Ranchers Hermittober 2024

2. Enchanting

————
Tango growls and slams his hands down on the desk he sits at. With no progress, he has been trying to place an enchanted book on his pickaxe for the past two hours. In the Nether, where he grew up, he didn't have access to water, which meant no paper, books, or obsidian, so no enchantment tables. While everyone in the Overworld was learning level 1 enchants, Tango was busy learning how to wrangle hoglins.

It's not like Tango didn't know what enchanting was. It was just that the resources required were so hard to get, so Piglins and other Nether beings acquired already enchanted tools through trading.

So he sits with a stupid diamond pickaxe in front of him and an enchanted book flung across the room. However, his outburst doesn't go unnoticed as the door creaks open, and Jimmy steps out.

"Hey, that pick giving you trouble?" Jimmy asks softly and comes behind Tango to massage his tense shoulders.

It has the desired effect, and Tango relaxes his posture and sighs heavily. "Augh, I don't get why it's so hard! You guys were doing this in preschool with your eyes closed, and here I am at 37, still not getting it."

Jimmy hums, letting Tango know he's listening, and moves his hands to Tango's hair instead to massage an incoming headache. "Do you want me to put it on for you?" He looks around for the book and spots it leaning against the wall behind them.

"No." Tango surprises himself with how quickly he answers and jumps to an explanation before he sounds like he's taking his anger out on his partner. "If I don't try it, I'll never learn."

The two lovers sit silently for a moment, and Tango enjoys his time away from that stupid book more than he would like to admit. However, he knows the longer he lets Jimmy's hands work their magic on his body, the less likely he'd go back to enchanting.

"What's enchanting feel like? I try to relate it to how I use my fire, but it seems like it just explodificates all in my face rather than do what I want."

Jimmy's hands pause in their movement, and he moves his left one to his chin while he thinks. "Hm, well, there are plenty of ways to use magic for enchanting. It mainly depends on what kind of person you are and what your species is. It sounds to me like you just expect the book to obey you, but have you tried moving with it instead of pushing it? Feel the magic within the book, and when you sync it up with yours, try moving towards the sword."

Tango lights up, pushes himself away from the desk, and stands up. Jimmy nearly falls backward from the sudden movement, but Tango quickly gathers him into his arms and pulls him down for a kiss. "Oh, Jimmy, you're a genius!"

Their lips part for a moment before Tango pulls him in again to place multiple quick kisses between his words. "So smart... so pretty... beautiful... amazing..."

Jimmy's wings puff up slightly at every praise and happily flap behind him. Against what he would really want to do, Jimmy laughs and lightly pushes Tango back when he realizes they're getting sidetracked. "Keep talking like that, and I'll take you away from your work."

"Right!" Tango rushes past the avian to grab the book off the ground and returns to his desk to finish what he started.

"I'll let you concentrate now," Jimmy leans down and kisses Tango's hair softly, and the blaze hybrid thanks him.

After Jimmy shuts the door and continues whatever he was working on beforehand, Tango cracks his knuckles and neck. "Right, are you ready to cooperate now?"
————