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The space suit is miserable to wear, all told, far too thick and bulky. Not to mention Pearl absolutely doesn’t believe Scar when he says that they’re safe, but it’s not like she has terribly many options at the moment. It’s Scar and his space suit and rocket, or it’s sitting beside the Boatem Pole waiting for the moon to crash.
So here’s Pearl, in a space suit that fits unsettlingly well, which is almost stranger than it being ill-fitting. She’s sitting by the Boatem Pole anyways, because there’s not much else to do, is there?
Well, that’s a lie. There’s plenty to do. Goodbyes to say, people to see, all that. But there are blocks floating up, gravity whisking them away faster and faster, the world falling apart beneath her. And there’s plenty to do, but Pearl can’t really see the point of much of it right now.
“Pearl?”
She doesn’t have to look up to see who it is, but she turns anyways. “Hi, Gem.” After a moment she adds, “Hi, Goose.”
Goose lets out the most pathetic meow Pearl has heard in her life. Gem rolls her eyes and settles down next to Pearl, Goose still firmly wrapped in her arms, feet dangling over the edge of the Boatem Hole. “You look very… pensive.”
“I’m feeling pensive.”
Gem nods. “Business meeting gone wrong?” she says, clearly trying for levity.
Pearl would love to laugh and joke along with her. Pearl would love, more than anything, for this to be a normal day, where she can sit with Gem and feel better, maybe relax, maybe forget the unforgettable if she’s lucky. Gem’s knee nudges hers in a question that there are no words to answer. The gesture is hard to feel through the space suit.
“What brings you here?” Pearl says after a second. It’s genuine curiosity, insofar as she can genuinely feel anything in this moment.
“Oh.” Gem’s face falls, and Pearl wants to kick herself for asking. Gem shifts Goose in her arms. “Scar’s offering a service to, um, save pets. From the moon. So I’m dropping Goose off.”
Goose lets out another sad noise. Pearl reaches out and scratches his chin, making soft noises as she does. Goose leans into it, eyes fluttering closed, and Pearl watches him because it’s easier than watching Gem. “I’m sorry,” she says softly. “What’s your plan?”
“Hunkering down. False and I have a bunker.”
Pearl purses her lips before she can help it. Goose doesn’t notice, because he’s a cat, and his attention is fixated on the fact that he’s being pet.
Gem, unfortunately, does notice. “What?”
“Underground,” Pearl says, trying to sound as neutral as possible. “Hiding from the moon colliding into the ground.”
“We don’t have a lot of options.”
“How do you think that’ll go?”
“Scar’s shooting you into space,” Gem answers, sharper than Pearl expected. “How do you think that’ll go?”
There’s not a good answer, because Pearl is pretty sure that she’s about to die. But being pretty sure is better than being definitely sure.
Goose purrs a little louder. Gem starts rubbing his throat and chest, a motion that knocks her fingertips against Pearl’s over and over.
“We don’t have a lot of options,” Pearl echoes after a moment. She can’t bring herself to look up, to look at Gem in this moment, but Goose is nuzzling against her, which feels like a peace offering or a death sentence or something. It feels like something. “Gem?”
“Yeah?” Gem says, more breath than word.
“I know the answer, but I’m going to ask anyways. Would you come with us?”
“To space?”
“Yeah, to space.”
“I wish you wouldn’t ask.”
“I know,” Pearl says, and can’t bring herself to feel sorry. “Would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t. Would you stay underground with us?”
“No,” Pearl says, maybe too fast. She couldn’t leave Boatem. She won’t. She knows that Gem wouldn’t leave False either. They have their ties to other players, they have their reasons. She knows that.
“Would you if things were different?”
That finally gets Pearl to pull her eyes up to Gem’s, only to find that Gem is looking down the Boatem Hole. Her feet kick against it, heels thudding against the side. Goose meows again, this less sad and more demanding, and Pearl obligingly resumes scratching at his throat.
“We started together,” Pearl says, looking down. The void below doesn’t make her dizzy anymore. “Just like this.”
“Started in the crater,” Gem agrees. Her fingers catch against Pearl’s and this time they don’t pull away.
It’d been the two of them giggling away, giddy with nerves, overjoyed to be there. Listening to Mumbo introduce them and bumping elbows and shoulders. Seeking out each other when they got overwhelmed by being in a bright and beautiful world, and being able to sit together, like nothing else matters.
Pearl supposes that’s still true. They’re together, and nothing else matters.
“If things were different,” she says, slow and methodical. Gem’s eyes turn to her slightly, keeping her head bowed towards the hole, but Pearl can tell she’s hanging on every syllable. “If it weren’t me with Boatem and you with False, if it were like the beginning in the crater and they said the world was ending… yeah, I’d go anywhere you asked.”
“I’d take you anywhere,” Gem answers, voice thick. “Maybe next time, right?”
Pearl looks down the Boatem Hole. She has to lean forward a little, but she keeps her hand against Gem’s, her thumb rubbing against Goose’s cheek, her other hand bracing her on the solid ground as the world flies apart around them. The void does not sing to her, and maybe that’s why she likes it. It’s honest. It’s a fate she understands. It’s a known quantity, not like moons or bunkers or rocket ships.
It’s easy to forget that there’ll be another world after this. Another life, another chance. That no matter what happens in space, there will be a world again, and again, and again.
Pearl shifts her weight until her knee is pressed more firmly up against Gem’s, through the uncomfortable space suit fabric, through the awkward angle. “Maybe next time,” she says, and Goose purrs against their linked hands.
And it’s warm. Pearl feels warm.