Child's Play - A Hermitcraft 8 AU

The Test Subject (pt. 2) - Xisuma, Joe

Summary: Xisuma, as per usual, overworks himself. Joe and Cleo help him rest up.

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It was common for the hermits to get concerned for other's sleep habits despite the fact that no one could die. Of course, one could die as a consequence of lack of rest, with fighting abilities and perception going down. Xisuma often dealt with forgetfulness whether it was about his game plan for the rest of the day or stopping to eat food (which occasionally resulted in starvation. A few times the hermits had actually gotten concerned that Xisuma was neglecting self-care, but Xisuma was better than that. While sure, less sleep attracted more phantoms, Xisuma could fight them off like usual).

Ok, so maybe all this to say, he was still trying to convince himself that even though he hadn't slept recently, he wasn't in the wrong. Everyone else was just unnecessarily worried. He'd taken a break just the other week, right?

It was actually a bit of a surprise that Keralis hadn't stopped by to pester him yet.

Maybe he'd forgotten?

Oh wait, Bdubs and Tango were back from that one server Grian had created, and they'd seen that server hopping creating their "little" problem. Keralis was probably busy with them.

...

Wait—

He'd started work on the glitch right when they left—

And as he wasn't pestered to get away from the screen, he didn't leave his work.

How many days had they been gone for?

Ok, so maybe Xisuma did care that he'd been sitting here constantly doing work for days, hardly taking a break for sunlight or food. (The times he did, he'd been more focused on building than relaxing.) Maybe he did care that he'd been slowly dealing with a headache that worsened by the day. Maybe he did care that his heartrate was going upwards the more anxious he got because what if he wasn't fine because he wasn't taking care of himself.

Because he did care.

He wanted to be responsible, even if it was just in his sleeping and eating habits. He didn't want to prove that he needed someone to look over his shoulder every night.

He spun his to face the wall that held his calendar. Then he checked the date on his communicator and looked back up to the last day he'd crossed out. It had been a little over a week since he'd even marked off the days.

What if everyone was worried? What if he'd neglected something important? What if someone needed a helping hand and he hadn't been there?

What if he actually did need help? What if he'd fallen too far into his work and he couldn't get back up? What if he'd created habits which would in turn ruin his mental state?

He didn't know why the thought of skipping sleep made him so anxious. He didn't know why he was being irrational about something that wasn't worth freaking out about. He just was and he couldn't seem to do anything about it.

Then he looked down at his messages, seeing he'd been pinged a couple times privately in the last fifteen minutes.

<PearlescentMoon>: Helpp all little I am biggest

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<JoeHills>: Just thought you should know, Xisuma, everyone's back and there's nobody to help with the Boatem people. Cub's messing with lava around his base and I'm busy with Cleo, so the five are alone at the moment. We can check with TFC but he'll be slow getting there.