Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Name: Tommy Innit

Gear: Inventory/Creative Mode (Locked)

Faction: None(?)

Notes:
- Looks like he could be 21, is actually 18 years old (yes, I still love this trope. Make him a parental figure and get people slapped with "Oh yeah, he's like 18 years old")

- The type to fight dirty as hell or has such unorthodox methods that it catches people off guard and makes him very unpredictable

- His horns are yellow by the base and red at the tips, also shaped similarly to a Elds's Deer's horns

- Dark grey skin colour because I refuse to believe he's still pale after exile happened. Like, he has to be tanned.

Arcs:

Crossroads Arc
- Dies (duh) and sees Mumza and XD, who tells him he'll be reincarnated somewhere else as his second chance

- Gets dumped into an alleyway in the Crossroads, geta info dumped into his brain and proceeds to wander around

- Now he has to four things to do; Forge an identity, find a place to live (probably by building it?), find stable source of food and water and live his life (optional, in his humble opinion)

- Maybe meets some of the Phighters during this arc, not all of them but most of them

Job Application Arc
- Big man tries to find a job, what could go wrong!?

- Meets more of the Phighters (maybe, perhaps)

- Maybe he stumbles upon an Unofficial Phight and learn that he can make money from scrapping people

- Learns more about his Gear, aka the Inventory and the Creative mode attached to it, which is currently locked, but hey at least his stuff is still there!

I'll be leaving this here as both a way to keep track of everything and an information blurb. Feel free to give me ideas or silly little suggestions!

Chapter Text

Tommy lived a pretty good life.

Well, as good as life can be, considering the hellhole of a server he ended up in.

He's lived through most of the wars, the violence, the.. everything. He's lost two out of his three canon lives, lost most of his friendships and his family and had gotten exiled out of the country he helped founded.

But he liked to think he lived a good life, one where he had moments of happiness despite everything.

Tommy also knew he wasn't going to live much longer.

In his pursuit to help Wilbur with L'manburg, he had made a lot of enemies with some of them being his former friends. He would be blind not to see how some of them looked eager to end his life.

So when his life finally ended, head bashed against the crying obsidian as his brains and blood painted the surface, he felt no regret weighing him down.

It almost felt... Peaceful.

Then, he blinked and found himself staring at a white, lacey surface and an array of teacups, teapots and rich pastries. The kind you'd see at a some fancy brunch.

Tommy looks up and sees..

He sees a woman he's only ever seen on painted portraits. The one Phil showed him when he was younger, when he used to be around long enough to bond with Tommy. The same woman who would sometimes come to his dreams or whenever he lost consciousness.

Next to her is.. Dream? Wait, not Dream. This one looked more ethereal, like someone decided to polish that stupid fucking mask of his and lend him cleaner clothes. Plus, his hair was longer, actually shining like it's made of gold, and tied in a low ponytail.

Plus, the mask had an 'XD' etched into it, not Dream's stupid smiley face.

"So you've died and now wonder why you're sitting in front of two gods." Dream 2.0 says in a drawl as he lifts a fork to stab at a strawberry and brought it up to his face to eat.

The woman, he remembers that she insists he calls her Mumza, gently smacks the guy on his shoulder. "Don't just dive into it, XD." She scolds as she gets up, grabbing one of the many teapots on the table.

"Tea, dear? I didn't know which one you'd like so I brought quite a few." Mumza says, pouring into one of the cups.

It had a flowery smell to it, something Tommy tends to prefer when it comes to teas.

"Ah, yeah, thank you." He says, sounding just a bit awkward as he accepted the cup from her.

It was warm.

"So, I assume you have questions." XD says, though he seems more focused on demolishing the tart on his plate.

Tommy nods.

"Well, then, ask away." The god says but this time, he looked up at the boy.

Mumza simply slides a plate of chocolate cake to Tommy, a comforting smile on her face.

It was silent for a moment before he spoke up again. "What are you pronouns?" Tommy asked the god. "He/Them, at the moment." XD says, amused.

There was some more silence as the boy thought up his next question. His hand picked up the cup of tea from the saucer.

"Aren't I supposed to be dead?" Tommy asked before taking a sip of his tea. XD scoffed. "You are dead." He says, deadpanned.

"No, I meant like, aren't I supposed to be in Limbo?" He asked again, already annoyed by Dream's secret twin. "Ghostbur told me-" He says before being cut off.

"Ghostbur is a... Different case." XD says, waving his fork around a bit. "You are also different." He answers.

"Different how?" Tommy asked. XD simply nods at Mumza's direction.

"That.. would be my doing." She says. "Tommy, I.. I wanted to give you a second chance. I've been watching you for most of your journey and I felt like I've failed you.. You and Wilbur.. Wilbur already made his choice, no matter how much I tried to convince him otherwise." Mumza says gently.

"Of course, you still have the option to stay if you want to. I won't force you. But.. I do believe you deserve better, Tommy." She says.

"Drista believes that too." XD chimes in. "Was pretty much the reason why this little meeting was set up in the first place." He says as he sips from his own cup.

Tommy imagines it's coffee. XD looks like the kind of guy who'd be 'built different' just by choosing something that was different from everyone else. So while he and Mumza had tea, XD would be sipping bitter, bitter coffee.

"Unless, of course, you'd like to be revived. Can't say your friends would appreciate you being around after that though." XD drawls.

The table jumps a bit and XD hisses.

"Anyway, again, you have the option, Tommy. You can stay in Limbo, get revived or be reincarnated. It's your choice." She tells him.

They stayed silent for a moment. The only sound is from XD, angrily cutting some pie and transferring it to his plate to devour like the gluttonous fuck that he is.

"Do I.. get to know where I go, if I chose to be reincarnated?" Tommy asked cautiously.

"Nope. Completely random. No worries though, momma over here will keep an eye on you for the most part." XD says after swallowing the food in his mouth.

Mumza gave him a look for that.

Tommy took a moment to think.

Does he even want to stay? Like what XD had said, it's not like everyone is as thrilled to have him around in the first place. If he were to come back, how would they react? He'd rather not get killed again if he could help it.

He didn't want to stay in Limbo either. He just doesn't want to.

That just leaves...

"I think.. I want to be reincarnated." Tommy says, finally.

"Are you sure?" Mumza asked softly. Tommy nods, looking very sure of his choice. "Very sure."

Mumza smiles, looking relieved while XD simply nods in response.

"Then, reincarnation you will get."

They spent the rest of the 'tea party' hashing out the details of his reincarnation, namely what blessings he'll receive that could potentially aid him in the new world.

XD leaved after a while, saying he needed to make the necessary preparations, leaving Tommy with Mumza.

They simply spent the time talking together, though Mumza was the one doing the most listening with a smile on her face.

Chapter Text

"No, no, no! It should've worked! The ritual should've worked!" Dream screams as Sam holds him down with his foot, threatening to crush his throat if he were to put more weight onto his legs.

The only thing he could focus on was the blood, the brain matter and Tommy's fucking corpse. It was almost everywhere, almost as if Dream was trying to paint the damn walls with it.

"He should've been alive by now! He'll wake up in a bit!" Dream insists, sounding more insane than usual.

Sam simply puts more weight to his foot, letting Dream feel the threat.

"Shut up, Dream."

XD had said the ritual took a while to prepare, which Tommy didn't mind since it meant he had time to himself.

Mumza made sure he changed out of his old clothes and into some new ones to celebrate his return to life. It took them a while to pick out a style for him before Tommy was satisfied with their picks.

After all, hard to beat a black shirt, stylized parka jacket (in case he lands somewhere cold) and cargo pants (pockets!!) combo!

A while later, Drista came to see him, which was nice. She took him to get ice cream, which is apparently a thing in.. heaven(?), before XD, being the ultimate vibe killer that he is, came to get him.

(Mumza had the fortunate luck of seeing XD carry a sulking Tommy while Drista was hanging off his arm and biting down like some feral animal and had ice cream dripping down their face.)

Tommy was then ushered into a room with candles, crushed flower petals and some kind of sigil drawn onto the floor.

It was a circle with a moon at the centre and runes written along said circle.

It seems XD is going for the 'simple but effective route'. Fits a bloke like him, Tommy supposes.

"Nervous?" Drista asks, poking at his cheek when he stared at the runes, trying to make sense of them. "A bit." Tommy answers, letting himself be lead to the middle of the circle by XD.

"You're strong, Tom. I'm sure you'll have the new world under your thumb in no time." She says, snickering. Tommy scoffs, doubtful.

"Ooooh! Maybe you can be a king! Or.. or a powerful mage! C'mon! Dream a little, Tom!" Drista says as she moves to stand next to XD, a grin on her face.

"I think I've had enough of dreams, Dris." Tommy drawled but her smile was infectious so it wasn't long before Tommy had a grin on his face.

"Alright, enough, both of you. It's time to begin." XD says, clapping his hands together before he reveals a bright star in the palm of his hands. "Unfortunately, mama bird had to leave because the council was bitching again.

They watched as the star flew towards Tommy, circling him before it duplicates into several stars.

"Now, no matter what happens, Tommy, do not leave the circle." XD says as light shimmered from his hands. The room dimmed with only light from both the stars and XD's hands.

Tommy decides to look at himself while XD does his thing.

Not that he expected anything, really!

....he surprises himself by watching his nails turn into claws. He watched as his skin turned a dark grey.

He looks around himself and watches with fascination as his body turns into.. something else. It's not human, that's for sure. Maybe a pillager? But those guys don't have claws.

Tommy tongue runs against his teeth when an ache begins to settle in his mouth.

Definitely not a Ravager hybrid. They don't have teeth this sharp.

Before he could think about any other hybrids that are naturally grey, clawed and have sharp teeth, there was a sharp, searing pain on the top of his head, causing him to drop to his knees and gasped.

It felt like someone was tugging at his hair and trying to braid it with the force of a fucking Warden's punch.

He can feel his ears ringing but he can also hear Drista panic while XD tries to calm her down.

Tommy feels himself screaming but he can't hear himself. It sounded like there was static in his ears, there was noise and something much louder.

He looks up once more to see Drista's eyes widen and XD's hands closing, extinguishing the light.

Then, he falls down into pure darkness, like the floor had opened up underneath him and swallowed him whole.

When he finally came to his senses, Tommy felt himself jolt awake from where was slumped against a wall. His breathing felt odd, like it's been a while since he's used his lungs.

He took some deep breaths and steadied his breathing until he felt fine again.

Tommy leaned back until his back hit the wall.

...except it's not his back that hit the wall. Instead, it was something on his head.

His hands immediately reached up to feel what the hell was on his head and-

Horns. He has horns now. Antlers to be more specific but still.

Fucking horns.

"What the absolute fuck?" Tommy mutters as he felt up the new bony appendages on his head.

So THIS was what's caused that head all that pain, huh?

Then, his hand went lower until he reached his head.

"....AM I FUCKING BALD!?"

After a few minutes of freaking out, Tommy calmed down and just, looked around.

He's pretty sure he's in an alleyway, meaning he's most likely in a town or city of some kind. Meaning there's people around, right?

Tommy gets up but falls back down when he feels the same splitting headache from before.

'DON'T TELL ME I'M GROWING A SECOND SET OF HORNS!?' He mentally shouts as he grabbed at his head. He grit his teeth to prevent himself from screaming as he felt the pain become overwhelming.

Then, he felt a rush of information jamming itself into his head. Had Tommy not bit his wrist on time to muffle his scream, a crowd would've been forming around him by now.

Spawn.

Gears.

Inpherno.

Thieves' Den.

Playground.

Lost Temple

Blackrock.

Crossroads.

The SFOTH.

Phighters.

Demideities?

Inphernals

".....Am.. Am I an Inphernal?" Tommy asked, looking around for some kind of mirror or reflective surface he can use.

He finds some broken glass and picked it up, immediately holding it up to his face to inspect himself. "Holy shit, I am." He says in slight awe.

Then, he just.. sits back down onto the alley floor, processing everything.

"Wait, what the fuck am I supposed to do now? Just, live my life?" Tommy asked no one in particular as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I mean, I'm gonna need a house for that, maybe a job too.. Hmm..." He wonders, his hand moving to his chin instead.

"Hey dude, are you okay?" A voice asked.

Tommy turns to look at the other person. "...Sam?"

Chapter Text

Boombox was a pretty cool guy.

Yup, Tommy will openly admit it. The guy was a cool sort like.. like Puffy! Yeah, Puffy is a GREAT example of coolness.

He took the time to stay with Tommy and just calm him down from what's basically his whole panic session.

"You good now, bro?" Boombox asked from where he leaned against the wall of they alleyway they were in. His Gear, the boombox, was set down next to his feet.

"Yeah.. Yeah, I'm good." Tommy answers carefully. "Sorry, I just had the worst," Reincarnation? Wait, no, the guy would probably think he's crazy or something. "Hangover known to man and before I knew it, I was remembering some pretty heavy stuff." He says, shrugging.

"Damn, that sounds rough. Wanna, uh, talk about it?" Boombox asked, sounding a bit awkward as he offered to listen.

Not that Tommy would spill the beans, even if the guy was pretty cool.

"Nah. It's good. Thanks anyways." He says.

Thankfully, Boombox didn't seem offended.

They stayed silent for a moment before Tommy remembered something.

Oh right, the guy already introduced himself. He should do the same, otherwise it'll just be rude.

"Oh, right. I'm, uh.." What should he call himself?

Unless he had a Tommy Gun, he can't exactly introduce himself as Tommy.

An Inphernal is named through their Gear.

Does he have his inventory though?

As if being guided through some unseen force, Tommy hands moved in front of him, did the camera finger pose and pulled, to which his inventory revealed itself in all it's pixilated glory.

Holy shit, he still had all of his stuff!!

...including a few things Drista swiped for him.

"XD is rich as fuck anyways," she whispered as she dropped the valuables into his hands. "Plus, everyone loves some shiny stones."

"Inventory. I'm Inventory." Tommy said almost immediately as he clapped his hands shut, grinning at Boombox like he just showed the man a really neat trick.

"Woah, that's so cool." Boombox says with a grin. "So, what, do you keep stuff in there?" He asks.

"Yeah! Basically." Tommy, no, Inventory said, chuckling nervously.

Boombox whistles. "That's seriously cool, man."

"Yeah, yeah. That's enough glazing, big man." Inventory says, laughing a bit.

Boombox offered his hand to Inventory.

"Nice to meet you, Inventory." He said. The younger Inphernal paused for a moment before he smiled and shook Boombox's hand. "Nice to meet you too, Boombox."

For once, he felt okay just existing in someone's vicinity.

It wasn't long before they had to split ways.

Inventory made a mention that he had a place to be and after a quick 'I'm good on my own, big man', Boombox and him split ways.

Okay, okay. Disassociating now, he supposes.

His body moves on autopilot, weaving through the crowd of Inphernals as his mind processes everything happened so far.

Okay, so I've been sent to another world in a new body, new powers(?) and a shitton of information crammed into my head like files in the Whitehouse's cabinets. He thinks, feeling the urge to just slam his head against a wall.

But fuck, man, is this trippy to think about. Wait, remember the more important information first, Tommy.

First of all, the whole SFOTH thing. Lame ass names, just to start, but at the same time, they're basically the admins of this place. Meaning, I've got to be careful of them.

Tommy No, Inventory, his name Inventory now, walks around the area, looking at the surrounding buildings.

He paused before entering an alleyway.

Maybe?

Inventory opened his Gear once more, peering into it.

He moved one of the gold blocks he was 'gifted' and placed it into the crafting area of his inventory, watching as they converted to gold bars.

"Cool, it still works." He says absentmindedly as he pulls out a gold bar.

Then, immediately yelps as the weight almost pulls him down.

"What the fuck-!?" This shit was pretty heavy!

With a bit of a struggle, Inventory placed the gold bar back into his inventory.

Okay so apparently gold is really heavy here. Makes sense. Gold tools are also pretty heavy so it makes sense.

He puts his inventory away and continues his walk.

A great discovery so far!

...what was he doing again?

Oh right, he was looking for a house.

Places like this should have apartments, right? It's a rare thing in SMPs since everyone preferred to make their own houses but occasionally, there would be some places that would have apartments to rent out. Especially if the SMP had been lived in by it's players long enough.

Personally, Inventory never joined such places but he does know they exist through forums or friends.

Point is, he needed to find a place to stay, preferably before the night came. Even if this place didn't have mobs, he wasn't willing to stay outside long enough to have someone rob him in the darkness.

He's been wandering for hours already, occasionally stopping by to loiter and plan his next move as Inventory rested.

Prime, it feels WEIRD calling himself that.

But at the same time, it's kind of his name now so he has to get used to it.

Inventory looked around and sees a motel.

Hmm. Pretty good, especially when compared to his own hotel in the Dream SMP. Then again, his hotel was kind of meant to be shit so the bar was already pretty low.

He looked up at the sky, seeing it darken as night approached.

"Yeah, this is fine." He says as he walked into the motel, ready to negotiate for a night.

The bell jingled as he walked into the front office.

"Welcome to Illumination Motel. How can I help you?" A bored sounding clerk says in the most deadpanned voice he's ever heard.

What's most striking about them is their curled ram horns that had spikes along the base and the lovely shade of grayish blue of the horns. Otherwise, they looked quite plain.

"Hey, I, uh, I need a room for a while." Inventory says. "Two weeks, to be exact." He adds, because might as well have a base, even if it's temporary.

The clerk grabs a pen and a book. "Can I get a name?" They asked. "To- I mean, Inventory. Put it under Inventory." Inventory said, sharply correcting his own slip up.

Had Wilbur been here, he'd smack Tommy upside the head and smoothly correct his mistake.

The clerk writes his name down.

"For two weeks without any meals, that'll be around 900 Bux. With the meals, it'll be around 1200 Bux. Are you paying by cash or-"

Thunk!

"....."

"....."

"Is that enough or....? I have some more if it's not enough." Inventory asked hesitantly.

"Forgive my language, sir, but that's a whole fucking gold bar."

"And?"

Silence enveloped them once more. "You know what? I'm not paid enough to ask questions." The clerk said, dragging the gold bar down to place next to the register.

"I'll tell the boss you want the change by tomorrow, is that fine?" They asked, looking up at Inventory.

"Yeah, sure." Inventory just nodded, going along with the clerk.

"Okay, here's your keys. Breakfast starts at 8:00 A.M tomorrow. Have a good night." They said, handing over a set of keys to the young Inphernal.

"Thanks, you too!"

Tommy, upon arriving to his room, jumps onto the bed and lets himself sink into the comforter and mattress.

Prime, when was the last time he's slept on something so.. comfortable and soft?

With a pep in his step, he went to the bathroom to take a quick shower before sleeping. It's always nice to feel his muscles melt under hot water after all.

Time to relax!

Extra:

Ring, ring... Ring, ring...

A groan can be heard as a hand reached up to grab the phone by his bed.

"Hey, boss," a deadpanned yet somewhat amused voice said from the other side of the phone.

"I swear to god, Clipboard, someone better be dyin'." He grumbled.

After countless of sleepless nights, Cricket Bat finally managed to get one night where he can sleep for more than two hours.

Which was, unfortunately, disturbed when his dearest (derogatory) employee decides to call him.

"Yeah, I had a customer come in, wanting for stay for two weeks with meals included." Clipboard says, dragging out this call more than necessary.

"And? What's that got to do with me?" Cricket growled.

"He paid with a gold bar. I don't know if it's real or not but you do have some acquaintances who can tell, right?"

"....."

"Oh and they want change by tomorrow so if you could, have it cashed in, please."

"....the fuck you mean he paid with a gold bar?"

"Could you do it or not? I promised not to ask questions." He can practically hear the smirk from the other side of the phone.

"Clipboard, did a fucking Church priest just rented a room or something? Clipboard, what the hell?" Cricket says, already changing into his day clothes.

"I can't say much but he looks like a Playgrounder with a lot of money to throw around. Even offered a second one when I didn't answer him quick enough." Clipboard drawled and he can just imagine them checking their nails.

"SFOTH fucking damn it-! Of course the one night I tried to catch up on sleep is the same goddamn night I have to deal with shit like this!" Cricket says, ending the call and running out the door of his apartment.

Back at the motel, Clipboard simply puts the phone down as they continued their work.

Chapter Text

"That's real fucking gold, apparently. Pure with no impurities whatsoever so Trickshot was willing to pay with everything he had in his register." Cricket Bat says as he walks into the motel.

He dropped a heavy envelope onto the counter.

"This is the first payment. Tell our dear tenant that he'll receive the rest in a few days." Clipboard took the envelope and looked inside.

"Hey, don't look inside-!" Cricket tries to grab the envelope but his worker simply moves away.

"Huh. This is a lot." They said, plucking several bills out and then sealing the envelope back again. "I'll let him know, then." Clipboard says, putting it next to the register before she moved the money they took into said register, likely to pay what their very wealthy guest owed.

"Where is he anyways?" The older Inphernal asked, looking around as if expecting their mysterious new guest to pop out of nowhere.

"He already left." Clipboard said, typing on the computer. "Left a bit after breakfast. Said he was looking for an apartment and asked me for recommendations and since you've been complaining about the lack of tenants for your apartment complexes..."

They looked up at Cricket with a slight grin. "I sent him your way."

"....."

"Your welcome." Clipboard says nonchalantly.

"You couldn't have told me that earlier?" Cricket growled at Clipboard, who simply gave him their sweetest smile.

Tommy Inventory had a little pep in his step as he walked through the Crossroads, deciding to stop by a park, seeing as the landlord of the apartment Clipboard, the clerk from the motel, had pointed him to was currently out.

Plus, he wanted to take the chance to check on a few things.

Namely his new 'abilities'.

He chose a section of the park that was pretty closed off, covered by some shrubbery and trees but not too much that he'd look like some suspicious guy skulking in woods, offering drugs to teenagers.

(He remembers seeing an ad with that kind of scenario playing on a TV in a city square once. A pretty old SMP that he and Wilbur once visited when they went searching for a new place to live in.

He just remembered the people there were all expert Redstoners.)

So here he was, trying to pull information from his head like he did before.

He's coming up blank for the most part.

And by coming up blank, Inventory means it literally.

It still gives information, enough to be useful when he needs it or to give some context.

Thieves’ Den is one of four regions in the Phighting universe. It consists of grassy cliffs surrounding a large structure. They value preservation and nature.

Or;

Bloxy Cola is a heavily caffeinated beverage. Intake should be controlled, otherwise risk heart attack.

But then he has sections that are like this;

_______ is neutral with ____, though ____ despises _______.

Okay, cool.

Remind him again, why does he somehow know someone's beef?

Plus, it sounds really personal and Tommy nor Inventory isn't exactly comfortable with the idea of knowing these things.

Please, whoever is supplying him with information, take away the more personal stuff. I beg of you, I don't want to be the third wheel these people unknowingly have. Inventory thinks, hoping that his prayers actually reached the entity.

Unfortunately, his prayers were left unheard.

Seeing as he keeps pulling up blanks, Inventory switches to his Gear.

Now this one.

Doing the same motion to activate it, he pulls it open and surprisingly is able to hold it like it's a communicator.

There are several extra tabs on the top of the panel that Inventory clicked on.

He finds himself staring at an image of himself in a neat little box. He can also see the health and the hunger bar on the left side of his image.

Interestingly enough, he also finds a stat bar on the side.

Intelligence: Level 9 (10 Points until the next level)

Wisdom: Level 13 (5 Points until the next level)

Strength: Level 15 (2 Points until the next level)

Speed: Level 10 (12 Points until the next level)

Dexterity: Level 20 (1 Points until the next level)

Endurance: Level 20 (1 Points until the next level)

Available Points: 0

It reminds him of old RPGs that Fundy seems to adore. It was pretty cool.

Though some part of him wondered what he needed to do to gain more points so he can upgrade some of his stats. Looking at his intelligence is a little embarrassing.

Complete achievements to receive skill points.

Ah yes, thank you, disembodied voice in his head that's feeding him information.

Anything else he needs to know?

___________ ______ ____________ _______ _____ _______________

"You're just taking a piss at me now." Inventory grumbled. "What, am I supposed to just try everything until something works?" He asks no one in particular.

He then tries to open up the Crafting tab, which does not work.

'Can only access when near a Crafting Table or by opening the Inventory Crafting in the inventory tab..'

Interesting.

He went to inventory and opened up the Crafting Recipe and yup, the smaller one has it's specific recipes so it works.

Okay, next is the Chat tab.

He pulled it open and it's exactly like Discord chatrooms.

On the left side, there was a tab that said 'Friends'.

Does this mean he can add people? He has no way to test it out though, that's for sure.

He moves onto the next one.

Creative Mode.

Inventory, no, Tommy stares at it as if it were a gift of the divine.

Because it IS.

Oh my god, oh my god. I get CREATIVE mode too!? Oh thank you! Thank you so much!

Then, Tommy clicks it, excited to explore his possibilities when he's hit with;

Creative Mode Locked. Please pay 9K Bux to access Basic Creative Mode.

......

"I HAVE TO FUCKING PAY!?" Tommy screeches into the the sky with the rage of a cheapskate who's been scammed.

Bux is a currency used in the Inphernal. They are paper based money.

'NOT NOW, DISEMBODIED VOICE!'

Tommy, sorry, Inventory was storming out the park, taking his anger out on the path underneath him.

Other demons, probably out of pure instinct, kept their distance from Inventory as he openly raged but then he remembered that he wanted to get his base set up as soon as possible.

He debated about it for a while but decided against going today and just went back to the motel.

Inventory didn't want to accidentally offend anyone with his bad mood. Plus, it's almost lunch time and he's pretty hungry.

So without any other plan in mind, Inventory goes back to the motel.

Clipboard sends a quick text to Cricket Bat, informing him that Inventory had returned to the motel. To which he sent back a line of '💢💢⁉️' to her.

Ah, they always enjoyed pissing their boss off, especially since they had the advantage of being his best worker who does anything without much complaint.

Inventory had returned, said hi to Clipboard and even took the money for the gold bar he used to pay for his room before going for lunch at the cafe employed by the motel.

Clipboard also made sure to tell him that his second payment for his bar of precious metal (very precious if what Cricket Bag said was correct) would come in a few days.

They expected demands, anger at the idea he might've been swindled and maybe some violence.

Playground was known to be a particularly violent place to live in. Sure, the other factions had their violence as well but Playground in particular was far more destructive of their violence.

At least that's been Clipboard's experience.

Inventory is.. nice, to put it bluntly.

He was clearly pissed but treated Clipboard with politeness, reassuring her that it's fine and that he'll be back to collect the rest.

Then, he simply left, presumably to return to his room.

Clipboard simply goes back to work but they do keep an eye out for Inventory more than they'd usually do for their customers.

Chapter Text

Tommy was in his motel room with Bux scattered in front of him.

8406 Bux in total.

Okay, seems like Creative Mode has to wait. Goddamn it.

He groans, feeling a bit frustrated. C'mon, he shouldn't be a baby about this.

Still, seeing it made him so damn excited.

He did try to just shove another gold bar to the little white box next to the text that blocks him from accessing Creative Mode.

Invalid currency.

Great to know, truly.

Tommy simply dumps the cash into his inventory, watching them stack. Well.. not really stack? It's just the icon of the Bux.

He hovers a hand over the Bux and watch another screen pop up that shows him the amount. Very neat design. Kudos to whoever thought of this.

Maybe if I throws enough praises, life would be easier on me. Wouldn't be my first time sucking up to some higher power. He thinks to himself as he plays around with his Gear more.

With some wood he had, he crafted a crafting table.

Then, he pulled it out and immediately struggled to catch the damn thing in time, only seconds away before it hit the floor. Tommy was not looking forward to getting a noise complaint if the crafting table actually landed.

As carefully as he can, he placed the crafting table next to the nightstand.

Then, he goes through the familiar motions of making the place habitable for himself.

And by that, he means just place some necessities like the crafting table, some chests, etc.

...so he's mostly arranging the chests since the room already came with most necessities.

He creates two double chests and places them by the closet and a cabinet at the corner of the room. Hidden just enough for some security but not completely in case he gets accused of hiding something.

He also rearranges some of the furniture to his liking to kill a bit more time.

Now..

Wow, he must be really out of shape in this new body because he's feeling a bit tired. Normally he'd be able to work for hours on end before he started getting tired.

Oh well! Nothing like a quick nap wouldn't fix!

Maybe I'll go running by the park? Techno always made me and Tubbo run whenever we asked him to train us. I'll need to pick that back up. He thinks to himself as he simply plops himself on top of the bed.

Speaking of, he wonders how his humble dirt house faired since his death.

Probably already gotten raided of his stuff and griefed. Probably stuffed with TNT and blown sky high so everyone can move on from the 'menace of the server', as Dream had called him.

Whatever, not like he had any hope that anyone would miss him. Well, maybe Tubbo, Puffy or, hell, Sam.

With a sigh, he buried his face into the pillow and slept.

Cricket Bat was called by Trickshot Bow, who informed him that she managed to find a buyer and wanted to hand the cash over to him.

Sounds like a very simple affair, right? Like it'll just last an couple minutes or even an hour if either of them got chatty.

If it truly was that simple, then please take a moment to check your back and maybe go to your bank to see if all your savings have been dried up.

Because Trickshot Bow doesn't do simple.

That's what everyone who's worked with her has come to terms with.

Another thing is that Trickshot Bow was greedy as fuck but isn't stupid about it.

While a lot of greedy demons got killed because of their stupidity, she was the kind who knew how to maneuver things to her favour and run away with her riches.

If pushed come to shove, they'd also be willing to pick out a scapegoat and ensured the target stuck on the poor soul she picked until they were dead.

She was that kind of demon.

Meaning this meeting was likely her going to needle information out of Cricket Bat about his sudden source of fortune.

Thankfully for him, he's experienced in dealing with her, having helped her out with a scheme before with some Thieves' Den's merchants before and had been in business with them for long enough that he outlived some of her business partners.

So to some degree, he knew how they worked.

(Not to mention, he's heard from some others in his circle that she's been getting involved with the Church of the True Eye, making deals and the likes. Meaning he's gotta be even more careful when talking to her.)

But knowing and experiencing things are two different things so it's safe to say Cricket Bat was suffering a bit as he avoided answering certain questions like he's allergic to them.

"Aw, c'mon! At least let me know something about the demon!" Trickshot said, placing a mug of coffee in front of Cricket Bat. "I mean, I like staying informed! What if they're involved in some real risky business, huh? No one just drops precious metal like it's nothing!" They said as they plopped down on the couch across him.

Okay, fair concern actually.

"Like I said, we don't know much about the guy outside of his name, which is Inventory." Short and sweet. Not to mention, it's pretty much true.

Outside of a few documents, done pretty sloppily but still good enough that no one would bat an eye, Inventory didn't have much presence to the world.

Almost as if he disappeared or just didn't exist up until now.

He was curious but knew better than get involved in things that shouldn't concern him.

Trickshot tilts her head to the side. "Nothin'? Nothin' at all?" They asked.

"Outside of the basic stuff? Nope." Cricket Bat raises the mug to his lips.

And ain't that something? Honestly, he's not sure how to react to the mysterious guest in his motel.

On one hand, he could be making bank. On the other, this might be the last cup of coffee he might be drinking.

Holy SFOTH, how can Trickshot make coffee this diluted and sweet? It tasted like it was just sugar water with barest hint of the blessed bitter caffeine.

Anyways...

He continues to converse with her, talking about anything and everything as they skirted around topics.

The moment Cricket managed to get the rest of the money from her, he immediately booked it.

Trickshot was a great business partner but she was also the definition of high risk, high reward.

Now, to deal with another thing.

Cricket Bat straightened out his jacket as he passed by a shop, using the glass windows to ensure he looked approachable.

He's gotta make an impression after all!

Maybe he'll strike up a conversation when he hands over the envelope to his guest, make himself seem like a trustworthy guy.

He's gotta make it quick, though. Cricket Bat had another appointment to get to and he'd rather not be late to it.

So he walks back to Illumination Motel, a slight pep in his step when he sees Clipboard taking a smoke break.

As if guessing what he was think of doing, Clipboard huffed out some smoke and when Cricket Bat got close enough, they just said, "He's out."

Cricket Bat's grin became strained as he simply gave them the envelope, turned around and walked away.

This slippery bastard. Why are you always gone when I'm trying to bump into you?

Inventory was having fun!

Not the destructive kind of fun he used to have when pranking his servermates back in the Dream SMP but a more.. calmer fun where he just enjoys himself.

Currently, he was chilling in a cafe, a cup of tea in front of him and some scones on a plate.

Hush, don't judge him. It's been a while since he's had some proper British treats. He wanted a taste of something familiar.

Look at him, British-ing it up like a proper Englishman.

Nikki uses to bake for him if he asked as long as he helped her obtain the necessary ingredients.

Inventory had been wandering earlier, not in the mood to do much when he stumbled upon this quaint little cafe called the Cat Cafe, run by a guy who looked a lot like a cat.

Out of pure amusement, he went inside and was punched in the gut with the most HEAVENLY smell known to man.

Before he knew it, he was ordering and pulling some Bux out to pay. Though he also learned he's unable to tip them.

Thinking back, he probably should've resisted to save his Bux but, like, it was just too damn good to pass up.

"I'd tip thousands, this is amazing." Inventory said, taking a bite out of his scone.

Slingshot, the cafe owner, happens to pass by when Inventory spoke. "Thanks! I've been trying out different recipes recently so I'm glad you like it!" He says to the other demon as he wipes down a table.

Inventory nods. "You should charge like, hundreds for one. Prime knows I'd pay that much for a bite." He says, taking a sip of tea to wash it down. "Seriously, the quality of food here is amazing." He says, a blissful look on his face as he goes back to munching on his food.

Eating this good made him realize how much he had missed out on. How much he left behind to chase after Wilbur.

....and look where that got him.

Slingshot seems to take this as a chance to just talk to Inventory. Small talk you'd get when you're trying to get to know someone.

It was nice.

He was nice.

Everything..

Everything felt nice.

"Hey, can I have a pumpkin pie too?" Inventory asked. He had spotted one in the display case earlier but didn't want to buy too much, in case he wasn't feeling it.

But now, he was craving it so badly.

"Sure!" Slingshot said, leaving Inventory to grab his order, leaving him to his thoughts.

His mind drifted off to the Dream SMP once more, feeling a bit homesick. Just a bit.

How is Tubbo doing? And Ranboo? He hopes they're okay, at least.

Maybe they'll be living their best life without him. Good for them if they do. They deserve it. He imagines they'd get along well without him around, especially since they'd have room to breathe without him causing any trouble that they need to clean up.

Maybe they're mourning, a selfish part of him hopes they are. Puffy would probably help them deal with the loss until eventually, they got over his death.

(Tubbo denied Tommy is dead, absolutely refused to believe it. Ranboo mourned so deeply for his friend. When a funeral was held, he was the only one who went.

Tubbo didn't want to break the illusion he had that Tommy was still alive, just gone somewhere else. Probably left the server altogether. Good riddance, he thinks. Tommy deserves to escape from this hellhole.)

He at least hopes he was buried in a field or under a tree.

(He was buried under a tree by the border of the prison. Sam planted flowers around his grave, making sure to water them each day. Maybe sit down across the grave and start talking to it if he was feeling it.)

Who would attend his funeral, anyways? He can name three people off the top of his head but other than that, blank.

Maybe it's for the best. With everything he did during the wars, it feels selfish to make people mourn for him.

(A funeral was held with an empty coffin. Sam didn't tell anyone where he buried Tommy's body.

Didn't trust anyone not to grief it. He didn't trust their fellow servermates not to try and vent their anger onto a corpse like they did with Schlatt.

And Puffy can't find it in herself to blame him.

Hell, she was the one to organize the funeral, not trusting anyone to not turn it into a slander show. She's familiar with some of them enough to know that attempts will be made.

So she did it, intending to pay respects to Tommy before she buries the empty coffin in the lawn of his dirt house.

Only five people attended the funeral.

The ones who didn't attend simply didn't believe Tommy was truly dead. Good, Puffy thought. At least only the people who truly cared came.)

A slice of pumpkin pie was placed in front of Inventory.

Huh, he was expecting a whole pie.

"Thanks!" He said politely. "Looks great!" He says, laying the niceties thick.

He really likes this cafe and would be absolutely devastated if he got banned. Actually, that could be his biggest crashout arc.

Slingshot gives him a smile in return. "Enjoy!" He says before he was called by another customer.

Inventory grabs a spoon and simply enjoys himself without much worry.

For once, he feels at peace.

Wilbur woke up and felt a sense of emptiness.