Xisuma bit his tongue as he attached the last of the five hundred individual LEDs to his new helmet. If it went wrong now, he'd have to start over and spend yet another half-hour doing this exact same thing for the third time over (he may have messed up the first time. He will never admit it). Carefully, he soldered the wiring, and... done!
Smiling, he turned the lights on, just to make sure they were flashing in sequence. He quickly confirmed that they were, the rippling effect of the lights over the contours of what would soon be his helmet almost hypnotising in its nature. This, right here, was why Xisuma loved to DIY his custom mob suits every season.
He had, originally, wanted to go with an axolotl costume for 1.18. However, after a series of rather alarming nightmares involving his alter ego and the moon, he chose to instead go with the glow squid suit. He wasn't certain if his choice of outfit would impact the future in any meaningful way, but he figured things couldn't have gotten much worse than they had in his dreams.
He picked up the partially-tinted visor with the derpy squid eyes that sat by his elbow, and locked it into place with a satisfying click. With that, his helmet was done.
Now to painstakingly add LEDs to every other piece of his armour. Easy enough.
✧☠🎼◉🎼☠✧
"Hey, man!" Jevin greeted, flying down to where Xisuma was working on the start of his base. "Finally, uh..." Jevin trailed off, staring blankly into space. X tilted his head, and instantly, the spell was broken. "Finally got that new suit of yours finished?"
"Yeah, it's cool, isn't it?" X smiled beneath his helmet, putting down another block.
"Very cool," Jevin nodded. "Mesmerising."
"Well, that is the point," X explained. "Originally, the glow squid were supposed to have a mild fascination effect, but it turned out to be too hard to implement. You can see it in the trailer they put out in the hubs."
"A shame," Jevin shook his head. "I think it would be really cool. Now, they're just... a bit nothing, you know?"
"Yeah," X sighed. He paused for a moment, considering. Behind him, Jevin started to stare blankly again. "This is why we can't have nice things."
"This is why we can't have nice things," Jevin repeated, with almost the exact same inflection as Xisuma. X turned around, confused.
"Why did you mimic me there?" he asked.
"Mimic you where?" Jevin retorted, "Sorry, I, uh, I zoned out a bit."
"You said 'this is why we can't have nice things,' and you said exactly how I'd said it!"
"I..." Jevin frowned. "I don't remember either of us saying that." He paused for a second to think. "Hold still again, for a second?" Jevin asked. X stopped his finger tapping on the block next to him, holding perfectly still. Again, Jevin followed suit, the three eye-organ-things that floated in his slime becoming unfocused and hazy. X understood, then, what had happened.
"It's actually mesmerising," he realised.
"It's actually mesmerising," Jevin repeated. X stood up straight, and the effect was dispelled.
"Dude, I told you to– oh." Jevin's brain caught up with what had happened. "You actually got the fascination effect, huh?"
"Something like that," X nodded. "I won't be using it, though."
✧☠🎼◉🎼☠✧
"You know," Evil X's voice purred, oddly relaxing, "You were wearing almost the same outfit last time I saw you."
"Well, I was derpy squidsuma for the war," X explained, "You know how it is."
"I know how it is," Evil X repeated, then suddenly snapped themself out of it. "What – what the fuck was that, then?"
"Oh, uh, like I was saying!" X smiled. "I'm a glow squid now! Derpy glowsquidsuma!"
EX gave Xisuma the most withering look imaginable from behind their visor.
"Oh, you know what, fuck this." They sighed, eventually. "I can't do this when you're turning my mental powers back on me half the time. Here, you can have him back." With that, EX crumpled to the ground, unconscious. X frowned. Had Jeff the Minion gotten to them again?
"Them," he corrected, quietly, in case whatever had been puppeteering his clone around was still listening. With that, he picked them up off the ground and gently deposited them onto the bed he'd set up next to his half-built emporium.
He smiled to himself. Apparently his choice of costume did impact the future, after all.
Now to get those prophetic visions in check.
✧☠🎼◉🎼☠✧
X is such a DIY guy you can't stop me.
I've been Entropy, peace out from the present!
