New fic: Advice

[guiltyshirts]

Back again with a bit more. I really need a name for this world/series/universe, if anyone has any suggestions. Mindcrack-as-sort-of-alt-reality doesn't really roll off the tongue.

A conversation with Bdubs gives Kurt a lot to think about. Set recently, down in the silo. Usual disclaimers apply. I own nothing except my twisted mind, and I'm not too sure about that sometimes.




Kurt swung the worn pickaxe again, dislodging more of the rock, and was immediately forced to jump backwards as the new hole began to fill with gravel, pouring out into the confined branch mine. He watched it dejectedly. It had been a long, tiring and stressful day. He was only down here because he couldn't sleep and figured he could at least get something useful done, or maybe work himself into enough of a state of exhaustion that he might be able to pass out. But it seemed even the earth wasn't on his side tonight.

"Ah... fuck it." He said, to nothing in particular. He kicked listlessly at a small stone for good measure.

"Damn, that's the most pissed-off I think I've ever heard ya."

Kurt looked up, surprised to see BDoubleO poking his head around the entrance. "It's... been a long day." He sighed. "Didn't think anyone else was up."

"Been back doing Deathly Trails with Guude, lost track of time a bit, ya know."

"How drunk are you?"

"Not enough." BDoubleO grinned. "Hey, you have coffee?"

Kurt had to grin. "Sure."

A short time later, they sat outside the tiny storage room, a pot of coffee and a plate of melon between them. BDoubleO gave an exaggerated sigh of contentment, inhaling the aroma from his cup before taking a mouthful. "Ahhhh."

"Better?" Kurt chuckled lightly.

"Mmm. Take my advice man, don't ever, ever go drinking with Guude. Guy has a cast-iron liver."

"And I thought you two did your best work when you were drunk."

"Heh, well it's good for some fun times. Sometimes ya can accomplish things drunk you wouldn't even dream of trying sober." He smiled to himself. "Dutch courage, 'n all."

Kurt looked at him questioningly. "Hm?"

BDoubleO looked around as though somebody would overhear them, then leaned forward slightly. "Legendary. A few drunk confessions led to a lot.. like telling my new best friend I was crazy about him." He grinned again. "And him telling me the same thing. Guude and I might just owe our relationship to a couple of bottles of liquor."

"You'd not have told each other without it?"

He shrugged. "Probably, at some point, but being drunk made it a lot simpler."

"Didn't you... I mean, ah... " Kurt scratched his nose, wondering how not to make his question seem indelicate. Fortunately, BDoubleO seemed to know what he was trying to ask.

"How did we know it wasn't just a drunken mistake?" He chuckled.

"Ah, yeah." Kurt blushed slightly, feeling uncomfortable. Anyone who knew Guude and BDoubleO could tell how they felt about each other, and he felt wrong for implying even a little bit otherwise.

BDoubleO smiled to himself again, a fondness in his eyes. "All being drunk did was mean we stopped thinking and started acting. We already knew how we felt."

Kurt swirled his coffee thoughtfully. "How do you know to trust how you feel?" He asked quietly.

His friend eyed him curiously. Whatever was going on in Kurt's mind, he was quite sure they weren't talking about just him and Guude anymore. He had his suspicions, though.

"Well... if you can't trust yourself, what else is there?" He sat back, picking a slice of melon from the plate. "Aaaanyway, enough of me blabberin' on. How are things with you? You've been really busy lately."

"Yeah." Kurt paused, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I went back to the Far Lands or Bust world today, to build the new monument. It was... weird."

BDoubleO rubbed his shoulder affectionately. "Still no sign of Wolfie, huh?"

Kurt shook his head.

"So... what're you gonna do?"

Kurt sighed unhappily. "I don't know yet. I'm going to ask the viewers, see what they think. I still have SethBling's offer to help, but I don't know if people will think it goes against the mission. I can try and force another paradox, which is an unknown risk. Or I carry on without him."

"What'd you want to do? I mean, you, yourself. Never mind the viewers or the mission and all that," BDoubleO waved dismissively. "What do *you* want, Kurt?"

Kurt was silent. Of course he wanted to get Wolfie back. He couldn't make it that simple... could he?

"I think you already know what you want to do, you just want someone to tell you it's okay to do it." BDoubleO looked at him pointedly over the top of his coffee cup. It was slightly unnerving to Kurt, how well the man seemed to uncover what he was feeling and put it in blunt, straightforward terms like that.

"...really?"

"Yeah. And that's okay, y'know. Sometimes ya got to just follow your heart." BDoubleO patted his shoulder.

Kurt half smiled. "Perhaps."

BDoubleO grinned at him. "Yeah. Now tell me all about this new Dirt Showdown thing you've got going on, I could do with a new driving challenge."

They whiled away an easy half hour or so discussing Kurt's new side venture, with its various merits and drawbacks. Eventually, BDoubleO glanced at his watch.

"Well, I should be getting home." He stood up, stretching a kink out of his neck. "Thanks for the coffee, guy." He patted Kurt on the shoulder again. "Don't get up, I'll see myself out. See ya later."

"Anytime."

Kurt watched his friend leave, then refilled his coffee. He gazed thoughtfully out over the lava lake, watching the glow flicker across the rocks, ore veins glinting in the light.

He'd kept the lava for a reason. It reminded him of someone.

As he sipped his coffee, he considered the things BDoubleO had said.

Perhaps things really could be simple, if he could just trust himself.

Comments

[crystalllized]

I know a lot of fic-universes are named after the first fic set in the verse, but yours was untitled. So um. You could just call it Altverse, since it's alternate reality. The sub-fandom of Mindcrack fic is small enough right now that you could totally claim it and nobody could say otherwise :P

I might also call it Drinkverse, since every single story seems to feature liquor so far, or Advice-verse, since that's the name of a fic and it's something Boo seems to be giving a lot of.

*shrug* All I know is that whatever you call it, I want to read more!

[guiltyshirts]

I quite like Altverse, it at least describes it. :)

Glad you're enjoying. I'm sure there'll be more, these guys are firmly in my head now.

[mindcrack_love]

Technically, these fics - set with the characters using the server as the setting, but mentioning "real world" recording and streaming - started with damnreddit's "Such a Noob". Or, if you want to specifically discuss this Kurt/Zisteau with occasional hints of Kurt/Bdubs set, the first named fic is my own "A Journey Taken Together", which is set immediately after guiltyshirts' first untitled one. I don't know if either make for very good names though - and "Journey-verse" itself could be mistaken for taking place inside VintageBeef's LP of the *game* Journey. :P

I like Altverse, myself. I'd like to note now that Altverse is also separate from "To Hear the Words of the Universe", because that one does not mention non-server series and folds in-server series into the world itself; the fourth wall is thicker in that sense, so to speak. There are other ways the fourth wall is much, much thinner in "To Hear the Words", though.

Back on topic, I do agree that this fic was lovely! As you can tell from "A Journey Taken Together", I'm a sucker for wisdom delivered as only BdoubleO can do it, and how supportive he is of Kurt. Also, the coffee, such a fabulous detail! (Did anyone else squee a bit when Zisteau and Kurt geeked out over fancy coffee gadgets over Twitter?)

[guiltyshirts]

Going with Altverse then, I think. I still keep forgetting I picked up damnreddit's 'world type' without realising it. >.< Sorry!

I'll try and think of titles for the untitled parts at some point, just to make ordering them easier. There's a coda for this scene with just Bdubs and Guude, I could have put it on the end, but I haven't actually written it and I wanted to get this bit out. It will probably involve snuggling though. ;)

And yes, I did squee over Zisteau and Kurt and the coffee gadgets. <3

[crystalllized]

The thing is, if those fics don't take place in the same storyline as yours, or as each other, they are technically in different universes. It doesn't seem like "Such a Noob" and "Eros, Philia, Agape" take place in the same world just based on how different Etho is in them. But I am not the author, so who knows? If they don't, though, then they aren't technically even in the same universe, much less in the Altverse. 'Universe' in fan fiction tends to refer to a storyline and a set of fics that all take place within the same context of each other, not necessarily just the rules of the world.

I like Altverse, for these, since you've clearly built a whole world and have named plenty of characters and have ideas for how the world works, that makes it yours. You named it first! You get it!

Also, their coffee love is the cutest thing. I can just see them sipping their Irish coffees, blowing things up, coming up with elaborate revenge pranks...

[guiltyshirts]

If there's one thing my brain will do, it's take something and run with it. I have so many little odd bits and ideas about the world and how things work.

Speaking of revenge pranks, you know in my head Beef's prank on Kurt was designed to get him to team up with Zisteau again, basically a roundabout way of matchmaking. XD

[crystalllized]

You know what, I actually had this little plot bunny about Z confronting Beef after the prank about how the wolf was in bad taste (and another idea about some comfort from Zisteau after the prank that went nowhere because Kurt's reaction vid didn't seem that hurt), but that's an even better idea. Maybe Beef worried that it would be in bad taste but Pause reminded him about the sheep and that sometimes, hurtful things bring people together?

[guiltyshirts]

Haha, great minds. *lol* I can see Zisteau actually feeling quite relieved that Kurt wasn't upset, maybe letting slip that he would have given Beef an earful otherwise.

[crystalllized]

Haha, yes, and him saying that gives Kurt the first hint that maybe Zisteau isn't as into Vechs as Kurt thinks? Why is it so easy to just come up with elaborate stories for these boys? Damn them!

[damnreddit]

I had to laugh trying to imagine the Etho of that Nebris story as the same person as the Etho of the other stories. No, they're not the same universe. Even if I ever write something else with Etho and Nebris or Etho and Doc, it may not be the same universe as before.

In this universe I could envision Kurt ever-so-slowly working up his courage only to get pre-empted by Zisteau. In-real-life-Zisteau can be a bit "bull in a china shop" about people's subtler signals. Especially if he's been drinking. Remember UHC 7? But he'd get the big ones, and he's direct and confident and impulsive enough to just say something about it when he feels like he should.

[guiltyshirts]

Yeah, I think Z and Kurt are probably going to end up having a 'we need to talk about this' moment. It hard not to want to be gentle with Kurt when he's all awkward and shy. I feel like I need to write something about his stronger side.