Solivagency - Empires SMP

XLII

Days passed. It may have been a week. They couldn't tell how often they were sleeping, but eventually, something changed and they found themselves asleep much less than before.

Joey, of course, was delighted. They had no idea how he kept managing to sneak into their room, but he did it pretty well and would always talk to them if they had enough energy or simply sit there and hold their hand if their throat was bad. It was something that made them feel giddy head to toe, and they felt a steady blush rise up their cheeks and across their ears every time he pressed a soft kiss against their skin.

Fwhip and Gem, despite their best efforts of keeping him out, had eventually rolled their eyes when they found him in the room instead of yelling at him, although they still audibly grumbled and groaned about him not being supposed to visit. Every single time, without fail, Joey would whine and protest so loudly that they could hear him from the other side of the door.

Now, Xornoth was settling on staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep again. Except it didn't work, because they weren't tired. At the very most they were able to close their eyes and pretend they were asleep, but that was about it and a dull, hollow exhaustion kept seeping into their bones despite what they did.

It wasn't very fun. Their eyes had traced the minuscule bumps on the ceiling more times than they cared to admit, and the walls and floor weren't much better. It was just endless waiting for someone to come in or waiting for them to fall asleep.

Their dreams were strange and distorted and somewhat disturbing, but they could never remember what they had been about afterwards. They couldn't remember who had been in it, what had happened, what they had thought during them, only that they didn't like them very much and they would prefer no dreams at all.

The door opened and they turned their head towards it. Then Fwhip stepped in, not accompanied by his triplets and looking quite displeased, shutting the door behind him with a click.

So it was one of those days. A question day. A day where someone was there asking questions they really did not want to answer and scrutinising every tiny detail that left their mouth. They didn't blame them for not trusting them, but it was still uncomfortable.

He had an unhappy look on his face as he pulled the chair into a different position and sat on it in the strangest way possible. He gave them a long-suffering sigh and they looked at him back, waiting for him to stop staring at them and actually say something.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, look. Gem is going to be busy for the next few days, which means we're gonna be stuck with each other. And I kinda want this to be over with as soon as possible, so can answer the questions? Please?"

"...Okay…" Xornoth would be lying if they said that hi. seemed calm and normal. Everything about the man was slightly to the left.

"So… uh…" Fwhip waved his hands around a little bit, fiddling and twisting with his fingers. "What's with you being all… purpley?"

Well. That wasn't a question they could really answer, was it? "Don't know."

"You don't-" He grimaced and made an irritated noise at the back of his throat. "Why don't you know?"

"I… don't?"

To be honest, they didn't know what they were even supposed to say to that because their hair and eyes had been red for a long, long time and they couldn't remember if they'd ever been something else.

He facepalmed. "This just- I- no. This doesn't make any sense."

"I'm… aware?"

That was… maybe not the best thing to say, as he immediately gave them a look of dispair that was filled with unhinged desperation. But then he already was groaning and doing his very best to change the conversation onto the next neat bullet point list that Gem had probably stapled to his door that morning. "Okay. Cool. Now… a… uh… why can Joel suddenly see you?"