Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Calm before the storm

           Jimena was lying down on the grass, staring at the sky. The clouds were rolling moodily across a blank gray canvas, crackling with unseen electricity. It'll storm soon. Rain first, and then the lightning. Despite the depressing forecast, Jimena felt calm watching the sky as she did. It was peaceful and quiet. Not physically, of course; the wind was rattling the shutters of nearby houses and thunder would erratically bang its drum every so often. But it was peaceful and quiet inside her mind. The voice hadn't bothered her yet that day.

           "Jimena?" She turned to see False standing there, twiddling her thumbs. "I'd just like to say that I'm sorry for adding to your build without asking you first." "Oh, it's okay," Jimena said, turning her gaze back to the sky. "I got over it." Indeed, she felt no lingering resentment toward the empress for doing so. If anything, she wondered why she'd previously made such a big fuss about it.

           "Oh. Okay... Thank you." False said, looking awkward and grateful at the same time. "Hey, do you want to help me with a build? I built a tavern but I didn't do an interior." "Okay, why not?" Jimena said, getting up. Then she frowned, something stirring in her memory. "Speaking of my tower and interiors, I don't think I put an interior inside my tower yet." "Do you want my help with that?" False asked. Jimena shook her head. "Nah, I'll practice helping you and then I'll try it by myself."

           So False took her to the Stupor Saloon. They did the bar area first; stocking up the pantry with barrels of drinks while they did so. And then they did the bedrooms; trying to figure out what other people might like and making it comfy was surprisingly fun. The beds were really soft; a fact that Jimena proved by flopping down on top of one and almost falling asleep on it. With the two of them working together, they were soon done.

           "I'll be in my house taking a nap if you need me!" False called to Jimena, who was flying toward the Cogsmeade bridge. "Don't worry, I won't!" Jimena called back, feeling the wing rush around her feathers. Flying when it was about to rain soon was apparently fun. I wonder what flying in an actual storm would be like. She angled her wings to the tower and aimed for the window; trying to see if she could get in that way. She managed to do so, but she painfully bumped her wings against the edges of the windowsill. And then crashed into a nearby cabinet.

           Jimena tumbled on the floor, groaning. Okay, I should never try that again. She slowly got up, using the cabinet that she'd collided with as a support to pull herself up. Then she realized something. Cabinet...? I didn't put a cabinet in here... Did I? Jimena got to her feet and frowned. There was something very wrong with her tower.

           A telescope on a stand stood by another window, pointed at the ground rather than skyward. The open cabinet door betrayed its contents: a pile of hastily-scrawled notebooks with worn pages sticking out of the binder. A single oil lamp sat on the table, unlit and providing no light.  At a glance, the room decor seemed normal, if a bit spartan. Not at all strange. Except for the fact that Jimena hadn't done a single thing for the interior yet.

           Jimena stared at her surroundings, taking it all in. Did False do this? When she added stuff to my tower? No, she would've told me. Unless she didn't want me to get even madder. Unsure what to think, Jimena started anxiously ruffling her feathers. Which made her a little more calm, because it showed her that her wings still worked fine even after crashing through the window. Speaking of the window... She leapt out of it and spread her wings at the last second, heading toward False's house.

---

           False heaved a sigh of relief as she stared at her computer. The hidden camera in the top floor of the tower had caught video evidence of an intruder sneaking around while she'd been at Hermitopia. It was Jimena, the girl who she'd accidentally pushed out the window. Luckily, she didn't poke around much, she just stayed in the top room and then left the way she came in.