#geminitay agere

[ducklingsandlambs]

Regressor GIGGS paci edits!

Art Credit!

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[theconstellationprincess]

Look what I have!

House and Home

Chapter 7: Hiccups

Thank you all for waiting so patiently!

Tws: panic attack, anxiety (lmk if I should add any!)

Summary: Pix sat next to Fwhip, content to just listen and watch the ongoings of the activity of the room.

There had been a lot of noise when they had first come down stairs, Pix being carried by Fwhip because he’d almost fallen down the stairs. People were talking to him and being loud, which had been awful and far too overstimulating, but it was okay because Fwhip was there and telling everyone to quiet down.

( @froggymarsh )

Pix sat next to Fwhip, content to just listen and watch the ongoings of the activity of the room. He yawned, pacifier falling against his chest and he didn’t bother putting it back in. It was attached to his shirt via a clip and a piece of fabric, patterned similar to the bandage Fwhip had put on his cut hand. Fwhips hand was running through his hair, scratching his scalp gently as he chatted with the rest of the group.

There had been a lot of noise when they had first come down stairs, Pix being carried by Fwhip because he’d almost fallen down the stairs. People were talking to him and being loud, which had been awful and far too overstimulating, but it was okay because Fwhip was there and telling everyone to quiet down. It was quieter now, and Pix was slowly drifting to sleep, eyes closing for a few seconds before he would jerk back up, wanting to be included.

Gem was sitting on Fwhip’s other side, and had reached out to hold the sleeve of his jacket. Pix blinked at her, she blinked back. Pix reached across Fwhip, landing sort of in his lap, and grabbed her sleeve. The fabric was pleasantly textured and he giggled, twisting it clumsily in his fingers. “Gem,” He cooed, grinning brightly at her. He was sort of aware that the room had quieted to a near silence, but he wasn’t paying attention to that.

“Pi’” Gem cheered through her pacifier. It was really cute, decorated with charms and beads of animals and plants. Fwhip made to stand up and Pix whimpered, reaching out for him as Fwhip leant forward. He didn’t want to be alone, that was scary. He never wanted to be alone again, everything was too much, and Fwhip made it nicer.

Fwhip sat back down, making a shushing noise. “Oh Pixlriffs, what am I going to do with you?” He mumbled, sighing playfully as Pix flopped down in his lap, head burying into Fwhip’s shirt. Pix heard some other words being spoken, but he was too busy enjoying Fwhip’s body heat. He still felt very small, but maybe a bit less so? Fwhip trying to leave made him upset, but he’s being clingy isn’t he? Fwhip is allowed to get up if he wants to, he’s a grown up, and Pix must be making him upset, forcing him to stay and cuddle.

Pix quickly pushed himself out of Fwhip’s lap and leant against the arm of the couch, touching the least amount of Fwhip possible. “Sorry,” he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. He’s stuck between very small and very big, which is no fun at all. He doesn’t want to cause a fuss, but here he is, drawing attention to himself. He can feel eyes on him, and gives a quick glance to the rest of the room, which are, unfortunately, quite preoccupied staring at him and Fwhip.

He’s definitely not small, and absolutely horrified. Everyone- Everyone knew. This was… very much not ideal, but he’d embarrassed himself enough without causing a scene, so instead he sat up straight. He took a few measured breaths and unclipped the pacifier from his shirt, slipping it into his pocket. Everyone was looking between him and Fwhip, so he turned to face the other emperor. Fwhip looked confused, and a little bit hurt.

“I’m not regressed anymore,” Pix told him softly with a sheepish smile, prompting Fwhip to look even more confused. He refused to make a big deal out of this in front of everyone, he’d talk to Fwhip about it later in a more private space, and when he’s less angry. Because he is angry, very very angry, and scared too. If even one of the other emperors told anyone else in their kingdoms, there was a possibility of it making it back to his advisors in Pixandria, and he will be well and truly screwed if that happens.

He could feel Fwhip’s eyes on him as the conversation slowly resumed. They were discussing secrets, of course. What an aptly timed event.

“I’d like to discuss a secret,” Fwhip said loudly, sitting up and staring at Pix. Pix took a deep breath and turned to face Fwhip, having an idea as to where this was going. “Me and Pix broke of your mugs, sorry Katherine.” Katherine laughed and waved it off, assuring them that it was fine and there was no reason to apologize. The tension in the room seemed to recede, thinning out until there was joyful chatter once again. No one seemed to be taking this particularly serious, so Pix allowed himself to relax.

“Anything you want to share, Pix?” Shubble asked him quietly, smiling brightly. She seems to feed off of positive energy, which Pix can appreciate. He relaxed his posture a bit and shares in her smile. He opens his mouth to reply, but then Katherine is shouting his name and he turns to her, wide eyed.

“Pix don’t-!” She bolts out of her seat, sprinting across the room, tripping over her lovely skirt as she makes her way over to him and slaps a hand over his mouth. He freezes, unsure of what to do as Katherine drags in exaggerated breaths. She inhales sharply and then slowly removes her hand, “I didn’t get to tell you, but for this activity the room has been enchanted, you can’t lie in here.”

Pix blinked, surprised at the casual use of magic, which since all the… everything with Xornoth going on has become much more feared and restricted in most kingdoms. “O-Kay?” Now far more hesitant about his answer, he turned back to Shubble. Of course, he wants to test how strong the magic is so he tries to go with a simple lie, that there’s nothing he wants to talk about. He’s expecting for nothing to come out of his mouth, or for the sentence to contain a double negative, simple speech magic, instead he tells her, “If anyone in here tells anyone else I’m a regressor, I will be dethroned.”

Well then. Shubble stares at him, blinking a few times and laughing nervously. Katherine, still standing nearby, pauses in her conversation with the still small Gem to turn to him, but it’s Fwhip who speaks first.

“What?” The engineer spoke flatly, face contorted in a confused frown. “But I thought you were making progress with your advisors?” Pix cleared his throat, feeling the attention swarming him yet again. An uncomfortable blush rose to cover his face as he fiddled with his sleeves.

“I have…” He began slowly, choosing his words carefully. He avoids looking at the other members of the Cod Father Alliance, who he had, perhaps, led to be under the impression that Pixandria was more on board with what Pix had been proposing than his empire was. Their kingdoms were all so modern and future forward, Pixandria was a small kingdom and it was very set in its ways. “But it’s slow going.”

He hadn’t expected to say that, but at least he knew how the magic worked now. He couldn’t lie, which meant only truths could fall from his lips, but which truths, he couldn’t choose.

“Slow going?” Lizzie asked, sitting up straighter. She looked over everyone else, and Pix shrank in on himself a bit. He hadn’t lied, not really, but he had stretched the truth during their alliance meetings, wanting to fit in a bit more. He always felt a bit odd in their group, with Jimmy and Lizzie being siblings, and Joel and Lizzie courting. He didn’t want yet another thing to be separating him from them.

“You said that you were almost finished getting rid of all those laws.” Jimmy piped in from where he was leaning against the wall, having been (playfully) arguing with Joel. Swallowing, Pix tugged at the collar of his jacket and avoided eye contact with everyone.

“Well… I-“

“Lied.” Scott interrupted, looking at him with squinted eyes. “You lied.”

Fingers anxiously twisted the fabric of his sleeves as he pressed himself against the corner of the couch. “Yes.” He croaked, fists clenching, fingers digging into the skin of his hand. The cut from earlier harshly protested the treatment, but Pix ignored it. “I lied. I- I apologize.”

The room felt very small, and he felt small too, but in the bad way, the panicking way. He needed- he needed to be alone, now, but he felt frozen, pinned to the couch by the hurt glares directed at him by his friends.

“I’m sorry,” He repeated, running a hand through his hair. It was raining outside, the windows fogging up, like his head was. “I’m sorry- please don’t be mad, I don’t like it when people are mad.” The apologies continued to slip from his lips, as he involuntarily slipped back into headspace. “I’m sorry- I didn’t-“ Tears flooded his vision and he clumsily reached up to wipe them away. “Don’t hurt me please, I’m scared.” He admitted tearfully, squeezing his eyes shut and tucking his head into his knees. “I’m scared.”

[immeasurablesaladagere]

A Wildcard is Active - Team Self-Sufficient

Series - A Wildcard is Active

-----

Words: 4973

Summery: By a stroke of bad luck, both Gem and Joel end up as children and are determined not to let anyone know. There are reds about, it’s not safe for them to be alone without an adult to protect them. When they run into trouble in a cave, they're forced to ask the Bamboozlers for help.

-----

On the first morning of the fourth session, Joel allowed himself to stay in bed just a bit longer and take in the snail-less peace and quiet. No more running about constantly looking over his shoulder for deadly flying mollusks, just a nice easy doze in the Charger, living the life.

Gem was already up and about, cooking breakfast by the smell of it. Somehow session three had been a breeze for her and now she was going around being all productive. Showoff. 

“Joel! Breakfast is ready!”

As much as he wanted to roll over and doze for another thirty minutes, the start of the session would wait for no man. They only had a short time before the next wildcard activated for the week and they needed to pound back as many calories as possible if they wanted to keep up with whatever craziness Grian had in store this time.

So out of bed and into their makeshift kitchen he went, rubbing the sleep crusties out of his eyes. “Quit yer yelling, what if I’d been sleepin’ still?”

“Then you needed to get up anyway. Wildcard rolls in an hour, up and ‘attem!” Gem said with the chipperness of someone who hadn’t spent the last week fearing for her life, and slid two plates of eggs, toast, and bacon onto the table.

“Yeah, yeah. Easy for you to say, you dirty snail-lover.”

“Hey! Who made you breakfast?”

“You’re right, you’re right, I’m sorry.” Joel shovelled a forkful of bacon into his mouth and groaned. “S’really good.”

Gem chuckled. “Well don’t make it weird! Maybe I shouldn’t be cooking for you.”

“No, please, I’ll be eating nothing but bread all season.” He whined. “Seriously, this is great, thanks Gem.”

“Well of course! We’re going to need the energy!” She finished her glass of milk in one go and got up to start putting her dishes away because holy moly, she ate fast. “What’s on the to-do list for today?”

There were about a million answers to that question, seeing as no one got anything done last week. Diamonds, finish the base, make traps, go to the nether; but of course what they’d like to do didn’t matter so much as what they could do once the wildcard hit. “Dunno. Some mining, maybe hit the nether if Grian hasn’t rigged it to explode or sumfing. I need redstone and gunpowder.”

“Ooo, yeah, the nether sounds good. I don’t know if they’ve found the fortress yet, so maybe there’s still some potion stuff left.” 

The moment the last piece of toast was in his mouth Gem was snatching his plate out from under him and dumping it in the sink.

“Oi!”

She stuck her tongue out at him. 

Well, might as well get started on the list. “If gonna try to finish the base while nofing’s going on, head’s up for falling deepslate in here!”

“If you get rock dust in my kitchen I’ll put you on yellow!” She called after him.

The base was coming along nicely, it just needed a few finishing touches. Trim here and there, polish the windows, sand off a few edges. He grabbed his tools from the starter base and climbed up onto the hood of the car. Maybe he could even finish before the session started.

-

“Joel! Wildcard!”

He could not. Joel sighed and set down his tools as the colourful ellipses appeared in his vision and Gem came outside. They had to be prepared for anything, and it was much safer to find out the gimmick together. They both braced for the worst. Floor is lava? Levitation? Permanent nighttime? More snails?

A Wildcard is Active.

The two of them did a hasty once-over of themselves. 

“Hearts and hunger are the same,” Gem reported.

“No effects, and you’re not dying right now so no floor-is-lava. Darn, I was hoping for that one.” He didn’t feel any different, and nothing around them seemed immediately strange. It was almost more unsetting that he couldn’t pinpoint the twist right away. 

“You were hoping I would die?”

“No, no, but you know what I mean. I was so sure that’d be one of them!” He patted himself down. “I don’t feel weird. Do I look weird?”

“More than normal? No.” She smirked.

“Wow, rude!”

He was about to accept that maybe Grian had miraculously decided to do something low-key this session. Maybe it was nether-based or mob-based and wouldn’t be nearly as big a deal as the murder snails and the hunger. Sure, it would put a mild spanner in the works but they would live. But then he felt it. His entire body suddenly felt… buzzy. Like pins and needles all over.

“Um, actually… Maybe I do feel a bit weird…” 

Gem shifted from foot to foot, rubbing a hand up and down her arms. “You feel it too? What is that?” Her eyes widened. “Oh my— Joel, you’re smoking!”

“I know that Gem, but I’m married so—“ Oh. Sure enough, his arms were giving off a faint purple mist, and now that he noticed it, so was Gem. “Woah, you’re smoking too! What on earth is this? Gah, I hate this feeling!”

In seconds the smoke went from tiny wisps to thick fog that surrounded him completely, and he could just barely make out Gem disappearing behind her own cloud as the smoke consumed him and everything went dark.

Then a moment later he was back again, lying face down on the car and tingly all over. He groaned. Was it weakness? Why did he feel like he was just tossed around by a ravager? He went to sit up and was rocked by a wave of dizziness. “Ugh, oh dear…” He mumbled, and then slowly his words caught up to his spinny brain. 

Something was wrong with his voice. It was higher, and weirder. 

“Joel!?” Came a squeaky cry from the ground, one that sounded eerily familiar. 

He shuffled forward to the edge of the base and oh, that was a long way down. Standing in a fun-size suit of armour and using a sword much too big for her to prop herself up was Gem. Tiny Gem. She looked no older than seven, maybe eight at the absolute most.

“Gem! What’s happened to you?” He called down, and yeah, his voice was definitely wrong. 

“Me? What about you? You’re teeny!”

He took a proper look at himself and his new tiny body, squishy arms, and stubby hands. Oh, this was terrible. 

“Are we all kids? Is that the twist!? That’s horrible!” How were they supposed to survive like this!?

Gem fumbled to pull out her spyglass and looked across the field to their neighbours. “No, not everyone! Tango’s still big over there, but Etho and Bdubs are little!”

“So only some of us? And we both get made into stupid toddlers? That’s not fair!” He pouted.

Their communicators were suddenly flooded with messages, mostly panicked gibberish from everyone who had been baby-fied and gushing from everyone who hadn’t. From the looks of it every group had at least one normal adult; between Scott, Cleo, Pearl, and Impulse there were three, except for them.

“This is bad, right?” Gem asked nervously, “There’s yellows and reds and if they know we don’t have someone protecting us… what if they kill us?” Joel hadn’t even thought of that. “Come down from there, we gotta find a place to hide!”

He went to climb down, but stopped when he saw the steep drop down the windshield to the ground. Suddenly his stomach was twisting into knots and he couldn’t bring himself to slide down. “Uh…”

“What’s wrong?” Gem asked with a look of growing worry, “Are you… scared?”

Joel’s ears burned. “N-no! Just, um…” So it was messing with their heads as well.

Gem seemed to understand, and careful to stay out of sight from their nosy neighbours, she crept around to the front of the car and built up a few blocks. When she got close enough, she held out her arms for him to slide into. “I’ll catch you.”

Absolutely not. He would rather die right then and there. “I don’t need your help!” 

Gem rolled her eyes. “Sure you don’t, now come on! Before someone sees us!” She hissed.

Without much of a choice, Joel took a deep breath and pushed himself down the hood of the car with a squeak and landed safely in Gem’s arms. Once he was safely back on solid ground, she immediately began to manhandle him.

“C’mon, c’mon!” She dragged him by the hand to their starter base and to his dismay, she was indeed much taller than he was, and she was able to pull him like he was a bundle of feathers. “Grab as much food and stuff as you can.” She said, and began rifling through their chests.

“Wha— okay, where’re we going?” The chests were so hugehe almost couldn’t reach into the bottom and he had to stand on his tip-toes to reach a pile of bread.

“We’re gonna hide underground. No one’s gonna wanna come look for us down there.” Gem said, like she’d thought the whole thing through already. She dropped a stack of torches and loose coal into her inventory.

“For all week? That’s a long time.” He pointed out.

“Yeah, I know, that’s why we’re getting all this stuff. We can come back up for food if we really gotta, but we can’t let anyone know that we’re both kids. That’d be super bad.”

Joel snickered. “You’re talkin’ funny.”

She scoffed, offended. “Am not! And don’t be mean to your elders!”

“You are not my elder! Look at you!”

“Uh-huh, and what does that make you? Look how small you are compared to me! You’re just a baby!” She teased, ruffling his hair.

“Oi, you—“

“—Gem? Joel? Are you here?”

They froze. Bdubs. And where there was Bdubs, there was Tango, and Tango was red. Gem hurried them to the wall and dug into it, boxing them in. They both held their breaths as multiple sets of feet walked around their base.

“Awe, they’re not here.” Bdubs.

“Do you think they’re kids, too?” Etho.

“Oh, I wanna see kid-Joel so bad! I bet he’d be real tiny.”

“C’mon Dubs, let’s go find the others.”

The footsteps walked away, and they both let out a sigh of relief.

“Let’s dig down.” Gem whispered. She lit a torch and the little box they were crammed in filled with light, which he liked a lot more than the dark. Joel tried his best to stay out of her way as she began to dig a tunnel down, and he was put on torch-duty, keeping it lit all the way down.

After what felt like forever, they finally hit a cave. It was really dark, which was both good and bad. Good because it meant no one had been there yet, and bad because Joel was very quickly learning his little kid brain didn’t like the dark very much.

“I don’t hear any monsters.” Gem said, peering into the hole, “Gimme the torches.” She took one more look around, then scooted down from their safe ledge into the cave. The torch in her hand lit up the walls around them just enough for him to see just how much further the cave went. It was already huge, but it seemed even huger because they were so small. The empty void made his stomach feel fluttery. He took out his sword and gripped it tight.

“Put the torches down, Gem! So the mobs don’t spawn!” He said urgently. Gem turned around and raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re really jumpy, huh?” She smiled.

“I-I’m not! We just have to be careful. What— w-what if mobs do more damage ‘cause we’re tiny? Didjya ever think of that, Ms. Not— uh, Afraid?”

It was meant to be a jab but she just started giggling. “This is adorable. You look so pouty!” 

She was so busy laughing at his expense she didn’t notice the creeper emerging from the darkness and scuttling towards her.

“Gem, watch out!” 

She whirled around just in time to pull up her shield before the creeper blew up in her face and sent her staggering back into the wall. 

“Are you okay!?” He called, timidly crouching over the ledge. 

Gem chuckled nervously, brushing off some of the stone bits that got on her clothes and hair. “Yep, all good! Maybe the torches are a good idea…”

As Gem placed down torches he cautiously climbed down into the cave, keeping a sweaty hold on the handle of his shield. He hated just how blummin’ nervous he felt. He shouldn’t have cared if it was dark or if there might be monsters lurking around the corner, but suddenly the thought of leaving the light and Gem’s side was the worst thing ever. Stupid kid brain, stupid kid body. 

“Okay! We’re okay, we’re fine.” She chirped, “We’ve got torches, an’ our swords and shields, we’ll be fine.” It sounded like she was trying to tell herself that just as much as she was telling him, which strangely did make him feel better. At least we wasn’t the only scaredy-cat, even if Gem was better at hiding it than him. “Let’s go find some iron. We might even be deep enough to find diamonds!”

Right. Diamonds, iron, focus on that. “We’re gonna be so rich, Gem. All those silly fools up there are gonna be freakin’ out about being stupid babies and we’re gonna have full diamond!”

“There, that’s the spirit. Do you— um...” She offered her hand to him with a small smile. “You can be our shield, and I’ll protect us with the sword. How’s that sound?”

Joel scowled at her hand and reluctantly, to the death of his pride, took it. This was the worst day. He was going to have a talk with Grian when this was all over. The jerk was probably an adult as well, knowing him and the stupid universe. “Fine. But only for teamwork.”

“Teamwork.” Gem agreed, and they descended into the darkness.

-

“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Gem asked, throwing a few more loose pieces of wood into their little campfire.

It wasn’t. Sure, the dark still wasn’t very nice and they hadn’t had much luck with diamonds, but their trek through the cave got them a lot of iron, nearly a stack between them. “I wasn’t worried. I knew we were gonna be fine the whole time.” 

“Uh-huh. And when you screamed like a girl ‘cause you saw a spider you were totally gonna take it down, right?”

He nodded, dumping as much raw iron as he could fit into the furnace. “Yep, you just got their first. Silly Gem, stealin’ my kills.”

Even though he’d been trying not to think about it, he appreciated what Gem was doing. Both of their minds were being affected by the wildcard, but it was embarrassingly obvious that he had it worse, probably because he seemed to be the ‘younger’ of the two of them. And all the while dealing with her own nervousness and keeping them safe, she was talking to him like a normal person and keeping him steady. The good-natured ribbing kept everything feeling light when the scary cave sounds started to get to him, and she wasn’t being overbearing or babying him. It was almost like session one again; a normal day, just ever so slightly shorter than two blocks tall.

“Here, pork chop’s ready.” Gem passed him a stick with a cut of cooked pork chop skewered on it. Even without any seasonings, it smelled delicious.

“Fanks, Gem.” He devoured the whole thing in a few large bites, much to Gem’s disgust. One of the few upsides to being so small was that they were going through much less food than usual, and one pork chop was all he needed to feel properly full again. 

“So,” He burped, “We’re really gonna stay down here all week?”

Gem nodded and started making something on the crafting table. “Thas’ the plan.”

“Aw, but that’s a bit boring, isn’t it? I wanna have some fun too…” He kicked a little stone away and the clacking echoed off the walls.

“Do you wanna have fun, or do you wanna stay alive?”

How could she be so tiny and still act like such a mum? “Stay alive, I guess.” He pouted.

She turned around and laid a thin wool sleeping bag on the floor with the tiniest pillow Joel had ever seen. “That’s what I thought. I’ll take first watch. I didn’t bring enough wool, so sorry it’s not very good...” 

There was no way he could be upset about the sleeping bag, not when she was making that face. If they were on the surface Joel was sure Gem could get them whatever they wanted just by giving someone puppy eyes. “No, no, it’s fine! It looks super comfy. In fact,” He crawled over to it and nestled inside to show her. Stones dug into his back. “See? I could fall asleep right now.” He made an exaggerated yawn.

Gem chuckled. “I ‘precicate it, but you don’t hav’ta lie. Your pudgy little face doesn’t hide anything.”

“Going to sleep now!” He yelled, turning over and pressing his face into the pillow. “Honk-shoo, honk-shoo, see? Sleeping.”

“Have a good sleep, Joel.”

-

“Joel, get up, get up, come on!”

Joel barely had time to remember where he was before he was on his feet and they were running. His half-asleep legs stumbled to catch up and Gem was half-dragging him, and between his bleary eyes and the unlit cave he could barely see where they were going.

“Gem, what on earth— what’s going on!? What are we runni—“ Two arrows whizzed past his head much too close for comfort, and that woke him up.

“There were so many, I—I couldn’t kill them all!” Gem exclaimed. They took a hard left at a fork and two more zombies joined the chase from the right. There were at least six mobs behind them, probably more. There was no time to pull out their shields, they’d surely be overwhelmed instantly, which meant they’d just have to find a place to hide.

“Gem this is bad, this is so bad!”

Gem cried out as an arrow lodged itself in her shoulder, and then another. “I-I know, I know, keep running!”

They rounded another corner and skidded to a halt. Dead end. Joel raised his shield to catch another arrow but the mobs were getting close fast. They were dead. 

He yelped as Gem grabbed him by the scruff and pushed him into a corner. “Ow! Gem, what—?” She began haphazardly surrounding him in cobblestone, and Joel’s stomach sank. “Wait, G-Gem, what are you— what are you doing?”

“I’m low, my shield’s almost gone,” She panted, and her splitting shield took another hit, this time from the zombie at the head of the pack gnawing viciously at the wood. “Stay in here, I’ll come back for you, okay?”

“Gem, no!” His heart was pounding. He could only see a sliver of Gem’s scared but resigned expression through the gap now. More zombies caught up, groaning and forcing her back. “Gem—!”

The last block slid into place and he was plunged into darkness just as the message rang out.

Geminitay was slain by a zombie

-

This wildcard is a nightmare.

Jimmy watched, exhausted, as Lizzie tried to coach Scar up a tree for the third time. While a good “parent” might have stopped it by now, falling out of a tree was about the safest thing they had been up to over the last twenty-four hours. If all he had to do was pass out snacks for regen every time Scar fell, that was fine by him.

He truly believed Grian’s games simply hated him personally. Why else would he be the only adult in his team? The yellow life, the canary, the one who attracted death, keeping two children safe. What was the universe thinking? And of course in all the nonsense he hardly had any time to think about how he was going to get his next kill. Lizzie had been trying to help, but most of her ideas ended up drifting in a fantastical or hypothetical Jimmy-is-suddenly-amazing-at-pvp scenario and hadn’t come to fruition. 

“Jimmy, look! I made it!” 

Sure enough, Scar had finally managed to clamber up next to Lizzie on the branch, smiling proudly down at him.

“Wow, look at that! Don’t fall please, I’m running out of bread!”

“I won’t, I’m being very careful.” Scar waved him off, then wobbled and caught himself. “See? Careful.”

“Mm-hm.”

Bzz-bzzt.

Oh? What’s gone on now? He pulled out his communicator.

Geminitay was slain by a zombie

<Smajor1995: ???>

<Grian: red/yellow kill??>

<BDoubleO100: gem’s baby I kno it>

Huh. Gem and Joel had been missing for the entire session so far, and for her to die to a zombie of all things, she must have been seriously caught off-guard. Or small, came the thought, but even then Joel probably would have been looking after her, what with his whole “family” bit. Was he seriously being a better parent than Joel right now? He smiled to himself. What an idea.

And so, continuing his streak of great parenting, he went back to supervising. 

“Wo-OAH!”

And down Scar went, taking Lizzie with him and hitting the ground with a thump. 

“Owwww, Scaaar! That hurt!” Lizzie whined.

“Sorry, sorry! I was tryin’a get higher!”

Jimmy just sighed and fished two more loaves of bread from his inventory. “Come on now, no arguing, just take your bread.”

Thankfully even though Lizzie and Scar had proven themselves to be quite the tiny squabblers so far, the snacks seemed to settle them enough to just sticking their tongues out at one another and throwing crumbs. It was in the middle of their picnic when he heard someone yelling his name, and he turned to see Gem running towards him. Sure enough, she was a kid maybe the same age as Lizzie, and she looked all out of sorts.

“Gem! Where’ve you been, eh? What’s going on?”

“Y-You gotta— you—“ She gasped, out of breath and stumbling over her words, “You— we need help!”

Jimmy raised an eyebrow. “What? Slow down, who’s ‘we’? You and Joel?”

Gem nodded quickly. “We— we were in a cave and I was s’posed to protect him b-but I couldn’t an’ there w-were so many mobs an’—!“

“Hey, hey, woah, easy.” He knelt down in front of her and put his hands on her small shoulders. This was still so weird. “Deep breaths, ready? In…” She took a harsh breath in. “Out.” She released it. “Now, tell me what’s happened.”

Gem swallowed hard and Jimmy swore he could see the faintest hint of tears forming in her eyes. “Me and Joel are b-both kids, a-and I said we should hide ‘cause we had no adult to protect us so we went into a cave. I-It was my idea an’ I was s’posed to keep him safe, b-but there were so many mobs and—and I di-died and now Joel’s trapped down there and it’s all my fault!” She blurted, and a few stray tears fell down her cheeks.

Oh boy. “Well, that is a lot, isn’t it?” He said stupidly, and then rushed to correct himself when Gem’s face scrunched up like she was about to start bawling, “B-But don’t worry, we’ll get this all sorted, yeah? Where is he? I’ll help you rescue him.”

“In a cave under our base. I gotta show you, w-we dug it ourselves.” She sniffled, collecting herself. Thank admins.

“Alright, well…” He looked over to Lizzie and Scar, who were watching with wide eyes. “Lizzie, I put you in charge. Go back home with Scar and play some board games or something until I get back. Or go play with the neighbours, whatever, just something safe, alright?”

Lizzie got a look of genuine seriousness about her and nodded, and the two of them ran off towards the mountain.

Jimmy offered his hand to Gem. “Alright, lead the way.”

-

The staircase down into their cave was a tight squeeze, but once they were in the mouth of the cave opened up considerably. For an undiscovered cave it was very large and, other than a few of Gem’s stray torches, very dark.

“Jimmyyy!” Gem urged, “Hurry, this way!”

“Right, right, hurrying!”

He heard the mobs before he saw them, and there were a lot. At least two skeletons, a handful of zombies, and a spider. No wonder they’d been overwhelmed, even he was going to need to be careful about this. He motioned for Gem to stay back and brought up his shield, steeling himself with a breath for courage. Why Gem came to him with this was beyond him, but there was no turning back now. Joel needed him. Heck, Gem needed him. He peered around the corner where the pack was clustered around a cobblestone box and noticed a single creeper mixed into the bunch. Bingo. 

“Hey, big stupid mobs! Come and get me!” He shouted, and the entire group turned to come towards him. The creeper scuttled faster, pushing its way to the front, exactly what he was hoping for. He hid behind his shield as they all clustered together and the creeper hissed to life.

BOOM

The only surviving skeleton was easy to cut down with his sword, and he let out a huff of relief as the bones clattered to the floor. He did it. Holy moly he did it.

“Joel!” Gem rushed past him to the cobblestone box.

He helped her break away the stone, and inside the box with not so much as a torch sat Joel, who was maybe even younger than Scar, curled in on himself and shaking like a cold strider. A tiny part of Jimmy, the tiniest, ugliest part, whispered in his ear how easy it would be to get a dark green kill right now. How simple.

No. Not like this.

“I-I don’ l-like this wildcard…” Joel whined, before bursting into tears.

“Oh Joel, buddy, it’s alright…” Jimmy tried to comfort. His hands hovered uncertainly. A quick glance at Gem told him she wasn’t doing much better and was just barely keeping it together. He needed to come up with something quickly. 

Without stopping to consider the possible awkward consequences, he did the first thing he could think of. He reached down and scooped Joel into his arms.

“Hey, shhh, you’re alright, you’re okay… shhh. Uncle Tim’s gotcha now, everything’s gonna be A-OK.” He hushed, letting every soothing phrase he could think of tumble out of his mouth like alphabet soup. He threw in a little gentle rocking, pet Joel’s hair, anything he could think of until finally the shaking and crying began to settle. The shoulder of his jacket was soaked through with snot and tears by the time Joel properly came back around, but that was fine. He would just have to dunk it in the river or something later.

Joel sniffled and sat up slightly, using one hand to scrub at his face while the other stayed firmly clutched in his shirt. “Ugh… sorry about that, Jim. This whole kid ‘fing sucks…”

“…Joel? Are you okay?” Gem mumbled, face flushed and eyes puffy.

Joel thought for a second, then nodded slowly. “Yeah. Just got a bit scary there, y’know? Stupid baby brain didn’ like the dark.”

“M’so sorry…” She warbled, sounding on the edge of tears again, and Jimmy had to put a stop to that right away.

“Nope, no more crying!” He announced, maybe a bit too loudly, “Everything’s alright now. You did the best you could, Gem. See? Joel’s still on six lives because of you.”

“But I—“

“No buts! You did a good job protecting Joel, and Joel was very brave for staying safe down here by himself. Can we all agree?”

“Haha, butts.” He heard Joel mutter against his shirt. Jimmy counted that as a win.

“Perfect. Now we’re all going to get out of this cave, and you two can spend the night with the Bamboozlers, how does that sound?”

“Like a sleepover?” Gem tilted her head like a puppy, and now that they weren’t in a crisis, man, these guys were cute. 

“Yeah, like a sleepover. C’mon now, I’ve got to get back to Lizzie and Scar before they destroy the server.” He went to set Joel down, only for him to cling tighter and wrap his legs around his torso like a koala. Jimmy was happy to keep carrying him; if he was being honest he expect Joel to start thrashing to be let go the moment he came back to himself, but if he still needed it then Jimmy certainly wasn’t going to judge. Plus, one day it was going to be an amazing story to hold over his head. Maybe not today, but someday.

“So,” Joel said, a cheeky smile on his face as they started up to the surface, “‘Uncle Tim’, huh?”

Jimmy wordlessly reached up and pushed Joel’s head back against his shoulder. “Hush.”

[little-catgirlboy]

Geminitay Stimboard

🌻/🦌/🌻/🦌/🌻/🦌/🌻/🦌/🌻

[dragon-queen21]

Between Zedaph, Gem, Stress and Doc they would have a whole flock of sheep stuffed animals, or as other hermits see it, a whole army.

[ok-ish-hermitcraft-headcanons]

AGERE HEADCANONS! :D

about swamp gals because i haven’t seen anything about them and i think they’re cool

Gem regresses to 2-5, Stress regresses to 7-10, and False regresses to 3-6

All of them are willing to caregive for the others (or anyone else) when they’re not regressed.

(Also i can’t ask anon for some reason? is that supposed to be like that? i personally don’t mind but it might affect some other people)

Yeah!! Swamp gals!! I love all the age re headcanons I’ve been getting!

Yeah,, you can’t anon ask because I’m on mobile,, might try and get a mutual to fix that,,

For now if you want to be anonymous to the public just include that in your ask and I’ll crop your user out :}

[catboy-on-main]

inbox check? ^^

c!wilbur soot/phantombur (origins smp?) stimboard for 🌻✨ anon with potions, writing stims, and cloud slime

cat regression stimboard for anon with anything

c!geminitay (hermitcraft, fictive) moodboard for anon with camping, treehouse, friendship, and deers

c!technoblade and c!tommyinnit (dream smp) moodboard for blueberryratz with themes of brothers playing

oc moodboard for anon with themes of agere (old toddler-young child), scene, decora kei, stuffed animals, and minecraft in any bright pastels

c!wilbur soot/argbur (arg, fictive) instagram board for anon with cold and creepy things

[cherub-cafe]

inbox check mayb?

maybe. maybe. what if i said no then what would u do anon

agere phil hcs

phil carekit

slimecicle carekit for 🕸

sam and techno kit for zac

wilbur and techno twins hcs

ponk carekit

casino quackity stimboard

devil tommy hcs

benchtrio moodboard

geminitay recipe kit

scar fictive btw ur ask is awesome it gave me a lil giggle

ghostbur stimbaord

[theconstellationprincess]

I can’t sleep, so have some life series headcannons <3 ( @froggymarsh ) WILD LIFE SPOILERS

—

Joel and Gem can’t really find a balance between being big and regressing, so they just go with whatever and try to make sure the other doesn’t die.

Everyone is all over the place this season oh my goodness. So many teams where there’s just… a lot of small time. Lots of fun.

Impulse is really struggling to not regress this season, because he’s used to having to be a caregiver, but that’s not happening with the other G’s.

Cleo doesn’t regress, or at least not to his knowledge, and Scott and Pearl have a system of their own, and it makes him feel like a little bit more of an outsider. He likes taking care of people, of his friends, but it’s just not happening this season.

This makes him want to regress, but then he stresses out about regressing and it’s just not good.

Bdubs is just a little guy, building his tower and hanging out with BET. The whole leader thing? He’s a very strong and good leader, of course he is, and it’s certainly not just Etho and Tango playing along.

TUFF GUYS! They are so silly to me, Etho going around leaving Life’s Tuff, being friends with everyone. Calling on big brother Joel because Bdubs is teasing him. Very baby coded.

The Spanners! Having so much fun, causing chaos, setting traps. Grian knowing what the wild card is in advance and players trying to bribe him with candy or toys while he giggles mischievously

Okay that’s all for now! If you’ve made it this far, I promise I’m working on the requests you’ve all sent!!

[theconstellationprincess]

1, 2, 11, 13, 18 for the diap ask game! maybe pixl n fwhip for both games, and anyone else you wanna do? I wanna hear all the things so do whoever !! :D

I saw this one second so the first one is on Joel but!! Here is both Pix and Fwhip for this one!!

Why do they wear diapers? (comfort? necessity?)

Pixl: Comfort, for the most part. He's really embarrassed about being small for as old as he is, but he really does like diapers. He doesn't super need them, he's pretty good about voicing this particular need after an.. embarrassing incident, so it's really just for comfort. When he's really small it becomes more of a necessity, but he'll wear them even when not regressed because he enjoys them.

Fwhip: A mix of both? Fwhip is very much all over the place when it comes to being regressed, he doesn't really know how it feels when he is vs isnt small, so it's pretty up in the air how well his body is communicating with his head at any given time. He wears them to bed no matter what (they help with bad dreams!) out of necessity (with comfort as a bonus), and occassionally during the day to help him feel a bit more settled in being small.

2.When did they start wearing diapers?

Pixl: When the other emperors started being more open with their regression he considered it, but he only started actually wearing them once his own regression stopped being his best kept secret. It felt far easier to both get and wear diapers once he stopped feeling so anxious about people knowing he regresses.

Fwhip: Once Sausage started making cool designs he got right on board. He likes ones that match his aesthetic, and refuses to wear any that he doesn't find as cool as he finds himself. That was only to bed though. He started wearing them during the day when Gem got him some really cool ones, and recommended they try to have a sort of regression day because he had been stressed. It was then he discovered that they (on occasion) helped him feel more regressed than not.

11.Do they like the smell of baby powder?

Pixl: Sort of? He doesn't like the fact that it can be a giveaway to the fact that he's wearing a diaper, since he's still a bit self-conscious about it on occasion, but he does like the smell on its own. He would get ones that have other scents than the classic scent just to match whatever outfit he had going on that day. Experimenting with purple fabrics? Lavender scented baby powder!

Fwhip: Yes and no? Like before, he's a very mixed bag with regression stuff. One day it's a positive trigger and he's quickly dropping into baby space, the next it's a bit too fragrant and embarrassing that he smells like it.

13.Have they ever had a daytime accident?

Pixl: Yes! I said this before, but there was an embarrassing incident. One time, Pix was sort of floating between regression and not regressing during an alliance meeting, and he really need to use the toilet, but he was with Fwhip and Fwhip did not know about his regression yet. Almost no one did. And he didn't want to interrupt the meeting because that would be rude, and their relationship was strained enough, so he just waited. Except, the meeting went on and on and on, and Pix was starting to get desperate, but Fwhip was still talking, and he couldn't interrupt him, so he kept quiet. By the time Fwhip was done, and it was Pix's turn to talk, he couldn't even say anything. Fwhip got really worried, even more so when Pix just suddenly started crying silently. He approached him, and quickly understood what had happened. Fwhip helped Pix out, helped him get cleaned up and into new clothes, and they continued the meeting after wards like nothing had happend.

Fwhip: Yup! Like... somewhat often? He's really bad at realizing when he needs to use the bathroom. He stopped getting upset about it after the first couple of times, and always has a spare outfit on him. He's more embarrassed about it when regressed than big, he just sort of stopped caring about it once it had happened at least once in front of every emperor.

18.Do they have a diaper bag? What does it look like?

Pixl: Yes! It's very discreet, a little messanger/book bag style? Brown leather since it matches most of his outfits! It has lots of pockets on the inside for organisation.

Fwhip: Not personally, but both Gem and Sausage have one, so he just sort of uses theirs? He's almost always regressed around them, so he never bothered with having one of his own, they both know what he likes and keep it on hand.

Hope you enjoyed <3

[little-catgirlboy]

Geminitay Agere Board

🎨 🎨 🎨 🎨

[dragon-queen21]

Little Gem loves tight hugs. This probably has something to do with her brothers (fWhip and Sausage) being kind of rough when showing affection when they were younger.

[ok-ish-hermitcraft-headcanons]

i see we're doing age regression headcanons! here are soneme i thought up yesterday.

Octagon area:

Doc = age regressor 3-5

Ren = flip age 5-7

Gem = babysitter

Boatem:

Grian = flip age & pet 4-6, cat/kitten

Mumbo = babysitter (inexperienced)

Impulse = age regressor 2-6

Pearl = age & pet regressor 7-10, fox

Scar = babysitter

(term explanations: flip just means babysitter and regressor. i also use babysitter to avoid overlap of certain things as much as possible)

:0 never seen a fox pearl hc before! I love it!