Tommyinnit Oneshots

Controlling the Chaos - Six: A Memory Made of Feelings

Tubbo

Tubbo rises with the sun. He had always been a morning person, to the protest of his fellow Mages. Tubbo was the early riser that stayed in the meadows as the sun began to peek above the horizon. Hannah found solace in the moments where the coolness of morning turned into the warmth of noon. Foolish was a man who did his best work in the heat of the afternoon. Tommy would do anything he could to watch the sun setting beyond what he could ever hope to reach, when the stars began twinkling like friends. Ranboo was an Enderman at heart whose instincts favored the midnight hours that seemed reminiscent of the End. Purpled would train in the mysterious hours between midnight and sunrise when the rest of the world was fast asleep. Between the six of them, no hour of the day was left unloved. They had the possibility of becoming the essence of time if they weren't careful, Clara was warned during one of their training sessions.

Tubbo sat on the porch of the cabin they were renting out at the edge of the village. He curled up with a mug of golden brown tea in his hands that was mostly honey. Tubbo was still wearing his pajamas with a blanket wrapped loosely around his shoulders. His hair was all over the place with his antennas twitching in the breeze when a lock of hair knocked into them. Tubbo could sense the leaves getting ready to start making food for the day. He felt the first wafts of pollen against his skin. Tubbo smiled despite himself. It had been many years since he was last allowed to remain this in-tune to nature. His training consisted of forming a connection with various plants, but it had never been like this in those artificially created gardens. Those plants had mostly been depressed, yearning for Tubbo to provide them with the sky they craved. Tubbo couldn't do much more than lift the plant's moods with his memories of the sky. It didn't work out well considering Tubbo had few memories of anything outside the Coven halls. Here, however, nature was left undisturbed, leaving Tubbo with plants that practically sang with happiness. Tubbo felt his mood brighten every time he walked past a flower that was overjoyed to be alive.

"Oh, you're awake," Someone said, walking down the rocks that formed the outline of a path to the porch steps. Tubbo looked at the woman to find it was Captain Puffy. She was one of the pseudo leaders of the colony, and she was the one that helped the group find a place to stay. There was something homely about her that Tubbo couldn't place. Puffy seemed like the type of person who was everyone's second mother. Tubbo chuckled at the thought because he didn't know his first mother. Puffy raised an eyebrow at him, but Tubbo shook his head instead of explaining that he was something of an orphan. Puffy pressed her lips together while smiling as she lifted the basket she had been holding. "Are the others awake? I brought breakfast, and a list of people who need help."

"No. I'll go wake Hannah and Foolish up. They'll make sure the other three are ready for the day," Tubbo said, stepping onto his feet. Tubbo went inside the house without inviting Puffy in. He left the door slightly ajar, but she merely stood outside with a soft smile. Even as he went deeper into the cabin, he felt how much the flowers enjoyed Puffy's soft touch against their petals. Tubbo nearly gagged as he shoved open one of the doors. The cabin had two bedrooms. Tubbo, Ranboo, Purpled, and Tommy crammed into one room to allow Hannah as much privacy as they could. Foolish technically had a bed, but Tubbo saw him passed out on the floor between the couch and coffee table, tangled up in a blanket. Tubbo stomped on where he assumed Foolish's legs were. He must have been close because Foolish startled awake, forehead slamming against the bottom of the coffee table. Foolish released a curse in a language Tubbo didn't know. Tubbo leaned down beside Foolish. "Puffy is here with food and jobs. You go wake up the others while I try to get information from her."

Foolish took another moment to wake up before he stood up to wake the others up. Tubbo went back to the door. Puffy smiled at him as he came out, shutting the door behind him. Tubbo walked towards her, wondering how he would go about extracting information without seeming suspicious. "Foolish will wake them up. He's good at things like that... so, um, what're the jobs that need doing?"

"Oh! Yes, I've compiled a list of people who wouldn't mind an extra hand. I've been working on a temple on the beach since we are heavily dependent on sea travel. Sam needs to clear out an area to build a new farm. Phil and Wilbur are trying to build training grounds for people who want to learn to defend themselves from Mobs or Hunters. Schlatt wants someone to help him clean up the bar and cellar. Punz is heading into the southern forests to defeat a Woodland Mansion. Karl and Bad are trying to reorganize the library. That's everything! Does anything sound interesting?" Puffy explained. Plenty of them sounded fun, but Tubbo needed to think tactically. In what situation would Tubbo be the most natural? He would have to be asking questions the entire time with inconspicuous ways. Tubbo instantly began pairing people up with the jobs that would be the best for them in his head. When everything was worked out, Tubbo smiled at Puffy.

"I suppose I'll be cleaning today."

——

To be fair, it wasn't that hard. Tubbo had spent a lot of his youth cleaning up the messes of his ward-mates, and when he joined the secret team of elites, he would clean up after Tommy and enderwalking Ranboo. He wasn't having fun, but he wasn't getting annoyed by the tedious tasks. Tubbo wiped down the windows with soap and water. He scrubbed the tables with a rag until all the stains faded from the wood. He swept and mopped the floors until he could see his reflection. Tubbo wiped each glass until they sparkled like crystals in the desert sun. Tubbo coaxed every rat and spider he found to leave the premises when no one was looking using his powers. In fact, Tubbo chose this job to secretly perform his mental manipulation magic.

Because of their nature, bars were usually busy. They were even more busy in villages like this where it seemed like this bar was the only restaurant for miles. Several people came in and out as the day stretched into night to have their meals or take a break from the hot sun. No one paid any mind to the bee hybrid boy who went above cleaning their messes or washing the dishes. They certainly didn't remember having a conversation with him. They were vaguely aware they gave a greeting to a brunette, but if they tried to reach for more details about the encounter, they came up empty. The boy who no one could quite remember was able to slip into their minds to find answers they wouldn't naturally give, and he was gone before they realized what thoughts they even had.

It was easy to break into the mind of someone who wasn't paying attention, especially if they were also drunk. The problem with a drunk mind, however, is that it was like chasing a toddler. Thoughts bounced around without much reason as to how one thing connected to another. Details were blurred and words were slurred. Tubbo had trouble finding someone coherent enough to have proper thoughts, but buzzed enough that reshaping their memories was a piece of cake. Tubbo usually had to strike this bitter balance in his training. There were certainly differences between those simulations and the real thing, but Tubbo believed himself to be doing exceptional considering the circumstances. Tubbo would connect his mind to whatever fella sat at the bar with one beer halfway done, and would wait around in the hopes that the surface thoughts would provide him with what he needed. Sometimes, Tubbo would walk up to the patron to ask questions directly, but he kept that to a minimum since memory shifting was a difficult thing to do. Tubbo would have gone deeper into the mind but he needed to be aware enough that if someone called on him, he could hear, and because passing the second gate of the mind alerted mental defenses that someone was intruding. Tubbo didn't have time to slip passed guards and barriers.

When the day came to an end, Tubbo hadn't gathered much. As he guessed, Puffy and Phil were part of the council that made decisions regarding the whole colony. Others on this council included a Starborne hybrid named Scott and a Halo hybrid given the nickname Bad. Tubbo learned that their was a fifth member who had gone missing recently without an explanation. Other than that, Tubbo didn't learn about any new arrivals to the isles. Tubbo didn't know how long ago the Mage came to the colony, but it couldn't be long enough for the villages to be comfortable with the Mage. Considering no one at the bar looked out of place, Tubbo suspected that the Mage wasn't comfortable in the social scene either. Other than the political scene, Tubbo learned that an important festival was coming up that all the islands making up the isles would celebrate. They would gather on the largest island- the one they were on- to celebrate their independence from the mainland where oppression laid.

"Hey, kid, come here," A gruff voice disrupted Tubbo's deductions. Tubbo looked up to find the owner of the bar staring at him. Tubbo smiled half-heartedly with a rush of anxiety coursing through his body. The bartender and chef, Niki, gave him a comforting pat on the back as he walked past her. Niki had been sweet to Tubbo all day. Tubbo had felt guilty when he tried to go through the first gate of Niki's mind, so he ended up not entering. Tubbo hoped that wasn't a mistake. What if Niki was their missing Mage? The mission could be done that day. Tubbo would definitely miss the picturesque forests around the cabins, but he wasn't particularly attached to anyone there. Tubbo could leave that moment if necessary. He had a sinking feeling that the others wouldn't agree.

"Is there something wrong, sir? I believe I did all the tasks you gave me with efficiency," Tubbo commented as he stepped outside the bar into the area behind. There was a rocky sidewalk lining the edge of the wall with a grassy meadow spread out after it. Schlatt had lowered himself to sit on some crates that had been flipped over as a makeshift chair. Tubbo remained standing, arms folded behind his back as he stood with a straight posture. This was the respectful way to stand before his superiors that Tubbo was taught when he was with the Watchers.

"No, no, it's fine. You're doing good work in there. Of course, I had low expectations for someone so young," Schlatt said, holding up a bottle. Tubbo resisted the urge to crinkle his nose as the smell hit him. It wasn't like Tubbo particularly hated alcohol, but the smell had been nagging at a memory in Tubbo's head that he couldn't recall. No one in the Watchers was fond of drinker considering it lowered mental capacity, but Tubbo felt something familiar stir in his heart at the scent. Tubbo pushed the nostalgia away as Schlatt continued talking. "I'm more curious about you. Two twenty year olds, an eighteen year old, a seventeen year old, and two sixteen year olds comprised of five Origin holders are traveling tradesman. How should I react? Where are your parents? How did you all meet? What is really going on here?"

Tubbo gave a knowing smile. Before they left, Clara drilled into their minds every detail of a fabricated past. All Tubbo needed to do was recite what he was told. It was easy because most of details were the same between Tubbo's true memories and the story. "I grew up in the Northwestern meadows with my dad. My mom was the shifter, and he didn't stick around for long as she went back to the hive. I don't really remember either of them, but I know I ended up in an orphanage because my dad couldn't handle it alone. I met the others there. Once Hannah ad Foolish turned 18, they took the rest of us with them when they left for bigger things. We've been doing this for about two years, but it feels like I've spent a lifetime on those waves, carting around goods for the highest bidders."

Schlatt took a long sip of his drink. He leaned back against the back outer wall of the bar. Schlatt's gaze looked Tubbo up an down like he was trying to understand something. Tubbo met his eyes easily, daring Schlatt to call Tubbo out on his bluff. All of Tubbo's confidence faded, however, when he felt the same stirring in his soul that the smell of alcohol brought about in Schlatt's eyes. Stronger, even. Tubbo had seen those dark, shadowy yellow eyes once before in his life, with the same thin glaze over it. Tubbo felt the world fade away around him. What was left was those dark eyes looking down at him with a bright blue sky overhead, clouds lazily following the light breeze that carried strong pollen and colorful leaves. Tubbo looked away from Schlatt as he tried pushing the hallucination away.

"It isn't good for you. Kids need stability. I've read enough of Puffy's therapy books to know that much," Schlatt said, tipping his glass bottle to the sky in a way that implied he was toasting to the sheep hybrid. Schlatt glanced over at Tubbo once more. "I read a bunch of parenting guides awhile back. I was going to have a son... I did have one. He had the brightest eyes I had ever seen, wide and innocent like he was soaking in only the best of the world. He had my nose, but he looked exactly like his mother."

There was a sharp sadness in his tone that made Tubbo flinch back. It didn't take long for the past tense words to register in Tubbo's mind. He was prepared for Schlatt to say that. A small part of him wondered what had happened to Schlatt's son, but he mostly felt an immense amount of sympathy for the man who had lost his family. Tubbo had never known his parents, but he couldn't even imagine the pain he would feel if one of the others were to perish. Tubbo didn't even know how to comfort Schlatt. At least, not with verbal words. Tubbo reached into Schlatt's minds, waltzing through the first gate with ease. Tubbo tried to use Schlatt's drunken state as a ticket all the way past the third gate, but it didn't work out like he hoped. Schlatt stumbled to his feet, looking around while putting Tubbo in a protective hold.

"Mages..." Schlatt whispered with heavy distrust. Tubbo didn't mind the hug (he quite enjoyed it), but he couldn't tolerate Schlatt's disgust for his brand of person. Tubbo pushed Schlatt away with a raised eyebrow. Schlatt sighed, rubbing hand through his hair down to his chin. "Sorry, kid. I just felt... something strange happening. You can never be too wary of those bastard Mages."

"What do you have against Mages? What does it matter if someone chooses to bring order to the chaos of the world? I've met plenty of Mages who are kindhearted without a bone of malicious intent," Tubbo defended even though it could blow his cover. It didn't sit well with Tubbo that someone was prejudice against Mages. There was enough hate in the world between Hunters and hybrids. Plus, the only family Tubbo ever knew were Mages. Ranboo was his platonic husband (technically his Confidante), Tommy was his best friend, Foolish was like an older brother, and Clara had been an unforgettable mentor who taught Tubbo many things in their two weeks of training. Since Clara was like Tommy's mom, she was practically Tubbo's aunt. Purpled and Hannah had been nothing but comforting with Tubbo. It wasn't fair for Schlatt to imply that these people Tubbo loved were nothing more than demons. "Don't you know any good Mages?"

Dream.

The thought slipped from Schlatt's mind. Or Tubbo was so emotionally that he was resonating with the world around them. Either way, Tubbo had a name. He had a Mage. It was a clue that was far more important than the patron's illusions of drunken grandeur or plans for the festival. Tubbo normally felt horrible about his emotional outbursts, but he was thankful for it this one time. Tubbo could prove himself to the others. They would be proud of him. Clara would be proud of them all. The Watchers would find value in keeping them around. They might even let Tubbo know more about his parents or visit his homeland with enough missions going right.

"You're right. Not all Mages are bad, but I'd rather distrust a good Mage than trust a bad one. You have to be careful with those fuckers," Schlatt shook his head. Tubbo almost smiled at how Tommy that statement was. Schlatt wrapped an arm around Tubbo's shoulders, and Tubbo was washed away in another wave of anemoia bustling through his body. Tubbo leaned into Schlatt. The ram hybrid laughed softly. "Let's get you home, buddy."

—
This is the last of the pre-written chapters of CtC, so tell me if you want more