Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Spreading news

           Jimena waited for half an hour before she decided that Qiron wasn't coming back to talk to her. Annoyed, she pushed Ginny off her bed and stormed outside. She didn't know what to do.

           She just wandered around Cogsmeade for a while, lost in thought. And hoping that Qiron would go back to answering her questions, because his talking to her had generated more. He acted like he knew her before. Jimena wanted to know how. And she also wanted to know how eating emotions worked and how it related to her wings. Her wings that she'd apparently had before and lost in a way that Qiron was uncomfortable to tell her about.

           Jimena turned a corner and ran into False, or rather False ran into her. The architect was clutching Ginny in her arms like a lifeline and looked more frightened than usual. "False? Are you okay? What happened?" Jimena asked, moved to concern at the sight of her agitated friend.

           False shuddered, and suddenly Jimena was aware of the sensation that she was tugging something out of False. A glance at the tinkerer's slowly calming down expression soon showed what the thing she was pulling was: False's fear. Huh. I guess I do eat emotions.

           "There's been killings," False managed. "People are dying, Jimena, it's not safe." "What? Repeat that," Jimena said, taken aback. False slowly repeated her news about the mysterious murders that had been happening around Cogsmeade. Jimena had no idea what to say. She didn't even know how the two of them hadn't been aware of this before either. 

           Trying to change the subject, she glanced at her copper watch and was relieved to find out that it was nearing lunch time. "Hey, False, it's time for lunch. How about we go to Sanctuary and eat there?" Jimena suggested. False looked happy that she could get away from her empire and the skeletons in the closet it apparently had hidden even to its ruler.

           "And we can both fly there now!" False suddenly realized, looking at Jimena's wings. Jimena grinned. "Do you want to race? First girl to fly there wins!" "Deal, but mind you, I'm an expert with an elytra," False said, all of her fear drained out of her by Jimena, who found out that fear tasted somewhat spicy, which was kind of nice. Only now that she was done feeding on False's emotions, Jimena accidentally spoiled her appetite for lunch, which wasn't very nice.

           She managed to work herself to being hungry again on their aerial race. Apparently emotions didn't keep you belly full for very long. But Jimena was too busy trying to beat False to ponder on it. The mechanic showed off flying skills that she'd reserved just for races; Jimena hadn't seen her fly like this before. False was so adept with her elytra that it was like she was born with them. Jimena, with her natural feathered wings and no rockets, was having trouble keeping up.

           False managed to successfully embarass the girl by the time they landed in front of the Colorful Cauldron; Jimena was red in the face not just from exertion but also from the fact that False had beaten her in a race that was her idea. "I'm bringing rockets the next time we race, and then we'll see who wins!" Jimena told False, who immediately looked comically alarmed. "I don't think rockets would work well with feathered wings..."

           "Oh, hello!" Sausage materialized out of nowhere and kissed both of them on the cheek in greeting. "To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you two in sanctuary?" "Lunch," Jimena promptly replied. Her stomach growled as of on cue. In her hunger, Jimena started to subconsciously start drawing Sausage's excitement to eat, and then she noticed that excitement didn't taste as well as fear. If anything, it was a bit bland, which was slightly disappointing.

           "Okay, then, let's go eat!" Sausage bubbled, whisking the girls to a free table inside his tavern. As they ordered, Sausage took the opportunity to share some gossip. "Hey, have you heard?" "Heard what?" False asked, sounding slightly wary of what Sausage might be informing her about. She probably didn't want to hear any bad news. "Well, considering you two live in probably the most secluded empire, I don't think you've heard yet," Sausage conceded.