The Pause [Adopted Book]

Breakthrough

Entry 531:

At last, I've found a shade to help me out.

Magenta may be prickly, but he's smart, and he drives a fair bargain.

All he wanted in return for his feedback was a redstone contraption to hide the entrance to his cave completely.  Apparently, I'm not the first to have wandered in, despite how carefully he hid his presence.  He's already warned me that after he has the blueprints, I won't be able to find him again.  I'm not sure whether or not to believe him.

After looking through my notes, he has a few ideas that would help me out quite a bit.  Instead of waiting for The First Curse to be weakened by new creation, I should wait until he's already in a fight with someone else.  That way, I'll have another ally on my side, instead of a potential enemy.  I hadn't thought about that before.  The Diamond Steves hold no love for their creator, he simply controls them.  But a newly-created steve seeing their creator in pain?  I couldn't count on them staying out of it.  Despite the brittleness of the Diamond Steves, they are actually quite strong.  After all, it took Origin Steve himself to defeat them.  Magenta might have just saved my life.

I wish I could strike more deals with him.  I may need his help in the future.  Unfortunately, he insisted that he doesn't want or need my help anymore.  He just wants me to leave him alone.

The greatest mystery is the steve farther in the cave.  Throughout talking with Magenta, I never got to meet his companion.  Is it another Magenta Steve?  Maybe a Violet Steve, or another shade?  Whoever he is, one thing's for certain: Magenta will do anything to protect him.

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"Guess what?"  I looked up from the eggs I was making to see Turquoise and Unstable enter the room.  Yesterday, I had volunteered to stay in the village overnight so I could help Turquoise clean up.  Amber, of course, had agreed instantly.  He was still asleep, passed out on the couch I had managed to get down from the ceiling.

"What's up?"  I asked the blue-green steve.

"Tonic's coming back!"  he announced happily.  "Thanks to him and Lime, Sav's finally healed."  Unstable grinned, flashing violet.  He had never met Sav, and barely knew Tonic, but I guess he was excited anyway.

I smiled, too.  Everyone had been worried since Tonic left to take care of the patients, especially Cove.  It was about time things returned to normal.  Speaking of Cove...

"Hey, did Hypno ever bring over those crutches?" I wondered.  "I know he bailed on us last night, but Cove's getting sick of being stuck in bed."

"Hypno?"  Unstable asked excitedly.

"He'll have to come over sometime this morning."  Turquoise figured, scooping some eggs onto a plate and handing it to his friend.  "Even if he forgets about the crutches, he'll come over to check on you."  I paused, surprised at his assessment.  I thought Hypno was getting over his obsession with looking after me.

Unstable laughed at the expression on my face, doling out more eggs before zooming off.

"And... he's gone."  I noted as he zoomed past the window.

"He'll be back.  He's been bringing Cove meals."  Turquoise explained absentmindedly, taking a bite of breakfast.  "It's actually pretty helpful, since Tonic's been so busy."

We ate in silence for a while, quickly joined by Unstable.  The tri-colored steve was jittery, eating his food so fast I was afraid he'd choke.  I kept waiting for Amber to show up, but I guess he was really tired from yesterday.  Finally, we were done.  I glanced at the final plate of eggs, which were quickly cooling.