Together We Can, Alone We Will [Origins SMP/Modded SMP]

FireFlies

The night in the overworld was always cold. Far colder than a night in the End was, that was for sure.
Ranboo blew into his hands anxiously,  the heat warming his hands and bouncing back onto his face.

This sucked.
Niki poked out from her pond.
"You ok?" She asked, she looked.... sad, all things considered.
Ranboo nodded with a soft smile.
He felt like sh*t, but he'd never tell her that.

When Niki had teleported she had teleported, unconscious, just out of the water. She was lucky Ranboo had teleported to her just moments after.
Phil most likely woke up free-falling from miles in the air, and Tommy probably woke up in a too-short tree.
There was nothing he could do about it now.

However, when trying to get Niki into the pond so she didn't die he had to wade into the water and drop her in. And for a few hours later he desperately tried drying out his wet sleeves, pant legs, shoes, and socks.
It hurt like h*ll.

It had been awkward after that. And now the night was quickly approaching and he was all alone with a woman he couldn't technically get near. Maybe it would have been better to stay in the End(he knows what would have happened if he did.). Adding onto the distrispect, according to his stomach; he was hungry.

Ranboo desperately tried to bite down the feeling of need that bubbled inside him.
Endermen live in packs. Enderians took on the same characteristics. Even the most antisocial Enderians, like Ranboo, crave the body heat of a fellow being.

And now, being that the only other person was stuck in the water, he couldn't have that.
He was really starting to miss Tommy and Phil right about now.

Niki poked back out of the water again before dropping back down.
She crawled to a shallow part of the pond and, keeping her mouth and nose under the water, poked her eyes out to watch the younger.

"Hush now my baby~
Be still now don't cry," Niki sang to the boy.
He perked up and eyed her curiously.

"Sleep while you're rocked by the sea~
Sleep and remember my last lullaby~
So I'll be with you when you dream~" Niki sang, her voice reverberated off every surface, too good to not listen. Her hand slipping out of the water reaching for the younger boy.
Ranboo inched closer and shifted so he was laying on his stomach.

"River, oh river,
Flow gently for me~
Such precious cargo you bear~"
Ranboo reached out and touched her hand wincing with the pain her wet hand brought but unwilling to leave it.

"Do you know somewhere he can be free?
River~
Deliver
Him there~" Niki sang, her grip tightening.

●●●●

A woman hunched over a small child, a soft smile on her face. Black fell from her shoulders before the child was ripped away.

●●●●

Wilbur poked his head out from a tree. His twin brother watched from behind him as the blonde woman sang.
"Look, Techie!" Wilbur squealed quietly from the inside of the tree.
The human let out a soft, irritated huff.

"I see, I hear," Techno grumbled.
"Let's go!" Wilbur encouraged.
"What?! No way, there could be others!" Techno refused.
Wilbur scoffed.
"There are no others, Techie, they wouldn't be trying to rely on each other if there were," Wilbur insisted.

"I don't think we should-" Techno began to insist before halting when the Enderian let out a gasp.

●●●●

"What's that?!" Ranboo asked pushing himself upwards to the tiny flickering light.
It hadn't been there before, how'd it get there? Why was it moving?
Fairy?
Is it a fairy?!

Ranboo reached out and gently cupped the little light in his hand. It landed and he carefully opened it to see the light.

It didn't look like a fairy. Though, to be fair he doesn't know what fairies look like so-
"Oh, fireflies?" Niki chuckled pulling herself out of the water to let one land on her too before flying off once more.

"Fire-Flies? They don't look like they're made of fire? Do they come from the Nether?!" Ranboo asked his eyes glistening.
"No, no, they came from the overworld. They just look like tiny lanterns held by bugs!" Niki giggled before going back into the deeper water so she could float underneath the small lanterns that started to dot the sky.

"Oh! Hmmmmm. That makes. . . . .no since," Ranboo decided and Niki laughed, her laugh reverberating through the water and out of it, filling Ranboo's ears with an echoey but faint noise.

Ranboo's eyes flicked across the horizon at all of the small flying bugs. That's when he noticed their visitors.
They were both hard to see on the light, only illuminated by the light of the fireflies. Even then, they didn't affect the more noticeable one that much anyway.

Said noticeable one glanced up, noticing Ranboo had seen him, and grinned, it was almost a creepy grin that made Ranboo's heart drop. He couldn't leave! What was he supposed to do?!

Then, the men were gone.
Niki poked back up in front of him with a slight cock to her head.

"You ok Ranboo?" Niki asked, her dark prismarine looking skirt puffed up around her in the water.
He wondered if that was hard to swim with. He doubted it was though.
Why would she hinder herself like that?

"It's.... Cold in the overworld for a pack creature," Ranboo noted, almost forcefully.
Niki paused, sinking once more.

"What about moss? I think that gives human warmth when they're desperate?" Niki offered, looking around for a moss-covered rock or something.
"Moss is usually wet, is it not?" Ranboo replied cautiously.
"I- Well I don't know," Niki hummed tilting her head to think.

●●●●

"They saw you!" Techno hissed, hitting his twin's arm.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" Wilbur huffed letting him repeatedly hit him.

Techno grumbled angrily before pulling out a handmade blanket. It was a familiar Boar hide with wool sewn onto the leather of it for more warmth.
He checked in to make sure it had no valuables hidden inside before shoving it into his twin's arms.

"Give this to the packling, meet me by the tire swing," Techno ordered before disappearing within the trees.
Wilbur huffed in annoyed fear and went invisible, shoving the blanket in his pack so it too was invisible.

He walked out into the open, around the lake line, until he made it to the Enderian.
He slipped the blanket out and dropped it on the unsuspecting teenager's head.

He let out a yelp and spun around.
Wilbur smiled as he gave a confused and scared sweep on the area.
He chuckled scaring the kid a bit more before running off to the edge of the clearing once more.

There he made himself visible and he happily waved.
They made eye contact and Wilbur laughed.
"You looked cold!" He laughed before disappearing into the trees.

"I don't want to be out in the open anymore Niki," Ranboo whimpered, his voice wavering, his body shaking. He looking down at the gift the man had seemingly given him.
He wasn't wrong though....
He was freezing.

-------
Notes:
A group of Enderman is called a herd.
A lone Endermen is called a flockling or a herdling. Also applies to Elytrians and Avians.

•Enderians usually sleep in warmer areas in packs of 3-12 people.
•Merlings usually sleep in colder parts of lakes, rivers, and oceans and usually in groups of 1-3 people.
•Shulks usually sleep in warmer areas close to the ground in groups of 1.
•Phantoms usually sleep in colder, darker areas in packs of 1-2 people.
•Humans can easily sleep in nearly any temp but prefer warmer climates in packs of 1-3 people.
•Elytrians usually sleep in warmer, higher places in packs of 2-10 people (they get extremely anxious all alone and are known for finding other non-elytrians to become their fledgling so no-one feels alone and unsafe)
•Avians usually sleep in warmer higher places in groups of 2-15 people (or birds)
•Felines usually sleep in warmer places in groups of 1-5 people.
•Arachnids usually sleep in cooler areas, shaded from the sun in packs of 1.