Losing friends AND sleep (Grian/Hermitcraft)

5 - Not Allowed

Cool, Grian thought, Only a few more hours of surviving then he can go home to his nice warm (cold) home. Right then, he held in a gag and immediately realised that this was going to be a whole lot harder then he'd thought. What was he thinking about, sleeping in that stupid alleyway? Such an idiot.

X and whoever else was still wittering on, something about other games or activities that the hermits can partake in, and how there was a trip to that little mini game haven that Grian only recognised from him and Ex going a couple of weeks prior for those who considered themselves interested. Grian was considerably -not- interested. Although a hermit bingo did quite pique his interest.

But it wasn't interesting enough to stop his head hammering and vision swimming. Back to wallowing inside of his own head and mindlessly tracing his fingers over the intricate grain of the wood.

[All by yourself, sittin' alone
I hope we're still friends, yeah, I hope you don't mind]

The emptiness returned to crawling over him like a blanket of ice. He felt so confined in the meeting room, so trapped in a claustrophobic state that it felt like he was drowning.
He shouldn't be drowning, not when he's in a hermitcraft meeting, around all of his friends and associates. But alas, it continued to crawl, and Grian continued to fall deeper into the growing tide, soon he will be left unheard for eternity, but the drowning feels like an underwater whirlpool, thrashing him around
dangerously.

The room was spinning, walls closing in, and Grian's breath was catching in his oesophagus, like poison in his lungs. He needs to go outside. That's when he heard X clap his hands and everyone begin to rise out of their chairs to walk down the hallway. Grian shakily followed, but broke off from the group when they passed a large wooden door that led to a balcony of Xisuma's base. He pushed it open with an inconsistent force that made his muscles wither away at contact, and was immediately hit by the mighty (yet increadibly tolerable) force of the wind.

He felt so sick. So tired, so dead inside. He could've dropped dead right then and there, if he was entirely honest. He sat next to the railing and dangled his legs over the steep drop. The sight was beautiful; he heard the door click to a shut behind him, or an open! Apparently it was an open, because he just couldn't be alone apparently!

Someone was behind him, he turned around and plastered a cheeky grin on his face, "Oh, hi Cleo!"

"Hello, Grian! What'cha doin outside?" She was walking over to sit next to him.

"Fresh air, you know how it is." Cleo did not know how it was, she was a zombie, so she could withstand the most inhuman of climates, but she still nodded in understanding.

"Yeah," she agreed airily, "These meetings are not for the faint of heart."

Grian laughed (and coughed), "Forgot how draining and unnecessarily long they are,"

The two fell into a small moment of silence, though a comfortable one, as they both took in minor aspects of the view from X's base.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Grian said, right at the same time as Cleo returned him a question;
"Are you alright?" Cleo asked Grian carefully, "You look a bit ill."

Grian blinked, "Eh, I'm probably coming down with something," he replied calmly, ignoring the burning sensation that spiked against his throat as he tried to summon any words that he could.

"Have you been looking after yourself?"

"Yes," Grian lied through gritted teeth.

[All by yourself, sittin' alone
I hope we're still friends, yeah, I hope you don't mind]

"Oh yeah?" It was like she didn't believe him, "What did you have for breakfast?"

Grian had no idea if he even had breakfast, the sickness amnesia was really hitting. "A loaf of bread."

Cleo did not seem convinced.

Another round of silence smacked them both in the face.

"What're they playing now?" Grian asked.

"No idea, I left as they were all sitting in a circle chanting something though like they're in a cult."

"Ah," Grian grimaced, "So Scar's in control of what they're doing." He joked.

Cleo seemed to find his lack of current humour funny though, because she soon started laughing, "Probably."

The door opened again, and this time Iskall walked out into the cold. "So we're all just slowly leaving to escape whatever the hell is going on in there, then?" He pointed behind him, presumably towards the room where they were all in.

Grian nodded and smiled, "Something like that."

"Absolutely like that," Cleo added.

[All by yourself, sittin' alone
I hope we're still friends, yeah, I hope you don't mind]

Iskall quickly joined them both sitting on the balcony.

Then Etho, then Gem, then Stress, and so on, until literally everyone was outside rather than in. So much for Grian hiding. The world was slightly slowing, but Grian supposed that he felt okay with it. Surrounded by everyone who knew him best, even Mumbo, as the midday sun gently caressed his face with its golden sunlight.

Everyone chatted amongst themselves, and any of the earlier game concepts and ideas for them to play seemed to have dissipated the second all hermits stepped outside. Oh well, Grian thought, he supposed that he wasn't too into playing bingo and god-knows what other games were on offer.

It was quickly getting to the point where he just wanted to go home, though, if he was honest.

He waited for a couple of the other hermits to go home first before he did, so when he found his opportunity to go, he sure as hell took it. He muttered a kind goodbye to some hermits before going inside and grabbing his stack of papers written from the other hermits. Then, he flew off on his way home, only feeling slightly dizzy as the wind swept and pushed his body around like a rag doll, only slightly maintaining his control of direction.

[All by yourself, sittin' alone
I hope we're still friends, yeah, I hope you don't mind]

-
...Im quite into TV Girl rn

There's not much to go off of rn, but what are your guys' predictions?

Just the usual excuses for the lack of updates, I was ill AGAIN, school was biting me in the ass AGAIN, I was really sad AGAIN. Just the usual :)

ANYWAY NEW UPDATE WOOOO AND HALF OF THE NEXT CHAPTER WRITTEN ALREADY WOOOO

This chapter was SO HARD to bring myself to write for some reason, which is probably why its so short, but the next chapter should be a hell of a lot longer so look outttttt

1800 words or something like that
21st Feb 2024