Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gem had joined Hermitcraft this season as the only new addition. It was a little awkward at first, people already had friends and relationships and knew what to do, but she was settling well. It had been a couple weeks and she’d been building, meeting everyone, and everything was going,, well, perfect. She loved her place in the birch forest, a little cottage, greenhouse, even a swing from a giant tree. It was quickly becoming home to her, and at the same the other hermits were becoming friends. Teasing pranks, base visits to deposit signs and calls to adventure were soon so familiar, so safe to her that she barely even thought of the before. Her before was much better than most hermits, though. She’d heard small stories of a few folks, never about their true before but about the adjustments to being here due to them. About how occasionally someone didn’t join naturally, or not at the beginning of a season. 

She’d like to think this helped a bit with her reaction to finding a totally unfamiliar person covered in blood and burns on her lawn. She didn’t shriek, or go on the defensive, or in any way follow her instincts. She stared for a few moments before calling out to them. 

“Hello?”

She winced at the shake in her voice. She was brave. Anyone who’d met her would say that. She didn’t feel that way though, waiting for a response. After a few moments without the response, she began to creep closer, hooves sinking into soft grass once she’d leapt down from her doorway. 

Other than the person, everything seemed fine. It was a sunny, breezy morning. She could see bees buzzing around, and the smell of the forest and water were as inviting as always. A glance up told her nothing seemed off about the sky, still bright blue with the occasional cloud. She couldn’t hear anything other than her hooves rustling the grass, the occasional moo from the cows, and her own breathing. 

She took a moment to study the person once she was close enough. They seemed unconscious, or at least they didn’t stir at all at the noise or earlier greeting. They had on a long, torn and bloodied robe, but the mostly bare leg sticking out from it suggested they didn’t have too much on underneath it. The leg was covered in more burns, though not like the typical lava or fire burns Gem was familiar with. They had tangled, shoulder length brown hair that was almost burnt at the ends. Soft freckles were barely visible under blood on their face. Miraculously intact moth antennae fluttered softly in the morning breeze. 

They- Well, they looked a bit like what Gem imagined Grian looked like when he joined, from descriptions.  

She got close enough to kneel beside them, inspecting the damage closer, and it did not look good. The burns were oozing, and the blood seemed to be from some type of torso wound and a huge gash on their forehead.

Gem had a few decisions to make and not a lot of time to make them. It was about 10 in the morning, which meant there was a chance visitors started coming over soon. As much as she loved the hermits, she remembered Mumbo saying that Grian took days to adjust to being just around him, let alone the other hermits. She also knows that they can be occasionally overwhelming even to her, so them fixating on this poor person before they even have the chance to heal some is not ideal. She had to get them inside. She figured she should check again before moving them though, so she spoke up again. 

“Can you hear me at all? I’m going to pick you up and move you inside my house.” 

She waited a second more, biting her lip before gently sliding her arms under their knees and back. They were taller than her, but she was strong, and was able to shift to stand with them fairly easily. As she started to walk back to her house, she glanced down at the person. They looked so small, so fragile in her arms, and she couldn’t help but shift them slightly in an attempt to cradle them close to her chest, like a baby animal. 

That was a mistake. 

The second that one of their antennae brushed against her chin, they startled awake and lashed out with every limb with a shriek. She dropped them, yelping in shock, and they tumbled to the ground, hissing and whimpering, but crouched defensively and so very angry. Gem had to fight every instinct she had yelling to pull out her sword, to fight, and keep her hands empty as she held them out. She hoped she was being non threatening. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I want to help you.” 

She was worried they wouldn’t even understand her, but she swore that she heard a scoff from the feral looking person in front of her. They scrambled backwards awkwardly, hissing in pain and not actually standing upright. She winced for them - from what she’d seen, she was shocked they were able to move without sobbing. Something about adrenaline, probably. 

“I mean it. Please, let me help you. Or at least come inside, unless you want a crowd.” 

The last bit seemed to resonate with them, as they slowly shifted forward until they were on all fours. She watched with a clenched jaw as they struggled to stand up, almost getting up before falling over and crying out in pain, the noise hurting a place in Gem’s heart she wasn’t even aware existed. It made her want to tuck them into a safe bed and bring them a mug of cocoa and curl up in their lap until they felt better. However, that was not an option, so she made the decision to offer help again. 

“Do you want a hand up? I don’t want you to hurt yourself more.” 

There was a pause, and the sinking pit of dread at the realization they probably wouldn’t say yes in Gem’s stomach felt like a black hole. 

But then, they nodded. Gem wanted to lurch towards them immediately, but she makes herself keep her pace steady as she closes the gap between them and gently helps them up. They stumble almost immediately, but she’s there to catch them, and if they put a decent amount of their weight on her, they can take a few steps forward at a time. This felt good, so Gem did her best to make no noise or sudden movements as she slowly helped them to her base. The stairs were a bit harder, but they made it inside after what felt like years and a couple seconds at the same time. Almost immediately once inside the stranger shoved themself off Gem and onto a random bed she’d forgotten to take down. Gem was a little hurt, emotionally, but it was conveniently placed. 

“That’s,, not actually a terrible idea. You stay there for a second, get out of that robe if you can. I’m gonna grab some medical stuff.” 

The person rolled their now open eyes, a bright blue, but began to shrug off their robe regardless. Satisfied, Gem turned around to rummage through barrels. By the time she turned back, hotbar full of potions, bandages, some cloth, a topical potion transfusion packet, a gold apple and a water bucket, she could fully see the stranger’s condition. She’d not properly gotten the nicer items, but this server insisted on basic medical supplies being kept in each base, without it being considered cheating. She was grateful for it now as she took in the sight. 

They had nothing but a navy blue bra and short cotton shorts on at this point, which let Gem see just how terrible of shape they were in. Their whole body was covered in the burns visible on their legs, and there was a large tear in their side, like some kind of claw tried to grab them while they were pulling away. Their wings, what must be beautiful moth wings, were so covered in mud and blood she assumed they couldn’t even be used. 

What were you running from?

Gem tried to silence her thoughts, but it was hard. She’d never seen anyone this hurt, and she’d seen nasty things before hermitcraft. The idea of any person hurting someone else this badly was horrifying. She didn’t even know if healing potions and golden apple would work at this point. But she had to try. 

She made her way back to the bed and layed out the materials she’d grabbed. They grumbled and shrunk back, but with a pointed look at the torso wound, they shut up. She dipped the cloth in the water and had nearly brought it to their skin before she paused.

“This is gonna hurt. A lot. I can give you a sleeping potion if you want, but I don’t think you’ll like that better.”

They shrugged.

“Is that- we need a better system for talking if you can’t. One blink for yes, two for no. Do you want a potion?

They blinked twice. 

“Right then. This is gonna hurt.”

She brought the wet cloth to their skin, wincing at the hiss of pain they let out. Shegently cleaned out the gash, and after a few minutes she paused to inspect it.

“Good news is, it doesn’t look infected or like there’s anything stuck in there. You can take a healing potion without being worried about that, now. Bad news is, the healing potion isn’t going to fix anything but your most minor wounds right away. It’ll speed up the healing on the rest, but not just make it happen. They’re too severe.”

They frowned, but blinked once. 

“Is that- should I take that as an okay?” 

They glared at her, then blinked once. Gem giggled before she could stop herself at the glare. 

“Geez, sorry! It’s kinda limited communication. I have so many questions, but I have no clue how you could answer them like this.”

They shrugged, a very pointed “figure it out” look on their face. 

“Fine, okay. I at least wanna ask your pronouns. Move your right hand for she/her, your left hand for he/him, or nothing for something else.”

They- no, she flexed her right hand weakly, fingers folding up slowly. 

“Okay! Me too. She/her- I’m Gem, by the way. Bit late for introducing myself, but better late than never?”

The person scoffed from her position, and Gem giggled again. 

“For now, I want you to take a healing potion and try to get some rest while I mix up a topical potion and put it on you. I can help you get cleaned up after you get some sleep, but you look exhausted, and before that potion takes effect trying to get the mud and blood off is just gonna hurt like an angry swarm of bees.” 

She blinked once. Okay. Gem grinned, and uncorked a potion before bringing it to the injured moth hybrids lips. She groaned, but obediently opened up then swallowed as Gem poured the whole thing into her mouth. She made a face at the end, and Gem sighed sympathetically.

“I know. Those taste like swamp water. I usually mix my own brews with honey, but these are just emergency potions. This server is pretty new, only a couple weeks.”

The persons eyes widened.

 “I know! It feels like its been ages- though I guess you wouldn’t know that. It feels really far along to me too, don’t worry.”

She nodded slightly. Gem noted that the wounds were healing some and was pleased.

“Okay, rest time for you.”

The person groaned, but made a big show of screwing her eyes shut. Gem giggled again, and turned around to begin to mix the packet of topical potion transfusion into a bottle of healing potion to make it more effective on the burns. She took her time to shake it up, and by the time she’d turned back around with the thickened potion, the person seemed to be actually asleep.

Good.

Gem smiled at her sleeping companion before pouring some of the potion onto a clean cloth and beginning to dab it onto the still open wounds. After maybe 20 minutes of work, all of the wounds were closed over except for the torso one, and even that one looked better. Satisfied, Gem put the medical supplies away. For now. She was certain that when the stranger woke up, she’d need them again. 

But until then, she just made herself some hot cocoa. 

Nothing to do but wait.

Chapter Text

Gem would admit she was on the verge of falling asleep when the stranger woke back up. It had been almost 14 hours, and while she was glad she was getting rest, that was well past her bedtime. She was pushing to stay awake though, in case the poor person woke up and needed something or was afraid, or worst case woke up and tried to run away immediately. Gem was glad she did, because when the person woke up, she was shrieking, thrashing and trying to claw at her face. Gem nearly knocked a chair over trying to scramble to her, yelping words intended to soothe her.

“HEY, it’s okay, you’re safe, you’re okay, please calm down.”

Gem reached her and gently but firmly grabbed her wrists, pulling them away from her face where she’d already scratched past the skin, scarlet red drops of blood beading. She continued to whimper and thrash, muttering things in a language Gem couldn’t understand. Gem’s brow furrowed, desperately trying to figure out how to soothe her. She eventually settled on moving both of her wrists to one hand (and Gem could hold them both like that, they were so skinny), and running her other hand along her face by the hairline. As she gently pet her, for lack of better words, she began to softly hum. The song wasn’t anything special, just a tune she remembered from her early childhood, but almost immediately the stranger calmed down, her breathing slowing and mutters and whines ending. 

Gem was so relieved she wanted to cry. She didn’t know what she’d do if the stranger- well, not really a stranger anymore, maybe acquaintance- didn’t calm down. She slowly let her wrists drop back to the bed, continuing to hum and gently run her hand down her head. After a few minutes, the moth hybrid opened her eyes. 

Gem hadn’t gotten a good look at them yesterday. When she was first inspecting her, her eyes were closed. By the time they opened, Gem was way too focused on getting them healed, and by the time she was done with that they were closed again. But now she was taking them in. 

They were so pretty. A brighter blue than she’d ever seen naturally, with gold at the bottom of each iris. Her pupils were actively widening to take in the light of the house. And there were little pale speckles, almost like stars, surrounding the pupil. 

Okay, maybe Gem spent too long studying them, because her new acquaintance broke the eye contact awkwardly, clearing her throat. Gem’s face lit up red from embarrassment as she also looked the other way and quickly drew her hand back, clasping her hands and burying them in her lap. 

“Sorry. Sorry, gosh, that wasn’t probably okay with you, I just didn’t know how to calm you down at that point-”

The person cleared her throat again, and Gem took it as a cue to shut up. She miserably stared a hole into the ground, trying to forcibly erase that interaction from existence. 

Nox, why would she do that-

“S’alright.” 

Gem looked up, shocked. She had spoken for the first time since Gem found her. Gem was mildly concerned she might actually not be able to talk, not that that would be a problem, but Gem wasn’t well versed in any type of sign language, let alone whatever she spoke. But here she was talking. Her voice was a bit lower than Gem’s, raspy (though that might be from being injured or something), and in an interesting accent.

“Don’t-” She coughed, “Don’t look so surprised.”

“Sorry! Sorry, again, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize so much.”

“Sorry!”

At this point Gem was looking back at the moth hybrid, which meant she was able to see the look that she gave her. The kind of look that said “If you apologize again, I’ll-” Okay, well Gem couldn’t know exactly what she’d do, but she assumed it wouldn’t be pleasant. So Gem stayed shut up. 

“Can you grab me some water?”

She asked Gem, after a moment's pause. Gem nodded, standing up to go grab some from the kitchen area attached to the room they were in. She filled up a cup and brought it back, helping the moth hybrid to drink some. She sighed, seemingly content for a moment. She went to go sit up, and then immediately winced in pain. 

“Any chance I can get another potion? It can be a weaker one-”

“Of course. I’ll grab you one.”

Gem was already up and moving to grab a potion, feeling her short tail twitch back and forth with energy despite it being the middle of the night. That was something nice about being on hermitcraft. No one made her hide her hybrid features, or threatened her for them or anything. She realized, a moment too late, that there might be a problem with this new person, but when she spun around with her tail stock still to check, she was just snickering softly. No actual malice. Gem sighed in a mixture of relief and playful annoyance, spinning back around to resume her task. She thought she had more healing potions somewhere- she could have sworn- 

A couple minutes of searching later, she sucked in a breath. She was out. She wasn’t sure if she had to stuff to brew it, and wanted to get a potion to her new temporary roommate as fast as possible. That meant going and asking someone else. She frowned as she walked back over to where the injured person- Gosh, she’s really gotta ask for a name- was sitting. 

“Okay, sort of unfortunate but not really bad news- I don’t have anymore here. I’ll have to go ask someone for one. Are you okay to stay here while I run out?”

She shifted awkwardly on her hooves, feeling bad about not being more prepared. She knew it was absurd, how could she possibly have known that this type of situation would present itself, but she still felt a bit guilty. 

“Nah, s’alright. I’ll get going now, I’ll make it work.”

That was not at all what Gem expected her to say. She couldn’t help the panicked tone of her voice as she exclaimed in protest.

“You can’t leave! You’re hurt, and I just met you, and- I don’t even know your name!”

Gem was mildly ashamed of the outburst but the interesting new person couldn’t just leave. Not in this state, not without an explanation. She watched as she raised an eyebrow, not upset as much as curious.

“What’s it matter to you? I’m a stranger on your fancy server.” 

That was,, unfortunately a good point. Why did Gem care? She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. There’s the baseline care for any injured player or mob, but why was Gem so strongly opposed to her leaving now? She was healed enough to move and talk. With another potion or a gold apple, she’d probably be fine to walk or fly. She didn’t know. And she said as much. 

“I don’t know. But it does. Matter to me, I mean.” 

The moth hybrid must not have known how to respond to that, because a silence overtook the room again. Gem was torn. Should she go grab a potion? Just give her an apple? How could she stop her from leaving? The silence continued on for long enough it was uncomfortable before the person spoke. 

“I don’t remember.” 

“Hmm?”

“My name. You asked my name, sort of. But I don’t remember it.”

“Oh.”

Gem wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, so she guessed the favor was returned. What do you even say to that? 

“I’m sorry.”

That seemed like the most fitting response, so that’s what Gem went with. It caused the person to chuckle.

“What’s that I said about apologizing earlier mate?” 

“What’s a better response then!”

Gem retorted, feeling her face flush from embarrassment again. 

“I dunno, but you don’t have anything to be sorry for.” 

The moth hybrid shrugged from where she laid. 

“I guess. Okay, well if you don’t remember your name, can we come up with a nickname for now?” 

Gem’s suggestion was more out of necessity than anything else. It was incredibly awkward to refer to this person in her head at the moment, and she had no clue how she’d even go about asking someone to check her player tag for a different name without some sort of temporary nickname. She watched the person think it over for a moment and then nod.

“I don’t see why not. But you’ll have to help. Me having lost my memories and such, you know.” 

She wiggled her eyebrows, making Gem giggle.

“Fair deal. Okay, do you have any memories of stuff you enjoy? Or things that are important to you?”

Gem watched as the soon-to-be-nicknamed person scrunched her brow up in thought, clearly struggling to pull something to mind. 

“I think the night sky. The stars and such. Ironic, considering I’m a lunar moth hybrid. That much I remember.”

She grinned up at Gem, the first real smile, and something shifted inside Gem’s brain for the rest of forever, she thought. She spun around to pace, but mostly to hide her flushed face. As she walked, she tried to think of all the space themed names that would fit this person. 

“Uhmm.. Constellation?”

“Nah.”

“Andromeda,,?”

She watched her make a face as she turned back towards her in her pacing.

“Comet?”

“Too exciting.”

“Luna?”

“On the nose, much?”

“Atlas?”

She tilted her head considering, but eventually shook it no. 

“Atlas is closer though.”

“What about Artemis?” 

She watched her eyes light up.

“That’s it. Well, not my actual name, at least I don’t think it is. But for now, that’s me. Artemis.” 

The person- Artemis, grinned again. 

“Okay, Artemis. For someone so hurt like, less than 24 hours ago, you’re recovering shockingly well.”

Artemis shrugged. 

“No use dwelling, right? Especially if you insist I stay in your fancy house in your comfy bed and talk to you. Not much else I’d rather be doing.” 

If being charming could kill someone, Gem would be dead at Artemis’s hands. 

“If you’re sure. I still want to see about a healing potion, though.” 

She had gotten,, wildly distracted, from the request for a potion five minutes ago, but she was getting back on track. Artemis frowned and shrunk back. 

“I don’t want to see other people.”

“You don’t have to, I can go by myself.”

“I also don’t want to be alone.” 

Gem sighed.

“Well what should I do then?”

“Lay down near me. You look exhausted. I need more sleep too, I think. You can figure it out in the morning,” 

That wasn’t an awful idea. Gem hated that that wasn’t an awful idea. Gem knew she should be more on edge around Artemis. The idea of getting some sleep was so nice though, especially now that she knew for certain Artemis is okay. And seemingly friendly. 

“,,Okay, give me a couple minutes. I’ll be just upstairs.”

Gem could feel Artemis’s eyes on her as she climbed upstairs to change into comfortable clothes to sleep in and break her bed into her inventory. She took a moment to take a deep breath also, and remind herself to be normal. 

You only pseudo know this person. She has no real reason to like you, Gem. Make sure she does, 

Be normal, Gem.

She lowered back down, landing at the bottom of the ladder with a thump. She walked back over to the area where Artemis was stretching her arms. 

“Gem! You’re back!” 

She sounded genuinely pleased, and Gem couldn’t help but giggle. 

“Of course I am. Where would I go in like, 5 minutes, without getting through the front door about 5 blocks away from you?” 

“Not sure. But you’re here, so it doesn’t matter much.” 

Gem (rather ungracefully) threw her bed down a block away from Artemis’s. And then (definitely ungracefully) flopped down onto it, face down, ignoring the snickers coming from the bed beside her. 

“Goodnight, Artemis.”

She mumbled around the pillow her face was smashed into.

“Goodnight, Gem.”

Gem drifted off just a few moments later. 

Chapter Text

Gem woke up with the distinct feeling of something being off. A few moments of keeping her eyes closed and listening let her know she wasn’t in her normal bed, which wasn’t super unusual. She focused, really focused, a difficult task without having taken her morning medication, and was able to conclude it was a weird time of day as well. She was typically an early riser unless she’d been up late the night before? 

Had she been up late the night before? She couldn’t remember. Memories were foggy, unusually so. It felt like there was a huge gap in the last 24 hours. Had she hit her head? It didn’t hurt at all. Just felt off. Nothing seemed incorrect enough to stop her from getting up though. So she opened her eyes and rolled onto her side to look around, and was promptly met with the sight of someone staring at her with shiny, wet, pathetic looking eyes. 

Almost dizzyingly fast, memories of the previous day came rushing back. Finding Artemis outside, healing, her waking up in the middle of the night and coaxing Gem to bed after picking a nickname- how could she have forgotten? Gem immediately sat fully up, ignoring her bodies protest at the speed, to look at her new roommate. 

“Artemis, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” 

The questions unfortunately had the opposite intended effect as tears finally welled fully up and began to trickle down the moth hybrids face. Gem sprung forward somewhat sleepily, forgetting too quickly that not everyone liked hugs as she wrapped her arms around Artemis. Luckily, she didn’t respond violently, just sunk into Gem’s arms, silent tears turning into soft sobs. Gem rubbed her hand along the small of her back, underneath her wings, as she whispered soothingly. 

“Shh, it’s alright, it’s okay. You’re safe. I’ve got you. I won’t let you go. I’ve got you.”

The words came off her tongue too fluidly to be a lie, and some part of Gem wanted to reassure she’d have her forever. She knew she couldn’t promise that though, so she settled to keep gently shushing until the sobs quieted, and a moment later Artemis gently pulled back. 

“Thanks.”

Her voice was softer and wobblier than Gem heard at all yesterday, and it made her heart ache. She didn’t know what to do other than brush a hand over the moth hybrids head and step back slowly, collapsing back onto the bed to stare at her ceiling. 

That’s a start to a morning. Gem could feel her hunger bar dropping even without swiping her hands to open her player menu. Stupid hunger bar dropping faster when you’re tired. She would go get food, but she wasn’t sure what Artemis would want or accept or even just feel up to eating.

“Artemis?”

A moment after she called out, she heard a hum of acknowledgement. 

“Do you have any food preferences? I’m really, really hungry.”

She sat up to look at Artemis, who was now sitting on the floor. Artemis shook her head.

“I’ll eat pretty much whatever. Literally whatever, sometimes.”

Gem giggled, but Artemis's face stayed fairly flat, to Gem’s surprise. She seemed like the type to laugh at her own jokes. Oh well. Gem stood up and trotted over to her little kitchen area, pulling out a jar of honey glazed carrots, a bit of cooked mutton for Artemis that she’d just used to gain some exp, and a golden apple to split as a treat. She threw the mutton on the stove for a moment to reheat it before sliding it onto a plate, accompanied with a scoop of the carrots which she brought over to Artemis. She didn’t have utensils, not having bothered to carve any yet and used to eating with her hands. 

Artemis stared down at the plate for a moment too long, and for a moment Gem thought she’d done something wrong. Artemis then looked up to the sky, or ceiling, in this case, before looking back down and tearing into the food. Gem watched, amused, while she fished some carrot slices out of the jar with her fingers and ate them. After Artemis finished the cut of meat, she ate her first carrot, and immediately her head snapped to look at Gem. 

“I sincerely believe this might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.” 

Gem grinned at her, warmth rising in her chest. 

“Aw, it’s nothing special. I just like putting honey on stuff.” 

“It’s the greatest thing ever.” 

“It’s literally just-”

“Greatest thing ever.”

Artemis cut off her protests mid-sentence with a mischievous grin and Gem had the feeling any further protests would not go anywhere. She jokingly sighed before responding. 

“Okay. Glad you like them.” 

She fished a couple more carrot slices out of the jar before walking it back over to the kitchen area and shaking a little capsule out of a bottle sitting there. She swallowed it and trotted back over to her bed, waiting for Artemis to finish her carrots before cutting the apple in half.

“What was that little white thing?”

Artemis looked over at the bottle where it sat curiously. 

“Oh, that’s a medication I take. It’s like, a really really condensed potion that lasts a whole day. My admin makes them. The one I take helps me stay focused and calmer.”

Artemis nodded and responded before turning back to her carrots.

“That’s neat.”

After Artemis finished her carrots, Gem pulled out the golden apple.

“You want some? Thought it would be nice to split one. Morning boost, or something.”

Gem grinned, and Artemis grinned back.

“Sure!”

As soon as Artemis approved, Gem pulled the apple in half almost cleanly with her hands. She dropped her half to her lap while offering the other one to Artemis. She wasn’t paying much attention as she licked the sticky juice from her fingers of her free hand until Artemis didn’t take it right away. When she looked over, Artemis was looking at her with a funny (but not unpleasant) look on her face.

“Geez, mate. Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

Gem giggled, one ear flicking in amusement as she held the apple half out further.

“Don’t worry about that. I like you fine.”

Artemis beamed and reached out for the apple half.

“I’m glad.”

She began to eat it, clearly enjoying it a lot, and Gem took that as a signal to bite into her own. She ate hers quick, enjoying the saturation boost as it settled her stomach. She went to wash her hands while Artemis finished her chunk. Once she’d finished, Gem spoke up.

“Wanna see about getting you some space to bathe and some fresh clothes? Or at least, something to go over what you have on now and cleaning that stuff.”

“I’d like that a lot.”

“Okay! Let me get a space set up upstairs to bathe, if that's good with you?”

At Artemis’s nod, Gem went upstairs and threw down a quick stone bath, setting some soaps and cloth to wash with on the side of it. She also placed a couple buckets of water over a furnace to start heating and dropped back down the ladder. Artemis was standing up and stretching, including spreading out her wings. It let Gem see a tear that she didn’t remember seeing yesterday on the left one.

That’s odd. I must have missed that. That might just need good old-fashioned time to heal. 

Gem sat down near the moth hybrid, making sure to give her plenty of space.

“Water’s heating, and a tub is set up. You can go up whenever you’re ready and drop your clothes down, I’ll get them cleaned, I’ll be outside for that, and see what I’ve got that you can wear. Call out if you need any help.”

Artemis lowered her arms from where they were raised and turned to flash a smile at Gem.

“Thanks, Gem. That sounds good.”

She spread her wings out and beat them slowly once more before heading to the second floor, and a moment later her bra and shorts dropped down. Gem grabbed them, and grabbed some soap before walking outside to wash them in the natural water. The sunshine was nice, and she flopped to sit with her feet in the water and her tail bobbing happily while she cleaned. The time also gave her a moment to think through,, she’ll call them recent events. 

Artemis was adapting remarkably well. And Gem, of course, paused to think about if it was genuine or not, but she thought she was pretty good at reading people and nothing the moth hybrid had done made her think that she wasn’t being truthful. From what she’d heard, most other refugees or late joins or guests had taken at least a few days to feel better enough, stable enough, to move around and start to be friendly. And while Artemis clearly still needed some emotional support, she seemed to just be sidestepping any major problems, at least in front of Gem. 

To be honest, Gem didn’t mind her company at all. She was nice and funny and charming, and Gem thought she could be very good friends with her with time. She hoped she’d stick around, instead of bouncing to another server once she was healed enough. Though, to do that, she’d need Xisuma’s help-

All of the sudden Gem remembered something. Something she’d been told at the beginning of the season. If someone new joins the server, and someone finds them, they’ve got three days to tell Xisuma before Xisuma goes and finds them himself. While Artemis didn’t have any kind of reaction to the mention of an Admin, Gem knew some people had problems with them, and figured she should probably bring up meeting some others to Artemis soon. 

She thought about what a meeting would go like as she finished scrubbing the last of the blood and grit out of Artemis’s clothes, kicking her hoof into the water as she stood up to mix some of the murky reddish-brown further out and bring some cool, clean water back to the shore.

 She trotted back inside, laying the two clothing articles in her hands out to dry while she thought over what she owned that might fit the lanky, long legged moth hybrid. She could probably find a shirt or jacket that would work well enough, but she didn’t own any pants big enough or made for human-like legs, everything she had being super wide legged to fit around her deer legs. In fact, thinking harder, she couldn’t think of that many people that would have pants that would fit Artemis. Only Mumbo came to mind. 

That wasn’t a terrible idea? She could go talk to Mumbo about having a new person with her and that she needed some longer pants, and at the same time get Mumbo’s opinions on how to bring up Artemis’s,, well, existence, to the rest of the hermits. She would do that. She climbed about halfway up the ladder to call up.

“Hey, Artemis?”

“Yeah, Gem?”

“You alright if I go ask a friend for some pants? You’re a lot taller than me, and I don’t think I’ve got anything that would fit you.”

“Yeah, I’m good, no worries!”

“Alright! I’ll be back in a bit.”

Gem dropped down the ladder to gather the stuff she’d need, really just her normal tools and some food. She exited her house with a new sense of a mission, beginning the sort-of-long walk over to Mumbo’s. She hummed while she walked, the weather gorgeous. She could feel the fresh grass under her hooves, and she could feel the prongs on her horns nearing the end of their growth, getting ready to shed velvet. She loves summer, tilting her head up to breathe in the sunshine itself. The walk got away from her quickly, and she found herself just a moment away from Mumbo’s base sooner than expected, as she pulled out her communicator device, tapping out a quick message asking him to meet her outside.

After a second, the tall man peaked out and waved,

“Hello, Gem! Just a moment, I was tinkering with something-“ 

He disappeared from her view and she chuckled, settling down in the grass to sit and wait for him. After a couple more minutes, he made his way out, plopping down beside her with his legs folded neatly beneath him.

“How can I help you?” 

He asked, a friendly tone to his voice.

“I- well, uhh, I need to borrow a pair of your pants.” 

The mustached man’s brows furrowed in confusion, as he tilted his head at her.

“Sorry- why? I mean, sure, but I’d like to know what’s gonna happen to them, you know.” 

Gem nodded, taking a deep breath to prepare herself to finally say the actual news. 

“I’ve got a new player in my base. She’s doing okay- but nothing I have would even close to fit her.” 

Mumbo’s eyebrows rocketed up, though not unkindly, as he processed her words.

“Oh- oh! Yes, of course! I can get pants. Hold on, I’ll be right back-“ 

He stood back up and disappeared back into his base, appearing just a moment later with a neatly folded pair of black pants. Gem grinned appreciatively as he handed them to her.

“Thank you, Mumbo.”

“Of course! Of course. May I ask, how the new person is doing? I know you said they’re okay, but more information would be nice.” 

“Yeah, sure. She’s physically recovering fairly well, and other than me waking up to her crying today she’s been doing alright emotionally? But she doesn’t have many memories, and I don’t have any clue where she came from. She’s a moth hybrid, not a huge clue. She’s friendly and good company.”

Gem paused, racking her brain for anything she might be missing. 

“I still have a bit to bring it up to Xisuma, and I was wondering if you had advice on that, actually. You’ve known him much longer.” 

Mumbo smiled- or at least she thought he did, it’s occasionally difficult to tell under the mustache. 

“Yes, of course? Overall, from what you’ve said I don’t think he’d take any kind of problem with her, but maybe I could meet her first just to be safe? And then we could explain to her what would happen, and such.” 

Gem thought about that for a moment. He probably shouldn’t come over today, but tomorrow would be fine, as long as that was okay with Artemis. She nodded.

“That should be alright, as long as it’s okay with her. Not today though, she’s getting cleaned up right now, and I figure another few hours of rest can’t be a bad idea. Even if she’s not showing it, I figure she must be exhausted.” 

Mumbo nodded in return. 

“I could come over at midday tomorrow, then? And you can meet me outside.” 

Gem grinned. 

“That’s a plan! I should get these back to her, but I’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you Mumbo!” 

She clambered up, shaking the grass off her clothes as she got ready to walk back, pulling out a carrot to munch on. She turned around to call out to Mumbo who was already disappearing back into his house. 

“Bye!”

She could hear a muffled “Goodbye, Gem!” in return, and she smiled before turning around to begin the walk back to her base. She didn’t stop smiling as she broke out into a trot, then a gallop, giggling a bit with the joy of a new friend, a task completed, and the beautiful summer sun. This made the journey much shorter, though she was panting softly as she got back to her base. She paused outside to catch her breath, sucking in air as she held out the pants she’s been carrying. They at least looked like they’d fit Artemis fine. Once she felt sufficiently able to breathe, she trotted inside. 

“I’m back!”

She called up the stairs.

“Hey, Gemgem!” 

Gem did a double take at the nickname, feeling her face flush.

“I- uh, I got clothes. Well, I cleaned yours, and found pants that would fit, and I think I have a hoodie that would fit you? I can bring them up to you!”

“That works.”

Gem gathered up the now-dry clothes Artemis had, grabbing a slightly too big for her hoodie as she climbed upstairs, screwing her eyes shut as she dropped the clothes. 

“Here you go!” 

“Thank you, Gem.”

Artemis’s voice was much closer now- obviously- and Gem quickly scrambled back down to the first floor. 

“I’ll just, uh, be down here waiting!” 

And so Gem settled down on her bed, content to wait until Artemis came down.