The Pause [Adopted Book]

Amber

Cycle 53:

I was slowly getting tired of running around all the time. In the night, every noise would wake me. I was always scared that some steve would discover me camping there, and start asking questions. Sometimes, Hypno would actually come and wake me himself. I guess he thought I was silly for being so paranoid.

It wasn't until last cycle that I chose to camp on that hill. I promised myself that no matter what, I wouldn't leave until I saw a steve there, aside from Hypno, of course. So I just slept by that hillside all pause, eventually growing confident that nobody was going to find me. It really was an ideal area. It was close to the flower field I went to to create Origin, so I could go there quickly after I had created him, and travel back when he needed me to create steves.

This pause, I actually started to make it into a house. I know it could never feel like home the way the Rainbow Hub, my house in the Rainbow Kingdom, or my house in the village did, but at least it was safe. My sleep schedule, though by no means perfect, has started to improve. I was finally able to move all my journal entries from the last fifty-two cycles into one space. It also gave me something to do.

Hypno's a little irritated, because he hasn't been able to find my house yet. He'll catch me going out to cut down trees or mine stone, but since I concealed the entrance to my house, he doesn't know where I am most of the time. It's nice to sleep without worrying about him waking me up.

The house also gives me a place to keep livestock and farms, so I'm not constantly looking for my next meal. I made sure to carve out a lot of space in the mountainside for that kind of thing, so I never had to worry about going hungry. That was one of the main reasons I built my house into the hill, actually. Even if the place was deserted, seeing a bunch of farmland from far away might attract unwanted attention. This way, I could make sure no steve could spot me.

Since the timeline tends to keep whatever progress I make in previous cycles, I can arrive back at this house on cycle 54. I'll finally have someplace to go once I'm done creating Origin Steve. I don't know if my livestock will stay as well, but I don't mind herding more animals into the place if it means I have a place to live in. My house will also give me a project to work on while I wait for each pause to be done. I could use a lot of extra rooms, and I can really spend some time decorating and building it however I like.

Even if it never truly feels like home, at least it will feel safe.

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I didn't know how much time had passed when I awoke again. Since I hadn't managed to get to my bed, my entire body was stiff from sleeping on the floor. Fishing around in my pocket, I took out Time's golden watch and checked the face. Then I remembered that it probably wasn't accurate. I would need to go outside to check.

I stretched as I slowly got up, groaning at the pain in my shoulder and side. The nausea, at least, seemed to be gone. I made my way to my closet and reached inside, pulling out a long cloak. When I wasn't actively playing the role of the Judge, I usually wore this to hide my identity instead. This way, any passerby might mistake me for a steve. It was a simple dark gray, neutral enough for any steve to mistake me as their own color. On the back was my characteristic earth logo, surrounded on both sides by comet designs, one black and one white. The bottom of the cloak was patchworked with the seven colors of the rainbow.

I shrugged off the forest green cloak I still had on and slipped on the other. From the gray cloak's pocket, I withdrew a pair of gloves meant to disguise my skin color, which was unnatural for most steves. After tucking Time's pocket watch into the folds, I started to exit again. But this time, I paused for a second.