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“Moon’s gotten bigger again,” Joe told Cleo, marking another sign at the aperture.
“You’re kidding.” Cleo laughed. There was obvious fear in her voice. “It can’t be.”
“I’d say it’ll be okay, but I honestly have no clue what’s going on.” Joe still wrapped an arm around her in hopes that the action in itself would keep her grounded. “Well, with the talk to other hermits, we’re assuming it’s getting closer… which could be good or bad, as we’ve discussed.”
He heard Cleo’s breathing getting shorter and quicker, and he tried helping with a few more grounding techniques. “Other than the moon, what’s something you can see?”
“There’s—there’s grass below us,” she said, already stooping down knowing where he was going.
“Give me three words to describe it. Texture, color, and an action that can be done to it or that it does.” The more specific words he asked for, the easier Cleo typically had answering.
“Green—it’s a faded, yellowish-green… and there’s frost, it’s cold… and, uh, it’s overgrown and needs to be mowed… That good?” Cleo looked up at Joe, trying to smile.
“Yes, that’s perfect. Now then, back on our topic… Bdubs came over with Scar, Scar was about seven or so, and they were both concerned with how Mumbo and Grian were taking the whole “big moon” thing.”
“For fair reason,” Cleo butted in. “Mumbo seriously started a cult! Mumbo! Of all people.”
“It’d be comical if I didn’t assume this is more of a “I’m trying to control what I can” kind of situation for him too.”
Cleo nodded. “We’re all spiraling.”
“And the only thing I think will help is if we all get together for a few days to talk things through and be there. Obviously none of us are doing well alone. So I’m thinking we invite everyone to come to the Dran and Courtier for the night.”
“I don’t think I can cross stitch invite cards that quickly, Joe,” Cleo said, unamused.
“Dang it,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t think you’d comply so easily anyway…”
“What’s the real plan?” Cleo had been into fully fleshed out plans since the initial notice of the moon getting larger, so Joe had come up with ideas for her. He’d had more time for planning while getting over a sickness in the past week as was, so he had at least three ideas ready by now.
“Well I’m glad you’ve asked, because now I don’t have to force you to listen to me. I was thinking we could do a serverwide message and ask for everyone to respond whether they’ll come or not. If someone doesn’t get the message or needs help coming by our place, we’ll fly over to them ourselves.”
Cleo nodded after he was finished with his “speech”. “I think that’s doable.”
“As do I. And with both of us going, if someone has to deal with multiple little hermits, then we can help them in that case too!”
So for the next half hour they came up with a clear message and cleaned up the Dran and Courtier for their future guests. Then they flew over to those who never got the message or made time to respond, and had their guest list ready.
Time Ski-up!
Bdubs was first to arrive, ready to help the duo fix up the place for a friendly environment. With him was Keralis, who though an adult, looked like he was unable to take care of himself (Joe couldn’t tell if he was overly worried and had overworked himself preparing, or if Keralis forgot to sleep for a few nights).
“Howdy Bdubs, Keralis,” Joe said as he led them through the building. “Upstairs are the bedrooms. You can put your things in there. There’s plenty of room down here to just hang around too. How’re you two doing?”
“Survivin’” Bdubs said. “Keralis has been stressing a bit more, and Tango has disappeared for his H.A.S.A. thing. But at least we’re better than Grian. Stupid Mooners thinking that sleep is making things worse…” Joe saw the concern in his face, despite the annoyed words.
“Bubbles! Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. We’ll help them sleep.” Keralis took Bdubs hands and squeezed them tightly. Joe watched as Keralis calmed his friend whether through words or affection. (The latter seemed to work more effectively.)
After a few minutes of talking through concerns and changing the subject to other, more lighthearted occurrences in the server, Joe saw the door open again. Xisuma walked in with Jevin, Beef, and a younger Wels (probably about the age of a teen). “Sorry we’re here a little later. We’ve just finished a meeting. Corex has been rather annoyed with the lack of progress in the Evil Emporium and we were busy convincing him that we’d continue work after a few days of break. I think the moon’s getting to him more than he’d like to admit.”
“Understandable. We’re happy to have you, X,” Joe said, leading the group into the place. It was already feeling much warmer with the bigger number of people.
Light chatter filled the room, leaving a calming effect on Joe. Xisuma was typing away at his computer screen while Keralis stood over his shoulder, massaging his neck. Bdubs sat beside Xisuma, leaning against the other (obviously he was tired, even if he spent a healthy amount of time sleeping). Jevin and Wels sat at the bar, while Beef was behind it, making some snacks. When Joe realized Cleo wasn’t around the crowd, he went out in search of her.
“Hey,” Joe said as he sat down on the couch next to Cleo. She was staring out the window, lost in her head. “Getting to be a lot again?” She nodded. Despite being of adult age, it seemed she was more in a child’s headspace. “That’s fine. It’s a lot for everyone.”
“I know, but everyone’s here and I— You know the last thing I want to do is have a near panic attack in front of everyone.”
“Well, I bet we’ll have so many cases of near crying and whatnot, that nobody would really notice all that much unless they really want to help you specifically. Like myself.” He wrapped an arm behind her, and Cleo only partially leaned against him.
“Thank you,” she said in a near whisper.
“No problem!” Joe answered with similar volume but with his typical amount of enthusiasm. While they continued to hang around at the couch, the door opened a few more times and the room filled with more hermits, some coming over to the reading nook Cleo and Joe were hanging around in.
Impulse sat in a chair with a dark grey blanket wrapped around his arms and a book in hand. (He looked quite a few years younger, probably still recovering from one of the many deaths that occurred in Boatem.) A fairly young Ren came running in with Doc trailing behind them and they filled one of the typical rectangular tables with pencils and crayons and paper.
“Hello Joe and Cleo. Thanks for inviting us,” Doc said, while starting on some sketch. Ren sat in Doc’s lap, bearing down on the paper with a dark green crayon, making messier lines over the light shapes Doc made.
“It’s good to see ya’ll here,” Joe responded with a smile. “Cleo and I decided it’d be best for us to take a little break from all this craziness for a few days. Seems like everyone’s enjoying it.”
“Yep. Even Zisuma seems to be taking a break. Keralis and Bdubs were pestering him when we came in,” Doc said, giving a small chuckle. “He didn’t act angry about it though.”
The two continued talking before Ren interrupted, whispering to Doc loud enough where Joe could make out the words “…give them a hug?” and he watched as Doc pushed out the chair to where Ren could climb off and run over to Joe and Cleo.
“Howdy, Ren,” Joe said, picking up the small hermit.
“Hi Ren.” Cleo shook his hand lightly and gave a big smile at him.
“Hi,” Ren answered almost shyly before deciding the two were safe and flopping in between the two in a hug. His small body made him very cuddle-able, and Ren remained that way for a few minutes.
After half an hour more of hanging in the reading room, Joe walked out into the middle of the Dran and Courtier to properly start the chain of evening events. “Howdy all. Joe Hills here to provide you kind hermits with a night of relaxing. We’ve got a bar with kid friendly drinks—don’t worry about there being issues—and plenty of food to snack on, we’ve got a reading nook for all who need a bit of peace, we’ve got plenty of bedrooms at the top for you to chill in, and we’ve got plenty of tables with games on them. Tonight we’re not going to be doing any planning of prep work for builds, instead to relax and reconnect with everyone, meaning conversations about what’s stressing you out is perfectly acceptable and it’s recommended that you be honest with us. Now then, let’s eat!” Joe finished his speech, moving over to the snack bar where Beef was selling his new treats, and took a handful of caramelized ravager teeth.
After around about two hours of eating and destroying the other hermits at Scrabble, Joe gathered the group to an open room where they could all sit in a circle. The room was littered with pillows, blankets, beanbags, and a tv and large speaker set, which was playing some music turned fairly low. A few comments were made about how nice and friendly the room was. The lights were low enough to not be intrusive to those with sensory issues and the colors of the room blended to create a welcome atmosphere.
When they all got settled in, Joe explained what they’d be doing. “So, I said this would be pretty chill tonight, but here’s where we get serious. A lot of us have been stressing about all this giant-close-whatever you want to call it moon business and a lot of us are worried for our friends who aren’t handling it the best.
“So here’s what we’re gonna do: without anyone throwing any judgement on anyone else, we’re going to talk about what’s been bugging us with the whole moon thing. Whether that be worries retaining to it, what we’ve learned, or even if it’s totally unrelated to the moon and we’re just stressed out or have our mind on something else. There’s a smaller corner filled with seating if you can only talk around a few people or if you need to break away. And if you don’t feel up for talking, that’s fine too.
“Now, against what someone else might want, we’re allowed to voice concerns about other hermits or how their actions are messing with us. Communication is key y’all.” Joe may or may not have looked over at a few specific hermits when saying that. “And if for whatever reason you want to sit next to someone else, butt in whenever. And asking for something, even if it sounds silly, is good too. Now then, I’ll stop rambling to let someone else talk.”
When Joe went quiet, the room stayed awkwardly silent. Apparently nobody knew what exactly to say. After a moment Impulse piped up, “I’d uh, like to swap spots around… and sit with Tango and Zedaph, if that’s okay.” He looked over at his Boatem friends, probably reading their faces to see if he’d offended anyone. When he got up, so did Mumbo, apparently wanting to stick next to him. Grian gave a face of mock sadness that his friend would leave him, but Grian seemed too tired to care and curled up next to Pearl.
After a bit more rearranging, Etho (who came in to the party much later with Iskall, and was now around about eleven due to leaving their world and reentering a few days back) was with Beef and Bdubs. Bdubs was next to the beanbag Doc and Ren were sitting on. The people outside of their group were spaced out quite a ways.
Keralis and Xisuma were leaning against some pillows, with plenty of room either side, which they mentioned was for anyone who needed it. Scar (also one of the younger hermits, around age nine) took up the offer, squeezing in between the two and nearly fell asleep in a few minutes.
Wels and Jevin sat to themselves as did Hypno and Xb, but they were all still of the circle. Once everyone was officially comfortable with where they sat, the silence cropped back up again.
“Well, if no one else is dying to talk, I’ll share my side of these events,” Xisuma said, taking time to think through the words he’d use. “As you’ve all gathered, I’ve uh, overworked myself on many occasions over all this. And uhm, it’s gotten to be a problem in some areas, resulting in dying because of not eating often enough or losing perception because I’m too tired to focus. It got better, about a month or two ago, but this whole business with the moon…” he trailed off. Keralis patted on him comfortingly. “I’ll be honest. It’s a lot and I don’t know what’s going on and I’m not sure I can fix it… the moon and the earthquakes and this stupid child glitch which has affected quite a few in the room tonight.”
“You’ve not disappointed us, Shashwami,” Keralis said loud enough that other people could hear the root problem, but quiet enough that it still kept a calmingness to it.
“I know. You guys have said it before… it’s just—I guess it’s harder for me to be easier on myself when there’s almost this expectation of me being put together and able to keep everything around us steady.”
A few other hermits got up from their spot to surround the admin in hugs. They were family. Even when their “leader” or “parent figure” was struggling, they’d always be there to help.
“Th-thanks,” he said as the group despised and left him leaning against Keralis. “That-that helped quite a bit.”
“Happy to help,” Joe said with an encouraging smile. “Anyone else?”
Some of the younger hermits buried their faces into whoever they were leaning against, too embarrassed about whatever they were going through to admit to anything. A few of the older ones grimaced and almost recoiled at the idea.
“I’ve been, uh, less worried about this whole deal,” Impulse said, “but it’s been a lot. First there’s a cult-like thing started in Boatem, which somehow I accidentally joined? And all the earthquakes and stuff. And I haven’t really seen many people in a long time… it’s been nice to be back as a group,” he ended off. “I think I need a hug now though.” And as a quick answer, the three around him all came together in a group hug, and from the outside it was hard to see who was who. Xisuma got up over to them and let Impulse lean against him on the left, and Mumbo on the right.
The three looked a mix of tired and overwhelmed, and Joe could tell Xisuma and Impusle were both near crying, and after a while, most other hermits would be too.
When the group got a bit quiet again, Doc spoke up, surprising the group that he’d actually get a bit vulnerable. “Before any of you ask, no I don’t believe we were the cause of the moon. Secondly, Ren here has been struggling along with me, and it doesn’t help that he went and died on me,” he said fairly lightly. “But uh, we’re surviving like the rest of you. But to explain in more detail: a piece of the moon fell in on our laggificator called a chicken coup and destroyed it. Even since then, Ren has been a tad too focused trying to test with it or even so much as play with the moon stone. And uh, my studies of it have been strenuous and not very profitable. So uh, stress. That’s been our last few weeks.” Doc held Ren up against his chest, and Joe could see the little jolts from silent sobs. “It’s okay buddy. We’re all here for you. We all get obsessive over this moon business sometimes.”
Bdubs moved up to the large beanbag the two were sitting on, and fingered through Ren’s hair. With the two giving him attention, Ren calmed down in a few minutes. Joe got up to drape a couple blankets over the three as Ren started to drift to sleep.
“Thanks Joe,” Bdubs said before starting his own story up. “So, talking about this moon business. I got some news from Scar the other day, some weird thing about this Mooners group, which I’ve heard a bit about here and there, but it’s still confusing. And you guys apparently don’t sleep? Look, I know just as much as the rest of you how stressful this is. Earthquakes are scary and if I didn’t care about structural integrity—which was just done so it’d look more realistic—I would too be frightened of falling asleep in my base! But you folks not sleeping is not helping at all! You’re just getting stressed and then you’ll die because you’re in no condition to take care of yourself, Grian, and we can’t have everyone dying!” Bdubs looked over at him, with a genuine face of sadness.
“I’m sorry… it’s just a lot for me too…” Bdubs said, a lot quieter now. “And I care about you guys but it seems you don’t care enough about yourselves. But-but if you ever get lonely at night or whatever, I won’t be mad if anyone wants me to come hang out during the night or needs someone to sleep with even if it sounds stupid. Ok?”
Despite looking like he could fall over at any moment, Grian got up to give Bdubs a hug and a short apology. “I didn’t realize I was stressing you out. I’m sorry.”
“It’s—It’s more than just you,” Bdubs said, voice a bit stopped up now. “I’m sorry I yelled. This has been a lot, but it didn’t make that right.”
It was getting late, and hermits were dropping off to sleep. Xisuma and Impulse were fully asleep, and Tango and Zedaph seemed to be following suit. Bdubs moved over to sit with Grian and Pearl. Pearl was the only one who stayed awake after all that. Cleo, despite being zombie, was too drifting off while leaned against Joe. Ren was snoring softly. Beef was asleep, while Etho was right next to him with eyes wide. Jevin and Wels were in another corner of the room talking quietly, and Keralis, after dropping Scar into the pile of Grian, Bdubs, and Pearl, moved over with them to provide just a bit extra comfort to the two. xB and Hypno were playing on the switch, which was now hooked up to the tv, playing something that seemed to be competitive, while still keeping on a conversation that seemed to be pretty serious.
The only ones still in the circle that were able to keep up a discussion now were Pearl, Etho, Joe, Mumbo, Doc, Iskall (who was fading fast) and TFC, who had stayed in a corner while the group was talking. He seemed to be keeping an ear out and arms open for whenever he would probably be needed, but he wasn’t one to get into the group discussions. With everyone falling to sleep, he joined the group to be some source of advice.
“Etho, do you want to share anything?” Pearl asked. “You’ve been awfully quiet all night.”
“I’m okay,” he answered in a smaller than normal voice. “Just tired.”
“For someone who’s really tired, you don’t look like it,” Doc mentioned. “Ren and I have a spot for you, if you’d like.” Etho got up, careful not to wake Beef, and curled up next to Doc’s side. “You’ve got something on your mind.”
“I’d like to stay quiet.”
“I don’t doubt it. But we want to check up on you.”
“I know… but I don’t wanna cry—not right now—not here.”
Joe cut in. “Do you need space? Some of us can move over somewhere else if you need a moment.”
Etho shook his head. “I’ll just stay quiet… if that’s okay.”
The group finally gave up, now Pearl switching to Mumbo. “You want to talk at all?”
He made eye contact with her, then with Joe, and looked down for a minute before saying, “I-I guess. It’s just a lot of anxiousness. As to be guessed…” Mumbo rubbed at the side of his face, looking utterly exhausted like the majority. “And there’s nothing we can do and there’s no way to know what’s wrong and we all might die or something might happen to someone who’s taking care of us—I just—I wish I didn’t worry so much… wish I wasn’t so weak.”
Iskall moved over next to Mumbo, now between the beanbag of the trio and the pile of five which four of which were asleep in. “You’re not weak. Mumbo Jumbo, you spoon, you’re anything but weak.”
“I can’t take care of kids, I totally lack confidence, anything stressful happens and boom anxiety and the amount of emotions Pearl and Grian and Impulse have to deal with because I can’t keep anything together—”
Iskall pulled him into a proper hug, putting all the attention on his friend. It warmed Joe’s heart to see that he was able to get friends back together who hadn’t been able to be there for their friend in a long time and even help those who were close in distance to reconnect. “But you have all that stress, Mumbo, and do we see you dying right now? When your friends are hurting, do we see you running off? Even if you’re stressed out and feel like you’re not good enough to help, you’re still there. And I bet that if someone you cared about deeply in here was breaking down, you’d be the first to stick with them and the last to leave.”
“That’s still not really heroic,” Mumbo mumbled out, making it difficult for Joe to hear. “And in case you’ve forgotten: I’ve resorted to a cult-like thing in hopes of appeasing the moon and you and I know how stupid that sounds. I’m just falling apart right now and you think the right adjective to use is strong? And yes, I now know what an adjective is. Zedaph and I were struggling with that one the other week.”
Xisuma had started to stir during Mumbo’s lengthy rant, and motioned for him to curl up against him. “You’re strong,” he said, “because you’re here, right now, willing to tell us this. It take a lot to have the ability to admit something’s wrong. I know that far too well. You’re human, like the rest of us, and you may be more sensitive, but that doesn’t make you weaker because of it. And everyone still values you and will stick with you even when you’re not confident and you don’t feel strong.”
Mumbo rested his head against Xisuma, letting out a few hiccups along with a few quiet cries.
“We’re here. And we’re not going to leave, even if you feel we should.”
“He’s right, Mumbo,” Iskall said. “Right here, dude.”
The three curled up in a small pile, next to the ZIT trio, and ended up in whispers and quiet consoling. Joe saw Pearl visibly calm down, seeing that her friends were doing alright for the time being. “This stressing you out a lot?” Joe asked in hushed tone.
She nodded, careful to not wake her three sleeping friends around her.
“You doing alright now?”
She shook her hands as if to say, “kinda, but still hurts”.
“Think you can talk through it for a few minutes? I’m sure your friends are deep enough sleepers.”
She shook her head, pointing over at Mumbo. So it had to do with her friends. Joe figured it was something she feared would hurt someone else’s feelings if she voiced it.
“Stuff other people are dealing with is pretty stressful?” She nodded. “And sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do, isn’t it?” She nodded again, this time a few silent tears spilling out. “And you want to be there when their worlds are falling apart, I’m sure.” She nodded harder and Joe could evidently see her struggle to take full breaths.
TFC moved over to where she was, sitting behind her as all her sides were filled, and slowly rubbed at her back and spoke calmly. “Pearl, there’s a difference between being really sweet and being unhealthfully kind and forgetting to breathe yourself. You kids get in your head that you’ve got ta be there for everyone who’s hurting, and then when you hurt yourself you always forget that it’s the other’s turn to return the favor. Xisuma’s done it. Joe, you’re obviously doing it. Pearl, you should stop doing it before it gets worse. It will get worse, I know it will.”
The silence he left in the room was deafening, and even the few sounds of clicks at a controller from xB and Hypno couldn’t break it. “How about I tell you a bit of a story. So, a few seasons back, can’t really remember how long ago, Stress comes to me, the angel she is. She’s always super helpful, got that mother-like air to her. So she’s helping out while me an’ Scar weren’t doing too hot, and she’s providing food and playing professional doctor for us. Well, after Scar’s asleep there, and everybody’s done visiting, she sits down next to me. And she’s really quiet—too quiet for Stress, you know. And so as one does, I cut to the chase even while she’s pushin’ away and telling me to get better and not worry about her.
“I sat there for around about half an hour before she admitted that everyone hanging around was becoming too much. She was either playing therapist for her friends’ friendship issues or was playing doctor for those of us who had health issues or were just being plain old idiots. Wasn’t until she sat there with me for about half a day and she finally got some sleep that she was able to get back on her feet. And after talkin’ to all the other hermits, the girl finally looked herself again. Laughin’ and everything.
“You two don’t look like your laughin’ or anything. It’s late. You’re still young, you need sleep. So what there’s a big moon? Talking about it and staying up late won’t help. Little Etho over there can be worried about tomorrow when he’s ready to talk, and the rest that still have tears to cry have other friends. And if you don’t take anything else, listen to me now, don’t wake up early in the morning to fix breakfast. I’ll help whoever needs some help in the morning. You two need a break.”
After that, he got quiet, other than humming a tune. He wasn’t a good singing, by all means, but something about it was comforting.
“I’ll be honest,” Joe said quietly. “This whole moon thing, I know I can’t control it, so I’ve kinda done what I could control. And tried to prepare with netherite so I could forget about my spiraling. And then did this so Cleo and I weren’t so concerned about everyone’s mental health. But… I’m guessing mine isn’t going to get better through something like this.”
“Nope,” TFC said straight to the point. “Because you two are always going to wait on others to speak. I’m proud of Xisuma for talking, yeah, and I’m proud of Cleo and you for letting us all in… I’m sure that was a lot for Cleo, and I’m proud that you, Pearl, have spent so much of your time pouring out for your friends. But you two need rest. Long rest. And tomorrow morning we’re going to have breakfast and movies and any other silly fun things you extraverted, friendly, not very hermit-like hermits do.”
And Joe listened. Even if he normally would be hesitant to listen to advice (at least, Cleo’s advice). And he slept, leaning against Cleo, keeping her pinned down as she tried to get up the next morning. And Pearl slept, and her friends were there to let her lean on them as she briefly explained her own stressors lately. And TFC smiled as he watched his family finally listen and finally be there for each other, but it was a bit sad to think it took the moon nearing in on them to do that.