Gem and Pearl were spending the evening hanging out and chatting on top of one of Pearl’s mushrooms. Gem was carving little flowers into her bow, and Pearl was braiding tiny bits of her hair.
“I keep dreaming about you.” Pearl said abruptly.
“Oh Pearl, wow, that’s forward of you. I’m blushing!” Gem giggled, wiggling her eyebrows at Pearl.
“Oh shut up, not like that you nugget!” Pearl shoved Gem slightly, face red. “Let me clarify- not just you, but all of… you guys. The empires. And hermitcraft. I think. It’s hard to explain.” Pearl’s face was set, but eyes nervously searching Gem’s face as if it held an answer.
“Well, can you explain it a little bit? What do your dreams entail?” Gem put down her bow.
Pearl sighed, thinking before speaking. “It’s like- I know that there are many, many worlds, and that you are in both empires and hermitcraft. I mean, I was too. When I sleep, I know, logically, I’m laying in my bed in hermitcraft. But my dreams are so confusing, because I can see the empires world, from above, like I’m permanently flying or something. I can come down and stand next to you or Jimmy or Scott or Sausage. I can see you work. And it feels like I’m being electrocuted or something. No one can see me, and I can come and go, but it’s really odd. You just accidentally killed three bees the other day, I saw it.”
“I did do that!” Gem gasped. It was hard, sometimes, to pin down certain memories of a world when you’re in another, but that sounded familiar. “Pearl that’s so… woah! You’re, like, magical!”
“Magical? No, I don’t think so. I’m just me. But I don’t get what’s going on in my head. It’s so much. I wish there was a way for you to see it so I could have another perspective.” Pearl sighed, putting her head in her hands. “I almost don’t want to go to sleep. It’s so exhausting, these dreams.”
“I’d love to try and help you, Pearl.” Gem patted Pearl on the shoulder. “I feel like there has to be a way to get into your dreams. We just gotta find the right person with the right stuff.
It took a month to find someone, and that was between hermitcraft and empires. The right person turned out to be Cub, who listened to Gem’s query, nodded, said he had no idea how that would work or how to help, and then showed up in her castle window at one in the morning that same night holding out a glowing potion bottle to her.
“Keep that shit hidden, and don’t even try to find out where I got it. If anyone asks you about it, play dumb. But all you have to do is drink the potion with Pearl, and go to sleep. I wasn’t here.” And he’d left without another word.
“So, you ready?” Gem was in her pajamas, sitting on Pearl’s bed with her arms hugging her legs.
“Are you sure this isn’t just some kind of Cubfan trick or something? Seems sus, Gem.” Pearl was holding the potion bottle up to her lamp. It was a silvery color, and really looked like something no person should ever drink.
“I mean, it’s the only thing we got.” Gem pointed out.
Pearl sighed deeply, uncorking the bottle. “True. Well, Gem, if we both die, thanks for being a good friend. I can’t think of another person who would be so willing to enter my dreams.” She took a swig, and coughed, handing the rest of it to Gem.
“That good, huh?” Gem asked, eying the potion. Pearl just waved her hand at Gem, encouraging her. Gem drank the rest of the bottle. It was awful, like metal and rotted food. She wondered if it really was poisoned and if Cub was really just a massive asshole.
She felt a wave of tiredness pass through her suddenly- she looked over at Pearl to see she was already passed out. They had planned for Gem to go on the couch to sleep, but she didn’t have the energy now. She curled up on the edge of Pearl’s bed instead, and let her eyes fall shut.
And then, she was somewhere else.
To describe it would be impossible- it was light, in colors that didn’t even make sense to try to categorize. Gem was floating, but it didn’t feel like flying or laying in bed.
And in front of her was Pearl.
Pearl looked like dappled sunlight. Like the sun shifting through the branches of a swaying tree, Pearl’s form kept softly evolving. She was dressed in a gold dress and battle armor, and then she was wearing a black hoodie and shorts. There was a halo behind her, and then startling white wings.
Pearl’s eyes were closed, but her hand was held out in front of her, long fingers extending towards Gem. And Gem reached out too, and touched her fingertips against Pearl’s. And then, she could see exactly what Pearl had been talking about.
There were two worlds here in this weightless nothing, one to either side of the two girls. One was the empires lands, as if they were standing above it all, watching from the sky. The other was Pearl, asleep in her hermitcraft bedroom. Gem could see her own sleeping form too. It was creepy to see herself.
A hand cupped Gem’s cheek suddenly, and she turned her head back to look at Pearl. Her eyes were open now, full of a deep, powerful light.
“Gem?”
It was Pearl’s voice, but Pearl hadn’t opened her mouth. It just came from this blankness around them.
Gem didn’t trust herself to speak, so she nodded.
“Is it true? Is this real?”
Pearl’s voice was everywhere, but still Pearl. It echoed around the space in a way that would have been more confusing if there weren’t so much else to focus on.
Gem nodded again. She had to assume this was real, because to think otherwise would break her brain. Just bring here with this Pearl was already so intense.
“Which one is… home?” Pearl sounded scared.
Gem stretched her hand forward just a little more, so their fingers intertwined. “I think they both are, Pearl. Always.”
Gem didn’t open her mouth, just through the words directly at Pearl. And Pearl’s glowing eyes looked right into Gem’s, and there was an explosion of pain.
——
“I mean, you’re asking questions about magic and dreams and gods- not only is that type of thing practically impossible to quantify, it’s also only ever going to be in hypotheticals.” Doc looked tiredly at Gem, which was fair, since Gem had burst into his bedroom at sunrise and woken him up.
“Well, then speak in hypotheticals then.” Gem said, leaning against the doorframe, making out the creeper hybrid’s shape in the darkness.
“Fine.” Doc put his hands to his eyes. “Hypothetically, if someone, a mortal, were to go into a god’s dreamspace, the mortal would probably be dead within seconds. Magic is not a secure thing, hypothetically. And dreams are even less so- gods, if there were such things, would not be bothering to reign in their raw power during sleep. Any mortal or demigod would be crushed. Unless, for some reason, the god was counteracting with a very strong magical barrier. But that would take, I’m assuming, the mortal equivalent of billions of blocks of energy. But we know almost nothing about the reality behind myths of gods, Gem.”
“Okay.” Gem nodded slowly. “Okay, cool. Got it. Thanks Doc.”
Doc lowered his hands, and in the murky darkness of his bedroom, Gem could see his robotic eye glow red, looking right at her.
“You know, Gem, people don’t come running into my bedroom at daybreak to discuss hypotheticals.”
Gem just laughed- it didn’t sound very convincing- and backed down the hall and out to the courtyard, where she took off in a flurry of rockets.
Now up in the sky, she could let out the choked hiss of pain, and look down at her hand. Burned into her fingers and palm was a crescent moon; if she held her fingers just as they had been when holding Pearl’s hand, the image became clearer.
Doc’s voice came back to her in bits and pieces. No mortal should survive such a thing. Not unless someone very powerful exerted a lot of magic to protect the mortal. But if that magic were to, even briefly, fail…
Gem closed her hand into a fist, winced at the pain. Pearl was still sleeping- she’d checked before rushing to Doc. The time she’d spent in Pearl’s dreamspace was already fading from concrete memory, and she wondered if Pearl would even remember it had happened. She wondered if Pearl would ever really know what power she really had. Gem’s hand throbbed.
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6:02pm
The leaves are falling! I repeat, the leaves are falling! This is not a drill! The grin on my face on the drive home from work was wide. Drove down a hill that ends in a sharp curve, and the truck in front of me kicked up so many little yellow leaves that my car was showered in a hoard of yellow dots. Absolutely lovely.
The temperature, unfortunately, does not yet match the leaves. It was 99 degrees Fahrenheit today. I did end up covered in sawdust and burnt wood at work that was glued to my skin with sweat, and I did not come out of my drowsy state.
I have been thinking a lot about various topics today. I started an older podcast abut Qanon; lots to think about there. And mulled over the idea that my friend is trying to fuck my boyfriend. Her birthday is coming up, and he won't be available for the various times we were all trying to plan brunch, so she let him know he could go out with her any other night of the week to celebrate. Now, yes of course we assume there will be other people there as well, but this is another piece to my "she's-trying-to-fuck-my-boyfriend" puzzle.
My theory was born months ago, and the first clue didn't really catch my eye until the second clue did. Now, disclaimer, part of me is being insane and I am not taking this that seriously, but it is interesting to keep tabs on and observe.
The first clue I missed because I was in a state of jelously and in the mood to be petty, so I removed myself from the gathering of friends to come home and cool off. My boyfriend loves attention, and since he already has mine, he focuses on others in group setting (side note: I did already talk to him about this because it did hurt my feelings a bit, and we do not have this issue anymore). To put it in what I think would be more accurate terms, he likes to entertain. So, he had met our friend for the first time at this gathering, and she is a riot. I'll call her Sam for this journal. She is hot, and loud, and quick to humor. This was his first time meeting her, and I expected him to be enamored with her, because I often am. And he was, his attention was on her the entirety of the gathering, they were having a continuous back and forth and I became a bit jealous. I had tried to chime in a couple of times and he interrupted me and that set me off. I went to another room to cool off, he came in after a bit and asked if I wanted to run to sonic to get ice cream and I said yes, only to enter the living room and discover that Sam and our other friend Ofelia was coming with us. I was irritated. So, in the car Sam is still talking to my boyfriend from the back seat, and at some point starts comparing him to her boyfriend. Saying that they have the same personality, but how my bf is more outgoing, saying that they have the same body type, and I interrupted with- "Why are we comparing our boyfriends right now?" I was so irritable, and I felt bad for being so catty. When we got back to our friend's house, I left so as not to let my unwarranted jealousy seep out again. But why was she comparing them?
Now, I believe there was something in between, but all I can think about is the most recent clue. Did I already speak about this? I don't think so. On a drive to a brunch for our friend's birthday I was accompanied by Sam, and are other friend. Sam was in the back seat, and after a brief conversation about revenge fucking that Sam had began, there was a moment of silence before she broke it with, "Don't you guys find it weird, and [my name] I mean no offense by this, don't y'all find it weird that [my boyfriend] had a threesome with [one of my now good friends]? [My name] does that make you feel weird?" Woah! Completely unprompted, and a secret I know that my good friend who was involved does not want to be spoken about. Our friend driving did not know this secret, and her jaw was on the floor. I did know, because both my boyfriend and my friend had informed me of this pretty early on. And just so y'all know, I do not feel weird about it. I love them both, and they are not romantically interested in each other. Plus, they both were open enough to tell me about it very early on. But my friend, was very adamant about me not speaking to anyone about it. So, I was in a bit of shock when it was blurted out in the car. Now, I immediately explained that they had both told me already, and that no, it did not make me feel weird. Things happen, it was before me. My issue is with the potential intention behind that question.
I am entering the realm of assumptions here, but I can't get it out of my head that this might not have stemmed from genuine curiosity, but rather with the intention to see if Sam could push my buttons. I was, and am, irritated with the idea. Was she trying to push my buttons? Ruffle my feathers a bit for fun or to cause a rift in my relationship? I'm unsure. I did later express the importance of not telling this to anyone to our friend who was in the car with us.
But so, later while at brunch Sam is again talking about how similar her boyfriend and mine are, again about their bodies and personalities. Then in after a literal breath of silence turns to our other friend and begins expressing how she wishes she could fuck whoever she wants, and that she's told that to her boyfriend, but also that she wouldn't be able to handle all of that. Those two thoughts were a liiiiiiittle too close together for me. Again speaking of their similarities, and almost in the same sentence speaking on how she wants to fuck whoever she wants? What was the bridge there?
Later that same day at the bar we went to for continued birthday celebrations, Sam was standing at the end of the table where my boyfriend was sitting. Just standin' there talking to whoever passed by. A more minor clue, but an observation I made nonetheless.
I have told my boyfriend all of this, he agrees more every time another inkling of a clue pops up, but I trust him not do indulge in infidelity. I mean, if he does, I'll break up with him and that'll be that. Together we've just been observing, and it's kind of fun, but if I'm right I am a bit fearful. I mean, she had just been talking about revenge fucking her current boyfriends best friend when they broke up once. That's malicious behavior. She blurted out one of my best friend's secrets potentially just to see how I would react, that's not the best behavior either. I trust her less the more I get to know her, and even now I can only be around her in short bursts.
So, that's my theory, and those are my very minor clues that lead to my theory. Again, I'm not driving myself crazy over this, but I do think it's smart to write it down. Not to mention it makes for a pretty entertaining post if one actually sits down to read all of this.
I'm going to rest for a bit before I have to clean the tattoo shop.
I hope you have a lovely night, or day!
6:50pm
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