Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

One last night

           Grian watched everyone file away as the meeting was dismissed. He glanced up at the sky; the moon was barely visible in the orange-streaked sky. It was getting rather late. "If we're going to face the Watchers here tomorrow," He said, "Shouldn't all of us stay here overnight?" Everyone stopped heading home to consider what he said. 

           "That's true." Lizzie agreed. "Sleepover at Hermitopia!" Sausage cheered. Scar cheered and grabbed Sausage's hands. Suddenly they were jumping and skipping around in an impromptu celebration dance. Everyone stared for a moment and then cracked a grin at their antics. "Okay, sleepover it is, then." Grian said, smiling. 

           He and Gem used their Watcher powers to clear up some chest monsters in the ground floor and then teleport some beds and sleeping bags for the emperors to use. "Oh, this is cozy." Timmy said, wriggling around in his sleeping bag. "It should be." Grian agreed. "That's Bdub's old sleeping bag that he outgrew so now it's your turn to use it because you're the only one small enough to use it!"

            Timmy stopped as he comprehended what Grian was saying. Grian grinned manically at the sheriff's face when he realized that the red-sweatered hermit had managed to insult and poke fun at his height with only a sleeping bag. "Hey, I'm not that short!" He yelped. Everyone laughed and started testing their new beds. 

             "It's kind of really early to go to sleep." Lizzie pointed out. "We should wake up early tomorrow." Gem said. "Yeah, but..." Lizzie wavered slightly. "If someone dies then... can we at least have one last night of fun before that?" Everyone quieted as they realized what was going on in her head. If she was talking about permadeath... she was thinking of the fact that she might die tomorrow. 

           "Okay. One last night of fun. If you agree with that say 'aye'." Grian said. "Aye!" Almost everyone shouted. "Okay, what a fun sleepover this will be!" Sausage cheered, like he didn't realize that they might lose everyone just the next day. But Grian knew that he knew the risks. Everyone did.

            But that didn't stop Sausage from handing out bottles of mojitos that he had gotten from somewhere. "Brewed in Sanctuary!" The defender of Sanctuary said, beaming widely. "And also put in small enough bottles that you don't actually get drunk from the specially prepared proportion!"

            That was surprisingly convenient. Fighting while you were drunk was not exactly something you were advised to do. Grian just wondered where Sausage had gotten the mojitos from, but he'd learned by now not to question his antics so he just accepted a bottle and drank. 

          The drinks seemed to help relieve the tension of maybe dying the next day. Soon everyone was chatting and laughing like that night wasn't their possibly last night alive. "Anyone bring any board games?" Timmy asked. Lizzie suddenly produced boxes of Cluedo, Scrabble, Monopoly, and UNO that she certainly didn't have with her before and Grian questioned whether everyone in this world could teleport. 

          Soon everyone was playing. Grian, Timmy, Joel, and fWhip were dueling it out at UNO and for some reason Tim was winning. Grian got the feeling that fWhip and Joel were letting him win on purpose just to be nice. They certainly wouldn't have done that on any other occasion, but the threat looming over them of any of them dying tomorrow called for special measures. Soon enough, Timmy actually won for once and he quickly proclaimed the good news to everyone listening. 

           "Guys, I won!"

           "You won?"

           "Jimmy won at something?"

           "Hey!" 

           "Oh, uh, I mean, yay, Jimmy won!"

           "Dinner is served!"