Mb for jinxing Wemmbu's upload schedule guys
anyway Wemmjoice again but new AU this time abandoned civ polycule because I love them. (anon hotline i guess, I want to share with the class!! buckle up folks, we're aiming to break the previous paragraph record of 17!!)
Rejoice in abandoned civ was actually a Rejoice who used to be evil like in other SMPs but went through some character development before they all met, so when Wemmbu shows up, he's a lot different than how he used to be. He's def manipulative, but it's mostly to keep friends so they don't find out he was once a total villain. Wemmbu never talking about him after his death ended up preventing anyone who was a victim from telling her the truth, so she never finds out.
ghost Rejoice who follows Wemmbu around, seeing her go from power hungry to finally starting to let go and start on her journey of finding peace (invis arc). He gets excited about her changing for the better, helping people, and repairing bonds (even Jaden!!) she had soured before. Except this Parrot guy is kinda annoying him, and this Flame guy is so obsessed it's getting on his nerves.
Rejoice doesn't notice himself falling into old thinking, his more violent thoughts and urges resurfacing, without anyway to deal with them due to the inconvenience of a form that isn't very alive. (he finds out about the underworld and the potential of being revived, but doesn't think much of it at the time.)
And then the trap happens and Rejoice's thoughts go from "these guys are annoying" to "I want them dead." Things move forward, he can't change anything, so he can only watch in horror and disgust as all of Wemmbu's progress is stilted and nearly starts to reverse, just to protect herself. Every moment of dismissal, the sudden attempts on her life, to the betrayal; all of it speeds up Rejoice's own regression into 'bad habits'.
Then she gets imprisoned, and no matter what happened in between, Rejoice is properly pissed at how Wemmbu is getting treated, especially by Loppezz. (they were all friends, and friends are supposed to care, to stick by each other no matter what. They were supposed to communicate about their issues, to show understanding and try to work things out, not assume things and act on those assumptions. didn't Loppezz see how tired Wemmbu was? Notice her small actions that showed her willingness to change? Friends cared about each other enough to notice stuff like that, so did Loppezz ever really care? (she did, she still does, but it's not like Rejoice had enough experience with actual friendship to know how complicated things could get.))
It takes him a bit to notice, but as his thoughts turned darker, as his desires turned ugly, and his emotions spiraled into a pit of pure venom, Rejoice's connection to the physical plane slowly strengthened. One incident with Wemmbu getting yelled at (for no reason) ended up with a malfunctioning door, and a guard swearing he saw some bloodied figure standing in the hallway, disappearing after he blinked. Rejoice realizes quickly what this could mean for him, and snatches the chance for what it is, planning a way to rustle control into his hands and fix things.
It begins with testing, while he remains only one wall away from Wemmbu at all times, he experiments with his newfound abilities. He has nothing better to do, and no need for food or sleep, so it doesn't take him long to get a grasp on things, learning how to manipulate his form to be visible (he used that guard to keep his existence from spreading, which had the unfortunate side effect of making that guard get dismissed... and putting him into life-long therapy), control redstone signals to mess with both door contraptions and even things like levers (since they can give off a redstone signal), "accidentally" releasing a few prisoners, which may have caused some issues with the guardforce thinking they might have a spy in their midst.
Ultimately, his plans start with Loppezz. He keeps it simple with her, short appearances that gradually get longer. Talking about their history, before eventually asking 'innocent' questions that eat away at her, until guilt starts to creep in and she ends up asking to take some time away (her tiredness is obvious, she's at the edge of her rope, her work quality nose-diving, Lettuce grants her leave, concerned for her, only telling her that she can talk to him if she'd like.)
Rejoice is angry with her, but she's still his friend. Her guilt shows that she knows she's wrong, so he's willing to give her a chance. One night, he tells her about the underworld. He tells her he wants to be with his friends again. After a long time of sleeplessness, of distress, of guilt, of spiraling, Loppezz ends up wrapped around his finger, the anger she used to have turning into desperation to return to what used to be. So she travels, ending up at the revival thingy, no one around to stop her (Rejoice couldn't hurt the people there, but he could distract them long enough to prevent them from interfering.), and so Rejoice finally returns to the land of the living.
The two of them leave and return to the overworld, where in the privacy of Loppezz's home, Rejoice explains what happened with him. Well, part of it. He explains how he ended up as a ghost, tethered to Wemmbu, how he followed her through it all, and how it tore him apart to see their old group so shattered after his death. He knew Loppezz still cared, Wemmbu definitely still cared, (Egg was down for pretty much anything) and Rejoice just wanted them all back together.
For two days, they talk through everything. For two days, Loppezz learns the full truth about Wemmbu. For two days, Rejoice solidifies his control over Loppezz, deciding that as long as she tries to fix things, tries to repair their group, he can forgive her. On the third day, Rejoice feeds her the rest of his plan, while weaving his words and ultimately tricking her into being the one to suggest his own more violent ideas, using her newfound anger at the ones who hurt Wemmbu (she did too, she knows, but Rejoice is back, and she's starting to believe that they can actually fix things) to hide his own darkness and remain the same person that she once knew.
Another day after that, Loppezz returns to her old position, telling Lettuce that she's doing a lot better, and feels ready to pick things back up. He notices that she seems less angry, and yet, she also seems more determined. To do what, he doesn't even think to question.
A week into her return, she finally snags a moment to talk to Wemmbu alone without anyone else noticing. She finally sits her down and, in one breath so Wemmbu can't interupt her, she explains everything. She even apologizes. Wemmbu wants to scoff and call her crazy, but she can't when Loppezz mentioned moments in her life that happened while she was alone, that she never told anyone. (Rejoice is alive? He's been with her the entire time?)
Finally, Loppezz tells her that she has a plan to break her out. A quick, easy solution that would meet almost 0 resistance and leave no trace. After some back and forth, Wemmbu eventually agrees. (Wemmbu gets herself sent to solitary, and during a guard rotation, Loppezz sneaks in while invis, giving Wemmbu her own invis, a lever, a spare prison outfit, and a bit of purple wool, almost the same shade as her hair. The plan is simple, they wait until lights out, then during the first guard rotation at night, Loppezz comes in to ask about a "lost item" to cover up the sounds of Wemmbu taking the potion, and positioning the clothes and wool to make it look like she's sleeping in the bed, before using the lever to slip out of the cell, making sure it's positioned out of direct sight. She then slips next to Loppezz and taps her to signal she's out, and Loppezz wraps things up before leaving with Wemmbu walking right behind her. Loppezz guides her to the exit, leaving her with the coords of her home, where Rejoice is, before returning to her own work and finishing up, leaving at her usual time a bit later, ensuring that she remains unsuspicious.)
Wemmbu reunites with Rejoice, and the first thing he does is acknowledge and praise her attempts to change. He says that he's been watching her, and he felt so proud when she started to improve herself. That her regressing wasn't her fault, it was the actions of other people, and she shouldn't blame herself or write her attempts off as if the little progress she made meant nothing. It gets sappy very quickly, and Wemmbu ends up breaking down in his arms, her exhaustion catching up to her as she spills out everything she's kept buried since the day he first died in front of her.
Loppezz returns in the middle of it all, and ends up joining the heart - to - heart, explaining herself while also hearing Wemmbu's true feelings from her own mouth, instead of Rejoice's re-telling from before. It helps, and after a lot of bonding, they move on to the next part of the plan. Freeing Egg. Loppezz happens to know the ender pearl trick, and tells them how to do it, then goes to bed and prepares for the fallout of Wemmbu's mysterious escape. Rejoice and Wemmbu plan their own trip between heading to the End and safely getting Egg out of spawn and back to the house. Conveniently, this gets them farther away from the Law, and with Rejoice's intelligence (he's a manipulative freak), they can just avoid anyone they do encounter. (It takes an additional 5 guard rotations before anyone realizes somethings off. No one cared enough to pay attention, which means no one knows how long Wemmbu has been gone. She hadn't talked since she was put in solitary, any clues for when or how it happened is gone. Loppzz isn't suspected for a second, her previous blatant hatred of Wemmbu working in her favor this time around,)
Eventually, Egg joins the group at Loppezz's home, and after Loppezz gets back, the four of them spend the day re-bonding with each other, finally feeling whole once again.
Running out of steam so the rest is just going to be more short-form rather than a pseudo-fanfic
Wemmbu is happy to have her friends back. She has no desire to get involved with any conflict, and decides to just stick with them and chill,
Egg, Loppezz, and Rejoice team up to get revenge on the (very long) list of people who have hurt Wemmbu, Wemmbu does not know about this, as they don't want her worrying about it all.
It takes 3 weeks for them all the confirm feelings and officially create their polycule.
the three revengers decide to get revenge by anonymously helping Lettuce win the election and beat Parrot and Flame. however, they also plan to assist the resistance at the last minute in order to get back at Lettuce for his mindless attempts to hunt Wemmbu
Wemmbu does not know about any of this
Alrighty, ending it here cause I'm tired af. I need to sleep. I have more, I just can't keep myself awake long enough to put it all down. Is anyone interested in this?
aahh, no matter how far i am from this fandom, i'll never not enjoy some good uu parrot slander. gking a bit off track here (mostly because i have nothing more to add to the rest of this,, very nice 👍), but i relate to the whole pipeline of thinking parrot's annoying to absolutely full blown Hating him after the whole treasure-fake identity-skill vs power arcs. like we're just going to let him get away with this ?? in canon AND in fandom ?? not anything ??? no consequences to his actions, no change in character. it genuinely pmo for so long
