Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Reunited

           "Oh, um, hi, Pumpkin Jack," False said nervously. The scarecrow's floppy loose arm waved in the strong wind. It was honestly very creepy. Then False spotted the row of signs behind him, visible even in the dim light because of the glowing ink that the messages were written in. "She is here," False read. "Beware of her. Don't trust her. Get her out of here. Nothing is safe until she's gone." False stepped backward, feeling sufficiently intimidated. "What do you mean? Who is she?" But Pumpkin Jack said nothing. 

           False kept searching for Jimena for a long while. Eventually the storm stopped and it became easier, but still no sign of her. She equipped her elytra, a tool she hadn't dared to use in the storm, and flew around Cogsmeade's perimeter. It was easier to spot things from a bird's eye view. And soon she saw them. Grian and Jimena, walking through the gatehouse of Cogsmeade, looking muddy and drenched and slightly the worse for wear, but alive. 

           Relieved, the tinkerer dropped down from the sky to see them. "You're okay!" She whispered, hugging Jimena, being careful to not squeeze her wings. She'd accidentally done that, the day after her wings had first sprouted, and it turned out that it hurt quite a bit. "Don't ever go flying in a storm again!" "Yeah, I know, I know," Jimena murmured. Grian waved a hand in front of False's face. "Hello? I'm here too, and I'm fine, even if no one's asking." "Uh, hello, Grian, and um, you're alive too," False said. 

           Jimena giggled at her social awkwardness. "False, I'm hungry, maybe we should have lunch?" "Yeah, False, I'm hungry too," Grian said. False thought for a second. "Um, I've got nothing in the kitchen," She confessed, "Except eggs. And that's automatically off the menu. Why don't we go eat at the sheriff's place?" "Oh, great! I was craving some yucca soup," Jimena said happily. Grian cleared his throat, looking shifty. "Uh, yeah, about the sheriff," He said, sounding slightly guilty. 

           A truck drive to Tumble Town later, the girls stood stupefiedly staring at what appeared to be a living, breathing toy that looked and sounded just like their favorite sheriff. "Grian, what did you do?" Jimena asked the hermit. "It wasn't me, it was Bdubs," Grian explained, but he was barely holding back a laugh. "This isn't funny!" Jimmy raged, and False wondered how a toy could look so angry and scary. "I have been turned into a toy! This isn't a laughing matter!" "I'm not laughing," Jimena pointed out stoically. 

           Jimmy calmed down somewhat. "What are you two here for?" He asked the girls pointedly. "I'm here too, Tim," Grian said, comically bending down to his level to talk. Jimmy didn't think it was funny at all, though. He angrily swung his tiny ax at the hermit's face and Grian immediately backed off. "Woah, Tim! Relax! It's just a prank." "How am I supposed to get back to normal again?!" Jimmy screeched.

           "Uh, maybe Shelby can help, you know, the great witch?" Jimena suggested. Jimmy seemed to think it over. "Okay, let's go see Shelby." "aw, don't turn back just yet; you look so cute and Joel hasn't even seen you yet!" Grian protested, but he immediately ran away when Jimmy took a flint and steel and a stick of dynamite out of his pocket.

---

           Gem was in the hermits' world. It was awfully quiet over there, now that most of the hermits were stranded in another dimension. And it was lonely too. She was the only member of the soup group in that world, and her other friends weren't around either. I miss the missing hermits, Gem thought.

           She wandered around her massive castle. It was beautiful, and the elf was proud of her work. Walls of yellowed stone accentuated with dark wood and neon blue roofs that blended into the sky. It was really good eye candy, in Gem's opinion. The only problem she had with it was that in comparison with its hulking size, she felt more small and lonely within it. Honestly, why do people make such big bases for only one person? In Dawn, the house sizes are more natural and fitting.

           Gem realized she was thinking more and more about her empire. It was usually a sign that meant she wanted to change worlds. Gem never could really stay in one place for too long without feeling bogged down. She checked her calendar. Time to leave, Gem decided. She locked herself in her closet and started to warp time and space around her to get back to her empire. And she thankfully managed to do so without a hitch. She rematerialized in her closet at Dawn and no one was any the wiser.

           Gem got out of the closet and beamed at her sunny surroundings. Good. There weren't any mistakes this time. She'd arrived exactly where she was intending to. Maybe she was finally getting used to the rift's interfering magic in the worlds that she was currently occupying. Smiling, Gem left the house and started to check on her chores. She was pretty sure the bees missed her, and she'd missed them too.

           She found out that there had recently been a massive storm while she was gone. A few trees had fallen over, and there were enormous puddles everywhere. The storm wasn't the only surprise, though. As she headed to the greenhouse, she ran into a familiar hermit. "Oh, hey, Impulse!" Gem greeted. She was just about to walk past him when she realized that he was staring at her weirdly. "Gem? What are you doing here? How'd you get here?" Impulse asked in confusion. Gem stopped and looked at him." What do you mean, what am I-"

           Just then, Gem caught a glimpse of her reflection in a nearby puddle. And she realized something was very, very wrong. Instead of wearing her royal pink dress and fancy sunglasses, she had her off-white polo and brown corset on. Her ears were pointed, and out of her fiery red hair grew a pair of deer antlers. Gem touched the sunflower that she'd braided into her bangs in shock. She had just teleported to Dawn as an elf.

           "I thought the rift was broken!" Impulse continued, not noticing Gem's growing panic. "How'd you get here?" "I'm not sure," Gem said, masking her anxiety. "I just randomly woke up here." The lie slipped out of her mouth with ease, and any guilt she had from lying to a fellow soupervisor was gone in an instant. "Well, at least you didn't wake up in a grave like Ren did," Impulse told her. "But yay, you're here! Let's go tell Pearl; we can have a soup group reunion!"

            That was the last thing Gem wanted. Showing up around the empires world as both the Dawn princess and badass elf would lead to trouble. It wouldn't take everyone too long to notice that the two Gem's were never in the same place, and her secret was in jeopardy. She had no idea what to do about her two personas now being in the same world just yet, but she knew that she had to get rid of Impulse.

           "First things first," Gem said smoothly. "I need to get your head." She grabbed her ax and swung it at the dwarf before he even realized what was happening. His lobotomized head rolled off of his shoulders and onto the ground, his body following suit before vanishing in a pile of items. Gem casually picked the head up and walked away; shapeshifting into her Dawn clothes as soon as she was out of sight. If only she was as nonchalant as she looked. Her secret was in big, big trouble now.