Meteor Effect

Comfort is found in words and actions: Grian

TW: Sam Gladiator everything that is mentioned is very vague
vague mention of abuse/ptsd

....

Grian squawks as he carefully lands on the ground outside his mansion. The hole had been almost completely dug on each side. It may have been a mistake to even make the holes but everything's looking really good.

As he flutters over to a few shulkers he prepares a box of gravel for Joe. He needed some and had asked if anyone was willing to trade. Grian has a lot that he's not using so he gives it to him.

Fluffing his feathers Grian hops towards the front doors of his base. Settling on the steps he spreads out his wings. The sun warms his feathers, chirping softly Grian smiles.

"Howdy Mr. Grian," Joe Hills grins as he sits next to the bird.

"Hey Joe," Grian waves, "Here's the gravel."

"Why thank you," As Joe turns to walk away he spots Grian frown slightly, "Oh, are you ok?"

"I'm fine I just... I keep plucking at my feathers. I know I'm not supposed to do it but it just keeps happening."

Joe hums for a moment before looking at Grian's wings, "Have you considered getting some sort of anxiety toy?"

Squinting at the other hermit Grian eloquently asks, "What?"

"Like... how to explain this. Oh, you know like Rubix cubes. Anything you can hold and fidget with. You might like the bubble wrap kind of thing."

"Oh, yeah that might actually help."

"Something else is bugging you, what's up."

"You know how the watchers saved me from permadeath?"

"Yes," Joe says slowly. He sits down next to the bird and listens.

"Well, that's not the worst thing that I've been through. I don't like talking about it."

"That's completely understandable."

Grian takes a deep breath, "I grew up on one of the city worlds. For high school, I moved to a different world. When I got there it was fine then I met Sam. He was horrible, all through high school he dragged me through his sick game," Grian shudders and wraps his arms around himself, "He dragged me and Taurtis to this fantasy world," Grian pauses and stops moving for a moment, "After that, I was able to escape. I made some different friends and made the Wynncraft server. Then I made it to Evo."

"This Sam, he's the reason you have anxiety?" Joe asks softly as he hugs Grian.

"Yeah, when the watchers saved me they found out what he had done and now he's in jail, that helped a lot."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through any of that."

Grian gives a soft sad smile, "Thanks."

They sit in silence watching the sun slowly set over the horizon. Grian breaks the silence, "It's really weird to have bird feet."

"How so?"

"I can grab things," Grian hops to his feet and shows Joe what he means, "Other than that it sucks, I can't run at all, and I can't walk very far."

"How far can you make it?"

"Comfortably, about the width of the stairs," Grian motions to the mega staircase.

"That's why you do the hop flutter thing?"

"Mmhm, exactly. I've been practicing mimicking people."

Joe laughs, "How have your prank attempts gone?"

"Horribly, I can't sneak up on people, my wings make too much noise," He laments dramatically draping himself across the stairs, "Thanks for talking with me Joe, you've helped me a lot."