Stress Cookies! (Hermitcraft mini story)

Chapter 11 ♥︎

Alex was going to give back the scarf. He really was!

But-..... he hadn't....

The scarf was still sitting on the chair, still folded up neatly, still not given back to Stressmonster.

It had been a few days of nothing and he felt guilty for keeping it, but his brain refused to let him walk over, go through the skull doorway thing, and hand it back to her.

"Do I even know the way back? I just sorta stumbled by it by accident when she was chasing me." He told himself, but deep down, he knew it was just an excuse.

Alex paced the room- well, cave- and tried to figure out what he could do.

There was the reasonable option: Go over, thank her, and hand it back.

The option he was considering: Never give it back, and live in shame forever.

The stupid option- he also might have been considering: break in, put it back, run away and never look back.

And the best option: Lay down and die in self hatred and regret!

Ok ok, maybe it wasn't the best, and maybe he was going to save the last one for- well, last, but that didn't mean the option wasn't still on the table.

"Come on Alex! It's been days! Can't we just walk over and try?" He asked himself. Living alone in the cave for so long was apparently getting to his head.

He took a breath and sighed.

"How about-" He started, to no one but himself again. "We go over there-"

"Not liking this plan-" He answered to himself.

"Shut up me-" He squinted. "Hand it to her-"

"Still sounds horrible, honestly."

"And after that we can loot Xisuma's house for extra cookies." Alex finished. "We know he savours them too long anyway, he's bound to have some left."

"We return the scarf, and get cookies?"

"Yes."

"Deal."

Alex looked around the room and grumbled "I've gone insane. Maybe X is right- a friend would do me good." He shook off the thought and walked over to the chair.

He picked up the purple fabric and smiled slightly.

"Ok," He took a deep breath, "Let's go return this scarf."

Alex walked outside to the cold and tried to remember the way he had stumbled to her house.

It surprisingly didn't take that long to find. Maybe it was because he was actually looking for it this time.

The Brown panda, Ms. Deeds, was sleeping peacefully in her fort, and Alex fondly smiled at her. Stress was right; She really was a sweetheart.

"Ok ok, I can do this. Just hand back the scarf, say thanks, and leave."

He knocked on the door to the skull house.

Quickly, a bright pink figure popped out with a bright smile. There was already flour on her apron and some- oats sticking to it too? She didn't seem to mind them in the slightest.

"Uhm-" Alex started.

"Oh wonderful!" Stress interrupted quickly, "It's good to see you again!" She smiled and grabbed his wrist to drag him in.

He stuttered as he was pulled into the warmth of the house and tried to stay focused.

"Actually I just came to drop this off," Alex said as an apron was thrown at his head, muffling the last bit of his sentence. He pulled it off his head and held it carefully over one arm.

"Nonsense! Put that on, we have a lot of cookies to make."

"Stress really I-" Alex tried, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he tried to continue.

"Look, you don't haf to do it if you don't want to, luv." Stress said, a little more slowly this time, "But! When we finish them and deliver them, you can have all of the leftovers, messed up ones-which still taste amazing but don't always look great- and hot cocoa to go with them."

And at that statement, Alex perked up. He thought for a moment. It would be easier and honestly more fun than trying to steal them from Xisuma, and hot Chocolate was always a plus. He squinted his eyes at her.

"Would we get to taste them first?"

Stress smiled, "Of course! We haf to bake 'em first though."

"Deal!"

"Great!"

Alex carefully set the scarf onto a nearby chair and unfolded the apron draped on his arm.

He threw it on, which was the same one from last time with the little cookie on it, but cleaner than how he left it. This had gone better than expected, and with a bit of a smirk and an "I told you so" mentality, he scolded himself for ever hesitating. 

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It is obvious this is just projecting how I talk to myself onto Evil X at this point? Yeah well I think it fits sorta. Thanks for reading, and go cozy up in a warm scarf if you can! For me at least, its already sweater weather season!