Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Distracting friends

           Jimmy tried not to think about what would happen in two days as he worked on his railway tracks. He'd already given up on it, but he still kept working. Even though he was resigned to the fact that the railroad would probably never be finished, he just wanted a distraction from thinking about the Watchers. Working was a good distraction. Especially when he didn't pay enough attention to where he was putting the hammer down and hammered his own finger. 

           "Ow!" Jimmy yelled, dropping the hammer and it somehow landed even more painfully on his foot. "Ow!" He shouted again, jumping on one toe and sucking his thumb. Being human again was exhilarating but he'd forgotten how much more things hurt when his body wasn't made of wood. Glaring at the offending hammer he almost kicked it with his other foot but decided against it in time; he didn't really need both feet bruised and throbbing right then and there. 

           Then again, it would be a good distraction. But causing oneself physical pain was probably not prudent when in two days' time the Watchers would attack this world and start a war that he, the sheriff, was supposed to be fighting in. With a sigh Jimmy sank down to the warm sandy ground and leaned back against the railway. Bad idea; the sun was baking the iron tracks incredibly hot. The sheriff shrieked for the third time that minute and jumped a foot in the air, landing painfully on his bruised foot. 

           As Jimmy hobbled about wondering if he had any ice to help soothe the pain, Scar came out of the saloon with an ice pack that he'd gotten from somewhere. "Are you okay, sheriff?" He asked. "You screamed like three times in one minute." "So what does that tell you about my physical health?!" Jimmy snarled at him, squeezing his foot tightly in an attempt to relieve the pain. 

           Scar didn't even flinch at his harsh tone. Jimmy softened. "Sorry, Scar, I'm just really stressed right now." "Yeah, aren't we all." Scar said, humming softly to himself as he pulled a chair out from somewhere and set it down by the sheriff. "Sit down; I'll take care of you." Jimmy obediently sat and watched as Scar pulled his boot off, then took a roll of clean white bandages and began to wrap the ice pack around his bare foot. 

           "You're actually really good at this." Jimmy commented. Scar hummed in reply. "I hurt myself a lot so I had to learn first aid somehow." The sheriff chuckled. Scar was the most accident prone person he knew that wasn't him so it made a lot of sense. 

            Scar double checked that he'd tied the bandage properly then stood up in satisfaction when his inspection proved good enough for him. "Okay, you can take it off when either the ice melts or your foot stops hurting. Just take it off after whichever comes first. Sheriff, why were you playing with hammers?" Jimmy, who had been nodding along to Scar's doctor-like orders and advice, suddenly shot him a double take. 

           "Scar, how did you know it was a hammer?" He asked. Scar suddenly looked incredibly suspicious and looked away, whistling like he was the most innocent thing in the world. "Scar..." Jimmy started. "Sheriff, can you not ask?" Scar asked hopefully. Jimmy rolled his eyes but smiled. "Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time." 

           Scar grinned. "Thanks, sheriff! But what were you doing with a hammer, anyway?" Jimmy sighed and pointed to the unfinished railway tracks that would now forever be unfinished. "You're still working on that?" Scar asked. "But we can't really get that finished anymore." The sheriff sighed. "I know, it's just that I wanted something to distract me from... you know."

           Scar nodded in patient understanding. "Yeah, and it sure looked like you were pretty distracted." Jimmy laughed; he really had been. "Maybe we should try a different distraction." Scar mused. "Like what?" The sheriff asked. Scar turned to him and looked serious enough to impart some great wisdom upon him.