I'm wanting to read One and a Half Birds but is it a stand alone? Or do I need to read everything in the tagged series? If so, what's the order to read in? Date published? One specific series at a time? Sorry for so many questions, got a migraine and I just can't think
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🤝 Migraines...
I try to write [almost] all my works as something a new reader can understand and enjoy even if it's their first piece of mine. Pixels Imperfect is the catch-all series for "all my fics about the digital world," but you don't need to read them in order.
I do explain relevant lore in each work, but I have been told my lore is confusing regardless, so it might be extra tricky with a migraine.
Pixels Imperfect AO3 series is arranged chronologically and the end goal is to make it flow easily from the first piece to the last (adding more works to fill in the gaps).
You can read One and a Half Birds standalone, but here are other pieces to check out for more context if you want:
Chalaza - Martyn and Bdubs are the main characters in this multi-chapter about Martyn and his friends leaving Evo SMP, where they weren't treated well by the Watchers.
This work explains lore about phantom hybrids & Grian's arrival in New Star Station, and establishes the mentor-apprentice dynamic between Bdubs and Martyn.
It was written after Birds and I think Birds can stand on its own- Grian will tell you what you need to know about his backstory in Chapter 2, and Martyn's backstory isn't that important in Birds. Like Birds, Chalaza takes place entirely in the New Star Station server hub, so you can learn more about the setting at the same time as a character (Martyn) experiencing it for the first time.
Skipping Steps - A one-shot about Mumbo's and Martyn's marriage. Takes place in Last Life SMP, just before One and a Half Birds.
This establishes Mumbo as the more flirty and forward one in the relationship and Martyn as flattered and enjoying the attention, even if he's a bit unsure.
I've also put the essential points of this fic's lore under this Read More if you want the bullet points upfront. The fic does explain these things when they come up.
(Possible spoilers, but vague):
- One and a Half Birds takes place entirely in a server hub (in the Between dimension). This means it's not on a server. Only one inventory slot is active (the soul slot). Materials are Minecraft-themed, so toothpaste and soap are made from charcoal.
- The server hub is New Star Station. It's built in a perimeter that's covered at the top; everyone is underground. Lots of deepslate and bedrock.
- All characters are mob hybrids. They're hatched from eggs laid by the 100 mob-themed dragons. Grian is a parrot, Mumbo a wandering trader, and Scar is an allay who became a vex (His player file broke and he became a vex after Cub rescued him from the death loop this sent him into). Grian and Scar have wings and can fly. Scar can clip through walls.
- Player files look like end crystals when placed on crying obsidian. Otherwise, they look flat. These are important; it's their life force. They're also kind of like Poké balls.
- This story's Grian swapped places with the Grian who USED to live in the digital universe. This plays into Grian's Watcher lore: he came from a universe where the Life Series was real and scary. It's left him traumatized. The fic will explain this in more detail (as early as Chapter 2).
- Grian, Scar, and Mumbo are close friends (Platonic). They each have apartments in different places around the perimeter. Grian's is on the second floor, Mumbo's is on the ground floor (Next to his llamas). The fic starts in Grian's living room.
- Players are digital. Their bodies are made of code and light. In this story, Mumbo deals with a problem in his code. Players can't easily carry each other because they're made of light, so they can only touch briefly before their bodies fade through each other.
- There's no sex in the digital world. Players were created by developers and they weren't designed with those reproductive parts. However, the forehead is a sensitive zone for them, so tapping foreheads is a sign of affection. Players can breed if they eat a lot of golden carrots, but those are on-server only items (Extinct in the Between dimension). No sex scenes or gore in this story. Fun fact, but they use the bathroom by tapping the side of a composter. It just drains their bathroom needs automatically. That's it.
- Martyn and Mumbo are married because this story takes place right after Last Life SMP (where they were married). Grian and Scar don't know Mumbo is married.
- Martyn is a phantom hybrid: second in command of the local flock, under Bdubs. His job is to chase sleepy players back to their portals. If they don't go, he bites them, which automatically kicks them out of the Between dimension and back to their Overworld beds (on whichever server they've told the game is their AFK).
- Skins are clothing items. They can be taken off, revealing the true player form: glowing blue code. Grian is an exception because he's not blue (but his skin does come off). Since skin is clothing, it doesn't hurt when it comes off.
- Souls come in four temperatures: hot, warm, cool, and chilly. This is rarely important except in medical contexts, and it's important in this fic because of Mumbo's medical issues.
- Mumbo really does eat Grian's soul in Hermitcraft canon, so that's the lore I'm playing with. Impulse and Skizz are interpreted as sharing souls due to their Naked & Scared series' lore, so Impulse gives Grian some advice.
- Martyn is an obligate anivore. He can't eat physical food; he can only eat souls. When an anivore bites a player to log them out, this gives them energy. The player is forced to rest briefly before they can return to Between.
- "Soul teeth" don't make contact with a player skin: just the soul beneath. It doesn't hurt to be logged out, but some people like it (It resets their hunger meter and means they don't have to walk home, cook, or do dishes) and some people don't (Preferring to leave Between by exiting through a portal on their own feet).
- Mumbo has an infection (parallel of an STD) because Martyn chews on him as a form of affection, and Martyn's job is biting other people. Due to Martyn not properly brushing his teeth and Mumbo not properly washing his soul, Mumbo's soul is contaminated with other species data. When the story starts, he's taking medicine to fix this.
- Scar has a glitch that moves to different places of his body over time. Sometimes he can walk and sometimes he can't. In this story, Scar uses a cane.
- Camera accounts are people. In the opening scene of this story, Grian's having a party at his house where he's hanging out with Mumbo and Scar while TwoMuchGrian, MumboDrone, and BadTimeWithScar are hanging out in the back room. There's one scene where Two crawls inside Grian's head, which he can do because he has a special camera person body.
- Etho is a self-taught doctor (a nod to him being a programmer IRL). He and Mumbo talk about Mumbo's health.
- Scar is also an anivore (His official vex lore is that "he eats people"), so he's able to advise and supervise the eating process, but doesn't participate himself.
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[Image description: The “skipping steps” meme. The boy is labeled as “Tony”. The step he’s starting on is labeled, “I’m happy to see you again.” The steps he’s skipping are labeled, “You look beautiful,” “I’d like to take you out to coffee,” and, “I want to take you to Chock Full O Nuts for a cream cheese sandwich on raisin bread.” The step he lands on is labeled, “I wanna be with you forever.” End of image description.]
I'd like to skip a step, Move on to the next, Find what I'm good at, Ignoring all the tests, It's not my fault school's no good, They should just let me be, Maybe the reason I don't work for school Is because school doesn't work for me. -E.M.J.G.
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One time in which it really sucks to be a perfectionist, is when you are trying to heal from a broken heart. They say you have to really go through it to get all the way out of it but I think a lot of people skip steps.
Because if everyone went about it the way I apparently do, feeling everything so that it will dissipate, no one would ever fall in love again.
I was running up the stairs to my house and I felt as though should take the steps by twos. YOU DON"T NEED TO SKIP STEPS WHEN THERE'S ONLY 3!! My foot caught on the ledge above the top step and I stumbled across the cement porch and narrowly avoiding high-fiving the stone door-frame with my face. But I scratched up both knees in the process. And I fell into the Christmas tree coming in the house.
