Chapter Text
Bdubs’ communicator beeped with a message, but he was so close to closing a deal with one of the local shop keepers he ignored it. He’d been haggling for twenty minutes, trying to sell some of his custom designs but refusing to be forced into accepting a bad deal. Finally, after another ten minutes, Bdubs walked out of the shop with a grin on his face and his inventory clinking with diamonds. He whistled as he sauntered down the street, looking in other shop windows to see if there was anything that took his fancy.
The Hermits were on a trip to another server – a semi-regular occurrence which gave them the chance to share their ideas with people off-server, and to learn and purchase new things. He was just handing over the money for some mini blocks he’d never seen before when his communicator beeped again. Shoot – he’d forgotten to check it after closing his deal earlier. Bdubs waited impatiently for the cashier to hand over his purchase and hurried outside again, putting the blocks away and pulling out his communicator.
15:30 <Hermitcraft Server> Portal closing in 15 minutes.
15:44 <Hermitcraft Server> Portal closing in 1 minute.
Bdubs felt the blood drain from his face, and he pulled his clock out of his inventory. It was gone quarter to four. How had he lost track of time so badly? Bdubs broke into a run down the street, dodging other shoppers and nearly colliding with several of them, and he arrived panting and sweaty at the portal. The bedrock frame was quiet and dark, none of the tell-tale humming and softly glowing light that came with an active portal. Hermitcraft was no longer reachable through it.
With shaking hands, Bdubs pulled his communicator out once again. Xisuma warned them time and time again to keep track of the time and to always check their comms when they were on inter-server trips. That once the portal was closed, re-activating it again for travel was not a simple job. It wasn’t possible to communicate with anyone cross server unless you were an admin, but all the same Bdubs tried to message some of the hermits.
The message to Etho was sent straight back as undeliverable, as was the one to Tango, Doc and finally to Xisuma. Bdubs felt his breathing pick up just a little, heart racing as he willed himself not to panic and to just think for a minute. He needed to find the admin of the server he was on. The trouble was, he didn’t know who that was. Visitors didn’t have access to server chat to reduce spamming, so Bdubs was going to have to physically find the admin. He took a deep breath. It wasn’t that big of a deal – he’d look like a bit of an idiot, but he could get back home.
Turning around, Bdubs started walking back the way he’d come, looking for other people, and started to ask them if they knew where he could find the admin of the server. He was met with mixed reactions; some people were apologetic that they couldn’t help, some mocked him outright for missing his portal, others didn’t believe his reason for needing to speak to the admin and refused to help.
After trying every person he passed – or at least the ones who’d bothered to stop when Bdubs tried to speak to them – he still didn’t have an answer. Sinking down onto a bench, Bdubs put his head in his hands, starting to panic just a little bit. He was never good under pressure; Etho was always the one to get Bdubs to calm down, to think rationally for a minute. But Etho wasn’t there, and Bdubs’ hands were trembling as he drew in a gasping breath. It was getting dark and he didn’t even have a bed with him – he’d never thought he’d need one on a day trip and he’d wanted to leave his inventory as clear as possible to buy new things.
“You all right, Love?”
A woman’s voice made Bdubs jump and he looked up to see a tall, dark haired lady looking worriedly at him.
“People have been saying someone’s been asking for the admin, is that you?” she guessed.
Bdubs nodded, hope blooming in his chest. “Yeah. Do you know where I can find them?”
The woman smiled at him. “I do.” She held out a hand to Bdubs. “I’m Belladonna. Bella for short.”
Bdubs shook her hand. “Bdubs,” he said. “I missed my portal home, I need to find the admin to get back.” He blushed in embarrassment as he spoke, looking down at his feet.
“It’s all right, Love. Happens all the time, believe me. Come with me, I can take you to him.”