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“How dare you kill Mr Roberts!” Gem chased after Joel, joyfully giggling.
“He ate my sandwich and he was ugly!”
At this, Gem stopped chasing him and burst out laughing, bringing them both out of their imaginary world.
“Nooo! Joel you gotta say something un-reas-on-able” She sounded out the last part slowly.
Joel shook his head and just opened his inventory , pulling out two (not so) pretend swords to play with. “We should use these for it to be more real!” Joel passed one over to Gem.
The girl happily nodded and they started playing again, Joel running away from Gem as she swung her sword around.
The two ran until they both were exhausted. “Gem ’m tired…” Joel started to slow down in running, but Gem didn’t stop chasing him. “You killed Mr Roberts! Now you lie to me?! You must suffer!” She swung the sword and hit him on the arm, leaving a nasty scar.
Joel yelped in pain, curling into a ball as he screamed and cried.
This triggered a chain reaction leading to Gem crying and screaming,
this time for help.
She covered her ears and sobbed, but after a little bit she remembered one of the hermits saying that she should call for help on her communicator if something ever happened,
so with glossy eyes she pulled out her communicator and opened a groupchat,
CHAOTIC PEOPLE + others
13:50
ZombieCleo: I think we should remove the + others from the chat name
Pesky Bird: I think it’s fine
ZombieCleo: But who isn’t chaotic here?
Pesky Bird: ..
13:55
Pesky bird: I think mumbo is calling gtg bye
ZombieCleo: We both know that’s not true
-Pesky bird is offline-
ZombieCleo: .
13:58
Geminislay: Hqlp Josl hudt
ZombieCleo: Gem, where are you guys?
Geminislay: neer thz prmit ofiss
ZombieCleo: The Permit office?
Geminislay: Ydes
ZombieCleo: omw
Gem put her communicator away and covered her ears again, curling up into a ball next to Joel.
———————————————————————————————————————
When Cleo approached them both they didn’t know what to expect, Gems’ message had been pretty vague, but the screaming was an obvious indication of where the duo were. They knelt down to the two crying littles, deciding to deal with Joel first. “Joel, can you hear me?” Cleo asked, getting him to look up at them and nod slowly.
“Thank you, can I look at your arm please?” They’d caught sight of the injury when they first approached him, but they still needed to get a proper look at it.
Joel just held out his arm, no longer screaming, silent tears rolling down his face.
Cleo gave him a reassuring smile and began to look at the cut, it wasn’t too bad but they’d have to get Stress to look at it later.
For now they just needed to clean it and bandage it, “Joel, I’m going to clean it, but I’ve got to warn you it will sting a little.”
Joel just nodded. Cleo pulled out a few first aid things that they’d brought after receiving Gems’ message.
Rubbing Alcohol on the wound proved to be extremely difficult, as Joel kept on flinching away, but they eventually got it done.
Joel still had tears on his face, but after the hardest part was over they slowed. Cleo then grabbed colourful bandages from the first aid kit, wrapping them around the wound. As they put their stuff away they looked over at Gem, who was still sobbing in a ball.
“Joel, wait over here for me please”, They received a nod in reply. Cleo then approached Gem slowly, but allowing her to hear them approach as to not startle the girl.
“Gem? Can you hear me” They got no response. Cleo began to tap the ground in a rhythmic pattern, hoping to be able to gain Gems’ attention without touching her. Thankfully Gem looked up, blinking her wet lashes and staring tearfully at Cleo. Cleo smiled at the distressed little, “Thank you Gem. Now can you tell me what’s wrong, and is touch okay?”. Gem hesitated for a moment, “Touch otay, bu’ I hur’ Joel an’ now he ha’e me!” tears filled the girls’ eyes again. Cleo sighed and grabbed Gems’ hands softly, rubbing gentle circles into them, “Well thank you for telling me what’s wrong, but I’m sure Joel will forgive you if you apologise”. Gem didn’t know what to think of this, but she looked up at Cleo again, a little bit hope lingered in her voice as she spoke, “Really? Will he for’ive me?”. Cleo smiled and nodded, leading her over to a now calm Joel, “Joel, Gem has something she wants to say to you,” the sound of Cleos’ voice made Joel look up and nod. “‘M sorry tha’ I hur’ you, didn’ mean ‘o! Will you for’ive me?” Gems’ voice was desperate and meaningful, as her eyes glistened with hope (and leftover tears). Joel just looked up and nodded slowly, making Gem (and possibly Cleo) breathe a sigh of relief.
———————————————————————————————————————
Cleo walked with Gem and Joel on either side of her towards the kitty cafe, they figured that they could have the kids sit on one of the couches with the cats, whilst Cleo got a bit of food for all of them.
“Okay you two, on the couch!” This prompted Joel and Gem to scurry onto the couch and immediately pick up a kitty to pet, Cleo was extremely thankful that it didn’t run away or scratch either one of the littles. “Now, how old are you two?”
Gem answered first with a simple, “six”.
Cleo thought that she’d be younger because of the interaction earlier, but she guessed Gem had just gotten a bit older, thanking Gem they turned to Joel. They received a simple “four”.
Cleo smiled and thanked him before passing both of them some hot cocoa and sat down with them on the couch, sipping a latte.
As the sun set, Cleo noticed the other two were getting closer to falling sleep, and took it upon themself to make sure they were actually ready for bed.
Cleo pulled out a shulker box with two onesies, a bee-themed one for Gem, and a plain green one for Joel.
The two both ran off, presumably to get changed, but Cleo made sure to keep an eye on where the ran to, just in case.
———————————————————————————————————————-
“Cleooooo I’m tired” After almost ten minutes of walking back to the cafe the sound of Gems’ voice startled Cleo.
“I can tell. That’s why I said to get changed close to the Cafe, not in a ravine.” Cleo didn’t miss the cheeky grins that appeared on both of the littles’ faces at the sound of Cleos’ sigh.
In the end they did arrive at the cafe again, at least they’d managed to make a pit stop and brush their teeth before making it back. Joel immediately grabbed a kitty and hugged it, but luck seemed to not be on Cleos’ side, and it scratched Joel, before running away. Tears welled in his eyes as Gem immediately hugged him.
After placing a band-aid over the wound (that was not at all serious) Cleo sighed and took both of the littles to a couch, where she pulled a blanket over the three of them. Rubbing reassuring circles onto both of the children’s hands.
The night was silent, apart from the sound of a fireplace crackling in the distance. It was calm, and the trios’ eyes fell shut, as they drifted off to sleep. Gem and Joel dreaming of new adventures (that involved less violence), the injuries of the day long forgotten.