on temporizing || Dream SMP Timeloop Fic

Chapter 23

111. (credit to MarienNori)

"Tommy!" Wilbur called. "Tommy, where are you?"

The only answer was the echo of his own voice. Wilbur scowled and scrubbed a hand through his hair, stalking through the corridors of Pogtopia.

"Tommy, I swear to Prime if you're--" he rounded the corner and froze.

A block of TNT sat smack-dab in the center of Pogtopia, bright red against the stone. The culprit was nowhere in sight; whoever had planted it was already long gone.

Well aware of the sudden pounding in his ears, Wilbur raked his gaze over the walls. His search revealed neither button nor pressure plate. Scuffing the dirt with his toe uncovered no lines of redstone.

But someone had snuck into Pogtopia. Someone had snuck in, and left a single block of TNT. Not to destroy it - no, if they wanted to blow Wilbur's second nation up, they would have brought more TNT. This was a statement. A threat. There was someone out there who could get into the heart of their stronghold undetected, who could cause irreparable damage if they wanted to.

Wilbur stalked forward, dust swirling around his ankles. He stopped before the block and scrutinized it, then crouched and tried to pick it up. It fell apart in his hands, revealing. . . cake on the inside.

"What the fuck?" he muttered, dropping it. It was too late; the red frosting had already caked his gloves. He tried to wipe it off on the floor, but it just left a neon smear of frosting and left his gloves covered with frosting and dust. He scowled and peeled the gloves off, tossing them into his inventory to be washed later, then squinted down at the cake. This. . . complicated things.

On one hand, it could still be interpreted as a threat. Even if the object left behind was harmless, someone had managed to get into Pogtopia undetected. But if it was a threat, why use a cake of all things? Making one took time and effort - it would have been much easier to just put down a block.

A glint caught his attention. Wilbur cocked his head, eyes narrowing at the silver gleam he could see among the cake crumbs. Flicking aside a chunk of cake, he extracted the object and held it up to the dim light.

It was a tube, a capped metal cylinder the size of his finger. He unscrewed the cap and turned it upside down, shaking it until the slip of paper fell into his hand. Wilbur unrolled it, bracing himself for a death threat.

congrats on the new place! I made you a cake for your housewarming party :D it's vanilla, btw. i'm very proud of the frosting.

enjoy!

". . . What the fuck?"

~~~

This loser has been farming for fourteen hours L. Take a break. Sleeeeeep. Don't you like sleep? C'mon Blade, it's been HOURS. You gotta be tired. Self care gang! Take a break. You know it's bad when the voices in your head are encouraging you to practice self care.

"No."

Mans really just went 'self care? Don't know her'. It's true, we don't know her. We pog through the pain like MEN. Did you. . . did you just use pog unironically? EVERYONE SHUT UP AND GET HIM TO REST. It's only been fourteen hours though??? ONLY fourteen hours?! ONLY FOURTEEN HOURS?! Fuck fine yes I get it fourteen hours is a long time now sTOP SCREAMING AT ME!

Technoblade huffed and reached his hoe, only to flinch back when his fingers met something that was definitely not his hoe. Whipping around, he stared. The voices went silent.

It looked like Technoblade had. . . dented his hoe. By touching it.

Da fuck? Oh boy when did he drink a potion of strength? That's an iron hoe, there's no way he can dent that just by touching it - even with Strength. There's no particles!