Watching and Listening 2 - An Empires SMP AU

Doom

           Jimmy wasn't sure if he had made things better or worse by trying to get Gem and Zedaph to bond. Maybe his efforts were always doomed to fail. Maybe next time he shouldn't meddle in other people's relationships. But Gem was his friend. And he could tell that whatever was going on between her and Zed was hurting her, maybe even both of them. The sheriff couldn't just watch from the sidelines or not try because of the probability of failure. He wanted to help. Somehow.

           But all in all the visit to Zed's base was really... interesting, to say the least. Zedaph had a lot of weird stuff at home. Most of not all of it was just for his zedvancements, which Jimmy found quite intriguing.

           Coincidentally enough the sheriff ran into Zedaph again, although this time he was with Tango. "Tango, Zed! Hi!" Jimmy greeted in a semi cheerful manner. Tango spotted him and happily waved. "Hi, Jim!" He said, walking over. "Oh, wait, you're that Jimmy," Zed said, sounding a bit like he was in his own little world by now.

            Tango spotted Jimmy's questioning look. "I told him about us after Double Life ended." He explained. "So you're Tango's rancher?" Zed asked Jimmy, looking at him in a slightly different way than before. Jimmy nodded, feeling a bit self conscious.

            Tango laughed, watching their interaction. "Don't worry. Zed's just like that. We're close." He said. "Close, huh?" Jimmy asked without thinking. Tango and Zedaph burst out laughing. "Not like that. We're a trio, but Impy's not here right now." Zed said, giggling. Okay, that makes much more sense, the sheriff thought with annoyance at himself for looking so foolish of basically his own accord.

           "Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Impulse called as he flew around them in ever closing circles before deactivating his elytra and landing in front of them neatly. "Hey, I thought you were an imp." Zedaph complained. Impulse groaned half-heartedly. "Zedaph, I'm a dwarf, enough with the imp joke now please? It's not my fault I'm named Impulse." He said in a fed up tone, but Jimmy could tell that underneath his thick brown beard he was smiling at the friendly kid.

           "Hey, Jimmy, have you seen Decked Out 2 yet?" Impulse asked with a sly Wink. The sheriff racked his brain, wondering when he'd heard the words 'Decked Out' before because it sounded awfully familiar, like someone had mentioned it before. "Oh yeah, Tango, wasn't that the game you were working on?" Jimmy asked his rancher, who nodded excitedly.

            "Yeah, and it's finished! Do you want to have a try?" Tango asked excitedly. Jimmy didn't even know what kind of game it would be but Tango's excited face was enough to convince him. "Okay, sure!" The sheriff agreed without even thinking.

           Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango simultaneously started to grin and cheer. "He said 'yes'!" Zed hooted eagerly. "And I've just gone and doomed myself just now, haven't I?" Jimmy sighed and asked no one in particular. Ah well, at least Grian wasn't around.

           So they went to Tango's base to play Decked Out 2. They weren't even halfway there yet when the sheriff saw it. He gasped. "Tango, that's your base?" He asked in disbelief. The other three started to chuckle at his dumbfounded expression. "Yup." Tango said, grinning.

           Tango's base resembled a dark, spiky ice castle. On a hill surrounded by a thick, deep moat only crossable via a rusty, blackened drawbridge there were clusters of thin, tall towers built of a hard, dark stone and encased, in some places, in ice. It looked an awful lot like a stereotypical villain's lair in a children's movie.

            While Jimmy stood there gaping at it he was startled out of his awed thoughts by the sound of bleating and glanced up to see a literal sheep walking around on one of the dark, icy towers. "Is that a sheep?" The sheriff asked, flabbergasted. "Oh wait, how long was a sheep there?" Impulse asked, startled. Zed and Tango burst into laughter. "Oh yeah, I forgot we did that last week!" Zed said, giggling.