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Keeper was just going about xeir business as usual, trying to complete a quest, when xe happened to glance at xeir inventory.
"When did I get so many gumdrops?" xe asked xemself as xe stared at the number displayed on xeir hotbar.
2735 was what stared back, written in black text under the picture of a gumdrop.
"Ooh, I wonder if that's enough for Gummy bee? I kinda forgot how many I need, and I think it's only 2500!" xe exclaimed, suddenly vibrating with excitement at the potential for a new bee on the team. As fast as xe could, and with Hasty, Photon, and Ninja's help that was pretty fast, xe ran over to the giant Gummy Bee and saw that yes, it only required 2500! Without even a second of hesitation, xe handed over the gumdrops necessary and an egg appeared in xeir inventory. While the egg looked normal in the inventory, xe knew it was a Gummy egg.
Xe rushed to xeir hive, and checked the bee list to see which bee could be replaced without removing a unique bee, since there were no open slots and xe didn't have the honey to buy a new one. Xe weren't going to wait a second longer than xe had to already to get this bee, and if that meant sacrificing an existing bee slot for this then so be it. Xe wanted a Gummy Bee more than a Windy Bee and that was saying something given xeir dedication to getting a Windy Bee egg. Xe ended up placing the egg in what used to be a Stubborn Bee slot but now was the new home of xeir very own Gummy bee.
"Welcome to the hive!" Keeper exclaimed as Gummy flew around, examining the hive and other bees. "What pronouns do you use?"
'I use… Well… it depends on the day.'
'Ooh,' chimed in Festive, 'Mine also depend on how I'm feeling that day. Today I feel like a she/her but a day ago I used he/him.'
'Then I'm the same, I guess. Right now I use they/them, but that could change.' Gummy was a little shocked at the revelation that there was another bee who felt the same way, and it showed.
"Cool! I use xe/xem and there are a few others who use neopronouns too, but you'll get to know everyone well enough that remembering won't be an issue in no time," enthused Keeper. "I can't wait to see what you can do out in the fields! You seem like the sweetest bee I've ever had the pleasure of keeping in my hive, but don't tell Honey I said that, ey'll be jealous."
'Got it. Don't tell Honey. Which one is that again?'
"Oh, forget it. It's supposed to be a joke, but I guess you're new and don't get it. The joke is that everyone else is jealous of Honey, especially Diamond, even if fey won't admit it. Honey, on the other hand, doesn't have it in emself to be jealous. Ey're as sweet as you are, Gummy."
Meanwhile, some of the other bees, especially Hasty, were starting to get a bit impatient waiting for Gummy to settle in.
'Come onnnnnnnnn, Keeper, we need to get going. I don't care if Gummy Bee needs to adjust, can't you do that in a field while we gather pollen? I'm boreddddddd. We can't just sit here doing nothing all day.'
'Calm down, Hasty,' Commander chastised, although he also appeared to think the pleasantries should've been over by this point. ''We'll be leaving once Keeper finishes up welcoming Gummy.'
'Oh, did I keep you waiting? Can you not go more than 5 minutes without attention? Hasty, you really need to learn to be patient. I'm getting sick of your constant whining that I'm not fast enough. Anyways, I'm almost done getting Gummy settled in so… What field're we thinking?'
In the end, the Spider field won because it was part of Black Bear's quest, and they all headed up there to collect some pollen. Pretty quickly, Keeper realized that Gummy had two abilities, and both of those were to create areas of goo on the field to collect more pollen.
'Oh! My! Stars! I am so in love with Gummy. These abilities mean I'll never have to use gumdrops ever again!!!' thought Keeper, forgetting to block xeir thoughts from the bees in xeir excitement.
'You really think that about them? And here I thought maybe this newbie was going to make you realize that I've been right here this whole time. It's clear I'm the best bee in the hive and whatever abilities Gummy has can't compete with straight up giving you honey. I don't get why you don't see that.' Diamond was fuming, and if fey had been a fire based bee there might have been smoke coming off of feir body. Fey were flying in angry circles around Keeper and trying to sting xem. Keeper, of course, was wearing full bee keeper gear and thus was protected from stings.
"Listen, Diamond. I do appreciate you. I love all my bees equally, with the exception of Bucko and Riley, since they annoy me so much that I love them just a little bit less than everyone else. Why can't you see that? You have one of the best passive abilities of any bee in the whole hive, you know. You give me x1.2 honey when converted at the hive and that makes a huge difference. It's because of you that I never use microconverters unless I'm in a timed situation. I guess you wouldn't know, but maybe ask one of the lower ranked bees about how often I used to just use insta-converters or microconverters instead of going all the way back to the hive." Keeper gestured in the general direction of where the Awesome Crew were. "Oh, don't give me that look, you're not going to become an uncommon just by talking to them. You're legendary for a reason, or did you forget that I spent ages trying to get you too?"
Diamond looked as embarrassed as a bee could look, which is very embarrassed considering that in this universe bees can blush. If an outsider were to look at Diamond at that very moment, they might've mistaken fem for a red bee rather than a blue one.
'I'm sorry… but are you saying you only convert at the hive because of me? I'm flattered, and yet you still care for the common bees more than you do me. I guess we can coexist peacefully… but only if you appreciate my abilities properly. That means grabbing my blue flower tokens too, not just the Honey Gift +'.
"I try not to have a bias towards either color but I think this is a reasonable compromise if that's what it takes to get you to stop fighting Honey." And with that, Keeper continued to collect pollen and take advantage of Gummy's new abilities, as well as show some appreciation of Diamond's old ones.