Chapter Text
There’s something that Mob has decided over the past few days of getting to know his new companion.
Verity is… strange. For lack of a better term.
A genius, all-knowing AI, in the form of a yellow smiley face bouncy ball would be almost freaky to most people. Even more so when his “knowledge” is put to the test. Mob tries not to think too hard about how much Verity seems to know about him. About his habits. His likes. Dislikes. All of it. Things that there was no possible way for a Minecraft Mod to know about him, Verity has stored somewhere in that unnerving spherical body.
Well.
It’s not really a body, he supposes, and that thought brings him a small amount of comfort. If he can just trick his brain into thinking Verity is more of a- a pet, everything becomes a lot easier to stomach.
Besides, he can’t deny that having the “Personal Helper Friend” around hasn’t been useful. Especially since Mob can’t keep track of his location to save his life. If you spun him around in a biome he’d lived in for years, it would probably take him at least two hours to find his base.
Maybe three.
Okay four and that’s definitely being generous.
But at least now he has Verity to point him home, after a long day in the caves, searching for as many diamonds as he can find. (Which is really just as many diamonds as Verity can point him to.) And after surfacing today, he’s determined to prove himself to be only a little bit of an idiot, and not need any directions from his yellow “friend”. Staring at the very familiar surroundings, he deduces that all he has to do is turn around and walk in a straight line, and then he’ll be home in no time!
Just you watch Verity, this time I’m gonna get us back to base with absolutely no help.
About 300 hundred blocks later, the ball sitting on his shoulder clears his throat.
“Ahem. Mob?”
He glances to his left. “Yes?”
“I just felt it might be nice to inform you that your home is exactly 600 blocks in the opposite direction.”
And just like that, his hopes of not being the most directionally challenged person in the world that day were crushed into tiny smithereens by his definitely evil companion. “Verityyyyyyyyyy why did you let me walk all the way over here instead of telling me earlier?”
While Verity’s smiling face never falters, Mob gets the sense that his friend is projecting a very smug aura at the moment.
“I seem to remember you insisting to me that you knew exactly how to get home from your exploration this time, saying, and I quote, ‘Do not give me any directions because I am so awesome that I don’t need them anymore!’. Does that not sound familiar to you?”
The sound of embarrassed silence fills the air, Mob’s normally dark complexion taking on a slight red tinge. “You still could’ve let me know before I got this far away!”
Verity lets out a laugh at that. “And derive myself of the amusement from watching you make a fool of yourself? Perish the thought.”
So much for being a helper.
“Aw man, that’s not very nice. I thought you were supposed to be my personal helper?”
Now Mob is sure that the smile on Verity’s face is a taunting one.
“Well for me to provide you with assistance, you would first need to ask.”
“Fine. Verity, next time that I am going in the wrong direction from where I want to go, can you point me the right way?”
“Nah.”
“Wuh- What do you mean nah?!”
Cresting over the mountain near his base, he watches as the cheerful smile turns into a shit-eating grin.
“Just what I said! I don’t think I will tell you which way is correct. I think it might be more enjoyable to me to watch your poor attempts at navigation.”
Now this is something adds to that- that strange feeling Mob had about Verity. While he had made fun of some of the stupid requests Mob had made, he had never out right told him no to a request. This… this was odd. He didn’t think he had been that jerkish about his denial of help earlier in the day, and even then wasn’t Verity always supposed to help him? Why would he deny now?
He walks in silence for a while after that. It was just so unfathomable that he didn't know what to do. Will Verity say no to all of his asks now?
Then a stupid thought occurred to him.
Maybe he just needs to say please?
It’s stupid, but it just might work.
He takes a deep breath, and apologises.
“I’m sorry for not letting you give me directions home before. Will you guide me next time I’m lost?
Please Verity?”
When those two words leave his lips, Mob feels as Verity goes still. Glancing over, he sees what almost looks like…blush? On the ball. Now this is interesting.
“...”
“Verity?”
At the second mention of his name, Verity seems to snap out of whatever thought was enveloping his mind, twisting back and forth slightly like he was trying to shake it from his brain. Letting out a slightly nervous laugh, he finally responds, “Ah- my apologies, I suppose I wouldn’t be a very good helper if I didn’t help you get home would I now?”
Walking through the front door of his base, Mob hmms in agreement. Verity starts up a conversation on what they should do tomorrow as he begins sorting through their haul and stoking the furnaces, busying himself about the base. It seems after- whatever that just was, Verity is keen on Mob forgetting about his reaction. Firing away as many mundane questions as he can to distract him.
Unfortunately for Verity, Mob has already filed away the very pertinent information he had just accidently acquired.
All he has to do to get what he wants is to say please.
-
A few days later, everything seems to be back to normal. More trips to the village, some sprucing up the base, and another trip to the caves. And nothing Mob has asked of Verity has been denied! But of course, that yellow ball seems to attract weirdness no matter what, and Mob’s little bubble of normality is quickly popped upon waking.
His first clue should’ve been the change in appearance of Verity. His typical happy smile had been replaced with one more… strained.
“Good morning Verity! Is there anything I should know about today?”
“Something is coming in three days.”
“I- what? What’s coming in three days?”
“Something.”
“Is it… bad?”
“Yes.”
At that, Mob could’ve sworn he saw a flash of teeth in Verity’s smile. Pointy teeth.
“Can I- Can I stop it?”
“You could have.” (You still can.)
Mob is already frantically digging through chests at this point, trying to think of what he can possibly do to keep some unnamed “bad something” from getting into his base. Or at the very least, keep it from getting him. What do people normally use to protect themselves from enemies?
Oh! Traps!
Reaching further into the chest in front of him, he grabs the buckets of lava he had traded for the day before. Mob didn’t know why he had gotten lava of all things, but it sure as shit was coming in handy now. For good measure, he snags a few stacks of cobble as well.
He leaves Verity inside the house as he heads outside to start creating the hole for his new pitfall. A very fiery pitfall. And while the cobble may be one ugly block, it’ll do for a makeshift wall around the building.
It takes him almost the whole day to complete each defense, and with each moment that passes, his dread grows and grows and grows.
What is coming? Why can’t he stop it? Why does Verity look like that?
Does- does he have something to do with it?
No, that's a stupid idea. He’s just a cute bouncy ball, and despite the eeriness of his knowledge, he doesn’t seem to be malicious. Shaking his head, Mob walks back inside sweaty and exhausted from his work.
“Mob.”
“U-uh.. yes? Verity?”
“You know that won’t save you.”
This. This upsets him. Mob stomps furiously over to the corner where Verity sits, perched atop the crafting table. Slamming his fist into the wall, he demands, “What the fuck does that even mean!? What is coming?”
“Something bad.”
“That tells me literally nothing! Why won’t you answer the question?”
“...”
His outburst is met with only silence, which only infuriates Mob more. His helper is refusing to help him. Again.
So he pulls out his trump card.
“Verity, please, what is coming?”
At the sound of his desperate plea, Verity’s expression seems to… falter. Then twitch. As if he was fighting against himself.
“I… I am sorry, Mob. I cannot provide that answer to you.”
Well.
Fuck.
Verity is back to normal now at least, but he still has no more information than he did before. Mob lets out a sigh. “Okay. I understand.” Standing up out of the hunched position he hadn’t realized he had taken, he laid down in his bed. It was probably best for him to try to get as much rest as possible before… whatever it was came.
Closing his eyes, he turned towards Verity’s spot in the room.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three.
“Verity?”
“Hm?”
He cracks an eye open to glance at the ball.
“I’m sorry for yelling.”
“That’s quite alright, I- I was not providing you with the answers you deserved.”
He closes his eyes again, sinking down against the pillow.
“S’fine. You can’t tell me.”
“Yes. But I still have failed in my duties.”
Deep in sleep, Mob doesn’t hear the final words Verity utters to him.
“I am truly sorry for this, darling.”
-