Chapter Text
It was… hard for Gem to feel safe. It felt dangerous … but here she was.. Sitting around a fire. The Farlanders sat close by, Dull and Moo cooked.. something over a fire, Pearl sat close to Gem looking at a few bones, which made Gem shiver.
The scent of whatever they were cooking hit Gem hard. It was something like meat, but not fully.
Gem didn't like meat, it was gross to her and she liked veggies more than meat. So she just watched as the others cooked the meat as Dull brought her a plate full of meat. Its cooked exterior had a minor scent of charcoal and fire.
“Here, eat this.” She handed the plate to Gem, who didn't take it. “Something wrong outsider?”
“I don't like meat.” Gem shivered as she felt eyes on her. She said something wrong didn't she.
“Ah, no need to be so picky but fine, Pearl.” Pearl lifted her head from her bones. “Can you make some soup for our…. Guest?” Pearl smiled.
“Sure! I'll make her my special soup!”
Dull giggled. “Sure thing Pearl, just don't poison her okay?”
Poison?! Gem shook at the very idea of being poisoned, especially since she didn't know these people other than their names. Gem still felt very weak from her fall. They called it a fall anyway.
Pearl came back with a bowl of… something, probably soup if she was to guess from what Dull said. It sloshed in the bowl as Gem held it with a spoon Pearl had handed her and prodded at the slosh.
“Eat up Outsider. We don't have time for you being picky.” Dull walked off to eat her own meal.
Gem thought about eating the soup for a little, put off by the sloshing chunks of something she didn't know. She watched Dull walk away from the fire then she disappeared into the campsite.
Gem looked back at her soup.
“Gonna eat it?”
Gem yelped at the voice, catching her soup before it fell. She looked over and met hungry eyes. Moos tail wrapped around Gems leg, staring at her bowl with hunger.
“U-um… “
“Moo don't scare Gem.” Gem yelped as she yelped. Pearl put her arm around her, pulling away from the cow. “Sorry about her Gem.”
“She hasn't eaten anything! And I'm not letting food go to waste.”
“Let her eat first Moo. She's starving!”
“I'm not actually that hungry..” Gem responded, before handing her food to Moo who began to devour it in seconds, scaring her a little. “You… eat a lot.”
“I love to eat! Wheat and Beef are my favorites! They are soooo good!” Moo said with a toothy grin.
“...Beef?... aren't you a cow?”
Moo tilted her head at the question, eating as she did so.
“Yeah? I'm a cow! That's why I love beef! It's tasty!”
Gem was slowly being creeped out by Moo. She didn't seem to care that it was beef, a Cow she loved to eat.
“But… isn't that… wrong?”
Moo seemed to think for a moment, before responding casually.
“Meh. Food is food.” Then she headed off, getting even more food.
— — — —
Pearl watched Moo wander off to where Dull put the rest of the food. She knew better than to walk around so much even if her leg was healing, but Moo would do anything to eat more. Pearl just hoped she wouldn't try to eat Gem. She knew outsiders tasted special to her. They were full of something tasty to her sister.
While code in general was a very delicious meal, Moo had a preference for player code. Most likely due to their exp filled code she guesses. Moo liked the taste of code alot, to the point of being addicted to it. And yeah! It was tasty, but not enough to eat Gem!
Pearl would stay with Gem. She would stay with her new bestie. Keeping her safe from her sisters.
“Gem?”
“Yeah?”
Pearl lay her head on her shoulder, relaxing at the warmth she made.
“Wanna be my best friend?”
Gem looked at her with confusion.
“What?”
“My best friend! You know! Friends but better!”
Gem just stared at her with confusion, she still didn't understand fully what Pearl meant.
“We are… friends? Best Friends?”
“Yeah! If you wanna be besties with me of course!”
Gem thought for a moment before responding once more.
“Alright then, I'll be your bestie.”
Pearl gave a wide smile, hopefully not too wide and wrapped her arms around Gem in a hug. She had a bestie now, that was a good thing.
— — — —
Dull had dug out a pit, for sleeping of course. Sleeping on the surface was a struggle in itself. Better to sleep underground then up above where you were vulnerable.
Gem looked down at the pit, that was where she would be sleeping apparently… a hole. She already did not like being away from the sky, but being underground made it worse in her opinion.
“.. and there's no other option? None at all?”
“Nope! Unless you wanna get eaten up here, if so, be my guest.” Said Dull, very bluntly.
“W-What!?” That immediately made Gem regret every decision she had made till now.
“Dull, don't scare her like that! You’ll be fine Gem, just as long as you sleep in here with us.” Pearl said, semi jokingly.
“What she said about getting eaten, that's not.. True right?” There was a sense of fear in her voice, she could not hide it.
“Oh yeah, you'll definitely get eaten up here. They love your kind of meat and I don't think they have eaten venison yet and hey, maybe that's a good thing! I bet you taste great!” she replied, very bluntly with what Gem could almost tell as a joke once the last words were spoken.
“I can test that if you want!” Moo spoke up, being already in the pit.
“No need Moo!”
What did I get myself into
That was all Gem could think of before Pearl took her into the pit, and layed down, wrapping her arms around Gem's fairly warm body. It wasn't Dull but it was still good enough for Pearl.
Gem was unable to move, she saw as Moo and Dull began to sleep. Dulls wings seemed to dimly glow. Pearls breath began to slow
Gem couldn't sleep though, too much had happened today.
She got in a fight with Aries and ran away because she was angry with Pisces for no reason, she sinks in some sand, then she wakes up surrounded by strangers in a completely different world. The strangers are trying to take care of her but they also seem to want to eat her. Then again, everything else here wants to eat her apparently.
It was… a lot for Gem to deal with. Wherever she was, the farlands as they called it, was dangerous.
sniffle
She sniffled, she cried quietly, and it burned. It burned slowly, steam rising from where the tears hit her skin. Her own tears hurt her, how dumb was that? She can’t cry without it hurting!
Painful crying. She felt a small fraction of the pain she must've caused for her sisters. And here she was now, in a dangerous world with strangers. It's all her fault, she made this happen. She's at fault,she hurt them all-
She felt hands feel her cheeks and wipe the tears away. She turned to see Pearl's glowing white eyes staring at her with curiosity and confusion.
“Gem? Your.. crying. You alright mate?”
“Im.. I'm all alone now. My sisters are gone, I'll never see them again.”
Pearl pet Gems cheeks before making a soft cooing kind of sound as she did. Gem felt slimy shapes rubbing away the tears but paid no mind to them. Pearl's eyes seemed to… pull her in… into an empty white void… nothing in those eyes.
“-Gem!”
Gem was shaken out of the dream. She looked around. She.. felt so weak. Pearl also seemed shaken.
“What.. what.. Was that?”
“That was nothing important. Just don't do it again. It will be fine, okay? Trust me.”
Gem nodded slowly, she had to trust her, she didn't know why but she knew she had to trust Pearl while she was here. If she would ever leave where here was anyway.
“You're my bestie… I'm gonna protect you. You're gonna be safe and happy and Ill keep it that way.”
Pearl wrapped her arms around Gem till all her fluffy feathers covered her like a blanket. It was so soft.
Gem pushed into her feathers, she began to feel sleepy as she breathed in the air around Pearl.
She closed her eyes, and Pearl would wake her up in the morning.
— — — —
The sun burned in the sky, watching as Pieces sat in her makeshift tent, Aries napping on her lap. The place was empty without their youngest…
Pisces would search once Aries woke up. She had to be close.. She had to be.
The sound of sand ran through her mind again…