Work Text:
The day/night cycle was getting weird, with the sky shifting before everyone’s eyes, sun zooming past, quickly replaced by stars. The long days were draining enough, but the short ones were somehow worse, beginning to mess with everyone’s code.
Gem was the unfortunate one to be hit the worst, with a sudden onslaught of pain that hit at the exact spot a period cramp would, but far more painful.
She doubled down, unable to help herself, taking a sharp breath as it quickly went away, only an instantly later to come back full force. Like her body knew the pain was supposed to ebb and flow, but it clearly did not have the time to do so. Her movement was quick and janky, but Gem tried her best to straighten herself up like nothing happened.
That was before scarily realizing that any moment now, the rest of the period-related-things would show up, namely blood. She sprinted off to her base before an entire day’s worth of it showed up in a matter of thirty seconds.
She quickly walled herself up in the staircase to her mine, blocking it up from anyone who might come down for any odd reason, before further speed mining into a wall and blocking that up too. She placed a torch before mobs had time to spawn, then quickly lowered herself to the floor.
It could be any time of day at this point, any amount of days had passed. Her hands shook as she opened up a pad — not trusting herself with anything insertion related, too worried for infection to risk it — and did her best to place it on a fresh pair of underwear. Small, motor-like movements were hard, when her body wanted to move faster than she willed it. Still, she managed to change into an entirely new set of clothes. Maybe she shouldn’t bother, the session would be over soon enough, but at least she felt the slightest bit cleaner.
Not a moment too soon she’d made the change, two minutes later — which could have been a full day cycle — blood gushed, and gushing wasn’t even an overstatement. Though everything was fast, so the absorbency was fast. She cringed, though knew she couldn’t just change the pad out every single time this happened.
She took a deep breath, knowing what she was getting herself into as she stepped out of her hidey hole to join the rest of the server.
Pain struck her again as she made her way up the stairs. She had to stop a minute to catch her breath before leaving. The chaos outside was loud, with red names still scrambling for kills. Traps getting set off, everyone teasing and yelling and it was all so overwhelming.
And more blood flowed out, never stopping and at large amounts. She felt about to fall over, faint. Gem leaned against a nearby building, not taking stock of whose it was. Another strike of pain, worse than the past two. She fell to the ground, giving a groan of pain.
“Gem?”
She couldn’t even tell who it was. She worried there were multiple people. Her concerns were valid.
Skizz crouched next to her, surprisingly docile for being red and her, dark green. Impulse, a few blocks away, watched her anxiously. Joel rushed to Gem's side, trying to lift her up. “No.” she said harshly, worriedly. Her stomach twisted, and every other sensitive spot writhed in pain. “It doesn’t feel as bad when I’m still.”
It sharpened again, when more blood continued to flow. What day was she even on at this point? Would this even be a normal cycle? Would the number of days be different?
Gem wasn’t even sure she wanted the answer right yet. She just took a deep breath, holding back a wince as more pain struck her at an unreasonably strong force. Once more followed by more blood. She more than expected to leak out of the pad if she hadn’t already, despite the fact that she put on one that claimed heavy flow. This wasn’t… normal by any means.
A few more people were around now, Tango, Bdubs, and Etho — she was in the middle of their bases, she realized. Grian was calling the session off, quickly stopping the speeding day and night.
And with the change in speed, it seemed everything in her code didn’t know what to do, spazzing out as she was hit with a cramp and migraine all at once. She couldn’t help the way her face scrunched up and she instinctively curled up into the fetal position. At this point, she couldn’t even care that the entire server saw her like this.
There was talking from all around her, adding to the pain. The world seemed to spin slowly, making everything in her feel disoriented at the sudden shift in pace. Stabbed at both ends, it felt like. She’d like to die now, please.
“Something to do with her code?” she heard Martyn ask. He and Grian were off to one side. Tango joined them not much later.
“It’s weird, I don’t see anything wrong anymore.”
She could feel eyes on her. Gem didn’t want to open her own to see who it was, unwilling to let any light in her eyes, to only induce further pain. Slowly both pains began to dull out, whether from getting used to it or the pain easing off.
From one side, she could hear a few members discussing if they should move her. She wanted to answer, though didn’t, on account of not knowing how much it’d hurt to even say anything. So much as breathing wrong might set off something else.
“We could move her into my or Bdubs’ base,” she heard Etho offer.
Then from right beside her, “You up for that, Gemstone?”
She tried to shift herself a little upright, predictably hit with more pain. “Give me… a minute.” She huffed a few long, clearly pained breaths. “Might as well just go to mine since I’m getting up. Once I sit down again I’m not…” She took Skizz’s hand that he offered, and he hoisted her up. Then, as she stood, not only did the migraine come back to some degree, but she felt incredibly lightheaded. Skizz noticed right away, wrapping an arm around her.
She chose not to mention the further blood, and that it had, in fact, leaked through and clearly stained her jeans. She didn’t have the energy to care, though she’d like to get back to her own base, just to be able to handle this whole situation.
Then after, maybe get some sleep, if that were possible.
“Just help me get back to my base, please,” she said, almost breathlessly. A group of them followed her home — of course they did — and seemed almost frantic to help out. Pearl, however, seemed to be the only one with enough braincells to put together what was wrong. She pulled Gem aside, out of Skizz’s hold, and helped steady Gem for a moment.
“Where’s your stuff?” she asked discreetly.
“Barrel under the bed,” Gem said weakly. Though of course, what was pulled out was very plain, and everyone who kept an eye on Gem saw what she grabbed out. Which. If the blood stains on her jeans weren’t obvious enough…
“You don’t gotta stare, do you?” Pearl asked, a little too loudly, causing Gem to frantically hush her as it caused more pain to her head.
“I have a headache, Pearl,” Gem said, clearly annoyed, though she knew she couldn’t be frustrated at anyone for not knowing that.
“Oh, sorry.” She helped push back the bed, but not before pulling out of the barrel a box of tea Gem had brought. “Impulse, get on soup, please.” She tossed him the tea, and he barely caught it, though immediately knew what to do. Pearl then pulled outside and helped her build out a better-functioning bathroom, that was actually somewhat of a build instead of a hole beside the staircase to the strip-mine.
Gem sat down against a wall Pearl built up, no longer able to hold herself up. “Sorry.”
“Nah, there’s no reason to apologize, is there?” Pearl gave a friendly grin from where she stood on top of the wall she’d just put up. She jumped down, adding a flat roof to the top. “We’ll get Impulse or someone to make you a shower in here too. I think I left enough space.” She plopped down a composter, which would work momentarily.
“I feel awful, Pearl.” And that was somehow an understatement.
Pearl helped her up, helped her do silly things like change out of what she was wearing, as she was still too shaky and faint to do so. Even if she felt a little stupid for needing help, it was Pearl and no one else. At least it wasn’t awkward.
When they stepped back outside, Impulse moved from where he was cooking at the campfire to lead Gem inside. Pearl took care of the dirty clothes while Joel took over the soup. Gem still wasn’t a fan of how there were eyes on her as she came inside, led to her small bed. Impulse sat next to her, handing Gem her cup of tea. She blew on it, keeping her head down to avoid any sort of gazes.
Cleo and Scott were there, probably on account of Impulse and Pearl coming over. Tango was with Grian in a corner, still looking over the code, probably now making sure nothing was wrong in the world itself. Etho, Bdubs, and Mumbo had also come along, likely following their respective teammates.
Gem wasn’t a fan of over half the server sticking around, even if some of them started to move outside. At least everyone was quiet, after Pearl had so graciously alerted them to the fact that Gem wasn’t up for much noise. But still.
Skizz stood from his spot on the floor, moving next to Gem. It was almost comforting, having her two “dads” next to her. Though it felt crammed at the same time too. Suffocating with everyone in here, watching, worrying. She was fine.
“I’m fine, you know,” she said quietly, still not wanting to draw everyone’s attention, but more… making it known that she wanted space.
“Is it too much?” Impulse asked. She nodded, feeling her throat constrict and her eyes water. She took a shaky breath, and noticed, pulling her into a tight hug. “I’ll go out and help with dinner, and I’ll take everyone with me. How’s that?”
Gem nodded, letting go of him, as she did so, getting pulled up against Skizz. “Thank you.”
Impulse stood up, going around the room to all the individuals, quiet enough that Gem hardly even caught what he said. Everyone was really understanding, not even stopping by to check up on Gem further, which was nice.
Of course, there were exceptions to the rule. “Life’s Tuff, huh?”
“Don’t you even,” Gem said, trying to roll her eyes while also holding back any possible amusement.
Etho plopped down beside her, uncaring that sitting on the bed, even longways, wasn’t big enough for three people. “I’m just checking in. Can’t I do that?”
“Mhm. Sure. Sure.” Gem further curled up against Skizz. “He’s being mean again,” she said, as if Skizz had any power over the situation, though he was dad to almost all the hermits.
“Etho,” he said warningly, as if there was any warning behind it.
“We’re family, Gem. I’m supposed to mess with— I mean, help out and make sure you’re good.”
“Very convincing story.” She almost kept a straight face, almost. Before being rudely interrupted by another onslaught of pain, this time the cramp-related kind, reminding Gem that she hadn’t yet taken anything for it. The almost-smile on her face morphed into something of clear discomfort, though she pushed back any instinct to make a sudden move or make a wounded sound.
She must’ve stiffened up slightly, because Skizz brought it up. “Can we get you anything?”
She would say yes, but… “It’s in the barrel. Under the bed.” Gem reluctantly pushed herself off the bed, hoping that she hadn’t sat long enough to will anymore blood upon standing. She was in the clear, thankfully, though it wasn’t comfortable given her pain, now standing. Once Skizz and Etho were up, Skizz started pulling the bed out of the way.
Gem rushed to the barrel before either of them attempted grabbing the pill bottle for her, and as she opened it, she may have intentionally sat in a way that kept them from seeing anything. Not that it was— it wasn’t bad, just. She didn’t want to… draw attention or anything.
There was a heating pad, one that absorbed heat so she didn’t need electricity. She grabbed it, along with her small assortment of chocolate, then dug a little further to find the beloved pain relieving drug. With that and the tea mug she was holding, her hands were quite full, and she was barely able to shut the barrel closed. But she did it. Skizz pushed the bed back in place. “Thanks.”
Gem set down some things on the floor before getting a furnace running, smelting some ores in it. Then she set the heating pad on top of it. That was before quickly taking a couple pills, and finally taking her first sip of tea that had now cooled off. The effects wouldn’t be instantaneous, but at least she was doing something.
Before, mortification and discomfort were low on her list of concerns. When she was in pain, terrible pain, and stressed about the day/night cycle. Now that time was back to normal, she wasn’t as preoccupied with other concerns, more focused on the present. That she was the cause of attention. And for something as dumb as a period.
She tried her best to ignore it all, pretend nothing was up. Things were fine. She was ok. She was alive. Still shaky, still feeling off, especially after so much blood loss. She should probably eat something high in iron (though not the ore or ingots itself) — she’d never had the need for supplements, but also, she’d never really… this had never been a problem.
The furnace finally burned out and Gem took the heating pad from on top of it. As she walked back to the bed, Skizz locked eyes with her, almost a questioning look. He stood up. “You lie down for a bit. I’ll bring food in whenever it’s ready.”
Gem nodded, unsure whose company she wanted right now, if anyone. Maybe she’d ask for Impulse to come back in. She hesitated too long, and Skizz was out of the small house before Gem said anything, still mulling over it.
“You good?” Etho asked suddenly. Gem kinda forgot he was here, actually, for how little he spoke. He’d moved back to his spot in the corner of the room from earlier. Probably trying to be nice now, give Gem some space.
She wasn’t sure what exactly to say to it. It wasn’t in her nature to want to act all dramatic about things, unless she meant it all jokingly. Which. Sure. She might just make light of it. “What do you think?” Though the words sounded more exhausted, really. She added, just sounded more helpless and pathetic, “Nothing you can help with. No problems for a tough guy to solve. Sorry.”
Etho laughed lightly. At least Gem was amusing. Somewhat. Even in her pain and agony (that was being dramatic, it wasn’t half as bad as it had been). “If you need anything…”
“I need sleep.” Gem curled up, pulling a blanket over herself, and holding the heating pad with her upper thighs. As best she could, Gem kept herself from looking super pathetic, keeping her head turned to the wall so she could make as many pained expressions as she liked.
She could feel his gaze on her, and Gem was about to tell him to stop worrying, but Etho got up and moved back beside her before she got to it. It was squished, given it was just the one bed. Gem was almost bothered by sitting — in her case, lying down — so close to someone else.
“I’ll be fine. I’m just being dramatic,” she said, a bit weakly. Everything felt heavy, and despite the heating pad, lighter cramps still persisted. Of course, she knew things wouldn’t get better right away. She’d have to wait it out a little longer still.
“You probably won’t get any sleep with everyone here.”
Gem flipped herself around, knowing that she was asking for more pain upon movement. Of course, lying on her right side wouldn’t help much either, always the unhelpful side to lie on if cramps were being particularly bad. She pushed through it, if only to say jokingly, “Depends if you’re included in the ‘everyone.’” She winced again, unmeaning, as she tightened her curled up legs closer to her chest. “There’s nothing you can do about it,” she said, before he asked any further questions about if she was alright or needed something. It was well meaning, but it was also a bit ignorant. Even if Gem was doing everything right, she still wouldn’t feel great.
“I can leave, if you want.”
Gem pushed herself up, still pulling her legs up to her chest, keeping the heating pad (which was quickly cooling off) in place. She pushed a few pillows up against the headboard of the bed, before carefully leaning against them. “You can stay. Just be quiet.”
“Just shut up, you mean.”
“Same difference.” Gem then shifted around a bit more, until she was lying against Etho. The position was a little weird, still tensely curled into something small, while still somewhat upright, and leaning against him. “Probably won’t get to sleep, but Skizz still has to bring back the soup.”
Just as she said it, Impulse and Pearl brought some in. “Where’s Skizz?” she quickly asked. Not that she was upset by them coming in for her rescue, she loved her soup group buddies dearly, she just didn’t expect them.
“He got distracted talking,” Impulse answered. Pretty standard of him, really.
“Of course,” she answered, almost exasperatedly. “Abandoned me with Etho.” Though it wasn’t a convincing story, with how she leaned against him.
“Well, we’ve come in to warn you,” Impulse started, as he sat at the very edge of the bed. Pearl began extending the bed with her own. “Grian wanted to check in. He was worried when you seemed to almost pass out.”
Gem wasn’t excited to recount everything to Grian, but fair enough. “I’m good now. The sped up time just… had unexpected side-effects.” It was one way to put it, for sure. She didn’t want to get into it, not fully. And if Grian wanted to hear the story, she’d just wait until he was in here to hear it the first time. Repeating herself was another thing she didn’t want to do.
Pearl squeezed herself into the little space of the bed that was left beside Gem. It forced her and Etho to scoot down, but she struggled to mind, because it was Pearl. And she liked Pearl when Pearl wasn’t trying to mess with her all season. “It sped up that?” Pearl asked incredulously.
“Yeah. Uh. At least it was only for a few days. Or, I guess, minutes, technically. But.”
“That’s annoying. Lucky I’m not you.”
“Lucky you don’t live across from me, so finally you’re a few weeks off.” Gem was almost a bit annoyed at the prospect that Pearl wasn’t suffering with her.
“Yeah, but she and Cleo had theirs during and after eating weird stuff,” Impulse mentioned.
“Not that it’s worse than yours, obviously,” Pearl defended, as if Gem would get angry if she compared their cases too much. “Because three days in the span of a few minutes…”
“At least it’s over. You probably felt miserable all break. Lucky I’m not you,” Gem shot back. Nothing matched constant, all day cramps, after eating nothing but junk leading up to it. Eating dripstone, leaves, and amethysts probably didn’t sit well. In some ways, she was glad the worst of the period was over all in a few minutes, even if it had been incredibly painful.
Gem felt Etho lean away, closer to Impulse, as he said in a loud whisper, “Am I supposed to understand what all they’re saying?”
Pearl and Gem shared a sputtered laugh. “You can if you want to,” Pearl suggested, sounding incredibly devious.
Gem sat up, just so she could playfully hit her in response. “Don’t listen to her. If we explain stuff, you can’t unhear it, and then we can’t talk in code.”
The realization was almost immediate. “Oh.”
Gem could sense that the topic was mildly awkward, but it was likely from a lack of understanding than it was discomfort on the whole. She’d found that the hermits who didn’t get it were always really open to learning for the sake of being helpful. Even if the… educating portion of the matter was slightly awkward. Not that... she wasn't going to get into it today, because she rather didn't want to. “Yeah, oh.”
Then, he said jokingly, almost a bit hesitant, but teasing all the same, “Is this all you talk about at sleepovers?”
Which rightfully earned further laughs, more at Etho’s expense than not. “Well, I’d gossip about my enemies, but as it stands, we don’t like Impulse and Pearl, remember?”
“Hey.”
“I’m done accusing you for stealing my—”
“It’s not about the cows, Impulse. She’s been running in my place, stealing my crops, trying to trick me into eating poisonous food. And you’ve been helping Pearl by following her around! Your only saving grace is that Scott and Cleo are nice.”
“Technically, it's that they’re no fun,” Pearl said, earning a punch from Gem in the arm.
“It’s not fun when you try to kill me.”
“It’s not killing. It’s just friendly pranks between friends!”
“Mhm?” Despite feeling quite a bit better — once the meds kicked in, and she was in good company, life tended to look up like that — Gem was still rather hungry and quickly remembered that they came in to bring in soup. “Where’s my food?”
“Bossy, much?” Pearl commented.
“You brought it in for me.” And maybe she was playing it up a bit, because everyone knew she wasn’t really upset. It was a bit fun to be slightly dramatic, just for the sake of it. “Please.” She looked over at Impulse, knowing that he was the holder of soup.
“You wouldn’t know it, but you asked nicer than Pearl does.”
Without a beat passing, Gem replied with a smile, “I know,” and she took the soup rather quickly. Her hands were still shaky, and she still felt a bit faint. But she had food now. Food and friends, and probably sleep soon after.
“Oh, Impulse. I told Gem we’d set her up a shower.”
Impulse sighed. “You better not move after I install one. I've already had to build two for us.” He got up reluctantly.
As Impulse and Pearl were heading out to get to work on the project, Grain came in for his certified code-check up. Which, honestly, Gem was going to probably have to be more blunt about everything now than she was with Pearl and Impulse. Grian sat on the edge of the bed, clipboard in hand, though Gem doubted he’d want to take any notes once she started explaining herself.
“I won’t be offended if you leave me with him,” Gem told Etho, who somehow stuck around after all the antics and ongoings in the little house. It was probably about to get a bit awkward. She’d honestly prefer Pearl or Cleo in here with her, if only to laugh with her about whatever flustered reaction Grian might have to the answers to his overly inquisitive questions.
“If I leave, then I have to deal with everyone else.”
“Fair enough. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Gem settled back in, leaning against Etho while still sitting upright enough to continue eating her soup.
“Warn him about what?” Grian asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” Gem said. “Just get on with it. You want to know what all was going on, right?”
“Yeah. Why were you…”
“Lying on the ground?” If she was having to complete these sentences bluntly, which weren’t even awkward questions to ask… “So, full story for you, since you’ll keep asking questions anyway— don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she repeated again.
“What?” they both responded.
“So, the days themselves were going fast. Like, we were all getting tired quicker. But at the same time it seemed energy levels weren’t matching up, and hunger was weird. All sorts of stuff.”
“I knew that much,” Grian answered, mildly annoyed to be given the same information he already knew.
“Good, so we’re on the same page.” She sat up straight, taking a few more bites of soup before things got so uncomfortable that she felt she couldn’t eat anymore. “So, with the days faster, and human functions faster, that also included period related stuff.”
“Well, yeah, figures,” Grian answered, unphased. Granted, he knew Pearl for a long time, so it never seemed to bother him too much. At the same time, he probably hadn't considered the full ramifications of sped up time. “I don’t see how that has to do with–”
“I’m getting there, if you’d let me finish my story.” (It didn’t go beyond her that Etho never interjected himself once. That he hardly said a word when subject matters went in this direction.) “I warned you,” she said again, glancing over at him, making sure he was still alive.
“You did.”
“You can still leave. It gets worse.” She grinned, much like Pearl had before. There wasn’t a point in being awkward about it, if she needed to bring it up whether or not she wanted to. “So, to answer on the front end, nothing was wrong with my code. Symptomatically, everything makes sense. Like, it was like the average pain from cramps in a day condensed to a really short time, because our days were short.”
“Which was why you were lying on the ground.”
“Yep.”
Grian scribbled something on his clipboard. Gem doubted it was actually anything. Knowing him, it was just some snail doodles.
“So what’s the worst part?” Grian asked, a bit dumbly, if you wanted Gem’s opinion.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy?”
Grian almost broke character in a laugh. Almost. “I’ll have you know, I’m not a weather boy. I have no control of the weather. I can merely speed up or slow time at will. And yes, to answer your question, I would like to know, try me.”
“Ooookay. Since you asked.” Maybe she was drawing it out. Maybe it was for the sake of dramatics, to be funny, to make light of herself, to draw attention to something just to make it seem like not a big issue. “So quicker time, you got that.”
“Yes.”
“There’s a lot of blood. And it was really fast. And really gross and awful, and please, for the love of all things good, please consider me next time before you mess with our code.” Gem flopped to the empty side of the bed beside her. “I literally thought I was going to pass out.”
“Well, don’t do that, please. I’d hate to report players passing out as an issue we’re having.”
“Your fault for bad coding.”
“It’s not my fault I can’t code away your periods. I’d do it if I could!”
As much as Gem wanted to give Grian a hard time, she knew he wasn’t kidding. He genuinely would alter things, if such things were safe enough to do so. “No more time-speed-slow stuff though. Hear me?”
“It wouldn’t be fun to do it again, anyway.” Grian stood up. “Enjoy your soup. Apologies and condolences. I’d give you chocolate if I had any.”
“Guess it’s the thought that counts,” Gem said dryly.
“On the plus side, we probably won’t be here for another month. This season’s panning out to be a lot shorter.”
“Yeah.” As Grian started making it to the door, Gem added, “If you see Pearl again, remind her how lucky she is to not experience that this week.”
“I’ll do it! Enjoy your completely-normal-day-night-cycle-break!” Grian left, and with him left all the completely joking spirit.
Which left behind this almost awkward vibe.
“Your choice to make it awkward if you want to,” Gem said, before finishing her bowl of soup. In a few seconds, she drank it up and moved it to above the furnace. She’d worry about washing it later. “I did give you permission to leave multiple times.”
She did her best not to take it personally. It wasn’t personal. Just a bit awkward, which. Awkward was normal with these things. For people like Grian, in his case, growing up with Pearl, it wasn’t as jarring. Obviously it’d be a bit uncomfortable then…
“You’ve said that. A couple times.”
“Just making sure you remember.” Gem sat back down, making sure to take advantage of the plenty of space, that way… “You can still leave, if you want to. I get that… it’s weird and gross and…”
“It’s not that bad.” It sorta sounded like Etho was convincing himself. “I mean, it’s normal, right, so…” There was a slight moment of silence, awkward enough that Gem wanted to die, truly. “Are you ok?”
The least Gem could do was try her best to not make it awkward. And it was only weird because… obviously they were making it weird, because it wasn’t weird when she was all blunt to Grian about it. “Yeah. I took something for the pain, and that and the heating pad helped. And like, it usually lasts about six or seven days, and I think the fast speed knocked out about three or so. And those days are always the worst.”
She made eye contact with him, if only to make it feel a little less tense. Things were still normal. Nothing had actually changed. Just Gem’s own circumstances. Nobody else was affected.
“I’m just really tired right now. And like, feel really disgusting, but that’s besides the point.” Not fully, but she’d like to say it was. Maybe carefully switch topics, gently move the attention off herself. It wasn’t really possible, though, when Gem had to do most of the talking or else there was silence. She just hoped someone else came in to interrupt the nothingness.
But there wasn’t. There was nothing.
Just the two of them. And the awkward empty space between them, from where Gem tried to keep herself as far away as possible. As much as she’d like to blame the awkward on Etho, she was partially responsible, if only for avoiding being serious and explicit at once. Instead of silly and blunt, as she’d managed with Pearl, Impulse, and Grian.
“I’m fine now, really,” she said again, trying to be somewhat reassuring. It didn’t do all that much, honestly. Not that she could expect it to do much.
She eventually gave into the thought that in order to move on with life, she just needed to act like nothing was different. After all, she didn’t feel awful anymore. No longer super sick feeling and weak. Pearl and Impulse would be back announcing the shower was installed in due time. After that she could sleep. Things were reaching almost normal again.
It was just the mental hurdle. And calling it that made it easier to face, in a way, as she sat up before scooting up next to Etho again. He wrapped an arm around her, putting Gem at a bit more ease. She had given him ample opportunity to get up and leave. And while he was saying he stayed inside so as to not be around everyone else, Etho could have just gone home. No one was holding him captive.
Safe enough to stay that he was sticking around for Gem’s sake, even if she didn’t really need anyone.
Finally, as if enough time had past to warren a topic change, Etho broke his longstanding silence. “Joel still treating you well?”
Gem sputtered a laugh. “I don’t know what’s got you so worried about my teammate. Unless you're projecting your own trouble in paradise.”
“Well, it’s every man for himself here.”
“If that’s your philosophy, I think I speak for Joel when I say we don’t want you as part of the family.” Not that Gem was so worried about Etho betraying them as acting “for himself” — it was likely he wouldn't have the guts to do it in the first place, let alone the skill to finish the job.
“What are you speaking for me, Gem?” Joel poked his head in, summoned just by being spoken of.
“Etho’s just expressing his concern at your undying loyalty to me. He’s just projecting because his team is dysfunctional.”
“True. You should just go ahead and move in here,” Joel said, without a thought.
“Well, I get the idea that Gem doesn’t want me to be part of your family.”
She gave a mock gasp. “I just said that you don’t belong here if you think everyone ought to act for themselves instead of working as a team.” Gem pushed away, more for the dramatics and further making the point that they were not on the same side of this matter.
Joel sat on the edge of the bed. “Yeah, family is life, Eefo.” Then Joel looked over at Gem. “He really thinks that?”
“I think he’s traumatized by his teammates.”
“You would be too, if you teammed with Bdubs and Tango!” Etho defended, not even fighting Gem’s assessment of ‘bad teammates’ and being traumatized by the experience. “They’re going to leave me before the end of the season, I tell you.”
“If they don’t die first,” Gem said, a bit quietly.
“You know, I think it’s actually in your advantage if you live with us,” Joel said.
“You’re not helping the obsessed allegations,” Gem told him.
“Family’s life, Gem.”
Maybe it was in the way he said her name, the fact that Joel sounded like he wanted to make an argument of the matter, but it really riled Gem up. Made her want to fight back too, even if her way of fighting was pathetic. “If you really thought family was life, then why don’t I get many hugs? Where is my attention, Joel? Why are you so obsessed with expanding our family when you have me?”
Maybe, Gem just liked making big deals out of small issues that bothered her. Maybe she liked blowing things out of proportion for the attention. Maybe just because she didn’t know how to vocalize it otherwise.
“Joel’s not treating you well,” Etho observed.
Gem punched him in the arm (lightly) because he deserved it. That was before scooting back over to lean against him because Etho didn’t mind hugs. Or rather, he put up with Gem better than Joel did.
“You could’a just asked me to pay attention.”
“Look, obviously your number one priority is Lizzie. And then yourself, keeping yourself alive. After that it should be me, instead of going to find some other members for your alliance-family-thing. I shouldn’t have to tell you that–” She huffed, realizing the dramatics were actually a present emotion she was feeling, and not just a joke.
Joel tilted his head a little, not going back off at her. Then he moved to sit beside her, giving Gem a tight hug. Then he pulled away, saying, “Are you mad at me or emotional?”
It took a couple seconds before she understood what he meant. “I am not –” Though her voice betrayed her, with how much it shook with frustration. She took a breath, realizing, yeah, probably unreasonable of her. “Yeah, you’re right, probably.”
“This is just a bit?”
“Or something,” Gem tacked on, because a bit didn’t entirely feel like her responses today. More just wound up and high strung. Not jokingly, entirely, the more she looked into it. Closer to a long winded rant to everyone about how rough the past twenty four hours — or technically seventy two, condensed into minutes — had been. “And I’m tired, and I’ve gone from feeling rough to feeling okay, and it’s all happened really fast and I—”
Joel gave her another hug, but as Gem was also leaning against Etho, she was really being squished in a small group hug.
“Maybe we should just calm down for a bit,” Etho said. The comment was almost patronizing. Almost.
Mostly because Gem felt no one should have the right to tell her to calm down. Though she knew if she didn’t calm down, she’d probably spontaneously combust. “Yeah. Might just get some sleep.”
Though that idea was thrown out the window when Impulse and Pearl came in to report that the shower was up and running. Suddenly the incentive to get up and be clean was far better than getting cuddles and sleeping. She didn’t think she was gone for that long — though she may have taken her sweet time under the comfortingly hot water — but everyone, except for her alleged family, and Impulse and Pearl, had left by the time she came back out.
Impulse was the first to check in again, pulling Gem into a hug right as she walked through the door. “Feeling better?”
Now, in a far cleaner, comfier state, Gem felt about to sleep standing up. “Yeah.” She leaned her head on his shoulder, though it clearly wouldn’t be a great way to fall asleep.
“Pearl and I can stay the night, but we’ll leave if you want the space.”
“What d'you say?” Pearl asked, breaking the peaceful hug with a sudden attacking squeeze from the side.
“I say I’m tired, and I really don’t care as long as you let me sleep.”
“In that case, let’s get you to bed.” Impulse forced Gem to let go of what could become a perpetual hug, guiding her to the bed set-up. Since Pearl had extended it earlier, there wasn’t a need to make any further changes.
Well, there was one change. That being Joel getting up and leaving for his own base for the evening. “Get some sleep, Gem,” he said, a bit commandingly like always. Though he didn’t leave without a quick hug, probably to prove his loyalty before Gem yelled at him again.
“Mhm. You too,” she answered, already sounding only half awake. Gem didn’t know how she got in bed. Maybe Impulse dragged or carried her the rest of the way. Vaguely, she was aware that neither Pearl or Impulse lied down with her, though she didn’t think to complain about it. Mostly because Etho still sat at his spot from before quietly, still bearing the burden of having to act as Gem’s pillow for the night.
Later, she did partially wake up at the change of weight in the bed. Impulse took advantage of the shower he built, coming back not much later, now suitable for sleep. Pearl did the same, and woke Gem up by swapping spots with Etho, when he was finally given freedom from the perpetual cuddles.
Of course, this was all her half-awake observations. It didn’t matter when she fully got to sleep or how or under what conditions.
All Gem cared was that there were no more weird time-speed-related issues going on, and that, at the end of the day, she had her friends who were more than willing to put up with her.