Hermitcraft Short Stories

Only 16

Description: A strange woman shows up at Xisuma's door looking for her son.

Xisuma looked down at the worried older woman in front of him, a little shocked. She had come to his place after being directed to go to the server's caretaker in search of her 16-year-old son Oliver, whom she had not seen in weeks. Now X knew an Oliver, but the Oliver he was thinking of was 6 foot 5, muscular, lives out in a jungle, and was a mad scientist. There was no way that could be her Oliver.

"Well I do know an Oliver, but I'm not sure he's your Oliver. I have a few important administrative matters to attend to. I'll send a few people to get him. You wait here, okay?" Xisuma asked kindly, trying to calm the woman.

The woman relaxed marginally. "Okay, I'll wait," she replied.

Xisuma exited his base and walked to the center circle in Old Hermit Town There he saw Biffa, Joe, Cleo, and Tin Foil Chef all in a loose circle, chatting.

"Hey X. What brings you here?" Biffa called over, noticing X walking over to the group.

"There's this woman in my base looking for her son 16-year-old son Oliver. Can you go get Mumbo and bring him to her? I'm a little busy" Xisuma asked.

"Sure." Biffa said as the others nodded in agreement. They all split up to look for Mumbo.

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Cleo marched through the Nether Tunnels to Mumbo's base, growling with a noticeable frown and a matching furrowed brow. Now there was a chance he wasn't the Oliver the woman was looking for, but she did have a few choice words for her fellow Hermit if he was. Once she stepped through the portal into Mumbo's small jungle base, she left a note for him.

"Mumbo, if you see this stay right where you are."

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Tin Foil Chef diligently searched Old Hermit Town while thoughts of how he terrified his own mother floated in his head. He knew this was not the time to be thinking such thoughts, but he couldn't help it. The oldest Hermit on the server thought back to all the times he scared his mother half to death before she passed. He also remembered coming back home unscathed most of the time despite the large number of times he was within 10 feet of a large and dangerous woodland creature. TFC continued his clouded search, hoping that this Oliver kid, Mumbo or not, has about the same luck as he had when he was younger.

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Joe was searching with an even more clouded mind as he tried to find Mumbo in New Hermiton. He'd often drift to images of his infant daughter disappearing without a trace. Biffa, who decided to search with Joe, was not having the most pleasant time either, occasionally thinking about what would happen if either of his sons disappeared. As Joe muttered to himself about the situation, Biffa put a hand on his shoulder and asked if he was okay.

"Yeah, it's just that woman has me thinking about my daughter," he replied.

"I'm kinda having the same problem actually. Second-hand parent instincts can be a bit of a pain."

"You know what?" Joe started, "It would be nice if Mumbo was that lady's son, but right now, that just seems a bit too plot convenience."

Biffa, sensing his friend was back to his normal level of weirdness after that statement, resumed searching for Mumbo.

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Mumbo shifted a little as he waited for the writer of the strange sign to show up. 'What could be so important that they had to tell me to wait by the sign?' he wondered to himself as he shifted once again. He soon got his answer as Cleo stormed up to him, look of unadulterated rage in her eyes.

She stood just a few feet in front of him before speaking, temporarily suppressing her anger. "There's a lady looking for her son teenage son Oliver over in X's house in Old Hermit Town. We're not sure if it's you, but we think you should go and talk to her just in case."

Then something clicked in Mumbo's head. "Dude, I gotta go there. I'll let you yell at me when I get back," he said before rushing through the portal.

Cleo stood in awe before following him through the portal.

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Mumbo ran toward Xisuma's base, mind racing just as fast as his legs. He barely managed to avoid running into everything he sees and tripping over miscellaneous rocks and stray chickens on his way. He came up to X's place and burst through the door, exhausted and out of breath. The lady didn't even give him a chance to catch his breath before lunging at him, placing him in the biggest bear hug the tinier woman could manage. "Oh Olie, I missed you so much. Why haven't you gotten in touch with me for so long? I was so worried about you."

"Sorry mom," he started, "I just got all caught up in my projects. You know how I can get sometimes."

Just then Xisuma walked back into his base, done with administrative business and noticed the scene in front of him. "Oh ma'am, I see you found your son," he said, trying to hide his awkwardness.

Mumbo's mother turned to Xisuma. "Can you do me a favor? Every once in a while check on my son and tell him to call me just so I know he's okay."

"Mom."

Xisuma chucked at this. "Sure, ma'am."

"Oh hey, mom. You wanna see the server? I can give you a tour," Mumbo said.

"Sure Olie. I'd love to."

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"And then he just ran off," Cleo shouted as she was walking back to the circle with Tin Foil Chef, Joe, and Biffa, "No idea why he ran. I did tell him to just go and check."

Just then Mumbo called over to the group and approved with a smaller lady at his side.

"Hey guys, this is my mom," he said as he lady waved to the group, "and mom, these are some of my friends, Biffa, Joe, Cleo, and TFC." The group then held out their hands to give handshakes.

"So these are some of my Little Olie's friends. How has he been behaving?"

"He's been real good. Doesn't bother anyone too much, and doesn't get into too much trouble, but when he does he gets himself out just fine." TFC said.

"Yeah, he doesn't get into the prank wars too often, but when he does, it's great," Biffa added.

"And he's great with Redstone," Joe said.

"That sounds delightful," Mumbo's mother said, "I guess I'm gonna have to have him explain it to me when we get to his base then."

"Yeah, it tends to lag the server a bit, but it's impressive to see," Cleo said.

"Well we're gonna have to continue our tour. Bye guys." Mumbo said.

The group said their goodbyes before splitting up. Cleo, Biffa, Joe, and Tin Foil Chef walked to Xisuma's base to find him still in there.

"So none of us knew he was only 16?" he asked.

Everyone shook their heads.