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Grian, Martyn and Pearl are burning down a 7/11 that should not by any means exist in their universe, while Jimmy is sobbing and shaking in a corner. The other three siblings do not seem bothered.
Katherine, however, seems worried about him. Jimmy appears to be having a panic attack, so of course she’s worried. She knows what that's like and she knows that it’s usually for the better that someone intervenes.
“Jimmy! Are you okay, can you hear me?” Katherine kneels in front of Jimmy, who is curled up in a little ball on the floor, rocking back and forth.
“Oh- Katherine, don’t worry. He does this, he’s just being dramatic.” Grian explains, jogging over.
“Grian, how could you say that? Jimmy is very clearly having a panic attack!” Katherine insists, now having gained Jimmy’s attention and trying to do breathing exercises with him.
“Oh- no, Katherine, I’m actually okay. It’s part of our bit.” Jimmy now takes his turn to explain, still in tears.
“Oh- are… are you sure? You really seemed to be going through it there…”
“Yes, I’m sure. I usually play up how upset I am because it’s funny, I swear I’m okay.”
“Oh… okay… But please let me know if you actually need help, alright?”
“Of course.”
Everyone’s at the first server meeting after the hermits arrive, and everyone’s sitting at the table, including every single hermit that went through the rift. It’s a bit more crowded and loud than usual for Tumble Town, but they needed to get some things out of the way and it would probably be best if everyone was there for it.
Hermes is at the meeting too, because neither Joel nor Sausage could find a sitter. This proves to be a problem when the child won’t stop talking during the meeting, causing Joel to snap.
“Hermes, won’t you just be quiet?!” The god raises his voice in a half-shout before muttering apologies to the now sulking child.
Little did he know that that phrase alone sent Jimmy into a mental spiral.
Suddenly he can see his childhood home- no, childhood house. That building was no home. He remembers having to tiptoe even in broad daylight, having to sneeze into a pillow to muffle the sound, having to breathe steadily for every reason other than his own well-being.
He can’t think about anything other than that god-forsaken building, that poor excuse for a family, the yelling of his mother as she hits him. It’s bad. It’s frozen him still. He doesn’t want to move, she might hear him.
~
Pearl’s at the server meeting, half-zoned out, and some big dude she’s pretty sure is named Joel raises his voice at his kid. It immediately makes her uncomfortable, but she manages to ignore it in favor of imagining her dinner for that night.
But then she remembers that she isn’t the only one there with childhood trauma.
She glances over to Grian, who seems a little stiff, but generally alright.
She glances at Martyn, who just seems to be silently judging Joel from a distance.
She glances at Jimmy.
Oh dear…
Jimmy is zoned out, staring at a spot on the table intently. She can’t quite tell from the distance between them, but she’s pretty sure his breathing has sped up as well.
Those are all tell-tale signs of a Jimmy-style panic attack.
Pearl steadily gets up and goes over to Jimmy, getting the attention of Martyn and Grian, who were right next to her. She goes over to Jimmy and tries to get his attention, eventually settling for grabbing his hand and taking him somewhere more private when he still seems to be mostly unresponsive.
She excuses the both of them from the table, saying she needs to have a word in private with the sheriff, and takes him a little ways away from the meeting to go around the corner and behind a building. It’ll be fine until she can get him calmed down again.
“Timmy? Can you hear me, do you know where you are?”
“Uh…” Is Jimmy’s only response as he looks around the area, trying to ground himself.
“Can I touch you?” Pearl asks, reaching out to Jimmy. Jimmy vaguely nods in response. Pearl wraps her arms around Jimmy’s shoulders as Grian and Martyn round the corner.
“Is he alright? We noticed you guys leaving and Tim looked rough…” Martyn asks as he and Grian slowly approach the two on the ground.
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t properly respond to me at the table, I’m hoping touch will help ground him some.” She says as she runs her fingers through Jimmy’s hair.
Grian sits beside Jimmy and flutters his wings intentionally in Jimmy’s line of vision, “Sometimes visual distractions help him too.”
Just as Martyn’s heading over to try speaking to Jimmy, fWhip comes around.
“Hey you four, you all left and we were wondering what was going on.” He leans against the side of the wooden building and looks at the situation, “Is Jimmy alright? He seemed fine at the table…”
“Um- fWhip, Timmy’s… Timmy’s having a panic attack right now. We’ve got the situation covered, but it might be a little bit longer before we’re back at the table.” Pearl responds, still gently carding her hands through her little brother's hair.
“Oh… Well, it doesn’t look like he’s having a panic attack. Are you sure he’s not just zoning out?” fWhip comments, looking judgmentally at Jimmy.
All three siblings suddenly feel the slight urge to strangle fWhip, but refrain, “Yes… We’re sure, fWhip. Now go back to the table, we’ll be back in a bit.” Grian says through gritted teeth.
“Alright… But hurry up, please. We need Jimmy for the meeting.” fWhip rolled his eyes and walked away.
There was a moment of silence in which the three conscious siblings mutually agreed that they Did Not Like™ fWhip before Martyn went back to talking to Jimmy.
“I… I think I'm back…” Jimmy mutters.
“That’s good. You need a moment to just sit here for a bit?” Pearl asks as Grian stops fluttering his wings, instead putting one around Jimmy's back.
“Yeah… Just a minute though, I need to get back to the meeting”
“Don’t rush, they can wait.” Martyn says, the interaction with the rude goblin still fresh in his mind.
“Right, thank you, Martyn.” Jimmy leans against Pearl and listens to Martyn talk to Grian about whatever.
“You gonna want the nest tonight?” Pearl whispers to Jimmy.
“Yeah.” Jimmy whispers back, already thinking of the blankets and cuddles that the nest entails.