Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Traces of guilt

           Jimmy awoke, his body feeling numb all over; the side effect of a healing potion fixing open wounds. He looked around. He was in Gem's bedroom, somehow. It was a pretty room, with oak and spruce walls dotted with shelves full of empty and full honey bottles.

           A fuzzy rug dyed sunset colors lay on the floor and matched the reiddsh-orange curtains that framed yellow stained glass windows. Sunlight streamed in through those windows and cast bright, happy shapes into the room, making the ambience light and warm.

           How did I get here? "Gem?" He called, and there came sounds of people coming up the stairs to see him. Gem appeared in the doorway, a look on intense relief on her face. Behind her, partially obscured by the princess' butterfly wings, was a familiar cyan-haired figure with heterochromic eyes. Scott's here too? What did I miss? "Oh good, you're awake," Gem said, relieved. "Morning, Jimmy," Scott added.

           Jimmy sat up. "How did I get here?" "What, no 'thank you' for saving you from an army of phantoms?" Scott teased, pretending to pout. Jimmy blinked. He remembered the phantoms now. Claws and teeth raking through his skin; falling through the air as his broken elytra stopped working... He shivered. "Thanks," He said quietly.

           "Come on down for brunch!I've got pancakes!" Gem said brightly, but the mention of pancakes reminded the sheriff of the odd dinner the night before. And that reminded him of his mistake. "Are you okay, Jimmy?" Scott asked, perceptively reading the sheriff's mood. "I'm fine," Jimmy lied. "So, pancakes, you said?" "With honey and butter!" Gem declared.

           Dawn's cuisine involved a very vegetarian diet, with Gem offering the boys a potato, carrot, and beetroot salad. There were also glasses of honey out, and a pitcher of milk if anyone wanted it. A plateful of toast buttered yellow sat next to a jar of strawberry jam. The pancakes Gem had talked about were a golden-brown coloring and had honey dripping down its side instead of syrup.

           "How long was I out?" Jimmy asked." It's 10 AM," Scott answered, studying the options before scooping some salad onto his plate. Jimmy had the bitter aftertaste of healing potion in his mouth, so he drank some honey first. The sweet, cool liquid was refreshing and it smelled quite nice. However, Jimmy wasn't the only one who thought so. A big, brown head poked its way through the open window, opening its mouth a d stretching out a long, pink tongue.

           "What is that?!" Jimmy yelped. He quickly realized what it was. It was a brown bear sticking its head through Gem's kitchen window. Jimmu reached for his sword, but found it wasn't hanging from his belt like it normally was. "Scott, where are my stuff?" "Upstairs," "Apollo!" Gem scolded, walking toward the bear.

           The bear whined, nodding toward the glasses of honey. Gem sighed. "Fine, you've been good all week." She took a bottle of the sweet nectar and motioned for the bear to open his mouth, and he did. Then she poured the contents down his throat and he drank it all up. "Now go," Gem said. Not pushing his luck, the bear slowly extricated his head from the window and wandered off.

           Gem turned back to the table; where Scott was sitting with a mildly impressed look on his face and Jimmy was sitting with his mouth dangling open like a goldfish. "What? Apollo's my mount. He wasn't going to hurt you, he was just after the honey," Gem explained. Jimmy slowly relaxed. "Well, a bear sticking its head through a window isn't exactly normal," Jimmy said defensively. "Nothing around here is normal," Scott pointed out.

           After breakfast, Jimmy decided that he needed to get back to Tumble Town. But since his elytra was broken, they had to fix it first. "Well, we already have the phantom membrane," Scott said, and the three of them went outside to clean up the mob drops. Jimmy shuddered at the sight of so much membrane just lying on the ground. How did I survive that many phantoms?