him to run, to break out, to get far, far from the area. Like it’s a life or death situation, like he’s about to explode.

Etho doesn’t know why. Not completely, anyways. He can make some educated guesses, but he won’t. He could ask why Doc shuts himself away on certain days, why he refuses to look at news articles from specific years, why the sound of thunder makes him jump so bad, but he won’t. The time never feels right. To keep others from guessing, he began saying Doc was just afraid of hospitals. It was easier. Sprinkled it in during conversations around medical topics and such.

Bdubs believed him almost immediately. It’s not too out of the norm, a lot of people are scared of hospitals. And, with Doc’s missing eye and arm, he could only assume something had gone down in one, right?

Beef was less convinced, but he wasn’t about to go and pester the guy for his backstory. Who knows what that could bring? Plus, he wouldn’t want someone bugging him over something he’s terrified of either. Just seems so impolite, you know?

Doc, of course, caught on pretty fast. It’s hard to avoid it, when one day, you’ve gotten nicked by an arrow right in the connection point of your face plate and eye, and your peers are actively keeping you at the server clinic, rather than rushing you to the main hub’s hospital. Horrible idea, but he can see where they’re coming from.

He doesn’t speak on it much. He knows it’s the ideal outcome, having everyone believe he was just scared of some building, rather than something worse.

On the brighter side, the clinic on the server has been filled with color, filled with paintings and decorations the hermits themselves had created. It’s nicer to look at.

The hermit's ship is massive, larger than most pirating ships. The hermits don't need the stealth of speed that other crews have, even though they still have both thanks to doc and tango being absolutely insane with upgrades.

The name changes depending on who you ask. to xisuma, the captain and navigator, the ship is called hermitcraft. To grian, the resident pesky bird and main thief, it's called the barge and doc insists on calling it the hermatrix. One thing everyone on crew can call the ship is Home.

Etho is a mechanic who generally minds his business and seemingly lives in the vents and his partner Cleo is in charge of distraction tactics whenever they go in for a pillage. She has the ability to string up people like mannequins, which is as terrifying as it sounds. Their partner Bdubs is a gardener and makes sure that food and o2 levels are doing good.

Jevin is a stowaway that they didn't notice arriving but can't remember not having, and being made of goop allows for incredible stealth at high speeds. Wels comes and goes, on and off the ship usually whenever he feels like it but when he is around, jevin will goop on over to "annoy" him. Wels secretly loves it.

Etho found doc when he was a kid and they stuck together until beef and Bdubs found them both and rounded them up to join the crew. Nobody knows what doc is exactly, just that he's physically unstable and keeps changing from in times of stress or excitement. The only thing that stays consistent is the prosthetics and the Crocs.

Xisuma couldn't be more proud of his crew. Theyre a big hodgepodge of love, some romantic, some platonic, some familial, but that's why they're so strong against adversaries. They aren't coworkers or business partners, they're family.

Even as he takes a step back from being the captain to play music through the intercoms, he knows he'll never leave them behind.

Technology exists on their ship that doesn't anywhere else. A side effect of Doc and Tango's tinkering, Impulse and Mumbo's focus on efficiency and Zed and Etho's completely bizarre ideas that somehow work. They're undefeated in a fight (well, besides that one time they lost on purpose as a trap but that doesn't count.)

They also work hard to make sure nobody is left behind. Hermits come and go, but they never lose the protection of the family.

Jevin occasionally joins Wels on his jobs. And despite how he lives to annoy Wels, Wels never complains. When it comes down to it, Jev knows how to get a job done fast. And it's no way related to how that gets Wels home faster.

Etho often uses the vents as a way to reach Bdubs' gardens. It's the quickest way there, plus Etho is probably already in one! Then it's just a quick tuck and roll and the sound of Bdubs screaming. No matter how many times, Bdubs still jumps. And Cleo still laughs at him for it.

it doesn't work perfectly, so copied welsknight is more aggressive, copied tango is blue instead of yellow, copied false has memory problems, copied beef has chronic pain, copied gem doesn't have antlers, there's like 5 grians for some reason because it wouldn't stop, its attempt at copying mumbo was slightly messed up by it still trying to copy grian (the resulting man is fine but is...arguably somehow their accidental cross-species adult child), and copied scar has white hair.

there's also 5 slightly different zedaphs but that's because zedaph kept pushing the button.

the already complicated web of relationships in this town got even more complicated now that suddenly a lot of the people have at least one duplicate who shares at least some of their memories. and also the grumbo man, who has BOTH their crushes on iskall and very confused feelings for both his accidental gene donors. (family??? self??? crush???)

They've ended up adopting a fairly 'open door' policy when it comes to relationships nowadays. When some of the clones are hard to identify at a quick glance, they kind of had to! At first jealousy was an issue, but the worst of that has been worked out.

Though they've expanded the town to create more space for the new members, most of the copies seem to bunk up with people they care about. Tango and Impulse frequently end up under a pile of Zedaphs.

Doc's attempts to study the machine are also often thwarted by the fact he has even more partners now. How's he supposed to focus when there's two Beefs looking all sad at him, man?

You can know when a creeper is happy. You can hear it. They usually purr very loudly when they are happy, and slowly swish their tail from side to side

But some of them struggle with showing affection, like Doc. Being a recluse half of his life, Doc wasn’t really around people nor his kind.

And that’s when the NHO found him.

He was hesitant at first, but slowly warmed up to the three weirdos that adopted him into their friend group, and now all four of them cuddle and have fun messing around with other hermits.

He tried to keep up a 'strong' image for so long that it was a surprise to the rest of the NHO when Doc, half asleep, started purring one night. The next day, they gently ask about it, and when Doc gets embarrassed are quick to reassure him that they actually found it really sweet! It's nice to see that Doc is so comfortable around them.

- 🐰 anon

They've done everything they can to help Etho through the warmer weather. He usually has a base in a cooler climate he can move to, prepared for by his husbands. That way he's not stuck in a room the entire time - because that drove him absolutely crazy one year.

The thing he craves most, though, is the physical affection he can't have. In cooler weather it's not so bad, the ambient chill balances it out. But it's nearly impossible to cuddle in the warm, and his husbands get too cold in his freezers! He's always glad when the chill creeps into the air again.

Doc is the prince of a kingdom that knows nothing but hate and fear, something that he has grown to learn is the only way people will listen to him. His people have never seen their prince show even a touch of interest in love, despite the fact he is years over the age that he should have gotten married at.

So to say that his people were at the slightest bit surprised when three princes of the neighboring kindoms were spotted attempting to romance the feared prince that his people had grown to know. Though the more surprising part was how flushed their prince got whenever one of the other princes flirted with him.

tl;dr ; nheo but prince doc is used to people fearing him, but bdubs, etho, and beef of the neighboring kingdoms decide to show him some lovin.